John Tracy Kidder (born November 12, 1945) is an American writer of nonfiction books.  He received the Pulitzer Prize for his The Soul of a New Machine (1981), about the creation of a new computer at Data General Corporation.  He has received praise and awards for other works, including his biography of Paul Farmer, a doctor and anthropologist, titled Mountains Beyond Mountains (2003).  Kidder is considered a literary journalist because of the strong story line and personal voice in his writing.  He has cited as his writing influences John McPhee, A. J. Liebling, and George Orwell.  In a 1984 interview he said, "McPhee has been my model.  He's the most elegant of all the journalists writing today, I think."  Kidder wrote in a 1994 essay, "In fiction, believability may have nothing to do with reality or even plausibility.  It has everything to do with those things in nonfiction.  I think that the nonfiction writer's fundamental job is to make what is true believable."  Kidder graduated from Phillips Academy in 1963.   He attended Harvard College, originally majoring in political science, but switching to English after taking a course in creative writing from Robert Fitzgerald.  He received an AB degree from Harvard in 1967.  Kidder served in the United States Army as a first lieutenant, Military Intelligence, Vietnam, from 1967 to 1969.  After returning from Vietnam, he wrote for some time and was admitted to the Iowa Writers' Workshop.  He received an MFA degree from the University of Iowa in 1974.  See selected awards and bibliography at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tracy_Kidder

The year was 1989.  John Eldred, owner of a successful video rental store, was encouraged by a customer to approach public libraries to sell his VHS tapes.  The first librarian John visited became a valued customer and mentor, teaching him about the unique needs of the library market.  That family-owned rental store soon evolved into a family-owned company called Midwest Tape.  The full-service library distributor offers a wide variety of workflow solutions to deliver products shelf-ready, digitally processed, and exactingly customized to each individual library’s specifications.  Midwest Tape is integrating into the future of the library with a digital services brand and platform:   hoopla.  Allowing people to read, listen to, and watch what they want, when they want, and where they want, hoopla levels the playing field for library patrons in the trending consumer world of digital content.  Libraries across North America partner with hoopla digital to allow patrons to instantly borrow eBooks, audiobooks, comics, movies, music, and more, 24/7 with a valid library card.  Using hoopla, patrons can instantly stream or download dynamic content.  All content is accessible via the hoopla mobile app and online at www.hoopladigital.com.  As the publishing arm of Midwest Tape, Dreamscape is a library-first, award-winning, multi-format media publisher of fiction and non-fiction audiobooks, book-based children’s read-along video programs, and unique documentaries and film.  Dreamscape offers customized distribution programs for publishers and filmmakers alike, and its titles can be found in library and retail channels—both physical and digital.  Read more at https://www.midwesttape.com/story  Privately held  library media distribution company Midwest Tapes LLC, located in Holland, Ohio, serves public libraries across the United States and Canada.

The Ohioana Library is pleased to announce the winners of the 2018 Ohioana Book Awards.  First given in 1942, the awards are the second oldest state literary prizes in the nation and honor outstanding achievement by Ohio authors in five categories:  Fiction, Poetry, Juvenile Literature, Middle Grade/Young Adult Literature, and Nonfiction.  “There is hardly a major Ohio author of the past 75 years who has not won an Ohioana Book Award,” said Ohioana Executive Director David Weaver.  Past winners have included humorists James Thurber and Erma Bombeck; novelists Toni Morrison, Anthony Doerr, and Paula McLain; poets Mary Oliver and Rita Dove; historians Wil Haygood and Douglas Brinkley; and children’s authors Margaret Peterson Haddix and Jacqueline Woodson.  Non-Ohio winners have included Doris Kearns Goodwin and David McCullough.  Find the 77th annual Ohioana award winners at http://www.ohioana.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/2018-Awards-winners.pdf  The Ohioana Library Association was founded in 1929 by Ohio’s first lady, Martha Kinney Cooper.  Ohioana’s collection includes books, sheet music, archival items, and more.  Ohioana Library contact information:  274 E. First Ave., Suite 300  Columbus, Ohio 43201  614.466.3831  http://www.ohioana.org/

July 6, 2018  Treasure hunters at Impulse! Records located a copy of a lost John Coltrane studio recording that had been discarded back in the late 1970’s, probably winding up in dumpster.  Released just last week, the newly-discovered tracks were recorded over 55 years ago at Rudy Van Gelder’s legendary Englewood Cliffs studio on March 6, 1963.   Called Both Directions at Once:  The Lost Album, less than a week after its release the album already shares the top 10 charts on iTunes and Amazon with mainstream pop and hip-hop acts.  It’s a tribute to the power of Coltrane’s music and his enduring legacy.  Tom Schnabel  Read more and link to music video at http://blogs.kcrw.com/music/2018/07/john-coltranes-lost-album-and-his-enduring-legacy/

