A rusk is a hard, dry biscuit or a twice-baked bread.  It is sometimes used as a teether for babies.  In some cultures, rusk is made of cake, rather than bread:  this is sometimes referred to as cake rusk.  In the UK, the name also refers to a wheat-based food additive.  See graphics at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rusk    

If you have ever made any valuable discoveries, it has been owing more to patient observation than to any other reason. - Isaac Newton, physicist, mathematician, and philosopher (25 Dec 1642-1727)   

Bas-relief is a type of relief (sculpture) that has less depth to the faces and figures than they actually have, when measured proportionately (to scale).  This technique keeps the natural shapes of the figures and allows the work to be seen from many angles without twisting the figures themselves.  There is a continuation of the bas-relief technique into the next category, altorilievo, or high relief.  High relief makes deeper images than bas-relief.  Instead of shallow backgrounds that are a few inches (cm) deep at most, they can be up to several feet (a few meters) deep in altorilievo.  Some of the best examples of bas-relief are the Assyrian Lion Hunt Reliefs, which are housed at the British Museum.  The attention to detail and appearance of the lions moving make them stand out, especially for the time period they were made in.  https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bas-relief    

In 1928, Wanda Gág (I know what you’re thinking, but it rhymes with “jog”) published her first book, Millions of Cats, which was adapted from a story she had made up to entertain her friends’ children.  Written and illustrated by Gág, it also featured hand-lettered text (created by her brother) and something brand new for picture books:  the illustrated double-page spread.  Here’s the story:  a very old man and a very old woman live together in a house surrounded by flowers.  The only thing missing in their lives is “a sweet little fluffy cat” (the cats in question were modeled after Gág’s own, Noopy), and so the very old man goes off to search for one.  But instead of one, he finds “hundreds of cats, thousands of cats, millions and billions and trillions of cats.”  It was an instant hit, and remains the oldest American picture book still in print.  In fact, some would call it the oldest American picture book, period—at that time most illustrated books in circulation in America were British.  Millions of Cats won a Newbery Honor in 1929, making it one of very few picture books to do so (the Caldecott medal had not yet been created), and continues to be ranked among the best American children’s books—by those who remember it, at least.  Emily Temple   Literary Hub  March 11, 2019  See graphics at https://lithub.com/the-oldest-american-picture-book-still-in-print-is-obviously-about-cats/   

Wanda Gág (1893–1946) was posthumously honored with The Lewis Carroll Shelf Award in 1958 and The Kerlan Award in 1977.  The Wanda Gág Read Aloud Book Award is awarded each year by the University of Minnesota, Moorhead.  In 2018, Gág was posthumously honored with The Museum of Illustration at the Society of Illustrators Original Art Lifetime Achievement Award.  Gág's prints, drawings, and watercolors are in the collections of The Minneapolis Institute of Arts, The Whitney Museum and other museums around the world.  Gág's papers, manuscripts and matrices are held in the Kerlan Collection at the University of Minnesota, The New York Public Library, The Free Library of Philadelphia and the Minneapolis Institute of Art.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wanda_G%C3%A1g    

Noun  hodgepodge (countable and uncountable, plural hodgepodges)  A collection containing a variety of miscellaneous things.    farrago, melange, mishmash;  A confused mass of ingredients shaken or mixed together in the same pot.

Verb  hodgepodge (third-person singular simple present hodgepodges, present participle hodgepodging, simple past and past participle hodgepodged)  (transitive, intransitive) To move or position in an erratic, disorganised manner.  https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/hodgepodge   

