The Medium is the Message

Newsday's Friday puzzles and crytoquotes are a bit more challenging than during the week, and today was no exception.

Today's Cryptoquote reads: "Control over change would seem to consist in moving not with it but ahead of it."--Marshall McCluhan. Who the heck is he?

Marshall McCluhan (1911-1980) was a Canadian philosopher and scholar and a pioneer in the study of media theory. He was responsible for coining the phrases "The medium is the message" and "the global village." The Medium is the Message is also the name of the best-selling book McCluhan published in 1967. He saw the media as extensions of our bodies and our minds. Man's views of the world were changed by the adoption of new media, particularly television. With the latter term, McCluhan predicted the Internet 30 years before its existence.

The crossword was authored by "S.N.", the initials of Newsday crossword editor Stanley Newman. Today's theme was "Where's the Beast?"

Theme answers:

20A: Treacherous one: SNAKE IN THE GRASS (also a shady conniving person). I know many snakes in the grass, LOL.
36A: Sure thing: BIRD IN THE HAND (Moral: It's better to to have a small real advantage than the possibility of a greater one.)
53A: Orator's annoyance: FROG IN THE THROAT (The origin of this phrase came from an advertisement for some medicine: "The Taylor Bros. say that 'Frog in the Throat' will cure hoarseness. 10 cents and box." Source: http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/143825.html).

One clue that stumped me was 6D: X-Ray Discoverer. The answer was Wilhelm ROENTGEN. Here is an excellent account regarding his discovery of the x-ray.

http://www.bl.uk/learning/artimages/bodies/xray/roentgen.html

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Today's News:

Tomorrow is the apocalypse. Several of my Facebook friends have made funny comments about the Rapture and looting.

Pete Doherty (from Babyshambles) gets 6 months in jail for drug possession.

Wrestler Randy Savage was killed in a car crash earlier today. He suffered a heart attack and lost control of his vehicle.

For beer lovers everywhere: because of a shortage in grain production, the price keeps going up. :-(

We're now on five days in a row with the rainy weather. Sigh!

Till tomorrow

Signing off,
The Puzzlechick