Hydrogen peroxide--chemically represented as H2O2--is one of the most common household disinfectants in the world.  Remember to always exercise caution when using hydrogen peroxide--especially in higher concentrations--as the liquid and vapors can burn skin and lungs. Also, be very careful to never swallow hydrogen peroxide when using orally.  Hydrogen peroxide is for external use only!  Janice Taylor  Find 34 uses for hydrogen peroxide including its use in the kitchen and bathroom at http://www.naturallivingideas.com/hydrogen-peroxide-uses/

From:  Jeffrey Robert Kostrzewski   Subject:  A.Word.A.Day--collusion  This word brings back fond memories of grad school at OSU.  I worked with my friend Stephanie to create a computer program that assembled a digital collage of an image made from a database of many smaller images.  Similar to other photomosaics, but with an added twist that pictures would be rotated and resized as well.  Anyway, we called the project Collusions because the collage formed an illusion of the main picture.  We also liked that the smaller images colluded together to trick the viewer into seeing the main image.

July 11, 2018  This week’s recipe for Wicked Potato Salad with Dill from Bettina Campolucci Bordi’s book Happy Food is completely out of the ordinary.  Not a drop of mayonnaise in sight.  Instead she pairs up baby potatoes with beluga lentils, green apples, walnuts, handfuls of fresh dill and spicy greens and then douses it all in an apple cider-based vinaigrette.  Starchy things like beans and potatoes are delicious when you dress them when they’re still warm.  If beluga lentils are not to be had, those small French green lentils work just as nicely.  https://www.splendidtable.org/recipes/wicked-potato-salad-with-dill?utm_campaign=TST_WNK_20180711&utm_medium=email&utm_source=sfmc_Newsletter&utm_content=The%20Weeknight%20Kitchen:%20Wicked%20Potato%20Salad%20with%20Dill

Remains of bread baked 14,400 years ago found in Jordan by Tamara Qiblawi   The findings, excavated in northeastern Jordan's Black Desert, reveal the oldest direct evidence of bread.  Twenty four bread-like discoveries were found at two fireplaces in a Natufian hunter-gatherer site known as Shubayqa 1.  "The presence of hundreds of charred food remains in the fireplaces from Shubayqa 1 is an exceptional find, and it has given us the chance to characterize 14,000-year-old food practices," said University of Copenhagen archeobotanist Amaia Arranz Otaegui, the first author of the report.  "So now we know that bread-like products were produced long before the development of farming," said Otaegui, who added that the bread production could have contributed to the agricultural revolution of the Neolithic period.  The Neolithic flatbread--known nowadays as pita or Arabic bread--was made of domesticated cereals and club-rush tubers, according to the study released on July 16, 2018 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences journal.  Read more and see pictures at https://www.cnn.com/2018/07/17/health/bread-jordan-desert-intl/index.html

If you mention Sea Club Rush among foragers they give you a very blank stare.  Understandably so.  It was a fall-back staple in Europe that has naturalized itself worldwide and along North American shores from Prince Edward’s Island to Texas, and California north.  It’s even managed to make its way up to Arkansas, Kansas, Utah, North Dakota and Saskatchewan.  It is found in estuaries and salty marshes but can also in fresh water and other damp areas often with cattails.  Read more and see pictures at http://www.eattheweeds.com/scirpus-maritimus-a-tough-root-to-crack-2/

http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com  Issue 1920  July 18, 2018

Phoebe Anne Moses was a world famous markswoman and entertainer who was better known by her stage name of "Annie Oakley."  Moses was born on August 13, 1860, in Darke County, Ohio to Quaker parents.  Some scholars believe her last name was actually Mozee.  Throughout her life, she and her family spelled the last name in both ways.  Moses received a limited formal education, but she became an expert markswoman at a young age.  She assisted her parents in paying off the mortgage on the family farm by selling wild game that she killed.  By the mid 1870s, Moses had earned a name for herself due to her shooting skills.  In 1875, she won a contest against Frank Butler, a marksman who earned a living by performing in circuses.  Butler convinced Moses to travel with him across the country, demonstrating her skills.  The two performers later were married.  In 1885, the couple joined "Buffalo Bill" Cody's Wild West Show.  Moses became known as "Miss Annie Oakley, the Peerless Lady Wing-Shot."  Oakley took her stage name from the Oakley neighborhood in Cincinnati, Ohio, where she had previously lived.  In her act, Oakley routinely split a card in two edge-wise with a single shot from thirty paces.  She shot cigarettes out of her husband's mouth.  On a tour of Europe, she performed this same trick with Crown Prince Wilhelm, who later became Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany.  Oakley also shot dimes thrown into the air.  Due to her proficiency with a gun, she emerged as the first female U.S. superstar and was worshiped by young and old people around the world.  She also became a spokesperson for allowing women to serve in the armed forces, including in combat positions.  Moses also starred in one of the first Kinetoscope films in history.  In 1894, she starred in Thomas Alva Edison's "The "Little Sure Shot" of the "Wild West," exhibition of rifle shooting at glass balls, etc."  In honor of her many achievements and her legacy, Mozee's life has been documented in film on several different occasions.  A Broadway play, "Annie Get Your Gun," was also produced about her life.  Oakley remained with the Wild West Show until 1901, when she became partially paralyzed after an automobile accident.  She eventually recovered and returned to show business.  She died on November 3, 1926.  http://www.ohiohistorycentral.org/w/Phoebe_A._Moses

