Monday, February 2, 2015

The game of Pall Mall, also known as Pel Mel, Pell Mell, Paille Maille, Palle-malle, Pelemele, Jeu de Mail (Game of Mail), is a game that appears to have been played primarily by Western European royal families and the higher aristocracy.  A lot has been written about the game in England and the fact that a London Street is named after it gives it a certain momentum that it doesn't necessarily deserve.  Nonetheless, it is historically interesting from the point of view of the games historian because it the close cousin of two wholly popular modern sports - Golf and Croquethttp://www.tradgames.org.uk/games/Pall-Mall.htm  See also Paille Maille played on London's Pall Mall--the 17th century royal game which gave Pall Mall in London its name was played on the street for the first time in 400 years at http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/5552361/Paille-Maille-played-on-Londons-Pall-Mall.html

Frequently Asked Questions of Louise Penny, author of the Armand Gamache series
Q.  Is it important to read the books in order?  A.  Well, it's not essential.  Each book is written to be self-standing, and most newcomers to the series have no difficulty picking up on issues that are explored in more depth in past books.  I think of the books as having two streams - one is the plot - the crime.  The other is the personal life of the characters.  The first will, for the most part, be contained in a single book.  The character development, though, gets deeper and deeper across the series.  The short answer?  It's not necessary to read previous books - but it is recommended.
Q.  What is the order of the books?  A.  From the first to the most recent: STILL LIFE;  A FATAL GRACE/DEAD COLD; THE CRUELEST MONTH; A RULE AGAINST MURDER/THE MURDER STONE; THE BRUTAL TELLING; BURY YOUR DEAD; A TRICK OF THE LIGHT; THE BEAUTIFUL MYSTERY; HOW THE LIGHT GETS IN; THE LONG WAY HOME.   As you can see, some books have different titles.  The first listed is for the US, the second is for the UK and Commonwealth, including Canada.
Q.  In some of the books, Chief Inspector Gamache tells new agents the four sayings that can lead to wisdom - four sentences his own mentor taught him.  What are they?  A.  I was wrong; I'm sorry; I don't know; I need help.  http://www.louisepenny.com/faqs.htm

 - means between or among.  The prefix intra- means within.  For example, an interstate highway is one that goes between or among states, while an intrastate highway is one that exists only within a single state.  http://grammarist.com/usage/inter-intra/

The prefix extra/extro means outside or beyond.  Examples:  extraordinary, extraterrestrial, extrovert  https://www.learnthat.org/pages/view/roots.html  NOTE that some sources say that extrovert is a misspelling of extravert.

Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell announced on Jan. 30, 2015 that the United States is nominating a group of 10 buildings in seven states designed by American architect Frank Lloyd Wright for inclusion on the World Heritage List, which recognizes the most significant cultural and natural sites on the planet.  The nominated group, entitled “Key Works of Modern Architecture by Frank Lloyd Wright,” consists of Unity Temple in Oak Park, Illinois; Frederick C. Robie House in Chicago, Illinois; Taliesin in Spring Green, Wisconsin; Hollyhock House in Los Angeles, California; Fallingwater in Mill Run, Pennsylvania; Herbert and Katherine Jacobs House in Madison, Wisconsin; Taliesin West in Scottsdale, Arizona; Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York City; Price Tower in Bartlesville, Oklahoma; and Marin County Civic Center in San Rafael, California.  The nomination will be considered for inscription on the World Heritage List by the UNESCO World Heritage Committee in the summer of 2016.  If approved by the World Heritage Committee, it would join 22 sites in the United States already inscribed on the World Heritage List. The most recent U.S. site is the Poverty Point State Historic Site in Louisiana, an archeological site that was inscribed in 2014.  A year ago, Secretary Jewell announced the nomination of San Antonio Missions, consisting of most of San Antonio Missions National Historical Park as well as the Alamo, for inclusion on the World Heritage List. The World Heritage Committee is reviewing the nomination and is expected to make a decision this summer.  The UNESCO World Heritage List was created as part of the World Heritage Convention, of which the United States was the prime architect.  It is an international treaty for natural site conservation and cultural site preservation proposed by President Richard M. Nixon in 1972.  The United States was the first nation to ratify it.  There are currently 1,007 sites in 161 of the 191 signatory countries.

