Illinois Senators voted 59-0 to remove Rod Blagojevich, who walked out of the silent chamber after delivering an impassioned plea for mercy. Within hours, they applauded his former running mate and lieutenant governor, Patrick Quinn, who was sworn in as the state's 41st governor vowing a new course for Illinois. He replaced a defiant Blagojevich, 52, the first Democratic governor in a quarter century and the first governor in Illinois history to be impeached. After racing back to his Chicago house before the vote could deprive him of a ride home on the state plane, Blagojevich once again said he was the victim of a rush to judgment. Proclaiming his innocence during a 47-minute closing argument, Blagojevich declared he "never, ever intended to violate the law" and added that he was "sorry we're all in this."
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-blagojevich-mainbarjan30,0,923624.story Here’s the WSJ story.
Unimplemented IG Recommendations Costing Taxpayers Billions of Dollars
News release: "The House Oversight Committee asked the nation’s IGs to identify all recommendations made between January 1, 2001 and December 31, 2008 that had not been implemented by federal agencies. The information provided shows that the Bush Administration failed to implement 13,847 recommendations since 2001, which could have saved taxpayers $25.9 billion. Almost half of these recommendations were made over a year ago, and more than a quarter were made over two years ago. The five agencies that could save the most money by implementing open recommendations are the Social Security Administration, the Department of Health and Human Services, the Department of Defense, the Department of Transportation, and the Department of Housing and Urban Development."
Majority Staff Report: Implementing Thousands of Open Recommendations Could Save Taxpayers Almost $26 Billion, January 2009
Treasury Provides Funding to Bolster Healthy, Local Banks
News release: "The U.S. Treasury Department has announced investments of approximately $386 million in 23 banks across the nation as part of its Capital Purchase Program (CPP), a means to directly infuse capital into healthy, viable banks with the goal of increasing the flow of financing available to small businesses and consumers. With additional capital, banks are better able to meet the lending needs of their customers, and businesses have greater access to the credit that they need to keep operating and growing."
Transaction Report (1/27/2009)
Report: Wind Energy Grows by Record 8,300 MW in 2008
The U.S. wind energy industry shattered all previous records in 2008 by installing 8,358 megawatts (MW) of new generating capacity (enough to serve over 2 million homes), the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA) said today, even as it warned of an uncertain outlook for 2009 due to the continuing financial crisis. The massive growth in 2008 swelled the nation’s total wind power generating capacity by 50% and channeled an investment of some $17 billion into the economy, positioning wind power as one of the leading sources of new power generation in the country today along with natural gas, AWEA added. At year’s end, however, financing for new projects and orders for turbine components slowed to a trickle and layoffs began to hit the wind turbine manufacturing sector."
State-by state installation information
For more on the policies that are needed
Related postings on wind energy
Between 1816 and 1820, Stephen Decatur (1779-1820) served as a Navy Commissioner. During his tenure as a Commissioner, Decatur became active in the Washington social scene. At one of his social gatherings, Decatur uttered an after-dinner toast that would become famous: "Our Country! In her intercourse with foreign nations may she always be in the right; but right or wrong, our country!" This toast is often misquoted as "My country, right or wrong!" and then attacked as a straw man by those who believe it to be an enduring and official statement of US foreign policy. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Decatur
A straw man argument is an informal fallacy based on misrepresentation of an opponent's position. To "set up a straw man," one describes a position that superficially resembles an opponent's actual view, yet is easier to refute. Then, one attributes that position to the opponent. For example, someone might deliberately overstate the opponent's position. While a straw man argument may work as a rhetorical technique—and succeed in persuading people—it carries little or no real evidential weight, since the opponent's actual argument has not been refuted. The term is derived from the practice in ages past of using human-shaped straw dummies in combat training. In such training, a scarecrow is made in the image of the enemy, sometimes dressed in an enemy uniform or decorated in some way to vaguely resemble them.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Straw_man
Example of a univocalic sentence—only uses one vowel
Abraham’s ark has ants, aardvarks, bats, cats, rats and pandas.
One-liners
All those who believe in psychokinesis, raise my hand.
All I ask is a chance to prove money can’t make me happy.
I’d give my right arm to be ambidextrous.
A conclusion is the place where you got tired of thinking.
http://www.northbaybiz.com/Columnists/Publishers_Forum/Is_It_Possible_to_Be_Totally_Partial.php
Friday, January 30, 2009
Thursday, January 29, 2009
The 2009 Newbery Medal winner is The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman, illustrated by Dave McKean, and published by HarperCollins Children's Books. See description and list of 2009 honor books at: http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/alsc/awardsgrants/bookmedia/newberymedal/newberymedal.cfm
Scrip is a currency adopted by towns in western Massachusetts to support locally owned businesses over national chains. There are about 844,000 BerkShares in circulation, worth $759,600 at the fixed exchange rate of 1 BerkShare to 90 U.S. cents, according to program organizers. The paper scrip is available in denominations of one, five, 10, 20 and 50. The BerkShares program is one of about a dozen such efforts in the nation. Local groups in California, Kansas, Michigan, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Vermont and Wisconsin run similar ones . One of the oldest is Ithaca Hours, which went into circulation in 1991 in Ithaca, New York. Berkshire Hills Bancorp Inc., a western Massachusetts bank that exchanges BerkShares for dollars, is considering BerkShares-denominated checks and debit cards. http://www.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idUSN0530157720070619?feedType=RSS&rpc=22
Budapest is known for its Celtic settlements from the 3rd century BC. In the first decades B.C. Transdanubia was conquered by the Romans who incorporated it into the Roman empire under the name of Pannonia. Aquincum, the now Óbuda district, developed to Pannonia's capital. After Roman withdrawal, it was first controlled by Huns then by Eastern Goths, Longobards and Avars. From the 8th century it was inhabited by Slavs, vassals of the Franks.
The Hungarians appeared in the late 9th century. They established their first settlements on the island of Csepel and in Aquincum. After the Mongol invasion in 1241-42 the Buda castle was fortified. Aquincum was given the name Óbuda (i.e. old Buda), in contrast to reconstructed (=new) Buda. In 1873 the formerly separate but interdependent towns Buda, Pest and Óbuda were integrated into one administrative unit: Budapest. http://cityguide.budapestrooms.com/history.htm
The classic Ponzi scheme is elegantly simple. Named after Carlo Ponzi, an Italian who immigrated to Boston in the early 20th century, it’s a variation on the classic pyramid scheme, which works by promising—and for a time delivering—spectacular returns on investments. The scheme’s operator, sitting atop the pyramid, starts by bringing in a small number of investors and paying them “dividends,” using the money that comes in from the next round of investors—and continuing the pattern with later investors. Historians say versions of the scam first appeared in the 17th century. In one of the earliest schemes in the U.S., in 1899 a New York City grifter named Charles Miller promised stock market investors annual returns of 520 percent. He pocketed nearly $20 million in today’s dollars before he was exposed. Since then, Ponzi schemes have flourished from Romania to the Philippines. In the 1990s, two-thirds of the population of Albania poured $1.2 billion into Ponzi schemes, some of which were endorsed by government officials. When the schemes collapsed in 1997, the country was torn by rioting, the government was toppled, and the U.N. had to send 7,000 troops to restore order. In 1995, John Bennett, a Philadelphia businessman who loudly proclaimed his Christian faith, recruited investors from Christian organizations by promising to double their money in six months. As with Ponzi, because Bennett’s investors saw him as one of their own, they trusted him. Some lost their entire life savings. Religious groups, in fact, are a favorite hunting ground for financial predators. “I’ve seen more money stolen in the name of God than any other way,” says securities regulator Deborah Bortner. http://www.theweek.com/article/index/92485/3/Madoff_New_victims_old_scam
Here's a literary parable for the 21st century.
Lisa Genova, 38, was a health-care-industry consultant in Belmont, Mass., who wanted to be a novelist, but she couldn't get her book published for love or money. She had a Ph.D. in neuroscience from Harvard, but she couldn't get an agent. "I did what you're supposed to do," she says. "I queried literary agents. I went to writers' conferences and tried to network. I e-mailed editors. Nobody wanted it." So Genova paid $450 to a company called iUniverse and published her book, Still Alice, herself. That was in 2007. By 2008 people were reading Still Alice. Not a lot of people, but a few, and those few were liking it. Genova wound up getting an agent after all--and an offer from Simon & Schuster of just over half a million dollars. Borders and Target chose it for their book clubs. Barnes & Noble made it a Discover pick. On Jan. 25, Still Alice makes its debut on the New York Times best-seller list at No. 5. "So this is extreme to extreme, right?" Genova says. "This time last year, I was selling the book out of the trunk of my car." (See the top 10 non-fiction books of 2008.)
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1873122-1,00.html
MONEY LAW The Coinage Act of 1792 (1 Stat. 246) establishes a mint and regulates coins in the United States.
http://www.constitution.org/uslaw/coinage1792.txt or http://nesara.org/articles/coinage_act_of_1792.htm
The first mint building was located in Philadelphia, then the U.S. capital. It was the first building of the Republic raised under the Constitution. The Mint was made an independent agency in 1799, and under the Coinage Act of 1873 (17 Stat. 424), became part of the Department of the Treasury. It was placed under the auspices of the Treasurer of the United States in 1981. The largest and main facility is located in Philadelphia, one of four active coin-producing mints. The current facility, designed by Vincent G. Kling and Associates in 1969, is the fourth Philadelphia Mint.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/wallyg/2564490354/
Records of the U.S. Mint, 1792-1994
http://www.archives.gov/research/guide-fed-records/groups/104.html
On January 29, 1845 Edgar Allan Poe's "The Raven" was first published in the New York Evening Mirror. It begins:
Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary,
Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore,
While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping,
As of some one gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door.
"'Tis some visitor," I muttered, "tapping at my chamber door —
Only this, and nothing more."
"The Raven" became the target of many parodies. Abraham Lincoln, a country lawyer at the time, read a parody before he read the real thing. Lincoln eventually committed all of "The Raven" to memory. The Writer’s Almanac
Scrip is a currency adopted by towns in western Massachusetts to support locally owned businesses over national chains. There are about 844,000 BerkShares in circulation, worth $759,600 at the fixed exchange rate of 1 BerkShare to 90 U.S. cents, according to program organizers. The paper scrip is available in denominations of one, five, 10, 20 and 50. The BerkShares program is one of about a dozen such efforts in the nation. Local groups in California, Kansas, Michigan, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Vermont and Wisconsin run similar ones . One of the oldest is Ithaca Hours, which went into circulation in 1991 in Ithaca, New York. Berkshire Hills Bancorp Inc., a western Massachusetts bank that exchanges BerkShares for dollars, is considering BerkShares-denominated checks and debit cards. http://www.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idUSN0530157720070619?feedType=RSS&rpc=22
Budapest is known for its Celtic settlements from the 3rd century BC. In the first decades B.C. Transdanubia was conquered by the Romans who incorporated it into the Roman empire under the name of Pannonia. Aquincum, the now Óbuda district, developed to Pannonia's capital. After Roman withdrawal, it was first controlled by Huns then by Eastern Goths, Longobards and Avars. From the 8th century it was inhabited by Slavs, vassals of the Franks.
The Hungarians appeared in the late 9th century. They established their first settlements on the island of Csepel and in Aquincum. After the Mongol invasion in 1241-42 the Buda castle was fortified. Aquincum was given the name Óbuda (i.e. old Buda), in contrast to reconstructed (=new) Buda. In 1873 the formerly separate but interdependent towns Buda, Pest and Óbuda were integrated into one administrative unit: Budapest. http://cityguide.budapestrooms.com/history.htm
The classic Ponzi scheme is elegantly simple. Named after Carlo Ponzi, an Italian who immigrated to Boston in the early 20th century, it’s a variation on the classic pyramid scheme, which works by promising—and for a time delivering—spectacular returns on investments. The scheme’s operator, sitting atop the pyramid, starts by bringing in a small number of investors and paying them “dividends,” using the money that comes in from the next round of investors—and continuing the pattern with later investors. Historians say versions of the scam first appeared in the 17th century. In one of the earliest schemes in the U.S., in 1899 a New York City grifter named Charles Miller promised stock market investors annual returns of 520 percent. He pocketed nearly $20 million in today’s dollars before he was exposed. Since then, Ponzi schemes have flourished from Romania to the Philippines. In the 1990s, two-thirds of the population of Albania poured $1.2 billion into Ponzi schemes, some of which were endorsed by government officials. When the schemes collapsed in 1997, the country was torn by rioting, the government was toppled, and the U.N. had to send 7,000 troops to restore order. In 1995, John Bennett, a Philadelphia businessman who loudly proclaimed his Christian faith, recruited investors from Christian organizations by promising to double their money in six months. As with Ponzi, because Bennett’s investors saw him as one of their own, they trusted him. Some lost their entire life savings. Religious groups, in fact, are a favorite hunting ground for financial predators. “I’ve seen more money stolen in the name of God than any other way,” says securities regulator Deborah Bortner. http://www.theweek.com/article/index/92485/3/Madoff_New_victims_old_scam
Here's a literary parable for the 21st century.
Lisa Genova, 38, was a health-care-industry consultant in Belmont, Mass., who wanted to be a novelist, but she couldn't get her book published for love or money. She had a Ph.D. in neuroscience from Harvard, but she couldn't get an agent. "I did what you're supposed to do," she says. "I queried literary agents. I went to writers' conferences and tried to network. I e-mailed editors. Nobody wanted it." So Genova paid $450 to a company called iUniverse and published her book, Still Alice, herself. That was in 2007. By 2008 people were reading Still Alice. Not a lot of people, but a few, and those few were liking it. Genova wound up getting an agent after all--and an offer from Simon & Schuster of just over half a million dollars. Borders and Target chose it for their book clubs. Barnes & Noble made it a Discover pick. On Jan. 25, Still Alice makes its debut on the New York Times best-seller list at No. 5. "So this is extreme to extreme, right?" Genova says. "This time last year, I was selling the book out of the trunk of my car." (See the top 10 non-fiction books of 2008.)
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1873122-1,00.html
MONEY LAW The Coinage Act of 1792 (1 Stat. 246) establishes a mint and regulates coins in the United States.
http://www.constitution.org/uslaw/coinage1792.txt or http://nesara.org/articles/coinage_act_of_1792.htm
The first mint building was located in Philadelphia, then the U.S. capital. It was the first building of the Republic raised under the Constitution. The Mint was made an independent agency in 1799, and under the Coinage Act of 1873 (17 Stat. 424), became part of the Department of the Treasury. It was placed under the auspices of the Treasurer of the United States in 1981. The largest and main facility is located in Philadelphia, one of four active coin-producing mints. The current facility, designed by Vincent G. Kling and Associates in 1969, is the fourth Philadelphia Mint.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/wallyg/2564490354/
Records of the U.S. Mint, 1792-1994
http://www.archives.gov/research/guide-fed-records/groups/104.html
On January 29, 1845 Edgar Allan Poe's "The Raven" was first published in the New York Evening Mirror. It begins:
Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary,
Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore,
While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping,
As of some one gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door.
"'Tis some visitor," I muttered, "tapping at my chamber door —
Only this, and nothing more."
"The Raven" became the target of many parodies. Abraham Lincoln, a country lawyer at the time, read a parody before he read the real thing. Lincoln eventually committed all of "The Raven" to memory. The Writer’s Almanac
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Annual Superfund Report to Congress for Fiscal Year 2008
EPA-350-R-09-001 Annual Superfund Report to Congress for Fiscal Year 2008, [Report PDF - 22 pages] January 2009
"As the amount of funds available for Superfund work continues to diminish, it becomes increasingly imperative for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to spend its Superfund dollars as prudently as possible to achieve maximum benefits from dollars available. This report covers the Fiscal Year 2008 Superfund activity of the EPA Office of Inspector General. The Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization Act of 1986 requires the Office of Inspector General to annually audit the Superfund program and report the results to Congress. Although EPA regions have recovered 56 percent of the total Superfund costs from sites reviewed during an evaluation, they could recover more. EPA had not collected as much as $129 million (44 percent), and determined it will not attempt to recover between $30 million and $90 million of that amount. This indicates a potentially significant breakdown in controls over Superfund cost recovery."
Energy Information Adminstration Reports: International Energy Annual, Electric Sales, Electric Power
International Energy Annual 2006 (01/22/2009): "The International Energy Annual 2006 is the Energy Information Administration's primary report of international energy statistics. Included are data on energy consumption and production; overviews of petroleum, natural gas, coal, and electricity, as well as carbon dioxide emissions from the use of fossil fuels, petroleum prices, energy reserves, and population; and data unit conversion tables . For many series, data cover the years 1980-2006. Also included is a World Energy Overview comparing 1996 and 2006.
Electric Sales, Revenue, and Price (01/22/2009): The annual report provides information regarding sales, revenue, number of consumers, and average retail price by sector, Census Division and State for traditional electric utilities, non-utility power producers, power marketers and energy service providers. The data is provided in Excel file format. Figures are also provided for average retail price per kilowatt hour by state and sector in html format.
Electric Power Annual Report 2007 (01/21/2009): The report presents 12 years (1996 - 2007) of National level data on electricity generation; electric generating capacity; capacity resource margins; fuel consumption; emissions; electricity trade; retail electric customers, sales, revenue and price; electric utility revenue and expense statistics; and demand-side management."
George W. Bush Presidential Library and Museum: "The George W. Bush Library holds millions of pages of official records documenting the two-term administration (2001-2009) of the nation's forty-third president, as well as donated historical materials that document Bush's 2000 presidential campaign and his personal papers as Governor of Texas. In addition to these textual records, the Bush Library has an extensive audiovisual collection containing photographs and videotapes, as well as an extensive artifact collection containing presidential and gubernatorial domestic and foreign gifts."
Executive Orders Signed by George W. President Bush
Public Papers of President George W. Bush
Browse the George W. Bush White House Web Site
Toledo adopted the Philadelphia decimal numbering system of number addresses in 1888, changing all Toledo addresses. You Will Do Better in Toledo: From Frogtown to Glass City, a Toledo Retrospective in Postcards, 1893-1929
In the Philadelphia or Decimal System, an even hundred numbers are allotted to each block and the number indicates how many blocks distant it is from any given point on the street or avenue. A number is allotted to every 20 feet. All short streets take their numbers from the through streets, and correspond with them. The odd numbers are on the south and east sides of streets. http://bc.canadagenweb.org/1901vic_cen/home_num.htm
The Philadelphia system is explained in detail on page 32 of “Visitors’ Guide to the Centennial Exhibition and Philadelphia, May 10th to November 10th, 1876.” You may see this at http://bc.canadagenweb.org/1901vic_cen/home_num.htm or Russell Library at the University of Michigan.
Entries in library card design contest speak volumes
David Berlin (Contact) 8:36 a.m. January 22, 2009
It started with simple, white, 4-inch-by-6-inch cards. It ended with everything from self-portraits to pictures of a dragon reading a book. More than 200 people from 4 to 73 years old participated in the Chula Vista library card design contest. The contest was divided into four age groups: kindergarten through third grade; grades four through six; grades seven through 12; and adults. The youngest age group was assigned the theme “My First Library Card.” The other groups used the theme: “I Love My Library.”
