The Grass Crown (Latin: corona graminea) or Blockade Crown (corona obsidionalis) was the highest and rarest of all military decorations in the Roman Republic and early Roman empire.  It was presented only to a general, commander, or officer whose actions saved a legion or the entire army.  One example of actions leading to awarding of a grass crown would be a general who broke the blockade around a beleaguered Roman army.  The crown took the form of a chaplet made from plant materials taken from the battlefield, including grasses, flowers, and various cereals such as wheat; it was presented to the general by the army he had saved.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grass_Crown  The Grass Crown is the second historical novel in Colleen McCullough's Masters of Rome series, published in 1991.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Grass_Crown_(novel) 

Primary 

adjective  first or highest in rank or importance; chief; principal.  first in order in any series, sequence, etc.  first in time; earliest; primitive.

noun, plural pri·ma·ries.  something that is first in order, rank, or importance.  U.S. Politics.  Also called primary election.  a preliminary election in which voters of each party nominate candidates for office, party officers, etc.  Compare closed primary, direct primary, indirect primary, open primary.  a meeting of the voters of a political party in an election district for nominating candidates for office, choosing delegates for a convention, etc.; caucus.

verb (used with object), pri·ma·ried, pri·ma·ry·ing.  U.S. Politics. to challenge or oppose (the incumbent) in a primary election, usually for strong ideological reasons (often used in passive constructions).  https://www.dictionary.com/browse/primary 

The Rainmaker is a 1997 American legal drama film written and directed by Francis Ford Coppola based on John Grisham's 1995 novel of the same name.  It stars Matt Damon, Danny DeVito, Danny Glover, Claire Danes, Jon Voight, Roy Scheider, Mickey Rourke, Virginia Madsen, Mary Kay Place and Teresa Wright in her final film role.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Rainmaker_(1997_film) 

The Rainmaker is a 1956 American romance film directed by Joseph Anthony and adapted by N. Richard Nash from his 1954 play The Rainmaker.  The film tells the story of a middle-aged woman, suffering from unrequited love for the local town sheriff; however, she falls for a con man who comes to town with the promise that he can make it rain.  It stars Burt Lancaster, Katharine Hepburn, Wendell Corey, Lloyd Bridges and Earl Holliman.  Holliman won a Golden Globe Award for his performance.  The film was later remade in Hindi as Thodasa Roomani Ho Jaayen.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Rainmaker_(1956_film) 

A rainmaker is any person who brings clients, money, business, or even intangible prestige to an organization based solely on his or her associations and contacts.  The rainmaker is usually regarded highly within the company by other employees and is a key figure like a principal, partner, or executive.  The term is sometimes used in the context of political fundraising as well.  Traditionally, the term "rainmaker" has been applied to members of the legal profession, like politicians with law degrees who retire from public life to practice at nationally recognized law firms.  However, over time, the term has gained usage in many other industries and activities, including investment banking, political campaigning, and public speaking.  Barclay Palmer  https://www.investopedia.com/ask/answers/08/rainmaker.asp 

James Prescott Joule FRS FRSE (1818–1889) was an English physicist, mathematician and brewer, born in Salford, Lancashire.  Joule studied the nature of heat, and discovered its relationship to mechanical work (see energy).  This led to the law of conservation of energy, which in turn led to the development of the first law of thermodynamics.  The SI derived unit of energy, the joule, is named after him.  He worked with Lord Kelvin to develop an absolute thermodynamic temperature scale, which came to be called the Kelvin scale.  Joule also made observations of magnetostriction, and he found the relationship between the current through a resistor and the heat dissipated, which is also called Joule's first law.  His experiments about energy transformations were first published in 1843.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Prescott_Joule 

Clifford Odets (1906–1963) was an American playwright, screenwriter, and director.  In the mid-1930s he was widely seen as the potential successor to Nobel Prize-winning playwright Eugene O'Neill, as O'Neill began to withdraw from Broadway's commercial pressures and increasing critical backlash.  From January 1935 Odets' socially relevant dramas were extremely influential, particularly for the remainder of the Great Depression.  His works inspired the next several generations of playwrights, including Arthur Miller, Paddy Chayefsky, Neil Simon, and David Mamet.  After the production of his play Clash by Night in the 1941–'42 season, Odets focused his energies primarily on film projects, remaining in Hollywood for the next seven years.  He returned to New York in 1948 for five and a half years, during which time he produced three more Broadway plays, only one of which was a success.  His prominence was eventually eclipsed by Miller, Tennessee Williams, and in the early- to mid-1950s, by William Inge.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clifford_Odets 

Books, like mirrors, help reflect what we observe and know about the world we live in.  It’s powerful to read or listen to a story about someone like you.  Books also allow us to view and understand lives that are different from our own, like a window onto other experiences.  But to succeed as mirrors and windows, books must tell a wide range of stories—and they must include a diversity of people and worlds.  At Reach Out and Read, we’re committed to increasing access to inclusive books for young people of all races and backgrounds.  Learn how to help at https://reachoutandread.org/donate/ 

The phenakistiscope (also known by the spellings phénakisticope or phenakistoscope) was the first widespread animation device that created a fluent illusion of motion.  Dubbed Fantascope and Stroboscopische Scheiben ('stroboscopic discs') by its inventors, it has been known under many other names until the French product name Phénakisticope became common (with alternative spellings).  The phenakistiscope is regarded as one of the first forms of moving media entertainment that paved the way for the future motion picture and film industry.  When it was introduced in the French newspaper Le Figaro in June 1833, the term 'phénakisticope' was explained to be from the root Greek word 'phenakisticos' (or rather φενακίζειν - phenakizein), meaning "to deceive" or "to cheat", and ὄψ – óps, meaning "eye" or "face", so it was probably intended loosely as 'optical deception' or 'optical illusion'.  See graphics at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phenakistiscope

http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com  Issue 2352  April 16, 2021