On April 24, 1800, Pres. John Adams approved legislation that appropriated $5,000 to purchase "such books as may be necessary for the use of Congress." The first books, ordered from London, arrived in 1801 and were stored in the U.S. Capitol, the Library's first home. The collection consisted of 740 volumes and three maps. On January 26, 1802, Pres. Thomas Jefferson approved the first law defining the role and functions of the new institution. This measure created the post of Librarian of Congress and gave Congress, through a Joint Committee on the Library, the authority to establish the Library's budget and its rules and regulations. From the beginning, however, the institution was more than just a legislative library, for the 1802 law made the appointment of the Librarian of Congress a presidential responsibility. It also permitted the president and vice president to borrow books, a privilege that, in the next three decades, was extended to most government agencies and to the judiciary. A separate law department was approved in 1832, along with an appropriation to purchase law books under the guidance of the chief justice of the United States. In 1814, the British army invaded the city of Washington and burned the Capitol, including the 3,000-volume Library of Congress. By then retired to Monticello, Jefferson offered to sell his personal library, the largest and finest in the country, to the Congress to "recommence" its library. The purchase of Jefferson's 6,487 volumes for $23,940 was approved in 1815. http://www.loc.gov/loc/legacy/loc.html
More than 95 percent of the bananas sold in the U.S. are Cavendish, the cultivar that has dominated the market since the 1970s. But a handful of the thousand or so other banana varieties out there are becoming available to consumers in this country. Baby The Mini brand is trademarked by Chiquita; you'll find similar fruit sold by Dole under the Baby name. Manzano This variety, native to Central and South America, belongs to a subcategory known as apple bananas. Plantain Actually an entire subset of the fruit, plantains are a kind of banana that is usually cooked. Red Sometimes confused with a Philippine staple variety called Lacatan, the red banana has a sweet taste and a creamy texture. http://www.saveur.com/article/Techniques/5-Banana-Varieties
It can take as long as 40 years for Olea europaea, the olive tree, to grow to full maturity (though many begin bearing fruit after just five to seven years). Once planted, however, barring frost, fire, or flood, the tree can live for centuries. Spain leads the world's olive oil production. Crete is home to the world's oldest, which after 5,000 years, is still producing fruit. http://www.saveur.com/article/Kitchen/Tree-of-Life
There are hundreds of varieties of olives grown around the world; here are ten that are prized for their oil: http://www.saveur.com/article/Techniques/A-Glossary-of-Olives
Which came first, editor or edit? This may sound like a chicken-and-egg question, but it's not. It's easy to assume that the word editor was formed from the verb edit. In reality, the word editor came first (from Latin edere: to give out). Then we formed the verb edit from it. Words such as babysit, vaccinate, donate, all were derived from their noun forms, not vice versa. This re-interpretation of a word to coin a new word is called back-formation: devising a word from what appears to be a derivative word. This re-analysis of words can be in error or in humor, done on purpose. About 110 years ago British troops were released after a long siege in a town called Mafeking in South Africa. It sparked wild celebrations in Britain. The town name Mafeking was jocularly treated as a gerund and a verb form was coined: to maffick (to celebrate). The word we now know as cherry was originally cherise (in French it's still called cerise today), but as that seemed to be plural, people erroneously spoke of a cherry when referring to a single fruit.
In the beginning back-formations are usually frowned upon, for example, the verb enthuse (a back-formation from enthusiasm) is not yet well accepted. Scores of other back-formations are now full-fledged members of the English language: greed (from greedy), injure (from injury), beg (from beggar). The verb to back-form itself is a back-formation.
sass (sas)
noun: Impudent talk; back talk.
verb tr.: To talk disrespectfully, especially to someone older or in authority.
Back-formation from sassy, alteration of saucy, from sauce, from Latin salsa, from sallere (to salt), from sal (salt). Ultimately from the Indo-European root sal- (salt) that is also the source of silt, sausage, salad, salami, salary, and salmagundi.
accrete (uh-KREET)
verb tr., intr.: To grow gradually by accumulation.
Back-formation from accretion, from accrescere (to grow). Ultimately from the Indo-European root ker- (to grow) that is also the source of words such as increase, recruit, crew, crescent, cereal, concrete, and crescendo.
cerebrate (SER-uh-brayt)
verb tr., intr.: To use the mind: to think, reason.
Back-formation from cerebration (act of thinking), from cerebrum (brain). Ultimately from the Indo-European root ker- (horn or head) that is also the source of words such as unicorn, horn, hornet, rhinoceros, reindeer, migraine, carrot, carat, and Hindi sirdar (leader, from Persian sar: head). A.Word.A.Day with Anu Garg
AskOxford.com You may see word of the day, quote of the week, sign up for newsletter, or search for information at: http://www.askoxford.com/ I tested the search feature with "Niagara Falls" and was surprised by the result: http://www.askoxford.com/results/?view=searchresults&freesearch="niagara%20falls"&branch=&textsearchtype=exact I shouldn't have been surprised, because the site searches for words not geography.
Friday, April 30, 2010
Thursday, April 29, 2010
Unified Agenda, April 2010 Edition "The Unified Agenda: Main Page - The Unified Agenda (also known as the Semiannual Regulatory Agenda), published twice a year (usually in April and October) in the Federal Register (FR), summarizes the rules and proposed rules that each Federal agency expects to issue during the next year. It is published by the Office of the Federal Register National Archives and Records Administration (NARA)."
Michigan will become the 19th state where police can stop drivers for text messaging behind the wheel. And Gov. Jennifer Granholm is to put her signature on the new law on "The Oprah Winfrey Show" on April 30, as part of Winfrey's ongoing campaign to stop cell phone use by drivers. Final approval was delayed by House Democrats, who sought to divert revenue from texting tickets to the state general fund, rather than a fund for libraries. House members from Detroit voiced concern that the new law would be used as a racial profiling tool by police against African-American drivers. The Senate rejected the House changes, and the full House overwhelmingly agreed to the Senate version on April 28. Nationally, nearly 6,000 people died in 2008 from traffic accidents attributed to distracted driving, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. In Michigan in 2008-09, 16 people were killed and 783 injured in wrecks in which drivers were using cell phones, according to the Michigan Office of Highway Safety Planning. http://www.freep.com/article/20100429/NEWS06/4290458/1320/No-texting-keep-your-thumbs-on-the-wheel
The Soldiers' and Sailors' Monument in Cleveland, Ohio commemorates the American Civil War; it consists of a 125' column surrounded at its base by a Memorial Room and esplanade. The column, topped with a statue of the Goddess of Freedom, defended by the Shield of Liberty, signifies the essence of the Nation for which Cuyahoga County veterans were willing to and did give their lives. The column is made of polished black, Quincy stone with 6 foliated bronze bands listing the names of 30 battles in which soldiers from this County fought. The Memorial Room is constructed of rough finished, light gray granite and light brown Amherst sandstone; the esplanade and steps of Medina red sandstone. The interior of the monument has been rehabilitated with its original coloration restored, new lighting, heating, air conditioning and ADA access. See location and hours at: http://www.soldiersandsailors.com/
The idea of the Statue of Liberty was not received well by either the USA federal nor New York state governments. However, due to a campaign stated by publisher Joseph Pulitzer, funds were raised for the American half of the bill in only five months. In Roman mythology, Liberty is Libertas, the goddess of freedom. Originally a deity of personal freedom, she evolved to become the goddess of the commonwealth. Her temples were found on the Aventine Hill and the Forum. She was depicted on many Roman coins as a female figure wearing a pileus (a felt cap, worn by slaves when they were set free), a wreath of laurels and a spear . Libertas was presented in 1884 as a gift from the French Grand Orient Temple Masons to the Masons of America in celebration of the centenary of the first Masonic Republic, as much as a gift from France to America. The cornerstone of the statue has an inscription that records that it was laid in a Masonic ceremony. It is believed that Bartholdi conceived the original statue as an effigy of the Egyptian goddess Isis, and only later converted it to a ‘Statue of Liberty’ for New York Harbor when it was rejected for the Suez Canal. http://www.wilsonsalmanac.com/statue_of_liberty.html
The 1883 poem by Emma Lazarus to the Statue of Liberty was hardly noticed until after her death, when a patron of the New York arts found it tucked into a small portfolio of poems written in 1883 to raise money for the construction of the Statue of Liberty's pedestal. The patron, Georgina Schuyler, was struck by the poem and arranged to have its last five lines become a permanent part of the statue itself. More than twenty years later, children's textbooks began to include the sonnet and Irving Berlin wrote it into a Broadway musical. By 1945, the engraved poem was relocated--including all fourteen lines--to be placed over the Statue of Liberty's main entrance. In "The New Colossus," Lazarus contrasts the soon-to-be installed symbol of the United States with what many consider the perfect symbol of the Greek and Roman era, the Colossus of Rhodes. Her comparison proved appropriate, for Bartholdi himself created the Statue of Liberty with the well-known Colossus in mind. http://xroads.virginia.edu/~cap/liberty/lazarus.html
The Goddess of Freedom How Lofty She 1927 poem by William A. Cox: http://xroads.virginia.edu/~cap/liberty/coxpoem.html
The Tonga Room, the venerable tiki bar in the basement of San Francisco’s luxurious Fairmont Hotel, might be demolished to make way for condominiums. Tiki enthusiasts rank the room—built in 1945 and equipped with an indoor thunderstorm, complete with sheets of sprinkler-produced rain, lightning and thunder —as one of the finest examples of faux Polynesian paradise around. Hotel officials quickly cautioned that no construction was planned until at least 2012, but that hasn’t stopped San Franciscans from organizing “happy hour protests” at the club.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/05/fashion/05tonga.html
LYNNE'S TIPS
• The key to tender, juicy, lean cuts like chicken breasts is a fast high-heat sear to lightly brown both sides. This gives us that satisfying taste of caramelization. Then you do the real cooking very slowly over low heat. This keeps lean cuts like chicken breasts juicy. The last all important step is to let them rest at room temperature 8 to 10 minutes. This assures you lots of juice and tenderness.
• Use good-tasting, organic canned tomatoes packed in juice (not puree), such as Muir Glen. You don't want puree because often low grade tomato paste is used to thicken purees, which can ruin your cooking with nasty metallic flavors. The Splendid Table April 28, 2010
Michigan will become the 19th state where police can stop drivers for text messaging behind the wheel. And Gov. Jennifer Granholm is to put her signature on the new law on "The Oprah Winfrey Show" on April 30, as part of Winfrey's ongoing campaign to stop cell phone use by drivers. Final approval was delayed by House Democrats, who sought to divert revenue from texting tickets to the state general fund, rather than a fund for libraries. House members from Detroit voiced concern that the new law would be used as a racial profiling tool by police against African-American drivers. The Senate rejected the House changes, and the full House overwhelmingly agreed to the Senate version on April 28. Nationally, nearly 6,000 people died in 2008 from traffic accidents attributed to distracted driving, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. In Michigan in 2008-09, 16 people were killed and 783 injured in wrecks in which drivers were using cell phones, according to the Michigan Office of Highway Safety Planning. http://www.freep.com/article/20100429/NEWS06/4290458/1320/No-texting-keep-your-thumbs-on-the-wheel
The Soldiers' and Sailors' Monument in Cleveland, Ohio commemorates the American Civil War; it consists of a 125' column surrounded at its base by a Memorial Room and esplanade. The column, topped with a statue of the Goddess of Freedom, defended by the Shield of Liberty, signifies the essence of the Nation for which Cuyahoga County veterans were willing to and did give their lives. The column is made of polished black, Quincy stone with 6 foliated bronze bands listing the names of 30 battles in which soldiers from this County fought. The Memorial Room is constructed of rough finished, light gray granite and light brown Amherst sandstone; the esplanade and steps of Medina red sandstone. The interior of the monument has been rehabilitated with its original coloration restored, new lighting, heating, air conditioning and ADA access. See location and hours at: http://www.soldiersandsailors.com/
The idea of the Statue of Liberty was not received well by either the USA federal nor New York state governments. However, due to a campaign stated by publisher Joseph Pulitzer, funds were raised for the American half of the bill in only five months. In Roman mythology, Liberty is Libertas, the goddess of freedom. Originally a deity of personal freedom, she evolved to become the goddess of the commonwealth. Her temples were found on the Aventine Hill and the Forum. She was depicted on many Roman coins as a female figure wearing a pileus (a felt cap, worn by slaves when they were set free), a wreath of laurels and a spear . Libertas was presented in 1884 as a gift from the French Grand Orient Temple Masons to the Masons of America in celebration of the centenary of the first Masonic Republic, as much as a gift from France to America. The cornerstone of the statue has an inscription that records that it was laid in a Masonic ceremony. It is believed that Bartholdi conceived the original statue as an effigy of the Egyptian goddess Isis, and only later converted it to a ‘Statue of Liberty’ for New York Harbor when it was rejected for the Suez Canal. http://www.wilsonsalmanac.com/statue_of_liberty.html
The 1883 poem by Emma Lazarus to the Statue of Liberty was hardly noticed until after her death, when a patron of the New York arts found it tucked into a small portfolio of poems written in 1883 to raise money for the construction of the Statue of Liberty's pedestal. The patron, Georgina Schuyler, was struck by the poem and arranged to have its last five lines become a permanent part of the statue itself. More than twenty years later, children's textbooks began to include the sonnet and Irving Berlin wrote it into a Broadway musical. By 1945, the engraved poem was relocated--including all fourteen lines--to be placed over the Statue of Liberty's main entrance. In "The New Colossus," Lazarus contrasts the soon-to-be installed symbol of the United States with what many consider the perfect symbol of the Greek and Roman era, the Colossus of Rhodes. Her comparison proved appropriate, for Bartholdi himself created the Statue of Liberty with the well-known Colossus in mind. http://xroads.virginia.edu/~cap/liberty/lazarus.html
The Goddess of Freedom How Lofty She 1927 poem by William A. Cox: http://xroads.virginia.edu/~cap/liberty/coxpoem.html
The Tonga Room, the venerable tiki bar in the basement of San Francisco’s luxurious Fairmont Hotel, might be demolished to make way for condominiums. Tiki enthusiasts rank the room—built in 1945 and equipped with an indoor thunderstorm, complete with sheets of sprinkler-produced rain, lightning and thunder —as one of the finest examples of faux Polynesian paradise around. Hotel officials quickly cautioned that no construction was planned until at least 2012, but that hasn’t stopped San Franciscans from organizing “happy hour protests” at the club.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/05/fashion/05tonga.html
LYNNE'S TIPS
• The key to tender, juicy, lean cuts like chicken breasts is a fast high-heat sear to lightly brown both sides. This gives us that satisfying taste of caramelization. Then you do the real cooking very slowly over low heat. This keeps lean cuts like chicken breasts juicy. The last all important step is to let them rest at room temperature 8 to 10 minutes. This assures you lots of juice and tenderness.
• Use good-tasting, organic canned tomatoes packed in juice (not puree), such as Muir Glen. You don't want puree because often low grade tomato paste is used to thicken purees, which can ruin your cooking with nasty metallic flavors. The Splendid Table April 28, 2010
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
New on LLRX.com Justice Stevens Invented the Internet With the announcement that Justice John Paul Stevens will resign from the Supreme Court at the end of this term, Jonathan Band and Matt Schruers focus on one of his opinions that has had a direct daily impact on virtually all Americans: the majority opinion in Sony v. Universal, decided by the Supreme Court in 1984. This decision is the legal foundation of the Digital Age.
New on LLRX.com The Government Domain: New & Free Regulations Trackers Peggy Garvin reviews new, free, non-government resources that have recently come online to complement the official U.S. government regulatory information sites, RegInfo.gov and Regulations.gov. For this bounty, Peggy says researcher can thank innovative developers and the relatively new availability of a free XML version of the Federal Register that can be downloaded in bulk.
Grand Canyon National Park includes over a million acres of land: 1,218,376 acres / 493,077 hectares, or 1,904 square miles / 4931 square km. Most people measure the canyon in Colorado River miles. By that standard, Grand Canyon is 277 miles / 446 km long. It begins at Lees Ferry and ends at Grand Wash Cliffs. The Colorado River is longer than Grand Canyon, flowing 1,450 m les / 2,333 km from the Rocky Mountains of Colorado to the Gulf of California in Mexico. Grand Canyon is only one of many beautiful canyons carved by the river. Others include Cataract Canyon and Glen Canyon, the latter now lying beneath the waters of Lake Powell. Width and depth of the canyon vary from place to place. At the South Rim, near Grand Canyon Village, it's a vertical mile (about 5,000 feet / 1,524 m) from rim to river, or 7 miles / 11.3 km by trail. At its deepest, it is 6,000 vertical feet / 1,829 m from rim to river. The width of the canyon at Grand Canyon Village is 10 miles / 16 km (rim to rim), though in places it is as much as 18 miles / 29 km wide.
http://www.grand.canyon.national-park.com/size.htm
Note: Once, when flying over the canyon, our pilot pointed out where the split began.
ELISION (verb form, elide): (1) In poetry, when the poet takes a word that ends in a vowel, and a following word that begins with a vowel, and blurs them together to create a single syllable, the result is an elision. (2) In linguistics, elision refers more generally to the omission of any sound in speech and writing, such as the word Hallowe'en (from "All Hallows Evening") or in contractions like shan't (from "shall not").
ELLIPSIS (plural, ellipses): (1) In its oldest sense as a rhetorical device, ellipsis refers to the artful omission of a word implied by a previous clause. For instance, an author might write, "The American soldiers killed eight civilians, and the French eight." The writer of the sentence has left out the word soldiers after French, and the word civilians after eight. An ellipsis is similar to an eclipsis, but differs in that an eclipsis has a word or words missing that may not be implied by a previous clause. (2) In its more modern sense, ellipsis refers to a punctuation mark indicated by three periods to indicate material missing from a quotation . . . like so.
EPENTHESIS (also called infixation): Adding an extra syllable or letters in the middle of a word Shakespeare might write, "A visitating spirit came last night" (instead of "visiting" spirit). This choice perhaps highlights the unnatural status of the visit, or perhaps shows the speaker is being pretentious or flustered in his diction. Epenthesis has resulted in new words in English--such as the word thimble, which developed from the earlier word thimel. http://web.cn.edu/KWHEELER/lit_terms_E.html
National Advertising Division of the Council of Better Business Bureaus (NAD) operates a resolution process to tackle complaints about deceptive ad claims, and has seen a big increase in the number of disputes over green claims in the past two years. It expects to resolve 15 to 20 cases with green claims this year. In 2009, it resolved about 14. Though it has no enforcement authority, its publication of its decisions can expose overblown product claims, and serve to deter them. On NAD’s recommendation, Clorox recently discontinued a biodegradability claim for its “Green Works Natural Cleaning Wipes.” Clorox has switched the claim to “compostable.” http://blogs.wsj.com/law/2010/04/26/why-its-not-always-easy-being-green/?mod=djemlawblog_h
New on LLRX.com The Government Domain: New & Free Regulations Trackers Peggy Garvin reviews new, free, non-government resources that have recently come online to complement the official U.S. government regulatory information sites, RegInfo.gov and Regulations.gov. For this bounty, Peggy says researcher can thank innovative developers and the relatively new availability of a free XML version of the Federal Register that can be downloaded in bulk.
Grand Canyon National Park includes over a million acres of land: 1,218,376 acres / 493,077 hectares, or 1,904 square miles / 4931 square km. Most people measure the canyon in Colorado River miles. By that standard, Grand Canyon is 277 miles / 446 km long. It begins at Lees Ferry and ends at Grand Wash Cliffs. The Colorado River is longer than Grand Canyon, flowing 1,450 m les / 2,333 km from the Rocky Mountains of Colorado to the Gulf of California in Mexico. Grand Canyon is only one of many beautiful canyons carved by the river. Others include Cataract Canyon and Glen Canyon, the latter now lying beneath the waters of Lake Powell. Width and depth of the canyon vary from place to place. At the South Rim, near Grand Canyon Village, it's a vertical mile (about 5,000 feet / 1,524 m) from rim to river, or 7 miles / 11.3 km by trail. At its deepest, it is 6,000 vertical feet / 1,829 m from rim to river. The width of the canyon at Grand Canyon Village is 10 miles / 16 km (rim to rim), though in places it is as much as 18 miles / 29 km wide.
http://www.grand.canyon.national-park.com/size.htm
Note: Once, when flying over the canyon, our pilot pointed out where the split began.
