The first indications of constructed roads date from about 4000 BC and consist of stone paved streets at Ur in modern-day Iraq and timber roads preserved in a swamp in Glastonbury, England. Read about roads and link to parking meters and traffic lights at: http://inventors.about.com/od/rstartinventions/a/History-Of-Roads.htm

On October 3, 1893, General Roy Stone, a Civil War hero and good roads advocate, was appointed Special Agent in charge of the new Office of Road Inquiry (ORI) within the Department of Agriculture. With a budget of $10,000, ORI promoted new rural road development to serve the wagons, coaches, and bicycles on America's dirt roads.
In the Roaring 20s the Bureau of Public Roads (BPR), as ORI was then called, was authorized by the Federal Highway Act of 1921 to provide funding to help state highway agencies construct a paved system of two-lane interstate highways. During the 1930s, BPR helped state and local governments create Depression-era road projects that would employ as many workers as possible. When America entered World War II in 1941, the focus turned toward providing roads that the military needed. After the war, the nation's roads were in disrepair, and congestion had become a problem in major cities. In 1944, President Franklin D. Roosevelt had signed legislation authorizing a network of rural and urban express highways called the "National System of Interstate Highways." Unfortunately, the legislation lacked funding. Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, FHWA worked with the states to open 99 percent of the designated 42,800-mile Interstate System--now officially called the Dwight D. Eisenhower National System of Interstate and Defense Highways. http://inventors.about.com/library/inventors/blcar3.htm

Paint the town red engage in a riotous spree
The allusion is to the kind of unruly behaviour that results in much blood being spilt. There are several suggestions as to the origin of the phrase. The one most often repeated, especially within the walls of the Melton Mowbray Tourist Office, is a tale dating from 1837. It is said that year is when the Marquis of Waterford and a group of friends ran riot in the Leicestershire town of Melton Mowbray, painting the town's toll-bar and several buildings red. That event is well documented, and is certainly in the style of the Marquis, who was a notorious hooligan. To his friends he was Henry de la Poer Beresford; to the public he was known as 'the Mad Marquis'. In the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography he is described as 'reprobate and landowner'. His misdeeds include fighting, stealing, being 'invited to leave' Oxford University, breaking windows, upsetting (literally) apple-carts, fighting duels and, last but not least, painting the heels of a parson's horse with aniseed and hunting him with bloodhounds. He was notorious enough to have been suspected by some of being 'Spring Heeled Jack', the strange, semi-mythical figure of English folklore. Melton Mowbray is the origin of the well-known Melton Mowbray pork pie - which could hardly have originated anywhere else. The town's claim to be the source of 'painting the town red' is more doubtful. It is at least plausible that it came from there of course, but no more plausible than Stony Stratford, Buckinghamshire being the source of 'cock and bull story' or Ashbourne, Derbyshire being the source of 'local derby' (which they aren't). The phrase isn't recorded in print until fifty years after the nefarious Earl's night out. If that event really were the source of the phrase, why would anyone, or in this case everyone, wait fifty years before mentioning it? http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/paint-the-town-red.html

The Canary Islands is a region of Spain, but geographically and geologically it is part of Africa, situated just about 60 miles off the southwest coast of Morocco. There, on a scattering of volcanic islands, lie some of the most unusual, visually striking vineyards seen anywhere on earth, none more so than the eerie, almost extraterrestrial vineyards of Lanzarote, the easternmost of the Canaries. Vines on Lanzarote grow in the black soil of volcanic ash, which is carved into circular hollows that resemble craters on the Moon. On the sea side of the hollows, low stone walls are constructed to guard the huddled vines from the hot, humid breath of the Atlantic, which blows in mercilessly. Often the vines are the only things growing. Not all of the Canaries’ vineyards are so exotic. But many are highly unusual, planted at high elevations on terraces carved into steep volcanic hillsides and in myriad microclimates. Wine has been made on the Canary Islands for more than 500 years. Lanzarote is a relative newcomer, though. Vines there have been traced back only to the mid-18th century, perhaps because of a volcanic eruption — the source of all that rich, black earth — that lasted for six years. Much of the island is now protected as Timanfaya National Park. Because the Canaries are so isolated, they have never known phylloxera, the ravenous aphid that almost destroyed Europe’s grapevines in the late 19th century. The wine industry was reborn when scientists discovered that European vines could be protected from phylloxera by grafting them onto American rootstocks, which were naturally immune. But on the Canaries, vines can be planted on their own roots, offering the relatively rare opportunity to drink wines made from ungrafted vines. Isolation has also resulted in a variety of grapes that, if not exactly unknown elsewhere, are not often seen, especially in the production of still wines.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/18/dining/reviews/wines-of-the-canary-islands-review.html

The 1953 Iranian coup d'état (known in Iran as the 28 Mordad coup) was the overthrow of the democratically elected government of Iranian Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddegh on 19 August 1953, orchestrated by the intelligence agencies of the United Kingdom and the United States under the name TPAJAX Project. The coup saw the transition of Mohammad-Rezā Shāh Pahlavi from a constitutional monarch to an authoritarian one who relied heavily on United States support to hold on to power until his own overthrow in February 1979. The coup was carried out by the U.S. administration of Dwight D. Eisenhower in a covert action advocated by Secretary of State John Foster Dulles, and implemented under the supervision of his brother Allen Dulles, the Director of Central Intelligence. The coup was organized by the United States' CIA and the United Kingdom's MI6, two spy agencies that aided royalists and royalist elements of the Iranian army. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1953_Iranian_coup_d'%C3%A9tat

