A Ventura County, California water district on July 15, 2015 formally approved a settlement with actor Tom Selleck, whom it had accused of illegally delivering water to his Hidden Valley ranch.  In a closed session, the board of directors of the Calleguas Municipal Water District accepted the settlement offer from Selleck, in which he agreed to pay $21,685.55--the investigative costs incurred by the district--and to immediately stop having water from Calleguas delivered to his ranch.  On July 6, Calleguas filed a complaint against the "Magnum P.I." and "Blue Bloods" actor and his wife, Jillie, accusing them of having water from a fire hydrant in Thousand Oaks delivered to their 60-acre estate in Hidden Valley.  The couple's property is located outside the boundaries of Calleguas' service area, so delivery of potable water to Selleck's home violates district law, the complaint said.  

Matt Hamilton  http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-water-district-settlement-selleck-20150715-story.html

Canals and navigations are human-made channels for water.  In the vernacular both are referred to as 'canals'.  The main difference between them is that a navigation parallels a river and shares its drainage basin, while a canal cuts across a drainage divide.  A canal can be created where no stream presently exists.  Either the body of the canal is dug or the sides of the canal are created by making dykes or levees by piling dirt, stone, concrete or other building materials.  The water for the canal must be provided from an external source, like streams or reservoirs.  Where the new waterway must change elevation engineering works like locks, lifts or elevators are constructed to raise and lower vessels.  Examples include canals that connect valleys over a higher body of land, like Canal du Midi, Canal de Briare and the Panama Canal.  A canal can be constructed by dredging a channel in the bottom of an existing lake.  When the channel is complete, the lake is drained and the channel becomes a new canal.  One can also build two parallel dikes in an existing lake, forming the new canal in between, and then drain the remaining parts of the lake.  The eastern and central parts of the North Sea Canal were constructed in this way.  In both cases pumping stations are required to keep the land surrounding the canal dry, either pumping water from the canal into surrounding waters, or pumping it from the land into the canal.  Canalization and navigations A stream can be canalized to make its navigable path more predictable and easier to maneuver.  Canalization modifies the stream to carry traffic more safely by controlling the flow of the stream by dredging, damming and modifying its path.  This frequently includes the incorporation of locks and spillways, that make the river a navigation.  Examples include the Lehigh Canal in Northeastern Pennsylvania's coal Region, Basse Saône, Canal de Mines de Fer de la Moselle, and Aisne River. Riparian zone restoration may be required.  Lateral canals  When a stream is too difficult to modify with canalization, a second stream can be created next to or at least near the existing stream.  This is called a lateral canal, and may meander in a large horseshoe bend or series of curves some distance from the source waters stream bed lengthening the effective length in order to lower the ratio of rise over run (slope or pitch).  The existing stream usually acts as the water source and the landscape around its banks provide a path for the new body.  Examples include the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, Canal latéral à la Loire, Garonne Lateral Canal and Juliana Canal.  Smaller transportation canals can carry barges or narrowboats, while ship canals allow seagoing ships to travel to an inland port (Manchester Ship Canal), or from one sea or ocean to another (Caledonian Canal, Panama Canal).  The oldest known canals were irrigation canals, built in Mesopotamia circa 4000 BC, in what is now Iraq and Syria.  The Indus Valley Civilization, Ancient India, (circa 2600 BC) had sophisticated irrigation and storage systems developed, including the reservoirs built at Girnar in 3000 BC.  In Egypt, canals date back at least to the time of Pepi I Meryre (reigned 2332–2283 BC), who ordered a canal built to bypass the cataract on the Nile near Aswan.  In ancient China, large canals for river transport were established as far back as the Warring States (481–221 BC), the longest one of that period being the Hong Gou (Canal of the Wild Geese), which according to the ancient historian Sima Qian connected the old states of Song, Zhang, Chen, Cai, Cao, and Wei.  By far the longest canal was the Grand Canal of China, still the longest canal in the world today, and the oldest extant one.  It is 1,794 kilometres (1,115 mi) long and was built to carry the Emperor Yang Guang between Beijing and Hangzhou.  The project began in 605 and was completed in 609, although much of the work combined older canals, the oldest section of the canal existing since at least 486 BC.  Even in its narrowest urban sections it is rarely less than 30 metres (98 ft) wide.  Greek engineers were the first to use canal locks, by which they regulated the water flow in the Ancient Suez Canal as early as the 3rd century BC.  Read much more, see pictures, and link to the canals of Europe and North America at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canal

You can use the word cave to help you remember the difference between convex and concave polygons.  A convex polygon has all its vertices, or corners,  pointing out from the center, but a concave polygon looks like it has been 'caved in.'  Elizabeth Often  

See graphics at http://study.com/academy/lesson/concave-convex-polygons-definition-examples.html

