The Musée du Louvre (French pronunciation: [myze dy luvʁ]), or officially Grand Louvre — in English the Louvre Museum or simply the Louvre — is one of the world's largest museums, the most visited art museum in the world and a historic monument. It is a central landmark of Paris and located on the Right Bank of the Seine in the 1st arrondissement (district). Nearly 35,000 objects from prehistory to the 19th century are exhibited over an area of 60,600 square metres (652,300 square feet). The Louvre Palace (Palais du Louvre) which houses the museum was begun as a fortress by Philip II in the 12th century, with remnants of this building still visible in the crypt. It is not known if this was the first building on that spot, but it is possible that Philip modified an existing tower. The etymology of the name Louvre is also uncertain: it may refer to the structure's status as the largest in late 12th century Paris (from the French L'Œuvre, masterpiece), its location in a forest (from the French rouvre, oak), or, according to Larousse, a wolf hunting den (via Latin: lupus, lower Empire: lupara). The Louvre Palace was altered frequently throughout the Middle Ages. In the 14th century, Charles V converted the building into a residence and in 1546, Francis I renovated the site in French Renaissance style. Francis acquired what would become the nucleus of the Louvre's holdings, his acquisitions including Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa. After Louis XIV chose Versailles as his residence in 1682, constructions slowed; however, the move permitted the Louvre to be used as a residence for artists. By the mid-18th century there were an increasing number of proposals to create a public gallery with Lafont Saint-Yenne publishing, in 1747, a call for the royal collection's display. On October 14, 1750, Louis XV agreed and sanctioned a display of 96 pieces from the royal collection in the Galerie royale de peinture of the Luxembourg Palace. A hall was opened by Le Normant de Tournehem and the Marquis de Marigny for public viewing of the Tableaux du Roy on Wednesdays and Saturdays and contained Andrea del Sarto's Charity and works by Raphael, Titian, Veronese, Rembrandt, Poussin or Van Dyck, until its closing in 1780 as a result of the gift of the palace to the comte de Provence by the king in 1778. Under Louis XVI, the royal museum idea became policy. The comte d'Angiviller broadened the collection and in 1776 proposed conversion of the Grande Galerie of the Louvre —which contained maps— into the "French Museum". Many proposals were offered for the Louvre's renovation into a museum, however none was agreed on. Hence the museum remained incomplete until the French Revolution. The museum opened on 10 August 1793, the first anniversary of the monarchy's demise. The public was given free access on three days per week, which was "perceived as a major accomplishment and was generally appreciated". The collection showcased 537 paintings and 184 objects of art. Three quarters were derived from the royal collections, the remainder from confiscated émigrés and Church property (biens nationaux). In 1794, France's revolutionary armies began bringing pieces from across Europe, such as Laocoön and His Sons and the Apollo Belvedere, to establish the Louvre as a museum and as a "sign of popular sovereignty". The early days were hectic; artists lived in residence, and the unlabelled paintings hung "frame to frame from floor to ceiling" The building itself closed in May 1796 because of structural deficiencies. It reopened on 14 July 1801, arranged chronologically and with new lighting and columns. During World War II the museum removed most of the art and hid valuable pieces. On 27 August 1939, after two days of packing, truck convoys began to leave Paris. By 28 December, the museum was cleared of most works, except those that were too heavy and "unimportant paintings [that] were left in the basement". In early 1945, after the liberation of France, art began returning to the Louvre. In 1983, French President François Mitterrand proposed the Grand Louvre plan to renovate the building and relocate the Finance Ministry, allowing displays throughout the building. Architect I. M. Pei was awarded the project and proposed a glass pyramid to stand over a new entrance in the main court, the Cour Napoléon. The pyramid and its underground lobby were inaugurated on 15 October 1988. The second phase of the Grand Louvre plan, La Pyramide Inversée (The Inverted Pyramid), was completed in 1993. The Musée du Louvre contains more than 380,000 objects and displays 35,000 works of art in eight curatorial departments with more than 60,600 square metres (652,000 sq ft) dedicated to the permanent collection. The Louvre exhibits sculptures, objets d'art, paintings, drawings, and archaeological finds. It is the world's most visited museum, averaging 15,000 visitors per day, 65 percent of whom are tourists. In popular culture, the Louvre was a point of interest in the book The Da Vinci Code and the 2006 film based on the book. The museum earned $2.5 million by allowing filming in its galleries. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mus%C3%A9e_du_Louvre
Moon Over Manifest by Clare Vanderpool has won the 2011 Newbery Medal. The award was presented January 10 at the Midwinter Meeting of the American Library Association in San Diego, California. The John Newbery Medal goes to the "most distinguished contribution to American literature for children," according to the ALA website. The medal awardee is selected by a committee of library professionals from around the country who are members of the ALA. The book is Ms. Vanderpool's first novel and is published by Random House Children's Books. Four 2011 Newbery Honor books were also recognized: Turtle in Paradise, by Jennifer L. Holm, Heart of a Samurai, by Margi Preus, Dark Emperor and Other Poems of the Night, written by Joyce Sidman, illustrated by Rick Allen, One Crazy Summer, by Rita Williams-Garcia
http://www.examiner.com/literature-in-national/newbery-medal-2011-goes-to-moon-over-manifest-by-clare-vanderpool
Net Neutrality (also known as Network Neutrality or Internet neutrality) is all about creating a neutral internet. The term supports the view that Internet traffic should be treated equally. The term also backs that internet should be an open platform like any other utility used in our home like electricity as Internet has already become part and parcel of our lives and has been indispensable. Net Neutrality advocates no restrictions by Internet service providers (ISPs) and governments on content, sites, platforms, the kinds of equipment that may be attached, and the modes of communication. The proponents of Net Neutrality claim that telecom companies seek to impose a tiered service model in order to control the pipeline and thereby remove competition, create artificial scarcity, and oblige subscribers to buy their otherwise uncompetitive services. On the other hand, critics of net neutrality – mainly ISPs – argue that prioritization of bandwidth is necessary for future innovation on the Internet. http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/96852/20110103/what-is-net-neutrality-what-does-this-mean-to-you.htm
What we venerate as the Liberty Bell is actually a replica. After the original bell, which had been sent from London, cracked upon testing, two Philadelphia artisans melted it down and recast it in 1753, then recast it again to get better sound from it. If Philadelphia's founding fathers had had their way, the now treasured relic would have been melted down a third time seven decades later and sold for scrap metal. That means the symbol of American patriotism that ultimately became second in importance only to the Stars and Stripes narrowly missed the scrap heap at least once — and possibly two more times, since it was also threatened during aborted plans in 1812 and 1816 to demolish Independence Hall, the site where the Declaration of Independence was signed and the bell's home. The story begins in 1751, when Pennsylvania leaders commissioned an English foundry to cast a bell for the State House, the meeting place for legislators in Philadelphia, then the capital of the America colony. It's still not clear why the first crack appeared. After melting it down, a pair of local metallurgists recast the bell, adding more copper. Instead of a melodious tone, the second bell sounded "a discouraging thud," so they recast it again, never realizing that their alloy adjustments and recastings would sap the bell's strength and leave it vulnerable to another cracking. Initially, the bell's renown rested on a fabricated distinction: that it tolled on July 4, 1776, for the first reading of the Declaration of Independence. It took four days to typeset and print the document, so the Declaration was not published until July 8, 1776. It was extensive road trips that endeared the Liberty Bell to the nation. Beginning with the New Orleans World Industrial and Cotton Exposition in 1885, the bell traveled more than 10,000 miles to fairs, exhibitions and commemorations via railroad. Initially targeting communities south of the Mason-Dixon line, the trips were designed to "bind the nation's wounds and complete the process of reconciliation following the Civil War." Eventually, promoters used the bell to draw attendance to such events as the Chicago World's Columbian Exposition in 1893, St. Louis' Louisiana Purchase Exposition in 1904, San Francisco's Panama-Pacific International Exposition in 1915 and San Diego's Panama-California Exposition, also in 1915. The pilgrimages ended up lengthening the bell's crack by 17 inches, necessitating the introduction of the two stabilizing plugs (technically called "spiders"), but they cemented the bell's fame. At towns where the train could not afford the time to stop during the night, people lit huge bonfires so that the throngs could see the Liberty Bell as it majestically rumbled through their towns. Not that there aren't enough Liberty Bells to go around. From Berlin to Knott's Berry Farm, there are more than six dozen full-sized replicas that have been cast over the years. One disappeared while touring Russia in the early 1900s; it is said to have been melted down by Bolsheviks for weapons in the 1917 revolution. http://newsroom.ucla.edu/portal/ucla/new-ucla-book-tells-complex-surprising-159651.aspx
From Mistress of Justice, a novel by Jeffery Deaver
To play teeth means to play keyboard.
PR firms hired by new York developers called Hell's Kitchen Clinton.
Wall paint looking unfinished as if painters and primed and sanded only is called pickling, an eighteenth century technique.
Rochelle, New York is named after La Rochelle, France.
Theater is the key to litigation: no logic, a little law, a lot of personality, and considerable theater.
Star Chamber was a medieval English court.
ligneous (LIG-nee-uhs) adjective Having the texture or appearance of wood. From Latin lignum (wood). Ultimately from the Indo-European root leg- (to collect), which is also the source of lexicon, legal, dialogue, lecture, logic, legend, logarithm, intelligent, diligent, sacrilege, elect, and loyal. Earliest documented use: 1626.
primrose path (PRIM-rohz path) noun 1. An easy life, especially devoted to sensual pleasure. 2. A path of least resistance, especially one that ends in disaster. From Latin prima rosa (first rose). Earliest documented use: 1604.
It's not clear why "primrose" was picked for naming this metaphorical path. Perhaps Shakespeare chose the word for alliteration -- the word is first attested in his Hamlet where Ophelia says to her brother Laertes:
"Do not, as some ungracious pastors do,
Show me the steep and thorny way to heaven,
Whilst, like a puff'd and reckless libertine,
Himself the primrose path of dalliance treads, A.Word.A.Day with Anu Garg
The Westboro Baptist Church, which is at the center of one of the biggest free-speech cases at the Supreme Court in recent years, is now making a stir in Arizona with its plan to picket the funeral of the 9-year-old girl killed in Tucson Saturday. The Arizona state legislature is weighing an emergency bill to prohibit pickets near funeral sites, according to the Associated Press. State Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, a Democrat, said the law would be modeled on an Ohio law that says people can’t picket within 300 feet of a funeral. The Ohio law was upheld in 2008 by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. Click for that opinion. http://www.ca6.uscourts.gov/opinions.pdf/08a0312p-06.pdf In the Supreme Court case, the issue is whether the father of a fallen Marine can sue the Topeka, Kan., church for damages after it celebrated his son’s death with vulgar funeral pickets and a crude online attack. The Supreme Court held arguments in October. http://blogs.wsj.com/law/2011/01/11/arizona-mulling-law-to-keep-church-from-picketing-another-funeral/?mod=djemlawblog_h
Thursday, January 13, 2011
Tuesday, January 11, 2011
Czech novelist Bohumil Hrabal’s “Dancing Lessons for the Advanced in Age” (1964) unfurls as a single, sometimes maddening sentence that ends after 117 pages without a period. Hrabal wasn’t the first to attempt the Very Long Sentence. The Polish novelist Jerzy Andrzejewski went even longer in “The Gates of Paradise” (1960), weaving several voices into a lurid and majestic 158-page run-on. (The novel actually consists of two sentences, the final one a mere five words long.) The most famous mega-sentence in literature comes at the end of the book, not the beginning. Molly Bloom’s monologue from “Ulysses” (1922) —36 pages in the thinly margined, micro-fonted 1986 single-volume corrected text (and actually two long sentences, thanks to an often-overlooked period 17 pages in) — sets an impossibly high standard for the art of the run-on.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/26/books/review/Park-t.html?_r=1
The Looming Cable Monopoly, by Susan P. Crawford, 12/16/2010, vol. 29 Yale Law & Policy Review On March 9, 2010, the city of Alexandria, Virginia received a letter from Verizon. The letter, signed by Verizon’s Virginia president, Robert Woltz, said that Verizon would not be installing FiOS services in Alexandria. The mayor of Alexandria, William Euille, was disheartened: The city council had already awarded Verizon a contract to install fiber service and had spent hundreds of thousands of dollars negotiating a cable franchise agreement with the company. Verizon, for its part, declared that it was suspending FiOS franchise expansion around the country. Just one week later, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) rolled out its National Broadband Plan. The Plan, which was based on the assumption that “broadband is a foundation for economic growth, job creation, global competitiveness and a better way of life,” and was said by the FCC to be “lay[ing] out a bold roadmap to America’s future,” made a host of detailed recommendations. These recommendations focused largely on making more spectrum available for wireless broadband use, and reforming the nation’s Universal Service Fund. The Plan did not discuss net neutrality or competition policy. http://yalelawandpolicy.org/29/the-looming-cable-monopoly
The abundance of four common species of bumblebee in the US has dropped by 96% in just the past few decades, according to the most comprehensive national census of the insects. Scientists said the alarming decline, which could have devastating implications for the pollination of both wild and farmed plants, was likely to be a result of disease and low genetic diversity in bee populations. Bumblebees are important pollinators of wild plants and agricultural crops around the world including tomatoes and berries thanks to their large body size, long tongues, and high-frequency buzzing, which helps release pollen from flowers. Bees in general pollinate some 90% of the world's commercial plants, including most fruits, vegetables and nuts. Coffee, soya beans and cotton are all dependent on pollination by bees to increase yields. It is the start of a food chain that also sustains wild birds and animals. http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/jan/03/bumblebees-study-us-decline
Most pronouns involve a complete change of the word to create a possessive form. One example of this is the possessive form of “You”, which is changed to “Your”. Likewise beginning for the basic pronoun “it” the possessive form is created by adding only an “s” to make “its”. Contractions are the combining of multiple words into one using an apostrophe (‘). This is what occurs in the word “it’s”. Two separate words are combined. The words “it” and “is” are combined with an apostrophe to create the shortened word, or contraction, “it’s”. http://www.differencebetween.net/language/difference-between-its-and-its/ Before you send something with "it's" ask yourself if it means "it is"--if not, remove the apostrophe.
