For stargazers in north central Florida, the event
begins at 9:36 p.m. on January 20, 2019
as the first delicate slice is taken out of the moon by the Earth’s
shadow. The full eclipse begins at 11:41
p.m. as more of the moon is swallowed.
But the peak of the show is at 12:12 a.m. on January 21, as the moon is
fully enveloped in a coppery hue—a result of the sun’s rays reaching around
Earth and through its thin atmosphere.
“It’s the same reason we have red sunrises and sunsets,” said Noah
Petro, a research scientist at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt,
Maryland. “If you were on the moon, you
would see a little ring of red around the Earth’s rim and that’s sunlight that
is coming through the Earth’s atmosphere.”
Petro, who is furloughed because of the partial government shutdown but
considered “on call,” said the amber tint is why people call it the “blood
moon.” He bristles at the “supermoon”
label, though, because NASA only considers the closest moon to Earth of the
year a supermoon and that one occurs in February. Other definitions of supermoon fuel debate in
the universes of astronomy and astrology.
The term was coined by astrologer Richard Nolle as a way to define a
moon that is at 90 percent or more of its closest approach to Earth. Under that definition, this month’s full moon
is a supermoon as it is 222,274 miles from Earth, according to EarthSky. EarthSky also consider February’s full moon,
which is 221,734 miles from Earth, and March’s moon, which is 224,173 miles
away, supermoons. Kimberly Miller
Three is a lucky number in Chinese culture as it sounds similar to the character of ‘birth’ (生 shēng). For a people’s life, there are three most important stages: birth, marriage and death. You can see the number 3 is greatly used in Chinese culture, history and more: There are three gorges of Yangtze River; Three Sages and Three Kingdoms in Chinese history; three halls of Forbidden City in Beijing . . . https://www.yourchineseastrology.com/lucky-number.htm
Now available in every grocery store in every state in both fresh and canned varieties, pineapples were
so sought-after in colonial times that people would actually rent them for a
day to use as a party decoration. Yes,
at one point in history, the pineapple was literally too expensive to eat. The pineapple
was extremely popular in the 15th and 16th centuries, and remained a symbol of
wealth into the 17th century. King
Charles II, who ruled England until 1685, posed with a pineapple for one of his
official portraits. The spiny treat also
was in demand in colonial America.
George Washington praised the fruit in his diary, listing his favorite
foods and then saying that “none pleases my tastes” like the pineapple. What did the high demand mean for the
price? In today's money, a George
Washington-era pineapple would cost as much as $8,000. Similar price tags were also recorded in
Europe. Because of their scarcity and
price, pineapples were originally served only to most-honored guests. That idea was translated into pineapple
images so that those who could not afford the fruit itself could still share
the sentiment. Towns, inns and even
individual households would display images—pictures or carvings—of the fruit in
order to convey a sense of welcoming.
This practice was continued on dinnerware, napkins, tablecloths and even
wallpaper. That's why you often see
pineapple carvings inside and outside of historic buildings such as inns or
colonial-era plantation houses in the U.S.
One of the more over-the-top examples of pineapple architecture is the
Dunmore House, a folly in Dunmore Park, Scotland that has a roof shaped like a
pineapple. Stateside, a pineapple
fountain sits in a prominent location in the Charleston, South Carolina
waterfront area. Josh Lew See pictures at https://www.mnn.com/your-home/at-home/stories/how-pineapple-became-worldwide-symbol-hospitality
Thomas H. Cook (born September 19, 1947) is an American author,
whose 1996 novel The Chatham School
Affair received an Edgar
award from the Mystery Writers of America. Thomas H. Cook was born in Fort Payne, Alabama, and holds a bachelor's
degree from Georgia State College, a master's degree in
American History from Hunter
College, and a Master of Philosophy degree from Columbia University.
