Everything you Need to Know About Chard by Kiley Dumas   It gets the name Swiss Chard, also known as Green Chard, because of its extensive cultivation in Switzerland.  The botanist who discovered and then named it hailed from Switzerland.  However, its origin is farther south, in the Mediterranean region, specifically Sicily.  Chard is a great source of vitamin K, A and C, and is a wonderful cauldron of potassium, magnesium, iron and fiber.  It is high in antioxidants, making it another great super food.  A single serving is merely 35 calories, yet contains more than 300% of your daily vitamin K needs.  Boil, braise, steam or sauté--you can cook chard any way you want or you can chew on it raw.  You can juice with it, chop it up and include it in your favorite stuffing mix or pasta sauces.  The general rule with chard is to cook the leaves like you would spinach and the stalks like asparagus.  To properly wash chard, it is recommended that you wash it thoroughly with cold water, either dunking the whole leaves in a bowl of water until the water is clear, or chop it up and then use a salad washer.  Chard is in the beet family, but its roots are inedible.  Find recipe with beer (or wine or apple juice) at http://www.fullcircle.com/goodfoodlife/2012/05/17/everything-you-need-to-know-about-chard/

Words with the suffix -agogue, -agog, -agogic, -agoguery, -agogy  (Greek:  usually a suffix meaning one of the following; lead, leading, leading forth, guide, guiding; bring, take; promoting, stimulating)  Find examples including demagogue, pedagogue and xenagogue at http://wordquests.info/cgi/ice2-for.cgi?file=/hsphere/local/home/scribejo/wordquests.info/htm/L-Gk-agogue-A-X.htm&HIGHLIGHT=up

Evidence shows that pieces of polished obsidian (a volcanic glass) were used as mirrors as long as 8,000 years ago.  Mirrors reflected sunlight or fire in early lighthouses, and there's a record of a possible optical illusion by an ancient Egyptian magician involving a mirror.  By the 17th century, the "Hall of Mirrors"--an ornate corridor with 357 mirrors--in the Palace of Versailles became a display of French glory.  Mirrors also may have helped achieve symmetry in planning ornamental gardens, a step in the direction toward the kaleidoscope.   By the early 19th century, the stage was set for this new device that turned utilitarian mirrors into fun.  In the early 1800s, scientists were exploring concepts of light and optics, while improving technologies also allowed the middle classes to devote more time and resources to leisure activities.  Devices known as philosophical toys became a form of amusement that did double duty by sharing scientific advances while entertaining the masses.  In 1816, Scotsman Dr. David Brewster was the first to arrange mirrors and objects in a tube and call it a kaleidoscope.  Not just a toy, the device also was intended for use by designers and artists, who might be inspired by the beautiful patterns they could create.  Brewster patented his invention in 1817.  Kaleidoscope technology made its next leap forward in 1873.  That's when American Charles Bush patented several improvements.  He added a stand that could be easily disassembled for portability and a rotating wheel to expand the variety of possible designs.  Perhaps Bush's most ingenious advance, though, came in the form of special ampoules.  An ampoule is a small, sealed glass vial often holding medicine.  Tiny ampoules already had been used as objects in some kaleidoscopes.  Bush's patent specified ampules with "two or more liquids of different densities or character, or a liquid with a solid or solids."  The kaleidoscope wasn't the only philosophical toy that entertained and enlightened people in the 19th century.  Some others included:  Thaumatrope--images on the reverse sides of a disc that were spun on a string until they appeared to be a single image; Stereoscope--a device with two images that, when viewed together, appeared gave a perception of depth; Stroboscopic disc--provided a series of images in rapid succession; and Zoetrope--a cylinder with drawings on the inside that were viewed through slits on the opposite side as the cylinder rotated.  Melanie F.F. Gibbs  http://science.howstuffworks.com/kaleidoscope2.htm

kaleidoscope  (1) a tube that has mirrors and loose pieces of colored glass or plastic inside at one end so that you see many different patterns when you turn the tube while looking in through the other end  (2) a changing pattern or scene  (3) a mixture of many different things  Origin and Etymology of kaleidoscope:  Greek kalos beautiful + eidos form + English -scope   http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/kaleidoscope

