A mononymous person is an individual who is known and addressed by a single name, or mononym.  In some cases, that name has been selected by the individual, who may have originally been given a polynym ("multiple name").  In the case of historical figures, it may be the only one of the individual's names that has survived and is still known today.  A number of visual artists, such as Michelangelo, Titian, Tintoretto, Caravaggio and Rembrandt, are commonly known by mononyms.  The modern Russian artist Erté formed his mononymous pseudonym from the initials of his actual name, as did the Belgian comics writers Hergé and Jijé.  Mononyms are also common in Indonesia, especially in Javanese names.  In some cases, such as those of former Presidents Sukarno and Suharto, the mononym is the full legal name.  Other mononyms, such as Rossa, Chrisye and Tohpati, are stage names taken from a nickname or are part of the full name.  In the Near East's Arab world, the Syrian poet Ali Ahmad Said Esber (born 1930) at age 17 adopted the mononym pseudonym, Adunis, sometimes also spelled "Adonis".  A perennial contender for the Nobel Prize in literature, he has been described as the greatest living poet of the Arab world.  Some persons, such as the artist Christo, the sculptor Chryssa, and the singer-songwriter Basia, have had polynymous names that were unwieldy, or unfamiliar and difficult to remember or to pronounce in the community in which they were currently active, but have not wanted to entirely change their names to something more familiar to the broad public at the cost of abandoning their sense of self-identification, and so have used only a single part of their full names.  The case of the Icelandic musician Björk is similar, but her use of a single name also has roots in her native culture.  Some mononym stage names are the performer's given name ( Elvis, Cher, Madonna) while others may be the performer's middle name (Rihanna, Drake), or surname (Liberace, Mantovani, Morrissey).  Some mononym stage names are invented ( Eminem, P!nk, Lorde), adopted words (Capucine, French for "nasturtium") or nicknames ( Sting, Bono, Fergie).  The former president of Brazil, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, is known as "Lula", a nickname he officially added to his full name.  Such mononyms, which take their origin in given names, surnames or nicknames, are used because Portuguese names tend to be rather long.  The comedian and illusionist Teller, the silent half of the duo Penn & Teller, has legally changed his original polynym, Raymond Joseph Teller, to the mononym "Teller" and possesses a United States passport issued in that single name.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mononymous_person

Gerrit Dou(1613-1675), considered the founder of the Dutch school of fijnschilderij, or fine painting, was born in Leiden on April 7, 1613, the son of Marytje Jansdr van Rosenburg and the glassmaker and engraver Douwe Jansz.  According to Orlers, Dou received his first instruction, in the art of glass engraving, from his father.  He was appren­ticed to the copper engraver Bartholomeus Dolen­do (c. 1571–c. 1629) for a year and a half, begin­ning in 1622 at the young age of nine, and then trained with the glass painter Pieter Couwenhorn (c. 1599–1654) for two years.  On February 14, 1628, Dou began his appren­ticeship with Rembrandt van Rijn (Dutch, 1606 - 1669), which seems to have lasted until the master moved to Amsterdam some three or four years later.  At the time he entered Rembrandt’s workshop Dou was not quite fifteen years old and Rembrandt was only twenty-one.  Although there are no dated works by Dou from this period, a number of his pictures are so close in style to those of his teacher that they must have been painted at this time.  Indeed, early works by Dou have at times been attributed to Rembrandt himself, a confusion stemming in part from the fact that Dou and Rembrandt shared subjects and models during these years.  After Rembrandt went to Amsterdam, Dou pro­duced ever more finely wrought, highly finished compositions with increasingly smooth, enamel-like surfaces.  He also began to employ a range of cooler, paler colors in preference to the warm, darkish browns of his earlier works.  Dou painted a wide range of subjects, including genre scenes, history paintings, still lifes, portraits, and—unusual for a seventeenth-century Dutch painter—nudes.  He also began painting candlelit scenes during the 1650s.  His fame quite rightly rests, however, on the meticulously painted, small genre scenes that make up a large portion of his oeuvre.  These typically depict one or two figures engaging in some kind of domestic activity, either in an in­terior or else looking out over a windowsill—a compositional device that Dou was chiefly responsible for popularizing.  Many of these works are open to a considerable degree of symbolic interpretation, containing numerous, if sometimes ambiguous, vis­ual references to well-known contemporary proverbs or emblems.  Arthur K. Wheelock Jr.   See Gerrit Dou's self portrait at  https://www.nga.gov/collection/artist-info.1239.html

