How Mount Diablo in the eastern San Francisco Bay Area got its name

Mount Diablo with historic, stone-built Summit Visitor Center and Devil's Pulpit (left-side, tooth-shaped monolith)

Various tribal groups of Native American peoples were living in today's Mount Diablo area before and at the time when the first Europeans arrived. Among them were the Volvon Miwok people, a tribelet living in the rugged hills southeast of Mount Diablo [1-3]. No one knows what the Volvon inhabitants called their home mountain.

Early Spanish settlers (conquerors), who began using Mount Diablo for winter grazing, named local places—including Volvon sites they occupied. One Volvon village became associated with the devil, when some of its inhabitants successfully escaped while Spanish troops tried to enforce their relocation to Mission San Jose. A board of the exhibit in Mount Diablo's Summit Visitor Center explains:

Spanish troops searching for runaway mission Indians surrounded a Miwok village in a willow thicket. Somehow the Indians escaped unseen and the angry, disappointed soldiers called the place Monte del Diablo (thicket of the Devil) - the basis for a later linguistic misunderstanding.

English-speaking settlers later translated “monte” with “mount” and called the “Miwok Mountain” Mount Diablo. This was a mistranslation—or misinterpretation—since the Spanish word “monte” can also mean “scrubland” or “thicket.”  

We will never know, if those surrounded-and-escaped Volvon people, in their language, called their traitors devils. If so, the name “Mount Diablo” has double meaning and literally serves as a reminder of unjust treatment of California native tribes.
 
Keywords: human history, geographic name, Contra Costa County, California.

References and more to explore
[1] Territory: Volvon [bayareanativesites.com/territory/bay-miwok/volvon].
[2] Save Mount Diablo: Mount Diablo History [www.savemountdiablo.org/why_mtdiablohistory.html].
[3]  Legends Of The“Devil” Mountain Of California [cowellhistoricalsociety.org/html/devil.html].

A strange star with various names

The star that is dubbed KIC 8462852 in the catalog of stars surveyed by the Kepler space telescope shows a highly variable dip pattern in its light curve [1-4]. The brightness-versus-time plots of a typical star either is a flat curve (straight line) or a straight line with periodic, regular dips in brightness.

Wondering about this unusual fluctuations in brightness, Tabetha Boyajian, a postdoctoral scholar at Yale University, asked: “Where's the Flux?” She called KIC 8462852 the WTF star [1,2].

The unusual light fluctuations of this star, discovered by citizen scientists and studied by “Tabby Boyajian,” continues to intrigue scientists and triggers speculations about an advanced cosmic civilization. KIC 8462852 now is known as Boyajian's star  or Tabby's star [2]:

The star that stumped Boyajian—now officially known Boyajian's star and colloquially called Tabby's star—has captivated astronomers and the general public alike. Like all great enigmas, it has generated a seemingly infinite number of possible solutions—none of which wholly explain the curious observations. Whatever is responsible may lie outside the realm of known astronomical phenomena.

Is the discovery of this sporadically dimming star—more than 1,000 light-years away—an indication of the existence of an alien civilization capturing up to 20% of star light and generating energy by a Dyson sphere mega structure?  The F-type star has become an object of  SETI (search for extraterrestrial intelligence) research [4].

Keywords: astrophysics, astronomy, photometric measurements, dimming star, light curve, star enigma, star synonyms.

References and more to explore

[1] Author collective: Planet Hunters X. KIC 8462852 - Where's the Flux? Accepted for publication in MNRAS: arxiv.org/abs/1509.03622.
[2] Kimberley Cartier and Jason T. Wright: Strange News From Another Star. Scientific American May 2017,  316 (5), pp. 36-41.
[3] KIC 8462852: Where's the Flux? [www.wherestheflux.com].
[4]  Author collective: A Search for Brief Optical Flashes Associated With The SETI Target KIC 8462852. The Astrophysical Journal Letters February 2016, 818 (2) [arxiv.org/abs/1602.00987].

The moniker Iraqgate

The United States supported Iraq and dictator Saddam Hussein (officially the fifth President of Iraq) during the war against post-revolutionary Iran. The dubious support that involved the US government, US companies, middle-men, Italian and American banks and various other “players” eventually got the label Iraqgate. This moniker refers back to another political scandal that occurred over a decade earlier during the Nixon presidency. Both Watergate and Iraqgate encompass a complicated web of schemes, tricks, cover-ups and questionable activities—incompatible with a mandate of legal and transparent policy.   

