Sorting out names of fictional characters
We know that the Lone Ranger's last name is "Reid," because his brother who was killed in the ambush by the Cavendish Gang was named Dan Reid. (This is also the name of the Lone Ranger's nephew, although we do not know what his true first name was. His mother was killed in an Indian attack and the kindly woman who raised him got the name Dan from a locket that Dan's mother had worn.) No first name was given to the Lone Ranger during the radio and television program. Somehow, though, the name "John" appeared in the liner notes of a Lone Ranger record. (Wes Tom fills in this part: "The name John first appeared in the book Radio's Golden Age by Frank Buxton and Bill Owen in 1966 published by Easton Valley Press.") The name was used in the 1981 "Legend of the Lone Ranger" movie. Many, however, refuse to accept that name as the Ranger's true name. This is debatable. Britt Reid is the name of the alter-ego of the Green Hornet. He is the Lone Ranger's nephew's grandson. (Or son, depending on whether you're talking about the radio Green Hornet or the television Green Hornet.) http://www.endeavorcomics.com/largent/ranger/faq.html
Pepper , the master spice
Peppercorns (piper nigrum) ground for use on the table and in cooking originally only came from India, but is now also cultivated in Indonesia, Malaysia, China, Sri Lanka, Madagascar, and South America. India is still the major producer of this spice with over half of the product coming from there. A perennial bush, which often grows wild, is produced in mounds with trellises similar to grape vines. These mounds are usually about 8-feet tall but the bush itself can grow up to 33 feet in the proper climate. The bush has a round and smooth jointed stem; dark green leaves which are smooth, broad, and have seven nerves in them; and small white flowers. The flowers become the berries
which are harvested. The flowers grow in clusters of up to 150. Grown from cuttings, the bush bears fruit at three to four years until about fifteen years. Typically the pepper bush grows within about 20 degrees of the equator some believe the closer to the equator the hotter the peppercorn. Historically significant, pepper is the most common spice in use. Nutritionally beneficial and medicinally positive, pepper offers a unique flavor and a variety of uses. It is the third most common ingredient behind water and salt. http://whatscookingamerica.net/Information/Pepper.htm
During the Middle ages, pepper, as well as other spices and herbs, was commonly used as a monetary source. Eastern Europeans paid 10 pounds of pepper in order to gain access to trading with London merchants. Throughout Europe, peppercorns were accepted as a substitute for money (some landlords would get paid as a “peppercorn rent” (2). Peppercorns, counted out one by one, were accepted as currency to pay taxes, tolls, and rents (partly because of a coin shortage). Many European towns kept their accounts in pepper. Wealthy brides received pepper as a dowry. http://www.mccormickscienceinstitute.com/content.cfm?ID=10498
Cleveland, Ohio was named for General Moses Cleaveland, agent and chief surveyor for the Connecticut Land Co., who founded the city in 1796. The general was born at Canterbury, Conn., in 1754. He was the second son of Colonel Aaron Cleaveland and his wife Thankful. Their surname, of Saxon origin, was derived from the physical features of an estate in Yorkshire, England, that the family owned since before the Norman Conquest. The land was marked by deep crevices called "clefts" or "cleves" by the Saxons. It was variously written as Cleffland, Cliffland, Cleiveland, Cleveland and Cleaveland. The general preferred Cleaveland, and this was the original way name of the city was spelled. One story claims that an early newspaper, the Cleaveland Advertiser, was not quite large enough to accommodate the name in an identifying banner headline on the first page. The editor dropped the first "a" and the readers subsequently accepted the new spelling. http://www.lkwdpl.org/buckeye/buck05.htm
The highest city in the world is La Rinoconada, Peru at 5100 meters or 16,728 feet. See a list with pictures at: http://www.bootsnall.com/articles/09-03/highest-cities-world.html
The oldest city in the world still standing is Gaziantep, Turkey (3650 B.C.?). The capital city of Gaziantep Province (informally known as Antep) has a history dating back to the Hittites period. It was continually inhabited ever since the Paleolithic age, experiencing serious growth along with the Ottoman Empire. See a list with pictures at: http://blog.hotelclub.com/the-10-oldest-cities-on-earth/
John McPhee has been fishing for pickerel for more than thirty years, always in October in New Hampshire, with his friend George Hackl, whose wife owns an undeveloped island in Lake Winnipesaukee. http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2010/02/08/100208fa_fact_mcphee#ixzz0eghhiT5k McPhee discusses an area of lily pads on Lake Winnipesaukee he calls The Patch and describes the voraciousness of pickerels: their stomachs are usually packed and distended. Pickerel that have been found in the stomachs of pickerel have in turn contained pickerel in their stomachs. A chain pickerel, on a good day, nails eighty per cent of the fish it goes after. http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2010/02/08/100208fa_fact_mcphee#ixzz0eghYsDy7
On January 4, Dubai celebrated the opening of the new world’s tallest building with a spectacular fireworks show and the announcement that the skyscraper soars to a record-shattering height of 828 meters, or almost 2717 feet--more than 1,000 feet taller than the old record-holder in Taiwan. Yet in a stunning move, the tower--long known as the Burj Dubai--was renamed the Burj Khalifa in honor of the president of the neighboring emirate of oil-rich Abu Dhabi, which bailed Dubai out of its recent financial crisis. The $1.5 billion tower, designed by Chicago architects Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM), is 160 stories.
http://featuresblogs.chicagotribune.com/theskyline/2010/01/trying-to-put-a-humbling-debt-crisis-behind-it-the-once-booming-city-state-of-dubai-on-monday-celebrated-the-opening-of-the.html
Comment: The photos you've been publishing have striking similarities to the "Illinois" drawn by Frank Lloyd Wright in 1956. I've attached a link to a comparison I found on the Web.
http://drupal02.nypl.org/files/15/Mile_High_Building_no_3.jpg
As of 9 a.m. on February 4, 1,771 earthquakes have been recorded at Yellowstone. The swarm began around 1 p.m. January 17, about 10 miles northwest of the Old Faithful area on the northwestern edge of the Yellowstone Caldera — and around 16 miles northeast of Island Park. Swarms have occurred in this area several times over the past two decades. This swarm has been longer in time and with more earthquakes than last year's swarm beneath Yellowstone Lake. However, the total seismic energy released is somewhat less. The largest recorded swarm at Yellowstone is the Fall 1985 swarm, also in the northwest corner of the Yellowstone Caldera.
http://www.islandparknews.com/atf.php?sid=7820¤t_edition=2010-02-04
Latest earthquakes in the world for the last seven days
http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/recenteqsww/Quakes/quakes_all.php
A man died 4000 years ago on an offshore island of Greenland now called Qeqertasussuk - of what cause no one knows, but he left four tufts of his hair and a few bits of bone frozen into the permafrost, and now those thawed scraps tell a remarkable story through the updated alchemy of the Human Genome Project. For the first time, a team of 53 international scientists has sequenced the genes of an ancient human - a "Palaeo-Eskimo" - and learned more details about him than anyone might have expected. He belonged to a culture called the Saqqaq, a Greenland people whose forebears had apparently migrated to the huge glacier-capped western side of that island from far northeastern Siberia about 5,500 years ago. Archaeologists have found that the people ofhis culture became extinct many hundreds of years later, leaving only the name Saqqaq to denote a tiny, remote coastal village of 200 Greenlanders. By comparing Inuk's genes with those of indigenous people in many countries of northern Europe and Asia, the project's scientists determined that his ancestors were Siberia's Chukchi people, Greenland's earliest human settlers, who had migrated there from eastern Siberia by traveling more than 2,000 kilometers - about 1,250 miles - across the Bering Strait. http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/02/10/MN411BV2EC.DTL
Thursday, February 11, 2010
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
In a report that may bolster public policy efforts to get Americans to reduce the amount of salt in their diets, scientists writing in The New England Journal of Medicine conclude that lowering the amount of salt people eat by even a small amount could reduce cases of heart disease, stroke and heart attacks as much as reductions in smoking, obesity and cholesterol levels. If everyone consumed half a teaspoon less salt per day, there would be between 54,000 and 99,000 fewer heart attacks each year and between 44,000 and 92,000 fewer deaths, according to the study, which was conducted by scientists at University of California San Francisco, Stanford University Medical Center and Columbia University Medical Center. The report comes as health authorities at federal, state and municipal levels are considering policies that would have the effect of pressuring food companies to reduce salt in processed foods, which are considered to be the source of much of the salt Americans eat. New York City has announced an initiative to urge food manufacturers and restaurant chains to reduce salt in their products nationwide by 25 percent over the next five years.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/21/health/nutrition/21salt.html
The American Discovery Trail crosses the middle of our country from coast to coast. See a map at: http://www.discoverytrail.org/states/index.html
The American Discovery Trail (ADT) is a new breed of national trail — part city, part small town, part forest, part mountains, part desert — all in one trail. Its 6,800+ miles of continuous, multi-use trail stretches from Cape Henlopen State Park, Delaware, to Pt. Reyes National Seashore, California . It reaches across America, linking community to community in the first coast to coast, non-motorized trail. The ADT provides trail users the opportunity to journey into the heart of all that is uniquely American — its culture, heritage, landscape and spirit. http://www.discoverytrail.org/about/index.html
Homes built before 1776
Savannah's oldest house is two bedrooms with four fireplaces, built-in bookshelves, carriage house and a formal garden.
http://elaineseabolt.harrynorman.com/GA/Savannah/31401/homes-for-sale/122-E-Oglethorpe-Ave-40666736
Moses Cleaveland bought the house next to the one where he was born and raised in Canterbury, Conn., in 1796, shortly after returning from his expedition to "New Connecticut" (Northeast Ohio), where he surveyed his namesake city and surrounding lands. He paid $4,300 for the two-story house built in 1740. The sturdy post-and-beam construction outlived Cleaveland and successive owners for another 183 years but by 1979 had fallen into disrepair -- its "residents" including a dead cow in one room and motorcycle in another -- and was slated for demolition. A couple in Hudson, Ohio heard about the house, bought and dismantled the structure, then had it shipped in pieces by railroad for reassembly in 1980 on Stow Road in Hudson. http://blog.cleveland.com/pdextra/2009/06/moses_cleavelands_restored_174.html
Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, Medway Plantation is rich in history and offers a unique and elegant lifestyle. Dating to 1686, the main house is the oldest masonry structure in South Carolina. It was rebuilt in 1704, had substantial additions made in 1855, and was completely renovated in 1929. http://www.christiesgreatestates.com/properties/view_4685/
Source: The Week Magazine February 12, 2010
New on LLRX.com - Business Intelligence Online Resources
Business Intelligence Online Resources: This extensive guide by search expert Marcus P. Zillman includes a wide range of sources designed to serve as a foundation for knowledge discovery specific to business intelligence resources on the Internet.
