Rare seahorses found in Thames  This is the first time that these rare creatures have been found so far up the Thames and the first time in this part of London.  The short-snouted seahorse (Hippocampus hippocampus), which grows up to 15cm (6 inches) is more commonly found in the waters of the Mediterranean and Canary Islands.  Seahorses have often been a visitor to coastal waters around Britain but the agency said recent sightings suggest that there may be more permanent populations around the UK.  Seahorses have elaborate courtship rituals and are one of the few animals that mate for life.  Emma Barton, Environment Agency fisheries officer, said: "The seahorse we found was only 5cm (2 inches) long, a juvenile, suggesting that they may be breeding nearby.  See picture at:  http://phys.org/news/2011-10-rare-seahorses-thames.html

Ideas Illustrated:  Survival Skills for the Information Age presents "Visualizing English Word Origins" with well-done graphics analyzing American and British literature, and language from the legal, medical and spots fields.  http://ideasillustrated.com/blog/2012/04/01/visualizing-english-word-origins

 

The Symphonic Boom, review of Site and Sound by Victoria Newhouse

In a global construction explosion that echoes the last performing-arts center boom of the 1970s and '80s, spectacular buildings for music are replacing the art museum as the most conspicuous cultural icon of the 21st century.  Stylistically, they represent architecture's leading edge.  Musically, they signal radical changes in place, performance and audience attitudes. In the United States alone, 360 opera houses and concert halls were completed between 1994 and 2008.  

"Site and Sound: The Architecture and Acoustics of New Opera Houses and Concert Halls," by Victoria Newhouse, is an ambitious history and critique that covers everything from the amphitheater at Epidaurus (third century B.C.) to Zaha Hadid's cutting-edge Cultural Center in Baku, Azerbaijan, which is under construction now.  But the emphasis of this precisely written, meticulously researched study is on the most recent work.  Ms. Newhouse has visited every building she writes about, attending multiple performances and interviewing architects, acousticians, managers and users.  The only constant in the long history of this singular art form is inconsistency; attitudes have swung back and forth from the creation of a reverential atmosphere that stresses music for its own sake to an emphasis on music as a social event.  Ms. Newhouse believes that there is no guarantee of perfect sound.  Even with scientific computer modeling, she is convinced that perfection is an unreal objective and that judgment is a subjective act.  The standard, horseshoe-shaped operas and "shoe box" concert halls that worked well in the past are rarely as reliable as when they were custom-built and tuned just for the instruments and sounds of their time.  Yet so strongly does belief in the tried and true persist, and so great is the fear of failure, that many of the most extreme new exteriors have traditional configurations inside.  Because we are addicted to instant gratification, we want our judgments up or down, good or bad, and we expect new or remodeled structures to receive immediate praise or condemnation.  As a working journalist who covered the previous round of performing-arts construction, I was paired with the music critic, who would stride across the stage, clapping his hands, testing various spots in the orchestra and balcony for reverberation times while I studied the design.  After a rehearsal and an opening-night performance, our paired evaluations would appear in the next morning's New York Times.  And the job was done.  What followed was usually an essential period of evaluation and fine-tuning.  But Ms. Newhouse has learned that ideal acoustics are not even necessary for a hall to succeed.  The essential factor is ambience—the sum total of how a place looks, feels and sounds, an intangible combination that satisfies the senses and fills an important but unexpressed social need that extends from the audience's shared experience to its communication with the performing artists.  Ada Luise Huxtable, artchitecture critic of The Wall Street Journal    See a picture of the Danish Radio Concert Hall, Copenhagen (2009), designed by the French architect Jean Nouvel, featuring a 'vineyard' layout of terraced seats at:  http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304356604577340211822833758.html?mod=WSJ_Opinion_LEFTTopOpinion

An automated reader developed by the Educational Testing Service, e-Rater, can grade 16,000 essays in 20 seconds, according to David Williamson, a research director for E.T.S., which develops and administers 50 million tests a year, including the SAT.   The e-Rater’s biggest problem, he says, is that it can’t identify truth . He tells students not to waste time worrying about whether their facts are accurate, since pretty much any fact will do as long as it is incorporated into a well-structured sentence.  “E-Rater doesn’t care if you say the War of 1812 started in 1945,” he said.  Les Perelman, a director of writing at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, found that e-Rater prefers long essays.  A 716-word essay he wrote that was padded with more than a dozen nonsensical sentences received a top score of 6; a well-argued, well-written essay of 567 words was scored a 5.  E-Rater, he said, does not like short sentences.  

Or short paragraphs.  Or sentences that begin with “or.”  And sentences that start with “and.”  Nor sentence fragments.  However, he said, e-Rater likes connectors, like “however,” which serve as programming proxies for complex thinking.  Moreover, “moreover” is good, too.  

Gargantuan words are indemnified because e-Rater interprets them as a sign of lexical complexity.  “Whenever possible,” Mr. Perelman advises, “use a big word.  ‘Egregious’ is better than ‘bad.’ ”  Michael Winerip   http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/23/education/robo-readers-used-to-grade-test-essays.html?_r=1&pagewanted=all

 

Lori Roy won the Edgar for best first novel by an American author for her book, Bent Road on April 26.  The award was presented by bestselling writer Mary Higgins Clark, who was "delightful," Roy said.  The Edgars, named after Edgar Allan Poe (who is credited with inventing the detective story), are presented annually in several categories by the Mystery Writers of America.  Bent Road, published by Dutton in March 2011, is a taut, suspenseful, gracefully written thriller that could be called heartland noir.  Set in rural Kansas in 1967, it takes the reader inside the secrets of a family 20 years after one of its members died mysteriously.  She is "at the tail end of finishing up" her second novel, another literary thriller, set this time in Detroit in the 1950s.  Colette Bancroft  http://www.tampabay.com/news/tierra-verde-author-lori-roy-wins-edgar-award-for-first-novel-bent-road/1227301

Q:  Does the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices now require agencies to provide a flashing yellow arrow indication for a left-turn movement for the permissive left-turn phase?

