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That's interesting, you don't often see this kind of word in english; more so in other languages. In a way you could say the word is adscititious to the language in and of itself

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What's the Word: ADSCITITIOUS pronunciation: [ad-sih-TISH-əs] Part of speech: adjective Origin: Latin, 17th century Meaning: 1. Forming an addition or supplement; not integral or intrinsic. Examples: "When the dense fog stranded hundreds of travelers, the resort struggled to feed the adscititious crowd." "The Sunday papers used to come with more than a half-dozen adscititious magazines and promotional flyers." About Adscititious “Adscititious” is based on the Latin “adscitus,” meaning “admitted.” Did you Know? The word “adscititious” has a two-part definition: “forming an addition or supplement” and also “not integral.” While both parts make up the definition, they can be at odds with each other — something that is not integral can be seen as unneeded. However, supplements are usually helpful additions, and sometimes even necessary. Consider the nutritional supplement folic acid. This might fit both sides of the definition of adscititious; it’s not integral to most adult diets, but it’s extremely important to supplement as a prenatal vitamin.

The last episode of season one of HoriMiya. It was such a a sweet episode. The whole series was wonderful, but I love how it came to a beautiful ending of Izumi proposing to Kyoko. It was in a tasteful innocent way, and not some cheesy over the top way.

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HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!!!! What's the Word: EPHEMERA pronunciation: [ih-FEM-ər-ə] Part of speech: noun Origin: Latin, 14th century Meaning: 1. Things that exist or are used or enjoyed for only a short time. 2. Items of collectible memorabilia, typically written or printed ones, that were originally expected to have only short-term usefulness or popularity. Examples: "Realizing many of his belongings were basically ephemera, Greg donated them to charity before he moved." "When Sara is at the fair, she’d rather eat decadent foods than win ephemera on the midway." About Ephemera “Ephemera” is taken directly from the Latin, where it was borrowed from the ancient Greek “ἐφήμερᾰ” (“ephḗmera”), meaning “short lived” or “living for a day.” Did you Know? In the world of collectibles, “ephemera” refers to a broad category of items that were never intended to last a long time or have any particular value. This category includes things such as old periodicals, receipts, tickets, and product packaging, as well as outdated maps and documents that are now obsolete. All of these items were intended to exist for a very short period of time, but to modern collectors, ephemera from years ago provides a clear picture of life in the past.

Kondo shared more info about the Trails in the Sky Remake. Saying the voice cast for Sky Remake is still undecided. So remains to be seen if we'll get the same cast from the recent games or brand new casting. Also confirmed that the game will feature new details that debuted in later entries of the series post-Sky that'll help cohesion and worldbuilding. So it's not a 1 for 1 remake. They're going to be adding stuff to make it better fit with later entries by including various additional details. Physical editions of Trails in the Sky 1st Chapter in the West were confirmed. Limited Run Games will handle the collector’s launch with a standard release made available via Amazon.

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Batman Arkham Asylum and Sonic x Shadow Generations. I'm not a gamer so these are officicially my first ever games I've spent money on.

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Fact of the Day - SCORPION VENOM Did you know... Most rational people are inclined to leave scorpions well enough alone, given those stinger-tipped tails that administer venom capable of paralyzing their prey (and worse). Yet there are certain intrepid souls willing to brave the dangers and coax these arachnids into unleashing their toxins, for the simple reason that scorpion venom can sell for as much as $39 million per gallon. Who actually dishes out the dough for this potent liquid? The medical industry, as venom from scorpions, spiders, vipers, and an array of other creatures has been found to provide compounds with surprising health benefits for humans. The venom of the deathstalker scorpion, for example, contains a peptide called chlorotoxin, which can pinpoint the location of aggressive brain tumors. Another species, the Diplocentrus melici, produces venom with 1,4-benzoquinone compounds that kill highly infectious bacteria, including the strains that cause tuberculosis. Unsurprisingly, the monster dollar signs linked to this particular field have inspired a sub-industry of scorpion farmers and breeders, some of which are endangering scorpion populations. Insiders caution against getting involved for the money, though: For one thing, the venom has to be “milked” in absolutely sterile conditions; it’s a laborious process to do so, and the minute amounts that change hands between buyers and sellers aren’t going to pay off anyone’s mortgage. Additionally, many labs have turned to synthesized versions of the isolated compounds needed for their research. Antimatter is the most expensive substance on Earth. If you think scorpion venom costs a pretty penny, then imagine the payment plan you’d need to meet the $2.7 quadrillion price tag for one gram of antimatter. As you may recall from high school physics, antimatter is a substance that has the opposite electric charge of the ordinary matter that fills up most of our universe; because naturally occurring antimatter detonates upon contact with regular matter, the only way to obtain it for a significant length of time is by way of high-speed collisions generated by immensely powerful and expensive particle accelerators (currently only available at CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research). So what purpose does this elusive material serve? The observation of antimatter production has been used for medical radio imaging, and it’s been speculated that the energy created by matter-antimatter collisions could be harnessed for space travel. Otherwise, the practical applications are pretty minimal, as fascinating as it is for scientists to study. Source: Scorpion venom is among the most expensive liquids on the market.

What's the Word: MOXIE pronunciation: [MAHK-see] Part of speech: noun Origin: American English, 19th century Meaning: 1. Force of character, determination, or nerve. Examples: "Arlene had no experience but lots of moxie, and her attitude got her hired." "Mark held onto his youthful moxie even though he was decades past his teen years." About Moxie “Moxie” as an adjective is taken directly from the name of the New England soft drink Moxie, which was marketed as strengthening drinkers’ nerves. Did you Know? The first appearance of the word “moxie” was as the name of the soft drink Moxie, patented by Augustin Thompson in Lowell, Massachusetts, in 1885. Its flavor was a combination of root beer with a bitter aftertaste of gentian root, which is traditionally used in herbal medicine. Moxie was originally sold as “Moxie Nerve Food,” and, in its early marketing, it was said to cure “paralysis, softening of the brain, nervousness, and insomnia,” which strengthened its association with strong nerves and forceful character.

Fact of the Day - GIRAFFE HEARTS Did you know.... While exact numbers vary depending on factors such as body size and sex, the average giraffe heart weighs approximately 25 pounds — roughly 40 times more than the 10-ounce heart of a human adult. In addition to this stark weight differential, a giraffe heart measures 2 feet long, nearly five times a human’s 5-inch heart. Giraffe hearts can also pump 16 gallons of blood per minute, which is more than 10 times greater than the 1.5 gallons that flow through a human heart in that same time frame. Furthermore, studies indicate that giraffe hearts make up 0.5% to 0.6% of the animal’s total body mass — slightly higher than the average measurement of 0.47% to 0.48% in our species. This notable size gap extends to other organs as well. For instance, a giraffe’s lungs can hold 12 gallons of air, whereas the average set of human lungs has a maximum capacity around 1.6 gallons. And while Gene Simmons of Kiss is famous for his abnormally long tongue, it still pales in comparison to that of a giraffe, which clocks in around 21 inches long. The average human tongue ranges from 3.1 to 3.3 inches long. The first successful human heart transplant was in 1967. The first known attempted heart transplant took place in 1905, when one canine’s heart was implanted — albeit unsuccessfully — into the neck of another dog. A little more than half a century later, in 1964, a human heart transplant was attempted for the first time, when doctors attempted to implant the heart of a large chimpanzee into a dying human. This effort also ultimately proved futile. But on December 3, 1967, a major advancement was made in Cape Town, South Africa, when Dr. Christiaan Barnard performed the first successful human-to-human heart transplant. Barnard implanted the heart of 25-year-old car accident victim Denise Darvall into the body of 53-year-old Louis Washkansky. The heart functioned as intended, though Washkansky passed away 18 days later from pneumonia. Barnard’s second transplant proved more enduring, as the recipient lived for nearly 19 months after the operation. Source: Giraffe hearts weigh about 40 times as much as human hearts.

