Gray Area for Gray Matter:  On the Time Einstein’s Brain was Stolen  A Quest for the Biological Basis of Genius by Kathryn and Ross Petras  https://lithub.com/gray-area-for-gray-matter-on-the-time-einsteins-brain-was-stolen/    

The roots of “blithe” lie in early Germanic forms meaning “gentle, kind, happy, cheerful” and the like, and the ultimate source of “blithe” seems to be a root meaning “to shine.”  Can’t get much cheerier than that.  In English, where “blithe” first appeared in Old English, it meant simply “kind or friendly” to others or “happy and cheerful” in demeanor (“His spirit was blithe and its fire unquenchable,” 1872).  This “fun to be around” sense of “blithe” chugged along happy as a clam until the 1920s, when (perhaps reflecting the disillusionment born of World War I) it suddenly took a darker turn.  In “England, My England,” a collection of short stories, D.H. Lawrence employed “blithe” in a new, negative sense of “heedless, careless, or unthinking.”   This “who cares?” sense of “blithe” is now, unfortunately, by far the most common.  The relatively-new “heedless, careless, or unthinking” meaning of “blithe” certainly overlaps with the much older figurative uses of “blind,” but I doubt that confusion of the two words has played much part in their evolution (which is not to say that some people haven’t confused them at times).  The change of the meaning of “blithe” from “cheerful” to “witless” seems a natural evolution of the sense of the word.  Feedback:  My name is Blithe.  Blithe is an ancient Germanic and later an old English term meaning happy, cheerful, kind and carefree, but in recent times blithe has been hijacked to emphasise carefree in a negative way, usually in a political setting.  My father was a journalist and my mother a librarian, both wordsmiths, and they named me with intention of the true meaning of Blithe–happy, cheerful and carefree (in a positive sense).  In the Mother Goose rhyme about days of birth, “Sunday’s child is Bonny and Blithe”.  I was born on a Sunday.  http://www.word-detective.com/2013/01/blithe/  See also https://www.etymonline.com/word/blithe   

100 Mother Goose Nursery Rhymes—titles include A-Tiskit, A-Tasket, and Monday’s Child.  https://www.planesandballoons.com/2017/08/02/mother-goose-nursery-rhymes/   

Marietta is a city in, and the county seat of, Washington County, Ohio.  It is located in southeastern Ohio at the confluence of the Muskingum and Ohio Rivers, 11 miles (18 km) northeast of Parkersburg, West Virginia.  As of the 2020 census, Marietta has a population of 13,385 people and is the principal city of the Marietta Micropolitan Statistical Area, which includes all of Washington County, and is the second-largest city in the Parkersburg–Marietta–Vienna, WV–OH Combined Statistical Area.  Founded in 1788 by pioneers to the Ohio Country, Marietta was the first permanent U.S. settlement in the newly established Northwest Territory, created in 1787, and what would later become the state of Ohio.  It is named for Marie Antoinette, then Queen of France, in honor of French aid in the American Revolution.  Prior to American settlement, the area was inhabited by various native tribes of the Hopewell tradition, who built the Marietta Earthworks, a complex more than 1,500 years old, whose Great Mound and other major monuments were preserved by the earliest settlers in parks such as Mound Cemetery.  Since 1835 the city has been home to Marietta College, a private, nonsectarian liberal arts school with approximately 1,200 students.  Leading up to the American Civil War, the city was a station on the Underground Railroad.  The settlers preserved the Great Mound, or Conus, by planning their own cemetery around it.  They also preserved the two largest platform mounds, which they called Capitolinus and Quadrophenus. The former was developed as the site for the city library.  As of 1900, the Mound Cemetery had the highest number of burials of Revolutionary War officers in the nation, indicating the nature of the generation that settled Marietta.  Marietta's location on two major navigable rivers made it ideal for industry and commerce.  Boat building was one of the early industries.  Artisans built oceangoing vessels and sailed them downriver to the Mississippi and south to New Orleans and the Gulf of Mexico.  In less than two decades after settlement, the steamboat had been developed, and was also constructed here.  Brick factories and sawmills supplied materials for homes and public buildings. An iron mill, along with several foundries, provided rails for the growing railroad industry; the Marietta Chair Factory made furniture.  Interest in the prehistoric culture that built the Marietta Earthworks continued.  The complex was surveyed and drawn by Ephraim George Squier and Edwin Hamilton Davis, whose large project on numerous prehistoric mounds throughout the Ohio and Mississippi valleys was published by the Smithsonian Institution in 1848 as Ancient Monuments of the Mississippi Valley.  It was the first book published by the Smithsonian.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marietta,_Ohio  Read about two museums in Marietta, Ohio at https://mariettamuseums.org/   

