A banana republic is a country with an economy of state capitalism, whereby the country is operated as a private commercial enterprise for the exclusive profit of the ruling class.  Such exploitation is enabled by collusion between the state and favored economic monopolies, in which the profit, derived from the private exploitation of public lands, is private property, while the debts incurred thereby are the financial responsibility of the public treasury.  Such an imbalanced economy remains limited by the uneven economic development of town and country, and usually reduces the national currency into devalued banknotes (paper money), rendering the country ineligible for international development credit.   In the 19th century, the American writer O. Henry (William Sydney Porter, 1862–1910) coined the term banana republic to describe the fictional Republic of Anchuria in the book Cabbages and Kings (1904), a collection of thematically related short stories inspired by his experiences in Honduras, where he lived for six months until January 1897, hiding in a hotel while he was wanted in the U.S. for embezzlement from a bank.  In the early 20th century, the United Fruit Company, a multinational American corporation, was instrumental in the creation of the banana republic phenomenon.  Together with other American corporations, such as the Cuyamel Fruit Company, and with occasional support from the United States government, the corporations created the political, economic, and social circumstances that established banana republics in Central American countries such as Honduras and Guatemala.  The history of the banana republic began with the introduction of the banana fruit to the U.S. in 1870, by Lorenzo Dow Baker, captain of the schooner Telegraph, who bought bananas in Jamaica and sold them in Boston at a 1,000% profit.  The banana proved popular with Americans, as a nutritious tropical fruit that was less expensive than locally grown fruit in the U.S., such as apples.  See graphics at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banana_republic

William Sydney Porter (O. Henry) was born on a plantation in Greensboro, North Carolina on September 11, 1862.  In 1882, prompted by ill health, he moved to a ranch in West Texas.  Two years later, he moved to Austin where he resided until 1898.  During Porter's early years in the city, he held several jobs.  He was a pharmacist at the Morley Drug Store, a bookkeeper for Joe Harrell, and later, a clerk at Maddox Brothers and Anderson, general land agents.  As a bachelor, he enjoyed singing with the Hill City Quartet, known for serenading young women on the streets of Austin.  The group also entertained at local weddings, church festivals, and picnics.  Porter was a frequenter of the Bismark Saloon, his favorite "watering hole".  The Rolling Stone, his 1894 venture in writing and publishing a newspaper, gained a healthy circulation of about 1000 in a city of 11,000.  Despite public interest, Porter was unable to make a profit and stopped production after a year.  Further disappointments ensued when discrepancies in his accounting at the bank amounted to over $4000, demanding his resignation.  Porter removed himself to Houston where he wrote a column for the Houston Post.  To avoid an embezzlement trial, he fled to New Orleans and embarked on a steamer to Honduras.  In his desperate situation, he impulsively planned to wait out the statute of limitations in Central America, but he abandoned this plan when he got word that his wife was about to die.  He returned to Austin to care for her and to await his trial. Shortly after his wife's death in 1897, William Porter was convicted of embezzlement and sentenced to five years in the federal penitentiary in Columbus, Ohio and he never returned to Texas.  After his release from prison, Porter moved briefly to Pittsburgh and then to New York City, where he established residency.  While in prison, Will Porter adopted the pen name O. Henry and began his career as a short story writer.  His work was prolific but began to decline, along with his health, after 1907.  O. Henry died in New York City in 1910, prior to his forty-eighth birthday.  His legacy continues in the O. Henry Award, one of the most prestigious short story prizes in America.  https://library.austintexas.gov/ahc/o-henry-biography-352976 

Our word, "arugula," wasn't all that commonly used in the U.S. until the 1980s, when it started catching on in trendy food circles.  Before then, it was mostly used among Italian-Americans, who used the word "rucola" or "arugula" to refer to the plant, depending on what part of the Old Country they came from.  Rucola is the Standard Italian word for the plant today, but the OED notes that the word in Calabria (the toe of the boot) is aruculu.  Most Italian emigrants to the U.S. came from the South, bringing their dialects with them, so it makes sense that the calabrese term (or something similar) would be the one to filter into American English.  "Rocket," on the other hand, came up to English from a northern Italian dialect word, ruchetta, which worked its way over the Alps and became the French roquette.  Englishmen then did away with the poncy French "qu," turned that feminine "ette" into a more utilitarian "et," and ended up with "rocket."  Sam Dean  https://www.bonappetit.com/test-kitchen/ingredients/article/the-etymology-of-the-word-arugula  See also https://oldwayspt.org/recipes/marinated-chickpea-arugula-salad-insalata-di-ceci-e-ruchetta 

The phrase going to hell in a handbasket is an American invention, and that it first appeared in print, as far as we know, in 1865:  “Thousands of our best men were prisoners in Camp Douglas, and if once at liberty would ‘send abolitionists to hell in a hand basket.'”  The question, of course, is “why a handbasket”?   Is there something particularly diabolical about handbaskets (small baskets with handles, usually used for carrying fruit or flowers) that makes them suitable for conveying one to Hades?   The answer appears to be no, since “going to hell in a handcart” seems to be a popular variant in Britain, and “going to hell in a bucket” is popular on the internet (as well as a wide variety of lame puns such as “going to hell in a Hummer” and “in a handbag”).  I think the addition of “in a handbasket” (or “handcart”) served two  purposes.  The first is simple alliteration, always a good way to make a phrase catchy and memorable.  The second, the idea of being carried to hell in a basket or cart, makes the journey more concrete in the listener’s mind, since “go to hell” by itself is a worn phrase hardly anyone takes literally anymore.  The basket or cart also implies swift and irrevocable transport to doom.  http://www.word-detective.com/2009/02/hell-in-a-handbasket/