A:  No, this is not mandatory, but the flashing yellow arrow is now allowed in the 2009 MUTCD as an optional alternative display for PPLT or "permissive only" left turn movements (see Sections 4D.17 through 4D.20).  NCHRP Report 493 describes the results of a comprehensive research project to evaluate the use of different permissive displays for protected-permissive mode left turns (PPLT), including the flashing yellow arrow (FYA).  The research found that the most easily understood and most effective permissive display is the FYA in an all-arrows separate turn signal face for the left turn.  An NCHRP follow-up study found that converting circular green permissive left-turn displays to flashing yellow arrow improved safety.  Flashing yellow arrow displays are also now allowed for use with permissive right-turn movements (see Sections 4D.21 through 4D.24.)  http://mutcd.fhwa.dot.gov/knowledge/faqs/faq_part4.htm

MUCTD=Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices  http://mutcd.fhwa.dot.gov/index.htm

NCHRP=National Cooperative Highway Research Program  http://www.trb.org/NCHRP/NCHRP.aspx

 

The moon will be at its fullest on Saturday, May 5 at 11:35 p.m. EDT, at which point it will also be at perigee — just 221,802 miles from Earth. Skywatchers can expect to see the moon shining 16% brighter than usual.  Last year’s supermoon, which fell on March 19, was reportedly the biggest and brightest in 18 years.  http://newsfeed.time.com/2012/05/04/the-supermoon-is-upon-us-the-years-biggest-full-moon-lights-up-the-sky-this-saturday/

http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com

When Julie Zerbo heard from two readers of her eight-month-old blog, the Fashion Law, last month saying a bracelet featured prominently in Chanel's recent Fall 2012 runway show seemed familiar, her antennae went up.  She looked at the show images online.  "That's when it clicked to me 'oh my God, that's a Chanel bracelet, that's not a Pamela Love bracelet'," she says, referring to the small New York-based jewelry designer.  Ms. Zerbo then banged out the blog item "Chanel's Crystal Bangles Look FAMILIAR!" about how the Chanel bangles bore a "striking resemblance" to cuffs in Ms. Love's Fall 2011 collection.  She posted the item with side-by-side pictures.  Since the Fashion Law's following is small, Ms. Zerbo alerted the much-larger Fashionista blog, which linked to her post on a Monday.  By Tuesday, Chanel issued a statement to Fashionista saying it decided not to offer the bracelets in question for sale "out of respect for the concerns raised."  It was a coup for Ms. Zerbo, a second-year law student at the Columbus School of Law at the Catholic University of America.  Copyright is a contentious area in fashion.  While trademarks such as Tiffany's signature blue box are protected by copyright, fashion designs in the U.S. aren't.  Christian Louboutin and Yves Saint Laurent are embroiled in a lawsuit filed by the shoe brand over YSL's use of red soles in shoes in its resort 2011 collection.  Christian Louboutin's red sole is trademarked.  YSL has said a designer should not be allowed to "monopolize a color."  The case is currently in an appeals court.  The Council of Fashion Designers of America has been pushing for the U.S. Congress to pass legislation that offers copyright protection for designs.  Ray A. Smith  http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303592404577364333707766366.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

Black Rice takes a bit longer time to cook comparing to traditional rice.  Soaking and rinsing the rice before cooking will help to save some cooking time.  Black Rice should be cooked with two cups of water to every one cup of rice.  As a general rule it will need to cook for half an hour (25-30 min) after soaking or around one hour (60-70 min) if you cook unsoaked rice.  Link to recipes at:  http://www.blackrice.com/q/2/

Black Rice is also known as “forbidden rice”.  In ancient China Black Rice was set aside specifically for the Emperor and / or the royal family, regular people weren’t allowed anywhere near the stuff.  Black Rice contains even more antioxidants (per serving) than blueberries.  http://www.blackrice.com/history/

There's a great history of temporary architecture, the showcases for which have often been world's fairs, where grand pavilions are built to convey the passions and fashions of the moment.  The "White City" at the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago allowed American architects to present their vision for ideal public spaces.  Not that everyone was happy with the experiment:  Chicago architect Louis Sullivan rejected the Neoclassicism that dominated, and contributed a building rich with color and ornamentation.  He is said to have griped that the rest of the White City se t back American architecture by decades.  Forty years later architects were at it again in Chicago. This time, at 1933's Century of Progress International Exposition, the buildings were a futuristic fantasy of the modern and moderne, with the prefab disposability of the buildings part of the architectural statement.  They would be as influential, in their way, as the White City had been a generation before.  If Gustave Eiffel's iron tower had been proposed as a permanent structure, it probably would never have been built.  But as a temporary novelty for the 1889 Exposition Universelle, why not?  When it came time to take it down, Paris officials somewhat grudgingly allowed that it had become a part of the city.  Eric Felten  http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303425504577353790993830980.html?mod=rss_keyword_free_articles

The World's Columbian Exposition (the official shortened name for the World's Fair: Columbian Exposition, also known as The Chicago World's Fair) was a World's Fair held in Chicago in 1893 to celebrate the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus's arrival in the New World in 1492.  The fair was planned in the early 1890s, the Gilded Age of rapid industrial growth, immigration, and class violence.  World's fairs, such as London's 1851 Crystal Palace Exhibition, had been successful in Europe as a way to bring together societies fragmented along class lines.  The exposition was located in Jackson Park and on the Midway Plaisance on 630 acres (2.5 km²) in the neighborhoods of South Shore, Jackson Park Highlands, Hyde Park and Woodlawn.   Charles H. Wacker was the Director of the Fair. The layout of the fairgrounds was created by Frederick Law Olmsted, and the Beaux-Arts architecture of the buildings was under the direction of Daniel Burnham, Director of Works for the fair.  As detailed in Erik Larson's popular history The Devil in the White City, extraordinary effort was required to accomplish the exposition, and much of it was unfinished on opening day.  The famous Ferris Wheel, which proved to be a major attendance draw and helped save the fair from bankruptcy, was not finished until June, because of waffling by the board of directors the previous year on whether to build it.

Early in July, a Wellesley College English teacher named Katharine Lee Bates visited the fair.  The White City later inspired the reference to "alabaster cities" in her poem "America the Beautiful".   See a list of books plus one film featuring the fair at:   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World's_Columbian_Exposition

By Diana Marcum, Los Angeles Times  April 30, 2012, 1:29 a.m.