October 28, 2022  An artwork by the abstract Dutch painter Piet Mondrian has been hanging upside down in various galleries for 75 years, an art historian has said.  Despite the recent discovery, the work, entitled New York City I, will continue to be displayed the wrong way up to avoid it being damaged.  The 1941 picture was first put on display at New York's MoMA in 1945.  It has hung at the art collection of the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia in Düsseldorf since 1980.  Curator Susanne Meyer-Büser noticed the longstanding error when researching the museum's new show on the artist earlier this year, but warned it could disintegrate if it was hung the right side up now.  New York City I is an adhesive-tape version of the similarly named New York City painting by the same artist.  Paul Glynn  See picture at https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-63423811   

Boo from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WimtFW8z4LY  0.38   

http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com  Issue 2585  October 31, 2022

What's the meaning of the phrase 'Nine days' wonder'?  A novelty that loses its appeal after a few days.  What's the origin of the phrase 'Nine days' wonder'?  In 1600, William Kemp, an Elizabethan clown actor, who is thought to have been the original Dogberry in Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing, 1599, danced a morris dance between London and Norwich.  He took up the challenge for a bet and covered the distance of a hundred miles or more in nine days (spread over a few weeks).  Some doubted that he had achieved this and, to quell dissent, he wrote 'Kemps nine daies vvonder', published in 1600:  "Wherein euery dayes iourney is pleasantly set downe, to satisfie his friends the truth, against all lying Ballad-makers; what he did, how hee was welcome, and by whome entertained."  There is little doubt that the event did take place.  The ample evidence to support it includes the 17th century records of the Norwich Town Council, which lists the payment of his prize money.  So, we have a well-authenticated historical event called 'Kemp's Nine Days' Wonder', dating back to 1600.  That might be thought to be enough to establish Kemp as the source of the phrase.  Actually, he wasn't.  The phrase dates from well before the 17th century.  As well as the date, there's the meaning of the phrase, which isn't 'something wonderful that took nine days to achieve', but 'something which becomes boring after nine days'.  The earliest citation, in Old English, is in the 'Harley Lyrics', circa 1325.  The earliest record in print that most people today would be able to decipher is in 'Poems written in English during his captivity in England, after the battle of Agincourt' by Charles, Duke of Orleans, 1465:  "For this a wondir last but dayes nyne, An oold proverbe is seid."  https://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/nine-days-wonder.html   

The National Road, authorized by Congress in 1806, stretched from Cumberland, Maryland, to Vandalia, Illinois, passing directly through Zanesville, Ohio over what is now generally Route 40.  National Road and Zane Gray Museum just east of Zanesville, tells the history of the road that helped build America, with lots of memorabilia and displays about the road, including an extensive collection of dioramas depicting early life along the route.  Zanesville native Zane Grey was once arguably the most famous author in the United States and produced dozens of popular Western novels, many of which were turned into movies in the early days of Hollywood.  The museum’s exhibit on Grey includes information and mementos about his life in Zanesville and later, including a re-creation of his California study and library where he wrote many of his novels.  The museum also celebrates the pottery art for which the region is famous. Many beautiful and rare pieces from a variety of local companies are displayed in a large exhibit at the center of the museum.  Steve Stephens  https://www.dispatch.com/story/entertainment/local/2019/06/02/ohio-s-first-capitals-zanesville/5005366007/   

