#Latin/Greek roots module

[rodneygoodie]

Osseointegration and Dental Implants

Dental implants can address missing teeth for individuals. An estimated three million Americans have dental implants, which grows annually. Osseointegration helps the implant adhere to the jawbone to remain in place after the procedure.

During the dental implant procedure, dental professionals place a screw-like fixture made of titanium in the jaw. This fixture acts as a replacement tooth root and enables the sturdy and permanent placement of a replacement tooth on the implant post. During treatment and implantation, dental professionals aim to ensure close contact with the jawbone, allowing for osseointegration. It ensures that the teeth implants become stable and anchored as the jawbone cells extend up to the implant and securely grip it. This process can take anywhere from six weeks to six months as the supportive root-like structure fully integrates with the jawbone.

The roots of osseointegration extend to 1952, when Professor Per-Ingvar Branemark, a Swedish orthopaedic surgeon, researched microcirculation. Branemark had inserted a titanium tube from an optical device into a rabbit's leg. When he attempted to remove the tube from the leg, Branemark discovered that the titanium and bone had fused, creating a “direct structural and functional connection between ordered living bone and the surface of a load-carrying implant.” After over a decade of research into osseointegration, which stems from the Greek osteon or bone, and the Latin word integrate or to make whole, Professor Branemark successfully performed the first titanium dental implant in 1965.

Once the area of the dental implant heals, the implants help reduce bone loss. They help individuals maintain a normal chewing function, which remains essential to a healthy, functional jawbone. Missing teeth can cause deterioration of underlying bone as chewing stimulation no longer occurs. Dentures do not have the same positive impact on the jawbone. They place pressure on the gums during chewing, which curtails blood supply, accelerating bone loss.

Cell signaling pathways define how the body reacts to implanted biomaterials through various responses. In a complex, non-linear series of reactions, the cells respond to extracellular signals by regulating intracellular gene expression. The biochemical responses or enzyme-catalyzed protein activations involve a cascading formation of activated proteins that engage in “cross-talk." The process relays information between the cells and transfers it from receptors to targets in the cell, such as mitochondria or nuclei.

A harmoniously coordinated activity, signaling pathways enable cellular responses that underpin human development, immunity, and tissue repair in adults. The osseointegration process captures two of these responses. In the early stages, the immune-inflammatory system modulates cellular responses, treating the implant as a foreign body within its microenvironment. A primary signaling pathway centers on the inflammatory Nuclear Factor Kappa B (NF-κB). Subsequent Wnt cell reactions regulate bone formation.

Titanium implants encourage biointegration by having immunomodulatory properties that respond to the immune-modulated inflammatory process. The biologically active presence of foreign body giant cells and macrophages makes the osseointegration process dynamic rather than static.

While healing, smoking negatively impacts the osseointegration process, impeding healing, bone cell growth, and blood flow and increasing the ultimate potential for implant failure. Lack of dental care and excessive alcohol consumption can also impact the long-term integrity of dental implants.

[spellpundit-blog]

                             HOW TO PREPARE FOR SPELLING BEES

SpellPundit is a one-stop resource for spelling, vocabulary, roots, homonyms, phrased/hyphenated words, and custom lists. SpellShakti, SpellPundit’s affiliated blog, was created to provide tips and resources for aspiring spellers.

The number one question every new speller has is, “How do I study for spelling bees?” To be a successful speller, you need to be interested in the English language and you need to have a good strategy to learn a lot of words quickly.

A lot of people think spelling is boring because it requires a lot of memorization, but this is untrue. The way the words are spelled is not random— many are a combination of Latin/Greek roots or certain language patterns. Spelling becomes fun when you learn roots and patterns, because then it becomes a puzzle. For example, if you are asked to spell the word “cinephile” (a lover of motion pictures), you can piece it together using roots, even if you’ve never seen the word before. The Greek root “cine-“ is short for cinema and “–phile” is from the Greek root “philos” meaning loving.  Another example of a word you can make an educated guess about is the German word schalstein (a metamorphic rock formed from basalt). In German, the /sh/ sound is typically spelled “sch” and the German word “stein” means stone. Once you learn roots and language patterns, you won’t need to memorize many words, and spelling will become enjoyable.

As for an efficient study strategy, there is no substitute for hard work and practice. Every successful speller practices over the whole year. Studying spelling every single day is the best way to learn a lot of words and remember them well. The summer is a great time to learn lots of new words, since you’ll have more free time. The SpellPundit modules can help you learn all the words you need to know accurately and quickly.

The Merriam-Webster online unabridged dictionary (unabridged.merriam-webster.com), the official dictionary of the Scripps National Spelling Bee, has 470,000 words total. However, a lot of these words are very easy (ex. cat, dog, and, but) and/or repetitive (ex. ask, asking, asked). By removing these words, the 470,000 words can be condensed to about 100,000 base words. Suddenly, the dictionary is smaller and more manageable to learn.

The SpellPundit database has these 100,000 base words with the pronunciation, definition, part of speech, and language of origin for each word. You can read through a set of words in flashcard format, and then you can test yourself on these words. You can also re-test yourself on any words you missed. This helps you learn words quickly and gives you a competitive advantage at spelling bees.

In 2013, the Scripps National Spelling Bee started testing spellers on vocabulary. Some regional spelling bees also ask vocabulary questions. SpellPundit vocabulary module is a very efficient way to learning words and their definitions. Just like the spelling module, the vocab modules allow you to study words and then test yourself.

One area where a lot of spellers get tripped up is with homophones and homonyms, which are when two or more words are pronounced the same way, but they have different definitions and spellings. For example: phrase has 2 homonyms: fraise and frase. SpellPundit allows you to study these homonyms and learn the differences between them so you will never get confused during a bee.                        Last year, the Scripps National Spelling Bee transitioned from the print version of the Merriam-Webster dictionary to the online dictionary (unabridged.merriam-webster.com). This online dictionary has a lot of words that the print dictionary did not have. Scripps has starting asked a lot of these new words in their bees, such as xylorimba, turducken, mizuna, and Beringia. In fact, there were quite a few of these new words in the National Spelling Bee last year, such as arribada, clafouti, Bruneian, and bucatini. SpellPundit is different from other study resources on the market because it has all these new online words in its database for spellers to learn and test themselves.

Scripps has also recently incorporated phrased and hyphenated words into their spelling and vocabulary rounds. These words are idioms and phrases that are commonly used in conversation and in writing.  Some of these words have made an appearance in regional bees, such as vingt-et-un, alla prima, and pro rata. SpellPundit’s phrased and hyphenated modules have a comprehensive list of all these words in the dictionary. These modules allow a speller to practice both the spelling and definitions of these words.

SpellPundit also offers custom lists, like Paideia, Consolidated Word List, North South Foundation list words, etc. These lists are available in both learning and testing modes.

All of SpellPundit’s modules are divided into sets of 500 words each. This is a reasonable amount of words to study in a couple of hours for novice spellers. This makes the process of learning the dictionary less overwhelming.

If you have an interest in words and you want to become a successful speller, SpellPundit is a great resource to use in your preparation. We have all the resources you need, and by using our website, you can learn all these words accurately and efficiently.

Visit our website (www.spellpundit.com) to explore our free modules and see how SpellPundit can be your key to success!

https://www.spellpundit.com

[shijinpunnaykaljoseph]

#Blog Post 4. Western Classical Music and Indian Classical Music

The word "classical music" comes from the Latin classicus, meaning first-class, or the highest-class artistry for the Romans. This covers a wide range of music styles over an 800-year period. The word "Art music" is sometimes used. Western classical is just one among many different traditions and cultures of classical music across the world. There have been two forms of development throughout the history of Western classical music, typically distinguishable from each other, evolving in parallel – church music and secular music. Church music includes Gregorian Chants, Carols, Mass, and Requiems, for instance, while secular music includes sonatas, concertos, symphonies, and opera. Both church and secular music influenced each other as they developed and adapted to the cultural development of man throughout history.

