Friday Fact!

2000
(Updated most every weekend)

Currently FF is distributed to friends and co-workers via E-mail and is updated to this web every weekend. I am working on a Java applet to better present all the FFs on this web .... stay tuned.

If you would like to be added to or removed from the list, drop me an E-mail. micheal@greatguy.com To be added tell me who and where you are and a little about yourself. If you wish to be removed, simply ask. No explanation is required.

Some of the material contained here has been directly copied from the named sources. It is hoped that the copyright holder will consider it "fair-use" as this site is a non-commercial one. By request, suitable links will be given to any copyright holder or the information will be removed.   All readers are encouraged to consider the purchase of the mentioned sources as I have found them interesting and highly entertaining.

The Christian expression "God bless you" often associated with a sneeze began by papal fiat in the sixth century, during the reign of Pope Gregory the Great. A virulent pestilence raged throughout Italy, one foreboding symptom being severe, chronic sneezing. So deadly was the plague that people died shortly after manifesting its symptoms; thus, sneezing became synonymous with imminent death. The Pope beseeched the healthy to pray for the sick and if no one was around the sneezer was advised to exclaim aloud, "God help me!"

Pope Gregory's post-sneeze supplications spread across Europe hand in hand with the plague, and the seriousness with which a sneeze was regarded was captured in a new expression, which survives to this day: "Not (or nothing) to be sneezed at." Today this phrase is used to emphasize the gravity of a statement or situation and is directly related to the seriousness of the plague.

Source: Panati's Extraordinary Origin of Everyday Things

+++++++

Word of The Week

FIAT - (fi'at) - noun

1 : a command or act of will that creates something without or as if without further effort
2 : an authoritative determination
3 : an authoritative or arbitrary order

Kwanzaa is a holiday honoring African-American heritage and culture. Celebrated from Dec. 26 through Jan. 1, the holiday was created after the 1965 Watts riot by Maulana Ron Karenga, a graduate student and black nationalist, who observed that black Americans had no holiday of their own. Karenga took the holiday's name from the Swahili phrase matunda yakwanza, meaning "first fruit." Karenga drew his inspiration from various African harvest festivals. From these he extracted seven principles--unity, self-determination, collective work, cooperative economics, purpose, creativity, and faith. Each of the holiday's seven days is meant to symbolize one of these principles.

The central Kwanzaa ritual is candle lighting. First, the mkeka (straw mat) is placed on the table, along with the kinara (candleholder) and the mishumaa saba (seven candles). The three candles on the right in the kinara are red, symbolizing the blood of the African people; the three on the left are green, symbolizing the hope of new life; and the black candle in the center represents the African people. Around the candles are placed the mazeo (fruits), the vibunzi (an ear of corn for each child in the family), the zawadi (gifts, preferably handmade), and the kikombe cha umoja (cup) for shared juice or water.

Source: Slate Magazine

++++++++++

Word of The Week

KIBOSH - (KYE-bahsh or kih-BAHSH) - noun

: something that serves as a check or stop

Senior management had a plan to reorganize the company but the bankruptcy judge put the kibosh on the idea.

Cynicism is an ancient school of philosophy founded in the 4th century BC by the Greek philosopher Diogenes of Sinope. Diogenes studied in Athens, where he was a disciple of Greek philosopher Antisthenes, who taught that social conventions should be disregarded and pleasure shunned. Diogenes plunged into a life of austerity and self-mortification. He wore coarse clothing, ate plain food, and slept on the bare ground, in the open streets, or under porticoes. Practical good was the chief aim of Diogenes' philosophy, and he did not conceal his disdain for literature and the fine arts. He laughed at men of letters for reading of the sufferings of Odysseus while neglecting their own problems, and at orators who studied how to enforce truth but not how to practice it.

Cynics are often referred to as "faultfinders" as during their pursuit of virtue they point out the flaws in others. Such faultfinding could lead quite naturally to the belief associated with cynics of today that selfishness determines human behavior.

