Named after Neptune’s son and built between Hercules´ pillars, history and mythology are more closely linked in Cadiz than in any other city in Spain.  Its origins date back 3500 years.  Cadiz, the oldest city in the Western world, plays an important role in Greek mythology.  Some legends speak of the fatal encounter between Hercules and King Gerion, situating it in Cadiz (called Gadeira and Erytheia):  Hercules killed the three-bodied winged giant shooting an arrow at the joint of the three bodies.  Cadiz itself is one of the \'Twelve Labours of Hercules\', that is, the separation of Europe from Africa.  The city of Cadiz was founded in 1100 B.C. by Phoenician sailors over the ruins of the one that the people of Tyre had built.  They built a port and a temple, where supposedly Hercules´ashes were kept.  Hercules presence survives to this day in the city’s coat of arms where he stands between the pillars that announced the end of the world.  Cadiz began to grow from the 14th century onwards, reaching its golden age in the 18th century due to its position as the centre of sea routes and commercial trade.  The importance of trade with the Americas was such that Cadiz monopolized all trade within Spain.  Today, this past is still visible in its architecture; Cadiz reminds us of the typical colonial town:  long and narrow streets, sunny squares, and magic gardens.  Later, in the 17th and 18th centuries, Cadiz became a fortified town in order to resist the repeated naval attacks perpetrated by the English.  It was during this period that Cadiz enjoyed its most fruitful economic growth, monopolizing trade with the Americas and forming bridgehead both culturally and politically with the New World.  https://www.spanishincadiz.com/en/cadiz/history-cadiz 

From:  Rachael Cohen  Subject:  Aristology 
I just started reading Poison a la Carte in one of Rex Stout’s Nero Wolfe trilogies. Murder takes place at a dinner hosted by the fine-dining group, the Ten for Aristology.  Wolfe looked up the word in the dictionary and “declared that ‘aristology’ meant the science of dining, and therefore the Ten were witlings, since dining was not a science but an art.”  (Three at Wolfe’s Door, p. 2)  AWADmail Issue 1119  December 10, 2023   

The Raven is a 1963 American comedy gothic horror film produced and directed by Roger Corman.  The film stars Vincent Price, Peter Lorre, and Boris Karloff as a trio of rival sorcerers.  The supporting cast includes Jack Nicholson as the son of Lorre's character.  It was the fifth in the so-called Corman-Poe cycle of eight films largely featuring adaptations of Edgar Allan Poe stories produced by Roger Corman and released by American International Pictures (AIP).  The film was written by Richard Matheson, based on references to Poe's 1845 poem "The Raven".  AIP released the film as a double feature with Night Tide.  Three decades earlier, Karloff had appeared in another film with the same title, Lew Landers's 1935 horror    film The Raven with Bela Lugosi.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Raven_(1963_film)   

Born in 1963, in Los Angeles, and raised in Nashville, Ann Patchett describes herself as being a child who possessed a knack for “stillness” and being alone with her own thoughts, valuable skills for a writer.  She went on to study at Sarah Lawrence College, where literary success came early—she published her first story as an undergraduate in the Paris Review—and later received her MFA from the University of Iowa.  In 2001, not long after the publication of Patchett’s breakout novel, Bel Canto, her literary hero, Eudora Welty, died at the age of ninety-two.  Patchett got into a car and drove 400 miles to attend the funeral of the literary legend she had never met.  She was anticipating a standing-room-only event, she later recounted, and was surprised to find a more modest crowd.  The experience speaks to her belief in the “life-altering” power of fiction and the place writers should have in the culture.  In the years that followed, Patchett has served as an advocate for literature, extolling the pleasures of the short story in her introductory essay to The Best American Short Stories 2006, serving as the honorary chair of World Book Night, and spreading the word about hidden-gem writers such as Edith Pearl.  Alyson Foster  https://www.neh.gov/award/ann-patchett    

Books We Love in 2023 by NPR https://apps.npr.org/best-books/#view=covers&year=2023   

