Monday, June 9, 2014

Jack is a male given name, although in some cases it can be used as a female given name (a shortened version of "Jacqueline" or "Jackie", for example), and sometimes as a surname.  In English it is traditionally used as the diminutive form of the name John, though it is also often given as a proper name in its own right.  The name Jack is unique in the English language for the frequency of its use as a verb and a noun for many common objects and actions; and also its use in many compound words and phrases: jack-of-all-trades, jackknife, jackpot, jack tar, hijack, union jack, jack straw (scarecrow), apple jack, lumberjack, jackhammer, jackdaw, jack o'lantern and others.  The Encyclopædia Britannica article on the history of the word "jack" linked it directly to the common name:  "Jack, a word with a great variety of meanings and applications, all traceable to the common use of the word as a by-name of a man."  In England, Wales and Northern Ireland, "Jack" was the most frequently used male name for the years 2003–2007.  See lists naming Jack in fiction, film, music, comics, nursery rhymes and video games at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_(given_name)

Really Good Books, Part I by David Brooks
Really Good Books, Part II by David Brooks

Dog whistles have been around since the 19th century.  The English polymath Francis Galton is credited with inventing a high-pitched whistle for testing the auditory ranges of dogs and other animals back in 1876.  Another English inventor, Archibald Low, described in 1933 how to "make a whistle that cannot be heard by human beings, but to which a dog answers readily."  And by 1940, Purina was selling ultrasonic dog whistles.  Several decades later, the "dog whistle" turned into a figure of speech for subtle messages that not everyone could discern.  Lexicographer Grant Barrett traces the usage back to a 1988 article by Washington Post pollster Richard Morin, in which he described the "dog whistle effect" in opinion polling:  "Respondents hear something in the question that researchers do not."  Ben Zimmer

Sarah Josepha Buell Hale (1788–1879) was an American writer and an influential editor.  She is the author of the nursery rhyme "Mary Had a Little Lamb". Her advocacy for Thanksgiving as a national holiday began in 1846 and lasted 17 years before it was successful.  In support of the proposed national holiday, Hale wrote letters to five Presidents of the United States:  Zachary Taylor, Millard Filmore, Franklin Pierce, James Buchanan, and Abraham Lincoln.  Her initial letters failed to persuade, but the letter she wrote to Lincoln convinced him to support legislation establishing a national holiday of Thanksgiving in 1863.  The new national holiday was considered a unifying day after the stress of the American Civil War.  Before Thanksgiving's addition, the only national holidays celebrated in the United States were Washington's Birthday and Independence Day.  Hale also worked to preserve George Washington's Mount Vernon plantation, as a symbol of patriotism that both the Northern and Southern United States could all support.  Hale raised $30,000 in Boston for the completion of the Bunker Hill Monument.  When construction stalled, Hale asked her readers to donate a dollar each and also organized a week-long craft fair at Quincy Market.  The fair sold handmade jewelry, quilts, baskets, jams, jellies, cakes, pies, and autographed letters from Washington, James Madison, and the Marquis de Lafayette.  She "made sure the 221-foot obelisk that commemorates the battle of Bunker Hill got built."  
A prestigious literary prize, the Sarah Josepha Hale Award, is named for her.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarah_Josepha_Hale

Nick's Kitchen 506 N. Jefferson, Huntington, Indiana   260.356.6618  nickskitchen.net
Nick Freienstein was born in Huntington January 22, 1876.  Nick was 12 years old when he dropped out of parochial school at SS Peter & Paul to take a job as a tobacco stripper at Reichard’s cigar Factory on Cherry Street. In the next 15 years, Nick worked many places around the town – at Joe Hegner’s Confectionery and the Peter Geizieichter and Stuart Lippman grocery store.  In 1904, Nick Freienstein had resigned his position from Stuart Lippman grocery. The next thing the public knew, Nick made his appearance on the streets at night selling hamburgers.  He had a stand at the corner of the courthouse square, which consisted of a push cart and a dim lantern.  In the course of time, his hamburger trade was housed in a little ten by ten structure, which occupied a space under a stairway at the corner of Jefferson and Market streets.  There he built a business for Nick’s hamburgers that provided him with the funds to move in 1908 to the present location of 506 North Jefferson Street.  For the first time, he no longer cooked his food on a cart but had a kitchen.  There are plenty of items on the menu at Nick’s, but there is one item that is a local hit.  The tenderloin sandwiches are made with the same recipe Freienstein himself used and there are no plans of changing it.
Link to menu at https://nickskitchen.net/history/  Nick's recipe includes a long soak in buttermilk before the cutlets are drenched in crushed cracker crumbs. 

Amana Meat Shop & Smoke House sells Iowa products "crafted with pride since 1855."  Their pork tenderloins rivals the Hoosier classic sandwich at Nick's Kitchen of Indiana.   The tenderloins come from the leanest part of the loin, are tenderized twice, then blanketed with a light egg batter and cracker crumb coating.  Order at 800-373-6328 or

Reclusive cartoonist Bill Watterson has emerged from nearly two decades in retirement to guest-draw a syndicated comic strip that runs in 750 newspapers globally.  The Calvin and Hobbes creator collaborated with fellow cartoonist Stephan Pastis, creator of Pearls Before Swine, on three strips that were published throughout last week.  But it was not until June 6, 2014 that Mr Pastis revealed the man behind the drawings.  Writing on his blog, Mr Pastis explained that he had written to Mr Watterson to express his admiration.  Not expecting a response, he was shocked when the cartoon titan not only replied, but also said that he had an idea that he wanted to run past Mr Pastis.  Together the pair conceived a series of comic strips in which Mr Watterson would appear under the guise of a 12-year-old girl called Libby, who would mock Mr Pastis' drawings - in reference to the self-deprecation that characterises his work - before going on to produce her own cartoons.  http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/art/calvin-and-hobbes-creator-bill-watterson-makes-surprise-return-9508343.html

What was fake on the Internet this week:  Detached retinas, doodled passports and a murder caught on Google Streetview  See Caitlin Deweys 14th installment in her series at http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-intersect/wp/2014/06/06/what-was-fake-on-the-internet-this-week-detached-retinas-doodled-passports-and-a-murder-caught-on-google-streetview/?tid=hpModule_d39b60e8-8691-11e2-9d71-f0feafdd1394&hpid=z10

If you missed the 146th running of the Belmont Stakes, you can see Tonalist win during this 2:50 video  http://www.nbcsports.com/horse-racing/tonalist-wins-belmont-stakes-california-chrome-fourth


http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com  Issue 1159  June 9, 2014  On this date in 1650, the Harvard Corporation, the more powerful of the two administrative boards of Harvard, was established--the first legal corporation in the Americas.  On this date in 1732, James Oglethorpe was granted a royal charter for the colony of the future U.S. state of Georgia.

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