Patella

Basically, the kneecap. However, in the red deer, or the cow, the patella is located above the belly line, and instead it is their tarsals that act as knees. In humans, the tarsals are in our ankles.

Journalists-a dream remembered

A quote for today from Elaine Dewar's "Bones: Discovering the First Americans" p. 6:

"Journalists are willing to go anywhere, to be passionate fools, to ask innocent questions, to ignore barriers, to look for patterns that connect disciplines and solitudes, and to have no vested interest in anybody's intellectual capital. Science must be public and transparent or it loses its meaning, and journalists bring evidence out of the lab and spread it before the general public. Journalists are the last of the generalists."

Foucault pendulum

A pendulum erected in 19th-century Paris to demonstrate the daily rotation of the Earth.

Pergola

"An arbor formed of horizontal trelliswork supported on columns or posts, over which vines or other plants are trained."

Moroccan Mint Tea

[from wikipedia] "Moroccan tea culture (Arabic: اتاي‎ - Ataí) is defined by the way tea (exclusively green tea) is prepared and consumed in Morocco, where it is widely consumed with food. The tradition has also spread throughout North Africa, parts of the Sahel, and southern Spain. Tea occupies a very important place in Moroccan culture and is considered an art form. Morocco is one of the biggest tea importers of the world.

The method of preparation of Atai is relatively complex compared to methods used elsewhere. A large quantity of hard sugar cones or lumps (5 teaspoons for every spoon of tea) is used, and fresh mint is also an essential ingredient. Tea is cleaned with boiling water before being dried. This removes dust from shipping and supposedly makes the tea less bitter. Tea and boiling water are combined, and may be boiled further for several minutes. After that, sugar and mint are added and mixed into a teapot with a long, curved spout. The sugar may also be combined with the tea and water in the first infusion, rather than with the mint after brewing. Using a traditional curved spout allows the tea to be poured into tiny glasses from a height of approximately half a meter to form a foamy head. It is then returned once or twice to the teapot for a good mix."

(Photo is my own mint tea Moroccan style)

Labile labials

Labile--apt to change. In chemistry, "labile" describes a substance capable of changing state or becoming inactive when subjected to heat or radiation.

Labial--pertaining to the lips.

In a certain someone's odd little poem, I believe this phrase was intended to describe the behavior of carnivorous plants (like Venus Flytraps)--i.e., plants with "mouths" that turn into "stomachs," or "labile labials."

Macaron

A delightful, light and airy, and yet oh so chewy in the most pleasing way, French variety of petits fours secs (dry small cakes) ranging from an inch diameter to two and a half, sandwiching some kind of butter cream, ganache, or jam filling. The "sandwiches" are meringues made of egg whites, almond flour, confectioner's sugar, and granulated sugar. The proper macaron should have a delicate shell and "feet", or the ruffle that forms around the base of the cookie. (Wikipedia provides a concise history of this treat)

Anatolia

A vast plateau between the Black and the Mediterranean seas: in ancient usage, synonymous with the peninsula of Asia Minor; in modern usage, applied to Turkey in Asia (thank you to dictionary.com for the concise explanation).

Fiat

An arbitrary decree or pronouncement, especially by a person or group of persons having absolute authority to enforce it: For example, "The king ruled by fiat."

See Galileo's Daughter for use of the word.

La Brea Tar Pits

The tar pits in Los Angeles were created when tar or asphalt (la brea in Spanish) seeped up through the ground over thousands of years. Water often covered the tar, attracting wildlife. Over the years, the bones of thousands of animals have sunk into the tar and have been preserved. Rancho La Brea is the museum currently located at the tar pits:

"Rancho La Brea is recognized as having the largest and most diverse assemblage of extinct Ice Age animals and plants in the world. Visitors can learn how Los Angeles was between 10,000 and 40,000 years ago, during the last Ice Age, when sabertoothed cats and woolly mammoths roamed the Los Angeles Basin. Through windows at the Page Museum Laboratory, visitors can watch bones being cleaned and repaired. Outside the museum, in Hancock Park, several life-sized replicas of extinct mammals are featured."

