Spreading like molten peanut brittle, a playful clinker brick wall ties a rear garden to a newly built Greene & Greene-style home.  When you start with an organic concept like a not-so-big bungalow, sometimes the house and garden must evolve to meet your needs.  That was the case for a Pennsylvania family of five in Bucks County.  When the designer/developer Bela Rossman showed them examples of the residential work of Arts & Crafts architects Charles and Henry Greene, the owners were intrigued.  A visit to Pasadena followed, including a tour of the Gamble House, with its iconic stained-glass triptych entry.  Clinker bricks are delightful accidents from the kiln. Irregular and lumpy, often luridly colored in shades of terra cotta, brown, purple, and black, these one-of-a-kind bricks were a favorite masonry detail of Pasadena architects Charles and Henry Greene.  Combined with smooth river rock in a blend sometimes called rubble mix, they gave an organic presence to Arts & Crafts porch piers, chimneys, and fireplaces in California and beyond.  Once considered trash, clinkers are now treasure.  While some salvage dealers offer vintage clinkers, at least one company is manufacturing new ones using the same methods that produced the originals.  The clinkers made by Gavin Historical Brick, for instance, are fired in ancient coal-fired beehive kilns for three weeks at a high, steady temperature.  Mary Ellen Polson  See wonderful  pictures at https://artsandcraftshomes.com/exteriors/follow-clinker-brick-road



Edmond Dantès is a title character and the protagonist of Alexandre Dumas, père's 1844 adventure novel The Count of Monte Cristo.  Within the story's narrative, Dantès is an intelligent, honest and loving man who turns bitter and vengeful after he is framed for a crime he did not commit.  When Dantès finds himself free and enormously wealthy, he takes it upon himself to reward those who have helped him in his plight and punish those responsible for his years of suffering.  James O'Neill, father of playwright Eugene, performed the title role over 6,000 times during his career.  Edmond Dantès has been portrayed on film many times by actors such as George Michael Dolenz, Sr., Robert Donat, Jean Marais, Louis Jourdan, Gérard Depardieu, Richard Chamberlain, and Jim Caviezel.  Dantès has also been portrayed on stage, including in a musical adaptation of the novel.  In the Japanese animated television series Gankutsuou: The Count of Monte Cristo, he is voiced by Jōji Nakata in the Japanese version and by Jamieson Price in the English dub.  There are also at least three adaptations into television soap operas, the last of which being the 2006 Mexican series Montecristo.  In 2011, ABC debuted the television drama Revenge, billed as a loose adaptation of Dumas' The Count of Monte Cristo.  In it, the character of Dantès is envisioned as a female protagonist by the name of Emily Thorne (portrayed by actress Emily VanCamp).  The story of Dantès's imprisonment in the Château d'If was likely inspired by the imprisonment of General Thomas-Alexandre Dumas (Alexandre Dumas, père's own father) in a dungeon fortress in Taranto, Italy, in 1799–1801.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edmond_Dant%C3%A8s



Alexandre Dumas, père, (born July 24, 1802, Villers-Cotterêts, Aisne, France—died December 5, 1870, Puys, near Dieppe), one of the most prolific and most popular French authors of the 19th century.  Without ever attaining indisputable literary merit, Dumas succeeded in gaining a great reputation first as a dramatist and then as a historical novelist, especially for such works as The Count of Monte Cristo and The Three Musketeers.  His memoirs, which, with a mixture of candour, mendacity, and boastfulness, recount the events of his extraordinary life, also provide a unique insight into French literary life during the Romantic period.  He was the father (père) of the dramatist and novelist Alexandre Dumas, called Dumas fils.  The unfinished manuscript of a long-lost novel, Le Chevalier de Sainte-Hermine (The Last Cavalier), was discovered in the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris in the late 1980s and first published in 2005.  https://www.britannica.com/biography/Alexandre-Dumas-pere



