The black-and-orange monarch butterfly has become nature's celebrity and a rallying symbol of agreeable, grass-roots environmentalism after news spread over the past two years of a stark decline in its population—90 percent in the last 20 years.  The growing number of campaigns to save monarchs range from initiatives launched by President Barack Obama to those by an eastern Iowa Facebook group, from university research scientists to Iowa farmers.  Even bicyclists in the middle of their own zany migration on RAGBRAI got into the act in July 2015.  David Osterberg, professor of occupational and environmental health at the University of Iowa, helped mold milkweed seed balls to the size of a big marble for the Monarchs in Eastern Iowa group to hand out to RAGBRAI riders, who tossed them into ditches on the way out of Mount Vernon.  The Obama administration launched a plan in March 2015 to increase the number of pollinators and monarchs by seeding habitat along the Interstate Highway 35 "monarch flyway" from Texas to Minnesota.  When it comes from the highest levels, says U.S. Fish and Wildlife's Doug Helmers, you know it's a movement.  As the private lands coordinator for the agency in Iowa, he has worked with Iowa landowners on a series of small patches of more than 10 acres of land to grow milkweed, using a $200,000 budget, half of it from the Iowa Department of Natural Resources.  He has seen more enthusiasm for the project than any he can remember.  Mike Killen  http://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/life/2015/07/24/monarch-decline-iowa-milkweed/30629973/

"I am a reference librarian at the Thomas Ford Memorial Library who graduated from the  University of Texas at Austin.  I have worked in public libraries in Texas, Missouri, and Illinois. I am interested in promoting reference services and the reading of good books."  View Rick's blog at http://ricklibrarian.blogspot.com/  In addition to links to library book reviews and news, you may search subjects in the blog archives.  Find results for architecture at http://ricklibrarian.blogspot.com/search/label/architecture

QUOTES from A Conspiracy of Friends by Alexander McCall Smith  “If we eat pies, then we should never, not for one moment, look down on the making of them.”  “Saying 'believe me' all the time is a sign of insecurity."

Born in Rhodesia, Alexander McCall Smith has a great fondness for Africa:  he co-wrote what remains the only guide to the legal system of Botswana and founded the country's first centre for opera training.  He has also been involved in numerous other charitable projects in Botswana and throughout the African continent.  As a highly respected professor of medical law, he has served in a number of high-profile committees on medical ethics both in the UK and for UNESCO.  He is also famously a founder member of the Really Terrible Orchestra of Great Britain, created to give those without notable musical talent the opportunity to perform in public.  They now perform adequately to packed houses.  Among Smith's favorite books are Excellent Women (Barbara Pym has been described as the Jane Austen of our times, and I would concur with this view.  She created a whole world of people living rather mousy lives, illuminated with poignant detail.  She is extremely funny in an understated way.) and A Pattern Language: Towns, Buildings, Construction (Christopher Alexander is an architectural guru whose work is greatly appreciated by a growing band of followers.  This book is astounding.  I dip into it at odd moments, savouring the insights of this prophet of humane architecture and design.  He changed the way I feel about buildings; after you read it, prepare to look at the world around you with very different eyes.)  http://www.foyles.co.uk/alexander-mccall-smith-favourite-books

Out of your element:  like a fish out of water (English) like an octopus in a garage (Spanish)  Find many idioms in I'm Not Hanging Noodles on Your Ears and Other Intriguing Idioms From Around the World by Jag Bhalla

A monopthong is a single vowel sound.  A dipthong is a vowel sound which, within a specific language, is usually considered to be a "single" sound, but actually consists of two vowel sounds occurring consecutively in the same syllable.  A tripthong is a consecutive sequence of three vowel sounds.  In many varieties of English tripthongs tend to be avoided by the use of an "intrusive" consonant (our will be pronounced /aʊwə/ rather than /aʊə/ and player as /pleɪjə/ rather than /pleɪə/).  However, in other varieties of English, such as Australian English, they are common.  See examples at http://eltnotebook.blogspot.com/2013/01/an-elt-glossary-monopthong-dipthong.html    

A backpack is a type of bag that is carried on one’s back.  There are many types of backpacks:  rucksack, knapsack, packsack, pack, etc.  A rucksack and a knapsack are essentially types of backpacks.  Alternatively, a Haversack is a one shouldered bag.  

See pictures, descriptions and comparisons at http://www.differencebetween.info/difference-between-backpack-haversack-knapsack-and-rucksack 

See a list of largest libraries that store 15 million items or more since 2008.  

Find locations, size, budget, number of visitors by year, and staff at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_largest_libraries

WHO AM I?  I was born in 1928 and appeared in over 100 movies beginning in 1956, including Dr. Heckyl and Mr. Hype in 1980.  I appeared as myself in a 2014 documentary.  Look for my films on TV around Halloween.

In the 17th century, the term jack- o’-lantern meant a man with a lantern, or a night watchman. 

http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com  Issue 1370  October 30, 2015  On this date in 1938, Orson Welles broadcast his radio play of H. G. Wells's The War of the Worlds, causing anxiety in some of the audience in the United States.  On this date in 1945, Jackie Robinson of the Kansas City Monarchs signed a contract for the Brooklyn Dodgers to break the baseball color line.