'Integrity' Tops Web Dictionary's Lookups

'Integrity' Tops Web Dictionary's Lookups
By ADAM GORLICK, Associated Press Writer

In a year filled with political wrangling, natural disasters and pop culture curiosities, Americans turned to Merriam-Webster to help define it all.

Filibuster. Refugee. Tsunami. Each was among the dictionary publisher's 10 most frequently looked-up words among some 7 million users of its online site.

But topping the list is a word that some say gives insight into the country's collective concern about its values: Integrity.

The noun, formally defined as a "firm adherence to a code" and "incorruptibility," has always been a popular one on the Springfield-based company's Web site, said Merriam-Webster president John Morse. But this year, the true meaning of integrity seemed to be of extraordinary concern. About 200,000 people sought its definition online.

"I think the American people have isolated a very important issue for our society to be dealing with," Morse said. "The entire list gives us an interesting window that opens up into what people are thinking about in their lives."

Ralph Whitehead, a journalism professor at the University of Massachusetts, said it may indicate the continuing discussion about American values and morality, or perhaps that integrity itself is becoming scarce so its definition is unfamiliar.

"You hope integrity is a word everyone understands," he said.

No. 10 on the list is "inept," a word that Morse said was getting a lot of attention in the days after President Bush delivered a live prime time news conference that came to an awkward end when some television networks cut him off to return to their regularly scheduled programs.

Sandwiched between "integrity" and "inept" is a cluster of nouns and an adjective or two obviously plucked from the headlines.

"Tsunami" jumped in popularity after one ravaged countries along the Indian Ocean last December, while "levee" and "refugee" are linked to the Hurricane Katrina disaster. Interest in the definition of the latter word — "one that flees; especially: a person who flees to a foreign country or power to escape danger or persecution" — grew after media organizations including The Associated Press were criticized for using it to describe hurricane victims.

"Filibuster" gained in popularity as Democrats threatened to use it to block federal judicial nominees, and "contempt" drew plenty of attention when former New York Times reporter Judith Miller was jailed for refusing to reveal a source in the CIA leak case.

The election of a new pope following the death of John Paul II left thousands wondering exactly what a conclave is, and news about the spread of infectious diseases brought up the term "pandemic."

But the Top 10 list is by no means an indication that Americans were curious or baffled only by weighty topics.

Immediately after Simon Cowell, the acid-tongued host of the popular television show "American Idol," called one aspiring singer "insipid," Merriam-Webster noticed a dramatic spike in the number of lookups for the word, which the dictionary defines as "lacking in qualities that interest, stimulate or challenge: dull, flat."

"This guy hit exactly the right word for the performance and it resonated," Morse said. "People engaged the word, but they asked themselves `what does it exactly mean?'"
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On the Net:http://www.merriam-webster.com

Today's Quote

Today's Quote

One of God's arrangements is that after winter there should come beautiful spring days. It happens every year and it happens in every life.

-Father Joseph

The first time I remember my Dad hearing this tune on the Grand Ole Opry show on WSM radio, Nashville....

