Felidae is a family of mammals in the order Carnivora, colloquially referred to as cats.  A member of this family is called a felid.  The term "cat" refers both to felids in general and specifically to domestic cats.  The characteristic features of cats have evolved to support a carnivorous lifestyle, with adaptations for ambush or stalking and short pursuit hunting.  They have slender muscular bodies, strong flexible forelimbs and retractable claws for holding prey, dental and cranial adaptations for a strong bite, and often have characteristic striped or spotted coat patterns for camouflage.  Felidae comprises two subfamilies, the Pantherinae and the Felinae.  The former includes the five Panthera species tiger, lion, jaguar, leopard, and snow leopard, as well as the two Neofelis species clouded leopard and Sunda clouded leopard.  The subfamily Felinae includes 12 genera and 34 species, such as the bobcat, caracal, cheetah, cougar, ocelot, and common domestic cat.  Read extensive article and see graphics at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_felids

Cat Humor Books https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/18848.Cat_Humor_Books  Cat Memes  https://bestlifeonline.com/funniest-cat-memes-ever/ and https://winkgo.com/55-funny-cat-memes/

Gemelli are a type of pasta.  The name derives from the Italian word for “twins”.  Gemeli are not separate pieces of pasta. Gemelli are not twin tubes twisted around one another, as they may appear to be, but rather a single s-shaped strand twisted into a spiral.  Gemelli are also called unicorn horns.  http://www.spaghetto.com/product/gemelli/

Gemelli with Sweet Sausage and Spinach

https://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/gemelli-sweet-sausage-and-spinach

Historians speculate that the term “cabin fever” was first used to describe early US settlers who experienced long winters alone in their log cabins, essentially snowed in until the spring thaw.  The term dates back to the 19th century American Heritage Dictionary of Idioms and is first recorded in 1918, according to the Online Etymology Dictionary.  The origin of “cabin fever” may also date from the time of frequent trans-Atlantic voyages, when people endured the long passage across the ocean in small, cramped ship cabins.  Suffering from this condition is similar to going “stir crazy,” a term that originates from the mid-19th century slang term “stir” which meant prison.  “Stir crazy” was typically used to describe the disturbed behavior of inmates in prison suffering from the effects of a long incarceration.  http://codingstrategies.com/blog/snow-days-stir-crazy-cabin-fever  See also 21 Ways to Beat Cabin Fever by Alex Buczynski at https://www.erieinsurance.com/blog/ways-to-beat-cabin-fever

Mole Day is October 23 from 6:02 a.m. to 6:02 p.m. in honor of Avogadro's Number (6.02 x 10²³).  A mole is a unit of measurement used when existing measurements are inadequate, and its particle measurement is based on Avogadro's number.  Like Pi Day, which is celebrated on March 14 because it mirrors pi (3.14), Mole Day is celebrated on either October 23 or June 2, because those dates are similar to Avogadro's number.  Anne Marie Helmenstine  See Mole Day definitions, jokes and pledges at https://www.thoughtco.com/funny-mole-day-jokes-and-humor-608525

The "Random House Historical Dictionary of American Slang, Volume 1, H-O" by J.E. Lighter, Random House, New York, 1994, has this entry:  "moley n. (pop.  As a characteristic exclamation of 'Captain Marvel,' hero of a series of comic books begun 1940, first written by C.C. Beck; perhaps reflecting 'moly' 'magic herb in Greek mythology', in allusion to the invocation of mythological figures as a source of the character's powers; perhaps euphemism and rhyming alteration of 'holy Moses.'  In phrase:  'holy moley' (used as an exclamation of surprise).  1949 'Capt. Marvel Adventures, in Barrier & Williams 'Book of Comics' 87:  Holey Moley!  He got away."  https://www.phrases.org.uk/bulletin_board/5/messages/581.html

·  “It can enclose and protect, comfort and inspire, oppress and entrap.”  Suzanne Redfearn recommends six novels where architecture is more than just a setting. | CrimeReads  ·  “Reading is one of Witherspoon’s superpowers.”  Ann Patchett profiles Reese Witherspoon. | Vanity Fair  ·  A fun fact for Women’s History Month:   according to The NPD Group, female authors accounted for a significant majority of the top 100 literary fiction sales in 2019. | Yahoo Finance   https://lithub.com  March 18, 2020

The NPD Group, Inc. (NPD; formerly National Purchase Diary Panel Inc. and NPD Research Inc.) is an American market research company founded on September 28, 1966 and based in Port Washington, New York.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_NPD_Group