Centralized, streamlined means of searching multiple National Archives resources at once The Online Public Access prototype is our first step to providing a single search to our records from several of our current systems, including the Archival Research Catalog (ARC), Access to Archival Databases (AAD), Archives.gov, and the Electronic Records Archive (ERA). As part of the National Archives' flagship initiative in our Open Government Plan, our new search is intended to make the permanent records of the federal government easier to find online. We would like to hear your comments about Online Public Access. Contact us at search@nara.gov. http://www.archives.gov/research/search/
The pattern of contraction for verbs and the negative adverb not is very regular in most instances. You first right the contraction, then the n of not, then an apostrophe, followed by the t of not. This is true for all of the following examples: isn’t, aren’t, wasn’t, weren’t, hasn’t, haven’t, hadn’t, can’t, couldn’t, don’t, doesn’t, didn’t, mayn’t, mightn’t, shouldn’t, wouldn’t, mustn’t, oughtn’t, daren’t, and needn’t. There are only two of the most frequently used verb + negative adverb examples that don’t work like this: shan’t and won’t. http://www.educationbug.org/a/won-t-and-will-not.html
An example of a contraction is "jack-o'-lantern"--the apostrophe takes the place of the missing "f" in "of." See charts of contractions: be, will would, have and had; words negating a verb; double contractions and "odd ones" such as o'clock. http://www.enchantedlearning.com/grammar/contractions/
NAPS, or North American Precis Syndicate, distributes feature releases for more than 750 companies, including Nokia, IBM, GM, and SINGER; nonprofit associations, such as the Multiple Sclerosis Society and Boys Town USA; and government agencies such as the Department of Transportation, and the Centers for Disease Control. Our publication, Featurettes/News To Use, is filled with consumer news items that can be easily incorporated into special sections or features and lifestyles pages. The CDC and the AMA, for example, contribute timely health stories on food, safety for children, or cutting edge medical technology and techniques; experts write about home maintenance and decor; home economists at General Foods send recipes; and financial gurus at such companies as Primerica (a member of citigroup) offer advice on investing and money management. The material is timely, ACCURATE, and double-and-triple-checked by our editors. More than 7,000 dailies, weeklies, shoppers, monthlies, and dotcoms now use Featurettes as a convenient and easily accessible way to fill up holes in the copy, or to pick-and-choose solid background text and art. http://www.napsnet.com/index.html
The Federal Assault Weapons Ban (AWB) (or Public Safety and Recreational Firearms Use Protection Act) was a subtitle of the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994, a federal law in the United States that included a prohibition on the sale to civilians of certain semi-automatic firearms, so called "assault weapons." There was no legal definition of "assault weapons" in the U.S. prior to the law's enactment. The 10-year ban was passed by Congress on Sept. 13, 1994, and was signed into law by President Bill Clinton the same day. The ban only applied to weapons manufactured after the date of the ban's enactment. The Federal Assault Weapons Ban expired Sept. 13, 2004, as part of the law's sunset provision. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_Assault_Weapons_Ban
Gun laws in the United States vary from state to state and are independent of, though sometimes broader or more limited in scope than, existing federal firearms laws. Some U.S. states have also created assault weapon bans that are independent of, though often similar to, the expired federal assault weapons ban. The state level bans vary significantly in their form, content, and level of restriction. See laws by each state at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gun_(Firearm)_laws_in_the_United_States_(by_state)
In the wake of the deadly shooting rampage that targeted Democratic Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and killed six others, Rep. Carolyn McCarthy, D-N.Y., and Sen. Frank Lautenberg, D-N.J., plan to introduce legislation to limit high-capacity magazine clips that allow shooters to fire a large number of rounds without reloading. McCarthy is one of the most outspoken advocates for gun control in Congress, having run for office after her husband was killed and her son seriously injured in a 1993 Long Island shooting. The man who killed her husband -- like the gunman in the attack on Giffords -- used a high-capacity clip. There had been a moratorium on these clips under the federal assault-weapons ban that expired in 2004. “We're looking at how we’re going to tweak this to make sure we can try and get this banned again,” she told National Journal, “so what happened in Arizona ... the amount of bullets he was able to get off in seconds, can’t happen again.” Lautenberg said he is working with McCarthy's office and will introduce legislation to prohibit the manufacture and sale of high-capacity clips in the Senate when it returns in two weeks. The suspect in the Arizona shootings, Jared Loughner, reportedly used a high-capacity, 33-round magazine clip in his Glock 19 pistol, allowing him to fire up to 33 bullets without manually reloading. "Given that bystanders apprehended him as he attempted to change clips, if Loughner did not have access to the high-capacity magazine that he used, it may have prevented some of the other deaths and injuries that occurred," Lautenberg said in a statement. "The only reason to have 33 bullets loaded in a handgun is to kill a lot of people very quickly. These high-capacity clips simply should not be on the market," Lautenberg added. http://www.nationaljournal.com/nationalsecurity/mccarthy-lautenberg-planning-to-introduce-gun-control-legislation-20110110
Wholesale Market Data
Released: December 30, 2010 Next Release: January 13, 2011 Wholesale electric power price and volume information is now available. Daily volumes, high and low prices, and weighted average prices are posted for six major electricity trading hubs around the country from 2001 forward.
http://www.eia.gov/cneaf/electricity/wholesale/wholesale.html
December Petroleum Supply Monthly with data for October 2010
Released: December 30, 2010 next release: January 28, 2011 Supply and disposition of crude oil and petroleum products on a national and regional level. The data series describe production, imports and exports, movements and inventories. http://www.eia.gov/oil_gas/petroleum/data_publications/petroleum_supply_monthly/psm.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/26/books/review/Park-t.html?_r=1
The Looming Cable Monopoly, by Susan P. Crawford, 12/16/2010, vol. 29 Yale Law & Policy Review On March 9, 2010, the city of Alexandria, Virginia received a letter from Verizon. The letter, signed by Verizon’s Virginia president, Robert Woltz, said that Verizon would not be installing FiOS services in Alexandria. The mayor of Alexandria, William Euille, was disheartened: The city council had already awarded Verizon a contract to install fiber service and had spent hundreds of thousands of dollars negotiating a cable franchise agreement with the company. Verizon, for its part, declared that it was suspending FiOS franchise expansion around the country. Just one week later, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) rolled out its National Broadband Plan. The Plan, which was based on the assumption that “broadband is a foundation for economic growth, job creation, global competitiveness and a better way of life,” and was said by the FCC to be “lay[ing] out a bold roadmap to America’s future,” made a host of detailed recommendations. These recommendations focused largely on making more spectrum available for wireless broadband use, and reforming the nation’s Universal Service Fund. The Plan did not discuss net neutrality or competition policy. http://yalelawandpolicy.org/29/the-looming-cable-monopoly
The abundance of four common species of bumblebee in the US has dropped by 96% in just the past few decades, according to the most comprehensive national census of the insects. Scientists said the alarming decline, which could have devastating implications for the pollination of both wild and farmed plants, was likely to be a result of disease and low genetic diversity in bee populations. Bumblebees are important pollinators of wild plants and agricultural crops around the world including tomatoes and berries thanks to their large body size, long tongues, and high-frequency buzzing, which helps release pollen from flowers. Bees in general pollinate some 90% of the world's commercial plants, including most fruits, vegetables and nuts. Coffee, soya beans and cotton are all dependent on pollination by bees to increase yields. It is the start of a food chain that also sustains wild birds and animals. http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/jan/03/bumblebees-study-us-decline
Most pronouns involve a complete change of the word to create a possessive form. One example of this is the possessive form of “You”, which is changed to “Your”. Likewise beginning for the basic pronoun “it” the possessive form is created by adding only an “s” to make “its”. Contractions are the combining of multiple words into one using an apostrophe (‘). This is what occurs in the word “it’s”. Two separate words are combined. The words “it” and “is” are combined with an apostrophe to create the shortened word, or contraction, “it’s”. http://www.differencebetween.net/language/difference-between-its-and-its/ Before you send something with "it's" ask yourself if it means "it is"--if not, remove the apostrophe.
