Incan citadels in the Peruvian Andes, a trek described by Mark Adams
The first known American to see Choquequirao was the young Yale history lecturer Hiram Bingham III, in 1909. He was researching a biography of the South American liberator Simón Bolívar when a local prefect he met near Cuzco persuaded him to visit the site. Many believed that the ruins of Choquequirao had once been Vilcabamba, the legendary lost city of the Incas. Bingham didn’t agree, and was mesmerized by the idea of lost cities waiting to be found. Two years later, he returned to Peru in search of Vilcabamba. On July 24, 1911, just days into his expedition, Bingham climbed a 2,000-foot-tall slope and encountered an abandoned stone city of which no record existed. It was Machu Picchu. Though Choquequirao was already well-known locally when Bingham arrived, its hard-to-reach location and scale — the main ruins of Machu Picchu are contained in a compact space of perhaps 20 acres, while the structures of Choquequirao sprawl over hundreds of acres — have slowed efforts to reclaim it from the surrounding cloud forest and restore its buildings to something like their original glory. (The government official who checked our tickets estimated that only 20 to 30 percent of what had existed in Incan times was currently visible.) But while the stonework of the palace doorways, the site’s finest examples of imperial Incan masonry, rivals anything in Peru, what drew Bingham to nearby Vitcos was the White Rock, an extraordinary carved granite boulder the size of a Winnebago (and now covered with gray lichen). Bingham had found the rock mentioned in a 17th-century Spanish chronicle and thought that it might point him toward the lost city of the Incas, Vilcabamba. I was delighted to find that it looked exactly as it did in Bingham’s 1911 photos. Abstract geometric shapes were engraved into its eastern face. Its backside was cut into smooth tiers, possibly altars. It might have been dropped into its lush green field by modernist aliens. About 30 miles away, at Espiritu Pampa, a team led by Javier Fonseca, the site’s friendly chief archaeologist, was regularly discovering pieces as impressive as anything Bingham had found at Machu Picchu. As we stood inside the walls of the former sun temple, one of Mr. Fonseca’s assistants bent over and picked up a plum-size Incan pot handle, shaped like a puma’s head. The only thing Espiritu Pampa didn’t have much of was visitors. Though it is only 40 very bumpy miles west of Machu Picchu, the trek to get there is so arduous — akin to hiking to Choquequirao twice, and in stifling jungle heat — that only 1,800 people have signed in at the visitors’ hut over the last decade. Llactapata has been called the “Lost Suburb of the Incas,” because it sits directly across the valley from Machu Picchu and, with a decent pair of binoculars, is visible from it. Bingham, always pressing on, spent only a few hours there in 1912. John showed me how on the morning of the June solstice — the shortest day of the year in the Southern Hemisphere and one of the holiest dates on the Incan calendar — one corridor at Llactapata aligns perfectly with the Sun Temple at Machu Picchu and the exact spot on the horizon where the sun rises. The Incas were superb engineers; such an invisible axis couldn’t have been a coincidence.
http://travel.nytimes.com/2011/06/26/travel/in-peru-machu-picchu-and-its-sibling-incan-ruins-along-the-way.html?pagewanted=all

Erek “EcoErek” Hansen has kept 5,838 pairs of jeans out of landfills, helped insulate more than 11 homes rebuilt after Hurricane Katrina and helped set a Guinness World Record. EcoErek is 10 years old. He said he started recycling in 2009 due to a contest in the National Geographic Kids magazine, which called for pairs of jeans to recycle with the “Cotton. From Blue to Green” organization. The group shreds donated jeans, which become insulation for homes built by Habitat for Humanity across the United States. EcoErek and his mother, Amy Hansen, hosted a denim drive in their driveway, where they collected about 1,000 pairs of jeans. Combined with a local alternative energy company’s donation of 600 jeans, he shipped 1,684 pairs of jeans to National Geographic. As the largest donor to the project, EcoErek received a ticket to the Guinness World Records Ceremony in Washington, D.C. At the ceremony, National Geographic Kids magazine was listed as the “Largest Collection of Clothing to Recycle” for 33,088 pairs of jeans.
This year, EcoErek included shoes in his drive to donate to USAgain, a for-profit organization that collects used clothes and resells them. Amy said USAgain will pay EcoErek 2 cents per pair of shoes collected. He said he was not sure what charity to donate the money to. EcoErek set a goal of 5,000 pairs of jeans collected this year. There was no goal for the shoes. With his drives completed — the last was June 11 — he sits on 2,262 pairs of jeans and 1,585 pairs of shoes. Dropboxes in Perrysburg and Oregon will collect jeans and shoes until August. For the rest of the season, EcoErek and Amy will collect items from dropboxes and fetch donations from anyone unable to get to a box who contacts them. The two will visit garage sales at the end of June to drop off cards and offer a place for unwanted jeans. In August, Amy and EcoErek, who is “kinda known as the jean guy now,” Amy said, will gather the jeans and shoes for a final total before shipping them to the respective organizations. Until totaling time, the jeans and shoes will be stored in warehouse space provided by First Solar. The local company has collaborated with EcoErek since 2009. EcoErek and Amy gather the collection goods and haul them to storage. They also put the jeans and shoes into the 4-foot-square shipping containers. First Solar provides the shipping for the jeans.
http://www.toledofreepress.com/2011/06/23/10-year-old-%E2%80%98ecoerek%E2%80%99-recycles-jeans-shoes/
Find more information at: http://www.ecoerek.org/

Outstanding Reference Sources: The 2011 Selection of Titles from Reference & User Services Quarterly http://www.rusq.org/2011/06/20/outstanding-reference-sources-the-2011-selection-of-titles/

Notable Books: The 2011 Selection of Titles from Reference & User Services Quarterly khttp://www.rusq.org/2011/06/20/notable-books-the-2011-selection-of-titles/%20%20

The Reading List 2011 from Reference & User Services Quarterly
http://www.rusq.org/2011/06/20/the-reading-list-2011/

The Amazing Andean Larder, a sampler of popular ingredients in Peru.
Ají amarillo: Perhaps the most important ingredient in Peruvian cooking, this spicy pepper comes in green, yellow, and orange.
Aguaymanto: Tangy and sweet, this fruit was worn as jewelry by Peruvian women in the 18th century.
Camu camu: Very high in vitamin C; its taste is a mix of sour cherry and lime.
Piranha: The meat of this toothy fish, found in Peru's eastern rivers, is tart and acidic.
Paiche: One of the largest freshwater fish in the world, it can grow to 500 pounds and has a subtle, delicate flavor.
Lúcuma: Cultivated by pre-Incan cultures, depicted in ancient ceramics; its taste is a mix of maple syrup and sweet potato.
Pisco: This clear brandy, originating in the 16th-century vice-royalty of Peru, is distilled from fermented Quebranta grapes.
Chirimoya: Creamy, with a hint of pineapple, this fruit was called "deliciousness itself" by Mark Twain.
Guinea pig: Eaten throughout the Andes for thousands of years, cuy is also used in traditional Andean medicine.
Llama: Related to the camel and domesticated in the puna grasslands more than 6,000 years ago; the llama's meat is low-fat and has a taste between beef and lamb.
Potato: Originated in Peu's alitplano 6,000 years ago; the country now has more than 2,500 native varieties.
Sea urchin: Called erizo, it has been eaten along Peru's coast since settlements were first established here.
http://www.concierge.com/cntraveler/articles/503810

The Supreme Court of the United States is the highest court in the United States. Informally referred to as the High Court or by the acronym SCOTUS, it has ultimate (but largely discretionary) appellate jurisdiction over all state and federal courts, and original jurisdiction over a small range of cases. The Court, which meets in the United States Supreme Court Building in Washington, D.C., consists of a chief justice and eight associate justices who are nominated by the President and confirmed by the Senate. Once appointed, justices have life tenure unless they are removed after impeachment. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supreme_Court_of_the_United_States

Slip Opinions, Per Curiams (PC), and Original Case Decrees (D) of the U.S. Supreme Court
http://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/slipopinions.aspx
84 opinions from 11/8/10 to 6/27/11

News and commentary on SCOTUS from The New York Times http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/s/supreme_court/index.html

News and commentary on SCOTUS from The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/linkset/2005/03/24/LI2005032400136.html

Find SCOTUS news and related resources at Findlaw http://news.findlaw.com/legalnews/us/sc/

Q: What is the inscription on the Liberty Bell? A: It says:
PROCLAIM LIBERTY THROUGHOUT ALL THE LAND UNTO ALL THE INHABITANTS THEREOF LEV. XXV X. BY ORDER OF THE ASSEMBLY OF THE PROVINCE OF PENSYLVANIA FOR THE STATE HOUSE IN PHILADA
PASS AND STOW
PHILADA
MDCCLIII
The bell was ordered by the Pennsylvania colony in 1751 to be hung in the new State House, now Independence Hall.
It was cast in London, weighs 2,080 pounds and rings in E flat. It is made of 70 percent copper, 25 percent tin, 2 percent lead, 1 percent zinc, 0.25 percent arsenic and 0.20 percent silver, and traces of gold, magnesium, nickel and antimony. It cracked the first time it was rung in Philadelphia in August 1752. Philadelphia founders John Pass and John Stow, "ingenious workmen" whose names are on the bell, were hired to recast it. The crack we see appeared sometime between 1817 and 1846. Despite numerous tales, historians cannot pinpoint when it happened. The bell still belongs to the city of Philadelphia and is on display in the Liberty Bell Center, part of Independence National Historical Park. Liberty Bell Museum, East Hartford, Conn.
Q: So, is there a bell in Independence Hall? A: Yes, and it rings. A wealthy Philadelphian, Henry Seybert, had a bell cast in 1876 for the nation's centennial. Liberty Bell Museum. http://www.thecourier.com/Opinion/columns/2011/Jun/JU/ar_JU_062711.asp?d=062711,2011,Jun,27&c=c_13

Words from Yankee Doodle There is disagreement on the word yankee--might be from an Indian apptempt to prounce English. Macaroni was a dandy or a fop; doodle was a do-little or a simpleton. The hasty pudding story with recipe follows.

