Hell on Earth is actually a small
town in Michigan
where anyone can be mayor for a day. Located
near the college town of Ann Arbor in southeast Michigan, Hell is a fairly
average township with an odd name, a name it has held since 1841. There are a number of theories as to how the
town received its name. The most likely
(but least fun) explanation is that it came from a pair of visiting Germans who
described the town as “so schön hell,” (“so beautifully bright”) in the
1830’s. Other theories concern town
founder George Reeves, who, when asked for an opinion on naming the new town,
supposedly replied “I don’t know, you can name it Hell for all I care.” Another theory states that Reeves, who owned
a general store and grist mill, was known to pay farmhands in whiskey,
prompting their wives complain that their husbands had “gone to Hell again,”
when they failed to turn up for supper.
Finally, some believe that the town was simply named for the swampy,
mosquito-ridden conditions that early settlers in the area first encountered
prior to the town’s founding. Visit
during winter to see “Hell freeze over,” or you may have the chance to
jocularly tell someone to “go to Hell” in the course of giving directions. For the price of $100, a visitor can become
the “Mayor of Hell” for one day, receiving a key to the city and the
opportunity to be ignominiously impeached at the end of the day. See the
town’s official website for details. https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/hell-michigan See also https://www.gotohellmi.com/
In the 1950's and 1980's, Saturday morning
were spent watching programs on your black and white television, and that would
be your earliest memory of Jimmy Nelson.
He and his puppets, Danny O'Day and Farfel
the dog, made the jingle--"N-E-S-T-L-E-S, NESTLES MAKES THE VERY
BEST" . . . and Farfel would sing .
. . "Chawwclate!" Read more
and see pictures at http://www.leejaynelson.com/tributepage.html See also http://americanhistory.si.edu/collections/search/object/nmah_662701
"The Dog" is the
twenty-first episode of Seinfeld. The
episode was the fourth episode of the show's third season. It aired on October 9, 1991. Jerry is on a plane back
home when the drunk man next to him falls sick and asks Jerry to take care of
his dog while he recovers. He promises
to call him and take the dog back when he comes to New York. The dog "Farfel"
(although it can frequently be heard barking loudly, the dog is never seen)
turns out to be very disobedient and Jerry can't go out anywhere. https://worldhistoryproject.org/1991/10/9/the-dog-season-3-episode-4-of-seinfeld-premiers
Farfel is a
tiny, pellet-shaped egg noodle with ingredients similar to German spaetzle
or Hungarian nokedli. Farfel was once a popular side dish in Jewish
Ashkenazi cuisine and was served simply seasoned alongside meat or
poultry. The word farfel is
Yiddish. Farfel is sometimes called egg
barley, though it contains no barley, and doesn't much look like it,
either. You can find commercially
prepared, ready to cook farfel in the kosher section of many
supermarkets. You will see the toasted
egg barley available as well. Look for
Manischewitz Premium Enriched Egg Noodles Barley Shape and for Manischewitz
Toasted Barley Shape Egg Noodles. To
further confuse matters, most folks nowadays are more familiar with matzo
farfel, small bits of broken matzo used in Passover recipes. Matzo farfel likely gets its name more from
its size and shape, rather than its culinary qualities, for while it's small
(though not as small as "real" farfel), it in no way behaves like an
egg noodle in recipes. https://www.thespruceeats.com/what-is-farfel-2121591
Peak Bloom April 3-6, 2019 for cherry
blossoms in Washington, DC The peak bloom date is defined as the
day when 70% of the Yoshino Cherry (Prunus x yedoensis) blossoms are open. Peak bloom varies annually depending on
weather conditions. The most likely time
to reach peak bloom is between the last week of March and the first week of
April. Extraordinary warm or cool
temperatures have resulted in peak bloom as early as March 15 (1990) and as
late as April 18 (1958). The Yoshino
trees typically bloom for a period of several days. The length of the blooming period depends on
weather conditions. Cool, calm weather
can extend the length of the bloom, and a rainy, windy day can bring an abrupt
end to the ephemeral blossoms. A late
frost can prevent the trees from blooming at all. Read more and see graphics at https://www.nps.gov/subjects/cherryblossom/bloom-watch.htm
The Strait
of Sicily (also known
as Sicilian Strait, Sicilian Channel, Channel
of Sicily, Sicilian Narrows and Pantelleria
Channel is the strait between Sicily and Tunisia. The strait is about 145
kilometres (90 mi) wide and divides the Tyrrhenian Sea and the western Mediterranean Sea, from the eastern
Mediterranean Sea. The maximum depth is
316 meters (1,037 ft). Deep currents in the strait flow from east to
west, and the current nearer the surface travels from west to east. This unusual water flow is of interest
to oceanographers. There are regular ferries between Sicily and
Tunis across the Strait of Sicily. The
island of Pantelleria lies
in the middle of the strait. See map at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strait_of_Sicily
