Winners and Nominees for the 83rd Academy Awards http://www.oscars.org/awards/academyawards/83/nominees.html
The connection between handedness and speech runs deep. Speech is controlled by the left side of the brain and so is motor control of the usually dominant right hand. It is possible that this connection says something about the evolutionary origin of language, if language was first expressed through gestures rather than speech. Curiously, stuttering is not really a speech disorder. Some deaf people stutter in sign language, too. This is just one of the ways that sign language shares all the characteristics of spoken language. For example, in Britain and many other countries—less so in America—sign language has wildly different dialects in different regions. Most hearing people wonder why sign language is not internationally standardized. Answer: for the same reason spoken language is not standardized. Language is an evolved, not an ordained, order. by Matt Ridley
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703529004576160363317261804.html?mod=googlenews_wsj
Muse reader responds to Black Swamp story: Along Route 20 between Perrysburg and Fremont there were hotels a day's journey apart-often just a few miles. The wagon wheel repair people "owned" the potholes and didn't repair the roads, thus assuring business. Corduroy Road in Oregon gets its name from the continual addition of trees laid across it as previous layers disappeared into the mud. Thanks, Beth.
Muse reader responds to Maxx story: Therapy dogs don't get the special privileges that service dogs do--they are very different "things." Service dogs are specially trained to assist the disabled with certain tasks. Therapy dogs are tested/certified to be friendly, well behaved, etc., to let people pet and hug them, provide comfort, etc. Therapy dogs visit hospitals, nursing homes, libraries, etc. They have no special skills other than to make people feel warm and fuzzy. Thanks, Sue.
The producer of Yellow Tail, the nation's best-selling imported wine, is suing the maker of Little Roo for trademark infringement. At issue: whether the kangaroo on Little Roo's label is a knockoff of the wallaby on Yellow Tail's. Casella Wines Pty. Ltd., the Australian maker of Yellow Tail, says in papers filed in a New York federal court that the kangaroo on its competitor's label is portrayed in profile, is leaping, and is "oriented [in] the same direction" as the yellow-footed rock wallaby on Yellow Tail bottles. Wallabies, Casella Wines contends, are "indistinguishable to most people" from kangaroos. The Wine Group LLC, which makes Little Roo, "denies that the Australian wallaby is interchangeably referred to as a kangaroo," it said in a December court filing. For years, labels were dominated by inanimate objects, like chateaus in France, and gobs of text. Yellow Tail, introduced in the U.S. a decade ago, popularized the living-creature label, although there were others before, like the ducks from California's Duckhorn Vineyards. by David Kesmodel http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703951704576092343480682946.html
Tamil people, also called Tamils or Tamilians, are an ethnic group native to Tamil Nadu, a state in southern India and the north-eastern region of Sri Lanka. Historic and post 19th century emigrant communities are also found across the world, notably Malaysia, Singapore, Mauritius, South Africa, Canada, Réunion (France) and the UK. Tamil people have a recorded history going back over two millennia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tamils
Dravidian peoples also Dravidians is a term used to refer to the diverse groups of people who natively speak languages belonging to the Dravidian language family. Populations of speakers are found mostly in southern India. Other Dravidian people are found in parts of central India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Pakistan. The most populous Dravidian peoples (30-70 million each) are the Telugus, Tamils, Kannadigas and the Malayalis. Smaller Dravidian communities with 1-5 million speakers are the Tuluvas, Gonds and Brahui. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dravidian_peoples
In January 2011, archivist Jane Kenealy at the San Diego History Center was exploring a batch of unprocessed material when she saw an unfamiliar container, about three feet across and three inches deep. “I opened the box,” she said, still sounding awed, “and there it was.” “It” was a framed parchment, with “The President of the United States” printed across the top. The document had been pre-printed, with blanks for someone’s name (in this case, Lewis C. Gunn) and appointment (here, Assessor of Internal Revenue for the First Collection Division of California). There was also a space for a signature. The name flows in black ink: “Abraham Lincoln.” Like every American, Kenealy had seen the name countless times. But she was sure that she had once seen that same handwriting, marching across the center’s two-page handwritten 1841 court document from Logan & Lincoln, an Illinois law firm where Lincoln was a junior partner. The letter, though, was unsigned. Kenealy e-mailed digital copies of the 1841 letter and the 1865 appointment to Daniel Stowell, director and editor of “The Papers of Abraham Lincoln,” a project of the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum in Springfield, Ill. About two weeks ago, he verified Kenealy’s suspicions—both were authentic, and the entire letter was in Lincoln’s hand. The Lincoln library and museum has a transcript of the 1841 letter, but didn’t know the original’s location. Lincoln was writing on behalf of clients, trying to collect an overdue and, in his time, sizable debt: $137.50. http://www.sandiegohistory.org/press/5156
Cleopatra's Needle is the popular name for each of three Ancient Egyptian obelisks re-erected in London, Paris, and New York City during the nineteenth century. The London and New York ones are a pair, while the Paris one comes from a different original site where its twin remains. Although the needles are genuine Ancient Egyptian obelisks, they are somewhat misnamed as they have no particular connection with Queen Cleopatra VII of Egypt, and were already over a thousand years old in her lifetime. The Paris "needle" was the first to be moved and re-erected, and the first to acquire the nickname. See much more including pictures at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cleopatra's_Needle
Diplomatic relations between the U.S. and Egypt, a key ally in the Middle East, took a frosty turn recently--and it was all over a 3,500-year-old stone sculpture that's lived in Central Park since 1880. The secretary general of Egypt's Supreme Council on Antiquities, archeologist Zahi Hawass, blasted the city's care and maintenance of the priceless Egyptian obelisk- fancifully dubbed Cleopatra's Needle- in a letter to Mayor Michael Bloomberg and the Central Park Conservancy. http://www.examiner.com/historic-places-in-new-york/cleopatra-s-needle-controversy-stings-new-york-could-paris-or-london-be-next
Monday, February 28, 2011
Friday, February 25, 2011
Q: Can it be too cold to snow?
A: It can snow at any temperature below freezing. It snows at the South Pole, where the temperature is rarely above minus 40 degrees. In more hospitable climates, however, it doesn't snow much when the temperature falls below about minus 4 degrees. When moist air cools, it starts producing snow before it gets that cold. By the time the temperature drops to minus 4 degrees, the snow has already fallen and the air is dry. The clouds that remain are made of ice crystals, and these don't produce much snow. California Institute of Technology.
Q: How do meteorologists calculate wind chill?
A: The National Weather Service's wind chill chart, equation and calculator can be found at http://www.weather.gov/om/windchill/index.shtml. National Weather Service
http://www.thecourier.com/Opinion/columns/2011/Feb/JU/ar_JU_022111.asp?d=022111,2011,Feb,21&c=c_13
New Zealand, at one end of the Pacific Ring of Fire, is a geologically active zone that causes earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. Its largest city, Auckland, is built over a dormant volcanic field whose last eruption created an 850-foot cone that dominates the city's harbor. Its second-largest city, Christchurch, sits about 80 miles east of the Alpine Fault, where tectonic plates are sliding past each other and pushing up the Southern Alps, which form the spine of the country's South Island. The Wall Street Journal February 25, 2011
Rhonda Kimmel's 11-year-old West Highland terrier, Maxx, goes with her everywhere—to the mall, restaurants and even to the bank. What gives Maxx entree to places normally off-limits to canines and other animals is the embroidered, purple vest he sports. It says: "Therapy Dog Maxx." Maxx is a lot of things, including well-behaved, and he is a faithful companion. What he is not, however, is a therapy dog or a service dog, and Ms. Kimmel is not disabled. Still, Ms. Kimmel says the vest, which she purchased online, no questions asked, makes people think otherwise, so they don't object to Maxx. "They know they are not supposed to ask," Ms. Kimmel says, alluding to the federal law that protects people with service animals from inquiries about the nature of their disability. Beginning March 15, the Americans With Disabilities Act will only recognize dogs as service animals. The new regulations include a provision that says the public must accommodate, where reasonable, trained miniature horses as well. the new rules do little to get rid of the fakers. "If people are clever and they have a well-behaved dog, they know just what to say to get their dog on board," says Toni Eames, president of the International Association of Assistance Dog Partners. "Or they can get a friendly psychologist to write a note." It's risky for businesses to deny access to people accompanied by service dogs—even if they think they are pretending to be disabled—because if suspicions prove to be unfounded, a business could face civil penalties of up to $55,000 for violating a person's civil rights. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703652104576122461180284204.html
The Great Black Swamp was a glacially caused wetland in northwest Ohio. Although much of the area to the east, south, and north was settled in the early 19th century, the difficulty of traveling through the swamp delayed its development by several decades. The Great Black Swamp was Ohio's last frontier, and beginning in the 1840s, it took several generations of determined farmers to drain it and make it the rich, flat farmland of today. The Ohio Railroad Company attempted to lay tracks over the muddy swamp in the 1830s and 1840s. After the project got underway, parts of the railroad began disappearing into the mud, including the track and equipment on board. Around the 1850s the state of Ohio began an organized attempt to drain the swamp for agricultural use and ease of travel. James B. Hill, living in Bowling Green, Ohio, in the mid-19th century, made the quick drainage of the Black Swamp possible with his invention of the Buckeye Traction Ditcher. Hill's ditching machine laid drainage tiles at a record pace. The development of railroads and a local drainage tile industry are thought to have contributed greatly to drainage and settlement of this once uninhabitable “Forbidden Zone”. In the 1850s, 140 railroads were planned in Ohio, but only 25 of them were ever built. In 1853, the canal transported its own demise: iron for rail lines. http://www.acyhs.org/ACYHS_CDSTL.php
A serious problem for using canals for transportation is that they froze early and thawed late.
Brian Jacques, the author of the bestselling Redwall series, died on February 5. Hugely popular with children from the publication in 1986 of Redwall, the first in the lengthy sequence, Jacques's books were among those that they needed no adult guidance to find; they latched on to them hungrily and then shared them with friends. Written in a flowing, flowery prose, the simply structured stories tell of the epic struggles between the good inhabitants of Redwall Abbey and its surrounding Mossflower countryside, and the bad invaders who must be kept at bay. Jacques's vividly created imaginary world is entirely anthropomorphic; mice supported by voles, badgers, hares and other peaceable creatures live in a world of harmony within the confines of the abbey and the nearby countryside. Led by the good Abbot Mortimer, the abbey's mission is to keep the world peaceful and ordered. The combination of a completely imagined world full of domestic detail – especially the kind of institutional feasts later made familiar at Hogwarts – with a strongly created mythology to underpin them, big-scale plots and Jacques's rolling prose quickly turned Redwall into a leading international brand in children's books. Worldwide sales exceeded 20m copies, and spin-offs included maps and family trees to increase the sense of reality. Jacques tried other kinds of stories, including The Castaways of the Flying Dutchman (2001) and its sequels, before returning to the Redwall world. Delivering milk to the Royal school for the blind in Wavertree, Liverpool, brought Jacques into contact with the pupils, and it was for them that he first told the Redwall stories. The needs of this first audience encouraged Jacques to describe his newly created world as vividly as possible; wisely, he retained the same detail and drama when the stories were written down. Their quality was recognised by a former English teacher, Alan Durband, who sent them to a publisher without telling Jacques and secured him a contract.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/feb/08/brian-jacques-obituary
Could beetles, dragonfly larvae and water bug caviar be the meat of the future? As the global population booms and demand strains the world's supply of meat, there's a growing need for alternate animal proteins. Insects are high in protein, B vitamins and minerals like iron and zinc, and they're low in fat. Insects are easier to raise than livestock, and they produce less waste. Insects are abundant. Of all the known animal species, 80% walk on six legs; over 1,000 edible species have been identified. And the taste? It's often described as "nutty." The vast majority of the developing world already eats insects. Will Westerners ever take to insects as food? It's possible. We are entomologists at Wageningen University, and we started promoting insects as food in the Netherlands in the 1990s. Many people laughed—and cringed—at first, but interest gradually became more serious. In 2006 we created a "Wageningen—City of Insects" science festival to promote the idea of eating bugs; it attracted more than 20,000 visitors. Over the past two years, three Dutch insect-raising companies, which normally produce feed for animals in zoos, have set up special production lines to raise locusts and mealworms for human consumption.
See more plus a recipe at: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703293204576106072340020728.html?mod=googlenews_wsj
Abigail Kawananakoa has been on a decades-long treasure hunt—a bid to recover silverware, lamps, rare furniture and other assorted objects from her family's former home. This 84-year-old is a princess—a descendant of the royal family that ruled the former nation of Hawaii more than a century ago, presiding from graceful Iolani Palace in downtown Honolulu. But much of the 19th-century palace's custom-made furniture, oil paintings and other treasures disappeared after January 1893, when a small band of businessmen overthrew the monarchy. Palace bounty has trickled in from some unlikely places. In 1987, a California couple bought a pretty porcelain plate for fifty cents at a community college swap meet in Huntington Beach, Calif. After seeing a television program about Iolani Palace, they realized the plate, with its royal insignia, had come from the palace's French Pillivuyt china service. They donated it in 2007. A group of Iowa eighth graders learned from their teacher that a small mahogany table in the palace actually belonged to the state of Iowa, which had received it as a gift from an Iowa resident and then lent it back to the Hawaiians. The kids, calling themselves the Give 'Em Back their Table Committee, began a campaign in 1999 to persuade the Iowa government to permanently give the table back to the palace. Iowa transferred legal ownership in 2000, and the table is now a permanent addition to King David Kalakaua's library, according to the palace. About half of the palace's contents remain at large. Palace staffers and volunteers say that even today they know where a number of items are after spotting them in private homes. Some owners refuse to give stuff back, they say; others do so anonymously.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704013604576104611711914484.html
A: It can snow at any temperature below freezing. It snows at the South Pole, where the temperature is rarely above minus 40 degrees. In more hospitable climates, however, it doesn't snow much when the temperature falls below about minus 4 degrees. When moist air cools, it starts producing snow before it gets that cold. By the time the temperature drops to minus 4 degrees, the snow has already fallen and the air is dry. The clouds that remain are made of ice crystals, and these don't produce much snow. California Institute of Technology.
Q: How do meteorologists calculate wind chill?
A: The National Weather Service's wind chill chart, equation and calculator can be found at http://www.weather.gov/om/windchill/index.shtml. National Weather Service
http://www.thecourier.com/Opinion/columns/2011/Feb/JU/ar_JU_022111.asp?d=022111,2011,Feb,21&c=c_13
New Zealand, at one end of the Pacific Ring of Fire, is a geologically active zone that causes earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. Its largest city, Auckland, is built over a dormant volcanic field whose last eruption created an 850-foot cone that dominates the city's harbor. Its second-largest city, Christchurch, sits about 80 miles east of the Alpine Fault, where tectonic plates are sliding past each other and pushing up the Southern Alps, which form the spine of the country's South Island. The Wall Street Journal February 25, 2011
Rhonda Kimmel's 11-year-old West Highland terrier, Maxx, goes with her everywhere—to the mall, restaurants and even to the bank. What gives Maxx entree to places normally off-limits to canines and other animals is the embroidered, purple vest he sports. It says: "Therapy Dog Maxx." Maxx is a lot of things, including well-behaved, and he is a faithful companion. What he is not, however, is a therapy dog or a service dog, and Ms. Kimmel is not disabled. Still, Ms. Kimmel says the vest, which she purchased online, no questions asked, makes people think otherwise, so they don't object to Maxx. "They know they are not supposed to ask," Ms. Kimmel says, alluding to the federal law that protects people with service animals from inquiries about the nature of their disability. Beginning March 15, the Americans With Disabilities Act will only recognize dogs as service animals. The new regulations include a provision that says the public must accommodate, where reasonable, trained miniature horses as well. the new rules do little to get rid of the fakers. "If people are clever and they have a well-behaved dog, they know just what to say to get their dog on board," says Toni Eames, president of the International Association of Assistance Dog Partners. "Or they can get a friendly psychologist to write a note." It's risky for businesses to deny access to people accompanied by service dogs—even if they think they are pretending to be disabled—because if suspicions prove to be unfounded, a business could face civil penalties of up to $55,000 for violating a person's civil rights. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703652104576122461180284204.html
The Great Black Swamp was a glacially caused wetland in northwest Ohio. Although much of the area to the east, south, and north was settled in the early 19th century, the difficulty of traveling through the swamp delayed its development by several decades. The Great Black Swamp was Ohio's last frontier, and beginning in the 1840s, it took several generations of determined farmers to drain it and make it the rich, flat farmland of today. The Ohio Railroad Company attempted to lay tracks over the muddy swamp in the 1830s and 1840s. After the project got underway, parts of the railroad began disappearing into the mud, including the track and equipment on board. Around the 1850s the state of Ohio began an organized attempt to drain the swamp for agricultural use and ease of travel. James B. Hill, living in Bowling Green, Ohio, in the mid-19th century, made the quick drainage of the Black Swamp possible with his invention of the Buckeye Traction Ditcher. Hill's ditching machine laid drainage tiles at a record pace. The development of railroads and a local drainage tile industry are thought to have contributed greatly to drainage and settlement of this once uninhabitable “Forbidden Zone”. In the 1850s, 140 railroads were planned in Ohio, but only 25 of them were ever built. In 1853, the canal transported its own demise: iron for rail lines. http://www.acyhs.org/ACYHS_CDSTL.php
A serious problem for using canals for transportation is that they froze early and thawed late.
Brian Jacques, the author of the bestselling Redwall series, died on February 5. Hugely popular with children from the publication in 1986 of Redwall, the first in the lengthy sequence, Jacques's books were among those that they needed no adult guidance to find; they latched on to them hungrily and then shared them with friends. Written in a flowing, flowery prose, the simply structured stories tell of the epic struggles between the good inhabitants of Redwall Abbey and its surrounding Mossflower countryside, and the bad invaders who must be kept at bay. Jacques's vividly created imaginary world is entirely anthropomorphic; mice supported by voles, badgers, hares and other peaceable creatures live in a world of harmony within the confines of the abbey and the nearby countryside. Led by the good Abbot Mortimer, the abbey's mission is to keep the world peaceful and ordered. The combination of a completely imagined world full of domestic detail – especially the kind of institutional feasts later made familiar at Hogwarts – with a strongly created mythology to underpin them, big-scale plots and Jacques's rolling prose quickly turned Redwall into a leading international brand in children's books. Worldwide sales exceeded 20m copies, and spin-offs included maps and family trees to increase the sense of reality. Jacques tried other kinds of stories, including The Castaways of the Flying Dutchman (2001) and its sequels, before returning to the Redwall world. Delivering milk to the Royal school for the blind in Wavertree, Liverpool, brought Jacques into contact with the pupils, and it was for them that he first told the Redwall stories. The needs of this first audience encouraged Jacques to describe his newly created world as vividly as possible; wisely, he retained the same detail and drama when the stories were written down. Their quality was recognised by a former English teacher, Alan Durband, who sent them to a publisher without telling Jacques and secured him a contract.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/feb/08/brian-jacques-obituary
Could beetles, dragonfly larvae and water bug caviar be the meat of the future? As the global population booms and demand strains the world's supply of meat, there's a growing need for alternate animal proteins. Insects are high in protein, B vitamins and minerals like iron and zinc, and they're low in fat. Insects are easier to raise than livestock, and they produce less waste. Insects are abundant. Of all the known animal species, 80% walk on six legs; over 1,000 edible species have been identified. And the taste? It's often described as "nutty." The vast majority of the developing world already eats insects. Will Westerners ever take to insects as food? It's possible. We are entomologists at Wageningen University, and we started promoting insects as food in the Netherlands in the 1990s. Many people laughed—and cringed—at first, but interest gradually became more serious. In 2006 we created a "Wageningen—City of Insects" science festival to promote the idea of eating bugs; it attracted more than 20,000 visitors. Over the past two years, three Dutch insect-raising companies, which normally produce feed for animals in zoos, have set up special production lines to raise locusts and mealworms for human consumption.
