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Ah, thanks. So it's 60-year old slang burned into the brains of the Bugs Bunny generation.

James Surowiecki would disagree with you; you may be interested to read his book, "The Wisdom of Crowds."

http://www.randomhouse.com/features/wisdomofcrowds /

"A popular folk etymology for spill the beans claims that in ancient Greece, applicants for membership in secret societies were voted upon by having the existing members drop beans into an opaque pottery jar.... It's an engaging tale, and beans were in fact once used as ballots, but since the phrase is American and was not seen until 1919, neither the story nor the jar holds water."

Godspeed is a nominalization of the phrase God speed (you), understanding which depends on two things: speed in this sense means 'to prosper; succeed', which is now archaic, but which is the original sense of the word; and the verb is subjunctive, expressing a wish, with the entire phrase meaning "may God cause you to succeed." Semantic parallels are such common expressions as God bless you or God forbid!; another nominalization is goddamn (as in "I don't give a good goddamn what you think"), shortened from God damn you.
http://www.randomhouse.com/wotd/index.pperl?date=1 9980129

So Goddamn you for nitpicking something as simple as a phrase which in this day and age is just the same as saying "Good Luck."

Oh, Yeah. Godspeed!

I agree. Kids should put down those video games and pick up a copy of The Zombie Survival Guide instead. It's way better than video games at teaching kids how to defend themselves from the undead.

You might want to square the tip in your sig to this.

LL

It's possible that they tbds9pre h5yq[4,fmh-9n8 yf [ h4ve

And I still have yet to see a site where truly all the content lies within flash, only.

Feast your eyes upon this selection of webby award winning non-web-sites:

• http://www.totousa.com/
• http://www.observatoryfilms.com/
• http://www.yourpsp.com/
• http://plimptonproject.org/
• http://www.npgmusicclub.com/
• www.randomhouse.com
• http://www.madeinmtl.com/
• http://www.krupsusa.com/krups/
• http://www.freestylelivin.com/
• http://www.remembersegregation.org/
• http://www.bigfatinstitute.org/
• http://www.lorealusa.com/
• http://www.mercedes-amg.com/
• Boredom sets in...

Your comment has too few characters per line (currently 13.3). Your comment has too few characters per line (currently 13.3). 10th Annual Webby Awards Nominees & Winners: 10th Annual Webby Awards Nominees & Winners:

If I'm watching a movie or anime and it has a high YQ, then it's chalk-full of exactly the same generic dreck you're talking about.

The correct compound is chock-full . I mention this only for information, reserving my scorn for perpetrators of the most egregious malaprops, such as those who dare say that this is better then that.

Well, "hear, hear" is closer to the original shout:
http://www.randomhouse.com/wotd/index.pperl?date=1 9980304

The Da Vinci Code

Dan Brown

The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail

Michael Baigent, Richard Leigh, Henry Lincoln

Perhaps this seems like a good time to drum up some publicity in time for the movie release?

I hope the courts give them a good slap for wasting everyone's time.

The Da Vinci Code

Dan Brown

The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail

Michael Baigent, Richard Leigh, Henry Lincoln

Perhaps this seems like a good time to drum up some publicity in time for the movie release?

I hope the courts give them a good slap for wasting everyone's time.

You can even see it in old standards like the Hardy Boys, where evidence and deductive reasoning were stressed over blind acceptance of the common view.

Encyclopedia Brown was my hero.

One of the reasons that America is slipping in science standings is that science is no longer presented to young people as a desirable career. Someone has to carry that torch.

Science was presented to young people as a desirable career only during the few decades of the Cold War, when the military-industrial complex needed scientists to beat the Russians at missle-building and the like.

Unfortunately don't need scientists to beat our current "designated threat" of pseudo-Islamic "terrorists"; they need cannon fodder who can be fooled into getting their legs blown off in the name of a Pax Americana.