COLOMA-LOTUS VALLEY, Calif — In the week since a fireball shot across the sky and exploded, scattering a rare type of meteorite over California's Gold Country, these hills have drawn a new rush of treasure seekers.  Once again there are lively saloons, fortune hunters jockeying for prime spots and astounding tales of luck — including that of Brenda Salveson, a local who found a valuable space rock while walking her dog Sheldon, named after the theoretical physicist on the TV show "The Big Bang Theory."  In the Gold Rush town of Rescue (elevation and population both 1,400), Salveson, a wife and mother of two, read a local news article about the meteorites.  The area scattered with them, about three miles wide and 10 miles long, included Henningsen Lotus Park, where she walks her dog every morning.  She noted what to look for: a rock that seemed out of place — different from anything around it.  It would be dark and delicate.  On April 25, near the end of her stroll with Sheldon, Salveson picked up a rock the size of a spool of thread that seemed to match the description.  She walked over to a group with metal detectors.  "I opened my hand and they all let out a collective gasp," she said. 
The geologists, as they turned out to be, wrapped the 17-gram stone in foil and told Salveson to get it into a bank vault.  A few minutes before, a firefighter had stopped to search at the park on his way to work and found a 2-gram meteorite in less than 20 minutes.  A dealer paid him $2,000 on the spot.  http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-meteorite-search-20120501,0,5730445.story?track=icymi

Brown University agreed May 1 to voluntary payments of $31.5 million to Providence over 11 years, on top of what the school already pays in voluntary remittances and taxes on some of its properties.  Brown, the Rhode Island capital's largest landowner, currently writes checks to Providence for about $4 million a year:  $2.5 million in voluntary payments and $1.6 million in taxes on certain commercial and leased property.  A "significant minority" of colleges and universities nationwide already make voluntary payments in lieu of taxes, but more are being pressured to do so as local governments struggle, particularly in the college-studded Northeast, according to the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy in Cambridge, Mass.  Johnson & Wales University said in February it would more than triple its annual voluntary payments in lieu of taxes to $958,000 a year.  Lifespan, the Providence hospital group that runs Rhode Island and Miriam hospitals, said April 30 it will give $800,000 this fiscal year and more going forward.  Jennifer Levitz   http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304050304577377882290627666.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

How to pronounce "the" in English

It is important to understand that it is what we say that matters, not what we write.  It is the sound that matters, not the letter used in writing a word.  So we use a long "thee" before a vowel sound, not necessarily before a vowel.  Look at these cases:

<><><><> <><><><> <><><><> <><><><><><><><> <><><><> <><><><> <><><><> <><><><> <><><><> <><><><> <><><><> <><><><> <><><><> <><><><> <><><><> <><><><> <><><><> <><><><> <><><><> <><><><> <><><><> <><><><> <><><><> <><><><> <><><><> <><><><> <><><><> <><><><> <><><><> <><><><>

we write	with	we say	with
the house	consonant (h)	thuh house	consonant sound
the hour	consonant (h)	thee our	vowel sound
the university	vowel (u)	thuh youniversity	consonant sound
the umbrella	vowel (u)	thee umbrella	vowel sound

http://www.englishclub.com/pronunciation/the.htm

U.K. landowners have had rights to natural light from the oft-overcast sky since the 12th century.  In 2012, developers are paying dearly for casting shadows on nearby structures after a 2010 court ruling that the part of a building obstructing a neighbor’s natural light could be torn down.  The right to a candle’s worth of natural light, which should be bright enough to read a newspaper during the day, dates back to 1189.  The present-day standard was set in the 1920s by engineer Percy Waldram, who estimated the English sky in winter still had the lighting power of 500 candles.  Waldram’s calculation means 0.2 percent of the sky must be viewable from at least half of a windowed room.  Less than that and a building owner may have breached what lawyers call the “grumble point” where a light-deprived neighbor could gripe.  To avoid legal wrangling, London developers get advice from lawyers and surveyors even before picking an architect.  The Shard skyscraper, Western Europe’s tallest building, topped out last month at 87 stories and dominates the central London skyline, overshadowing landmarks such as St. Paul’s Cathedral and Tower Bridge.  Before a single shovel could pierce the ground, the developers had to carry out about 300 consultations on the tower’s effect on neighboring buildings, including how much scarce sunshine the Shard would block.  The U.K.’s Law Commission, which is responsible for deleting outdated laws, is reviewing rights to light and is set to publish its initial findings next year.   Ben Moshinksy  http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2012-04-19/for-london-developers-light-is-a-heavy-burden

The Shard replaces the Southwark Tower, a 1970's building located on London Bridge Street.  The Shard offers high density vertical development at a transport hub and will be the UK's first truly mixed use tower, devised to interface with London on many levels.  The master architect, Renzo Piano, designed the Shard as a 'vertical city' that includes a public piazza, 586,509 sq ft (54, 488 sq m) of world class office space, an exclusive collection of residential apartments which will be the highest residential apartments in the UK and will be serviced by Europe's first 5-star Shangri-La Hotel, retail space, restaurants, and a public viewing gallery.  See images at:  http://www.e-architect.co.uk/london/the_shard_london.htm

Q:  I see ads on television for a free cellphone and free minutes if you qualify by being on Medicaid and/or other programs.  One advertised for some time was Assurance.  Who pays for the cost?  How long has it been going on?  Who pays for all the advertising?
A:  The Telecommunications Act of 1996 set up Lifeline Assistance and related telephone- and Internet-assistance programs for low-income people.  They are funded by the telecommunications industry, generally through fees to customers, and are overseen by the Federal Communications Commission.  Eligibility varies by state, but generally one must be receiving one of seven other assistance programs, including Medicaid or Supplemental Security Income.  Assurance Wireless, a Sprint no-contract brand, and its rivals pay for the cellphone, charger, manual, shipping, and account maintenance with help from the federal fund, according to spokesman Jack W. Pflanz.  The companies also pay for their advertising, he said. -- FCC, Assurance Wireless.
Q:  Why do some U.S. coins have grooves on the edges?
A:  Coins down to the dime were once made of gold and silver.  Reeded edges deterred counterfeiting and filing them for slivers.  Pennies and nickels are considered minor coins and have never contained precious metals.  Today, no coins contain precious metals.  But reeded edges are useful to the visually impaired.  For example, the dime and penny are similar in size, but the reeding of the dime makes it easily identifiable by touch. -- U.S. Mint.
Q:  Why do we call this month April?
A:  Tradition has it from the Latin aperire, meaning "to open," possibly a reference to buds beginning to open. -- dictionary.com.  http://www.thecourier.com/Opinion/columns/2012/Apr/JU/ar_JU_041612.asp?d=041612,2012,Apr,16&c=c_13

