The Internet Public Library (IPL, ipl2) is a non-profit, largely student-run website at Drexel University.  Visitors can ask a reference question.  Volunteer librarians and graduate students in library and information science form collections and answer questions.  The IPL opened on March 17, 1995.  The IPL originated at the University of Michigan’s School of Information.  Michigan SI students almost exclusively generated its content.  They also managed the Ask a Question reference service.  Since January 1, 2007 the "IPL Consortium", a group of 15 colleges still including the University of Michigan, has run the IPL.  Drexel University's College of Computing and Informatics hosts the site.  With a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services, Drexel intends to additionally use it as a "'technological training center' for digital librarians".  IPL2, the new face of the Internet Public Library, results from a merger with the Librarians' Internet Index, previously managed by the Califa Library group.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_Public_Library  According to Joseph Janes, writing in the November/December 2014 issue of American Libraries Magazine, IPL will no longer be supported at the end of this year.

The Cat and the Canary (1927) is an American silent horror film adaptation of John Willard's 1922 black comedy play of the same name.  Directed by German Expressionist filmmaker Paul Leni, the film stars Laura La Plante as Annabelle West, Forrest Stanley as Charles "Charlie" Wilder, and Creighton Hale as Paul Jones.  The plot revolves around the death of Cyrus West, who is Annabelle, Charlie, and Paul's uncle, and the reading of his will 20 years later.  Annabelle inherits her uncle's fortune, but when she and her family spend the night in his haunted mansion they are stalked by a mysterious figure.  Meanwhile, a lunatic known as "the Cat" escapes from an asylum and hides in the mansion.  The film is part of a genre of comedy horror films inspired by 1920s Broadway stage plays.  Paul Leni's adaptation of Willard's play blended expressionism with humor, a style Leni was notable for and critics recognized as unique.  Leni's style of directing made The Cat and the Canary influential in the "old dark house" genre of films popular from the 1930s through the 1950s.  The Cat and the Canary is the product of early 20th century German expressionism.  According to art historian Joan Weinstein, expressionism is a loosely defined term that includes the art styles of Die Brücke and Der Blaue Reiter, cubism, futurism, and abstraction.  The key element that connects these styles is the concern for the expression of inner feelings over verisimilitude to nature.  Film historian Richard Peterson notes that "German cinema became famous for stories of psychological horror and for uncanny moods generated through lighting, set design and camera angles. "  Such filmmaking techniques drew on expressionist themes. Influential examples of German expressionist film include Robert Wiene's The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920) about a deranged doctor and Paul Leni's Waxworks (1925) about a wax figure display at a fair.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Cat_and_the_Canary_(1927_film) 

Spain, under duress, handed over full sovereignty of Gibraltar to the British under the terms of the 1713 Treaty of Utrecht.  Simón Bolívar (Simón José Antonio de la Santísima Trinidad Bolívar y Palacios) who died in 1830, had been for a time President of Bolivia, Colombia, Peru, and  Venezuela.  Basque is the longest surviving language in all of Europe with no apparent link to any Indo-European language.  The Fund by H.T. Narea

