#todd blackledge

[fanapparelsouvenirs]

Penn State Nittany Lions Authentic Nike Jersey, Size Large, Todd Blackledge BUY IT NOW – Penn State Nittany Lions Authentic Nike Jersey, Size Large, Todd Blackledge

[newsdock]

Why So Blue? Tarantula's Cool Color Is Still a Mystery

Known as photonic nanostructures, the itsy-bitsy structures reflect blue light, turning a creepy-crawly arachnid into something resembling an eight-legged Cookie Monster. Scientists have known about the tarantula'slight-scattering hairs for some time, but a recent study took a closer look at the nanostructures that make so many spiders in the family Theraphosidae appear blue. The study found that the blue-reflecting nanostructures are unlikely to have evolved as a result of sexual selection, which is often responsible for the bright colors that distinguish closely related species. http://dlvr.it/CvzY32

[linusjf]

Todd Blackledge: The Six W's

Todd Blackledge: The Six W’s

“The Six W’s: Work will win when wishing won’t.”

—Todd Blackledge.

http://www.gettyimages.com/detail/157994353

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[newsdock]

Black Widows' Bad Rap: 4 Misconceptions About the Spider

One woman's snack break turned sour this week when she reached into a bag of grapes and felt the bite of a venomous black widow spider. Believe it or not, black widow spiders don't want to live inside your bag of grapes. If you happen to find one of these critters in your grocery bag, you can bet the arachnid got there by accident, said Catherine Scott, an arachnologist at Simon Fraser University in British Columbia, Canada. http://dlvr.it/B2H0vb

[geminiminustwin]

The Six W's

Work will win when wishing won't. -Todd Blackledge

[ryearick]

Another Blast from the Past

Here's the column from the January 2012 issue of Out & About Magazine:

The War on Words

By Bob Yearick

A monthly column in which we attempt, however futilely, to correct some of the most common mistakes we Americans make in both the written and spoken word.

Literally of the Month

Mika Brezinski, she of MSNBC “Morning Joe” fame, was literal-ing all over a recent broadcast. Example: “Newt Gingrich is literally on his high horse.” Reminder to Mika: Literally means “actually, really.” Given his considerable girth, I would hope that Newt does not ride horses, high or otherwise.

Penn State Fallout

One upside (?) of the Sandusky scandal at my alma mater is that it has produced some fodder for “War.” To wit:

 The usually impeccable Time magazine joined countless callers to sports talk shows in misusing “alumni.” In an article skewering Penn State, Time reported: “Matt Paknis, like Paterno an alumni of Brown University …” It’s alumnus for male graduates, as we have pointed out several times. A woman would be an alumna. All women graduates are alumnae, the combined body of graduates are alumni, as are male graduates as a group. Bottom line: an individual is never an alumni.

            A friend overheard a student refer to the “alleged allegations” against Sandusky. Talk about redundant redundancies.

            And finally, another usually pristinely-edited publication, The New York Times, referred to Penn State as “Penn” twice – once in the headline and once in the body of Maureen Dowd’s column. Needless to say, Penn grads were quick to point out the difference.

Media Watch

The apostrophe fairy was loose again at Spark, leaving one random dropping at the end of noggin, as in “Keep your noggin’ warm . . .” thus incorrectly implying that the actual word – a synonym for head -- is “nogging.”

Also, in a movie review, the weekly that covers the local young adult entertainment scene reported that “Maria Anna Mozart was apparently quite the musician until her little brother showed up on the scene and regulated her to become background music.”

The word the reviewer should have used is relegated, and this unwieldy phrase should have read “relegated her to background music.”

Department of Redundancies Dept.

            Todd Blackledge, college football analyst, recently noted that one team was trying to force the opposing quarterback into making “an errant mistake.” Ah, those network sports analysts. Remember baseball’s Tim McCarver saying that the Phillies had come off “a respite of rest”?

  Quash/Squash

            We heard someone refer to a rumor that had been “squashed.” You quash rumors, hopes, aspirations. You squash insects.

Most Misused Punctuation Mark?

            War has always claimed that the apostrophe is the most misused punctuation mark, and we still hold to that principal, mainly because people insist on using it to form plurals. But we think a close second would be placing the period and comma outside quotation marks. It seems to be universal, especially in emails and texts. We will grant that it may seem counterintuitive to write “He went to the store.” In England, in fact, that would be correct. But we’re in the good ‘ol USA, so make sure to put periods and commas inside the quotes!

Word of the Month

equable

Pronounced EK-wuh-buhl, it’s an adjective meaning not easily upset, tranquil.

    Bonus Word of the Month

verisimilitude

Pronouncedver-uh-si-MIL-i-tood, it’s a noun meaning the quality of appearing true or real, or something that has that appearance.

    Seen or heard a good (bad) one lately? Send your candidates to [email protected].

And get your copy of The War on Words at outandaboutnow.com. Click on “Shop.”

[life-itself-is-a-quotation-blog]

Work will win when wishing won't.

Todd Blackledge

[brentguffy-blog]

Rest in Peace Jospeh Vincent Paterno   "Obviously I know the cancer took its toll. The treatment took its toll and had a part to play in it. His age and his frailty had a part to play in it. But I think, as much as anything else, Joe Paterno died of a broken heart. I think there were a lot of people that had a part to play in that, whether it be the board of trustees and the way they handled his situation or even the media and the way they covered everything over the last several months. I just think that that was as much a part of him dying as anything else, and that hurts my heart.” - Todd Blackledge, former Quarterback for Penn State