PBS - Digital Nation: Life on the Virtual Frontier
"Within a single generation, digital media and the World Wide Web have transformed virtually every aspect of modern culture, from the way we learn and work to the ways in which we socialize and even conduct war. But is the technology moving faster than we can adapt to it? And is our 24/7 wired world causing us to lose as much as we've gained? In Digital Nation: Life on the Virtual Frontier, FRONTLINE presents an in-depth exploration of what it means to be human in a 21st-century digital world. Continuing a line of investigation she began with the 2008 FRONTLINE report Growing Up Online, award-winning producer Rachel Dretzin embarks on a journey to understand the implications of living in a world consumed by technology and the impact that this constant connectivity may have on future generations. "I'm amazed at the things my kids are able to do online, but I'm also a little bit panicked when I realize that no one seems to know where all this technology is taking us, or its long-term effects," says Dretzin."
Neanderthals lived in Europe for hundreds of thousands of years but eventually were replaced by modern humans from Africa, who apparently were smarter. Scientists working in Spain say they've got evidence of some pretty sophisticated Neanderthal inventions — body ornaments and cosmetics. Read more and see related NPR stories at: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=122466430
The Arctic tern, a sea bird famous for its long-distance migrations between the North and South Poles makes the equivalent of three round trips to the Moon in its lifetime, scientists have found. The Arctic tern makes a return trip of around 44,000 miles from pole to pole each year, flying between its breeding grounds in Greenland in the north and the Weddell Sea on the shores of Antarctica in the far south, in a lifetime spent in perpetual summer. http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/nature/pole-to-pole-the-extraordinary-migration-of-the-arctic-tern-1864824.html
Lost crops of the Andes
naranjilla-lulo http://www.nap.edu/openbook.php?record_id=1398&page=266
passion fruit http://www.nap.edu/openbook.php?record_id=1398&page=286
potatoes http://www.nap.edu/openbook.php?record_id=1398&page=92#
Each entry has several pages of detailed drawings--many other foods are listed.
LYNNE'S TIPS
• I've said it many times but it's worth repeating: if you have an Asian market in your area, lucky you. Take advantage of all it offers. You'll find many of the ingredients for this salad there: fish sauce, noodles, Thai basil and other greens.
• Asian fish sauce keeps a year or more in the refrigerator. I like the brand with 3 crabs on the label, but others are fine, too. Since fish sauce is loaded with umami, that substance that lifts every flavor it comes in contact with, try a few drops in salad dressings and anything else that will end up on your plate. Incongruous as it sounds, a few drops (maybe a 1/4 teaspoon) in a pot of Italian tomato sauce or a French stew makes a difference.
• Napa cabbage (also called Chinese cabbage) has crinkly, pale green leaves tightly packed into an oblong head. Its mild, sweet flavor make it a versatile choice for soups, salads, and stir-fries. You could substitute bok choy if napa cabbage isn't available. The Splendid Table February 3, 2010
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/21/health/nutrition/21salt.html
The American Discovery Trail crosses the middle of our country from coast to coast. See a map at: http://www.discoverytrail.org/states/index.html
The American Discovery Trail (ADT) is a new breed of national trail — part city, part small town, part forest, part mountains, part desert — all in one trail. Its 6,800+ miles of continuous, multi-use trail stretches from Cape Henlopen State Park, Delaware, to Pt. Reyes National Seashore, California . It reaches across America, linking community to community in the first coast to coast, non-motorized trail. The ADT provides trail users the opportunity to journey into the heart of all that is uniquely American — its culture, heritage, landscape and spirit. http://www.discoverytrail.org/about/index.html
Homes built before 1776
Savannah's oldest house is two bedrooms with four fireplaces, built-in bookshelves, carriage house and a formal garden.
http://elaineseabolt.harrynorman.com/GA/Savannah/31401/homes-for-sale/122-E-Oglethorpe-Ave-40666736
Moses Cleaveland bought the house next to the one where he was born and raised in Canterbury, Conn., in 1796, shortly after returning from his expedition to "New Connecticut" (Northeast Ohio), where he surveyed his namesake city and surrounding lands. He paid $4,300 for the two-story house built in 1740. The sturdy post-and-beam construction outlived Cleaveland and successive owners for another 183 years but by 1979 had fallen into disrepair -- its "residents" including a dead cow in one room and motorcycle in another -- and was slated for demolition. A couple in Hudson, Ohio heard about the house, bought and dismantled the structure, then had it shipped in pieces by railroad for reassembly in 1980 on Stow Road in Hudson. http://blog.cleveland.com/pdextra/2009/06/moses_cleavelands_restored_174.html
Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, Medway Plantation is rich in history and offers a unique and elegant lifestyle. Dating to 1686, the main house is the oldest masonry structure in South Carolina. It was rebuilt in 1704, had substantial additions made in 1855, and was completely renovated in 1929. http://www.christiesgreatestates.com/properties/view_4685/
Source: The Week Magazine February 12, 2010
New on LLRX.com - Business Intelligence Online Resources
Business Intelligence Online Resources: This extensive guide by search expert Marcus P. Zillman includes a wide range of sources designed to serve as a foundation for knowledge discovery specific to business intelligence resources on the Internet.
PBS - Digital Nation: Life on the Virtual Frontier
"Within a single generation, digital media and the World Wide Web have transformed virtually every aspect of modern culture, from the way we learn and work to the ways in which we socialize and even conduct war. But is the technology moving faster than we can adapt to it? And is our 24/7 wired world causing us to lose as much as we've gained? In Digital Nation: Life on the Virtual Frontier, FRONTLINE presents an in-depth exploration of what it means to be human in a 21st-century digital world. Continuing a line of investigation she began with the 2008 FRONTLINE report Growing Up Online, award-winning producer Rachel Dretzin embarks on a journey to understand the implications of living in a world consumed by technology and the impact that this constant connectivity may have on future generations. "I'm amazed at the things my kids are able to do online, but I'm also a little bit panicked when I realize that no one seems to know where all this technology is taking us, or its long-term effects," says Dretzin."
Neanderthals lived in Europe for hundreds of thousands of years but eventually were replaced by modern humans from Africa, who apparently were smarter. Scientists working in Spain say they've got evidence of some pretty sophisticated Neanderthal inventions — body ornaments and cosmetics. Read more and see related NPR stories at: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=122466430
The Arctic tern, a sea bird famous for its long-distance migrations between the North and South Poles makes the equivalent of three round trips to the Moon in its lifetime, scientists have found. The Arctic tern makes a return trip of around 44,000 miles from pole to pole each year, flying between its breeding grounds in Greenland in the north and the Weddell Sea on the shores of Antarctica in the far south, in a lifetime spent in perpetual summer. http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/nature/pole-to-pole-the-extraordinary-migration-of-the-arctic-tern-1864824.html
Lost crops of the Andes
naranjilla-lulo http://www.nap.edu/openbook.php?record_id=1398&page=266
passion fruit http://www.nap.edu/openbook.php?record_id=1398&page=286
potatoes http://www.nap.edu/openbook.php?record_id=1398&page=92#
Each entry has several pages of detailed drawings--many other foods are listed.
LYNNE'S TIPS
• I've said it many times but it's worth repeating: if you have an Asian market in your area, lucky you. Take advantage of all it offers. You'll find many of the ingredients for this salad there: fish sauce, noodles, Thai basil and other greens.
• Asian fish sauce keeps a year or more in the refrigerator. I like the brand with 3 crabs on the label, but others are fine, too. Since fish sauce is loaded with umami, that substance that lifts every flavor it comes in contact with, try a few drops in salad dressings and anything else that will end up on your plate. Incongruous as it sounds, a few drops (maybe a 1/4 teaspoon) in a pot of Italian tomato sauce or a French stew makes a difference.
