The March
for Science has
been scheduled for Saturday, April 22 in Washington, D.C. A growing constellation
of marches are also scheduled
for that day in cities across the U.S. What
began as a Reddit conversation has grown into a movement of scientists and
science lovers standing up for evidenced-based policy making and inclusivity in
the science community. The date of the march isn’t
just an average Saturday. April 22 is Earth
Day, first celebrated in 1970. The
original Earth Day is seen by many as a turning point in the environmental
movement. The year itself also marks a
major turning point for the U.S. government and environmental policy. In 1970, Richard Nixon signed the
Environmental Protection Agency into existence and it began operating that
December. Brian Kahn
The amaranth family (Amaranthaceae) includes the previously separate family of the beets
and spinaches, the Chenopodiaceae. Amaranth is not related to the Graminae, the real grains. Compared to other grains amaranth seeds have
a much higher content of the minerals calcium, magnesium, iron and of the amino
acid Lysine. Amaranth seeds are also
high in potassium, zinc, Vitamin B and E and can contain over 20% protein
(depending on the variety). You can find
amaranth grain in health food stores in the form of amaranth flour and the popped seeds as amaranth cereal. http://www.tropicalpermaculture.com/amaranth-plant.html
Find a list of vegetable families, including umbellifers, goosefoot/beetroot
and poaceae/grasses at
A drumlin, from the Irish word droimnín ("littlest ridge"), first
recorded in 1833, and in the classical sense is an elongated hill in the shape of an
inverted spoon or half-buried egg formed
by glacial ice
acting on underlying unconsolidated till or ground moraine. Read more and find examples of drumlins in
Europe, North America, Asia, South American and Antarctica at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drumlin
See also http://www.landforms.eu/Lothian/drumlin.htm
Known as the world’s secondhand book
capital, Hay-on-Wye
is home to over 30 used and antiquarian bookshops as well as the
internationally acclaimed Hay Festival of Literature and the Arts. A medieval
market town on the English-Welsh border, Hay-on-Wye lies just north of the
Black Mountains on the east bank of the River Wye. Its literary aspirations began in 1961, when
eccentric bookseller Richard Booth opened his first secondhand bookshop in
town. Founded in 1987 and described by
former US president Bill Clinton as “the Woodstock of the mind,” the Hay
Festival is an annual 10-day literary event with workshops, readings, guest
speakers, and book signings. It’s held
from late May to early June. Read more
and see wonderful pictures at http://europeupclose.com/article/browsing-hay-on-wye-wales/
paparazzo (pah-puh-RAHT-so)
noun A photographer who follows famous
people to take their pictures for publication.
From Paparazzo, the name of a photographer in Federico Fellini’s 1959
film La Dolce Vita. Fellini got the name
via scriptwriter Ennio Flaiano who picked it from the 1901 travel book By the
Ionian Sea. The book mentions a hotel
owner named Coriolano Paparazzo. Fellini
claimed at another time that the name Paparazzo suggested to him “a buzzing
insect, hovering, darting, stinging”.
Earliest documented use: 1961. A.Word.A.Day with Anu Garg
In the March 2017 edition of BookPage, I saw "Feed your TBR!" Not knowing what that meant, I did a search
on Google, and the featured definition was "To Be Real." Later I found 56 definitions in an acronym
finder, and it's probably the second meaning ("To Be Read") in the
list. Doesn't make much sense,
however. http://www.acronymfinder.com/TBR.html
Other paths to "It's raining cats and dogs" Il pleut des cordes Literally
“It’s raining ropes,” this way of describing a heavy downpour in French evokes
the image of rain pouring from rooftops when it literally forms long “ropes” of
raindrops stretching to the ground. The
most common English equivalent is probably “It’s raining cats and dogs.” Il pleut des hallebardes This is another expression you’ll
hear when it’s pouring rain outside. The
literal meaning is “It’s raining halberds” (a halberd being
an ax-like weapon that dates back to the 14th century). The English equivalent of this expression
could be “It’s pouring buckets” or “It’s bucketing down” in UK English. Also keep in mind that the s in des is
silent, since hallebardes starts
with an aspirated h. http://www.fluentu.com/french/blog/french-weather-expressions/ Thank you, Muse reader!
From 1897-1968, the Boston Marathon was held on Patriots'
Day, April 19, a holiday commemorating the start of the Revolutionary War and
recognized only in Massachusetts and Maine.
If the 19th fell on a Sunday, the race was held on the following
day. Roberta Gibb was the first woman to
run the full Boston Marathon in 1966.
She did not run with an official number from 1966-1968. In 1967, Katherine Switzer, did not clearly
identify herself as a female on the race application and was issued a bib
number. Marathon officials tried
unsuccessfully to physically remove Switzer from the race. When women were allowed entry in the fall of
1971, Nina Kuscsik's 1972 victory made her the first official female champion
of the Boston Marathon. http://www.baa.org/races/boston-marathon/boston-marathon-history.aspx
April 18, 2017 – Patricia Spears Jones is the eleventh winner of the Jackson
Poetry Prize. Poets & Writers, the
New York–based service organization for creative writers, annually awards the
Jackson Poetry Prize to an American poet of exceptional talent who deserves
wider recognition. The $50,000 prize is
among the most substantial given to an American poet and is designed to provide
what all poets need: time and
encouragement to write. Patricia Spears
Jones is a Brooklyn-based African American poet. Her most recent collection of poems, A Lucent Fire: New and Selected Poems, published
by White Pine Press in 2015, was a finalist for the Poetry Society of America’s
2016 William Carlos Williams Prize, as well as for the Paterson Poetry Prize. Her earlier books include Painkiller (Tia Chucha Press, 2010), Femme du Monde (Tia Chucha Press, 2006), and The Weather That Kills (Coffee House Press, 1995). Previous honors include a 2016 Pushcart Prize,
a National Endowment for the Arts Literature Fellowship, and awards from the
Barbara Deming Memorial Fund, Goethe-Institut, the New York Foundation for the
Arts, Foundation for Contemporary Arts, and the New York Community Trust. The Jackson Poetry Prize is endowed by a gift
from the Liana Foundation and is named for the John and Susan Jackson family. There is no application process; poets are
nominated by a panel of their peers who remain anonymous. Previous recipients of the Jackson Poetry
Prize are Will Alexander (2016), X. J. Kennedy (2015), Claudia Rankine (2014),
Arthur Sze (2013), Henri Cole (2012), James Richardson (2011), Harryette Mullen
(2010), Linda Gregg (2009), Tony Hoagland (2008), and Elizabeth Alexander
(2007). Read more at https://www.pw.org/about-us/news-releases/patricia_spears_jones_wins_50000_jackson_poetry_prize
http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com Issue 1695
April 19, 2017 On this date in 1986, Zhou
Mi, Chinese singer-songwriter and actor, was born. On this date in 1986, Candace
Parker, American basketball player, was born. Thought
for Today There is a beauty in
discovery. There is mathematics in
music, a kinship of science and poetry in the description of nature, and
exquisite form in a molecule. - Glenn T. Seaborg, scientist, Nobel laureate (19
Apr 1912-1999) Word of the Day syllabub noun
A drink dating back to the 16th century
consisting primarily of milk curdled with an alcoholic beverage or some acid such as lemon juice, which is
usually then sweetened and spiced. Also everlasting
syllabub or solid syllabub: dessert pudding derived from the drink. (figuratively) Something lacking substance;
something frothy, insubstantial,
or lightweight.
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