The Garst Museum, a historical museum with roots in the American experience, houses over 300,000 artifacts on display in 35,000 square feet of exhibit space within six major and two minor venues.  The Garst House, which earlier served as an inn, has six additional building wings.  The house was donated to the Darke County (Ohio) Historical Society in 1946 by the Garst family.  Established in 1983, the Darke County Historical Society’s Heritage Award was created to recognize outstanding citizens or organizations for their distinguished contributions or actions of unusual excellence that help connect people to Darke County’s past.  Clay Johnson, Ph.D., CEO of the Garst Museum, notes that “for those familiar with the county’s history, the area is rich in its history and traditions and its significance touches so many in the community.  The Darke County Historical Society (DCHS) recognizes this importance, and feels its responsibility is to honor those that join in its mission in celebrating the county’s past.”  The DCHS operates the Garst Museum and its mission is to collect, preserve, exhibit, study, and interpret materials relating to the history and culture of Darke County.  This year’s Heritage Award recipient, Phyllis Crick, has spent decades helping people research their family history and assisting the Garst Museum with the history of Darke County and Greenville.  As head librarian, Phyllis is responsible for the Darke County Research Center, answering questions and doing research, whether by phone, computer, or if a patron stops in. Research and genealogy is her strong suit.  Along with her team in the Research Center, she assists individuals seeking information about family histories and so much more. With an eye to detail and accuracy, Phyllis and the center’s staff maintains the genealogy information for a vast number of current and former Darke County residents, organizations, and schools.  Phyllis’s cousin and fellow head researcher, Nancy Stump, comments that “Phyllis is interested in all schools--the old ones--and she has increased that part of the library.”  The readers of Ohio Magazine have spoken and Garst Museum has repeated as the “Best Historical Museum” in Ohio for 2018.  The Gathering at Garst was also selected as the “Best Summer Festival.”  https://www.garstmuseum.org/

Japanese sweet potatoes are long, slender, and irregularly shaped with tapered ends.  Its outer flesh is brown with a distinct reddish hue and has small, shallow eyes.  The inner flesh is a creamy white to pale yellow that deepens to a golden hue when cooked.  The Japanese sweet potato offers a nutty, slightly floral flavor with hints of chestnut and caramel and a drier, starchier texture than other sweet potato varieties.  Japanese sweet potatoes, botanically classified as Ipomoea batatas, are a member of the Convolvulaceae family.  Japanese sweet potatoes are rich and dense and are often eaten as a snack in Japan, where they are also known as Satsuma-imo.  In Japan and throughout Asia, Japanese sweet potatoes are also used to make noodles, sweets, and confectionaries, and are employed as a thickener in soups.  They are sometimes used to make shochu, a popular alcoholic beverage.  Japanese sweet potatoes contain fiber, thiamin, vitamins A and C, and trace amounts of protein.  Japanese sweet potatoes can be roasted, baked, boiled, stir-fried and steamed, and are often eaten with the skin on.  Japanese sweet potatoes are popularly used in tempura, curries, stews, and soups.  A very common dish is Imo Gohan, where Japanese sweet potatoes are sliced or cubed and steamed along with rice, flavoring it with its sweetness.  Daigaku Imo, another popular dish, cubes, deep-fried, and candies the sweet potato in a syrup of sugar and soy sauce, and is sprinkled with toasted sesame seeds.  Complementary flavorings and pairings for Japanese sweet potatoes include vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg, miso, scallions, carrots, apples, and chestnuts.  Japanese sweet potatoes will keep for up to a week when stored in a cool, dry, and dark place.  http://www.specialtyproduce.com/produce/Japanese_Sweet_Potatoes_11777.php

Research has now proven that pigs can indeed fly under the right conditions . . .  these words were  accompanied by a picture of a "stuffed" pig sitting in a plane--using a seat belt of course.  Thank you, Muse reader!  Find the image at https://www.adweek.com/creativity/when-pigs-fly-geico-brings-back-maxwell-airplane-ad-146197/

People flocked to Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park in Grand Rapids, Michigan to witness the blooming of a rare flower with a smell so horrendous, it's earned the name "Putricia."  The Amorphophallus titanum, commonly known as the “corpse flower," bloomed from July 11-13, 2018.  It was planted in 2000 as a seedling, and this is the first time it has bloomed in 18 years.  Now that the plant is large enough, it is expected to re-bloom in 3 to 5 years,  Blake Alsup  See graphics and video at https://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/local/michigan/2018/07/12/corpse-flower-blooms-first-time-meijer-gardens/779787002/  Putricia was 4.5 feet tall. 

