Toledo muse reader shows faster way to make a consistent dash than using symbol chart. Thanks, Sue.
You can do a long dash another way. Just type (2) hyphens and hit enter and then go back up to the line and you have a long dash and continue typing.

You Say Soda, I Say Pop!
Soda pop. It's at every party and restaurant. It's a frequent staple of many Americans' meals. Yet soda has frequently been linked to an increased risk of obesity, diabetes, and osteoporosis. There are 16 teaspoons of sugar in every 20 oz. bottle of soda! Take a moment to think about what soda may be doing—or not doing—for you. Here are some alternatives:
• Sparkling water with or without flavor
• Flavored, unsweetened teas
• Bottled water
• Fresh squeezed lemon or lime in plain or sparkling water
• Juice spritzers made by adding sparkling water to 100% juice
Healthyroads.com

Washington D.C. area landmarks in The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown
The Capitol was originally designed by William Thornton. And was subsequently modified by Stephen Hallet, Benjamin Latrobe and then Charles Bulfinch. The current dome and the House and Senate wings were designed by Thomas U. Walter and August Schoenborn and were completed under the supervision of Edward Clark. The building is marked by its central dome above a rotunda and two wings, one for each chamber of Congress: the north wing is the Senate chamber and the south wing is the House of Representatives chamber. Above these chambers are galleries where people can watch the Senate and House of Representatives. It is an example of the Neoclassical architecture style.
http://www.virtualtourist.com/travel/North_America/United_States_of_America/Washington_DC/Things_To_Do-Washington_DC-US_Capitol_Building-BR-1.html
Franklin School was designed by prominent Washington architect Adolph Cluss and completed in 1869.
http://www.dcpreservation.org/endangered/2005/franklin.html
Freedom Plaza, originally known as Western Plaza, is an open plaza in Northwest Washington, D.C., located at the corner of 14th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue NW, adjacent to Pershing Park. Designed in 1980, the plaza is mostly composed of stone, inlaid with a depiction of parts of Pierre (Peter) Charles L'Enfant's plan for the City of Washington.[1] The plaza was renamed in honor of Martin Luther King, Jr., who worked on his "I Have a Dream" speech in the nearby Willard Hotel. In 1988, a time capsule containing a Bible, a robe, and other relics of King's was planted at the site.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freedom_Plaza
George Washington sculpture To commemorate the centennial of Washington's birth in 1832, Congress commissioned Horatio Greenough to create a statue to be displayed in the Capitol Rotunda. As soon as the marble statue arrived in the capital city in 1841, however, it attracted controversy and criticism. Greenough had modeled his figure of Washington on a classical Greek statue of Zeus, but many Americans found the sight of a half-naked Washington offensive, even comical. After the statue was relocated to the east lawn of the Capitol in 1843, some joked that Washington was desperately reaching for his clothes, on exhibit at the Patent Office several blocks to the north. In 1908 Greenough's statue finally came in from the cold: Congress transferred it to the Smithsonian. It remained at the Castle until 1964, when it was moved to the new Museum of History and Technology (now the National Museum of American History). http://www.smithsonianlegacies.si.edu/objectdescription.cfm?ID=66
To be continued

Librarians and booksellers are two of my favorite people. Anyone who loves books so much as to dedicate his life to them can't be all that bad. Unfortunately there are some who feel threatened by certain books and call for them to be banned or destroyed. People have a right to be offended by any book. All they have to do is not buy or borrow it. The problem begins when they try to impose their views on others by trying to ban it. As an antidote to banning, the last week of September is observed in the U.S. as Banned Books Week. To celebrate it, we are going to feature words relating to censorship and mutilation of books. Even though people after whom some of these words are coined have long gone, censorship is still alive. But there's hope. I leave you with this thoughtful letter from a librarian to a patron.
comstockery (KOM-stok-uh-ree, KUM-) noun
overzealous censorship of material considered obscene
After Anthony Comstock (1844-1915), founder of the New York Society for the Suppression of Vice. He crusaded against anything he considered immoral. Nothing escaped his wrath--even anatomy textbooks for medical students and the draping of mannequins in public view in shop windows were obscene to him. He lobbied for laws against mailing any material that could be perceived as promoting immorality. He was appointed postal inspector and he seized books, postcards, and other materials by the boatload. He boasted that he had arrested more than 3,000 people and driven more than 15 to suicide. George Bernard Shaw coined the word comstockery after him when he attacked the American production of Shaw's play "Mrs. Warren's Profession".
bowdlerize (BOAD-luh-ryz) verb tr,
to remove or change parts (of a book, play, movie, etc.) considered objectionable.
After Thomas Bowdler (1754-1825), a British doctor, who edited the Family Shakespeare, an expurgated edition of William Shakespeare's works. Bowdler believed the original wasn't suitable for the delicate sensibilities of women and children. He also edited other books, such as Edward Gibbon's Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire and the Old Testament in a similar manner.
grangerize (GRAYN-juh-ryz) verb tr.
1. to mutilate a book by clipping pictures out of it
2. to illustrate a book by adding pictures cut from other books
After James Granger (1723-1776), an English clergyman whose Biographical History of England had blank leaves for illustrations, to be filled with pictures, clippings, etc. by the reader. A.Word.A.Day with Anu Garg

Buried treasure—continued
Experts say a hoard of buried treasure discovered in a farming field in central England
is "war booty" and probably belonged to a pagan king. The bright treasure is believed to have been buried in the Dark Ages, some time in the seventh or eighth century.
Archaeologist Kevin Leahy says the stash contains 1,500 pieces of gold and silver and most of the objects used to be weapons. "It's mostly sword fittings, which is quite incredible. There are also strips of gold decorated with garnets, which as yet we haven't been able to identify, strange little gold snakes," he said. http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/09/25/2697131.htm

On September 25, 1555, Holy Roman Emperor Charles V signed the Peace of Augsburg, allowing princes within the Empire to choose whether their lands would be Catholic or Protestant. People living in a given principality were then permitted to move to a different region within the Empire if their faith differed from the one chosen by the prince their home state.
On September 25, 1789, the United States Congress sent twelve proposed constitutional amendments to the state legislatures for ratification. Ten of these were adopted in 1791 and became known as the Bill of Rights. http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/thisday/