What's the Word: LAUDABLE pronunciation: [LAW-də-bəl] Part of speech: adjective Origin: Latin, 15th century Meaning: 1. (Of an action, idea, or goal) Deserving praise and commendation. Examples: "The neighbors commended my teenage son’s laudable efforts to clean up the local park." "Despite a laudable effort to tie the game in the ninth inning, the visiting team was defeated." About Laudable “Laudable” is based on the Latin “laudābilis,” which means “worthy of being praised.” Did you Know? Many celebrities are beloved because of their laudable acts. We don’t just love Dolly Parton because she’s a talented singer and songwriter, but also because she gives generously to medical, educational, and social causes. Public figures who do such laudable things with their money and influence are inspiring because they offer an example of how to live well, and their audiences tend to reward them with adoration.

Fact of the Day - LEANING TOWER GOING STRAIGHT Did you know.... Between the 13th and 20th centuries, the Leaning Tower of Pisa’s tilt increased from around 0.2 degrees north to 5.5 degrees degrees south — 5.7 degrees of movement in total. But since the 1990s, that incline has reverted roughly 1.5 degrees back toward center, thanks to a project meant to stabilize the landmark and prevent its potential collapse. The engineering operation was launched in 1990, marking the third attempt at straightening the tower. Two prior efforts were made in 1838 and 1934, but the failure of those attempts actually added to the precarious incline. But the third time, not only did engineers succeed, but the tower also continued to straighten afterward. The stabilization process involved installing counterweights on the tower’s north side so the structure would tilt back toward an upright position. Engineers also extracted soil from the higher side of the foundation and used steel cables to pull the building upright. By 2001, the incline was reduced by 15 inches and measured around 4 degrees — less than the first recorded measurement from 1817 of 4.9 degrees. Engineers considered the project a success, and a 2005 assessment declared the tower safe for the next 300 years. But even though the stabilization project itself ended in 2001, the tower continued to lean toward a more upright position due to the unstable soil underneath. By 2018, the landmark had straightened an additional 1.6 inches, according to a study conducted by an Italian preservation organization. Researchers at Stuttgart University believe the tower will continue to straighten, though the landmark will likely start to lean back toward the south over time due to its weak foundation. While a precise timeline is hard to pinpoint, some engineers estimate the tower will remain stable for at least 200 years, but additional stabilization work may be required thereafter. Napoleon once crowned himself king of Italy. In 1802, Napoleon Bonaparte — then serving as first consul of the French Republic — was persuaded to serve as president of the newly formed Italian Republic. But on May 17, 1805, Napoleon proclaimed the republic to be a new kingdom under the dominion of his Napoleonic empire. Subsequently, fewer than six months after being crowned French emperor, Napoleon declared himself king of Italy at a coronation ceremony in Milan on May 26, 1805. After nearly nine years, Napoleon’s reign came to an end with the signing of the Treaty of Fontainebleau on April 11, 1814. As per the conditions, he abdicated the Italian and French thrones and was banished to Elba. Source: The Leaning Tower of Pisa is getting straighter.

What's the Word: ALTRICIAL pronunciation: [al-TRISH-əl] Part of speech: adjective Origin: Latin, 19th century Meaning: 1. (Of a young bird or other animal) Hatched or born helpless and requiring significant parental care. Often contrasted with precocial. 2. (Of a particular species) Having altricial young. Examples: "The birds were altricial, so one of the hatchling’s parents was always on guard at the nest." "The mother perched attentively over her baby’s stroller like an altricial bird tending to a chick." About Altricial “Altricial” is related to the Latin “altrices,” plural of “altrīx,” meaning “female nourisher.” Did you Know? Altricial birds are those whose babies require significant care and feeding upon hatching. Birds born this way include songbirds, hummingbirds, and woodpeckers. Not all birds are altricial. Waterfowl, for example, are precocial — that is, born with their eyes open, a layer of down, and the capacity to leave the nest quickly. By contrast, altricial birds are born with closed eyes and virtually no feathers. They are unable to keep warm independently and can’t hold their heads up, making them completely reliant on their parents for survival.

What's the Word: COSSET pronunciation: [KOS-it] Part of speech: verb Origin: Anglo-Norman French, 16th century Meaning: 1. Care for and protect in an overindulgent way. Examples: "It’s rewarding to cosset one’s pets and receive unconditional love in return." "Not wishing to cosset my daughter, I asked her to handle her college registration on her own." About Cosset “Cosset” is likely related to the Anglo-Norman French “coscet,” meaning “cottager.” Did you Know? In its first use, “cosset” was a noun that referred to a lamb raised by hand, before eventually shifting to suggest a spoiled child. It took about a century before “cosset” became a verb meaning “to treat like a cosset by petting, caring for, and indulging” — or overindulging. Today, cosseted animals are enormously popular on social media, where videos of pampered cats, spoiled dogs, and even tame raccoons are enjoyed by millions of viewers.

Fact of the Day - UNCLE Did you know.... One theory says it comes from an Irish word; another says we have the ancient Romans to thank. But the joke is on those theories, because the real story is more complicated than that. Perhaps you’ve been forced to say it while getting noogies from a bully on the playground. Or maybe you’ve heard it used in a movie where one character roughing up another insists that they “say ‘uncle’,” or admit defeat, before they’re set free. But why uncle—why not aunt or mom or some other authority figure? Where did this bizarre saying come from? Uncle Meaning and Origin Theories According to the Oxford English Dictionary, say uncle is a uniquely North American phrase that first popped up in the written record in 1891 in an article from the Iowa Daily Citizen, and it had taken on the meaning “admit defeat” by 1912, when the Modesto News declared “This Time it is ‘Martie’ Graves and Don Johns who made them say ‘Uncle’.” There are a number of theories about where the phrase came from; one mentioned in the OED posits that we might get this sense of uncle from the Irish word anacol, which means “protection” or “quarter.” But, as David Wilton at Word Origins notes, “This idea was first put forward in the journal American Speech in 1976, but it is speculation with essentially no evidence to support it … there [are no] recorded instances of say anacol or anything similar that would lend credence to the idea of a folk etymology.” Yet another theory says that we get it from the days of the Roman Empire. Supposedly, young children of that era who were attacked by bullies wouldn’t be set free until they said “Patrue, mi Patruissimo,” or “Uncle, my best Uncle,” because at that time, the brother of one’s father was accorded almost the same level of status and power as one’s dad—therefore, declaring the bully to be your “Best Uncle” was tantamount to granting him a title of respect. Joking Around It seems more likely that we have a joke to thank for why we say “uncle” to give up. The joke from the OED’s first citation reads in full: “A gentleman was boasting that his parrot would repeat anything he told him. For example, he told him several times, before some friends, to say ‘Uncle,’ but the parrot would not repeat it. In anger he seized the bird, and half-twisting his neck, said: ‘Say “uncle,” you beggar!’ and threw him into the fowl pen, in which he had ten prize fowls. Shortly afterward, thinking he had killed the parrot, he went to the pen. To his surprise he found nine of the fowls dead on the floor with their necks wrung, and the parrot standing on the tenth twisting his neck and screaming: ‘Say “uncle,” you beggar! say “uncle.” ’ ” As Michael Quinion at World Wide Words writes, later versions of the joke have the man’s niece persuading him to buy her a parrot—and that’s why the bird is saying “uncle.” But in a way, we do have Ireland to thank, because according to Wilton, the joke seems to have first appeared in a Dublin newspaper in June 1891. From there, it made its way into a London newspaper and then to the Iowa Daily Citizen, at which point say uncle spread across the country and became part of North American vernacular: “The original joke may have gotten its start in Ireland,” Wilton says, “but it had nothing to do with anacol and did not develop into a stock phrase until it had crossed the ocean.” Source: Why Do We Say “Uncle” When Admitting Defeat?