The ACM A.M. Turing Award is an annual prize given by the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) to an individual selected for contributions "of lasting and major technical importance to the computer field".  The Turing Award is generally recognized as the highest distinction in computer science and thus as the "Nobel Prize of Computing".  The award is named after Alan Turing, who was a British mathematician and reader in mathematics at the University of Manchester.  Turing is often credited as being the key founder of theoretical computer science and artificial intelligence.  From 2007 to 2013, the award was accompanied by an additional prize of US$250,000, with financial support provided by Intel and Google.  Since 2014, the award has been accompanied by a prize of US$1 million, with financial support provided by Google. The 2019 Turing prize was awarded to Ed Catmull and Pat Hanrahan.  See picture of Stephen Kettle's slate statue of Alan Turing at  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turing_Award

The Botany of Desire:  a Plant’s Eye View of the World by Michael Pollan   four parts:  sweetness—the apple; beauty—the tulip; intoxication—marijuana; and control—the potato  See Botany of Desire quotes at https://www.goodreads.com/work/quotes/908398-the-botany-of-desire-a-plant-s-eye-view-of-the-world

Orange, Almond & Date Bites by Hetal Vasavada   If you’re looking for a healthy dessert recipe, I am giving you one right here.  This bite is a cross between a nut bar and a praline.  The maple syrup and honey caramelize and harden slightly giving you a crunchy, nutty bite with just a hint of sweetness.  Perfect for your next hiking trip!  Find recipe excerpted from Milk & Cardamom: Spectacular Cakes, Custards and More, Inspired by the Flavors of India © 2019 Page Street Publishing at https://www.splendidtable.org/recipes/orange-almond-date-bites

Memento mori is a Latin phrase meaning ‘remember you must die’.  A basic memento mori painting would be a portrait with a skull but other symbols commonly found are hour glasses or clocks, extinguished or guttering candles, fruit, and flowers.  Closely related to the memento mori picture is the vanitas still life.  In addition to the symbols of mortality these may include other symbols such as musical instruments, wine and books to remind us explicitly of the vanity (in the sense of worthlessness) of worldly pleasures and goods.  The term originally comes from the opening lines of the Book of Ecclesiastes in the Bible:  Vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher, vanity of vanities, all is vanity.’  https://www.tate.org.uk/art/art-terms/m/memento-mori

Five Home Workouts to Do During the Coronavirus Outbreak - Experts say it’s important to still get exercise while we’re hunkered down.  Find specially designed workouts you can do at home:  The Wall Street Journal  March 23, 3030  p. A11

                                                                                        

http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com  Issue 2244  March 23, 2020

Umami is known as the fifth flavor that the taste buds respond to, along with sweet, salty, bitter and sour.  Umami is savory, silky and rich.  It’s full of layers and notes.  Umami is meaty.  It’s earthy.  It’s salty, but a little bit of it goes a long way.  Umami is a Japanese word that, loosely translated, means delicious.  Make this highly concentrated, savory paste to use with pasta, in sauces, as a condiment, dip, marinade ingredient, basting sauce or as a "secret sauce" ingredient in soups, stews, chilis and gravies.  Valerie Hoff  Find recipe for homemade umami paste at http://valeriehoff.com/content/homemade-umami-paste-condiment-cant-live-without/

Middy may refer to a middy blouse, an item of Sailor dress worn by girls and young women in the early twentieth century; the Mid-Suffolk Light Railway, an English railway company operating in the first half of the twentieth century; or a half pint beer glass, a term used in certain states of Australia.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Middy

Zeb-un-Nissa (1638  1702) was a Mughal princess and the eldest child of Emperor Aurangzeb and his chief consort Dilras Banu Begum.  She was also a poet, who wrote under the pseudonym of "Makhfi" (مخفی, "Hidden One").  Imprisoned by her father in the last 20 years of her life at Salimgarh Fort, Delhi, Princess Zeb-un-Nissa is remembered as a poet, and her writings were collected posthumously as Diwan-i-Makhfi.  See sample translation at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zeb-un-Nissa

Enjambment, derived from the French word enjambment, means to step over, or put legs across.  In poetry it means moving over from one line to another without a terminating punctuation mark.  It can be defined as a thought or sense, phrase or clause, in a line of poetry that does not come to an end at the line break, but moves over to the next line.  It is a running on of a thought from one line to another without final punctuation.  It is used in poetry to trick a reader.  Poets lead their readers to think of an idea, then move on the next line, giving an idea that conflicts with it.  Poets can achieve a fast pace or rhythm by using enjambment.  Multiple ideas can be expressed without using semi-colons, periods, or commas.  It helps reinforce the main idea that might seem to be confusing with pauses.  It can be seen in different songs and poems.  https://literarydevices.net/enjambment/

This is a recipe that Julia Child made with "Chef Brockett" (the late Don Brockett) for Fred Rogers on one of the "Mister Rogers' Neighborhood" episodes.  It was first printed with permission from Family Communications Inc., Pittsburgh.  (Unfortunately, the cookbook is out of print.)

