Valentine’s Day

More love, less tragedy. There is my global valentine. Anyone listen to, “My Funny Valentine” best by Chet Baker, Miles Davis or Stan Getz. Jazz sets the mood for a perfect Valentine’s Day.

Buzzword

damn … I wanted to be first. :/

I’ll definitely avoid all of those Pagan St. Valentine’s day parties I’ve been invited to. Now I have to figure out what to do with this goat.

buzzword

Not so much a word but a phrase,
Graveyard shift.

Here is a question, the Romance languages, what’s love got to do with it? Hint: its vulgar.

buzzword

Hey Teach,
I like how you say “February”, it’s adoreable.
Anyway, my question is about the word ‘Fool’.. as in Fool, Foolish, Foolhardy & engaging in Tom Foolery.
Does this word really come from a dolt named Tom Foolery?
How did he earn this nickname?

And “Nick”name, who is this Nick fellow.. Oh the malarky never ends does it?

I’m hungry, let’s go get a taco.
politricks5

You are so hot for words :!:

vulgar latin — or really vulgar? oO

:razz: Great to learn something; even better from such a lovely teacher! Happy Valentines day to you Marina!

You are a insperation for the word LOVE,, Happy Valentines :wink: Day Sweety

You are a insperation for the word love :oops: ,, Happy Valentines Day

Senior alx,

Usted es correcto, pero usted tendrá que traducir esto averiguar. Ha! Los idiomas de romance empezaron con latín vulgar.

buzzword

Hey Marina,

Love the lessons!

Congrats on your maiden Century.

Thanx 4 the V Day Smooch!

Suitigres

Does the word blackguard have any racial connotation? Are women who are called broads called that because they have child-bearing hips? Did your breasts get bigger (or are you just pushing them up a lot)?

This is one of my favorite lessons because there is no final solution :?: I like #1 because the soldiers wanted to ‘make love not war’. Always commendable. :grin: And in line with what soldiers & sailors really believe.
I like #3 because early Christianity leaders appropriated many pagan rites to smooth the transition.Useful :idea:
To the other viewers; when our Teacher moves closer to the camera, do you find yourself moving closer to the screen?
Please put these bloopers in your replay library.

я не говорю испанский язык. :/

One of my favorites & turned out to be my Mom & Dad’s “song”. It was the Gerry Mulligan/Chet Baker version from Prestige.
THANK YOU :!: I’m going to put that on the turntable now.

Hey Teach, Just a little FYI…..medieval scholar Jack Oruch, in the July 1981 issue of Speculum (Journal of Medieval Studies), makes a strong case that the Saint Valentine’s Day connection to love and romance derives solely from Geoffrey Chaucer’s Parliament of Foules. Even though Chaucer connects the romantic overtones of Saint Valentine’s Day to ancient customs, Oruch effectively argues that no such traditions existed before Chaucer’s time. Thus, modern research suggests it is unlikely that secular Saint Valentine’s Day customs are pagan practices derived from the Roman Lupercalia……

and I would still like to know the origin of the word “pornography”…

peace and Stuff
Deimos

uh huh.
the entire article can be found right here.

I have a good friend. she knows a lot. her name is webster, merriam webster. this is what she told me when I asked her about “pornography”:

“Etymology:
Greek pornographos, adjective, writing about prostitutes, from pornÄ“ prostitute + graphein to write; akin to Greek pernanai to sell, poros journey”

X

Hey Teach,
Happy Valentine! Last night some pupils of our class had a few lemonades on the occasion of your 100th lesson. Lots of toasts (but no alcohol!). Then one of us asked: where does the word ‘cocktail’ come from? And why does it mean: mixed drink? We had a really etymological discussion, several daring hypotheses were brought forward. But nobody was sure, so we decided to ask you to investigate and give us one of your inspiring lectures…

Hello Marina,

May love bless your house, may romance fill your life and may all your dreams come true, God bless you.

Here is a short poem to you; can you work out what all the days are in quotes? (Indeed I’m sure all your pupils maybe interested to know the meaning of the days as well)

Poem:

A Day For Lovers!