The Austrian children's author Christine Nöstlinger died at the age of 81 years.  This was confirmed on July 13, 2018 by Residenz-Verlag in Vienna.  Born in Vienna, she has written over 150 books during her career.  With titles such as "We whistle on the cucumber king", "May bug fly!", "The fire-red Friederike" and the "Gretchen Sackmeier" series and the series "Stories of Franz" Nöstlinger is one of the most famous and important children's book authors in German-speaking countries.  Her work has been translated into 30 languages ​​and partly filmed.  Her numerous awards include the Hans Christian Andersen Prize and the Astrid Lindgren Prize.  Nöstlinger enjoyed great popularity not only with children but also with adults, for example her dialect poetry volumes "Iba de gaunz oaman Kinda" (1974), "Iba de gaunz oaman Fraun" (1982) and "Iba de gaunz oaman Mauna" (1987 ).  The author wrote scripts, plays, and worked as a literary critic for various media.  https://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=de&u=http://www.spiegel.de/kultur/literatur/christine-noestlinger-ist-tot-jugendbuchautorin-a-1218383.html&prev=search

July 12, 2018  Relics of Ireland's ancient past have been uncovered--thanks to the recent heatwave and drought.  Images captured by a drone show a previously undiscovered monument or henge close to the 5,000 year old Newgrange monument in County Meath.  Measuring up to 200m in diameter, it is believed to be a late Neolithic or early Bronze Age enclosure.  "The weather is 95% responsible for this find," said Anthony Murphy who found the site along with Ken Williams.  "The flying of the drone, knowledge of the area, and fluke make up the rest in this discovery," he said.  "There's more moisture in the field where the features of this site are and that's why the grass is greener.  "So it shows up nicely against the more yellow grass around it."  The discovery has been reported to Ireland's National Monument Service which holds details of almost 140,000 monuments.  "This is internationally significant and we now need to figure out what it means," said Steve Davis, an archaeologist at the University College Dublin.  "This one is quite significant--it has some characteristics that we've never seen before.  For example, the very odd double ditch sections that make up its circumference.  "It's one of a series of large monuments near Newgrange.  We don't know what the henges are for but it's thought they were meeting places.  "The confusing thing is why there are so many in one area.  "Nowhere else in the world has so many in one spot."  The monument is on private land and there are no plans to excavate it at the minute.  Barra Best  See pictures at https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-44801939

Located in north central Washington, two miles northeast of Stratford, Billy Clapp Lake offers visitors year round access to its deep blue waters.  Billy Clapp Lake is a part of the Columbia Basin Project built by the US Bureau of Reclamation to provide flood protection and irrigation capabilities to the thousands of acres in the Columbia River Basin and surrounding areas.  Millions of years ago, Ice Age glaciers carved deep grooves into the land as the glaciers traveled through the area creating a "coulee."  Volcanic eruptions filled some the coulees with volcanic basalt.  Convinced that whatever nature had done with ice and lava in prehistoric times, William "Billy" Clapp thought that man could duplicate nature with concrete and tools and was the first person to suggest damming the Columbia River.  Named for this man of foresight, Billy Clapp Lake is a natural coulee which was dammed on the lower south end by Pinto Dam to create this unique reservoir.  The majority of the shoreline is steep and rocky with high basalt walls. Water spills into Billy Clapp Lake from the Main Canal of the Columbia Basin Project, creating the scenic Summer Falls.  Read more see graphics

at https://www.lakelubbers.com/billy-clapp-lake-871/

http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com  Issue 1919  July 16, 2018   Thought for Today  Every student needs someone who says, simply, "You mean something.  You count." - Tony Kushner, playwright (b. 16 Jul 1956)

"When pigs fly" is an adynaton, a way of saying that something will never happen.  The phrase is often used for humorous effect, to scoff at over-ambition.  There are numerous variations on the theme; when an individual with a reputation for failure finally succeeds, onlookers may sarcastically claim to see a flying pig.  An example occurs in the film The Eagle Has Landed:  an Irish secret agent working for the Nazis replies to a German general speaking of Germany's shortly winning World War II, "Pigs may fly, General, but I doubt it!"  An identical phrase, used to express impossibilities, exists in Romanian, Când o zbura porcul, literally meaning "When the pig shall fly"; an equivalent also implying an animal is La Paștele cailor, literally:  "on horses' Easter".  In Finnish, the expression "kun lehmät lentävät" (when cows fly) is used because of its alliteration.  In French, the most common expression is "quand les poules auront des dents" (when hens will have teeth).  See uses in popular culture at  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/When_pigs_fly  

The Muser has seen wallpaper picturing flying pigs.