2/3 cup chopped walnuts or peanuts

1/2 cup chopped black olives

1/2 cup chopped red pimento

1/3 cup chopped fresh parsley

1 tablespoon chopped fresh chives

8 ounces semolina spaghetti

1/4 cup olive oil

Salt and pepper to taste

3/4 cup Parmesan cheese or shredded Swiss cheese

Mix walnuts, olives, pimento, parsley and chives in bowl; set aside.  Cook spaghetti according to package directions; drain well.  Place olive oil in serving bowl.  Add spaghetti; toss to coat well.  Season to taste.  Spoon walnut mixture over spaghetti.  Toss lightly at the table.  Serve immediately with cheese.  Julia Child quotes:   Eat the real thing, but a little of it."  "Anybody who looks at things in a moderate way, an adult way, is going to be able to enjoy good food."  http://old.post-gazette.com/food/20020815suz5.asp

Excavations at Russia’s Kostenki 11 site have uncovered one of the oldest and largest Ice Age structures made of mammoth bones.  Hunter-gatherers assembled bones from at least 60 mammoths into an imposing ring around 25,000 years ago, say archaeologist Alexander Pryor of the University of Exeter in England and colleagues.  Building this structure, which measures about 12.5 meters across, required a huge investment of time and energy, the scientists report in the April 2020 Antiquity.  Bones may have come from hunted mammoths or from carcasses of animals that died of natural causes.  Sieving of soil samples identified charred wood from fires set inside the ring, but it’s unclear how its makers used the structure, Pryor’s team says.  Circular mammoth bone structures, most dating to no more than 22,000 years ago, previously have been found across eastern Europe and western Russia (SN: 12/13/86).   Researchers have often assumed that these constructions, including two others found at Kostenki 11 in the 1950s and 1960s, housed people during harsh winters.  The new discovery challenges that idea.  A large, open space in the bone ring appears unsuitable for long-term occupation, in part because it would have been difficult to roof, Pryor’s group says.  Bruce Bower https://www.sciencenews.org/article/ice-age-structure-russia-made-mammoth-bones-largest

Coordinated Universal Time (or UTC) is the primary time standard by which the world regulates clocks and time.  It is within about 1 second of mean solar time at 0° longitude, and is not adjusted for daylight saving time.  In some countries, the term Greenwich Mean Time is used. 

The co-ordination of time and frequency transmissions around the world began on 1 January 1960.  UTC was first officially adopted as CCIR Recommendation 374, Standard-Frequency and Time-Signal Emissions, in 1963, but the official abbreviation of UTC and the official English name of Coordinated Universal Time (along with the French equivalent) were not adopted until 1967.   

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coordinated_Universal_Time

'Happiness is contagious too':  caring for each other makes us feel better--World Happiness Report names Finland the happiest country and shows us how to move forward after the coronavirus outbreak.  Finland remains at number one for the third year running, while the UK has edged up the table, rising from 15th place to 13th.  The report--compiled by a group of independent experts and produced by the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network--uses six variables to measure the quality of life in more than 150 countries across the globe:  GDP per capita; social support; healthy life expectancy; freedom; generosity and absence of corruption.  Joanna Moorhead  https://www.theguardian.com/society/2020/mar/20/happiness-is-contagious-too-caring-for-each-other-makes-us-feel-better-experts

The word equinox literally translates to equal ("equi") and night ("nox") in Latin.  The term vernal means "new and fresh," and comes from the Latin word vernus for "of spring."  In 2020, spring arrived earlier than it has in 124 years.  Michele Debczak  https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/577353/spring-equinox-facts  Most countries experienced the vernal equinox on March 19—the others on March 20. 