Hodge-podge or hotch potch (variously capitalised and hyphenated) is a soup or stew, usually based on diced mutton or other meat, with green and root vegetables.  It is familiar in different versions in Britain and North America and is particularly associated with Scotland.  The Oxford English Dictionary definition is:  "A dish made of a mixture of various kinds of meat, vegetables, etc., stewed together" and "esp in Scottish = Hotchpotch – A dish containing a mixture of many ingredients; spec. a thick soup of barley, peas, and other vegetables, and sometimes meat".  The word derives from the Anglo-Norman and Middle French hochepot, "a dish containing a mixture of many ingredients, especially a kind of stew made with minced beef or goose and various vegetables".  The dish was familiar in medieval times.  In The Forme of Cury (c. 1390) a recipe is given for a hotch-potch of goose  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hodge-Podge_(soup)    

http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com  Issue 2763  December 31, 2023  

 

Otomi Poem

The river goes by, goes by  And never stops.   The wind goes by, goes by  And never stops   Life goes by  and never comes back.  Aztec   A World of Poetry   

New York City (Times Square):  In its current iteration since 2008–09, a 11,875 pounds (5,386 kg) ball covered in Waterford Crystal panels has been lowered from the top of One Times Square.  The Times Square Ball was originally made of wood and previously metal; during the 1980s, an illuminated apple was used in its place.  In 2009, an enlarged version of the new LED-equipped ball became a permanent fixture year-round atop One Times Square.

Niagara Falls, New York:  A ten-foot Gibson Guitar is dropped from a specially designed 120-foot scaffold at the stroke of midnight at the Hard Rock Cafe.

Watertown, New York:  A beach ball is dropped at noon New Year's Eve, which kicks off the city's season-long winter celebration, Snowtown USA.    

Chagrin Falls, Ohio:  A ball of popcorn is dropped.

Cincinnati, Ohio:  A flying pig is "flown", not dropped, confirming there is at least one occasion "when pigs fly".

Elmore, Ohio:  A sausage is dropped.

Marion, Ohio:  In the home of the annual Marion Popcorn Festival and the home of the Wyandot Popcorn Company, a giant ball of popcorn is dropped.

Port Clinton, Ohio:  A walleye fish named "Captain Wylie Walleye" is dropped.   

Allentown, Pennsylvania:  Allentown's own liberty bell is dropped to commemorate the period when the Liberty Bell was stored in Allentown during the American Revolution.

Beavertown, Pennsylvania:  A stuffed beaver is dropped.

Bethlehem, Pennsylvania:  A 100-pound yellow illuminated Peep made out of fiberglass.  (The producer of Peeps, Just Born, is based in Bethlehem)

Dillsburg, Pennsylvania:  Two pickles are dropped; the "Lil' Dill" at 7:00 p.m. ET (midnight in Ireland, in celebration of Dillsburg's Irish founders), and "Mr. Pickle" at midnight.

Elizabethtown, Pennsylvania:  A giant M&M is dropped at midnight UTC to correspond with midnight in sister city Letterkenny in Ireland.  This changed to a Dove chocolate bar in 2012–13; both Dove and M&M's are manufactured in Elizabethtown.  

Kennett Square, Pennsylvania:  For 2014, a steel mushroom was dropped.  Kennett Square, often called "The Mushroom Capital of the World", is one of the largest growers of mushrooms.

Lebanon, Pennsylvania:  A 100-pound stick of Lebanon Bologna is dropped.  The bologna itself is distributed to a local food bank and animal shelter following the drop.

McClure, Pennsylvania:  A kettle is dropped in honor of McClure Bean Soup Festival.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_objects_dropped_on_New_Year%27s_Eve    

These 10 Venison Dinners Will Knock Your Socks Off by Food Dude   https://www.allrecipes.com/gallery/venison-dinners/    

Favorite books read by The Muser in 2023    

The Switch (2017) by Joseph Finder 

The Executor (2010) by Jesse Kellerman

Believe Me (2018) by J.P. Delaney

Bordeaux (2008) by Paul Torday

Anything is Possible (2017) by Elizabeth Strout

To Cut a Long Story Short (2000) by Jeffrey Archer 

Ella Minnow Pea (2001) by Mark Dunn 

Born a Crime:  Stories from a South African Childhood (2016) by Trevor Noah

A Man Called Ove (2013) by Fredrick Backman    

In the case of good books, the point is not how many of them you can get through, but rather how many can get through to you. - Mortimer J. Adler, philosopher, educator, and author (28 Dec 1902-2001)    

