The egg of the ostrich (genus Struthio) is the largest of any living bird.  The shell has a long history of use by humans as a container and for decorative artwork.  The female common ostrich lays her fertilized eggs in a single communal nest, a simple pit, 30 to 60 cm (12–24 in) deep and 3 m (9.8 ft) wide, scraped in the ground by the male.  The dominant female lays her eggs first, and when it is time to cover them for incubation she discards extra eggs from the weaker females, leaving about 20 in most cases.  A female common ostrich can distinguish her own eggs from the others in a communal nest.  Ostrich eggs are the largest of all eggs, though they are actually the smallest eggs relative to the size of the adult bird—on average they are 15 cm (5.9 in) long, 13 cm (5.1 in) wide, and weigh 1.4 kilograms (3.1 lb), over 20 times the weight of a chicken's egg and only 1 to 4% the size of the female.  They are glossy cream-colored, with thick shells marked by small pits.  The eggs are incubated by the females by day and by the males by night.  This uses the coloration of the two sexes to escape detection of the nest, as the drab female blends in with the sand, while the black male is nearly undetectable in the night.  The incubation period is 35 to 45 days, which is rather short compared to other ratites.  This is believed to be the case due to the high rate of predation.  Typically, the male defends the hatchlings and teaches them to feed, although males and females cooperate in rearing chicks.  Fewer than 10% of nests survive the 9 week period of laying and incubation, and of the surviving chicks, only 15% of those survive to 1 year of age.  A possible origin for the myth that ostriches bury their heads in sand to avoid danger lies with the fact that ostriches keep their eggs in holes in the sand instead of nests, and must rotate them using their beaks during incubation; digging the hole, placing the eggs, and rotating them might each be mistaken for an attempt to bury their heads in the sand.  In Thebes, Egypt, the tomb of Haremhab, dating to approximately 1420 BC, shows a depiction of a man carrying bowls of ostrich eggs and other large eggs, presumably those of the pelican, as offerings.  Ostrich eggshells were used as containers in North Africa as early as the fourth millennium BC and in the Royal Cemetery at Ur from the third millennium.  From the first millennium in the ancient Punic civilization, there are many examples of ostrich eggs decorated with painted geometric designs for use as cups and bowls.  These have been found in Carthage, Sardinia, Sicily, the Iberian Peninsula and Ibiza.  The tradition of using ostrich eggs as containers (sometimes decorated) continues to the present among the San people.  Today, ostrich eggs are a special luxury food.  See graphics at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ostrich_egg

Lee Godie was born Jamot Emily Godie in Chicago.  She later married and had three children.  Following the death of two of her children and the failure of her marriage, she chose to make her home on the streets of Chicago.  Around 1968 she started to offer her canvases to passersby and art patrons in downtown parks and on the steps of the Chicago Art Institute on North Michigan Avenue.  She proclaimed herself Lee Godie - French Impressionist, and noted how she was "much better than Cezanne."  She claimed her financial success was due to the advice of Renoir to “paint beauty”.  She would only sell her paintings to people she felt would be suitable purchasers.  There was no guarantee she would even talk to you, much less sell you an artwork.  http://www.blacksheepart.com/godie.html 

February 5, 2022  Thomas Beard was sitting at a desk the other day, in a small room in the back of Light Industry, a film and electronic-arts venue, of which he is a founder.  A vase of yellow tulips was before him.  In April 2022, Light Industry will move to new digs, and, in the interim, Beard has decided to use the back room for an unusual project:  selling all his books.  The thought of letting go of his collection, amassed over twenty years and largely kept in storage, came to him during the pandemic.  “The books were locked away like a dowry, and I wanted them to have a life in the world.”  And so:  Monday Night Books.  “I figured I could do it one evening a week,” he said.  “It seemed perfect.”  “The books were locked away like a dowry, and I wanted them to have a life in the world.”  “This isn’t really a business—it’s a slow-motion garage sale,” he went on.  “When the books are gone, I’ll close up shop.”  The only items he has decided to keep are his working library of film books and his cookbooks.  “But only proper cookbooks!” he clarified.  “Like, Elizabeth David’s ‘Harvest of the Cold Months:  A Social History of Ice and Ices’?  That is here.”  Just weeks into the project’s run, the stock had already been reduced by hundreds of volumes, and the space was bustling with masked customers riffling eagerly through the wares, like hypebeasts at a limited-edition sneaker drop.  “Nothing is truly gone,” he said.  “If I want to read, say, the letters of Rosa Luxemburg, I can still go to the library and take them out.  Naomi Fry  February 14 & 21, 2022 The New Yorker issue, with the headline “Book Sale.” 

The brain is an energy-intensive organ, using around 20 percent of the body’s calories, so it needs plenty of good fuel to maintain concentration throughout the day.  The brain also requires certain nutrients to stay healthy.  Omega-3 fatty acids, for example, help build and repair brain cells, and antioxidants reduce cellular stress and inflammation, which are linked to brain aging and neurodegenerative disorders, such as Alzheimer’s disease.  Foods to boost brain function are:  oily fish, dark chocolate, berries, nuts and seeds, whole grains, coffee, avocados, peanuts, eggs, broccoli, kale and soy.  https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/324044 

Duke Humfrey's Library is the oldest reading room in the Bodleian Library at the University of Oxford.  Until 2015, it functioned primarily as a reading room for maps, music, and pre-1641 rare books; following the opening of the new Weston Library, it is now an additional reading room for all users of the Bodleian, as the Weston Library operates a reading room for special collections.  It consists of the original medieval section (1487), the Arts End (1612), and the Selden End (1637).  It houses collections of maps, music, Western manuscripts, and theology and arts materials.  The library is on the first floor and forms an H-shape with the later parts as the uprights.  The medieval section is above the Divinity School and Selden End (named after John Selden a benefactor of the library) is above the Convocation House.  Duke Humfrey's Library was used as the Hogwarts Library in the Harry Potter films.  Duke Humfrey's Library is named after Humphrey of Lancaster, 1st Duke of Gloucester, a younger son of Henry IV of England.  He was a connoisseur of literature and commissioned translations of classical works from Greek into Latin.  When he died in 1447, he donated his collection of 281 books to the University of Oxford.  At the time, this was considered an incredibly generous donation as the university only had 20 books.  See many pictures at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duke_Humfrey%27s_Library 

Get a taste of the Big Easy with the best recipes for Mardi Gras.  Whether it's king cake, beignets or muffuletta, these classic Mardi Gras recipes are so good, you'll be making them long after Fat Tuesday is over.  Caroline Stanko  https://www.tasteofhome.com/collection/best-mardi-gras-recipes/ 

March dates of interest:  1:  Peace Corps established, 1961; 11:  first confirmed cases of Spanish flu in the U.S., 1918; 13:  Daylight Saving Time begins; 20:  Spring begins; 28:  term “Big Bang” coined, 1949 

http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com  Issue 2501  February 28, 2022