Wednesday, February 3, 2016

Cookie jar history can be traced back to 18th century England where it is generally believed that they originated as "biscuit jars".  Our English cousins used the term 'biscuit' for a small tea cake or scone, which in the U.S. translates as 'cookie'.  Once baked theses 'biscuits' had to be stored in a place that protected them and kept them fresh.  The biscuit jar eventually migrated across the Atlantic, and by the turn of the century they could be found on the counters of stores and bakeries across America, usually filled with fresh baked 'cookies'.  Due to the lack of funds, brought on by the great depression, our grandmothers where forced to abandon their daily trip to the bakers, and opt instead for more "home baked" goodies.  This increase in home baking of course brought on a need for a more suitable cookie storage container than the make-do cardboard oatmeal box or empty coffee tin.  It wouldn't take long for U.S. industry to recognize and fill this need.  In 1929, the Brush Pottery Company of Zanesville, Ohio introduced what is commonly believed to be first ceramic cookie jar.  The jar--Kolorkraft #344--was green with the word "Cookies" embossed on the front.  With the success of this jar other potteries quickly introduced cookie jars of their own.  Early cookie jars where usually very simple cylindrical or bean pot shapes, with little or no decorations.  Read more and see pictures at http://www.the-old-cookie-jar-shop.com/cookie_jar_history

THE LIBRARIES TRANSFORM CAMPAIGN  Designed to increase public awareness of the value, impact and services provided by libraries and library professionals, the Libraries Transform campaign will showcase the transformative nature of today’s libraries and the critical role libraries play in the digital agehttp://www.ilovelibraries.org/librariestransform/#because

The Center for the Future of Libraries works to identify emerging trends relevant to libraries and the communities they serve, and build connections with experts and innovative thinkers to help libraries address emerging issues.  The Center for the Future of Libraries is initially modeled on the successful American Alliance of Museums' Center for the Future of Museums.  The establishment of the Center for the Future of Libraries was made possible in part by the Institute of Museum and Library Services [RE-00-13-0096-13].  The Center was announced in October 2013 and formally launched in May 2014http://www.ala.org/transforminglibraries/future

The Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University is pleased to release Amber, a free software tool for WordPress and Drupal that preserves content and prevents broken links.  When installed on a blog or website, Amber can take a snapshot of the content of every linked page, ensuring that even if those pages are interfered with or blocked, the original content will be available.  “The Web’s decentralization is one of its strongest features,” said Jonathan Zittrain, Faculty Chair of the Berkman Center and George Bemis Professor of International Law at Harvard Law School.  “But it also means that attempting to follow a link might not work for any number of reasons.  Amber harnesses the distributed resources of the Web to safeguard it. By allowing a form of mutual assistance among Web sites, we can together ensure that information placed online can remain there, even amidst denial of service attacks or broad-based attempts at censorship.”  The release of Amber builds on an earlier proposal from Zittrain and Sir Tim Berners-Lee for a “mutual aid treaty for the Internet” that would enable operators of websites to easily bolster the robustness of the entire web.  It also aims to mitigate risks associated with increasing centralization of online content.  Increasingly fewer entities host information online, creating choke points that can restrict access to web content.  Amber addresses this by enabling the storage of snapshots via multiple archiving services, such as the Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine and Perma.cc.  Amber is useful for any organization or individual that has an interest in preserving the content to which their website links.  In addition to news outlets, fact-checking organizations, journalists, researchers, and independent bloggers, human rights curators and political activists could also benefit from using Amber to preserve web links.  The launch is the result of a multi-year research effort funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development and the Department of State. 

Original Girl Scout cookie recipe from 1922
1 cup of butter, or substitute
1 cup of sugar
2 tablespoons of milk
2 eggs
1 teaspoon of vanilla
2 cups of flour
2 teaspoons of baking powder
Cream butter and sugar; add well-beaten eggs, then milk, flavoring, flour, and baking powder. Roll thin and bake in quick oven.  (Sprinkle sugar on top.)  This amount makes six to seven dozen.  Modern-day tips (not part of the original recipe):  Refrigerate batter for at least one hour before rolling and cutting cookies.  Bake in a quick oven (375°) for approximately 8 to 10 minutes or until the edges begin to brown.  http://www.girlscouts.org/en/cookies/all-about-cookies/Cookie-History.html

"With beauty before me, may I walk  With beauty behind me, may I walk  With beauty above me, may I walk  With beauty below me, may I walk  With beauty all around me, may I walk  Wandering on the trail of beauty, may I walk."  -  Navajo:  Walking Meditation 
"One step at a time is good walking."  -   Chinese proverb
"I have two doctors, my left leg and my right."  -   G. M. Trevelyan
Source:  The Ways of Walking, research by Michael P. Garofalo  Find quotes, poems, quips and lore at http://www.gardendigest.com/walking.htm

Map:  Sanctuary Cities, Counties, and States by Bryan Griffith, Jessica Vaughan, Marguerite Telford  January 2016   Across the U.S., there are over 300 cities, counties, and states that are considered "sanctuary cities".  These jurisdiction protect criminal aliens from deportation by refusing to comply with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detainers or otherwise impede open communication and information exchanges between their employees or officers and federal immigration agents.  Find list at  http://cis.org/Sanctuary-Cities-Map

Marvin Minsky, a mathematician, computer scientist, and pioneer in the field of artificial intelligence, died at Boston’s Brigham and Women’s Hospital on January 24, 2016.  He was 88.  Minsky, a professor emeritus at the MIT Media Lab, was a pioneering thinker and the foremost expert on the theory of artificial intelligence.  His 1985 book “The Society of Mind” is considered a seminal exploration of intellectual structure and function, advancing understanding of the diversity of mechanisms interacting in intelligence and thought. Minsky’s last book, “The Emotion Machine:  Commonsense Thinking, Artificial Intelligence, and the Future of the Human Mind,” was published in 2006.  http://news.mit.edu/2016/marvin-minsky-obituary-0125


http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com  Issue 1419  February 3, 2016  On this date in 1690, the colony of Massachusetts issued the first paper money in the Americas.  On this date in 1783, Spain recognized United States independence.

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