The War of the Pacific, also known as the Saltpeter War and by multiple other names, was a war between Chile and a Bolivian–Peruvian alliance from 1879 to 1884.  Fought over Chilean claims on coastal Bolivian territory in the Atacama Desert, the war ended with a Chilean victory, which gained for the country a significant amount of resource-rich territory from Peru and Bolivia.  The Chilean Army took Bolivia's nitrate-rich coastal region, and Peru was defeated by the Chilean Navy.  Battles were fought in the Pacific Ocean, the Atacama Desert, the Peruvian deserts, and the mountainous regions in the Andes.  For the first five months, the war played out in a naval campaign, as Chile struggled to establish a marine resupply corridor for its forces in the world's driest desert.  In February 1878, Bolivia imposed a new tax on a Chilean mining company ("Compañía de Salitres y Ferrocarril de Antofagasta", CSFA) despite Bolivia's express guarantee in the 1874 Boundary Treaty not to increase taxes on Chilean persons or industries for 25 years.  Chile protested and solicited to submit the issue to mediation, but Bolivia refused and considered it a subject of Bolivian courts.  Chile insisted and informed the Bolivian government that Chile would no longer consider itself bound by the 1874 Boundary Treaty unless Bolivia suspended the enforcement of the law.  On February 14, 1879, when Bolivian authorities attempted to auction the confiscated property of the CSFA, Chile's armed forces occupied the port city of Antofagasta.  Peru, bound to Bolivia by a secret 1873 treaty of alliance, tried to mediate the dispute but on March 1, 1879, Bolivia declared war on Chile and called on Peru to activate its alliance while Chile demanded that Peru declare its neutrality.  On April 5, after Peru refused the latter request, Chile declared war on both nations.  Even though the 1873 treaty and the imposition of the 10 centavos tax proved to be the casus belli, there were deeper, more fundamental reasons for the outbreak of hostilities in 1879.  On the one hand, there was the power, prestige, and relative stability of Chile compared to the economic deterioration and political discontinuity which characterised both Peru and Bolivia after independence.  On the other, there was the ongoing competition for economic and political hegemony in the region, complicated by a deep antipathy between Peru and Chile.  In this milieu, the vagueness of the boundaries between the three states, coupled with the discovery of valuable guano and nitrate deposits in the disputed territories, combined to produce a diplomatic conundrum of insurmountable proportions.  Afterwards, Chile's land campaign bested the Bolivian and Peruvian armies.  Bolivia withdrew after the Battle of Tacna, on May 26, 1880.  Chile's forces occupied Lima in January 1881.  Remnants and irregulars of the Peruvian army waged a guerrilla war but did not change the war's outcome.  Chile and Peru signed the Treaty of Ancón on October 20, 1883.  Bolivia signed a truce with Chile in 1884.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_of_the_Pacific 

What's the meaning of the phrase 'hanky-panky'?  Trickery--double dealing.  Also, more recently, sexual shenanigans.  This is one of those nonsense terms that was just made up as having an attractive alliteration or rhyme, like 'the bee's knees', 'the mutt's nuts' etc.  The words themselves have no inherent meaning, although it is possible that 'hanky-panky' derives as a variant of 'hoky-poky' or 'hocus-pocus'.  The term is first recorded, in relation to its original 'trickery' meaning, in the first edition of 'Punch, or the London Charivari', Vol 1, September 1841:  "Only a little hanky-panky, my lud.  The people likes it; they loves to be cheated before their faces.  One, two, three--presto--begone.  I'll show your ludship as pretty a trick of putting a piece of money in your eye and taking it out of your elbow, as you ever beheld."  https://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/hanky-panky.html

At the age of 14, Ida Tarbell witnessed the Cleveland Massacre, in which dozens of small oil producers in Ohio and Western Pennsylvania, including her father, were faced with a daunting choice that seemed to come out of nowhere:  sell their businesses to the shrewd, confident 32 year-old John D. Rockefeller, Sr. and his newly incorporated Standard Oil Company, or attempt to compete and face ruin.  She didn’t understand it at the time, not all of it, anyway, but she would never forget the wretched effects of “the oil war” of 1872, which enabled Rockefeller to leave Cleveland owning 85 percent of the city’s oil refineries.  Almost 30 years later, Tarbell would redefine investigative journalism with a 19-part series in McClure’s magazine, a masterpiece of journalism and an unrelenting indictment that brought down one of history’s greatest tycoons and effectively broke up Standard Oil’s monopoly.  By dint of what she termed “steady, painstaking work,” Tarbell unearthed damaging internal documents, supported by interviews with employees, lawyers and—with the help of Mark Twain—candid conversations with Standard Oil’s most powerful senior executive at the time, Henry H. Rogers, which sealed the company’s fate.  https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/the-woman-who-took-on-the-tycoon-651396/

