ALI is an Arabic name that means “high.”
Boxer Muhammad Ali changed his name from Cassius Clay in 1964 after joining the Nation of Islam. In doing so, Ali honored the practice of dissociating himself from the surname of his enslaved ancestors.
Ali was known for his confidence and bravado. He routinely made predictions about the round in which he would knock out an opponent and for his rhyming taunts. “Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee. Your hands can’t hit what your eyes can’t see” and “My face is so pretty, you don’t see a scar, which proves I’m the king of the ring by far” are both attributed to him.
After winning an Olympic gold medal in 1960, Ali went onto a professional career that spanned more than twenty years and included many notable fights including the “Rumble in the Jungle” on October 30, 1974, when Ali defeated George Foreman in the African nation of Zaire, and the “Thrilla in Manila,” on October 1, 1975, when Ali defeated Joe Frazier on the island nation of the Philippines. The victory over Frazier avenged Ali’s first professional career loss on March 8, 1971, in what was dubbed the “Fight of the Century.”
For his fight against Foreman, Ali used a strategy dubbed rope-a-dope, in which he protected his face and leaned against the ropes along the perimeter of the ring, allowing Foreman to exhaust himself by delivering body blows until Ali delivered the knock out punch in the eighth round. The fight is featured in the Academy-Award winning 1996 documentary When We Were Kings.
Ali also notably refused to enter the U.S. Army presaging the antiwar protests against the Vietnam War. During his career, Ali often increased awareness of the international community by fighting in venues outside of the United States. He has been celebrated for his contributions to humanitarian and charitable causes both domestically and internationally.
He was named sportsman or athlete of the twentieth century by many media outlets, including Sports Illustrated, USA Today, and the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC).
Will Smith portrayed Ali in the biopic of the same name in 2001.
Ali Baba is a fictional character whose stories are often set in ancient Arabia. “Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves” appears in some versions of the story collection One Thousand and One Nights. Although early versions of One Thousand and One Nights—stories out of the traditions of Arabia, Yemen, India, and Persia—date back to 800 or 900 C.E., “Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves” was added by a European translator or group of translators somewhere along the way.
Friday, March 28, 2008
8. ale
8. All beers can be classified as ALEs or lagers. Ales use ale yeast, a top-fermenting yeast suited to warmer temperatures. Ales tend to have a fuller body.
A lager is a beer that uses lager yeast, a bottom-fermenting yeast suited to cooler temperatures. Modern lagers are fermented in refrigerated rooms, but in earlier times, beer was fermented in caves. Lagers tend to have a crisper/cleaner taste.
A stout is an ale and is not easily distinguishable from a porter. Some barkeeps use the terms without much distinction. Both beers are dark due to the dark roasting of the grains. The primary distinction between the two beers centers on porters using just roasted malt and stouts using roasted malt and roasted barley.
A cream stout is a stout that has had lactose added to it for sweetness. Adding other sweeteners like sugar or honey the yeast would simply convert that into alcohol. Yeast cannot convert lactose into alcohol, so the sweetness remains.
Stouts and porters are often served in pint glasses, with either a smooth or a bulbous design.
The brewer Samuel Adams has designed a modern pint glass with the help of Tiax. The new glass features laser etchings in the bottom to stimulate bubbles and continuously deliver carbonation to the beer, a rounded middle to capture the beer’s aromas, and a bead around the inside of the lip to agitate the beer as it is drunk.
A pilsner is a light stout. Most light American beers are pilsners. They gained popularity because they were light enough to be enjoyed after a long hot day at work, offering an alternative drinking a heavy beer. Pilsner glasses, which are thin and conical often hold less than a pint of beer and are designed to spotlight the color of the beer and create and maintain a lasting head.
An IPA (India Pale Ale) is an ale created by the British. Regular beer would spoil on the six-month trip to India, so brewers created a beer with more alcohol and more hops, each of which helped to preserve the beer on the long hot journey.
Steam beer is a beer that uses lager yeast, but at warmer temperatures. Old San Francisco brewers lacked refrigeration and caves so they were forced to make their lagers in warm temperatures, resulting in steam beer. Anchor Steam beer has been brewed in San Francisco since 1896.
A wheat beer uses wheat malt.
A mead isn't a beer, but is one of the earliest alcoholic beverages. A mead is basically water, yeast, honey, and maybe some fruit juice. It is not cooked, but rather left to sit and ferment.
The phrase “cakes and ale” describes that which can be afforded by the good life. It appears in the Shakespeare play Twelfth Night. “Dost thou think, because thou art virtuous, there shall be no more cakes and ale?” A translation of the moral to Aesop’s fable The Town Mouse and the Country Mouse is “Better beans and bacon in peace than cakes and ale in fear.”
W. Somerset Maugham titled a 1930 novel Cakes and Ale; or, The Skeleton in the Cupboard. Some charged that the story's unflattering characters were based on contemporaries such as novelist Thomas Hardy, but Maugham denied the connection. The work is regarded as a roman à clef, a thinly disguised fictionalization of real life.