"Going to hell in a handbasket", "going to hell in a handcart", "going to hell in a handbag", "go to hell in a bucket", "sending something to hell in a handbasket" and "something being like hell in a handbasket" are variations on an American allegorical locution of unclear origin, which describes a situation headed for disaster inescapably or precipitately.  I. Winslow Ayer's 1865 polemic alleges, "Judge Morris of the Circuit Court of Illinois at an August meeting of Order of the Sons of Liberty said:  "Thousands of our best men were prisoners in Camp Douglas, and if once at liberty would 'send abolitionists to hell in a hand basket.'"  The origin of the phrase although much debated has been attributed to the gold rush where men were lowered by hand in baskets down mining shafts to set dynamite which could have deadly consequences.   However, the usage probably dates much earlier with either the baskets used to catch guillotined heads or maybe as far back as the Bible’s account in Exodus of Moses being placed in a handmade basket.  As a consequence, the earlier usages date back to the Journal entitled Weekly Pacquet of Advice from Rome:  or, The history of popery, dating from 1862 that stated: " . . . that noise of a Popish Plot was nothing in the world but an intrigue of the Whigs to destroy the Kings best Friends, and the Devil fetch me to Hell in a Hand basket, if I might have my will, there should not be one Fanatical Dog left alive in the three Kingdoms."  This would make the saying not of U.S. origin.  Even earlier iterations of this phrase are "go to hell in a wheelbarrow" and "go to hell in a handcart".  Evidently, the idea of being carted to hell in a wheelbarrow can be seen on such religious iconography as the stained glass windows of Fairford Church in Gloucestershire and Hieronymus Bosch's painting The Haywain, circa 1515, and was used in sermons dating back to 1841.  Find uses in popular culture at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/To_hell_in_a_handbasket 

Top 10 novels told in a single day by James Clammer   From James Joyce and Virginia Woolf to Nicholson Baker, the ‘circadian novel’ can pack lifetimes of experience into 24 hours.  The ten examples deserving of measurement against the finest atomic clock range from #1, Ulysses by James Joyce to #10, Pincher Martin by William Golding.  https://www.theguardian.com/books/2021/jun/09/top-10-novels-told-in-a-single-day-james-clammer-insignificance 

http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com  Issue 2392  July 19, 2021 

Writing is rewriting—a lot of rewriting.  Most of us understand the desire to be clear and articulate, respected and maybe adored.  Fiction reveals to us how impossible and irrelevant these desires are.  Our characters are searching for equilibrium in a little dinghy in the aftermath of that metaphysical tsunami.  They are looking for meaning that resonates with their desire to understand.  Words are the major tools for survival in the human realm.  Elements of Fiction by Walter Mosley 

The verb “puzzle”—to perplex or confuse, bewilder or bemuse—is of unknown origin.  “That kind of fits,” said Martin Demaine, an artist in residence at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.  “It’s a puzzle where the word ‘puzzle’ comes from.”  His son, Erik Demaine, an M.I.T. computer scientist, agreed.  “It’s a self-describing etymology,” he said.  The father-son duo is most famous for mathematical investigations into paper folding, with “curved-crease sculptures”—swirling loops of pleated paper that resemble intergalactic interchanges.  Curved origami dates to late 1920s Bauhaus; a classic specimen starts as a circular piece of paper, which, when folded along concentric circles, automatically twists into a saddle curve.  The Demaines’ trio of pieces, “Computational Origami,” was part of the 2008 “Design and the Elastic Mind” exhibit at the Museum of Modern Art in New York and now resides in its permanent collection.  In a 2015 paper, “Fun With Fonts: Algorithmic Typography,” the Demaines explained their motivations:  “Scientists use fonts every day to express their research through the written word.  But what if the font itself communicated (the spirit of) the research?  What if the way text is written, and not just the text itself, engages the reader in the science?”   Take, for instance, a new font in their collection that debuts June 25, 2021:  the Sudoku Font.  The inspiration came in the fall of 2019, when Erik Demaine co-taught the course “Fundamentals of Programming” (with the computer scientist Srini Devadas).  During one class, Dr. Demaine and his 400 freshmen and sophomores programmed a Sudoku solve —they wrote code that solved a Sudoku puzzle.  The Demaines began this puzzle-font experiganza around the turn of the century with a dissection puzzle—a puzzle whereby one shape, or polygon, is sliced up and reassembled into other geometric shapes.  Their motivation was a problem posed in 1964 by Harry Lindgren, a British-Australian engineer and amateur mathematician:  Can every letter of the alphabet be dissected into pieces that rearrange to form a square?  Siobhan Roberts  See graphics at https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/25/science/puzzles-fonts-math-demaine.html 

