Colonel Thomas Andrew “Tom” Parker (born Andreas Cornelis van Kuyk) was an enigma from the day he arrived on a freighter in Tampa Bay, Florida, as an illegal immigrant at about the age of 20 until his death at the advanced age of 87 in 1997.  Colonel Parker is best known as the manager of Elvis Presley, who was probably instrumental in making Elvis the superstar he became.  But in doing so Colonel Parker also benefitted enormously from Presley’s success through his 25 to 50 percent management fee he charged Presley during his career as a singer and performer.  The going fee for managing a performer at that time was apparently about 10 percent.  Later, Parker apparently even increased the fee up to 50 percent.  Before managing Presley’s career, in the 1940’s, Parker had managed the professional careers of such well known stars as Minnie Pearl, Eddie Arnold and Hank Snow.  Also during that time period he performed promotional services to Jimmie Davis, the gubernatorial candidate in the state of Louisiana.  Davis won the election in the late 1940’s, and he felt that Parker had been instrumental in the governor’s success.  In turn, in 1948, Governor Jimmie Davis officially bestowed the honorary title of Colonel in the Louisiana State Militia on Parker.  And from that day on Parker would be known as Colonel Parker.  https://www.newnetherlandinstitute.org/history-and-heritage/dutch_americans/colonel-tom-parker/   

January 27, 2023 by MIKE HOUSEHOLDER  A University of Michigan student is one of the world’s foremost “speedcubers,” a person capable of quickly solving a Rubik’s Cube.  He also is an accomplished violinist.  Stanley Chapel says the two fields go hand in hand.  Not only does Chapel say he has equal interest in both, but the 21-year-old says the violin has aided in his speedcubing success.  “Repetition, breaking things down into their smallest fundamental elements, all of these different things that we use to improve at an instrument, and being able to take these into the world of cubing has certainly been a huge help to my progression,” said Chapel, a junior majoring in violin performance at the university's school of music, theater and dance.  Factoring in the time it takes for him to review the cube before placing the blindfold over his eyes, Chapel can solve one in around 17 seconds.  https://cdapress.com/news/2023/jan/27/world-champion-says-rubiks-cube-and-violin-go-hand/ 

 

In August 1814, during the war of 1812, British soldiers set fire to the Capitol building—destroying (or at least probably destroying) the first Library of Congress, which consisted of some 3,000 volumes.  A few weeks later, Thomas Jefferson donated the largest personal collection of books in the United States—between 9,000 and 10,000 volumes.  On January 30th, 1815, President James Madison signed a bill appropriating $23,950 to buy Thomas Jefferson’s library.  According to records from the time, Jefferson sent a total of 6,487 books to kickstart the new Library of Congress, more than doubling its original size. Literary Hub January 29, 2023   

Near the climax of Fritz Lang’s 1927 sci-fi epic Metropolis, an android in disguise delivers an incendiary speech to a crowd of exploited workers.  “You have waited long enough!” she (it?) tells them.  “Your time has come—!”   The robot appears unhinged, her arms flailing wildly and her eyes opened unsettlingly wide.  The mob, however, is emboldened by their leader’s fervor.  They spill into the streets, plow through barricades, climb walls, and push their way up a great staircase to the city’s power center, the Heart Machine.  Literary Hub  January 29, 2023   

Travis and Jason Kelce set to make history meeting in Super Bowl LVII  The Chiefs’ Travis Kelce and Eagles’ Jason Kelce will become the first sibling players to face each other in a Super Bowl.  Feb. 12, 2023 will see Super Bowl LVII played in Glendale, Arizona, and when the proverbial toe meets the ball we’ll be treated to two brothers facing off against one another in the biggest of big games the professional football has to offer.  RJ Ochoa@rjochoa  https://www.sbnation.com/2023/1/29/23577255/travis-jason-kelce-brothers-history-super-bowl-chiefs-eagles   

http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com  Issue 2625  January 30, 2023    

The Rio Grande, known in Mexico as the Río Bravo del Norte or simply the Río Bravo, is one of the principal rivers (along with the Colorado River) in the southwestern United States and in northern Mexico.  The length of the Rio Grande is 1,896 miles (3,051 km).  It originates in south-central Colorado, in the United States, and flows to the Gulf of Mexico.  See pictures at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rio_Grande   

