Books as Comfort by Karen Ballum
Unread books are full of possibilities -- there's more to learn and new worlds to discover. I've been using books to escape since before I could read. Re-reading books is like visiting old friends. There are books I read with the seasons -- Dickens at Christmas, something scary and gothic in autumn. When I crave independence I re-read L.M. Montgomery's The Blue Castle. If I need to laugh I grab something from Christopher Moore. When I find myself getting the itch to learn something I grab one of the many history volumes I stock up for just such occasions. Are there books or authors you read at certain times or when you are in certain moods? Do you stock up on books for some day in the future? http://www.blogher.com/bookclub/books-comfort

Add two names to the periodic table of elements, although you may want to write them in pencil for now. The International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry — the scientific body that is the keeper of the list of elements — unveiled Dec. 1 the proposed names for elements 114 and 116: flerovium (atomic symbol Fl) and livermorium (atomic symbol Lv). If you do not like them, now is the time to voice your objections. The chemistry union will have a five-month comment period open to anyone.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/02/science/names-proposed-for-new-elements-on-periodic-table.html
IUAPC Periodic Table of the Elements: http://old.iupac.org/reports/periodic_table/

Libraries have a certain amount of space and a certain amount of money. The careful culling of books is painstaking work. Not only are there challenges that come from the limited space and the vast number of new books that come out every year (and month) (and week), but the number of functions that library users are looking for from libraries is increasing as well. Libraries have book sales and, in some cases, permanent bookstores for books they don't want to keep (there's a bookstore just like that at the University of Florida). On top of that, there are growing initiatives to create "shared print repositories," where books can be stored offsite and remain available for retrieval when they're needed. It's not as convenient as keeping books on-site, but it means you can still give your users access to that book. There's also some help to be found in some of the same technologies that have sometimes been pitted against the printed book. There's a massive online library catalog called WorldCat that helps librarians (and others) know how many copies of a book other libraries are holding. It would presumably not be as big of a deal to get rid of a book 3,000 other libraries have as it is to dispose of one of the last three copies of something that remain available for borrowers.
Thanks, Sam. Read much more at: http://www.npr.org/blogs/monkeysee/2011/10/12/141265066/hard-choices-do-libraries-really-destroy-books

The popular, painted calabash gourds of the Caribbean, Mexico and Central America come from a native tropical American tree that belongs to the Bignonia Family (Bignoniaceae), along with catalpa and jacaranda trees. Although calabash gourds can be large, they are not the largest tree-bearing fruit. Another unrelated cauliflorous tree called jackfruit (Artocarpus heterophylla) bears the world's most massive tree-bearing fruits from its trunk and lower branches. Native to the Indo-Malaysian region, the jackfruit is grown throughout the tropics for its pulpy, edible fruits which may reach nearly 3 feet (1 m) in length and weigh up to 75 pounds (34 kg). Jackfruit and its close relative, breadfruit (A. altilis), belong to the diverse Mulberry Family (Moraceae). Dried calabash gourds are painted in bright colors and are fashioned into all sorts of decorative and useful objects, including shakers, bowls and containers. Read much more at The Wild & Wonderful World of Gourds: http://waynesword.palomar.edu/ww0503.htm
Note that the Kora is a plucked harp-lute with a large calabash (gourd) body.

Jimmy Durante signed off his radio program with "Good night, Mrs. Calabash." He added "wherever you are" after the first year. At a National Press Club meeting in 1966 Durante revealed that it was a tribute to his first wife, Jeanne, who died in 1943.