• Napa cabbage (also called Chinese cabbage) has crinkly, pale green leaves tightly packed into an oblong head. Its mild, sweet flavor make it a versatile choice for soups, salads, and stir-fries. You could substitute bok choy if napa cabbage isn't available. The Splendid Table February 3, 2010
Monday, February 8, 2010
Camera is the Latin word for a chamber, in particular the judge’s private chamber as opposed to the public courtroom; in modern times it has taken on a figurative sense relating to the quality of privacy itself, losing its literal link to the room. Originally camera meant any vaulted or arched space, but in the Romance languages derived from Latin (such as the Italian camera or the French chambre) it became a general word for any habitable space (the English chamber comes from the same root via French). Ever since classical times it had been known that it was possible to project an image of an outdoors scene on the wall of a darkened room through a pinhole in a shutter. Such a room was called in Latin a camera obscura, literally a “dark room”. http://www.worldwidewords.org/topicalwords/tw-cam1.htm
See more on Super Bowl 44/XLIV at: http://www.nfl.com/superbowl/44
The word “virtue” is rooted in “manliness.” “Virtue” comes from the Latin virtus, which in turn is derived from vir, Latin for “manliness.” Cicero, a famous Roman statesman and writer, enumerated the cardinal virtues that every man should try to live up to. They included justice, prudence, courage, and temperance. In order to have honor, a Roman man had to live each of the four virtues. When Aristotle encouraged men in the ancient world to live “the virtuous life,” it was really a call to man up. Benjamin Franklin developed and committed himself to a personal improvement program that consisted of living 13 virtues. The 13 virtues were:
1. “TEMPERANCE. Eat not to dullness; drink not to elevation.”
2. “SILENCE. Speak not but what may benefit others or yourself; avoid trifling conversation.”
3. “ORDER. Let all your things have their places; let each part of your business have its time.”
4. “RESOLUTION. Resolve to perform what you ought; perform without fail what you resolve.”
5. “FRUGALITY. Make no expense but to do good to others or yourself; i.e., waste nothing.”
6. “INDUSTRY. Lose no time; be always employ’d in something useful; cut off all unnecessary actions.”
7. “SINCERITY. Use no hurtful deceit; think innocently and justly, and, if you speak, speak accordingly.”
8. “JUSTICE. Wrong none by doing injuries, or omitting the benefits that are your duty.”
9. “MODERATION. Avoid extremes; forbear resenting injuries so much as you think they deserve.”
10. “CLEANLINESS. Tolerate no uncleanliness in body, cloaths, or habitation.”
11. “TRANQUILLITY. Be not disturbed at trifles, or at accidents common or unavoidable.”
12. “CHASTITY. Rarely use venery but for health or offspring, never to dullness, weakness, or the injury of your own or another’s peace or reputation.”
13. “HUMILITY. Imitate Jesus and Socrates.”
In order to keep track of his adherence to these virtues, Franklin carried around a small book of 13 charts. The charts consisted of a column for each day of the week and 13 rows marked with the first letter of his 13 virtues. Franklin evaluated himself at the end of each day. http://artofmanliness.com/2008/02/24/lessons-in-manliness-benjamin-franklins-pursuit-of-the-virtuous-life/
Authors on writing
Katherine Anne Porter, in her Paris Review interview, talks about the event of a story being like a stone thrown in water. She says it’s not the event itself that is interesting, but rather the ripples the event creates in the lives of characters.
Substitute “damn” every time you’re inclined to write “very;” your editor will delete it and the writing will be just as it should be. —Mark Twain http://the-writing-bug.blogspot.com/2008/08/writing-wisdom.html
Author on authors
Writer Kim Edwards is winner of the Whiting Award and the Nelson Algren Award. She is the author of a collection of short stories, The Secrets of a Fire King, which was an alternate for the 1998 PEN/Hemingway Award and a Barnes and Noble Discovery book. She is a graduate of the Iowa Writers' Workshop. Three favorite authors of Edwards are: Alice Munroe, William Trevor and Marilynne Robinson. She also enjoys Pablo Neruda, Ursula Hegi, Sue Monk Kidd, Thomas Mann, Feodor Dostoevsky and Nathaniel Hawthorne.
Pseudonyms of authors--thousands of them; click on a letter to get started.
http://www.trussel.com/books/pseudo.htm
Pseudonyms of artists
"Rrose Sélavy", also spelled Rose Sélavy, was one of Marcel Duchamp's pseudonyms. The name, a pun, sounds like the French phrase "Eros, c'est la vie", which may be translated as "Eros, such is life". It has also been read as "arroser la vie" ("to make a toast to life"). Sélavy emerged in 1921 in a series of photographs by Man Ray showing Duchamp dressed as a woman. Through the 1920s Man Ray and Duchamp collaborated on more photos of Sélavy. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marcel_Duchamp#Rrose_S.C3.A9lavy
Man Ray was the pseudonym of Emmanuel Radnitsky.
Q: In the past, you had the entire month of your birthday to renew your licenses, plates and stickers. But, because the Ohio State Highway Patrol is running a huge deficit, they changed the law so that you must renew prior to your birthday. They intentionally did not inform anyone so they can attach a $20 late fee to every person in Ohio who doesn't know about the change! -- K.N., Columbus Grove.
A: Yes and no. Yes, a law passed last spring included motor vehicle fee increases to support the highway patrol. They began Oct. 1. No, it's not a secret. The Bureau of Motor Vehicles says it began telling people of the new fees on July 1 in the regular mailed renewal notices. Yes, this included a new $20 fee "for all late license and vehicle registration renewals." No, said bureau spokeswoman Lindsey Bohrer, there was never an "entire month" grace period. There just was no penalty for sending a payment late.
Driver's licenses and license plates are invalid or expired if not renewed by the driver or owner's birthday, she said. After that, a person always has been at risk for a citation.
The new late fee is charged only if the renewal is more than seven days overdue, she said.
By the way, the bureau also issued a news release on Sept. 18 to remind people of the fees beginning Oct. 1. But it is questionable how many media outlets used it. The Courier did not. -- Peter Mattiace.
Q: What are the longest interstate highways?
A: According to the Federal Highway Administration:
• Interstate 90, 3,021 miles between Seattle and Boston.
• Interstate 80, 2,900 miles between San Francisco and Ridgefield Park, N.J., near New York City.
• Interstate 40, 2,555 miles between Barstow, Calif., and Wilmington, N.C.
• Interstate 20, 2,460 miles between Los Angeles and Jacksonville, Fla.
• Interstate 70, 2,153 miles between Cove Fort, Utah, and Baltimore.
See more at: http://www.thecourier.com/Opinion/columns/2010/Feb/JU/ar_JU_020810.asp?d=020810,2010,Feb,08&c=c_13
I am currently subscribing to two law e-mails (Wall Street Journal Law Blog, beSpacific) and two language e-mails (A.Word.A.Day, The-Writing-Bug). I get ideas for the muse there, and also from reading and feedback from muse readers.
Reader response to Lancaster County article
Strasburg Railroad and Pennsylvania Railroad Museum in Lancaster County. http://www.strasburgrailroad.com/
Known as "Train Town USA," historic Strasburg is the home of numerous rail-based attractions. Take a 45-minute ride on the nation's oldest short-line railroad or wander through the halls of The National Toy Train Museum or The Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania. Strasburg. http://www.tripadvisor.com/Tourism-g53772-Strasburg_Pennsylvania-Vacations.html
See more on Super Bowl 44/XLIV at: http://www.nfl.com/superbowl/44
The word “virtue” is rooted in “manliness.” “Virtue” comes from the Latin virtus, which in turn is derived from vir, Latin for “manliness.” Cicero, a famous Roman statesman and writer, enumerated the cardinal virtues that every man should try to live up to. They included justice, prudence, courage, and temperance. In order to have honor, a Roman man had to live each of the four virtues. When Aristotle encouraged men in the ancient world to live “the virtuous life,” it was really a call to man up. Benjamin Franklin developed and committed himself to a personal improvement program that consisted of living 13 virtues. The 13 virtues were:
1. “TEMPERANCE. Eat not to dullness; drink not to elevation.”
2. “SILENCE. Speak not but what may benefit others or yourself; avoid trifling conversation.”
3. “ORDER. Let all your things have their places; let each part of your business have its time.”
4. “RESOLUTION. Resolve to perform what you ought; perform without fail what you resolve.”
5. “FRUGALITY. Make no expense but to do good to others or yourself; i.e., waste nothing.”
6. “INDUSTRY. Lose no time; be always employ’d in something useful; cut off all unnecessary actions.”
7. “SINCERITY. Use no hurtful deceit; think innocently and justly, and, if you speak, speak accordingly.”
8. “JUSTICE. Wrong none by doing injuries, or omitting the benefits that are your duty.”
9. “MODERATION. Avoid extremes; forbear resenting injuries so much as you think they deserve.”
10. “CLEANLINESS. Tolerate no uncleanliness in body, cloaths, or habitation.”
11. “TRANQUILLITY. Be not disturbed at trifles, or at accidents common or unavoidable.”
12. “CHASTITY. Rarely use venery but for health or offspring, never to dullness, weakness, or the injury of your own or another’s peace or reputation.”
13. “HUMILITY. Imitate Jesus and Socrates.”
In order to keep track of his adherence to these virtues, Franklin carried around a small book of 13 charts. The charts consisted of a column for each day of the week and 13 rows marked with the first letter of his 13 virtues. Franklin evaluated himself at the end of each day. http://artofmanliness.com/2008/02/24/lessons-in-manliness-benjamin-franklins-pursuit-of-the-virtuous-life/
Authors on writing
Katherine Anne Porter, in her Paris Review interview, talks about the event of a story being like a stone thrown in water. She says it’s not the event itself that is interesting, but rather the ripples the event creates in the lives of characters.