The Ohio Literary Trail celebrates the Buckeye State's role in shaping culture and literature worldwide.  Along the trail, developed by the Ohioana Library Association, lie historic homes, museums, library collections and historical markers honoring great authors, poets and influencers of the literary landscape.  Following the state's five geographic regions for convenient self-guided tours, curious explorers can walk in the footsteps of Harriet Beecher Stowe and poet Paul Laurence Dunbar.  They can view renowned collections of comics, picture book art and Nancy Drew-themed artifacts.  Or they can tour the home and farm of Pulitzer Prize winner and conservationist Louis Bromfield.   https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/56790079-the-ohio-literary-trail 

For around two hundred years, investigators ranging from John Hunter (in the 1700s) to Audrey Smith and James Lovelock (in the 1950s) attempted to suspend the animacy of living beings—from frogs to hamsters—in hopes of reviving them upon thawing.  Hunter was determined to discover the essence of life—and also to bag a fortune in creating a means of time travel into the future by freezing oneself to stop the clock on aging and then eventually reanimating.  Smith and Lovelock, more practically, aimed to advance medical practices.  Regardless, in key respects the process was the same:  freeze, wait, reanimate.  Success, however, was never achieved.  Smith and Lovelock’s failure in the 1950s to freeze and revive rabbits and monkeys marked formal science’s latest attempt to reanimate frozen mammals.  The Life Extension Society was founded in 1964.  (It wasn’t until 1965, however, that an industrial engineer and cryonicist in New York by the name of Karl Werner invented the term “cryonics” by fusing cryo- and bionics.)  Other groups formed in California and Michigan, where Ettinger was president of the Cryonics Society of Michigan.  Yet something crucial was missing:  the first patient!  Evan Cooper, who founded the Life Extension Society after reading Ettinger’s book, made extensive efforts to promote cryonics to both scientists and the public at large.  Dismayed by the lack of appeal generated after two years, he wrote, “Are we shouting in the abyss?  How could 110 million go to their deaths without one, at least trying for a life in the future via freezing?  Where is the individualism, scientific curiosity, and even eccentricity we hear so much about?”  The Life Extension Society even offered to freeze the first volunteer free of charge.  In 1967, a golden opportunity presented itself.  A series of events that would generate worldwide news about cryonics was about to unfold.  The first volunteer had arrived. A patient diagnosed with terminal cancer expressed interest in being frozen.  The stage was set with a call between Robert Nelson, an ex-TV repairman who was president of the Life Extension Society, and Robert Ettinger.  Nelson recalled, “Well, I called Robert Ettinger that night, and I told him what had happened. And he said, oh my god, this is the biggest thing that’s happened in the cryonics program.  Out Cold: A Chilling Descent into the Macabre, Controversial, Lifesaving History of Hypothermia by Philip Jaekl, copyright © 2021.  https://lithub.com/the-science-and-science-fiction-of-cryonic-preservation/ 

Korean food is often characterized by the Five Cardinal Colors, or Obangsaek; which represents the five natural elements in yellow, blue, white, red, and black.  Obangsaek is based on ‘yin & yang’ and the ‘five movements’ principle, which says the spirits of yin and yang gave birth to Heaven and Earth, creating the five elements of wood, fire, earth, metal, and water.  It also refers to the five cardinal points of north, south, east, west, and center.  In Korean cuisine, many dishes strive to include all of the five colors, such as Bibimbap.  Suji Park  See pictures at https://sujiskorean.com/korean-101/   See also https://harindabama.com/2018/08/04/korean-food-colors-and-textures/ 

The early editions of Henry David Thoreau’s posthumous publications listed no editors.  Later, early Thoreau biographers credited Ralph Waldo Emerson and Ellery Channing with putting these editions together and seeing them through publication.  But actually, as literature scholar Kathy Fedorko tells us, this work was accomplished by Thoreau’s executor: his sister, Sophia Thoreau.  “Sophia’s most demanding task after Henry’s death [1862] involved dealing with his manuscripts left in three trunks,” Fedorko writes.  “Most importantly to posterity, and contrary to critical disdain about her ability to do so, Sophia kept these manuscripts in meticulous order, selected an editor for her brother’s Journal, and, on her own, edited four posthumous volumes of Henry’s essays.”  During his life, Henry published two books, Walden and a Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers.  This makes the great majority of his work posthumous.   https://daily.jstor.org/sophia-thoreau-to-the-rescue/  See also The Myth of Henry David Thoreau’s Isolation at https://daily.jstor.org/myth-henry-david-thoreaus-isolation/ 

We denizens of Earth have a common vice:  We take what we're offered, whether we need it or not.  You can get into a lot of trouble that way. - Robert Sheckley, science-fiction author (16 Jul 1928-2005) 

http://librariansmuse.com  Issue 2391  July 16, 2021 

A.Word.A.Day with Anu Garg

hallmark  (HAHL-mark)  noun  1.  A mark of quality, genuineness, or excellence.  2.  A distinguishing feature or characteristic.  After Goldsmiths’ Hall in London, where articles of gold and silver were appraised and stamped.  Earliest documented use:  1721.

golden parachute  (GOL-den par-uh-shoot)  noun  An agreement to pay generous compensation to a company executive if dismissed.  From the idea of a parachute softening the blow of an ejection from a high office and the color golden alluding to the large payment received on dismissal.  Earliest documented use:  1981.

pyrite  (PY-ryt)  noun  1.  A shiny yellow mineral of iron disulfide.  Also known as iron pyrites or fool’s gold.  2.  Something that appears valuable but is worthless.  From Latin pyrites (flint), from Greek pyrites lithos (stone of fire, flint), from its shiny surface and its use for starting fire.  Earliest documented use:  1475.

extrality  (ek-STRAL-i-tee)  noun  Exemption from local laws:  the privilege of living in a foreign country, but subject only to the home country’s jurisdiction. 