Inside the neonatal intensive care unit, Jillana Williams and Lauren Boeke flip through bright books of nursery rhymes.  The two early literacy librarians enthusiastically share just some of the lessons parents will soon bring their children—shape recognition, the alphabet, and basic vocabulary. They are at the parent caregiver support group at ProMedica Toledo Children's Hospital.  The Toledo Lucas County Public Library started this Ready to Read program in 2014 to better prepare young children.  Personalized lessons with parents provide everyday examples and the latest research in child development.  They explain how talking, singing, reading, writing, and playing with the young ones can grow those skills.  Ready to Read leaders drive all over Lucas County—bags of toys and books in tow—to help families with their children.  Their visits are varied, such as to the Toledo-Lucas County Health Department, Metroparks Toledo, and Toledo Zoo.  The bag includes board books, a paperback book on vocabulary, magnetized alphabet puzzle, child friendly scissors, and hand puppets of Old MacDonald's farm animals.  Ryan Dunn  Link to 2:59 video at http://www.toledoblade.com/Education/2018/07/11/Toledo-librarians-visit-parents-for-Ready-to-Read-program.html

What's the origin of the phrase 'Spick and span'?  The noun spick has various meanings, or rather it had various meanings, as it is now rarely used outside of spick and span.  These include:  a side of bacon, a floret of lavender, a nail or spike, a thatching spar.  Likewise span has/had several meanings, including:  the distance from the tip of the thumb to the tip of the little finger, a measure of butter, a fetter or chain, a chip of wood (as the Norse word spann-nyr).  Just from those meanings, and there are more, we could generate sixteen possible combinations to form spick and span.  It isn't clear which, if any, of those words were used when coining the phrase.  Some clue might come from the fact that the phrase is very old and was originally spick and span-new.  This is cited in Sir Thomas North's translation of Plutarch's Lives of the noble Grecians and Romanes, 1579:  "They were all in goodly gilt armours, and brave purple cassocks apon them, spicke, and spanne newe."  The alliteration in the phrase suggests the possibility that that one of the two words alluded to cleanliness and freshness and that the other just followed along.  Which one is most associated with the qualities of spick and span?  The suggestions most frequently made are that spick is a variant of spike or nail.  In the 16th century nails were made of iron and soon tarnished.  It is quite plausible that new nails would have become synonymous with cleanliness.  We have the phrase as neat as a new pin, which has just that meaning.  The old Dutch word spikspeldernieuw refers to newly made ships.  The OED suggests that this is the origin of spick, although they offer no reason for that belief and none of the early citations of the phrase refer to shipping.  As for span, chips of wood also display the same fresh, sharp-edged qualities and seem to be a plausible source for the use of the word here.  Note:  the word spoon, which was originally a wooden item, derives from spon--a variant of span.  It has been suggested that the early American term for a knife and fork was spike and spon and that this relates to keeping clean by using utensils rather than fingers.  That takes no account of the use of the phrase prior to the colonization of America by English-speaking people though.  Spicke, and spanne newe later migrated into simply spick and span which is first found in Samuel Pepys' Diary, 1665:  "My Lady Batten walking through the dirty lane with new spicke and span white shoes."

https://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/spick-and-span.html

Hard, very hard and semi-hard cheese will freeze, although some cheeses will be crumbly after freezing (but will still taste good).  On the other hand, soft cheese does not freeze well, such as cottage cheese, ricotta cheese and cream cheese, so don't freeze these varieties.  Varieties include:   Very hard cheese:  Pecorino, Romano Parmesan   Hard cheese:  Cheddar, Swiss, Edam, Gouda and Colby  Semi-hard/soft cheese:  Havarti, Monterey Jack, Mozzarella, Provolone, Brick, Camembert, Brie  Soft cheese:  Ricotta, feta, cottage cheese, cream cheese.  Find details at https://www.wikihow.com/Freeze-Cheese

The original map of Winnie-the-Pooh’s Hundred Acre Wood by artist E.H. Shepard was bought for a record-breaking 430,000 pounds ($570,137) on July 10, 2018.  The map for A.A. Milne’s children’s classic, completed in 1926, broke the record for the amount offered for any book illustration at auction.  Unseen for nearly half a century, the map easily surpassed its pre-sale estimate of 100,000 to 150,000 pounds.  Featuring on the opening end-papers of the original book, the map introduces readers to the imagination of Christopher Robin and his woodland friends Eeyore and Roo.  Forty years later, it played a starring role in the Disney film “Winnie-the-Pooh and the Honey Tree” where it was brought to life as an animation in the film’s opening sequence.  Four other original Pooh illustrations were sold alongside the map, with the five fetching a combined total of 917,500 pounds compared with a 310,000 to 440,000-pound estimate.  Jo Heywood  See picture at https://www.reuters.com/article/us-sky-m-a-fox/murdochs-fox-ups-sky-bid-to-32-5-billion-all-eyes-on-comcast-idUSKBN1K10KU