Some of the designs are especially intricate, considering the size of the canvas. Gretchen Kasler, 19, drew a dragon, surrounded by hardcovers, engrossed in a book. Nicole Bella, 15, interpreted the theme of discovery with a three-part illustration radiating from an open book. Library officials hope to raise up to $6,000 through the effort by selling the new library cards for $3 each next month. Proceeds will go to the Chula Vista Library Foundation, a nonprofit that buys books for the library. Regular free library cards still will be available. http://www3.signonsandiego.com/stories/2009/jan/22/1sz22cards083659-entries-library-card-design-conte/?zIndex=41214
January 27 is the birthday of Lewis Carroll, (books by this author) born Charles Lutwidge Dodgson in Cheshire, England in 1832, the author of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (1865) and Through the Looking-Glass (1871). He was a faculty member in mathematics at Oxford and a serious photographer. When he was 24 years old, a new dean arrived at Carroll's church and brought his three daughters: Lorina Charlotte, Edith, and Alice. Carroll befriended the girls and spent a lot of time with them. In July of 1862, floating in a rowboat on a pond, he came up with a story about a girl's adventures in a magical underground world, and he told it to the three sisters.
January 27 is the birthday of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, born in 1756 in Salzburg, which is now in Austria. Mozart's father, Leopold, was one of Europe's leading music educators, and he took Mozart and his sister on tours throughout Europe. Young Mozart began composing original work at age five. During a trip to Italy, Mozart amazed his hosts when he listened only once to the performance of a Gregorio Allegri composition and then wrote it out from memory. The Writer’s Almanac
EPA-350-R-09-001 Annual Superfund Report to Congress for Fiscal Year 2008, [Report PDF - 22 pages] January 2009
"As the amount of funds available for Superfund work continues to diminish, it becomes increasingly imperative for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to spend its Superfund dollars as prudently as possible to achieve maximum benefits from dollars available. This report covers the Fiscal Year 2008 Superfund activity of the EPA Office of Inspector General. The Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization Act of 1986 requires the Office of Inspector General to annually audit the Superfund program and report the results to Congress. Although EPA regions have recovered 56 percent of the total Superfund costs from sites reviewed during an evaluation, they could recover more. EPA had not collected as much as $129 million (44 percent), and determined it will not attempt to recover between $30 million and $90 million of that amount. This indicates a potentially significant breakdown in controls over Superfund cost recovery."
Energy Information Adminstration Reports: International Energy Annual, Electric Sales, Electric Power
International Energy Annual 2006 (01/22/2009): "The International Energy Annual 2006 is the Energy Information Administration's primary report of international energy statistics. Included are data on energy consumption and production; overviews of petroleum, natural gas, coal, and electricity, as well as carbon dioxide emissions from the use of fossil fuels, petroleum prices, energy reserves, and population; and data unit conversion tables . For many series, data cover the years 1980-2006. Also included is a World Energy Overview comparing 1996 and 2006.
Electric Sales, Revenue, and Price (01/22/2009): The annual report provides information regarding sales, revenue, number of consumers, and average retail price by sector, Census Division and State for traditional electric utilities, non-utility power producers, power marketers and energy service providers. The data is provided in Excel file format. Figures are also provided for average retail price per kilowatt hour by state and sector in html format.
Electric Power Annual Report 2007 (01/21/2009): The report presents 12 years (1996 - 2007) of National level data on electricity generation; electric generating capacity; capacity resource margins; fuel consumption; emissions; electricity trade; retail electric customers, sales, revenue and price; electric utility revenue and expense statistics; and demand-side management."
George W. Bush Presidential Library and Museum: "The George W. Bush Library holds millions of pages of official records documenting the two-term administration (2001-2009) of the nation's forty-third president, as well as donated historical materials that document Bush's 2000 presidential campaign and his personal papers as Governor of Texas. In addition to these textual records, the Bush Library has an extensive audiovisual collection containing photographs and videotapes, as well as an extensive artifact collection containing presidential and gubernatorial domestic and foreign gifts."
Executive Orders Signed by George W. President Bush
Public Papers of President George W. Bush
Browse the George W. Bush White House Web Site
Toledo adopted the Philadelphia decimal numbering system of number addresses in 1888, changing all Toledo addresses. You Will Do Better in Toledo: From Frogtown to Glass City, a Toledo Retrospective in Postcards, 1893-1929
In the Philadelphia or Decimal System, an even hundred numbers are allotted to each block and the number indicates how many blocks distant it is from any given point on the street or avenue. A number is allotted to every 20 feet. All short streets take their numbers from the through streets, and correspond with them. The odd numbers are on the south and east sides of streets. http://bc.canadagenweb.org/1901vic_cen/home_num.htm
The Philadelphia system is explained in detail on page 32 of “Visitors’ Guide to the Centennial Exhibition and Philadelphia, May 10th to November 10th, 1876.” You may see this at http://bc.canadagenweb.org/1901vic_cen/home_num.htm or Russell Library at the University of Michigan.
Entries in library card design contest speak volumes
David Berlin (Contact) 8:36 a.m. January 22, 2009
It started with simple, white, 4-inch-by-6-inch cards. It ended with everything from self-portraits to pictures of a dragon reading a book. More than 200 people from 4 to 73 years old participated in the Chula Vista library card design contest. The contest was divided into four age groups: kindergarten through third grade; grades four through six; grades seven through 12; and adults. The youngest age group was assigned the theme “My First Library Card.” The other groups used the theme: “I Love My Library.”
Some of the designs are especially intricate, considering the size of the canvas. Gretchen Kasler, 19, drew a dragon, surrounded by hardcovers, engrossed in a book. Nicole Bella, 15, interpreted the theme of discovery with a three-part illustration radiating from an open book. Library officials hope to raise up to $6,000 through the effort by selling the new library cards for $3 each next month. Proceeds will go to the Chula Vista Library Foundation, a nonprofit that buys books for the library. Regular free library cards still will be available. http://www3.signonsandiego.com/stories/2009/jan/22/1sz22cards083659-entries-library-card-design-conte/?zIndex=41214
January 27 is the birthday of Lewis Carroll, (books by this author) born Charles Lutwidge Dodgson in Cheshire, England in 1832, the author of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (1865) and Through the Looking-Glass (1871). He was a faculty member in mathematics at Oxford and a serious photographer. When he was 24 years old, a new dean arrived at Carroll's church and brought his three daughters: Lorina Charlotte, Edith, and Alice. Carroll befriended the girls and spent a lot of time with them. In July of 1862, floating in a rowboat on a pond, he came up with a story about a girl's adventures in a magical underground world, and he told it to the three sisters.
January 27 is the birthday of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, born in 1756 in Salzburg, which is now in Austria. Mozart's father, Leopold, was one of Europe's leading music educators, and he took Mozart and his sister on tours throughout Europe. Young Mozart began composing original work at age five. During a trip to Italy, Mozart amazed his hosts when he listened only once to the performance of a Gregorio Allegri composition and then wrote it out from memory. The Writer’s Almanac
Monday, January 26, 2009
On Monday, January 26, at noon, the ornate chandelier-framed chambers of the Illinois Senate will provide the setting for Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s impeachment trial. In a nod to decorum, senators were advised not to bring food to their desks, to turn off cell phones and iPods, and use their laptop computers only "in connection with the impeachment trial proceedings" rather than play solitaire as some often do. http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-blagojevich-trial-updatejan25,0,4038325.story
Obama is the seventh president to have restated his oath of office. Four--Rutherford B. Hayes, Woodrow Wilson, Dwight D. Eisenhower and Ronald Reagan in 1985--restated their oaths publicly because in those years Jan. 20 fell on a Sunday, meaning only private ceremonies were held on those Inauguration Days. Chester Arthur took the oath for the first time at his home in New York in the wee hours of Sept. 20, 1881, following the death of James Garfield, who had been wounded by an assassin's bullet in July. He restated the oath at the U.S. Capitol two days later. Calvin Coolidge's repetition of the oath followed a similar course. He took it for the first time at 2:47 a.m. on Aug. 3, 1923, while visiting his native Vermont, after being roused from sleep following the death of Warren Harding. Coolidge had a Bible on a nearby table while taking the oath but did not lay his hand on it, "as it is not the practice in Vermont or Massachusetts to use a Bible in connection with the administration of an oath," he said.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/01/22/AR2009012203769.html
Itzhak Perlman, Gabriela Montero, Yo-Yo Ma and Anthony McGill performed a new piece, “Air and Simple Gifts,” composed by John Williams at the inauguration. But what the millions on the Mall and watching on television heard was in fact a recording, made two days earlier by the quartet and matched tone for tone by the musicians playing along. The musicians wore earpieces to hear the playback. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/23/arts/music/23band.html
Constitution of the United States
http://supreme.justia.com/constitution/
The zoetrope was invented in 1834 by William Horner, who originally called it a Daedalum ("wheel of the Devil"). It was based on Plateau's phenakistoscope, but was more convenient since it did not require a viewing mirror and allowed more than one person to use it at the same time. Horner's invention strangely became forgotten for nearly thirty years until 1867, when it became patented in England by M. Bradley, and in America by William F. Lincoln. Lincoln renamed the Daedalum, giving it the name of "zoetrope," or "wheel of life." When the praxinoscope was invented by Emile Reynaud in 1877, interest in the zoetrope declined. The praxinoscope offered a clearer, brighter image to viewers than the zoetrope could. In 1889, George Eastman invented flexible photographic film, which allowed a lot of film to be held on one reel. Whereas zoetrope picture strips were limited to about 15 pictures per strip, devices using reels of the new flexible film could present longer animations to viewers. Finally, in 1895, modern cinema was born. http://courses.ncssm.edu/gallery/collections/toys/html/exhibit10.htm
NIDCD Panel Proposes New Benchmarks for Gauging Language Development in Children with Autism Source: National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD)
A more standardized approach is needed to evaluate the language skills of young children with autism spectrum disorders, says a soon-to-be published article in the Journal of Speech-Language-Hearing Research. The authors, a panel of experts assembled by the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD), are advocating the new method so that researchers, clinicians, and other professionals are better able to compare the effectiveness of intervention strategies used for treating children with autism spectrum disorders. Current approaches are inconsistent, and the most widely used benchmark for these children has been the development of “functional speech,” an ambiguous term with no defined criteria. The term autism spectrum disorders refers to a range of related disorders that cause delays in many areas of childhood development, including skills for communicating and interacting socially. Current estimates are that one in 150 children in the United States will be diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder.
In designing the new approach, panel members focused on the window of time during which a child develops spoken language, which can be broken down into three phases: the use of a single “first word” to describe an object or event, the combination of two or three words to communicate something, and the progression to complete sentences.
+ Full Paper
The floor of the Hudson, from the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge to Troy, N.Y., has been mapped in recent years by scientists who used sonar to scan every square foot of river deeper than six feet. So when officials began looking for the engine from the plane ditched in the Hudson on January 15—first with sonar, then with divers—they were not thrown off by the ridges and hillocks on the muddy river bottom. Or even a 70-foot-long shipwreck. On January 20, investigators’ sonar readings showed something new: a cone-shaped object at the end of what looked like a long skid mark, roughly in line with 52nd Street. The next day, divers took a look to confirm what it was, and on January 23, the last major piece of evidence from US Airways Flight 1549 was pulled to the surface and reunited with the rest of the aircraft’s remains on a New Jersey pier. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/24/nyregion/24river.html?em
New on LLRX.com: Burney's Legal Tech Review - 8GB SanDisk Cruzer Micro
Burney's Legal Tech Reviews: A Review of the 8GB SanDisk Cruzer Micro - Brett Burney returns with a review of the well designed, low cost, high capacity SanDisk Cruzer Micro, which includes U3 technology that turns the flash drive into a portable computing environment.
sui generis (soo-ee JEN-uhr-is) adjective: of its own kind, unique
From Latin sui (of its own) + generis (kind).
"Time: What's the best piece of advice that you've gotten from someone about being President?"
Obama: Well, precisely because it's sui generis, the only people that really know are the collection of ex-Presidents we have." The Interview; Time (New York); Dec 29, 2008.
A.Word.A.Day
January 24 is the birthday of Edith Wharton, (books by this author) born Edith Newbold Jones in New York City in 1862. She was from an aristocratic ship-owning and real estate family, connected to the cultured high society of New York. She took to writing early and wrote her first novel when she was 11 years old. Edith Wharton wrote novels about frustrated love, including Ethan Frome (1911) and The Age of Innocence(1920), for which she won the Pulitzer Prize in 1921. The Writer’s Almanac
Obama is the seventh president to have restated his oath of office. Four--Rutherford B. Hayes, Woodrow Wilson, Dwight D. Eisenhower and Ronald Reagan in 1985--restated their oaths publicly because in those years Jan. 20 fell on a Sunday, meaning only private ceremonies were held on those Inauguration Days. Chester Arthur took the oath for the first time at his home in New York in the wee hours of Sept. 20, 1881, following the death of James Garfield, who had been wounded by an assassin's bullet in July. He restated the oath at the U.S. Capitol two days later. Calvin Coolidge's repetition of the oath followed a similar course. He took it for the first time at 2:47 a.m. on Aug. 3, 1923, while visiting his native Vermont, after being roused from sleep following the death of Warren Harding. Coolidge had a Bible on a nearby table while taking the oath but did not lay his hand on it, "as it is not the practice in Vermont or Massachusetts to use a Bible in connection with the administration of an oath," he said.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/01/22/AR2009012203769.html
Itzhak Perlman, Gabriela Montero, Yo-Yo Ma and Anthony McGill performed a new piece, “Air and Simple Gifts,” composed by John Williams at the inauguration. But what the millions on the Mall and watching on television heard was in fact a recording, made two days earlier by the quartet and matched tone for tone by the musicians playing along. The musicians wore earpieces to hear the playback. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/23/arts/music/23band.html
Constitution of the United States
http://supreme.justia.com/constitution/
The zoetrope was invented in 1834 by William Horner, who originally called it a Daedalum ("wheel of the Devil"). It was based on Plateau's phenakistoscope, but was more convenient since it did not require a viewing mirror and allowed more than one person to use it at the same time. Horner's invention strangely became forgotten for nearly thirty years until 1867, when it became patented in England by M. Bradley, and in America by William F. Lincoln. Lincoln renamed the Daedalum, giving it the name of "zoetrope," or "wheel of life." When the praxinoscope was invented by Emile Reynaud in 1877, interest in the zoetrope declined. The praxinoscope offered a clearer, brighter image to viewers than the zoetrope could. In 1889, George Eastman invented flexible photographic film, which allowed a lot of film to be held on one reel. Whereas zoetrope picture strips were limited to about 15 pictures per strip, devices using reels of the new flexible film could present longer animations to viewers. Finally, in 1895, modern cinema was born. http://courses.ncssm.edu/gallery/collections/toys/html/exhibit10.htm
NIDCD Panel Proposes New Benchmarks for Gauging Language Development in Children with Autism Source: National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD)
A more standardized approach is needed to evaluate the language skills of young children with autism spectrum disorders, says a soon-to-be published article in the Journal of Speech-Language-Hearing Research. The authors, a panel of experts assembled by the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD), are advocating the new method so that researchers, clinicians, and other professionals are better able to compare the effectiveness of intervention strategies used for treating children with autism spectrum disorders. Current approaches are inconsistent, and the most widely used benchmark for these children has been the development of “functional speech,” an ambiguous term with no defined criteria. The term autism spectrum disorders refers to a range of related disorders that cause delays in many areas of childhood development, including skills for communicating and interacting socially. Current estimates are that one in 150 children in the United States will be diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder.
In designing the new approach, panel members focused on the window of time during which a child develops spoken language, which can be broken down into three phases: the use of a single “first word” to describe an object or event, the combination of two or three words to communicate something, and the progression to complete sentences.
+ Full Paper
The floor of the Hudson, from the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge to Troy, N.Y., has been mapped in recent years by scientists who used sonar to scan every square foot of river deeper than six feet. So when officials began looking for the engine from the plane ditched in the Hudson on January 15—first with sonar, then with divers—they were not thrown off by the ridges and hillocks on the muddy river bottom. Or even a 70-foot-long shipwreck. On January 20, investigators’ sonar readings showed something new: a cone-shaped object at the end of what looked like a long skid mark, roughly in line with 52nd Street. The next day, divers took a look to confirm what it was, and on January 23, the last major piece of evidence from US Airways Flight 1549 was pulled to the surface and reunited with the rest of the aircraft’s remains on a New Jersey pier. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/24/nyregion/24river.html?em
New on LLRX.com: Burney's Legal Tech Review - 8GB SanDisk Cruzer Micro
Burney's Legal Tech Reviews: A Review of the 8GB SanDisk Cruzer Micro - Brett Burney returns with a review of the well designed, low cost, high capacity SanDisk Cruzer Micro, which includes U3 technology that turns the flash drive into a portable computing environment.
sui generis (soo-ee JEN-uhr-is) adjective: of its own kind, unique
From Latin sui (of its own) + generis (kind).
"Time: What's the best piece of advice that you've gotten from someone about being President?"
Obama: Well, precisely because it's sui generis, the only people that really know are the collection of ex-Presidents we have." The Interview; Time (New York); Dec 29, 2008.
A.Word.A.Day
January 24 is the birthday of Edith Wharton, (books by this author) born Edith Newbold Jones in New York City in 1862. She was from an aristocratic ship-owning and real estate family, connected to the cultured high society of New York. She took to writing early and wrote her first novel when she was 11 years old. Edith Wharton wrote novels about frustrated love, including Ethan Frome (1911) and The Age of Innocence(1920), for which she won the Pulitzer Prize in 1921. The Writer’s Almanac
Friday, January 23, 2009
Be sure to check out the new White House site and stay informed: http://www.whitehouse.gov/
National Archives Opens 9/11 Commission Textual Materials
News release: The National Archives...open[ed] more than 150 cubic feet of records of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks upon the United States, known as the 9/11 Commission, an independent, bipartisan commission created by Congress. The Commission’s mandate was to provide a “full and complete accounting” of the attacks of September 11, 2001, and recommend how to prevent such attacks in the future. On January 14th...Memoranda for the Record (summaries of 709 interviews conducted by the Commission), series descriptions, and folder title lists will be available online. These records include information on the terrorists, past terrorist events, al Qaeda in general, and related subjects. The records also include information concerning the emergency responses to the attacks in New York City and Washington, DC...The records [opened] on January 14th represent 35% of the Commission’s archived textual records."
U.S. Labor Department finalizes rule on investment advice for 401(k) plans and IRAs News release: "The U.S. Department of Labor announced publication of a final rule to make investment advice more accessible for millions of Americans in 401(k) type plans and individual retirement accounts (IRAs). The final rule will be published in the Jan. 21, 2009, edition of the Federal Register. The rule includes a regulation that implements the new statutory exemption for investment advice added to the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) by the Pension Protection Act (PPA) and a related class exemption."
Employee Benefits Security Administration Federal Register Notice: Prohibited Transaction Exemption for Provision of Investment Advice to Individual Retirement and Similar Plans [12/04/2006] and Comments to Proposed Regs
Chairmen Miller, Andrews Statement on Last-Minute Special Interest Regulation - Rule Could Undermine Retirement Savings Plans for Millions of Americans
IRS Hotline for ID Theft Victims
"The IRS does not initiate communication with taxpayers through e-mail. Before identity theft happens, safeguard your information...IRS Identity Protection Specialized Unit, toll-free at 1-800-908-4490."