Sources: Microsoft Encarta and The American Heritage Dictionary

++++++++++

Word of The Week

FLIMFLAM - (FLIM-flam) - Verb - Scandinavian - Mid 16th century

: to subject to a deception or fraud : trick

The cynical democrat insisted that Mr Gore had been flimflammed out of the presidency.

Threat of a new U.S. Civil War hung over the outcome of the supercharged and highly controversial Presidential election of 1876, "the stolen election." The Democratic candidate was the reform governor of New York, Samuel Jones Tilden. He received a majority of the popular vote, but because of a secret deal lost the election to Rutherford B. Hayes, the Republican candidate, by one vote of a specially created Electoral Commission. In return for getting their candidate into the White House, the Republicans in Congress agreed to make concessions to the South that included the withdrawal of federal troops. Tilden accepted the arrangement, which was the alternative to violence and marked the end of the Reconstruction government and the beginning of the Democrats' hold on the South.

Source: Isaac Asimov's Book of Facts

+++++++

Word of The Week

LITOTES - (LIE-tuh-teez, LIT-uh-teez, lie-TOH-teez) - noun

: understatement in which an affirmative is expressed by the negative of the contrary

Even if you've never heard of litotes, chances are you've encountered this figure of speech. If you've ever approved of a job well done by exclaiming "Not bad!" or told someone you're "not unhappy" with your job, you've even used it yourself. In fact, you might say that it would be "no mean feat" to avoid this common feature of our language!

Source: Websters

The political terms "left" and "right" originated during the French Revolution when delegates to the French National Assemble of 1789 sorted themselves out by political affiliation, the conservatives deciding to sit on the right side of the chamber and the radicals on the left. Over the past 200+ years several European countries as well as the United States have followed France's lead.

Sources www.pbs.org Microsoft Encarta '99 and "The Word Detective"

Thanks to Juha Jutila for posing the question!

********

Word of The Week

PATHOS - (PAY-thohss) - noun

1: an element in experience or in artistic representation evoking pity or compassion

2: an emotion of sympathetic pity

The blurb on the back of the book declared that the novel was "laced with pathos, humor, and insight."

Even though Bill Clinton is a two-term president, the constitution does not prevent him from becoming vice-president or even president for a third time. The 12th Amendment states that anybody who is eligible for the presidency under Article II of the Constitution (a natural-born citizen age 35 or older) is eligible for the vice presidency. Clinton is a natural-born citizen over 35, so he qualifies.

The putative roadblock to a Clinton vice presidency--the 22nd Amendment--doesn't apply. This hastily worded and passed amendment, designed to block another multi-multi-term presidency such as FDR's, only bars the election of a president to more than two terms in that office. It doesn't prevent a two-term president from running for the vice presidency.

The 25th Amendment affords Clinton another route to the vice presidency: In the event the vice presidency is vacated; the president appoints a new veep, subject to confirmation by Congress. (This is how Gerald Ford and Nelson Rockefeller became vice president.)

Nothing in the Constitution would prevent Vice President Clinton from becoming president via succession. Finally, another scenario could return Clinton to the White House without a pit stop at the vice presidency. If both the presidency and the vice presidency were vacated and Bill Clinton were the speaker of the House, he would become president under the 1948 presidential succession act. (Next in line, the president pro tempore of the Senate and then the cabinet officers in the order specified by the act.)

Source: Slate Magazine

+++++++++

Word Of the Week

SEIGNIORAGE - (sei·gnior·age) - noun

: a government revenue from the manufacture of coins calculated as the difference between the face value and the metal value of the coins

The U.S Mint estimates that seigniorage caused by the public's collection of the 50 commemorative quarters will amount to 6 billion dollars over the next 10 years. (This sentence is factual)

Many people were displeased when George I became king of England in 1714, and his opponents were soon leading rebellions and protests against him. The British government, anxious to stop the protests, passed a law called the "Riot Act" which allowed public officials to break up gatherings of 12 or more people just by reading aloud a certain message. That message warned those who heard it that they could be arrested and imprisoned for years if they didn't immediately separate and go home. By 1819, "riot act" was also being used more generally for any stern warning or reprimand.