Journalist Sally Denton investigated the history and development of the US-based Bechtel enterprise and its intersection with US foreign interests. In The Profiteers Denton summarizes Iraqgate—the scandal that sensitive Iraqi projects, including the Bechtel-led construction of a plant capable of manufacturing chemical weapons, were financed by US taxpayers—as follows:

Iraqgate left behind a trail of murky US government-backed financing through Italian and American banks, dummy corporations, criminal allegations, and an international cast of conspirators. Before it was over, a full-scale congressional investigation would expose the presidential administrations of both Reagan and his successor, George H. W. Bush, for their double-dealing policy of collaborating with foreign arms merchants in arming the loathsome Saddam while condemning such efforts publicly. The probe would find that BNL [Rome-based Banca Nationale del Lavoro] had funneled billions of dollars, some in US credits, to build Saddam's formidable arsenal. Called “the mother of all all foreign policy blunders” by Texas congressman Henry Gozales, in Iraqgate, US taxpayer turned a “run-of-the-mill dictator” into a Frankenstein monster. The BNL shell game was a case study of how the “executive branch, working with private business” ran an off-the-books foreign policy, according to one study that described it as a “deal with the devil.”

Keywords: investigative journalism, conspiracy, sale of dual-use technology, influence peddling, illegal activity.

Reference
Sally Denton: The Profiteers. Simon & Schuster Paperbacks, New York, 2016; pages 198-199.

What is Content Syndication?

Content syndication is the transfer of content from one site of publication to another. Typically, the term “content syndication” refers to the process in which blog, website or video content is pushed from one site to another, with the goal of getting exposure to new audiences [1-3].

Examples: I recently transferred some of my posts to Niume, a rapidly growing collaborative platform helping bloggers to share and promote content by interest theme [4]. The “transfer” may simply require to copy text. Often, however, you want to make minor changes and adjustments; especially if your original post contains hyperlinks and pictures. For example, I metamorphosed my Blogspot post “Lassen Peak Trail: from the Lassen Park Road to Lassen Peak Summit” into the Niume post “When is the best time to hike the Lassen Peak Trail?” and the post “The land of burnt-out fires” into “Getting started with Lava Beds caves.” The latter got an immediate and relevant Niume community response from Australia (suggesting a visit of Queensland's Undara lava tubes), while the Blogspot precursor never received any such comment.

Benefits of content syndication

Besides the possibility of generating more likes, comments, other feedback and also more revenue for your efforts creating content, syndication multiplies your content and thus archives your content within different services or organizations. Consider content syndication as a back-up of your content. But don't completely rely on it. Make sure, you have a personal cache for your content. Build your own content syndicate!

References and more to learn

[1] Search Engine Watch: What is content syndication and how do I get started?[searchenginewatch.com/2016/08/03/what-is-content-syndication-and-how-do-i-get-started/].
[2] Scribble: The Do's and Don'ts of Content Syndication [www.scribblelive.com/blog/2016/05/31/dos-donts-content-syndication/].
[3] Hubspot: How to Syndicate Content Without Getting Dinged in Search [blog.hubspot.com/marketing/how-to-syndicate-content#sm.00001otavqbmjldpzzs5cx40ssg36].
[4] Realwire: Introducing Niume: The Social World Of Shared Interests [www.realwire.com/releases/Introducing-Niume-The-Social-World-Of-Shared-Interests].

What kind of articles can you find in Crelle's Journal?

Crelle's Journal, or Crelle for short, has published notable papers in mathematics. The journal was founded in 1826 in Berlin by the German road and railway engineer August Leopold Crelle (1780-1855, or 1856?), who was eager to promote mathematics in Germany [1]. Crelle became the Journal für reine und angewandte Mathematik (Journal for Pure and Applied Mathematics). It is still published today and “insiders” keep referring to the journal using the informal titles Crelle or Crelle's Journal.

Crelle advanced to a leading mathematical publication in Germany and worldwide. Articles are in German, English or French. The success derives not only from the journal's visionary founder and editor, but from the early, pioneering contributors including the Norwegian mathematician Niels Henrik Abel (1802-1829) and the Swiss geometer Jacob Steiner (1796-1863).

The Scottish-born mathematician and science fiction writer Eric Temple Bell (1883-1960) summarizes the Abel-Crelle-Crelle relationship as follows: “If Crelle helped to make Abel's reputation, Abel more than paid for the help by making Crelle's.”

In a letter that Abel sent from Berlin home to his tutor and friend Holmboe in Christiana (now Oslo), he mentions the “fantastic help and support Crelle provided” [2]. Abel got access to Crelle's scientific and social circles in Berlin. Today, Abel is best known for his work proving that no general algebraic solution exists for the roots of a quintic equation. He published his original mathematical research in Crelle, initiating his own and the journal's fame. In the detailed account on Abel and his Times, Arild Stubhaug (born 1948) writes [3]:

Abel wrote six brilliant papers that were published in the first issues [of Crelle's Journal] that came out in 1826, the first appearing in February of that year. It was also widely acknowledged that due to Abel's contributions, the journal rapidly achieved renown. Most of Abel's work were published in Crelle's Journal, and if it had not been for this publication, it would not be easy to see how Abel could have gained inspiration for his further work.

