Tuesday, August 29, 2017

Treasures from three centuries can be seen at the James River Plantations along Virginia's scenic Route 5 in Charles City County.  The county, strategically located between the James and Chickahominy Rivers and close to the colonial capitals of Jamestown and Williamsburg, was the first westward expansion of English-speaking America.  It was established in 1619 and its plantations and farms along the James River have survived the Revolutionary War, the War of 1812 and the War Between the States.  The county's gracious manor houses, all privately owned and preserved National Register properties, are open for visitors to experience and enjoy.  Charles City has been home to Indians and early settlers, planters, signers of the Declaration of Independence, Presidents, slaves, emancipators and free blacks, educators and agriculturalists.  Descendants of these significant figures in American history still live in the county today.  Benjamin Harrison, signer of the Declaration of Independence, and Presidents William Henry Harrison and John Tyler were born and lived here.  General Robert E. Lee spent much of his childhood here.  Agriculturist Edmund Ruffin, who fired the first shot of the Civil War, practiced his innovative techniques on Charles City soil.  Lott Cary, the first black American missionary to Africa and founding father of Liberia, was born here.  One of the first free black communities in America was located in Charles City, as well as the third oldest organized free black church.  http://www.jamesriverplantations.org/

Getting around Greenwich Village isn't easy.  Because the Village was once a rural hamlet, and not a part of New York City, its street layout does not conform to the formal grid standards of the Commissioners' Plan of 1811.  To make matters worse, the streets in the Village, unlike most of those in northern Manhattan, are named rather than numbered.  Greenwich Village is bounded by:  W 14st Street on the North; W Houston Street on the South; the Hudson River on the West; Broadway on the East  See map at https://www.nyctourist.com/map_gvillage.htm

Little Italy is a general name for an ethnic enclave populated primarily by Italians or people of Italian ancestry, usually in an urban neighborhood.  The concept of "Little Italy" holds many different aspects of the Italian culture.  There are shops selling Italian goods as well as Italian restaurants lining the streets.  Find a list of Little Italys around the world at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Italy

Sea salt is produced through evaporation of ocean water or water from saltwater lakes, usually with little processing.  Depending on the water source, this leaves behind certain trace minerals and elements.  The minerals add flavor and color to sea salt, which also comes in a variety of coarseness levels.  Table salt is typically mined from underground salt deposits.  Table salt is more heavily processed to eliminate minerals and usually contains an additive to prevent clumping.  Most table salt also has added iodine, an essential nutrient that helps maintain a healthy thyroid.  Sea salt and table salt have the same basic nutritional value, despite the fact that sea salt is often promoted as being healthier.  Sea salt and table salt contain comparable amounts of sodium by weight.  http://www.mayoclinic.org/sea-salt/expert-answers/faq-20058512

Collage derives its name from the French verb coller, to glue.  The work of art is made by gluing things to the surface.  Collage became an art form during the Synthetic Cubist period of Picasso and Braque.  At first, Pablo Picasso glued oil cloth to his surface of Still Life with Chair Caning in May of 1912.  He glued a rope around the edge of the oval canvas.  Georges Braque then glued imitation wood-grained wallpaper to his Fruit Dish and Glass(September 1912).  Braque's work is called papier collé (glued or pasted paper), a specific type of collage.  http://arthistory.about.com/od/glossary_c/a/c_collage.htm

