Vintage Aerial has over 25 million photos, taken in 41 states over the second half of the twentieth century.  Search by state and county at https://vintageaerial.com/

Women + Beer:  A Forgotten Pairing by Allison Schell   If you look at the brewing business today, the majority of micro and macro breweries are owned and run by men.  Did you know though that back in the eighteenth century, a good portion of brewers in America were women?  Did you also know that the feminine form of the word brewer is brewster?  A testimony to how masculinized brewing has become is the fact that the word brewster is not even used to describe female brewers today.  Many are now referred to as “brewmasters.  Historically, women’s involvement in brewing beer has been documented back four-thousand years ago in Mesopotamia, and probably earlier.  Ancient Sumerians even had a goddess of beer, Ninkasi. Historically though women’s involvement in brewing probably developed out of the fact that some women were tavern-owners and thus it is likely that they also brewed their own beer.  Fast forward to colonial America.  The craft of brewing beer was brought over from Europe and women resumed their roles in society as tavern-keepers and brewers.  But tavern-keepers were not the only women brewing; housewives were as well and brewing beer was one of the many tasks on their long list of daily duties.  And, with beer being more consumed than water at this point, one needed to have a steady supply of the beverage on hand.  In 1734, Mary Lisle become America’s unofficial first brewster when she took over her father’s brewhouse in Philadelphia.  https://www.nwhm.org/blog/women-beer-a-forgotten-pairing/  See also http://www.oldbreweries.com/breweries-by-state/pennsylvania/philadelphia-pa-455-breweries/mary-lisles-edinburgh-brewhouse-brewery-pa-364-1b/

The ancient and distinguished name "Brewer" has two distinct origins, each with its own history and derivation.  Firstly, the name Brewer may be of Anglo-Saxon origin, and an occupational surname for a brewer of beer or ale, derived from the Olde English pre-7th Century "breowan", to brew, giving the Middle English term "brewere".  The modern surname Brewster has the same derivation, but shows the early medieval "-ster", suffix which originally denoted the feminine gender, but by the middle of the 13th Century was used for both sexes.  Similar formations include Baker and Baxter, and Webber and Webster.  The first recording of the surname from this source is that of Richard Briwerra, in the "Ancient Charters" of Hampshire.  The second possible origin of Brewer is from a Norman locational surname, as in the first recording, below, from the place called Bruyere in Calvados, or an Old French topographical name for someone who lived in a place where heather grew; the placename and the topographical term are derived from the Old French "bruyere", heather.  The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Ralph de Brueria, which was dated 1086, in the Domesday Book of Devonshire, during the reign of King William 1, known as "William the Conqueror", 1066 - 1087.  Surnames became necessary when governments introduced personal taxation.  In England this was known as Poll Tax.  Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.  http://www.surnamedb.com/Surname/Brewer

mare's nest noun  A great discovery which turns out to be illusory; a hoax.  A confused or complicated situation; a muddle.  Wiktionary

April 28, 2016   The second annual "Shell-a-Bration" oyster reef building volunteer event earlier this month brought together two conservation organizations that have been leading efforts to restore the ecology and economy of New Jersey's Delaware Bayshore communities.  The volunteers worked alongside the American Littoral Society and the Conserve Wildlife Foundation of New Jersey to build the 200-foot long whelk shell bar at Moores Beach in Maurice River Township, which the organizers hope will prevent beach erosion from wind-driven waves.  The near-shore project will also test whether the shell bar creates calmer water for spawning horseshoe crabs.  Horseshoe crab eggs are vital to shorebirds, such as the federally listed Red Knot, when they visit the Delaware Bay during the annual migration, according to David Wheeler, Conserve Wildlife Foundation of New Jersey Executive Director.  Volunteers built a similar reef at South Reeds Beach in Cape May Court House in 2015.  Justin Auciello   http://www.newsworks.org/index.php/local/down-the-shore/93233-conservation-groups-build-oyster-reef-along-njs-delaware-bayshore  Oyster shells may be donated by restaurants or seafood processors.  The Delaware River is used by nearly 20 million people along the East Coast.  They share the resource with shad, sturgeon, eel and other species that migrate through the river.  See  http://www.nature.org/ourinitiatives/regions/northamerica/unitedstates/newjersey/placesweprotect/delaware-river-initiative.xml

Lengths of U.S. combat forces' participation in wars  Top four are:  (1)  Vietnam War, 1955/11-1975/04; (2)  War in Afghanistan, 2001/10-present; Moro Rebellion, 1899-1913; Northwest Indian War, 1785-1795.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_the_lengths_of_American_participation_in_wars  NOTE that people use different dates as the start of conflict between organized U.S. military and organized forces of "belligerents."  In Vietnam, the U.S. military intelligence agency Office of Strategic Services (OSS) was in the area from the 1940s.  See The Vietnam War:  Seeds of Conflict, 1945-1960 at  http://www.historyplace.com/unitedstates/vietnam/index-1945.html

In 1988, Gorbachev promised to remove Soviet troops from Afghanistan and sought a negotiated settlement.   He hoped for a unity government that would include elements of Afghan President Najibullah’s Soviet-backed regime in Kabul and the CIA-backed Islamic fundamentalist rebels.  Robert Gates, who in 1988 was deputy CIA director, opposed Gorbachev’s plan, disbelieving that the Soviets would really depart and insisting that--if they did-- the CIA’s mujahedeen could quickly defeat ajibullah’s army.  Inside the Reagan administration, Gates’s judgment was opposed by State Department analysts who foresaw a drawn-out struggle.  Deputy Secretary of State John Whitehead and the department’s intelligence chief Morton Abramowitz warned that Najibullah’s army might hold on longer than the CIA expected.  But Gates prevailed in the policy debates, pushing the CIA’s faith in its mujahedeen clients and expecting a rapid Najibullah collapse if the Soviets left.  In his memoir, Gates recalled briefing Secretary of State George Shultz and his senior aides on the CIA’s predictions prior to Shultz flying to Moscow in February 1988.  “I told them that most [CIA] analysts did not believe Najibullah’s government could last without active Soviet military support,” wrote Gates.  After the Soviets did withdraw in February 1989--proving Gates wrong on that point--some U.S. officials felt Washington’s geostrategic aims had been achieved and a move toward peace was in order.  However, the new administration of George H.W. Bush--with Gates moving from the CIA to the White House as deputy national security adviser--rebuffed Gorbachev and chose to continue U.S. covert support for the mujahedeen, aid which was being funneled primarily through Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence agency, the ISI.  Robert Parry  http://www.globalresearch.ca/hollywoods-dangerous-afghan-illusion-charlie-wilsons-war/5331107

http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com  Issue 1514  August 17, 2016  On this date in 1807, Robert Fulton's North River Steamboat left New York City for Albany, New York, on the Hudson River, inaugurating the first commercial steamboat service in the world.  On this date in 1908,  Fantasmagorie, the first animated cartoon, created by Émile Cohl, was shown in Paris, France.