Coffee trees are pruned short to conserve their energy and aid in harvesting, but can grow to more than 30 feet (9 meters) high.  Each tree is covered with green, waxy leaves growing opposite each other in pairs.  Coffee cherries grow along the branches.  Because it grows in a continuous cycle, it’s not unusual to see flowers, green fruit and ripe fruit simultaneously on a single tree.  It takes nearly a year for a cherry to mature after first flowering, and about 5 years of growth to reach full fruit production.  While coffee plants can live up to 100 years, they are generally the most productive between the ages of 7 and 20.  Proper care can maintain and even increase their output over the years, depending on the variety.  The average coffee tree produces 10 pounds of coffee cherry per year, or 2 pounds of green beans.  All commercially grown coffee is from a region of the world called the Coffee Belt.  The trees grow best in rich soil, with mild temperatures, frequent rain and shaded sun.  Coffee traces its origin to a genus of plants known as Coffea.  Within the genus there are over 500 genera and 6,000 species of tropical trees and shrubs.  Experts estimate that there are anywhere from 25 to 100 species of coffee plants.  The genus was first described in the 18th century by the Swedish botanist, Carolus Linneaus, who also described Coffea Arabica in his Species Plantarum in 1753.  Botanists have disagreed ever since on the exact classification, since coffee plants can range widely.  http://www.ncausa.org/about-coffee/what-is-coffee

cuppa joe   A cup of coffee (where "cuppa" is a colloquial contraction of "cup of").   Though the true origin is unknown, "joe" as a synonym for coffee is theorized to either be a shortening of "jamoke" (a combination of Java and Mocha, two major suppliers of coffee beans), or as a reference to it being the drink of the ordinary man (i.e., the "average joe").  Primarily heard in US, South Africa.  https://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/cuppa+joe

cuppa  chiefly British:  a cup of tea  https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/cuppa

John Ernst Steinbeck (1902–1968) was an American writer.  Born in Salinas, California, Steinbeck spent most of his life in Monterey County.  After dropping out of Stanford University, he worked as a manual laborer to support himself as a freelance writer.  John Steinbeck is widely known for the comic novel Tortilla Flat (1935), novella Of Mice and Men (1937), and for the Pulitzer Prize-winning and his finest novel The Grapes of Wrath (1935).  The Grapes of Wrath has sold more than 14 million copies in the past 75 years.  In 1962, Steinbeck received the Nobel Prize for Literature.  Other significant works are Cannery Row (1945), In Dubious Battle (1936), The Red Pony (1937), and East of Eden (1952).  During his lifetime, Steinbeck wrote over twenty books, including sixteen novels, six non-fiction books, and several collections of short stories.  Quotes:  Ideas are like rabbits.  You get a couple and learn how to handle them, and pretty soon you have a dozen.  Interview with Robert van Gelder (April 1947)  Power does not corrupt.  Fear corrupts . . . perhaps the fear of a loss of power.  The Short Reign of Pippin IV (1957)  Literature is as old as speech.  It grew out of human need for it, and it has not changed except to become more needed.  Nobel Prize acceptance speech (December 10, 1962)  Read more quotes at https://www.magicalquote.com/70-great-john-steinbeck-quotes/

According to the National Peanut Board, Dr. George Washington Carver developed more than 300 products from the humble peanut.  They include face powder, shampoo, paper, shaving cream, hand lotion, insecticides, glue, charcoal, rubber, nitroglycerin, plastics, and axle grease.  https://www.almanac.com/news/home-health/natural-living/best-uses-peanut-butter

January 21-24, 2020   “The liberated word is a marvelous thing.”  Meghan Cox Gurdon on the history—and importance—of oral storytelling. | Lit Hub  At the annual National Cowboy Poetry Gathering, ranch hands, rodeo riders, and poets of all varieties gather to redefine what it means to be a cowboy in the modern era.| Alta  In which Mary Norris, Comma Queen, unpacks milk (and its place at the impeachment trial). | The New Yorker  https://lithub.com/

January 21, 2020  Plan your year in books and birthdays with our 2020 calendar of noteworthy literary events. | Lit Hub  Luke Geddes picks 10 books about obsessed audiophiles, maniacal collectors, and crime-solving musicians. | CrimeReads   Zed author Joanna Kavenna recommends five great works of absurdist fiction, from Virginia Woolf's Orlando to Philip K. Dick's Ubik. | Book Marks   Dutch art sleuth Arthur Brand—AKA “the Indiana Jones of the Art World”—has recovered a stolen 15th-century book by the Persian poet Hafez. | International Business Times  https://lithub.com/

Frankenstein is a 1910 film made by Edison Studios.  It was written and directed by J. Searle Dawley.  This 14-minute short film was the first motion picture adaptation of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein.  The unbilled cast included Augustus Phillips as Dr. Frankenstein, Charles Ogle as Frankenstein's monster, and Mary Fuller as the doctor's fiancée.  Dawley, working for the Edison Company, shot the film in three to four days at the Edison Studios in the Bronx, New York City.  The production was deliberately designed to de-emphasize the horrific aspects of the story and focus on the story's mystical and psychological elements.   Alois F. Dettlafff had a 35 mm preservation copy made in the late 1970s.  He also issued a DVD release of 1,000 copies.  BearManor Media released the public domain film in a restored edition on March 18, 2010 alongside the novel, Edison's Frankenstein, which was written by Frederick C. Wiebel, Jr.  In 2016, the film society of the University of Geneva undertook their own restoration of the film, with image restoration by Julien Dumoulin and an original soundtrack by Nicolas Hafner, performed on a Wurlitzer theatre organ located at College Claparède.  The restored version of the film was shown on 10 October 2016.  On November 15, 2018, in recognition of Mary Shelly's bicentennial, the Library of Congress announced via a blog post that they had completed a full restoration of the short film, having purchased the Dettlaff collection in 2014.  The restoration was made available to the general public for streaming and downloading via their YouTube channel and online National Screening Room, as well as in the blog post announcing the restoration's completion.  Frankenstein was among the earlier silent films to have an associated cue sheet, providing suggested musical accompaniment.  See suggested accompaniment and link to a video of the film at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frankenstein_(1910_film)