Source: Webster's

++++++

Word of The Week

REBUS - (REE-bus) - noun

: a representation of syllables or words by means of pictures or symbols; also : a riddle made up of such pictures or symbols.

The rebus he saw in the Sunday comics stumped John.

Dr Pepper is the oldest major soft drink in the United States. It is America's unique flavor and was first made in 1885 by an English pharmacist named Charles Alderton in the Central Texas town of Waco.

Alderton worked for Wade Morrison's Old Corner Drug Store and during his spare time he concocted soft drinks at the store's soda fountain. One of the recipes impressed both he and Morrison so much that they enlisted the help of a soft drink bottler to produce the syrup commercially. Patrons of the drugstore suggested that Morrison name the drink after the man who gave him his first job, Virginia physician, Dr. Charles Pepper. The name was quickly adopted and a new soft drink was born. Dr. Pepper caught on after it was introduced to 20 million people at the 1904 World's Exposition in Saint Louis.

Today the Dr Pepper / Seven Up company is based in Plano Texas and is actually owned by Cadbury Schwepps PLC which is based in London.

Source: www.drpepper.com

++++++++++

Word of The Week

THAUMATURGY - (THAW - muh -tur -jee) - Noun

: the performance of miracles; specifically : magic

Merlin used powerful spells and feats of thaumaturgy to entertain the king and his court.

Uncle Sam, long-time symbol of the United States, was originally a butcher. During the War of 1812, Samuel Wilson, a well to do meat packer from Troy, New York, supplied the American army with barrels of pork, which he stamped "EA-US." That same year a group of visitors toured Wilson's plant and asked what the letters signified. A workman jokingly replied that the US stood for "Uncle Sam" (an eyewitness account of this dialogue was reported in the New York Gazette and General Advertiser on May 12, 1820), and the name caught on. By the next decade the character of Uncle Sam was appearing in numerous political cartoons.

Source: 2001 Fascinating Facts

++++++++

Word of The Week

INTERPOLATE - (in-TUR-puh-late) - verb

1: to insert (words) into a text or into a conversation
2 : to insert between other things or parts: intercalate
3 : to estimate values of (a function) between two known values

The scientist arrived at a conclusion by interpolating the data yielded in her last two trials.

Major airlines ranking in overall customer service as of February 2000

Source: US DOT

++++++++++

Women who take birth control pills blink an average of 19 times a minute, or one-third more often than women who aren't on the pill.

The things you learn in Men's magazines while sitting on an airplane. :-)

Source: Men's Health

************

Word of The Week

RAPTURE - (Rap-ture) - noun

1 a: a state or experience of being carried away by overwhelming emotion b: a mystical experience in which the spirit is exalted to a knowledge of divine things

2: an expression or manifestation of ecstasy or passion

Elihu Yale, after whom one of America's greatest universities was named, never set foot in the US after he was three years old and moved with his parents to England. The college's ambassador, Cotton Mather, persuaded Yale, then the retired governor of the East India Company, to donate some religious books, a portrait of George I, and 200 pounds to the fledgling Connecticut institution known as the Collegiate School of Connecticut. A subsequent shipment of goods raised 562 pounds for the college. Yale died a rich man, but not a penny of his estate went overseas to the school that had changed its name to Yale College in 1718.

Source: Isaac Asimov's Book Of Facts

+++++++++

Word of The Week

DOVECOTE - (DUHV-kote) - noun

1 : a small compartmented raised house or box for domestic pigeons
2 : a settled or harmonious group or organization

Professor Smith's controversial claims so fluttered academic dovecotes that new studies were immediately launched to refute him.