Gefilte fish was, at first, a dish of convenience.  On the Sabbath, religious Jews are not permitted to separate bones from flesh, so it was convenient to grind the fish sans bones.  It was also a dish of faith.  The fact that these Jewish families could, in fact, eat fish allowed them to more legitimately sanctify special, holy days.  And it was a dish of resourcefulness.  Using the gefilte fish recipe, families who were unable to afford an entire fish to feed all of their children were able to stretch the limits of just one.  The poorer the family, the more breadcrumbs or matzo meal they might add to the mixture.  As was later canonized in Barbara Cohen’s memorable children’s book, “The Carp in the Bathtub,” gefilte fish was a dish of sacrifice, too.  In the late 19th and early 20th century, many Jews in New York City would keep a fish in their tiny tenement apartments in order to prepare the dish, giving up their one and only bathtub (or, in many cases, the bathtub they shared with neighbors) so it would be fresh for Passover or Shabbat.  And lastly, it was a dish of wisdom.  As with many traditions from many cultures, there's an element of practicality at play here:  Horseradish, which is typically served alongside gefilte fish, actually has an antimicrobial component.  Rebekah Lowin  https://www.foodandwine.com/news/gefilte-fish-haters-heres-why-you-should-reconsider-your-stance         

For Graham Greene he was "unquestionably our best thriller writer".  John le Carré once called him "the source on which we all draw".  With the six novels he wrote in the years leading up to the second world war--five of which have been reissued by Penguin Modern Classics--Eric Ambler revitalised the British thriller, rescuing the genre from the jingoistic clutches of third-rate imitators of John Buchan, and recasting it in a more realist, nuanced and leftishly intelligent--not to mention exciting--mould.  His novels were all out of print by the time he died in October 1998.  Thomas Jones  Read extensive article at https://www.theguardian.com/books/2009/jun/06/eric-ambler-mask-dimitrios-journey-fear

“ . . . a trial-by-tabloid will sink a career.”  “I put ground nutmeg on my shrimp.  Some curry powder for heat.  And for sweetness, a splash of 7 Up.  You surprised?”  The Chef, a novel by James Patterson with Max DiLallo  Find six recipes, including one for Crab Gumbo, from the Killer Chef Food truck at the end of the book

Rigmarole means complicated, bothersome nonsense, so it might seem that, like gobbledygook, kerfuffle, to-do, and blabbityblab, the word’s origin is onomatopoeic or fanciful.  But there is a story behind rigmarole that goes back to a 13^th century list of names known as the Ragman Roll.  Edward I of England, also known as Hammer of the Scots, forced members of the Scottish nobility to swear fealty to him by signing oaths of allegiance that were collected on a number of parchments that together made up what came to be called the Ragman Roll (or Ragman Rolls, or Ragman’s Roll).  Why Ragman?  There’s some disagreement about that.  It may contain a Scandinavian root related to cowardice (in Icelandic ragmenni means coward).  Or it could go back to a medieval word for the devil.  Ragman was also the name of a game where a scroll of parchment had strings hanging from it that pointed to various (likely bawdy) verses in the scroll.  Players would choose a string to find their verse, and it would be read out to the entertainment of all.  Over time ragman roll, for a long roll of parchment full of “nonsense,” eventually became rigmarole, a long, unnecessarily time-consuming hassle.  Arika Okrent  https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/78351/where-does-rigmarole-come

Timothy Gager is the author of sixteen books of fiction and poetry.  His latest, Poems of 2020, is his ninth of poetry.  Timothy hosted the successful Dire Literary Series in Cambridge, Massachusetts from 2001 to 2018, and as a virtual series starting in 2020.  Timothy was the co-founder of The Somerville News Writers Festival.  He has had over one-thousand works of fiction and poetry published, of which seventeen have been nominated for the Pushcart Prize.  His work also has been nominated for a Massachusetts Book Award, The Best of the Web, The Best Small Fictions Anthology and has been read on National Public Radio.  Timothy is the Fiction Editor of The Wilderness House Literary Review, and the founding co-editor of The Heat City Literary Review.  A graduate of the University of Delaware, Timothy lives in Dedham, Massachusetts with some fish and two rabbits, and he is employed as a social worker.  https://www.pw.org/directory/writers/timothy_gager

http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com  Issue 2358  April 30, 2021 

The vegetable rhubarb requires cold winters to grow.  As a result, it’s mainly found in mountainous and temperate regions around the world, especially in Northeast Asia.  It’s also a common garden plant in North America and Northern Europe.  Rhubarb is a vegetable grown for its thick, sour stalks, which are usually eaten after being cooked with sugar.  Rhubarb is a very good source of vitamin K1, providing around 26–37% of the Daily Value (DV) in a 3.5-ounce (100-gram) serving depending on whether it’s cooked (2Trusted Source, 3Trusted Source).  Like other fruits and vegetables, it’s also high in fiber, providing similar amounts as oranges, apples, or celery.  Its acidity is mainly due to its high levels of malic and oxalic acid.  Interestingly, growing rhubarb in darkness makes it less sour and more tender.  This variety is known as forced rhubarb, which is grown in spring or late winter.  https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/rhubarb#sour-taste 

