Simon Rich: By the
Book Extract of an
interview with humor writer Simon Rich What kind of reader were you as a child? I
was trying to learn how to write comedy, so I made sure to read all the big
names: Robert Benchley, James Thurber,
P.G. Wodehouse, Evelyn Waugh, Dorothy Parker, Philip Roth, Douglas Adams,
Joseph Heller and so on. The “classic
humorists” that I learned the most from were probably Mark Twain and Hans
Christian Andersen. They were always
writing stories about children and animals and inanimate objects. It’s a great trick. Readers love to feel smarter than the person
that they’re reading about. You’re hosting a literary dinner party. Which three writers are invited? I would invite my wife, the
writer Kathleen Hale; our friend, the writer Andrei Nechita; and some really
ancient guy, like Aristophanes or Laertes or whoever; and we would take turns
showing him videos on our phones and just watch his reactions and see which
ones made him flip out the most. Whom would you choose to write your life story? I’d love to see my life
depicted as a Ken Burns documentary.
Just a lot of slow pans of me typing on my computer, while sitting in
different positions. And the whole time,
inexplicably, there’s jazz. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/26/books/review/simon-rich-by-the-book.html
See
also 'Hits And Misses' Doesn't Miss
A Beat by Michael Schaub at https://www.npr.org/2018/07/24/628874553/hits-and-misses-doesnt-miss-a-beat
Alfonso X (1221-1284) was king of
Castile and León from 1252 to 1284. Also known as Alfonso
the Wise, he was one of the greatest royal patrons of learning of the Middle Ages. Alfonso's
greatest legacy was the Siete partidas (Seven Divisions of the
Law). This work is not so much a legal
codex as a learned essay on various kinds of law, covering all aspects of
social life. As such, it is a repository
of medieval Spanish custom. It had
enormous influence on the future course of Spanish law and on the law of
Spain's overseas possessions. The
scientific treatises compiled under Alfonso's patronage were the work of the
"School of Translators" of Toledo, an informal grouping of Christian,
Moslem, and Jewish scholars who made available the findings of Arab science to
Europeans in Latin and Spanish translations.
The King's main scientific interests were astronomy and astrology, as
indicated by the Tablas Alfonsies (Alfonsine Tables), containing
diagrams and figures on planetary movements, and the Libros del saber de
astronomia (Books of Astronomical Lore), describing astronomical
instruments. Alfonso also patronized two
ambitious historical compilations, the Primera crónica general (First
General Chronicle) and the General estoria (General History),
designed to present a complete history of the world. These writings mixed fact and fiction,
especially when describing the ancient world, but they constitute a faithful
representation of medieval man's attitudes toward his past. Of Alfonso's poems, the most significant are
the Cantigas de Santa
Maria (Canticles of Holy Mary), written in Galician-Portuguese
between 1257 and 1279. The canticles are
written in troubadour style (the King called himself "the Virgin's
troubadour") and contain a wealth of descriptive detail about medieval
life. Alfonso also wrote satirical and
love poems. Encyclopedia of World Biography COPYRIGHT 2004 The Gale Group Inc.
Mediterranean Cooking from the Garden with Linda Dalal
Sawaya: 7 ways with summer
squash—kousa Kousa is a prolific summer plant,
just like zucchini, only Lebanese kousais a light green variety
similar to Mexican squash, which is also light in color. Lebanese kousa is favored
because of the tender marrow without large seeds that is perfect for stuffing
either with our Lenten, vegan stuffing, or with traditional lamb and
rice. Read much more, see pictures, and find ideas for preparing kousa at
https://www.arabamerica.com/mediterranean-cooking-garden-linda-dalal-sawaya-7-ways-summer-lebanese-squash-kousa/ Linda Dalal Sawaya is a Portland artist, cook,
Master Gardener, daughter of Lebanese immigrants and author of Alice’s Kitchen:
Traditional Lebanese Cooking.