In Ireland, Frank Buckley, an artist based in Dublin has started to build a house using one point eighty-two billion dollars of shredded money. Frank Buckley, who is unemployed, has been working approximately twelve hours a day since the start of December. The shredded money he is using are decommissioned Euros that have been lent to him by the mint in Ireland. He said that living in the house is quite warm and that the Euro was a great insulator.
http://californiaexaminer.net/2012/01/30/shredded-money-used-to-build-a-house/

WASHINGTON Feb. 6 At a time when the U.S. Postal Service is considering deep cuts in services and jobs, an internal watchdog told Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) that a big funding cushion already has been built into the mail service's retirement and health benefit funds. Millions of dollars owed to the funds have been cited by Postal Service managers as a main reason that it must cut 220,000 jobs and close 3,700 post offices and 252 mail processing plants - half of all the current sorting centers. In a letter to Sanders http://www.sanders.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/0206PostalIGLetter.pdf Postal Service Inspector General David C. Williams said the programs are flush with funds. He said the Postal Service has "significantly exceeded" the amount that the federal government and the nation's most profitable corporations have socked away for pension and retiree health care. "Using ratepayer funds, it has built a war chest of over $326 billion to address its future liabilities," Williams told Sanders. Armed with the new information from the inspector general, Sanders said the Postal Service should be released from what he called an "onerous and unprecedented burden" of being forced to put $5.5 billion every year into their future retiree health benefits fund. Sanders said, even if there are no further contributions from the post office, and if the fund simply collects 3.5 to 4 percent interest every year, that account will be fully funded in 21 years. Sanders also said the Postal Service should be allowed to recover more than $13 billion in overpayments it has made to a federal retirement systems. Thanks, Rick.
http://www.sanders.senate.gov/newsroom/news/?id=cb5cfdbf-8edf-4a31-9440-97f88ac03e43

The Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act of 2006 (PAEA) - H.R. 6407 enacted on December 20, 2006, made several changes to the Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC). Besides giving the body its current name, the PAEA significantly strengthened the Commission's authority to serve as a counterbalance to new flexibility granted to the Postal Service in setting postal rates. The Act requires the Commission to develop and maintain regulations for a modern system of rate regulation, consult with the Postal Service on delivery service standards and performance measures, consult with the Department of State on international postal policies, prevent cross-subsidization or other anticompetitive postal practices, promote transparency and accountability, and adjudicate complaints. The law also assigns new and continuing oversight responsibilities to the PRC, including annual determinations of USPS compliance with applicable laws, development of accounting practices and procedures for the Postal Service, review of the Universal Service requirement, and assurance of transparency through periodic reports. New enforcement tools given to the PRC include subpoena power, authority to direct the Postal Service to adjust rates and to take other remedial actions, and levying fines in cases of deliberate noncompliance with applicable postal laws. Find links to PAEA and the PRC Web site at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Postal_Regulatory_Commission

You won't catch Annabelle Selldorf browsing a Kindle any time soon. "I know I'm old-fashioned, but there's just something about the act of looking at books versus taking in information on a screen, which is so one-dimensional," said the German-born, New York-based architect. "There's a sense of ownership that you have with books, a physical connection." A visit to her Union Square office reveals that she's an enthusiastic bibliophile; volumes on Russian Constructivism and Shaker design cozy up to one another on wraparound shelves. "I use them as a visual aid," explained Ms. Selldorf, the vision behind the Neue Galerie, New York University's Institute for the Study of the Ancient World and other cultural spaces. Twelve blocks north is another book-filled room that Ms. Selldorf likes to peruse for inspiration: the Morgan Library, built to house financier Pierpont Morgan's weighty collection of rare tomes and manuscripts. The 1906 structure, now part of a multiwing museum that includes Renzo Piano's modernist 2006 addition, was designed by McKim, Mead & White. "The architecture in a way is 'neo,' since it draws on Renaissance style," Ms. Selldorf said. "Yet McKim took liberties with the genre to suit himself. If someone does that today, I find it questionable; I want each era to have its own vocabulary. On the other hand, it feels authentic because he's taken liberties. He drew from history without being a slave to it." A recent renovation restored luster to the library's 16th-century tapestry, Renaissance-era carved-marble mantel, triple-tier Circassian-walnut bookcases and elaborate ceiling murals depicting signs of the Zodiac. "The room is very opulent and yet restrained," said Ms. Selldorf. "There's a lot going on, but it feels unified when you're standing in it. The space always leaves me refreshed and calm." JEN RENZI See picture at: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204652904577193161529753518.html

magazine
1580s, "place for storing goods, especially military ammunition," from M.Fr. magasin "warehouse, depot, store," from It. magazzino, from Arabic makhazin, pl. of makhzan "storehouse" (cf. Sp. almacén "warehouse, magazine"), from khazana "to store up." The original sense is almost obsolete; meaning "periodical journal" dates from the publication of the first one, "Gentleman's Magazine," in 1731, from earlier use of the word for a printed list of military stores and information, or in a figurative sense, from the publication being a "storehouse" of information. http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=magazine

The Eight Rulers of the United Hawaiian Kingdom from King Kamehameha I (c.1753-1819) to Queen Lili‘uokalani (1838-1917) In January of 1893, an insurrection against Queen Lili‘uokalani was led by a small group of United States sugar planters and businessmen backed by 162 U.S. marines from the U.S.S. Boston. They deposed the queen, abrogated the monarchy, and declared a Provisional Government (with the goal of annexation of the Hawaiian Islands by the United States). Hawai‘i’s previous 98 years of rule, under eight different monarchs, was effectively ended.
Find many details at:
http://www.hawaiianencyclopedia.com/part-i.-n257-m333299-hawaiithe.asp