The Herzog August Library (German: Herzog August Bibliothek — "HAB"), in Wolfenbüttel, Lower Saxony, known also as Bibliotheca Augusta, is a library of international importance for its collection from the Middle Ages and early modern Europe.  The library was founded by Julius, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg in 1572.  In the 17th century it was the largest library north of the Alps.  The library was named after Duke Augustus (1579–1666), who greatly enlarged the collection, which was kept at Wolfenbüttel.  Armies passed by, back and forth, over the centuries, but the collection was well protected.  It was so highly regarded that generals placed the library under special protection, and the library is one of the oldest in the world to have never suffered loss to its collection.  In 2006 the library housed around 11,500 manuscripts and 900,000 books, of which 350,000 were printed between the 15th to 18th centuries.  Of these, 3,500 are incunabula, 75,000 are from the sixteenth century, 150,000 are from the seventeenth century, and 120,000 are from the eighteenth century.  See also http://www.hab.de/en/home/library/collections/rare-books.html and https://www.dw.com/en/worlds-most-expensive-book-makes-rare-appearance/a-2338420  Wolfenbüttel  is the only place where Jaggermeister (a digestif made with 56 herbs and spices at a strength of 35% alcohol by volume) https://www.jagermeister.com/en-US/ is made--mostly sold on college campuses in the USA.  Thank you, Muse reader! 



The Supreme Court on June 26, 2019 struck down a Tennessee law that requires individuals to live in the state for two years before obtaining a retail license to sell alcohol, a ruling that could give a boost to a large chain of liquor retailers in Tennessee and other states. 

The 7-2 ruling is a loss for the Tennessee Wine & Spirit Retailers Association, a trade group of in state retailers, that argued that the law was legal under the 21st Amendment that bolstered a state's authority to regulate alcohol.  But critics, including a national chain, said the law amounted to discrimination against out-of-state residents in violation of principles of the commerce clause.  "Because Tennessee's 2 year residency requirement for retail license applicants blatantly favors the State's residents and has little relationship to public health and safety, it is unconstitutional," Justice Samuel Alito wrote in the majority opinion.  Thirty-four States and the District of Columbia supported Tennessee and argued it was "vital" for states to have the authority to regulate the sale of alcohol because they realize that "excessive alcohol consumption poses great risks to local health and safety and that the liquor market is uniquely susceptible to infiltration by criminal elements."  Some 20 states have laws similar to Tennessee.  Ariane de Vogue and Kate Sullivan  https://www.cnn.com/2019/06/26/politics/supreme-court-tennessee-liquor-license/index.html



Mediterranean venue Mirazur has taken the number one spot at the World's 50 Best Restaurant Awards in Singapore--an event considered the Oscars of the fine dining world.   A new rule introduced this year rendered previous winners of the top award from being eligible for the list, so the one guarantee of the evening was that there would be a new star at the top of the pile.  The fundamental change excluded New York's Eleven Madison Park, The French Laundry in California, The Fat Duck near London and last year's winner, Osteria Francescana from Modena in Italy.  These restaurants will instead enter a 'Best of the Best' program.  The hotly tipped Noma, eligible for the top spot due to its new Copenhagen location, only made it to second place despite the buzz around what is perhaps the world's most famous restaurant.  Western Europe ruled the podium, with Spanish restaurant Asador Etxebarri--where all dishes, even dessert, are flame-grilled--taking third place.  Bangkok's Gaggan, which has topped the Asia's 50 Best Restaurants list a record four times, took fourth place and, naturally, the Best Restaurant in Asia award.  Maureen O'Hare  Read more and find full list of the top 50 restaurants at https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/worlds-50-best-restaurants-2019/index.html



Twitter Inc (TWTR.N) said on June 27, 2019 it would identify and deemphasize tweets that broke its rules but came from important sources, such as politicians, in order to strike a balance between free expression and accountability.  “We’ll now clearly label any tweets which violate our terms of service but decide to keep up due to public interest,” Twitter Chief Executive Jack Dorsey said.  If flagged, the notice would cover the offending tweet and require a user to click on a link to view it.  Twitter said the new rules would apply to politicians and government officials with more than 100,000 followers.  https://www.reuters.com/article/us-twitter-feature/twitter-to-put-notice-on-politician-tweets-that-break-its-rules-idUSKCN1TS2JX



The Supreme Court will not end extreme partisan gerrymandering.  In a 5-4 decision along ideological lines, the court ruled June 27, 2019 that partisan gerrymandering of congressional districts cannot be limited by federal courts.  Chief Justice John Roberts authored the majority opinion, writing that “what the appellees and dissent seek is an unprecedented expansion of judicial power.”  Despite the ruling, reformers have a few other avenues still open to them, which Roberts himself acknowledged.  The first is ballot initiatives, passed by a state’s voters, that give the power of redistricting to independent commissions.  Eight states currently use such commissions to draw both their state legislative and congressional maps. However, ballot initiatives or referenda are available to voters in only 26 states, largely west of the Mississippi.  Another option is to pass laws limiting gerrymandering. That’s an uphill climb, though.  State legislative action is rare, and congressional action on the national level is highly unlikely in the nearterm.  A final avenue is for reformers to bring complaints in state courts, based on state constitutions.  This model was first successful in Pennsylvania in 2018, when the state Supreme Court threw out Pennsylvania’s congressional map as an unlawful partisan gerrymander and ordered a redraw.  Galen Druke  
https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/partisan-gerrymandering-isnt-the-supreme-courts-problem-anymore/



http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com  Issue 2117  June 28, 2019 