See more plus a recipe at: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703293204576106072340020728.html?mod=googlenews_wsj
Abigail Kawananakoa has been on a decades-long treasure hunt—a bid to recover silverware, lamps, rare furniture and other assorted objects from her family's former home. This 84-year-old is a princess—a descendant of the royal family that ruled the former nation of Hawaii more than a century ago, presiding from graceful Iolani Palace in downtown Honolulu. But much of the 19th-century palace's custom-made furniture, oil paintings and other treasures disappeared after January 1893, when a small band of businessmen overthrew the monarchy. Palace bounty has trickled in from some unlikely places. In 1987, a California couple bought a pretty porcelain plate for fifty cents at a community college swap meet in Huntington Beach, Calif. After seeing a television program about Iolani Palace, they realized the plate, with its royal insignia, had come from the palace's French Pillivuyt china service. They donated it in 2007. A group of Iowa eighth graders learned from their teacher that a small mahogany table in the palace actually belonged to the state of Iowa, which had received it as a gift from an Iowa resident and then lent it back to the Hawaiians. The kids, calling themselves the Give 'Em Back their Table Committee, began a campaign in 1999 to persuade the Iowa government to permanently give the table back to the palace. Iowa transferred legal ownership in 2000, and the table is now a permanent addition to King David Kalakaua's library, according to the palace. About half of the palace's contents remain at large. Palace staffers and volunteers say that even today they know where a number of items are after spotting them in private homes. Some owners refuse to give stuff back, they say; others do so anonymously.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704013604576104611711914484.html
Thursday, February 24, 2011
Some appellate courts have upheld lawyers' rights to research jurors online, including one in New Jersey that ruled last year that a lower-court judge erred by prohibiting a plaintiffs' attorney from using the Internet in the courtroom. The court wrote: The fact that the plaintiffs' lawyer "had the foresight to bring his laptop computer to court and defense counsel did not, simply cannot serve as a basis for judicial intervention in the name of 'fairness' or maintaining a 'level playing field.' " Jury selection is not the only way in which social media are altering the nation's courts. Divorce lawyers have used information in social-media posts to extract higher alimony payments from indiscreet spouses, experts and lawyers report. And in some juvenile courts, judges considered what defendants wrote online to help determine whether they were remorseful. Using Facebook and other social media such as MySpace and blogs are particularly appealing during jury selection because lawyers have limited time to ask questions. Social-networking sites often contain candid, personal information generated directly by the user. "These days, it's the place where people voice their opinions," said jury consultant Art Patterson. See social clues lawyers are consultants are looking for at: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703561604576150841297191886.html
Catherine de Medicis, b. Florence, Apr. 13, 1519, was the mother of the last Valois kings of France and guardian of the royal authority in the Wars of Religion. Her parents died soon after her birth, and she was brought up by her MEDICI relatives during a period when their rule in Florence was marked by violence and intrigue. When Catherine arrived from Florence to marry Henry II of France in 1533, she imported the Italian balletto to her new home in France, where it became the ballet. She also brought with her retinue a of master chefs. She brought Italian staples: milk-fed veal, baby peas, artichokes, broccoli, and various pastas. The French court tasted, for the first time, such delicacies as quenelles (fish dumplings), zabaglione (a rich egg yolk and wine custard), and scaloppine. The first modern perfume, made of scented oils blended in an alcohol solution, was made in 1370 at the command of Queen Elizabeth of Hungary and was known throughout Europe as Hungary Water. The art of perfumery prospered in Renaissance Italy, and in the 16th century, Italian refinements were taken to France by Catherine de Medicis’ personal perfumer. France quickly became the European center of perfume and COSMETIC manufacture. Cultivation of flowers for their perfume essence, which had begun in the 14th century, grew into a major industry in the south of France.
http://www.escoffier.com/index.php/content-categories/escoffier-and-great-chefs/historic-chefs/catherine-de-medicis
Florentine: Relating to or characteristic of Florence, a city in the center of central Italy's Tuscany region. For our purposes, Florentine refers to foods that are cooked in the style of Florence--specifically egg, meat and fish dishes that contain spinach and, most often, a creamy Mornay-style sauce. Certainly not all dishes in Florence, Italy contain spinach and cream sauce. The connection between the key ingredients and the city is not entirely clear. The closest explanation comes from an unverified story about the Italian wife of France's Henry II. Catherine de Medici is credited with introducing a number of Italian foods to France including Italian ices and sherbet. Some "I-didn't-do-my-research" food historians even credit her for bringing pasta to France. As the simple tale goes, Catherine introduced spinach to the Court of France around the year 1550. To honor her Italian heritage, she decided to call any dish containing spinach 'Florentine'. http://www.mrbreakfast.com/glossary_term.asp?glossaryID=149
In 2007, a University of Colorado at Boulder team excavating an ancient Maya village in El Salvador buried by a volcanic eruption 1,400 years ago has discovered an ancient field of manioc, the first evidence for cultivation of the calorie-rich tuber in the New World. The manioc field was discovered under roughly 10 feet of ash, said CU-Boulder anthropology Professor Payson Sheets, who has been directing the excavation of the ancient village of Ceren since its discovery in 1978. Considered the best-preserved ancient village in Latin America, Ceren's buildings, artifacts and landscape were frozen in time by the sudden eruption of the nearby Loma Caldera volcano about 600 A.D., providing a unique window on the everyday lives of prehistoric Mayan farmers.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/08/070820122541.htm
Manioc, also known as cassava, is a hardy plant that produces a waxy, rather insipid-tasting root that can be made into anything from tortillas to moonshine. It can grow almost anywhere and it's a virtual carbohydrate factory, producing roughly six times more calories than corn under the same conditions. Native to South America, the manioc root is now the world's third biggest dietary carbohydrate source.
http://www.archaeology.org/0907/abstracts/insider.html
Catherine de Medicis, b. Florence, Apr. 13, 1519, was the mother of the last Valois kings of France and guardian of the royal authority in the Wars of Religion. Her parents died soon after her birth, and she was brought up by her MEDICI relatives during a period when their rule in Florence was marked by violence and intrigue. When Catherine arrived from Florence to marry Henry II of France in 1533, she imported the Italian balletto to her new home in France, where it became the ballet. She also brought with her retinue a of master chefs. She brought Italian staples: milk-fed veal, baby peas, artichokes, broccoli, and various pastas. The French court tasted, for the first time, such delicacies as quenelles (fish dumplings), zabaglione (a rich egg yolk and wine custard), and scaloppine. The first modern perfume, made of scented oils blended in an alcohol solution, was made in 1370 at the command of Queen Elizabeth of Hungary and was known throughout Europe as Hungary Water. The art of perfumery prospered in Renaissance Italy, and in the 16th century, Italian refinements were taken to France by Catherine de Medicis’ personal perfumer. France quickly became the European center of perfume and COSMETIC manufacture. Cultivation of flowers for their perfume essence, which had begun in the 14th century, grew into a major industry in the south of France.
http://www.escoffier.com/index.php/content-categories/escoffier-and-great-chefs/historic-chefs/catherine-de-medicis
Florentine: Relating to or characteristic of Florence, a city in the center of central Italy's Tuscany region. For our purposes, Florentine refers to foods that are cooked in the style of Florence--specifically egg, meat and fish dishes that contain spinach and, most often, a creamy Mornay-style sauce. Certainly not all dishes in Florence, Italy contain spinach and cream sauce. The connection between the key ingredients and the city is not entirely clear. The closest explanation comes from an unverified story about the Italian wife of France's Henry II. Catherine de Medici is credited with introducing a number of Italian foods to France including Italian ices and sherbet. Some "I-didn't-do-my-research" food historians even credit her for bringing pasta to France. As the simple tale goes, Catherine introduced spinach to the Court of France around the year 1550. To honor her Italian heritage, she decided to call any dish containing spinach 'Florentine'. http://www.mrbreakfast.com/glossary_term.asp?glossaryID=149
In 2007, a University of Colorado at Boulder team excavating an ancient Maya village in El Salvador buried by a volcanic eruption 1,400 years ago has discovered an ancient field of manioc, the first evidence for cultivation of the calorie-rich tuber in the New World. The manioc field was discovered under roughly 10 feet of ash, said CU-Boulder anthropology Professor Payson Sheets, who has been directing the excavation of the ancient village of Ceren since its discovery in 1978. Considered the best-preserved ancient village in Latin America, Ceren's buildings, artifacts and landscape were frozen in time by the sudden eruption of the nearby Loma Caldera volcano about 600 A.D., providing a unique window on the everyday lives of prehistoric Mayan farmers.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/08/070820122541.htm
Manioc, also known as cassava, is a hardy plant that produces a waxy, rather insipid-tasting root that can be made into anything from tortillas to moonshine. It can grow almost anywhere and it's a virtual carbohydrate factory, producing roughly six times more calories than corn under the same conditions. Native to South America, the manioc root is now the world's third biggest dietary carbohydrate source.
http://www.archaeology.org/0907/abstracts/insider.html
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
Forbidden Gardens, with 6,000 Chinese terracotta warriors, slightly larger than garden gnomes in the Houston suburb of Katy, is closing to make room for a highway. The brainchild of a reclusive Hong Kong native and U.S. resident who wanted to impress his adopted countrymen with China's rich heritage, it was mostly visited by local schoolchildren and road-tripping retirees. But once word spread that the Forbidden Gardens was closing down, folks began elbowing each other out of the way to grab a piece of it, in what perhaps became one of America's oddest liquidation sales. Everything had to go. From the delicately handcrafted pavilions that were part of a 1/20th scale replica of Beijing's Forbidden City to the majestic cherry trees adorning the entrance. The goldfish that inhabit its man-made lake were up for grabs as well. David Gornet, executive director of the Grand Parkway Association, a state-run corporation created to advance the highway project, says the highway shouldn't diminish the value of the attraction because its path won't interfere with the existing buildings. Mr. Poon should also benefit from valuable access to a frontage road, he says.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704476604576158253250695430.html
The magnitude 6.3 earthquake that devastated Christchurch was strong enough to shake 30 million tonnes of ice loose from Tasman Glacier at Aoraki Mt Cook National Park. Passengers of two explorer boats were hit with waves of up to 3.5 metres as the ice crashed into Terminal Lake under the Tasman Glacier at the mountain. Aoraki Mount Cook Alpine Village tourism manager Denis Callesen said huge icebergs formed in the lake, which were then rocked by massive waves for 30 minutes. http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10708071
Scholars recently found that Washington University in St. Louis holds the third-largest collection of books once owned by Thomas Jefferson. The discovery, consisting of 28 titles in 74 volumes, was made by Monticello scholars and announced February 21 by the Thomas Jefferson Foundation and the University. These books will be available in the Department of Special Collections in Olin Library. Students are welcome to come in to look at, or even pick up, the books. The books have resided in the library for 131 years and were tracked down by two Monticello scholars who were tracing the posthumous whereabouts of Jefferson’s book collection. http://www.studlife.com/news/2011/02/23/jefferson%e2%80%99s-books-found-in-olin/
Restaurant Review: Girl & the Goat, Architect of Flavor by Dana Bowen
Stephanie Izard's pizza doesn't taste like any pizza I've had before, not with its cool drizzle of yogurt and julienne of rapini greens. That dish epitomizes what makes Izard's Girl & the Goat—the Chicago restaurant she opened last July, two years after winning the fourth season of Bravo's Top Chef—such an interesting place. I first tried it a few months ago, when I went to Chicago specifically to eat. The plan was to revisit a few restaurants I hadn't been to in years—like Cafe Spiaggia (Tony Mantuano's less-formal offshoot of Spiaggia), which still turns out some of the city's best pastas—and to check out several newer places I hadn't been to yet, like Paul Kahan's Midwestern gastro pub, Publican (a pork lover's dream, with the likes of homemade charcuterie, boudin blank, and ham chops). These were good meals. Solid meals. But Girl & the Goat was something else entirely. The Goat, as Chicagoans have taken to calling it, is a very serious restaurant. Take, for example, the bustling open kitchen; staffed with more than a dozen cooks, it stretches across the entire back wall, the centerpiece of which is a blazing wood-burning oven that fills the restaurant with a bonfire aroma and imparts a smoky flavor to many of its dishes. We ordered more than half the menu that first night; it's a small-plates menu, so you can do that, right? Not really. These aren't the kind of noshy, elemental small plates you find at wine bars: each of the 30-plus menu items—which are broken down into the categories Vegetables, Fish, and Meat—is a fully realized dish. Excellent local beers on tap. Much more at:
http://www.saveur.com/article/travels/Restaurant-Review-Girl-and-the-Goat?cmpid=teaser
Sicily is the home of Archimedes, of the mythical Cyclops and of the Medusa. By about 300 BC, the Greeks represented it on coins like “Trinakrias” (Triangle, because of its shape) and, since then, it was considered the symbol of Sicily. The “Trinacria” is a three-legged figure, with the face of Medusa at the junction of the legs. It almost certainly represents the physical shape of Sicilia, a natural triangle with capes near Messina (Capo Peloro), Siracusa (Capo Passero), and Marsala (Capo Lilibeo). http://www.bagliogurafo.it/Trinacria%20and%20Sicilian%20flag.pdf
Selinunte (Greek: Σελινοῦς; Latin: Selinus) is an ancient Greek archaeological site on the south coast of Sicily, southern Italy, between the valleys of the rivers Belice and Modione in the province of Trapani. The archaeological site contains five temples centered on an acropolis. Of the five temples, only the Temple of Hera, also known as "Temple E", has been re-erected. Selinunte was one of the most important of the Greek colonies in Sicily, situated on the southwest coast of that island, at the mouth of the small river of the same name, and 6.5 km west of that of the Hypsas (the modern Belice River. The name is supposed to have been derived from quantities of wild parsley (σελινὸς) that grew on the spot. For the same reason, they adopted the parsley leaf as the symbol on their coins. See pictures at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Selinunte
Feedback to A.Word.A.Day
From: Phil Jans Subject: Fluke
Fluke Corporation has grown from a local Pacific Northwest company to a global leader in the manufacture of precision testing instruments. When I was a boy, my dad gleefully suggested a slogan he thought they should adopt: "If it Works, It's a Fluke."
From: Barbara Ledger Subject: Fluke
Here in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, there's a trucking firm with a sense of humour, called Fluke Transportation. When sailing down the highway, you'll often see their trucks, with the message emblazoned on the side: "If it's on time. .. it's a Fluke."
From: Bill Thieleman Subject: fluke or flounder
Fluke brought me back to my boyhood days of boating on Long Island. Even though my father didn't believe that fish oil and teak decks mix well, he showed me the difference between fluke and flounder. They are both flatfish or teleosts but a fluke's right eye rotates to the fish's left side, its mouth is bigger and full of teeth, and it swims right side down. A flounder's left eye migrates over to its right side (flounder, philander, roving eye), it has a smaller mouth with no visible teeth and it swims left side down.
From: Josh Shein Subject: fell
I'm not sure if the same applies in the US, but in Australia the expression "in one fell swoop" seems to have morphed into "in one foul swoop". I've given up trying to point out the error.
It's not just in Australia. As the word fell in the sense of fierce or cruel has fallen out of use, people try to make sense of the idiom with other words, words that are familiar to them. You may see one foul swoop or one fowl swoop. These reinterpreted words are also known as eggcorns. -Anu Garg
From: Peter Lawless Subject: fell
The expression "one fell swoop" is also a description used for centuries in falconry. It describes the act of a falcon catching prey in only one swoop of a fell -- a plateau or piece of open highland country (as you have described) -- such a falcon would be highly-prized and any chicks bred from that bird would fetch a premium price.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704476604576158253250695430.html
The magnitude 6.3 earthquake that devastated Christchurch was strong enough to shake 30 million tonnes of ice loose from Tasman Glacier at Aoraki Mt Cook National Park. Passengers of two explorer boats were hit with waves of up to 3.5 metres as the ice crashed into Terminal Lake under the Tasman Glacier at the mountain. Aoraki Mount Cook Alpine Village tourism manager Denis Callesen said huge icebergs formed in the lake, which were then rocked by massive waves for 30 minutes. http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10708071
Scholars recently found that Washington University in St. Louis holds the third-largest collection of books once owned by Thomas Jefferson. The discovery, consisting of 28 titles in 74 volumes, was made by Monticello scholars and announced February 21 by the Thomas Jefferson Foundation and the University. These books will be available in the Department of Special Collections in Olin Library. Students are welcome to come in to look at, or even pick up, the books. The books have resided in the library for 131 years and were tracked down by two Monticello scholars who were tracing the posthumous whereabouts of Jefferson’s book collection. http://www.studlife.com/news/2011/02/23/jefferson%e2%80%99s-books-found-in-olin/
Restaurant Review: Girl & the Goat, Architect of Flavor by Dana Bowen
Stephanie Izard's pizza doesn't taste like any pizza I've had before, not with its cool drizzle of yogurt and julienne of rapini greens. That dish epitomizes what makes Izard's Girl & the Goat—the Chicago restaurant she opened last July, two years after winning the fourth season of Bravo's Top Chef—such an interesting place. I first tried it a few months ago, when I went to Chicago specifically to eat. The plan was to revisit a few restaurants I hadn't been to in years—like Cafe Spiaggia (Tony Mantuano's less-formal offshoot of Spiaggia), which still turns out some of the city's best pastas—and to check out several newer places I hadn't been to yet, like Paul Kahan's Midwestern gastro pub, Publican (a pork lover's dream, with the likes of homemade charcuterie, boudin blank, and ham chops). These were good meals. Solid meals. But Girl & the Goat was something else entirely. The Goat, as Chicagoans have taken to calling it, is a very serious restaurant. Take, for example, the bustling open kitchen; staffed with more than a dozen cooks, it stretches across the entire back wall, the centerpiece of which is a blazing wood-burning oven that fills the restaurant with a bonfire aroma and imparts a smoky flavor to many of its dishes. We ordered more than half the menu that first night; it's a small-plates menu, so you can do that, right? Not really. These aren't the kind of noshy, elemental small plates you find at wine bars: each of the 30-plus menu items—which are broken down into the categories Vegetables, Fish, and Meat—is a fully realized dish. Excellent local beers on tap. Much more at:
http://www.saveur.com/article/travels/Restaurant-Review-Girl-and-the-Goat?cmpid=teaser
Sicily is the home of Archimedes, of the mythical Cyclops and of the Medusa. By about 300 BC, the Greeks represented it on coins like “Trinakrias” (Triangle, because of its shape) and, since then, it was considered the symbol of Sicily. The “Trinacria” is a three-legged figure, with the face of Medusa at the junction of the legs. It almost certainly represents the physical shape of Sicilia, a natural triangle with capes near Messina (Capo Peloro), Siracusa (Capo Passero), and Marsala (Capo Lilibeo). http://www.bagliogurafo.it/Trinacria%20and%20Sicilian%20flag.pdf
Selinunte (Greek: Σελινοῦς; Latin: Selinus) is an ancient Greek archaeological site on the south coast of Sicily, southern Italy, between the valleys of the rivers Belice and Modione in the province of Trapani. The archaeological site contains five temples centered on an acropolis. Of the five temples, only the Temple of Hera, also known as "Temple E", has been re-erected. Selinunte was one of the most important of the Greek colonies in Sicily, situated on the southwest coast of that island, at the mouth of the small river of the same name, and 6.5 km west of that of the Hypsas (the modern Belice River. The name is supposed to have been derived from quantities of wild parsley (σελινὸς) that grew on the spot. For the same reason, they adopted the parsley leaf as the symbol on their coins. See pictures at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Selinunte
Feedback to A.Word.A.Day
From: Phil Jans Subject: Fluke
Fluke Corporation has grown from a local Pacific Northwest company to a global leader in the manufacture of precision testing instruments. When I was a boy, my dad gleefully suggested a slogan he thought they should adopt: "If it Works, It's a Fluke."