Paraprosdokians are linguistic brain scramblers in which the latter
part of the sentence isn't what you expected based on the first part of the
sentence, causing you to re-think the entire statement. Though the word itself is a combination of
the Greek παρά ("against")
and προσδοκία ("expectation"),
its origins are still debated. According
to some more recent info, the term paraprosdokian was coined in the 19th
century and has been winding its way into modern usage since then (but
unfortunately it still doesn't grace the pages of most paper dictionaries
yet). Other sources attribute the term
directly to the German philosopher Gustav Gerber of that time period. At the same time, there is record of the
ancient Greeks using such figures of speech for both comedy and
philosophy. Indeed, many modern comics
and notable individuals have made good use of the paraprosdokian. Some examples: 1.
"If I agreed with you, we'd both be wrong." Attributed to Sir Winston
Churchill. 2. "War does not determine
who is right . . . only who is
left." Often
(and probably mistakenly) attributed to Bertrand Russell,
the 20th century British philosopher and mathematician. 3. "Where there's a will, I want to be in
it." Anonymous 4. "I used to be indecisive. Now I'm not sure." Attributed to Tommy Cooper, the Welsh
comedian and magician. Andrea
Juhasz http://mentalfloss.com/article/65921/11-paraprosdokians-will-make-you-think-twice Thank you, Muse reader!
Arugula is an aromatic salad green. It is also
known as rocket, roquette, rugula and rucola, and is popular in Italian
cuisine. Like most salad greens, arugula
is very low in calories and is high in vitamins A and C. A 1/2 cup serving is two calories. Find recipe and link to other recipes at https://www.gourmetsleuth.com/articles/detail/arugula
Glyphosate is an herbicide. It is applied
to the leaves of plants to kill both broadleaf plants and grasses. The sodium salt form of glyphosate is used to
regulate plant growth and ripen fruit.
Glyphosate was first registered for use in the U.S. in 1974. Glyphosate is one of the most widely used
herbicides in the United States. People apply it in agriculture and forestry,
on lawns and gardens, and for weeds in industrial areas. Some products containing glyphosate control
aquatic plants. http://npic.orst.edu/factsheets/glyphogen.html
See also
August 18, 2018 Last
week, a California state court handed down a $289-million verdict against Monsanto, the St.
Louis-based agribusiness titan. The massive
jury award to plaintiff Dewayne Johnson, a former school groundskeeper, comes
after Johnson and his attorneys argued successfully that his repeated
on-the-job use of Monsanto pesticides caused him to develop a terminal case of
non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, a form of cancer.
Monsanto, now part of Bayer after a recent merger, has vowed to appeal the ruling. But Johnson's suit may be the first of thousands of similar lawsuits the company could
face. Johnson's case centered on his use of two of Monsanto's
glyphosate-containing pesticides, Ranger Pro and Roundup, the latter the most popular pesticide in this country. Johnson's attorneys argued Monsanto failed to
warn their client about the potential risks of using their products.
Baylen Linnekin
Paul Bunyan, Op 17, is an operetta in two acts and a prologue composed by Benjamin Britten to a libretto by W. H. Auden,
designed for performance by semi-professional groups. It premiered at Columbia University on 5 May 1941, to largely negative reviews, and
was withdrawn by the composer. Britten
revised it somewhat in 1976 and subsequently it had numerous performances and
two commercial recordings. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Bunyan_(operetta)
Johnny Inkslinger was the head clerk in Paul Bunyan's camp. He invented bookkeeping about the same time
that Paul invented logging. He kept
track of everything down to the last bean.
He used a pen (his own invention) connected to a barrel by a hose. In one week he saved twelve barrels of ink by
not crossing his t’s or dotting his i’s. https://www.paulbunyantrail.com/tall-tale/page-5/
Johnny
Inkslinger : deacon seat tales of Paul Bunyan's industrious
camp clerk at his Sawdust River camp in Wisconsin Get this from a library near you. http://www.worldcat.org/title/johnny-inkslinger-deacon-seat-tales-of-paul-bunyans-industrious-camp-clerk-at-his-sawdust-river-camp-in-wisconsin/oclc/213413261
http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com Issue 1938
August 21, 2018
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