Caldo Verde, meaning “green broth” in Portuguese, is a traditional soup in Portugal made with potatoes, kale or collard greens, smoked sausage and olive oil. This delicious Caldo Verde recipe is simple to prepare and made in just one pot.  https://pinchandswirl.com/caldo-verde/

Prepare cake pans using baking spray--or rub butter, a teaspoon of flour and tap the pan to make it stick. 

Ozark Pudding  Takes 50 minutes  Serves 8  Find recipe at https://www.food.com/recipe/ozark-pudding-from-bon-appetite-484441   

"1984" is an American television commercial that introduced the Apple Macintosh personal computer.  It was conceived by Steve Hayden, Brent Thomas, and Lee Clow at Chiat/Day, produced by New York production company Fairbanks Films, and directed by Ridley Scott.  The ad was an allusion to George Orwell's noted 1949 novel, Nineteen Eighty-Four, which described a dystopian future ruled by a televised "Big Brother". English athlete Anya Major performed as the unnamed heroine and David Graham as Big Brother.  In the US, it first aired in 10 local outlets, including Twin Falls, Idaho, where Chiat/Day ran the ad on December 31, 1983, at the last possible break before midnight on KMVT, so that the advertisement qualified for the 1984 Clio Awards.  Its second televised airing, and only US national airing, was on January 22, 1984, during a break in the third quarter of the telecast of Super Bowl XVIII by CBS.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1984_(advertisement)    

The pursuit of truth and beauty is a sphere of activity in which we are permitted to remain children all our lives. - Albert Einstein, physicist, Nobel laureate (14 Mar 1879-1955)

Fight for the things that you care about, but do it in a way that will lead others to join you. - Ruth Bader Ginsburg, US Supreme Court justice (15 Mar 1933-2020)

 

Literary Hub  March 17 2024

Henry Fielding (mock) tries UK Poet Laureate Colley Cibber in the press for the crime of murdering the English language (March 17, 1740) • Honoré de Balzac shoots himself in the foot with a harebrained publicity scheme (March 19, 1842) •  Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin, the first book in the United States to be banned on a national scale, is published, selling 3,000 copies on its first day in print (March 20, 1852) •  Halldor Laxness’s Atómstöðin (The Atom Station) sells out of all copies on its release day, for the first time in Icelandic history (March 21, 1948) •  The expression “O.K.” appears in print for the first time, in the Boston Morning Post (March 23, 1839)   

A childhood prodigy who studied under Vladimir Horowitz, Byron Janis emerged in the late 1940s as one of the most celebrated virtuosos of a new generation of talented American pianists.  In 1960, he was selected as the first musician to tour the then-Soviet Union as part of a cultural exchange program organized by the U.S. State Department.  His recitals of Chopin and Mozart awed Russian audiences and were described by the New York Times as helping to break “the musical iron curtain.”  Seven years later, while visiting a friend in France, Janis discovered a pair of long-lost Chopin scores in a trunk of old clothing.  He performed the waltzes frequently over the ensuing years, eventually releasing a widely hailed compilation featuring those performances.  Janis remained active in his later years, composing scores for television shows and musicals, while putting out a series of unreleased live performances.  Janis died March 14, 2024.  JAKE OFFENHARTZ  https://apnews.com/article/byron-janis-dies-classical-pianist-54ff513441a51ca970dbb80118873d29   

http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com  Issue 2791  March 18, 2024 

Allulose is a naturally occurring sugar found in figs, raisins, wheat, maples syrup, and molasses.  It’s sweet like table sugar (sucrose) but without some of sugar’s well-documented downsides.  You can find allulose for sale online and in some retail stores.  Because it occurs naturally in very small amounts, the allulose you find packaged for sale isn’t its natural form.  It has been created artificially by food scientists from fructose (fruit sugar).  Find pros and cons at https://health.clevelandclinic.org/what-is-allulose  

Gaius Valerius Catullus (c. 84–c. 54 BCE) was a Latin poet and a leading figure of the Neoterics.  Catullus and his poetry, comprising 113 poems, have been the subjects of many books and papers in classical studies and other fields, including literary criticism, gender studies, and cultural studies; there are many critical editions, commentaries, translations and student guides of his poetry as well.  Even in 1890, Max Bonnet wrote that Catullus was "inundated" with academic publications concerning his life and works.  In the early 1970s, Kenneth Quinn wrote, "Scarcely an issue appears of any of the major classical periodicals without at least one article on Catullus; new translations come out almost yearly". More than two thousand publications about Catullus appeared between 1959 and 2003.  Denis Feeney has described Catullus 68 alone as having "legions of critics", producing a "labyrinth" of literature. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_bibliographies_of_works_on_Catullus  