The Panthéon (Latin: Pantheon, from Greek Πάνθειον meaning "Every god") is a building in the Latin Quarter in Paris. It was originally built as a church dedicated to St. Genevieve and to house the reliquary châsse containing her relics but, after many changes, now functions as a secular mausoleum containing the remains of distinguished French citizens. It is an early example of neoclassicism, with a façade modeled on the Pantheon in Rome, surmounted by a dome that owes some of its character to Bramante's "Tempietto". Located in the 5th arrondissement on the Montagne Sainte-Geneviève, the Panthéon looks out over all of Paris. Designer Jacques-Germain Soufflot had the intention of combining the lightness and brightness of the gothic cathedral with classical principles, but its role as a mausoleum required the great Gothic windows to be blocked. See history, images and list of people buried there at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panth%C3%A9on,_Paris

See many uses of Pantheon as a building in various locations, in mythology and as a title at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pantheon_(disambiguation)

More nautical phrases
Three Sheets to the Wind A sheet is a rope line which controls the tension on the downwind side of a square sail. If, on a three masted fully rigged ship, the sheets of the three lower course sails are loose, the sails will flap and flutter and are said to be "in the wind". A ship in this condition would stagger and wander aimlessly downwind.
To Know the Ropes There was miles and miles of cordage in the rigging of a square rigged ship. The only way of keeping track of and knowing the function of all of these lines was to know where they were located. It took an experienced seaman to know the ropes.
Toe the Line When called to line up at attention, the ship's crew would form up with their toes touching a seam in the deck planking.
Touch and Go This referred to a ship's keel touching the bottom and getting right off again.
Under the Weather If a crewman is standing watch on the weather side of the bow, he will be subject to the constant beating of the sea and the ocean spray. He will be under the weather.
Windfall A sudden unexpected rush of wind from a mountainous shore which allowed a ship more leeway.
Find more at: http://www.foreandaftmarine.com/COMMONPHRASES.htm

How to dispose of used cooking oil
http://www.ehow.com/how_15918_dispose-used-cooking.html

Feb. 7 events
1497 – The bonfire of the vanities occurs in which supporters of Girolamo Savonarola burn thousands of objects like cosmetics, art, and books in Florence, Italy.
1795 – The 11th Amendment to the United States Constitution is ratified.
1812 – The strongest in a series of earthquakes strikes New Madrid, Missouri.
1904 – A fire in Baltimore, Maryland destroys over 1,500 buildings in 30 hours.
1907 – The Mud March is the first large procession organized by the National Union of Women’s Suffrage Societies (NUWSS).
1935 – The classic board game Monopoly is invented.
1940 – The second full length animated Walt Disney film, Pinocchio, premieres.
Feb. 7 births
1804 – John Deere, American manufacturer (Deere & Company) (d. 1886)
1812 – Charles Dickens, English novelist (d. 1870)
1837 – Sir James Murray, Scottish lexicographer and philologist (d. 1915)
1867 – Laura Ingalls Wilder, American author (d. 1957)
1885 – Sinclair Lewis, American writer, Nobel Prize Laureate (d. 1951)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/February_7

Which is correct?
We appreciate you contacting the office.
We appreciate your contacting the office.
Both are correct, but they have slightly different meanings. If you appreciate that someone contacted the office (the act of contacting), use "your." It's roughly equivalent to "We appreciate that you contacted the office." If you appreciate the person who contacted the office, use "you."
Typically, you want the possessive pronoun:
We appreciate your contacting the office.
http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/should-it-be-you-or-your-with-gerunds.aspx

A gerund is a verbal that ends in -ing and functions as a noun. The term verbal indicates that a gerund, like the other two kinds of verbals, is based on a verb and therefore expresses action or a state of being. Find examples and search Purdue's University's Online Writing Lab (OWL) at: http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/627/01/

A participle is a verb form used as an adjective to modify nouns and pronouns. The following sentence contains both a present and a past participle: The children, crying and exhausted, were guided out of the collapsed mine.
Crying is a present participle, formed by adding -ing to the present form of the verb (cry). Exhausted is a past participle, formed by adding -ed to the present form of the verb (exhaust). Both participles modify the subject, children. All present participles end in -ing. The past participles of all regular verbs end in -ed. However, irregular verbs have various past participle endings (for instance, thrown. ridden, built, and gone). http://grammar.about.com/od/basicsentencegrammar/a/verbalswhat.htm

The Liberty Head nickel, sometimes referred to as the V nickel due to its reverse (or tails) design, was an American five-cent piece. It was struck for circulation from 1883 until 1912, with at least five pieces being surreptitiously struck dated 1913. The original copper–nickel five-cent piece, the Shield nickel, had longstanding production problems, and in the early 1880s, the United States Mint was looking to replace it. Mint Chief Engraver Charles Barber was instructed to prepare designs for proposed one-, three-, and five-cent pieces, which were to bear similar designs. Only the new five-cent piece was approved, and went into production in 1883. For almost thirty years large quantities of coin of this design were produced to meet commercial demand, especially as coin-operated machines became increasingly popular. Beginning in 1911, the Mint began work to replace the Liberty head design, and a new design, which became known as the Buffalo nickel, went into production in February 1913. Although no 1913 Liberty head nickels were officially struck, five are known to exist. While it is uncertain how these pieces originated, they have come to be among the most expensive coins in the world, with one selling in 2010 for $3,737,500.
See more plus images at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liberty_Head_nickel