Lusophones are people who speak the Portuguese language, either as native speakers or as learners.   Similarly, the Lusosphere or Lusophony is a community of people who are culturally and linguistically linked to Portugal, either historically or by choice.  The Lusophone world is mainly a legacy of the Portuguese Empire, although Portuguese diaspora and Brazilian diaspora communities have also played a role in spreading the Portuguese language.  Even after the collapse of the empire, the corresponding countries continue to exhibit both cultural and political affinities, expressed in the existence of the Community of Portuguese Language Countries (CPLP), created in 1996.  The term Lusophone is a classical compound, whereby the combining form "Luso-" derives from the Latin term for an area roughly corresponding to modern Portugal, called Lusitania.  The suffix "-phone" derives from the Ancient Greek word φωνή (phōnē), meaning "voice".  The use of the term Lusophone mirrors similar terms, such as Anglophone for English-speakers, Francophone for French-speakers, Hispanophone for Spanish-speakers, and Russophone for Russian-speakers.  Find a list of officially Lusophone countries at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lusophone

The Alchemy of Writing—Tips from a Non-Fiction and Fiction Pro  interview of Fred Waitzkin by Tim Farris   I taught myself.  I was a brash young guy, and I couldn’t accept criticism.  In 1984 I wrote a long piece for New York Magazine called “The Grungy World of Big Time Chess” that told the story of brilliant guys in New York who played the game with passion and devotion but couldn’t begin to make a living from it.  Anyhow, this legendary editor at Random House, Joe Fox, who loved chess, read the piece, and invited me to his office.  He asked me why I was so passionate about the game when I wasn’t even a player.  I told him that I had a six-year-old son who was remarkably good at chess, who beat up adults every afternoon playing in Washington Square Park.  “That’s your book. That’s what you have to write about,” said Fox.  So I began writing Searching for Bobby Fischer in terror.  I began taking notes about my feelings about Josh’s chess life.  We went to the park and Josh played heroic games against seasoned players—or they seemed that way to me.  I wrote it all down on yellow pads.  Each decision about his chess life seemed huge.  Find the six favorite short stories of Fred Waitzkin at

https://tim.blog/2013/03/24/the-alchemy-of-writing-tips-from-a-non-fiction-and-fiction-pro/

The Alchemy of Writing—More Tips from a Pro  part two of an interview with author Fred Waitzkin  For me, inspiration is primarily energy.  I always read back several pages before I try to write anything new.  Moving back through interesting material seems to give me momentum to push ahead . . .  Find the ten favorite books of Fred Waitzkin at https://tim.blog/2013/03/25/the-dream-merchant-waitzkin/

Few images are more strange and haunting than those discovered on some frozen film in 1930.  They reveal the mysterious fate of the S. A. Andrée Arctic Balloon Expedition of 1897, where a hot air balloon meant to sail over the North Pole instead crashed into the ice.  Swedish balloonist S. A. Andrée had set out with team members Nils Strindberg and Knut Fraenkel to make history, but planning and the harsh conditions of the Arctic cut their journey incredibly short.  The balloon launched from Svalbard in the Arctic Ocean in July of 1897.  However, inadequate testing of the balloon, Andrée’s insistence on using a “drag-rope” method of steering that trailed ropes on the ice, and just the quixotic nature of the expedition resulted in death for all three expedition members.  Allison Meier  See pictures at https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/the-andree-balloon-crash-a-photographic-journey-through-to-most-surreal-of-arctic-disasters  See also The Ice Balloon, a doomed journey in the Arctic by Alec Wilkinson at https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2010/04/19/the-ice-balloon

On the same night LeBron James finished out February 2018 by averaging a triple-double for the first time in a calendar month in his fabled 15-year career, James also became the first player in NBA history to tally more than 30,000 points, 8,000 rebounds and 8,000 assists.  Not only was it a first for the 33-year-old player's already-decorated career, but James also became the oldest player in NBA history to average a triple-double in a calendar month containing at least 10 games played, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.  The previous oldest to do it was Wilt Chamberlain in March 1968 at 31 years old.  With 20-plus points on Tuesday, James tied Michael Jordan for fourth place on the all-time list of 20-point performances with 926.  Dave McMenamin  http://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/22598922/cleveland-cavaliers-lebron-james-averages-triple-double-month-february

http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com  Issue 1850  February 28, 2018  On this date in 1827, the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad was incorporated, becoming the first railroad in America offering commercial transportation of both people and freight.  On this date in 1935, DuPont scientist Wallace Carothers invented nylon.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/February_28