References
[1] August Leopold Crelle (for example, see www-history.mcs.st-andrews.ac.uk/Biographies/Crelle.html, www.robertnowlan.com/pdfs/Crelle,%20August%20Leopold.pdf and the following reference).
[2] Eric Temple Bell: Men of Mathematics. Simon and Schuster, New York, 1937; p. 315.
[3] Arild Stubhaug (translated from the Norwegian by Richard H. Daly): Niels Henrik Abel and his Times. Springer-Verlag, Berlin/Heidelberg/New York, 2000; pp. 331.

How do you say “Happy New Year” in German?

Germans like to be “froh” or “fröhlich,” as testified by the Christmas greetings “Frohe Weihnachten!” and “Fröhliche Weihnachten!” (see How do you say Merry Christmas in German?). In Germany, folks wish each other “a happy new year”—“ein frohes neues Jahr!”, typically using the indefinite article at the phrase beginning. 

“Ein fröhliches neues Jahr!” is grammatically correct, but considered too long and rarely used. Also common are “ein gutes neues Jahr!” and “ein schönes neues Jahr!” meaning “a good new year!” and “a pleasant new year!”, respectively.

Of course, you can get creative by using other adjectives. For example, “ein gesundes neues Jahr!” for “a healthy new year!”; “ein erfolgreiches neues Jahr!” for “a successful new year!” or  “ein friedliches neues Jahr!” for “a peaceful new year!”    

And then there is the greeting “Einen guten Rutsch ins neue Jahr!”, or shorter: “Guten Rutsch!” It is somewhat of a mystery, how this phrase derived.  The noun “Rutsch” means slide or glide. So, you may take this phrase literally as “slide well into the new year.” Considering that New Year's Eve often comes with snow-and-ice weather conditions, this greeting can evoke a dark-humor connotation. However, an older meaning of  “Rutsch” is travel. In this regard, the phrase “Guten Rutsch!” casually wishes a good journey into (and through) the next year.

German-English Vocabulary to derive German “New Year” greetings/wishes

ein: a
erfolgreich: successful
friedlich: peaceful
froh: happy or merry
gesund: healthy 
gut: good 
Jahr: year
neu: new
schön: pleasant

How do you find mulled wine on a German Christmas market?

A “Glühwein” bar on Bremen's Christmas market

If you don't find it by its smell, you want to look for the word “Glühwein.” This masculine noun is composed of the stem “Glüh” and the noun “Wein.”  “Glüh” is derived from the verb “glühen,” meaning “to glow.” And you already figured that “Wein” means “wine.” The hot alcoholic drink has a glow to it (depending on how you are looking at it)—and you will glow after drinking one or two cups or mugs.

A typical “Glühwein” recipe asks for red wine (white wine is possible too), water, cloves, cinnamon, sugar, and orange slices. I prefer honey instead of plain sugar. Although I never tried it, I think maple syrup would be another flavorful alternative. To further spice up the drink, a piece of ginger may be added.  “Glühwein” is not an instant drink. “Glühwein” requires  time to both be prepared and be enjoyed. 

Looking for something sweeter and stronger than “Glühwein?” Try a mug of  “Feuerzangenbowle” —the more sugary and rum-enhanced version of mulled wine.

A “Glühwein”mug to drink mulled wine

How do you translate “Beeswax” into German?

Beeswax candles at Christmas market in Bremen, Germany

The English compositum “beeswax” is one of those words that can be translated by simple concatenation of the translated nouns from which it is built. The German word for “bees” is ”Bienen,” the plural form of the feminine noun ”Biene.” The German word for “wax” is the etymologically related noun ”Wachs.” Stringing ”Bienen” and ”Wachs” together, we get ”Bienenwachs.”

The top picture shows candles made of beeswax for sale at the Christmas market in downtown Bremen, Germany. A sign promises that the candles are made of 100% pure beeswax. If you want to buy a beeswax candle, you would ask for a ”Bienenwachskerze.” The feminine German noun ”Kerze” means candle. The plural form of  ”Bienenwachskerze” is ”Bienenwachskerzen.”

Shopping for beeswax candles at a market hut on Bremen's Christmas market

How do you say “Merry Christmas” in German?

Gingerbread hearts with German Christmas greetings at Christmas market in downtown Bremen: “Frohe Weihnachten” und “Frohes Fest”

• English: “Merry Christmas”
• German: “Frohe Weihnachten” or “Fröhliche Weihnachten” 

“Merry Christmas” means “Frohe Weihnachten” (pronounced: froo-he vi-nach-tenn) in German. Note that the first “h” in “Weihnachten” is not pronounced.  The dipthong “ch” is glutteral. The longer greeting “Fröhliche Weihnachten” is used synonymously for “Frohe Weihnachten.”

