People have played games similar to modern soccer around the world since ancient times.  The oldest recorded soccer-like game is the Chinese game of tsu-chu, allegedly invented by the emperor Huang-Ti in 1697 BC.  Records from Huang-Ti's time describe a game played with a leather ball stuffed with animal hair and cork.  Two teams vied to kick it through goal posts.  The Japanese played a similar game called kemari in the same era.  A North African game from the seventh century B.C. was also evidently similar to soccer, though it was a ceremonial game played as part of a fertility rite.  The ancient Greeks participated in a game involving kicking and throwing a ball on a marked field.  It was called espiskyros.  The Romans later had similar games, probably adapted from the Greek.  One of the Roman games was called follis, and used a large light ball filled with hair.  In follis, the players tried to keep the ball in the air with their hands.  Another version was called harpastum.  In this rougher game, players tried to tackle the person with the ball.  Harpastum was popular among Roman soldiers, and it spread throughout Italy, and then across the Roman Empire.  The game was brought to England, and from there its history becomes more narrowly British.  Soccer is the world's most popular sport, and ball manufacturers are vying to create new sensations in soccer equipment.  However, the shape, size, and weight of the ball is defined by international rules, and in a traditional sport, there is not too much room for innovation.  https://www.encyclopedia.com/manufacturing/news-wires-white-papers-and-books/soccer-ball

Tuff is an igneous rock that forms from the products of an explosive volcanic eruption.  In these eruptions, the volcano blasts rock, ash, magma and other materials from its vent.  This ejecta travels through the air and falls back to Earth in the area surrounding the volcano.  If the ejected material is compacted and cemented into a rock, that rock will be called "tuff."  Hobart M. King  Read more and see beautiful graphics at https://geology.com/rocks/tuff.shtml

The verb “to ballyhoo,” meaning to promote with extravagant praise, appeared around 1911.  The origin of “ballyhoo” in these senses is not known with certainly, but there is no lack of theories.  Part of the problem is that there are actually several “ballyhoos” in English, and the relationships between them, if any, are very murky.  In addition to the “ballyhoo” discussed above, “ballyhoo” is old nautical slang for an inferior ship (probably taken from the Spanish “balahou,” small schooner), a name for a species of fish (more properly the “balao”), and the name of the mythical “ballyhoo bird,” supposedly sporting four wings and two heads.  None of those other “ballyhoos,” with the possible exception of the bird, exhibit any hint of the “loud ruckus” or “public excitement” senses of “ballyhoo” as commonly used today.  Fortunately, there is an explanation for the word that, while not proven, makes a lot of sense.  There is, in County Cork, Ireland, a town named “Ballyhooly” (“Baile Atha hUlla” in Irish), which was apparently, at some point in the past, famous for its street fights and rowdiness.  In the 19th century, “ballyhooly” was used as a euphemism for “hell,” especially in the sense of harsh treatment, chaos or confusion.  It seems entirely possible that a shortened form of “ballyhooley” came into more general use around the beginning of the 20th century with the “loud ruckus or fuss” meaning it has today.  http://www.word-detective.com/2010/06/ballyhoo/

Refried Beans with Cinnamon and Cloves by Lynne Rossetto Kasper and Sally Swift  You’d never guess you can create such lushness from opening three cans.  Cinnamon and cloves with beans make an uncommon blend, but one that turns the beans sweet and fragrant.  The beans make a sublime burrito.  Dip tortilla chips or stovetop-grilled whole wheat tortillas into them, and be sure to pass hot sauce and grated cheese at the table.  Cook to Cook:  Melting in a small amount of butter after mashing the beans brings this dish together.  Don’t skip this step.  Beans hold in the refrigerator 5 days; add liquid when reheating as needed.  https://www.splendidtable.org/recipes/refried-beans-with-cinnamon-and-clove  serves 4 to 6 as a main dish 

WESTTOWN SCHOOL  Established in 1799 by Philadelphia Quakers, the oldest continuously operating co-educational boarding school in the country,  600 acres located 25 miles west of Philadelphia, 11 miles north of Wilmington, Delaware, 120 miles northwest of Washington, DC, just outside West Chester, Pennsylvania.  14 acre lake with beach and boathouse, arboretum and natural forest, instructional organic farm, 62 faculty houses and apartments.  https://www.westtown.edu/page.cfm?p=513