Spending on Cell Phone Services Has Exceeded Spending on Residential Phone Services
News release: "Data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Consumer Expenditure Survey (CE) show that cellular phone expenditures increased rapidly from 2001 through 2007. Cellular phone expenditures surpassed spending on residential landline phone services beginning in 2007...annual expenditures for cellular phone services per consumer unit increased from $210 in 2001 to $608 in 2007, an increase of 190 percent. Expenditures for residential phone services per consumer unit decreased.
President Obama Reestablishes Openness for Government Documents
News release: "On his first full day in office, President Barack Obama signed an executive order and two presidential memoranda heralding what he called a "new era of openness." Announcing a Presidential Memorandum on the Freedom of Information Act to reestablish a presumption of disclosure for information requested under FOIA, President Obama said that "every agency and department should know that this administration stands on the side not of those who seek to withhold information, but those who seek to make it known."
President Obama also issued an executive order reversing changes made by President George W. Bush to the Presidential Records Act (PRA), stating he would hold himself and his own records "to a new standard of openness." The PRA order permits only the incumbent president (and not former presidents' heirs or designees or former vice presidents) to assert constitutional privileges to withhold information, and would provide for review by the Attorney General and the White House Counsel before a president could claim privilege over his or her records.
Finally, President Obama also today issued a Presidential Memorandum on Transparency and Open Government which recognizes that "[o]penness will strengthen our democracy and promote efficiency and effectiveness in Government." It directs the Director of the Office of Management and Budget, the Chief Technology Officer, and the Administrator of the General Services Administration to develop an Open Government Directive within 120 days to implement the memo."
A muse reader passes on this link on the many faces in our patchwork quilt that is America. http://video.nytimes.com/2009/01/21/us/politics/21family.html?pagewanted=all
Top three most expensive books from AbeBooks in 2008 (from a list of ten)
1. Etudes à l'Eau-Forte by Francis Seymour Haden - $17,216
A collection of 25 etchings by Seymour Hayden --24 of the plates depict the landscape around London, the Thames, Ireland and Wales and the final one is a portrait of Thomas Haden. The text reproduces an article printed in the Gazette des Beaux-Arts by Philippe Burty and contains a catalogue of the etched work of Seymour Haden.
2. L'Abou Naddara, Journal Arabe Illustre (1878-1884) by James Sanua - $13,000
First edition published in 1878 and signed by author. The complete set of the first eight years of Sahifat Abou Naddara issued in Paris. Sanua was called Ya'qub Rufa'il Sanu in Arabic but was often referred to by his pseudonym, Abu Naddara (‘father of spectacles’).
3. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by JK Rowling - $12,874
Rare first edition signed by JK with the dust wrapper panels signed by the cover artist Cliff Wright. The first issue has a misaligned block of text which was corrected in the subsequent issues.
http://www.abebooks.com/books/most-expensive-2008.shtml?cm_ven=nl&cm_cat=nl&cm_pla=cme_mx2008&cm_ite=mxlist
Coming to Shumaker charity sale in Toledo
The Hope by Herman Wouk hardbound 687 pages
Back When We Were Grownups by Anne Tyler softbound 328 pages
The Afghan by Frederick Forsyth hardbound 343 pages
False Impression by Jeffrey Archer hardbound 373 pages
The Brothers by William Goldman hardbound 310 pages
The Good Life by Jay McInerney hardbound 353 pages
Hornet Flight by Ken Follett hardbound 416 pages
Killer Smile by Lisa Scottoline hardbound 352 pages
“ . . . English was their second language and their first was Meaningful Eye Contact.”
At the outbreak of World War II, Franklin D. Roosevelt signed into law a series of presidential orders that identified Italian-born Americans as enemy aliens. The orders authorized their arrest and relocation to internment camps, and more than 10,000 were evacuated from their homes and sent to one of the approximately fifty camps around the country.
Widow’s Walk by Robert B. Parker hardbound 294 pages
#29 in the Spenser series
“Rita had a yellow notepad in front of her. Russo had one in front of him.
It was how they knew they were lawyers.”
Concentration and internment camps from various countries
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_concentration_and_internment_camps
National Archives Opens 9/11 Commission Textual Materials
News release: The National Archives...open[ed] more than 150 cubic feet of records of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks upon the United States, known as the 9/11 Commission, an independent, bipartisan commission created by Congress. The Commission’s mandate was to provide a “full and complete accounting” of the attacks of September 11, 2001, and recommend how to prevent such attacks in the future. On January 14th...Memoranda for the Record (summaries of 709 interviews conducted by the Commission), series descriptions, and folder title lists will be available online. These records include information on the terrorists, past terrorist events, al Qaeda in general, and related subjects. The records also include information concerning the emergency responses to the attacks in New York City and Washington, DC...The records [opened] on January 14th represent 35% of the Commission’s archived textual records."
U.S. Labor Department finalizes rule on investment advice for 401(k) plans and IRAs News release: "The U.S. Department of Labor announced publication of a final rule to make investment advice more accessible for millions of Americans in 401(k) type plans and individual retirement accounts (IRAs). The final rule will be published in the Jan. 21, 2009, edition of the Federal Register. The rule includes a regulation that implements the new statutory exemption for investment advice added to the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) by the Pension Protection Act (PPA) and a related class exemption."
Employee Benefits Security Administration Federal Register Notice: Prohibited Transaction Exemption for Provision of Investment Advice to Individual Retirement and Similar Plans [12/04/2006] and Comments to Proposed Regs
Chairmen Miller, Andrews Statement on Last-Minute Special Interest Regulation - Rule Could Undermine Retirement Savings Plans for Millions of Americans
IRS Hotline for ID Theft Victims
"The IRS does not initiate communication with taxpayers through e-mail. Before identity theft happens, safeguard your information...IRS Identity Protection Specialized Unit, toll-free at 1-800-908-4490."
Spending on Cell Phone Services Has Exceeded Spending on Residential Phone Services
News release: "Data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Consumer Expenditure Survey (CE) show that cellular phone expenditures increased rapidly from 2001 through 2007. Cellular phone expenditures surpassed spending on residential landline phone services beginning in 2007...annual expenditures for cellular phone services per consumer unit increased from $210 in 2001 to $608 in 2007, an increase of 190 percent. Expenditures for residential phone services per consumer unit decreased.
President Obama Reestablishes Openness for Government Documents
News release: "On his first full day in office, President Barack Obama signed an executive order and two presidential memoranda heralding what he called a "new era of openness." Announcing a Presidential Memorandum on the Freedom of Information Act to reestablish a presumption of disclosure for information requested under FOIA, President Obama said that "every agency and department should know that this administration stands on the side not of those who seek to withhold information, but those who seek to make it known."
President Obama also issued an executive order reversing changes made by President George W. Bush to the Presidential Records Act (PRA), stating he would hold himself and his own records "to a new standard of openness." The PRA order permits only the incumbent president (and not former presidents' heirs or designees or former vice presidents) to assert constitutional privileges to withhold information, and would provide for review by the Attorney General and the White House Counsel before a president could claim privilege over his or her records.
Finally, President Obama also today issued a Presidential Memorandum on Transparency and Open Government which recognizes that "[o]penness will strengthen our democracy and promote efficiency and effectiveness in Government." It directs the Director of the Office of Management and Budget, the Chief Technology Officer, and the Administrator of the General Services Administration to develop an Open Government Directive within 120 days to implement the memo."
A muse reader passes on this link on the many faces in our patchwork quilt that is America. http://video.nytimes.com/2009/01/21/us/politics/21family.html?pagewanted=all
Top three most expensive books from AbeBooks in 2008 (from a list of ten)
1. Etudes à l'Eau-Forte by Francis Seymour Haden - $17,216
A collection of 25 etchings by Seymour Hayden --24 of the plates depict the landscape around London, the Thames, Ireland and Wales and the final one is a portrait of Thomas Haden. The text reproduces an article printed in the Gazette des Beaux-Arts by Philippe Burty and contains a catalogue of the etched work of Seymour Haden.
2. L'Abou Naddara, Journal Arabe Illustre (1878-1884) by James Sanua - $13,000
First edition published in 1878 and signed by author. The complete set of the first eight years of Sahifat Abou Naddara issued in Paris. Sanua was called Ya'qub Rufa'il Sanu in Arabic but was often referred to by his pseudonym, Abu Naddara (‘father of spectacles’).
3. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by JK Rowling - $12,874
Rare first edition signed by JK with the dust wrapper panels signed by the cover artist Cliff Wright. The first issue has a misaligned block of text which was corrected in the subsequent issues.
http://www.abebooks.com/books/most-expensive-2008.shtml?cm_ven=nl&cm_cat=nl&cm_pla=cme_mx2008&cm_ite=mxlist
Coming to Shumaker charity sale in Toledo
The Hope by Herman Wouk hardbound 687 pages
Back When We Were Grownups by Anne Tyler softbound 328 pages
The Afghan by Frederick Forsyth hardbound 343 pages
False Impression by Jeffrey Archer hardbound 373 pages
The Brothers by William Goldman hardbound 310 pages
The Good Life by Jay McInerney hardbound 353 pages
Hornet Flight by Ken Follett hardbound 416 pages
Killer Smile by Lisa Scottoline hardbound 352 pages
“ . . . English was their second language and their first was Meaningful Eye Contact.”
At the outbreak of World War II, Franklin D. Roosevelt signed into law a series of presidential orders that identified Italian-born Americans as enemy aliens. The orders authorized their arrest and relocation to internment camps, and more than 10,000 were evacuated from their homes and sent to one of the approximately fifty camps around the country.
Widow’s Walk by Robert B. Parker hardbound 294 pages
#29 in the Spenser series
“Rita had a yellow notepad in front of her. Russo had one in front of him.
It was how they knew they were lawyers.”
Concentration and internment camps from various countries
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_concentration_and_internment_camps
Thursday, January 22, 2009
An incoming U.S. president takes the following oath or affirmation: I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States. When Chief Justice John Roberts read the second clause of the statement, he omitted the word “faithfully” from its rightful place, and stuck it at the end of the clause. WSJ Law Blog January 20, 2009
After an Inauguration Day flub, Chief Justice John Roberts got a second chance on Wednesday night. Roberts re-administered the oath of office to President Obama in the White House. http://www.necn.com/Boston/Politics/2009/01/22/Mulligan-Roberts-Obama-redo/1232624836.html
Presidential Memo Halts All Bush Midnight Rules and Regs
Following previous postings on Bush Administration Midnight regs, this report by ABC News: "This afternoon, White House Chief of Staff and Assistant to the president, Rahm Emanuel issued a memorandum ordering all U.S. government agencies to stop implementing any pending rules and regulations issued by the Bush administration until the Obama administration has an opportunity to review and sign off on them."
From the text of the memo: "...no proposed or final regulation should be sent to the Office of the Federal Register (the "OFR") unless and until it has been reviewed or approved by a department or agency head designated by the President after noon on January 20, 2009..."
"Welcome to the new WhiteHouse.gov. A short time ago, Barack Obama was sworn in as the 44th president of the United States and his new administration officially came to life. One of the first changes is the White House's new website, which will serve as a place for the President and his administration to connect with the rest of the nation and the world. Our initial new media efforts will center around three priorities:
Communication...This site will feature timely and in-depth content meant to keep everyone up-to-date and educated. Check out the briefing room, keep tabs on the blog (RSS feed) and take a moment to sign up for e-mail updates from the President and his administration so you can be sure to know about major announcements and decisions.
Transparency...The President's executive orders and proclamations will be published for everyone to review, and that’s just the beginning of our efforts to provide a window for all Americans into the business of the government. You can also learn about some of the senior leadership in the new administration and about the President’s policy priorities.
Participation...One significant addition to WhiteHouse.gov reflects a campaign promise from the President: we will publish all non-emergency legislation to the website for five days, and allow the public to review and comment before the President signs it."
Fast Facts: Pocket Guide to Transportation 2009 January 17th, 2009
Source: BTS
The Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS), a part of the Research and Innovative Technology Administration (RITA), has published the Pocket Guide to Transportation 2009– a 50-page quick reference guide to informative transportation data.
Direct to Pocket Guide
They also serve who only stand and wait is the last line of the poem “On His Blindness,” by John Milton. The poet reflects that he has a place in God’s world despite his disability. http://www.bartleby.com/59/6/theyalsoserv.html
Shovel-ready, a buzzword
Art Hamlin, the electric utility National Grid’s Upstate New York economic development director says his company started throwing around the term back in the late 1990s. At the time, they were looking for ways to stimulate development of "brownfields," the abandoned and frequently contaminated industrial sites that were being cleaned up and made available for development. Executives at the company, then called Niagara-Mohawk Power, figured entrepreneurs would be more likely to develop the brownfields if they knew in advance that the sites already had electrical service and gas and sewer lines, as well as preliminary environmental permits. But they needed a catchy way of saying that. They came up with shovel-ready. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/01/07/AR2009010703662.html
Hoboken library denies child library card
http://hoboken411.com/archives/16081
An Omaha woman who lost her library card said its disappearance nearly wound up costing her hundreds of dollars. Michelle Anderson said she last remembered using her library card in September. "I think I used that self-checkout and, being me, I left my card on the self-checkout," she said. "It's the only thing I can think of. A couple of months later, notices from the library started arriving in the mail. Anderson said she threw them away, thinking they were for a $5 fine she owes. It wasn't until another letter arrived from a collection agency that she realized someone had checked out more than $584 worth of materials in her name and the library was holding her accountable.
Full story here.
In 1838, a year after Toledo was incorporated, a drought temporarily dried up swampy pools covering most of downtown west of Summit. Frogs migrated to the Maumee River, and residents could hardly take a step without squashing one. Toledo soon became known far and wide as “Frogtown.”
“In 1888 Dr. Allen DeVilbiss invented the atomizer that facilitated application of medicine to patients’ throats. Soon after, he formed the DeVilbiss Manufacturing Company to produce spray equipment. His son, Allen, Jr., invented a springless automatic scale in 1897. He established the De Vilbiss Scale Company which eventually became the world famous Toledo Scale Company…The doctor’s other son, Thomas, contributed to the development of the spray gun and perfumizers.”
You Will Do Better in Toledo: From Frogtown to Glass City, a Toledo Retrospective in Postcards, 1893-1929
January 22 is the birthday of poet Howard Moss, (books by this author) born in New York City (1922). A quiet, unassuming man, he served as poetry editor of The New Yorker magazine for almost four decades. When he was asked his definition of a good poem, Howard Moss said: "One I like." The Writer’s Almanac
After an Inauguration Day flub, Chief Justice John Roberts got a second chance on Wednesday night. Roberts re-administered the oath of office to President Obama in the White House. http://www.necn.com/Boston/Politics/2009/01/22/Mulligan-Roberts-Obama-redo/1232624836.html
Presidential Memo Halts All Bush Midnight Rules and Regs
Following previous postings on Bush Administration Midnight regs, this report by ABC News: "This afternoon, White House Chief of Staff and Assistant to the president, Rahm Emanuel issued a memorandum ordering all U.S. government agencies to stop implementing any pending rules and regulations issued by the Bush administration until the Obama administration has an opportunity to review and sign off on them."
From the text of the memo: "...no proposed or final regulation should be sent to the Office of the Federal Register (the "OFR") unless and until it has been reviewed or approved by a department or agency head designated by the President after noon on January 20, 2009..."
"Welcome to the new WhiteHouse.gov. A short time ago, Barack Obama was sworn in as the 44th president of the United States and his new administration officially came to life. One of the first changes is the White House's new website, which will serve as a place for the President and his administration to connect with the rest of the nation and the world. Our initial new media efforts will center around three priorities:
Communication...This site will feature timely and in-depth content meant to keep everyone up-to-date and educated. Check out the briefing room, keep tabs on the blog (RSS feed) and take a moment to sign up for e-mail updates from the President and his administration so you can be sure to know about major announcements and decisions.
Transparency...The President's executive orders and proclamations will be published for everyone to review, and that’s just the beginning of our efforts to provide a window for all Americans into the business of the government. You can also learn about some of the senior leadership in the new administration and about the President’s policy priorities.
Participation...One significant addition to WhiteHouse.gov reflects a campaign promise from the President: we will publish all non-emergency legislation to the website for five days, and allow the public to review and comment before the President signs it."
Fast Facts: Pocket Guide to Transportation 2009 January 17th, 2009
Source: BTS
The Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS), a part of the Research and Innovative Technology Administration (RITA), has published the Pocket Guide to Transportation 2009– a 50-page quick reference guide to informative transportation data.
Direct to Pocket Guide
They also serve who only stand and wait is the last line of the poem “On His Blindness,” by John Milton. The poet reflects that he has a place in God’s world despite his disability. http://www.bartleby.com/59/6/theyalsoserv.html
Shovel-ready, a buzzword
Art Hamlin, the electric utility National Grid’s Upstate New York economic development director says his company started throwing around the term back in the late 1990s. At the time, they were looking for ways to stimulate development of "brownfields," the abandoned and frequently contaminated industrial sites that were being cleaned up and made available for development. Executives at the company, then called Niagara-Mohawk Power, figured entrepreneurs would be more likely to develop the brownfields if they knew in advance that the sites already had electrical service and gas and sewer lines, as well as preliminary environmental permits. But they needed a catchy way of saying that. They came up with shovel-ready. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/01/07/AR2009010703662.html
Hoboken library denies child library card
http://hoboken411.com/archives/16081
An Omaha woman who lost her library card said its disappearance nearly wound up costing her hundreds of dollars. Michelle Anderson said she last remembered using her library card in September. "I think I used that self-checkout and, being me, I left my card on the self-checkout," she said. "It's the only thing I can think of. A couple of months later, notices from the library started arriving in the mail. Anderson said she threw them away, thinking they were for a $5 fine she owes. It wasn't until another letter arrived from a collection agency that she realized someone had checked out more than $584 worth of materials in her name and the library was holding her accountable.
Full story here.
In 1838, a year after Toledo was incorporated, a drought temporarily dried up swampy pools covering most of downtown west of Summit. Frogs migrated to the Maumee River, and residents could hardly take a step without squashing one. Toledo soon became known far and wide as “Frogtown.”
“In 1888 Dr. Allen DeVilbiss invented the atomizer that facilitated application of medicine to patients’ throats. Soon after, he formed the DeVilbiss Manufacturing Company to produce spray equipment. His son, Allen, Jr., invented a springless automatic scale in 1897. He established the De Vilbiss Scale Company which eventually became the world famous Toledo Scale Company…The doctor’s other son, Thomas, contributed to the development of the spray gun and perfumizers.”
You Will Do Better in Toledo: From Frogtown to Glass City, a Toledo Retrospective in Postcards, 1893-1929
January 22 is the birthday of poet Howard Moss, (books by this author) born in New York City (1922). A quiet, unassuming man, he served as poetry editor of The New Yorker magazine for almost four decades. When he was asked his definition of a good poem, Howard Moss said: "One I like." The Writer’s Almanac
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
Inauguration addresses from 1789 to present
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2009/01/17/washington/20090117_ADDRESSES.html?hp
“We Are One: The Obama Inaugural Celebration at the Lincoln Memorial.” http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/19/arts/music/19weareone.html?_r=1
Until 1937, Inauguration Day was March 4th. But it was changed in 1937 by the 20th Amendment, because there was no reason to have that much time between November elections and the inauguration. The shortest inaugural address was the first one, delivered by George Washington. It was 135 words long. The longest inaugural address was by William Henry Harrison — it was 8,495 words.