"Catch-22" originated as the title of a 1961 novel by Joseph Heller. The original catch-22 in the novel was as follows: a combat pilot was crazy by definition (he would have to be crazy to fly combat missions) and since army regulations stipulated that insanity was justification for grounding, a pilot could avoid flight duty by simply asking, but if he asked, he was demonstrating his sanity (anyone who wanted to get out of combat must be sane) and had to keep flying. The label catch-22 suggested that 21 equally pernicious catches preceded it, but it was catch-22 that caught our attention and entered the language as the label for any irrational, circular and impossible situation.

Source: Webster's dictionary

++++++++++

Word of The Week

FRUMP - ('frump) - noun

Etymology: probably from frumple (to wrinkle)

1 : a dowdy unattractive girl or woman
2 : a staid, drab, old-fashioned person

Julie's new outfit made her look like a frump.

Technically speaking, the 12th President of the United States was David Rice Atchison. Atchison was President for a day. James Polk's four year term had ended constitutionally at noon, Sunday, March 4, 1849; his successor, Zachary Taylor, did not take the oath of office until Monday March 5; from noon Sunday until the inauguration Monday, there was no president Polk and no President Taylor. Vice-President George Dallas had resigned as president of the Senate on the previous Friday and Missouri's Senator Atchison was elected by the Senate to fill his place Pro Tempore. The Constitution declares that, in the absence of a President and a Vice President, the Congress can name a substitute. Atchison, as president of the Senate throughout that weekend, was therefore the legal President of the nation until Taylor was sworn. On his monument in Missouri is written: "David Rice Atchison, 1807-1886, President of the U.S. one day."

Source: Isaac Asimov's Book of Facts

++++++++

Word of The Week

VICARIOUS - (vie-KAR-ee-us) - adjective

1 : acting for another
2 : done or suffered by one person on behalf of another or others
3 : sharing in someone else's experience through the use of imagination or sympathetic feeling

"Draconian" comes from "Draco," the name of a 7th-century B.C. Athenian legislator who created a written code of law. Draco's code was intended to clarify preexistent unwritten laws, but their severity has long been associated with the Athenian's name. In Draco's code, even minor offenses were punishable by death, and failure to pay one's debts could result in slavery. "Draconian," as a result, became associated with things cruel or harsh. Something "draconian" need not always be as cruel as the laws in Draco's code, though -- today the word is used in a wide variety of ways and often refers to measures (steep parking fines, for example) that are relatively minor when compared with death and slavery.

Source: Webster's Dictionary

++++++++++

Word of The Week

COZEN - (KUZZ-un) - verb

1 : to deceive, win over, or induce to do something by artful coaxing and wheedling or shrewd trickery
2 : to gain by artful coaxing or tricky deception 

The janitor cozened a vice-presidents job by sucking up to the company president.

The distress call letters "SOS" were adopted by international agreement in 1908 because, in Morse code, they were easy both to transmit and to understand. The term "Save Our Ship" or "Save Our Souls" had nothing to do with the choice of letters. The original distress message created by the Marconi Company around the turn of the century was "CQD". CQ was an alert signal and D stood for distress. Unfortunately the Morse code pattern for "CQD" was too cumbersome to send repeatedly so it was changed to the now familiar "SOS" The letter S is sent as three short impulses or "dits" and the letter O by three long impulses or "dahs."Hence, the code is an easy pattern dit dit dit dah dah dah dit dit dit.

Source: Dictionary of Word and Phrase Origins by William and Mary Morris

++++++++++

Word of The Week

DRACONIAN - (dray-KOH-nee-uhn or druh-KOH-nee-uhn) - adjective

1 : of, relating to, or characteristic of Draco or the severe code of laws held to have been framed by him
2 : cruel; also : severe

The CEO had to take draconian cost cutting measures to keep the company alive.

Her most famous "invention" might be her son, Michael Nesmith, who became a member of the original "Monkees" rock group. But Bette Nesmith Graham was also a mother of invention, creating the substance known today as liquid paper.