Romance   The Browne Popular Culture Library at Bowling Green State University in Bowling Green, Ohio holds a wide range of romance materials from novels to valentines.  The collection includes more than 10,000 volumes of category romance series from publishers such as Harlequin, Silhouette, Loveswept, Candlelight, Ecstasy, and others.  The holdings also include a sizable collection of mass market novels, including Georgian, regency, gothic, contemporary, and historicals.  See More  https://www.bgsu.edu/library/pcl.html

Tahini is a paste made from sesame seeds and is a staple in many cuisines, especially in the Mediterranean and Middle East.  It’s vegan, gluten-free, tastes nutty, and is simple to make.  Store-bought tahini is usually made from hulled sesame seeds.  This is our preference, too, but you can make it from unhulled and sprouted sesame seeds.  You only need THREE ingredients to make tahini:  sesame seeds, oil and salt.  Adam Gallagher  Find directions and pictures at https://www.inspiredtaste.net/26901/easy-tahini-recipe/

FEBRUARY 12 BIRTHDAYS OF NOTABLE PEOPLE OF THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY 1602 – Michelangelo Cerquozzi, Italian painter (d. 1660); 1606 – John Winthrop the Younger, English-American lawyer and politician, Governor of Connecticut (d. 1676); 1637 – Jan Swammerdam, Dutch biologist and zoologist (d. 1680);

1663 – Cotton Mather, English-American minister and author (d. 1728);

1665 – Rudolf Jakob Camerarius, German botanist and physician (d. 1721)  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/February_12

The best thing about Parasite winning an Academy Award is that it made Americans read for two hours.  Karen Chee  Late Night with Seth Myers  February 10, 2020  Parasite, a satire, is the first film from South Korea and first film in non-English to win an Oscar for best picture.

Chocolate Pudding for One  https://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/chocolate-pudding-for-one/

http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com  Issue 2223  February 12, 2020

W. A. Cummings was born in Ware, Mass., on Oct. 18, 1848, one of 11 brothers and sisters.  His family called him Arthur.  They moved to Brooklyn, N.Y., when he was two.  As a boy he often played early versions of baseball, then called ‘town ball’ or ‘The Massachusetts game.’  In 1863, when he was 14, he went to a beach in Brooklyn with some friends.  They entertained themselves by throwing clamshells into the ocean.  The boys managed to make the balls curve before they hit the water.  Cummings later wrote, “All of a sudden, it came to me that it would be a good joke on the boys if I could make a baseball curve the same way.”  Back in boarding school, he played a lot of baseball, experimenting obsessively with making a baseball curve.  When he graduated, he started to play for amateur teams:  the Brooklyn Excelsiors, the Brooklyn Stars, the New York Mutuals, the Lord Baltimores, the Philadelphia Pearls and the Hartford Dark Blues.  In 1876 the Hartford Dark Blues became part of the new National League. Candy Cummings pitched the team to two victories over the Cincinnati Red Stockings in the first doubleheader ever played in major league baseball.  In 1877 he jumped to the Lynn Live Oaks in the new International Association, then jumped again in June to the Red Stockings.  He was so good people started calling him ‘Candy’--a Civil War expression that meant the best of anything.  By 1874, other pitchers were throwing the curve, and others started to take credit for inventing it.  A New Haven teenager named Fred Goldsmith challenged Candy Cummings’ claim to the invention, saying he’d shown it to the Yale baseball team in 1866.  Cummings retired from baseball at 29, and ran a paint and wallpaper shop in Athol, Mass.  Cummings also invented a railway coupling device, for which he received a small royalty.  In retirement he waged a publicity campaign to make sure he got credit for inventing the curveball.  The controversy raged for years, until it was finally decided Candy Cummings was the first man to throw it successfully at the top level of competition.  On June 12, 1939, Candy Cummings was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame as one of its 25 charter members.  https://www.newenglandhistoricalsociety.com/candy-cummings-invented-curveball/

January 17, 2020  Baltimore’s Edgar Allan Poe house is set to become Maryland’s first official literary landmark. | The Washington Post   Andrew R.M. Smith explains how LBJ’s War On Poverty changed a young George Foreman’s life. | Lit Hub History  https://lithub.com/