About a month ago, Barack Obama announced his inaugural poet: Elizabeth Alexander, a professor at Yale. Obama knows Alexander from the days when they both taught at the University of Chicago. The Writer’s Almanac
Quotes
"Traditionally, Indonesians practiced a tolerant, almost syncretic brand of faith, infused with the Buddhist, Hindu, and animist traditions of earlier periods."
Barack Obama; The Audacity of Hope; Crown Publishers; 2006.
I happen temporarily to occupy this big White House. I am living witness that any one of your children may look to come here as my father's child has. -Abraham Lincoln, 16th president of the U.S. (1809-1865) A.Word.A.Day
Bowling Green is a small public park in Lower Manhattan at the foot of Broadway next to the site of the original Dutch fort of New Amsterdam. The park has long been a center of activity in the city going back to the days of New Amsterdam, when it served as cattle market between 1638 and 1647 and parade ground. In 1675, the Common Council designated the "plaine afore the forte" for an annual market of "graine, cattle and other produce of the country". In 1677 the city's first public well was dug in front of the old fort at Bowling Green. In 1733, the Common Council leased a portion of the parade grounds to three prominent neighboring landlords for a peppercorn a year, upon their promise to create a park that would be "the delight of the Inhabitants of the City" and add to its "Beauty and Ornament"; the improvements were to include a "bowling green" with "walks therein".
In August 21, 1770, the British government erected a 4,000 pound (1,800 kg) gilded lead equestrian statue of King George III in Bowling Green; the king was dressed in Roman garb in the style of the Equestrian Statue of Marcus Aurelius. The statue had been commissioned in 1766, along with a statue of William Pitt, from the prominent London sculptor Joseph Wilton. With the rapid deterioration of relations with the mother country after 1770, the statue became a magnet for the Bowling Green protests; in 1773, the city passed an anti-graffiti and anti-desecration law to counter vandalism against the monument, and a protective cast-iron fence was built around it (which still exists as of 2008). On July 9, 1776, after the Declaration of Independence was read to Washington's troops at the current site of City Hall, local Sons of Liberty rushed down Broadway to Bowling Green, where they toppled the statue. The cast-iron crowns that topped sections of the surrounding fence were knocked off, as well.
In 1989, the sculpture Charging Bull by Arturo Di Modica was installed in the park by the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation after it had been confiscated by the police following its illegal installation on Wall Street. The sculpture has become one of the beloved and recognizable landmarks of the Financial District.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bowling_Green_(New_York_City)
Federal Register Announces New “Daily Compilation of Presidential Documents”
January 16th, 2009 Source: NARA
The Office of the Federal Register (OFR), which is part of the National Archives, has created a new publication, to be called the Daily Compilation of Presidential Documents. The Daily Compilation will appear on the Government Printing Office’s (GPO) new Federal Digital System (FDsys) January 20, 2009, to coincide with the incoming President’s term of office. The web site will be accessible via www.presidentialdocuments.gov by January 20. The online Daily Compilation will replace the printed Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents.
United States Mint Changes Strategy for Pricing Precious Metals Numismatic Products Source: U.S. Mint
The United States Mint is implementing a new strategy for pricing numismatic products containing gold and platinum effective January 12, 2009. Non-precious metal products and bullion coins will not be affected by the new pricing strategy. The United States Mint published a Federal Register notice on January 6, 2009, that included an itemized pricing structure for gold and platinum numismatic products. (This notice does not affect gold commemorative coin pricing.) Product prices will fluctuate within the new structure, which is based on a range of the average market price for gold and platinum. For gold numismatic products, the range will be within $50 and, for platinum numismatic products, the range will be within $100.
Pricing of gold and platinum numismatic products will be directly related to the average weekly London fix prices for these metals. If the market value of gold and platinum moves to a higher or lower range, the price of each product will be increased or decreased in corresponding increments. For example, if the weekly average price of gold rises to the next $50 price range, the United States Mint will increase the price of gold numismatic products by $50 for each ounce of gold in the product. Under this scenario, the price of a one-tenth ounce gold uncirculated coin would increase by $5. Previously, the United States Mint published a Federal Register notice each time the price of a product was changed. Under the new policy, the notice will be in effect throughout 2009.
+ Pricing tables for numismatic products containing gold and platinum coins
New Fact Sheets from the Federal Aviation Administration
January 17th, 2009 Source: FAA
+ Airbus A320 Characteristics & Emergency Operations
+ Fact Sheet: Improvements to Cabin Safety
+ Wildlife Hazard Mitigation Requirements and Programs
In 1999, United States Patent 6,004,596 was issued to Len Kretchman and David Gesked. This patent disclosed an improved crustless peanut butter and jelly sandwich.. The J.M. Smucker Company (“Smucker’s”) licensed the patent, and introduced the “Uncrustables™” brand of frozen no crust sandwiches. The brand was an instant success, and Smucker’s, according to their website, invested close to $20 million to start up a factory in Scottsville, Kentucky to produce the product. In 2005, Smucker’s sold $60 million worth of “Uncrustables™. The trouble started when Smucker’s began sending out cease and desist letters to enforce their purported intellectual property rights. In 2001, Albie’s Food, Inc., a small grocery and caterer in Gaylord, Michigan, received such a cease and desist letter. Albie’s took the matter to federal court and further filed a request for ex parte reexamination with the USPTO. After extensive reexamination proceedings where the claims of the PB&J patent were rejected, amended, rejected again and appealed to the Board of Patent Appeals and Interferences, the BPAI reversed the examiner’s rejections but found new reasons for rejection. A quick look at the public file history in Public PAIR shows that a Notice of Intent to issue an ex parte reexamination certificate was mailed on December 8, 2006, which shows that all pending claims have been cancelled. http://www.ipfrontline.com/depts/article.asp?id=14617&deptid=3
Michael J. Owens invented the first mechanical bottle-making machine. In 1903 Edward Drummond Libbey formed the Owens Bottle Machine Company to make and lease these machines and, by the 1920s, 94 out of every 100 bottles made in the world were produced on Owens machines. In 1929 Owens Bottle Company merged with Illinois Glass to form Owens-Illinois. In 1930 the company merged its sheet glass-making operations into Libbey-Owens-Ford.
On August 1, 1907, Harney Lucas successfully sent voice messages from the Nicholas Building to Frank Butler in the Ohio Building on Madison Avenue, sending the first radio broadcast from building to building.
You Will Do Better in Toledo: From Frogtown to Glass City, a Toledo Retrospective in Postcards, 1893-1929
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2009/01/17/washington/20090117_ADDRESSES.html?hp
“We Are One: The Obama Inaugural Celebration at the Lincoln Memorial.” http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/19/arts/music/19weareone.html?_r=1
Until 1937, Inauguration Day was March 4th. But it was changed in 1937 by the 20th Amendment, because there was no reason to have that much time between November elections and the inauguration. The shortest inaugural address was the first one, delivered by George Washington. It was 135 words long. The longest inaugural address was by William Henry Harrison — it was 8,495 words.
About a month ago, Barack Obama announced his inaugural poet: Elizabeth Alexander, a professor at Yale. Obama knows Alexander from the days when they both taught at the University of Chicago. The Writer’s Almanac
Quotes
"Traditionally, Indonesians practiced a tolerant, almost syncretic brand of faith, infused with the Buddhist, Hindu, and animist traditions of earlier periods."
Barack Obama; The Audacity of Hope; Crown Publishers; 2006.
I happen temporarily to occupy this big White House. I am living witness that any one of your children may look to come here as my father's child has. -Abraham Lincoln, 16th president of the U.S. (1809-1865) A.Word.A.Day
Bowling Green is a small public park in Lower Manhattan at the foot of Broadway next to the site of the original Dutch fort of New Amsterdam. The park has long been a center of activity in the city going back to the days of New Amsterdam, when it served as cattle market between 1638 and 1647 and parade ground. In 1675, the Common Council designated the "plaine afore the forte" for an annual market of "graine, cattle and other produce of the country". In 1677 the city's first public well was dug in front of the old fort at Bowling Green. In 1733, the Common Council leased a portion of the parade grounds to three prominent neighboring landlords for a peppercorn a year, upon their promise to create a park that would be "the delight of the Inhabitants of the City" and add to its "Beauty and Ornament"; the improvements were to include a "bowling green" with "walks therein".
In August 21, 1770, the British government erected a 4,000 pound (1,800 kg) gilded lead equestrian statue of King George III in Bowling Green; the king was dressed in Roman garb in the style of the Equestrian Statue of Marcus Aurelius. The statue had been commissioned in 1766, along with a statue of William Pitt, from the prominent London sculptor Joseph Wilton. With the rapid deterioration of relations with the mother country after 1770, the statue became a magnet for the Bowling Green protests; in 1773, the city passed an anti-graffiti and anti-desecration law to counter vandalism against the monument, and a protective cast-iron fence was built around it (which still exists as of 2008). On July 9, 1776, after the Declaration of Independence was read to Washington's troops at the current site of City Hall, local Sons of Liberty rushed down Broadway to Bowling Green, where they toppled the statue. The cast-iron crowns that topped sections of the surrounding fence were knocked off, as well.
In 1989, the sculpture Charging Bull by Arturo Di Modica was installed in the park by the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation after it had been confiscated by the police following its illegal installation on Wall Street. The sculpture has become one of the beloved and recognizable landmarks of the Financial District.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bowling_Green_(New_York_City)
Federal Register Announces New “Daily Compilation of Presidential Documents”
January 16th, 2009 Source: NARA
The Office of the Federal Register (OFR), which is part of the National Archives, has created a new publication, to be called the Daily Compilation of Presidential Documents. The Daily Compilation will appear on the Government Printing Office’s (GPO) new Federal Digital System (FDsys) January 20, 2009, to coincide with the incoming President’s term of office. The web site will be accessible via www.presidentialdocuments.gov by January 20. The online Daily Compilation will replace the printed Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents.
United States Mint Changes Strategy for Pricing Precious Metals Numismatic Products Source: U.S. Mint
The United States Mint is implementing a new strategy for pricing numismatic products containing gold and platinum effective January 12, 2009. Non-precious metal products and bullion coins will not be affected by the new pricing strategy. The United States Mint published a Federal Register notice on January 6, 2009, that included an itemized pricing structure for gold and platinum numismatic products. (This notice does not affect gold commemorative coin pricing.) Product prices will fluctuate within the new structure, which is based on a range of the average market price for gold and platinum. For gold numismatic products, the range will be within $50 and, for platinum numismatic products, the range will be within $100.
Pricing of gold and platinum numismatic products will be directly related to the average weekly London fix prices for these metals. If the market value of gold and platinum moves to a higher or lower range, the price of each product will be increased or decreased in corresponding increments. For example, if the weekly average price of gold rises to the next $50 price range, the United States Mint will increase the price of gold numismatic products by $50 for each ounce of gold in the product. Under this scenario, the price of a one-tenth ounce gold uncirculated coin would increase by $5. Previously, the United States Mint published a Federal Register notice each time the price of a product was changed. Under the new policy, the notice will be in effect throughout 2009.
+ Pricing tables for numismatic products containing gold and platinum coins
New Fact Sheets from the Federal Aviation Administration
January 17th, 2009 Source: FAA
+ Airbus A320 Characteristics & Emergency Operations
+ Fact Sheet: Improvements to Cabin Safety
+ Wildlife Hazard Mitigation Requirements and Programs
In 1999, United States Patent 6,004,596 was issued to Len Kretchman and David Gesked. This patent disclosed an improved crustless peanut butter and jelly sandwich.. The J.M. Smucker Company (“Smucker’s”) licensed the patent, and introduced the “Uncrustables™” brand of frozen no crust sandwiches. The brand was an instant success, and Smucker’s, according to their website, invested close to $20 million to start up a factory in Scottsville, Kentucky to produce the product. In 2005, Smucker’s sold $60 million worth of “Uncrustables™. The trouble started when Smucker’s began sending out cease and desist letters to enforce their purported intellectual property rights. In 2001, Albie’s Food, Inc., a small grocery and caterer in Gaylord, Michigan, received such a cease and desist letter. Albie’s took the matter to federal court and further filed a request for ex parte reexamination with the USPTO. After extensive reexamination proceedings where the claims of the PB&J patent were rejected, amended, rejected again and appealed to the Board of Patent Appeals and Interferences, the BPAI reversed the examiner’s rejections but found new reasons for rejection. A quick look at the public file history in Public PAIR shows that a Notice of Intent to issue an ex parte reexamination certificate was mailed on December 8, 2006, which shows that all pending claims have been cancelled. http://www.ipfrontline.com/depts/article.asp?id=14617&deptid=3
Michael J. Owens invented the first mechanical bottle-making machine. In 1903 Edward Drummond Libbey formed the Owens Bottle Machine Company to make and lease these machines and, by the 1920s, 94 out of every 100 bottles made in the world were produced on Owens machines. In 1929 Owens Bottle Company merged with Illinois Glass to form Owens-Illinois. In 1930 the company merged its sheet glass-making operations into Libbey-Owens-Ford.
On August 1, 1907, Harney Lucas successfully sent voice messages from the Nicholas Building to Frank Butler in the Ohio Building on Madison Avenue, sending the first radio broadcast from building to building.
You Will Do Better in Toledo: From Frogtown to Glass City, a Toledo Retrospective in Postcards, 1893-1929
Monday, January 19, 2009
John Quincy Adams took his presidential oath upon a "Volume of Laws" because, he wrote in a March 1825 diary entry, it was the Constitution he swore to preserve, protect and defend. Save for some presidents who were sworn in privately on a weekend or hastily upon their predecessor's death, all of the others have placed their hands on a Bible -- or at least on something considered holy. Lyndon B. Johnson took his oath upon a missal, a Catholic liturgical book. Sworn in aboard Air Force One after John F. Kennedy's assassination in 1963, Johnson used a copy found on a side table in the president's airplane bedroom.
When Barack Obama takes the presidential oath of office Tuesday, he will place his hand on the same Bible that Abraham Lincoln used at his inauguration in 1861. Obama will be the first incoming president to use the 156-year-old Lincoln Bible, which is bound in burgundy velvet and has heavily gilded edges. The Constitution does not require a Bible, but like many practices on Inauguration Day, it's tradition. "So help me God," for example, is not part of the presidential oath, but many presidents add the words. Many historians think George Washington was the first to use the phrase, but Donald R. Kennon, a historian at the United States Capitol Historical Society, said there was little evidence to support the idea.
Well documented, however, is the Bible that the first president used for his oath. Four chief executives--Warren G. Harding, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Jimmy Carter and George H.W. Bush--have sworn upon the Bible that Washington used at the first presidential inauguration in 1789. The 1,280-page Bible used by Lincoln was purchased by Supreme Court clerk William Thomas Carroll. The cover bears a shield of gold wash over white metal with the words "Holy Bible." http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-inaug-religion18-2009jan18,0,5754606.story
Nerd and geek are both American words. "Nerd" was coined in 1950 by that great writer of children's nonsense verse Dr Seuss. "Geek" is the older being first recorded in 1916--long before it had any connection with obsessive computer game players. Back in those days a "geek" was a dumb, sideshow stooge--a bit wild and not very bright. And originally "nerd" was just a nonsense word with no particular meaning. Over time Americans came to use "nerd" to mean a bespectacled, studious square. According to the Longman's Dictionary of Contemporary English "nerd" now means "someone who seems only interested in computers and other technical things" and "geek" (which Longman's says is almost a synonym) mainly means someone who is desperately unfashionable.
http://www.abc.net.au/newsradio/txt/s2316933.htm
Best Free Reference Websites, selections from tenth annual list
Avalon Project: Documents in Law, History and Diplomacy http://avalon.law.yale.edu/
Cooking Light http://www.cookinglight.com/
Europa—the European Union at a Glance http://europa.eu/abc/index_en.htm
FactCheck—Annenberg Political FactCheck http://www.factcheck.org/
Fodor’s www.fodors.com
National Public Radio http://www.npr.org/
The Political Graveyard http://politicalgraveyard.com/
Rotten Tomatoes http://www.rottentomatoes.com/
Yahoo Finance http://finance.yahoo.com/
Reference & User Services Quarterly Fall 2008
Poles began arriving in Toledo in large numbers beginning around 1890. They settled in two neighborhoods: Kuschwantz south along Nebraska Avenue and Lagrinka north along Lagrange Street. They were connected by a trolley line which some residents said must be the longest trolley line in the world because it stretched from “Pole to Pole.”
The economy was bleak in 1893, and Toledo cousins Adelbert L. and Celian M. Spitzer stopped construction on their new high-rise office building at Madison and Huron. The building sat idle until completion and opening in 1896. Edward Drummond Libbey’s Libbey Glass Company plant had not been profitable since he brought it to Toledo from New England in 1888. He gambled the company’s future spending a small fortune to develop a working model of a glass factory for the Chicago World’s Fair of 1893. His exhibit and samples were a success and orders flooded in from all over the country and other parts of the world. Also, at the fair, the penny picture postal card was introduced—the cards were official souvenirs. They were so popular that they created a revolution in communications. The years 1907-1918 were the high point of the picture postcard, and Americans bought more than a billion cards annually. The postcard communication revolution was ended with increased use of pictures in newspapers and magazines, automobile travel, telephone and radio.
You Will Do Better in Toledo: From Frogtown to Glass City, a Toledo Retrospective in Postcards, 1893-1929
Quotes for today
I learned to slip back and forth between my black and white worlds, understanding that each possessed its own language and customs and structures of meaning, convinced that with a bit of translation on my part the two worlds would eventually cohere.
Barack Obama; Dreams From My Father; Times Books; 1995.
I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.
Martin Luther King, Jr, civil-rights leader (1929-1968)
January 17 is the birthday of Benjamin Franklin, born in Boston (1706). He was one of the most famous leaders of the American Revolution. He invented bifocals and the glass harmonica, he charted the Gulf Stream on his way across the Atlantic, he chased tornadoes on horseback, and he founded America's first circulating public library. And as the author, printer, and publisher of Poor Richard's Almanac, he circulated adages such as "Little strokes fell great oaks," and "Early to bed and early to rise, Makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise."
January 18 is the birthday of physician and lexicographer Peter Mark Roget, (books by this author) born in London, England (1779). He was a working doctor for most of his life, but in his spare time he invented a slide rule and a method of water filtration that is still in use today. And he wrote papers on a variety of topics, including the kaleidoscope and Dante. He was a contributor to the early Encylopaedia Britannica.
He was 61 years old, and had just retired from his medical practice, when he decided to devote his retirement to publishing a system of classifying words into groups, based on their meanings. And that became the Thesaurus of English Words and Phrases, published in 1852. The word "thesaurus" means "treasury" in Greek. At the last minute, Roget decided to include an index. That index, which helped readers find synonyms, made Roget's thesaurus one of the most popular reference books of all time.
January 19 is the birthday of the man who coined the term "altruism" and who helped found the field of sociology: philosopher Auguste Comte, (books by this author) born in Montpellier, France (1798). His most famous work was Système de Politique Positive, published in four volumes between 1851 and 1854. It established a basis for sociology.
He said, "Everything is relative, and only that is absolute." The Writer’s Almanac
When Barack Obama takes the presidential oath of office Tuesday, he will place his hand on the same Bible that Abraham Lincoln used at his inauguration in 1861. Obama will be the first incoming president to use the 156-year-old Lincoln Bible, which is bound in burgundy velvet and has heavily gilded edges. The Constitution does not require a Bible, but like many practices on Inauguration Day, it's tradition. "So help me God," for example, is not part of the presidential oath, but many presidents add the words. Many historians think George Washington was the first to use the phrase, but Donald R. Kennon, a historian at the United States Capitol Historical Society, said there was little evidence to support the idea.
