The origins of Bembo® font goes back to one of the most famous printers of the Renaissance, Aldus Manutius.  In 1496 he used a new weight of a roman face, formed by Francesco Griffo da Bologna, to print the short piece ’De Aetna’, by Pietro Bembo.  This very typeface would eventually be of such importance that the development of print typefaces is unthinkable without it.  The first developmental phase was defined by the influence of the classic Roman forms, indentifiable by the slight slant of the lower case s and the high crossbar of the lower case e, which in time took on less and less of a slant.  The Monotype Corporation in London used this roman face as the model for a 1929 project of Stanley Morison which resulted in a font called Bembo.  Morison made a number of changes to the 15th century forms.  He modified the capital G and instead of the italic which Manutius originally had in mind, he used that from a sample book written in 1524 by Giovanni Tagliente in Venice. https://www.linotype.com/1118/bembo.html

In 1986, the publishing community established the National Book Foundation, a not-for-profit organization to oversee the Awards, diversify their base of philanthropic support and expand their mission.  The Foundation board then hired Neil Baldwin—an author, and Manager of The Annual Fund at The New York Public Library—to become the Founding Executive Director of The National Book Foundation and help determine its agenda for the future.  From 1986 to 1990, independent panels of writers chose the National Book Award Winners in the categories of only Fiction and Nonfiction.  The National Book Foundation reinstituted the Poetry Award in 1991 and launched the Award for Young People’s Literature in 1996.  In 2013, the judging panels were opened to non-writers with significant literary expertise in each category.  The mission of the National Book Foundation is to celebrate the best literature in America, expand its audience, and ensure that books have a prominent place in American culture.  Link to a 3:58 "Books Matter" video at http://www.nationalbook.org/aboutus_history.html#.W3LplM5KiUk

"Less is always more when it comes to the defense."  "The files were superfluous to my cross-examination but my hope was that they would make an impressive prop."  "You never show your cards unless your opponent has called the final bet."  The Fifth Witness, 23rd novel and fourth in the Lincoln Lawyer (Mickey Haller series) by Michael Connelly

Flatbreads are cooked all over the world from Mexican tortillas to Indian chapatis.  They are great served soft, filled with slaw or falafels, or baked until crisp and served with dips, soups or stews.  Flatbreads can be rolled out and frozen in a stack.  You will need to put a bit of greaseproof paper between each of the breads so they don’t stick.  Frozen flatbreads can be cooked from frozen--they will take a few minutes more to cook on a hot frying pan.  Jo Ingleby   Find recipe at https://www.bbc.com/food/recipes/quick_flatbreads_43123

In 1994, the Frogtown Storytelling Guild (Toledo, OH), a nonprofit organization, was founded by individuals who were interested in preserving the art of storytelling in all its facets.  The Frogtown Storytelling Guild is a member of the National Storytelling Network (Kansas City, MO), the vision of which is to have all people value the power of storytelling and its ability to connect, inspire, and instill respect.  As a member of the National Storytelling Network, each year in November, the Frogtown Storytelling Guild hosts a Tellabration! storytelling concert.  Individual Frogtown Storytelling Guild members tell stories in a variety of settings such as libraries, schools, nursing home, and churches.  Each member specializes in one or more genre of stories (personal stories, fables, folktales, tall tales, etc.).  Interested in joining Frogtown Storytelling Guild?  Membership is only $25.00/year!  https://frogtownstorytelling.wordpress.com/about/

In 1988, the first Tellabration! concerts were performed at six locations in the state of Connecticut.  J. G. Pinkerton, the originator of Tellabration!, envisioned the event as a way of fostering and maintaining the art of storytelling.  It was a great success, and in the following year Tellabration! concerts spread to other states.  In 1990, Tellabration! became a national event with the help of the National Storytelling Network.  Now thousands of storytelling groups worldwide produce Tellabration! concerts in November.  As a member of the National Storytelling Network, the Frogtown Storytelling Guild continues J. G. Pinkerton’s vision by sponsoring  an annual Tellabration! concert.  In the local Tellabration! concert, Frogtown Storytelling Guild members share the stage with a guest storyteller.  https://frogtownstorytelling.wordpress.com/tellabration/

7 Reasons Google Search Results Vary Dramatically  September 29, 2015 by Mike McEvoy   Like many people you may be a regular Google search user.  Over time you may have noticed a strange phenomenon:  Google search results vary, even on the same device, using the same browser and using the same keyword phrase or search term.  Users who are not well-versed in Google’s mysterious and ever-changing search algorithm may attribute this to simple error.  However, these changes are actually quite intentional.  While occasionally inconvenient for users, these search results variations can prove much more problematic for businesses, marketers and companies providing SEO services.  Ranking first on page one in the results Google returns on a desktop computer for a given keyword phrase and somewhere in the middle of page three in the search results on a smartphone for the same keyword phrase can have a significant impact on your business’ online business visibility and sales.  Do you remember everything you’ve searched for with Google in the past?  Probably not, but Google does, or at least up until the last point you cleared your browser cache and cookies.  If you regularly search for similar keywords, Google will remember this, offering you results based on prior searches.  It’s no secret that Google places ads from its AdWords PPC advertising serviceon its Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs).  Some ads are at the top of the first results page, while some show up off to the right-hand side.  Sometime there are ads at the end of the ten blue links.  Read about the seven reasons for varying search results at https://www.webpresencesolutions.net/7-reasons-google-search-results-vary-dramatically/

An August 29, 2018 search for "dine and dash" 2018 in Google produced 226,000 results.  All but three items on page one were about dining with no intention of paying.  A colleague six miles from me repeated the search, getting 340,000 results.  When Google changed its algorithim for blogs, the average viewership for Librarian's Muse went from 25 to 5.