Fact of the Day - EXPRESSION Did you know.... For most of us, literally putting our feet in our mouths isn’t a physical possibility once we reach adulthood. So, where did this curious expression originate? We’ve all put our foot in our mouths at least once—metaphorically, at least. This vivid little expression commonly refers to making an awkward blunder in a conversation, like mixing up someone’s name or making an ill-timed joke. It first appeared in print in the late 18th century, but its exact origins are murky. Putting your foot in your mouth came about only after the phrase put your foot in it had established itself in the English language as a way to refer to making a mistake. The first print appearance of the expression was in a 1796 play. In Bannian Day, a play by George Brewer, one character expresses their uncertainty: “To be sure I an’t now a little at a loss to know whether I’ve made a good hand of this, or whether I’ve put my foot in it.” The fact that the phrase was tapped for a medium that’s meant to be acted out suggests that people may have been saying something similar, if not identical, aloud regularly before it was ever written down. It’s thought that this original expression may first have emerged from the idea of accidentally stepping in something undesirable, like mud or feces. It’s not clear if putting your foot in your mouth, in particular, was a derivative of this first phrase or if it emerged independently, but it wasn’t until 1879 that the version we know initially appeared. The Iowa-based Waterloo Courier reported that someone was “bound to put his foot in his mouth whenever he [opened] it,” and in 1902, the Atlanta Constitution wrote, “General Bragg has gone and done it again! His happy faculty of putting his foot in his mouth whenever he opens it hangs to him like a toper’s appetite.” Putting Your Foot in It vs. In Your Mouth: What’s the Difference? Still, as similar as they may appear to be, there are slight differences between these two phrases. For one, put your foot in it is more often used in the United Kingdom and Commonwealth countries, whereas put your foot in your mouth both emerged in and more commonly appears in the American lexicon. But put your foot in it is also a much more general saying. Conversely, putting your foot in your mouth is reserved for conversational mishaps—your foot is in your mouth because of a verbal mistake, specifically—while put your foot in it could refer to any erroneous action. So, for example, while accidentally spoiling a surprise gift for someone would be considered both putting your foot in your mouth and putting your foot in ‘it,’ buying someone a terrible gift would only ever be called putting your foot in it. Moving away from its original construction, putting your foot in your mouth further evolved in the mid-20th century into the term foot-in-mouth disease for those who can’t help but make constant social blunders. It’s a tongue-in-cheek term referencing foot and mouth disease, which is a real illness that affects livestock with hooves, like cows, pigs, and sheep. Usually, animals that contract this illness are put down to avoid it spreading to others—though luckily for humans with foot-in-mouth disease, the consequences aren’t usually so severe. Interestingly, however, putting your foot in something may not always be used negatively. A notable exception to the usual association is the phrase’s definition within African-American Vernacular English (AAVE). Instead of referring to an embarrassing mistake, the phrase is used to compliment particularly delicious cooking. If someone made an especially phenomenal meal, they’re said to have put their foot in it. So, next time someone tells us we’ve put our foot in something, we can only hope they’re talking about a dish we’re serving them and not something we’ve just said. Source: Where Does the Expression ‘Put Your Foot in Your Mouth’ Come From?

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Fact of the Day - ODD GRAMMAR RULE Did you know... You know this rule, even if you don’t know you know it. The English language is full of all sorts of quirks that can be infuriating to non-native speakers. (Imagine learning as an adult that cough, enough, and though all make different sounds.) To those of us who speak English as our first tongue, these nonsensical grammar conventions come as second nature—and some rules are so innate that they rarely get taught in school. Take this example: This passage tweeted by editor Matthew Anderson comes from the book The Elements of Eloquence: How to Turn the Perfect English Phrase. It outlines the rules of adjective order when preceding a noun. According to the text, the order goes “opinion-size-age-shape-colour-origin-material-purpose Noun,” and any change made to that organization will make you “sound like a maniac.” For instance, big black dog is a perfectly acceptable phrase, but saying “black big dog” just sounds awkward. At least that’s the case for native English speakers—people learning English as a second language are tasked with committing that seemingly arbitrary sequence to memory. If they don’t, they risk getting confused stares when asking for “the green lovely rectangular French old silver whittling little knife.” That’s not the only English rule we know without knowing we know it. Here are a few more, from why the phrasing is my brother’s car and not the car of my brother to why we say “abso-freakin’-lutely” instead of “absolute-freakin’-ly.” Source: The Odd Grammar Rule Most English Speakers Know But Are Rarely Taught

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Within the span of March 29th to now, I have watched My Neighbor Totoro, Grave of the Fireflies, Shikanoko Nokonoko Koshitantan, RoshiDere (Alya Sometimes Hides Her Feelings in Russian), Now and Then, Here and There, and Terminator Zero. Currently, I'm working on Goblin Slayer's second season; apparently there was a second season that came out and, obviously, I haven't kept on top of that. My Neighbor Totoro was actually a gift (DVD) from my mother, and Grave of the Fireflies is something I bought on DVD back in mid-April of 2005, so me watching that again marks the first time in nearly 20 years....especially with a new outlook, because I was patriotic back then, so I was a little hesitant.... That aside, I've never seen My Neighbor Totoro, and having watched it now, I see why it earns its praise. It's a fun movie, and is, arguably, Studio Ghibli's most iconic one. I mean, Totoro's right there on the company logo, you know? How could that movie not be their most iconic one? Perhaps my personal favorite so far has been Now and Then, Here and There. Evidently, people compare this anime to Grave of the Fireflies, and I think that's a false equivalency. However, like Grave of the Fireflies, NHT (or also "Ima Boku"?) does have some heavy shit. It has certainly proven to be one of the more engaging anime I've seen in a while. Terminator Zero was engaging, too, but NHT hit different. I'd love to get a physical copy of this movie, but apparently it's out of print. I haven't checked to see how much it costs online yet, but I'm sure it's a pretty penny. Terminator Zero was a curious one, because it was shown on Netflix. The animation was done by Production I.G, and I think Trigger had an involvement as well. Terminator Zero may fail a purity test in some capacity, but if you ask me, Terminator Zero is certainly more "anime" than the Castlevania animated series. As for the anime itself, I thought it was a pretty good entry for the franchise. I don't expect everybody else to agree, though. You'll know what I mean if you decide to check it out.

Anohana: The Flower We Saw That Day Stumbled across a familiarly tagged release for this one xD. It was an emotionally bittersweet ride with a beautiful ED and interesting characters. The themes of growing up and saying goodbye have been touched on by many series, but I still think it was done rather well here.

What's the Word: ABDITIVE pronunciation: [AB-dih-tiv] Part of speech: adjective Origin: Latin, 18th century Meaning: 1. Capable of hiding or concealing. Examples: "The babysitter found the toddler under the abditive tablecloth during the game of hide-and-seek." "The decorative screen serves an abditive function to block off the messy parts of our living room." About Abditive “Abditive” is based on the Latin “abditīvus,” meaning “separated from,” which is based on “abdō,” meaning “hide.” Did you Know? There’s a growing trend in home renovation — abditive spaces, or hidden nooks and concealed features. An example might be a dog “room” underneath a staircase, or a pantry hidden behind a secret wall panel. Other abditive spaces are less sneaky, and more subtle — a large blackboard, artwork, or mirror at the end of a hall might obscure a functional door into a room or closet.

Fact of the Day - DRINKS TASTE DIFFERENT Did you know... Food and drink often taste different on an airplane, usually more bland. But ginger ale maintains a crisp, dry flavor that makes it known for being even better when enjoyed in the air. It all has to do with the way cabin conditions affect our taste buds. Humidity levels inside an airplane cabin generally hover around just 20%, though this can dip even lower. This dryness — combined with low cabin pressures — reduces oxygen saturation in the blood, which in turn lessens the effectiveness of some taste receptors. A 2010 study commissioned by German airline Lufthansa found that typical cabin conditions inhibit our taste buds’ ability to process salty flavors by as much as 30% and sweet flavors by as much as 20%. And a 2015 study suggests that loud noises in your standard cabin impact the body’s chorda tympani facial nerve, which also lessens the intensity of any sweet-tasting fare. In the case of ginger ale specifically, passengers typically report that it tastes less sweet than normal in the air. However, while our taste buds may not be able to sense the sugar, the beverage still possesses a sharp, extra-dry flavor, which is often thought to feel more refreshing than ginger ale on the ground. The crispness comes from the slightly spicy nature of ginger flavoring. It makes ginger ale an especially popular beverage aboard planes, and many travel guides recommend ordering the drink in flight for its unique flavor. The first in-flight meals were sold on a 1919 flight from London to Paris. When the first scheduled commercial flights began in 1914, they lacked many modern amenities, including in-flight meals, which weren’t served until 1919 aboard a Handley Page Transport plane connecting London and Paris. On October 11, the company offered passengers boxed lunches containing sandwiches and fruit, which cost 3 shillings (equal to around $11 today). In-flight dining made its way to United States airlines by the late 1920s, with Western Air Express helping pioneer the concept. It offered passengers meals containing fried chicken, fruit, and cake on flights between Los Angeles and San Francisco, though they were unheated and prepped prior to departure. In 1936, United Airlines became the first major airline to install galleys and ovens on planes, allowing crews to heat meals in flight for the first time. Source: Ginger ale actually does taste different on an airplane.

