Friday, June 26, 2015

Matzo is an unleavened cracker-like bread that is traditionally eaten at Passover.  It is made with flour and water, and it is the flour-containing product that is deemed to be Kosher for passover.  Matzo meal is made by finely grinding matzo crackers into a breadcrumb-like consistency.  The most well known use for matzo meal is in matzo balls, but the versatile meal can also act as a binding agent in place of regular bread crumbs in foods such as meatballs and even as a thickener in some dishes.  The crumbs also effectively take the place of flour in desserts like almost-flourless chocolate tortes, adding a little structure to a dessert while still making it acceptable for traditional Passover meals.  Matzo meal is not wheat or gluten free, but since the crumbs are already cooked until very dry and crisp, they don’t add a lot of structure to a baked good like regular flour will.  It should not be substituted directly for flour in most recipes, but there are some (usually recipes only contain a very small amount of flour to begin with) where you can substitute matzo meal and still get a good result.  http://bakingbites.com/2011/04/what-is-matzo-meal/

A few countries are using powerful electromagnets to develop high-speed trains, called maglev trains.  Maglev is short for magnetic levitation, which means that these trains will float over a guideway using the basic principles of magnets to replace the old steel wheel and track trains.  Learn how electromagnetic propulsion works, how three specific types of maglev trains work and where you can ride one of these trains at http://science.howstuffworks.com/transport/engines-equipment/maglev-train.htm

A think tank (also called a policy institute) is an organization, institute, corporation, or group that conducts research and engages in advocacy in areas such as social policy, political strategy, economy, science or technology issues, industrial or business policies, or military advice.  Many think tanks are non-profit organizations, which some countries such as the US and Canada provide with tax exempt status.  While many think tanks are funded by governments, interest groups, or businesses, some think tanks also derive income from consulting or research work related to their mandate.  
Find a list of think tanks ranked as centrist, conservative, liberal and libertarian at http://www.usislam.org/thinktank/list_of_think_tanks_in_USA.htm

A simile is a metaphor, but not all metaphors are similes 
Metaphor is the broader term.  In a literary sense metaphor is a rhetorical device that transfers the sense or aspects of one word to another.  For example:  The moon was a ghostly galleon tossed upon cloudy seas. — “The Highwayman,” Alfred Noyes   
A simile is a type of metaphor in which the comparison is made with the use of the word like or its equivalent:  My love is like a red, red rose. — Robert Burns

Soft power is a concept developed by Joseph Nye of Harvard University to describe the ability to attract and co-opt rather than coerce, use force or give money as a means of persuasion.  Recently, the term has also been used in changing and influencing social and public opinion through relatively less transparent channels and lobbying through powerful political and non-political organizations.  Nye coined the term in a 1990 book, Bound to Lead:  The Changing Nature of American Power.  He further developed the concept in his 2004 book, Soft Power: The Means to Success in World Politics. The term is now widely used in international affairs by analysts and statesmen.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soft_power

Disneyland is arguably America's greatest weapon in soft diplomacy.  Paraphrase from The Great Zoo of China, a novel by Matthew Reilly 

More on The Dark Night Rising  See a picture of a painting by Max Adamo (1837-1901) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Max_Adamo_Sturz_Robespierres.JPG with legal documents spilling on the floor and a judge on a high bench.  Compare this to The Dark Knight Rises - Crane's Court Cases at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i-dJPoSlPfU  2:05  Thank you, Muse reader!

