Librarian's Muse

Friday, May 22, 2015

Comprise is a transitive verb and means to be made up of, to consist of, and to include. Examples: The United States comprises 50 states. A full deck comprises 52 cards.

Compose is also a transitive verb, but it has a slightly different meaning. Compose is to make up the constituent parts of, to form the substance of something. Examples: Fifty states compose the United States. Fifty-two cards compose a full deck. Summary: The whole comprises the parts. The parts compose the whole. You can use the phrase “is composed of,” but you cannot use the phrase “is comprised of.” http://writingexplained.org/comprise-vs-compose-difference NOTE that when you are in doubt, it is best to rewrite your sentence without using either comprise or compose.

Afrikaans is a Low Franconian West Germanic language descended from Dutch and spoken mainly in South Africa and Namibia. There are also speakers of Afrikaans in Australia, Belgium, Botswana, Canada, Germany, Lesotho, Malawi, Namibia, the Netherlands, New Zealand, the UK, the USA, Zambia and Zimbabwe. About 7.2 million people speak Afrikaans as a native language, and a further 8-15 million speak it as a second language. Find alphabet, pronunciation, and links to resources at http://omniglot.com/writing/afrikaans.htm

Wednesday, May 20, 2015

A ham is a pork cut that's taken from a hog's upper hind leg. There are three types of American hams: city hams, country hams, and fresh hams. City hams are the most common. They're soaked in brine (or injected with it) and then boiled or lightly smoked. Country hams are dry-cured and then smoked and aged for added flavor. Fresh hams aren't cured at all and need to be cooked. America also imports several dry-cured hams from abroad, including prosciutto, Bayonne ham, Serrano ham, Black Forest ham, Westphalian ham, York ham, and Ardennes ham. See descriptions and pictures at http://www.foodsubs.com/MeatcureHams.html

Collage derives its name from the French verb coller, to glue. The work of art is made by gluing things to the surface. Collage became an art form during the Synthetic Cubist period of Picasso and Braque. At first, Pablo Picasso glued oil cloth to his surface of Still Life with Chair Caning in May of 1912. He glued a rope around the edge of the oval canvas. Georges Braque then glued imitation wood-grained wallpaper to his Fruit Dish and Glass (September 1912). Braque's work is called papier collé (glued or pasted paper), a specific type of collage. During the Dada movement, Hannah Höch (German, 1889-1978) glued bits of photographs from magazines and advertising in such works as Cut with a Kitchen Knife, (1919-20). Fellow Dadaist Kurt Schwitters (German, 1887-1948) also glued bits of paper he found in newspapers, advertisements and other discarded matter beginning in 1919. Schwitters called his collages and assemblages Merzbilder, a word derived from the German word "Kommerz" (Commerce, as in banking) which had been on a fragment of an advertisement in his first work, and bilder ("pictures"). The exclusive use of photos in collage is called photomontage. http://arthistory.about.com/od/glossary_c/a/c_collage.htm

For more than 50 years, Werner Pfeiffer (German-American, born 1937) has experimented with the multiple uses of paper as both a canvas and a structural material. Much of his work as a sculptor, printmaker and painter suggests an attraction to machines and machine-like constructions. His drawings are schematic, his dimensional works project into space claiming their own territory and his complex artist books have moving parts. He is fascinated by puzzles and contradictions, metaphors and wordplay, and this curiosity inspires works that are thought-provoking in themselves. A prodigious artist, Mr. Pfeiffer's works on paper have been shown and collected internationally. The nearly 200 unique and limited-edition works of Pfeiffer's art in the exhibition at The Toledo Museum of Art from Feb. 6-May 3, 2015 included drawings, dimensional prints, 3D collage, and sculptural and experimental books. His award-winning designs have been widely published in magazines such as Print, Modern Publicity and Art Direction. His work can be found in the permanent collections of the Art Institute of Chicago, the Boston Museum of Fine Art, the 9/11 Memorial Museum and the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), among others. http://explorepaper.toledomuseum.org/