A.Word.A.Day with Anu Garg

gutta  (GUHT-uh)  plural guttae (GUHT-ee)  noun  1.  A drop.  2. One of a series of ornaments, typically in the shape of a truncated cone on buildings (in the Doric order in classical architecture).  From Latin gutta (drop).  Earliest documented use:  1398.  “Guttae occasionally are pyramid-shaped with flat sides rather than cones or cylinders.”  Stephen Mouzon & Susan Henderson; Traditional Construction Patterns; McGraw-Hill; 2004.

Feedback to A. Word.A. Day  
From:  Jack R. Bierig  Subject:  Weird plurals  You wrote:  There are not a lot of such words in the English language, but I just used a couple of such pairs, a few sentences ago (is/are, I/we; also there’s me/us).  Know any others?  How about mine/ours?  
From:  Kjersti Thoen  Subject:  cow/kine  In Norwegian we say ku and kuer (for more than one), but we also use kyr for many kuer (cows).  
From:  Beye Fyfe  Subject:  cow  When it comes to verbs, one cows, two cow.

From:  Christina Vartanian  Subject:  gutta  I always wondered why in medicine we note drop/drops as gtt/gtts.  I’ve wondered for over 20 years and never looked it up.  Thanks for the epiphany!  
From:  Alex McCrae   Subject:  gutta  As a self-confessed diehard golf history aficionado (and long-lapsed player), for me today’s word gutta took me back to the formative days of the game and the then-technologically revolutionary gutta-percha golf ball that rapidly replaced the less durable and shorter-running leather-bound feathery ball.  (Yes, it did contain actual bird feathers.)  Gutta-percha is essentially natural rubber (latex), extracted from tapping unique species of trees native to Malaysia.  This milky, viscous liquid could be moulded, mechanically shaped, and hardened, ultimately on an assembly-line scale, which facilitated the addition of uniform surface dimples, thus adding both better control and accuracy in shot-making and greater distance when struck well.  Gutta-percha . . . where the rubber hit the road . . . Hmm . . . or more like . . . the fairways, and greens . . . and occasional sand trap, and creek bed.  Ha!



Flannelette typically refers to a napped cotton fabric imitating the texture of flannel.  The weft is generally coarser than the warp.  The flannel-like appearance is created by creating a nap from the weft; scratching it and raising it up.  Flannelette can either have long or short nap, and can be napped on one or two sides.  Baby flannel is a lightweight fabric used for childrenswear.  Cotton flannel or Canton flannel is a cotton fabric napped on one side or two sides.  Ceylon flannel was a name for a wool and cotton mixture.  Diaper flannel is a stout cotton fabric napped on both sides, and used for making cloth diapers.  Vegetable flannel, invented by Léopold Lairitz in Germany in the 1800s, uses fibres from the Scots pine rather than wool. The term "flannel shirt" is often used casually to mean any shirt with a plaid or tartan pattern.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flannel



Felt is a textile material that is produced by matting, condensing and pressing fibers together.  Felt can be made of natural fibers such as wool or animal fur, or from synthetic fibers such as petroleum-based acrylic or acrylonitrile or wood pulp-based rayon.  Blended fibers are also common.   Felt from wool is considered to be the oldest known textile.  Many cultures have legends as to the origins of felt making.  Sumerian legend claims that the secret of feltmaking was discovered by Urnamman of Lagash.  The story of Saint Clement and Saint Christopher relates that the men packed their sandals with wool to prevent blisters while fleeing from persecution.  At the end of their journey, the movement and sweat had turned the wool into felt socks.  Feltmaking is still practised by nomadic peoples (Altaic people:  Mongols; Turkic people) in Central Asia, where rugs, tents and clothing are regularly made.   Some of these are traditional items, such as the classic yurt (Gers), while others are designed for the tourist market, such as decorated slippers.  In the Western world, felt is widely used as a medium for expression in both textile art and contemporary art and design, where it has significance as an ecologically responsible textile and building material.  Felt is used in a wide range of industries and manufacturing processes, from the automotive industry and casinos to musical instruments and home construction, as well as in gun wads, either inside cartridges or pushed down the barrel of a muzzleloader.  Read more and see graphics at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Felt



