The Cuban Literacy Campaign (Spanish:  Campaña Nacional de Alfabetización en Cuba) was a year-long effort to abolish illiteracy in Cuba after the Cuban Revolution.  It began on January 1 and ended on December 22, 1961, becoming the world's most ambitious and organized literacy campaign.  Before 1959 the official literacy rate for Cuba was between 60-76%, largely because of lack of educational access in rural areas and a lack of instructors.  As a result, the Cuban government of Fidel Castro at Che Guevara's behest dubbed 1961 the "year of education", and sent "literacy brigades" out into the countryside to construct schools, train new educators, and teach the predominantly illiterate Guajiros (peasants) to read and write.  The campaign was "a remarkable success", and by the completion of the campaign, 707,212 adults were taught to read and write, raising the national literacy rate to 96%.  In 2011, producer and director Catherine Murphy released the 33-minute documentary MAESTRA about the Cuban Literacy Campaign.  The film includes interviews with volunteers who taught during the campaign and archival footage from 1961.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuban_Literacy_Campaign

In the century since the Nobel Foundation was established, many have speculated on the reasons why Alfred Nobel did not provide for a prize to be awarded for achievement in the field of mathematics.  Surely an eminent man of science such as Alfred Nobel could not simply have forgotten about mathematics, so he must have had a good reason for omitting it.  With no obvious reason at hand, people invented one, and as usual the invented tale had a bit of salaciousness to it:  Alfred Nobel deliberately avoided establishing a prize for mathematics out of vindictiveness because a prominent Swedish mathematician was carrying on an affair with his wife.  The "wife" theory is easily discounted, since Nobel was never married.  Some variations of the legend claim it was Nobel's fiancée or mistress who was carrying on the affair, with her partner in infidelity identified as the eminent Swedish mathematician Gosta Mittag-Leffler.  Nobel reportedly did have a mistress, a Viennese woman named Sophie Hess, but there is no evidence she ever had anything to do with Mittag-Leffler.  Another version of the legend maintains that Nobel bore animosity towards Mittag-Leffler for some other reason, and he therefore avoided establishing a mathematics prize because Mittag-Leffler would almost certainly have been one of its first recipients.  However, this version also has little factual evidence to support it.   http://www.snopes.com/science/nobel.asp

March 17, 2016  It was a problem that had baffled mathematicians for centuries--until British professor Andrew Wiles set his mind to it.  "There are no whole number solutions to the equation xⁿ + yⁿ = zⁿ when n is greater than 2."  Otherwise known as "Fermat's Last Theorem," this equation was first posed by French mathematician Pierre de Fermat in 1637, and had stumped the world's brightest minds for more than 300 years.  In the 1990s, Oxford professor Andrew Wiles finally solved the problem, and this week was awarded the hugely prestigious 2016 Abel Prize--including a $700,000 windfall.  The prize, often described as the Nobel of mathematics, was awarded by the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters, with an official ceremony featuring Crown Prince Haakon of Norway to take place in May.  Sheena McKenzie  http://www.cnn.com/2016/03/16/europe/fermats-last-theorem-solved-math-abel-prize/index.html

Best fiction cat books  http://www.goodreads.com/list/show/4935.Best_Fiction_Cat_Books

List of fictional cats in literature  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_fictional_cats_in_literature  Nora Cat, the Composer  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rK2t-kvBcow  1:28  Ketzel Cat. the Composer  http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/07/18/a-musically-inclined-feline-mews-her-last/ 

Michelle Obama recently ordered a song, “This Is For My Girls,” from songwriter Diane Warren, who has written the Oscar-nominated Lady Gaga song “Til It Happens To You” and the Celine Dion song “Because You Loved Me.”  “Girls,” which is now available for download, features turns by singers including Kelly Clarkson, Missy Elliott, Janelle Monae, Zendaya, and many more.  The proceeds from the song will help with the Peace Corps Let Girls Learn Fund.  The Peace Corps Let Girls Learn Program was created in 2015 by the Peace Corps and Mrs. Obama and works to help young women seek secondary education.  http://www.csmonitor.com/The-Culture/Culture-Cafe/2016/0316/Michelle-Obama-creates-song-to-aid-young-women-s-education-video