If you've ever mistyped an email address, you have surely been paid a visit by the Mailer-Daemon (in the form of a reply email).  Simply put, a daemon is a computer program that automatically performs a task.  This seems unimpressive, but there was a time when computers relied on human beings to input commands or information in order to work.  A daemon takes simple errands off an operating system's plate, freeing it up to handle more taxing things.  Daemons are your friends, and they don't come from hell.  A daemon operates out of sight from the users' eyes, and it is this quality that inspired its name.   Members of MIT's Project MAC are credited with coming up with the term during their early research on artificial intelligence and computing processes (the group was created in 1963).  According to Project MAC's Fernando J.Corbato, the term for this new type of computing was inspired by Maxwell's daemon of physics and thermodynamics.  "Maxwell's daemon was an imaginary agent which helped sort molecules of different speeds and worked tirelessly in the background," he told the Austin Chronicle.  "We fancifully began to use the word daemon to describe background processes which worked tirelessly to perform system chores."  The daemon spelling comes from the Greek use of the word, and it refers to a general spirit and not necessarily an evil being.  Nick Greene  https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/63647/who-mailer-daemon  For a more in-depth look at Maxwell's demon, see https://www.khanacademy.org/science/physics/thermodynamics/laws-of-thermodynamics/v/maxwell-s-demon 

January 15, 2020  The Atlantic will be publishing more fiction from here on out—starting with a new short story by Lauren Groff. | The Atlantic    There’s an Alexander Pushkin-themed theme park in the works, based on the imaginary land of “Lukomorye.”  Set to open in St. Petersburg in 2023, Lukomorye will feature a funfair market, swan lake, fairy tale forest, and more. | CLAD   Sibylle Berg, the Zurich-based author of more than 15 novels, has won this year’s Swiss Grand Prix Literature. | Swiss Info  https://lithub.com/

The Academy of American Poets lists fourteen selections from its collection for Valentine’s Day 2020 at https://poets.org/poetsorg-recommends-these-14-love-poems-valentines-day

A Mile and a Half of Lines: The Art of James Thurber is on view through March 15, 2020 at the Columbus Museum of Art.  Celebrating the 125th anniversary of James Thurber’s birth, A Mile and a Half of Lines showcases the drawings of Columbus’s native son and one of America’s best-known twentieth century writers.  Thurber’s depictions changed the nature of cartooning.  His process of drawing his illustrations spontaneously with child-like abandon was an innovation to his field.  For him, the drawing often came first before the caption.  A Mile and a Half of Lines includes Thurber’s work for The New Yorker, his illustrations for his own and others’ books, ad campaigns, and children’s illustrations.  Sections of the exhibition include topical drawings depicting:  Signs of the Times (Prohibition, the Great Depression, and the Lost Generation); The Bestiary in Me (the animal kingdom); and Columbustown (including OSU football).  Find location, hours and link to information on James Thurber at http://www.thurberhouse.org/year-of-thurber-events/the-art-of-james-thurber

Fava beans are one of the oldest domesticated food legumes.  References to favas occur in both the Talmud and the Mishna, indicating they have been part of the Middle Eastern diet since at least since the 4th century.  If you’re looking at making a fresh fava bean recipe outside of spring, your best bet is to use frozen fava beans or use fresh/frozen lima beans as a substitute.  Most forms of fava beans need to be peeled before eating, unless they have already been prepped (which is sometimes the case with canned and cold packed beans).  Tori Avey  Find extensive instructions with pictures at https://toriavey.com/how-to/fava-beans-how-to-cook-soak-peel-freeze/

President Trump is planning on “Making Federal Buildings Beautiful Again” with an executive order that would make a classical style the default for federal buildings in Washington and other parts of the country, The New York Times reported February 5, 2020.  The draft order would encourage Greek and Roman architectural designs instead of modern architecture.  The order is expected to go in front of Trump next month, a person familiar with the development told the Times.  The National Civic Art Society pushed for the order, arguing that contemporary design in buildings is “dehumanizing,” according to the Times.  The group developed the order about a year ago and met with White House officials such as Joe Grogan, the head of the Domestic Policy Council, according to people involved in the planning.  The new guidelines would apply to any federal government buildings contracted through the General Services Administration (GSA) and cost more than $50 million.  The proposed changes would not affect Smithsonian-funded museums.  The order would implement a “re-beautification” committee to discuss designs, but the White House would ultimately decide which style is approved.  Proposed modern designs would have to reach a higher bar to obtain approval, the newspaper reported.  The American Institute of Architects has encouraged members to speak out against the order and sign a petition condemning the “top-down approach” of regulating design.  “By restricting design decisions through this executive order, it would put Washington bureaucrats in charge of design decisions affecting communities they may never visit,” the petition reads.  News of the draft executive order was first published by the Architectural Record.  Justine Coleman 

https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/481804-trump-plans-on-making-federal-buildings-beautiful-again-with-new

Burt Lancaster and Kirk Douglas sing “It’s Great Not to Be Nominated” at the 1958 Academy Awards ceremony.  (The song was written for them by Sammy Cahn and Jimmy Van Heusen.)  Neither man had been nominated for a best-actor Oscar that year.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ta-0orf0j7g  4:55 

The winners at the 92nd Academy Awards, which were held February 9, 2020 at the Dolby Theatre include:  Best picture:  “Parasite”, Best actor:  Joaquin Phoenix, “Joker”, and Best actress:  Renée Zellweger, “Judy”.  https://apnews.com/ff5ce0896b71f1d8683a0d2fc2b2c4d7  Tom Hanks took the stage at the 92nd Oscars and said the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ Academy Museum of Motion Pictures will open Monday, December 14, 2020.  Major construction has been completed on the Academy Museum’s building, designed by Renzo Piano and located in Los Angeles’ Miracle Mile district at Wilshire Boulevard and Fairfax Ave. 