Cook's Tour may refer to:  Cook's Tour, a nickname for tours of Thomas Cook  *  "Cook's Tour", an episode of Silk Stalkings  *  "Cook's Tour", an episode of Emergency!  *  A Cook's Tour (book), a book by Anthony Bourdain  *  A Cook's Tour (TV series)  Kook's Tour, a 1970 film  See also  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cook%27s_Tour 

The Grapes of Wrath is an American realist novel written by John Steinbeck and published in 1939.  The book won the National Book Award and Pulitzer Prize for fiction, and it was cited prominently when Steinbeck was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1962.  Set during the Great Depression, the novel focuses on the Joads, a poor family of tenant farmers driven from their Oklahoma home by drought, economic hardship, agricultural industry changes, and bank foreclosures forcing tenant farmers out of work.  Due to their nearly hopeless situation, and in part because they are trapped in the Dust Bowl, the Joads set out for California along with thousands of other "Okies" seeking jobs, land, dignity, and a future.  While writing the novel at his home, 16250 Greenwood Lane, in what is now Monte Sereno, California, Steinbeck had unusual difficulty devising a title.  The Grapes of Wrath, suggested by his wife Carol Steinbeck, was deemed more suitable than anything by the author.  The title is a reference to lyrics from "The Battle Hymn of the Republic", by Julia Ward Howe.  Steinbeck scholar John Timmerman sums up the book's influence:  "The Grapes of Wrath may well be the most thoroughly discussed novel--in criticism, reviews, and college classrooms--of 20th century American literature."  The Grapes of Wrath is referred to as a Great American Novel.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Grapes_of_Wrath 

If you’ve traveled to Wölffer Estate Vineyard on Long Island, you might have seen winemaker Roman Roth walking around with a full glass of pale golden liquid in his hand.  As he makes his way through the property, Roth likes to hold the stem and raise the vessel to guests—especially now that it has become safer for them to visit, something worthy of a toast.  What you might not know, though, is that his glass usually contains a mixture of water and verjus, not chardonnay or sauvignon blanc.  “It’s lovely to have something sour, refreshing and nonalcoholic during the day,” he says.  At Wölffer Kitchen Amagansett, you can order a leveled-up version of Roth’s drink:  The Free Spirit cocktail is a mixture of sparkling water, verjus, blueberries and raspberries on ice, garnished with a basil leaf.  Verjus, the juice of unripened wine grapes (vert jus is French for “green juice”), is a treasure made from what some might consider to be trash.  Grapes can struggle to develop the fully ripened, concentrated flavors required for winemaking if there are too many of them on the vine, fighting for sun exposure.  So, just before veraison, a stage during which grapes start to change color and sugars accumulate, growers assess the crop load and remove clusters to give the remaining fruit a chance at maturity.  Some years, Roth says, he has cut 30 percent of his crop.  Why let it rot on the ground when it can be turned into something that celebrates its youth?  Although it has been around since the medieval era, verjus, sometimes called verjuice, still isn’t a household word.  But those who have tasted the bright, crisp liquid—mainly chefs—make salad dressings with it or finish a braise with a couple dashes, giving the rich, meaty stew a light, subtle lift impossible with vinegar.  Though the acid is tamer than that of vinegar, you still don’t want to drink verjus straight.  Try mixing it with sparkling water, or in the Verjus Spritz.  Once opened, store your bottle in the fridge and use it within two to three months.  Julia Bainbridge  https://www.washingtonpost.com/food/2021/06/08/verjus-recipes/ 

What's the origin of the phrase 'Truth is stranger than fiction'?  This proverbial saying is attributed to, and almost certainly coined by, Lord Byron, in the satirical poem Don Juan, 1823:  ' Tis strange - but true; for truth is always strange; Stranger than fiction; if it could be told, How much would novels gain by the exchange!  How differently the world would men behold!   How oft would vice and virtue places change!  The new world would be nothing to the old, If some Columbus of the moral seas Would show mankind their souls' antipodes.  https://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/truth-is-stranger-than-fiction.html 

In 1858 Josiah Henson (1789-1883), a Maryland-born slave, wrote an autobiography titled Truth Stranger than Fiction.  Henson was supposedly the real-life Uncle Tom in Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe.  https://www.trivia-library.com/b/origins-of-sayings-truth-is-stranger-than-fiction.htm

