EPONYMS 

Shepardize  The name derives from a legal service begun by Frank Shepard (1848–1902) in 1873, when Shepard began publishing these lists in a series of books indexed to different jurisdictions. Initially, the product was called Shepard’s Adhesive Annotations.  The citations were printed on gummed, perforated sheets, which could be divided and pasted onto pages of case law.  Known as “stickers,” these were literally torn to bits and stuck to pertinent margins of case reporters.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shepard%27s_Citations

Listerine was named for Joseph Lister, a British surgeon and pioneer of antiseptic surgery.  It was sold unsuccessfully as a floor cleaner and a cure for everything from chapped hands to gonorrhea.  In the 1920's, however, the makers of Listerine hit pay dirt when they pitched it as a remedy for bad breath.  The phrase ‘always a bridesmaid, never a bride’ was popularized by a 1930’s advertisement for Listerine.  Robert Wood Johnson Library of the Health Sciences  http://libraries.rbhs.rutgers.edu/rwjlbweb/posters/listerine.pdf

sortation  noun  (especially in data processing) the process of sorting or its result.  Origin:  Mid 19th century:  from sort (verb) + -ation  https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/us/sortation

"A loss often insults before it hurts."  "Virtuosity in Bach delights not so much in answering its own musical questions (like Mozart) but in puzzling out the possible ranges of resolutions."  “There is something of the heavens in it,” wrote Sir Thomas Browne in an epigraph that appears in the Schirmer edition of the Goldberg Variations  . . .  A little detective work reveals that Sir Thomas Browne published the remark in 1642, a century before Bach set the piece to paper . . . it was applied, first, by the American harpsichordist Ralph Kirkpatrick in 1935."  The Variations, a novel by John Donatich 

John Donatich is the Director of Yale University Press.  He received a BA from New York University in 1982, graduating magna cum laude.  He also got a master's degree from NYU in 1984, graduating summa cum laude.  Donatich worked as director of National Accounts at Putnam Publishing Group from 1989 to 1992.  His writing has appeared in various periodicals including Harper's, The Atlantic Monthly and The Village Voice.  He worked at HarperCollins from 1992 to 1996, serving as director of national accounts and then as vice president and director of product and marketing development.  From 1995 to 2003, Donatich served as publisher and vice president of Basic Books.  While there, he started the Art of Mentoring series of books, which would run from 2001 to 2008.   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Donatich  See also http://readaroundtheworld-sallyb.blogspot.com/2012/04/john-donatich-im-in-love-with-his-words.html

strait  noun  (1)  A narrow passage of water connecting two seas or two other large areas of water.  in place names ‘the Straits of Gibraltar’  (2)  Used in reference to a situation characterized by a specified degree of trouble or difficulty.  ‘the economy is in dire straits’  Origin:  Middle English:  shortening of Old French estreit ‘tight, narrow’, from Latin strictus ‘drawn tight’ (see strict).  https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/strait

Largest underwater waterfall:  Denmark Strait cataract  The Denmark Strait, in the Atlantic Ocean between Greenland and Iceland, is an underground waterfall that tumbles almost 11,500 feet and carries 175 million cubic feet of water per second.  The reason it exists is due to temperature differences in the water on either side of the strait.  Cold water is more dense than warm water.  And the eastern side of the strait is a lot colder than the western side.  So when the waters meet, the cold water sinks below the warmer water, creating a strong downward flow of water—one that can be (and is) considered a waterfall.

https://www.mnn.com/earth-matters/wilderness-resources/photos/10-spectacular-record-setting-waterfalls/largest-underwater-waterfall-denmark-strait-cataract

From artichokes to tea, how to eat and drink tricky foods  http://emilypost.com/advice/guide-to-food-and-drink/

The Jerusalem artichoke (Helianthus tuberosus), also called sunroot, sunchoke, earth apple or topinambour, is a species of sunflower native to eastern North America, and found from eastern Canada and Maine west to North Dakota, and south to northern Florida and Texas.  It is also cultivated widely across the temperate zone for its tuber, which is used as a root vegetable.  Before the arrival of Europeans, Native Americans cultivated Helianthus tuberosus as a food source.  The tubers persist for years after being planted, so that the species expanded its range from central North America to the eastern and western regions.  Early European colonists learned of this, and sent tubers back to Europe, where it became a popular crop and naturalized there.  It later gradually fell into obscurity in North America, but attempts to market it commercially have been successful in the late 1900s and early 2000s.  The artichoke contains about 2% protein, no oil, and a surprising lack of starch.  It is rich in the carbohydrate inulin (76%), which is a polymer of the monosaccharide fructose.  Tubers stored for any length of time will convert their inulin into its component fructose.  Jerusalem artichokes have an underlying sweet taste because of the fructose, which is about one and a half times as sweet as sucrose.  Read more and see pictures at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerusalem_artichoke