The novel coronavirus presents an unprecedented challenge for scientists:  The speed at which the virus spreads means they must accelerate their research.  But this is what the world's fastest supercomputer was built for.  Summit, IBM's supercomputer equipped with the "brain of AI," ran thousands of simulations to analyze which drug compounds might effectively stop the virus from infecting host cells.  The supercomputer identified 77 of them.  It's a promising step toward creating the most effective vaccine.  Researchers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory published their findings in the journal ChemRxiv.  Summit was commissioned by the US Department of Energy in 2014 for the purpose it's serving now--solving the world's problems.  It's got the power of 200 petaflops, which means it has the computing speed of 200 quadrillion calculations per second, aka:  It's 1 million times more powerful than the fastest laptop.  At its station in Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee, Summit has identified patterns in cellular systems that precede Alzheimer's, analyzed genes that contribute to traits like opioid addiction and predicted extreme weather based on climate simulations.  Scottie Andrew  https://www.cnn.com/2020/03/19/us/fastest-supercomputer-coronavirus-scn-trnd/index.html

http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com  Issue 2243  March 20, 2020

Jean-Henri Casimir Fabre (1823–1915) was a French naturalist, entomologist, and author known for the lively style of his popular books on the lives of insects.  Fabre was a popular teacher, physicist, chemist and botanist.  However, he is probably best known for his findings in the field of entomology, the study of insects, and is considered by many to be the father of modern entomology.  Much of his enduring popularity is due to his marvellous teaching ability and his manner of writing about the lives of insects in biographical form, which he preferred to a clinically detached, journalistic mode of recording.  In doing so he combined what he called "my passion for scientific truth" with keen observations and an engaging, colloquial style of writing.  Fabre (translated) wrote:  Others again have reproached me with my style, which has not the solemnity, nay, better, the dryness of the schools.  They fear lest a page that is read without fatigue should not always be the expression of the truth.  Were I to take their word for it, we are profound only on condition of being obscure.  His Souvenirs Entomologiques is a series of texts on insects and arachnids.  He influenced the later writings of Charles Darwin, who called Fabre "an inimitable observer".  In one of Fabre's most famous experiments, he arranged pine processionary caterpillars to form a continuous loop around the edge of a pot.  As each caterpillar instinctively followed the silken trail of the caterpillars in front of it, the group moved around in a circle for seven days.  He further was able to forecast low atmospheric pressure events by observing the behaviours of the caterpillars.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean-Henri_Fabre

A cache is (1) a hiding place used for storing provisions or valuables, or (2) a concealed collection of valuable things.  The word also functions as a verb meaning to hide or store in a cache.  Cachet refers to (1) a mark or indication of superior status, or (2) prestige.  The word is is usually a mass noun (meaning it is treated as a quantity and can’t be pluralized), but it’s a count noun in some rarer senses.  https://grammarist.com/usage/cache-cachet/

The Tulip from The Botany of Desire by Michael Pollan   *  For the tulip, the story of the twentieth century has mainly been the rise and triumph of this mass-produced eye candy.  *  The tulip was the first flower to have cultivars named for individuals  *  Tulip comes for the Turkish word for turban—the bloom perched at the top resembles a head, and the elongated leaves might be considered limbs  *  The period from 1703 to 1730 is known to Turkish historians as the Tulip Era.  *  The color of a tulip consists of two pigments:  a base color that is yellow or white, and a laid-on color called an anthocyanin.  *  Alexandre Dumas père (French for 'father') wrote a novel--The Black Tulip--about a competition in 17^th-century Holland to grow the first truly black tulip.  *  Thievery is the tulip grower’s term for the phenomenon that causes certain flowers in a field to revert to the form and color of their parents.

The Muser has a flat wall sculpture depicting two tulips entwined as if they were ballet dancers.  The enamel on wood artwork, titled Atomic Flowers, is by Mr. Atomic (identical twins Mark and Michael Kersey).

Use the verb redound in formal situations to mean "contribute" or "have an effect."  Redound shows up only in the most formal speech and writing, but it's a good way to describe an effect on someone's good name or prestige.  Originally, redound described something that overflows which is the meaning of the Latin root word, redundare.  https://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/redound.

Have you heard of the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) diet for high blood pressure or the Mediterranean diet for heart health?  When it comes to protecting your brain health, a hybrid of the two eating styles may be best.  Dubbed the "MIND" diet, short for Mediterranean-DASH Intervention for Neurodegenerative Delay, this eating pattern goes big on natural plant-based foods while limiting red meat, saturated fat and sweets.  And observational studies suggest the diet can reduce the risk of developing Alzheimer's disease by up to 53 percent as well as slow cognitive decline and improve verbal memory.  Researchers developed the diet by looking at the Mediterranean and DASH diets, then focusing on the foods with the most compelling findings in dementia prevention.  Vegetables, especially leafy greens, rose to the top.  In general, fruit didn't, though berries made the list.  Angela L. Murad  https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/alzheimers-disease/in-depth/15-simple-diet-tweaks-cut-alzheimers-risk/art-20342112

RIDDLES

Q.  What is the favorite food of moles?  A.  Guacamole.

Q.  What is a mole’s favorite room in its abode?  A.  The mushroom.

Q.  What do moles call their clergy?  A.  Holy-moleys.

Holy Moley  c. 1892 as a euphemism for "Holy Mary", Molly being a nickname for Mary.  https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/holy_moley