https://deadline.com/2020/02/academy-museum-of-motion-pictures-opening-date-oscars-1202855663/

http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com  Issue 2222  February 10, 2020 

No good deed goes unpunished may mean that a kind action might not be properly appreciated by the recipient, or it may mean that doing something kind will lead to expectations and demands for more help and benefits.  The idea is that in the end, many people do not appreciate the effort behind a kindness, or may believe they deserve something that they do not.  The phrase no good deed goes unpunished is a cynical twist on the idea that good people are rewarded for being good.  In real life, this is often not the case.  The proverb no good deed goes unpunished has been variously attributed to Walter Winchell, John P. Grier, Oscar Wilde and Clare Boothe Luce.  https://grammarist.com/proverb/no-good-deed-goes-unpunished/

January 3, 2020  While many of us were at home relaxing family or contemplating the impending arrival of the new year, Washington novelist Mary Kay Zuravleff was spending a few quiet moments at a gravestone in Georgetown’s historic Oak Hill Cemetery.  On the day after Christmas 2019, Zuravleff convened a few fellow writers to lay a wreath at the grave of a once-famous but now largely forgotten D.C. author, marking the 200th anniversary of her birth.  “E.D.E.N. Southworth,” the white stone reads.  “Born Dec. 26, 1819.   Died June 30, 1899.  Emma Dorothy Eliza Nevitte Southworth was one of the most successful American writers—male or female—of the mid-19th century, outselling contemporaries like Herman Melville and Nathaniel Hawthorne.  She was a mainstay of Washington’s early literary scene:  She hosted Friday night salons at her Georgetown cottage, attended Lincoln’s second inaugural ball, and is even credited with encouraging Harriet Beecher Stowe to write the anti-slavery novel Uncle Tom’s Cabin.  Much of Southworth’s work was published in magazines, including her most famous work, The Hidden Hand.  In that 1859 serialized novel, the protagonist Capitola Black outruns murderers, captures an outlaw, participates in a duel and marches her way through a myriad of other adventures. The story was widely translated and reprinted abroad.  Southworth was also staunchly anti-slavery and feminist, in her own way.  Many of her stories featured women having adventures that Southworth’s readers were often unable to experience firsthand.  Southworth  began teaching at a D.C. public school at 13th and C Streets Southwest but grew frustrated with the low pay and the salary disparity between male and female teachers.  She then started submitting stories to magazines and newspapers and found success.  Until about a year ago, Southworth’s headstone was off its base and in disrepair.  Oak Hill’s superintendent, Dave Jackson, had it cleaned and reinstalled after receiving an email from a Georgetown librarian about the author’s upcoming 200th birthday.  Jackson has a couple of Southworth’s books in his office but says he doesn’t get many people asking about her—just a handful in the eight years he’s been at Oak Hill.  Part of the reason, Zuravleff offered, might be because Southworth isn’t included on the cemetery website’s list of “Women of Interest” or famous writers.  (Everyone on the latter list is male.)  Jackson acknowledged that she should be on there.  “May this be the first of many resurrections,” Zuravleff said with a laugh.  Mikaela Lefrak  https://dcist.com/story/20/01/03/she-was-one-of-americas-most-successful-19th-century-writers-and-largely-forgotten-until-now/

Robert Hass (born 1941) is one of the most celebrated and widely-read contemporary American poets.  In addition to his success as a poet, Hass is also recognized as a leading critic and translator, notably of the Polish poet Czeslaw Milosz and Japanese haiku masters Basho, Buson, and Issa.  Critics celebrate Hass’s own poetry for its clarity of expression, its concision, and its imagery, often drawn from everyday life.  In 1984, Hass published Twentieth Century Pleasures:  Prose on Poetry, a collection of previously published essays and reviews.  In the volume, the author examines American writers (including Robert Lowell and James Wright) as well as European and Japanese poets.  The book was well-received and won many awards, including the National Book Critics Circle Award.  From 1995 to 1997, Hass set aside his personal role as poet to take up the mantle of the nation’s poet, serving as U.S. poet laureate.  A largely ceremonial position, historically speaking, the poet laureate has recently become far more of a public advocate for poets and their work.  In the mid-1990s, Hass cofounded River of Words, an organization that teaches ecoliteracy through multidisciplinary, interactive curricula.  In addition to serving as the U.S. poet laureate, Hass was a chancellor of the Academy of American Poets from 2001 to 2007.  In 2014, he won the Wallace Stevens Award from the Academy of American Poets.  Hass is Distinguished Professor in Poetry and Poetics at the University of California, Berkeley, and lives in California with his wife, the poet Brenda Hillman.  https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/robert-hass  Link to poems of Robert Hass at https://www.poemhunter.com/robert-hass/poems/

Has Listening Become a Lost Art?  Kate Murphy on the Evolving Modes of Communication in the 21st Century   Social media activity and polling continues to be used as a proxy for what “real people” are thinking.  Tempted by the ease and seemingly broad access, it’s now common for print and television journalists and commentators to quote from Twitter and Facebook rather than going out and getting quotes that come from actual people’s mouths.  Seen as efficient and data driven, looking at what’s trending on social media or conducting online surveys is largely how listening is done in the 21st century by the press, politicians, lobbyists, activists, and business interests.  But it’s questionable that social media activity reflects society at large.  Repeated investigations have shown that fake or bot accounts are responsible for much of the content.  It’s estimated that 15 to 60 percent of social media accounts do not belong to real people.  One study showed 20 percent of tweets related to the 2016 US election came from bots.  Audits of the Twitter accounts of music celebrities, including Taylor Swift, Rihanna, Justin Bieber, and Katy Perry found that the majority of their tens of millions of followers were bots.  https://lithub.com/has-listening-become-a-lost-art/

