Jacques Pepín Omelet

Today @jacquespepinfoundation is teaching my daughters how to make the perfect omelette!  I’m a lucky dad that my daughters can learn from such an incredible person.  Thank you Jacques for taking the time to show us how to make the perfect omelette, we can still improve . . . but for a first time it went really good!  https://joseandres.com/recipesforthepeople/jacques-pepin-omelet/    

In articulatory phonetics, a consonant is a speech sound that is articulated with complete or partial closure of the vocal tract, except for the h sound, which is pronounced without any stricture in the vocal tract.  Examples are [p] and [b], pronounced with the lips; [t] and [d], pronounced with the front of the tongue; [k] and [g], pronounced with the back of the tongue; [h], pronounced throughout the vocal tract; [f], [v], [s], and [z] pronounced by forcing air through a narrow channel (fricatives); and [m] and [n], which have air flowing through the nose (nasals).  Most consonants are pulmonic, using air pressure from the lungs to generate a sound.  Very few natural languages are non-pulmonic, making use of ejectives, implosives, and clicks.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Consonant 

Eero Saarinen (1910–1961) was a Finnish-American architect and industrial designer who created a wide array of innovative designs for buildings and monuments, including the General Motors Technical Center; the passenger terminal at Dulles International Airport; the TWA Flight Center (now TWA Hotel) at John F. Kennedy International Airport; the Vivian Beaumont Theater at Lincoln Center; and the Gateway Arch.  He was the son of Finnish architect Eliel Saarinen.  Eero Saarinen was born in Hvitträsk, Finland (then an autonomous state in the Russian Empire) on August 20, 1910, to Finnish architect Eliel Saarinen and his second wife, Louise, on his father's 37th birthday.  They migrated to the United States in 1923, when Eero was thirteen.  He grew up in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, where his father taught and was dean of the Cranbrook Academy of Art, and he took courses in sculpture and furniture design there.  He had a close relationship with fellow students, designers Charles and Ray Eames, and became good friends with architect Florence Knoll (née Schust). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eero_Saarinen     

lawfare (uncountable)  noun

(informal) The bringing of legal proceedings against an opponent, often only to attack, harass, or intimidate.  [from 19th c.] quotations ▼ The tongue-in-cheek International Be Kind to Lawyers Day created by Steve Hughes falls April 8, 2025, the second Tuesday of April.  https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/lawfare#English   

George Smith (26 March 1840–19 August 1876) was a pioneering English Assyriologist who first discovered and translated the Epic of Gilgamesh, one of the oldest-known written works of literature.  As the son of a working-class family in Victorian England, Smith was limited in his ability to acquire a formal education.  At age fourteen, he was apprenticed to the London-based publishing house of Bradbury and Evans to learn banknote engraving, at which he excelled. From his youth, he was fascinated with Assyrian culture and history.  In his spare time, he read everything that was available to him on the subject.  His interest was so keen that while working at the printing firm, he spent his lunch hours at the British Museum, studying publications on the cuneiform tablets that had been unearthed near Mosul in present-day Iraq by Austen Henry Layard, Henry Rawlinson, and Hormuzd Rassam, during the archaeological expeditions of 1840–1855.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Smith_(Assyriologist)   

http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com  Issue 2926  April 9, 2025

Generally, an unopened jar of conventional peanut butter can last in your pantry for six to nine months, while an open jar can last for about two to three months.  "To extend its shelf life past that time, it's OK to store in the fridge," says Lisa Young, PhD, RDN, an adjunct professor of nutrition at New York University.  "It may last another three months or so."  https://www.marthastewart.com/8233953/should-you-refrigerate-peanut-butter 

A silent letter is a letter that isn’t heard when a particular word is pronounced. Think of the “b” in subtle, the “a” in bread, and the “h,” in ghost.  Almost every word in the alphabet plays the role of a silent letter in at least one word.  According to Ursula Dubosarky—author of “The Word Snoop”—about 60% of English words contain silent letters.  There are silent consonants as well as silent vowels.  They can be found at the beginning, middle, or end of a word.  Find examples of silent letters at https://languagetool.org/insights/post/what-are-silent-letters/#:~:text=A%20silent%20letter%20is%20a,yourself%20with%20these%20pesky%20characters. 

