The Pacific Islands region of the South Pacific Ocean is called Oceania when Australia and New Zealand are included.  There are approximately 25,000 islands, atolls and islets in Oceania.  Within the Pacific Islands region are the subregions of Polynesia, Melanesia, and Micronesia.  The islands of Tonga, Tahiti, and Fiji are located within two of these three areas.  Polynesia means "many islands," and includes within its 5 million squares miles the Kingdom of Tonga and the Territory of French Polynesia, where Tahiti is located.  Samoa and Hawaii are also found in Polynesia.  Read much more at http://www.everyculture.com/multi/Le-Pa/Pacific-Islander-Americans.html

Tales of the South Pacific is a Pulitzer Prize-winning collection of short stories about World War II, written by James A. Michener in 1946 and published in 1947.  It won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction in 1948.  Michener's writing career began during World War II, when as a lieutenant in the U.S. Navy, he was assigned to the South Pacific Ocean as a naval historian.  He later turned his notes and impressions into Tales of the South Pacific, that was his first book that was published.  His tales, about the South Pacific, were based on observations and anecdotes he collected while stationed as a lieutenant commander in the US Navy on the island of Espiritu Santo in the New Hebrides Islands (now known as Vanuatu) . The stories take place in and surrounding the Coral Sea and the Solomons.  The musical play South Pacific (which opened on Broadway on April 7, 1949), by Rodgers and Hammerstein, was based on Michener's stories.

http://www.examiner.com/article/james-michener-s-first-book-published-tales-of-the-south-pacific

Interjections are words used to express strong feeling or sudden emotion.   Interjections are included in a sentence (usually at the start) to express a sentiment such as surprise, disgust, joy, excitement, or enthusiasm.  Commas may be used to offset interjections--for example:  Yes, I've won.  Indeed, you have.  An interjection at the start of sentence can also be followed by an exclamation mark.  For example:  Yes! I've won.  Find more examples at http://www.grammar-monster.com/lessons/commas_after_interjections.htm

Very, pretty, so, and really are both adjectives and intensifiers.  In everyday, casual speech, Americans often use these words to describe the extent of something or the amount of something.  Find example sentences with intensifiers at http://www.elementalenglish.com/very-pretty-so-really/

The cucumbers used to make cornichon, commonly called gherkins, are the same species (Cucumis sativus) as cucumbers grown for fresh consumption, but are from a different cultivar group.  See pictures and read how a Long Islander made homemade cornichon at

http://hungrynaturalist.blogspot.com/2012/07/vol-2-no-17-homemade-cornichon.html

Construction of the Gherkin was commissioned by Swiss Re, a reinsurance company.  The 41-story skyscraper was built in 2004 after a modern glass and steel design by the architectural firm of Foster and Partners.  Originally known as the Swiss Re Building, it was later renamed to its street address 30 St. Mary Axe after Swiss Re sold the building in 2007.  Even before its construction was complete Londoners dubbed the building the 'Gherkin' for its distinctive shape, and it is still known by that name.  The cigar-shaped structure has a steel frame with circular floor plans and a glass facade with diamond-shaped panels.  The swirling striped pattern visible on the exterior is the result of the building's energy-saving system which allows the air to flow up through spiraling wells.  Its unique, bold and energy efficient design has won the Gherkin many awards including the Stirling Prize, the London Region Award, and the Emporis Skyscraper Award.  See pictures at http://www.aviewoncities.com/london/gherkin.htm