The Ultimate Best Books of 2023 List:  Reading All the Lists So You Don’t Have To Since 2017  by Emily Temple  December 23, 2023  I now present to you the Ultimate List, otherwise known as the List of Lists—in which I read all the Best Of lists and count which books are recommended most.  This year, I sorted through 62 lists from 48 publications, which yielded a total of 1,132 books.  (I can only say:  yikes.)   94 of those books made it onto 5 or more lists, and I have collated these for you here, in descending order of frequency.  See the lists at https://lithub.com/the-ultimate-best-books-of-2023-list/  

The love of one's country is a splendid thing.  But why should love stop at the border? - Pablo Casals, cellist, conductor, and composer (29 Dec 1876-1973)  

http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com  Issue 2762  December 29, 2023

All your kin and kinsfolk, That dwell both far and near; I wish you a Merry Christmas, and a happy New Year”  Good-Bye  The Oxford Book of Carols, #16   

We have got a little purse Of stretching leather skin:  We want a little of your money To line it well within”  Wassail Song  The Oxford Book of Carols, #15   

Our wassail cup is made Of the rosemary tree, And so is your beer Of the best barley”  Wassail Song  The Oxford Book of Carols, #15   https://hymnary.org/text/here_we_come_awassailing   

wassail  noun   an early English toast to someone's health *  a hot drink that is made with wine, beer, or cider, spices, sugar, and usually baked apples and is traditionally served in a large bowl especially at Christmastime *  riotous drinking * revelry   

wassail verb  to indulge in wassail * carouse  

dialectal, England  to sing carols from house to house at Christmas * to drink to the health or thriving of  https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/wassail     

dialectal, England  to sing carols from house to house at Christmas * to drink to the health or thriving of  https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/wassail     

The Wiener Werkstätte (Vienna Workshop), was an artistic collaboration for artists, artisans, designers and architects inspired by the British Arts and Crafts movement.  In the first three decades of the twentieth century, the Workshop became incredibly influential due to the fact that it emphasized both the artistic and the entrepreneurial:  marketing was clearly a priority and the postcards produced by its members were the primary marketing tool.  https://www.jigidi.com/jigsaw-puzzle/m887hnuh/josef-diveky-merry-christmas-eve-vienna-workshop/

A book is a gift you can open again and again.  Garrison Keillor  (born 1942)    

The Estate of J R R Tolkien has won two lawsuits against author Demetrious Polychron over his book The Fellowship of the King, which he published and commercially promoted as “the pitch-perfect sequel to The Lord of the Rings”.  Polychron launched a lawsuit against the Tolkien Estate and Amazon in April 2023, claiming that Amazon’s TV series “The Rings of Power” infringed the copyright in his book.  The US District Court summarily dismissed that case, finding that Polychron’s own book was infringing and could not be used as the basis for a claim.  The Tolkien Estate filed a separate lawsuit against Polychron for an injunction to prevent The Fellowship of the King from being further distributed.   The US District Court summarily dismissed that case, finding that Polychron’s own book was infringing and could not be used as the basis for a claim.  The Tolkien Estate filed a separate lawsuit against Polychron for an injunction to prevent The Fellowship of the King from being further distributed.  In judgments issued by Judge Steven V Wilson on 14th December, 2023 the court awarded the Tolkien Estate summary judgment on its claim, granting a permanent injunction which prevents Polychron from ever distributing any further copies of The Fellowship of the King, his planned sequels to that book, or any other derivative work based on the books of J R R Tolkien.  He is also required to destroy all physical and electronic copies of his book and to file a declaration, under penalty of perjury, that he has complied.  The court also awarded attorney’s fees totalling $134,000 (£106,000) to the Tolkien Estate and Amazon in connection with Polychron’s lawsuit, which the court found to have been “frivolously and unreasonably” filed.  SIAN BAYLEY  https://www.thebookseller.com/news/tolkien-estate-wins-two-lawsuits-against-author-of-unauthorised-lord-of-the-rings-sequel     