Hasty Pudding This pudding recipe was originally brought over from England was called “Indian Pudding” when it was made in Colonial America since cornmeal was cheaper and more readily available. As a British dish, it was a quick pudding to make using a sweetened porridge made from flour, tapioca or oatmeal and milk. Here the recipe was transformed to use local ingredients -- cornmeal, molasses or maple syrup and milk. But because it uses cornmeal, it’s anything but “hasty” since it requires 2 hours to bake. If you want to be truly authentic, serve as an appetizer. Recipe at: http://www.theheartofnewengland.com/food-Hasty-Pudding.html

In July 1701, Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac and his party landed at a riverbank site chosen because the narrow strait there seemed strategically situated for protecting French fur trading interests in the Great Lakes. The river was called d'Etroit, a French word meaning "strait." Cadillac and his men built Fort Pontchartrain on the site, naming the fort after Comte de Pontchartrain, French King Louis XIV's minister of state; soon a palisaded riverfront village developed nearby. Cadillac named the settlement "ville d'etroit," or city of the strait. Eventually the name was simplified to Detroit. The control of Detroit changed hands three times during the eighteenth century. At the conclusion of the French and Indian War, the resulting treaty specified the surrender of Detroit to Great Britain. Under Henry Hamilton, the settlement's British governor, armies of Native Americans were encouraged to scalp frontier settlers for rewards, earning Hamilton the sobriquet, "Hair Buyer of Detroit." France's tribal allies, led by Ottawa chief Pontiac, plotted to capture Detroit; when the plot failed, they continued their siege of the fort. At the end of the American Revolution, the United States claimed lands west of the Alleghenies by treaty, but the British refused to leave Detroit and other western forts, encouraging allied tribes to attack settlers. It was not until two years after General Anthony Wayne defeated the Native Americans at the Battle of Fallen Timbers in 1796 that the British finally left Detroit. During the War of 1812, General William Hull turned Detroit's fort over to the British without a fight, thus making Detroit the only major American city ever to be occupied by a foreign power. The United States regained control of the settlement in 1813 following Oliver H. Perry's victory in the Battle of Lake Erie.
http://www.city-data.com/us-cities/The-Midwest/Detroit-History.html

The Detroit River is a 32-mile (51-km) long strait in the Great Lakes system. The name comes from the French Rivière du Détroit, which translates literally as River of the Strait. The Detroit River has served an important role in the history of Detroit and is one of the busiest waterways in the world. The river travels south from Lake St. Clair to Lake Erie, and the whole river carries the international border between Canada and the United States. The river divides the major metropolitan areas of Detroit, Michigan, and Windsor, Ontario — an area referred to as Detroit-Windsor. The two are connected by the Ambassador Bridge and the Detroit-Windsor Tunnel. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Detroit_River

A strait or straits is a narrow, navigable channel of water that connects two larger navigable bodies of water. It most commonly refers to a channel of water that lies between two land masses, but it may also refer to a navigable channel through a body of water that is otherwise not navigable, for example because it is too shallow, or because it contains an unnavigable reef or archipelago. The terms channel, firth, pass or passage, and sound can be synonymous and used interchangeably with strait, although each is sometimes differentiated with varying senses. Many straits are economically important. Straits can be important shipping routes, and wars have been fought for control of these straits. Numerous artificial channels, called canals, have been constructed to connect two bodies of water over land. Although rivers and canals often provide passage between two large lakes or a lake and a sea, and these seem to suit the formal definition of straits, they are not usually referred to as such. The term strait is typically reserved for much larger, wider features of the marine environment. There are exceptions, with straits being called canals, Pearse Canal, for example. Straits are the converse of isthmi. That is, while straits lie between two land masses and connect two larger bodies of water, isthmi lie between two bodies of water and connect two larger land masses. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strait

An unexpected benefit of today's widespread reductions in museum funding is the proliferation of small exhibitions that make austerity an asset. Witness "Kandinsky and the Harmony of Silence: Painting With White Border" and "Stella Sounds: The Scarlatti K Series," at the Phillips Collection in Washington, D.C., each a judicious, focused study of a specific aspect of a modern master of abstraction. Despite the differences between the two protagonists—the Russian-born Wassily Kandinsky (1866-1944) was exclusively a painter, while the American Frank Stella (born 1936) has long made wall-mounted constructions that test the boundaries between two- and three-dimensions—the exhibitions are complementary, as their related titles suggest. Kandinsky, a pioneer of abstract painting, is one of Mr. Stella's heroes and, if we look attentively, we discover fascinating affinities between the two artists' work. Read descriptions of the paintings and see pictures at: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303936704576397811335368824.html

To boost state coffers, Texas sold a Dallas doctor a "PORSCHE" license plate for $7,500. Then it sold him "AMERICA" for $3,000. Texas has gone a step further. It hired a private company to raise $25 million over the next five years by auctioning off vanity plates. "People like to express themselves, especially in Texas," says a spokesperson for the Texas Department of Motor Vehicles. This year, at the nation's first such auction, Texas sold 33 plates for $139,400. In the U.S., there's room for vanity to grow. Despite having 9.3 million motor vehicles with vanity plates, the 46 states that charged annual fees for them collectively raised only about $177 million, according to a 2007 study by the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators. "The potential market is huge," says Stefan Lonce, who conducted the survey and whose own plate is "LCNS2ROM." Many motorists, such as 60-year-old Lee Weaver, are devoted to their plates—even if they may cause trouble. Mr. Weaver lives in Virginia, but he's a hard-core Boston Red Sox fan, whose license plate says "8BOSOX." His Toyota Solara has been scratched "to pieces," he says, and he's endured insults and obscene gestures on the highway—especially when he's driving north on I-95 near New York. Other countries have already mined this vein, with big results. A businessman in Abu Dhabi bought a license plate with "1" at an auction for $14.3 million in 2008. Last year, in England, a retired businessman bought "1 RH"—his initials—for about $400,000. Hong Kong sold a plate that read "STORAGE" for $12,000. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303745304576359910386002034.html?mod=WSJ_newsreel_business

Q: When did the phrase, "The United States of America," originate? A: The first known formal use of the "United States of America" was in the Declaration of Independence.
In February 1776, Thomas Paine wrote of "Free and independent States of America." The terms "United Colonies," "United Colonies of America," "United Colonies of North America," and also "States," were used in 1775 and 1776. U.S. Archives.
Q: How many Americans were living on the first Fourth of July? A: There were about 2.5 million Americans on July 4, 1776. There will be about 311.7 million Americans on July 4, 2011. U.S. Census Bureau.
Q: Can you offer some cities with "patriotic" names? A: There are 31 places with "liberty" in their names. The most populous one is Liberty, Mo., with 29,149 people.
Iowa has more of these places than any other state: Libertyville, New Liberty, North Liberty and West Liberty.
Eleven places have "independence" in their names. The biggest is Independence, Mo., 116,830. Nine places have "freedom" in their names, including New Freedom, Pa., 4,464. There is one "Patriot," in Indiana, 209. And five places have "America" in their names. The most populous is American Fork, Utah, 26,263. U.S. Census Bureau. http://www.thecourier.com/Opinion/columns/2011/Jun/JU/ar_JU_062011.asp?d=062011,2011,Jun,20&c=c_13

The National Library of Medicine, the world’s largest medical library and a component of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), has formally launched MedlinePlus Connect. This free service allows health organizations and health information technology (HIT) providers to link patient portals and electronic health record (EHR) systems to MedlinePlus.gov, a trusted source of authoritative, up-to-date health information for patients, families and health care providers. MedlinePlus brings together information from NIH, other federal agencies, and reputable health information providers. MedlinePlus covers a wide range of health conditions and wellness issues, and includes key resources to inform patients about their health. MedlinePlus Connect does not require registration. You can link your certified EHR to MedlinePlus Connect to help you achieve one of the 10 menu set criteria for Meaningful Use of certified EHR technology. MedlinePlus Connect is not a replacement for MedlinePlus. http://www.hhs.gov/news/press/2011pres/06/20110620a.html

Huguette Clark, the Montana copper mining heiress who died in New York May 24 at 104, has left most of her $400 million fortune to the arts -- wealth from the Gilded Age that produced the Rockefellers, Astors and Vanderbilts. According to her will, obtained by The Associated Press on Wednesday, Clark gave to Washington's Corcoran Gallery of Art a prized Claude Monet water-lily painting not seen by the public since 1925. The Manhattan district attorney's office is looking into how Clark's affairs were managed while she spent the last two decades of her life in a hospital, a virtual recluse, people familiar with the probe have said. Before that, she lived in the largest residence on Fifth Avenue -- 42 rooms. The daughter of one-time U.S. Sen. William A. Clark left instructions for the creation of a foundation "for the primary purpose of fostering and promoting the arts," according to the will prepared and signed in 2005, when she was 98. About $300 million will go for the arts, including the 1907 Monet from his famed "Water Lilies" series, which is worth tens of millions of dollars, said attorney John Dadakis, of the firm Holland & Knight. Artworks by Renoir, John Singer Sargent and other greats that graced Clark's New York home will be moved to her 24-acre oceanfront estate in Santa Barbara, Calif., which will be converted into a museum under the new Bellosguardo ("beautiful view" in Italian) Foundation. http://www.businessweek.com/ap/financialnews/D9O19HQ80.htm