Valley Forge functioned as the third of eight winter encampments for the Continental Army's main body, commanded by General George Washington, during the American Revolutionary War.  In September 1777, Congress fled Philadelphia to escape the British capture of the city.  After failing to retake Philadelphia, Washington led his 12,000-man army into winter quarters at Valley Forge, located approximately 18 miles (29 km) northwest of Philadelphia.  They remained there for six months, from December 19, 1777 to June 19, 1778.  At Valley Forge, the Continentals struggled to manage a disastrous supply crisis while retraining and reorganizing their units.  About 1,700 to 2,000 soldiers died from disease, possibly exacerbated by malnutrition.  Today, Valley Forge National Historical Park protects and preserves over 3,500 acres of the original encampment site.  In 1777, Valley Forge consisted of a small proto-industrial community located at the juncture of the Valley Creek and the Schuylkill River.  In 1742, Quaker industrialists established the Mount Joy Iron Forge.  Largely thanks to capital improvements made by John Potts and his family over the following decades, the small community expanded the ironworks, established mills, and constructed new dwellings for residents.  Surrounding the valley was a rich farmland, where mainly Welsh-Quaker farmers grew wheat, rye, hay, Indian corn, among other crops, and raised livestock including cattle, sheep, pigs, and barnyard fowl.  Settlers of German and Swedish descent also lived nearby.  In the summer of 1777 the Continental Army's quartermaster general, Thomas Mifflin, decided to station a portion of his army's supplies in outbuildings around the forges, because of its variety of structures and secluded location between two prominent hills.  Fearing such a concentration of military supplies would undoubtedly become a target for British raids, the forge-ironmaster, William Dewees Jr., expressed concerns about the army's proposal.  Mifflin heeded Dewees' concerns but established a magazine at Valley Forge anyway.  After the British landing at Head of Elk (present-day Elkton, Maryland), on August 25, 1777, the British Army maneuvered out of the Chesapeake basin and towards Valley Forge.  Following the Battle of Brandywine (September 11, 1777) and the abortive Battle of the Clouds (September 16), on September 18 several hundred soldiers under General Wilhelm von Knyphausen raided the supply magazine at Valley Forge.  Despite the best efforts of Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Hamilton and Captain Henry "Light Horse Harry" Lee, the two Continental army officers selected to evacuate the supplies from Valley Forge, Crown soldiers captured supplies, destroyed others, and burned down the forges and other buildings.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valley_Forge  See also https://www.nps.gov/vafo/learn/historyculture/valley-forge-history-and-significance.htm 

April 23, 2021  The Smithsonian will open seven museums and the National Zoo next month, starting with the National Air and Space Museum’s Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, Va., on May 5, the 60th anniversary of Alan Shepard becoming the first American in space.  The National Museum of African American History and Culture, the National Portrait Gallery and the Smithsonian American Art Museum and its Renwick Gallery will open May 14, followed a week later by the National Museum of American History, the National Museum of the American Indian and the National Zoo.  The rest of the Smithsonian museums, including the popular Air and Space and Natural History museums, will open later in the year.  In step with the Smithsonian, the National Gallery of Art also announced that it will reopen its West Building on May 14 after an almost six-month closure.  Peggy McGlone  https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/museums/smithsonian-national-gallery-reopenings/2021/04/22/414b818e-a2ce-11eb-85fc-06664ff4489d_story.html 

On a warm Texas night in 1956, Bette Nesmith—later known as Bette Nesmith Graham—sat in a garage surrounded by buckets of white tempera paint, empty nail polish bottles, and handmade labels.  She didn’t know it then, but she was on the brink of something magical.  The product she would eventually create—Liquid Paper, a white correction fluid used to conceal handwritten or printed typos—would become one of the world’s most popular and enduring office supplies.  Graham wasn’t a chemist or an engineer.  She was a single mom from Texas who had a brilliant idea while working a 9-to-5 job as a secretary.  But she was also a budding product marketing genius:  Over several decades, she identified a need in the market, organically grew her business, staved off competition, and bootstrapped her way to a $47.5m exit—$173m in today’s money.  And she did it all during a time when women were discouraged from pursuing business ventures.  Zachary Crockett  Read more at https://thehustle.co/how-a-secretary-and-single-mom-invented-liquid-paper/  Thank you, Muse reader!  

The 93rd Academy Awards ceremony, presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), honored the best films of 2020 and early 2021.  It was the first time the 93rd Academy Awards was held virtually and in-person due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.  It took place in Los Angeles, at both Union Station and the Dolby Theatre, on April 25, 2021, two months later than originally planned, due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on cinema.  The nominations were announced on March 15, 2021.  Nomadland won three awards, the most of the night, including Best Picture.  Other winners included The Father, Judas and the Black Messiah, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, Mank, Soul, and Sound of Metal with two awards, and Another Round, Colette, If Anything Happens I Love You, Minari, My Octopus Teacher, Promising Young Woman, Tenet, and Two Distant Strangers with one.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/93rd_Academy_Awards

A new word is like a fresh seed sown on the ground of the discussion. - Ludwig Wittgenstein, philosopher (26 Apr 1889-1951) 

Kafkatrap  noun  A sophistical rhetorical device in which any denial by an accused person serves as evidence of guilt.  Kafkatrap  verb  (transitive) To employ a Kafkatrap against (someone ). https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Kafkatrap#English

The Bohemian author Franz Kafka’s book Der Proceß (The Trial), which inspired the word, was first published posthumously on April 26, 1925. 

http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com  Issue 2356  April 26, 2021 