I can remember still my dad.... plain as day... years and years ago. We lived at Yukon, and had just moved to the farm south of town with the big lake on it. We rented it from the Mulvey's in Yukon, and the owner, Martin and my dad become life long friends. Martin's son Mike is a home builder in Stillwater, becoming the one most sought after to build the nicer homes. Anyway, .... Dad had a radio in the south end of the milk barn .... the cows would come in the east door, heading west and would line up this way .... their bodies east to west and the manager would be running north south, so the cows would be standing east to west... in a line from north to south. There was a four foot walkway behind the cows, and a three foot manager walkway that mom and I feed the cows on .. getting feed out of the feed bin on the north west end of the walkway. We had a steel gallon can to measure it with and it was from Purina Mills. It was a gift to my dad from the Ross and Sons feed store in El Reno. It was cherished and we still have the can. It had holes at the quarter markings on the side, and my Uncle Mervil welded them shut so the minerals would not fall out of it. He also made the "feed cart" that is in the south end of the Quonset barn at Mom's today. We used that cart to push feed in front of the cows at Yukon... and the can to measure it out. In those days, we sold cream to Gold Spot Dairy in Enid, OK.
Dad would hang the surgical strap over the cows back, the milker would hang under it and attach to the cows. Then when the cow was done milking, he would pour the milk into a stainless milk bucket and Mom and I would carry it to the milk house, just south of the milk barn. In there we would pour the milk into the top of the separator and turn the crank and the cream comes out of one spout and the whey came out the other spout. We would start filling a ten gallon can with cream. Dad would come in after we had a couple of gallon in it and pick it up and place it over in a big milk cooler with cold water in it that kept the cream just above freezing... (nice place to stick watermelon in the summer time for that almost frozen, just right temp watermelon... Smiling..)... When we were done milking, Dad would carry the whey in five gallon buckets about 300 yards to the pigs, who cleaned it up! The cream.. when the cans were full and we had from 4 to 6 cans, we would haul to the train depot in El Reno and we would park by the curb and someone would pull out a big tall cart that we placed the cans on, and then they would be put on board the train for their trip to Enid, and then we would pick up our empties from the train and head back to Yukon. If I remember right, each can fetched us $9.00 We received our cream checks every two weeks, and it was a God send to us! Long story short...
music has always been part of my life. From my earliest memories, what stands out is how much my Dad loved to hear folks sing and he loved to sing himself, however, he did not always want folks to hear him, haha. We always listened to the radio... Earliest memories do not have a TV in them. We finally got one before we left Yukon for Stillwater...
But I can remember Dad always singing gospel songs... Southern gospel with a neat upbeat... and how much those songs meant to him. They seemed to guide him and his life. I am not sure if he realized how much they in fact did guide him. He was a very spiritual man, a very simple man who truly loved life and want the best for everyone around him, and never expected nor asked for a thing for himself. He never carried money. NEVER! I can only remember only one time in his life, in my memory, that he had money in his wallet. About a year before he died, I took him to Oliver's to get a hair cut, and Mom handed him a $10.00 bill and he put it in his wallet! I asked him later how it felt to have money in his wallet .. and he remarked.. "It's ok. Can't believe your mother let me have it!", he said. He was beaming!!
Ok... sorry, I digress.... the purpose of this is to set the stage for this song by Hank Williams. It was being played for the first time in early 1952, "Wild Side of Life". .... We had just had a man bring us a half ton of coal that we burned for our winter heat in a big round coal fired stove in the living room of our home... It cost us $15.00, and Mom and Dad were outside standing by the pile of coal, and Mom was having a fit about how much it cost (some things never changed .... haha) and he just turned and started singing Hank's new song "Wild Side of Life" and mom came unglued.. that was a terrible song to be singing in front of me and MK. Terrible, sinful, degrading... and on and on.. Dad just smiled and headed for the barn.. haha... singing ... Wild Side of Life. It was the first time I had heard it... so of course I listened to it anytime I could to learn the tune... There are lots more stories around Hank and his music and his influence on my father, but will save for another time and place..haha...
Enjoy the tune.. And have a great day!
An untold part of this story is ... Hank Williams had a live radio show on Nashville, WSM AM radio, that we could hear sometimes when the weather, and clouds were just right, and on that show, Hank had 15 minutes each week. It was sponsored by Mother's Best Flour and called the Hank Williams Mothers Best Flour Hour. Hank always had one song, and than talked about things of interest and always closed it out with a gospel song. My Dad loved Hank's Gospel Music! I mean he would smile ear to ear when he heard it, even in the last of his years... if you wanted to see the ole Dad pop out... just set and talk with him about Hank and his gospel tunes... He and Mom would get into some heated discussions about Hank.. and his music.. Mom saw it as sinful, Dad seemed to overlook the sinful side for the religious side... sort of made it ok... and it seemed to this youngster that example of Dad's was awesome. You could always find good in folks, not matter how bad or evil they were, by looking and finding it. This lesson has followed me my whole life and is one of the things Dad and I talked about in his last weeks on this earth. In some ways, I am like my father, in that I seem to like everyone, not matter the cost... let folks charge to me in the store when I knew in my heart I would never be paid back.. etc. because of this lesson. God blessed me with a truly wonderful wife and best friend, Ann, and four of the greatest kiddos on the face of this earth, and now three awesome in-laws and four fantastic grand kiddos... and not only did he bless me with them, but in some ways he allowed me to prosper... Perhaps it is because of this lesson... from Dad. Do unto others as you would have them do unto you... always looking for the best in folks! Dad, I know you are smiling down on us, and love us deeply, as we still love you. While you are missed daily, and especially in this season, we .... are .... because of you!