A lager is a beer that uses lager yeast, a bottom-fermenting yeast suited to cooler temperatures. Modern lagers are fermented in refrigerated rooms, but in earlier times, beer was fermented in caves. Lagers tend to have a crisper/cleaner taste.
A stout is an ale and is not easily distinguishable from a porter. Some barkeeps use the terms without much distinction. Both beers are dark due to the dark roasting of the grains. The primary distinction between the two beers centers on porters using just roasted malt and stouts using roasted malt and roasted barley.
A cream stout is a stout that has had lactose added to it for sweetness. Adding other sweeteners like sugar or honey the yeast would simply convert that into alcohol. Yeast cannot convert lactose into alcohol, so the sweetness remains.
Stouts and porters are often served in pint glasses, with either a smooth or a bulbous design.
The brewer Samuel Adams has designed a modern pint glass with the help of Tiax. The new glass features laser etchings in the bottom to stimulate bubbles and continuously deliver carbonation to the beer, a rounded middle to capture the beer’s aromas, and a bead around the inside of the lip to agitate the beer as it is drunk.
A pilsner is a light stout. Most light American beers are pilsners. They gained popularity because they were light enough to be enjoyed after a long hot day at work, offering an alternative drinking a heavy beer. Pilsner glasses, which are thin and conical often hold less than a pint of beer and are designed to spotlight the color of the beer and create and maintain a lasting head.
An IPA (India Pale Ale) is an ale created by the British. Regular beer would spoil on the six-month trip to India, so brewers created a beer with more alcohol and more hops, each of which helped to preserve the beer on the long hot journey.
Steam beer is a beer that uses lager yeast, but at warmer temperatures. Old San Francisco brewers lacked refrigeration and caves so they were forced to make their lagers in warm temperatures, resulting in steam beer. Anchor Steam beer has been brewed in San Francisco since 1896.
A wheat beer uses wheat malt.
A mead isn't a beer, but is one of the earliest alcoholic beverages. A mead is basically water, yeast, honey, and maybe some fruit juice. It is not cooked, but rather left to sit and ferment.
The phrase “cakes and ale” describes that which can be afforded by the good life. It appears in the Shakespeare play Twelfth Night. “Dost thou think, because thou art virtuous, there shall be no more cakes and ale?” A translation of the moral to Aesop’s fable The Town Mouse and the Country Mouse is “Better beans and bacon in peace than cakes and ale in fear.”
W. Somerset Maugham titled a 1930 novel Cakes and Ale; or, The Skeleton in the Cupboard. Some charged that the story's unflattering characters were based on contemporaries such as novelist Thomas Hardy, but Maugham denied the connection. The work is regarded as a roman à clef, a thinly disguised fictionalization of real life.
Thursday, March 27, 2008
7. one
7. ONE (1) is a number used to represents a single entity. In mathematics, it usually represents the first ordinal number, though some modern conventions use 0 as the first ordinal number. One is the smallest positive odd integer.
President George Washington, the first president of the United States, is on the one dollar bill.
“One” is one of the most well known songs from the musical A Chorus Line, book by James Kirkwood, Jr., and Nicholas Dante, lyrics by Edward Kleban, and music by Marvin Hamlisch. The original Broadway production was an unprecedented box office and critical hit, receiving twelve Tony Award nominations and winning nine of them, in addition to the 1976 Pulitzer Prize for Drama. Running for 6,137 performances, it was the longest-running production in Broadway history up to that time. “One” (reprise/finale) begins with an individual bow for each of the nineteen dancer characters, their hodgepodge rehearsal clothes replaced by identical spangled gold costumes. As each dancer joins the group, it is suddenly difficult to distinguish one from the other; each character who was an individual to the audience is now an anonymous member of an ensemble.
The band Three Dog Night reminded us that “one is the loneliest number that you’ll ever do” in their number 5 billboard hit song “One,” first written and recorded by Harry Nilsson in 1968. Aimee Mann rerecorded this song for soundtrack for Magnolia in 1999, which starred Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Julianne Moore, Tom Cruise, and Jason Robards.
A clip of Jason Robards from the movie Johnny Got his Gun (1971) can be seen in the music video “One” by thrash metal band Metallica. A fan favorite, the song's theme is based on the book Johnny Got His Gun by Dalton Trumbo. The book tells the story of a soldier whose body was severely damaged after he stepped on a mine during World War I, leaving his body damaged beyond recognition. Knowing only pain, the soldier was kept alive on life support. “One” was released as the third single from, the band’s 1988 album ... And Justice For All. Metallica won their first Grammy Award in 1990 for “One” winning Best Metal Performance. “One” was also the band's first top 40 hit single peaking at number 35 on the Billboard Hot 100 and number 15 on the Mainstream Rock charts.
