THE FIRST WORD

equivocate

PRONUNCIATION:

(i-KWIV-uh-kayt) 

MEANING:

verb intr.: To be vague or ambiguous, especially in order to mislead.

ETYMOLOGY:

From Latin aequi-/equi- (equal) + vocare (to call), from vox (voice). Earliest documented use: 1590.

USAGE:

"The bishop equivocates and wrings his fat hands and procrastinates."
Susan Wiggs; At the Queen's Summons; Harlequin; 2012.

NOW YOU KNOW

England’s Norland College—which has trained professional nannies for the rich and famous since 1892—announced it is now teaching its students martial arts and getaway driving so they can fight or escape kidnappers.

STRETCH FOR SUCCESS

NOW YOU KNOW

The federal government spent at least $136 billion on disaster relief between 2011 and 2013, according to a new report. That includes $55 billion on general relief and flood insurance, and $27 billion on crop insurance related to droughts. Extreme weather events now cost the U.S. an average of $80 billion a year—about $400 per U.S. household.
The Washington Post

CHAMPION OF CHANGE

By Walter Hughes Jr., a member of the Rotary Club of Rocky Mount, Virginia, USA. 

(Hughes is one of 12 Rotarians being honored on 5 April at the White House as a Champion of Change.)

I am honored to be a White House Champion of Change. I’m accepting on behalf of Rotarians and friends from a team of more than 80 Rotary clubs in the United States, Canada, Switzerland, Ghana, and South Sudan. We are celebrating the end of Guinea worm disease in Ghana in West Africa. It all started with a dream. I’m the lucky guy who gets to witness lives transformed around the world. (click below to read more)

TODAY IN HISTORY

MAY 27

1564		John Calvin, one of the dominant figures of the Protestant Reformation, dies in Geneva.
1647		Achsah Young becomes the first woman known to be executed as a witch in Massachusetts.
1668		Three colonists are expelled from Massachusetts for being Baptists.
1813		Americans capture Fort George, Canada.
1907		The Bubonic Plague breaks out in San Francisco.
1919		A U.S. Navy seaplane completes the first transatlantic flight.
1929		Colonel Charles Lindbergh marries Anne Spencer Murrow.
1935		The Supreme Court declares President Franklin Roosevelt's National Recovery Act unconstitutional.
1937		San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge opens.
1941		The German battleship Bismarck is sunk by British naval and air forces.
1942		German General Rommel begins a major offensive in Libya with his Afrika Korps.
1944		American General MacArthur lands on Biak Island in New Guinea.
1960		A military coup overthrows the democratic government of Turkey.
1969		Construction begins on Walt Disney World in Florida.
1972		President Richard M. Nixon and Soviet Communist Party chief Leonid Brezhnev sign an arms reduction agreement.
1999		The international war crimes tribunal indicts Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic for war atrocities.

AND I QUOTE

"The covers of this book are too far apart."- Ambrose Bierce

PEOPLE BEING PEOPLE

A New Hampshire man accused of shoplifting has argued that he is only guilty of taking the store’s name—Finders Keepers—too literally. Ruben Pavon was caught on surveillance camera removing a grill and a DVD player from the thrift shop, but claimed he didn’t realize he was supposed to pay for the items. “I thought it was there for the taking,” said Pavon. “The sign did say ‘Finders Keepers.’” Owner Laura Barker says that if she knew of a store that gave away everything for free, “I’d be there on a regular basis myself.”

THE ALLURE OF HEADGAMES

What's an effective way to recruit 21st-century engineering talent? Try a postcard or some other offbeat technique.Researchers working with a technology company in Belgium wanted to see if distinctive recruiting tactics could give firms an edge in the competition for talent. With a target pool of 1,997 potential applicants, roughly half were solicited by email. The other half got postcards with the same design and information. Only 62 of those solicited applied for the job—but 82% of them were postcard recipients, and they were better educated than other applicants. It wasn't necessarily the postcard. Rather it was the "strange recruitment medium," researchers said, adding that such a tactic is especially enticing to better qualified candidates who aren't looking for a job.

"Changing Things Up in Recruitment: Effects of a 'Strange' Recruitment Medium on Applicant Pool Quantity and Quality," Saartje Cromheecke, Greet Van Hoye, Filip Lievens, Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology 

KEEP YOUR EYE ON THE MAGIC CANISTER

CHARITY OF THE WEEK

More than 75,000 professional architects, designers, technicians, and construction workers aid those in dire need of their services through Architecture for Humanity (ArchitectureforHumanity​.org). They devote most of their resources to communities that have been wracked by poverty and natural disasters. Since 1999, AfH has built structures for more than 2 million people in 46 countries around the world. Some of their completed construction projects include a high school in Kenya, an orphanage in India, a community center in Haiti, and new houses for Mississippi families whose homes were destroyed by Hurricane Katrina. Prior to construction, AfH designers consult families to accommodate their needs. They also replace outdated designs with more durable structures in order to minimize subsequent damage.

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The charity has earned a four-star overall rating from Charity Navigator, which ranks not-for-profit organizations on the strength of their finances, their control of administrative and fundraising expenses, and the transparency of their operations. Four stars is the group’s highest ranking.