Milk Duds are a brand of chocolate-coated caramel candies produced by The Hershey Company.  The candy is a caramel disk covered with a confectionery chocolate coating made from cocoa and vegetable oil.   Milk Duds are sold in a yellowish-orange box.  According to the manufacturer, the word "Milk" in the candy's name refers to the large amount of milk in the product; the use of "dud" came about because the original aim of having a spherical shape was not achieved.  In 1928, Hoffman and Company of Chicago tried to manufacture a spherical, chocolate-covered caramel candy.  Because they were unsuccessful in achieving the spherical shape, the candies were called "duds". This inspired the candy's name, "Milk Duds".  In the same year, Holloway took over Hoffman and Company and the production of Milk Duds.  In 1960 Holloway sold Hoffman and Co. to Beatrice Foods.  In 1986, Leaf purchased the Milk Duds business.  In 1992, production of Milk Duds candy was moved to Leaf Candy Company's Robinson, Illinois plant.  In 1996, Leaf's North American confectionery operation was acquired by Hershey Foods Corporation of Hershey, Pennsylvania.   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milk_Duds    

http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com  Issue 2762  December  27, 2023 

                                                                                                                           

The roots of sugar plums, and their connection to festivals and holidays, stretch nearly 500 years.  In 16th-century England, the word plum not only referred to the summer stone fruit that we're familiar with today but to anything sweet, pleasant, and desirable.  At this time, sugar was both rare and precious and often used to preserve summer fruit, including plums.  Cooks would boil them in a sugar syrup, similar to the way we still make candied ginger today.  Sugaring fruit, such as plums, made them resistant to spoilage so that they could be enjoyed year-round.  A 17th-century cookbook specifically references sugaring plums in this way, calling it the "most kindly" way to preserve them as well as other small stonefruits, such as cherries.  Whether these were the original sugar plums is questionable.   https://nourishedkitchen.com/sugar-plums-recipe/  See also https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/sugarplums-recipe-1948978 and https://gfreefoodie.com/sugar-plums/ and https://www.thespruceeats.com/sugarplums-520692 and https://www.rhubarbarians.com/easy-homemade-sugar-plums-recipe/   

Bermuda Cassava Pie  Usually served at Christmas  prep time:  30 minutes cook time:  3 hours  servings:  12  You may use frozen cassava thawed and drained (yucca).  If desired, meat may be added to this dish.  https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/267925/bermuda-cassava-pie/   