The ONE Campaign is a project that is part of Debt AIDS Trade Africa, or DATA, which was created by Bono of U2. One of U2’s most popular songs is “One,” the third single to be released from their Achtung, Baby! CD. The program educates people, one by one, about the seriousness of AIDS and poverty via celebrities, partnerships with America OnLine, the National Basketball Association, and other groups. ONE believes that allocating more of the U.S. budget toward providing basic needs like health, education, clean water, and food would transform the futures and hopes of an entire generation in the world's poorest countries. ONE also seeks to increase efforts to fight global AIDS and extreme poverty by advocating for legislation on debt cancellation, increasing effective international assistance, making trade fair, and fighting corruption.
President George Washington, the first president of the United States, is on the one dollar bill.
“One” is one of the most well known songs from the musical A Chorus Line, book by James Kirkwood, Jr., and Nicholas Dante, lyrics by Edward Kleban, and music by Marvin Hamlisch. The original Broadway production was an unprecedented box office and critical hit, receiving twelve Tony Award nominations and winning nine of them, in addition to the 1976 Pulitzer Prize for Drama. Running for 6,137 performances, it was the longest-running production in Broadway history up to that time. “One” (reprise/finale) begins with an individual bow for each of the nineteen dancer characters, their hodgepodge rehearsal clothes replaced by identical spangled gold costumes. As each dancer joins the group, it is suddenly difficult to distinguish one from the other; each character who was an individual to the audience is now an anonymous member of an ensemble.
The band Three Dog Night reminded us that “one is the loneliest number that you’ll ever do” in their number 5 billboard hit song “One,” first written and recorded by Harry Nilsson in 1968. Aimee Mann rerecorded this song for soundtrack for Magnolia in 1999, which starred Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Julianne Moore, Tom Cruise, and Jason Robards.
A clip of Jason Robards from the movie Johnny Got his Gun (1971) can be seen in the music video “One” by thrash metal band Metallica. A fan favorite, the song's theme is based on the book Johnny Got His Gun by Dalton Trumbo. The book tells the story of a soldier whose body was severely damaged after he stepped on a mine during World War I, leaving his body damaged beyond recognition. Knowing only pain, the soldier was kept alive on life support. “One” was released as the third single from, the band’s 1988 album ... And Justice For All. Metallica won their first Grammy Award in 1990 for “One” winning Best Metal Performance. “One” was also the band's first top 40 hit single peaking at number 35 on the Billboard Hot 100 and number 15 on the Mainstream Rock charts.
The ONE Campaign is a project that is part of Debt AIDS Trade Africa, or DATA, which was created by Bono of U2. One of U2’s most popular songs is “One,” the third single to be released from their Achtung, Baby! CD. The program educates people, one by one, about the seriousness of AIDS and poverty via celebrities, partnerships with America OnLine, the National Basketball Association, and other groups. ONE believes that allocating more of the U.S. budget toward providing basic needs like health, education, clean water, and food would transform the futures and hopes of an entire generation in the world's poorest countries. ONE also seeks to increase efforts to fight global AIDS and extreme poverty by advocating for legislation on debt cancellation, increasing effective international assistance, making trade fair, and fighting corruption.
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
6. eli
ELI Whitney is the inventor of the cotton gin. While Whitney created other inventions during his lifetime and was very connected to the firearms trade, he is most well known for the cotton gin. The cotton gin, which could remove the seeds from more than fifty pounds of cotton a day, contributed to the perpetuation of slavery in the South. He and his business partner Phineas Miller intended not to sell the cotton gin but to provide the service of “cleaning” the cotton for a proposed 40 percent of the crop. Farmers were outraged by the proposal. Their reaction along with the relative simplicity of the invention and the loose nature of the patent process at the time resulted in the manufacture of copycat machines and disputes over the ownership of advances associated with the invention.
Whitney was a graduate of Yale University and was well-connected both to other people associated with the institution and prominent members of New Haven, Connecticut, society. The Eli Whitney Student Program allows students to enter Yale College (the undergraduate program at Yale University) on a part- or full-time basis. Students matriculating under the banner of the program are typically older than students enrolling as graduating high school applicants.
Yale students are often called Elis not after Eli Whitney but after the benefactor Elihu Yale.Yale earned his fortune as part of the British East India Company and was also the second governor of a settlement at Madras (present-day Chennai) in India. In 1701, at the behest of Cotton Mather, Yale donated a crate of goods to the Collegiate School of Connecticut. The merchandise was sold, and the money earned from the sale was put toward a new building. The building—and eventually the entire college—was named after Yale.
Eli Wallach is an actor who started on Broadway stages before earning film and television roles. He won a Tony Award in 1951 for his portrayal of Alvaro Mangiaco in Tennessee Williams’s The Rose Tattoo. His most memorable film role is arguably that of Tuco in Il buono, il brutto, il cattivo, a “spaghetti Western” known in English as The Good, the Bad, and The Ugly. The term spaghetti Western was originally a put-down applied to a string of Westerns produced in Italy beginning in the 1960s. Spaghetti Westerns were more violent and made use of more minimalist cinematography than conventional Westerns up until that time. A Fistful of Dollars (1964) and My Name Is Nobody (1974) are also considered part of the genre.