Who Moved My Cheese?  An Amazing Way to Deal with Change in Your Work and in Your Life, published on September 8, 1998, is a motivational business fable.  The text describes change in one's work and life, and four typical reactions to those changes by two mice and two "Littlepeople", during their hunt for cheese.  A New York Times business bestseller upon release, Who Moved My Cheese? remained on the list for almost five years and spent over 200 weeks on Publishers Weekly's hardcover nonfiction list.  It has sold more than 26 million copies worldwide in 37 languages and remains one of the best-selling business books.  Read summary of book at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Who_Moved_My_Cheese%3F

Patrick Spencer Johnson (1938-2017) was an American physician and author, known for the ValueTales series of children's books, and for his 1998 self-help book Who Moved My Cheese?, which recurred on the New York Times Bestseller list, on the Publishers Weekly Hardcover nonfiction list.  Johnson was the chairman of Spencer Johnson Partners.  Johnson also wrote the book "Yes" or "No":  The Guide to Better Decisions (1992).  He co-authored the One Minute Manager series of books with management writer Ken Blanchard, though each author has added their own books to the series.  Johnson's last book, Out of the Maze, is a sequel to Who Moved My Cheese that references Johnson's struggle with cancer (which ultimately ended with his death in 2017) and was published posthumously in 2018.  Johnson's books have been translated into twenty-six languages.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spencer_Johnson_(writer) 

Chinese scientists plan to start the commercial production of their highly salt-tolerant “seawater rice” in China after large scale pilot planting achieved a stable and profitable harvest in 2020.  The research team led by the country’s “Father of Hybrid Rice” Yuan Longping declared.  The scientist group has signed deals with various Chinese localities to sow its brine rice over a total area of 6 million mu (400,000 hectares) of saline and alkaline land this year.  The team is set on increasing the area planted with its salty rice to 100 million mu in eight to 10 years to turn vast tracts of wasteland into a breadbasket.  The researchers cultivated 100,000 mu of the sodium-resistant rice in 10 different spots last year and this yielded more than 400 kilograms per mu in its pilot testing.  Outside China, the team has also already successfully planted the new strain of the grain which is a staple for more than half of the world’s population in the UAE capital of Dubai since 2018, boosting food supplies for local residents, as well as improving its arid ecosystem.  Tang Shihua   https://www.yicaiglobal.com/news/chinese-scientists-to-mass-plant-seawater-rice 

Grilled cheese sandwich variants:  Add sausage, sauerkraut, bacon, tomato, or fruit. 

In June 1956 that the Library Services Act (LSA) was passed in Congress; the first federal aid program in US history introduced to support library infrastructures.  The LSA was to provide an annual appropriation of up to $7.5 million per year for five years for the introduction, extension and improvement of rural public library services.  Under the State plan, funds could be used for salaries, books and other library materials, library equipment and operating expenses, but not for purchase of land or new library buildings.  Targeted at communities with limited or no library facilities, the LSA, paradoxically, prohibited the creation of the very facilities, where they were needed most.  In its shortcomings, however, the Act inadvertently contributed significantly to the expansion of library networks thanks to the increased use of mobile libraries.  The constraints of the new funds meant that bookmobiles became the key means of book circulation and the most effective way of expanding the libraries’ reach.  By using public highways for transport and public spaces, from town squares to parking lots as their hubs of library activity, the bookmobiles made possible widespread book circulation without extensive and expensive book circulation infrastructures.  Their proliferation was widely supported and received enthusiastically, so much so that one new avid reader described the bookmobile as “the best thing . . . since they paved the roads.”  Kaya Marczewska  Read extensive article at https://www.full-stop.net/2021/03/01/features/essays/kaja-marczewska/here-comes-the-small-press/

A croft is a fenced or enclosed area of land, usually small and arable, and usually, but not always, with a crofter's dwelling thereon.  A crofter is one who has tenure and use of the land, typically as a tenant farmer, especially in rural areas.  See picture of the Shetland Crofthouse Museum at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Croft_(land) 

The haibun is the combination of two poems:  a prose poem and haiku.  The form was popularized by the 17th century Japanese poet Matsuo Basho.  Both the prose poem and haiku typically communicate with each other, though poets employ different strategies for this communication—some doing so subtly, while others are more direct.  The prose poem usually describes a scene or moment in an objective manner.  In other words, the pronoun "I" isn't often used—if at all.  Robert Lee Brewer  Find an example of Brewer’s haibun “1985” at https://www.writersdigest.com/write-better-poetry/haibun-poems-poetic-form  Read about Matsuo Basho (born in 1644) and see examples of haibun at https://ypn.poetrysociety.org.uk/workshop/youve-written-haiku-now-try-haibun/ 

Amigurumi is the Japanese art of knitting or crocheting small, stuffed yarn creatures.  The word is a compound of the Japanese words 編み ami, meaning "crocheted or knitted", and 包み kurumi, literally "wrapping", as in 縫い包み nuigurumi "(sewn) stuffed doll".  Amigurumi vary in size and there are no restrictions about size or look.  While the art of amigurumi has been known in Japan for several decades, the craft first started appealing to the masses in other countries, especially in the West, in 2003.  According to the Crochet Guild of America (CGOA), there are earlier records of crocheted or knitted dolls made in China.  Find free amigurimi patterns at https://amigurumi.today/page/2/