Sourdough starter really is a living creature. The wild yeast that are in there feed on the water and flour in the starter, also sometimes referred to as the "sponge". It gets the name "sponge" after it has been fed enough times to make it a large mass for your baking needs and a little extra to store as "starter" for your next round of baking. How old can sourdough starter be? Boudine's starter in San Francisco is documented at over 100 years old. Urban legend in Paris is that the Poulin bakery starter dates to the French Revolution. Not unlikely as well cared for starter used continuously has a chance of going forever with little care. Read more, including about hooch here:
http://frazgofeasting.blogspot.com/2009/03/hooch-and-keeping-your-sourdough.html

Q: What is U.S. paper currency made of?
A: It is 75 percent cotton, 25 percent linen. -- U.S. Treasury Department.
Q: Where is boxing great Joe Louis buried?
A: Arlington National Cemetery, Va. He was an Army veteran of World War II.
Q: What countries are the most charitable?
A: In order: The United States, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, Great Britain. -- Charities Aid Foundation. http://www.thecourier.com/Opinion/columns/2012/Jan/JU/ar_JU_013012.asp?d=013012,2012,Jan,30&c=c_13

gascon (GAS-kuhn) noun: A braggart. adjective: Boastful.
After Gascon, a native of the Gascony region in France, from the stereotype of Gascons as boasters. Earliest documented use: before 1771.
wellerism (WEL-uh-ri-zuhm) noun
An expression involving a familiar proverb or quotation and its facetious sequel. I t usually comprises three parts: statement, speaker, situation.
Examples: "We'll have to rehearse that," said the undertaker as the coffin fell out of the car. "Prevention is better than cure," said the pig when it ran away from the butcher. After Sam Weller and his father, characters known for such utterances in Charles Dickens's novel Pickwick Papers. Earliest documented use: 1839.
gamp (gamp) noun A large umbrella.
After Sarah Gamp, a nurse in Charles Dickens's novel Martin Chuzzlewit. She carries a large umbrella. Earliest documented use: 1864.
gradgrind (GRAD-grynd) noun Someone who is solely interested in cold, hard facts.
After Thomas Gradgrind, the utilitarian mill-owner in Charles Dickens's novel Hard Times. Gradgrind runs a school with the idea that hard facts and rules are more important than love, emotions, and feelings. Earliest documented use: 1855.
A. Word.A.Day with Anu Garg

The Super Bowl Most Valuable Player Award, or Super Bowl MVP, is presented annually to the most valuable player of the Super Bowl, the National Football League's (NFL) championship game. The winner is chosen by a fan vote during the game and by a panel of 16 American football writers and broadcasters who vote after the game. The media panel's ballots count for 80 percent of the vote tally, while the viewers' ballots make up the other 20 percent. The game's viewing audience can vote on the Internet or by using cellular phones. Super Bowl XXXV, held in 2001, was the first Super Bowl where fan voting was allowed. Since the first Super Bowl was held in 1967, the MVP award has been given to 41 players. From 1967 to 1989, the Super Bowl MVP was presented by SPORT magazine. Bart Starr was the MVP of the first two Super Bowls. Since 1990, the award has been presented by the NFL. At Super Bowl XXV, the league first awarded the Pete Rozelle Trophy, named after the former NFL commissioner, to the Super Bowl MVP. Ottis Anderson was the first to win the trophy. The most recent Super Bowl MVP was Eli Manning, the quarterback for the New York Giants, who was named the most valuable player of Super Bowl XLVI, held on February 5, 2012.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Super_Bowl_Most_Valuable_Player_Award

There are nineteen museums and galleries, as well as a zoological park, that comprise the Smithsonian museums. The majority, eleven, of these museums are located on the National Mall, which is the strip of land in Washington, D.C running between the Lincoln Memorial and the United States Capitol, with the Washington Monument providing a division slightly west of the center. Other museums are located elsewhere in Washington D.C. as well as two in New York City and one in Chantilly, Virginia. The Smithsonian also holds close ties with 168 museums in 39 states, as well as Panama and Puerto Rico. These museums are known as Smithsonian Affiliated museums. Collections of artifacts are given to these museums in the form of long-term loans from the Smithsonian. These long-term loans are not the only Smithsonian exhibits outside the Smithsonian museums. The Smithsonian also has a large number of traveling exhibitions. Each year more than 50 exhibitions travel to hundreds of cities and towns all across the United States. See list of museums, type, locations and pictures at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Smithsonian_museums

Phrases from Shakespeare
parting is such sweet sorrow, star-crossed lovers, come what may, crack of doom, better part of valour is discretion, game is afoot, beware the Ides of March, give the devil his due, dead as a doornail, come full circle, what the dickens and many others at:
http://www.worsleyschool.net/socialarts/shakespeare/sayings.html

Feedback to A.Word.A.Day
From: Ri Weal Subject: argosy
These words from Tennyson's Locksley Hall are on the wall of the Auckland Airport.
For I dipt into the future, far as human eye could see,
Saw the Vision of the world, and all the wonder that would be;
Saw the heavens fill with commerce, argosies of magic sails,
Pilots of the purple twilight dropping down with costly bales;
From: Sue Lloyd-Williams Subject: paladin
Paladin is an everyday word for many people living in UK apartment blocks -- it refers to the large (1000 litre capacity) round, wheeled, steel bins which receive the rubbish from the chutes.
From: Paul A. Foerster Subject: damascene
The late Fr. Stanley Besuska, Professor of Mathematics at Boston College, used to say that there is a patron saint of computers -- St. John Damascene. Of course you have to use the alternate pronunciation, putting an "h" sound in the last syllable to get the full pun value.
From: Arthur Silverstein Subject: gascon
It should be pointed out that gascon is not really a Mediterranean word, since Gascony is more an Atlantic or Biscayan area of southwest France. The word is related to Basque, since that was the language spoken by their ancestors during Roman times, the Aquitani. Gasconade was given currency by the escapades of Cyrano de Bergerac. Better would be Frank (from the Germanic tribe after whom France is named. In the Eastern Mediterranean during Crusader times, Frank was the term used for all Europeans, and it remains today as farangi to describe strangers or foreigners.
Comments from Anu Garg Jason and his band of adventurers have given a word to the English language, argonaut, but there's no evidence that they are connected with the word argosy.
The word founder derives from Latin fundus (bottom) and among its cousins are verbs 'to found' and 'to fund'. The word flounder itself may be an alteration of founder (etymologists are not certain). Language is a messy thing.
The thought included with the word sybarite was from Samuel Butler the novelist, not Samuel Butler the poet. There oughta be a law that no two authors can have the same name.