When you're in thrall to someone, you are under their control in some way.  If you're being held as a hostage, you're in thrall to your captor.  You can be in thrall to anything that holds you captive or controls your thoughts or actions, like an addiction, a disease, or a cult leader.  The Old English word that thrall comes from literally means "slave" or "servant."  Another word with the same root as thrall is enthrall, which is sort of a friendlier version of the same idea.  If you're enthralled by someone, you're captivated or fascinated, rather than "held in bondage."  https://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/thrall

Whole30 Chicken Skewer Salad . . .  Whole30 Spicy Citrus Chicken Stir Fry . . . Whole30 Spicy Chicken Soup . . . Whole30 Sizzling Pollo Picante Chicken Breasts.  https://nocrumbsleft.net/category/meat/chic

“Women are great crime writers.  They always have been, and for a long time now they have set the agenda and driven the genre.  All my favorite writers are women.”  Lee Child  Killer Year—Stories to Die For . . . From the Hottest New Crime Writers 

THESE TIMES:  How to support your local bookstores during the coronavirus pandemic · What China's literary community has been reading under lockdown · The first lines of 10 classic novels rewritten for social distancing ·  Lit Hub  *  How J.R.R. Tolkien blocked fanboy W.H. Auden from writing a book about him. | Lit Hub  *   Adrienne Raphel explores the poet’s love of crosswords. | Lit Hub  *  David Lagercrantz, who took over writing the Millennium series after the death of Stieg Larsson, is turning to a new detective series of his own, compared to a “modern Sherlock Holmes saga.” | The Bookseller  https://lithub.com/  March 17, 2020

19 immersive museum exhibits you can visit from your couch by Joshua Barajas and Stephanie Garcia  See examples of  some exhibits and artwork collections you can view online, whether you’re socially distancing at home, need a distraction, or just simply want to get lost in some art.  https://www.pbs.org/newshour/arts/19-immersive-museum-exhibits-you-can-visit-from-your-couch

http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com  Issue 2242  March 18, 2020

A fell (from Old Norse fell, fjall, "mountain") is a high and barren landscape feature, such as a mountain range or moor-covered hills.  The term is most often employed in Fennoscandia, the Isle of Man, parts of Northern England, and Scotland.  See pictures at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fell

Fennoscandia, also referred to as Fenno-Scandinavia, is a geographical cape located in the North Atlantic and Northern Europe commonly referred to as the Nordic region.  The Nordic area is made up of the Kola Peninsula, Karelia, Finland, and the Scandinavian Peninsula.  Fennoscandia encompasses Sweden, Murmansk Oblast, and a large part of Karelia, Finland, Northern Leningrad Oblast, and Norway.  Fennoscandia was coined from the Latin term Fennia meaning Finland and Scandia meaning Scandinavian.  Wilhelm Ramsay, a Finnish geologist, was the first person to use the name Fennoscandia in 1898.  Fennoscandia includes the northwest region of Russia, Finland, Sweden, and Norway.  These regions are home to some of the oldest rocks on Earth which have been studied by numerous geologists for years.  Geologically, the peninsula is entirely different compared to the rest of Europe.  The bedrock on the Peninsula is Archaean gneiss and granite with some limestone, which has undergone abundant deformations through the tectonic activity.  The lithosphere in this peninsula is between 124 and 186 miles thick, and during the ice age epoch, the great ice-sheet weathered and depressed the surface resulting in the creation of a thin glacial material covering and numerous innumerable streams and lakes.  https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/where-is-fennoscandia.html

The lithosphere is the rocky outer part of the Earth.  It is made up of the brittle crust and the top part of the upper mantle.  The lithosphere is the coolest and most rigid part of the Earth.  https://www.nationalgeographic.org/encyclopedia/lithosphere/

'At one fell swoop' is one of those phrases that we may have picked up early in our learning of the language and probably worked out its meaning from the context in which we heard it, without any clear understanding of what each word meant.  Most native English speakers could say what it means but, if we look at it out of context, it doesn't appear to make a great deal of sense.  So, what's a 'fell'?  We use the word in a variety of ways:  to chop, as in fell a tree; a moorland or mountain, like those in the northern UK; the past tense of fall, as in 'he fell over'.  None of those seems to make sense in this phrase and indeed the 'fell' here is none of those.  It's an old word, in use by the 13th century, that's now fallen out of use other than in this phrase, and is the common root of the term 'felon'.  The Oxford English Dictionary defines 'fell' as meaning 'fierce, savage; cruel, ruthless; dreadful, terrible', which is pretty unambiguous.  Shakespeare either coined the phrase, or gave it circulation, in Macbeth.  Link to other phrases and sayings from Shakespeare at https://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/at-one-fell-swoop.html