TOK SEEL (DRIED WHITE BEANS WITH PUMPKIN SEEDS)  In this dish, white beans are roasted until lightly browned, then tossed with toasted, ground pumpkin seeds, fresh cilantro, chives, and scallions, and served with a dash of lemon and a pinch of chopped fresh chile.  This is Pati Jinich’s take on a dish called the tok seal from the Mexican state of Quintana Roo; here, sizzling hot stones are traditionally applied to achieve a roasted effect on the beans (“full” means burnt).  Jinich uses a blend of olive, peanut and roasted sesame oils to approximate the deep taste of the original, and the result is a fresh and delicious, plant protein-packed meal that’s on the table in under half an hour.  Serve with corn tostadas or crusty bread as a side dish or a light main course.  NOTE: Whether home-cooked or canned, be sure to drain the beans and pat dry to avoid excessive splattering.  Portions (3 to 4)--makes about 3 cups  https://deleciousfood.com/tok-seel-recipe-uses-beans-to-showcase-the-breadth-of-mexican-food/   

January 27, 2023  A Court of Appeals judge ruled that “The Novel Reader,” the work that’s been at the center of an international legal battle over its ownership, should remain at the museum as the case works its way through the court system. The Detroit Institute of Arts had the work on loan and doesn’t claim to own it.  It was just here for the Van Gogh in America exhibit which ended on January 22. Now, via this order, the museum must hold on to it for now.  Jenn Schanz  https://www.wxyz.com/news/court-of-appeals-orders-detroit-institute-of-arts-to-keep-van-goghs-the-novel-reader-painting

Since 1989, mysterious statues have appeared in Amsterdam.  No one knows the maker, no one knows when they were placed there.  See six pictures including Running man with a violin case and The Fiddler at https://whatsupwithamsterdam.com/the-mystery-of-the-sculptures/

High blood pressure is a common condition that affects the body's arteries.  It's also called hypertension. If you have high blood pressure, the force of the blood pushing against the artery walls is consistently too high.  The heart has to work harder to pump blood.  Blood pressure is measured in millimeters of mercury (mm Hg).  The American College of Cardiology and the American Heart Association divide blood pressure into four general categories.  Normal blood pressure  Blood pressure is 120/80 mm Hg or lower.  Elevated blood pressure  The top number ranges from 120 to 129 mm Hg and the bottom number is below, not above, 80 mm Hg.  Stage 1 hypertension  The top number ranges from 130 to 139 mm Hg or the bottom number is between 80 and 89 mm Hg.  Stage 2 hypertension The top number is 140 mm Hg or higher or the bottom number is 90 mm Hg or higher.  https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/high-blood-pressure/symptoms-causes/syc-20373410   

British physician and scientist Edward Jenner, who pioneered the concept of vaccines and created the world’s first vaccine—the smallpox vaccine, died on January 26, 200 years ago in 1823.  Wiktionary   

http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com  Issue 2624  January 27, 2023 

Louis Dearborn L'Amour (né LaMoore; 1908–1988) was an American novelist and short story writer.  His books consisted primarily of Western novels (though he called his work "frontier stories"); however, he also wrote historical fiction (The Walking Drum), science fiction (Haunted Mesa), non-fiction (Frontier), as well as poetry and short-story collections.  Many of his stories were made into films.  At the time of his death almost all of his 105 existing works (89 novels, 14 short-story collections, and two full-length works of nonfiction) were still in print, and he was "one of the world's most popular writers".  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_L%27Amour   

Using adverbs is a mortal sin.  Elmore Leonard  https://www.azquotes.com/author/8728-Elmore_Leonard   

Elmore Leonard (1925 –2013) was an American novelist, short story writer, and screenwriter.  His earliest novels, published in the 1950s, were Westerns, but he went on to specialize in crime fiction and suspense thrillers, many of which have been adapted into motion pictures.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gKoFn8YfMvc   

Dec. 21, 2022  6 Ways to Declutter Your Digital Life for 2023 

1. Hit the Unsubscribe Button

2. Clean Up Your Desktop and Downloads Folder

3. Do a Notification Check

4. Clear Out Your Photos

5. Check Your Browser

6. Clean Up and Update

https://www.buckeyebroadband.com/blog/6-ways-to-declutter-your-digital-life-for-2023   