Fact of the Day - CAR NAMES Did you know... A name can make or break a car. In 1927, popular carmaker Studebaker introduced its newest model: the Dictator. The company advertised it as a “fine car” that would “dictate the standards” for other automobiles. Given the course of world history in the proceeding decade, it might be the worst name for a car ever selected. That ignominious position was later challenged by vehicles like the Mitsubishi Carisma, the Dodge Dart Swinger, and the much-maligned AMC Gremlin. Such choices can invite a question: How do carmakers settle on car names? The Art of Branding The issue was recently tackled by Kristin Shaw of Popular Science, who spoke with a number of auto industry experts within the U.S. arms of Honda and Hyundai. Naming often comes down to a few things: availability, theme, and messaging. The Honda Prologue, for example, was so named because it represents a new beginning for the company in terms of electric vehicle options. Its Passport is marketed as a rugged off-road vehicle, with the name giving it the needed travel connotations. Names can also carry subtext. When Honda released its Civic in 1972, it was referencing the car’s purpose in cities and among citizens. The Accord, which debuted in 1976, was named because Honda wanted to broadcast a desire for accord between people, society, and cars through technology. Hyundai draws on an emotional connection drivers may have with regional locations: The company markets cars with names like Santa Fe, Palisade, Tucson, and Kona. Companies may also opt for acronyms: Toyota’s RAV4 stands for Recreational Active Vehicle with four-wheel drive. And others avoid the name game altogether by offering model series, like BMW. Toyota, meanwhile, seems to prefer words that can evoke a transformative driving experience. Camry comes from the Japanese word kanmuri, or crown; Corolla is the word for the petals around a flower; Celica is Spanish for celestial. The Customer Knows Best Sometimes, companies simply rely on common consumer product branding strategies like consulting with marketing firms or conducting focus group surveys. A sprawling list is later narrowed based on trademark and legal clearances. These names can materialize based on gut marketing instincts: Toyota’s Lexus was named because it has connotations of luxury and technology. It’s not a word you’ll locate in the dictionary. (Though you can find lexis, a language vocabulary.) All of this is actually quite harder than it seems. With a century of car production behind automakers, coming up with a name that hasn’t been used is tricky—so is choosing a name that can translate into different markets. Audi’s TT Coupe may sound classy to the American ear, but to the French, it sounds a lot like tête est coupé—or a decapitated car. Occasionally, companies can sabotage themselves in search of a distinctive brand identity. The Chevy Volt was a 2011 hybrid; the Chevy Bolt was an all-electric released a few years later. Consumers were understandably confused. Meanwhile, with the Studebaker Dictator, common sense eventually prevailed. It was renamed the Studebaker Commander in 1937. Source: How Do Cars Get Their Names?

Fact of the Day - TOYS IN CEREAL BOXES Did you know... Honey Comb Monster Mitts. Urkel for President campaign buttons. Sugar Smacks Star Trek badges. If you ate cereal between the 1950s and 1990s, you were likely to encounter a cereal box prize—an inexpensive trinket lurking inside the bag that may have made the difference between a kid choosing Fruit Loops over Lucky Charms. Browse the cereal aisle today, though, and you won’t find much in the way of in-box toy incentives. So what happened? The Origin of Cereal Box Toys Dry breakfast cereal has always been marketing-driven. In the 1930s, Mickey Mouse was recruited to endorse Post products; Cap’n Crunch was created to appeal to kids who hated soggy cereal. But prizes weren’t always relegated to children. In 1905, Quaker Oats awarded consumers free bowls of fine China in exchange for box tokens. Obviously, Quaker wasn’t stuffing fragile dinnerware into boxes of oatmeal: You had to send away for the bowls. But before long, prizes were included in the package itself. In the 1930s, General Mills began enticing kids with paper airplanes and trading cards packed inside cereal boxes. In the 1940s, Army buttons could be dug out of Pep cereal. In the 1950s, Kellogg’s began inserting tiny submarines and scuba-diving frogmen into their products. (The submarines could be filled with baking soda that allowed them to plunge and resurface in bathwater.) Some companies used the limitations of the giveaways to get creative. In 1955, Quaker Puffed Rice offered a deed that entitled the consumer to a 1-inch plot of land in the Yukon; Nabisco’s Wheat Honeys promised a launching plastic rocket; Alpha Bits included terrariums where kids could grow basil. As plastic injection molding made toymaking easier, companies began outsourcing creative toy ideas to marketing companies, who would then try to bid for cereal contracts. The toys had to meet exacting specifications for size and weight. The item couldn’t have any loose parts, because a tiny figure’s broken arm or head could become a choking hazard. (That problem was never fully resolved: In 1988, Kellogg’s recalled 30 million tiny flutes and binoculars that were included in boxes of Corn Pops and Rice Krispies that could break into smaller, airway-obstructing pieces.) Some toys didn’t take much brainstorming: They were marketing tie-ins. A new Star Wars movie could mean a lightsaber spoon stuffed into boxes of Apple Jacks; others were mascot-driven, with Tony the Tiger license plates awaiting kids in boxes of Frosted Flakes. Come the 2000s, though, cereal toys seemed to be growing scarce. Why Cereal Box Toys Disappeared Cereal companies never made any formal announcements about their shifting marketing strategies. Still, it’s easy enough to identify some contributing factors to the decline in cereal toys. The most significant change to the industry was the Children’s Food and Beverage Advertising Initiative, a voluntary pledge announced in 2005 that curbs advertising less-nutritious food to kids. Cereal makers like Post, General Mills, and Kellogg’s (under the company name Kellanova) are all participants. Since toys are certainly going to catch a kid’s eye, there may have been some reluctance to stuff them into sugary cereals. Instead, companies began including pedometers in boxes to encourage physical activity. A more health-conscious market wasn’t the only issue. Environmental concerns were also in play, with companies recognizing that the mass production of plastic items likely to be discarded isn’t exactly a public relations win. Cereal incentives still exist. Tiny toy mascots dubbed Bowl Buddies were included in Kellogg’s boxes in 2021. Other boxes feature QR codes so consumers can play games online. But the days of garnering a deed to a 1-inch plot of land in the Yukon or firing off a plastic rocket over the breakfast table are likely over. Source: Why Did Toys Disappear From Cereal Boxes?

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Fact of the Day - TENTACLES OR ARMS Did you know.... The most distinguishing feature about an octopus is its set of eight appendages — after all, they’re right there in the name. But don’t confuse that tangle of limbs for tentacles, because octopuses don’t have those — they have arms. For us armchair biologists, the two words seem interchangeable, but there’s an important difference. On animals such as squids, tentacles are usually longer and have suckers only on their clubbed ends; they’re primarily used for hunting. By contrast, a cephalopod's arms have suckers that smell, taste, and feel all the way down. Squids, for example, have both eight arms and two tentacles. Of course, an octopus’s “arms” are nothing like the two appendages dangling from your torso. For one, octopus arms are entirely soft tissue, and that absence of bone makes octopuses incredibly flexible. But the most striking difference between octopus arms and our own is that all eight arms contain more than half of an octopus’s total neurons, cells that are usually concentrated in a central brain. This has led some scientists to theorize that octopuses essentially have nine brains — a centralized one and eight mini ones located in each arm. Recent research suggests that there might be more connection between these “brains” than previously imagined, and that an octopus’s arms are, at the very least, “clever” (a very peculiar adjective to describe an arm). Whatever the IQ of an octopus’s arms, it’s clear that they’re just as strange, and incredible, as the creatures themselves. Octopuses can fit into an inch-wide hole. Octopuses are master contortionists with the ability to fit into incredibly small spaces — in fact, they can fit inside holes only an inch wide. A majority of an octopus’s body is soft tissue that can lengthen, contract, and contort in any way necessary. The only hard part on their body is the beak, which gets its name because these mouth parts resemble the beaks of parrots. The octopus uses its beak, made up of a fibrous substance called chitin (which also forms the exoskeletons of arthropods), to eat crunchy prey like crabs and clams. Because the beak is the only octopus part that can’t contort, it essentially sets the minimum size of the hole an octopus can squeeze into. To capture this amazing ability on camera, in 2010 National Geographic filmed an octopus as it passed through a plexiglass hole. The 600-pound creature squeezed itself through an opening the size of a quarter. Source: Octopuses don’t have tentacles; they have arms.

