Mount Desert
Island (MDI) is the largest
island off the coast of Maine and the second largest (behind Long Island, New
York) on the eastern seaboard of the United States. Widely known as the home of Acadia National
Park and the town
of Bar Harbor, it draws millions of visitors each year yet only has an
approximate year-round population of about 10,615. Many visitors to the area, as well as those
about to visit, are confused about how to pronounce the word “Desert” as used
in Mount Desert Island. By most who live
in Maine, it is pronounced more like “Dessert” as in a cookie or a piece of pie. http://www.acadiamagic.com/MountDesert.html Mount Desert
Island in Maine owes its name to French Explorer Samuel de Champlain, who
reflected on the island’s treeless mountain summits and named it “Ile de Monts
Deserts,” which means “island of the bare mountains.” At 1,532 feet, Cadillac Mountain is MDI’s
highest point—and the first place in the continental United States to welcome
the sunrise each day. https://visitmaine.com/things-to-do/parks-recreation-areas/mount-desert-island/
All natural fiber rugs are flatwoven and can be reversed. Instead of using wool or cotton, plant-based
fibers such as jute, bamboo, coir and sisal are tightly woven together to create
a mat or rug. Traditionally these rugs
were used outdoors or in entryw ays, but recently have been used indoors in
family rooms and bedrooms to create a casual look and feel. Machine-made versions of these area rugs now
incorporate cotton into the weave so they are much softer underfoot. Often natural fibers are bleached or dyes are
used to create more decorating options, however, over time most natural fiber
rugs darken to their original color. Read
about jute, seagrass, coir, sisal and bamboo rugs--and find the advantages and
disadvantages of natural fiber rugs at http://www.arearugfacts.com/natural_fiber_rugs.php
Pomelo, also called Chinese
grapefruit, shaddock, pumelo, pommelo, pummelo and pompelmous,
is an exotic large citrus fruit that is an ancient ancestor of the common
grapefruit. It is the largest of the citrus fruits with a shape that can
be fairly round or slightly pointed at one end (the fruit ranges from nearly
round to oblate or pear-shaped). The fruit can range from cantaloupe-size
to as large as a 25-pound watermelon and have very thick, soft rind. The
skin is green to yellow and slightly bumpy; flesh color ranges from pink to
rose. Like grapefruits, pomelo can range
from almost seedless to very seedy, from juicy to dry, from sweet to sour.
It is sweeter than a grapefruit and can be eaten fresh, although
membranes around the segments should be peeled. Pumelos commonly have 16
to 18 segments, compared to most grapefruit that have about 12 segments.
Be sure to refrigerate and use quickly. Use as you would grapefruit
sections. They are also good for jams, jellies, marmalades and
syrups. https://whatscookingamerica.net/pomelo.htm
Pundit is a lovely word that has a
slightly mocking sense to it. Classic
examples of the pundit are talk radio show hosts and professional sports
commentators, all brilliant dispensers of hot air amongst the odd insight and
statistic. Our modern day pundit is a
far cry from the original meaning of the word, a "learned man, master, or
teacher," from the ancient Hindi word payndit. https://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/pundit
An Architect and an Artist Walk Into a Barn by M.H. Miller
Chester, New Jersey is a tiny, bucolic community of horse farms, where
families of deer amble down narrow roads and rolling hills loom hazily in the
distant skyline. There, at the end of a
dirt path, is a sight so unexpected that it feels as if it had descended from
another world, quietly and without explanation: the country home of the artist Cai Guo-Qiang, designed by his friend
Frank Gehry. Cai is best known for what
he calls ‘‘outdoor explosion events,’’ public installations in which the medium
is gunpowder, his signature material. Gehry
shoulders the burdensome mantle of being the World’s Most Famous Architect: The phrase ‘‘Bilbao effect’’—which was coined
after he designed an outpost of the Guggenheim Museum in what had been a
depressed postindustrial Spanish town—has entered popular usage as a means of
explaining how the presence of a marquee architect’s buildings, and Gehry’s in
particular, can transform a city’s fortunes.
Contemporary art and architecture are
often thought of as contiguous, at least since the postwar era, when the
division between various practices—sculpture, painting, design—began to
collapse. It’s rare for a living
architect to be considered an actual artist, and artists generally avoid
creating habitable structures. Gehry is
unusual in his ability to straddle both worlds.
