NEW YORK >> The U.S. Open is usually a crowded, raucous and very New York affair. Local luminaries like Alec Baldwin, Spike Lee and Katie Couric sit courtside, while corporate bigwigs swill cocktails in exclusive boxes over Arthur Ashe Stadium, and laser-focused tennis fans, arriving via a packed subway, watch from the nosebleeds above.

When I was a kid, the highlight of any backyard barbecue was roasting marshmallows on skewers and twigs. It was the combined thrill of playing with fire, eating sugar and, perhaps, risking a splinter or two.

Baha'i Prayers (English): Tablet of Ahmad. He is the King, the All-Knowing, the Wise! Lo, the Nightingale of Paradise singeth upon the twigs of the Tree of Eternity, with holy and sweet melodies, proclaiming to the sincere ones the glad tidings of the nearness of God...

An icicle is a spike of ice formed when water falling from an object freezes. Formation and dynamics Icicles can form during bright, sunny, but subfreezing weather, when ice or snow melted by sunlight or some other heat source (such as a poorly insulated building), refreezes as it drips off under exposed conditions. Over time continued water runoff will cause the icicle to grow. Another set of conditions is during ice storms, when rain falling in air slightly below freezing slowly accumulates as numerous small icicles hanging from twigs, leaves, wires, etc. Thirdly, icicles can form wherever water seeps out of or drips off vertical surfaces such as road cuts or cliffs. Under some conditions these can slowly form the "frozen waterfalls" favored by ice climbers. Icicles form on surfaces which might have a smooth and straight, or irregular shape, which in turn influences the shape of an icicle. Another influence is melting water, which might flow toward the icicle in a straight line or which might flow from several directions. Impurities in the water can lead to ripples on...