The shorter version “Frohe Weihnachten”often is the preferred form in writing—such as the sugar-ink writing on gingerbread hearts, one of which is shown in the picture above. The blue-rimmed heart in the background says: “Frohes Fest.” In this context, “Fest” means “holiday” with the undertone of “celebration.”

If you are going to wish someone “Merry Christmas” in German or want to finish your letter, postcard or e-mail with a seasonal greeting, you also could include the word  “Tag” (meaning “day”) or “Zeit” (meaning “time”) in  your greeting phrase. “Ich wünsche Ihnen frohe Weihnachtstage!” means “I wish you merry Christmas Days!” Yes, there are two official Christmas holidays in Germany (December 25 and December 26). “Ich wünsche Ihnen und Ihrer Familie eine frohe Weihnachtszeit!” means “I wish you and your family a merry Christmas time!”

Keywords: Christmas greeting; translation; Übersetzen; English-German; Englisch-Deutsch.

Garfield Peak in Crater Lake National Park named for politician and lawyer James Rudolph Garfield

Craggy Garfield Peak (left half of picture) with cone-shaped Crater Peak in the background

Garfield Peak in Crater Lake National Park was named by William Gladstone Steel for James Rudolph Garfield (1865-1950), who was the son of the 20th President of the United States, James Abram Garfield (1831-1881). J. R. Garfield was Secretary of the Interior in the Roosevelt administration. He was the first cabinet officer to visited Crater Lake in the summer of 1907—five years after Crater Lake was declared a national park during Teddy Roosevelt's presidency [1-3].

From the rustic lodge in Crater Lake's Rim Village, a hiking trail follows the craggy rim to the summit of Garfield Peak (8054 ft, 2455 m). The round-trip, with an elevation gain of 1010 ft (308 m) during the ascend, is 3.4 miles long. The hike was rated difficult (Hike 5 in Trails of Crater Lake by William L. Sullivan, Navillus Press, Eugene, 2014). 

References and more to explore
[1] Names and Places of Crater Lake. Appendix H in Crater Lake Historic Resource Study [https://www.nps.gov/parkhistory/online_books/crla/hrs/hrsah.htm].
[2] Oregon Hikers: Garfield Peak [www.oregonhikers.org/field_guide/Garfield_Peak].
[3] Wiki 2: Garfield Peak (Oregon) [en.wiki2.org/wiki/Garfield_Peak_(Oregon)]. 

Crater Lake's Merriam Cone named for the American scientist and educator John Campbell Merriam

Illustration of Merriam Cone, an underwater cinder cone southwest of Cleetwood Cove, Crater Lake, Oregon

Crater Lake's Merriam Cone is an underwater cinder cone—hidden from view in contrast to Wizard Island (another cinder cone), which can be seen from almost any place on the rim, including the Sinnott Memorial Overlook at Rim Village. While volcanic Wizard Island is named for its resemblance with a sorcerer's hat, the underwater volcano is named in honor of John Campbell Merriam (1869-1945) [1-5].

Merriam was a paleontologist, conservationist and educator. He achieved scientific prominence at UC Berkeley, California, from where he led expeditions to study fossils in California, Nevada and the Pacific Northwest. In Oregon, he was influential in turning the John Day Fossil Beds into a state park. In the 1920s, Merriam became director of the Carnegie Institution of Washington, fostering scientific research. There, he tapped Carnegie money to augment federal funding for the Sinnott Overlook with its educational exhibits. Merriam viewed the dramatic landscape of Crater Lake National Park as a “superuniversity of nature,” inspiring and educating visitors [6]. Stephen R. Mark writes [6]:

For Merriam, Crater Lake stood out as a superb case study, an opportunity to show how a scientist could develop a formalized program of “interpreting” nature for the general public.

Today, “nature & science lovers” can find various interpretive sites at Crater Lake, but also uninterpreted ones to test their own knowledge and skills in appreciating and understanding creation through natural processes—geological processes reshaping our dynamic Earth.

Keywords: geography, traveling, natural history, geology, cinder cone, outdoor learning.

