March Vocabulary

Tuesday, March 4th, 2009

Contraband: illegal or prohibited trade; smuggling

They were charged with contraband of rare plants.

Ramshackle: loosely made or held together; rickety; shaky

Her ramshackle hands could not hold the pencil with a firm grip.

Impede: to retard in movement or progress by means of obstacles or hindrances; obstruct; hinder

Cecil was absent from last meeting, but did not want to impeded this meeting by talking about lasts’.

Renegade: a person who deserts a party or cause for another

Out of all the people in the devoted committee,  Steven was the last person I thought would lead a renegade party and join our rivals’.

Embargo: a restraint or hindrance; prohibition

As a result of the new laws, the embargo prevented them from doing trade on weekday afternoons.

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Tuesday, March 10th, 2009

Bayonet: a steel weapon attached to a gun for hand to hand combat

He didn’t like to get violent, but took out his steel sharp bayonet in times of trouble.

Strait: a narrow passage way of water connecting two bigger bodies of water.

The Bering Strait is thought to have once connected Russia with Alaska.

Daze: to shock, stupefy, or stun.

I was in such a daze today, after he had told me what happened to Amy.

Diligent: constant in effort to accomplish something; attentive and persistent in doing anything

Detective Gumshoe was awarded for being very diligent in the workplace.

Nondescript: of no recognized, definite, or particular type or kind

The boss was nondescript on how the job got done, she just wanted it done before the week was over.

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Tuesday, March 17th, 2009

Multitude: the state or character of being many; numerous

The multitude of  participants showed up at the race; it beat lasts years records by a long run.

Mentee: a person who is guided by a mentor

Sarah is the mentor, and Lucas is the receptive mentee whom she teaches.

Haughty: disdainfully proud; snobbish; scornfully arrogant; supercilious

Just because Markus had placed in the top three, he began to act haughty and superior amongst his peers.

Vexations: The act of annoying, irritating, or vexing

Poor thing, I felt terrible for the Nanny, the millions of vexations that the children would give.

Bide: to dwell; abide; wait; remain.

“Go and hurry with the project, don’t bide.” said the woman.

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Tuesday, March 24th, 2009

Obituary: a notice of the death of a person, often with a biographical sketch, as in a newspaper.

This week, an obituary of the former king of Candy Cane Land’s death was posted in yesterday’s newspaper.

Itinerates: To travel from place to place.

Many businessmen and women must intinerate to different countries and cities to succeed in their careers.

Sentinel: A person or thing that watches or stands as if watching

As people came to America through Ellis Island, many immigrants saw the Statue of Liberty as a sentinel of peace.

Roost: a perch upon which birds or fowls rest at night

The talkative parrot was only quiet when he perched upon his roost to sleep.

Brine: water saturated or strongly impregnated with salt

In order to cure a cut in the mouth, many suggest to turn a cup of fresh water into brine, by adding plenty of salt.

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March 31st, 2009

Vice: an immoral or evil habit or practice

There are virtues to follow and vices to avoid.

Prose: matter-of-fact, commonplace, or dull expression, quality, discourse, etc

Tom’s humor is prose and very deadpan.

Gala: festive; festal; showy

She dresses up for Friday night dinner in a gala showy fashion.

Tonic: anything invigorating physically, mentally, or morally

The tonic speech given last night was so invigorating.

Sign Language Converter

For this week’s article, I’ve found an interesting article that caught my eye. Mac Funamizu, the man who designed a device that will allow you to convert sign language to spoken word.  The device would work in a scenario like this: you’re be stopped by a deaf person, they’ve ask for something, but you can’t understand them. You’d then pull out your little gadget, and the cameras installed inside the gadget will identify the signs and speak the meaning out loud.  The device would only be as small as a locket, so you could wear it around your neck. Volume would be able to be adjusted on how far you twist out the bottom half of the device. If you ask me, this device is pretty useful for people that work with the deaf or have friends or realitives that are. In what ways do you think it could change the world?

Volume Controls on Converter

Facial Controls- Mimi Switch

So I’ve said before that Japan produces crazy gadgets, well get a load on this:  Kazuhiro Taniguchi of Osaka Universty is onto creating an invention, called the Mimi Switch, that will allow a person to make a certain facial to control the earbuds of any MP3 player. An example would be: if you wanted to change the song on your iPod, you would stick your tongue out. Imagine this invention being used world wide? You’d see people with their MP3 players walking down the street, constantly smiling, winking, sticking their tongue out and making absurd expressions we’d find weird. Though this idea is being worked on, there is no word on the Mimi Switch being released on the market or to the public.

Yes, Cloud Umbrella

So, umbrellas, when you think of them, you think of the normal upside down shaped U umbrella right? Well, how about we step out of the norm and the orthodox umbrellas on a rainy day and you see what appears to be clouds on a stick. Yes, a cloud umbrella.  Designed by Joonsoo Kim, a dutch designer, thought of this sci-fi furturstic idea with a pump up tube that will expand the clouds into a cover to shield you from rain. Interesting in my opinion. But there’s no exact date of relase or if they will release it at all. It’s just one idea that’s out there.