Ernest Shepard was born the son of a architect, in London on December 10, 1879.  As a child, Ernest had two big hobbies--watching the soldiers practice, and drawing.  He decided on a career as an artist and was encouraged by his father.  After attending a special art school, Shepard entered the Royal Academy School in 1897 as one of it's youngest students, and earned two scholarships while there.  In the First World War Shepard enlisted in the Army, rose to the rank of Major and was awarded the Military Cross for bravery in the field.  During these years, he sent jokes about the battles to Punch.  Shortly after his return from the front, he was invited to join the Punch Editorial Table.  He had finally realised his dream of working for Punch.  Here he met E.V. Lucas, who would later introduce him to Alan Milne.  E.V. Lucas named Shepard when A. A. Milne asked him to recommend someone to illustrate some children's verses he would be publishing in Punch.  At first Milne was not keen to use Shepard, but when his illustrations were a success Shepard went on to illustrate all of the Pooh books.  Throughout the rest of his career Shepard illustrated books for many leading authors of the period, including several for Kenneth Grahame.  Shepard was in fact the fourth illustrator to draw the characters for 'Wind in the Willows,' but the only one who managed to capture the essence of the animals that Grahame had in mind.  He remained busy as an illustrator his whole life and even managed to write two children's books of his own in his mid eighties.  These were titled 'Ben and Brook' (1966) and 'Betsy and Joe' (1967).   Shepard also colored his original line drawings for new editions of 'Winnie the Pooh' (1973) and 'The House at Pooh Corner' (1974).  'The Pooh Story Book', released in 1976, contained new line and color pictures by Shepard.  In his ninetieth year, Ernest Shepard donated 300 of his preliminary sketches for the Pooh drawings to the Victoria and Albert Museum, where they were exhibited in 1969.  These drawings have since been exhibited in many galleries in Britain, as well as in Holland and  Australia, and have now been published as 'The Pooh Sketch Book,' edited by Brian Sibley.  Ernest Shepard died in 1976, in the fiftieth anniversary year of 'Winnie-the-Pooh'.  http://www.just-pooh.com/shepard.html

Chocolate Clusters  Melt semi-sweet chocolate.  Mix with an equal measure of nuts, corn flakes, raisins, dried currants or dried cranberries.  Spoon into bite-size pieces and let cool.

What is it?  The 2018 World Cup final between France and Croatia.  What date is the World Cup 2018 final?  This year, the 21st World Cup final will be held on Sunday, July 15, 2018.  What time does is kick-off?  The final will kick off at 4pm BST.  That's 6pm local time if you're in Russia.  Where will the final take place?  The Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow will host the finale to the 2018 World Cup. Russia's sporting Mecca has previously hosted the 1980 Olympics, 1999 Uefa Cup Final and 2008 Champions League Final.  https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-cup/2018/07/12/world-cup-final-2018-france-vs-croatia-time-kick-off-tv-channel/

Manhattanhenge 2018:  Where to watch New York's sunset show in July by Forrest Brown   Light from the sunsets on Thursday and Friday (July 12 and 13, 2018) will shoot down roads running east to west with no blockage from the borough's famous skyscrapers.  Official sunset for both evenings is 8:27 p.m. ET.  You might want to seek out a good spot about a half hour before sunset.  CNN Senior Meteorologist Brandon Miller has good news for Manhattanhenge fans:  "Weather looks near perfect for viewing the sunset both on Thursday and Friday evenings.  Temperatures will be around 80 degrees and most importantly, skies should be mostly clear, with very little cloud cover."  You can thank Manhattan's easy-to-use grid system, which dates back to the early 1800s, for the effect.  This happy alignment starts at Houston Street and runs up to just south of 155th Street.  If Manhattan's street grid was perfectly aligned along north-south lines, then Manhattanhenge would coincide with the equinoxes.  But Manhattan's layout is rotated 30 degrees east from geographic north, shifting the days of alignment to late May and mid-July.  The term "Manhattanhenge" is popularly attributed to astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson, who word-played off Britain's Stonehenge.  Tyson has some advice for the superior places to enjoy the phenomenon on the website of the American Museum of Natural History.  "For best effect, position yourself as far east in Manhattan as possible.  But ensure that when you look west across the avenues, you can still see New Jersey."  He lists the following streets as particularly good ones since they are wider:  14th Street, 23rd Street,  34th Street, 42nd Street, and 57th Street.  While this is called "Manhattanhenge," photos will attest you can also get this effect in parts of Queens, too.  https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/manhattanhenge-wxc/index.html

http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com  Issue 1918  July 13, 2018 

