To do the opposite of something is also a form of imitation. - Georg Christoph Lichtenberg, scientist and philosopher (1 Jul 1742-1799)

Mary Leonora Carrington OBE (1917–2011) was a British-born, naturalized Mexican surrealist painter and novelist.  She lived most of her adult life in Mexico City and was one of the last surviving participants in the surrealist movement of the 1930s.  Carrington was also a founding member of the women's liberation movement in Mexico during the 1970s.  At the age of ten, she saw her first Surrealist painting in a Left Bank gallery in Paris and later met many Surrealists, including Paul Éluard.  Her father opposed her career as an artist, but her mother encouraged her.  She returned to England and was presented at Court, but according to her, because she had no intention of being "sold to the highest bidder" she brought a copy of Aldous Huxley's Eyeless in Gaza (1936) to read instead.  In 1935, she attended the Chelsea School of Art in London for one year, and with the help of her father's friend Serge Chermayeff, she was able to transfer to the Ozenfant Academy of Fine Arts established by the French modernist Amédée Ozenfant in London (1936–38).   She became familiar with Surrealism from a copy of Herbert Read's book, Surrealism (1936), given to her by her mother, but she received little encouragement from her family to forge an artistic career.  The Surrealist poet and patron Edward James was the champion of her work in Britain; James bought many of her paintings and arranged a show in 1947 for her work at the Pierre Matisse Gallery in New York.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leonora_Carrington  Thank you, Muse reader! 

Only a few female North American songbirds sing, but the female Northern Cardinal does, and often while sitting on the nest.  This may give the male information about when to bring food to the nest.  A mated pair shares song phrases, but the female may sing a longer and slightly more complex song than the male.  A perennial favorite among people, the Northern Cardinal is the state bird of seven states.  https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Northern_Cardinal/overview# 

These non-migrating birds operate as a flock in the winter to better forage and this are called a “Vatican of Cardinals.”  The selection of state birds began with Kentucky adopting the northern cardinal in 1926.  It continued when the legislatures for Alabama, Florida, Maine, Missouri, Oregon, Texas and Wyoming selected their state birds after a campaign was started by the General Federation of Women's Clubs to name official state birds in the 1920s.  The last state to choose its bird was Arizona in 1973.  Pennsylvania never chose an official state bird, but did choose the ruffed grouse as the state game bird. Alaska, California, and South Dakota permit hunting of their state birds. Alabama, Georgia, Massachusetts, Missouri, Oklahoma, South Carolina, and Tennessee have designated an additional "state game bird" for the purpose of hunting.  The northern cardinal is the state bird of seven states, followed by the western meadowlark as the state bird of six states.  The District of Columbia designated a district bird in 1938.  Of the five inhabited territories of the United States, American Samoa and Puerto Rico are the only ones without territorial birds.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._state_birds  

The Seven Crystal Balls is the thirteenth volume of The Adventures of Tintin, the comics series by Belgian cartoonist Hergé.  The story was serialised daily in Le Soir, Belgium's leading francophone newspaper, from December 1943 amidst the German occupation of Belgium during World War II.  The story was cancelled abruptly following the Allied liberation in September 1944, when Hergé was blacklisted after being accused of collaborating with the occupying Germans. After he was cleared two years later, the story and its follow-up Prisoners of the Sun were then serialised weekly in the new Tintin magazine from September 1946 to April 1948.  The story revolves around the investigations of a young reporter Tintin and his friend Captain Haddock into the abduction of their friend Professor Calculus and its connection to a mysterious illness which has afflicted the members of an archaeological expedition to Peru.  The Seven Crystal Balls was a commercial success and was published in book form by Casterman shortly after its conclusion, while the series itself became a defining part of the Franco-Belgian comics tradition.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Seven_Crystal_Balls#  

Ernő Rubik (born 13 July 1944) is a Hungarian inventor.  He is best-known for creating the Rubik's Cube (1974), Rubik's Magic, Rubik's Magic: Master Edition, and Rubik's Snake.  While Rubik became famous for inventing the Rubik's Cube and his other puzzles, much of his recent work involves the promotion of science in education.  Rubik is involved with several organizations such as Beyond Rubik's Cube, the Rubik Learning Initiative and the Judit Polgar Foundation, all of which aim to engage students in science, mathematics, and problem solving at a young age.  Rubik studied sculpture at the Academy of Applied Arts and Design in Budapest and architecture at the Technical University, also in Budapest.  While a professor of design at the academy, he pursued his hobby of building geometric models.  One of these was a prototype of his cube, made of 27 wooden blocks; it took Rubik a month to solve the problem of the cube.  Rubik admits to being a lifelong bibliophile and has stated, "Books offered me the possibility of gaining knowledge of the world, nature and people."  Rubik is fond of outdoor activities such as walking through nature, playing sports, and sailing on Lake Balaton. Rubik is also an avid gardener and has stated that "collecting succulents is my favourite pastime.  See a list of prizes and awards at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ern%C5%91_Rubik 

http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com Issue 2833  July 1, 2024