From: Barbara Ledger Subject: Fluke
Here in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, there's a trucking firm with a sense of humour, called Fluke Transportation. When sailing down the highway, you'll often see their trucks, with the message emblazoned on the side: "If it's on time. .. it's a Fluke."
From: Bill Thieleman Subject: fluke or flounder
Fluke brought me back to my boyhood days of boating on Long Island. Even though my father didn't believe that fish oil and teak decks mix well, he showed me the difference between fluke and flounder. They are both flatfish or teleosts but a fluke's right eye rotates to the fish's left side, its mouth is bigger and full of teeth, and it swims right side down. A flounder's left eye migrates over to its right side (flounder, philander, roving eye), it has a smaller mouth with no visible teeth and it swims left side down.
From: Josh Shein Subject: fell
I'm not sure if the same applies in the US, but in Australia the expression "in one fell swoop" seems to have morphed into "in one foul swoop". I've given up trying to point out the error.
It's not just in Australia. As the word fell in the sense of fierce or cruel has fallen out of use, people try to make sense of the idiom with other words, words that are familiar to them. You may see one foul swoop or one fowl swoop. These reinterpreted words are also known as eggcorns. -Anu Garg
From: Peter Lawless Subject: fell
The expression "one fell swoop" is also a description used for centuries in falconry. It describes the act of a falcon catching prey in only one swoop of a fell -- a plateau or piece of open highland country (as you have described) -- such a falcon would be highly-prized and any chicks bred from that bird would fetch a premium price.
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
A devastating 6.3-magnitude earthquake struck the New Zealand city of Christchurch on February 22, killing at least 65 people and collapsing buildings onto victims, some of whom used their cellphones to frantically call for help, officials said. Rescuers dug through the rubble overnight amid reports that many people were still trapped and the toll could rise much higher. A statement posted on the website of the Christchurch Police Department said the fatalities included "two buses crushed by falling buildings." It said that "the central city is currently being evacuated, as reports are received of widespread damage to buildings and infrastructure. Multiple fatalities have been reported at several locations." Hours after the earthquake struck at 12:51 p.m., the tourist center of 400,000 residents resembled a war zone, a city without electricity or running water in many areas. The temblor, the second to hit the city since September, struck during the lunch hour as the city center teemed with pedestrians. Several people were reportedly in the tower of the Christchurch Cathedral as its spire toppled. http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-new-zealand-quake-web-20110222,0,1629166.story
China’s Silk Road exhibit at the Penn Museum in Philadelphia, but it's there now and will be on display until March 15. The full exhibit of trade routes that connected China with the west includes rare artifacts and mummies. Some items in the exhibit are over 3,800 years old. The unique thing about the mummies is that they have Caucasian features which prove western populations traveled east along the Silk Road. This fascinating exhibition located on Penn’s campus at 3260 South Street will run until March 28. If you wait until after the March 15 two of the mummies will be missing from the display. Penn Museum has even extended its hours to make sure everyone gets a chance to witness Secrets of the Silk Road. The museum will be opened from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday and 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Wednesday and Friday through Sunday. http://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/around-town/events/Explore-the-Silk-Road-Right-Here-in-Philly-116597823.html
pan•the•on (pănˈthē-ŏnˌ, -ən) noun
A circular temple in Rome, completed in 27 B.C. and dedicated to all the gods.
A temple dedicated to all gods.
All the gods of a people considered as a group: Jupiter is head of the Roman pantheon.
A public building commemorating and dedicated to the heroes and heroines of a nation.
A group of persons most highly regarded for contributions to a field or endeavor: the pantheon of modern physics.
Origin: Middle English Panteon, Pantheon, from Latin Panthēum, Panthēon, from Greek Pantheion, shrine of all the gods, from neuter sing. of pantheios, of all the gods : pan-, pan- + theos, god; see dhēs- in Indo-European roots.
http://www.yourdictionary.com/pantheon
The spire of the Lakshmi Narayan Temple soars over the skyline in Central Delhi. About 1.5 km due west of Connaught Place, this garish, modern, Orissan styled temple was erected by industrialist B.D.Birla in 1938 and was inaugrated by Mahatma Gandhi on the condition that people of all castes especially untouchables would be allowed in. The temple enshrines almost all the deities of the Hindu Pantheon, the presiding deity being Narayan (Vishnu, the preserver in Hindu trinity) and his consort Lakshmi, the Goddess of prosperity and good fortune. http://www.shubhyatra.com/delhi/lakshmi-narayan-temple.html
In 1755, the Marquis of Marigny commissioned architect Jacques- Germain Soufflot to design a new, great church. Construction of the imposing building started in 1757. In 1791, the Constituent Interior of the Panthéon Assembly of the Revolution decided by decree to transform the church into a temple to accommodate the remains of the great men of France. The building was adapted by architect Quatremère de Quincy to its new function as pantheon. In 1806 the building was turned into a church again, but since 1885 the Panthéon serves as a civic building. http://www.aviewoncities.com/paris/pantheon.htm
The National Revival Pantheon in Rousse is a monument-ossuary honoring the struggle for Bulgarian liberation and paying tribute to all who gave their lives in the battles. Construction began in 1977 over the remains of a Christian church that was destroyed in 1975. The pantheon preserves the remains of 39 well-known Bulgarian revival period activists. You will find there the graves of Liuben Karavelov, Zahari Stoianov, Panaiot Hitov, Stefan Karadzha, Panaiot Volov, Angel Kunchev, Tonka Obretenova and many others. The pantheon was officially opened in 1978 to commemorate 100 years since Bulgaria’s liberation from Ottoman rule.
http://www.bulgariainside.eu/en/articles/%D0%A1%D0%B5%D0%BB%D0%BE-%D0%9A%D0%BE%D0%BD%D0%B4%D0%BE%D0%BB%D0%BE%D0%B2%D0%BE/950/2
Certified is a marketing word A number of Southern towns and counties are hoping to attract retirees by making an unusual claim: They are certified. Some 83 towns and counties in five Southern states have been designated as Certified Retirement Communities by various state agencies, and more certifications are on the way. Local governments and businesses started pursuing certified status in the early 1990s as a way to attract retirees (and their wallets). The thinking: Retirees are an attractive growth alternative to the creation of new jobs. Texas guidelines call for festivals, entertainment events and "sports at all levels." In Mississippi, towns must describe intangibles such as "appearances or curb appeal" of the entrances and exits to downtown areas. Catherine Collinson, president of the Transamerica Center for Retirement Studies, a nonprofit institute in San Francisco funded in part by Transamerica Life Insurance Co., cautions that interested adults need to look past the promotions and consider such things as the quality of local long-term care. John Migliaccio, director of research at the MetLife Mature Market Institute in Westport, Conn., says CRC efforts are "looking at retirees almost as a commodity. The marketing message is like a vacation ad." He advises spending more than a few days visiting a prospective new community, and perhaps in different seasons.
http://topics.wsj.com/article/SB20001424052748704865704575610664047097530.html
Some critics question the neutrality of the Good Housekeeping Institute's award of its coveted seal for products, because they are tied to companies that pay to advertise in the magazine. Additionally, many smaller companies that produce specialty products are not eligible to receive the seal because they do not have the necessary advertising budget to pay for space in the magazine.
http://www.ehow.com/facts_5580071_good-housekeeping-magazine-history.html
Licensed is a word aimed at control. Control is usually good when it is aimed at education or training, but it could be a way to raise prices and keep out competition
China’s Silk Road exhibit at the Penn Museum in Philadelphia, but it's there now and will be on display until March 15. The full exhibit of trade routes that connected China with the west includes rare artifacts and mummies. Some items in the exhibit are over 3,800 years old. The unique thing about the mummies is that they have Caucasian features which prove western populations traveled east along the Silk Road. This fascinating exhibition located on Penn’s campus at 3260 South Street will run until March 28. If you wait until after the March 15 two of the mummies will be missing from the display. Penn Museum has even extended its hours to make sure everyone gets a chance to witness Secrets of the Silk Road. The museum will be opened from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday and 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Wednesday and Friday through Sunday. http://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/around-town/events/Explore-the-Silk-Road-Right-Here-in-Philly-116597823.html
pan•the•on (pănˈthē-ŏnˌ, -ən) noun
A circular temple in Rome, completed in 27 B.C. and dedicated to all the gods.
A temple dedicated to all gods.
All the gods of a people considered as a group: Jupiter is head of the Roman pantheon.
A public building commemorating and dedicated to the heroes and heroines of a nation.
A group of persons most highly regarded for contributions to a field or endeavor: the pantheon of modern physics.
Origin: Middle English Panteon, Pantheon, from Latin Panthēum, Panthēon, from Greek Pantheion, shrine of all the gods, from neuter sing. of pantheios, of all the gods : pan-, pan- + theos, god; see dhēs- in Indo-European roots.
http://www.yourdictionary.com/pantheon
The spire of the Lakshmi Narayan Temple soars over the skyline in Central Delhi. About 1.5 km due west of Connaught Place, this garish, modern, Orissan styled temple was erected by industrialist B.D.Birla in 1938 and was inaugrated by Mahatma Gandhi on the condition that people of all castes especially untouchables would be allowed in. The temple enshrines almost all the deities of the Hindu Pantheon, the presiding deity being Narayan (Vishnu, the preserver in Hindu trinity) and his consort Lakshmi, the Goddess of prosperity and good fortune. http://www.shubhyatra.com/delhi/lakshmi-narayan-temple.html
In 1755, the Marquis of Marigny commissioned architect Jacques- Germain Soufflot to design a new, great church. Construction of the imposing building started in 1757. In 1791, the Constituent Interior of the Panthéon Assembly of the Revolution decided by decree to transform the church into a temple to accommodate the remains of the great men of France. The building was adapted by architect Quatremère de Quincy to its new function as pantheon. In 1806 the building was turned into a church again, but since 1885 the Panthéon serves as a civic building. http://www.aviewoncities.com/paris/pantheon.htm
The National Revival Pantheon in Rousse is a monument-ossuary honoring the struggle for Bulgarian liberation and paying tribute to all who gave their lives in the battles. Construction began in 1977 over the remains of a Christian church that was destroyed in 1975. The pantheon preserves the remains of 39 well-known Bulgarian revival period activists. You will find there the graves of Liuben Karavelov, Zahari Stoianov, Panaiot Hitov, Stefan Karadzha, Panaiot Volov, Angel Kunchev, Tonka Obretenova and many others. The pantheon was officially opened in 1978 to commemorate 100 years since Bulgaria’s liberation from Ottoman rule.
http://www.bulgariainside.eu/en/articles/%D0%A1%D0%B5%D0%BB%D0%BE-%D0%9A%D0%BE%D0%BD%D0%B4%D0%BE%D0%BB%D0%BE%D0%B2%D0%BE/950/2
Certified is a marketing word A number of Southern towns and counties are hoping to attract retirees by making an unusual claim: They are certified. Some 83 towns and counties in five Southern states have been designated as Certified Retirement Communities by various state agencies, and more certifications are on the way. Local governments and businesses started pursuing certified status in the early 1990s as a way to attract retirees (and their wallets). The thinking: Retirees are an attractive growth alternative to the creation of new jobs. Texas guidelines call for festivals, entertainment events and "sports at all levels." In Mississippi, towns must describe intangibles such as "appearances or curb appeal" of the entrances and exits to downtown areas. Catherine Collinson, president of the Transamerica Center for Retirement Studies, a nonprofit institute in San Francisco funded in part by Transamerica Life Insurance Co., cautions that interested adults need to look past the promotions and consider such things as the quality of local long-term care. John Migliaccio, director of research at the MetLife Mature Market Institute in Westport, Conn., says CRC efforts are "looking at retirees almost as a commodity. The marketing message is like a vacation ad." He advises spending more than a few days visiting a prospective new community, and perhaps in different seasons.
http://topics.wsj.com/article/SB20001424052748704865704575610664047097530.html
Some critics question the neutrality of the Good Housekeeping Institute's award of its coveted seal for products, because they are tied to companies that pay to advertise in the magazine. Additionally, many smaller companies that produce specialty products are not eligible to receive the seal because they do not have the necessary advertising budget to pay for space in the magazine.
http://www.ehow.com/facts_5580071_good-housekeeping-magazine-history.html
Licensed is a word aimed at control. Control is usually good when it is aimed at education or training, but it could be a way to raise prices and keep out competition
Monday, February 21, 2011
Ablene Cooper, a 60-year-old woman who has long worked as a maid in Jackson, Mississippi, has filed a lawsuit against Kathryn Stockett, the author of the best-selling novel “The Help,” about black maids working for white families in Jackson in the 1960s. In the complaint, Ms. Cooper argues that one of the book’s principal characters, Aibileen Clark, is an unpermitted appropriation of her name and image, which she finds emotionally distressing. It is more complicated than that. For the past dozen years, Ms. Cooper has worked for Ms. Stockett’s older brother, Robert, and sister-in-law, Carroll, and still does. The lawsuit, filed in Hinds County Circuit Court, contends that Kathryn Stockett was “asked not to use the name and likeness of Ablene” before the book was published, though it does not specify who asked. Ms. Cooper said that Ms. Stockett, for whose daughter she once baby-sat, had never talked to her about the book. Amy Einhorn, whose imprint at Penguin Group USA published the book, declined to discuss the suit in detail. “This is a beautifully written work of fiction, and we don’t think there is any basis to the legal claims,” she said in a statement. “We cannot comment further regarding ongoing litigation.” “The Help” was a breakout hit propelled by book groups and word-of-mouth, and received mostly strong reviews. A movie based on the book is scheduled for release this summer. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/18/books/18help.html?src=twr
Delaware Chancery Court judge Travis Laster on February 14 found that Barclays Capital “secretly and selfishly manipulated” the sale of Del Monte Foods Co. to a private-equity consortium, and held up the deal for at least 20 days. Many banks play both sides of takeover deals, hoping to earn big fees by simultaneously advising sellers and financing buyers. Laster said Barclays was “aided and abetted” by KKR, a finding that many bankers and lawyers said will also chill buyout firms’ more aggressive tactics in financing and winning deals. Specifically, Laster struck out at “staple financing” arrangements, in which a seller’s bank “staples” potential financing terms on its sales pitch to buyers. Financing arrangements are usually more profitable than fees for investment-banking advice, creating incentive for buy-side bankers to become sell-side underwriters. In general, bankers said much of Barclays’ behavior in typical of what financial advisers with big balance sheets do in a deal. Staple financing provided by Credit Suisse was a part of last year’s $6 billion sale of Pactiv Corp. to Reynolds Group Holding Ltd. Bank of America Merrill Lynch helped provide $1.7 billion for the sale of Michael Foods Inc. to GS Capital Partners. Staple financing can be an attractive proposition for a seller because it can create a floor on the offer price, while provides potential buyers with committed funds, making it easier to participate in an auction. “Everybody does it, but Barclays is the one that got caught with their hand in the cookie jar,” said one banker. “Now everybody has to rethink how we conduct ourselves in financing situations.” http://blogs.wsj.com/law/2011/02/18/the-current-talk-of-wall-street-lasters-del-monte-opinion/?mod=djemlawblog_h
Del Monte opinion: http://online.wsj.com/public/resources/documents/021411lasterdelmonte.pdf
Elbow room: space for movement; "room to pass"; "make way for"; "hardly enough elbow room to turn around" wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn
Elbow Room: The Varieties of Free Will Worth Wanting (1984) is a book by the American philosopher Daniel Dennett, which discusses the philosophical issues of free will and determinism. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elbow_Room
The Elbow Room is a traditional nightclub in the Aston area of Birmingham, England. It played a significant part in the formation of the rock band, Traffic, in the late 1960s. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Elbow_Room
Elbow Room is a 1977 short story collection by American author James Alan McPherson. It won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1978. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elbow_Room_(short_story_collection)
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&defl=en&q=define:elbow+room&sa=X&ei=JrNbTfm9FtS4twfyhKiCDA&ved=0CBMQkAE
There are Elbo Rooms (restaurants and bars) in Toledo, Chicago, San Francisco and Fort Lauderdale.
Use these tips from the Federal Trade Commission to tell if a Wi-Fi network is secure:
If a hotspot doesn’t require a password, it’s not secure.
If a hotspot asks for a password through the browser simply to grant access, or asks for a password for WEP (wired equivalent privacy) encryption, it’s best to proceed as if it were unsecured.
A hotspot is secure only if it asks the user to provide a WPA (wifi protected access) password. WPA2 is even more secure than WPA.