ELISION (verb form, elide): (1) In poetry, when the poet takes a word that ends in a vowel, and a following word that begins with a vowel, and blurs them together to create a single syllable, the result is an elision. (2) In linguistics, elision refers more generally to the omission of any sound in speech and writing, such as the word Hallowe'en (from "All Hallows Evening") or in contractions like shan't (from "shall not").
ELLIPSIS (plural, ellipses): (1) In its oldest sense as a rhetorical device, ellipsis refers to the artful omission of a word implied by a previous clause. For instance, an author might write, "The American soldiers killed eight civilians, and the French eight." The writer of the sentence has left out the word soldiers after French, and the word civilians after eight. An ellipsis is similar to an eclipsis, but differs in that an eclipsis has a word or words missing that may not be implied by a previous clause. (2) In its more modern sense, ellipsis refers to a punctuation mark indicated by three periods to indicate material missing from a quotation . . . like so.
EPENTHESIS (also called infixation): Adding an extra syllable or letters in the middle of a word Shakespeare might write, "A visitating spirit came last night" (instead of "visiting" spirit). This choice perhaps highlights the unnatural status of the visit, or perhaps shows the speaker is being pretentious or flustered in his diction. Epenthesis has resulted in new words in English--such as the word thimble, which developed from the earlier word thimel. http://web.cn.edu/KWHEELER/lit_terms_E.html
National Advertising Division of the Council of Better Business Bureaus (NAD) operates a resolution process to tackle complaints about deceptive ad claims, and has seen a big increase in the number of disputes over green claims in the past two years. It expects to resolve 15 to 20 cases with green claims this year. In 2009, it resolved about 14. Though it has no enforcement authority, its publication of its decisions can expose overblown product claims, and serve to deter them. On NAD’s recommendation, Clorox recently discontinued a biodegradability claim for its “Green Works Natural Cleaning Wipes.” Clorox has switched the claim to “compostable.” http://blogs.wsj.com/law/2010/04/26/why-its-not-always-easy-being-green/?mod=djemlawblog_h
Monday, April 26, 2010
Orlando Figes, a celebrated author and Russian scholar, is embroiled in a scandal involving vicious reviews posted on Amazon's website. The anonymous reviews attacked books written by Figes' rivals, and last week his wife, law professor Stephanie Palmer, said she was responsible. But now Figes admits he actually wrote the nasty putdowns, which built up his reputation at other authors' expense.
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2010/04/23/world/AP-EU-Britain-Vicious-Reviews.html
The family of famed fantasy artist Frank Frazetta has settled a bitter, and very public, feud that was marked by criminal charges and a lawsuit. According to a statement posted online early on April 23 by publisher Vanguard Productions, all litigation involving Frazetta's children and art "has been resolved." The Pocono Record reports the agreement comes after the family -- including Frazetta, sons Alfonso Frank Frazetta (Frank Jr.) and William Frazetta and daughters Holly Frazetta and Heidi Grabin -- met with their attorneys and a federal mediator for two days to resolve the legal battle before trial. Theft charges will be dropped against Frank Jr., who was arrested in December after he allegedly used a backhoe to break into his father's museum in East Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania, to steal 90 paintings worth about $20 million. http://robot6.comicbookresources.com/2010/04/lawsuit-and-theft-charges-dropped-as-frazetta-family-settles-differences/
Q: After a plane crash, what happens to passengers' luggage? I'm thinking of the Hudson River splashdown, for example.
A: The National Transportation Safety Board and airlines have rules for returning baggage and other personal belongings. How much baggage can be retrieved depends on the extent of damage in the accident. After investigators go through everything, airlines usually hire a third party to clean baggage and other belongings. Airliner wreckage is considered a biohazard site.
If belongings are intact, they go to passengers or family members. If the ownership isn't known, airlines often make photos available so people can claim their items. The airline is responsible for returning belongings, not the government. USAirways Flight 1549 collided with Canada geese shortly after takeoff from LaGuardia Airport in New York on Jan. 15, 2009, and ditched in the Hudson River. In that case, the airline hired a contractor to recover, sort, clean and restore more than 30,000 passenger belongings. -- Joan Lowy, AP, Washington.
Q: Who was the first president of the United States?
A: George Washington was the first president elected under the Constitution of 1789, but there were eight presidents of Congress under the Articles of Confederation from 1781 to 1789.
The eight had little of the executive power that Washington and his successors have enjoyed under the Constitution. Appointed by fellow members of Congress, each served one-year terms.
Their title was not "president of the United States of America," but "president of the United States in Congress Assembled." They were, in order: John Hanson, Maryland; Elias Boudinot, New Jersey; Thomas Mifflin, Pennsylvania; Richard Henry Lee, Virginia; John Hancock, Massachusetts; Nathaniel Gorham, Massachusetts; Arthur St. Clair, Pennsylvania; and Cyrus Griffin, Virginia. -- Peter Mattiace, from various sources.
Curious? Then just ask by e-mail to justask@thecourier.com, by fax to 419-427-8480, or by mail to Just Ask, The Courier, P.O. Box 609, Findlay, OH 45839.
http://www.thecourier.com/Opinion/columns/2010/Apr/JU/ar_JU_042610.asp?d=042610,2010,Apr,26&c=c_13
The largest island in North America and the largest island in the world is Greenland. http://geography.about.com/od/lists/a/largestislands.htm Note that the ninth island in the list should say Vancouver Island, not Victoria Island. Victoria is the largest city on Vancouver Island.
Australia, an island continent, has 2,970,000 square miles compared to Greenland's 840,004 square miles. However, Australia generally does not appear in rank-order lists.
Australia has 8,222 islands within its maritime borders.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_islands_of_Australia
Lists of islands by ocean, continent and rank-order: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_islands
Eponyms are words that denote objects, events, or concepts that have been named after real people. During the French Revolution, a member of the Constituent Assembly, Joseph Ignace Guillotin, urged the new government to adopt the louisette as a swift and humane means of carrying out executions. Consequently, due to its widespread use, the device was quickly renamed the guillotine. As a soldier in the French army, Nicolas Chauvin not only welcomed Napoleon as a leader, but also was fanatically devoted to him and praised him at almost every opportunity. His extreme sense of loyalty toward Napoleon and his country became the source of many jokes, and eventually became known to the French as chauvinisme. Today, the words “chauvinism” or “chauvinist” are used to describe a person who is fanatically patriotic or rigidly convinced of the superiority of his own group. During an attack on the Dutch colonial territory of Surinam in 1802, Lieutenant General Henry Shrapnel invented a device that was then called a “spherical case shot”, which consisted of a round container filled with gunpowder and musket balls. This kind of artillery shell would prove to be a very effective anti-personnel weapon because the shell would explode on impact, spraying musket balls or other tiny metal fragments in all directions, causing many enemy casualties. These tiny metal fragments came to be known as “shrapnel”. http://www.karlonia.com/2007/06/25/eponyms-examples-of-words-from-the-napoleonic-era/
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2010/04/23/world/AP-EU-Britain-Vicious-Reviews.html
The family of famed fantasy artist Frank Frazetta has settled a bitter, and very public, feud that was marked by criminal charges and a lawsuit. According to a statement posted online early on April 23 by publisher Vanguard Productions, all litigation involving Frazetta's children and art "has been resolved." The Pocono Record reports the agreement comes after the family -- including Frazetta, sons Alfonso Frank Frazetta (Frank Jr.) and William Frazetta and daughters Holly Frazetta and Heidi Grabin -- met with their attorneys and a federal mediator for two days to resolve the legal battle before trial. Theft charges will be dropped against Frank Jr., who was arrested in December after he allegedly used a backhoe to break into his father's museum in East Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania, to steal 90 paintings worth about $20 million. http://robot6.comicbookresources.com/2010/04/lawsuit-and-theft-charges-dropped-as-frazetta-family-settles-differences/
Q: After a plane crash, what happens to passengers' luggage? I'm thinking of the Hudson River splashdown, for example.
A: The National Transportation Safety Board and airlines have rules for returning baggage and other personal belongings. How much baggage can be retrieved depends on the extent of damage in the accident. After investigators go through everything, airlines usually hire a third party to clean baggage and other belongings. Airliner wreckage is considered a biohazard site.
If belongings are intact, they go to passengers or family members. If the ownership isn't known, airlines often make photos available so people can claim their items. The airline is responsible for returning belongings, not the government. USAirways Flight 1549 collided with Canada geese shortly after takeoff from LaGuardia Airport in New York on Jan. 15, 2009, and ditched in the Hudson River. In that case, the airline hired a contractor to recover, sort, clean and restore more than 30,000 passenger belongings. -- Joan Lowy, AP, Washington.
Q: Who was the first president of the United States?
A: George Washington was the first president elected under the Constitution of 1789, but there were eight presidents of Congress under the Articles of Confederation from 1781 to 1789.
The eight had little of the executive power that Washington and his successors have enjoyed under the Constitution. Appointed by fellow members of Congress, each served one-year terms.
Their title was not "president of the United States of America," but "president of the United States in Congress Assembled." They were, in order: John Hanson, Maryland; Elias Boudinot, New Jersey; Thomas Mifflin, Pennsylvania; Richard Henry Lee, Virginia; John Hancock, Massachusetts; Nathaniel Gorham, Massachusetts; Arthur St. Clair, Pennsylvania; and Cyrus Griffin, Virginia. -- Peter Mattiace, from various sources.
Curious? Then just ask by e-mail to justask@thecourier.com, by fax to 419-427-8480, or by mail to Just Ask, The Courier, P.O. Box 609, Findlay, OH 45839.
http://www.thecourier.com/Opinion/columns/2010/Apr/JU/ar_JU_042610.asp?d=042610,2010,Apr,26&c=c_13
The largest island in North America and the largest island in the world is Greenland. http://geography.about.com/od/lists/a/largestislands.htm Note that the ninth island in the list should say Vancouver Island, not Victoria Island. Victoria is the largest city on Vancouver Island.
Australia, an island continent, has 2,970,000 square miles compared to Greenland's 840,004 square miles. However, Australia generally does not appear in rank-order lists.
Australia has 8,222 islands within its maritime borders.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_islands_of_Australia
Lists of islands by ocean, continent and rank-order: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_islands
Eponyms are words that denote objects, events, or concepts that have been named after real people. During the French Revolution, a member of the Constituent Assembly, Joseph Ignace Guillotin, urged the new government to adopt the louisette as a swift and humane means of carrying out executions. Consequently, due to its widespread use, the device was quickly renamed the guillotine. As a soldier in the French army, Nicolas Chauvin not only welcomed Napoleon as a leader, but also was fanatically devoted to him and praised him at almost every opportunity. His extreme sense of loyalty toward Napoleon and his country became the source of many jokes, and eventually became known to the French as chauvinisme. Today, the words “chauvinism” or “chauvinist” are used to describe a person who is fanatically patriotic or rigidly convinced of the superiority of his own group. During an attack on the Dutch colonial territory of Surinam in 1802, Lieutenant General Henry Shrapnel invented a device that was then called a “spherical case shot”, which consisted of a round container filled with gunpowder and musket balls. This kind of artillery shell would prove to be a very effective anti-personnel weapon because the shell would explode on impact, spraying musket balls or other tiny metal fragments in all directions, causing many enemy casualties. These tiny metal fragments came to be known as “shrapnel”. http://www.karlonia.com/2007/06/25/eponyms-examples-of-words-from-the-napoleonic-era/
Friday, April 23, 2010
The Obama administration plans to appeal the ruling, made April 15 by Wisconsin federal judge Barbara Crabb, declaring unconstitutional the annual National Day of Prayer. Click here for the WSJ story. In her ruling (click here for the opinion), Judge Crabb said Congress's prayer declaration “goes beyond mere 'acknowledgment' of religion because its sole purpose is to encourage all citizens to engage in prayer, an inherently religious exercise that serves no secular function in this context.” The Justice Department's didn't explain any specific reason for the appeal by President Obama, who is named as defendant in the 2008 lawsuit filed by the Freedom From Religion Foundation. The group, which represents agnostics, atheists and others in favor of the separation of church and state, argues that the National Day of Prayer violates the First Amendment's clause barring the establishment of a religion. The White House has argued that the proclamation simply recognizes the traditional role of religion in the U.S. The White House said the president still intends to issue the annual proclamation on May 6 as current law requires.
A group of six environmental and public-safety groups, including the Sierra Club, the American Lung Association, and Earthjustice are awaiting a judge's ruling in a lawsuit that seeks to force makers of a range of household cleaners to reveal the chemical ingredients of all of their products and any research about them. Their lawsuit was filed last year against Procter & Gamble, Church & Dwight, Reckitt Benckiser and Colgate-Palmolive Co. Their complaint alleges that a 1971 law that's often not enforced gives the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation the power to force manufacturers to disclose the ingredients of their products as well as any health or safety studies. Although the plaintiffs are targeting just those four companies, the New York regulation requires all manufacturers who sell their products in New York to disclose their product ingredients, they contend.
WSJ Law Blog April 22, 2010
For eco-restaurateur Dave Krick, it's not just about where his food comes from, but also where it's going. And in the case of his Red Feather Lounge and Bittercreek Ale House in Boise, Idaho, some 100 pounds of it a day are feeding an extra 200,000 diners—Vermont red wiggler worms that live in the restaurants' basement, working around the clock to turn kitchen waste into nutrient-rich compost. The Green Restaurant Association knows of no other restaurant in the continental U.S. doing onsite worm composting—known as vermiculture—and only one other in the country, The Kona Brewing Company, which has pubs in Hawaii.
http://www.newsvine.com/_news/2010/04/20/4181475-diners-in-the-basement-restaurant-feeds-worms-too
I found a seedling in my front yard with a buckeye attached to the stem. The shiny nut was beautiful and I put it in a glass of water to admire it. A friend has adopted the seedling and taken it to a good home. In order to know if it was a buckeye or horse chestnut, I found an interesting Web site with descriptions and pictures: http://www.extension.umn.edu/yardandgarden/ygbriefs/h401chestnuts.html
Ohio buckeye (Aesculus glabra) is a slow-growing, round-headed tree that grows up to 50 feet high. Each leaf generally has five leaflets, and the nuts are not edible. Horse-chestnut (Aesculus hippocastanum) is similar to Ohio buckeye but is not quite as hardy and does not grow as tall. Its leaves are usually divided into seven leaflets, and its nuts are not edible. American chestnut (Castanea dentata) is a more upright tree with a fairly straight trunk when young. With age it develops a broad, rounded, dense crown. Each fruit has 2 or 3 edible chestnuts.
A patronymic, or patronym, is a component of a personal name based on the name of one's father. A component of a name based on the name of one's mother is a matronymic, or matronym. Each is a means of conveying lineage. In many areas patronymics predate the use of family names. They, along with the less common matronymics, are still used in Iceland, where few people have surnames. For example, the son and daughter of Pétur Marteinsson would have different last names - Pétursson (for his son) and Pétursdóttir (for his daughter). Many Irish, Scottish, Welsh, Iberian, Slavic, Manx, English, and Scandinavian surnames originate from patronymics, e.g. Wilson (son of William), Powell (ap Hywel), Fernández (of Fernando), Carlsson (son of Carl, e.g., Erik Carlsson), Stefanović (son of Stefan, e.g., Vuk Stefanović Karadžić). Similarly, other cultures which formerly used patronyms have since switched to the more widespread style of passing the father's last name to the children (and wife) as their own (as in Ethiopia). http://www.search.com/reference/Patronymic
A cube of living walls and water was recently displayed at the San Francisco Flower and Garden Show. Designed by Sean Stout and James Pettigrew of Organic Mechanics, and constructed by Stephen Hosford of Structural Concepts, this cube was a creative take on a garden retreat. The outer walls of patterned sedum formed a 12-by-12-foot roofless room, and the cube appeared to float on a circle of water. Titled “A Living Room,” the display won a well-deserved gold medal. The walls were made up of 20-inch square recycled plastic snap-together panels (49 per side) that held the succulents and enough soil to keep them growing. See pictures and more information at: http://www.csmonitor.com/The-Culture/Gardening/diggin-it/2010/0416/Whimsical-cube-is-a-creative-watery-garden-folly
A group of six environmental and public-safety groups, including the Sierra Club, the American Lung Association, and Earthjustice are awaiting a judge's ruling in a lawsuit that seeks to force makers of a range of household cleaners to reveal the chemical ingredients of all of their products and any research about them. Their lawsuit was filed last year against Procter & Gamble, Church & Dwight, Reckitt Benckiser and Colgate-Palmolive Co. Their complaint alleges that a 1971 law that's often not enforced gives the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation the power to force manufacturers to disclose the ingredients of their products as well as any health or safety studies. Although the plaintiffs are targeting just those four companies, the New York regulation requires all manufacturers who sell their products in New York to disclose their product ingredients, they contend.
WSJ Law Blog April 22, 2010
For eco-restaurateur Dave Krick, it's not just about where his food comes from, but also where it's going. And in the case of his Red Feather Lounge and Bittercreek Ale House in Boise, Idaho, some 100 pounds of it a day are feeding an extra 200,000 diners—Vermont red wiggler worms that live in the restaurants' basement, working around the clock to turn kitchen waste into nutrient-rich compost. The Green Restaurant Association knows of no other restaurant in the continental U.S. doing onsite worm composting—known as vermiculture—and only one other in the country, The Kona Brewing Company, which has pubs in Hawaii.
http://www.newsvine.com/_news/2010/04/20/4181475-diners-in-the-basement-restaurant-feeds-worms-too
I found a seedling in my front yard with a buckeye attached to the stem. The shiny nut was beautiful and I put it in a glass of water to admire it. A friend has adopted the seedling and taken it to a good home. In order to know if it was a buckeye or horse chestnut, I found an interesting Web site with descriptions and pictures: http://www.extension.umn.edu/yardandgarden/ygbriefs/h401chestnuts.html
Ohio buckeye (Aesculus glabra) is a slow-growing, round-headed tree that grows up to 50 feet high. Each leaf generally has five leaflets, and the nuts are not edible. Horse-chestnut (Aesculus hippocastanum) is similar to Ohio buckeye but is not quite as hardy and does not grow as tall. Its leaves are usually divided into seven leaflets, and its nuts are not edible. American chestnut (Castanea dentata) is a more upright tree with a fairly straight trunk when young. With age it develops a broad, rounded, dense crown. Each fruit has 2 or 3 edible chestnuts.
A patronymic, or patronym, is a component of a personal name based on the name of one's father. A component of a name based on the name of one's mother is a matronymic, or matronym. Each is a means of conveying lineage. In many areas patronymics predate the use of family names. They, along with the less common matronymics, are still used in Iceland, where few people have surnames. For example, the son and daughter of Pétur Marteinsson would have different last names - Pétursson (for his son) and Pétursdóttir (for his daughter). Many Irish, Scottish, Welsh, Iberian, Slavic, Manx, English, and Scandinavian surnames originate from patronymics, e.g. Wilson (son of William), Powell (ap Hywel), Fernández (of Fernando), Carlsson (son of Carl, e.g., Erik Carlsson), Stefanović (son of Stefan, e.g., Vuk Stefanović Karadžić). Similarly, other cultures which formerly used patronyms have since switched to the more widespread style of passing the father's last name to the children (and wife) as their own (as in Ethiopia). http://www.search.com/reference/Patronymic
A cube of living walls and water was recently displayed at the San Francisco Flower and Garden Show. Designed by Sean Stout and James Pettigrew of Organic Mechanics, and constructed by Stephen Hosford of Structural Concepts, this cube was a creative take on a garden retreat. The outer walls of patterned sedum formed a 12-by-12-foot roofless room, and the cube appeared to float on a circle of water. Titled “A Living Room,” the display won a well-deserved gold medal. The walls were made up of 20-inch square recycled plastic snap-together panels (49 per side) that held the succulents and enough soil to keep them growing. See pictures and more information at: http://www.csmonitor.com/The-Culture/Gardening/diggin-it/2010/0416/Whimsical-cube-is-a-creative-watery-garden-folly
Thursday, April 22, 2010
Happy Earth Day, April 22, 2010 Donate or recycle computers and other electronic products. Before driving and using up gas, find a place near you, whether it be workplace, organization, post office, office supply store or Goodwill.
