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