September 21, 2023  You never know what you're going to find while antiquing. What was once bought for a mere $4 at a Savers in Manchester, New Hampshire, just sold for $191,000 at an auction.  Found in a stack of mostly damaged prints and posters was a heavy and dusty painting of two women in front of a religious statue, one with a stern face.  Looking for old frames to repurpose, the thriftier tossed it into their cart, completely unaware of what they discovered.  After hanging in her bedroom for a few years, the oil painting was eventually stored away in a closet.  At one point, she even joked about it being a real painting after not finding any results during a quick internet search, but never really gave it a second thought.  Then, in May, while doing some spring cleaning, the unknown thriftier came across the painting again and decided to post some photos of it on Facebook.  She was quickly referred to the Brandywine Museum of Art in Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania, as well as a conservator--who drove three hours just to view the painting in person.  As it turns out, the work of art that was bought for just a few dollars roughly six years earlier was actually a legitimate and valuable piece by the American painter and illustrator, Newell Convers Wyeth, also known as N.C. Wyeth.  The long-lost painting, identified as Ramona, is one of four illustrations Wyeth made for the 1939 edition of the Helen Hunt Jackson novel, according to the auctioneer Bonhams Skinner. It depicts the tension between Ramona and her mother Señora Moreno.     https://www.cbsnews.com/philadelphia/news/nc-wyeth-ramona-illustration-sold/   

http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com  Issue 2758  December 18, 2023 

The Edible Schoolyard Project is to build and share a national edible education curriculum for pre-kindergarten through high school.  They envision gardens and kitchens as interactive classrooms for all academic subjects, and a free, nutritious, organic lunch for every student.  Integrating this curriculum into schools can transform the health and values of every child in America.  https://www.wholekidsfoundation.org/who-we-work-with/the-edible-schoolyard-project/   

Very few people have seen Earth from space—fewer, in fact, than 600 people from a planet that’s home to some 7.6 billion.  And of that elite group of astronauts, all would agree that beholding the planet from space is one of the greatest spectacles of their lives--if not the greatest.  It’s a rare and awe-inspiring perspective of our world, and for many astronauts, the sight was enough to change how they saw our planet and all that lives upon it.  Thank you, Muse reader!   Read inspiring quotes at https://www.inspiringquotes.com/15-quotes-from-astronauts-about-seeing-earth-from-space/YcJZvCsyLwAHFEiG?utm_source=daily   

One Saturday evening in 1968, the poets battled on Long Island.  Drinks spilled into the grass.  Punches were flung; some landed.  Chilean and French poets stood on a porch and laughed while the Americans brawled.  A glass table shattered.  Bloody-nosed poets staggered into the coming darkness.  Allen Ginsberg fell to his knees and prayed.  The World Poetry Conference at Stony Brook University was almost over.  Nick Ripatrazone  Read more at https://lithub.com/literary-fight-club-on-the-great-poets-brawl-of-68/#:~:text=At%20Michigan%20State%20University%2C%20Jim,Harrison%20and%20helped%20him%20finish.   

Patrick D. Berry (born 1970) is an American puzzle creator and editor who constructs crossword puzzles and variety puzzles.  He had 227 crosswords published in The New York Times from 1999 to 2018.  His how-to guide for crossword construction was first published as a For Dummies book in 2004.  One of the most revered constructors of his time, Berry has been called the "Thomas Pynchon of crosswords".   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patrick_Berry    

Jan. 1 to most of us is simply New Year's Day.  But in the legal world, it's also "public domain day."  It's the day the copyrights to all sorts of things come to an end and you'll never believe whose turn it is this time–Mickey Mouse.  But only the early version dating back to the '20s–the little stick-legged Mickey that appeared in "Steamboat Willie."  "It is.  Yes, crazy," copyright attorney Jennifer Englert said.  Englert, a copyright attorney with the Orlando Law Group, says not only is the image iconic.   It's been so protected.  "I think we have all heard the stories about Disney.  They take all their copyrights very seriously.  Stories where a daycare puts Mickey on the wall and they get a cease-and-desist," Englert said.  Once the copyright is lifted on Jan. 1, 2024 people can use it to make pot holders, dish towels, statues and videos for free.  Michelle Meredith  https://www.wesh.com/article/florida-mickey-mouse-public-domain/46132445    