The Buckeye State, so-named for the golf ball-sized chestnuts produced by its native tree Aesculus glabra, covers 44,852 square miles in the American Midwest.  The state's name--Ohio--comes from the Iroquois word for "great river," a reference to the Ohio River to the south.  The capital of Ohio is Columbus, but two other cities--Chillicothe and Zanesville--served as the state's seats of government in the early 1800s.  https://classroom.synonym.com/what-three-cities-have-served-as-the-capital-of-ohio-5996240.html   

Irish writer Jonathan Swift used the phrase "the sight of you is good for sore eyes" in 1738.  The idiom “a sight for sore eyes,” meaning a welcome and pleasant event, appears to date back to at least the 1700s, although it may have been used earlier.  “Sore,” in this particular case, refers to being tense, fearful, worried, or sorrowful.  While this meaning of the word in English is no longer widespread, during the time of the King James Bible, it was a commonly accepted usage.  Since the King James Bible was one of the earliest official translations of the Bible into English, it can be assumed that many of the word usages in the Bible reflected common usage, since the intent was to make the Bible accessible for all.  During this period, many people wrote and spoke of things like being “sore afraid,” for “extremely afraid.”  Mary McMahon  https://www.languagehumanities.org/what-are-the-origins-of-the-phrase-a-sight-for-sore-eyes.htm   

I was born in Maine, grew up in Maine, and expect to be buried in Maine.  Before that happens, I’ll continue to eat in Maine, and many of the things I’ve eaten are presented (under different names in most cases) in Theresa Carle-Sanders’ lovely little cookbook.  This overnight French toast casserole is packed with cranberries and maple syrup and topped with a walnut streusel.  Serve with a pitcher of orange juice and a fruit salad for a weekend or holiday breakfast.  Stephen King  Makes 6 servings.  Find recipe at https://lithub.com/stephen-king-on-what-authentic-maine-cuisine-means-to-him  Reprinted with permission from Castle Rock Kitchen:  Wicked Good Recipes from the World of Stephen King by Theresa Carle-Sanders with a foreword by Stephen King, published by Ten Speed Press, an imprint of Penguin Random House.  © 2022 by Theresa Carle-Sanders   

Lee Child and Andrew Child on Discipline, Dread, and Writing Late at Night And Why There’s No Point in Trying to Organize a Bookshelf  https://lithub.com/lee-child-and-andrew-child-on-discipline-dread-and-writing-late-at-night/   

The Manhattan Well Mystery:  On America’s First Media Circus Around a Murder Case by Sam Roberts  https://lithub.com/the-manhattan-well-mystery-on-americas-first-media-circus-around-a-murder-case/   

Daniel Chester French (1850–1931) was an American sculptor of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, best known for his 1874 sculpture The Minute Man in Concord, Massachusetts, and his 1920 monumental statue of Abraham Lincoln in the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Chester_French   

http://librariansmuse,blogspot.com  Issue 2584  October 28, 2022

The Alexander Hamilton U.S. Custom House (originally the New York Custom House) is a former custom house, a government building, and a museum at 1 Bowling Green, near the southern end of Manhattan.  Designed by Cass Gilbert in the Beaux-Arts style, it was erected from 1902 to 1907 by the U.S. government as a headquarters for the Port of New York's duty collection operations.  The building contains the George Gustav Heye Center museum, the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York, and the New York regional offices of the National Archives.  The facade and part of the interior are New York City designated landmarks, and the building is a National Historic Landmark listed on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP).  It is also a contributing property to the Wall Street Historic District, listed on the NRHP.  The Custom House is a seven-story steel-framed structure with a stone facade and elaborate interiors.  The exterior is decorated with nautical motifs as well as sculptures by twelve artists.  The second through fourth stories contain colonnades with Corinthian columns. The main entrance consists of a grand staircase flanked by Four Continents, a set of four statues by Daniel Chester French.  The second-story entrance vestibule leads to a transverse lobby, a rotunda, and offices.  The rotunda includes a skylight and ceiling murals by Reginald Marsh.  The George Gustav Heye Center, a branch of the National Museum of the American Indian, operates within the ground and second stories, while the upper stories contain offices for the U.S. government.  The building was proposed in 1889 as a replacement for the previous New York Custom House at 55 Wall Street. Due to various disagreements, the Bowling Green Custom House was not approved until 1899; Gilbert was selected as architect following a competition. The building opened in 1907, and the murals in the rotunda were added in 1938 during  a Works Progress Administration project.  The United States Customs Service moved out of the building in 1974, and it remained vacant for over a decade until renovations in the late 1980s.  The Custom House was renamed in 1990 to commemorate Alexander Hamilton, one of the Founding Fathers of the United States and its first Secretary of the Treasury.  The Heye Center opened in 1994.  See graphics at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Hamilton_U.S._Custom_House   