My love to all... enjoy the day!

burning corn to stay warm ...

burning corn to stay warm ...

FYI, something I'd not heard of ... I suppose they try not to use
popcorn ...
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As US heating costs spiral to all-time highs, American homeowners are
turning to burning corn in special stoves to reduce their energy
bills. Sales of corn-burning stoves have tripled this year and
distributors across the country have been sold out for weeks.

"We are actually taking deposits for products for next fall - it's
all you can do," said Ed Hiscox, owner of furnace retailer Hiscox
Sales and Service in Valparaiso, Indiana, in the middle of the US
corn belt.

"We have customers from very high-end homes to people who are not
really in any financial condition at all. It doesn't seem to make a
difference - everyone has problems with gas prices."

Once relegated to farmhouses and cabins, corn-burning and more common
wood-burning stoves began growing in popularity four years ago among
environmentally-minded consumers interested in cheaper and renewable
energy sources.

But the real run began this fall when natural gas prices doubled and
hurricanes slashed refinery production in the Gulf Coast, causing
prices of heating oil to jump.

With natural gas prices shooting to a record high Thursday and oil
prices back above 60 dollars a barrel, corn -- the price of which
steadily dropped this year -- has become downright cheap as a heating
fuel.

That has meant a boom for sellers of efficient corn-burning stoves,
with demand far outstripping supply, according to the largest US
producer of the stoves.

"We've been sold out for almost six months," said Mike Haefner,
president of Minnesota-based American Energy Systems. "We're going to
be building eight times as much next year just to try to keep up, but
we already have 50 percent of that sold."


Haefner said there were about 65,000 corn stoves sold in the US last
year. He expects about 150,000 will be sold this year and at least
350,000 next year.

Even with a retail price of 1,600 to 3,000 dollars, the stoves often
pay for themselves within a year or two.

"The savings are phenomenal," said Haefner.

Corn-generated heat costs less than a fifth of the current rate for
propane and about a third of electrical heat, according to Haefner.
Homeowners report savings of anywhere from 600 to 1,500 dollars a
year, he said.

Because of the space needed to store the dried corn kernels burned in
the stoves, they are more popular in rural communities and suburbs
than in big cities.

But distribution systems are evolving and Haefner is confident the
market will continue to expand.

"About five years ago we proved corn could be anywhere - we put a
corn silo up in Takoma Park, Maryland and you can see our nation's
capital from it," Haefner said. "These things are popping up all over
the country."

Turkey farmer Rick Undesser doesn't have to go far to get corn for
his stove.

"We grow our own corn so it's kind of handy to have," Undesser told
AFP in a recent interview at his Bristol, Illinois farm. "It starts
real easy and it keeps us real warm."

Undesser bought the corn stove about three years ago to help cut down
on his propane bills for his sprawling 3,500 square foot home.

The fact that it looks great next to his handcrafted furniture and
hunting trophies is just a bonus.