First Book provides access to new books for children in need.  To date, First Book has distributed more than 90 million books and educational resources to programs and schools serving children from low-income families throughout the United States and Canada.  First Book is transforming the lives of children in need and elevating the quality of education by making new, high-quality books available on an ongoing basis.  Link to FAQ and find out how to get involved at:  http://www.firstbook.org/first-book-story

An Engineer's Blueprints For Writing by Nick Arvin Steal, Simplify, Allow Ambiguity Writers look for ideas to steal. There's no shame in this. Shakespeare pilfered old stories of princes who feigned madness for characters and plot points in "Hamlet." Modern writers in turn pilfer "Hamlet" for characters and plot points, in works like Tom Stoppard's "Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead" and David Wroblewski's "The Story of Edgar Sawtelle." Simplify. Fifteen years ago in a job interview, a friend of mine was asked, "What is your engineering philosophy?" He had never before thought about his "engineering philosophy," but he realized at that moment that he did have one. "Simplify," he said. Moral ambiguities lie at the heart of compelling drama and conflict. So the writer will seek out and enlarge these in ways that an engineer never would. Dostoevski was one of the great masters of this. He developed characters like Dmitri in "The Brothers Karamazov" who are abominable yet sympathetic, and he thrust good characters like Myshkin in "The Idiot" into morally ambiguous situations where no good answer can be found. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303815404577334124203000012.html?mod=WSJ_topics_obama O Brother, Where Art Thou? is a 2000 comedy film directed by Joel and Ethan Coen and starring George Clooney, John Turturro, Tim Blake Nelson, John Goodman, Holly Hunter, and Charles Durning. Set in 1937 rural Mississippi during the Great Depression, the film's story is a modern satire loosely based on Homer’s Odyssey. The title of the film is a reference to the 1941 film Sullivan's Travels, in which the protagonist (a director) wants to direct a film about the Great Depression called O Brother, Where Art Thou? The idea of O Brother, Where Art Thou? arose spontaneously. Work on the script began long before the start of production in December 1997 and was at least half-written by May 1998. Despite the fact that Ethan called Odyssey as "one of my favorite storylines schemes" neither of them had read the epic and were familiar with its content only through adaptations and numerous references to the "Odyssey" in the culture. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/O_Brother,_Where_Art_Thou%3F#cite_note-FAQ-3 The title of Lisa Caponigri's delightful guide to Italian family dining takes the form of a question, one that many Americans with no Italian blood but with fond childhood memories of food and fellowship around the family table must often ask themselves: "Whatever Happened to Sunday Dinner?" Its subtitle—"A Year of Italian Menus With 250 Recipes That Celebrate Family"—succinctly describes the purpose of this well-written and beautifully presented collection of recipes organized into 52 tempting five-course menus for a year of Sunday dinners. Each menu appears with a different appetizer (antipasto), a usually pasta-based first course (occasionally varied with a soup, polenta or risotto selection), a main course of meat, seafood or poultry accompanied by a carefully matched vegetable side dish, and finally an elegant but easy-to-prepare dessert. Although Ms. Caponigri acquired some of her more sophisticated recipes while living and working in Italy as an adult, her core inspiration came from her Sicilian maternal grandmother. Thus many of the book's best recipes are Sicilian in origin, reflecting that island's exposure to Greek, Phoenician, Roman, Arab, Norman and African culinary influences in the course of its long and convoluted history. A good example is Menu 36, an ideal meal for cool-weather months: verdure marinate (marinated vegetables), linguine con vongole alla nonna (grandma's linguine with clam sauce), gamberi marinati alla Siciliana (Sicilian marinated shrimp), caprese al forno (baked tomato and mozzarella salad), and castanaccio (chestnut cake). While most readers will find this elegant, nicely balanced meal tempting enough, they may wonder about their own ability to prepare it. They needn't. Ms. Caponigri's recipes are concise and easy to follow—and, as with so much truly good food, the best dishes are not always the showiest or most elaborate. Aram Bakshian Jr. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303815404577334823250684712.html National Electronics Recycling Infrastructure Clearinghouse Year E-Waste Laws Were Passed: 2003: California; 2004: Maine; 2005: Maryland; 2006: Washington; 2007: Connecticut, Minnesota, Oregon, Texas, North Carolina 2008: New Jersey, New York, Oklahoma, Virginia, West Virginia, Missouri, Hawaii, Rhode Island, Illinois and Michigan; 2009: Indiana, Wisconsin Find current electronic recycling laws at: http://www.ecyclingresource.org/ContentPage.aspx?Pageid=28 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Basic Information about reducing and recycling electronics Where You Live provides information about regional and State eCycling programs Where Can I Donate or Recycle My Old Computer and Other Electronics? lists organizations and retailers with donation and recycling programs Statistics on the Management of Used and End-of-Life Electronics Regulations/Standards for handling electronic equipment Frequent Questions and answers about electronic waste Resources publications and links that offer additional information on the management of electronics http://www.epa.gov/osw/conserve/materials/ecycling/ bonanza (buh-NAN-zah, boh-) noun 1. A source of sudden wealth or profits. 2. A very large amount. 3. A rich mine or pocket of ore. From Spanish bonanza (calm sea, hence good luck or prosperity), from Latin bonus (good). Earliest documented use: 1844. countenance (KOUN-tuh-nans) verb tr.: To tolerate or support. noun: 1. Appearance, especially the facial expression. 2. The face. 3. Composure. 4. Approval or support. From Old French contenance (bearing), from Latin continere (to contain), from con- (with) + tenere (to hold). Ultimately from the Indo-European root ten- (to stretch), which also gave us tense, tenet, tendon, tent, tenor, tender, pretend, extend, tenure, tetanus, hypotenuse, pertinacious, and detente. Earliest documented use: around 1290. gloze (glohz) verb tr.: To minimize or to explain away. verb intr.: 1. To use flattery. 2. To make an explanation. 3. To shine brightly. noun: 1. A comment. 2. Flattery. 3. A pretense. From Old French gloser (to explain), from Latin glossa (explanation of a difficult word), from Greek glossa (word needing explanation, language). Ultimately from the Indo-European root ghel- (to shine), which is also the source of words such as yellow, gold, glimmer, glimpse, glass, arsenic, melancholy, and cholera. Earliest documented use: around 1290. forte (fort, FOHR-tay) noun: 1. A strong point: something in which a person excels. 2. The stronger, lower part of a sword blade. Used in music direction (FOHR-tay) adjective: 3. Loud. adverb: 4. In a forceful manner. For 1, 2: From French forte (strong), from Latin fortis (strong). Earliest documented use: before 1648. For 3, 4: From Italian forte (strong, loud), from Latin fortis (strong). Earliest documented use: 1724. The noun sense of the word was originally pronounced as a single syllable (fort), as in French, however the two-syllable pronunciation (FOHR-tay) has mostly supplanted it. The word is in that limbo state where no matter how you pronounce it, someone may fault you for it. A.Word.A.Day with Anu Garg Feedback to A.Word.A.Day From: Debbie Stultz Subject: Doldrums Def: 1. A state or period of stagnation or slump; 2. A region of the ocean near the equator marked by calms and light variable winds. For me, the Doldrums will always be associated with Norton Juster's fantastic book, The Phantom Tollbooth. The Doldrums are where Milo ends up after just driving along not thinking. This website http://arnoldzwicky.wordpress.com/2011/05/26/the-phantom-tollbooth/ has a map of the lands beyond the tollbooth, with the Doldrums appearing in the lower left, with S-shaped and spiral roads, designed for getting nowhere. The book defines the Doldrums as "where nothing ever happens and nothing ever changes." Of course, in keeping with the wonderful wordplay of the book, Milo encounters the Lethargarians. From: Michael Sharman Subject: bonanza Def: 1. A source of sudden wealth or profits. 2. A very large amount. 3. A rich mine or pocket of ore. Goethe wrote two poems on the subject of a Calm Sea and a Prosperous Voyage (Meeresstille und glückliche Fahrt) The two are not synonymous: a calm (and therefore windless) sea was a cause for alarm in the days of sail, as they could be stuck in the doldrums. Hence there was joy when the mists cleared and a fresh breeze filled the sails. Beethoven was inspired by these two poems to write an orchestral piece called Calm Sea and Prosperous Voyage. Mendelssohn was likewise inspired by Beethoven to do the same. Unknown to most computer users, they could lose Internet connections this summer. The problem began when international hackers ran an online advertising scam to take control of infected computers around the world. In a highly unusual response, the FBI set up a safety net months ago using government computers to prevent Internet disruptions for those infected users. But that system is to be shut down. The FBI is encouraging users to visit a website run by its security partner, http://www.dcwg.org, that will inform them whether they're infected and explain how to fix the problem. After July 9, infected users won't be able to connect to the Internet. http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/story/2012-04-20/internet-woes-infected-pcs/54446044/1