Chicken Charlie's is a staple of fried rations at fairs across the country. It sold 400 to 600 orders of deep-fried Kool-Aid per day the first weekend of the San Diego County Fair. That's about double the rate of previous debut items, Boghosian said. "That's because it tastes so darn good," Boghosian said of the Kool-Aid. The deep-fried novelty takes the shape of a doughnut-hole. There are five per order. That breaks down to as much as 9,000 balls of deep-fried Kool-Aid eaten over opening weekend. Boghosian said Chicken Charlie's has already gone through 150 pounds of Kool-Aid powder and 1,500 pounds of flour. Chicken Charlie's debuted deep-fried Klondike Barsthin mints and Pop Tarts in past years. http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2011/jun/14/fried-kool-aid-hit-fair-chicken-charlie-says/

Pienza, a town and comune in the province of Siena, in the Val d'Orcia in Tuscany (central Italy), between the towns of Montepulciano and Montalcino, is the "touchstone of Renaissance urbanism." In 1996, UNESCO declared the town a World Heritage Site, and in 2004 the entire valley, the Val d'Orcia, was included on the list of UNESCO's World Cultural Landscapes. Pienza was rebuilt from a village called Corsignano, which was the birthplace (1405) of Aeneas Silvius Piccolomini (Italian: Enea Silvio Piccolomini), a Renaissance humanist born into an exiled Sienese family, who later became Pope Pius II. Once he became Pope, Piccolomini had the entire village rebuilt as an ideal Renaissance town. Intended as a retreat from Rome, it represents the first application of humanist urban planning concepts, creating an impetus for planning that was adopted in other Italian towns and cities and eventually spread to other European centers. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pienza

Pienza is famous not only for its architectures but also for the excellent sheep's milk cheese, or more correctly, ewes' milk cheese, pecorino, produced in the area. The word "formaggio" - generic cows' milk cheese - is rarely used in Tuscany where most of the cheese consumed is pecorino, followed in popularity by mozzarella and then other cheeses that have their own individual names. Even the word "pecorino", alluding to "pecora" - a ewe - is a quite recent invention. Until the end of World War II, Tuscans used the term "cacio", and indeed the cheese rolling competition held in Pienza on the first Sunday of September is know as "cacio al fuso" - literally, the cheese to the spindle. The aim of the participants in this popular festival is to see who can roll the cheese so that it stops closest to the spindle. http://www.pienza.com/pecorino.htm

What is LIBOR? London Inter-Bank Offer Rate. The interest rate that the banks charge each other for loans (usually in Eurodollars). This rate is applicable to the short-term international interbank market, and applies to very large loans borrowed for anywhere from one day to five years. This market allows banks with liquidity requirements to borrow quickly from other banks with surpluses, enabling banks to avoid holding excessively large amounts of their asset base as liquid assets. The LIBOR is officially fixed once a day by a small group of large London banks, but the rate changes throughout the day. I went to http://www.investorwords.com/ and searched for libor.

WHY is nearsightedness so common in the modern world? In the early 1970s, 25 percent of Americans were nearsighted; three decades later, the rate had risen to 42 percent, and similar increases have occurred around the world. There is significant evidence that the trait is inherited, so you might wonder why our myopic ancestors weren’t just removed from the gene pool long ago, when they blundered into a hungry lion or off a cliff. But although genes do influence our fates, they are not the only factors at play. In this case, the rapid increase in nearsightedness appears to be due to a characteristic of modern life: more and more time spent indoors under artificial lights. Our genes were originally selected to succeed in a very different world from the one we live in today. Humans’ brains and eyes originated long ago, when we spent most of our waking hours in the sun. The process of development takes advantage of such reliable features of the environment, which then may become necessary for normal growth. Researchers suspect that bright outdoor light helps children’s developing eyes maintain the correct distance between the lens and the retina — which keeps vision in focus. Dim indoor lighting doesn’t seem to provide the same kind of feedback. As a result, when children spend too many hours inside, their eyes fail to grow correctly and the distance between the lens and retina becomes too long, causing far-away objects to look blurry. One study published in 2008 in the Archives of Ophthalmology compared 6- and 7-year-old children of Chinese ethnicity living in Sydney, Australia, with those living in Singapore. The rate of nearsightedness in Singapore (29 percent) was nearly nine times higher than in Sydney. The rates of nearsightedness among the parents of the two groups of children were similar, but the children in Sydney spent on average nearly 14 hours per week outside, compared with just three hours per week in Singapore. Luckily, there is a simple way to lower the risk of nearsightedness: get children to spend more time outside.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/21/opinion/21wang.html?_r=1&src=recg

Two massive lions flank the steps of the New York Public Library's flagship building on Fifth Avenue. Crafted out of pink Tennessee marble, Patience and Fortitude, as they became known in the 1930s, are the library's tangible link to the ancient history of libraries. Across the world, sculptures of lions had stood watch over sacred spaces for thousands of years. During the library's construction, people like Teddy Roosevelt suggested using a bison because the new-world animal had "the advantage of being our own." But he and everyone else was rebuffed. These lions, and this library, were part of the long tradition of knowledge, passed down from one elite to the next from Alexandria to Rome to London and finally to New York. Information was not just an idea, but the set of physical objects that contained it. And that stuff had to be protected by the powerful, lest their precious atoms be lost and the wisdom into which they could be distilled lost also. The lions guarded the doors when the main branch of the New York Public Library was dedicated in May of 1911 and they watch over it still, rather haughtily looking over the heads of visitors to one of the world's great libraries. Yet over the last 100 years, and particularly over the last 10, everything about the storage and dissemination of knowledge has changed. T he lions still guard the building, but the information's gone out the back door, metastasizing in the new chemistry of the Internet. With all this change -- not to mention a possible $40 million budget cut looming -- it would be no surprise if the library was floundering like the music industry, newspapers, or travel agents. But that's the wild thing. The library isn't floundering. Rather, it's flourishing, putting out some of the most innovative online projects in the country.
Read much more at: http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2011/06/what-big-media-can-learn-from-the-new-york-public-library/240565/

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

Whether you like reading books for prizes, drinking good beer or learning crafts, the Albany County (Wyoming) Public Library promises to have something fun for adults this summer. From 6-8 p.m. on June 24, the library hosts World Travel Night, which is a Laramie 20/30 event focusing on world travel topics. Laramie 20/30 is the library’s events and activities program for adults. “Our target audience is really 20- and 30-somethings because I feel they’re an underserved population at the library,” Erin Wilkins, the library’s public services assistant, said. “People have been unanimously in favor of this program.” While the name suggests 20- and 30-somethings, the group is open to anyone over 21. “We card people because we sell beer,” Wilkins said. World Travel Night will tie in with the library’s Adult Summer Reading Program, Wilkins said. I’m getting Altoids tins and people are going to decorate them and … make a little pocket-sized travel kit,” she said. “And, we’re going to be creating stationary out of old maps.” The library also will offer cuisine from around the world, courtesy of several local restaurants, Wilkins said. “There will be (food from) Mexico, India, Japan, the Middle East, Switzerland and Tim Tams (from Australia),” she said. The Albany County Library Foundation is sponsoring World Travel Night, Wilkins said, so the food will be free. Beer, however, will cost $2 per bottle. “That’s the only thing that isn’t free,” Wilkins said. “Everything else — all the crafting supplies and the food — is provided.” http://www.laramieboomerang.com/articles/2011/06/23/news/doc4e02c441a35fa201996511.txt

Lake Erie Water Withdrawal Ohio's attempt to write between the lines of the international Great Lakes-St. Lawrence River Basin Water Compact is flowing at a flood's pace toward Gov. John Kasich's desk. With a single Columbus Democrat joining Republicans in support, the House voted 60-37 to approve a bill allowing heavy manufacturers, mining operations, power plants, and other businesses to draw up to 5 million gallons of water a day directly from Lake Erie before facing regulation. "We can do both," said the bill's sponsor, Rep. Lynn Wachtmann (R., Napoleon), owner of a water-bottling company that draws from the watershed. "We can protect the environment, and we can also make sure that jobs are protected, that economic growth is protected, and that's what [this bill] does," he said. Pushed by Ohio's business community and opposed by environmental groups, House Bill 231 goes to the Senate, where it is expected to receive rapid consideration next week. In addition to the threshold on water withdrawals from the lake, the bill would allow a business to withdraw up to 2 million gallons a day if the water is taken from inland sources within the watershed and up to 300,000 if taken from streams that have been designated as high quality. http://www.toledoblade.com/State/2011/06/23/Ohio-House-OKs-Lake-Erie-water-withdrawal.html

Quotes from And I Shall Have Some Peace There by Margaret Roach
I am nothing more than a work in progress . . .
. . . gardening had been my first moving meditation, my yoga.
It is no wonder so much of gardening is done on one’s knees; this practice of horticulture is a wildly humbling way to pass one’s days on earth. Even the root of the word humility comes from the soil (from the Latin humus, for earth or ground), and a good soil is rich in the partially decayed plant and animal material called humus.
Cartoon from Margaret Roach's A Way to Garden blog: http://awaytogarden.com/a-cartoon-that-slays-me-by-andre-jordan

Queen Anne is said to have proclaimed St. Paul's Cathedral in London as “awful, artificial and amusing.” Architect Christopher Wren was flattered rather than insulted, because at that time “awful” meant “awe-inspiring,” “artificial” meant “clever” or “artistic,” and “amusing” meant “riveting” or “astonishing.” The moral of that tale (which may or may not be true) is, of course, that words change their meanings over time, sometimes dramatically. Such is the case with “terrific,” and, to a certain extent, “terrible,” both of which have diverged from their origins as close relatives of “terrify.” The Indo-European root of all three words is “tres,” meaning “to tremble,” with the sense “to shake with fear.” (The same root gave us “tremble” and “tremor.”) The Latin descendant of “tres” was “terrare,” meaning “to frighten,” from which came “terribilis” (able to cause great fear) which eventually gave us the English word “terrible.” A parallel development from the same root was “terrificus” (the Latin suffix “ficus” meaning “making”), which eventually gave us both “terrify” (to make very afraid) and “terrific” (capable of causing great fear). http://www.word-detective.com/2007/03/01/terribleterrifyterrific/