My words fly up, my thoughts remain below.  Words without thoughts never to heaven go. - Shakespeare, poet and dramatist (23 Apr 1564-1616) 

http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com  Issue 2355  April 23, 2021

As early as the 1840s, women served as “keepers of the light” at dozens of Michigan’s lighthouses.  The work was dangerous and physically demanding, and while some found life in the rugged storm-battered outposts to be stark and lonely, others wrote of the passion they felt for their life-saving responsibilities.  Serving as a lighthouse keeper was the only “non-clerical” government job that women were allowed to hold in the late 1800s and early 1900s.  Some women were hired directly into the position.  Others were promoted to the role when their lighthouse keeper-husband became ill or died.  Among those who served is Frances Wuori Johnson, a civilian keeper of the White River Light Station in Whitehall who shared responsibilities with her husband Leo Wuori in the 1940s.  When Leo decided to return to the Upper Peninsula, Francis stayed on, serving as lighthouse keeper until 1954.  The year before she retired, Frances was featured on the television show “What’s My Line?”  She stumped the panel and received a prize of $50 plus her trip to New York City.  https://www.shorelinemedia.net/the-ladies-of-the-lights/article_4b09bfdc-3e95-11e9-9ad5-7704eade5383.html  The Muser learned of the Johnson story and of other female lighthouse keepers during a February 24, 2021 lecture by Patricia Majher, author of Ladies of the Light.  The lecture was sponsored by the National Museum of the Great Lakes.  https://nmgl.org/

"Women of the Light" lecture by Patricia Majher.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t3B9Tk9hln0

"Whats My Line" with Mrs. Johnson  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ipU3xwSuQ3E 

Follow-up to lecture:  How many lighthouses were there at the peak and how many are there now?  What's the percentage of women keepers?  I can only speak for my state.  Surprisingly, the total number of Michigan lighthouses at their peak ranges from 115 to 129 depending on how you define the term "lighthouse"!  A good resource for those 129 lights is the Michigan Lighthouse Guide map, available at michiganlighthouseguide.com.  As far as how many there are now, I've had trouble pinning that number down, too.  Some have disappeared altogether or are in ruins, but the vast majority are now in private hands or owned by nonprofit organizations.  Re: the percentage of female keepers . . . a dissertation by Virginia Neal Thomas dated 2010 states that five percent of principal keepers were female, but does not take into account the number of women employed by the Lighthouse Service (and later the Coast Guard) as assistant keepers.  Lighthouses are towering beacons projecting guiding lights over troubled waters.  But, as the word suggests, many lighthouses had a residence attached to the tower that sheltered a keeper and his family.  The history of one Detroit River lighthouse renders a personal view of the troubles endured by the family that called it home.  The Ecorse Lighthouse stood on the marshy shores of the Detroit River north of Mud Island.  It was situated where the mainland curves east, resulting in a narrowing of the waterway.  Built in 1895, the 41-foot tall, wooden tower housed a fixed red light that guided boats around the bend in the river.  From 1895 to 1906, the lighthouse was home to the Gramer family.  The keeper, August “Gus” Gramer, married a 15-year-old German girl named Lucy in 1891.  This union produced three children:  Elsie, Edward and James.  At some point in the mid-1890s, a hired hand named Charlie joined the household to assist with chores. Gus came to believe that a romantic relationship existed between Lucy and Charlie.  When the United States went to war with Spain in 1898, Gus joined the Navy.  During that time, Lucy was officially recognized as the lighthouse keeper.  When Gus returned from the war, Lucy abandoned the lighthouse to live with her father in Detroit.  The Gramers’ stormy union grabbed the public’s attention.  The Wyandotte Herald of Aug. 24, 1900, reported that Gus went to Detroit to speak to his estranged wife.  The paper printed Gus’ self-serving summary of the reunion.  He related that Lucy acknowledged that he had been good to her and how she fell to her knees and, between sobs, confessed that she preferred Charlie, despite the fact that he was not handsome.  Gus continued with his account, saying that, rather than seek revenge, he called Charlie in, and making him kneel beside Lucy, placed his wife’s hand in Charlie’s hand, saying:  “Lucy … be good to the children; Charlie, be good to Lucy, as she has been a good wife to me.”  Gus added that he then treated both to ice cream at a local parlor and then helped move furniture to the couple’s new home.  However, Lucy’s recollection, reported in the same article, is different.  She asserted that she never fell to her knees or confessed to anything and would seek a lawyer.  Despite all this, Gus and Lucy reunited, but not for the better.  More turbulence and tragedy lay in their future.  In 1903, Gus was found guilty of beating his wife.  Upon hearing the ugly details, a crowd attempted to lynch Gus.  It was Gus’ turn to fall to his knees and beg for his life.  Authorities intervened.  Apparently, the couple remained together through 1906.  In that year, 4-year-old James accidently fell off the lighthouse pier and drowned.  That year, the Gramers finally divorced.  Gus soon married another woman.  In 1909, he was transferred to the lighthouse in Toledo but was suspended for insubordination.  When he refused to leave the lighthouse, an inspector from the Lighthouse Service in Buffalo was sent, along with a marshal and police to remove him.  As the Detroit Free Press noted with some understatement, “Wherever Gus has been, things usually have happened.”  https://www.thenewsherald.com/news/lighthouse-keeper-had-his-share-of-bad-times/article_473c391c-a5a1-58b2-be26-59d7625bc89c.html  See also http://michiganlighthouseguide.com/keepers.html 