Modern sanctuary for two avid cyclists in Southeast Portland
On a frigid winter evening, after the sun has dipped behind the trees, Tim Butler heads out for a bike ride. Shedding his daytime financial-analyst apparel in favor of cycling garb, he traverses the rainy streets for an hour or two before heading home for the night. His wife, Sue, one of the top cyclists in the world, makes dinner; she took a three-hour bicycle ride earlier in the day and has her suitcases packed in preparation for yet another race over the weekend. Eighteen bicycles, all Cannondales except for a single Litespeed, are lined up in the garage. The Butlers discuss recent rides and flat tires while they eat. The couple lives and breathes on two wheels, so it comes as no surprise that they built their home around their shared obsession. “We were running out of space at our condo, and we had overtaken the whole communal boiler room with our bikes,” Sue explains of their impetus to build a house. “And coming home from cyclocross races, we’d traipse upstairs in muddy clothes to use the community washing machines.” So the two enlisted the help of Path Architecture, a local firm headed by Ben Kaiser and Corey Martin, to create a home that not only evokes their love of the outdoors but also meets their need to restore both bodies and bicycles. Because the Butlers prefer unobstructed spaces, there are only two doors inside: one for the guest bedroom and one for the bathroom. The rest of the 2,000-square-foot interior is a series of expansive rooms that spiral up and around the fireplace. Sparsely furnished, the emphasis is on the sense of space and the view rather than on belongings—it’s a place for the couple to relax after hard days on their bikes. Perched on the third floor, overlooking the back courtyard, the master bedroom is a light-filled aerie. In temperate weather, the Butlers slide open the six-foot door to the adjoining porch and lie in bed watching the clouds drift above the treetops. “You can’t see the other houses. It’s like you’re in a tree house,” Sue says. As for the Butlers’ bicycles, those live across the courtyard in an outbuilding divided into two spaces. The first space, at the end of the driveway, is a garage for bicycles. Inside, bicycles hang on hooks in neat lines. Rows of labeled plastic bins hold spare parts, nutrition bars, and gels. A stacked washer and dryer in the corner stand at the ready for muddy jerseys and tights. Outside, there’s even a warm-water hose for washing off dirty bicycles on cold, rainy days. The other half of the outbuilding is separated from the mud and grease of the bicycle storage area by a small breezeway. The main room is a home gym that features what Sue calls the “Wall of Fame”—photos of the pair’s racing exploits. The pictures document Sue’s impressive rise in just five years from complete cycling novice to a competitor in last year’s UCI Cyclocross World Championships (she’s sponsored by MonaVie Cannondale). In the corner, at the top of two large Columbia basalt stone steps (another reference to the Gorge), sits a slender cedar bench that leads into an all-cedar custom sauna furnished with more movable benches. “It’s really nice after a cold ride,” says Sue. “When it’s chilly, Tim takes a shower, then goes in the sauna, and he’s as happy as a clam.” Amara Holstein January 2010
See pictures and slideshow at: http://www.portlandmonthlymag.com/home-and-garden/articles/architecture-path-0110/

Bicyclists' house built for two, a December 2, 2011 update by Nancy Keates
Tall and narrow, reflecting the limitations of a skinny lot, the 2,800-square-foot two-bedroom, 2½-bathroom house looks like a mini, modern, wood-clad version of a high rise. Horizontal wood slats compensate for its verticalness, and a cedar wall that rings the house and garage creates the look of a compound. Exterior wood louvers slide across the windows to act as sun screens. See amazing pictures at: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204262304577068260202452078.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

Botts' dots are round nonreflective raised pavement markers. In many U.S. states and in several other countries, Botts' dots are used (along with reflective raised pavement markers) to mark lanes on highways and arterial roads. They provide tactile feedback to drivers when they move across designated travel lanes, and are analogous to rumble strips. Botts' dots are named after Dr. Elbert Dysart Botts, a California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) engineer credited with overseeing the research that led to the development of the markers. Botts' dots are most commonly white but may also be yellow when used to substitute for the yellow lines that divide opposing directions of traffic in North America. The dots are made of various ceramic materials, or plastics like polyester. On some roads, lanes are marked only with a mix of Botts' dots and conventional reflective markers, eliminating the need to repaint lane divider lines. Botts' dots are rarely used in regions with substantial snowfall, because snow plows damage or dislodge them. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Botts'_dots

The term bouma is sometimes used in the work of cognitive psychology to mean the shape of a cluster of letters, often a whole word. It is a reduction of "Bouma-shape", which was probably first used in Paul Saenger's 1997 book Space between Words: The Origins of Silent Reading, although Saenger himself attributes it to Insup & Maurice Martin Taylor. Its origin is in reference to hypotheses by a prominent vision researcher, H. Bouma, who studied the shapes and confusability of letters and letter strings. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bouma

Brussels, 06 December 2011 - The European Commission has opened formal antitrust proceedings to investigate whether international publishers Hachette Livre (Lagardère Publishing, France), Harper Collins (News Corp., USA), Simon & Schuster (CBS Corp., USA), Penguin (Pearson Group, United Kingdom) and Verlagsgruppe Georg von Holzbrinck (owner of inter alia Macmillan, Germany) have, possibly with the help of Apple, engaged in anti-competitive practices affecting the sale of e-books in the European Economic Area (EEA), in breach of EU antitrust rules. The opening of proceedings means that the Commission will treat the case as a matter of priority. It does not prejudge the outcome of the investigation. The Commission will in particular investigate whether these publishing groups and Apple have engaged in illegal agreements or practices that would have the object or the effect of restricting competition in the EU or in the EEA. The Commission is also examining the character and terms of the agency agreements entered into by the above named five publishers and retailers for the sale of e-books. The Commission has concerns, that these practices may breach EU antitrust rules that prohibit cartels and restrictive business practices (Article 101 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union – TFEU). Thanks, Julie.
http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=IP/11/1509&format=HTML&aged=0&language=EN&guiLanguage=en