Jessica Vincent fondly remembers embarking on frequent thrifting trips—at secondhand stores, yard sales, flea markets—with her mother as a child.  It’s a habit she retained into adulthood, and one that on December 13, 2023 turned into a six-figure windfall for the Richmond, Virginia native (and the art and design auction house Wright), when a glass vase she purchased for $3.99 at Goodwill sold for over $107,000.  “When I first heard Jessica’s story and saw the image of the vase, I knew this was the real deal,” Wright’s founder, Richard Wright, told CNN in an email following the sale, adding:  (Scarpa’s) work in glass was among the most innovative on the island of Murano.  The ‘Pennellate’ series was not widely produced or purchased in its day—so it is quite rare to find a work such as this one.”   Experts from the auction house soon visited Vincent to confirm the piece’s authenticity.  The vase was then listed as part of Wright’s “Important Italian Glass” sale with a valuation of between $30,000 and $50,000.  The final sale price more than doubled the top estimate.  “They were like, ‘Yeah, this is really good,’” Vincent recalled. “Some people were throwing out different makers and designers, until one person was like, ‘Oh, that’s Carlo Scarpa … very top shelf, every collector’s dream.’”  It transpired that the vase is from the “Pennellate” series that Scarpa, an architect who also dabbled in glassware and furnishings, designed for Venini in 1942, during his tenure as the company’s creative director.  The term “Pennellate” translates as “brushstrokes,” in reference to the pieces’ painterly appearance.  The vase demonstrates Scarpa’s “concept of a vase as canvas,” auction house Wright wrote in its listing for the piece, adding that production numbers for the series were “very low—likely because the pieces were so difficult to make.”  “When I first heard Jessica’s story and saw the image of the vase, I knew this was the real deal,” Wright’s founder, Richard Wright, told CNN in an email following the sale, adding:  “(Scarpa’s) work in glass was among the most innovative on the island of Murano.  The ‘Pennellate’ series was not widely produced or purchased in its day—so it is quite rare to find a work such as this one.”  Experts from the auction house soon visited Vincent to confirm the piece’s authenticity.  The vase was then listed as part of Wright’s “Important Italian Glass” sale with a valuation of between $30,000 and $50,000.  The final sale price more than doubled the top estimate.  Alex Rees See picture at https://www.cnn.com/style/thrift-store-vase-auction-carlo-scarpa-venini/index.html     

It’s easy to understand why people confuse bison and buffalo.  Both are large, horned, oxlike animals of the Bovidae family.  There are two kinds of bison, the American bison and the European bison, and two forms of buffalo, water buffalo and Cape buffalo.  Contrary to the song “Home on the Range,” buffalo do not roam in the American West.  Instead, they are indigenous to South Asia (water buffalo) and Africa (Cape buffalo), while bison are found in North America and parts of Europe.  Despite being a misnomer—one often attributed to confused explorers—buffalo remains commonly used when referring to American bison, thus adding to the confusion.  Another major difference is the presence of a hump. Bison have one at the shoulders while buffalo don’t.  The hump allows the bison’s head to function as a plow, sweeping away drifts of snow in the winter.  Amy Tikkanen   https://www.britannica.com/story/whats-the-difference-between-buffalo-and-bison    

December 20, 2023  Museums, galleries and archives have been urged to tighten their cyber security following the massive ransomware attack on the British Library.  The library fell victim to a major hack by the criminal group Rhysida in October, 2023 that has left it severely incapacitated.  The institution’s online systems and services are suffering ongoing disruption, while large parts of its IT estate were destroyed or encrypted and it initially lost access to basic communication tools such as email.  The gang demanded £600,000 in bitcoin as ransom for the stolen data, and later attempted to auction off a significant amount of sensitive customer and staff details on the dark web.  Last week it dumped almost 600 gigabytes of leaked material online.  The incident has caused alarm among many museum and archive organisations, which are overwhelmingly reliant on digital technology for everything from booking systems to collections management and documentation.  “Libraries, research and education institutions are being targeted, whether for monetary gain or out of sheer malice.”  The library's teams are working to develop hybrid services and workarounds that can restore some level of access to the collection while a broader programme of secure infrastructure rebuilding gets underway.  From early in 2024 there will be a phased return of some key services, starting with a reference-only version of the main catalogue, which will be back online from 15 January.  The National Cyber Security Centre provides guidance on staying safe online and actions to take following a data breach.  Geraldine Kendall Adams  https://www.museumsassociation.org/museums-journal/news/2023/12/museums-on-alert-following-british-library-cyber-attack/    

http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com  Issue 2760  December 22, 2023 

Impeachment is the process of bringing charges against a government official for wrongdoing.  A trial may be held, and the official may be removed from office.  The Constitution gives Congress the power to impeach federal officials.  An official can be impeached for treason, bribery, and “other high crimes and misdemeanors.”  The House has initiated impeachment proceedings more than 60 times.  But there have been only 21 impeachments.  This includes three presidents, one cabinet secretary, and one senator.  Of those who were impeached, only eight officials were found guilty by the Senate and removed from office.  All eight were federal judges.  https://www.usa.gov/impeachment   