Eli Manning is the quarterback for the New York Giants and the Most Valuable Player for the Super Bowl of 2008. He led his team on a successful fourth-quarter drive against the New England Patriots, who until the Super Bowl had had an undefeated season. A memorable highlight of the drive was a third-down reception by David Tyree by a ball that was thrown high by Manning. Manning had eluded a sack and hurled the ball for a resultant first down. Plaxico Burress scored the game-winning touchdown a few minutes later. Manning’s brother Peyton, a member of the Indianapolis Colts, had been named Super Bowl MVP the year before.
Whitney was a graduate of Yale University and was well-connected both to other people associated with the institution and prominent members of New Haven, Connecticut, society. The Eli Whitney Student Program allows students to enter Yale College (the undergraduate program at Yale University) on a part- or full-time basis. Students matriculating under the banner of the program are typically older than students enrolling as graduating high school applicants.
Yale students are often called Elis not after Eli Whitney but after the benefactor Elihu Yale.Yale earned his fortune as part of the British East India Company and was also the second governor of a settlement at Madras (present-day Chennai) in India. In 1701, at the behest of Cotton Mather, Yale donated a crate of goods to the Collegiate School of Connecticut. The merchandise was sold, and the money earned from the sale was put toward a new building. The building—and eventually the entire college—was named after Yale.
Eli Wallach is an actor who started on Broadway stages before earning film and television roles. He won a Tony Award in 1951 for his portrayal of Alvaro Mangiaco in Tennessee Williams’s The Rose Tattoo. His most memorable film role is arguably that of Tuco in Il buono, il brutto, il cattivo, a “spaghetti Western” known in English as The Good, the Bad, and The Ugly. The term spaghetti Western was originally a put-down applied to a string of Westerns produced in Italy beginning in the 1960s. Spaghetti Westerns were more violent and made use of more minimalist cinematography than conventional Westerns up until that time. A Fistful of Dollars (1964) and My Name Is Nobody (1974) are also considered part of the genre.
Eli Manning is the quarterback for the New York Giants and the Most Valuable Player for the Super Bowl of 2008. He led his team on a successful fourth-quarter drive against the New England Patriots, who until the Super Bowl had had an undefeated season. A memorable highlight of the drive was a third-down reception by David Tyree by a ball that was thrown high by Manning. Manning had eluded a sack and hurled the ball for a resultant first down. Plaxico Burress scored the game-winning touchdown a few minutes later. Manning’s brother Peyton, a member of the Indianapolis Colts, had been named Super Bowl MVP the year before.
5. ore
ORE is a volume of rock that potentially contains valuable mineral deposits.
Iron ore, lead ore, and gold ore are all examples of ores. Once ore is mined, various physical and chemical methods are used to remove the commodity from its source. Material can be pulverized and sifted to give mining operations a smaller amount of material to analyze for value. The unique physical and chemical properties of the materials that comprise ore allow for techniques that take advantage of characteristics like magnetism and gravity differentiation to successfully extract metals and minerals.
Ore is part of the brand name of Ore-Ida, a labeled owned by Heinz. Ore-Ida produces frozen potato products, such as French fries and Tater Tots. Tater Tots celebrated their fiftieth anniversary in 2004. Tater Tots were invented in 1953 (and released to the public in 1954) by Golden and Nephi Grigg, the Oregon brothers who founded the company. They were looking for a way to make use of the shredded potato that remained after French fry production. Tater Tots are prominently featured in the quirky independent comedy Napoleon Dynamite and in songs by the parody artist Weird Al Yankovic.
According to their Web site, Ore-Ida uses Russet Burbank, some Shepody, and some Ranger potatoes in most of their products.
No telling whether sifting, gravitational differentiation, or magnetism are employed in Tater Tot production.
Iron ore, lead ore, and gold ore are all examples of ores. Once ore is mined, various physical and chemical methods are used to remove the commodity from its source. Material can be pulverized and sifted to give mining operations a smaller amount of material to analyze for value. The unique physical and chemical properties of the materials that comprise ore allow for techniques that take advantage of characteristics like magnetism and gravity differentiation to successfully extract metals and minerals.
Ore is part of the brand name of Ore-Ida, a labeled owned by Heinz. Ore-Ida produces frozen potato products, such as French fries and Tater Tots. Tater Tots celebrated their fiftieth anniversary in 2004. Tater Tots were invented in 1953 (and released to the public in 1954) by Golden and Nephi Grigg, the Oregon brothers who founded the company. They were looking for a way to make use of the shredded potato that remained after French fry production. Tater Tots are prominently featured in the quirky independent comedy Napoleon Dynamite and in songs by the parody artist Weird Al Yankovic.
According to their Web site, Ore-Ida uses Russet Burbank, some Shepody, and some Ranger potatoes in most of their products.
No telling whether sifting, gravitational differentiation, or magnetism are employed in Tater Tot production.
