Satisficing

[This is an awesome concept that explains a geat deal, but more importantly one of those words with which you can amaze your friends...]

In economics, satisficing is a behaviour which attempts to achieve at least some minimum level of a particular variable, but which does not strive to achieve its maximum possible value. The most common application of the concept in economics is in the behavioural theory of the firm, which, unlike traditional accounts, postulates that producers treat profit not as a goal to be maximized, but as a constraint. Under these theories, a critical level of profit must be achieved by firms; thereafter, priority is attached to the attainment of other goals.

The word satisfice was coined by Herbert Simon in 1957. Simon says that people are only 'rational enough', and in fact relax their rationality when it is no longer required. This is called bounded rationality.

Some consequentialist theories in moral philosophy use the concept of satisficing in the same sense, though most call for optimization instead....

In decision-making, satisficing explains the tendency to select the first option given that can work for the situation rather than the “optimal” solution.

Example: One's task is to sew a patch onto a pair of jeans. The best needle to do the threading is a 4 in long needle with a 3 millimeter eye. This needle is hidden in a haystack along with 1000 other needles varying in size from 1 inch to 6 inches. Satisficing claims that the first needle that can sew on the patch is the one that should be used. Spending time searching for that one specific needle in the haystack is a waste of energy and resources.

Satisficing occurs in consensus building when the group looks towards a solution everyone can agree on even if it may not be the best.

Example: A staff spends hours projecting the next fiscal year's budget. After hours of debating they eventually reach a consensus only to have one person speak up and ask if the projections are correct. When the group becomes upset at the question, it is not because this person is wrong to ask, but rather because they have come up with a solution that works. The projection may not be what will actually come, but the majority agrees on one number and thus the projection is good enough to close the book on the budget.

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Reebok Freestyle

[In the mood for shoes...]
Reebok Freestyle is a women's athletic shoe style that was introduced in 1982 and designed for aerobic exercise. It quickly surged Reebok into the mainstream athletic wear market and fashion scene along with becoming one of the most popular athletic shoes of all time. As a result, the Freestyle became a 1980s fashion icon and is still manufactured to this day.

The original Freestyle was a low-top Oxford-style shoe made of leather with a yellow gum sole. The shoe was white with "Reebok" in light blue lettering and the British Union Jack flag on the one side. In the mid-1980s, Reebok introduced a hi-top Freestyle which became more popular than the low-top version. The Freestyle hi-top was ankle-high and consisted of two Velcro closures. Both the low-top and hi-top were offered in white, black, red, yellow, blue, pink, orange, and green colors over the years.

In addition to low-top, hi-top, and various colored patterns, Reebok has made modifications to the Freestyle, although, mostly to the hi-top version. The most common production material used is leather; however, an all canvas shoe and a synthetic mesh shoe have been offered. In the late 1980s, the sole pattern was slightly changed with the word "Reebok" enlarged and moved from the center to bottom edge of the sole (near the back of the shoe). In 1987, Reebok introduced the "White 'n Brights" Freestyles that had splashes of color like turquoise, red, yellow, and midnight blue. These colors were added to the terry cloth lining, the laces, logos, and the sole.

More drastic Freestyle versions came out in the late 1990s. A Freestyle hi-top with ripple soles and a "high-rise" (thicker sole) were created to compete with the chunky-soled shoes. Also, a higher hi-top called the "Double-Bubble" was produced. Around 2002, Reebok introduced a completely redesigned and updated Freestyle called the Freedom. None of these recent versions really caught on with consumers and were soon discontinued.

The Freestyle was one of the first athletic shoes to be specifically designed for women and was introduced at a time when the aerobic exercise fitness craze started. Women were impressed with the styling, comfort, and support the shoe provided for working out. The Freestyle's athletic use quickly spread to walking, bodybuilding, dance, and cheerleading. Ms. Olympia Cory Everson wore Freestyle hi-tops frequently in competition, working out, and on ESPN's Body Shaping program. Reebok sponsored the Los Angeles Laker Girls in the late 1980's and supplied them with white Freestyle hi-tops. Since then, other professional cheerleading and dance teams have used Freestyles. Even high school and college cheerleading teams have used Freestyles as their shoe of choice including some organizations currently in Texas.

Outside the gym, the Freestyle quickly hit the streets as popular casual wear. Women could wear Freestyles with jeans, shorts, capri-pants, sweat pants, tights or leggings, and even as commuter shoes to work. In the 1980s, Freestyles were often seen with flop or slouch socks which were usually streched over the bottom of the pant leg to help highlight the shoe. Some women would own more than one color of Freestyles allowing some to wear two different colored shoes like white and black or red and yellow. This trend occurred after the Punky Brewster television series.

The Freestyle's popularity, comfort, and styling quickly spread to the work place. Nurses and waitresses gave up ordinary uniform shoes for the Freestyle. It was not uncommon for many Hooters girls to be wearing Freestyles.

