Before the advent of the grain elevator, grain was usually handled in bags rather than in bulk (large quantities of loose grain).  Dart's Elevator was a major innovation.  It was invented by Joseph Dart, a merchant, and Robert Dunbar, an engineer, in 1842 and 1843, in Buffalo, New York.  Using the steam-powered flour mills of Oliver Evans as their model, they invented the marine leg, which scooped loose grain out of the hulls of ships and elevated it to the top of a marine tower.  Because of the money to be made in grain production and, of course, because of the very existence of an all-water route to get there, increasing numbers of immigrants in Brooklyn came to Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois to become farmers.  More farmers meant more prairies turned into farmlands, which in turn meant increased grain production, which of course meant that more grain elevators would have to be built in places like Toledo, Buffalo, and Brooklyn (and Cleveland, Chicago, and Duluth).  It was precisely through this feedback loop of productivity—set in motion by the invention of the grain elevator—that America itself became an agricultural and economic colossus on the world stage:  the planet's single largest producer of wheat, corn, oats, and rice, a distinction it claims to this day.  Buffalo's grain elevators have been documented for the Historic American Engineering Record and added to the National Register of Historic Places. Currently, Enid, Oklahoma, holds the title of most grain storage capacity in the United States.   https://www.revolvy.com/main/index.php?s=Grain%20elevator  See Four Ways to Exploring Buffalo's Grain Elevators by Drew Brown at http://www.visitbuffaloniagara.com/4-ways-to-explore-buffalos-grain-elevators/

It is generally accepted that wine growing and making originate in what is now the country of Georgia.  There is archaeological evidence of wine making in the region dating back to some time around 5000 B.C.  Some 500 unique varieties are reported to grow in Georgia’s wine region--a valley between two mountain ranges and the Black Sea situated along roughly on the same lines of latitude as the most renowned wine growing regions (France, Italy, Spain and Northern California).  With a few exceptions, Georgian varieties (which have been the staple of wine for centuries) have existed in a juxtaposition of global obscurity and vast planting in the cradle of viticulture.  Georgia has been one of the countries steadily supplying its neighbors and former Soviet Bloc countries with wine for quite some time.  Georgian red wines like Saperavi or Alexandrouli are produced in a range of styles named according to length of ageing in barrel.  They are deeply colored, have slight tannins, softer acids, bigger alcohols and notable sweetness.  Just the right combination for immediate enjoyment but not the phenolic, acid or sugar content for longevity or to place them in any rubric of what is considered a great wine by the arbiters of taste--past or present.  Unexpectedly, some of these varieties have found a home in New York’s Finger Lakes region.  Arthur Z. Przebinda  http://palatepress.com/2010/09/wine/from-the-black-sea-to-the-finger-lakes-old-georgian-varieties-find-a-home-in-new-york/

Terry W. Ervin II has quietly become one of NW Ohio’s most prolific authors.  The scribe, who works most prominently in sci-fi and fantasy, grew up fascinated by the concept of worldbuilding, taking part in tabletop-gaming guilds.  After studying biology and English at BGSU, he became a teacher— first at Macomber-Whitney High School and, once it closed, he headed south to Piqua, OH to teach English at the Upper Valley Career Center.  Ervin’s been down in Piqua since 1990, but he frequently makes his way back to Toledo, stopping in at Gathering Volumes (196 E. South Boundary St., Perrysburg), where we got to chat.  He was there signing his six novels and short story collection, Genre Shotgun, but the emphasis was on his latest novel, Thunder Wells.  It’s an alien apocalyptic sci-fi tale set in Toledo with Jack Fairbanks, a former college sophomore, living in Wildwood Metropark while hiding from destructive aliens and cannibals and searching for a means to save mankind.  Jeff Klima  http://toledocitypaper.com/lit/sci-fi-author-terry-w-ervin-iis-latest-is-set-in-toledo/