Find a Local Program
Manufacturer and Retailer Programs
Government-Supported Donation and Recycling Programs
http://www.epa.gov/wastes/conserve/materials/ecycling/donate.htm
From a member of Northern Colorado Writers This year we are starting what we are calling our NSA or Neighborhood Supported Agriculture. My family has teamed up with another family on our cul-de-sac and together we are going to grow and tend a garden. To have a successful garden we need make sure we devote some time to it every day, nurture it, get rid of the weeds and provide it with the proper nutrients. To be a successful writer you need to apply the same principles to your writing life. All gardens have weeds as does all writing. Nothing is perfect. All writers have to take time to go back through their work and get rid of the weeds (passives, adverbs). A garden needs nutrients to grow and establish strong roots. Writers need nutrients as well, but ours come in the form of learning more about our craft. This can be done through books, magazines, workshops and conferences. A garden needs nutrients to grow and establish strong roots. Writers need nutrients as well, but ours come in the form of learning more about our craft. This can be done through books, magazines, workshops and conferences.
Pew Internet Study: Teens and Mobile Phones - Text messaging explodes as teens embrace it as the centerpiece of their communication strategies with friends, April 20, 2010
• "Daily text messaging among American teens has shot up in the past 18 months, from 38% of teens texting friends daily in February of 2008 to 54% of teens texting daily in September 2009. And it's not just frequency – teens are sending enormous quantities of text messages a day. Half of teens send 50 or more text messages a day, or 1,500 texts a month, and one in three send more than 100 texts a day, or more than 3,000 texts a month. Older teen girls ages 14-17 lead the charge on text messaging, averaging 100 messages a day for the entire cohort. The youngest teen boys are the most resistant to texting – averaging 20 messages per day. Text messaging has become the primary way that teens reach their friends, surpassing face-to-face contact, email, instant messaging and voice calling as the go-to daily communication tool for this age group. However, voice calling is still the preferred mode for reaching parents for most teens."
• See also via EPIC: "The U.S. Supreme Court held arguments in City of Ontario v. Quon. The Court will determine whether a government employer can review the contents of private text messages sent from an employee's pager through a private communications company. EPIC filed a "friend of the court" brief arguing that data minimization practices should be applied to public sector searches and that the search was therefore unreasonable."
Lynne Rossetto Kasper of The Splendid Table recommends Sally Schneider's e-newsletter and website, The Improvised Life (www.theimprovisedlife.com). "We know Sally as a food writer (her book, The Improvisational Cook, is a personal favorite) and a favorite contributor to the show, but with this site, she reveals with a wonderful eye her ways for living a life filled with beauty, function, originality and grace. Ideas for the kitchen, seeing new art in unexpected places and small efforts which yield unexpected results."
He started out playing jazz piano, and he was one of the best. His trio -- piano, bass and guitar -- turned rhythm and melody into a seamless mix. For that alone, we would celebrate Nat King Cole. But what defined his greatness, and his groundbreaking success, wasn't his playing. It was his voice. "The amazing thing about Nat's voice is that it has this kind of incandescent quality to it," music historian Will Friedwald says. "It's like some kind of magic spell is being cast."
And singer Aaron Neville: "He just hypnotized me. It was like medicine to me. If I had got a spanking or something that day, Nat would smooth it all out." "I think Nat was everybody's favorite singer," Neville says. "From Ray Charles to Sam Cooke to Marvin Gaye -- all of them loved him. Everybody wanted to do some Nat King Cole." Frank Sinatra said when he went home, he played Nat King Cole records to relax. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=126110985
The Historic Costume and Textile Collection has been one of the best-kept secrets at Uinversity of Delaware for nearly 40 years, but Dilia López-Gydosh is hoping to change that. López-Gydosh, assistant professor of fashion and apparel studies who co-manages the collection with Prof. Belinda Orzada, describes it as a treasure trove that provides a fascinating look at the aesthetics, values and technology of past generations. “It’s a world full of different people out there, but one thing we all have in common is that we all wear some type of clothing,” López-Gydosh says as she points to a set of beautiful Japanese kimonos recently donated by Betty Fiske, AS ’83M. The collection serves as a valuable educational resource, not only for fashion design and merchandising students, but also for students in art conservation, history, museum studies and journalism, whose research is aided by a searchable computer database.
http://www.udel.edu/udmessenger/vol18no1/stories/feature_historic_costumes.html
Shen Yun Performing Arts is a Chinese dance and music company that performs around the world. http://www.shenyunperformingarts.org/ Click on calendar at bottom right to find a concert near you. The group will be in Toledo on May 14 at Stranahan Theater.
Find a Local Program
Manufacturer and Retailer Programs
Government-Supported Donation and Recycling Programs
http://www.epa.gov/wastes/conserve/materials/ecycling/donate.htm
From a member of Northern Colorado Writers This year we are starting what we are calling our NSA or Neighborhood Supported Agriculture. My family has teamed up with another family on our cul-de-sac and together we are going to grow and tend a garden. To have a successful garden we need make sure we devote some time to it every day, nurture it, get rid of the weeds and provide it with the proper nutrients. To be a successful writer you need to apply the same principles to your writing life. All gardens have weeds as does all writing. Nothing is perfect. All writers have to take time to go back through their work and get rid of the weeds (passives, adverbs). A garden needs nutrients to grow and establish strong roots. Writers need nutrients as well, but ours come in the form of learning more about our craft. This can be done through books, magazines, workshops and conferences. A garden needs nutrients to grow and establish strong roots. Writers need nutrients as well, but ours come in the form of learning more about our craft. This can be done through books, magazines, workshops and conferences.
Pew Internet Study: Teens and Mobile Phones - Text messaging explodes as teens embrace it as the centerpiece of their communication strategies with friends, April 20, 2010
• "Daily text messaging among American teens has shot up in the past 18 months, from 38% of teens texting friends daily in February of 2008 to 54% of teens texting daily in September 2009. And it's not just frequency – teens are sending enormous quantities of text messages a day. Half of teens send 50 or more text messages a day, or 1,500 texts a month, and one in three send more than 100 texts a day, or more than 3,000 texts a month. Older teen girls ages 14-17 lead the charge on text messaging, averaging 100 messages a day for the entire cohort. The youngest teen boys are the most resistant to texting – averaging 20 messages per day. Text messaging has become the primary way that teens reach their friends, surpassing face-to-face contact, email, instant messaging and voice calling as the go-to daily communication tool for this age group. However, voice calling is still the preferred mode for reaching parents for most teens."
• See also via EPIC: "The U.S. Supreme Court held arguments in City of Ontario v. Quon. The Court will determine whether a government employer can review the contents of private text messages sent from an employee's pager through a private communications company. EPIC filed a "friend of the court" brief arguing that data minimization practices should be applied to public sector searches and that the search was therefore unreasonable."
Lynne Rossetto Kasper of The Splendid Table recommends Sally Schneider's e-newsletter and website, The Improvised Life (www.theimprovisedlife.com). "We know Sally as a food writer (her book, The Improvisational Cook, is a personal favorite) and a favorite contributor to the show, but with this site, she reveals with a wonderful eye her ways for living a life filled with beauty, function, originality and grace. Ideas for the kitchen, seeing new art in unexpected places and small efforts which yield unexpected results."
He started out playing jazz piano, and he was one of the best. His trio -- piano, bass and guitar -- turned rhythm and melody into a seamless mix. For that alone, we would celebrate Nat King Cole. But what defined his greatness, and his groundbreaking success, wasn't his playing. It was his voice. "The amazing thing about Nat's voice is that it has this kind of incandescent quality to it," music historian Will Friedwald says. "It's like some kind of magic spell is being cast."
And singer Aaron Neville: "He just hypnotized me. It was like medicine to me. If I had got a spanking or something that day, Nat would smooth it all out." "I think Nat was everybody's favorite singer," Neville says. "From Ray Charles to Sam Cooke to Marvin Gaye -- all of them loved him. Everybody wanted to do some Nat King Cole." Frank Sinatra said when he went home, he played Nat King Cole records to relax. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=126110985
The Historic Costume and Textile Collection has been one of the best-kept secrets at Uinversity of Delaware for nearly 40 years, but Dilia López-Gydosh is hoping to change that. López-Gydosh, assistant professor of fashion and apparel studies who co-manages the collection with Prof. Belinda Orzada, describes it as a treasure trove that provides a fascinating look at the aesthetics, values and technology of past generations. “It’s a world full of different people out there, but one thing we all have in common is that we all wear some type of clothing,” López-Gydosh says as she points to a set of beautiful Japanese kimonos recently donated by Betty Fiske, AS ’83M. The collection serves as a valuable educational resource, not only for fashion design and merchandising students, but also for students in art conservation, history, museum studies and journalism, whose research is aided by a searchable computer database.
http://www.udel.edu/udmessenger/vol18no1/stories/feature_historic_costumes.html
Shen Yun Performing Arts is a Chinese dance and music company that performs around the world. http://www.shenyunperformingarts.org/ Click on calendar at bottom right to find a concert near you. The group will be in Toledo on May 14 at Stranahan Theater.
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
Earth Day, April 22--tips from a writer
• Refill your printer cartridges, and donate them to a good cause when refilling is no longer an option;
• Purchase office supplies made of recycled, and recyclable, materials;
• Opt for energy-efficient electronic gadgets;
• Bring your own coffee/tea mug.
• Grow something outdoors. Many writers find that their creativity blossoms when they garden.
• Ride a bike to your favorite writing spot.
• Use a refillable water bottle to stay hydrated. The human brain is approximately 70% water by weight.
• Read something that inspires you. My selections for this week are Thoreau’s Walden and Going Green - True Tales from Gleaners, Scavengers, and Dumpster Divers, edited by Northern Colorado Writers member Laura Pritchett.
On Thursday, in observance of Earth Day, I’m going to turn off my computer, go outside (weather permitting), and write with pen and paper. Yep, real old school. And if I get stuck, I’ll play solitaire using an actual deck of cards.
The Icelandic volcano eruption is a perfect storm, a combination of wind and ice conditions that has turned an ordinary eruption into a crisis. Last month, the same volcano erupted harmlessly. But last week, magma found a second pathway to the surface, this time beneath a glacier. When hot magma touched ice, it instantly created a burst of steam and produced glassified silicates. The sudden expansion of steam created a colossal explosion that sent billowing clouds of glassified silica ash three to five miles into the air over Europe. The ongoing eruptions of the volcano, which continue unabated, are caused by a series of steam explosions as magma continues to encounter glacial ice. There are 35 active volcanoes in Iceland, and one eruption has been known to set off another. The worse case happened in 1783, with an eruption lasting eight months. That eruption killed off much of the livestock and agriculture in Iceland, which in turn caused the death of about 25% of the island's population. The eruption also eventually killed tens of thousands of people on the Continent. Benjamin Franklin was in Paris at the time and was one of the first to connect the rapid change in local weather that collapsed European agriculture with a volcanic explosion. 1783 became known as the horrible "year without summer." Europe plunged into a period of poverty that lasted for years. Some historians believe that this may have contributed to the French Revolution of 1789.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB20001424052748704671904575194100682717346.html
College professors are anything but LOL at their students' recent writing habits. Not only are instructors not laughing out loud -- shortened to LOL in text messages and online chats -- at the technology-oriented shorthand that has seeped into academic papers, many of them also sternly telling students to stop using the new language even in less formal writing. The breakdown in language skills is an odd phenomenon given how much time children and young adults spend in front of the computer, said Marcia Linn, who teaches about technology in education at UC Berkeley's Graduate School of Education. "Writing has actually increased as an activity," she said. "Standards are another issue. Maybe we haven't quite thought it through well enough in an academic setting." Many students communicate constantly via text and instant messaging, so it can be difficult to leave the tech lingo behind in class, said Mohammed Shahid Beig, a senior and student-body president at Cal State East Bay. The phenomenon appears to be widespread. Instructors at Sonoma State, Holy Names and San Francisco State universities have grumbled about text-speak showing up in assignments, and the president of the statewide faculty senate for community colleges, Mission College professor Jane Patton, said she has heard the same complaints. College always has been a place for students to learn how to communicate appropriately, Patton said, and teaching them to can the tech-speak is merely the latest step in that education. The shorthand often consists of shortened variations of common words -- "u" instead of you, or "ur" for your. Text speak may be appropriate for a quick note to a friend, but professors are increasingly stymied by how casually students are using the terms. The introduction of such casual language into term papers is a sea change from the days when nearly all students addressed their instructors as "professor" or "doctor." More faculty members ask students to call them by their first names, but many are drawing the line at texting shorthand or even emoticons. http://www.contracostatimes.com/ci_14856449
An emoticon is a textual expression representing the face of a writer's mood or facial expression. Emoticons are often used to alert a responder to the tenor or temper of a statement, and can change and improve interpretation of plain text. The word is a portmanteau of the English words emotion (or emote) and icon. In web forums, instant messengers and online games, text emoticons are often automatically replaced with small corresponding images, which came to be called emoticons as well. The National Telegraphic Review and Operators Guide in April 1857 documented the use of the number 73 in Morse code to express "love and kisses" (later reduced to the more formal "best regards"). Dodge's Manual in 1908 documented the reintroduction of "love and kisses" as the number 88. Gajadhar and Green comment that both Morse code abbreviations are more succinct than modern abbreviations such as LOL.
Visit famous art museums
The Louvre: http://www.louvre.fr/llv/musee/alaune.jsp?bmLocale=en
The State Hermitage Museum http://hermitagemuseum.org/html_En/index.html
Smithsonian (19 museums, 136 million items) http://si.edu/
• Refill your printer cartridges, and donate them to a good cause when refilling is no longer an option;
• Purchase office supplies made of recycled, and recyclable, materials;
• Opt for energy-efficient electronic gadgets;
• Bring your own coffee/tea mug.
• Grow something outdoors. Many writers find that their creativity blossoms when they garden.
• Ride a bike to your favorite writing spot.
• Use a refillable water bottle to stay hydrated. The human brain is approximately 70% water by weight.
• Read something that inspires you. My selections for this week are Thoreau’s Walden and Going Green - True Tales from Gleaners, Scavengers, and Dumpster Divers, edited by Northern Colorado Writers member Laura Pritchett.
On Thursday, in observance of Earth Day, I’m going to turn off my computer, go outside (weather permitting), and write with pen and paper. Yep, real old school. And if I get stuck, I’ll play solitaire using an actual deck of cards.
The Icelandic volcano eruption is a perfect storm, a combination of wind and ice conditions that has turned an ordinary eruption into a crisis. Last month, the same volcano erupted harmlessly. But last week, magma found a second pathway to the surface, this time beneath a glacier. When hot magma touched ice, it instantly created a burst of steam and produced glassified silicates. The sudden expansion of steam created a colossal explosion that sent billowing clouds of glassified silica ash three to five miles into the air over Europe. The ongoing eruptions of the volcano, which continue unabated, are caused by a series of steam explosions as magma continues to encounter glacial ice. There are 35 active volcanoes in Iceland, and one eruption has been known to set off another. The worse case happened in 1783, with an eruption lasting eight months. That eruption killed off much of the livestock and agriculture in Iceland, which in turn caused the death of about 25% of the island's population. The eruption also eventually killed tens of thousands of people on the Continent. Benjamin Franklin was in Paris at the time and was one of the first to connect the rapid change in local weather that collapsed European agriculture with a volcanic explosion. 1783 became known as the horrible "year without summer." Europe plunged into a period of poverty that lasted for years. Some historians believe that this may have contributed to the French Revolution of 1789.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB20001424052748704671904575194100682717346.html
College professors are anything but LOL at their students' recent writing habits. Not only are instructors not laughing out loud -- shortened to LOL in text messages and online chats -- at the technology-oriented shorthand that has seeped into academic papers, many of them also sternly telling students to stop using the new language even in less formal writing. The breakdown in language skills is an odd phenomenon given how much time children and young adults spend in front of the computer, said Marcia Linn, who teaches about technology in education at UC Berkeley's Graduate School of Education. "Writing has actually increased as an activity," she said. "Standards are another issue. Maybe we haven't quite thought it through well enough in an academic setting." Many students communicate constantly via text and instant messaging, so it can be difficult to leave the tech lingo behind in class, said Mohammed Shahid Beig, a senior and student-body president at Cal State East Bay. The phenomenon appears to be widespread. Instructors at Sonoma State, Holy Names and San Francisco State universities have grumbled about text-speak showing up in assignments, and the president of the statewide faculty senate for community colleges, Mission College professor Jane Patton, said she has heard the same complaints. College always has been a place for students to learn how to communicate appropriately, Patton said, and teaching them to can the tech-speak is merely the latest step in that education. The shorthand often consists of shortened variations of common words -- "u" instead of you, or "ur" for your. Text speak may be appropriate for a quick note to a friend, but professors are increasingly stymied by how casually students are using the terms. The introduction of such casual language into term papers is a sea change from the days when nearly all students addressed their instructors as "professor" or "doctor." More faculty members ask students to call them by their first names, but many are drawing the line at texting shorthand or even emoticons. http://www.contracostatimes.com/ci_14856449
An emoticon is a textual expression representing the face of a writer's mood or facial expression. Emoticons are often used to alert a responder to the tenor or temper of a statement, and can change and improve interpretation of plain text. The word is a portmanteau of the English words emotion (or emote) and icon. In web forums, instant messengers and online games, text emoticons are often automatically replaced with small corresponding images, which came to be called emoticons as well. The National Telegraphic Review and Operators Guide in April 1857 documented the use of the number 73 in Morse code to express "love and kisses" (later reduced to the more formal "best regards"). Dodge's Manual in 1908 documented the reintroduction of "love and kisses" as the number 88. Gajadhar and Green comment that both Morse code abbreviations are more succinct than modern abbreviations such as LOL.
Visit famous art museums
The Louvre: http://www.louvre.fr/llv/musee/alaune.jsp?bmLocale=en
The State Hermitage Museum http://hermitagemuseum.org/html_En/index.html
Smithsonian (19 museums, 136 million items) http://si.edu/
Monday, April 19, 2010
Initialisms are made from the first letter (or letters) of a string of words, but can't be pronounced as words themselves. Examples include FBI, CIA, FYI (for your information), and PR (public relations).
Acronyms are made from the first letter (or letters) of a string of words but are pronounced as if they were words themselves. Examples include NASA, NIMBY (not in my backyard), and hazmat* (hazardous materials).
Abbreviations are any shortened form of a word. http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/acronyms-grammar.aspx
Carthage was the world’s first great city to have indoor plumbing, which supplied a constant stream of water to the world’s first high-rise apartment towers. The city was protected by a massive harbor that held hundreds of war ships–which formed the core of antiquity’s most formidable navy. And to protect the capital, an intricate series of fortifications were erected that stretched for more than 23 miles, and housed a standing army of more than 20,000 men.