The Freestyle success and the athletic shoe fad of the late 1980s saw new competition from the likes of Avia, LA Gear, and Nike. Many competitors even had models that looked like the Freestyle hi-top complete with Velcro enclosures. By the mid-1990s, the Freestyle sales began to decline as fashion trends changed. Hi-top athletic shoes were out of style and consumers were choosing high-tech shoes. In the casual shoe market, consumers opted for non-athletic, "brown shoes" while fashion conscience teens opted for new styles from Nike, and Skechers. Sales continued to decline further to the point Freestyles became rare to find in retail stores except for Freestyle's sister shoe, the Princess. Today, the Freestyle is still widely available on the Internet and has a strong following with dedicated consumers. Many satisfied people have purchased the Freestyle for years while others like the support the shoe provides for weak ankles. As with many fashion trends, it is quite possible the Freestyle could make a comeback in the future.

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20th hijacker

[The real one, a Saudi man named Fawaz al-Nashimi, has apparently just died...]
A 20th hijacker is a numeric metaphor concerning a possible additional terrorist in the September 11, 2001 attacks who was not able to participate.

The term is somewhat misleading, as there is no evidence that al-Qaeda ever planned to have exactly 20 hijackers. There were many variations of the 9/11 plot, with the number of terrorists fluctuating with available resources and changing circumstances. In the end, there were 19 hijackers: three of the planes were taken over by five members each and the fourth was hijacked by only four people. One plane, United Airlines Flight 93, had fewer hijackers than the rest, thus the idea of a 20th hijacker came to be widely discussed....

The 9/11 Commission concluded that eight members of al-Qaeda, in addition to the 19 hijackers, attempted to enter the United States to participate in the attacks.

Ramzi Binalshibh was repeatedly denied entry into the U.S and was unable to take part. Mohamed al-Kahtani was another would-be hijacker, but he was denied entry into the U.S. at Orlando International Airport in August, 2001. He was later captured and imprisoned at Guantanamo Bay.

Zacarias Moussaoui was considered as a replacement for Ziad Jarrah, who at one point threatened to withdraw from the scheme because of tensions amongst the plotters. Plans to include Moussaoui were never finalized, as the al-Qaeda hierarchy had doubts about his reliability. Ultimately, Moussaoui did not play a role in the hijacking scheme. He was arrested about four weeks before the attacks.

The other al-Qaeda members who attempted to take part in the attacks, but were not able, were Saeed al-Ghamdi (not to be confused with the successful hijacker of the same name), Mushabib al-Hamlan, Zakariyah Essabar, Ali Abdul Aziz Ali and Tawfiq bin Attash. Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the attack's mastermind, had wanted to remove at least one member — Khalid al-Mihdhar — from the operation, but he was overruled by Osama bin Laden.

According to the BBC(http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/5101954.stm), it has been announced that the 20th hijacker was "Fawaz al-Nashimi". An Al-Qaeda video has been released from a US intelligence organisation, showing al-Nashimi justifying attacks on the west.

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Reality porn

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Wifebeater

[I thought the name was inspired by "Cops," but I guess not...]
Wife beater, also wifebeater, and sometimes abbreviated as simply beater, is a slang term used in North America, Scotland, Australia, New Zealand and various other places to refer to an A-shirt, tank top, singlet, or 'muscle shirt' when worn as a sole, outer layer as opposed to being worn as an undershirt. This term is often seen as demeaning and is often associated with the similarly derogatory phrase "white trash".

"Guinea T" and "Dago T" are other terms for the same style of shirt; and arguably just as offensive, "guinea" and "dago" both being ethnic slurs against Italian Americans, among whom this style of shirt is stereotypically popular.

The origin of the term is from the stereotype that the shirts are worn predominantly by men who beat their wives; black tank tops were often worn by Ike Turner, a notorious abuser of his wife Tina. In the 1980 movie Raging Bull, the main character, a boxer, is commonly seen wearing tank tops around the house, including in one scene where he beats his wife. Another likely source for the association is the movie A Streetcar Named Desire, in which Marlon Brando's character, Stanley Kowalski, also frequently wearing tank tops, violently beats his wife (see below). The wifebeater is also seen in New Zealand movie Once Were Warriors, where Jake the Muss, a stereotypical Māori tough man is nearly always seen wearing his black wifebeater. This movie is well known for the scene where Jake violently beats his wife after a heavy drinking session with his mates.

Some film roles have avoided the stereotypical image portrayed by wifebeaters such as Wolverine in the popular comic-book film series X-Men. Wolverine is a rough and ready character, but is loyal and protective to his friends. Whilst the debate can be argued as to whether Wolverine wears the shirt as underwear or just an extra item of clothing, the wifebeater is evident in several scenes.

Wifebeaters are also popular in the street gang culture of the United States. From there the wearing of wifebeaters spread to hip hop culture; wifebeaters are often worn by hip hop artists in public, on stage, or in the media.

Use of the term wifebeater to describe an article of clothing (as opposed to its literal use) is relatively new, perhaps originating as early as the 1970s. Some people find the term extremely offensive, as serving to legitimize spousal abuse; while others consider it harmless or even humorous. The term has been denounced by the National Organization for Women, who say it trivializes domestic violence. "The implication is that wife beating is not viewed as sufficiently serious to lift it above the level of something that's OK to joke about," says Kim Gandy, president of NOW.

In England, the term is used as slang for the Belgian beer Stella Artois. Although this is also used in Scotland by some, its main usage remains as a vest type sleeve-less shirt. In British culture, Stella Artois is associated with a drinking culture in which domestic abuse may follow a bout of drinking at the local pub.

