Electricity is a form of energy and it occurs in nature, so it was not “invented.”  As to who discovered it, many misconceptions abound.  Some give credit to Benjamin Franklin for discovering electricity, but his experiments only helped establish the connection between lightning and electricity, nothing more.  The truth about the discovery of electricity is a bit more complex than a man flying his kite.  It actually goes back more than two thousand years.  In about 600 BC, the Ancient Greeks discovered that rubbing fur on amber (fossilized tree resin) caused an attraction between the two--and so what the Greeks discovered was actually static electricity.  Additionally, researchers and archeologists in the 1930’s discovered pots with sheets of copper inside that they believe may have been ancient batteries meant to produce light at ancient Roman sites.  Similar devices were found in archeological digs near Baghdad meaning ancient Persians may have also used an early form of batteries.  But by the 17th century, many electricity-related discoveries had been made, such as the invention of an early electrostatic generator, the differentiation between positive and negative currents, and the classification of materials as conductors or insulators.  In the year 1600, English physician William Gilbert used the Latin word “electricus” to describe the force that certain substances exert when rubbed against each other.  A few years later another English scientist, Thomas Browne, wrote several books and he used the word “electricity” to describe his investigations based on Gilbert’s work.  In 1752, Ben Franklin conducted his experiment with a kite, a key, and a storm.  This simply proved that lightning and tiny electric sparks were the same thing.  Italian physicist Alessandro Volta discovered that particular chemical reactions could produce electricity, and in 1800 he constructed the voltaic pile (an early electric battery) that produced a steady electric current, and so he was the first person to create a steady flow of electrical charge.  Volta also created the first transmission of electricity by linking positively-charged and negatively-charged connectors and driving an electrical charge, or voltage, through them.  In 1831 electricity became viable for use in technology when Michael Faraday created the electric dynamo (a crude power generator), which solved the problem of generating electric current in an ongoing and practical way.  Read more at http://www.universetoday.com/82402/who-discovered-electricity/

The “staff of life” means a “staple food.”  [1] What is a staple?  According to Merriam-Webster, the word staple used as a noun means “the sustaining or principal element.”  When used as an adjective, it means “principal, chief” and “used, needed, or enjoyed constantly usually by many individuals.”  [2] According to the Oxford English Dictionary, staple means “having the chief place among the articles of . . . consumption.”  [3]  According to the Word of Wisdom, the principal or chief element of our diet should be grains.  Grains include grasses like wheat and rice, but corn and legumes (like beans, lentils, peas, and other pulses) can also be classified as grains.  The “staff of life” is an English idiom.  An idiom is “an expression that cannot be understood from the meanings of its separate words but that has a separate meaning of its own” (Merriam-Webster).  http://discoveringthewordofwisdom.com/about/the-word-of-wisdom/wow-faqs/staff-of-life/

“Windy City” as the nickname of Chicago:  Etymologist Barry Popik (www.barrypopik.com) has found uses of “Windy City” in print as early as 1856, and it was frequently deployed in inter-city rivalry between Chicago and Cincinnati in the 1860s and 70s, in which “windy” had the dual meaning of “literally windy” and being “windy” with bombast and empty boasts.  The song “Chicago,” which begins “Chicago, Chicago, That toddling town, Chicago, Chicago, I’ll show you around,” was written in 1922 by Fred Fisher and has been recorded by numerous artists, the versions by Frank Sinatra and Tony Bennett being especially popular.  The verb “to toddle” dates back to around 1600 and initially, as defined by the Oxford English Dictionary, meant “to walk or run with short unsteady steps, as a child just beginning to walk [or] an aged or invalid person.”  That’s obviously the sense that gave us “toddler” meaning “a very young child.”  By the early 18th century, however, “toddle” was also being used to mean “to walk in a leisurely fashion, to stroll.”  The roots of “toddle,” incidentally, are unknown, but it may be related to “totter,” which would fit well with that first meaning.  http://www.word-detective.com/2010/10/toddling/

Steel Pier located at 1000 Boardwalk, Atlantic City, NJ featured many entertainment attractions, such as The Diving Bell, The Water Circus, The Marine Ballroom, Movie Theatres, The General Motors Exhibit, Midway Games, Tony Grant’s Stars of Tomorrow and the famous Diving Horse.  It was once considered the greatest entertainment venue in the United States.  First opened to the public in 1898, Steel Pier originally debuted as a theater, but expanded to include attractions, rides, and corporate exhibits.  Steel Pier featured every great entertainer of their day from Frank Sinatra to Al Jolson to The Beatles.  Steel Pier truly was the “Showplace of the Nation.”  Steel Pier and The Diving Horse were featured in a Disney movie titled, Wild Hearts Can’t Be Broken.  This was the story of Sonia Carver and her life as a rider on the Famous Diving Horses.  The Steel Pier has been rebuilt many times over its history, including once by Mayor Bader, whose name has been made famous by the HBO Series, Boardwalk Empire.  http://www.steelpier.com/Information/History-Steel-Pier

