Word-Wednesday for September 18, 2024

And here is the Wannaskan Almanac with Word-Wednesday for September 18, 2024, the thirty-eighth Wednesday of the year, the thirteenth and final Wednesday of summer, the third Wednesday of September, and the two-hundred-sixty-second day of the year, with one-hundred four days remaining.

 
Wannaska Phenology Update for September 18, 2024
We’re already in meteorological fall, and with the fall equinox happening at 7:43am this Saturday, ground plants have already begun to dress for the occasion. The flies and mosquitos have decreased, while some mushrooms continue to push up through the ground. We’ve taken in our hummingbird feeders for the season to encourage the birds to move along south. Some Wannaskan Almanac fans have already started to make their annual Halloween celebration preparations.

September 18 Fickle Pickle Wednesday Menu Special: Potato Dumpling


September 18 Nordhem Wednesday Lunch: Updated daily, occasionally.


Earth/Moon Almanac for September 18, 2024
Sunrise: 7:05am; Sunset: 7:30pm; 3 minutes, 33 seconds less daylight today
Moonrise: 7:45pm; Moonset: 7:41am, full moon, 99% illuminated.


Temperature Almanac for September 18, 2024
                Average            Record              Today
High             65                     90                     81
Low              42                     21                      65

September Midnight
By Sara Teasdale

Lyric night of the lingering Indian Summer,
Shadowy fields that are scentless but full of singing,
Never a bird, but the passionless chant of insects,
Ceaseless, insistent.

The grasshopper’s horn, and far-off, high in the maples,
The wheel of a locust leisurely grinding the silence
Under a moon waning and worn, broken,
Tired with summer.

Let me remember you, voices of little insects,
Weeds in the moonlight, fields that are tangled with asters,
Let me remember, soon will the winter be on us,
Snow-hushed and heavy.

Over my soul murmur your mute benediction,
While I gaze, O fields that rest after harvest,
As those who part look long in the eyes they lean to,
Lest they forget them.

September 18 Celebrations from National Day Calendar

• Air Force Birthday
• National HIV/AIDS and Aging Awareness Day
• National Cheeseburger Day
• World Water Monitoring Day

September 18 Word Pun
khakis: /KA-kēz/ n., what people in Boston use to start their cars.


September 18 Word Riddle
How do hockey players kiss?*


September 18 The Devil’s Dictionary Word-Pram
FIG-LEAF, n.

    An artist's trick by which the Nude's
    Protected from the eyes of prudes,
    Which else with their peculiar flame
    Might scorch the canvas in its frame,
    Or melt the bronze, or burn to lime

    The marble, to efface his crime.
    For sparks are sometimes seen to dance
    Where falls a dame's offended glance,
    And little curls of smoke to rise
    From fingers veiling virgin eyes.

    O prudes I know ye,—once ye made
    In Frisco here a fool's tirade
    Against some casts from the antique,
    Great, naked, natural and Greek,
    Whereto ye flocked, a prurient crush,

    And diligently tried to blush,
    Half strangled in the vain attempt
    Till some one (may the wretch be hemped!)
    Depressed his lordly length of ear
    Your loud lubricity to hear,
    Then took his chisel up and dealt
    At Art a blow below the belt.
    Insulted, crimson with the shame,
    Her cheeks aglow, her eyes aflame,
    The goddess spread her pinions bright,
    The goddess spread her pinions bright,

    Since then in vain the painter toils:
    His canvas still denies the oils.
    In vain with melancholy sighs
    His burin the engraver plies;
    Lines multiply beneath his hand,

    But what they mean none understand.
    With stubborn clay and unsubdued,
    The sculptor shapes his fancies crude,
    Unable to refine the work,
    And makes a god look like a Turk.
    To marble grown, or metal, still
    The monstrous image makes him ill,
    Till, crazed with rage, the damaged lot
    He breaks, or sells to Irving Scott.


September 18 Etymology Word of the Week
stymie
/STĪ-mē/ v., prevent or hinder the progress of, from 1857, in golf, "put a player in the position where an opponent's ball is directly in the line of approach to the hole;" from stymie (n.) "condition in which an opponent's ball blocks the line of approach to the hole" (1834). It is of uncertain origin, perhaps from Scottish stymie "person who sees poorly," from stime "the least bit" (early 14th century), as in unable to see a stime, itself of uncertain origin. The general sense of "block, hinder, thwart" is by 1902.


September 18 Historic Events, Literary or Otherwise, from On This Day

• 1769 John Harris of Boston, Massachusetts, builds first spinet piano.
• 1809 Royal Opera House in London opens.
• 1842 First edition of Pittsburgh Post-Gazette is published.
• 1846 Elizabeth Barrett and Robert Browning exchange their last letters before they move to Italy.
• 1851 New York Times starts publishing.
• 1899 Scott Joplin granted copyright for his Maple Leaf Rag, the most famous ragtime composition, by the US Copyright Office.
• 1915 Jeeves and Bertie Wooster make their first appearance in P. G. Wodehouse short story, Extricating Young Gussie, is published in The Saturday Evening Post.