The dodo, first found on the island of Mauritius in the Indian Ocean, was the size of a very large turkey.  It became extinct in 1681, because animals ate their eggs.  The name dachshund came from one of its earliest uses--hunting badgers.  In German, dachs means badger and hund is hound.  The oldest letter in the alphabet is o--first used by Egyptians in about 3000 B.C.  The newest letters are j and v.  The Book of Answers:  The New York Public Library Telephone Reference Service's Most Unusual and Entertaining Questions

Philip Pullman's Realm Of Poetry And Inspiration by Annalisa Quinn   La Belle Sauvage is the first in a new trilogy called The Book of Dust.  It's the story of how Lyra, the hero of the first three books, came to live at Oxford's Jordan College, to be raised piecemeal by scholars.  The new protagonists, Malcolm and Alice, appeared only briefly and obscurely in other parts of the story.  Pullman was inspired by sources as diverse as Edmund Spenser's poem "The Faerie Queene," his auntie Ethel, who is transmuted into a sweet nun who befriends Malcolm, and a ship captain in the novel Pandora's Galley, by Macdonald Harris.  Read extensive book review at http://www.npr.org/2017/10/19/557189779/philip-pullmans-realm-of-poetry-and-inspiration

Alphabet soup as Kazakh leader orders switch from Cyrillic to Latin letters   Kazakhstan is to change its official alphabet for the third time in less than 100 years in what is seen in part as a symbolic move to underline its independence.  President Nursultan Nazarbayev ordered his office on October 26, 2017 to prepare for a switch to a Latin-based alphabet from a Cyrillic one, distancing itself, at least graphically, from Russia.  The oil-rich former Soviet republic of 18 million has close ties with Moscow, its main trading partner, but is wary of Russia’s ambitions to maintain its political influence throughout the region.  Kazakh, a Turkic language, used to be written in Arabic script until the 1920s when the Soviet Union briefly introduced a Latin alphabet.  This was later replaced by a Cyrillic one in 1940, based on the Russian alphabet.  Part of the latest switch relates to modern technology.  The Cyrillic alphabet has 42 symbols, making it cumbersome to use with digital devices--a standard Kazakh keyboard utilises almost all number keys in addition to letter and punctuation keys.  The new proposed Latin alphabet works around that by using apostrophe signs to modify letters.  The country’s official name would thus be spelled as Qazaqstan Respy’blikasy.  According to a statement published by Nazarbayev’s office, he has ordered his chief of staff to draft an executive order introducing the new alphabet.  The switch will be gradual, it said.  https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/oct/26/kazakhstan-switch-official-alphabet-cyrillic-latin

October 14, 2017  Three days ago, New Zealand's Prime Minister elect's cat Paddles appeared on the Twitter scene, and people have no idea who's behind the account.  Paddles, a ginger and white cat with opposable thumbs, has proven to be a prolific social media user and has fired off  hundreds of tweets in a matter of days.  The cat's Twitter bio says she is an "Independent cat- not affurliated with the Labour pawty".  Prime Minister-Elect Jacinda Ardern has batted down speculation it's run by her partner Clarke Gayford.  "There is indeed an account in the name of my cat and I have no idea who has created it."  "I am quite happy for that person to continue logging on behalf of Paddles, keeping in mind Paddles has thumbs, I can't put it past her it's her own account as well,"  "She's a polydactyl," Ardern says.  For reference a "polydactyl" is a cat with extra claws that look like opposable thumbs.

http://www.newshub.co.nz/home/election/2017/10/the-first-cat-of-new-zealand-is-a-hit-on-twitter.html

November (from Latin for ninth month), is a female name.  Nicknames include Nova, Novi, or Ember.  Pop culture references:  November, one of the dolls in Joss Whedon's Series, "Dollhouse"; "November Has Come", song by Gorillaz; Princess November, the heroine of the webcomic, "No Rest for the Wicked"; "November Rain" song by Guns N' Roses  https://nameberry.com/babyname/November/girl 

http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com  Issue 1792  November 1, 2017  On this date in 1512, the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, painted by Michelangelo, was exhibited to the public for the first time.  On this date in 1800, John Adams became the first President of the United States to live in the Executive Mansion (later renamed the White House).  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/November_1