Book World:  5 stories to relish even with your eyes closed by Katherine A. Powers  Read descriptions and find length of audio books--also link to "23 books we've loved so far this year" at http://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/books/book-world-5-stories-to-relish-even-with-your-eyes-closed/2015/07/02/04cd2822-f8c3-11e4-9030-b4732caefe81_story.html

Ergot, a fungus that grows on rye and less commonly on other grasses such as wheat, has an interesting history.  During the Middle Ages, ergotism, a severe reaction to ergot-contaminated food (such as rye bread), was common and was known as St. Anthony's fire.  This illness was often cured by visiting the shrine of St. Anthony, which happened to be in an ergot-free region of France.  Additionally, some historians believe that ergot played a role in the Salem witch hunt of 1692.  They think that some women in Salem developed peculiar behaviors and accused other women of being witches as a result of eating ergot-contaminated food.  http://www.webmd.com/vitamins-supplements/ingredientmono-431-ergot.aspx?activeingredientid=431&activeingredientname=ergot

Public libraries are charged with meeting the information needs of every citizen in the community--no matter the age, economic or education level.  In a time of radically changing information resources and technology devices, this is no small task and the need for a public library is more evident than ever before.  Learn about  Credo Online Reference Service, Literati Public and Homework Help at http://corp.credoreference.com/markets/literati-public.html

Literary Twist  The Friends of the Toledo-Lucas County Public Library launched its new chapter--Literati--with a book swap, live music, food and drinks.  https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.840977075983536.1073741830.719134451501133&type=3

July 9, 2015  After a hospital error, two pairs of Colombian identical twins were raised as two pairs of fraternal twins.  Read an extensive story by Susan Dominus of how they found one another at http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/12/magazine/the-mixed-up-brothers-of-bogota.html

Birth tourism is travel to another country for the purpose of giving birth in that country.  Reasons for the practice include access to the destination country's healthcare system, circumvention of communist China's one-child policy and (in countries that recognize jus soli) birthright citizenship for the child.  The United States and Canada are popular destinations for birth tourism.  Another target of birth tourism is Hong Kong, where the right of abode is awarded at birth instead of citizenship.  To stop birth tourism, Australia, France, Germany, Ireland, New Zealand, South Africa, and the United Kingdom have a modified jus soli, granting citizenship by birth only when at least one parent is a citizen of the country or a legal permanent resident who has lived in the country for several years.  However, the United States grants unconditional citizenship by birth.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Birth_tourism

A House Judiciary subcommittee took up the question of abolishing birthright citizenship on April 29, 2015 prompted by legislation sponsored by Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) and 22 other lawmakers that would end automatic citizenship.  The 14th Amendment, King told the panel, “did not contemplate that anyone who would sneak into the United States and have a baby would have automatic citizenship conferred on them.”  Added King, “I’d suggest it’s our job here in this Congress to decide who will be citizens, not someone in a foreign country that can sneak into the United States and have a baby and then go home with the birth certificate.”  http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/house-republicans-try-to-gut-a-key-constitutional-principle/2015/04/29/a365c4c4-eeb6-11e4-8666-a1d756d0218e_story.html

Percival Lawrence Lowell (1855–1916) was an American businessman, author, mathematician, and astronomer who fueled speculation that there were canals on Mars.  He founded the Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona, and formed the beginning of the effort that led to the discovery of Pluto 14 years after his death.  The suggestion of its name was made by eleven-year-old English schoolgirl Venetia Burney.  Lowell's greatest contribution to planetary studies came during the last decade of his life, which he devoted to the search for Planet X, a hypothetical planet beyond Neptune.  Lowell believed that the planets Uranus and Neptune were displaced from their predicted positions by the gravity of the unseen Planet X.  Lowell started a search program in 1906 using a camera 5 inches (13 cm) in aperture.  The small field of view of the 42-inch (110 cm) reflecting telescope rendered the instrument impractical for searching.  From 1914 to 1916, a 9-inch (23 cm) telescope on loan from Sproul Observatory was used to search for Planet X.  Although Lowell did not discover Pluto, Lowell Observatory did photograph Pluto in March and April 1915.   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Percival_Lowell  

See also http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2015/07/15/how-a-precocious-11-year-old-girl-gave-pluto-its-name/

http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com  Issue 1326  July 17, 2015  On this date in 1717, King George I of Great Britain sailed down the River Thames with a barge of 50 musicians, where George Frideric Handel's Water Music was premiered.  On this date in 1955, Disneyland was dedicated and opened by Walt Disney in Anaheim, California.

