Friday, May 24, 2013


Browse inside Joyful Noise by Paul Fleishmann, illustrations by Eric Beddows, winner of the 1989 Newbery medal.  The book is a collection of fourteen children's poems about insects such as mayflies, lice, and honeybees.  The concept is unusual in that the poems are intended to be read aloud by two people.  Some lines are spoken by the readers simultaneously, while others are read alternately by the speakers.  


Joyful Noise:  Poems for Two Voices - Pine City High School Speech

Melita may refer to:
Malta, a European country in the Mediterranean sea (Melita in Greek and Latin, malat in Phoenician)
Melita, California, former town
Melita, Manitoba, Canada
Mljet, (Melita in Greek and Latin)
Melita, a place in Arenac County, Michigan  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melita

Over the centuries, the terms for hominy and its byproducts have come to be rather haphazardly applied.  "Hominy" can indicate most any dried field corn, but dried corn treated with lye or lime—in a process known as nixtamalization—is likewise called hominy.  And cracked dried corn, properly called samp, is often labeled as hominy, too.  Take any of those products and grind them, and you have grits.  Grind lime-treated corn more finely, and you have masa, the base for tortillas and tamales.  http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323789704578446810909012462.html?mod=djemITP_h 

fiduciary (adj.)  1630s, from Latin fiduciarius "(holding) in trust," from fiducia "trust" from root of fidere "to trust"  As a noun, from 1630s
official (n.)   early 14c., from Old French oficial "law officer; bishop's representative" and directly from Late Latin officialis "attendant to a magistrate, public official," noun use of officialis (adj.) "of or belonging to duty, service, or office"  Meaning "person in charge of some public work or duty" first recorded 1550s
officiate (v.)   1630s, "to perform a duty," especially "to perform the duty of a priest," from Medieval Latin officiatum, from present participle of officiare "perform religious services," from Latin officium
duty (n.)   late 13c., from Anglo-French duete, from Old French deu "due, owed; proper, just," from Vulgar Latin debutus, from Latin debitus, past participle of debere "to owe"  Related: Duties.  The sense of "tax or fee on imports, exports, etc." is from late 15c.; duty-free as a noun is attested from 1958.  http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=fiduciary+duty

Plans released May 11, 2013 depicting The New York Public Library’s all-new 53rd Street branch in midtown Manhattan portray an open, light-filled design that offers a rich variety of public reading and meeting spaces, a family and children’s area, state-of-the-art computer labs, an audio-video collection, and accessible book collections that encourage communal interaction throughout.  The 28,000 square-foot branch, one of the largest in the NYPL system, is anchored by an internal topography that connects the library’s three floors, bringing light and views to the deepest corners of the plan’s lower floors and providing opportunities for interaction and public programs upon the interior library steps.  A glass curtain wall, at street level, brings sunlight and the feel of the neighborhood into the library and allows those walking by to see the rich diversity of activity happening within.  The three-story library at 20 West 53rd Street – designed by world-renowned architect Enrique Norten and his firm TEN Arquitectos – will be a true civic space, accommodating a variety of patrons and needs, from individuals looking for quiet study spaces to others seeking small group discussions as well as those wanting to experience one of the larger public programs.  The library will include two assembly spaces – an auditorium and bleacher seating – to support community workshops, educational programs and library events.   The designs have already been honored with a 2013 Project Merit Award from the American Institute of Architects, New York Chapter.  http://www.artdaily.com/index.asp?int_sec=2&int_new=62442 

Alexander the Great (356–323 BC) is considered one of the most successful military commanders of all time.  He was the son of Philip II, a King of Macedonia who had spent twenty years bringing Thrace, Thessaly, and eventually all of Greece under Macedonian control.  When Alexander came to the throne at age 20, he therefore had the most powerful army in the region at his disposal, as well as several of his father's best generals.  Even considering these advantages however, the progress of his military success was astounding. Macedonia was still a poor and backward country when Alexander crossed the Hellespont in 334 B.C. with the notion of conquering all of Persia.  He had only 40,000 troops and little money to begin with, but within three years he was master of a fabulously wealthy empire, whose domains spanned thousands of miles and included tens of millions of people.  Alexander died without a clear plan of succession, and his death resulted in a long series of wars between his generals for control of his kingdom. By the time of his death however, the process of "Hellenization", involving the introduction of Greek culture and learning into all the domains of the eastern Mediterranean was well along.  Within 20 years of his death his empire had evolved into three long term empires, but all retained a Greco-Macedonian character in their administration.  

Find towns founded by Alexander and cultural depictions of Alexander at:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cultural_depictions_of_Alexander_the_Great

LIDAR, which stands for Light Detection and Ranging, is a remote sensing method that uses light in the form of a pulsed laser to measure ranges (variable distances) to the Earth.  These light pulses—combined with other data recorded by the airborne system— generate precise, three-dimensional information about the shape of the Earth and its surface characteristics.  A LIDAR instrument principally consists of a laser, a scanner, and a specialized GPS receiver.  Airplanes and helicopters are the most commonly used platforms for acquiring LIDAR data over broad areas.  Two types of LIDAR are topographic and bathymetric.  Topographic LIDAR typically uses a near-infrared laser to map the land, while bathymetric lidar uses water-penetrating green light to also measure seafloor and riverbed elevations.  http://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/lidar.html  See also:  "Lasers in the Jungle," an article about mapping a Maya landscape at:  http://archive.archaeology.org/1007/etc/caracol.html

Graeme Rowland Base (born 1958) is an Australian author and artist of picture books.  He is perhaps best known for his second book, Animalia published in 1986, and third book The Eleventh Hour which was released in 1989.  He was born in Amersham, England but moved to Australia with his family at the age of eight and has lived here ever since.  He attended Box Hill High School and Melbourne High School in Melbourne, and then studied a Diploma of Art (Graphic Design) for three years at Swinburne University of Technology at Prahran.  He worked in advertising for two years and then began illustrating children's books, gradually moving to authoring them as well.  The Sign of the Seahorse was adapted as an opera with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra in 2001.  My Grandma Lived in Gooligulch was adapted as a play by Gooligulch Productions.  Animalia has been made into a television series (Animalia), and also is one of the most sold books around the world.   Base was an executive producer for the series, and also composed the opening theme music with Yuri Worontschak.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graeme_Base 
NOTE that I first learned of Graeme Base when working on the fanciful puzzle "The New Seahorse Café"  based on his book "The Sign of the Seahorse".

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