Looking out the window, I see a bright sunny day punctuated by tossing trees. The false hope of warmth is chilled by wind gusts over 50 mph. The thermometer declares it is 38 degrees. However, the “feels like” temperature is ~ 23 per the National Weather Service Wind Chill Calculator . The following chart allows you to grossly estimate the temperature without using advanced mathematics. When I step outside to hang the bird feeder, my skin experiences the brisk fifteen-degree wind chill factor. Why does that matter, besides the miserable sensation? It’s important because it makes us at greater risk for hypothermia and/or frostbite. What exactly is hypothermia? The Mayo Clinic website provides valuable information regarding symptoms, causes, and risk factors , as well as diagnosis and treatment of hypothermia. Click the prior links for details. The first sign of hypothermia is shivering, a natural defense against cold, as the body tries to warm itself. The other mo...
The thesaurus, a book that serves as a cross-reference for synonyms, and serves as a guide to effective and precise use of language, is a necessary tool of every writer and even some readers. Dr. Mark Peter Roget (1779–1869) was a British natural theologian, physician, and lexicographer. He suffered from depression his entire life: beginning at the age of eight, his coping mechanism was obsessive list-making. He wrote the first draft of the eponymous English-language thesaurus in 1805, two years prior to Webster beginning the undertaking of his own dictionary. For 47 years he kept it a secret, and finally published it in 1852 at the age of 73, under the title Thesaurus of English Words and Phrases Classified and Arranged so as to Facilitate the Expression of Ideas and to Assist in Literary Composition . This document is archived in the Karpeles Manuscript Library Museum. Roget’s Thesaurus has been in continuous print. The original manuscript included 15,000 words; the Eighth Editi...
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