Leave no corn tortilla behind:  6 smart ways to use them up by Becky Krystal   For tacos, try heating the corn tortillas over medium to medium-high heat in a dry skillet (cast iron is good), or directly over the burner on about medium-low if you have a gas stove.  Let the tortillas darken and even char in spots.  For enchiladas, I found that adding a light coating of cooking oil spray to the tortillas kept them from turning to total mush in the sauce.  There's no need to let them get as dark as you would for tacos.  If you're making quesadillas, you don't need to worry about preheating the tortillas since they'll warm and toast once you fry the assembled packet.  - In soups.  Soup feeling a little thin?  No need to go for the flour or cornstarch when tortillas will not only do, but shine.  - To layer a casserole or pie.  Like lasagna but wish it was more like enchiladas?  Go ahead and layer a nice big casserole dish with corn tortillas, alternating with your choice of saucy filling.  - Chilaquiles.  In this Mexican dish, tortillas are fried then mixed with a sauce or salsa, along with the cook's choice of meat, eggs and cheese.  - Chips.  Tostadas are kind of like one giant chip on which you can pile your choice of toppings.  - Bowls.  Since we've established you can bake corn tortillas into chips, you might as well bake them into a shape.  https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Leave-no-corn-tortilla-behind-6-smart-ways-to-13900733.php



My mother made kumla fairly often.  I learned kumla basics by watching her.  It seems to be more Norwegian than Swedish in origin.  My mother made kumla with side pork and onion filling.  I started using other kinds of pork because good side pork was not available at too many places outside of the upper Midwest.  Now, I think I prefer kumla without side pork.  I’ve tried it with side pork a couple times and was disappointed.  Many people make kumla with no filling and serve ham, side pork, bacon, pork chops, Swedish brown beans, rutabagas, etc. on the side.  Some dumpling recipes call for barley flour or oatmeal.  Others call for egg and a few add some boiled potatoes to the raw potato mixture.  There’s a recipe that says to boil the dumplings in milk.  Roger Johnson puts a little baking soda in the mixture.  He says it makes them lighter.  Some people put maple syrup on kumla.  I’ve been told that is a misdemeanor offense in most states.  John Njaa  http://www.section20.com/RecipeCards/kumla_story.htm



Kumla (Potato Dumplings) by Lynda Lochevar  https://www.twincities.com/2011/01/26/side-kumla-potato-dumplings/



In the name of research:  Why linguists are keeping some sign languages hidden  Keeping fragile languages isolated may mean the people who rely on them lose out.  Michael Erard 

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/long_reads/sign-language-hidden-linguists-indonesia-nicaragua-a8794556.html



GRAND TRAVERSE COUNTY Mich.  The Traverse Area District Library Sights and Sounds Department is one of the largest music and movie collections in a public library in Michigan but it also offers people the opportunity to check out an instrument or tool they've always wanted to learn about.  Link to more information about the library at https://upnorthlive.com/features/upnorthfamily/check-out-instruments-at-the-traverse-area-district-library



Cardamom is a spice made from the seed pods of various plants in the ginger family.  Cardamom pods are spindle-shaped and have a triangular cross-section.  The pods contain a number of seeds, but the entire cardamom pod can be used whole or ground.  The seeds are small and black, while the pods differ in color and size by species.  There are two main types of cardamom:  black cardamom and green cardamom, and there is also white cardamom which is a bleached version of green cardamom.  Green cardamom is the kind found most often in Nordic and Middle Eastern cuisine, while recipes in India and Asia will often specify whether green or black cardamom is used.   It will be hard to find a true substitute for the unique flavor of cardamom, but in a pinch, you can blend other warm spices to help replace it.  Cinnamon will be the key, and the best blend would be equal parts of ground cinnamon and nutmeg.  If you don't have nutmeg, use ground ginger or ground cloves along with the cinnamon.  Link to recipes at https://www.thespruceeats.com/all-about-cardamom-995599  Easy and tasty:  Mix cardamom with honey and drizzle over apples, pears or cooked, diced sweet potatoes.



http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com  Issue 2116  June 26, 2019