References and more to explore
[1] USGS: Merriam Cone, Crater Lake, Oregon [pubs.usgs.gov/dds/dds-72/site/merrm.htm].
[2] Stephen R. Mark: John C. Merriam (1869-1945). The Oregon Encyclopedia. [oregonencyclopedia.org/articles/john_c_merriam/#.WAFmGCQbAUI].
[3] Chester Stock: John Campbell Merriam (1869-1945). National Academy of Science, Washington D.C., 1951 [www.nasonline.org/publications/biographical-memoirs/memoir-pdfs/merriam-john.pdf].
[4] UCSB: John Campbell Merriam (1869-1945) [www.nceas.ucsb.edu/~alroy/lefa/JMerriam.html].
[5] UCMP: John C. Merriam (1869-1945) [www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/history/merriam.html].
[6]  Stephen R. Mark: A Study in Appreciation of Nature. John C. Merriam and the Educational Purpose of Crater Lake National Park. Oregon Historical Quarterly 2002, 103 (1), pp. 98-123 [www.jstor.org/stable/20615210?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents].

Crater Lake's Wizard Island named for its shape resembling a sorcerer's hat

Wizard Island and Llao Rock (top right) named by William Steel, who initiated the national park idea of Crater Lake

Wherever standing on the rim surrounding Crater Lake, visitors marvel at the deep blue water and the green-gray island of the lake's west side: Wizard Island. This volcanic island appears cone-shaped whether you see it from the Sinnott_Lookout at Rim Village, a West Rim Drive spot or any other rim lookout. To get on to Wizard Island, you need to descend Cleetwood Cove Trail and get on a tour boat with an interpretive ranger. While approaching the cinder cone you may wonder how the island got its name.  

Crater Lake's early promoter William Gladstone Steel, who first visited Crater Lake in 1885, thought the cone looks like a sorcerer's hat [1]. He named the island Wizard Island and stuck to his witchcraft & sorcery approach by calling the crater on top of the island the Witches Cauldron [2,3]. 

Keywords: geography, geographic names, Wizard Island, Crater Lake National Park, Oregon.

References and more to explore
[1] William L. Sullivan: Trails of Crater Lake. Navillus Press, Eugene, Oregon, 2014. Note: see Hike 11.
[2] Crater Lake Institute: William Steel [www.craterlakeinstitute.com/cultural-history/smith-brothers-chronology/b-william-steel.htm].
[3]  Crater Lake Historic Resource Study: Names and Places of Crater Lake [www.nps.gov/parkhistory/online_books/crla/hrs/hrsah.htm].

Thismia, a flowering-plant genus named after the English microscopist Thomas Smith

Smithia → a, h, i, i, m, s, t → Thismia

As the above line shows, the word Thismia is an anagram. It is a play on the last name of the English microscopist Thomas Smith (died ca. 1825) [1]. In the intriguing “Afterthoughts” section of his article “Where is Thismia americana?,” Robert H. Mohlenbrock gives further details [2]:

The genus Thismia was named by a botanist named William Griffith in 1844. He wanted to name it after a colleague named Smith, but did not think Smithia sounded scientific enough, so he scrambled the letters in Smith, added “ia” at the end, and came up with Thismia.

Something to remember for your next session of Botany Scrabble!

In many publications you will find Thismia species classified as members of the Burmanniaceae family. But since species of Thismia are so unique, most botanist now separate them, according to Mohlenbrock, into the Thismiaceae family. Thismia species are myco-heterotrophic plants, which lack chlorophyll and parasitize fungi for their food supply.

The mysterious North American species, Thismia americana, was last seen in 1916 [2]. But new species are still discovered during botanical surveys in tropical regions, such as Thismia betung-kerihunensis from West Kalimantan, Borneo [3] and Thismia puberula from Southern Vietnam [4].

By the way, the name Smithia was considered scientific enough by others to give this name to a genus of flowering plants in the legume family (Leguminosae or Fabaceae) [5].

Keywords: word play, botany, taxonmy, mycotrophic plants;  Burmanniaceae > Thismiaceae > Dioscoreales > Monocots > Angiosperms.

References and more to explore
[1] Flora of North America: Thismia [efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=1&taxon_id=132837].
[2] Robert H. Mohlenbrock: Where is Thismia americane? Natural History September 2016, 124 (8), pp. 42-44.
[3] Hirokazu Tsukaya and Hiroshi Okada: A New Species of Thismia (Thismiaceae) from Wast Kalimantan, Borneo. Systematic Botany 2012, 37 (1), pp. 53-57.
DOI: 10.1600/036364412X616639.
[4] Maxim Nuraliev, Anton Beer, Andrew Kuznetsov and Svetlana Kuznetsova: Thismia puberula (Thismiaceae), a new species from Southern Vietnam. Phytotaxa November 2015, 234 (2). DOI: 10.11646/phytotaxa.234.2.3.
[5] Wikipedia: Smithia [en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smithia].

Phylloxera vastatrix, meaning “devastator of vines”

Literally, Phylloxera vastatrix means dry-leaf devastator. The binomial term is composed of three words of the following origins: the Greek noun phyllon for leaf; the Greek/Hebrew adjective xeros for dry; and the Latin noun vastatrix for waster, ravager or devastator [1-3].