Happy Birthday, Charles John Huffam Dickens born February 7, 1812.  The English writer and social critic created some of the world's best-known fictional characters and is regarded by many as the greatest novelist of the Victorian era.  His works enjoyed unprecedented popularity during his lifetime, and by the 20th century, critics and scholars had recognised him as a literary genius.  His novels and short stories are still widely read today.  Read extensive article at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Dickens

Shiv’at HaMinim Salad (Seven Species Salad)

3 cups cooked barley

¼ cup dried figs, chopped

¼ cup pitted dates, sliced in rings or chopped

¼ cup seedless grapes, halved, or raisins

¼ cup pomegranate seeds

¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil

2 tablespoons honey

2 tablespoons red wine vinegar

1 tablespoon country Dijon mustard

2 tablespoons parsley leaves, torn

Toasted pine nuts

Combine barley, figs, dates, grapes, and pomegranate seeds in a large bowl.  Place oil, honey, vinegar, and mustard in a small bowl and whisk to combine.  Pour dressing over barley salad and toss to coat well.  Garnish with parsley leaves and pine nuts.  Yield:  4 to 6 servings  Source:  Adapted from Jamie Geller, Joy of Kosher  https://www.toledoblade.com/a-e/food/2020/02/04/tu-b-shevat-celebrates-jewish-new-year-of-the-trees/stories/20200205001

William Henry Watson is serving a 36-year prison term for conspiracy to commit armed robbery, and a life spent behind bars has its challenges.  On days when he feels angry, despairing or sad, he turns for inspiration to people who have never let him down:  Barack Obama, Harry S Truman, LeBron James, Harriet Tubman and Stephen King.  These are the authors of some of Watson’s favorite books, which he has read during his incarceration.  “Reading changed me,” said Watson, who now works as a clerk in the prison library at Jessup Correctional Institution, “and when it did, it began to change other people’s perceptions of me.”  He hopes that a recent $100,000 grant from the Maryland State Library to purchase thousands of books for prison libraries will provide a similar morale boost for his fellow inmates.  Department of Correction officials celebrated the donation in December 2019 by leading visitors on a tour of Jessup’s library, an unimposing, carpeted room with shelves that hold roughly 6,000 books and with a circulation desk at the front.  June Brittingham, who supervises Maryland’s prison libraries, said the prison system provides incentives to encourage incarcerated men and women to participate in book discussion groups and other literacy-enhancing activities.  “A lot of our inmates weren’t readers before they came to prison," she said.  "Maybe they originally join a discussion group for some reason other than reading a book.  But then they get hooked.”  Watson said it was Obama’s 2006 essay “The Audacity of Hope" that “started to shift my ideology” and transformed him into a serious reader.  He quoted the 44th U.S. president from memory:  “Obama said, ‘This is not red America or white America or blue America. This is the United States of America.’"  Those words made him curious about the challenges facing other American leaders. Watson began checking out biographies of previous U.S. presidents from Lincoln to Truman.  Mary Carole McCauley  https://www.baltimoresun.com/entertainment/arts/bs-fe-prisoners-read-20200110-nwoz5esy6nhwhcoapmyyy5hzqy-story.html

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY  I used to think that the brain was the most wonderful organ in my body.  Then I realized who was telling me this. - Emo Phillips, comedian, actor (b. 7 Feb 1956)

http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com  Issue 2221  February 7, 2020

The MIT Museum presents The Polaroid Project: At the Intersection of Art and Technology (October 11, 2019–June 21, 2020), the fascinating story of the Polaroid company told through the MIT’s unique Polaroid Collection and an array of stunning Polaroid photographs.  After traveling around the world, this extensive exhibition of more than 300 objects will make a stop at the MIT Museum, approximately one block from where instant film was first invented.  The exhibition will provide a glimpse at rarely seen works, and include objects from the Museum’s own Polaroid collection that have not been on view at previous venues.  “Mention Polaroid and instantly it stirs up memories,” said John Durant, The Mark R. Epstein Director of the MIT Museum.  The exhibition explores various dimensions of the art-technology relationship, and features over 200 original works by 120 artists, along with the tools, materials and related artifacts that made their artworks possible.  Artists include Ansel Adams, Guy Bourdin, Maria Magdalena Campos-Pons, Chuck Close, Barbara Crane, Harold Edgerton, Walker Evans, Hans Hansen, David Hockney, Dennis Hopper, Gyorgy Kepes, Robert Mapplethorpe, Olivia Parker, Robert Rauschenberg, Andy Warhol, William Wegman, and Rosamond Wolff Purcell.  The exhibition also showcases more than 100 artifacts, including cameras, prototypes, experimental films and other technical materials from the Museum’s own historic Polaroid collection of close to 10,000 objects.  Examples of large and rarely seen important objects include Edwin Land’s personal 20x24 camera, the 238 lb. behemoth that could take pictures 20x24 inches, and extremely rare test prints that document the invention of instant film.  Despite its demise in the early years of this century, Polaroid remains a highly respected brand, evoking innovation, utility, creativity and quality.  Polaroid created a complex phenomenon that was, and remains vital to our image-saturated, instant culture.  What Polaroid promised and delivered, was easier, faster, accessible photography.  Art could be made anytime, anywhere, by anyone.  In its heyday during the second half of the twentieth century, the Polaroid company’s cameras and films were purchased by millions of amateurs and countless professionals in diverse fields.  While families recorded their anniversaries and graduation parties, filmmakers and fashion photographers made test shots, scientists recorded their observations, police documented crime scenes, and artists embraced the new medium for its unique and striking qualities.  And with Polaroid’s instant range, photographer and subjects could watch together as the image appeared before their eyes.