For generations, Carthage defined power, strength and ingenuity for the ancient world. But by the third century B.C., the empire’s existence was threatened by another emerging superpower across the pond– Rome. The two civilizations clashed in a series of three epic wars; a to–the–death struggle for supremacy that would last 118 years. When all was said and done, it would be the Romans who would inherit unrivalled status as the world’s lone superpower, and go on to redefine the meaning of power and ingenuity.
http://www.history.ca/ontv/titledetails.aspx?titleid=104661
Oceanographers hoping to create a comprehensive census of marine life are deciding that their task is far bigger than imagined. During some 300 voyages scientists of the 10-year Census of Marine Life have been sampling plankton, microbes and sediment-dwellers, but the rate at which they made new discoveries—including a bacterial community the size of Greece on the seabed near Chile—is forcing them to reappraise their estimates of how much they know.
“There are many more species than we thought there were,” Dr Ann Bucklin, head of the University of Connecticut Marine Sciences Department, who headed up the team investigating zooplankton, told The Times. It turns out the ocean food web is much more complex than we thought it was, in terms of the number of different species.” http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/science/biology_evolution/article7101533.ece
Q: What was the highest number of unemployed people during the Depression of the 1930s?
A: The unemployment rate spiked at 24.9 percent in 1933. The number of out-of-work people swelled to 12.8 million, while 38.8 million people had jobs. The way the government measured employment was different then. For instance, figures are based on workers 14 years of age and older. Today's figures are based on workers 16 years and older. As of this March, 138.9 million people were employed, while 15 million were without jobs. The unemployment rate stands at 9.7 percent, close to its highest levels since the early 1980s. The labor force, however, has tripled since 1933. That's why the rate is lower now, even though there are more people out of work. -- Jeannine Aversa, AP, Washington.
Q: When was the original "Mickey Mouse Club" broadcast?
A: It was on ABC-TV from Oct. 3, 1955 to Sept. 25, 1959. The final season was almost entirely repackaged material. http://www.thecourier.com/Opinion/columns/2010/Apr/JU/ar_JU_041910.asp?d=041910,2010,Apr,19&c=c_13
100 Years of Consumer Spending: "Spending habits have changed significantly over the last century. We have seen great increases in the percentage of income that is allocated to housing and transportation, relative spending on food and clothing has fallen. Here is a full breakdown of how consumer spending has changed over the last 100 years."
U.S. Department of State Self Study Guides for 35 Countries
"The U.S. Department of State provided these thirty five Self Study Guides in response to a FOIA request. This series of study guides, each covering a country or geographic area, were prepared for the use of USAID staff assigned to temporary duty in those countries. The guides are designed to allow individuals to familiarize themselves with the country or area in which they will be posted. These guides range in date from 2000 - 2006." [via governmentattic.org FOIA request]
Pew Report: Distrust, Discontent, Anger and Partisan Rancor The People and Their Government, April 18, 2010
"By almost every conceivable measure Americans are less positive and more critical of government these days. A new Pew Research Center survey finds a perfect storm of conditions associated with distrust of government – a dismal economy, an unhappy public, bitter partisan-based backlash, and epic discontent with Congress and elected officials. Rather than an activist government to deal with the nation’s top problems, the public now wants government reformed and growing numbers want its power curtailed. With the exception of greater regulation of major financial institutions, there is less of an appetite for government solutions to the nation’s problems – including more government control over the economy – than there was when Barack Obama first took office."
The stadium effect is a phenomenon observed in strong tropical cyclones. It is a fairly common event, where the clouds of the eyewall curve outward from the surface with height. This gives the eye an appearance resembling an open dome from the air. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eye_(cyclone)#Stadium_effect
Today I'm posting my 400th blog at: http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com
Acronyms are made from the first letter (or letters) of a string of words but are pronounced as if they were words themselves. Examples include NASA, NIMBY (not in my backyard), and hazmat* (hazardous materials).
Abbreviations are any shortened form of a word. http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/acronyms-grammar.aspx
Carthage was the world’s first great city to have indoor plumbing, which supplied a constant stream of water to the world’s first high-rise apartment towers. The city was protected by a massive harbor that held hundreds of war ships–which formed the core of antiquity’s most formidable navy. And to protect the capital, an intricate series of fortifications were erected that stretched for more than 23 miles, and housed a standing army of more than 20,000 men.
For generations, Carthage defined power, strength and ingenuity for the ancient world. But by the third century B.C., the empire’s existence was threatened by another emerging superpower across the pond– Rome. The two civilizations clashed in a series of three epic wars; a to–the–death struggle for supremacy that would last 118 years. When all was said and done, it would be the Romans who would inherit unrivalled status as the world’s lone superpower, and go on to redefine the meaning of power and ingenuity.
http://www.history.ca/ontv/titledetails.aspx?titleid=104661
Oceanographers hoping to create a comprehensive census of marine life are deciding that their task is far bigger than imagined. During some 300 voyages scientists of the 10-year Census of Marine Life have been sampling plankton, microbes and sediment-dwellers, but the rate at which they made new discoveries—including a bacterial community the size of Greece on the seabed near Chile—is forcing them to reappraise their estimates of how much they know.
“There are many more species than we thought there were,” Dr Ann Bucklin, head of the University of Connecticut Marine Sciences Department, who headed up the team investigating zooplankton, told The Times. It turns out the ocean food web is much more complex than we thought it was, in terms of the number of different species.” http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/science/biology_evolution/article7101533.ece
Q: What was the highest number of unemployed people during the Depression of the 1930s?
A: The unemployment rate spiked at 24.9 percent in 1933. The number of out-of-work people swelled to 12.8 million, while 38.8 million people had jobs. The way the government measured employment was different then. For instance, figures are based on workers 14 years of age and older. Today's figures are based on workers 16 years and older. As of this March, 138.9 million people were employed, while 15 million were without jobs. The unemployment rate stands at 9.7 percent, close to its highest levels since the early 1980s. The labor force, however, has tripled since 1933. That's why the rate is lower now, even though there are more people out of work. -- Jeannine Aversa, AP, Washington.
Q: When was the original "Mickey Mouse Club" broadcast?
A: It was on ABC-TV from Oct. 3, 1955 to Sept. 25, 1959. The final season was almost entirely repackaged material. http://www.thecourier.com/Opinion/columns/2010/Apr/JU/ar_JU_041910.asp?d=041910,2010,Apr,19&c=c_13
100 Years of Consumer Spending: "Spending habits have changed significantly over the last century. We have seen great increases in the percentage of income that is allocated to housing and transportation, relative spending on food and clothing has fallen. Here is a full breakdown of how consumer spending has changed over the last 100 years."
U.S. Department of State Self Study Guides for 35 Countries
"The U.S. Department of State provided these thirty five Self Study Guides in response to a FOIA request. This series of study guides, each covering a country or geographic area, were prepared for the use of USAID staff assigned to temporary duty in those countries. The guides are designed to allow individuals to familiarize themselves with the country or area in which they will be posted. These guides range in date from 2000 - 2006." [via governmentattic.org FOIA request]
Pew Report: Distrust, Discontent, Anger and Partisan Rancor The People and Their Government, April 18, 2010
"By almost every conceivable measure Americans are less positive and more critical of government these days. A new Pew Research Center survey finds a perfect storm of conditions associated with distrust of government – a dismal economy, an unhappy public, bitter partisan-based backlash, and epic discontent with Congress and elected officials. Rather than an activist government to deal with the nation’s top problems, the public now wants government reformed and growing numbers want its power curtailed. With the exception of greater regulation of major financial institutions, there is less of an appetite for government solutions to the nation’s problems – including more government control over the economy – than there was when Barack Obama first took office."
The stadium effect is a phenomenon observed in strong tropical cyclones. It is a fairly common event, where the clouds of the eyewall curve outward from the surface with height. This gives the eye an appearance resembling an open dome from the air. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eye_(cyclone)#Stadium_effect
Today I'm posting my 400th blog at: http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com
Friday, April 16, 2010
Air travel chaos across the globe deepened on April 16 as a vast, high-altitude plume of volcanic ash from Iceland spread further across northern and central Europe, forcing authorities to close airspace and ground airplanes to forestall potentially catastrophic damage to jet engines. Most of Europe’s major airports—key hubs for international travelers—were closed. Thousands of flights had been canceled since the massive disruption began on April 15, stranding or delaying millions of passengers from North America to Asia. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/17/world/europe/17ash.html?src=me
Reader feedback to History of Taxation
I am reading Lords of the Sea by John Hale. His theme is that it was Athens' navy of triremes that leveled society, brought democracy, and gave Athens considerable distinction in the 5th century B.C. To fund resistance to the great Persian empire, and later to subdue and bring the Aegean and Black Sea shoreline communities into Athens' influence and control, the rich citizens were expected to take personal responsibility to build, maintain, and pay for a staff of rowers, steersmen, and officers for a trireme. This gave the lower class (the Thetes) a source of income and productive employment that translated into political and social power in Athenian society. Rowers were not slaves chained to their oars, but trained and willing paid volunteers for the greater glory of their state. It is said that they could sustain speeds of 10 knots, which, with competent steersmen, made a trireme a very effective instrument of war as it maneuvered about ramming Phoenician opponents.
A major source of Athens' (Attica) income was from silver mines, waterborne trade, and tribute from colonies and affiliated states. This income seems to have been regarded as community property and the democratic assembly regularly voted to distribute it in larger portion to the rich so they could meet their naval obligations. "Trickle down"? Progressive taxation? The result was a great leveler and generator of wealth for everybody. Then was an era of extraordinary leaders and thinkers among them -- philosophers, playwrights, military strategists, artists, etc.
In another book about the interplay of rum and American history, I learned that the Molasses Act was enacted to protect Britain's lucrative rum industry in the Caribbean. It seems that New York and Boston had become major producers of rum for local consumption -- the North American colonists were quite fond of rum.
U.S. News surveyed 184 accredited programs to get the information used in the ranking of top law schools. See best law school rankings for 2010: http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-law-schools/rankings
Toponyms are words derived from places. Whether it's when we drink champagne (from Champagne, France), commit a solecism (after Soloi, an Athenian colony in Cilicia), or when we meet our Waterloo (Waterloo, Belgium), we are (perhaps unknowingly) alluding to a distant land and its history.
shanghai (SHANG-hy) verb tr.
To recruit someone forcibly or by fraud into doing something.
After Shanghai, a major seaport in east China. The term derives from the former practice (mid-1800s to early 1900) of luring men, by the use of drugs, liquor, or violence into serving on US ships destined for East Asia. People who recruited sailors in this manner were called crimps. The practice ended with The Seamen's Act of 1915 that made crimping a federal crime.
Munich (MYOO-nik) noun
A shortsighted or dishonorable appeasement.
After Munich, Germany, the site of a pact signed by Great Britain, France, Italy, and Germany on Sep 29, 1938 that permitted annexation of Czechoslovakia's Sudetenland by Nazi Germany. WWII began a year later; Sudetenland was restored to Czechoslovakia after the war. The name Munich is an exonym (a name used by outsiders). The local name (endonym) for Munich is München, derived from Mönch (monk) as the city was founded by Benedictine monks in 1158.
bayonet (BAY-uh-nit, -net, bay-uh-NET) noun
A blade attached to the muzzle of a gun, used in close combat.
verb: To fight or kill with bayonet.
After Bayonne, a town in southwest France, where the weapon originated or was first used in early 17th century. A Word A Day with Anu Garg
How many S sounds in the following statements?
Simplicity is elegance. Respect relaxes and satisfies. Civility lessens instances of polarization.
"Communities thrive @ your library®." Library users abound.
THOUGHTS FROM LYNNE
A listener recently wrote confused about the varieties of peas in the market—English peas, sugar snap peas, and Chinese snow peas (the prime pea trio)—and wondered if they are cooked the same way. Sugar snaps and snow peas have edible pods, English peas do not. The sugar in English peas starts turning to starch once they're picked, so you have to get them fresh from the vine. Sugar snaps hold their sweetness for a couple of weeks after harvest providing they are kept cold. Chinese snow peas are less sweet, with flat pods and small bumps of immature peas. The Splendid Table April 14, 2010
Reader feedback to History of Taxation
I am reading Lords of the Sea by John Hale. His theme is that it was Athens' navy of triremes that leveled society, brought democracy, and gave Athens considerable distinction in the 5th century B.C. To fund resistance to the great Persian empire, and later to subdue and bring the Aegean and Black Sea shoreline communities into Athens' influence and control, the rich citizens were expected to take personal responsibility to build, maintain, and pay for a staff of rowers, steersmen, and officers for a trireme. This gave the lower class (the Thetes) a source of income and productive employment that translated into political and social power in Athenian society. Rowers were not slaves chained to their oars, but trained and willing paid volunteers for the greater glory of their state. It is said that they could sustain speeds of 10 knots, which, with competent steersmen, made a trireme a very effective instrument of war as it maneuvered about ramming Phoenician opponents.
A major source of Athens' (Attica) income was from silver mines, waterborne trade, and tribute from colonies and affiliated states. This income seems to have been regarded as community property and the democratic assembly regularly voted to distribute it in larger portion to the rich so they could meet their naval obligations. "Trickle down"? Progressive taxation? The result was a great leveler and generator of wealth for everybody. Then was an era of extraordinary leaders and thinkers among them -- philosophers, playwrights, military strategists, artists, etc.
In another book about the interplay of rum and American history, I learned that the Molasses Act was enacted to protect Britain's lucrative rum industry in the Caribbean. It seems that New York and Boston had become major producers of rum for local consumption -- the North American colonists were quite fond of rum.
U.S. News surveyed 184 accredited programs to get the information used in the ranking of top law schools. See best law school rankings for 2010: http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-law-schools/rankings
Toponyms are words derived from places. Whether it's when we drink champagne (from Champagne, France), commit a solecism (after Soloi, an Athenian colony in Cilicia), or when we meet our Waterloo (Waterloo, Belgium), we are (perhaps unknowingly) alluding to a distant land and its history.
shanghai (SHANG-hy) verb tr.
To recruit someone forcibly or by fraud into doing something.
After Shanghai, a major seaport in east China. The term derives from the former practice (mid-1800s to early 1900) of luring men, by the use of drugs, liquor, or violence into serving on US ships destined for East Asia. People who recruited sailors in this manner were called crimps. The practice ended with The Seamen's Act of 1915 that made crimping a federal crime.
Munich (MYOO-nik) noun
A shortsighted or dishonorable appeasement.
After Munich, Germany, the site of a pact signed by Great Britain, France, Italy, and Germany on Sep 29, 1938 that permitted annexation of Czechoslovakia's Sudetenland by Nazi Germany. WWII began a year later; Sudetenland was restored to Czechoslovakia after the war. The name Munich is an exonym (a name used by outsiders). The local name (endonym) for Munich is München, derived from Mönch (monk) as the city was founded by Benedictine monks in 1158.
bayonet (BAY-uh-nit, -net, bay-uh-NET) noun
A blade attached to the muzzle of a gun, used in close combat.
verb: To fight or kill with bayonet.
After Bayonne, a town in southwest France, where the weapon originated or was first used in early 17th century. A Word A Day with Anu Garg
How many S sounds in the following statements?
Simplicity is elegance. Respect relaxes and satisfies. Civility lessens instances of polarization.
"Communities thrive @ your library®." Library users abound.
THOUGHTS FROM LYNNE
A listener recently wrote confused about the varieties of peas in the market—English peas, sugar snap peas, and Chinese snow peas (the prime pea trio)—and wondered if they are cooked the same way. Sugar snaps and snow peas have edible pods, English peas do not. The sugar in English peas starts turning to starch once they're picked, so you have to get them fresh from the vine. Sugar snaps hold their sweetness for a couple of weeks after harvest providing they are kept cold. Chinese snow peas are less sweet, with flat pods and small bumps of immature peas. The Splendid Table April 14, 2010
Thursday, April 15, 2010
History of Taxation
EGYPT During the various reins of the Egyptian Pharaohs tax collectors were known as scribes. During one period the scribes imposed a tax on cooking oil. To insure that citizens were not avoiding the cooking oil tax scribes would audit households to insure that appropriate amounts of cooking oil were consumed and that citizens were not using leavings generated by other cooking processes as a substitute for the taxed oil.
GREECE In times of war the Athenians imposed a tax referred to as eisphora. No one was exempt from the tax which was used to pay for special wartime expenditures. The Greeks are one of the few societies that were able to rescind the tax once the emergency was over. When additional resources were gained by the war effort the resources were used to refund the tax. Athenians imposed a monthly poll tax on foreigners, people who did not have both an Athenian Mother and Father, of one drachma for men and a half drachma for women. The tax was referred to as metoikion
ROMAN EMPIRE The earliest taxes in Rome were customs duties on imports and exports called portoria.
GREAT BRITAIN The first tax assessed in England was during occupation by the Roman Empire.
COLONIAL AMERICA Colonists were paying taxes under the Molasses Act which was modified in 1764 to include import duties on foreign molasses, sugar, wine and other commodities. The new act was known as the Sugar Act. Because the Sugar Act did not raise substantial revenue amounts, the Stamp Act was added in 1765. The Stamp Act imposed a direct tax on all newspapers printed in the colonies and most commercial and legal documents.
POST-REVOLUTION AMERICA In 1794 Settlers west of the Alleghenies, in opposition to Alexander Hamilton's excise tax of 1791, started what is now known as the "Whiskey Rebellion" The excise tax was considered discriminatory and the settlers rioted against the tax collectors. President Washington eventually sent troops to quell the riots. Although two settlers were eventually convicted of treason, the President granted each a pardon. In 1798 Congress enacted the Federal Property Tax to pay for the expansion of the Army and Navy in the event of possible war with France. In the same year, John Fries began what is referred to as the "Fries Rebellion," in opposition to the new tax. No one was injured or killed in the insurrection and Fries was arrested for treason but eventually pardoned by President Adams in 1800. Surprisingly, Fries was the leader of a militia unit called out to suppress the "Whiskey Rebellion." The first income tax suggested in the United States was during the War of 1812. The tax was based on the British Tax Act of 1798 and applied progressive rates to income. The rates were .08% on income above £60 and 10 percent on income above £200. The tax was developed in 1814 but was never imposed because the treaty of Ghent was signed in 1815 ending hostilities and the need for additional revenue. The Tax Act of 1861 proposed that "there shall be levied, collected, and paid, upon annual income of every person residing in the U.S. whether derived from any kind of property, or from any professional trade, employment, or vocation carried on in the United States or elsewhere, or from any source whatever. The 1861 Tax Act was passed but never put in force. Rates under the Act were 3% on income above $800 and 5% on income of individuals living outside the U.S. The Tax Act of 1862 was passed and signed by President Lincoln July 1 1862. The rates were 3% on income above $600 and 5% on income above $10,000. The rent or rental value of your home could be deducted from income in determining the tax liability. The Commissioner of Revenue stated "The people of this country have accepted it with cheerfulness, to meet a temporary exigency, and it has excited no serious complaint in its administration." This acceptance was primarily due to the need for revenue to finance the Civil War. http://www.taxworld.org/History/TaxHistory.htm
More than 1,000km from the event itself, Iceland's second volcanic eruption in the space of a month has caused flights in the UK to be grounded. Scientists and aviation authorities are continuing to monitor a plume of volcanic ash that is moving southwards over the UK. The entirety of UK airspace will be closed from noon on Thursday, April 15, National Air Traffic Services said: "No flights will be permitted in UK controlled airspace other than emergency situations." The eruption ejected the plume, which is made up of fine rock particles, up to 11km into the atmosphere. "This ash cloud is now drifting with the high altitude winds," said Dr David Rothery, a volcano researcher from the UK's Open University. "The main mass is over Scandinavia, but it is also over the north of Great Britain and is likely to spread south over the whole island by the end of [Thursday]." The plume is so high that it will neither be visible nor pose a threat to humans on the ground, although Dr Rothery added that we may have a "spectacularly red sunset" on Thursday evening. The major concern is that the ash could pose a very serious hazard to aircraft engines. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8621992.stm
The first three digits in a Social Security Number (SSN) are assigned by the geographical region in which the person was residing at the time he/she obtained a number. Generally, numbers were assigned beginning in the northeast and moving westward. So people on the east coast have the lowest numbers and those on the west coast have the highest numbers. The remaining six digits in the number are more or less randomly assigned and were organized to facilitate the early manual bookkeeping operations associated with the creation of Social Security in the 1930s. The Social Security Act was signed by FDR on 8/14/35. Taxes were collected for the first time in January 1937 and the first one-time, lump-sum payments were made that same month. Regular ongoing monthly benefits started in January 1940. Find 29 Q & A at: http://www.ssa.gov/history/hfaq.html
Get information at Social Security Online: http://www.ssa.gov/
List of all the area numbers for assigned social security numbers. The area number is the first three digits of the number. It generally depends on the recipient's state of residence when the number was issued. There are some exceptions, however, such as a set of numbers which were assigned to railroad employees prior to the 1970s. http://socialsecuritynumerology.com/prefixes.php
Group numbers represent the order in which SSNs for an area are assigned. They are issued in following order: odd numbers 01 to 09, even numbers 10 to 98, even numbers, 02 to 08, and odd numbers 11 to 99. 00 group numbers are never assigned. Group numbers allow you to determine relative chronological order of cards from the same region. Serial Numbers are assigned based on order as well. However, unlike group numbers, serial numbers are always assigned in a strictly increasing manner. 0000 is never assigned. See easy-to-read map at:
http://www.ischool.utexas.edu/~jpwms/mixednumbers/ssn.html
Not many people in the computer world remembered H. Edward Roberts (1941-2010) , not after he walked away from the industry more than three decades ago to become a country doctor in Georgia. Bill Gates remembered him, though. As Dr. Roberts lay dying in a hospital in Macon, Ga., suffering from pneumonia, Mr. Gates flew down to be at his bedside. Mr. Gates knew what many had forgotten: that Dr. Roberts had made an early and enduring contribution to modern computing. He created the MITS Altair, the first inexpensive general-purpose microcomputer, a device that could be programmed to do all manner of tasks. For that achievement, some historians say Dr. Roberts deserves to be recognized as the inventor of the personal computer.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/03/business/03roberts.html
The Week contest April 2, 2010
We asked you to come up with a reality show even more grotesquely compelling than France’s “Game of Death.”