Centralized, streamlined means of searching multiple National Archives resources at once The Online Public Access prototype is our first step to providing a single search to our records from several of our current systems, including the Archival Research Catalog (ARC), Access to Archival Databases (AAD), Archives.gov, and the Electronic Records Archive (ERA). As part of the National Archives' flagship initiative in our Open Government Plan, our new search is intended to make the permanent records of the federal government easier to find online. We would like to hear your comments about Online Public Access. Contact us at search@nara.gov. http://www.archives.gov/research/search/
The pattern of contraction for verbs and the negative adverb not is very regular in most instances. You first right the contraction, then the n of not, then an apostrophe, followed by the t of not. This is true for all of the following examples: isn’t, aren’t, wasn’t, weren’t, hasn’t, haven’t, hadn’t, can’t, couldn’t, don’t, doesn’t, didn’t, mayn’t, mightn’t, shouldn’t, wouldn’t, mustn’t, oughtn’t, daren’t, and needn’t. There are only two of the most frequently used verb + negative adverb examples that don’t work like this: shan’t and won’t. http://www.educationbug.org/a/won-t-and-will-not.html
An example of a contraction is "jack-o'-lantern"--the apostrophe takes the place of the missing "f" in "of." See charts of contractions: be, will would, have and had; words negating a verb; double contractions and "odd ones" such as o'clock. http://www.enchantedlearning.com/grammar/contractions/
NAPS, or North American Precis Syndicate, distributes feature releases for more than 750 companies, including Nokia, IBM, GM, and SINGER; nonprofit associations, such as the Multiple Sclerosis Society and Boys Town USA; and government agencies such as the Department of Transportation, and the Centers for Disease Control. Our publication, Featurettes/News To Use, is filled with consumer news items that can be easily incorporated into special sections or features and lifestyles pages. The CDC and the AMA, for example, contribute timely health stories on food, safety for children, or cutting edge medical technology and techniques; experts write about home maintenance and decor; home economists at General Foods send recipes; and financial gurus at such companies as Primerica (a member of citigroup) offer advice on investing and money management. The material is timely, ACCURATE, and double-and-triple-checked by our editors. More than 7,000 dailies, weeklies, shoppers, monthlies, and dotcoms now use Featurettes as a convenient and easily accessible way to fill up holes in the copy, or to pick-and-choose solid background text and art. http://www.napsnet.com/index.html
The Federal Assault Weapons Ban (AWB) (or Public Safety and Recreational Firearms Use Protection Act) was a subtitle of the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994, a federal law in the United States that included a prohibition on the sale to civilians of certain semi-automatic firearms, so called "assault weapons." There was no legal definition of "assault weapons" in the U.S. prior to the law's enactment. The 10-year ban was passed by Congress on Sept. 13, 1994, and was signed into law by President Bill Clinton the same day. The ban only applied to weapons manufactured after the date of the ban's enactment. The Federal Assault Weapons Ban expired Sept. 13, 2004, as part of the law's sunset provision. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_Assault_Weapons_Ban
Gun laws in the United States vary from state to state and are independent of, though sometimes broader or more limited in scope than, existing federal firearms laws. Some U.S. states have also created assault weapon bans that are independent of, though often similar to, the expired federal assault weapons ban. The state level bans vary significantly in their form, content, and level of restriction. See laws by each state at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gun_(Firearm)_laws_in_the_United_States_(by_state)
In the wake of the deadly shooting rampage that targeted Democratic Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and killed six others, Rep. Carolyn McCarthy, D-N.Y., and Sen. Frank Lautenberg, D-N.J., plan to introduce legislation to limit high-capacity magazine clips that allow shooters to fire a large number of rounds without reloading. McCarthy is one of the most outspoken advocates for gun control in Congress, having run for office after her husband was killed and her son seriously injured in a 1993 Long Island shooting. The man who killed her husband -- like the gunman in the attack on Giffords -- used a high-capacity clip. There had been a moratorium on these clips under the federal assault-weapons ban that expired in 2004. “We're looking at how we’re going to tweak this to make sure we can try and get this banned again,” she told National Journal, “so what happened in Arizona ... the amount of bullets he was able to get off in seconds, can’t happen again.” Lautenberg said he is working with McCarthy's office and will introduce legislation to prohibit the manufacture and sale of high-capacity clips in the Senate when it returns in two weeks. The suspect in the Arizona shootings, Jared Loughner, reportedly used a high-capacity, 33-round magazine clip in his Glock 19 pistol, allowing him to fire up to 33 bullets without manually reloading. "Given that bystanders apprehended him as he attempted to change clips, if Loughner did not have access to the high-capacity magazine that he used, it may have prevented some of the other deaths and injuries that occurred," Lautenberg said in a statement. "The only reason to have 33 bullets loaded in a handgun is to kill a lot of people very quickly. These high-capacity clips simply should not be on the market," Lautenberg added. http://www.nationaljournal.com/nationalsecurity/mccarthy-lautenberg-planning-to-introduce-gun-control-legislation-20110110
Wholesale Market Data
Released: December 30, 2010 Next Release: January 13, 2011 Wholesale electric power price and volume information is now available. Daily volumes, high and low prices, and weighted average prices are posted for six major electricity trading hubs around the country from 2001 forward.
http://www.eia.gov/cneaf/electricity/wholesale/wholesale.html
December Petroleum Supply Monthly with data for October 2010
Released: December 30, 2010 next release: January 28, 2011 Supply and disposition of crude oil and petroleum products on a national and regional level. The data series describe production, imports and exports, movements and inventories. http://www.eia.gov/oil_gas/petroleum/data_publications/petroleum_supply_monthly/psm.html
Monday, January 10, 2011
Q: Received this from a friend and wanted to know why it hasn't been in the paper. A: Your attachment is about actor Denzel Washington's visit "the other day" to the Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio, Texas. That day was Dec. 17, 2004. The e-mail, which occasionally surfaces as new, claims the media deliberately ignored Washington's spontaneous donation to build an entire Fisher House, a refuge near the hospital where wounded soldiers' families can stay. "He took his checkbook out and wrote a check for the full amount right there on the spot," it says. "The soldiers overseas were amazed to hear this story and want to get the word out to the American public..." The e-mail also contrasts other actors' "anti-everything-American trash" with "Washington's patriotism," which, it says, "doesn't even make Page 3 in the metro section of any newspaper except the local newspaper in San Antonio." David Coker, president of Fisher House, confirmed Washington made a "sizable donation" to the charity, but it was several months after his visit and "not enough to build a new Fisher House," according to Veterans Today. "The persistence of the legend suggests that some people want to believe it's true, so they can blame the news media and movie industry for short-changing 'the soldiers overseas,'" said Robert Rivard, editor of The Express-News of San Antonio. "...Instead of inciting anger, the myth and the true story behind it could be used to support the troops by promoting the Fisher House Foundation...," he said. Washington's visit probably did not make bigger news because celebrities often visit wounded servicemen. The Courier did not carry a story on it. -- Veterans Today, Fisher House, Peter Mattiace.
Q: Why is Ohio called a "state" and Pennsylvania is called a "commonwealth"? A: Pennsylvania, Kentucky, Virginia and Massachusetts call themselves commonwealths, a term that dates from colonial times. It means nothing legally. The Constitution recognizes all as states. -- Various sources, Peter Mattiace. http://www.thecourier.com/Opinion/columns/2010/Jan/JU/ar_JU_010310.asp?d=010310,2010,Jan,03&c=c_13
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From: James Lee Subject: charivari This word will recall for some of your readers the great satirical magazine Punch or the London Charivari, first published in 1841. There was also a French satirical review Le Charivari, which was published between 1832 and 1937. It was a very sad day for many of us when Punch ceased publication in 2002.
From: Claudine Voelcker Subject: charivari Being French, I'm very familiar with the first meaning of charivari: hullabaloo. When I came to live in Bavaria I learnt about another, sometimes very impressive one. The Charivari is a chain provided with hunting charms and coins men and women wear with their traditional costume. Some of them are real gems! And of course, they are all to be earned or at the most inherited. You're not supposed to buy them. Oh, and there's a Munich-based radio station named Charivari.
From: Roy Reese Subject: charivari Where I grew up in northeast Pennsylvania the noisy "serenading" and tricking of newlyweds was referred to as a skimmelton and in upstate New York a horning. The latter may refer to its presumed other use for "cheating" spouses -- although this was never mentioned. From: Tandy Beal Subject: charivari Having directed circuses around the world, I can let you know there is another meaning: it is often the opening act of a circus when all the performers come out and do a whiz bang wild polyphonic acrobatic welcome to the audience. It's a visual pots and pans loudness! From: Art Wegweiser Subject: sinister As a paleontologist and professor I sometime take delight when I point out in class that the coiling direction of many organisms is either sinistral or dextral. Then I reveal that left handed people were once considered evil and that, not too long ago, all children were forced to write with their right hand. In some parts of the world (and still today) thieves had their left hands chopped off.
From: Meredith McQuoid Subject: sinister Students of organic chemistry encounter this word when learning about chirality i.e., orientation of atoms within asymmetric molecules. In one naming convention, orientation of the molecule can be denoted with the letter prefix R for recto or S for sinister, depending on the right- or left-handedness of the arrangement of atoms. This was important for chemists to discover because substances of identical constituents but differing chiralities can behave differently in how they bond with other substances. This can, for example, significantly affect how a drug performs.
From the Whole Grains Council
Amaranth (Amaranthus spp.) was a staple of Aztec culture, until Cortez, in an effort to destroy that civilization, decreed that anyone growing the crop would be put to death. Seeds were smuggled out to Asia, where local dialects referred to Amaranth as "king seed" and "seed sent by God" as a tribute to its taste and sustenance.
Barley (Hordeum vulgare) is one of the oldest cultivated grains. Egyptians buried mummies with necklaces of barley, and centuries later In 1324 Edward II of England standardized the inch as equal to “three grains of barley, dry and round, placed end to end lengthwise." It is a highly-adaptable crop, growing north of the Arctic circle and as far south as Ethiopia.
Buckwheat (Fagopyrum esculentum) goes way beyond the pancake mixes we associate with it. Japan’s soba noodles, Brittany’s crêpes and Russia’s kasha are all made with buckwheat. Botanically, buckwheat is a cousin of rhubarb, not technically a grain at all – and certainly not a kind of wheat.
Farro/Emmer (Triticum turgidum dicoccum), an ancient strain of wheat, was one of the first cereals ever domesticated in the Fertile Crescent, and centuries later, it served as the standard daily ration of the Roman legions. But over the centuries, emmer was gradually abandoned in favor of durum wheat, which is easier to hull. Teff (Eragrostis tef), a type of millet, is the principal source of nutrition for over two-thirds of Ethiopians, who make it into the ubiquitous spongy injera flatbread. Teff grains are minute – just 1/150 the size of wheat kernels – giving rise to the grain’s name, which comes from teffa, meaning “lost” in Amharic. Read much more at: http://www.wholegrainscouncil.org/whole-grains-101/whole-grains-a-to-z
The Declaration of Independence, part three After the signing ceremony on August 2, 1776, the Declaration was most likely filed in Philadelphia in the office of Charles Thomson, who served as the Secretary of the Continental Congress from 1774 to 1789. On December 12, threatened by the British, Congress adjourned and reconvened 8 days later in Baltimore, MD. A light wagon carried the Declaration to its new home, where it remained until its return to Philadelphia in March of 1777. Assuming that the Declaration moved with the Congress, it would have been back in Philadelphia from March to September 1777. On September 27, it would have moved to Lancaster, PA, for 1 day only. From September 30, 1777, through June 1778, the Declaration would have been kept in the courthouse at York, PA. From July 1778 to June 1783, it would have had a long stay back in Philadelphia. In 1783, it would have been at Princeton, NJ, from June to November, and then, after the signing of the Treaty of Paris, the Declaration would have been moved to Annapolis, MD, where it stayed until October 1784. For the months of November and December 1784, it would have been at Trenton, NJ. Then in 1785, when Congress met in New York, the Declaration was housed in the old New York City Hall, where it probably remained until 1790 (although when Pierre L'Enfant was remodeling the building for the convening of the First Federal Congress, it might have been temporarily removed). In July 1790 Congress provided for a permanent capital to be built among the woodlands and swamps bordering the Potomac River. Meanwhile, the temporary seat of government was to return to Philadelphia. Congress also provided that "prior to the first Monday in December next, all offices attached to the seat of the government of the United States" should be removed to Philadelphia. The Declaration was therefore back in Philadelphia by the close of 1790. It was housed in various buildings--on Market Street, at Arch and Sixth, and at Fifth and Chestnut. In 1800, by direction of President John Adams, the Declaration and other government records were moved from Philadelphia to the new federal capital now rising in the District of Columbia. To reach its new home, the Declaration traveled down the Delaware River and Bay, out into the ocean, into the Chesapeake Bay, and up the Potomac to Washington, completing its longest water journey. For about 2 months the Declaration was housed in buildings built for the use of the Treasury Department. For the next year it was housed in one of the "Seven Buildings" then standing at Nineteenth Street and Pennsylvania Avenue. Its third home before 1814 was in the old War Office Building on Seventeenth Street. In August 1814, the United States being again at war with Great Britain, a British fleet appeared in the Chesapeake Bay. Secretary of State James Monroe rode out to observe the landing of British forces along the Patuxent River in Maryland. A message from Monroe alerted State Department officials, in particular a clerk named Stephen Pleasonton, of the imminent threat to the capital city and, of course, the government's official records. Pleasonton "proceeded to purchase coarse linen, and cause it to be made into bags of convenient size, in which the gentlemen of the office" packed the precious books and records including the Declaration. A cartload of records was then taken up the Potomac River to an unused gristmill belonging to Edgar Patterson. The structure was located on the Virginia side of the Potomac, about 2 miles upstream from Georgetown. Here the Declaration and the other records remained, probably overnight. Pleasonton, meanwhile, asked neighboring farmers for the use of their wagons. On August 24, the day of the British attack on Washington, the Declaration was on its way to Leesburg, VA. That evening, while the White House and other government buildings were burning, the Declaration was stored 35 miles away at Leesburg. The Declaration remained safe at a private home in Leesburg for an interval of several weeks--in fact, until the British had withdrawn their troops from Washington and their fleet from the Chesapeake Bay. In September 1814 the Declaration was returned to the national capital. With the exception of a trip to Philadelphia for the Centennial and to Fort Knox during World War II, it has remained there ever since. http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/charters/print_friendly.html?page=declaration_history_content.html&title=Declaration%20of%20Independence%3A%20A%20Transcription
Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.), shot on January 8, was among a group of Democratic House candidates featured on the Web site of Sarah Palin’s political action committee with cross hairs over their districts, a fact that disturbed Ms. Giffords at the time. “We’re on Sarah Palin’s targeted list,” Ms. Giffords said last March. “But the thing is the way that she has it depicted has the cross hairs of a gun sight over our district. When people do that, they’ve got to realize there’s consequences to that.” The image is no longer on the Web site, and Ms. Palin posted a statement saying “my sincere condolences are offered to the family of Representative Gabrielle Giffords and the other victims of today’s tragic shooting in Arizona. On behalf of Todd and my family, we all pray for the victims and their families, and for peace and justice.” (Late on the day of the shooting, the map was still on Ms. Palin’s Facebook page.) The House was set to vote January 12 on the new Republican majority’s proposal to repeal the health care law that had energized their supporters and ignited opposition from the Tea Party movement. Representative Eric Cantor of Virginia, the new majority leader, said that the vote and other planned legislative activity would be postponed. The original health care legislation stirred strong feelings that flared at angry town hall meetings held by many Democratic lawmakers during the summer of 2009. And there has been broader anger and suspicion rising about the government, its finances and its goals, with the discourse partially fueled by talk shows and Web sites.http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/09/us/politics/09capital.html
Q: Why is Ohio called a "state" and Pennsylvania is called a "commonwealth"? A: Pennsylvania, Kentucky, Virginia and Massachusetts call themselves commonwealths, a term that dates from colonial times. It means nothing legally. The Constitution recognizes all as states. -- Various sources, Peter Mattiace. http://www.thecourier.com/Opinion/columns/2010/Jan/JU/ar_JU_010310.asp?d=010310,2010,Jan,03&c=c_13
Feedback to A.Word.A.Day
From: James Lee Subject: charivari This word will recall for some of your readers the great satirical magazine Punch or the London Charivari, first published in 1841. There was also a French satirical review Le Charivari, which was published between 1832 and 1937. It was a very sad day for many of us when Punch ceased publication in 2002.
