Characters in disguise appear in the 1926 operetta The Desert Song (originally titled Lady Fair), The Shadow, Batman, Spiderman, The Scarlet Pimpernel, Zorro, and Superman.  Characters switching identities:  The Prince and the Pauper and Trading Places.  Some authors disguise their names by using pseudonyms.

Ten of the best disguises in literature by John Mullan  http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/sep/25/ten-best-disguises-literature 

Holdings in WorldCat for English literature in the Age of Disguise  http://www.worldcat.org/title/english-literature-in-the-age-of-disguise/oclc/3552747/editions?referer=di&editionsView=true 

Liberty Bell facts

Location:  Liberty Bell Center, Market Street & 6th, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Bell Originally Cast:  Whitechapel Foundry 1752
Bell recast:  Pass & Stow Philadelphia 1753 and again later that year
The yoke weighs 200 pounds and is made of American elm a.k.a. slippery elm.  Read more at:  http://www.ushistory.org/libertybell/facts.html

Imply means to state indirectly (for instance, to include a suggestion in a message).
Infer means to deduce (for instance, to extract a suggestion from a message).
http://www.grammar-monster.com/easily_confused/imply_infer.htm

Impute means to:
1.  attribute or ascribe
2.  attribute or ascribe (something discreditable) to someone or something.
3.  attribute (righteousness, guilt, etc.) to a person or persons vicariously.
4.  charge (a person) with fault.
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/impute

Poor eyesight can no longer be an excuse for not playing Scrabble at the Highland Public Library.  Vincent Alcorn, a senior at Lakeland High School in White Lake, Michigan made sure of that, creating a giant Scrabble set for the library for his Eagle Scout project.  “I worked along with librarian Dawn Dittmar to come up with the idea,” Alcorn said.  Alcorn, part of the Highland library's Teen Advisor Board, said he brainstormed various ideas for projects and since he was so active at the library, it seemed logical to come up with a project to benefit the library.  And soon after, the larger-than-life Scrabble idea was raised.  “So many different sections of the library could use it,” Alcorn said.  “It has a word theme, so it fits.”  The folding, hinged wooden board measures five feet by five feet and is complete with all necessary labels to play a game.  The Scrabble letter tiles are 3'ªø1‚-2-inch squares, complete with point values.  Accompanying giant replica tile racks complete the set.  The large Scrabble set joins the library's jumbo Jenga set and is being used in both the adult and teen services areas.  http://www.hometownlife.com/article/20130509/NEWS11/305090410/Scout-creates-giant-Scrabble-set-Highland-library 

Elmhurst. a neighborhood in Queens

One of the first European towns in Queens was present-day Elmhurst.  Its original name in 1652 was Middleburg, and then in 1662 New Towne (soon just Newtown).  When Queens became part of New York City in 1898, the name changed to Elmhurst, at the bequest of Cord Meyer developers, in order to distance it from polluted Newtown Creek.  Elmhurst is in western Queens. Roosevelt Avenue is the neighborhood's northern boundary with Jackson Heights.  To the east is Corona at Junction Boulevard. Woodside is to the west along 74th Street and the LIRR tracks.  Elmhurst dips south of Queens Boulevard to the Long Island Expressway (and Rego Park, Middle Village, and Maspeth).  The area below Queens Boulevard, especially south of the LIRR tracks, is a sleepy area of row houses, multi-family homes.  The neighborhood used to go further south to Eliot Avenue, but a zip code change added a sliver of "South Elmhurst" to Middle Village.  For a student of architecture or diversity, the neighborhood's religious buildings are fascinating.  You can find: Christian churches with roots in the colonial-era whose congregation is Taiwanese; historic St. Adalbert Church, the main Thai Buddhist temple in NYC, a Jain temple, a Chinese Chan Buddhist hall; and the beautiful Geeta Hindu temple.  A lively, diverse population makes Elmhurst one of the most interesting New York City neighborhoods for food.  The zip code is considered the most diverse in NYC, with some 57 languages spoken according to the NYC Department of Education.  http://queens.about.com/od/neighborhoods/p/elmhurst-ny.htm 