The Galápagos tortoise or Galápagos giant tortoise (Chelonoidis nigra) is the largest living species of tortoise and 10th-heaviest living reptile, reaching weights of over 400 kg (880 lb) and lengths of over 1.8 meters (5.9 ft). With life spans in the wild of over 100 years, it is one of the longest-lived vertebrates. The tortoise is native to seven of the Galápagos Islands, a volcanic archipelago about 1,000 km (620 mi) west of the Ecuadorian mainland. Shell size and shape vary between populations. On islands with humid highlands, the tortoises are larger, with domed shells and short necks . On islands with dry lowlands, the tortoises are smaller, with "saddleback" shells and long necks. Charles Darwin's observations of these differences on the second voyage of the Beagle in 1835, contributed to the development of his theory of evolution. Tortoise numbers declined from over 250,000 in the 16th century to a low of around 3,000 in the 1970s. The decline was caused their exploitation for meat and oil, habitat clearance for agriculture, and introduction of non-native animals such as rats, goats, and pigs. Ten subspecies of the original fifteen survive in the wild. An eleventh subspecies (C. n. abingdoni) has only a single known living individual, in captivity, nicknamed Lonesome George. Conservation efforts beginning in the 20th century have resulted in thousands of captive-bred juveniles being released onto their home islands, and it is estimated that numbers exceeded 19,000 at the start of the 21st century. The Galápagos Islands were discovered in 1535, but first appeared on the maps, of Gerardus Mercator and Abraham Ortelius, in about 1570. The islands were named "Insulae de los Galopegos" (Islands of the Tortoises) in reference to the giant tortoises found there. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gal%C3%A1pagos_tortoise

Dr. Steven Pratt coined the term superfood in 2004 with his first book, "SuperFoods Rx: Fourteen Foods That Will Change Your Life." According to Pratt, a superfood has three qualifications: It has to be readily available to the public, it has to contain nutrients that are known to enhance longevity, and its health benefits have to be backed by peer-reviewed, scientific studies. Pratt lists salmon, broccoli, spinach, berries and green tea as a few of his favorites. His website, http://www.superfoodsrx.com/superfoods/ gives 20 more examples. http://www.cnn.com/2012/04/10/health/superfoods-weight-loss-diet/

Modern history states that the Golden Gate of Kiev was one of three constructed by Yaroslav the Wise, Grand Prince of Kiev, in 1037 (6545 by the Byzantine calendar) about when the Saint Sophia Cathedral was erected. However some sources claim that the gates stood some time before that like for example the painting of Jan Matejko where he depicts both Bolelaw Chrobry and Sviatopolk I entering the city during the Kiev succession crisis in 1018. This version currently is being considered as a legend. Originally named as simply the Southern gates they were one of the three main gates of the city fortification with other being called: Lyadski and Zhydivski (meaning Lechitic and Jewish). The last two gates did not manage to survive. The stone fortifications stretched for only 3.5 km (~2.5 mi). The fortification of the Higher City (Fortress) stretched from the Southern Gates towards where today is the Maidan and where the Lechitic Gates (Polish Gate, Lackie wrota) were located. Then the moat was rising along where the Kostiol Street and "hugging" the St. Michael's Monastery and ran along the today's Zhytomyr Street towards the Zydowski Gates (at Lviv Square). From there the fortification stretched along the Yaroslaviv Val Street back towards the Southern Gates. Later the Southern gates began to be called as the Grand Gates before the construction of the golden-dome Blahovist Church (known as Church of the Annunciation) which was established in the close proximity to the gates and easily seen from the outside of the city. Since that time the gates were known as the Golden Gates of Kiev. The passing part of the gates was about 40 feet high and 20 feet wide. For almost half of millennium they served as the Triumph Arch of the city and were considered the major pride of the city's residents. It was reputedly modeled on the Golden Gate of Constantinople, from which it took its name. In 1832 the ruins were excavated and an initial survey for their conservation was undertaken. Further works in the 1970s added an adjacent pavilion, housing a museum of the gate. In 1982, the gate was completely reconstructed for the 1500th anniversary of Kiev, although there is no solid evidence as to what the original gates looked like. Some art historians called for this reconstruction to be demolished and for the ruins of the original gate to be exposed to public view. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_Gate,_Kiev