The U.S. Constitution establishes three separate but equal branches of government:  the legislative branch (makes the law), the executive branch (enforces the law), and the judicial branch (interprets the law).  The Framers structured the government in this way to prevent one branch of government from becoming too powerful, and to create a system of checks and balances.  https://www.uscourts.gov/educational-resources/educational-activities/separation-powers-action-us-v-alvarez#:~:text=The%20U.S.%20Constitution%20establishes%20three,branch%20(interprets%20the%20law).  On December 13, 2023 a candidate for U.S. President said we have four branches of government with the FDA being in the fourth.   

The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA or US FDA) is a federal agency of the Department of Health and Human Services.  The FDA is responsible for protecting and promoting public health through the control and supervision of food safety, tobacco products, caffeine products, dietary supplements, prescription and over-the-counter pharmaceutical drugs (medications), vaccines, biopharmaceuticals, blood transfusions, medical devices, electromagnetic radiation emitting devices (ERED), cosmetics, animal foods & feed and veterinary products.  The FDA's primary focus is enforcement of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FD&C), but the agency also enforces other laws, notably Section 361 of the Public Health Service Act, as well as associated regulations.  Much of this regulatory-enforcement work is not directly related to food or drugs, but involves such things as regulating lasers, cellular phones, and condoms, as well as control of disease in contexts varying from household pets to human sperm donated for use in assisted reproduction.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Food_and_Drug_Administration   

http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com  Issue 2757  December 15, 2023 

A quill is writing tool made from a moulted flight feather (preferably a primary wing-feather) of a large bird.  Quills were used for writing with ink before the invention of the dip pen, the metal-nibbed pen, the fountain pen, and, eventually, the ballpoint pen.  As with the earlier reed pen (and later dip pen), a quill has no internal ink reservoir and therefore needs to periodically be dipped into an inkwell during writing.   Quill pens were used to write the vast majority of medieval manuscripts.  Quill pens were also used to write Magna Carta and the Declaration of Independence.  U.S. President Thomas Jefferson bred geese specially at Monticello to supply his tremendous need for quills.  Quill pens are still used today mainly by professional scribes and calligraphers.  Quills are also used as the plectrum material in string instruments, particularly the harpsichord.  See graphics at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quill#:~:text=History,-Sharpening%20a%20quill&text=Quills%20were%20the%20primary%20writing,swan%2C%20and%20later%20turkey%20feathers.   

Israel Joshua Singer (1893-1944) was the second child in a family of Yiddish writers that included his elder sister, Esther Singer Kreitman, and his younger brother, Isaac Bashevis Singer.  Singer received a traditional Jewish education and was influenced by the opposing strains of Jewish thought represented by his Misnagdic mother and his Hasidic father.  When he was 14, the family moved to the Hasidic court at Radzimin and then to Warsaw, where Singer worked as an unskilled laborer and proofreader.  He studied painting and hid in an artists’ atelier to avoid the military.  By 1918, when he traveled to Kiev and Moscow, he had already begun publishing his earliest stories.  When Singer published his most ambitious work to date, a short story titled “Perl” (Pearls) in Ringen (1921), he attracted the attention of Abraham Cahan, the powerful editor of the New York Yiddish daily, the Forverts.  Singer served as a correspondent for the newspaper, reporting on his travels to Galicia in 1924, throughout Poland in 1926, and then once again to the Soviet Union in the same year; in 1931 he met Cahan in Berlin and then visited the United States for several months in 1932, before finally settling there in 1934.  His travelogue, Nay Rusland (New Russia; 1928), as well as his subsequent work, appeared first in the Forverts.  He wrote fiction under his own name and journalistic essays primarily under the pseudonym G. Kuper, his wife’s maiden name.  Anita Norich   https://yivoencyclopedia.org/article.aspx/singer_israel_joshua#author   