HISTORY OF ETHERNET  In 1973, Robert (Bob) Metcalfe was a recent Harvard Ph.D. graduate working at Xerox's Palo Alto Research Center (PARC).  In the course of his work training US military personnel to use the world’s first operational packet switching network--known as the Advanced Research Projects Agency Network (ARPANET)--he often traveled to Washington D.C.  While staying at a friend’s apartment in the nation’s capitol, the young engineer came across a book of conference proceedings from the 1970 American Federation of Information Processing Societies (AFIPS) conference.  In the proceedings was a hidden gem--a paper written by Norman Abramson entitled “The Aloha System--Another Alternative for Computer Communications.”  It described the development of an innovative radio-based network of computers that came to be known as ALOHAnet.  And although he disagreed with some aspects of the technology model, the paper quickly caught Metcalfe’s attention.  Inspired by the ALOHAnet paper, upon his return to PARC and with the help of David R. Boggs, he began putting his thoughts to paper. Using an IBM Selectric Typewriter with an Orator ball, Metcalfe typed a memo and sketched a quick schematic that would forever change both networking and the world at large.  And so on May 22, 1973 Ethernet was born.  After months of effort built on Metcalfe’s ideas and Boggs’ help in designing and debugging the necessary network hardware, the first working Ethernet prototype, a 2.94 Mbps CSMA/CD system connecting more than 100 workstations on a 1 Km cable, went live on November 11, 1973.  Based on its demonstrated success, Xerox would go on to patent Ethernet in 1975.  In August 2012, IEEE joined other leading global organizations, including the Internet Architecture Board (IAB), Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), Internet Society and World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), to announce its support of OpenStand, a jointly developed set of principles establishing a modern paradigm for global, open standards.  Under OpenStand, the economics of global markets in conjunction with technology innovation help facilitate continued worldwide open standards development and deployment, including standards for the next generation of Ethernet speeds of 100G, 400G, and beyond.  http://standards.ieee.org/events/ethernet/history.html

America’s Quirky Rest Stops Are Vanishing by Jordan G. Teicher   Before national chains like McDonald’s and Dunkin Donuts largely supplanted them as destinations for relaxation and amusement, publicly funded rest stops were an integral part of driving for interstate travelers.  Ryann Ford started paying attention to rest areas while on assignment for Texas Monthly.  After doing some research online, she learned how rest stops developed alongside the Interstate Highway System in the 1950s, but were being closed or demolished as the recession shrunk state budgets.  See beautiful pictures at http://www.slate.com/blogs/behold/2014/12/12/ryann_ford_photographs_america_s_rest_stops_in_her_series_the_last_stop.html

Around the country, libraries are slashing their print collections in favor of e-books, prompting battles between library systems and print purists, including not only the pre-pixel generation but digital natives who represent a sizable portion of the 1.5 billion library visits a year and prefer print for serious reading.  Millennials prefer reading in print.    http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/why-digital-natives-prefer-reading-in-print-yes-you-read-that-right/2015/02/22/8596ca86-b871-11e4-9423-f3d0a1ec335c_story.html  Some of the clashes have been heated.  In New York, protesters outside the city’s main branch have shouted:  “Save the stacks! Save the stacks!”  In Northern Virginia, the Fairfax County library system chief recently mused that the Friends of the Library were no longer friends—a feud fueled by outrage over a print collection that has shrunk by more than 300,000 books since 2009.  The drop in the District of Columbia is even more dramatic:  Nearly 1 million books have vanished since 2009.  “To say Gutenberg’s days are over is a terrible mistake,” said Dennis Hays, a former U.S. ambassador and chairman of Fairfax Library Advocates, a group of residents at war with library officials.  “Nothing can take the place of a book.”  Librarians are feeling the heat.  “We’re caught between two worlds,” said Darrell Batson, director of the Frederick County Public Libraries system in Maryland, where the print collection has fallen 20 percent since 2009.  “But libraries have to evolve or die.  We’re probably the classic example of Darwinism.”  The evolution of information flow has forced their hands, librarians say.  Just as books advanced from slabs of parchment to paperbacks, they are transforming again, from paper to pixels.  With Plato only a download away, libraries have lost their monopoly on knowledge.  In evolving, librarians are steering tight acquisition budgets to e-books, which are more expensive than print because, among other reasons, publishers fear large databases of free e-books will hurt their business.  E-book spending has grown from 1 percent of library budgets to 7 percent, according to a Library Journal survey.  One library in San Antonio went much further, opening a bookless, all-digital branch called BiblioTech.  Meanwhile, print book budgets are slipping fast—from 67 percent of acquisitions in 2008 to 59 percent in 2015—with reference titles bearing the biggest cuts so far.  Asked why, Batson turned to his computer, opened his browser and typed www.google.com.  “That’s why,” he said.  With the newfound physical space, libraries are adding rooms for community meetings, hacker spaces with 3-D printers, and entrepreneur centers to help small businesses.  Michael S. Rosenwald  http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/where-are-the-books-libraries-under-fire-as-they-shift-from-print-to-digital/2015/07/07/eb265752-1525-11e5-9518-f9e0a8959f32_story.html

For centuries, artists have reclaimed items to turn them into their art:  whether it’s reusing canvases (as X-rays demonstrate almost all the old masters did) or incorporating found items into sculptures, such as pop artist Robert Rauschenberg’s creative way of reusing items ranging from bicycles to roosters.   

