Mary Shelley's 1818 novel Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus, and the famous character of Frankenstein's monster, have influenced popular culture for at least a century.  The work has inspired numerous films, television programs, video games and derivative works.  The character of the Monster remains one of the most recognized icons in horror fiction.  The first film adaptation of the tale, Frankenstein, was made by Edison Studios in 1910, written and directed by J. Searle Dawley, with Augustus Phillips as Frankenstein, Mary Fuerte as Elizabeth, and Charles Ogle as the Monster.  The brief (16 min.) story has Frankenstein chemically create the Creature in a vat.  The Creature has encounters with the scientist until Frankenstein's wedding night, when true love causes the Creature to vanish.  For many years, this film was believed lost.  A collector announced in 1980 that he had acquired a print in the 1950s and had been unaware of its rarity.  The Edison version was followed soon after by another adaptation entitled Life Without Soul (1915), directed by Joseph W. Smiley, starring William A. Cohill as Dr. William Frawley, a modern-day Frankenstein who creates a soulless man, played to much critical praise by Percy Standing, who wore little make-up in the role.  The film was shot at various locations around the United States, and reputedly featured much spectacle.  In the end, it turns out that a young man has dreamed the events of the film after falling asleep reading Mary Shelley's novel.  This film is now considered a lost film.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Evil_of_Frankenstein  

See also a body of films that feature some version and/or interpretation of the character Frankenstein's monster  at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_films_featuring_Frankenstein%27s_monster 

Ikat fabric is a dyeing technique used to create a distinct style of textile patterns. Ikat is done by resist dyeing sections of the yarns prior to weaving the fabric.  In ikat the resist is formed by binding individual yarns or bundles of yarns with a tight wrapping applied in the desired pattern.  The yarns are then dyed.  The bindings may then be altered to create a new pattern and the yarns dyed again with another colour.  This process may be repeated multiple times to produce elaborate, multicolored patterns.  When the dyeing is finished all the bindings are removed and the yarns are woven into cloth.  In other resist-dyeing techniques such as tie-dye and batik the resist is applied to the woven cloth, whereas in ikat the resist is applied to the yarns before they are woven into cloth.  Because the surface design is created in the yarns rather than on the finished cloth, in ikat both fabric faces are patterned.  https://craftatlas.co/crafts/ikat 

recked; recking; recks  intransitive verb WORRY, CARE archaic : to be of account or interest  

MATTER  transitive verb  1.     archaic : to care for : REGARD   2.      archaic : to matter to : CONCERN  https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/reck 

reckful  adjective  (comparative more reckful, superlative most reckful)  (uncommon)  Full of careful heed or attention; careful; cautious. synonyms ▲quotations ▼  Synonyms: attentive, audient, heedful  Antonyms  reckless Derived terms  reckfulness   https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/reckful  

International Women's Day (IWD) is a global holiday celebrated annually on March 8 as a focal point in the women's rights movement.  IWD gives focus to issues such as gender equality, reproductive rights, and violence and abuse against women.  Spurred on by the universal female suffrage movement, IWD originated from labor movements in North America and Europe during the early 20th century.  The earliest version reported was a "Women's Day" organized by the Socialist Party of America in New York City on February 28, 1909.  This inspired German delegates at the 1910 International Socialist Women's Conference to propose "a special Women's Day" be organized annually, albeit with no set date; the following year saw the first demonstrations and commemorations of International Women's Day across Europe.  After women gained suffrage during the Russian Provisional Government in 1917, IWD was made a national holiday on March 8; it was subsequently celebrated on that date by the socialist movement and communist countries.  The holiday was associated with far-left movements and governments until its adoption by the global feminist movement in the late 1960s.  IWD became a mainstream global holiday following its adoption by the United Nations in 1977.   International Women's Day is a public holiday in several countries promoting the achievements of women.  Thank you, Muse reader.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Women%27s_Day  

You have to be odd to be number one.  https://www.gocomics.com/mother-goose-and-grimm  

http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com  Issue 2780  February 7, 2024 