Doctor Marigold is a novella by the famous Victorian novelist Charles Dickens (1812-1870) that tells the story of a “Cheap-Jack” who sells inexpensive articles to the poor in popular fairs.  After losing both his daughter and wife, he decides to adopt a deaf and mute girl and names her Sophy after his dead daughter.  hroughout the two chapters of the book, Dickens portrays the activities of salesmen in the markets and gives samples of the captivating jingles and patters that they sing.  “No one is useless in this world who lightens the burdens of another.”   Charles Dickens  https://www.amazon.com/Charles-Dickens-Doctor-Marigold-lightens/dp/1780006330    

muscle memory noun

The physiological adaptation of the body to repetition of  a specific physical activity, resulting in increased subconscious neuromuscular control when performing that activity again.  Today is the International Day of Sport for Development and Peace, which is recognized by the United Nations to celebrate the power of sport to drive community development and social change, and to foster peace and understanding.  The first Olympic Games of the modern era began in Athens, Greece, on April 6, 1896.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muscle_memory

The first written evidence of the official Games dates from 776 BC, when the Greeks began measuring time in Olympiads, or the duration between each edition of the Olympic Games.  The first Olympic Games were held every four years in honour of the god Zeus.  From then on, a number of artistic activities such as music, singing, poetry and theatre were organised at the Pythian or Delphic Games (a separate event to the Games held in Olympia), linking culture and sport right from the beginning of the Games.  In 393 AD, the Roman Emperor Theodosius I banned the Olympic Games for religious reasons, claiming that they encouraged paganism.  They were not revived until the modern era.  A number of initiatives to re-establish an international sporting event were attempted at the end of the 19th century, but failed due to the lack of coordination among the worldwide sporting movement--until one man decided to bring the main stakeholders together in Paris. The Olympic Games were therefore revived at the first Olympic Congress, organised by Baron Pierre de Coubertin and held at the Grand Amphitheatre at the Sorbonne University from 16 to 23 June 1894.  Two thousand people attended, including 58 French delegates representing 24 sports organisations and clubs, and 20 delegates from Belgium, Great Britain, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Russia, Spain, Sweden and the United States representing 13 foreign sports federations.  As the congress came to an end on 23 June, the Olympic Games were reborn and the International Olympic Committee created.  The first Olympic Games of the modern era took place in Athens, in the country where the original Games took place in Antiquity, in April 1896.  Paris hosted the second Games in 1900.  The Paris 1900 Olympic Games saw women compete for the first time.  https://www.olympics.com/en/news/the-history-of-the-olympic-games   

Today is recognized by the United Nations as World Health Day to draw attention to global health issues.  It marks the founding of the World Health Organization on April 7, 1948.   

http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com  Issue 2925  April 7, 2025

 