George Gustav Heye (1874–1957) was an American collector of Native American artifacts in the Western Hemisphere, particularly in North America.  He founded the Museum of the American Indian, and his collection became the core of the National Museum of the American Indian.  It is described as the largest and most comprehensive collection in the world.  During his years of collecting and study, Heye funded numerous archeological expeditions and supported scholarly work of the time.  He established the Heye Foundation in the early 20th century to support such work, as well as contributing independently.  Heye was born in 1874, the son of Carl Friederich Gustav Heye and Marie Antoinette Lawrence of Hudson, New York.  His father was a German immigrant who earned wealth in the new petroleum industry.  George Gustav Heye graduated from Columbia School of Mines (now Columbia School of Engineering and Applied Science) in 1896 with a degree in electrical engineering.  While superintending railroad construction in Kingman, Arizona in 1897, Heye acquired a Navajo deerskin shirt, his first Native American item.  He continued to acquire individual items until 1903, then he began collecting material in larger numbers.  Through the years, Heye accumulated the largest private collection of Native American objects in the world.  They included both prehistoric and historic items.  The collection was initially stored in Heye's Madison Avenue apartment in New York City, and later in a rented room.  By 1908, Heye was referring to the collection as "The Heye Museum."  He began to lend materials for exhibit at the University of Pennsylvania, at what later became its Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology in Philadelphia.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Gustav_Heye   

Couscous sometimes called kusksi or kseksu–is a dish of small steamed granules of rolled durum wheat semolina that is often served with a stew spooned on top.  Pearl millet, sorghum, bulgur, and other cereals are sometimes cooked in a similar way in other regions, and the resulting dishes are also sometimes called couscous.  Couscous is a staple food throughout the Maghrebi cuisines of Algeria, Tunisia, Mauritania, Morocco, and Libya.  It was integrated into French and European cuisine at the beginning of the twentieth century, through the French colonial empire and the Pieds-Noirs of Algeria.  In 2020, couscous was added to UNESCO's Intangible Cultural Heritage list.  The word couscous (alternately cuscus or kuskus) was first noted in early 17th century French, from Arabic kuskus, from kaskasa ‘to pound’, and is probably of Berber origin.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Couscous   

The Maghreb, also known as Northwest Africa, is the western part of North Africa and the Arab world.  The region includes Algeria, Libya, Mauritania (also considered part of West Africa), Morocco, and Tunisia.  The Maghreb also includes the disputed territory of Western Sahara (controlled mostly by Morocco and partly by the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic) and the Spanish cities Ceuta and Melilla.  As of 2018, the region had a population of over 100 million people.  Through the 18th and 19th centuries, English sources often referred to the region as the Barbary Coast or the Barbary States, a term derived from the demonym of the Berbers.  Sometimes, the region is referred to as the Land of the Atlas, referring to the Atlas Mountains, which are located within it.  The Maghreb is usually defined as encompassing much of the northern part of Africa, including a large portion of the Sahara Desert, but excluding Egypt and Sudan, which are considered to be located in the Mashriq— the eastern part of the Arab world. The traditional definition of the Maghreb— which restricted its scope to the Atlas Mountains and the coastal plains of Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia and Libya—was expanded in modern times to include Mauritania and the disputed territory of Western Sahara.  During the era of Al-Andalus on the Iberian Peninsula (711–1492), the Maghreb's inhabitants—the Muslim Berbers, or Maghrebi—were known by Europeans as the "Moors".  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maghreb   