Health insurance subsidy calculator  This tool illustrates health insurance premiums and subsidies for people purchasing insurance on their own in new health insurance exchanges (or “Marketplaces”) created by the Affordable Care Act (ACA).  Beginning in October 2013, middle-income people under age 65, who are not eligible for coverage through their employer, Medicaid, or Medicare, can apply for tax credit subsidies available through state-based exchanges.  Additionally, states have the option to expand their Medicaid programs to cover all people making up to 138% of the federal poverty level (which is about $33,000 for a family of four).  In states that opt out of expanding Medicaid, some people making below this amount will still be eligible for Medicaid, some will be eligible for subsidized coverage through Marketplaces, and others will not be eligible for subsidies.  With this calculator, you can enter different income levels, ages, and family sizes to get an estimate of your eligibility for subsidies and how much you could spend on health insurance.  As premiums and eligibility requirements may vary, contact your state’s Medicaid office or exchange with enrollment questions.  http://kff.org/interactive/subsidy-calculator/ 

If you haven't heard, the future is wearable computing.  But how that future—seen through Google Glass specs—will go mainstream is still out of focus.  At the D11:  All Things Digital conference in Rancho Palos Verdes, Calif. this week—here, the tech elite buzzed about the promise of microcomputers that attach onto humans.  They opined not just about fitness-tracking bands, which are already becoming ubiquitous, but also about multipurpose mobile gadgets that we can strap onto our wrists, heads or other body parts.  Tim Cook, CEO of Apple Inc., which is reported to be working on a watch-like device, said wearable computers will likely be "another key branch" of the Apple tree.  But in reference to competitor Google Inc.'s Glass headgear, Mr. Cook said high-tech eyeglasses would be "difficult" to pull off as a mainstream product.  On stage, he wore a Nike+ FuelBand bracelet that tracks physical activity.  Mary Meeker, a partner at Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, said wearable computing would be the star of the "third cycle" of the Web.  In her annual report on the state of the Internet, she said the world was already entering a cycle of "wearables, driveables, flyables and scannables."  Even companies that few would consider high-tech were eager to plant a flag in wearable computing.  On Wednesday, Tom Staggs, the chairman of Walt Disney Parks and Resorts, trotted out MagicBand, a wristband that stores information about consumers' identity and preferences, so that Disney characters can greet guests by name. 

Evelyn M. Rusli  The Wall Street Journal  May 31, 2013

Epipremnum aureum is a species of flowering plant in the family Araceae, with a broad native Old World distribution.  Native range extends from Northern Australia through Malesia and Indochina into China, Japan and India.  The plant has a multitude of common names including Australian native monstera, centipede tongavine, devil's ivy, golden pothos, hunter's robe, ivy arum, money plant, silver vine, Solomon Islands ivy and taro vine.  It is sometimes mistakenly labeled as a Philodendron in plant stores.  E. aureum is an evergreen vine growing to 20 m (66 ft) tall, with stems up to 4 cm (2 in) in diameter, climbing by means of aerial roots which adhere to surfaces.  The leaves are alternate, heart-shaped, entire on juvenile plants, but irregularly pinnatifid on mature plants, up to 100 cm (39 in) long and 45 cm (18 in) broad (juvenile leaves much smaller, typically under 20 cm (8 in) long).  This plant produces trailing stems when it climbs up trees and these take root when they reach the ground and grow along it.   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epipremnum_aureum 

There are two usual meanings of gallivant.  The first is 'to go about with members of the opposite sex':  second is 'to wander or roam about, seeking pleasure':  It is not always possible to distinguish these, and there can be other nuances, meaning something like 'to romp', that could perhaps be regarded as different senses.  The word gallivant is of uncertain origin.  It is first found in the early nineteenth century.  Most people regard it as an alteration of the verb gallant, also used as a verb in the sense 'to be a gallant or dandy; flirt', but the -iv- element remains unexplained.  One dictionary suggests that the element comes from the word levant 'to run away, especially to avoid paying a gambling debt', but this may be a coincidence.  

http://www.randomhouse.com/wotd/index.pperl?date=19990707

The phrase referring to a box in which valuables are stored is safe-deposit box, not safety-deposit box.  The latter is an eggcorn resulting from a mishearing of the former.  The mistake is understandable because the first two syllables of safe-deposit box sound like safety.  http://grammarist.com/usage/safe-deposit-box/

The original phrase was "daylight-saving time," and it is still generally agreed to be "saving," not "savings," time.  Remember the name by thinking that you are saving light, daylight, to be exact.  The words are not capitalized and whether to use a hyphen is a style choice.  http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/daylight-saving-time.aspx