                         The classical music of India is profoundly connected to the sacred ancient traditions of the region. It has two major traditions: Hindustani is the North Indian tradition while Carnatic is the South Indian region. There are two basic elements of Indian classical music: raga and tala. The raga, based on swara (microtones included), forms the framework of a melodic structure, while the tala tests the time period. The raga offers an artist a palette of sounds to create the melody, while the tala provides them with a creative structure for rhythmic improvisation using time. The gap between the notes is often more significant in Indian classical than the notes themselves, and there are no Western classical principles such as harmony, counterpoint, chords or modulation.

 Differences

1. Melody vs harmony: Indian classical music is mainly homophonic, meaning that it focuses on melodies that are formed using a sequence of notes. The magic of Indian classical music is encountered predominantly with different melodies formed within the framework of ragas, whereas the magic of Western classical music lies largely in polyphonic composition, where counterpoint, harmony and texture produced by multiple voices are essential. Melody still occurs in Western classical music, but from a broad perspective, most Western classical music works are not the sole or defining subject. So for example if melody is a slice of bread then harmony is a sandwich.

2. Composed vs Improvised: Western classical music is composed, Indian classical music is improvised. All Western classical music works are traditionally composed using staff notation, and there is practically no space for improvisation for performers. Since there are a lot of people on the stage in Western orchestras if everyone starts improvising in their own way, the performance will be just a sound. So before performance, western music must be pre-composed.

3. Vocals and instrumentation: Vocals are used in both Indian classical and Western classical music, but they are treated differently in comparison to other instruments. When vocals are used in Indian classical music, the rest of the instruments are mere accompaniments that follow the tonality of the voice by providing chords and so on. Whereas in Western classical music, when vocals are used, the instrumentation carries a lot of weight in the overall composition. In other words, voice forms the basis of the framework surrounding a classical Indian music recital, while it is an addition to the instrumentally produced structure of a classical Western music composition. The word ' voice ' is used in Western classical music in a generic way and does not always mean human voice. Any theme played by an instrument can be a ' voice’.

4. Performance: The artist shines through his improvisation in Indian classical music. In any recital or performance, there is a lead vocalist or instrumentalist who describes the raga, while others follow and relegate themselves to the background. The composer and the conductor excel as individuals in Western classical music, but the production is essentially a group effort. The artists are under the spotlight only in solo works or solo concerts.

5. Rhythm: Indian classical music uses ' Taal ' — a loop of beats that repeats itself. ‘Western classical music is not using these complex cycles of beat.

6. ‘Shruthi’/Microtones: Indian classical music makes significant use of quarter-tones and microtones, generally referred to as ' Shruti. ‘In recent times, Western classical music has some microtonal pioneers, but has been largely restricted to semitones.

7. Consonance & dissonance: As far as I know, dissonance is not used or supported in Indian classical music. Modern Western classical music has made extensive use of dissonance to contribute to the composition's texture.

8. Nature & spirituality: Indian classical music is closer to nature than Western classical music. Ragas are associated with specific times of the day or seasons of the year, while most Western classical music has no such function. Indian classical music's roots are religious, while Western classical music's secular works have origins in factors such as individual experiences, significant historical events in human history, culture, occasions of dance celebrations, and so on. The depth of intellectual satisfaction that you can receive from classical music (Indian and Western) is exceptional.

 Conclusion

There are no limits for art. The only music in this universe that's great, best and perfect is the one that gets us into the groove and mood. Then it can come from anywhere, from India or from the West. Each music in its own taste is good. By its different language or tuning, we should not compare. You just have to enjoy it, music is made to feel any reality or aspirations. It varies from listener to listener. Both western classical music and Indian classical music have revolutionised the field and concept of music. As a music lover I have found peace and satisfaction in both. Apart from differentiating the western and Indian classical music, considering them as a whole we get more benefit by listening to them.it helps to decrease blood pressure, boost memory, reduce stress level, fights depression, relives pain, makes us happy, helps to sleep well and many more. I conclude this by citing a quote of the famous Greek philosopher Plato:

 “Music is a moral law. It gives soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination, and charm and gaiety to life and to everything”.

 References:

1.      Darbar.org. (2019). East and West: Three basic differences between Indian and Western Classical music | Darbar Explains | Music of India. [Online] Available at: https://www.darbar.org/article/east-and-west-basic-differences-between-indian-and-western-classical-music/34 [Accessed 10 Nov. 2019].

2.      En.wikipedia.org. (2019). Indian classical music. [Online] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_classical_music [Accessed 10 Nov. 2019].

3.      ESMAIL, R. (2011). Observations on the culture of Hindustani Classical Music. [Online] NewMusicBox. Available at: https://nmbx.newmusicusa.org/observations-on-the-culture-of-hindustani-classical-music/ [Accessed 10 Nov. 2019].

4.      Goodreads.com. (n.d.). Showing all quotes that contain 'music, Plato'. [Online] Available at: https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/search?q=music%2C+plato [Accessed 10 Nov. 2019].

5.      Indian classical music performance. (2019). [Image] Available at: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00tbft1/p00tbdmr [Accessed 10 Nov. 2019].

6.      Mahendra (2011). Western Classical vs. Indian Classical Music | An Unquiet Mind. [Online] Skeptic.skepticgeek.com. Available at: https://skeptic.skepticgeek.com/2011/08/31/western-classical-vs-indian-classical-music/ [Accessed 10 Nov. 2019].

7.      Makingmusic.org.uk. (2018). An introduction to: Indian classical music | Making Music. [Online] Available at: https://www.makingmusic.org.uk/resource/introduction-indian-classical-music [Accessed 10 Nov. 2019].

8.      Mistry, p. (2019). Indian Music Vs Western Music. [Online] ezinearticles. Available at: https://ezinearticles.com/?Indian-Music-Vs-Western-Music&id=2493223 [Accessed 10 Nov. 2019].

9.      PALSULE, M. (2015). What is Western Classical Music? How is it different from Indian Classical Music? | Serenade. [Online] Serenade. Available at: https://serenademagazine.com/series/music-education/what-is-western-classical-music-how-is-it-different-from-indian-classical-music/ [Accessed 10 Nov. 2019].

10.  Vaidyanathan, R. (2011). The story of Western classical music in India. [Online] BBC News. Available at: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-south-asia-15035703 [Accessed 10 Nov. 2019].

11.  Western musical performance. (2019). [Image] Available at: https://www.scmp.com/native/lifestyle/arts-culture/topics/concerto/article/2181586/love-western-classical-music-continues [Accessed 10 Nov. 2019].

[globalspellbee-blog]

ollowing link: https://spellpundit.in/ SpellPundit provides excellent resources for spelling, vocabulary, and Latin/Greek roots. These resources are being used by hundreds of spellers in USA. The words are arranged by difficulty for both novice and expert spellers. The words are available in an online browser-based tool for efficient preparation.

Also, the list words for the Global Spelling Bee Championship are available at a minimum cost. You may purchase the modules by grade level using Instamojo. The online list words allow students to prepare independently without constant help from parents.

You may register your speller individually using the following link: https://www.instamojo.com/…/individual-registration-global…/

Please pass this information on to your family members, and friends in India.

Please send an email to SpellPunditIndia@gmail.com for any questions.

