Diospyros kaki, also known as the persimmon or the Oriental persimmon, is the most widely cultivated species of the genus Diospyros.  The persimmon is a sweet, slightly tangy fruit with a soft to occasionally fibrous texture.  Although its first botanical description was not published until 1780, D. kaki is among the oldest cultivated plants, having been in use in China for more than 2000 years.  In some rural Chinese communities, the fruit is seen as having a great mystical power that can be harnessed to cure headaches, back pains and foot ache.  This species, native to China, is deciduous, with broad, stiff leaves.  Cultivation extended first to other parts of East Asia, including Japan, where it is very popular.  It was later introduced to California and southern Europe in the 19th century and later to Brazil in the 1890s. 

  

Hapless is another of those famous unpaired negatives, like gormless, ruthless, and feckless.  At one time, you could indeed have had some hap.  It was a state of luck or fortune, in particular some chance occurrence that might befall you, for good or ill, though—like luck and fortune—it tended to accentuate the positive.  It comes from a Scandinavian source, was first recorded in the Middle English period, around 1200, but survived in mainstream use into the nineteenth century—it was still well enough known to appear in the definitions of some words in the first edition of the Oxford English Dictionary around the end of that century.  If you were hapless, you lacked the chance to gain good fortune and so were unfortunate or unlucky.  Though hap itself is now archaic, some very familiar words come from it, including happy; this originally referred to a state of good fortune, from which today’s meaning evolved in the sixteenth century.  The verb happen evolved out of hap, and can still have a strong sense of something coming about by chance (“We happened to meet in the supermarket”).  Haphazard once meant mere chance or a lack of design, from which comes our modern idea of an absence of organisation.  Other compounds we still use today are perhaps and mishap (which was once a state of misfortune, ill chance, or bad luck).  And mayhap, perhaps or possibly, survives in dialect.  There has never been a direct opposite—no hapful—though there have been at various times a number of other compounds:  by hap or haply (by chance or accident), and goodhap (good fortune).  http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-hap3.htm



Turkey tips from Sara Moulton:  Let the bird rest 30-60 minutes after it is done roasting.  Remove the wishbone before carving.  If the meat cools, add a little hot broth on slices before serving.  Meet Sara, a protégée of Julia Child, at https://saramoulton.com/about/



fatberg (plural fatbergs)  noun  A large accumulation of fat and discarded toiletries which clogs sewers.   [From late 2000s] quotations ▼  https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/fatberg#English

Endorphins are chemicals produced naturally by the nervous system to cope with pain or stress.  They are often called "feel-good" chemicals because they can act as a pain reliever and happiness booster. 

Endorphins are primarily made in the hypothalamus and pituitary glands, though they may come from other parts of the body as well.  The well-known "runner's high" that is felt after lengthy, vigorous exercise is due to an increase in endorphin levels.  Jennifer Berry  Read more at https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/320839.php



Balusters are those vertical, vase-like posts or legs on railings that can be made of wood, iron, stone, or other materials.  The balustrade consists of several balusters spaced evenly and connected together to form a decorative railing supported by baluster posts.  In other words, a baluster is a single post, balusters are several of those posts, and a balustrade is all of those posts joined together as a unit.  A balustrade is a name for that railing on a balcony, porch or terrace.  It can be indoors or outdoors.  The word comes from the French word balustre; from the Italian word balaustro and from balaustra, wild pomegranate flower; from Latin balaustium from Greek balaustion; from its shape.  From the Renaissance period onward, classical stone balustrades were popular, and feature balusters that were short stems with an abacus (square slab), a base, and either one or two bulbs with rings, along with concave (cavetto) and convex (ovolo) moldings in between.  The young and lovely Juliet, of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, stood on a balcony.  But what kept her from falling off that balcony was a balustrade.  Lisa Hallett Taylor  https://www.thespruce.com/difference-between-baluster-and-balustrade-2736935



Back-to-back Palindrome Days in the m-dd-yy format this week are not that rare.  Every year since 2011 have had 10 consecutive Palindrome Days.  In 2011, they occurred from January 10, 2011 (1-10-11) to January 19, 2011 (1-19-11).  In 2012, the same sequence of dates occurred in February. In 2017, it happened in July, in 2018 in August and in 2019 it will happen in September.  Notice a pattern here?  As long as you write your date in the m-dd-yy format, every century has 9 years with 10 Palindrome Days in a row.  These years are always in the second decade of the century.  For example, every year between 2011-2019, 2111-2119, and 2211-2219 will have 10 consecutive Palindrome Days.  This is true for previous centuries as well.  Dan Evon 

https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/palindrome-week/



A rare full moon, known as a "micro moon" on Friday, September 13th, 2019.  Our satellite will be at the furthest point in its orbit around the Earth.  As a result, the moon will appear both smaller and dimmer in the night sky when viewed from Earth.  Compared to a "super moon"--when a full moon coincides with its closest point in its orbit of Earth--the micro moon will appear 14 per cent smaller and 30 per cent dimmer.  It is the first time in 13 years that a full moon has appeared on Friday the 13th, and it won't happen again until May 2033--in 13 years time.  Anthony Cuthbertson 

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/friday-13-moon-tonight-micro-super-bright-small-how-to-see-a9103081.html



Anne Rivers Siddons died September 11, 2019 at the age of 83 in Charleston, South Carolina.  Siddons was the bestselling author of novels including 1988’s “Peachtree Road,” the Atlanta-based story that Pat Conroy called “the Southern novel for our generation.”  Siddons focused on the South throughout her career, writing 19 novels set in and around her Georgia hometown.  Her debut novel, 1976’s “Heartbreak Hotel,” was adapted into the 1989 feature film, “Heart of Dixie.” Siddons followed it with the 1978 horror novel, “The House Next Door,” which Stephen King called one of the best horror novels of the 20^th century.  Among her novels that followed were “Homeplace” (1987), “Sweetwater Creek” (2005), and her most recent, “The Girls of August” (2014). Attending Auburn University in the 1950s, Siddons was a journalist for her college newspaper, where she was fired for writing columns in favor of integration--a story she’d later work into her debut novel.  But before she became a novelist, she wrote for Atlanta magazine.  An editor at publishing giant Doubleday saw one of her articles for the magazine and was so impressed that he wrote her a letter soliciting a manuscript for possible publication.  The stunned Siddons sent him a collection of essays, and they were published as her first book--and only full-length nonfiction work--1975’s “John Chancellor Always Makes Me Cry.”  Linnea Crowther    http://www.legacy.com/news/celebrity-deaths/notable-deaths/article/anne-rivers-siddons-1936-2019-bestselling-author-of



A THOUGHT FOR TODAY  To have and not to give is often worse than to steal. - Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach, writer (13 Sep 1830-1916)



http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com  Issue 2153  September 13, 2019