Quote I dreamt that my hair was kempt. Then I dreamt that my true love unkempt it.
Ogden Nash (1902-1971) American poet
Competitive Intelligence - A Selective Resource Guide - Completely Updated - December 2011 from Law Library Resource Xchange http://www.llrx.com/features/ciguide.htm
Locating the Law, 5th edition, revised (2011) from Southern California Association of Law Libraries http://www.aallnet.org/chapter/scall/locating.htm
Tivoli Gardens (or simply Tivoli) is a famous amusement park and pleasure garden in Copenhagen, Denmark. The park opened on 15 August 1843 and is the second oldest amusement park in the world, after Dyrehavsbakken in nearby Klampenborg. The amusement park was first called "Tivoli & Vauxhall", "Tivoli" alluding to the Jardin de Tivoli in Paris (which in its turn had been named from Tivoli near Rome), and "Vauxhall" alluding to the Vauxhall Gardens in London. Tivoli's founder, Georg Carstensen (1812 –1857), obtained a five-year charter to create Tivoli by telling King Christian VIII that "when the people are amusing themselves, they do not think about politics". From the very start, Tivoli included a variety of attractions: buildings in the exotic style of an imaginary Orient: a theatre, band stands, restaurants and cafés, flower gardens, and mechanical amusement rides such as a merry-go-round and a primitive scenic railway. After dark, coloured lamps illuminated the gardens. On certain evenings, specially designed fireworks could be seen reflected in Tivoli's lake. Composer Hans Christian Lumbye (1810 –1874) was Tivoli's musical director from 1843 to 1872. Lumbye was inspired by Viennese waltz composers like the Strauss family (Johann Strauss I and his sons), and became known as the "Strauss of the North." Many of his compositions are specifically inspired by the gardens, including "Salute to the Ticket Holders of Tivoli", "Carnival Joys" and "A Festive Night at Tivoli". The Tivoli Symphony Orchestra still performs many of his works. See more plus pictures at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tivoli_Gardens
A world of previously unseen creatures has been found thriving next to boiling vents of water, several miles under the surface of the Southern Ocean near Antarctica. Hundreds of hairy-chested yeti crabs, a mysterious-looking pale octopus and colonies of limpets, snails and barnacles were found by British scientists at a hydrothermal vent located in the ocean's East Scotia Ridge. Prof Alex Rogers of Oxford University used a remotely operated vehicle called Isis to scout the sea bed around the ridge, which spans about 2.4km and features springs of black, smoky water that can reach temperatures of almost 400C (752F). The hydrothermal vents are powered by underwater volcanoes, and the scalding temperatures and rich mineral content of the water gives rise to vast rocky chimneys that support a wide variety of life forms. "The visually dominant species are the yeti crabs, which occur in fantastically high densities, up to 600 per square metre around the southern ridge," said Rogers, who led the expedition aboard the RSS James Cook in January 2010. "Also high densities of stalked barnacles, a large snail from a group called the peltospiroids, and we've also got small, green limpets which occur all over the vents." See pictures at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2012/jan/04/new-species-southern-ocean-antarctica?newsfeed=true
The average American spends at least eight and a half hours a day in front of a screen, Nicholas Carr notes in his eye-opening book “The Shallows,” in part because the number of hours American adults spent online doubled between 2005 and 2009 (and the number of hours spent in front of a TV screen, often simultaneously, is also steadily increasing). The average American teenager sends or receives 75 text messages a day, though one girl in Sacramento managed to handle an average of 10,000 every 24 hours for a month. The urgency of slowing down — to find the time and space to think — is nothing new, of course, and wiser souls have always reminded us that the more attention we pay to the moment, the less time and energy we have to place it in some larger context. “Distraction is the only thing that consoles us for our miseries,” the French philosopher Blaise Pascal wrote in the 17th century, “and yet it is itself the greatest of our miseries.” The central paradox of the machines that have made our lives so much brighter, quicker, longer and healthier is that they cannot teach us how to make the best use of them; the information revolution came without an instruction manual. All the data in the world cannot teach us how to sift through data; images don’t show us how to process images. The only way to do justice to our onscreen lives is by summoning exactly the emotional and moral clarity that can’t be found on any screen. Two journalist friends of mine observe an “Internet sabbath” every week, turning off their online connections from Friday night to Monday morning, so as to try to revive those ancient customs known as family meals and conversation. Other friends try to go on long walks every Sunday, or to “forget” their cellphones at home. A series of tests in recent years has shown, Mr. Carr points out, that after spending time in quiet rural settings, subjects “exhibit greater attentiveness, stronger memory and generally improved cognition. Their brains become both calmer and sharper.”
PICO IYER http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/01/opinion/sunday/the-joy-of-quiet.html
Feedback to A.Word.A.Day
From: John McQuillan Subject: reechy
Def: verb tr.: To pay the penalty for. verb intr.: To suffer, to endure.
In my native Scotland, a common greeting (wishing others well) is: "Lang may yer lum reek" i.e. Long may your chimney smoke. The implication being -- Long may you have fuel for your fire/stove. A corollary: The slang name for our capital city Edinburgh was "Auld Reeky" last century.
From: Dave Marks Subject: reechy
Surprised you didn't mention that it is also the source of reek and Reykjavik (smoky bay).
From: Tom Priestly Subject: mickle
Def: noun: A large amount. adjective: Great, large. adverb: Much.
The old village of Micklethwaite, now a suburb of the English city of Bradford, Yorkshire has its origin as mickle + thwaite, "small + section of forest cleared for tilling". One could add: many old villages now make up one huge urban sprawl, or "many a mickle makes a muckle" (many small things add up to a big thing).
From: Chris Papa Subject: mickle
In Act 2 of Ruddigore, a wonderful but seldom performed Gilbert & Sullivan opera, an elderly lady whose young lover had died is reunited with his ghost and the two sing a touching duet, which includes the following:
When she found that he was fickle,
Was that great oak tree,
She was in a pretty pickle,
As she well might be -
But his gallantries were mickle,
For Death followed with his sickle,
And her tears began to trickle
For her great oak tree!
Sing hey,
Lackaday!
Let the tears fall free
For the pretty little flower and the great oak tree!
From: Allen Foster Subject: mickle
I learned this word from a medieval Christmas carol, Lullay My Liking:
There was mickle melody at that childes birth.
Though the songsters were hevenly, they made a mickle mirth.
Never quite had the confidence about its specific meaning to use it conversationally, thanks for clearing up an age-old mystery!
Tuesday, January 10, 2012
Monday, January 9, 2012
Library of Congress
Books and other materials are shelved on some 838 miles of shelves in three buildings on Capitol Hill and off-site storage facilities. The Library serves as the research arm of Congress and is recognized as the national library of the United States. Its collections comprise the world's most comprehensive record of human creativity and knowledge. Open to those age 16 and older without charge or special permission, it is the world's largest library and a great resource to scholars and researchers. The library does not have a copy of every book published in the United States, but it does have more than 33 million books and printed materials, as well as more than 113 million maps, manuscripts, photographs, films, audio and video recordings, prints and drawings, and other special collections. The library gets its holdings through exchange with libraries in this country and abroad, gifts, materials received from local, state and federal agencies as well as foreign governments, purchase, and copyright deposits. Materials are added to the collections of the Library at a rate of 10,000 items per working day. Selection officers review materials and decide which should be kept and added to the permanent collections. Copyright deposits make up the core of the collections, particularly those in the map, music, motion picture, and prints and photographs divisions. http://www.loc.gov/about/faqs.html
"On the Banks of the Wabash, Far Away" was among the best-selling songs of the 19th century, earning over $100,000 from sheet music revenues. Written and composed by American songwriter Paul Dresser, it was published by the Tin Pan Alley firm of Howley, Haviland & Co. in October 1897. The lyrics of the ballad reminisce about life near Dresser's childhood home by the Wabash River in Indiana. It remained popular for decades and the Indiana General Assembly adopted it as the official state song on March 14, 1913. The song was the basis for a 1923 film of the same title. Its longtime popularity led to the emergence of several lyrical versions, including an 1898 anti-war song and a Swedish version that was a number one hit. The song was composed during a transitory time in musical history when songs first began to be recorded for the phonograph. It was among the earliest pieces of popular music to be recorded. Dresser's inability to control the distribution of phonograph cylinders led him and his company to join other composers to petition the United States Congress to expand federal copyright protections over the new technology. Dresser's ballad was the subject of some controversy after his death in 1906. His younger brother, novelist Theodore Dreiser, publicly claimed to have authored part of the song; the validity of his claim was never proven. The ambiguity of United States copyright laws at the time and the poor management of Dresser's estate left the song vulnerable to plagiarism. The 1917 song "Back Home Again in Indiana" borrowed heavily from Dresser's song, both lyrically and musically, and led to a dispute with Dresser's estate that was never resolved. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On_the_Banks_of_the_Wabash,_Far_Away
"In the Beginning, ARPA created the ARPANET.
And the ARPANET was without form and void.
And darkness was upon the deep.
And the spirit of ARPA moved upon the face of the network and ARPA said, 'Let there be a protocol,' and there was a protocol. And ARPA saw that it was good.
And ARPA said, 'Let there be more protocols,' and it was so.
And ARPA saw that it was good.
And ARPA said, 'Let there be more networks,' and it was so." Danny Cohen
Read an extensive history of ARPANET with a timeline from 1962 to 1992 at: http://www.computerhistory.org/internet_history/
pome noun
A fleshy fruit, such as an apple, pear, or quince, having several seed chambers and an outer fleshy part largely derived from the hypanthium. Also called false fruit.