From: Claudine Voelcker Subject: charivari Being French, I'm very familiar with the first meaning of charivari: hullabaloo. When I came to live in Bavaria I learnt about another, sometimes very impressive one. The Charivari is a chain provided with hunting charms and coins men and women wear with their traditional costume. Some of them are real gems! And of course, they are all to be earned or at the most inherited. You're not supposed to buy them. Oh, and there's a Munich-based radio station named Charivari.
From: Roy Reese Subject: charivari Where I grew up in northeast Pennsylvania the noisy "serenading" and tricking of newlyweds was referred to as a skimmelton and in upstate New York a horning. The latter may refer to its presumed other use for "cheating" spouses -- although this was never mentioned. From: Tandy Beal Subject: charivari Having directed circuses around the world, I can let you know there is another meaning: it is often the opening act of a circus when all the performers come out and do a whiz bang wild polyphonic acrobatic welcome to the audience. It's a visual pots and pans loudness! From: Art Wegweiser Subject: sinister As a paleontologist and professor I sometime take delight when I point out in class that the coiling direction of many organisms is either sinistral or dextral. Then I reveal that left handed people were once considered evil and that, not too long ago, all children were forced to write with their right hand. In some parts of the world (and still today) thieves had their left hands chopped off.
From: Meredith McQuoid Subject: sinister Students of organic chemistry encounter this word when learning about chirality i.e., orientation of atoms within asymmetric molecules. In one naming convention, orientation of the molecule can be denoted with the letter prefix R for recto or S for sinister, depending on the right- or left-handedness of the arrangement of atoms. This was important for chemists to discover because substances of identical constituents but differing chiralities can behave differently in how they bond with other substances. This can, for example, significantly affect how a drug performs.
From the Whole Grains Council
Amaranth (Amaranthus spp.) was a staple of Aztec culture, until Cortez, in an effort to destroy that civilization, decreed that anyone growing the crop would be put to death. Seeds were smuggled out to Asia, where local dialects referred to Amaranth as "king seed" and "seed sent by God" as a tribute to its taste and sustenance.
Barley (Hordeum vulgare) is one of the oldest cultivated grains. Egyptians buried mummies with necklaces of barley, and centuries later In 1324 Edward II of England standardized the inch as equal to “three grains of barley, dry and round, placed end to end lengthwise." It is a highly-adaptable crop, growing north of the Arctic circle and as far south as Ethiopia.
Buckwheat (Fagopyrum esculentum) goes way beyond the pancake mixes we associate with it. Japan’s soba noodles, Brittany’s crêpes and Russia’s kasha are all made with buckwheat. Botanically, buckwheat is a cousin of rhubarb, not technically a grain at all – and certainly not a kind of wheat.
Farro/Emmer (Triticum turgidum dicoccum), an ancient strain of wheat, was one of the first cereals ever domesticated in the Fertile Crescent, and centuries later, it served as the standard daily ration of the Roman legions. But over the centuries, emmer was gradually abandoned in favor of durum wheat, which is easier to hull. Teff (Eragrostis tef), a type of millet, is the principal source of nutrition for over two-thirds of Ethiopians, who make it into the ubiquitous spongy injera flatbread. Teff grains are minute – just 1/150 the size of wheat kernels – giving rise to the grain’s name, which comes from teffa, meaning “lost” in Amharic. Read much more at: http://www.wholegrainscouncil.org/whole-grains-101/whole-grains-a-to-z
The Declaration of Independence, part three After the signing ceremony on August 2, 1776, the Declaration was most likely filed in Philadelphia in the office of Charles Thomson, who served as the Secretary of the Continental Congress from 1774 to 1789. On December 12, threatened by the British, Congress adjourned and reconvened 8 days later in Baltimore, MD. A light wagon carried the Declaration to its new home, where it remained until its return to Philadelphia in March of 1777. Assuming that the Declaration moved with the Congress, it would have been back in Philadelphia from March to September 1777. On September 27, it would have moved to Lancaster, PA, for 1 day only. From September 30, 1777, through June 1778, the Declaration would have been kept in the courthouse at York, PA. From July 1778 to June 1783, it would have had a long stay back in Philadelphia. In 1783, it would have been at Princeton, NJ, from June to November, and then, after the signing of the Treaty of Paris, the Declaration would have been moved to Annapolis, MD, where it stayed until October 1784. For the months of November and December 1784, it would have been at Trenton, NJ. Then in 1785, when Congress met in New York, the Declaration was housed in the old New York City Hall, where it probably remained until 1790 (although when Pierre L'Enfant was remodeling the building for the convening of the First Federal Congress, it might have been temporarily removed). In July 1790 Congress provided for a permanent capital to be built among the woodlands and swamps bordering the Potomac River. Meanwhile, the temporary seat of government was to return to Philadelphia. Congress also provided that "prior to the first Monday in December next, all offices attached to the seat of the government of the United States" should be removed to Philadelphia. The Declaration was therefore back in Philadelphia by the close of 1790. It was housed in various buildings--on Market Street, at Arch and Sixth, and at Fifth and Chestnut. In 1800, by direction of President John Adams, the Declaration and other government records were moved from Philadelphia to the new federal capital now rising in the District of Columbia. To reach its new home, the Declaration traveled down the Delaware River and Bay, out into the ocean, into the Chesapeake Bay, and up the Potomac to Washington, completing its longest water journey. For about 2 months the Declaration was housed in buildings built for the use of the Treasury Department. For the next year it was housed in one of the "Seven Buildings" then standing at Nineteenth Street and Pennsylvania Avenue. Its third home before 1814 was in the old War Office Building on Seventeenth Street. In August 1814, the United States being again at war with Great Britain, a British fleet appeared in the Chesapeake Bay. Secretary of State James Monroe rode out to observe the landing of British forces along the Patuxent River in Maryland. A message from Monroe alerted State Department officials, in particular a clerk named Stephen Pleasonton, of the imminent threat to the capital city and, of course, the government's official records. Pleasonton "proceeded to purchase coarse linen, and cause it to be made into bags of convenient size, in which the gentlemen of the office" packed the precious books and records including the Declaration. A cartload of records was then taken up the Potomac River to an unused gristmill belonging to Edgar Patterson. The structure was located on the Virginia side of the Potomac, about 2 miles upstream from Georgetown. Here the Declaration and the other records remained, probably overnight. Pleasonton, meanwhile, asked neighboring farmers for the use of their wagons. On August 24, the day of the British attack on Washington, the Declaration was on its way to Leesburg, VA. That evening, while the White House and other government buildings were burning, the Declaration was stored 35 miles away at Leesburg. The Declaration remained safe at a private home in Leesburg for an interval of several weeks--in fact, until the British had withdrawn their troops from Washington and their fleet from the Chesapeake Bay. In September 1814 the Declaration was returned to the national capital. With the exception of a trip to Philadelphia for the Centennial and to Fort Knox during World War II, it has remained there ever since. http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/charters/print_friendly.html?page=declaration_history_content.html&title=Declaration%20of%20Independence%3A%20A%20Transcription
Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.), shot on January 8, was among a group of Democratic House candidates featured on the Web site of Sarah Palin’s political action committee with cross hairs over their districts, a fact that disturbed Ms. Giffords at the time. “We’re on Sarah Palin’s targeted list,” Ms. Giffords said last March. “But the thing is the way that she has it depicted has the cross hairs of a gun sight over our district. When people do that, they’ve got to realize there’s consequences to that.” The image is no longer on the Web site, and Ms. Palin posted a statement saying “my sincere condolences are offered to the family of Representative Gabrielle Giffords and the other victims of today’s tragic shooting in Arizona. On behalf of Todd and my family, we all pray for the victims and their families, and for peace and justice.” (Late on the day of the shooting, the map was still on Ms. Palin’s Facebook page.) The House was set to vote January 12 on the new Republican majority’s proposal to repeal the health care law that had energized their supporters and ignited opposition from the Tea Party movement. Representative Eric Cantor of Virginia, the new majority leader, said that the vote and other planned legislative activity would be postponed. The original health care legislation stirred strong feelings that flared at angry town hall meetings held by many Democratic lawmakers during the summer of 2009. And there has been broader anger and suspicion rising about the government, its finances and its goals, with the discourse partially fueled by talk shows and Web sites.http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/09/us/politics/09capital.html
Friday, January 7, 2011
It's 1988. Workers building a road in Mt. Vernon, Ind. damage an ancient burial mound, causing a treasure trove of silver and copper to pour from the ground. A bulldozer operator decides to grab some of the treasure. He ends up in prison for looting. It sounds like the plot of an Indiana Jones film, only it's not a movie. The treasure belonged to a mysterious and advanced culture that flourished in the Eastern and Midwestern U.S. nearly 2,000 years ago. Because it predates the written record, this prehistoric culture doesn't have a Native American name but in the 1800s, archaeologists dubbed it the Hopewell Tradition. An exhibit of artifacts from the Hopewell site, curated by the Indiana State Museum and on display at the Angel Mounds State Historic Site in Evansville, Ind. through Jan. 14, is raising some fresh questions about these ancient Americans. "What you're seeing here is a complex of earthen structures that were very purposefully and very specifically built along this cultural landscape," says Michele Greenan, an archaeologist and curator at the Indiana State Museum. "There's a number of mounds here — probably 20, maybe even more mounds, earthen architectural features that were built for different purposes," like ceremonies or burial, she says. The fields are called the Mann Hopewell Site, after the farmer who owned their sprawling 500 acres. Two of site's earthen structures are among the biggest mounds built anywhere by the Hopewell, which was not a tribe so much as a way of life that flourished in the Eastern and Midwestern U.S. between about A.D. 100 and 500. "It's a sleeping giant," says museum curator Greenan, "and it's going to take its place as one of the most important archaeological sites in North America." See more of the story plus pictures at: http://www.npr.org/2011/01/03/132412112/the-prehistoric-treasure-in-the-fields-of-indiana
If you are a member of the House and you plan to read the text of the Constitution on the floor, it’s probably a good idea to have already taken the oath to support and defend it first. One new member, Representative Mike Fitzpatrick, a Republican from Pennsylvania who failed to be officially sworn in Wednesday, proceeded nonetheless to participate in the reading, one of the first official acts of House members in the 112th Congress. At the time of the oath-taking, both Mr. Fitzpatrick and Representative Pete Sessions of Texas were elsewhere, watching the proceedings on television. They raised their respective right hands as the oath was administered, but that was not enough to make them official. Both men were sworn in for real on Thursday afternoon. But before that happened, a Rules Committee hearing had to be halted because Mr. Sessions was taking part in it, and both men had cast votes on the floor The oath-taking foul-up was not the only opening week boo-boo. During the reading of the Constitution, because of an inadvertent double page turn, Section 4 of Article IV was skipped, as was a part of Article V. (It was entered into the record later.) The proceeding was interrupted by a protester questioning President Obama’s place of birth. And an argument began on the floor over the version of the Constitution being read, before a word of the preamble was uttered. In consultation with the Congressional Research Service and others, the leaders of the House had decided to read a version of the Constitution that was edited to exclude those portions superseded by amendments — including amendments themselves — preventing lawmakers from having to make references to slaves, referred to in Article I, Section 2 as “three fifths of all other Persons” or to failed experiments like Prohibition. Members were not provided with the version before the reading began. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/07/us/politics/07constitution.html
