A Dutch-based architectural practice has thrust Mokotów into the spotlight after basing their winning entry to find a “library for tomorrow” in the southern Warsaw suburb.  Titled ‘The Book Tower’, the project was entered into Libgen, an international competition seeking to present “a new class of evolutionary libraries”.  Headquartered in Rotterdam, JOA (Just Open Architecture) was founded in 2014 by Canadian Jordan Yerbury and Chinese architect Kai Wang, and has since forged a name for their “rigorous experimentation” and “launching even the most abstract concepts into reality”.  Measuring 13-storeys, and designed to look like a pile of books twisting upwards, the spectacular 21,000 square-metre glass structure would be intended to serve as more than just a mere library, but also as the city’s think tank and “a social platform for learning and development”.  Alex Webber  See many pictures at https://www.thefirstnews.com/article/just-the-ticket-design-for-warsaw-tower-scoops-top-award-to-find-library-for-tomorrow-13521

Please indulge me, Malcom Gladwell, while I digress on the subject of my grand unified theory of detective/mystery/thriller fiction.  It will all relate back to Lee Child in the end, I promise.  There are, structurally, four essential narratives in this genre.  The first is the Western.  In the Western, our hero comes to a world without justice or law, and establishes order.  In the Eastern, our hero works to improve and educate the institutions of law and order in a world where they are incompetent.  Third is the Southern, where our hero restores order to a world that is hopelessly corrupt.  Finally, there is the Northern, in which our hero works to perpetuate order from within a functional system.  And what is the Jack Reacher series, in this paradigm?   Reacher is a drifter, a man without attachment or loyalties.  He does not seek to restore the institutions of order.  He is the order.  Author of the Jack Reacher series Lee Child feints towards the Southern, and then heads due West.  https://crimereads.com/jack-reacher-and-the-grand-unified-theory-of-thrillers/ 

What is a tesseract in A Wrinkle in Time, and how does it make interstellar space travel such a cinch?  Before delving into tesseracts, we have to understand how Madeline L'Engle sets up dimensions in A Wrinkle in Time.  In the book, Meg's brother Charles Wallace explains that the first dimension is a line.  The second dimension is a square.  The third dimension is a cube.  The fourth dimension is time.  And that brings us to the fifth dimension—tesseract.  As Mrs. Whatsit explains in the movie's trailer, “The fifth dimension’s a tesseract.  You add that to the other four dimensions and you can travel through space without having to go the long way around.  In other words, to put into Euclid, or old-fashioned plane geometry, a straight line is not the shortest distance between two points.”  A tesseract is an interstellar shortcut, more or less.  All this talk of plane geometry is hard to visualize, so L’Engle’s 1962 novel comes complete with a diagram.  Mrs. Whatsit uses the image of an ant traveling along the edge of her skirt to demonstrate how the distance Point A and Point B can be lessened by a tesseract—or a “wrinkle in time.”  For all the imaginativeness of A Wrinkle in Time, L’Engle didn’t invent the idea of a tesseract.  The word “tesseract” was invented by the mathematician Charles Howard Hinton in 1888, when he was trying to create a visual explanation for the existence of the fourth dimension—time.  Essentially, a tesseract is a four dimensional cube.  Here’s where L’Engle’s tesseract deviates from Hinton’s, and from straight geometry.  In A Wrinkle in Time, the fourth dimension is time, and the fifth dimension is a tesseract—a portal through space and time.  In geometry, a tesseract is a shape.  Elena Nicolaou  See graphics at https://www.refinery29.com/en-us/2018/03/192728/tesseract-definition-wrinkle-in-time-space-dimension 

'Whistle down the wind' means send away or abandon.  The phrase 'whistle down the wind' is best known as the title of the 1961 film, directed by Bryan Forbes, and most people probably assume that it originated with the film.  The phrase is in fact much older and derives from the earlier 'whistle away', which meant 'dismiss or cast off'.  This usage dates from at least the 16th century and was used, for example, in Nicholas Harpsfield's A treatise on the pretended divorce between Henry VIII and Catharine of Aragon, circa 1555.  The 'down the wind' part of the phrase comes from the sport of falconry.  When hawks are released to hunt they are sent upwind and when turned loose for recreation they are sent downwind.   Thus, to 'whistle someone/thing down the wind' is to cast it off to its own fate.   https://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/whistle-down-the-wind.html#:~:text=The%20'down%20the%20wind'%20part,off%20to%20its%20own%20fate.