50 Chinese New Year recipes posted by Sam and Dan  https://www.aheadofthyme.com/50-chinese-new-year-recipes/   

Jujube fruit (Ziziphus jujuba) is also known as the Chinese date, jujube, or red date.  The plant is native to China and has been grown in the US for more than 175 years.  The jujube fruit ranges in shape from round to pear-shaped.  It may be as small as a cherry or as big as a plum.  It has a thin, edible skin and whitish flesh.  When ripe, the fruit turns dark red.  After turning fully red, the fruit begins to wrinkle and soften, but it is still edible.  Sharlene Tan  See health benefits at https://www.webmd.com/diet/are-there-health-benefits-of-jujube-fruit   

January 19, 2023  A federal judge in US District Court in Detroit has asked parties in a lawsuit over the possession of a Vincent van Gogh painting to settle the matter themselves. The artwork, Une liseuse de romans (The Novel Reader), 1888), is currently on loan to the Detroit Institute of Art (DIA).  The museum was sued last week by Brazilian collector Gustavo Soter, who claims that he is its rightful owner.  The museum’s attorneys said the DIA exercised due diligence to ensure the painting was not stolen and that under federal law, the court cannot tell museum officials what to do with it.  The museum is “blameless in this case”, US District Judge George Caram Steeh said, according to WXYZ Detorit.  He added that he could find little legal precedent for the case.  The painting, a scene of a woman reading, has been on view at the DIA since 2 October 2022 as part of the museum’s blockbuster exhibition  Van Gogh in America (until 22 January), which features 74 paintings drawn from the DIA’s collection and more than 60 lenders.  The wall label next to The Novel Reader notes that the painting comes from a private collection in São Paulo.  Claire Voon  https://www.theartnewspaper.com/2023/01/19/van-gogh-painting-dispute-detroit-institute-arts   

leporine (not comparable)  adjective  (chiefly zoology, also figuratively) Of, relating to, or resembling a hare or rabbit. quotations ▼ Synonym:  (shaped like a hare or rabbit) leporiform  (hare):  Synonym: harelike, (shaped like a hare) lagomorphic  (rabbit): Synonyms:  cunicular, rabbitlike, rabbitish, rabbity  https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/leporine#English   

http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com  Issue 2623  January 23, 2023 

Apple pie was brought to the colonies by European settlers.  Apples aren't even native to North America and didn't grow here until the arrival of European settlers.  And cinnamon and nutmeg?  Those came from as far away as Sri Lanka and Indonesia.  America's first cookbook, American Cookery by Amelia Simmons, published in 1796, included two recipes for the fruit-based dessert.  Easy and affordable, apple pie was a typical American cuisine by the 18th and 19th centuries.  Meghan Overdeep  ttps://www.southernliving.com/food/desserts/pies/history-apple-pie#   

Watership Down is an adventure novel by English author Richard Adams, published by Rex Collings Ltd of London in 1972.  Set in Berkshire in southern England, the story features a small group of rabbits.  Although they live in their natural wild environment, with burrows, they are anthropomorphised, possessing their own culture, language, proverbs, poetry, and mythology.  Evoking epic themes, the novel follows the rabbits as they escape the destruction of their warren and seek a place to establish a new home (the hill of Watership Down), encountering perils and temptations along the way.  Watership Down was Richard Adams' debut novel.  It was rejected by several publishers before Collings accepted the manuscript; the published book then won the annual Carnegie Medal (UK), annual Guardian Prize (UK), and other book awards.  Adams completed a sequel almost 25 years later, in 1996, Tales from Watership Down, constructed as a collection of 19 short stories about El-ahrairah and the rabbits of the Watership Down warren.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watership_Down