What impacted Werner Pfeiffer most as a young boy in World War II Germany was the scarcity. There was no paper; there was no books,” Mr. Pfeiffer said. “I grew up with a real respect for paper and it has affected me all my life.” “Digital life has brought a kind of sterility. Everything we do on a computer is going through one system, and that’s fingers on a keyboard, whether you make a drawing, write music, whatever it is,” Mr. Pfeiffer said. “When you think of paper, the sense of richness, of surfaces, even of sound when you crinkle it, that’s something completely void in the digital world. It really makes people kind of starved for the touch and feel of paper.” http://toledomuseum.tumblr.com/post/108283896888/the-possibilities-of-paper

O Brother, Where Art Thou? is a 2000 adventure comedy film written, produced, edited, and directed by Joel and Ethan Coen, and starring George Clooney, John Turturro, and Tim Blake Nelson, with John Goodman, Holly Hunter, and Charles Durning in supporting roles. Set in 1937 rural Mississippi during the Great Depression, the film's story is a modern satire loosely based on Homer’s epic poem, Odyssey. Despite the fact that Ethan described the Odyssey as "one of my favorite storyline schemes" neither of the brothers had read the epic and were only familiar with its content through adaptations and numerous references to the Odyssey in popular culture. According to the brothers, Nelson (who has a degree in classics from Brown University) was the only person on the set who had read the Odyssey. The title of the film is a reference to the 1941 film Sullivan's Travels, in which the protagonist (a director) wants to film a fictional book about the Great Depression called O Brother, Where Art Thou? Much of the music used in the film is period folk music. This was the fifth film collaboration between the Coen Brothers and Deakins, and it was slated to be shot in Mississippi at a time of year when the foliage, grass, trees, and bushes would be a lush green. It was filmed near locations in Canton, Mississippi and Florence, South Carolina in the summer of 1999. After shooting tests, including film bipack and bleach bypass techniques, Deakins suggested digital mastering be used. Deakins subsequently spent 11 weeks fine-tuning the look, mainly targeting the greens, making them a burnt yellow and desaturating the overall image timing the digital files. This made it the first feature film to be entirely color corrected by digital means. The Soggy Bottom Boys, the musical group that the main characters form, serve as accompaniment for the film. The name is a homage to the Foggy Mountain Boys, a bluegrass band led by Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs. In the film, the songs credited to the band are lip-synched by the actors, except that Tim Blake Nelson does sing his own vocals on "In the Jailhouse Now". The actual musicians are Dan Tyminski (guitar and lead vocals), Harley Allen, and Pat Enright. The band's hit single is Dick Burnett's "Man of Constant Sorrow", a song that had already enjoyed much success in real life. After the film's release, the fictitious band became so popular that the country and folk musicians who were dubbed into the film, such as Ralph Stanley, John Hartford, Alison Krauss, Emmylou Harris, Gillian Welch, Chris Sharp, and others, all got together and performed the music from the film in a Down from the Mountain concert tour which was filmed for TV and DVD. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/O_Brother,_Where_Art_Thou%3F

Toe the line is the survivor of a set of phrases that were common in the nineteenth century; others were toe the mark, toe the scratch, toe the crack, or toe the trig. In every case, the image was that of men lining up with the tips of their toes touching some line. They might be on parade, or preparing to undertake some task, or in readiness for a race or fight. The earliest recorded form is dated 1813, in a book by Hector Bull-Us (a pseudonym of James Kirke Paulding) with the title The Diverting History of John Bull and Brother Jonathan. This already had the modern figurative sense of conforming to the usual standards or rules: “He began to think it was high time to toe the mark”. Many early examples are from the British Navy, which is where it may have originated. Toe the crack is an American form of the 1820s in reference to a crack in the floorboards that delineates a straight line. Toe the scratch is from prize fighting, where scratch was the line drawn across the ring (often in the earth of an informal outdoor ring) to which the fighters were brought ready for the contest—it’s a close relative of to come up to scratch. In toe the trig, trig is an old term for a boundary or centre line in various sports. http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-toe2.htm

