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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Snow can be...bounced around by winds in a process called saltation
I think of "saltation" as what flat stones when you throw them edgewise across the surface of the water, a.k.a. skipping. (Off on a tangent: consecutive skips are long-short-long-short-long-short-etc depending on how strong your arm is.)
It occurs in medicine, too. Small nerves conduct impulses contiguously, millimeter by millimeter. Bigger nerves are wrapped in a white substance called myelin, which is in sections of finite length that touch each other at "nodes." With them, impulses travel by leaps and bounds from node to node. It's called "saltatory conduction" and, since the steps are longer, it's much faster.
If I'm not mistaken "saltatory" means "jumping" (as in the French "sauter", to jump) and we also see it in "somersault".
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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(Off on a tangent: consecutive skips are long-short-long-short-long-short-etc depending on how strong your arm is.)
really? I've never noticed that when I skip rocks. they usually get consecutively shorter ending with a bunch of tiny uncountables...
the very best rock skipping I ever had was several years ago at Indiana Dunes State Park. beautiful, dense flat rocks, and and calm lake... easily 12 or more skips... the last time we were there the waves were so high we couldn't go in the water!
formerly known as etaoin...
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Saltatory conduction, leapt out at me too. (That's a Tom Swifty, it is!) And yes, wofa, you are right. It is the SULT family; includes Sil, Sal, Sault, and they all mean jump or leap. Desultory, Salient, Somersault, Resilient, Asault.. the roots are not all the same, but I think a recurring one is the Latin, salire. Shall check and return.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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to skip rocks: dap, scon (Scot.)
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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what about the great lakes port town of Sault ste Marie. It is a small water fall? or a series of water falls, I have often wondered about how it got its name.
(is Sault Ste Marie in Wisconson or Michigan or some other state? we have some poster from the middle part of US. someone must know.)
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Established in 1668, Sault Ste Marie is Michigan's oldest city. It is also the third oldest continuous
settlement in the United States.
The first European settlement was established by early French fur traders. Known to them as
Sault du Gastogne, it was changed in 1688 by the Jesuit missionary Jacques Marquette to
Sault Ste Marie, in honor of the Virgin Mary.
There is debate about what the name translates to, but French speakers say "Sault" means, "to jump", making Sault Ste. Marie the place where people would com to "jump the St. Mary's".
The St. Mary's River is the only water connection between Lake Superior and the Great Lakes. However,
there is a section of the river known as the St. Mary's Rapids where the water falls about 21 feet from
the level of Lake Superior to the level of the lower lakes. This natural barrier made it necessary for the construction of the Sault Locks, a project known as the St. Mary's Canal. The first lock was built in
1797, on the Canadian side, but was destroyed in the War of 1812. The US built its first lock in 1885.
Today therer are 4 locks in use, continuously being visited by ships and tourists alike.
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Carpal Tunnel
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but it is in the upper penisula, right? i am not that bad when in comes to US geography.
and what is it abotu the geography that it got the sault --the Ste Marie is clearly from the french trappers, who, like the spanish explorers, tend to name places for the saints day the city/town/fort/what ever was founded. All over US there are saints names for towns.
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