The Book of Revelation, often simply known as Revelation or by a number of variants expanding upon its authorship or subject matter, is the final book of the New Testament and occupies a central part in Christian eschatology.  Written in Koine Greek, its title is derived from the first word of the text, apokalypsis, meaning "unveiling" or "revelation".  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Book_of_Revelation 

Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch (1990) is a comedic novel by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett, a satire of prophecies of the Apocalypse and Armageddon.  http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Good_Omens

Read Good Omens at:  http://www-afs.secure-endpoints.com/afs/adrake.org/incoming/Gaiman,_Neil_-_Good_Omens_(with_Pratchett,_Terry).pdf  225 pages 

When the "Four Bikers of the Apocalypse" enter the Happy Porker Cafe, Black goes up to the counter.  "Four teas, please," he said. "One black.", p.148 

A grand jury is an arm of the Court which is empowered to conduct official proceedings to investigate potential criminal conduct and to determine whether criminal charges should be brought. The "grand jury" may compel the production of documents and may compel the sworn testimony of witnesses to appear before it.  Currently, only the United States retains grand juries, although some other common law jurisdictions formerly employed them, and most other jurisdictions employ some other type of preliminary hearing.  Grand juries perform both accusatory and investigatory functions. The investigatory functions of the grand jury include obtaining and reviewing documents and other evidence and hearing the sworn testimony of witnesses that appear before it.  The grand jury's accusatory function is to determine whether or not there is probable cause to believe that one or more persons committed a certain offense within the venue of the district court.  The "grand jury" in the United States is composed of 16 to 23 citizens.  A grand jury is so named because traditionally it has a greater number of jurors than a trial jury (also known as a petit jury or, in English usage the spelling can be petty jury, from the French for small).  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_jury  See also:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_juries_in_the_United_States  and http://definitions.uslegal.com/g/grand-jury/ 

Spell-check won’t help you if you don’t know through from threw.  If you can read in the 21st century, you own the world.  Because you learn to write from reading.  paraphrase from interview with Stephen King  May 26, 2013  http://www.parade.com/15671/kentucker/summers-best-books-starring-stephen-king/ 

Writing families

Stephen King, wife Tabitha, sons Owen and Joe (Hill).

Jonathan Kellerman, wife Faye, son Jesse.
See also:  Family Ties:  10 writers who were born to write  http://library.bundaberg.qld.gov.au/sites/default/files/files/Family_Ties_Author_Offspring_story.pdf

May 22, 2013  Lydia Davis wins the Man Booker International Prize 2013 

"I was recently denied a writing prize because they said I was lazy." runs one of Lydia Davis's two-sentence short stories.  Well not any more. Davis has just been awarded the fifth Man Booker International Prize at an award ceremony at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.  Her inventive, carefully-crafted and hard to categorise works saw off the challenge from nine other contenders from around the world.  The judges - Professor Sir Christopher Ricks, Elif Batuman, Aminatta Forna, Yiyun Li and Tim Parks - recognised that crafting spare, philosophical and original works, however short, is not for the lazy at all but takes time, skill and effort.  The Prize, worth £60,000, is awarded for an achievement in fiction on the world stage and Davis's achievements are writ large despite often using startlingly few words (some of her longer stories only stretch to two or three pages).  Her work has the brevity and precision of poetry. Sir Christopher Ricks, chairman of the judges, said her "writings fling their lithe arms wide to embrace many a kind.  Just how to categorise them?  They have been called stories but could equally be miniatures, anecdotes, essays, jokes, parables, fables, texts, aphorisms or even apophthegms, prayers or simply observations."  Davis then is not like any other writer and she follows, and contrasts with, the previous winners of the prize - Ismail Kadaré, Chinua Achebe, Alice Munro and Philip Roth.  Lydia Davis is also known for her work as a translator of French literature and philosophy, most notably of Marcel Proust and Gustave Flaubert.  Her translations led her to be named a Chevalier of the Order of Arts and Letters by the French government. 

http://www.themanbookerprize.com/news/lydia-davis-wins-man-booker-international-prize-2013