If you describe someone as whistling in the wind, you mean that they are trying unsuccessfully to change something which cannot be changed.  https://www.collinsdictionary.com/us/dictionary/english/whistle-in-the-wind 

‘Whistle for a wind’ is a superstitious practice of old sailors during a calm.  http://www.finedictionary.com/Whistle%20for%20a%20wind.html 

Oh Snap means expression of surprise.  Related Slang:  Whoa (expression of surprise), KMSO (knocked my socks off), YG2BJ (You’ve got to be kidding), Tweetsuit (insulting tweet), Chirp (diss), Diss (disrespect), and Face (in your face).  https://slangit.com/meaning/oh_snap  See also https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/snap  

SNAP means Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program https://www.fns.usda.gov/snap/supplemental-nutrition-assistance-program 

Marketplace.org/music presented We’re in a SNAP boom on August 21, 2020. 

The story of Lacrosse begins as an expression of human experience, where spiritual belief and magic are entwined into the very fabric of the game.  To understand the true origins of Lacrosse, one must enter a world where everything contains a spirit; animals, plants, earth, stones, as well as trees and water.  The game was much more than just an athletic sport--it was a highly ceremonial event with deep-rooted spiritual significance to the community, spectators, and players.  Every aspect of early games had a spiritual significance.  Fields were adjoined near rivers or streams to facilitate "cleanings rituals", and laid out east to west to orient towards the path of the sun.  Players observed fasts, only drinking special potions from the Medicine Men. Sticks and equipment were doctored to remove bad spirits.  Medicine Man led prayers and adorned players with ointments and salves to give them strength.  Numerous tribes recount the origin of Lacrosse as a gift from the Great Spirit. Recipients of the message from the Great Spirit felt obligated to play and sponsor games of Lacrosse.  From these moments on, games were organized to coincide with a religious holiday or timed to honor the Great Spirit, honor a deceased player, heal the sick or bring about fine weather.  The entire affair of Lacrosse symbolizes a spiritual ritual to honor, heal, and celebrate individuals and communities.  For this reason, lacrosse is often referred to as the Medicine Game. According to early Indian communities, “In times of sickness, the medicine people would prepare themselves and call upon the life forces of Mother Earth to assist in relieving sickness. The right medicines would appear, be chosen, and then prepared. To improve the power of the medicines a lacrosse game would be requested.”  This healing has been described as a medicine game.  The Medicine Game played a paramount role in Indian communities serving a primary means to bring about change and togetherness amongst themselves.  Present day, Lacrosse is more than a sport and a game of physical endurance. It's "The Medicine Game" which has a very unique and sacred history that's deep and intrinsic to its beginnings.  It is a sport that teaches athletes the value of community and teamwork, of working together for the greater good.  Lacrosse, and sport in general, provides youth an opportunity to release tension and stress and replace negative energy with the positive benefits of participating in a team sport that has such an important place in Indigenous culture.  https://www.medicinemanlacrosse.com/the-medicine-game  See also https://www.insidelacrosse.com/article/-what-is-a-medicine-game-neal-powless-shares-his-insight/56187 and https://www.aptonline.org/catalog/MEDICINE-GAME-THE 

banal  lacking originality, freshness, or novelty  There are several pronunciations of banal, but the three most common are \BAY-nul\, \buh-NAHL\, and \buh-NAL\ (which rhymes with canal).  https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/banal 

The Midnight Library collects short scary stories.  Its editor is credited as Nick Shadow (UK) or Damien Graves (US).  Find list of titles at https://www.goodreads.com/series/55753-the-midnight-library 

The Midnight Library by Matt Haig  published August 2020  'Between life and death there is a library, and within that library, the shelves go on forever.  Every book provides a chance to try another life you could have lived.  To see how things would be if you had made other choices . . . Would you have done anything different, if you had the chance to undo your regrets?'  Author Matt Haig was born in Sheffield, England in1975.  He writes books for both adults and children, often blending the worlds of domestic reality and outright fantasy, with a quirky twist.  His bestselling novels are translated into 28 languages.  https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/48693877-the-midnight-library 

World Habitat Day is marked on the first Monday of October each year, and is recognized by the United Nations to reflect on the state of towns and cities, and on the basic right of all to adequate shelter. The day is also intended to remind the world that everyone has the power and the responsibility to shape the future of towns and cities.  World Habitat Day was first celebrated in 1986 in Nairobi, Kenya, and the theme chosen for that year was "Shelter is My Right".   The day is celebrated in many countries around the world and various activities are organised to examine the problems of rapid urbanisation and its impact on the environment and human poverty.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Habitat_Day 

http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com  Issue 2267  October 5, 2020