29 November 2006
27 November 2006
Word Of The Day
steganography \steg-uh-NAH-gruh-fee\ noun : the art or practice of concealing a message, image, or file within another message, image, or file
Example sentence: No doubt, the Internet has enriched society, but it has a flip side; terrorists, for instance, can secretly network online using steganography.
Did you know? "Steganography" is a word that was resurrected after being in disuse for almost 150 years! It was put to rest in the early 1800s, labeled an archaic synonym of "cryptography" by dictionary makers, but was brought back to life in the 1980s as a word for a type of digital cryptography. There is nothing cryptic about the word's origin; it is based on the Greek word "steganos," meaning "covered" or "reticent."
Example sentence: No doubt, the Internet has enriched society, but it has a flip side; terrorists, for instance, can secretly network online using steganography.
Did you know? "Steganography" is a word that was resurrected after being in disuse for almost 150 years! It was put to rest in the early 1800s, labeled an archaic synonym of "cryptography" by dictionary makers, but was brought back to life in the 1980s as a word for a type of digital cryptography. There is nothing cryptic about the word's origin; it is based on the Greek word "steganos," meaning "covered" or "reticent."
25 November 2006
Word Of The Day
inveigle \in-VAY-gul\ verb
*1 : to win over by wiles : entice
2 : to acquire by ingenuity or flattery : wangle
Example sentence: Not wanting to attend the gallery opening by herself, Alice tried to inveigle Glen into accompanying her.
Did you know? "Inveigle," a word that dates from the 16th century, refers to the act of using clever talk, trickery, or flattery to either persuade somebody to do something or to obtain something through a similar method. What could such a word possibly have to do with blindness? "Inveigle" came to English from the Anglo-French verb "enveegler," which means "to blind or hoodwink someone," from the adjective "enveugle," meaning "blind." "Enveugle" derives from the Medieval Latin "ab oculis," a phrase which literally translates to "lacking eyes." You might say that a person who is inveigled to do or give up something is too "blinded" by someone's words to know that he or she is being tricked.
*1 : to win over by wiles : entice
2 : to acquire by ingenuity or flattery : wangle
Example sentence: Not wanting to attend the gallery opening by herself, Alice tried to inveigle Glen into accompanying her.
Did you know? "Inveigle," a word that dates from the 16th century, refers to the act of using clever talk, trickery, or flattery to either persuade somebody to do something or to obtain something through a similar method. What could such a word possibly have to do with blindness? "Inveigle" came to English from the Anglo-French verb "enveegler," which means "to blind or hoodwink someone," from the adjective "enveugle," meaning "blind." "Enveugle" derives from the Medieval Latin "ab oculis," a phrase which literally translates to "lacking eyes." You might say that a person who is inveigled to do or give up something is too "blinded" by someone's words to know that he or she is being tricked.
Quote
"In the part of this universe that we know there is great injustice, and often the good suffer, and often the wicked prosper, and one hardly knows which of those is the more annoying." - Bertrand Russell
22 November 2006
Who Owns Who
Celebrate the Last Natural Products Companies Left Free-Standing!
From all-purpose cleaners to zucchini, natural and organic products are a hot commodity. And that makes the companies that provide them targets for buy-outs by traditional corporations. But when a small, independent company doing the right thing is bought by a big multinational company that generally isn’t, its values, mission, culture, innovation, and more are often diluted if not destroyed in the years following the take-over. How severe has the situation gotten? Below is our list of companies that aren’t who or what you think they are anymore.
It’s a fact that the world ain’t what it used to be. And neither are natural and organic product providers. Once not too long ago, such companies were almost exclusively small businesses started by entrepreneurial do-gooders who sought to create a different kind of company that wove social and environmental ideals into all aspects of its operations.
As more people started shopping with their hearts and minds as well as their wallets, these companies developed strong brands, unique products, and very loyal customers. And that made them ripe targets for take-overs by much bigger, much different companies looking to cash in on the suddenly red-hot consumer trend toward healthier, more sustainable products.