[mi5016ikepearson]

INTRODUCTION

questioning “what makes YOU employable?”, is essentially the same as asking yourself what makes you special from the people around you.

difference. the things that make you unique, from the swarm of other candidates applying for the same position is what makes YOU stand out from the crowd of mediocrity, at the end of the day.

the individual aspects that build up what you make of yourself are how you show a potential employer that YOU, specifically are not only what they are looking for, but the best variant of just that.

this module, from my understanding is going to teach us skills and attributes that are considered to be most important in the animation industry: to allow us to reflect on our skills and set targets that boost our employability before we graduate. 

this is..

MI5016 - “RESEARCH & PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE”

[ * INSERT SMALL VIDEO ESSAY SHOWCASING INTEREST IN VIDEO ESSAYS ]

to understand how to best tackle what this module demands from us, we need to tackle the elements that build up the title, and expand on each of them, separately to see how fusing research and professional practice will be beneficial, to us.

and with that plan set, let’s not waste any time, and kick it into motion:

WHAT IS MEANT BY “RESEARCH”?

well, by definition, research is: “the systematic investigation into and study of materials and sources in order to establish facts and reach new conclusions.”

if there’s one thing school doesn't teach you effectively - it’s how to do research.

with the internet becoming more readily available and integrated into society, and therefore the education system - people are becoming more and more spoiled by the overwhelming wealth of information at their disposal - and without proper education lose the ability to do research, effectively.

whether primary or secondary - research skills are essential to furthering your own understanding of the fundamental concepts around yourself.

and if the module’s objective is teaching us how to conduct research: I think it’s only right to start off by showcasing myself with such an ability, by taking some time, to look at the facts that can help me in putting an end to an age-old-debate...

RESEARCHING INTO THE PRONUNCIATION OF ‘GIF’

and no: I’m not joking.

reading the term “GIF” in your head you either pronounce it with a hard G (as in gun), or a soft G (as in gin)

the general consensus is that each side can be refuted, by singular arguments: 

those who believe it is pronounced with a hard G will state how GIF stands for “Graphics Interchange Format” and due to graphics not being pronounced ‘JAFFICS’ - pronouncing the term with a soft G is incorrect

The rebuttal for this claim is that due to ‘I’ following a ‘G’, it would be pronounced with a soft G, such as in words like giraffe, genius, gym, etc.

the idea that the general rule is - if the G is followed by an ‘E’, or an ‘I’ it is a soft G - ‘U’ or ‘A’ are consonants that generally produce a hard G

is incorrect.

you see; in english words with a G followed by an E or an I can be pronounced with a hard or soft G

However, words with Germanic roots, such as gear, get, gift, give, etc. are pronounced with a hard G,  While words with Latin or Greek roots, such as gem, general, giraffe, giant, etc. are pronounced with a soft g.

due to the evidence provided, we can come to the conclusion that GIF is pronounced with a hard G.

with that  v e r y  n e c e s s a r y  bit of the blog-post out of the way.. lets dive into the other word in our title:

WHAT IS MEANT BY “PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE”?

“the conduct and work of someone from a particular profession. standards of ethics, performance, competence, insurance, training and so on that must be met to remain within the profession.”

in essence, Professional practice entails you, as an individual, developing a basic knowledge of behaviour that is standard within the chosen profession, you’re employed in.

this involves information-gathering procedures that are a part of the typical relationship between practitioners in that field and/or the people with whom they interact within that context.

Learning Outcomes

Demonstrate an enhanced understanding of contemporary professional working practice and the business environment of animation.

Demonstrate an enhanced awareness of your student journey developing skills and abilities as learners and professionals and reflect on those skills.

Display evidence of research skills, through the exploration of the animation industry.

Display evidence of self-promotion for employment in the animation industry.

Demonstrate enhanced employability skills such as initiative, communication, time management, independence, planning, presentation and professional behaviour.

[tipsycad147]

GETTING TO KNOW LYRE-LEAF SAGE

by Crooked Bear Creek Organic Herbs

Having fallen into disuse, this North American species is making a comeback thanks to some notable herbalists and a nod from the Herb Society of America.

Graceful, light-blue wildflowers border the roads and cover swaths of meadows in periwinkle, from the Mid-Atlantic to Missouri and from Florida to Texas. Known as “just a roadside weed” or invasive species, lyre-leaf sage has a lengthy history. A much-valued wild edible and medicinal plant of indigenous people, and a time-honoured remedy in the southern folk traditions, this North American sage has been chosen by the Herb Society of America as the Notable Native Herb of 2018.

Lyrata in the Garden

A beautiful, wild, flowering plant, lyre-leaf sage {Salvia lyrata} is part of the Lamiaceae {mint} family along with rosemary and oregano, and it’s closely related to garden sage {Salvia officinalsi}.

The only sage native to the United States, it has reportedly grown as far north as southern Connecticut but hasn’t been seen there for some time. Russ Cohen, Massachusets forager, educator, and author of Wild Plants I Have Known…And Eaten remarked that he has never knowingly encountered the plant during his extensive travels through New England. Bill Moorehead, consulting botanist and plant community ecologist in Litchfield, CT, clarified why lyrata may be rare in his state: “Salvia lyrata appears to have only ever been seen in Connecticut growing in one meadow. The latest Connecticut collections of it in the herbaria are from 1904.” He also notes that lyrata is now endangered in New York, and hasn’t been observed there since 1990.

Appearing delicate but actually quite hardy, lyre-leaf sage grows from a small basal rosette of eight-inch, dark green leaves. Young leaves are oval and hairy, later developing deep lobes that look similar to the shape of the lyre, a musical instrument, hence the plant’s distinct name. In some species, leaves have a burgundy or dark-purple trim. At least one {sometimes more} square, hairy stalks with occasional opposite leaves shoot up from the rosette and grow one to three feet tall. Alternating whorled flower buds develop on the stalk while it’s growing upward, and these bloom from the bottom to the top beginning in early April through June, depending on climate. Showy, elegant, one-inch tubular blossoms range from pale lavender-blue to deep violet and are a favourite of bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds that adore the pleasantly fragrant blossoms. The flowers consist of upper and lower “lips,” the lower being longer and making a perfect landing platform for bees and other pollinators. When flowers fade in fall, seed heads appear and the herb will reseed itself enthusiastically.

Lyre-leaf sage is a perennial and grows well in Zones 6 through 9. When planting, start seeds indoors six to eight weeks before the last hard frost. Transfer seedlings outdoors when they reach two to three inches high and the weather is continuously mild, planting 10 inches apart. Lyrata enjoys light, sandy, or medium loamy soils that drain well but can tolerate both dry and moist situations. It prefers full sun and open areas, though it will fare well in a little shade. The sunnier the spot, the deeper the flower colour. And they really do add striking color to all gardens, but be careful; in some states, lyrata is considered invasive and will spread rapidly. In general, the herb tolerates heat and over-watering.

Lyrata through the Ages

Salvia lyrata is considered a wild edible and medicinal plant. Like its cousin garden sage, it also has uses in the kitchen. The entire aerial part of the plant can be prepared as food. The leaves have a mild mint flavor that goes well tossed raw in salads or cooked like spinach and combined with other wild greens. The young leaves provide the most tender flavor, but lyrata is edible throughout its growing season, and this includes the blossoms, which add an elegant touch to any dish. The seeds can be ground and mixed with flour to make breads.

In his 1753 publication Species Planetarium Vol 1, Swedish ethnobotanist Carl Linnaeus gave the name of Salvia lyrata to this herb after the Latin salvare, “to save,” and the Greek musical instrument the lyra or lyre, referring to the shape of the leaves. Its other common names include meadow sage, cancerweed, and cancer root.

