June 27, 2007
Lady Godiva
Lady Godiva was a noblewoman and a benefactor of several monasteries. According to legend, her husband agreed to remit the heavy taxation on the people of Coventry if she would ride naked through the town on a white horse. Lady Godiva took him at his word and, after issuing a proclamation that all the townspeople go indoors and shut their windows, she rode through, clothed only in her long hair. According to the legend, all but one of the townspeople obeyed her ordinance; who disobeyed?June 26, 2007
congeries
DEFINITION: (noun) A sum total of many heterogeneous things taken together.
SYNONYMS: conglomeration, aggregate.
USAGE: The top floor is devoted to the servants--a congeries of little kitchens and cubicles, used by many as lumber-rooms.
Quartz
Quartz, which can split light into a spectrum, is one of the most common of all rock-forming minerals and one of the most important constituents of the earth's crust. Quartz may be transparent, translucent, or opaque; it may be colorless or colored. Varieties are classified as crystalline and cryptocrystalline, whose crystal structure can be seen only under the microscope, if at all. What is quartz's rank on the Mohs scale of hardness?June 25, 2007
asthenopia
DEFINITION: (noun) A tiredness of the eyes caused by prolonged close work by a person with an uncorrected vision problem.
SYNONYMS: eyestrain.
USAGE: The jeweler developed asthenopia due to the long hours he spent fitting small clasps on thin chains.
Medicine Man
As far back as Paleolithic times, Native Americans and other traditional peoples have believed the medicine man to be in possession of supernatural healing powers, such as the ability to inflict pain, promote fertility, and secure good hunting and fishing. Many Native Americans regarded illness as resulting from the entry of malignancy into the body; accordingly, their medicine men try to cast out the illness using ritual techniques such as bloodletting, the application of herbs, and what else?Manhunt 2 Banned in Britain
Manhunt 2, a video game that puts players in control of a psychopath who sneaks up on people and bludgeons them to death, has been banned in Britain. This is the British Board of Film Classification's first game ban in 10 years; the ban makes it illegal to sell the game within the country's borders. The BBFC condemned the game, describing it as "distinguishable from recent high-end videogames by its unremitting bleakness and callousness of tone…which constantly encourages visceral killing."June 24, 2007
placeman
DEFINITION: (noun) One who has a political appointment in the government.
SYNONYMS: placeseeker.
USAGE: They viewed the placeman as a colorless bureaucrat.
James Fenimore Cooper
Cooper (1789-1851) was the first important American novelist to create a vivid myth of frontier life by drawing on the subjects and landscape of his native land, especially those of a frontier settlement near Otsego Lake, in New York. His literary career began with Precaution, which imitated the English novel of manners and was not successful; his next work, however, was a patriotic story of the American Revolution and was an immediate success. What are the Leatherstocking Tales?Stroke Treatment Saves Frostbitten Digits
Doctors at the University of Utah claim that an anti-clotting drug used to treat strokes and heart attacks can also restore blood flow to frostbitten fingers and limbs, greatly reducing the need for amputation. Among the patients who received the drug, tPA, within 24 hours, only 6 of 59 frostbitten digits were removed (about 10%); those who did not receive tPA had a 41% amputation rate. Used in conjunction with conventional treatment methods, tPA holds much promise for frostbite patients.June 23, 2007
atavism
DEFINITION: (noun) A reappearance of an earlier characteristic.
SYNONYMS: throwback, reversion.
USAGE: Perhaps some deep-rooted atavism urges the wanderer back to lands which his ancestors left in the dim beginnings of history.
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