Yoda condition (plural Yoda conditions) noun   An allusion to the somewhat grammatically reversed speech style of Yoda, a character in the Star Wars franchise—for example, “Truly wonderful, the mind of a child is.  The term was possibly coined by Félix Cloutier (username “zneak”) in 2010, based on Yoda notation which is claimed to have been coined by Thomas M. Tuerke and published online in 2006.  https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Yoda_condition#English  May the Fourth—oops, the Force—be with you!   May the Fourth is observed as Star Wars Day by fans of the franchise.  Wiktionary   

The Kentucky Derby Museum is one of the region’s premier attractions, celebrating the tradition, history, hospitality, and pride of the world-renowned event that is the Kentucky Derby.  Each year, the Museum welcomes over 240,000 visitors from across the U.S. and around the world.  With a general admission ticket, visitors can enjoy two floors of interactive exhibits, a 30-minute guided historic walking tour at Churchill Downs Racetrack, and watch the Museum’s signature 18-minute movie, “The Greatest Race” on a 360°, 4K high-resolution screen.  The Museum’s exhibits tell the story of how the Kentucky Derby got its start, going back to the first Derby in 1875.  Displayed are unique artifacts ranging from early fashion pieces to winning Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas’ trophies and artwork entrusted to the Museum in 2017.  Visitors can call a race, play Derby trivia and learn about what it takes to be a jockey.  The Derby Café offers a modern take on some of Kentucky’s signature dishes, including a Hot Brown Panini, Burgoo, and Bourbon Bread Pudding. The bourbon bar offers Mint Juleps, bourbon flights, and other drinks at the full bar.  Find hours and location at https://www.derbymuseum.org/about.html

The 150th Kentucky Derby in Louisville produced one of the most dramatic finishes in its storied history—three noses at the wire.  Mystik Dan desperately fought to hang on with two challengers coming to him in the closing strides.  He did, too, after a delay of several minutes while the closest three-horse photo finish since 1947 was sorted out.  Mystik Dan, an 18-1 shot, edged Sierra Leone by a nose, with Forever Young another nose back in third on May 4, 2024.  Sierra Leone was the most expensive horse in the race at $2.3 million.  Long shots Track Phantom and Just Steel led the field through the early going, with 3-1 favorite Fierceness racing three-wide just off the leaders.  It was just the 10th Kentucky Derby decided by a nose—the closest margin in horse racing—and the first since Grindstone edged Cavonnier to wear the garland of red roses in 1996.  https://apnews.com/article/kentucky-derby-2024-fierceness-sierra-leone-7a75a2184aa4433bafd1397340b61d99 

"My Old Kentucky Home, Good-Night!" typically shortened to "My Old Kentucky Home", is a sentimental ballad written by Stephen Foster, probably composed in 1852.  It was published in January 1853 by Firth, Pond, & Co. of New York.  Foster was likely inspired by Harriet Beecher Stowe's anti-slavery novel Uncle Tom's Cabin, as evidenced by the title of a sketch in Foster's sketchbook, "Poor Uncle Tom, Good-Night!"  Interpretations of the song vary widely. Frederick Douglass wrote in his 1855 autobiography My Bondage and My Freedom that the song "awakens sympathies for the slave, in which antislavery principles take root, grow, and flourish".  However, the song's publication by Firth & Pond as a minstrel song and its use in "Tom shows" (stagings of Stowe's novel of varying degrees of sincerity and faithfulness to the original text), and other settings, have clouded its reception.  Foster was greatly inspired by Harriet Beecher Stowe's abolitionist novel Uncle Tom's Cabin, which appeared in bookstores in Foster's hometown of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in March 1852.  The novel, written about the plight of a slave in Kentucky, had a profound effect on Foster's future songwriting by altering the tone of his music to sympathize the position of the enslaved person.  In his notebook, Foster penned the lyrics inspired by Stowe's novel, initially named "Poor Old Uncle Tom, Good-Night!" Foster ultimately removed references to Stowe's book, renaming the work, "My Old Kentucky Home, Good-Night!"  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/My_Old_Kentucky_Home#   

Renowned minimalist painter Frank Stella died May 4, 2024 at his home in Manhattan, N.Y.  The artist was 87 years old.  When Stella was only 23, he made his debut at New York's Museum of Modern Art.  And soon after his series Black Paintings, which he started in 1958, Stella created two more series, Aluminum Paintings (1960) and Copper Paintings (1960-61), that committed to the idea that the art was in the medium and was, as he told The Guardian in 2015, supposed to be "fairly straightforward."  In 1970, when he was 33 years old, Stella became the youngest artist ever to receive a retrospective at New York's Museum of Modern Art.  His exhibition covered a decade of his drawings and paintings and emphasized his originality in simplicity.  In the 1990s, Stella's work evolved from the canvas to colorful geometrical configurations and sculptures.  He started using computer technology and architectural rendering to incorporate digital images into his work.  His Moby Dick series, a set of paintings, lithographs, and sculptures, took their titles from chapters of Herman Melville's classic novel.  https://www.npr.org/2024/05/04/1112027057/frank-stella-dead-art-minimalist

http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com  Issue  2810   May 6, 2024