Coke plans to buy British coffee-shop chain Costa for $5.1 billion, taking it over from Whitbread.  Coke, “like a lot of its peers, is looking to diversify away from its core business of sugary drinks, an area that has been increasingly attracting government ire due to a rising global obesity problem,” says Michael Hewson, chief market analyst at CMC Markets UK.  A growing number of U.S. cities, for example, have levied special taxes on sodas and other sugary beverages.  The seller of Sprite and Powerade seems to think “this is the ideal way into a frothy market that it’s maybe missed out on so far,” Neil Wilson, Markets.com’s chief market analyst adds.  Costa, a rival to Starbucks in the U.K., has more than 2,400 coffee shops in its home country, along with more than 1,400 retail outlets in other nations.  It also sells coffee in grocery stores and gas stations.  Coke has ventured into coffee before, including acquiring a minority stake in once-hot Keurig Green Mountain.  That company is now owned by an investor group led by JAB Holding.  Victor Reklaitis 

https://www.marketwatch.com/story/heres-why-coca-cola-is-muscling-into-the-coffee-shop-business-in-a-big-way-2018-08-31

Paul Taylor, one of the most prolific and influential choreographers in the world of modern dance, died Aug. 29, 2018 at the age of 88.  The movements Taylor created on stage were inspired by everyday people doing everyday things, including doing nothing at all.  It was an approach that at first turned people away—but he eventually turned them around.  In his work Esplanade, the dancers are in reds, oranges, pinks.  They're constantly moving—running, falling, slipping, tumbling.  Paul Taylor was born in 1930 just outside of Pittsburgh.  He wanted to be a painter, and attended Syracuse University on a swimming scholarship to pay for it.  And then, he told NPR in 2004, something changed.  He was discouraged about painting and went into the library.  "And I picked up a dance magazine, picked up some dance books and then looked at the pictures," Taylor said.  "And I like to move and I thought, 'Well, maybe that's it.  I'll just try that.'  So I left college and came to New York to take dance classes."  He went to the Julliard School and began a career dancing at the age of 22—relatively old in the world of dance.  Once in New York he embedded himself in the contemporary arts scene, collaborating with the likes of artist Robert Rauschenberg and composer John Cage.  He formed his own company but stopped dancing in 1974, at the age of 44, after collapsing onstage.  In 2008, Paul Taylor wrote an op-ed for The Wall Street Journal describing why he made dances.  It included a lot of the usual reasons for making art—to feel less alone, to offer reprieve from the world.  Andrew Limbong  See pictures at https://www.npr.org/2018/08/30/643422769/paul-taylor-giant-of-modern-dance-has-died

Iosif Kobzon, the legendary Soviet crooner who served in the Russian State Duma in his later years, died at the age of 80 on August 30, 2018.  Known as Russia’s Frank Sinatra, Kobzon won widespread fame for performing the theme songs of the classic 1973 television spy series “17 Moments of Spring.”  Kobzon became a controversial figure as a Duma lawmaker for his support of the 2014 annexation of Ukraine’s Crimean peninsula and other pro-Kremlin stances.  He has been barred entry to the United States since 1995 when his visa was revoked on suspected mafia ties.  In 2015, the European Union blacklisted Kobzon for visiting the war-ravaged region of eastern Ukraine where he was born and expressing support for pro-Russian separatists.  Link to 2:33 music video at https://themoscowtimes.com/news/legendary-soviet-crooner-lawmaker-iosif-kobzon-dies-62719

http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com  Issue 1945  August 31, 2018

James Barton Longacre (1794–1869) was an American portraitist and engraver, and the fourth Chief Engraver of the United States Mint from 1844 until his death.  Longacre is best known for designing the Indian Head cent, which entered commerce in 1859, and for the designs of the Shield nickel, Flying Eagle cent and other coins of the mid-19th century.  Longacre was born in Delaware County, Pennsylvania, in 1794.  He ran away to Philadelphia at age 12, where he became an apprentice in a bookstore.  His artistic talent developed and he was released to apprentice in an engraving firm.  He struck out on his own in 1819, making a name providing illustrations for popular biographical books.  He portrayed the leading men of his day; support from some of them, such as South Carolina Senator John C. Calhoun, led to his appointment as chief engraver after the death of Christian Gobrecht in 1844.  In Longacre's first years as a chief engraver, the Philadelphia Mint was dominated by Mint Director Robert M. Patterson and Chief Coiner Franklin Peale.  Conflict between Longacre and the two men developed after Congress ordered a new gold dollar and double eagle, with both to be designed by Longacre.  Peale and Patterson nearly had Longacre fired, but the chief engraver was able to convince Treasury Secretary William M. Meredith that he should be retained.  Both Patterson and Peale left the Mint in the early 1850s, ending the conflict.  Read more and see many graphics at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_B._Longacre

The 5 Ways Reading for 30 Minutes a Day Can Change Your Health  When researchers at Yale University School of Public Health analyzed data from more than 3,600 adults age 50 and older, they found that those who read books for 3½ hours a week—or 30 minutes a day—lived about two years longer than their non-reading peers.  But you have to dig into an actual book:  reading newspapers and magazines doesn’t have quite the same longevity benefits.  Find five ways reading a book does your body good at https://www.healthination.com/health/benefits-of-reading  The Yale study was done in 2016, and the article was reviewed June 6, 2018.