At one time Europe and North Africa were linked by land bridges at Gibraltar and there was a free flow of animals and people passing from one continent to the other.  The two are now separated by a channel stretching east-west for some 60 km (38 miles) and extending from the southern tip of the Iberian peninsula to North Africa.  Its width varies from 24 km (15 miles) to 40 km (25 m.) at its western end.  Archaeological evidence suggests that Stone Age tribes lived in Gibraltar caves, but the earliest recorded history points to the Greek settlement of Calpe ('ship').  The current name resulted in the 8th-century when the Berber general, Tariq ibn Ziyad, established a military camp here and from this natural fortress, he seized modern Spain and Portugal and established Iberia's hybrid culture.  The limestone boulder gebel (rock) combined with his name, Tariq became Gebel Tariq which was shortened to Gibraltar.  Myth-makers say the pillars were created by Hercules when he carried out the tenth of his twelve labours:  to capture the cattle of Geryones, a monster with three heads and three bodies.  In order to effect the capture, Hercules tossed two great rocks about:  the first became Gibraltar; the second became Ceuta in Morocco.  These two promontories, Cape and Abya to the Greeks, are the twin Pillars of Hercules, natural sentries guarding the passageway between the Mediterranean Sea and the open Atlantic.  The pillars marked the edge of the known world, the limits of civilization, "the end of voyaging," according to Euripides, who wrote "the Ruler of Ocean no longer permits mariners to travel on the purple sea."  In the 2nd century B.C., Polybius wrote that the channel was seldom used owing "to the scantiness of our knowledge of the outer ocean."  The Greeks named it the Stream of Ocean that encircled the earth at the centre of which they were privileged to live.  Mediterranean means "middle of the earth."   The Strait of Gibraltar is also known as the Straits of Gibraltar.  There are 8 miles (13 km) of ocean separating Europe from Africa at the strait's narrowest point.  The strait depth ranges between 300 and 900 meters.  On the northern side of the strait is Spain and Gibraltar; on the southern side is Morocco and Ceuta, a Spanish exclave in North Africa.  Read more and see many pictures at http://www.travellinghistorian.com/gibral.html

Pillars of Hercules is the ancient name given to the promontories that flank the entrance to the Straits of Gibraltar.  They are Gibraltar in Europe and Monte Hacho in Ceuta in Africa.  The Jebel Musa, west of Ceuta, is sometimes considered one of the Pillars.  The Pillars appear as supporters of the coat of arms of Spain.  The motto Plus Ultra (Latin for further beyond) indicates the desire to see the Pillars as an entrance to the rest of the world rather than as a gate to the Mediterranean Sea.  It was not until Columbus discovered America in 1492 that it became Plus Ultra, before this point it said Non Plus Ultra.  The reason for this was that until then the navigation outside of the pillars had been limited to coastline navigation.  It wasn't until Columbus' discovery that seafaring technology proved to be ripe enough for sailors to venture "safely" into the open ocean.  See graphics at http://www.mlahanas.de/Greeks/Mythology/PillarsOfHercules.html

PROMONTORY

1  a:  a high point of land or rock projecting into a body of water  b:  a prominent mass of land overlooking or projecting into a lowland  2:  a bodily prominence  Example of PROMONTORY:  Cape May is Delaware Bay's largest promontory.  Origin of PROMONTORY Latin promunturium, promonturium; probably akin to prominēre to jut forth — more at prominent  First known use:  1548

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/promontory

Three institutions are united under one roof when the Harvard Art Museums reopens on November 16, 2014 after a six-year building project.  The Renzo Piano-designed scheme on the edge of the Harvard campus doubles the museums’ combined square footage, increasing gallery space by 40%.   Read story by Julia Halperin and see pictures at http://www.theartnewspaper.com/articles/At-Harvard-three-become-one/36129

The Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art in North Adams, MA, known for daring installations that can stretch as long as a football field will announce November 17, 2014 a group of long-term projects with some of the country’s most prominent living artists, including Laurie Anderson, James Turrell and Jenny Holzer, as well as a partnership with the late abstract expressionist Robert Rauschenberg’s foundation.  When the $60 million project goes online in 2017, Mass MoCA will be the largest contemporary art museum in the country, with more than 250,000 square feet of gallery space.  It will also be one of the most eclectic, a campus that features everything from rock and bluegrass festivals to dance premieres and a building devoted to the conceptual artist Sol LeWitt.  Geoff Edgers  Read more and see pictures at http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/mass-moca-to-become-countrys-largest-contemporary-art-museum/2014/11/15/fba7c816-6c0d-11e4-a31c-77759fc1eacc_story.html?hpid=z13

http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com  Issue 1218  November 17, 2014  On this date in 1777, the Articles of Confederation were submitted to the states for ratification.  On this date in 1800, Congress held its first session in Washington, D.C.