Before you could say “free-range dish liquid,” the organic and natural products landscape was a much different place. Many of the small local companies we’d come to trust as authentic had been bought out by the corporations we’d been trying to avoid. Their products largely looked the same, worked the same, and tasted the same, but behind the scenes new corporate ownership was making the motivation more about the money than about building a better world.
The good news is that there are still some companies that are what we think they are. In the coming months, we’ll be profiling some of these last of a not-bought-out breed so you’ll know who to support. But to start, we thought we’d share the list we’ve assembled of seemingly independent companies that are in fact owned by corporate giants*:
• Adams Baking is owned by Charter Baking Co.
• After the Fall is owned by Smuckers
• Arrowhead Mills is owned by the Hain Celestial Food Group
• Back to Nature is owned by Kraft, which is owned by Philip Morris
• Ben & Jerry's is owned by Unilever
• Boca Burgers are owned by Kraft Foods which is owned by Philip Morris.
• Burt’s Bees is owned by AEA Investors
• Cascadian Farms is owned by Small Planet Foods, which is owned by General Mills.
• Celestial Seasonings is owned by the Hain Celestial Food Group
• DeBoles is owned by the Hain Celestial Food Group
• Earth's Best is owned by the Hain Celestial Food Group
• Garden of Eatin' is owned by the Hain Celestial Food Group
• Health Valley is owned by the Hain Celestial Food Group
• Horizon Organic is owned by Dean Foods
• Jason's Natural Cosmetics is owned by the Hain Celestial Food Group
• Kashi is owned by Kellogg.
• Lightlife (purveyors of Gimme Lean, Smart Dogs, Foney Boloney, and Smart Deli Slices) is owned by ConAgra,
• Morningstar Farms is owned by Kellogg
• Mountain Sun is owned by Walnut Acres, which is owned by the Hain Celestial Food Group
• Muir Glen is owned by Small Planet Foods, which is owned by General Mills.
• Nantucket Nectars is owned by Cadbury Schweppes
• Nile Spice is owned by the Hain Celestial Food Group
• Odwalla Juice is owned by Coca-Cola.
• Organic Cow of Vermont is owned by Horizon, which is owned by Dean Foods
• Rudy’s Organic Bakery is owned by Charter Baking Co.
• R.W. Knudsen is owned by Smuckers
• Imagine Foods (Rice Dream) is owned by the Hain Celestial Food Group
• Santa Cruz Organics is owned by Smuckers
• Seeds of Change is owned by M&M Mars Candy.
• Simply Asian is owned by McCormack & Co.
• Spectrum Organics is owned by the Hain Celestial Food Group
• Stonyfield Farm is owned by Danone
• Terra Chips is owned by the Hain Celestial Food Group
• Thai Kitchen is owned by McCormack & Co.
• Tom's of Maine is owned by Colgate
• Tostitas Organic is owned by Pepsi
• The Vermont Bread Company is owned by Charter Baking Co.
• Walnut Acres is owned by the Hain Celestial Food Group
• Westbrae Natural is owned by the Hain Celestial Food Group
• Westsoy is owned by the Hain Celestial Food Group
• White Wave (makers of Silk Soy Milk) is owned Dean Foods
• Worthington Foods is owned by Kellogg
• Yves Veggie Cuisine is owned by Hain Celestial Food Group
*Note that the corporate landscape is rearranging itself all the time as companies change hands and controlling interests shift. This list represents our best effort to ascertain who owns what at the moment.
21 November 2006
Word Of The Day
palinode \PAL-uh-nohd\ noun
1 : an ode or song recanting or retracting something in an earlier poem
*2 : a formal retraction
Example sentence: Oscar Wilde penned this famous palinode: "Not that I agree with everything that I have said in this essay. There is much with which I entirely disagree."
Did you know? Does singing someone's praises in a palinode pay off? It did in the case of Stesichorus, a Greek poet of the 6th century B.C. According to Plato, old Stesichorus was struck blind after writing a poem insulting Helen of Troy, but his sight was restored after he wrote an apologetic palinode. That poet was only too glad to apply the Greek word "palinoidia" (a compound of "palin," meaning "back" or "again," and "aeidein," meaning "to sing"). So were 16th-century English poets, who borrowed and modified the Greek term to refer to odes of their own.
