The word graffiti comes from the Italian language and it is the plural of the word “graffito.”  They are both derived from the word graffio, which means “a scratch.”  The earliest graffiti was created prior to written language and the first drawings on walls appeared in caves thousands of years ago.  “Cueva de las Manos” (The Cave of Hands), located in Santa Cruz, Argentina, offers one of the first fascinating ancient graffiti.  The painting dates from 13,000 to 9,000 BCE.  In the ancient Greek city of Ephesus (located in modern day Turkey) the first known example of “modern style” graffiti can be found.  Goran Blazeski  See many illustrations at https://www.thevintagenews.com/2016/11/17/the-history-of-graffiti-from-ancient-times-to-modern-days/ 

Chinese New Year falls on February 1, 2022, beginning the Year of the Tiger.  Chinese New Year dates are dictated by the Chinese lunisolar calendar, so it is celebrated on a different date in January or February each year.  The celebration actually begins on New Year’s Eve, the night before, when families gather for a big New Year’s Eve dinner, or nián yèfàn (年夜饭).  https://thewoksoflife.com/when-is-chinese-new-year-2022/  See also https://chinesenewyear.net/ 

Seafood is one of Norway’s biggest exports, with cod as the fishing industry’s highest valued catch.  Dried cod, also called tørrfisk, is to Norwegian fish as prosciutto di Parma is to Italian pigs.  And it’s been produced in northern Norway since at least the ninth century, when the Vikings—who traded it for barley and fur—ventured to Iceland, Greenland, and Canada carrying a supply of the wonder ration.  Norway is cod.  That’s what Lofoteners say.  And the aroma is everywhere.  It’s carried by the ocean breeze that rushes in with the omnipresent, low-hanging clouds.  It wafts along roadsides and slips in through open windows, an invisible salty, fishy mist.  The choice ration for ancient Norse long-distance sailors (e.g., Erik the Red and Leif Erikson) dehydrated cod maintains its nutrition and protein for years.  Stockfish is so treasured, so inherent to this place, that it’s earned a protected designation of origin, like champagne or Parmigiano-Reggiano, the first Norwegian comestible to do so.  Lofoteners beam upon its mention.  Leslie Pariseau   https://www.saveur.com/norway-lofoten-dried-cod/ 

The Ballad of Brunhilde and Fredegund, Part One:  The Royal Rumble Begins   The lives of Fredegund and Brunhilde were defined primarily by a mutual hatred for each other.  For many years these two queens of the kingdom of the Franks feuded, and their political schemes, assassinations, and various disputes would be enough to fill a book (which they did) or to make an HBO miniseries (which they should).  Their story is not only interesting for the drama, however.  It also gives modern students of history insight into the nature of queenship during the Early Middle Ages, and shows us that, despite living in a deeply patriarchal society, women could, and often did, still attempt to act for themselves and could be the makers of their own destiny.  https://sites.owu.edu/trident/2021/03/28/the-ballad-of-brunhilde-and-fredegund-part-one-the-royal-rumble-begins/ 

The Ballad of Brunhilde and Fredegund, Part Two:  The Bloody Conclusion  Last we left off, the state of the kingdom of the Franks was an unsteady one, as the balance of power had suddenly shifted with the death of Sigibert and Chilperic.  In short order, their wives were in charge of their kingdoms as regents for their sons. Brunhilde and her son Childebert II waxed in power, seizing much of the lands once belonging to Chilperic and putting his wife and son on the knife’s edge.  https://sites.owu.edu/trident/2021/05/09/the-ballad-of-brunhilde-and-fredegund-part-two-the-bloody-conclusion/ 

Bob Thompson (1937-1966) was an African-American figurative painter known for his bold and colorful canvases, whose compositions were influenced by the Old Masters.  His art has also been described as synthesizing Baroque and Renaissance masterpieces with the jazz-influenced Abstract Expressionist movement.  He was prolific in his eight-year career, producing more than 1,000 works before his death in Rome in 1966.  The Whitney Museum mounted a retrospective of his work in 1998.  He also has works in numerous private and public collections throughout the United States.  Robert Louis Thompson was born and raised in Louisville, Kentucky.  His father died in a car crash when he was 13, and Thompson lived with relatives who exposed him to art and jazz.  He was briefly a pre-med student at Boston University (1955–56) but dropped out and returned to the University of Louisville (1957–58), where he studied painting under German expressionist artist Ulfert Wilke and Charles Crodel.  In 1958 he moved to New York City, where he formed friendships with jazz musicians such as Charlie Haden and Ornette Coleman while a regular at the jazz clubs "The Five Spot" and "Slugs".  He married in 1960 and moved with his wife to Europe in 1961 after receiving a Whitney Foundation fellowship.  They went to London, Paris (staying at the so-called "Beat Museum" hotel) and to Spain, where they settled on Ibiza.   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Thompson_(painter) 

gobo (plural gobos or goboes) (originally US)  noun  (film, photography, television)  A screen (often in disc form) placed between a light and an illuminated actor or object in order to diffuse the glare. [from early 20th c.] quotations ▼ (sound engineering)  A device used to shield a microphone from extraneous sounds. [from early 20th c.]  (theater) A template inserted over a light source to control the shape of the thrown light. [from early 20th c.]  The taproot of young edible burdock plants (Arctium lappa), eaten as a root vegetable.  [from early 19th c.]   Borrowed from Japanese.   https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/gobo#English 

To a poet, silence is an acceptable response, even a flattering one. - Colette, author (28 Jan 1873-1954)

http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com  Issue 2488  January 28, 2022