As a single mother living in Dallas, Texas, she found her typing skills couldn't keep pace with her electric typewriter. Erasers couldn't completely eliminate typographical errors, so she decided to cover them up instead, using a homemade white substance first whipped up in her kitchen blender. Other secretaries quickly saw the sense of sweeping their typing errors under the rug. Soon Graham's concoction was selling briskly. By 1975, her Liquid Paper Company employed 200 people. A few years later, Graham sold the burgeoning business to Gillette for nearly $50 million. 

Source: www.mit.edu

++++++++++++++++

ADDUCE - (uh-DEUCE) - verb

: to offer as example, reason, or proof in discussion or analysis

The detective adduced sufficient evidence that Jim was the killer.

Elijah McCoy was born in Colchester, Ontario, Canada on May 2, 1844, the son of former slaves who had fled from Kentucky before the U.S. Civil War. Educated in Scotland as a mechanical engineer, Elijah McCoy returned to the United States and settled in Detroit, Michigan. He began experimenting with a cup that would regulate the flow of oil onto moving parts of industrial machines.

His first invention was a lubricator for steam engines, U.S. 129,843, which issued on July 12, 1872. The invention allowed machines to remain in motion to be oiled; his new oiling device revolutionized the industrial machine industry. Elijah McCoy established his own firm and was responsible for a total of 57 patents. The term "real McCoy" refers to the oiling device used for industrial machinery. His contribution to the lubricating device became so popular that people inspecting new equipment would ask if the device contained the real McCoy. This helped popularize the American expression, meaning the "real thing." His other inventions included an ironing board and lawn sprinkler.

Source: lsu.edu

++++++++++

Word of The Week

CONVOLUTED - (con vo lut ed) - adjective

1: Exhibiting convolutions; coiled; twisted
2: Intricate; complicated

Sally complained that the pattern of the wallpaper was too convoluted to work well in the kitchen.

Augusto Pinochet came to power in Chile during a bloody 1973 coup that over through democratically elected Salvador Allende. The US backed Pinochet as President Allende was rapidly turning Chile to Socialism by nationalizing private businesses and resources. Strong opposition to Allende existed within Chile and this opposition climaxed on September 11th when Chile's military led by General Pinochet took control of the government.

Pinochet immediately suspended the countries constitution, dissolved parliament, imposed strict censorship and banned all political parties. In addition, it embarked on a campaign of terror against leftist elements in the country. Thousands were arrested; many were executed, tortured, or exiled, while still others languished in prison or simply disappeared. Despite Chile's return to prosperity under the early Pinochet regime, a decline in copper prices combined with the brutal way he dealt with dissidents led to internal pressure to hold free elections. He was voted out of office in 1989 but managed to hold on to power by giving himself constitutional rights to remain Commander in Chief of the Army as well as a permanent seat in the Chilean Senate.

Pinochet was recently detained in Britain by an attempt from Spain to have him extradited to stand trial for crimes against humanity committed while in power. Britain released Pinochet on grounds of poor health. Pinochet has returned to Chile and the majority of Chileans feel they should move on to other issues.

Sources: www.bbc.co.uk and MS Encarta '99

++++++++++

Word of The Week

LAPIS LAZULI - (la·pis la·zu·li) - noun

http://www.gemhut.com/lapis.htm

: a semiprecious stone that is usually rich azure blue and is essentially a complex silicate often with spangles of iron pyrites

The Lapis Lazuli found in Chile is known to be the highest quality in the world.

Opus Dei ("Work of God") is an international Roman Catholic organization dedicated to applying the principles of Christianity to secular life and work. A lay organization, Opus Dei is divided into two sections, one for men and one for women. All members are drawn from the general public, encouraged to retain their professions, and may live with their families.

The leader of Opus Dei is known as a prelate. This is comparable to the jurisdiction of a bishop over a diocese. However, dioceses are geographic units and prelatures like Opus Dei need not be limited to a certain area.

 The mission of the Prelature is to remind all Christians that in whatever secular activity they dedicate themselves to they must cooperate in solving the problems of society in a Christian way, and bear constant witness to their faith. Nearly 80,000 people from around the world belong to the Opus Dei. Its headquarters, together with the church of the Prelature, is in Rome.