Cocoa Banana Bread by Alison Roman   This version of banana bread is a chocolatey, buttery, almost decadent thing and probably not appropriate for anyone to eat first thing in the morning.  While mascarpone will give you the richest, moistest cake with the best flavor, sour cream or yogurt will get the job done; just make sure they are full-fat.  https://www.splendidtable.org/recipes/cocoa-banana-bread?utm_campaign=TST_Weekend_20180217&utm_medium=email&utm_source=sfmc_Newsletter&utm_content=

When John McCrae's poem "In Flanders Fields" was first published in an English magazine on Dec. 8, 1915, it instantly struck a chord with people.  Verses from the poem were put to music, written on billboards and became part of advertisements for war bonds and military recruitment campaigns.  Soldiers wrote out the lines of the poem on paper and carried it around with them in their uniform pockets.  Some people were so moved they wrote poems in response to McCrae's words.  "The poem just took off, I think, because it truly spoke to the situation at the time," says Bev Dietrich, curator of Guelph Museums.   "People had thought the war would have been over by then, but it was still going on and the loss of lives had been tremendous.  People felt strongly about the importance of remembering those who had died."  "We still have war situations today, which is why the poem is still as relevant as it was in 1915 when McCrae wrote it," says Dietrich.  Not surprisingly, the City of Guelph, where McCrae was born, is home to a majority of the tributes to the famous poet.  The most obvious is the McCrae House where he lived with his family.  The small limestone cottage was designated decades ago as a place of national historical significance and is visited by close to 6,000 people each year.  Deirdre Healey  https://www.guelphmercury.com/news-story/5562437-mccrae-s-famous-words-referenced-far-and-wide-from-stamps-to-currency/  See poem In Flanders Field at https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/47380/in-flanders-fields  See also http://www.greatwar.co.uk/ypres-salient/museum-in-flanders-fields.htm and    

https://www.metmuseum.org/blogs/in-circulation/2017/in-flanders-fields

The day after Donald Trump was elected, the songwriter Gabriel Kahane decided to go on a listening tour:  crisscrossing America by train and talking to as many people as he could.  Leaving his cellphone and the internet behind, he spent two weeks and nearly 9,000 miles on Amtrak, collecting conversations and stories for what would become “8980:  Book of Travelers,” a song cycle and solo concert—Mr. Kahane accompanying himself on piano—that had its premiere on November 30, 2017 at the BAM Harvey Theater.  A video backdrop, designed by Jim Findlay, showed landscapes, urban and rural, seen from trains in motion.  Mr. Kahane has built a career where classical music, musical theater and art-song pop meet, alongside occasional collaborators like Sufjan Stevens, Shara Worden (My Brightest Diamond) and Andrew Bird.  He’s fond of narratives rooted in geography; his 2014 album (and a Brooklyn Academy of Music theatrical production), “The Ambassador,” based songs on Los Angeles locations, and he toured in 2013 with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra performing “Gabriel’s Guide to the 48 States,” based on WPA guidebooks.  He finds comedy in a widow’s online dating stories and quiet grief in other passengers’ tales of loss.  And he receives unexpected acceptance from members of an Amish-like traditionalist sect, the Old Order German Baptist Brethren, when he offers to sing with them since he can read the music in their hymnbooks.  Hymns about “traveling on” to a “heavenly home” are threaded through the cycle:  sometimes accompanied by harplike strumming inside the piano, sometimes reharmonized with more unstable, modernist chords.  Jon Pareles  https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/01/arts/music/gabriel-kahane-8980-book-of-travelers-review.html