The globe artichoke (Cynara cardunculus var. scolymus) is a variety of a species of thistle cultivated as a food.  The edible portion of the plant consists of the flower buds before the flowers come into bloom.  The budding artichoke flower-head is a cluster of many budding small flowers (an inflorescence) together with many bracts, on an edible base.  Once the buds bloom, the structure changes to a coarse, barely edible form.  Another variety of the same species is the cardoon, a perennial plant native to the Mediterranean region.  Both wild forms and cultivated varieties (cultivars) exist.  The artichoke is mentioned as a garden plant in the 8th century BC by Homer and Hesiod.  The naturally occurring variant of the artichoke, the cardoon (Cynara cardunculus), which is native to the Mediterranean area, also has records of use as a food among the ancient Greeks and Romans.  The Dutch introduced artichokes to England, where they grew in Henry VIII's garden at Newhall in 1530.  They were brought to the United States in the 19th century—to Louisiana by French immigrants and to California by Spanish immigrants.  Today, cultivation of the globe artichoke is concentrated in the countries bordering the Mediterranean basin.  The main European producers are Italy, Spain, and France.  In the United States, California provides nearly 100% of the U.S. crop, and about 80% of that is grown in Monterey County; there, Castroville proclaims itself to be "The Artichoke Center of the World", and holds the annual Castroville Artichoke Festival.  Most recently, artichokes have been grown in South Africa in a small town called Parys located along the Vaal River.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artichoke

6 Theories on the Origin of the Bullpen by David K. Israel   No one really knows where the term bullpen comes from, and no one theory has enough compelling evidence to support or refute the origin.  No more certain is the debate about when the word bullpen was first used.  OED cites the earliest use dating back to a 1924 Chicago Tribune article, while other sources say the area referring to where pitchers warm up (especially relief pitchers), was first called the bullpen in a Baseball Magazine article published in 1915.  Read about the six theories and see pictures at http://mentalfloss.com/article/23013/6-theories-origin-bullpen

http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com  Issue 1734  June 30, 2017  On this date in 1937, the world's first emergency telephone number, 999, was introduced in London.  On this date in 1997, the United Kingdom transferred sovereignty over Hong Kong to the People's Republic of China.  Thought for Today  Shadow owes its birth to light. - John Gay, poet and dramatist (30 Jun 1685-1732)

The Laurentian Library (Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana) is a historic library in Florence, Italy containing more than 11,000 manuscripts and 4,500 early printed books.  Built in a cloister of the Medicean Basilica di San Lorenzo di Firenze under the patronage of the Medici pope Clement VII, the Library was built to emphasize that the Medici were no longer merchants but members of intelligent and ecclesiastical society.  It contains the manuscripts and books belonging to the private library of the Medici family. The library is renowned for its architecture, designed by Michelangelo, and is an example of Mannerism.  The Laurentian Library was commissioned in 1523 and construction began in 1525; however, when Michelangelo left Florence in 1534, only the walls of the reading room were complete.  It was then continued by Tribolo, Basari, and Ammannati based on plans and verbal instructions from Michelangelo.  The library opened by 1571.  Notable additions to the collection were made by its most famous librarian, Angelo Maria Bandini, who was appointed in 1757 and oversaw its printed catalogues.  The Laurentian Library houses about 11,000 manuscripts, 2,500 papyri, 43 ostraca, 566 incunabula, 1,681 16th-century prints, and 126,527 prints of the 17th to 20th centuries.  The core collection consists of about 3,000 manuscripts, indexed by Giovanni Rondinelli and Baccio Valori in 1589, which were placed on parapets (plutei) at the library's opening in 1571.  These manuscripts have the signature Pluteus or Pluteo (Plut.).  These manuscripts include the library Medici family collected during the 15th century and re-acquired by Giovanni di Medici (Pope Leo X) in 1508, and moved to Florence in the 1520s by Giulio di Giuliano de' Medici (Pope Clement VII). The Medici library was joined by collections by Francesco Sassetti and Francesco Filelfo and manuscripts acquired by Leo X and by the library of the Dominican convent of San Marco.  The Library conserves the Nahuatl Florentine Codex, the major source of pre-Conquest Aztec life.  Among other well-known manuscripts in the Laurentian Library are the sixth-century Syriac Rabula Gospels; the Codex Amiatinus, which contains the earliest surviving manuscript of the Latin Vulgate Bible; the Squarcialupi Codex, an important early musical manuscript; and the fragmentary Erinna papyrus containing poems of the friend of Sappho.  Read more and see beautiful graphics at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laurentian_Library