Sources www.opusdei.com & Microsoft Encarta '99

+++++++++

Word of The Week

PHALANX - (FAY-lanks) - noun

1 : a body of heavily armed infantry in ancient Greece formed in close deep ranks and files; broadly : a body of troops in close array

2 : one of the digital bones of the hand or foot of a vertebrate

3 a : a massed arrangement of persons, animals, or things b : an organized body of persons

The phalanx of reporters prevented us from seeing the defendant as he exited the courthouse.

Robert Furchgott is an American pharmacologist and winner of the 1998 Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine. Furchgott helped demonstrate that nitric oxide (NO), a molecule produced in the form of a gas in the cells of humans and other life forms, can act as a signaling molecule. Signaling molecules are released by cells and transmit messages to other cells

Furchgott's breakthrough studies with NO can be traced to the late 1970, when he investigated the relaxation of smooth muscle in the blood vessels of rabbits. He discovered that the blood vessels would not dilate unless the inner cellular lining of the vessel-a layer called the endothelium-was intact. He surmised that the endothelial cells produced a substance that acted as a signal to the smooth muscle cells surrounding the blood vessels, causing the muscles to relax and the vessels to dilate.

Furchgott's ground breaking basic research led to the development of Sildenafil Citrate, which is now, one of the worlds most popular prescription drugs for the treatment of impotence. This drug is better known as Viagra

The physiologic mechanism of erection of the penis involves release of nitric oxide (NO) that fosters blood flow into the organ during sexual stimulation. Viagra actually works by enhancing the effect of NO and enabling the smooth muscles that control blood flow into the penis to relax. Contrary to popular belief, Viagra does not by itself cause an erection. The drug only contributes to erectile function given proper sexual stimulation. After stimulation the penis will become flaccid. Cases of extended erections have been reported but they are very rare.

Sources: msn.com and viagra.com

++++++++++

Word of The Week

FLACCID - (fla-sid) - Adjective

1 a : not firm or stiff; also : lacking normal or youthful firmness <flaccid muscles> b of a plant part : deficient in turgor
2 : lacking vigor or force

After stimulation the penis will become flaccid.

Saint Patrick was neither Irish or named Patrick. His birthplace is thought to be located somewhere in southwest England. His British name was Succat. Patrick was Roman-Catholic by parenting but by his own admission until he was 16 he was covetous, licentious, materialistic and generally heathen. His village was raided and he was sold into slavery. It was during this time that he found God. He became a priest and was eventually appointed as Ireland's second bishop.

Patrick's imposing presence, unaffected manor, and immensely winning personality aided him in converting Ireland's pagan masses to Christianity. He worked tirelessly founding monasteries, schools and churches though out the "Emerald Land".

One central theme that Patrick repeatedly preached to converts was that of the Trinity: the belief that three Gods, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, coexist in a single entity but are nonetheless separate and distinct. He often used a shamrock with its three leaves to represent the Trinity and the stem to represent the single Godhead from which they proceeded. It is this fact for which the shamrock is associated with Saint Patrick's Day and Ireland in general.

Sources: Microsoft Encarta and Panati's Extraordinary Origins Of Everyday Things

***************

Word of The Week

RECIDIVISM - (rih-SIH-duh-vih-zuhm) - noun

: a tendency to relapse into a previous condition or mode of behavior; especially : relapse into criminal behavior

The recidivism rate among alcoholics who tried the new treatment plan was very low.

Mardi Gras, also known as "Fat Tuesday", Shrove Tuesday or Carnival is an annual festival marking the final day before the Christian fast of Lent, a 40-day period of self-denial and abstinence from merrymaking. The date actually varies from year to year and is always 46 days before Easter. (40 days of Lent and 6 Sundays) Mardi Gras is the last opportunity for revelry and indulgence in food and drink before the temperance of Lent.

