1. A high pressure zone from Canada will keep the skies clear and the temperatures comfortable, the National Weather Service predicting a high of 79 degrees. Alight breeze will blow over Bourne and Sandwich into town. Good sleeping weather continues with a dry low of 65 degrees tonight.
2. Word of the Day: entitlement. It originated in French law in the 1820s, meaning to confer a title of royalty and/or land on an individual. It entered U.S. law in the 1930s, meaning a right to benefits, especially by law or contract. In the Social Security Act, entitlement referred to a right to benefits as defined by the U.S. Congress. In contract law, it meant a guarantee of rights against defect or default. According to linguists, the word took an interesting turn in the U.S. in the 1980s when it referred to “the entitlement generation,” aging Baby Boomers who got their Hoola Hoops and expected more. Today, the word carries a dual connotation of right and presumed privilege. Watch how politicians emphasize one or the other connotation this election season.
3. This day in 1963 the United States and the Soviet Union activated the “hotline.” The countries created the communication link ostensibly to prevent accidental nuclear war after the October 1962 Cuban missile crisis. They have never used it for that purpose. Despite movie depictions, there were no red telephones. The Pentagon and the Kremlin had teletype machines, with secure codes, installed. Messages could be transmitted in minutes, but then needed translation. The U.S sent the first message, the exercise familiar to all students of the typewriter at the time: “The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog’s back 1234567890.” It used all the keys. In 1999, the U.S. and Russian governments supplemented the system with a secure telephone connection.
4. During Rainstorm Irene this time last year, I caught video of of a kite boarder soaring very high over Plymouth Bay. You can be sure some people will do the same on the Gulf Coast today. If you haven’t seen it yet, check out the exhibit at the Cape Cod Maritime Museum, down by the Hyannis docks, “Catch the Wind: Kite Boarding and Wind Surfing on Cape Cod. It features video of Rob Douglas setting the kite sailing speed record of 55 knots off the Vineyard. The exhibit runs for another three weeks.
5. Thursday jazz continues at Bistrot de Soleil on Stevens Street tonight with Lori Colombo and Jim Robitaille.