St. Valentines day be a day for many reasons, of giving and receiving from many different sessions, but form me to you it is a day of loving admiration.
From ‘The Night of Sevens’ to the ‘White Day’ givens that I lay my heart open to you dear lady.
O’ if only I could hold you on ‘Dydd Santes Dwynwen’ day or send you a rose, a single red rose on ‘ Saint Gregory’s’ day, then I would be the most luckiest man in the universe.
St. Valentines day, be it fall or spring, I would be your slave to command if you give me your hand dear lady.
Be it may, that is to say; I would love you for eternity on this ‘Friend’s day’, however I would love to be your love on ‘Sweethearts day’.
O’ if it be that on the fourteenth you would break my heart, then surely on ‘Sepandarmazgan’ I could be given just one more chance, O’ how I would hold you tight in my heart.
Now I know that I be a ‘Black Day’ person, and you be a beautiful woman, a lady of intellect, could you be my dream come true, on ‘Valentines Day’ for lovers dear lady, for lovers…

Poem end.

Valentines day in an historical context is somewhat hazy, however I like to think of some one I admire and love on this day.

May love bless your heart!

Happy Valentines Day!

jcnick

P.S.

Have you sent your e-cards out, it seems that I haven’t got one from yourself.

HAPPY VALLENTINES DAY MARINA. :razz:

i am really happy….. not for walentine, just because there is another russian speaker! alx, marina, me, who else?…. but i speak spanish :wink:

happy valentines for all

Greetings from the northern land

A corretion is SEÑOR not SENIOR, is difficult for americans or people like me, who don’t use that characters,or use other alphabet but you can copy and paste from other site. :roll:
Don’t worry is one of the most common mistakes when kids start writing spanish because the sound of Ñ is similar to N+ the vowel i

greetings

Happy V-Day, Marina. I remember you said in a previous video that you don’t have a date for V-Day. I guess that means you are splitting time between several suitors today. Maybe you can show us in your next video, some of the flowers, chocolate, jewlery etc that you received. Thanks.

In addition we can see clearly that you don’t speak spanish or you are learning because the first sentence have got no sense at all… the correct reply is like this:

Señor Alx

Usted esta en lo correcto, pero tendrá que traducir esto

Going out today… I wanted to give everyone a chance to sign up first :razz:

It started as the pagan celebration

Then was later adopted by the catholic church and given a saint as a way to keep the festivity and pacify the new converts
(they also did this with Xmas)

Keep the people happy and they dont care what they are celebrating, as long as its close enough and you have a good time doing it…

Hey Marina, love your work, best thing in vocabulary since Webster.

a friend and I were discussing “bastion” and thought it might have a rich history for your limitless talents to delve.

Thanks, lingolust

whoever is right, I figured out what it means. :)

hitman, what makes you think she’s russian? maybe she’s polish or czech or … well … she likes endorphine … their website’s top level domain is .sk … maybe she’s slovakian. hm. slavic nontheless.

argh. “nonetheless” …

First , I think your lessons are great and I’ve wanted to ask this for s”o long. Glad I found you! Here is a phrase I’d like to request.
‘In and of itself” also Per Se’ has eluded me. Thanks for being there.

First , I think your lessons are great and I’ve wanted to ask this for s”o long. Glad I found you! Here is a phrase I’d like to request.
‘In and of itself” also Per Se’ has eluded me. Thanks for being there. :smile:

Yes, of course, you are write maybe she’s from other part East Europe

Ah dear lady, my heart is breaking; however I will write you another poem on another day, to try and win your heart. Have a great day, may peace be with you!

jcnick…

> Did your breasts get bigger
> (or are you just pushing them up a lot)?

I’ll just copy&paste two of my comments from youtube.

—-

alxlej (vor 1 Woche)

could you people just stop talking about her boobs [...]?

I’m pretty sure she knows what she looks like. [...] though I guess she takes it as a compliment.
whatever.

she does a great job explaining all kinds of things to you and all some people care about is her boobs.

wtf.

