The Music and Magic of Words

On of my favorite sites on the web is WordSmith.org where they provide you with a "word of the day." It's a great way to not only build your vocuabulary but also learn a little history and various cultural trivia as well.

For instance, this week's theme at WordSmith is "words that are coined after earls." Heh heh … I didn't even realize there are words coined after earls, but here we have today's word:

orrery — A mechanical model of the solar system that represents the relative positions and motions of the planets around the sun. After Charles Boyle, 4th Earl of Orrery (1676-1731), who was given one of those models by John Rowley, a London instrument-maker. They were invented by George Graham c. 1700.

And speaking of orreries, have you seen our Rotation/Revolution of Near-Earth Planets Gizmo? I think the 4th Earl of Orrery would be proud of our virtual mechanical model of the solar system.