THERE IS NO J STREET IN WASHINGTON  The reason behind the missing J Street in Washington, DC is because in the English alphabet, the letter J looked too much like the letter I.  The alphabet is based on the Latin alphabet, and there is no letter J in Latin.  On occasion, during the Middle Ages, a j would be used as a substitute for the final i in Roman numerals (e.g., iij for 3 instead of iii, or xxviij for 23).  Read myths about why J Street is missing,  see graphics, and sign up for Ghosts of DC via email at https://ghostsofdc.org/2013/01/30/why-is-there-no-j-street/

THERE IS NO 14TH STREET IN PHILADELPHIA  Broad Street is the north-south counterpart to Market (formerly High) Street.  When surveyor Thomas Holme (1624-95) prepared the first plan of the city of Philadelphia for William Penn (1644-1718), only Broad and High Streets were named.  Twelfth Street was designated as Broad Street, and this rough road bisected the town almost exactly at its middle in what was then wilderness.  The plan also designated a public square in the vicinity of this intersection, supposedly the center of the city, because Holme believed it to be the watershed dividing the Delaware and Schuylkill Rivers.  The plot was therefore called Center Square. Penn intended that the Public Buildings (City Hall) of Philadelphia would one day go there.  Broad Street was moved to Fourteenth Street by the 1730s, as that was closer to the actual midpoint between the two rivers.  Surveyors also corrected Holme’s error regarding Center Square and placed the commons where it is today—the location of City Hall.  Troops drilled in and around Center Square during the War of Independence, and the French army under Rochambeau camped there on the way to Yorktown.  Later, Center Square became the site for Philadelphia’s first waterworks.  After the Revolution, Broad Street grew, first to the north:  The road was extended from Vine Street to Ridge Road (Avenue) in 1811.  It continued north through the nineteenth century, and its northernmost extensions were created between 1903 and 1923.  The street was also lengthened to the south:  In 1819, the road reached from South (formerly Cedar) Street to Dickinson Street.  With the city-county consolidation of 1854, a rudimentary version of Broad Street extended as far south as the later site of the Philadelphia Navy Yard.  Harry Kyriakodis  Read more and see graphics at http://philadelphiaencyclopedia.org/archive/broad-street/

In 2018, Toledo was ranked eighth in"25 Best Cities for Outdoor Space" with a score of 59.0, only 13.6 points away from first-ranked New Orleans.  The study looked at 100 cities, and ranked public green and outdoor space on seven different factors.  Metroparks Toledo has 18 different parks in Lucas County and is planning a new metropark on the east bank of the Maumee River, opposite downtown Toledo.  The park, which has not yet been named, will be the sixth metropark on the Maumee River.  All of the river parks and other sites along Ohio's 108-mile stretch of the Maumee River are part of the Ohio Water Trail.  Development News  August 2018  See also https://potsplantersandmore.com/2018/07/06/25-best-cities-for-outdoor-space/

How to Cook Quinoa  Makes about 2 1/2 cups quinoa

Ingredients

2 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil

1 cup uncooked quinoa, rinsed

1/2 teaspoon salt

Directions

Heat the olive oil in a medium-size saucepan.  Add the quinoa and cook over medium heat for 1 to 2 minutes, stirring often, so it’s well coated with the oil.  Add 1 1/4 cups of water and the salt.  Bring to a boil, cover, and simmer for 15 to 20 minutes, or until all the water has been absorbed and the quinoa is tender but not mushy.  Remove from the heat, let sit, covered, for 5 minutes, then fluff with a fork.  To make tabbouleh using quinoa instead of bulgur, find recipe at  https://www.splendidtable.org/recipes/quinoa-and-black-bean-tabbouleh?utm_campaign=TST_WNK_20180808&utm_medium=email&utm_source=sfmc_Newsletter&utm_content=The%20Weeknight%20Kitchen:%20Quinoa%20and%20Black%20Bean%20Tabbouleh

Professional Wrestling adopted the term kayfabe as a reference to the standard Fourth Wall features of separating the audience from the action.  It is meant to convey the idea that, yes, pro wrestling is a genuine sport, and yes, this is how these people act in real life.  It is essentially Willing Suspension of Disbelief specifically for pro wrestling.  Back in the old days, though, kayfabe was much more; it was pro wrestling's real life Masquerade.  Wrestlers, promoters, and everybody else involved with the business alike resorted to any means necessary to guard the secret that wrestling was rigged, from wrestlers roughing up any reporters who dared ask, "It's all fake, right?" to (alleged) death threats towards anybody who threatened to expose the secret, through contacts with the Mafia and other organized crime.  Wrestlers lived their gimmicks 24/7 and those playing Wild Samoans or Foreign Wrestling Heels could not speak English in public if their characters didn't.  https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/Kayfabe  During the early 21st century, this "kayfabe" practice has given way to reality in the WWE, largely due to the creation of the reality television program Total Divas where four "legit" (legally binding) weddings have occurred.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kayfabe