HARVEY POLLACK was all about the numbers.  And there was no one better at recording them than he.  Given the nickname “Super Stat” in 1966 by then-Bulletin sports writer George Kiseda, Pollack brought such terms as triple-double, blocked shots, assists and steals into the everyday basketball vernacular.  But the numbers stopped June 23, 2015, as Pollack passed away at the age of 93.  Born March 9, 1922, to immigrant parents, Harvey grew up in North Philadelphia and was a 1939 graduate of Simon Gratz High School.  He entered Temple University that fall.  By his senior year, Pollack began to be defined by basketball statistics.  In 1942, he started keeping his own stats as a student-manager for first-year basketball coach Josh Cody.  Not long after, at the urging of Temple’s legendary sports information director Bob Geasey, Pollack was sending his stats to all five Philadelphia daily newspapers.  The other city schools took notice that Temple’s stats were taking up two columns while theirs only took up one.  In 2002, Pollack became the first—and still only—statistician enshrined in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.  The impact he had on basketball statistics was similar to the impact his favorite player, Wilt Chamberlain, had on the record books.  The 76ers began publishing “Harvey Pollack’s NBA Statistical Yearbook” in 1966.  It has grown from 24 pages to almost 400 pages in its latest edition.  But Pollack’s greatest night as a stat man, sports writer and PR director was March 2, 1962, in Hershey, Pa.  Chamberlain, playing for the Warriors, scored 100 points against the New York Knicks and Pollack was the only media representative there.   He had the wherewithal to grab Paul Vathis, an Associated Press photographer who just happened to be at the game but not shooting it, to take a photo of Chamberlain in the locker room after the game.  Needing something to commemorate the historic event, Pollack scribbled “100” on a piece of paper.  Wilt held it up and Vathis shot what became one of the most iconic photos in sports history.  Mark Perner  http://www.philly.com/philly/sports/Sixers_stat_man_Harvey_Pollack_dies_at_93.html

June 16, 2015  The Board of Lucas County (Ohio) Commissioners created the honorary, un-paid position of Lucas County Poet Laureate in 2007.  The Lucas County Poet Laureate is modeled after the United States Poet Laureate and contributes to the community’s visible arts profile.  Lucas County’s Poet Laureate works with area schools to highlight the importance of poetry amongst children and encourages and mentors those interested in expressing themselves through the art of poetry.  The Board has appointed Dr. Jim Ferris to serve as Lucas County’s Poet Laureate, an honorary and un-paid position, for a two-year term commencing immediately and until June 16, 2017.   https://lcapps.co.lucas.oh.us/carts/resos/16791.pdf

The Supreme Court on June 25, 2015 upheld a key provision of the Affordable Care Act, handing a major victory to the Obama administration.  The decision was 6-3, with Chief Justice John Roberts delivering the court's majority opinion.  Roberts and Justice Anthony Kennedy joined the court's liberals.  It's the second time in four terms the court has prevented the law from a major obstruction that would threaten its existence.  Instead, the Affordable Care Act again survives as the largest expansion of healthcare in half a century.  "Congress passed the Affordable Care Act to improve health insurance markets, not to destroy them," Roberts wrote in his opinion.  The key question in the case centered on whether the federal government had the ability to provide subsidies to help low-income Americans buy health insurance. 

I am proud to report that our colleague John Cannan has been cited by the U.S. Supreme Court in its decision in King v. Burwell, issued June 25, 2015.  The court cites John’s article from the Law Library Journal:  “A Legislative History of the Affordable Care Act:  How Legislative Procedure Shapes Legislative History,” 105 Law Libr. J. 131 (2013).  Maleeff, Tracy Z.  Here is the citing text from Chief Justice Robert’s majority opinion:   “The Affordable Care Act contains more than a few examples of inartful drafting.  (To cite just one, the Act creates three separate Section 1563s.  See 124 Stat. 270, 911, 912.)  Several features of the Act's passage contributed to that unfortunate reality.  Congress wrote key parts of the Act behind closed doors, rather than through “the traditional legislative process.”  Cannan, A Legislative History of the Affordable Care Act: How Legislative Procedure Shapes Legislative History, 105 L. Lib. J. 131, 163 (2013).  And Congress passed much of the Act using a complicated budgetary procedure known as “reconciliation,” which limited opportunities for debate and amendment, and bypassed the Senate's normal 60–vote filibuster requirement. Id., at 159–167.  As a result, the Act does not reflect the type of care and deliberation that one might expect of such significant legislation.  Cf. Frankfurter, Some Reflections on the Reading of Statutes, 47 Colum. L.Rev. 527, 545 (1947) (describing a cartoon “in which a senator tells his colleagues ‘I admit this new bill is too complicated to understand.  We'll just have to pass it to find out what it means.’ ”).”  See the slip opinion for King v. Burwell at http://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/14pdf/14-114_qol1.pdf

Word of the Day for June 26  not dog  noun  A vegetarian imitation-sausage, or hot dog sandwich made with one.  https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Wiktionary:Main_Page

http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com  Issue 1316  June 26, 2015  
On this date in 1934, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Federal Credit Union Act, which established credit unions.  
On this date in 1945, the United Nations Charter was signed in San Francisco.

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