March 25, 2025  The United States Marine Band was forced to cancel a concert with students of colour following President Donald Trump’s decision to ban diversity programmes within the federal government and military.  The concert, due to take place May, 2025 was to feature top pre-college musicians of diverse racial and ethnic backgrounds who had been auditioned by Equity Arc, a nonprofit based in Chicago which connects students of colour with music mentors and opportunities.  The group of marines and young musicians were programmed to perform Nobles of the Mystic Shrine by American composer John Philip Sousa, who directed the band in the late 19th century.  https://www.classicfm.com/music-news/us-marine-band-cancel-concert-students-colour-kennedy-center/       The island of Lampedusa is Italy's southernmost piece of land—it's so far south of mainland Europe that it's geologically a part of Africa.  Just off its shore, there is a small islet called Isola dei Conigli (Rabbit Islet) with a rather misleading name.  Rabbit Islet is actually not always an island, and sometimes a small isthmus of sand connects it to Lampedusa.  Because of this peculiar feature, the island was called Rabit Islet in an 1824 nautical map, referring to the Arabic term rabit, meaning "link" or "connection."  In later maps, this name was thought to be a spelling mistake and "rabit" became "rabbit."  Another theory about the origin of the island's name says that the small land connection allowed some rabbits to reach the islet from Lampedusa.  But when the tide swallowed the land bridge, the rabbits got stuck on the island and, doing what rabbits do, rapidly reproduced and overpopulated the place.  According to this theory, the rabbit colony later died off, but the island's name survived.  Today, the islet is part of a natural reserve and its beach is one of the few places where the loggerhead sea turtle lays eggs.  It is also populated by many gulls and lizards, but no rabbits.  https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/rabbit-islet  McGuffin or MacGuffin was coined by film director Alfred Hitchcock (1899-1980).  He borrowed it from a shaggy-dog story where a train passenger is carrying a large odd-shaped package.  The passenger calls it a MacGuffin and explains:  A device that helps propel the plot in a story but is of little importance in itself.  McGuffin could be a person, an object, or an event that characters of a story are interested in but that, intrinsically, is of little concern.  For example, in Hitchcock's movie North by Northwest, thugs are on the lookout for a character named George Kaplan.  Roger Thornhill, an ad executive, gets mistaken for Kaplan and so he is chased instead. Meanwhile Thornhill himself tries to find Kaplan who doesn't even exist.  Hitchcock explained the term in a 1939 lecture at Columbia University:  "In regard to the tune, we have a name in the studio, and we call it the 'MacGuffin'.  It is the mechanical element that usually crops up in any story.  In crook stories it is always the necklace and in spy stories it is always the papers. We just try to be a little more original."  (quoted from the Oxford English Dictionary)  Hitchcock to the curious fellow passengers that it's a device used to catch lions in Scottish Highlands.  When they protest that there are no lions in the Highlands, he simply replies, "Well, then this can't be a MacGuffin."

https://wordsmith.org/words/mcguffin.html   

http://librariansmuse,blogspot.com  Issue 2924  April 4, 2025

A clap-o-meter, clapometer or applause meter is a measurement instrument that purports to measure and display the volume of clapping or applause made by an audience.  It can be used to indicate the popularity of contestants and decide the result of competitions based on audience popularity.  Specific implementations may or may not be based on an actual sound level meters.  Clap-o-meters were a popular element in talent shows and television game shows in the 1950s and 1960s, most notably Opportunity Knocks, but have been since been supplanted by other, more sophisticated, methods of measuring audience response.  In 1989, Green unsuccessfully attempted to sue the New Zealand Broadcasting Corporation for copyright infringement over a similar programme.  The clap-o-meter was one of the distinctive features of the format by which Green sought to define it as copyrightable.  The courts found that a loose format defined by catchphrases and accessories, such as the clap-o-meter, was not copyrightable.  Clap-o-meters continue to be used.  They are often regarded as a novelty or item of amusement rather than an accurate method to measure popularity.  Even so, they are sometimes used to judge winners in fairly serious competitions such as battle of the bands competitions.  In politics, a politician's popularity is sometimes gauged by the applause they achieve when giving speeches.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clap-o-meter  

Ann Goldstein (born June 1949) is an American editor and translator from the Italian language.  She is best known for her translations of Elena Ferrante's Neapolitan Quartet.  She was the panel chair for translated fiction at the US National Book Award in 2022.  She was awarded the PEN Renato Poggioli prize in 1994 and was a Guggenheim Fellow in 2008.   Ann Goldstein grew up in Maplewood, New Jersey.  She attended Bennington College, in Vermont, where she read Ancient Greek.  She then studied comparative philology at University College, London.  After her graduation, in 1973, Goldstein began work at Esquire magazine as a proof-reader.  In 1974, she joined the staff of The New Yorker, working in the copy department and becoming its head in the late 1980s. She retired from The New Yorker in 2017.   From 1987, Goldstein edited John Updike's literary reviews contributed to The New Yorker.  During her time at The New Yorker, Goldstein, along with some colleagues, began taking Italian lessons.  Over a period of three years, from 1987, they studied the language and read all of Dante's works.  In 1992, Goldstein received Chekhov in Sondrio, a book by Aldo Buzzi, an Italian writer, and she attempted to translate an essay from it.  This became Goldstein's first translation publication, coming out in the Sept. 14, 1992, edition of the New Yorker.   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ann_Goldstein_(translator)  