May 20, 2015 A group of travel websites claims that Delta Air Lines Inc. is cutting them and their users off from its data, adding to industry tensions over the way consumers shop for flights on the Internet. Delta has removed its schedule and fare information from over a dozen sites, including TripAdvisor Inc., Hipmunk Inc. and CheapOair.com, saying it didn’t authorize the sites to use its data, according to a report to be released on Wednesday by the Travel Technology Association, a trade group for the sites. The group said Delta’s move is part of a broader push by airlines to restrict how—and whether—sites can use their fare and schedule data. The group says carriers including American Airlines Group Inc. and United Continental Holdings Inc. have recently adopted policies allowing them to limit how the sites use their data. The spat marks the latest chapter in the struggle for control over airfare searches and seat purchases online. Carriers increasingly are pushing fliers to their own sites, partly to improve sales of add-on products such as extra legroom and frequent-flier points. And they have butted heads with the travel sites over booking fees. In a dust-up last August, American temporarily withdrew its flight information from sites operated by Orbitz Worldwide Inc. While the sites affected by Delta’s recent actions account for a relatively small share of total flight searches, the trade group says its members, which include the biggest travel websites, broadly fear that airlines are laying the groundwork for a gradual exodus from fare-comparison websites, a move that they say would make it easier for airlines to raise fares.

Jack Nicas http://www.wsj.com/articles/travel-websites-allege-delta-air-lines-is-shutting-them-out-1432094461

http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com Issue 1299 May 20, 2015 On this date in 1609, Shakespeare's sonnets were first published in London, perhaps illicitly, by the publisher Thomas Thorpe. On this date in 1873, Levi Strauss and Jacob Davis received a U.S. patent for blue jeans with copper rivets.

Monday, May 18, 2015

Daughters of Revolution is a satirical painting by American artist Grant Wood, who claimed that it was his only satire. The painting depicts the founding fathers as cross-dressing members of the Daughters of the American Revolution standing in front of a recreation of Washington Crossing the Delaware. In 1927, Wood was commissioned to create a stained glass window in the Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Unhappy with the quality of domestic glass sources, he used glass made in Germany. The local chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution complained about the use of a German source for a World War I memorial and the window was not put into use until 1955. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daughters_of_Revolution See all Grant Woods artwork sorted by year at http://www.wikiart.org/en/grant-wood/daughters-of-revolution-1932

Toll House Cookies were developed in Whitman, Massachusetts at the Toll House Restaurant in the 1930’s. They are an original New England recipe. “Their origin and development is really a story by itself.” (from Ruth Wakefield’s Toll House Tried and True Recipes, 1949) Since Ruth was always in search of new recipes a comparison was made of the ingredients in the Toll House Cookies to other cookies recipes from the 1920’s and early 1930’s. Not surprisingly Ruth’s cookies have some strong similarities to two different cookies recipes from the time period. They are the German Chocolate Cookies published in the Boston Cooking School Cook Book from 1910 through 1933 (p. 641) and the Icebox Cookies first published in the Settlement Cook Book (Milwaukee, Wis.) starting in 1921 (p. 496) and later under the name Refrigerator Cookies in the Boston Cooking School Cook Book (1933 ed., p. 638). The Toll House Cookies recipe called for 2 bars of chocolate the same as the German Chocolate Cookies recipe. The Toll House Cookies recipe called for half brown sugar and half granulated (white) sugar the same as the Icebox/Refrigerator Cookies recipe. The Toll House Cookies recipe combined chocolate, brown sugar and chopped nuts the same as the German Chocolate Cookies recipe. There are too many exact matches to be coincidental or accidental. The German Chocolate Cookies recipe was the only recipe in the Boston Cooking School Cook Book that called for sweet chocolate. All other recipes called for unsweetened chocolate. This is a key factor as Ruth’s Toll House Cookie called for semi-sweet chocolate. Semi-sweet chocolate can be eaten as is whereas unsweetened chocolate is bitter and is not eaten as is. The Toll House Cookies recipe appears to be a combination of the German Chocolate Cookies and Icebox/Refrigerator Cookies. The actual Toll House Cookies recipe altered the quantities of the ingredients slightly and ultimately developed a unique cookie that Ruth was able to successfully market under the Toll House name. Find comparisons of recipes at http://www.newenglandrecipes.org/html/toll-house-cookies.html

Since the mid-nineteenth century, the Republic has been Plato’s most famous and widely read dialogue. As in most other Platonic dialogues the main character is Socrates. The dialogue explores two central questions. The first question is “what is justice?” Socrates addresses this question both in terms of political communities and in terms of the individual person or soul. He does this to address the second and driving question of the dialogue: “is the just person happier than the unjust person?” or “what is the relation of justice to happiness?” http://www.iep.utm.edu/republic/#SH1a Read the Republic by Plato, written 360 B.C.E., translated by Benjamin Jowett at http://classics.mit.edu/Plato/republic.html See also http://www.cliffsnotes.com/literature/r/republic/about-platos-republic