Good points, even if I remain unconvinced. Regarding China's cultural taboo (perhaps too strong a term, in retrospect) against privacy, I've been able to find very little on the internet directly relevant to the topic. Yet the presumption pervades all writings about Chinese culture, and to a lesser degree other East Asian cultures. Here's some pages I've found that obliquely reference the difference between Western and Chinese cultures in attitudes towards privacy:

"Some attractive concepts become undesirable in Chinese. For example, privacy refers to something that one doesn't want others to know about, something almost evil." -- Annie Wang

Lots of goodies

"In China, American teachers ... are confronted with attitudes toward the self; ... toward concepts of freedom, privacy, individualism, ... all of which also emphasize how essentially American the teachers are."

Finally, the Economist ran an article recently arguing that China's notions towards privacy and private space are only now beginning to approach Western conceptions of the same, as floor area ratios go up, family sizes go down, and interaction increases with Western-influenced media and their inherent value systems. Naturally, I can't find the article now that I want to reference it, but I remember it was just a couple weeks ago if you want to look for it.

Take with the usual recommended amount of salt.

Other etymologists believe that, at some point centuries later, someone decided that Pliny had been skeptical about either the antidote or its efficacy and took cum grano salis to mean 'with a dose of skepticism'. That has been its meaning since its first appearance in English in the 17th century.

For more on this topic, check out The Wisdom of Crowds by James Surowiecki.

Surowiecki gives many examples of how aggregated knowledge of a lot of fools usually beats the experts. The research cited in TFA begins to explain the mechanism by which that works.

If I was a small manufacturer of electronic devices, and stupid rules like this were the law of the land. I'd make my devices with firmware that can easily be modified on a USB connection.

I sure as hell would not officially make if open to all formats... but the day I started selling the machine, somehow would be the day the hacked firmware version was available on the internet.

I'd also not hold press conferences on exactly how to install and upgrade to this hacked version. That would be wrong. I'd probably yell at some consultant who used to work for us(and was paid handsomely) when he held the conference. I'd probably re-hire him at some point, because I am forgiving that way.

I'd denounce this hack publicly, calling it by its accurate name, so people wouldn't mistake it for some other, double-plus good firmware upgrade.

I'd even denounce my loyal and faithful software partners, who somehow seem to be giving this firmware upgrade away, in multiple formats for different operating systems, and with no spyware whatsoever... I'd make sure to expose exactly how this upgrade gets to the public. Of course, this bad behaviour by my partners would not interefere with future business relationships, all water under the bridge, really.

It would be an act of kindness of course, not to press charges on anyone who would hack their device in this way... and a demonstration of goodwill to pick up the legal tabs for anyone sued by some other party who didn't like what the consumer did to our device. Keep it in the family, as it were.

Or maybe something like Henry Ford's "lawsuit insurance" is an alternative plan. http://www.randomhouse.com/crown/catalog/display.p perl?isbn=9781400050093&view=excerpt

They'd find themselves on the business end of a 'rendition' to syria tootsweet!

Only in America do they have sweet toots!

http://www.randomhouse.com/features/traveler/

A book about the theory of panopticon. Dramatized, but still excellent. The idea that eventually society will "behave" because regardless of wether or not they are actually being watched, it can be done with little or no effort.

Phroggy, I gotta say it. You the man.

"Also, it's moron, not maroon"

You've got to get a better dictionary, if that usage of maroon isn't in the one you have.

http://www.randomhouse.com/wotd/index.pperl?date=1 9970731

Also, see http://www.actuarialoutpost.com/actuarial_discussi on_forum/ for the use of still another variation of moron, specifically "moran."

[sigh]

http://www.randomhouse.com/wotd/index.pperl?date=1 9990129

for those who don't understand Yiddish or - even more misleading - for those who do understand German (where both words have a very different meaning):

that depends

Well, since you mentioned him, here's a page with a fairly complete listing of his works.

http://www.randomhouse.com/delrey/authors/results. pperl?authorid=718

His real name is not Piers Anthony, and as a matter of fact, I dated his daughter in the late '60's.