Browse inside Joyful Noise by Paul Fleishmann, illustrations by Eric Beddows, winner of the 1989 Newbery medal.  The book is a collection of fourteen children's poems about insects such as mayflies, lice, and honeybees.  The concept is unusual in that the poems are intended to be read aloud by two people.  Some lines are spoken by the readers simultaneously, while others are read alternately by the speakers.  

http://browseinside.harpercollinschildrens.com/index.aspx?isbn13=9780064460934

Newbery Medal and Honor Books, 1922-present  http://www.ala.org/alsc/awardsgrants/bookmedia/newberymedal/newberyhonors/newberymedal

Joyful Noise:  Poems for Two Voices - Pine City High School Speech

7:20 video:   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IJU4eJD2r8s 

Melita may refer to:

Malta, a European country in the Mediterranean sea (Melita in Greek and Latin, malat in Phoenician)
Melita, California, former town
Melita, Manitoba, Canada
Mljet, (Melita in Greek and Latin)
Melita, a place in Arenac County, Michigan  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melita

Over the centuries, the terms for hominy and its byproducts have come to be rather haphazardly applied.  "Hominy" can indicate most any dried field corn, but dried corn treated with lye or lime—in a process known as nixtamalization—is likewise called hominy.  And cracked dried corn, properly called samp, is often labeled as hominy, too.  Take any of those products and grind them, and you have grits.  Grind lime-treated corn more finely, and you have masa, the base for tortillas and tamales.  http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323789704578446810909012462.html?mod=djemITP_h 

fiduciary (adj.)  1630s, from Latin fiduciarius "(holding) in trust," from fiducia "trust" from root of fidere "to trust"  As a noun, from 1630s

official (n.)   early 14c., from Old French oficial "law officer; bishop's representative" and directly from Late Latin officialis "attendant to a magistrate, public official," noun use of officialis (adj.) "of or belonging to duty, service, or office"  Meaning "person in charge of some public work or duty" first recorded 1550s
officiate (v.)   1630s, "to perform a duty," especially "to perform the duty of a priest," from Medieval Latin officiatum, from present participle of officiare "perform religious services," from Latin officium
duty (n.)   late 13c., from Anglo-French duete, from Old French deu "due, owed; proper, just," from Vulgar Latin debutus, from Latin debitus, past participle of debere "to owe"  Related: Duties.  The sense of "tax or fee on imports, exports, etc." is from late 15c.; duty-free as a noun is attested from 1958.  http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=fiduciary+duty

Plans released May 11, 2013 depicting The New York Public Library’s all-new 53rd Street branch in midtown Manhattan portray an open, light-filled design that offers a rich variety of public reading and meeting spaces, a family and children’s area, state-of-the-art computer labs, an audio-video collection, and accessible book collections that encourage communal interaction throughout.  The 28,000 square-foot branch, one of the largest in the NYPL system, is anchored by an internal topography that connects the library’s three floors, bringing light and views to the deepest corners of the plan’s lower floors and providing opportunities for interaction and public programs upon the interior library steps.  A glass curtain wall, at street level, brings sunlight and the feel of the neighborhood into the library and allows those walking by to see the rich diversity of activity happening within.  The three-story library at 20 West 53rd Street – designed by world-renowned architect Enrique Norten and his firm TEN Arquitectos – will be a true civic space, accommodating a variety of patrons and needs, from individuals looking for quiet study spaces to others seeking small group discussions as well as those wanting to experience one of the larger public programs.  The library will include two assembly spaces – an auditorium and bleacher seating – to support community workshops, educational programs and library events.   The designs have already been honored with a 2013 Project Merit Award from the American Institute of Architects, New York Chapter.  http://www.artdaily.com/index.asp?int_sec=2&int_new=62442 

Alexander the Great (356–323 BC) is considered one of the most successful military commanders of all time.  He was the son of Philip II, a King of Macedonia who had spent twenty years bringing Thrace, Thessaly, and eventually all of Greece under Macedonian control.  When Alexander came to the throne at age 20, he therefore had the most powerful army in the region at his disposal, as well as several of his father's best generals.  Even considering these advantages however, the progress of his military success was astounding. Macedonia was still a poor and backward country when Alexander crossed the Hellespont in 334 B.C. with the notion of conquering all of Persia.  He had only 40,000 troops and little money to begin with, but within three years he was master of a fabulously wealthy empire, whose domains spanned thousands of miles and included tens of millions of people.  Alexander died without a clear plan of succession, and his death resulted in a long series of wars between his generals for control of his kingdom. By the time of his death however, the process of "Hellenization", involving the introduction of Greek culture and learning into all the domains of the eastern Mediterranean was well along.  Within 20 years of his death his empire had evolved into three long term empires, but all retained a Greco-Macedonian character in their administration.  