[Middle English, from Old French, apple, fruit, from Vulgar Latin *p ma, from neuter pl. of Late Latin p mum, from Latin, fruit.] http://www.thefreedictionary.com/pome
Blue Lake Rangimairewhenua in Māori) is a small lake in Nelson Lakes National Park, in the northern reaches of New Zealand's Southern Alps. Sacred to local Māori, it has the clearest natural fresh water in the world. The Blue Lake is drained by the west branch of the Sabine River, which is part of the Buller River system. It is fed by a short upper segment of the Sabine, which in turn is fed by underground seepage through the landslide debris impounding the much larger Lake Constance. Blue Lake is roughly boomerang shaped, running north then northwest, with each arm of the lake stretching some 200 metres (700 ft). Its waters are cold, ranging from 5 to 8 °C (41 to 46 °F). The lake has extremely clear water, and is the clearest natural body of fresh water yet reported. A 2011 study found its visibility ranged from 70 to 80 metres (230 to 260 ft), clearer than the 63 metres (207 ft) measured for Te Waikoropupu Springs, a previous record holder. For comparison, laboratory measurements show distilled water has a visibility of approximately 80 metres (260 ft). Scientists attribute the lake water's clarity to its passage underground from Lake Constance, which filters out nearly all the particles suspended in the water. Its clarity reveals water's natural blue-violet colour.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Lake_(Tasman)
Greek and Latin roots: gram, graph
meaning: written, write
examples: graph, graphic, autograph, photography, graphite, telegram https://www.msu.edu/~defores1/gre/roots/gre_rts_afx2.htm
more examples: logogram, diagram, epigram, ideogram, seismograph
Lake Superior State University 2012 List of Banished Words
AMAZING
BABY BUMP
SHARED SACRIFICE
OCCUPY
BLOWBACK
MAN CAVE
THE NEW NORMAL
PET PARENT
WIN THE FUTURE
TRICKERATION
GINORMOUS
THANK YOU IN ADVANCE
See definitions and comments at: http://www.lssu.edu/banished/current.php
Books and other materials are shelved on some 838 miles of shelves in three buildings on Capitol Hill and off-site storage facilities. The Library serves as the research arm of Congress and is recognized as the national library of the United States. Its collections comprise the world's most comprehensive record of human creativity and knowledge. Open to those age 16 and older without charge or special permission, it is the world's largest library and a great resource to scholars and researchers. The library does not have a copy of every book published in the United States, but it does have more than 33 million books and printed materials, as well as more than 113 million maps, manuscripts, photographs, films, audio and video recordings, prints and drawings, and other special collections. The library gets its holdings through exchange with libraries in this country and abroad, gifts, materials received from local, state and federal agencies as well as foreign governments, purchase, and copyright deposits. Materials are added to the collections of the Library at a rate of 10,000 items per working day. Selection officers review materials and decide which should be kept and added to the permanent collections. Copyright deposits make up the core of the collections, particularly those in the map, music, motion picture, and prints and photographs divisions. http://www.loc.gov/about/faqs.html
"On the Banks of the Wabash, Far Away" was among the best-selling songs of the 19th century, earning over $100,000 from sheet music revenues. Written and composed by American songwriter Paul Dresser, it was published by the Tin Pan Alley firm of Howley, Haviland & Co. in October 1897. The lyrics of the ballad reminisce about life near Dresser's childhood home by the Wabash River in Indiana. It remained popular for decades and the Indiana General Assembly adopted it as the official state song on March 14, 1913. The song was the basis for a 1923 film of the same title. Its longtime popularity led to the emergence of several lyrical versions, including an 1898 anti-war song and a Swedish version that was a number one hit. The song was composed during a transitory time in musical history when songs first began to be recorded for the phonograph. It was among the earliest pieces of popular music to be recorded. Dresser's inability to control the distribution of phonograph cylinders led him and his company to join other composers to petition the United States Congress to expand federal copyright protections over the new technology. Dresser's ballad was the subject of some controversy after his death in 1906. His younger brother, novelist Theodore Dreiser, publicly claimed to have authored part of the song; the validity of his claim was never proven. The ambiguity of United States copyright laws at the time and the poor management of Dresser's estate left the song vulnerable to plagiarism. The 1917 song "Back Home Again in Indiana" borrowed heavily from Dresser's song, both lyrically and musically, and led to a dispute with Dresser's estate that was never resolved. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On_the_Banks_of_the_Wabash,_Far_Away
"In the Beginning, ARPA created the ARPANET.
And the ARPANET was without form and void.
And darkness was upon the deep.
And the spirit of ARPA moved upon the face of the network and ARPA said, 'Let there be a protocol,' and there was a protocol. And ARPA saw that it was good.
And ARPA said, 'Let there be more protocols,' and it was so.
And ARPA saw that it was good.
And ARPA said, 'Let there be more networks,' and it was so." Danny Cohen
Read an extensive history of ARPANET with a timeline from 1962 to 1992 at: http://www.computerhistory.org/internet_history/
pome noun
A fleshy fruit, such as an apple, pear, or quince, having several seed chambers and an outer fleshy part largely derived from the hypanthium. Also called false fruit.
[Middle English, from Old French, apple, fruit, from Vulgar Latin *p ma, from neuter pl. of Late Latin p mum, from Latin, fruit.] http://www.thefreedictionary.com/pome
Blue Lake Rangimairewhenua in Māori) is a small lake in Nelson Lakes National Park, in the northern reaches of New Zealand's Southern Alps. Sacred to local Māori, it has the clearest natural fresh water in the world. The Blue Lake is drained by the west branch of the Sabine River, which is part of the Buller River system. It is fed by a short upper segment of the Sabine, which in turn is fed by underground seepage through the landslide debris impounding the much larger Lake Constance. Blue Lake is roughly boomerang shaped, running north then northwest, with each arm of the lake stretching some 200 metres (700 ft). Its waters are cold, ranging from 5 to 8 °C (41 to 46 °F). The lake has extremely clear water, and is the clearest natural body of fresh water yet reported. A 2011 study found its visibility ranged from 70 to 80 metres (230 to 260 ft), clearer than the 63 metres (207 ft) measured for Te Waikoropupu Springs, a previous record holder. For comparison, laboratory measurements show distilled water has a visibility of approximately 80 metres (260 ft). Scientists attribute the lake water's clarity to its passage underground from Lake Constance, which filters out nearly all the particles suspended in the water. Its clarity reveals water's natural blue-violet colour.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Lake_(Tasman)
Greek and Latin roots: gram, graph
meaning: written, write
examples: graph, graphic, autograph, photography, graphite, telegram https://www.msu.edu/~defores1/gre/roots/gre_rts_afx2.htm
more examples: logogram, diagram, epigram, ideogram, seismograph
Lake Superior State University 2012 List of Banished Words
AMAZING
BABY BUMP
SHARED SACRIFICE
OCCUPY
BLOWBACK
MAN CAVE
THE NEW NORMAL
PET PARENT
WIN THE FUTURE
TRICKERATION
GINORMOUS
THANK YOU IN ADVANCE
See definitions and comments at: http://www.lssu.edu/banished/current.php
Friday, January 6, 2012
Quotes
It is discouraging how many people are shocked by honesty and how few by deceit.
Work is much more fun than fun.
Noel Coward (1899-1973) English playwright
Transition of American FactFinder — The legacy version of American FactFinder will no longer be available as of Jan. 20. Nearly all of the data from the older version has now been uploaded to the new American FactFinder website, including previous years of American Community Survey estimates and data from the Economic Census and other business surveys. When the older version of FactFinder is discontinued, any deep links or bookmarks in the system will no longer work. A how-to guide for Building Deep Links in the new American FactFinder is available online, along with tutorials on searching, bookmarking and using the other features of the new site. http://www.census.gov/newsroom/releases/archives/tip_sheets/tp11-25.html Thanks, Julie See also: http://factfinder2.census.gov/faces/nav/jsf/pages/index.xhtml
Origin of the name "Google" from David Koller
From time to time I read or hear stories of the origin of the search engine and company name "Google" that are incorrect, which prompts me to write this brief account, based on my understanding of the genesis of the name. The source of my information is my friends and colleagues from Wing 3B of the Gates Computer Science Building at Stanford University, where Google was born. In 1996, Larry Page and Sergey Brin called their initial search engine "BackRub," named for its analysis of the web's "back links." Larry's office was in room 360 of the Gates CS Building, which he shared with several other graduate students, including Sean Anderson, Tamara Munzner, and Lucas Pereira. In 1997, Larry and his officemates discussed a number of possible new names for the rapidly improving search technology. Sean recalls the final brainstorming session as occurring one day during September of that year. Sean and Larry were in their office, using the whiteboard, trying to think up a good name - something that related to the indexing of an immense amount of data. Sean verbally suggested the word "googolplex," and Larry responded verbally with the shortened form, "googol" (both words refer to specific large numbers). Sean was seated at his computer terminal, so he executed a search of the Internet domain name registry database to see if the newly suggested name was still available for registration and use. Sean is not an infallible speller, and he made the mistake of searching for the name spelled as "google.com," which he found to be available. Larry liked the name, and within hours he took the step of registering the name "google.com" for himself and Sergey (the domain name registration record dates from September 15, 1997). http://graphics.stanford.edu/~dk/google_name_origin.html
Even though an elephant’s leg looks like a solid column, it actually stands on tip-toe like a horse or a dog. Its heel rests on a large pad of fat that gives it a flat-footed appearance. The pad hides a sixth toe — a backward-pointing strut that evolved from one of their sesamoids, a set of small tendon-anchoring bones in the animal's ankle. Fossils suggest that the earliest ancestors of elephants had flat feet, with no sixth toes, and their ankles rested on the ground. As the animals evolved into giants, they adopted a tip-toe stance that straightened their legs and better supported their weight. During this change in their posture, one of their sesamoid bones was co-opted into a load-sharing strut. But Gerald Weissengruber at the University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna says that it is unclear if the sixth toe is a sesamoid bone at all, because it has no obvious muscles attached to it as do the panda’s thumb or a human sesamoid. Weissengruber also points out that John Hutchinson at the Royal Veterinary College in London mainly looked at captive elephants, which are known to suffer from foot and bone disorders. Disease could have turned cartilage in their foot into bone, and the ‘joint’ in the back toe might just be a fracture. A similar thing often happens to the cartilage in horse's hoofs. Hutchinson acknowledges the problem. “We don’t know how much of the ossification is normal and how much is pathological,” he says. “It would be nice to look at wild elephants.”
http://www.nature.com/news/how-the-elephant-got-its-sixth-toe-1.9712
Feedback to A.Word.A.Day
From: Mike Finestone Subject: Kosher
Def: 1. Conforming to the dietary laws of Judaism. 2. Proper; genuine; permissible.