Amy Sherald (born 1973) is an American painter.  She works mostly as a portraitist depicting African Americans in everyday settings.  Her style is simplified realism, involving staged photographs of her subjects.  Since 2012, her work has used grisaille to portray skin tones, a choice she describes as intended to challenge conventions about skin color and race.  In 2016, Sherald became the first woman as well as the first African American ever to win the National Portrait Gallery's Outwin Boochever Portrait Competition with her painting, Miss Everything (Unsuppressed Deliverance).  The next year, she and Kehinde Wiley were selected by former President Barack Obama (Wiley) and former First Lady Michelle Obama (Sherald) to paint their official portraits, becoming the first African Americans ever to receive presidential portrait commissions from the National Portrait Gallery.  The portraits were unveiled together in 2018 and have significantly increased attendance at the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amy_Sherald    

Val Bird (born 1947) is a children’s book author and columnist.  She was born in Hastings, New Zealand  where she lived until the age of 26, moving next to Rotorua, and later settling in Whakatane.  She has been a full-time writer since 1998, and for 12 years was a caregiver to her intellectually handicapped brother.  Bird’s first book, Wednesday’s Child, was inspired by her experience of caring for her intellectually handicapped brother (Ronald Downes) and was published in 2001 by Random House.  Her subsequent books include, A Birthday in the Life of Ozzie Kingsford (Random House, 2008), which Lorraine Orman describes as, ‘funny, fast-moving,’ with ‘plenty of action.’  Bird’s next book, Five (and a bit) Days in the Life of Ozzie Kingsford (Random House, 2008), and An Electrifying New Year in the Life of Ozzie Kingsford (Random House, 2009) continue Ozzie’s story.  Bird's fourth book in the Ozzie Kingsford series, A Shark-tooth Bay Holiday in the Life of Ozzie Kingsford, was published by Random House in 2009.  https://www.read-nz.org/writers-files/writer/bird-val   

Mark Rothko:  Paintings on Paper through March 31, 2024  National Gallery of Art  Washington, D.C.   Admission is always free.  This exhibition brings together more than 100 of Rothko’s most compelling paintings on paper, many on view for the first time.  They range from early figurative subjects and surrealist works to the soft-edged rectangular fields, often realized at monumental scale, for which Rothko is best known.  Find hours and directions at https://www.nga.gov/exhibitions/2023/mark-rothko-paintings-on-paper.html   

http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com  Issue 2756  December 13, 2023  

A ballpoint pen, also known as a biro (British English), ball pen (Hong Kong, Indian and Philippine English), or dot pen (Nepali English), is a pen that dispenses ink (usually in paste form) over a metal ball at its point, i.e. over a "ball point".  The metal commonly used is steel, brass, or tungsten carbide.   A ballpoint pen is now the world's most-used writing instrument; millions are manufactured and sold daily. It has influenced art and graphic design and spawned an artwork genre.  The first patent for a ballpoint pen was issued on 30 October 1888 to John J. Loud, who was attempting to make a writing instrument that would be able to write "on rough surfaces—such as wood, coarse wrapping-paper, and other articles" which fountain pens could not.  Loud's pen had a small rotating steel ball held in place by a socket.  Although it could be used to mark rough surfaces such as leather, as Loud intended, it proved too coarse for letter-writing.  With no commercial viability, its potential went unexploited, and the patent eventually lapsed.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ballpoint_pen   Thank you, Muse reader!   