Fact of the Day - NORTH POLE BALLOON MISSION Did you know... Swedish engineer Salomon August Andrée and two companions wanted to fly a hydrogen balloon over the North Pole. Their Arctic mission didn’t go as planned. Reaching the North Pole was an international obsession during the late 19th century. Various countries devised plans for becoming the first to reach the pole, but no journey was as fascinating (or as doomed) as the Swedish engineer Salomon August Andrée’s mission to cross the Arctic in a hydrogen balloon. The balloons of the day were certainly exciting for riders, but they had a fatal flaw as vehicles for exploration: Nobody had figured out a good way to steer them yet. Once a balloon was up in the air, it was at the mercy of the wind and simply drifted. As Sweden’s most prominent balloonist, Andrée had put quite a bit of thought into this conundrum. He eventually sidestepped this problem. On the Ropes He devised a scheme to steer the balloon by suspending ropes from the basket and dragging them on the ground. The weight of the rope and the friction it generated as it dragged across the ground would enable Andrée to steer his balloon. After a series of test runs, he became convinced he could steer a hydrogen-filled balloon across the Arctic and over the North Pole. Andrée’s idea captured Sweden’s imagination, but building the balloon and buying the necessary equipment and provisions would be an expensive task. Luckily for Andrée, some of Sweden’s biggest names opened their wallets. He received large contributions from King Oscar II and Alfred Nobel to build his balloon, the Eagle. Andrée found two additional crew members, engineer Knut Fraenkel and a young photographer named Nils Strindberg. The three set sail in their balloon on July 11, 1897, from Danskøya, an island in the Svalbard archipelago. Astute readers have probably realized that they’ve never seen a balloon that is steered via drag ropes. There’s a good reason why you haven’t; the method is wildly ineffective. The three drag ropes on the Eagle didn’t even work long enough for the balloon to fully clear its launch area. The balloon drifted into a downward draft almost immediately after taking off and nearly dipped into the icy water. Andrée and the crew had to dump sand overboard just to keep the balloon afloat. The loss of the needed ballast was problematic, but there was even worse news for the Eagle. In just the few moments the balloon had been afloat, all three drag ropes had managed to twist and fall off. In other words, Andrée no longer had any way of steering the balloon. Emergency Landing The lost drag ropes would have offered at least some modicum of steering ability, but they were also needed as ballast. After losing more than 1000 pounds of rope and several hundred pounds of sand in the botched takeoff, the balloon developed a tendency to rise too high above the ground. These high altitudes sped up the leakage of hydrogen from the balloon, and after just 10 hours the balloon had lost so much gas that it was frequently bumping and skidding across the Arctic ice. The balloon finally crashed 65 hours into the trip. That final crash was fairly gentle, and all three crewmembers and their equipment were unharmed. The balloon had been equipped with provisions, guns, tents, sleds, and even a portable boat in case of an emergency landing. Andrée had also arranged for two extra depots of emergency supplies to be left for the men on the ice. The crew piled hundreds of pounds of provisions and equipment on the sleds and began the arduous trek to one of the depots. Strindberg used his camera to snap photos of the crash and the team’s progress. The same lack of foresight that plagued the aerial part of the mission continued into the journey across the ice. None of the men was exactly what you’d call rugged Arctic explorers; they were scientists and engineers who had planned on drifting across the North Pole while seated in a basket. Their clothing wasn’t warm enough for the hike. Their supplies were woefully inadequate, although they were able to feed themselves by shooting polar bears and seals. Their sleds, which Andrée had designed, were so rigid that they made traversing the ice needlessly difficult. Worse still, the ice was drifting away from the depot rather than towards it; much of the group’s forward progress evaporated in the face of the backward movement. They eventually decided to reverse course and head for the second depot, but shifting winds made that destination similarly hopeless. After nearly two months of futile hiking, the crew decided to set up a winter camp complete with a makeshift igloo on an ice floe. This plan worked reasonably well for thee weeks, but in early October the floe began to break up. The crew moved its supplies to Kvitøya, a nearby island, and hoped to winter there. The move to the island is the last reliable record left by the crew. Their cause of death isn’t clear—historians have speculated that the men fell ill from eating tainted polar bear meat, exhaustion, or hypothermia—but the three crew members didn’t survive for more than a few days after moving to the island. Meanwhile, nobody back home knew what had become of the three men. They obviously hadn’t returned, but their fate was a great mystery. It took over three decades for sailors to find the crew of the Eagle. In 1930 the crew of the sealing ship Bratvaag discovered a dilapidated campsite, the remains of the three explorers, their journals, and Strindberg’s undeveloped film. The seal hunters carried the remains of the three men back to Sweden, where the crew of the Eagle were celebrated as heroes. Amazingly, 93 of Strindberg’s 240 photographs were salvageable and, combined with the crew’s diaries and journals, they make an eerie record of the men’s demise and the dangers of experimental travel through the Arctic. Source: The Disastrous North Pole Balloon Mission of 1897

Fact of the Day - LATIN AMERICA Did you know... If asked to name a language spoken in Latin America, you’d probably say Spanish first, then maybe Portuguese. Latin wouldn’t make the list. If you knew nothing about Latin America, you might assume the region was once occupied by Latin-speaking colonizers. While Latin was never widely spoken across the region, the area did receive its name through it’s connection the dead language. Where is Latin America? Latin America refers to a group of countries stretching from Mexico to the tip of South America. Categorized by their Romance language origins, people in these regions generally speak Spanish, Portuguese, and French, reflecting the area’s cultural and political history following the Columbian Exchange. The name Latin America was borne from the European invasion that began in the 15th century. The term likely was used to distinguish the area from other parts of the Americas (named after Italian explorer Amerigo Vespucci) that were colonized by countries that spoke Germanic languages like English. In fact, the use of the name began as a display of opposition against Anglo-Saxon and Teutonic countries, fostering a regional alignment that was distinct from that of other colonized territories. A Political Ploy Despite the common use of the term Latin America today, it did not appear in literature until the mid-19th century, around the time that political economist and philosopher Michel Chevalier began popularizing the description [PDF]. His characterization of the region may have been a ploy to convince those from Latin America to align themselves with the French, potentially expanding Napoleon III’s empire in the process. American scholar John Leddy Phelan aptly explained Chevalier’s intentions in 1968: “France must reassert in a vigorous fashion that hegemony over the Latin world which belonged to her since the time of Louis XIV. Chevalier exhorted, ‘Only she {France} can prevent this whole family {the Latin nations} from being engulfed in the double inundation of the Germans or the Anglo-Saxons and the Slavs.” This strategy didn’t lead to French domination of the New World, but it did bolster the idea of a unified “Latin” identity. By 1856, Francisco Bilbao, a Chilean writer and philosopher, used the term Latin America in a speech. Around the same time, writer José María Torres Caicedo, used it in a poem, marking the embrace of the Latin label by those who lived in the region. In the 1920s, José Vasconcelo, one of the most controversial and influential writers and philosophers of the Mexican Revolution, made the Latino term central to his concept of La Raza Cosmica (“the cosmic race”)—a racially-inclined theory that aimed to erase Indigenous culture to create a new race that transcended them all. Vasconcelos' essay claimed that a mestizo (“mixed”) race would prove to be superior to all others. His writing may have influenced eugenics in Latin America in the first half of the 20th century. The term Latino is divorced from these racist connotations today, and it’s now used to describe anyone with a Latin American background, regardless of their race and ethnicity. A Controversial Legacy Despite the shift in meaning around Latino, the term Latin America is still steeped in controversy today due to its long and complicated history. Opponents of the label claim it was coined to describe a region that was only bound by its history of colonization, simplifying the cultural depth of many countries. Although less widely debated than terms like Hispanic and Latinx, some people believe that Latin America creates a stronger connection to Europe than many natives prefer. Latin America vs. Hispanic America Latin America and Hispanic America are erroneously used interchangeably in much of the world today. While Hispanic America refers to countries with a cultural or historical link to Spain where Spanish is the predominant language, Latin America can encompass a broader range of languages, with the common connection being European colonization. The reality is that both terms have evolved to include a variety of definitions and ties. Somewhere around 660 million people live in the region that’s classified as Latin America today, according to data from the United Nations. There are about 33 countries that make up the territory, including Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Costa Rica, Panama, Belize, Haiti, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Jamaica, and others. Although Indigenous populations significantly declined following colonization, many native cultures still persevere there today. Source: How Did Latin America Get Its Name?

