Italics and Quotation Marks

When to use italic type and quotation marks

In typography, italic type is a cursive typeface based on a stylized form of calligraphic handwriting.

Italicize titles of works that are produced separately from other works, such as books, plays, periodicals, movies, etc.

I have seen Star Wars three times.

I subscribe to the Washington Post.

Have you read The Age of Innocence?

NOTE: Notice in the last example how the question mark is NOT italicized. Do not italicize a punctuation mark unless it is part of the title.

Quotation marks or inverted commas (informally referred to as quotes or speech marks)[1] are punctuation marks at the beginning and end of a quotation, direct speech, literal title, or name.

Quotation marks can also be used to indicate a different meaning of a word or phrase than the one typically associated with it, and are often used to express irony. Quotation marks are sometimes incorrectly used to provide emphasis in lieu of other typographic means.

Use quotation marks for all other titles (songs, essays, articles, etc.)

The Beatles’ album, Revolver, contains the song "Dr. Robert."

We read Keats’ poem "Ode on a Grecian Urn" in class this week.

Lunar eclipse on June 15 to be visible in India

One of the longest total lunar eclipses will occur on the night of June 15 2011 (Wednesday) and be visible everywhere in India.

A lunar eclipse occurs when the earth's shadow falls on the moon.

This can only happen on a full moon night when the sun is on one side of the earth and the moon on the opposite side. If these three celestial bodies get aligned in straight line on a single plane, a lunar eclipse occurs.

The sunlight when blocked by the earth will not fall on a full moon, leading to to a lunar eclipse. What will make this particular eclipse appear more sinister and spooky is the intensity of shadow that will be cast on the moon.

Weather permitting, India and certain other parts of the globe will be witnessing the longest total lunar eclipse in more than a decade on the night of June 15. It starts at 12.52 a.m. and will last nearly 100 minutes.

Some scientists are christening it the 'Darkest eclipse of the century'.

The special nature of this eclipse is that as the moon will be passing through almost the central part of the earth's shadow, it will become darker compared to other eclipses, Debiprosad Duari, Director, Research and Academics, M.P. Birla Planetarium, said here on Sunday.

The eclipse will be best visible, almost near the zenith, from everywhere in India. The event will also be seen from the eastern half of Africa, the Middle East, central Asia and west Australia.

Observers throughout Europe will miss the early stages of the eclipse because it will occur before moonrise.

Calcuttans will witness the first total lunar eclipse of the year on the night of June 15. It will also be one of the longest and darkest lunar eclipses in recent times.

The earth will start casting its shadow on the moon around 11.50pm. The total eclipse will begin at 12.52am and last till 2.32am. The partial eclipse will end around 3.50am on June 16.

At 100 minutes, the total eclipse will last longer than the average lunar eclipse.

The next total lunar eclipse, to be visible from India, will be on December 10, 2011. It will last only 25 minutes.

After the December 10 eclipse, the city of Calcutta will next see a total lunar eclipse on January 31, 2018.

Monsoon arrives in Mumbai; SW monsoon active over Kerala

The southwest monsoon arrived in Pune on Saturday (04-June-2011) — three days before its normal date of arrival of June 7.

The southwestern summer monsoons occur from June through September. The Thar Desert and adjoining areas of the northern and central Indian subcontinent heats up considerably during the hot summers, which causes a low pressure area over the northern and central Indian subcontinent.

Monsoon has arrived in the island city of Mumbai. The meteorological department of Mumbai in its official announcement today said that Southwest monsoon has further advanced into remaining parts of Central Arabian Sea and Konkan region including Mumbai.

It said that rainfall occurred at most places over Konkan and at many places in Maharashtra including a few places over Marathwada.

Heavy showers were witnessed all through the day, with rainfall recorded at 26.1 mm between 8.30 am and 5.30 pm. Last year, the monsoon had arrived in Pune on June 11, while it arrived on June 21 in 2009.

World Environment Day is being observed today (05-June-2011)

Rallies, awareness programmes and seminars will mark the World Environment Day today (05-June-2011). It is arguable just how effective awareness days such as this actually are.

This year's theme is Forests: Nature At Your Service which highlights the critical role of forests in providing services essential to every aspect of life.

World Environment Day was first celebrated on 5th June in 1972, and has since become an important vehicle through which the UN stimulates worldwide awareness of the environment and encourages political attention and action.

The World Environment Day (WED) is being observed today in an effort to overcome global warming and to promote greenery. This day also promotes forests, the lungs of on the earth, which cover 31 per cent of the total land of the world.

These forests keep the environment clean and neat and provide fresh air to living beings. Air contains 70 per cent oxygen, which is essential for the survival of living things.

Forests can absorb 40 per cent greenhouse gas emissions which are harmful for human lives. Deforestation is depriving us of such natural resources. Therefore, more and more plants need to be sown to make the earth green and beautiful.

Our ecosystems are fragile and under extreme pressure. We need more than an awareness day every year if we are to save them for future generations.

Ants - Interesting Facts

1. The animal with the largest brain in proportion to its size is the ant. They are the smartest species of insects with about 250,000 brain cells.
2. The ant, when intoxicated, will always fall over to its right side.
3. The Slave-Maker ant is so named because it raids the nest of other ants and steals their pupae. Once the pupae hatch, they are made to work as slaves.
4. Ants make up 1/10 of the total world animal tissue. The total biomass of all the ants on Earth is about equal to the total biomass of all the people.