Sfenj (from the Arabic word Arabic: السفنج, romanized:  Safanj, meaning sponge) is a Maghrebi doughnut: a light, spongy ring of dough fried in oil.  Sfenj is eaten plain, sprinkled with sugar, or soaked in honey.  It is a well-known dish in the Maghreb and is traditionally made and sold early in the morning for breakfast or in the late afternoon accompanied by tea—usually Maghrebi mint tea—or coffee.  The term sfenj is used in Algeria and other parts of the Maghreb.  It is called bambalouni in Tunisia, and sfinz in Libya.  In Morocco, the term "sfenj" is used, also sometimes nicknamed in the literature "Moroccan doughnuts".  It is also called Khfaf or ftayr in Algeria, and is sometimes also dubbed as the "Algerian doughnut".  Sfenj originated in Al-Andalus (Moorish Spain). According to legend, sfenj was created by mistake, when a baker accidentally dropped a ball of dough into a pan of hot oil.  Sfenj was an important part of Andalusi culture, whose role was best summarised by a verse from a contemporary poet:  "The sfenj bakers are worth as much as kings" ("سفاجين تحسبهم ملوكا").  It is unclear how sfenj first spread to the Maghreb, although it is said to have been well known to the Marinid Dynasty, which ruled Morocco from 1270 to 1465.  It spread to France during the 13th century, where it inspired beignets. Sfenj were only sweetened with sugar starting in the 18th century, even though sugarcane has been widely cultivated in the Arab world since the 8th century.  Before that, they were sweetened with honey or syrup, or simply served plain.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sfenj  See also https://www.thespruceeats.com/sfenj-recipe-moroccan-doughnuts-2394817   

I have a trunk containing continents. - Beryl Markham, adventurer (26 Oct 1902-1986)  Beryl Markham, née Beryl Clutterbuck, was a English professional pilot, horse trainer and breeder, writer, and adventurer, best known for her memoir, West with the Night (1942; reissued 1983).  She was also the first person to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean from east to west.  https://www.britannica.com/biography/Beryl-Markham   

http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com  Issue 2583  October 26, 2022

On April 11, 1912, the British liner Carpathia carrying some 740 passengers departed from New York City for Fiume, Austria-Hungary (now Rijeka, Croatia).  Carpathia was best known for rescuing survivors from the ship Titanic in 1912.  On April 15 at approximately 12:20 AM, the ship received a distress call from the Titanic, which had struck an iceberg and was sinking.  Capt. Arthur Henry Rostron ordered the Carpathia to the Titanic’s position, which was about 58 miles (107 km) away, and began preparing the ship for any survivors.  Despite the presence of icebergs, the ship traveled at top speed (some 17 knots), arriving at approximately 3:30 AM.  The Titanic had sunk more than an hour earlier, but the Carpathia rescued 705 people in lifeboats. The ship returned to New York City on April 18.  The actions of Rostron and the Carpathia’s crew were credited with preventing further loss of life, and Rostron was awarded a U.S. Congressional Gold Medal.  During World War I the Carpathia transported Allied troops and supplies.  On July 17, 1918, it was part of a convoy traveling from Liverpool to Boston.  Off the southern coast of Ireland, the ship was struck by three torpedoes from a German U-boat and sank.  Five people were killed; the rest of the passengers and crew were rescued by the HMS Snowdrop.  In 1999 the wreck of the Carpathia was discovered intact and lying upright at a depth of more than 500 feet (152 metres).  Amy Tikkanen  See graphics at https://www.britannica.com/topic/Carpathia   

