The oldest gladiatorial amphitheatre of which enough remains for us to see the layout in any detail is that in Pompeii.  The structure was built in 80BC and had seating capacity of about 20,000.  The Pompeii amphitheatre is built entirely of stone and includes several features that were to become standard elements of amphitheatre design across the Roman Empire.  The most consistent feature of all amphitheatres was their shape, an elliptical oval.  The elliptical oval, gave a position of prominence for the special dais on which sat the editor.  This dais was placed half way along the shady, northern side where the curve was at its flattest.  From there the editor could see everything that went on in the arena or in the seating.  More importantly, he could be seen by the entire crowd.  The platform on which he sat went by the name of the tribunal editoris.  The arena itself was covered with sand to soak up the blood and give the fighters a good grip with their feet.  The word arena comes from the latin for sand.  A second feature of the amphitheatre at Pompeii that was to persist was the location of the two gates which gave access to the arena itself.  A third characteristic set by the Pompeii amphitheatre was the layout of the seating.  The seats were made of stone and ran in horizontal lines around the arena.  The front seats were raised several feet above the sand and separated from it by a sheer wall of polished stone.  This was a safety feature as the wall stopped beasts or frantic men from climbing into the crowd.  Finally, the amphitheatre of Pompeii was built by two extremely wealthy local magnates named Gaius Quintius Valgus and March Porcius.  These men made sure that a prominent inscription recorded their generosity for posterity, and for the attention of the voting public.  In one important respect the Pompeii amphitheatre is unique.  It was built by digging down into the ground so that the floor of the arena was some feet below the level of the ground.  The soil excavated was heaped up to form the banks on which the stone seats were built.  This model was not followed elsewhere.  Most amphitheatres were entirely free standing structures whether they were built of wood, stone or a mix of the two.  http://thehistorymanatlarge.blogspot.com/2010/05/gladiatorial-arena-at-pompeii.html

The palaestra was the ancient Greek wrestling school.  The events that did not require a lot of space, such as boxing and wrestling, were practised there.  The palaestra functioned both independently and as a part of public gymnasia; a palaestra could exist without a gymnasium, but no gymnasium could exist without a palaestra.  The palaestra essentially consisted of a rectangular court surrounded by colonnades with adjoining rooms.  These rooms might house a variety of functions: bathing, ball playing, undressing and storage of clothes, seating for socializing, observation, or instruction, and storage of oil, dust or athletic equipment.  Vitruvius, through his text On Architecture, is an important ancient source about this building type and provides many details about what he calls “palaestra, Greek-style”.  Although the specifics of his descriptions do not always correspond to the architectural evidence, probably because he was writing around 27 BC, his account provides insight into the general design and uses of this type of space.  As Vitruvius describes, the palaestra was square or rectangular in shape with colonnades along all four sides creating porticoes.  The portico on the northern side of the palaestra was of double depth to protect against the weather.  Big halls (exedrae) were built along the single depth sides of the palaestra with seats for those enjoying intellectual pursuits, and the double depth side was divided into an area for youth activities (ephebeum), a punching bag area (coryceum), a room for applying powders (conisterium), a room for cold bathing, and an oil storeroom (elaeothesium).  Good examples of this building type come from two major Greek sites:  Olympia and Delphi.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palaestra

Lie vs. Lay  We’re all pretty clear on the lie that means an untruth.  It’s the other usage that trips us up.  Lie also means to recline:  “Why don’t you lie down and rest?”  Lay requires an object: “Lay the book on the table.”  It’s more confusing in the past tense.  The past tense of lie is—you guessed it—lay:  “I lay down for an hour last night.”  And the past tense of lay is laid:  “I laid the book on the table.”  Imply vs. Infer  To imply means to suggest something without saying it outright.  To infer means to draw a conclusion from what someone else implies.  As a general rule, the speaker/writer implies, and the listener/reader infers.  Nauseous vs. Nauseated  Nauseous has been misused so often that the incorrect usage is accepted in some circles.  Still, it’s important to note the difference.  Nauseous means causing nausea; nauseated means experiencing nausea.  http://qz.com/432285/20-misused-words-that-make-smart-people-look-dumb/

Null Island:  The Busiest Place That Doesn't Exist by Chris Higgins   At the GPS coordinates 0,0 you can find Null Island, a largely theoretical place accidentally invented by lazy computer programmers.  It's a thousand miles off the west coast of Africa.  And although Null Island doesn't actually exist, computers run into this "location" all the time.  Null Island exists primarily because of technical problems in distinguishing "no information" (NULL) from the number zero.  Often, lazy or inexperienced programmers simply use zero when they really mean NULL, with the result that computers show real-world things (people, businesses, etc.) popping up on the ocean near Africa, at least momentarily.  The story of Null Island is a cautionary tale with real-world ramifications—including US citizens in Wisconsin being assigned a Null Island location due to sloppy programming.  And then there's the problem of people whose name is literally "Null," for whom it's hard or impossible to create an account on lazy-implemented websites in which the name "Null" might equal the concept NULL.  http://mentalfloss.com/article/83871/null-island-busiest-place-doesnt-exist   See also https://www.gislounge.com/null-island-where-geocoding-errors-go-to-live/

