He was the number-one newsmaker of
1938. He was described as: so relaxed, a big dog, a bird that could sing
but wouldn't, too quiet, and a runty
little thing with stubby legs that didn't quite straighten all the way. His appearances smashed attendance records at
nearly every major track. He was
Seabiscuit (1933-1947) a racehorse from
the mare Swing
On and sired by Hard Tack, a son of Man o' War. Seabiscuit was named for his father, as hardtack or
"sea biscuit" is the name for a type of cracker eaten by sailors. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seabiscuit
and Seabiscuit, an American Legend by Laura Hillenbrand
Seabiscuit:
Book vs. Films by
"Emily" One of my favorite
movies for several reasons is Seabiscuit. Being a horse fan, I of course
had read the Book Seabiscuit by Laura Hillenbrand. The historically accurate bestseller was
absolutely fantastic, and one of the best books I have ever read. The film I
have to say is also extremely well done and one of my favorite movies. In the book, the author did countless hours
of research in order to piece together the story of this horse and the people
whose lives he changed. I found that the
book focused a great deal more on each individual character and what life was
like in those days. For instance, the
book delved into the life of a jockey back then and what the living and working
conditions were like. The book also
continued to follow the life of "Red" Pollard after his involvement
with Seabiscuit. It describes his life,
his marriage and how his life was changed by a debilitating riding
accident. The movie, The Legend of Seabiscuit, 2003,
centered more on the horse and how he affected the people directly involved
with him and the public as a whole that he inspired. http://emasblog.blogspot.com/2005/03/seabiscuit-book-vs-films.html
The
Story of Seabiscuit is a 1949 American drama film directed by David Butler and starring Shirley Temple.
The screenplay was written by John
Taintor Foote. The film is a
fictionalized account of the career of the racehorse Seabiscuit (1933–1947) with a subplot involving the romance
between the niece (Temple) of a horse trainer (Barry Fitzgerald) and a jockey (Lon McCallister). The role of Seabiscuit was
played by one of his sons, Sea Sovereign.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Story_of_Seabiscuit
Rare earth elements (REEs) are a group of seventeen
chemical elements that occur together in the periodic table. The group consists of yttrium and the 15
lanthanide elements (lanthanum, cerium, praseodymium, neodymium, promethium,
samarium, europium, gadolinium, terbium, dysprosium, holmium, erbium, thulium,
ytterbium, and lutetium). Scandium is
found in most rare earth element deposits and is sometimes classified as a rare
earth element. The International Union
of Pure and Applied Chemistry includes scandium in their rare earth element
definition. The rare earth elements are all
metals, and the group is often referred to as the "rare earth
metals." These metals have many
similar properties and that often causes them to be found together in geologic
deposits. They are also referred to as
"rare earth oxides" because many of them are typically sold as oxide
compounds.
Read much more and see
graphics at http://geology.com/articles/rare-earth-elements/
Rare earths were discovered beginning in the late 18th century as
oxidized minerals—hence "earths."
They're actually metals, and they aren't really rare; they're just
scattered. The list of things that
contain rare earths is almost endless.
Magnets made with them are much more powerful than conventional magnets
and weigh less; that's one reason so many electronic devices have gotten so
small. Rare earths are also essential to
a host of green machines, including hybrid cars and wind turbines. The battery in a single Toyota Prius contains
more than 20 pounds of the rare earth element lanthanum; the magnet in a large
wind turbine may contain 500 pounds or more of neodymium. The U.S. military needs rare earths for
night-vision goggles, cruise missiles, and other weapons. China,
which supplies 97 percent of the world's rare earth needs, rattled
global markets in the fall of 2010 when it cut off shipments to Japan for a
month during a diplomatic dispute. Over
the next decade China is expected to steadily reduce rare earth exports in
order to protect the supplies of its own rapidly growing industries, which
already consume about 60 percent of the rare earths produced in the country. Tim Folger http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2011/06/rare-earth-elements/folger-text
Ambrose Bierce (1842-1913?), later nicknamed
"Bitter Bierce" and the "Old Gringo", was a journalist and
editorialist from Meigs County, Ohio, whose deeply cynical opinions on the
world and the people living in it led him to create his now-famous (though not nearly famous enough) series of short stories and other fiction pieces, most notably An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge. Bitter Bierce
never gave anyone a reason to wonder about his nickname: he was aggressive and fond of war (though
also an anti-imperialist), fascinated by death, very cynical about love and religion, and perplexed by
women. His works are notable for their dark, troubled, and haunting tone and subject matter. Later in his life, when the Mexican
Revolution was raging down south, Ambrose Bierce decided to leave the United
States and contribute to the war effort in Mexico, hoping to meet up with and
fight alongside Pancho Villa. After a
couple of months (during which time he did indeed meet up with Pancho Villa),
his letters to his friends in the States abruptly ceased. He was never heard from again. The book (and The Film of the Book) Old Gringo speculates on what might have happened to him after
his famous disappearance, but no one knows what happened for sure. H. P. Lovecraft enthusiasts should be
familiar with An Inhabitant of Carcosa, his contribution to the Cthulhu Mythos.