Phylloxera vastatrix refers to an observation made in the late 19th century in vineyards in France and other parts of vine-growing Europe. Healthy green leaves of vine plants suddenly turned red in midsummer, followed by the plant's drying and dying. In the 1860s la nouvelle maladie de la vigne was studied in affected vineyards in southern France. The French botanist Jules Émile Planchon and two other agricultural examiners unearthed dead vines, but couldn't find anything. Next, they inspected the roots of still healthy looking vines growing in neighborhood to the dead ones. They found those roots infected by pale-yellow bugs resembling winged termites. Maximillian Potter describes the then shocking news—of what the Planchon team found when they scanned the roots with magnifying glasses—as follows [4]:

As the team filed in their report, beneath the [magnifying] glass they found “not one, not ten, but hundreds, thousands” of tiny yellowish louses on the wood sucking the sap. Over the course of three days, every affected vineyard they visitied, in St.-Rémy, at Graveson, at Châteauneuf-du-Pape, among others, they found these insects, pucerons, which Planchon named Phylloxera vastatrix, meaning  “devastator of vines.”

This grapevine pest is today commonly called phylloxera or grape phylloxera. Its current scientific name is Daktulosphaira vitifoliae. Since its emergence as Phylloxera vastatrix it has been of considerable scientific interest and importance to viticultural enterprises [5].

Keywords: viticulture, entomolgy, insects, phylloxera plague, grapevine.

References and moreto explore
[1] phyllon [nameberry.com/babyname/Phyllon].
[2] xeros [www.bibletools.org/index.cfm/fuseaction/Lexicon.show/ID/G3584/xeros.htm]
[3] vastatrix [latinlexicon.org/definition.php?p1=2062165 ].
[4] Maximillian Potter: Shadows in the Vineyard. Twelve, New York, first trade edition, July 2015; page 107.
[5] Astrid Forneck and Lars Huber: (A)sexual reproduction - a review of life cycles of grape phylloxera, Daktulosphaira vitifolia. Entomologica Experimentalis et Applicata, 2009, 131 , pp. 1-10. DOI: 10.1111/j.1570-7458.2008.00811.x.

VINE and WINE, a word pair with differences in pronunciation and meaning

The nouns vine and wine look similar and sound similar—they rhyme. Yet, the two words differ in pronunciation and meaning.  The beginning consonant in vine sounds like the one in the word violet. And the noun wine begins like the word white.

The semantic difference: Vine is the plant that produces grapes (vine berries). Wine is an alcoholic beverage made by fermenting grape juice. The following sentence illustrates the relation and distinction between the two nouns:

The more a vine struggles, the better the vine and the wine.

Wine chemistry follows vine chemistry follows soil chemistry! The highlighted sentence above has been extracted from a much longer one in Maximillian Potter's “Shadows in the Vineyard,” comparing viticulture in Burgundy (France) and California. Here the complete sentence [1]:

Burgundians believe that some density of planting is good for the vines because it forces them to compete for nutrients; the more a vine struggles, so goes the cliché in Burgundy, the better the vine and the wine. 

Vine, wine and Germans
Germans have the masculine noun Wein for both the plant and the drink—vine and wine. You may have met Germans (like me from northern Germany, where climate & soil is not in favor of viticulture) struggling to say these two English words correctly. But there is help available on the Web [2].
Depending on context, the word vine may variously be translated into German as Weinstock or Rebstock (both masculine) or Weinrebe (feminine) when one wants to refer to the cultivated plant—a vineyard's grape vine, which is the common grape vine (Vitis vinifera).

Keywords: writing, spelling, pronunciation, German-English, grapevine.

References and more
[1] Maximillian Potter: Shadows in the Vineyard. Twelve, New York, first trade edition, July 2015; page 158.
[2] Recommended for German speakers: How to say VINE and WINE - American English Pronunciation Lesson [www.youtube.com/watch?v=KAgrYGbhtXg].

Brexit, short for “British exit” and costly for Great Britain and Europe

The portmanteau Brexit stands for “British exit.” This term mirrors the abbreviation Grexit, referring to the (potential) withdrawal of Greece from the Eurozone. While the Grexit, debated in context of the Greece debt crisis—and not wished for by most Greeks—has (for now) been avoided, the Brexit depends on the United Kingdom European Union membership referendum scheduled for June 23, 2016. The referendum will take place in the United Kingdom and Gibraltar.

If the majority of Britons are going to vote in favor of a Brexit, Great Britain will—more or less—be deprived of an active role in shaping the world around its isles. Escaping European bureaucracy and stepping aside EU regulations will not help in turning unwelcome constraints into advancing strategies.