Year of the Rabbit  The Rabbit is the fourth of all zodiac animals.  Legend has it the Rabbit was proud—arrogant even—of its speed.  He was neighbors with Ox and always made fun of how slow Ox was.  One day, the Jade Emperor said the zodiac order would be decided by the order in which the animals arrived at his party.  Rabbit set off at daybreak.  But when he got there, no other animals were in sight.  Thinking that he would obviously be first, he went off to the side and napped.  However, when he woke up, three other animals had already arrived.  One of them was the Ox he had always looked down upon.  In Chinese culture, rabbits represent the moon.  Some say it is because the shadows of the moon resemble a rabbit.  Others say it is because of the rabbit’s pure characteristics.  Fefe Ho & Chloe Chiao  https://chinesenewyear.net/zodiac/rabbit/

Feedback re William Faulkner:  Ole Miss is located in Oxford, MS and Faulkner's home, Rowan Oak, is located and owned by Ole Miss.  I had the pleasure of visiting Ole Miss as a guest of the Chancellor, Dr. Porter Fortune and had many occasions to visit Rowan Oak.  The house was very simple as Mr. Faulkner spent most of his time in town at the local drug store with his friends.  On my first visit I was amazed that the outlines of his books were written on the walls of his home--every last one of them!!  Those outlines remain there to this day.  Thank you, Muse Reader!   

Little Strokes, Fell great oaks. – Benjamin Franklin, statesman, author, and inventor (17 Jan 1706-1790)   

All art is autobiographical; the pearl is the oyster's autobiography. - Federico Fellini, film director and writer (20 Jan 1920-1993)   

http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com  Issue 2622  January 20, 2023 

William Cuthbert Faulkner was born on September 25, 1897 in New Albany, Mississippi, the first of four sons of Murry Cuthbert Faulkner (1870–1932) and Maud Butler (1871–1960).  His family was upper middle-class, but "not quite of the old feudal cotton aristocracy".  After Maud rejected Murry's plan to become a rancher in Texas, the family moved to Oxford, Mississippi in 1902, where Faulkner's father established a livery stable and hardware store before becoming the University of Mississippi's business manager.  Except for short periods elsewhere, Faulkner lived in Oxford for the rest of his life.  When he was 17, Faulkner met Phil Stone, who became an important early influence on his writing. Stone was four years his senior and came from one of Oxford's older families; he was passionate about literature and had bachelor's degrees from Yale and the University of Mississippi.  Stone mentored the young Faulkner, introducing him to the works of writers like James Joyce, who influenced Faulkner's own writing.  In his early 20s, Faulkner gave poems and short stories he had written to Stone in hopes of their being published.  Stone sent these to publishers, but they were uniformly rejected.  In 1918, Faulkner's surname changed from "Falkner" to "Faulkner".  According to one story, a careless typesetter made an error.  When the misprint appeared on the title page of his first book, Faulkner was asked whether he wanted the change.  He supposedly replied, "Either way suits me."  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Faulkner   

Charles Baudelaire (1821–1867) is one of the most compelling poets of the 19th century.  Baudelaire is distinctive in French literature also in that his skills as a prose writer virtually equal his ability as a poet.  His body of work includes a novella, influential translations of the American writer Edgar Allan Poe, highly perceptive criticism of contemporary art, provocative journal entries, and critical essays on a variety of subjects.  Baudelaire’s work has had a tremendous influence on modernism, and his relatively slim production of poetry in particular has had a significant impact on later poets.  https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/charles-baudelaire   

16 Traditional Foods of New Zealand's Māori People by ADRIENNE KATZ KENNEDY/JAN. 7, 2023  Today, those who identify as Māori make up around 17% of New Zealand's population, notes BBC Travel.  Māori kai, or food, primarily consists of plants, fish, and birds indigenous to the island, alongside some traditions and seeds brought with them from Eastern Polynesia.  Māori cuisine, known as kai, distinguishes itself with its fundamental pillars, including kai whanau, food from the land, and kai moana, meaning food from the sea.  It is this acknowledgment of the environment as a resource that must be protected is built into the very language of the Māori people.  Find recipes and pictures at https://www.tastingtable.com/1159980/traditional-foods-of-new-zealands-maori-people   Thank you, Muse reader!   