A pom-pom–also spelled pom-pon, pompom or pompon–is a decorative ball or tuft of fibrous material.   The term may refer to large tufts used by cheerleaders, or a small, tighter ball attached to the top of a hat, also known as a bobble or toorie.  Pom-poms may come in many colours, sizes, and varieties and are made from a wide array of materials, including wool, cotton, paper, plastic, thread, glitter and occasionally feathers.  Pom-poms are shaken by cheerleaders, pom or dance teams, and sports fans during spectator sports.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pom-pom 

See other uses of pom:  "Pom Poms" (song), a song by the Jonas Brothers   pom pom (album), an album by Ariel Pink   Pom Pom: The Essential Cibo Matto, an album by Cibo Matto   Pom Pom Squad, an indie rock band   The Pom-Poms, a project of Kitty and Sam Ray Pom Poms, a candy made by the James O. Welch Co.  Pom Pom Island, a coral reef island in Malaysia.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pom-pom_(disambiguation)     

noun  tanzanite (countable and uncountable, plural tanzanites)  A trichroic violet-blue variety of the mineral zoisite mined in Tanzania, used as a gemstone.  [from 1968] synonyms ▲quotations ▼ Synonyms: blue zoisite, pleochroic zoisite, vanadium zoisite  https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/tanzanite#English    

COMIC STRIP HUMOR  Let remembering be an excuse to party.  https://www.creators.com/read/dogs-of-c-kennel/12/23/360437   December 9, 2023   

Mark Twain’s “piece of careless hackwork” otherwise known as The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is published (December 10, 1884) • O. Henry’s iconic short story “The Gift of the Magi” is published (December 10, 1905) • American oil tycoon Armand Hammer (yes, that would be Armie Hammer’s great grandfather) buys Leonardo da Vinci’s notebook for over $5 million (December 12, 1980) • Aphra Behn, who will grow up to be one of the first English women to earn a living from her writing (she was also a spy, natch), is baptized (December 14, 1640) • Emily Brontë's Wuthering Heights and Anne Brontë's Agnes Grey are published in a 3-volume set under the pen names of Ellis and Acton Bell respectively (December 14, 1847) • Upton Sinclair is invited to the Johnson White House to witness the signing of The Wholesome Meat Act (December 15, 1967) • The supermodel-snubbing Brontë Society is established in Yorkshire (December 16, 1893) • Beatrix Potter self-publishes The Tale of Peter Rabbit (December 16, 1901).  Literary Hub December 10, 2023   

http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com   Issue 2755   December 11, 2023 

Arne Emil Jacobsen, Hon. FAIA  (1902–1971) was a Danish architect and furniture designer.  He is remembered for his contribution to architectural functionalism and for the worldwide success he enjoyed with simple well-designed chairs.  After a spell as an apprentice mason, Jacobsen was admitted to the Architecture School at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts where from 1924 to 1927 he studied under Kay Fisker and Kaj Gottlob, both leading architects and designers.  Still a student, in 1925 Jacobsen participated in the Paris Art Deco fair, Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes, where he won a silver medal for a chair design.  On that trip, he was struck by the pioneering aesthetic of Le Corbusier's L'Esprit Nouveau pavilion.  Before leaving the Academy, Jacobsen also travelled to Germany, where he became acquainted with the rationalist architecture of Mies van der Rohe and Walter Gropius.  Their work influenced his early designs including his graduation project, an art gallery, which won him a gold medal.  After completing architecture school, he first worked at city architect Poul Holsøe's architectural practice.  In 1929, in collaboration with Flemming Lassen, he won a Danish Architect's Association competition for designing the "House of the Future" which was built full scale at the subsequent exhibition in Copenhagen's Forum.  It was a spiral-shaped, flat-roofed house in glass and concrete, incorporating a private garage, a boathouse and a helicopter pad.  Other striking features were windows that rolled down like car windows, a conveyor tube for the mail and a kitchen stocked with ready-made meals.  A Dodge Cabriolet Coupé was parked in the garage, there was a Chris Craft in the boathouse and an Autogyro on the roof.  Jacobsen immediately became recognised as an ultra-modern architect.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arne_Jacobsen   