What's the Word: HELIOTROPIC pronunciation: [hee-lee-ə-TRAHP-ik] Part of speech: adjective Origin: Greek, 19th century Meaning: 1. Exhibiting the property of some plants of turning under the influence of light. Examples: "When recorded in slow motion, many plants can be seen making a heliotropic turn every morning when the sun comes up." "The sunbathers continually readjusted themselves in a heliotropic route around the pool." About Heliotropic “Heliotropic” was formed by combining the ancient Greek “ἥλιος” (“hḗlios,” meaning “sun”) and “τρόπος” (“trópos,” meaning “a turn”). Did you Know? A heliotropic plant follows the sun throughout the course of its daily cycle. The sunflower is the best-known heliotropic plant, as it follows the sun from east to west over the course of the day, before turning to the east again overnight to prepare for the next day’s dawn. Many other plants and flowers engage in similar heliotropic movements. By the late 19th century, researchers discovered that these plants responded to light in any form, not just solar light. As a result, “heliotropic” is often replaced with the term “phototropic.”

What's the Word: OBTUND pronunciation: [ob-TUHND] Part of speech: verb Origin: Latin, 15th century Meaning: 1. Dull the sensitivity of; blunt; deaden. Examples: "Katherine bought a new shovel each winter and used it on the ice until she had obtunded it." "I was pleased to discover children’s aspirin obtunds the pain from canker sores." About Obtund “Obtund” is based on the Latin “obtundere,” which means “to dull.” It is based on the roots “ob-” (meaning “against”) and “tundere” (meaning “to beat”). Did you Know? “Obtund” means “to blunt” or “to render dull.” This meaning is built right into its Latin roots “ob-” and “tundere,” meaning “to beat against.” To obtund, originally, meant to blunt a physical object by repetitious force, the same way a shovel becomes dull the more often the digger collides with buried rocks. Today, “obtund” is often used in medical contexts, in which it describes not dulling tools but dulling sensitivity. For example, a topical anesthetic is used to obtund areas of skin or tissue that might otherwise be more sensitive.

What's the Word: TURBID pronunciation: [TUR-bəd] Part of speech: adjective Origin: Latin, 17th century Meaning: 1. (Of a liquid) Cloudy, opaque, or thick with suspended matter. 2. Confused or obscure in meaning or effect. Examples: "Max had great difficulty assembling his new wardrobe due to the brief and turbid instructions that left him with too many questions." "Government conservation workers kept track of what kinds of fish and amphibians lived in the turbid water of the swamp." About Turbid “Turbid” is based on the Latin “turbidus,” itself based on “turba,” meaning “a crowd” or “a disturbance.” Did you Know? “Turbid” can describe something either literally or figuratively cloudy and obscure. Water that is turbid — such as river water during a season of thaw — is full of swirling silt and other particulates that make it cloudy and hard to see through. In the same way, a turbid announcement from a public official could be hard to make sense of.

Fact of the Day - STILLSON WRENCH Did you know... Indoor plumbing led to this innovative tool. While there are endless varieties of tools, the wrench is particularly versatile. Need an adjustable wrench for tightening nuts? You might want a Crescent wrench. Want something that can tackle industrial projects like automobiles? You can grab a monkey wrench. Want to put together an IKEA bookshelf? An Allen wrench works. If you have a plumbing issue, however, you’re likely to turn to the wrench that can sink its literal teeth into pipes. That’s a pipe wrench, also known as a Stillson wrench. And while all tools have pushed manufacturing forward, the Stillson stands out as one of the most important developments to ever grace a toolbox. The Origin of the Stillson Wrench Daniel Stillson had a way with machines. The Durham, New Hampshire, native was a mechanic on a U.S. Naval steamship, the R.B. Forbes, for the Union during the Civil War. Afterward, a Union engineer and colonel named Levi Greene invited him to come work for him at J.J. Walworth and Co., a steam heating business in Cambridge, Massachusetts. It was at Walworth that Stillson would make his mark on tool history. According to a 2019 Boston Globe article, in the late 1800s, cities were making a push to install and maintain water systems for indoor plumbing and heating. Some, like Boston, had to replace older wooden pipes with materials that were more sensible for the reliable transportation of water. As this transition to metal occurred, it was obvious that not all existing tools were up to the challenge. The biggest problem for monkey wrenches and other types of clamping tools was that their jaws were usually smooth. That worked for fasteners like nuts, since one flat surface could sit flush with another, but it didn’t work well for pipes. Their round surface meant flat wrenches could—and often would—slip off or damage the pipe. Stillson certainly wasn’t the first engineer to observe the problem, but he was the first to take real action. His first solution was a kind of tong that could better grip the pipe but still proved less than ideal. Using wood, he carved out a prototype wrench that had a slightly uneven, serrated surface. Because the “teeth” ran opposite one another, they had a fierce grip that was able to keep a secure hold on round, slippery metal pipes. When Stillson showed his idea to Greene, the company agreed to have a steel version made. Greene wanted to see if it was as strong as Stillson claimed and encouraged him to attack a pipe until either the metal broke or the wrench did. After he successfully tore into a 1.25-inch pipe, Greene was convinced. Stillson’s wrench worked. Though they likely could have claimed Stillson’s invention as their own owing to his employee status, Walworth encouraged him to patent it under his own name. The company would then license it from Stillson so it could be manufactured and distributed to consumers. Stillson went ahead and filed a patent application for the wrench in 1869, which was granted in April 1872. “I, Daniel Stillson of Charlestown, in the county of Middlesex and state of Massachusetts, have invented a new and useful improvement in pipe wrenches,” he wrote. “My invention is an improvement upon the pipe wrench as patented by me … and has for its object the production of a wrench which shall be equally effective in its operation upon a pipe, whether such pipe be perfectly cylindrical or circular, or of a somewhat flattened or ellipsoidal shape in cross-section; and my invention consists in the employment of two springs affixed to opposite sides of the shank of the fixed jaw, and so arranged as to operate in conjunction with the pivoted frame in controlling the action of the movable jaw, as will be hereinafter described.” A Wrenching Victory Plumbers, mechanics, and even locomotive workers grabbed the wrench, which was, like the monkey wrench, adjustable and could therefore replace cumbersome wrench sets. Walworth even displayed Stillson in advertising, crediting him as the inventor of the wrench—a somewhat unusual marketing approach. A print spot from 1928 showcases a Stillson said to be 37 years old and still working. “That is the kind of lasting strength you can count on getting in any wrench of any size that carries Dan Stillson’s own trademark—STILLSON—forged in a diamond on the top jaw,” the ad read. Though the patent would ultimately expire, Stillson benefited greatly from Walworth’s lack of greed. At the time of his death in 1899, Stillson had made an estimated $100,000 from the wrench, or well over $3 million today. And although anyone is free to make a Stillson-style wrench and name it anything they like, Stillson’s influence is such that people often refer to it using his surname. Source: Why Do We Call It a “Stillson Wrench”?