Q. Who owns United Press International?
A. News World Communications, Inc. You will find more information plus access to what other major media companies own at: http://www.cjr.org/resources/index.php?c=newsworld
United Press International (UPI) is a news agency headquartered in the United States with roots dating back to 1907. Once a mainstay in the newswire service along with Associated Press (AP) and Reuters, it began to decline as afternoon newspapers, its chief client category, began to fail with the rising popularity of television news. This decline accelerated after the sale of UPI by the founding Scripps family culminating in two bankruptcies. In 2000, UPI was purchased by News World Communications, an international media company founded by Sun Myung Moon the leader of the Unification Church which publishes newspapers in South America, Africa, and Asia, and formerly published The Washington Times in Washington DC. Shortly after this sale, UPI greatly downsized, eliminating many of its departments such as its Science Writing department. The news wire's daily coverage today includes domestic and international top news, business, entertainment, sports, science, health and "Quirks in the News" through its traditional NewsTrack newswire, as well as coverage and analysis of emerging threats, the security industry and energy resources through its "premium" service. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Press_International
There’s been a book list going around Facebook for some time now that purports to be a list of 100 books of which most people will have read only six. I’ve been tagged a few times, and have seen the note pop up when other friends have passed it on. I’ll go ahead and toss my list in this post, but there’s one thing about this that’s been bugging me. The list has nothing to do with the BBC — the closest the BBC gets is The Big Read, a 2003 list of Britain’s 100 most popular books as determined by BBC viewer nominations — and actually appears to be taken from a 2007 article in The Guardian, reporting on the results of a poll of 2,000 people by the World Book Day website. In this context, whether looking at the BBC list or the World Book Day list, the claim that most people will have read only six of the books on the list makes little to no sense. Both lists were of the most popular books as selected by the people who took the survey, which carries a strong implication that these are generally well-read books. Furthermore, according to the Guardian article, the “2,000 people who took part in the poll online at worldbookday.com nominated their top 10 titles that they could not live without. http://www.michaelhanscom.com/eclecticism/2010/12/03/that-100-book-list-thats-not-actually-from-the-bbc/ Remember: Do not forward mass messages to anyone unless you ask them if they want to receive them.
A battle to reshape the way airline tickets are sold escalated January 5, in what could become an industry-wide showdown between carriers and middlemen. In a retaliatory move against American Airlines, Sabre Holdings Corp., a middleman for many carriers' seats, said it is raising the fees it charges American to distribute its fare information and sell its seats through thousands of travel agents. Sabre also said it will display American's flights less prominently than rival airlines in its vast booking system. The jab follows efforts by American, the third-largest U.S. airline by traffic, to sell more of its tickets directly to consumers, a strategy designed to cut costs and give the airline more opportunities to court customers. As a result, the carrier, a unit of AMR Corp., has been butting heads with online travel agents as well. Sabre is a breed of intermediary known as a "global distribution system," or GDS, which consolidates fare offerings from hundreds of airlines to share with travel agencies. For years, many airlines have paid these intermediaries to channel the bulk of their tickets to customers. Closely held Sabre, based in Southlake, Texas, owns the largest GDS. The dust-up could spread to other airlines and intermediaries in the coming months as more third-party contracts come up for renewal and carriers seek to gain more control to boost profit margins. "There's going to be a shoot-out in the airline distribution corral," predicted Henry Harteveldt, a travel industry analyst at Forrester Research. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704405704576063670807756068.html
A spilled cup of coffee left 241 passengers grounded on a United Airlines flight from Chicago to Frankfurt when it created communications and navigation problems on a Boeing 777. Flight 940 diverted to Toronto on January 3, according to a report from Transport Canada, the nation's civil aviation authority, after one of the plane's pilots spilled coffee in the cockpit. A United spokesman said flight turbulence prompted the mishap. Cockpit spills are a fairly common hazard in airplanes, but typically lead to corrosion in floors and sidewalls over the years rather than the immediate malfunction of radio systems. The airline said the spill sparked problems in one radio system, and while pilots were switching to backups they attempted to enter a "No Radio" code—7600—into the plane's transponder to alert air-traffic controllers they were out of radio contact. Instead, the pilot mistakenly entered 7500, the international distress code for hijacking or unlawful interference. Transport Canada said Canada's Department of National Defense was notified after the hijacking code was transmitted. But with the help of United's dispatch staff in Chicago, which can send and receive text messages with pilots, the flight crew confirmed it was a communication issue and not a hijacking. In addition to the radio problems, navigation anomalies related to the spill prompted the pilots to fly the plane to Toronto rather than heading out across the Atlantic, the airline said. The United spokesman said the airline flew another 777 to Toronto that night to pick up the passengers and bring them back to Chicago, where the airline put them up in a hotel overnight. An extra 777 flight to Frankfurt was added the next afternoon for the stranded passengers. The coffee-compromised plane was ferried without passengers to Washington, D.C., for repairs on January 4, United said, and reentered service the next day. United said it offered passengers the choice of vouchers for discounts on future flights or extra frequent flier miles because of the disruption. Such mishaps are rare because cockpits must pass spill tests before aircraft are certified, Boeing said. "The test must confirm that no liquid will penetrate the equipment whatsoever," a spokesman, Bret Jensen, said. Airplanes have long been designed with seals, drain paths and special moisture-controlling finishes to prevent corrosion from the occasional cockpit spill. The incident was reminiscent of the 1964 movie "Fate is the Hunter,'' based on a book by pilot Ernest K. Gann, who flew for American Airlines. A mysterious crash is ultimately found to be have caused by coffee spilled on the console between two pilots.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703675904576064112406869284.html?mod=googlenews_wsj
If you are a member of the House and you plan to read the text of the Constitution on the floor, it’s probably a good idea to have already taken the oath to support and defend it first. One new member, Representative Mike Fitzpatrick, a Republican from Pennsylvania who failed to be officially sworn in Wednesday, proceeded nonetheless to participate in the reading, one of the first official acts of House members in the 112th Congress. At the time of the oath-taking, both Mr. Fitzpatrick and Representative Pete Sessions of Texas were elsewhere, watching the proceedings on television. They raised their respective right hands as the oath was administered, but that was not enough to make them official. Both men were sworn in for real on Thursday afternoon. But before that happened, a Rules Committee hearing had to be halted because Mr. Sessions was taking part in it, and both men had cast votes on the floor The oath-taking foul-up was not the only opening week boo-boo. During the reading of the Constitution, because of an inadvertent double page turn, Section 4 of Article IV was skipped, as was a part of Article V. (It was entered into the record later.) The proceeding was interrupted by a protester questioning President Obama’s place of birth. And an argument began on the floor over the version of the Constitution being read, before a word of the preamble was uttered. In consultation with the Congressional Research Service and others, the leaders of the House had decided to read a version of the Constitution that was edited to exclude those portions superseded by amendments — including amendments themselves — preventing lawmakers from having to make references to slaves, referred to in Article I, Section 2 as “three fifths of all other Persons” or to failed experiments like Prohibition. Members were not provided with the version before the reading began. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/07/us/politics/07constitution.html
Q. Who owns United Press International?
A. News World Communications, Inc. You will find more information plus access to what other major media companies own at: http://www.cjr.org/resources/index.php?c=newsworld
United Press International (UPI) is a news agency headquartered in the United States with roots dating back to 1907. Once a mainstay in the newswire service along with Associated Press (AP) and Reuters, it began to decline as afternoon newspapers, its chief client category, began to fail with the rising popularity of television news. This decline accelerated after the sale of UPI by the founding Scripps family culminating in two bankruptcies. In 2000, UPI was purchased by News World Communications, an international media company founded by Sun Myung Moon the leader of the Unification Church which publishes newspapers in South America, Africa, and Asia, and formerly published The Washington Times in Washington DC. Shortly after this sale, UPI greatly downsized, eliminating many of its departments such as its Science Writing department. The news wire's daily coverage today includes domestic and international top news, business, entertainment, sports, science, health and "Quirks in the News" through its traditional NewsTrack newswire, as well as coverage and analysis of emerging threats, the security industry and energy resources through its "premium" service. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Press_International
There’s been a book list going around Facebook for some time now that purports to be a list of 100 books of which most people will have read only six. I’ve been tagged a few times, and have seen the note pop up when other friends have passed it on. I’ll go ahead and toss my list in this post, but there’s one thing about this that’s been bugging me. The list has nothing to do with the BBC — the closest the BBC gets is The Big Read, a 2003 list of Britain’s 100 most popular books as determined by BBC viewer nominations — and actually appears to be taken from a 2007 article in The Guardian, reporting on the results of a poll of 2,000 people by the World Book Day website. In this context, whether looking at the BBC list or the World Book Day list, the claim that most people will have read only six of the books on the list makes little to no sense. Both lists were of the most popular books as selected by the people who took the survey, which carries a strong implication that these are generally well-read books. Furthermore, according to the Guardian article, the “2,000 people who took part in the poll online at worldbookday.com nominated their top 10 titles that they could not live without. http://www.michaelhanscom.com/eclecticism/2010/12/03/that-100-book-list-thats-not-actually-from-the-bbc/ Remember: Do not forward mass messages to anyone unless you ask them if they want to receive them.
A battle to reshape the way airline tickets are sold escalated January 5, in what could become an industry-wide showdown between carriers and middlemen. In a retaliatory move against American Airlines, Sabre Holdings Corp., a middleman for many carriers' seats, said it is raising the fees it charges American to distribute its fare information and sell its seats through thousands of travel agents. Sabre also said it will display American's flights less prominently than rival airlines in its vast booking system. The jab follows efforts by American, the third-largest U.S. airline by traffic, to sell more of its tickets directly to consumers, a strategy designed to cut costs and give the airline more opportunities to court customers. As a result, the carrier, a unit of AMR Corp., has been butting heads with online travel agents as well. Sabre is a breed of intermediary known as a "global distribution system," or GDS, which consolidates fare offerings from hundreds of airlines to share with travel agencies. For years, many airlines have paid these intermediaries to channel the bulk of their tickets to customers. Closely held Sabre, based in Southlake, Texas, owns the largest GDS. The dust-up could spread to other airlines and intermediaries in the coming months as more third-party contracts come up for renewal and carriers seek to gain more control to boost profit margins. "There's going to be a shoot-out in the airline distribution corral," predicted Henry Harteveldt, a travel industry analyst at Forrester Research. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704405704576063670807756068.html
A spilled cup of coffee left 241 passengers grounded on a United Airlines flight from Chicago to Frankfurt when it created communications and navigation problems on a Boeing 777. Flight 940 diverted to Toronto on January 3, according to a report from Transport Canada, the nation's civil aviation authority, after one of the plane's pilots spilled coffee in the cockpit. A United spokesman said flight turbulence prompted the mishap. Cockpit spills are a fairly common hazard in airplanes, but typically lead to corrosion in floors and sidewalls over the years rather than the immediate malfunction of radio systems. The airline said the spill sparked problems in one radio system, and while pilots were switching to backups they attempted to enter a "No Radio" code—7600—into the plane's transponder to alert air-traffic controllers they were out of radio contact. Instead, the pilot mistakenly entered 7500, the international distress code for hijacking or unlawful interference. Transport Canada said Canada's Department of National Defense was notified after the hijacking code was transmitted. But with the help of United's dispatch staff in Chicago, which can send and receive text messages with pilots, the flight crew confirmed it was a communication issue and not a hijacking. In addition to the radio problems, navigation anomalies related to the spill prompted the pilots to fly the plane to Toronto rather than heading out across the Atlantic, the airline said. The United spokesman said the airline flew another 777 to Toronto that night to pick up the passengers and bring them back to Chicago, where the airline put them up in a hotel overnight. An extra 777 flight to Frankfurt was added the next afternoon for the stranded passengers. The coffee-compromised plane was ferried without passengers to Washington, D.C., for repairs on January 4, United said, and reentered service the next day. United said it offered passengers the choice of vouchers for discounts on future flights or extra frequent flier miles because of the disruption. Such mishaps are rare because cockpits must pass spill tests before aircraft are certified, Boeing said. "The test must confirm that no liquid will penetrate the equipment whatsoever," a spokesman, Bret Jensen, said. Airplanes have long been designed with seals, drain paths and special moisture-controlling finishes to prevent corrosion from the occasional cockpit spill. The incident was reminiscent of the 1964 movie "Fate is the Hunter,'' based on a book by pilot Ernest K. Gann, who flew for American Airlines. A mysterious crash is ultimately found to be have caused by coffee spilled on the console between two pilots.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703675904576064112406869284.html?mod=googlenews_wsj
Thursday, January 6, 2011
The namesake of both the brown and the white Tepary bean is pawi, the Papago Indian word for bean, and further, t’pawi—meaning ‘it is a bean.’ The Tepary plant is adapted to the dry conditions of the American southwest; it is drought-resistant and able to mature on a single irrigation or thunderstorm downpour. The plant also holds up well against disease. Before arriving on US soil, the Tepary bean had a rich cultural history that stretched back more than six thousand years in the arid landscape of Mexico. Both the brown and the white versions of the Tepary have a rich and nutty flavor. The beans are shelled and dried before use and are cooked into many traditional southwestern stews and casserole-like dishes as well as a ground Pinole. The Hopi Indians use the white Tepary beans to break a traditional fast by placing the beans under the hot sand and cooking them with salt water. http://www.slowfoodusa.org/index.php/programs/ark_product_detail/brown_and_white_tepary_bean/#
Here's an adventure! What awaits
Beyond these closed, mysterious gates?