Do you like avocados?  How about getting paid to eat them? That’s just what some universities are doing to test if eating avocados help people lose weight.  The study is being conducted at Loma Linda University School of Public Health and three other American universities, who will pay participants.    “The study will examine whether eating one avocado per day reduces visceral adipose fat in the abdomen,” Joan Sabaté, MD, DrPH says.  The university says participants will receive free health screenings and will get paid $300 each.  Participants will be split into two groups.  The test group will be required to eat 16 avocados every two weeks and required to eat one avocado per day throughout the six-month study.  In addition to LLU, Penn State University, Tufts University and the University of California, Los Angeles, will each recruit 250 participants, for a total of 1,000 participants in the study.  https://philadelphia.cbslocal.com/2018/08/28/get-paid-avocados/

Celebrate Hispanic Heritage at the Toledo Lucas County Public Library.  Mexican Alebrije Painting  Tuesdays and Thursdays | Sept. 4 – Oct. 16   Latino Quesadillas  Thursdays and Saturdays | Sept. 1 – Nov. 1  Explore Latin Countries  September 15 – October 15 |  Visit any library location to complete a quiz about Latin countries for a chance to win a one year family of four membership to the Toledo Zoo.

The main branch of the Toledo-Lucas County Public Library at 325 N. Michigan will close on Sunday, September 2, 2018 for 10-12 months of major renovations.  On Friday, September 7, 2018 the Sylvania branch at 6749 Monroe will reopen after one year of renovations.

August 29, 2018  HAPPY 20th ANNIVERSARY  Before there was a movie franchise, and a collection of theme parks, and a Broadway play (two actually); before you could spot wand-wielding children sporting long black robes and know just what they were up to; there was Joanne Rowling’s manuscript, famously rumored to have been partly written on disposable napkins, about an orphaned boy who did not know he was a wizard.  It was rejected by several British publishers, and then accepted by one, Bloomsbury, which published it as “Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone,” with Rowling’s name defeminized into “J.K.”  A year later—on Sept. 1, 1998—it arrived in American bookstores as “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone,” with a new cover designed by Mary GrandPré.  There was another publisher, Scholastic, tasked with introducing the book and the wizarding world to American children, and soon enough, across the country there were young readers, and more than a few older ones, clamoring for more.  Maria Russo  See pictures at https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/29/books/review/harry-potter-20th-anniversary.html

http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com  Issue 1944  August 30, 2018 

He is one of the world’s most successful crime writers, selling more than 100 million copies of his novels and short stories worldwide.  Now Lee Child is planning major television adaptations of his Jack Reacher books after fans complained to him about Tom Cruise’s portrayal of the larger-than-life hero in two Hollywood movies.  Reacher, a private investigator and drifter, is described in Child’s novels as physically towering, measuring in at 6ft 5in.  Cruise, however, is said to be only 5ft 7in.  “I’ve got tens of thousands of letters saying they didn’t like Cruise because he’s too small, basically,” said Child.  “Part of Reacher’s appeal is that he’s very intimidating.  Even without doing anything, if he walks into a room, people are a little bit uneasy.  It was felt that, for all his virtues, Cruise didn’t represent that.  So the readers were cross from the beginning.”  Child hopes that a deal will be signed by November 2018 for productions that will devote between 10 and 12 hours to each book.  Asked about the cast, he said:  “That’s the great thing about television.  It’s much less star-driven than feature films.  So it doesn’t need to be a so-called A-list guy.”  Fan letters are part of a vast archive of correspondence, notes and manuscripts that Child is making available to the public for the first time.  It will be announced this week that he is transferring everything to the British Archive for Contemporary Writing at the University of East Anglia (UEA).  The archive boasts the literary holdings of Doris Lessing, Malcolm Bradbury and JD Salinger, among others, while the university has an international reputation for creative writing through its MA, with Ian McEwan among its alumni.  He has sent more than 40 enormous boxes filled with papers spanning his career.  There is so much material it will take more than a year to catalogue.  Justine Mann, archivist at UEA, said:  “For the first time, creative writers, researchers and scholars of literature will have access to material that allows them to trace Child’s writing process and, through textual analysis of initial and subsequent drafts, identify some of the secrets behind his incredible success.”  Coventry-born Child became a global publishing phenomenon after his first Reacher book in 1997.  The 23rd novel in the series, Past Tense, will be published in November 2018.  The others have been translated into 49 languages.  Yet he did not start writing until he was 40, after being made redundant from his 18-year career in television:  “The real drama in my story is having been fired from Granada.  That’s the real rags-to-riches part of it.  I managed to do something afterwards … I’m the lucky one.”  Child said he had not held anything back from the archives:  “With a serious institution like UEA, which does teach the nitty-gritty of writing, you can’t present a curated archive because it would necessarily give the wrong impression.”  The archive includes a rejection slip from a literary agent, who will no doubt be kicking himself or herself for failing to sense his potential.  Dalya Alberge  https://www.theguardian.com/books/2018/aug/26/lee-child-jack-reacher-novels-on-tv-tom-cruise-archive-public

The pluot is a cross between a plum and an apricot.  You might also find the fruit labeled plumcot, aprium, or apriplum.  Find a recipe to use as a dessert or as a coffee cake.  The streusel topping is optional, but it adds a nice crunchy texture to the cake.   Find recipe by Diana Rattray at https://www.thespruceeats.com/pluot-cake-or-plum-cake-3059293