If you can’t laugh at yourself . . . make fun of someone else.   *  Do you know what they call a lazy kangaroo—a pouch potato  *   His mother, a former pro wrestler and rugby star, could bench-press a Buick  *  I never get tired of being right   *  Key Lardo by Bruce Hale   See also https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/174704.Bruce_Hale   

Reader Feedback: 

Your use of "President" is ambiguous, which makes your list incomplete.   You only reference "Presidents" under the U.S. Constitution that went into effect in 1788/89.  Prior to that there were "Presidents" of the Confederation Congress.  See:  https://mytpl.org/project/americas-secret-the-presidents-before-george-washington/  One such notable President was Richard Henry Lee, President of the Confederation Congress (November 30, 1784 – November 4, 1785.)  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Henry_Lee  His family being a member of the "First Families of Virginia," he was related to many significant government servants.   (And at least one insurrectionist!)  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lee_family  Richard's son-in-law was:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Lee_(Attorney_General)   Among others, the future President Zachary Taylor would be his third cousin--which means he is also related to Biden!!!   Thank you, Muse reader!  P.S.   I am also guessing that your list only covers "legitimate" children of Presidents . . .  https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2015/08/13/warren-harding-and-the-5-other-presidents-who-have-faced-love-child-questions/  Among others, I am wondering if anyone has ever researched all of Sally Hemings descendants for politicians?  See https://www.monticello.org/sallyhemings/  

ASHTABULA COUNTY, Ohio — An animal that hasn't been seen in Ohio in nearly 200 years is back.  The fisher is a member of the weasel family, and it has been spotted recently in Ashtabula County.  "They've got very long tails, so they can be from two feet long to four feet long but about half of that length is their tail.  As far as weight, they're about the size of a house cat, so they're not as big as they sound when I say two to four feet long," said Katie Dennison, Wildlife Biologist with the Ohio Division of Wildlife.  The animal is a predator who hunts small mammals like mice and squirrels.  It can pose a threat to small dogs, cats, chickens and even some livestock.  "There is also some potential for conflict with livestock.  Fisher tend to want to stay away from areas where people are anyway, so we don't expect that to be a big problem but just making sure your livestock is closed up at night can be a good way to prevent any sort of conflicts with wildlife," said Katie Dennison.   With only 40 confirmed sightings by the Ohio Division of Wildlife since 2013, fishers are known to stay away from people. Tessa DiTirro  See picture at https://www.news5cleveland.com/news/local-news/a-once-extinct-animal-is-back-in-northeast-ohio   

Don't ask me who's influenced me.  A lion is made up of the lambs he's digested, and I've been reading all my life. -  Giorgos Seferis, writer, diplomat, Nobel laureate (13 Mar 1900-1971)  

http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com  Issue 2790  March 13, 2024 

Several U.S. presidential families produced multiple generations of members who devoted at least part of their working lives to public service.

The Adams family:  John Adams, second U.S. president (1797–1801); his son, John Quincy Adams, sixth U.S. president (1825–29).

The Harrison family:  Benjamin Harrison V, governor of Virginia (1781–84) and a signer of the Declaration of Independence; his son, William Henry Harrison, ninth U.S. president (1841).; William's son, John Scott Harrison, member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Ohio (1853–57); John Scott's son, Benjamin Harrison, 23rd U.S. president (1889–1893) (the only grandson of a president to become president). 

The Lincoln family:  Abraham Lincoln, postmaster of New Salem, Illinois (1833), Illinois state House of Representatives (1834–42), U.S. House of Representatives from Illinois (1847–49), 16th U.S. president (1861–65); his cousin-in-law, John Todd Stuart, U.S. House of Representatives from Illinois (1839–43, 1863–65), Illinois state Senate (1848–52). 

The Taft family:  Alphonso Taft, U.S. secretary of War (1876) and U.S. attorney general (1876–77); his sons, Charles Phelps Taft, U.S. House of Representatives from Ohio (1895–97), and William Howard Taft, 27th U.S. president (1909–13) and U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice (1921–30). 