Warner Bros. has settled the lawsuit brought by Missouri tattoo artist S. Victor Whitmill over the mark on Ed Helms' face in Hangover 2, which Whitmill claimed infringed a copyrighted tattoo he created for boxer Mike Tyson. Sources say the deal was hammered out during an all-day mediation in St. Louis on June 17. Whitmill, who created the original tattoo and registered the copyright, sued in April asking that a federal judge halt the release of the blockbuster comedy sequel because it prominently features the tattoo without permission. But on May 24, just days before the film was scheduled to be released, a judge denied Whitmill's request for a preliminary injunction. The judge did suggest that she saw merit in the case, even referring to the studio's defenses as "silly." In subsequent court filings, Warners said that it planned to digitally alter the tattoo for the home video version of the film if the case didn't settle quickly. And now it has. A notice of dismissal is expected to be filed shortly, putting an end to one of the odder copyright cases in recent memory. The film, meanwhile, has gone on to earn almost $500 million worldwide. http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/06/21/us-hangover-idUSTRE75K0DF20110621

Paul Bocuse was honored as the Chef of the Century at The Culinary Institute of America's (CIA) fifth annual Augie™ Awards at the Marriott Marquis in Times Square in New York City on March 30. In addition to Chef Bocuse, four other foodservice and hospitality greats were honored at the event, which raised about $500,000 for scholarships to support the education of future culinary leaders. Bocuse is the father of modern French cuisine. He was one of the first to emerge from behind the kitchen door, bringing the face and personality of the chef into the dining room and beyond. His l'Auberge du Pont de Collonges near Lyon, France has held three stars in Michelin Guide for 47 consecutive years. He is also the creator of the prestigious Bocuse d'Or international culinary competition. See other honorees plus pictures at: http://www.cianewswire.com/2011/04/paulbocuse.html

BOOK ADDICTS by Martha Esbin
Book addicts fear having no books,
take extra books on trips in case
they run out, store books on the floor,
have books in each room of the house,
make up reading lists for themselves. (a cinquain with five eight-syllable lines.)

A house built for a new museum exhibit shows how walls more than a foot thick, big triple-pane windows, doors like bank vaults and clever engineering can cut heating and cooling costs -- and pollution -- by 90 percent. The house keeps a comfortable temperature year-round. No need for heavy sweaters, no drafts, no noise. Thousands of furnace-free homes in Germany have been built to this cutting-edge efficiency standard, but in the U.S. there are only 15 buildings certified to the same level of extremely low energy use. Until now, none has been open to the public. The people in Cleveland who made the exhibit happen are enthusiastic about the idea, known as a "passive house." It costs more than conventional housing does, to be sure, as much as about 20 percent. If the special equipment the house needs becomes locally available, and energy prices rise, the economics improve. In the meantime, the Cleveland Museum of Natural History decided to give its visitors a peek at this possible future. The house was intended as a can-do complement to a traveling exhibit on climate change that will open here in July. What makes the two-story house special is an insulation system with a sealed air barrier in the walls that makes it work like a thermos. A German-made ventilator transfers heat from the stale, outgoing air to the fresh air coming in, so very little heat is lost. Two ductless air-source heat pumps, which look like white rectangular boxes on the wall, one upstairs and one down, supply all the heating and cooling needed. They run on the energy equivalent of two hair dryers. Because the house is so well insulated, it can hold heat from sunshine, body heat, lights and appliances. Amory Lovins, the author of an upcoming book about new ways to get and use energy, "Reinventing Fire," built a highly efficient house warmed mostly with these heat sources in Colorado in the early 1980s, an early inspiration for passive houses. It's wrapped around what Lovins calls the jungle, a 900-square-foot indoor garden where bananas, mangos and other tropical fruit grows when temperatures outside are 30 below. Wolfgang Feist, who founded the movement in Germany, came to visit and discussed the economics before he built his first house, Lovins said. The Cleveland house, built to Feist's specifications, has huge south-facing windows in the living room and an open floor plan on the first level. http://www.startribune.com/business/124026364.html

In Adam Bateman's world books are the structural foundation. Whether he is building walls, spheres or stacks the book is his cornerstone. See pictures of his biblio universe at: http://www.bookpatrol.net/2011/05/biblio-universe-of-adam-bateman.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+BookPatrol+%28Book+Patrol%29&utm_content=Google+Reader

Book ‘em! Georgia's Morgan County County Library opens an old jail While strains of "Jailhouse Rock" played on a boom box outside, the Morgan County Library threw open the doors of the old detention center Sunday afternoon in an effort to nab new patrons and encourage current card holders to return. Library workers and a host of volunteers, including Friends of the Morgan County Library and library board members, were on guard in the afternoon during an open house of the library's new, but temporary, home. During the two-hour event, traffic was steady as residents visited the facility on Athens Highway, which, until a year ago, was the site of the county jail. Library board members gave tours of the site while refreshments were served as well as new book titles and library cards. http://www.morgancountycitizen.com/?q=node/17692
lignify (LIG-nuh-fy) verb tr.: To convert into wood. verb intr.: To become wood or woody
From Latin lignum (wood). Ultimately from the Indo-European root leg- (to collect), which is also the source of lexicon, legal, dialogue, lecture, logic, legend, logarithm, intelligent, diligent, sacrilege, elect, and loyal. Earliest documented use: 1828.
obtest (ob-TEST) verb tr. 1. To invoke as a witness. 2. To implore or beseech. verb intr. 3. To protest. 4. To plead.
From Latin obtestari (to implore, affirm, protest), from ob- (on, over), from testari (to bear witness or to make a will), from testis (witness). Ultimately from the Indo-European root trei- (three), which is also the source of three, sitar, trivia (from trivium, place where three roads meet), trivial, troika, trivet, testimony, testament, attest, testify (to be the third person: to bear witness), triskaidekaphobia (fear of the number 13), tercel (the male of a hawk), and trammel (restraint, shackle, net). Earliest documented use: 1548.
A.Word.A.Day with Anu Garg

FDA unveils new global strategy to help ensure safety and quality of imported products Strategy calls for coalitions of international regulators, increased data sharing The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on June 20 unveiled a new strategy to meet the challenges posed by rapidly rising imports of FDA-regulated products and a complex global supply chain in a report called the "Pathway to Global Product Safety and Quality." “Global production of FDA-regulated goods has exploded over the past ten years. In addition to an increase in imported finished products, manufacturers increasingly use imported materials and ingredients in their U.S. production facilities, making the distinction between domestic and imported products obsolete,” said Commissioner of Food and Drugs Margaret A. Hamburg, M.D. "There has been a perfect storm - more products, more manufacturers, more countries and more access. A dramatic change in strategy must be implemented." The FDA report calls for the agency to transform the way it conducts business and to act globally in order to promote and protect the health of U.S. consumers. Highlights of the report include four key elements needed to make the change:
1. The FDA will partner with its counterparts worldwide to create global coalitions of regulators focused on ensuring and improving global product safety and quality.
2. The coalitions of regulators will develop international data information systems and networks and increase the regular and proactive sharing of data and regulatory resources across world markets.
3. The FDA will build in additional information gathering and analysis capabilities with an increased focus on risk analytics and information technology.
4. The FDA increasingly will leverage the efforts of public and private third parties and industry and allocate FDA resources based on risk. http://www.fda.gov/NewsEvents/Newsroom/PressAnnouncements/ucm259848.htm

The Board of Directors of The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) has approved a plan to usher in one of the biggest changes ever to the Internet’s Domain Name System. During a special meeting, the Board approved a plan to allow an increase in the number of Internet address endings - called generic top-level domains (gTLDs) - from the current 22, which includes such familiar domains as .com, .org and .net. “ICANN has opened the Internet’s naming system to unleash the global human imagination. New gTLDs will change the way people find information on the Internet and how businesses plan and structure their online presence. Virtually every organization with an online presence could be affected in some way. Internet address names will be able to end with almost any word in any language, offering organizations around the world the opportunity to market their brand, products, community or cause in new and innovative ways. http://www.icann.org/en/news/releases/release-20jun11-en.pdf

READER CORRECTION Domaine La Veronique, where we stayed in the Languedoc during our recent trip to France, is an inn rather than a bed and breakfast. Three complete meals are provided plus transportation and a guide to historic spots.

I've just seen the new film Midnight in Paris, a romantic comedy written and directed by Woody Allen. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1605783/ I was reminded how much I love Cole Porter's music of the 1920s, particularly Let's Do It, Let's Fall in Love, which was introduced in Paris in 1928. Two scenes were set in the garden of the Rodin Museum, one of my favorite places in Paris.

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From: Ann Andrusyszyn Subject: etiolate Def: 1. To make pale by preventing exposure to sunlight. 2. To make weak by stunting the growth of. 3. To become pale, weak, or stunted.
How wonderful -- a word describing the practice of growing spargel in Germany! As a Canadian Air Force family we had two postings to Baden-Soellingen, which is located cheek by jowl with the village of Hügelsheim. Hügie, as we Canucks fondly called it, is also known as Spargeldorf (spargel village) and every Spring the area surrounding the village and the Base was a geometric vision with the long straight hummocks of spargel fields stretching as far as the eye could see. Twice a day we would see the crop being tended -- the pristine whiteness of this delicious vegetable was ensured through keeping it protected from sunlight by carefully building up the hummock wherever the spargel tips cracked the surface of the soil. (Spargel is German for asparagus.)
From: Mark Gottsegen Subject: lignify Def: To convert into wood; To become wood or woody.
The word "lignify" was very neat to learn about as I have an abiding interest in lignin-containing papers. Astute artists and art conservators know that lignin is the source of the acidic deterioration of papers of all types. Once the deterioration begins it's impossible to reverse, although it can be arrested through various chemical applications. The best way to avoid the problem, of course, is to use rag papers (100% cotton or high-alpha cellulose) that are at least pH neutral and preferably buffered with an alkaline additive.
From: Victor Lund Subject: lignify
The etymology of lignify brings to mind the Italian phrase, "col legno" or with the wood, familiar to orchestral musicians, signifying that the string players are to turn their bows over and hit the strings with the wood of the bow to produce a distinctively percussive sound.
From: Tossi Aaron Subject: verbing of nouns
Some TV cooking shows say, "... we can plate it ..."
From: Rudy Rosenberg Subject: The magic of words
During WWII, from 1942 to 1944 I was hiding in Belgium, Brussels. The last 17 months were spent in a basement in a house of the capital. There was no reading material available except for a well worn copy of the French Larousse dictionary. I perused it valiantly; each word sending me on a chase for a new one. Although I was not allowed to go to school from the age of 12 to almost 14 the Larousse enriched my vocabulary day after day. Yes, indeed: The magic of words!

