W O RDS
Oh my particle I’ve read articles, or tried to, about the Higgs Boson, which is “The subatomic particle scientists say gives everything in the universe mass.” So I knew that the HB is also referred to in the media as “The God Particle.” I didn’t know that name was offensive to scientists until I heard a discussion of the controversy on “All Things Considered,” the National Public Radio program. “All Things” staffers said they’d received complaints from scientists when they used the “God Particle” name, the complainants arguing that the Higgs Boson has to do with science, not religion, and that it is offensive and misleading to suggest otherwise. The “All Things” people interviewed Dick Teresi, who in 1993 co-wrote a book, “The God Particle: If the Universe is the Answer, What is the Question?” His co-author was Leon Lederman, a Nobel Prize-winning physicist. Teresi said he deserved the blame or credit for the “God Particle” name, but he said it was sort of a light-hearted working title that he expected the publisher to reject. Both he and Lederman were atheists, he said, with no intent to suggest that God had the Higgs Boson in His hand. To Teresi’s surprise, he said, the publisher liked the title, and the term “God Particle” was on
its way. He mentioned the “Big Bang” as another scientific theory that has acquired a popular nickname.
DOUG SMITH
dougsmith@arktimes.com “I am a stylist, closet editor and personal shopper.” Is a closet editor an editor who has to work in tight quarters, possibly employed by a desktop publisher? Or an editor who is in the closet figuratively, keeping his sexual orientation secret? (In that case, closeted editor would be more grammatically correct.) Or someone hired to go through your closet and throw out all the unstylish items? I could use somebody like that, although I probably couldn’t afford as much editing as is needed.
“An Iowa native and graduate of Drake University, Ash has never stepped foot in Fayetteville, and he did not interview for the coordinator job with Bielema.” Set foot is the original, but stepped foot works about as well, I suppose. It’s closer to the real thing than many of the mistakes of idiom that we see.
WEEK THAT WAS
Holy Week &Easter March 28 - MAUNDY THURSDAY - 12 noon & 6 pm, Sanctuary March 29 - GOOD FRIDAY - “Stations of the Cross”
12 noon & 6 pm, Sanctuary
March 30 - EASTER EGG HUNT - 10:30 am - 12 noon Allsopp Park, 3700 Cedar Hill Rd., Little Rock For 2nd grade & under March 31, EASTER SUNDAY
10
MARCH 21, 2013
ARKANSAS TIMES
It was a good week for… EXPANSION PROJECTIONS. The Arkansas Department of Human Services said that offering people health coverage through the “private option” would result in only slightly higher costs to the federal government than offering coverage via traditional Medicaid expansion. NOT BEING THE WORST. The North Dakota Legislature has now passed the anti-abortion bill that Sen. Jason Rapert wanted to pass in the first place. It offers no exceptions for rape victims or women carrying gravely deformed fetuses. It requires ultrasounds for all women, even before a heartbeat is readily detectable, and thus means an invasive vaginal probe. The faintest sign of life, as early as five weeks, before many women know they are pregnant, means an abortion is illegal. A BIG IDEA. Democratic gubernatorial candidate Bill Halter proposed to give a free college education for all high school graduates with a 2.5 GPA. He’d base it on lottery receipts, augmented by grants and some general revenue support.
It was a bad week for… CLASS ACTION PLAINTIFFS. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled on the side of business interests in a controversial case over
handling of class action lawsuits arising in Miller County, Arkansas. In short, the decision makes it easier for defendants to move class action cases from state to federal court. RAW MILK. A bill to allow Arkansas farmers to sell unpasteurized milk failed by a roll-call vote in the House Agriculture, Forestry, and Economic Development Committee. Looks like a mix of Democrats and Republicans among the yeas and the nays. A RED, WHITE AND BLUE BROADWAY BRIDGE. Pulaski County Judge Buddy Villines bowed to popular demand (and, supposedly, a higher maintenance cost) to ditch his plan to paint the replacement Broadway Bridge red, white and blue. A lighting scheme might still be possible, if he can dig up yet more money somewhere to go with the county-taxpayer-subsidized graftedon superstructure intended to give the span a little aesthetic appeal. HISTORY EDUCATION. The state’s historians are deeply lamenting HB 1262, by Rep. Jon Eubanks (R-Paris), that, according to retiring Arkansas History Education Coalition President Tom Dillard, “essentially guts the requirement for Arkansas history continuing education standards for teachers.”