EARTHDAY.ORG’s theme for Earth Day 2021 is Restore Our Earth™, which focuses on natural processes, emerging green technologies, and innovative thinking that can restore the world’s ecosystems.  More than 1 billion people in 192 countries now participate in Earth Day activities each year, making it the largest civic observance in the world.  On this page, you will find key messaging and resources on Restore Our Earth.  The toolkit includes all necessary materials to post on social media, write your own op-ed, or send a note to your network.  https://www.earthday.org/toolkit-earth-day-2021-restore-our-earth/  Earth Day 2021 is Thursday, April 22. 

April 15, 2021  Sotheby’s plunged into the evolving world of cryptoart—and into the knotty question of the meaning of value—with the US$16.8 million sale of non-fungible token (NFT) art created by a renowned digital artist known as Pak.  The core component of the multi-part sale, which took place via the online marketplace Nifty Gateway over the course of three days through Thursday, April 14, was Open Editions—fungible cubes that collectors could buy “infinitely” during the open slots of the sale for a predetermined price that rose from US$500 on the first day of the sale to US$1,000 on the second and US$1,500 on the third.  The sale comes on the heels of Christie’s landmark auction of Everydays: The First 5,000 Days, an NFT by Mike Winkelmann, the artist known as Beeple, which sold for US$69.3 million during an online auction that ended March 11.  In May, Christie’s will follow up with a set of nine images of CryptoPunks—considered the original NFTs—that are owned by software developers and Larva Labs founders Matt Hall and John Watkinson, who created them.  Phillips, meanwhile, is currently offering REPLICATOR by Michah Dowback, an artist known as Mad Dog Jones, in an online auction that ends April 23, 2021. The work, which can make new NFTs from itself every 28 days, currently carries a bid of US$2.4 million.  Abby Schultz  https://www.barrons.com/articles/questioning-value-in-sothebys-16-8-million-sale-of-paks-digital-art-01618524847

No man was more influential than John Muir in preserving the Sierra's integrity.  If I were to choose a single Californian to occupy the Hall of Fame, it would be this tenacious Scot who became a Californian during the final forty-six years of his life.  It was John Muir whose knowledge wedded to zeal led men and governments to establish the National Park Service.  Yosemite and Sequoia in California, the Petrified forest and the Grand Canyon in Arizona, and the glacier wilderness of Alaska are what they are today largely because of this one man, in whom learning and love were co-equal.  Lawrence Clark Powell  https://vault.sierraclub.org/john_muir_exhibit/life/powell_tribute.aspx  Born on April 21, 1838 in Dunbar, Scotland, John Muir immigrated to the United States with his family when he was 11 years old.   In 1892 he founded the Sierra Club.  He served as its first president, a position he held until his death in 1914.  https://www.biography.com/scholar/john-muir 

http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com  Issue 2354   April 21, 2021 

Elkton is a charming town located at the navigational head of the Elk River, originally known as the Head of Elk due to its use as a travel route to the nearby Chesapeake Bay.  During the 19th and 20th centuries, the town was known as the "Gretna Green of the East" due to its popularity as an elopement site for area couples.  It offers lovely rustic attractions for visitors looking to experience true small-town Maryland life, including the state's oldest preserved historic covered bridge, which can be traversed on foot throughout the year.  Each year, the city hosts the annual Fairhill Scottish Games, which attract more than 500 Scottish and Celtic performers and competitors.  https://vacationidea.com/maryland/best-things-to-do-in-elkton-md.html 

pecadillo  "The world loves a spice of wickedness."  That observation by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow may explain why people are so willing to forgive peccadilloes as youthful foolishness or lapses of judgment.  The willingness to overlook petty faults and minor offenses existed long before English speakers borrowed a modified version of the Spanish pecadillo at the end of the 16th century.  Spanish speakers distinguished the pecadillo, or "little sin," from the more serious pecado, their term for a sin of magnitude.  And these Spanish terms can be traced back still further, to the Latin verb peccare, meaning "to sin."  https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/peccadillo 

Cuban Picadillo  https://www.skinnytaste.com/picadillo-6-ww-pts/

Mexican Picadillo  https://houseofyumm.com/mexican-picadillo/

Vegan Cuban Picadillo  https://simpleveganblog.com/vegan-cuban-picadillo/  ‘Picadillo,’ a hearty stew, translates as 'hash' or 'mince' from Spanish.

