Four stars for Nancy, Laura, and Bobbie! Three for TM! Yes, these vegetables are called thermic vegetables because they burn more calories than contain. There is some dispute that that effect is real, but I like the idea, so I am going with the theory! I was trying to get you all to come up with thermic by thinking thermal hence the dynamic clue, TM (thermal dynamics-yes, a bit of a stretch, I know. Sorry). I figured celery would give it to you! :) Hope it was fun. I have linked the article below for you. Here is a link that might be useful: Thermic veggies

From the "History" website "would-be criminals saw they could make a good profit by filing shavings from the sides of gold and silver coins and selling the precious metal. Before the 18th-century was out, the U.S. Mint began adding ridges to the coinsâ edges, a process called âÂÂreeding,â in order to make it impossible to shave them down without the result being obvious. As a side benefit, the reeded edges also made coin design more intricate and counterfeiting more difficult. The U.S. Mint stopped producing all gold coins during the Great Depression, thanks to an executive order from President Franklin D. Roosevelt, and a silver crisis in the 1960s led that metal to be gradually phased out as well. TodayâÂÂs coins contain no precious metals��"but youâÂÂll still find those ridges, at least on half-dollars, quarters, dimes and some dollar coins. Aside from keeping up with tradition, the ridges also help make the coins distinguishable from each other by feel as well as appearance, enabling visually impaired people to tell the difference between similarly sized coins, like the dime and penny. So while coins made from precious metals may be history, it seems reeding is here to stay." So four stars for all of you. I was going for the shaving off of the gold and silver, but you (your DH?) get points too, Bobbie, for the counterfeiting answer. Thanks for playing! Have a wonderful week! Cynthia

Four stars for Bobbie, TM, and Annette! Yes, TED stands for Technology, Entertainment, Design. Here is a blurb from Wikipedia: TED (Technology, Entertainment, Design) is a global set of conferences owned by the private non-profit Sapling Foundation, under the slogan "ideas worth spreading". TED was founded in 1984 as a one-off event. The annual conference began in 1990, in Monterey, California. TED's early emphasis was technology and design, consistent with its origins in the Silicon Valley. The TED main conference is held annually in Long Beach, and its companion TEDActive is held in Palm Springs. Both conferences will move from Long Beach and Palm Springs to Vancouver and Whistler, respectively, in 2014. TED events are also held throughout the U.S. and in Europe and Asia, offering live streaming of the talks. They address a wide range of topics within the research and practice of science and culture, often through storytelling. The speakers are given a maximum of 18 minutes to present their ideas in the most innovative and engaging ways they can. Past presenters include Bill Clinton, Jane Goodall, Malcolm Gladwell, Al Gore, Gordon Brown, Richard Dawkins, Bill Gates, Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin, and many Nobel Prize winners. TED's current curator is the British former computer journalist and magazine publisher Chris Anderson. Since June 2006, the talks have been offered for free viewing online, under Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs Creative Commons license, through TED.com. As of May 2013, over 1,500 talks are available free online. By January 2009 they had been viewed 50 million times. In June 2011, the viewing figure stood at more than 500 million, and on Tuesday November 13, 2012, TED Talks had been watched one billion times worldwide, reflecting a still growing global audience. I have listened to several of these talks and always found them interesting. Pretty cool concept, I think. I am linking to one talk that is way beyond my feeble brain to understand on a deep level, but it fascinates me nonetheless. Have a good day. Leaving TED behind to focus on Christmas music with Nancy! :) Cynthia Here is a link that might be useful: TED talk

Four stars for Annette, TM, Bobbie, and Nancy. Yes, the word ballot comes from the Italian word for ball which is palla. Pallotta is little ball. In the mid-16th century, it became ballot (middle French=ballotta-good ear TM) to refer to the small balls used for voting which would be placed in boxes indicating one's choice. Your stars today (and balls) are in response to Nancy's baking. Today would be a perfect day for that here, but I seem to be out of brown sugar. Rats. Have a delightful Sunday all. Thanks for playing. Cynthia