http://mitmuseum.mit.edu/about/press-releases/mit-museum-presents-major-polaroid-exhibition-polaroid-project-intersection-art

Erasers were invented in 1770 by an engineer named Edward Nairne.  Nairne used rubber from trees, and his magical device was so impressive that the theologian Joseph Priestley mentioned it in a footnote in his book A Familiar Introduction to the Theory and Practice of Perspective:  "I have seen a substance excellently adapted to the purpose of wiping from paper the mark of black-lead-pencil,” he wrote.  Since then, as material engineering has improved, erasers have become more high-tech.  The exact composition of today’s erasers is a bit of a mystery.  Precise breakdowns of materials tend to be guarded as company secrets.  Rigoberto Advincula, a professor at Case Western Reserve University who has consulted in the pencil and eraser industry, said that erasers are usually made of some combination of rubber and plastic components.  Natural rubbers—made from the stuff that comes from rubber trees—have good erasing properties.  Thermoplastics, a type of polymer that can be hardened or softened depending on heat, are easier to shape.  A host of additives, like additional particles and aromatic agents, can tweak the mixture further, as can the compounding process.  The erasers we see in stores are almost always some proprietary combination of all three.  If you look at graphite pencils in other countries … they don’t have erasers, and people are used to using a handheld eraser.  Usually a handheld eraser tends to perform better, just because it’s larger, has a broader surface, has a little more control.”  Erasers made purely to erase are more likely to do that job well, and more surface area also reduces the eraser’s chances of drying out.  Henry Petroski, the pencil historian, said that before Nairne introduced his rubber eraser, people used bread to erase.  “I did try it, a long time ago,” he said.  “It depends on the bread, of course.”  Heather Schwedel  https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2014/10/why-do-erasers-suck-at-erasing/381025/

How to Make Pencil Erasers Work Again (Quick Tip)  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U4gXSFiD41o  1:35

Back in 2012, Guinevere de la Mare and Laura Gluhanich were sipping wine at the now-closed Bistro Central Parc, a cozy French restaurant near the Panhandle in San Francisco decked out in twinkling fairy lights.  They were complaining about book clubs.  Nearly everyone who’s been in a book club has a bone to pick with them.  Big personalities dominate the discussion.  You’re expected to read a thousand-page brick in a single month.  The books you pick are too literary, or not literary enough.  Janice didn’t pitch in for wine and cheese.  Offhandedly, de la Mare described the drama-free book club of her dreams to her friend:  one where all she had to do was meet people at a bar with whatever book she was reading.  No forced deadlines.  No reading books she didn’t want to read.  No vacuuming the house.  No preparing deviled eggs or canapés.  Gluhanich loved the idea.  Why not make it a reality?  And that’s exactly how Silent Book Club started.   Friends in San Francisco, quietly reading in a bar, led to a global phenomenon with 50,000 members online and more than 180 active chapters in 20 countries.  It surprised them how something as unassuming as two women reading would stop people in their tracks.  “If you look around a bar or restaurant, look at how many people are staring at their phones and not talking.  That’s a cultural norm,” said de la Mare.  “But if you replace a screen with a book, all of a sudden it draws a lot of attention.”  Through word of mouth, more friends found out about Silent Book Club and asked to join.  In 2015, one friend moved across the country to Brooklyn and started her own chapter there.  The two groups began bicoastal meetups using Instagram hashtags to connect, which sparked the idea to form an online community that could spread Silent Book Club’s geographical reach even farther.  They launched a website as well as a Facebook group, and new chapters kept popping up steadily for years.  “Social media and word of mouth were the primary drivers of new chapters until 2019, when we were featured in Oprah Magazine and NPR and there was a global explosion of new chapters,” explained de la Mare.  The format of a Silent Book Club meeting is simple:  The group picks a time and a place, and everyone brings a book to read of their choosing.  For the first half hour, people order drinks, share what they’re reading and get settled.  Then, it’s an hour of uninterrupted quiet reading time.  After the hour is up, people are invited to start chatting again—or, keep reading if they so choose.  Madeline Wells  https://www.sfgate.com/sf-culture/article/Silent-Book-Club-women-reading-bar-San-Francisco-14954269.php

January 31, 2020  A rare book the size of a matchbox written by the teenage Charlotte Brontë will go on public display for the first time after a museum paid €600,000 (£505,000) to bring it back to Britain.  Curators said they wept when they finally received the book, which arrived from an auction house in Paris. It was penned by the oldest of the Brontë sisters at the family’s home in Haworth, West Yorkshire, 200 years ago.  Handwritten by Brontë at the age of 14, the book has just 20 pages and contains three entire short stories.  It is one of six surviving “little books” penned by the author of Jane Eyre and had been in a private collection since her death in 1855.  The manuscript, called The Young Men’s Magazine, contains more than 4,000 handwritten words in a meticulously folded and stitched magazine.  It is made up of three stories:  A letter From Lord Charles Wellesley, The Midnight Song and Journal of a Frenchman.  Nazia Parveen  https://www.theguardian.com/books/2020/jan/31/charlotte-bronte-little-book-on-show-haworth-parsonage-museum

