In trick-taking games, to ruff means to play a trump card to a trick (other than when trumps were led).  According to the rules of most games, a player must have no cards left in the suit led in order to ruff.  Since the other players are constrained to follow suit if they can, even a low trump can win a trick.  In some games, like Pinochle and Preferans, the player who cannot follow suit is required to ruff.  In others, like Bridge and Whist, he may instead discard (play any card in any other suit).  Normally, ruffing will win a trick.  But it is also possible that a subsequent player will overruff (play a higher trump).  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruff_(cards)   

KINGS OF CAMOUFLAGE  One of the most mystifying creatures of the deep, the cuttlefish has abilities and even senses that are alien to us humans.  This versatile animal can change its appearance at will, mimicking floating vegetation or rocks on the seafloor.  Yet when danger looms, the animal can jet away at great speeds, shooting out a smoke screen of ink or using its ink to create decoys of itself.  See many pictures at https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/camo/anat-nf.html   

Lady Mary Wroth (1597-1653) was the first Englishwoman to write a complete sonnet sequence as well as an original work of prose fiction.  Although earlier women writers of the 16th century had mainly explored the genres of translation, dedication, and epitaph, Wroth openly transgressed the traditional boundaries by writing secular love poetry and romances.  Her verse was celebrated by the leading poets of the age, including Ben Jonson, George Chapman, Josuah Sylvester, and others.  Despite the controversy over the publication in 1621 of her major work of fiction, The Countess of Montgomery’s Urania, Wroth continued writing a second part of her romance and composed a five-act pastoral drama, Love’s Victory.  By 1613 Wroth had begun her writing career—as revealed in Josuah Sylvester’s elegy for Prince Henry, Lachrymæ Lachrymarum (1613), in which he refers to her verse and praises her as “AL-WORTH Sidnëides / In whom, her Uncle’s noble Veine renewes.”  Her poems apparently circulated in manuscript long before their publication in 1621.  Ben Jonson refers to “exscribing,” or copying out, her verses in one of his poems addressed to her.  An early version of her sonnet sequence Pamphilia to Amphilanthus survives in a single manuscript, neatly copied in Wroth’s own formal italic hand, now at the Folger Shakespeare Library.  This autograph version of Wroth’s sequence consists of 110 songs and sonnets, plus 7 miscellaneous pieces.  https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/mary-wroth   

A pocket watch with an engraved gold-plated case was found on the body of John Starr March (1861-1912), an American sea post clerk assigned to the RMS Titanic.  The watch’s hands point to 1:27, probably having stopped on the morning of April 15, 1912, as the ocean liner sank in the North Atlantic.  Eyewitnesses stated that the postal clerks worked to rescue the mail as the ship was going down.  None of the five postal clerks survived the disaster.  See picture of John March’s watch at https://postalmuseum.si.edu/object/npm_1998.2021.1.1   

In December, 2020, a bill passed by both houses of Congress designated America's 63rd national park.  The move upgraded West Virginia's New River Gorge from a national river to a federally protected tourist destination.  The existing New River Gorge area spans more than 70,000 acres, but according to Congress' designation act, it'll be divided into two sections:  the park and the preserve.  The park, which includes some of the most scenic slivers of waterfront, will only be 7,021 acres.  The remaining 65,165 acres will make up the preserve, providing ample space for people to continue hunting and fishing legally.  You may be surprised to learn that the creation of the new park was tied to the COVID-19 relief bill, but there's actually a very good reason:  National parks drive tourism dollars.  Kyler Alvord  https://www.thrillist.com/news/nation/west-virginia-new-river-gorge-national-park-announcement