5. Workers in an ant colony only live for about 45-60 days, but a colony's queen can live up to 20 years.
6. By combining force of numbers with organized aggression, ants have become the greatest insect killers on Earth -- even of their own kind.
7. Ants began farming about 50 million years before humans thought to raise their own crops.
8. Wood ants squirt acid from the end of their abdomens.
9. The legs of the ant are very strong so they can run very quickly. If a man could run as fast for his size as an ant can, he could run as fast as a racehorse.
10. Ants can lift 20 times their own body weight.

Once Bitten Twice Shy

Basic Definitions:
When something or someone has hurt you once, you tend to avoid that thing or person.

Something that you say which means when you have had an unpleasant experience you are much more careful to avoid similar experiences in the future.

One is cautious in the future if one has been hurt in the past.

Synonymic idiom: The burnt child dreads the fire

Further explained:
If you fall in love with a girl and the girl ditches you, what would your reaction be? You would probably be really angry, but at the same time you would be scared to fall in love again. Having had a bad experience previously, you would be reluctant to put yourself in the same situation again. That's what the idiom, "once bitten twice shy", means.

Some examples:
*The caterer arrived three hours late last time, so Rama is not hiring him again. I guess it's a case of once bitten twice shy.

*The last time he ate fish, he almost choked. He's stopped eating fish altogether — once bitten twice shy.

Difference between Weep and Sob

In both cases, tears flow from the eyes.

"Weep" is mostly used in writing, and is considered a literary word. When you say that someone is weeping, you are focussing on the tears, and not on the sounds that accompany it. Weeping is usually done silently, which is why you never talk about a baby weeping. Babies cry — a lot of noise accompanies the tears that flow from their eyes. One can weep for various reasons; we can weep with sorrow, and we can weep with joy.

Sobbing is always done loudly; it is accompanied by a lot of noise. The heroines in our films sob a lot. Sobbing involves gasping for breath and this results in a lot of chest heaving. The word is usually associated with misery; unlike "weep", one cannot "sob" with joy.

Random Fun and Funny facts

1. Having mucus in your nose actually helps you fight germs.
2. The germs stick to the mucus so when you sneeze or blow your nose, the mucus comes out, releasing the germs.

3. A crocodile cannot stick its tongue out.
4. A snail can sleep for three years.
5. Americans on average eat 18 acres of pizza every day.
6. Butterflies taste with their feet.
7. There are 300 distinct different types of honey.
8. There are 1,792 steps to the top of the Eiffel Tower.
9. All porcupines float in water.
10. Pearls melt in vinegar.
11. Marilyn Monroe had eleven toes.
12. Walt Disney was afraid of mice.
13. TYPEWRITER is the longest word that can be made using the letters only on one row of the keyboard.
14. "Stewardesses" is the longest word typed with only the left hand and "lollipop" with your right.
15. A "jiffy" is an actual unit of time for 1/100th of a second.

Did you know..?

1. A group of frogs is called an army.
2. A group of rhinos is called a crash.
3. A group of kangaroos is called a mob.
4. A group of whales is called a pod.
5. A group of geese is called a gaggle.
6. A group of ravens is called a murder.
7. A group of officers is called a mess.
8. A group of larks is called an exaltation.
9. A group of owls is called a parliament.
10. A group of unicorns is called a blessing.
11. Twelve or more cows are known as a "flink."

Is Global Warming a Natural Process?

Global warming is an increase in the average temperature of Earth's surface. Since the late 1800's, the global average temperature has increased about 0.7 to 1.4 degrees F (0.4 to 0.8 degrees C). Many experts estimate that the average temperature will rise an additional 2.5 to 10.4 degrees F (1.4 to 5.8 degrees C) by 2100. That rate of increase would be much larger than most past rates of increase.

[ Global Warming ]

Scientists worry that human societies and natural ecosystems might not adapt to rapid climate changes. An ecosystem consists of the living organisms and physical environment in a particular area. Global warming could cause much harm, so countries throughout the world drafted an agreement called the Kyoto Protocol to help limit it.

Causes of global warming

Climatologists (scientists who study climate) have analyzed the global warming that has occurred since the late 1800's. A majority of climatologists have concluded that human activities are responsible for most of the warming. Human activities contribute to global warming by enhancing Earth's natural greenhouse effect. The greenhouse effect warms Earth's surface through a complex process involving sunlight, gases, and particles in the atmosphere. Gases that trap heat in the atmosphere are known as greenhouse gases.

The main human activities that contribute to global warming are the burning of fossil fuels (coal, oil, and natural gas) and the clearing of land. Most of the burning occurs in automobiles, in factories, and in electric power plants that provide energy for houses and office buildings. The burning of fossil fuels creates carbon dioxide, whose chemical formula is CO2. CO2 is a greenhouse gas that slows the escape of heat into space. Trees and other plants remove CO2 from the air during photosynthesis, the process they use to produce food. The clearing of land contributes to the buildup of CO2 by reducing the rate at which the gas is removed from the atmosphere or by the decomposition of dead vegetation.

A small number of scientists argue that the increase in greenhouse gases has not made a measurable difference in the temperature. They say that natural processes could have caused global warming. Those processes include increases in the energy emitted (given off) by the sun. But the vast majority of climatologists believe that increases in the sun's energy have contributed only slightly to recent warming. >> [ Read full article here ]