The Taklamakan Desert, also spelled "Taklimakan" and "Teklimakan", is a desert in southwest Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, northwest China.  It is bounded by the Kunlun Mountains to the south, the Pamir Mountains and Tian Shan (ancient Mount Imeon) to the west and north, and the Gobi Desert to the east.  The name may be an Uyghur borrowing of the Persian tark, "to leave alone/out/behind, relinquish, abandon" + makan, "place".  Some sources claimed it means "Place of No Return", more commonly interpreted as "once you get in, you'll never get out" or similar.  Another plausible explanation suggests it is derived from Turki taqlar makan, describing "the place of ruins".  The Taklamakan Desert has an area of 337,000 km² (130,000 sq mi),  making it slightly smaller than Germany, and includes the Tarim Basin, which is 1,000 kilometres (620 mi) long and 400 kilometres (250 mi) wide.  It is crossed at its northern and at its southern edge by two branches of the Silk Road as travellers sought to avoid the arid wasteland.  It is the world's second largest shifting sand desert with about 85% made up of shifting sand dunes, ranking 16th in size in a ranking of the world's largest deserts.   This desert was explored by several scientists as Xuanzang, a monk in the 7th century and by the archaeologist Aurel Stein in the 20th century.  Atmospheric studies have shown that dust originating from the Taklamakan is blown over the Pacific, where it contributes to cloud formation over the Western United States.  Studies have shown that a specific class of mineral found in the dust, known as K-feldspar, triggers ice formation particularly well. K-feldspar is particularly susceptible to corrosion by acidic atmospheric pollution such as nitrates and phosphates.  Exposure to this pollution reduces the ability of the dust to trigger water droplet formation.  Further, the traveling dust redistributes minerals from the Taklamakan to the western U.S.A. via rainfall.  The desert is the main setting for Chinese film series Painted Skin and Painted Skin: The Resurrection. The Chinese TV series Candle in the Tomb is mostly spent in this desert as they are searching for the ancient city of Jinjue.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taklamakan_Desert

Sven Anders Hedin (1865–1952) was a Swedish geographer, topographer, explorer, photographer, travel writer, and illustrator of his own works.  During four expeditions to Central Asia, he made the Transhimalaya known in the West and located sources of the Brahmaputra, Indus and Sutlej Rivers.  He also mapped lake Lop Nur, and the remains of cities, grave sites and the Great Wall of China in the deserts of the Tarim Basin.  In his book Från pol till pol (From Pole to Pole), Hedin describes a journey through Asia and Europe between the late 1880s and the early 1900s.  While traveling, Hedin visited Constantinople(Istanbul), Caucasus, Tehran, Mesopotamia (Iraq), lands of the Kyrgyz people, India, China, Asiatic Russia, and Japan.  The posthumous publication of his Central Asia Atlas marked the conclusion of his life’s work.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sven_Hedin

Read Preservation magazine Winter 2018 and find out about the Lower East Side Tenement Museum in Manhattan, Palace of the Governors in Santa Fe,  Ghost Fleet of the Potomac, the largest ship graveyard in the Western Hemisphere, a Michigan Midcentury home as mini-art museum, and the Boston Public library  https://savingplaces.org/preservation-magazine/issues/winter-2018#.WpAY9oPwaUk  Join the National Trust for Historic Preservation, 800-944-6847,  and get your own copy.

Ursa Minor, or the Little Dipper, is a small constellation in the northern hemisphere.  In Latin, its name means "little bear."  The constellation was originally listed by the Greek astronomer Ptolemy in the 2nd century.  Ursa Minor is usually depicted as a small bear with a long tail.  It is said that the tail is so long because the bear is held by its end and spun around the pole.  In Greek mythology, Ursa Minor is associated with Ida, one of the nymphs that nursed the god Zeus as an infant.  In another myth, the seven stars of Ursa Minor are identified with the Hesperides, the seven daughters of Atlas who guarded Hera's temple and orchard in which apples that gave immortality grew.  The stars of Ursa Minor were once considered to be part of the constellation Draco and formed an asterism called the Dragon's Wing.  The Greeks also sometimes referred to Ursa Minor as the Phoenician.   Phoenicians used Ursa Minor for navigation more than they did Ursa Major because, even though it was smaller and fainter, Ursa Minor was closer to the north pole and a better pointer to the north.  The constellation Ursa Minor occupies an area of 256 square degrees and contains one star with known planets.  It can be seen at latitudes between +90° and -10° and is best visible at 9 p.m. during the month of June.   The North Star, Polaris, is a well known star in many cultures.  It is one of the navigational stars, used for orientation at sea because of its brightness and location in the sky.  The Bedouin call it "the billy goat" and use it as one of the main stars for wandering at night (the other being [1668] Canopus, alpha Carinae).   http://www.topastronomer.com/StarCharts/Constellations/Ursa-Minor.php

http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com  Issue 1849  February 27, 2018  On this date in 1860, Abraham Lincoln made a speech at Cooper Union in the city of New York that was largely responsible for his election to the Presidency.  On this date in 1922, a challenge to the Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, allowing women the right to vote, was rebuffed by the Supreme Court of the United States in Leser v. Garnett.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/February_27