In 1954 the characters of a popular comic strip met up with a "Kansas crittur"--the mythological Jayhawk.  "Pogo" was the name of the critically acclaimed strip, drawn by Walt Kelly since 1948.  This satirical cartoon poked fun at American life and politics.  Set in Georgia's Okefenokee Swamp, it featured a cast of animals with a peculiarly human outlook.  The lead character was Pogo the Possum, whose optimism was countered by the cynicism of Albert the Alligator.  The strip lasted until 1975, and is perhaps best remembered for the oft-repeated line, "We have met the enemy, and he is us."  https://www.kshs.org/kansapedia/pogo-comic-strip/15641  A long-running (1948–75, plus a 1989–93 revival) Newspaper Comic starring Pogo Possum, Albert Alligator, Churchy La Femme, Miz Beaver and other talking animals in Georgia's Okeefenokee Swamp.  Early versions of Pogo and Albert (alongside a quickly-phased-out human protagonist named Bumbazine) were regulars in Dell's Animal Comics (1941) starting with the very first issue, but it quickly moved to the newspapers, and became one of the all-time comic strip classics.  Creator Walt Kelly, a former Disney animator, filled his strip with dozens—actually, hundreds—of characters, all with distinct personalities, motivations and goals that would frequently collide.  Kelly's ear for dialect and language, in addition to his skill with nonsense poetry, has been compared to Mark Twain and Ogden Nash.  While superficially a silly comic strip about funny animals, it was also a satire about modern times, and frequently delved into politics—so much so that Pogo often found itself the target of criticism and censorship.  In such cases, Kelly often responded in kind; for instance, by placing a paper bag over the head of a controversial character (based on Senator Joseph McCarthy) when a newspaper said that they would drop the strip if his face ever appeared again.  Later, he would write "fluffy bunny" versions of his Sunday strips, featuring rabbit characters engaging in simple slapstick, whose real purpose was to inform the readers that their local newspaper was censoring its comics page.  Charming, clever, occasionally subversive, and surprisingly warm-hearted even at its most vicious, Pogo was The Office of its day . . . if The Office had a much larger cast, the writers of The Colbert Report, the trenchant wit of H. L. Mencken, and the idealism of Jon Stewart.  Its influence on modern cartooning cannot be overestimated.  Bill Watterson (Calvin and Hobbes), Berkeley Breathed (Bloom County), Jeff Smith (Bone), Garry Trudeau (Doonesbury), Frank Cho (Liberty Meadows), Dana Simpson (Ozy and Millie), and Bill Holbrook (Kevin and Kell) have all cited it as inspiration, as did the late Jim Henson (The Muppet Show).  http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/ComicStrip/Pogo

WORDPLAY  *  the tunnel at the end of the light  *  your command is my wish  *  a solution in search of a problem

A legume is a plant or its fruit or seed in the family Fabaceae (or Leguminosae).  Legumes are grown agriculturally, primarily for their grain seed called pulse, for livestock forage and silage, and as soil-enhancing green manure.  Well-known legumes include alfalfa, clover, peas, beans, chickpeas, lentils, lupin bean, mesquite, carob, soybeans, peanuts and tamarind.  A legume fruit is a simple dry fruit that develops from a simple carpel and usually dehisces (opens along a seam) on two sides.  A common name for this type of fruit is a pod, although the term "pod" is also applied to a number of other fruit types, such as that of vanilla (a capsule) and of the radish (a silique).  Legumes are notable in that most of them have symbiotic nitrogen-fixing bacteria in structures called root nodules.  For that reason, they play a key role in crop rotation.  The term "pulse", as used by the United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), is reserved for crops harvested solely for the dry seed.  This excludes green beans and green peas, which are considered vegetable crops.  Also excluded are seeds that are mainly grown for oil extraction (oilseeds like soybeans and peanuts), and seeds which are used exclusively for sowing forage (clovers, alfalfa).  However, in common usage, these distinctions are not always clearly made, and many of the varieties used for dried pulses are also used for green vegetables, with their beans in pods while young.  Some Fabaceae, such as Scotch broom and other Genisteae, are leguminous but are usually not called legumes by farmers, who tend to restrict that term to food crops.  Read more and see pictures at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legume

Legumes:  Beans, Peas, and Lentils  WHAT’S THE DIFFERENCE?  Beans, peas, and lentils are all seeds that grow in pods.  We can tell the difference by their shape.  · Dry Beans are oval or kidney shaped.  There are two main types of dry beans.   Red beans are used in bean burritos, bean tostadas, nachos frijoles, soups, salad bar choice, marinated salads, and main dishes or side dishes, such as vegetarian beans or baked beans.  Red beans include: • Pinto • Pink beans • Light red kidney • Dark red kidney • Red beans • Pea beans • Black beans   White beans are used in soups, salads, salad bar choice, or served as a vegetable.  White beans include: • Navy • Small white • Great northern • Cannellini (white kidney bean) • Garbanzo (chickpeas)   · Peas are round.  Peas are used in side dishes, salads, casseroles, and soups • Black-eyed peas • Whole peas • Split peas are whole peas split in half  · Lentils are flat disks.  Lentils are used in soups • Green • Red • Yellow • Black  https://www.extension.umn.edu/family/health-and-nutrition/toolkits-and-resources/great-trays/docs/legumes-beans-peas-and-lentils.pdf  © 2011, Regents of the University of Minnesota.  All rights reserved.  This tip sheet was developed in conjunction with the Great TraysTM Partnership.