When using a Wi-Fi hotspot, only log in or send personal information to websites that you know are fully encrypted. The entire visit to each site should be encrypted – from log in until log out. If you think you’re logged in to an encrypted site but find yourself on an unencrypted page, log out right away.
Don’t stay permanently signed in to accounts. After using an account, log out.
Do not use the same password on different websites. It could give someone who gains access to one account access to many accounts. http://ftc.gov/opa/2011/02/wireless.shtm
Quotes attributed to Aristotle To the query, "What is a friend?" his reply was "A single soul dwelling in two bodies." Variants: Friendship is a single soul dwelling in two bodies. A true friend is one soul in two bodies. Love is composed of a single soul inhabiting two bodies.
What is a friend? A single soul dwelling in two bodies. http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Aristotle
For people who like detective stories AND nursery rhymes Nursery Crimes Division series by Jasper Fforde with Detective Jack Spratt and Sergeant Mary Mary
The Big Over Easy
The Fourth Bear
For people who like mysteries AND humor Lomax and Biggs series by Marshall Karp
The Rabbit Factory
Bloodthirsty
Flipping Out
Cut, Paste, Kill http://www.lomaxandbiggs.com/reviews-rabbitfactory.html
Delaware Chancery Court judge Travis Laster on February 14 found that Barclays Capital “secretly and selfishly manipulated” the sale of Del Monte Foods Co. to a private-equity consortium, and held up the deal for at least 20 days. Many banks play both sides of takeover deals, hoping to earn big fees by simultaneously advising sellers and financing buyers. Laster said Barclays was “aided and abetted” by KKR, a finding that many bankers and lawyers said will also chill buyout firms’ more aggressive tactics in financing and winning deals. Specifically, Laster struck out at “staple financing” arrangements, in which a seller’s bank “staples” potential financing terms on its sales pitch to buyers. Financing arrangements are usually more profitable than fees for investment-banking advice, creating incentive for buy-side bankers to become sell-side underwriters. In general, bankers said much of Barclays’ behavior in typical of what financial advisers with big balance sheets do in a deal. Staple financing provided by Credit Suisse was a part of last year’s $6 billion sale of Pactiv Corp. to Reynolds Group Holding Ltd. Bank of America Merrill Lynch helped provide $1.7 billion for the sale of Michael Foods Inc. to GS Capital Partners. Staple financing can be an attractive proposition for a seller because it can create a floor on the offer price, while provides potential buyers with committed funds, making it easier to participate in an auction. “Everybody does it, but Barclays is the one that got caught with their hand in the cookie jar,” said one banker. “Now everybody has to rethink how we conduct ourselves in financing situations.” http://blogs.wsj.com/law/2011/02/18/the-current-talk-of-wall-street-lasters-del-monte-opinion/?mod=djemlawblog_h
Del Monte opinion: http://online.wsj.com/public/resources/documents/021411lasterdelmonte.pdf
Elbow room: space for movement; "room to pass"; "make way for"; "hardly enough elbow room to turn around" wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn
Elbow Room: The Varieties of Free Will Worth Wanting (1984) is a book by the American philosopher Daniel Dennett, which discusses the philosophical issues of free will and determinism. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elbow_Room
The Elbow Room is a traditional nightclub in the Aston area of Birmingham, England. It played a significant part in the formation of the rock band, Traffic, in the late 1960s. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Elbow_Room
Elbow Room is a 1977 short story collection by American author James Alan McPherson. It won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1978. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elbow_Room_(short_story_collection)
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&defl=en&q=define:elbow+room&sa=X&ei=JrNbTfm9FtS4twfyhKiCDA&ved=0CBMQkAE
There are Elbo Rooms (restaurants and bars) in Toledo, Chicago, San Francisco and Fort Lauderdale.
Use these tips from the Federal Trade Commission to tell if a Wi-Fi network is secure:
If a hotspot doesn’t require a password, it’s not secure.
If a hotspot asks for a password through the browser simply to grant access, or asks for a password for WEP (wired equivalent privacy) encryption, it’s best to proceed as if it were unsecured.
A hotspot is secure only if it asks the user to provide a WPA (wifi protected access) password. WPA2 is even more secure than WPA.
When using a Wi-Fi hotspot, only log in or send personal information to websites that you know are fully encrypted. The entire visit to each site should be encrypted – from log in until log out. If you think you’re logged in to an encrypted site but find yourself on an unencrypted page, log out right away.
Don’t stay permanently signed in to accounts. After using an account, log out.
Do not use the same password on different websites. It could give someone who gains access to one account access to many accounts. http://ftc.gov/opa/2011/02/wireless.shtm
Quotes attributed to Aristotle To the query, "What is a friend?" his reply was "A single soul dwelling in two bodies." Variants: Friendship is a single soul dwelling in two bodies. A true friend is one soul in two bodies. Love is composed of a single soul inhabiting two bodies.
What is a friend? A single soul dwelling in two bodies. http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Aristotle
For people who like detective stories AND nursery rhymes Nursery Crimes Division series by Jasper Fforde with Detective Jack Spratt and Sergeant Mary Mary
The Big Over Easy
The Fourth Bear
For people who like mysteries AND humor Lomax and Biggs series by Marshall Karp
The Rabbit Factory
Bloodthirsty
Flipping Out
Cut, Paste, Kill http://www.lomaxandbiggs.com/reviews-rabbitfactory.html
Friday, February 18, 2011
Joanne Siegel, who as a Cleveland teenager during the Depression hired herself out as a model to an aspiring comic book artist, Joe Shuster, and thus became the first physical incarnation of Lois Lane, Superman’s love interest, died on February 12 in Santa Monica, Calif. She was 93. Ms. Siegel was married to Shuster’s partner and Superman co-creator, the writer Jerry Siegel. Their daughter, Laura Siegel Larson, confirmed her death. Ms. Larson said that her mother’s irrepressibility, ambition and spunk informed her father’s development of the character: “My dad always said he wrote Lois with my mom’s personality in mind.” Much of Joanne Siegel's life was taken up trying to reclaim the original Superman copyright that Shuster and her husband sold to Detective Comics in 1937 for $130. The story of the plight of Shuster and Siegel, whose lives were marked by privation, is one of the cautionary tales in the annals of intellectual property. In a series of legal and public relations battles that began in 1947, the families eventually won some compensation from DC Comics (the successor to Detective Comics), and in 2008 a federal judge restored Siegel’s co-authorship share of the original Superman copyrights, though how much money the Siegel family is entitled to is still being adjudicated. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/16/arts/16siegel.html
Racewalking, or race walking, is a long-distance athletic event. Although it is a foot race, it is different from running in that one foot must appear to be in contact with the ground at all times. Stride length is reduced, so to achieve competitive speeds, racewalkers must attain cadence rates comparable to those achieved by Olympic 400-meter runners—and they must do so for hours at a time since the Olympic events are the 20 kilometer race walk and 50-kilometer (31 mi) race walk. There are two rules that govern racewalking. The first dictates that the athlete's back toe cannot leave the ground until the heel of the front foot has touched. Violation of this rule is known as loss of contact. The second rule requires that the supporting leg must straighten from the point of contact with the ground and remain straightened until the body passes directly over it. These rules are judged by the human eye, which creates controversy at today's high speeds. Athletes may sometimes lose contact for a few milliseconds per stride which can be caught on high-speed film, but such a short flight phase is undetectable to the human eye. Athletes stay low to the ground by keeping their arms pumping low, close to their hips. If one sees a racewalker's shoulders rising, it may be a sign that the athlete is losing contact with the ground. What appears to be an exaggerated swivel to the hip is, in fact, a full rotation of the pelvis. Athletes aim to move the pelvis forward, and to minimize sideways motion in order to achieve maximum forward propulsion. Speed is achieved by stepping quickly with the aim of rapid turnover. This minimizes the risk of the feet leaving the ground. Strides are short and quick, with pushoff coming forward from the ball of the foot, again to minimize the risk of losing contact with the ground. World-class racewalkers (male and female) can average under seven and eight minutes per mile (or under four and five minutes per kilometre, respectively), in a 20 km (12.4 mile) racewalk. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Racewalking
For Londoner Sean Roberts, a recent morning walk down Oxford Street, from the London Underground to his office four blocks away, was the usual obstacle course. Heading east, he wove around a group of backpack-toting tourists halted in front of a jewelry-store window. He dodged a crew of construction workers, only to run up against a troupe of chanting Hare Krishna monks. "I understand people who get road rage," said Mr. Roberts, 27. Sidewalk rage may be closer to the point, and an alliance of local landlords and retailers believes it has an antidote. On behalf of London pedestrians who are sick of dodging Oxford Street's tourist hordes and texting teens, they're ready to draw the line. A pretend line, anyway. New West End Company, a group of 600 business owners in the district around Oxford Street, is planning to direct slow movers to walk in a "shopper lane" along store fronts, so that hurried residents and workers can proceed without opposition on the sidewalk's edges. The concept echoes a gag played in New York City in May 2010, when pranksters laid a chalk line down a sidewalk on Manhattan's busy Fifth Avenue, with one lane reserved for "tourists" and another for "New Yorkers." http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704164004575547701061890026.html
I thought it was a myth. It's a dyed-in-the-wool reality. There really are two speeds when you're walking the streets of New York: "New Yorker" and "Tourist." This has become abundantly clear to me as I walk to and from my new office in Times Square, and occasionally walk through the Rockefeller Center area to have lunch with the misses near her office. Both areas are chocked full of tourists. In less than three weeks, I've already been in the background of 18,433 photos of family members visiting Times Square, including four where I actually held up "bunny ear" fingers behind people I didn't even know. Walking to and from my office--as I come to work, go to lunch, and head for home--I bump into tourists. Literally. I'm usually walking at a fast clip rushing to find a quick sandwich shop or hot dog vendor so I can get back to my desk; they're usually staring up at the NASDAQ sign on the ABC News studio. (My office is directly above the ABC set where they broadcast Good Morning America.) So invariably you have to learn the pedestrian equivalent of defensive driving- you anticipate what's going to happen and plan escape routes for when a tourist stops in mid-sidewalk or inexplicably reverses course because they want to get just one more picture of the huge "Lion King" sign. http://progressivepeach.typepad.com/manhattanhillbilly/walking/
When visiting the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History in 2010, we were blocked from easy viewing as groups took pictures of objects and the labels that described them.
Till as noun
boulder clay (unstratified soil deposited by a glacier; consists of sand and clay and gravel and boulders mixed together)
public treasury, trough (a treasury for government funds)
cashbox, money box (a strongbox for holding cash)
Till as verb
work land as by ploughing, harrowing, and manuring, in order to make it ready for cultivation "till the soil" http://wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn?s=till
To measure really long distances, people use a unit called a light year. Light travels at 186,000 miles per second (300,000 kilometers per second). Therefore, a light second is 186,000 miles (300,000 kilometers). A light year is the distance that light can travel in a year. Using a light year as a distance measurement has another advantage -- it helps you determine age. Let's say that a star is 1 million light years away. The light from that star has traveled at the speed of light to reach us. Therefore, it has taken the star's light 1 million years to get here, and the light we are seeing was created 1 million years ago. So the star we are seeing is really how the star looked a million years ago, not how it looks today. http://science.howstuffworks.com/dictionary/astronomy-terms/question94.htm
In the year 987 an obscure bookseller in the city of Baghdad put the finishing touches on his life's work, a huge book that contained descriptions of the thousands of books known to him. Ibn al-Nadim called his masterpiece the "Fihrist," a word that simply means "catalog" in Arabic. But this was not a mere inventory. Ibn al-Nadim listed no book that he hadn't personally seen and touched. And he commented on the books, often inserting wry observations or diverting anecdotes. It was an immense accomplishment. The "Fihrist" systematically lists title after title in 10 elaborate chapters—six devoted to Islamic subjects, four to "foreign sciences," from astronomy to zoology, with Aristotelian philosophy and logic thrown in for good measure. Books about books—bibliographical autobiographies, as it were—form a distinct literary category. Many rely on the earliest memories. In his essay "The Lost Childhood," Graham Greene remarked that "perhaps it is only in childhood that books have any deep influence on our lives." The reason, he thought, was that "in childhood all books are books of divination, telling us about the future." Is this why, as we get older, we turn more and more to books about the past? Greene doesn't say. Marcel Proust felt the same about his early reading, noting that "there are no days of my childhood which I lived so fully perhaps as those I thought I had left behind without living them, those I spent with a favorite book." An interesting feature of such reminiscences is how strongly they depend upon the physical nature of the book. The printed book's physicality presents a challenge to e-books, however convenient they are. We tend to remember the look and heft of a book that we fell in love with. In "Literary Pleasure," Jorge Luis Borges revealed his childhood passion for old detective novels, Greek mythology and the 1,001 Nights, which he calls "the first serial novel." His touchstone for great books is pleasure, pure and simple . In "The Total Library," he evoked a "vast, contradictory Library whose vertical wildernesses of books run the incessant risk of changing into others that affirm, deny and confuse everything like a delirious god"—a bibliographic apocalypse by the greatest and most original of modern readers. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704858404576134063766563784.html?mod=WSJ_topics_obama
Art Project: Explore museums from around the world, discover and view hundreds of artworks at incredible zoom levels, and even create and share your own collection of masterpieces. http://www.googleartproject.com/
The air fern is a name given to both the resurrection fern and the skeleton of a species of coral called the Sertularia. Ships collect the Sertularia, treat them with chemicals and dye them green in order to make them look like ferns. They are then sold, often with claims that the air fern does not need to be watered or fertilized. Vendors also call the Sertularia air moss and air plant. http://www.gardenguides.com/101217-air-fern.html
Racewalking, or race walking, is a long-distance athletic event. Although it is a foot race, it is different from running in that one foot must appear to be in contact with the ground at all times. Stride length is reduced, so to achieve competitive speeds, racewalkers must attain cadence rates comparable to those achieved by Olympic 400-meter runners—and they must do so for hours at a time since the Olympic events are the 20 kilometer race walk and 50-kilometer (31 mi) race walk. There are two rules that govern racewalking. The first dictates that the athlete's back toe cannot leave the ground until the heel of the front foot has touched. Violation of this rule is known as loss of contact. The second rule requires that the supporting leg must straighten from the point of contact with the ground and remain straightened until the body passes directly over it. These rules are judged by the human eye, which creates controversy at today's high speeds. Athletes may sometimes lose contact for a few milliseconds per stride which can be caught on high-speed film, but such a short flight phase is undetectable to the human eye. Athletes stay low to the ground by keeping their arms pumping low, close to their hips. If one sees a racewalker's shoulders rising, it may be a sign that the athlete is losing contact with the ground. What appears to be an exaggerated swivel to the hip is, in fact, a full rotation of the pelvis. Athletes aim to move the pelvis forward, and to minimize sideways motion in order to achieve maximum forward propulsion. Speed is achieved by stepping quickly with the aim of rapid turnover. This minimizes the risk of the feet leaving the ground. Strides are short and quick, with pushoff coming forward from the ball of the foot, again to minimize the risk of losing contact with the ground. World-class racewalkers (male and female) can average under seven and eight minutes per mile (or under four and five minutes per kilometre, respectively), in a 20 km (12.4 mile) racewalk. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Racewalking
For Londoner Sean Roberts, a recent morning walk down Oxford Street, from the London Underground to his office four blocks away, was the usual obstacle course. Heading east, he wove around a group of backpack-toting tourists halted in front of a jewelry-store window. He dodged a crew of construction workers, only to run up against a troupe of chanting Hare Krishna monks. "I understand people who get road rage," said Mr. Roberts, 27. Sidewalk rage may be closer to the point, and an alliance of local landlords and retailers believes it has an antidote. On behalf of London pedestrians who are sick of dodging Oxford Street's tourist hordes and texting teens, they're ready to draw the line. A pretend line, anyway. New West End Company, a group of 600 business owners in the district around Oxford Street, is planning to direct slow movers to walk in a "shopper lane" along store fronts, so that hurried residents and workers can proceed without opposition on the sidewalk's edges. The concept echoes a gag played in New York City in May 2010, when pranksters laid a chalk line down a sidewalk on Manhattan's busy Fifth Avenue, with one lane reserved for "tourists" and another for "New Yorkers." http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704164004575547701061890026.html
I thought it was a myth. It's a dyed-in-the-wool reality. There really are two speeds when you're walking the streets of New York: "New Yorker" and "Tourist." This has become abundantly clear to me as I walk to and from my new office in Times Square, and occasionally walk through the Rockefeller Center area to have lunch with the misses near her office. Both areas are chocked full of tourists. In less than three weeks, I've already been in the background of 18,433 photos of family members visiting Times Square, including four where I actually held up "bunny ear" fingers behind people I didn't even know. Walking to and from my office--as I come to work, go to lunch, and head for home--I bump into tourists. Literally. I'm usually walking at a fast clip rushing to find a quick sandwich shop or hot dog vendor so I can get back to my desk; they're usually staring up at the NASDAQ sign on the ABC News studio. (My office is directly above the ABC set where they broadcast Good Morning America.) So invariably you have to learn the pedestrian equivalent of defensive driving- you anticipate what's going to happen and plan escape routes for when a tourist stops in mid-sidewalk or inexplicably reverses course because they want to get just one more picture of the huge "Lion King" sign. http://progressivepeach.typepad.com/manhattanhillbilly/walking/
When visiting the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History in 2010, we were blocked from easy viewing as groups took pictures of objects and the labels that described them.
