The expression “a lick and a promise” is at least 200 years old.  The Oxford English Dictionary says one meaning of the word is “a slight and hasty wash.”  The dictionary’s earliest recorded use of “a lick and a promise” is from Walter White’s travel book All Round the Wrekin (1860):  “We only gives the cheap ones a lick and a promise.” (The Wrekin is a hill in Shropshire, England.)  However, the word sleuth Barry Popik has found almost half a dozen earlier examples of “a lick and a promise.”  Here’s the earliest, from the December 1811 issue of The Critical Review, a journal founded by Tobias Smollett:  “The Prince Regent comes in for a blessing, too, but as one of the Serio-Comico-Clerico’s nurses, who are so fond of over-feeding little babies, would say, it is but a lick and a promise.”  The “lick” in the expression was originally used by itself, to mean “a dab of paint” or the like, “a hasty tidying up,” or “a casual amount of work,” the OED says.  The earliest example in writing of this sense of “lick,” Oxford says, comes from James Maidment’s A Packet of Pestilent Pasquils (circa 1648), a collection of Scottish literary oddities:  “We’ll mark them with a lick of tarre.”  https://www.grammarphobia.com/blog/2012/10/a-lick-and-a-promise.html 

Skin is the body’s largest organ and can comprise 15 percent of a person’s total weight.  As you breathe, most of the air is going in and out of one nostril.  Every few hours, the workload shifts to the other nostril.  Blood makes up about 8 percent of your total body weight.  The human nose can detect about 1 trillion smells.  https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/570937/facts-about-the-human-body 

DEVIL IS IN THE DETAILS - The Random House Dictionary of Popular Proverbs and Sayings by Gregory Y. Titelman (Random House, New York, 1996) shows this phrase as a variation of "God is in the details - Whatever one does should be done thoroughly; details are important.  The saying is generally attributed to Gustave Flaubert (1821-80), who is often quoted as saying, 'Le bon Dieu est dans le detail' (God is in the details).  Other attributions include Michelangelo, the architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, and the art historian Aby Warburg.  'The Devil is in the details' is a variant of the proverb, referring to a catch hidden in the details.  'Governing is in the details'' and 'The truth, if it exists, is in the details' are recent variants.  Listed as an anonymous saying in the sixteenth edition of Barlett's 'Familiar Quotations,' edited by Justin Kaplan  https://www.phrases.org.uk/bulletin_board/24/messages/694.html

Schoolhouse Rock! is an American interstitial programming series of animated musical educational short films (and later, videos) that aired during the Saturday morning children's programming block on the U.S. television network ABC.  Themes included grammar, science, economics, history, mathematics, and civics.  The series' original run lasted from 1973 to 1984; it was later revived with both old and new episodes airing from 1993 to 1996.  Additional episodes were produced in 2009 for direct-to-video release.  A musical theatre adaptation of the show, titled Schoolhouse Rock Live!, premiered in 1993.  It featured a collaboration between artists Scott Ferguson, Kyle Hall, George Keating, Lynn Ahrens, Bob Dorough, Dave Frishberg, and Kathy Mandry, utilizing some of the most famous songs of Newall and Yohe.  A follow-up production entitled Schoolhouse Rock Live, Too, written by the same team as Schoolhouse Rock Live!, premiered in Chicago in 2000.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schoolhouse_Rock!

 

Basque cuisine refers to the cuisine Basque Country and includes meats and fish grilled over hot coals, marmitako and lamb stews, cod, Tolosa bean dishes, paprikas from Lekeitio, pintxos (Basque tapas), Idiazabal sheep's cheese, txakoli (sparkling white-wine), and Basque cider.  A basquaise is a type of dish prepared in the style of Basque cuisine that often includes tomatoes and sweet or hot red peppers.  Basque cuisine is influenced by the abundance of produce from the sea on one side and the fertile Ebro valley on the other.  The great mountainous nature of the Basque Country has led to a difference between coastal cuisine dominated by fish and seafood, and inland cuisine with fresh and cured meats, many vegetables and legumes, and freshwater fish and salt cod.  The French and Spanish influence is strong also, with a noted difference between the cuisine of either side of the modern border; even Basque dishes and products such as txakoli from the South, or Gâteau Basque (Biskotx) and Jambon de Bayonne from the North, are rarely seen on the other side.  Basques have also been quick to absorb new ingredients and techniques from new settlers and from their own trade and exploration links.  Jews expelled from Spain and Portugal created a chocolate and confectionery industry in Bayonne still well-known today, and part of a wider confectionery and pastry tradition across the Basque Country.  Basques embraced the potato and the capsicum, used in hams, sausages and recipes, with pepper festivals around the area, notably Ezpeleta and Puente la Reina.  Olive oil is more commonly used than vegetable oil in Basque cooking.  Cuisine and the kitchen are at the heart of Basque culture, and there is a Museum of Gastronomy in Llodio.  One of the staple cookbooks for traditional Basque dishes was initially published in 1933.  "La cocina de Nicolasa" (the Kitchen of Nicolasa) by Nicolasa Pradera has gone into 20 editions.  See graphics at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basque_cuisine 

“In Clue, there is a candlestick among the possible murder weapons but, surprisingly, not a butler among the suspects.”  “Being older and wiser doesn’t help the ego.”  Lost, a novel by Michael Robotham 

The full moon on Wednesday, May 26, 2021 will be something to behold, as the only total lunar eclipse of 2021 arrives together with the year's biggest "supermoon."  Skywatchers in much of the world will have a chance to see a slightly larger-than-average full moon temporarily appear red during the so-called "Super Flower Blood Moon."  But for those in parts of the world where the eclipse isn't visible—or where clouds foil the view—there will be several free webcasts showing live views of the eclipse online.  During the Super Flower Blood Moon, the full moon of May (known as the Flower Moon) will pass through Earth's shadow, causing it to appear red.  This is why total lunar eclipses are commonly called "blood moons."  At around the same time, the moon will reach perigee, or the closest point to Earth in its current orbit.  This will make it appear slightly bigger than an average full moon, making it a "supermoon," too.   https://www.space.com/super-flower-blood-moon-2021-webcasts 

How to photograph the super blood moon with your camera or phone by Dave Stevenson and Mark Wilson  https://www.techradar.com/how-to/how-to-photograph-the-super-blood-moon-with-your-camera-or-phone  

When Ali Ahmed rented a storefront on Brooklyn’s Atlantic Avenue in  December, 2020, he wasn’t sure what he’d do with it—the veteran restaurateur was simply snagging a bargain from among the retail strip’s many vacancies.  “It was too good of a deal,” he says.  A few weeks later, someone smashed into his parked BMW and left a note:  “Sorry I hit your car.  Call me and we’ll figure it out.”  The author turned out to be a Brooklyn bookstore owner.  The two got to talking and a new concept was born.  The result?  A combination book store and American comfort-food restaurant.  Opened in March, A Novel Kitchen has a bustling brunch business and sells several thousand dollars in used books and vinyl records every week, says Mr. Ahmed.  This Frankenstein enterprise is hardly the only unusual storefront concept to launch in New York City this spring.  “Grand opening” and “coming soon” signs are appearing all over town.  Anne Kadet  The Wall Street Journal  May 25, 2021 

http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com  Issue 2369  May 26, 2021