A shirt of this type worn by women and often more fitted than the male version is sometimes referred to as a "boy beater."

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Juneteenth

[Today is...]
Juneteenth, also known as Freedom Day or Emancipation Day, is an annual holiday in the United States. Celebrated on June 19, it commemorates the announcement of the abolition of slavery in Texas. The holiday originated in Galveston, Texas; for more than a century, the state of Texas was the primary home of Juneteenth celebrations. Since 1980, Juneteenth has been an official state holiday in Texas. More recently, however, its observance has spread across the nation....

Though the Emancipation Proclamation had taken effect on January 1, 1863, it had little immediate effect on most slaves' day-to-day lives, particularly in Texas, which was almost entirely under Confederate control. Juneteenth commemorates June 19, 1865, the day Union General Gordon Granger and 2,000 federal troops arrived on Galveston Island to take possession of the state and enforce slaves' new freedoms. Standing on the balcony of Galveston's Ashton Villa, Granger read the contents of "General Order No. 3":

The people of Texas are informed that, in accordance with a proclamation from the Executive of the United States, all slaves are free. This involves an absolute equality of personal rights and rights of property between former masters and slaves, and the connection heretofore existing between them becomes that between employer and hired labor. The freedmen are advised to remain quietly at their present homes and work for wages. They are informed that they will not be allowed to collect at military posts and that they will not be supported in idleness either there or elsewhere.

That day has since become known as Juneteenth, a name derived from a portmanteau of the words June and nineteenth.

Slaves in Galveston rejoiced in the streets with jubilant celebrations. Juneteenth celebrations began in Texas the following year. Across many parts of Texas, freed slaves pooled their funds to purchase land specifically for their communities' increasingly large Juneteenth gatherings — including Houston's Emancipation Park, Mexia's Booker T. Washington Park, and Emancipation Park in Austin. Within a few years, these celebrations spread to other states and have become an annual tradition. Celebrations often open with praying and religious ceremonies, and include a reading of the Emancipation Proclamation. A wide range of festivities entertain participants, from music and dancing to contests of physical strength and intellect. Baseball and other popular American games are played. Food is central to the celebrations, with barbecued meats being especially popular.

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Ancient astronaut theory

[Jim Marrs, who's come up in research I've been doing on 9/11 conspiracy theorists, is one of the proponents of this theory of human creation...]
Ancient astronaut theory is a term used to describe the theories of ancient extraterrestrial contact being involved in some way with the origin or development of human culture. Most notably popularized by authors such as Erich von Däniken and Zecharia Sitchin, this theory is an expansion or elaboration of the more basic Paleocontact theory.

These theories often claim that human beings are either the descendants or creations of aliens who landed on Earth millennia ago — ideas that are commonly dismissed by the scientific community.

Another element of this view is the suggestion that much of human wisdom or religion was given to man by extraterrestrial visitors in ancient times. This possibility has been considered by some scientists, including Carl Sagan and I.S. Shklovskii, but the lack of hard evidence and the nature of the concept makes it unpopular among the scientific community....

Ancient astronaut theories have been advanced by authors such as Charles Fort (1919), Morris K. Jessup (1955), George Hunt Williamson (1957), Peter Kolosimo (in his 1957 book, Il pianeta sconosciuto), Henri Lhote (1958),^[1] Matest M. Agrest (1959), W. Raymond Drake (1964), Erich von Däniken (1968), Robert Charroux (1969), Dr. S. Lunskaya (1970) Robert K. G. Temple (1976), Zecharia Sitchin (1978) and Richard Hoagland....

Erich von Däniken was foremost in popularizing ancient astronaut theories in the late 1960s and early 1970s with the 1968 publication of his best-selling Chariots of the Gods and its sequels. The evidence that von Däniken put forward to support his vision of paleo-contact can be categorised as follows:

• Artifacts and monumental constructions have been found whose manufacture appears to have required a more sophisticated technological ability than that presumed to have been available to their associated contemporary cultures. These include objects and structures whose purpose or origins are not known, as well as those deemed to be beyond the capabilities of the societies attributed with their manufacture, at least in the eyes of Von Däniken and his supporters. Von Däniken maintains that these artifacts must have been manufactured either by extraterrestrial visitors or by humans who learned the necessary knowledge from them. Such artifacts and monuments he cites include Stonehenge, the head statues of Easter Island, the Antikythera mechanism and the Ancient Baghdad Electric Batteries. (See OOPArt)

• In ancient art and iconography throughout the world, themes can be observed which can be interpreted to illustrate astronauts, air and space vehicles, non-human but intelligent creatures, and artifacts of anachronistically-advanced technology. Von Däniken also identifies details that appear to be similar in the art of geographically-diverse historical cultures, which he argues imply a common origin.

• The origins of many religions could be interpreted or characterized as reactions to contacts of primitive humans with some alien race. In this view, the humans considered the technology of the aliens to be supernatural and the aliens themselves to be gods. According to von Däniken, the oral and written traditions of most religions contain references to visitors from stars and vehicles travelling through air and space. These, he says, should be interpreted as literal descriptions which have changed during the passage of time and become more obscure, rather than symbolic or mythical fiction. One such is Ezekiel's revelation in the Old Testament, which Däniken interprets as a detailed description of a landing spacecraft.