The Stoclet Palace (French: Palais Stoclet, Dutch: Stocletpaleis) is a private mansion built by architect Josef Hoffmann between 1905 and 1911 in Brussels, Belgium, for banker and art lover Adolphe Stoclet. Considered Hoffman's masterpiece, the Stoclet's house is one of the most refined and luxurious private houses of the twentieth century. The mansion is still occupied by the Stoclet family and is not open to visitors. It was designated as a world heritage site by UNESCO in June 2009. See images at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stoclet_Palace

Josef Hoffmann, founder of the Wiener Werkstätte artistic collective, drew up the palace's geometrically refined exterior clad in white Norwegian marble with undulating gold-leafed trim; Werkstätte members including Gustav Klimt, Koloman Moser and Michael Powolny brought splendor to the interiors. The designers placed every item within the house and its grounds, supplying specially created artworks, gardens, furniture, light fixtures, cutlery and silver toilet articles. For the dining room, Klimt crafted a dazzling marble mosaic encircling a table with 24 chairs. Silver candleholders and tureens studded with malachite cabochons sit atop polished ebony sideboards. Chandeliers strung with pearls heighten the magic. All is intact as on the day the Stoclets moved in. "It seems as if it were still 1911," said Alfred Weidinger, deputy director of Vienna's Belvedere Museum. "You don't sense the passage of time." An exhibition about the collaboration between Klimt and Hoffmann is on view through March 4 at the Belvedere, with a focus on the Palais Stoclet, including a reconstruction of its central hallway. "We got farther than anyone else in getting into the house," Mr. Weidinger said of his research. "We took thousands of photos, but we can't use a single one since the family won't allow it." Family members had indicated a willingness to lend furnishings for the show, but reneged at the last minute. MICHAEL Z. WISE http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204616504577172941334034970.html

From the American Association of Law Libraries, Legal Division
The Government Relations Office has posted an important new action alert in opposition to H.R. 3699 ,
the Research Works Act. This bill, which was introduced on December 16 by Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA-49) and Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY-14), would reverse the National Institutes of Health's popular Public Access Policy , which AALL strongly supports, and prevent other Federal agencies from developing similar policies to provide timely public access to taxpayer-funded research. Please take action
to tell your Representative that the public must have access to research funded by taxpayer dollars. If your Representative is a member of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee , it is especially important that you take action now .

Start the workday in a productive way
A stand-up meeting (or simply "stand-up") is a daily team meeting held to provide a status update to the team members. The 'semi-real-time' status allows participants to know about potential challenges as well as coordinate efforts to resolve difficult and/or time-consuming issues. It has particular value in Agile software development processes, such as Scrum, but can be utilized in any development methodology. The meetings are usually timeboxed to 5–15 minutes and are held standing up to remind people to keep the meeting short and to the point. The meeting is usually held at the same time and place every working day. All team members are encouraged to attend, but the meetings are not postponed if some of the team members are not present. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stand-up_meeting

See three versions of a perplexing riddle at http://www.worldwidewords.org/articles/gry.htm
The third, claiming to be the original, was published in the US magazine Parade in March 1997, in a letter from Charles Wiedemann of New Jersey, who was responding to an article on the mystery by Marilyn Vos Savant. His version is: There are at least three words In the English language that end in g or y. One of them is “hungry”, and another one is “angry”. There is a third word, a short one, Which you probably say every day. If you are listening carefully to everything I say, You just heard me say it three times. What is it?
This relies on verbal trickery to confuse the quickly-said “g or y” with “gry”. The answer is actually “say”. Here, for the record and in case anybody is still interested, are a few other words in -gry that do exist in English, though only specialist dictionary-makers and students of the history of the language have even heard of most of them. I have left out compounds such as land-hungry.
aggry: Coloured and variegated glass beads of ancient manufacture, found buried in the ground in Africa. A word of unknown origin. Seemingly always used attributively, as in aggry beads.
braggry: A variant form of braggery. Obsolete.
conyngry: An obsolete dialectal variant of conyger, itself an obsolete term meaning “rabbit warren”.
gry: The smallest unit in Locke’s proposed decimal system of linear measurement, being the tenth of a line, the hundredth of an inch, and the thousandth of a (“philosophical”) foot. Also the grunt of a pig, an insignificant trifle, or a verb meaning to roar. Obsolete.
iggry: Egyptian colloquial Arabic pronunciation of ijri: “Hurry up!”, brought back after the First World War by members of British and Australian forces who had fought in Egypt.
meagry: Having a meagre appearance. Obsolete.
nangry: A variant form of angry. Obsolete.
podagry: Dodder, or the condition of a plant infested with it.
puggry: A variant form of puggree, a light turban or head-covering worn by inhabitants of the Indian subcontinent. MICHAEL QUINION