Whom shall I meet, where shall I go
Beyond the lovely land I know?
Above the sky, across the sea?
What shall I learn and feel and be?
Open, strange doors, to good or ill!
I hold my breath a moment still
Before the magic of your look.
What will you do to me, O book? Anonymous
A sunchoke is an underground vegetable like a cross between a rutabaga, potato, sunflower seed, and water chestnut. Also called a Jerusalem artichoke, it is not like an artichoke bloom, nor does it grow in Jerusalem. It's one of the few native tubers of North America. A sunchoke, related to the sunflower, makes a delicious addition to salad, salsa, marinade, and soup. http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-a-sunchoke.htm
"Jingle Bells" is one of the best-known and commonly sung winter songs in the world. It was written by James Lord Pierpont (1822–1893) and published under the title "One Horse Open Sleigh" in the autumn of 1857. Even though it is commonly referred to as a Christmas song, it was actually written and sung for Thanksgiving. It was mistakenly branded as a Christmas song because being extremely popular at Thanksgiving, it was sung again around Christmas. James Lord Pierpont originally composed his song in 1850. A plaque commemorating the "birthplace" of "Jingle Bells" adorns the side of a building in Medford, Massachusetts. Pierpont wrote the song there, at the former Simpson Tavern, now 19 High Street in the center of Medford Square. According to the Medford Historical Society, the song was inspired by the town's popular sleigh races during the 1800s. "Jingle Bells" was originally copyrighted with the name "One Horse Open Sleigh" on September 16, 1857. It was reprinted in 1859 with the revised title of "Jingle Bells, or the One Horse Open Sleigh". The song's copyright status has since passed into public domain. The "Jingle Bells" tune is used in French and German songs, although the lyrics are unrelated to the English lyrics. Both celebrate winter fun. The French song, titled Vive le vent ("Long Live the Wind"), was written by Francis Blanche and contains references to Father Time, Baby New Year, and New Year's Day. "Jingle Bells" was first recorded by the Edison Male Quartette in 1898 on an Edison cylinder as part of a Christmas medley entitled "Sleigh Ride Party". In 1902, the Hayden Quartet recorded "Jingle Bells". "Jingle Bells" was the first song broadcast from space, in a Christmas-themed prank by Gemini 6 astronauts Tom Stafford and Wally Schirra. While in space on December 16, 1965, they sent this report to Mission Control: "We have an object, looks like a satellite going from north to south, probably in polar orbit... I see a command module and eight smaller modules in front. The pilot of the command module is wearing a red suit...." The astronauts then produced a smuggled harmonica and sleighbells and broadcast a rendition of "Jingle Bells." The harmonica, shown to the press upon their return, was a Hohner "Little Lady", a tiny harmonica approximately one inch long, by 3/8 of an inch wide. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jingle_Bells
The noun number by itself is singular:
The number on his jersey is 88.
The number of unemployed has risen.
However, the phrase a number of calls for a plural verb:
A number of protesters were arrested.
There are a significant number of sources. http://www.dailywritingtips.com/is-number-singular-or-plural/
Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, the Vatican Apostolic Library—or, as its present-day users call it, the Vat was founded as, essentially, a public information resource. The Vatican itself has had a historically vexed relationship to knowledge, power, secrecy, and authority. Recently, the Vat has been trying to address at least some of these problems. In September, the library reopened following a three-year-long closing—the final stage of a decades-long renovation of its premises and modernization of its technologies. The Vat’s collection, which has been accreting since the mid-fourteen-hundreds, is so vast that even the people who run it haven’t always known what they’re sitting on top of. The texts now enjoy the benefits afforded by online searches, enhanced cataloguing, digitally scanned imaging, and even electronic tagging. The origins of the Vat can be traced to Pope Nicholas V’s brief but energetic reign, from 1447 to 1455. Nicholas left eleven hundred Greek and Latin manuscripts to a successor, Sixtus IV, the second of the Vat’s three Papal founders. http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2011/01/03/110103fa_fact_mendelsohn
Due to the rapidly changing state of publishing and bookselling, Stately Raven Bookstore in Findlay, Ohio is closing. Their 50% sale runs through January or until the shelves are bare. See address, phone number and hours at: http://www.statelyravenbookstore.com/ Stately Raven Bookstore was originally built for Immanuel Lutheran Church in the 1940s. After the church outgrew the building and moved to their new location on Northridge Road, the building housed various other congregations. Mike Cole made an offer and purchased the building in July 2006. Inspired by the architecture of the building and Edgar Allen Poe's famous poem "The Raven", Cole chose to call it Stately Raven Bookstore. "He's one of the most famous American writers of all time, and we wanted the building to have a literary inspiration. Mural artist Beth Covert completed the interior of the building with her whimsical wall and ceiling murals. Above the "Poe Fireplace" you will find a framed piece featuring an imagined gathering of famous artists. The "Weird Room" ceiling is covered with spooky and science fiction depictions from wall to wall. On the front of the "Reading Loft" is a mural of a bookshelf which displays books, maps and scientific instruments. Lining the stairway leading up the loft is a Sherlock Holmes inspired mystery played out on a London street scene. http://www.statelyravenbookstore.com/history.html
The Declaration of Independence, part two In 1823 Thomas Jefferson wrote that the other members of the committee "unanimously pressed on myself alone to undertake the draught [sic]. I consented; I drew it; but before I reported it to the committee I communicated it separately to Dr. Franklin and Mr. Adams requesting their corrections. . . I then wrote a fair copy, reported it to the committee, and from them, unaltered to the Congress." Jefferson's account reflects three stages in the life of the Declaration: the document originally written by Jefferson; the changes to that document made by Franklin and Adams, resulting in the version that was submitted by the Committee of Five to the Congress; and the version that was eventually adopted. On July 1, 1776, Congress reconvened. The following day, the Lee Resolution for independence was adopted by 12 of the 13 colonies, New York not voting. Immediately afterward, the Congress began to consider the Declaration. Adams and Franklin had made only a few changes before the committee submitted the document. The discussion in Congress resulted in some alterations and deletions, but the basic document remained Jefferson's. The process of revision continued through all of July 3 and into the late morning of July 4. Then, at last, church bells rang out over Philadelphia; the Declaration had been officially adopted. to be continued
http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/charters/print_friendly.html?page=declaration_history_content.html&title=Declaration%20of%20Independence%3A%20A%20Transcription
Here's an adventure! What awaits
Beyond these closed, mysterious gates?
Whom shall I meet, where shall I go
Beyond the lovely land I know?
Above the sky, across the sea?
What shall I learn and feel and be?
Open, strange doors, to good or ill!
I hold my breath a moment still
Before the magic of your look.
What will you do to me, O book? Anonymous
A sunchoke is an underground vegetable like a cross between a rutabaga, potato, sunflower seed, and water chestnut. Also called a Jerusalem artichoke, it is not like an artichoke bloom, nor does it grow in Jerusalem. It's one of the few native tubers of North America. A sunchoke, related to the sunflower, makes a delicious addition to salad, salsa, marinade, and soup. http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-a-sunchoke.htm
"Jingle Bells" is one of the best-known and commonly sung winter songs in the world. It was written by James Lord Pierpont (1822–1893) and published under the title "One Horse Open Sleigh" in the autumn of 1857. Even though it is commonly referred to as a Christmas song, it was actually written and sung for Thanksgiving. It was mistakenly branded as a Christmas song because being extremely popular at Thanksgiving, it was sung again around Christmas. James Lord Pierpont originally composed his song in 1850. A plaque commemorating the "birthplace" of "Jingle Bells" adorns the side of a building in Medford, Massachusetts. Pierpont wrote the song there, at the former Simpson Tavern, now 19 High Street in the center of Medford Square. According to the Medford Historical Society, the song was inspired by the town's popular sleigh races during the 1800s. "Jingle Bells" was originally copyrighted with the name "One Horse Open Sleigh" on September 16, 1857. It was reprinted in 1859 with the revised title of "Jingle Bells, or the One Horse Open Sleigh". The song's copyright status has since passed into public domain. The "Jingle Bells" tune is used in French and German songs, although the lyrics are unrelated to the English lyrics. Both celebrate winter fun. The French song, titled Vive le vent ("Long Live the Wind"), was written by Francis Blanche and contains references to Father Time, Baby New Year, and New Year's Day. "Jingle Bells" was first recorded by the Edison Male Quartette in 1898 on an Edison cylinder as part of a Christmas medley entitled "Sleigh Ride Party". In 1902, the Hayden Quartet recorded "Jingle Bells". "Jingle Bells" was the first song broadcast from space, in a Christmas-themed prank by Gemini 6 astronauts Tom Stafford and Wally Schirra. While in space on December 16, 1965, they sent this report to Mission Control: "We have an object, looks like a satellite going from north to south, probably in polar orbit... I see a command module and eight smaller modules in front. The pilot of the command module is wearing a red suit...." The astronauts then produced a smuggled harmonica and sleighbells and broadcast a rendition of "Jingle Bells." The harmonica, shown to the press upon their return, was a Hohner "Little Lady", a tiny harmonica approximately one inch long, by 3/8 of an inch wide. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jingle_Bells
The noun number by itself is singular:
The number on his jersey is 88.
The number of unemployed has risen.
However, the phrase a number of calls for a plural verb:
A number of protesters were arrested.