Since the publication of von Däniken's books, no substantial evidence has been found to verify his claims, while many of them have been disproven.^[2]Most historians regard his claims — as well of those of other ancient astronaut believers — as pseudoscience or pseudoarchaeology....

Zecharia Sitchin's continuing body of work The Earth Chronicles, beginning with the first installment The 12th Planet, revolves around Sitchin's interpretation of ancient Sumerian and Middle Eastern texts and mysterious megalithic sites and anomalous artifacts from around the world. He theorizes the gods of old were actually astronauts from the planet Nibiru, which the Sumerians believed to be a remote "12th" planet (counting the Sun and Moon as planets) associated with the god Marduk. According to Sitchin, Nibiru continues to orbit our sun on a 3,600-year elongated orbit.

According to Sitchin, the Sumerians relate how 50 "Anunnaki" or inhabitants of Nibiru came to Earth approximately 400,000 years ago with the intent of mining raw materials for transport back to their own world. With their small numbers they soon tired of the task and set out to genetically engineer laborers to work the mines. After much trial and error they eventually created homo sapiens sapiens: the "Adapa" (model man) or Adam of later mythology.

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Akashi-Kaikyo Bridge

[Something brought me here, I'll never know what...]

The Akashi-Kaikyo Bridge, also known as Pearl Bridge, is a suspension bridge in Japan that crosses the Akashi Strait; it links Maiko in Kobe and Iwaya on Awaji Island as part of the Honshu-Shikoku Highway. The central section is the longest bridge span in the world at 1991 metres (6532 ft). It was planned to be one of three Honshu-Shikoku connecting bridges, annexing two borders of the Inland Sea.

Before the Akashi-Kaikyo bridge was built, ferries carried passengers back and forth across the Akashi Strait in Japan. This dangerous waterway often experiences severe storms, and in 1955, two ferries sank in the strait during a storm, killing 168 children. The ensuing shock and public outrage convinced the Japanese government to draw up plans for a suspension bridge to cross the strait. The original plan was for a mixed railway-road bridge but when the bridge was begun in April 1986 it was restricted to road only, with six lanes. Actual construction did not begin until May 1988 and the bridge was opened for traffic on April 5, 1998. The Akashi Strait is an international waterway and required a 1500 metre wide shipping lane.

The bridge has three spans. The central span is 1991 metres, with the two other sections each 960 metres. The bridge is 3911 metres long overall. The central span was originally only 1990 metres but was stretched by a further metre in the Kobe earthquake on January 17, 1995. It was designed on a two-hinged stiffening girder system, allowing it to withstand 286 kilometres per hour (178 mph) winds, earthquakes measuring up to 8.5 on the Richter scale, and harsh sea currents. The bridge also contains pendula which operate at the resonant frequency of the bridge to dampen forces on it.

The total cost is estimated at ¥ 500 billion (≈USD 5 billion). This cost is expected to be defrayed by charging commuters a toll to cross the bridge. However, the toll is so high that, ironically, very few drivers actually use the expensive bridge, preferring instead to use the slower-but-cheaper ferries.

Two parks in proximity of the bridge have been built for tourists, one in Maiko (including a small museum) and one in Asagiri. Both are accessible by the coastal train line.

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Circumstantial evidence

[Looking up the pecise meaning of legal terms (I was recently indicted)...]
Circumstantial evidence is indirect evidence. Circumstantial evidence is the result of combining seemingly unrelated facts that, when considered together, can be used to infer a conclusion. Circumstantial evidence is usually a theory, supported by a significant quantity of corroborating evidence.

Circumstantial evidence is used in criminal courts to establish guilt or innocence through reasoning.

The distinction between direct and circumstantial evidence is important because, with the obvious exceptions (the immature, incompetent, or mentally ill), nearly all criminals are careful to not generate direct evidence, and try to avoid demonstrating criminal intent. Therefore, to prove the mens rea levels of "purposely" or "knowingly," the prosecution must usually resort to circumstantial evidence. The same goes for tortfeasors in tort law, if one needs to prove a high level of mens rea to obtain punitive damages.

An example of circumstantial evidence is the behavior of a person around the time of an alleged offense. If someone were charged with theft of money, and were then seen in a shopping spree purchasing expensive items, the shopping spree might be regarded as circumstantial evidence of the individual's guilt.

A popular misconception is that circumstantial evidence is less valid or less important than direct evidence. This is only partly true: direct evidence is generally considered more powerful, but successful criminal prosecutions often rely largely on circumstantial evidence, and civil charges are frequently based on circumstantial or indirect evidence. In practice, circumstantial evidence often has an advantage over direct evidence in that it is more difficult to suppress or fabricate.

Much of the evidence against Timothy McVeigh was circumstantial, for example. Speaking about McVeigh's trial, University of Michigan law professor Robert Precht said, "Circumstantial evidence can be, and often is much more powerful than direct evidence." The recent Scott Peterson trial was based heavily on circumstantial evidence.

Circumstantial evidence is also used in civil courts to establish or deny liability.

However, there is sometimes more than one logical conclusion inferable from the same set of circumstances. In cases where one conclusion implies a defendant's guilt and another his/her innocence, the 'benefit of the doubt' principle would apply.