Now That Everyone Wants to Be a Geek, Lawyers Have Been Called Now geek is a term of endearment among acolytes of technology, imbued with golden marketing potential. Just how cool is geek? Any dweeb who dares to use the word in the computer business just might hear from Best Buy's lawyers. The world's largest electronics chain recently threatened online rival Newegg.com with legal action, arguing that its Geek On advertising slogan sounded too similar to Best Buy's cartoonishly nerdy tech support service, Geek Squad. Newegg responded by posting the cease-and-desist letter on Facebook this month—and self-described geeks everywhere blasted Best Buy for trying to commandeer a common word that has enjoyed a bigger metamorphosis than the ugly duckling. The Richfield, Minn., company has disputed more than a dozen geek-themed trademarks in the past decade, federal records show, including Rent a Geek, Geek Rescue and Speak With A Geek. Last year, it sent a letter to a Wisconsin priest who had put "God Squad" in a logo reminiscent of the Geek Squad's on the side of his Volkswagen beetle, the same kind of car driven by Best Buy's repairmen. Best Buy says the dispute was resolved amicably after the company offered to remove the logo from the priest's car and pay his legal fees. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304453304576391602625560250.html?mod=WSJ_hpp_MIDDLE_Video_Top

Contrary to what the new Jim Carrey movie might have you believe, the original children's book "Mr. Popper's Penguins" does not feature any soccer balls to the groin. The Free Library of Philadelphia is opening up its archives and giving "Popper" proponents an uncommon opportunity to see the original artwork of illustrator Robert Lawson. The central library's exhibit consists of three cases, containing 24 illustrations, showcasing Lawson's work. The illustrations are not the originals, but facsimiles in order to protect Lawson's works from the detrimental effects of fluorescent lights. Still, the illustrations hold the same power. The exhibit is near the children's department and will remain there until September. The exhibits and archival work done on the library's Lawson collection were made possible by the Council on Library and Information Resources' Hidden Collections grant. Written by Richard and Florence Atwater and published in 1938, "Mr. Popper's Penguins" is about a poor housepainter struck by wanderlust who is sent a penguin - named Captain Cook - by an exploring admiral. The Captain is lonely, so Popper brings in another - Greta - to keep him company and the two beget a family of tuxedoed birds. Special Collections Archivist Adrienne Pruitt said the library's official stance on the movie is that the movie will be great, if only because it will generate interest in the book. She tried to pull a copy for the exhibit, but they were all checked out of the children's department.
http://www.philly.com/philly/entertainment/20110617_Philadelphia_library_exhibit_offers_inside_line_on__Popper_s_Penguins_.html

Synthetic leathers, at times made from plastics, are often used in clothing and fabrics. Artificial leather is marketed under many brands, including "leatherette," "faux leather", "Naugahyde" and "pleather". The term pleather ("plastic leather") is a slang term for synthetic leather made of plastic. The term was coined by Amy Bach, when working in New York for Millis clothing. Upon the arrival of a new line, a plastic leather, Amy needed a way to advertise the product to customers without calling it plastic. She thus came up with the term Pleather. A portmanteau of plastic and leather, the term is sometimes used derogatorily, implying a cost-cutting Ersatz for genuine hide. Besides cost, pleather may also be preferred because it is lighter than leather, or as an alternative to real leather citing reasons of animal cruelty. Pleather, being made of plastic, will not decompose as quickly. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artificial_leather

FRANCE RECAP, PART TWO On June 5, we took a train from Beziers to Avignon and boarded the Viking Neptune for a one-week cruise on the Rhone and Saone Rivers. Highlights:
Arles Already important in the days of Ligurian tribes, it became a leading city in the 1st century A.D. In 1239 it was absorbed into Provence.
Avignon Someimes called the River City or The City of Violent Wind. Crew members passed out song sheets and we sang Sur le Pont d'Avignon in view of the bridge which was completed in 1188, repeatedly damaged, and abandoned in 1680.
Chateauneuf-du-Pape Village with 320 vineyards. The pope's home was abandoned when popes were no longer allowed in France. Germans stored weapons there during WWII, and blew up the home when Allied troops approached. One soaring wall is visible from afar.
Tain l/Hermitage Musee Palue, private collection of some of the works of artist Paul Palue (1920-2005) and his contemporaries.
Vienne Intellectual and artistic center for centuries. Under Roman rule, a town was created in the image of Rome. Most Roman monuments are still intact.
Lyon France's culinary capital http://www.gonomad.com/destinations/0807/lyon-france-gastronomy-capital.html Situated at the confluence of the Rhone and Saone Rivers, with the Presqu'ile, or peninsula with its wall art and "secret" passageways, lying in between.
Beaune Hospices de Beaune Hotel-Dieux, charity hospital built in 1443 and used until 1971--retirement home has been retained. Visited wine cellar and heard a singer, without microphone or other electronic support, outside Hotel-Dieux.

Live music by pianist/singer daily. Four guest musicians (piano, singers, soprano and alto saxophone, dance) entertained with "Sound of Europe--Sound of France".
Kitchen crew sang one day while preparing lunch. Luckily, we were seated next to the kitchen and heard.
Double rainbow during dinner on 6/10, hot-air balloons practiced for festival the following day during dinner on 6/11

The HTTP Archive – a fledgling effort to record the performance of sites across the interwebs – has merged with the Internet Archive, whose Wayback Machine has long kept a similar record of internet content. Google's Steve Souders – who founded the HTTP Archive and will continue to run it – announced the merger this morning at the O'Reilly Velocity conference in Santa Clara, California. The ultimate goal of the project is to improve the overall performance of the web by exposing its bottlenecks. "I've had the idea of doing this for the past four or five years, where I saw that a large number of websites – even the most popular ones – weren't tracking very critical statistics about performance, like size of JavaScript or the number of script requests," Souders said. "I thought [the project] had a lot of synergy with what the Internet Archive was doing. They were kind of two sides of the same coin. The Internet Archive – the Wayback Machine – is tracking the content of the web, whereas the HTTP Archive is tracking how that content is built and served." Essentially, the HTTP Archive is now a sub-project of the Internet Archive, a not-for-profit based in San Francisco.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/06/15/http_archive_teams_with_new_relic/

Chinese artist Liu Bolin disappears inside his works. Mr. Liu, a master of camouflage, has his clothes, shoes, face and hands painted to match the settings behind him so that he all but vanishes against the backdrops of his photographs. The faint outlines of Mr. Liu can be spotted along the Great Wall of China, a dusty piece of construction equipment, a Chinese temple, a pile of logs and a red velvet seat, among other places. These days, it's getting tougher for Mr. Liu to hide. Last month, he was the fourth most searched among contemporary and modern artists on the site Artnet, beating Damien Hirst and Jeff Koons. (The American photographer Sally Mann came in first.) Now, Mr. Liu will draw attention in New York, where he's creating portraits at sites that include a magazine rack, a Kenny Scharf graffiti mural on Houston Street and a spot at ground zero. A solo exhibition of Mr. Liu's work, featuring his hidden portraits from Beijing and Italy, will open June 29 at the New York gallery Eli Klein Fine Art. The photos may strike some as a high-culture version of "Where's Waldo?" But the image of a concealed artist may hold more meaning for others, especially amid the art-world outcry over the Chinese government's detention of artist-activist Ai Weiwei. See more plus picture at: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304319804576389843181731996.html

Feedback to A.Word.A.Day
From: Chris Stowe Subject: Claque Def:
A group of people hired to applaud at a performance. North Korea brought one of these to the last World Cup to cheer for their team.
From: Curtis L. Brown Subject: claque
The word claque evokes fond memories. As a high-school student between the two world wars I used to be a member of the claque at Vienna's Staatsoper and Volksoper. It was the only way my weekly allowance stretched to hear famous singers like Jussi Björling or Beniamino Gigli. The Staatsopen had two sets of claques, one on the ground floor, and a cheaper one in the fourth gallery.
From: Manfred Kroger Subject: claque
A claque must then be very close in meaning to a group of shills. The former represent admiring/applauding followers, the latter pretend to purchase something in order to sway bystanders into participating. It's a thin line of separation, and the ultimate goal in both cases is financial gain. Related to these two concepts is the marketing ploy or "invention" thought up by Smirnoff or Smirnov of vodka fame in Russia who paid men to loudly complain to liquor sellers behind the counter they would only return if there were available a certain brand of drink they loudly named for all to hear.
From: John A. Laswick Subject: claque
By chance, The New York Times has an article on noise building at sport events: At sporting events across the nation, and in the N.B.A. in particular, noise has become a part of the show — rarely more so than in Dallas, where the Mavericks face the Miami Heat in Game 4 of the N.B.A. finals Tuesday night. It is hard to tell if the Mavericks’ favorite machine during these playoffs is Dirk Nowitzki, their star player, or their sound system. The Mavericks’ equipment involves more than simply pumping up decibels to levels that some experts fear could contribute to long-term hearing loss. Rather, with fans spoiled by earbud fidelity and 5.1-channel home theater systems, owners like the Mavericks’ Mark Cuban have turned hosting a game into producing an event — with “assisted resonance” and “crowd enhancement,” buzzwords for insiders and euphemisms for others. Sixty mammoth speakers hanging above the court thunder music and clamorous sound effects louder than a jumbo jet engine. More speakers encircling the seating bowl replicate a roaring herd of horses in perfectly timed surround sound. After tip-off of the recent playoff game against Oklahoma City in the Western Conference finals, microphones in the backboard amplified rim clangs, sneaker squeaks and the occasional player profanity, while devices dangling above the crowd — in the rare instances when the public-address system was not active — could redirect courtside crowd sounds into the distant upper mezzanine. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/07/sports/basketball/stoking-fans-excitement-arenas-pump-up-the-volume.html?_r=1&hp=&pagewanted=all