Bud Grace ended his syndicated comic strip Piranha Club after thirty years.  How it lasted that long is a puzzler.  Like all good comic strips, it was character-driven.  The characters determined the action.  But the characters in Grace’s strip are scoundrels and frauds.  They represent the entire lexicon for “venal”: they are not only capable but eager to betray honor, duty, or scruples for a price.  And yet, we loved them. We loved them enough to keep the strip going for three decades.  The strip began on February 1, 1988 as Ernie.  It changed its name to Piranha Club on September 6, 1998.  Said Grace:  “We tried a promotion, and we thought that by changing the name we might pick up some papers.  That didn't work, so then I thought I’d change my name to Bill Watterson.  Piranha Club is still called Ernie in the rest of the world.  “Ernie is the most widely syndicated comic feature in Scandinavia,” Grace continued.  Ernie ended on Saturday, February 3, 2018.  Thirty years almost to the day.  And throughout its run, Ernie was a flamboyantly outrageous enterprise, an unabashed assault on ordinary, everyday decorum and civilized sensibilities.  R.C. Harvey  See examples of the comic strip at http://www.tcj.com/the-curtain-falls-on-piranha-club/

The Dardanelles, also known as Strait of Gallipoli from Gallipoli Peninsula or from Classical Antiquity as the Hellespont, is a narrow, natural strait and internationally significant waterway in northwestern Turkey that forms part of the continental boundary between Europe and Asia, and separates Asian Turkey from European Turkey.  One of the world's narrowest straits used for international navigation, the Dardanelles connects the Sea of Marmara with the Aegean and Mediterranean Seas, while also allowing passage to the Black Sea by extension via the Bosphorus.  The Dardanelles is 61 kilometres (38 mi) long, and 1.2 to 6 kilometres (0.75 to 3.73 mi) wide, averaging 55 metres (180 ft) deep with a maximum depth of 103 metres (338 ft) at its narrowest point abreast the city of Çanakkale.  Together with the Bosphorus, the Dardanelles forms the Turkish Straits  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dardanelles 

Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, husband of Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom and the other Commonwealth realms, and the longest-serving royal consort in British history, died in Windsor Castle at the age of 99 on the morning of 9 April 2021, two months before his 100th birthday.  His funeral took place on 17 April.  The death of the Duke initiated Operation Forth Bridge, a plan detailing procedures including the dissemination of information, national mourning, and his funeral.  The Duke had indicated wishes for a smaller funeral, though amendments were still made to the plan to bring his service in line with COVID-19 regulations, including quarantine for members of the Duke's family travelling from abroad.  Psalm 104, was sung to a setting by William Lovelady that the Duke had commissioned. The hymns were Eternal Father, Strong to Save, which is traditionally associated with seafarers, Benjamin Britten's Jubilate in C (also commissioned by the Duke), and Russian Kontakion of the Departed to the tune by Sir Walter Parratt.  The Duke was buried in the Royal Vault at St George's Chapel.  Upon the Queen's death, his remains will be moved to the King George VI Memorial Chapel inside St George's, where they will be buried next to each other.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_and_funeral_of_Prince_Philip,_Duke_of_Edinburgh 

The former Archbishop of Canterbury, Baron Williams of Oystermouth, has recalled with humour his experience of delivering sermons to the Duke of Edinburgh.  Baron Williams said it was a "very terrifying experience" to preach in front of Prince Philip because of his strong feelings on the length of the sermon.  "He made it very clear what he thought a good sermon required and what it didn't require, and it certainly didn't require more than eight minutes in delivery," he said.  https://www.christiantoday.com/article/retired.archbishop.recalls.very.terrifying.experience.of.preaching.to.prince.philip/136652.htm

On April 5, 2021, the American Library Association reported more than 270 challenges to books in 2020, from Toni Morrison’s “The Bluest Eye” to Harper Lee’s “To Kill a Mockingbird,” compared to 377 the year before.  The number of challenges is likely far higher than reported; the association estimates that only a small percentage are formally registered or publicized—a trend that got worse during the pandemic.  “The shutdowns didn’t just make it less likely that patrons would complain, but because of all the furloughs and layoffs at schools and libraries, it disrupted the whole infrastructure that enables us to be aware of complaints,” says Deborah Caldwell-Stone, who directs the association’s Office for Intellectual Freedom.  Alex Gino’s “George” was the most frequently criticized book, with objections including LGBTQ content and “not reflecting the values” of the community.  The No. 2 book for complaints was Ibram X. Kendi’s and Jason Reynolds’ “Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You,” challenged in part for “selective storytelling incidents” that do not reflect racism against all people.  Hillel Italie  https://www.seattletimes.com/entertainment/books-by-steinbeck-alexie-among-most-objected-to-in-2020/ 

There is a beauty in discovery. There is mathematics in music, a kinship of science and poetry in the description of nature, and exquisite form in a molecule. - Glenn T. Seaborg, scientist, Nobel laureate (19 Apr 1912-1999)   

http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com  Issue 2353  April 19, 2021

The Grass Crown (Latin: corona graminea) or Blockade Crown (corona obsidionalis) was the highest and rarest of all military decorations in the Roman Republic and early Roman empire.  It was presented only to a general, commander, or officer whose actions saved a legion or the entire army.  One example of actions leading to awarding of a grass crown would be a general who broke the blockade around a beleaguered Roman army.  The crown took the form of a chaplet made from plant materials taken from the battlefield, including grasses, flowers, and various cereals such as wheat; it was presented to the general by the army he had saved.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grass_Crown  The Grass Crown is the second historical novel in Colleen McCullough's Masters of Rome series, published in 1991.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Grass_Crown_(novel) 