—-

alxlej (vor 1 Woche)

in her videos, it says “intelligence is sexy”, not “I’m sexy, look at my boobs”.

if she’d just want to be looked at she’d do a strip or something.

and yes, she’s good-looking but that’s not her fault. what’s she supposed to do? wear turtlenecks and put on sun glasses?

I’m just saying that you should pay attention to what she’s telling you and reply to _that_. not her boobs.

actually, I’d love to see her doing a video dressed like that. just once.

Alex,
watch the werewolf video

Bob

ah, right.
she’s not wearing sun glasses in that video though.

so, marina, here’s a dress request: turtleneck, sun glasses, and a cap. hehe.

by the way, I always liked the “are you still with me?” part. :D

Well i was looking through the list of words and i see you don’t have any U’s. I would like to know about UMBRELLA. Its always been kind of a funny word to me. You could also do FICKLE. Thanks.

There’s no point in her wearing sunglasses; the sun is shining out of her eyes – it’s we who need the sunglasses so we’re not dazzled by her beauty.

yeah, well, whatever.

I think it would be funny. :)

Recently discovered HotForWords. Now I am thinking about becoming an English major. LOL Word suggestion, psychedelic, as in the creative form of music.

Thanx and Happy V’day :idea:

I wish you the best of valentine day Marina … Thx for the card you gave me a smile for the saddest day of my life …. and i will be forever grateful for this :-) keep up the good work you are more than perfect Marina

Stephan

Dear Marina,

Would you please be kind enough to enlighten me to the origin of the phrase, “The whole nine yards”?

Thank you.

FishyMack

Thank you so much for your Valentines card :oops: :razz: :lol:

fishymack, There is no known origin for this phrase. It appears in the 1960s in the US Airforce circles, but no conclusive evidence to its origin. Not 9 yards of cloth, machine gun belts, paper, Scottish Kilts, bridal trains, nothing. Alas.

Hi Marina thanks for the card :mrgreen:

It’s from Old French bastillon which if you say with a French accent sounds a lot like bastion, and its directly related to Bastille as in Bastille Day (July 14th) and “storm the bastille.”

Nice exploration of V-day,I had not heard some of that before.

I would like to request the word “mortgage”. Off hand, I would guess it’s from French and means “bond to death” but I think you will explore it in much more depth,if you choose to do it.
Or how about “vitamin”

[...] here’s some Valentine’s Day link love for our girls, Hot for Words and Eat My Words.   Posted by John on  February [...]

Hey Marina,
Thx for being my valentine :razz:

I sended you a little card back, so go check your mailbox :mrgreen:

your dear student
Dietrio

Hello Marina,

I got your card, you look beautifully sweet, sexy, and I will admire your beauty till the end of time, for being my valentine this day.

Did you like my red rose, and what did you think of my poem?

May the rest of your day be filled with love and joy!

jcnick.

To my trusty Teacher,
I got your Valentine’s Day card!! Thank you!!
You are my faverite techer of all! el oh el. You are brave and valiant; your trusty lesson-sabre educates nincompoops around the globe. You’re courageous and FUNNY :mrgreen: , bold and captivating, adoreable and Original!
Thanks again & keep up the good work!

As for tonight, let’s pick up some muis deliciouso takeout, picnic by the lake (a special place with no geese, or geese terds) and we’ll walk… and talk… and maybe have a spitting contest!
Meet you at the corner? Last one’s a rotten egg!!

Your trusty Styoodent,
Politricks5

Ahoy, Marina,
Thank you for the card.
You said it was going to be very special, but WOW!
I shall treasure it for ever.
Your devoted student
Bob

What is the oragen of Soccer?

Thank you for the card, Marina! Also, I enjoyed the video about the origin of Valentine’s Day. I have always liked the holiday, because usually everything about it is pure and simple, wether it’s merchandise or not :p.

xo,
D. M.

Chagrin.
What the heck is a chagrin & a pissAnt?
later Squirt

:razz: Marina, Thank you for the wonderful card. Defiantly put some heat into this cold Alaskan day. Happy Valentine’s to you and your sweetie.
:mrgreen:

Thanks for answering my question Marina! I think I can speak for everyone in saying that you make us all hot for words.

