A gift card is a type of prepaid card that is designed to be purchased by one
consumer and given to another consumer as a present or expression of appreciation or
recognition. When provided in the form of a plastic card, a user of a gift card is able to access and spend the value associated with the device by swiping the card at a POS terminal, much as a person would use a debit card. Among the benefits of a gift card are the ease of purchase for the gift-giver and the recipient’s ability to choose the item or items ultimately purchased using the card. According to one survey, over 95 percent of Americans have received or purchased a gift card. There are two distinct types of gift cards: closed-loop cards and open-loop cards. Closed-loop gift cards constitute the majority of the gift card market, both in terms of the number of cards issued and the dollar value of the amounts loaded onto or spent with gift cards. These cards generally are accepted or honored at a single merchant or a group of affiliated merchants (such as a chain of book stores or clothing retailers) as payment for goods or services. They have limited functionality and generally can only be used to make purchases at the merchant or group of merchants. Closed-loop gift cards are typically issued by a merchant, or by a card program sponsor or service provider working with a merchant, and not by a financial institution. These cards may be sold in a predenominated or consumer-specified amount at the merchant itself or distributed through other retail outlets, such as at grocery stores or drug stores. Generally, closed-loop gift cards cannot be reloaded with additional value after card issuance. Further, the issuer typically does not collect any information regarding the identity of the gift card purchaser or the recipient. See Federal Reserve System regulations (12 CFR 205) effective August 22, 2010 at: http://www.federalreserve.gov/newsevents/press/bcreg/bcreg20100323a1.pdf

A third of Americans 14 and older—about 77 million people—use public library computers to look for jobs, connect with friends, do their homework and improve their lives, according to a new study paid for by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and released March 25. http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hWnSqIJiabnfP8SQTFrhU80pEDMQD9ELOC380

Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa, partners in the Japanese architectural firm Sanaa, have won the 2010 Pritzker Architecture Prize, the profession’s highest honor. The pair’s buildings include the acclaimed New Museum in New York, a sculptural stack of rectilinear boxes on the Bowery, which was completed in 2007. The first Sanaa project in the United States was a glass pavilion for the Toledo Museum of Art, completed in 2006. It holds the museum’s collection of glass artworks, reflecting that city’s history as a major center of glass production. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/29/arts/design/29pritzker.html?partner=rss&emc=rss

Well used, meter can make a singular appeal to the ear, mind, and memory. Meter can give language a rare elegance and tension, enabling the poet to unite verbal fluidity with stable form. As Robert Frost once remarked, prefacing a proposed collection of his work for younger readers, poets follow “The measured way, … so many feet to the line, seldom less than two or more than five in our language.” English-language poetry is written mostly in iambic meters. “Meter” (from the Greek metron) means “measure” and denotes the rhythmical organization of verse lines. “Iambic” refers to a specific kind of rhythm that alternates between relatively lightly stressed syllables and relatively heavily stressed ones. Because iambic rhythm suits English speech more naturally and flexibly than other rhythms, it has been the principal mode of English poetry from the time of Geoffrey Chaucer (14th c.) to the present day. See interesting article with examples of different meters at: http://instructional1.calstatela.edu/tsteele/TSpage5/meter.html

When people drop a syllable (LISS-ning rather than liss-uh-ning) or add a syllable (ATH-a-leet rather than ATH-leet), they like the rhythm or ease of speaking that way. Or, have just picked up the pronunciation from others. Poets may purposely drop a syllable and put in an apostrophe (as in list'ning) or instead of using the apostrophe, may just drop a syllable as they recite their work.

Elision means
Omission of a final or initial sound in pronunciation.
Omission of an unstressed vowel or syllable, as in scanning a verse.
The act or an instance of omitting something.
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/elision

Clarification on recipe for the sweet Armenian cake pahlava: Bake in 8 or 9-inch pan, either round or square. Walnuts may be omitted if you wish.