THE WINNER: Cannibal: Are you the winner? Or dinner?
SECOND PLACE: Musical Electric Chairs
THIRD PLACE: The Bachelor: OJ Simpson See runners-up at: http://theweek.com/article/index/201503/The_Week_contest_Reality_Show__Apr_2_2010
Quotes about taxation
Today, it takes more brains and effort to make out the income-tax form than it does to make the income. ~Alfred E. Neuman
It's income tax time again, Americans: time to gather up those receipts, get out those tax forms, sharpen up that pencil, and stab yourself in the aorta. ~Dave Barry
Income tax returns are the most imaginative fiction being written today. ~Herman Wouk
Be wary of strong drink. It can make you shoot at tax collectors... and miss. ~Robert Heinlein
The United States has a system of taxation by confession. ~Hugo Black
What at first was plunder assumed the softer name of revenue. ~Thomas Paine
Did you ever notice that when you put the words "The" and "IRS" together, it spells "THEIRS?" ~Author Unknown
Taxes, after all, are dues that we pay for the privileges of membership in an organized society. ~Franklin D. Roosevelt http://www.quotegarden.com/taxes.html
EGYPT During the various reins of the Egyptian Pharaohs tax collectors were known as scribes. During one period the scribes imposed a tax on cooking oil. To insure that citizens were not avoiding the cooking oil tax scribes would audit households to insure that appropriate amounts of cooking oil were consumed and that citizens were not using leavings generated by other cooking processes as a substitute for the taxed oil.
GREECE In times of war the Athenians imposed a tax referred to as eisphora. No one was exempt from the tax which was used to pay for special wartime expenditures. The Greeks are one of the few societies that were able to rescind the tax once the emergency was over. When additional resources were gained by the war effort the resources were used to refund the tax. Athenians imposed a monthly poll tax on foreigners, people who did not have both an Athenian Mother and Father, of one drachma for men and a half drachma for women. The tax was referred to as metoikion
ROMAN EMPIRE The earliest taxes in Rome were customs duties on imports and exports called portoria.
GREAT BRITAIN The first tax assessed in England was during occupation by the Roman Empire.
COLONIAL AMERICA Colonists were paying taxes under the Molasses Act which was modified in 1764 to include import duties on foreign molasses, sugar, wine and other commodities. The new act was known as the Sugar Act. Because the Sugar Act did not raise substantial revenue amounts, the Stamp Act was added in 1765. The Stamp Act imposed a direct tax on all newspapers printed in the colonies and most commercial and legal documents.
POST-REVOLUTION AMERICA In 1794 Settlers west of the Alleghenies, in opposition to Alexander Hamilton's excise tax of 1791, started what is now known as the "Whiskey Rebellion" The excise tax was considered discriminatory and the settlers rioted against the tax collectors. President Washington eventually sent troops to quell the riots. Although two settlers were eventually convicted of treason, the President granted each a pardon. In 1798 Congress enacted the Federal Property Tax to pay for the expansion of the Army and Navy in the event of possible war with France. In the same year, John Fries began what is referred to as the "Fries Rebellion," in opposition to the new tax. No one was injured or killed in the insurrection and Fries was arrested for treason but eventually pardoned by President Adams in 1800. Surprisingly, Fries was the leader of a militia unit called out to suppress the "Whiskey Rebellion." The first income tax suggested in the United States was during the War of 1812. The tax was based on the British Tax Act of 1798 and applied progressive rates to income. The rates were .08% on income above £60 and 10 percent on income above £200. The tax was developed in 1814 but was never imposed because the treaty of Ghent was signed in 1815 ending hostilities and the need for additional revenue. The Tax Act of 1861 proposed that "there shall be levied, collected, and paid, upon annual income of every person residing in the U.S. whether derived from any kind of property, or from any professional trade, employment, or vocation carried on in the United States or elsewhere, or from any source whatever. The 1861 Tax Act was passed but never put in force. Rates under the Act were 3% on income above $800 and 5% on income of individuals living outside the U.S. The Tax Act of 1862 was passed and signed by President Lincoln July 1 1862. The rates were 3% on income above $600 and 5% on income above $10,000. The rent or rental value of your home could be deducted from income in determining the tax liability. The Commissioner of Revenue stated "The people of this country have accepted it with cheerfulness, to meet a temporary exigency, and it has excited no serious complaint in its administration." This acceptance was primarily due to the need for revenue to finance the Civil War. http://www.taxworld.org/History/TaxHistory.htm
More than 1,000km from the event itself, Iceland's second volcanic eruption in the space of a month has caused flights in the UK to be grounded. Scientists and aviation authorities are continuing to monitor a plume of volcanic ash that is moving southwards over the UK. The entirety of UK airspace will be closed from noon on Thursday, April 15, National Air Traffic Services said: "No flights will be permitted in UK controlled airspace other than emergency situations." The eruption ejected the plume, which is made up of fine rock particles, up to 11km into the atmosphere. "This ash cloud is now drifting with the high altitude winds," said Dr David Rothery, a volcano researcher from the UK's Open University. "The main mass is over Scandinavia, but it is also over the north of Great Britain and is likely to spread south over the whole island by the end of [Thursday]." The plume is so high that it will neither be visible nor pose a threat to humans on the ground, although Dr Rothery added that we may have a "spectacularly red sunset" on Thursday evening. The major concern is that the ash could pose a very serious hazard to aircraft engines. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8621992.stm
The first three digits in a Social Security Number (SSN) are assigned by the geographical region in which the person was residing at the time he/she obtained a number. Generally, numbers were assigned beginning in the northeast and moving westward. So people on the east coast have the lowest numbers and those on the west coast have the highest numbers. The remaining six digits in the number are more or less randomly assigned and were organized to facilitate the early manual bookkeeping operations associated with the creation of Social Security in the 1930s. The Social Security Act was signed by FDR on 8/14/35. Taxes were collected for the first time in January 1937 and the first one-time, lump-sum payments were made that same month. Regular ongoing monthly benefits started in January 1940. Find 29 Q & A at: http://www.ssa.gov/history/hfaq.html
Get information at Social Security Online: http://www.ssa.gov/
List of all the area numbers for assigned social security numbers. The area number is the first three digits of the number. It generally depends on the recipient's state of residence when the number was issued. There are some exceptions, however, such as a set of numbers which were assigned to railroad employees prior to the 1970s. http://socialsecuritynumerology.com/prefixes.php
Group numbers represent the order in which SSNs for an area are assigned. They are issued in following order: odd numbers 01 to 09, even numbers 10 to 98, even numbers, 02 to 08, and odd numbers 11 to 99. 00 group numbers are never assigned. Group numbers allow you to determine relative chronological order of cards from the same region. Serial Numbers are assigned based on order as well. However, unlike group numbers, serial numbers are always assigned in a strictly increasing manner. 0000 is never assigned. See easy-to-read map at:
http://www.ischool.utexas.edu/~jpwms/mixednumbers/ssn.html
Not many people in the computer world remembered H. Edward Roberts (1941-2010) , not after he walked away from the industry more than three decades ago to become a country doctor in Georgia. Bill Gates remembered him, though. As Dr. Roberts lay dying in a hospital in Macon, Ga., suffering from pneumonia, Mr. Gates flew down to be at his bedside. Mr. Gates knew what many had forgotten: that Dr. Roberts had made an early and enduring contribution to modern computing. He created the MITS Altair, the first inexpensive general-purpose microcomputer, a device that could be programmed to do all manner of tasks. For that achievement, some historians say Dr. Roberts deserves to be recognized as the inventor of the personal computer.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/03/business/03roberts.html
The Week contest April 2, 2010
We asked you to come up with a reality show even more grotesquely compelling than France’s “Game of Death.”
THE WINNER: Cannibal: Are you the winner? Or dinner?
SECOND PLACE: Musical Electric Chairs
THIRD PLACE: The Bachelor: OJ Simpson See runners-up at: http://theweek.com/article/index/201503/The_Week_contest_Reality_Show__Apr_2_2010
Quotes about taxation
Today, it takes more brains and effort to make out the income-tax form than it does to make the income. ~Alfred E. Neuman
It's income tax time again, Americans: time to gather up those receipts, get out those tax forms, sharpen up that pencil, and stab yourself in the aorta. ~Dave Barry
Income tax returns are the most imaginative fiction being written today. ~Herman Wouk
Be wary of strong drink. It can make you shoot at tax collectors... and miss. ~Robert Heinlein
The United States has a system of taxation by confession. ~Hugo Black
What at first was plunder assumed the softer name of revenue. ~Thomas Paine
Did you ever notice that when you put the words "The" and "IRS" together, it spells "THEIRS?" ~Author Unknown
Taxes, after all, are dues that we pay for the privileges of membership in an organized society. ~Franklin D. Roosevelt http://www.quotegarden.com/taxes.html
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
2010 Pulitzer Prize winners in journalism, letters, drama and music
Fiction prize goes to Tinkers by Paul Harding. All listed here:
http://www.pulitzer.org/
mis•no•mer noun 15th century
Etymology: Middle English misnoumer, from Anglo-French mesnomer, from mes- mis- + nomer to name, from Latin nominare — more at NOMINATE
1: the misnaming of a person in a legal instrument
2a: a use of a wrong or inappropriate name
2b: a wrong name or inappropriate designation
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/misnomer
There are at least two kinds of misnomers: One is an actual mistake; for instance, when a reporter unknowingly uses wrong words. Another is a judgmental description; for instance, calling a TV or a computer an "idiot box."
The line For fools rush in where angels fear to tread. was first written by Alexander Pope in his poem An Essay on Criticism. Find later uses at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fools_Rush_In_Where_Angels_Fear_to_Tread
An Essay on Criticism: http://poetry.eserver.org/essay-on-criticism.html
Note: "Fools rush in where angels fear to tread" is the 13th and last mention of fools.
Preservation Week: Saving Heritage and Memories May 9-15, 2010
The Society of American Archivists (SAA) has partnered with the American Library Association, the Library of Congress, the Institute of Museum and Library Services, and many other cultural heritage organizations to launch Preservation Week--a national campaign to help raise awareness about collecting and preservation, to connect the general public to preservation information and expertise, and to emphasize the close relationships among personal, family, community, and public collections and their preservation. http://www.archivists.org/mayday/preservationweek/index.asp
Find a Preservation Week event near you at: http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/alcts/confevents/preswk/index.cfm
Absolute zero is the temperature at which thermal energy is at a minimum. Defined as 0 Kelvin, calculated to be -273.15 °C or -459.67 °F. See other definitions including use of the term as a title at: http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&defl=en&q=define:absolute+zero&ei=MCW9S6_SJMfgnAfB87GtCA&sa=X&oi=glossary_definition&ct=title&ved=0CAYQkAE
A number of writers have pointed out, in detailed studies, that the long-quoted mechanism for motion perception in cinema, 'persistence of vision', an effect usually attributed to a 'defect' of the eye, (or in some accounts the 'eye-brain combination'), was an archaic concept long left behind by psychologists and physiologists specialising in perception. Most film writers were (and still are) unaware of, or unconvinced by, these writings, and continue to write of persistence of vision as being the mechanism by which we see motion pictures. They argue, when challenged, that the term is 'simple to understand', 'elegant' even 'poetic'. They are either unaware or unconcerned that it is incorrect. The word 'persistence' has a meaning, and it seems that we do not perceive motion pictures through any kind of persistence, either in the eye or in the brain. So let's take a look at what those researchers wrote back around 1980, as their work is still valid (though still largely ignored) today. http://www.grand-illusions.com/articles/persistence_of_vision/ Note that the cited article is three pages.
More on the name May and New Jersey
Cornelis Jacobsz May, sometimes spelled Mey or Meij was a Dutch explorer, captain and fur trader, and namesake of Cape May, Cape May County, and the city of Cape May, New Jersey, so named first in 1620. http://www.statemaster.com/encyclopedia/Cornelius-Jacobsen-Mey
1740 - Captain George May, an agent for the London Company, sailed up the Great Egg Harbor River and found an area rich in oak and pine which was perfect for shipbuilding.
1756 - Captain May bought land near Babcock Creek and later established a trading post and shipyard.
1778 - Center of town started being recognized as "Mays Landing."
http://www.westfieldnj.com/whs/history/Counties/AtlanticCounty/hamilton.htm
Two things
(1) One nice thing about egotists: They don't talk about other people.
(2) Men are from earth. Women are from earth. Deal with it.
Fiction prize goes to Tinkers by Paul Harding. All listed here:
http://www.pulitzer.org/
mis•no•mer noun 15th century
Etymology: Middle English misnoumer, from Anglo-French mesnomer, from mes- mis- + nomer to name, from Latin nominare — more at NOMINATE
1: the misnaming of a person in a legal instrument
2a: a use of a wrong or inappropriate name
2b: a wrong name or inappropriate designation
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/misnomer
There are at least two kinds of misnomers: One is an actual mistake; for instance, when a reporter unknowingly uses wrong words. Another is a judgmental description; for instance, calling a TV or a computer an "idiot box."
The line For fools rush in where angels fear to tread. was first written by Alexander Pope in his poem An Essay on Criticism. Find later uses at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fools_Rush_In_Where_Angels_Fear_to_Tread
An Essay on Criticism: http://poetry.eserver.org/essay-on-criticism.html
Note: "Fools rush in where angels fear to tread" is the 13th and last mention of fools.
Preservation Week: Saving Heritage and Memories May 9-15, 2010
The Society of American Archivists (SAA) has partnered with the American Library Association, the Library of Congress, the Institute of Museum and Library Services, and many other cultural heritage organizations to launch Preservation Week--a national campaign to help raise awareness about collecting and preservation, to connect the general public to preservation information and expertise, and to emphasize the close relationships among personal, family, community, and public collections and their preservation. http://www.archivists.org/mayday/preservationweek/index.asp
Find a Preservation Week event near you at: http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/alcts/confevents/preswk/index.cfm
Absolute zero is the temperature at which thermal energy is at a minimum. Defined as 0 Kelvin, calculated to be -273.15 °C or -459.67 °F. See other definitions including use of the term as a title at: http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&defl=en&q=define:absolute+zero&ei=MCW9S6_SJMfgnAfB87GtCA&sa=X&oi=glossary_definition&ct=title&ved=0CAYQkAE
A number of writers have pointed out, in detailed studies, that the long-quoted mechanism for motion perception in cinema, 'persistence of vision', an effect usually attributed to a 'defect' of the eye, (or in some accounts the 'eye-brain combination'), was an archaic concept long left behind by psychologists and physiologists specialising in perception. Most film writers were (and still are) unaware of, or unconvinced by, these writings, and continue to write of persistence of vision as being the mechanism by which we see motion pictures. They argue, when challenged, that the term is 'simple to understand', 'elegant' even 'poetic'. They are either unaware or unconcerned that it is incorrect. The word 'persistence' has a meaning, and it seems that we do not perceive motion pictures through any kind of persistence, either in the eye or in the brain. So let's take a look at what those researchers wrote back around 1980, as their work is still valid (though still largely ignored) today. http://www.grand-illusions.com/articles/persistence_of_vision/ Note that the cited article is three pages.
More on the name May and New Jersey
Cornelis Jacobsz May, sometimes spelled Mey or Meij was a Dutch explorer, captain and fur trader, and namesake of Cape May, Cape May County, and the city of Cape May, New Jersey, so named first in 1620. http://www.statemaster.com/encyclopedia/Cornelius-Jacobsen-Mey
1740 - Captain George May, an agent for the London Company, sailed up the Great Egg Harbor River and found an area rich in oak and pine which was perfect for shipbuilding.
1756 - Captain May bought land near Babcock Creek and later established a trading post and shipyard.
1778 - Center of town started being recognized as "Mays Landing."
http://www.westfieldnj.com/whs/history/Counties/AtlanticCounty/hamilton.htm
Two things
(1) One nice thing about egotists: They don't talk about other people.
(2) Men are from earth. Women are from earth. Deal with it.
Monday, April 12, 2010
Habitat ReStores are outlets that accept donated goods for resale. While every ReStore is a little different, most focus on home improvement goods—furniture, home accessories, building materials and appliances. These donated goods are sold to the general public at a fraction of the retail price to help local affiliates fund the construction of Habitat homes within their communities. http://www.habitat.org/env/restores.aspx
Find a ReStore in your state: http://www.habitat.org/cd/env/restore.aspx
Celebrate National Library Week: "Communities Thrive @ Your Library"
Nancy Pearl (born January 12, 1945) is an American librarian, best-selling author, literary critic and was, until August 2004, the Executive Director of the Washington Center for the Book at Seattle Public Library. Her prolific reading and her knowledge of books and literature first made her locally famous in Seattle, Washington, where she regularly appears on public radio recommending books. She achieved broader fame with Book Lust, her 2003 guide to good reading. Pearl's approach to enjoying reading is the Rule of 50 which states "If you still don't like a book after slogging through the first 50 pages, set it aside. If you're more than 50 years old, subtract your age from 100 and only grant it that many pages." In her books, Pearl recommends 3,400 titles, grouped in chapters such as "Horror for Sissies" and "Good Reading from the Government (Really!)." In 2003 she received an unusual honor when the Seattle-based company Accoutrements created a librarian action figure in her likeness to be sold in their Seattle store, Archie McPhee. Featuring Pearl with a stack of books and a finger to her lips, the doll's "push to shush" action was popular with some librarians and dismaying to others who felt that the doll reinforced librarian stereotypes. Pearl herself said that the shushing aspect of the action figure would determine "which librarians have a sense of humor."