The ultimate decision on whether a food is Kosher or not depends on the ruling of a rabbi. In the UK some time ago the London Rabinate deliberated on whether or not Mars bars were acceptable and decided against them. However in the North of the country no such question had been asked so in Manchester, for example, one could still enjoy them. At a meeting this anomaly was brought up and someone asked where the dividing line was between the North and the South. As quick as a flash the answer came from the audience -- Nuneaton (a town between the two).
From: Greta Dorfman Subject: kosher
"Kosher" is a word that is routinely egregiously misused by the non-Jewish public which has no understanding of the dietary laws. Oh well... but since it's actually a Hebrew word, I have to say that I'm a bit disappointed, that in the one week that you devote to Yiddish words, that you would use one that is so uninteresting in its true meaning. (I live in Israel, and I do everything possible to avoid buying kosher foods, particularly because kosherized meat is high in sodium.)
The Secret of the Fibonacci Sequence in Trees by Aidan Dwyer
"I am the Lorax. I speak for the trees. I speak for the trees for they have no tongues." —Dr. Seuss (The Lorax)
People see winter as a cold and gloomy time in nature. The days are short. Snow blankets the ground. Lakes and ponds freeze, and animals scurry to burrows to wait for spring. The rainbow of red, yellow and orange autumn leaves has been blown away by the wind turning trees into black skeletons that stretch bony fingers of branches into the sky. It seems like nature has disappeared. But when I went on a winter hiking trip in the Catskill Mountains in New York, I noticed something strange about the shape of the tree branches. I thought trees were a mess of tangled branches, but I saw a pattern in the way the tree branches grew. I took photos of the branches on different types of trees, and the pattern became clearer. The branches seemed to have a spiral pattern that reached up into the sky. I had a hunch that the trees had a secret to tell about this shape. Investigating this secret led me on an expedition from the Catskill Mountains to the ancient Sanskrit poetry of India; from the 13th-century streets of Pisa, Italy, and a mysterious mathematical formula called the "divine number" to an 18th-century naturalist who saw this mathematical formula in nature; and, finally, to experimenting with the trees in my own backyard. My investigation asked the question of whether there is a secret formula in tree design and whether the purpose of the spiral pattern is to collect sunlight better. After doing research, I put together test tools, experiments and design models to investigate how trees collect sunlight. At the end of my research project, I put the pieces of this natural puzzle together, and I discovered the answer. But the best part was that I discovered a new way to increase the efficiency of solar panels at collecting sunlight! Read much more and see images at: http://www.amnh.org/nationalcenter/youngnaturalistawards/2011/aidan.html
NORTHPORT, N.Y. The legitimacy of Aidan Dwyer's original idea remains unsettled, though scientists are skeptical. Aidan is now revamping his experiment as he maneuvers around homework, sleepovers and the odd curfew violation. But there is no disputing that he has become a star. Many in the scientific community are championing his intellectual curiosity and graceful ability to weather an Internet firestorm, making him a hot speaker at events around the world. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203550304577138511287470508.html
It is discouraging how many people are shocked by honesty and how few by deceit.
Work is much more fun than fun.
Noel Coward (1899-1973) English playwright
Transition of American FactFinder — The legacy version of American FactFinder will no longer be available as of Jan. 20. Nearly all of the data from the older version has now been uploaded to the new American FactFinder website, including previous years of American Community Survey estimates and data from the Economic Census and other business surveys. When the older version of FactFinder is discontinued, any deep links or bookmarks in the system will no longer work. A how-to guide for Building Deep Links in the new American FactFinder is available online, along with tutorials on searching, bookmarking and using the other features of the new site. http://www.census.gov/newsroom/releases/archives/tip_sheets/tp11-25.html Thanks, Julie See also: http://factfinder2.census.gov/faces/nav/jsf/pages/index.xhtml
Origin of the name "Google" from David Koller
From time to time I read or hear stories of the origin of the search engine and company name "Google" that are incorrect, which prompts me to write this brief account, based on my understanding of the genesis of the name. The source of my information is my friends and colleagues from Wing 3B of the Gates Computer Science Building at Stanford University, where Google was born. In 1996, Larry Page and Sergey Brin called their initial search engine "BackRub," named for its analysis of the web's "back links." Larry's office was in room 360 of the Gates CS Building, which he shared with several other graduate students, including Sean Anderson, Tamara Munzner, and Lucas Pereira. In 1997, Larry and his officemates discussed a number of possible new names for the rapidly improving search technology. Sean recalls the final brainstorming session as occurring one day during September of that year. Sean and Larry were in their office, using the whiteboard, trying to think up a good name - something that related to the indexing of an immense amount of data. Sean verbally suggested the word "googolplex," and Larry responded verbally with the shortened form, "googol" (both words refer to specific large numbers). Sean was seated at his computer terminal, so he executed a search of the Internet domain name registry database to see if the newly suggested name was still available for registration and use. Sean is not an infallible speller, and he made the mistake of searching for the name spelled as "google.com," which he found to be available. Larry liked the name, and within hours he took the step of registering the name "google.com" for himself and Sergey (the domain name registration record dates from September 15, 1997). http://graphics.stanford.edu/~dk/google_name_origin.html
Even though an elephant’s leg looks like a solid column, it actually stands on tip-toe like a horse or a dog. Its heel rests on a large pad of fat that gives it a flat-footed appearance. The pad hides a sixth toe — a backward-pointing strut that evolved from one of their sesamoids, a set of small tendon-anchoring bones in the animal's ankle. Fossils suggest that the earliest ancestors of elephants had flat feet, with no sixth toes, and their ankles rested on the ground. As the animals evolved into giants, they adopted a tip-toe stance that straightened their legs and better supported their weight. During this change in their posture, one of their sesamoid bones was co-opted into a load-sharing strut. But Gerald Weissengruber at the University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna says that it is unclear if the sixth toe is a sesamoid bone at all, because it has no obvious muscles attached to it as do the panda’s thumb or a human sesamoid. Weissengruber also points out that John Hutchinson at the Royal Veterinary College in London mainly looked at captive elephants, which are known to suffer from foot and bone disorders. Disease could have turned cartilage in their foot into bone, and the ‘joint’ in the back toe might just be a fracture. A similar thing often happens to the cartilage in horse's hoofs. Hutchinson acknowledges the problem. “We don’t know how much of the ossification is normal and how much is pathological,” he says. “It would be nice to look at wild elephants.”
http://www.nature.com/news/how-the-elephant-got-its-sixth-toe-1.9712
Feedback to A.Word.A.Day
From: Mike Finestone Subject: Kosher
Def: 1. Conforming to the dietary laws of Judaism. 2. Proper; genuine; permissible.
The ultimate decision on whether a food is Kosher or not depends on the ruling of a rabbi. In the UK some time ago the London Rabinate deliberated on whether or not Mars bars were acceptable and decided against them. However in the North of the country no such question had been asked so in Manchester, for example, one could still enjoy them. At a meeting this anomaly was brought up and someone asked where the dividing line was between the North and the South. As quick as a flash the answer came from the audience -- Nuneaton (a town between the two).
From: Greta Dorfman Subject: kosher
"Kosher" is a word that is routinely egregiously misused by the non-Jewish public which has no understanding of the dietary laws. Oh well... but since it's actually a Hebrew word, I have to say that I'm a bit disappointed, that in the one week that you devote to Yiddish words, that you would use one that is so uninteresting in its true meaning. (I live in Israel, and I do everything possible to avoid buying kosher foods, particularly because kosherized meat is high in sodium.)
