5 Words that Come from the Moon

5 Words that Come from the Moon 5 Words that Come from the Moon Fifty years ago, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin became the first people to walk on the moon. Unfortunately, all they brought back were some rocks. But the moon has given us many things, including several words! So let’s celebrate this landmark in space exploration by looking at the etymology of â€Å"moon,† plus five words it has inspired. Moon Etymology The word â€Å"moon† has a long history, which is unsurprising given that it’s a massive glowing orb in the night’s sky that has been around for longer than human language. We can, however, trace it back to both the Middle English mone and the Old English mona. Further back, it may come from the Proto-Indo-European term *me(n)ses- and the root *me-, meaning â€Å"measure.† Here, we see how people have used the waxing and waning of the moon to measure the passage of time since†¦ well, since we’ve had any notion of time passing. Waxing and waning(Image: Orion 8/wikimedia) Another term we may want to look at is â€Å"lunar,† an adjective meaning â€Å"related to the moon.† This comes from the noun luna, an old-fashioned word with origins in the PIE root *leuk-, meaning â€Å"light† or â€Å"brightness.† And here we see the importance of the moon as a source of light at night. But how have these terms influenced modern English? Let’s take a look. 5 Words that Come from the Moon There are many, many words with a connection to our lunar neighbor. And we won’t even touch on figures of speech such as over the moon and once in a blue moon. But we will look at five of our favorite moon-derived terms to see where exactly they come from. 1. Moon as a Verb As well as a noun, â€Å"moon† has picked up two key uses as a verb over the years: To act absent-mindedly, often through distraction (e.g., to â€Å"moon over† someone or to â€Å"moon around† the house when you have nothing to do). To expose one’s buttocks as a joke or insult. The first of these is probably related to the word â€Å"moonstruck,† which reflected an old belief that the moon could affect people’s behavior (more on that below). The second comes from the fact that buttocks can be pale and round, much like a certain feature of the night’s sky. We hope learning this doesn’t prompt you to see the moon as a big sky buttock, though. 2. Month Originally, a â€Å"month† was literally the time between one new moon and the next one. As such, we can find connections between â€Å"moon† and â€Å"month† in many European languages. In fact, the PIE term *me(n)ses- above may have originally meant both â€Å"moon† and â€Å"month.† Another word we get from â€Å"moon† is â€Å"Monday,† which literally means â€Å"day of the moon.† We also see this in the German Montag, as well as the French lundi, the Spanish word lunes, and the Italian term lunedi. 3. Menstruation Moving on from â€Å"month,† we have a monthly cycle: menstruation. In fact, â€Å"menstruation† and â€Å"menses† come from Latin and Greek words meaning â€Å"month† (mensis) and â€Å"moon† (mene). Some people also believe their menstrual cycles sync up with the lunar cycle. However, there is no scientific evidence for this, so it is probably a myth. 4. Lunatic Above, we mentioned the old belief that the moon can affect people’s behavior. We see this most clearly in the word â€Å"lunatic,† which now refers to someone who behaves erratically. Not that long ago, though, â€Å"lunatic† was a word for someone suffering from mental illness. And some people still believe the moon can affect our behavior. But medical science has moved on from such ideas, so we do not use this word to refer to mental illness any more. 5. Moonshine What better way to finish our list than with a drink? Having said that, we’re not sure how many of you would pick moonshine as your beverage of choice. If you buy moonshine today, it will probably be from a shop. But the term was first applied to smuggled or illegally distilled liquor, illicit activities that always occurred at night. It may also be related to the word â€Å"moonraker,† which is associated with English smugglers for the same reason. Thank You, Moon Finally, let us say a brief thank you to the moon. Sure, with modern science we know it’s a big hunk of rock that just sits in the sky, not some god or goddess watching over us. But it has been with us since before humanity had the gall to shape tools from flint, never mind strap ourselves to rockets and blast off into the void to pay it a visit. And we see that influence across human culture, art and – as shown above – language. We salute you, moon! As a species, then, we owe the moon a lot. And that’s before we even get on to its role in controlling the tides. So next time you use the word â€Å"month† or â€Å"menstruation,† spare a thought for our lunar friend.