This has nothing to do with the question of the day however. If you will take a look at Henriette's site:

http://www.ibiblio.org/herbmed/

You will notice that there are more than a few natural remedies, which are forbidden by the FDA because of finacial conflicts with the current drug and chemical lords.

One notable instance is Stevia Leaf, a natural sweetener which has apparently been banned in the United States, because it's use interferes with Monsanto's market share of nutra-sweet(r).

Personally, I would prefer to replace as many chemical drugs with natural ones as possible. I am speaking as someone who spent 76 weeks on interferon, and would prefer to drink tea now.

Michael

I have been asked to talk about what I consider the most important challenge facing mankind, and I have a fundamental answer. The greatest challenge facing mankind is the challenge of distinguishing reality from fantasy, truth from propaganda. Perceiving the truth has always been a challenge to mankind, but in the information age (or as I think of it, the disinformation age) it takes on a special urgency and importance.

and later

I studied anthropology in college, and one of the things I learned was that certain human social structures always reappear. They can't be eliminated from society. One of those structures is religion. Today it is said we live in a secular society in which many people---the best people, the most enlightened people---do not believe in any religion. But I think that you cannot eliminate religion from the psyche of mankind. If you suppress it in one form, it merely re-emerges in another form. You can not believe in God, but you still have to believe in something that gives meaning to your life, and shapes your sense of the world. Such a belief is religious.

Today, one of the most powerful religions in the Western World is environmentalism. Environmentalism seems to be the religion of choice for urban atheists. Why do I say it's a religion? Well, just look at the beliefs. If you look carefully, you see that environmentalism is in fact a perfect 21st century remapping of traditional Judeo-Christian beliefs and myths.

There's an initial Eden, a paradise, a state of grace and unity with nature, there's a fall from grace into a state of pollution as a result of eating from the tree of knowledge, and as a result of our actions there is a judgment day coming for us all. We are all energy sinners, doomed to die, unless we seek salvation, which is now called sustainability. Sustainability is salvation in the church of the environment. Just as organic food is its communion, that pesticide-free wafer that the right people with the right beliefs, imbibe.

Eden, the fall of man, the loss of grace, the coming doomsday---these are deeply held mythic structures. They are profoundly conservative beliefs. They may even be hard-wired in the brain, for all I know. I certainly don't want to talk anybody out of them, as I don't want to talk anybody out of a belief that Jesus Christ is the son of God who rose from the dead. But the reason I don't want to talk anybody out of these beliefs is that I know that I can't talk anybody out of them. These are not facts that can be argued. These are issues of faith.

And so it is, sadly, with environmentalism. Increasingly it seems facts aren't necessary, because the tenets of environmentalism are all about belief. It's about whether you are going to be a sinner, or saved. Whether you are going to be one of the people on the side of salvation, or on the side of doom. Whether you are going to be one of us, or one of them.

Oddly enough, in one of the papers (Who you gonna believe? on the pages you link to, the author who is taking Crichton to task over his views on global warming states:

I'm not a scientist. I know more about science generally

And now you know...

And now you know...

If you think the Rapture or the Singularity is going to make all currently conceivable problems laughable, little things like massive extinction and global warming turn into somebody else's problem.

Personally, I think we should all join Max's zombie-survivalist cult rather that Kurzwell's singularity cult or Jack Chick & co's Rapture cult. Who's with me? Organize before they rise!

Besides, either the Rapture or advanced AI could bring about the zombie holocaust, since "When there is no more room in Hell, the dead will walk the earth!" or SHODAN could decide to cleanse the earth with bio-engineered zombies.

As another great leader once said, "Shop smart, shop S-Mart," notice how Sears and Kmart have merged? How long before the combined corporation renames itself to S-Mart... it's coming, I tell you!!!

Ain't anyone here read Stephenson's "The Diamond Age"?

The Wisdom of Crowds by James Surowieki.

