Ian Russell McEwan (born 21 June 1948) is a British novelist and screenwriter.  In 2008, The Times featured him on its list of "The 50 greatest British writers since 1945" and The Daily Telegraph ranked him number 19 in its list of the "100 most powerful people in British culture".  McEwan began his career writing sparse, Gothic short stories.  His first two novels, The Cement Garden (1978) and The Comfort of Strangers (1981), earned him the nickname "Ian Macabre".  These were followed by three novels of some success in the 1980s and early 1990s.  His novel Enduring Love was adapted into a film of the same name.  He won the Booker Prize with Amsterdam (1998).  His next novel, Atonement, garnered acclaim and was adapted into an Oscar-winning film featuring Keira Knightley and James McAvoy.  His later novels have included The Children Act, Nutshell, and Machines Like Me.  He was awarded the 1999 Shakespeare Prize, and the 2011 Jerusalem Prize.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ian_McEwan 

Serpentine subgroup (part of the kaolinite-serpentine group in the category of phyllosilicates) are greenish, brownish, or spotted minerals commonly found in serpentinite.  They are used as a source of magnesium and asbestos, and as decorative stone.  The name comes from the greenish color and smooth or scaly appearance from the Latin serpentinus, meaning "snake-like".  Serpentine minerals are polymorphous, meaning that they have the same chemical formulae, but the atoms are arranged into different structures, or crystal lattices.  Many types of serpentine have been used for jewelry and hardstone carving, sometimes under the name "false jade" or "Teton jade".  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serpentine_subgroup 

The earliest reference we have to unusual animal behavior prior to a significant earthquake is from Greece in 373 BC.  Rats, weasels, snakes, and centipedes reportedly left their homes and headed for safety several days before a destructive earthquake.  Anecdotal evidence abounds of animals, fish, birds, reptiles, and insects exhibiting strange behavior anywhere from weeks to seconds before an earthquake.  However, consistent and reliable behavior prior to seismic events, and a mechanism explaining how it could work, still eludes us.  We can easily explain the cause of unusual animal behavior seconds before humans feel an earthquake.  Very few humans notice the smaller P wave that travels the fastest from the earthquake source and arrives before the larger S wave.  But many animals with more keen senses are able to feel the P wave seconds before the S wave arrives.  https://www.usgs.gov/programs/earthquake-hazards/animals-earthquake-prediction   

beehive house, primitive type of residence designed by enlarging a simple stone hemisphere, constructed out of individual blocks, to provide greater height at the centre; the form resembles a straw beehive, hence, its name.  The beehive house is typical of Celtic dwellings from 2000 bc in Scotland and Ireland.  The tomb of Agamemnon at Mycenae, Greece, is also of beehive shape; but it was made of cut stone rather than of the rough unhewn stone of the Celts.  https://www.britannica.com/technology/beehive-house-architecture   

The May Hicks Curtis House in Flagstaff was designated May 7, 2025 by the National Trust for Historic Preservation as one of America’s 11 Most Endangered Historic Places.  Known as the “Betsy Ross” of Arizona, May Hicks Curtis sewed the first Arizona state flag in 1911.  The May Hicks Curtis House, where she lived and worked for decades, was under imminent threat of demolition, but the City of Flagstaff is working to relocate, and rehabilitate the house for community use while commemorating the important historical significance of the site.  Due to new development on the lot where the May Hicks Curtis House stood since its construction, relocation of the house was the only way to prevent demolition.  Recognizing the significance of the House, the City of Flagstaff took ownership of the House and is moving it to a temporary location on City property.  The move is funded in part by a grant from the Preserve Route 66 Grant Fund of the National Trust for Historic Preservation.  Once a permanent location has been identified, the house will be moved for a final time and rehabilitated.  Additional grant funding for initial stabilization and condition assessment was provided by the Arizona Community Foundation and Historic Route 66 Association of Arizona.  https://www.flagstaff.az.gov/CivicAlerts.aspx?AID=2098#:~:text=%E2%80%9CIn%201911%2C%20May%20Hicks%20sewed,hope%20for%20a%20rising%20democracy.   

May 15, 2025 A Magna Carta wrongly listed as an unofficial copy for nearly 80 years has been confirmed as an original from 1300.  The discovery means the document is just one of seven issued in 1300 by Edward I that still survive.  David Carpenter, a professor of medieval history at King’s College London, stumbled on a document labelled as an unofficial copy of Magna Carta from 1327 in Harvard law school library’s online collection.  Magna Carta, originally granted by King John in 1215, was the first document to put into writing the principle that the king and his government were not above the law.  Carpenter described HLS MS 172 as “one of the world’s most valuable documents”.  He added:  “It asserts a fundamental principle that the ruler is subject to the law.  He can’t just say:  ‘Into prison, off with your head, I’m seizing your property.’  If he wants to act against you, he has to do so by legal process.  It’s the foundation stone of the western tradition of law and democracy.”  According to the library’s accession register, it had bought what it believed to be a copy for $27.50 in 1946.  A month earlier, an RAF veteran had sold it to the London book dealers Sweet & Maxwell for £42.  https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025/may/15/harvards-unofficial-cop  Thank you, Muse reader!   

The  TV sitcom The Office, now set in Scranton, Pennsylvania, will be moved to Toledo, Ohio in September 2025.    

http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com  Issue 2942  May 16, 2025