In ancient China, people called a man of great virtue a gentleman.  In the world of flowers, plum blossoms, orchids, bamboo and chrysanthemums are known as the four gentlemen in China because these plants’ natural character have something in common with human virtues.  They have all long been featured in ancient paintings and poems used to express loftiness, righteousness, modesty and purity by Chinese literati.  Read about each of the four noble plants at http://english.visitbeijing.com.cn/a1/a-XB4Q2O3FE006B3234E1E1D 

Chromostereopsis is a visual illusion whereby the impression of depth is conveyed in two-dimensional color images, usually of red-blue or red-green colors, but can also be perceived with red-grey or blue-grey images.  Such illusions have been reported for over a century and have generally been attributed to some form of chromatic aberration.   See striking graphics at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chromostereopsis 

John Edgar Wideman (born June 14, 1941) is an American novelist, short story writer, memoirist, and essayist.  He was the first person to win the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction twice.  His writing is known for experimental techniques and a focus on the African-American experience.  Raised in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Wideman excelled as a student athlete at the University of Pennsylvania.  In 1963, he became the second African American to win a Rhodes Scholarship to attend the University of Oxford.  In addition to his work as a writer, Wideman has had a career in academia as a literature and creative writing professor at both public and Ivy League universities.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Edgar_Wideman 

Spencer Compton, 1st Earl of Wilmington, KG, PC (c.  1674–1743) was a British Whig statesman who served continuously in government from 1715 until his death.  He sat in the English and British House of Commons between 1698 and 1728, and was then raised to the peerage and sat in the House of Lords.  He served as the prime minister of Great Britain from 1742 until his death in 1743.  He is considered to have been Britain's second prime minister, after Robert Walpole, but worked closely with the Secretary of State, Lord Carteret, in order to secure the support of the various factions making up the government.  The cities of Wilmington, Delaware, and Wilmington, North Carolina; the towns of Wilmington, Massachusetts, and Wilmington, Vermont; and, secondarily, the neighbourhood of Wilmington, Los Angeles, are named in his honour.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spencer_Compton,_1st_Earl_of_Wilmington 

Forsythia is a genus of flowering plants in the olive family Oleaceae.  There are about 11 species, mostly native to eastern Asia, but one native to southeastern Europe.  Forsythia is named after William Forsyth, (1737–1804), a Scottish botanist who was royal head gardener and a founding member of the Royal Horticultural Society.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forsythia  See also https://www.arborday.org/trees/treeguide/treedetail.cfm?itemID=840 and https://thegardeningcook.com/tips-growing-forsythia-bushes/  “Nothing screams spring in your garden quite like Forsythia.” 

“Farming is just another word for bondage.”  “To trust someone is to take the greatest risk of all.  Without trust nothing ever happens”.   “The tomato was once believed poisonous, the eggplant thought to cause madness.”  Blood Test, #2 in the Alex Delaware series of novels by Jonathan Kellerman   https://www.fantasticfiction.com/k/jonathan-kellerman/alex-delaware/ 

A.Word.A.Day with Anu Garg

Apgar or apgar  (AP-gar)  noun  A method of assessing a newborn’s health.  Also known as Apgar score.  After anesthesiologist Virginia Apgar (1909-1974) who devised it.  Earliest documented use:  1959.

Yarborough or yarborough  (YAHR-bur-oh/uh)  noun  In a card game, a weak hand, especially one in which no card is above a nine.  After Charles Anderson Worsley, 2nd Earl of Yarborough (1809-1897), who is said to have bet 1000 to 1 against the occurrence of such a hand.  The actual odds are 1827 to 1.  Earliest documented use:  1900.

Orwellism  (OR-wuh-liz-uhm)  noun  Something misleading, such as a word or phrase used euphemistically or ambiguously for propaganda purposes.  After George Orwell (1903-1950), whose novel 1984 depicted a futuristic totalitarian state employing misleading language for propaganda and control.  Earliest documented use:  1970.  Also see newspeak and Orwellian. 