1. “No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.” 2. “Do one thing every day that scares you.”  3. “Do what you feel in your heart to be right–for you’ll be criticized anyway.” 4. “The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.” See more quotes by Eleanor Roosevelt at https://bellagracemagazine.com/blog/17-eleanor-roosevelt-quotes-to-live-by/  

 difference engine is an automatic mechanical calculator designed to tabulate polynomial functions.  It was designed in the 1820s, and was first created by Charles Babbage.  The name difference engine is derived from the method of divided differences, a way to interpolate or tabulate functions by using a small set of polynomial co-efficients.  Some of the most common mathematical functions used in engineering, science and navigation, are built from logarithmic and trigonometric functions, which can be approximated by polynomials, so a difference engine can compute many useful tables.  The notion of a mechanical calculator for mathematical functions can be traced back to the Antikythera mechanism of the 2nd century BC, while early modern examples are attributed to Pascal and Leibniz in the 17th century.  In 1784 J. H. Müller, an engineer in the Hessian army, devised and built an adding machine and described the basic principles of a difference machine in a book published in 1786 (the first written reference to a difference machine is dated to 1784), but he was unable to obtain funding to progress with the idea.  See graphics at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Difference_engine   

The term to "cut a rug" first started to emerge as a slang term for dancing in the 1920s.  Use of the phrase persisted well into the 1940s, although the popularity of the term has since faded.  An author writing in vintage vernacular might describe her characters cutting a rug to transport the reader back to the era in which the book is supposed to be set.  Among small sectors of urban communities, this slang term experienced a brief resurgence in the late 1990s.  Like most slang, the origins of "cut a rug" as a synonym for dancing are disputed.  Some theorists believe that this term might have been used to describe dancers who moved so well and so regularly that they would have worn out a carpet.  In some regions, a particularly skilled dancer is said to "cut a mean rug," a nod to the notable abilities of said dancer.  Carpets are known to show extensive wear with small slits which could resemble cuts, and the link between heavy dancing and wearing out the floors seems obvious.  Other theorists have suggested that the term is related to rugs in the sense of taking them up or moving them.  When a spontaneous dance party arises, rugs and furniture are usually moved out of the way to facilitate dancing. Rugs could also be removed in the long term to create a dance space, as would have been common in the 1920s, when Prohibition caused many social clubs to go underground into private homes.  While the rugs might not have been literally cut, they could have been moved to safekeeping to avoid damage from dancing.  In the 1910-40 era houses had a main room- a parlor, (from the French:  talking room), and there was a wood floor.  To prevent dust, scratches, scuffing and extra cleaning, rugs were used like a rug in front of each chair or rocker, or sofa.  When there was a big party, to prevent slipping or tripping on the rugs, and in honor of the important guests, one or 2 or 3 or all or the main big rug was removed or cut to dance on the wood floor.  Mary McMahon https://www.languagehumanities.org/what-does-it-mean-to-cut-a-rug.htm   

August Gaul (1869-1922) was a German sculptor and expressionism artist, born in Großauheim (now part of Hanau).  Produced in Frankfurt, Germany for the 1904 Louisiana Purchase Exposition in St. Louis, August Gaul's "Durana" bronze eagle features hundreds of hand-forged bronze feathers and was the centerpiece of one of the many German exhibits at the fair.  When the fair closed the statue weighing 2,500 pounds was purchased by John Wanamaker of Philadelphia for $10,000.  The eagle was re-installed centrally in the Grand Court of what has become known as America's first department store, Wanamaker's.   The Eagle quickly became the store's unofficial mascot and grew in iconic popular social context with the Philadelphian and suburban catchphrase "Meet me at the Eagle".  When suburban branches of John Wanamaker's department stores opened in the 1950s and ’60s, the company installed various eagle statues in each one.  The eagle sculpture still resides at the same location under ownership of Macy's and is an integral element of this store becoming the flagship within the chain.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/August_Gaul  See also https://artandarchitecture-sf.com/wanamaker-an-organ-and-an-eagle.html   

The real index of civilization is when people are kinder than they need to be. - Louis de Bernieres, novelist (b. 8 Dec 1954)   

21 Easy No-Bake Cookie Recipes To Give Your Oven a Break by Nitya Rao https://www.thepioneerwoman.com/food-cooking/meals-menus/g46043549/no-bake-cookies/   

http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com  Issue 2754  December 8, 2023