The World Needs Books!  An Enthusiastic Reader Speaks of her Love of Books & Little Free Libraries.  Listen to Madison tell it like it is!!  from the Washington Post.  

See a 3:30 video at http://lisnews.org/the_world_needs_books_an_enthusiastic_reader_speaks_of_her_love_of_books_little_free_libraries

City of Seven Hills usually refers to Rome.  However, there are many cities that claim to be built on seven hills.  A list in the Americas has 23 entries, including Rome, Georgia, San Francisco, Seattle, Albany and Cincinnati.  Find other such cities in Asia and Europe at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_cities_claimed_to_be_built_on_seven_hills

Physiographically, Europe is the northwestern part of the large landmass known as Eurasia.  Europe is surrounded from the north by the Arctic Ocean, from the west by the Atlantic Ocean, from the south by the Mediterranean Sea, and from the southeast by the Black Sea.  The eastern border of Europe continent is now commonly delineated by the Ural Mountains in Russia, Caspian Sea and Caucasus Mountains.  Thus Armenia, Georgia, Azerbaijan and Cyprus are considered European countries, though geographically they are located in Asia territory.  Islands in the Mediterranean Sea and North Atlantic are generally considered part of Europe.  Russia and Turkey are considered part of both Europe and Asia.  Find an alphabetical list of countries in Europe at https://www.countries-ofthe-world.com/countries-of-europe.html

HACKER

A few years ago Fred Shapiro tracked down the earliest known reference (1963 The Tech [MIT student newspaper] 20) to computer hackers:    Many telephone services have been curtailed because of so-called hackers, according to Prof. Carlton Tucker, administrator of the Institute phone system. … The hackers have accomplished such things as tying up all the tie-lines between Harvard and MIT, or making long-distance calls by charging them to a local radar installation.  One method involved connecting the PDP-1 computer to the phone system to search the lines until a dial tone, indicating an outside line, was found. … Because of the “hacking,” the majority of the MIT phones are “trapped.”  This is the earliest know usage of hacker in the modern sense, the TMRC Dictionary has it a few years earlier but not in the computer sense.  The earliest computer related uses of the term (through anecdotal evidence) were also malicious (although the term wasn’t originally intended maliciously – in practice it was) in the sense that they involved gaining unauthorized access to computers to play on.  Imran Ghory  http://imranontech.com/2008/04/01/the-origin-of-hacker/  See also Hacker vs. Cracker by Chad Perrin at http://www.techrepublic.com/blog/it-security/hacker-vs-cracker/  

Hacker can also mean a person or thing that cuts--or a person engaging in an activity without talent or skill.  

HACTIVIST

Hacktivism (a portmanteau of hack and activism) is the use of computers and computer networks to promote political ends, chiefly free speech, human rights, and information ethics.  It is carried out under the premise that proper use of technology can produce results similar to those of conventional acts of protest, activism, and civil disobedience.  The term was coined in 1996 by a Cult of the Dead Cow member known as "Omega".  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hacktivism

ACTIVIST 

Activism consists of efforts to promote, impede, or direct social, political, economic, or environmental change, or stasis.  Various forms of activism range from writing letters to newspapers or politicians, political campaigning, economic activism such as boycotts or preferentially patronizing businesses, rallies, street marches, strikes, sit-ins, and hunger strikes.  Research is beginning to explore how activist groups in the United States and Canada are using social media to facilitate civic engagement and collective action.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Activism 

Law Review Commons has over 200 open-access law reviews with over 150,000 articles  Find free current issues & archives from 1852  at http://lawreviewcommons.com/

The Myth of the Yellow Pencil by Charles "Woodchuck" Berolzheimer  April 30, 2008  With the recent 150th anniversary of the patent of the eraser tipped pencil, I have seen several new references around the web about pencils and a few indicating that 75% of pencils sold in the United States are painted yellow.  At our Pencils.com site we explain the history of why so many pencils are painted yellow in the US.  It's not clear to me where this estimate of 75% comes from however.  Our site simply states that a majority of basic graphite writing pencils sold in the US are painted yellow and given today's market that may be generous.  Read much more at http://timberlines.blogspot.com/2008/04/myth-of-yellow-pencil.html

Why are Pencils Yellow? by Lynn O'Shaughnessy  July 22, 2010   Yellow pencils originally were supposed to connote luxury.  The tradition of yellow pencils began 120 years ago when a Hungarian company started manufacturing high quality yellow pencils that were named after a famous yellow diamond called Koh-I-Noor.  Not all countries use yellow pencils.  In Germany and Brazil, most pencils are green.  In Australia, pencils are red with black bands.  In Southern European countries, pencils are often dark red or black with yellow stripes.  Lead pencils contain no lead.  Pencils use graphite.  On the written page, graphite is resistant to moisture, ultraviolet radiation and aging.  Pencils are numbered to indicate how hard the graphite is.  The higher the number, the harder the graphite.  The No. 2 pencil is most popular because it uses a medium-grade graphite which makes it best for writing.  A No. 1 pencil has a softer graphite, which smudges easier.  Engineers and drafters like to use No. 3 pencils which have harder graphite.  http://www.cbsnews.com/news/why-are-pencils-yellow/

ward  (adjective suffix)  moves, tends, faces, or is directed toward;  occurs or is located in the direction of 

ward  (adverb suffix)  in or toward a specified direction

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/-ward  Find a list of words ending with ward at http://www.morewords.com/ends-with/ward/

A life-size sculpture of Laddie Boy is part of the collection of the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of American History.  Crafted by sculptress Bashka Paeff, the statue is made from more than 19,000 pennies donated by newsboys.  See a picture of a two-year-old Laddie Boy standing guard over a birthday cake made from dog biscuits.  The cake was sent from the Caswell Kennels in Toledo, Ohio, where Laddie Boy was born.  Included with the package was a letter allegedly penned by Laddie Boy’s father, Champion Tintern Tip Top, who wrote:  “It is hard to realize what a famous family member we have in you, Laddie Boy.  If we did not see your pictures which appear so often in the newspapers and magazines it would be hard for us to realize that you have grown to doghood and are no longer the roistering young blade that we bade good-bye to long ago.”  Find out who owned Laddie Boy  and link to information on presidential pets at http://presidentialpetmuseum.com/pets/laddie_boy/

http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com  Issue 1229  December 12, 2014  On this date in 1787, Pennsylvania became the second state to ratify the United States Constitution, five days after Delaware became the first.  On this date in 1991, the Russian Federation gained independence from the USSR.