Pre-Lenten Carnivals are celebrated predominantly in Roman Catholic communities in Europe and the Americas. Cities famous for their celebrations include Nice, France; Cologne, Germany; and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. New Orleans, Louisiana, holds the most famous Mardi Gras celebration in the United States.

Source: Microsoft Encarta and various New Orleans web sites.

++++++++++++++

The Big Easy is a nickname from the dawn of jazz. Jazz musicians at the turn of the century were fond of nicknames and according to jazz historians, a dance hall by that name existed in the early 1900's. Its exact location is uncertain.

Source: New Orleans Visitors and Convention Bureau

************

Word of The Week:

AVATAR - \AV-uh-tahr\ - noun

1 a : an incarnation in human form b : an embodiment (as of a concept or philosophy) often in a person

2 : a variant phase or version of a continuing basic entity

To millions of people around the world, Mother Teresa was an avatar of selflessness, piety, and generosity.

The Taj Mahal was designed as a tomb for the wife of Shah Jahan, a 17th-century Mughal emperor. It was constructed by about 20,000 workers from 1631 to 1648 in Âgra, a city in northern India. The massive domed structure was constructed in the Indo-Islamic style, using white marble and inlaid gems. At each corner is a minaret (prayer tower), and passages from the Koran, the Muslim holy book, adorn the outside walls. The bodies of the emperor and his wife remain in a vault below the building.

Source: MS Encarta '99

www.greatguy.com/taj.htm

*****************

Word of The Week

DEUS EX MACHINA - \DAY-uhs-eks-MAH-kih-nuh or DAY-uhs-eks-muh-SHEE-nuh\ - noun

1 : a god introduced by means of a crane in ancient Greek and Roman drama to decide the final outcome

2 : a person or thing (as in fiction or drama) that appears or is introduced suddenly and unexpectedly and provides a contrived solution to an apparently insoluble difficulty

Critics wrote Ted off as an amateur when he ended his first murder mystery with an outrageous deus ex machina.

The US Mint has begun circulating a new one-dollar coin. The new coin will not be easily confused with the old Susan B Anthony dollar because of its lustrous gold color, distinctive edge and finely crafted image of Sacagawea.

Sacagawea was the Shoshone Indian who assisted the historic Lewis and Clark expedition. Between 1804-1806, while still a teenager, she guided the adventurers from the Northern Great Plains to the Pacific Ocean and back. Her husband, Toussaint Charbonneau, and their son who was born during the trip, Jean Baptiste, also accompanied the group.

Without Sacagawea's navigational, diplomatic, and translating skills, the famous Lewis and Clark expedition would have perished. For one, she helped Lewis and Clark obtain the horses they needed to continue their journey. 

No pictures or even descriptions exist of Sacagawea so the portrait that appears on the coin is actually that of Randy'L He-Dow Teton, a 22 year old Shoshone college student. The coins artist, Glenna Goodacre, found Teton through her mother who was a receptionist at the Institute of American Indian Arts Museum (IAIA), in Santa Fe, NM.

The new coin is available now and is specifically being distributed through Wal-Mart and Sam's Club stores.

Source: www.usmint.gov

***********

Word of The Week

BANSHEE - \BAN-shee or ban-SHEE\ - noun

: a female spirit in Gaelic folklore whose appearance or wailing warns a family that one of them will soon die

Tom O'Riley claimed to have heard a banshee wailing outside his bedroom window just two days before his wife died.

Before Benjamin Franklin's time, people thought there were two kinds of electricity. Franklin felt there was only one kind, with two appearances, one representing an excess of electrical fluid and one a deficit. There was no way of telling which was which, so he guessed. He had a fifty-fifty chance of being right. As it turned out he was wrong.

To this day, electrical engineers prepare their diagrams with electricity flowing the wrong direction. It doesn't matter in practice, the electrical devices work just the same. For example, if everyone goes into a door marked "exit and out the door marked "entrance" they are going the wrong way, but there's no holdup in the traffic.