Lisa Peet – Library Journal  Jan. 31, 2015  In 2005 the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten published a collection of 12 editorial cartoons by different artists, most of them depicting Mohammed, creating an image of whom is considered blasphemous by many in the Islamic tradition, though Persian and Turkish Muslims have a tradition of artwork depicting Mohammed that goes back hundreds of years.  Jyllands-Posten had printed the cartoons, it said, to further dialogue, but the final product was offensive to many Muslims.  Protests occurred in a number of Muslim countries, many turning violent.  Embassies were attacked, some 200 deaths were reported, and in 2010 four men were convicted of planning a terrorist attack against the newspaper in revenge for the cartoons’ publication.  The cartoons were reprinted in newspapers and magazines worldwide, including Charlie Hebdo in 2006, an act criticized by then-president Jacques Chirac as a “manifest provocation.”  When Yale University Press published a book on the subject in 2009, The Cartoons That Shook the World, it included none of the cartoons themselves (and removed several other images of Mohammed as well, including a 19th-century engraving by Gustave DorĂ© from The Divine Comedy).  Yet the cartoons did indeed open up a dialog.  The controversy spurred the Danish Royal Library to conduct an internal evaluation of its collection policies, concluding that coverage of Muslim communities and ethnic minorities in Denmark needed to be increased.  In 2008 the Royal Library met with several Muslim organizations.  At this meeting, Steen Bille Larsen, assistant to the Royal Library’s director general, told LJ, it was discussed how to intensify the acquisition of written cultural heritage from Muslim organizations and from leading spokesmen and religious persons in Denmark.  In the discussion the Royal Library underlined that a national library has obligations toward the whole nation.  The result was very positive and after the library received several prints that were not already in the collections.  In fact, the incident helped promote the inclusion of comic art in libraries worldwide.  http://www.bespacific.com/libraries-charlie-hebdo-threat-violence-fear-self-censorship/

The groundhog (Marmota monax), also known as a woodchuck, or whistle-pig, is a rodent of the family Sciuridae, belonging to the group of large ground squirrels known as marmots. The groundhog is a lowland creature, widely distributed in North America and common in the northeastern and central United States and Canada.  Groundhogs are found as far north as Alaska, with their habitat extending southeast to Georgia.  See pictures at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Groundhog

The handlers of Pennsylvania's most famous groundhog, Punxsutawney Phil, said on Feb. 2, 2015 that the furry rodent has forecast six more weeks of winter.  A German legend has it that if a furry rodent sees his shadow on Feb. 2, winter will last another six weeks.  If not, spring comes early.  Despite the German legend, Phil's handlers don't wait to see if he sees his shadow — as he likely would not have on such an overcast day.  Instead, the Inner Circle decide on the forecast ahead of time and announce it on Gobbler's Knob, a tiny hill in the town for which the groundhog is named, about 65 miles northeast of Pittsburgh.   http://www.seattlepi.com/news/us/article/Pennsylvania-groundhog-to-forecast-winter-s-end-6055969.php

Jimmy Fallon, Will Ferrell, Kevin Hart Bring Lip-Sync Battle to Super Bowl XLIX by Sarene Leeds  13:21  http://blogs.wsj.com/speakeasy/2015/02/02/jimmy-fallon-will-ferrell-kevin-hart-bring-lip-sync-battle-to-super-bowl/


http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com  Issue 1251  February 2, 2015  On this date in 1914, Charlie Chaplin's first film appearance, Making a Living premiered.  On this date in 1922, Ulysses by James Joyce was published.

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