When Elvis Presley purchased Graceland in 1957, the music gates were not a part of the property. Designed for Elvis by Abe Saucer and custom by John Dillars, Jr., of Memphis Doors, Inc., the custom music gates were delivered and installed on April 22, 1957. See pictures at: http://www.elvispresleymusic.com.au/pictures/1957_april_22.html

Mirandize \muh-RAN-dyze\ verb to recite the Miranda warnings to (a person under arrest) "You have the right to remain silent . . . ." These seven words typically begin the notification that police recite during an arrest to inform a suspect of his or her rights while in custody. The law requiring this recitation stemmed from a 1966 U.S. Supreme Court decision (_Miranda v. Arizona_) in which the court overturned the conviction of Ernesto A. Miranda on charges of rape and kidnapping. The court had determined that Miranda confessed to the crime without being informed that he could remain silent during questioning. The list of rights that must be recited to a suspect during an arrest subsequently became known as "the Miranda warnings." And in the 1980s, the verb "Mirandize" began appearing in print. http://osdir.com/ml/culture.language.word-of-the-day/2003-08/msg00029.html

On February 2, 2012 Archivist of the United States David S. Ferriero and co-founder and managing director of The Carlyle Group David M. Rubenstein unveiled the newly restored and encased 1297 Magna Carta, which is on loan to the American people by Mr. Rubenstein. The National Archives partnered with the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) on the exacting design and fabrication of the encasement. The ten month conservation treatment of the Magna Carta was conducted in three phases. First, the two conservator treatment team examined the document carefully and wrote a treatment proposal of steps to remove old repairs and adhesive and to fill losses with stable materials. With the treatment proposal approved, the conservators applied moisture which allowed for the successful removal of fills, some older repairs, and adhesive residues on the parchment. Then the team removed previous repairs, inserted fills and adhesive residues, and finally filled losses in the parchment and the parchment tag supporting the wax seal. New fills of long-fibered Japanese and Korean papers toned to match the parchment were applied to the losses using a mixture of gelatin and wheat starch paste. Finally, the document was carefully humidified and then dried and flattened for a number of months to ensure that it would remain flat when sealed in the encasement. All the materials used in the conservation treatment are chemically-stable and all of the treatments are reversible. Building on NARA requirements and earlier research and development performed prior to the manufacturing of the Charters of Freedom encasements, the team sealed the new encasement with double O-rings, creating a pressure of 300 pounds per linear inch along the O-ring groove. The encasement is filled with an atmosphere of 99% high-purity argon, 1% high-purity helium, and an initial oxygen concentration of 1 part per million. The interior humidity ranges from ca. 40 to 42% relative humidity, depending on the temperature of the display area. Magna Carta rests in its new encasement on specially made cotton paper produced at the University of Iowa Center for the Book. The unbleached white paper behind the translucent parchment enhances its visual appearance. It also provides a soft acid-free surface between the document and the perforated metal plate below and helps stabilize the humidity within the encasement. http://www.archives.gov/press/press-releases/2012/nr12-56.html

On April 18, the Supreme Court reminded us that diction matters, unanimously ruling that by using the word “individual” rather than “person,” a federal statute limited liability for torture committed overseas to individuals, not to the organizations that employ them. But the opinion http://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/11pdf/11-88.pdf itself shows that even the most punctilious organizations — say, the Supreme Court — can sometimes err when selecting their words. The ruling referred to one of the defendants as the Palestinian Liberation Organization — although the PLO’s actual name in English, as the briefs and lower court opinion correctly put it, is Palestine Liberation Organization. At least three individuals involved in publishing the opinion made that error: Justice Sonia Sotomayor, who wrote the court’s opinion, Justice Stephen Breyer, who filed a concurrence, and the court’s reporter of decisions, Christine Fallon, who prepared the syllabus, all used Palestinian instead of Palestine. The seven other justices all saw the final opinion before adding their names, if regular procedures were followed, as would have dozens of law clerks and other functionaries before the opinion was printed and distributed to the public Wednesday morning. A Supreme Court spokeswoman, when informed of the matter, said it was a typographical error and would be corrected for the record. In an 1857 case, the court inserted an extraneous letter in the name of respondent John F.A. Sanford. Of course, that was the least of the errors in the case that remains on the books as Dred Scott v. Sandford. Jess Bravin http://blogs.wsj.com/law/2012/04/18/a-supreme-typo/

On April 22, more than one billion people around the globe will participate in Earth Day 2012 and help Mobilize the Earth™. Link to history of Earth Day and Earth Day archives at: http://www.earthday.org/2012

Finding Good Writing Mentors by Bryan A. Garner Marvin Sloman was a painstaking writer. He believed that every word mattered and that there was a right word for every place on the page. Even with his most trusted colleagues—in a firm full of careful legal writers—he would ponder the critical sentences in a brief and change a word or two that could make a tremendous difference. He would change “weak” to “feeble,” “insistent” to “adamant,” “questionable” to “discredited,” and “go back on” to “renege.” He habitually tightened and brightened the texts he would edit. No detail escaped his eye. http://www.michbar.org/journal/pdf/pdf4article2001.pdf

Find Michigan Bar Journal's Plain Language columns indexed from May 1984 to March 2012 at: http://www.michbar.org/generalinfo/plainenglish/columns.cfm

In English, the letter Q is usually 'followed by' the letter U, but there are some exceptions. The majority of these are anglicised from Arabic, Chinese, Hebrew, Inuktitut, or other languages which do not use the English alphabet, with Q representing a sound not found in English. Find a list of these words at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_English_words_containing_Q_not_followed_by_U