Primary 

adjective  first or highest in rank or importance; chief; principal.  first in order in any series, sequence, etc.  first in time; earliest; primitive.

noun, plural pri·ma·ries.  something that is first in order, rank, or importance.  U.S. Politics.  Also called primary election.  a preliminary election in which voters of each party nominate candidates for office, party officers, etc.  Compare closed primary, direct primary, indirect primary, open primary.  a meeting of the voters of a political party in an election district for nominating candidates for office, choosing delegates for a convention, etc.; caucus.

verb (used with object), pri·ma·ried, pri·ma·ry·ing.  U.S. Politics. to challenge or oppose (the incumbent) in a primary election, usually for strong ideological reasons (often used in passive constructions).  https://www.dictionary.com/browse/primary 

The Rainmaker is a 1997 American legal drama film written and directed by Francis Ford Coppola based on John Grisham's 1995 novel of the same name.  It stars Matt Damon, Danny DeVito, Danny Glover, Claire Danes, Jon Voight, Roy Scheider, Mickey Rourke, Virginia Madsen, Mary Kay Place and Teresa Wright in her final film role.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Rainmaker_(1997_film) 

The Rainmaker is a 1956 American romance film directed by Joseph Anthony and adapted by N. Richard Nash from his 1954 play The Rainmaker.  The film tells the story of a middle-aged woman, suffering from unrequited love for the local town sheriff; however, she falls for a con man who comes to town with the promise that he can make it rain.  It stars Burt Lancaster, Katharine Hepburn, Wendell Corey, Lloyd Bridges and Earl Holliman.  Holliman won a Golden Globe Award for his performance.  The film was later remade in Hindi as Thodasa Roomani Ho Jaayen.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Rainmaker_(1956_film) 

A rainmaker is any person who brings clients, money, business, or even intangible prestige to an organization based solely on his or her associations and contacts.  The rainmaker is usually regarded highly within the company by other employees and is a key figure like a principal, partner, or executive.  The term is sometimes used in the context of political fundraising as well.  Traditionally, the term "rainmaker" has been applied to members of the legal profession, like politicians with law degrees who retire from public life to practice at nationally recognized law firms.  However, over time, the term has gained usage in many other industries and activities, including investment banking, political campaigning, and public speaking.  Barclay Palmer  https://www.investopedia.com/ask/answers/08/rainmaker.asp 

James Prescott Joule FRS FRSE (1818–1889) was an English physicist, mathematician and brewer, born in Salford, Lancashire.  Joule studied the nature of heat, and discovered its relationship to mechanical work (see energy).  This led to the law of conservation of energy, which in turn led to the development of the first law of thermodynamics.  The SI derived unit of energy, the joule, is named after him.  He worked with Lord Kelvin to develop an absolute thermodynamic temperature scale, which came to be called the Kelvin scale.  Joule also made observations of magnetostriction, and he found the relationship between the current through a resistor and the heat dissipated, which is also called Joule's first law.  His experiments about energy transformations were first published in 1843.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Prescott_Joule 

Clifford Odets (1906–1963) was an American playwright, screenwriter, and director.  In the mid-1930s he was widely seen as the potential successor to Nobel Prize-winning playwright Eugene O'Neill, as O'Neill began to withdraw from Broadway's commercial pressures and increasing critical backlash.  From January 1935 Odets' socially relevant dramas were extremely influential, particularly for the remainder of the Great Depression.  His works inspired the next several generations of playwrights, including Arthur Miller, Paddy Chayefsky, Neil Simon, and David Mamet.  After the production of his play Clash by Night in the 1941–'42 season, Odets focused his energies primarily on film projects, remaining in Hollywood for the next seven years.  He returned to New York in 1948 for five and a half years, during which time he produced three more Broadway plays, only one of which was a success.  His prominence was eventually eclipsed by Miller, Tennessee Williams, and in the early- to mid-1950s, by William Inge.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clifford_Odets 

Books, like mirrors, help reflect what we observe and know about the world we live in.  It’s powerful to read or listen to a story about someone like you.  Books also allow us to view and understand lives that are different from our own, like a window onto other experiences.  But to succeed as mirrors and windows, books must tell a wide range of stories—and they must include a diversity of people and worlds.  At Reach Out and Read, we’re committed to increasing access to inclusive books for young people of all races and backgrounds.  Learn how to help at https://reachoutandread.org/donate/ 

The phenakistiscope (also known by the spellings phénakisticope or phenakistoscope) was the first widespread animation device that created a fluent illusion of motion.  Dubbed Fantascope and Stroboscopische Scheiben ('stroboscopic discs') by its inventors, it has been known under many other names until the French product name Phénakisticope became common (with alternative spellings).  The phenakistiscope is regarded as one of the first forms of moving media entertainment that paved the way for the future motion picture and film industry.  When it was introduced in the French newspaper Le Figaro in June 1833, the term 'phénakisticope' was explained to be from the root Greek word 'phenakisticos' (or rather φενακίζειν - phenakizein), meaning "to deceive" or "to cheat", and ὄψ – óps, meaning "eye" or "face", so it was probably intended loosely as 'optical deception' or 'optical illusion'.  See graphics at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phenakistiscope

http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com  Issue 2352  April 16, 2021