SS Californian was a British Leyland Line steamship that is best known for its inaction during the sinking of the RMS Titanic, despite being the closest ship in the area.  Judging by available evidence, the Californian was likely the only ship to see the Titanic, or at least its rockets, during the sinking.  The United States Senate inquiry and British Wreck Commissioner's inquiry into the sinking both concluded that the Californian could have saved many or all of the lives that were lost, had a prompt response been mounted to the Titanic's distress rockets.  The U.S. Senate inquiry was particularly critical of the vessel's captain, Stanley Lord, calling his inaction during the disaster "reprehensible".  Despite this criticism, no formal charges were ever brought against Lord and his crew for their inaction.  Lord disputed the findings and would spend the rest of his life trying to clear his name.  In 1992, the UK Government's Marine Accident Investigation Branch re-examined the case and while condemning the inaction of the Californian and Captain Lord, also concluded that due to the limited time available, "the effect of Californian taking proper action would have been no more than to place on her the task actually carried out by Carpathia, that is the rescue of those who escaped . . . [no] reasonably probable action by Captain Lord could have led to a different outcome of the tragedy".  Californian was later sunk on 9 November 1915, by the German submarines SM U-34 and U-35, in the Eastern Mediterranean during World War I.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_Californian  See also https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carpathia   

milecastle (plural milecastles) noun  One of a series of small rectangular fortifications, spaced roughly one Roman mile apart, built during the period of the Roman Empire  synonyms ▲  one of a series of small rectangular fortifications, spaced roughly one Roman mile apart, built during the period of the Roman Empire  https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/milecastle#English   

While many cemetery visits are solemn, cemetery tourism is a way to walk through the gravestones differently with historical viewpoint.  Rosie Grant, a University of Maryland graduate student, told NPR that she thought of the recipes as a way to connect with people in the afterlife by using what they wanted us to remember them by.  And even though gravestone recipes are a pretty new-wave concept, according to the New York Times, the practice is popping up all over the world, from Alaska to Israel, giving people who decide to try the recipes a cultural reference of where the food is from.  Grant told NPR that her favorite gravestone recipe she’s made so far is a spritz cookie listed on Naomi Dawson’s tombstone, which she says tastes like a cross between a sugar and shortbread cookie.  It turns out the recipe belongs to Richard Dawson’s mother, who refused to give the recipe up.  Even though the recipe lacked measurements, Grant made a plate to bring to Naomi Dawson’s grave.  https://matadornetwork.com/read/gravestone-recipes/   

You Can Now Book a Stay at King Charles III’s Royal Retreat in Transylvania  Not a vampire to be found.  Nestled among the hills of the Zalán Valley, the property includes the three cottage-style homes, where guests have seven double rooms from which to choose.  To give guests a sense of place, each of the rooms are furnished with accents that showcase traditional Transylvanian culture, from antiques to embroidered textiles.  All the accommodations feature en-suite bathrooms, private terraces and a living area with a full kitchen.  There is also another cottage that has a drawing room and dining area as we as a communal fire pit where guests from across the property can interact.  And meals are prepared by a local chef who creates a menu based on the day’s fresh harvest.  King Charles purchased the property back in 2006, where he acquired one of the cottages after a visit and came back and bought the remaining homes in 2010.  The Transylvanian guesthouse isn’t the monarch’s only former retreat you can book a night at.  There’s also Dolphin House in Sicily, Italy and Dumfries House in Scotland.  Dana Givens  See photos at https://robbreport.com/travel/hotels/explore-the-transylvania-countryside-in-king-charles-retreat-1234752396/   

In honor of the 100th anniversary of the publication of “The Waste Land” by T.S. Eliot, we invited four writers and academics—Beci Carver, Jahan Ramazani, Robert Crawford, and David Barnes—to discuss the importance, context, artistry, and legacy of the poem.  See article at https://lithub.com/the-most-important-poem-of-the-20th-century-on-t-s-eliots-the-waste-land-at-100/   

Art is the elimination of the unnecessary. - Pablo Picasso, painter and sculptor (25 Oct 1881-1973)  

http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com  Issue 2582  October 25, 2022