The fight against fake news is putting librarians on the front line--and they say they’re ready by Amanda Hoover   Following 9/11 and the passage of the Patriot Act, which included a provision that allowed investigators to retrieve an individual’s library records with a warrant, many libraries stopped keeping browsing and checkout records, and they’ve since become safe places to use the internet or check out books and information without leaving a paper trail.  They also host free tax preparation and resources fairs, serve as gathering spaces for politically charged or educational events and speeches, and promote works that highlight the diversity in America.  Some have joined in efforts to archive public environmental data, following fears that the Trump administration may erase the kind of environmental evidence used to back regulations and bring crises, such as the water problems in Flint, Mich., to light.  From curating book collections to creating welcoming atmospheres, some argue, some say it’s impossible for libraries to remain completely above the political fray.  “You hear the refrain over and over again that libraries are going to become obsolete Rebecca McCorkindale, the assistant library director and creative director at the Gretna, Neb., library says.  “And if all we were was book warehouses we would probably would go the way of Borders.  A lot of people have not realized that we are information specialists.  It’s funny how little people know what their library can do for them.  I know at my library we can just go on and on about what we can do for a community--and what we’ve done and what we hope to do. ”  http://www.csmonitor.com/The-Culture/2017/0215/The-fight-against-fake-news-is-putting-librarians-on-the-front-line-and-they-say-they-re-ready

Raymond Albert Kroc was born on October 5, 1902, in Oak Park, Illinois, just outside of Chicago.  He was the eldest child of Louis Kroc, an employee of the telegraph company Western Union, and Rose, a homemaker.  Kroc's mother earned extra money teaching piano, and her son shared her talent at the keyboard.  Kroc was also fond of daydreaming; his parents sometimes called him "Danny Dreamer" after catching him lost in thought.  In his autobiography, Grinding It Out, Kroc wrote that his daydreams were not wasted, because "they were invariably linked to some form of action."  Kroc's first leap into business was with a lemonade stand he ran while he was in grammar school.  His next business venture was running a music store that he opened with two friends after his freshman year in high school.  They shut the store after several months.  Kroc also served customers at his uncle's soda fountain, selling ice cream and other refreshments.  There, Kroc explained in his autobiography, he learned an important lesson:  "you could influence people with a smile and enthusiasm and sell them a sundae when what they'd come in for was a cup of coffee."  After his sophomore year, Kroc left high school to become a door-to-door salesman.  A few months later, with the United States involved in World War I (1914-18), he lied about his age so he could become a Red Cross ambulance driver, but the war ended before Kroc could serve in Europe.  At seventeen, Kroc returned to sales and picked up extra income playing the piano.  After a series of jobs, Kroc married his first wife, Ethel Fleming, in 1922, and began selling paper cups.  He also ran a Chicago radio station, then tried selling real estate in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.  By 1927, Kroc was back in Chicago selling paper cups, determined to make his career in sales.  In 1938, Kroc started selling a new product, a machine that could mix five milkshakes at once.  He formed his own company, Prince Castle Sales, and began traveling the country selling the "Multimixer."  Kroc struggled for a few years, and World War II (1939-45) forced a halt in sales.  After the war, Kroc's company thrived.  In one of his best years, he sold eight thousand mixers.  McDonald's became Kroc's company in 1961, when he gave the McDonald brothers $2.7 million for their share of the corporation.  Four years later, he sold stock in the company.  Over the years, Kroc's shares in McDonald's made him rich; he shared his wealth with others.  He started the Kroc Foundation, which supported research on diabetes (which killed his daughter Marilyn in 1973), arthritis, and multiple sclerosis.  On his seventieth birthday in 1972, Kroc gave $8 million to some of his top employees.  Over the years, the corporation also donated food and money to many charities, and the company encouraged local franchisees to get involved in their communities.  McDonald's best-known charitable effort is the Ronald McDonald Houses, homes near hospitals where families can stay for free while their children receive medical treatment.  In 1974, Kroc turned his attention from fast food to baseball, using his wealth to buy the San Diego Padres.  A lifelong baseball fan, Kroc tried to turn around the struggling team.  The Padres made the World Series for the first time in 1984, but Kroc did not live to see it.  He died that January in San Diego at the age of eighty-one.  After his death, his third wife, Joan, carried on his charitable work.  She donated tens of millions of dollars to San Diego organizations, and in 1995 she gave $50 million to the Ronald McDonald Children's Charities, which had been founded in Kroc's honor.  http://www.referenceforbusiness.com/businesses/M-Z/Kroc-Ray.html