A rip current, often referred to simply as a rip, or by the misnomer rip tide, is a specific kind of water current which can occur near beaches with breaking waves.  A rip is a strong, localized, and narrow current of water which moves directly away from the shore, cutting through the lines of breaking waves like a river running out to sea, and is strongest near the surface of the water.  Rip currents can be hazardous to people in the water.  Swimmers who are caught in a rip and who do not understand what is going on, and who may not have the necessary water skills, may panic, or exhaust themselves by trying to swim directly against the flow of water.  Because of these factors, rips are the leading cause of rescues by lifeguards at beaches, and in the US rips are the cause of an average of 46 deaths by drowning per year.  A rip current is not the same thing as undertow, although some people use the latter term incorrectly when they mean a rip current.  Contrary to popular belief, neither rip nor undertow can pull a person down and hold them under the water.  A rip simply carries floating objects, including people, out beyond the zone of the breaking waves.  A rip current forms because wind and breaking waves push surface water towards the land, and this causes a slight rise in the water level along the shore, which will tend to flow back to the open water by the route of least resistance.  When there is a local area which is slightly deeper or a break in an offshore bar or reef, this can allow water to flow offshore more easily, and this will initiate a rip current through that gap.  Read more and see graphics at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rip_current

In botany and horticulture, parthenocarpy (literally meaning virgin fruit) is the natural or artificially induced production of fruit without fertilization of ovules.  The fruit is therefore seedless.  Stenospermocarpy may also produce apparently seedless fruit, but the seeds are actually aborted while still small.  Parthenocarpy (or stenospermocarpy) occasionally occurs as a mutation in nature; if it affects every flower the plant can no longer sexually reproduce but might be able to propagate by apomixis or by vegetative means.  However, parthenocarpy of some fruits on a plant may be of value.  Up to 20% of the fruits of wild parsnip are parthenocarpic.  The seedless wild parsnip fruit are preferred by certain herbivores, and thus serve as a "decoy defense" against seed predation.  Utah juniper has a similar defense against bird feeding.  The ability to produce seedless fruit when pollination is unsuccessful may be an advantage to a plant because it provides food for the plant's seed dispersers.  Without a fruit crop, the seed dispersing animals may starve or migrate.  Seedlessness is seen as a desirable trait in edible fruit with hard seeds such as banana, pineapple, orange and grapefruit.  Parthenocarpy is also desirable in fruit crops that may be difficult to pollinate or fertilize, such as fig, tomato and summer squash.  In dioecious species, such as persimmon, parthenocarpy increases fruit production because staminate trees do not need to be planted to provide pollen.  Horticulturists have selected and propagated parthenocarpic cultivars of many plants, including banana, fig, cactus pear (Opuntia), breadfruit and eggplant.  Some plants, such as pineapple, produce seedless fruits when a single cultivar is grown because they are self-infertile.  Most commercial seedless grape cultivars, such as 'Thompson Seedless', are not seedless because of parthenocarpy, but because of stenospermocarpy.  

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parthenocarpy

EPONYMS 

Mercerize  John Mercer (1791-1866) worked in his father’s cotton mill in Lancaster, England, and, through a fellow worker, learned to read and write when he was ten years old.  John’s primary interest, which had been music, changed to the art of dyeing and, because he was a handloom weaver, he worked on and invented devices that wove stripes and checks.  Mercer got a job as a chemist to make calico prints at a fabric printshop.  Mercer was so talented with fabrics that he was eventually admitted to partnership in the business.  After thirty years the partnership was dissolved, freeing Mercer to continue his experiments.  In 1850, at the age of fifty-nine, he perfected a process for treating cottons with caustic soda, sulphuric acid, and zinc chloride, which shrinks, strengthens, and gives a permanent silky luster to the fabric.  Furthermore, cloth so treated made the fabric more absorbent so that it held dyes more readily.  Mercer’s process was not so successful as it might have been, however, because of the shrinkage of the fabric.  He had overlooked the treating of the material under tension.  Long after his death, a correction was made, and the shrinkage was virtually eliminated.  But Mercer’s name remained as the inventor of the treatment process.   http://eponym.ru/content/mercerize