Frankford is a section of Philadelphia.  The Yellow Jackets started playing in the National Football League in 1924.  The Frankford Yellow Jackets won the 1926 NFL championship.  Hard economic times were on the horizon, however.  The Great Depression hit.  Two fires damaged their stadium.  The team suspended operations in 1931.  Bert Bell purchased the Yellow Jackets out of bankruptcy and founded the Philadelphia Eagles in 1933.  Bert Bell founded the Philadelphia Eagles with money from his wife, Frances Upton.  She recognized the potential of pro football, and lent Bell the money to buy the Yellow Jackets out of bankruptcy.  Bert Bell’s wealthy father saw pro football as risky business, however, and refused to loan Bell money for a team.  Bert Bell’s son, Upton, spoke about the rugged business of early pro football in an episode of The Game Before the Money Podcast.  “Twenty-five teams or more went out of business between the founding and the league in Canton, Ohio, with Jim Thorpe in that automobile room and the time my father got in 8 or 10 years later.”  Bell decided to name the team for the entire city of Philadelphia.  He literally looked towards the sky and saw the nickname Eagles.  Upton Bell told the story on the football history podcast:  “He was walking down the street and looked up at a billboard that had the National Recovery Act eagle up there . . . [He] decided on the spot:  ‘That’s the name of my team.'”  In short, Bert Bell named the Philadelphia Eagles after the symbol for the National Recovery Administration and the National Industrial Recovery Act, part of Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal.  More information about the Act, as well as a picture of the symbol, can be found at the Library of Congress website.  https://www.thegamebeforethemoney.com/how-the-philadelphia-eagles-were-named/    

Andalusia is the southernmost autonomous community in Peninsular Spain.  Andalusia is located in the south of the Iberian Peninsula, in southwestern Europe.  It is the most populous and the second-largest autonomous community in the country.  It is officially recognised as a historical nationality and a national reality.  The territory is divided into eight provincesAlmería, Cádiz, Córdoba, Granada, Huelva, Jaén, Málaga, and Seville.  Its capital city is Seville.  The seat of the High Court of Justice of Andalusia is located in the city of Granada.  Andalusia is immediately south of the autonomous communities of Extremadura and Castilla-La Mancha; west of the autonomous community of Murcia and the Mediterranean Sea; east of Portugal and the Atlantic Ocean; and north of the Mediterranean Sea and the Strait of Gibraltar.  Gibraltar shares a 1.2 kilometres (³⁄₄ mi) land border with the Andalusian portion of the province of Cádiz at the eastern end of the Strait of Gibraltar.  The name "Andalusia" is derived from the Arabic word Al-Andalus which in turn may be derived from the Vandals, the Goths or pre-Roman Iberian tribes.   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andalusia    

Life is too short ever to be serious.  The Archbishop in Andalusia, a Blackie Ryan novel by Andrew M. Greeley   

Prosper Mérimée (1803–1870) was a French writer in the movement of Romanticism, one of the pioneers of the novella, a short novel or long short story.  He was also a noted archaeologist and historian, an important figure in the history of architectural preservation.  He is best known for his novella Carmen, which became the basis of Bizet's opera Carmen.  He learned Russian, a language for which he had great affection, before translating the work of several notable Russian writers, including Pushkin and Gogol, into French.  From 1830 until 1860 he was the inspector of French historical monuments, responsible for the protection of many historic sites, including the medieval citadel of Carcassonne and the restoration of the façade of the cathedral of Notre-Dame de Paris.  Along with the writer George Sand, he discovered the series of tapestries called The Lady and the Unicorn, arranging for their preservation.  He was instrumental in the creation of Musée national du Moyen Âge in Paris, where the tapestries now are displayed.  The official database of French monuments, the Base Mérimée, bears his name.   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prosper_M%C3%A9rim%C3%A9e    

http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com  Issue 2759  December 20, 2023