Motion picture screen writer and author of detective fiction Raymond Chandler (1888-1959) was born in Chicago, but he grew up in England after the divorce of his parents. He attended Dulwich College, and studied then international law in France and Germany. He worked as an assistant stores officer in the Naval Supplies Branch, a temporary teacher at Dulwich College, and published poems and essays in the Academy, the Chamber's Journal, and Westminster Gazette. Before returning to the United States in 1912, Chandler published twenty-seven poems and his first story, 'The Rose-Leaf Romance.' Back in America he worked in St. Louis, then on a ranch, in a sporting goods firm, and as a bookkeeper in a creamery. During the World War I he served in the Canadian Army (1917-18), and was later transferred to the Royal Air Force (1918-19). He prepared himself for his first submission by carefully studying Erle Stanley Gardner and other representatives of pulp fiction, and spent five months writing his first story, 'Blackmailers Don't Shoot.' It appeared in December 1933 in Black Mask, the foremost among magazines publishing in the hard-boiled school. Chandler was a slow writer. Between 1933 and 1939 he produced a total of nineteen pulp stories, eleven in Black Mask, seven in Dime Detective, one in Detective Fiction Weekly. His fourth published story, 'Killer in the Rain,' was used in THE BIG SLEEP (1939), Chandler's first novel. The story introduced Philip Marlowe, a 38-year-old P.I., a man of honor and a modern day knight with a college education. Marlowe is about forty, has a college education, listens to classical music, and solves alone chess problems. PLAYBACK, Chandler's last finished novel, appeared in 1958. Originally it was written as a screenplay. During the writing process Helga Greene became Chandler's literary agent. He and Helga Greene were induced by Ian Fleming to travel to Capri, and to interview Lucky Luciano along the way in Naples. Chandler essay 'My Friend Luco' was not published. His unfinished novel POODLE SPRING was completed by Robert B. Parker, who has also written a sequel to The Big Sleep, entitled PERCHANCE TO DREAM (1990). http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/rchandle.htm

Philip Marlowe's name is an amalgam of literary reference to Sir Philip Sidney, Christopher Marlowe, and the Marlow who occupies the moral center of several of Joseph Conrad's tales. Chandler originally intended to name his detective Mallory, alluding to Sir Thomas Malory whose chivalric romance, Le morte d'Arthur (1485), simultaneously dramatizes the heroic deeds of the Arthurian knights and portrays the less glamorous side of knighthood.
http://www.jrank.org/literature/pages/6754/Marlowe-Philip.html

OpenCongress is a free, open-source, not-for-profit, and non-partisan web resource with a mission to make Congress more transparent and to encourage civic engagement. OpenCongress is a joint project of two 501c3 non-profit organizations, the Participatory Politics Foundation and the Sunlight Foundation. http://www.opencongress.org/

H.R.3590 - Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act became Public Law No: 111-148 on March 23. See summary at: http://www.opencongress.org/bill/111-h3590/show

Much to my chagrin, it turns out the Schoolhouse Rock "I'm Just a Bill" cartoon and ditty from 1975 doesn't fully capture the complexity of the federal lawmaking process. In this column, I analyze contentions that the so-called "Deem and Pass" procedure (also named the "Slaughter Solution" after Rep. Louise Slaughter (D. N.Y)) violates the Constitution's procedures for making law. As readers will likely know, the House of Representatives considered using “Deem and Pass” in March 21's health care vote, but did not end up invoking the device. Read legal commentary by Vikram David Amar at: http://writ.news.findlaw.com/amar/20100326.html

Communication and influence
actors being "crusty yet benign" or grouchy for humorous effect
actors showing tension or edgy bantering between characters
judges in contests making cutting, sarcastic or rude comments
guests on talk shows entertaining by being funny, educated, or controversial
hosts on talk shows gaining fans with humor, controversy. name-calling, threats, or calls to action
newscasters showing excitement when recounting tragedies
interviewers leading people to a predetermined answer
pollsters asking slanted questions, restricting questions to those who share their views or asking too few people to constitute a valid survey
social networks and blogs inviting readers to go to a certain place at a certain time and do something that makes a statement--or simply because they can come together as a large group (sometimes called flash mobs)

Q: What does "Ohio" mean?
A : It's from an Iroquois word meaning "great river." Ohio Historical Society
Q: What makes a city, town and village what they are? Is it based on population?
A: In Ohio, a city is an incorporated place with more than 5,000 people and a village is one with less than 5,000 people. Cities that fall below 5,000 people become villages, and villages that grow beyond 5,000 people become cities. Ohio does not have "towns." But its townships are areas of any size where citizens have chosen not to incorporate.
Ohio Municipal League
Q: Is it true that at least one in five miles of interstate highway is straight so airplanes can land in emergencies?
A : No. This is a myth with no basis in law, regulation, design manual, or in fact. Airplanes occasionally land on interstates when no emergency alternative is available, but they are not designed for that purpose. Federal Highway Administration
http://www.thecourier.com/Opinion/columns/2010/Mar/JU/ar_JU_032910.asp?d=032910,2010,Mar,29&c=c_13