Emily Mason (1932–2019) was an American abstract painter and printmaker. Mason developed her individual approach to the Abstract Expressionist and color field painting traditions with her veils of color and spontaneous gestural mark.  Mason was born and raised in New York City, where she lived and worked until her death.  Emily Mason was born in Greenwich Village to Alice Trumbull Mason and Warwood Edwin Mason.  Her mother was a founder of the American Abstract Artists.  Her father was sea captain for American Export Lines.  She attended the High School of Music & Art from 1946 to 1950, then she attended Bennington College from 1950 to 1952.  In 1952, Mason transferred from Bennington College to the Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art, where she was graduated in 1955.  In 1956, Mason was awarded a Fulbright grant to study in Italy.  Before moving there, she met fellow painter Wolf Kahn, who later joined her in Venice.  They married on March 2, 1957, at the municipal building near the Rialto Bridge, witnessed by strangers and friends including filmmaker Tinto Brass.  Her work earned her a second year of the Fulbright grant, which they spent between Venice and Rome, visiting other artists including Gretna Campbell, Louis Finkelstein, and Lee Bontecou.  In late 1958, the couple returned to New York, where Mason gave birth to their first daughter Cecily in 1959.  In 1963, the family returned to Italy.  Their daughter Melany was born in Rome in 1964.  In 1968, the couple bought a farm in Brattleboro, Vermont, where Mason would spend her summers painting. In an interview with magazine Western Art & Architecture, Mason explained:  "It is important to balance city life with experiencing nature.  Winter in the city is the time for the fermentation of ideas.  Summer is my time to carry them out."  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emily_Mason   

In early March, 1936, Dorothea Lange (1895–1965) drove past a sign reading, “PEA-PICKERS CAMP,” in Nipomo, California.  At the time, she was working as a photographer for the Resettlement Administration (RA), a Depression-era government agency formed to raise public awareness of and provide aid to struggling farmers.  Twenty miles down the road, Lange reconsidered and turned back to the camp, where she encountered a mother and her children.  “I saw and approached the hungry and desperate mother, as if drawn by a magnet,” she later recalled.  “She said that they had been living on frozen vegetables from the surrounding field and birds that the children killed.”   Lange took seven exposures of the woman, 32-year-old Florence Owens Thompson, with various combinations of her seven children.  One of these exposures, with its tight focus on Thompson’s face, transformed her into a Madonna-like figure and became an icon of the Great Depression and one of the most famous photographs in history.  This image was first exhibited at The Museum of Modern Art in 1940, under the title Pea Picker Family, California; by 1966, when the Museum held a retrospective of Lange’s work, it had acquired its current title, Migrant Mother, Nipomo, California.  https://www.moma.org/artists/3373  

The exhibit, “Dorothea Lange:  Seeing People,” will run from now through March 31, 2024.  The National Gallery of Art, including the “Dorothea Lange:  Seeing People” exhibit is free to visit and does not require passes. For those who cannot attend in person, selected works are also available to view on the museum’s exhibit page, and there is an exhibition publication. And for those who might only be familiar with her more famous photographs, this will provide a far more holistic view of Lange’s work.  “Seeing People” is divided into six thematic parts and spans her decades-long portfolio.  Lisa Marie Segarra  https://petapixel.com/2023/12/08/depression-era-photographer-dorothea-langes-work-showcased-in-d-c-exhibit/  Find location and hours for the National Gallery of Art at https://www.nga.gov/visit/getting-here.html  

Fans will gather around TVs on Feb. 11, 2024 to watch the Kansas City Chiefs take on the San Francisco 49ers in the Super Bowl, and to see Usher headline the halftime show.  But hours before that, Puppy Bowl XX is airing, with two teams of cute, adoptable dogs on the green turf.  The Puppy Bowl action happens at 2 p.m. ET (11 a.m. PT) on Sunday, Feb. 11, with a pregame show that starts at 1 p.m ET (10 a.m. PT).  Celebrating its 20th anniversary, the event will feature more than 125 dogs, a halftime kitty show, and a new puppy assistant coach.  During the show, viewers will meet pets from all over the country and learn how to potentially adopt a furry new family member. Among the stars are a group of special needs pups, a tiny dog named Sweetpea who weighs in at 1.7 pounds, and the latest inductees to the Puppy Bowl Hall of Fame.  https://www.cnet.com/tech/services-and-software/how-to-watch-the-2024-puppy-bowl-from-anywhere/ 

Super Bowl 58  Date:  Sunday, Feb. 11, 2024 ; Time: 6:30 p.m. ET  TV channel: CBS  https://sports.yahoo.com › how-to-watch-super-bowl  

http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com  Issue 2779  February 5, 2024 

 

