Archiving a Website for Ten Thousand Years by Glenn Fleishman   In May 1940, Thornwell Jacobs, the president of Oglethorpe University in Atlanta, dedicated a 2,000-square-foot Crypt of Civilization intended to be sealed until May 28, 8113 C.E.  He picked that date as the marker of a duration into the future equal to that which had passed since the oldest surviving recorded history, some 6,200 years prior.  The crypt contained about 640,000 pages of text reproduced on microfilm.  It also housed technological artifacts and bric-a-brac, along with a windmill-powered generator to play back audio and film recordings.  Hi.co, a website that allows its users to post “moments” with a photo and annotation, plans a similar trip to the distant future.  The operators, Craig Mod and Chris Palmieri, announced today https://medium.com/@craigmod/archiving-our-online-communities-e5868eab4d9a#.lhhezmrmf that the site will freeze service in September 2016.  However, all posts present in the site’s database at that time will be microprinted onto a two-by-two-inch nickel plate.  The entire site—2,000,000 words and 14,000 photos—should fit on a single disk.  Several copies will be made and distributed across the globe; the Library of Congress has already been secured as a repository.  The plates have a lifespan as long as 10,000 years, and they may be viewed with a 1,000-power optical microscope.

Read much more at http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2016/05/archiving-a-website-for-ten-thousand-years/482385/?single_page=true

Sorghum, a tall, broad-leaf plant resembles corn in the field, but the grain crop is best known for its end product:  sweet sorghum syrup.  Where is sorghum grown?  Kentucky and Tennessee lead the nation in sorghum production, though the crop is also grown in a number of other states, including Iowa, Minnesota, Mississippi and Texas.  Sorghum cane is typically harvested during September and October.  Many sorghum syrup producers extract the juice from freshly cut plants right in the field.  The bright green juice then goes back to the mill, where it is kept, heated, in a holding tank.  To avoid spoilage and produce the best syrup, they cook it the next day, thickening into light amber syrup that is then bottled.  Ten gallons of raw sorghum juice yields about 1 gallon of syrup.  Store sorghum as you would honey, at room temperature. If it begins to crystallize, put it in a pan of warm water or nuke it in the microwave.  In fact, you can use sorghum as a substitute for honey (in recipes that don’t use baking powder).  When substituting sorghum in place of sugar, use 1/3 more sorghum than the amount of sugar called for in the recipe and decrease the amount of liquids by 1/3.  When using sorghum instead of molasses, use an equal amount of sorghum but cut the amount of sugar, since sorghum is sweeter than molasses.  http://www.farmflavor.com/what-is-sorghum/