Substitute “damn” every time you’re inclined to write “very;” your editor will delete it and the writing will be just as it should be. —Mark Twain http://the-writing-bug.blogspot.com/2008/08/writing-wisdom.html
Author on authors
Writer Kim Edwards is winner of the Whiting Award and the Nelson Algren Award. She is the author of a collection of short stories, The Secrets of a Fire King, which was an alternate for the 1998 PEN/Hemingway Award and a Barnes and Noble Discovery book. She is a graduate of the Iowa Writers' Workshop. Three favorite authors of Edwards are: Alice Munroe, William Trevor and Marilynne Robinson. She also enjoys Pablo Neruda, Ursula Hegi, Sue Monk Kidd, Thomas Mann, Feodor Dostoevsky and Nathaniel Hawthorne.
Pseudonyms of authors--thousands of them; click on a letter to get started.
http://www.trussel.com/books/pseudo.htm
Pseudonyms of artists
"Rrose Sélavy", also spelled Rose Sélavy, was one of Marcel Duchamp's pseudonyms. The name, a pun, sounds like the French phrase "Eros, c'est la vie", which may be translated as "Eros, such is life". It has also been read as "arroser la vie" ("to make a toast to life"). Sélavy emerged in 1921 in a series of photographs by Man Ray showing Duchamp dressed as a woman. Through the 1920s Man Ray and Duchamp collaborated on more photos of Sélavy. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marcel_Duchamp#Rrose_S.C3.A9lavy
Man Ray was the pseudonym of Emmanuel Radnitsky.
Q: In the past, you had the entire month of your birthday to renew your licenses, plates and stickers. But, because the Ohio State Highway Patrol is running a huge deficit, they changed the law so that you must renew prior to your birthday. They intentionally did not inform anyone so they can attach a $20 late fee to every person in Ohio who doesn't know about the change! -- K.N., Columbus Grove.
A: Yes and no. Yes, a law passed last spring included motor vehicle fee increases to support the highway patrol. They began Oct. 1. No, it's not a secret. The Bureau of Motor Vehicles says it began telling people of the new fees on July 1 in the regular mailed renewal notices. Yes, this included a new $20 fee "for all late license and vehicle registration renewals." No, said bureau spokeswoman Lindsey Bohrer, there was never an "entire month" grace period. There just was no penalty for sending a payment late.
Driver's licenses and license plates are invalid or expired if not renewed by the driver or owner's birthday, she said. After that, a person always has been at risk for a citation.
The new late fee is charged only if the renewal is more than seven days overdue, she said.
By the way, the bureau also issued a news release on Sept. 18 to remind people of the fees beginning Oct. 1. But it is questionable how many media outlets used it. The Courier did not. -- Peter Mattiace.
Q: What are the longest interstate highways?
A: According to the Federal Highway Administration:
• Interstate 90, 3,021 miles between Seattle and Boston.
• Interstate 80, 2,900 miles between San Francisco and Ridgefield Park, N.J., near New York City.
• Interstate 40, 2,555 miles between Barstow, Calif., and Wilmington, N.C.
• Interstate 20, 2,460 miles between Los Angeles and Jacksonville, Fla.
• Interstate 70, 2,153 miles between Cove Fort, Utah, and Baltimore.
See more at: http://www.thecourier.com/Opinion/columns/2010/Feb/JU/ar_JU_020810.asp?d=020810,2010,Feb,08&c=c_13
I am currently subscribing to two law e-mails (Wall Street Journal Law Blog, beSpacific) and two language e-mails (A.Word.A.Day, The-Writing-Bug). I get ideas for the muse there, and also from reading and feedback from muse readers.
Reader response to Lancaster County article
Strasburg Railroad and Pennsylvania Railroad Museum in Lancaster County. http://www.strasburgrailroad.com/
Known as "Train Town USA," historic Strasburg is the home of numerous rail-based attractions. Take a 45-minute ride on the nation's oldest short-line railroad or wander through the halls of The National Toy Train Museum or The Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania. Strasburg. http://www.tripadvisor.com/Tourism-g53772-Strasburg_Pennsylvania-Vacations.html
Friday, February 5, 2010
Gross Domestic Product release, Fourth Quarter 2009 (Advance Estimate). Note - includes highlights, technical note, and associated tables.
• "Real gross domestic product - the output of goods and services produced by labor and property located in the United States -- increased at an annual rate of 5.7 percent in the fourth quarter of 2009, (that is, from the third quarter to the fourth quarter), according to the "advance" estimate released by the Bureau of Economic Analysis. In the third quarter, real GDP increased 2.2 percent. The Bureau emphasized that the fourth-quarter advance estimate released today is based on source data that are incomplete or subject to further revision by the source agency. The increase in real GDP in the fourth quarter primarily reflected positive contributions from private inventory investment, exports, and personal consumption expenditures (PCE). Imports, which are a subtraction in the calculation of GDP, increased."
Smishing is a form of criminal activity using social engineering techniques similar to phishing. The name is derived from "SMs phISHING". SMS (Short Message Service) is the technology used for text messages on cell phones. Similar to phishing, smishing uses cell phone text messages to deliver the "bait" to get you to divulge your personal information. The "hook" (the method used to actually "capture" your information) in the text message may be a web site URL, however it has become more common to see a phone number that connects to automated voice response system.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SMiShing
Vishing is the criminal practice of using social engineering over the telephone system, most often using features facilitated by Voice over IP (VoIP), to gain access to private personal and financial information from the public for the purpose of financial reward. The term is a combination of "voice" and phishing. Vishing exploits the public's trust in landline telephone services, which have traditionally terminated in physical locations which are known to the telephone company, and associated with a bill-payer. The victim is often unaware that VoIP makes formerly difficult-to-abuse tools/features of caller ID spoofing, complex automated systems (IVR), low cost, and anonymity for the bill-payer widely available. Vishing is typically used to steal credit card numbers or other information used in identity theft schemes from individuals. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vishing
Lancaster County, Pennsylvania has thrived over the years and now is home to people who speak over 26 different languages. Lititz is nestled in the heart land of rich farming country in Lancaster County. The earliest settlers were Swiss-German Mennonites in 1710 who fled religious persecution in Europe. They were quickly followed by the Moravians and Amish. They built old stone mills, wooden covered bridges and log homes. Many 18th Century town buildings have been wonderfully restored and can be enjoyed as you walk through town. Numerous local farms have been owned perpetually by the same families for 200 years. http://www.venturelititz.com/about.html
I recommend beautiful, historic Lancaster County to you as a destination. http://www.padutchcountry.com/Event
We have visited it from time to time when heading east to visit family. In fact, that's where we first saw the LEGO® art of Nathan Sawaya. See list of locations for his 2010 and 2011 exhibits at: http://brickartist.com/museum.html
See more of his brickwork at: http://abduzeedo.com/amazing-lego-art-nathan-sawaya
Eponyms
John Bull (jon bul) noun
1. A personification of England or the English people.
2. A typical Englishman.
After John Bull, a character in John Arbuthnot's satire, Law Is a Bottomless Pit (1712).
Maginot line (MAZH-uh-no lyn) noun
An ineffective line of defense that is relied upon with undue confidence.
After André Maginot (1877-1932), French Minister of War, who proposed a line of defense along France's border with Germany. Believed to be impregnable, the barrier proved to be of little use when Germans attacked through Belgium in 1940.
daltonism (DAWL-tuh-niz-em) noun
Color blindness, especially the inability to distinguish between red and green.
After John Dalton (1766-1844), chemist and physicist, who gave us Dalton's Law of Partial Pressures. He studied his own color blindness as well.
A.Word.A.Day with Anu Garg
From Buffalo, With Love
Chicken wings have evolved from being used to make stock to being one of America's favorite finger foods. The transition is said to have started on Oct. 30, 1964, at the Anchor Bar in Buffalo, N.Y. Bar owner Teressa Bellissimo was faced with feeding her son and a group of his friends a late night snack. Having an excess of chicken wings on hand, she fried them until done and crisp, dipped them in a mixture of butter and bottled hot sauce, and served them with crisp celery sticks and blue cheese salad dressing. The spontaneously invented snack was a smash hit and soon became a staple and signature item at the bar. Today the Anchor Bar cooks and serves 70 thousand pounds of chicken wings a month. The popularity of the chicken wings at the Anchor Bar could not be ignored by other eateries in the area. Local eateries picked up on the wing craze and soon their popularity spread regionally and nationally. Today the once lowly regarded chicken wing is a driving force in the national poultry market.
http://www.publicopiniononline.com/living/ci_14321920
Groundhog.org the official web site of Punxsutawney Phil was overwhelmed with a 4 fold increase in visits with 3.641 million unique visitors, 6.5 million visits and 14.4 pages viewed on Febuary 2, 2010. Phil's fans have more than doubled thier visits yearly and 2010 was a greater increase than ever. Coupled with our 10,000 visitors to Punxsutawney and the great interest from media outlets of all types Phil, the Inner Circle and Punxsutawney thanks you.