Oh, and it was super cute the way you said my name, but think of the 3 as an E and the 5 as an S – NEWBS :) Get it?

Keep up the good work and come to Vegas soon!

N3WB5

“Chauvinist”
If i’m not mistaken, the word does not inherently carry a male connotation.
Pull my finger :shock:

drunk as a skunk

drunk as a skunk

Hi Marina,

Happy Valentine’s Day too!

Hey Marina,

Happy Valentines Day! Thanks for the great card. How about foreplay, um, that is history of the word, etc?
xo,
R

Hello,

i want u to investigate my name,Jake, where does it come from and what does it mean?

hitman,

I apologize for my Spanish. I rarely speak Spanish or any language other than AMERICAN! As a citizen of the U.S. and because of the Bush Administration it is against the law to speak, write or think in any language except for AMERICAN! By the way I have to type it that way, its the law. I can’t even call it e n g l i s h or the government will put me in a crumpet and ship me to London. Because alx sent me a reply in Russian I am now under surveillance by V.P. Dick Cheney and Homeland Security. And hitman because you speak three languages your considered a national threat and are probably already in a secret prison. Can I trade you my Bush for your Putin.
Have to go, my phone is ri

marinas morris,

Wow. Just wow. The, “…sun is shining out of her eyes…” that imagery was…wow, just wow. But that doesn’t even touch a recent post. Let me try and remember it. It kinda went, “You are a beautiful land mass and I am the ocean lapping at your inlets.” Now that is a metaphor! I used that one on my wife and she said, “dam.” Now that is a homophone! If you wrote the beautiful land mass bit, then you are awesome.

buzzword

Hi Marina,

Thanks for a great lesson today! What about ,abominable? I think I may start to feel this way, with all the snow we are getting up here in Aspen.
xo,
R

Good morning from the Caribbean Islands to my *HOT* and dear teacher:

English is not my first language, so I was asking myself about a curious word from your language:

When you want to -unfortunately- dismiss an employee, it’s said that he or she is “*FIRED*”. I don’t find the relation between the fact of leave a job and the process related with flames, or burnout.

Could you please explain the origin of the phrase being “Fired” when you are dismissed from a job?

Best regards, and a hug from the warm caribbean. Come visit us soon!

Angelo Barelli.

PS1:
Thanks for your great website. I really enyoyed your Valentine’s card! It’s my wallpaper now. Please create several wallpapers about you as soon as possible.

PS2:
Please pardon my bad english, as I mentioned, it’s not my first language.

:grin:
happy valentines day teacher!!! :grin: :lol: :razz:
am i really your valentine this year?LOL! :grin: if so, i’d be the luckiest guy in all of youtube!!! :grin: :grin: :grin:
God bless you and more power to your batteries so you can upload all your wonderful and entertaining videos! :grin:

eh?

iew.

I hope you had a great V-Day. You deserve the day off to be wined and dined after creating 101 fantastic videos. After you sober up, could you investigate the word BOOZE. I found several conflicting origins, but can’t figure out which one is right. Thanks.

Hey Teacher
thanks for the card, i wil cherish it and you forever :twisted: and happy valentines day to you as well.
could you investigate the word (Earth) for me. i’ve requested this before but no response, i realize your probably as busy as you are beautiful but i’ve hit a brick wall trying to find its origin and could use your help…and in return you can use me :wink:
thank you for the continuing education and keep up the good work girl
Admiring you always
4Real :cool:

“Estimates suggest that nearly 1.5 billion people lack safe drinking water and that at least 5 million deaths per year can be attributed to waterborne diseases. With over 70 percent of the planet covered by oceans, people have long acted as if these very bodies of water could serve as a limitless dumping ground for wastes. Raw sewage, garbage, and oil spills have begun to overwhelm the diluting capabilities of the oceans, and most coastal waters are now polluted. Beaches around the world are closed regularly, often because of high amounts of bacteria from sewage disposal, and marine wildlife is beginning to suffer.” [1]

I wouldn’t want to be a land mass.

