BOOKPAGE June 2017
Beach Reads
by Savanna Walker: The Forever Summer,
The Identicals, The Sunshine Sisters, The Shark Club, and Mad
Best Books--Old and New by BookPage editors:
California, Gold Fame Citrus, The Heart Goes Last, When She Woke, and
Never Let Me Go
A Poet's Roots
by Robert Weibezahl: The Songs We Know Best spans the first 28 years of John Ashbery's life, from his birth in 1927 until
1955, the year his first book was accepted for publication and he left for
France to begin a Fulbright. Ashbery was born in Rochester, New York, and grew up on
a fruit farm in nearby Sodus. He
appeared on the national radio show "Quiz Kids" at age 14. Karin Roffman's biography provides an
unsentimental insight into the man and his work.
Latitude
(shown as a horizontal line) is the angular distance, in degrees, minutes, and
seconds of a point north or south of the Equator. Lines of latitude are often referred to as
parallels. Longitude (shown as a vertical line) is
the angular distance, in degrees, minutes, and seconds, of a point east or west
of the Prime (Greenwich) Meridian. Lines
of longitude are often referred to as meridians. For precision
purposes, degrees of longitude and latitude have been divided into minutes (')
and seconds ("). There are 60
minutes in each degree. Each minute is
divided into 60 seconds. Seconds can be
further divided into tenths, hundredths, or even thousandths.
http://www.worldatlas.com/aatlas/imageg.htm
A search for
latitude and longitude also brought up county and
elevation when using www.lat-long.com:
Toledo is a Populated Place in Lucas County, Ohio. It has an elevation of 187 meters, or 614 feet. Latitude: 41-39'50'' N Longitude: 083-33'19'' W http://www.lat-long.com/Latitude-Longitude-1067015-Ohio-Toledo.html
The Archimedes screw is a machine that can raise water with much less effort than lifting
buckets. It was invented by the Greek
scientist Archimedes, though the year is not known. Archimedes lived in Syracuse, Sicily (now
part of Italy) between the years 287 B.C. and 212 B.C. This tool had many historical uses. It was used to empty water out of leaking
ships and flooded mines. Fields of crops
were watered by using the screw to pull water from lakes and rivers. It was also used to reclaim flooded land, for
instance in Holland where much of the land lies below sea level. Today, there are many other uses for the
Archimedes screw. Things like grain,
sand, and sawdust flow in a similar way to water, and so the Archimedes screw
can be used to move them as well.
Archimedes screws appear in many unexpected places. Power drills, snow blowers, augers, crop
harvesters, and many other machines operate using the principle of movement of
these devices. http://www.softschools.com/inventions/history/archimedes_screw_history/14/ See Archimedes screw illustrations at https://www.math.nyu.edu/~crorres/Archimedes/Screw/Applications.html
smudge attack
noun (computing) A method used to crack the password of a touchscreen device by analysing the oily smears left on the device's screen by the
user's fingers. Wiktionary
NAME CHANGES American singer Joni James (born Joan Carmella Babbo 1930) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joni_James
American author and wrestler John Irving
(born John Wallace Blunt,
Jr in 1942) http://www.biblio.com/john-irving/author/50
PARAPHRASES from A
Prayer for Owen Meany, a novel by John Irving
Righteousness in the cause of peace, or in any other cause, is
aggressive. * Wit is one of many aspects in life and literature that is easier
to recognize onstage than in a book.
A.Word.A.Day with Anu Garg
sadiron (SAD-eye-uhrn)
noun A heavy flatiron pointed at
both ends and having a detachable handle.
From sad (obsolete senses
of the word: heavy, solid) + iron. Earliest documented use: 1759.
bodkin (BOD-kin, -kuhn) noun
1. A small, pointed instrument for making holes in cloth, etc. 2. A
blunt needle for drawing tape or cord through a loop or a hem. 3. A
long, ornamental hairpin. 4. A dagger or stiletto. Of unknown origin. Earliest documented use: 1386.