Heroin production ultimately started with a poppy.  This is the opium poppy which has been used for medicinal and psychoactive purposes for centuries.  Back in about 3400 B.C. the opium poppy was called the “joy plant” and was used as a recreational drug and in the medical profession to numb pain.  Fast forward through the centuries and you will see opium used in teas, chewed on, eaten, smoked, snorted, injected, as a painkiller, as a medicine, as a trade good, for its euphoric effect, for wounded soldiers on the battlefield, as a reason for war, and much more.  During this time, use or abuse of opium was often followed by an epidemic of addiction.  In an attempt to nullify opium’s addictive properties, a German named Friedrich Sertuerner experimented with opium.  He came up with morphine in 1803.  Physicians at that time believed that morphine was safe, reliable, and non-addictive.  In 1827 a German company started manufacturing morphine commercially. Then, in 1843, Dr. Alexander Wood in Scotland found a more effective and potent way to administer morphine--through injection.  Later on, soldiers became the new face of morphine addiction.  Morphine utilized during battlefield operations in the Civil War created veterans who were addicted to the drug.  1891 saw the first recorded death by “speedball,” which is traditionally a mix of heroin and cocaine.  This was the death of Dr. Ernest von Fleischl who died from a mix of morphine and cocaine.  His death was caused by a prescription given to him by fellow doctor Sigmund Freud, who believed the cocaine would cure Dr. Fleischl of his addiction to morphine.  In 1895, Heinrich Dreser of Germany tried changing morphine chemically in hopes that it might alter the side-effects and extreme rates of addiction associated with morphine and opium.  The company he worked for--the Bayer corporation--produced the drug and called it “Heroin.”  They advertised this drug as a painkiller at least ten times as potent as morphine with no addictive properties whatsoever.  Additionally, it was said that heroin use could completely cure opium and morphine addiction.  The Saint James Society in the US heard of this miracle cure for opium and morphine addiction.  They started a campaign to supply free samples of heroin through the mail to morphine addicts attempting to kick the habit.  This society was not the only US company attempting to help fight opium and morphine addiction by providing easy access to heroin.  The Sears Roebuck catalog offered heroin and needles in a neat case for purchase.  This exaltation of heroin didn’t last very long.  By 1902 physicians were arguing that heroin withdrawal was just as difficult and uncomfortable as withdrawal from morphine.  In 1905, heroin was banned by US Congress.  http://www.bestdrugrehabilitation.com/blog/addiction/what-is-the-history-of-heroin/  See Images from the preprohibition era when many psychotropic substances were legally available in America and Europe  at http://wings.buffalo.edu/aru/preprohibition.htm

Words / as slippery as smooth grapes, / words exploding in the light / like dormant seeds waiting / in the vaults of vocabulary, / alive again, and giving life: / once again the heart distills them. - Pablo Neruda, poet, diplomat, Nobel laureate (1904-1973)

Tunnel of Books:  Curved Shelves Wrap Bookstore Walls & Ceiling by Kurt Kohlstedt   Paired to fantastic effect, a series of arch-forming shelving units and a black-mirrored floor create a wraparound tunnel in a Chinese bookstore, punctuated by a fracture leading visitors through the resulting passageway.  Designed by Shanghai studio XL-Muse (images Shao Feng), these floor-to-ceiling shelves in  the Yangzhou Zhongshuge bookshop drew inspiration from the winding and reflective Zhen Yuan river nearby, as well as the area’s arched bridges.  See stunning pictures at http://weburbanist.com/2016/07/24/tunnel-of-books-curved-shelves-wrap-bookstore-walls-ceiling/

new short story:  Cookie Jar by Stephen King, illustrations by Pat Perry  http://www.vqronline.org/fiction/2016/03/cookie-jar  "42-minute read"

http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com  Issue 1506  August 2, 2016  On this date in 1619, during Henry Hudson's search for the Northwest Passage, he sailed into what is now known as Hudson Bay.  On this date in 1790, the first United States Census was conducted.  Word of the Day  tiffin noun  (Britain, India)  A light midday meal or snack; luncheon.