“At the crossroads of communities and campuses, libraries of all types increasingly provide access to 3D printing.  In public libraries, 428 branches offer the service, up dramatically from 250 the year before . . .  Anyone seeking to take advantage of the full creative capacity of 3D printing must have at least a basic understanding of how to operate this technology.  Libraries not only provide instruction in how to print a design, but also in how to use a software program to build a 3D model from scratch . . . ”  Charlie Wapner  December 2015 

http://www.ala.org/advocacy/sites/ala.org.advocacy/files/content/3D_Printing_Decision_Maker_Final.pdf

bou·din  also bou·dain   A highly seasoned link sausage of pork, pork liver, and rice that is a typical element of Louisiana Creole cuisine.  [French, from Old French bodine, intestines.]  American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition.  Copyright © 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.  http://www.thefreedictionary.com/boudin  Boudin recipe http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/emeril-lagasse/boudin-sausage-recipe0.html

In June 2013, our planned cruise on the Danube River from Passau, Germany to Budapest, Hungary was cancelled due to severe flooding.  See http://www.theatlantic.com/photo/2013/06/flooding-across-central-europe/100530/  Watching public television in 2015, I became an armchair traveler watching a program on the area.

The Danube is Europe's second-longest river, after the Volga River, and also the longest river in the European Union region.  It is located in Central and Eastern Europe.  The Danube was once a long-standing frontier of the Roman Empire, and today flows through 10 countries.  Originating in Germany, the Danube flows southeast for 2,860 km (1,780 mi), passing through or touching the border of Austria, Slovakia, Hungary, Croatia, Serbia, Romania, Bulgaria,Moldova and Ukraine before emptying into the Black Sea.  Its drainage basin extends into nine more countries.  Classified as an international waterway, it originates in the town of Donaueschingen—which is in the Black Forest of Germany—at the confluence of the rivers Brigach and Breg.  The Danube then flows southeast passing through four capital cities before emptying into the Black Sea via the Danube Delta in Romania and Ukraine.  See map, pictures, lists of islands, parks, cities,towns and references in popular culture at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Danube

The Hanseatic League, a trading alliance in northern Europe in existence between the 13th and 17th centuries; The Hanseatic (class), synonym for upper-class people of the free imperial cities Hamburg, Bremen and Lübeck since mid-17th century after the end of the Hanseatic league; The Hanseatic Parliament, an association of business chambers around the Baltic Sea, founded in the early 1990s.  Find other uses of Hanseatic at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanseatic

The Old Salt Road runs for approximately 100 km from the 1,000-year-old salt town of Lüneberg, Germany, the picturesque shipping town of Lauenburg an der Elbe and Mölln, the town of the folkloric hero Till Eulenspiegel, to the Hanseatic town of Lübeck, gateway to the Baltic Sea.   Although now nothing more than an everyday item, mineral salt was hugely important – and expensive – in the Middle Ages, earning itself the nickname "white gold".  The salt trade in the Middle Ages was closely intertwined with power and wealth and in fact 1,000 years ago, salt was as significant to the economy as natural oil and gas are today.  This is what prompted tradesmen from Lübeck to transport salt from Lüneburg, the most important salt deposit in Northern Europe, to Lübeck along the Old Salt Road.  http://www.germany.travel/en/leisure-and-recreation/scenic-routes/old-salt-road.html  See also White gold:  How salt sweetens our world by Muhammad Adil Mulki at http://tribune.com.pk/story/624196/white-gold-how-salt-sweetens-our-world/ and Salt, the white gold?  at http://www.nbbmuseum.be/en/2007/08/salt.htm

Unlike salt, which can be found or made practically anywhere in the world, black pepper is indigenous only to Kerala, a province in southwest India.  References to pepper appear in Greek and Roman texts, suggesting an ancient trade between India and the West.  As early as 1000 B.C., traders from southern Arabia controlled the spice trade and pepper routes, enjoying a huge monopoly over an increasingly profitable business.  To protect their valuable routes, traders created fantastical stories about the hardships endured in order to procure spices.  What Englishman in his right mind would want to travel around the globe just to be attacked by a dragon guarding a pepper pit?  By medieval times, the middle leg of pepper trade routes was still firmly controlled by Muslim traders, while Italian city-states like Venice and Genoa held a monopoly on shipping lines once the spice reached the Mediterranean.  Pepper was costly to ship—the Silk Road, the most well-known trade route, stretched over 4,000 miles—but was such a desirable spice that Italian traders could essentially set their own prices.  This led to pepper’s status as a luxury item in medieval Europe.  Even today, the Dutch phrase “pepper expensive” refers to an item of prohibitive cost.  Stephanie Butler  http://www.history.com/news/hungry-history/off-the-spice-rack-the-story-of-pepper

Feedback to A.Word.A.Day (shortened words:  1.  jaculate, 2.  cognize 3.  plaint 4.  suage 5.  gratulate)

From:  Julie Johnson   I like this week’s theme.  I heard a report that we have been shortening a lot of our words when we speak.  We say “legit” instead of “legitimate”, “cred” instead of “credibility”, etc.  Some people think it’s a problem, but I say, “Whatev.”

From:  James Hutchinson  The ‘missing’ letters from this week’s words (e-, re-, com-, as-, con-) can be combined to make the words censor cameo, which happens to be the name of a font in which letters are struck through.

The music that can deepest reach, / And cure all ill, is cordial speech.  Merlin's Poem  Ralph Waldo Emerson, writer and philosopher (1803-1882)  Read the whole poem at http://quod.lib.umich.edu/a/amverse/BAD1982.0001.001/1:6.15?rgn=div2;view=fulltext

This Christmas you can experience an event that hasn't happened since 1977 and won't occur again until 2034 – a full moon on Christmas Day.  While the moon will look full when it rises at sunset on Christmas Eve, it won't reach its peak until 6:11 a.m. EST on Christmas morning.  Watch the moon come up--you will feel like it's gigantic.  This is an illusion caused by having the moon near an object such as a tree or house that you can compare it to.  This is the last full moon of 2015, and is called a Full Cold Moon because it marks the start of winter.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/2015/12/25/full-moon-christmas-day-santa-claus/77901840/

http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com  Issue 1399  December 25, 2015  On this date in 1815, the Handel and Haydn Society, oldest continually performing arts organization in the United States, gave its first performance.  On this date in 1868, President Andrew Johnson granted  an unconditional pardon to all Confederate veterans.  Word of the Day for December 25:  wintertide  noun  wintertime (archaic)