Fact of the Day - THE NEW YEAR Did you know.... People used to literally ring in the coming year. These days, you can say you’re “ringing in” the New Year with plenty of things that don’t ring: a toast, a kiss, an ambitious New Year’s resolution, a Harry Potter marathon, an entire sheet cake to yourself, and so forth. When the phrase originated, however, it involved something that actually rang: bells. As Mic reports, communities used to bid adieu to the old year and welcome the new one by ringing bells, often in churches. The tradition may have grown out of other occasions where bells marked an end—“passing bells,” the bells that tolled when someone died—or celebrated a beginning (like wedding bells). Alfred, Lord Tennyson referenced the custom in part of “In Memoriam A.H.H.,” a lengthy elegy written after the sudden death of his friend (and his sister’s fiancé) Arthur Henry Hallam in 1833. Here’s the second stanza from the section known as “Ring out, wild bells”: “Ring out the old, ring in the new, Ring, happy bells, across the snow: The year is going, let him go; Ring out the false, ring in the true.” Decades before hordes of revelers started flocking to Times Square to watch the ball drop, which first occurred in 1907, they congregated farther downtown at Wall Street’s Trinity Church. There—now home to the graves of Alexander Hamilton and several relatives—they rang in the New Year with a veritable concert put on by the church’s official bell ringer, James E. Ayliffe. As the New York Herald reported in 1860, “there floated from the high church tower the stirring music of eight bells chiming in changes and making the air redolent with harmony. This was followed by ‘Hail Columbia,’ ‘Yankee Doodle’ and some sweet selections from ‘La Fille du Regiment.’ ” According to Trinity Church’s archives, the earliest mention of the tradition is from the minutes of an 1801 meeting where parishioners allotted eight pounds “to the Persons who rang the Bells in New Years day.” It might have been going on long before that, considering the church got its first bell back in 1698. In short, ringing bells was once a central part of the holiday. The fact that it’s faded from memory—and ring in the New Year makes little sense if you don’t know the phrase’s history—may help explain why so many people now say “bring in the New Year” instead. Source: Why Do We ‘Ring In’ the New Year?

Fact of the Day - WRAPPING PAPER Did you know.... Here’s how to handle that post-Christmas morning mess. As the pile of wrapping paper grows on the living room floor, the annual holiday-morning question inevitably arises: What do we do with all this? Does it all have to go straight into the trash? Can wrapping paper be recycled? What about this sparkly stuff? Does it matter that it has tape on it? This year, your holiday doesn’t need to be interrupted by a disposal debate. We’re here with the answers. It’s tempting to assume the answer to the recycling question is in the name itself: It’s wrapping paper, after all. Surely it can join the rest of your cardboard boxes and junk mail in the recycling bin? As you may have guessed, however, it’s a bit more complicated than that. Paper vs. “Paper” The truth is, a lot of wrapping “paper” on the market isn’t actually paper at all. Metallic, glittery, and see-through papers are all at least partially plastic, meaning they can’t be remade into other paper products. Even some wrapping paper that is pure paper isn’t worth putting in the bin. Super thin wrapping paper, for example, doesn’t contain enough of the quality fibers extracted during the recycling process. But it’s not all bad news! Regular matte paper (even if it’s colorful) can be recycled, no problem. If you want to make sure your wrapping paper is recyclable, just put it through the scrunch test, which works just the way you’d think it would: Crumple a piece of the wrapping paper in question. If it stays scrunched, it’s good to recycle. If it springs back flat, it has to go in the trash. Dealing With the Rest of it What about the rest of the pile of discarded wrapping materials? Tissue paper is best placed in the compost, while you can approach gift bags the same way you would paper (just make sure you take off the handles). Bows, ribbons, and tape should all stay out of the recycling bin. Reuse What You Can The best thing to do with your discarded wrapping paper and assorted accoutrements is to reuse whatever you can! Sturdy wrapping paper that hasn’t been ripped can be folded up and used again next year. Bows and nice ribbons, too, are easily stowed and reused. Alternatively, you can turn to more sustainable wrapping alternatives like newspapers, fabric, boxes, and reusable bags. When in Doubt, Throw it Out Whatever you do, don’t fall into the trap of “wishcycling”—a.k.a. erring on the side of assuming things are recyclable because you figure it’s worth a try. Despite our best intentions, this kind of pitch-and-hope mentality can cause headaches for your recycling company and interfere with the process. Brent Bell, the VP of recycling operations at Waste Management, told Mother Jones in 2019 that a quarter of the material they receive is garbage that has to be extracted and thrown away. So, if you’re not sure whether a sheet of wrapping paper can be recycled, do the (admittedly counter-intuitive) ecologically safe thing: Put it in the trash. Source: How to Properly Dispose of Wrapping Paper

https://store.epicgames.com/en-US/p/control Control is currently free on Epic Games Store. https://www.gog.com/en/game/milo_and_the_christmas_gift Milo and the Christmas Gift is free on GOG. https://store.steampowered.com/app/2670280/BLEED_RUNNER/ https://store.epicgames.com/en-US/p/bleed-runner-3f95bc Bleed Runner is free on Steam and Epic Games Store.

Fact of the Day - JACK FROST Did you know.... And why does he keep nipping at my nose? For many people, the name Jack Frost instantly brings to mind Nat King Cole’s crooning voice as he sings “Jack Frost nipping at your nose” in “The Christmas Song.” Most iterations of Jack Frost see him colored and/or clad in icy blue and white, and as well as being responsible for nose-nipping, he’s also credited with creating frost—particularly the artistic fern-like patterns on windows. But where exactly did this mythical cold-weather figure originate? A Touch of Frost The earliest known mention of Jack Frost appears in Round about our Coal Fire: or Christmas Entertainments, first printed in 1730: “This Time of Year being cold and frosty generally speaking, or when Jack Frost commonly takes us by the Nose.” It’s unlikely that the author of this festive book—who goes by the pseudonym Dick Merryman—was the one to create Jack Frost, as the name seems to be a recognizable reference. Jack Frost continued to be a personification of winter weather who was only used as a brief turn of phrase. For instance, in the October 1806 edition of The Sporting Magazine, John Mason wrote that “that scoundrel poltroon Jack Frost has so benumbed my fingers.” The 19th century saw Jack Frost begin to take shape as an actual character, rather than simply being a saying. An 1832 poem by Hannah Flagg Gould added to his mischievous reputation by having him freeze fruit and burst a pitcher (although he isn’t explicitly called Jack). The frosty figure was also the subject of an 1841 song, which similarly paints him as playfully naughty: “Bent on mischief—who is he? / Jack Frost—Jack Frost.” The first illustration of Jack Frost also comes from this century; in an 1861 edition of Harper’s Weekly, Thomas Nast drew him as a war general dripping with icicles, in reference to Union General Benjamin Butler calling Jack Frost “our faithful old Ally of the North.” It wasn’t long before Jack Frost became a fully-fledged literary character. Margaret T. Canby’s short story “The Frost Fairies” (1874) tells of how the kind-hearted Jack Frost, a.k.a. King Frost, also became responsible for changing the colors of the leaves each fall. L. Frank Baum, best known for penning The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (1900), also expanded the role of Jack Frost. In “The Runaway Shadows, or A Trick of Jack Frost” (1901), Jack is the cheeky son of the Frost King; when he’s unable to freeze children’s ears and noses—thanks to them being bundled up in furs—he decides to freeze their shadows. Baum also included the sprite in The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus (1902), which sees Old Saint Nick ask Jack to refrain from nipping kids’ noses (he reluctantly agrees!). On Thin Ice You may have heard that Jack Frost can be traced back to Norse mythology, specifically a god called Jokul Frosti, whose name translates to “Icicle Frost.” But Jokul Frosti isn’t actually a mythological figure. Kari, ruler of the wind, was said to have a son called either Jokul or Frosti, but there’s no direct link between that mythical ice deity and the Jack Frost we know today. Many cultures across the world have mythological counterparts to Jack Frost. The prevalence of these figures isn’t surprising given that frost patterns do often look like they have been made by a magical being (the fern design on windows is actually created by the temperature difference between warm air indoors and cold air outdoors). In ancient Greece, the god Boreas was believed to bring the cold north wind that ushered in winter. In Russia, it’s not Santa Claus who brings children presents, but wintery figure Ded Moroz (Grandfather Frost). And in Japanese folklore, a dangerous spirit called Yuki Onna (Snow Woman) can be found lurking amid the snow flurries. There have been many different takes on the character of Jack Frost himself over the years. Often, his mischievous or downright villainous side is emphasized—the Chris Pine-voiced teenage boy from animated film Rise of the Guardians (2012) falls into the former category, while Martin Short’s character in The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause (2006) falls into the latter. There are also gentler versions, such as the stop-motion sprite in the 1979 Rankin/Bass Christmas special and the artistic Jack Frost in Terry Pratchett’s Hogfather (1996). Straying further from the traditional portrayal of the character are the two films titled Jack Frost from 1997 and 1998, both of which are about men called Jack Frost who are turned into snowmen. The 1997 movie is a horror flick about a serial killer (played by Scott MacDonald), while the 1998 film is a family-friendly story about a resurrected father (Michael Keaton). Source: Who Is Jack Frost?