The Secret of the Fibonacci Sequence in Trees by Aidan Dwyer
"I am the Lorax. I speak for the trees. I speak for the trees for they have no tongues." —Dr. Seuss (The Lorax)
People see winter as a cold and gloomy time in nature. The days are short. Snow blankets the ground. Lakes and ponds freeze, and animals scurry to burrows to wait for spring. The rainbow of red, yellow and orange autumn leaves has been blown away by the wind turning trees into black skeletons that stretch bony fingers of branches into the sky. It seems like nature has disappeared. But when I went on a winter hiking trip in the Catskill Mountains in New York, I noticed something strange about the shape of the tree branches. I thought trees were a mess of tangled branches, but I saw a pattern in the way the tree branches grew. I took photos of the branches on different types of trees, and the pattern became clearer. The branches seemed to have a spiral pattern that reached up into the sky. I had a hunch that the trees had a secret to tell about this shape. Investigating this secret led me on an expedition from the Catskill Mountains to the ancient Sanskrit poetry of India; from the 13th-century streets of Pisa, Italy, and a mysterious mathematical formula called the "divine number" to an 18th-century naturalist who saw this mathematical formula in nature; and, finally, to experimenting with the trees in my own backyard. My investigation asked the question of whether there is a secret formula in tree design and whether the purpose of the spiral pattern is to collect sunlight better. After doing research, I put together test tools, experiments and design models to investigate how trees collect sunlight. At the end of my research project, I put the pieces of this natural puzzle together, and I discovered the answer. But the best part was that I discovered a new way to increase the efficiency of solar panels at collecting sunlight! Read much more and see images at: http://www.amnh.org/nationalcenter/youngnaturalistawards/2011/aidan.html
NORTHPORT, N.Y. The legitimacy of Aidan Dwyer's original idea remains unsettled, though scientists are skeptical. Aidan is now revamping his experiment as he maneuvers around homework, sleepovers and the odd curfew violation. But there is no disputing that he has become a star. Many in the scientific community are championing his intellectual curiosity and graceful ability to weather an Internet firestorm, making him a hot speaker at events around the world. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203550304577138511287470508.html
Thursday, January 5, 2012
The Peace dollar is a United States dollar coin minted from 1921 to 1928, and again in 1934 and 1935. Designed by Anthony de Francisci, the coin was the result of a competition to find designs emblematic of peace. Its reverse depicts a Bald Eagle at rest clutching an olive branch, with the legend "Peace". It was the last United States dollar coin to be struck for circulation in silver. With the passage of the Pittman Act in 1918, the United States Mint was required to strike millions of silver dollars, and began to do so in 1921, using the Morgan dollar design. Numismatists began to lobby the Mint to issue a coin that memorialized the peace following World War I; although they failed to get Congress to pass a bill requiring the redesign, they were able to persuade government officials to take action. The Peace dollar was approved by Treasury Secretary Andrew Mellon in December 1921, completing the redesign of United States coinage that had begun in 1907. The public believed the announced design, which included a broken sword, was illustrative of defeat, and the Mint hastily acted to remove the sword. The Peace dollar was first struck on December 28, 1921; just over a million were coined bearing a 1921 date. When the Pittman Act requirements were met in 1928, the Mint ceased to strike the coins, but more were struck in 1934 and 1935 as a result of other legislation. In 1965, the Mint struck over 300,000 Peace dollars bearing a 1964 date; these were never issued and are believed to have been melted. See images and read statutory history at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peace_dollar
Anonymity and pseudonymity have a long history. We think of medieval authors laboring anonymously, but even the first age of literary celebrities, the 18th century, was also paradoxically an age of anonymity. Book historian James Raven estimates that "over 80% of all novels published in Britain between 1750 and 1790 were published anonymously. Satirists such as Jonathan Swift and Alexander Pope published anonymously, often for legal and political reasons. Anonymity protected Swift from arrest when a reward was offered for the author of his "Drapier's Letters," pamphlets advising the Irish not to take copper half-pence from England. The novels of Daniel Defoe, Samuel Richardson, Laurence Sterne, Tobias Smollett and Fanny Burney were all anonymous. Journalism too was generally anonymous. Joseph Addison and Richard Steele were "Mr. Spectator" with an initial at the end of each daily Spectator essay providing a clue to the author's identity. Samuel Johnson, the subject of the world's most famous literary biography, is far from unknown to literary history, yet until he was nearly 40, his name only appeared on a handful of his writings. And even after his "Dictionary of the English Language" was published with his name in 1755, he often remained anonymous. Johnson wrote to the printer of "Rasselas," his only long fiction, "I will not print my name, but expect it to be known." Printers and booksellers would be in the know; readers familiar with his style would guess. Read more at: http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-1227-folkenflik-anonymous-20111227,0,7045611.story
Quotes
Common Beltway wisdom dictated that in reality, it was not senators, congressmen, or Presidents that controlled Washington--it was lobbyists.
Poetry slams are about poetry from the people, not the eggheads.
Capitol Threat by William Bernhardt, #15 in the Ben Kinkaid series
Former trial attorney Bernhardt has twice won the Oklahoma Book Award for Best Fiction, and in 2000 was presented the H. Louise Cobb Distinguished Author Award.
In the beginning was the word, and the word was with Marc Smith, and the word was "slam." This was in 1986 and Smith, who had been staging poetry-performance events for a couple of years at the Get Me High Lounge, had just moved to what he hoped might be a permanent home at the Green Mill. It was a simple idea. Smith on stage every Sunday night, playing energetic, almost evangelical host/emcee of an evening he called "a grab-bag variety show which mixes together an open stage, special guests, musical and dramatic acts." At its heart was the slam itself, a competition among poets of varying talent scored by three judges chosen at random from the crowd. Audience members voiced their displeasure with the poetry by finger snapping, foot stomping, groaning, hissing or grunting. The winning poet gets $10. Poetry slams now take place on a regular basis in more than 500 cities in the U.S. and around the world.
http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2011-07-15/entertainment/ct-ae-0717-kogan-sidewalks-20110716_1_kevin-coval-slam-marc-smith
The title of Brave New World by Aldous Huxley comes from The Tempest by William Shakespeare. Shakespeare quotes through the book come from 13 of his works. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_quotes_from_Shakespeare_in_Brave_New_World
A nut is a hard-shelled fruit of some plants having an indehiscent seed. While a wide variety of dried seeds and fruits are called nuts in English, only a certain number of them are considered by biologists to be true nuts. Nuts are a composite of the seed and the fruit, where the fruit does not open to release the seed. Most seeds come from fruits, and the seeds are free of the fruit, unlike nuts such as hazelnuts, hickories, chestnuts and acorns, which have a stony fruit wall and originate from a compound ovary. Culinary usage of the term is less restrictive, and some nuts as defined in food preparation, like pistachios and Brazil nuts, are not nuts in a biological sense. Everyday common usage of the term often refers to any hard-walled, edible kernel as a nut. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nut_(fruit)
Dehiscence is the opening, at maturity, in a pre-defined way, of a plant structure, such as a fruit, anther, or sporangium, to release its contents. Sometimes this involves the complete detachment of a part. Structures that open in this way are said to be dehiscent. Structures that do not open in this way are called indehiscent, and rely on other mechanisms such as decay or predation to release the contents. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indehiscent
Set in 33 acres of beautiful woodland with some stunning views of the surrounding countryside, Dartmoor Zoological Park is a unique, family owned zoo with a fantastic collection of animals and the widest variety of big cats in the south west of England. Formerly known as Dartmoor Wildlife Park, the zoo was purchased by the Mee family and, following major refurbishment work, reopened in July 2007. Dartmoor Zoological Park was depicted as Rosemoor Animal Park in the 2011 movie, We Bought A Zoo. http://www.dartmoorzoo.org/
The Dartmoor Zoo story: http://www.dartmoorzoo.org/your-visit/the-dzp-story.html
Events of January 5
1066 – Edward the Confessor dies childless, sparking a succession crisis that will eventually lead to the Norman conquest of England.
1781 – American Revolutionary War: Richmond, Virginia, is burned by British naval forces led by Benedict Arnold.
1846 – The United States House of Representatives votes to stop sharing the Oregon Territory with the United Kingdom.
1914 – The Ford Motor Company announces an eight-hour workday and a minimum wage of $5 for a day's labor.
1925 – Nellie Tayloe Ross of Wyoming becomes the first female governor in the United States.
1933 – Construction of the Golden Gate Bridge begins in San Francisco Bay.
1940 – FM radio is demonstrated to the Federal Communications Commission for the first time.
1957 – In a speech given to the United States Congress, President Dwight D. Eisenhower announces the establishment of what will later be called the Eisenhower Doctrine.
1972 – U.S. President Richard Nixon orders the development of a Space Shuttle program.
1974 – Warmest reliably measured temperature in Antarctica of +59°F (+15°C) recorded at Vanda Station
1976 – The Khmer Rouge proclaim the Constitution of Democratic Kampuchea.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/January_5
Anonymity and pseudonymity have a long history. We think of medieval authors laboring anonymously, but even the first age of literary celebrities, the 18th century, was also paradoxically an age of anonymity. Book historian James Raven estimates that "over 80% of all novels published in Britain between 1750 and 1790 were published anonymously. Satirists such as Jonathan Swift and Alexander Pope published anonymously, often for legal and political reasons. Anonymity protected Swift from arrest when a reward was offered for the author of his "Drapier's Letters," pamphlets advising the Irish not to take copper half-pence from England. The novels of Daniel Defoe, Samuel Richardson, Laurence Sterne, Tobias Smollett and Fanny Burney were all anonymous. Journalism too was generally anonymous. Joseph Addison and Richard Steele were "Mr. Spectator" with an initial at the end of each daily Spectator essay providing a clue to the author's identity. Samuel Johnson, the subject of the world's most famous literary biography, is far from unknown to literary history, yet until he was nearly 40, his name only appeared on a handful of his writings. And even after his "Dictionary of the English Language" was published with his name in 1755, he often remained anonymous. Johnson wrote to the printer of "Rasselas," his only long fiction, "I will not print my name, but expect it to be known." Printers and booksellers would be in the know; readers familiar with his style would guess. Read more at: http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-1227-folkenflik-anonymous-20111227,0,7045611.story
Quotes
Common Beltway wisdom dictated that in reality, it was not senators, congressmen, or Presidents that controlled Washington--it was lobbyists.