Inherit the Wind is a fictionalized account of the 1925 Scopes "Monkey" Trial, which resulted in John T. Scopes' conviction for teaching Charles Darwin's theory of evolution to a high school science class, contrary to a Tennessee state law.  The role of Matthew Harrison Brady is intended to reflect the personality and beliefs of William Jennings Bryan, while that of Henry Drummond is intended to be similar to that of Clarence Darrow.  Bryan and Darrow, formerly close friends, opposed one another at the Scopes trial.  The character of E. K. Hornbeck is modeled on that of H. L. Mencken, who covered the trial for The Baltimore Sun, and the character of Bertram Cates corresponds to Scopes.  However, the playwrights state in a note at the opening of the play that it is not meant to be a historical account, and there are numerous instances where events were substantially altered or invented.  For instance, the characters of the preacher and his daughter were fictional, the townspeople were not hostile towards those who had come to Dayton for the trial, and Bryan offered to pay Scopes' fine if he was convicted.  Bryan did die shortly after the trial, but it happened five days later in his sleep.  Political commentator Steve Benen said of the play's inaccuracies:  "Scopes issued no plea for empathy, there was no fiancee and the real Scopes was never arrested.  In fact, the popular film that was nominated for four Academy Awards and has helped shape the American understanding of the 'Scopes Monkey Trial' for decades is an inadequate reflection of history."  Lawrence explained in a 1996 interview that the drama's purpose was to criticize the then-current state of McCarthyism.  The play was also intended to defend intellectual freedom.  According to Lawrence, "we used the teaching of evolution as a parable, a metaphor for any kind of mind control . . .  It's not about science versus religion.  It's about the right to think."   Lawrence and Lee’s play was rejected by eight Broadway producers before coming to the attention of Margot Jones, a theater director and producer in Dallas, Texas.  With Jones directing, Inherit the Wind premiered in Dallas on January 10, 1955, and received rave reviews.  The Broadway rights were soon acquired by Herman Shumlin, and the play opened at Broadway’s National Theatre on April 21, 1955.  Shumlin directed, with actors Paul Muni, Ed Begley and Tony Randall in the cast.  It played on Broadway until June 22, 1957, where it closed after 806 performances.  It was revived on Broadway twice:  April 4, 1996- May 12, 1996 and April 12, 2007-July 8, 2007.   Screen adapations:   Inherit the Wind (1960 film), directed by Stanley Kramer; starring Spencer Tracy, Fredric March, and Gene Kelly; Inherit the Wind (1965 film), a television film starring Melvyn Douglas, Ed Begley and Murray Hamilton; Inherit the Wind (1988 film), a television film starring Jason Robards, Kirk Douglas, and Darren McGavin; Inherit the Wind (1999 film), a television film starring Jack Lemmon, George C. Scott, and Beau Bridges  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inherit_the_Wind_(play)

To gainsay is to declare false or to contradict.  It’s a transitive verb, meaning it has to act upon something.  You can’t just say “I gainsay,” period; you have to gainsay something.  And what’s gainsaid is not the person you disagree with but the statement you wish to contradict.  For instance, if you disagree with our definition of gainsay, you don’t gainsay us; you gainsay our definition.  Though gainsay has a certain appeal, it can have an archaic ring outside legal contexts, and it often bears replacement with alternatives such as dispute and contradict.  There’s nothing incorrect about it, though, and it does appear occasionally even in mainstream writing from this century.  The word has origins in Old English.  The first syllable, gain, is etymologically related to against (and is unrelated to our modern sense of gain), so we can think of gainsay as a sort of contraction of say against.  https://grammarist.com/words/gainsay/

Alexander Johnston Cassatt (1839-1906) was the seventh president of the Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR), serving from June 9, 1899, to December 28, 1906.  The painter Mary Cassatt was his sister.  Frequently referred to as A. J. Cassatt, the great accomplishment under his stewardship was the planning and construction of tunnels under the Hudson River to finally bring PRR's trunk line into New York City.  His purchase of a controlling interest in the Long Island Rail Road and the construction of tunnels under the East River created a PRR commuter network on Long Island.  Unfortunately, Cassatt died before his grand Pennsylvania Station in New York City was completed.  Cassatt joined the PRR in 1861 as an engineer and rapidly rose through the ranks.  He was a vice president in 1877 when the Pittsburgh Railway Riots broke out in 1877, and had become Pennsy First Vice-President by 1880.  He was disappointed to be passed over for the presidency and resigned from the company in 1882.  During his absence he devoted his time to horse raising but still was able to organize a new railroad the New York, Philadelphia and Norfolk Railroad (NYP&N), that connected southern markets with the north.  Despite no longer being an executive with PRR, he was elected to the PRR's board of directors and was recalled in 1899 to serve as president.  Cassatt more than doubled the PRR's total assets during his term, from US$276 million to US$594 million (an increase of 115 percent).  Track and equipment investment increased by 146 percent. The route from New York through Philadelphia, Harrisburg and Altoona to Pittsburgh was made double-tracked throughout; to Washington, D.C., four-tracked—Pennsy's "Broad Way."  Many other lines were double-tracked; almost every part of the system was improved.  New freight cutoffs avoided stations; grade crossings were eliminated, flyovers were built to streamline common paths through junctions, terminals were redesigned, and much more.  Cassatt initiated the Pennsy's program of electrification which led to the road being the United States' most electrified system.  In 1910, the Pennsylvania Railroad erected a statue of Cassatt designed by Adolph Alexander Weinman at the new Pennsylvania Station, New York.  The statue had the following inscription:  Alexander Johnston Cassatt  President of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, 1899–1906  Whose foresight, courage and ability achieved the extension of the Pennsylvania [Railroad] system into New York City  The statue is currently located at the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania in Strasburg, Pennsylvania.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Cassatt