REAL VS. REEL  Comparison of the movie The Founder (2017) and the history of McDonald's

http://www.historyvshollywood.com/reelfaces/founder/ See also http://www.carterburwell.com/projects/Founder.shtml

Long Overdue:  Why public libraries are finally eliminating the late-return fine by Ruth Graham   Since 2010, districts in northern Illinois, Massachusetts, California, and Ohio—to name a few—have eliminated some or all late fines.  Others are dramatically lowering penalties for late returns.  Eliminating fines, of course, also eliminates a revenue stream for a public institution that is often underfunded.  The Columbus, Ohio library system expects to forfeit between $500,000 and $600,000 this year.  But that represents less than 1 percent of its overall budget.  In fact, fines rarely make up a meaningful source of income for library systems.  In the summer of 2015, the 13 libraries of the High Plains Library District in northern Colorado decided to eliminate almost all their late fines.  The district has now had about 18 months to assess what it means to survive only on fines from DVDs and lost-material fees.  Naturally, revenue from fines and fees dropped, from about $180,000 in 2014 to an estimated $95,000 last year.   the system also got rid of most of its expensive credit-card machines and stopped leasing a change-counting machine that it had needed to process the avalanche of dimes and quarters.  Executive director Janine Reid says the overall financial impact has been neutral.  Meanwhile, circulation rose, including a 16 percent rise within the children’s department.  http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/culturebox/2017/02/librarians_are_realizing_that_overdue_fines_undercut_libraries_missions.html

Pączki are deep-fried pieces of dough shaped into flattened spheres and filled with confiture or other sweet filling.  Pączki are usually covered with powdered sugar, icing, glaze or bits of dried orange zest.  A small amount of grain alcohol (traditionally, Spiritus) is added to the dough before cooking; as it evaporates, it prevents the absorption of oil deep into the dough.  Although they look like German berliners, North American bismarcks or jelly doughnuts, pączki are made from especially rich dough containing eggs, fats, sugar, yeast and sometimes milk.  They feature a variety of fruit and creme fillings and can be glazed, or covered with granulated or powdered sugar.  Powidl (stewed plum jam) and wild rose hip jam are traditional fillings, but many others are used as well, including strawberry, Bavarian cream, blueberry, custard, raspberry, and apple.  Pączki have been known in Poland at least since the Middle Ages.  Jędrzej Kitowicz has described that during the reign of August III, under the influence of French cooks who came to Poland, pączki dough was improved, so that pączki became lighter, spongier, and more resilient.  In Poland, pączki are eaten especially on Fat Thursday (Tłusty Czwartek), the last Thursday prior to Ash Wednesday and the beginning of Lent.  The traditional reason for making pączki was to use up all the lard, sugar, eggs and fruit in the house, because their consumption was forbidden by Christian fasting practices during the season of Lent.  In North America, particularly the large Polish communities of Chicago, Detroit, and other large cities across the Midwest and Northeast, Paczki Day is celebrated annually by immigrants and locals alike.  The date of this observance merges with that of pre-Lenten traditions of other immigrants (e.g., Pancake Day, Mardi Gras) on Fat Tuesday.  With its sizable Polish population, Chicago celebrates the festival on both Fat Thursday and Fat Tuesday; pączki are also often eaten on Casimir Pulaski Day.  In Buffalo, Toledo, Cleveland, Detroit, Grand Rapids, Milwaukee, South Bend, and Windsor, Pączki Day is celebrated on Fat Tuesday.  In Hamtramck, Michigan, an enclave of Detroit, there is an annual Pączki Day (Shrove Tuesday) Parade, which has gained a devoted following.  Throughout the Metro Detroit area, it is so widespread that many bakeries attract lines of customers for pączki on Paczki Day.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P%C4%85czki  According to the food editor at The Toledo Blade, paczek (singular) is pronounced PAWN-chek and paczki (plural) is pronounced PAWNCH-kee. 

http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com  Issue 1696  February 22, 2017  On this date in 1632, Galileo's Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems was published.  On this date in 1853, Washington University in St. Louis was founded as Eliot Seminary in St. Louis, Missouri.  On this date in 1855, the Pennsylvania State University was founded in State College, Pennsylvania (as the Farmers' High School of Pennsylvania).