Friday, March 9, 2018


Disney Princes Reimagined as Feminist Allies by  Blythe Roberson   Prince Adam is fine with having been turned into a beast by an enchantress.  He keeps Belle at his house so that whenever this anxiety overwhelms him he can ask her, over and over, if he is a misogynist.  Is he holding Belle hostage?  I mean . . . maybe, technically?  But he’s doing this for her, and for all women!  The Beast gave Belle a whole library that she can use whenever he doesn’t need her to perform emotional labor.  Every single book in it is by Don DeLillo.  Read about seven more reimagined Disney princes at  https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/11/20/disney-princes-reimagined-as-feminist-allies

Top 10 Secrets of NYC’s Turtle Bay Neighborhood by Stephanier Geier   Midtown Manhattan’s Turtle Bay encompasses the area between 41st and 53rd streets east of Lexington Avenue, including the United Nations headquarters and the Chrysler Building.  It all started with the 17th century arrival of the Dutch in Turtle Bay.  Historians still debate the precise origins of the name “Turtle Bay,” but many have proposed that it comes from the Dutch word deutal, which meant a “bent blade.”  This would be in reference to the bay’s knife shape.  However, others believe the name derived from the bay’s turtle-filled creek (once called DeVoor’s Mill Creek), once located at 47th street.  Find the secrets at https://untappedcities.com/2015/11/11/top-10-secrets-of-nycs-turtle-bay-area/

When a vowel sounds like its name, this is called a long sound.  A vowel letter can also have short sounds.  Whether a vowel has a long sound, a short sound, or remains silent, depends on its position in a word and the letters around it.  http://www.abcfastphonics.com/long-short-vowels.html  See also Short and Long--Differences and Examples by C. PARIS at https://blog.udemy.com/short-and-long-vowel-differences/

Soybean plants are legumes.  Legumes have bacteria on nodules which are on the roots of the plant.  The bacteria on the nodules takes nitrogen from the air and fixes it into the soil, so that other plants that require nitrogen can use it as well.  Farmers use soybeans and other legumes in rotations with grass crops such as corn or wheat.  Grass crops are unable to take their own nitrogen from the air so they either need the nitrogen in the soil that the legumes provide for them in a crop rotation or they need a chemical fertilizer containing nitrogen.  http://www2.kenyon.edu/projects/farmschool/nature/soy.htm

"Words.  You can't see them but they're the most dangerous weapons on earth."  "In rhetoric, lawyers use the trick of personification--picking words to make their own clients seem human and sympathetic and their opponents less so."  Speaking in Tongues, a novel by Jeffery Deaver

An argumentative statement in which the writer or the speaker omits one of the major or minor premises, does not clearly pronounce it, or keeps this premise implied, is called an “enthymeme.”  However, the omitted premise in an enthymeme remains understandable even if is not clearly expressed.  For instance, in the sentence, “Where there is smoke, there is fire,” the hidden premise is:  fire causes smoke.  Enthymeme is very common in advertisements, political speeches, and literature.  It makes the audience work out their own conclusions, and nudges them to read further to get a clearer picture of the premise or an idea.  By forcing the audience to take a final step, it strengthens the argument of the writer.  Often enthymemes help to hide the underlying idea upon which a major argument relies.  In addition, the purpose of using an enthymeme is to persuade the audience by using implied arguments.  https://literarydevices.net/enthymeme/