Feedback to A.Word.A.Day
From:  Martin Rudoph  Long ago as I recall, my education professor, who constantly abused our language, once expressed an important idea thusly:  “A teach should teach at every teach moment.”  He used the same word as a noun, verb, AND adjective!
From Jayashree Coutinho  This lyric from John Mayer’s Come Back To Bed uses the word forgive as a noun:  “You know you’re not a quick forgive”
From:  Joe Presley  Have you nouned an adjective?  My 26-year-old son asked me “Can you do me a solid?”
From:  Ellen Formanek Tepper  to vultch, verb.  To hang hungrily over someone else’s dinner, picking pieces up to eat.  From vulture and my youngest daughter who would do precisely that.  (I had a restaurant job, playing the harp, dinner was included, and I would get it to go.)  I said, you’re like a little vulture.  She said, I am vultching your food!
From:  Kathy Geer Root  We live in the small Ohio town where the now-infamous virus that infects cruise ships, Chipotle restaurants, schools, and other places (its original name, Norwalk virus) has become a verb.  Even though the medical community felt the need to Latinize (there’s another noun-to-verb example) it into norovirus, here in its hometown, we say, “They got Norwalked.” 

From:  Joe Silber  My company makes software to create, manage, and simplify IT workflows.  Our latest tagline is “Let’s workflow it!” 

From:  Christine Caroppo   Here’s an interesting application of the word festoon from archaeology.  There is a pottery type called Parker Festooned.  It was made by Indigenous peoples in southern Michigan, northern Ohio, and southwestern Ontario in the 14th century.  It features rows of incised or applied chevrons or rounded festoons around the rim of the pottery vessel.  More here and here.

From:  Rebecca Eschliman  I was reminded of a quotation from one of my favorite plays, The Lady’s Not for Burning:  Am I invisible?  Am I inaudible?  Do I merely festoon the room with my presence?  AWADmailissue982 

Red roses for young lovers.  French beans for longstanding relationships. - Ruskin Bond, author (b. 19 May 1934) 

http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com  Issue 2366  May 19, 2021

The Marciana Library or Library of Saint Mark is a public library in Venice, Italy.  It is one of the earliest surviving public libraries and repositories for manuscripts in Italy and holds one of the world's most significant collections of classical texts.  It is named after St Mark, the patron saint of the city.  The library was founded in 1468 when the humanist scholar Cardinal Bessarion, bishop of Tusculum and titular Latin patriarch of Constantinople, donated his collection of Greek and Latin manuscripts to the Republic of Venice, with the stipulation that a library of public utility be established.  The collection was the result of Bessarion's persistent efforts to locate rare manuscripts throughout Greece and Italy and then acquire or copy them as a means of preserving the writings of the classical Greek authors and the literature of Byzantium after the fall of Constantinople in 1453.  His choice of Venice was primarily due to the city's large community of Greek refugees and its historical ties to the Byzantine Empire.  The Venetian government was slow, however, to honour its commitment to suitably house the manuscripts with decades of discussion and indecision, owing to a series of military conflicts in the late-fifteenth and early-sixteenth centuries and the resulting climate of political uncertainty.  The library was ultimately built during the period of recovery as part of a vast programme of urban renewal aimed at glorifying the republic through architecture and affirming its international prestige as a centre of wisdom and learning.  The original library building is located in Saint Mark's Square, Venice's former governmental centre, with its long façade facing the Doge's Palace.  Constructed between 1537 and 1588, it is considered the masterpiece of the architect Jacopo Sansovino and a key work in Venetian Renaissance architecture.  The Renaissance architect Andrea Palladio described it as "perhaps the richest and most ornate building that there has been since ancient times up until now."  The art historian Jacob Burckhardt regarded it as "the most magnificent secular Italian building" and Frederick Hartt called it "one of the most satisfying structures in Italian architectural history." Also significant for its art, the library holds many works by the great painters of sixteenth-century Venice, making it a comprehensive monument to Venetian Mannerism.  Today, the building is customarily referred to as the 'Libreria sansoviniana' and is largely a museum.  Since 1904, the library offices, the reading rooms, and most of the collection have been housed in the adjoining Zecca, the former mint of the Republic of Venice.  The library is now formally known as the Biblioteca nazionale Marciana.  It is the only official institution established by the Venetian government that survives and continues to function.  Read more and see graphics at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biblioteca_Marciana 