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Rhinotillexomania / Mucophagy / Rhinolith

[Inspired by this, I looked into this...]
Nose-picking is the act of extracting mucus or foreign bodies from the nose with a finger. Compulsive nose-picking is known as rhinotillexomania (etymology: Greek, rhino "nose" + tillexis "habit of picking" + mania).

Although a very common habit, it is a mildly taboo subject in most East Asian and Western cultures. Children's literature often makes reference to it, to amuse readers (for example Jacques Charpentreau's poem "De l'Education!" and Gordon Korman's Nose Pickers series). John Allen Paulos's imaginary novel, Rucker: a life fractal has a section where "proboscis probing is discussed at length." [1]

Mucophagy is the consumption of the mucus thus extracted, and is commonly referred to as "picking your nose and eating it" (where 'it' refers to the mucus rather than the nose). While common in some cultures, it is also generally viewed as a cultural taboo, to the extent that many of those who engage in the practice generally find it disgusting when done by someone else in their presence, much like flatulence.

Nose-picking may carry a number of medical risks, including causing nasal infections and nosebleeds. Most authorities recommend using a tissue.

However, at least one well-known doctor sees nose-picking and mucophagy as beneficial [2]. He states that not only is the finger capable of reaching parts of the nose that a handkerchief or tissue is unable to, thus keeping the nose cleaner, but that eating the bacteria-rich dried mucus offers a boost to the immune system, and is analogous to immunization.

Due to the special nature of the blood supply to the nose and surrounding area, it is possible for retrograde infections from the nasal area to spread to the brain, although this scenario is unlikely to arise from nose-picking. For this reason, the area from the corners of the mouth to the bridge of the nose, including the nose and maxilla, is known to doctors as the "danger triangle of the face".

A rhinolith (called a "booger" or "boogie" in American slang, or "bogey" in British slang) is a piece of dry or semi-dry nasal mucus.

Rhinoliths forms when the mucus traps dust and other particles in the air. Mucus dries around the particle and hardens, somewhat like a pearl forming in an oyster. Since catching foreign particles is one of the main functions of nasal mucus, the presence of rhinoliths is a good indicator of a properly functioning nose (as opposed to a "runny nose", which can indicate illness).

[For more on nose-picking, see here; for more on eating it, see here; and for all you need to know about boogers -- or, as they say across the pond, bogeys -- click here.]

Freeze drying

[The proess doesn't sound as if it would result in inedible food...]
Freeze drying (also known as lyophilization) is a dehydration process typically used to preserve a perishable material or make the material more convenient for transport. Freeze drying works by freezing the material and then reducing the surrounding pressure to allow the frozen water in the material to sublimate directly from the solid phase to gas in a manner similar to that which causes unused ice cubes to shrink in a frost-free freezer. The greatly reduced water content that results inhibits the action of microorganisms and enzymes that would normally spoil or degrade the substance.

The application of high vacuum in freeze drying causes ice to sublimates much more quickly, making it useful as a deliberate drying process. A cold condenser chamber and/or condenser plates provide a surface(s) for the vapour to re-solidify on. These surfaces must be colder than the temperature of the surface of the material being dried, or the vapour will not migrate to the collector. Temperatures for this ice collection are typically below -50 °C.

If a freeze-dried substance is sealed to prevent the reabsorption of moisture, the substance may be stored at room temperature without refrigeration, and be protected against spoilage for many years. Freeze drying tends to damage the tissue being dehydrated less than other dehydration methods, which involve higher temperatures. Freeze drying doesn't usually cause shrinkage or toughening of the material being dried, and flavours/smells also remain virtually unchanged.

Liquid solutions that are freeze-dried can be rehydrated (reconstituted) much more quickly and easily because it leaves microscopic pores in the resulting powder. The pores are created by the ice crystals that sublimate, leaving gaps or pores in its place. This is especially important when it comes to pharmaceutical uses. Lyophilization also increases the shelf life of drugs for many years.

The process has been popularized in the form of freeze dried ice cream and as an example of astronaut food. It is also popular and convenient for hikers because the reduced weight allows them to carry more food and reconstitute it with available water. Freeze drying is used in the manufacture of instant coffee as well as some pharmaceuticals.

In high altitude environments, the low temperatures and pressures can sometimes produce natural mummies by a process of freeze-drying.

In chemical synthesis, products are often lyophilized to make them more manageable or more easy to dissolve in water for subsequent use.

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Wog

[I found this somewhere in regards to the Scientology meaning -- but the others are just as interesting.]
Wog is a word with several meanings, one commonly derogatory, the others not.

As a racial epithet in British English

Illustrator Florence Kate Upton's Golliwogg and friends from The Adventures of two Dutch Dolls And A Golliwogg, in which he was described as "a horrid sight, the blackest gnome".

British racial term originating in the colonial period of the British Empire. It was generally used as a label for the natives of India, North Africa and the Middle East. By the 1950s it had become a pejorative term used in order to offend.

The origins of the term are unclear. Most dictionaries say "wog" either possibly or likely derives from the generic term golliwog after the Golliwogg, a "grotesque" blackface minstrel doll-character from a children's book published in 1895. Various facetious explanations include the claim that it originated from acronyms for "Westernized/Worthy/Wily Oriental Gentleman" or variants thereof, or for "Workers of Government" or "Wards of Government", used to refer to early immigrants into the United Kingdom. Such attempts to explain the word's origin are apocryphal at best.