In 1897 Mark Twain released a travel book titled “Following the Equator:  A Journey Around the World”, and the fifteenth chapter presented the following epigraph:  Truth is stranger than fiction, but it is because Fiction is obliged to stick to possibilities; Truth isn’t. — Pudd’nhead Wilson’s New Calendar.  Pudd’nhead Wilson was the name of a fictional character in a novel Twain published a few years before the travel book.  Find other phrasings at https://quoteinvestigator.com/2015/07/15/truth-stranger/ 

http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com  Issue 2390  July 14, 2021

From the Muser’s collection of bookmarks:  Libraries:  learning for life  *  A book is the world made small  *  A good book is a good friend  *  Every hero has a story  *  I make a difference  

The word batik is thought to be derived from the word 'ambatik' which translated means 'a cloth with little dots'.  The suffix 'tik' means little dot, drop, point or to make dots.  Batik may also originate from the Javanese word 'tritik' which describes a resist process for dying where the patterns are reserved on the textiles by tying and sewing areas prior to dying, similar to tie dye techniques.  Another Javanese phase for the mystical experience of making batik is “mbatik manah” which means “drawing a batik design on the heart”.  Although experts disagree as to the precise origins of batik, samples of dye resistance patterns on cloth can be traced back 1,500 years ago to Egypt and the Middle East.  Samples have also been found in Turkey, India, China, Japan and West Africa from past centuries.  Although in these countries people were using the technique of dye resisting decoration, within the textile realm, none have developed batik to its present day art form as the highly developed intricate batik found on the island of Java in Indonesia.  For special occasions, batik was formerly decorated with gold lead or gold dust.  This cloth is known as Prada cloth.  The Central Javanese used gold dust to decorate their Prada cloth.  It was applied to the fabric using a handmade glue consisting of egg white or linseed oil and yellow earth.  The gold would remain on the cloth even after it had been washed.  The gold could follow the design of the cloth or could take on its own design.  Older batiks could be given a new look by applying gold to them.  Gold decorated cloth is still made today; however, gold paint has replaced gold dust and leaf.  Although there are thousands of different batik designs, particular designs have traditionally been associated with traditional festivals and specific religious ceremonies.  Certain batik designs are reserved for brides and bridegrooms as well as their families.  Other designs are reserved for the Sultan and his family or their attendants.  A person's rank could be determined by the pattern of the batik he/she wore.  In general, there are two categories of batik design:  geometric motifs (which tend to be the earlier designs) and free form designs, which are based on stylized patterns of natural forms or imitations of a woven texture.  See many pictures at https://www.expat.or.id/info/batik.html

Gibberish, also called jibber-jabber or gobbledygook, is speech that is (or appears to be) nonsense.  It may include speech sounds that are not actual words, or language games and specialized jargon that seems nonsensical to outsiders.  "Gibberish" is also used as an imprecation to denigrate or tar ideas or opinions the user disagrees with or finds irksome, a rough equivalent of "nonsense", "folderol", or "claptrap".  The implication is that the criticized expression or proposition lacks substance or congruence, as opposed to simply being a differing view.  The related word jibber-jabber refers to rapid talk that is difficult to understand.  The etymology of gibberish is uncertain.  The term was first seen in English in the early 16th century.  It is generally thought to be an onomatopoeia imitative of speech, similar to the words jabber (to talk rapidly) and gibber (to speak inarticulately).  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gibberish 

Procida, a tiny spot of land in the Bay of Naples, might be best known as the island between Ischia and Capri.  But in late January 2021, it was named Italy’s Capital of Culture for 2022, beating nine other candidates—a mix of cities and small towns—and becoming the first island to ever be granted the title.  Under two square miles in total, the island has mostly flown under the tourist radar (except in July and August, when many Neapolitans come here for their summer vacations), overshadowed by its better-known siblings.  This is all despite its big-screen moments—Procida has served as the set of The Talented Mr. Ripley and Il Postino—and the fact that it features the same pastel houses, cafes-lined marinas, and narrow streets as its bigger counterparts, but also historic sites, wild nature, and near-empty beaches.  The Capital of Culture announcement was marked by church bells and celebrations among its 10,500 inhabitants.  The proposal that earned the island the award—and 1 million euros—includes 44 projects spanning art, urban regeneration, environmental sustainability and more, involving 240 artists and 40 original works.  Marianna Cerini  See pictures at https://www.cntraveler.com/story/procida-italy-capital-of-culture-2022 

The first principle, nature and time, is central to Korean cooking, says Soyoung Paik, the chief marketing officer at CJ Foods, one of the largest manufacturers of Korean food products worldwide and makers of Bibigo, Korea’s number one brand of Mandu (dumplings).  Korean food is seasonally driven, centered on vegetables but also featuring seafood and meat from the shores and robust landscape of the peninsula. Traditional Korean cooking employs ancient ways to preserve ingredients for year-round enjoyment.  Fermented products, like kimchi and jangs, are foundational in the winter.  Bold condiments not only characterize the assertive flavors of Korean cuisine; they also provide essential nutrients and are beneficial for digestive health.  Second, a foundational philosophy of Korean cuisine is “yak sik dong won,” which literally means “food is medicine.”  In other words, health begins with what you eat.  Kimchi, for example, not only contains healthy fiber and probiotics, but has been shown in scientific studies to help support a flourishing gut biome and immune system.  In addition, Korean cuisine’s abundance of heart-healthy seafood and a robust spectrum of vegetables and herbs like ginseng contribute to a balanced, nutritious diet.  Finally, Korean food is infused with the concept of balance.  While much of Korean cooking is famous for its heat, other staples like aromatic broths, rice, and the delicate doughy skins of Mandu are more nuanced and mild.  Signature dishes like bibimbap balance carbohydrates, fiber, and protein in one satisfying serving.  https://www.washingtonpost.com/brand-studio/wp/2021/06/01/feature/how-korean-food-philosophy-can-help-us-reconnect/ 