Little Miss Muffet Sat on a tuffet, Eating her curds and whey; Along came a spider, Who sat down beside her, And frightened Miss Muffet away.  https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/46957/little-miss-muffet

Curds and whey are a product of cheese-making.  When rennet, an enzyme derived from a newborn ruminant is added to milk, the milk curdles.  These solid, curdled lumps are the curds.  The whey is the liquid byproduct of the curdling process.  Most people first heard the term curds and whey in the nursery rhyme, Little Miss Muffet, a nursery rhyme that dates back to the sixteenth century, though it was first published in 1805.  In the rhyme, Miss Muffet sits on a tuffet eating her curds and whey.  Today’s cottage cheese is similar to the curds and whey that would have been popular four hundred years ago when the nursery rhyme was written.  However, cottage cheese is washed, salted and well-drained, and many believe that curds and wheywould have contained more whey than cottage cheese contains.  The method of curdling curds and whey is not known, an acid such as vinegar or lemon juice may be used to curdle milk, which affects the taste.  http://grammarist.com/phrase/curds-and-whey/

Ricotta is Italian for “twice cooked” or “to cook again” and is traditionally made with the whey byproduct of making another cheese, such as mozzarella or a hard cheese.  The whey is heated, with or without additional vinegar, and the new ricotta is strained and seasoned.  Find recipes at https://smittenkitchen.com/2011/06/rich-homemade-ricotta/

Toledo, Ohio’s Momentum Features Glass, Music, Art and Makers in Free Festival, September 13–15, 2018  Toledo’s Promenade Park will be transformed by dynamic interactive art projects, art exhibitions and performances, innovative music across a spectrum of genres, and a Mini Maker Faire.  The Momentum festival will take place September 13-15 in Toledo, Ohio’s riverfront Promenade Park.  Featuring large-scale art installations including Fantastic Planet by Parer Studio and the Compound Camera by Pneuhaus as well as five specially commissioned interactive artworks from regional artists, the festival promises a wide variety of hands-on art experiences.  The Momentum Exhibition will highlight Toledo’s rich history as the birthplace of the studio glass movement and current knowledge base in the glass industry.  Musical guests and Daptone recording artists Orquesta Akokán will bring their big band collective of the musicians hailing from Havana.  The Toledo Symphony Orchestra will perform “Water Concerto” by composer Tan Dun (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon).  A wide range of regional and local musicians and performers will be active in the park throughout the festival.  The Toledo Mini Maker Faire will showcase more than 20 makers with demonstrations and hands-on activities.  Maker Faire is the Greatest Show (and Tell) on Earth—a family-friendly showcase of invention, creativity and resourcefulness, and a celebration of the Maker Movement.  Makers range from tech enthusiasts to crafters to homesteaders to scientists to garage tinkerers of all ages and backgrounds.

Learn more at http://momentumtoledo.org/?Hyperallergic18

https://hyperallergic.com/455295/toledo-ohio-momentum-glass-music-art-makers-free-festival/

Prepare to step into Hogwarts at Livraria Lello bookstore in Porto, Portugal.  The Livraria Lello bookstore in Porto is one of the world's oldest bookstores, frequently ranked as one of the most beautiful bookstores in the world, and a top place to visit in Portugal.  Opened in 1906, the bookstore has once a haunt of the city's literary scene and many say it was a direct inspiration for JK Rowling and her Harry Potter books.  Rowling lived in the city from 1991 to 1993 and was a frequent customer.  Thank you, Muse reader! 

The Lello Bookstore, also known as Livraria Lello & Irmão and Livraria Chardron, is a bookstore located in civil parish of Cedofeita, Santo Ildefonso, Sé, Miragaia, São Nicolau e Vitória, in the northern Portuguesemunicipality of Porto.  Along with Bertrand in Lisbon, it is one of the oldest bookstores in Portugal and frequently rated among the top bookstores in the world (placing third in lists by guidebook publisher Lonely Planet and The Guardian).  Beginning in July 2015, the bookstore began requesting entrance fees for visitors.  On 21 April 2016, an artistic mural was erected to conceal the scaffolding placed on the facade of the building, during its restoration, by graffiti writer Dheo and colleague Pariz One.   Dheo painted the central area of the mural with a pile of old books, a lit candle and a bottle of Port wine, while the rest was painted by Pariz One with geometric shapes, referring to the stained glass inside the bookstore.  The work took two months to produce.  On 31 July, following the restoration, the main facade of the building was uncovered, showing the laboratory-tested recovered primitive gray.  The bookstore was frequented by JK Rowling, author of the Harry Potter series, when she taught English in Porto and is reported to be an inspiration for her writing.  Read more and see pictures at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Livraria_Lello

http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com  Issue 1943  August 29, 2018 

When every child is read aloud to for 15 minutes every day from birth, more children will be ready to learn when they enter kindergarten.  Get tips and sign up for newsletter at http://www.readaloud.org/