Lyre-leaf sage served as a staple food and medicine long before the Europeans arrived in North America. The Native American tribes of the South and Southeast, most notably the Catawba and Cherokee, used the entire plant as a source of nutrition and as valuable medicine for myriad illnesses, a knowledge they shared with the early settlers.

The Catawba tribe looked to the root as a salve for skin irritations, sores, and the treatment of the dark-red or black “spots” of early skin cancer lesions. The story goes that the Catawba saw how the plant spread so rapidly through the fields and likened it to how cancer spreads in or on the body, giving it the name “cancerweed” and “cancer root.”

The native tribes made a poultice for insect stings by grinding the aerial parts of the herb. To remove warts, they would apply freshly bruised leaves to the affected area, replacing them with new leaves every 12 hours until the wart dissolved.

The Cherokee employed this herb in medicine far more, preparing the aerial parts as an infusion for coughs, colds, sore throats, as a diaphoretic to treat fevers, and to combat diarrhoea {and, alternately, constipation}. Infused with honey, a syrup with lyrata leaves served as a treatment for asthma. Employed as a nervine and stimulant, the plant was administered as a general tonic to “weakly females,” possibly as a nervine for anxiety. This stimulant action was also recommended to people of a phlegmatic {calm but sluggish} disposition.

Modern Medicine

Lyre-leaf sage shares some of the same medicinal attributes as garden sage, but with milder effects. Medicinally, we use the entire plant. Harvest the aerial parts when they’re in full bloom and the seeds when seed heads appear. Pull the roots in autumn.

It appears that, for generations, folk medicine has looked to lyrata for its potent astringent and antiseptic qualities. Its ability to induce sweating made it a go-to-remedy for fevers, and it also provided warming, carminative action.

But as mostly an oral tradition, much of folk medicine’s knowledge about this herb hasn’t been written down; in fact, the last books to mention lyre-leaf sage as a medicine were written almost 80 years ago, with the herb largely forgotten as a result. Thankfully, several wonderful herbalists of the Southeast are able to confirm its use in traditional medicine and shed some light on how it’s administered in modern herbal practices.

Herbalist and licensed massage and bodywork therapist Janet Blevins of North Carolina are well acquainted with salvia lyrata’s traditional benefits, including the use of a root salve to heal mild cuts, scrapes, burns, and irritations. She also mentions its use as a gargling infusion, made from the aerial parts, as a remedy for sore throats.

Alicia Wornicov, Tennessee herbalist and founder of Teva Rose Herbs, confirms that lyrata grows prolifically in the Southeast United States and shares how she uses this versatile herb. “Like other sages, this species contains antimicrobial and antiseptic properties. It is also a great astringent and mild expectorant, providing a well-rounded arsenal against allergies, colds, wet coughs, and sore throats.” Wornicov will combine it with nettles, red clover, elderflower, and goldenrod for a very effective seasonal allergy remedy. Her most recent use; “Just yesterday, I had a scratchy throat, and it seemed to be swelling a little, so I picked a few leaves,” she explains. “After chewing the leaves for about three minutes, I stopped clearing my throat as much and didn’t have to do anything else {to relieve it}.” In late summer, she and her family collect the dry seed pods. “We powder the seed and use it for its powerful drawing properties. Splinters, glass, toxins, infection, poison ivy – whatever needs drawing from the skin, this does a quick job of it.”

Alabama native Phyllis D. Light, MA, herbalist, and author of the recently published Southern Folk Medicine: Healing Traditions from the Appalachian Fields and Forest, has extensive knowledge and experience with lyre-leaf sage. “I use a considerable amount of it,” she explains. “I use {the aerial parts} for recovery after serious illness. It helps restore vital energy…and it’s also good to help modulate the effects of stress.”

Light also turns to the plant for allergies, coughs, colds, and sore throat. She, too, mentions a salve made from the roots, with a slight variation on the name’s origin; “It was called cancer root because the little root nugget and the rootlets attached look like a tumour.” As she explains, the salve was considered a folk remedy for early skin cancers and part of an all-purpose preparation with other herbs like calendula.

Salvia lyrata is a mild but effective folk remedy. To date, there are no known contraindications, but if you’re pregnant, nursing, or on medications, consult a professional before using or simply avoid it altogether. Try some of these recipes using this native herb.

If you live in the Southeast, you’ll have a better chance of spotting this species in the wild. In this recipe, lyrata gets a little boost from mullein leaf, an effective anti-inflammatory, expectorant, and antiseptic. Elecampane also serves as an expectorant and a demulcent, relieving irritated mucous membranes. Its antitussive action suppresses coughs. Marshmallow root, a widely used demulcent and antiseptic, and wild cherry bark, another antitussive herb, provide soothing and expectorant relief, which is especially helpful for quieting persistent coughs and easing sore throats. Fresh is best but dried herbs will also work.

2 parts marshmallow root

1 part elecampane root

1 part wild cherry bark

3 parts lyrata leaves and blossoms

2 parts mullein leaf

Honey to taste

Start by decocting the marshmallow root, elecampane root, and wild cherry bark {using 2 ounces of herb per 1 quart of water}: place herbs and water in a pan, partly cover and simmer for 20-30 minutes or until the liquid is reduced by half. Remove from heat.

Next, to the hot mixture add in lyrata and mullein leaf {this will infuse the herbs}. Cover and steep for 15 minutes. Strain and reserve liquid. While still warm, add honey to taste. Let cool to room temperature, bottle, and refrigerate.

Syrup should last two weeks. If you’d like, add ginger root for warmth and/or valerian root or California poppy for night-time coughing.

Dosage: Take 1 full teaspoon three times a day. If you’re pregnant or nursing, check with a professional before using.

This is an allergy remedy based on a recipe from Alicia Wornicov. Lemon balm is added for an extra boost of antihistamine and calming action. Angelica root decreases the number of antibodies released when allergies are triggered, reducing the histamines that cause symptoms. Horehound, a time-honoured expectorant, relieves post-nasal drip. Use fresh herbs if available, but dried can work as a substitute.

2 parts lyrata leaves and blossoms

2 parts nettle

2 parts goldenrod

1 part lemon balm

1 part horehound

1 part angelica root

Fill a canning jar loosely with herbs. Cover with 100-proof vodka or raw apple cider vinegar to the top and cover {use a plastic cap}. Store in a cool, dark place for four to six weeks, shaking daily. Strain and bottle. Take 30 to 40 drops, three times a day. Do not use if you’re pregnant or nursing.

Herbal honey is a delicious remedy for coughs, allergies, and sore throats. Dry-wilt fresh lyrata leaves and blossoms several hours or overnight {or use dried}. Fill a canning jar loosely with plant material {add lemon balm or thyme for extra flavor and antiviral action} and cover with raw local honey. Fill to the top and cover. Place the jar on a warm, sunny windowsill for a week, turning daily. After a week, bottle and refrigerate for the best shelf life.

Use this remedy for minor cuts, bruises, burns, and skin irritations. Lyrata root blends well with other skin healing herbs like calendula, echinacea root, plantain leaf, and yarrow.

Lyrata root, chopped

Olive oil {extra-virgin, first cold press}

Beeswax

In a double boiler, place your desired quantity of lyrata root and cover with oil, adding another one or two inches of oil above. Heat on low for one to two hours. Strain through cheesecloth and retain oil. Add oil back to a pot and heat on low. To each cup of oil add 1/4 cup of grated beeswax {or more for a firm salve}. Pour into small containers or a canning jar and store in the refrigerator.

A mild lyrata sage tea is perfect for a simple infusion to ease a sore throat or as a calming evening beverage. Simply use 1 tablespoon per 8-ounce cup of boiling water. Steep 10 to 15 minutes. Sweeten with honey if desired. Drink one to three cups per day.