A tribute band called 'The Nancy Pearls' gave their debut bluegrass performance on the Mitchell Library rooftop (Sydney, Australia) on 17 December 2004.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nancy_Pearl
Librarian action figures based on Nancy Pearl, over 3500 of them
http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&q=%22librarian%20action%20figure%22&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wi
A great library provides. It is enmeshed in the life of a community in a way that makes it indispensable. A great library is one nobody notices because it is always there, and it always has what people need.
Dewey by Vicki Myron with Bret Witter Grand Central Publishing, 2008
Excerpt from This Book Is Overdue: How Librarians and Cybrarians Can Save Us All by Marilyn Johnson. HarperCollins Publisher, 2010. See at: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=124316231&sc=nl&cc=
Some libraries check out cake pans. Find interesting stories here: http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=%22cake+pans%22+library&aq=f&aql=&aqi=&oq=
Holocaust Days of Remembrance, April 11–18, 2010
"The United States Congress established the Days of Remembrance as our nation’s annual commemoration of the Holocaust and created the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum as a permanent living memorial to the victims. The Museum designated Stories of Freedom: What You Do Matters as the theme for the 2010 observance. In accordance with its Congressional mandate, the Museum is responsible for leading the nation in commemorating the Days of Remembrance, and for encouraging and sponsoring appropriate observances throughout the United States. Observances and remembrance activities can occur during the week of Remembrance that runs from the Sunday before Holocaust Remembrance Day (Yom Hashoah) through the following Sunday (view the Remembrance Day Calendar).
Broad Street is a major arterial street in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It is Pennsylvania Route 611 almost its entire length. The north–south street lies between 13th Street and 15th Street, in lieu of 14th Street. It is interrupted at the block containing Philadelphia City Hall, which sits where Broad and Market Street would intersect in the center of Center City; Broad meets Market as a pedestrian path at the center of the City Hall block. Broad is also called: "Avenue of the Arts" (from Locust Street to Washington Avenue). This section of Broad Street includes many prominent theater and concert halls, including the Academy of Music, Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts, Merriam Theater, Wilma Theater, University of the Arts Gershman Hall, and Suzanne Roberts Theater. Avenue of the States: from Washington Avenue to Oregon Avenue. This section of Broad Street has flags of all 50 states in the US. C. A. Tindley Boulevard: from South Street to Washington Avenue. This was dedicated to the late Charles A. Tindley, the father of gospel music. Tindley Temple United Methodist Church was his home, at the corner of Broad and Fitzwater Streets. Georgie Woods Boulevard: from Norris Street to approximately Cumberland Street.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Broad_Street_(Philadelphia)
forte (FOR-tay) from Italian, meaning loud
forte (FORT) from French, meaning strong point
Note: So many people pronounce forte meaning strong point as two syllables that the original pronunciation is losing the battle.
Q : Does Ohio really have its own "pledge"?
A: Yes. It is: "I salute the flag of the state of Ohio and pledge to the Buckeye State respect and loyalty." The 2002 Legislature said Ohioans should recite it after completing the better-known "Pledge of Allegiance." -- Ohio Historical Society.
Q: When we went to a baseball game with our 5- and 7-year-old sons last season, a man behind us kept shouting obscenities, and our kids got an earful. I know it's a free country, but I also want to go to games this season, and protect my children.
A: There's at least one loudmouth in every crowd. Unfortunately, beyond glancing over or making a polite request ("Could you please tone it down for the kids' sake?"), there's not much you can do to change a stranger's ways. In fact, there's a chance it could spark an unpleasant confrontation, so your best bet is to move to other seats. None available? Then turn the incident into a learning experience for your children, telling them that foul language is a foul ball in your family and that this man's attitude stinks in terms of bad sportsmanship. -- Emily Post's Etiquette Daily http://www.thecourier.com/Opinion/columns/2010/Apr/JU/ar_JU_041210.asp?d=041210,2010,Apr,12&c=c_13
Find a ReStore in your state: http://www.habitat.org/cd/env/restore.aspx
Celebrate National Library Week: "Communities Thrive @ Your Library"
Nancy Pearl (born January 12, 1945) is an American librarian, best-selling author, literary critic and was, until August 2004, the Executive Director of the Washington Center for the Book at Seattle Public Library. Her prolific reading and her knowledge of books and literature first made her locally famous in Seattle, Washington, where she regularly appears on public radio recommending books. She achieved broader fame with Book Lust, her 2003 guide to good reading. Pearl's approach to enjoying reading is the Rule of 50 which states "If you still don't like a book after slogging through the first 50 pages, set it aside. If you're more than 50 years old, subtract your age from 100 and only grant it that many pages." In her books, Pearl recommends 3,400 titles, grouped in chapters such as "Horror for Sissies" and "Good Reading from the Government (Really!)." In 2003 she received an unusual honor when the Seattle-based company Accoutrements created a librarian action figure in her likeness to be sold in their Seattle store, Archie McPhee. Featuring Pearl with a stack of books and a finger to her lips, the doll's "push to shush" action was popular with some librarians and dismaying to others who felt that the doll reinforced librarian stereotypes. Pearl herself said that the shushing aspect of the action figure would determine "which librarians have a sense of humor."
A tribute band called 'The Nancy Pearls' gave their debut bluegrass performance on the Mitchell Library rooftop (Sydney, Australia) on 17 December 2004.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nancy_Pearl
Librarian action figures based on Nancy Pearl, over 3500 of them
http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&q=%22librarian%20action%20figure%22&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wi
A great library provides. It is enmeshed in the life of a community in a way that makes it indispensable. A great library is one nobody notices because it is always there, and it always has what people need.
Dewey by Vicki Myron with Bret Witter Grand Central Publishing, 2008
Excerpt from This Book Is Overdue: How Librarians and Cybrarians Can Save Us All by Marilyn Johnson. HarperCollins Publisher, 2010. See at: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=124316231&sc=nl&cc=
Some libraries check out cake pans. Find interesting stories here: http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=%22cake+pans%22+library&aq=f&aql=&aqi=&oq=
Holocaust Days of Remembrance, April 11–18, 2010
"The United States Congress established the Days of Remembrance as our nation’s annual commemoration of the Holocaust and created the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum as a permanent living memorial to the victims. The Museum designated Stories of Freedom: What You Do Matters as the theme for the 2010 observance. In accordance with its Congressional mandate, the Museum is responsible for leading the nation in commemorating the Days of Remembrance, and for encouraging and sponsoring appropriate observances throughout the United States. Observances and remembrance activities can occur during the week of Remembrance that runs from the Sunday before Holocaust Remembrance Day (Yom Hashoah) through the following Sunday (view the Remembrance Day Calendar).
Broad Street is a major arterial street in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It is Pennsylvania Route 611 almost its entire length. The north–south street lies between 13th Street and 15th Street, in lieu of 14th Street. It is interrupted at the block containing Philadelphia City Hall, which sits where Broad and Market Street would intersect in the center of Center City; Broad meets Market as a pedestrian path at the center of the City Hall block. Broad is also called: "Avenue of the Arts" (from Locust Street to Washington Avenue). This section of Broad Street includes many prominent theater and concert halls, including the Academy of Music, Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts, Merriam Theater, Wilma Theater, University of the Arts Gershman Hall, and Suzanne Roberts Theater. Avenue of the States: from Washington Avenue to Oregon Avenue. This section of Broad Street has flags of all 50 states in the US. C. A. Tindley Boulevard: from South Street to Washington Avenue. This was dedicated to the late Charles A. Tindley, the father of gospel music. Tindley Temple United Methodist Church was his home, at the corner of Broad and Fitzwater Streets. Georgie Woods Boulevard: from Norris Street to approximately Cumberland Street.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Broad_Street_(Philadelphia)
forte (FOR-tay) from Italian, meaning loud
forte (FORT) from French, meaning strong point
Note: So many people pronounce forte meaning strong point as two syllables that the original pronunciation is losing the battle.
Q : Does Ohio really have its own "pledge"?
A: Yes. It is: "I salute the flag of the state of Ohio and pledge to the Buckeye State respect and loyalty." The 2002 Legislature said Ohioans should recite it after completing the better-known "Pledge of Allegiance." -- Ohio Historical Society.
Q: When we went to a baseball game with our 5- and 7-year-old sons last season, a man behind us kept shouting obscenities, and our kids got an earful. I know it's a free country, but I also want to go to games this season, and protect my children.
A: There's at least one loudmouth in every crowd. Unfortunately, beyond glancing over or making a polite request ("Could you please tone it down for the kids' sake?"), there's not much you can do to change a stranger's ways. In fact, there's a chance it could spark an unpleasant confrontation, so your best bet is to move to other seats. None available? Then turn the incident into a learning experience for your children, telling them that foul language is a foul ball in your family and that this man's attitude stinks in terms of bad sportsmanship. -- Emily Post's Etiquette Daily http://www.thecourier.com/Opinion/columns/2010/Apr/JU/ar_JU_041210.asp?d=041210,2010,Apr,12&c=c_13
Friday, April 9, 2010
Google’s legal battle to create a digital library of the world’s books hit another snag April 7 when photographers and illustrators filed suit claiming the Mountain View, California, search giant was unlawfully scanning and posting their works online without permission or payment. The suit brought by the American Society of Media Photographers and others claims Google should compensate them because the company is violating their copyrights (.pdf). Photographers and illustrators largely have been shut out from participating in a pending $125 million court settlement between Google and writers over the same issue. Read More http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2010/04/googlebooks/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+wired%2Findex+%28Wired%3A+Index+3+%28Top+Stories+2%29%29#ixzz0kbMblnV8
There have been 47 Vice Presidents of the United States from John Adams to Joe Biden. Originally, the Vice President was the person who received the second most votes for President in the Electoral College. However, in the election of 1800 a tie in the electoral college between Thomas Jefferson and Aaron Burr led to the selection of the President by the House of Representatives. To prevent such an event from happening again, the Twelfth Amendment was added to the Constitution, creating the current system where electors cast a separate ballot for the Vice Presidency. See list at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Vice_Presidents_of_the_United_States
Q: How/why does the word "sanction" have two opposite meanings?
1 . to approve of, allow AND
2. to require that someone/something stop a particular activity
A: Autoantonyms
It's called an "autoantonym". There are a number of examples, including "cleave", meaning both "stuck to" and "separate". It often occurs when a word starts meaning something neutral but is later applied in two opposite contexts.
http://askville.amazon.com/SimilarQuestions.do?req=word+sanction+opposite+meanings
Auto-antonym has Greek roots meaning a word that is the opposite of itself. They have variously been called contranyms, contronyms, antilogies, Janus words (after the two-faced Greek mythical figure, from which "January" also derives), and enantiodromes. See a list of many of these words at:
http://www.fun-with-words.com/nym_autoantonyms.html
The University of Wisconsin-Green Bay is making headlines by switching the font it uses in its emails. The school says that printing out documents in Century Gothic rather than its old font, Arial, uses 30% less ink. The move is part of the school's five-year plan to go green--and save money. Printer ink costs about $10,000 per gallon. But there's just one problem: Who prints emails from colleges? It's possible that if everyone in America were to start using Century Gothic instead of Arial for all correspondence that is printed, meaningful savings could be achieved. And perhaps this is a start to that. News websites could start by making all print versions of stories appear in a green-friendly font, and readers would appreciate the savings in ink. See full article from DailyFinance: http://srph.it/aXm8FG Compare the 12-point Times New Roman in the preceding paragraph to the sentence within beginning "It's possible . . . " which is in 10-point Century Gothic.
Celebrate National Library Week April 11-17, 2010
Libraries are the heart of their communities. National Library Week 2010 (April 11-17) will be celebrated with the theme, "Communities thrive @ your library."
Blogs for librarians and library lovers
http://willmanley.com/
http://www.librarian.net/
http://theubiquitouslibrarian.typepad.com/
Ten librarian blogs to read in 2010
http://www.lisnews.org/10_librarian_blogs_read_2010
desert (DEH-zurt) noun arid land with meager rainfall
In 1953, Peveril Meigs divided desert regions on Earth into three categories according to the amount of precipitation they received. In this now widely accepted system, extremely arid lands have at least 12 consecutive months without rainfall, arid lands have less than 250 millimeters of annual rainfall, and semiarid lands have a mean annual precipitation of between 250 and 500 millimeters. http://pubs.usgs.gov/gip/deserts/what/
desert (dee-ZURT) verb withdraw from or abandon
desert (dee-ZURT) noun reward that is deserved for something done--either good or bad example: getting your just deserts
There have been 47 Vice Presidents of the United States from John Adams to Joe Biden. Originally, the Vice President was the person who received the second most votes for President in the Electoral College. However, in the election of 1800 a tie in the electoral college between Thomas Jefferson and Aaron Burr led to the selection of the President by the House of Representatives. To prevent such an event from happening again, the Twelfth Amendment was added to the Constitution, creating the current system where electors cast a separate ballot for the Vice Presidency. See list at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Vice_Presidents_of_the_United_States
Q: How/why does the word "sanction" have two opposite meanings?
1 . to approve of, allow AND
2. to require that someone/something stop a particular activity
A: Autoantonyms
It's called an "autoantonym". There are a number of examples, including "cleave", meaning both "stuck to" and "separate". It often occurs when a word starts meaning something neutral but is later applied in two opposite contexts.
http://askville.amazon.com/SimilarQuestions.do?req=word+sanction+opposite+meanings
Auto-antonym has Greek roots meaning a word that is the opposite of itself. They have variously been called contranyms, contronyms, antilogies, Janus words (after the two-faced Greek mythical figure, from which "January" also derives), and enantiodromes. See a list of many of these words at:
http://www.fun-with-words.com/nym_autoantonyms.html
The University of Wisconsin-Green Bay is making headlines by switching the font it uses in its emails. The school says that printing out documents in Century Gothic rather than its old font, Arial, uses 30% less ink. The move is part of the school's five-year plan to go green--and save money. Printer ink costs about $10,000 per gallon. But there's just one problem: Who prints emails from colleges? It's possible that if everyone in America were to start using Century Gothic instead of Arial for all correspondence that is printed, meaningful savings could be achieved. And perhaps this is a start to that. News websites could start by making all print versions of stories appear in a green-friendly font, and readers would appreciate the savings in ink. See full article from DailyFinance: http://srph.it/aXm8FG Compare the 12-point Times New Roman in the preceding paragraph to the sentence within beginning "It's possible . . . " which is in 10-point Century Gothic.
Celebrate National Library Week April 11-17, 2010
Libraries are the heart of their communities. National Library Week 2010 (April 11-17) will be celebrated with the theme, "Communities thrive @ your library."
Blogs for librarians and library lovers
http://willmanley.com/
http://www.librarian.net/
http://theubiquitouslibrarian.typepad.com/
Ten librarian blogs to read in 2010
http://www.lisnews.org/10_librarian_blogs_read_2010
desert (DEH-zurt) noun arid land with meager rainfall
In 1953, Peveril Meigs divided desert regions on Earth into three categories according to the amount of precipitation they received. In this now widely accepted system, extremely arid lands have at least 12 consecutive months without rainfall, arid lands have less than 250 millimeters of annual rainfall, and semiarid lands have a mean annual precipitation of between 250 and 500 millimeters. http://pubs.usgs.gov/gip/deserts/what/
desert (dee-ZURT) verb withdraw from or abandon
desert (dee-ZURT) noun reward that is deserved for something done--either good or bad example: getting your just deserts
Thursday, April 8, 2010
Passport is an official document issued by a national government. The purpose of the passport is to certify the identity and nationality of the owner of the passport. A passport contains the following personal data : name, sex, date of birth, and place of birth. Read more: Difference Between Visa and Passport | Difference Between http://www.differencebetween.net/business/difference-between-visa-and-passport/#ixzz0kKh7UYqG Visa is an official permission that allows us into a specific country. This permission is granted by a government official of the country we wish to visit. The visa can be a separate document but usually it is a stamp in the passport of the traveler. Read more: Difference Between Visa and Passport | Difference Between http://www.differencebetween.net/business/difference-between-visa-and-passport/#ixzz0kKgtiTk7
Browse or search differences in terms and objects at:
http://www.differencebetween.net/
"Sound bite" might be pieces of sound that are short, complete, emphatic, small or superficial, depending on what definition you read: http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&defl=en&q=define:Soundbite&ei=BTu6S6iHAovMNc_RxeEL&sa=X&oi=glossary_definition&ct=title&ved=0CAYQkAE
"Sight bite" is brief television footage
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/sight+bite
Some people use the terms interchangeably.
"Slim" and "fat" are opposites. "Slim chance" and "fat chance" are almost interchangeable phrases, although "fat chance" is more sarcastic.
Sixth Avenue is a major avenue in New York City's borough of Manhattan, laid out in the Commissioners' Plan of 1811 and opened incrementally. Although the Avenue's official name was changed to Avenue of the Americas in 1945 by Mayor Fiorello La Guardia, New Yorkers remained faithful to the old name.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portal:Featured_content
The U.S. News & World Report annual ranking of U.S. law schools has become the legal academy's favorite punching bag. Every year, about this time, folks start criticizing the survey's methodologies, reiterating how easy it is for schools to game the system. (At the same time, few can question the survey's importance.) In recent years, one method some schools used to boost the average test scores of their students was to cut the number of full-time students and add more part-time students. (Click here for a 2008 WSJ story by Amir Efrati, touching on this phenomenon.) Click for a different, perhaps more fundamental critique of the survey over at the Concurring Opinions blog. WSJ Law Blog April 6, 2010
Kingsville says goodbye to hello
In 1997, at the urging of Leonso Canales Jr., Kleberg County, Texas commissioners unanimously designated "heaven-o" as the county's official greeting. The reason: "hello" contains the word "hell." David Sabrio, a professor of English at Texas A&M University-Kingsville, noted that the Oxford English Dictionary says "hello" stems from an old German greeting for hailing a boat. http://www.mndaily.com/1997/01/17/texas-town-says-goodbye-hello
Dutch names in the U.S.
Cape May, New Jersey: Named after the sea captain and first governor of New Netherland, Cornelis Jacobsz May.
Catskill, New York and Pennsylvania: A Dutch map from 1656 calls this area "Kats Kill," kats meaning lions, tigers, cats, etc., and kill meaning stream or creek.
Cobleskill, New York: or Coble's stream after Jacob Kobell, an early Dutch settler.
East River, New York: A Dutch map from 1656 refers to the river as the Oost Rivier, or East River. At that time, the Hudson river was known as the Noort Rivier or North River and the Delaware River was known as the Zuydt Rivier or South River.
Greenwich, New York: from the Dutch greenwyck or "pine area."
Hoboken, New Jersey: named after the village Hoboken, which was formerly in the United Provinces (forerunner of the present-day Netherlands) and now is found in northern Belgium.
Rhode Island: 't Roode Eylandt, or red island, found on a map drawn by Dutch explorer Adriaen Block.
Sandy Hook, New Jersey: after the Dutch Sant Punt or sand point, but Hoek, or hook, was also commonly used.
Staten Island, New York: a Dutch map refers to the island as "Staten Eylandt," after the Dutch States-General, the predecessor of the current Dutch parliament.
See more at: http://www.netherlands-embassy.org/article.asp?articleref=ar00000382en
A borough six miles west of Pittsburgh, Carnegie (Car-NAY-gie) came into being in 1894, when two boroughs merged. In a clever act of solicitation, the new locality named itself after steel magnate Andrew Carnegie in exchange for his agreeing to endow a high school and, you guessed it, a library, which opened in 1901. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/02/11/AR2010021101702.html
Answer to Who am I? I searched Sweden author 1948 and found Henning Mankell easily. "I am like an artist who must stand close to the canvas to paint, but then take a step back to see what I have painted. Africa has provided my life with that movement. Some things you can only see at a distance." A long biography is available at: http://www.henningmankell.com/Author/Biography
Browse or search differences in terms and objects at:
http://www.differencebetween.net/
"Sound bite" might be pieces of sound that are short, complete, emphatic, small or superficial, depending on what definition you read: http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&defl=en&q=define:Soundbite&ei=BTu6S6iHAovMNc_RxeEL&sa=X&oi=glossary_definition&ct=title&ved=0CAYQkAE
"Sight bite" is brief television footage
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/sight+bite
Some people use the terms interchangeably.