The haka is a type of ancient Māori war dance traditionally used on the battlefield, as well as when groups came together in peace.  Haka are a fierce display of a tribe's pride, strength and unity.  Actions include violent foot-stamping, tongue protrusions and rhythmic body slapping to accompany a loud chant.  The words of a haka often poetically describe ancestors and events in the tribe's history.  Today, haka are still used during Māori ceremonies and celebrations to honour guests and show the importance of the occasion.  This includes family events, like birthdays and weddings.  Haka are also used to challenge opponents on the sports field.  You may have seen a haka performed by New Zealand’s All Blacks before a rugby match?  You’ll probably agree that it’s a terrifying sight to behold!  See pictures at https://www.newzealand.com/us/feature/haka/  See also https://www.tourism.net.nz/new-zealand/about-new-zealand/haka.html

One of the earliest known artworks created by a European in what would become Indiana was by a British officer.  On his way to battle the American rebels holding the town of Vincennes in 1778, British officer Henry Hamilton sketched a view of the Wabash River (artwork now in the collection of the Harvard University Library.)  As Indiana achieved statehood and attracted new settlers, the demand for artists’ skills slowly grew.  The earliest artists were often itinerant and usually met a variety of practical demands, creating portraits, documenting settlements, and painting signs.  Perhaps Indiana’s most recognized group is the Hoosier Group, founded by T.C. Steele, William Forsyth, J. Ottis Adams, Otto Stark and Richard Gruelle in the 1890s.  Best known for adapting Impressionist techniques to the Indiana landscape, their influence continues today.  Read much more and see pictures at http://www.askart.com/art/Regional_Interests/1617/y/Indiana%20Artists

Winslow Homer (1836–1910) is regarded by many as the greatest American painter of the nineteenth century.  Born in Boston and raised in rural Cambridge, he began his career as a commercial printmaker, first in Boston and then in New York, where he settled in 1859.  He briefly studied oil painting in the spring of 1861.  In October of the same year, he was sent to the front in Virginia as an artist-correspondent for the new illustrated journal Harper’s Weekly.  Homer’s earliest Civil War paintings, dating from about 1863, are anecdotal, like his prints.  As the war drew to a close, however, such canvases as The Veteran in a New Field  and Prisoners from the Front  reflect a more profound understanding of the war’s impact and meaning.  For Homer, the late 1860s and the 1870s were a time of artistic experimentation and prolific and varied output.  He resided in New York City, making his living chiefly by designing magazine illustrations and building his reputation as a painter, but he found his subjects in the increasingly popular seaside resorts in Massachusetts and New Jersey, and in the Adirondacks, rural New York State, and the White Mountains of New Hampshire.  In the summer of 1883, Homer moved from New York to Prouts Neck, Maine, a peninsula ten miles south of Portland. Except for vacation trips to the Adirondacks, Canada, Florida, and the Caribbean, where he produced dazzling watercolors.  Homer lived at Prouts Neck until his death.  He enjoyed isolation and was inspired by privacy and silence to paint the great themes of his career:  the struggle of people against the sea and the relationship of fragile, transient human life to the timelessness of nature.  By about 1890, Homer left narrative behind to concentrate on the beauty, force, and drama of the sea itself.  Read more at https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/homr/hd_homr.htm  See also SEA PAINTINGS: WINSLOW HOMER POEMS BY HANNAH FRIES at https://www.terrain.org/2016/poetry/hannah-fries/ and the art mystery novel involving Tim Simpson tracking down an unknown watercolour by Homer of Cullercoats at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winslow_Homer

A TANK AWAY FROM TOLEDO  Family and friends converged in Indiana on the 100th anniversary of the birth of Leonard Bernstein (man of "unclassifiable talent") August 25, 2018.  We met in Roanoke, enjoyed lunch at the Emporium and purchased waygu beef and other items before visiting shops in the small town.  Then we drove about 30 minutes to Fort Wayne where the 10th Annual Taste of the Arts Festival was in full swing.  We visited  the art museum https://www.fwmoa.org/ and ended our adventure with a meal at Club Soda restaurant  http://clubsodafortwayne.com/.  The Fort Wayne Art Museum is currently featuring exhibits Winslow Homer, From Poetry to Fiction and the 46th International Invitational Glass Award Winners, both showing through September 23.

A Muse reader and fellow traveler in Roanoke, Indiana had an affogato there and loved it.  Here's the recipe:  Affogato (Gelato “Drowned” in Espresso)  Recipe courtesy of all of Italy  Yield:  1 serving* 

1 scoop vanilla or hazelnut gelato
¼ cup hot espresso
¼ cup hazelnut liqueur, optional (not recommended for workday pick-me-ups)  Scoop the gelato into a serving bowl, glass, or coffee cup.  Stir the hot espresso and hazelnut liqueur (if using) together, then pour the mixture over the gelato.  Serve immediately.  *This recipe can be doubled, tripled, and quadrupled as needed to please the crowd (or your own needs).  https://www.eataly.com/us_en/magazine/eataly-recipes/recipe-affogato/

Medicare doesn't cover everything.  If you need certain services Medicare doesn't cover, you'll have to pay for them yourself unless:  You have other insurance that covers them or you have a Medicare health plan that covers them.  Even if Medicare covers a service or item, you generally have to pay your deductible, coinsurance, and copayments.  Some of the items and services that Medicare doesn't cover include:  Long-term care (also called custodial care), most dental care, eye exams related to prescribing glasses, dentures, cosmetic surgery, acupuncture, hearing aids and exams for fitting them, and routine foot care.  https://www.medicare.gov/what-medicare-covers/not-covered/item-and-services-not-covered-by-part-a-and-b.html