The use of the word is discouraged in Britain, and most dictionaries refer to the word with the caution that it is slang, derogatory, and offensive. James Robertson & Sons, a British manufacturer of jams and preserves, discontinued use of the Golliwog as its trademark in the early 1990s for similar reasons. It is generally considered unwise to use it in modern Britain without expecting an extreme reaction.

The saying "The wogs begin at Calais" was originated by George Wigg, Labour MP for Dudley, in 1945. In a parliamentary debate concerning the Burmese, Wigg shouted at the Tory benches, "The Honourable Gentleman and his friends think they are all 'wogs'. Indeed, the Right Honourable Member for Woodford [i.e. Winston Churchill] thinks that the 'wogs' begin at Calais." Wigg's coinage, sometimes paraphrased as "Wogs start at the Channel" or "Wogs start at Dover", is commonly used to characterise a stodgy Europhobic viewpoint, and more generally the view that Britain (more commonly England) is inherently separate from (and superior to) the Continent. In this case, "wog" describes any foreign, un-English person.

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As a racial reference in Australian English

Wog is also a slang term in Australian English, denoting non-Anglo-Celtic Australians, usually people of Southern European Mediterranean ancestries. These days it is still applied to Greeks and Italians but is also used with Arabs or Turks. Historically, the term included Slavic peoples

This meaning came into popular use in the 1950s when Australia accepted large numbers of immigrants from Southern Europe. Although originally used pejoratively, the term is increasingly used more affectionately, especially by the individuals the term is used to describe. Wog is a word with definite and widespread currency in contemporary Australian English, and for the most part it is rarely considered to be the sort of slur or insult that it remains in other parts of the Anglosphere.

The process by which it has become embraced by the communities it describes is similar to the reclaiming of gay and poof in the homosexual community, a process designed to take the sting out of the pejorative. The process was accelerated in the early 1990s with the popularity of the stage show Wogs Out of Work starring Greek-Australians including Nick Giannopoulos, George Kapiniaris and Mary Coustas. The production was followed on television with Acropolis Now, and in film with The Wog Boy.

Nevertheless, this process of reclaiming the word is only partial and is mainly restricted to ethnic groups broadly accepted by the dominant white Anglo-Celtic ethnic group. The term remains quite offensive to a lot of people in Australia, particularly people of non-anglo origin who grew up in Australia during the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s. In those times the word was usually used as a racist slur or insult. Its use was often preceded by a word such as "dirty", "greasy" or an expletive such as, "fucking".

In Australia, the word is still used as a racial slur. For example, in December 2005, the term was used frequently in its pejorative sense before and during the Sydney race riots.

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As a synonym for "illness" in Australian English

Wog has also been used in Australia as a slang term for illness such as colds, the flu or malaria. This usage has been in existence since at least the early 1940s. It is recorded in the 1941 Popular Dictionary of Australian Slang by S. J. Baker as meaning a germ or parasite.^[1]

Another use of the term, which dates from at 1909, was to describe insects and grubs, particularly if they were hunting insects or regarded as being unpleasant in some way.^[1]

The derogatory nature of the term when used as a racial taunt largely succeeded in overtaking and driving out use of the term wog to describe illness or undesirable insects. In common parlance, the word no longer has much currency in these contexts, and many young Australians would be unfamiliar with this usage. Nevertheless, older usages may occasionally be referred to ironically or humourously. For example, The Australian National Dictionary cites a joke in a publication called Nichigo Press from 1983:

Have you been in bed with a wog? Oh no, I'm married! ^[1]

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Maritime usage

Wog is a shortened version of the word polliwog (frequently modified with the word slimy), used for sailors during the Line-crossing ceremony on the first time they cross the equator. Polliwog or pollywog is an increasingly obsolete synonym for tadpole which has been traced back to Middle English.

This use of polliwog goes back to at least the 19th century and thus may be the oldest source of wog. Dictionaries are unaware of it, possibly because Eric Partridge missed it in his Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English (1937).

Maritime wog is a possible alternative ancestor of the racial wog, particularly since Partridge does record a usage for presumably annoying Bengali bureaucrats:

"A lower-class babu shipping-clerk: nautical: late C.19-20" - Concise Dictionary of Slang, Eric Partridge, 1989

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As a term in Scientology

Scientologists use "wog" disparagingly for non-scientologists. Scientology's founder L. Ron Hubbard employed the term frequently in his lectures and writings, and his followers in the Church of Scientology continue to do so. From a 2000 staff recruitment leaflet:

"Why spend your time and ability working a 9 to 5 job in the wog world, when you can be 100% on-purpose, working full-time to help change conditions and Clear the Planet?"

As Hubbard had been an officer in the U.S. Navy during World War II, his usage may have derived from the maritime rather than the racial meaning.

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Fondant

[These little explanations of how and why I find these things are surprisingly hard to do. Because who really knows why he thinks of this word or that one? Sometimes things just come to you.]

