Often “systematic” and “systematically” are used metaphorically to imply that something is done so consistently that it almost seems there must be a system behind it.  If you need a synonym for “consistent,” the word you need is “systematic.”  “Systemic” is a much rarer scientific and technical term referring to parts of a body or system.  It is frequently used in medicine and biology.  A systemic disease affects many parts of the body.  A systemic herbicide may be sprayed on the leaves of a weed, but it spreads down to its roots to kill the whole plant.  A systemic problem in banking affects many parts of the banking system.  If you’re talking about how something is done according to a system, the word you want is “systematic.”  If you’re talking about something happening to or inside of a system, the word you want is “systemic.”  https://brians.wsu.edu/2016/05/31/systematic-systemic/

Coltan by Kathy Feick   Coltan is short for columbite-tantalite, a dull metallic ore.  When refined, coltan becomes a heat resistant powder, metallic tantalum, which has unique properties for storing electrical  charge.  Coltan occurs in granitic pegmatites, pockets where the deep seated molten rock crystallized last. Pegmatites contain many rare metals, as well as enormous crystals of some common minerals.  Coltan is used in many electronics today around the world due to its unique electrical properties.  The two main products include cell phones and laptops, though it is found in other electronics as well.  Approximately 80% of the world’s supply of Coltan is found in the Democratic Republic of Congo.  Coltan is mined by hand in the Congo.  Their methods are very similar to how gold was mined in California during the 1800s.  Groups of men dig basins in streams by scraping off the surface mud to get the Coltan below.  Then they “sloth” the water around in large tubs, allowing the Coltan ore to settle to the bottom due to its heavy weight.  https://uwaterloo.ca/earth-sciences-museum/resources/detailed-rocks-and-minerals-articles/coltan

“Right as rain” is a popular idiom meaning “absolutely fine or perfect; in perfectly functioning order” (“We’ll pop a new battery in your robot and it’ll be right as rain”) or, applied to a person, “in fine health” (“Two months after the robot attacked him, Bob was right as rain again”).  As an adverb, “right as rain” means “with no problems; smoothly” (“We’ll pull through right as rain,” 1908).  “Right as rain” first popped up in print in the late 19th century (“If only this infernal Fitzpatrick girl would have stayed with her cads in Dublin everything would have been as right as rain,” 1894), but other “right as” idioms had already been widespread for several hundred years in English.  “Right as a book,” “right as nails,” “right as a trivet,” “right as a line” and “right as a gun” (as well as my favorite, the weirdly recursive “right as my leg”) were all popular at various times beginning in the 15th century.  In most cases, the item referenced was something straight (a nail, a line) or especially solid (a trivet).  None of the phrases were meant to be literal comparisons, however, and the only apparent logic behind “right as rain” is that rain usually falls in a straight line.  But the key to the enduring popularity of “right as rain” is clearly its monosyllabic alliteration.  (By the way, I just realized, while trying to type it, that the phrase “monosyllabic alliteration” is about as far from monosyllabic alliteration as you can get.)  And now for something truly strange.  I was searching the Historical Thesaurus of the Oxford English Dictionary for earlier synonyms of “right as rain,” and I came across the breathtakingly bizarre phrase “all (or everything) is gas and gaiters,” meaning “everything is fine” (as well as “all gas and gaiters,” used to mean “pompous”).  “Gaiters” are, in case you were wondering, cloth or leather coverings for the lower leg.  http://www.word-detective.com/2011/08/right-as-rain/

In December of 1918, the Vermilion (Ohio) Village Board of Education appointed a library board of trustees.  The newly appointed trustees immediately began putting aside monies toward a building fund.  By 1934, trustees felt they had sufficient funds to begin construction of a building.  Actual construction began in January 1935 on 691 Grand Street in downtown Vermilion.  The library resided at that location until 1958.  Until 1998, that building was home to the Vermilion Police Station.  Today, it is:  The Old Vermilion Jailhouse Bed and Breakfast, 691 Grand St, Vermilion, OH 44089  440-963-5245  info@jailbed.com  http://www.jailbed.com/history

ACTORS AS AUTHORS 

William Shatner  He has written a series of books chronicling his experiences playing Captain Kirk and being a part of Star Trek, and has co-written several novels set in the Star Trek universe.  He has also written a series of science fiction novels called TekWar that were adapted for television.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Shatner 