On January 21, 1789, Boston publisher Isaiah Thomas and Company published what is generally considered to be the first American novel:  24-year-old William Hill Brown’s The Power of Sympathy:  or, The Triumph of Nature, which sold (albeit badly) for the price of 9 shillings.  It is the classic story of boy meets girl, boy falls for girl, boy and girl find out they’re siblings on their wedding day, girl promptly dies of consumption, boy eventually shoots himself while clutching a copy of The Sorrows of Young Werther to his breast.  You know the tale.  “The Power of Sympathy is not, as might be expected, a feeble echo or slavish imitation of a single British novel; it reflects a number of literary influences,” wrote William S. Kable in a 1969 introduction to the text.  Samuel Richardson’s Pamela, with which it shares its epistolary form, is the most obvious influence, but Kable also detects the impact of Laurence Sterne and Goethe, along with “allusions to La Rochefoucault and St. Evremond; to Swift, Addison, Gay, Shakespeare, and Lord Chesterfield; to Noah Webster, Joel Barlow, and Timothy Dwight.”  Literary Hub, January 15, 2023   

Martin Luther King Jr. Day (officially Birthday of Martin Luther King, Jr., and sometimes referred to as MLK Day) is a federal holiday in the United States marking the birthday of Martin Luther King Jr.  It is observed on the third Monday of January each year.  Born in 1929, King's actual birthday is January 15 (which in 1929 fell on a Tuesday).  The holiday is similar to holidays set under the Uniform Monday Holiday Act.  The earliest Monday for this holiday is January 15 and the latest is January 21.  King was the chief spokesperson for nonviolent activism in the Civil Rights Movement, which protested racial discrimination in federal and state law.  The campaign for a federal holiday in King's honor began soon after his assassination in 1968.  President Ronald Reagan signed the holiday into law in 1983, and it was first observed three years later on January 20, 1986.  At first, some states resisted observing the holiday as such, giving it alternative names or combining it with other holidays.  It was officially observed in all 50 states for the first time in 2000.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Luther_King_Jr._Day   

http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com  Issue 2621  January 16, 2023 

10 Smallest Rabbit Breeds in the World (With Pictures) by Nicole Cosgrove  https://petkeen.com/smallest-rabbit-breeds/   

Greenland is the largest island in the world.  Canada has the longest coastline in the world, bordering three oceans with its thousands of islands.  See rankings including:  #1, Sweden (267,570) and #5, United States (18,617) at https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/which-countries-have-the-most-islands.html   

Palmer Hayden (born Peyton Cole Hedgeman 1890, Widewater, Virginia; died 1973, New York City)  After moving to DC at age sixteen to live with an aunt, he took a job as a general laborer for the circus.  In 1912 he enlisted in the military, but due to a mistaken reference letter, he was registered as Palmer Cole Hayden, a name he adopted as his own.  By 1920 he had left the military, and he began to study painting—in New York City with Cooper Union art instructor Victor Perard and later in Boothbay Harbor, Maine at the Commonwealth Art Colony.  When Hayden traveled to Paris in 1927, his painting focus changed from seascapes to genre scenes of the thriving African diaspora in the French metropolis.  Returning to New York in 1932, Hayden continued to paint in this flat, faux-naïf style.  Hayden ironically revisited his military enlistment around this time.  With war imminent in 1939 and African Americans still struggling for equal rights, Hayden appears to parody any enthusiasm for voluntary enlistment.  https://www.nga.gov/features/exhibitions/outliers-and-american-vanguard-artist-biographies/palmer-hayden.html    

Dec. 30, 2022  Last month, Sara Day, a teen services librarian, and her colleague, Sara Vickers, a children’s librarian, led dozens of their colleagues in a short choreography set to Taylor Swift’s “Anti-Hero,” as part of a session called “TikTok O’ Clock!” at the Young Adult Library Services Association’s 2022 symposium in Baltimore.  Library TikTok is related to, but distinct from, BookTok, a corner of the platform where readers post about their favorite books and which has become a force in book sales.  On library TikTok, there is chatter about books, but librarians also post about resources and events, showcasing libraries as welcoming places for diverse communities.  Making the effort to show up on TikTok tells young people that “we’re here, we hear you, we feel you,” said Celia Greer, 30, a teen coordinator at the Kankakee Public Library in Kankakee, Ill.  The library posted a video that went viral on TikTok earlier this year, earning over one million views—and scoring a comment from Kevin Bacon.  The library then posted a second video celebrating Bacon’s comment, which got more than 30,000 views.  Now, the account is a local phenomenon, she said. 
Lora Kelley  https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/30/books/librarians-tiktok.html   

