GREEN BEANS

First, wash and trim the beans.  Rinse them in a colander under cool running water, and snap off the stems.  While you work, bring a large pot of salted water to a boil.  Set a large bowl of ice water nearby.  Then, chill!  Immediately transfer the blanched beans to the bowl of ice water to stop the cooking process.  Let them chill for at least 15 seconds; you want them to cool completely.  Finally, drain the beans, and spread them on a kitchen towel or paper towels to dry.   https://www.loveandlemons.com/how-to-cook-green-beans/   

Hyperdontia is the medical term for supernumerary teeth (extra teeth).  Children have a total of 20 primary teeth and adults have a total of 32 permanent teeth.  Children with more than 20 teeth and adults with more than 32 teeth have hyperdontia.  https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/hyperdontia    

Art competitions formed part of the modern Olympic Games during its early years, from 1912 to 1948.  The competitions were part of the original intention of the Olympic Movement's founder, Pierre de Frédy, Baron de Coubertin.  Medals were awarded for works of art inspired by sport, divided into five categories:  architecture, literature, music, painting, and sculpture.  The juried art competitions were abandoned in 1954 because artists were considered to be professionals, while Olympic athletes were required to be amateurs.  Since 1956, the Art competitions formed part of the modern Olympic Games during its early years, from 1912 to 1948.  The competitions were part of the original intention of the Olympic Movement's founder, Pierre de Frédy, Baron de Coubertin.  Medals were awarded for works of art inspired by sport, divided into five categories:  architecture, literature, music, painting, and sculpture.  A single event for music was held until 1936, when three categories were introduced:  one for orchestral music, one for instrumental music, and one for both solo and choral music.  In 1948, these categories were slightly modified into choral/orchestral, instrumental/chamber, and vocal music.  The juries often had trouble judging the pieces, which were entered on paper.  Possibly related to the problematic judging, juries frequently decided to award only a few prizes.  On two occasions, no award was given out at all (in the 1924 music category and in the 1936 instrumental music category).  1936 marked the only occasion when the winning musical works were actually played before an audience.  Josef Suk is the only well-known musician to have competed, winning a silver medal in 1932.   Judging by the medals won, Luxembourg painter Jean Jacoby is the most successful Olympic artist, winning the gold medal for his 1924 painting Étude de Sport, and for his drawing Rugby in 1928.   Swiss artist Alex Diggelmann won three medals, a gold one in 1936 (for his poster Arosa I Placard), and a silver and a bronze in the 1948 applied arts & crafts class, both with commercial posters.  Danish writer Josef Petersen won a silver medal on three occasions:  in 1924, 1932, and 1948.  Only two persons have won Olympic medals in both sport and art competitions.  Walter W. Winans, an American who lived in England, won a gold medal as a marksman at the 1908 Summer Olympics in the running deer (double shot) competition.  In 1912, he won another shooting medal—silver this time—in the running deer team competition.  By then, he had already won a gold medal for his sculpture An American trotter.  The other Olympian with successes in both fields is Alfréd Hajós of Hungary.  As a swimmer, he won two gold medals at the 1896 Athens Olympics.  Twenty-eight years later, he was awarded a silver medal in architecture for his stadium design, co-designed with Dezső Lauber.  See graphics at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Art_competitions_at_the_Summer_Olympics  

Freeze vegetables at the height of the season, when they are at their Technicolor best, and you'll be rich with cooking options for months to come.  For example, this muhammara, the Middle Eastern red pepper and walnut spread, can be made with either fresh red bell peppers or ones that you have chopped and frozen.  The version made with frozen peppers is a little looser and lighter in color than the version starting with fresh peppers, but otherwise you sacrifice nothing having started with frozen produce—the two final spreads are similar in taste.  If using a fresh red pepper, char on all sides directly on the burner of a gas stove, or roast at 400 degrees until blistered all over.  Transfer to a bowl until cool enough to handle, then peel off the skin and remove seeds and stem.  Roughly chop pepper. Continue with the recipe as directed.  https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1017492-muhammara-red-pepper-and-walnut-spread    

http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com  Issue 2844  July 31, 2024 