Find links to books and images at:   http://www.heritage-history.com/www/heritage.php?Dir=characters&FileName=alexander.php 

Find towns founded by Alexander and cultural depictions of Alexander at:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cultural_depictions_of_Alexander_the_Great

LIDAR, which stands for Light Detection and Ranging, is a remote sensing method that uses light in the form of a pulsed laser to measure ranges (variable distances) to the Earth.  These light pulses—combined with other data recorded by the airborne system— generate precise, three-dimensional information about the shape of the Earth and its surface characteristics.  A LIDAR instrument principally consists of a laser, a scanner, and a specialized GPS receiver.  Airplanes and helicopters are the most commonly used platforms for acquiring LIDAR data over broad areas.  Two types of LIDAR are topographic and bathymetric.  Topographic LIDAR typically uses a near-infrared laser to map the land, while bathymetric lidar uses water-penetrating green light to also measure seafloor and riverbed elevations.  http://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/lidar.html  See also:  "Lasers in the Jungle," an article about mapping a Maya landscape at:  http://archive.archaeology.org/1007/etc/caracol.html

Graeme Rowland Base (born 1958) is an Australian author and artist of picture books.  He is perhaps best known for his second book, Animalia published in 1986, and third book The Eleventh Hour which was released in 1989.  He was born in Amersham, England but moved to Australia with his family at the age of eight and has lived here ever since.  He attended Box Hill High School and Melbourne High School in Melbourne, and then studied a Diploma of Art (Graphic Design) for three years at Swinburne University of Technology at Prahran.  He worked in advertising for two years and then began illustrating children's books, gradually moving to authoring them as well.  The Sign of the Seahorse was adapted as an opera with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra in 2001.  My Grandma Lived in Gooligulch was adapted as a play by Gooligulch Productions.  Animalia has been made into a television series (Animalia), and also is one of the most sold books around the world.   Base was an executive producer for the series, and also composed the opening theme music with Yuri Worontschak.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graeme_Base 

NOTE that I first learned of Graeme Base when working on the fanciful puzzle "The New Seahorse Café"  based on his book "The Sign of the Seahorse".

When Darwin, or indeed any of his contemporaries, wrote of bees, he would have called them humblebees.  But they weren't humble in the sense of lowly beings doing the drudge work of nectar and pollen collecting; rather they would have been celebrated for the powerful evolutionary interaction with the flowers they had visited for millions of years.  Darwin would have called them humblebees because, as they fly, they hum.  Simple.  The etymological change of entomological names occurred gradually and imperceptibly, but some key events can be pin-pointed.  The first great 20th-century book on bees was by Frederick Sladen, and his 1912 opus on their life history was firmly in the "humble" camp.  By then, bumble, which had always been knocking around in the background as a second-rate alternative, had started to gain some ground.  In Beatrix Potter's Tale of Mrs Tittlemouse (1910), the eponymous heroine is troubled by squatters making mossy nests in her back yard.  Chief troublemaker is one Babbitty Bumble.  It is, perhaps, at about this time that the myth of the bumblebee's scientifically impossible flight came into play.  As aeronautics took off between the wars, along with faster and sleeker planes, the clumsy-looking furry bee with its pitifully small wings and tubby body was the perfect match for its new, slightly belittling name, as it bumbled from droopy bloom to droopy bloom.  By the time of the next bee monograph, by John Free and Colin Butler (1959), the humblebee had gone forever.  http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/aug/01/humblebee-bumblebee-darwin