Baklava, of Turkish origin, is a sweet dessert of thin pastry sheets, butter and pistachios. Recipe at:
http://www.turkishcookbook.com/2006/10/turkish-baklava.php

Pahlava, of Armenian origin, is a sweet cake with walnuts.
1 c. farina or Cream of Wheat
1 c. flour
1 c. sugar
1 tsp. baking powder
3 eggs
1/4 pound butter
1 tsp. vanilla
12 walnuts
Karo syrup
Mix dry ingredients, Beat three eggs and add vanilla. Add melted butter to eggs and vanilla. Mix everything together. Add chopped nuts. Bake at 375 degrees for 30 minutes. Pour syrup over. recipe courtesy of Armena Bagramian

Earth Hour, an annual event, will take place on Saturday, March 27, at 8:30 p.m. local time. People are urged to turn off non-essential lights for one hour. World Wildlife Fund started Earth Hour in 2007, and says that last year 4,000 cities turned off lights in official buildings in 87 countries, including 318 U.S. cities. It estimates 80 million Americans participated. This year, 30 states (up from eight last year) plan to flip the light switch in governors' mansions and other public buildings. Among monuments and other landmarks taking part: the Empire State Building, the Golden Gate Bridge, the Las Vegas Strip, Niagara Falls and the Willis Tower, formerly the Sears Tower, in Chicago.
http://content.usatoday.com/communities/greenhouse/post/2010/03/millions-of-homes-stores-buildings-go-dark-for-earth-hour/1

ebrary Launches Free Natural Disaster and Extreme Weather Searchable Information Center News release: "ebrary®, a leading provider of digital content products and technologies..announced that it has created a publicly available research center featuring hundreds of important government documents related to natural disasters and extreme weather - the Natural Disaster and Extreme Weather Searchable Information Center."

Postal Service Proposes to Eliminate Saturday Service
News release: Postal Service Outlines Five-Day Delivery Proposal The U.S. Postal Service Board of Governors has approved management’s request to move forward with its five-day delivery proposal and to file a request for an advisory opinion with the Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC) on March 30. A website will be launched to provide customers with the details of the proposal. The website also will include a special section telling business mailers how to manage a change in delivery.
"War Dances" by novelist Sherman Alexie has won the 2010 PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction, the organizers announced on March 23. The prestigious annual award, presented by the Washington-based PEN/Faulkner Foundation, was given to Alexie because of his book's breadth of topics and innovative style, judges said. "War Dances" consists of short stories interspersed with poems. Alexie, who lives in Seattle, won a National Book Award for Young People's Literature in 2007 and this week, the Lifetime Achievement Award of the Native Writers' Circle of the Americas. He is a Spokane/Coeur d'Alene Indian who grew up on a reservation 50 miles northwest of Spokane. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/03/23/AR2010032301846.html?hpid=sec-artsliving

Languages freely borrow words from one another. Often a borrowed word becomes so assimilated we don't realize its exotic provenance. If you speak English, you know parts of at least a hundred different languages. Besides the usual sources--Latin, Greek, German, French, etc --English has words borrowed from languages as diverse as Tongan (taboo), Hindi (cot), Hungarian (coach), among others. Sometimes languages borrow only the idea from a language and translate a word literally. English skyscraper becomes rascacielos (literally scrape-skies) in Spanish, gratte-ciel in French, Wolkenkratzer in German, and so on. This process of borrowing is called loan translation or calque (from French calquer: to trace or copy). German Gedankenexperiment becomes "thought experiment" in English through loan translation. French marche aux puces gets translated as flea market. The term loan translation itself is a loan translation of German Lehnübersetzung.
cloud-cuckoo-land or cloud cuckoo land (KLOUD-koo-koo-land) noun
An idealized, unrealistic state; a place out of touch with reality. Loan translation of Greek Nephelokokkugia, from nephele (cloud) + kokkux (cuckoo). The word was coined in The Birds, a comedy by Athenian playwright Aristophanes (c. 450-388 BCE). Nephelokokkugia was the name of a city in the sky, built by the birds in collaboration with some Athenians.
moment of truth (MOH-muhnt of trooth) noun
A crucial point; a turning point; a decisive moment.
Loan translation of Spanish el momento de la verdad. In bullfighting, the moment when a matador is about to kill the bull is called el momento de la verdad.
A.Word.A.Day with Anu Garg

