I Learned Something New

Citrus is a Berry and More

Jake Richter — Wed, 22 Sep 2010 20:31:10 +0000

So, I learned yesterday that citrus is a hesperidium, which in turn is a berry with a leathery skin. Furthermore, the pulp bits of citrus – the fluid filled sacs – are called “vesicles”, while the triangular segments are call carpels. All this and much here can be found here.

The U.S. has Freshwater Jellyfish

Jake Richter — Fri, 10 Sep 2010 16:35:42 +0000

I learned today that there are freshwater jellyfish in the United States. They are apparently mysterious creatures which do not appear according to any particular seasonal schedule. While they can sting, people generally are unaffected by them.

They discovered a jellyfish bloom in Walden Pond in Massachusetts this week.

See this story in the Boston Globe for more details.

MLA Style for Scholarly Works

Jake Richter — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 12:54:29 +0000

I learned today that there are a number of official styles for documenting citations in scholarly works, as well as formatting such works. The style that I am presently trying to better understand and apply is the MLA style.

MLA stands for “Modern Language Association”. Here’s an excerpt from the MLA web site about their style:

All fields of research agree on the need to document scholarly borrowings, but documentation conventions vary because of the different needs of scholarly disciplines. MLA style for documentation is widely used in the humanities, especially in writing on language and literature. Generally simpler and more concise than other styles, MLA style features brief parenthetical citations in the text keyed to an alphabetical list of works cited that appears at the end of the work.

The Word ‘fluvial’

Jake Richter — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 19:45:00 +0000

I stumbled across a Word-A-Day web site today – courtesy of Wordsmith.org. The word of the day today is “fluvial”, a word I have previously heard but not known the exact definition for. Courtesy of WordSmith.org, here is everything about “fluvial”:

PRONUNCIATION: (FLOO-vee-uhl)

MEANING: Of or relating to a river or stream.

ETYMOLOGY: From Latin fluvius (river), from fluere (to flow). Ultimately from the Indo-European root bhleu- (to swell or overflow), from which flow words such as affluent, influence, influenza, fluctuate, fluent, fluid, fluoride, flush, flux, reflux, and superfluous.

USAGE: ”Our fiesta celebration featured a fluvial procession on the Marikina and Pasig Rivers.” Jaime Laya; A Manila-Marikina-Valencia Connection; Manila Bulletin (Philippines); May 16, 2010.

Yesterdays’ word was “rotund”. I’m unfortunately quite familiar with that word.

Red Letter Day

Jake Richter — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 17:19:34 +0000

I have used the term “red letter day” numerous times in my life, without truly knowing its origin. I finally looked it up, and it turns out that a red letter day was one annotated in red in illuminated scripts in the middle ages:

The term came into wider use in 1549 when the first Book of Common Prayer included a calendar with holy days marked in red ink. For example, Annunciation (Lady Day), 25th March, was designated in the book as a red-letter day.

Pretty interesting, if you ask me!

(Source: http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/red-letter-day.html)

Delta Flight Attendants Are Non-Union

Jake Richter — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 21:22:48 +0000

I was always under the impression that all airline employees at all major U.S. airlines were unionized. Apparently not flight attendants at Delta. And the flight attendant I was speaking to on my flight today said job security has been excellent, even with the merger with Northwest (which does have a unionized flight attendants).

Omnivores’ Top 100 List

Jake Richter — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 15:27:51 +0000

A friend sent me the following link: http://www.verygoodtaste.co.uk/uncategorised/the-omnivores-hundred/

Looks like I have eight items to go before I have done all 100:

36. Cognac with a fat cigar (I don’t like cigars at all)
43. Phaal (but I want to try it)
63. Kaolin (at least not knowingly, but I’ve had clay-wrapped/cooked meats)
65. Durian (not for a lack of trying – last time in Chinatown they were sold out)
73. Louche absinthe (coming back in vogue)
74. Gjetost, or brunost (might have had this, but don’t recall it for sure)
75. Roadkill (not knowingly, anyhow)
76. Baijiu

Brain is not a food I like

Jake Richter — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 14:04:07 +0000

I learned last night that lamb’s brain is not a food I particularly care to try again. It was creamier than I expected (I expected grittiness), but I wasn’t wild about the texture. It didn’t have much flavor by itself, which was also a surprise.

Tagine/Tajine Cooking – not Tangine

Jake Richter — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 23:23:03 +0000

I had always been under the impression that Moroccan cuisine is frequently done using a conical vessel which is called a “tangine”. Apparently I was spelling it wrong all along. It’s “tajine” or “tagine” (no “n” before the “g”). Source

“Thank You” in Vietnamese

Jake Richter — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 23:17:57 +0000

I learned yesterday that “Thank You” in Vietnamese sounds very similar to “Come On”. It’s spelled “cảm ơn”.