For example, leaders in the U.K.'s biotech industry argue that a Brexit would create a significant research funding gap for biotech companies, since the U.K. contributes about 12% to the EU budget dedicated for science research, but receives 15% of that budget. And [1]: “A Brexit would also require a new U.K. drug authorization system and the uprooting of the London-based European Medicines Agency to an EU country.”

A large number of scientist, including Stephen Hawking, are concerned about the United Kingdom leaving the European Union [2]. The clock is ticking. Europe and the world is watching!

Keywords: plebiscite, British Euroscepticism, European Union.

Reference
[1] Alex Scott: Industry urges against Brexit. Chemical & Engineering News March 7, 2016, 94 (10), page 8.
[2] What would Brexit mean for Science? http://www.csmonitor.com/Science/2016/0310/What-would-Brexit-mean-for-science-video.

“Tree of Life” associations

The term Tree of Life is associated with words such as biodiversity, phylogeny and taxonomy. In the 1970s, Carl Woese and his coworkers began with studies that lead to the reorganization of whatever lives under the biologically grouped kingdoms [1]. Instead of using classifiers based on morphological and physiological data, they employed genetic data to establish relationships between different organisms. In 1977, Woese and Fox proposed eubacteria, archaebacteria and urkaryotes (now bacteria, archaea and eukarya) as the main branches of the tree; defining a three-domain system with various subdomains.

The Tree of Life continues to be rewritten—and refined. There are web sites dedicated to track and incorporate published (sub)trees and to provide information for their twigs and leaves [2,3]. A recent study initiated the automatic assembly and digitalization of published trees into a “complete” Tree of Life [2,4]. This Open Tree of Life can be updated via uploading. The underlying data can be downloaded for homework, analysis and phylogenetic research. The authors of the evolutionary tree study express the following hope [4]:  

This comprehensive tree will fuel fundamental research on the nature of biological diversity, ultimately providing up-to-date phylogenies for downstream applications in comparative biology, ecology, conservation biology, climate, change, agriculture, and genomics.

A supertree to save the world!

References and more to explore
[1] NovaNext: The Man Who Rewrote the Tree of Life [www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/next/evolution/carl-woese].
[2] Open Tree of Life: tree.opentreeoflife.org/opentree/argus/opentree3.0@1.
[3] TOLWeb: Tree of Life web project [tolweb.org/tree].
[4] Hincliff, C. E. et al.: Synthesis of phylogeny and taxonomy into a comprehensive tree of life. PNAS 2015, 112 (41), DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1423041112.

A twisted, racetrack-shaped torus to generate and confine a plasma: the stellarator

A stellarator is a nuclear-fusion device invented in the early 1950s by American astrophysicist and plasma physicist Lyman Spitzer (1914-1997) [1,2]. The name of this complex device signifies a star machine, referring to the goal of harnessing the energy like a stellar object such as the sun. Therefore, this device is also called by the composed term stellarator-heliotron and the concept behind its design is named the stellarator-heliotron concept [3]—heliotron literally meaning sun automat.

In the plasma physics community a stellarator is also known as the black horse of reactors, since it is very difficult to build. It took 1.1 million construction hours (spent over 19 years, including times of construction setbacks) to built the world's largest experimental stellarator, the W7-X, which currently is ready to be fired up [4].

W7-X is short for Wendelstein 7-X, referring to the Wendelstein mountain in the Bavarian Alps south of Garching, where its predecessor Wendelstein 7-AS was built and tested [5]. The successor W7-X was assembled by researchers and engineers at the Max-Planck-Institut für Plasmaphysik (IPP) in Greifswald, northeast Germany. Now being completed, W7-X—with large modular superconducting coils enabling steady-state plasma operations—is the world's largest fusion device of the stellarator type [5]:

Its objective is to investigate the suitability of this type for a power plant. It will also test an optimised magnetic field for confining the plasma, which will be produced by a system of 50 non-planar and superconducting magnetic coils, this being the technical core piece of the device.

W7-X is expected to generate its first plasma at the end of this year.

References and more to explore
[1]  National Aeronautic and Space Administration: Lyman Spitzer, Jr. [asd.gsfc.nasa.gov/archive/hubble/overview/spitzer_bio.html].
[2] Encyclopaedia Britannica: Lyman Spitzer, Jr. [http://www.britannica.com/biography/Lyman-Spitzer-Jr].
[3] Energy technology Network: Stellarator-Heliotron Concept [www.iea.org/techinitiatives/fusionpower/stellarator-heliotron].
[4] Yahoo!: Germany is about to start up a monster machine that could revolutionize the way we use energy [finance.yahoo.com/news/germany-start-monster-machine-could-152111129.html].
[5] IPP: Wendelstein 7-AS (1988-2002) [www.ipp.mpg.de/2665443/w7as].
[6] IPP: Wendelstein 7-X [http://www.ipp.mpg.de/16900/w7x].

