ragtag  adjective  a) Unkempt, shabby, or in a state of disrepair.  b) Very diverse; comprised of irregular and dissimilar components.  https://wiktionary.en-academic.com/23265/ragtag

In the Middle Ages, the term Rageman or Ragman referred to a game in which a player randomly selected a string attached to a roll of verses and read the selected verse.  The roll was called a Ragman roll after a fictional king purported to be the author of the verses.  By the 16th century, ragman and ragman roll were being used figuratively to mean "a list or catalog."  Both terms fell out of written use, but ragman roll persisted in speech, and in the 18th century it resurfaced in writing as rigmarole, with the meaning "a succession of confused, meaningless, or foolish statements."  In the mid-19th century rigmarole (also spelled rigamarole, reflecting its common pronunciation) acquired the sense referring to a complex and ritualistic procedure.  https://www.merriam-webster.com/word-of-the-day/rigmarole-2021-06-04 

The epigraph before the beginning of Mario Vargas Llosa’s biographical novel The Dream of the Celt has the effect of an implacable judgment:  Each one of us is, successfully, not one but many.  And these successive personalities that emerge one from the other tend to present the strangest, most astonishing contrasts among themselves.  José Enrique Rodó, Motives of Proteus  Leopoldo M. Bernucci  https://breac.nd.edu/articles/history-and-imagination-in-the-dream-of-the-celt-by-mario-vargas-llosa/ 

José Enrique Rodó (1872-1917) was a Uruguayan essayist and literary critic.  A stylist and moralist, he aimed especially to maintain Latin American thought and society on a basis of respect for traditional European humanistic and ethical values.  José Enrique Rodó was born in Montevideo on July 15, 1872.  The son of a Catalan father who died when José was twelve, he was largely self-taught.  He attended primary school but left secondary school for part-time employment.  He read broadly in the library left by his father and in the library of the Ateneo of Montevideo.  An intellectual center in the arts and humanities, the Ateneo also provided the atmosphere that nourished Rodó's growth.  He was greatly influenced by the works of French, Spanish, and British essayists and paid much attention to works on the United States.  Rodó's youth was a period of great, and occasionally violent, change in Uruguay.  In March 1895, together with several other young men, Rodó founded the Revista nacional de literatura y ciencias sociales.  Sixty issues appeared before its closing.  Rodó had wanted to found an academy of literature and language, and this had been a compromise.  Rodó's concerns for traditional values and proper use of the language were reflected in his publications.  His work was unique to the extent that without signature it was recognized even in Spain for his control of ideas and of the modernista literary style.  The spiritual and intellectual unity of Latin America with Spain and Europe was Rodó's principal concern; he regarded even Brazil as a variation of this principle, and his main work, Ariel (1900), discussed his views in much detail.  Latin America's peril lay in its enthusiasm for moral and intellectual change and the susceptibility to United States influence this produced.  Rodó admired some aspects of American life:  its technology, spirit of personal liberty and open society, respect for useful labor, and rapid growth of political greatness.  But these could entrap an uncritical society—and particularly the Latin masses.  American materialism was an open challenge to Latin America.  https://biography.yourdictionary.com/jose-enrique-rodo 

A laconic phrase or laconism is a concise or terse statement, especially a blunt and elliptical rejoinder.  It is named after Laconia, the region of Greece including the city of Sparta, whose ancient inhabitants had a reputation for verbal austerity and were famous for their blunt and often pithy remarks.  A laconic phrase may be used for efficiency (as during military training and operations), for emphasis, for philosophical reasons (especially among thinkers who believe in minimalism, such as Stoics), or to deflate a pompous interlocutor.  A prominent example involves Philip II of Macedon.  After invading southern Greece and receiving the submission of other key city-states, he turned his attention to Sparta and asked menacingly whether he should come as friend or foe.  The reply was "Neither."  Losing patience, he sent the message:  If I invade Laconia, I shall turn you out.  The Spartan ephors again replied with a single word:  If.   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laconic_phrase 

The caper bush produces a bud that eventually becomes a flower.  If picked before developing into a flower, it’s a caper bud.  Caper buds are what we normally think of when we hear about capers and the ones most often used.  If left untouched, the bud becomes a flower that eventually dies off and produces a caper berry.  Caper berries are much bigger than the normal capers, about the size of a nickel coin.  They are shaped like olives and, in fact, must be cured like olives.  Capers can be cured dry with salt or in a brine with salt and water or salt and vinegar.  To rid capers of some of its salty flavor, you may soak them briefly in water.  The French use the term “non pareil”, meaning without parallel, as in nothing compares or comes close, when describing their capers but, the funny thing is, theirs, and everyone else’s, don’t come close to Sicilian capers, grown in their famous volcanic soils, just like San Marzano tomatoes are grown in the volcanic soils of Vesuvius.  In fact, the best capers in the world come from the islands off of Sicily, most notably the Aeolian Islands (northeast off the coast of Sicily) and Pantelleria, an island Southwest off the coast.  The ones from Pantelleria, especially the caper berries called Cucunci, are the untouchable Ferraris of capers.  The only other country that produces world-class capers is Greece.  As for the difference in taste between the smaller buds and the larger berries, they are similar.  Caper berries are milder than caper buds, more meaty in texture, and have small seeds that lend a slight crunch to the bite.  You can even substitute caper berries for olives in a Martini, with their long, elegant stems, always attached to the berry, giving a more dramatic and exotic presentation.  But forget a martini; enjoy caper berries in your meal preparations with a nice glass of chilled Inzolia !  The smaller caper buds are more intense and piquant and are easier to use in dishes than caper berries.  Italians never waste any edible part of a plant or animal; the caper leaves are also enjoyed, as they are great on salads, on fish, and even fried as chips.  Gianluca Rottura   https://piazzalife.com/2019/08/capers-buds-berries-leaves/   

Flanderization  noun   (countable and uncountable, plural Flanderizations) (American spelling, Oxford British English, fandom slang)  (uncountable) The progressive exaggeration of a single trait or set of traits of a fictional character until it overtakes all other characterization [from c. 2006] quotations ▼  (countable) An instance of this.  quotations ▼  Alternative forms  Flanderisation (British spelling)  flanderization  https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Flanderization#English

The episode “When Flanders Failed” of the American animated television series The Simpsons was first broadcast on October 3, 1991.   

October 4, 2021, is designated by the United Nations as World Habitat Day to encourage reflection on the state of towns and cities, and on people’s basic right to adequate shelter.  It is also marked as World Architecture Day by the International Union of Architects.   

http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com  Issue 2432  October 4, 2021