Groundhog cookies contain:
2 Cups sifted flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. powdered ginger
1 tsp. ground cloves
1 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 Cup butter, softened
1 Cup sugar
1/2 Cup molasses
1 egg yolk
1 egg, slightly beaten
currants or cut up raisins See directions at:
http://www.penzeysone.com/cgi-bin/one/GroundhogR1.html
Chocolate groundhog cookies contain:
• 1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 1 14 oz. can sweetened condensed milk
• 1 teaspoon almond extract
• 1/2 cup sliced almonds, coarsely chopped
• 14 ounces chocolate sandwich cookies (such as Oreo), finely crushed
• 2 cups coconut, (approximately)
• semi-sweet chocolate chips, for eyes
Read more at Suite101: Chocolate Groundhog Cookie Recipe: Not Only Quick & Easy, These Chewy Chocolate Cookies Are Decadent! http://seasonalcooking.suite101.com/article.cfm/chocolate_groundhog_cookie_recipe#ixzz0eaNYJNzB
• "Real gross domestic product - the output of goods and services produced by labor and property located in the United States -- increased at an annual rate of 5.7 percent in the fourth quarter of 2009, (that is, from the third quarter to the fourth quarter), according to the "advance" estimate released by the Bureau of Economic Analysis. In the third quarter, real GDP increased 2.2 percent. The Bureau emphasized that the fourth-quarter advance estimate released today is based on source data that are incomplete or subject to further revision by the source agency. The increase in real GDP in the fourth quarter primarily reflected positive contributions from private inventory investment, exports, and personal consumption expenditures (PCE). Imports, which are a subtraction in the calculation of GDP, increased."
Smishing is a form of criminal activity using social engineering techniques similar to phishing. The name is derived from "SMs phISHING". SMS (Short Message Service) is the technology used for text messages on cell phones. Similar to phishing, smishing uses cell phone text messages to deliver the "bait" to get you to divulge your personal information. The "hook" (the method used to actually "capture" your information) in the text message may be a web site URL, however it has become more common to see a phone number that connects to automated voice response system.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SMiShing
Vishing is the criminal practice of using social engineering over the telephone system, most often using features facilitated by Voice over IP (VoIP), to gain access to private personal and financial information from the public for the purpose of financial reward. The term is a combination of "voice" and phishing. Vishing exploits the public's trust in landline telephone services, which have traditionally terminated in physical locations which are known to the telephone company, and associated with a bill-payer. The victim is often unaware that VoIP makes formerly difficult-to-abuse tools/features of caller ID spoofing, complex automated systems (IVR), low cost, and anonymity for the bill-payer widely available. Vishing is typically used to steal credit card numbers or other information used in identity theft schemes from individuals. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vishing
Lancaster County, Pennsylvania has thrived over the years and now is home to people who speak over 26 different languages. Lititz is nestled in the heart land of rich farming country in Lancaster County. The earliest settlers were Swiss-German Mennonites in 1710 who fled religious persecution in Europe. They were quickly followed by the Moravians and Amish. They built old stone mills, wooden covered bridges and log homes. Many 18th Century town buildings have been wonderfully restored and can be enjoyed as you walk through town. Numerous local farms have been owned perpetually by the same families for 200 years. http://www.venturelititz.com/about.html
I recommend beautiful, historic Lancaster County to you as a destination. http://www.padutchcountry.com/Event
We have visited it from time to time when heading east to visit family. In fact, that's where we first saw the LEGO® art of Nathan Sawaya. See list of locations for his 2010 and 2011 exhibits at: http://brickartist.com/museum.html
See more of his brickwork at: http://abduzeedo.com/amazing-lego-art-nathan-sawaya
Eponyms
John Bull (jon bul) noun
1. A personification of England or the English people.
2. A typical Englishman.
After John Bull, a character in John Arbuthnot's satire, Law Is a Bottomless Pit (1712).
Maginot line (MAZH-uh-no lyn) noun
An ineffective line of defense that is relied upon with undue confidence.
After André Maginot (1877-1932), French Minister of War, who proposed a line of defense along France's border with Germany. Believed to be impregnable, the barrier proved to be of little use when Germans attacked through Belgium in 1940.
daltonism (DAWL-tuh-niz-em) noun
Color blindness, especially the inability to distinguish between red and green.
After John Dalton (1766-1844), chemist and physicist, who gave us Dalton's Law of Partial Pressures. He studied his own color blindness as well.
A.Word.A.Day with Anu Garg
From Buffalo, With Love
Chicken wings have evolved from being used to make stock to being one of America's favorite finger foods. The transition is said to have started on Oct. 30, 1964, at the Anchor Bar in Buffalo, N.Y. Bar owner Teressa Bellissimo was faced with feeding her son and a group of his friends a late night snack. Having an excess of chicken wings on hand, she fried them until done and crisp, dipped them in a mixture of butter and bottled hot sauce, and served them with crisp celery sticks and blue cheese salad dressing. The spontaneously invented snack was a smash hit and soon became a staple and signature item at the bar. Today the Anchor Bar cooks and serves 70 thousand pounds of chicken wings a month. The popularity of the chicken wings at the Anchor Bar could not be ignored by other eateries in the area. Local eateries picked up on the wing craze and soon their popularity spread regionally and nationally. Today the once lowly regarded chicken wing is a driving force in the national poultry market.
http://www.publicopiniononline.com/living/ci_14321920
Groundhog.org the official web site of Punxsutawney Phil was overwhelmed with a 4 fold increase in visits with 3.641 million unique visitors, 6.5 million visits and 14.4 pages viewed on Febuary 2, 2010. Phil's fans have more than doubled thier visits yearly and 2010 was a greater increase than ever. Coupled with our 10,000 visitors to Punxsutawney and the great interest from media outlets of all types Phil, the Inner Circle and Punxsutawney thanks you.
Groundhog cookies contain:
2 Cups sifted flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. powdered ginger
1 tsp. ground cloves
1 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 Cup butter, softened
1 Cup sugar
1/2 Cup molasses
1 egg yolk
1 egg, slightly beaten
currants or cut up raisins See directions at:
http://www.penzeysone.com/cgi-bin/one/GroundhogR1.html
Chocolate groundhog cookies contain:
• 1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 1 14 oz. can sweetened condensed milk
• 1 teaspoon almond extract
• 1/2 cup sliced almonds, coarsely chopped
• 14 ounces chocolate sandwich cookies (such as Oreo), finely crushed
• 2 cups coconut, (approximately)
• semi-sweet chocolate chips, for eyes
Read more at Suite101: Chocolate Groundhog Cookie Recipe: Not Only Quick & Easy, These Chewy Chocolate Cookies Are Decadent! http://seasonalcooking.suite101.com/article.cfm/chocolate_groundhog_cookie_recipe#ixzz0eaNYJNzB
Thursday, February 4, 2010
Budget of the United States Government - FY11: Contains the budget message of the President, information about the President's budget proposals for a given fiscal year, and other budgetary publications. "See the White House FY 2011 Budget website for details about different departments, terminations and reductions, or to learn how the budget will affect your state.
New York Times: Huge Deficits May Alter U.S. Politics and Global Power - "By President Obama’s own optimistic projections, American deficits will not return to what are widely considered sustainable levels over the next 10 years."
WSJ: White House Unveils $3.8 Trillion Budget - includes charts - "Budget Crunching: A look at how the Obama administration is counting on bringing in revenue and spending it in fiscal 2010."
Two congressional members from Missouri said on February 2 that they plan to file legislation blocking the Environmental Protection Agency from developing its own greenhouse gas rules. U.S. Reps. Ike Skelton, a Democrat, and Jo Ann Emerson, a Republican, sharply criticized federal environmental regulators and warned that because EPA officials are not elected, the agency is not accountable to the farmers, business owners and other Missouri residents who could be hurt. The EPA had concluded in December that that emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases represent a danger to public health, which allows it to consider rules limiting them. That decision stems from a 2007 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that found greenhouse gases are air pollutants under federal clean-air laws. But the two Missouri lawmakers say Congress did not intend to give the EPA the authority to regulate greenhouse gases through the Clean Air Act. ''The EPA is controlled by bureaucrats who are not elected and are responsible only to the head of the EPA who is from New Jersey,'' said Skelton, who represents central and western Missouri. '' And I doubt that they understand mid-America, the Midwest, agriculture and what our farmers need to continue to do a good job for our country.'' http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2010/02/02/us/AP-MO-Energy-Missouri.html
USGS Releases New One-Stop Source for Scientific Information about U.S. Oceans and Waters News release: "A one-stop source for biogeographic information collected from U.S. waters and oceanic regions is now available from the National Biological Information Infrastructure (NBII) Program. The OBIS-USA website offers a unique combination of tools, resources, and biodiversity information to aide scientists, resource managers and decision makers in the research and analyses critical to sustaining the nation’s valued marine ecosystems. OBIS-USA is a one-stop source for biogeographic data collected from U.S. waters and oceanic regions--the Arctic, the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, the Caribbean Sea, the Gulf of Mexico, and the Great Lakes. It provides access to highly distributed data sets from a multitude of partners documenting where and when species were observed or collected. The site allows one to examine each data set to assess its applicability for a variety of uses. Current functionality allows the user to view the data and FGDC compliant metadata as well as to view geographic, temporal or spatial extent; the taxonomic depth and richness.
February 2010 Petroleum Marketing Monthly With Data for November 2009— Feb 1, 2010:" "Monthly price and volume statistics on crude oil and petroleum products at a national, regional and state level.
Natural Gas Monthly — Jan 29, 2010: "Monthly natural and supplemental gas production, supply, consumption, disposition, storage, imports, exports, and prices in the United States.