The Brown Derby was the name of a chain of restaurants in Los Angeles, California.  The first and most famous of these was shaped like a man's derby hat, an iconic image that became synonymous with the Golden Age of Hollywood.  A chain of Brown Derby restaurants in Ohio are still in business today.  The chain was started by Robert H. Cobb and Herbert Somborn (a former husband of film star Gloria Swanson).  It is often incorrectly thought that the Brown Derby was a single restaurant, and the Wilshire Boulevard and Hollywood branches are frequently confused.  Gus Girves started the Brown Derby chain in Ohio as Girves Brown Derby in 1941.  The Brown Derby began its licensing program in 1987 with an agreement with Walt Disney Company for a replica of the original Hollywood Brown Derby restaurant at the new Disney's Hollywood Studios in Orlando, Florida.  In 1990, Walt Disney Company entered into three additional agreements for Euro-Disney, Tokyo Disney and Disneyland in Anaheim, California.  In 1996, a ten-year agreement was entered into with MGM Grand Las Vegas Las Vegas, Nevada; in 1998, the MGM Grand Detroit, Michigan temporary facility was added.  See pictures at:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brown_Derby

Q:  What are some English words without a rhyme?
A:  Bulb, orange, angel, silver, month. -- dictionary.com.
Q:  Is Alicia Keys her stage name?
A:  Yes, the singer was born Alicia Augello Cook.

http://www.thecourier.com/Opinion/columns/2013/Apr/JU/ar_JU_042913.asp?d=042913,2013,Apr,29
Q:  Are women still behind men in workplace earnings?
A:  Yes.  Women earned 77 percent of what men earned in 2011, the latest year with figures available.  Their median annual earnings were $37,118, compared to $48,202 for men. -- U.S. Census Bureau. 
Q:  How many times can paper be recycled?
A:  Paper can be recycled five or six times, and more if "virgin paper" is added.  About 40 percent of our recycled paper goes abroad, mostly to China, which doesn't have enough trees to feed its demand for paper.  It may be our largest export there.  American recyclers have stayed in business because of China's hunger for paper, and our government's requirement that paper contain recycled content. -- Slate.  http://www.thecourier.com/Opinion/columns/2013/May/JU/ar_JU_050613.asp?d=050613,2013,May,06&c=c_13

The Colors and Shapes of the White House

Three of the rooms in the White House are so colorful that they are called the Green Room, the Blue Room, and the Red Room.  And it is not just the walls that are colorful.  Look at the carpets, the drapes on the windows, the couches and the chairs.  Why are these rooms so colorful?  Presidents long ago used these colors in the rooms and most presidents after them did, too.  Thomas Jefferson, our third president, had a green carpet in the "Green Room."  President Martin van Buren started using blue to decorate the Blue Room in 1837.  When John Tyler was president in the 1840s, people started calling the Red Room red.  Today, when these rooms are decorated, these colors are still used.  See shapes described and pictured, including rectangle, square, oval, arch, half circle and triangle at:   http://www.whitehousehistory.org/whha_classroom/classroom_K-3-colors-shapes.html

The Queens' Bedroom is a bedroom on the second floor of the White House, part of a suite of rooms that includes the Queens' Sitting Room and Queens' Bath.  Named for the many royal guests it has hosted (including queens of the Netherlands, Greece, Norway, and Great Britain), this room is sometimes used by presidents to reward friends and political supporters.  Between 1902 and 1963, it was known as the "Rose Room" and was used by Anna Roosevelt (daughter of Theodore Roosevelt) and Emily Carow (Mrs. Roosevelt's sister), among others.  http://www.whitehousemuseum.org/floor2/queens-bedroom.htm

Collar counties” is a term applied to the five counties that surround the centrally located Cook County in the Chicago metropolitan area:  DuPage County, Kane County, Lake County, McHenry County, and Will County.  http://www.encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org/pages/3.html

Philadelphia “Collar Counties” are Bucks, Chester, Delaware and Montgomery.

People started referring to workers by the color of their collar in the 1910s and 1920s.  The turned-down collar as we know it today has been around since at least the 1800s, but it wasn’t used to discriminate by occupation and social status until around the early 20th century.  The etymologist Barry Popik suggests that “blue collar workers” were mentioned in contrast to “white collar workers” as early as 1924, when the Alden, Iowa newspaper the Times proposed, “If we may call professions and office positions white collar jobs, we may call the trades blue collar jobs.”  Meanwhile the environmental movement gave rise to “green-collar workers” (who work in conservation and sustainability), and the 1980s yielded a class of “gold-collar workers” (who work in specialized fields like law, engineering, and finance, or, according to a different definition, in the service industry).  As the population ages, we may see more “grey-collar workers” (who work into their 60s).  And the latest entrants are the “no-collar workers”—tech-industry professionals who eschew collars altogether.  http://bluecollarbranding.com/2012/06/11/blue-collar-pink-collar-green-collar-gold-collar-no-collar-marketers-know-your-audience-and-their-origin/ 