Carlos Páez Vilaró (1923-2014) was a Uruguayan abstract artist, painter, potter, sculptor, muralist, writer, composer and constructor.  Carlos Páez Vilaró was born in Montevideo, Uruguay.  He took up drawing in 1939 and relocated to Buenos Aires, where he worked as a printing apprentice in the industrial Barracas section of the Argentine capital.  Returning to Montevideo in the late 1940s, he developed an interest in Afro-Uruguayan culture.  Settling in Montevideo's primarily black neighbourhood of "Mediomundo" ("Half-World"), he studied the Candombé and Comparsa dances characteristic to the culture.  He composed numerous musical pieces in the two genres and conducted an orchestra.  His group's congas and bongos were decorated with their leader's own thematic drawings, as well.  His interest in the culture later led him to Brazil, home to the western hemisphere's largest population of African descent.  Páez Vilaró was invited to exhibit some of this work by the Director of the Modern Art Museum of Paris, Jean Cassou, in 1956.  He traveled to Dakar, Senegal, later that year--his first visit to Africa.  He was one of the "Grupo de los 8", a movement of Uruguayan artists formed in 1958 together with Oscar García Reino, Miguel Ángel Pareja, Raúl Pavlovsky, Lincoln Presno, Américo Sposito, Alfredo Testoni and Julio Verdie in order to promote new tendencies in painting.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carlos_P%C3%A1ez_Vilar%C3%B3 

INSULTS  Their banjo is short a few strings.  *  A few castanets short of a mariachi band.  *  Not the sharpest cheese in the bin.  *   Not singing from the same hymn sheet.  *  Knitting with only one needle.  *  A few peas short of a casserole.  *  Not the brightest bulb in the box.  Find over 250 one-liners at https://dan.hersam.com/lists/not_bright.php 

ADDITIONS/SUBSTITUTIONS  If your recipe calls for water or milk, you may use all (or part) of the quantity with tea, coffee, wine, or beer.  Add rhubarb to beef stew.  Thank you, Muse reader! 

http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com  Issue 2389  July 12, 2021 

Golden handcuffs are a collection of financial incentives that are intended to encourage employees to remain with a company for a stipulated period of time.  Golden handcuffs are offered by employers to existing key employees as a means of holding onto them as well as to increase employee retention rates.  Golden handcuffs are common in industries where highly-compensated employees are likely to move from one company to another.  Will Kenton  https://www.investopedia.com/terms/g/goldenhandcuffs.asp 

Gold-collar worker--introduced in the early 2000s---refers to a high skilled multi-disciplinarian or knowledge worker who combines intellectual labor—which is typically white-collar—with the manual labor of blue-collar positions.  Armed with highly specialized knowledge, gold-collar workers usually engage in problem-solving or complex technical work in fields such as academic/scientific research, engineering technicians and advanced technology industries.  Find eleven other collar designations for workers at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Designation_of_workers_by_collar_color 

The first bag-in-a-box wine was produced in 1965 by Thomas Angove of Australia.  Mr. Angove’s creation—containing, initially, a blend of Cabernet, Grenache and Shiraz—came to be called a “wine cask.”  It didn’t include a spigot; rather, users closed the plastic bag themselves with a rubber band, clip or self-sealing tab.  Working with Penfolds manager Ian Hickinbotham, Charles Malpas, an English inventor transplanted to Australia, created a special flow-tap, introduced in 1967, for the Penfolds winery’s Tablecask box wine.  Lettie Teague  The Wall Street Journal  June 5, 2021  

Wolf Trap’s beginnings tie back to philanthropist Catherine Filene Shouse, who in 1966 donated money and the land that would become Wolf Trap National Park for the Performing Arts to the National Park Service.  She had a fondness for music, specifically opera, which still has a visible presence at Wolf Trap through several programs and initiatives.  But over the years, Wolf Trap has played host to virtually every type of performer on the planet.  As Wolf Trap approaches its 50th anniversary, find facts about the sprawling 117-acre park’s history.  Lyle Lovett, Judy Collins and Mary Chapin Carpenter have played the venue more than 20 times.  Those three artists are some of the acts that have performed the most at Wolf Trap.  Others that played at the park frequently include John Prine (19 times), Emmylou Harris (19), the Beach Boys (18), Tony Bennett (18) and Bonnie Raitt (18).  The Indigo Girls return to Wolf Trap on Sept. 22 for their 19th appearance, in concert with Ani DiFranco.  Stephanie Williams  Find graphics and summer of 2021 schedule at https://www.washingtonpost.com/goingoutguide/music/wolf-trap-50th-anniversary/2021/06/22/7e80353a-cf75-11eb-8014-2f3926ca24d9_story.html 