Till as noun
boulder clay (unstratified soil deposited by a glacier; consists of sand and clay and gravel and boulders mixed together)
public treasury, trough (a treasury for government funds)
cashbox, money box (a strongbox for holding cash)
Till as verb
work land as by ploughing, harrowing, and manuring, in order to make it ready for cultivation "till the soil" http://wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn?s=till
To measure really long distances, people use a unit called a light year. Light travels at 186,000 miles per second (300,000 kilometers per second). Therefore, a light second is 186,000 miles (300,000 kilometers). A light year is the distance that light can travel in a year. Using a light year as a distance measurement has another advantage -- it helps you determine age. Let's say that a star is 1 million light years away. The light from that star has traveled at the speed of light to reach us. Therefore, it has taken the star's light 1 million years to get here, and the light we are seeing was created 1 million years ago. So the star we are seeing is really how the star looked a million years ago, not how it looks today. http://science.howstuffworks.com/dictionary/astronomy-terms/question94.htm
In the year 987 an obscure bookseller in the city of Baghdad put the finishing touches on his life's work, a huge book that contained descriptions of the thousands of books known to him. Ibn al-Nadim called his masterpiece the "Fihrist," a word that simply means "catalog" in Arabic. But this was not a mere inventory. Ibn al-Nadim listed no book that he hadn't personally seen and touched. And he commented on the books, often inserting wry observations or diverting anecdotes. It was an immense accomplishment. The "Fihrist" systematically lists title after title in 10 elaborate chapters—six devoted to Islamic subjects, four to "foreign sciences," from astronomy to zoology, with Aristotelian philosophy and logic thrown in for good measure. Books about books—bibliographical autobiographies, as it were—form a distinct literary category. Many rely on the earliest memories. In his essay "The Lost Childhood," Graham Greene remarked that "perhaps it is only in childhood that books have any deep influence on our lives." The reason, he thought, was that "in childhood all books are books of divination, telling us about the future." Is this why, as we get older, we turn more and more to books about the past? Greene doesn't say. Marcel Proust felt the same about his early reading, noting that "there are no days of my childhood which I lived so fully perhaps as those I thought I had left behind without living them, those I spent with a favorite book." An interesting feature of such reminiscences is how strongly they depend upon the physical nature of the book. The printed book's physicality presents a challenge to e-books, however convenient they are. We tend to remember the look and heft of a book that we fell in love with. In "Literary Pleasure," Jorge Luis Borges revealed his childhood passion for old detective novels, Greek mythology and the 1,001 Nights, which he calls "the first serial novel." His touchstone for great books is pleasure, pure and simple . In "The Total Library," he evoked a "vast, contradictory Library whose vertical wildernesses of books run the incessant risk of changing into others that affirm, deny and confuse everything like a delirious god"—a bibliographic apocalypse by the greatest and most original of modern readers. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704858404576134063766563784.html?mod=WSJ_topics_obama
Art Project: Explore museums from around the world, discover and view hundreds of artworks at incredible zoom levels, and even create and share your own collection of masterpieces. http://www.googleartproject.com/
The air fern is a name given to both the resurrection fern and the skeleton of a species of coral called the Sertularia. Ships collect the Sertularia, treat them with chemicals and dye them green in order to make them look like ferns. They are then sold, often with claims that the air fern does not need to be watered or fertilized. Vendors also call the Sertularia air moss and air plant. http://www.gardenguides.com/101217-air-fern.html
Thursday, February 17, 2011
Nationally, nearly a third-200 of 642 Borders stores-will shut down, with an additional 75 stores to be listed for possible closure. About 6,000 employees will be let go as a result of what an industry analyst called "the biggest bankruptcy in the history of the book business." As of Christmas Day, according to the bankruptcy filing, the Ann Arbor. Mich. company had debts of $1.29 billion, compared with $1.28 billion in total assets. It owes $302 million to vendors, mostly publishing houses, including Penguin Putnam, Simon & Schuster and Random House. "Publishers are going to take a tremendous hit," said ABA President Michael Tucker, who is also co-founder and CEO of the Bay Area independent book chain Books Inc. "But at least they are prepared. If this had happened a couple of years ago, it would have been truly devastating." The book business, especially the brick-and-mortar sector, has taken plenty of hits in the face of Amazon.com, e-books, Kindles and iPads. And fewer traditional books are being bought. According to Nielsen, which tracks 70 percent of the market (excluding Walmart), overall sales dropped from 751.7 million in 2009 to 717.8 million last year. Borders says that it will honor gift cards and coupons and that its rewards program will remain in effect.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=%2Fc%2Fa%2F2011%2F02%2F17%2FMNJN1HNIGC.DTL
With a two-game total of $77,147, a computer called Watson dominated the two former giants of the quiz show, 74-game winner Ken Jennings and all-time money champ ($3.2 million) Brad Rutter, more than tripling Jennings' second-place total of $24,000. After being crushed in Game 1 on Monday and Tuesday, Jennings pushed the machine in the second game Wednesday, but lost on the final question about 19th-century novelists. The answer, "Bram Stoker," whose Dracula featured another nonhuman creature that gave humans fits, combined with Watson's daringly big $17,973 bet, pushed the machine to victory. "I, for one, welcome our new computer overlords," Jennings wrote along with his answer, echoing a classic line from The Simpsons. Built over four years at a cost of more than $30 million, Watson itself was in the room next to the temporary Jeopardy! stage at IBM's T.J. Watson Research Center near New York. Both building and machine are named for the man who led the company from a small manufacturer of office and business equipment into an international computing giant. http://www.philly.com/philly/entertainment/20110217_Jonathan_Storm__The_computer_wins__Jeopardy___showdown__Big_.html
The game show-playing supercomputer Watson is expected to do much more than make a name for itself on Jeopardy. IBM's computer could very well herald a whole new era in medicine. That's the vision of IBM engineers and Dr. Eliot Siegel, professor and vice chairman of the University of Maryland School of Medicine's department of diagnostic radiology. Siegel and his colleagues at the University of Maryland, as well as at Columbia University Medical Center, are working with IBM engineers to figure out the best ways for Watson to work hand-in-hand with physicians and medical specialists.
http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9209899/IBM_s_Watson_could_usher_new_era_in_medicine?taxonomyId=12
The biggest solar flare in four years has blasted out from the sun, and is expected to reach Earth late February 17. The flare, or coronal mass ejection (CME), was emitted on Monday at 8:56 p.m. EST. It's been categorized as a Class X2.2 flare, the most severe type. The coronal mass ejection associated with the flare is currently traveling about 900 Km/second and is expected to reach Earth’s orbit tonight at about 10pm EST. It's the biggest flare yet in the current solar cycle. http://www.tgdaily.com/space-features/54167-massive-solar-flare-hits-earth-tonight
Federal court management statistics http://www.uscourts.gov/Statistics/FederalCourtManagementStatistics.aspx
You may move from this page to other statistics; for instance, bankruptcy, caseload, and judicial facts and figures.
In Maine, lawmakers are poised to make the "whoopie pie" the official state dessert — even though some claim the chocolate cake sandwich filled with white fluffy filling was actually invented in Pennsylvania. "Whoopie pies have been on the rise for several years, and no one can pinpoint exactly the reason," says Amos Orcutt of the Maine Whoopie Pie Association. Orcutt first got the idea about making the snack the official state dessert from a New York Times article in which the author asserted that if the whoopie pie wasn't Maine's official dessert, it should be. Maine legislators spent an hour-and-a-half listening to testimony about the whoopie pie. And there were competing points of view. Rep. Don Pilon of Saco, Maine, told the committee that whoopie pies are not the dessert to promote at a time when more than 30 percent of students in the state are overweight. "Do we really want to glorify a dessert that lists lard as its primary ingredient?" he asked.
http://www.npr.org/2011/02/03/133432767/food-fight-maine-legislature-takes-on-whoopie-pies
Interstate whoopie pie fight
"Save Our Whoopie!" reads a digital petition and video posted last week on the Pennsylvania Dutch Convention & Visitors Bureau's website. It calls the Maine bill a "confectionary larceny." And the name? "The Amish moms used to put the whoopie pies in the children's lunches and when they found them they would yell 'Whoopie!'" says Deryl Stoltzfus, general manager at Hershey Farm Restaurant & Inn in Ronks, home to the annual whoopie-pie festival, in which 20,000 whoopies are made in 100 flavors on the big day, including one 240-pound pie.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704132204576136593240752596.html
Recipes for whoopie pies http://www.thekitchn.com/thekitchn/recipe-roundup/whoopie-pies-9-recipes-youll-absolutely-love-116225
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=%2Fc%2Fa%2F2011%2F02%2F17%2FMNJN1HNIGC.DTL
With a two-game total of $77,147, a computer called Watson dominated the two former giants of the quiz show, 74-game winner Ken Jennings and all-time money champ ($3.2 million) Brad Rutter, more than tripling Jennings' second-place total of $24,000. After being crushed in Game 1 on Monday and Tuesday, Jennings pushed the machine in the second game Wednesday, but lost on the final question about 19th-century novelists. The answer, "Bram Stoker," whose Dracula featured another nonhuman creature that gave humans fits, combined with Watson's daringly big $17,973 bet, pushed the machine to victory. "I, for one, welcome our new computer overlords," Jennings wrote along with his answer, echoing a classic line from The Simpsons. Built over four years at a cost of more than $30 million, Watson itself was in the room next to the temporary Jeopardy! stage at IBM's T.J. Watson Research Center near New York. Both building and machine are named for the man who led the company from a small manufacturer of office and business equipment into an international computing giant. http://www.philly.com/philly/entertainment/20110217_Jonathan_Storm__The_computer_wins__Jeopardy___showdown__Big_.html
The game show-playing supercomputer Watson is expected to do much more than make a name for itself on Jeopardy. IBM's computer could very well herald a whole new era in medicine. That's the vision of IBM engineers and Dr. Eliot Siegel, professor and vice chairman of the University of Maryland School of Medicine's department of diagnostic radiology. Siegel and his colleagues at the University of Maryland, as well as at Columbia University Medical Center, are working with IBM engineers to figure out the best ways for Watson to work hand-in-hand with physicians and medical specialists.
http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9209899/IBM_s_Watson_could_usher_new_era_in_medicine?taxonomyId=12
The biggest solar flare in four years has blasted out from the sun, and is expected to reach Earth late February 17. The flare, or coronal mass ejection (CME), was emitted on Monday at 8:56 p.m. EST. It's been categorized as a Class X2.2 flare, the most severe type. The coronal mass ejection associated with the flare is currently traveling about 900 Km/second and is expected to reach Earth’s orbit tonight at about 10pm EST. It's the biggest flare yet in the current solar cycle. http://www.tgdaily.com/space-features/54167-massive-solar-flare-hits-earth-tonight
Federal court management statistics http://www.uscourts.gov/Statistics/FederalCourtManagementStatistics.aspx
You may move from this page to other statistics; for instance, bankruptcy, caseload, and judicial facts and figures.
In Maine, lawmakers are poised to make the "whoopie pie" the official state dessert — even though some claim the chocolate cake sandwich filled with white fluffy filling was actually invented in Pennsylvania. "Whoopie pies have been on the rise for several years, and no one can pinpoint exactly the reason," says Amos Orcutt of the Maine Whoopie Pie Association. Orcutt first got the idea about making the snack the official state dessert from a New York Times article in which the author asserted that if the whoopie pie wasn't Maine's official dessert, it should be. Maine legislators spent an hour-and-a-half listening to testimony about the whoopie pie. And there were competing points of view. Rep. Don Pilon of Saco, Maine, told the committee that whoopie pies are not the dessert to promote at a time when more than 30 percent of students in the state are overweight. "Do we really want to glorify a dessert that lists lard as its primary ingredient?" he asked.
http://www.npr.org/2011/02/03/133432767/food-fight-maine-legislature-takes-on-whoopie-pies
Interstate whoopie pie fight
"Save Our Whoopie!" reads a digital petition and video posted last week on the Pennsylvania Dutch Convention & Visitors Bureau's website. It calls the Maine bill a "confectionary larceny." And the name? "The Amish moms used to put the whoopie pies in the children's lunches and when they found them they would yell 'Whoopie!'" says Deryl Stoltzfus, general manager at Hershey Farm Restaurant & Inn in Ronks, home to the annual whoopie-pie festival, in which 20,000 whoopies are made in 100 flavors on the big day, including one 240-pound pie.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704132204576136593240752596.html
Recipes for whoopie pies http://www.thekitchn.com/thekitchn/recipe-roundup/whoopie-pies-9-recipes-youll-absolutely-love-116225
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
Someone types the word “dresses” and hits enter. Bedding? Area rugs? You could imagine a dozen contenders for each of these searches. But in the last several months, one name turned up, with uncanny regularity, in the No. 1 spot for each and every term. J.C. Penney bested millions of sites—and not just in searches for dresses, bedding and area rugs. For months, it was consistently at or near the top in searches for “skinny jeans,” “home decor,” “comforter sets,” “furniture” and dozens of other words and phrases, from the blandly generic (“tablecloths”) to the strangely specific (“grommet top curtains”). This striking performance lasted for months, most crucially through the holiday season, when there is a huge spike in online shopping. J. C. Penney even beat out the sites of manufacturers in searches for the products of those manufacturers. The New York Times asked an expert in online search, Doug Pierce of Blue Fountain Media in New York, to study this question, as well as Penney’s astoundingly strong search-term performance in recent months. What he found suggests that the digital age’s most mundane act, the Google search, often represents layer upon layer of intrigue. And the intrigue starts in the sprawling, subterranean world of “black hat” optimization, the dark art of raising the profile of a Web site with methods that Google considers tantamount to cheating. Despite the cowboy outlaw connotations, black-hat services are not illegal, but trafficking in them risks the wrath of Google . The company draws a pretty thick line between techniques it considers deceptive and “white hat” approaches, which are offered by hundreds of consulting firms and are legitimate ways to increase a site’s visibility. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/13/business/13search.html?_r=2&pagewanted=all
The yellow hues in some of Vincent van Gogh's paintings have mysteriously turned to brown—and now a team of European scientists has figured out why. Using sophisticated X-ray machines, they discovered the chemical reaction to blame—one never before observed in paint. Ironically, Van Gogh's decision to use a lighter shade of yellow paint mixed with white is responsible for the unintended darkening, according to a study published online February 14 in the journal Analytical Chemistry. In a number of Van Gogh's paintings, the yellow has dulled to coffee brown—and in about 10 cases, the discoloration is serious, said Koen Janssens, an analytical chemist at Antwerp University in Belgium who co-wrote the study. The root of the problem is the lead-chromate paint he used. It was called chrome yellow, and it was part of a generation of paints that were then far brighter and more vibrant than the existing yellow ochre or orpiment shades. http://articles.latimes.com/2011/feb/14/science/la-sci-van-gogh-paint-20110215
The February 15 showing of Watson, the computer, versus humans on Jeopardy had two surprises that may have been programmed. Watson bet odd amounts on the Daily Double instead of even amounts. For humorous effect? Watson named a U.S. city as Toronto. Was the mistake on purpose to relieve tension after its runaway victory?
What's in a name -- Flogton? Flogton is "notgolf" spelled backward. Because this new game isn't golf, it seemed to be a good name to start with, but it doesn't have to stick. I play golf. Why would I want to play Flogton? Maybe you're going out with friends of different levels, or family of different ages and abilities, and want to play a game that's fun for all of them. Maybe you haven't played in a few months and just need a round to loosen up and have some fun. Maybe you've been playing too often with the same serious group and need an alternative. Maybe you're getting older, or have had an injury, and need a solution to your ever decreasing distance. And maybe you've noticed business is down at your favorite course and this might attract some new players. Project Flogton game instructions definitely don't follow the rules of golf -- isn't this cheating? It's not golf, it's not cheating, it's a different game with different formats. Eventually players might have two handicaps, a USGA-generated index and a Flogton-generated index. Project Flogton advocates the development of more nonconforming stuff -- won't that promote cheating in golf? It could actually prevent cheating, by clearly branding and marking the equipment used for Flogton to differentiate it from the equipment used for golf. What's the USGA stance on Flogton -- will I get in trouble if I play? Project Flogton hasn't asked for USGA approval. The USGA might actually like Project Flogton, because Flogton players may migrate to the USGA's game as they become more serious about their games.
http://www.flogton.com/for_players.html
Search the full text of every article ever published by ACM and bibliographic citations from major publishers in computing. Access is open to the public as well as ACM members. http://portal.acm.org/ ACM, formerly Association for Computing Machinery, is the first society in computing. The new version of its Digital Library (DL) is the first major overhaul of its store of computing literature in almost 10 years.
Hertz abbreviated Hz, is a unit of frequency. One Hz means one cycle per second. Hz is named after the German physicist Heinrich Hertz who made considerable contributions to electromagnetism. In computers, the CPU (central processing unit) and other components such as RAM are measured in Hz or MHz (Megahertz) and now GHz (Gigahertz). One KHz equals 1,000 (one thousand) Hz, while 1,000,000 (one million) Hz equals one MHz, and 1,000,000,000 (one billion) Hz equals one GHz. See explanatory table at: http://www.computer-hardware-explained.com/hertz.html
Outside of Cincinnati's borders, goetta (pronounced get-uh) is practically unknown. But locals throughout Southwest Ohio consume literally millions of pounds of the stuff per year. There is even an annual Goettafest. Found in butcher shops and on restaurant menus citywide, the breakfast meat is Cincy's other culinary oddity. Introduced by German immigrants, the Scrapple-like substance is made by simmering various pork (and sometimes beef) parts with steel-cut oats, onions and spices. See other unique foods of Ohio at: http://www.insiderohio.com/features/uniquefoods.aspx
Allen Durough lives in Bessemer, Ala., a town 15 miles southwest of Birmingham, where he has found a century-old cache of architectural printing plates. They are engraved with the designs of Wallace A. Rayfield, believed to be America's second formally trained African American architect. Rayfield designed hundreds of structures throughout the South prior to the Great Depression, among them theaters, schools, residences for prominent black professionals, one of the country's first black-owned banks, and many, many churches. His buildings were backdrops for the civil rights movement of the 1960s; a few became synonymous with the struggle. But Rayfield died destitute during the Second World War, and his contributions to the growth of Birmingham and other cities were largely forgotten. In 1993, Allen R. Durough was cleaning out a derelict barn on his property when he noticed a heap of dusty metal boxes in the back corner. The first time Durough tried to get to the boxes, he crashed through a rotted floorboard. Only by prying boards off a back wall was he able to reach the mysterious cache. Inside he found thick wood blocks with metal faces into which were etched drawings of churches and schools and business advertisements bearing the inscription "W. A. Rayfield & Co., Architects." Unaware of their significance, he tossed the blocks into the yard, intending to take them to the county dump. But something about the delicate etchings piqued his curiosity. "I called what seemed like everybody in town, but nobody had heard of Rayfield," says Durough. "Then I phoned the folks at the Birmingham Historical Society, and the woman literally screamed on the phone, she was so excited." For years, she had searched for information about the name she had seen carved into the cornerstones of so many Birmingham buildings. Durough realized he had stumbled upon a historical treasure trove. Born in Macon, Ga., around 1873, Wallace Rayfield, son of a railroad porter, was a preternaturally gifted draftsman. He graduated from Howard University in Washington, D.C., and received architecture degrees from both Pratt Polytechnic Institute and Columbia University in New York, where he was recruited by Booker T. Washington, director of Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute in Alabama. As an instructor of mechanical and architectural drawing at Tuskegee, Rayfield worked alongside Robert Taylor, the first black architect to graduate from MIT. Rayfield oversaw the expansion of the school's mechanical drawing department from a cramped room with boards nailed atop saw-horses to a large, well-lit space with 47 drafting tables. Rayfield also made his first foray into printing with Industrial Drawing Book, a textbook meant to bring a degree of professionalism to the young school. He designed more than 400 buildings for clients in at least 20 states, including Illinois, Texas, and Maryland. More than 130 of his structures were built in Birmingham alone. http://www.preservationnation.org/magazine/2011/january-february/rediscovering-mr-rayfield.html
Feedback to A.Word.A.Day
From: Marilyn Waggoner Subject: tetchy - origin uncerain? My father's family always used this word in place of "touchy" so I am somewhat perplexed that the origin is not the same as the word "touchy". I always thought they were merely "hickifying" the more recognizable English word. Am I wrong? Many readers wrote about the origins of this word. Some guessed it was from a southern US variant of the word touchy. Others figured it may have come from the Yorkshire dialect of English (northern England). It's one of those words we are not 100% sure about, but indications are that the word touchy is a variant of tetchy (not the other way) under influence from the word touch. The OED lists the earliest recorded use for tetchy from 1597, while touchy is from 1605. -Anu Garg
From: Ranadurjay Talukdar Subject: dyspeptic Interestingly, Pepsi was originally marketed as a drink to cure dyspepsia, hence the name "Pepsi".