Which Planets Are the Gas Planets? by Lisa Dorward   There are four planets in our solar system that are collectively known as the “gas giants,” a term coined by the twentieth-century science fiction writer James Blish.  They are also called “Jovians,” as Jove is the Latin name for Jupiter, the  largest of the four.  The gas planets are made up almost entirely of gases, primarily hydrogen and helium. While they might have near-solid inner cores of molten heavy metals, they have thick outer layers of liquid and gaseous molecular hydrogen and helium and metallic hydrogen.  Jupiter's mass is 318 times greater than Earth's. Jupiter’s magnetic field is 20,000 times stronger than Earth’s and it has the strongest radio emissions of any planet in the solar system.  Jupiter is surrounded by a thin ring of dark material and as of April 2011 has 63 known moons in orbit around it, the largest of which are Io, Europa, Ganymede and Calliso.  Saturn has the lowest density of any planet in our solar system.  It has a rocky core composed of liquid metallic hydrogen and elements consistent with the primordial solar nebula (gaseous cloud) that formed the solar system. Saturn’s most prominent feature is its rings, first observed by Galileo in 1610.  Uranus is the only gas giant with its equator at a right angle to its orbit.  It was also the first planet to be discovered through a telescope.  It has 13 known rings that are dark and composed of dust and particles up to 10 meters in diameter.  Uranus has 5 large moons as well as 10 smaller ones that were discovered by the Voyager 2 probe.  The methane in Uranus’s upper atmosphere is what gives the planet its blue color.  Neptune’s existence was the first to be predicted by mathematical calculations before the planet was actually seen.  Neptune's mass is approximately 17 times greater than Earth’s.  Its winds can reach up to 2,000 km per hour, the fastest in the solar system.  Like Uranus, Neptune appears blue due to the methane in its atmosphere, but Neptune also has vivid blue clouds; it is not known what gives the clouds their color.  Like all the other gas giants, Neptune has rings.  Prior to images from Voyager 2, these rings were only visible from Earth as faint, dark arcs.  Neptune has 13 known moons, the largest of which is Triton.  Triton is the only large moon in the solar system that orbits its planet in the opposite direction of its planet’s rotation.  http://sciencing.com/planets-gas-planets-8392334.html

A gas giant, also known as a jovian planet after the planet Jupiter, gaseous giant, or giant planet, is a large planet which has at least ten times the mass of Earth, located in the outer solar system.  Unlike terrestrial planets whose composition is rocky, gas giants have a mostly gaseous composition, such as hydrogen and helium.  They do have some rocky material, although this is most often found in the planet core.  The four gas giants are (in order of distance from the Sun):  JupiterSaturnUranus, and Neptune.  Astronomers sometimes categorize Uranus and Neptune as “ice giants” because their composition differs from Jupiter and Saturn.  This is because they are mostly composed of water, ammonia, and methane.  https://theplanets.org/gas-giants/

A terrestrial planet, also known as a telluric planet or rocky planet is defined as a planet that is composed primarily silicate rocks or metals.  In our solar system, the terrestrial planets are the inner planets, the ones closest to the Sun.  Terrestrial and telluric are from the Latin words for Earth (Terra and Tellus) because these planets composition is similar to that of the Earth.  The four terrestrial planets are (in order of distance from the Sun):  MercuryVenusEarth, and Mars.  Other than Earth, it is believed that the conditions on Mars are the most hospitable for life.  It may have had life there in the past, and there may still be life on Mars today.  The extreme conditions on Mercury and Venus are too harsh to sustain and nurture life.  https://theplanets.org/terrestrial-planets/

Feedback   FYI, Sept. 5 will be the 40th anniversary of the launch of Voyager 1, which is still operational.  I heard that a few years ago, its manufacturer, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, offered to extend its warranty provided it’s returned to their facility for repair.  Thank you, Muse reader!

Chocolate Giant Ferrero to Look for Innovation at Cornell Tech:  Italian manufacturer of sweets and chocolates is setting up an innovation outpost at Cornell University’s technology campus on Roosevelt Island in New York City by Keiko Morris   Global chocolate giant Ferrero International S.A. plans to bring its open innovation science division to the Bridge at Cornell Tech, according to Forest City New York, which developed and manages the commercial building.  Ferrero will join investment firm Two Sigma Investments LP and Citigroup Inc. at the building, which is set to open in September 2017 as part of the first phase of the $2 billion campus.  Ferrero will take 4,200 square feet of space at the Bridge.  Cornell Tech will occupy about 39% of the 230,000 square-foot building, which features a grand staircase in the lobby, an entrance area with plenty of spots to socialize and a rooftop common area with 360-degree views of New York City.  http://www.cetusnews.com/news/Chocolate-Giant-Ferrero-Teams-Up-With-Cornell-University-.BkXIa0YxKb.html

http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com  Issue 1762  August  29, 2017  On this date in 1885, Gottlieb Daimler patented the world's first internal combustion motorcycle, the Reitwagen.  On this date in 1930, the last 36 remaining inhabitants of St Kilda were voluntarily evacuated to other parts of Scotland.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/August_29

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