To the manner born or to the manor born? To begin at the beginning, the original phrase was definitely “to the manner born.” It was coined, as many of our best idioms were, by William Shakespeare, in this case in Hamlet, Act I, Scene iv, when Hamlet observes of the drunken atmosphere at Elsinore, “But to my mind, though I am native here / And to the manner born, it is a custom / More honour’d in the breach than the observance.” Though Hamlet was a prince, he was not referring to his noble birth when he spoke of “manner.” He was saying that he had been born into an environment where such a “manner”—customs or behavior—was expected, and thus not surprising. In the mid-19th century, however, a variant of “to the manner born” appeared. “To the manor born,” meaning “born into, or naturally suited to, upper-class life,” substituted “manor” (the house on an estate; a mansion) as a symbol of an aristocratic lifestyle for “manner” meaning simply “customs or habits.” It’s unclear whether this new form was the result of an error (“manner” and “manor” being pronounced identically by most English-speakers) or a deliberate pun by some obscure Victorian wit. The rise of “manor” in place of “manner” set the stage, however, for a long-running battle over which is the “correct” form, and made “to the manor born” a favorite target of scorn for usage scolds. Complicating the question, however, is the fact that although the two phrases had, at their outset, substantially different meanings, “to the manner born” is rarely used today in its original sense of “born into certain habits or customs.” On those increasingly rare occasions when it crops up, “to the manner born” is most often used synonymously with “to the manor born” to mean “suited to wealth” (probably because “manners” and “mannered behavior” are popularly associated with the wealthy). So it appears that “to the manor born” has won and “to the manner born,” at least in its original sense, is headed for extinction. http://www.word-detective.com/2011/10/to-the-manner-manor-born/

Paraphrases from the novel Four Below by Peter Helton

Cruise ships are shopping malls afloat.

A free pizza is a glittering prize.

Peter Helton is a German-born English author. He divides his time between painting and writing. Find a list of Helton's books at http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/453790.Peter_Helton

When you mean “for example,” use e.g. It is an abbreviation for the Latin phrase exempli gratia. When you mean “that is,” use “i.e.” It is an abbreviation for the Latin phrase id est. Either can be used to clarify a preceding statement, the first by example, the second by restating the idea more clearly or expanding upon it. Because these uses are so similar, the two abbreviations are easily confused. If you just stick with good old English “for example” and “that is” you won’t give anyone a chance to sneer at you. http://public.wsu.edu/~brians/errors/e.g.html

In describing the system of wires that comprises the Internet, Neal Stephenson once compared the earth to a computer motherboard. From telephone poles suspending bundles of cable to signs posted warning of buried fiber optic lines, we are surrounded by evidence that at a basic level, the Internet is really just a spaghetti-work of really long wires. But what we see is just a small part of the physical makeup of the net. The rest of it can be found in the coldest depths of the ocean.

Find 10 things you might not know about the Internet’s system of undersea cables at http://mentalfloss.com/article/60150/10-facts-about-internets-undersea-cables

HAVANA The Teatro Nacional, a 2,056-seat theater on the Plaza de la Revolución, was sold out. Two dozen photographers and videographers swarmed the aisles. The Minnesota Orchestra’s concert here on May 15, 2015 was greeted not only as a rare chance to hear an orchestra from overseas, but as a symbol of the rapprochement between the United States and Cuba. The concert, the first by a large United States orchestra here in more than 15 years, was greeted with several standing ovations – and huge cheers when the Minnesotans teamed up with the Cuban pianist Frank Fernández and two Cuban choirs to perform Beethoven’s “Choral Fantasy.” Familiar to Minnesota audiences, or really any concert hall these days: a cellphone went off during a quiet passage in the Funeral March in Beethoven’s Symphony No. 3, the “Eroica.” The Minnesotans played an all-Beethoven program—not counting the sprightly Finnish polka that the orchestra’s music director, Osmo Vanska, who is from Finland, chose for an encore. The “Eroica” was a nod to history: the first time the orchestra played in Cuba, in 1929, when it was known as the Minneapolis Symphony, it closed its concert with the work. Michael Cooper http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/17/arts/music/minnesota-orchestra-in-groundbreaking-cuba-tour-sells-out-house.html

http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com Issue 1298 May 18, 2015 On this date in 1631, in Dorchester, Massachusetts, John Winthrop took the oath of office and became the first Governor of Massachusetts. On this date in 1652, Rhode Island passed the first law in English-speaking North America making slavery illegal.