Word without vowels that you can use in Scrabble and other word games: http://wordswithoutvowels.com/

Ohio's 9th congressional district has been represented by Representative Marcia C. Kaptur (D) since 1983. This district is in the northern part of the state, bordering Michigan and Ontario, Canada (via Lake Erie), and includes the counties of Erie, Lorain, Lucas, and Ottawa. Following the 2010 state elections, the 9th district absorbed part of Cuyahoga County pitting 10th district Democratic incumbent Dennis Kucinich against Kaptur in the 2012 Democratic primary. The new 9th district has been called "The Mistake by the Lake" and one of the "Top 5 Ugliest Districts" due to gerrymandering. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerrymandering http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ohio's_9th_congressional_district

Olefin fiber is a synthetic fiber made from a polyolefin, such as polypropylene or polyethylene. It is used in wallpaper, ropes, and vehicle interiors. Olefin's advantages are its strength, colourfastness and comfort, stain, mildew, abrasion and sunlight resistance, and good bulk and cover. Italy began production of olefin fibers in 1957. The chemist Giulio Natta successfully formulated olefin suitable for more textile applications. U.S. production of olefin fibers began in 1960. Olefin fibers account for 16% of all manufactured fibers. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olefin_fiber

Originally, manufactured fibers were created to mimic more expensive natural fibers like wool and silk. Today, manufactured fibers are engineered specifically to have certain properties that natural fibers don’t. Manufactured fibers come in two primary types: cellulosic, which are plant-based, and petroleum-based. So, yes, some manufactured fibers do in fact originate from plants. In the manufacturing process the plants are broken down into chemical solutions which are then forced through tiny holes to make filaments, much like a silkworm extrudes a liquid that hardens into filament. Here are some common cellulosic-based fabrics and their qualities: Viscose is the generic name for Rayon, which is its brand name. Chemically, Viscose resembles cotton, but it can also take on many different qualities depending on how it is manufactured. It is strong, absorbent, soft, comfortable to wear (especially in hot climates, since it doesn’t retain heat), inexpensive, and it drapes nicely. Acetate has excellent drape, feels and looks similar to silk, is comfortable to wear in all seasons, doesn’t shrink much, and resists moths and mildew. Lyocell, more commonly known by its brand name Tencel, is soft and absorbent, strong, takes dyes nicely, drapes well, and is resistant to wrinkles and shrinkage. And you may have guessed by now that bamboo is also a manufactured fiber. There has been quite a bit of controversy over this fiber recently because it was initially touted as an environmentally friendly natural fiber with bacteria-resistance, moisture wicking capabilities, biodegradeability, and sustainable qualities. Unfortunately, however, many of these beneficial qualities are actually lost during the chemical manufacturing process. If you would like to learn more about bamboo fibers and the controversy surrounding them, you can review this FTC Consumer Alert http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/pubs/consumer/alerts/alt160.shtm Liesl Gibson Read more at: http://www.burdastyle.com/blog/plant-based-or-cellulosic-fibers-used-for-manufacturing-fabric

The two big players in the punctuation field are the period and the comma. I’ll start with the latter because the protocol for comma use is so complicated and contingent. In the 19th century and earlier (when rules were generally more lax than they are today), comma use was pretty much a crapshoot. That is, writers rolled one in when they felt like it, which was usually when a natural pause seemed to occur. So in the first line of “Pride and Prejudice” (1813), Jane Austen wrote: “It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.” By about a century later, comma rules had been codified such that both commas in the sentence (after “acknowledged” and “fortune”) would be dispensed with. You can glimpse a reason for this codification — which emphasized consistency rather than sound — by looking at the opening of the Second Amendment of the Constitution (1789): A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed. There are three commas. The one after “state” would be used today; the one after “arms” would not; the one after “militia” is ambiguous; and all three have caused a world of hurt, confusion and argumentation over the last 223 years. As Adam Freedman wrote in this newspaper in 2007, a Federal District Court ruling invalidating the District of Columbia’s gun ban (subsequently upheld by the Supreme Court) held that “the second comma divides the amendment into two clauses: one ‘prefatory’ and the other ‘operative.’ On this reading, the bit about a well-regulated militia is just preliminary throat clearing; the framers don’t really get down to business until they start talking about ‘the right of the people … shall not be infringed.’” More generally, the funky comma protocol muddies the crucial link between the importance of militias and the right of people to bear arms. Ben Yagoda http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/04/09/fanfare-for-the-comma-man/

The Franklin Institute in Philadelphia is well-known for having a big heart. In a couple of years, it’ll be recognized for its brain, too. The museum on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway has broken ground on a large expansion that will include an exhibit featuring a giant walk-through brain, which will serve as the modern-day foil to the beloved walk-through heart built in the 1950s. The museum expansion — the largest since its founding in 1824 — will also add a conference center, classroom space and new galleries for traveling exhibits, according to Franklin Institute officials. The “Your Brain” exhibit will be the centerpiece of a 53,000-square-foot addition scheduled to open in the summer of 2014. The high-tech brain will be very different from the decidedly low-tech “Giant Heart,” a plaster and papier-mache creation that invites visitors to follow the same path that blood circulates in their own tickers as a recorded heartbeat plays from embedded speakers. Created as a temporary exhibit in 1954, it became a permanent fixture due to its instant and persistent popularity. http://www.courierpostonline.com/article/20120407/NEWS01/304070035/Franklin-Institute-has-brainy-idea

As Zach Bodish traced his usual route through the thrift store last week, passing the metal shelves of castaway posters and photographs, one word caught his eye. Picasso. It was on a framed poster, alongside a crudely etched face and a French phrase advertising a 1958 exhibition of Pablo Picasso’s work. Bodish, who figured it was a nice reproduction, paid the $14.14 price at the Volunteers of America in Clintonville and went home. But as the 46-year-old University District resident researched the piece online, he noticed a red scribble in the corner of his thrift-store find, the same place where Picasso penned a scarlet signature on some original versions. The print could sell for up to $6,000 at auction, or twice that if sold at a gallery, said Todd Weyman, vice president of Swann Auction Galleries in New York City. After analyzing photos of Bodish’s version, he was confident that both the print and signature are authentic: “It looks right as rain to me.” The work is a linocut, meaning Picasso carved a design into linoleum that then was pressed with ink onto paper. It has all the telltale signs of an artist’s proof, those copies that artists approve before mass production, said Ohio State University history of art professor Lisa Florman, who wrote a 2000 book on Picasso’s prints. Penciled on Bodish’s print is 6/100 and the French phrase meaning original print, signed proof. “It’s one that the artist looked at carefully, not one of the subsequent, in this case, 94 that were just run off by a printer,” Florman said, adding that lower numbers are more valuable. Picasso was asked to create the poster for a 1958 Easter exhibit of his ceramic work in Vallauris, in southern France, Florman said. Collin Binkley http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/local/2012/03/28/possible-signed-picasso-print-bought-at-thrift-store.html