Fact of the Day - GIFT VS PRESENT Did you know... Let’s clear some things up now that we’re in the thick of the holiday season. It’s that time again when we’re busy buying, wrapping, and giving them. Sometimes we call them “gifts,” sometimes “presents.” Is there a difference? The words come to us from different language families. Gift comes from the old Germanic root for “to give.” It referred to an act of giving, and then, to the thing being given. In Old English it meant “the dowry given to a bride’s parents.” Present comes from the French for “to present.” A present is the thing being presented or bestowed. Both words were in use for the idea of something undergoing a transfer of possession without expectation of payment from the 13th century onward. The words gift and present are well-matched synonyms that mean essentially the same thing, but even well-matched synonyms have their own connotations and distinctive patterns of use. Gift applies to a wider range of situations. Gifts can be talents: You can have the gift of gab, or a musical gift. Gifts can be intangibles: There is the gift of understanding or the gift of a quiet day. We generally don’t use present to describe things like that. Presents are more concrete or a bit more, well, present. If your whole family gave donations to your college fund for your birthday would you say “I got a lot of presents”? It doesn’t exactly sound wrong, but since you never hold these donations in your hand, gifts seems to fit better. Gift can also be an attributive noun, acting like an adjective to modify another noun. What do you call the type of shop where you can buy presents for people? A gift shop. What do you call the basket of presents that you can have sent to all your employees? A gift basket. Present doesn’t work well in this role of describing other nouns. We have gift boxes, gift cards, and gift wrap, not present boxes, present cards, and present wrap. Gift appears to be used more frequently than present, though it is difficult to get accurate counts, because if you compare occurrences of the noun present with the noun gift, you include that other noun present, meaning the here and now. However, the plural noun presents captures only the word we want. Gifts outnumbers presents in the Corpus of Contemporary American English by four to one. Still, according to my personal sense of the words, present—though it may not be as common—is more casual sounding than gift. I expect a child to ask Santa Claus for lots and lots of presents, not many, many gifts. But whether it’s gifts or presents you prefer, I wish you many and lots this year, of both the tangible and intangible kind. Source: What’s the Difference Between a Gift and a Present?

What's the Word: THITHER pronunciation: [THI-thər] Part of speech: adverb Origin: Middle English, 10th century Meaning: 1. To or toward that place. Examples: "We drew the stranger directions to the service station and sent him thither." "I enjoyed Scotland when I went thither as a child." About Thither “Thither” is based on the Middle English “thider,” and the Old English “þider,” both meaning “there.” Did you Know? The best way to understand “thither” is as an archaic version of “there” or “to that place,” since it’s often heard as part of the poetic expression “hither and thither” — an old and ornate way of saying “here and there.” “Thither” is often associated with “yonder,” meaning “there in the distance,” as both are charming replacements for the more common expressions “there” and “over there.” “Yonder” does not share any roots with “thither,” however, and while “yonder” appeared in English during the 14th century, “thither” is significantly older, having been first recorded in the early 10th century.

Fact of the Day - FLIP A COIN Did you know... Coin flipping is a time-honored tradition for making decisions. Long before the NFL used the method to determine opening kickoffs, Romans employed coin tossing to settle personal disputes (though they called it “heads or ships,” a reference to the Roman coin’s two-faced Janus on one side and the prow of a ship on the other). While the mechanics of coin flipping are simple enough — guess a side and flip — the physics of how a coin flips are anything but. By exploring this complicated motion, scientists have discovered that coin flips are not as random (and thus impartial) as most of us think. A 2023 study from the University of Amsterdam flipped 350,757 coins across 46 different currencies and discovered that a coin flipped to its starting position 50.8% of the time — close to 50/50, but not quite. In other words, if a coin started heads up, there was a slightly greater chance it would land heads up, too. This proves a previous theorem, developed in 2004, which argued that coin tosses landed as they started about 51% of the time. This small difference likely won’t dissuade humans from practicing the coin flip tradition, however. A more serious concern comes from a 2009 study, which revealed that coin tosses can be easily manipulated with just a few minutes of practice. So if you’re relying on the “randomness” of a coin toss to determine important decisions, make sure you trust the person doing the flipping. The U.S. was one of the first countries to have a decimal currency. The United States has been pretty slow on the metric uptake, but when it comes to rationalizing currency, it’s actually one of the leaders. Although the first (incomplete) example of decimalization occurred in Czarist Russia around 1704, the U.S. decimalized its currency with the Coinage Act of 1792, which established that 100 pennies make a dollar. This was a huge improvement, especially for the nonmathematically inclined, over the British system, wherein 1 pound equals 20 shillings, 1 shilling equals 12 pence, and 1 pence equals 4 farthings. However, this decimal system only pertained to coins at the time. Paper money didn’t enter circulation until 1861, when an embattled Union government, desperate for money during the Civil War, produced the first banknotes — known as “greenbacks.” Source: Coin flips are not actually random.

What's the Word: SPINDRIFT pronunciation: [SPIN-drihft] Part of speech: noun Origin: Scots, 17th century Meaning: 1. Spray blown from the crests of waves by the wind. 2. Driving snow or sand. Examples: "The wind was so strong that our canoe was splashed with spindrift from the huge waves." "The blizzard blasted spindrift into my eyes from all angles." About Spindrift “Spindrift” is from the Scots language, likely a variation on the word “spoondrift.” “Spoondrift” is the combination of the obsolete nautical verb “spoon” (meaning “to sail ahead of the wind”) and the rare noun “drift” (meaning “driving”). Did you Know? “Spindrift” is a maritime phenomenon in which high winds blow the crests off the tops of waves, associated with conditions of 8 (“gale-force”) and above on the 12-level Beaufort Wind Scale. Accordingly, spindrift is a product of extreme weather and does not appear in gentler climes. As a weather condition, spindrift is characterized not just by low visibility, but also by an inability to see caused by heavy spray. As a result, the original maritime definition has been expanded to include not only water, but also fine blowing snow or sand. The particles airborne in snowstorms and sandstorms are as challenging to visibility as spindrift from a gale on the water.

What's the Word: EFFECTUATE pronunciation: [ə-FEK-tyoo-eyt] Part of speech: verb Origin: Latin, 16th century Meaning: 1. Put into force or operation. Examples: "The new highway law effectuated updates to all driver’s licenses." "The arrival of the rainy season effectuated a wave of growth across the jungle canopy." About Effectuate “Effectuate” comes from the medieval Latin “effectuat-” (“caused to happen”), from the Latin “effectus.” Did you Know? “Effectuate” is a transitive verb, meaning an action that a subject does to an object. Often, “effectuate” describes a secondary action that occurs as a consequence of other things happening, such as changes to policies or circumstances. Some shifts are deliberately effectuated, such as new legislation. Other times, changes may be effectuated due to shifts in technology or society. For example, advances in DNA sequencing continue to effectuate the evolution of cancer treatments.