Quote No one is useless in this world who lightens the burden of it for anyone else. Charles Dickens (1812-1870)

A yellow flower the size and shape of a gumdrop, it's the bloom of an Amazonian herb called Spilanthes acmella, known in this country as paracress, spotflower, and toothache plant. Koppert Cress, a Dutch distributor of microgreens, is growing paracress on Long Island and marketing the plant's tongue-buzzing blossoms as "Sechuan Buttons." Though the entire plant is saturated with spilanthol, an analgesic alkaloid that numbs the mouth and stimulates saliva flow, it is its flower, resembling nothing so much as the heart of a very fat daisy, that packs the greatest sensory wallop. Chewing an entire bud will numb your tongue and gums, and a taste of even a few filaments will subject your mouth to spilanthol's peculiarly electric frisson. See picture and more at: http://www.saveur.com/article/kitchen/the-electric-paracress

LYNNE'S TIPS
Give this idea of folding fresh herbs into cooked rice another take by borrowing the concept of red rice from Carolina Low Country tradition. Sauté bacon and onions in a little oil. Spoon off excess fat, add a minced garlic clove and the 2 cups of long grain rice, a 14-ounce can of whole tomatoes, pureed, and 3 cups of water. Cook as directed above, and when done, fold in 1 cup each of snipped chives and torn basil. The Splendid Table March 24, 2010

In two separate decisions announced March 23, the Supreme Court of Ohio upheld as constitutional a 2005 state law that limits the ability of workers who are injured on the job to sue their employers for a “workplace intentional tort” in addition to receiving state workers’ compensation benefits. The challenged statute requires that workers asserting intentional tort claims against their employer must prove that, in committing the acts or omissions that resulted in a worker’s injuries, the employer acted “with a deliberate intent to cause injury.”
In Kaminski v. Metal & Wire Products Co., the Court held 6-1 that the challenged statute, R.C. 2 745.01, does not violate Section 34 or 35 of Article II of the Ohio Constitution. Those sections authorize the General Assembly to enact statutes that provide for “the comfort, health, safety and general welfare of all employees,” and to adopt laws facilitating the resolution of employment-related injury claims through the Ohio Workers’ Compensation program.
In Stetter v. R.J. Corman Derailment Services, the Court answered questions of state law submitted by the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio. In a 6-1 decision, the Court found that R.C. 2745.01 does not violate the provisions of the Ohio Constitution that guarantee trial by jury, a remedy for damages, open courts, due process, equal protection of the laws or the separation of powers between the legislative and judicial branches of government. The Court also held that, while R.C. 2745.01 limits the ability of workers to assert common law employer intentional tort claims previously recognized by this Court, it does not eliminate such claims. Based on those findings, and its holding in Kaminski, the Court concluded that R.C. 2745.01 is constitutional on its face. http://www.supremecourt.ohio.gov/PIO/summaries/2010/0323/080857_080972.asp

The origin of "cabbages and Kings" comes from Lewis Carroll's "The Walrus and the Carpenter", which combined a quote from King Richard II and a take-off on the quote in the play "Richard II" by Shakespeare...in this order: Richard II: "For God's sake, let me sit on the ground and tell bad stories about cabbages and things." Shakespeare's Richard II: "Let's talk of graves and worms and epitaphs... For God's sake, let us sit upon the ground/And tell sad stories of the death of kings." Carroll's poem: `The time has come,' the Walrus said, `To talk of many things: Of shoes -- and ships -- and sealing-wax -- Of cabbages -- and kings -- And why the sea is boiling hot -- And whether pigs have wings.' http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080304003140AA2AEsM

The Walrus and the Carpenter poem by Lewis Carroll (from Through the Looking-Glass and What Alice Found There, 1872) with its introduction and many six-line verses:
http://famouspoetsandpoems.com/poets/lewis_carroll/poems/6088

Types of twins
Monozygotic (identical) Formed when a single fertilized egg splits in two (or more) after conception. The resulting twins are genetically alike--same sex, same hair and eye colour and same blood type.
Monozygotic (conjoined) Have a variable degree of physical attachment to each other, depending upon the point at which the twinning event has occurred.
Dizygotic (fraternal) Result from two (or more) fertilized eggs. No more genetically similiar than singleton siblings.
http://www.sogc.org/health/pregnancy-multiple_e.asp
http://embryology.med.unsw.edu.au/Defect/twin2.htm