Rene Denfeld is the author of the acclaimed novels The Child Finder and The Enchanted, as well as essays in publications such as the New York Times.  Rene’s literary thriller, The Child Finder, explores themes of survival, resiliency and redemption   It has received much acclaim, including a starred Library Journal review, major press, and an Indie Next pick.  Landing as  the #1 fiction bestseller at Powell’s within its first week, the Child Finder became a top #10 bestseller in Canada and a bestseller in the United States.  Rene’s lyrical, beautiful writing is inspired by her work with sex trafficking victims and innocents in prison.  Rene was the Chief Investigator at a public defender’s office and has worked hundreds of cases.  In addition to her advocacy work, Rene has been a foster adoptive parent for twenty years.  She was awarded the Break The Silence Award at the 24th Annual Knock Out Abuse Gala in Washington, DC on November 2, 2017, in recognition for her advocacy and social justice work, and named one of 19 heroic stories of the year by the New York Times.  The child of a difficult history herself, Rene is an accomplished speaker who loves connecting with others.  Rene lives in Portland, Oregon, where she is the happy mom of three kids adopted from foster care.  http://renedenfeld.com/author/biography/

Winter Salad with Bulgur, Radicchio and Toasted Almonds  Reprinted with permission from Power Plates, copyright © 2018 by Gena Hamshaw  https://www.splendidtable.org/recipes/winter-salad-with-bulgur-radicchio-and-toasted-almonds?utm_campaign=TST_WNK_20180214&utm_medium=email&utm_source=sfmc_Newsletter&utm_content=Winter%20Salad

Hamburg has the biggest and busiest harbor in Germany, most of Germany's major media, the oldest stock exchange in Germany, more bridges than Venice--and even the world's largest fitness studio.

Germany's second-largest city has been a gateway to the world for centuries.  It is located at the confluence of the Alster and Elbe rivers, and has a direct link to the North Sea some 100 kilometers (62 miles) downstream.  Located at the base of the crescent-shaped New City (which is divided from the crescent-shaped Old City by the Elbe River) the harbor covers more than 12 percent of Hamburg, and 78 million tons of goods pass through it every year.  Even away from the harbor, water is everywhere in Hamburg.  Foghorns can be heard downtown; shrieking sea gulls and an ever-present sea breeze enhance the maritime feeling.  The rivers Elbe, Alster and Bille all traverse the city, creating 64 kilometers of canals requiring 2,500 bridges, giving the city its nickname "Venice of the North."  A reporter once asked John Lennon what it was like growing up in Liverpool, and he replied, "I didn't grow up in Liverpool, I grew up in Hamburg."  And of course, the city’s greatest international recognition comes as a result of its being the place where the Beatles’ career took off. 

http://www.dw.com/en/hamburg-germanys-gate-to-the-world/a-917876

"Compulsory unification of opinion achieves only the unanimity of the graveyard.  It seem trite but necessary to say that the First Amendment to the Constitution was designed to avoid these ends by avoiding these beginnings.   If there is any fixed start in our constitutional constellation, it is that no official, high or petty, can prescribe what shall be orthodox in politics, nationalism, religion, or other matters of opinion or force citizens to confess by word or act their faith therein."  Robert H. Jackson, Supreme Court Justice, 1942.  West. Vir. Board of Education v. Barnette  See quotes by Supreme Court Justices at http://www.scmidnightflyer.com/supreme.html

Dolly Parton has been honored by the Emmys, Guinness World Records and the Recording Industry Association of America.  Apart from her legend as a musician and actress, she'll be remembered for her Imagination Library, a program she started in 1995, which has mailed free books to millions of children between birth and the start of kindergarten.  On February 27, 2018, Parton will present the 100 millionth book donation from Imagination Library to the Library of Congress's collection.  Last year, the nonprofit—which now sends out more than 1 million books a month and has expanded into Canada, the United Kingdom and Australia—partnered with hospitals to sign newborns up for books immediately.  Kristi L. Nelson  https://www.knoxnews.com/story/news/2018/02/20/dolly-parton-donate-100-millionth-imagination-library-book-library-congress/354783002/

February 23, 2018  French customs officers making a random check on a bus at a motorway layby found a painting by 19th century Impressionist master Edgar Degas that was stolen nine years ago from a museum in Marseille.  The 1877 painting Les Choristes, or The Chorus Singers and sometimes called The Extras, was found in a suitcase in the vehicle’s luggage compartment during a stopover in Marne-la-Vallée to the east of Paris.  Its value is estimated at €800,000 (£700,000).  The colourful pastel, measuring 13 inches by 10, was on loan to the Cantini museum in Marseille from the Musée d'Orsay in Paris for an exhibition featuring some 20 works by Degas when it was stolen in 2009.  When the customs officers opened the suitcase on Friday of last week they were surprised to find a work of art bearing the signature "Degas".

