Quote To do the opposite of something is also a form of imitation. Georg Christoph Lichtenberg, scientist and philosopher (1742-1799)

On May 5, two Montana residents filed a lawsuit against “Three Cups of Tea” author Greg Mortenson and his Central Asia Institute for alleged fabrications in his book.
IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF MONTANA, MISSOULA DIVISION Case 9:11-cv-00072-DWM MICHELE REINHART and JEAN PRICE v. GREG MORTENSON and CENTRAL ASIA INSTITUTE COMPLAINT FOR CLASS ACTION WITH DEMAND FOR JURY TRIAL See the complaint at following link.
http://online.wsj.com/public/resources/documents/050611mortensonlawsuit.pdf

The Toledo Symphony Orchestra made its debut in Carnegie Hall on May 7. “It’s electric,” exclaimed Ashley Mirakian, director of marketing and public relations for the Toledo Symphony, on Friday as the orchestra, precious instruments, and its many generous angels prepared to board a charter flight at Toledo Express Airport bound for LaGuardia Airport. “It will be surreal. All the people we know and love — our family — will be together, but in Manhattan.” After 67 years of getting its act together, the symphony has taken it on the road, straight to this legendary 119-year-old venue where gilded, cream-colored walls frame an enormous stage where, as principal flutist Joel Tse put it, gesturing enthusiastically to a high balcony, “The sound just goes out.” Saturday night, more than half the 2,804 seats were claimed by hometown fans who enthusiastically waved scarlet flags before the concert began. See more plus pictures at: http://toledoblade.com/Music-Theater-Dance/2011/05/08/Orchestra-s-night-in-N-Y-spotlight-arrives.html

The public library is a singularly American invention. Europeans had subscription libraries for 100 years before the United States was born. But on a chilly day in April 1833 the good citizens of Peterborough, New Hampshire created a radical new concept—a truly PUBLIC library. All town residents, regardless of income, had the right to freely share the community’s stored knowledge. Their only obligation was to return the information on time and in good condition, allowing others to exercise that same right. By the 1870s 11 states boasted 188 public libraries. By 1910 all states had them. Today 9,000 central buildings plus about 7500 branches have made public libraries one of the most ubiquitous of all American institutions, exceeding Starbucks and McDonalds. Since its inception the American public library’s prime directive has been to protect the public’s access to information. In 1894, the right to know led Denver’s public library to pioneer the concept of open stacks. For the first time patrons had the freedom to browse. In the 1930s, the right to know led Kentucky’s librarians to ride pack horses and mules with saddle-bags filled with books into remote sections of the state. In 1872, the right to know led the Worcester Massachusetts Public Library to open its doors on Sunday. Many viewed that as sacrilege. More than 125 years later Sundays remain the busiest day of the week for public libraries and Sunday closings are the first sign of fiscal distress. All things public are under attack. The Fort Worth rebranding is an indication of how effective this attack has been. The city explained that it was dropping the word “public” because of its “potentially negative connotation”. The Founding Fathers would be disconsolate. John Adams wrote in 1776, “There must be a positive passion for the public good, the public interest…established in the minds of the people, or there can be no republican government, nor any real liberty: and this public passion must be superior to all private passions.” Thomas Jefferson agreed, “I profess… that to be false pride which postpones the public good to any private or personal considerations.” An increasing number of library systems have gone beyond name changing to actual privatization of ever-larger parts of their library operations. The biggest player in the library privatization game is Library Systems & Services (LSSI), founded in 1981 to take advantage of President Reagan’s initiative to privatize government services. LSSI now privately manages more than 60 public libraries nationwide and now trails only Los Angeles, Chicago and New York City as an operator of library branches. http://www.commondreams.org/view/2011/05/03 Thanks, Julie.

Chicken four times Buy or prepare your own rotisserie chicken
first serving--legs and thighs
second serving--sliced in sandwiches
third serving--chunks in salad
fourth serving--make broth or soup Thanks, ALE and GBE

NASA's six-year Gravity Probe B (GP-B) mission has confirmed two major predictions from Albert Einstein's general theory of relativity. The four ultra-precise gyroscopes used by GP-B measured the hypothesized geodetic effect, or the warping of space and time around a gravitational body, and frame-dragging, which is the amount a spinning object pulls space and time with it as it rotates. GP-B was a joint effort between NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, Stanford University, and Lockheed Martin, which designed the space vehicle.
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2384948,00.asp

Rabindranath Tagore was born 150 years ago May 7. Festivities and seminars are being held in his honour across the world. In London, the BFI is hosting a season of films inspired by his work; last night his fellow Bengali (and fellow Nobel laureate) Amartya Sen gave a talk at the British Museum; a two-day conference at the University of London will, among other things, examine his legacy in the Netherlands, Poland and Germany. Tagore's collected works include 28 thick books with his 2,500 songs published separately. Every Bengali will know some Tagore, even if they can't read or write and the words come from a popular song or the national anthem (those of both India and Bangladesh use his verse). "His translations into English are like embroidery seen from the back." In 1913 he won the Nobel prize for literature, the first non-European to win a Nobel. In 1912 he sailed from India to England with a collection of English translations – the 100 or so poems that became the anthology Gitanjali, or "song offerings". He lost the manuscript on the London tube. Famously, it was found in a left luggage office. Then – decisively – W.B. Yeats met Tagore, read his poems and became his passionate advocate (while pencilling in suggestions for improvements). http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/may/07/rabindranath-tagore-why-was-he-neglected