​A Century of Sliders–Celebrating White Castle’s 100th Birthday  Friday, May 28, 2021 • 6 p.m.  Virtual  $20/Registrant  $5/Ohio History Connection member  Free/Ohio History Connection premium member  Join us as we celebrate White Castle’s 100th birthday.  Hear stories from White Castle founding-family members Maryann Kelley and Erin Shannon as they share the fun and groundbreaking history of the first fast food restaurant in America history.  See vintage items from the Ohio History Connection's White Castle collection, and learn how White Castle revolutionized the fast food industry. 
  https://www.ohiohistory.org/participate/event-calendar/ohio-history-center/100-white-castle

HENRY DAVID THOREAU QUOTES  “Books are the treasured wealth of the world and the fit inheritance of generations and nations.”  “I would rather sit on a pumpkin, and have it all to myself, than be crowded on a velvet cushion.”  “The greatest compliment that was ever paid me was when one asked me what I thought, and attended to my answer.”  “There is no remedy for love but to love more.”  https://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/10264.Henry_David_Thoreau 

Two of the most popular trends in language are:  1) turning nouns into verbs and 2) making the argument that common usage is all that is needed in order for a word to become accepted.  The non-word efforting is a good example of both.  Effort is a noun, meaning (for this discussion) an exertion of strength or power either in a physical or mental sense.  Effort is not a verb meaning to exert an effort, so statements such as I’m efforting to get the project done on time is an incorrect way to use the word effort.  Paul Yeager  https://languageandgrammar.com/2008/06/03/efforting/ 

“Present participles” are formed by adding “-ing” to verbs.  A “participle” is simply a word formed from a verb.  Gerunds also end in “-ing,” but they are verbs pretending to be nouns.  “Efforting” and “calendaring” are acting as verbs.)  The Oxford English Dictionary has an entry for “effort” as a verb meaning “To strengthen, fortify,” from about 1661, but calls its usage “obsolete.”  Most other dictionaries don’t acknowledge “effort” as a verb.  “Efforting” first shows up in Nexis in a 1980 New York Times article about an actors’ strike:  “I don’t like efforting of any kind,” the comedian Anne Meara said.  We hope she was being ironic, even though she was using “efforting” as a noun.  Merrill Perlman  https://www.cjr.org/language_corner/nouns-verbs-efforting-calendaring.php 

Would you be surprised to learn that one of the most common items found in your kitchen or on your dinner table used to be worth as much as gold?  Sugar?  Pepper?  Nope!  It's salt.  From time to time, you may have heard someone say that someone or something is “worth its salt."  This common idiom means that someone or something deserves respect and is worth its cost or has value.  The phrase originated with the ancient Romans, who valued salt highly.  Over time, salt has often been associated with good things, because of its health benefits and great value.  Scientists believe that the harvesting of salt from salt water dates back at least 8,000 years.  In ancient times—before modern canning methods and refrigeration—salt was used as a preservative, especially for meats.  Our bodies need salt to function properly.  Salt helps to control the level of water in the body.  It also helps the nervous system to send electrical signals to the brain.  https://www.wonderopolis.org/wonder/are-you-worth-your-salt  See also https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sea_salt 

On May 17, 1824, the publisher John Murray gathered six of Lord Byron’s closest friends and executors in his office—to commit what is sometimes described as “the greatest crime in literary history.”  Byron, who had died in Greece almost exactly one month before, had earned quite a reputation by the time of his death—and he was only 36.  A few years earlier, Byron had given a manuscript of his memoirs to his friend Thomas Moore, instructing him that they were only to be published after his death.  In 1821, Moore, struggling to make ends meet, sold the copyright to the publisher John Murray (with Byron’s blessing—despite the fact that he had once described Murray as “the most timid of God’s booksellers”).  But when Byron died, Murray—though he would have made a tidy profit by publishing them—decided to burn the memoirs instead.  https://link.lithub.com/view/602ea8ce180f243d6536ae8de7fmx.2kek/d3aca660  See also https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lord_Byron 

May 17 is Galician Literature Day or Día das Letras Galegas (Galicia), Norwegian Constitution Day and World Information Society Day (International)  Wikipedia 

http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com  Issue 2365  May 17, 2021  

“Reading is to the mind what exercise is to the body”― Joseph Addison Richard Steele  https://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/6893027.Joseph_Addison_Richard_Steele 