Well documented, however, is the Bible that the first president used for his oath. Four chief executives--Warren G. Harding, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Jimmy Carter and George H.W. Bush--have sworn upon the Bible that Washington used at the first presidential inauguration in 1789. The 1,280-page Bible used by Lincoln was purchased by Supreme Court clerk William Thomas Carroll. The cover bears a shield of gold wash over white metal with the words "Holy Bible." http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-inaug-religion18-2009jan18,0,5754606.story
Nerd and geek are both American words. "Nerd" was coined in 1950 by that great writer of children's nonsense verse Dr Seuss. "Geek" is the older being first recorded in 1916--long before it had any connection with obsessive computer game players. Back in those days a "geek" was a dumb, sideshow stooge--a bit wild and not very bright. And originally "nerd" was just a nonsense word with no particular meaning. Over time Americans came to use "nerd" to mean a bespectacled, studious square. According to the Longman's Dictionary of Contemporary English "nerd" now means "someone who seems only interested in computers and other technical things" and "geek" (which Longman's says is almost a synonym) mainly means someone who is desperately unfashionable.
http://www.abc.net.au/newsradio/txt/s2316933.htm
Best Free Reference Websites, selections from tenth annual list
Avalon Project: Documents in Law, History and Diplomacy http://avalon.law.yale.edu/
Cooking Light http://www.cookinglight.com/
Europa—the European Union at a Glance http://europa.eu/abc/index_en.htm
FactCheck—Annenberg Political FactCheck http://www.factcheck.org/
Fodor’s www.fodors.com
National Public Radio http://www.npr.org/
The Political Graveyard http://politicalgraveyard.com/
Rotten Tomatoes http://www.rottentomatoes.com/
Yahoo Finance http://finance.yahoo.com/
Reference & User Services Quarterly Fall 2008
Poles began arriving in Toledo in large numbers beginning around 1890. They settled in two neighborhoods: Kuschwantz south along Nebraska Avenue and Lagrinka north along Lagrange Street. They were connected by a trolley line which some residents said must be the longest trolley line in the world because it stretched from “Pole to Pole.”
The economy was bleak in 1893, and Toledo cousins Adelbert L. and Celian M. Spitzer stopped construction on their new high-rise office building at Madison and Huron. The building sat idle until completion and opening in 1896. Edward Drummond Libbey’s Libbey Glass Company plant had not been profitable since he brought it to Toledo from New England in 1888. He gambled the company’s future spending a small fortune to develop a working model of a glass factory for the Chicago World’s Fair of 1893. His exhibit and samples were a success and orders flooded in from all over the country and other parts of the world. Also, at the fair, the penny picture postal card was introduced—the cards were official souvenirs. They were so popular that they created a revolution in communications. The years 1907-1918 were the high point of the picture postcard, and Americans bought more than a billion cards annually. The postcard communication revolution was ended with increased use of pictures in newspapers and magazines, automobile travel, telephone and radio.
You Will Do Better in Toledo: From Frogtown to Glass City, a Toledo Retrospective in Postcards, 1893-1929
Quotes for today
I learned to slip back and forth between my black and white worlds, understanding that each possessed its own language and customs and structures of meaning, convinced that with a bit of translation on my part the two worlds would eventually cohere.
Barack Obama; Dreams From My Father; Times Books; 1995.
I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.
Martin Luther King, Jr, civil-rights leader (1929-1968)
January 17 is the birthday of Benjamin Franklin, born in Boston (1706). He was one of the most famous leaders of the American Revolution. He invented bifocals and the glass harmonica, he charted the Gulf Stream on his way across the Atlantic, he chased tornadoes on horseback, and he founded America's first circulating public library. And as the author, printer, and publisher of Poor Richard's Almanac, he circulated adages such as "Little strokes fell great oaks," and "Early to bed and early to rise, Makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise."
January 18 is the birthday of physician and lexicographer Peter Mark Roget, (books by this author) born in London, England (1779). He was a working doctor for most of his life, but in his spare time he invented a slide rule and a method of water filtration that is still in use today. And he wrote papers on a variety of topics, including the kaleidoscope and Dante. He was a contributor to the early Encylopaedia Britannica.
He was 61 years old, and had just retired from his medical practice, when he decided to devote his retirement to publishing a system of classifying words into groups, based on their meanings. And that became the Thesaurus of English Words and Phrases, published in 1852. The word "thesaurus" means "treasury" in Greek. At the last minute, Roget decided to include an index. That index, which helped readers find synonyms, made Roget's thesaurus one of the most popular reference books of all time.
January 19 is the birthday of the man who coined the term "altruism" and who helped found the field of sociology: philosopher Auguste Comte, (books by this author) born in Montpellier, France (1798). His most famous work was Système de Politique Positive, published in four volumes between 1851 and 1854. It established a basis for sociology.
He said, "Everything is relative, and only that is absolute." The Writer’s Almanac
Friday, January 16, 2009
Top ten language stories of 2008
http://illinois.edu/blog/view?blogId=25&topicId=2434
Federal Reserve Beige Book, January 14, 2009
Summary of Commentary on Current Economic Conditions by Federal Reserve District, January 14, 2009: "Overall economic activity continued to weaken across almost all of the Federal Reserve Districts since the previous reporting period. Most Districts noted reduced or low activity across a wide range of industries, although a few Districts noted some exceptions in some sectors. District reports indicate that retail sales were generally weak, particularly during the holiday season. A majority of Districts noted deep discounting during the holiday sales season. Vehicle sales were also weak or down overall in the Districts reporting on them. Manufacturing activity decreased in most Districts. Declines were noted in a wide range of manufacturing industries, with a few exceptions. Services sector activity generally declined across the Districts, with exceptions in some sectors of the Boston, Richmond, and Chicago Districts. Additionally, several Districts noted weaker conditions in transportation services and slow or decreased demand in tourism activity. Conditions in residential real estate markets continued to worsen in most Districts. Reduced home sales, lower prices, or decreases in construction activity were noted in many Districts. Commercial real estate markets deteriorated in most Districts, with weakening construction noted in several Districts. Overall lending activity declined in several Districts, with tight or tightening lending conditions reported in most Districts. Credit quality remained a concern in several Districts. Agricultural conditions were mixed in response to varying weather conditions across the Districts. Mining and energy production activity generally declined since the previous report."
State of the Art Biometrics Excellence Roadmap: Technology Assessment
Nextgov: "The FBI released on [January 13, 2009] a detailed study of the advancement of different kinds of biometrics--from fingerprints to ear scans--to lay out how the bureau might pursue the identification of individuals in the future."
State of the Art Biometrics Excellence Roadmap - Technology Assessment: Volume 1 (of 3) Fingerprint, Palm print, Vascular, Standards, October 2008; v1.2.
Technology Assessment for the State of the Art Biometrics Excellence Roadmap - Volume 2 (of 3) Face, Iris, Ear, Voice, and Handwriter Recognition, October 2008; v1.2
State of the Art Biometrics Excellence Roadmap, Certified Products List (CPL) Expansion: The Way Ahead, October 2008, v. 1.2, October 2008
Heimdal/Heimdall/ Heimdallr/Gullintani
Norse God of God of Light, Security and Surveillance. http://www.godchecker.com/pantheon/norse-mythology.php?deity=HEIMDALL
Lidar/ALSM/laser radar
LIDAR (Light Detection and Ranging, also known as Airborne Laser Swath Mapping or ALSM) - a technology that employs an airborne scanning laser rangefinder to produce detailed and accurate topographic surveys. LIDAR can be used to accurately measure the topography of the ground, even where overlying vegetation is quite dense. http://landslides.usgs.gov/learning/glossary.php#l
lidar - Also called laser radar - A method of detecting distant objects and determining their position, velocity, or other characteristics by analysis of pulsed laser light reflected from their surfaces. http://www.maps-gps-info.com/maps-gps-glossary-kl.html
World War II stories from children in England
People were asked to save leftover food so that it could be used as food for pigs and other animals. It was collected in big bins. http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ww2children/research/photos_and_posters/pandp_page24.shtml
The campaign against waste encouraged the use of a pig bin,(the contents collected regularly), the saving of water and digging for victory. I remember watching through the front room window as our garden railings were removed for salvage. Also taking used metal tooth paste tubes to Maggs in Queens Road and receiving a simple wooden toy tank in exchange. http://www.bbc.co.uk/ww2peopleswar/stories/38/a4011238.shtml
Q. Where will I find The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere by Grant Wood?
A. The Metropolitan Museum of Art and at Google images:
http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&q=%22grant+wood%22+%22paul+revere%22&gbv=2
View Masterpieces of the Prado Museum with Google Earth
Prado news release: "Google launches the Prado layer in Google Earth allowing you to explore highly detailed photographic images of fourteen of the Prado Museum's masterpieces in very high resolution where you can explore the finer-details of the works. With the launching of this Prado layer in Google Earth, you will be able to zoom in on famous paintings such as The Maids of Honor by Velázquez or The Three Graces by Rubens. The Prado Museum has become the first art gallery in the world to provide access to and navigation of its collection in Google Earth. Using the advanced features of Google Earth art historians, students and tourists everywhere can zoom in on and explore the finer details of the artist's brushwork that can be easily missed at first glance. The paintings have been photographed and contain as many as 14,000 million pixels (14 gigapixels). With this high level resolution you are able to see fine details such as the tiny bee on a flower in The Three Graces by Rubens, delicate tears on the faces of the figures in The Descent from the Cross by Roger van der Weyden and complex figures in The Garden of Earthly Delights by Hieronymus Bosch."
http://illinois.edu/blog/view?blogId=25&topicId=2434
Federal Reserve Beige Book, January 14, 2009
Summary of Commentary on Current Economic Conditions by Federal Reserve District, January 14, 2009: "Overall economic activity continued to weaken across almost all of the Federal Reserve Districts since the previous reporting period. Most Districts noted reduced or low activity across a wide range of industries, although a few Districts noted some exceptions in some sectors. District reports indicate that retail sales were generally weak, particularly during the holiday season. A majority of Districts noted deep discounting during the holiday sales season. Vehicle sales were also weak or down overall in the Districts reporting on them. Manufacturing activity decreased in most Districts. Declines were noted in a wide range of manufacturing industries, with a few exceptions. Services sector activity generally declined across the Districts, with exceptions in some sectors of the Boston, Richmond, and Chicago Districts. Additionally, several Districts noted weaker conditions in transportation services and slow or decreased demand in tourism activity. Conditions in residential real estate markets continued to worsen in most Districts. Reduced home sales, lower prices, or decreases in construction activity were noted in many Districts. Commercial real estate markets deteriorated in most Districts, with weakening construction noted in several Districts. Overall lending activity declined in several Districts, with tight or tightening lending conditions reported in most Districts. Credit quality remained a concern in several Districts. Agricultural conditions were mixed in response to varying weather conditions across the Districts. Mining and energy production activity generally declined since the previous report."
State of the Art Biometrics Excellence Roadmap: Technology Assessment
Nextgov: "The FBI released on [January 13, 2009] a detailed study of the advancement of different kinds of biometrics--from fingerprints to ear scans--to lay out how the bureau might pursue the identification of individuals in the future."
State of the Art Biometrics Excellence Roadmap - Technology Assessment: Volume 1 (of 3) Fingerprint, Palm print, Vascular, Standards, October 2008; v1.2.
Technology Assessment for the State of the Art Biometrics Excellence Roadmap - Volume 2 (of 3) Face, Iris, Ear, Voice, and Handwriter Recognition, October 2008; v1.2
State of the Art Biometrics Excellence Roadmap, Certified Products List (CPL) Expansion: The Way Ahead, October 2008, v. 1.2, October 2008
Heimdal/Heimdall/ Heimdallr/Gullintani
Norse God of God of Light, Security and Surveillance. http://www.godchecker.com/pantheon/norse-mythology.php?deity=HEIMDALL
Lidar/ALSM/laser radar
LIDAR (Light Detection and Ranging, also known as Airborne Laser Swath Mapping or ALSM) - a technology that employs an airborne scanning laser rangefinder to produce detailed and accurate topographic surveys. LIDAR can be used to accurately measure the topography of the ground, even where overlying vegetation is quite dense. http://landslides.usgs.gov/learning/glossary.php#l
lidar - Also called laser radar - A method of detecting distant objects and determining their position, velocity, or other characteristics by analysis of pulsed laser light reflected from their surfaces. http://www.maps-gps-info.com/maps-gps-glossary-kl.html
World War II stories from children in England
People were asked to save leftover food so that it could be used as food for pigs and other animals. It was collected in big bins. http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ww2children/research/photos_and_posters/pandp_page24.shtml
The campaign against waste encouraged the use of a pig bin,(the contents collected regularly), the saving of water and digging for victory. I remember watching through the front room window as our garden railings were removed for salvage. Also taking used metal tooth paste tubes to Maggs in Queens Road and receiving a simple wooden toy tank in exchange. http://www.bbc.co.uk/ww2peopleswar/stories/38/a4011238.shtml
Q. Where will I find The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere by Grant Wood?
A. The Metropolitan Museum of Art and at Google images:
http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&q=%22grant+wood%22+%22paul+revere%22&gbv=2
View Masterpieces of the Prado Museum with Google Earth
Prado news release: "Google launches the Prado layer in Google Earth allowing you to explore highly detailed photographic images of fourteen of the Prado Museum's masterpieces in very high resolution where you can explore the finer-details of the works. With the launching of this Prado layer in Google Earth, you will be able to zoom in on famous paintings such as The Maids of Honor by Velázquez or The Three Graces by Rubens. The Prado Museum has become the first art gallery in the world to provide access to and navigation of its collection in Google Earth. Using the advanced features of Google Earth art historians, students and tourists everywhere can zoom in on and explore the finer details of the artist's brushwork that can be easily missed at first glance. The paintings have been photographed and contain as many as 14,000 million pixels (14 gigapixels). With this high level resolution you are able to see fine details such as the tiny bee on a flower in The Three Graces by Rubens, delicate tears on the faces of the figures in The Descent from the Cross by Roger van der Weyden and complex figures in The Garden of Earthly Delights by Hieronymus Bosch."
Thursday, January 15, 2009
Quotes from Sir John Falstaff, a fictional character who appears in three plays by William Shakespeare as a companion to Prince Hal, the future King Henry V.
“the better part of valor is discretion.” [Br. Lit.: I Henry IV]
misuses “the King’s press damnably.” [Br. Lit.: II Henry IV]
fancies himself a lady-killer. [Br. Lit.: Merry Wives of Windsor]
http://encyclopedia2.thefreedictionary.com/Falstaff,+Sir+John
The first quote is usually said as “Discretion is the better part of valor.”
The first Toledo Public Library was erected on the southeast corner of Madison and Ontario in 1890. It was replaced in 1940 by a building on the site of the old Central High School on Michigan between Madison and Adams.
The Charleston Museum, America's first museum, was founded in 1773. Its mission is to preserve and interpret the cultural and natural history of Charleston and the South Carolina Lowcountry. The Museum and its two National Historic Landmark houses are all located downtown. http://www.charlestonmuseum.org/topic.asp?id=1
More American Adults Read Literature According to New NEA Study
News release: "For the first time in more than 25 years, American adults are reading more literature, according to a new study by the National Endowment for the Arts. Reading on the Rise documents a definitive increase in rates and numbers of American adults who read literature, with the biggest increases among young adults, ages 18-24. This new growth reverses two decades of downward trends cited previously in NEA reports such as Reading at Risk and To Read or Not To Read."
“Reading on the Rise: A New Chapter in American Literacy,” is based on data from “The Survey of Public Participation in the Arts” conducted by the United States Census Bureau in 2008. Among its chief findings is that for the first time since 1982, when the bureau began collecting such data, the proportion of adults 18 and older who said they had read at least one novel, short story, poem or play in the previous 12 months has risen.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/12/books/12reading.html?_r=1
Treasury Releases Sixth in a Series of Social Security Papers
Treasury has released the sixth and final in a series of papers on Social Security. Issue Brief No. 6 is entitled Social Security Reform: Work Incentives. "This issue brief on Social Security reform discusses Social Security’s effect on work incentives and the implications for reform. Social Security discourages work effort in much the same way as does an ordinary tax on labor income. As was demonstrated in Treasury’s first three issue briefs, an individual’s lifetime contribution to Social Security has two components: the difference between the value of lifetime taxes and lifetime benefits—lifetime net taxes—and the difference between gross taxes and net taxes—effectively “forced saving” that determines benefit levels. For current and future workers, lifetime net taxes finance the excess of benefits over taxes that have been paid or are promised to earlier generations, an amount estimated to exceed $13.6 trillion; and benefits are financed entirely by forced saving. The net tax component of Social Security contributions discourages work effort in the same way as an ordinary tax—workers pay more in taxes than they expect to receive in lifetime Social Security benefits, and this effectively reduces the return to work. The forced saving component of Social Security contributions would be expected to have little effect on work effort provided that workers understand that this part of Social Security taxes will be returned as future benefits, and provided there is a mechanism in place to ensure that the forced savings are truly set aside to help pay future benefits (as opposed to giving rise to increased current non-Social Security government spending or lower non-Social Security taxes than would be the case without Social Security).
Earthquakes are a common occurrence in the Yellowstone National Park area, an active volcanic-tectonic area averaging 1,000 to 2,000 earthquakes a year. Yellowstone's 10,000 geysers and hot springs are the result of this geologic activity. A summary of the Yellowstone's volcanic history is available on the Yellowstone Volcano Observatory web site. http://www.usnews.com/blogs/capital-commerce/2008/12/31/earthquakes-swarm-yellowstone-supervolcano.html http://volcanoes.usgs.gov/yvo/
Bedbugs are biting
Dozens of fire stations in Cincinnati have had to dump furniture or have their living quarters exterminated because firefighters unknowingly brought the eggs in on their boots or pant legs. Assisted-living complexes have spent tens of thousands of dollars on pest-control companies because, the thinking goes, visitors may have carried in the bugs on their purses or bags. Problems are reported in Florida, Texas, California, Kentucky, Massachusetts and Minnesota as well as Ohio.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-bedbugs4-2009jan04,0,1108531.story
pneuma (NOO-muh, NYOO-) noun: spirit, soul.
From Greek pneuma (breath, wind, spirit) Ultimately from the Indo-European root pneu- (to breathe) that is also the source of pneumatic, pneumonia, apnea, sneer, sneeze, snort, snore and pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis. A.Word.A.Day
“the better part of valor is discretion.” [Br. Lit.: I Henry IV]
misuses “the King’s press damnably.” [Br. Lit.: II Henry IV]
fancies himself a lady-killer. [Br. Lit.: Merry Wives of Windsor]
http://encyclopedia2.thefreedictionary.com/Falstaff,+Sir+John
The first quote is usually said as “Discretion is the better part of valor.”
The first Toledo Public Library was erected on the southeast corner of Madison and Ontario in 1890. It was replaced in 1940 by a building on the site of the old Central High School on Michigan between Madison and Adams.
