Dord et alia
The 28th of February, 2015.
I take this opportunity to discuss my favourite word – Dord.
I've known it ever since 5 minutes ago when I googled for events related to the 28th of Feb.
Dord was born in 1934, was discovered on the 28th of February, 1939, and gradually expired over the years until 1947 when it finally, finally met The Old Man With The Scythe. RIP, ol' sport!
Dord means density (vid. New International Dictionary, 2nd Ed. 1934, Merriam-Webster publishers). That's what Webster says – said, I mean.
An editor's honest "D or d" slip of paper became a major slip – "a notable error in lexicography" – to be precise. That's from the Wikipedia article on Dord – "a notable error in lexicography". I'm sure the word 'Dord' was used as a synonym for 'density' by thousands (if not millions) of users – or maybe not – confident in the validity of the dord (I mean, "word") – "becuz it's in the dictionary, you numskull!"
That is a telling comment on the power of the written word – a.k.a. "scripture". Most folks of the garden-variety genera – that's 99.999999% of the pop, BTW – always, but always, prop up the very lamest, the very dumbest, the very-most-moronic argument by saying that they read it in such-and-such magazine or – worse still – on so-and-so website.
I've had people, good people – (wait a minnit, they can't be good – they know me!) – who mail me links to "you've got to read this" web pages. The subjects covered by said web pages range from "a dead-sure cure for shingles" to UFO (no, Martin! "UFO" doesn't mean what you think (U–FO)!) sightings in the basement. Anyway (I'm not debauched enough to say "anyways" yet), I don't read the guff mainly becuz I'm too busy writing the sequel to "Revelations – Part 10,000".
It really don't matter what caste, creed, religion, or asylum you belong to – if it's written, it's troO! with a capital O. And there are tons of people who believe the weirdest things – just because "it's in the Book!" Who am I kidding – not tons of people but zillions of tons of people.
Who am I to tell them that the Truth is not in the words and pages of a Book – it's in the soul of the Child of God. Either you're a Child of God and already know that or you're NOT a Child of God and spend eons in questing for the trutH (with a capital H).
My question is pretty simple and down to earth – how does one pronounce "Dord" – (a) "Dord" as in "Cord" or (b) "Dord" as in "word" or (c) "Dord" as in "sword"?

Of Serendipity & Genius
On a more serious note, the 28th of February is the date when C.V.Raman (and K.S. Krishnan) discovered the eponymous effect – "The Raman Effect" or "Raman Scattering".
Very briefly and very simply put – the Raman Effect is more relevant today than in 1928 when it was described by Raman. The Raman Effect clearly demonstrates that intuition pwns science any day, any time, any place! All that's needed is the Grace of God. I say "intuition" when I actually mean "wisdom" but – what the heck! – who cares?
With hardly any lab equipment worth the name, C.V.Raman discovered one of the most startling discoveries of the time. Succintly put, he discovered that photons interact with molecules in two different modes or styles – elastic and inelastic. The elastic style is called Rayleigh Scattering whereas the inelastic style is called Raman Scattering (the Raman Effect). The Raman Effect is used in Analytical Chemistry and Physics to identify the quality and quantity of particular molecules in a sample population.
Current projects envision Raman scattering as a tool for identification of mineral forms on Mars.
Source: http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/atmos/raman.html
The wondrous part about Raman's discovery is that the Raman Effect is manifested extremely rarely – 1 in 10 million interactions to be precise. This implies that Rayleigh Scattering is the norm whereas Raman Scattering is the exception. Given that the Raman Effect is so rare one can but wonder at Raman's determination in his research. This is what genius is all about – it goes against the norm, the generally accepted (or acceptable) truth, and drives one to discover that special something that stands out as unique.
Hats off to you, Sir!
Links:
(for nerds): http://www.rp-photonics.com/raman_scattering.html
(for me): http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/490453/Raman-effect
Sir C. V. Raman's bio:
http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/1930/raman-bio.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C._V._Raman