Ann Axtell (1900-1945) was a prominent archeologist, artist, and author.  After graduating from Smith College, Ann met Earl Halstead Morris and they married in 1923.  During the 1920’s and 1930’s, "archeology power couple" Ann and Earl worked together during extensive multi-year excavations throughout the American Southwest and in Mexico, including five seasons at Chichen Itza, Yucatan in partnership with the Carnegie Institution of Washington.  Although Earl's work tended to eclipse Ann's, she played a critical role in his research.  She is significant as a pioneer in archeology at a time when the discipline largely did not accept women's participation.  Ann spent much of her time recording and painting architecture, petroglyphs and pictographs, and landscapes; as well as the everyday tasks of expedition life.  She developed methods and standards for pictoral documentation that are still in use today.  At a time when archeologists used black-and-white photography to record sites and artifacts, Ann's colorful drawings captured information that would have been lost.  She also conducted ethnographic studies of indigenous people who had historically lived near archeological places.  Along with her artwork, Ann wrote two books about her experiences as an archeologist and the significance of her findings.  “Digging the Yucatan” and “Digging in the Southwest” show her extensive knowledge and skill as an archeologist and provide a glimpse into her vibrant world.  Ann worked at archeological excavations in places that are now national parks, including Aztec Ruins National Monument, Canyon de Chelly National Monument, and Mesa Verde National Park.  https://www.nps.gov/people/ann-axtell-morris.htm   

50 Slang Terms for Money by Mark Nichol  List includes Benjamins, bucks, clams, lettuce, sawbucks, scratch, and smackers.  https://www.dailywritingtips.com/50-slang-terms-for-money/  See also http://www.fun-with-words.com/money_words.html and https://www.therichest.com/luxury/money-slang-terms-origins/   

When Abraham Lincoln was shot at Ford's Theatre in Washington, D.C. on April 14, 1865, he was carrying two pairs of spectacles and a lens polisher, a pocketknife, a watch fob, a linen handkerchief, a brown leather wallet containing a five-dollar Confederate note, and eight newspaper clippings, including several favorable to the president and his policies.  Given to his son Robert Todd upon Lincoln's death, these everyday items, which through association with tragedy had become like relics, were kept in the Lincoln family for more than seventy years.  Because it is quite unusual for the Library to keep personal artifacts among its holdings, they were not put on display until 1976 when then Librarian of Congress Daniel Boorstin thought their exposure would humanize a man who had become "mythologically engulfed."  https://www.loc.gov/item/myloc16/   

A proverb is a short sentence based on long experience. - Miguel de Cervantes, novelist (29 Sep 1547-1616)   

http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com  Issue 2430  September 29, 2021

Most coastal areas, with some exceptions, experience two high tides and two low tides every day.  Almost everyone is familiar with the concept of a 24-hour solar day, which is the time that it takes for a specific site on the Earth to rotate from an exact point under the sun to the same point under the sun.  Similarly, a lunar day (also known as a "tidal day") is the time it takes for a specific site on the Earth to rotate from an exact point under the moon to the same point under the moon.  Unlike a solar day, however, a lunar day is 24 hours and 50 minutes.  The lunar day is 50 minutes longer than a solar day because the moon revolves around the Earth in the same direction that the Earth rotates around its axis.  So, it takes the Earth an extra 50 minutes to “catch up” to the moon.  Because the Earth rotates through two tidal “bulges” every lunar day, coastal areas experience two high and two low tides every 24 hours and 50 minutes.  High tides occur 12 hours and 25 minutes apart.  It takes six hours and 12.5 minutes for the water at the shore to go from high to low, or from low to high.  https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/education/tutorial_tides/tides05_lunarday.html   

Tides are long-period waves that roll around the planet as the ocean is "pulled" back and forth by the gravitational pull of the moon and the sun as these bodies interact with the Earth in their monthly and yearly orbits.  During full or new moons—which occur when the Earth, sun, and moon are nearly in alignment—average tidal ranges are slightly larger.  This occurs twice each month.  The moon appears new (dark) when it is directly between the Earth and the sun.  The moon appears full when the Earth is between the moon and the sun.  In both cases, the gravitational pull of the sun is "added" to the gravitational pull of the moon on Earth, causing the oceans to bulge a bit more than usual.  This means that high tides are a little higher and low tides are a little lower than average.  These are called spring tides, a common historical term that has nothing to do with the season of spring.  Rather, the term is derived from the concept of the tide "springing forth."  Spring tides occur twice each lunar month all year long, without regard to the season.  Seven days after a spring tide, the sun and moon are at right angles to each other.  When this happens, the bulge of the ocean caused by the sun partially cancels out the bulge of the ocean caused by the moon.  This produces moderate tides known as neap tides, meaning that high tides are a little lower and low tides are a little higher than average.  Neap tides occur during the first and third quarter moon, when the moon appears "half full."  https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/springtide.html   