"Slim" and "fat" are opposites. "Slim chance" and "fat chance" are almost interchangeable phrases, although "fat chance" is more sarcastic.
Sixth Avenue is a major avenue in New York City's borough of Manhattan, laid out in the Commissioners' Plan of 1811 and opened incrementally. Although the Avenue's official name was changed to Avenue of the Americas in 1945 by Mayor Fiorello La Guardia, New Yorkers remained faithful to the old name.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portal:Featured_content
The U.S. News & World Report annual ranking of U.S. law schools has become the legal academy's favorite punching bag. Every year, about this time, folks start criticizing the survey's methodologies, reiterating how easy it is for schools to game the system. (At the same time, few can question the survey's importance.) In recent years, one method some schools used to boost the average test scores of their students was to cut the number of full-time students and add more part-time students. (Click here for a 2008 WSJ story by Amir Efrati, touching on this phenomenon.) Click for a different, perhaps more fundamental critique of the survey over at the Concurring Opinions blog. WSJ Law Blog April 6, 2010
Kingsville says goodbye to hello
In 1997, at the urging of Leonso Canales Jr., Kleberg County, Texas commissioners unanimously designated "heaven-o" as the county's official greeting. The reason: "hello" contains the word "hell." David Sabrio, a professor of English at Texas A&M University-Kingsville, noted that the Oxford English Dictionary says "hello" stems from an old German greeting for hailing a boat. http://www.mndaily.com/1997/01/17/texas-town-says-goodbye-hello
Dutch names in the U.S.
Cape May, New Jersey: Named after the sea captain and first governor of New Netherland, Cornelis Jacobsz May.
Catskill, New York and Pennsylvania: A Dutch map from 1656 calls this area "Kats Kill," kats meaning lions, tigers, cats, etc., and kill meaning stream or creek.
Cobleskill, New York: or Coble's stream after Jacob Kobell, an early Dutch settler.
East River, New York: A Dutch map from 1656 refers to the river as the Oost Rivier, or East River. At that time, the Hudson river was known as the Noort Rivier or North River and the Delaware River was known as the Zuydt Rivier or South River.
Greenwich, New York: from the Dutch greenwyck or "pine area."
Hoboken, New Jersey: named after the village Hoboken, which was formerly in the United Provinces (forerunner of the present-day Netherlands) and now is found in northern Belgium.
Rhode Island: 't Roode Eylandt, or red island, found on a map drawn by Dutch explorer Adriaen Block.
Sandy Hook, New Jersey: after the Dutch Sant Punt or sand point, but Hoek, or hook, was also commonly used.
Staten Island, New York: a Dutch map refers to the island as "Staten Eylandt," after the Dutch States-General, the predecessor of the current Dutch parliament.
See more at: http://www.netherlands-embassy.org/article.asp?articleref=ar00000382en
A borough six miles west of Pittsburgh, Carnegie (Car-NAY-gie) came into being in 1894, when two boroughs merged. In a clever act of solicitation, the new locality named itself after steel magnate Andrew Carnegie in exchange for his agreeing to endow a high school and, you guessed it, a library, which opened in 1901. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/02/11/AR2010021101702.html
Answer to Who am I? I searched Sweden author 1948 and found Henning Mankell easily. "I am like an artist who must stand close to the canvas to paint, but then take a step back to see what I have painted. Africa has provided my life with that movement. Some things you can only see at a distance." A long biography is available at: http://www.henningmankell.com/Author/Biography
Tuesday, April 6, 2010
The Brennan Center for Justice at New York University School of Law is a non-partisan public policy and law institute that focuses on fundamental issues of democracy and justice. See JustBooks for "author talk," "book briefs," "suggested reading," and more at: http://www.brennancenter.org/content/pages/JustBooks Thanks, Dave.
Despite the recent eloquence and urgency of the conversation surrounding the need to provide all Americans with medical coverage, the discussion is by no means a new one. In fact, Franklin D. Roosevelt included language in the draft legislation of the Social Security Act of 1935 that would have created a compulsory national health insurance plan. So at the end of the day, I think that FDR had it right; the best measure of the success of a country must be the health of its people. After all, what could be more important? Welcome to the Neighborhood! From Doni Miller, CEO, Neighborhood Health Association, serving Toledo for 40 years. http://www.nhainc.org/
The best gardens are places to enjoy the glory of nature. There are some magnificent gardens around, sorely under-visited and real gems to be discovered. There are so many types of garden, too - formal gardens in the French style, natural gardens in the English fashion, harmonious parks in the traditions of India, China and Japan. Gardens are havens of peaceful tranquility. And yet.. they are home to an explosive variety of life, their mini-ecosystems beavering away according to the mysterious and unstoppable ways of nature. http://www.worldreviewer.com/travel-guides/garden/
Coming: Gardens, large and small, public and private, that I have seen and enjoyed.
Who am I? I was born in 1948, and grew up in Sweden where I pretended the logs in the river were crocodiles in Africa. I learned that imagination could be an instrument of survival, not just of creativity. My books have sold more than 30 million copies. When I wrote a one-page summary of Robinson Crusoe, I knew that I would become an author. I divide my time between Mozambique and Sweden. "I stand with one foot in the snow and one foot in the sand." In June 2008, I was given an honorary doctorate at St Andrews University. Answer forthcoming. Hint: I searched three words from the preceding paragraph and found the answer right away.
A study of paintings of the Last Supper from the past 1,000 years has found the size of the portions set in front of the diners has increased dramatically over time. Brian Wansink, the director of the food and brand laboratory at Cornell University, said the findings showed that the current tendency for people to eat bigger portions on bigger plates, leading to increased obesity, has gradually developed over the millennium. Researchers from the New York-based university used computer technology to compare how much food the diners were presented with in each painting. "We took the 52 most famous paintings of the Last Supper [from the book Last Supper] and analysed the size of the entrees, bread and plates, relative to the average size of the average head in the painting," Wansick said. Computer-aided design technology enabled the researchers to scan and rotate items in the paintings, allowing head, plate, meal and bread size to be calculated. The study, published in the International Journal of Obesity, advance online publication March 23, 2010, http://www.nature.com/ijo/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/ijo201037a.html found that the size of the meals in the paintings had grown by 69% over the 1,000-year period. Plate size had increased by 66%, while bread size had risen by 22%.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2010/mar/23/last-supper-supersized-food-paintings
The origins of tea and the culture of tea-drinking lie in China, where the wild tea plant was first domesticated. Even today, the words for tea in almost every global language can be traced back to the Cantonese and Mandarin Chinese ‘cha’, or ‘te’ in the Amoy dialect of south-eastern China. See article and recipes using tea at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/mostof_tea.shtml
See garden tips and ask questions about gardening at the Schedel Arboretum & Gardens Web site : http://www.schedel-gardens.org/
Brown sugar crinkles, a cookie recipe by Donna Frame
1 cup butter or margarine, softened
1 cup shortening
3 cups sugar
1 1/2 cups packed brown sugar
6 eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
6 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
See directions at: http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Brown-Sugar-Crinkles/Detail.aspx
Despite the recent eloquence and urgency of the conversation surrounding the need to provide all Americans with medical coverage, the discussion is by no means a new one. In fact, Franklin D. Roosevelt included language in the draft legislation of the Social Security Act of 1935 that would have created a compulsory national health insurance plan. So at the end of the day, I think that FDR had it right; the best measure of the success of a country must be the health of its people. After all, what could be more important? Welcome to the Neighborhood! From Doni Miller, CEO, Neighborhood Health Association, serving Toledo for 40 years. http://www.nhainc.org/
The best gardens are places to enjoy the glory of nature. There are some magnificent gardens around, sorely under-visited and real gems to be discovered. There are so many types of garden, too - formal gardens in the French style, natural gardens in the English fashion, harmonious parks in the traditions of India, China and Japan. Gardens are havens of peaceful tranquility. And yet.. they are home to an explosive variety of life, their mini-ecosystems beavering away according to the mysterious and unstoppable ways of nature. http://www.worldreviewer.com/travel-guides/garden/
Coming: Gardens, large and small, public and private, that I have seen and enjoyed.
Who am I? I was born in 1948, and grew up in Sweden where I pretended the logs in the river were crocodiles in Africa. I learned that imagination could be an instrument of survival, not just of creativity. My books have sold more than 30 million copies. When I wrote a one-page summary of Robinson Crusoe, I knew that I would become an author. I divide my time between Mozambique and Sweden. "I stand with one foot in the snow and one foot in the sand." In June 2008, I was given an honorary doctorate at St Andrews University. Answer forthcoming. Hint: I searched three words from the preceding paragraph and found the answer right away.
A study of paintings of the Last Supper from the past 1,000 years has found the size of the portions set in front of the diners has increased dramatically over time. Brian Wansink, the director of the food and brand laboratory at Cornell University, said the findings showed that the current tendency for people to eat bigger portions on bigger plates, leading to increased obesity, has gradually developed over the millennium. Researchers from the New York-based university used computer technology to compare how much food the diners were presented with in each painting. "We took the 52 most famous paintings of the Last Supper [from the book Last Supper] and analysed the size of the entrees, bread and plates, relative to the average size of the average head in the painting," Wansick said. Computer-aided design technology enabled the researchers to scan and rotate items in the paintings, allowing head, plate, meal and bread size to be calculated. The study, published in the International Journal of Obesity, advance online publication March 23, 2010, http://www.nature.com/ijo/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/ijo201037a.html found that the size of the meals in the paintings had grown by 69% over the 1,000-year period. Plate size had increased by 66%, while bread size had risen by 22%.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2010/mar/23/last-supper-supersized-food-paintings
The origins of tea and the culture of tea-drinking lie in China, where the wild tea plant was first domesticated. Even today, the words for tea in almost every global language can be traced back to the Cantonese and Mandarin Chinese ‘cha’, or ‘te’ in the Amoy dialect of south-eastern China. See article and recipes using tea at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/mostof_tea.shtml
See garden tips and ask questions about gardening at the Schedel Arboretum & Gardens Web site : http://www.schedel-gardens.org/
Brown sugar crinkles, a cookie recipe by Donna Frame
1 cup butter or margarine, softened
1 cup shortening
3 cups sugar
1 1/2 cups packed brown sugar
6 eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
6 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
See directions at: http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Brown-Sugar-Crinkles/Detail.aspx
Monday, April 5, 2010
The U.S. Department of Labor has announced 2010 allotments to states and outlying areas under the Workforce Investment Act and Wagner-Peyser Act. The nearly $4 billion in funds will be used to help Americans get back to work through high quality employment and training services, which are delivered largely through the department's national network of One-Stop Career Centers. Americans can access services provided through this funding via One-Stop Career Centers. To find a local center, visit http://www.servicelocator.org or call 877-348-0502 or TTY 877-348-0501. Online resources to support job searches, career exploration and planning for education and training can be found at http://careeronestop.org. For information on the range of Department of Labor employment and training programs, visit http://www.doleta.gov.
http://www.dol.gov/opa/media/press/eta/eta20100407.htm
In 1961 David S. Ferriero wrote a brief letter to President John F. Kennedy inquiring about the proposed Peace Corps. Nearly a half-century later, Mr. Ferriero, now 64, had forgotten all about the letter until February, when a copy was presented to him—with a photograph—by Thomas J. Putnam, the director of the Kennedy Presidential Library. Mr. Ferriero’s letter was preserved with the president’s papers, which are among the 9 billion pages of records, 7.2 million maps, charts and architectural drawings; 20 million still photographs, 365,000 reels of film, 110,000 videotapes and millions of digital records and machine-readable data files now under Mr. Ferriero’s jurisdiction as the 10th archivist of the United States. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/01/arts/design/01archives.html
As of this writing there have been 16 Chief Justices of the U.S. Supreme Court. Find the list at the 'Lectric Law Library: http://www.lectlaw.com/files/jud41.htm
Explore more of the 'Lectric Law Library at: http://www.lectlaw.com/
Islamic art and geometric design: activities from The Metropolitan Museum of Art
http://www.metmuseum.org/explore/publications/pdfs/islamic_geometric/islamic_art_and_geometric_design.pdf
The word "transformation" refers to a movement or change in a geometric shape. If we slide a geometric shape to the right or left, this is called a "translation". We say that an object has symmetry, or is symmetrical, if the two sides are "of similar measure". See explanations and drawings at: http://mathforum.org/~sanders/mathart/MACch2sym.html
Q. Does the Senate need 60 or 67 votes to end a filibuster?
A. Spokeswoman Garrette Silverman responded for Sen. George Voinovich, R-Ohio:
"Since 1975, three-fifths of the Senate, or 60 votes, has been required to bring a bill up for a vote. After cloture has been invoked, no more than 30 hours of debate may occur before the legislation is voted on." "A two-thirds majority, or 67 votes, is still needed in a few rare instances, however. These include overriding a presidential veto, passing a treaty, and changing the rules of the Senate."
http://www.thecourier.com/Opinion/columns/2010/Apr/JU/ar_JU_040510.asp?d=040510,2010,Apr,05&c=c_13
Quote The trail is the thing, not the end of the trail. Travel too fast and you miss all you are traveling for.
Louis L'Amour, born Louis Dearborn LaMoore (1908-1988) American author
“Skin Fruit: Selections from the Dakis Joannou Collection” is the first exhibition in the United States of the Athens-based Dakis Joannou Collection, renowned as one of the leading collections of contemporary art in the world. This is also the first exhibition curated by artist Jeff Koons, who was invited to organize the show by the New Museum and whose work inspired Joannou to start his collection in 1985. Including over 100 works by fifty international artists spanning several generations, the exhibition explores the age-old preoccupation with the human body as a vessel and vehicle for experience, a distinctive focus of the collection. With the exhibition “Skin Fruit,” the New Museum launches The Imaginary Museum, a new exhibition series that will periodically showcase leading private collections of contemporary art from around the world, providing the opportunity for rarely seen, great works of art to be accessible to a broader public. The New Museum is located at 335 Bowery in New York. Phone: 212.219.1222
The exhibit will run through June 6, 2010.
http://newmuseum.org/exhibitions/421/skin_fruit_selections_from_the_dakis_joannou_collection
http://www.dol.gov/opa/media/press/eta/eta20100407.htm
In 1961 David S. Ferriero wrote a brief letter to President John F. Kennedy inquiring about the proposed Peace Corps. Nearly a half-century later, Mr. Ferriero, now 64, had forgotten all about the letter until February, when a copy was presented to him—with a photograph—by Thomas J. Putnam, the director of the Kennedy Presidential Library. Mr. Ferriero’s letter was preserved with the president’s papers, which are among the 9 billion pages of records, 7.2 million maps, charts and architectural drawings; 20 million still photographs, 365,000 reels of film, 110,000 videotapes and millions of digital records and machine-readable data files now under Mr. Ferriero’s jurisdiction as the 10th archivist of the United States. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/01/arts/design/01archives.html
As of this writing there have been 16 Chief Justices of the U.S. Supreme Court. Find the list at the 'Lectric Law Library: http://www.lectlaw.com/files/jud41.htm
Explore more of the 'Lectric Law Library at: http://www.lectlaw.com/
Islamic art and geometric design: activities from The Metropolitan Museum of Art
http://www.metmuseum.org/explore/publications/pdfs/islamic_geometric/islamic_art_and_geometric_design.pdf
The word "transformation" refers to a movement or change in a geometric shape. If we slide a geometric shape to the right or left, this is called a "translation". We say that an object has symmetry, or is symmetrical, if the two sides are "of similar measure". See explanations and drawings at: http://mathforum.org/~sanders/mathart/MACch2sym.html
Q. Does the Senate need 60 or 67 votes to end a filibuster?
A. Spokeswoman Garrette Silverman responded for Sen. George Voinovich, R-Ohio:
"Since 1975, three-fifths of the Senate, or 60 votes, has been required to bring a bill up for a vote. After cloture has been invoked, no more than 30 hours of debate may occur before the legislation is voted on." "A two-thirds majority, or 67 votes, is still needed in a few rare instances, however. These include overriding a presidential veto, passing a treaty, and changing the rules of the Senate."
http://www.thecourier.com/Opinion/columns/2010/Apr/JU/ar_JU_040510.asp?d=040510,2010,Apr,05&c=c_13
Quote The trail is the thing, not the end of the trail. Travel too fast and you miss all you are traveling for.
Louis L'Amour, born Louis Dearborn LaMoore (1908-1988) American author
“Skin Fruit: Selections from the Dakis Joannou Collection” is the first exhibition in the United States of the Athens-based Dakis Joannou Collection, renowned as one of the leading collections of contemporary art in the world. This is also the first exhibition curated by artist Jeff Koons, who was invited to organize the show by the New Museum and whose work inspired Joannou to start his collection in 1985. Including over 100 works by fifty international artists spanning several generations, the exhibition explores the age-old preoccupation with the human body as a vessel and vehicle for experience, a distinctive focus of the collection. With the exhibition “Skin Fruit,” the New Museum launches The Imaginary Museum, a new exhibition series that will periodically showcase leading private collections of contemporary art from around the world, providing the opportunity for rarely seen, great works of art to be accessible to a broader public. The New Museum is located at 335 Bowery in New York. Phone: 212.219.1222
The exhibit will run through June 6, 2010.
http://newmuseum.org/exhibitions/421/skin_fruit_selections_from_the_dakis_joannou_collection
Friday, April 2, 2010
New Jersey Supreme Court Rules in Favor of Employee Email Privacy
EPIC: "The New Jersey Supreme Court ruled in favor of a female employee whose employer read emails that she sent while using Yahoo Mail on a company-owned laptop. The employee, Marina Stengart, had exchanged emails with her attorney regarding a possible discrimination lawsuit against the employer. The employer then pulled the emails off of the laptop's hard drive and used them to prepare a defense to the discrimination suit. The New Jersey Supreme Court found that "Under the circumstances, Stengart could reasonably expect that e-mail communications with her lawyer through her personal, password-protected, web-based e-mail account would remain private, and that sending and receiving them using a company laptop did not eliminate the attorney-client privilege that protected them. " The Supreme Court of the United States is set to consider employee privacy in City of Ontario v. Quon, in which EPIC submitted a "friend of the court brief."
Top U.S. 25 cities in 2009 with energy efficient buildings
http://www.energystar.gov/ia/business/downloads/2009_Top_25_cities_chart.pdf
A billionaire wine collector has accused Christie's International PLC, the world's largest auction house, of knowingly selling dozens of counterfeit bottles of high-priced wine for over two decades. In a lawsuit filed March 30 in U.S. District Court, New York, Florida-based energy tycoon William Koch claimed that Christie's had sold him at least 33 bottles of counterfeit wine, including a $4,200 bottle of rare 1870 Lafite that he claimed may have been corked after World War II. The complaint against Christie's is the latest in a string of lawsuits Mr. Koch has filed against auctioneers and wine sellers over the past five years in his attempt to police the growing presence of counterfeit wines in the marketplace.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304252704575156420591361494.html?mod=djemlawblog_h
The genetic code of a small, noisy songbird is providing scientists with clues to the nature of human speech. The genome of the male zebra finch devotes a lot of genetic code to hearing and singing songs, according to an analysis in the journal Nature. Much of that code controls brain circuits that are similar to the circuits people use for vocal learning. "There are striking parallels," says David Clayton, from the Institute for Genomic Biology at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. A young male zebra finch learns to sing much the way a child learns to talk, Clayton says. "The rudimentary steps are very similar," he says. Young male zebra finches produce something called a subsong, "which has been likened to the babbling of a human infant." By listening to an older male, usually its father, Clayton says, the zebra finch eventually learns to produce a precise and sophisticated song that it will use for the rest of its life. Intrigued by the similarities between these birds and humans, researchers have been combing the zebra finch genome looking for genes that seem to play a role in learning songs. And they have found more than 800 so far, says Wes Warren, assistant director of the Genome Center at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=125389423
German words are worth every syllable. Where else can you find a single word, schadenfreude, for example, that conveys the whole concept of 'pleasure derived from the misfortunes of others'? Note: German nouns are capitalized, so often you'll see these words written the same way in English.
poltergeist (POHL-tuhr-gyst) noun
A ghost that reveals its presence by making noises or throwing objects.