From: Jason Kornelis Subject: dyspepsia The online text-based RPG "Kingdom of Loathing", which treats wit and wordplay as the basic building blocks of the English language, includes "Dyspepsi-Cola" as a usable item.
Terriers have won Best in Show 45 times in the 103 years that the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show has doled out the big prize—including last year's winner, Sadie, a Scottish Terrier. Much of the group's dominance at Westminster owes to terriers' early success against a much shallower pool of competitors. A Smooth Fox Terrier, Ch. Warren Remedy, won each of the first three Best in Show prizes, and terriers won Best in Show 21 times in the first 28 years the prize was awarded. Much has changed since then. Terriers have won just 28% of the time in the past quarter-century, tied with the sporting group at seven wins apiece. The split of the herding group from the working group in 1983 deepened the field. So, too, has an influx of new AKC-recognized breeds. Many of the new breeds introduced at Westminster in recent years have been hulking working dogs and various sheepdogs, usually hailing from Europe. See a table depicting Best of Show winners by type at: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703843004576138691540831636.html A Scottish deerhound named Hickory won Best in Show February 15.
The yellow hues in some of Vincent van Gogh's paintings have mysteriously turned to brown—and now a team of European scientists has figured out why. Using sophisticated X-ray machines, they discovered the chemical reaction to blame—one never before observed in paint. Ironically, Van Gogh's decision to use a lighter shade of yellow paint mixed with white is responsible for the unintended darkening, according to a study published online February 14 in the journal Analytical Chemistry. In a number of Van Gogh's paintings, the yellow has dulled to coffee brown—and in about 10 cases, the discoloration is serious, said Koen Janssens, an analytical chemist at Antwerp University in Belgium who co-wrote the study. The root of the problem is the lead-chromate paint he used. It was called chrome yellow, and it was part of a generation of paints that were then far brighter and more vibrant than the existing yellow ochre or orpiment shades. http://articles.latimes.com/2011/feb/14/science/la-sci-van-gogh-paint-20110215
The February 15 showing of Watson, the computer, versus humans on Jeopardy had two surprises that may have been programmed. Watson bet odd amounts on the Daily Double instead of even amounts. For humorous effect? Watson named a U.S. city as Toronto. Was the mistake on purpose to relieve tension after its runaway victory?
What's in a name -- Flogton? Flogton is "notgolf" spelled backward. Because this new game isn't golf, it seemed to be a good name to start with, but it doesn't have to stick. I play golf. Why would I want to play Flogton? Maybe you're going out with friends of different levels, or family of different ages and abilities, and want to play a game that's fun for all of them. Maybe you haven't played in a few months and just need a round to loosen up and have some fun. Maybe you've been playing too often with the same serious group and need an alternative. Maybe you're getting older, or have had an injury, and need a solution to your ever decreasing distance. And maybe you've noticed business is down at your favorite course and this might attract some new players. Project Flogton game instructions definitely don't follow the rules of golf -- isn't this cheating? It's not golf, it's not cheating, it's a different game with different formats. Eventually players might have two handicaps, a USGA-generated index and a Flogton-generated index. Project Flogton advocates the development of more nonconforming stuff -- won't that promote cheating in golf? It could actually prevent cheating, by clearly branding and marking the equipment used for Flogton to differentiate it from the equipment used for golf. What's the USGA stance on Flogton -- will I get in trouble if I play? Project Flogton hasn't asked for USGA approval. The USGA might actually like Project Flogton, because Flogton players may migrate to the USGA's game as they become more serious about their games.
http://www.flogton.com/for_players.html
Search the full text of every article ever published by ACM and bibliographic citations from major publishers in computing. Access is open to the public as well as ACM members. http://portal.acm.org/ ACM, formerly Association for Computing Machinery, is the first society in computing. The new version of its Digital Library (DL) is the first major overhaul of its store of computing literature in almost 10 years.
Hertz abbreviated Hz, is a unit of frequency. One Hz means one cycle per second. Hz is named after the German physicist Heinrich Hertz who made considerable contributions to electromagnetism. In computers, the CPU (central processing unit) and other components such as RAM are measured in Hz or MHz (Megahertz) and now GHz (Gigahertz). One KHz equals 1,000 (one thousand) Hz, while 1,000,000 (one million) Hz equals one MHz, and 1,000,000,000 (one billion) Hz equals one GHz. See explanatory table at: http://www.computer-hardware-explained.com/hertz.html
Outside of Cincinnati's borders, goetta (pronounced get-uh) is practically unknown. But locals throughout Southwest Ohio consume literally millions of pounds of the stuff per year. There is even an annual Goettafest. Found in butcher shops and on restaurant menus citywide, the breakfast meat is Cincy's other culinary oddity. Introduced by German immigrants, the Scrapple-like substance is made by simmering various pork (and sometimes beef) parts with steel-cut oats, onions and spices. See other unique foods of Ohio at: http://www.insiderohio.com/features/uniquefoods.aspx
Allen Durough lives in Bessemer, Ala., a town 15 miles southwest of Birmingham, where he has found a century-old cache of architectural printing plates. They are engraved with the designs of Wallace A. Rayfield, believed to be America's second formally trained African American architect. Rayfield designed hundreds of structures throughout the South prior to the Great Depression, among them theaters, schools, residences for prominent black professionals, one of the country's first black-owned banks, and many, many churches. His buildings were backdrops for the civil rights movement of the 1960s; a few became synonymous with the struggle. But Rayfield died destitute during the Second World War, and his contributions to the growth of Birmingham and other cities were largely forgotten. In 1993, Allen R. Durough was cleaning out a derelict barn on his property when he noticed a heap of dusty metal boxes in the back corner. The first time Durough tried to get to the boxes, he crashed through a rotted floorboard. Only by prying boards off a back wall was he able to reach the mysterious cache. Inside he found thick wood blocks with metal faces into which were etched drawings of churches and schools and business advertisements bearing the inscription "W. A. Rayfield & Co., Architects." Unaware of their significance, he tossed the blocks into the yard, intending to take them to the county dump. But something about the delicate etchings piqued his curiosity. "I called what seemed like everybody in town, but nobody had heard of Rayfield," says Durough. "Then I phoned the folks at the Birmingham Historical Society, and the woman literally screamed on the phone, she was so excited." For years, she had searched for information about the name she had seen carved into the cornerstones of so many Birmingham buildings. Durough realized he had stumbled upon a historical treasure trove. Born in Macon, Ga., around 1873, Wallace Rayfield, son of a railroad porter, was a preternaturally gifted draftsman. He graduated from Howard University in Washington, D.C., and received architecture degrees from both Pratt Polytechnic Institute and Columbia University in New York, where he was recruited by Booker T. Washington, director of Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute in Alabama. As an instructor of mechanical and architectural drawing at Tuskegee, Rayfield worked alongside Robert Taylor, the first black architect to graduate from MIT. Rayfield oversaw the expansion of the school's mechanical drawing department from a cramped room with boards nailed atop saw-horses to a large, well-lit space with 47 drafting tables. Rayfield also made his first foray into printing with Industrial Drawing Book, a textbook meant to bring a degree of professionalism to the young school. He designed more than 400 buildings for clients in at least 20 states, including Illinois, Texas, and Maryland. More than 130 of his structures were built in Birmingham alone. http://www.preservationnation.org/magazine/2011/january-february/rediscovering-mr-rayfield.html
Feedback to A.Word.A.Day
From: Marilyn Waggoner Subject: tetchy - origin uncerain? My father's family always used this word in place of "touchy" so I am somewhat perplexed that the origin is not the same as the word "touchy". I always thought they were merely "hickifying" the more recognizable English word. Am I wrong? Many readers wrote about the origins of this word. Some guessed it was from a southern US variant of the word touchy. Others figured it may have come from the Yorkshire dialect of English (northern England). It's one of those words we are not 100% sure about, but indications are that the word touchy is a variant of tetchy (not the other way) under influence from the word touch. The OED lists the earliest recorded use for tetchy from 1597, while touchy is from 1605. -Anu Garg
From: Ranadurjay Talukdar Subject: dyspeptic Interestingly, Pepsi was originally marketed as a drink to cure dyspepsia, hence the name "Pepsi".
From: Jason Kornelis Subject: dyspepsia The online text-based RPG "Kingdom of Loathing", which treats wit and wordplay as the basic building blocks of the English language, includes "Dyspepsi-Cola" as a usable item.
Terriers have won Best in Show 45 times in the 103 years that the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show has doled out the big prize—including last year's winner, Sadie, a Scottish Terrier. Much of the group's dominance at Westminster owes to terriers' early success against a much shallower pool of competitors. A Smooth Fox Terrier, Ch. Warren Remedy, won each of the first three Best in Show prizes, and terriers won Best in Show 21 times in the first 28 years the prize was awarded. Much has changed since then. Terriers have won just 28% of the time in the past quarter-century, tied with the sporting group at seven wins apiece. The split of the herding group from the working group in 1983 deepened the field. So, too, has an influx of new AKC-recognized breeds. Many of the new breeds introduced at Westminster in recent years have been hulking working dogs and various sheepdogs, usually hailing from Europe. See a table depicting Best of Show winners by type at: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703843004576138691540831636.html A Scottish deerhound named Hickory won Best in Show February 15.
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
An IBM computer dubbed Watson has tied with human competition on the US quiz show Jeopardy! on the first day of the contest. The machine, named after IBM's former President Thomas Watson is said to be even more evolved than Deep Blue, the IBM chess-playing supercomputer that beat world champion Garry Kasparov in 1997. Watson was able to show off its knowledge of the Beatles, correctly answering a question about Hey Jude. It also gave correct responses to clues about the Italian Renaissance artist Michelangelo and US Olympic swimming champion Michael Phelps. But Watson also made some errors, coming up with the wrong Latin word for "terminal" and repeating another contestant's mistake because it cannot interact with other players. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/8325138/Computer-ties-with-human-in-first-round-of-Jeopardy-quiz-show.html
George Shearing, the British piano virtuoso who overcame blindness to become a worldwide jazz star, and whose composition “Lullaby of Birdland” became an enduring jazz standard, died February 14 in Manhattan. He was 91. In 1949, just two years after Mr. Shearing immigrated to the United States, his recording of “September in the Rain” became an international hit. Its success established him as a hot property on the jazz nightclub and concert circuit. The Shearing sound—which had the harmonic complexity of bebop but eschewed bebop’s ferocious energy—was built on the unusual instrumentation of vibraphone, guitar, piano, bass and drums. To get the “full block sound” he wanted, he had the vibraphone double what his right hand played and the guitar double the left. Shortly after breaking up the group in 1978, Mr. Shearing said, “There won’t be another quintet unless Standard Oil or Frank Sinatra want it.” Standard Oil never asked, but in 1981 Mr. Shearing reassembled the quintet for a Boston engagement and a series of Carnegie Hall concerts as Mr. Sinatra’s opening act. In 1996 he was invested as an officer in the Order of the British Empire, and 11 years later he was knighted. “I don’t know why I’m getting this honor,” he said shortly after learning of his knighthood. “I’ve just been doing what I love to do.” http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/15/arts/music/15shearing.html?partner=rss&emc=rss
On February 22, when the Supreme Court returns from its midwinter break and hears arguments in two criminal cases, it will have been five years since Justice Clarence Thomas has spoken during a court argument. If he is true to form, Justice Thomas will spend the arguments as he always does: leaning back in his chair, staring at the ceiling, rubbing his eyes, whispering to Justice Stephen G. Breyer, consulting papers and looking a little irritated and a little bored. He will ask no questions. In the past 40 years, no other justice has gone an entire term, much less five, without speaking at least once during arguments, according to Timothy R. Johnson, a professor of political science at the University of Minnesota. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/13/us/13thomas.html?_r=1
The Airedale Terrier, also known as the Waterside Terrier, the Yorkshire, the Bingley Terrier, the Warfedale Terrier, the Broken-haired Terrier and the Working Terrier, is a hardy, water-loving dog that is the largest of all terriers. Its name comes from a small otter-river, the Aire, in northern England. http://www.petwave.com/Dogs/Dog-Breed-Center/Terrier-Group/Airedale-Terrier/Overview.aspx Personal note: Some of my ancestors lived near the Aire in Bingley, and the house, dating back to the 14th century, still stands. http://www.ravenroyd.com/index_files/About.htm
As the main access route to a region that was named after the original inhabitants' descriptive names Alyeska ("the Great Land") and Yukon ("The Great River"), the Alaska Highway offers a unique, never-to-be-forgotten experience for those who come prepared to look and listen carefully. Built in 1942 as a military access road, the highway stands as a tribute to the determination and resourcefulness of the tens of thousands of men and women who have worked on it, not only during the construction, but through the constant upgrading of the highway, and the maintenance that has, often against enormous odds, kept it open year-round since it was built. Called the Alaska Military Highway at first, it then became the Alaska-Canada Highway, which was shortened to Alcan before being finally replaced by Alaska Highway, the name by which it is officially known today. To the people who built it, though, it was simply The Road. For 8 months, the lives of 18,000 men and women were dominated by The Road, and for most, it would remain one of the highlights of their lives. http://explorenorth.com/library/roads/alcan-signs.html
The expression 'alive and kicking' was coined in the late 18th/early 19th century and is still widely used today. The earliest citation of 'alive and kicking' that I can find in print is from 1801, in the anonymous, (and by anonymous, at that date, we can certainly assume female, author of the travelogue Farther excursions of the observant pedestrian, 1801. In this the narrator is interviewing a 'crab-boy', who observes: "I left them [the crabs] all alive and kicking, your honour, when I came to church." http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/alive-and-kicking.html
The phrase all together refers to people or things gathered in one place. The adverb altogether means "entirely" or "wholly." http://grammar.about.com/od/words/a/altogether.htm
A few weeks before summer vacation in 2005, Douglas StanWiens, a high school teacher in Boise, Idaho, gave his students an assignment: Research the history of a local building. StanWiens hoped the project would keep his students engaged after finishing their advanced placement tests in U.S. history. He didn't imagine that his idea would grow into the Boise Architecture Project, a collaboration among hundreds of students from three area high schools and one fourth-grade class. Students have now researched and published the histories of more than 200 buildings, led historic house tours, attended civic meetings about preservation, even protested the demolition of the Cole and Franklin elementary schools. "Given the opportunity, students participate in architectural history and preservation, and do it willingly and gladly," StanWiens says. According to Kelly Waldo, a senior at Timberline High School, the city-wide project inspired her to consider studying architecture in college and introduced her to the wealth of styles—Art Deco, Egyptian Revival, Modern—in Boise. "A lot of these buildings have a historical value that shouldn't be overlooked," Waldo says. "I've realized that Boise is a pretty cool town." http://www.preservationnation.org/magazine/2011/january-february/stanwiens.html
The Federalists, as a rule, were advocates of a strong central government. They were somewhat pessimistic about human nature and believed that the government must resist the passions of the general public. One of the government's prime functions was to maintain order. The Federalists tended to place their faith in the talents of a small governing elite. Since many Federalists were large landowners, bankers and businessmen, they favored the government's efforts to encourage and protect American industry In foreign affairs the Federalists supported the British, with whom they had strong trade ties, and opposed the French, who at the time were convulsed by the French Revolution. George Washington would have resented having any party label attached to his name, but he was philosophically aligned with the Federalists. John Adams' administration marked the end of Federalist control of the presidency with Thomas Jefferson's election in 1800 ushering in an era of Democratic-Republicans. Rufus King was the last Federalist presidential candidate in 1816. In time the basic tenets of Federalism would triumph in the United States, but not until the dawning of the Industrial Age. There is some confusion over the use of the term federalist since its meaning changed sharply over a very short period of time. The original "Federalists" were supporters of the ratification of the Constitution in the years between 1787 and 1790. Those who had strong objections to the new document were labeled the “Anti-Federalists.” http://www.u-s-history.com/pages/h445.html
Bread salads reach high art in the Mediterranean. Stale bread is a great ally for the cook. I grew up in a family where soup was never served without chunks of stale bread beside it. Sometimes the pieces were rubbed with garlic and moistened with olive oil, sometimes they were just plain.
Weeknight Kitchen February 9, 2011
Q: Why is snow white?
