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The BFD Word of the Day

The BFD Word of the Day

The word for today is… keelhaul (verb) – 1 : to haul under the keel of a ship as punishment or torture 2 : to rebuke severely Source : Merriam -Webster Etymology : In the mid-1600s, British monarchs were intent on using their powerful navy to expand their empire. Insubordination was not tolerated, and mutinous

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The BFD Word of the Day

The BFD Word of the Day

The word for today is… sloth (noun) – 1a : disinclination to action or labor b : spiritual apathy and inactivity 2 : any of various slow-moving arboreal edentate mammals (genera Bradypus and Choloepus) that inhabit tropical forests of South and Central America, hang from the branches back downward, and feed on leaves, shoots,

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Nuclear Reactor Explosions and Excursions

Nuclear Reactor Explosions and Excursions

Marc Grey Despite being one of the safest types of energy generation, there is a common perception that nuclear power is dangerous. Probably the most common view about nuclear power danger is that a reactor may explode. In this article, we explore what type of explosions can occur and along

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The BFD Word of the Day

The BFD Word of the Day

The word for today is… lothario (noun) – a man whose chief interest is seducing women Source : Merriam -Webster Etymology : Lothario comes from The Fair Penitent (1703), a tragedy by Nicholas Rowe. In the play, Lothario is a notorious seducer, extremely attractive but beneath his charming exterior a haughty and unfeeling

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The Solution to Systemic Racism Is… Apartheid!

The Solution to Systemic Racism Is… Apartheid!

Why aren’t the protesters who turned out in force to protest racial inequality by rejecting the 1981 Springbok tour filling the streets and protesting racial inequality here in 2021? They were fired up about injustice to black South Africans back then and are now ominously silent about white New

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The BFD Word of the Day

The BFD Word of the Day

The word for today is… kerfuffle (noun) – : a disturbance or commotion typically caused by a dispute or conflict Source : Merriam -Webster Etymology : Fuffle was first used in Scottish English, as early as the 16th century, as a verb meaning “to dishevel.” The addition of the prefix car- (possibly derived from

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Dark Mofo Gets Cut on Its Own Edge

Dark Mofo Gets Cut on Its Own Edge

Tasmania’s annual Dark Mofo winter arts festival would be better named the “Look at Me, I’m so EDGY!” festival. The brainchild of the poker millionaire who founded the Mona gallery in Hobart, it’s of a piece with the “edgy” art gallery: a whole lot of attention-seeking tat

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The BFD Word of the Day

The BFD Word of the Day

The word for today is… underwhelm (verb) : to fail to impress or stimulate Source : Merriam -Webster Etymology : Overwhelm and its rare synonym “whelm” have both been around since the 14th century, but “underwhelm” first appeared in print in 1949. Both “overwhelm” and “whelm” are derived from the Middle English “whelmen,

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The BFD Word of the Day

The BFD Word of the Day

The word for today is… toady (noun) – : one who flatters in the hope of gaining favors : sycophant Source : Merriam -Webster Etymology : In 17th-century Europe, a toadeater was a showman’s assistant whose job was to make the boss look good. The toadeater would eat (or pretend to eat) what were

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When the Worm Turns

When the Worm Turns

Tova O’Brien has been the Prime Minister’s cheerleader for quite some time. That was until yesterday. Now she is accusing Jacinda Ardern of breaking promises, and has turned into a scold: Jacinda Ardern effectively introduced a capital gains tax (CGT) today, breaking one of the biggest promises of

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The BFD Word of the Day

The BFD Word of the Day

The word for today is… anodyne (adjective) – 1 : serving to alleviate pain 2 : not likely to offend or arouse tensions : innocuous Source : Merriam -Webster Etymology : Anodyne came to English via Latin from Greek an?dynos (“without pain”), and it has been used as both an adjective and a noun (“something

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It Takes Big Energy to Back up Wind and Solar

It Takes Big Energy to Back up Wind and Solar

David Wojick cfact.org David Wojick, Ph.D. is an independent analyst working at the intersection of science, technology and policy. Power system design can be extremely complex but there is one simple number that is painfully obvious. At least it is painful to the advocates of wind and solar

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The BFD Word of the Day

The BFD Word of the Day

The word for today is… vanilla (noun, adjective) – noun 1a : vanilla bean b : a commercially important extract of the vanilla bean that is used especially as a flavoring 2 : any of a genus (Vanilla) of tropical American climbing epiphytic orchids adjective 1 : flavored with vanilla 2 : lacking distinction : plain, ordinary,

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The BFD Word of the Day

The BFD Word of the Day

The word for today is… voracious (adjective) – 1 : having a huge appetite : ravenous 2 : excessively eager : insatiable Source : Merriam -Webster Etymology : Voracious is one of several English words that derive from the Latin verb vorare, which means “to eat greedily” or “to devour.” “Vorare” is also an ancestor of “devour”

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Locked down but Freed Up

Locked down but Freed Up

Daniel Bernardus Augusto Silberstein mercatornet.com Daniel Bernardus writes from the Netherlands. He teaches biology at Amsterdam University College and is the director of Leidenhoven College, a collegiate hall of residence. He blogs at danielbernardus.com. (Daniel Bernardus is the pen name of Daniel Bernardus van Schalkwijk.) Augusto Silberstein is

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