Poetry slams are about poetry from the people, not the eggheads.
Capitol Threat by William Bernhardt, #15 in the Ben Kinkaid series
Former trial attorney Bernhardt has twice won the Oklahoma Book Award for Best Fiction, and in 2000 was presented the H. Louise Cobb Distinguished Author Award.
In the beginning was the word, and the word was with Marc Smith, and the word was "slam." This was in 1986 and Smith, who had been staging poetry-performance events for a couple of years at the Get Me High Lounge, had just moved to what he hoped might be a permanent home at the Green Mill. It was a simple idea. Smith on stage every Sunday night, playing energetic, almost evangelical host/emcee of an evening he called "a grab-bag variety show which mixes together an open stage, special guests, musical and dramatic acts." At its heart was the slam itself, a competition among poets of varying talent scored by three judges chosen at random from the crowd. Audience members voiced their displeasure with the poetry by finger snapping, foot stomping, groaning, hissing or grunting. The winning poet gets $10. Poetry slams now take place on a regular basis in more than 500 cities in the U.S. and around the world.
http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2011-07-15/entertainment/ct-ae-0717-kogan-sidewalks-20110716_1_kevin-coval-slam-marc-smith
The title of Brave New World by Aldous Huxley comes from The Tempest by William Shakespeare. Shakespeare quotes through the book come from 13 of his works. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_quotes_from_Shakespeare_in_Brave_New_World
A nut is a hard-shelled fruit of some plants having an indehiscent seed. While a wide variety of dried seeds and fruits are called nuts in English, only a certain number of them are considered by biologists to be true nuts. Nuts are a composite of the seed and the fruit, where the fruit does not open to release the seed. Most seeds come from fruits, and the seeds are free of the fruit, unlike nuts such as hazelnuts, hickories, chestnuts and acorns, which have a stony fruit wall and originate from a compound ovary. Culinary usage of the term is less restrictive, and some nuts as defined in food preparation, like pistachios and Brazil nuts, are not nuts in a biological sense. Everyday common usage of the term often refers to any hard-walled, edible kernel as a nut. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nut_(fruit)
Dehiscence is the opening, at maturity, in a pre-defined way, of a plant structure, such as a fruit, anther, or sporangium, to release its contents. Sometimes this involves the complete detachment of a part. Structures that open in this way are said to be dehiscent. Structures that do not open in this way are called indehiscent, and rely on other mechanisms such as decay or predation to release the contents. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indehiscent
Set in 33 acres of beautiful woodland with some stunning views of the surrounding countryside, Dartmoor Zoological Park is a unique, family owned zoo with a fantastic collection of animals and the widest variety of big cats in the south west of England. Formerly known as Dartmoor Wildlife Park, the zoo was purchased by the Mee family and, following major refurbishment work, reopened in July 2007. Dartmoor Zoological Park was depicted as Rosemoor Animal Park in the 2011 movie, We Bought A Zoo. http://www.dartmoorzoo.org/
The Dartmoor Zoo story: http://www.dartmoorzoo.org/your-visit/the-dzp-story.html
Events of January 5
1066 – Edward the Confessor dies childless, sparking a succession crisis that will eventually lead to the Norman conquest of England.
1781 – American Revolutionary War: Richmond, Virginia, is burned by British naval forces led by Benedict Arnold.
1846 – The United States House of Representatives votes to stop sharing the Oregon Territory with the United Kingdom.
1914 – The Ford Motor Company announces an eight-hour workday and a minimum wage of $5 for a day's labor.
1925 – Nellie Tayloe Ross of Wyoming becomes the first female governor in the United States.
1933 – Construction of the Golden Gate Bridge begins in San Francisco Bay.
1940 – FM radio is demonstrated to the Federal Communications Commission for the first time.
1957 – In a speech given to the United States Congress, President Dwight D. Eisenhower announces the establishment of what will later be called the Eisenhower Doctrine.
1972 – U.S. President Richard Nixon orders the development of a Space Shuttle program.
1974 – Warmest reliably measured temperature in Antarctica of +59°F (+15°C) recorded at Vanda Station
1976 – The Khmer Rouge proclaim the Constitution of Democratic Kampuchea.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/January_5
Wednesday, January 4, 2012
Garrigue is the name given to the Mediterranean scrubland which is made up of low growing, bushy plants including holm oak, juniper, broom and wild herbs such as rosemary and thyme. In Provence it also includes lavender although I have never seen this in the wild in the Languedoc. Walking amongst the garrigue on a warm day, crushing herbs underfoot, releases a fabulous aroma of warm thyme and rosemary. When used to describe a wine, garrigue refers to these green herby aromas. It can also be used to describe flavours too although I find it more evocative as a descriptor for aroma. from blog of Juliet Bruce Jones, Master of Wine http://languedocwinetales.blogspot.com/2009/02/garrigue-what-is-it.html
Learn more about the origins of the wild Languedoc countryside and the Languedoc garrigue The garrigue (the name comes from the Occitan word for holm oak – garric) as we know it now is a place for leisure activities; walking, mountain biking, birdspotting, hunting … and we tend to think of it as an area of wild countryside. Much more at: . http://www.frenchentree.com/languedoc-roussillon-holiday/DisplayArticle.asp?ID=32179
Walking in Languedoc http://www.walking-languedoc.com/Article-Hiking_in_Garrigue.html
An aggressive promotional campaign helped “Downton Abbey” win six Emmy Awards, including best mini-series or movie, away from competitors on HBO and Starz. “Downton Abbey,” which follows an aristocratic English family and its nosy staff at a sprawling estate on the cusp of World War I, was first shown on ITV in Britain. It slowly built an audience in the United States after critics called it a “delightful romp.” Viewers who didn’t typically watch PBS tuned in. “It was the closest thing to water-cooler television as public television gets,” said Rebecca Eaton, executive producer of Masterpiece, produced by WGBH Boston. A water-cooler show couldn’t come at a more critical time. The Budget Control Act, which ended the debt ceiling crisis in August, strips public television and others of a portion of federal financing starting as early as 2013. In 2010, PBS had $571 million in total revenue, down from $624 million in 2007. (A PBS spokeswoman said annual revenue varies based on programming investments.) Federal financing for public television in 2010, through grants and appropriations to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, was $97.8 million, or 17 percent of PBS’s total revenue. That’s down from $121 million, or 19 percent, in 2007, according to audited consolidated financial statements. States, meanwhile, under severe budget pressure, have cut financing for local public broadcasting stations. A social media campaign includes “Downton” actors sending Twitter messages about the show and sponsored, promotional Twitter messages. Viewers can unlock “Downton Abbey” stickers on GetGlue. On Dec. 26 fans got a 10-minute preview of “Downton Abbey” on the “Masterpiece” and PBS Facebook pages. “Social media drove the success of ‘Downton’ the first time around,” said Lesli Rotenberg, senior vice president of marketing and communications for PBS. “This time we’re using social media to help further drive buzz.” Viking River Cruises has signed on as “Masterpiece’s” corporate sponsor, filling a five-year void that began when Exxon Mobil withdrew its support in 2004. Viking will send mailers to customers pegged to the “Downton Abbey” Season 2 premiere. A corporate message will come on right after the show’s host, Laura Linney, introduces the program. “Our demographic is affluent baby boomers, 55-plus,” said Richard Marnell, Viking’s senior vice president of marketing. “We’d been looking for a broadcast partner that reaches that group.” http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/02/business/media/pbs-shifts-tactics-to-reach-wider-audience.html
Ohio became the latest state to take action on the possible link between seismic activity and wells used to dispose of waste water from oil and gas production when state officials ordered a halt to the practice near Youngstown this weekend after several minor earthquakes. The wells, known as injection wells, have been proliferating in Ohio to accommodate growing volumes of waste water left over from hydraulic fracturing, which involves blasting water, sand and chemicals underground to break apart dense layers of rock to free up oil and gas. The state's move could stoke the political debate about hydraulic fracturing, also called fracking, a technique that has sparked an energy boom in several states but also concerns from environmental advocates. The decision also highlights a controversy surrounding the exporting of fracking waste water from one state to another. More than half of the fluid injected at the Youngstown well came from Pennsylvania, said Andy Ware, deputy director of the Ohio Department of Natural Resources. Ohio regulators previously asked the company operating the Youngstown well, D&L Energy Inc., to stop injecting waste water after a 2.7-magnitude earthquake Dec. 24. But on Saturday evening, officials declared a moratorium on all injections within a five-mile radius of the well after another, 4.0-magnitude earthquake earlier in the day.
There have been 11 small temblors around the well since March, roiling the rustbelt region of northeast Ohio, which has no known history of seismic activity.
