Nama means bow, as means I, and te means you.  Therefore, namaste literally means “bow me you” or “I bow to you.”  To perform Namaste, we place the hands together at the heart chakra, close the eyes, and bow the head.  It can also be done by placing the hands together in front of the third eye, bowing the head, and then bringing the hands down to the heart.  This is an especially deep form of respect.  In the West the word “Namaste” is usually spoken in conjunction with the gesture.  In India, it is understood that the gesture itself signifies Namaste, and therefore, it is unnecessary to say the word while bowing.   https://www.yogajournal.com/practice/beginners/beginner-faqs-why-yoga/the-meaning-of-quot-namaste-quot/

Sprung rhythm is a poetic rhythm designed to imitate the rhythm of natural speech.  It is constructed from feet in which the first syllable is stressed and may be followed by a variable number of unstressed syllables.  The British poet Gerard Manley Hopkins said he discovered this previously unnamed poetic rhythm in the natural patterns of English in folk songs, spoken poetry, Shakespeare, Milton, et al.  He used diacritical marks on syllables to indicate which should be stressed in cases "where the reader might be in doubt which syllable should have the stress" (acute, e.g. shéer) and which syllables should be pronounced but not stressed (grave, e.g., gleanèd).  Some critics believe he merely coined a name for poems with mixed, irregular feet, like free verse.  However, while sprung rhythm allows for an indeterminate number of syllables to a foot, Hopkins was very careful to keep the number of feet per line consistent across each individual work, a trait that free verse does not share.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sprung_rhythm 

There's so many great books in the world--who knows where they might take us next?  https://www.dclibrary.org/node/34747

Hans Christian Andersen’s tale “Danish Popular Legends” was first published in The Riverside Magazine for Young People, Vol. IV, pp. 470-474, New York, October 1870.  It has never been published in Denmark.  The hypertext is based on an etext found in the Andersen Homepage of the Danish National Literary Archive.  It may be somewhat surprising to learn that a number of Andersen’s tales were published in America even before being published in Andersen’s native Denmark.  According to Jean Hersholt’s introduction to The Andersen-Scudder Letters, University of California Press, 1949, ten tales were published by Horace Elisha Scudder, Andersen’s American editor, publisher and translator, in the above mentioned Magazine, in the years 1868-1870.  After the Magazine closed down, Scudder published four other tales, in the years 1871-1873, in Scribner’s Monthly, an illustrated magazine for the people: “Lucky Peer” (in four installments), “The Great Sea-Serpent”, “The Gardener and the Manor”, and “The Flea and the Professor”.  The hypertext of these four tales is based on the images found in the Making of America collection of Cornell University Library.  127 more tales are given in a hypertext rendition of Mrs. Paull’s nineteenth century translation, now in the public domain.  Four more tales, contributed by Mike W. Perry and marked by a (*), are digitized from Fairy Tales and Other Stories by Hans Christian Andersen, revised and partly re-translated by W.A. and J. K. Craigie, Oxford Univ. Press, London, 1914.  Mike also contributed the three tales marked by (**), from Wonder Stories Told for Children, Houghton Mifflin, Boston, 1900.  The remaining 29 tales are given in title only, using Jean Hersholt’s translation, published in three volumes in 1942-49 by The Heritage Press, and now collectors’ items.  Find list of Andersen’s 168 tales, in the chronological order of their original publication at http://hca.gilead.org.il/ 

Once upon a time, before the emperor tromped the streets of his kingdom in his new clothes, before the ugly duckling first waddled into the sunlight, and before the little mermaid sighed and turned into sea foam, a lad named Hans Christian Andersen penned his very first story–The Tallow Candle.  On October 2012 on the island of Funen, the same island where our esteemed author was born, a historian by the name of Esben Brage unearthed the manuscript from the bottom of an archive box.  Two months after the discovery, historians confirmed that the handwriting was unmistakably Andersen’s, and since the document was written in the mid-1820s, this would date all the way back to the author’s late teenage years.  The storyteller was a bright-eyed youth himself when he developed a deep love for stories, and penned one himself.  On the manuscript’s first page, a short dedication is scribbled in ink:  “To Madam Bunkeflod from her devoted H.C. Andersen.”  https://denmark.net/hans-christian-andersen/ 

While fans of J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings saga await the mega-bucks Amazon series, they can indulge in a campier version of the famed fantasy tale.  If you love the cheesy films mocked by Mystery Science Theater 3000 and RiffTrax, you'll likely appreciate the shlocky goodness of a 1991 Soviet television version of the LOTR trilogy.  The TV movie aired on Soviet TV in 1991, then disappeared, not to be seen again until now, the Guardian newspaper reports.   aired on Leningrad Television, and was posted to YouTube by Leningrad Television's successor, 5TV, the newspaper reports.
Gael Fashingbauer Cooper   Link to two video clips at https://www.cnet.com/news/watch-the-delightfully-schlocky-soviet-version-of-lord-of-the-rings/ 

In the Indian caste system, there are four different varnas, or the major social classes, that caste-based surnames generally fall under.  The Brahmins form the top of this social hierarchy.  This class consists of the intellectuals, teachers, and priests.  A couple examples of Brahmin surnames are Bhat, ‘scholar’ in Sanskirt, and Mukherjee.  Next are Kshatriyas¸ the warriors at times of war and governors at times of peace.  Names such as Pusapati and Kothapalli are both Kshatriya surnames.  Singh, primarily a Punjabi Sikh surname meaning ‘lion’ in Sanskrit, was also adopted by the Hindu Kshatriya varna since the name alludes to the characteristics of a warrior.  Under the Kshatriyas are the Vaishyas, the farmers, traders, and merchants.  Families with the names Agrawal, Khandelwal and Mahawars all fall under this varna.  The last major social class of the caste system is the Shudras.  The Shudras are the community’s laborers, performing numerous different service jobs.  Patel, Yadav and Kurmi are a few of surnames historically associated with the Shudra working class.  Amy Franz  https://www.ethnictechnologies.com/blog/2018/10/2/a-peak-inside-hindu-name-origins-caste-based-surnames 

The theme for National Library Week (April 4-10, 2021), “Welcome to Your Library,” promotes the idea that libraries extend far beyond the four walls of a building—and that everyone is welcome to use their services.  During the pandemic libraries have been going above and beyond to adapt to our changing world by expanding their resources and continuing to meet the needs of their users.  Whether people visit in person or virtually, libraries offer opportunities for everyone to explore new worlds and become their best selves through access to technology, multimedia content and educational programs.  Actress, author and activist Natalie Portman is lending her star power to shine a spotlight on our nation’s libraries as the honorary chair of National Library Week 2021.  She will help highlight the essential role libraries, librarians and library workers play in serving their communities, especially during challenging times.   A lifelong fan of books, she shares the books she’s reading on her Instagram feed, as part of Natalie Portman's Book Club, using the hashtag #whatnatreads.  Natalie Portman’s “Fables” is her debut picture book.  https://programminglibrarian.org/articles/celebrate-national-library-week-2021-welcome-your-library 

National Beer Day is celebrated in the United States every year on April 7, marking the day that the Cullen–Harrison Act was enacted after having been signed into law by President Franklin D. Roosevelt on March 22, 1933.  This led to the Eighteenth Amendment being repealed on December 5, 1933, with the ratification of the Twenty-first Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Beer_Day_(United_States) 

http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com  Issue 2348  April 7, 2021