The Paradoxes of Motion
In the paradox of Achilles and the Tortoise, Achilles is in a footrace with the tortoise. Achilles allows the tortoise a head start of 100 metres. If we suppose that each racer starts running at some constant speed (one very fast and one very slow), then after some finite time, Achilles will have run 100 metres, bringing him to the tortoise's starting point. During this time, the tortoise has run a much shorter distance, say, 10 metres. It will then take Achilles some further time to run that distance, by which time the tortoise will have advanced farther; and then more time still to reach this third point, while the tortoise moves ahead. Thus, whenever Achilles reaches somewhere the tortoise has been, he still has farther to go. Therefore, because there are an infinite number of points Achilles must reach where the tortoise has already been, he can never overtake the tortoise. In a race, the quickest runner can never overtake the slowest, since the pursuer must first reach the point whence the pursued started, so that the slower must always hold a lead. Aristotle, Physics VI:9, 239b15
The dichotomy paradox Homer wants to catch a stationary bus. Before he can get there, he must get halfway there. Before he can get halfway there, he must get a quarter of the way there. Before traveling a quarter, he must travel one-eighth; before an eighth, one-sixteenth; and so on. That which is in locomotion must arrive at the half-way stage before it arrives at the goal. Aristotle, Physics VI:9, 239b10
The arrow paradox In the arrow paradox (also known as the fletcher's paradox), Zeno states that for motion to occur, an object must change the position which it occupies. He gives an example of an arrow in flight. He states that in any one (durationless) instant of time, the arrow is neither moving to where it is, nor to where it is not. It cannot move to where it is not, because no time elapses for it to move there; it cannot move to where it is, because it is already there. In other words, at every instant of time there is no motion occurring. f everything is motionless at every instant, and time is entirely composed of instants, then motion is impossible. If everything when it occupies an equal space is at rest, and if that which is in locomotion is always occupying such a space at any moment, the flying arrow is therefore motionless. Aristotle, Physics VI:9, 239b5 For three other paradoxes as given by Aristotle, see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zeno's_paradoxes

Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region (or Paris Region, French: Région parisienne). The city of Paris, within its administrative limits largely unchanged since 1860, has an estimated population of 2,193,031 (January 2007), but the Paris metropolitan area has a population of 11,836,970 (January 2007), and is one of the most populated metropolitan areas in Europe. An important settlement for more than two millennia, Paris is today one of the world's leading business and cultural centres, and its influences in politics, education, entertainment, media, fashion, science, and the arts all contribute to its status as one of the world's major global cities. Paris hosts the headquarters of many international organizations such as UNESCO, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) and the informal Paris Club. According to 2008 estimates, the Paris agglomeration is along with London, Europe's biggest city economy and the sixth largest in the world. The Paris Region hosts 37 of the Fortune Global 500 companies in several business districts, notably La Défense, the largest dedicated business district in Europe. According to the latest survey from Economist Intelligence Unit in 2010, Paris is the world's most expensive city in which to live. With about 42 million tourists per year, Paris is the most visited city in the world. The city and its region contain 3,800 historical monuments and four UNESCO World Heritage Sites The earliest archaeological signs of permanent settlements in the Paris area date from around 4200 BC. The Parisii, a sub-tribe of the Celtic Senones, inhabited the area near the river Seine from around 250 BC. The Romans conquered the Paris basin in 52 BC, with a permanent settlement by the end of the same century on the Left Bank Sainte Geneviève Hill and the Île de la Cité. The Gallo-Roman town was originally called Lutetia, but later Gallicised to Lutèce. It expanded greatly over the following centuries, becoming a prosperous city with a forum, palaces, baths, temples, theatres, and an amphitheatre. The collapse of the Roman empire and the 5th-century Germanic invasions sent the city into a period of decline. By 400 AD, Lutèce, largely abandoned by its inhabitants, was little more than a garrison town entrenched into a hastily fortified central island. The city reclaimed its original appellation of "Paris" towards the end of the Roman occupation. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paris

FRANCE RECAP On May 29, six of us flew to Paris to see the sights, and enjoy good food and wine. By coincidence, four other friends had planned a trip to Europe, so they met us in Paris for part of the time. On June 2, we took a high-speed train to Beziers in the Languedoc, where we were picked up and driven to Domaine La Veronique, owned by Peter and Sally Shaw. Peter and Sally bought a ruined structure with no roof, and spent 4 1/2 years making it into a three-bedroom bed and breakfast. We were their first customers. We had three excellent meals a day in the reclaimed building on a one-acre site with fruit and nut trees surrounded by vineyards. On a clear day, you can see the Pyrenees. Our hosts provided transportation to Roman ruins, the Oppidum of Ensérune. In the 6th century BC, the indigenous tribes of southern Gaul had gathered together in large communities on high ground, called ‘oppida’ (hill forts). These trading townships formed the first urban framework of the region. Dating from Pre-Roman times, the Oppidum of Ensérune (Hérault) offers one of the most spectacular views over the plain and the Canal du Midi, and over the impressive ‘Etang de Montady’, a lagoon drained in the 13th century into a network of canals converging on a central well. http://en.sunfrance.com/discover/cultural_heritage/roman_antiquity/the_oppidum_of_enserune We explored the medieval town of Pezenas where we were surprised and delighted to hear a Dixieland band playing, visited a goat cheese farm and an olive oil factory. We also had a wine tasting with Juliet Bruce Jones, MW http://languedocwinetales.blogspot.com/ who told us that Languedoc-Roussillon is the world’s largest wine-producing region. to be continued

This is peak season for foot pain. Feet swell and sweat in warmer weather, which changes the way shoes fit. And consumers are paying the price for this season's killer styles, especially the ballerina, the gladiator, the flip-flop and the wedge. Manufacturers are flooding drugstores with solutions, products designed to cushion the foot against cuts and blisters while accommodating summer style. They include adhesive gel pads shaped like toes or narrow sandal straps, and cotton moleskin that can be trimmed into inserts. Glide-on stick products, applied like a solid antiperspirant, are supposed to reduce foot friction and prevent sore spots. Blister care appears to be a growth business at retail. Dr. Scholl's introduced three of its four blister products in the past three years, based on research indicating some 7% of U.S. adults age 18 or over suffer from blisters annually, according to Merck & Co. Sales of Foot Petals devices in supermarkets, drugstores and other mass retailers (excluding Wal-Mart) rose 113% over the past 52 weeks, according to SymphonyIRI Group, a Chicago market research firm. Alison Garten, a Washington D.C. podiatrist and co-vice president of the American Association for Women Podiatrists, says most of these foot-pain products function well enough, but the goal is to have no use for them at all. Prevent blisters by wearing shoes that fit and that are designed for the day's activity. "Dress shoes weren't meant to walk a quarter-mile from the metro," Dr. Garten says. "That's exercise. Nobody would dare exercise in a pair of high heels." http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304319804576387580363335222.html

Foreign Country Land Mass Compared to United States
Afghanistan - slightly smaller than Texas
China - slightly smaller than the U.S.
France - slightly less than twice the size of Colorado
Iraq - slightly more than twice the size of Idaho
Malta - slightly less than twice the size of Washington, D.C.
Netherlands - slightly less than twice the size of New Jersey
United Kingdom - slightly smaller than Oregon
Zambia - slightly larger than Texas See other comparisons at: http://www.insidervlv.com/landmass.html

Elizabeth David (born Elizabeth Gwynne, (1913–1992) was a British cookery writer who, in the mid-20th century, strongly influenced the revitalisation of the art of home cookery with articles and books about European cuisines and traditional British dishes. David won the Glenfiddich Writer of the Year award for English Bread and Yeast Cookery. She was also awarded honorary doctorates by the Universities of Essex and Bristol, and the award of a Chevalier de l'Ordre du Mérite Agricole. However, the honour that most pleased her was being made a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 1982 in recognition of her skills as a writer. In 1986 she was awarded a CBE. David has appeared in fictional form at least twice. In 2000 a novel, Lunch with Elizabeth David, by Roger Williams was published by Carroll & Graf, and in 2006, the BBC broadcast Elizabeth David: A Life In Recipes, a film starring Catherine McCormack as Elizabeth David and Greg Wise as Peter Higgins. David's papers are at the Schlesinger Library at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, Harvard University. The writer Auberon Waugh wrote that if asked to name the woman who had brought about the greatest improvement in English life in the 20th century, "my vote would go to Elizabeth David. David's biographer Artemis Cooper concludes her Oxford Dictionary of National Biography article thus: David was the best writer on food and drink this country has ever produced. When she began writing in the 1950s, the British scarcely noticed what was on their plates at all, which was perhaps just as well. Her books and articles persuaded her readers that food was one of life's great pleasures, and that cooking should not be a drudgery but an exciting and creative act . In doing so she inspired a whole generation not only to cook, but to think about food in an entirely different way. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_David