Method Overloading Default Parameters in Delphi

Method Overloading Default Parameters in Delphi Functions and procedures are an important part of the Delphi language. Starting with Delphi 4, Delphi allows us to work with functions and procedures that support default parameters (making the parameters optional), and permits two or more routines to have an identical name  but operate as completely different routines. Lets see how Overloading and default parameters can help you code better. Overloading Simply put, overloading is declaring more than one routine with the same name. Overloading allows us to have multiple routines that share the same name, but with a different number of parameters and types. As an example, lets consider the following two functions: {Overloaded routines must be declared with the overload directive} function SumAsStr(a, b :integer): string; overload; begin   Ã‚   Result : IntToStr(a b) ; end; function SumAsStr(a, b : extended; Digits:integer): string; overload; begin   Ã‚   Result : FloatToStrF(a b, ffFixed, 18, Digits) ; end; These declarations create two functions, both called SumAsStr, that take a different number of parameters and are of two different types. When we call an overloaded routine, the compiler must be able to tell which routine we want to call. For example, SumAsStr(6, 3) calls the first SumAsStr function, because its arguments are integer-valued. Note: Delphi will help you pick the right implementation with the help of code completion and code insight. On the other hand, consider if we try to call the SumAsStr function as follows: SomeString : SumAsStr(6.0,3.0) Well get an error that reads: there is no overloaded version of SumAsStr that can be called with these arguments. This means that we should also include the Digits parameter used to specify the number of digits after the decimal point. Note: There is only one rule when writing overloaded routines, and that is that an  overloaded routine must differ in at least one parameter type. The return type, instead, cannot be used to distinguish among two routines. Two Units - One Routine Lets say we have one routine in unit A, and unit B uses unit A, but declares a routine with the same name. The declaration in unit B does not need the overload directive - we should use unit As name to qualify calls to As version of the routine from unit B. Consider something like this: unit B; ... uses A; ... procedure RoutineName; begin    Result : A.RoutineName; end; An alternative to using overloaded routines is to use default parameters, which usually results in less code to write and maintain. Default/Optional Parameters In order to simplify some statements, we can give a default value for the parameter of a function or procedure, and we can call the routine with or without the parameter, making it optional. To provide a default value, end the parameter declaration with the equal () symbol followed by a constant expression. For example, given the declaration function SumAsStr (a,b : extended; Digits : integer 2) : string; the following function calls are equivalent. SumAsStr(6.0, 3.0) SumAsStr(6.0, 3.0, 2) Note:  Parameters with default values must occur at the end of the parameter list, and must be passed by value or as const. A reference (var) parameter cannot have a default value. When calling routines with more than one default parameter, we cannot skip parameters (like in VB): function SkipDefParams(var A:string; B:integer5, C:booleanFalse):boolean; ... //this call generates an error message CantBe : SkipDefParams(delphi, , True) ; Overloading With Default Parameters When using both function or procedure overloading and default parameters, dont introduce ambiguous routine declarations. Consider the following declarations: procedure DoIt(A:extended; B:integer 0) ; overload; procedure DoIt(A:extended) ; overload; The call to DoIt procedure like DoIt(5.0), does not compile. Because of the default parameter in the first procedure, this statement might call both procedures, because it is impossible to tell which procedure is meant to be called.

Performance Plan Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Performance Plan - Essay Example So as to get the performance plan running, the faculty should work closely with the members ensuring their active involvement in various performance-related objectives. The planning involves both an initial performance plan and a performance improvement plan. The faculty not only sets objectives but also fixes target dates for achieving them by defining time limit of the entire work plan. Throughout the planning process, the entire crew must be covered and all must be encouraged to see themselves through thriving conclusions. If the plan is solely for the faculty’s own improvement purpose, it should consider all aspects of the person’s poor performance and weakness. The performance plan, both for the individual and the team must align with the overall objectives of the organization as well. The absence of a performance plan can surely affect the competency levels of the faculty and the team they lead. To be specific, performance plan is vital to enhance personal product ivity, team efficiency, cohesiveness, and work satisfaction. In this context, it is vital for a faculty (who has not been meeting expectations) to develop a well defined performance plan. Why Performance Plan? Absenteeism in higher education is a bone of contention among university lecturers. To illustrate, some scholars argue that attendance should be mandated whereas some others condemn enforced attendance in higher education. According to Lipscomb and Snelling (2010), enforcing attendance runs counter to important pedagogic (humanistic and androgogic) principles† and hence, â€Å"lecturers should refrain from associating non-attendance with unprofessional behavior and poor professionalization†. Although researchers are deeply at odds regarding enforced attendance in higher education, they all converge at the point that absenteeism can cause adverse effects on student performance. If this is the case, the effects of faculty absenteeism can be much more intense. The fa culty who has been missing classes tends not to focus properly on materials and thereby fails to incorporate necessary curriculum changes and technology in the teaching materials. This will not only affect the integrity of the person as a teaching professional but also adversely affect the learners’ academic future. In other words, only a faculty having well prepared performance plan can succeed in his/her profession in the long run. A nursing faculty will; create a feasible learning environment in which a variety of appropriate teaching strategies are incorporated to achieve desired learner outcomes ensure continued learning and self assessment to improve the quality of the teaching process utilize IT related facilities to enhance both learning and teaching identify the desired level of performance in teaching define how the desired level of performance could be achieved always maintain a focused level of scholarly activity that mainly involves research and development of be tter guidelines â€Å"participate in professional development activities† (Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education, 2008)