“Reading is to the mind what exercise is to the body”― Joseph Addison Richard Steele  https://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/6893027.Joseph_Addison_Richard_Steele 

The Great Library of Alexandria in Alexandria, Egypt, was one of the largest and most significant libraries of the ancient world.  The Library was part of a larger research institution called the Mouseion, which was dedicated to the Muses, the nine goddesses of the arts.  The idea of a universal library in Alexandria may have been proposed by Demetrius of Phalerum, an exiled Athenian statesman living in Alexandria, to Ptolemy I Soter, who may have established plans for the Library, but the Library itself was probably not built until the reign of his son Ptolemy II Philadelphus.  The Library quickly acquired many papyrus scrolls, due largely to the Ptolemaic kings' aggressive and well-funded policies for procuring texts.  It is unknown precisely how many such scrolls were housed at any given time, but estimates range from 40,000 to 400,000 at its height.  Alexandria came to be regarded as the capital of knowledge and learning, in part because of the Great Library.  Many important and influential scholars worked at the Library during the third and second centuries BC, including, among many others:  Zenodotus of Ephesus, who worked towards standardizing the texts of the Homeric poems; Callimachus, who wrote the Pinakes, sometimes considered to be the world's first library catalogue; Apollonius of Rhodes, who composed the epic poem the Argonautica; Eratosthenes of Cyrene, who calculated the circumference of the earth within a few hundred kilometers of accuracy; Aristophanes of Byzantium, who invented the system of Greek diacritics and was the first to divide poetic texts into lines; and Aristarchus of Samothrace, who produced the definitive texts of the Homeric poems as well as extensive commentaries on them.  During the reign of Ptolemy III Euergetes, a daughter library was established in the Serapeum, a temple to the Greco-Egyptian god Serapis.  Despite the widespread modern belief that the Library of Alexandria was burned once and cataclysmically destroyed, the Library actually declined gradually over the course of several centuries. This decline began with the purging of intellectuals from Alexandria in 145 BC during the reign of Ptolemy VIII Physcon, which resulted in Aristarchus of Samothrace, the head librarian, resigning from his position and exiling himself to Cyprus.  Many other scholars, including Dionysius Thrax and Apollodorus of Athens, fled to other cities, where they continued teaching and conducting scholarship.  The Library, or part of its collection, was accidentally burned by Julius Caesar during his civil war in 48 BC, but it is unclear how much was actually destroyed and it seems to have either survived or been rebuilt shortly thereafter; the geographer Strabo mentions having visited the Mouseion in around 20 BC and the prodigious scholarly output of Didymus Chalcenterus in Alexandria from this period indicates that he had access to at least some of the Library's resources.  The Library dwindled during the Roman Period, due to a lack of funding and support.  Its membership appears to have ceased by the 260s AD.  Between 270 and 275 AD, the city of Alexandria saw a rebellion and an imperial counterattack that probably destroyed whatever remained of the Library, if it still existed at that time.  The daughter library of the Serapeum may have survived after the main Library's destruction.  The Serapeum was vandalized and demolished in 391 AD under a decree issued by Coptic Christian Pope Theophilus of Alexandria, but it does not seem to have housed books at the time and was mainly used as a gathering place for Neoplatonist philosophers following the teachings of Iamblichus.  The Library of Alexandria was not the first library of its kind.  A long tradition of libraries existed in both Greece and in the ancient Near East.  The earliest recorded archive of written materials comes from the ancient Sumerian city-state of Uruk in around 3400 BC, when writing had only just begun to develop.  Scholarly curation of literary texts began in around 2500 BC.  The idea of reviving the ancient Library of Alexandria in the modern era was first proposed in 1974, when Lotfy Dowidar was president of the University of Alexandria.  In May 1986, Egypt requested the Executive Board of UNESCO to allow the international organization to conduct a feasibility study for the project.  This marked the beginning of UNESCO and the international community's involvement in trying to bring the project to fruition.  Starting in 1988, UNESCO and the UNDP worked to support the international architectural competition to design the Library.  Egypt devoted four hectares of land for the building of the Library and established the National High Commission for the Library of Alexandria.  Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak took a personal interest in the project, which greatly contributed to its advancement.  Completed in 2002, the Bibliotheca Alexandrina now functions as a modern library and cultural center, commemorating the original Library of Alexandria. In line with the mission of the Great Library of Alexandria, the Bibliotheca Alexandrina also houses the International School of Information Science (ISIS), a school for students preparing for highly specialized post-graduate degrees, whose goal is to train professional staff for libraries in Egypt and across the Middle East.  Read extensive article and see graphics at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Library_of_Alexandria   

May 12, 2021  Twenty-six seconds into his "Saturday Night Live" monologue last weekend, Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla and second richest person in the world, opened up about having Asperger syndrome.  It was a bold move, even for someone known for pushing boundaries in business and in life.  The serial entrepreneur and founder of Tesla, (TSLA TESLA) SpaceX and the Boring Co. sold his first company to Compaq for $307 million when he was 28 years old, then went on to help create the precursor to what would become PayPal (PYPL)—before getting ousted by his co-founders.  (He held onto his stock until its 2002 IPO, and the company was acquired by eBay (EBAY) later that year.)  Musk's candid disclosure on SNL has opened up a larger conversation about business leadership and the autism spectrum.  The diagnoses are characterized by varying degrees of impairment in language and communication skills, according to the National Institutes of Health, as well as repetitive or restrictive patterns of thought and behavior.  According to the NIH, it is considered a "developmental disorder" because symptoms like avoiding eye contact or a delay in speech development tend to appear by the age of two.  When it comes to work, employees with Asperger syndrome are often given fewer hours of work than they would like, according to "Autism in the Workplace."  The journal also points to a study that found that adults with Asperger syndrome were more likely to work part-time, compared to the general population.  "We all reveal a spectrum of behaviors and neurological learning styles.  Recognizing and embracing this neurodiversity helps build strong, inventive, and supportive teams," business psychologist Melanie Katzman told CNN Business.  "Rather than viewing autism, dyslexia, ADHD, OCD and others as pathologies, the focus needs to be on how to view these predispositions as super powers," she said.  Some think of autism as a challenging circumstance as those with ASD may struggle with social interactions.  But for years, there has been talk about some of the most successful people in tech living and working with Asperger's and benefiting from it.  "In Silicon Valley, I've pointed out that many of the more successful entrepreneurs seem to be suffering from a mild form of Asperger's," tech investor Peter Thiel said in a 2015 interview with economist Tyler Cowen.  "It happens to be a plus for innovation and creating great companies," he added.  Alexis Benveniste  https://www.cnn.com/2021/05/12/business/elon-musk-aspergers/index.html   

The Panama Canal was dug with a microscope. - Ronald Ross, doctor and Nobel laureate (13 May 1857-1932) [alluding to the research done to get rid of the mosquito http://www.cdc.gov/malaria/about/history/]   

Fully vaccinated people no longer need to wear a face mask or stay 6 feet away from others in most settings, whether outdoors or indoors, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in updated public health guidance released May 13, 2021.  There are a handful of instances where people will still need to wear masks—in a health-care setting, at a business that requires them—even if they’ve had their final vaccine dose two or more weeks ago, CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky told reporters at a press briefing.  Fully vaccinated people will still need to wear masks on airplanes, buses, trains and other public transportation, she said.  https://www.cnbc.com/2021/05/13/cdc-says-fully-vaccinated-people-dont-need-to-wear-face-masks-indoors-or-outdoors-in-most-settings.html   

http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com  Issue 2364  May 14, 2021