1 : an ode or song recanting or retracting something in an earlier poem
*2 : a formal retraction
Example sentence: Oscar Wilde penned this famous palinode: "Not that I agree with everything that I have said in this essay. There is much with which I entirely disagree."
Did you know? Does singing someone's praises in a palinode pay off? It did in the case of Stesichorus, a Greek poet of the 6th century B.C. According to Plato, old Stesichorus was struck blind after writing a poem insulting Helen of Troy, but his sight was restored after he wrote an apologetic palinode. That poet was only too glad to apply the Greek word "palinoidia" (a compound of "palin," meaning "back" or "again," and "aeidein," meaning "to sing"). So were 16th-century English poets, who borrowed and modified the Greek term to refer to odes of their own.
20 November 2006
Word Of The Day
thrasonical \thray-SAH-nih-kul\ adjective : of, relating to, resembling, or characteristic of Thraso : bragging, boastful
Example sentence: George's incessant bragging earned him a reputation as a thrasonical bore among his coworkers.
Did you know? Thraso was a blustering old soldier in the comedy _Eunuchus_, a play written by the great Roman dramatist Terence more than 2,000 years ago. Terence is generally remembered for his realistic characterizations, and in Thraso he created a swaggerer whose vainglorious boastfulness was not soon to be forgotten. Thraso's reputation as a braggart lives on in "thrasonical," a word that boasts a history as an English adjective for more than 440 years.
Example sentence: George's incessant bragging earned him a reputation as a thrasonical bore among his coworkers.
Did you know? Thraso was a blustering old soldier in the comedy _Eunuchus_, a play written by the great Roman dramatist Terence more than 2,000 years ago. Terence is generally remembered for his realistic characterizations, and in Thraso he created a swaggerer whose vainglorious boastfulness was not soon to be forgotten. Thraso's reputation as a braggart lives on in "thrasonical," a word that boasts a history as an English adjective for more than 440 years.
13 November 2006
Word Of The Day
sanctimonious \sank-tuh-MOE-nee-us\ adjective : hypocritically pious or devout
Example sentence: My sanctimonious aunt always warns us about the evils of drinking and gambling, but according to my mother, she did those things herself when she was young.
Did you know? There's nothing sacred about "sanctimonious" -- at least not any more. But in the early 1600s, the English adjective was still sometimes used to describe someone truly holy or pious (a sense that recalls the meaning of the word's Latin parent, "sanctimonia"). Shakespeare used both the "holy" and "holier-than-thou" senses in his work, referring in _The Tempest_ to the "sanctimonious" (that is, "holy") ceremonies of marriage, and in _Measure for Measure_ to describe "the sanctimonious pirate that went to sea with the Ten Commandments but scraped one out of the table." (Apparently, the pirate found the restriction on stealing a bit too inconvenient.)
Example sentence: My sanctimonious aunt always warns us about the evils of drinking and gambling, but according to my mother, she did those things herself when she was young.
Did you know? There's nothing sacred about "sanctimonious" -- at least not any more. But in the early 1600s, the English adjective was still sometimes used to describe someone truly holy or pious (a sense that recalls the meaning of the word's Latin parent, "sanctimonia"). Shakespeare used both the "holy" and "holier-than-thou" senses in his work, referring in _The Tempest_ to the "sanctimonious" (that is, "holy") ceremonies of marriage, and in _Measure for Measure_ to describe "the sanctimonious pirate that went to sea with the Ten Commandments but scraped one out of the table." (Apparently, the pirate found the restriction on stealing a bit too inconvenient.)
10 November 2006
Word Of The Day
crackerjack \CRACK-er-jack\ adjective : of striking ability or excellence
Example sentence: Allison's brother, a crackerjack computer technician, was able to quickly fix the problems with her laptop.
