A pedestrian crossing (primarily British English) or crosswalk (American English) is a place designated for pedestrians to cross a road, street or avenue.  Pelican crosswalks are designed to keep pedestrians together where they can be seen by motorists, and where they can cross most safely across the flow of vehicular traffic.  In Europe, the Zebra crossing is a common kind of crossing facility.  The wording pedestrian crossing is used in some international treaties on road traffic and road signs, such as the Vienna Convention on Road Traffic and the Vienna Convention on Road Signs and Signals.  Marked pedestrian crossings are often found at intersections, but may also be at other points on busy roads that would otherwise be too unsafe to cross without assistance due to vehicle numbers, speed or road widths.  They are also commonly installed where large numbers of pedestrians are attempting to cross (such as in shopping areas) or where vulnerable road users (such as school children) regularly cross.  Rules govern usage of the pedestrian crossings to ensure safety; for example, in some areas, the pedestrian must be more than halfway across the crosswalk before the driver proceeds.  Signalised pedestrian crossings clearly separate when each type of traffic (pedestrians or road vehicles) can use the crossing.  Unsignalised crossings generally assist pedestrians, and usually prioritise pedestrians, depending on the locality.  What appears to be just pedestrian crossings can also be created largely as a traffic calming technique, especially when combined with other features like pedestrian priority, refuge islands, or raised surfaces.  Pedestrian crossings already existed more than 2000 years ago, as can be seen in the ruins of Pompeii.  Blocks raised on the road allowed pedestrians to cross the street without having to step onto the road itself which doubled up as Pompeii's drainage and sewage disposal system.  The spaces between the blocks allowed horse-drawn carts to pass along the road.  See many graphics at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pedestrian_crossing



The year 2010 was the year of the famous Polish composer and pianist Frederic Chopin.  Chopin dominated Warsaw.  Chopin concerts, Chopin posters, Chopin benches, Chopin gadgets, Chopin murals.  Everything Chopin.  There were contests for young designers to create the most interesting ‘chopinities’ and to make classical music cool again.  Two girls, Klaudia and Helena, studying design at the Warsaw Academy of arts, designed the Chopin crosswalk.  It was received with delight by Warsaw and Varsovians alike, and (after many battles with the Ministry of Infrastructure of course . . . ) two such cross-walks were painted on one of Warsaw’s main streets, Emilii Plater.

https://www.spottedbylocals.com/warsaw/piano-cross-walk/



The Graphics Interchange Format (GIF) is a bitmap image format that was developed by a team at the online services provider CompuServe led by American computer scientist Steve Wilhite on June 15, 1987.  It has since come into widespread usage on the World Wide Web due to its wide support and portability between many applications and operating systems.  The format supports up to 8 bits per pixel for each image, allowing a single image to reference its own palette of up to 256 different colors chosen from the 24-bit RGB color space.  It also supports animations and allows a separate palette of up to 256 colors for each frame.  These palette limitations make GIF less suitable for reproducing color photographs and other images with color gradients, but it is well-suited for simpler images such as graphics or logos with solid areas of color.  See graphics at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GIF



A.Word.A.Day with Anu Garg  A bidet is, literally, a pony (from French).  An easel is, literally, an ass (from Dutch ezel).  Horses have served us for thousands of years, but today you’re more likely to own a four-wheeled 100-horsepower horseless carriage (also known as a car) than a four-legged 1-horsepower version (also known as a horse).  Given their long association with humans, horses continue to lurk around in our language.  If you are called Philip, you are, literally speaking, a horse lover, from Greek philo- (love) + hippos (horse).  A hippopotamus is, literally, a river horse, from Greek potamos (river).  A walrus is, literally, a horse whale, from Old Norse hrosshvalr (horse whale).  Hippocampus, a part of the brain, is named so because its cross-section looks like a sea-horse, from Greek kampos (sea monster).
hippodrome  (HIP-uh-drohm)  noun:  A stadium for horse races, chariot races, horse shows, etc.  verb tr:  To manipulate or prearrange the outcome of a contest.  From Greek hippos (horse) + dromos (running).  Ultimately from the Indo-European root ekwo- (horse), which also gave us equestrian and equitant.  Earliest documented use:  1549.



