When someone thinks of art crime, a Hollywood image is conjured, one of black-clad cat
burglars and thieves in top hats and white gloves. But, the truth behind art crime, one
misunderstood by the general public and professionals alike, is far more
sinister and intriguing. Over the last
50 years, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has ranked art crime behind only
drugs and arms in terms of highest-grossing criminal trades. There are
hundreds of thousands of art crimes reported per year, but, despite this fact,
the general public only hears about the handful of big-name museum heists that
make international headlines. In Italy
alone there are 20,000 to 30,000 thefts reported annually, and many more go
unreported. In fact, even though reported art crime ranks third in the
list of criminal trades, many more such incidents go unreported worldwide,
rather than coming to the attention of authorities, making its true scale much
broader and more difficult to estimate. http://www.fbi.gov/stats-services/publications/law-enforcement-bulletin/march-2012/protecting-cultural-heritage-from-art-theft
The appropriation for the Fort Knox Bullion Depository was made
by the Deficiency Act of June 22, 1936.
The building was completed in December 1936 and in 1937, the first
shipment of gold to Fort Knox was sent from the Philadelphia Mint and New York
Assay Office. http://www.usmint.gov/about_the_mint/mint_facilities/?action=KY_facilities
See also http://www.industrytap.com/how-they-built-fort-knox-gold-bullion-depository/7986 and http://www.celebritynetworth.com/articles/entertainment-articles/much-gold-fort-knox/
Although 445,500 double eagles
(U.S. gold coins worth $20 each) had been minted with a 1933 date, none were
released into circulation because of changes made to currency laws during the
Great Depression. In an effort to end
the run on the banks and stabilize the economy, President Franklin Roosevelt
took America off the gold standard. Not
only were no more gold coins to be issued for circulation, people had to turn
in the ones they had. It became
illegal for private citizens to own gold coins, unless they clearly had a
collectible value. The Mint melted down
nearly all the 1933 run of double eagles and converted them to gold bullion
bars by 1937. See picture and 2002 auction
story at http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2099031/Rare-Double-Eagle-1933-coin-worth-7-6-MILLION-goes-UK-time.html See
2012 story where a judge ruled that 10 double eagle gold coins worth $80
million belonged to the U.S. government, not a family that had sued the U.S.
Treasury, saying it had illegally seized them at http://abcnews.go.com/Business/judge-10-rare-gold-coins-worth-80-million/story?id=17159793
Pachyrhizus erosus,
also known as Mexican yam or Mexican turnip, is a native Mexican vine, although
the name most commonly refers to the plant's edible tuberous root. Plants in this genus are commonly referred to
as yam bean, although the term "yam bean" can be another name for
jícama. The names for jicama include
Mexican potato, ahipa, saa
got, Chinese turnip, lo bok, and Chinese
potato. (In Ecuador and Peru, the name jicama is
used for the unrelated yacón or Peruvian ground apple, a plant of
the sunflower family whose tubers are also used as food). The jícama vine can reach
a height of 4–5 m given suitable support.
Its root can attain lengths of up to 2 m and weigh up to
20 kg. The heaviest jícama root
ever recorded weighed 23 kg and was found in 2010 in the Philippines (where
they are called singkamas). Jicama is frost tender and requires 9 months
without frost for a good harvest of large tubers or to grow it commercially. It is worth growing in cooler areas that have
at least five months without frost, as it will still produce tubers, but they
will be smaller. The root's exterior is yellow and papery, while its
inside is creamy white with a crisp texture that resembles raw potato or
pear. The flavor is sweet and starchy,
reminiscent of some apples or raw green beans, and it is usually eaten raw,
sometimes with salt, lemon, or lime juice and chili powder. It is also cooked in soups and stir-fried
dishes. Jícama is often paired with chili powder, cilantro, ginger, lemon, lime, orange, red onion, salsa, sesame oil, grilled
fish, and soy sauce. It can be cut into thin wedges and
dipped in salsa. In Mexico, it
is popular in salads, fresh fruit combinations, fruit bars, soups, and other
cooked dishes. In contrast to the root,
the remainder of the jícama plant is very poisonous;
the seeds contain the toxin rotenone, which is used to poison insects and fish.
Illinois is flatter than every
state but one,
according to researchers, and is less hilly even than Kansas, a place once
proven to be flatter than an IHOP pancake.
