Brazilian authorities claim to have pinpointed the location of a community of ancient and uncontacted tribespeople in one of the most remote corners of the world's largest rainforest. This indigenous Amazonian community was discovered after three small forest clearings were detected on satellite images, according to Fabricio Amorim, a regional coordinator for Brazil's indigenous foundation, Funai. Flyover expeditions commenced in April, confirming the community's existence. The government agency, known by its Portuguese acronym Funai, uses airplanes to avoid disrupting isolated groups. Brazil has a policy of not contacting such tribes but working to prevent the invasion of their land to preserve their autonomy. Funai estimates 68 isolated populations live in the Amazon. Four straw-roofed huts, flanked by banana trees and encircled in thick jungle are seen in photographs taken in the flyovers. The recently identified tribe, estimated at around 200 individuals, lives in these four structures and grows corn, bananas, peanuts, and other crops. According to Funai, preliminary observation indicates the population likely belongs to the pano language group, which extends from the Brazilian Amazon into the Peruvian and Bolivian jungle. The community is near the border with Peru in the massive Vale do Javari reservation, which is nearly the size of Portugal and is home to at least 14 uncontacted tribes or around 2000 individuals. It is believed that this region is home to the greatest concentration of isolated groups not just in the Amazon, but the world.
See extraordinary pictures at: http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/168526/20110623/brazil-amazon-undescovered-tribe-funai-tribal-jungle-uncontacted-indigenous-tribe.htm

The number of people who are homeless is on the rise, as is library service for them. Still, many librarians and library administrators believe they cannot meet the needs of this group since homelessness is such a complex issue. It often reflects the problems of individuals themselves—hence the idea that the homeless themselves are the “problem”—but it is also attributable to a lack of affordable housing and changes in work and the economy. Nevertheless, there are innovative librarians and libraries working to serve homeless and low-income users. Their efforts fulfill the spirit of the American Library Association Policy 61, inspired by lifelong activist Sanford Berman (see “The Problem Is Poverty,” Blatant Berry). The policy spurs librarians to recognize the “urgent need to respond to the increasing number of poor children, adults, and families in America.” Hardly someone else’s problem, homelessness is prevalent and even more persistent owing to the recession. “We are continuing to see increased numbers of people experience homelessness due to the economy and the foreclosure crisis. Right now, there is an upward trend,” says Whitney Gent, development and communications director of the National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty. Libraries, Gent contends, can do more. “ Libraries are information spaces so they can serve a key role in helping people find resources to end their homelessness or to prevent it.” Angie Kelleher, a librarian at Alma College in Michigan and a former social worker, agrees but is cautious regarding the scope of support. “Libraries can’t solve the lack of good jobs, create more affordable housing, provide better health care and better mental health care or substance abuse treatment. See examples of libraries reaching out at: http://www.libraryjournal.com/lj/home/890752-264/the_problem_is_not_the.html.csp
A paraprosdokian is a figure of speech in which the latter part of a sentence or phrase is surprising or unexpected in a way that causes the reader or listener to reframe or reinterpret the first part. It is frequently used for humorous or dramatic effect, sometimes producing an anticlimax. For this reason, it is extremely popular among comedians and satirists. Some paraprosdokians not only change the meaning of an early phrase, but they also play on the double meaning of a particular word, creating a form of syllepsis. "Paraprosdokian" comes from Greek "παρά-", meaning "despite" and "προσδοκία", meaning "expectation". Canadian linguist and etymology author William Gordon Casselman argues that, while the word is now in wide circulation, "paraprosdokian" (or "paraprosdokia") is not a term of classical (or medieval) Greek or Latin rhetoric, but a late 20th century neologism. See examples at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paraprosdokian
More examples at: http://martynorth.wordpress.com/2011/05/26/paraprosdokian/

Zeugma (from the Greek: ζεῦγμα, zeûgma, meaning "yoke") is a figure of speech describing the joining of two or more parts of a sentence with a single common verb or noun. A zeugma employs both ellipsis, the omission of words which are easily understood, and parallelism, the balance of several words or phrases. The result is a series of similar phrases joined or yoked together by a common and implied noun or verb. Syllepsis, also known as semantic zeugma, is a particular type of zeugma in which the clauses disagree in either meaning or grammar. The governing word may c hange meaning with respect to the other words it modifies. This creates a semantic incongruity that is often humorous. Alternatively, a syllepsis may contain a governing word or phrase that does not agree grammatically with one or more of its distributed terms. This is an intentional construction in which rules of grammar are bent for stylistic effect. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syllepsis#Syllepsis

Windfall apples--sometimes just called windfalls--are apples that have fallen by themselves, or been blown to the ground. Use them in baked dishes or jellies. Could be mixed with other fruits for chutney, pie filling or sauces. (Small and damaged apples can be used as compost.)

Do you know what DWMT, GUTI, and WDIC mean? Search a specific term or use A-Z index to find meanings of Internet slang at: http://www.internetslang.com/

In 2009, a 2,500-year-old bird's nest was discovered on a cliff in Greenland. The nesting site is still continually used by gyrfalcons, the world's largest species of falcon, and is the oldest raptor nest ever recorded. Three other nests, each over 1,000 years old, have also been found, one of which contains feathers from a bird that lived more than 600 years ago. Gyrfalcons live circumpolar to the Arctic. The birds range in colour from being almost exclusively white in Greenland to usually black in Labrador in Canada. Like many falcons, they do not build nests out of sticks and twigs, but typically lay eggs in bowl-shaped depressions they scrape into existing ledges or old nests made by other birds such as ravens. But while stick nests are often frequently damaged, preventing their repeated use, gyrfalcons will often revisit some ledges and potholes from year to year. http://news.bbc.co.uk/earth/hi/earth_news/newsid_8103000/8103872.stm

An irruption is a dramatic, irregular migration of large numbers of birds to areas where they aren’t typically found, possibly at a great distance from their normal ranges. This type of population shift can also be called Malthusian growth, in recognition of the population studies and analyses done by Thomas Malthus. While one or two vagrant birds of northern species may appear at southern feeders in any year, an irruption is characterized by large numbers of unexpected birds. Depending on the species, irruptions may occur in cycles from 2-10 years, or they may be much more unpredictable. http://birding.about.com/od/birdingbasics/a/birdirruptions.htm