He’s had exhibitions of his designs at galleries and museums, and he’s
described his buildings as having ‘‘movement and feeling.’’ Read much more
and see pictures at https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/18/t-magazine/cai-guo-qiang-house-frank-gehry.html?hpw&rref=t-magazine&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&module=well-region®ion=bottom-well&WT.nav=bottom-well
The United
States Secret Service uses code names for U.S.
presidents, first
ladies, and other prominent persons and locations.
The use of such names was originally for security purposes and dates to
a time when sensitive electronic communications were not routinely encrypted;
today, the names simply serve for purposes of brevity, clarity, and tradition.
The Secret Service does not choose these names, however. The White
House Communications Agency assigns
them. WHCA was originally created as
the White House Signal Detachment under Franklin Roosevelt.
Traditionally, all family members' code names start with the same
letter. Find code names for presidents
and their families, vice-presidents and their families, and various officials
at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secret_Service_code_name
The name-letter effect is
the tendency of people to prefer the letters in
their name over other letters in the alphabet. Whether subjects are asked to rank all letters
of the alphabet, rate each of the letters, choose the letter they prefer out of
a set of two, or pick a small set of letters they most prefer, on average
people consistently like the letters in their own name the most. Crucially, subjects are not aware that they
are choosing letters from their name.
Discovered in 1985 by the Belgian psychologist Jozef
Nuttin, the name-letter effect has been replicated in dozens of studies,
involving subjects from over 15 countries, using four different alphabets. It holds across age and gender. People who changed their names many years ago
tend to prefer the letters of both their current and original names over
non-name letters. The effect is most
prominent for initials, but even when initials are excluded, the remaining
letters of first and family names still tend to be preferred over non-name
letters. Most people like themselves;
the name is associated with the self, and hence the letters of the name are
preferred, despite the fact that they appear in many other words. People who do not like themselves tend not to
exhibit the name-letter effect. A
similar effect has been found for numbers related to birthdays: people tend to prefer the number signifying
the day of the month they were born on.
Alternative explanations for the name-letter effect, such as frequent exposure and early mastery, have
been ruled out. In psychological assessments, the Name Letter
Preference Task is widely used to estimate implicit self-esteem.
The Paneveggio forest, smack in the middle of Italy's stunning Dolomite
mountain range, holds a precious resource:
its Norway spruce trees have been producing top quality resonance wood
for cellos, violins and pianos for centuries.
Violinmakers since the legendary crafter of stringed instruments Antonio
Stradivari in the seventeenth century have praised the wood's unflawed, compact
and uniform density. Only trees grown in
optimal conditions and an unchanging mountain climate have the very narrow
growth rings needed to produce wood capable of transmitting pure, harmonious
sound waves. Musicians and musical
instrument makers still visit the forest at the foot of the Pale di San Martino
to select their trees, just as Stradivari did hundreds of years ago. Part of the Paneveggio-Pale di San Martino
Nature Park, the Paneveggio forest is part of the Fiemme valley where historic
workshops still make pianos and musical instruments using this special wood. Selecting the trees, usually more than 200
years old, takes an uncanny ability and exceptional knowledge of the raw
material and the soundboards made from these majestic Norway spruce. The Magnifica Comunita' di Fiemme, an ancient
form of self government in this Trento valley, still manages a large part of
the local forests, strictly overseeing and controlling the certification of the
wood and the correct management of the forest.
Every year, in a joint initiative with the Trento tourism agency, the
community dedicates trees to imminent musicians performing in the Sounds of the
Dolomites summer music festival. The
'Woods that Play' project underscores the link between the forest and music,
between the resonance wood trees and the musicians and composers whose creative
genius contributes to the fame of this prized material. http://www.italymagazine.com/italy/trento-province/dolomites-unesco-forest-violins-stradivari-wood
http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com Issue 1759
August 23, 2017 On this date in 1898,
the Southern Cross Expedition, the first
British venture of the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration,
departed from London. On this date in
1904, the automobile tire chain was patented. On this date in 1846, Alexander Milne
Calder, Scottish-American sculptor,
was born. On this date in 1900, Malvina Reynolds, American singer-songwriter and activist, was born. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/August_23
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