Is the Papal Swiss Guard actually Swiss? In a word, very. To be more precise, the Papal Swiss Guard (Päpstliche Schweizergarde) is mostly German Swiss. In 2006 the Papal Swiss Guard, responsible for the pope's personal security and the protection of the Vatican, could look back on 500 years of history. Established in January 1506, the Papal Swiss Guard (there were other Swiss Guards in France), an official Vatican City security unit, is still made up of Swiss volunteers. The Swiss Guard is a highly trained security unit, much like the U.S. Secret Service that guards the U.S. president. Following the 1981 assassination attempt on the life of Pope John Paul II, the level of training for the Swiss Guard was intensified even more. The official languages of the Swiss Guard are German and Italian.
http://german.about.com/library/bltrivia_swissg.htm

Vatican City (Citta del Vaticano), also incorrectly known as but popularly synonymous with the Holy See (Santa Sede), is the latest and only current Papal state in existence and the temporal seat of the Pope, head of the worldwide Catholic Church. Situated within the city of Rome in Italy, the Vatican is the world's smallest state. Outside the Vatican City itself, 13 buildings in Rome and Castel Gandolfo, the Pope's summer residence, also enjoy extraterritorial rights. Although 1,000 people live within Vatican City, many dignitaries, priests, nuns, guards, and 3,000 lay workers live outside the Vatican. Officially, there are about 800 citizens making it the smallest nation in demographic size on the globe. The Vatican even fields a soccer team composed of the Swiss Guard who hold dual citizenship. With 109 acres (44 hectares) within its walls, the Vatican is easily traveled by foot; however, most of this area is inaccessible to tourists. The most popular areas open to tourists are the Basilica of St. Peter and the Vatican Museums. http://wikitravel.org/en/Vatican

The so-called Lateran obelisk is the largest standing obelisk in the world at 150.6 feet high and weighing 455 tons. Its inscriptions state that while it was begun during the reign of Tuthmosis III, it lay in the craftsmen's workshops for 35 years and was finally erected by his grandson Tuthmosis IV. The only single obelisk ever put up in Karnak Temple (obelisks usually came in pairs), it was removed under the orders of the Roman emperor Constantine (A.D. 274-337), who hoped to raise it in his new capital at Constantinople. He died before the obelisk ever left Egypt, and his son and successor Constantius (A.D. 317-361) had it taken to Rome, where it was re-erected in the Circus Maximus. Read of four Roman obelisks at: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/egypt/raising/rome.html

Hoboken, N.J., doesn't want you. The city has denied a "Jersey Shore" spinoff to film there, citing safety and quality of life concerns. Officials say 495 Productions was seeking a 24-hour filming permit to follow two "well-known reality television celebrities" who would live in the city. According to TheWrap.com, officials decided it would violate a city rule against filming past 11 p.m. in a residential area. Hoboken Mayor Dawn Zimmer says the Film Commission's decision was made based on safety and quality of life concerns for residents of the city along the Hudson River. Hoboken, the city of Frank Sinatra's birth, is just minutes away from Manhattan by car or train. It's home to a lot of residential apartments, restaurants and bars. The company, which has filmed "Jersey Shore" in Seaside Heights, Miami and Italy, can appeal the decision to the Hoboken City Council. http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-31749_162-57369722-10391698/hoboken-n.j-to-jersey-shore-spinoff-keep-out/

Groundhog Day is a holiday celebrated on February 2 in the United States and Canada. According to folklore, if it is cloudy when a groundhog emerges from its burrow on this day then spring will come early. If it is sunny, the groundhog will supposedly see its shadow and retreat back into its burrow, and the winter weather will continue for six more weeks. The celebration, which began as a Pennsylvania German custom in southeastern and central Pennsylvania in the 18th and 19th centuries, has its origins in ancient European weather lore, wherein a badger or sacred bear is the prognosticator as opposed to a groundhog. It also bears similarities to the Pagan festival of Imbolc, the seasonal turning point of the Celtic calendar, which is celebrated on February 1 and also involves weather prognostication and to St. Swithun's Day in July. See historical origins and a poem at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Groundhog_Day

On February 3, 1959, a small-plane crash near Clear Lake, Iowa, killed three American rock and roll pioneers: Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and J. P. "The Big Bopper" Richardson, as well as the pilot, Roger Peterson. The day was later called The Day the Music Died by Don McLean, in his song "American Pie". The plane crash has been called the first and greatest tragedy rock and roll has ever suffered. See the "Buddy Holly glasses sign" near Clear Lake at:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Day_the_Music_Died

Greek numerals are a system of representing numbers using letters of the Greek alphabet. They are also known by the names Ionian numerals, Milesian numerals (from Miletus in Ionia), Alexandrian numerals, or alphabetic numerals (in common with other alphabetic numerations). In modern Greece, they are still used for ordinal numbers and in situations similar to those in which Roman numerals are still used elsewhere in the West. For ordinary cardinal numbers numbers, however, Greece uses Arabic numerals. See the letters and their values at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greek_numerals

It was under Hadrian's rule that Hadrian's Wall across Northern England was begun. It was under Hadrian, and with his involvement as an architect, that a new Pantheon was erected in AD 126. And it became one of the architectural landmarks of all time. The Pantheon is a large pillbox of a building with a square classical front on one side. You enter that front, and it leads you into the largest domed space the world would see until 1800 years later. The central chamber is 142 feet in diameter, and its top rides 142 feet above the floor.
http://www.uh.edu/engines/epi1345.htm