Why Cook Over an Icelandic Geyser?  Because You Can

Librarian-turned-journalist rises; she ‘helped us be this giant scoop factory’ by David Beard   Earlier in this decade, Brandy Zadrozny had been happy in Vermont, baking pies, cross-country skiing, working at the Burlington Public Library, handling the reference desk at Champlain College.  That is until she wasn’t.  And journalism is grateful.  Over the past year, she’s been getting noticed for research and reporting on Russia’s Internet Research Agency,  uncovering the secret life of a pro-Trump, white nationalist school shooter and digging deep into Vice Media’s rampant culture of sexual harassment.  She’s also made frequent appearances on CNN or MSNBC explaining those stories.  On March 2, 2018, the librarian-turned-senior researcher and writer announced she was leaving The Daily Beast after five years and moving to NBC News as a national reporter.  Zadrozny’s move to NBC—along with The Daily Beast’s senior news editor, tech reporter (and frequent reporting partner) Ben Collins—will allow her to break stories for a broader audience, at a medium where the White House is compelled to respond.  Zadrozny, a former English teacher before she got a master’s in library and information science at the Pratt Institute, says her mission starts with trying to find unique, useful, question-answering information.  “My mission on the Reference Desk is the same as it is now,” she says.  “To inform the public that is hungry for answers to their questions.  At the Reference Desk it was, ‘What is the capital of Montana?’  And now it’s:  ‘Who is this person who is being retweeted by our president?’ or, ‘Who is the person who runs the Internet Research Agency?’”  Collins, whose mother is a librarian, says Zadrozny will be missed more sorely around The Daily Beast than he will.  “It’s very clear once you talk to Brandy that she’s the crown jewel of any newsroom she’s in,” he says.  “She can find information that no one can find, and then she can present it in a way that is human.”  Nancy Groves, a former news librarian for CNN who now is Head of Social Media for the United Nations, says trained researchers are more valuable now than ever to news organizations.  “Being able to critically assess the value of a piece of data and being able to weed out questionable data sources can save valuable time,” says Groves, who got her master’s in information science at the University of Maryland.  “Trained librarians, researchers and information professionals know how to be efficient when it comes to searching online . . .  Being able to anticipate what a reader wants to know, in a way that librarians and trained researchers are able to tease out what their clients want to know, will help media companies retain audiences in the era of information overload.”  https://www.poynter.org/news/librarian-turned-journalist-rises-she-helped-us-be-giant-scoop-factory

One of Edmonton's most famous musicians died peacefully March 2, 2018.   Ryan Arcand, known as the city's piano man, didn't play at the Winspear Centre for Music or at the Jubilee Auditorium.  But his fingers danced over piano keys in public squares and churches, and finally in the supportive housing facilities that became his home in the final years of his life.  He was 46.  Arcand was living on the streets in 2014 when a stranger heard him playing a piano in Churchill Square downtown.  The music was so beautiful that Roslyn Polard asked if she could take a video of his performance.  More than three years later, the video of Arcand playing the song he wrote has been viewed more than 11 million times on YouTube.  Arcand, a member of the Alexander First Nation, was moved into a foster home as a young boy, but stayed in touch with his extended family of cousins.  Some were as close to him as siblings.  Carrie Rockwood, Arcand's cousin, remembers he stuttered as a child, but not when he was singing.  Alexandra Zabjek  Read more and link to videos to hear Arcand playing the piano at

Florida lawmakers are the first in the nation to pass a bill signaling the intent to stay on daylight saving time year-round if allowed by Congress, according to enthusiasts who track America’s annual rituals of springing forward and falling back.  The bill that is headed to Gov. Rick Scott, which he can sign, allow to become law without his signature, or veto, is called the Sunshine State Protection Act.  It says if Congress amends U.S. code to allow states to observe year-round daylight saving time it is the “intent of the legislature that daylight saving time shall be the year-round standard time of the entire state.”  Kimberly Miller  http://weatherplus.blog.palmbeachpost.com/2018/03/08/florida-passes-daylight-saving-time-bill-but-what-does-it-mean/  See also HB 1013, the Sunshine Protection Act, at http://www.flsenate.gov/Session/Bill/2018/1013/BillText/er/PDF

http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com  Issue 1855  March 9, 2018  Find events, holidays and observances, births and deaths on March 9 at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/March_9  (At bottom of page, you may link to any day of the year.)

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