This multipurpose herb offers beauty in a garden, nutrition on your plate, and excellent medicine from root to blossom. Consider harvesting this North American native herb or planting your own.

https://crookedbearcreekorganicherbs.com/2018/07/04/getting-to-know-lyre-leaf-sage/

[der-unverantwortliche]

This time-structure — by its very nature — is nothing new. A futuristic recapitulation of archaic forms was already integral to Art Deco, Shanghai’s signature high-modernist style, which adopted archaeological and ethnographic discoveries — most vividly exemplified by Howard Carter’s 1922 Tutankhamun expedition — as sources of avant-garde architectural inspiration. The exposed secrets of buried crypts were metamorphosed into urban design.

Anna Greenspan & Nick Land

Yet his [Milton’s] institutional radicalism was driven by a cultural traditionalism that will never again be equaled. Milton comprehensively, minutely, and unreservedly affirms the foundations of Occidental civilization down to their biblical and classical roots, studied with supreme capability in Hebrew, Greek, and Latin, and vigorously re-animated through modulations in the grammar, vocabulary, and thematics of modernity’s rough emerging tongue. His devotion to all original authorities stretches thought and language to the point of delirium, where poetry and metaphysics find common purpose in the excavation of utter primordiality and the limits of sense.

Designed in compliance with “Eternal Providence” to “justify the ways of God to men” (I:25-6), the linguistic modernity of Paradise Lost soon required its own justification, in the form of a short prefatory remark entitled The Verse. Here, Milton characteristically insists that radicalism is restoration, breaking from a shallow past in order to re-connect with deeper antiquity.

“… true musical delight … consists only in apt numbers, fit quantity of syllables, and the sense variously drawn out from one verse into another, not in the jingling sound of like endings — a fault avoided by the learned ancients both in poetry and in all good oratory. The neglect then of rhyme so little is to be taken for a defect, though it may seem so perhaps to vulgar readers, that it rather is to be esteemed an example set — the first in English — of ancient liberty recovered to heroic poem from the troublesome and modern bondage of riming.”

English passes through a revolutionary catastrophe to recall things long lost. The rusted keys which still open the near future of the Cathedral also access dread spaces forgotten since the beginning of the world.

Nick Land

Apparently the Zeitgeist doesn't just work in one direction. What is this Zeitgeist, anyway? […] If we adopt a slightly more literal translation, we could call our mysterious phenomenon the Spirit of Time. And if we ignore the even more mysterious backward lurch from 1871 to 1913, and simply accept Professor Dawkins' interpretation of our Spirit's actions, we see that the Zeitgeist is a basically optimistic force. Its goal appears to be that history turns out for the better (again, defining better in terms of Universalist ethics).

Mecius Moldbug

No man can pretend that the wild, barbarous, and capricious superstitions of Africa, or of savage tribes elsewhere, affect him in the way that he is affected by the ancient, monumental, cruel, and elaborate religions of Indostan, &c. The mere antiquity of Asiatic things, of their institutions, histories, modes of faith, &c. is so impressive, that to me the cast age of the race and name overpowers the sense of youth in the individual. […] In China, over and above what it has in common with the rest of southern Asia, I am terrified by the modes of life, by the manners, and the barrier of utter abhorrence, and want of sympathy, placed between us by feelings deeper than I can analyze. I could sooner live with lunatics, or brute animals.

Thomas de Quincey

It is certainly a curious fact that so many of the voices of what is called our modern religion have come from countries which are not only simple, but may even be called barbaric. A nation like Norway has a great realistic drama without having ever had either a great classical drama or a great romantic drama. A nation like Russia makes us feel its modern fiction when we have never felt its ancient fiction. It has produced its Gissing without producing its Scott. Everything that is most sad and scientific, everything that is most grim and analytical, everything that can truly be called most modern, everything that can without unreasonableness be called most morbid, comes from these fresh and untried and unexhausted nationalities. Out of these infant peoples come the oldest voices of the earth.

G.K. Chesterton

Europa […] liegt heute in der großen Zange zwischen Rußland auf der einen und Amerika auf der anderen Seite. Rußland und Amerika sind beide, metaphysisch gesehen, dasselbe; dieselbe trostlose Raserei der entfesselten Technik und der bodenlosen Organisation des Normalmenschen. […] Unser Volk erfährt als in der Mitte stehend den schärfsten Zangendruck, das nachbarreichste Volk und so das gefährdetste Volk und in all dem das metaphysische Volk.

Martin Heidegger (1935)

In what follows I suggest that foundational notions of literature’s relationship to time and to politics are at stake in this ideological nexus developing around Poe and decadence in mid-twentieth century America. The uncertain possibility of literary progress and development within time which vexed decadent aesthetics was still (perhaps most?) in evidence in this period, haunting the remnants of the modernist project.

Yvor Winters, with whom Nabokov socialized several times in the early 1940s , wrote an essay entitled ‘Edgar Allan Poe: A Crisis in the History of American Obscurantism’ for American Literature in 1937, which constituted a sustained attack on the very idea of taking Poe seriously. The discourse of security and breach is immediately apparent in the essay, as Winters worries that the American literary establishment has failed in its job to safeguard the purity of the canon:

“Poe has long passed casually with me and with most of my friends as a bad writer accidentally and temporarily popular; the fact of the matter is, of course, that that he has been pretty effectually established as a great writer while we have been sleeping.”

The fear here is of a leak in time, which has permitted Poe to escape the supposedly safe confines of his historically-specific popularity to infiltrate the present.

Will Norman

[androidtvboxreview]

Vigica V5 TV Box Review By Android TV Box Review

Vigica V5 TV Box firmware and the launcher are generic for Amlogic Android devices, with big and nice tiles, like in Windows 8.1 Metro style. The ‘Setting’ menu gives you access to the settings shown in the same Metro-style with four submenus: Network, Display, Advanced and Other.

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vigica v5 tv box

Vigica V5 TV Box Connenction

Vigica V5 TV Box Connenctions

Display

The Network settings allow you to select Ethernet or Wi-Fi. The Display settings options: HDMI auto-detection resolution, HDMI output mode, hide or show the status bar, adjust the display position and screensaver. The Advanced menu will let you start Miracast, enable the software Remote control / Google TV Remote, adjust CEC control, set the screen orientation and select digital audio output (PCM, SPDIF pass-through, HDMI pass-through). The Other button will give some details about the Android version (4.4.2) and kernel version (3.10.33). There’s also an OTA System Update menu. You can access the standard Android settings by going through Setting->Other->More Settings.

Vigica V5

There are a lot of preinstalled applications, including Play Store and Google applications (apps). This firmware version has not root access or the root access is not properly configured. Vigica V5 Smart TV Box also supports Airplay and Miracast functions.