Monthly Energy Review — Jan 29, 2010: "EIA's primary report of recent energy statistics: total energy production, consumption, and trade; energy prices; overviews of petroleum, natural gas, coal, electricity, nuclear energy, renewable energy, and international petroleum; carbon dioxide emissions; and data unit conversions. MER data show that in the first 10 months of 2009, total energy consumed by the industrial sector fell to 23 quadrillion Btu, down 11% from the first 10 months of 2008. See What's New in the Monthly Energy Review for a record of changes."
Back-formation is the process of forming a new word (a neologism) by extracting actual or supposed affixes from another word; shortened words created from longer words. Verb: back-form (itself a back-formation). "Stripping the in- from inchoate is known as back-formation, the same process that has given us words like peeve (from peevish), surveil (from surveillance) and enthuse (from enthusiasm). There’s a long linguistic tradition of removing parts of words that look like prefixes and suffixes to come up with “roots” that weren’t there to begin with." (Ben Zimmer, "Choate." The New York Times, Jan. 3, 2010) http://grammar.about.com/od/ab/g/backformterm.htm
Quote
In questions of science, the authority of a thousand is not worth the humble reasoning of a single individual. -Galileo Galilei, physicist and astronomer (1564-1642)
Tips from Cook's Illustrated, March & April 2010
• Poke holes in meat to allow marinades or seasonings to penetrate more deeply.
• Sprinkle sugar on fish fillet for faster browning before fish dries out.
• Soak dried beans overnight in brine of two teaspoons salt per quart of water.
• Make light brown sugar by adding 1 tbsp. molasses to 1 c. granulated sugar.
• Make dark brown sugar by adding 2 tbsp. molasses to 1 c. granulated sugar.
• Substitute half the amount called for fresh herbs if using dried herbs.
• Make 1 c. cake flour using 2 tbsp. cornstarch and 7/8 c. all-purpose flour.
On February 1, I followed a reader's link to www.groundhog.org that led me to a groundhog cookie recipe. On February 2, I put the link to the recipe in the muse, and a reader said her family had made them for years and brought some to lunch. Thanks, Peter. Thanks, Julie
If you missed out on the chance to bid on Alberto Giacometti's bronze sculpture, "Walking Man I," which sold for a world record $104 million in London on February 3, there's good news: The sculptor made another one just like it, and it's in Chicago. "Walking Man II" isn't for sale, but you can see it at the Art Institute of Chicago. The life-size sculpture -- which looks a bit like spaghetti slathered in mud -- is one of seven sculptures made by Giacometti, a Swiss surrealist who died in 1966.
http://www.suntimes.com/news/metro/2029391,CST-NWS-manwalk04.article
See images at: http://images.google.com/images?gbv=2&hl=en&sa=1&q=%22walking+man+II%22&aq=f&oq=&aqi=&start=0
New York Times: Huge Deficits May Alter U.S. Politics and Global Power - "By President Obama’s own optimistic projections, American deficits will not return to what are widely considered sustainable levels over the next 10 years."
WSJ: White House Unveils $3.8 Trillion Budget - includes charts - "Budget Crunching: A look at how the Obama administration is counting on bringing in revenue and spending it in fiscal 2010."
Two congressional members from Missouri said on February 2 that they plan to file legislation blocking the Environmental Protection Agency from developing its own greenhouse gas rules. U.S. Reps. Ike Skelton, a Democrat, and Jo Ann Emerson, a Republican, sharply criticized federal environmental regulators and warned that because EPA officials are not elected, the agency is not accountable to the farmers, business owners and other Missouri residents who could be hurt. The EPA had concluded in December that that emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases represent a danger to public health, which allows it to consider rules limiting them. That decision stems from a 2007 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that found greenhouse gases are air pollutants under federal clean-air laws. But the two Missouri lawmakers say Congress did not intend to give the EPA the authority to regulate greenhouse gases through the Clean Air Act. ''The EPA is controlled by bureaucrats who are not elected and are responsible only to the head of the EPA who is from New Jersey,'' said Skelton, who represents central and western Missouri. '' And I doubt that they understand mid-America, the Midwest, agriculture and what our farmers need to continue to do a good job for our country.'' http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2010/02/02/us/AP-MO-Energy-Missouri.html
USGS Releases New One-Stop Source for Scientific Information about U.S. Oceans and Waters News release: "A one-stop source for biogeographic information collected from U.S. waters and oceanic regions is now available from the National Biological Information Infrastructure (NBII) Program. The OBIS-USA website offers a unique combination of tools, resources, and biodiversity information to aide scientists, resource managers and decision makers in the research and analyses critical to sustaining the nation’s valued marine ecosystems. OBIS-USA is a one-stop source for biogeographic data collected from U.S. waters and oceanic regions--the Arctic, the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, the Caribbean Sea, the Gulf of Mexico, and the Great Lakes. It provides access to highly distributed data sets from a multitude of partners documenting where and when species were observed or collected. The site allows one to examine each data set to assess its applicability for a variety of uses. Current functionality allows the user to view the data and FGDC compliant metadata as well as to view geographic, temporal or spatial extent; the taxonomic depth and richness.
February 2010 Petroleum Marketing Monthly With Data for November 2009— Feb 1, 2010:" "Monthly price and volume statistics on crude oil and petroleum products at a national, regional and state level.
Natural Gas Monthly — Jan 29, 2010: "Monthly natural and supplemental gas production, supply, consumption, disposition, storage, imports, exports, and prices in the United States.
Monthly Energy Review — Jan 29, 2010: "EIA's primary report of recent energy statistics: total energy production, consumption, and trade; energy prices; overviews of petroleum, natural gas, coal, electricity, nuclear energy, renewable energy, and international petroleum; carbon dioxide emissions; and data unit conversions. MER data show that in the first 10 months of 2009, total energy consumed by the industrial sector fell to 23 quadrillion Btu, down 11% from the first 10 months of 2008. See What's New in the Monthly Energy Review for a record of changes."
Back-formation is the process of forming a new word (a neologism) by extracting actual or supposed affixes from another word; shortened words created from longer words. Verb: back-form (itself a back-formation). "Stripping the in- from inchoate is known as back-formation, the same process that has given us words like peeve (from peevish), surveil (from surveillance) and enthuse (from enthusiasm). There’s a long linguistic tradition of removing parts of words that look like prefixes and suffixes to come up with “roots” that weren’t there to begin with." (Ben Zimmer, "Choate." The New York Times, Jan. 3, 2010) http://grammar.about.com/od/ab/g/backformterm.htm
Quote
In questions of science, the authority of a thousand is not worth the humble reasoning of a single individual. -Galileo Galilei, physicist and astronomer (1564-1642)
Tips from Cook's Illustrated, March & April 2010
• Poke holes in meat to allow marinades or seasonings to penetrate more deeply.
• Sprinkle sugar on fish fillet for faster browning before fish dries out.
• Soak dried beans overnight in brine of two teaspoons salt per quart of water.
• Make light brown sugar by adding 1 tbsp. molasses to 1 c. granulated sugar.
• Make dark brown sugar by adding 2 tbsp. molasses to 1 c. granulated sugar.
• Substitute half the amount called for fresh herbs if using dried herbs.
• Make 1 c. cake flour using 2 tbsp. cornstarch and 7/8 c. all-purpose flour.
On February 1, I followed a reader's link to www.groundhog.org that led me to a groundhog cookie recipe. On February 2, I put the link to the recipe in the muse, and a reader said her family had made them for years and brought some to lunch. Thanks, Peter. Thanks, Julie
If you missed out on the chance to bid on Alberto Giacometti's bronze sculpture, "Walking Man I," which sold for a world record $104 million in London on February 3, there's good news: The sculptor made another one just like it, and it's in Chicago. "Walking Man II" isn't for sale, but you can see it at the Art Institute of Chicago. The life-size sculpture -- which looks a bit like spaghetti slathered in mud -- is one of seven sculptures made by Giacometti, a Swiss surrealist who died in 1966.
http://www.suntimes.com/news/metro/2029391,CST-NWS-manwalk04.article
See images at: http://images.google.com/images?gbv=2&hl=en&sa=1&q=%22walking+man+II%22&aq=f&oq=&aqi=&start=0
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
The term "monetary policy" refers to the actions undertaken by a central bank, such as the Federal Reserve, to influence the availability and cost of money and credit to help promote national economic goals. The Federal Reserve Act of 1913 gave the Federal Reserve responsibility for setting monetary policy. The Federal Reserve controls the three tools of monetary policy--open market operations, the discount rate, and reserve requirements. The Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System is responsible for the discount rate and reserve requirements, and the Federal Open Market Committee is responsible for open market operations . Using the three tools, the Federal Reserve influences the demand for, and supply of, balances that depository institutions hold at Federal Reserve Banks and in this way alters the federal funds rate. The federal funds rate is the interest rate at which depository institutions lend balances at the Federal Reserve to other depository institutions overnight. Changes in the federal funds rate trigger a chain of events that affect other short-term interest rates, foreign exchange rates, long-term interest rates, the amount of money and credit, and, ultimately, a range of economic variables, including employment, output, and prices of goods and services.
http://www.federalreserve.gov/monetarypolicy/fomc.htm
The Federal Reserve Act of 1913 - A Legislative History
http://www.llsdc.org/FRA-LH/
FDA Pet Food Recall Products List Now Has Almost 1,000 Entries
Follow up to posting, FDA Pet Food Recall Website Updated and Expanded, see Pet Food Recall Products List - "Information current as of noon January 11, 2010. 973 entries in list - Recalls & Withdrawals for Animal & Veterinary Products."