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

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

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

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

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

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

David Lennox Mills (1938–January 17, 2024) was an American computer engineer and professor emeritus at the University of Delaware.  He was an Internet pioneer who led the Gateway Algorithms and Data Structures (GADS) Task Force.  He was known as the internet's "Father Time" for designing the Network Time Protocol, which is intended to synchronize all participating computers across different computer systems and networks to within a few milliseconds of Coordinated Universal Time.  He also created Internet Protocol version 4, which has remained the dominant version of the Internet Protocol in use.  David Lennox Mills was born in Oakland, California, on June 3, 1938.  His mother, Adele (née Dougherty), was a pianist, and his father, Alfred, was an engineer.  He had glaucoma since birth, but a surgeon saved some of the vision in his left eye when he was a child.  He attended a school in San Mateo, California, for the visually impaired.  Mills earned his PhD in Computer and Communication Sciences from the University of Michigan in 1971.   While at Michigan, he worked on the ARPA-sponsored Conversational Use of Computers (CONCOMP) project and developed DEC PDP-8-based hardware and software to allow terminals to be connected over phone lines to an IBM 360 mainframe.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_L._Mills   

January 30, 2024  N. Scott Momaday, a distinguished author, poet, teacher, and scholar of folklore, who received the prestigious Pulitzer Prize, has died at the age of 89.  His first novel, “House Made of Dawn,” is widely recognized as the catalyst for modern Native American literature.  Throughout the subsequent decades, he imparted knowledge at esteemed institutions such as Stanford, Princeton, and Columbia universities, while also serving as a commentator for NPR and delivering lectures across the globe.  He authored over twelve works, ranging from “Angle of Geese and Other Poems” to the novels “The Way to Rainy Mountain” and “The Ancient Child,” and emerged as a prominent proponent for the aesthetic and liveliness of indigenous traditional existence.   In his article “The Native Voice in American Literature,” he expressed that although the meaning of their words is unclear to us, we are nevertheless connected to their significance.  “They endure over time in the realm of imagination, and there is no doubt that they embody the fundamental nature of language, the language of narrative, mythology, and ancient melodies.”  They are around 2,000 years old and closely resemble the origin of American literature.  In 2007, President George W. Bush awarded Momaday the National Medal of Arts in recognition of his literary contributions and efforts to honor and safeguard Native American art and oral heritage.  In addition to his Pulitzer, he received accolades such as the Academy of American Poets medal and, in 2019, the Dayton Literary Peace medal.  https://indianhausa.com/n-scott-momaday-obituary-pulitzer-prize-winning-storyteller-poet-educator-died-unexpectedly-at-89/   

In 2024, veepstakes refers to a choice for possible running mate for U.S.Vice-President.  A blend word of the words "veep" and "sweepstakes", the neologism has been found in print as far back as 1952.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Veepstakes   

Human kindness has never weakened the stamina or softened the fiber of a free people.  A nation does not have to be cruel to be tough. - Franklin D. Roosevelt, 32nd US President (30 Jan 1882-1945)  A.Word.A.Day with Anu Garg  

Chita Rivera, the sultry singer, dancer and actress who commanded the Broadway stage for more than a half-century, died.  She was 91.  Rivera died January 30, 2024.  Known for her long, sleek legs, smoldering green eyes and lusty singing voice, the two-time Tony Award winner originated some of musical theater’s most iconic characters.  When West Side Story bowed in 1957, it was Rivera singing about life in America as the fiery Puerto Rican transplant Anita.  As Rose Grant, the long-suffering girlfriend of songwriter Albert Peterson, Rivera received top billing over Dick Van Dyke in 1960’s Bye Bye Birdie.  In 1975, she made the stage sizzle with “All That Jazz” as Velma Kelly in Chicago.  And the 1993 musical adaptation of Kiss of the Spider Woman put her in the spotlight as the sexy Spider Woman.  While she was in West Side Story, the incredibly limber Rivera noticed that she had developed a welt on her forehead, not realizing at first that she had been inadvertently kicking herself during a leaping move, she told Playbill in 2007.  In fact, Rivera could touch the back of her head with her foot going forward.  “When she let those limbs loose she was a one-woman showstopper, and every choreographer wanted her,” West Side Story producer Harold Prince said.  “There is nobody who can dance, sing and act like Chita Rivera.”  Chris Koesluk  https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/lifestyle/lifestyle-news/chita-rivera-dead-showstopping-legend-broadway-musicals-1235810582/   

http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com  Issue 2777  January 31, 2024 