See Top 10 Amazing Sculptures Made from Unusual Items at http://www.smashinglists.com/top-10-amazing-sculptures-made-from-unusual-items/

Charles Gates Dawes (1865–1951) was an American banker and politician who was the 30th Vice President of the United States (1925–1929).  For his work on the Dawes Plan for World War I reparations he was a cowinner of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1925.  Dawes served in the First World War, was the Comptroller of the Currency, the first director of the Bureau of the Budget, and, in later life, the Ambassador to the United Kingdom.   Dawes was born in Marietta, Ohio, the son of a Civil War officer Rufus Dawes and Mary Beman Gates Dawes.  He graduated from Marietta College in 1884, and from the Cincinnati Law School in 1886.  Dawes was admitted to the bar in Nebraska, and he practiced in Lincoln, Nebraska from 1887 to 1894.  Dawes was a self-taught pianist and a composer.  His composition, "Melody in A Major" in 1912 became a well-known piano and violin song, and it was played at many official functions as his signature tune.  It was transformed into the pop song "It's All in the Game" in 1951 when Carl Sigman added lyrics.  Tommy Edwards' recording of "It's All in the Game" was a number one hit on the American Billboard record chart for six weeks in the fall of 1958.  Edwards' version of the song also hit number one on the United Kingdom chart that year.  Since then, it has since become a pop standard, recorded hundreds of times by artists including Cliff Richard, The Four Tops, Isaac Hayes, Jackie DeShannon, Van Morrison, Nat "King" Cole, Brook Benton, Elton John, Mel Carter, Donny and Marie Osmond, Barry Manilow, and Keith Jarrett.  Dawes is the only Vice-President or winner of the Nobel Peace Prize to be credited with a No. 1 pop hit.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_G._Dawes

Alphabetical list of Vice Presidents of the United States  https://www.loc.gov/rr/print/list/059_vp_alpha.html

When Walter Farley published The Black Stallion in 1941, he was an unknown college journalism student.  However, more than 60 years and 20 Black Stallion stories later, people around the world know him as the person behind the most famous fictional horse of the 20th century.  Growing up in New York City, Walter Farley dreamed of having a horse of his own.  He sought out books about horses and spent as much time as he could with his Uncle Bill, a professional horseman.  Walter’s sons, Tim and Steven Farley, recall him later saying he decided to write The Black Stallion because he was often disappointed by the quality of horse stories he read.  Walter Farley began working on The Black Stallion as a high school student.  Walter Farley finished the book while majoring in Journalism at Columbia University.  World War II prevented Farley from working on a sequel immediately. When he returned from the war, Farley resumed the adventures of Alec and the Black in The Black Stallion Returns and The Son of the Black Stallion.  Farley then delighted his readers with the introduction of a new boy and wild stallion, Steve Duncan and Flame, in The Island Stallion.  He continued to write books about horses and he wrote several books for his own children, who were too young to read the Black Stallion novels.  Additionally, he wrote a biography of the great racehorse, Man O’War.  In all, Walter Farley authored 34 books, which were translated and printed in more than 20 countries. 

http://horsetalesliteracy.org/?page_id=47  See also http://theblackstallion.com/web/books/the-series/ and https://www.goodreads.com/series/49696-the-black-stallion

Summer Reads:  Our Editors' Picks for the Summer  http://www.thriftbooks.com/  Thank you, Muse reader!

On July 14, 2015, New Horizons, a piano-sized spacecraft that was launched in January of 2006, became the first space probe to make a close flyby of Pluto.  Using its seven instruments, the probe is expected to deliver the first detailed scientific information about the rocky and icy dwarf planet.  Starting at 5:50 a.m. ET on July 15, the spacecraft is expected to begin sending the most detailed images of the dwarf planet that scientists have ever seen, along with mapping and measurements about the planet, its atmosphere and moons.  The new images are expected to be 10 times higher in resolution than previous images the probe has sent back as it approached Pluto.  Sharon Gaudin  http://www.computerworld.com/article/2948203/space-technology/nasa-spacecraft-to-be-full-of-dazzling-data-after-pluto-flyby.html