A: Snow is made of ice crystals and, up close, the individual crystals look clear, like glass. A pile of snow crystals looks white for the same reason a pile of crushed glass looks white. Light is partially reflected by an ice surface, as it is from a glass surface. With a lot of partially reflecting surfaces, the light bounces around and eventually scatters back out. Since all colors are scattered roughly equally well, the snow bank appears white. California Institute of Technology. http://www.thecourier.com/Opinion/columns/2011/Feb/JU/ar_JU_021411.asp?d=021411,2011,Feb,14&c=c_13
George Shearing, the British piano virtuoso who overcame blindness to become a worldwide jazz star, and whose composition “Lullaby of Birdland” became an enduring jazz standard, died February 14 in Manhattan. He was 91. In 1949, just two years after Mr. Shearing immigrated to the United States, his recording of “September in the Rain” became an international hit. Its success established him as a hot property on the jazz nightclub and concert circuit. The Shearing sound—which had the harmonic complexity of bebop but eschewed bebop’s ferocious energy—was built on the unusual instrumentation of vibraphone, guitar, piano, bass and drums. To get the “full block sound” he wanted, he had the vibraphone double what his right hand played and the guitar double the left. Shortly after breaking up the group in 1978, Mr. Shearing said, “There won’t be another quintet unless Standard Oil or Frank Sinatra want it.” Standard Oil never asked, but in 1981 Mr. Shearing reassembled the quintet for a Boston engagement and a series of Carnegie Hall concerts as Mr. Sinatra’s opening act. In 1996 he was invested as an officer in the Order of the British Empire, and 11 years later he was knighted. “I don’t know why I’m getting this honor,” he said shortly after learning of his knighthood. “I’ve just been doing what I love to do.” http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/15/arts/music/15shearing.html?partner=rss&emc=rss
On February 22, when the Supreme Court returns from its midwinter break and hears arguments in two criminal cases, it will have been five years since Justice Clarence Thomas has spoken during a court argument. If he is true to form, Justice Thomas will spend the arguments as he always does: leaning back in his chair, staring at the ceiling, rubbing his eyes, whispering to Justice Stephen G. Breyer, consulting papers and looking a little irritated and a little bored. He will ask no questions. In the past 40 years, no other justice has gone an entire term, much less five, without speaking at least once during arguments, according to Timothy R. Johnson, a professor of political science at the University of Minnesota. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/13/us/13thomas.html?_r=1
The Airedale Terrier, also known as the Waterside Terrier, the Yorkshire, the Bingley Terrier, the Warfedale Terrier, the Broken-haired Terrier and the Working Terrier, is a hardy, water-loving dog that is the largest of all terriers. Its name comes from a small otter-river, the Aire, in northern England. http://www.petwave.com/Dogs/Dog-Breed-Center/Terrier-Group/Airedale-Terrier/Overview.aspx Personal note: Some of my ancestors lived near the Aire in Bingley, and the house, dating back to the 14th century, still stands. http://www.ravenroyd.com/index_files/About.htm
As the main access route to a region that was named after the original inhabitants' descriptive names Alyeska ("the Great Land") and Yukon ("The Great River"), the Alaska Highway offers a unique, never-to-be-forgotten experience for those who come prepared to look and listen carefully. Built in 1942 as a military access road, the highway stands as a tribute to the determination and resourcefulness of the tens of thousands of men and women who have worked on it, not only during the construction, but through the constant upgrading of the highway, and the maintenance that has, often against enormous odds, kept it open year-round since it was built. Called the Alaska Military Highway at first, it then became the Alaska-Canada Highway, which was shortened to Alcan before being finally replaced by Alaska Highway, the name by which it is officially known today. To the people who built it, though, it was simply The Road. For 8 months, the lives of 18,000 men and women were dominated by The Road, and for most, it would remain one of the highlights of their lives. http://explorenorth.com/library/roads/alcan-signs.html
The expression 'alive and kicking' was coined in the late 18th/early 19th century and is still widely used today. The earliest citation of 'alive and kicking' that I can find in print is from 1801, in the anonymous, (and by anonymous, at that date, we can certainly assume female, author of the travelogue Farther excursions of the observant pedestrian, 1801. In this the narrator is interviewing a 'crab-boy', who observes: "I left them [the crabs] all alive and kicking, your honour, when I came to church." http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/alive-and-kicking.html
The phrase all together refers to people or things gathered in one place. The adverb altogether means "entirely" or "wholly." http://grammar.about.com/od/words/a/altogether.htm
A few weeks before summer vacation in 2005, Douglas StanWiens, a high school teacher in Boise, Idaho, gave his students an assignment: Research the history of a local building. StanWiens hoped the project would keep his students engaged after finishing their advanced placement tests in U.S. history. He didn't imagine that his idea would grow into the Boise Architecture Project, a collaboration among hundreds of students from three area high schools and one fourth-grade class. Students have now researched and published the histories of more than 200 buildings, led historic house tours, attended civic meetings about preservation, even protested the demolition of the Cole and Franklin elementary schools. "Given the opportunity, students participate in architectural history and preservation, and do it willingly and gladly," StanWiens says. According to Kelly Waldo, a senior at Timberline High School, the city-wide project inspired her to consider studying architecture in college and introduced her to the wealth of styles—Art Deco, Egyptian Revival, Modern—in Boise. "A lot of these buildings have a historical value that shouldn't be overlooked," Waldo says. "I've realized that Boise is a pretty cool town." http://www.preservationnation.org/magazine/2011/january-february/stanwiens.html
The Federalists, as a rule, were advocates of a strong central government. They were somewhat pessimistic about human nature and believed that the government must resist the passions of the general public. One of the government's prime functions was to maintain order. The Federalists tended to place their faith in the talents of a small governing elite. Since many Federalists were large landowners, bankers and businessmen, they favored the government's efforts to encourage and protect American industry In foreign affairs the Federalists supported the British, with whom they had strong trade ties, and opposed the French, who at the time were convulsed by the French Revolution. George Washington would have resented having any party label attached to his name, but he was philosophically aligned with the Federalists. John Adams' administration marked the end of Federalist control of the presidency with Thomas Jefferson's election in 1800 ushering in an era of Democratic-Republicans. Rufus King was the last Federalist presidential candidate in 1816. In time the basic tenets of Federalism would triumph in the United States, but not until the dawning of the Industrial Age. There is some confusion over the use of the term federalist since its meaning changed sharply over a very short period of time. The original "Federalists" were supporters of the ratification of the Constitution in the years between 1787 and 1790. Those who had strong objections to the new document were labeled the “Anti-Federalists.” http://www.u-s-history.com/pages/h445.html
Bread salads reach high art in the Mediterranean. Stale bread is a great ally for the cook. I grew up in a family where soup was never served without chunks of stale bread beside it. Sometimes the pieces were rubbed with garlic and moistened with olive oil, sometimes they were just plain.
Weeknight Kitchen February 9, 2011
Q: Why is snow white?
A: Snow is made of ice crystals and, up close, the individual crystals look clear, like glass. A pile of snow crystals looks white for the same reason a pile of crushed glass looks white. Light is partially reflected by an ice surface, as it is from a glass surface. With a lot of partially reflecting surfaces, the light bounces around and eventually scatters back out. Since all colors are scattered roughly equally well, the snow bank appears white. California Institute of Technology. http://www.thecourier.com/Opinion/columns/2011/Feb/JU/ar_JU_021411.asp?d=021411,2011,Feb,14&c=c_13
Monday, February 14, 2011
Iron and ceramic scraps from the Nantucket whaling ship Two Brothers were located in shallow waters nearly 600 miles from Honolulu in the remote chain of islands and atolls that make up the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands. The ship, which struck a reef and foundered in 1823, was skippered by Captain George Pollard Jr. Two years earlier, Pollard commanded another ship that was rammed by a whale and sank in the South Pacific in a saga immortalized in Melville's 1851 novel "Moby-Dick." The discovery was unveiled on Friday by researchers from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which led the initial 2008 expedition to the wreck and subsequent explorations of the site during the past two years. NOAA said it marks the first discovery of a sunken whaler from Nantucket, Massachusetts, birthplace of a U.S. whaling industry that played a key role in America's economic and political expansion into the Pacific. http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/02/11/us-hawaii-shipwreck-idUSTRE71A7DS20110211
Groupon says it has pulled the ads first aired on Super Bowl XLV that struck many viewers as making light of the plight of the people of Tibet to plug Groupon's services. "We hate that we offended people, and we're very sorry that we did - it's the last thing we wanted," CEO Andrew Mason wrote in a blog post on February 10: "We will run something less polarizing instead. We thought we were poking fun at ourselves, but clearly the execution was off and the joke didn't come through. I personally take responsibility; although we worked with a professional ad agency, in the end, it was my decision to run the ads." One of the 30-second spots, for which Groupon paid close to $3 million, opens with picturesque scenes of Tibet, as actor Timothy Hutton calls attention to the troubles of its people. "Mountainous Tibet," he somberly intones, "one of the most beautiful places in the world. This is Timothy Hutton. The people of Tibet are in trouble, their very culture in jeopardy." His mood then shifts abruptly to one of jaunty surprise. "But they still whip up an amazing fish curry. And since 200 of us bought on Groupon.com, we're getting $30 worth of Tibetan food for just $15." The other Groupon spots made fun of saving whales and the devastation of Brazil's rainforest. Mason had said the ads were intended only as a "spoof" of celebrity-endorsed public service announcements. Ironically, Groupon first came into life as a website called The Point, whose purpose was to help activists and others organize and raise money for worthy causes. Though the Super Bowl ads did not say it, Groupons' own website currently encourages users to donate to the three causes its ads lampooned: the Tibet Fund, Greenpeace and RAN (the Rainforest Action Network). Moreover, Groupon offers to match donations in part.
http://abcnews.go.com/Business/groupon-pulls-contoversial-super-bowl-commercials/story?id=12895249
Looking like a massive computer chip or the disc of the sun rising up from the Mediterranean coast, the hypermodern successor to the ancient library of Alexandria stands out as a beacon of hope, efficiency and enlightenment among the crumbling buildings of Egypt's second-largest city. This revived storehouse of knowledge, destroyed at least twice in classical antiquity, has been spared damage in the country's current violent unrest after Egyptian youths held hands last week to form a human cordon around the massive building on the Alexandria Corniche. "Not a single stone has been thrown at the glass facade," said Ismail Serageldin, the Harvard-educated polymath who directs the library, by phone February 7 from his office inside the building. In 2002, the complex opened in a soaring structure, designed by the Norwegian architectural firm Snøhetta, on roughly the same site where the ancient library disappeared 1,600 years earlier. The new library, funded largely by Unesco, the Egyptian government and other Arab nations, was initially greeted with skepticism from human-rights activists, academics and foreign observers. In less than 10 years of operation, the library has introduced information technology considered cutting edge anywhere on the globe. Its researchers have devised optical character-recognition software for Arabic and digitized key manuscripts for dissemination over the Internet. With some 1.5 million visitors and 700 events last year, the Bibliotheca Alexandrina (the library is formally known by its Latin name) has become a gathering place for scientists, literary figures and other thinkers from around the world. The reincarnated library contains four museums, a planetarium, a children's science center, a library for the blind and eight research institutes. It holds some 1.6 million volumes at present, including a recent gift of 500,000 books from the Bibliothèque Nationale de France. The library has access to 50,000 electronic journals, and it houses one of the few archives in the world of every web page on the Internet, which apparently has managed to remain operative despite the Egyptian government's shutdown of Internet access during the current unrest. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704709304576124100786047160.html
Five claims to the same title
"The Grand Canyon of the East," Ausable Chasm, New York, has been open to the public as a tourist attraction since 1870. http://www.roadsideamerica.com/story/11882
Letchworth State Park in Castile, New York, renowned as the "Grand Canyon of the East," is one of the most scenically magnificent areas in the eastern U.S. http://nysparks.state.ny.us/parks/79/details.aspx
Often called the "Grand Canyon of the East," Little River Canyon in Mentone, Alabama, is more than 11 miles long and reaches depths of nearly 700 feet. http://www.exploresouthernhistory.com/desotofalls1.html
A 50-mile gorge, now known as the "Grand Canyon of the East" or the "Pennsylvania Grand Canyon" or "Pine Creek Gorge" near Wellsboro Pennsylvania http://www.shgresources.com/pa/symbols/festival/
The New River in West Virginia is the oldest river on the continent, flowing northward through deep canyons to form what is commonly referred to as ‘The Grand Canyon of the East.’ http://www.raftinginfo.com/rafting/rivers/new-river.php
Ohio may yet get on track with President Obama's newly announced $53 billion initiative to build a nationwide, high-speed rail network. A bipartisan group of northern Ohio congressmen met February 10 with Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood to discuss building a high-speed rail line along Lake Erie that would link Cleveland with Chicago, Detroit, Toledo, and Buffalo, and also include routes to Youngstown and Pittsburgh. Building a line along the lake is a top-tier part of Mr. Obama's rail program. Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D., Toledo) said the meeting lasted about an hour and described it as “a very, very productive discussion.” She said she did her best to impress upon Mr. LaHood and the other officials the importance of rail to the economy of northwest Ohio. “I told him that transportation for us is destiny,” she explained. Miss Kaptur said she outlined her dream project of separating freight and passenger trains so the passenger trains don't get delayed when there is a conflict between the two. She said she touted modernizing passenger rail with high-speed, 200 mph service so, “You could live in Toledo and work in Chicago if you wanted to.” She said she also brought up the idea of a tunnel under Lake Erie connecting northern Ohio to Ontario, which she called “Canada's most productive province.” http://www.toledoblade.com/article/20110211/NEWS16/302119997/-1/RSS
Top ten uncracked codes
1. The Phaistos Disk
2. Linear A
3. Kryptos
4. Chinese Gold Bar Cipher
5. Beale Ciphers
6. Voynich Manuscript
7. The Dorabella Cipher
8. Chaocipher
9. The D’Agapeyeff cipher
10. Taman Shud Read their stories at: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/8293375/Top-10-uncracked-codes.html
Don't believe everything you hear from tour guides
Amsterdam: "Sugar cane is grown in Canada." Savannah: "George Washington was 5' 2" tall."
The sugar industry has been a source of debate for many years. In fact, it started after the War of 1812--which if you didn’t know, lasted a bit longer than a year. To encourage the growth of sugar in Louisiana, the United States government imposed a steep tariff on imported sugar. This tax was put into effect to provide an artificial floor price for sugar grown in the US, as a means to try to make the industry profitable. So the American sugar industry has always had a lot of artificial support. Sugar refining has been around a long time, since the seventh century at least. Sugar beets are grown commercially in twelve states, as a summer crop in northern states like Michigan and Minnesota and as a winter crop in warmer climates like California. Sugar cane is only grown commercially in four states: Florida, Texas, Louisiana, and Hawaii. Anecdotally, I see sugar cane grown by small farmers in South Carolina, but it isn’t on the grand scale of commercial production. http://www.home-ec101.com/beet-sugar-v-cane-sugar-august-2010/
The term sugar usually refers to sucrose, which is also called "table sugar" or "saccharose." Sucrose is a white crystalline disaccharide. It is often obtained from sugar cane or sugar beet. Sucrose is the most popular of the various sugars for flavoring, as well as properties (such as mouthfeel, preservation, and texture) of beverages and food. The etymology reflects the spread of the commodity. The English word "sugar"originates from the Arabic word سكر sukkar, itself derived from Sanskrit शर्करा sharkara. It most probably came to England by way of Italian merchants. The contemporary Italian word is zucchero, whereas the Spanish and Portuguese words, azúcar and açúcar respectively, have kept a trace of the Arabic definite article. The Old French word is zuchre - contemporary French sucre. The earliest Greek word attested is σάκχαρη [sákχari]. A satisfactory pedigree explaining the spread of the word has yet to be done. The International Commission for Uniform Methods of Sugar Analysis sets standards for the measurement of the purity of refined sugar, known as ICUMSA numbers; lower numbers indicate a higher level of purity in the refined sugar. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sugar
ProMelt is an eco-friendly deicer that combines salt with a byproduct from sugar beet processing. The product has a slightly tacky texture so there’s no need to mix it with sand. This will decrease the amount of dirt tracked into buildings, reducing damage to tiles and carpets and lowering clean-up. The product will provide better anti-icing and deicing performance than rock salt alone, reducing the number of applications and quantity needed. http://sustainability.uiowa.edu/blog/?p=308
Groupon says it has pulled the ads first aired on Super Bowl XLV that struck many viewers as making light of the plight of the people of Tibet to plug Groupon's services. "We hate that we offended people, and we're very sorry that we did - it's the last thing we wanted," CEO Andrew Mason wrote in a blog post on February 10: "We will run something less polarizing instead. We thought we were poking fun at ourselves, but clearly the execution was off and the joke didn't come through. I personally take responsibility; although we worked with a professional ad agency, in the end, it was my decision to run the ads." One of the 30-second spots, for which Groupon paid close to $3 million, opens with picturesque scenes of Tibet, as actor Timothy Hutton calls attention to the troubles of its people. "Mountainous Tibet," he somberly intones, "one of the most beautiful places in the world. This is Timothy Hutton. The people of Tibet are in trouble, their very culture in jeopardy." His mood then shifts abruptly to one of jaunty surprise. "But they still whip up an amazing fish curry. And since 200 of us bought on Groupon.com, we're getting $30 worth of Tibetan food for just $15." The other Groupon spots made fun of saving whales and the devastation of Brazil's rainforest. Mason had said the ads were intended only as a "spoof" of celebrity-endorsed public service announcements. Ironically, Groupon first came into life as a website called The Point, whose purpose was to help activists and others organize and raise money for worthy causes. Though the Super Bowl ads did not say it, Groupons' own website currently encourages users to donate to the three causes its ads lampooned: the Tibet Fund, Greenpeace and RAN (the Rainforest Action Network). Moreover, Groupon offers to match donations in part.
http://abcnews.go.com/Business/groupon-pulls-contoversial-super-bowl-commercials/story?id=12895249
Looking like a massive computer chip or the disc of the sun rising up from the Mediterranean coast, the hypermodern successor to the ancient library of Alexandria stands out as a beacon of hope, efficiency and enlightenment among the crumbling buildings of Egypt's second-largest city. This revived storehouse of knowledge, destroyed at least twice in classical antiquity, has been spared damage in the country's current violent unrest after Egyptian youths held hands last week to form a human cordon around the massive building on the Alexandria Corniche. "Not a single stone has been thrown at the glass facade," said Ismail Serageldin, the Harvard-educated polymath who directs the library, by phone February 7 from his office inside the building. In 2002, the complex opened in a soaring structure, designed by the Norwegian architectural firm Snøhetta, on roughly the same site where the ancient library disappeared 1,600 years earlier. The new library, funded largely by Unesco, the Egyptian government and other Arab nations, was initially greeted with skepticism from human-rights activists, academics and foreign observers. In less than 10 years of operation, the library has introduced information technology considered cutting edge anywhere on the globe. Its researchers have devised optical character-recognition software for Arabic and digitized key manuscripts for dissemination over the Internet. With some 1.5 million visitors and 700 events last year, the Bibliotheca Alexandrina (the library is formally known by its Latin name) has become a gathering place for scientists, literary figures and other thinkers from around the world. The reincarnated library contains four museums, a planetarium, a children's science center, a library for the blind and eight research institutes. It holds some 1.6 million volumes at present, including a recent gift of 500,000 books from the Bibliothèque Nationale de France. The library has access to 50,000 electronic journals, and it houses one of the few archives in the world of every web page on the Internet, which apparently has managed to remain operative despite the Egyptian government's shutdown of Internet access during the current unrest. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704709304576124100786047160.html
Five claims to the same title
"The Grand Canyon of the East," Ausable Chasm, New York, has been open to the public as a tourist attraction since 1870. http://www.roadsideamerica.com/story/11882
Letchworth State Park in Castile, New York, renowned as the "Grand Canyon of the East," is one of the most scenically magnificent areas in the eastern U.S. http://nysparks.state.ny.us/parks/79/details.aspx
Often called the "Grand Canyon of the East," Little River Canyon in Mentone, Alabama, is more than 11 miles long and reaches depths of nearly 700 feet. http://www.exploresouthernhistory.com/desotofalls1.html
A 50-mile gorge, now known as the "Grand Canyon of the East" or the "Pennsylvania Grand Canyon" or "Pine Creek Gorge" near Wellsboro Pennsylvania http://www.shgresources.com/pa/symbols/festival/
The New River in West Virginia is the oldest river on the continent, flowing northward through deep canyons to form what is commonly referred to as ‘The Grand Canyon of the East.’ http://www.raftinginfo.com/rafting/rivers/new-river.php
Ohio may yet get on track with President Obama's newly announced $53 billion initiative to build a nationwide, high-speed rail network. A bipartisan group of northern Ohio congressmen met February 10 with Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood to discuss building a high-speed rail line along Lake Erie that would link Cleveland with Chicago, Detroit, Toledo, and Buffalo, and also include routes to Youngstown and Pittsburgh. Building a line along the lake is a top-tier part of Mr. Obama's rail program. Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D., Toledo) said the meeting lasted about an hour and described it as “a very, very productive discussion.” She said she did her best to impress upon Mr. LaHood and the other officials the importance of rail to the economy of northwest Ohio. “I told him that transportation for us is destiny,” she explained. Miss Kaptur said she outlined her dream project of separating freight and passenger trains so the passenger trains don't get delayed when there is a conflict between the two. She said she touted modernizing passenger rail with high-speed, 200 mph service so, “You could live in Toledo and work in Chicago if you wanted to.” She said she also brought up the idea of a tunnel under Lake Erie connecting northern Ohio to Ontario, which she called “Canada's most productive province.” http://www.toledoblade.com/article/20110211/NEWS16/302119997/-1/RSS
Top ten uncracked codes
1. The Phaistos Disk
2. Linear A
3. Kryptos
4. Chinese Gold Bar Cipher
5. Beale Ciphers
6. Voynich Manuscript
7. The Dorabella Cipher
8. Chaocipher
9. The D’Agapeyeff cipher
10. Taman Shud Read their stories at: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/8293375/Top-10-uncracked-codes.html
Don't believe everything you hear from tour guides
Amsterdam: "Sugar cane is grown in Canada." Savannah: "George Washington was 5' 2" tall."