Frank Lloyd Wright (1867–1959) was an American architect, designer, writer, and educator.  He designed more than 1,000 structures over a creative period of 70 years.  Wright believed in designing in harmony with humanity and the environment, a philosophy he called organic architecture.  This philosophy was exemplified in Fallingwater (1935), which has been called "the best all-time work of American architecture".  Wright played a key role in the architectural movements of the twentieth century, influencing architects worldwide through his works and hundreds of apprentices in his Taliesin Fellowship.  Wright was the pioneer of what came to be called the Prairie School movement of architecture and also developed the concept of the Usonian home in Broadacre City, his vision for urban planning in the United States.  He also designed original and innovative offices, churches, schools, skyscrapers, hotels, museums, and other commercial projects.  Wright-designed interior elements (including leaded glass windows, floors, furniture and even tableware) were integrated into these structures.  He wrote several books and numerous articles and was a popular lecturer in the United States and in Europe.  Wright was recognized in 1991 by the American Institute of Architects as "the greatest American architect of all time".  In 2019, a selection of his work became a listed World Heritage Site as The 20th-Century Architecture of Frank Lloyd Wright.  Raised in rural Wisconsin, Wright studied civil engineering at the University of Wisconsin and then apprenticed in Chicago, first with Joseph Lyman Silsbee (1887) and then with Louis Sullivan (1888).  He opened his own successful Chicago practice in 1893 and established a studio in his Oak Park, Illinois home in 1898.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Lloyd_Wright

A shard is a broken piece of china, glass, ceramic, etc., with edges that are sharp.  Usually, shards are the result of shattering something such as a dish or glass.  The word shard is derived from the Old English word sceard, meaning gap or incision.   A sherd is a broken piece of pottery with edges that are sharp, usually referring to one that is found in an archaeological site.  In essence, the words shard and sherd are interchangeable, though the term sherd is favored by archaeologists.  Sherd is an abbreviation of the word potsherd, which has been in use since the 1300s.  https://grammarist.com/usage/shard-or-sherd/ 

'Mull Hill (Manx: Cronk Meayll also called Meayll Hill or The Mull) is a small hill in the exclave of Rushen Parish at the southern end of the Isle of Man, just outside the village of Cregneash.  It is the site of a chambered cairn called Mull Circle or Meayll Circle.  Near the summit of the hill also lie the remains of a World War II Chain Home Low RDF station.  Mull Hill Stone Circle is a unique archaeological monument.  It consists of twelve burial chambers placed in a ring, with six entrance passages each leading into a pair of chambers.  Sherds of ornate pottery, charred bones, flint tools and white quartz pebbles have been found in the burial chambers. This archaeological monument was built around 3500 BC; it is a site of legends with diverse stories about haunting.  The word Meayll means "bald" in Manx Gaelic.  See graphics at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mull_Hill   

To mull is to ponder over or think about something for a long time.  The gauze used in bookbinding to adhere a text block to a book's cover.  To mull is defined as to add spices to wine or cider.  A thin, soft muslin.  A stew of meat, broth, milk, butter, vegetables, and seasonings, thickened with soda crackers.  See other definitions at https://www.yourdictionary.com/mull   

The Mull Music Festival occurs during April and takes place largely in Mull’s public houses spread around the island.  Musicians and groups from all over Scotland come to Mull with their instruments to join in ad hoc sessions.  https://www.tobermory.co.uk/events-diary-2/events/mull-music-festival/   

infobesity (uncountable)  noun 

(informal) Synonym of information overload (“the availability or supply of too much information, or a state of stress which results from it”) quotations ▼

Synonyms:  infoglut, infoxication  https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/infobesity#English 