Did you know? The late 19th-century pairing of "crack" and "jack" to form "crackerjack" topped off a long history for those words. "Cracker" is an elongation of "crack," an adjective meaning "expert" or "superior" that dates from 1793. Prior to that, "crack" was a noun meaning "something superior" and a verb meaning "to boast." (The verb use evolved from the expression "to crack a boast," which came from the sense of "crack" meaning "to make a loud sharp sound.") "Jack" has been used for "man" since the mid-1500s, as in "jack-of-all-trades." "Crackerjack" entered English first as a noun referring to "a person or thing of marked excellence," then as an adjective. You may also know "Cracker Jack" as a snack of candied popcorn and peanuts. That trademarked name dates from the 1890s.
Example sentence: Allison's brother, a crackerjack computer technician, was able to quickly fix the problems with her laptop.
Did you know? The late 19th-century pairing of "crack" and "jack" to form "crackerjack" topped off a long history for those words. "Cracker" is an elongation of "crack," an adjective meaning "expert" or "superior" that dates from 1793. Prior to that, "crack" was a noun meaning "something superior" and a verb meaning "to boast." (The verb use evolved from the expression "to crack a boast," which came from the sense of "crack" meaning "to make a loud sharp sound.") "Jack" has been used for "man" since the mid-1500s, as in "jack-of-all-trades." "Crackerjack" entered English first as a noun referring to "a person or thing of marked excellence," then as an adjective. You may also know "Cracker Jack" as a snack of candied popcorn and peanuts. That trademarked name dates from the 1890s.
09 November 2006
$496 million art auction shatters record
In a landmark sale, the biggest in auction history, nearly half a billion dollars' worth of art changed hands last night at Christie's sale of Impressionist and modern art. Soaring prices for blockbuster paintings by Klimt and Gauguin left thousands of spectators, who came to watch and to buy, gasping.
"It was certainly the most amazing sale I've ever taken," said a dazed Christopher Burge, honorary chairman of Christie's and the evening's auctioneer, after the two-and-a-half hour sale.
The evening's total, $491.4 million, was well over $200 million more than that for any previous auction, topping its high estimate of $427.8 million. (The previous record was $269 million at Christie's in May 1990.) Of the 84 lots up for sale last night, only 6 failed to sell.
The sale included an estimated $125 million worth of artworks that had recently been returned to the heirs of owners from whom they were looted by the Nazis during World War II. Before restitution, five had been hanging in museums. click title for article
08 November 2006
Word Of The Day
peroration \pair-uh-RAY-shun\ noun
*1 : the concluding part of a discourse and especially an oration
2 : a highly rhetorical speech
Example sentence: The President concluded, in an eloquent and ringing peroration, that it was necessary for the nation to stand together against hardships. (especially bad administrations)
Did you know? As you may have already guessed, "peroration" is a relative of "oration." Both words ultimately derive from the Latin "orare," meaning "to speak" or "to plead." The direct ancestor of "peroration" is the Latin verb "perorare," meaning "to declaim at length" or "to wind up an oration." "Perorare," in turn, comes from the combination of "per-" ("through") and "orare." The English language also has the verb "perorate," which means "to deliver a long or grandiloquent speech" or "to offer a concluding part of a speech."
*1 : the concluding part of a discourse and especially an oration
2 : a highly rhetorical speech
Example sentence: The President concluded, in an eloquent and ringing peroration, that it was necessary for the nation to stand together against hardships. (especially bad administrations)
Did you know? As you may have already guessed, "peroration" is a relative of "oration." Both words ultimately derive from the Latin "orare," meaning "to speak" or "to plead." The direct ancestor of "peroration" is the Latin verb "perorare," meaning "to declaim at length" or "to wind up an oration." "Perorare," in turn, comes from the combination of "per-" ("through") and "orare." The English language also has the verb "perorate," which means "to deliver a long or grandiloquent speech" or "to offer a concluding part of a speech."
A little patience, and . . .
"we shall see the reign of witches pass over, their spells dissolve, and the people, recovering their true sight, restore their government to its true principles. It is true that in the meantime we are suffering deeply in spirit, and incurring the horrors of a war and long oppressions of enormous public debt. . . If the game runs sometime against us at home, we must have patience till luck turns, and then we shall have an opportunity of winning back the principles we have lost, for this is a game where principles are at stake." - Thomas Jefferson
05 November 2006
ask Marilyn
Why do some people think they’re better than others?
