Pommy  noun  A British person  Origin: Early 20th century--apparently a shortening of pomegranate, rhyming slang for 'immigrant'.  http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/us/definition/american_english/Pommy  Pommyland means Britain, especially England.

The Library of Congress began a multiyear “Celebration of the Book” before the September 2012 National Book Festival with an exhibition on “Books That Shaped America.”  The initial books in the exhibition are displayed at http://www.loc.gov/bookfest/books-that-shaped-america/

What olive oil, nuts, beans, and sardines are to the Mediterranean, canola oil, berries, root vegetables, and cod are to Scandinavia.  Find New Nordic Diet with 10 guidelines and link to 10-point manifesto at http://qz.com/322049/the-mediterranean-diet-is-out-and-the-nordic-diet-is-in/

When two or more metaphors (or cliches) are jumbled together, often illogically, we say that these comparisons are "mixed."  In Garner's Modern American Usage, Bryan A. Garner offers this classic example of a mixed metaphor from a speech by Boyle Roche in the Irish Parliament:  "Mr. Speaker, I smell a rat.  I see him floating in the air.  But mark me, sir, I will nip him in the bud."  This sort of mixed metaphor may occur when a speaker is so familiar with the figurative sense of a phrase ("smell a rat," "nip in the bud") that he fails to recognize the absurdity that results from a literal reading.  More examples:  "So now what we are dealing with is the rubber meeting the road, and instead of biting the bullet on these issues, we just want to punt."  (Chicago Tribune, cited by The New Yorker, August 13, 2007)  "[T]he bill is mostly a stew of spending on existing programs, whatever their warts may be."  (The New York Times, January 27, 2009)  "A friend of mine, talking about the Democratic presidential candidates, tossed out a wonderful mixed metaphor:  'This is awfully weak tea to have to hang your hat on.'"  (Bob Herbert, "Behind the Curtain," The New York Times, November 27, 2007)  Richard Nordquist  http://grammar.about.com/od/qaaboutrhetoric/f/QAmixmetaphor.htm

Nephrops norvegicus is a shrimpy-looking crustacean in the lobster family.  Its body can grow up to ten inches long, but it’s basically just the delicious tail meat that has chefs from Copenhagen to Vegas in a full-on frenzy. ”Nothing highlights the elegance and bounty of the sea better than langoustines,” waxes Esben Holmboe Bang, chef of Maaemo in Oslo.  “They have a more complex and delicate taste than lobster.  The flavor is sweet, elegant.  Lobster is rustic by comparison.”  The real-deal, super-primo langoustine specimens come from the northeastern Atlantic Ocean, particularly the clear, frigid waters off the coasts of Iceland, Scotland, and Norway.  That same species of langoustine, however, ranges as far south as Portugal, and can be found in parts of the Adriatic sea.  Close cousins exist all over the world, notably Metanephrops challengeri, which can be found off the coasts of New Zealand and is sometimes marketed as the genuine article.  Amiel Stanek  http://www.bonappetit.com/test-kitchen/ingredients/article/langoustine

At just two days after birth, babies are already able to process language using processes similar to those of adults.  International School for Advanced Studies of Trieste (SISSA) researchers have demonstrated that they are sensitive to the most important parts of words, the edges, a cognitive mechanism which has been repeatedly observed in older children and adults.  It is well-known that, in general, people better remember the edges of sequences and particularly in language, when we must remember and recognize words, the brain gives greater weight to information at the beginning and the end of the word.  "The syllables at the beginnings and the ends of words often carry important information.  For example, the parts of words that contain information about plurality of objects or verb tense are almost always found at the beginning or at the end of words in all known languages," says Alissa Ferry, researcher at SISSA and author of the study.  "The infants heard a sequence of six syllables and we examined if they could discriminate it from a very similar sequence, in which we switched the positions of two of the syllables.  When we switched the edge syllables, the newborns' brain responded to the change, but when we switched the two syllables in the middle, they did not respond to the change.  This suggests that the newborns better encoded the syllables at the edges of the sequence," says Perrine Brusini, a SISSA researcher and one of the study's authors.  http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/07/150721081725.htm

Soap making has remained unchanged over the centuries.  The ancient Roman tradition was to take rain water, potash and animal tallow, turning it into a cleansing agent.  Making soap was a long and arduous process.  First the fat had to be rendered, that is melted and filtered to remove any non-fat solids.  Then the potash solution was added to the hot fat.  Since water and oil do not mix, this mixture had to be continuously stirred and heated sufficiently to keep the fat melted. Slowly a chemical reaction called saponification would take place between the fat and the hydroxide which resulted in a liquid soap.  When the fat and water no longer separated, the mixture was allowed to cool.  At this point salt, such as sodium chloride, was added to separate the soap from the excess water.  The soap came to the top, was skimmed off, and placed in wooden molds to cure.  It was often aged many months to allow the reaction between the fat and hydroxide to run to completion.  All soap is made from fats and alkaline solutions. There are many kinds of fats, both animal and vegetable.  Animal fats are usually solid at room temperature, but many vegetable fats are liquid at room temperature.  Basic (alkaline) solutions all contain a metal and a hydroxide ion.  The most common bases are those produced by the reaction of a group I metal plus water.  Even though all soap is made by the chemical combination of lye, water and fat; which is called saponification, soaps differ from one another depending on the type of fat and lye that is used and the amount.  For instance, lye made from wood ash produces a soft soap.  Commercial lye produces a hard soap.  http://homepage.smc.edu/walker_muriel/making_soap_Procedure.htm

The Cartoon History of the Universe is a book series about the history of the world.  It is written and illustrated by American cartoonist, professor, and mathematician Larry Gonick.  Each book in the series explains a period of world history in a loosely chronological order.  Though originally published in limited runs as comic books, the series is now published in trade paperback volumes of several hundred pages each.  While seeking a publisher, Gonick received early support from Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, who worked as an editor at Doubleday and championed The Cartoon History of the Universe's publication.  Beginning with its original comic book Volume 1 in 1977, the complete series covers world history through 2008.  Gonick, Larry (1990).  The Cartoon History of the Universe - From the Big Bang to Alexander the Great (Volumes 1-7).  Doubleday. p. 368.  ISBN 0-385-26520-4.  Gonick, Larry (1994).  The Cartoon History of the Universe II - From the Springtime of China to the Fall of Rome (Volumes 8-13).  Doubleday. p. 305.  ISBN 0-385-42093-5.  Gonick, Larry (2002).  The Cartoon History of the Universe III - From the Rise of Arabia to the Renaissance (Volumes 14-19).  Doubleday. p. 300.  ISBN 0-393-32403-6.  Gonick, Larry (2006).  The Cartoon History of the Modern World - Volume 1:  From Columbus to the U.S. Constitution. Collins. p. 272.  ISBN 0-06-076004-4.  Gonick, Larry (2009).  The Cartoon History of the Modern World - Volume 2:  From the Bastille to Baghdad. Collins. p. 272.  ISBN 0-06-076008-7.

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

 http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com  Issue 1339  August 17, 2015  On this date in 1807, Robert Fulton's North River Steamboat left New York, New York, for Albany, New York, on the Hudson River, inaugurating the first commercial steamboat service in the world.  On this date in 1907,  Pike Place Market, a popular tourist destination and registered historic district in Seattle, Washington, opened.  On this date in 1908,  Fantasmagorie, the first animated cartoon, created by Émile Cohl, was shown in Paris, France.