Quotes from Saint Odd, Odd Thomas series, final installment, by Dean Koontz "They say that necessity is the mother
of invention, but it is also the grandmother of desperation." "I had
taken no more than a dozen steps when I turned abruptly, colliding with a woman
in a green fishnet top and red culottes. I apologized, though considering her outfit, she should have apologized as well . .
. "
Odd
Thomas is
a fictional character who first appeared in Dean Koontz's 2003 novel of the same name, Odd Thomas. He is a twenty-year-old man who lives in the
fictional desert town of Pico Mundo, California, and is able to see the spirits
of the dead. He is able to make himself
heard to them but they cannot speak to him, although they may make signs or
mouth words. The ghost of Elvis Presley was once a constant companion to him,
until the end of Brother Odd, at which time Elvis moved on
and the ghost of Frank Sinatra became Odd's new companion. Sinatra similarly left at the end of Odd Hours, shortly after an impressive
display of poltergeist activity. In the
fifth novel Odd Apocalypse he is visited by the ghost of Alfred Hitchcock, although he explains that he
wishes to help him, but does not have enough time at the moment while trying to
discover the secrets of the estate of Roseland.
Mr. Hitchcock appears again in the sixth novel, Deeply Odd. Odd was told
his name was originally intended to be "Todd", (or possibly
"Dodd", after his uncle whom he has never met and may not exist) and
his actual name stems from this error on his birth certificate. Order of Odd Thomas materials: Prequels (In Odd We
Trust, Odd Is on Our Side, House of Odd). Odd
Thomas, Forever Odd, Brother Odd, Webisodes (Odd Passenger 1,2,3,4),
Odd Hours, Odd Interlude (three shorts taking place between Odd
Hours, Odd Apocalypse and Deeply Odd, with an
excerpt from Deeply Odd), Odd Apocalypse, Deeply Odd, Saint
Odd http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Odd_Thomas_%28character%29
In the 17th and 18th centuries, the commonest type of lexical reference book was one
that included only those words that might present some difficulty to the user,
through unfamiliarity, orthographic irregularity, etc. These are termed 'hard-word dictionaries'. But in the 18th century, the practice began to
grow of including more everyday words as well. Confirmed by Dr Johnson's magisterial English
Dictionary of 1755, this is the tradition that has won out: we now assume that dictionaries will be
inventories of all the words of a language.
The Hutchinson Dictionary of Difficult Words is a compendium of around
14,000 of the more troublesome and obscure words in the English language.
View at http://inglesparaleigos.com/wp-content/uploads/Hutchinson%20Dictionary%20of%20Difficult%20Words.pdf
Engineer
and professor Karl Culmann of Zürich
happened (in the year 1866) to come into his colleague Georg Hermann von Meyer’s
dissecting-room, where the anatomist was contemplating the section of a bone. The engineer, who had been busy designing a
new and powerful crane, saw in a moment that the arrangement of the bony
trabeculae [spongy bone] was nothing more nor less than a diagram of the lines
of stress, or directions of tension and compression, in the loaded structure: in short, that nature was strengthening the
bone in precisely the manner and direction in which strength was required; and
he is said to have cried out, “That’s my crane!” One of Culmann’s
students, Maurice Koechlin, worked for Eiffel. And it was Koechlin who sketched the original concept of the Eiffel Tower, drawing from his
training in visualizing forces. The same
tools that Culmann developed and used to understand bone were later used
by Eiffel’s engineers to design a tower that minimizes the use of material. http://www.wired.com/2015/03/empzeal-eiffel-tower/
Bridges, towers, and trees
are sometimes called skeletons or filigrees.
Look around and appreciate.
Dormant Poem by Susan Wetmore
Four Spring Artichoke Recipes That Think Outside the Steamer from chefs around the
country by Kitty Greenwald
Whole New Jicama: Radical
Root Vegetable Recipes Carbs Worth Craving: Whole Grain Recipes at http://www.wsj.com/articles/four-spring-artichoke-recipes-that-think-outside-the-steamer-1428519354?tesla=y
Walpurgis (Swedish: "Valborg") on April 30 is a
widely celebrated event in Scandinavia, most of all in Sweden. Walpurgis Night precedes Labour Day in Scandinavia on
May 1 and many Walpurgis events continue over night from April 30 into that
holiday. The forms of celebration in Sweden vary in different parts of the
country and between different cities. One
of the main traditions in Sweden is to light large
bonfires, a custom which began during the 18th century. Lighting the popular bonfires began with the
purpose of keeping away evil spirits, especially demons and witches. Nowadays, Walpurgis Night is usually seen as
a celebration of springtime. Many Swedes
now celebrate the end of long, dreary winters by singing Spring songs. Walpurgis being celebrated on April 30 creates
a double national holiday in
Sweden. On this day, King Carl XVI
Gustaf celebrates his birthday. May
Day/Labor Day (May 1st) follows Walpurgis Night celebrations with a wide choice
of events, parades and festivities. http://goscandinavia.about.com/od/annualeventstraditions/qt/walpurgisnight.htm
THE WEDDING by
Martha Esbin
written for Guy Harrison
Esbin and Rebecca Lynn Shaw
on the occasion of their
marriage March 7, 2015
Gray and green, gold and
cream
the prince and princess
are serene
down the aisle they seem
to glide
so dignified, so
dignified.
Gold and cream, gray and green
friends and family fairly
beam
the music sounds as in a
dream
so dignified, so
dignified.
Gray and green, gold and
cream
friends and family are a
team
rooting for the groom and
bride
so dignified, so
dignified.
Gold and cream, gray and
green
eyes gleam at the scene
of the groom and bride
so satisfied, so
satisfied.
http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com Issue 1290
April 29, 2015 On this date in 1636, Esaias Reusner,
German lute player and composer, was born, On this date in 1745, Oliver Ellsworth, American lawyer and
politician, 3rd Chief
Justice of the United States, was born.
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