September 28 is the International Day for Universal Access to Information, which is recognized by the United Nations to emphasize the importance of public access to information.   

http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com  Issue 2429  September 28, 2021

The Wright brothers--Orville (1871-1948) and Wilbur (1867-1912)--were two American aviation pioneers generally credited with inventing, building, and flying the world's first successful motor-operated airplane.  They made the first controlled, sustained flight of a powered, heavier-than-air aircraft with the Wright Flyer on December 17, 1903, 4 mi (6 km) south of Kitty Hawk, North Carolina.  The brothers were also the first to invent aircraft controls that made fixed-wing powered flight possible.  In 1904–1905, the Wright brothers developed their flying machine to make longer-running and more aerodynamic flights with the Wright Flyer II, followed by the first truly practical fixed-wing aircraft, the Wright Flyer III.  The brothers' breakthrough was their creation of a three-axis control system, which enabled the pilot to steer the aircraft effectively and to maintain its equilibrium.  This method remains standard on fixed-wing aircraft of all kinds.  From the beginning of their aeronautical work, Wilbur and Orville focused on developing a reliable method of pilot control as the key to solving "the flying problem".  This approach differed significantly from other experimenters of the time who put more emphasis on developing powerful engines.  Using a small home-built wind tunnel, the Wrights also collected more accurate data than any before, enabling them to design more efficient wings and propellers.  Their first U.S. patent did not claim invention of a flying machine, but rather a system of aerodynamic control that manipulated a flying machine's surfaces.  The brothers gained the mechanical skills essential to their success by working for years in their Dayton, Ohio-based shop with printing presses, bicycles, motors, and other machinery.  Their work with bicycles, in particular, influenced their belief that an unstable vehicle such as a flying machine could be controlled and balanced with practice.  From 1900 until their first powered flights in late 1903, they conducted extensive glider tests that also developed their skills as pilots.  Their shop employee Charlie Taylor became an important part of the team, building their first airplane engine in close collaboration with the brothers.  The Wright brothers' status as inventors of the airplane has been subject to counter-claims by various parties.  Much controversy persists over the many competing claims of early aviators.  Edward Roach, historian for the Dayton Aviation Heritage National Historical Park, argues that they were excellent self-taught engineers who could run a small company, but they did not have the business skills or temperament to dominate the growing aviation industry.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wright_brothers  See also Wright Brothers National Memorial at https://www.nps.gov/wrbr/index.htm 

The Arts and Crafts movement was an international trend in the decorative and fine arts that developed earliest and most fully in the British Isles and subsequently spread across the British Empire and to the rest of Europe and America.  Initiated in reaction against the perceived impoverishment of the decorative arts and the conditions in which they were produced, the movement flourished in Europe and North America between about 1880 and 1920.  It is the root of the Modern Style, the British expression of what later came to be called the Art Nouveau movement, which it strongly influenced.  In Japan it emerged in the 1920s as the Mingei movement.  It stood for traditional craftsmanship, and often used medieval, romantic, or folk styles of decoration.  It advocated economic and social reform and was anti-industrial in its orientation.   It had a strong influence on the arts in Europe until it was displaced by Modernism in the 1930s,  and its influence continued among craft makers, designers, and town planners long afterwards.  The term was first used by T. J. Cobden-Sanderson at a meeting of the Arts and Crafts Exhibition Society in 1887, although the principles and style on which it was based had been developing in England for at least 20 years.  It was inspired by the ideas of architect Augustus Pugin, writer John Ruskin, and designer William Morris.  In Scotland it is associated with key figures such as Charles Rennie Mackintosh.  The terms American Craftsman or Craftsman style are often used to denote the style of architecture, interior design, and decorative arts that prevailed between the dominant eras of Art Nouveau and Art Deco in the US, or approximately the period from 1910 to 1925.  The movement was particularly notable for the professional opportunities it opened up for women as artisans, designers and entrepreneurs who founded and ran, or were employed by, such successful enterprises as the Kalo Shops, Pewabic Pottery, Rookwood Pottery, and Tiffany Studios.  In Canada, the term Arts and Crafts predominates, but Craftsman is also recognized.  The first American Arts and Crafts Exhibition began on April 5, 1897, at Copley Hall, Boston featuring more than 1000 objects made by 160 craftsmen, half of whom were women.  The success of this exhibition resulted in the incorporation of The Society of Arts and Crafts (SAC), on June 28, 1897, with a mandate to "develop and encourage higher standards in the handicrafts."  The 21 founders claimed to be interested in more than sales, and emphasized encouragement of artists to produce work with the best quality of workmanship and design.  Built in 1913-14 by the Boston architect J. Williams Beal in the Ossipee Mountains of New Hampshire, Tom and Olive Plant's mountaintop estate, Castle in the Clouds also known as Lucknow, is an excellent example of the American Craftsman style in New England.  See lists of architectural examples, leading practitioners and many graphics at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arts_and_Crafts_movement 