Looking to book a big trip this year but can't decide where to go?  Well, this is worth a gander:  the experts over at the New York Times have released their annual 52 Places to Go list for 2023.  Grace Beard  https://www.timeout.com/news/this-is-where-to-travel-in-2023-according-to-the-new-york-times-011223

To move freely you must be deeply rooted. - Bella Lewitzky, dancer (13 Jan 1916-2004)

http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com  Issue 2620  January 13, 2023 

 

5 tips for storing your vehicle this winter  December 24, 2022  

COVER IT UP * TOP OFF YOUR FLUIDS * TEND TO THE BATTERY * PROTECT THE TIRES * KEEP CRITTERS FROM NESTING  https://www.toledoblade.com/business/automotive/2022/12/24/5-tips-for-storing-your-vehicle-this-winter/stories/20221224016   

Kindness is like snow.  It beautifies everything it covers.  Kahlil Gibran https://www.jigidi.com/jigsaw-puzzle/ccvmjaj0/kindness-small/   

Starchitect is a portmanteau used to describe architects whose celebrity and critical acclaim have transformed them into idols of the architecture world and may even have given them some degree of fame among the general public.   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starchitect   

What is it about the sea that has made it a literary obsession since The Odyssey?  For me, it’s the mystery, the thrill of adventure, the fear of the horrible beasts lurking under the waves, and the dangerous men lying in wait just over the horizon.  It’s the visceral feel of the wind and the waves, the raw smells of saltwater mixed with fuel and fish and fear, where the weather is a capricious character, and the ships are lonely fortresses against the unknown.  Who doesn’t know their names:  Ulysses, Jason, Ahab, Larsen, Nemo, Queeg, Bligh, Blood, and Aubrey, as well as pirates Anne Bonny and Mary Read?  It is probably no coincidence that the sea inspired the first American novel, James Fenimore Cooper’s The Pilot.  It also inspired my debut novel, The Hunt for the Peggy C, a World War II-era historical fiction about an American fugitive who struggles to rescue a Jewish family on his rusty cargo ship, outraging his mutinous crew of misfits and provoking a hair-raising chase by an unstable Nazi U-boat captain bent on revenge.  Find a list of seven books–fiction and non-fiction–that examine the thrill of life at sea, for good and evil.  John Winn Miller https://crimereads.com/thrillers-sea-nautical/   

Charles Simic, one of the most important contemporary poets and essayists, died on January 9, 2023 at the age of 84.  Simic was born as Dusan Simic in 1938 in Belgrade, from where he emigrated to Paris and then to the US in 1953.  The family settled in Chicago, where he changed his name to Charles.  He didn’t write in English until well into his 20s.  For his poetic work, he won numerous international awards, including the Pulitzer Prize, as well as several Serbian and regional literary awards.  He got his Pulitzer Prize in 1990 for a book of prose poems entitled ‘The World Doesn’t End’.  He also served as poet laureate of the United States from 2007 to 2008.  “I am especially touched and honoured to be selected, because I am an immigrant boy who didn’t speak English until I was 15,” Simic said at the time.  Sasa Dragojlo  https://balkaninsight.com/2023/01/10/charles-simic-pulitzer-winning-serbian-born-poet-dies-at-84/   

Read poems by Charles Simic and sign up for Poem-a-Day at https://poets.org/poet/charles-simic#poet__works   

 http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com  Issue 2619  January 11, 2023

There are a number of stories and legends behind Missouri's sobriquet "Show-Me" state. The slogan is not official, but is common throughout the state and is used on Missouri license plates.  The most widely known legend attributes the phrase to Missouri's U.S. Congressman Willard Duncan Vandiver, who served in the United States House of Representatives from 1897 to 1903.  While a member of the U.S. House Committee on Naval Affairs, Vandiver attended an 1899 naval banquet in Philadelphia.  In a speech there, he declared, "I come from a state that raises corn and cotton and cockleburs and Democrats, and frothy eloquence neither convinces nor satisfies me.  I am from Missouri.  You have got to show me."  Regardless of whether Vandiver coined the phrase, it is certain that his speech helped to popularize the saying.  Other versions of the "Show-Me" legend place the slogan's origin in the mining town of Leadville, Colorado. There, the phrase was first employed as a term of ridicule and reproach.  A miner's strike had been in progress for some time in the mid-1890s, and a number of miners from the lead districts of southwest Missouri had been imported to take the places of the strikers. The Joplin miners were unfamiliar with Colorado mining methods and required frequent instructions.  Pit bosses began saying, "That man is from Missouri.  You'll have to show him."  https://www.sos.mo.gov/archives/history/slogan   