A century ago, London dry gin—the clear, bracing, juniper-forward stuff we've come to expect in our martinis—was a recent invention, just one among various English styles of gin, including Old Tom and Plymouth, each with its own characteristics. There was also genever, the earliest incarnation of the liquor, popularized by the Dutch in the 1500s; it's the one that inspired the English to make gin in the first place. (Indeed, gin is a slang abbreviation of genever, the Dutch word for juniper.) First, the basics. To make any sort of gin, you take a base spirit and flavor it with juniper berries, the piney-tasting seed-cones that are gin's defining feature, along with an assortment of other "botanicals"—aromatic berries, barks, peels, seeds, roots, leaves, and flowers. Thus enhanced, the spirit is typically redistilled to integrate and refine the flavors. In 19th century England, gin was a thick-textured spirit that was highly flavored, sweetened to cover impurities, and often barrel-aged. American microdistilleries are making a number of new, local brands. Some of these are distributed to only one or two bars; others—Aviation from Oregon, Bluecoat from Pennsylvania, Death's Door from Wisconsin—have begun breaking out nationally. Many of these distillers, as well as a number of new producers in Europe, are showing a willingness to diverge from the traditional palette of gin botanicals, bringing formerly inconspicuous elements to the fore and even experimenting with flavors quite new to the world of gin. Following the traditional English preference, these new-style gins tend not to foreground the flavor of the base spirit, keeping it neutral instead. http://www.saveur.com/article/Wine-and-Drink/Revolutionary-Spirit

The word lukewarm has been around since the 14th century. Luke is obsolete except in lukewarm (late 14c.), from M.E. leuk "tepid" (c.1200). http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=luke
Lukecold surfaced in the 20th century.

According to documented history, Lombardi's was the first American pizzeria. Pizza didn't gain its popularity until just after World War II, but Lombardi's, opened by Gennaro Lombardi, began selling pizza in New York City in 1905, so you might say Gennaro is the father of American pizza. Lombardi's was originally a grocery store, but it soon became a popular stop for workers looking for something to take to work for lunch. Gennaro started selling tomato pies, which were wrapped in paper and tied with a string, and the many workers of Italian descent would take them to the job site. Most could not afford the entire pie, so it was often sold by the piece. Gennaro's son, John, took over after Gennaro passed away and the business eventually went to Genarro's grandson, Jerry. Over the years, Lombardi's continued to sell pizza, becoming a cult-like Mecca for pizza enthusiasts. In 1984, Lombardi's closed its doors. In 1994, John Brescio, who was a childhood friend of Gennaro's grandson, Jerry, started talking to Jerry about reopening Lombardi's and in that same year they did, but not in the same location. They moved a block down the street to 32 Spring Street. http://www.firstpizza.com/history.html

Why is New York pizza so much better than everywhere else in the country?
After meeting with several chefs, the consensus is the water. The mineral content of New York water, which comes from the Catskills has a unique effect on the rising and the flavor to the dough. http://www.downtownexpress.com/de_111/asliceofnewyork.html

Congress passed health care reform legislation on March 21. Read special report from CCH: http://health.cch.com/pdf/congress-passes-health-reform.pdf

Perrysburg, Ohio is one of only two federally designated cities. (The other is Washington, D.C.) On April 12 of 1816, the United States Land Commissioner, Josiah Meigs, wrote to Amos Spafford and gave him the chance to honor Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry's victory over the superior British fleet on September 10, 1813 in the Battle of Lake Erie. Meigs wanted to create a town name utilizing Perry's name. He suggested "Perrysville" or "Perrytown", but Amos coined another one, "Perrysburg(h)." Once part of Champaign County, it was now in Logan County. Wood County wasn't created until February 22, 1820 and included all of Lucas County until 1835. Maumee was the first county seat as it was part of Wood County until 1835. Perrysburg became the county seat of justice March 27, 1823 and remained so until 1870. http://www.ci.perrysburg.oh.us/HistoricPerrysburg/tabid/57/Default.aspx

The massive magnitude 8.8 earthquake that struck the west coast of Chile in February moved the entire city of Concepcion at least 10 feet to the west, research has found. The preliminary measurements, produced from data gathered by researchers from four universities and several agencies, including geophysicists on the ground in Chile, show that Buenos Aires, the capital of Argentina moved about 1 inch to the west. Chile's capital, Santiago, moved about 11 inches to the west-southwest. The cities of Valparaiso and Mendoza, Argentina, northeast of Concepcion, also moved significantly.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/southamerica/chile/7403578/Chile-earthquake-moved-city-of-Concepcion-10ft-to-the-west.html

Chameleons fire their tongues at breakneck speed, says study leader Christopher Anderson and reported in a recent Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. “A chameleon’s tongue travels at accelerations exceeding 400 meters (1,312 feet) per second squared, or about 41 Gs of force,” he added. To put that into perspective, a space shuttle only develops about three Gs of force when it takes off [Discovery News].