William Morris (1834-1896) was an English artist, designer, writer and socialist.  William Morris quotes:  “The true secret of happiness lies in taking a genuine interest in all the details of daily life.”  “Not on one strand are all life's jewels strung.”  “It took me years to understand that words are often as important as experience, because words make experience last.”   https://quotes.thefamouspeople.com/william-morris-3212.php 

“Symbolism and meaning are two separate things.”  “Artists are those who can evade the verbose.”  “Cats know everything.  Not like dogs.”  Kafka on the Shore, a novel by Haruki Murakami  See also https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kafka_on_the_Shore 

The name “Kafka” means crow in Czech.  Crows in Kafka on the Shore are harbingers of protection, warning, and advice.  More specifically, they signify wisdom that feels as if it is coming from an inner voice or conscience.  https://www.litcharts.com/lit/kafka-on-the-shore/symbols/crows 

List of fictional cats in literature:  the extensive list goes from Alonzo from Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats by T. S. Eliot to Tuffy from Diary of a Killer Cat by Ann Fine  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_fictional_cats_in_literature 

The 10 Most Beloved Dogs in Literature by Katherine Ripley  The list includes Lassie, her story based on the 1940 novel “Lassie Come-Home,” in which this faithful Collie goes on an epic journey to reunite with the little boy she loves.  The story touched so many hearts that it turned into one of Hollywood’s biggest franchises; Dorothy’s Cairn Terrier, Toto from “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz”, a children’s book by L. Frank Baum before it was a movie.  Toto serves as Dorothy’s confidant on her journey through the land of Oz; and Argos, Odysseus’ dog in “The Odyssey.”  He plays a small role in the book, but an important one. When Odysseus returns home to Ithaca after 20 years, Argos is the only one who recognizes him.  Now that his master is home, Argos can die in peace.  See the complete list at https://www.akc.org/expert-advice/lifestyle/the-10-most-beloved-dogs-in-literature/ 

http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com  Issue 2428  September 27, 2021

Insects have appeared in literature from classical times to the present day, an aspect of their role in culture more generally.  Insects represent both positive qualities like cooperation and hard work, and negative ones like greed.  Among the positive qualities, ants and bees represent industry and cooperation from the Book of Proverbs and Aesop's fables to tales by Beatrix Potter.  Insects including the dragonfly have symbolised harmony with nature, while the butterfly has represented happiness in springtime in Japanese Haiku, as well as the soul of a person who has died.  Insects have equally been used for their strangeness and alien qualities, with giant wasps and intelligent ants threatening human society in science fiction stories.  Locusts have represented greed, and more literally plague and destruction, while the fly has been used to indicate death and decay, and the grasshopper has indicated improvidence.  The horsefly has been used from classical times to portray torment, appearing in a play by Aeschylus and again in Shakespeare's King Lear and Antony and Cleopatra; the mosquito has a similar reputation.  Read more and see graphics at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Insects_in_literature

What's the difference between ignorance, apathy, and ambivalence?  I don't know and I don't care one way or the other.  https://dadjokes.org/whats-the-difference-between-ignorance-apathy-and-ambivalence  