I'd recommend it, unlike a lot of popular science books it does actually cover the material reasonably accurately and its quite engagingly written as well.

Where?

I never heard of Carl Icahn till I read today's posting. He's the 49th richest person in the world according to Forbes.His political contributions are to both Republicans and Democrats. (But mostly to Dems.)

Some people would say he's a Wall Street predator the way he bullies companies like TWA. He's got such a big pile of money he can influence companies like Blockbuster. The same guy thinks he's the closest thing a shareholder has to a friend. Even serious analysts admire him.

He's even part of XO Communications and tried to takeover the ailing Marvel Comics. There's a book about it called Comic Wars.

"You learn in this business: It you want a friend, get a dog" - Carl Icahn

Publishers who refuse to participate should be punished. While I respect their right to protect their property I do not respect their lack of foresight nor do I appreciate the damage they do to the free exchange of ideas by artificially limiting access to these valuable resources. Take the time to write to your favorite publishers and let them know that you support the Google Print project and will vote with your dollars for those publishers who do. Here is contact information for three of my favorite publishers.

Tor Books

E-mail: inquiries@tor.com

Fax: (212) 388-0191

Dead Tree:

Tor Books
175 Fifth Avenue
New York NY 10010.

Perseus Books Group

2300 Chestnut Street
Philadelphia, PA 19103
Phone: 800-371-1669
Fax: 800-453-2884
Email: perseus.orders@perseusbooks.com

http://www.perseusbooksgroup.com/perseus/contact_u s.jsp

Random House

customerservice@randomhouse.com

Random House, Inc.
1745 Broadway
New York, NY 10019
Phone: (212) 782-9000

http://www.randomhouse.com/about/contact.html

http://www.datanation.com/fallacies/begging.htm

http://skepdic.com/begging.html

http://www.randomhouse.com/wotd/index.pperl?date=1 9970627

It's a form of circular reasoning.

The derivation is not so clear cut, and I don't think your interpretation is very common. Your variant seems to be like "toe the scratch".

Questions & Answers: Toe the line
Toe the line is the survivor of a set of phrases that were common in the nineteenth century; others were toe the mark, toe the scratch, toe the crack, or toe the trig. In every case, the image was that of men lining up with the tips of their toes touching some line. They might be on parade, or preparing to undertake some task, or in readiness for a race or fight. The earliest recorded form is dated 1813, in a book by Hector Bull-Us (a pseudonym, you will not be surprised to hear, in this case of James Kirke Paulding) with the title The Diverting History of John Bull and Brother Jonathan. This already had the modern figurative sense of conforming to the usual standards or rules: "He began to think it was high time to toe the mark". Many early examples are from the British Navy, which is where it may have originated.

Toe the crack is an American form of the 1820s in reference to a crack in the floorboards that delineates a straight line. Toe the scratch is from prize fighting, where scratch was the line drawn across the ring (often in the earth of an informal outdoor ring) to which the fighters were brought ready for the contest--it's a close relative of to come up to scratch. In toe the trig, trig is an old term for a boundary or centre line in various sports.

The Mavens' Word of the Day
toe the line The main meaning of this phrase is 'to conform strictly to a rule, command, etc.'.

It's so difficult to determine this one, as it seems people don't agree on whether "try and" is merely colloquial or not.

Here's some information:
http://alt-usage-english.org/excerpts/fxtryand.htm l
http://www.randomhouse.com/wotd/index.pperl?date=1 9960612
http://englishplus.com/grammar/00000253.htm

The expression the be-all and [the] end-all, meaning chiefly 'the central or most important element' is, like one fell swoop, a quotation from Macbeth. Macbeth is contemplating killing Duncan: "...that but this blow/Might be the be-all and the end-all.../...We'd jump [i.e., risk] the life to come" (Macbeth, I.vii.4ff).

http://www.randomhouse.com/wotd/index.pperl?date=1 9980513

For classics, I prefer Everyman's Library. They're hardcovers and contain a usually very interesting introduction and a timeline of the author's life along with important events in literature and history. The latter alone is worth the time to pick these up a library.

aol should read this...