Happy day-after Valentine’s Day Marina… :grin: Schmooched would have been another good word to do for Valentine’s Day… but you’d have to talk to me about it’s origin because I made it up. It’s the longest monosyllabic word (not in the dictionary). :cool:

Great Video Marina! I stumbled on your YouTube Channel and was very interested in your videos!

How about finding the origin of names of the months! Like January…February…ect.

Thanks!

~Chris :-)

Ty for being my Valentine. I’m glad I subscribed you on you tube.com I’ve been watching your lessons very often and they were great! I’ve got a birthday coming up next week and I like to request a word birthday. Is there any other origins for birthday that you know? well I gtg, you’re the sexiest teacher I’ve known. Thanks again for the card! happy Valentine’s!!!!!
Eric

Marina
Thanks for the Valentine
For you ….Feliz dia de Amor y Amistad
Thanks for being You and making me better
MIckey aka elmic

Buzzword wrote

It wasn’t me. A bit too graphic for polite society imo.

alx wrote

Not to mention all the £$!) that we send to landfill, clogging up the land masses orifices…
These metaphors are getting too metaphysical methinks! Enough already!

Let’s try that again!

Buzzword wrote “If you wrote the beautiful land mass bit… ”

It wasn’t me. A bit too graphic for polite society imo.

alx wrote “I wouldn’t want to be a land mass… ”

Not to mention all the £$!) that we send to landfill, clogging up the land masses orifices…
These metaphors are getting too metaphysical methinks! Enough already!

Hi! I have a couple of newer words that I’m curious about. They are the computer terms “reboot” and “cookies”. I look forward to the next lesson.

Jim

Ahoy Ahoy,
Ahoy,
……………
No answer. Beep!

Dear Marina,
There is another historical day similar to Valentine’s Day which is Sepandarmaz Day. Sepandarmaz is the 4th angel known as the Love Guardian Angel. It is originated from old Persia about few thousand years ago and surprisingly, it’s just 5 days after the Valentine!

Well, St. Valentine story comes from the ancient Rome and we also know that Romans and Persians had a close relationships for hundreds of years (mostly war, peace, war, war, peace, peace and so on!). So, we may have another Indo-european originated theory for the Valentine. Who knows?!

While we’re on the topic of love, just who is the original John in a Dear John letter–when was it first used, etc?

thnx,

-H

Dear Marina
I want to know where did the word “ENGLISH” came from,who said it the first time and why did he/she chose it to be english “ENGLISH”?Thanks for being there.

Hi Marina,

Hey, you’re not giving us enough homework. I think you should start a separate homework section. Do videos where you just assign homework, and take answers in a way that doesn’t show the answers in this blog form. Then you can give out prizes to your star students.

I am willing to bet that you read a lot. So, how about a book club page? You assign reading material, and then participate in a discussion blog.

I recommend “Plato and a Platypus Walk Into a Bar” – it’s a book I just read using jokes to explain philosophy. There is also “Aristotle and an Aardvark” which explains politics.

Well, your site is coming along nicely, and I have no doubt that you will be a millionaire soon.

Best of luck,

Eric

> I recommend [...]

and what exactly have those books to do with etymology?

how about these:

Fertig, David (1998): The ge- participle prefix in Early New High German and the modern dialects. American Journal of Germanic Linguistics and Literatures 10.237-278.

Börjars, Kersti / Kate Burridge (2003): Origins and Development of the Pennsylvania German ‘for…to’ construction (Preliminary Version).

Katzner, Kenneth (2002): The Languages of the World.

no? well. I guess we’ll have to keep commenting on the videos …

ah, crap. ” … do those books have to do …”

Hey there, today at work I was going through a contract for a new account and found some interesting lingo. The excerpt from the contract reads, “Beards, facial stubble, vandykes, goatees, manchurians… ~ …are not acceptable.”

I would love to know the origins of the words, “vandykes” and “manchurians”. I know that manchurian must be related to the urban, “Fu Manchu”.