Mesmerize  Franz Mesmer (1734–1815) was German physician who developed a theory and clinical practice of 'animal magnetism' or 'mesmerism'.  It's from Mesmer that we get the word "mesmerize".  He owned a particularly fine glass armonica, played it well, and it was an integral part of his 'mesmerizing' practice.  Mesmer, Franklin and Mozart were all Freemasons, a group that enthusiastically welcomed glass music for the promotion of human 'harmony'. Mesmer and Mozart knew each other, and Mesmer and Franklin knew each other (alas Mozart and Franklin never met).  Mesmer was born in the village of Iznang, Swabia. After studying at the Jesuit universities of Dillingen and Ingolstadt, he took up the study of medicine at the University of Vienna in 1759.  In 1766 he published a doctoral dissertation with the Latin title De planetarum influxu in corpus humanum ("The Influence of the Planets on the Human Body"), which discussed the influence of the Moon and the planets on the human body and on disease.  This wasn't 'medical astrology', however—relying largely on Newton's theory of the tides, Mesmer expounded on certain tides in the human body that might be accounted for by the movements of the sun and moon.  Mesmer apparently plagiarized his dissertation from a work by Richard Mead (1673–1754)—an eminent English physician and Newton's friend.  In all fairness, however, in Mesmer's day doctoral theses were not expected to be original.  http://www.glassarmonica.com/armonica/mesmer.php

It all began rather simply.  "Mr. and Mrs. Brown first met Paddington on a railway platform," goes the opening line in the opening book of Michael Bond's Paddington Bear series.  Readers, for their part, first met the orphan bear from Peru in 1958, in the pages of A Bear Named Paddington.  Bond died June 27, 2017 at age 91, according to publisher HarperCollins.  Bond was prolific—both with Paddington and an assortment of other characters—and wrote not only for children, but also for adult readers.  He published more than 200 books, including roughly one Paddington book a year for the first decade of the series, and Bond's publisher says his books sold more than 35 million copies.  "I bought him, and because we were living near Paddington station at the time, we christened him Paddington.  "He sat on a shelf of our one-roomed apartment for a while, and then one day when I was sitting in front of my typewriter staring at a blank sheet of paper wondering what to write, I idly tapped out the words 'Mr. and Mrs. Brown first met Paddington on a railway platform.  In fact, that was how he came to have such an unusual name for a bear, for Paddington was the name of the station.'  "It was a simple act, and in terms of deathless prose, not exactly earth-shattering, but it was to change my life considerably."  Looking back on that moment, Bond told The Guardian in 2014 that he was also likely inspired by another memory, at another train station:  the evacuee children he would see come through Reading Station during World War II.  "They all had a label round their neck with their name and address on and a little case or package containing all their treasured possessions," Bond told the paper.  "So Paddington, in a sense, was a refugee, and I do think that there's no sadder sight than refugees."  Colin Dwyer  http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2017/06/28/534702099/michael-bond-the-giant-behind-paddington-bear-dies-at-91

"Sea pickles" to be precise, millions of them, clogging fishing nets, snagging hooks and littering the Northwest's beautiful beaches.  The gelatinous critters, called pyrosomes, are actually colonies of multi-celled animals known as zooids.   Pyrosomes can grow to more than 30 feet in length, but most washing up on beaches resemble transparent, tubular worms ranging from a few inches to over a foot long.  Covered with small bumps, they are firm like cucumbers, but when touched they ooze a jelly-like pus, the National Geographic's Craig Welsh notes.  During a cruise to study the creatures off the Oregon coast two weeks ago, one team of researchers reportedly scooped up 60,000 pyrosomes in five minutes.  "There were reports of some pyrosomes in 2014, and a few more in 2015, but this year there has been an unprecedented, insane amount," researcher Olivia Blondheim told the Guardian.  No one knows where the gummy, bioluminescent critters are coming from or what is fueling their population boom.  If fact, little is known about pyrosomes at all, other than that reproduce assexually.  What they eat or what eats them largely remains a mystery, writes Welsh.  Previously, their range has been limited to tropical or semi-tropical areas such as parts of the Mediterranean Sea or off Australia.  Mike Moffitt  See pictures at http://www.sfgate.com/science/article/Bizarre-sea-pickles-invade-the-West-Coast-by-11248251.php?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter

http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com  Issue 1733  June 29, 2017  On this date in 1956, the Federal Aid Highway Act of 1956 was signed, officially creating the United States Interstate Highway System.  On this date in 1974, Isabel Perón was sworn in as the first female President of Argentina.