The sugar industry has been a source of debate for many years. In fact, it started after the War of 1812--which if you didn’t know, lasted a bit longer than a year. To encourage the growth of sugar in Louisiana, the United States government imposed a steep tariff on imported sugar. This tax was put into effect to provide an artificial floor price for sugar grown in the US, as a means to try to make the industry profitable. So the American sugar industry has always had a lot of artificial support. Sugar refining has been around a long time, since the seventh century at least. Sugar beets are grown commercially in twelve states, as a summer crop in northern states like Michigan and Minnesota and as a winter crop in warmer climates like California. Sugar cane is only grown commercially in four states: Florida, Texas, Louisiana, and Hawaii. Anecdotally, I see sugar cane grown by small farmers in South Carolina, but it isn’t on the grand scale of commercial production. http://www.home-ec101.com/beet-sugar-v-cane-sugar-august-2010/
The term sugar usually refers to sucrose, which is also called "table sugar" or "saccharose." Sucrose is a white crystalline disaccharide. It is often obtained from sugar cane or sugar beet. Sucrose is the most popular of the various sugars for flavoring, as well as properties (such as mouthfeel, preservation, and texture) of beverages and food. The etymology reflects the spread of the commodity. The English word "sugar"originates from the Arabic word سكر sukkar, itself derived from Sanskrit शर्करा sharkara. It most probably came to England by way of Italian merchants. The contemporary Italian word is zucchero, whereas the Spanish and Portuguese words, azúcar and açúcar respectively, have kept a trace of the Arabic definite article. The Old French word is zuchre - contemporary French sucre. The earliest Greek word attested is σάκχαρη [sákχari]. A satisfactory pedigree explaining the spread of the word has yet to be done. The International Commission for Uniform Methods of Sugar Analysis sets standards for the measurement of the purity of refined sugar, known as ICUMSA numbers; lower numbers indicate a higher level of purity in the refined sugar. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sugar
ProMelt is an eco-friendly deicer that combines salt with a byproduct from sugar beet processing. The product has a slightly tacky texture so there’s no need to mix it with sand. This will decrease the amount of dirt tracked into buildings, reducing damage to tiles and carpets and lowering clean-up. The product will provide better anti-icing and deicing performance than rock salt alone, reducing the number of applications and quantity needed. http://sustainability.uiowa.edu/blog/?p=308
Friday, February 11, 2011
bail•i•wick (bāˈlə-wĭkˌ) noun
A person's specific area of interest, skill, or authority. See Synonyms at field.
The office or district of a bailiff.
Origin: Middle English bailliwik : baillif, bailiff; see bailiff + wik, town (from Old English wīc, from Latin vīcus; see vicinity ). http://www.yourdictionary.com/bailiwick
State Cyberbullying Law - A Brief Review of State Cyberbullying Laws and Policies,
Sameer Hinduja, Ph.D. and Justin W. Patchin, Ph.D., Cyberbullying Research Center
http://www.cyberbullying.us/Bullying_and_Cyberbullying_Laws.pdf
The term benthos derives from the Greek word bathys, meaning deep. Benthos refers collectively to all aquatic organisms which live on, in, or near the bottom of water bodies. This includes organisms inhabiting both running and standing waters, and also applies to organisms from both saltwater and freshwater habitats. The term phytobenthos is used when referring to the primary producers (i.e., various algae and aquatic plants), whereas zoobenthos is applied in reference to all consumers (i.e., benthic animals and protozoa). Benthic microflora (i.e., bacteria, fungi, and many protozoa) constitute the decomposer community, and are involved in the recycling of energy and essential nutrients. The benthos may be further subdivided on the basis of size. Large benthic animals (those readily visible without the use of a microscope) are collectively referred to as macrozoobenthos or macroinvertebrates. Representatives include clams, snails, worms, amphipods, crayfish, and the larvae of many aquatic insects (e.g., dragonflies, mayflies, stoneflies, caddisflies, chironomid midges, and black flies). Microscopes are essential to discern members of the microbenthos (e.g. nematodes, ostracods). http://www.benthos.org/about-nabs/what-is-the-benthos-.aspx
Inevitable in the characters portrayed in movies and on TV?
Grumpy yet lovable
Grumpy but just pretending to be grumpy
Odd yet lovable
Odd but just pretending to be odd
Tension between people on the "same side"
In October 2009, a golfer at the Ocean Creek Golf Club on Fripp Island, S.C., reached down to pick up his ball on the course's 11th hole. The golfer, James Wiencek, had hit his ball “near, but not in” a large pond near the green. As he reached down, a 10-foot alligator "sprung from the brackish and dark water and attacked" Wiencek, biting and holding his right arm. The alligator then pulled Wiencek into the water, tearing off his right arm at the elbow. In January 2011, Wiencek filed a lawsuit against the golf course's owners and operators alleging that his injury was the result of their negligence. The lawsuit alleges that defendants had "actual or constructive knowledge" of the presence of a large and aggressive alligator because neighbors had spotted the alligator on the course and alerted defendants. Accordingly, plaintiff alleges, the course breached its duty to (a) "secure the premises of the golf course and to warn its business invitees, including the Plaintiff, of the alligator’s aggressive presence, size, or aggressive behavior;" and (b) "make the golf course premises reasonably safe for the Plaintiff and to warn the Plaintiff of the presence of the large, dangerous, and aggressive alligator." Wiencek also argues that the golf course is strictly liable because its construction "created an artificial habitat for alligators that did not exist prior to the construction of the golf course, and specifically, the pond near the 11th hole." http://legalblogwatch.typepad.com/legal_blog_watch/2011/01/south-carolina-lawsuit-to-examine-golf-courses-liability-for-alligator-attack.html
A male Silverback gorilla, called Ambam, has astonished animal observers around the world after he began walking upright in his open enclosure at a wildlife park in Kent, south-east England. Ambam is part of a group of Western Lowland Gorillas at Port Lympne Wild Animal Park. The band of gorillas are from an endangered species, originating from low-lying swamplands in central Africa countries such as Angola, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Congo and Gabon. His keeper Phil Ridges said: "His father Bitam used to display the same behaviour if he had handfuls of food to carry. Ambam also has a sister, Tamba, and a half-sister who also sometimes stand and walk in the same way."
Read more: http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/302999#ixzz1DJI2RCiq
The Dalí Theatre-Museum, the largest surrealistic object in the world, occupies the building of the former Municipal Theatre, a 19th century construction which was destroyed at the end of the Spanish Civil War. On its ruins, Dalí decided to create his museum. http://www.salvador-dali.org/museus/figueres/en_index.html
Dalí Theatre and Museum (Teatre-Museu Dalí in Catalan language), is a museum of the artist Salvador Dalí in his home town of Figueres, in Catalonia, Spain. The heart of the museum was the building that housed the town's theatre when Dalí was a child, and where one of the first public exhibitions of young Dalí's art was shown. The old theater was bombed in the Spanish Civil War and remained in a state of ruin for decades until Dalí and the mayor of Figueres decided to rebuild it as a museum dedicated to the town's most famous son in 1960. The museum also occupies buildings and courtyards adjacent to the old theater building. The museum opened on September 28, 1974, with continuing expansions through the mid-1980s. It houses the single largest and most diverse collection of works by Salvador Dalí, the heart of which was from the artist's own collection. In addition to Dalí paintings from all decades of his career, there are Dalí sculptures, 3-dimensional collages, mechanical devices, a living-room with custom furniture that looks like the face of Mae West when viewed from a certain spot, and other curiosities from Dalí's imagination. Dalí is buried in a crypt in the Teatre-Museum basement. See pictures at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dal%C3%AD_Theatre_and_Museum
The opening of the Salvador Dali Museum in St. Petersburg in January 2011 is the latest in a string of splashy arts venues on Florida's west coast. The $33 million Tampa Museum of Art — soon to play host to a Degas show — opened last February. And the Chihuly Collection, a permanent gallery devoted to the vibrant glassworks of Washington artist Dale Chihuly, was unveiled across the bay in St. Petersburg in July. Most visitors will be drawn to the area by the new Dali museum, a $36 million building that features a stunning collection of Dali's works. It replaces the old Dali Museum, more than doubling the exhibition space for what is considered the world's most comprehensive collection of the Surrealist master's work — even surpassing the Dali Theatre and Museum in Figueres, Spain.
http://www.courier-journal.com/article/20110206/FEATURES05/302060019/1039/FEATURES/Dali-museum-centerpiece-arts-filled-Tampa-Bay?odyssey=mod%7Cnewswell%7Ctext%7CFeatures%7Cp
The people of Guy, Arkansas, a town of 563 about an hour north of Little Rock, have had to learn to live with earthquakes. Since the early fall, there have been thousands, none of them very large — a fraction have been felt, and the only documented damage is a cracked window in the snack bar at Woolly Hollow State Park. But in their sheer numbers, they have been relentless, creating a phenomenon that has come to be called the Guy earthquake swarm. Several years ago, the gas companies arrived, part of a sort of rush in Arkansas to drill for gas in a geological formation called the Fayetteville shale. Disposal wells are dug, and the wastewater is injected deep into the earth. There are two important facts about the Guy swarm. The first is that such swarms have happened around here twice in the past three decades, long before the gas companies came. The Enola swarm in the early 1980s occurred about 10 miles to the southeast. Over a comparable six month period, 550 locatable earthquake events occurred in the Enola swarm, compared to 640 around Guy. In both cases, thousands of smaller quakes were recorded by seismographs. The largest back then measured a magnitude 4.5; the largest this time has measured 4.0. Though the exact causes are unknown, the Enola swarm and another similar swarm in the area in 2001 are considered natural occurrences. (They also do not appear to be related to the major New Madrid Seismic Zone, which reaches into the state’s northeastern corner.)
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/06/us/06earthquake.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1
A person's specific area of interest, skill, or authority. See Synonyms at field.
The office or district of a bailiff.
Origin: Middle English bailliwik : baillif, bailiff; see bailiff + wik, town (from Old English wīc, from Latin vīcus; see vicinity ). http://www.yourdictionary.com/bailiwick
State Cyberbullying Law - A Brief Review of State Cyberbullying Laws and Policies,
Sameer Hinduja, Ph.D. and Justin W. Patchin, Ph.D., Cyberbullying Research Center
http://www.cyberbullying.us/Bullying_and_Cyberbullying_Laws.pdf
The term benthos derives from the Greek word bathys, meaning deep. Benthos refers collectively to all aquatic organisms which live on, in, or near the bottom of water bodies. This includes organisms inhabiting both running and standing waters, and also applies to organisms from both saltwater and freshwater habitats. The term phytobenthos is used when referring to the primary producers (i.e., various algae and aquatic plants), whereas zoobenthos is applied in reference to all consumers (i.e., benthic animals and protozoa). Benthic microflora (i.e., bacteria, fungi, and many protozoa) constitute the decomposer community, and are involved in the recycling of energy and essential nutrients. The benthos may be further subdivided on the basis of size. Large benthic animals (those readily visible without the use of a microscope) are collectively referred to as macrozoobenthos or macroinvertebrates. Representatives include clams, snails, worms, amphipods, crayfish, and the larvae of many aquatic insects (e.g., dragonflies, mayflies, stoneflies, caddisflies, chironomid midges, and black flies). Microscopes are essential to discern members of the microbenthos (e.g. nematodes, ostracods). http://www.benthos.org/about-nabs/what-is-the-benthos-.aspx
Inevitable in the characters portrayed in movies and on TV?
Grumpy yet lovable
Grumpy but just pretending to be grumpy
Odd yet lovable
Odd but just pretending to be odd
Tension between people on the "same side"
In October 2009, a golfer at the Ocean Creek Golf Club on Fripp Island, S.C., reached down to pick up his ball on the course's 11th hole. The golfer, James Wiencek, had hit his ball “near, but not in” a large pond near the green. As he reached down, a 10-foot alligator "sprung from the brackish and dark water and attacked" Wiencek, biting and holding his right arm. The alligator then pulled Wiencek into the water, tearing off his right arm at the elbow. In January 2011, Wiencek filed a lawsuit against the golf course's owners and operators alleging that his injury was the result of their negligence. The lawsuit alleges that defendants had "actual or constructive knowledge" of the presence of a large and aggressive alligator because neighbors had spotted the alligator on the course and alerted defendants. Accordingly, plaintiff alleges, the course breached its duty to (a) "secure the premises of the golf course and to warn its business invitees, including the Plaintiff, of the alligator’s aggressive presence, size, or aggressive behavior;" and (b) "make the golf course premises reasonably safe for the Plaintiff and to warn the Plaintiff of the presence of the large, dangerous, and aggressive alligator." Wiencek also argues that the golf course is strictly liable because its construction "created an artificial habitat for alligators that did not exist prior to the construction of the golf course, and specifically, the pond near the 11th hole." http://legalblogwatch.typepad.com/legal_blog_watch/2011/01/south-carolina-lawsuit-to-examine-golf-courses-liability-for-alligator-attack.html
A male Silverback gorilla, called Ambam, has astonished animal observers around the world after he began walking upright in his open enclosure at a wildlife park in Kent, south-east England. Ambam is part of a group of Western Lowland Gorillas at Port Lympne Wild Animal Park. The band of gorillas are from an endangered species, originating from low-lying swamplands in central Africa countries such as Angola, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Congo and Gabon. His keeper Phil Ridges said: "His father Bitam used to display the same behaviour if he had handfuls of food to carry. Ambam also has a sister, Tamba, and a half-sister who also sometimes stand and walk in the same way."
Read more: http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/302999#ixzz1DJI2RCiq
The Dalí Theatre-Museum, the largest surrealistic object in the world, occupies the building of the former Municipal Theatre, a 19th century construction which was destroyed at the end of the Spanish Civil War. On its ruins, Dalí decided to create his museum. http://www.salvador-dali.org/museus/figueres/en_index.html
Dalí Theatre and Museum (Teatre-Museu Dalí in Catalan language), is a museum of the artist Salvador Dalí in his home town of Figueres, in Catalonia, Spain. The heart of the museum was the building that housed the town's theatre when Dalí was a child, and where one of the first public exhibitions of young Dalí's art was shown. The old theater was bombed in the Spanish Civil War and remained in a state of ruin for decades until Dalí and the mayor of Figueres decided to rebuild it as a museum dedicated to the town's most famous son in 1960. The museum also occupies buildings and courtyards adjacent to the old theater building. The museum opened on September 28, 1974, with continuing expansions through the mid-1980s. It houses the single largest and most diverse collection of works by Salvador Dalí, the heart of which was from the artist's own collection. In addition to Dalí paintings from all decades of his career, there are Dalí sculptures, 3-dimensional collages, mechanical devices, a living-room with custom furniture that looks like the face of Mae West when viewed from a certain spot, and other curiosities from Dalí's imagination. Dalí is buried in a crypt in the Teatre-Museum basement. See pictures at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dal%C3%AD_Theatre_and_Museum
The opening of the Salvador Dali Museum in St. Petersburg in January 2011 is the latest in a string of splashy arts venues on Florida's west coast. The $33 million Tampa Museum of Art — soon to play host to a Degas show — opened last February. And the Chihuly Collection, a permanent gallery devoted to the vibrant glassworks of Washington artist Dale Chihuly, was unveiled across the bay in St. Petersburg in July. Most visitors will be drawn to the area by the new Dali museum, a $36 million building that features a stunning collection of Dali's works. It replaces the old Dali Museum, more than doubling the exhibition space for what is considered the world's most comprehensive collection of the Surrealist master's work — even surpassing the Dali Theatre and Museum in Figueres, Spain.
http://www.courier-journal.com/article/20110206/FEATURES05/302060019/1039/FEATURES/Dali-museum-centerpiece-arts-filled-Tampa-Bay?odyssey=mod%7Cnewswell%7Ctext%7CFeatures%7Cp
The people of Guy, Arkansas, a town of 563 about an hour north of Little Rock, have had to learn to live with earthquakes. Since the early fall, there have been thousands, none of them very large — a fraction have been felt, and the only documented damage is a cracked window in the snack bar at Woolly Hollow State Park. But in their sheer numbers, they have been relentless, creating a phenomenon that has come to be called the Guy earthquake swarm. Several years ago, the gas companies arrived, part of a sort of rush in Arkansas to drill for gas in a geological formation called the Fayetteville shale. Disposal wells are dug, and the wastewater is injected deep into the earth. There are two important facts about the Guy swarm. The first is that such swarms have happened around here twice in the past three decades, long before the gas companies came. The Enola swarm in the early 1980s occurred about 10 miles to the southeast. Over a comparable six month period, 550 locatable earthquake events occurred in the Enola swarm, compared to 640 around Guy. In both cases, thousands of smaller quakes were recorded by seismographs. The largest back then measured a magnitude 4.5; the largest this time has measured 4.0. Though the exact causes are unknown, the Enola swarm and another similar swarm in the area in 2001 are considered natural occurrences. (They also do not appear to be related to the major New Madrid Seismic Zone, which reaches into the state’s northeastern corner.)
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/06/us/06earthquake.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)