The Story of Stuff

It's long, but it's worth watching!

Origin of the names of the days

The names of the days are in some cases derived from Teutonic deities or, such as in Romance languages, from Roman deities. The early Romans, around the first century, used Saturday as the first day of the week. As the worshipping of the Sun increased, the Sun's day (Sunday) advanced from position of the second day to the first day of the week (and saturday became the seventh day).

Sunday: The name comes from the Latin dies solis, meaning "sun's day": the name of a pagan Roman holiday.

Monday: The name comes from the Anglo-Saxon monandaeg, "the moon's day". This second day was sacred to the goddess of the moon.

Tuesday: This day was named after the Norse god Tyr.

Wednesday: The day named to honor Wodan (Odin).

Thursday: The day named after the Norse god Thor.

Friday: The day in honor of the Norse goddess Frigg.

Saturday: This day was called dies Saturni, "Saturn's Day", by the ancient Romans in honor of Saturn.


Source: http://www.pantheon.org/miscellaneous/origin_days.html

Guilty Dog

Verb Patterns Quiz

Nunca é demais revisar! Então, aí está mais um quiz sobre verb patterns! Have fun!

http://www.monkey-tricks.net/writemonkey/quiz/385_01.htm

World Water Day

Hoje é o World Water Day, Dia Internacional da Água. Pra saber um pouco mais, dá uma olhada no http://www.worldwaterday2011.org/.

The Golden Gate Bridge

Saiu na Speakup um artigo sobre a Golden Gate Bridge. É interessante para conhecer a ponte e tem o texto e o áudio. Então, clica aí no link: http://www.speakup.com.br/materias/Ed281/ed281b.html

NY Times e as assinaturas online

A versão online do NY Times vai deixar de ser gratuíta. Para ter acesso ao conteúdo do jornal online será necessário ter uma assinatura online.

Esta foi a carta publicada pelo jornal falando do caso:

..........


A Letter to Our Readers About Digital Subscriptions
Published: March 17, 2011

Today marks a significant transition for The New York Times as we introduce digital subscriptions. It’s an important step that we hope you will see as an investment in The Times, one that will strengthen our ability to provide high-quality journalism to readers around the world and on any platform. The change will primarily affect those who are heavy consumers of the content on our Web site and on mobile applications.

This change comes in two stages. Today, we are rolling out digital subscriptions to our readers in Canada, which will enable us to fine-tune the customer experience before our global launch. On March 28, we will begin offering digital subscriptions in the United States and the rest of the world.

If you are a home delivery subscriber of The New York Times, you will continue to have full and free access to our news, information, opinion and the rest of our rich offerings on your computer, smartphone and tablet. International Herald Tribune subscribers will also receive free access to NYTimes.com.

If you are not a home delivery subscriber, you will have free access up to a defined reading limit. If you exceed that limit, you will be asked to become a digital subscriber.

This is how it will work, and what it means for you:

• On NYTimes.com, you can view 20 articles each month at no charge (including slide shows, videos and other features). After 20 articles, we will ask you to become a digital subscriber, with full access to our site.

• On our smartphone and tablet apps, the Top News section will remain free of charge. For access to all other sections within the apps, we will ask you to become a digital subscriber.

• The Times is offering three digital subscription packages that allow you to choose from a variety of devices (computer, smartphone, tablet). More information about these plans is available at www.nytimes.com/access.

• Again, all New York Times home delivery subscribers will receive free access to NYTimes.com and to all content on our apps. If you are a home delivery subscriber, go to http://homedelivery.nytimes.com to sign up for free access.

• Readers who come to Times articles through links from search, blogs and social media like Facebook and Twitter will be able to read those articles, even if they have reached their monthly reading limit. For some search engines, users will have a daily limit of free links to Times articles.

• The home page at NYTimes.com and all section fronts will remain free to browse for all users at all times.

For more information, go to www.nytimes.com/digitalfaq.

Thank you for reading The New York Times, in all its forms.

Sincerely,

ARTHUR OCHS SULZBERGER Jr.

Publisher, The New York Times

Will it Blend? - iPad 2

Nesse Will it blend? os caras botam objetos aleatórios num liquidificador e batem. É divertido e uma boa propaganda pra liquidificadores!

Word of the Day: grindstone

Grindstone - /graindstoun/ - noun - a piece of equipment with a large round stone that turns like a wheel and is used for making tools sharp.