June 27, 2017  A thing wasn’t always “a thing,” until the Oxford English Dictionary made it one.  Every quarter, the OED updates its expansive catalog with new words that reflect the changing times.  This month, more than 1,200 new words and phrases were added to the list.  For example, “woke” and “post-truth” made the cut—the latter was dubbed “word of the year” by the OED in 2016.  What’s really interesting, though, is a new meaning for a very old word:  “thing.”  Until the latest update, the noun was defined as a way to refer to any object, feature, or event in a loose way (“look at that thing over there”), as a way to describe actions, interests, or points (“don’t you worry about a thing”), and so on.  In the OED’s latest update, the word has gained yet another meaning, “defined as ‘a genuine or established phenomenon or practice’, and is often used in questions conveying surprise or incredulity, such as ‘is that even a thing?’”  Lots of words—such as “friend”, “follow,” and “cloud”—have gained new meanings over time.  The Washington Post puts much of this down to the influence of technology and the internet.  In thing’s case, the OED says that TV drama “The West Wing” seems to have popularized the new meaning.  According to one West Wing enthusiast, numerous episodes have used the word in this way:  “Didn’t you two used to be a thing?”  (Sept. 22, 1999) and “So this is gonna be a thing!”  (Nov. 3, 1999), for example.  In other etymological news, the dictionary—first published in the late 19th century—also got a new ending: “Zyzzyva.”  As we all know, this is the “genus of tropical weevils native to South America and typically found on or near palm trees.”  Zythum, a beer brewed in ancient Egypt, was previously the dictionary’s final entry.  So, Zyzzyva is a thing now, too.  Jennifer Brown   https://qz.com/1015662/post-truth-woke-and-a-new-definition-for-thing-the-latest-updates-to-the-oxford-english-dictionary/

A herding dog, also known as a stock dog or working dog, is a type of pastoral dog that either has been trained in herding or belongs to breeds developed for herding. Their ability to be trained to act on the sound of a whistle or word of command is renowned throughout the world.  All herding behavior is modified predatory behavior.  Through selective breeding, humans have been able to minimize the dog's natural inclination to treat cattle and sheep as prey while simultaneously maintaining the dog's hunting skills, thereby creating an effective herding dog.  Dogs can work other animals in a variety of ways. Some breeds, such as the Australian Cattle Dog, typically nip at the heels of animals (for this reason they are called heelers) and the Cardigan Welsh Corgi and the Pembroke Welsh Corgi were historically used in a similar fashion in the cattle droves that moved cattle from Wales to the Smithfield Meat Market in London but are rarely used for herding today.  Other breeds, notably the Border Collie, get in front of the animals and use what is called strong eye to stare down the animals; they are known as headers.  The headers or fetching dogs keep livestock in a group.  They consistently go to the front or head of the animals to turn or stop the animal's movement.   The heelers or driving dogs keep pushing the animals forward.  Typically, they stay behind the herd.  The Australian Kelpie and Australian Koolie use both these methods and also run along the backs of sheep so are said to head, heel, and back.  Other types such as the Australian Shepherd, English Shepherd and Welsh Sheepdog are moderate to loose eyed, working more independently.  The New Zealand Huntaway uses its loud, deep bark to muster mobs of sheep.  Belgian Shepherds, German Shepherd Dogs and Briards are historically tending dogs, who act as a "living fence," guiding large flocks of sheep to graze while preventing them from eating valuable crops and wandering onto roads.  Read more, see pictures, and find a list of herding breeds at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herding_dog

QUOTES of Robert Lee Frost (1874–1963), American poet; winner of four Pulitzer Prizes   The best way out is always through. * The woods are lovely, dark and deep.  But I have promises to keep, And miles to go before I sleep, And miles to go before I sleep.  * Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference.  Find more quotes and see graphics at https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Robert_Frost