At the museum: "Discover how mammoths grew their teeth."

"View the only known sabertoothed cat to be discovered with its mouth closed."

"Get a glimpse of a natural dire wolf 'brain cast' made of asphalt." (see http://www.tarpits.org/)

Squirmles

Squirmles: Google "Squirmles" and watch the hilarious videos. He's the "magic pet" and the "educational toy that will revolutionize your child's play time". Maybe, maybe not. But he is VERY cute, and good for a smile. And he cheered me, part of a care package from my sister. Look into his eyes...

Sticky

Ordinarily, a word which means tacky, adhering--a word which conjures images of children with popsicle juice on their faces. However, when applied to the character in the Mysterious Benedict Society (George "Sticky" Washington), the word means "extremely intelligent" (i.e., facts stick to Sticky). Incidentally, Sticky's co-society members include Constance Contraire (the contrary one), Kate Wetherall (the cheery one), and Reynard Muldoon (the average one).

Xebec

A small three-masted Mediterranean vessel with both square and lateen sails.

More Hornblower terminology.

SAD

Seasonal affective disorder, also known as winter depression or winter blues, is a mood disorder in which people who have normal mental health throughout most of the year experience depressive symptoms in the winter.

I'm feeling sad about the snow that won't stop coming. The hopes of a new month dashed, I must grit my teeth and endure the coats, boots, and cold a little while longer.

1040X

The form needed to file an amended tax return. This, if your income estimates were wrong the first time.

Fasching

Fasching: A carnival, a festival season which occurs immediately before Lent, which starts November 11, and whose main events occur in February and March. One dresses up in fun costumes.

Enstatite

Context: "Scarab, only one half preserved, cracks in the glaze on the back, side and base, burnt, partially linear, partially hollowed-out engraving, hatching, enstatite, white with yellow glaze and remains of dark green glaze in the engraving" (from object description of U6510, p. 286: Seals and Seal Impressions from Excavation Seasons 1984-2000. Eggler, herr, Root. Chapter 13 in MPP Vol. 5.)

Enstatite is the magnesium endmember of the pyroxene silicate mineral series enstatite (MgSiO3) - ferrosilite (FeSiO3). The magnesium rich members of the solid solution series are common rock-forming minerals found in igneous and metamorphic rocks. The intermediate composition, (Mg,Fe)SiO3, has historically been known as hypersthene, although this name has been formally abandoned and replaced by orthopyroxene. When determined petrographically or chemically the composition is given as relative proportions of enstatite (En) and ferrosilite (Fs) (e.g., En80Fs20). (Wikipedia, Enstatite)

I'm not sure what any of that means. I'm not a geologist. But Talea is. So for her viewing pleasure, I introduce, enstatite. Lots of scarabs from Tall al-'Umayri, at Jordan, were made of enstatite.

Fo'cs'le

Seamanese for forecastle, or any structure located in the forward part of a vessel where weapons, stores--or sailors--are stored.

Context: CS Forester's characters make frequent forays to the fo'cs'le (see, for instance, Horatio Hornblower and the Hotspur).

Coprolite

See previous discussion of paleofeces.

A coprolite is fossilized animal dung. I had to find a photo for this one, since that seems to be the latest trend for word definitions. The below is a photograph of dinosaur coprolite stolen shamelessly from wikipedia. Somehow they even determined that the dinosaur was carnivorous.

La UAP

La Universidad Adventista del Plata, or la UAP, is an Adventist university, founded in Libertador San Martin (la Villa), Entre Rios, Argentina, in 1898. The school acquired university status in 1990. The UAP is a popular destination for ACA (Adventist Colleges Abroad) students, one of whom appears to have put the UAP on wikipedia.

Ok, all of that was really an excuse for posting this picture: a recently resurrected memory of Argentina at Christmas.