...

Ou seja, é a ferramenta usada pelo afiador.

Zebra Puzzle

Zebra puzzle, or Einstein puzzle, is a logics game. It might seem really difficult at first, but once you really get how it works, it's not that difficult.

So, check it out: http://www.freedesigames.com/strategy-games/zebra-aka-einsteins-puzzle.html

Calvin and Hobbes playing Monopoly

Click on the picture to enlarge

Tsunami hits Japan

gocomics.com

Para quem procura algumas leituras leves e divertidas, eu recomendo o gocomics.com. O nome já explica tudo, é um site com tirinhas variadas. Bem divertido.

Então, olha lá: http://www.gocomics.com/

Ash Wednesday

By the way, today is Ash Wednesday. (Quarta feira de cinzas)

Lent

Lent é a quaresma, o período entre o carnaval e a páscoa. Dá uma olhada na explicação:

Lent in the Christian tradition, is the period of the liturgical year leading up to Easter. Lent is a time of sacrifice for Jesus. The traditional purpose of Lent is the preparation of the believer — through prayer, repentance, almsgiving and self-denial — for the annual commemoration during Holy Week of the Death and Resurrection of Jesus, which recalls the events linked to the Passion of Christ and culminates in Easter, the celebration of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Conventionally, it is described as being forty days long, though different denominations calculate the forty days differently. The forty days represent the time that, according to the Bible, Jesus spent in the desert before the beginning of his public ministry, where he endured temptation by Satan.

This practice is universal in most of Christendom, being celebrated by Catholics, Lutherans, Methodists, Presbyterians, and Anglicans.

Mardi Gras

The terms "Mardi Gras" (pronounced /ˈmɑrdiɡrɑː/), "Mardi Gras season", and "Carnival season", in English, refer to events of the Carnival celebrations, beginning on or after Epiphany and ending on the day before Ash Wednesday. Mardi Gras is French for "Fat Tuesday" (in ethnic English tradition, Shrove Tuesday), referring to the practice of the last night of eating richer, fatty foods before the ritual fasting of the Lenten season, which starts on Ash Wednesday. Related popular practices were associated with celebrations before the fasting and religious obligations associated with the penitential season of Lent. Popular practices included wearing masks and costumes, overturning social conventions, dancing, sports competitions, parades, etc. Similar expressions to Mardi Gras appear in other European languages sharing the Christian tradition. In English, the day is called Shrove Tuesday, associated with the religious requirement for confession before Lent begins.

In many areas, the term "Mardi Gras" has come to mean the whole period of activity related to the celebratory events, beyond just the single day. In some US cities, it is now called "Mardi Gras Day" or "Fat Tuesday". The festival season varies from city to city, as some traditions consider Mardi Gras the entire period between Epiphany or Twelfth Night and Ash Wednesday.[7] Others treat the final three-day period before Ash Wednesday as the Mardi Gras. In Mobile, Alabama, Mardi Gras-associated social events begin in November, followed by mystic society balls on Thanksgiving, then New Year's Eve, followed by parades and balls in January and February, celebrating up to midnight before Ash Wednesday. In earlier times parades were held on New Year's Day. Other cities famous for Mardi Gras celebrations include Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Barranquilla, Colombia, Sydney, Australia, Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, Quebec City, Canada; Mazatlán, Sinaloa in Mexico; and New Orleans, Louisiana, United States.

Carnival is an important celebration in Catholic European nations. In the United Kingdom and Ireland, the week before Ash Wednesday is called "shrovetide", ending on Shrove Tuesday. It has its popular celebratory aspects as well. Pancakes are a traditional food. Pancakes and related fried breads or pastries made with sugar, fat and eggs are also traditionally consumed at this time in many parts of Latin America and the Caribbean.

Medicine Glossary

Encontrei pela internet esse glossario com alguns termos da medicina. Achei interessante. É o http://www.emedicinehealth.com/pain_medications/glossary_em.htm

Scrabble no Facebook

Conhece o Scrabble? É um joguinho de formar palavas em inglês. Bacana, divertido e uma boa forma de aprender palavras novas, uma vez que dá pra chutar bastante e conferir no dicionário depois. O jogo está disponível no Facebook. É só ir na busca, digitar scrabble e entrar no scrabble worldwide (excluding US and Canada).

Have fun!