March 29, 2025  It's a hot and muggy summer day in Sicily's Madonie mountains, a rugged range of ridges about 65km east of Palermo.  In a field of ash trees, the buzzing of cicadas is interrupted by a voice.  "You came at the right time," says Giulio Gelardi, a local farmer pointing towards a white-streaked branch.  "This is the famous manna."  Along the bark of each tree are thick lines of manna, a white mineral-rich resin referenced in the Bible 17 times that has been used as a natural sweetener and medicinal aid for centuries.  Manna harvesting (the practice of cutting the bark of Fraxinus ornus trees to collect their sap), used to be a common practice throughout the Mediterranean.  But in the past 80 years, urbanisation and industrialisation have led to it nearly vanishing.  For the past 30 years, Gelardi has made it his mission to put this Biblical superfood back on our tables, and today, this once-forgotten sap is being used by chefs and pastry makers in innovative ways.  Even if you've never tasted manna, you may have heard of it.  The phrase "manna from heaven" refers to a Biblical story where a food falls from the sky to nourish the Israelites as they crossed the Sinai desert.  In Exodus, manna is described as a "flaky substance as fine as frost blanketed on the ground". While experts disagree what substance, specifically, this passage refers to, a honey-like, flaky and frost-coloured resin named manna has been extracted from the bark of ash trees in the Mediterranean region for more than a millennium.  In the Madonie mountains--home to the 40,000-hectare Madonie Natural Park--manna harvesting dates back to at least the 9th Century when the island was under Arab rule.  During the Renaissance, Sicilian farmers used to collect this sweet sap--which tastes like cane sugar with almond undertones--and sell it to merchants from around the Mediterranean, a highly profitable trade that led the Kingdom of Naples to put taxes on it during the 16th Century.  Until World War Two, manna farming was a way of life for many Sicilian families.  Footage from 1936 shows local farmers harvesting the substance.  https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20250328-the-return-of-sicilys-  

Clown doctor noun  A clown who visits hospitals in a costume which is a combination of attire worn by a clown and a doctor to entertain (young) patients. March 30 is National Doctors’ Day in the United States, which recognizes the service rendered by physicians.  On this day in 1842, the American surgeon Crawford Long first used general anaesthesia during a surgery.  https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/clown_doctor#English

 http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com  Issue 2923  March 31, 2025

Christian Carmack Sanderson (1882–1966) was a teacher, fiddler, square dance caller, poet, and noted local historian in southeastern Pennsylvania in the early to mid-20th century.   He corresponded with a wide range of notable people of his time and was a remarkable collector of historical memorabilia (which are the basis of the collections on display in the Christian C. Sanderson Museum).  Sanderson lived the latter part of his life in Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania, and was friends with the Wyeth family there (including artists N.C., Andrew and Jamie). From 1906 to 1922, Sanderson lived in the Benjamin Ring House, which was Washington's Headquarters before and after the Battle of Brandywine and "more than any individual in his time, Christian Sanderson focused attention on the Battle".  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_C._Sanderson 

Chris Sanderson was an inveterate radio performer who was well known for his work.  His broadcasting career spanned 43 years and four different area radio stations.  His first broadcast was in March of 1923 on station WFI in Philadelphia, for the Boy Scouts of America; his last was in October of 1966 on station WCOJ in Coatesville, less than a month before he passed away.  His first orchestra, “The Delmarvans,” performed briefly on station WILM in Wilmington in 1930.  His weekly program, “Old Folks at Home,” ran from 1930 to 1940 on WDEL in Wilmington, and was notable because in those 10 years Chris never missed or was even late for a scheduled broadcast.  At the time, this was believed to have been a world’s record for continuous broadcasting.  This, despite the fact that Chris did not own a car; he lived in Pocopson (15 miles away), then in Chadds Ford (10 miles away); and no matter the season, weather, or other circumstances, he depended entirely on walking and hitch-hiking for transportation.  The station figured that over that decade, Chris had commuted 13,780 miles to and from the station with no means of transportation but his thumb and his feet!  Invariably, Chris began every broadcast with a cheery, “Good morning, friends.  Here we are once again,” and he ended every broadcast with his signature invocation: 