In 1665, following an outbreak of the bubonic plague in England, Cambridge University closed its doors, forcing Isaac Newton to return home to Woolsthorpe Manor.  While sitting in the garden there one day, he saw an apple fall from a tree, providing him with the inspiration to eventually formulate his law of universal gravitation.  Newton later relayed the apple story to William Stukeley, who included it in a book, “Memoir of Sir Isaac Newton’s Life,” published in 1752.  In 2010, a NASA astronaut carried a piece of the ancient apple tree aboard the space shuttle Atlantis for a mission to the International Space Station.  The Royal Society, a scientific organization once headed by Newton, loaned the piece of the tree for the voyage, as part of a celebration of the 350th anniversary of the group’s founding.  Today, the original apple tree continues to grow at Woolsthorpe Manor.  https://www.history.com/news/9-things-you-may-not-know-about-isaac-newton

The good news is that in 2019 the Turkish poet İlhan Çomak won a major award, the Sennur Sezer poetry prize, for his eighth and most recent book of poems, Geldim Sana (I Came to You).  The bad news is that he is in prison and has been in prison for 26 years, since his arrest as a geography student at the age of 22.  All his books have been written in prison.  How did he come to be there?  One factor, most likely the main factor, is that he is Kurdish.  That is not a crime in itself, but belonging to, or even associating with a Kurdish political organisation is.  There is also the specific matter of starting a forest fire, but no serious evidence has ever been brought to prove that.  The only “proof” was his confession under torture and this has been highlighted in any appeals to free him.  It is not unusual in Turkey for writers to be imprisoned.  There have been, and still are, too many to mention here but none has been incarcerated for as long as Çomak.  Some have published from inside, some with great success.  One of Turkey’s greatest poets, Nâzım Hikmet, who died in 1963, spent much of his life in prison or exile.  Georges Szirtes  

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2020/mar/12/elemental-concerns-the-imprisonment-of-turkish-poet-ilhan-comak

A popular video game has become home to a virtual library where players can lay eyes on censored news articles from around the world.  In a virtual library found in Minecraft—a game where users can build virtual worlds out of blocks and create their own storylines—users can access the work of journalists who have been killed, jailed or exiled by governments, including articles by Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi.  The project, launched by Reporters Without Borders, design collective Blockworks, advertising agency DDB Germany and production company MediaMonks, gives users access to articles banned in five countries that rank poorly on the nongovernmental organization's World Press Freedom Index:  Egypt, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia and Vietnam.  Work in the library, launched March 12, 2020 to mark the World Day Against Cyber Censorship, is available in English and the original language in which the texts were written.  More than 145 million players are active on the platform each month, Reporters Without Borders said in a statement, adding that the platform offers "unlimited freedom" in countries that have no press freedom.  Amy Woodyatt    https://www.cnn.com/2020/03/13/tech/minecraft-uncensored-library-scli-intl/index.html

10 Household Uses for Rubbing Alcohol by Erin Huffstetler  Includes cleaning glass, water spots, grime from keyboards and phones, and how to make hand sanitizer.

https://www.thespruce.com/uses-for-rubbing-alcohol-1389041

During the 19th century, four major outbreaks of cholera between 1832 and 1866 ravaged London communities and led to the death of tens of thousands of people.  Cholera ('Asiatic cholera') had spread from the Indian subcontinent to Europe.  Attempts were made to stem the arrival of the disease, with the quarantine of incoming ships (Gazette issue 18807).  Doctor and anaesthetist John Snow’s investigation suggested another means of transmission more likely.  Snow’s conclusion by 1849, in his paper, 'On the Mode of Communication of Cholera', was that cholera spread through ingesting contaminated water, rather than inhaling a noxious form of bad air.  Snow had sought evidence to back up his theory, such as a workhouse that was close to the Broad Street pump and a prime site for cholera to take hold.  But only 5 of the 530 inmates had contracted cholera, because nobody from the workhouse drank the pump water, as the building had its own well.  And at the Lion Brewery, workers were given an allowance of free beer every day so never drank water, and there were no fatalities.  https://www.thegazette.co.uk/all-notices/content/100519