Monday, March 24, 2008
4. erie
ERIE is the name of a Native American tribe that was conquered by the Iroquois. They lived along the southern shore of the lake that was named after them. Erie, or Eriez, is a shortened form of “Erielhonan,” which means “long tail” referring to the raccoon.
Lake Erie is the shallowest of the five Great Lakes, thought to have formed at the end of the most recent Ice Age, about 10,000 years ago. Meltwater from the Laurentide ice sheet filled the depressed areas left by the glaciers.
The Battle of Lake Erie, also known as the Battle of Put-In Bay, was fought during the War of 1812 on September 10, 1813. Navy Commander Oliver Hazard Perry and Marine Commander Jesse Elliott defeated the British in one of the five naval battles regarded by Naval Academy professor Craig L. Symonds in his 2005 book Decision at Sea as instrumental in defining U.S. maritime supremacy.
Erie, Pennsylvania, is the state’s only lake port city and fourth largest city. It is home to the oldest lighthouse on the Great Lakes, built in 1818 and replaced in 1867.
The Erie Canal, with its 18 aqueducts and 83 locks, was regarded as an engineering landmark when it was completed on October 26, 1825. The canal, which was originally intended to run to Lake Huron, was dubbed “Clinton’s Big Ditch” by skeptics who were doubtful of the project advocated by New York Governor Dewitt Clinton.
The governor broke ground on the canal in 1817. Once the canal was opened, “hoggees” led groups of pack animals along the adjacent towpath to help boats navigate the canal. The hoggees worked in six hour shifts to guide the boats over the 363-mile length of the canal. James A. Garfield, who would later become president, worked as a hoggee early in his life. The four-foot deep, forty-foot wide canal started at Albany and ended at Buffalo, passing through Rochester and Syracuse along the way.
Erie is a homophone of eerie, meaning scary or creepy.
Lake Erie is the shallowest of the five Great Lakes, thought to have formed at the end of the most recent Ice Age, about 10,000 years ago. Meltwater from the Laurentide ice sheet filled the depressed areas left by the glaciers.
The Battle of Lake Erie, also known as the Battle of Put-In Bay, was fought during the War of 1812 on September 10, 1813. Navy Commander Oliver Hazard Perry and Marine Commander Jesse Elliott defeated the British in one of the five naval battles regarded by Naval Academy professor Craig L. Symonds in his 2005 book Decision at Sea as instrumental in defining U.S. maritime supremacy.
Erie, Pennsylvania, is the state’s only lake port city and fourth largest city. It is home to the oldest lighthouse on the Great Lakes, built in 1818 and replaced in 1867.
The Erie Canal, with its 18 aqueducts and 83 locks, was regarded as an engineering landmark when it was completed on October 26, 1825. The canal, which was originally intended to run to Lake Huron, was dubbed “Clinton’s Big Ditch” by skeptics who were doubtful of the project advocated by New York Governor Dewitt Clinton.
The governor broke ground on the canal in 1817. Once the canal was opened, “hoggees” led groups of pack animals along the adjacent towpath to help boats navigate the canal. The hoggees worked in six hour shifts to guide the boats over the 363-mile length of the canal. James A. Garfield, who would later become president, worked as a hoggee early in his life. The four-foot deep, forty-foot wide canal started at Albany and ended at Buffalo, passing through Rochester and Syracuse along the way.
Erie is a homophone of eerie, meaning scary or creepy.
Thursday, March 20, 2008
3. ere
ERE is an outdated synonym for before, relegated in the twentieth century to verse and not often used in everyday speech. It was more commonly used in colonial times and in many cases was followed by the word “long.” Benjamin Franklin was quoted as having said, “Buy what thou hast no need of and ere long thou shalt sell thy necessities.” Erelong, without the space between ere and long is regarded as an archaic synonym for soon.
A famous example of a palindrome (a sentence reading the same forward and backward) is “Able were I ere I saw Elba.” The sentence refers to Napoleon’s loss of status after his exile to the island of Elba. Some regard this palindrome as more pure than others because it both has meaning and its halves (both letters and spaces) perfectly mirror each other.
Another famous palindrome with a historical bent is “A man, a plan, a canal: Panama!” In the twenty-first century, computers have assisted with the creation of long palindromes of thousands of words, but these can often be faulted for merely listing words in sequence and not conveying a logical thought or a storyline.
Ere itself is a palindrome. The fear of palindromes has been coined aibohphobia by musician and author Stan Kelly-Bootle. While the fear of palindromes is not a generally accepted phobia, siderodromophobia (the fear of railroads and train travel), automatonophobia (the fear of ventriloquist dummies, animatronic creatures, and wax statues), and porphyrophobia (the color purple) all are. If you are in the mood for a triple feature to honor this blog entry this weekend, why not rent the movies Palindromes (directed by Todd Solondz), Arachnaphobia, and The Color Purple.
Ere is also a homophone for other familiar crossword words air, err, and heir.If you are logophobic (fearful of words), stop reading now.
A famous example of a palindrome (a sentence reading the same forward and backward) is “Able were I ere I saw Elba.” The sentence refers to Napoleon’s loss of status after his exile to the island of Elba. Some regard this palindrome as more pure than others because it both has meaning and its halves (both letters and spaces) perfectly mirror each other.