They handed it over to art experts who said their preliminary examinations showed it was the Degas painting that depicts a depicts a line of men singing in a scene from the opera Don Juan.  The inquiry into how it came to be on the bus has been handed over to OCBC, the French agency which investigates art thefts.  There were no signs of a break-in, leading police to believe it was an inside job or that a museum visitor had hidden and waited till the venue was shut before unscrewing the work from the wall and escaping.  The confirmation of the find comes as a major exhibition about Degas’ relationship with the dancers at the Paris Opera closes at the Musée d'Orsay this weekend after attracting nearly half a million visitors.  "It is a wonderful happy ending to the story," said a spokeswoman for the museum, which holds the world's largest collection of Impressionist art.  "It is the centenary of his death, and we are organising a huge show about Degas and the opera for 2019.  It would have been a terrible loss for us to do it without this painting," she told AFP news agency.  Rory Mulholland  http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/02/23/stolen-degas-painting-found-bus-near-paris/

Final Medal Count for Every Country at the 2018 Winter Olympics

by Jennifer Calfas   Norway’s dominance was apparent from the beginning of the Olympic Games, with 14 gold medal wins in sports like cross-country skiing and more medals from other skiing events from jumping to downhill.  Germany came in second with 31 total medals and 14 gold medals, and Canada finished in third with 29 medals, 11 of which were gold.  After a number of historic wins for the United States late in the Games, Team USA finished fourth with 23 total medals, including nine golds.  Read the list of all medals at http://time.com/5169066/final-medal-count-2018-winter-olympics/

Pyeongchang Olympics: Closing Ceremony Ends Biggest Winter Games Ever by Bill Chapelle   The Winter Olympics closes the door on the Pyeongchang 2018 Games, with a big party and a last farewell from the 2,920 athletes who competed on ice and snow in South Korea.  The number of athletes set a new record; so did the number of nations— 92.  The two-hour ceremony started at 8 p.m. on February 25, 2018 in South Korea–6 a.m. ET Sunday in the U.S.  It began with a segment called "Countdown:  Dream for Tomorrow," featuring performers paying tribute to the athletes.  It all starts with a montage of the achievements and notable moments of the Winter Games in Pyeongchang, in a four-minute video piece.  Then, the Korean national flag and anthem are presented, followed by a six-minute meditation and celebration of hallyu—the "Korean Wave" that represents the country's progress on the international economic and cultural scene in recent decades.  In this section, guitarist Yang Taehwan, 13, plays a variation on "Winter" from Vivaldi's The Four Seasons.  From the program:  "On the sloped stage reflecting the image of a guitar, loop dancers perform a mesmerizing dance that defies gravity.  Geomungo players perform together with the band Jambinai.  Korean dancers present a modern interpretation of a traditional dance while a solo dancer performs Spring Dance of Nightingale."  Tokyo is slated to host the Summer Olympics in 2020.  In 2022, Beijing will become the first city to host both the Summer and Winter Olympic Games.

https://www.npr.org/sections/thetorch/2018/02/25/588634565/pyeongchang-olympics-closing-ceremony-ends-biggest-winter-games-ever

http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com  Issue 1848  February 26, 2018  On this date in 1832, the Polish pianist and composer Frederic Chopin made his concert debut in Paris at the Salle Pleyel.  Among the enthusiastic audience members was another composer-pianist by the name of Franz Liszt, who would rapidly become Chopin’s close friend and advocate.  Chopin dedicated his recently completed Piano Etudes, Op. 10, to Liszt, and once wrote to a friend these lines:  “I am writing without knowing what my pen is scribbling, because at this moment Liszt is playing my etudes and putting honest thoughts out of my head.  I should like to rob him of the way he plays them!”  When Chopin performed in public, he liked to share the stage with a sympathetic singer like Pauline Viardot-Garcia, or a fellow pianist like Liszt.  Despite his fame, Chopin’s concert appearances in Paris numbered less than a dozen.  Composers Datebook  Word of the Day  evitable  adjective  Possible to avoid; avertible.  Wiktionary 