Friday, May 15, 2015

"Tin ear" is an idiom which originally meant was that someone was not able to appreciate music, was tone deaf, or was insensitive to differences in other kinds of sounds. It was then extended to also mean that someone was insensitive to subtle differences in a particular discipline or subtleties in what he/she was told. Oddly enough, an 1867 West Point scrapbook gives "hunkey boy with a tin ear" as slang meaning "a lucky fellow"--just about the opposite of every other use of the phrase. The exact origin of the idiom is debatable. Merriam Webster gives 1935 as the date of first citation without giving a source. A.Word.A.Day simply stated that it was "from the idea of metal being incapable of sensation," but several readers wrote in to offer further ideas. One said that the use of tin particularly had a connotation of low value (as in tin-pot/tin pot dictator, tin pan alley, tin god, or Tin Lizzie) compared to other metals. Another reader offered the idea that ear trumpets for the hard of hearing had once been made of steel plated with tin to prevent rusting. Find more information at http://everything2.com/title/tin+ear

Toshogu Shrine, Nikko by Varsha Vaswati Toshogu shrine is the mausoleum of Tokugawa Ieyasu, the founder of the Tokugawa Shogunate, a dynasty that ruled Japan from 1603-1867, with its capital in Edo, current day Tokyo. As per Ieyasu’s last instructions, this shrine was built posthumously in 1617 and later enlarged and reformed into the present day lavish structure by the third successive Shogun Iemitsu. This Shinto shrine is a part of ‘Shrines and Temples of Nikko’, a UNESCO World Heritage site and 5 of its structures are categorized as the National Treasures of Japan. A cobbled path leads up to the Shrine entrance marked by a granite stone Torii gate called the Ishidorri. To its left stands the beautiful 5-storied pagoda representing the five elements of nature--air, water, earth, fire and wind. This pagoda, donated by a feudal lord in 1650, was destroyed in fire in 1815 and later rebuilt in 1818. Further ahead we came across the Omotemon and a walking trail flanked by stone lanterns, leading up to a wide open space right in front of the lavishly decorated Yomoeimon gate, also known as the Higurashimon or "Twilight Gate" as one can keep admiring its beauty from morning until twilight. What caught our attention though were the carvings at the unpainted wooden sacred stable right in front of the Yomoeimon. There were 8 such carved panels depicting the ‘way of life’ through the “Three Wise Monkeys” or the ‘San Zaru’ - Kikazaru, Mizaru and Iwazaru, who respectively “hear no evil, see no evil and speak no evil”. Till that day we (as everyone in India) had known them to be Mahatma Gandhi’s "Three Monkeys” depicting his popular sermon of “Hear no evil, Speak no evil and See no evil”. See picture of the three wise monkeys at http://en.japantravel.com/view/toshugu-shrine-nikko

Ham salad recipe adapted from Madison Restaurant, Toledo Mix diced, cooked ham and diced red onions or shallots with mayonnaise. Chill until serving time.

A color circle, based on red, yellow and blue, is traditional in the field of art. Sir Isaac Newton developed the first circular diagram of colors in 1666. Primary Colors: Red, yellow and blue--all other colors are derived from these 3 hues. Secondary Colors: Green, orange and purple are the colors formed by mixing the primary colors. Tertiary Colors: Yellow-orange, red-orange, red-purple, blue-purple, blue-green & yellow-green--these are the colors formed by mixing a primary and a secondary color. That's why the hue is a two word name, such as blue-green, red-violet, and yellow-orange. See beautiful graphics at http://www.colormatters.com/color-and-design/basic-color-theory NOTE that some people define tertiary colors as being formed by mixing two secondary colors.