Clyde William Tombaugh (1906–1997) was an American astronomer.  Although he is best known for discovering the dwarf planet Pluto in 1930, the first object to be discovered in what would later be identified as the Kuiper belt, Tombaugh also discovered many asteroids; he also called for the serious scientific research of unidentified flying objects, or UFOs.  Tombaugh was born in Streator, Illinois.  After his family moved to Burdett, Kansas in 1922, Tombaugh's plans for attending college were frustrated when a hailstorm ruined his family's farm crops.  Starting in 1926, he built several telescopes with lenses and mirrors by himself.  He sent drawings of Jupiter and Mars to the Lowell Observatory, which offered him a job.  Tombaugh worked there from 1929 to 1945.  Following his discovery of Pluto, Tombaugh earned bachelor's and master's degrees in astronomy from the University of Kansas in 1936 and 1938.  The asteroid 1604 Tombaugh, discovered in 1931, is named after him.  He discovered hundreds of asteroids, beginning with 2839 Annette in 1929, mostly as a by-product of his search for Pluto and his searches for other celestial objects.  Tombaugh named some of them after his wife, children and grandchildren.  The Royal Astronomical Society awarded him the Jackson-Gwilt Medal in 1931.  In August 1992, JPL scientist Robert Staehle called Tombaugh, requesting permission to visit his planet. "I told him he was welcome to it," Tombaugh later remembered, "though he's got to go one long, cold trip." The call eventually led to the launch of the New Horizons space probe to Pluto in 2006.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clyde_Tombaugh

http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com  Issue 1325  July 15, 2015  On this date in 484 BC, the Temple of Castor and Pollux in ancient Rome was dedicated.  On this date in 1799, the Rosetta Stone was found in the Egyptian village of Rosetta by French Captain Pierre-François Bouchard during Napoleon's Egyptian Campaign.

The Picture of Dorian Gray is a 1945 American horror-drama film based on Oscar Wilde's 1890 novel of the same name.  Released in March 1945 by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, the film is directed by Albert Lewin and stars George Sanders as Lord Henry Wotton and Hurd Hatfield as Dorian Gray.  Shot primarily in black-and-white, the film features four inserts in 3-strip Technicolor of Dorian's portrait as a special effect (the first two of his portrait's original state, and the second two after a major period of degeneration).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Picture_of_Dorian_Gray_(1945_film)

Actor William Rukard Hurd Hatfield (1917-1998), having been introduced to Ireland by his friend Angela Lansbury, lived at Ballinterry House, Rathcormac, County Cork from the early 1970s.  A keen collector of antiques and art, he referred to Ballinterry House as a painting which he would never quite finish.  He died peacefully in his sleep of a heart attack at the country home he loved so much, aged 81, after having had Christmas dinner with friends.  Both Ballinterry House and his collection were inherited by his long-time close friend and colleague Maggie Williams, who maintained the historic Irish country home exactly as it was at the time of Hatfield's death.   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurd_Hatfield

The two pictures of Dorian Gray in the 1945 film of the same name  The picture of Dorian as a young man was done by Henrique Medina (1901–1988).  Medina’s picture was bought at auction for $25,000 but its current whereabouts and ownership remain a mystery.  The artist responsible for the famous deteriorated final picture is Ivan Albright(1897–1983).  Albright’s masterpiece can be seen at the Art Institute of Chicago, together with a number of his other works.  

See the two pictures and a photo showing Ivan Albright and his identical twin brother, Malvin, at work on the final picture at http://www.johncoulthart.com/feuilleton/2009/06/02/the-real-basil-hallwards/ 

Word.A.Day with Anu Garg--words having two definitions that differ by a single letter

connate  (KON-ayt, ko-NAYT)  adjective  1.  Congenial.  2. Congenital. 

sorb  (sorb)  verb intr.  1.  To take up and hold by absorption.  2.  To take up and hold by adsorption.  Absorption is when a substance is completely assimilated by another while in adsorption the substance deposits on the surface of another. 

ramble  (RAM-buhl) verb intr.  1.  To talk in an aimless manner.  2.  To walk in an aimless manner.  noun   A leisurely, sometimes lengthy walk.

fardel  (FAHR-dl)  noun  1.  A bundle.  2.  A burden.

maunder  (MON-duhr)  verb intr.  1.  To talk aimlessly.  2.  To walk aimlessly.

Ogden Nash's Zoo (1987) has 56 humorous poems (such as In the world of mules There are no rules)  about animals.  Zoo (2012)  is a science fiction thriller by James Patterson and Michael Ledwidge with a 2015 U.S. TV series based on the novel.  The Great Zoo of China (2014) is a  novel by Australian author Matthew Reilly.  The zoo is supposed to be China's answer to Disneyland.