A menhir (from Brittonic languages: maen or men, "stone" and hir or hîr, "long") standing stone, orthostat, or lith is a large man-made upright stone, typically dating from the European middle Bronze Age. They can be found solely as monoliths, or as part of a group of similar stones.  Menhirs' size can vary considerably, but they are generally uneven and squared, often tapering towards the top.  They are widely distributed across Europe, Africa and Asia, but most numerous in Western Europe; particularly in Ireland, Great Britain, Brittany and France, where there are about 50,000 examples, while there are 1,200 menhirs in northwest France alone.  Standing stones are usually difficult to date, but pottery, or pottery shards, found underneath some in Atlantic Europe connects them with the Beaker people.  They are sometimes called megalithic monuments.  These are sites of ancient religious ceremonies, sometimes containing burial chambers.  The exact function of menhirs has provoked more debate than practically any other issue in European pre-history.  See graphics at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Menhir

Syllabubs are one of the oldest of all English desserts, and they have been known in this country since the first American colonies were established.  The odd-sounding name itself—sometimes spelled ‘sillibub’—comes from the early English word ‘silly,’ meaning ‘happy.’  As you will see, it is a very happy alcoholic dessert indeed.  – James Beard  Find recipe at

https://www.jamesbeard.org/recipes/syllabub

BREAD CARE  Remove bread from the paper bag.  Double bag the loaf in plastic bags.  Freeze.  When you’re ready to eat:  Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.  Remove bread from the freezer.  Take off the plastic bags.  Place frozen naked loaf into heated oven.  Leave it there for 40 minutes.  Take the loaf out of the oven and let it rest for a few minutes.  https://www.zingermansbakehouse.com/real-bread/bread-care/  If you plan to serve the bread at room temperature, just let it thaw after removing from the freezer.

When President Andrew Jackson took office in 1829, his official Cabinet was fractured by factional disputes, largely resulting from the fierce rivalry between Vice President John C. Calhoun and Secretary of State Martin Van Buren.  The infighting was so pronounced that the Cabinet became virtually ineffectual, and Jackson stopped holding Cabinet meetings.  He turned instead to an unofficial group of trusted friends and advisors, mocked in the rival press as the “Kitchen Cabinet.”  Francis Preston Blair was a valued member.  The Kitchen Cabinet played an important role in the Jackson administration until 1831.  That year, controversy within the official Cabinet provoked the resignation of Van Buren and Secretary of War John Eaton, which allowed Jackson to request the resignations of all of the remaining members.  The Kitchen Cabinet gradually declined with the success of his next official Cabinet, but Jackson’s bond with Blair remained strong to the President’s death in 1842.  http://www.blairhouse.org/history/historical-events/jackson-and-the-kitchen-cabinet

Baby Spinach and Watermelon Salad with Feta and Pistachios  Jeff Mauro  https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/jeff-mauro/baby-spinach-and-watermelon-salad-with-feta-and-pistachios-5257081  You can substitute peeled, cubed cucumbers for spinach.

http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com  Issue 2115  June 24, 2019 