There are a significant number of sources. http://www.dailywritingtips.com/is-number-singular-or-plural/
Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, the Vatican Apostolic Library—or, as its present-day users call it, the Vat was founded as, essentially, a public information resource. The Vatican itself has had a historically vexed relationship to knowledge, power, secrecy, and authority. Recently, the Vat has been trying to address at least some of these problems. In September, the library reopened following a three-year-long closing—the final stage of a decades-long renovation of its premises and modernization of its technologies. The Vat’s collection, which has been accreting since the mid-fourteen-hundreds, is so vast that even the people who run it haven’t always known what they’re sitting on top of. The texts now enjoy the benefits afforded by online searches, enhanced cataloguing, digitally scanned imaging, and even electronic tagging. The origins of the Vat can be traced to Pope Nicholas V’s brief but energetic reign, from 1447 to 1455. Nicholas left eleven hundred Greek and Latin manuscripts to a successor, Sixtus IV, the second of the Vat’s three Papal founders. http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2011/01/03/110103fa_fact_mendelsohn
Due to the rapidly changing state of publishing and bookselling, Stately Raven Bookstore in Findlay, Ohio is closing. Their 50% sale runs through January or until the shelves are bare. See address, phone number and hours at: http://www.statelyravenbookstore.com/ Stately Raven Bookstore was originally built for Immanuel Lutheran Church in the 1940s. After the church outgrew the building and moved to their new location on Northridge Road, the building housed various other congregations. Mike Cole made an offer and purchased the building in July 2006. Inspired by the architecture of the building and Edgar Allen Poe's famous poem "The Raven", Cole chose to call it Stately Raven Bookstore. "He's one of the most famous American writers of all time, and we wanted the building to have a literary inspiration. Mural artist Beth Covert completed the interior of the building with her whimsical wall and ceiling murals. Above the "Poe Fireplace" you will find a framed piece featuring an imagined gathering of famous artists. The "Weird Room" ceiling is covered with spooky and science fiction depictions from wall to wall. On the front of the "Reading Loft" is a mural of a bookshelf which displays books, maps and scientific instruments. Lining the stairway leading up the loft is a Sherlock Holmes inspired mystery played out on a London street scene. http://www.statelyravenbookstore.com/history.html
The Declaration of Independence, part two In 1823 Thomas Jefferson wrote that the other members of the committee "unanimously pressed on myself alone to undertake the draught [sic]. I consented; I drew it; but before I reported it to the committee I communicated it separately to Dr. Franklin and Mr. Adams requesting their corrections. . . I then wrote a fair copy, reported it to the committee, and from them, unaltered to the Congress." Jefferson's account reflects three stages in the life of the Declaration: the document originally written by Jefferson; the changes to that document made by Franklin and Adams, resulting in the version that was submitted by the Committee of Five to the Congress; and the version that was eventually adopted. On July 1, 1776, Congress reconvened. The following day, the Lee Resolution for independence was adopted by 12 of the 13 colonies, New York not voting. Immediately afterward, the Congress began to consider the Declaration. Adams and Franklin had made only a few changes before the committee submitted the document. The discussion in Congress resulted in some alterations and deletions, but the basic document remained Jefferson's. The process of revision continued through all of July 3 and into the late morning of July 4. Then, at last, church bells rang out over Philadelphia; the Declaration had been officially adopted. to be continued
http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/charters/print_friendly.html?page=declaration_history_content.html&title=Declaration%20of%20Independence%3A%20A%20Transcription
Tuesday, January 4, 2011
In the ancient Aztec culture, the Gods of Sun and War were called the "Hummingbird Wizards". These were the patron gods of the Aztecs. The Aztec warriors believed when they were killed in battle, they would return as hummingbirds. Aztec royalty and religious leaders were the only ones allowed to wear hummingbird feathers. Many native American Indians like the Hopi and Zuni often paint hummingbirds on their water jar pottery. They believe hummingbirds intervened with the Gods to bring rain to humans long ago. Read other stories at: http://thehummingbirdsite.com/
The hummingbird has been known as the Chupaflor (Flower-sucker), Picaflor (Flower-nibbler), and Joyas Volardores (Flying jewels) in Spanish and the Beija-flor (Flower-kisser) in Portuguese. These birds are so called because their wings often make a humming sound when they fly. Among their species, the Giant hummingbird is the largest and is 8¼" or 7oz, while the Bee hummingbird, which is considered the smallest is 2 ¼" or .07 oz. Hummingbirds belong to the Trochilidae family.
Here are facts about hummingbirds, those little creatures that glow:
The male hummingbird is more colorful than the female.
Hummingbirds spread color, this color is created by a pigment which absorbs some color while rejecting others.
Hummingbirds can dive 60 mph and their speed can average 25-30 mph.
To maintain their energy levels, hummingbirds eat every 15 to 20 minutes and may visit around 1,000 flowers per day. When they are unable to feed due to the weather, they go into a condition in which their metabolic rate comes down to only one-fifteenth of normal sleep.
A hummingbird eats spiders and gnats for protein. Sometimes it even pulls the spider out of its web in an attempt to catch an insect that is entangled there.
Hummingbirds, with 343 species, are the second largest family of birds in the Western Hemisphere.
The brain size of a hummingbird is 4.2% of its total body weight.
The normal resting heartbeat of a hummingbird is 480 beats per minute, this number can go up to 1,260 per minute when it is excited. These little birds breathe 250 times per minute.
Hummingbirds are the only birds that can fly backwards, forwards, up, down, sideways or even sit in empty space.
30% of a hummingbird's total weight is made up of flight muscles.
No other bird has as many feathers as a hummingbird has, per square inch.
The life span of a hummingbird is usually 5 to 10 years.
See other hummingbird facts at:
http://www.buzzle.com/articles/facts-about-the-hummingbirds.html
Arts and literature from Buzzle.com:
http://www.buzzle.com/chapters/arts-and-literature.asp
The 250 million year-old Capitan Reef Complex that sits astride the New Mexico-Texas border is one of the best-preserved Permian age fossil reefs exposed anywhere in the world. Its limestone and dolomitic rocks not only formed the Guadalupe Mountains, but also at least 300 caves. Now more than 400,000 people a year visit Carlsbad Caverns National Park, which preserves at least 113 separate limestone caves, including Lechuguilla Cave (the third-longest cave in the U.S. and the deepest cave in North America). http://www.nationalparkstraveler.com/2010/10/travelers-checklist-carlsbad-caverns-national-park7074
Examples of roots
ann, enni "year" anniversary, annual biennial, perennial
Examples of prefixes
e- "out of, from" elect (choose out of), eject (throw out)
Examples of suffixes
-sis "act, state, condition of" analysis
http://www.betterendings.org/homeschool/Words/Root%20Words.htm
Arches National Park contains more than 2,000 natural arches—the greatest concentration in the country. Perched high above the Colorado River, the park is part of southern Utah's extended canyon country, carved and shaped by eons of weathering and erosion. Some 300 million years ago, inland seas covered the large basin that formed this region. The seas refilled and evaporated—29 times in all—leaving behind salt beds thousands of feet thick. Later, sand and boulders carried down by streams from the uplands eventually buried the salt beds beneath thick layers of stone. Because the salt layer is less dense than the overlying blanket of rock, it rises up through it, forming it into domes and ridges, with valleys in between. http://travel.nationalgeographic.com/travel/national-parks/arches-national-park/
Feedback from muse reader: I have a correction for your newsletter. If a family with the last name of Smith lives in a house, it would be the Smiths' house, not the Smith's house. The apostrophe goes after the s because the s indicates there are multiple Smiths. So their sign would say The Smiths'.
The Declaration of Independence, part one
The clearest call for independence up to the summer of 1776 came in Philadelphia on June 7. On that date in session in the Pennsylvania State House (later Independence Hall), the Continental Congress heard Richard Henry Lee of Virginia read his resolution beginning: "Resolved: That these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent States, that they are absolved from all allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain is, and ought to be, totally dissolved."
The Lee Resolution was an expression of what was already beginning to happen throughout the colonies. When the Second Continental Congress, which was essentially the government of the United States from 1775 to 1788, first met in May 1775, King George III had not replied to the petition for redress of grievances that he had been sent by the First Continental Congress. The Congress gradually took on the responsibilities of a national government. In June 1775 the Congress established the Continental Army as well as a continental currency. By the end of July of that year, it created a post office for the "United Colonies."
One by one, the Continental Congress continued to cut the colonies' ties to Britain. The Privateering Resolution, passed in March 1776, allowed the colonists "to fit out armed vessels to cruize [sic] on the enemies of these United Colonies." On April 6, 1776, American ports were opened to commerce with other nations, an action that severed the economic ties fostered by the Navigation Acts. A "Resolution for the Formation of Local Governments" was passed on May 10, 1776. At the same time, more of the colonists themselves were becoming convinced of the inevitability of independence. Thomas Paine's Common Sense, published in January 1776, was sold by the thousands. By the middle of May 1776, eight colonies had decided that they would support independence. On May 15, 1776, the Virginia Convention passed a resolution that "the delegates appointed to represent this colony in General Congress be instructed to propose to that respectable body to declare the United Colonies free and independent states." It was in keeping with these instructions that Richard Henry Lee, on June 7, 1776, presented his resolution. There were still some delegates, however, including those bound by earlier instructions, who wished to pursue the path of reconciliation with Britain. On June 11 consideration of the Lee Resolution was postponed by a vote of seven colonies to five, with New York abstaining. Congress then recessed for 3 weeks. The tone of the debate indicated that at the end of that time the Lee Resolution would be adopted. Before Congress recessed, therefore, a Committee of Five was appointed to draft a statement presenting to the world the colonies' case for independence. The committee consisted of two New England men, John Adams of Massachusetts and Roger Sherman of Connecticut; two men from the Middle Colonies, Benjamin Franklin of Pennsylvania and Robert R. Livingston of New York; and one southerner, Thomas Jefferson of Virginia. to be continued
http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/charters/print_friendly.html?page=declaration_history_content.html&title=Declaration%20of%20Independence%3A%20A%20Transcription
The hummingbird has been known as the Chupaflor (Flower-sucker), Picaflor (Flower-nibbler), and Joyas Volardores (Flying jewels) in Spanish and the Beija-flor (Flower-kisser) in Portuguese. These birds are so called because their wings often make a humming sound when they fly. Among their species, the Giant hummingbird is the largest and is 8¼" or 7oz, while the Bee hummingbird, which is considered the smallest is 2 ¼" or .07 oz. Hummingbirds belong to the Trochilidae family.
Here are facts about hummingbirds, those little creatures that glow:
The male hummingbird is more colorful than the female.
Hummingbirds spread color, this color is created by a pigment which absorbs some color while rejecting others.
Hummingbirds can dive 60 mph and their speed can average 25-30 mph.
To maintain their energy levels, hummingbirds eat every 15 to 20 minutes and may visit around 1,000 flowers per day. When they are unable to feed due to the weather, they go into a condition in which their metabolic rate comes down to only one-fifteenth of normal sleep.
A hummingbird eats spiders and gnats for protein. Sometimes it even pulls the spider out of its web in an attempt to catch an insect that is entangled there.
Hummingbirds, with 343 species, are the second largest family of birds in the Western Hemisphere.
The brain size of a hummingbird is 4.2% of its total body weight.
The normal resting heartbeat of a hummingbird is 480 beats per minute, this number can go up to 1,260 per minute when it is excited. These little birds breathe 250 times per minute.
Hummingbirds are the only birds that can fly backwards, forwards, up, down, sideways or even sit in empty space.
30% of a hummingbird's total weight is made up of flight muscles.
No other bird has as many feathers as a hummingbird has, per square inch.
The life span of a hummingbird is usually 5 to 10 years.
See other hummingbird facts at:
http://www.buzzle.com/articles/facts-about-the-hummingbirds.html
Arts and literature from Buzzle.com:
http://www.buzzle.com/chapters/arts-and-literature.asp
The 250 million year-old Capitan Reef Complex that sits astride the New Mexico-Texas border is one of the best-preserved Permian age fossil reefs exposed anywhere in the world. Its limestone and dolomitic rocks not only formed the Guadalupe Mountains, but also at least 300 caves. Now more than 400,000 people a year visit Carlsbad Caverns National Park, which preserves at least 113 separate limestone caves, including Lechuguilla Cave (the third-longest cave in the U.S. and the deepest cave in North America). http://www.nationalparkstraveler.com/2010/10/travelers-checklist-carlsbad-caverns-national-park7074
Examples of roots
ann, enni "year" anniversary, annual biennial, perennial
Examples of prefixes
e- "out of, from" elect (choose out of), eject (throw out)
Examples of suffixes
-sis "act, state, condition of" analysis
http://www.betterendings.org/homeschool/Words/Root%20Words.htm
Arches National Park contains more than 2,000 natural arches—the greatest concentration in the country. Perched high above the Colorado River, the park is part of southern Utah's extended canyon country, carved and shaped by eons of weathering and erosion. Some 300 million years ago, inland seas covered the large basin that formed this region. The seas refilled and evaporated—29 times in all—leaving behind salt beds thousands of feet thick. Later, sand and boulders carried down by streams from the uplands eventually buried the salt beds beneath thick layers of stone. Because the salt layer is less dense than the overlying blanket of rock, it rises up through it, forming it into domes and ridges, with valleys in between. http://travel.nationalgeographic.com/travel/national-parks/arches-national-park/
Feedback from muse reader: I have a correction for your newsletter. If a family with the last name of Smith lives in a house, it would be the Smiths' house, not the Smith's house. The apostrophe goes after the s because the s indicates there are multiple Smiths. So their sign would say The Smiths'.