March 16, 2020  With more school closures across the country imminent including in Minnesota and Wisconsin because of the coronavirus pandemic, restaurants, businesses and community organizations are turning their attention toward feeding kids in need.  Hope Breakfast Bar in St. Paul on Monday announced it will temporarily close the restaurant to start operating as a community kitchen.  The West Seventh Street restaurant started offering breakfast takeout bags to families in need last weekend.  More requests are expected to flood in, especially with schools slated to close in Minnesota and Wisconsin running through at least March 27 for Minnesota and at least April 6 for Wisconsin.  Nancy Ngo  https://www.twincities.com/2020/03/16/restaurants-begin-offering-meals-to-feed-hungry-kids-and-families/  See also Around the country, restaurants are serving free food to kids at The Washington Post  March 17, 2020

http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com  Issue 2241  March 17, 2020

Marijuana from The Botany of Desire by Michael Pollan   *  Most of the hybridizing needed to adapt cannabis to indoor conditions was done in the early 1980s by amateurs working in the Pacific Northwest.  *  With the right equipment, an indoor grower could create a utopia for his plants, an artificial habitat more perfect than any in nature, and his happy, happy weeds would respond.  *  Cannabis was one of the earliest plants to be domesticated—probably for fiber first, then later as a drug.  *  Hemp was one of humankind’s main sources of paper and cloth—now hemp and cannabis are as different as night and day.  *  The word assassin is a corruption of the word hashish.  *  I suspect many gardeners regard themselves as alchemists transforming the dross of compost into substances of rare value, beauty and power.  *   Gardeners transformed the derisive term homegrown into the most prized and expensive flower in the world.  *

Greece is estimated to host 90,000 refugees and migrants, and is struggling to cope.  The Turkish government’s recent decision to open the border is likely to lead to another surge of displaced people.  The Echo library was founded in 2016, at the height of the refugee crisis, and relies on a 15-strong volunteer team alongside donations to stock its shelves and pay for the van’s fuel.  Some stories are hard to forget.  “There is one family who speak Urdu and the mother had made her way through every single Urdu book we had,” librarian Keira Dignan says.  “When I was back in London I looked all over the place for another Urdu book and eventually I found one.”  Dignan returned to Greece, only to discover that the Urdu-speaking family had been evicted from the squat they were sheltering in.  “My heart just dropped to my toes,” she says.  She was haunted by images of “the little ones crying hysterically”.  Eventually, though, on a routine visit to a camp, Keira found them.  “They came out and saw the bus and we were hugging and shouting,” she says as she remembers the moment.  “It was wonderful to see them again.  And we said, ‘Come, come, we have Urdu books.’”  Julia Rampen  Read more and see pictures at https://www.theguardian.com/books/2020/mar/10/echo-mobile-library-greece-refugee-camps 

RESOURCES ON CORONAVIRUS   ProPublica  Series on Coronavirus  https://www.propublica.org/series/coronavirus   STAT Helen Branswell  https://www.statnews.com/staff/helen-branswell/   Barron's Market Watch  Analysis of why coronavirus is worse than common flu  1) Health professionals point out important distinctions between the COVID-19 illness and other viral sicknesses like the flu.  For a start, there is no vaccine for COVID-19 and it could take many months or years to get one to market. What’s worse, doctors fear the virus will mutate.  2) While both the flu and COVID-19 may be transmitted in similar ways, there is also a possible difference: COVID-19 might be spread through airborne transmission.  See analysis of similarities and differences at:

https://www.marketwatch.com/story/coronavirus-vs-the-flu-its-just-like-other-viruses-and-we-should-go-about-our-normal-business-right-wrong-heres-why-2020-03-09?siteid=yhoof2&yptr=yahoo

People who contract the novel coronavirus emit high amounts of virus very early on in their infection, according to a new study from Germany that helps to explain the virus' quick spread.  Those who are only mildly sick are likely not still infectious by about 10 days after they start to experience symptoms.  People infected begin to develop antibodies to the virus quickly, typically within six to 12 days.  The rapid rise of antibodies may explain why about 80% of people infected with the virus do not develop severe disease. 

https://www.statnews.com/2020/03/09/people-shed-high-levels-of-coronavirus-study-finds-but-most-are-likely-not-infectious-after-recovery-begins/   STAT  Coronavirus spread could last into next year, but impact could be blunted, CDC official says.  Officials do not expect most people to suffer severe cases of Covid-19, the illness caused by the coronavirus.  An official noted that most communities in the United States are not experiencing community spread of the virus and said that people need to make decisions based on where they live and their own needs.  She also advised that people who are not at high risk for severe illness, particularly those not living in places like communities in Washington state and California where the virus is known to be spreading, to act prudently.  Masks, for example, should really be saved for health care workers.  https://www.statnews.com/2020/03/09/coronavirus-spread-could-last-into-next-year-but-impact-could-be-blunted-cdc-official-says/   Here’s a current statistics site on the virus you may find helpful:  https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/  Thank you, Muse reader!