Francis Julius Bellamy (1855–1931) was an American Christian socialist Baptist minister and author.  He is best known for writing the original version of the Pledge of Allegiance in 1892.  Francis Julius Bellamy was born on May 18, 1855, in Mount Morris, New York to Rev. David Bellamy (1806–1864) and Lucy Clark.  His family was deeply involved in the Baptist church and both Francis and his father became ministers.  The family moved to Rome, New York, when Francis was only 5.  Here, Bellamy became an active member of the First Baptist Church where his father served as minister until his death in 1864.  Francis went on to attend the University of Rochester in Rochester, New York, where he studied theology and belonged to the Alpha Delta Phi fraternity.  Bellamy's travels brought him to Massachusetts where he penned the "Pledge of Allegiance" for a campaign by the Youth's Companion, a patriotic circular and magazine.  Bellamy "believed in the absolute separation of church and state" and purposefully did not include the phrase "under God" in his pledge.  In February 2022, Barry Popik tweeted a May 1892 newspaper report from Hays, Kansas, of a school flag-raising on 30 April accompanied by an almost identical pledge.  An alternative theory is that the pledge was submitted to an 1890 patriotic competition in The Youth's Companion by a 13-year-old Kansas schoolboy, coincidentally named Frank E. Bellamy.  Based on the inconsistency of the facts, some favor Frank E. Bellamy rather than Francis Bellamy as the originator.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_Bellamy     

The Pledge of Allegiance was written in August 1892 by the socialist minister Francis Bellamy (1855-1931).  It was originally published in The Youth's Companion on September 8, 1892.  Bellamy had hoped that the pledge would be used by citizens in any country.  In its original form it read:  "I pledge allegiance to my Flag and the Republic for which it stands, one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all."  In 1923, the words, "the Flag of the United States of America" were added. At this time it read:  "I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all."  Section 4 of the Flag Code states:  The Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag:   "I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, one Nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.", should be rendered by standing at attention facing the flag with the right hand over the heart.  When not in uniform men should remove any non-religious headdress with their right hand and hold it at the left shoulder, the hand being over the heart.  Persons in uniform should remain silent, face the flag, and render the military salute."  The original Bellamy salute, first described in 1892 by Francis Bellamy, who authored the original Pledge, began with a military salute, and after reciting the words "to the flag," the arm was extended toward the flag.  At a signal from the Principal the pupils, in ordered ranks, hands to the side, face the Flag.  Another signal is given; every pupil gives the flag the military salute—right hand lifted, palm downward, to a line with the forehead and close to it.  Standing thus, all repeat together, slowly, "I pledge allegiance to my Flag and the Republic for which it stands; one Nation indivisible, with Liberty and Justice for all."  At the words, "to my Flag," the right hand is extended gracefully, palm upward, toward the Flag, and remains in this gesture till the end of the affirmation; whereupon all hands immediately drop to the side.  The Youth's Companion, 1892   Shortly thereafter, the pledge was begun with the right hand over the heart, and after reciting "to the Flag," the arm was extended toward the Flag, palm-down.  In World War II, the salute too much resembled the Nazi salute, so it was changed to keep the right hand over the heart throughout.  Link to other historic documents at https://www.ushistory.org/documents/pledge.htm     

Waiting for Godot, arguably the most famous work by Irish novelist, playwright, and summer style icon Samuel Beckett (who, fun fact, used to drive Andre the Giant to school), was originally written in French, as was most of what Beckett produced after WWII.  (Beckett was a native English speaker, but said that “in French it is easier to write without style;” Chris Power argues that his language shift “resulted in one of the more astonishing artistic transformations in 20th-century literature, as his clotted, exhaustingly self-conscious early manner gave way to the strange journeys described, and tortured psyches inhabited, in the four long stories he wrote in the course of a few months during 1946.”)  En attendant Godot premiered in Paris in 1953, but it wasn’t until August 3, 1955, that the English language adaptation opened at the Arts Theatre in London.   Literary Hub  July 28, 2024    

human wandering through the zoo / what do your cousins think of you. - Don Marquis, humorist and poet (29 Jul 1878-1937)    