From 1978 to 1981, Cook
taught English and History at Dekalb Community College in Georgia, and served as book review editor
for Atlanta magazine from 1978 to 1982,
when he took up writing full-time. Cook
began his first novel, Blood Innocents, while he
was still in graduate school. It was published in 1980, and he has
published steadily since then. A film
version of one of his books, Evidence of Blood, was
released in 1997. Six of his novels have
been nominated for awards, including Red Leaves in
2006, which was also shortlisted for the Crime Writers' Association Duncan Lawrie Dagger and the Anthony
Award, and went on to win the Barry Award and the Martin
Beck Award. Find bibliography at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_H._Cook Find books by Thomas H. Cook listed as
standalone, non-fiction, Frank Clemons books, short stories and anthologies at https://www.bookseriesinorder.com/thomas-h-cook/
Cacophony is opposite to euphony, which is the use of words having
pleasant and harmonious effects.
Generally, the vowels, the semi-vowels, and the nasal consonants (as in
l, m, n, r, y) are considered to be euphonious.
Cacophony, on the other hand, uses consonants in combinations that
require explosive delivery (as in p, b, d, g, k, ch, sh). Abundant use of cacophonic words can be found
in Lewis Carroll’s nonsense poem Jabberwocky, in his novel Through
the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There.
Find other examples of cacophony in The Bridge by Hart Crane, Gulliver's
Travels by Jonathan Swift, and Rime to the Ancient Mariner by Samuel Taylor
Coleridge at https://literarydevices.net/cacophony/
"I am an old-fashioned curmudgeon when it comes to books—I want to
hold paper and ink in my hands, and let it fall on my chest when I nod off,
rather that stare at some damned computer screen. On my world cruise, a
corner of one suitcase held my collection of books, but I had too much fun with
friends and sights to read all that I brought. Those who relied on Kindle
found that the limited bandwidth on the ship’s internet meant they could not
download much of anything. Also, those wanting to upload photos from
their phone to the cloud found that 6MB photos just did not go, and their
phones became full. I used a 6-inch cable to connect my phone to my
computer and downloaded with this hard-wire daily. Regarding pronunciation of place names, I
grew up in Florida, and pronouncing it KISS-a-mee was the surest identifier of
a Yankee. When I was in Oregon, outsiders pronounced the Willamette River
Will-a-MET, again a giveaway, as the native pronunciation is
Wil-LAM-ette." Thank you, Muse reader!
Macedonia’s parliament passed on January 11, 2019 an amendment to the
constitution to rename the country Republic of North Macedonia, as agreed with
Greece to put an end to a 27-year dispute.
Eighty-one deputies in the 120-seat parliament voted in favor. Representatives of the opposition VMRO-DPMNE,
who opposed the agreement with Greece, boycotted the vote. Macedonia will start using it only after the
parliament in Athens also ratifies the agreement. Greece blocked its neighbor’s aspirations to
EU and NATO membership over the use of ‘Macedonia’, which it said implied
territorial claims by to a Greek province of the same name.
British author-illustrator John Burningham died in London on January 4, 2019 at the age of
82. His first children's book, Borka: The Adventures of a Goose with No Feathers, was published by
Cape in 1963. (Burningham’s debut was
awarded the prestigious Kate Greenaway Medal for Illustration by the British
Library Association.) In 1964,
Burningham’s illustrations appeared in the children’s novel Chitty
Chitty Bang Bang by Ian Fleming. His
original artwork—long stored in his studio—was later used to make all-new
plates from which a 50th-anniversary edition of the book was published by
Candlewick in 2014. Burningham’s most recent children’s work includes Mouse
House and the reissue of Borka, both released last fall. His final book, Mr. Gumpy’s Rhino, will
be published in the U.K. by Jonathan Cape in August. In addition to his children’s titles,
Burningham also wrote and illustrated two adult picture books, John
Burningham’s England (Cape, 1993) and John Burningham’s France (DK,
1998), as well as the illustrated memoir/tribute John Burningham (Candlewick,
2009). In 2015, he self-published John
Burningham’s Champagne Shannon Maughan https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/childrens/childrens-authors/article/78965-obituary-john-burningham.html
THOUGHT FOR TODAY
In everyone's life, at some time,
our inner fire goes out. It is then
burst into flame by an encounter with another human being. We should all be thankful for those people who
rekindle the inner spirit. - Albert Schweitzer, philosopher, physician,
musician, Nobel laureate (14 Jan 1875-1965)
http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com January 14, 2019 Issue 2021
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