Discover 44 unusual museums and collections in New York City at https://www.atlasobscura.com/things-to-do/new-york/museums-and-collections 

egg spoon noun (plural egg spoons)  A spoon, usually smaller than a teaspoon, which is used for eating a boiled egg from a hole made in the shell; the bowl of the spoon is shaped to make it easier to scoop out the contents of the eggshell.  quotations ▼ https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/egg_spoon#English

People use both further and farther to mean “more distant.”  However, American English speakers favor farther for physical distances and further for figurative distances.  Shundalyn Allen  https://www.grammarly.com/blog/farther-further/ 

Meet the Real-Life Inspiration Behind “Mr. Toad”  The real-life inspiration for Mr. Toad may well have been William K. Vanderbilt II, an American millionaire and car enthusiast.  He caught the motoring bug in 1888, aged ten, when he rode a steam-powered tricycle in the south of France.  Ten years later he ordered a motor tricycle—built by the Count de Dion’s company, no less, and powered by an internal combustion engine—and had it shipped to New York.  (Around 15,000 of these de Dion tricycles were sold between 1897 and 1901, making it one of the first motor vehicles to be widely distributed.)  Vanderbilt acquired a large collection of vehicles, and his Toad-like motoring escapades are said to have led to the imposition of the first speed limits near his home in Newport, Rhode Island, in 1900, and on Long Island, in 1902.  There were some attempts to ban cars altogether in the 1890s and early 1900s, though most such efforts were either short-lived or never actually enforced.  Parts of Germany and Switzerland banned cars on Sundays to preserve the sanctity of the Sunday stroll.  For the most part, however, the advent of the car was met with a growing body of rules regulating its use:  speed limits, the registration of vehicles, licensing of drivers, requiring the use of lights at night, and so on.  In Britain, for example, the infamous Red Flag law was withdrawn in 1896.  In its place came new rules allowing road vehicles weighing less than three tons to drive no faster than 14 mph, with a reminder that they should keep to the left.  The Motor Car Act of 1903 updated these rules, introducing vehicle registration and the licensing of drivers (though no test was required), increasing the speed limit from 14 mph to 20 mph, and making reckless driving an offense for which drivers could be imprisoned for up to three months.  The threat of imprisonment was deemed necessary because fines were failing to deter wealthy “road hogs” or “motor scorchers,” as dangerous motorists were starting to become known, from bad behavior.  But ultimately it was not laws that would change attitudes toward the automobile, but familiarity.  Hostility toward cars and drivers began to diminish as vehicles became more affordable.  Excerpted from A Brief History of Motion by Tom Standage  reprinted with permission of the publisher, Bloomsbury Publishing.  Copyright © 2021 by Tom Standage   https://lithub.com/meet-the-real-life-inspiration-behind-mr-toad/ 

“Say no to cynicism.”  “There’s no escalators--there’s only staircases to success.  There is no substitute for hard work.”  Lilly Singh

Lilly Singh (born September 26, 1988) is a Canadian comedian, former talk show host, and YouTuber who formerly appeared under the pseudonym Superwoman (stylized iiSuperwomanii), her long-time YouTube username.  Born and raised in Scarborough, Ontario, Singh began making YouTube videos in 2010.  In 2016, she was included in Forbes list of world's highest paid YouTubers ranking third and earning a reported $7.5 million.  By 2017, she was ranked tenth on the Forbes list of the world's highest paid YouTube stars, earning a reported $10.5 million; as of September 2019 she has 14.9 million subscribers and over three billion video views.  Singh has been featured in the annual YouTube Rewind every year since 2014 (except for 2019).  Forbes named her one of the 40 most powerful people in comedy in 2019.  She has received an MTV Fandom Award, four Streamy Awards, two Teen Choice Awards, and a People's Choice Award.  In 2016, Singh released her first film, a documentary chronicling her world tour, entitled A Trip to Unicorn Island.  In March 2017, she released her first book, How to Be a Bawse: A Guide to Conquering Life, which reached number one on the New York Times best-seller list.  From September 2019 to June 2021, Singh acted as executive producer and host of the NBC late-night talk show A Little Late with Lilly Singh.  She is the first person of Indian descent to host an American major broadcast network late-night talk show.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lilly_Singh