Muhmmara is a Middle Eastern walnut and roasted red pepper dip that’s all sorts of savory, sweet, slightly smoky, and just enough spicy!  It is almost a cousin to Spanish romesco sauce.  The word muhammara is from the Arabic word ahmar, which literally means red.  This red dip, originally from the Syrian city of Aleppo, this delicious dip made its way from the heart of the Levant to many parts of the world including Europe and the U.S.  You will typically find muhammara served  as a mezze dish with other dips like baba ganoush and hummus.  Muhammara will keep in the fridge anywhere from 4 days to one week, if properly stored.  Find recipe at https://www.themediterraneandish.com/muhammara-recipe-roasted-red-pepper-dip/  Thank you, Muse reader.     

http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com  Issue 2843  July 29, 2024

Francis Julius Bellamy (1855–1931) was an American Christian socialist Baptist minister and author.  He is best known for writing the original version of the Pledge of Allegiance in 1892.  Francis Julius Bellamy was born on May 18, 1855, in Mount Morris, New York to Rev. David Bellamy (1806–1864) and Lucy Clark.  His family was deeply involved in the Baptist church and both Francis and his father became ministers.  The family moved to Rome, New York, when Francis was only 5.  Here, Bellamy became an active member of the First Baptist Church where his father served as minister until his death in 1864.  Francis went on to attend the University of Rochester in Rochester, New York, where he studied theology and belonged to the Alpha Delta Phi fraternity.  Bellamy's travels brought him to Massachusetts where he penned the "Pledge of Allegiance" for a campaign by the Youth's Companion, a patriotic circular and magazine.  Bellamy "believed in the absolute separation of church and state" and purposefully did not include the phrase "under God" in his pledge.  In February 2022, Barry Popik tweeted a May 1892 newspaper report from Hays, Kansas, of a school flag-raising on 30 April accompanied by an almost identical pledge.  An alternative theory is that the pledge was submitted to an 1890 patriotic competition in The Youth's Companion by a 13-year-old Kansas schoolboy, coincidentally named Frank E. Bellamy.  Based on the inconsistency of the facts, some favor Frank E. Bellamy rather than Francis Bellamy as the originator.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_Bellamy    

The Pledge of Allegiance was written in August 1892 by the socialist minister Francis Bellamy (1855-1931).  It was originally published in The Youth's Companion on September 8, 1892.  Bellamy had hoped that the pledge would be used by citizens in any country.  In its original form it read:  "I pledge allegiance to my Flag and the Republic for which it stands, one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all."  In 1923, the words, "the Flag of the United States of America" were added.  At this time it read:  "I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all."  Section 4 of the Flag Code states:  The Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag:   "I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, one Nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.", should be rendered by standing at attention facing the flag with the right hand over the heart.  When not in uniform men should remove any non-religious headdress with their right hand and hold it at the left shoulder, the hand being over the heart.  Persons in uniform should remain silent, face the flag, and render the military salute."  The original Bellamy salute, first described in 1892 by Francis Bellamy, who authored the original Pledge, began with a military salute, and after reciting the words "to the flag," the arm was extended toward the flag.  At a signal from the Principal the pupils, in ordered ranks, hands to the side, face the Flag.  Another signal is given; every pupil gives the flag the military salute—right hand lifted, palm downward, to a line with the forehead and close to it.  Standing thus, all repeat together, slowly, "I pledge allegiance to my Flag and the Republic for which it stands; one Nation indivisible, with Liberty and Justice for all." At the words, "to my Flag," the right hand is extended gracefully, palm upward, toward the Flag, and remains in this gesture till the end of the affirmation; whereupon all hands immediately drop to the side.  The Youth's Companion, 1892  

