"Time's arrow flies in only one direction, but memory is a different story."   "If every event were recorded, the world would soon be swamped by the accumulation."  Blood Ties by Ralph McInerny (1929-2010) Father Dowling Mysteries , #24

TOLEDO ZOO NEWS   Re-introducing  animals to each other begins with "howdies"--different species are kept together but see and interact with others through fence lines.  Giraffes like romaine and leafy green lettuce, but not kale or collard greens.  Elephants like popcorn and blow it out the top of a vertical PVC feeder tube.  Their favorite food is watermelon--they stick the entire watermelon in their mouths.  The African continent has many different climate zones and thousands of species of plants including hens and chicks that are similar to varieties used in our home gardens.  A renovated landscape area in the Toledo zoo will feature many African succulents.  Safari, the Official Magazine of the Toledo Zoo  Summer 2016

Panama and the Canal is a joint presentation of the University of Florida George A. Smathers Libraries and the Panama Canal Museum.  Panama and the Canal builds from the Panama Canal Museum's rich collection of Panama and Canal Zone materials and the extensive holdings on Panama and the whole of Latin America from the University of Florida George A. Smathers Libraries' Latin American Collection, Government Documents Collection, and the Map & Imagery Library.  The Panama Canal is also the subject of the UF Libraries' first Center of Excellence project.  As a part of the Association of South Eastern Research Libraries' Collaborative Federal Depository Project UF undertakes to acquire a complete-as-possible collection of the government documents produced by the Panama Canal Commission (and related agencies), as well as documents related to the creation and maintenance of the Canal.  Upcoming plans include an extensive round of exhibits for the 100th anniversary of the opening of the Panama Canal in 2014, and the digitization of documents related to the U.S. Panama Canal Commission and Canal Zone newspapers currently only available on microfilm.  http://guides.uflib.ufl.edu/c.php?g=147621&p=969209

The United States Government controlled and operated the Panama Canal and the surrounding Canal Zone from 1904 through 1999.  The Panama Canal Commission was the final Federal agency to manage, operate, and maintain the Canal.  The Commission was created by the Panama Canal Treaty of 1977, and superseded the Canal Zone Government and the Panama Canal Company.  The Commission operated the Canal until the expiration of the Panama Canal Treaty on December 31, 1999, when the Republic of Panama assumed full responsibility for the Canal.  https://www.govinfo.gov/browse/panama-canal

U.S. institutions of higher education and U.S. local governments are under extraordinary pressure to cut costs and eliminate from institutional or governmental ledgers any expenses whose absence would cause little or no pain.  In this political climate, academic and public libraries may be in danger.  The existence of vast amounts of information--a lot of it free--on the Internet might suggest that the library has outlived its usefulness.  But has it?  The numbers tell a very different story.  In spite of the findings of a survey in which Americans say they are using public libraries less, the usage numbers reported by libraries indicate the opposite.  In the last two decades, the total number of U.S. public libraries slightly increased--inching up from 8,921 in 1994 to 9,082 in 2012 (a gain of 2.14 percent).  Over the same period, the data also show that use of public libraries in the U.S went up as well.  Donald A. Barclay  Read much more at https://theconversation.com/has-the-library-outlived-its-usefulness-in-the-age-of-internet-youd-be-surprised-58198

Bison named national symbol, raising the number from 10 to 11

On May 9, 2016, President Obama signed the National Bison Legacy Act into law, officially making the American bison the national mammal of the United States.  This majestic animal joins the ranks of the Bald Eagle as the official symbol of our country--and much like the eagle, it’s one of the greatest conservation success stories of all time.  Bison are the largest mammal in North America.  Bison calves tend to be born from late March through May and are orange-red in color, earning them the nickname “red dogs.”  See pictures at https://www.doi.gov/blog/15-facts-about-our-national-mammal-american-bison  See also https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/animalia/wp/2016/04/27/how-the-bison-once-nearing-extinction-lived-to-become-americas-national-mammal/  Find a list of 11 national symbols at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_symbols_of_the_United_States

Mercury crossed the sun's face from Earth's perspective May 9, 2016.  This was the first Mercury transit since 2006 and the last until 2019.  Mike Wall  See pictures at http://www.space.com/32840-mercury-transit-thrills-skywatchers-photos.html

John Philip Sousa (1854-1932) was very interested in the 1882 transit of Venus.  In 1883 only a few months after the 1882 transit, he wrote the 'Venus Transit March'.  He didn't write it specifically to commemorate the transit itself, but was commissioned to write it to honor the great American physicist Prof. Joseph Henry who had died on May 13, 1878.   The Smithsonian Institution asked Sousa to write this march for the planned unveiling of the commemorative statue of Henry which was to be placed in front of the Smithsonian Institution in 1883.  The music was to be played while dignitaries walked from the museum to a special receiving stand in front of the museum.  http://image.gsfc.nasa.gov/poetry/venus/VT10.html

John Philip Sousa's "Transit of Venus March" performed by the Penn High School Orchestra in Mishawaka, Indiana, 2004.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-rNQFUqt49Q  2:51

John Philip Sousa (1854–1932) was an American composer and conductor of the late Romantic era, known primarily for American military and patriotic marches.  Because of his mastery of march composition, he is known as "The March King" or the "American March King" due to his British counterpart Kenneth J. Alford also being known by the former nickname.  Among his best-known marches are "The Stars and Stripes Forever" (National March of the United States of America), "Semper Fidelis" (Official March of the United States Marine Corps), "The Liberty Bell", "The Thunderer" and "The Washington Post".  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Philip_Sousa

http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com  Issue 1469  May 10, 2016  On this date in 1876, the Centennial Exposition was opened in Philadelphia by U.S. President Ulysses S. Grant and Brazilian Emperor Dom Pedro II.  On this date in 1893, the Supreme Court of the United States ruled in Nix v. Hedden that a tomato is a vegetable, not a fruit, under the Tariff Act of 1883.