When Katie Spotz landed in the South American port of Georgetown, Guyana, on Sunday, March 14, Spotz became the youngest person and the first American ever to row an ocean solo from mainland to mainland. The 2817-mile trip from Dakar, Senegal, in Western Africa took her 70 days, 5 hours and 22 minutes. http://www.popularmechanics.com/outdoors/boating/4349594.html?nav=RSS20&src=syn&dom=yah_buzz&mag=pop http://rowforwater.com/

Feedback to A.Word.A.Day with Anu Garg
salmagundi Def: 1. A heterogeneous mixture. 2. A mixed salad of various ingredients.
A little more than 35 years ago I started what has become an annual spring party and invited friends to what I called a Salmagundi. Each invitee was required to bring an unusual item to put into a huge salad. I provided the very large mahogany salad bowl and the green leafy things. What we dined on depended on the creativity and imagination of the guests. Each year the gathering is a new collection of friends and always a new and surprisingly salad.
Solomon Gundy came in a little jar when I was a child in Jamaica, West Indies, in the 1950s. Yes, I do remember the anchovy taste. We put it on crackers. I have not encountered the word or the condiment itself until now, decades later.
Salmagundi is also the title of a delightful collection of some twenty sketches by Washington Irving and his friends, published in the early 19th century.
For 30 years, our Public Radio's morning show was called Salmagundi. I loved waking up to the host's melange of classical music, off-beat music, poetry, crazy comments, interviews, and news. Now that host has retired, and his replacement plays only classical with straightforward news and national feeds. It's pleasant, but I miss the spice that got every day off to an interesting start.
Salmagundi is also the name of a notable on-again-off-again literary magazine going back as far as Washington Irving's publication of 1807, then revived in 1900 at Dickinson College, and again reconstituted and continuing from 1969 at Skidmore College.
The yearbook at my college (Colgate University) was called Salmagundi, or "the Sal". What a lovely way to start the week, reminiscing about the heterogeneous mixture of students I met there!

Northern Fried Chicken is served at Blue Ribbon, a restaurant in New York City, and boasts extra-crunchy skin thanks to a matzo meal crust; the chefs there serve it with bright collard greens quick-sautéed in browned butter. SAVEUR’s executive food editor, Todd Coleman, profiled this dish in our April 2010 issue (see "Prize Chicken"). See recipe and instructions at: http://www.saveur.com/article/Recipes/Northern-Fried-Chicken
Northern Comfort is a strong drink made with apple schnapps and bourbon. Find ingredients and directions at: http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Northern-Comfort/Detail.aspx
Express northern hospitality by serving both and maybe serving northern dishes found at: http://www.recipezaar.com/recipes/northern-canadian

Nothing Gold Can Stay by Robert Frost (1874-1964)
Nature's first green is gold,
Her hardest hue to hold.
Her early leaf's a flower;
But only so an hour.
Then leaf subsides to leaf.
So Eden sank to grief,
So dawn goes down to day.
Nothing gold can stay.
http://quotations.about.com/cs/poemlyrics/a/Nothing_GoldCan.htm

Cardamom is a distinctively pungent aromatic spice that is part of many different world cuisines. It is the second most expensive spice; only saffron costs more. Cardamom (Elletaria Cardamomum) is a member of the Zingiberaceae or ginger family. It is a perennial with tall simple canes or stems that grow out of rhizomes. It is native to the shady forests of India, Ceylon and Malaysia. Today it is cultivated mainly in Guatemala and India. http://www.foodreference.com/html/artcardamom.html

FCC Sends National Broadband Plan to Congress News release: The Federal Communications Commission has delivered to Congress a National Broadband Plan setting an ambitious agenda for connecting all corners of the nation while transforming the economy and society with the communications network of the future -- robust, affordable Internet...Titled Connecting America: The National Broadband Plan, the Plan found that while broadband access and use have increased over the past decade, the nation must do much more to connect all individuals and the economy to broadband’s transformative benefits. Nearly 100 million Americans lack broadband at home today, and 14 million Americans do not have access to broadband even if they want it. Only 42 percent of people with disabilities use broadband at home, while as few as 5 percent of people living on Tribal lands have access.