Source: Isaac Asimov's Book of Facts

I used to work at a particle physics lab and this topic was often discussed. When studying particle physics one cannot deny that electrons are the objects in motion that creates electricity. Hence, energy flows from negative to positive. The schematic diagrams used to build the instrumentation that measured this and other phenomena are drawn incorrectly, showing electrical flow from positive to negative, due to the incorrect "guess" mentioned above.

**********

Word of The Week

LAISSEZ-FAIRE - (leh-say-FAIR or lay-zay-FAIR) - noun

1 : a doctrine opposing governmental interference in economic affairs beyond the minimum necessary for the maintenance of peace and property rights

2 : a philosophy or practice characterized by a usually deliberate abstention from direction or interference especially with individual freedom of choice and action

An advocate of laissez-faire is also known as a capitalist.

The action of the legendary love drug known as Spanishfly is based on fact. Spanishfly is extracted from the dung of a blister beetle known by the same name. The extract known as cantharides is a caustic blistering agent that the beetle uses to defend itself from predators.

Reported sexual excitement after ingesting the drug stems from its ability to irritate the urogenital tract, causing a rush of blood to the genital area. Spanishfly is a poison that also burns the mouth and throat, and can cause urinary infections, scarring of the urethra, and in some rare cases, death.

Sources: www.msn.com & Microsoft Encarta '99

++++++++++

Word of The Week

VOCIFEROUS - (voh-SIH-fuh-russ) - adjective
: marked by or given to vehement insistent outcry

The vociferous crowed forced the officials to review the replay a second time.

The name of Nestles Baby Ruth candy bar honors President and Mrs. Grover Cleveland's daughter endearingly referred to as "Baby Ruth." There is no association between the confection and the famous baseball player Babe Ruth.

************

Ice cream sandwich wafers, saltine crackers, Ritz crackers and Cheese Its all have holes in them for one reason, so they cook and cool evenly. The so-called, "docker pin" holes, allow air circulation to evenly cook the product and to allow heat to escape after cooking.

Source: "What are hyenas laughing at anyway?" by David Feldman

++++++++++

Word of The Week

GLOWER - (GLAU-her) - verb

: to look or stare with sullen annoyance or anger

Sally crossed her arms and glowered at Jeff, and her expression told him plainly that she'd had quite enough of his teasing.

Scientology is a religion founded in 1954 by American science-fiction writer L. Ron Hubbard. It incorporates tenets from a number of world religions and includes belief in reincarnation and in preexisting souls called Thetans. Scientology is based on Dianetics, a method of psychotherapy invented by Hubbard and first expounded in his book Dianetics: The Modern Science of Mental Health (1950), which continued to be a best-seller in the mid-1990s. According to Hubbard's book, Dianetics is a technique of achieving better mental health by confronting memories that are not entirely accessible to the conscious mind

According to Scientology, every person is an immortal being who has been born over and over again. Although each soul has great powers, negative experiences in previous lifetimes have produced engrams, which are mental images that prevent the soul from using its vital force. Trained Scientologists called auditors try to guide people through a clearing process that erases engrams and allows the soul to realize its potential. Although people have a mind and a body, they are themselves spiritual beings (thetans). According to Scientology, as thetans rise through several levels of knowledge, they grasp the divine force that is their basic nature. Scientology's goal is to restore people to their infinite potential.

The first Scientology church was established in California in 1954. As Scientology spread, it received much criticism. For example, some people charge that the donations required for auditing and other services are excessive. They claim that Scientology is a business disguised as religion. Scientologists deny this claim. In spite of long and highly publicized controversies, this spiritual movement has attracted followers throughout the world.

Sources: The World Book Encyclopedia, Microsoft Encarta '99 and www.scientology.org

**************

Word of the Week

ASSUAGE - (uh-SWAYJ) - verb

1 : to lessen the intensity of (something that pains or distresses) : ease

2 : pacify, quiet

3 : to put an end to by satisfying : appease, quench

"Food, however, became scarce, and I often spent the whole day searching in vain for a few acorns to assuage the pangs of hunger." (Mary Shelley, Frankenstein)

Home