Since 1991, Suzanne Collins has been busy writing for children’s television. She has worked on the staffs of several Nickelodeon shows, including the Emmy-nominated hit Clarissa Explains it All and The Mystery Files of Shelby Woo. For preschool viewers, she penned multiple stories for the Emmy-nominated Little Bear and Oswald. She also co-wrote the critically acclaimed Rankin/Bass Christmas special, Santa, Baby! Most recently she was the Head Writer for Scholastic Entertainment’s Clifford’s Puppy Days. While working on a Kids WB show called Generation O! she met children’s author James Proimos, who talked her into giving children’s books a try. Thinking one day about Alice in Wonderland, she was struck by how pastoral the setting must seem to kids who, like her own, lived in urban surroundings. In New York City, you’re much more likely to fall down a manhole than a rabbit hole and, if you do, you’re not going to find a tea party. What you might find...? Well, that’s the story of Gregor the Overlander, the first book in her five-part fantasy/war series, The Underland Chronicles. At present, Suzanne is hard at work on the third book in her sci-fi series, The Hunger Games. http://www.suzannecollinsbooks.com/bio.htm

SUSPENDED ANIMATION by Theo Parker
There is a part of every day
When I decide to go away
To a never-never land
Where you take me by the hand
And your presence feels so real
I want to stay forever sealed
In this warm and pleasant place
Where together we can trace
A perfect pattern of remembered
Joys and sorrows we once shared
Some day this never-never land
May be forever-land, just as
we planned.
MIZPAH 1989

An ice dune/ice ridge/ice foot is produced by ice washing ashore, snowfall, and the gradual freezing of wave spray that accumulates on to the shore. They form when the air temperature is below freezing and the water temperature is near freezing. Ice dunes are commonly at least 6 feet (1.8 m) tall, but the dune's size depends on the beach and the weather. The dunes will also stop forming if the body of the water they border freezes over, which often happens on Lake Erie. Ice dunes will usually break up in the early stages of spring thaw. Ice dunes are important in formations, such as sandspits and sand isthmuses, that could be eroded by wave action. An example of a Great Lakes sandspit is Presque Isle State Park in Erie, Pennsylvania. When the dunes form, they form a barrier between the waves and the shore and prevent the waves from reaching the shore, keeping the sand in place. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ice_dune

A cabinet was one of a number of terms for a private room in the domestic architecture and that of palaces of early modern Europe, a room serving as a study or retreat, usually for a man. The cabinet would be furnished with books and works of art, and sited adjacent to his bedchamber, the equivalent of the Italian Renaissance studiolo. In the Late Medieval period, such newly perceived requirements for privacy had been served by the solar of the English gentry house, and a similar, less secular purpose had been served by a private oratory. Such a room might be used as a study or office, or just a sitting room. Heating the main rooms in large palaces or mansions in the winter was difficult, and small rooms were more comfortable. They also offered more privacy from servants, other household members, and visitors. Typically such a room would be for the use of a single individual, so that a house might have at least two (his and hers) and often more. Names varied: cabinet, closet, study (from the Italian studiolo), office, and a range of more specifically female equivalents, such as a boudoir. In Elizabethan England, such a private retreat would most likely be termed a closet, the most recent in a series of developments in which people of means found ways to withdraw by degrees from the public life of the household as it was lived in the late medieval great hall. This sense of "closet" has continued use in the term "closet drama", which is a literary work in the form of theatre, intended not to be mounted nor publicly presented, but to be read and visualised in privacy. Two people in intimate private conversation were until recently said to be "closetted". In the cabinet as it evolved in French Baroque architecture, the last in the standardised series of rooms that constituted a Baroque apartment, the walls would be hung with rich textiles as a background for cabinet pictures, those small works, often on copper or wood panel, that required intimate study for appreciation, among which would also be devotional pictures. Especially wealthy or aristocratic people may have had a series of cabinets in a suite. The cabinet is the male equivalent of a boudoir, and at Versailles and the baroque palaces and great country houses that echoed it, a parallel apartment would be provided for the royal or noble consort, at the Versailles the Petit appartement de la reine. Even in the cramped confines of a London house, Samuel Pepys and his wife each had a bedchamber and a "closet"; with a common sitting room, or "saloon" these were the minimum that genteel baroque arrangements required. The meaning of "cabinet" began to be extended to the contents of the cabinet; thus we see the 16th-century cabinet of curiosities, often combined with a library. The sense of cabinet as a piece of furniture is actually older in English than the meaning as a room, but originally meant more a strong-box or jewel-chest than a display-case.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cabinet_(room)

Joel Beckerman spent about 18 months developing a song that boils down to a melody just four notes long. He's one of a handful of composers who specialize in sonic logos, or the audio equivalents of the Nike "swoosh" or John Deere's leaping deer. More concise than a theme song and subtler than a jingle, sonic logos are brief melodies or sound effects designed to cement a brand in the consumer's subconscious mind. Famous examples include the five-note Intel bong, McDonald's "Ba da ba ba ba" signoff and NBC's three-note chime, in use since 1929. Sonic branding is becoming increasingly popular in a highly fragmented media world, and Mr. Beckerman's New York agency Man Made Music has composed dozens of catchy tunes you've probably heard announcing high-profile properties. In addition to embellishing NBC's famous chime for multiple jobs, including works for the network's news division, his studio composed the new theme song for "CBS This Morning" and tweaked the 25-year-old melody used by HBO to introduce its movies and original series. He's currently on deadline to deliver the rock-driven music of next week's Super Bowl broadcast, building off an original composition by John Williams. The company's new sonic logo—its first—is a stair-step of bright tones. The bite-size tune has popped up in the closing seconds of the company's advertisements, including a TV spot in heavy rotation featuring a stolen tiger mascot and football tailgaters boasting about the speed of AT&T's wireless network. In various lengths and forms, the music will eventually be integrated into every product and service AT&T offers, from music at retail stores to navigation sounds on smartphones and digital video recorders.
JOHN JURGENSEN http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203718504577182951405815364.html