Sheri Reynolds is the author of the novels Bitterroot Landing, The Rapture of Canaan (an Oprah book club selection and New York Times bestseller), A Gracious Plenty, Firefly Cloak, The Sweet In-Between, The Homespun Wisdom of Myrtle T. Cribb, The Tender Grave and the play, Orabelle's Wheelbarrow.  Sheri grew up in a large, extended family in rural South Carolina.  She graduated from Conway High School in 1985, Davidson College in 1989, and Virginia Commonwealth University in 1992.  She teaches creative writing and literature at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, VA, where she serves as the Ruth and Perry Morgan Chair of Southern Literature.  She has also taught at Virginia Commonwealth University, The College of William and Mary, and Davidson College.  https://wombat-tarpon-g8xs.squarespace.com/#about 

Ahdele B. “Peggy” Young  (1923-2017), a graduate of the Univ. of Minnesota,  moved to Dayton, OH in the late 1940s and worked as an ad copywriter for Rike's Department Store.  On May 10, 1949, she married Gerald W. Young, the owner of G.W. Young Public Relations.  In 1957 they bought their farm in rural Miami County, outside Tipp City, and lived there raising Welsh ponies with their two children.  This was the subject of her first book, entitled Green Broke, written under the name of Carrie Young.  It received the Ohioana Book Award in 1982.  She continued writing and had published three subsequent books all set in the North Dakota Depression era of her childhood:  Nothing to Do but Stay:  My Pioneer Mother; The Wedding Dress:  Stories from the Dakota Plains; and Prairie Cooks (reminiscences and recipes) written with her daughter Felicia Young.  She also wrote essays for Gourmet Magazine and The Yale Review.  https://www.legacy.com/obituaries/tdn-net/obituary.aspx?n=ahdele-b-young-peggy&pid=187164534&fhid=17944  See also http://www.shortstoryinsights.com/home/the-wedding-dress-stories-from-the-dakota-plains-by-carrie-young 

The animals depicted, directly or indirectly, in the National Museum of Natural History’s “Unsettled Nature” include birds, snakes and elephants.  But the creature that dominates, while unseen in any of the artworks, is the one invoked in the show’s subtitle: “Artists Reflect on the Age of Humans.”  The first art exhibition of its kind in the museum’s 111-year history, the show is an unprecedented endeavor prompted by extraordinary developments—none of them favorable to the continued study of natural history.  The museum staff decided the situation is so complex that they had to turn to photography and conceptual art to address it.  Just seven artists are featured, but their pieces are large and powerful.  Unsettled Nature:  Artists Reflect on the Age of Humans  National Museum of Natural History, 10th Street and Constitution Avenue NW. naturalhistory.si.edu.  Dates: Through March, 2022.  Admission:  Free.  Advance, timed-entry tickets required.  Mark Jenkins  See graphics at https://www.washingtonpost.com/goingoutguide/museums/national-museum-natural-history-unsettled-nature-art-review/2021/07/03/2e557b02-d505-11eb-ae54-515e2f63d37d_story.html 

-topia  also ‑topic and ‑topian.  A place with specified characteristic . Greek topos, place.  The key term here is utopia (Greek ou, not), an imagined place or state of things in which everything is perfect; dystopia (Greek dus‑, bad) was later invented as its opposite.  In recent decades, more words in this ending have appeared, such as ecotopia, a community whose environment is organized on ecological and environmentally sensitive principles; subtopia (from suburb), a British term for an unsightly, sprawling suburban development; and technotopia (from technology), a vision of a utopia brought about by science and technology.  https://www.affixes.org/alpha/t/-topia.html#:~:text=In%20recent%20decades%2C%20more%20words,technology)%2C%20a%20vision%20of%20a  Copyright © Michael Quinion 2008 

EURO 2020 has been a heck of a show this summer, with games held in cities across Europe to celebrate the tournament’s 60th anniversary.  The final game (Match 51) is Sunday, July 11. 2021:  Italy v England – 3pm ET (London)  https://soccer.nbcsports.com/2021/07/07/euro-2020-watch-live-stream-schedule-fixtures-odds-predictions-start-time-today-final-england-italy/ 

http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com  Issue 2388  July 9, 2021

Light & Fluffy Sheet Pan Pancakes by Meghan Splawn  Cut into 12 fluffy squares after baking.  https://www.thekitchn.com/sheet-pan-pancakes-recipe-23059380  See also https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/food-network-kitchen/four-flavor-sheet-pan-pancakes-4623207

ium  word-forming element in chemistry, used to coin element names, from Latin adjectival suffix -ium (neuter of -ius), which formed metal names in Latin (ferrum "iron," aurum "gold," etc.).  In late 18c chemists began to pay attention to the naming of their substances with words that indicate their chemical properties.  Berzelius in 1811 proposed forming all element names in Modern Latin.  As the names of some recently discovered metallic elements already were in Latin form (uranium, chromium, borium, etc.), the pattern of naming metallic elements in -ium or -um was maintained.  https://www.etymonline.com/word/-ium   