In French, the word gratin originally referred to the tasty crust left behind in a pan after baking, which was scraped off and eaten as a bonus for the chef.  Now, cooking something au gratin can mean preparing a dish that is cooked from scratch in the oven, like a gratin dauphino is made with potatoes and cream; or combining several cooked ingredients in casserole form, like a baked pasta dish.  A gratin is usually topped with grated sharp cheese and/or breadcrumbs.  Adding just cream will also produce a lightly browned crust if baked in high heat.  Technically, macaroni and cheese is a gratin, in that a protective crust forms while it bakes, giving it a lightly browned and crunchy topcoat, while keeping the rest of the dish moist.  Gratins are served straight from the dish; hence the term gratin dish, which refers to an (often oval-shaped) oven-safe serving pan.  That old-fashioned favorite, onion soup gratinée, is made by pouring soup into oven-safe tureens, topping them with toasted bread and grated cheese, and baking au gratin until gooey.  In French, le gratin is also an idiomatic expression meaning "the upper crust" of society.   http://www.cookthink.com/reference/926/What_is_a_gratin  See also http://www.theramblingepicure.com/what-to-eat-in-france-gratin-dauphinois/

Nominations to the Supreme Court During Presidential Election Years (1900-Present)  March 16, 2016 (IN10455) by Barry J. McMillion, Analyst in American National Government (bmcmillion@crs.loc.gov, 7-6025)  http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/IN10455.pdf

Peeps 2016: The 10th Anniversary Edition  https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/magazine/peeps/

Spring is sprung, the grass is riz.  I wonder where the birdies is.

All the birds are on the wing.  That’s absurd.  All the wings are on the birds.

The producers of the Academy Award-winning film “Spotlight” have issued a statement that confirms BC News & Public Affairs Director Jack Dunn’s contention that the dialogue attributed to him in the movie was fabricated and misrepresents what he did and said while serving as a trustee at his alma mater, Boston College High School.  Issued nationally on March 15, 2016, the statement reads:  “As is the case with most movies based on historical events, ‘Spotlight’ contains fictionalized dialogue that was attributed to Mr. Dunn for dramatic effect.  We acknowledge that Mr. Dunn was not part of the Archdiocesan cover-up.  It is clear from his efforts on behalf of the victims at BC High that he and the filmmakers share a deep, mutual concern for victims of abuse.”  As part of the settlement, Open Road Studios agreed to make donations in Dunn’s name to local charities, including the Big Brother Association of Boston, in memory of his “Little Brother” John Esposito who was killed in 1990, and to a non-profit organization Dunn selected called Resilient Kids, made in honor of one of Dunn’s BC High classmates who was victimized by Rev. James Talbot, S.J., while a student at BC High. 

http://www.bc.edu/bc-web/bcnews/campus-community/announcements/spotlight-statement-vindicates-jack-dunn.html  See also http://www.themediareport.com/2015/11/30/how-spotlight-got-it-wrong/

http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com  Issue 1444  March 21, 2016  On this date in 1685, Johann Sebastian Bach was born.   Germany adopted the Gregorian calendar in 1700 with the stipulation that all dates prior to December 31, 1699 remained valid, so JSB's birthday should still be celebrated on March 21.  On this date in 1925, Tennessee governor Austin Peay signed the Butler Act prohibiting public school teachers from denying the Biblical account of man's origin.  The law also prevented the teaching of the evolution of man from what it referred to as lower orders of animals in place of the Biblical account.  The law was challenged later that year in a famous trial in Dayton, Tennessee called the Scopes trial.  The law remained on the books until 1967, when teacher Gary L. Scott of Jacksboro, Tennessee, dismissed for violation of the act, sued for reinstatement, citing his First Amendment right to free speech.  Although his termination was rescinded, Scott continued his fight with a class action lawsuit in the Nashville Federal District Court, seeking a permanent injunction against enforcement of that law.  Within three days of his filing suit, a bill for repeal of the Butler Act had passed both houses of the Tennessee legislature, and was signed into law May 18 by Governor Buford Ellington.