From German Poltergeist, from poltern (to make noise, rattle) + Geist (ghost, spirit).
gotterdammerung (got-uhr-DAM-uh-roong, -rung) noun
Complete destruction of an institution, regime, order, etc.
From German Götterdämmerung (twilight of the gods), from Götter, plural of Gott (god) + Dämmerung (twilight). Götterdämmerung was the name of the last of Richard Wagner's four operas titled Der Ring des Nibelungen (The Ring of the Nibelung). The German word Götterdämmerung is a translation of the Old Norse Ragnarök which in Scandinavian mythology refers to the destruction of the gods in a battle with evil, resulting in the end of the world.
zeitgeist (TSYT-gyst) noun
The defining spirit of a particular period: the general cultural, political, intellectual, and moral climate of an era.
From German Zeitgeist (spirit of the time), from Zeit (time) + Geist (spirit). A.Word.A.Day with Anu Garg
Ēostre derives from Proto-Germanic *austrō, ultimately from a PIE root *au̯es-, "to shine" and closely related to the name of the dawn goddess, *h2ausōs, whence Greek Eos, Roman Aurora and Indian Ushas. The modern English term Easter is the direct continuation of Old English Ēastre, which is attested from the late 9th century.] Ēostre is the Northumbrian form while Ēastre is West Saxon. Bede states that the name refers to a goddess named Ēostre, who was celebrated at the Spring equinox. In the 19th century Hans Grimm cited Bede when he proposed the existence of an Old High German equivalent named ōstarūn, plural, "Easter" (modern German language Ostern). There is no certain parallel to Ēostre in North Germanic languages though Grimm speculates that the east wind, "a spirit of light" named Austri found in the 13th century Icelandic Prose Edda book Gylfaginning, might be related. Eostre is attested only by Bede, in his 8th century work De temporum ratione, where he states that Ēostur-monath was the equivalent to the month of April, and that feasts held in her honor during Ēostur-monath had died out by the time of his writing, replaced by the "Paschal month." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C4%92ostre
How to boil eggs The rule is use your oldest eggs for hard boiling. Older eggshells become more alkaline, which helps separate the shell from the membrane holding it to the white. The main thing is the air pocket in each egg. It grows larger with age (air penetrates the porous shell). The size of this pocket is the key to popping off a shell cleanly.
1. Take eggs out of the fridge for an hour. This chases the chill and reduces the chance of breaking.
2. Don’t drop eggs into boiling water. Cover them with cool water (to one-inch above them) and place on the burner on high. The pot should be big enough to cushion bumping during boiling.
3. Cover and heat on high for six minutes or time to reach a boil.
4. Immediately take off heat and move the covered pot to a cool burner. This allows the egg to continue cooking, but it will not overcook, resulting in rubbery whites.
5. Lightly sprinkle the eggs with salt. This will help with peeling. Remove from hot water after 30 minutes. http://www.cantonrep.com/carousel/x1838116437/The-fine-art-of-perfect-hard-boiled-eggs
EPIC: "The New Jersey Supreme Court ruled in favor of a female employee whose employer read emails that she sent while using Yahoo Mail on a company-owned laptop. The employee, Marina Stengart, had exchanged emails with her attorney regarding a possible discrimination lawsuit against the employer. The employer then pulled the emails off of the laptop's hard drive and used them to prepare a defense to the discrimination suit. The New Jersey Supreme Court found that "Under the circumstances, Stengart could reasonably expect that e-mail communications with her lawyer through her personal, password-protected, web-based e-mail account would remain private, and that sending and receiving them using a company laptop did not eliminate the attorney-client privilege that protected them. " The Supreme Court of the United States is set to consider employee privacy in City of Ontario v. Quon, in which EPIC submitted a "friend of the court brief."
Top U.S. 25 cities in 2009 with energy efficient buildings
http://www.energystar.gov/ia/business/downloads/2009_Top_25_cities_chart.pdf
A billionaire wine collector has accused Christie's International PLC, the world's largest auction house, of knowingly selling dozens of counterfeit bottles of high-priced wine for over two decades. In a lawsuit filed March 30 in U.S. District Court, New York, Florida-based energy tycoon William Koch claimed that Christie's had sold him at least 33 bottles of counterfeit wine, including a $4,200 bottle of rare 1870 Lafite that he claimed may have been corked after World War II. The complaint against Christie's is the latest in a string of lawsuits Mr. Koch has filed against auctioneers and wine sellers over the past five years in his attempt to police the growing presence of counterfeit wines in the marketplace.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304252704575156420591361494.html?mod=djemlawblog_h
The genetic code of a small, noisy songbird is providing scientists with clues to the nature of human speech. The genome of the male zebra finch devotes a lot of genetic code to hearing and singing songs, according to an analysis in the journal Nature. Much of that code controls brain circuits that are similar to the circuits people use for vocal learning. "There are striking parallels," says David Clayton, from the Institute for Genomic Biology at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. A young male zebra finch learns to sing much the way a child learns to talk, Clayton says. "The rudimentary steps are very similar," he says. Young male zebra finches produce something called a subsong, "which has been likened to the babbling of a human infant." By listening to an older male, usually its father, Clayton says, the zebra finch eventually learns to produce a precise and sophisticated song that it will use for the rest of its life. Intrigued by the similarities between these birds and humans, researchers have been combing the zebra finch genome looking for genes that seem to play a role in learning songs. And they have found more than 800 so far, says Wes Warren, assistant director of the Genome Center at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=125389423
German words are worth every syllable. Where else can you find a single word, schadenfreude, for example, that conveys the whole concept of 'pleasure derived from the misfortunes of others'? Note: German nouns are capitalized, so often you'll see these words written the same way in English.
poltergeist (POHL-tuhr-gyst) noun
A ghost that reveals its presence by making noises or throwing objects.
From German Poltergeist, from poltern (to make noise, rattle) + Geist (ghost, spirit).
gotterdammerung (got-uhr-DAM-uh-roong, -rung) noun
Complete destruction of an institution, regime, order, etc.
From German Götterdämmerung (twilight of the gods), from Götter, plural of Gott (god) + Dämmerung (twilight). Götterdämmerung was the name of the last of Richard Wagner's four operas titled Der Ring des Nibelungen (The Ring of the Nibelung). The German word Götterdämmerung is a translation of the Old Norse Ragnarök which in Scandinavian mythology refers to the destruction of the gods in a battle with evil, resulting in the end of the world.
zeitgeist (TSYT-gyst) noun
The defining spirit of a particular period: the general cultural, political, intellectual, and moral climate of an era.
From German Zeitgeist (spirit of the time), from Zeit (time) + Geist (spirit). A.Word.A.Day with Anu Garg
Ēostre derives from Proto-Germanic *austrō, ultimately from a PIE root *au̯es-, "to shine" and closely related to the name of the dawn goddess, *h2ausōs, whence Greek Eos, Roman Aurora and Indian Ushas. The modern English term Easter is the direct continuation of Old English Ēastre, which is attested from the late 9th century.] Ēostre is the Northumbrian form while Ēastre is West Saxon. Bede states that the name refers to a goddess named Ēostre, who was celebrated at the Spring equinox. In the 19th century Hans Grimm cited Bede when he proposed the existence of an Old High German equivalent named ōstarūn, plural, "Easter" (modern German language Ostern). There is no certain parallel to Ēostre in North Germanic languages though Grimm speculates that the east wind, "a spirit of light" named Austri found in the 13th century Icelandic Prose Edda book Gylfaginning, might be related. Eostre is attested only by Bede, in his 8th century work De temporum ratione, where he states that Ēostur-monath was the equivalent to the month of April, and that feasts held in her honor during Ēostur-monath had died out by the time of his writing, replaced by the "Paschal month." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C4%92ostre
How to boil eggs The rule is use your oldest eggs for hard boiling. Older eggshells become more alkaline, which helps separate the shell from the membrane holding it to the white. The main thing is the air pocket in each egg. It grows larger with age (air penetrates the porous shell). The size of this pocket is the key to popping off a shell cleanly.
1. Take eggs out of the fridge for an hour. This chases the chill and reduces the chance of breaking.
2. Don’t drop eggs into boiling water. Cover them with cool water (to one-inch above them) and place on the burner on high. The pot should be big enough to cushion bumping during boiling.
3. Cover and heat on high for six minutes or time to reach a boil.
4. Immediately take off heat and move the covered pot to a cool burner. This allows the egg to continue cooking, but it will not overcook, resulting in rubbery whites.
5. Lightly sprinkle the eggs with salt. This will help with peeling. Remove from hot water after 30 minutes. http://www.cantonrep.com/carousel/x1838116437/The-fine-art-of-perfect-hard-boiled-eggs
Thursday, April 1, 2010
"Welcome to the Supreme Court's new Website, which not only has a new look, but also incorporates new features, including:
• recent Court decisions accessible from the homepage
• docket files dating back to 2000
• an interactive Court calendar
• a new case citation finder
• enhanced search and navigation capabilities
http://www.supremecourt.gov/
Tax Foundation Breaks Down Financing of $938 Billion Health Care Bill
"The $938 billion health care reform legislation finalized by Congress [signed by President Obama on March 23, 2010] is financed primarily through net cuts to Medicare and an increased Medicare tax on high-income taxpayers, according to the Tax Foundation. The Medicare spending cuts would save $416.5 billion, or about 39 percent of the bill's 10-year cost. The increased Medicare taxes on high-income people -- including an additional 0.9% Medicare Hospital Insurance Tax on earned income exceeding $200,000 for single taxpayers ($250,000 for married couples) and an "Unearned Income Medicare Contribution" of 3.8% on investment income for taxpayers with adjusted gross incomes (AGI) in excess of $200,000 for single filers ($250,000 for married filers) -- would raise $210 billion, or about 19 percent of the legislation's cost. A graph depicting a breakdown of the financing is available online. The cost of coverage provisions from 2010-2019 is $938 billion, but the total of all provisions is $1.08 trillion due to deficit reduction."
June Havoc, who appeared on vaudeville stages when she was 2 as Baby June and went on to a successful acting career—but saw her accomplishments overshadowed by the fictionalized portrayal of her in the 1959 musical “Gypsy”—died on March 28 at her home in Stamford, Conn. She was believed to be 97. In “Gypsy”—whose book, by Arthur Laurents, was based on a memoir by her sister, the strip-tease artist Gypsy Rose Lee—the adorable, pampered June (by then known as Dainty June, having outgrown the baby billing) quits show business to elope with one of the boys in her act and is never heard from again. In real life, not long after her sister gained burlesque fame in the 1930s, Ms. Havoc established a solid career on Broadway and in Hollywood films. See much more at: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/30/theater/30havoc.html?src=mv
April Fools' Day or All Fools' Day is a day celebrated in many countries on April 1. The day is marked by the commission of hoaxes and other practical jokes of varying sophistication on friends, family members, enemies, and neighbors, or sending them on a fool's errand, the aim of which is to embarrass the gullible. Traditionally, in some countries, such as the UK, Australia and South Africa the jokes only last until noon, and someone who plays a trick after noon is called an "April Fool".[1] In Chaucer's Canterbury Tales (1392), the "Nun's Priest's Tale" is set Syn March bigan thritty dayes and two.[2] Chaucer probably meant 32 days after March, i.e. May 2,[3] the anniversary of the engagement of King Richard II of England to Anne of Bohemia, which took place in 1381. However, readers apparently misunderstood this line to mean "March 32," i.e April 1.[4] In Chaucer's tale, the vain cock Chauntecler is tricked by a fox. In 1508, a French poet referred to a poisson d’avril (April fool, literally "April fish"), a possible reference to the holiday.[3] In 1539, Flemish poet Eduard de Dene wrote of a nobleman who sent his servants on foolish errands on April 1.[3] In 1686, John Aubrey referred to the holiday as "Fooles holy day", the first British reference.[3] On April 1, 1698, several people were tricked into going to the Tower of London to "see the Lions washed."[3] The name "April Fools" echoes that of the Feast of Fools, a Medieval holiday held on December 28.[5] In the Middle Ages, New Year's Day was celebrated on March 25 in most European towns.[6] In some areas of France, New Year's was a week-long holiday ending on April 1.[5] So it is possible that April Fools originated because those who celebrated on January 1 made fun of those who celebrated on other dates.[7]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/April_Fools'_Day
A 3-D ("three-dimensional") film or S3D film is a motion picture that enhances the illusion of depth perception. Derived from stereoscopic photography, a special motion picture camera is used to record the images as seen from two perspectives (or computer-generated imagery generates the two perspectives), and special projection hardware and/or eyewear are used to provide the illusion of depth when viewing the film. 3-D films have existed in some form since 1890, but until 2010 had been largely relegated to a niche in the motion picture industry because of the costly hardware and processes required to produce and display a 3-D film, and the lack of a standardized format for all segments of the entertainment business. Nonetheless, 3-D films were prominently featured in the 1950s in American cinema, and later experienced a worldwide resurgence in the 1980s and 90s driven by IMAX high-end theaters and Disney themed-venues. 3-D films became more and more successful throughout 2000-09, culminating in the unprecedented success of 3-D presentations of Avatar in December 2009, followed by the record-breaking opening of Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland in March 2010. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3-D_film
The first commercially released 3-D movie was the 1922 film The Power of Love. The film wasn't widely shown and, since then, technology has improved steadily. After resurgences in the 1950s and 1970s, the current resurgence started in 2004 when the animated feature Polar Express grossed $305 million. In an episode of the 1950s TV show The Honeymooners, Ralph Kramden explains why he refuses to buy a new television. "I'm waiting for 3-D." The wait may soon be over for those who will pay the money and wear the special glasses. The Week magazine April 2, 2010
More "Communications and influence"
actors in commercials announcing they are doctors but are not
reality shows that are not real but are actually scripted and staged
LYNNE’S TIPS
• Many pasta recipes call for adding a good splash or two of reserved pasta cooking water when finishing the dish to loosen and stretch the sauce. So you don’t forget, put a measuring cup in your colander as a reminder before you drain the pasta.
The Splendid Table March 31, 2010
• recent Court decisions accessible from the homepage
• docket files dating back to 2000
• an interactive Court calendar
• a new case citation finder
• enhanced search and navigation capabilities
http://www.supremecourt.gov/
Tax Foundation Breaks Down Financing of $938 Billion Health Care Bill
"The $938 billion health care reform legislation finalized by Congress [signed by President Obama on March 23, 2010] is financed primarily through net cuts to Medicare and an increased Medicare tax on high-income taxpayers, according to the Tax Foundation. The Medicare spending cuts would save $416.5 billion, or about 39 percent of the bill's 10-year cost. The increased Medicare taxes on high-income people -- including an additional 0.9% Medicare Hospital Insurance Tax on earned income exceeding $200,000 for single taxpayers ($250,000 for married couples) and an "Unearned Income Medicare Contribution" of 3.8% on investment income for taxpayers with adjusted gross incomes (AGI) in excess of $200,000 for single filers ($250,000 for married filers) -- would raise $210 billion, or about 19 percent of the legislation's cost. A graph depicting a breakdown of the financing is available online. The cost of coverage provisions from 2010-2019 is $938 billion, but the total of all provisions is $1.08 trillion due to deficit reduction."
June Havoc, who appeared on vaudeville stages when she was 2 as Baby June and went on to a successful acting career—but saw her accomplishments overshadowed by the fictionalized portrayal of her in the 1959 musical “Gypsy”—died on March 28 at her home in Stamford, Conn. She was believed to be 97. In “Gypsy”—whose book, by Arthur Laurents, was based on a memoir by her sister, the strip-tease artist Gypsy Rose Lee—the adorable, pampered June (by then known as Dainty June, having outgrown the baby billing) quits show business to elope with one of the boys in her act and is never heard from again. In real life, not long after her sister gained burlesque fame in the 1930s, Ms. Havoc established a solid career on Broadway and in Hollywood films. See much more at: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/30/theater/30havoc.html?src=mv
April Fools' Day or All Fools' Day is a day celebrated in many countries on April 1. The day is marked by the commission of hoaxes and other practical jokes of varying sophistication on friends, family members, enemies, and neighbors, or sending them on a fool's errand, the aim of which is to embarrass the gullible. Traditionally, in some countries, such as the UK, Australia and South Africa the jokes only last until noon, and someone who plays a trick after noon is called an "April Fool".[1] In Chaucer's Canterbury Tales (1392), the "Nun's Priest's Tale" is set Syn March bigan thritty dayes and two.[2] Chaucer probably meant 32 days after March, i.e. May 2,[3] the anniversary of the engagement of King Richard II of England to Anne of Bohemia, which took place in 1381. However, readers apparently misunderstood this line to mean "March 32," i.e April 1.[4] In Chaucer's tale, the vain cock Chauntecler is tricked by a fox. In 1508, a French poet referred to a poisson d’avril (April fool, literally "April fish"), a possible reference to the holiday.[3] In 1539, Flemish poet Eduard de Dene wrote of a nobleman who sent his servants on foolish errands on April 1.[3] In 1686, John Aubrey referred to the holiday as "Fooles holy day", the first British reference.[3] On April 1, 1698, several people were tricked into going to the Tower of London to "see the Lions washed."[3] The name "April Fools" echoes that of the Feast of Fools, a Medieval holiday held on December 28.[5] In the Middle Ages, New Year's Day was celebrated on March 25 in most European towns.[6] In some areas of France, New Year's was a week-long holiday ending on April 1.[5] So it is possible that April Fools originated because those who celebrated on January 1 made fun of those who celebrated on other dates.[7]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/April_Fools'_Day
A 3-D ("three-dimensional") film or S3D film is a motion picture that enhances the illusion of depth perception. Derived from stereoscopic photography, a special motion picture camera is used to record the images as seen from two perspectives (or computer-generated imagery generates the two perspectives), and special projection hardware and/or eyewear are used to provide the illusion of depth when viewing the film. 3-D films have existed in some form since 1890, but until 2010 had been largely relegated to a niche in the motion picture industry because of the costly hardware and processes required to produce and display a 3-D film, and the lack of a standardized format for all segments of the entertainment business. Nonetheless, 3-D films were prominently featured in the 1950s in American cinema, and later experienced a worldwide resurgence in the 1980s and 90s driven by IMAX high-end theaters and Disney themed-venues. 3-D films became more and more successful throughout 2000-09, culminating in the unprecedented success of 3-D presentations of Avatar in December 2009, followed by the record-breaking opening of Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland in March 2010. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3-D_film
The first commercially released 3-D movie was the 1922 film The Power of Love. The film wasn't widely shown and, since then, technology has improved steadily. After resurgences in the 1950s and 1970s, the current resurgence started in 2004 when the animated feature Polar Express grossed $305 million. In an episode of the 1950s TV show The Honeymooners, Ralph Kramden explains why he refuses to buy a new television. "I'm waiting for 3-D." The wait may soon be over for those who will pay the money and wear the special glasses. The Week magazine April 2, 2010
More "Communications and influence"
actors in commercials announcing they are doctors but are not
reality shows that are not real but are actually scripted and staged
LYNNE’S TIPS
• Many pasta recipes call for adding a good splash or two of reserved pasta cooking water when finishing the dish to loosen and stretch the sauce. So you don’t forget, put a measuring cup in your colander as a reminder before you drain the pasta.
The Splendid Table March 31, 2010
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