WESTTOWN LAKE  The lake is 14.5 acres, expanded from the Orchard Pond in 1912.  One of its original functions was supplying the school with ice.  It is now used as an environmental study area, as well as for canoeing and social gatherings such as Autumn Day, Stone Soup Day and Lake Suppers.  https://www.westtown.edu/page.cfm?p=1413

Feedback to A.Word.A.Day with Anu Garg re handshakes

From:  Kristine Danowski  I favor a slight bow, a gentle tilt of the head as an acknowledgement.  From:  Patricia Posito  I’ve been using the Vulcan salute and Zoltan Kodaly’s five notes from Close Encounters of the Third Kind as greetings for decades.  From:  Marjorie Hilton  Mr. Spock’s long life and prosper is wonderful.  From:  Carol Lachman  How about words like “Hello”?  Source:  AWAD Issue 932 

The five-tone phrase from Close Encounters of the Third Kind spells out directly:  (Pinkish-red) – D  Up a full tone.  (Orange) – E  Down a major third.  (Purple) - C  Down an octave.  (Yellow) - C (an octave lower)  Up a perfect fifth.  White) – G  Composer John Williams began working on the five-tone sequence in solfege scale a year before the shooting had kicked off.  Even though Williams wanted a seven-note phrase, Spielberg considered it to be too long a simple greeting.  The composer initially sought the help of a mathematician to calculate the number of five-note combinations they could make from a 12-note chromatic scale, and when the number turned out to be somewhere around 134,000 combinations, Williams and Spielberg opted to work with only about 350 variations they’d had already come up with.  They eventually decided on the phrase by listening to them one at a time.  https://musictales.club/article/five-tones-spielbergs-alien-language

The term CAPTCHA (for Completely Automated Public Turing Test To Tell Computers and Humans Apart) was coined in 2000 by Luis von Ahn, Manuel Blum, Nicholas Hopper and John Langford of Carnegie Mellon University.  Find applications of CAPTCHAs at http://www.captcha.net/

Portland Trail Blazers guard CJ McCollum,on a recent episode of Pull Up with CJ McCollum, the podcast he hosts with ESPN personality Jordan Schultz was  asked to list the five most unstoppable moves of all time.  McCollum named Manu’s Ginobili’s Eurostep, Allen Iverson‘s crossover dribble, Michael Jordan‘s fadeaway jumper, Hakeem Olajuwon‘s Dream Shake, and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar‘s skyhook.  He took to Twitter asking what moves we forgot.  Soon respondents mentioned the San Antonio Spur’s Tim Duncan’s signature bank shot.  Marc Stein  The New York Times  April 26, 2020 

May 6, 2020  Daniel Radcliffe kicks off a collective reading of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone.  Other celebrities associated with the “Potterverse” will participate in the coming weeks.  Link to chapter one, The Boy Who Lived, in video or audio version at https://www.wizardingworld.com/chapters/reading-the-boy-who-lived

May 8, 2020  On a normal day in Oakland's Temescal neighborhood, North Light is a peaceful cafe during the day, and a cozy, intimate bar in the evening.  Bookshelves line the walls, filled with books you can actually buy.  Records play at all hours--jazz and classical during the day, and rock 'n' roll at night.  You can grab a coffee and sit at a small booth inside to get some work done, or sit out on the patio and share some happy hour daiquiris and tater tots with friends.  Readers can choose from selections curated by famous writers and musicians, including Patti Smith, Samin Nosrat and George Saunders.  Also on the “book menu” is a list of new releases and award-winning books, from “The Testaments” by Margaret Atwood to “The Water Dancer” by Ta-Nehisi Coates.  Now, for both cocktails and books, customers can pre-order their selections on North Light’s website, then stop by during the store’s open hours to pick them up.  Customers aren’t allowed to enter the bar, instead receiving their bags of goodies at the entrance.  Since North Light also functions as a record store in less tumultuous times, Stone anticipates adding records to the takeout menu as well.  More cocktails, an expanded food menu, and new curated lists of books are coming down the line, too.  You can order cocktails, pizza kits, and books for pickup from North Light at 4915 Telegraph Ave., Oakland on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, 2 to 8 p.m.  Madeline Wells  https://www.sfgate.com/food/slideshow/Oakland-bar-North-Light-to-go-menu-books-cocktails-202072.php

Best New Chefs 2020  Khushbu Shah  See pictures and recipes at https://www.foodandwine.com/chefs/food-wine-best-new-chefs-2020

http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com  Issue 2267  May 13, 2020