Six Common Dog Expressions and Their Origins by Renee Moen Find information on dog days of summer, three dog night, it's raining cats and dogs, and other expressions at http://iheartdogs.com/6-common-dog-expressions-and-their-origins/

Ann B. Ross is the author of the Miss Julia series, with Book 17 appearing in 2015. http://www.missjulia.com/ Frequently Asked Questions lists the Miss Julia novels and gives advice to writers in getting published at http://www.missjulia.com/faq.html Borrow the book Miss Julia Stirs Up Trouble from the library and look up recipes such as Binkie's Fresh Peach Cobbler, p. 137 (Stir together 2 cups of fresh peaches (peeled and sliced) and 3/4 cup of sugar and let sit to form juice . . . ) and Miss Mattie's Deviled Crab, p. 172 (crabmeat, dry mustard, hard-boiled eggs, and Worcestershire sauce . . . ). You will find a list of all recipes along with page numbers in the back of the book.

NYC libraries are engine of the city running out of fuel by Sabrina I. Pacifici on Apr 24, 2015 “The city’s libraries — the fusty old buildings, and a few spiffier modern ones, planted in all five boroughs — had 37 million visitors in the last fiscal year, said Angela Montefinise, a spokeswoman for the New York Public Library, which runs branches and research centers in Manhattan and the Bronx and on Staten Island. The Brooklyn Public Library and the Queens Library have their own extensive systems . . . So the city’s libraries have more users than major professional sports, performing arts, museums, gardens and zoos — combined.

http://www.bespacific.com/nyc-libraries-are-engine-of-the-city-running-out-of-fuel/

Cite (verb) mention by name, summon, or give an example or proof

Site (noun) location

Everyday (adjective. adverb) common, daily

Every day (noun preceded by adjective) each day

SPOON BREAD soft cornbread served with a spoon--it is also called egg bread or butter bread. Find many recipes at http://www.cooks.com/rec/search/0,1-00,spoon_bread,FF.html

http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com Issue 1297 May 15, 2015 On this date in 1755, Laredo, Texas was established by the Spaniards. On this date in 1776, the Virginia Convention instructed its Continental Congress delegation to propose a resolution of independence from Great Britain, paving the way for the United States Declaration of Independence.

Wednesday, May 13, 2015

The Toledo Museum of Art 2015

Play Time runs approximately Memorial Day weekend (May 22) through Labor Day (Sept. 6). Works on view in the exhibition and experiences will change throughout June, July and August. Some will even switch locations, like artist Kurt Perschke’s RedBall Project. The name is literal: Perschke has placed his massive, inflated red ball into unexpected spaces in cities across the globe. Perschke will choose several locations around Toledo to place the RedBall Project during its 10-day display in August. The Canaday Gallery will be filled with artist Toshiko Horiuchi MacAdam’s Harmonic Motion, a colorful, multi-sensory playground that allows children and adults to climb and play inside its hand-crocheted hanging nets. Redmoon Theater, a Chicago-based troupe known for using larger-than-life contraptions and puppets to create performances bright with spectacle, will perform for the opening celebration on June 13. Other works of art include Jillian Mayer’s Cloud Swing, a literal title for a dreamy work of art that involves actual swings facing a visually reproduced sky, allowing participants to feel as if they’re sailing through the clouds; Kim Harty’s Glass Mountain, which the glassblower will create with molten glass in front of a live audience; Stina Köhnke’s Animation, an exuberant wall installation of stuffed animals; and Edith Dekyndt’s Ground Control, a black ball filled with helium that moves in reaction to viewers in the gallery. See pictures at http://www.toledomuseum.org/2015/03/18/public-invited-to-come-over-and-play-this-summer-at-toledo-museum-of-arts-play-time-interactive-exhibit/

Toys! Toys! Toys! May 22-Sept. 17, Community Gallery is a celebration of fun and nostalgia. Whether it is a toy from a by-gone era, your favorite childhood toy, or a toy your child or grandchild clings to, toys are a big part of our overall memories and experiences.