Jerome Dobson, a University of Kansas geographer, set out to compare how
flat states actually are with how flat people think they are. In a 2013 survey that asked Americans which
state is flattest, a full third of respondents guessed Kansas. But Dobson’s team found that Florida, with
its low-lying coastal plains, was the flattest of the 48 contiguous states and
Washington, D.C. Mitch Smith http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/chi-study-says-illinois-is-second-flattest-state-on-mainland-20140619,0,214821.story
How Increasing Ideological Uniformity and Partisan Antipathy
Affect Politics, Compromise
and Everyday Life June 12, 2014 “Liberals and conservatives are divided over
more than just politics. Those on the
opposite ends of the ideological spectrum disagree about everything from the
type of community in which they prefer to live to the type of people they would
welcome into their families. It is an enduring stereotype – conservatives
prefer suburban McMansions while liberals like urban enclaves – but one that is
grounded in reality. Given the choice, three-quarters (75%) of
consistent conservatives say they would opt to live in a community where “the
houses are larger and farther apart, but schools, stores and restaurants are
several miles away,” and just 22% say they’d choose to live where “the houses
are smaller and closer to each other, but schools, stores and restaurants are
within walking distance.” The
preferences of consistent liberals are almost the exact inverse, with 77%
preferring the smaller house closer to amenities, and just 21% opting for more
square footage farther away. Americans overall are divided almost evenly
in this preference, with 49% preferring the larger houses and 48% preferring
the more convenient locations. Liberals and conservatives don’t disagree
on all community preferences. For
example, large majorities of both groups attach great importance to living near
family and high-quality public schools. Yet their differences are
striking: liberals would rather live in
cities, while conservatives prefer rural areas and small towns; liberals are
more likely to say racial and ethnic diversity is important in a community;
conservatives emphasize shared religious faith.
And while 73% of consistent liberals say it’s important to them to live
near art museums and theaters, just 23% of consistent conservatives agree – one
of their lowest priorities of eight community characteristics tested.” Sabrina I. Pacifici http://www.bespacific.com/political-polarization-personal-life-pew/ This is the first report of a multi-part
series based on a national survey of 10,013 adults nationwide, conducted
January 23-March 16, 2014 by the Pew Research Center. Read the 93-page report at
http://www.people-press.org/files/2014/06/6-12-2014-Political-Polarization-Release.pdf
The questions are listed after the
report itself.
AVIATION ENJOYMENT On July 2, 2014 we expected to travel from
the Detroit airport to New York's LaGuardia easily. Due to storms causing cancellations,
rescheduled and missed flights, we arrived 27 hours after the scheduled
time. Our last pilot (we were in
Minneapolis at this point) promised us two hours and three minutes of aviation
enjoyment. He said he'd have us to New
York in a New York minute. That didn't
actually happen, as we flew over Canada to avoid storms and bumped our way
southward into New York.
New York minute A very short period of time; an instant. [From the allusion to the frenzied pace of
life in New York City.] "Sometimes
in New Orleans, the weather can change in a New York minute." Janet Angelico; 2nd-graders Invent a Way to
Win Contest; Times Picayune (Louisiana); Mar 28, 2004. "Jambalaya, a spicy Louisiana rice dish,
usually takes an hour or more to prepare, but this version's ready in a New
York minute." Meghan Pembleton;
Jambalaya's Ready in Minutes When You Use Precooked Rice; The Arizona Republic
(Phoenix); Apr 21, 2004. The English
language is replete with such expressions where the name of a place has become
associated with a particular quality, such as laconic (using few words) from
Laconia in ancient Greece, bohemian (unconventional) from Bohemia in the Czech
Republic, and Siamese (connected twin) from Siam, the former name of Thailand. The term New York Minute has been facetiously
defined as the time between a New York City traffic light turning green and the
driver of the car behind you honking his or her horn. http://wordsmith.org/words/new_york_minute.html
http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com Issue 1170
July 14, 2014 On this date in
1969, Honduras lost
a soccer match against El Salvador and riots broke out in Honduras
against Salvadoran migrant workers. On
this date in 1969, United States $500,
$1,000, $5,000 and $10,000 bills were officially withdrawn from circulation.
No comments:
Post a Comment