Seven Days in May is a 1964 American political thriller motion picture about a military-political cabal's planned take-over of the United States government in reaction to the president's negotiation of a disarmament treaty with the Soviet Union.  Directed by John Frankenheimer, it stars Burt Lancaster, Kirk Douglas, Fredric March, and Ava Gardner.  The screenplay was written by Rod Serling based on the novel of the same name by Fletcher Knebel and Charles W. Bailey II, published in September 1962.   Kirk Douglas and director John Frankenheimer were the moving forces behind the filming of Seven Days in May; the film was produced by Edward Lewis through Douglas's company Joel Productions and Seven Arts Productions.  Frankenheimer wanted the screenwriter to be a partner in the production, and Rod Serling agreed to this arrangement.  Douglas agreed to star in it, but he also wanted his frequent co-star Burt Lancaster to star in the film as well.  Douglas enticed Lancaster to join the film by offering him the meatier role of General Scott, the film's villain, while Douglas agreed to take the role of Scott's assistant.  Lancaster's involvement almost caused Frankenheimer to back out, since he and Lancaster had butted heads on Birdman of Alcatraz two years earlier.  Only Douglas's assurances that Lancaster would behave kept the director on the project.  Ironically, Lancaster and Frankenheimer became close friends during the filming, while Douglas and the director had a falling out.  Frankenheimer was also very happy with Lancaster's performance, and noted in the long scene toward the end between Lancaster and March, probably his all-time favourite directed scene, that Lancaster was "perfect" in his delivery and that no other actor could have done it better.  Most of the actors in the film Frankenheimer had worked with previously, a directorial preference.  Frankenheimer, in the DVD commentary for the film, stated that he would not have made the movie any differently decades later and that it was one of the films he was most satisfied with  David Amram, who had previously scored Frankenheimer's The Manchurian Candidate, originally provided music for the film; however Lewis was unsatisfied with his work.  Jerry Goldsmith, who had worked with the producer and Douglas on Lonely are the Brave and The List of Adrian Messenger, was signed to rescore the project (although a brief source cue by Amram remains in the finished film).  Goldsmith composed a very brief score (lasting around 15 minutes) using only pianos and percussion; he later scored Seconds and The Challenge for Frankenheimer.  According to Douglas, an alternate ending was shot, but discarded:  General Scott, the treacherous Burt Lancaster character, goes off in his sports car, and dies in a wreck.  Was it an accident or suicide?  Coming up out of the wreckage over the car radio is President Jordan Lyman's speech about the sanctity of the Constitution.  This alternate ending echoes the novel, which ends with the apparent vehicular suicide of Senator Prentice.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seven_Days_in_May   Thank you, Muse reader!  

See also The Alternate Endings of 28 Famous Movies by Stacy Conradt at http://mentalfloss.com/article/58013/alternate-endings-28-famous-movies  

When Nouns Surface as Verbs by Eve V. Clark and Herbert  H. Clark  Language, v. 55, no. 4.  Dec. 1979, pp. 767-811  An article on denominal verbs (nouns that have come to be used as verbs) giving examples such he wristed the ball over the net and Ruth Buzzi houseguested with Bill Dodge.  Read article at https://web.stanford.edu/~clark/1970s/Clark.Clark.79.pdf

What makes shortbread so accessible is the simple ratio of its ingredients:  one stick butter to one cup flour, with sugar and salt added to taste.  In Scotland, shortbread is often made with a combination of rice flour and wheat flour, which gives it a distinctive brittle crispness.  Classic shortbread generally doesn’t have any other flavorings beyond those of the core ingredients.  At its simplest, it tastes of good butter and not much else.  So always use the best butter you can get.  If you do want to add flavors, you can, as long as you don’t add more than a teaspoon or so of liquid (vanilla, almond extract or rum, for example) to the dough.  Anything more than that can make the cookies soft rather than crisp.  Dry ingredients like spices, citrus zest and vanilla seeds work better for preserving the brittle crumble of the cookie.  You can also add nuts and seeds for texture and flavor.  Then bake your shortbread low and slow.  It shouldn’t take on much color in the oven, staying pale on top, turning gold at the edges.  Once it’s baked and stored airtight, it will maintain its crunch for weeks—if it doesn’t get devoured first.  Melissa Clark   See video at https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/09/dining/shortbread-cookie-recipe.html

Poet, author and library advocate Maya Angelou often spoke about the value of libraries and education in her life.  Here are some of her quotes on the subject:  “I always knew from that moment, from the time I found myself at home in that little segregated library in the South, all the way up until I walked up the steps of the New York City library, I always felt, in any town, if I can get to a library, I'll be okay.  It really helped me as a child, and that never left me.  So I have a special place for every library, in my heart of hearts.”   "Information is so important, and it must be open.  Information helps you to see that you're not alone."  — In "Interview: How Libraries Changed Maya Angelou's Life"   “My encouragement to you is to go tomorrow to the library.” ​— During a speech to a college audience that encouraged students to read voraciously and never stop learning  Mariam Pera  https://americanlibrariesmagazine.org/blogs/the-scoop/remembering-maya-angelou/

http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com  Issue 1732  June 28, 2017  On this date in 1846, Adolphe Sax patented the saxophone.  On this date in 1894, Labor Day became an official US holiday.