A working title, sometimes called a production title, is the temporary name of a product or project used during its development, usually a film. It may also be an informal title for a position. The Working Title is the name of an alternative pop/rock band. Paul McCartney used the name holder Scrambled Eggs for one year before fitting the lyrics of Yesterday to the melody we know it as today.

Return of the Multi-Generational Family Household, March 18, 2010 - Pew Research Center’s Social & Demographic Trends Project. "The multi-generational American family household is staging a comeback—driven in part by the job losses and home foreclosures of recent years, but more so by demographic changes that have been gathering steam for decades. As of 2008, a record 49 million Americans, or 16.1% of the total U.S. population, lived in such a household, up from 28 million, or 12.l% in 1980. Such households had been more common a century ago, but began to fall out of favor after World War II. Now they are coming back."

According to Russell Ackoff, a systems theorist and professor of organizational change, the content of the human mind can be classified into five categories:
Data: symbols
Information: data that are processed to be useful; provides answers to "who", "what", "where", and "when" questions
Knowledge: application of data and information; answers "how" questions
Understanding: appreciation of "why"
Wisdom: evaluated understanding.
See much more at: http://www.systems-thinking.org/dikw/dikw.htm

No one wants to touch it. Not Toyota, not NHTSA, not any politician. But the issue has to be raised. Driver error is most likely at the root of these sudden unintended acceleration incidents. Unintended acceleration is not a new issue for the auto industry. It's been around for decades and complaints have been filed against virtually every automaker. Even more telling, it was around long before electronic throttle controls (ETC) ever showed up in cars. http://www.autoblog.com/2010/03/12/runaway-toyotas-what-about-driver-error/

On the afternoon of Nov. 22, 1963, Liz Carpenter was in a Dallas police car being driven to Love Field. There she would board Air Force One, the plane returning to Washington with the body of a slain president and his widow, as well as the Texan who would take the oath of office aboard the plane, his wife standing at his side. "Having been a reporter for 20 years of my life, I knew [Lyndon Baines Johnson] would soon face the press," she recalled, "and they were going to want a statement. I pulled out a card and just started writing. Fifty-eight words: 'This is a sad time for all people. We have suffered a loss that cannot be weighed. For me, it is a deep personal tragedy. I know that the world shares the sorrow that Mrs. Kennedy and her family bear. I will do my best. That is all I can do. I ask for your help--and God's.' Carpenter, who served as Lady Bird Johnson's press secretary during her tenure as first lady and who was a founding member of the National Women's Political Caucus, died of pneumonia March 20 in Austin. She was 89. In 1952, Les and Liz Carpenter started Carpenter News Bureau with four employees. At our peak, they had 26 papers. Ms. Carpenter, who served as president of the Women's National Press Club in 1954, also wrote a weekly column. Speeches continued into her ninth decade. She was in the Texas Women's Hall of Fame and on the board of the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Research Center. by Joe Holley http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/03/20/AR2010032002909.html

Q: Is Benjamin Franklin's epitaph special?
A: Which one?
Franklin (1706-1790) composed this charming epitaph at 22 years old: "The body of / B. Franklin, Printer / (Like the Cover of an Old Book / Its Contents torn Out / And Stript of its Lettering and Gilding) / Lies Here, Food for Worms. "But the Work shall not be Lost; / For it will (as he Believ'd) Appear once More / In a New and More Elegant Edition / Revised and Corrected / By the Author." But today, in a downtown Philadelphia cemetery, his tombstone reads: "Benjamin and Deborah Franklin: 1790" -- The Franklin Institute.
Q: What was the first airline?
A: The St. Petersburg-Tampa Airboat Line ran the world's first regularly scheduled airline service using heavier-than-air craft during January, February and March 1914. -- Federal Aviation Administration. http://www.thecourier.com/Opinion/columns/2010/Mar/JU/ar_JU_032210.asp?d=032210,2010,Mar,22&c=c_13

Feedback to newly-coined word unexpect in the marketing slogan "Unexpect Yourself." Since unforseen is a synonym for unexpected, then "Unforsee Yourself" could be another marketing slogan.