The Great Library of Alexandria in Alexandria, Egypt, was one of the largest and most significant libraries of the ancient world.  The Library was part of a larger research institution called the Mouseion, which was dedicated to the Muses, the nine goddesses of the arts.  The idea of a universal library in Alexandria may have been proposed by Demetrius of Phalerum, an exiled Athenian statesman living in Alexandria, to Ptolemy I Soter, who may have established plans for the Library, but the Library itself was probably not built until the reign of his son Ptolemy II Philadelphus.  The Library quickly acquired many papyrus scrolls, due largely to the Ptolemaic kings' aggressive and well-funded policies for procuring texts.  It is unknown precisely how many such scrolls were housed at any given time, but estimates range from 40,000 to 400,000 at its height.  Alexandria came to be regarded as the capital of knowledge and learning, in part because of the Great Library.  Many important and influential scholars worked at the Library during the third and second centuries BC, including, among many others:  Zenodotus of Ephesus, who worked towards standardizing the texts of the Homeric poems; Callimachus, who wrote the Pinakes, sometimes considered to be the world's first library catalogue; Apollonius of Rhodes, who composed the epic poem the Argonautica; Eratosthenes of Cyrene, who calculated the circumference of the earth within a few hundred kilometers of accuracy; Aristophanes of Byzantium, who invented the system of Greek diacritics and was the first to divide poetic texts into lines; and Aristarchus of Samothrace, who produced the definitive texts of the Homeric poems as well as extensive commentaries on them.  During the reign of Ptolemy III Euergetes, a daughter library was established in the Serapeum, a temple to the Greco-Egyptian god Serapis.  Despite the widespread modern belief that the Library of Alexandria was burned once and cataclysmically destroyed, the Library actually declined gradually over the course of several centuries. This decline began with the purging of intellectuals from Alexandria in 145 BC during the reign of Ptolemy VIII Physcon, which resulted in Aristarchus of Samothrace, the head librarian, resigning from his position and exiling himself to Cyprus.  Many other scholars, including Dionysius Thrax and Apollodorus of Athens, fled to other cities, where they continued teaching and conducting scholarship.  The Library, or part of its collection, was accidentally burned by Julius Caesar during his civil war in 48 BC, but it is unclear how much was actually destroyed and it seems to have either survived or been rebuilt shortly thereafter; the geographer Strabo mentions having visited the Mouseion in around 20 BC and the prodigious scholarly output of Didymus Chalcenterus in Alexandria from this period indicates that he had access to at least some of the Library's resources.  The Library dwindled during the Roman Period, due to a lack of funding and support.  Its membership appears to have ceased by the 260s AD.  Between 270 and 275 AD, the city of Alexandria saw a rebellion and an imperial counterattack that probably destroyed whatever remained of the Library, if it still existed at that time.  The daughter library of the Serapeum may have survived after the main Library's destruction.  The Serapeum was vandalized and demolished in 391 AD under a decree issued by Coptic Christian Pope Theophilus of Alexandria, but it does not seem to have housed books at the time and was mainly used as a gathering place for Neoplatonist philosophers following the teachings of Iamblichus.  The Library of Alexandria was not the first library of its kind.  A long tradition of libraries existed in both Greece and in the ancient Near East.  The earliest recorded archive of written materials comes from the ancient Sumerian city-state of Uruk in around 3400 BC, when writing had only just begun to develop.  Scholarly curation of literary texts began in around 2500 BC.  The idea of reviving the ancient Library of Alexandria in the modern era was first proposed in 1974, when Lotfy Dowidar was president of the University of Alexandria.  In May 1986, Egypt requested the Executive Board of UNESCO to allow the international organization to conduct a feasibility study for the project.  This marked the beginning of UNESCO and the international community's involvement in trying to bring the project to fruition.  Starting in 1988, UNESCO and the UNDP worked to support the international architectural competition to design the Library.  Egypt devoted four hectares of land for the building of the Library and established the National High Commission for the Library of Alexandria.  Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak took a personal interest in the project, which greatly contributed to its advancement.  Completed in 2002, the Bibliotheca Alexandrina now functions as a modern library and cultural center, commemorating the original Library of Alexandria. In line with the mission of the Great Library of Alexandria, the Bibliotheca Alexandrina also houses the International School of Information Science (ISIS), a school for students preparing for highly specialized post-graduate degrees, whose goal is to train professional staff for libraries in Egypt and across the Middle East.  Read extensive article and see graphics at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Library_of_Alexandria   