Frank's introduction to stock market terms

Stock market trading goes back over about two centuries. When telegraphy revolutionized long-distance communication in the 1840s and facilitated stock-market quotations, a new era began for traders, banks and brokerage firms as well as any business relying on their services. As always with novel, growing human activities, an insider language evolved. Today's stock market terminology is super-rich in trading-specific words and phrases [1-3].

Basic trading terms were used then as they are today. Frank Algernon Cowperwood in Theodore Dreiser's financial-world thriller The Financier, published in its first version in 1912,  learned the key terms of trading early along his career path leading to his life as a fiercely ambitious businessman. Even before the telegraph and telephone became commonplace, bears and bulls were fighting and struggling as they do in current markets.

Frank started out under the direction of Mr. Arthur Rivers, the regular floor man of Tighe & Company in Philadelphia. He soon learned that it is useless to try to figure out exactly why stocks rose and fell. Anything can make or break a market. To thrive in the exciting or traumatizing world of uncertainty and constant struggle required knowledge of how to word the flow of virtual money. Frank mastered the stock market lingo with ease [4]:  

Frank soon picked up all the technicalities of the situation. A “bull,” he learned, was one who bought in anticipation of a higher price to come; and if he was “loaded up” with a “line” of stocks he was said to be “long.” He sold to “realize” his profit, or if his margins were exhausted he was “wiped out.” A “bear” was one who sold stocks most frequently he did not have, in anticipation of a lower price, at which he could buy and satisfy his previous sales. He was “short” when he had sold what he did not own, and he “covered” when he bought to satisfy his sales and to realize his profits or to protect himself against further loss in case prices advance instead of declining. He was in a “corner” when he found that he could not buy in order to make good the stock he had borrowed for delivery and the return of which had been demanded. He was then obliged to settle practically at a price fixed by those to whom he and other “shorts” had sold.

The terms within quotes have been text-colored by the author of this post. These terms are mostly elementary words out of the basic English vocabulary that take on a different, context-specific meaning within the financial market domain. 

Keywords: literature, economy, financial world, investment terms, stock market vocabulary.

References and more to explore
[1] Nasdaq: Glossary of Stock Market Terms [www.nasdaq.com/investing/glossary].
[2] Value Stock Guide: Stock Market Terminology for Beginners [valuestockguide.com/stock-market-terminology-for-beginners].
[3] Wise Stock Buyer: Stock Market Terminology [www.wisestockbuyer.com/stock-market-terminology].
[4] Theodore Dreiser: The Financier. Penguin Books Ltd, London, England; Penguin Classics edition with an introduction by Larzer Ziff, 2008.

Connecting with Alfred Russel Wallace

For many, the name Charles Darwin (1809-1882) is synonymous with all observations and thoughts that originated into the theory of evolution by natural selection. Lately, the name of the fourteen-years-younger cofounder of evolution theory is increasingly recognized: Alfred Russel Wallace (1823-1913). The British naturalist  and geographer Wallace is also known as the founder of the science of biogeography; highlighted by the term Wallace Line or Wallace's Line that refers to the boundary line separating Asia-associated and New-Guinea/Australia-associated ecozones.

The September 2015 issue of Natural History—a special commemorative issue as part of the Alfred Russel Wallace Centenary Celebration—honors the outstanding 19th century explorer and biologist. The ARW Online article in the nature.net section provides various links to discover Wallace and his world:

• people.wku.edu/charles.smith/index1.htm, dubbed the grandaddy of all Wallace websites;
• wallace-online.org, John van Wyhe's Wallace online site with a comprehensive compilation of of specimens;
• www.nhm.ac.uk/wallacelettersonline, George Beccaloni's collection of letters to and from Wallace (see also The Alfred Russel Wallace Corresponence Project at wallaceletters.info and articles written by Wallace scholar Beccaloni at wallacefund.info);
• darwinlive.com/wallace/amnh.html, Richard Milner's nontechnical introduction to and selection of events celebrating Wallace;
• www.bbc.co.uk/science/0/24837130, Sir David Attenborough's “The forgotton story of Alfred Russel Wallace”;
• www.eeb.ucla.edu/arwallace, Feelie Lee's associated Wallace Centennial Celebration at UCLA on Nov. 15, 2014;
• media.hhmi.org/biointeractive/films/OriginSpecies-Theory.html, the movie “The Origin of Species: The Making of a theory”;
• www.youtube.com/watch?v=OcCP4_R8QBw), a YouTube movie about seeking birds of paradise in Wallace's footsteps.

Reference:
ARW Online. Natural History September 2015, 123 (7), page 5.