Another famous palindrome with a historical bent is “A man, a plan, a canal: Panama!” In the twenty-first century, computers have assisted with the creation of long palindromes of thousands of words, but these can often be faulted for merely listing words in sequence and not conveying a logical thought or a storyline.
Ere itself is a palindrome. The fear of palindromes has been coined aibohphobia by musician and author Stan Kelly-Bootle. While the fear of palindromes is not a generally accepted phobia, siderodromophobia (the fear of railroads and train travel), automatonophobia (the fear of ventriloquist dummies, animatronic creatures, and wax statues), and porphyrophobia (the color purple) all are. If you are in the mood for a triple feature to honor this blog entry this weekend, why not rent the movies Palindromes (directed by Todd Solondz), Arachnaphobia, and The Color Purple.
Ere is also a homophone for other familiar crossword words air, err, and heir.If you are logophobic (fearful of words), stop reading now.
2. area
A. AREA refers to a region or space. In the mathematical field of geometry, area is the number of square units that a two-dimensional space occupies. Surface area is determined by measuring the areas of the individual sides of a solid object and adding them together.
Square footage is a figure that is often important in determining the value of a residence for real estate agents. There are several debatable points about determining residential square footage, one of which is the generally accepted guideline that prevents the square footage of a basement, regardless of its suitability as livable space, from being counted in the square footage figure. Attics and garages are not figured into square footage either.
As of 2007, commercial buildings in the world with the largest square footage of usable space were the Aalsmeer Flower Auction in the Netherlands, the Venetian Macao casino-resort in Macau, and the Asian Terminal Ltd. Logistics Centre in Hong Kong.With regard to geography, the smallest country in terms of area is Vatican City/The Holy See, the seat of power for Pope Benedict XVI and the Roman Catholic Church. The next four, from smallest to largest, are Monaco, Nauru, Tuvalu, and San Marino. Working in the other direction, the largest countries are Russia, Canada, the United States, China, and Brazil.
B. One famous regarded area in the United States is Area 51. Area 51 is the name provided to a remote section of southern Nevada often associated by conspiracy theorists with UFOs and other supernatural activity. While the U.S. military admits to operating Nellis Air Force Base in the area purported to be Area 51, they do not dignify inquiries into alien activity in the region. The secretive location is heavily patrolled by private security agents who routinely contact the local sheriff’s office to pick up trespassers who are curious enough to visit and take photographs, recordings, and video of the area.
C. “Area Man” is often used in the satirical newspaper The Onion, to spotlight fictional people involved in mundane, non-newsworthy events. Examples include “Area Man Consults Internet Whenever Possible,” “Area Man Well-Versed in First Thirds of Great Literature,” and “Area Man Confounded by Buffet Procedure.”
Square footage is a figure that is often important in determining the value of a residence for real estate agents. There are several debatable points about determining residential square footage, one of which is the generally accepted guideline that prevents the square footage of a basement, regardless of its suitability as livable space, from being counted in the square footage figure. Attics and garages are not figured into square footage either.
As of 2007, commercial buildings in the world with the largest square footage of usable space were the Aalsmeer Flower Auction in the Netherlands, the Venetian Macao casino-resort in Macau, and the Asian Terminal Ltd. Logistics Centre in Hong Kong.With regard to geography, the smallest country in terms of area is Vatican City/The Holy See, the seat of power for Pope Benedict XVI and the Roman Catholic Church. The next four, from smallest to largest, are Monaco, Nauru, Tuvalu, and San Marino. Working in the other direction, the largest countries are Russia, Canada, the United States, China, and Brazil.
B. One famous regarded area in the United States is Area 51. Area 51 is the name provided to a remote section of southern Nevada often associated by conspiracy theorists with UFOs and other supernatural activity. While the U.S. military admits to operating Nellis Air Force Base in the area purported to be Area 51, they do not dignify inquiries into alien activity in the region. The secretive location is heavily patrolled by private security agents who routinely contact the local sheriff’s office to pick up trespassers who are curious enough to visit and take photographs, recordings, and video of the area.
C. “Area Man” is often used in the satirical newspaper The Onion, to spotlight fictional people involved in mundane, non-newsworthy events. Examples include “Area Man Consults Internet Whenever Possible,” “Area Man Well-Versed in First Thirds of Great Literature,” and “Area Man Confounded by Buffet Procedure.”
1. era
A. Loosely speaking, an ERA is any referenced time period. In the discipline of history, eras define periods such as the Roman era, when Rome was the considered the world center of culture and influence, and the Victorian era in Great Britain, running proximate to the reign of Queen Victoria I (from 1837 to 1901). Cultural enthusiasts also make use of the term era to define socio-cultural periods, especially in music, such as the Big Band era and the Motown era.
B. When culturally significant television shows go off the air or seminal figures in the arts pass away, it is common for commentaries or obituaries to reference “the end of an era.”