DANIEL GILBERT
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203462304577136920749123772.html
Christmas tree down
Decorations too
The room is so empty
Makes me kind of blue. --Donna Dean
Vivian Maier (1926-2009) had a talent for seeing. As she walked down the street, she not only avoided bumping into people and objects, she actually saw them in a way most people do not; she saw them in their particularity. We know this because more than 100,000 negatives of photographs she took were somewhat accidentally stumbled upon after her death and now form the basis of two concurrent gallery exhibitions, a photo book and two websites. The rent on Maier's storage lockers had gone unpaid, and their contents were put up for sale. In 2007, John Maloof, a young real-estate agent, bought one of the boxes for $400 because there was a picture of the Loop in it he thought he could use for a book he was writing. Mr. Maloof knew nothing about art photography, but as he went through the 30,000 images in the box he got interested, and educated himself. He tracked down people who had bought other boxes and picked them up. But whose pictures were they? Finally, in April 2009, he found deep in one of the boxes an envelope from a photo lab with "Vivian Maier" penciled on it. A Google search turned up the death notice the Gensburgs had placed in the Chicago Tribune a few days before: "Vivian Maier . . . Second mother to John, Lane and Matthew." In October 2009, Mr. Maloof posted some of Maier's pictures on Flickr, and since then interest in her work has grown steadily. Besides Mr. Maloof's holdings, Jeff Goldstein, another collector, has about 15,000 negatives. Because she used a medium-format Rollei rather than a 35mm camera, Maier's pictures have more detail than those of most street photographers. Like them, though, her main subject is people she encountered on her outings. Her compositions tend to be straightforward. WILLIAM MYERS http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204879004577110884090494826.html
See photographs at: Howard Greenberg Gallery through Jan. 28 41 E 57th St New York, NY 10022 (212) 334-0010 Steven Kasher Gallery through Feb. 25 521 West 23rd St # 2R New York, NY 10011-1114 (212) 966-3978
12 must-see events in the sky in 2012
Jan. 4: Quadrantid meteor shower peaks
Feb. 20 to March 12: Best evening apparition of Mercury
March 3: Mars arrives at opposition
March 13: Brilliant "double planet"
May 5: Biggest full moon of 2012
May 20: Annular eclipse of the sun
June 4: Partial eclipse of the moon
June 5: Rare transit of Venus across the sun
Aug. 12: Perseid meteor shower
Nov. 13: Total eclipse of the sun
Dec. 13-14: Geminid meteor shower
Dec. 25: Christmas evening and Jupiter
Read details at: http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-205_162-57350935/12-must-see-skywatching-events-in-2012/
Learn more about the origins of the wild Languedoc countryside and the Languedoc garrigue The garrigue (the name comes from the Occitan word for holm oak – garric) as we know it now is a place for leisure activities; walking, mountain biking, birdspotting, hunting … and we tend to think of it as an area of wild countryside. Much more at: . http://www.frenchentree.com/languedoc-roussillon-holiday/DisplayArticle.asp?ID=32179
Walking in Languedoc http://www.walking-languedoc.com/Article-Hiking_in_Garrigue.html
An aggressive promotional campaign helped “Downton Abbey” win six Emmy Awards, including best mini-series or movie, away from competitors on HBO and Starz. “Downton Abbey,” which follows an aristocratic English family and its nosy staff at a sprawling estate on the cusp of World War I, was first shown on ITV in Britain. It slowly built an audience in the United States after critics called it a “delightful romp.” Viewers who didn’t typically watch PBS tuned in. “It was the closest thing to water-cooler television as public television gets,” said Rebecca Eaton, executive producer of Masterpiece, produced by WGBH Boston. A water-cooler show couldn’t come at a more critical time. The Budget Control Act, which ended the debt ceiling crisis in August, strips public television and others of a portion of federal financing starting as early as 2013. In 2010, PBS had $571 million in total revenue, down from $624 million in 2007. (A PBS spokeswoman said annual revenue varies based on programming investments.) Federal financing for public television in 2010, through grants and appropriations to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, was $97.8 million, or 17 percent of PBS’s total revenue. That’s down from $121 million, or 19 percent, in 2007, according to audited consolidated financial statements. States, meanwhile, under severe budget pressure, have cut financing for local public broadcasting stations. A social media campaign includes “Downton” actors sending Twitter messages about the show and sponsored, promotional Twitter messages. Viewers can unlock “Downton Abbey” stickers on GetGlue. On Dec. 26 fans got a 10-minute preview of “Downton Abbey” on the “Masterpiece” and PBS Facebook pages. “Social media drove the success of ‘Downton’ the first time around,” said Lesli Rotenberg, senior vice president of marketing and communications for PBS. “This time we’re using social media to help further drive buzz.” Viking River Cruises has signed on as “Masterpiece’s” corporate sponsor, filling a five-year void that began when Exxon Mobil withdrew its support in 2004. Viking will send mailers to customers pegged to the “Downton Abbey” Season 2 premiere. A corporate message will come on right after the show’s host, Laura Linney, introduces the program. “Our demographic is affluent baby boomers, 55-plus,” said Richard Marnell, Viking’s senior vice president of marketing. “We’d been looking for a broadcast partner that reaches that group.” http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/02/business/media/pbs-shifts-tactics-to-reach-wider-audience.html
Ohio became the latest state to take action on the possible link between seismic activity and wells used to dispose of waste water from oil and gas production when state officials ordered a halt to the practice near Youngstown this weekend after several minor earthquakes. The wells, known as injection wells, have been proliferating in Ohio to accommodate growing volumes of waste water left over from hydraulic fracturing, which involves blasting water, sand and chemicals underground to break apart dense layers of rock to free up oil and gas. The state's move could stoke the political debate about hydraulic fracturing, also called fracking, a technique that has sparked an energy boom in several states but also concerns from environmental advocates. The decision also highlights a controversy surrounding the exporting of fracking waste water from one state to another. More than half of the fluid injected at the Youngstown well came from Pennsylvania, said Andy Ware, deputy director of the Ohio Department of Natural Resources. Ohio regulators previously asked the company operating the Youngstown well, D&L Energy Inc., to stop injecting waste water after a 2.7-magnitude earthquake Dec. 24. But on Saturday evening, officials declared a moratorium on all injections within a five-mile radius of the well after another, 4.0-magnitude earthquake earlier in the day.
There have been 11 small temblors around the well since March, roiling the rustbelt region of northeast Ohio, which has no known history of seismic activity.
DANIEL GILBERT
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203462304577136920749123772.html
Christmas tree down
Decorations too
The room is so empty
Makes me kind of blue. --Donna Dean
Vivian Maier (1926-2009) had a talent for seeing. As she walked down the street, she not only avoided bumping into people and objects, she actually saw them in a way most people do not; she saw them in their particularity. We know this because more than 100,000 negatives of photographs she took were somewhat accidentally stumbled upon after her death and now form the basis of two concurrent gallery exhibitions, a photo book and two websites. The rent on Maier's storage lockers had gone unpaid, and their contents were put up for sale. In 2007, John Maloof, a young real-estate agent, bought one of the boxes for $400 because there was a picture of the Loop in it he thought he could use for a book he was writing. Mr. Maloof knew nothing about art photography, but as he went through the 30,000 images in the box he got interested, and educated himself. He tracked down people who had bought other boxes and picked them up. But whose pictures were they? Finally, in April 2009, he found deep in one of the boxes an envelope from a photo lab with "Vivian Maier" penciled on it. A Google search turned up the death notice the Gensburgs had placed in the Chicago Tribune a few days before: "Vivian Maier . . . Second mother to John, Lane and Matthew." In October 2009, Mr. Maloof posted some of Maier's pictures on Flickr, and since then interest in her work has grown steadily. Besides Mr. Maloof's holdings, Jeff Goldstein, another collector, has about 15,000 negatives. Because she used a medium-format Rollei rather than a 35mm camera, Maier's pictures have more detail than those of most street photographers. Like them, though, her main subject is people she encountered on her outings. Her compositions tend to be straightforward. WILLIAM MYERS http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204879004577110884090494826.html
See photographs at: Howard Greenberg Gallery through Jan. 28 41 E 57th St New York, NY 10022 (212) 334-0010 Steven Kasher Gallery through Feb. 25 521 West 23rd St # 2R New York, NY 10011-1114 (212) 966-3978
12 must-see events in the sky in 2012
Jan. 4: Quadrantid meteor shower peaks
Feb. 20 to March 12: Best evening apparition of Mercury
March 3: Mars arrives at opposition
March 13: Brilliant "double planet"
May 5: Biggest full moon of 2012
May 20: Annular eclipse of the sun
June 4: Partial eclipse of the moon
June 5: Rare transit of Venus across the sun
Aug. 12: Perseid meteor shower
Nov. 13: Total eclipse of the sun
Dec. 13-14: Geminid meteor shower
Dec. 25: Christmas evening and Jupiter
Read details at: http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-205_162-57350935/12-must-see-skywatching-events-in-2012/
Tuesday, January 3, 2012
bread and circuses noun
something, as extravagant entertainment, offered as an expedient means of pacifying discontent or diverting attention from a source of grievance.