Link to descriptions of The Devil's
Dictionary by Ambrose Bierce and others of his works at http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Creator/AmbroseBierce
When anglicized, the particles in
German names are ordinarily (but not always)
lowercase: Klaus von Bülow. The most common particle in
Dutch and Flemish surnames is the preposition van, sometimes
coupled with an article: van der, van de. Other common particles are
ten and ter. Celtic names are often preceded by à, ab,
ap, Fitz, M', Mac, Mc, or O, all of which express descent. A prefix may be attached to a surname: Debussy, Lafarge, vandergriff. Find also information on Arabic and Romance
language names in Garner's Modern American Usage, 3d ed., 2009. Check on libraries for this book (put your
zip code or city in the search box "enter your location") http://www.worldcat.org/title/garners-modern-american-usage/oclc/259266648
"The glue that holds society together" There
are many claims to be that glue: music,
volunteerism, civility, collective action, communities, mentoring, schools,
marriage, social cohesion, synchrony, even gossip. See http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2015/apr/10/oliver-burkeman-joys-physical-synchrony and http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/science/science-news/3348387/Gossip-helps-to-glue-society-together.html
and http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/civility-its-the-glue-that-holds-society-together/article13205990/
July 20, 2015 In
less than a week, more than 1.1 million digital and physical copies of Harper
Lee’s new novel, “Go Set a Watchman,” have been sold in North America,
HarperCollins Publishers said. The book went on sale July 14, and
the sales figures reflect all preorders and all formats, including the
audiobook edition. HarperCollins, which
initially printed a tad more than two million hardcover editions, said
“Watchman” is now the fastest-selling book in its history. The publisher said “Watchman” has been
reprinted multiple times, and that there are now more than 3.3 million copies
in print, an impressive number at a time when many novels are being read
digitally. “First week sales of ‘Go Set
a Watchman’ have far exceeded our expectations,” Brian
Murray, chief
executive of HarperCollins Publishers, said in a statement. Mr. Murray earlier said that the hardcover
print edition of “Watchman” is outselling the digital edition by a factor of
2-to-1, a sales pattern he said was the opposite of many fiction works. Ms. Lee’s new novel originally was submitted
for publication in 1957 but rejected by her editor at the time, who instead
asked her to rewrite the novel from the point of view of a young girl. The book Ms. Lee then resubmitted, “To Kill a
Mockingbird,” won a Pulitzer Prize and has gone on to sell more than 40 million
copies globally, according to HarperCollins. Jeffrey A. Trachtenberg
As a prune is a
dried plum, how can you get prune juice from it? R.S., Columbus, Ga. First, the prunes are rehydrated. Then they are “juiced” so that the drink
contains about 20 percent prune solids. Lemon
or lime juice, citric acid and honey are usually added for a tastier beverage. Ascorbic acid (vitamin C) may be another
ingredient. By the way, plum growers
have won permission from the Food and Drug Administration to call prunes “dried
plums” instead.
Bucky Katt quote
"I may employ alternate
titles for some common nouns, but the thrust of the narrative is factish." Get Fuzzy comic strip July 26, 2015
Ted Cruz
believes Captain Kirk was Republican; William Shatner responds: Star
Trek wasn't political. I'm not
political; I can't even vote in the US. So to put a geocentric label on interstellar
characters is silly.
http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com Issue 1328
July 26, 2015 On this date in
1948, President Harry S. Truman signed Executive Order
9981 desegregating the
military of the United States. On this
date in 1990, the Americans
with Disabilities Act of 1990 was
signed into law by President George H.W.
Bush.
No comments:
Post a Comment