Words are competing daily in an almost Darwinian struggle for survival, according to new research from scientists in which they analysed more than 10 million words used over the last 200 years. Drawing their material from Google's huge book-digitisation project, an international team of academics tracked the usage of every word recorded in English, Spanish and Hebrew over the 209-year period between 1800 and 2008. The scientists, who include Boston University's Joel Tenenbaum and IMT Lucca Institute for Advanced Studies' Alexander Petersen, said their study shows that "words are competing actors in a system of finite resources", and just as financial firms battle for market share, so words compete to be used by writers or speakers, and to then grab the attention of readers or listeners. There has been a "drastic increase in the death rate of words" in the modern print era, the academics discovered. They attributed it to the growing use of automatic spellcheckers, and stricter editing procedures, wiping out misspellings and errors. "Most changes to the vocabulary in the last 10 to 20 years are due to the extinction of misspelled words and nonsensical print errors, and to the decreased birth rate of new misspelled variations and genuinely new words," the scientists write in Statistical Laws Governing Fluctuations in Word Use from Word Birth to Word Death, February 16, 2012. http://arxiv.org/pdf/1107.3707v2.pdf "The words that are dying are those words with low relative use. But it is not only "defective" words that die: sometimes words are driven to extinction by aggressive competitors. The word "Roentgenogram", for example, deriving from the discoverer of the x-ray, William Röntgen, was widely used for several decades in the 20th century, but, challenged by "x-ray" and "radiogram", has now fallen out of use entirely. X-ray had beaten off its synonyms by 1980, speculate the academics, owing to its "efficient short word length" and since the English language is generally used for scientific publication. " Alison Flood http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/mar/21/why-words-are-dying

Federal Reserve Beige Book SUMMARY OF COMMENTARY ON CURRENT ECONOMIC CONDITIONS BY FEDERAL RESERVE DISTRICTS APRIL 2012 Reports from the twelve Federal Reserve Districts indicated that the economy continued to expand at a modest to moderate pace from mid-February through late March. Activity in the Boston, Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, and San Francisco Districts grew at a moderate pace, while Cleveland and St. Louis cited modest growth. New York reported that economic growth picked up somewhat. Philadelphia and Richmond cited improving business conditions. The economy in Minneapolis grew at a solid pace and Kansas City’s economy expanded at a faster pace. Manufacturing continued to expand in most Districts, with gains noted in automotive and high-technology industries. Manufacturers in many Districts expressed optimism about near-term growth prospects, but they are somewhat concerned about rising petroleum prices. Demand for professional business services showed modest to strong growth and freight volume was mainly higher. Reports on retail spending were positive, with the unusually warm weather being credited for boosting sales in several Districts. Read the 61-page report at: http://www.federalreserve.gov/fullreport20120411.pdf

With the recent rise in gasoline and diesel fuel prices, many consumers have questions about what contributes to the price they pay for these products at the retail pump. While crude oil prices, refining costs, and distribution and marketing expenses account for a significant portion of the final retail price, taxes also explain an appreciable portion of that price, accounting for 10-13% of total retail prices in 2011. State-level taxes on motor fuels vary widely, ranging from less than 10 cents per gallon to a high of over 43 cents per gallon. The U.S. Energy Information Administration estimates the average for state excise and sales taxes on gasoline for on-highway use is nearly 25 cents per gallon, as of January 2012. State-level excise and sales taxes are only part of overall gasoline taxation—gasoline is also taxed at the federal level and by localities and districts within states. Federal taxes on gasoline have been unchanged at 18.4 cents per gallon since 1997. http://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.cfm?id=5790

The Lyrid meteor shower is not one of the strongest of the annual meteor showers, but it can be enjoyable to those meteor observers thirsting for something after over three and a half months of weak meteor activity. The Lyrids generally begin on April 16 and end on April 26, with maximum generally occurring during the night of April 21/22. At maximum, hourly rates can reach about 10 meteors per hour. The Lyrids are particularly interesting for two reason. First, observations have been identified back to at least 2600 years, which is longer than any other meteor shower. Second, the meteor shower occasionally experiences an outburst of about 100 meteors per hour and the reason is basically unknown. See location and history of the Lyrids at: http://meteorshowersonline.com/lyrids.html

The St Cuthbert Gospel, also known as the Stonyhurst Gospel or the St Cuthbert Gospel of St John, is a 7th-century pocket gospel book, written in Latin. It was placed in the tomb of Saint Cuthbert of Lindisfarne, probably a few years after he died in 687. Its finely decorated leather binding is the earliest known Western bookbinding to survive, and both the 94 vellum folios and the binding are in outstanding condition for a book of this age. It is thought that after the Dissolution of the Monasteries in England by Henry VIII between 1536 and 1541, the book passed to collectors. It was eventually given to Stonyhurst College, the Jesuit school in Lancashire. From 1979 it was on long-term loan from the British province of the Jesuit order to the British Library, catalogued as Loan 74. On 14 July 2011 the British Library launched a fundraising campaign to buy the book for £9m (US$14.3m), and on 17 April 2012 announced that the purchase had been completed and the book was now British Library Additional MS 89000. The library plans to display the Gospel for equal amounts of time in London and Durham. They describe the manuscript as "the earliest surviving intact European book and one of the world's most significant books". With a page size of only 138 by 92 millimetres (5.4 × 3.6 in) the St Cuthbert Gospel is one of the smallest surviving Anglo-Saxon manuscripts. The essentially undecorated text is the Gospel of John in Latin, written in a script that has been regarded as a model of elegant simplicity. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_Cuthbert_Gospel