A monkey wrench is a type of adjustable wrench or spanner.  And to throw a monkey wrench into the machinery is a metaphor for disrupting something, a metaphor of throwing a heavy metal object into machinery.  The term originated in Britain, although nowadays it’s primarily found in North American speech and writing.  Why it is called a monkey wrench is uncertain, and there are a number of possibilities, as well as a series of false etymologies based on the name of its supposed inventor.  Among the likely origins are that the wrench could be so called because it is a metal object that moves up and down a vertical shaft, not unlike a monkey climbing up and down a tree.  Others have observed that the head of the wrench resembles a monkey’s head.  https://www.wordorigins.org/big-list-entries/monkey-wrench

A false etymology (fake etymology, popular etymology, etymythology, pseudo-etymology, or par(a)etymology) is a popular but false belief about the origin or derivation of a specific word.  It is sometimes called a folk etymology, but this is also a technical term in linguistics.  Such etymologies often have the feel of urban legends, and can be more colorful and fanciful than the typical etymologies found in dictionaries, often involving stories of unusual practices in particular subcultures (e.g. Oxford students from non-noble families being supposedly forced to write sine nobilitate by their name, soon abbreviated to s.nob., hence the word snob).  Many recent examples are "backronyms" (acronyms made up to explain a term), such as posh for "port outward, starboard homeward".  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/False_etymology 

Remaindered books or remainders are printed books that are no longer selling well, and whose remaining unsold copies are liquidated by the publisher at greatly reduced prices.  While the publisher may take a net loss on the sales of these books, they are able to recover at least some of their sunken costs on the sale and clear out space in the warehouses.  Only hardcovers and trade paperbacks (paperback books, often larger than "pocket" paperbacks, sold "to the trade" or directly to sales outlets) are typically remaindered.  A book that might retail for $20 to $30 will typically be purchased by someone specializing in remainders for $1 and resold for approximately $5 to $15.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Remaindered_book 

Keith Duncan Mallett (born October 7, 1948) is an American artist who has worked as a painter, etcher and ceramic artist.  His subject matter ranges from figurative to still life and abstracts.  Mallett's work has been exhibited worldwide and is featured in corporate and private collections.  He has also enjoyed considerable success with numerous sold-out limited-edition prints, and was given the commission to craft the official limited-edition print commemorating the 50th anniversary of Jackie Robinson's breakthrough into major league baseball.  At twelve Mallet began painting as a hobby.  Keith studied painting at the Art Students League and Hunter College in New York City.  Both stints at college led his professors to encourage him to work professionally and he gained positions working for several of his professors.  While in New York, Mallett began working for the music industry painting record covers for Virgin Records and creating T-shirts for several well-known music groups.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keith_Mallett 

In the First World War the phrase “over the top” was used by the British to describe the infantry emerging from the safety of their trenches to attack the enemy across open ground.  An early example of that in print is from a 1916 edition of War Illustrated:  "Some fellows asked our captain when we were going over the top."  More recently, with allusion back to the WWI usage, the phrase has come to describe excessive or foolhardy actions.  This figurative use originated not long after the war and the earliest record of it that I've found is in Lincoln Steffens' Letters, 1935:  "I had come to regard the New Capitalism as an experiment till, in 1929, the whole thing went over the top and slid down to an utter collapse."  Since the 1980s, in the UK at least, the phrase is often shortened to OTT.  O. T. T. was the adult version of the anarchic children's TV show Tiswas.  It was broadcast by the UK television network Central Television in 1982.  https://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/over-the-top.html 

Franklin Park Mall in Toledo, Ohio reaches 50 years old July 22, 2021.  Over its retailing history, Franklin Park has reinvented itself twice well in excess of $117 million, grown from a planned 300,000 square feet to the current 1.3 million square feet, replaced large department store anchors five times, and expanded to over 150 retailers from an original 75—only four of which remain:  J.C. Penney, General Nutrition, Lane Bryant, and Spencer's Gifts.  The mall is now under the direction of Pacific Retail Capital Partners, the fourth management company since its doors opened in 1971.  The original floor plan—and the mall's original and uncomfortable floor was the biggest complaint by customers over its 50-year history—provided four court areas, the most prominent being Center Court with its 35-foot-high fountain that shot up into its classic suspended "sky cube" and second level mezzanine.  When the 2005 renovation occurred, the sky cube was removed, cut up, and became part of the Monroe Street entrance.  A courtyard in front of the J.L. Hudson store, now Macy's, had a "stabile" abstract sculpture by internationally famed artist Alexander Calder.  It was commissioned by Hudson's for $125,000 (about $830,000 today) but later donated to the Toledo Museum of Art.  The museum later sold the stabile, named Oscar, to fund additional art purchases, but Oscar recently was restored and is now displayed by its new owners, the Carli Fine Art Conservatory in Carlsbad, Calif.  Jon Chavez  https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/age-50-franklin-park-mall-030500938.html  See pictures of Calder’s sculpture Oscar at https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.1823583794335534.1073741830.247389418621654&type=3 

http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com  Issue 2387  July 7, 2021