WIy cha'! HaSta! cha yIghuS! 'eH... baH!"  These are the words you hear at the very beginning of the very first "Star Trek" movie--the one from 1979 with Captain Kirk and Mr. Spock that was awkwardly called "Star Trek:  The Motion Picture."  They are commands ("Tactical!  Visual!  Stand by on torpedoes!  Ready . . . Fire!") barked out by a member of an aggressive alien species called Klingons.  They were invented on the set with the goal of sounding otherworldly and menacing, just like the warmongering race they belonged to.  But since then, from just a few words that were little more than gibberish, the Klingon language has become the most widely spoken fictional language in the world, according to the Guinness World Records.  It was developed by Marc Okrand, a linguist hired to invent more Klingon words for "Star Trek 3," which featured the aliens prominently.  "The producers wanted it to sound like a real language, and I thought that to make it sound like a real language, it had to be one," he said in a phone interview.  "But I had never created a language before.  So I went back to the 'Motion Picture' and there were maybe eight lines of Klingon in the whole movie.  I wrote down the words as best I could to make a list of the different sounds and the different syllable types.  That was the start, and I built from that."  "The Klingon Dictionary," was first published in 1985.  The first part explains the grammar, and the second part is a Klingon-English bilingual dictionary.  "That was actually harder than describing the grammar, because I had to decide what words to actually invent.  I decided to not make up any words having anything to do with Klingon geography or Klingon culture.  I know it sounds strange to have a dictionary about Klingon that doesn't deal with that aspect, but the reason is because I'm not a writer, I don't write the stories or the movies and I didn't want to make something up that down the road would turn out wrong because of a TV episode or a movie. So I would let writers make up the culture, and come back afterward to say 'This is how you call it.'  Not the other way around."  Although the book has sold over 250,000 copies since publication, it didn't immediately create a following of Klingon language learners.  That started brewing, Okrand said, in the mid-1990s.  Klingon's popularity is still rising:  It is, after all, "the fastest growing language in the galaxy," according to the KLI's website--and the latest series, "Star Trek:  Discovery," heavily features Klingons, offering long scenes of uninterrupted Klingon dialogue (also available with Klingon subtitles on Netflix outside the US).  Last year, Duolingo, a language learning platform, launched a Klingon course that currently attracts around 100,000 learners.  Today, the Klingon Language Institute has about 5,000 guest (or free) members and about 300 full (or paid) members, and their 25th annual gathering--or qep'a' cha'maH vaghDIch--takes place in Indianapolis on July 19 to 21, 2018.  Jacopo Prisco  Read more, see graphics, and link to videos at https://edition.cnn.com/style/article/star-trek-klingon-marc-okrand/index.html

Pork Schnitzel with Cucumber Salad by The Editors of Food & Wine  serves 4  time  45 minutes total  It takes only five minutes to cook pork cutlets into perfect schnitzel.  With only a handful of ingredients, a crisp and bright salad of cucumbers with dill and yogurt is a simple accompaniment to the meal.  Reprinted with permission from Dinner Special: 185 Recipes for a Great Meal Any Night of the Week by  the editors of Food & Wine.  Copyright 2018 Oxmoor House

https://www.splendidtable.org/recipes/pork-schnitzel-with-cucumber-salad?utm_campaign=TST_WNK_20180516&utm_medium=email&utm_source=sfmc_Newsletter&utm_content=The%20Weeknight%20Kitchen:%20Pork%20Schnitzel%20with%20Cucumber%20Salad

The Arizona Cardinals are a professional American football franchise based in the Phoenix metropolitan area.  The Cardinals compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) West division.  The Cardinals were founded as the Morgan Athletic Club in 1898, and are the oldest continuously run professional football team in the United States.  The Cardinals play their home games at the University of Phoenix Stadium, which is located in the northwestern suburb of Glendale, Arizona.  The team was established in Chicago in 1898 and joined the NFL as a charter member on September 17, 1920.  Along with the Chicago Bears, the club is one of two NFL charter member franchises still in operation since the league's founding.  (The Green Bay Packers were an independent team until they joined the NFL in 1921.)  The club then moved to St. Louis in 1960 and played in that city through 1987 (sometimes referred to as the "Football Cardinals" or the "Big Red" to avoid confusion with the Major League Baseball St. Louis Cardinals.  The franchise has won two NFL championships, both while it was based in Chicago.  The first occurred in 1925, but is the subject of controversy, with supporters of the Pottsville Maroons believing that Pottsville should have won the title.  Their second title, and the first to be won in a championship game, came in 1947, nearly two decades before the first Super Bowl.  They returned to the title game to defend in 1948, but lost the rematch 7–0 in a snowstorm in Philadelphia.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arizona_Cardinals

IHOP has conceded that its "name change" to IHOb was a marketing ploy "to promote our new burgers."  Over the course of the last month, IHOP changed its Twitter logo, name and other identifying features to "IHOb" to fake out the world that it was dropping the "pancakes" from its name for "burgers."  People on social media ate the June 11 announcement for breakfast, and IHOP managed to keep quiet until confirming the name change was marketing ploy with a July 10, 2018 tweet.  Benjamin Raven  https://www.mlive.com/news/us-world/index.ssf/2018/07/ihop_finally_admits_that_whole.html

http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com  Issue 1917  July 11, 2018  Word of the Day  acquis  noun   Short for acquis communautaire.  The accumulated legislation, legal acts, and court decisions which constitute the total body of European Union law.  The accumulated legislation and decisions of any international community.  The first session of the European Parliament after it became a directly elected body was held on this day in 1979.  The Parliament exercises the lawmaking function of the European Union, and thus contributes towards the EU’s acquis.