Hardware & Looks

The device has a rectangular shape with a black plastic on the front. At first, I thought that it would provide some info like date and time, playback e.t.c. Well, it didn’t but there is a function led showing when the device is powered on. If we flip it over we can see that it has ventilation holes which provide a cooler CPU working temperature

Software:

Vigica put the standard media box launcher on the V5 which is good because it provides a more simple approach to the Android operating system

Where to buy Vigica V5 TV Box

You can buy the Vigica V5 TV Box from GearBest, Amazon or Ebay

Amazon UK

  Amazon.com

  Buy from ebay.co.uk

Buy from EBay.com

  Buy from GearBest

Specification:

Brand: VIGICA Model: V5 Material: Plastic Form Color: White Operating System: Android 4.4.2 Chipset: Amlogic S805 CPU: Cortex-A5 Processor Frequency: 1.5GHz GPU: Quad Core Mali-450 Menu Language: English, Greek, Danish, Norwegian, Dutch, Arabic, Turkish, Japanese, Bahasa Indonesia, Korean, Thai, French, Maltese, Hungarian, Latin, Persian, Malay, Slovak, Czech, Greek, Romanian, Swedish, German , Finnish , Chinese Simplified , Chinese Traditional , Bulgarian , Norwegian , Hebrew , Italian , Spanish , Portuguese, Russian, Vietnamese, Polish

Storage

RAM/Memory Type: DDR3 SDRAM Built-in Memory / RAM: 1GB Storage: 8GB Max Extended Capacity: 64GB Supports Card Type: MicroSD (TF) External HDD: 2TB

Data Transfer

Wi-Fi: IEEE 802.11 b/g/n, Built-in AP6210 Wi-Fi + Bluetooth 4.0 Module Bluetooth Version: Bluetooth V4.0 3G Function: Yes Wireless Keyboard/Mouse: 2.4GHz

Media Supported

Audio Formats: MP3, APE, FLAC, OGG, AC3, AAC Video Formats: RM, PMP, AVC, FLV, VOB, MPG, DAT, MPEG, H.264, MPEG1, MPEG2, RMVB, MPEG4, WMV, TP, AVI, DIVX, MKV, MOV, HDMOV, MP4, M4V Audio Codecs: AC3, LPCM, FLAC, HE-AAC Video Codecs: MPEG-1, MPEG-2, MPEG-4, H.264, VC-1 Picture Formats: JPEG , BMP , PNG , GIF , TIFF , jps(3D) , MPO(3D) Subtitle Formats: MicroDVD [.sub] , SubRip [.srt] , Sub Station Alpha [.ssa] , Sami [.smi]idx+subPGS Output Resolution: 1080P

Connections

HDMI: 1.4 Audio Output: HDMI, 3.5mm stereo jack, AV Video Output: HDMI, AV USB: USB 2.0 Other Interface: 2 x USB 1 x F/PDIF digital audio 1 x HDMI 1.4 1 x AV OUT 1 x Micro SD card slot 1 x LAN

Power Supported

Adapter: EU Plug Power Supply: 100~240V, 12V / 1.5A

Other Features

Compatible Application: Facebook, Youtube, Skype, Netflix, XBMC, Hulu Other Features Architecture: 1080P, H.265, H.264, VC-1, MPEG1/2/4 OPENGL ES1.1/2.0 Strong Power Manage Unit(PMU) Linux Kernel: 3.10.33 DLNA: Digital Living Network Alliance Browser: Internet browse Play Store: Apps in Google Play Store Adobe Flash Player: V11.1 or later XBMC: Support

Dimensions & Weight

Dimensions: 7.09 in x 4.92 in x 1.5 in (18 cm x 12.5 cm x 3.8 cm) Weight: 8.54 oz (242 g)

Packing Content

1 x TV BOX 1 x English user manual HDMI Cable (150cm) 1 x Remote control (2 x AAA Batteries, NOT Included) 1 x AC adapter (115cm)

Vigica V5 TV Box Review Reviewed by Android TV Box review Vigica V5 TV Box Review By Android TV Box Review Vigica V5 TV Box firmware and the launcher are generic for Amlogic Android devices, with big and nice tiles, like in Windows 8.1 Metro style.

[spellpundit-blog]

                                           DIACRITICAL MARKS

A frequently asked question from any aspiring speller is “How do you know the correct pronunciation of a word?” The Merriam-Webster dictionary has a system of pronunciation symbols (also called diacritical marks or diacritics) that will tell you how to pronounce the word.  In any dictionary entry, the pronunciation symbols will be right next the spelling of the word.                      (You can find a complete list of all Merriam-Webster pronunciation symbols at http://unabridged.merriam-webster.com/info/pronsymbols.html ).

Learning all these symbols may be overwhelming for new spellers. In this post, we will break down this list of pronunciation symbols so you will become a master in reading diacritical marks!                Schwa (pronounced /shwä/): ?

One of the most common diacritics is the schwa, which looks like an upside-down e (?). This is a neutral vowel sound, pronounced like “uh,” as in banana, circus, and collect. This is often the hardest sound for a speller to figure out because it can be spelled with any vowel: a, e, i, o, u, or even y.

Short Vowel Sounds: a, e, i, o, and u

Whenever there is a plain vowel with no marks on it, it is pronounced with a short sound.

Short vowel sounds:

a- “aa” sound as in had or cap

e- “eh” sound as in set or head

i- “ih” sound as in mitten or sip

Macron (pronounced /ma-?krän/): a, e, i, o

A macron is a straight line ( - ) that is placed over a vowel. This symbol gives a vowel a long sound.

Long vowel sounds:

a- “ay” sound as in day

e- “ee” sound as in bead

i– “ii” sound as in site

o- “oh” sound as in snow

Diaeresis (also spelled dieresis, pronounced /di'er?s?s/):  ä and ü

A diaeresis is two dots (..) that are placed on top of a vowel. A diaeresis is used when the vowel ‘a’ or ‘u’ are pronounced like they are “stretched out”.

ä- “ah” sound as in bother or cot

ü- “oo” sound as in moose or rule or shoe

In German words, these two dots can also be called an umlaut. An umlaut is used when a German vowel is pronounced like a mix of two vowel sounds. One example is the word kummel, which is pronounced /kim?i/. Notice how the letter ‘u’ in kummel is pronounced like a short ‘i,’ that’s how an umlaut works.

Stress Symbols: ‘ and ,

Stress symbols tell you which syllable of the word has the most stress, or emphasis. If a syllable is stressed, that means you put some extra force or pressure as you say that syllable. Stressed syllables are pronounced slightly louder and longer than unstressed syllables.

The diacritical mark (‘) indicates primary stress. This means that you put the most stress, or emphasis, on the syllable that comes right after this mark.

The diacritical mark (,) indicates secondary stress. This means that the syllable after this sound also has some stress, but it is not as much as the primary stress.

Stress on the word can make all the difference in what it means. For example, the word “present” can have two different meanings depending on where you put the stress.             Additional Symbols:

?- “ng” sound as in sing

au?- “ow” sound as in out

o?i- “oy” sound as in boy                                                                  

Now let’s take a mini-test! Read the pronunciations and try to guess what the word is.

j?'ra|f

d?-'mä-kr?-se

nash-n?l

By learning how to read pronunciation symbols, you can learn how to correctly pronounce every word in the dictionary, which will help you in spelling bees. With some experience, you will be able to read these pronunciation symbols so quickly that they will become like a second language, and you will be able to practice words faster.

Please send your questions to spellpundit@gmail.com.

https://www.spellpundit.com

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https://www.spellpundit.com                                    INDO-EUROPEAN LANGUAGES

There are about 470,000 words in the Merriam-Webster dictionary. These words come from over 10,000 languages. The English language belongs to the Indo-European family of languages. As you can see in the map (Source: Western Oregon University) below, Indo-European languages are spoken all over the world. Because all of these languages came from one common language, you will see many similarities between words of different origins. You will also see many words in the dictionary that may have come from Sanskrit, then went into Norwegian, then into Old English.

The Indo-European language family (Source: The Human Mosaic, 10th Edition) is divided into many sub-groups, including Greek, Germanic, Romance, Slavic, Baltic, Celtic, Indic, Iranic, etc.

Many of the words that are asked in spelling bees come from this language family. Because the Indo-European language family makes up a high percentage of all the words in the dictionary, it is useful to learn the language patterns for all of these languages.