May 12, 2021  Twenty-six seconds into his "Saturday Night Live" monologue last weekend, Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla and second richest person in the world, opened up about having Asperger syndrome.  It was a bold move, even for someone known for pushing boundaries in business and in life.  The serial entrepreneur and founder of Tesla, (TSLA TESLA) SpaceX and the Boring Co. sold his first company to Compaq for $307 million when he was 28 years old, then went on to help create the precursor to what would become PayPal (PYPL)—before getting ousted by his co-founders.  (He held onto his stock until its 2002 IPO, and the company was acquired by eBay (EBAY) later that year.)  Musk's candid disclosure on SNL has opened up a larger conversation about business leadership and the autism spectrum.  The diagnoses are characterized by varying degrees of impairment in language and communication skills, according to the National Institutes of Health, as well as repetitive or restrictive patterns of thought and behavior.  According to the NIH, it is considered a "developmental disorder" because symptoms like avoiding eye contact or a delay in speech development tend to appear by the age of two.  When it comes to work, employees with Asperger syndrome are often given fewer hours of work than they would like, according to "Autism in the Workplace."  The journal also points to a study that found that adults with Asperger syndrome were more likely to work part-time, compared to the general population.  "We all reveal a spectrum of behaviors and neurological learning styles.  Recognizing and embracing this neurodiversity helps build strong, inventive, and supportive teams," business psychologist Melanie Katzman told CNN Business.  "Rather than viewing autism, dyslexia, ADHD, OCD and others as pathologies, the focus needs to be on how to view these predispositions as super powers," she said.  Some think of autism as a challenging circumstance as those with ASD may struggle with social interactions.  But for years, there has been talk about some of the most successful people in tech living and working with Asperger's and benefiting from it.  "In Silicon Valley, I've pointed out that many of the more successful entrepreneurs seem to be suffering from a mild form of Asperger's," tech investor Peter Thiel said in a 2015 interview with economist Tyler Cowen.  "It happens to be a plus for innovation and creating great companies," he added.  Alexis Benveniste  https://www.cnn.com/2021/05/12/business/elon-musk-aspergers/index.html   

The Panama Canal was dug with a microscope. - Ronald Ross, doctor and Nobel laureate (13 May 1857-1932) [alluding to the research done to get rid of the mosquito http://www.cdc.gov/malaria/about/history/]   

Fully vaccinated people no longer need to wear a face mask or stay 6 feet away from others in most settings, whether outdoors or indoors, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in updated public health guidance released May 13, 2021.  There are a handful of instances where people will still need to wear masks—in a health-care setting, at a business that requires them—even if they’ve had their final vaccine dose two or more weeks ago, CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky told reporters at a press briefing.  Fully vaccinated people will still need to wear masks on airplanes, buses, trains and other public transportation, she said.  https://www.cnbc.com/2021/05/13/cdc-says-fully-vaccinated-people-dont-need-to-wear-face-masks-indoors-or-outdoors-in-most-settings.html   

http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com  Issue 2364  May 14, 2021

Nathanael West was born Nathan Wallenstein Weinstein, on October 17, 1903, in New York City.  After dropping out of high school, West gained admission into Tufts University by forging his high school transcript.  After being expelled from Tufts, West got into Brown University by appropriating the transcript of a fellow Tufts student who was also named Nathan Weinstein.  While at Brown, West became increasingly interested in unusual literary style and the writings of French surrealists and British and Irish poets.  Following graduation, he went to Paris for three months, and it was at this point that he changed his name to Nathanael West.  Shortly thereafter he returned home to work in construction for his father as well as a night manager of the Kenmore Hotel in Manhattan.  He also worked a short while for the magazine Contact with William Carlos Williams.  Though West had been working on his writing since college, it was not until his quiet night job at the hotel that he found the time to put his novel together.  Finally, in 1931, West published The Dream Life of Balso Snell, a novel he had conceived in college.  Then, in 1933, West published Miss Lonelyhearts.  In 1933, West bought a farm in eastern Pennsylvania, but soon got a job as a contract scriptwriter for Columbia Pictures and moved to Hollywood.  In 1934, he published a third novel, A Cool Million.  None of West’s three works were selling well, however, so he spent the mid-1930s in financial difficulty, sporadically collaborating on screenplays. It was during this time that West wrote The Day of the Locust, which would be published in 1939.  Sadly this was the last book West ever wrote.  West died on December 22, 1940, in a car accident.  Ironically, West’s reputation grew after his death, especially with the publication of his collected novels in 1957.  Miss Lonelyhearts is widely regarded as West’s masterpiece, and The Day of the Locust still stands as one of the best novels written about the early years of Hollywood.  Most of West’s fiction is, in one way or another, a response to the Depression that hit America with the stock market crash in October 1929.  https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/nathanael-west 