Squatting consists of occupying an abandoned or unoccupied space or building, usually residential, that the squatter does not own, rent or otherwise have permission to use. Author Robert Neuwirth suggests that there are one billion squatters globally, that is, about one in every seven people on the planet. Yet, according to Kesia Reeve, "squatting is largely absent from policy and academic debate and is rarely conceptualized, as a problem, as a symptom, or as a social or housing movement. Read an overview and find discussion of squatting by country at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Squatting

Luminary endorsements for GOP presidential candidates
Todd Palin on Newt Gingrich: Gingrich isn't one of those Beltway types.
Christine O'Donnell on Mitt Romney: He's been consistent since he's changed his mind.
Barry Manilow on Ron Paul: I agree with just about everything he says.
Michelle Duggar on Rick Santorum: Rick is the man for the job.
Bloomberg Businessweek January 30-February 5, 2102, p. 35

The digital revolution was supposed to do away with a lot of fusty old relics. First compact discs took their toll on the long-playing (and long-played) vinyl record; then iPods and digital downloads began doing the same to CDs. But long after the eulogies had been delivered, the vinyl LP has been revived. The LP still represents just a sliver of music sales. But last year, according to Nielsen SoundScan data, while CD sales fell by more than 5%, vinyl record sales grew more than 36%. The majority of vinyl sells in independent record stores, which have championed the format in their quixotic quest to survive. But now big-box stores such as Best Buy are carrying vinyl. Amazon—loath to let any niche escape its domination—has a "Vinyl Store" and recently introduced shipping boxes designed to coddle LP records in transit. Not just the sales of records are growing, but the equipment to play them, too. As David Bakula, who follows LPs for Nielsen, puts it: "When I walked into Target and found turntables, then I knew we've arrived." United Record Pressing, the Nashville factory where the Beatles' first U.S. singles were stamped nearly 50 years ago, is feeling the boom: "This plant often runs 24 hours," says Jay Millar, its marketing director. Then there is the sound: Those who collect LPs swear by the virtues of analog. For decades a vinyl-dedicated subset of hard-core audiophiles have resisted the digital onslaught. They've rightly derided the brittle compression of CDs and given the cold shoulder to even the more robust digital formats, such as super-audio CDs. (Don't get them started on the hopeless degradation of MP3s.) And yet that narrow niche of audiophiles with their Ferrari-dear sound systems isn't what has kept LPs alive. Even, it would seem, in the rarefied world of classical recordings. When the San Francisco Symphony packaged its acclaimed recordings of Gustav Mahler's orchestral works, the set was first made available on SACD. But now it has been released on vinyl as well. According to the symphony's general manager, John Kieser, the idea to release "The Mahler Project" on LPs started a few years ago with his then-teenage son, who collected vinyl and insisted that music sounds different in the old analog format. ERIC FELTEN http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204573704577184973290800632.html

When attorney Marc Reiner sends an email from his work account at a Manhattan law firm, recipients get a host of admonishments. The email might contain "privileged, confidential and/or proprietary information," they are told. If it landed in their inbox by error, they are strictly prohibited from "any use, distribution, copying or disclosure to another person." And in such case, "you should destroy this message and kindly notify the sender by reply email." Mr. Reiner thinks the disclaimer—144 words in total—is, for the most part, bluster. Email disclaimers, those wordy notices at the end of emails from lawyers, bankers, analysts, consultants, publicists, tax advisers and even government employees, have become ubiquitous—so much so that many recipients, and even senders, are questioning their purpose. "Who reads them?" asks Bruce Nyman, a former county official from Long Island, N. Y., who has grown tired of the many disclaimers attached to messages in his inbox. He says they are like the modern-day mattress tag. "And has anyone ever been arrested for tearing them off?" Emails are becoming bogged down with unwanted information. They often now include automatic digital signatures with a sender's contact information or witty sayings, pleas to save trees and not print them, fancy logos and apologies for grammatical errors spawned by using a touch screen.
DIONNE SEARCEY and MICHAEL ROTHFELD Read much more at: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204409004577157213839856718.html

Toronto Jan. 28 Teenaged imaginations dreamed up Lego Man’s sky-high adventure but science — not just whimsy — made the little toy’s voyage a headline-grabbing success. A 1,200-gram weather balloon, the crucial role of gravity, quiver-reducing ropes, Styrofoam’s versatility, burst altitude, a University of Wyoming website and a free software program for shutterbugs were part of the formula Mathew Ho and Asad Muhammad, both 17, used to launch, film and land the patriotic, flag-bearing Lego Man. The duct-taped Styrofoam capsule was released three weeks ago at a Newmarket soccer pitch by the Grade 12 students from Agincourt Collegiate Institute. It soared 24 kilometres into the stratosphere via balloon then landed 97 minutes later in dense bush near Rice Lake, south of Peterborough — a remarkably close return considering January’s winter winds were howling.
http://www.thestar.com/news/article/1122894

Newt Gingrich might feel like Rocky Balboa when he takes the stage at campaign events to Survivor’s 1982 hit “Eye of the Tiger,” but it’s the co-writer of the song who is ready for a fight. Chicago-born Frankie Sullivan sued Gingrich in federal court Jan. 30, saying the Republican presidential candidate is using his “Rocky III” anthem in his campaign without permission. Sullivan, who has a home in the northwest suburbs, insisted it’s not about politics. It’s about someone who should know better using his copyright material for free.
http://www.suntimes.com/10332797-418/former-survivor-member-sues-newt-gingrich-for-using-eye-of-tiger.html