June 8, 2017  37 BOOKS WE’VE LOVED SO FAR IN 2017 by Book World Editors   As summer approaches, here are some of our favorite reads--from thrillers to literary fiction, memoir, history and politics:  https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/entertainment/summer-reading-list-2017/

Alley Oop is a syndicated comic strip created in 1932 by American cartoonist V. T. Hamlin, who wrote and drew the popular and influential strip through four decades for Newspaper Enterprise Association.  Alley Oop, the strip's title character, was a sturdy citizen in the prehistoric kingdom of Moo.  He rode his pet dinosaur Dinny, carried a stone war hammer, and wore nothing but a fur loincloth.  He would rather fight dinosaurs in the jungle than deal with his fellow countrymen in Moo's capital and sole cave-town.  Despite these exotic settings, the stories were often satires of American suburban life.  The first stories took place in the Stone Age and centered on Alley Oop's dealings with his fellow cavemen in the kingdom of Moo.  Oop and his pals had occasional skirmishes with the rival kingdom of Lem, ruled by King Tunk.  The names Moo and Lem are references to the fabled lost continents of Mu and Lemuria.  On April 5, 1939, Hamlin introduced a new plot device which greatly expanded his choice of storylines:  A time machine, invented by 20th-century scientist Dr. Elbert Wonmug, who bore a rather suspicious resemblance to the Grand Wizer.  The name Wonmug was a bilingual pun on Albert Einstein; "ein" is German for "one", and a "stein" is a form of drinking mug.  Oscar Boom is derived from the words Nobel Prize, Oscar = Prize and Boom after Alfred Nobel (the inventor of dynamite).  Oop was transported to the 20th century by an early test of the machine (in the Sunday strip of April 9, 1939).  He was hardly upset by the incident and apparently did not find modern society to be any different from his own.  He then became Dr. Wonmug's man in the field, embarking on expeditions to various periods and places in history, such as Ancient Egypt, the England of Robin Hood, and the American frontier.  Oop met such historical or mythical figures as Cleopatra, King Arthur, and Ulysses in his adventures.  In addition to the time machine, other science fiction devices were introduced.  Oop once drove an experimental electric-powered race car and, in the 1940s, he traveled to the Moon.  The long-running success of the strip made the character a pop culture icon referred to in fiction, pop music, dance, and sports:  Jerom is a caveman in the Belgian comic strip series Suske en Wiske by Willy Vandersteen who was inspired by Alley Oop.  An educated Neanderthal known as "Alley Oop" is a character in Clifford D. Simak's science fiction novel The Goblin Reservation, published in 1968.  "O. Paley" (whose name was a loose anagram of "Alley Oop") was the central figure in Philip José Farmer's The Alley Man, a 1959 novella about the last Neanderthal who has survived into the 20th century.  The character was the subject of the 1960 No. 1 single "Alley Oop", which was the only hit for the short-lived studio band The Hollywood Argyles.  It  was written and composed in 1957 by Dallas Frazier, and musicians on the record included Kim Fowley and Sandy Nelson.  Lead vocalist Norm Davis was paid a one-time flat fee of $25, and he subsequently became a poet and poetry teacher in Rochester, New York.  The song was later covered, most famously by The Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band, but also by both Dante & the Evergreens and George Thorogood & the Destroyers, and it was included in choreographer Twyla Tharp's 1970s ballet Deuce Coupe.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alley_Oop  Alley Oop may also refer to:  Alley-oop (basketball), a play in basketball; Alley-oop (football), a play in American football; Alley Oop (professional wrestling), a professional wrestling move; Alley-oop (skateboarding), a skateboarding trick; Alley-oop (skating), an inline skating trick; and Alley-oop (snowboarding), a spin trick in snowboarding.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alley_Oop_(disambiguation)

surety  (guarantor) noun  attester, backer, certifier, confirmer, consignee, endorser, financer, indemnitor, promisor, ratifier, signatory, signer, sponsor, supporter, underwriter, voucher, warrantor   Associated concepts:  surety bond, surety company, surety insurance, surety of the peace

surety  (certainty)  noun absolute confidence, affirmance, affirmation, aplomb, ascertainment, assurance, assuredness, averment, avowal, avowance, certain knowledge, certification, certitude  Read more at http://legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/surety

