Edward Oxford (1822–1900) was an English man who attempted to assassinate Queen Victoria in 1840.  He was the first of seven unconnected people who tried to kill her between 1840 and 1882.  Born and raised in Birmingham, he showed erratic behaviour which was sometimes threatening or violent.  He had a series of jobs in pubs, all of which he lost because of his conduct.  In 1840, shortly after being dismissed from yet another pub, he purchased two pistols and fired twice at Queen Victoria and her husband, Prince Albert.  No-one was hurt.  Oxford was arrested and charged with high treason.  A jury found that he was not guilty by reason of insanity and he was detained indefinitely at Her Majesty's pleasure at the two State Criminal Lunatic Asylums:  first at Bethlem Royal Hospital and then, after 1864, Broadmoor Hospital.  Visitors and staff did not consider him insane.  In 1867 Oxford was given the offer of release if he relocated to a British colony; he accepted and settled in Melbourne, Australia, under the new name "John Freeman".  He worked as a decorator, married and became a respected figure at his local church.  He began writing stories on the seedier aspects of Melbourne life for The Argus, which were published under the pseudonym "Liber".  He later published a book, Lights and Shadows of Melbourne Life, which looks at both the wealthy and seamy parts of Melbourne.  Oxford's trial, and the later M'Naghten case led to an overhaul of the law on criminal insanity in England.  In January 1843 Daniel M'Naghten murdered Edward Drummond—the private secretary to the Prime Minister—mistaking him for the Prime Minister, Robert Peel.  Like Oxford, M'Naghten was also found not guilty on the grounds of insanity.  The cases of Oxford and M'Naghten prompted the judiciary to frame the M'Naghten rules on instructions to be given to a jury for a defence of insanity.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Oxford    

The crunchiness of Anzac Biscuits goes back to the roots of when they were invented--by soldiers’ wives who needed a biscuit recipe that would stay fresh for the months that it would take to reach soldiers overseas back in the early 1900’s.  The warm sweetness from the golden syrup combined with the wholesome goodness of oats and coconut is a flavour that is unique to this crunchy Australian biscuit.  This is a biscuit that Aussies make to commemorate ANZAC Day.  “ANZAC” stands for Australian and New Zealand Army Corps.  And ANZAC Day–25 April 1915–is Australia’s most important national occasion each year, marking the anniversary of the first major military action fought by Australian and New Zealand forces during the First World War during which there were heavy casualties.  It is said that the wives of soldiers came up with the original Anzac Biscuits using ingredients such that the biscuits stayed fresh for the weeks it took to reach the soldiers overseas.  I’m told that the original Anzac biscuits were as hard as a rock, so hard in fact that some soldiers would grind them up and use them as porridge.  Find recipe at https://www.recipetineats.com/anzac-biscuits-golden-oatmeal-cookies/   

Deriving from Greek, kudos entered English as slang popular at British universities in the 19th century.  In its earliest use, the word referred to the prestige or renown that one gained by having accomplished something noteworthy.  The sense meaning "praise given for achievement" came about in the 1920s.  As this later sense became the predominant one, some English speakers, unaware of the word's Greek origin, began to treat the word as a plural count noun, inevitably coming up with the back-formation kudo to refer to a single instance of praise.  For the same reason, when kudos is used as a subject you may see it with either a singular or plural verb.  https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/kudos   

Carter Godwin Woodson (1875–1950) was an American historian, author, journalist, and the founder of the Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASALH).  He was one of the first scholars to study the history of the African diaspora, including African-American history.  A founder of The Journal of Negro History in 1916, Woodson has been called the "father of black history."  In February 1926, he launched the celebration of "Negro History Week," the precursor of Black History Month.  Woodson was an important figure to the movement of Afrocentrism due to his perspective of placing people of African descent at the center of the study of history and the human experience.  Born in Virginia, the son of former slaves, Woodson had to put off schooling while he worked in the coal mines of West Virginia.  He graduated from Berea College, and became a teacher and school administrator.  Earning graduate degrees at the University of Chicago, Woodson then became the second African American, after W. E. B. Du Bois, to obtain a PhD degree from Harvard University. Woodson is the only person whose parents were enslaved in the United States to obtain a PhD in history.  Largely excluded from the uniformly-white academic history profession, Woodson realized the need to make the structures which support scholarship in black history, and black historians.  He taught at historically black colleges, Howard University and West Virginia State University, but spent most of his career in Washington, D.C., managing the ASALH, public speaking, writing, and publishing.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carter_G._Woodson   

In the 18th Century, over the space of several decades, a group of around 81,000 people moved to America from the conflict-ravaged German region of the Palatinate (Pfalz in German).  Among them were a few hundred followers of Jakob Ammann, a Swiss religious leader.  They had left Switzerland and settled in Alsace and Palatinate, but were now on the move again–to Pennsylvania, a religiously tolerant colony, where they would become known as the Amish.  In their new environment, the settlers adapted this nature-watching, weather-forecasting ritual to a creature that didn't exist back home: the North American groundhog.  Since they had no word for it, they called it "Die Grundsau", a translation of the English "Groundhog".  Another word is "Grunddachs", meaning "ground-badger".  Sophie Hardach  https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20240131-how-the-pennsylvania-dutch-created-groundhog-day 

http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com  Issue 2778  February 2, 2024