Wednesday, February 15, 2017

Nikola Tesla (1856-1943) was a Serbian-American inventor, electrical engineer, mechanical engineer, physicist, and futurist who is best known for his contributions to the design of the modern alternating current (AC) electricity supply system.  Tesla gained experience in telephony and electrical engineering before emigrating to the United States in 1884 to work for Thomas Edison in New York City.  He soon struck out on his own with financial backers, setting up laboratories and companies to develop a range of electrical devices.  His patented AC induction motor and transformer were licensed by George Westinghouse, who also hired Tesla for a short time as a consultant.  His work in the formative years of electric-power development was involved in a corporate alternating current/direct current "War of Currents" as well as various patent battles.  He became a naturalized US citizen in 1891.  Tesla went on to pursue his ideas of wireless lighting and electricity distribution in his high-voltage, high-frequency power experiments in New York and Colorado Springs and made early (1893) pronouncements on the possibility of wireless communication with his devices.  He tried to put these ideas to practical use in an ill-fated attempt at intercontinental wireless transmission, his unfinished Wardenclyffe Tower project.  In his lab, he also conducted a range of experiments with mechanical oscillators/generators, electrical discharge tubes, and early X-ray imaging.  He also built a wireless-controlled boat, one of the first ever exhibited.  Tesla was renowned for his achievements and showmanship, eventually earning him a reputation in popular culture as an archetypal "mad scientist".  His patents earned him a considerable amount of money, much of which was used to finance his own projects with varying degrees of success.  He lived most of his life in a series of New York hotels.  His work fell into relative obscurity after his death, but in 1960, the General Conference on Weights and Measures named the SI unit of magnetic flux density the tesla in his honor.  There has been a resurgence in popular interest in Tesla since the 1990s.  Read much more and see pictures at  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikola_Tesla

Jack shows Meg his Tesla Coil  Clip from the film Coffee and Cigarettes by Jim Jarmusch  Jack and Meg White from the band The White Stripes  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sL9bq3YmHJo  7:30  Be patient--dialogue does not start until 1:30.

ubiquitous  adjective  Present, appearing, or found everywhere.   Origin:  from modern Latin ubiquitas (from Latin ubique everywhere, from ubi where) + -ous.  https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/ubiquitous

How can you cook the best pernil ever?  The number one rule is to do it the old fashioned way and don't change a thing.  Buy a pork 'shoulder picnic cut.'  If you don't find this particular piece then buy any large chunk of pork.  All it needs is lots of garlic (powder is ok), black pepper, oregano, and salt. Sprinkle the meat and bake . How easy is that?  Find specific instructions at http://www.elboricua.com/pernil.html

Manhattan:  Inwood  With its copious parkland, history and waterfront, Inwood offers residents a respite from the rest of the city.  Located on the northern tip of Manhattan, the neighborhood features a forest with glacial caves once used by Native Americans, at Inwood Hill Park on its western edge by the Hudson River.  Inwood’s physical landscape has remained mostly unchanged for decades due to zoning restrictions that limit buildings to seven stories.  The high-rise glass boxes popping up throughout the city are nowhere to be found in the neighborhood.  Read more and see pictures at http://www.amny.com/real-estate/city-living/manhattan/inwood-offers-beautiful-parks-plenty-of-history-in-manhattan-1.11951240

Manhattan:  Inwood Hill Park  Inwood Hill Park is a city-owned and maintained public park in the Inwood neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City, operated by the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation.  Situated on a high schist ridge that rises 200 feet above the Hudson River from Dyckman Street to the northern tip of the island, Inwood Hill Park's densely folded, glacially scoured topography contains the largest remaining forest land on Manhattan Island.  Unlike other Manhattan parks, Inwood Hill Park is largely natural, being non-landscaped.  Inwood Hill Park has a human history that goes back to the Pre-Columbian era.  Through the 17th century, Native Americans known as the Lenape inhabited the area.  There is evidence of a main encampment along the eastern edge of the park.  The Lenape relied on both the Hudson and Harlem Rivers as sources for food.  Artifacts and the remains of old campfires were found in Inwood's rock shelters, suggesting their use for shelter and temporary living quarters.  Legend has it that under a tulip tree in the park Peter Minuit, Director General of New Netherland, 'purchased' Manhattan from the a band of Native Americans in 1626 for the Dutch West India Company; the purchase price being a shipment of goods worth 60 guilders.   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inwood_Hill_Park

posology  noun  (pharmacy)  1.  The study of the dosages of drugs, especially the determination of appropriate dosages.  2.  (mathematics, historical, rare)  In the works of English philosopher Jeremy Bentham (1748–1832):  the study of quantity; mathematics.  Wiktionary

Bruce Springsteen admitted in a BBC Radio 2 interview in October 2016 that he wrote a ballad for the movie Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone--the first movie in the Potter series- although it was never used.  On February 10, 2017, at least briefly, the world got a chance to hear that ballad.  The soft and slow “I’ll Stand By You Always” was recorded in 2001 and appeared on SoundCloud for a few hours, but has since been removed.  The song doesn’t have any direct references to Harry Potter, although it includes sincere lyrics like, “We'll let the night come and do what it may, together we'll find the courage, we'll find faith/ Until you awake.”  The first three Harry Potter used scores from composer John Williams, while subsequent films were composed by Patrick Doyle, Nicholas Hooper and Alexandre Desplat.  Springsteen said in the BBC interview that it was "very uncharacteristic of something I'd sing myself."  He added that he still hopes to get it into a children’s movie someday.  Jillian Frankel  http://www.billboard.com/articles/news/7686171/bruce-springsteen-unreleased-harry-potter-song

http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com  Issue 1693  February 15, 2017  On this date in 1764, the city of St. Louis was established in Spanish Louisiana (now Missouri).  On this date in 1867, the premiere of the Waltz For Choir at Vienna’s Dianabadsaal (Diana Bath Hall) took place.  Johann Strauss recalled a poem by Karl Isidor Beck (1817-79).  Each stanza ends with the line: ‘By the Danube, beautiful blue Danube’.  It gave him the inspiration and the title for his new work--although the Danube could never be described as blue and, at the time the waltz was written, it did not flow through Vienna.  When, later that year, Strauss introduced the waltz in its orchestral garb to Paris at the World Exhibition, it created a sensation. 

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