October 12, 2016  Functioning as a sort of Hearst Castle of the Uncanny, San Jose’s Winchester Mystery House stands as a National Register of Historic Places-listed testament to firearms heiress Sarah Pardee Winchester.  Spanning 24,000 square feet, the labyrinthine residence is architecturally stunning despite its not-so-subtle eccentricities.  Features such as forced-air heating and push-bottom gas lighting were considered state-of-the-art during the time of its nonstop construction from 1884 to Winchester's death in 1922.  That being said, the home is really quite something to behold:  2,000 doors, 10,000 windows, 47 fireplaces, 47 staircases, 52 skylights, six kitchens, three elevators, two basements and 13 bathrooms.  Naturally, the 13th bathroom has 13 windows and 13 stairs leading up to it.  To play skeptic for a moment, it is peculiar that it took this long for the hidden attic room to be discovered considering the tireless preservation work that has been carried out at the mansion, open to the public since 1932, for decades now.  Impossible, no—but implausible, sure, and more than just a bit considering that the Winchester Mystery House is one of San Jose’s top tourist attraction and Halloween is just around the corner.  As noted by the Smithsonian earlier this year, delayed discoveries of hidden rooms within the enigmatic mansion aren't totally unprecedented.  In 1975, restoration workers unearthed a room containing nothing more than a couple of chairs and a turn-of-the-century speaker.  Whatever the case, the 161st room is currently not open for public tours although frequent visitors with "Skeleton Key" memberships will be able to access the attic area and take a peek at the freshly disinterred chamber.  As for the items reportedly discovered in the hidden room—a dress form, pump organ, artwork, sewing machines, Victorian couch and, from the looks of it, at least one creepy doll—they've been relocated to a more accessible area of the mansion’s grounds where they’ll be on display as part of a new attraction dubbed Sarah’s Attic Shooting Gallery.  Connecticut-born Sarah Winchester herself is the subject of an upcoming supernatural thriller that will star Helen Mirren as the heiress who, unfortunately for historians, never kept a journal and employed notoriously tight-lipped staff.  The biopic will reportedly be shot on location at the mansion.  Matt Hickman  http://www.mnn.com/your-home/remodeling-design/blogs/new-discovery-winchester-mystery-house-now-has-161-rooms

A Toronto-based creative agency called The Garden has created the "Tell America It's Great" campaign, complete with a hashtag and a video.  "It's no secret that America is going through a hard time right now," the company said in a blog post.  "The election has exposed some pretty scary realities that will likely challenge them for years to come, regardless of who's elected.  They've been bombarded with a tremendous amount of negativity and it's likely that for many of them, the immediate future seems rather bleak."  The company put out an open call for Canadians to share videos of what they like about America and what makes it great, and then made a mashup video of a diverse group of Canadians singing America's praises, extolling the virtues of things like national parks, Tupac and Biggie, and the disability rights movement.

Sam Sanders  http://www.npr.org/2016/10/14/497986850/canada-just-wants-to-tellamericaitsgreat 

SECRETS  The Justice Department has kept classified at least 74 opinions, memos and letters on national security issues, including interrogation, detention and surveillance, according to a report released October 18, 2106 by the Brennan Center for Justice.  Also still classified are between 25 and 30 significant opinions issued between 2003 and 2013 by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC), the secretive federal court that interprets the law governing foreign intelligence-gathering inside the United States.  And at the State Department, 807 international agreements signed between 2004 and 2014 have not been published.  Ellen Nakashima  Read more at

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/despite-a-post-snowden-push-for-openness-report-shows-secret-laws-still-abound/2016/10/17/9641bf70-88f5-11e6-875e-2c1bfe943b66_story.html?hpid=hp_hp-more-top-stories-2_secretlaw-822a%3Ahomepage%2Fstory

           

SECRETS  Executive Order 13526- Classified National Security Information  December 29, 2009

Sec. 1.2.  Classification Levels.  (a)  Information may be classified at one of the following three levels: 
(1)  "Top Secret" shall be applied to information, the unauthorized disclosure of which reasonably could be expected to cause exceptionally grave damage to the national security that the original classification authority is able to identify or describe. 
(2)  "Secret" shall be applied to information, the unauthorized disclosure of which reasonably could be expected to cause serious damage to the national security that the original classification authority is able to identify or describe. 
(3)  "Confidential" shall be applied to information, the unauthorized disclosure of which reasonably could be expected to cause damage to the national security that the original classification authority is able to identify or describe.  See entire regulation at https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/executive-order-classified-national-security-information

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz) said October 17, 2016 that if Hillary Clinton is elected, Republicans will unite to block anyone she nominates to the Supreme Court.  Speaking on WPHT-AM radio's "Dom Giordano Program" in Philadelphia, McCain pledged to obstruct any Clinton Supreme Court nomination for the current or any future vacancy.  "I promise you that we will be united against any Supreme Court nominee that Hillary Clinton, if she were president, would put up," he declared.  Given that two of the sitting justices are 80 or older, and another is 78, there is a strong possibility that the next president will have more than one high court opening to fill.  The current court has been operating with just eight members since last February when Justice Antonin Scalia died unexpectedly.  Republicans have refused since then to confirm President Obama's nominee, Judge Merrick Garland, on grounds that filling the slot should be left to the next president.  Nina Totenberg  ttp://www.npr.org/2016/10/17/498328520/sen-mccain-says-republicans-will-block-all-court-nominations-if-clinton-wins  See update to Supreme Court nominee story at https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2016/10/19/john-mccain-is-right-senate-republicans-could-block-a-clinton-supreme-court-indefinitely/

President Barack Obama's final State Dinner October 18, 2016 was a swirl of dolce vita diplomacy, Italian designer gowns and plates of Mario Batali pasta easing a bittersweet end to one of the presidency's best perks.  The evening's chef, Mario Batali, said between preparation sessions on October 17 he was honored--but also anxious at the prospect of serving 500 guests in a temporary tent 200 yards from the White House kitchen.  "If there's one thing that I'm not going to sleep well about tonight, it's only going to be the hot plates," Batali said.  "I think I'll be shaking in my orange crocs tomorrow when it's about a half-hour before service."  In the end, the dinner was another "last" on a long list of final moments for the Obamas.  Speaking during his toast Tuesday, Obama said he was reminded of his visit to the Colosseum in Rome in 2014.  "It was late in the day, it was quiet, the sun was going down, and as I walked across those ancient stones worn by the history of 2,000 years, it was a humbling reminder of our place here on earth," he said.  "In the grand sweep of time, each of us is here only for a brief moment. So many of the things that we focus on each day, the political ups and downs, the successes and the setbacks, those things are fleeting."  "What matters in the end is what we build," he said.  "What matters is what we leave behind."  Kevin Liptac  Read more and see pictures at http://www.cnn.com/2016/10/17/politics/white-house-state-dinner-mario-batali-italy/index.html

http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com  Issue 1539  October 19, 2016  On this date in 1789, John Jay was sworn in as the first Chief Justice of the United States.  On this date in 1900, Max Planck discovered the law of black-body radiation (Planck's law).  Word of the Day  Pullman  noun   1.  A railroad passenger car; especially one of the luxurious ones named after the eponymous Pullman Palace Car Company.  2.  A train made up of Pullman coaches.   (American engineer and industrialist George Pullman, who founded the Pullman Palace Car Company, died on October 19, 1897.)