Friday, April 5, 2019


The Great Flood of 1913 occurred between March 23 and March 26, after major rivers in the central and eastern United States flooded from runoff and several days of heavy rain.  Related deaths and damage in the United States were widespread and extensive.  Flood-related deaths in OhioIndiana, and eleven other states are estimated at approximately 650.  Official death toll range for Ohio falls between 422 and 470.  Flood-related death estimates in Indiana range from 100 to 200.  More than a quarter million people were left homeless.  The death toll from the flood of 1913 places it second to the Johnstown Flood of 1889 as one of the deadliest floods in the United States.  The flood remains Ohio's largest weather disaster.  In the Midwest damage estimates exceeded a third of a billion dollars.  Damage from the Great Dayton Flood at Dayton, Ohio, exceeded $73 million.  Indiana’s damages were estimated at $25 million (in 1913 dollars).  Further south, along the Mississippi River, damages exceeded $200 million.  Devastation from the flood of 1913 and later floods along the Mississippi River eventually changed the country's management of its waterways and increased federal support for comprehensive flood prevention and funding for flood control projects.  The Ohio Conservancy Act, which was signed by the governor of Ohio in 1914, became a model for other states to follow.  The act allowed for the establishment of conservancy districts with the authority to implement flood control projects.   Following the flood of 1913, citizens and government officials took a greater interest in comprehensive flood prevention, managing flood-prone areas, and funding for flood control projects that would limit damage and save lives.   Congress previously contended that floods were local events and flood control was the responsibility of state and local government.  The Flood Control Act of 1917 was the first of several pieces of legislation that eventually led to the creation of the National Flood Insurance Program of 1968, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) in 1979, and the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act of 1988.  Federal funding for national flood control projects began slowly in 1917, with Congress authorizing funding for flood control studies in the Mississippi River as part of House Document 308.  By 1925 it had been expanded to include other major rivers in the United States.  See timeline and graphics at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Flood_of_1913

Big Pharma may refer to:  Pharmaceutical industry  Pharmaceutical lobby  Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA), a trade group  Big Pharma (book), a 2006 book by British journalist Jacky Law  Big Pharma (video game), a simulation game  or Big Pharma (artist), an electronic music artist  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Pharma

Scrapple, also known by the Pennsylvania Dutch name Pannhaas or "pan rabbit", is traditionally a mush of pork scraps and trimmings combined with cornmeal and wheat flour, often buckwheat flour, and spices.  The mush is formed into a semi-solid congealed loaf, and slices of the scrapple are then pan-fried before serving.  Scraps of meat left over from butchering, not used or sold elsewhere, were made into scrapple to avoid waste.  Scrapple is best known as an American food of the Mid-Atlantic states (DelawareMarylandNew JerseyPennsylvania, and Virginia).  Scrapple and panhaas are commonly considered an ethnic food of the Pennsylvania Dutch, including the Mennonites and Amish.  Scrapple is found in supermarkets throughout the region in both fresh and frozen refrigerated cases.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scrapple

Goetta is a meat-and-grain sausage or mush of German inspiration that is popular in the greater Cincinnati area.  It is primarily composed of ground meat (pork, or pork and beef), pin-head oats and spices.  It was originally a dish meant to stretch out servings of meat over several meals to conserve money, and is a similar dish to scrapple and livermush, both also developed by German immigrants.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goetta

Hoity-toity  Pretentiously self-important, haughty or pompous.  Many dictionaries also give a second meaning, that is, given to frivolity, silliness or riotousness.  That was the original meaning of this term, but has now almost completely died out.  Our view of what is hoity-toity now is defined by the 'looking down the nose' manner adopted by characters like Lady Bracknell, as performed by Dame Edith Evans, in the stage and film versions of Oscar Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest.  The frivolousness/riotousness meaning was first recorded in Sir Roger L'Estrange's 1668 translation of The visions of Don Francisco de Quevedo Villegas:  "The Widows I observ'd . . .  Chanting and Jigging to every Tune they heard, and all upon the Hoyty-Toyty, like mad Wenches of Fifteen."  The later meaning isn't seen until around mid to late 18th century and is recorded in O'Keefe's Fontainebleau in 1784:  "My mother . . . was a fine lady, all upon the hoity-toities, and so, good for nothing."  As with many reduplicated phrases, one word carries an existing meaning and the other is present for emphasis.  In this case the earlier meaning of the term came from the word hoit.  This is a now defunct verb meaning to indulge in riotous, noisy mirth.  That in turn was formed from hoyden--a boorish clown or rude boisterous girl.  https://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/hoity-toity.html

Saturday, April 13, 2019  Cherry Blossom Walk   9:30 a.m   Nashville Cherry Blossom Festival    9:30 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.  The 11th Annual Nashville Cherry Blossom Festival

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — The work to move 10 cherry trees from the end of Broadway to 1st Avenue North was completed April 3, 2019.  The trees were moved to make room for a stage to be built for the NFL Draft.  Initially, 21 trees were scheduled to be removed but public outcry prompted city officials to come up with a new plan.  Thousands of people signed a petition over the weekend, demanding the trees not be uprooted.  Once the NFL draft stage is deconstructed, new cherry blossoms will be planted in the vacant spots closest to the river.  As an act of good faith, around 200 additional cherry trees will be planted in the city by the NFL and the Nashville Convention and Visitors Corp.  Alexandra Koehn   https://www.newschannel5.com/news/crews-begin-removing-cherry-blossoms-from-downtown-nashville

As Nashville booms, Davidson County's tree canopy continues to shrink.  But now a new campaign supported by Mayor David Briley with city dollars and an assortment of nonprofits is looking to reverse that trend by hitting a lofty goal:  plant 500,000 trees by 2050.  That's the focus of Root Nashville, a new public-private effort that is getting an early jolt via $1.5 million in private money donated by the Atticus Trust, a foundation led by philanthropist Martin Brown Sr., formerly of the Brown-Forman Corporation.  The campaign, announced October 3, 2018, will also include $2 million from Metro annually earmarked for the city's urban forest program.  Joey Garrison   https://www.tennessean.com/story/news/2018/10/03/root-nashville-500-000-new-trees-2050/1508906002/

DAN ROBBINS (1925-2019)  Dan Robbins, an artist whose idea for paint-by-number sets sparked a hobby craze and, decades later, inspired an exhibition at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History, died April 1, 2019 in ProMedica Ebeid Hospice, Sylvania, Ohio.  Mr. Robbins and his wife, Estelle, lived the last four years at Oakleaf Village in Sylvania Township after a decade in West Bloomfield, Mich.  A Detroit native, he formerly lived in the Chicago area and West Toledo.  His grounding in art theory, history, and technique at Detroit’s esteemed Cass Technical High School led to wartime duty in the Army Corps of Engineer’s maps division.  Mark Zaborney  https://www.toledoblade.com/news/deaths/2019/04/05/toledo-blade-obituaries-dan-robbins-creator-paint-by-numbers/stories/20190404153

http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com  Issue 2074  April 5, 2019

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