February 3, 2020  Tulane University has acquired the complete archives of bestselling author Anne Rice, who was born and raised in New Orleans and whose books, including “Interview with a Vampire,” often drew inspiration from her hometown.  The collection was a gift from Stuart Rose and the Stuart Rose Family Foundation to the university’s Howard-Tilton Memorial Library.  “That Tulane has provided a home for my papers is exciting and comforting,” Rice said in the statement.  “All my novels — in a career spanning more than 40 years—have been profoundly influenced by the history and beauty of New Orleans, and by its unique ambience in which my imagination flourished even in early childhood.”  Rice has written 30 novels.  She moved to California to attend university and has spent much of her life since then in California, according to her biography.  However, New Orleans has played a central role in much of her fiction.  “Interview with a Vampire” was her first novel when it was published in 1976 and is set in the city’s French Quarter.  The collection at Tulane will consist of manuscripts of most of her published works, some unpublished short stories, journals, screenplays, personal artifacts and correspondence from family, friends and fans of the author.  It will also include materials from her late husband Stan Rice and her sister, Alice Borchardt, who was also a writer.  https://www.newstribune.com/news/news/story/2020/feb/03/tulane-acquires-archive-of-vampire-author-anne-rice/814988/

A Mercer County (Ohio) family dispute escalated to a point where a judge issued civil protection orders that banned a man for mentioning his mother and sister in any future social media posting.  That act has drawn the attention of free-speech advocates, as well as protectors of domestic violence victims.  The Ohio Supreme Court will consider whether the addition of an online posting ban to a civil stalking protection order (CSPO) is an unconstitutional prior restraint on free speech or a legal safeguard against further harassment by someone already deemed by a court to be stalking his victims.  The Court will hear oral arguments Feb. 11-12, 2020 in Bey v. Rasawehr and six other cases.  In November 2017, Joni Bey and Rebecca Rasawehr petitioned the Mercer County Common Pleas Court for CSPOs against Jeffrey Rasawehr.  At a court hearing, Bey identified nine incidents in which her brother, Jeffrey Rasawehr, allegedly made claims on internet websites and social media outlets that Bey killed her husband or participated in a conspiracy with Mercer County officials to “cover up” the circumstances of her husband’s death.  He also purchased a billboard near Bey’s house advertising a website called “countycoverup.com,” which included his photo and stated, “Jeff Rasawehr says, ‘Learn about county corruption & cover-ups at . . . countycoverup.com.’”  Rasawehr’s mother, Rebecca Rasawehr, identified 14 incidents in which her son claimed she killed her husband, Jeffrey Rasawehr’s father, and she was involved in acts of conspiracy with Mercer County officials to cover up the circumstances of her husband’s death.  Both women characterized the behavior as bullying and harassment, and indicated they suffered from distress caused by the episodes.  Rasawehr chose not to testify at the hearing, instead invoking his Fifth Amendment right to remain silent.  The case has drawn state and national attention from advocates for free speech who are participating through the filing of amicus curiae briefs.  Dan Trevas  Read more at  http://www.courtnewsohio.gov/cases/2020/SCO/previews/0211-12/0211-12.asp#.XjoJU2hKiUl  Thank you, Muse reader!

http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com  Issue 2220  February 5, 2020

Polish Sausage with Cabbage & Mushrooms from Nourish Soups  by Rebecca Woods   Rebecca’s version is unusually sophisticated, marrying smoked sausage with dried and fresh mushrooms, grated apple, cabbage and the beautiful spice of juniper berries and caraway seed.  Do take the time to find both juniper berries and caraway seeds because it is that spicing that makes the humble ingredients of this soup really sing.  Find instructions at https://www.splendidtable.org/recipes/polish-sausage-with-cabbage-mushrooms   Ladle into four warmed bowls to serve. 

One of over 100 indigenous languages of Nepal, Seke is mainly spoken in Yulinga, ‘the five villages’ of Chuksang, Chaile, Gyakar, Tangbe, and Tetang, in the Upper Mustang district of highland Nepal.  There are also many speakers in the nearby town of Jomsom and the larger cities of Pokhara and the national capital of Kathmandu (sometimes on a seasonal basis), and in diaspora centers such as New York City.  The language database Ethnologue estimates the number of Seke speakers at around 700, but the real number may be significantly lower as many younger speakers, in particular, have migrated out of the area seeking work and are shifting to Nepali (and in some cases Loke/Baragaon, Tibetan, and English).  https://elalliance.org/languages/himalaya/seke/

In 1964 Henry Littlefield, a Columbia University-trained historian, wrote a breakthrough article in the scholarly American Quarterly titled “The Wizard of Oz:   Parable on Populism.”  In the article, Littlefield made the bold claim that Frank Baum's 1900 book "conceals an unsuspected depth." The Wonderful Wizard of Oz was, Littlefield thought, “a Midwesterner’s vibrant and ironic portrait of this country as it entered the twentieth century.”  Specifically, Littlefield argued that the story of The Wizard of Oz was an elaborate metaphor for the Populist movement (a rising political force in the 1890s) and a critique of the complicated national debates over monetary policy.  What made Littlefield's claim bold was its departure from common wisdom.  Up until this point The Wizard of Oz was well known in the United States, but only as a popular children’s fairy tale (written in 1900), a successful musical stage production (opened in 1902), and a motion picture (debuted in 1939).  https://americanhistory.si.edu/blog/populism-oz  Thank you, Muse reader!