The Code of Hammurabi is a Babylonian legal text from c. 1755–1750 BC.  It is the longest and best-organised legal text from the ancient Near East, as well as the best-preserved.  It is written in the Old Babylonian dialect of Akkadian, purportedly by Hammurabi, sixth king of the First Dynasty of Babylon.  The primary copy of the text is on a basalt stele 2.25 m (7 ft 4 1⁄2 in) tall.  It was discovered in 1901, at the site of Susa in present-day Iran, where it had been taken as plunder six hundred years after its creation.  However, the text was copied and studied by Mesopotamian scribes for over a millennium.  The stele is now in the Louvre Museum.  At the top of the stele is an image in relief of Hammurabi with Shamash, the Babylonian sun god and god of justice.  Below the relief are about 4,130 lines of cuneiform text:  one fifth contain a prologue and epilogue in poetic style, while the remaining four fifths contain what are generally called the laws.  In the prologue, Hammurabi claims to have been granted his rule by the gods "to prevent the strong from oppressing the weak".  The laws are casuistic, expressed as "if . . . then" conditional sentences.  Their scope is broad, including for example criminal law, family law, property law, and commercial law.  The initial reaction of modern scholars to the Code was one of admiration, at its perceived fairness and respect for the rule of law, and at the complexity of Old Babylonian society. There was also much discussion of its influence on the Mosaic Law.  It was identified early that lex talionis, the "eye for an eye" principle, underlay the two collections.  Debate among Assyriologists since has centred around several aspects of the Code:  its purpose, its underlying principles, its language, and its relation to earlier and later law collections.  Despite the uncertainty surrounding these issues, Hammurabi is regarded outside Assyriology as a figure of great importance in the history of law, and the document as a true legal code.  A relief portrait of Hammurabi hangs with those of other lawgivers in the U.S. Capitol, and there are replicas of the stele in numerous institutions, including the headquarters of the United Nations in New York City and the Pergamon Museum in Berlin.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Code_of_Hammurabi  See also https://avalon.law.yale.edu/ancient/hamframe.asp 

Emily Carr (1871–1945) was a Canadian artist and writer who was inspired by the Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast.  One of the first painters in Canada to adopt a Modernist and Post-Impressionist style, Carr did not receive widespread recognition for her work until she changed subject matter from Aboriginal themes to landscapes—forest scenes in particular.  As a writer Carr was one of the earliest chroniclers of life in British Columbia.  The British Columbia Archives holds the largest collection of Emily Carr artworks, sketches, and archival materials.  A number of the records have been digitized and are available online.  See graphics at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emily_Carr 

Six of our nation’s forty-eight vice presidents have been affiliated with Indiana (second only to New York’s eleven):  Schulyler Colfax (R) – 17th VP from 1869-1873 (Grant); Thomas A. Hendricks (D) – 21st VP in 1885 (Cleveland); Charles W. Fairbanks (R) – 26th VP from 1905-1909 (Teddy Roosevelt); Thomas R. Marshall (D) – 28th VP from 1913-1921 (Wilson); Dan Quayle (R) – 44th VP from 1989-1993 (Bush); and Mike Pence (R) – 48th VP from 2017-2021 (Trump).  Two other men, William English in 1880 and John Kern in 1908 ran unsuccessfully for vice president.  28th Vice President Thomas R. Marshall once quipped that Indiana is known as the “mother of vice presidents” because it is “home of more second-class men than any other state” (Northwest Indiana Times).  https://www.trumanlibrary.gov/education/lesson-plans/indiana-mother-vice-presidents 

