George R. R. Martin’s invented language in A Game of Thrones by Elyse Graham  George R.R. Martin sometimes draws on existing etymologies for his invented languages separates his practice from that of David Peterson, who creates more fully developed versions of the same languages for the television series Game of Thrones.  The different practices make sense; Peterson’s work serves the art of world-building, whereas Martin’s work also serves a specific literary tradition.  It is well-known that Martin’s book series, A Song of Ice and Fire, arose, in part, as a response to social questions in J.R.R. Tolkien’s novel, The Lord of the Rings, that Martin felt merited new exploration.  Read explanations of seven invented words from the fantasy series Game of Thrones at http://blog.oxforddictionaries.com/2016/06/george-r-r-martins-invented-language-game-thrones/

Why We Love Book Clubs by Ann Hood   One day in the late 1980s, I saw an index card tacked to the wall near my ATM.  It said, “Book Club Forming.”  One thing I have always done—in good times and bad—was read.  A lot.  We were a small group—a copy editor, an opera singer, a dermatologist, a few writers.  I can’t say what led each of us to call the number on that sign, but I can say with certainty that I got exactly what I’d hoped for.  Once a month I had somewhere to go in my very own neighborhood, where I sat with other people who loved books and loved talking about books.  We drank wine, and nibbled on cheese and slowly got to know each other.  Book clubs have been stimulating deep thought and conversation for a long time, maybe even since 1634 when women aboard a ship headed from England to Massachusetts met to analyze the weekly sermons, setting a precedent that still exists today:  About 80 percent of book club members are women.  In the centuries since Anne Hutchinson formed hers on that ship, libraries and bookstores and literary societies have hosted groups to discuss everything from poetry to philosophy.  But most people agree that a 1984 best-seller, Helen Hooven Santmyer’s “. . . And Ladies of the Club”—about members of a book club in Ohio—jump-started modern book clubs.  http://parade.com/486461/annhood/ann-hood-why-we-love-book-clubs/

Born in 1895 in Cincinnati, Helen Hooven Santmyer knew she wanted to be a writer when, at the age of nine, she finished reading Little Women by Louisa May Alcott.  Nearly 80 years later, Santmyer’s name would appear on best-seller lists throughout America.  Read more, see pictures, and follow links to other resources at http://www.ohioana-authors.org/santmyer/highlights.php  Helen Hooven Santmyer was an educator and librarian whose novel ''. . . And Ladies of the Club'' made her a celebrity at the age of 88.  http://www.nytimes.com/1986/02/22/obituaries/helen-hooven-santmyer-90-author-and-educator-dies.html

converse  noun--the opposite;  adjective--not gradable;  verb--talk with someone

http://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/converse

words ending in verse  http://www.morewords.com/ends-with/verse/

Dancing mania (also known as dancing plague, choreomania, St John's Dance and, historically, St. Vitus' Dance) was a social phenomenon that occurred primarily in mainland Europe between the 14th and 17th centuries.  It involved groups of people dancing erratically, sometimes thousands at a time.  The mania affected men, women, and children, who danced until they collapsed from exhaustion.  One of the first major outbreaks was in Aachen, in the Holy Roman Empire, in 1374, and it quickly spread throughout Europe; one particularly notable outbreak occurred in Strasbourg in 1518, also in the Holy Roman Empire.  Generally, musicians accompanied dancers, to help ward off the mania, but this tactic sometimes backfired by encouraging more to join in.  There is no consensus among modern-day scholars as to the cause of dancing mania.  The several theories proposed range from religious cults being behind the processions to people dancing to relieve themselves of stress and put the poverty of the period out of their minds.  It is, however, thought to be as a mass psychogenic illness in which the occurrence of similar physical symptoms, with no known physical cause, affect a large group of people as a form of social influence.  "Dancing mania" is derived from the term "choreomania", from the Greek choros (dance) and mania (madness).  The term was coined by Paracelsus, and the condition was initially considered a curse sent by a saint, usually St John the Baptist or St Vitus, and was therefore known as "St Vitus' Dance" or "St John's Dance".   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dancing_mania