Actually, the people in 28 Days Later were not zombies, they were humans infected with a Virus.
All true zombies are as seen in the "of the Dead" series. Although some current theories show that these zombies are in fact caused by the Solanum virus, conclusive evidence still remains to be seen.
It should be noted that, regardless of your situation, you should not attempt to fight a zombie unless absolutely necessary. Remember, should a zombie outbreak occur near your place of residence you should immediately relocate to a rural area. Avoid common motorways and if possible travel by bicycle or motorcycle.
For more information, see The Zombie Survival Guide or check out The Official Zombie Hunters Website
Remember, preperation is key.

This site has a much better visualisation of zombie infections.

A little learning truly is a dangerous thing ...

Be edified.

There are some mediocre books about the New Jedi Order http://www.randomhouse.com/delrey/starwars/new_jed i.html

Maybe they could salvage something from there?

Disclaimer: I didn't read most of them, but I did read some and didn't like them.

A popular modern fantasy series primarily directed at children but with appeal for adults as well is Philip Pullmans His Dark Materials.

Surprisingly negative portrayal of organised religion, especially Catholisism, in the third book, and I say this despite being an atheist. Still, a breath of fresh air from the religious stuff in Lewis work.

My only regret with Timothy McVeigh is he did not go to the New York Times Building.

I am often asked if I still think we should invade their countries, kill their leaders, and convert them to Christianity. The answer is: Now more than ever!

A second reference mentions this here (you have to scroll down a bit)
You might be correct in saying that jerryrigging originated in the world war, but jury-rigging is the original (and more inoffensive) term - hence answers.com is correct.

Bookware for various languages:

Living Language

A list of the 'Teach Yourself' Books.

Tuttle Kanji Cards - I have a set of these and they're very nice flashcards.

Free-ish software for Japanese:

Kanji Gold

Tile Tag - Drill game for Japanese kana.

Stuff to pay for:

Multi-Lingual Books - Seem to have a good selection of stuff.

OK... So I myself am interested in Japanese... ;-) However, it does seem to exercise a lot of different portions of your brain, from the pictographic script to the weird (to me!) grammer stuff. However, you should have her pick what she's most interested in, since interest is vital to keeping with a foreign language self-study program.

Another thing you might look at is the game of Go. It seems to be well thought of by various people who should know, and I believe it's even claimed to be effective in staving off such things as Alzheimers. However, the good players say that there's no good computer implementation, so you might have to find her a human opponent.

American Go Association

Good luck!

Disclaimer: I've tried some of these resources, not all. Your mileage may vary. Contents may settle during shipment.

A Correct version of the idiom, along with a history and variants...

If a President were to think of a new word after due thought and consideration, I would credit it. However, if a President were to blurt out a malformed, ugly, dissonant utterance that merely resembles a word (but isn't one) then I reserve the right to lampoon it and him mercilessly. Not that we are speaking of anyone in particular.

It ["normalcy"] was not (contrary to popular opinion)coined by President Warren G Harding. It is a British English word of considerable antiquity.

I am chastened to find that you are correct, although according to Random House it was coined in 1857, which is not so ancient in my book. I object more to its odd construction and sound though, than to its association with Harding, who was famously bad with words, having also brought "bloviate" into common parlance.

No discussion of Harding would be complete without H.L. Mencken's description of him:

"He writes the worst English that I have ever encountered. It reminds me of a string of wet sponges; it reminds me of tattered washing on the line; it reminds me of stale bean soup, of college yells, of dogs barking idiotically through endless nights. It is so bad that a sort of grandeur creeps into it. It drags itself out of the dark abysm of pish, and crawls insanely up the topmost pinnacle of posh. It is rumble and bumble. It is flap and doodle. It is balder and dash."

Maybe "nucular" ain't so bad after all :)