The Slippery Noodle Inn is a large blues bar and restaurant with two performance stages in downtown Indianapolis.  It also has the distinction of being the oldest continuously operating bar in the state of Indiana, having opened in 1850 as the Tremont House.  The Inn served as a stop on the Underground Railroad during the American Civil War.  During prohibition it was called a restaurant, although beer was still being made in the basement, and later it housed a brothel until 1953.  The Inn is the oldest commercial building in the city.  Its tin ceiling dates to 1890 and the oak bar is also over a century old.  The Inn has operated under its current name since 1963.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slippery_Noodle_Inn 

Draco (fl. c. 7th century BC), also called Drako or Drakon, was the first recorded legislator of Athens in Ancient Greece.  He replaced the prevailing system of oral law and blood feud by a written code to be enforced only by a court of law.  Draco was the first democratic legislator requested by the Athenian citizens to be a lawgiver for the city-state, but the citizens had not expected that Draco would establish laws characterized by their harshness.  Since the 19th century, the adjective draconian refers to similarly unforgiving rules or laws, in Greek, English, and other European languages.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Draco_(lawgiver)  Draco Lucius Malfoy is a character in the  Harry Potter series.   

Carrara marble is a type of white or blue-grey marble popular for use in sculpture and building decor.  It is quarried in the city of Carrara in the province of Massa and Carrara in the Lunigiana, the northernmost tip of modern-day Tuscany, Italy.  See list of notable buildings and monuments made of Carrara marble and see graphics at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carrara_marble 

http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com  Issue 2363  May 12, 2021

A mercy rule, slaughter rule, knockout rule, or skunk rule ends a two-competitor sports competition earlier than the scheduled endpoint if one competitor has a very large and presumably insurmountable scoring lead over the other.  It is called the mercy rule because it spares further humiliation for the loser.  It is common in youth sports in North America, where running up the score is considered unsporting.  It is especially common in baseball and softball in which there is no game clock and a dominant team could in theory continue an inning endlessly.  The rules vary widely, depending on the level of competition, but nearly all youth sports leagues and high school sports associations and many college sports associations in the United States have mercy rules for sports including baseball, softball, American football and association football.  However, mercy rules usually do not take effect until a prescribed point in the game (like the second half of an association football game).  Thus, one team, particularly if it is decidedly better than a weaker opponent, can still "run up the score" before the rule takes effect.  For instance, in American football, one team could be ahead by 70 points with three minutes left in the first half; in baseball, the better team could have a 20-run lead in the second inning, but the game would still continue.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercy_rule

Books entitled Mercy Rule:  Tom Leveen (story of high school students) and John Lescroart  (5th in the Dismas Hardy series) 

The expression straight from the horses’s mouth, which means reliable or on good authority, has two possible origins.  The most likely is that it comes from horse-racing circles:  a tipster supposedly has inside information so good that it comes straight from the horse.  According to the Random House Historical Dictionary of American Slang, the expression goes back to 1917.  The second possibility is that a smart buyer examines a horse’s teeth to determine its age and general health, so reliable information about the animal comes from its mouth.  This, by the way, is the origin of the expression “don’t look a gift horse in the mouth” (don’t quibble about something you aren’t paying for).  https://www.grammarphobia.com/blog/2006/11/straight-from-the-horses-mouth.html 

Hematite, also spelled as haematite, is a common iron oxide compound with the formula, Fe2O3 and is widely found in rocks and soils.  The name hematite is derived from the Greek word for blood due to the red coloration found in some varieties of hematite.  The color of hematite is often used as a pigment.  Ochre is a clay that is colored by varying amounts of hematite, varying between 20% and 70%.   Red ochre contains unhydrated hematite, whereas yellow ochre contains hydrated hematite (Fe2O3 · H2O).  The principal use of ochre is for tinting with a permanent color.  The red chalk writing of this mineral was one of the earliest in the human history.  The powdery mineral was first used 164,000 years ago by the Pinnacle-Point man, possibly for social purposes.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hematite 