The rugged and beautiful Cederberg Mountains in South Africa's Western Cape are named after one of the rarest trees on the planet.  The Clanwilliam cedar lives nowhere else in the world.  This species originated up to 225 million years ago and survived the last ice age.  But today it is critically endangered and its future hangs in the balance.  For the past 17 years, conservation manager Rika du Plessis has been committed to saving the Clanwilliam cedar.  Historically, these trees were harvested for their wood but now they are facing another threat.  "Due to climate change . . . the whole world is experiencing higher temperatures, lower rainfall," says du Plessis, who works for governmental conservation organization CapeNature.  Du Plessis says this region was once lined with avenues of cedars, but today they are mostly found high up in the mountains, sparsely spread out between rocks, where water is scarce.  She estimates there are some 13,500 Clanwilliam cedars left in the wild.  In an effort to save the species, CapeNature has developed a tree-planting scheme.  It's a delicate process that begins with harvesting seeds.  The seeds are then used to propagate the cedar trees in nurseries before planting them on the rocky outcrops where they grow naturally.  Du Plesis has personally been involved in planting more than 13,000 trees.  But life isn't easy for a cedar seedling.  Rodents love to eat the trees' young shoots, and fire is a significant threat.  Only 10% of trees planted in the wilderness will survive, so to boost their chances Du Plesis is also creating cedar plantations.  Here, trees are planted in "waterboxxes"--plastic containers that collect water when it rains and slowly release it through a cotton string to the roots of the tree.  "The waterboxxes provide water for the trees throughout the year and we are finding that we almost have a 100% survival rate on the trees that we plant with the waterboxxes," she says.  Jo Munnik  March 13, 2020   https://www.cnn.com/2020/03/13/africa/clanwilliam-cedar-cederberg-c2e-intl-spc/index.html

March 14, 2020  Italians have been singing from their balconies across the country, in an effort to boost morale during its nationwide lockdown that began this week, due to Covid-19.  A video shared by Twitter user @valemercurii, recorded harmonies echoing down narrow streets residents in the Tuscan city of Sienna, joined together in song.  Posts have also emerged from Naples, of people singing pop artist Andrea Sannino’s song, Abbracciami.  Residents in the port city of Salerno, in the south of the country, were recorded singing the country’s national anthem from their balconies.  Christine Kearney  https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/mar/14/italians-sing-patriotic-songs-from-their-balconies-during-coronavirus-lockdown

James Madison (March 16, 1751–June 28, 1836) was an American statesman, lawyer, diplomat and philosopher who served as the fourth president of the United States from 1809 to 1817.  He is widely considered to be one of the most important Founding Fathers of the United States, and historians have generally ranked him as an above-average president.  Wikipedia

From:  Carolina Hansell  Query about quarantine  May I ask you, why they are using the word quarantine when the person is quarantined for 15 days.  Doesn’t the word quarantine mean 40 days?  Can you please explain this to me?  From Anu Garg:  For the same reason that the word “decimate” does not mean:  to kill one out of ten, even though that’s the origin.  It’s an etymological fallacy to insist that a word should mean the same as when it was coined (quarantine, about 600 years ago; decimate about 400 years ago).  AWAD mail issue 924

March 14, 2020  Follow these basic guidelines for social distancing-approved activities from Crystal Watson with the Center for Health Security at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health:  Avoid going to places where 25 or more people may gather; Go places where you can maintain at least six feet of distance from other people; Keep in mind your personal risk: If you're 60 years old and up or have a compromised immune system, you should stay home as much as possible.  "It may seem harsh to take these steps sometimes, but really what we're doing is protecting [vulnerable] people from becoming seriously ill," she told CNN.  "We can affect how this outbreak unfolds by taking these measures."  Now is the time to binge all the culture you've dreamed of having enough time to consume.  Find ideas at https://www.cnn.com/2020/03/14/us/what-to-do-this-weekend-coronavirus-trnd/index.html

Staying in this St. Patrick's Day?  Celebrate by reading one of these 5 Irish books:  Angela’s Ashes, Normal People, Maeve’s Times:  In Her Own Words, An Irish Country Doctor, and How the Irish Saved Civilization:  The Untold Story of Ireland's Heroic Role from the Fall of Rome to the Rise of Medieval Europe.  Mary Cadden  Find brief descriptions of each book at  https://www.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/books/2020/03/14/irish-books-read-st-patricks-day/5032350002/

http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com  Issue 2240  March 16, 2020