Weddings are being put through the social media washing machine by Nick Bilton  

A few months after attending my first hashtag wedding, I was invited to a more traditional ceremony (yes, wedding season is in full swing), where the bride sent out a flinty note to all the guests days before the event.  “Please do not post anything online,” she wrote, noting that cellphones were strictly prohibited.  That event, sans cellphones, was quite beautiful.  During the ceremony, people clapped (with both hands) as the bride floated down the aisle.  Guests listened attentively to the sermon.  And at dinner, people did this very strange thing:  They actually spoke to one another.  Using their mouths.  Not via text message or emoji.  But while the analog wedding was beautiful, I kept finding men hiding in the bathroom checking their email or World Cup scores.  Toward the end of the night, I bumped into a group of women trying to hide behind the tent while they took a group selfie.  http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/31/fashion/digital-weddings-2-0-hashtags-and-retweets.html?hpw&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&version=HpHedThumbWell&module=well-region&region=bottom-well&WT.nav=bottom-well&_r=0

Liliom is a 1934 French fantasy film directed by Fritz Lang based on the Hungarian stage play of the same name by Ferenc Molnár.  The film stars Charles Boyer as Liliom, a carousel barker who is fired from his job after defending the chambermaid Julie (Madeleine Ozeray) from the jealousy of Mme. Muscat, the carousel owner who is infatuated with Liliom.  He moves in with Julie and they begin an affair.  When Liliom discovers he's about to become a father, he finds he needs money and participates in a robbery which goes awry.  Rather than allow himself to be arrested, Liliom kills himself and his soul is transported to a waiting room of Heaven.  A heavenly commissioner determines that Liliom will not be admitted into Heaven, only Purgatory, until he returns to earth to do one good deed.  Liliom was one of the two first French productions by producer Erich Pommer for Fox-Europa and director Fritz Lang's only French film.   Liliom premiered in France on April 27, 1934.  The original playwright, Ferenc Molnár, denounced the film because he did not receive screen credit on the poster.   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liliom_(1934_film)  

The 1956 Rodgers and Hammerstein musical Carousel is based on Liliom. 

The noun bane means a cause of great distress or annoyance.  Bane is also used as a name for people, characters and groups.  The adjective baneful means harmful or destructive. 

Forty-three states, the District of Columbia, four territories, and the Department of Defense Education Activity (DoDEA) have adopted the Common Core State Standards.  See a map of states adopting the standards and link to the standards and other resources at http://www.corestandards.org/standards-in-your-state/

The Wapshot Chronicle by John Cheever  National Book Award Winner, 1958 by Neil Baldwin  In my research for this month's column, I kept coming across John Leonard's resonant reference to John Cheever (1912-1982) as "the Chekhov of the suburbs."  It struck me as neat, convenient literary shorthand.  It was predicated upon a received image of suburban life that has become all-too-common nowadays:  on the surface, we see manicured lawns, cars in driveways, children (mostly white) running carefree in the streets; and then at the end of the day, fathers walking slowly home from the train station, tie loosened, briefcase in one hand, rolled-up newspaper in the other, to be greeted by a smiling wife and dinner in the oven.  But as the lights go down, the darker dimension takes hold, and all the carefully-concealed secrets - alcoholism, adultery, dysfunctionality -- erupt to the surface, and the huge metaphor is complete, revealing raw facts about "the emptiness at the heart of the so-called American dream."  Critics have attributed John Cheever's slow ascent to recognition to the idea that he spent too much time and energy focusing upon upper middle-class, suburban characters; and also to his dedication to the short story form.  But let us remember that The Wapshot Chronicle was a novel--his first novel, no less.  And in perfect symmetry, his selected Stories won the National Book Award twenty years later.  Excerpted from the September, 2003 issue of Ingram's Advance e-letter, part of National Book Award Classics, a monthly series of essays, highlighting past Winners of the National Book Award  http://www.nationalbook.org/nbaclassics_jcheever.html

Archaeologists have found two ancient Mayan cities hidden in the jungle of southeastern Mexico, and the lead researcher says he believes there are "dozens" more to be found in the region.  Ivan Sprajc, associate professor at the Research Center of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts, said his team found the ancient cities of Lagunita and Tamchen on the Yucatan peninsula in April by examining aerial photographs of the region.  Sprajc said the two cities reached their heyday in the Late and Terminal Classic periods (600-1000 AD).  At each site, researchers found palace-like buildings, pyramids and plazas.  One of the pyramids is almost 65 feet high.  They also found a facade featuring a monster-mouth doorway, which probably marked one of the main entrances to the center of the city.  Photographs from the sites showed stone pyramids jutting out from beneath dense foliage.  http://www.chicagotribune.com/lifestyles/travel/sns-rt-us-mexico-mayancities-20140822-story.html

Rocky Mountain National Park 100th Anniversary  Read about it, see pictures and link to resources at http://www.nps.gov/romo/planyourvisit/100th_anniversary.htm

The Wizard of Oz 75th Anniversary of film premiere on August 25, 2014  The film was based on the 1900 novel, "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz," by L. Frank Baum.  Find 75 facts about the film at http://parade.condenast.com/329429/linzlowe/75-weird-wonderful-facts-about-the-wizard-of-oz/

Wilderness Act 50th Anniversary  On September 3, 1964 President Lyndon B. Johnson signed into law the Wilderness Act.  This historic bill established the National Wilderness Preservation System (NWPS) and set aside an initial 9.1 million acres of wildlands for the use and benefit of the American people.  Over the past 50 years, and as a result of America's support for wilderness, Congress has added over 100 million acres to this unique land preservation system.  The 1964 Wilderness Act defines "Wilderness" as areas where the earth and its communities of life are left unchanged by people, where the primary forces of nature are in control, and where people themselves are visitors who do not remain.  http://www.wilderness50th.org/about.php?useraction=about-anniversary

The Web 25th Anniversary  On March 12, 1989, Tim Berners-Lee wrote a paper proposing an “information management” system that became the conceptual and architectural structure for the Web.  He eventually released the code for his system—for free—to the world on Christmas Day in 1990.  It became a milestone in easing the way for ordinary people to access documents and interact over a network of computer networks called the internet—a system that had been around for years.  http://www.pewinternet.org/packages/the-web-at-25/

http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com  Issue 1182  August 25, 2014  

On this date in 1916, the United States National Park Service was created.

On this date in 1948, the House Un-American Activities Committee held the first-ever televised congressional hearing:  "Confrontation Day" between Whittaker Chambers and Alger Hiss.