Librarian's Muse

March 7, 2008
Quote
I have always imagined that Paradise will be a kind of library.
Jorge Luis Borges (1899-1986) Argentine poet, essayist, and short-story writer

On March 7, 1994 the Supreme Court ruled that parody can be protected by the fair use clause of the Copyright Act of 1976. The case arose from a song by the rap group 2 Live Crew, which used elements of the Roy Orbison song from 1964: "Oh Pretty Woman."
The Roy Orbison version of the song is about a man watching a pretty woman walking down the street. The 2 Live Crew version is about the subsequent relationship with that woman, who becomes a hairy woman, a bald-headed woman, and a two-timing woman. The music publishing company Acuff-Rose, which holds the copyright for the Roy Orbison song, sued 2 Live Crew for copyright violation.
Among those who sent "friend of the court" briefs in support of 2 Live Crew were Mad magazine, The Harvard Lampoon, and the Comedy Central TV channel. Among those who argued against 2 Live Crew were Dolly Parton and Michael Jackson. The Supreme Court ruled unanimously in favor of 2 Live Crew.
The Writer’s Almanac

EPA: Green Landscaping
"Green Landscaping (beneficial landscaping, environmentally friendly landscaping or sustainable landscaping) Whatever you call it, it's a way of designing and maintaining beautiful yards, gardens, and larger landscapes to: -reduce harm to the environment -save time and $ with lower maintenance -have healthier places to work and play."

Federal Reserve Board Beige Book, March 2008
March 5, 2008: "Prepared at the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston and based on information collected on or before February 25, 2008. This document summarizes comments received from business and other contacts outside the Federal Reserve and is not a commentary on the views of Federal Reserve officials. Reports from the twelve Federal Reserve Districts suggest that economic growth has slowed since the beginning of the year. Two-thirds of the Districts cited softening or weakening in the pace of business activity, while the others referred to subdued, slow, or modest growth. Retail activity in most Districts was reported to be weak or softening, although tourism generally continued to expand. Services industries in many Districts, including staffing services in Boston, port activity in New York, and truck freight volume in Cleveland, appeared to be slowing, but activity in services provided some positive news in Richmond and Dallas. Manufacturing was said to be sluggish or to have slowed in about half the Districts, while several others indicated manufacturing results were mixed or trends were steady."

FCC Adopts Digital Television Consumer Education Order
News release: "The Nation’s full-power television stations will transition from analog broadcast television service to digital broadcast television service on February 17, 2009. The Federal Communications Commission (the “Commission”) today released the DTV Consumer Education Order requiring television broadcasters, Multi-Channel Video Programming Distributors (MVPDs), telecommunications carriers, retailers, and manufacturers to promote awareness of the nation’s transition to digital television. The educational efforts of these diverse groups are intended to provide consumers with clear and correct information about the DTV transition."
 Related postings on the onversion to digital television

inhume (in-HYOOM) verb tr.
To bury.
[From Latin inhumare (to bury), from in (in) + humus (earth). Ultimately from the Indo-European root dhghem- (earth) that also sprouted human, homicide, homage, chameleon, chamomile, and Persian zamindar (landholder).]
A.Word.A.Day

The Grand Canyon began to form at least 17 million years ago, according to a study that comes in the wake of more than a century of debate about the history of this remarkable crack in the Earth.
The "incision history" that carved out a canyon that has 277 miles of river, measures up to 18 miles wide and a mile deep, has been disputed in part because some of the more common methods for dating the geological event don't reach back more than about one million to three million years ago.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/main.jhtml?view=DETAILS&grid=&xml=/earth/2008/03/06/scicanyon106.xml

First March from Selma
When You Pray,Move Your Feet.-- African Proverb.
"When You Pray, Move Your Feet,"Charles White(?), photographer, Selma, Alabama, March 7, 1965.photo courtesy of Representative John Lewis John Lewis (on right in trench coat) and Hosea Williams (on the left) lead marchers across the Edmund Pettus Bridge.

On Sunday March 7, 1965, about six hundred people began a fifty-four mile march from Selma, Alabama to the state capitol in Montgomery. They were demonstrating for African American voting rights and to commemorate the death of Jimmie Lee Jackson, shot three weeks earlier by a state trooper while trying to protect his mother at a civil rights demonstration.
This Day in History from Library of Congress

Seventh of March speech
Daniel Webster (1782-1852), United States senator from Massachusetts, rose on 7 March 1850 to support a complex series of statutes introduced by Henry Clay (1777-1852) of Kentucky that came to be known as "The Compromise of 1850." This "Seventh of March" speech, which Webster preferred to call his "Constitution and the Union" speech, contained the famous opening lines, "I wish to speak to-day, not as a Massachusetts man, nor as a Northern man, but as an American, and a member of the Senate of the United States."
http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/mcc:@field%28DOCID+@lit%28mcc/091%29%29