A ghost sign is an old hand-painted advertising sign that has been preserved on a building for an extended period of time.  The sign may be kept for its nostalgic appeal, or simply indifference by the owner.  Ghost signs are found across the world with the United States, the United Kingdom, France and Canada having many surviving examples.  Ghost signs are also called fading ads and brickads.  The painters of the signs were called "wall dogs".  In the city of Detroit, well-preserved ghost signs have been uncovered when an adjoining building is demolished as part of the city's blight-fighting efforts.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghost_sign

Ghost signs in joints  Neuropathic arthropathy in the diabetic foot is often difficult to differentiate from osteomyelitis.  Neuropathic arthropathy, a progressive, degenerative process of the foot and ankle, presents with similar symptoms to osteomyelitis including erythema, tenderness, and edema.  MRI may show similar subchondral bone marrow signal abnormalities, and soft tissue changes with periosteal reaction are seen in both disorders.  The acute stage of neuroarthropathy may be difficult to differentiate from osteomyelitis.  This is because bone marrow edema and joint effusions are prominent findings of both conditions.  With chronic progression of the neuropathic foot, deformity is a significant aspect and may aid in the differentiation of neuroarthropathy from infection.  Occasionally, but not frequently, osteomyelitis may be superimposed on neuropathic disease.  The “ghost sign” has been used to establish whether or not infection is present.  https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/immunology-and-microbiology/neuropathic-arthropathy

February 6, 2018  A previously unknown language has been found in the Malay Peninsula by linguists from Lund University in Sweden.  The language has been given the name Jedek.  "Jedek is not a language spoken by an unknown tribe in the jungle, as you would perhaps imagine, but in a village previously studied by anthropologists.  As linguists, we had a different set of questions and found something that the anthropologists missed," says Niclas Burenhult, Associate Professor of General Linguistics at Lund University, who collected the first linguistic material from Jedek speakers.  The language is an Aslian variety within the Austroasiatic language family and is spoken by 280 people who are settled hunter-gatherers in northern Peninsular Malaysia.  The researchers discovered the language during a language documentation project, Tongues of the Semang, in which they visited several villages to collect language data from different groups who speak Aslian languages.  The discovery of Jedek was made while they were studying the Jahai language in the same area.  "We realised that a large part of the village spoke a different language.  They used words, phonemes and grammatical structures that are not used in Jahai  Some of these words suggested a link with other Aslian languages spoken far away in other parts of the Malay Peninsula," says Joanne Yager.  The community in which Jedek is spoken is more gender-equal than Western societies, there is almost no interpersonal violence, they consciously encourage their children not to compete, and there are no laws or courts.  There are no professions either, rather everyone has the skills that are required in a hunter-gatherer community.  This way of life is reflected in the language.  There are no indigenous words for occupations or for courts of law, and no indigenous verbs to denote ownership such as borrow, steal, buy or sell, but there is a rich vocabulary of words to describe exchanging and sharing.  "There are so many ways to be human, but all too often our own modern and mainly urban societies are used as the yardstick for what is universally human.  We have so much to learn, not least about ourselves, from the largely undocumented and endangered linguistic and cultural riches that are out there," states Niclas Burenhult.  An estimated 6,000 languages are currently spoken in the world.  About 80 per cent of the world's population speak one of the major world languages, while approximately 20 per cent speak one of the 3 600 smaller languages.  Researchers believe that about half of the world's languages will be extinct 100 years from now.  https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/02/180206100349.htm

"Eggs get broken, the omelet gets made, and if it turns out tasty, then all is forgiven."  "My country, right or wrong.  Which means nothing, unless you admit your country is wrong sometimes.  Loving a country that was right all the time would be common sense, not patriotism.”  Night School, #21 in the Jack Reacher series by Lee Child 

The late Ursula K. Le Guin was among the recipients of literary honours presented February 20, 2018 in New York by PEN America.  The science fiction/fantasy author's No Time to Spare won a $10,000 US prize for best essay writing.  Le Guin died last month at age 88.  Poet Layli Long Soldier's debut collection Whereas won a $75,000 award for the year's best book.  Jenny Zhang's story collection Sour Heart received a $25,000 prize for best debut fiction and Alexis Okeowo's A Moonless, Starless Sky: Ordinary Women and Men Fighting Extremism in Africa won a $5,000 award given to outstanding works by "authors of colour."  http://www.cbc.ca/news/entertainment/pen-awards-ceremony-1.4544569  See full list of PEN Literary Awards for 2018 at https://pen.org/2018-winners/

