New library shelves 3,400 bottles of wine by Matt Hayes   The newest library at Cornell University contains no books and offers no borrowing privileges.  Located in the basement of Stocking Hall, it lacks the soaring windows and grand views of other locations.  Students can’t access the library, and since it’s kept at a constant 54 degrees, it would not offer much of a study refuge anyway.  When fully stocked, the John Wilkinson Family Wine Library, a gift from John Wilkinson ’79, will give Cornell students in viticulture and enology courses access to wines sourced from regions across the world.  Shelves more than 7 feet high are already filled with selections from eight countries and winemaking hotbeds in the U.S. like northern California and the Finger Lakes.  The robust selection of wines housed in the library will be used to demonstrate the effects of growing practices and idiosyncratic winemaking decisions on wine properties as Cornell trains the next generation of wine industry leaders.  http://news.cornell.edu/stories/2016/05/new-library-shelves-3400-bottles-wine

bardolater  noun  a person who idolizes Shakespeare   George Bernard Shaw once described a Shakespeare play as "stagy trash."  Another time, Shaw said he'd like to dig Shakespeare from the grave and throw stones at him.  Shaw could be equally scathing toward Shakespeare's adoring fans.  He called them "foolish Bardolaters," wrote of "Bardolatrous" ignoramuses, and called blind Shakespeare worship "Bardolatry."  Oddly enough, Shaw didn't despise Shakespeare or his work (on the contrary, he was, by his own admission, an admirer), but he disdained those who placed the man beyond reproach.  The word bardolater, which Shaw coined by blending Shakespeare's epithet--"the Bard"--with an affix that calls to mind "idolater," has stuck with us to this day, though it has lost some of its original critical sting.  Origin of bardolater:  Bard (of Avon), epithet of Shakespeare + -o- + -later  first known use:  1903  http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/bardolater

The spinning top is one of the world’s oldest toys.  Found in all cultural circles of the world independently of one another, spinning tops were made from various natural materials.  Clay tops have been discovered in archaeological digs that date as far back as 3500 B.C. in the city Ur, southeast of Baghdad, Terra Cotta tops were discovered at Troy that date to 3000 B.C., and Egyptian, Greek and Roman tops have been found dating from 2000 B.C. to 27 B.C.  Children have used them for centuries as toys and pastimes.  They have also been used in prophecy, gambling and as gifts to honor the Gods, or in some cultures, as items to take into the afterlife.  Today, spinning tops provide play and distraction.  They are also used in tournaments and championships in games of skill as well as in role-playing games.  The body of a spinning top has at least one axis, known as a principle axis, around which it spins.  They traditionally have a peg shape in which the top of the body is much wider than the bottom, or tip.  Spinning tops also include a mechanism to begin the spinning such as a spring cap, stem, string or pump.  They can be made of a variety of materials including wood, clay, stone and metal, and are typically brightly painted.  Spinning tops come in many different sizes.  The largest top weighs around 15 lbs., found in primitive Malay and most often used by adults.  The common child's toy we know today is typically no larger than a few inches in height and diameter.  http://www.woodenspinningtops.com/Home.html

The Spinning Top & Yo-Yo Museum  533 Milwaukee Avenue  Burlington, Wisconsin  (262) 763-3946  Try 40+ hands-on spinning tops & hands-on action top games and optical
illusions.  See the exhibit of 2,000 tops & yo-yos & gyroscopes.  Try the I Spy Hunt plus enjoy a live presentation by The Top Lady, Judith Schulz.  http://www.topmuseum.org/

Turmeric has a peppery, warm and bitter flavor and a mild fragrance slightly reminiscent of orange and ginger, and while it is best known as one of the ingredients used to make curry, it also gives ballpark mustard its bright yellow color.  Turmeric comes from the root of the Curcuma longa plant and has a tough brown skin and a deep orange flesh.  Turmeric has long been used as a powerful anti-inflammatory in both the Chinese and Indian systems of medicine.  Turmeric was traditionally called "Indian saffron" because of its deep yellow-orange color and has been used throughout history as a condiment, healing remedy and textile dye.  Find serving ideas and link to recipes at http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=foodspice&dbid=78

Digital Smarts Everywhere:  The Emergence of Ambient Intelligence by Alan Rothman  http://www.llrx.com/features/digital-smarts-everywhere-the-emergence-of-ambient-intelligence.htm

Moogfest 2016   There are festivals devoted to musical genres and subgenres.  There are festivals centered around particular bands.  There are festivals focused on specific instruments—guitars, violins, horns.  There are festivals that celebrate certain aesthetics, festivals where all of the acts pair mysteriously well with particular narcotics, and festivals that seem mostly designed for profit.  What makes Moogfest unusual, and intriguing, is that it’s oriented somewhat orthogonally—centered not exclusively around the Moog synthesizer, one of the first commonly used electric synths, but billed as a tribute to Bob Moog, who designed it.  (It’s pronounced “mohg,” in case you weren’t sure.)  As such, it brings together a strange coalition of sounds, such that some attending the festival might, within a few hours, take in sounds ranging from Grimes’s edgy pop to the synth O.G. Gary Numan performing a classic album to a thumping DJ set by the Black Madonna.  The result is pleasantly disorienting, a mix of sounds that helps keep visitors from falling into the weariness and auditory ruts that are a risk at any multi-day festival.  David A. Graham  Read much more and link to music videos at http://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2016/05/moogfest-2016-grimes-odesza-laurie-anderson-daniel-lanois/483857/

Rethinking Knowledge in the Internet Age by  David Weinberger   The internet started out as the Information Highway, the Great Emancipator of knowledge, and as an assured tool for generating a well-informed citizenry.  But, over the past 15 years, that optimism has given way to cynicism and fear—we have taught our children that the net is a swamp of lies spun by idiots and true believers, and, worse still, polluted by commercial entities whose sole aim is to have us click to the next ad-riddled page.  Read extensive article at https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/rethinking-knowledge-internet-age/

On Your Mark--Get Set--Read  Summer 2016 reading challenge for all ages at the Toledo-Lucas County Public Library  You may count books read on a computer or e-reader, count time spent reading to your children, and count audiobooks.  Get information at T-LCPL or visit http://toledolibrary.readsquared.com/

June 2016 LibraryReads List  Find ten books that librarians recommend at http://libraryreads.org/

http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com  Issue 1477 May 27, 2016  On this date in 1819, Julia Ward Howe, American poet and  author of "The Battle Hymn of the Republic", was born.  On this date in 1878, Anna Cervin, Swedish artist, was born.