Genghis Khan (Japanese Barbequed Lamb)  This BBQ recipe takes its name from the historic Mongolian emperor, but is not directly related.  https://www.zojirushi.com/app/recipe/-i-genghis-khan-i-japanese-barbequed-lamb-  See also http://www.everythingpossiblehappens.com/2013/04/cheap-guy-tip-73-rack-of-lamb-genghis.html

PolitiFact.com is a project operated by the Tampa Bay Times, in which reporters and editors from the Times and affiliated media outlets "fact-check statements by members of Congress, the White House, lobbyists and interest groups".  They publish original statements and their evaluations on the PolitiFact.com website, and assign each a "Truth-O-Meter" rating.  The ratings range from "True" for completely accurate statements to "Pants on Fire" (from the taunt "Liar, liar, pants on fire") for false and ridiculous claims.  PolitiFact has been both praised and criticized by independent observers, conservatives and liberals alike.  Conservative bias and liberal bias have been alleged, and criticisms have been made of attempts to fact-check statements that cannot be truly "fact-checked".  

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PolitiFact.com  See also http://www.politifact.com/

The Mask of Dimitrios, a novel by Eric Ambler  was titled A Coffin for Dimitrios in America.   J.K. Rowling's novel "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone" in the UK was changed to "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" in the United States.  See What 10 Classic Books Were Almost Called by Stacy Conradt at http://mentalfloss.com/article/26044/what-10-classic-books-were-almost-called

Differences between British and American English are numerous enough that many mass-market books, especially those meant for younger readers, are revised before publication in the 'other' market.  While there is more conversion of American publications into British editions (see Differences Between British and American English in Two Versions of F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby for one example), due to the substantially larger U.S. publication production, there is conversion from British to American as well, due to the size and attractiveness of the U.S. consumer market.  The following lexical and punctuation differences between the UK and U.S. editions of four Harry Potter books were compiled by and are used with the permission (19 Dec 2001) of Edward Olson, who retains copyright and to whom possible comments should be sent.  Edward compared the original U.K. Bloomsbury and U.S. Scholastic Press hardcover editions of the four works.  Questions sometimes arise about an author's reaction to such editorial changing of their work for another audience.  J.K. Rowling's  American editor pointed out that the word jumper—British for pullover sweater—means a kind of dress in American.  She had had no idea.  "He asked, 'Can we change it to sweater,' which is just as British?"  That was fine with Rowling.  

Find chart of differences in wording at https://www15.uta.fi/FAST/US1/REF/potter.html

American English has no mould, and British English has no mold.  The word referring to (1) the various funguses that grow on organic matter or (2) a frame for shaping something is spelled the same in both uses, and the spelling depends on the variety of English.  Australian and Canadian English favor the British spelling, though mold is fairly common in Canadian publications.  http://grammarist.com/spelling/mold-mould/

In law, an en banc session is a session where a case is heard before all the judges of a court--in other words, before the entire bench--rather than by a panel selected from them.  The equivalent terms in banc, in banco or in bank are also sometimes seen.  En banc is often used for unusually complex cases or cases considered to be of greater importance.  Appellate courts in the United States sometimes grant rehearing en banc to reconsider a decision of a panel of the court (generally consisting of only three judges) in which the case concerns a matter of exceptional public importance or the panel's decision appears to conflict with a prior decision of the court.  In rarer instances, an appellate court will order hearing en banc as an initial matter instead of the panel hearing it first.  Some appellate courts, such as the Supreme Court of the United States and the highest courts of most U.S. states, do not sit in panels, but hear all of their cases en banc (with the exception of cases where a judge is ill or recused).  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/En_banc  

Find pronunciation of en banc at http://dictionary.law.com/Default.aspx?selected=625

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS of author John Lescroart

Q.  How do you . . . ?  Stop right there.  This is, hands-down, the most-asked question I get.  Although I’m three-quarters Irish, my last name is French.  It’s pronounced “less-kwah”.

Q.  Where did you go to law school?  I didn’t.  I graduated from Cal Berkeley with a degree in English Literature.  I get my legal whatever-it-is from practicing lawyers, most notably my great friend Al Giannini, whom I’ve known since we were fourteen years old, and who has been a violent crimes prosecutor in the Bay Area for years.

Q.  I heard you are also a musician.  What’s up with that?  Are you still making music? 

As a matter of fact, music is still a big part of my life, so much so that about five years ago I formed a record label, CrowArt Records.  The first project on CrowArt Records was a CD of original piano solos, the melodies written by me and performed by master pianist (regularly working at the Bel Air Hotel) Antonio Castillo de la Gala, entitled Date Night.  Fans of Dismas Hardy will know that Diz and Frannie set aside every Wednesday night for some time alone together—it’s their date night.  And this CD celebrates the elegance and romance of San Francisco at the turn of the millennium.  Find out what order Lescroart's books were published at http://www.johnlescroart.com/meet-john/faq/  Paraphrase from the novel Treasure Hunt by John Lescroart:  If you do what you love, you never work a day in your life. 