The debate over screen time is typically accompanied by a good deal of finger-wagging:  The digital experience is a ruinous habit, akin to binge-eating curly fries, gambling on cock fights or drinking whiskey with breakfast.  Meanwhile, social scientists who are trying to study the actual psychological effects of screen time are left in a bind.  For one thing, good luck finding a “control group” of people living the nondigital life or anything close to it.  Children pick up devices early, and by their teens are spending six hours a day and more on screens—with phones, laptops and iPads, guzzling from the spigot of Netflix, Hulu and YouTube.  Moreover, standard measures such as “average daily Facebook usage” are now practically meaningless.  Consider what a person can do in just the time it takes to wait for a bus:  text, watch a comedy skit, play a video game, buy concert tickets, take five selfies, each with a different set of cartoon ears.  Learning how that behavior shapes an individual’s life experience requires an entirely new approach, one that recognizes that screen time is no mere habit but now a way of life.  So argued a consortium of social and data scientists recently in the journal Human-Computer Interaction.  The phrase “screen time,” they noted, is too broad to be scientifically helpful; it cannot remotely capture the fragmented, ever-shifting torrent of images that constitutes digital experience.  Researchers have linked daily time spent on specific platforms, like Facebook, to measures of well-being and mental health.  But to build a more compelling understanding of the effects of digital experience, they’ll need far more, the new paper argues.  Scientists need to look over people’s shoulders, digitally speaking, and record everything, on every device, that an individual sees, does, and types.  The researchers call this ultra-fine-grained record a “screenome,” adapting the concept from “genome,” the full blueprint of one’s genetic inheritance.  Each person’s daily screenome is similarly unique, a sequential, disjointed series of screens.  Benedict Carey  https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/31/health/screen-time-mental-health-screenome.html

How to Blanch and Freeze Cauliflower by Leda Meredith 

https://www.thespruceeats.com/how-to-blanch-and-freeze-cauliflower-1327652  

See also How to Freeze Cauliflower Without Blanching by Robin Coe at

https://www.livestrong.com/article/465903-how-to-freeze-cauliflower-without-blanching/

The Crimean War commenced in 1853 and ended three years later, in 1856.  A coalition of Ottoman, British, French and Sardinian forces opposed the Russian Empire in Crimea.  The casus belli was of a religious nature.  The Russians considered the rights of Orthodox Christians in the Holy Land, then under Ottoman control, were being jeopardized.  What is considered today to be the real reason behind the conflict was a much more geopolitical matter.  In the mid-19th century, the Ottoman Empire was losing its foothold in Europe and was on the verge of collapse.  The lifelong dream of the Russian Empire was to expand westwards, towards the Balkans and the Mediterranean.  Britain, France, and Sardinia considered such a shift of power to be far too dangerous for them in the long run.  The coalition decided to invade Crimea and put an end to any potential Russian expansion.  After a year of fighting resulting in success for the coalition, Russian forces were defending against the siege of Sevastopol.  The city was the principal naval base on the Black Sea held by the Russians, thus making its capture a top priority for the coalition―one which could very well end the war in the Crimea.  A significant force of British troops, together with French and Ottoman reinforcements was sent to secure the smaller port town of Balaclava, south of Sevastopol.  The coalition was attempting to establish a perimeter for the protracted siege as they had agreed that a direct attack on the city would incur the loss of too many lives.  Realizing British troops were exposed and that they were too few in numbers to hold such a position, the Russian General Pavel Liprandi decided to act to relieve the siege and disrupt the coalition’s supply route.  He mustered an army of 25,000 men to confront the coalition forces defending Balaclava on October 25, 1854.  On the southern part of the front, more than 2,500 Russian cavalrymen descended on the first line of defense of the British Light Brigade’s field camp which was held by hastily constructed Ottoman redoubts―enclosed defensive emplacements.  The Ottomans could not hold the line and they were ordered to retreat to the second line of defense held by the Sutherland Highlanders 93rd (Highland) Regiment under the command of  Sir Colin Campbell.  The Russian forces consisted mainly of skilled cavalry which was extremely mobile and deadly once in full charge.  It was unbelievable--a force that had stood so thin with little chance of survival not only routed the enemy but was unified in its demand to pursue and annihilate the remaining Russian troops.  A correspondent for The Times, William H. Russell, who was present at the battle immediately wrote of the courage presented by the British troops.  He illustrated the scene quite vividly, noting that between the Russian charging cavalry and the British regiment’s base of operations stood nothing but a “thin red streak topped with steel”―the Thin Red line of the 93rd.  It was from Russell’s article that the phrase The Thin Red Line was derived.  The successful defense was praised in Britain, partly because the costly war was becoming more and more unpopular among the general public.  Also, it served as a distraction from one other not-so-glorious event that took place during the Battle of Balaclava.  The infamous Charge of The Light Brigade took place on the same day.  Due to a misunderstanding in the chain of command, the Light Cavalry attempted a frontal assault against an artillery battery, which repulsed them, inflicting enormous casualties.  Nevertheless, thanks to the 93rd, the Thin Red Line remains an expression representing a thinly spread military unit holding firm against an overwhelming attack.  See graphics at https://www.warhistoryonline.com/history/origin-expression-thin-red-line.html