September 18 Author/Artist/Character Birthdays, from On This Day

• 1574 Claudio Achillini, Italian poet.
• 1684 Johann Gottfried Walther, German composer.
• 1709 Samuel Johnson, English lexicographer.
• 1750 Tomás de Iriarte, Spanish writer.
• 1752 Johann Anton Sulzer, Swiss writer.
• 1765 Oliver Holden, American composer.
• 1772 Martin-Pierre Dalvimare, French musician and composer.
• 1787 Johann David Passavant, German painter and graphic artist.
• 1838 (Anthonij) "Anton" Mauve, Dutch realist painter.
• 1846  Standish James O'Grady, Irish writer.
• 1860 Alberto Franchetti, Italian composer.
• 1874 Johannes Anker Larsen, Danish writer.
• 1875 Henriette Renié, French harp prodigy and composer.
• 1875 Henriette Renié, French harp prodigy, composer.
• 1884 Ludomir Różycki, Polish composer .
• 1885 Muslim Magomayev, Azerbaijani-Soviet composer.
• 1890 Vladimír Ambros, Czech composer.
• 1893 William March, American writer.
• 1897 Pablo Sorozábal, Spanish composer.
• 1905 Agnes De Mille, American dancer and choreographer.
• 1906 Semjon I. Kirsanov, Ukrainian poet.
• 1910 Josef Tal, Israeli composer.
• 1921 Gerald Hartley, American composer.
• 1928 Adam Walacinski, Polish composer.
• 1937 Norman Dinerstein, American composer.
• 1938 Sylvia Plimack Mangold; American visual artist.
• 1939 Naresh Sohal, Indian-British composer.
• 1941 Michael Hartnett, Irish poet.
• 1941 Hafliði Hallgrímsson Icelandic cellist, and composer.
• 1943 Michael Vetter, German composer,.
• 1950 Carl Verbraeken, Belgian composer.
• 1950 Helene Virginie Weijel, Dutch author.

Words-I-Looked-Up-This-Week Writer's Challenge
Write a story or pram from the following words:

• boho: /BŌ-hō/ adj., socially unconventional in a way regarded as characteristic of creative artists; bohemian; n., a person who is socially unconventional in a way regarded as characteristic of creative artists; a bohemian.
• brabeum: /BRAH-bē-um/ n., award or prize.
• drollic: /DROL-ik/ adj., whimsical, comical.
• essomenic: /es-oh-MEN-ik/ adj., prophetic or foreshadowing, especially in the sense of showing something that is about to happen or is yet to come.
• graocracy: /grey-OK-ruh-see/ n., government by an old woman or women.
• papacho: /pah-PAH-choh/ v., AZTEC, to embrace or caress with one's soul.
• sapid: /SAP-əd/ adj., having a strong, pleasant taste; (of talk or writing) pleasant or interesting.
• tiospaye: /tē-ŌH-spāy/ n., LAKOTA, a person's larger circle of family, friends, neighbors, and friendly or unfriendly acquaintances.
• utis: /YOO-tis/ n., an outcry, as raised against a thief or criminal; a hue and cry. Also: clamour, outcry, din.
• weke: /WEH-kuh/ n., moisture.

September 18, 2024 Word-Wednesday Feature
2024 Ig Nobel Prize Winners
Another Word-Wednesday annual tradition, today we explore the contributions of this year’s winners of the 34th First Annual Ig Nobel Prizes Ceremony, "achievements that first make people laugh and then make them think."

Anatomy
Marjolaine Willems, Quentin Hennocq, Sara Tunon de Lara, Nicolas Kogane, Vincent Fleury, Romy Rayssiguier, Juan José Cortés Santander, Roberto Requena, Julien Stirnemann, and Roman Hossein Khonsari, studied whether the hair on the heads of most people in the Northern Hemisphere swirls in the same direction (clockwise or counter-clockwise?) as hair on the heads of most people in the Southern Hemisphere. Word-Wednesday take-away: coriolis force: /koh-ree-OH-lus fors/ n., an inertial (or fictitious) force that acts on objects in motion within a frame of reference that rotates with respect to an inertial frame.

Biology
Fordyce Ely and William E. Petersen, for exploding a paper bag next to a cat standing on the back of a cow to explore how and when cows spew their milk. Word-Wednesday take-away: the term "hold up" now has a new meaning, as a fearful cow produces adrenaline, which causes the cow udder to hold up the milk flow.

Botany
Jacob White and Felipe Yamashita, for finding evidence that some real plants imitate the shapes of neighboring artificial plastic plants. Word-Wednesday vocabulary contribution: "plant overlords".

Chemistry
Tess Heeremans, Antoine Deblais, Daniel Bonn, and Sander Woutersen, for using chromatography to separate drunk and sober worms. Word-Wednesday take-away: Vomiting, inebriated worms are called "wobble tossers".

Medicine
Lieven A. Schenk, Tahmine Fadai, and Christian Büchel, for demonstrating that fake medicine that causes painful side effects can be more effective than fake medicine that does not cause painful side effects. Word-Wednesday take-away: there appears to be yet another use for the word nocebo.

Probability
František Bartoš, Eric-Jan Wagenmakers, Alexandra Sarafoglou, Henrik Godmann, and many colleagues who actually flipped the coins, for showing, both in theory and by 350,757 experiments, that when you flip a coin, it tends to land on the same side that it started. Word-Wednesday take-away: the term "wobble tossers" now has a new meaning.

Physiology
Ryo Okabe, Toyofumi F. Chen-Yoshikawa, Yosuke Yoneyama, Yuhei Yokoyama, Satona Tanaka, Akihiko Yoshizawa, Wendy L. Thompson, Gokul Kannan, Eiji Kobayashi, Hiroshi Date, and Takanori Takebe, for discovering that many mammals are capable of breathing through their anus. Word-Wednesday take-away: Sven has been correct all along.


From A Year with Rilke, September 18 Entry
And God Said to Me, Write, from Book of Hours, I, 53

Leave the cruelty to kings.
Without that angel barring the way to love
there would be no bridge for me
into time.

Mont Saint-Victoire
by Paul Cézanne

Be better than yesterday,
learn a new word today,
try to stay out of trouble - at least until tomorrow,
and write when you have the time.






*They pucker up.