—Vue Yang, Woodbury Junior High, Woodbury, Minn.
I believe some people are better than other people—so, in those cases, they’re right. But the rest of the time, it’s just plain wishful thinking! (taken from the Sunday newspaper insert Parade)
—Vue Yang, Woodbury Junior High, Woodbury, Minn.
I believe some people are better than other people—so, in those cases, they’re right. But the rest of the time, it’s just plain wishful thinking! (taken from the Sunday newspaper insert Parade)
Word Of The Day
noblesse oblige \noh-BLESS-uh-BLEEZH\ noun : the obligation of honorable, generous, and responsible behavior associated with high rank or birth
Example sentence: "In the Robinson family's circles, public service had long been common; it connoted not personal ambition so much as noblesse oblige." (Connie Bruck, _The New Yorker_, July 23, 1990)
Did you know? In French, "noblesse oblige" means literally "nobility obligates." French speakers transformed the phrase into a noun, which English speakers picked up in the 19th century. Then, as now, "noblesse oblige" referred to the unwritten obligation of people from a noble ancestry to act honorably and generously to others. Later, by extension, it also came to refer to the obligation of anyone who is in a better position than others -- due, for example, to high office or celebrity -- to act respectably and responsibly.
Example sentence: "In the Robinson family's circles, public service had long been common; it connoted not personal ambition so much as noblesse oblige." (Connie Bruck, _The New Yorker_, July 23, 1990)
Did you know? In French, "noblesse oblige" means literally "nobility obligates." French speakers transformed the phrase into a noun, which English speakers picked up in the 19th century. Then, as now, "noblesse oblige" referred to the unwritten obligation of people from a noble ancestry to act honorably and generously to others. Later, by extension, it also came to refer to the obligation of anyone who is in a better position than others -- due, for example, to high office or celebrity -- to act respectably and responsibly.
03 November 2006
Minnesota
1. The name of this state came from the Minnesota River so named by the Dakota Sioux for the river's "cloudy" or "milky water." The Dakota word "mnishota" means "cloudy" or "milky water."
2. Minnesota has one recreational boat per every six people, more than any other state.
3. The first Aerial Ferry was put into Operation on April 9, 1905, over the ship canal between Duluth to Minnesota Point. It had room enough to accommodate 6 automobiles. Round trip took 10 min.
4. Minnesota has 90,000 miles of shoreline, more than California, Florida and Hawaii combined.
5. The Mall of America in Bloomington is the size of 78 football fields - 9.5 million square feet.
01 November 2006
Word Of The Day
rhadamanthine \rad-uh-MAN-thun\ adjective often capitalized : rigorously strict or just
Example sentence: The judge took the maliciousness of the crime into account and decided upon a rhadamanthine punishment.
Did you know? In Greek mythology, there were three judges of the underworld: Minos, Aeacus, and Rhadamanthus. Minos, a son of Zeus and Europa, had been the king of Crete before becoming supreme judge in the underworld after his death. Aeacus, another son of Zeus, was king of Aegina before joining the underworld triumvirate. Rhadamanthus, brother of Minos and king of the Cyclades Islands, was especially known for being inflexible when administering his judgment -- hence, the meaning of "rhadamanthine" as "rigorously strict or just."
Example sentence: The judge took the maliciousness of the crime into account and decided upon a rhadamanthine punishment.
Did you know? In Greek mythology, there were three judges of the underworld: Minos, Aeacus, and Rhadamanthus. Minos, a son of Zeus and Europa, had been the king of Crete before becoming supreme judge in the underworld after his death. Aeacus, another son of Zeus, was king of Aegina before joining the underworld triumvirate. Rhadamanthus, brother of Minos and king of the Cyclades Islands, was especially known for being inflexible when administering his judgment -- hence, the meaning of "rhadamanthine" as "rigorously strict or just."
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