You will also see many words asked at spelling bees that come from languages that aren’t in the Indo-European family such as Austro-Asiatic, Finno-Ugric, Afro-Asiatic, Sino-Tibetan, Dravidian, etc. We will discuss these language families in another post.

https://www.spellpundit.com

[spellpundit-blog]

                               BEE WEEK 2018: WHAT TO EXPECT

The Scripps National Spelling Bee, a.k.a. “Bee Week,” begins today! If you qualified for the National Spelling Bee this year, congratulations and good luck! This blog post will let you know what to expect at Bee Week, and I give you my top 3 tips for the week.                           On Sunday, you will attend an orientation, where the National Spelling Bee (NSB) staff will give you a schedule for the week and some goodies. They will give you a BeeKeeper, which has a page with information about every speller at the Bee. When spellers meet, they will autograph each other’s BeeKeepers, which is one of the coolest traditions at the NSB.

Monday morning and afternoon is the Memorial Day BBQ. You will take a bus to a nearby park, where you can play around with other spellers and eat lots of good food. ESPN will also be doing some interviews here, so you might get a taste of the spotlight before competition even begins. The opening ceremony is in the evening, and this will get every speller excited for the bee to begin.

Get some sleep on Monday night, because Tuesday is a big day. The preliminaries test is at 8am in the morning, and then Round 2 of the preliminaries starts immediately after that (it will be broadcast on ESPN3 so your family and friends back home can watch). In the evening, Peter Sokolowski, the editor of the Merriam-Webster dictionary that the NSB gets their words from, will give a talk about his work at Merriam-Webster and how words in English were formed. I learned a lot from this presentation, and I highly recommend attending.                                     Wednesday is Round 3 of the preliminaries. At the conclusion of the preliminaries, you will receive an email with your score from the preliminaries test on Tuesday. The finalists will also be announced around this time. If you don’t qualify as a finalist, take some time to be sad, but definitely go out and support your finalist friends on Thursday. If you do qualify as a finalist, enjoy the moment and prepare yourself for a lot of media attention.

Thursday is a very big day for all the finalists. The morning finals start at 10 am, and they continue until there are 12 or less spellers remaining, who all move on to the evening finals. If you are an evening finalist, you will have a session with ESPN to make a short video about you, and then you will have a few hours to rest. Before the start of the finals, the NSB will provide you dinner and then you will get your hair and makeup done for TV. Enjoy being on ESPN Primetime, because you are (literally) one speller out of a million to get this opportunity. At the end of the night, and after many difficult words, the Scripps National Spelling Bee champion is crowned!

Friday is a great time to do some sightseeing and relax. The NSB offers a Washington, D.C. tour, but you can always stay back at the hotel to hang out with spellers or look around Oxon Hill. If you are the champion, you will spend all morning doing interviews with news channels all over America, In the evening is the awards banquet, where all spellers who competed are recognized for their accomplish-ments and Bee Week is officially concluded. Afterwards is the Farewell Party, which is my favorite part of the week. You can hang out with your speller friends on the dance floor or take funny pictures at the photo booth. The NSB closes the ballroom around midnight, but spellers will hang out around the hotel even after that.

Here are my overall tips for those at Bee Week:

1. MEET PEOPLE! You are in a hotel with over 500 people from all over the United States and the world. If you ever have some free time, go explore the hotel—there will always be spellers in the lobby, atrium, or ballroom area. Make sure you have your BeeKeeper with you, since it’s a great icebreaker and helps people identify you as a speller. Whenever you see a speller, ask them to sign your BeeKeeper and start a conversation with them! I’ve met some amazing people this way, and I still keep in touch with them, even 3 years after the Bee.

You can also make friends up on stage. Everyone at the NSB says, “You are competing against the dictionary, not each other,” and this is definitely true. You will be amazed at the camaraderie between all the spellers on stage, and since you will be next to them on stage for a few hours, you can definitely take the opportunity to start a conversation with them (I actually used this as a way to distract myself from being nervous).

Definitely take the time to meet some NSB alumni as well. We all love Bee Week so much that we come back year after year, even after we have “retired” from the Bee. These NSB alumni have all been in your shoes before and can offer you unique advice during the week. A lot of them are also very successful and they are going to amazing universities like Yale, Princeton, Brown, Columbia, etc., so you can ask them about that also!

2. Take care of yourself at Bee Week. There is so much happening that it’s easy to forget to eat food, drink water, and get sleep. Don’t spend all your time at the bee holed up in your hotel room to cram a lot of new words. You probably won’t remember these words later, and it will just stress you out more. If you do feel the need to study, review some easier words that you have seen before.

To do your best up on stage, make sure you drink lots of water, and have a snack during the breaks. The lights and cameras on stage can get overwhelming, so don’t forget to leave the stage during the breaks and walk around a little bit.

You have studied for long hours for this bee. Be calm and confident, do your best, and everything will work itself out.

3. Enjoy the NSB Experience as much as you can! The National Spelling Bee has lots of fun activities throughout the week, which are also great places to meet spellers. Go to as many of these events as possible and don’t forget to bring your BeeKeeper!                                               Oxon Hill is a beautiful town with lots of great places to sightsee and some amazing restaurants— take advantage of them when you have time. The Capitol Wheel (a Ferris wheel near the hotel) has a great view of Oxon Hill and the Potomac River. Oxon Hill is also very close to Washington, D.C., so you can visit the White House, Washington Monument, Lincoln Memorial, etc. if you haven’t been there before.

Bee Week is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, so enjoy it as much as possible. If you are still eligible next year, take a break from studying for a while, then start working so you can qualify again!

Once again, good luck to everyone competing and may the best speller win!

If you’re not able to attend the National Spelling Bee in person, you can still watch it on TV:

Preliminaries

Round 2 (May 29): 9:15 AM to 12:05 PM ET and 1-5:20 PM ET on ESPN3 Round 3 (May 30): 8 AM to 12:35 PM ET and 2-5:30 PM ET on ESPN3 Finals (May 31)

Morning Round: 10 AM ET on ESPN2 Evening Round: 8:30-10:30 PM ET on ESPN * You can test yourself on the words by watching the play-along version of the preliminaries on ESPN3 and the finals on ESPNU.

https://www.spellpundit.com

[spellpundit-blog]

                           SPELLPUNDIT 2018 SCRIPPS FINALISTS

Here are our spellers who made it to the 2018 Scripps finals:

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[spellpundit-blog]

  2018 SCRIPPS NATIONAL SPELLING BEE PRIMETIME FINALS WORDS                                                                  ANALYSIS

It was an exciting Bee! Congratulations to the 2018 National Spelling Bee Champion Karthik Nemmani and runner-up Naysa Modi, who are both SpellPundit students.

This year’s Scripps National Spelling Bee finals finished with 60 words. Every one of these words is in SpellPundit Spelling Modules Levels 1 through 4 or the New Online Words module (please refer to https://spellpundit.com/spellshakti/how-to-spelling/ for detailed descriptions about all the different SpellPundit modules).

Many of the words in the final rounds of the spelling bee are in the SpellPundit Level 3 Spelling module. A few examples are:

Cabalassou: a large armadillo

Paillasson: coarsely woven natural or synthetic straw used for hats

Bewusstseinslage: a state of consciousness or a feeling devoid of sensory components

Shamir: a very hard precious stone believed to have been used in building Solomon’s temple

Gelinotte: a European woodland grouse related to the American ruffed grouse

Bundestag: an assembly of representatives of a federation

The following are word asked in the National Spelling Bee finals that are in the SpellPundit New Online Words Module:

Mnemosyne: the Greek goddess of memory and mother of the Muses by Zeus

Loratadine: a long-acting, nonsedating antihistamine drug taken orally to relieve symptoms of seasonal allergic rhinitis and chronic urticaria

Pareidolia:  the tendency to perceive a specific, often meaningful, image in a random or ambiguous visual pattern

Ankyloglossia: limited normal movement of the tongue chiefly due to an abnormally shortened frenulum :  tongue-tie

There were a few homonyms (such as aalii and telyn) asked at this year’s Bee, which are in the new SpellPundit Homonyms module.