Three pasta tips
(1) Crush whole black peppercorns in a mortar and pestle or grind them on the coarsest setting in a spice grinder. Then "toast" the cracked pepper by frying it in the olive oil you'll be using for the pasta sauce, heating it until it smells very fragrant.
(2) Boil your pasta until it's just short of al dente, then finish cooking it in the hot pan or skillet containing your sauce, tossing the pasta and the sauce together vigorously
(3) Adding a few ladlefuls of salty, starchy pasta water to the pasta and the sauce as you toss them together will moisten your sauce and add an additional layer of flavor and body to the final dish. http://www.saveur.com/gallery/3-Pasta-Tips

Equinox is either of two times of the year when the sun crosses the plane of the earth's equator and day and night are of equal length. See other definitions and uses as title at: http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&defl=en&q=define:equinox&ei=gmCfS8DzNpDOM_r8hMIM&sa=X&oi=glossary_definition&ct=title&ved=0CAYQkAE

The March equinox (equal night) will occur on March 20 in 2010, marking the beginning of spring in the northern hemisphere and fall (autumn) in the southern hemisphere from an astronomical viewpoint. The March equinox will occur at 17:32 (or 5:32pm) at Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) on this date. During the equinox, the length of night and day across the world is nearly, but not entirely, equal. This is because the day is slightly longer in places that are further away from the equator, and because the sun takes longer to rise and set in these locations. Furthermore, the sun takes longer to rise and set farther from the equator because it does not set straight down-- it moves in a horizontal direction. See illustration and much more at: http://www.timeanddate.com/calendar/march-equinox.html

EPA: Fix a Leak Week Showcases How Americans Can Save Water and Money
News release: "Across the country, household leaks are wasting more than 1 trillion gallons of water per year—enough water to supply every home in Texas with its annual water needs. To help consumers save water and money, EPA is working with water utilities, manufacturers, retailers, communities and plumbers to promote its second annual Fix a Leak Week, March 15 to 21. If a family of four’s wintertime water use exceeds 12,000 gallons per month, they probably have a leak. In many cases, fixture replacement parts pay for themselves quickly and can be installed by do-it-yourselfers, a trusted professional plumber, or a WaterSense irrigation partner."

New York Times offers key points of Health Care Reform bill by topics below comparing key provisions of the Senate bill and the reconciliation bill passed March 18:
• Individual mandate
• Insurance exchange
• Public plan
• Subsidies for individuals
• Employer contribution
• Subsidies for employers
• Expand Medicaid
• Medicare drug benefits
• Defining benefits
• Insurance regulations
• Dependent coverage
• Long-term care
• Abortion
• Illegal immigrants
• Children of the poor
• Total cost and coverage
• Paying for the proposals
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2010/03/19/us/politics/20100319-health-care-reconciliation.html#tab=0

Michigan reader contributes a link to verbmall, a blog about the English language:
http://www.verbmall.blogspot.com/

In Turkey, it's a crime to defame the country's founder, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk or to ridicule "Turkishness." So Google restricts access to videos that the government of Turkey deems illegal on google.com.tr. In Germany, France and Poland, it is illegal to publish pro-Nazi material or content that denies the Holocaust. To comply with those countries' laws, Google (GOOG, Fortune 500) does not display links to those sites on its search results pages on the company's German site google.de, French site google.fr or Polish site google.pl. And in Thailand, denigrating the Thai monarch is against the law, so Google blocks YouTube videos in Thailand that ridicule King Bhumibol Adulyadej. Google controls nearly two-thirds of the world's search results, making it the Internet gateway for most people. As a result of that clout, Google's censorship policies are closely watched. http://money.cnn.com/2010/03/18/technology/google_china_censorship/

YouTube has accused media conglomerate Viacom of secretly uploading content to the video-sharing site whilst publicly complaining about its presence. YouTube said it deliberately "roughed up" any uploaded the videos to make them look stolen or leaked. The accusation was made as a court prepares to rule in a $1bn suit brought by Viacom against Youtube for "massive intentional copyright infringement". Viacom said it had identified 150,000 such infringements on the site.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/8575666.stm

salmagundi (sal-muh-GUHN-dee) noun
1. A heterogeneous mixture.
2. A mixed salad of various ingredients, such as meat, eggs, anchovies, onions, oil, vinegar, etc.
From French salmagondis (originally "seasoned salted meats"), probably from salemine (salted food) + condir (to season).
prandial (PRAN-dee-uhl) adjective
Of or relating to a meal.
From Latin prandium (late breakfast, luncheon, or meal). Ultimately from the Indo-European root ed- (to eat, to bite) that is also the source of edible, comestible, obese, etch, fret, edacious, and postprandial. A.Word.A.Day with Anu Garg