Staten Island is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Richmond County.  Located in the southwest portion of the city, the borough is separated from New Jersey by the Arthur Kill and the Kill Van Kull and from the rest of New York by New York Bay.  With an estimated population of 476,143 in 2019, Staten Island is the least-populated of the boroughs but is the third-largest in land area at 58.5 sq mi (152 km²).  A home to Lenape natives, the island was settled by Dutch colonists in the 17th century.  It was one of the 12 original counties of New York State.  Staten Island was consolidated with New York City in 1898.  It was formally known as the Borough of Richmond until 1975, when its name was changed to Borough of Staten Island.  Staten Island has sometimes been called "the forgotten borough" by inhabitants who feel neglected by the city government.   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Staten_Island 

http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com  Issue 2427  September 24, 2021

Edgar Allan Poe loved cats.  His beloved tortoiseshell cat, Catterina, is said to have sat on Poe’s shoulder to watch him write and to have slept on his wife’s chest to keep her warm.  In honor of Poe’s love of cats, the Poe Museum cares for two delightful black felines named Edgar and Pluto—the latter named after the cat in Poe’s story “The Black Cat.”  In November 2012, the museum’s gardener found the tiny kittens in the Enchanted Garden, and the museum staff volunteered to care for them, seeing that they receive regular veterinary care, healthy food, and a warm room to call home.  During business hours, Edgar and Pluto enjoy greeting the museum’s visitors in the gift shop and garden.  Find museum location and hours at https://www.poemuseum.org/poe-museum-cats 

A pinafore (colloquially a pinny in British English) is a sleeveless garment worn as an apron.  Pinafores may be worn as a decorative garment and as a protective apron.  A related term is pinafore dress (known as a jumper in American English), i.e. a sleeveless dress intended to be worn over a top or blouse.  A key difference between a pinafore and a jumper dress is that the pinafore is open in the back.  In informal British usage, however, a pinafore dress is sometimes referred to as simply a pinafore, which can lead to confusion.  Nevertheless, this has led some authors to use the term "pinafore apron", although this is redundant as pinafore alone implies an apron.  The name reflects the pinafore having formerly pinned (pin) to the front (afore) of a dress.  The pinafore had no buttons and was simply "pinned on the front".  Pinafores are often confused with smocks.  Some languages do not differentiate between these different garments.  The pinafore differs from a smock in that it does not have sleeves and there is no back to the bodice.  Smocks have both sleeves and a full bodice, both front and back.  H.M.S. Pinafore, a comic opera by Gilbert and Sullivan, uses the word in its title as a comical name for a warship.  The Observatory Pinafore, a comic opera about the computers at the Harvard Observatory, inspired by the H.M.S. Pinafore, written in 1879 and performed in 1879 (see Transcript).  At the Lowood School in Jane Eyre, the students are forced to make and wear their uniform which includes a pinafore.  Alice, the eponymous heroine of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, wore a white pinafore over a blue dress in John Tenniel's illustrations.  A song and album title by the English art rock group Stackridge is called Pinafore Days.  See pictures at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pinafore 

The Emily Dickinson Museum comprises two historic houses in the center of Amherst, Massachusetts associated with the poet Emily Dickinson and members of her family during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.  The Homestead was the birthplace and home of the poet Emily Dickinson.  The Evergreens, next door, was home to her brother Austin, his wife Susan, and their three children.  The Emily Dickinson Museum was created on July 1, 2003, when ownership of The Evergreens was transferred by the Martha Dickinson Bianchi Trust to Amherst College.  The merger of the houses and the three acres on which they stand restored the property to the state Dickinson herself had known, furthering the College’s long-standing and complex associations with the Dickinson family and its stewardship of Emily Dickinson’s poetry and other manuscripts.  Find address, contact information and link to other resources at https://www.emilydickinsonmuseum.org/the-museum/our-story/ 