There were a few words based on roots, which are found in the SpellPundit Roots Modules:

Succiniferous: bearing amber

succin- (amber) + -iferous (bearing or producing or yielding)

Lophophytosis: a contagious skin disease found in birds that is caused by a fungus occurring in man on hairy surfaces that become covered with yellowish crusts

lopho- (crest, tuft, or comb) + phyt- (plant) + -osis (abnormal or diseased condition)

Ecchymosis: the escape of blood into the tissues from ruptured blood vessels

ec- (out) + chym- (juice) + -osis (abnormal or diseased condition)

Pseudepigrapha: spurious words purporting to emanate from biblical characters

pseud- (false) + epi- (upon) + graph (to write)

Overall, there was an interesting mix of words asked at this year’s National Spelling Bee. SpellPundit’s modules can help you learn all the words you need to know to become a primetime finalist, and even bring home the trophy!

https://www.spellpundit.com

[spellpundit-blog]

DIFFERENCES BETWEEN THE MERRIAM-WEBSTER PRINT AND ONLINE                                                        DICTIONARIES

In 2017, the Scripps National Spelling Bee transitioned from the print version of the Merriam-Webster Third New International dictionary (which is also the CD ROM version) to the online Unabridged dictionary (unabridged.merriam-webster.com).

This blog post will discuss the differences between these two versions of the dictionaries so you are familiar with the changes.

Pronunciation of Words

There are some slight differences in pronunciation between the two versions of the dictionary. Some examples are:

WordPrint/CD DictionaryOnline Dictionary

mattockmad.ǝk, -atǝkˈmatək, -atək

tareta(a)](ǝ)r, ‘te], ]ǝˈter

flairfla(a)](ǝ)r, ‘fle], ]ǝˈfler

squareskwa(a)](ǝ)r, -we], ]ǝˈskwer

aerolithologya(ǝ)(͵)rōli’thälǝjē¦er-ə-li-¦thä-lə-jē

airbusa(a)(ǝ)r͵bǝsˈer-ˌbəs

revertrə̇’vǝr]t, rē’-, -vӛ], -vǝi], usu ]t+Vri-ˈvərt

redressrə̇’dres, rē’-ri-ˈdres

steersti(ǝ)r, -iǝˈstir

boardbō(ǝ)rd, -ȯ(ǝ)rd, -ōǝd, -ȯ(ǝ)dˈbȯrd

forthfō(ǝ)rth, ‘fȯ(ǝ)rth, ‘fōǝth, ‘fȯ(ǝ)thˈfȯrth

coarsekō(ǝ)rs, -ȯ(ǝ)rs, -ōǝs, -ȯ(ǝ)sˈkȯrs

pandapandǝ, ‘paan-ˈpan-də

forthfō(ǝ)rth, ‘fȯ(ǝ)rth, ‘fōǝth, ‘fȯ(ǝ)thˈfȯrth

answeran(t)sǝ(r), ‘aan-, ‘ain-, ‘ån-ˈan(t)-sər

Note: While the print dictionary has the diacritical symbol /d./, the online dictionary has replace this with /t/.

Some words have different alternative pronunciations between the two dictionaries. Here are some of these words:

WordPrint/CD DictionaryOnline Dictionary

jacanajakənəjə-ˈkä-nə, ˌzhä-sə-ˈnäⁿ

chelatorkē͵lātǝ(r)ˈkē-ˌlā-tər; kē-ˈlā-tər also chē-

sleazyslēzē, -ziˈslē-zē also ˈslā-

archenteron(‘)ärk.’entǝ͵rän(ˈ)är-ˈken-tə-ˌrän, -rən

raptorerap͵tō(ǝ)rˈrap-tər, -ˌtȯr

Aristotelian¦arə̇stǝ¦tēlyǝn, ¦a͵ris-, -lēǝn also ¦er- or ǝ¦ris- or a¦ris-¦a-rə-stə-¦tēl-yən

ctenophoretenǝ͵fō(ǝ)rˈte-nə-ˌfȯr

omȯmˈōm, ˈȯm

flotsamflätsǝm    -lōt-ˈflät-səm

luxelǝksˈlu̇ks, ˈləks, ˈlüks

leopoldvilleˈlē-ə-ˌpōld-ˌvilˈlē-ə-ˌpōld-ˌvil, ˈlā-

crevallekrǝ’valē, -lǝ, -lākri-ˈva-lē

aminophyllineǝ͵mēnō’fi͵lēn, |amǝ͵nō’-; ͵amǝ’näfǝ͵-ˌa-mə-ˈnä-fə-lən

leipziglīpsi]g, -sē]ˈlīp-sig, -sik

Spelling

Some words are spelled differently between both dictionaries, such as:

Print/CD DictionaryOnline Dictionary

amiziliaamazilia

bogshabogshah

vilnyusvilnius

New Online Words

The online dictionary has a lot of new words that the print dictionary did not have. Scripps has asked a lot of these new online words in their bees, such as xylorimba, turducken, mizuna, and Beringia. In fact, a few of these new words were asked at the National Spelling Bee in 2017, such as arribada, clafouti, Bruneian, and bucatini.

SpellPundit is one of the only study resources that has completely incorporated all the spelling/pronunciation changes in the online dictionary. Our New Online Words Module has with over 4000 words for spellers to learn these words and test themselves.

https://www.spellpundit.com

[spellpundit-blog]

North America Spelling Bee Champion Challenge (NASCC)Most of the top spellers at the North America Spelling Champion Challenge were SpellPundit students! In both the East Coast (held in Towson, MA) and West Coast (held in Riverside, CA) competitions, both the winner and runner up were SpellPundit students. These spellers acknowledge that SpellPundit resources have been invaluable in preparing for the bees!SPELLPUNDIT STUDENTS’ WINNING STREAK CONTINUES: SUMMER 2018

SpellPundit students’  winning streak continues! As you may know, at the 2018 Scripps Nationals, four of the top five spellers were SpellPundit Students.

2018 Scripps Spelling Bee: Karthik Nemmani (1st place), Naysa Modi (2nd place), Jashun Paluru (3rd place) and Navneet Murali (5th place) all used SpellPundit study materials.

SpellPundit students continued to win major spelling competitions this summer.

South Asian Spelling Bee (SASB)

Another SpellPundit student, Sohum Sukhatankar, won the South Asian Spelling Bee in Edison, NJ and took home a cash prize of $3,000. Sohum extensively used SpellPundit resources to prepare for this competition.

Other SASB Regional Champions and 1st Runner-Ups (Maya Jadhav, Rishik Ghandhasri, Vayun Krishna, Christopher Serrao, Srivarun Hathwar, Rohan Raja, and Nitya Kathiravan) also used SpellPundit resources to prepare for this competition.

North South Foundation (NSF)

Most of the top 10 Spelling and Vocabulary Bee ranks were achieved by SpellPundit students.

2018 NASCC Spelling Bee East Coast: Paul Hamrick (1st place), Ashrita Gandhari (2nd place)

2018 NASCC Spelling Bee West Coast: Cameron Keith (1st place), Aisha Randhawa (2nd place)

The NASCC champions received $2,000 prize money and an all-expenses-paid trip to Beijing, China!

https://www.spellpundit.com

[spellpundit-blog]

                                                       HOMONYMS

https://www.spellpundit.com