Paper cutting or Scherenschnitte (literally, scissor cuts) started in Switzerland around the 16th century.  Unlike Chinese paper cutting, which goes back to the 6th century and usually depicts Chinese characters and zodiac animals, in Switzerland it’s more often about symmetry in design--whether the artwork depicts a geometrical design or Swiss pastoral scenes.  Chinese paper cutting is traditionally done on red paper, while in Switzerland black is the preferred choice.  Scherenschnitte really took off in Switzerland in the 19th century, under the two masters of the art--Johann Jakob Hauswirth (1809-1871) and Louis Saugy (1871-1953).  Most houses, restaurants, shops and hotels in Gstaad-Saanenland area display paper cut designs.  The Heritage Museum in Saanen (which traces the history of the area through costumes, tools, arts and crafts) has some elaborate, almost lace-like scherenschnitte works on display.  Modern day artists are going beyond the alpine village theme and exploring new designs--everything from the abstract and asymmetrical to fairy tales, current affairs and feminist themes.  https://deliciouslydirectionless.com/the-beautiful-art-of-paper-cutting-in/  This feature was commissioned by Mint Lounge and was published in their print issue January 9, 2016.  Read it here. 

Romansh is a Romance language spoken by 50-70,000 people in the Swiss canton of Grisons (Graubünden).  It is one of the four national languages of Switzerland and has semi-official status.  Romansh, which is also known as Rumantsch, Romansch or Romanche or Rhaeto-Romansch, is not in fact a single language but rather a cluster of closely-related dialects.  A standardised written form, known as Rumantsch Grischun (Graubünden Romansh) was created in 1982 by Heinrich Schmid, a linguist from Zurich, though it isn't particularly popular with speakers, who prefer to use their own dialects and often use German to communicate with speakers of different dialects.  Romansh first appeared in print in 1552 in a catechism by Jacob Bifrun called Christiauna fuorma, which he wrote in the Engadine dialect.  A Romansh translation of the New Testament was published in 1560.  See Romansh alphabet at https://www.omniglot.com/writing/romansh.htm

Peak Walk is a pedestrian suspension bridge linking two mountain peaks in the Swiss Alps.  It is situated in the Diablerets massif of the Bernese Alps in the canton of Vaud, and connects the peak of Scex Rouge with another peak.  On the other peak is the viewpoint of the Glacier 3000 company.  Scex Rouge is about 5 m (16 ft) higher than Glacier 3000's viewpoint.  Peak Walk is the world's first suspension bridge which connects two mountain peaks.  The bridge, which has been built by the firm Seiler AG (Steel and metal constructions) in Bönigen, is 107 m (351 ft) long, 0.8 m (2.6 ft) wide and 1.2 m (3.9 ft) high with a 15% slope.  It has four pieces of key supporting steel cables with a 120 tonne loading capacity.  Peak Walk is anchored by 20 pieces in the rock.  It was built as a tourist attraction in Europe, and it costs 1.8 million franc (about 1.2 million GBP).  Three hundred people could be accommodated at a time, although the number would be reduced to 150 to ensure greater comfort.  The designers took the extreme conditions into account, with winds of about 200 km/h (120 mph).  Mountains that can be seen from the bridge include Mont Blanc (the Alps' highest point), the Matterhorn, Mönch, Jungfrau and Eiger, and the bridge has a partial glass floor that afford views down through it.  In addition, the bridge became the world's second highest suspension bridge after the Titlis Cliff Walk, which is 3,000 m (9,800 ft) above sea level.  The thin air at high altitudes and poor weather hampered construction work, and summer storms delayed the transportation of construction materials.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peak_Walk

Farro-Lentil Soup  serves 8  Heidi Swanson, “Super Natural Every Day” https://www.mercurynews.com/2011/09/27/recipe-farro-lentil-soup/

Q.  What is the tallest building in the entire world?  A.  The library, because it has so many stories.

On the morning of September 1, 1859, amateur astronomer Richard Carrington ascended into the private observatory attached to his country estate outside of London.  After cranking open the dome’s shutter to reveal the clear blue sky, he pointed his brass telescope toward the sun and began to sketch a cluster of enormous dark spots that freckled its surface.  Suddenly, Carrington spotted what he described as “two patches of intensely bright and white light” erupting from the sunspots.  Five minutes later the fireballs vanished, but within hours their impact would be felt across the globe.  That night, telegraph communications around the world began to fail; there were reports of sparks showering from telegraph machines, shocking operators and setting papers ablaze.  All over the planet, colorful auroras illuminated the nighttime skies, glowing so brightly that birds began to chirp and laborers started their daily chores,  believing the sun had begun rising.  Some thought the end of the world was at hand.  The flare spewed electrified gas and subatomic particles toward Earth, and the resulting geomagnetic storm—dubbed the “Carrington Event”—was the largest on record to have struck the planet.  Christopher Klein  https://www.history.com/news/a-perfect-solar-superstorm-the-1859-carrington-event

The CARES Act that is now law is HR 748.  It was originally introduced under the name "Middle Class Health Benefits Tax Repeal Act of 2019.”  What the Senate did was take that piece of legislation and turn it into an 800+ page behemoth that is affecting all our lives.  The Senate also has another bill called the CARES Act, S. 3548.   You likely know where this is heading.   Folks understandably go to S. 3548 and then are quite confused.  Should you visit congress.gov, you will note S. 3548 is the third most popular bill as determined by views.  (There is a moral here about popularity.)  A search for the CARES Act has S. 3548 as the 17^th result and HR 748 as the 44^th.  Hence I contacted the Library of Congress asking that it put a reference somewhere obvious to direct folks to the proper bill.  Thought this seemed like a no-brainer request, but then I forgot I was talking with a government agency.  The initial response to my request was directions as to how to narrow my search so that only enacted laws come up.  My reply pointed out it was much easier to put a reference on the homepage than explain to 300+ million people how to use the site.  The library’s answer to this was to fill out the survey on congress.gov with how to fix the system.  So I did.  Here was the result:  Your answer is too long.  Please shorten it before submitting your comments.  So, I dashed off another e-mail to the library with a copy of the above and my full answer below along with a request it be forwarded to the proper party.  Also gave a very abbreviated answer to the survey.  If you feel so inclined, please contact the Library of Congress with a request to fix the system.  My solution was a spot for the library to highlight popular bills--not based on searches/views but on news.  Thank you, Muse reader!

Super Pink Moon is an astronomical event that occurs when the moon is closest to the Earth in its orbit, making it appear much larger and brighter than usual.  The Pink Moon gets its name from the emergence of the first wildflowers of spring.  The first of 33 slides depicts pink supermoon above the Salgo Castle in Somoskoujfalu, Hungary on April 7, 2020 at https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/in-photos-super-pink-moon/ss-BB12i4E5

http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com  Issue 2252  April 8, 2020