The Twilight Zone was created by Rod Serling and ran on CBS from 1959 though 1964.  Using the framework of science fiction and fantasy, Serling hosted every episode himself, telling speculative stories that explored the Human condition and topics too sensitive for open public discourse.  It won three Emmy Awards as well as three Hugo Awards.  The series was important for Star Trek in several ways.  Many Star Trek: The Original Series actors got their start with the series, demonstrating their ability to work in the science fiction genre.  Also, four of the writers and directors were contributors to the series.  The series also exposed the general public to science fiction as a prime-time genre, whereas previously it had been aimed at juveniles (the Flash Gordon and Buck Rogers serials, and the Steve Holland Flash Gordon TV series, and the later Lost In Space series, for instance).  It were not just the actors for whom the series was important, the main supplier of the visual effects for the series, the then recently founded The Westheimer Company, too profited from the work they had done on the series, as they were the second effects company that was brought in early to work on The Original Series, mainly based on the strength of the work they had done on The Twilight Zone.  (These Are the Voyages: TOS Season One, 1st. ed. , p. 143)  Thematically, The Twilight Zone also set the tone for Star Trek by discussing sensitive issues in an "other-worldly" setting.  Essentially, both Serling and Gene Roddenberry were sneaking the touchy issues past the studio censors under the pretext that the episodes were not about the issues, but were just science fiction stories of the far future.  http://memory-alpha.wikia.com/wiki/The_Twilight_Zone  See also 15 Fun Facts You Might Not Know about The Twilight Zone by John Farrier at

http://www.neatorama.com/2014/11/12/15-Fun-Facts-You-Might-Not-Know-about-The-Twilight-Zone/   and  Top 10 Twilight Zone Episodes For Star Trek Fans by Jared Whitley at http://trekmovie.com/2016/06/14/top-10-twilight-zone-episodes-for-star-trek-fans/

Differences Between a Top Hat & a Stovepipe Hat by Mitchell Brock   Most people define the top hat and stovepipe hat as the same thing.  In reality, there are slight differences between the two.  While both hats are tall, the stovepipe hat's cylinder was taller.  The stovepipe hat looks more like chimney pipe, then the top hat.  The height of the top hat is considerably smaller than a stovepipe hat, but no specific height is designated for either type of hat.  The crown is another difference between the top hat and stovepipe hat.  Even though both hats have a flat crown, the way the cylinder runs into the crown is different.  A top hat is flared at the tip where it connects to the crown.  The cylinder of the top hat is wider at the top than it is at the bottom.  The stovepipe hat is straight.  The bottom of the cylinder is the same diameter at the top.  http://www.ehow.com/info_12034176_differences-between-top-hat-stovepipe-hat.html

Homographs are written and spelled the same.  Example:  bow--bend/the front of a boat/a pair of tied loops  http://examples.yourdictionary.com/examples-of-homographs.html

Homophones sound the same but have different meanings and spellings.  Example:  bow--(bend), bough (tree branch)  http://www.homophone.com/h/bough-bow