“May the gods above bless you,
The devils of temptation miss you,
And the angels kiss you . . . with their wings, In your dreams.”  https://sandersonmuseum.org/christian-sanderson/  

Spring has sprung, the grass iz riz,  I wonder where da boidies iz?  Da boid iz on da wing!  Ain’t that absoid?  I always hoid da wing . . .  wuz on da boid!

My all-time favorite is based on Renaissance painter Botticelli’s “La Primavera” (Spring), a beauty I got to see first-hand in the Uffizi Gallery in Florence, Italy. Ottorino Respighi wasn’t creating a piece about the season as much as honoring the allegory painted by Botticelli some 400 years earlier.  Respighi fills it with breezy Renaissance dances as he imagines Botticelli’s depiction of The Three Graces dancing to bird song.  Alexander Glazunov’s Spring, Op.34, is also one of my top choices to hear Spring in music.  It’s another gentle take on the season, asking you to imagine hearing birds just before a spring dawn.  There are so many wonderful spring pieces to explore.  I hope you’ll look for and listen to Schumann’s Symphony No. 1, “Spring,” and Vivaldi’s “Spring,” from The Four Seasons.  Then I’m hoping you’ll get “spring fever” and “branch out” to pieces like Lili Boulanger’s D’un matin de printemps and Verdi’s “Spring” ballet from his opera The Sicilian Vespers, and pieces by Beach, Copland and Grieg.  By Laura Carlo   https://www.classicalwcrb.org/blog/2021-03-30/spring-has-sprung   

There is a British chamber ensemble called The Fibonacci Sequence.  Their recordings include the Schubert Octet and Messiaen’s Quartet for the End of Time.  They are very good.  You can borrow these and other recordings through OhioLink.  Thank you, Muse reader!  

March 25, 2025  CROTON-ON-HUDSON — Road salt and human activities around reservoirs in Putnam and Westchester counties could cause levels of chloride in the reservoirs to exceed New York State standards by 2108, making some of New York City’s water undrinkable.  The revelation comes from a just-released report by the New York City Department of Environmental Protection, which manages the city’s water supply.  The report states that levels of chloride—one of the two chemicals that make up salt—have tripled in the last 30 years in a major reservoir in Westchester County.  The revelation comes from a just-released report by the New York City Department of Environmental Protection, which manages the city’s water supply.  The report states that levels of chloride—one of the two chemicals that make up salt—have tripled in the last 30 years in a major reservoir in Westchester County.  https://www.timesunion.com/hudsonvalley/news/article/new-work-reservoirs-salt-undrinkable-20234117.php

http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com  Issue 2922  March 27, 2025

Note G is a computer algorithm written by Ada Lovelace that was designed to calculate Bernoulli numbers using the hypothetical analytical engine.  Note G is generally agreed to be the first algorithm specifically for a computer, and Lovelace is considered as the first computer programmer as a result.  The algorithm was the last note in a series labelled A to G, which she employed as visual aids to accompany her English translation of Luigi Menabrea's 1842 French transcription of Charles Babbage's lecture on the analytical engine at the University of Turin,  "Notions sur la machine analytique de Charles Babbage" ("Elements of Charles Babbage’s Analytical Machine").  Lovelace's Note G was never tested, as the engine was never built.  Her notes, along with her translation, were published in 1843.  In the modern era, thanks to more readily available computing equipment and programming resources, Lovelace's algorithm has since been tested, after being "translated" into modern programming languages.  These tests have independently concluded that there was a bug in the script, due to a minor typographical error.  In 1840, Charles Babbage was invited to give a seminar in Turin on his analytical engine, the only public explanation he ever gave on the engine.  During Babbage's lecture, mathematician Luigi Menabrea wrote an account of the engine in French. A friend of Babbage's, Charles Wheatstone, suggested that in order to contribute, Lovelace should translate Menabrea's account.  Babbage suggested that she augment the account with appendices, which she compiled at the end of her translation as a series of seven "notes" labelled A-G.  Her translation was published in August 1843, in Taylor's Scientific Memoirs, wherein Lovelace's name was signed "A.A.L".  In these notes, Lovelace described the capabilities of Babbage's analytical engine if it were to be used for computing, laying out a more ambitious plan for the engine than even Babbage himself had.   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Note_G#   