Six common plants that might do a body good by Peg Moline  Read about basil, thyme, rosemary, tarragon, dandelion and mint at http://www.latimes.com/health/la-he-healing-garden-herbs-20150626-htmlstory.html

Like the characters played by the actor who inspired his name, Pacino was no scaredy cat.  The brown tabby had prowled the streets of Los Angeles, a drifter scraping for his next meal.  After the cat was turned in at an L.A. County animal services shelter, there was little hope that Pacino would be adopted.  He was too distrustful, too fierce, too mean.  Then Melya Kaplan came along, looking for a cat with grit, street smarts and attitude.  The 10-pound, 6-ounce cat would become the nighttime warden at the Original L.A. Flower Market, making sure rodents and other vermin didn't get out of hand.  He's part of a group of tough cats recruited by an animal rights nonprofit to find homes in places that could use their hard-scrabble qualities.  Along with another cat named DeNiro, Pacino would prowl the Italian side of the flower market.  As part of the Working Cats program, street cats like Pacino are rescued from animal shelters and sent to locations ranging from police stations, like the LAPD's Wilshire and Foothill divisions, to private homes, businesses and schools.  Over the years, the program has placed about 500 cats in nearly 50 locations.  Jerome Campbell  http://www.latimes.com/local/california/la-me-adv-cats-for-hire-20150627-story.html

http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com  Issue 1324  July 14, 2015  On this date in 1789, Alexander Mackenzie completed his journey to the mouth of the great river he hoped would take him to the Pacific, but which turned out to flow into the Arctic Ocean.  Later named after him, the Mackenzie is the second-longest river system in North America.  On this date in 1853, the first major US world's fair, the Exhibition of the Industry of All Nations opened in New York City.

How to make ice cream with just ripe bananas.  Link to an easy-to-read recipe Magic 1-Ingredient Ice Cream 5 Ways — Peanut Butter, Nutella, and More at http://www.thekitchn.com/how-to-make-creamy-ice-cream-with-just-one-ingredient-cooking-lessons-from-the-kitchn-93414

The announcement in 2015 of a new, original Dr. Seuss book sent a wave of nostalgic giddiness across Twitter, and months before publication, the number of pre-orders for "What Pet Should I Get?" continues to climb.  To keep up with demand, the book's first printing was increased from 500,000 to 1 million copies, Barbara Marcus, president and publisher of Random House Children's Books, said in a news release April 20, 2015.  When "What Pet Should I Get?" debuts July 28, it will be the first new, original Dr. Seuss book since "Oh, the Places You'll Go!" in 1990.  It features the spirited siblings from the beloved classic "One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish" and is believed to have been written between 1958 and 1962.  http://www.cnn.com/2015/04/20/living/dr-seuss-new-book-first-picture-feat/

A question is just a question, right?  Not according to one idea dating from ancient times, according to which there were two sorts of questions—those intended to obtain information, and those designed to elicit confirmation or denial.  A nineteenth century writer explained it like this:  Between a percontation and interrogation, the ancients made this distinction—that the former admitted a variety of answers, while the latter must be replied to by “yes” or “no”.  The Dark Ages, by Rev Samuel Maitland, 1844.  Though the term percontation might be useful to linguists and psychologists today, it was never popular and shortly after Maitland’s time vanished from the active language.  Its source is the Latin noun percontatio, the action of questioning.  Curiously, its root is contus, a long pole, either a boat-pole or a spear, lance or pike, prefixed with per-, meaning “through” in this case.  It appears that percontatio was so vigorous or uncivil that it was like being pierced with a pole.  In the late sixteenth century, the printer Henry Denham (some say his client, the translator Anthonie Gilbie) invented a punctuation mark to differentiate the open-ended question from the yes-no sort, called the punctus percontativus or percontation mark.  In shape it was a reversed question mark.  (Henry Denham was a pioneer in typography--he also advocated the semi-colon, an Italian invention.)  http://www.worldwidewords.org/weirdwords/ww-per3.htm  See also 13 Little-Known Punctuation Marks We Should Be Using by Adrienne Crezo at http://mentalfloss.com/article/12710/13-little-known-punctuation-marks-we-should-be-using

The primary source of energy for nearly all life is the Sun.  The energy in sunlight is introduced into the biosphere by a process known as photosynthesis, which occurs in plants, algae and some types of bacteria.  Photosynthesis can be defined as the physico-chemical process by which photosynthetic organisms use light energy to drive the synthesis of organic compounds.  The photosynthetic process depends on a set of complex protein molecules that are located in and around a highly organized membrane.  Through a series of energy transducing reactions, the photosynthetic machinery transforms light energy into a stable form that can last for hundreds of millions of years.  http://www.life.illinois.edu/govindjee/paper/gov.html  