New York, New York is the city so nice it got two of everything:  two baseball teams, two decrepit airports and now two riverside art galleries designed by the Italian architect Renzo Piano.  His Whitney Museum of American Art has packed in visitors since the spring of 2015, spellbound as much by its balconies and switchback staircases as by its light-filled, column-free galleries.  Now it has a fraternal twin a hundred blocks north:  the Lenfest Center for the Arts, which serves as a new hub for Columbia University’s art, film, theater and writing programs.  Both rise eight stories beside the Hudson River, though the Lenfest is a bit farther inland.  The Lenfest hosts a performance space, screening room and the relocated Wallach Art Gallery—which has presented exhibitions by the likes of Nancy Holt and Xu Bing, presentations of M.F.A. work, as well as shows organized by graduate students in art history.  Formerly ensconced in the university’s art history department, it now has 4,000 square feet in the new Piano building, which can be divided as needed with temporary walls.  Next door is Mr. Piano’s larger, quietly distinguished Jerome L. Greene Science Center, whose narrow windows and industrial detailing look almost like a test run for his giant, nearly complete Palais de Justice in Paris, Mr. Piano’s adopted hometown.  Jason Farago  https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/01/arts/design/wallach-art-gallery-uptown-columbia-review.html?_r=0

The Knight Foundation and Columbia University on May 17, 2017 announced the creation of a new center that will use research, education, and litigation to advance First Amendment rights in the digital age.  An independent 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University is backed by $60 million in funding—and it is launching at a time of growing concern about the First Amendment’s application to new technologies.  Knight and Columbia will contribute $5 million each in operating funds and $25 million each in endowment funds, according to a press release announcing the effort.  The institute will use the funds to work on court cases that present opportunities to define—or redefine—free-expression principles, with an emphasis on digitally oriented cases.  The plan also calls for research, publications, and events to educate the legal community on emerging First Amendment issues.  Jonathan Peters  https://www.cjr.org/united_states_project/knight_columbia_first_amendment_institute.php  See also news from the Knight First Amendment Institute at https://knightcolumbia.org/news#/type/

The terms blackmail and extortion are often used interchangeably though in fact, there is a subtle difference between the two.  Blackmail is a crime wherein the blackmailer demands goods, services or money in exchange for not revealing information that would be detrimental to the person being blackmailed.  The information may be true or untrue.  The word blackmail is derived from the Scottish word mal, meaning agreement, bargaining, rent.  In the 1500s, rental payments were called silver mail as the payments were usually made with silver coins.  Scottish chieftains collected protection money, or blackmail, from farmers in exchange for not razing their farms.  Extortion is a crime wherein the extortionist demands goods, services or money through coercion.  Coercion may involve the threat of violence, use of force or criminal use of authority.  The word extortion is derived from the Latin word extortionem which means twisting out.  Remember, the word blackmail refers to a crime wherein the threat is a revelation of information, extortion refers to a crime wherein the threat is either physical, violent or an unfair use of power.  http://grammarist.com/usage/blackmail-vs-extortion/

Many people are familiar with bouillabaisse, the classic French fish stew.  The Provençal version of the dish is called bourride.  It is served along the coast from Saint-Raphaël to Nice, and though it may be less well known, it is just as delicious.  The key to a bourride is aioli, a garlicky mayonnaise that is added to the fish broth, lending it a creamy texture.  Find recipe at http://www.elledecor.com/life-culture/food-drink/a5918/bourride-fish-stew-1/

The American Writers Museum strives to:  educate the public about American writers; engage visitors to explore the many exciting worlds created by the spoken and written word; enrich and deepen appreciation for good writing in all its forms; motivate visitors to discover, or rediscover, a love of reading and writing; and inspire the young writers of tomorrow.  The museum, located at 180 N. Michigan Avenue in Chicago, opened to the public  May 16, 2017.  http://americanwritersmuseum.org/history/

http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com  Issue 1731  June 27, 2017  On this date in 1869,  Mary Williams who wrote pseudonymously as Kate Carew, a caricaturist self-styled as "The Only Woman Caricaturist", was born.  On this date in 1922, the American Library Association awarded the first Newbery Medal for Children's Literature for The Story of Mankind by Hendrik Willem van Loon  http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/first-newbery-medal-for-childrens-literature  Thought for Today  The highest result of education is tolerance. - Helen Keller, author and lecturer (27 Jun 1880-1968)