With the aid of its long neck, a giraffe is able to reach leaves, fruit and flowers high up in Vachellia or Senegalia (formerly Acacia) and other sought after tree species. Giraffe are thus equipped to exploit a band of foliage beyond the reach of all other terrestrial browsers, except for elephant.  Their 45 cm long tongue combined with a modified atlas-axis joint that lets the head extend vertically, further increases the height advantage.  A giraffe’s heart, which can weigh up to 11 kilograms, has to generate almost double the normal blood pressure of other mammals in order to maintain blood flow to the brain against gravity. In the upper neck, a complex pressure-regulation system called the rete mirabile prevents excess blood flow to the brain, when the giraffe lowers its head to drink.  Conversely, the blood vessels in the lower legs are under great pressure (because of the weight of fluid pressing down on them).  In other animals, such pressure would force the blood out through the capillary walls.  Surprisingly, even with its long neck, the giraffe has the same number of vertebrae in its neck as humans and other mammals.  Giraffe have seven cervical vertebrae, but each one can be about 25 cm long.  https://giraffeconservation.org/facts/why-do-giraffe-have-such-a-long-neck/

Brad Meltzer is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Inner Circle, The Book of Fate, and ten other bestselling thrillers.  He also writes non-fiction books like The First Conspiracy, about a secret plot to kill George Washington--and the Ordinary People Change the World kids book series.  In addition to his fiction, Brad is one of the only authors to ever have books on the bestseller list for Non-Fiction (The First Conspiracy), Advice (Heroes for My Son and Heroes for My Daughter), Children’s Books (I Am Amelia Earhart and I Am Abraham Lincoln) and even comic books (Justice League of America), for which he won the prestigious Eisner Award.  Xavier Riddle and the Secret Museum, the TV series based on his children’s books with Chris Eliopoulos, can be seen every day on PBS KIDS.  He is also the host of Brad Meltzer’s Lost History and Brad Meltzer’s Decoded on the History Channel.  The Hollywood Reporter recently put him on their list of Hollywood’s 25 Most Powerful Authors.  Brad is also responsible for helping find the missing 9/11 flag that the firefighters raised at Ground Zero, making national news on the 15th anniversary of 9/11.  Using his TV show, Brad Meltzer's Lost History, he told the story of the missing flag and asked Americans for their help in returning it.  Four days later, a former Marine walked into a fire station in Everett, Washington, said he saw Meltzer's TV show, and now wanted to return the flag.  Meltzer recently unveiled the flag at the 9/11 Museum in New York, where it is now on display.  See the video here.  Brad has played himself as an extra in Woody Allen’s Celebrity, co-wrote the swearing in oath for AmeriCorps, the national service program, and earned credit from Columbia Law School for writing his first book, which became The Tenth Justice.  Before all of that, he got 24 rejection letters for his true first novel, which still sits on his shelf, published by Kinko’s.  https://bradmeltzer.com/About/   

“Law is not about feeling.  If you learn one thing during your time with the Court, you should learn that life is a tragedy for those who feel and a comedy for those who think.”  The Tenth Justice by Brad Meltzer   

The Joe Frogger is a type of cookie that has been popular in New England since the late 18th century.  It is flavored with molasses, rum, and spices (ginger, allspice, nutmeg, cloves) and has a soft, chewy center.  Because the cookies kept well they could be taken on long sea voyages, and so became popular with fishermen and sailors.  The original cookies were the size of pancakes and were cooked in an iron skillet; those made today are typically smaller, and baked in an oven.   Joe Froggers are named for Joseph Brown (1750-1834), the keeper of Black Joe's Tavern in Marblehead, Massachusetts.  The cookies were invented by Brown's wife, Lucretia Thomas Brown (1772-1857), who worked at the tavern.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Frogger  Find recipe at https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/joe-froggers-cookies-history 

"Olly olly oxen free" is a catchphrase or truce term used in children's games such as hide and seek, capture the flag, and kick the can to indicate that players who are hiding can come out into the open without losing the game; that the position of the sides in a game has changed (as in which side is on the field or which side is at bat or "up" in baseball or kickball); or, alternatively, that the game is entirely over.  The Dictionary of American Regional English says the phrase may be derived from all ye, all ye outs in free, all the outs in free, or possibly calling all the "outs" in free; in other words, all who are out may come in without penalty.  Various calls used for such purposes have gone by the collective name of "ollyoxalls" in some places.  Others speculate the phrase may be a corruption of a hypothetical and ungrammatical German phrase alle, alle, auch sind frei (all, all, also are free).  Another German variant is "alle alle Ochsen sind frei", meaning "all, all the oxen are free", which is a good reason for the oxen and their chasers to run.  Another variant besides "Alle alle auch sind frei" is "Ollie Ollie in come free".  Various songs are named "Olly olly oxen free" or a variant thereof, including songs by the Ted Weems orchestra (sung by a young Perry Como), Terry Scott Taylor (on the album Imaginarium: Songs from the Neverhood), the metalcore band Sworn In, and Amanda Palmer (on the album Theatre Is Evil).  Olly Olly Oxen Free is the name of a film starring Katharine Hepburn, while Oxenfree is a videogame produced by Night School Studio.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olly_olly_oxen_free   

Ginger-Orange Duck "Cassoulet" serves 4--uses peeled ginger and shelled edamame.  https://saramoulton.com/2012/01/ginger-orange-duck-cassoulet/  ©2010 Ming Tsai – Taken from Simply Ming One-Pot Meals used with permission from Kyle Books  Ming recommends a Pinot Noir with this duck dish from Simply Ming One Pot Meals.   

January 13, 2021  The world's oldest known figurative artwork has been discovered in a cave in Indonesia--an endearing image of a warty pig.  Archaeologists working on the site on the island of Sulawesi said the cave art was at least 45,500 years old.  It is also thought to be the oldest surviving image of an animal.  Painted using red ocher pigment, the animal appears to be observing a fight or social interaction between two other warty pigs.  Katie Hunt  See pictures at https://www.cnn.com/style/article/cave-art-indonesia-oldest-figurative-art-animal-image-scn-trnd/index.html   

We all too often have socialism for the rich and rugged free market capitalism for the poor. - Martin Luther King, Jr., civil-rights leader (15 Jan 1929-1968)   

December 15, 2021 is the 20th anniversary of Wikipedia, which was launched in 2001.   

http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com  Issue 2313  January 15, 2021