The Roosevelt family: 26th U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt (1901–09) and 32nd U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt (1933–45), fifth cousins by blood (their great-great-great-grandfathers were brothers) and uncle-in-law and nephew-in-law by marriage.

The Kennedy family:  Patrick Joseph Kennedy, Massachusetts state legislator (1884–95); his son, Joseph P. Kennedy Sr., chair of the U.S. Maritime Commission (1934–35) and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (1937–38), and U.S. ambassador to Great Britain (1938–40. Joseph and Rose Kennedy's children included John F. Kennedy, 35th U.S. president (1961–63), U.S. House of Representatives (1947–53) and U.S. Senate (1953–61) from Massachusetts–). 

The Bush family:  Prescott Bush, U.S. Senator from Connecticut (1952–63); his son, George H. W. Bush, 41st U.S. president (1989–93), U.S. vice president (1981–89), director of Central Intelligence Agency (1976–77), U.S. ambassador to the United Nations (1971–73), U.S. House of Representatives from Texas (1967–71); George H.W.'s sons, George W. Bush, 43rd U.S. president (2001–09) and governor of Texas (1995–2000. 

The Biden family: Joe Biden, 46th U.S. president (2021–), 47th U.S. vice president (2009–17), U.S. senator from Delaware (1973–2009); his son, Beau Biden, state attorney general of Delaware (2007–15).  President Biden's great-grandfather, Edward Francis Blewitt, served as a Pennsylvania state senator (1907–10).  Two other presidents were related by blood:  James Madison and Zachary Taylor were second cousins.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_family   

The Magdalena River (Spanish: Río Magdalena, less commonly Rio Grande de la Magdalena) is the main river of Colombia, flowing northward about 1,528 kilometres (949 mi) through the western half of the country.  It takes its name from the biblical figure Mary Magdalene.  It is navigable through much of its lower reaches, in spite of the shifting sand bars at the mouth of its delta, as far as Honda, at the downstream base of its rapids.  It flows through the Magdalena River Valley.  Its drainage basin covers a surface of 273,000 square kilometres (105,000 sq mi), which is 24% of the country's area and where 66% of its population lives.  Much of the film Love in the Time of Cholera takes place in the historic, walled city of Cartagena in Colombia. Some screenshots showed the Magdalena River and the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta mountain range.  The General in His Labyrinth, by Gabriel García Márquez, is a fictionalized account of the final voyage of Simón Bolívar down the Magdalena River, where he revisits many cities and villages along the river.  In Magdalena: River of Dreams (Knopf, 2020), Canadian writer, anthropologist, and explorer Wade Davis travels the length of the river by boat, on foot, by car, and on horseback combining descriptions of nature with episodes from Colombian history.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magdalena_River    

Pi Day is an annual celebration of the mathematical constant π (pi).  Pi Day is observed on March 14 (the 3rd month) since 3, 1, and 4 are the first three significant figures of π.  It was founded in 1988 by Larry Shaw, an employee of the San Francisco science museum, the Exploratorium.  Celebrations often involve eating pie or holding pi recitation competitions.  In 2009, the United States House of Representatives supported the designation of Pi Day.  UNESCO's 40th General Conference designated Pi Day as the International Day of Mathematics in November 2019.  Other dates when people celebrate pi include July 22 (22/7 in the day/month format, an approximation of π) and June 28 (6.28, an approximation of 2π or tau).  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pi_Day   

Taxes are the price we pay for a civilized society. - Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., US Supreme Court Justice (8 Mar 1841-1935)   

Sweden became NATO’s newest member on Thursday (7 March 2024), upon depositing its instrument of accession to the North Atlantic Treaty with the Government of the United States in Washington DC. With Sweden’s accession, NATO now counts 32 countries among its members.  Sweden’s flag will be raised alongside those of the other 31 Allies in a ceremony at NATO headquarters in Brussels on Monday (11 March 2024), and simultaneously at NATO commands across Europe and North America.  https://www.nato.int/cps/en/natohq/topics_52044.htm    

The 96th Academy Awards on March 10, 2024 delivered an award telecast with Ryan Gosling’s contributions closed with the handing the coveted best-picture prize to “Oppenheimer,” one of seven statuettes amassed by director Christopher Nolan’s historical epic.  Brian Lowry  Link to winners at https://www.cnn.com/2024/03/10/entertainment/review-oscars-hits-misses-performances/index.html   

http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com  Issue 2789  March 11, 2024

