Archive for April, 2006

statite

According to Wikipedia, a statite is a hypothetical type of artificial satellite that employs a solar sail to continuously modify its orbit in ways that gravity alone would not allow....

Limbo

I always used to mix up Limbo and purgatory. Well, okay, to be honest I still do. But now at least I know that "Limbo" is called that because the...

craton

A "craton" is a part of the Earth's crust that's particularly old and stable. They're apparently often found at the heart of a continent or ocean. I don't know that...

caltrop

I've known what caltrops were since I was a kid: those four-pointed metal things, scattered in roadways to damage tires or hooves or feet. But as with so many words,...

frozeth

A USA Today blog entry from Kevin Maney, dated 5 April 2006, has the following headline: Apple and XP: Has hell frozeth shut? I'm wondering whether this was an intentional...

off the dime

I've been mentioning a lot of British idioms and slang that I hadn't previously encountered; now here's an American one. The compromise proposal [...] was introduced last night and "has...

tiktaalik

Scientific American reports on a new fossil that bridges the gap between fish and four-limbed land creatures. It's thought to have lived primarily in shallow streams. The creature has been...