Philip-Jon Haarsma, more commonly known as PJ Haarsma, is a Canadian born science fiction author best known for his creation of the Rings of Orbis universe, which encompasses The Softwire series of books.  Haarsma created a free, online role-playing game, also called the Rings of Orbis, set in the same universe.  Both the book-series and the game target young, often reluctant readers in an attempt to encourage them by rewarding them for reading.  Haarsma developed a school presentation program in which he discusses The Softwire books, astronomy, and other science fiction and science fact topics.  He is also one of the co-founders of Kids Need to Read, a United States Internal Revenue Code  501(c)(3) tax exempt public charity that purchases books to donate to underfunded schools and libraries.  Philip-Jon Haarsma was born on June 5, 1964, in Georgetown, Ontario.  Though he was named after his grandfathers, Philip and Jon, he went simply by "Jon" while growing up.  Later, while attending McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, where he received a Bachelor of Science degree, he began to use his initials, "PJ", and his books are published under the name "PJ Haarsma".  After he moved to the United States in 1989, Haarsma worked as a fashion and commercial photographer in New York City and Miami.  He received many photography awards, including an honorable mention at the Cannes Lion Awards in 1996.  Haarsma owned a small production company called Redbear Films, Inc.  The company produced one movie (Devious Beings, 2002) and several corporate ads for clients such as Hewlett Packard and Nokia.  While speaking at schools across the United States, Haarsma noticed how some school librarians were having trouble finding funds to purchase The Softwire books after a demand had been created by Haarsma's visit.  Many of the librarians were struggling to fill their shelves with books.  In June 2007, Haarsma and a friend, actor Nathan Fillion, approached a group of Fillion's fans with the idea for a project that would work to purchase books for underfunded schools, as well as nonprofit institutions which gave books directly to children.  The group took to the idea and focused their energies into getting the project off the ground.  The Kids Need to Read project went public in August 2007.  In January 2008, the process to transform the project into a legal foundation began, and the fan group was separated from the developing organization.  On May 22, 2008, The Kids Need to Read Foundation (KNTR)  was incorporated in the state of California.  KNTR became an Internal Revenue Code 501(c)(3) tax exempt public charity on September 18, 2008, with a retroactive exemption date of May 22, 2008.  The organization is supported by a global volunteer base.  Funds were initially raised through eBay auctions of Firefly and Serenity autographed memorabilia, and The Softwire books and items, and other science fiction and literary themed items.  Fundraising efforts have since expanded and all funds are used to purchase books from the foundation's official book list, a list which is continually updated by a professional children's book buyer.  The titles chosen are well-reviewed and many are recommended for children who are reluctant readers.  KNTR has made book donations to forty-one schools and libraries in addition to three multiple library systems.  KNTR facilitated a substantial donation of three thousand books by the Phoenix Book Company to the Friends of the New Orleans Public Library, to help with recuperation after Hurricane Katrina.  The Odessa Brown Children's Clinic in Seattle was the recipient of a donation amounting to four hundred forty books in February 2008.  This clinic, as well as the North Public Health Clinic in Seattle, have received recurring donations from KNTR.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PJ_Haarsma#Kids_Need_to_Read

PRAIRIE DOG SONG, The Key to Saving North America's Grasslands by Susan L. Roth, Cindy Trumbore, illustrated by Susan L. Roth   Following their Sibert Award–winning Parrots Over Puerto Rico, Roth and Trumbore turn to prairie dogs.  Each double-page spread includes a collage, a verse from a cumulative song based on “And the Green Grass Grew All Around,” and text detailing the evolving history and ecological significance of prairie dogs in North America.  The clever layout makes this a book that can grow with its readers.  For little ones, the large-print words of the song can be used along with the amazing artwork; older readers can move on to the highly informative, engaging narrative.  The song teaches succinctly about the biodiversity of the prairie habitat before farmers and ranchers, the near-extinction of the entire habitat, and the return to biodiversity once the importance of the prairie dogs was recognized.  In flowing, conversational language, the text for older readers includes such subjects as 19th-century, government-sanctioned prairie dog poisoning and how, in 1988, the prairie dog was finally recognized as a keystone species—one on which an entire ecosystem depends.  https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/susan-l-roth-6/prairie-dog-song/

Archaeologists have discovered the remnants of the oldest known beer brewery in China, unearthing an array of ancient pottery vessels including funnels, pots, and jugs containing residual traces of the beverage from about 5,000 years ago.  Uncovered at an archaeological site at Mijiaya in northern China, the beer vessels were found in pits dating back to between 3400 and 2900 BC.  A faint chemical residue inside the pottery is what gave away the kit's original purpose, with the researchers finding evidence of ancient grains used as ingredients in beer fermentation.  Analysing the residue, the team, led by Jiajing Wang from Stanford University, found what they call a "surprising beer recipe", including traces of broomcorn millet (Panicum miliaceum), barley (Hordeum vulgare), Job's tears (Coix lacryma-jobi), and tubers.  The detection of barley in particular is significant, providing the first known evidence of the grain sourced from archaeological materials in China.  Peter Dockrill  May 24, 2016  Read more and see pictures at http://www.sciencealert.com/archaeologists-discover-remnants-of-the-oldest-known-beer-brewery-in-china

  

http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com  Issue 1476  May 25, 2016  On this date in 1738, a treaty between Pennsylvania and Maryland ended the Conojocular War with settlement of a boundary dispute and exchange of prisoners.  On this date in 1878, Gilbert and Sullivan's comic opera H.M.S. Pinafore opened at the Opera Comique in London.