When in Rome, there’s one pasta dish that you MUST try.  It’s a bucket list food!  It’s heaven on a plate.  It’s creamy, unforgettable bliss!  It’s Cacio e Pepe!  Cacio e Pepe is seriously so . . . damn . . . good that it has been prepared for centuries in Rome, Italy, where it was originally created.  Cacio e Pepe is perfectly delicious in its incredible simplicity:  Pasta, Pecorino Romano cheese, and freshly cracked black pepper . . . period.  The name literally means ‘cheese and pepper”.  Just a few high-quality ingredients and technique . . . that’s what Cacio e Pepe is all about!  When preparing the dish, you use some of the hot water from the pasta pot that the pasta was cooking in.  The sauce ‘creams’ by the starch in the hot water working like a gentle glue that ultimately thickens up the recipe.  The cheese also melts from the hot pasta.  So it’s not really a sauce, but rather it’s a creamy, silky smooth cheese coating on the pasta noodles.  Add in the strong, earthy essence of freshly cracked black pepper, and a delicious contrast in flavors results.  If possible, crack some fresh black peppercorns in a pepper grinder or a coffee bean grinder.  You’ll love the fresh aroma added to the dish that’s almost intoxicating!  Link to other recipes from Roz, pasta chef and taster at https://www.italianbellavita.com/2018/06/cacio-e-pepe-a-classic-traditional-roman-pasta-dish/



In military speak, the fifth domain of warfare is cyberspace.  Unlike the others--land, air, sea and outer space--cyberspace is made by humans and can be altered by them, too.  NPR's Ari Shapiro talks with former U.S. counterterrorism coordinator Richard Clarke about his new book, The Fifth Domain, co-written with Robert Knake.  https://www.npr.org/2019/07/16/742386872/a-look-at-the-vulnerabilities-and-capabilities-of-american-cybersecurity



The original Mary Poppins (released in 1964, set in 1910 London) was entirely filmed at the Walt Disney Studios in Burbank, California.  Mary Poppins Returned was filmed at Shepperton Studios in Surrey, England.  The external shots were filmed around London in March 2017.  The film is a sequel to the original, but set a couple of decades later in the 1930s depression-era London.  Michael and Jane Banks are now grown up, with Michael struggling with a personal loss and is suffering some financial hardship.  Just in time Mary Poppins re-enters their lives to help them see the joy and wonder life still has to offer.  Number 17 Cherry Tree Lane has hardly changed at all and the Admiral still lives in the house next door and still likes to fire his cannon.  The films are based on P.L. Travers’ books and there were eight books in total means there is plenty of material to work from.  Some of the bike riding was filmed outside Buckingham Palace.  The external shots of Michael’s bank were the actual real Bank of England which is on Threadneedle Street in the centre of London.  The streets around the Bank of England were transformed back to the 1930s for filming and also Blossom Street and Fleur de Lis Street in East London were also used.  posted by C Clayton  https://britmovietours.com/mary-poppins/where-was-mary-poppins-filmed/



Justice John Paul Stevens was brought into the Great Hall of the Supreme Court building on July 22, 2019 to lie in repose, with his successor, Justice Elena Kagan, saying that his memory “will be a blessing in this court, which he served so well for so long.”  “It will be a blessing in the lives of all the people whom he personally touched,” Kagan added.  “And it will be a blessing in the wider world, which has been made far better for his efforts.”  He served on the court from his appointment by President Gerald Ford in 1975 to succeed Douglas until his retirement in 2010 under President Barack Obama.  Justice Stevens’ casket was taken up the steps of the Supreme Court building by a Supreme Court police force honor guard, accompanied by honorary pallbearers, as a retinue of some 80 former Stevens law clerks lined the steps.  Justice Stevens’ surviving daughters, Elizabeth Sesemann and Susan Mullen, led some 30 family members, with nearly every male member of the group, including grandchildren and young great-grandchildren, wearing bow ties in honor of the justice, who favored such neckwear.  Kagan, who succeeded Stevens, said the justice was proud to have taken the seat once filled by Justice Louis Brandeis.  And just as Stevens considered Brandeis a hero, she considers Stevens a hero.  After the ceremony, Stevens clerks took turns standing watch over the casket, along with members of the police honor guard.  Mark Walsh  https://www.scotusblog.com/2019/07/a-supreme-court-ceremony-for-justice-stevens-a-modest-and-humble-man/  In 2011, Stevens published a memoir entitled Five Chiefs: A Supreme Court Memoir, which detailed his legal career during the tenure of five of the Supreme Court's chief justices.  In 2014, Stevens published Six Amendments: How and Why We Should Change the Constitution, where he proposed that six amendments should be added to the U.S. Constitution to address political gerrymandering, anti-commandeering, campaign finance reform, capital punishment, gun violence, and sovereign immunity.  In 2019, at age 99 and shortly before his death, Stevens published The Making of a Justice: Reflections on My First 94 Years.   

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Paul_Stevens#Books



http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com  Issue 2128  July 24, 2019