The Senate on August 5, 2010 confirmed Elena Kagan on a 63-37 vote to become an associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, with a handful of Republicans joining almost all Democrats in making her the fourth woman to serve on the high court. When the court's new term starts in October, Ms. Kagan, 50 years old, will join Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Sonia Sotomayor as the first trio of women in the court's history. Fifty-eight Democrats and independents, as well as five Republicans, voted for Ms. Kagan. Thirty-six Republicans and one Democrat, Sen. Ben Nelson of Nebraska, voted against her. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703748904575411214186345480.html?mod=WSJ_hps_LEADNewsCollection
Kagan will be sworn in as the 112th Supreme Court justice on August 7.

The Librarian Who Measured the Earth
Eratosthenes of Cyrene (c. 276 BC Cyrene – c. 194 BC Alexandria ), a friend of Archimedes of Syracuse, lived in Alexandria. He was born in Cyrene, a place in Libya which is called today Shahhat. He worked on geometry and prime numbers. He was a director of the great Library of Alexandria. He is best remembered for his prime number sieve which, in modified form, is still an important tool in number theory research . Eratosthenes measured the tilt of the Earth's axis with great accuracy and compiled a star catalogue containing 675 stars (now lost); he suggested that a leap day be added every fourth year and tried to construct an accurately-dated history. http://www.mlahanas.de/Greeks/Eratosthenes.htm

The Cornish language offers picturesque names for houses: Penrose (heath end), Chybean (little house) Langarth (enclosed space with a garden). The Isle of Man has delightful names from the Manx language: Thie Ain (our house), Cronk My Chree (hill of my heart), Cooil Veg (little nook). Fruit and nut names exist almost by the ton: Appleyard, Cherry Orchard, Plum Tree House, Pear Tree Cottage, Walnut House, Chestnut Corner.
House Names Around the World to be continued

Movie misquotes
Casablanca – 1942 Misquote: “Play It Again Sam”
Correct Quote: “You played it for her, you can play it for me!”
Wall Street – 1987 Misquote: “Greed Is Good”
Correct Quote: “The point is, ladies and gentlemen, that greed, for lack of a better word, is good.”
http://kentonville.com/archival/myths/movie-misquotes.html

German Chocolate Cake is not from Germany. The recipe’s name originated from a Englishman named Sam German. He invented a dark sweet baking chocolate for Baker’s Chocolate Company in 1852. The new bar was named for him: “Baker’s German’s Sweet Chocolate.” The original recipe was sent by a woman to a Dallas, Texas newspaper1 in 1957 and titled German’s Chocolate Cake. The recipe became so popular that brand owners General Foods (now owned by Kraft Foods) sent the recipe to papers across the country. The apostrophe “s” eventually dropped off the recipes through the years.
http://kentonville.com/archival/myths/german-chocolate-cake-is-not-from-germany.html

overwhelm
early 14c., "to turn upside down, to overthrow," from over + M.E. whelmen "to turn upside down" (see whelm). Meaning "to submerge completely" is mid-15c. Perhaps the connecting notion is a boat, etc., washed over, and overset, by a big wave. Figurative sense of "to bring to ruin" is attested from 1520s. http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/overwhelm

underwhelm
to fail to impress or stimulate Etymology: under + overwhelm Date: 1949 http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/underwhelm