Cloud Umbrella by Joonsoo Kim

Ultimate Geek Writing Apparatus

A pen, a flash light, an ultra violet light, a stylus, and a laser pointer, all in one. Amazing.  And to top it all off, it’s only $9.99. It’s a writing tool anyone would want. Imagine using this in class, or waking up to write a magnificent idea down, or using it in your power point. All this for $9.99. I could think of a bunch of ways I could use this nifty pen, what about you?

Ultimate Pen Tool

Balloon and Bubble Lights

When I first came across them, I thought, “Are those bubbles? Is that a balloon Animal? But wait- they’re lights too?!” After reading the article, I thought it was pretty neat that these lights, called Blow Up Lamps created by Thelermont Hupton were entirely made of glass that was blown up differently. Of course, this is just to look at not to play with, so this handy creative little lamp is not for little ones. But for this child-like lamp, it starts at a big $320. Which would you buy? I’d probably get myself the first balloon animal if I had the money.

Blow Up Lamps

Electric Man and USB Man!

I like this here, Eletric Man and USB Man. They’re this handy little gadgets are in the shape of a human, with its limbs (arms and legs)are eletric sockets and usb ports. The invention, Electric Man sells for $14.99, his counter computer part, USB Man sells for $19.99. If it were me to buy either of these, I’d definetely buy USB Man, I wouldn’t have to be switching my ports in and out of the USB socket . Which would you buy? What would you use it for?

USB and Electric Man

All-In-One-Recycle-Center

Just like the title says, this product is an All-In-One-Recycle-Center at home. The only pain is, you have to seperate each material, so paper with the paper, cardboard with it’s own, plastic with the plastics, and so on.  This nifty little contraption fits right into your home so you can sort all the recybles in one place. The best feature about it, is that it stores and then compresses all the recycbles so there’s always room for more.  It might be a pain sitting there and placing each recycble in the right bin, but for $250, imagine how GREEN you’re being? You help the Earth while looking eco-savvy.

February Vocabulary

Monday Feb. 3rd, 2009

Succumb: consent reluctantly

They didn’t want to wash the dishes, but they succumbed to it.

Oblige: to require or constrain, as by law, command, conscience, or force of necessity

Sophie was to oblige herself to whatever task was needed.

Clandestine: characterized by, done in, or executed with secrecy or concealment, esp. for purposes of subversion or deception; private or surreptitious.

The council held the meetings in secrecy,  what they were meeting about was entirely clandestine too.

Flog: To beat severely with a whip or rod.

He was completely savage, he threatened to flog her if she hadn’t done her chores before she got home.

Anomalous: not fitting into a common or familiar type, classification, or pattern; unusual

She was anomalous to the point where she stuck out like a  sore thumb.

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Wednesday, February 11th, 2009

Covey: a group, set, or company.

The covey stood strong when they faced through troubles.

Sojourn: a temporary stay.

It was only a sojourn visit, she stayed for ten minutes at the most.

Factious: readily angered; peevish; irritable; quarrelsome

Her students knew that she was a factious person and it was best not to annoy her.

Placid: pleasantly calm or peaceful; unruffled; tranquil; serenely quiet or undisturbed

She was in complete rage, you could never imagine her being the true peaceful and placid person she usually is.

Fathom: to penetrate to the truth of; comprehend; understand

He was too dense to even fathom what she was saying or felt.

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Wednesday, February 18th, 2009.

Exploit: to utilize for profit or ones own fortune

Knowing this would help him in the long run, he decided to exploit the good deeds he had done and get it posted in the town newspaper.

Pendulous:  wavering; undecided

The on-the-fence-voters were pendulous, they swayed to each party’s side, back and fourth.

Tribulate: to oppose or trouble greatly.

She just seemed to thrive on tribulating the teachers, parents, and everyone she met.

Pinnacle: the highest or culminating point, as of success, power, fame, etc

Miles was at the top of his game, the pinnacle of success, he really was doing an amazing job.

Annex: to take or appropriate, esp. without permission

The government was weak, the empire then annexed the governemnt’s country. The land was now the empire’s.

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February 25th, 2009

Peculate: to steal entrusted money or goods; embezzle

I don’t want to hold the secretary position, the chances of them accusing me of peculating or embezzling with a position like that is high.

Beseech: to ask earnestly; implore

Don’t let her beseech you,  just politely say no and that you must be on your way, that’ll stop her begging.

Fission: the act of cleaving or splitting into parts

The fission of the diamond had to be done with the help of another diamond.

Ablution: the washing of the body or some part of it.

She wasn’t the cleanest and most hygienic girl in town, she seldom decided to ablution herself.

Claque: a group of fawning admirers

Many young girls fall into claques of other adoring fans for teen age idols.

Smash Clock

Whenever I wake up, especially with the help of the alarm clock, I feel like smashing that annoying beeping gadget to bits. Instead I hit the snooze button, and end up getting there late. But they’ve come up with a clever way to let us express our annoyance of those pesky alarms. With this Smash Alarm, you smash it in. Interesting right? Well, the theory behind it is, when you smash the alarm clock, in hopes that it’ll shut quiet for five minutes more, you’ll wake yourself out of frustration. So you’ll be smacking the top of the alarm clock in attempt to turn it off, when the only way to turn it off is to punch it. I think this alarm clock would be handy for me, what about you?

Smash Clock