Vigna angularis, also known as the adzuki (Japanese:  azuki bean, aduki bean, red bean, or red mung bean, is an annual vine widely cultivated throughout East Asia for its small (approximately 5 mm or ¹⁄₄ in long) bean.  The cultivars most familiar in East Asia have a uniform red color, but there are also white, black, gray, and variously mottled varieties.  In East Asian cuisine, the adzuki bean is commonly sweetened before eating.  In particular, it is often boiled with sugar, producing red bean paste, a very common ingredient in all of these cuisines. It also is common to add flavoring to the bean paste, such as chestnut.   Red bean paste is used in many Chinese dishes, such as tangyuan, zongzi, mooncakes, baozi, and red bean ice.  It also serves as a filling in Japanese sweets such as anpan, dorayaki, imagawayaki, manjū, monaka, anmitsu, taiyaki, and daifuku.   A more liquid version, using adzuki beans boiled with sugar and a pinch of salt, produces a sweet dish called hong dou tang.  Some East Asian cultures enjoy red bean paste as a filling or topping for various kinds of waffles, pastries, baked buns, or biscuits.  Adzuki beans are commonly eaten sprouted or boiled in a hot, tea-like drink.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adzuki_bean   

How to make Adzuki Bean Coconut Curry (vegan, gluten-free)  by Kristen Wood at https://moonandspoonandyum.com/adzuki-bean-curry/    

smallfolk pl (plural only)  noun  (fantasy, mythology) Small humanoid creatures, such as gnomes and halflings.  Synonyms:  little folk, little people, small people  Translations:  small humanoid creatures — see little person  Further reading:  little people (mythology) on Wikipedia.  https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/smallfolk#English    

Imitation of Life is a 1934 American drama film directed by John M. Stahl.  The screenplay by William Hurlbut, based on Fannie Hurst's 1933 novel of the same name, was augmented by eight additional uncredited writers, including Preston Sturges and Finley Peter Dunne.  The film stars Claudette Colbert, Louise Beavers, Warren William, Rochelle Hudson, and Fredi Washington.  The film was originally released by Universal Pictures on November 26, 1934, and re-released in 1936.  A 1959 remake of the same title was directed by Douglas Sirk.  In 2005, Imitation of Life was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry being deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".  It was also named by Time in 2007 as one of "The 25 Most Important Films on Race".  It was nominated for Best Picture, Best Assistant Director, and Best Sound Recording at the 7th Academy Awards.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imitation_of_Life_(1934_film)    

Theodor Seuss Geisel (March 2, 1904 – September 24, 1991) was an American children's author and cartoonist.  He is known for his work writing and illustrating more than 60 books under the pen name Dr. Seuss.  His work includes many of the most popular children's books of all time, selling over 600 million copies and being translated into more than 20 languages by the time of his death.  Geisel adopted the name "Dr. Seuss" as an undergraduate at Dartmouth College and as a graduate student at Lincoln College, Oxford.  He left Oxford in 1927 to begin his career as an illustrator and cartoonist for Vanity Fair, Life, and various other publications.  He also worked as an illustrator for advertising campaigns, including for FLIT and Standard Oil, and as a political cartoonist for the New York newspaper PM.   He published his first children's book And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street in 1937.  During World War II, he took a brief hiatus from children's literature to illustrate political cartoons, and he worked in the animation and film department of the United States Army.  After the war, Geisel returned to writing children's books, writing acclaimed works such as If I Ran the Zoo (1950), Horton Hears a Who! (1955), The Cat in the Hat (1957), How the Grinch Stole Christmas! (1957), Green Eggs and Ham (1960), One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish (1960), The Sneetches and Other Stories (1961), The Lorax (1971), The Butter Battle Book (1984), and Oh, the Places You'll Go! (1990).  He published over 60 books during his career, which have spawned numerous adaptations, including eleven television specials, five feature films, a Broadway musical, and four television series.  He received two Primetime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Children's Special for Halloween Is Grinch Night (1978) and Outstanding Animated Program for The Grinch Grinches the Cat in the Hat (1982).  In 1984, he won a Pulitzer Prize Special Citation.  His birthday, March 2, has been adopted as the annual date for National Read Across America Day, an initiative focused on reading created by the National Education Association.   

http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com  Issue 2788  March 6, 2024