Contrary to popular belief, German chocolate cake did not originate in Germany.  Its roots can be traced back to 1852 when American Sam German developed a type of dark baking chocolate for the American Baker's Chocolate Company.  The brand name of the product, Baker's German's Sweet Chocolate, was named in honor of him.  On June 3, 1957, a recipe for "German's Chocolate Cake" appeared as the "Recipe of the Day" in the Dallas Morning Star.  It was created by Mrs. George Clay, a homemaker from 3831 Academy Drive, Dallas, Texas.  This recipe used the baking chocolate introduced 105 years prior and became quite popular.  General Foods, which owned the Baker's brand at the time, took notice and distributed the cake recipe to other newspapers in the country.  Sales of Baker's Chocolate are said to have increased by as much as 73% and the cake would become a national staple.  The possessive form (German's) was dropped in subsequent publications, forming the "German Chocolate Cake" identity we know today and giving the false impression of a German origin.  The recipe still remains popular to this day and has been adopted by baking companies. 

June 11 is National German Chocolate Cake Day in America.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_chocolate_cake 

The Baker's German's Sweet chocolate bar was the forerunner of Milk Chocolate.  Samuel German made this a little sweeter and was popular for eating and baking pastries.  It was so popular that they named the bar after him.  http://www.kitchenproject.com/german/recipes/Desserts/GermanChocolateCake/index.htm

Original Recipe for German Chocolate Cake  

http://www.kitchenproject.com/history/GermanChocolateCake/OriginalRecipe.htm

Wuthering Heights is a novel by Emily Brontë, written between October 1845 and June 1846,  and published in 1847 under the pseudonym "Ellis Bell."  It was her first and only published novel: she died aged 30 the following year.  The decision to publish came after the success of her sister Charlotte's novel, Jane Eyre. After Emily's death, Charlotte edited the manuscript of Wuthering Heights, and arranged for the edited version to be published as a posthumous second edition in 1850.  Wuthering Heights is the eponymous farmhouse on the Yorkshire moors where the story unfolds.  Its core theme is the enduring love between the heroine, Catherine Earnshaw, and her father's adopted son, Heathcliff and how it eventually destroys their lives and the lives of those around them.  Although Wuthering Heights is now widely regarded as a classic of English literature, it received mixed reviews when first published, and was considered controversial because its depiction of mental and physical cruelty was so unusually stark.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wuthering_Heights

Even before she started writing mature fiction, Emily Brontë composed poems of intensity and accomplishment.  However, she is remembered today for Wuthering Heights.  The circumstances of its appearance in December 1847 by a house of questionable reputation are a remarkable story in themselves.  The novel came out under a pseudonym, Ellis Bell.  If—as there is evidence to think—Emily Jane Brontë hoped that her pen name would prevent the world from knowing her real one, that hope was doomed, for the world was already enthralled with a novel by Currer Bell, Jane Eyre, the product of Emily’s older sister Charlotte.  It would be only time before publishers, reviewers, critics, and the curious would learn the identities of the Bells, Currer (Charlotte), Ellis (Emily), and Acton (Anne Brontë).  http://englishmatters.gmu.edu/issue8/lathbury/lathbury_body.htm

Contemporary reviews of Wuthering Heights  http://wuthering-heights.co.uk/reviews.htm

wuther  verb (used without object) British Dialect  (of wind) to blow fiercely.

Origin:  1846; variant of dial. and Scots whither, Middle English ( Scots ) quhediren; compare Old Norse hvitha squall of wind   http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/wuther 

Katharine Kyes Leab and Daniel J. Leab American Book Prices Current Exhibition Catalogue Awards  These awards are given annually in recognition of excellence in the publication of catalogues and brochures that accompany exhibitions of library and archival materials, as well as for electronic exhibitions of such materials.  They are administered by the Exhibition Awards Committee of the ALA/ACRL Rare Books and Manuscripts Section (RBMS), whose operating expenses are covered by a generous endowment from Katharine Kyes Leab and Daniel J. Leab, editors of American Book Prices Current.   2013 winners: 