Jeff Daniels  "One of the first [songs] I wrote was, 'If William Shatner Can, I Can Too,'" Daniels says.  "It comes down to risking failure.  Music is something I can do without waiting for someone in New York or L.A. to decide they want me to be an actor again."  Daniels, who founded the Purple Rose Theatre Company in his hometown of Chelsea, Michigan in 1991, had only ever used music as a tool to become a better writer.  Surrounded by playwrights as he scoured New York for acting opportunities, the guitar was only ever meant to keep him sane.  The Purple Rose Theatre Company is thriving and Daniels has a whole new life, with its own soundtrack.  With more than six records, Daniels says performing live has become second-nature. https://www.metrotimes.com/detroit/jeff-daniels-the-actor-makes-way-for-jeff-daniels-the-musician/Content?oid=7298619 

Steve Martin  In 1993, Martin wrote his first full-length play, Picasso at the Lapin Agile.  The first reading of the play took place in Beverly Hills, California, at Steve Martin's home, with Tom Hanks reading the role of Pablo Picasso and Chris Sarandon reading the role of Albert Einstein.  Following this, the play opened at the Steppenwolf Theatre Company in Chicago, Illinois, and played from October 1993 to May 1994, then went on to run successfully in Los Angeles, New York City, and several other US cities.  Throughout the 1990s, Martin wrote various pieces for The New Yorker.  In 2002, he adapted the Carl Sternheim play The Underpants, which ran Off Broadway at Classic Stage Company, and in 2008 co-wrote and produced Traitor, starring Don Cheadle.  He has also written the novellas Shopgirl (2000) and The Pleasure of My Company (2003), both more wry in tone than raucous.  A story of a 28-year-old woman behind the glove counter at the Saks Fifth Avenue department store in Beverly Hills, Shopgirl was made into a film starring Martin and Claire Danes. The film premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in September 2005 and was featured at the Chicago International Film Festival and the Austin Film Festival before going into limited release in the US.  In 2007, he published a memoir, Born Standing Up, which Time magazine named as one of the Top 10 Nonfiction Books of 2007, ranking it at No. 6, and praising it as "a funny, moving, surprisingly frank memoir."  In 2010, he published the novel An Object of Beauty.  Martin's play Meteor Shower opened at San Diego's Old Globe Theatre in August 2016, and went on to Connecticut's Long Wharf Theatre later the same year.  The play opened on Broadway at the Booth Theater on November 29, 2017.  Martin wrote the story for the Disney movie Magic Camp, which will be released in 2019.  Beginning in 2019, Martin has collaborated with cartoonist Harry Bliss as a writer for the syndicated comic panel Bliss.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Martin  See also In Shatner’s Shoes by Michael Schulman at https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2014/03/24/in-shatners-shoes

gnomon (plural gnomons)  noun  An object such as a pillar or a rod that is used to tell time by the shadow it casts when the sun shines on it, especially the pointer on a sundial. [from mid 16th c.] quotations ▼  An object such as a pillar used by an observer to calculate the meridian altitude of the sun (that is, the altitude of the sun when it reaches the observer's meridian), for the purpose of determining the observer's latitude.  quotations ▼ The index of the hour circle of a globe.

(geometry)  A plane figure formed by removing a parallelogram from a corner of a larger parallelogram.  quotations ▼ (mathematics, by extension)   A number representing the increment between two figurate numbers (“numbers equal to the numbers of dots in geometric figures formed of dots”).  Borrowed from French gnomon, or directly from its etymon Latin gnomon, from Ancient Greek γνώμων (gnṓmōn, “discerner, interpreter; carpenter’s square; gnomon of a sundial; (geometry) gnomon”) (or directly from the Greek word), from γιγνώσκω (gignṓskō, “to be aware of; to perceive; to know”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *ǵneh₃- (“to know”); the word is thus related to know.  See graphics at https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/gnomon#English

Dividing by half is the same as multiplying by two.  Dividing in half is to divide number or objects into two equal parts.

Can you pass a basic English test from 1950? 

https://triviapop.com/quiz/can-you-pass-a-basic-english-test-from-1950/?utm_source=triviapop-mc&utm_medium=social&&utm_campaign=25-question-english-test&utm_content=trigger-06072019&utm_term=5-questions  Thank you, Muse reader!

http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com  Issue 2113  June 19, 2019