Square Eyes by Anna Mill and Luke Jones http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/gallery/2010/nov/05/cape-observer-graphic-short-story-prize

Square Eyes (British humor) eyes supposedly affected by excessive television viewing

Square Eyes headlights on some trucks

The use of 'square' to mean honest and straightforward goes back to at least the 16th century; for example, in 1591, in Robert Greene's Defence of Conny Catching: "For feare of trouble I was fain to try my good hap at square play." Soon after that, Shakespeare used it in Anthony and Cleopatra, 1606: "She's a most triumphant Lady, if report be square to her." Early citations to square meal are from America, including this, the earliest print reference I have found--an advertisement for the Hope and Neptune restaurant, in the California newspaper The Mountain Democrat, November 1856: "We can promise all who patronize us that they can always get a hearty welcome and 'square meal' at the 'Hope and Neptune. Oyster, chicken and game suppers prepared at short notice." Gary Martin http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/square-meal.html

Crushed coriander seeds burst with a lemony aroma. Golden turmeric smells like corn cakes. Cardamom gives off a hint of bitterness. And pulverized cumin seeds smell like moist, peppery earth. Combine them, and you have the fragrant beginnings of curry. But how does a nose, bombarded with odors that arrive in different amounts and combinations, consistently identify each aroma? It turns out that it is simpler than many other neurobiological processes, and can essentially be broken down into a predictable mathematical pattern. Odors arrive in small packets—tiny bouquets of molecules—that are inhaled. Receptor cells inside the nose respond by producing a series of electrical spikes, which are communicated to the olfactory bulb in the brain, where the smell is decoded. “It’s like Morse code,” said Upinder Bhalla, a professor of neurobiology at the National Centre for Biological Sciences in Bangalore, India, and lead supervisor of a recent study about the olfactory system that is the first to document the coding is linear. “The pattern and spacing of the clicks make different letters.” In this case, the pattern of the electrical spikes translates to specific smells. But significantly, according to the study, which was published in the journal Nature Neuroscience, when the smell is repeated in the same dose, the pattern remains the same. And when the odor varies in duration, the neurons’ electrical response changes proportionately. Jo Craven McGinty Read more at

http://www.wsj.com/articles/scents-of-smell-rooted-in-math-1431079201

big league: At the highest level; used as a noun ("You're in the big leagues now") or an adjective ("big-league lawyer"). The Oxford English Dictionary (OED) cites "big league" as specifically American Major League Baseball, and cites its first use in 1899; the non-baseball use appears in 1947. bush league: Amateur, unsophisticated, unprofessional. From the baseball term for a second-rate baseball league and therefore its players. OED cites its first baseball use as 1906, non-baseball in 1914.

Find a list of common English-language idioms based on baseball at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glossary_of_English-language_idioms_derived_from_baseball

The term "bush league" has a literal meaning as well as an idiomatic meaning. It originated as a term for minor league baseball, which is often played in rural towns that are sometimes referred to as "the sticks" or "the bush." The term "bush league" has come to refer to anything that is considered amateurish in nature or of lesser quality, rather than being of the highest professional quality. http://www.wisegeek.org/what-is-bush-league.htm

Stark naked 1520-30; stark + naked; replacing start-naked (start, Middle English; Old English steort tail; cognate with Dutch staart, Old High German sterz, Old Norse stertr) http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/stark-naked

Stark, raving mad The 'stark' here means 'to the fullest extent; entirely; quite'. This was used as an intensifier to 'mad' in the original version of the phrase - 'stark mad'. That version was in use by 1489 when John Skelton used it in The Death of the Earl of Northumberland: "I say, ye comoners, why wer ye so stark mad?" 'Stark' and 'raving' are just intensifying adjectives so it is correct to add the comma after 'stark', although the phrase is often seen without it; for example, neither the 1999 Stark Raving Mad TV show or the 2002 film of the same name use the comma. 'Stark staring mad' was an earlier variant and this was first recorded in John Dryden's Persius Flaccus, 1693: "Art thou of Bethlem's Noble College free? Stark, staring mad." By 'Bethlem's Noble College' Dryden was referring to the world's oldest psychiatric hospital The Bethlem Royal Hospital, London. This has been known under several names since its foundation in the 13th century, most famously the colloquial name Bedlam. Henry Fielding used 'stark raving mad' in The Intriguing Chambermaid, 1734 and that was probably the first usage of that version of the term. http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/stark-raving-mad.html

"Stark raving" wine--usually a blend of red grapes--usually made in California

http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com Issue 1296 May 13, 2015 On this date in 1880, in Menlo Park, New Jersey, Thomas Edison performed the first test of his electric railway. On this date in 1958, Ben Carlin became the first (and only) person to circumnavigate the world by amphibious vehicle, having travelled over 17,000 kilometres (11,000 mi) by sea and 62,000 kilometres (39,000 mi) by land during a ten-year journey.