Louis Auchincloss, a Wall Street lawyer from a prominent old New York family who became a durable and prolific chronicler of Manhattan’s old-money elite, died on January 26 night in Manhattan. He was 92. Although he practiced law full time until 1987, Mr. Auchincloss published more than 60 books of fiction, biography and literary criticism in a writing career of more than a half-century. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/28/nyregion/28auchincloss.html
Feedback from A.Word.A.Day with Anu Garg
From: Ron Frazier (ronfraz@verizon.net)
Subject: Lego artwork
See what else you can do with Lego blocks, besides build words!: Nathan Sawaya, a 36-year-old former lawyer, has stunned the world with his incredible LEGO artworks.
From: Sarah Festger (sarahfestger@q.com)
Subject: artiodactyl
Def: Having an even number of toes on each foot.
Since I lost two toes on one foot (even number) and three toes (odd number) on the other, I figure I am ambidactyl!
From: James Miller (millnjam@yahoo.com)
Subject: artiodactyl
He had four toes, useful and tactile;
He was cool with it, 's a matter of fact he'll
Often proclaim
"Tho' Arthur's my name,
Call me Artie--Artie O'Dactyl."
Q. Is it fount of knowledge or font of knowledge?
A. Strictly speaking, 'fountain of all knowledge' is correct rather than 'fount' or 'font'. All three are used nowadays, but the original fountain version was a 17th century quote and the other two are just more modern variants of that original. The quote is from 'An Essay Concerning Human Understanding' by the philosopher, John Locke, published in 1690. Clearly, in it he was referring to God. "Reason is natural revelation, whereby the eternal father of light, and fountain of all knowledge, communicates to mankind that portion of truth which he has laid within the reach of their natural facilities." In a 14th century book, God was referred to as "the fountain of all goodness" and in the 16th century Book of Common Prayer there is a reference to "Almighty God, the fountain of all wisdom". http://www.theanswerbank.co.uk/Phrases-and-Sayings/Question325997.html
More critters are challenging Punxsutawney Phil for the crown of Groundhog Day prognosticator. In his home state of Pennsylvania, he has rivals including Octorara Orphie of the Slumbering Groundhog Lodge in Quarryville, and Sammi II of Monroe County, who was pressed into service after Sammi I died of heatstroke after riding in a parade. Last year, Mel, a groundhog in Milltown, N.J., got into the act. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB20001424052748703762504575037220986428274.html
Groundhog cookies
http://www.penzeysone.com/cgi-bin/one/GroundhogR1.html
A proposal put forth by the National Association for Legal Placemen to push back the law-firm hiring process by a few months seemed at first fairly uncontroversial. But that was then. More recently, at least one firm, Jones Day, has lodged vociferous objection to the plan. Late last week, its hiring partner, Gregory Shumaker, fired off this seven-page letter to NALP, arguing that the proposed plan was not only unnecessary, but also potentially illegal. The National Association for Law Placement proposed adoption of a nationwide “offer kickoff date” in January for 2Ls hoping to land jobs for the following summer. Under the new policy, law firms would not be able to extend any summer associate offers until that time Click here for a recent National Law Journal story on the NALP move. The plan has its advocates. “I think NALP has taken a very thoughtful approach, and I think it's a step in the right direction,” Mark Webber, assistant dean for career services at Harvard Law School told the NLJ. “It slows down the frenzy quite a bit, and it gives the employers a chance to see the entire applicant pool.”
News Corp. has agreed to pay $500 million to settle four years of antitrust litigation over the company's practices in selling newspaper coupons and other marketing materials. Marketing-services firm Valassis had sued a unit of News Corp., News America Marketing, which sells coupon inserts in Sunday newspapers and in grocery-store displays. Valassis had alleged that the unit unfairly used its power with customers to gain advantages over competitors. Last year, a jury in a Michigan state court last year awarded $300 million to Valassis in related litigation, and a similar case has been pending in California. A federal-court trial was slated to begin on Tuesday.
The University of California San Diego has reportedly revived a decades-old plan to establish a law school through a partnership with San Diego-based California Western School of Law. Click here for the story, from the San Diego Union Tribune. The arrangement could range from a strengthened affiliation between the downtown San Diego private law school and the La Jolla public university to a full merger. Among the models being considered for UCSD and California Western are the law schools at Michigan State University and Pennsylvania State University. Penn State did not have a law school until 2000, when it merged with Dickinson School of Law, a private institution about 100 miles away. Since then, the school has been able to recruit distinguished scholars, increase the number of student applicants and broaden student diversity. Michigan State characterizes its partnership with the former Detroit College of Law as an affiliation. The private school, renamed Michigan State University College of Law, has merged its academic policies and faculty governance with the public university. It remains financially independent and does not take any state funding. In other new-law-school news, we're just a week away from a pivotal vote on whether to create the first public law school in Massachusetts. Under the proposal, the University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth would acquire the now private Southern New England School of Law.
WSJ Law Blog January 29, 2010
http://www.federalreserve.gov/monetarypolicy/fomc.htm
The Federal Reserve Act of 1913 - A Legislative History
http://www.llsdc.org/FRA-LH/
FDA Pet Food Recall Products List Now Has Almost 1,000 Entries
Follow up to posting, FDA Pet Food Recall Website Updated and Expanded, see Pet Food Recall Products List - "Information current as of noon January 11, 2010. 973 entries in list - Recalls & Withdrawals for Animal & Veterinary Products."
Louis Auchincloss, a Wall Street lawyer from a prominent old New York family who became a durable and prolific chronicler of Manhattan’s old-money elite, died on January 26 night in Manhattan. He was 92. Although he practiced law full time until 1987, Mr. Auchincloss published more than 60 books of fiction, biography and literary criticism in a writing career of more than a half-century. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/28/nyregion/28auchincloss.html
Feedback from A.Word.A.Day with Anu Garg
From: Ron Frazier (ronfraz@verizon.net)
Subject: Lego artwork
See what else you can do with Lego blocks, besides build words!: Nathan Sawaya, a 36-year-old former lawyer, has stunned the world with his incredible LEGO artworks.
From: Sarah Festger (sarahfestger@q.com)
Subject: artiodactyl
Def: Having an even number of toes on each foot.
Since I lost two toes on one foot (even number) and three toes (odd number) on the other, I figure I am ambidactyl!
From: James Miller (millnjam@yahoo.com)
Subject: artiodactyl
He had four toes, useful and tactile;
He was cool with it, 's a matter of fact he'll
Often proclaim
"Tho' Arthur's my name,
Call me Artie--Artie O'Dactyl."
Q. Is it fount of knowledge or font of knowledge?
A. Strictly speaking, 'fountain of all knowledge' is correct rather than 'fount' or 'font'. All three are used nowadays, but the original fountain version was a 17th century quote and the other two are just more modern variants of that original. The quote is from 'An Essay Concerning Human Understanding' by the philosopher, John Locke, published in 1690. Clearly, in it he was referring to God. "Reason is natural revelation, whereby the eternal father of light, and fountain of all knowledge, communicates to mankind that portion of truth which he has laid within the reach of their natural facilities." In a 14th century book, God was referred to as "the fountain of all goodness" and in the 16th century Book of Common Prayer there is a reference to "Almighty God, the fountain of all wisdom". http://www.theanswerbank.co.uk/Phrases-and-Sayings/Question325997.html
More critters are challenging Punxsutawney Phil for the crown of Groundhog Day prognosticator. In his home state of Pennsylvania, he has rivals including Octorara Orphie of the Slumbering Groundhog Lodge in Quarryville, and Sammi II of Monroe County, who was pressed into service after Sammi I died of heatstroke after riding in a parade. Last year, Mel, a groundhog in Milltown, N.J., got into the act. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB20001424052748703762504575037220986428274.html
Groundhog cookies
http://www.penzeysone.com/cgi-bin/one/GroundhogR1.html
A proposal put forth by the National Association for Legal Placemen to push back the law-firm hiring process by a few months seemed at first fairly uncontroversial. But that was then. More recently, at least one firm, Jones Day, has lodged vociferous objection to the plan. Late last week, its hiring partner, Gregory Shumaker, fired off this seven-page letter to NALP, arguing that the proposed plan was not only unnecessary, but also potentially illegal. The National Association for Law Placement proposed adoption of a nationwide “offer kickoff date” in January for 2Ls hoping to land jobs for the following summer. Under the new policy, law firms would not be able to extend any summer associate offers until that time Click here for a recent National Law Journal story on the NALP move. The plan has its advocates. “I think NALP has taken a very thoughtful approach, and I think it's a step in the right direction,” Mark Webber, assistant dean for career services at Harvard Law School told the NLJ. “It slows down the frenzy quite a bit, and it gives the employers a chance to see the entire applicant pool.”
News Corp. has agreed to pay $500 million to settle four years of antitrust litigation over the company's practices in selling newspaper coupons and other marketing materials. Marketing-services firm Valassis had sued a unit of News Corp., News America Marketing, which sells coupon inserts in Sunday newspapers and in grocery-store displays. Valassis had alleged that the unit unfairly used its power with customers to gain advantages over competitors. Last year, a jury in a Michigan state court last year awarded $300 million to Valassis in related litigation, and a similar case has been pending in California. A federal-court trial was slated to begin on Tuesday.