As Dorothy travels west toward the Emerald City (read:  Washington, D.C.), she is joined first by the Scarecrow, an agrarian figure (no accident here) in quest of brains who eventually learns that real intelligence comes from experience, which he has in abundance.  Then the Tin Woodman falls in with them.  A worker from the East, he has been turned into a heartless machine by the Wicked Witch of the East.  Next comes the Cowardly Lion, who may represent William Jennings Bryan, the failed Populist (and Democratic) candidate in the 1896 presidential contest.  Silver Slippers and a Golden Cap:  L. Frank Baum’s The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and Historical Memory in American Politics" by Gretchen Ritter, in Journal of American Studies (Aug. 1997)  http://archive.wilsonquarterly.com/in-essence/real-meaning-oz  See also Money and politics in the land of Oz at https://www.ahschools.us/cms/lib08/MN01909485/Centricity/Domain/818/Grade%2012%20Economics/oz.html

Learn Which Breed Lays Which Chicken Egg Color   There are three breeds that lay blue eggs:  Ameraucanas, Araucanas and Cream Legbars.  The blue color is created by oocyanin, which is applied early in the laying process.  The blue pigment goes right through the shell, unlike the brown pigment.  So blue eggs are blue inside and out.  Green egg-layers, such as Easter Eggers and Olive Eggers, are created by cross breeding a blue-egg-laying breed and a brown-egg-laying breed and those hens possess both blue and brown genes.  Therefore the eggshells are green on the outside (created by mixing blue and brown) and blue on the inside, having been ‘painted’ with both blue and brown dye.  Varying shades of browns and greens are for the most part dictated by the breed laying the egg, although within a breed, there might be some shade variation.  Some brown-egg-laying breeds apply less brown pigment to the shell than others, resulting in light tan eggs.  Some breeds lay extremely light-colored eggs, such as Faverolles and Light Sussex, that can look almost pink or cream in color.  Other breeds, such as Marans and Penendesencas, lay extremely dark brown eggs.  Lisa Steele  https://backyardpoultry.iamcountryside.com/eggs-meat/how-blue-eggs-get-their-color/

Mary Higgins Clark, the bestselling "Queen of Suspense" who wrote dozens of suspense novels sold worldwide, died January 31, 2020 at the age of 92.  Clark's writing career spanned decades, and included bestselling suspense titles such as "Loves Music, Loves to Dance" and "A Stranger Is Watching."  Two of her novels were made into feature films, including "A Stranger Is Watching" while others were turned into television movies.  The mother of five started her career by writing short stories before becoming a prolific novelist.  "Trust me, you do not make a living selling short stories and bringing up five kids," Clark told CNN in 2002.  "So I started writing radio scripts for a living, and it actually taught me a great deal about writing."  Clark published her first suspense novel, "Where Are the Children," in 1975 followed by about 40 other books, including some with her daughter, Carol Higgins Clark.  She also published short stories, a memoir and children's books.  Faith Karimi  https://www.cnn.com/2020/01/31/us/mary-higgins-clark-dead/index.html

The Los Angeles Public Library has revealed Kobe Bryant’s reading inspirations.  “As one would expect from a passionate storyteller, Bryant also appreciated reading a good book,”  librarian Keith Kesler wrote in a blog post on the library’s website.  “I searched through old interviews and social media posts to find the books that inspired the Black Mamba.”  The Kobe reading list includes “The Alchemist,” by Paulo Coelho; “The Illustrated Art of War,” Sun Tzu;  “Blink” and “The Tipping Point” by Malcolm Gladwell; “Children of Blood and Bone,” Tomi Adeymi; “The Hero’s Journey,” Joseph Campbell; “Jonathan Livingston Seagull,” Richard Bach; “Lone Survivor,” Marcus Luttrell; “Relentless: From Good to Great to Unstoppable,” by trainer Tim Grover; “Shoe Dog: A Memoir by the Creator of Nike,” Phil Knight; “The Silver Linings Playbook,” by Matthew Quick; “Sunny,” Jason Reynolds, “Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln,” by Dolores Kearns Goodwin; “Thirty Rooms to Hide In,” Luke Sullivan and “Tuff Juice,” Caron Butler.  Bruce Haring  https://deadline.com/2020/02/kobe-bryant-reading-list-los-angeles-public-library-1202849194/

Team Fluff is the winner of the 2020 Puppy Bowl 

https://www.kmbc.com/article/team-fluff-is-the-winner-of-the-2020-puppy-bowl/30744252#

Kitten Bowl 2020:  Recap, MVP, Highlights and Twitter Reaction  Courageous Cougars upset the defending champion Little Longtails 57-51  https://bleacherreport.com/articles/2874335-kitten-bowl-2020-recap-mvp-highlights-and-twitter-reaction

The ads of Super Bowl 2020:  from Groundhog Day to Mike Bloomberg

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yzmfLq2lQSo

Super Bowl:  Kansas City Chiefs race past 49ers in final reel for first title since 1970  Chiefs win 31-20  https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2020/feb/02/super-bowl-winner-result-final-kansas-city-chiefs-san-francisco-49ers-nfl-2020

http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com  Issue 2219  February 3, 2020