Because early diagnosis is key to successful treatment, you may be wondering about Medicare coverage for glaucoma screening tests.  Medicare Part B covers a screening every 12 months for those who are considered high risk.  To be covered, you must get this test from an eye doctor who’s legally authorized to perform the screening in your state.  Medicare only covers the test for beneficiaries who have a high risk of getting glaucoma.  You’re considered high risk if any of the following factors are true:  You have diabetes. you have a family history of glaucoma, you are an African American and 50 years old or older, or you are a Hispanic American who is 65 years old or older.  Under Original Medicare, your Part B costs for the glaucoma screening are as follows:  You pay 20% of the Medicare-approved cost for the test, and you also have to pay the Part B deductible if you haven’t met it yet for that year.  If you have the test in a hospital outpatient setting (for example, an observation clinic), then you also have to pay a copayment.  https://medicare.com/coverage/does-medicare-cover-glaucoma/

How the Locals Say It follow-up:  And there's Havana (HAY-vana), Florida.  Thank you, Muse reader!

http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com  Issue 1942  August 28, 2018  

FISH IN TOLEDO METROPARK  Ahhh, home.  Every person, every creature, and every critter needs a place to live.  For certain wildlife, it is a den, a nest, a cavity in a tree, or a burrow in the ground.  For fish, the domicile perspective is quite different.  They spend much of their life on the move, roaming and traveling from one locale to another.  But many species that live in rivers, lakes, ponds, and reservoirs have a fairly distinct range, a broad area that offers both food sources and a relative degree of safety.  This is where they spend most of their time.  nd often, they make this place their home because of the presence of structure.  Not structure as in something they constructed, but structure as in anything that creates a change in the depth or the contour of the bottom.  Structure gives microorganisms a surface to cling to, it gives small fish places to hide and feed on those tiny creatures, and it gives larger fish a place to ambush and feed on smaller fish.  Shipwrecks provide one of the best places to fish in the open ocean, simply because they provide structure in an otherwise contour-less expanse, and the food pyramid starts to build at the site almost as soon as the ship hits the bottom.  That essential structure—rocks, stumps, logs, and sections of trees in this case—is being put in place in the seven-acre lake that is under construction at the new Cannonball Prairie Metropark site on Monclova Road, where former farmland is being converted back into a native prairie landscape.  He said the rock piles and submerged wood that compose the bulk of the structure should quickly become populated with colonies of macroinvertebrates, and these will in turn serve as a food source that attracts small fish.  There will be close to 45 of these fish structures in place once the new lake begins to fill.  A fairly ideal fishing hole, a nearby drainage ditch should provide populations of frogs and other aquatic creatures that will move into the lake.  While the lake will likely need a stabilization period of several years once it fills with water and is stocked with fish, the new park is expected to open, in part, by late fall 2018.  The park is located at the former site of Springer Farms, between Weckerly and Eber Roads, along the North Fork of the Wabash Cannonball Trail.  The park district purchased 89 acres at the site in 2013, with the expressed intention of creating a new park that would serve as a stopping point on the Wabash Cannonball Trail in western Lucas County.  A 12-acre mature oak forest is part of that larger parcel.  Cannonball Prairie Metropark will form another connection along the Oak Openings Corridor, and when completed this link and its series of trails will connect five Metroparks and three state nature preserves.  Matt Markey  Read more and see graphics at http://www.toledoblade.com/MattMarkey/2018/08/23/Structure-should-make-new-lake-a-good-home-for-fish/stories/

Kroger said it will ban all plastic checkout bags by 2025.  America's largest supermarket chain said it will transition from single-use to reusable bags and ultimately eliminate 123 million pounds of garbage annually sent to landfills.  That would quadruple the amount of plastic the retailer currently recycles.  Kroger currently sells reusable bags starting at $1 each.  Kroger will ramp up the availability of those bags. Shoppers for the foreseeable future will still have the option of asking for paper bags.  Kroger said it is also looking to cut back or phase out plastic bags for produce and meat, but it's focusing on eliminating checkout bags for now.  The ban will directly affect a wide swath of consumers:  Kroger serves 9 million customers every day at its nearly 2,800 stores in 35 states and the District of Columbia.  Kroger's Seattle-based QFC subsidiary, with 63 stores in the Pacific Northwest, will be the first division to eliminate the bags by 2019.  Besides hundreds of its namesake stores in the Midwest and the South, Kroger operates hundreds more under the Harris Teeter, Ralphs, Fred Meyer, Fry's and other nameplates.  Kroger uses 6 billion such bags annually, while the industry discards an estimated 100 billion bags each year.  Alexander Coolidge  https://www.cincinnati.com/story/money/2018/08/23/kroger-ban-plastic-checkout-bags-2025/1062241002/

HOW THE LOCALS SAY IT

Mentor, Ohio  The T isn't sounded by most residents.

Cairo, Illinois  CARE-oh  

Yosemite, Kentucky  YOSE-mite

Athens, Kentucky  The A is long (as in ate).