C. The time related words era, eon (also spelled aeon), and age are common crossword words. All three words allow for easier placement in a grid because they are short and contain more vowels than consonants.
D. The longest geologic time spans are eons, which are further divided into eras. Eras are comprised of periods, and periods are further divided into epochs. Epochs are comprised of stages. We are currently living in the Cenozoic era of the Phanerozoic eon. The Cenozoic era dates back 65.5 million years to when mammals became the dominant creatures on Earth.
E. ERA is an acronym for the Equal Rights Amendment. The earliest incarnation of the Equal Rights Amendment was written by suffragist Alice Paul and submitted to Congress for consideration in 1923. Over the course of the next fifty years, the amendment was routinely submitted for approval by Congress.
The ERA came closest to acceptance by the United States in the early 1970s. The amendment, a section of which stated, “Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex,” passed the House of Representatives in 1971 and the Senate in 1972 at which time it was submitted to the states for approval.
Only 35 of the 38 states required had approved the amendment by the deadline seven years later on March 22, 1979. Additionally, five of the states that had approved subsequently withdrew their support for the amendment before the deadline. An extension for ratifying the amendment within 39 months did not spur further interest from the states. The general objection to its adoption seemed to be that women’s rights had advanced through various other pieces of legislation to the point where a formal amendment was unnecessary.
The ERA continues to be submitted to sessions of Congress for approval.
F. ERA is an acronym for the baseball statistic known as the earned run average. The earned run average is calculated as the mean number of runs allowed by a pitcher per nine innings. Runs are not earned if they occur as the result of an error or a passed ball (a ball that is deemed catchable by the official scorer but is missed by the catcher).
When a relief pitcher enters the game, any players on base belong to the departing pitcher, so runs scored by them contribute to the departing pitcher’s ERA, not to the reliever’s.
G. Era has occasionally been used as a brand name or as part of a brand name. Era laundry detergent is a product of Procter & Gamble, the same manufacturer that produces Tide.
New Era potato chips were popular in the 1950s and 1960s and were often sold in tins on which dubious claims were printed. These blurbs were paired with silhouettes of thin, athletic people, an approach that would earn scorn from critics in contemporary society given the association between snack food and obesity. At the time, the chips were marketed as “A Healthy Food … on the Alkaline Side” and “Scientifically Processed.” Here is a blurb from one of the cans:
SCIENCE SAYS … THE ALKALINE SIDE IS THE HEALTHY SIDENEW ERA
Potato Chips are partially starch dextrinized and therefore more easily digested….
Chemical analyses have proven NEW ERA Potato Chips to be a highly concentrated energy producing food, 95% digestible and of greater alkalinity than even fresh raw potatoes.FEAST WITHOUT FEAR
I can’t be sure. Are dextrinization and alkalinity good for you?
B. When culturally significant television shows go off the air or seminal figures in the arts pass away, it is common for commentaries or obituaries to reference “the end of an era.”
C. The time related words era, eon (also spelled aeon), and age are common crossword words. All three words allow for easier placement in a grid because they are short and contain more vowels than consonants.
D. The longest geologic time spans are eons, which are further divided into eras. Eras are comprised of periods, and periods are further divided into epochs. Epochs are comprised of stages. We are currently living in the Cenozoic era of the Phanerozoic eon. The Cenozoic era dates back 65.5 million years to when mammals became the dominant creatures on Earth.
E. ERA is an acronym for the Equal Rights Amendment. The earliest incarnation of the Equal Rights Amendment was written by suffragist Alice Paul and submitted to Congress for consideration in 1923. Over the course of the next fifty years, the amendment was routinely submitted for approval by Congress.
The ERA came closest to acceptance by the United States in the early 1970s. The amendment, a section of which stated, “Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex,” passed the House of Representatives in 1971 and the Senate in 1972 at which time it was submitted to the states for approval.
Only 35 of the 38 states required had approved the amendment by the deadline seven years later on March 22, 1979. Additionally, five of the states that had approved subsequently withdrew their support for the amendment before the deadline. An extension for ratifying the amendment within 39 months did not spur further interest from the states. The general objection to its adoption seemed to be that women’s rights had advanced through various other pieces of legislation to the point where a formal amendment was unnecessary.
The ERA continues to be submitted to sessions of Congress for approval.
F. ERA is an acronym for the baseball statistic known as the earned run average. The earned run average is calculated as the mean number of runs allowed by a pitcher per nine innings. Runs are not earned if they occur as the result of an error or a passed ball (a ball that is deemed catchable by the official scorer but is missed by the catcher).
When a relief pitcher enters the game, any players on base belong to the departing pitcher, so runs scored by them contribute to the departing pitcher’s ERA, not to the reliever’s.
G. Era has occasionally been used as a brand name or as part of a brand name. Era laundry detergent is a product of Procter & Gamble, the same manufacturer that produces Tide.