Calrose is a medium grain rice variety, notable for being the founding variety of the California rice industry.  Calrose (USDA # C.I. 8988) originated from and was developed at the Rice Experiment Station near Biggs, California, and released to California growers in 1948.  It grew in popularity with growers, marketers, and consumers to become the prominent rice variety in California until the late 1970s.  Specific processing and cooking properties were associated with Calrose.  Over the years, improved new varieties of Calrose grain cooking and processing characteristics were released.  These medium-sized grains were commingled with Calrose in storage, and later replaced the variety in commercial production, due to their superior performance at many levels.  Although that variety of Calrose is no longer grown, Calrose has become a name recognized both in trade and the marketplace for the California-type, medium-grain rice.  The name "rose" indicates its medium-grain shape ("Blue Rose" is an earlier medium-grain developed in Louisiana), and "Cal" pays homage to California, the state of the grain’s origin and production.  Eighty percent of the California rice crop is Calrose rice.   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calrose_rice  

“Life is too short to stuff a mushroom.”― Shirley Conran  https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/183883-life-is-too-short-to-stuff-a-mushroom  

Saint Edward Mission  Founded:  1964  Location:  North Washington Ave & 7th Street, Pulaski VA  https://richmonddiocese.org/parishes/saint-edward-mission/  The Muser’s mother lived in this house until it was burned down by a resident when it became a boarding home.   

Pulaski, Virginia sprang up at the coming of the railroad and was first known as Martin's Tank.  Governor John Floyd lived nearby.  The county seat was moved here from Newbern in 1894.  The town, like the county, was named for Count Casimir Pulaski, killed in the siege of Savannah, 1779.  It was incorporated in 1886.  Zinc and iron were early industries.  https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=23914   

10 Sour Cream Substitutes That Work Just Like the Real Thing  https://www.delish.com/cooking/recipe-ideas/a34211993/sour-cream-substitute/  See also https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/sour-cream-substitutes  

Collectively, whales, dolphins and porpoises are known as cetaceans.  Cetacean species are divided into two groups.

(1)  Baleen whales – these are the “great whales” and as their name suggests they all have baleen plates that are used to filter their food (which consists of plankton and small species of fish).  

(2)  Toothed whales (otherwise known as odontocetes and including all species of dolphin and porpoise) – which as you would expect, have teeth, and eat larger prey items, including at times, other marine mammals.  The main differences with porpoises are that they are usually smaller than other toothed whales and instead of cone-shaped teeth they have flat, spade-shaped teeth.  As a general rule of thumb, baleen whales are larger and slower (except the fin whale which is known as the “greyhound of the sea”) than toothed whales.   Additionally, ALL baleen whales have two blowholes whereas toothed whales only have one.  

Differences between a dolphin and a porpoise  The biggest difference is size, with all species of porpoise being that much smaller than their dolphin cousins.  Porpoises don't have the pronounced beak that most, but not all dolphins have and they also have different shaped teeth.  Porpoise teeth are spade-shaped whilst dolphins are conical.  A dolphin has a hooked or curved dorsal fin (except for those species that don't have a dorsal fin) whereas a porpoise has a more triangular dorsal fin, and generally speaking, dolphin bodies are leaner, although porpoises’ are a little more chunky.  Dolphins are also more "talkative" than porpoises.  The whistles made by dolphins are produced through their blowholes and although porpoises do not do this, possibly due to structural differences in the porpoise’s blowhole, they can still be pretty noisy as they "puff" the air out when they surface.  Dolphins and porpoises also have many similarities, one of which is their extreme intelligence.  As research evolves, it is likely that more (or perhaps fewer) differences between dolphins and porpoises will be revealed.  https://us.whales.org/whales-dolphins/what-are-the-differences-between-whales-dolphins-and-porpoises/  

beauty sleep noun (countable and uncountable, plural beauty sleeps) (idiomatic)  (uncountable) Originally, sleep taken before midnight, on the belief that early sleep hours conduce to beauty and health; now (chiefly humorous), sleep at any time needed by one to stay beautiful; (countable) an instance of such sleep. [from early 19th c.] quotations ▼  (uncountable, chiefly humorous) Extra sleep; also (generally), any sleep; (countable) an instance of this; an extra nap. synonym ▲quotations ▼  Synonym:  beauty rest  The Walt Disney animated musical film Sleeping Beauty premiered on January 29, in the United States 65 years ago in 1959.  https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/beauty_sleep#English  

http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com  Issue 2776  January 29, 2024