The Charleston Museum, America's first museum, was founded in 1773. Its mission is to preserve and interpret the cultural and natural history of Charleston and the South Carolina Lowcountry. The Museum and its two National Historic Landmark houses are all located downtown. http://www.charlestonmuseum.org/topic.asp?id=1
More American Adults Read Literature According to New NEA Study
News release: "For the first time in more than 25 years, American adults are reading more literature, according to a new study by the National Endowment for the Arts. Reading on the Rise documents a definitive increase in rates and numbers of American adults who read literature, with the biggest increases among young adults, ages 18-24. This new growth reverses two decades of downward trends cited previously in NEA reports such as Reading at Risk and To Read or Not To Read."
“Reading on the Rise: A New Chapter in American Literacy,” is based on data from “The Survey of Public Participation in the Arts” conducted by the United States Census Bureau in 2008. Among its chief findings is that for the first time since 1982, when the bureau began collecting such data, the proportion of adults 18 and older who said they had read at least one novel, short story, poem or play in the previous 12 months has risen.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/12/books/12reading.html?_r=1
Treasury Releases Sixth in a Series of Social Security Papers
Treasury has released the sixth and final in a series of papers on Social Security. Issue Brief No. 6 is entitled Social Security Reform: Work Incentives. "This issue brief on Social Security reform discusses Social Security’s effect on work incentives and the implications for reform. Social Security discourages work effort in much the same way as does an ordinary tax on labor income. As was demonstrated in Treasury’s first three issue briefs, an individual’s lifetime contribution to Social Security has two components: the difference between the value of lifetime taxes and lifetime benefits—lifetime net taxes—and the difference between gross taxes and net taxes—effectively “forced saving” that determines benefit levels. For current and future workers, lifetime net taxes finance the excess of benefits over taxes that have been paid or are promised to earlier generations, an amount estimated to exceed $13.6 trillion; and benefits are financed entirely by forced saving. The net tax component of Social Security contributions discourages work effort in the same way as an ordinary tax—workers pay more in taxes than they expect to receive in lifetime Social Security benefits, and this effectively reduces the return to work. The forced saving component of Social Security contributions would be expected to have little effect on work effort provided that workers understand that this part of Social Security taxes will be returned as future benefits, and provided there is a mechanism in place to ensure that the forced savings are truly set aside to help pay future benefits (as opposed to giving rise to increased current non-Social Security government spending or lower non-Social Security taxes than would be the case without Social Security).
Earthquakes are a common occurrence in the Yellowstone National Park area, an active volcanic-tectonic area averaging 1,000 to 2,000 earthquakes a year. Yellowstone's 10,000 geysers and hot springs are the result of this geologic activity. A summary of the Yellowstone's volcanic history is available on the Yellowstone Volcano Observatory web site. http://www.usnews.com/blogs/capital-commerce/2008/12/31/earthquakes-swarm-yellowstone-supervolcano.html http://volcanoes.usgs.gov/yvo/
Bedbugs are biting
Dozens of fire stations in Cincinnati have had to dump furniture or have their living quarters exterminated because firefighters unknowingly brought the eggs in on their boots or pant legs. Assisted-living complexes have spent tens of thousands of dollars on pest-control companies because, the thinking goes, visitors may have carried in the bugs on their purses or bags. Problems are reported in Florida, Texas, California, Kentucky, Massachusetts and Minnesota as well as Ohio.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-bedbugs4-2009jan04,0,1108531.story
pneuma (NOO-muh, NYOO-) noun: spirit, soul.
From Greek pneuma (breath, wind, spirit) Ultimately from the Indo-European root pneu- (to breathe) that is also the source of pneumatic, pneumonia, apnea, sneer, sneeze, snort, snore and pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis. A.Word.A.Day
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
Chain mail is a form of junk mail. A chain mail message is generally sent to several people and includes instructions that each person should forward the letter to several others. These messages waste system resources and often grow quite large as senders append their own additions. Do not forward such messages. Email fraud and hoaxes often occur in chain mail. Never send money or personal information to people on lists via chain mail, or from whom you've received chain mail. For more information, see About chain mail. http://kb.iu.edu/data/afvn.html#chain
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
Swearing-In Ceremony
Time: 11:30 a.m.
Location: US Capitol
2009 Inaugural Parade
Time: TBD
Location: Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
http://www.inauguration.dc.gov/events.asp
The first course at Barack Obama’s inaugural luncheon on January 20, a seafood stew, consists of lobster, scallops and shrimp--all personal favorites, apparently, of Obama's fellow Illinois politician, Abraham Lincoln. In fact, the 2009 inaugural luncheon has been designed to commemorate the bicentennial of the birth of Lincoln (Feb. 12, 1809), the 16th president. Details of the luncheon to be held in the U.S. Capitol's Statuary Hall were announced Friday by the Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies.
Design Cuisine, an Arlington, Va.-based caterer, was charged with designing a menu that reflected Lincoln's life and presidency. Co-owner Bill Homan said Lincoln had a well-documented affection for stewed and scalloped oysters. The ingredients for the main course--duck breast with cherry chutney, herb-roasted pheasant with wild-rice stuffing, molasses sweet potatoes and a melange of vegetables--were drawn from foods Lincoln would have eaten during his childhood in the frontier regions of Kentucky and Indiana.
http://www.newsday.com/services/newspaper/printedition/saturday/news/ny-fdobama105993722jan10,0,10107.story
Rep. Frank Introduces TARP Reform and Accountability Legislation
News release: "House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank (D-MA) introduced [on January 9, 2009] H.R. 384, the TARP Reform and Accountability Act of 2009, to amend the Troubled Assets Relief Program (TARP) provisions of the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 (EESA). The legislation will strengthen accountability, close loopholes, increase transparency, and require Treasury to take significant steps on foreclosure mitigation.
Summary of TARP Reform and Accountability Act: This bill will amend the Troubled Assets Relief Program (TARP) provisions of the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 (EESA) to strengthen accountability, close loopholes, increase transparency, and require Treasury to take significant steps on foreclosure mitigation. It further requires that Treasury act promptly to permit the smaller community financial institutions that have been shut out so far to participate on the same terms as the large institutions that have already received funds."
Related postings on Troubled Assets Relief Program (TARP)
Alarming Sinking Value of 401(k) Plans
WSJ - Big Slide in 401(k)s Spurs Calls for Change: "About 50 million Americans have 401(k) plans, which have $2.5 trillion in total assets, estimates the Employee Benefit Research Institute in Washington. In the 12 months following the stock market's peak in October 2007, more than $1 trillion worth of stock value held in 401(k)s and other "defined-contribution" plans was wiped out, according to the Boston College research center. If individual retirement accounts, which consist largely of money rolled over from 401(k)s, are taken into account, about $2 trillion of stock value evaporated."
Employee Benefit Research Institute: Change In Average Account Balances Among All 401(k) Participants as of 2007, by Age and Tenure, Jan. 1–Dec. 31, 2008
Educational institutions across the nation provide young people with advanced artistic training in computer and video game design. More than 200 American colleges, universities and technical schools, including New York University, the Art Institute of Seattle and Marist College currently offer programs and courses in video game design and development. Carnegie Mellon University and the Georgia Institute of Technology offer master's degrees in game development. And the University of Southern California offers a graduate degree in interactive media and an undergraduate degree in video game development.
Video game graphics and designs are widely displayed, publicized and featured in art exhibits across the country. For example, the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston's Economic Adventure Gallery hosted an interactive exhibit on the video game industry's roots and artistic value. Movies and video games routinely borrow characters and subjects from each other to produce hits and unique roles for actors.
Author James Patterson's entertainment company announced that it will produce video games as well as books, television shows, and movies. Patterson's “Women's Murder Club” originated as a murder mystery book series that was adapted for television and will soon become a video game. The game will feature hunt-and-seek play and provide clues for players to solve the mystery.
Popular video games provide both aspiring and established musical artists access to a broader audience, with pop and punk music enjoying the most success.
http://www.theesa.com/gamesindailylife/art.asp\
Computer access to Martin Luther King Jr. documents, which have been digitized and cataloged, will be available beginning January 13 at the Robert W. Woodruff Library of the Atlanta University Center. http://www.auctr.edu/mlkcollection/
The papers represent more than 75 percent of a 10,000-item collection bought by a group of civic and business leaders in 2006 from King’s family. Mayor Shirley Franklin and former Mayor Andrew Young spearheaded the effort to raise $32 million for the purchase. The documents include many of King’s speeches and personal writings from 1946 to 1968. About 7,000 pieces are handwritten by King, including an early draft of the famous “I Have a Dream” speech, his 1964 Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech and nearly 100 sermons, some of which never have been published. http://www.ajc.com/services/content/metro/atlanta/stories/2009/01/13/king_papers_online.html
"The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" is a 1921 short story by F. Scott Fitzgerald, first published in Colliers Magazine, and subsequently anthologized in his book Tales of the Jazz Age (occasionally published as The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and Other Jazz Age Stories). Best to see movie before reading. You may read the curious fantasy online at: http://www.readbookonline.net/read/690/10628/
Read Book Online Web site contains about one thousand books from hundreds of authors. The books are in the following categories: fiction/novels, short stories, poems, essays and plays. http://www.readbookonline.net/
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
Swearing-In Ceremony
Time: 11:30 a.m.
Location: US Capitol
2009 Inaugural Parade
Time: TBD
Location: Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
http://www.inauguration.dc.gov/events.asp
The first course at Barack Obama’s inaugural luncheon on January 20, a seafood stew, consists of lobster, scallops and shrimp--all personal favorites, apparently, of Obama's fellow Illinois politician, Abraham Lincoln. In fact, the 2009 inaugural luncheon has been designed to commemorate the bicentennial of the birth of Lincoln (Feb. 12, 1809), the 16th president. Details of the luncheon to be held in the U.S. Capitol's Statuary Hall were announced Friday by the Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies.
Design Cuisine, an Arlington, Va.-based caterer, was charged with designing a menu that reflected Lincoln's life and presidency. Co-owner Bill Homan said Lincoln had a well-documented affection for stewed and scalloped oysters. The ingredients for the main course--duck breast with cherry chutney, herb-roasted pheasant with wild-rice stuffing, molasses sweet potatoes and a melange of vegetables--were drawn from foods Lincoln would have eaten during his childhood in the frontier regions of Kentucky and Indiana.
http://www.newsday.com/services/newspaper/printedition/saturday/news/ny-fdobama105993722jan10,0,10107.story
Rep. Frank Introduces TARP Reform and Accountability Legislation
News release: "House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank (D-MA) introduced [on January 9, 2009] H.R. 384, the TARP Reform and Accountability Act of 2009, to amend the Troubled Assets Relief Program (TARP) provisions of the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 (EESA). The legislation will strengthen accountability, close loopholes, increase transparency, and require Treasury to take significant steps on foreclosure mitigation.
Summary of TARP Reform and Accountability Act: This bill will amend the Troubled Assets Relief Program (TARP) provisions of the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 (EESA) to strengthen accountability, close loopholes, increase transparency, and require Treasury to take significant steps on foreclosure mitigation. It further requires that Treasury act promptly to permit the smaller community financial institutions that have been shut out so far to participate on the same terms as the large institutions that have already received funds."
Related postings on Troubled Assets Relief Program (TARP)
Alarming Sinking Value of 401(k) Plans
WSJ - Big Slide in 401(k)s Spurs Calls for Change: "About 50 million Americans have 401(k) plans, which have $2.5 trillion in total assets, estimates the Employee Benefit Research Institute in Washington. In the 12 months following the stock market's peak in October 2007, more than $1 trillion worth of stock value held in 401(k)s and other "defined-contribution" plans was wiped out, according to the Boston College research center. If individual retirement accounts, which consist largely of money rolled over from 401(k)s, are taken into account, about $2 trillion of stock value evaporated."
Employee Benefit Research Institute: Change In Average Account Balances Among All 401(k) Participants as of 2007, by Age and Tenure, Jan. 1–Dec. 31, 2008
Educational institutions across the nation provide young people with advanced artistic training in computer and video game design. More than 200 American colleges, universities and technical schools, including New York University, the Art Institute of Seattle and Marist College currently offer programs and courses in video game design and development. Carnegie Mellon University and the Georgia Institute of Technology offer master's degrees in game development. And the University of Southern California offers a graduate degree in interactive media and an undergraduate degree in video game development.
Video game graphics and designs are widely displayed, publicized and featured in art exhibits across the country. For example, the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston's Economic Adventure Gallery hosted an interactive exhibit on the video game industry's roots and artistic value. Movies and video games routinely borrow characters and subjects from each other to produce hits and unique roles for actors.
Author James Patterson's entertainment company announced that it will produce video games as well as books, television shows, and movies. Patterson's “Women's Murder Club” originated as a murder mystery book series that was adapted for television and will soon become a video game. The game will feature hunt-and-seek play and provide clues for players to solve the mystery.
Popular video games provide both aspiring and established musical artists access to a broader audience, with pop and punk music enjoying the most success.
http://www.theesa.com/gamesindailylife/art.asp\
Computer access to Martin Luther King Jr. documents, which have been digitized and cataloged, will be available beginning January 13 at the Robert W. Woodruff Library of the Atlanta University Center. http://www.auctr.edu/mlkcollection/
The papers represent more than 75 percent of a 10,000-item collection bought by a group of civic and business leaders in 2006 from King’s family. Mayor Shirley Franklin and former Mayor Andrew Young spearheaded the effort to raise $32 million for the purchase. The documents include many of King’s speeches and personal writings from 1946 to 1968. About 7,000 pieces are handwritten by King, including an early draft of the famous “I Have a Dream” speech, his 1964 Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech and nearly 100 sermons, some of which never have been published. http://www.ajc.com/services/content/metro/atlanta/stories/2009/01/13/king_papers_online.html
"The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" is a 1921 short story by F. Scott Fitzgerald, first published in Colliers Magazine, and subsequently anthologized in his book Tales of the Jazz Age (occasionally published as The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and Other Jazz Age Stories). Best to see movie before reading. You may read the curious fantasy online at: http://www.readbookonline.net/read/690/10628/
Read Book Online Web site contains about one thousand books from hundreds of authors. The books are in the following categories: fiction/novels, short stories, poems, essays and plays. http://www.readbookonline.net/
Monday, January 12, 2009
The recession is hitting the U.S. Postal Service, the nation's third-largest employer. From holiday cards to credit card offers, mail volume is down. Stephen Kearney, senior vice president of customer relations for the Postal Service, says the drop in mail volume "accelerated throughout the year ... Our mail volume had its greatest decline since the Great Depression." In the fiscal year that ended in September, mail carriers delivered 9.5 billion fewer letters and packages than the year before. Kearney says the Postal Service made aggressive cuts and still lost $2.8 billion. For now, Kearney says the Postal Service is adjusting routes to reflect the reduced mail volume, offering early retirement to employees and changing operations at sorting facilities from 24 to 18 hours per day. There haven't been any layoffs, but through the trims, the Postal Service has cut the equivalent of more than 20,000 jobs. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=99027132
Significant dates in postal history
1775 - Benjamin Franklin appointed first Postmaster General by the Continental Congress
1847 - U.S. postage stamps issued
1855 - Prepayment of postage required
1860 - Pony Express began
1863 - Free city delivery began
1873 - U.S. postal cards issued
1874 - General Postal Union (now Universal Postal Union) established
1893 - First commemorative stamps issued
1896 - Rural free delivery began
1913 - Parcel Post® began
1918 - Scheduled airmail service began
1950 - Residential deliveries reduced to one a day
1957 - Citizens' Stamp Advisory Committee established
1963 - ZIP Code inaugurated
1970 - Express Mail® began experimentally
1971 - United States Postal Service® began operations
1971 - Labor contract negotiated through collective bargaining, a federal government "first"
1974 - Self-adhesive stamps tested
1982 - Last year Postal Service™ accepted public service subsidy
1983 - ZIP+4® Code began
1992 - Self-adhesive stamps introduced nationwide
1993 - National Postal Museum opened
1994 - Postal Service launched public Internet site
1998 - U.S. semipostal stamp issued
2006 - Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act signed
2007 - “Forever” stamp issued
2008 - Competitive pricing for expedited mail began
http://www.usps.com/postalhistory/significant_dates_in_postal_history.htm?from=postalhistory&page=significantdates
Q. What is a semipostal stamp?
A. Semipostal stamps are stamps that are sold for a price that exceeds the postage value of the stamp. The difference between the price and postage value of semipostal stamps, also known as the differential, less an offset for reasonable costs, as determined by the Postal Service, consists of a contribution to fund causes determined by the Postal Service to be in the national public interest and appropriate.
http://law.justia.com/us/cfr/title39/39-1.0.1.7.44.html
Legal research site, including U.S. District Court cases and over a thousand law blogs (blawgs). http://www.justia.com/
About Justia, an alternative to Westlaw and Lexis: Justia is focused on making legal information, resources and services easy to find on the Internet. The company provides Internet users with free case law, codes, regulations, legal articles and legal blog databases, as well as community resources. http://company.justia.com/about.html
EPA Issues Interim Drinking Water Health Advisory for Perchlorate
Follow up to previous postings on perchlorate contamination of drinking water, EPA has issued an interim health advisory to assist state and local officials in addressing local contamination of perchlorate in drinking water. The interim health advisory level of 15 micrograms per liter (µg/L), or parts per billion (ppb), is based on the reference dose recommended by the National Research Council (NRC) of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS). The Agency is also seeking advice from the NAS before making a final regulatory determination on whether to issue a national regulation for perchlorate in drinking water.
Interim Drinking Water Health Advisory for Perchlorate (49 pages, PDF), December 2008, EPA 822-R-08-25 Questions and Answers
GAO Report: Framework for Crafting and Assessing Proposals to Modernize the Outdated U.S. Financial Regulatory System
Financial Regulation: A Framework for Crafting and Assessing Proposals to Modernize the Outdated U.S. Financial Regulatory System, GAO-09-216, January 08, 2009
"To help policymakers better understand existing problems with the financial regulatory system and craft and evaluate reform proposals, this report (1) describes the origins of the current financial regulatory system, (2) describes various market developments and changes that have created challenges for the current system, and (3) presents an evaluation framework that can be used by Congress and others to shape potential regulatory reform efforts." Related postings on financial system
span-new (span-noo, -nyoo) adjective: brand-new.
From Middle English spannewe, from Old Norse spannyr, from spann (chip of wood) + nyr (new). Ultimately from the Indo-European root newo- (new) that also gave us new, neo-, neon, novice, novel, novelty, innovate, and renovate. The same term appears in the phrase spick-and-span-new which was later shortened into spick-and-span. A spick is a spike; a spick-and-span-new ship referred to a brand new ship, one that is made up of new nails and new wood. A.Word.A.Day
On January 10, 1776 an anonymous pamphlet was published, 46 pages long, in Philadelphia. The pamphlet was called "Common Sense." It explained why the American colonies should declare independence from Great Britain. It was easy to understand, it was popular, and it rallied many people for the revolutionary cause who had not been involved before they read it. It was written by a man who had been born and raised in England and had come to America only about a year before. He had lost his job in England, his marriage had fallen apart, he wanted a new life. In London, he happened to meet Benjamin Franklin, who suggested he move to America. That man was Thomas Paine. "Common Sense" sold 500,000 copies in its first year after publication, at a time when about two and a half million people lived in the 13 colonies. Thomas Paine donated all the royalties to George Washington's Continental Army.