The Declaration of Independence, part one
The clearest call for independence up to the summer of 1776 came in Philadelphia on June 7. On that date in session in the Pennsylvania State House (later Independence Hall), the Continental Congress heard Richard Henry Lee of Virginia read his resolution beginning: "Resolved: That these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent States, that they are absolved from all allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain is, and ought to be, totally dissolved."
The Lee Resolution was an expression of what was already beginning to happen throughout the colonies. When the Second Continental Congress, which was essentially the government of the United States from 1775 to 1788, first met in May 1775, King George III had not replied to the petition for redress of grievances that he had been sent by the First Continental Congress. The Congress gradually took on the responsibilities of a national government. In June 1775 the Congress established the Continental Army as well as a continental currency. By the end of July of that year, it created a post office for the "United Colonies."
One by one, the Continental Congress continued to cut the colonies' ties to Britain. The Privateering Resolution, passed in March 1776, allowed the colonists "to fit out armed vessels to cruize [sic] on the enemies of these United Colonies." On April 6, 1776, American ports were opened to commerce with other nations, an action that severed the economic ties fostered by the Navigation Acts. A "Resolution for the Formation of Local Governments" was passed on May 10, 1776. At the same time, more of the colonists themselves were becoming convinced of the inevitability of independence. Thomas Paine's Common Sense, published in January 1776, was sold by the thousands. By the middle of May 1776, eight colonies had decided that they would support independence. On May 15, 1776, the Virginia Convention passed a resolution that "the delegates appointed to represent this colony in General Congress be instructed to propose to that respectable body to declare the United Colonies free and independent states." It was in keeping with these instructions that Richard Henry Lee, on June 7, 1776, presented his resolution. There were still some delegates, however, including those bound by earlier instructions, who wished to pursue the path of reconciliation with Britain. On June 11 consideration of the Lee Resolution was postponed by a vote of seven colonies to five, with New York abstaining. Congress then recessed for 3 weeks. The tone of the debate indicated that at the end of that time the Lee Resolution would be adopted. Before Congress recessed, therefore, a Committee of Five was appointed to draft a statement presenting to the world the colonies' case for independence. The committee consisted of two New England men, John Adams of Massachusetts and Roger Sherman of Connecticut; two men from the Middle Colonies, Benjamin Franklin of Pennsylvania and Robert R. Livingston of New York; and one southerner, Thomas Jefferson of Virginia. to be continued
http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/charters/print_friendly.html?page=declaration_history_content.html&title=Declaration%20of%20Independence%3A%20A%20Transcription
Monday, January 3, 2011
Agathe von Trapp, the eldest daughter of the von Trapp family made famous in "The Sound of Music," who took exception to the way her father was portrayed, died December 28 at the age of 97. "She had been rabidly negative about the musical and film," said her physician, Dr. Janet Horn, who with her husband financed the publication of 3,000 copies of Miss von Trapp's memoir, which she wrote to set the record straight about her family's exploits. She said that Miss von Trapp, who was depicted as Liesl in the musical, continued to sing around the house until about three years ago. Friends said she spoke matter-of-factly and did not care for some of the twists added to her family's story for the 1959 Broadway musical and 1965 Academy Award-winning film. She wanted people to know that her father, Capt. Georg von Trapp, a widowed Austrian aristocrat who was played by Christopher Plummer in the film and Theodore Bikel on Broadway, was not cold, unfeeling and distant. She insisted that he was a kind and loving father who helped her and her siblings to sing. She also adored her mother. "Agathe von Trapp cried when she saw the show at its Broadway opening in 1959. She would have been just as enchanted as the rest of the audience had the characters' last name been Miller. But this was her family's name, and it was not her family's story," according to an article in The Baltimore Sun in 2003. The article noted that in the movie that broke box-office records, she came out of her shell at "16 going on 17," but the reality of her life was different. "It's very strange for me; I've been living a very quiet life. All of a sudden, these people want to see me," she said at the time she published her autobiography, in which she sought to differentiate between fact and fiction in the Broadway libretto and screenplay. Among other liberties, the children's first names and sexes had been changed. In real life, Agathe von Trapp had an elder brother, but in the musical the eldest child was a girl, Liesl. As the eldest daughter, Agathe von Trapp had assumed that was her. Miss von Trapp said the nun (played on Broadway by Mary Martin) who became her stepmother was not a governess. She was a tutor for one of the von Trapp sisters, who was too weak from scarlet fever to make the 45-minute trek to school. Miss von Trapp said the family did not cross the Alps to escape Austria. They crossed the street and boarded a train. December 29, 2010 by Jacques Kelly, The Baltimore Sun
http://articles.baltimoresun.com/2010-12-29/news/bs-md-ob-agathe-vontrapp-20101229_1_agathe-von-georg-von-janet-horn
The New Year Bells
Ding, dong, ding, dong. (4 x)
Ring out the old, ring in the new, ring out the false, ring in the true.
1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10-11-12 HAPPY NEW YEAR!
January by Alice E. Allen
Sparkling world and shining sky, sleigh bells jingling, jangling by,
Skates that gleam and sleds that fly, make up January.
Snowy world and low-hung cloud, snowflakes whirling in a crowd,
Winds a-whistling long and loud, make up January.
Snow and shine, and shine and snow, days that swiftly come and go,
Thirty-one of them, you know, make up January.
Q. Should a house sign with a surname on it use an apostrophe? For instance, would it be The Smith's or The Smiths.
A. Either is acceptable. The Smith's means The Smith's house. The Smiths refers to the family.
Full moon calendar for 2011
Wednesday, 19 January 2011, 10:21:24 pm
Friday, 18 February 2011, 09:35:42 am
Saturday, 19 March 2011, 07:10:06 pm
Monday, 18 April 2011, 04:44:00 am
Tuesday, 17 May 2011, 01:08:42 pm
Wednesday, 15 June 2011, 10:13:36 pm [*]
Friday, 15 July 2011, 08:39:36 am
Saturday, 13 August 2011, 08:57:30 pm
Monday, 12 September 2011, 11:26:42 am
Wednesday, 12 October 2011, 04:05:42 am
Thursday, 10 November 2011, 09:16:06 pm
Saturday, 10 December 2011, 03:36:24 pm [*]
Time specified in Central European Time (CET) or Summer Time (CEST)
http://www.fullmoon.info/en/fullmoon-calendar.html
The full moon calendar 1900-2050
There are exactly 1,867 full moons between 1900 and 2050. Would you like to know if you or your loved ones were born during full moon? Here you will find the answer. We have also compiled some events in the full moon telegram in the corresponding category, that happened during full moon. http://www.fullmoon.info/en/fullmoon-calendar_1900-2050.html
Some people go to court hoping to win millions of dollars. Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss have already won tens of millions. But six years into a legal feud with Facebook, they want to give it back — for a chance to get more. The Winklevosses — identical twins and Harvard graduates — say that they, along with another Harvard student, Divya Narendra, had the original idea for Facebook, and that Mark Zuckerberg stole it. They sued Facebook and Mr. Zuckerberg in 2004, and settled four years later for $20 million in cash and $45 million in Facebook shares.
They have been trying to undo that settlement since, saying they were misled on the value of the deal. See much more at: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/31/business/31twins.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&src=busln
It may have been word of the year in some wheelhouses, but "refudiate" wasn't looked upon favorably by many who sent in nominations for Lake Superior State University's 36th annual List of Words Banished from the Queen's English for Mis-use, Over-use and General Uselessness, which was released on New Year's Eve. In a busy U.S. election year, "the American People" told LSSU they were tired of not only "refudiate," but also "mama grizzlies" who wanted their opponents to "man up." But words and phrases related to technology and the way we communicate dominated the list for 2011, including "viral," "epic," "fail," and the use of websites "Facebook" and "Google" as verbs. "Viral" received the most nominations. The "back story" on LSSU's popular list began on Jan. 1, 1976, when former LSSU Public Relations Director Bill Rabe and a group of friends each contributed a few expressions that they disliked to form the first list. After that, the nominations stacked up for future lists and Rabe's group, known then as The Unicorn Hunters, didn't have to make up its own list again. LSSU receives well over 1,000 nominations annually through its website, lssu.edu/banished. See the 2011 list at: http://www.lssu.edu/banished/current.php
http://articles.baltimoresun.com/2010-12-29/news/bs-md-ob-agathe-vontrapp-20101229_1_agathe-von-georg-von-janet-horn
The New Year Bells
Ding, dong, ding, dong. (4 x)
Ring out the old, ring in the new, ring out the false, ring in the true.
1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10-11-12 HAPPY NEW YEAR!
January by Alice E. Allen
Sparkling world and shining sky, sleigh bells jingling, jangling by,
Skates that gleam and sleds that fly, make up January.
Snowy world and low-hung cloud, snowflakes whirling in a crowd,
Winds a-whistling long and loud, make up January.
Snow and shine, and shine and snow, days that swiftly come and go,
Thirty-one of them, you know, make up January.
Q. Should a house sign with a surname on it use an apostrophe? For instance, would it be The Smith's or The Smiths.
A. Either is acceptable. The Smith's means The Smith's house. The Smiths refers to the family.
Full moon calendar for 2011
Wednesday, 19 January 2011, 10:21:24 pm
Friday, 18 February 2011, 09:35:42 am
Saturday, 19 March 2011, 07:10:06 pm
Monday, 18 April 2011, 04:44:00 am
Tuesday, 17 May 2011, 01:08:42 pm
Wednesday, 15 June 2011, 10:13:36 pm [*]
Friday, 15 July 2011, 08:39:36 am
Saturday, 13 August 2011, 08:57:30 pm
Monday, 12 September 2011, 11:26:42 am
Wednesday, 12 October 2011, 04:05:42 am
Thursday, 10 November 2011, 09:16:06 pm
Saturday, 10 December 2011, 03:36:24 pm [*]
Time specified in Central European Time (CET) or Summer Time (CEST)
http://www.fullmoon.info/en/fullmoon-calendar.html
The full moon calendar 1900-2050
There are exactly 1,867 full moons between 1900 and 2050. Would you like to know if you or your loved ones were born during full moon? Here you will find the answer. We have also compiled some events in the full moon telegram in the corresponding category, that happened during full moon. http://www.fullmoon.info/en/fullmoon-calendar_1900-2050.html
Some people go to court hoping to win millions of dollars. Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss have already won tens of millions. But six years into a legal feud with Facebook, they want to give it back — for a chance to get more. The Winklevosses — identical twins and Harvard graduates — say that they, along with another Harvard student, Divya Narendra, had the original idea for Facebook, and that Mark Zuckerberg stole it. They sued Facebook and Mr. Zuckerberg in 2004, and settled four years later for $20 million in cash and $45 million in Facebook shares.
They have been trying to undo that settlement since, saying they were misled on the value of the deal. See much more at: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/31/business/31twins.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&src=busln
It may have been word of the year in some wheelhouses, but "refudiate" wasn't looked upon favorably by many who sent in nominations for Lake Superior State University's 36th annual List of Words Banished from the Queen's English for Mis-use, Over-use and General Uselessness, which was released on New Year's Eve. In a busy U.S. election year, "the American People" told LSSU they were tired of not only "refudiate," but also "mama grizzlies" who wanted their opponents to "man up." But words and phrases related to technology and the way we communicate dominated the list for 2011, including "viral," "epic," "fail," and the use of websites "Facebook" and "Google" as verbs. "Viral" received the most nominations. The "back story" on LSSU's popular list began on Jan. 1, 1976, when former LSSU Public Relations Director Bill Rabe and a group of friends each contributed a few expressions that they disliked to form the first list. After that, the nominations stacked up for future lists and Rabe's group, known then as The Unicorn Hunters, didn't have to make up its own list again. LSSU receives well over 1,000 nominations annually through its website, lssu.edu/banished. See the 2011 list at: http://www.lssu.edu/banished/current.php
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