Shortly thereafter, the pledge was begun with the right hand over the heart, and after reciting "to the Flag," the arm was extended toward the Flag, palm-down.  In World War II, the salute too much resembled the Nazi salute, so it was changed to keep the right hand over the heart throughout. the right hand over the heart throughout.  Link to other historic documents at https://www.ushistory.org/documents/pledge.htm

Mary Flannery O’Connor (1925–1964) was an American novelist, short story writer and essayist.  She wrote two novels and 31 short stories, as well as a number of reviews and commentaries.  She was a Southern writer who often wrote in a sardonic Southern Gothic style and relied heavily on regional settings and grotesque characters, often in violent situations.  An unsentimental acceptance or rejection of the limitations, imperfections or differences of these characters (whether attributed to disability, race, crime, religion or sanity) typically underpins the drama.   Her writing reflects her Roman Catholic faith and frequently examines questions of morality and ethics.  Her posthumously compiled Complete Stories won the 1972 U.S. National Book Award for Fiction and has been the subject of enduring praise.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flannery_O%27Connor    

Cooking Peppermint Chiffon Pie with Flannery O’Connor  by Valerie Stivers   July 9, 2024  Flannery O’Connor lunched regularly with her mother with fried shrimp and peppermint chiffon pie.  O’Connor, after a diagnosis of lupus brought her home to Milledgeville in 1951, led a life in a farmhouse outside of town with her domineering mother, Regina, that bore some resemblance to a nun’s.  Every morning started with Catholic Mass followed by cornflakes and a thermos of coffee in her spinster bedroom while she wrote for three hours.  The writing time, she said, was her “filet mignon.”  Find recipe adapted from the Sanford House restaurant recipe.  https://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2024/07/09/cooking-peppermint-chiffon-pie-with-flannery-oconnor/   

Date Bark  Prep Time: 5 mins  Total Time: 45 mins  Yield:  About 15 pieces   Add nuts, coconut flakes, dried fruit, anything you want.  See recipe at https://rachlmansfield.com/easy-date-crunch-bark/   

STRANGE TERMS read by The Muser in various books:  “Made from select hops, choice water, slow-aged for perfect flavor, Ubik is the nation’s number-one choice in beer.  Made only in Cleveland.”  “aloof but amiable”, “frontier enterprises in Iowa”, “cherished grudge”, disagree cordially”.   

Philip Kindred Dick (1928–1982), often referred to by his initials PKD, was an American science fiction writer and novelist.  He wrote 44 novels and about 121 short stories, most of which appeared in science fiction magazines during his lifetime.  His fiction explored varied philosophical and social questions such as the nature of reality, perception, human nature, and identity, and commonly featured characters struggling against elements such as alternate realities, illusory environments, monopolistic corporations, drug abuse, authoritarian governments, and altered states of consciousness.  He is considered one of the most important figures in 20th-century science fiction.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philip_K._Dick    

Pawpaw is a native tree of Indiana, found growing in low woods, and along rivers and streams in much of Indiana and the Midwest, with the heart of its territory in the Ohio Valley.  They are primarily found as understory trees, meaning that they grow beneath the main canopy of the forest (under the partial shade of taller trees).  Pawpaws can form small colonies of trees.  The fruit does have a flavor somewhat like a banana, although others have described the taste as similar to mango.  The fruits are greenish-yellow berries, which turn brownish-black when fully ripe.  Fruit can vary considerably in size, having an oblong to round shape.  Pawpaws are available from nurseries as bare-root and container-grown trees.  Once established, the pawpaw is vigorous and easy to maintain.  Fruit production may begin after about five to seven years.  See picture at https://extension.purdue.edu/news/county/whitley/2021/12/pawpaw--the-indiana-banana.html   

The opening ceremony of the 2024 Summer Olympics takes place July 26, 2024 in Paris.   

http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com  Issue 2842  July 26, 2024   