The German word 'reich' means 'empire', although it can also be translated as government.  In 1930's Germany the Nazi party identified their rule as a third Reich, and in doing so gave English speakers around the world a new, and wholly negative, connotation to the word.  The First Reich: The Holy Roman Empire (800/962-1806)  Although the name dates to the twelfth century reign of Frederick Barbarossa, the Holy Roman Empire was created over 300 years earlier.  In 800 AD Charlemagne was crowned emperor of a territory which covered much of western and central Europe; this created an institution that would remain, in one form or another, for over a thousand years.  The Empire was reinvigorated by Otto I in the tenth century, and his imperial coronation in 962 has also been used to define the start of both the Holy Roman Empire, and the First Reich.  By this stage Charlemagne's empire had been divided, and the remainder was based around a set of core territories, occupying much the same area as modern Germany.  The Second Reich: The German Empire (1871-1918)  The dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire, combined with a growing feeling of German nationalism, led to repeated attempts at unifying the multitude of German territories, before a single state was created almost solely by the will of Otto von Bismarck. Between 1862 and 1871 this great Prussian politician used a combination of persuasion, strategy, skill and outright warfare to create a German Empire dominated by Prussia, and ruled by the Kaiser.  This new state, the Kaiserreich, grew to dominate European politics at the close of the 19th, and start of the 20th, century.  In 1918, after defeat in the Great War, a popular revolution forced the Kaiser into abdication and exile; a republic was then declared.  The Third Reich: Nazi Germany (1933-1945)  In 1933, President Paul von Hindenburg appointed Adolf Hitler as Chancellor of the German State.  Dictatorial powers and sweeping changes soon followed, as democracy disappeared and the country militarised.  The Third Reich was to have been a vastly extended German Empire, expunged of minorities and lasting for a thousand years, but it was removed in 1945 by a combined force of allied nations, which included Britain, France, Russia and the US.

http://europeanhistory.about.com/cs/germany/a/Otherreichs.htm

Librarians at the University of Leeds have dusted off what is thought to be the one of first portable and travel sized library of books.  The miniature library was contained in a wooden case, bound in brown turkey leather, disguising it as a large folio volume, containing three shelves of gold-tooled vellum-bound books.   Stella Butler, University Librarian and Keeper of the Brotherton Collection, said:  'The Jacobean travelling library - one of only four made - dates from 1617 and is one of the most curious items in the Brotherton Collection.  The miniature books are contained in a wooden case disguised to look like a large book.  The catalogue inside the front cover is arranged in three columns of text within an architectural structure of arches and columns painted on a sheet of vellum.  The miniature books are a collection of about 40 mainly classical texts divided into three sections:  theology and philosophy, history, poetry.  They include works by Cicero, Virgil, Ovid, Seneca, Horace and Julius Caesar.  The library was reportedly commissioned by William Hakewill MP (1574-1655) for a friend at the turn of the year 1617/1618.  Within a period of five years he ordered three other such libraries to be made for his friends or patrons.  These are now held at the British Library, the Huntington Library California, and the Toledo Museum of Art Ohio.  The recipient of the University of Leeds copy seems to have been a member of the Irish Madden family, whose arms are clearly painted beneath the catalogue of the library inside the front board.  See remarkable pictures at http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2781378/First-kind-Kindle-Researchers-University-Leeds-thought-travel-sized-library.html#ixzz3FKj89CCt

The names of the ships Christopher Columbus took on his famous 1492 trip across the Atlantic Ocean,  probably weren’t really named Niña, Pinta and Santa Maria.  The Santa Maria was also known at the time as La Gallega, meaning The Galician.”  The Niña is now believed to be a nickname for a ship originally called the Santa Clara, and the Pinta was probably also a nickname, though the ship’s real name isn’t clear.  Columbus didn’t “discover” America — he never set foot in North America.  During four separate trips that started with the one in 1492, Columbus landed on various Caribbean islands  that are now the Bahamas as well as the island later called Hispaniola.  He also explored the Central and South American coasts.  http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/wp/2013/10/14/christopher-columbus-3-things-you-think-he-did-that-he-didnt/

http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com  Issue 1203  October 13, 2014  On this date in 1792, in Washington, D.C., the cornerstone of the United States Executive Mansion (known as the White House since 1818) was laid.  On this date in 1958, Paddington Bear, a classic character from English children's literature, made his debut.