See also http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/chemistry/laureates/1988/

The biosphere is the space on or near Earth's surface that contains and supports living organisms.  It is subdivided into the lithosphere, atmosphere, and hydrosphere.  The lithosphere is Earth's surrounding layer, composed of solids such as soil and rock; it is about 80 to 100 kilometers (50 to 60 miles) thick.  The atmosphere is the surrounding thin layer of gas.  The hydrosphere refers to liquid environments such as lakes and oceans that lie between the lithosphere and atmosphere.  The biosphere's creation and continuous existence results from chemical, biological, and physical processes.  http://www.scienceclarified.com/Bi-Ca/Biosphere.html

detergent  noun   A water-soluble cleansing agent that combines with impurities and dirt to make them more soluble and differs from soap in not forming a scum with the salts in hard water.  Early 17th century (as an adjective): from Latin detergent- 'wiping away', from the verb detergere, from de- 'away from' + tergere 'to wipe'.  http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/us/definition/american_english/detergent

Power struggle between laptop campers and store owners   Owner Mark Furstenberg just might ask you to move along.  The James Beard Award-nominated baker sees his Van Ness cafe as a neighborhood gathering place—not a second office for ever more prevalent teleworkers.  So during peak hours, when he spots laptop lurkers nursing now-cold cups of coffee and occupying precious table space, he asks them to leave.  Politely, of course.  Read interesting article by Maura Judkis at http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/you-ordered-that-latte-two-hours-ago-think-about-leaving-the-coffee-shop/2015/07/08/caa597bc-19ef-11e5-bd7f-4611a60dd8e5_story.html

The US50.com  Information about the fifty states that make up the United States of America   Click on a state to visit or select from the pulldown menu.  New state Study Guides and State license plates have been added to the Fast Facts pages.  http://www.theus50.com/

In the dense undergrowth of the tropical forests of Southeast Asia lives the world’s smallest hoofed mammal, the lesser Malay chevrotain (Tragulus kanchil).  Weighing around 2 kg (4.4 pounds) and measuring about 50 cm (1.6 feet) in length, the little arched-back creature teeters along on delicate, stilt-like legs, dwarfed by the oversized jungle vegetation.  The lesser Malay is one of 10 living species of chevrotains, which are also known as mouse deer, because of their small size and deer-like appearance.  And similar to deer, chevrotains have two-toed hooves and specialized stomachs that allow them to regurgitate and chew on partially digested plant matter to help break down undigestible cellulose--characteristics that classify them as ruminants.  Chevrotains, however, are the most primitive ruminants alive today, as evidenced by their lack of horns or antlers, their long upper canine teeth, and their three-chambered stomachs (as opposed to the typical four-chambered anatomy of other ruminants).  Kara Rogers  See picture at http://www.sciencefriday.com/blogs/02/21/2012/chevrotains-and-the-world-of-unusual-tiny-ungulates.html?series=2

July 11, 2015  In 2011, Southern New England Telephone suspended 183 employees who refused to remove T-shirts that said “Inmate” on the front and “Prisoner of AT$T” on the back.  The National Labor Relations Board sided with the phone workers, but the company appealed the NLRB’s decision in federal court.  AT&T defended its one-day mass suspension because the T-shirts “could cause customers to believe that AT&T employees were actually convicts."  This week, the federal court upheld AT&T's T-shirt ban, ruling that, even if people don’t think the phone company employees are fugitives from a chain gang, the message on their shirts “may harm AT&T’s relationship with its customers or its public image.”  Dennis Baron  https://illinois.edu/blog/view/25

The Toledo Museum of Art 2015  From the Collection:  Three Hundred Years of French Landscape Painting  July 17-Oct, 11, Gallery 18

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"Manhattanhenge" will be making its final 2015 appearance at sunset on July 13.  It occurs when the sun lines up with cross streets before setting.  The term "Manhattanhenge" was popularized by Hayden Planetarium Director Neil deGrasse Tyson.  The occurrence reminded him of Stonehenge, where the sun aligns with ancient stones.  See picture taken on July 11, 2014 at http://www.newsday.com/news/new-york/manhattanhenge-has-final-2015-appearance-at-sunset-1.10635036

http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com  Issue 1323  July 13, 2015  On this date in 1787, the Continental Congress enacted the Northwest Ordinance establishing governing rules for the Northwest Territory.  It also established procedures for the admission of new states and limited the expansion of slavery.  On this date in 1923, the Hollywood Sign was officially dedicated in the hills above Hollywood, Los Angeles, California.  It originally read "Hollywoodland " but the four last letters were dropped after renovation in 1949.