Monday, July 30, 2018


druthers  noun  1895, from jocular formation based on I'd ruther, American English dialectal form of I'd rather (used by Bret Harte as drathers, 1875).  https://www.etymonline.com/word/druthers

Sedna (Inuktitut:  Sanna) is the goddess of the sea and marine animals in Inuit mythology, also known as the Mother of the Sea or Mistress of the Sea.  Sedna is also known as Arnakuagsak or Arnaqquassaaq (Greenland) and Sassuma Arnaa ("Mother of the Deep", West Greenland) and Nerrivik ("Table", northern Greenland) or Nuliajuk (District of Keewatin, Northwest Territories, Canada).  She is sometimes known by other names by different Inuit groups such as Arnapkapfaaluk ("Big Bad Woman") of the Copper Inuit from the Coronation Gulf area and Takánakapsâluk or Takannaaluk (Igloolik).  The story of Sedna, which is a creation myth, describes how she came to rule over Adlivun, the Inuit underworld.   A version of Sedna's origin is recounted in Dan Simmons's novel The Terror, as part of the backstory for the novel's main antagonist, an Inuit demon called the Tuunbaq.  Sedna is mentioned in Douglas Orgill's and John Gribbin's novel The Sixth Winter:  according to Inuit legend, she is responsible for the ice tornadoes that herald the coming of the new Ice Age.  In William T. Vollmann's sixth's volume of his Seven Dreams: A Book of North American Landscapes series, The Rifles, Sedna's myth is recounted, with the Inuit woman Reepah transforming into Sedna at one point.  Sedna appears in the Fimbulwinter Game during the events of the Niven & Barnes novel The Barsoom Project.  A team of live-action role players must rid the ailing goddess's hair of pestilent manifestations of mortal sins, as her damaged fingers prevent Sedna from combing them away herself.  A sculpture of Sedna by Kiugak Ashoona appeared on a Canadian postage stamp in 1980.  Find other references in popular culture at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sedna_(mythology)

You’re at a trendy restaurant, and you ask the waiter if you can get freekeh instead of rice on the side.  He smirks, and you suddenly realize it’s not pronounced "freaky."  Don't worry, we've all been there.  Jeff Cattel  Link to 27 quinoa breakfast recipes and find a go-to guide with correct pronunciations for foods (such as açaí, bruschetta, pho, jicama, gyro and charcuterie) from the Random House Dictionary at https://greatist.com/eat/how-to-pronounce-foods

It’s been in your local health food co-op for years, but now it’s all over mainstream grocery stores as well:  açaí juice, açaí-flavored ice cream and yogurt, açaí bars and açaí supplements.  The package usually mentions the words “super food” to describe this berry native to Central and South America, and advertisers focus on the fruit’s high levels of antioxidants.  Açaí may be “trendy” in the United States, but for villagers in the Oiapoque indigenous region of northern Brazil, açaí has been a diet staple for centuries.  Açaí grows on palm trees that tower 15 to 30 meters high.  In the Açaízal Village in the Uaça indigenous reserve, the trees that the village is named after are abundant.  To reach the branched panicles of berries near the tops, the villagers use the most reliable equipment they have:  themselves.  With nothing more than a looped palm leaf tied around their feet to help grasp the trunk and a knife gripped tightly between their teeth, villagers take turns scaling a tree, cutting down a bunch of berries, and slowly sliding back down the trunk.  It looks dangerous, but children as young as seven or eight begin learning how to harvest this precious fruit.  Link to slideshow at https://www.nature.org/ourinitiatives/regions/latinamerica/brazil/explore/acai-the-roots-of-a-super-fruit.xml

panicle is a much-branched inflorescence.  Some authors distinguish it from a compound spike, by requiring that the flowers (and fruit) be pedicellate.  The branches of a panicle are often racemes.  A panicle may have determinate or indeterminate growth.  This type of inflorescence is largely characteristic of grasses such as oat and crabgrass, as well as other plants such as pistachio and mamoncillo.  Botanists use the term paniculate in two ways:  "having a true panicle inflorescence" as well as "having an inflorescence with the form but not necessarily the structure of a panicle".  See graphics at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panicle

July 13, 2018  The world's largest avocado has just premiered Down Under.  Dubbed "Avozillas"--these souped-up avocados are about five times bigger than a regular one.  These enormous avos originally hail from South Africa, but a farming family is growing them in Queensland, reports CNN affiliate 9News.  The giant avocado is the lovechild of two avocado species:  the West Indian and the Guatemalan.  The Groves family have 400 avocado trees on the go, while 2,000 more trees have been planted by another farmer in Bundaberg.  The biggest avocado the farmers have found so far is 1.8 kilos.  Francesca Street 

Hippocrates of Kos (460-370BC) was a well-known Greek physician during the Age of Pericles (Classical Greece).  Born on the Greek island of Kos, he is considered as one of the most reputable figures in the history of medicine.  His contributions made such outstanding impact to the field that he was therefore attributed as the “Father of Western Medicine”.  Hippocrates was the founder of the “Hippocratic School of Medicine”, an intellectual school that revolutionized medicine in ancient Greece.  This institution paved the way for the field to be established as a distinct discipline, and later on, as a profession.  The writings of the Corpus Hippocraticum contributed an abundance of knowledge for bio-medical methodology and provided one of the first reflective codes of professional ethics.  Hippocrates is quoted as saying “Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food.”   http://www.quotographed.com/quotation-category/hippocrates-quotes/

Fishing by diving v. fishing by herding  Unlike Brown Pelicans, which dive from above to capture fish, White Pelicans feed by forming a group.  They swim in a line, and—while herding a school of fish—all dip their heads at once.  The pelican's broad bill spreads its huge pouch, as the bird pushes through the water.  As each bird lifts its head, water drains out of the pouch, and the fish go down with a gulp.  https://www.birdnote.org/show/pelicans-go-fishing

To uncover the root of "sartorial" just strip off the suffix "-ial" and you discover the Latin noun "sartor," meaning "tailor" (literally, "one who patches or mends").  https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/sartorial

The World Potato Congress is held every three years and organized by the not-for-profit World Potato Congress Inc., dedicated to supporting the cultivation and development of potato around the world.  The 10th WPC, held in Cusco, Peru May 27-31, 2018 marked the first time the event was held in Latin America.  Previous congresses were held in North America, Europe, South Africa, China, and New Zealand.  https://www.worldpotatocongress2018-alap.org/en/home/  The 11th WPC will be held in Dublin, Ireland May 24-27, 2021.  

The potato is the world’s fourth largest food crop, following rice, wheat, and maize.  The Inca Indians in Peru were the first to cultivate potatoes around 8,000 BC to 5,000 B.C.  In 1536 Spanish Conquistadors conquered Peru, discovered the flavors of the potato, and carried them to Europe.   Before the end of the sixteenth century, families of Basque sailors began to cultivate potatoes along the Biscay coast of northern Spain.  Sir Walter Raleigh introduced potatoes to Ireland in 1589 on the 40,000 acres of land near Cork.  It took nearly four decades for the potato to spread to the rest of Europe.  In October 1995, the potato became the first vegetable to be grown in space.  NASA and the University of Wisconsin, Madison, created the technology with the goal of feeding astronauts on long space voyages, and eventually, feeding future space colonies.  Read more, see pictures, and link to recipes at https://www.potatogoodness.com/potato-fun-facts-history/

http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com  Issue 1926  July 30, 2018 

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