January 10 is the birthday of poet Robinson Jeffers, (books by this author) born in Allegheny, Pennsylvania, in 1887. He moved to the coast of California and built himself an observation tower with no electricity or plumbing. And from there, he looked out at the world and wrote his poems.
January 11 is the birthday of the man on the $10 bill, Alexander Hamilton, born in the British West Indies in 1755. He set up the national treasury, the national bank, the first budgetary and tax systems, and wrote the majority of the Federalist Papers, the foundation for the U.S. Constitution.
January 12 the birthday of novelist Haruki Murakami, (books by this author) born in Kyoto, Japan (1949). His characters are often intelligent introverts who get mixed up with mysterious women and conspiracies. Murakami believes that to write well it is critical to be in good physical shape. He said in an interview, "I write weird stories. Myself, I'm a very realistic person. I wake up at 6 in the morning and go to bed at 10, jogging every day and swimming, eating healthy food. But when I write, I write weird."
His books include A Wild Sheep Chase (1982), The Wind-up Bird Chronicle (1995), and Kafka on the Shore (2005). The Writer’s Almanac
Significant dates in postal history
1775 - Benjamin Franklin appointed first Postmaster General by the Continental Congress
1847 - U.S. postage stamps issued
1855 - Prepayment of postage required
1860 - Pony Express began
1863 - Free city delivery began
1873 - U.S. postal cards issued
1874 - General Postal Union (now Universal Postal Union) established
1893 - First commemorative stamps issued
1896 - Rural free delivery began
1913 - Parcel Post® began
1918 - Scheduled airmail service began
1950 - Residential deliveries reduced to one a day
1957 - Citizens' Stamp Advisory Committee established
1963 - ZIP Code inaugurated
1970 - Express Mail® began experimentally
1971 - United States Postal Service® began operations
1971 - Labor contract negotiated through collective bargaining, a federal government "first"
1974 - Self-adhesive stamps tested
1982 - Last year Postal Service™ accepted public service subsidy
1983 - ZIP+4® Code began
1992 - Self-adhesive stamps introduced nationwide
1993 - National Postal Museum opened
1994 - Postal Service launched public Internet site
1998 - U.S. semipostal stamp issued
2006 - Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act signed
2007 - “Forever” stamp issued
2008 - Competitive pricing for expedited mail began
http://www.usps.com/postalhistory/significant_dates_in_postal_history.htm?from=postalhistory&page=significantdates
Q. What is a semipostal stamp?
A. Semipostal stamps are stamps that are sold for a price that exceeds the postage value of the stamp. The difference between the price and postage value of semipostal stamps, also known as the differential, less an offset for reasonable costs, as determined by the Postal Service, consists of a contribution to fund causes determined by the Postal Service to be in the national public interest and appropriate.
http://law.justia.com/us/cfr/title39/39-1.0.1.7.44.html
Legal research site, including U.S. District Court cases and over a thousand law blogs (blawgs). http://www.justia.com/
About Justia, an alternative to Westlaw and Lexis: Justia is focused on making legal information, resources and services easy to find on the Internet. The company provides Internet users with free case law, codes, regulations, legal articles and legal blog databases, as well as community resources. http://company.justia.com/about.html
EPA Issues Interim Drinking Water Health Advisory for Perchlorate
Follow up to previous postings on perchlorate contamination of drinking water, EPA has issued an interim health advisory to assist state and local officials in addressing local contamination of perchlorate in drinking water. The interim health advisory level of 15 micrograms per liter (µg/L), or parts per billion (ppb), is based on the reference dose recommended by the National Research Council (NRC) of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS). The Agency is also seeking advice from the NAS before making a final regulatory determination on whether to issue a national regulation for perchlorate in drinking water.
Interim Drinking Water Health Advisory for Perchlorate (49 pages, PDF), December 2008, EPA 822-R-08-25 Questions and Answers
GAO Report: Framework for Crafting and Assessing Proposals to Modernize the Outdated U.S. Financial Regulatory System
Financial Regulation: A Framework for Crafting and Assessing Proposals to Modernize the Outdated U.S. Financial Regulatory System, GAO-09-216, January 08, 2009
"To help policymakers better understand existing problems with the financial regulatory system and craft and evaluate reform proposals, this report (1) describes the origins of the current financial regulatory system, (2) describes various market developments and changes that have created challenges for the current system, and (3) presents an evaluation framework that can be used by Congress and others to shape potential regulatory reform efforts." Related postings on financial system
span-new (span-noo, -nyoo) adjective: brand-new.
From Middle English spannewe, from Old Norse spannyr, from spann (chip of wood) + nyr (new). Ultimately from the Indo-European root newo- (new) that also gave us new, neo-, neon, novice, novel, novelty, innovate, and renovate. The same term appears in the phrase spick-and-span-new which was later shortened into spick-and-span. A spick is a spike; a spick-and-span-new ship referred to a brand new ship, one that is made up of new nails and new wood. A.Word.A.Day
On January 10, 1776 an anonymous pamphlet was published, 46 pages long, in Philadelphia. The pamphlet was called "Common Sense." It explained why the American colonies should declare independence from Great Britain. It was easy to understand, it was popular, and it rallied many people for the revolutionary cause who had not been involved before they read it. It was written by a man who had been born and raised in England and had come to America only about a year before. He had lost his job in England, his marriage had fallen apart, he wanted a new life. In London, he happened to meet Benjamin Franklin, who suggested he move to America. That man was Thomas Paine. "Common Sense" sold 500,000 copies in its first year after publication, at a time when about two and a half million people lived in the 13 colonies. Thomas Paine donated all the royalties to George Washington's Continental Army.
January 10 is the birthday of poet Robinson Jeffers, (books by this author) born in Allegheny, Pennsylvania, in 1887. He moved to the coast of California and built himself an observation tower with no electricity or plumbing. And from there, he looked out at the world and wrote his poems.
January 11 is the birthday of the man on the $10 bill, Alexander Hamilton, born in the British West Indies in 1755. He set up the national treasury, the national bank, the first budgetary and tax systems, and wrote the majority of the Federalist Papers, the foundation for the U.S. Constitution.
January 12 the birthday of novelist Haruki Murakami, (books by this author) born in Kyoto, Japan (1949). His characters are often intelligent introverts who get mixed up with mysterious women and conspiracies. Murakami believes that to write well it is critical to be in good physical shape. He said in an interview, "I write weird stories. Myself, I'm a very realistic person. I wake up at 6 in the morning and go to bed at 10, jogging every day and swimming, eating healthy food. But when I write, I write weird."
His books include A Wild Sheep Chase (1982), The Wind-up Bird Chronicle (1995), and Kafka on the Shore (2005). The Writer’s Almanac
Friday, January 9, 2009
Use Google search features http://www.google.com/intl/en/help/features.html#calculator for weather, time, sports, currency, area codes, stock quotes, calculator, conversion, books, maps and more.
New GAO Reports: Social Security Administration's Electronic Data Exchanges, Protecting Marine Mammals from Commercial Fishing
Information Technology: Demand for the Social Security Administration's Electronic Data Exchanges Is Growing and Presents Future Challenges, GAO-09-126, December 04, 2008: "Through more than 3,000 data exchanges with federal and state agencies, SSA both receives incoming data to support its own programs and provides outgoing data to support programs of other federal and state agencies. Most of these exchanges involve collecting incoming electronic data from other agencies, primarily to support the administration of Social Security benefits programs. The outgoing data from SSA to other federal and state agencies typically provide Social Security number verifications or are used to implement payment offsets in support of other agencies’ business operations. In this regard, the agency performs more than a billion transactions to verify Social Security numbers for federal and state agencies each year."
National Marine Fisheries Service: Improvements Are Needed in the Federal Process Used to Protect Marine Mammals from Commercial Fishing, GAO-09-78, December 08, 2008: "Because marine mammals, such as whales and dolphins, often inhabit waters where commercial fishing occurs, they can become entangled in fishing gear, which may injure or kill them - this is referred to as “incidental take.” The 1994 amendments to the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA) require the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) to establish take reduction teams for certain marine mammals to develop measures to reduce their incidental takes. GAO was asked to determine the extent to which NMFS (1) can accurately identify the marine mammal stocks—generally a population of animals of the same species located in a common area—that meet the MMPA’s requirements for establishing such teams, (2) has established teams for those stocks that meet the requirements, (3) has met the MMPA’s deadlines for the teams subject to them, and (4) evaluates the effectiveness of take reduction regulations. GAO reviewed the MMPA, and NMFS data on marine mammals, and take reduction team documents and obtained the views of NMFS officials, scientists, and take reduction team members."
CBO: The Budget and Economic Outlook: Fiscal Years 2009 to 2019
The Budget and Economic Outlook: Fiscal Years 2009 to 2019, January 2009
“The sharp downturn in housing markets across the country, which undermined the solvency of major financial institutions and severely disrupted the functioning of financial markets, has led the United States into a recession that will probably be the longest and the deepest since World War II. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) anticipates that the recession—which began about a year ago—will last well into 2009."
Related postings on financial system
A 1910 advertising postcard for Buckeye’s Green Seal Beer explains that drinking two pint bottles of the beer would furnish nourishment the equivalent of twelve ounces of potatoes, eight ounces of meat, five ounces of bread, or one pint of milk.
Toledo’s first attempt at manufacturing automobiles was made by Albert A. Pope, owner of the American Bicycle Company, largest maker of bicycles in the country. He attempted a steam-powered carriage called the “Toledo” and then a gasoline-powered automobile called the “Pope-Toledo.” John North Willys ran a bicycle business, and sold automobiles for the Overland Company of Indiana. When Overland foundered, he gained control and made it profitable. Willy bought the closed Pope factory in 1909, moved the Overland Company into it in 1911 and renamed the enterprise the Willys-Overland Motor Company in 1912. You Will Do Better in Toledo: From Frogtown to Glass City, a Toledo Retrospective in Postcards, 1893-1929
I am thankful that my oven stopped working after Christmas and not before. I am thankful that the car battery died two blocks from my trusted car repair place rather than far away. I am hopeful that no more incidents for thanksgiving will occur in the near future.
"Candor" traces back to the Latin verb "candēre" ("to shine or glow"), which in turn derives from the same ancient root that gave the Welsh language "can," meaning "white," and the Sanskrit language "candati," which translates to "it shines." Other descendants of "candēre" in English include "candid," "incandescent," "candle," and the somewhat less common "candent" and "candescent" (both of which are synonyms of "incandescent" in the sense of "glowing from or as if from great heat"). M-W Word of the Day
January 9 is the birthday of Czech writer Karel Capek, (books by this author) born in a village in Bohemia in 1890. He wrote novels, travel books, fairy tales, political memoirs, romances, and plays. He introduced the word "robot" in his play R.U.R. (1921). "Robot" comes from the Czech word for serf labor. The Writer’s Almanac
New GAO Reports: Social Security Administration's Electronic Data Exchanges, Protecting Marine Mammals from Commercial Fishing
Information Technology: Demand for the Social Security Administration's Electronic Data Exchanges Is Growing and Presents Future Challenges, GAO-09-126, December 04, 2008: "Through more than 3,000 data exchanges with federal and state agencies, SSA both receives incoming data to support its own programs and provides outgoing data to support programs of other federal and state agencies. Most of these exchanges involve collecting incoming electronic data from other agencies, primarily to support the administration of Social Security benefits programs. The outgoing data from SSA to other federal and state agencies typically provide Social Security number verifications or are used to implement payment offsets in support of other agencies’ business operations. In this regard, the agency performs more than a billion transactions to verify Social Security numbers for federal and state agencies each year."
National Marine Fisheries Service: Improvements Are Needed in the Federal Process Used to Protect Marine Mammals from Commercial Fishing, GAO-09-78, December 08, 2008: "Because marine mammals, such as whales and dolphins, often inhabit waters where commercial fishing occurs, they can become entangled in fishing gear, which may injure or kill them - this is referred to as “incidental take.” The 1994 amendments to the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA) require the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) to establish take reduction teams for certain marine mammals to develop measures to reduce their incidental takes. GAO was asked to determine the extent to which NMFS (1) can accurately identify the marine mammal stocks—generally a population of animals of the same species located in a common area—that meet the MMPA’s requirements for establishing such teams, (2) has established teams for those stocks that meet the requirements, (3) has met the MMPA’s deadlines for the teams subject to them, and (4) evaluates the effectiveness of take reduction regulations. GAO reviewed the MMPA, and NMFS data on marine mammals, and take reduction team documents and obtained the views of NMFS officials, scientists, and take reduction team members."
CBO: The Budget and Economic Outlook: Fiscal Years 2009 to 2019
The Budget and Economic Outlook: Fiscal Years 2009 to 2019, January 2009
“The sharp downturn in housing markets across the country, which undermined the solvency of major financial institutions and severely disrupted the functioning of financial markets, has led the United States into a recession that will probably be the longest and the deepest since World War II. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) anticipates that the recession—which began about a year ago—will last well into 2009."
Related postings on financial system
A 1910 advertising postcard for Buckeye’s Green Seal Beer explains that drinking two pint bottles of the beer would furnish nourishment the equivalent of twelve ounces of potatoes, eight ounces of meat, five ounces of bread, or one pint of milk.
Toledo’s first attempt at manufacturing automobiles was made by Albert A. Pope, owner of the American Bicycle Company, largest maker of bicycles in the country. He attempted a steam-powered carriage called the “Toledo” and then a gasoline-powered automobile called the “Pope-Toledo.” John North Willys ran a bicycle business, and sold automobiles for the Overland Company of Indiana. When Overland foundered, he gained control and made it profitable. Willy bought the closed Pope factory in 1909, moved the Overland Company into it in 1911 and renamed the enterprise the Willys-Overland Motor Company in 1912. You Will Do Better in Toledo: From Frogtown to Glass City, a Toledo Retrospective in Postcards, 1893-1929
I am thankful that my oven stopped working after Christmas and not before. I am thankful that the car battery died two blocks from my trusted car repair place rather than far away. I am hopeful that no more incidents for thanksgiving will occur in the near future.
"Candor" traces back to the Latin verb "candēre" ("to shine or glow"), which in turn derives from the same ancient root that gave the Welsh language "can," meaning "white," and the Sanskrit language "candati," which translates to "it shines." Other descendants of "candēre" in English include "candid," "incandescent," "candle," and the somewhat less common "candent" and "candescent" (both of which are synonyms of "incandescent" in the sense of "glowing from or as if from great heat"). M-W Word of the Day
January 9 is the birthday of Czech writer Karel Capek, (books by this author) born in a village in Bohemia in 1890. He wrote novels, travel books, fairy tales, political memoirs, romances, and plays. He introduced the word "robot" in his play R.U.R. (1921). "Robot" comes from the Czech word for serf labor. The Writer’s Almanac
Thursday, January 8, 2009
Dangers of third-hand smoke: Toxic particles in cigarette smoke can remain on nearby surfaces, as well as the hair and clothing of the smoker, long after the cigarette has been put out. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/7813124.stm
New U.S. Capitol Visitor Center
"The new U.S. Capitol Visitor Center welcomed its first public guests last month. This 580,000-square-foot facility offers new amenities and services as visitors learn about America’s legislative process and about the art and architecture of the U.S. Capitol Building. In addition to a restaurant and two gift shops, visitors can enjoy lectures, special events, and changing exhibits."
Ten Things Never To Put In Email
What is the best way to catch the attention of legal searchers and e-discovery practitioners? Perhaps it is by using one of the top ten phrases that tells them to find interesting thing. Elizabeth Charnock, CEO of Cataphora, a provider of e-discovery software, lists them for us:
"I could get into trouble for telling you this, but…"
"Delete this email immediately."
"I really shouldn't put this in writing."
"Don't tell So-and-So." Or, "Don't send this to So-and-So."
"She/He/They will never find out."
"We're going to do this differently than normal."
"I don't think I am supposed to know this, but…"
"I don't want to discuss this in e-mail. Please give me a call."
"Don't ask. You don't want to know."
"Is this actually legal?"
If you find yourself typing one of these phrases, perhaps you should delete the entire email.
http://www.deathbyemail.com/2008/12/10-things-never-to-put-in-email.html
imprimis (im-PRY-mis, -PREE-)
adverb: In the first place
From contraction of Latin phrase in primis (among the first), from in (among) and primus (first). The word was originally used to introduce the first of a number of articles in a list, such as a will or inventory. A.Word.A.Day
Architect replies to January 6 quote, Architects are visionaries. They see space and know what to do with it: “as they used to say on star trek...space the final frontier”
New U.S. Capitol Visitor Center
"The new U.S. Capitol Visitor Center welcomed its first public guests last month. This 580,000-square-foot facility offers new amenities and services as visitors learn about America’s legislative process and about the art and architecture of the U.S. Capitol Building. In addition to a restaurant and two gift shops, visitors can enjoy lectures, special events, and changing exhibits."
Ten Things Never To Put In Email
What is the best way to catch the attention of legal searchers and e-discovery practitioners? Perhaps it is by using one of the top ten phrases that tells them to find interesting thing. Elizabeth Charnock, CEO of Cataphora, a provider of e-discovery software, lists them for us:
"I could get into trouble for telling you this, but…"
"Delete this email immediately."
"I really shouldn't put this in writing."
"Don't tell So-and-So." Or, "Don't send this to So-and-So."
"She/He/They will never find out."
"We're going to do this differently than normal."
"I don't think I am supposed to know this, but…"
"I don't want to discuss this in e-mail. Please give me a call."
"Don't ask. You don't want to know."
"Is this actually legal?"
If you find yourself typing one of these phrases, perhaps you should delete the entire email.
http://www.deathbyemail.com/2008/12/10-things-never-to-put-in-email.html
imprimis (im-PRY-mis, -PREE-)
adverb: In the first place
From contraction of Latin phrase in primis (among the first), from in (among) and primus (first). The word was originally used to introduce the first of a number of articles in a list, such as a will or inventory. A.Word.A.Day
Architect replies to January 6 quote, Architects are visionaries. They see space and know what to do with it: “as they used to say on star trek...space the final frontier”
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
New on LLRX: Metadata - What Is It and What Are My Ethical Duties?
Metadata - What Is It and What Are My Ethical Duties?: Jim Calloway explains why every lawyer needs to understand a few basic things about metadata. He contends that the legal ethics implications of metadata “mining” are no longer just of interest to the lawyers processing electronic discovery, or the ethics mavens.
CRS Reports: Job Loss and Infrastructure Job Creation During the Recession, Membership of the 111th Congress
Job Loss and Infrastructure Job Creation During the Recession, December 23, 2008: "After the long economic expansion that characterized much of the current decade, the nation entered its eleventh postwar recession in December 2007. The unemployment rate rose from 5.0% in that month to 6.7% in November 2008, the latest data released to date by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). A majority of those unemployed in November—some 6 out of 10 million people—had been laid off by their employers. In November 2008 alone, employment at nonfarm businesses fell by 533,000, marking the biggest one-month drop recorded by the BLS Current Employment Statistics program since December 1974."
Membership of the 111th Congress: A Profile, December 31, 2008: "This report presents a profile of the membership of the 111th Congress. Statistical information is included on selected characteristics of Members, including data on party affiliation, average age and length of service, occupation, religious affiliation, gender, ethnicity, foreign births, and military service.