From the Toledo-Lucas County Public Library:  "Join us for a new monthly group where we talk books, socialize and relax with a cold one.  Meetings take place at Earnest Brew Works - a brewer-owned and operated brewery and tap room that pays homage to traditional beer styles while also bringing a fresh take on ingredients.  Books can be checked out from any library location, but a selection will be held at the Maumee Branch Library one month prior to the event."  21 and over only.  (W) Sept. 19 | 7 p.m.  The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman  (W) Oct. 17 | 7 p.m.  Chilling Adventures of Sabrina by Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa, illustrated by Robert Hack  (W) Nov. 14 | 7 p.m.  The Sellout by Paul Beatty  (W) Dec. 19 | 7 p.m.  Future Home of the Living God by Louise Erdrich  Link to library groups for all ages at http://www.toledolibrary.org/librarygroups

THE NAME GIVING OF ATHENS  Cecrops, a strange creature, half-man half-snake, was the founder of a city which would develop to be very beautiful.  Cecrops had named his city after him, Cecropia.   However, the gods of Olympus saw this lovely piece of land and wanted to name it after them and become its patron.  The most persistent rivals were Poseidon, the sea god, and Athena, the goddess of wisdom.  To solve their dispute, Zeus decided that each of them would make a gift to the city and king Cecrops would decide which gift was the best and therefore which god would be the patron of the city.  Poseidon was the first to present his gift.  He struck a rock with his trident and caused a spring of water to gush forth from the ground.  This signified that he was assuring the citizens with water and therefore they wouldn’t face any time of drought.  Athena planted a seed in the ground, which grew up to become a lovely olive tree.  The citizens liked this gift better because it would give them food, oil and firewood. With one voice they loudly acclaimed Athena as their benefactress.  When money was invented, they depicted goddess Athens and her sacred bird, the owl, symbol of wisdom, on both sides of their coins.   https://www.greeka.com/attica/athens/athens-myths/athens-name-giving.htm

On Fantasy, Greek Mythology & Writing:  An author interview with Jordanna Max Brodsky by Alex Mouyios  April 20, 2017  Fantasy is a genre which has tremendous potential for world-building, where, from start to finish, the story takes place in a world outside of reality (such as Lord of the Rings).  Another subgenre would be when there is another world inside of a realistic realm; an example of this is Harry Potter where the wizarding world operates in secret.  One of my favorite ones is when a protagonist starts off in a realistic world and then, as the story progresses, discovers a secret world; Fablehaven is a series in which this is exemplified.  As a librarian, I keep my eyes out for emerging authors and new titles.  During late autumn of 2015, I received a few advance reader copies, or ARCs  of some fantasy novels to review.  One of these books was Jordanna Max Brodsky’s The Immortals.  The book made its round with a few other librarians that I shared it with.  It was my staff pick for two months after it was released to the public!  67th Street Library was lucky enough to have the author visit for a book talk for the release of her second book, Winter of the Gods.  Having been bitten by the Greek god mythology bug since she was a child, Jordanna was excited to discuss her ideas and expectations for her series with an engaging group of library patrons who asked plenty of interesting questions which sparked discussions both amusing and intriguing.  I wanted to capture the energy in that room and provide it to the people who could not attend.  A few days after the author visit, I reached out to Jordanna and asked if she would be interested in an interview.  We settled on interviewing over lunch in a Greek restaurant—very fitting for the interview topic!  What brought about the idea for The Immortals and why did you want to write it?   “I don’t remember the exactly how old I was when my parents gave me D'Aulaires' Book of Greek Myths. …I just [recently] found my copy that my parents had given me, and to my surprise, it turns out it was inscribed to my brother and not to me--which was shocking since he never read it, and it became the inspiration for my life.  "The last page says something along the lines of, “All things must come to an end, and so do the Greek Gods.  All that remains of their stories are the tales written in the constellations and broken columns and temples.”  As a kid, I wanted to make my own version where they’d never gone away.  What do you do before writing, research-wise?  "I do a lot of research . . . and I spend a lot of time in libraries.  For The Immortals I actually spent a lot of time down at the main branch on 42nd street in the main reading room, getting out old reports and typewritten pamphlets about woman cops in the 1920s.  "Obviously the internet is amazing.  There is a website called Perseus from Tufts University for classicists.  It has a massive trove of all of the public domain Greek and Latin classic works in English and in the original Greek and Latin.  They’re linked to dictionaries so you can translate as you read.  Read the rest of the interview at https://www.nypl.org/blog/2017/04/20/author-jordanna-max-brodsky

The rise of celebrity book clubs

Read about the impact of book clubs of Jimmy Fallon, Sarah Jessica Parker, Reese Witherspoon and Emma Roberts at https://pagesix.com/2018/08/15/the-rise-of-celebrity-book-clubs/

Died August 17, 2018 at age of 78  architect Costas Kyndilis  https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/24/obituaries/costas-kondylis-dead.html

Died August 24, 2018 at age of 76 TV personality, reporter, writer Robin Leach  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robin_Leach

Died August 25, 2018 at age of 81  war hero, 2008 presidential contender and GOP senator John McCain  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_McCain

Died August 26, 2018 at age of 91 Pulitzer- and Tony-winning author of plays Neil Simon  https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/obituaries/the-latest-playwright-neil-simon-dies-at-91/2018/08/26/4190ffb0-a949-11e8-9a7d-cd30504ff902_story.html?utm_term=.49d89d349995

http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com  Issue 1941  August 27, 2018  Word of the Day  change the game  verb  (transitive, idiomatic)  To revolutionize a field of endeavor.  Wiktionary