The chamois (Rupicapra rupicapra) is a species of goat-antelope native to mountains in Europe, from west to east, including the Cantabrian Mountains, the Pyrenees, the Alps and the Apennines, the Dinarides, the Tatra and the Carpathian Mountains, the Balkan Mountains, the Rila - Rhodope massif, Pindus, the northeastern mountains of Turkey, and the Caucasus.  The chamois has also been introduced to the South Island of New Zealand.  Some subspecies of chamois are strictly protected in the EU under the European Habitats Directive.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chamois 

Chamois leather is a type of porous leather, traditionally the skin of the chamois (Rupicapra rupicapra), a type of European mountain goat, but today made almost exclusively from the flesh split of a sheepskin.  In the United States, the term chamois without any qualification is restricted to the flesh split of the sheep or lambskin tanned solely with oils (US Federal Standard CS99-1970).  Chamois leather is often counterfeited with goat or pig skin, the practice of which is a particular profession called by the French chamoiser.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chamois_leather 

June 11, 2021  The University of Iowa is known for its prestigious graduate creative writing program, but 19 undergraduates at the school have stepped into the spotlight by selling the film option to their retelling of The Great Gatsby, the Des Moines Register reports.  The undergrads wrote a novel called Gilded in Ash, inspired by F. Scott Fitzgerald’s legendary book, in an honors seminar called “The Great Gatsby 2.0.”  Film producer Cary Woods (Scream, Cop Land) heard about the book, and bought the rights to the students’ novel.  The young Hawkeyes’ book departs from the 1925 original in several key ways.  Harry Stecopoulos, who taught the seminar, told The Daily Iowan that the students changed the title character from a white man to “an African American lesbian art forger.”  Michael Schaub  https://www.kirkusreviews.com/news-and-features/articles/student-retelling-of-gatsby-scores-film-deal/  Now students will reimagine Hemingway’s The Sun Also Rises.  The 1926 novel’s copyright expires at the end of 2021.  

The National Book Foundation has announced the Longlist for the 2021 National Book Award for Fiction. The Finalists in all five categories will be revealed on October 5.  Find list with descriptions at https://www.nationalbook.org/2021-national-book-awards-longlist-for-fiction/ 

September 21, 2021 by Book Marks  On the occasion of its 84th publication anniversary, a look back at the future Chronicles of Narnia author’s 1937 review of his old friend J.R.R. Tolkien’s unforgettable debut novel (extract).  To define the world of The Hobbit is, of course, impossible, because it is new.  You cannot anticipate it before you go there, as you cannot forget it once you have gone.  The author’s admirable illustrations and maps of Mirkwood and Goblingate and Esgaroth give one an inkling—and so do the names of the dwarf and dragon that catch our eyes as we first ruffle the pages.  But there are dwarfs and dwarfs, and no common recipe for children’s stories will give you creatures so rooted in their own soil and history as those of Professor Tolkien—who obviously knows much more about them than he needs for this tale.  Alice is read gravely by children and with laughter by grown ups; The Hobbit, on the other hand, will be funnier to its youngest readers, and only years later, at a tenth or a twentieth reading, will they begin to realise what deft scholarship and profound reflection have gone to make everything in it so ripe, so friendly, and in its own way so true.  Prediction is dangerous:  but The Hobbit may well prove a classic.”  C.S. Lewis, The Times Literary Supplement, October 2, 1937  https://lithub.com/when-c-s-lewis-reviewed-his-buddys-book-the-hobbit/ 

suburbia  noun  countable and uncountable, plural suburbias)  (originally Britain) The suburbs as a whole and all that characterizes or pertains to them; (derogatory) the suburbs as encapsulated or represented by the typical characteristics or qualities of the people living there, especially complacency, conformity, conservativeness, dullness, etc. [from late 19th c.] quotations ▼ Synonyms:  suburbandom, suburbanhood, suburbanism, suburbanity  https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/suburbia#English   The song “Suburbia” by the English synthpop duo the Pet Shop Boys was released as the fourth single from their debut studio album Please on September 22, 1986. 

http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com  Issue 2426  September 22, 2021