Statistical Abstract of the United States 2009
U.S. Census Bureau, Statistical Abstract of the United States: 2009 (128th Edition) - Washington, DC, 2008
"The Statistical Abstract of the United States is the standard summary of statistics on the social, political, and economic organization of the United States. It is also designed to serve as a guide to other statistical publications and sources. The latter function is served by the introductory text to each section, the source note appearing below each table, and Appendix I, which comprises the Guide to Sources of Statistics, the Guide to State Statistical Abstracts, and the Guide to Foreign Statistical Abstracts."
Congressionally-Mandated Study Says Improve, Do Not Suspend, Fair Value Accounting Standards
News release: The Securities and Exchange Commission has delivered a report to Congress mandated by the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 that recommends against the suspension of fair value accounting standards. Rather, the 211-page report by the SEC's Office of the Chief Accountant and Division of Corporation Finance recommends improvements to existing practice, including reconsidering the accounting for impairments and the development of additional guidance for determining fair value of investments in inactive markets, including situations where market prices are not readily available. SEC Report to Congress on Mark-to-Market Accounting
shilly-shally (SHIL-ee-shal-ee)
adverb: Hesitantly; irresolutely.
adjective: Hesitant; vacillating.
noun: Hesitation; vacillation.
verb intr.: To vacillate; to dawdle.
From reduplication of the question Shall I? A.Word.A.Day
Architects are visionaries. They see space and know what to do with it.
Healthified recipes from a muse reader
http://www.eatbetteramerica.com/
The following Web link comes from the Department of Mathematics at Boise State University, but—surprise—you will find The Gilbert and Sullivan Archive. In addition to the contents, you will enjoy the graphics, the color and the layout.
http://math.boisestate.edu/gas/
Ojai, California is known for its sunsets with droves of people heading for their favorite lookouts in time for the so-called Pink Moment when the sun the sun hits the surrounding Topa Topa Mountains. The Chumash Indians were the first settlers, followed by whites in the 1870s, convinced that the air held supernatural, curative powers. When Edward Drummond Libbey, glass manufacturer from Toledo arrived for winter in 1908, he thought the town sloppy and unremarkable. He also saw potential and became Ojai’s greatest benefactor, forever altering the town’s layout and architecture.
Preservation magazine January/February 2009
January 6 is the 12th day of Christmas. Christmas Eve begins the 12 days of Christmas, so January 5th, the eve of Epiphany, is called Twelfth Night. William Shakespeare wrote a play for the festivities in 1602, which is why it is called Twelfth Night. James Joyce's famous short story "The Dead" is set at a party for the Feast of the Epiphany. The Writer’s Almanac
Metadata - What Is It and What Are My Ethical Duties?: Jim Calloway explains why every lawyer needs to understand a few basic things about metadata. He contends that the legal ethics implications of metadata “mining” are no longer just of interest to the lawyers processing electronic discovery, or the ethics mavens.
CRS Reports: Job Loss and Infrastructure Job Creation During the Recession, Membership of the 111th Congress
Job Loss and Infrastructure Job Creation During the Recession, December 23, 2008: "After the long economic expansion that characterized much of the current decade, the nation entered its eleventh postwar recession in December 2007. The unemployment rate rose from 5.0% in that month to 6.7% in November 2008, the latest data released to date by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). A majority of those unemployed in November—some 6 out of 10 million people—had been laid off by their employers. In November 2008 alone, employment at nonfarm businesses fell by 533,000, marking the biggest one-month drop recorded by the BLS Current Employment Statistics program since December 1974."
Membership of the 111th Congress: A Profile, December 31, 2008: "This report presents a profile of the membership of the 111th Congress. Statistical information is included on selected characteristics of Members, including data on party affiliation, average age and length of service, occupation, religious affiliation, gender, ethnicity, foreign births, and military service.
Statistical Abstract of the United States 2009
U.S. Census Bureau, Statistical Abstract of the United States: 2009 (128th Edition) - Washington, DC, 2008
"The Statistical Abstract of the United States is the standard summary of statistics on the social, political, and economic organization of the United States. It is also designed to serve as a guide to other statistical publications and sources. The latter function is served by the introductory text to each section, the source note appearing below each table, and Appendix I, which comprises the Guide to Sources of Statistics, the Guide to State Statistical Abstracts, and the Guide to Foreign Statistical Abstracts."
Congressionally-Mandated Study Says Improve, Do Not Suspend, Fair Value Accounting Standards
News release: The Securities and Exchange Commission has delivered a report to Congress mandated by the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 that recommends against the suspension of fair value accounting standards. Rather, the 211-page report by the SEC's Office of the Chief Accountant and Division of Corporation Finance recommends improvements to existing practice, including reconsidering the accounting for impairments and the development of additional guidance for determining fair value of investments in inactive markets, including situations where market prices are not readily available. SEC Report to Congress on Mark-to-Market Accounting
shilly-shally (SHIL-ee-shal-ee)
adverb: Hesitantly; irresolutely.
adjective: Hesitant; vacillating.
noun: Hesitation; vacillation.
verb intr.: To vacillate; to dawdle.
From reduplication of the question Shall I? A.Word.A.Day
Architects are visionaries. They see space and know what to do with it.
Healthified recipes from a muse reader
http://www.eatbetteramerica.com/
The following Web link comes from the Department of Mathematics at Boise State University, but—surprise—you will find The Gilbert and Sullivan Archive. In addition to the contents, you will enjoy the graphics, the color and the layout.
http://math.boisestate.edu/gas/
Ojai, California is known for its sunsets with droves of people heading for their favorite lookouts in time for the so-called Pink Moment when the sun the sun hits the surrounding Topa Topa Mountains. The Chumash Indians were the first settlers, followed by whites in the 1870s, convinced that the air held supernatural, curative powers. When Edward Drummond Libbey, glass manufacturer from Toledo arrived for winter in 1908, he thought the town sloppy and unremarkable. He also saw potential and became Ojai’s greatest benefactor, forever altering the town’s layout and architecture.
Preservation magazine January/February 2009
January 6 is the 12th day of Christmas. Christmas Eve begins the 12 days of Christmas, so January 5th, the eve of Epiphany, is called Twelfth Night. William Shakespeare wrote a play for the festivities in 1602, which is why it is called Twelfth Night. James Joyce's famous short story "The Dead" is set at a party for the Feast of the Epiphany. The Writer’s Almanac
Monday, January 5, 2009
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission may come under fire from lawmakers for failing to quash Bernard Madoff’s alleged $50 billion Ponzi scheme after an investor alerted the agency to the suspected fraud. http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103&sid=awtWspVB8cng&refer=us
Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC was examined at least eight times in 16 years by the Securities and Exchange Commission and other regulators, who often came armed with suspicions. SEC officials followed up on emails from a New York hedge fund that described Bernard Madoff's business practices as "highly unusual."
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123111743915052731.html?mod=googlenews_wsj
Brady Campaign Files Suit Asking Court to Strike Down Bush Administration Change to Guns in Parks Rule
News release: The Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence has filed suit in federal court asking that the court strike down a last-minute Bush Administration rule change allowing concealed, loaded firearms in national parks and wildlife refuges. The suit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, and seeks an injunction to block the rule, which is scheduled to go into effect on January 9, 2009...The rule will allow guns in rural and urban national park areas around the country, from Wyoming’s Yellowstone and California’s Yosemite to Philadelphia’s Independence National Historical Park, home of the Liberty Bell. The suit was filed on behalf of the Brady Campaign and its members, including school teachers in the New York and Washington, D.C. areas who are canceling or curtailing school trips to Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty and the National Mall in Washington, D.C.
Census Bureau: Utah is Fastest-Growing State
News release: Utah was the nation’s fastest-growing state between July 1, 2007, and July 1, 2008, as its population climbed 2.5 percent to 2.7 million, according to estimates released by the U.S. Census Bureau. Arizona was the second fastest-growing state, increasing 2.3 percent between 2007 and 2008. Texas, North Carolina and Colorado completed the top five, each with a growth rate of 2.0 percent. Nevada, which had been among the four fastest-growing states each of the last 24 years, grew 1.8 percent and ranked eighth over the most recent period. Texas gained more people than any other state between July 1, 2007, and July 1, 2008 (484,000), followed by California (379,000), North Carolina (181,000), Georgia (162,000) and Arizona (147,000)...California remained the most populous state, with about 36.8 million people on July 1, 2008. Rounding out the top five states were Texas (24.3 million), New York (19.5 million), Florida (18.3 million) and Illinois (12.9 million).
In Search of Lincoln’s Washington
Lincoln’s retreat during his wartime presidency was a 34-room residence now called President Lincoln’s Cottage. Visitors can tour the restored cottage and the adjacent Robert H. Smith Visitor Education Center. Ford’s Theatre, site of Lincoln’s assassination, renovated in the 1960s—and recently again renovated--will reopen in February in time for Lincoln’s bicentennial. Mary Sueratt’s boarding house, where the plot to kill Lincoln was planned, still has a few Washingtonians living on the upper floors, the Wok’n’Roll Restaurant is located on the ground floor. See Preservation magazine, January/February 2009 for pictures and more information.
Expanded list of U.S. presidents with the same last name
Adams 2
Adams 6
Harrison 9
Harrison 23
Roosevelt 26
Roosevelt 32
Bush 41
Bush 43
http://www.potus.com/
8 Events that Shook the Industry in 2008 - From Hurricanes to Ponzi Schemes, it Was a Year of Disasters, Linda McGlasson, Managing Editor, Bank Info Security: "The year 2008 was marked with significant milestones. Major banks and investment firms around the globe foundered, failed and were acquired or propped up by their governments and regulatory overseers. Stock markets plunged as the subprime problems of investors around the world began unraveling. Opportunistic fraud was uncovered."
Related postings on financial system
"Write with nouns and verbs, not with adjectives and adverbs. The adjective hasn't been built that can pull a weak or inaccurate noun out of a tight place." William Strunk and E.B. White wrote in their venerated Elements of Style. Use of too many adverbs may be a sign of lazy writing. If you show, not tell, you don't need adverbs.
Typically adverbs are recognized as words ending in -ly: partly, happily, hopefully, really, virtually, and so on. But there are dozens of adverbs that don't end in -ly.
seriatim (seer-i-AY-tim)
adverb: One after another; in a series.
From Latin seriatim, from Latin series, from serere (to join). Ultimately from the Indo-European root ser- (to line up) that is also the source of words such as insert, assert, desert (to abandon), desert (a dry sandy region), sort, consort, and sorcerer.
Feedback on adverbs from Sharon Smith (mainelyneuropsych wildblue.net)
Your discussion of adverbs reminds me of the verbal game that specializes in adverbs: inventing "Tom Swifties". As Wikipedia explains, it "is a phrase in which a quoted sentence is linked by a pun to the manner in which it is attributed."
For example, "I NEVER use adverbs!" lied Tom, swiftly. A.Word.A.Day
January 3 is the birthday of the man who said, "All that is gold does not glitter; not all those that wander are lost," the man called "the father of modern fantasy," the writer John Ronald Reuel Tolkien, J.R.R. Tolkien, (books by this author) born in Bloemfontein, South Africa (1892). His mother taught him Latin and Greek, and then one day he saw Welsh names on the side of railway cars, and he thought it was the most beautiful language in the world. He wanted to learn Welsh and any languages like it. He created simple languages of his own, like Animalic, which came from animal names, and Naffarin, which took elements from Spanish.
On January 3, 1882 the Irish playwright Oscar Wilde docked in New York. Customs asked him if he had anything to declare. Oscar Wilde replied, "Nothing but my genius."
Wilde had come to the United States for a lecture tour, which was set up as a publicity stunt for a Gilbert and Sullivan operetta called Patience (1881), which poked fun at the Aesthetic movement. The producers of the operetta were concerned that the United States wouldn't know what Aestheticism was, since it was a British movement, and that they wouldn't think Patience was funny. So in order to educate the general public about Aestheticism before trying to satirize it, the producers arranged for a lecture tour from England's most prominent Aesthete personality, Oscar Wilde.
His lecture tour did well in surprising places, like the rough mining town of Leadville, Colorado, where the miners loved him, and he enjoyed himself, as well. It was there in Leadville that he saw a sign at the local saloon that said, "Please do not shoot the pianist. He is doing his best." Oscar Wilde later said that it was "the only rational method of art criticism I have ever come across."
January 4 is the birthday of Louis Braille, born in Coupvray, France (1809). When he was three years old, he was blinded in an accident. He invented a system of six raised dots that could be read by fingers, so that blind people could read easily. His idea didn't catch on during his lifetime, but it eventually became a worldwide phenomenon.
January 5 is the birthday of of Jack Norworth, (books by this author) born in Philadelphia in 1879. Jack Norworth had never been to a baseball game, but one day in 1908, he was riding the subway and he saw a sign that said "Baseball Today—Polo Grounds," and he started thinking of baseball lyrics. He wrote them down on a piece of scratch paper, and then took them to the composer Albert Von Tilzer, another man who had never seen a baseball game, who went ahead and wrote the music . And the song became very famous: "Take Me Out to the Ball Game." The Writer’s Almanac
Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC was examined at least eight times in 16 years by the Securities and Exchange Commission and other regulators, who often came armed with suspicions. SEC officials followed up on emails from a New York hedge fund that described Bernard Madoff's business practices as "highly unusual."
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123111743915052731.html?mod=googlenews_wsj
Brady Campaign Files Suit Asking Court to Strike Down Bush Administration Change to Guns in Parks Rule
News release: The Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence has filed suit in federal court asking that the court strike down a last-minute Bush Administration rule change allowing concealed, loaded firearms in national parks and wildlife refuges. The suit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, and seeks an injunction to block the rule, which is scheduled to go into effect on January 9, 2009...The rule will allow guns in rural and urban national park areas around the country, from Wyoming’s Yellowstone and California’s Yosemite to Philadelphia’s Independence National Historical Park, home of the Liberty Bell. The suit was filed on behalf of the Brady Campaign and its members, including school teachers in the New York and Washington, D.C. areas who are canceling or curtailing school trips to Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty and the National Mall in Washington, D.C.
Census Bureau: Utah is Fastest-Growing State
News release: Utah was the nation’s fastest-growing state between July 1, 2007, and July 1, 2008, as its population climbed 2.5 percent to 2.7 million, according to estimates released by the U.S. Census Bureau. Arizona was the second fastest-growing state, increasing 2.3 percent between 2007 and 2008. Texas, North Carolina and Colorado completed the top five, each with a growth rate of 2.0 percent. Nevada, which had been among the four fastest-growing states each of the last 24 years, grew 1.8 percent and ranked eighth over the most recent period. Texas gained more people than any other state between July 1, 2007, and July 1, 2008 (484,000), followed by California (379,000), North Carolina (181,000), Georgia (162,000) and Arizona (147,000)...California remained the most populous state, with about 36.8 million people on July 1, 2008. Rounding out the top five states were Texas (24.3 million), New York (19.5 million), Florida (18.3 million) and Illinois (12.9 million).
In Search of Lincoln’s Washington
Lincoln’s retreat during his wartime presidency was a 34-room residence now called President Lincoln’s Cottage. Visitors can tour the restored cottage and the adjacent Robert H. Smith Visitor Education Center. Ford’s Theatre, site of Lincoln’s assassination, renovated in the 1960s—and recently again renovated--will reopen in February in time for Lincoln’s bicentennial. Mary Sueratt’s boarding house, where the plot to kill Lincoln was planned, still has a few Washingtonians living on the upper floors, the Wok’n’Roll Restaurant is located on the ground floor. See Preservation magazine, January/February 2009 for pictures and more information.
Expanded list of U.S. presidents with the same last name
Adams 2
Adams 6
Harrison 9
Harrison 23
Roosevelt 26
Roosevelt 32
Bush 41
Bush 43
http://www.potus.com/
8 Events that Shook the Industry in 2008 - From Hurricanes to Ponzi Schemes, it Was a Year of Disasters, Linda McGlasson, Managing Editor, Bank Info Security: "The year 2008 was marked with significant milestones. Major banks and investment firms around the globe foundered, failed and were acquired or propped up by their governments and regulatory overseers. Stock markets plunged as the subprime problems of investors around the world began unraveling. Opportunistic fraud was uncovered."
Related postings on financial system
"Write with nouns and verbs, not with adjectives and adverbs. The adjective hasn't been built that can pull a weak or inaccurate noun out of a tight place." William Strunk and E.B. White wrote in their venerated Elements of Style. Use of too many adverbs may be a sign of lazy writing. If you show, not tell, you don't need adverbs.
Typically adverbs are recognized as words ending in -ly: partly, happily, hopefully, really, virtually, and so on. But there are dozens of adverbs that don't end in -ly.
seriatim (seer-i-AY-tim)
adverb: One after another; in a series.
From Latin seriatim, from Latin series, from serere (to join). Ultimately from the Indo-European root ser- (to line up) that is also the source of words such as insert, assert, desert (to abandon), desert (a dry sandy region), sort, consort, and sorcerer.
Feedback on adverbs from Sharon Smith (mainelyneuropsych wildblue.net)
Your discussion of adverbs reminds me of the verbal game that specializes in adverbs: inventing "Tom Swifties". As Wikipedia explains, it "is a phrase in which a quoted sentence is linked by a pun to the manner in which it is attributed."
For example, "I NEVER use adverbs!" lied Tom, swiftly. A.Word.A.Day
January 3 is the birthday of the man who said, "All that is gold does not glitter; not all those that wander are lost," the man called "the father of modern fantasy," the writer John Ronald Reuel Tolkien, J.R.R. Tolkien, (books by this author) born in Bloemfontein, South Africa (1892). His mother taught him Latin and Greek, and then one day he saw Welsh names on the side of railway cars, and he thought it was the most beautiful language in the world. He wanted to learn Welsh and any languages like it. He created simple languages of his own, like Animalic, which came from animal names, and Naffarin, which took elements from Spanish.
On January 3, 1882 the Irish playwright Oscar Wilde docked in New York. Customs asked him if he had anything to declare. Oscar Wilde replied, "Nothing but my genius."
Wilde had come to the United States for a lecture tour, which was set up as a publicity stunt for a Gilbert and Sullivan operetta called Patience (1881), which poked fun at the Aesthetic movement. The producers of the operetta were concerned that the United States wouldn't know what Aestheticism was, since it was a British movement, and that they wouldn't think Patience was funny. So in order to educate the general public about Aestheticism before trying to satirize it, the producers arranged for a lecture tour from England's most prominent Aesthete personality, Oscar Wilde.
His lecture tour did well in surprising places, like the rough mining town of Leadville, Colorado, where the miners loved him, and he enjoyed himself, as well. It was there in Leadville that he saw a sign at the local saloon that said, "Please do not shoot the pianist. He is doing his best." Oscar Wilde later said that it was "the only rational method of art criticism I have ever come across."
January 4 is the birthday of Louis Braille, born in Coupvray, France (1809). When he was three years old, he was blinded in an accident. He invented a system of six raised dots that could be read by fingers, so that blind people could read easily. His idea didn't catch on during his lifetime, but it eventually became a worldwide phenomenon.
January 5 is the birthday of of Jack Norworth, (books by this author) born in Philadelphia in 1879. Jack Norworth had never been to a baseball game, but one day in 1908, he was riding the subway and he saw a sign that said "Baseball Today—Polo Grounds," and he started thinking of baseball lyrics. He wrote them down on a piece of scratch paper, and then took them to the composer Albert Von Tilzer, another man who had never seen a baseball game, who went ahead and wrote the music . And the song became very famous: "Take Me Out to the Ball Game." The Writer’s Almanac
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