Is Elizabeth David's recipe the ultimate spaghetti bolognese? See recipes and commentary at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2008/apr/03/recipes.foodanddrink

The recipes and wisdom of Elizabeth David, the 'Julia Child of England' http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/11075/1129407-478.stm

Lugdunum (Lyon) in France was founded in 43 BC by Lucius Munatius Plancus, a Gallic War general made governor of the province by Caesar. Located on the hill of Fourvière (Forum vetus, or old forum) at the confluence of the Rhône and Saône rivers, Roman Lyon became capital of the Three Gauls (Lugdunensis, Belgica, and Aquitania). While much of the Roman town lies beneath later construction, the remains of two Roman theaters may be seen on the Fourvière, overlooking the modern city of Lyon. http://www.athenapub.com/rhone6.htm

The first examples of traboules (from Latin meaning "to cross", a type of passageway) are thought to have been built in Lyon in the 4th century. Lacking water, the inhabitants moved to the banks of the Saône (in the 'lower town', at the foot of the Fourvière hill). The layout of Vieux Lyon is such that there are very few connecting streets running perpendicular to the river. The traboules allowed workmen and craftsmen to transport clothes and other textiles through the city while remaining sheltered from inclement weather. For many inhabitants, being a "true Lyonnais" requires being knowledgeable about the city's traboules. Nowadays, traboules are tourist attractions, and over forty are free and open to the public. Most traboules are on private property, serving as entrances to local apartments. Many, if not most, of the underground passages have been blocked off and are currently used as storage areas. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Traboule

In Lyon the walls tell stories, mostly very tall tales. While painting on walls is as old as time, the city has taken the art of modern urban wall painting to new heights with nearly 60 outdoor murals. Some are breathtaking flights of fancy; others are marvelous examples of trompe l'oeil, depictions of everyday life so realistic you could almost walk into them. Lyon's love affair with mural art is mostly due to a series of chance encounters more than three decades ago. In the early 1970s a group of local students got to discussing the closed nature of the art world, concluding that art was a form or expression largely confined to galleries and museums. Murals, they decided, would bring art to ordinary people. They would be direct, effective in portraying ideas, and free. See much more plus pictures at: http://www.francetoday.com/articles/2011/04/30/the-murals-of-lyon.html

Chateauneuf du Pape can be literally translated into English as "the Pope's new house (or castle)". The town is named for a castle built here in 1316 by Pope John XXII. The castle was used as a summer house by the popes during the period when the papacy retreated to nearby Avignon from the chaos in Rome. After the popes returned to Rome, the castle was sacked by the Protestants during the Wars of Religion. The final blow came, however, in World War II when the retreating Germans blew up the castle in 1944. http://harryrowe.com/chateauneuf.htm Today, there are 320 Chateauneuf du Pape vineyards.

Quote from The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein
A hero without a flaw is of no interest to an audience or to the universe, which, after all, is based on conflict and opposition . . .

The word photography derives from the Greek words phōs (genitive: phōtós) light, and gráphein, to write. The word was coined by Sir John Herschel in 1839. Photography is the result of combining several different technical discoveries. Long before the first photographs were made, Chinese philosopher Mo Ti and Greek mathematicians Aristotle and Euclid described a pinhole camera in the 5th and 4th centuries BC. In the 6th century CE, Byzantine mathematician Anthemius of Tralles used a type of camera obscura in his experiments Ibn al-Haytham (Alhazen) (965–1040) studied the camera obscura and pinhole camera, Albertus Magnus (1193/1206-1280) discovered silver nitrate, and Georges Fabricius (1516–1571) discovered silver chloride. Daniel Barbaro described a diaphragm in 1568. Wilhelm Homberg described how light darkened some chemicals (photochemical effect) in 1694. The novel Giphantie (by the French Tiphaigne de la Roche, 1729–1774) described what can be interpreted as photography. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_photography

Joseph-Nicéphore Niépce (1765-1833) was born at Chalon-sur-Saône near Lyon and retired to the country after the French Revolution due to ill health. He spent his life in research, and from 1813 to 1817 occupied himself in trying to find stones that could be utilized in the lithographic process. In a letter in 1816 to his brother Claude, he reported that he had succeeded in producing a negative image by using silver chloride on paper, but had been unable to "fix" it. The result was more successful in 1822 when he used asphaltum. The Encyclopaedia Britannica dates true photography from that date, when it declares, "the first permanent photograph was made that year by Niépce." (The process, however, was called "heliography.") By 1826, the method was perfected and bituminous tin plate was sent to Parisian engraver Frédéric Lemaître (1797-1870) to be engraved and printed on paper. Louis-Jacques-Mandé Daguerre (1789-1851) was born at Cormeilles-en-Parisis near Paris, and became an artist and scene painter. (His illusionistic Diorama, a popular spectacle hall where optical illusion and lighting effects combined to cast huge pictures with an illusion of depth, was a Paris landmark long before his name was connected with photography.) In 1826, hearing of Niépce's work through their common supplier of optical equipment, Charles Chevalier (1804-1859), an important innovator of the period, Daguerre approached the researcher through letters and asked to work with him toward an eventual partnership. Niépce, due to financial embarrassment and discouragement at the lack of interest in his innovations in scientific circles, agreed in 1829 to sign a contract of association. After Niépce's death, Daguerre in 1835 discovered accidentally that if an iodized silver plate were exposed in a dark room and then fumed with mercury vapor, a clear, direct, positive image would result. This "daguerreotype" process was the first successful photographic method to be made public. http://www.marillier.nom.fr/collodions/PGH/photography_was_born.html

The Château de Vaux-le-Vicomte is a baroque French château located in Maincy, near Melun, 55 km southeast of Paris in the Seine-et-Marne département of France. It was built from 1658 to 1661 for Nicolas Fouquet, Marquis de Belle Île, Viscount of Melun and Vaux, the superintendent of finances of Louis XIV. The château was in many ways the most influential work built in Europe in the mid-17th century and the most elaborate and grand house built in France after the Château de Maisons. At Vaux-le-Vicomte, the architect Louis Le Vau, the landscape architect André le Nôtre, and the painter-decorator Charles Le Brun worked together on a large-scale project for the first time. Their collaboration marked the beginning of a new order: the magnificent manner that is associated with the "Louis XIV style" involving a system of collective work, which could be applied to the structure, its interiors and works of art and the creation of an entire landscape. The garden's use of a baroque axis that extends to infinity is an example of this style. Once a small château located between the royal residences of Vincennes and Fontainebleau, the estate of Vaux-le-Vicomte was purchased by Nicolas Fouquet in 1641. At that time he was an ambitious twenty-six year-old member of the Parlement of Paris. Fouquet was an avid patron of the arts and attracted many artists with the gifts and encouragements he poured on them. Le Nôtre employed an optical illusion called anamorphosis abscondita (which might be roughly translated as 'hidden distortion') in his garden design in order to establish decelerated perspective. The most apparent change in this manner is of the reflecting pools. They are narrower at the closest point to the viewer (standing at the rear of the château) than at their farthest point; this makes them appear closer to the viewer. From a certain designed viewing point, the distortion designed into the landscape elements produces a particular forced perspective and the eye perceives the elements to be closer than they actually are. This point for Vaux-le-Vicomte is at the top of the stairs at the rear of the château. Standing atop the grand staircase one begins to experience the garden with a magnificent perspectival view. The anamorphosis abscondita creates visual effects which are not encountered in nature, making the spectacle of gardens designed in this way extremely unusual to the viewer (who experiences a tension between the natural perspective cues in his peripheral vision and the forced perspective of the formal garden). The perspective effects are not readily apparent in photographs, either, making viewing the gardens in person the only way of truly experiencing them. From the top of the grand staircase, this gives the impression that the entire garden is revealed in one single glance. Initially, the view consists of symmetrical rows of shrubbery, avenues, fountains, statues, flowers and other pieces developed to imitate nature – these elements exemplify the Baroque desire to mold nature to fit its wishes, thus using nature to imitate nature. The centerpiece is a large reflecting pool flanked by grottos holding statues in their many niches. The grand sloping lawn is not visible until one begins to explore the garden, when the viewer is made aware of the optical elements involved and discovers that the garden is much larger than it looks. Next, a circular pool, previously seen as ovular due to foreshortening, is passed and a canal that bisects the site is revealed, as well as a lower level path. As the viewer continues on, the second pool shows itself to be square and the grottos and their niched statues become clearer. But, when one walks towards the grottos, the relationship between the pool and the grottos appears awry. The grottos are actually on a much lower level than the rest of the garden and separated by a wide canal that is over half a mile (almost 1 km) long. According to Allen Weiss, in Mirrors of Infinity, this optical effect is a result of the use of the tenth theorem of Euclid’s Optics which asserts that “the most distant parts of planes situated below the eye appear to be the most elevated.” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vaux-le-Vicomte

Remember the vitality of the VCR? The jolting jingle of a wind-up alarm clock? The importance of wonderful handwriting, or when chalkboards were essential teaching tools? Defunct Magazine remembers these things, taking readers back to the contemporary times of objects, ideas, TV shows, and belief systems of the past. Founded by a team of University of Iowa writers, the new online magazine is published at www.defunctmag.com. Robin Hemley, director of the UI Nonfiction Writing Program and a professor of English in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, along with 15 graduate students, established the biannual publication. It features essays by students on the magazine’s staff, along with work by established authors and contributions from the public. “Anything that has had its day in society is fair game to write about,” Hemley says. “Defunct religions, cultures, technologies, games, fads, trends, and people are all subjects of focus in this publication.” The concept developed last fall, after Hemley assigned graduate students to review defunct literary publications. Reading the reviews proved entertaining for the group. One evening after class, they tossed around the idea of starting their own literary magazine. They intended to focus on defunct products, but the idea evolved to include all things defunct—trends, fads, cultures. See an online issue at: http://www.defunctmag.com/Defunct/Issue3Defunct.html

The University of Iowa Library has added a massive volume of poetry to its collection: a 100-volume work of 10,000 pages of poetry, measuring two-feet thick. The book, Poetry City Marathon, was written by Iowa City poet Dave Morice (aka Dr. Alphabet) during a 100-day poetry marathon in summer 2010—part of the celebration of Iowa City being named a UNESCO City of Literature. The final text of 10,119 8½- by-11-inch pages was printed out by Bu Wilson and bound by Bill Voss of the UI Libraries Preservation Department. It took 24 hours to bind the book, spread over four days with a half day devoted to making a special press to put all the pages together. Now that the work is complete, preservation staff and Morice are considering submitting Poetry City Marathon to the Guinness. Book of World Records as the world’s thickest book. http://spectator.uiowa.edu/archives/spectator-spring-2011.pdf

Paraphrase from The Emperor's Children by Claire Messud
People subscribe to empty rants because they believe a passionate report is more valuable than a dispassionate one.