March 14, 2025  Legendary avant-garde composer Sofia Gubaidulina has died in Germany, where she spent more than 30 years of her life after the break-up of the Soviet Union.  Gubaidulina, who was 93, was one of a group of composers blacklisted in the Soviet Union in 1979.  She was one of three legendary, avant-garde Russian composers to be disgraced, along with Alfred Schnittke and Denisov.  "We were all very different artists," she told the BBC in 2013.  "Edison Denisov was a classicist with very subtle yet strict logic.  Alfred Schnittke was a romantic.  My style could be best described as archaic."  It was only when by chance she shared a taxi in Moscow with violinist Gidon Kremer in the late 1970s that her life changed.  He suggested that she write a violin concerto, and it was this composition, Offertorium, in which she borrowed a theme from Bach, that gave her an international following in the West, after it was premiered by Kremer in Vienna in 1981.  Schnittke praised the work as "perhaps the most important violin concerto of the 20th Century".   https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cly8gn8773no   

Hoping to raise a record-breaking amount for charity in March 2025, Jersey Mike’s Subs, known for its authentic fresh sliced/fresh grilled subs, asks customers to eat a sub and help a local cause.  To celebrate the company’s 15^th Annual Month of Giving, Jersey Mike’s locations across the country are joining forces with more than 200 local charities.  During the month of March, customers will have the option to round up their purchase to the nearest dollar or donate $1, $3, or $5 when placing their order.  Charities include hospitals, youth organizations, food banks and more.  The campaign culminates in the nationwide event, Day of Giving, on Wednesday, March 26, when local Jersey Mike’s owners and operators will donate every single dollar that comes in to local charities.  At the first nationwide fundraiser in 2011, all of Jersey Mike’s 454 locations raised $600,000 for 66 charities.  Since then, Jersey Mike’s annual Month of Giving has raised more than $113 million for local hundreds of local charities.  This March, Jersey Mike’s hopes to exceed last year’s record-breaking national fundraising total of $25 million and help local charities striving to fulfill their missions and make a difference.  “I would like to extend a personal invitation to you and your family to visit Jersey Mike’s Subs throughout the month of March, and especially on Day of Giving when 100 percent of sales goes to help a great local cause,” said Peter Cancro, Jersey Mike’s founder and CEO, who this year celebrates 50 years since he bought his first sub shop at age 17.  In each market, Jersey Mike’s owners select charities that support local neighborhoods to build stronger communities.  https://www.jerseymikes.com/mog    

From a reader:  Thank you for covering buckwheat.   I am a huge fan and I eat it every morning for breakfast (mixed with oatmeal.)  One of the reasons I include it in my diet is omitted in your summary but I consider it significant.  AFAIK, NO true cereal grain (including oatmeal) contains a "complete protein."  (Lysine is usually lacking in most cereals.)  Only psuedo-cereals such as buckwheat and quinoa are complete.  (Some sources include amaranth as well.)  Should you become a buckwheat aficionado like myself, I highly recommend Food in Bulk.  https://foodinbulk.com   

The German-born theoretical physicist Albert Einstein (1879–1955), known for developing the theory of relativity, was born on March 14 in 1879.  https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Einsteiny#English   

http://librarianmuse.blogspot.com  2920  March 14, 2025