Origin: 1910–15; translation of Latin pānis et circēnsēs; from a remark by the Roman satirist Juvenal on the limited desires of the Roman populace. http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/bread+and+circuses
To celebrate New Year's Eve, a crowd of 500 revelers at the Bearsville Theater in Woodstock, N.Y., whip into frenzy as the band plays the KISS song, "Rock and Roll All Nite." But for this audience, the anthem is just a metaphor. The disco ball signaling the arrival of the new year will drop at 8:30 p.m. Singer Robert Burke Warren, known by the stage name Uncle Rock, has held this annual "Family New Year's Eve" for four years. Strange objects drop at even stranger times to welcome 2012. Bethlehem, Pa., which has an annual tradition of dropping a 6-foot-wide replica of a marshmallow Peep chick from a crane on New Year's Eve, at 5:15 in the afternoon this year to attract families. At 9 p.m. in Easton, Md., a steel-reinforced, papier-mâché crab—8 feet from claw tip to claw tip—drops 20 feet into a crowd to mark the New Year in this crab-fishing community. Why 9 p.m.? "That's midnight in the mid-Atlantic where crabs live," says Marie U'Ren, who helps run the event. Other towns, zoos and amusement parks have created an even earlier alternative New Year celebration, dubbed "Noon Year's Eve," with countdowns and ball drops that happen when the sun is high in the sky. But there's likely no earlier alternative than the annual "Early New Year's Eve Party" held by a chapter of the AARP in the Pennsylvania Poconos. On Dec. 30, more than 100 partygoers aged 50 to 90 gather from 11:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. at the Riverview Inn Ballroom in Matamoras, Pa., for a roast-beef-and-potatoes lunch, followed by a Champagne toast and performance by crooner and sometime Elvis impersonator Rich Wilson. GEOFFREY A. FOWLER http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204632204577126893681096380.html
Millions more Americans will be required to show photo identification when they head to the polls in four states in 2012, headlining the welter of new laws across the nation that take effect with the turn of the year. Kansas, Rhode Island, Tennessee and Texas will require voters to prove their identities at the ballot box, bringing the total number of states that require some form of voter identification to 30, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures, a bipartisan group that provides research and data to state governments. The voter ID measures are among a large number of new state laws that also reflect concerns related to illegal immigration, employment and the well-being of the country's youth. An estimated 40,000 new laws were passed in 2011, up 29% from the previous year. A few states tackled illegal immigration. Louisiana, Tennessee, South Carolina, Georgia and Alabama will require many businesses to enroll in the federal E-Verify program to check whether new hires are allowed to work in the U.S. California went in the other direction, saying it would prevent private employers from checking such eligibility unless federal law requires it or federal funds depend on it. Separate provisions of the South Carolina law, including requirements that law enforcement check the immigration status of persons during traffic stops, were blocked by a federal judge last week. JENNIFER SMITH
Get details on an avalanche of new laws including a ban on minors from tanning indoors and making it harder for them to get high on cough syrup at: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203899504577130952187227564.html
National Conference of State Legislatures is a bipartisan organization that serves the legislators and staffs of the nation's 50 states, its commonwealths and territories. NCSL provides research, technical assistance and opportunities for policymakers to exchange ideas on the most pressing state issues. http://www.ncsl.org/
Roses and Thistles from the Des Moines Register's editorial staff
A rose to Jon Huntsman for taking the pressure off Iowans who were operating under the mistaken impression they had an important role to perform on Tuesday in stating their preference for a Republican presidential nominee in the first major measure of candidate strength in the nation. This should come as a big relief to Iowans, who have more important work to do, like picking corn. Meanwhile, Huntsman should share his insight with the all those other candidates who have spent gobs of money and oodles of time in this state. Not to mention the hordes of political writers and TV crews. They are getting in the way of our cornpickers. A thistle to all those pundits (too many to list here) who weigh in about this time every four years with a tiresome rant about how Iowa is not the right place to start the presidential nominating process. We won’t defend the people of Iowa, the caucus process or the weather in January. They are what they are, and not likely to change anytime soon. What’s galling about the caucus critics is the predictability and lack of originality of their rants. Iowans generally shrug off character assassination, however, with the quiet knowledge that just like the snowbirds that return in the spring, the candidates will wing their way back to the state.
http://www.desmoinesregister.com/article/20120101/OPINION03/301010026/-1/gallery_array/Roses-Thistles-Here-results-our-R-T-staff-caucus
January 3 is the third day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. There are 362 days remaining until the end of the year (363 in leap years). The Perihelion, the point in the year when the Earth is closest to the Sun, occurs around this date.
1870 – The construction of the Brooklyn Bridge begins.
1888 – The refracting telescope at the Lick Observatory, measuring 91 cm in diameter, is used for the first time. It was the largest telescope in the world at the time.
1925 – Benito Mussolini announces he is taking dictatorial powers over Italy.
1932 – Martial law is declared in Honduras to stop revolt by banana workers fired by United Fruit Company.
1957 – The Hamilton Watch Company introduces the first electric watch.
1958 – The West Indies Federation is formed.
1959 – Alaska is admitted as the 49th U.S. state.
1961 – The United States severs diplomatic relations with Cuba.
1977 – Apple Computer is incorporated. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/January_3
something, as extravagant entertainment, offered as an expedient means of pacifying discontent or diverting attention from a source of grievance.
Origin: 1910–15; translation of Latin pānis et circēnsēs; from a remark by the Roman satirist Juvenal on the limited desires of the Roman populace. http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/bread+and+circuses
To celebrate New Year's Eve, a crowd of 500 revelers at the Bearsville Theater in Woodstock, N.Y., whip into frenzy as the band plays the KISS song, "Rock and Roll All Nite." But for this audience, the anthem is just a metaphor. The disco ball signaling the arrival of the new year will drop at 8:30 p.m. Singer Robert Burke Warren, known by the stage name Uncle Rock, has held this annual "Family New Year's Eve" for four years. Strange objects drop at even stranger times to welcome 2012. Bethlehem, Pa., which has an annual tradition of dropping a 6-foot-wide replica of a marshmallow Peep chick from a crane on New Year's Eve, at 5:15 in the afternoon this year to attract families. At 9 p.m. in Easton, Md., a steel-reinforced, papier-mâché crab—8 feet from claw tip to claw tip—drops 20 feet into a crowd to mark the New Year in this crab-fishing community. Why 9 p.m.? "That's midnight in the mid-Atlantic where crabs live," says Marie U'Ren, who helps run the event. Other towns, zoos and amusement parks have created an even earlier alternative New Year celebration, dubbed "Noon Year's Eve," with countdowns and ball drops that happen when the sun is high in the sky. But there's likely no earlier alternative than the annual "Early New Year's Eve Party" held by a chapter of the AARP in the Pennsylvania Poconos. On Dec. 30, more than 100 partygoers aged 50 to 90 gather from 11:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. at the Riverview Inn Ballroom in Matamoras, Pa., for a roast-beef-and-potatoes lunch, followed by a Champagne toast and performance by crooner and sometime Elvis impersonator Rich Wilson. GEOFFREY A. FOWLER http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204632204577126893681096380.html
Millions more Americans will be required to show photo identification when they head to the polls in four states in 2012, headlining the welter of new laws across the nation that take effect with the turn of the year. Kansas, Rhode Island, Tennessee and Texas will require voters to prove their identities at the ballot box, bringing the total number of states that require some form of voter identification to 30, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures, a bipartisan group that provides research and data to state governments. The voter ID measures are among a large number of new state laws that also reflect concerns related to illegal immigration, employment and the well-being of the country's youth. An estimated 40,000 new laws were passed in 2011, up 29% from the previous year. A few states tackled illegal immigration. Louisiana, Tennessee, South Carolina, Georgia and Alabama will require many businesses to enroll in the federal E-Verify program to check whether new hires are allowed to work in the U.S. California went in the other direction, saying it would prevent private employers from checking such eligibility unless federal law requires it or federal funds depend on it. Separate provisions of the South Carolina law, including requirements that law enforcement check the immigration status of persons during traffic stops, were blocked by a federal judge last week. JENNIFER SMITH
Get details on an avalanche of new laws including a ban on minors from tanning indoors and making it harder for them to get high on cough syrup at: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203899504577130952187227564.html
National Conference of State Legislatures is a bipartisan organization that serves the legislators and staffs of the nation's 50 states, its commonwealths and territories. NCSL provides research, technical assistance and opportunities for policymakers to exchange ideas on the most pressing state issues. http://www.ncsl.org/
Roses and Thistles from the Des Moines Register's editorial staff
A rose to Jon Huntsman for taking the pressure off Iowans who were operating under the mistaken impression they had an important role to perform on Tuesday in stating their preference for a Republican presidential nominee in the first major measure of candidate strength in the nation. This should come as a big relief to Iowans, who have more important work to do, like picking corn. Meanwhile, Huntsman should share his insight with the all those other candidates who have spent gobs of money and oodles of time in this state. Not to mention the hordes of political writers and TV crews. They are getting in the way of our cornpickers. A thistle to all those pundits (too many to list here) who weigh in about this time every four years with a tiresome rant about how Iowa is not the right place to start the presidential nominating process. We won’t defend the people of Iowa, the caucus process or the weather in January. They are what they are, and not likely to change anytime soon. What’s galling about the caucus critics is the predictability and lack of originality of their rants. Iowans generally shrug off character assassination, however, with the quiet knowledge that just like the snowbirds that return in the spring, the candidates will wing their way back to the state.
http://www.desmoinesregister.com/article/20120101/OPINION03/301010026/-1/gallery_array/Roses-Thistles-Here-results-our-R-T-staff-caucus
January 3 is the third day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. There are 362 days remaining until the end of the year (363 in leap years). The Perihelion, the point in the year when the Earth is closest to the Sun, occurs around this date.
1870 – The construction of the Brooklyn Bridge begins.
1888 – The refracting telescope at the Lick Observatory, measuring 91 cm in diameter, is used for the first time. It was the largest telescope in the world at the time.
1925 – Benito Mussolini announces he is taking dictatorial powers over Italy.
1932 – Martial law is declared in Honduras to stop revolt by banana workers fired by United Fruit Company.
1957 – The Hamilton Watch Company introduces the first electric watch.
1958 – The West Indies Federation is formed.
1959 – Alaska is admitted as the 49th U.S. state.
1961 – The United States severs diplomatic relations with Cuba.