Feedback to A.Word.A.Day
From: Gary
Muldoon Subject:
sadiron In the first book of
Robert Caro’s wonderful biography of Lyndon Johnson The Path to Power,
he devotes a chapter on sadirons, emblematic of the hardships of rural American
life in the early 20th century.
From: Audrey
Shabbas Subject:
bodkin Also the arrow point--the bodkin point--of the
Welch archers . . . who won the Battle
of Agincourt over the French. Just
taught Henry V again last week in my Shakespeare class!
From: Grahame
Young
Subject: bodkin I still have a lawyers
bodkin, a small wooden knob at one end and a sharp point with a large eye
at the other. In the past they were used
to bind legal and other official papers, usually with green satin tape. The lawyers file was bound with pink cotton
tape as were files of public servants, no doubt the origin of “red tape”. They can be used for many things other than
their official use and are still available at some stationers.
From: Ken
Kirste Subject:
bodkin The word bodkin took me
back into the 1960s when The San Francisco Chronicle debuted a comic
strip named Odds Bodkins,
created by Dan O’Neill. Common wisdom
held that it meant “God’s needle” and referred to the pointed barbs of the
strip’s creator.
Congressional Research Service Reports on
Miscellaneous Topics
Availability of Legislative
Measures in the House of Representatives (The "Three-Day Rule"),
June 12, 2017
Juneteenth: Fact Sheet, June
9, 2017
The ACA Prevention and Public
Health Fund: In Brief, June 9, 2017
Broadband Data Privacy and
Security: What's Net Neutrality Got to Do With It?, CRS Legal Sidebar, June
8, 2017
Special Counsels, Independent
Counsels, and Special Prosecutors: Options for Independent Executive
Investigations, June 1, 2017 https://fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/
Watch
new U.S. poet laureate Tracy K. Smith read two of her poems by Larisa
Epatko Tracy K. Smith, the nation’s
newest poet laureate, says writing is not just about expressing emotion but
also about the choices you make when putting words on the page. The 45-year-old Princeton University
professor, who was born in Falmouth, Massachusetts, was appointed as the U.S.
poet laureate on June 14, 2017. The
Library of Congress says the duties of a poet laureate are to “raise the
national consciousness to a greater appreciation of the reading and writing of
poetry,” but beyond that, how they do it is up to them. “I think the responsibility really is to just
help raise the awareness of poetry and its value in our culture,” Smith told NPR. “To me that means talking to people—getting
off the usual path of literary festivals and university reading series and
talking to people who might not even yet be readers of poetry.” Smith’s fourth book of poetry, “Wade in the
Water,” will be published in 2018. In an
interview with PBS NewsHour’s Jeff Brown, Smith read two of her poems: “I will tell you the truth about this, I will
tell you all about it” and “Wade in the Water.”
Watch Smith read both
poems at http://www.pbs.org/newshour/art/watch-new-u-s-poet-laureate-tracy-k-smith-read-two-poems/
The Toledo Museum of Art is an internationally known art museum located in the Old
West End neighborhood of Toledo, Ohio. It houses a collection of more than 30,000
objects. The museum was founded by
Toledo glassmaker Edward Drummond
Libbey in 1901, and moved to
its current location, a Greek revival building designed by Edward B. Green and Harry W. Wachter, in 1912. The main
building was expanded twice, in the 1920s and 1930s. Additional buildings were added in the
1990s and 2006. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toledo_Museum_of_Art See also http://www.toledomuseum.org/about/history/