We asked cleaning expert Jill Koch of Jill Comes Clean and home organising professional Caroline Solomon - and scoured the internet - for lesser-known ways to use kitchen essentials.  The list includes bread, rice, mayonnaise, tea and salt.  Jenny Xie  https://www.stuff.co.nz/life-style/homed/how-to/300770688/these-surprising-cleaning-hacks-use-mayo-bread-and-other-pantry-staples   

Black peppercorns begin as green berries on the vine.  Once the bunch of berries has ripened and the first go from green to dark red, the spikes are harvested and shriveled by the sun into puckered, dark brownish spheres, which we call “black” peppercorns.  A spike of peppercorns will contain different-sized berries, as the ones at the very top grow larger than the ones at the bottom.  It is the world's most important spice, due to its near-worldwide popularity and the effect meeting its demand had on global trade and exploration.  It has long been thought to contain healing qualities—Sanskrit medical volumes dating back more than 3,000 years include advice on how to administer it.  By the fifth century, pepper was so wildly valuable it was used to pay off taxes and levies in place of currency; rent and dowries were sometimes paid in pepper; and when Rome was besieged by the Visigoths in 408 CE, 3,000 pounds of peppercorns were included in the ransom paid for the city’s release.  At its most valuable, pepper was worth its weight in gold.  Caitlin PenzeyMoog  https://www.seriouseats.com/guide-to-pepper-varieties   

Falsehood is so easy, truth so difficult. —  George Eliot, Adam Bede  An unexciting truth may be eclipsed by a thrilling falsehood. —  Aldous Huxley, Brave New World Revisited  https://quotepark.com/quotes/1919621-jonathan-swift-falsehood-flies-and-truth-comes-limping-after-it/   

Massachusetts Symbols

State Flower or Floral Emblem

The MAYFLOWER (Epigaea repens), also commonly known as the ground laurel or trailing arbutus, has ovate hairy leaves and fragrant, pink or white, spring-blooming flowers with five petals.  It was adopted as the official flower of the Commonwealth by the General Court on May 1, 1918.  Unfortunately, since 1925 it has been on the endangered list.

State Tree or Tree Emblem

The AMERICAN ELM (Ulmus Americana) was adopted as the state tree on March 21, 1941, to commemorate the fact that General George Washington took command of the Continental Army beneath one on Cambridge Common in 1775.   The American Elm, like most elms, has been severely afflicted by Elm Disease.

State Bird or Bird Emblem

The BLACK-CAPPED CHICKADEE (Penthestes atricapillus) was adopted as the state bird by the Massachusetts Legislature on March 21, 1941.  It is also known as the titmouse, tomtit, and the dickybird, and it is one of the most familiar of the North American birds.  It is a cheerful bird and has a pleasing call: “Chick-adee-dee-dee”.  See many other symbols including reptile, fish, insect, horse, dog, marine mammal, soil, and polka song at https://www.sec.state.ma.us/cis/cismaf/mf1a.htm

borrasca (plural borrascas)  noun

(mining) A mine that is no longer producing profitably.

Antonym  bonanza  https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/borrasca 

bonanza (plural bonanzas)

(mining) A rich mine or vein of silver or gold. antonym ▲

Antonym  borrasca  The point at which two mother lodes intersect.  (by extension, figuratively)  Anything which is a great source of wealth or yields a large income or return.  quotations  ▼ synonym:  mother lode 

From Spanish bonanza (“calm sea, fair weather, good luck, rich lode”), from Medieval Latin bonacia (“fair weather”), a blend of bonus (“good”) +‎ malacia (“calm sea”).  https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/bonanza#English   

http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com  Issue 2618  January 9, 2023