Thanks much from my boss and I

jcnick,

Man, no offense but ur a freakin hippy yo. im serious you remind me of a gay shakespeare. naw man im just jokin in the whole gay shakespeare thing but nice poem that shouldve turned Marina on

Marina, this is Legendary, an awesome legend. so, im requesting a word. the word is “yesterday”. i never understood the whole “yester” part. oh and another word i request is in my name, “legend”.

-Legendary

P.S- are you a model?

DUDE come on thats why we have school more homework. yea shes a teacher, a HOT teacher at the matter, but she wont come up with so much homework

-Legendary

Jcnick is right. you do look, in his words, beautifully HOT, SWEET, and SEXY

-Legendary

I didn’t get a card from you :-(

Like the new video.

James

of course you’re hot for us

English is an Anglo-Frisian language. Germanic-speaking peoples from northwest Germany (Saxons and Angles) and Jutland (Jutes) invaded what is now known as Eastern England around the fifth century AD. It is a matter of debate whether the Old English language spread by displacement of the original population, or the native Celts gradually adopted the language and culture of a new ruling class, or a combination of both of these processes

The Norman Conquest of England in 1066 greatly influenced the evolution of the language. For about 300 years after this, the Normans used Anglo-Norman, which was close to Old French, as the language of the court, law and administration. By the latter part of the fourteenth century, when English had replaced French as the language of law and government, Anglo-Norman borrowings had contributed roughly 10,000 words to English, of which 75% remain in use. These include many words pertaining to the legal and administrative fields, but also include common words for food, such as mutton and beef.
The Norman influence heavily influenced what is now referred to as Middle English. Later, during the English Renaissance, many words were borrowed directly from Latin (giving rise to a number of doublets) and Greek, leaving a parallel vocabulary that persists into modern times

Cheers for the valintine e mail…..as apostman i was delivering 100′s to c
my customers it was great to come back from a hard day to find a E-mail from you ……..SO……heres a Love poem for you ….

If hugs where seconds i would give you hours.
if kissis where rain drops i would send you showes.
if a smile was water i would send you the sea.
If love was a person i would send you me .

…….POETRY……good word to use……??????? :?:

My pleasure :razz:

Cheers legendary,

I’m an Irish poet/musician and I ‘Thank you’ for recognizing art my friend, I like writing like the old masters and hey if I had to play a woman, Shakespeare himself would love it. Although the poem is from a man to a woman!

jcnick.

¿que opinas de la lengua castellana? tambien conocida como el español

As you probably know, it’s curently Lent, which ends on Easter Sunday. Traditionally, (and for a reason unknown to me) we celebrate a giant rabbit that hides eggs and goodies for little children. I was wondering if you could find the origin of the Easter Bunny in honor of the upcoming holiday. Also, could you find the link that ties this massive egg hiding rabbit to the resurection of Jesus Christ? I’m really curious to find out where we got this odd tradition.

Your newly devoted fan,
Chrisby280

The History Channel mentioned that in a story, seems that there was a time when doctors pronounced death on comatose people, a funeral was performed shortly before the comatose person came to, and pounded on the coffin, working it open enough to summon help or scare the bereaved. So someone got a job at the cemetery at late at night listening for the pounding. This became the graveyard shift. Someone else figured out if you attach a rope to a bell and run it into the coffin the “deceased” could summon help better.

this is my worse day i can think of 2 days straight,so i hope you had/have a wonderful day marina on this day..

Well I’ve almost worked my way through all your video’s and I found some interesting ones. This one struck a chord with me though as I recently wrote a short article for my school newspaper about this very subject. I loved doing the research on it and I came up with all 3 theory’s that you put forth. I personally prefer the Lupercalia theory though, guess I’m just a pagan at heart. Anyway, I thought I would share my article with you and your students. I hope you like it.

http://media.www.arbiteronline.com/media/storage/paper890/news/2008/02/14/Opinion/Dont-Wait.For.Feb.14.To.Say.i.Love.You-3209715.shtml?reffeature=recentlycommentedstoriestab

Nice article Rick! I wrote a comment on the website.. so I hope they approve it! :-)

Thanks for the kind words Marina. I’m glad you liked it.

valentine’s day is just a big marketing stunt !!!!