 The verb “to ballyhoo,” meaning to promote with extravagant praise, appeared around 1911.  The origin of “ballyhoo” in these senses is not known with certainly, but there is no lack of theories.  Also, "ballyhoo” is old nautical slang for an inferior ship (probably taken from the Spanish “balahou,” small schooner), a name for a species of fish (more properly the “balao”), and the name of the mythical “ballyhoo bird,” supposedly sporting four wings and two heads.  There is, in County Cork, Ireland, a town named “Ballyhooly” (“Baile Atha hUlla” in Irish), which was apparently, at some point in the past, famous for its street fights and rowdiness.  In the  19th century, “ballyhooly” was used as a euphemism for “hell,” especially in the sense of harsh treatment, chaos or confusion (“What the ballyhooley do you call this?”, 1927).  It seems entirely possible that a shortened form of “ballyhooley” came into more general use around the beginning of the 20th century with the “loud ruckus or fuss” meaning it has today.  http://www.word-detective.com/2010/06/ballyhoo/

Ultra-high temperature processing (UHT), ultra-heat treatment, or ultra-pasteurization is a food processing technology that sterilizes liquid food, chiefly milk, by heating it above 135 °C (275 °F)--the temperature required to kill spores in milk--for 2 to 5 seconds.  UHT is most commonly used in milk production, but the process is also used for fruit juices, cream, soy milk, yogurt, wine, soups, honey, and stews.  UHT milk was first developed in the 1960s and became generally available for consumption in the 1970s.  The heat used during the UHT process can cause Maillard browning and change the taste and smell of dairy products.  An alternative process is HTST pasteurization (high temperature/short time), in which the milk is heated to 72 °C (162 °F) for at least 15 seconds.  UHT milk packaged in a sterile container, if not opened, has a typical unrefrigerated shelf life of six to nine months.  In contrast, HTST pasteurized milk has a shelf life of about two weeks from processing, or about one week from being put on sale.  A significant percentage of milk sold in the US as organic food is UHT treated.  

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ultra-high-temperature_processing

New York City has a surprising number of quiet, shady retreats.  Shaded parks and playgrounds line Riverside Drive, cemeteries form a belt between Brooklyn and Queens, and there's an old-growth forest at the northern tip of Manhattan.  More than 8.6 million people live in the city, and 7 million trees grow alongside them.  Nature Conservancy magazine  Summer 2019

Poet, writer and musician Joy Harjo—a member of the Muscogee Creek Nation—often draws on Native American stories, languages and myths.  "I think the culture is bringing me into it with poetry—that it's part of me," Harjo says in an interview with NPR's Lynn Neary.  "I don't think about it . . . And so it doesn't necessarily become a self-conscious thing—it's just there . . . When you grow up as a person in your culture, you have your culture and you're in it, but you're also in this American culture, and that's another layer."  Harjo, 68, will represent both her Indigenous culture and those of the United States of America when she succeeds Tracy K. Smith as the country's 23rd poet laureate consultant in poetry (that's the official title) this fall.  Her term, announced June 19, 2019 by Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden, will make her the first Native American poet to serve in the position.  Lynn Neary and Patrick Jarenwattananon  https://www.npr.org/2019/06/19/733727917/joy-harjo-becomes-the-first-native-american-u-s-poet-laureate

June 20, 2019  It sounds like a crazy tabloid headline:  Humans are growing little horns in the back of their skulls.  Except it comes not from a tabloid but a peer-reviewed study in Scientific Reports.  Australian researchers say more people, young ones especially, are showing up with what’s known as an “enlarged external occipital protuberance” on the back of their skulls, just above the neck, reports the Washington Post.  The leading theory is that these spikes are caused by all the time people spend hunched over their phones.  It’s throwing the body out of whack, resulting in the formation of what’s been variously described in coverage as bone spurs, phone bones, a bird’s beak, and head horns.  (The study itself includes an X-ray photo.)  If you have one, you’d likely be able to feel it with your fingers, notes the BBC. It might even be visible as a little bump if you’re bald.  (Texting takes a heavy toll on your neck—about 60 pounds’ worth.)

https://fox4kc.com/2019/06/20/were-now-growing-little-skull-horns-because-

http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com  Issue 2114  June 21, 2019