Frances Browne, known  as “The Blind Poetess of Ulster”was born on the 16th January 1816, the seventh of twelve children.  When she was eighteen months old she contracted small pox and as a result lost her eyesight.  Frances strove with all the strength of her own to overcome the handicap of blindness and educated herself.  She did not attend school during the day but in the evening time when her brothers and sisters were doing their homework, Frances would listen to them reading aloud.  Frances was able to recite many of the verses her siblings had learned.  She continued to educate herself by bribing her brothers and sisters to read books to her, she achieved this by doing their household chores.  Her talent for poetry developed at an early age.  In 1841, her first poems were published in the Irish Penny Journal and in the London Athenauem.  She published her first volume of poems in 1844 and a second volume in 1847.  In 1847 Frances, and her sister Rebecca moved to Edinburgh where she found employment with Chambers Magazine.   She was actively involved in the Scottish capital’s literary circle producing not only poems but news articles, reviews, stories and eventually children’s stories.  Frances moved to London in 1852 and it was from here that she began to write novels.  She wrote three novels ‘The Hidden Sin’, ‘My Share of the World’ and ‘The Castleford Case’ each book was comprised of three volumes.  In 1857 Frances wrote her best work ‘Granny’s Wonderful Chair’.  This collection of fairy tales became a best seller and was republished many times, in countries all around the world.  Frances last work, a poem entitled “The Children’s Day” was composed a week before her death.  http://www.donegaldiaspora.ie/news/frances-browne

August 11, 2016  A recent study by Yale University researchers, published online in the journal Social Science & Medicine, concluded that "book readers experienced a 20 percent reduction in risk of mortality over the 12 years of follow-up compared to non-book readers."  The data was obtained from a longitudinal Health and Retirement Study sponsored by the National Institute on Aging.  The study looked at 3,635 subjects, all older than 50, whom the researchers divided into three groups:  those who didn't read books, those who read up to 3.5 hours a week and those who read more than 3.5 hours a week.  The findings were remarkable: Book readers survived almost two years longer than those who didn't crack open a book.  Accounting for variables such as education level, income and health status, the study found that those who read more than 3.5 hours weekly were 23 percent less likely to die during that 12-year period.  Those who read up to 3.5 hours--an average of a half-hour a day--were 17 percent less likely.  In other words, just like a healthy diet and exercise, books appear to promote a "significant survival advantage," the authors concluded.  Why or how that's the case remains unclear; the research showed only an association between book reading and longevity, not a causal relationship.  But the findings are not so surprising.  Other recent research showed that reading novels appears to boost both brain connectivity and empathy.  Book buying has increased annually during the past few years.  At least 652 million print and electronic books were sold in the United States in 2015, according to Nielsen BookScan, the main data collector for the book publishing industry.  The bad news:  Americans barely crack the top 25 when it comes to which countries read the most books.  India, Thailand and China are ranked one, two and three by the World Culture Index, while the United States comes in 23rd, behind countries such as Egypt, Australia, Turkey and Germany.  The better news is that 80 percent of young adults in America read a book last year, compared with 68 percent of those between the ages of 50 and 64, according to a Pew Research Center survey.  Amy Ellis Nutt   http://www.providencejournal.com/zz/lifestyle/20160811/best-reason-for-reading-book-lovers-live-longer-scientists-say

The Rio 2016 logo was made by Brazil’s Tátil Design de Ideias, while the Olympic font—and yes, there is an exclusive Olympic font—was constructed by Dalton Maag, a British typeface firm that has a satellite office in Brazil.  Green is connected to the nearby forest, Tijuca Forest, one of the biggest in the world.  Blue represents the ocean, and the yellow/orange comes from Brazil's warm temperature.  Matt McCue  Read extensive article and see graphics at http://99u.com/articles/53580/how-the-2016-olympic-logo-and-font-were-created

The "embarrassing" emerald green water in the pools at the Rio aquatics centre that left some athletes with itchy eyes is the result of an unplanned dump of hydrogen peroxide into the water, Olympic organisers said.  A contractor added 80 litres of hydrogen peroxide to each of the diving and water polo pools on August 5, 2016 but organisers said they only found out on August 9 when the water in the diving pool turned green from its typical blue during the women's 10 metre platform final.  According to organisers, the addition of hydrogen peroxide neutralised the chlorine and allowed algae to bloom.  "This is a way of cleaning swimming pools but you're not supposed to combine it with chlorine," Gustavo Nascimento, Rio 2016's director of venue management, told reporters.  "We were not consulted, our contractor's failure is our failure."  The green pools have become a huge headache for organisers of the Rio Games, becoming the butt of "swamp" jokes among the millions of spectators in the stands and watching in television.  Some water polo players have complained about itchy eyes.  Brenda Goh  http://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-olympics-rio-diving-pool-idUKKCN10O0UW  NOTE that the water in the Rio pools was back to a beautiful blue on August 14, 2016.

http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com  Issue 1513  August 15, 2016  On this date in 1843, Tivoli Gardens, one of the oldest still intact amusement parks in the world, opened in Copenhagen, Denmark.  On this date in 1914, the Panama Canal opened to traffic with the transit of the cargo ship SS Ancon.