While people generally consider the
island of Sicily, just off the coast of the Italian Peninsula, to be European,
it is in fact a part of the African plate. The African
plate itself contains large pieces of the Mediterranean Sea as well as the
Atlantic Ocean, and Sicily forms the boundary of Africa’s Mediterranean sea
plate. The African plate is a large
tectonic plate, one of the many that cover the surface of the Earth. Tectonic plates float on top of the hot
liquid magma of the Earth’s mantle like chunks of ice on a lake. The African plate makes up a large part of
the Earth’s crust, and includes not only the continent of Africa, but also
large amounts of the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. The African plate itself seems to be
splitting apart. The East African Rift
valley runs from Ethiopia southward, creating some of Africa’s largest lakes,
such as Lake Tanganyika. This rift is a
result of the eastern area of Africa diverging from the western area. Geologists debate whether this means that
Africa is in fact composed of two plates, or if the African plate itself is
splitting into two pieces. Chris
Burke https://sciencing.com/african-plate-8667337.html
One of America's most respected and enduring poets,
W.S. Merwin, has died. Merwin's poetry is known for its mystery and
wonder, and he was twice named the U.S. poet laureate. He also won a National Book Award and two
Pulitzer Prizes. Merwin died March 15,
2019 at his home in Hawaii. He was 91
years old. Merwin wrote a lot and for a
long time. As a 5-year-old in New
Jersey, he wrote hymns for the Presbyterian church where his father was a
minister. Merwin found inspiration in
his conservation work and in his Maui home.
He wrote the poem "Place" about his time there: "On the last day of the world I would want to plant a tree what for
not for the fruit the tree that
bears the fruit is not the one that was
planted I want the tree that stands in the earth for the first time with the sun already going down and the water
touching its roots in the earth
full of the dead and the clouds
passing one by one over its leaves" Merwin's Maui
home, where he raised more than 2,000 trees, will all be set aside as part of
the Merwin Conservancy. Noah Adams https://www.npr.org/2019/03/15/509122300/poet-w-s-merwin-who-was-inspired-by-conservation-dies-at-91
Vessel (alternately called Hudson
Yards Staircase) is a public structure and landmark that was built as
part of the Hudson Yards
Redevelopment Project in Manhattan, New York City. Construction started in April 2017. The structure topped out in December 2017 and opened on
March 15, 2019. The elaborate honeycomb-like structure rises 16 stories and
consists of 154 flights of stairs, 2,500 steps, and 80
landings that visitors would be able to climb. Designed by the British designer Thomas Heatherwick, Vessel is
the main feature of the 5-acre (2.0 ha) Hudson Yards Public Square. The structure
also has ramps and elevators to make it compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990.
Stephen
Ross, the CEO of Hudson
Yards' developer Related
Companies, said
that The Staircase's unusual shape
was intended to make the structure stand out like a "12-month Christmas
tree." The copper-clad steps, arranged like a jungle gym and modeled after Indian stepwells, would be able to hold up to 1,000
people at a time. Heatherwick said that he intends for visitors to climb
and explore the structure as if it were an actual jungle gym. At the top
of the structure, visitors could have views of the Hudson River coastline. See
graphics and technical details at
Marjorie Weinman
Sharmat (November 12, 1928–March
12, 2019) was an American children's writer. She has written more than
130 books for children and teens and her books have been translated into
several languages. They have won awards
including Book of the Year by the Library of Congress or have become selections
by the Literary Guild. Perhaps Sharmat's most popular work features
the child detective Nate the Great. He was inspired by and named after her father,
who lived to see the first Nate book published. Sharmat's husband
Mitchell Sharmat expanded Nate's storyline by creating Olivia Sharp, his cousin
and fellow detective. Husband and wife
wrote four Olivia Sharp books published 1989 to 1991. During the 1990s, their son Craig Sharmat (then in his thirties)
wrote three Nate books with his mother. In
the mid-1980s Sharmat wrote three books published in 1984 and 1985 under the
pseudonym Wendy Andrews. Sharmat also wrote the Sorority
Sisters series, eight short novels published in 1986 and
1987, romantic fiction with
a sense of humor. They are set in a
California public high school. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marjorie_W._Sharmat
Irish Soda Bread Easy to make Shaggy to look
at Good to eat
A THOUGHT FOR TODAY
Smaller than a breadbox,
bigger than a TV remote, the average book fits into the human hand with a
seductive nestling, a kiss of texture, whether of cover cloth, glazed jacket,
or flexible paperback. - John Updike, writer (18 Mar 1932-2009)
http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com Issue 2064
March 18, 2019
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