The Wachter Building at 321 16th Street that erupted into flames on June 13, 2017 in Toledo was designed by one of Toledo's most famous architects. Wachter is credited with designing the first building at the Toledo Museum of Art as well as some of Toledo's most well-known churches including Washington Congregational, Park Congregational and Pilgrim Congregational. Other significant structures that evolved from his pen were the Y.W.C.A Building on Jefferson and the Toledo Civic Auditorium. He also designed many of the elegant homes in Toledo's Old West End and was instrumental in the design of Bronson Place on Cherry Street which is on the National Historic Register. Doug Fee, disaster manager for the Northwest Ohio Chapter of the Red Cross, said the nonprofit organization plans to provide food, shelter and care to 21 people displaced from 16 apartments in the Wachter Building. The complex was originally built in 1897 as a dormitory for men building the nearby Toledo Museum of Art, resident Michael McCarthy, 35, said. http://trueviralnews.com/firefighters-respond-to-blaze-at-adams-16th-streets/ and http://www.wtol.com/story/35658414/historic-building-that-caught-fire-a-remnant-of-famous-toledo-architect
June 14, 2017 A Horse Walks
Into a Bar by
David Grossman has been announced as the winner of the 2017 Man Booker
International Prize. The novel was
translated by Jessica Cohen and is published in Britain by Jonathan Cape. Celebrating the finest global fiction in
translation, the Man Booker International Prize awards both the winning author
and translator £25,000. They have also
received a further £1,000 each for being shortlisted. Grossman is a bestselling Israeli writer of
fiction, non-fiction and children’s literature, whose works have been
translated into 36 languages. He has
been the recipient of numerous global awards, including the French Chevalier de
l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, the Buxtehuder Bulle in Germany, Rome’s Premio
per la Pace e l’Azione Umanitaria, the Frankfurt Peace Prize, and Israel’s Emet
Prize. Cohen, who was born in
Colchester, England, but raised in Jerusalem, previously translated Grossman’s
critically acclaimed To the
End of the Land as well as
work by other major Israeli writers including Etgar Keret, Rutu Modan, Dorit
Rabinyan, Ronit Matalon, Amir Gutfreund, Tom Segev, and Golden Globe-winning
director Ari Folman.
June 16, 2017 From
the "ping . . . ping" of
Atari's 1972 ground-breaking paddle game "Pong," the sounds,
infectious ditties and, with time, fully-formed orchestral scores that are an
essential part of the sensory thrill for gamers have formed a musical universe.
When audiences pack the Philharmonie de
Paris' concert halls this weekend to soak in the sounds of a chamber orchestra
and the London Symphony Orchestra performing game music and an homage to one of
the industry's stars, "Final Fantasy" Japanese composer Nobuo
Uematsu, they will have no buttons to play with, no characters to control. The heartbeat-like bass thump of Taito's
"Space Invaders" in 1978, which got ever faster as the aliens
descended, caused sweaty palms and was habit-forming. Namco's "Pac-Man," two years later,
whetted appetites with an opening musical chirp. Based on the Russian folk song
"Korobeiniki," the music of the 1984 game "Tetris" has undergone
umpteen remixes—including "Tetris Meets Metal," with more than 2.2
million views on YouTube. By 1985, the
can't-not-tap-along-to-this theme of "Super Mario Bros.," the classic
adventure of plumber Mario and his brother Luigi, was bringing fame for
composer Koji Kondo, also known for his work on "Legend of Zelda." Both are on the bill for the
"Retrogaming" concert in Paris. Kondo was the first person Nintendo hired
specifically to compose music for its games, according to the 2013 book,
"Music and Game." This year
marks the 30th anniversary of the first game-music concert: The Tokyo Strings
Ensemble performed "Dragon Quest" at Tokyo's Suntory Hall in August
1987. John Leicester http://www.beloitdailynews.com/article/20170616/AP/306169992
Librarians appreciate good light, space and signage. Examples of
all three are in the newly-opened West End Concourse in Penn Station. See stunning pictures posted by Dana Schulz
on June 15, 2017 at https://www.6sqft.com/first-look-see-inside-penn-stations-brand-new-west-end-concourse/
http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com Issue 1725
June 16, 2017 On this date in
1858, Abraham Lincoln delivered his House
Divided speech in Springfield,
Illinois. On this date in 1911, IBM was founded as the
Computing-Tabulating-Recording Company in Endicott, New York. Word
of the Day rent-seeking noun The attempt to profit by manipulating the economic or political environment, for example, by seeking subsidies.
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