Category 1 Winner (Expensive)  Not awarded

Category 2 Winner (Moderately expensive)  Hoover Institution Library and Archives at Stanford University for “A Century of Change: China 1911-2011."
Category 3 Winner (Inexpensive)  “Medicine of the Maumee: A History of Health Care in Northwest Ohio,” submitted by the Ward M. Canaday Center for Special Collections at the University of Toledo, Mercy College of Ohio, Mercy Toledo and ProMedica Toledo.
Category 4 Winner (Brochures)  Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library at Yale University for their brochure entitled “Remembering Shakespeare.”
Category 5 Winner (Electronic exhibition)   Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas at Austin for “The Greenwich Village Bookshop Door: A Portal to Bohemia, 1920-1925,” available online.
Category 5 Honorable Mention (Electronic exhibition)  Cuban Heritage Collection at the University of Miami Libraries for “Cuban Theater in Miami: 1960-1980,” available online.
http://www.ala.org/acrl/awards/publicationawards/leabawards

Molten rock below the surface of the Earth that rises in volcanic vents is known as magma, but after it erupts from a volcano it is called lava.  Originating many tens of miles beneath the ground, the ascending magma commonly contains some crystals, fragments of surrounding (unmelted) rocks, and dissolved gases, but it is primarily a liquid composed principally of oxygen, silicon, aluminum, iron, magnesium, calcium, sodium, potassium, titanium, and manganese.  Magmas also contain many other chemical elements in trace quantities.  Upon cooling, the liquid magma may precipitate crystals of various minerals until solidification is complete to form an igneous or magmatic rock.

http://vulcan.wr.usgs.gov/Glossary/LavaFlows/description_lava_flows.html

Conceived and designed in the late 1920's but not actually built until 1945, the Dymaxion House was Buckminster Fuller's solution to the need for a mass-produced, affordable, easily transportable and environmentally efficient house.  The word "Dymaxion" was coined by combining parts of three of Bucky's favorite words:  DY (dynamic), MAX (maximum), and ION (tension).  The house used tension suspension from a central column or mast, sold for the price of a Cadillac, and could be shipped worldwide in its own metal tube.  Toward the end of WW II, Fuller attempted to create a new industry for mass-producing Dymaxion Houses.  Bucky designed a home that was heated and cooled by natural means, that made its own power, was earthquake and storm-proof, and made of permanent, engineered materials that required no periodic painting, reroofing, or other maintenance.  You could easily change the floor plan as required - squeezing the bedrooms to make the living room bigger for a party, for instance.  Downdraft ventilation drew dust to the baseboards and through filters, greatly reducing the need to vacuum and dust.  O-Volving Shelves required no bending; rotating closets brought the clothes to you.  The Dymaxion House was to be leased, or priced like an automobile, to be paid off in five years.  

http://www.bfi.org/about-bucky/buckys-big-ideas/dymaxion-world/dymaxion-house   

See photos of twentieth century prefab homes from the futuristically-named Lustron, Dymaxion, Aluminaire, Airoh and Futuro to the lesser known, conventionally-styled prefabs like Gunnison Homes:   http://www.flickr.com/groups/prefabhomes/pool/7942851@N08/

Recognizing and naming America

Martin Waldseemüller’s 1507 world map grew out of an ambitious project in St. Dié, near Strasbourg, France, during the first decade of the sixteenth century, to document and update new geographic knowledge derived from the discoveries of the late fifteenth and the first years of the sixteenth centuries.  Waldseemüller’s large world map was the most exciting product of that research effort, and included data gathered during Amerigo Vespucci’s voyages of 1501–1502 to the New World.  Waldseemüller christened the new lands "America" in recognition of Vespucci ’s understanding that a new continent had been uncovered as a result of the voyages of Columbus and other explorers in the late fifteenth century.  This is the only known surviving copy of the first printed edition of the map, which, it is believed, consisted of 1,000 copies.  Waldseemüller’s map supported Vespucci’s revolutionary concept by portraying the New World as a separate continent, which until then was unknown to the Europeans.  It was the first map, printed or manuscript, to depict clearly a separate Western Hemisphere, with the Pacific as a separate ocean.  The map represented a huge leap forward in knowledge, recognizing the newly found American landmass and forever changing the European understanding of a world divided into only three parts—Europe, Asia, and Africa.  See image at:  http://www.loc.gov/rr/geogmap/waldexh.html