What Does Fricassee Mean?  by Danilo Alfaro   The feature that distinguishes a fricassee dish from stews is that the meat is prepared differently from the usual technique for braising meats—the meat isn't browned before the braising liquid is added.  Instead, the meat is cooked in oil or fat at a very low temperature, so it remains white.  As a result, most fricassee dishes are white stews.  While chicken fricassee is the most common, some fricassee recipes are made with veal instead of chicken.  The classic veal fricassee with peppers is made with cubes of veal shoulder meat that are salted and then very lightly and gently sautéed in butter and oil, but not enough to brown the meat.  The meat is removed, and garlic, onion, and celery are added to the pan and sautéed, along with spices and seasonings.  Then the veal goes back into the pan, along with a sprinkling of flour, which forms a roux.  After the pan is deglazed with white wine, the mixture reduces for a while and then veal stock is added.  The veal is braised for about an hour before the addition of sautéed bell peppers and mushrooms that are prepared separately.  The mixture simmers briefly and then is served with a garnish of fresh herbs such as parsley and basil.  Steamed rice, buttered noodles, creamy mashed potatoes or steamed baby potatoes are all good accompaniments to chicken or veal fricassee, along with whole-grain bread.  Because fricassee is a cooking method, not a recipe, it can be applied to other types of meats, including lamb, rabbit and frog legs, as well as fish, shellfish and even mushrooms or other vegetables alone.  https://www.thespruce.com/all-about-fricassee-995685

State Library Victoria is the central library of the state of Victoria, Australia, located in Melbourne.  The library holds over 2 million books and 16,000 serials, including the diaries of the city's founders, John Batman and John Pascoe Fawkner, and the folios of Captain James Cook.  It also houses some of the original armour of Ned Kelly.   In 1853, the decision to build a combined library, museum and gallery was made at the instigation of Lieutenant-Governor Charles La Trobe and Mr Justice Redmond Barry, Q.C. (Sir Redmond from 1860).  A competition was held, won by the recently arrived architect Joseph Reed, whose firm and its successors went on to design most of the later extensions, as well as numerous 19th century landmarks such as the Melbourne Town Hall, and the Royal Exhibition Building.  On 3 July 1854, the recently inaugurated Governor Sir Charles Hotham laid the foundation stone of both the new library complex and the University of Melbourne.  The library was the first stage opened in 1856, with a collection of 3,800 books chosen by Mr Justice Barry, the President of Trustees. Augustus H. Tulk, the first librarian, was appointed three months after the opening.  The Melbourne Public Library as it was then known was one of the first free public libraries in the world, open to anyone over 14 years of age, so long as they had clean hands. 

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

Read about the new entrance to Australia’s oldest and busiest state library at  https://vision2020.slv.vic.gov.au/news/new-russell-street-entrance-open-spring-2018/  Thank you, Muse reader and World Sojourner!

February 22, 2018  Tens of thousands of years ago, the first artists painted images on the walls of caves.  They collected, painted and ground holes in shells, presumably to wear.  Some of that cave art may have been created by Neanderthals.  At least, that's what a team of scientists is now claiming.  The painted caves were discovered in Spain.  The walls were the canvasses, and the paintings are bold and clearly not some kind of smeary accident.  The paint used was red ochre, from soil mixed with water.  The results are published this week in the journals Science and Science Advances.  Whether the scientific community will give Neanderthals final credit depends on whether the latest dating technique holds up to scrutiny.  Christopher Joyce  Read more and see pictures at https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2018/02/22/587662842/cave-art-may-have-been-handiwork-of-neanderthals

                                     

http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com  Issue 1847  February 23, 2018  On this date in 2005, American composer Daniel Robert (Danny) Elfman (best known for writing the opening theme of "The Simpsons" animated TV series and for scoring movies), heard some of his music played live at Carnegie Hall.  The American Composers Orchestra gave the premiere performance of “Serenada Schizophrana,” his first symphonic concert work.  Elfman retroactively re-purposed some of his “Serenada Schizophrana” as the soundtrack for 2006 IMAX film entitled “Deep Sea 3D.”   Composers Datebook  A Cure for Pokeritis, released February 23, 1912 is a short silent film starring John Bunny and Flora Finch.  After Bunny's death in 1915, a re-release was announced with the alternative title A Sure Cure for Pokeritis.  It was one of many similar shorts produced by Vitagraph Studios—one-reel comedies starring Bunny and Finch in a domestic setting, known popularly as "Bunnygraphs" or "Bunnyfinches"—whose popularity made Bunny and Finch early film stars. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Cure_for_Pokeritis