The University of California San Diego has reportedly revived a decades-old plan to establish a law school through a partnership with San Diego-based California Western School of Law. Click here for the story, from the San Diego Union Tribune. The arrangement could range from a strengthened affiliation between the downtown San Diego private law school and the La Jolla public university to a full merger. Among the models being considered for UCSD and California Western are the law schools at Michigan State University and Pennsylvania State University. Penn State did not have a law school until 2000, when it merged with Dickinson School of Law, a private institution about 100 miles away. Since then, the school has been able to recruit distinguished scholars, increase the number of student applicants and broaden student diversity. Michigan State characterizes its partnership with the former Detroit College of Law as an affiliation. The private school, renamed Michigan State University College of Law, has merged its academic policies and faculty governance with the public university. It remains financially independent and does not take any state funding. In other new-law-school news, we're just a week away from a pivotal vote on whether to create the first public law school in Massachusetts. Under the proposal, the University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth would acquire the now private Southern New England School of Law.
WSJ Law Blog January 29, 2010
Monday, February 1, 2010
Independent establishments are created by Congress to address concerns that go beyond the scope of ordinary legislation. These agencies are responsible for keeping the government and economy running smoothly. See list at: http://www.usa.gov/Agencies/Federal/Independent.shtml
Nage is a culinary buzzword usually indicating a bouillon with (among other things) white wine, shallots and herbs. http://www.foodwords.com/glossary_display_term.php?id=120
Search for food words and play the food words game at: http://www.foodwords.com/
Hobson's choice is an only apparently free choice that is no choice at all. The first written reference to the source of the phrase is in Joseph Addison's paper, The Spectator (14 October 1712). It also appears in Thomas Ward's poem England's Reformation written in 1688, but not published until after his death. Ward writes, Where to elect there is but one, 'tis Hobson's choice -- take that or none. The phrase originates from Thomas Hobson (1544-1630), who lived in Cambridge, England. Hobson was a stable manager who rented out horses to undergraduate students. After students began requesting for particular horses again and again, Hobson realized certain horses were being overworked. He decided to go in for a rotation system placing the well-rested horses near the stable door, and refused to let out any horse except in its proper turn. He insisted that customers take the horse in the stall closest to the door or take none at all. Henry Ford sold the Ford Model T with the famous Hobson's choice of "Any color so long as it's black"[1].
Hobson's choice is different from Catch-22 where both (or all) choices available contradict each other. http://www.knowledgerush.com/kr/encyclopedia/Hobson's_choice/
Mox nix is not like Hobson's choice. It comes from "macht nichts" in German. It may mean "whatever" or "it doesn't matter".
Six of one, half-dozen of the other says that two things which people refer to differently are actually the same thing. http://www.goenglish.com/SixOfOneAHalfDozenOfTheOther.asp
Q. Why, in the UK, is the main street called High Street?
A. We have for so long in Britain called the main shopping street of a town by this name that it is now a generic term to describe shops that cater to the needs of the ordinary public. We have to go back a very long way to search out its origin. In Old English, the word high meant something excellent of its type or of elevated rank or degree (we still have terms like high society, high priest and high sheriff that are based on it). Very early on, high began to be applied to main roads. The first example is highway, recorded from the early ninth century. This referred to a main road between two towns or cities, one that was under the special protection of the monarch as an essential communications link (hence the later phrase the king’s highway to refer to such important roads). Around the year 1000 high street started to be used in the sense of a substantial thoroughfare, whether in country or town (street has rather gone down in the world — it used to refer to a road of some consequence, usually one so important that it was paved, a rarity at the time). As medieval towns often grew up (or were deliberately created) alongside such main routes in order to provide lodgings and otherwise tap the possibilities for trade presented by passers-by, the name High Street in time became the name of urban roads containing shops, and hence the main retail centre of a town.
http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-hig2.htm
In the U.S., we have adopted High Street for a main street, too; for instance in Columbus, Ohio and West Chester, Pennsylvania.
Q: Tomorrow is Groundhog Day. What's the deal with Punxsutawney Phil?
A: No one takes Groundhog Day seriously, especially in Punxsutawney, Pa.
The Inner Circle of the Punxsutawney Groundhog Club, congenial businessmen who dress in top hats and tuxedos for the day, generally decides that Phil will see his shadow and there will be six more weeks of winter. That's because there will be six more weeks of winter. And Phil bows to the inevitable nearly six times to one. But Phil can never really see his shadow. He is "awakened" at dawn which, even on the best of days on Gobblers Knob outside town, is just another miserably cold, gray morning in the Appalachian woods. Groundhogs should be hibernating, so watch for the Phil-du-jour to show his crankiness to the cold, camera flashes and television lights. Tomorrow is "Punxsy's" 124th observance, not a bad streak of good publicity for 6,000 people about 63 miles northeast of Pittsburgh. Don't forget the 1993 movie with Bill Murray. Groundhog Day harkens back to Candlemas Day, when the church blessed and distributed candles, and when Europeans sought signs winter was breaking. "If Candlemas Day is bright and clear, there'll be twa (two) winters in the year," goes a Scottish couplet. For more, go to www.groundhog.org. -- Peter Mattiace.
Also, see information on most common street names in the country and Super Bowl rings at:
http://www.thecourier.com/Opinion/columns/2010/Feb/JU/ar_JU_020110.asp?d=020110,2010,Feb,01&c=c_13
Nage is a culinary buzzword usually indicating a bouillon with (among other things) white wine, shallots and herbs. http://www.foodwords.com/glossary_display_term.php?id=120
Search for food words and play the food words game at: http://www.foodwords.com/
Hobson's choice is an only apparently free choice that is no choice at all. The first written reference to the source of the phrase is in Joseph Addison's paper, The Spectator (14 October 1712). It also appears in Thomas Ward's poem England's Reformation written in 1688, but not published until after his death. Ward writes, Where to elect there is but one, 'tis Hobson's choice -- take that or none. The phrase originates from Thomas Hobson (1544-1630), who lived in Cambridge, England. Hobson was a stable manager who rented out horses to undergraduate students. After students began requesting for particular horses again and again, Hobson realized certain horses were being overworked. He decided to go in for a rotation system placing the well-rested horses near the stable door, and refused to let out any horse except in its proper turn. He insisted that customers take the horse in the stall closest to the door or take none at all. Henry Ford sold the Ford Model T with the famous Hobson's choice of "Any color so long as it's black"[1].
Hobson's choice is different from Catch-22 where both (or all) choices available contradict each other. http://www.knowledgerush.com/kr/encyclopedia/Hobson's_choice/
Mox nix is not like Hobson's choice. It comes from "macht nichts" in German. It may mean "whatever" or "it doesn't matter".
Six of one, half-dozen of the other says that two things which people refer to differently are actually the same thing. http://www.goenglish.com/SixOfOneAHalfDozenOfTheOther.asp
Q. Why, in the UK, is the main street called High Street?
A. We have for so long in Britain called the main shopping street of a town by this name that it is now a generic term to describe shops that cater to the needs of the ordinary public. We have to go back a very long way to search out its origin. In Old English, the word high meant something excellent of its type or of elevated rank or degree (we still have terms like high society, high priest and high sheriff that are based on it). Very early on, high began to be applied to main roads. The first example is highway, recorded from the early ninth century. This referred to a main road between two towns or cities, one that was under the special protection of the monarch as an essential communications link (hence the later phrase the king’s highway to refer to such important roads). Around the year 1000 high street started to be used in the sense of a substantial thoroughfare, whether in country or town (street has rather gone down in the world — it used to refer to a road of some consequence, usually one so important that it was paved, a rarity at the time). As medieval towns often grew up (or were deliberately created) alongside such main routes in order to provide lodgings and otherwise tap the possibilities for trade presented by passers-by, the name High Street in time became the name of urban roads containing shops, and hence the main retail centre of a town.
http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-hig2.htm
In the U.S., we have adopted High Street for a main street, too; for instance in Columbus, Ohio and West Chester, Pennsylvania.
Q: Tomorrow is Groundhog Day. What's the deal with Punxsutawney Phil?
A: No one takes Groundhog Day seriously, especially in Punxsutawney, Pa.
The Inner Circle of the Punxsutawney Groundhog Club, congenial businessmen who dress in top hats and tuxedos for the day, generally decides that Phil will see his shadow and there will be six more weeks of winter. That's because there will be six more weeks of winter. And Phil bows to the inevitable nearly six times to one. But Phil can never really see his shadow. He is "awakened" at dawn which, even on the best of days on Gobblers Knob outside town, is just another miserably cold, gray morning in the Appalachian woods. Groundhogs should be hibernating, so watch for the Phil-du-jour to show his crankiness to the cold, camera flashes and television lights. Tomorrow is "Punxsy's" 124th observance, not a bad streak of good publicity for 6,000 people about 63 miles northeast of Pittsburgh. Don't forget the 1993 movie with Bill Murray. Groundhog Day harkens back to Candlemas Day, when the church blessed and distributed candles, and when Europeans sought signs winter was breaking. "If Candlemas Day is bright and clear, there'll be twa (two) winters in the year," goes a Scottish couplet. For more, go to www.groundhog.org. -- Peter Mattiace.
Also, see information on most common street names in the country and Super Bowl rings at:
http://www.thecourier.com/Opinion/columns/2010/Feb/JU/ar_JU_020110.asp?d=020110,2010,Feb,01&c=c_13
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