1977 – Apple Computer is incorporated. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/January_3
Friday, December 30, 2011
British village mystified after hundreds of apples fell from the sky over their homes People in the Keresley area of the city said the fruit came raining down at about 19:00 GMT on December 12, hitting passing vehicles. Parish councillor Sandra Camwell said the apple storm lasted a few minutes and was the second occurrence of its kind in a fortnight. Weather experts said winds could have carried the apples from an orchard. Allen Hogan, the owner of Hogan's Cider in Alcester, 30 miles away, said there were no apples obviously missing from his orchards. In Keresley itself Ms Camwell said there was only a small number of fruit trees. She said she believed the apples could have fallen from a passing aircraft. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-coventry-warwickshire-16203214
The name Sudoku comes from Japan and consists of the Japanese characters Su (meaning 'number') and Doku (meaning 'single') but the puzzle itself originates from Switzerland and then travels to Japan by way of America. Sudoku has its deep roots in ancient number puzzles. For many centuries people have been interested in creating and solving puzzles. This was the basis of developing important mathematics. Read about Magic Squares, Chinese Puzzle and more at: http://www.sudokudragon.com/sudokuorigins.htm
Note that letters, pictures or symbols may be used instead of numerals.
new verbs defriend, unfriend
new nouns fake friend, friend collector
It’s that time of the year, again! It’s time for The Marist Poll to reveal the word or phrase considered to be the most annoying in casual conversation. And, for the third consecutive year, “whatever” receives the dubious honor. Nearly four in ten adults nationally — 38% — say “whatever” grates on their nerves the most. “Like” one in five — 20% — say that verbal filler is the most irritating while 19% despise “you know.” “Just sayin’” gets on the nerves of 11% of the population compared with 7% who report “seriously” should be banned from casual conversation. Five percent are unsure. Link to complete release and tables at: http://maristpoll.marist.edu/1216-whatever-still-most-annoying-word-you-know-like-seriously-just-sayin%e2%80%99/
In Greek, psephology means the study of elections. At its root is pseph which means pebble or ballot. In ancient times, Greek citizens were required to present a pebble to cast their votes. It’s the most rudimentary way of gauging public opinion, and while the technology may have changed, our goal at the Marist Poll is the same — to identify current trends by measuring what people think. Pundit comes from a Hindi word that traces its origin back to Sanskrit where, pandita, means learned. See Pebble and Pundits, poll results from Marist Institute for Public Opinion (MIPO) divided by topic at: http://maristpoll.marist.edu/
Dickens trivia
There are over 60 English language adaptations of "A Christmas Carol."
See also: 'Christmas Carol' is a gift worth giving at: http://articles.latimes.com/2011/dec/23/entertainment/la-et-christmas-carol-20111223
This year there will be no Friday 30th December on the Pacific Island of Samoa. Prime Minister Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi says the change to move the Samoan calendar 24 hours forward has been made so business links can be improved with countries like Australia. "In doing business with New Zealand and Australia, we're losing out on two working days a week," the prime minister said. http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/16353404
Three already elderly Stieg Larsson thrillers topped 2011's all-year bestsellers table, followed by Jamie's 30-Minute Meals (the Christmas No 1) and Guinness World Records, with One Day and The Help just outside the top 10. This was a year when old books saw off new ones, and paperbacks sent hardbacks packing. The same seven titles merely change places, with Larsson's trio and David Nicholls's and Kathryn Stockett's two-year-old novels all given renewed sales muscle by movie versions. Joining them are two titles representing the class of 2010 – the nearest thing to new books that the 2011 list's elite group has to offer: a novel by Dawn French (3) that was last year's bestselling debut, and Emma Donoghue's Room (4), Booker-shortlisted and a double bookclub choice. With publishing in transition from "physical books" to ebooks (Nielsen's figures are confined to the former) and no overall picture yet available of the ebook market, buying trends are hard to read. But shoppers seem increasingly reluctant to shell out for higher-price titles, other than "manuals" (such as the Guinness annual or cookbooks), where the hardback format clearly makes sense. America's Jeff Kinney dominates the children's chart, and has five of his Wimpy Kid books in the overall top 30. Lorraine Pascale, with two well-placed spin-off titles (41, 60), is the only newcomer to convincingly challenge the Jamie-Hugh-Nigella-Gordon-Heston old guard of TV cheffery. Epic fantasy writer George RR Martin arrived impressively with titles at 13 and 76. Jo Nesbø's five entries defy talk that the Scandinavian crime boom has run its course, and contribute significantly to Random House at long last overtaking Hachette as top-scoring publishing group.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/dec/29/books-years-bestseller-charts-commentary
Top Worldwide tours in 2011
U2 wouldn’t be at the top of 2011’s box office results if it wasn’t for Bono’s 2010 back injury that resulted in the band postponing a large chunk of its 360° tour until 2011. Worldwide, U2 fans gobbled up 2,387,535 tickets in 2011 at an average price of $97.15 per. The stadium tour sold an average of 91,828 tickets per show for a final global gross of $231.9 million (All figures converted to U.S. dollars). U2’s North American journey was equally impressive, selling 1,701,486 tickets overall for a year’s gross of $156 million. Thanks, Mike http://www.pollstar.com/blogs/news/archive/2011/12/28/792619.aspx
Click http://www.pollstarpro.com/charts/2011YearEndTop25WorldwideTours.pdf for Pollstar’s Top 25 Worldwide Tours chart.
The name Sudoku comes from Japan and consists of the Japanese characters Su (meaning 'number') and Doku (meaning 'single') but the puzzle itself originates from Switzerland and then travels to Japan by way of America. Sudoku has its deep roots in ancient number puzzles. For many centuries people have been interested in creating and solving puzzles. This was the basis of developing important mathematics. Read about Magic Squares, Chinese Puzzle and more at: http://www.sudokudragon.com/sudokuorigins.htm
Note that letters, pictures or symbols may be used instead of numerals.
new verbs defriend, unfriend
new nouns fake friend, friend collector
It’s that time of the year, again! It’s time for The Marist Poll to reveal the word or phrase considered to be the most annoying in casual conversation. And, for the third consecutive year, “whatever” receives the dubious honor. Nearly four in ten adults nationally — 38% — say “whatever” grates on their nerves the most. “Like” one in five — 20% — say that verbal filler is the most irritating while 19% despise “you know.” “Just sayin’” gets on the nerves of 11% of the population compared with 7% who report “seriously” should be banned from casual conversation. Five percent are unsure. Link to complete release and tables at: http://maristpoll.marist.edu/1216-whatever-still-most-annoying-word-you-know-like-seriously-just-sayin%e2%80%99/
In Greek, psephology means the study of elections. At its root is pseph which means pebble or ballot. In ancient times, Greek citizens were required to present a pebble to cast their votes. It’s the most rudimentary way of gauging public opinion, and while the technology may have changed, our goal at the Marist Poll is the same — to identify current trends by measuring what people think. Pundit comes from a Hindi word that traces its origin back to Sanskrit where, pandita, means learned. See Pebble and Pundits, poll results from Marist Institute for Public Opinion (MIPO) divided by topic at: http://maristpoll.marist.edu/
Dickens trivia
There are over 60 English language adaptations of "A Christmas Carol."
See also: 'Christmas Carol' is a gift worth giving at: http://articles.latimes.com/2011/dec/23/entertainment/la-et-christmas-carol-20111223
This year there will be no Friday 30th December on the Pacific Island of Samoa. Prime Minister Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi says the change to move the Samoan calendar 24 hours forward has been made so business links can be improved with countries like Australia. "In doing business with New Zealand and Australia, we're losing out on two working days a week," the prime minister said. http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/16353404
Three already elderly Stieg Larsson thrillers topped 2011's all-year bestsellers table, followed by Jamie's 30-Minute Meals (the Christmas No 1) and Guinness World Records, with One Day and The Help just outside the top 10. This was a year when old books saw off new ones, and paperbacks sent hardbacks packing. The same seven titles merely change places, with Larsson's trio and David Nicholls's and Kathryn Stockett's two-year-old novels all given renewed sales muscle by movie versions. Joining them are two titles representing the class of 2010 – the nearest thing to new books that the 2011 list's elite group has to offer: a novel by Dawn French (3) that was last year's bestselling debut, and Emma Donoghue's Room (4), Booker-shortlisted and a double bookclub choice. With publishing in transition from "physical books" to ebooks (Nielsen's figures are confined to the former) and no overall picture yet available of the ebook market, buying trends are hard to read. But shoppers seem increasingly reluctant to shell out for higher-price titles, other than "manuals" (such as the Guinness annual or cookbooks), where the hardback format clearly makes sense. America's Jeff Kinney dominates the children's chart, and has five of his Wimpy Kid books in the overall top 30. Lorraine Pascale, with two well-placed spin-off titles (41, 60), is the only newcomer to convincingly challenge the Jamie-Hugh-Nigella-Gordon-Heston old guard of TV cheffery. Epic fantasy writer George RR Martin arrived impressively with titles at 13 and 76. Jo Nesbø's five entries defy talk that the Scandinavian crime boom has run its course, and contribute significantly to Random House at long last overtaking Hachette as top-scoring publishing group.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/dec/29/books-years-bestseller-charts-commentary
Top Worldwide tours in 2011
U2 wouldn’t be at the top of 2011’s box office results if it wasn’t for Bono’s 2010 back injury that resulted in the band postponing a large chunk of its 360° tour until 2011. Worldwide, U2 fans gobbled up 2,387,535 tickets in 2011 at an average price of $97.15 per. The stadium tour sold an average of 91,828 tickets per show for a final global gross of $231.9 million (All figures converted to U.S. dollars). U2’s North American journey was equally impressive, selling 1,701,486 tickets overall for a year’s gross of $156 million. Thanks, Mike http://www.pollstar.com/blogs/news/archive/2011/12/28/792619.aspx
Click http://www.pollstarpro.com/charts/2011YearEndTop25WorldwideTours.pdf for Pollstar’s Top 25 Worldwide Tours chart.
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