Barbara Newhall Follet wrote of a little girl called Eepersip, who loves the outdoors as much as she did, who doesn’t want to be confined in a house with walls and windows, binding her life.  The world of brick and glass is too restrictive for the wild child, and Eepersip longs to shed the trappings of civilisation.  So she runs away from home.  She runs first to the meadow, then to the sea, and last to the mountains, and she gives her heart in equal measure to all of them.  She lives in these wild places without fear, learning how to be free, and she sees joy and glory everywhere.  It was Barbara’s custom, on her own birthday, to give her mother a gift.  At the age of eight she decided that on her ninth birthday this gift would take the form of a book.  And so, alone in her room, with the door shut tight, she worked at her typewriter, shaping her tale until it was almost perfect.  She was educated at home so she had plenty of time to write.  Day after day, week after week, she wrote.  She hoped to make a handful of copies, to share with friends, but the original copy was for her mother.  It was a story about a small child in the wilderness.  It was called The House Without Windows.  Just a few days after she finished writing, while the family were sleeping, a fire broke out in the kitchen.  The Folletts were lucky to escape with their lives.  Most of their belongings were destroyed, along with the fresh manuscript, so lovingly typed.  Every word Barbara had written--gone.  At this point many children would have given up.  Not Barbara.  Immediately she began the long task of reconstructing her story, word by carefully chosen word, from memory.  Three years she spent, sometimes leaving her text for months at a time, but always returning to it.  In 1926, Barbara was 12 and the book was finally complete (again).  Her father was so impressed that he took the manuscript to work with him.  He was, at this time, working for the publisher Alfred Knopf.  Imagine the excitement when a blue letter arrived, and within it the offer to publish Barbara’s story:  2,500 copies were printed, and all sold out.  Her story of Eepersip and her life in the house without windows went on to become a bestseller, and Barbara was hailed as a child genius.  By 18, Barbara was hiking the Appalachian Trail in the company of a young man called Nickerson Rogers, each night sharing his small tent or lying together beneath the ceiling of stars.  Later they travelled to Europe, wandering through Spain, France, Germany, sometimes working, always writing, keeping notes for future manuscripts.  And what things they must have seen, as they worked and walked their way through this turbulent time between the wars.  On their return to America they settled into an apartment, marrying in 1934 and taking jobs.  And Barbara began to feel her dreams slipping away to the familiar tune of work and domesticity.  She still wrote, but her work was no longer in favour with publishers and the rejections hurt.  And then, in 1939, on 7 December, Barbara Rogers, née Newhall Follett, walked out of the apartment she shared with her husband.  She left no note, took only a few dollars and some shorthand notes.  She was never seen again.  Jackie Morris  https://www.theguardian.com/books/2019/sep/14/house-without-windows-barbara-newhall-follett-jackie-morris 

The second Saturday of May in 2021, is the first of the two World Migratory Bird Days in the year.  These days were established by the Secretariats of the Agreement on the Conservation of African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbirds and the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals to highlight the importance of protecting migratory birds and their habitats.  The arctic tern has the longest migration known in the animal kingdom, travelling between the Arctic and Antarctic.  Wikipedia 

The Social Security press office announced on May 7, 2021 that the top ten girl names in 2020 are Olivia, Emma, Ava, Charlotte, Sophia, Amelia, Isabella, Mia, Evelyn and Harper.  The top ten boy names in 2020 are Liam, Noah, Oliver, Elijah, William, James, Benjamin, Lucas, Henry and Alexander.  The Social Security office also compiled the top five boy and girl names that are rising in popularity the fastest and have been affected by pop culture.  The girl names include Avayah, Denisse, Jianna, Capri and Rosalia.  The boy names include Zyair, Jaxtyn, Jakobe, Kylo and Aziel.  Lexi Lonas  https://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/552342-olivia-and-liam-are-most-popular-us-baby-names-for-second-year 

Archaeologists discovered the fossilized remains of nine Neanderthals at a prehistoric cave site south of Rome, the Italian Cultural Ministry announced on May 8, 2021.  The oldest of the remains date from between 90,000 and 100,000 years ago, while the other eight are believed to be younger, dating from 50,000 to 68,000 years ago.  The findings include skulls, skull fragments, two teeth and other bone fragments.  The fossilized bones were found at the Guattari Cave in San Felice Circeo, which is roughly 56 miles southeast of Rome.  Neanderthals died out roughly 40,000 years ago, but small traces of their DNA still exist in modern humans.  H.J. Mai  https://www.npr.org/2021/05/09/995214254/an-extraordinary-discovery-archeologists-find-neanderthal-remains-in-cave-near-r 

The softer you sing, the louder you're heard. - Donovan, musician (b. 10 May 1946) 

http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com  Issue 2362  May 10, 2021