TheBanyanTree: Helpful information

[Peter Macinnis]

mass culture.  The breeding, for competition purposes of any large
animal or plant.  In many parts of the world, personal reputations can
rise or fall, depending on one's performance in such competitions.

Massenet, Jules.  A French composer of operas who took this
nom-de-plume from his first published work, a missa solemnis in the
key of A.  He later wrote a series of operas based loosely on a novel
by Prévost.  These included Manon, Manon Lets Go, Manon Overboard, and
finally the tragedy of Manon's final insanity, Manon Troppo.

mass media.  Specially prepared growth substrates used in mass
culture.  Most mass media are based mainly on a thick layer of manure.

mass spectrometry.  The likely temper of a crowd can be readily gauged
by a simple measure of certain key wave-lengths reflected from their
faces.  This measure correlates highly with their core body
temperatures, and the likelihood that they will boil over.

matador.  A piece of cloth for wiping the feet on, found at the
entrance to a torus, the Spanish name for a bull ring.

matelot.  The name given to French sailors, derived from their habit
of sleeping on the deck on rush mats, rather than high up in hammocks.
This is the origin of the expression 'a low sailor'.

materialism.  The procedure by which journalists prepare a news story,
grasping at straws, losing threads, and warping what is left into a
yarn, just as the deadline looms.

mathematical calculations.  These are now commonly performed with
calculators, where once they were done in the head.  In the event of
flat batteries, a digital computer may be used: if numbers higher than
ten are involved, it may be necessary to remove the shoes and socks to
access a greater store of digits.

mathematical diseases.  These are unusual conditions, affecting only
the numerate, and completely logically predictable.  Caffeine
addition, for example, was predicted in Goldbach's little-known second
conjecture, that only odd people do not like coffee.  This conjecture
is often confused with J S Bach's Coffee Cantata, even though Bach was
only half the man that Goldbach was.

mathematics.  Just as the economics examiners can keep the same
questions from year to year, so too can the examiners of this subject,
simply changing a few of the numbers.  The fact that this simple
procedure still serves to discriminate between candidates of differing
ability says a great deal about the nature and quality of the teaching
in this subject.

matrix.  The complex web of subterfuge used by a woman in order to get
her way.

mayor.  An official committed to stable government.

McLuhan, Marshall.  A man who wrote several books to demonstrate that
the print medium was dead.

mead.  A drink based on honey which is often shared, so that one man's
mead is another man's portion.

mean deviation.  Something serious enough to make the most hardened
psychiatrist go white with fear.  Being in the presence of one of
these normally indicates that there is a number-cruncher in the
vicinity.

meaning.  Changing somebody's personality to make them more
unpleasant.

meat pie.  This item cannot be defined, as nobody is certain exactly
what a meat pie contains.  Those with suspicions prefer not to ask,
and those who think they know just sit there with their teeth clenched
and a wild look in their eyes.

Mede.  Somebody who could be almost anybody, for one man's Mede is
another man's Persian.

media.  In a scientific context, the things that foul germs and fungi
grow on.  In a communications context, newspaper, television, radio
and other things that foul germs and fungi grow on.