New Era potato chips were popular in the 1950s and 1960s and were often sold in tins on which dubious claims were printed. These blurbs were paired with silhouettes of thin, athletic people, an approach that would earn scorn from critics in contemporary society given the association between snack food and obesity. At the time, the chips were marketed as “A Healthy Food … on the Alkaline Side” and “Scientifically Processed.” Here is a blurb from one of the cans:
SCIENCE SAYS … THE ALKALINE SIDE IS THE HEALTHY SIDENEW ERA
Potato Chips are partially starch dextrinized and therefore more easily digested….
Chemical analyses have proven NEW ERA Potato Chips to be a highly concentrated energy producing food, 95% digestible and of greater alkalinity than even fresh raw potatoes.FEAST WITHOUT FEAR
I can’t be sure. Are dextrinization and alkalinity good for you?
Saturday, March 15, 2008
Let's Start at the Very Beginning ...
I regularly do crossword puzzles. I've enjoyed the puzzles of the New York Times and the New York Sun. I have subscriptions to the Crosswords Club and the Uptown Puzzle Club. I've routinely enjoyed the time that I spend on them. I feel like a good puzzle can take you places. Touching on history and literature and culture and the arts, offering new ways of looking at language, testing your lateral thinking. Great puzzles do all of this.
I have my favorite crossword puzzle constructors. Merl Reagle led the charge for me, introducing me to puzzles with his book series. Others followed. Emily Cox and Henry Rathvon, Joe DiPietro, Frank Longo, Randolph Ross, Michael S. Maurer, Trip Payne, Mike Shenk, Peter Gordon, and Wayne Robert Williams all come to mind. Henry Hook would be there too, but many of his puzzles have been too tough for me, so maybe I'm holding a grudge. For insight into the craft of crossword puzzle making specifically and crossword puzzles in general, buy or rent the documentary Wordplay.
I have my favorite crossword puzzle constructors. Merl Reagle led the charge for me, introducing me to puzzles with his book series. Others followed. Emily Cox and Henry Rathvon, Joe DiPietro, Frank Longo, Randolph Ross, Michael S. Maurer, Trip Payne, Mike Shenk, Peter Gordon, and Wayne Robert Williams all come to mind. Henry Hook would be there too, but many of his puzzles have been too tough for me, so maybe I'm holding a grudge. For insight into the craft of crossword puzzle making specifically and crossword puzzles in general, buy or rent the documentary Wordplay.I routinely hate puzzles that feature quotes from celebrities, but I am coming around on themeless puzzles, which feature a mix of vocabulary but no discernible theme. Primarily, I enjoy puzzles that carry a consistent theme through each of the longer answers in the puzzle. Usually, these puzzles focus on some aspect of wordplay--puns, multiple letters in a single square, words inside of words. Just when I think that I've seen every variation on a theme, someone comes along and introduces a new gimmick that keeps things interesting.
Wednesday puzzles generally give me the most satisfaction. For those not in the know, crossword puzzles in several newspapers follow the course of getting more difficult as the work-week progresses. Monday puzzles are easier than Friday puzzles in both the New York Times and the New York Sun. Will Shortz, editor of the New York Times puzzle, and Peter Gordon, editor of the New York Sun puzzle, do a masterful job of matching the difficulty of their puzzles to the day of the week. The difficulty of the famed Sunday New York Times puzzle, which is larger than the 15 square by 15 square daily puzzle, is commonly thought to be comparable to a Thursday puzzle.
Although I do not do Reagle's puzzles on a daily basis, the ones collected in his books seem to carry a Wednesday level of difficulty. Sometimes they are a little harder; sometimes a little easier. He advertises them as "twisted but fair," and I generally find that to be true--at least for my skill level.
I'm not quite good enough yet to do more than a few puzzles a week, and I worry about the space on my bookshelf occupied by crosswords that I might never complete as I near my fortieth birthday.
There are some very good crossword blogs out there. Rex Parker discusses the New York Times crossword puzzle daily, and Orange writes very entertainingly about all of the puzzles that she keeps up with every day. They both hold sway in the crossword community and are noteworthy for their dedication and commitment to the craft of cruciverbalism. I'm just another one of the many on the Internet who appreciates their work.
I intend to take a slightly different approach to crosswords. Most days, I will post an "explainer" on a crossword word or phrase, beginning with the answers that most regularly appear in crosswords, as determined by the cruciverb Web site, an indispensable resource for crossword constructors. Even the most common crossword answers can yield some pretty interesting information for the curious.
An explainer is like an encyclopedic dictionary entry: it provides further insight into the word or phrase and discusses many of the possible meanings and uses of the term. My girlfriend, who has been very supportive of this project and has prodded me to start this blog, will be contributing some of the entries.
My background in reference publishing has me crafting and editing these in a pretty straightforward manner, but some entries might require a less conventional approach and the tone might evolve over time. You will likely gain some insight into our lives and our way of thinking based on where we decide to put our focus in these entries.
I welcome your comments, discussion, and feedback, and I'll accept corrections or further clarifications if I make some error that needs attention.
So with that in mind, we'll begin with the most common crossword answer, ERA.
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