This was my random lesson and you are a saint. word request “icon”

:sad: number 3 is not nice

Hi, Marina.
You are gorgeous.

Would you please teach us the origin of the word “tickle?”
Or better yet the word “cosquillas,” which means “tickle” in spanish.

I would really appreciate it.

Your student,
Thank you.

:cool: Happy “Valentine’s Day Lesson” Anniversary :!: :grin:

♥ :cool: ♥

♥♥ :grin: ♥♥

Hallo Marina!!! Thanks for lesson!
I heard the other version of the origins of St. Valentine’s day. Valentine was the emperor of Rome. He wasn’t the saint. According to laws of Rome, it was forbidden for Roman soldiers to enter the city of Rome. But this Valentine allowed them to enter in the city for some days on February (10-th till 14-th) and enter in the brothels free of paying. That’s why the 14′th of February was named the day of love..))

Maybe it’s just a joke, but it sounds funny..)))

Good luck! And sorry for my imperfect english..))

I could tell you’re a foreigner because your English is better than most Americans’. :razz:

My favorite Spanish words are [zanahoria] and [cacahuates] (carrot and peanuts) just because they’re so much fun to say! :grin:

[tickling the dragon's tail]

Criticality testing involved bringing masses of fissile materials to near-critical levels in order to establish their critical mass values. Scientists referred to this flirting with the possibility of a nuclear chain reaction as "tickling the dragon's tail..."

On May 21, 1946, Slotin and seven other colleagues performed an experiment that involved the creation of one of the first steps of a fission reaction by placing two half-spheres of beryllium (a neutron reflector) around a plutonium core. The experiment used the same 6.2-kilogram (13.7 lb) plutonium core that had irradiated Daghlian, later called the "Demon core" for its role in the two accidents. Slotin grasped the upper beryllium hemisphere with his left hand through a thumb hole at the top while he maintained the separation of the half-spheres using the blade of a screwdriver with his right hand, having removed the shims normally used. Using a screwdriver was not a normal part of the experimental protocol. Graves was standing right behind Slotin.

At 3:20 p.m., the screwdriver slipped and the upper beryllium hemisphere fell, causing a "prompt critical" reaction and a burst of hard radiation. At the time, the scientists in the room observed the "blue glow" of air ionization and felt a "heat wave". In addition, Slotin experienced a sour taste in his mouth and an intense burning sensation in his left hand. Slotin instinctively jerked his left hand upward, lifting the upper beryllium hemisphere and dropping it to the floor, ending the reaction. However, he had already been exposed to a lethal dose (around 2100 rems, or 21 Sv) of neutron and gamma radiation. Slotin's radiation dose was equivalent to the amount that he would have been exposed to by being 1500 m (4800 ft) away from the detonation of an atomic bomb.

Amazing how some people can be simultaneously brilliant and idiotic. Here’s a nuclear physicist whose idea of experimenting with plutonium was to handle it manually with only a screwdriver separating two semi-critical masses.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_Slotin

[Nominalism] is older than Scotus, but its revival in Occamism may be traced to the one-sided exaggeration of some propositions of Scotus. Scotist Formalism is the direct opposite of Nominalism, and the Scotists were at one with the Thomists in combatting the latter; Occam himself was a bitter opponent of Scotus. The Council of Trent defined as dogma a series of doctrines especially emphasized by the Scotists (e.g. freedom of the will, free co-operation with grace, etc..). In other points the canons were intentionally so framed that they do not affect Scotism (e.g. that the first man was constitutus in holiness and justice). …..the source is linked…..Manhattan Transfer Vocalies Live at Tokyo in Japan 1986
Manhattan Transfer Vocalies Live
at Tokyo in Japan .. :lol: my screw driver is wedging my damper….know your BREaD :grin: ….How is EvAn :?:

Again, this video is almost 5 minutes long and I find myself almost hpnotized by Marina. I can’t figure it out!! :x