Steel Pier, An American Fable in 2 Acts 20 scenes.  Music & Lyrics by John Kander and Fred Ebb:  Book by David Thompson:  Conceived by Scott Ellis, Susan Stroman and David Thompson  Richard Rodgers Theatre, Broadway - Opened April 24, 1997.  Closed 28 June, 1997 (76 performances)  See synopsis at http://www.guidetomusicaltheatre.com/shows_s/steelpier.htm

Greenland is an autonomous country within the Danish Realm, located between the Arctic and Atlantic Oceans, east of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago.  Though physiographically a part of the continent of North America, Greenland has been politically and culturally associated with Europe (specifically Norway and Denmark, the colonial powers, as well as the nearby island of Iceland) for more than a millennium.  In 2008, the people of Greenland passed a referendum supporting greater autonomy; 75% of votes cast were in favour.  Its residents are majority Inuit, whose ancestors had migrated from the Canadian mainland beginning in the 13th century, gradually settling across the island.  Greenland is the world's largest island (it is smaller than Australia, which is considered a continent).  Three-quarters of Greenland is covered by the only permanent ice sheet outside of Antarctica.  With a population of about 56,480 (2013), it is the least densely populated country in the world.  See extensive article with many pictures at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenland

The United States presidential election of 2016 was the 58th quadrennial American presidential election, held on Tuesday, November 8, 2016.  The Republican ticket of businessman Donald Trump and Indiana Governor Mike Pence defeated the Democratic ticket of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and U.S. Senator from Virginia Tim Kaine.  Trump is scheduled to take office as the 45th President, and Pence as the 48th Vice President, on January 20, 2017.  Voters selected members of the Electoral College in each state, in most cases by "winner-takes-all" plurality; those state electors in turn voted for a new president and vice president on December 19, 2016.  While Clinton received about 2.9 million more votes nationwide, a margin of 2.1% of the total cast, Trump won a decisive victory in the Electoral College, winning 30 states with 306 pledged electors out of 538, and overturned the perennial swing states of Florida, Iowa and Ohio, as well as the "blue wall" of Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, which had been Democratic strongholds in presidential elections since the 1990s.  In the Electoral College vote on December 19, seven electors voted against their pledged candidates:  two against Trump and five against Clinton.  A further three electors attempted to vote against Clinton but were replaced or forced to vote again.  Ultimately, Trump received 304 electoral votes and Clinton garnered 227, while Colin Powell won three, and John Kasich, Ron Paul, Bernie Sanders, and Faith Spotted Eagle each received one.  Trump will be the fifth person in U.S. history to become president despite losing the nationwide popular vote.   He will be the first president without any prior experience in public service, while Clinton was the first woman to be the presidential nominee of a major American party.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_presidential_election,_2016

The Toledo Museum of Art, 2445 Monroe Street  Masterworks of the 20th Century beginning January 21, 2017  Gallery 6  Twentieth-century masterworks from the Toledo Museum of Art collection will return on view, including visitor favorites by Georgia O’Keefe and Andrew Wyeth.  Also on view will be the acclaimed Edward Ruscha painting Standard Station, Amarillo, Texas on loan from the Hood Museum of Art at Dartmouth College  Read about other exhibits and installations at http://www.toledomuseum.org/exhibitions/  Find events and activities at http://www.toledomuseum.org/events/

http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com  Issue 1677  January 13, 2017  On this date in 1794,  The Flag Act of 1794 (1 Stat. 341) was signed into law by President George Washington.  It changed the design of the flag to accommodate the admission into the Union of the states of Vermont and Kentucky.  It provided for fifteen stripes as well as fifteen stars.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_Acts_(United_States)  It was this 15-salthtar, 15-stripe flag that inspired Francis Scott Key to write the poem that later became known as the Star-Spangled Banner, after seeing it fly over Ft. McHenry during the War of 1812.  In 1818, another design went into effect, permanently setting the number of stripes at 13 (in honor of the original colonies) and allowing for new stars to be added ceremonially each July 4 should a new state be admitted.  http://www.history.com/news/history-lists/fast-flag-facts  On this date in 1942, Henry Ford patented a plastic automobile, 30% lighter than a regular car.