On July 23, 1929, less than seven years after seizing power, Mussolini’s fascist government officially banned the use of foreign words in Italy.  This was ostensibly to maintain and promote the purity of the Italian culture—boilerplate censorship wrapped in the banner of nationalism, but made more ridiculous by the fact that, when Mussolini came to power in 1922, only 12% of Italians spoke “pure” Italian—the majority of the citizens spoke a variety of regional languages and dialects, which (despite the real targets being French, English, and other frightening foreign languages) were naturally forbidden, along with Italian words of foreign origin, loanwords, and even some proper names.  The policy effectively banned the five letters that do not exist in the Italian alphabet: J, K, W, X, and Y.  Banned words were replaced by new, invented Italian terms, and a new industry sprang up to dub foreign films into Italian.  As a result, dubbing is still the norm in Italy, and has grown into a major industry—there’s even an “International Grand Prize of Dubbing,” otherwise known as “Italy’s Dubbing Oscars” awarded in Rome every year.  Other artifacts remain too—during Mussolini’s reign, Mickey Mouse was re-named Topolino, while Donald Duck became Paperino (“Lil’ Mouse” and “Lil’ Duck” respectively), and Italians still use those names today.  On the other hand, despite Mussolini’s efforts, Italy is still full of dialects and regional loyalties.  Italian only became the country’s official language in 2007, and even then, the change had its detractors, including Franco Russo, a member of the Italian Communist Party, who argued that Italy’s post-war constitution purposefully omitted any mention of a national language, to thwart Mussolini’s intentions.  Literary Hub  July 21, 2024    

Guy Wilkie Warren (1921–14 June 2024) was an Australian painter who won the Archibald Prize in 1985 with Flugelman with Wingman.  His works have also been exhibited as finalists in the Dobell Prize and he received the Trustees Watercolour Award at the Wynne Prize in 1980.  Warren served in the Australian Army during World War II from 15 May 1941 until 3 April 1946.  Many of Warren's creative influences can be traced to his Army service, especially his service in southeast Queensland.  At the end of World War II, Warren undertook art training at the National Art School.  During this time, he met other veteran artists who had also served in World War II, and who took advantage of the British Commonwealth's post-war training scheme.  On completing this program, he travelled to England to pursue landscape painting where a chance meeting with a young veteran and naturalist, Sir David Attenborough.  Warren's work has been the subject of numerous solo exhibitions.  In 2016, the S. H. Ervin Gallery held Genesis of a painter: Guy Warren at 95, which focused on works from the 1950s and 60s together with works painted late in his life.  The intention of the exhibition was to show his "enduring imagery of the relationship between the figure and background".  At least two exhibitions were held at the time of his hundredth birthday, From the Mountain to the Sky, held by the National Art School, and Hills and Wings: A Celebration of Guy Warren and his Work, at the University of Wollongong, where he was previously the director of the University's art collection.  Warren was a sitter for portraits on several occasions, including for four or five artists painting for Australia's premier portraiture competition, the Archibald Prize.  In the early 2000s he posed for Ann Cape, for her work Figure within the landscape: Guy Warren, that hung in the 2004 prize exhibition.  Then in 2021, the 100th year of the Archibald Prize, painter Peter Wegner won the award for his portrait of Warren–who was, like the prize, in his hundredth year.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guy_Warren_(artist)    

balderdash  (BAWL-duhr-dash)  noun:  nonsense.  Origin unknown.  Earliest documented use:  1596.  A-Word-A-Day with Anu Garg  June 19, 2024   

Kaldi or Khalid was a legendary Arab Ethiopian goatherd who is credited for discovering the coffee plant around 850 CE, according to popular legend, after which such crop entered the Islamic world and then the rest of the world.  The story is probably apocryphal, as it was first related by Antoine Faustus Nairon, a Maronite Roman professor of Oriental languages and author of one of the first printed treatises devoted to coffee, De Saluberrima potione Cahue seu Cafe nuncupata Discurscus (Rome, 1671).  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaldi    