The year 2016 will be one second longer than most, due to the addition of a "leap second" on December 31, the US Naval Observatory announced July 6, 2016.  The "leap second" will be added at 6:59:59 Eastern Standard Time, which correlates to 23:59:59 on Coordinated Universal Time (UTC), the standard time around the world.   The extra second will maintain the correlation between the world's two time-keeping systems:  the measure of Earth's rotation (UT1), and International Atomic Time (TAI), which is generated using the vibration rate of cesium atoms and which keeps the world's UTC-based clocks ticking in unison.  They're pretty close, but not quite identical, since the Earth's rotation speed can vary slightly in response to climatic and geological events.  In 1987, the International Earth Rotation and Reference Systems Service (IERS) was created to keep tabs on the difference between UTC, atomic clock time, and UT1, solar time.  Once in a while, IERS calls for leap seconds to be added to UTC, to keep the two within 0.9 seconds of each other.  The Earth runs about 1.5 to 2 milliseconds behind atomic time each day, based on calculations using Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI), which precisely calculates Earth's rotation with respect to objects near the edge of the visible universe.  Add that up, and it means that the difference between rotational time (UT1) and atomic clock time (UTC) would reach about a second every 500 or 750 days.  By inserting leap seconds, the IERS makes sure that they stay in sync.  In other words, IAT and UTC have been diverging ever since atomic clocks have been used, but by adding seconds to the official time, we keep the sun overhead at noon.  Since atomic timekeeping was put in place, 26 leap seconds have been added to UTC, most recently on June 30, 2015.  In 1972, the difference between IAT and UTC was 10 seconds.  After the leap second is inserted in December, the difference between them will be 37 seconds.  Aidan Quigley  http://www.csmonitor.com/Science/2016/0707/Why-a-leap-second-will-make-2016-just-a-bit-longer

North American Free Trade Agreement   The impetus for NAFTA actually began with President Ronald Reagan, who campaigned on a North American common market.  In 1984, Congress passed the Trade and Tariff Act.  This is important because it gave the President "fast-track" authority to negotiate free trade agreements, while only allowing Congress the ability to approve or disapprove, not change negotiating points.  Canadian Prime Minister Mulroney agreed with Reagan to begin negotiations for the Canada-U.S. Free Trade Agreement, which was signed in 1988, went into effect in 1989 and is now suspended since it's no longer neeeded.  Meanwhile, Mexican President Salinas and President Bush began negotiations for a liberalized trade between the two countries.  Prior to NAFTA, Mexican tariffs on U.S. imports were 250% higher than U.S. tariffs on Mexican imports.  In 1991, Canada requested a trilateral agreement, which then led to NAFTA.  In 1993, concerns about liberalization of labor and environmental regulations led to the adoption of two addendums.  NAFTA was signed by President George H.W. Bush, Mexican President Salinas, and Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney in 1992.  It was ratified by the legislatures of the three countries in 1993.  The U.S. House of Representatives approved it by 234 to 200 on November 17, 1993.  The U.S. Senate approved it by 60 to 38 on November 20, three days later.  It was finally signed into law by President Bill Clinton on December 8, 1993 and entered force January 1, 1994.  Although it was signed by President Bush, it was a priority of President Clinton's, and its passage is considered one of his first successes.  http://useconomy.about.com/od/tradepolicy/p/NAFTA_History.htm

CHECKING FACTS  http://www.factcheck.org/ is a project of the Walter Annenberg Public Policy Center.  http://www.politifact.com/ is a joint project of the Tampa Bay Times and the Congressional Quarterly.  http://www.snopes.com/category/snopes/facts/ checks on rumors, often on non-political issues.

http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com  Issue 1496  July 13, 2016  On this date in 1787, the Continental Congress enacted the Northwest Ordinance establishing governing rules for the Northwest Territory.  It also established procedures for the admission of new states and limited the expansion of slavery.  On this date in 1863, opponents of conscription began three days of rioting in New York City.