Group terms
Pigeons A KIT of pigeons (flying together) A FLOCK or FLIGHT of pigeons.
Michael Haberl
Squirrels A DRAY or SCURRY of squirrels. Melissa Bee
Swans A GAME, BANK, TEAM, HERD or BEVY of swans. A WEDGE of swans in the air. Melissa Bee A LAMENTATION of swans. Michael Haberl A BALLET of swans.
See more at: http://www.hintsandthings.com/kennel/collectives.htm

Scotts Miracle-Gro Chief Executive Jim Hagedorn said he is exploring targeting medical marijuana as well as other niches to help boost sales at his lawn and garden company. Sales at Scotts rose 5% last year to $2.9 billion. But the Marysville, Ohio, company relies on sales at three key retailers—Home Depot Inc., Lowe's Cos. and Wal-Mart Stores Inc.—for nearly two-thirds of its revenue. With consumers still cautious about spending, the retailers aren't building new stores as quickly as they used to, making growth for suppliers like Scotts harder to come by. Against that backdrop, Mr. Hagedorn has pushed his regional sales presidents to look for smaller pockets of growth, such as the marijuana market, that together could produce a noticeable bump in sales. Sixteen states have legalized medical marijuana, the largest being California and Colorado. The market will reach $1.7 billion in sales this year, according to a report by See Change Strategy LLC, an information data services company. While the report focuses on revenue from growers and dispensaries, Kris Lotlikar, president of See Change, said the market for companies selling hydroponic equipment and professional services is also thriving. "We see very good growth for these types of companies as the medical-marijuana business grows," he said. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304665904576383832249741032.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

Did you hear the one about the two compliance officers who married each other? She regulates the length of his toenails and requires his showers to be less than two minutes long. This comedy gold was part of a successful audition for the finals of a recent competition to find the nation's funniest compliance professional. There's a lot for compliance officers to smile about these days. In an age of crackdowns, companies are hiring them by the truckload—and paying them better than ever. Contestants at the Comic Strip club in Manhattan landed more than a few belly laughs. After six stand-up routines of varying quality, the three-judge panel gave the title of the nation's funniest compliance officer to Michael L. Shaw from pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline PLC. The idea for the contest was dreamed up by executives at Howard-Sloan, a headhunting firm in New York. Mitchell Berger, Howard-Sloan's chief executive, said that for several years in the 1980s to '90s, the firm put on a similar contest for accountants. The event raised over $11,000 for juvenile diabetes research and convinced Mr. Berger to think about the next episode in his "America's Funniest" series. "Lawyers," he said. "I think we'll go with lawyers next year." http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304563104576359422016420298.html

The robin's nest It takes from two to six days to make the nest, with an average of 180 trips per day to find materials. Males sometimes help gather nesting materials but the female chooses the site and builds the nest. The female robin incubates her eggs for about 12 to 16 days. She sits on the eggs for 40-minute periods. Then she stands up, turns the eggs and flies off to feed or for a break. The male stands guard and sometimes sits on the eggs. An American Robin can produce three successful broods in one year. On average, though, only 40 percent of nests successfully produce young. About half of the robins alive in any year will make it to the next. Despite the fact that a lucky robin can live to be 14 years old, the entire population turns over on average every six years. Robins roost, or collect in flocks. Males do this year round, but the females and young join them during the winter. Roosts can get as big as 250,000 birds, but normally they are 20 to 200 birds. Even though the robin is a symbol of spring, it actually spends its winter in much of its breeding range. In winter they spend less time in yards and more time in large flocks, so they are seen less often.
See pictures and a daily chronicle from May, 14-June 10, 2005 at: http://www.i-pets.com/rpet19.html

The Impact of Deferring Retirement Age on Retirement Income Adequacy by Jack VanDerhei and Craig Copeland, Employee Benefit Research Institute, Brief No. 358, June 2011 http://www.ebri.org/pdf/briefspdf/EBRI_IB_06-2011_No358_Defr-Ret.pdf

The U.S. has become a bargain, compared to some other countries, as the U.S. dollar weakens and costs balloon in other places, according to results from a new report by ECA International, a global human resources company. The semiannual survey, which compares the price of food and basic goods and services—but not housing, utilities, or school fees—for expatriates in more than 400 cities around the world, ranked Australian cities higher for cost of living this year, mainly the result of currency changes. The Australian dollar has appreciated about 30 percent against the U.S. dollar since last June, and the Swiss franc has jumped about 37 percent. Of U.S. cities, Manhattan, which ranked No. 28 on last year's list, fell to No. 44. Honolulu dropped to No. 62, from No. 40. http://images.businessweek.com/slideshows/20110608/world-s-most-expensive-cities-2011/?campaign_id=lifestyle_related

Two bottles of the world’s oldest Champagne, which spent about 170 years at the bottom of the ocean, sold for 54,000 euros ($78,400) at an auction in Finland on June 3. The second lot, containing vintage Veuve, fetched 30,000 euros, which the auction house -- New York-based wine specialistAcker Merrall & Condit -- said was the most paid for a bottle. The bottles were sold in Mariehamn, capital of Aaland, a Finnish-controlled archipelago of 6,500 islands in the Baltic Sea, where divers discovered the precious cargo in a previously unknown shipwreck. About 145 bottles were found intact, including Veuve Clicquot, Heidsieck -- today made by Vranken-Pommery Monopole --and Juglar, which became part of Jacquesson. Veuve also offered 15 rare bottles from its own cellars and was a partner in the sale. The original destination of the Champagne isn’t known. Anders Naasman, one of the divers, said it may have been headed for the tsar’s court in St. Petersburg. It was well preserved because it lay horizontally, under pressure, at a low temperature in the dark, 50 meters (55 yards) below the surface. The authorities in Aaland, an Swedish-speaking region, say the proceeds of the sale will go to a good cause, such as environmental measures to improve the quality of the water in the seas around Aaland, whose main industries are shipping, trade, banking, farming and food. About 65 of the islands are inhabited, with 11,000 people living in Mariehamn, the archipelago’s only town, founded in 1861.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-06-02/world-s-oldest-champagne-from-shipwreck-may-sell-for-145-million-a-bottle.html

Who really runs France? Apart from the national hierarchy there are 27 regions - the highest level of territorial divisions of the Republic. Twenty two are in France, including Corsica. The rest are overseas. The second level is the 101 Departments which are responsible for welfare, rural land, colleges and school transport. You can spot where people come from by the department number on their car registration plate. Arrondissements are the third level of administration. There are 349 in France and representatives, sub prefects, are not elected but appointed by the President of the Republic. They don't appear to have any legal control but advise the prefect of the department. Cantons are the fourth level of administration. It's a constituency for the election of councillors. A township (canton) is a subdivision of a district (there are 4,039 in France) and some highly populated municipalities belong to several. Communes are the final level. On January 2010 there were a staggering 36,682 including 112 overseas. They cover the entire French territory, except for Wallis, Futuna and some other areas where no one lives. Blablablah, French English magazine June 2011 http://www.blablablah.org/images/stories/archives/2011/83.pdf

French firsts Semaphore, the system of holding up flags or lights in a pattern, was developed in 1794 by Frenchman, Claude Chape. It was designed to transmit messages quickly across long distances on land or sea. On land people could be 8 - 16 kms apart and send and receive messages but it was at sea that semaphore became the standard form of communication between ships until the invention of radio. The first international film empire was created by Frenchman, Charles Pathé (1863-1957). The Pathe name is still familiar to movie goers. Evidence has been found that French Neolithic man used stone tools with a cutting edge to lance abscesses and let blood. Its been discovered that around 20,000 BC in the Petit-Morin valley Neolithic man was performing delicate operations like removing discs and bones from skulls. Apparently, holes in these skulls show evidence that the procedure led to healing and the patients survived. On a lighter note the French are among many to claim to have created the first form of golf, Chole, in the 13th century AD. In Chole opposing teams struck the ball in different directions. Each team could take three strikes trying to score. Blablablah, French English magazine June 2011 http://www.blablablah.org/images/stories/archives/2011/83.pdf

In the 17th century two French languages developed side by side - the language of the court and literature and the language of the people, of which we now know virtually nothing. French grammarians and language purists were very influential then but never really succeeded in imposing their standards. Even people like the playwright, Moliere, mocked the precious language of the courts. The French revolution fuelled the efforts of the French purists. But in 1790 a survey of spoken languages showed that half the population neither spoke nor understood the French language. It took a while but after the French revolution the legal language was French for the military and civil servants. But try as they might the authorities never quite managed to get rid of regional languages. By 1910, 90% understood French but 50% still understood and probably spoke a dialect. Blablablah, French English magazine June 2011 http://www.blablablah.org/images/stories/archives/2011/83.pdf

Seafood recipes from Blablablah, French English magazine June 2011, page 23 http://www.blablablah.org/images/stories/archives/2011/83.pdf