Women who have cats have long been associated with the concept of spinsterhood, widowhood or even witchcraft.  In more recent decades, the concept of a cat lady has been associated with "romance-challenged (often career-oriented) women".  A cat lady may also be an animal hoarder who keeps large numbers of cats without having the ability to properly house or care for them.  They may be ignorant about their situation, or generally unaware of their situation.  People who are aware of it are not normally considered cat ladies.  Some writers, celebrities, and artists have challenged the gender-based "Crazy Cat Lady" stereotype, and embraced the term to mean an animal lover or rescuer who cares for one or multiple cats, and who is psychologically healthy.  The documentary Cat Ladies (2009) tells the stories of four women whose lives became dedicated to their cats.  The film was directed by Christie Callan-Jones and produced by Chocolate Box Entertainment, originally for TVOntario.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cat_lady    

http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com  Issue 2841 July 24, 2024 

Credit cards and debit cards typically look almost identical, with 16-digit card numbers, expiration dates, magnetic strips, and EMV chips.  Both can make it easy and convenient to make purchases in stores or online, with one key difference.  Debit cards allow you to spend money by drawing on funds you have deposited at the bank.  Credit cards allow you to borrow money from the card issuer up to a certain limit to purchase items or withdraw cash.  https://www.investopedia.com/articles/personal-finance/050214/credit-vs-debit-cards-which-better.asp   

In 1912, two young Cincinnati electrical engineers, Daniel O'Conor and Herbert Faber, discovered that high-pressure plastic resins could replace the mineral mica in insulation material for electrical parts.  How did the name “Formica” come to be?  O'Conor and Faber needed a substitute "for" mica, so they swapped in the plastic resins, which led to the company name–you guessed it–Formica.  The material was patented in 1913, and they started their own business.  In 2013, Formica celebrated its 100th birthday and a new tagline:  Formica^®.  For Real.  https://www.formica.com/en-us/articles/inspiration/history-of-the-formica-brand    

An obi (帯) is a belt of varying size and shape worn with both traditional Japanese clothing and uniforms for Japanese martial arts styles.  Originating as a simple thin belt in Heian period Japan, the obi developed over time into a belt with a number of different varieties, with a number of different sizes and proportions, lengths, and methods of tying.  The obi, which once did not differ significantly in appearance between men and women, also developed into a greater variety of styles for women than for men.  Despite the kimono having been at one point and continuing to appear to be held shut by the obi, many modern obi are too wide and stiff to function in this way, with a series of ties known as koshihimo, worn underneath the obi, used to keep the kimono closed instead.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Obi_(sash)   

shale  noun   a type of soft, gray rock, usually formed from clay that has become hard, that breaks easily into thin layers   https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/shale    

Zelig is a 1983 American satirical mockumentary comedy film written, directed by and starring Woody Allen as Leonard Zelig, a nondescript enigma, who, apparently out of his desire to fit in and be liked, unwittingly takes on the characteristics of strong personalities around him.  The film, presented as a documentary, recounts his period of intense celebrity during the 1920s, including analyses by contemporary intellectuals.  The film received critical acclaim and was nominated for numerous awards, including the Academy Awards for Best Cinematography and Costume Design.  Zelig was photographed and narrated in the style of 1920s black-and-white newsreels, which are interwoven with archival footage from the era and re-enactments of real historical events.  Color segments from the present day include interviews of real cultural figures, such as Saul Bellow and Susan Sontag, and fictional ones.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zelig   

The film Zelig premiered in the United States on 15 July 1983.    

Brood XIII 17-year cicadas emerged in summer 2024 in Wisconsin for the first time since 2007.  Areas across the state, such as Lake Geneva and the Driftless area, were overtaken by hundreds of chirping insects.  While Brood XIII cicadas spend most of their lives underground, once every 17 years, the species emerges as adults to breed.  The species' adult life only lasts about four to six weeks.  The bobbleheads are only available through the National Bobblehead Hall of Fame and Museum's online store at https://www.jsonline.com/story/news/local/2024/06/21/cicada-bobblehead-celebrates-the-brood-xii-cicadas-in-wisconsin/74138441007/   

http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com  Issue 2839  July 19, 2024