Fondant is a confection used as a filling or coating for cakes, pastries, and candies or sweets. In its simplest form, it is sugar and water cooked to a point, specifically soft-ball stage, cooled slightly, and stirred or beaten until it is an opaque mass of creamy consistency. Typically, glucose is added to prevent the syrup from graining while cooking. Corn syrup is probably the most common form of glucose used.

The finished product solidifies and may be stored until needed, when reheating returns it to a liquid state. As a liquid it may be poured into molds, or over cakes and pastries as a form of icing. The word fondant comes from the Old French fondre and Latin fundere, meaning "to melt."

In an intermediate temperature between liquid and firmly solid, fondant may be rolled or molded. In this state it is often used for making "cream"-filled chocolates, and elaborate cake decoration. Fondant may be used as a substitute for chocolate in coatings for candies, either as mock white chocolate, or with chocolate added to the fondant, as a chocolate-like covering.

Cherries or other fruits preserved in liqueurs or syrups are dipped in liquid fondant, which is then allowed to solidify. When the fruits are subsequently dipped in chocolate for an outer hard shell, the fondant liquifies again inside the chocolate.

When used as an icing for cakes, petit fours, and certain pastries, fondant is often put over a base layer of marzipan.

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Kegerator

[Someone said this at my office once and it confused me...]
Kegerator is a term used to describe a home made beer dispensing device. A keg, typically of beer, is stored in a refrigerated container in order to keep the keg chilled. The user is able to maintain a tapped keg in such a device for extended periods of time, usually a couple months, without losing any quality in the taste of the beer. Normally they are made from a refrigerator or a freezer with special equipment. The term "Kegerator" is a portmanteau combining the words keg and refrigerator.

Parts of a Kegerator

• Co2 tank
• Regulator
• Coupler
• Beer & Air Line
• Tap
• Tower
• Drip Tray
• Faucet
• Faucet Handle

One crucial part of a kegerator is a coupler. Beverage dispensing devices, such as the kegerator, have many standards for couplers:

• System D (Sankey) - Standard for American beer
• System S - Common for European beer
• System U - Specifically for Guinness
• System G - Used by some Irish breweries
• System A - Used by some German breweries

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"Happy Birthday to You"

[If you've ever wondered where this came from -- which I'm sure you have...]

"Happy Birthday to You" is a song which is sung to celebrate the anniversary of a person's birth. According to the Guinness Book of World Records, "Happy Birthday to You" is the most popular song in the English language, followed by "For He's a Jolly Good Fellow" and "Auld Lang Syne". The song has been translated into many languages, though it is often sung with the English lyrics in countries where English is not a primary language. It's also the most frequently sung song in America.

The melody of "Happy Birthday to You" was written by American sisters Patty and Mildred Hill in 1893 when they were school teachers in Louisville, Kentucky. The verse was originally intended as a classroom greeting entitled "Good Morning to All". The version as we know it was copyrighted in 1935 by the Summy Company as an arrangement by Preston Ware Orem, and is scheduled to expire in 2030. This was the first copyrighted version to include the lyrics. The company holding the copyright was purchased by Warner Chappell in 1990 for $15 million dollars, with the value of "Happy Birthday" estimated at $5 million. [1] While the current copyright status of the song is unclear, Warner claims that unauthorized public performances of the song are technically illegal unless royalties are paid to them. It is not completely certain who wrote the lyrics to "Happy Birthday to You".

During the SARS outbreak in Hong Kong in 2003, the government advised people to regularly wash their hands with soap for around 15 seconds. In order to make this practice more easily handled by kids, some primary school and kindergarten teachers told their students to sing "Happy Birthday to You" slowly while they washed their hands, and to only stop washing after finishing the song.^{[citation needed]}

"Happy Birthday to You" copyright status

There is a 1935 copyright registration for "Happy Birthday to You", as a work for hire by Preston Ware Orem for the Summy Company (the publisher of "Good Morning to All"). "Good Morning to All", however, was published in 1893 and is public domain by U.S. statute. The current owner of the 1935 copyright believes that one cannot sing "Happy Birthday to You" lyrics for profit without paying royalties. Except for the splitting of the first note in the melody "Good Morning to All" to accommodate the two syllables in the word happy, melodically "Happy Birthday to You" and "Good Morning to All" are identical.

"Good Morning to All" is printed in Song Stories for the Kindergarten, published 1893 (revised edition published 1896). It credited Patty Hill for the lyrics and Mildred Hill for the music.

Neither the words nor the music of "Good Morning to All" are copyrighted under U.S. federal statute.

In 1924, Robert Coleman included "Good Morning to All" in a songbook with the birthday lyrics as a second verse. Coleman also published "Happy Birthday" in The American Hymnal in 1933. Children's Praise and Worship, edited by Andrew Byers, Bessie L. Byrum and Anna E. Koglin, published the song in 1928.

Later the "Happy Birthday to You" lyrics combined with the Hills' published melody showed up on stage. The Broadway musical The Band Wagon used "Happy Birthday to You" in 1931. There was no copyright for the Happy Birthday lyrics at the time. Contrary to what is often erroneously reported, the lawsuit was dropped, and there was no outcome to the case. As a result, the Summy Company registered the copyright for Happy Birthday to You, which does not affect today's public domain status of "Good Morning to All."

Precedent (regarding works derived from public domain material, and cases comparing two similar musical works) seems to suggest that the melody used in "Happy Birthday to You" would not merit additional legal protection for one split note.