Comments on Joshua Hammer, The Bad-Ass Librarians of Timbuktu by Chuck Terbille  September 4, 2016   Abdel Kader’s libraries are in many ways the opposite of ours.  His contain manuscripts which are hundreds of years old.  Some of them are the only known copy of a certain work usually by a scholar who lived in the Timbuktu region; others are copies of a widely disseminated work (e.g. the Koran), but the copies still have unique features, like original notes or artwork, that are worth preserving.  (For instance, see pp. 241-242.)  With 21^st century printed books thousands, even millions of copies are printed, and digital publications are usually available on an unlimited number of computer terminals for as long as some internet server mounts them.  (And there’s the rub.  How long will that be?)  On p 8, when the executor of his father’s estate tells Abdel Kader he has inherited the library, he also reads him his responsibilities:  “You have no right to give the manuscripts away, and no right to sell them.  You have a duty to preserve them.”  Translation for American librarians:  “Thou shallt not weed, ever.”  If the manuscripts are to be protected, they will seldom, if ever be permitted to leave the physical premises.  In other words, zero lending (not the same as zero use) is a desirable thing.  Furthermore, the most recent manuscript mentioned dates from the 1800’s, and generally, the older the manuscript the more desirable and valuable it is.  How would that play as an acquisition strategy for a public library?  “Get rid of all these crisp, shiny new books and buy the very oldest and most fragile ones you can find.”  Unfortunately, even most academic libraries have succumbed to some version of the public library’s philosophy here.  In addition, one has to admit that Abdel Kader’s manuscript collecting is elitist.  His father picked him as the custodian of the tradition because he was fluent in Arabic and French and because he loved history and literature.  And he became expert in the recondite field of historic Arabic manuscripts.  Most of the users of his library will likewise be highly trained and not “the man in the street”.  One can imagine an American economist or politician of a certain school ranting:  “Manuscript libraries are about the last thing the people of Mali need.  No, what they need is jobs (western style jobs), and to create jobs they need to woo some large western corporation to locate mines, plants, plantations, or other operations in the country.  If they are going to build any libraries, they should tie the country into the STEMM databases.  They should get rid of all this art history, Sufism and humanities crap.  Give me a break!”  The position of Abdel Kader is contrarian.  Mahmoud Zouber from the Ahmed Baba Institute tells him, “You are the custodian of a great intellectual tradition.” (p. 10)  In some respects, this tradition is contending against western culture.  Joshua Hammer reminds us several times that from about 1300 to 1660 Timbuktu was a great center of culture and learning, yet many of the people living there today, not to mention even highly educated westerners like Hugh Trevor-Roper (p. 29), who ought to know better, are not aware of this greatness.  Not knowing this history is at least as bad for Malians as not being conversant with western STEMM disciplines, if not worse.  Perhaps the clearest example of the consequences of this historical ignorance is the religious strife within Islam.  How could the radicals influenced by Wahhabi fundamentalists with their selective and invariant reading of the scriptures overtake the “moderate” Islam practiced in Timbuktu for centuries?  There are many factors, but surely the inability to assert and defend the authenticity of “moderate” Islamic views based on the evidence of old manuscripts is an important one.  Finally, it seems to me that some librarians in the US today follow the ideology of Ayn Rand, Milton Friedman, and company with an obsession that is all too similar to Wahabbi fundamentalism.  “I don’t care how important a book is; if it hasn’t circulated in 5 years (i.e. if it doesn’t “sell”), pitch it.  No exceptions!”  In other words, we want a library of best sellers, and anything else should be destroyed.  It’s an abomination.  I think we can learn a lot from the “librarians” of Timbuktu, precisely because they are so different from contemporary western librarians.  But if our “take-away” is formulas, slogans and sound bites, we have misunderstood something important about how to learn from books such as this.  “Open the book so that you may learn what others have thought.  Close the book to think yourself.” (Text from a German academic ceremony.)

The Political TV Ad Archive collects political ads in the 2016 election.  In addition to tracking airings across key primary states, the collection includes ads that may air elsewhere or exclusively on social media.  http://politicaladarchive.org/

Frico is a typical dish of Friuli and similar to another Alpine dish, Rösti, which consists of a wafer of shredded cheese and potatoes, then heated by baking or frying until crisp.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frico  Montasio is Italian cheese from the Veneto.  It is a wine-friendly cheese and is wonderful with white and red wines.  It can be grated and used in any dish where a hard cheese would be appropriate.  Substitute for Montasio cheese:  Parmigiano Reggiano OR Asiago  http://www.gourmetsleuth.com/ingredients/detail/montasio-cheese

Frico with Potatoes and Montasio Cheese  http://lidiasitaly.com/recipes/frico-potatoes-montasio-cheese/  Apple-Pear Frico  http://blogs.poughkeepsiejournal.com/dishnthat/2009/09/25/fashion-an-apple-pear-frico-for-fall/ 

http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com  Issue 1534  October 7, 2016  On this date in 1868, Cornell University held opening day ceremonies; initial student enrollment was 412, the highest at any American university to that date.  On this date in 1916, Georgia Tech defeated Cumberland University 222–0 in the most lopsided college football game in American history.