Whether or not changing the words "good morning" to "happy birthday" should be protected by copyright is a different matter. The words "good morning" were substituted with "happy birthday" by others than the authors of "Good Morning to All".

An interesting earlier songbook is The Golden Book of Favorite Songs (Chicago: Hall & McCreary, 1915). It includes the song "Good Morning to All" printed with the alternate title: "Happy Birthday to You." However, the "Happy Birthday to You" lyrics are not actually printed along the staff.

Regardless of the fact that "Happy Birthday to You" infringed upon Good Morning to All, there is one theory that because the "Happy Birthday to You" variation was not authored by the Hills, and it was published without notice of copyright under the 1909 U. S. copyright act, that the 1935 registration is invalid.

Outside of the United States both the melody and the words are protected by copyright in those jurisdictions with a copyright term of length of life of the author plus 70 years. Of the two co-writers of the melody, Patty Hill's life determines the length of copyright as she died decades after her sister in 1946. The lyrics on the other hand are protected with reference to their writer Preston Ware Orem who died in 1938. In life of the author plus 70 years jurisdictions the lyrics will come out of copyright at the end of 2008 and the music will come out of copyright at the end of 2016. In those jurisdictions which remain life of the author plus 50 years for determining copyright both lyrics and music are already out of copyright.

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New Madrid Seismic Zone

[The U.S.G.S. is worried that Arkanas may see a major earthquake at some point in the (near?) future. Yes, Arkansas.]
The New Madrid Seismic Zone, also known as the Reelfoot Rift or the New Madrid Fault Line, is a major seismic zone located in the Midwestern United States. The New Madrid fault system was responsible for the 1812 New Madrid Earthquake and has the potential to produce damaging earthquakes in coming decades.

The 150-mile long fault system, which extends into five states, stretches southward from Cairo, Illinois, through Hayti-Caruthersville and New Madrid, Missouri, through Blytheville, to Marked Tree, Arkansas. It also covers a part of Tennessee, near Reelfoot Lake, extending southeast into Dyersburg.

The red zones on the map above indicate the epicenter locations of hundreds of minor earthquakes recorded since the 1970s. Two trends are apparent. First is the general NE-SW trend paralleling the trend of the Reelfoot Rift. The second is the intense cross trend, NW-SE, that occurs just southwest of New Madrid. This second trend coincides with an intrusive igneous body which lies deeply buried beneath the sediments of the rift zone. Several other bodies of deeply buried intrusive rock are known to exist within the seismic zone. The depths of these igneous rock bodies closely corresponds to the depth of the seismic activity.

The zone has seen four of the largest North American earthquakes in recorded history, with magnitude estimates greater than 7.0 on the Richter scale, all within a 3 month period. Many of the published accounts describe the cumulative effects of all the earthquakes, thus finding the individual effects of each quake can be difficult.

• First earthquake of December 16, 1811, 0815 UTC (2:15 a.m.); 7.7 magnitude; epicenter in northeast Arkansas; Mercalli XI. It caused only slight damage to man-made structures, mainly because of the sparse population in the epicentral area. However, landslides and geological changes occurred along the Mississippi River, and large localized waves occurred due to fissures opening and closing below the Earth's surface.

• Second earthquake of December 16, 1811, 1415 UTC (8:15 a.m.); 7.0 magnitude; epicenter in northeast Arkansas; Mercalli X-XI. This shock followed the first earthquake by six hours.

• Earthquake of January 23, 1812, 1500 UTC (9 a.m.); 7.6 magnitude; epicenter in Missouri Bootheel. The meizoseismal area was characterized by general ground warping, ejections, fissuring, severe landslides, and caving of stream banks.

• Earthquake of February 7, 1812 (the New Madrid Earthquake), 0945 UTC (4:45 a.m.); 7.9 magnitude; epicenter near New Madrid, Missouri. New Madrid was destroyed. At St. Louis, many houses were damaged severely and their chimneys were thrown down. The meizoseismal area was characterized by general ground warping, ejections, fissuring, severe landslides, and caving of stream banks.

These catastrophic earthquakes occurred during a three-month period in December 1811 and early 1812. They caused permanent changes in the course of the Mississippi River, which flowed backwards temporarily, and were felt as far away as New York City and Boston, Massachusetts where churchbells rang....

The potential for the recurrence of large earthquakes and their impact today on densely populated cities in and around the seismic zone has generated much research devoted to understanding earthquakes. Establishing the probability for an earthquake of a given magnitude is an inexact science. By studying evidence of past quakes and closely monitoring ground motion and current earthquake activity, scientists attempt to understand their causes, recurrence rates, ground motion and disaster mitigation. The probability of magnitude 6.0 or greater in the near future is considered significant; a 90% chance of such an earthquake by the year 2040 has been given. In the June 23, 2005 issue of the journal Nature, the odds of another 8.0 event within 50 years were estimated to be between 7 and 10 percent.[1] Because of the unconsolidated sediments which are a major part of the underlying geology of the Mississippi embayment as well as the river sediments along the Mississippi and Ohio River valleys to the north and east (note the red fingers extending up these valleys in the image above), large quakes here have the potential for more widespread damage than major quakes on the west coast.

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