News from the Mudd

Today Ringo Starr is 68. Yes, 68. Those of you mature enough to know his real name will be feeling extremely ancient and those who have never heard of him will be asking, "Whose grandpappy is that?"
In a dastardly bit of birthday irony, it was reported yesterday that his birthplace is certain to be demolished after English Heritage decided not to list it on its register. But Pete Best's home will be preserved only because it was the location of the original Cavern Club, and..., oh, just read the article.
Do what Richard requests today: "...everyone, everywhere, wherever they are, at noon on July 7 make the peace sign and say 'Peace & Love.'" And listen to some tunes.

If ever the Apocalypse was in sight, it's now. That most scholarly of encyclopedias, The Encyclopedia Britannica, is going wiki. But the editors have taken a lot of the fun and adventure out of the wiki experience by only allowing readers to suggest revisions, not make them themselves. So you merry pranksters may not change Winston Churchill's middle name to Bassingbourne or make Inigo Jones the love-child of Elizabeth I and the Sir Walter Raleigh.
If you're in the Mudd you can search the Encyclopedia Britannica and even suggest changes.
Listen to the report on NPR.

Once again it's Sir Paul McCartney's birthday. He's been in this music business for over 50 years, and he's still touring. His latest stop was in Independence Square in Kiev, Ukraine where he gave a concert sponsored by Victor Pinchuk, Ukrainian businessman and philanthropist. Pinchuk said, "One could not imagine this 30 years ago. Nobody could even dare to hope for this 20 years ago. One could only dream about it 10 years ago. 5 years ago we could only envy our neighbors for whom this became a reality. And finally the day has come. For the first time we have the opportunity to hear the songs that changed the world and created a new culture." We couldn't agree more.
Sure, we have the Beatles recordings and even one McCartney solo disc. But the library's McCartney collection includes Lennon-McCartney tunes interpreted by vocalists Kiri Te Kanawa, Cathy Berberian and Cristina Zavalloni, double bassists, and a brass quintet. Very versatile.

It's Reunion Weekend and the Library invites alumni to visit the Mudd. We're open Friday the 20th, 8am to 4pm and Saturday the 21st, noon to 4pm.

While you're here (and even while you're not), you can search the library catalog for books by alumni authors or visit the Lawrence Archives Digital Collections to view photos and documents that document Lawrence's past.

Stop by and say hello. We look forward to seeing you again.

.

We're heavy on the vocal music today with our latest CD pile. Once again we've dipped into the storeroom of gifts and have emerged with arias, vocalises, songs and voice with instrumental ensemble.

June IS busting out all over. You may think June is noteworthy only because it is the month of Paul McCartney's birthday (June 18,) but it's also Lane Courtesy Month. Will you be compelled to purchase large women's clothing? Be polite to Superman's girlfriend? Continuously sing "Mule Train?" No, no, it's the month to yield the left lane to faster drivers. This applies to motorists only. And for those for whom "courtesy" is an alien concept, this site also has links to Fight Your Ticket and Find an Attorney.
Get yourself lane-ready with the Wisconsin Motorists' Handbook and Study Guide.

After a long, dry spell, here's the latest batch of new-to-us CDs. We have dipped into our treasure trove of gifts and extracted a pile of what we like to call the good ol' M1505's. For you browsers, M1505 is excerpts from operas. To get the whole deal, go to M1500. This batch even has a few selections from musicals.

You know how things work. In order to prove anything to some people, you have to have data. And that means numbers. One of our favorite sources of data is the Statistical Abstract of the United States. We just received the 2008 edition, which, in reality, gives you stats for 2005 or 2006 and sometimes several years earlier.

There's an electronic version on the U.S. Census Bureau's web site that goes all the way back beyond 1878. Compare and contrast the number of post offices (1878: 39,258 - 2006: 36,826) or coal production (1878: 49,130,584 tons - 2005: 1,133,000,000 tons.) Astonish your friends with your storehouse of scintillating factoids.

On May 14, 1881 Harper's Weekly featured a cartoon about the high cost of gas. If this family had waited just over a year and moved to Appleton, they could have had the benefit of lighting their home with hydroelectric power.
Read all about the world's first hydroelectric power station.

Hey kids! May 1st is RSS Awareness Day!

What's RSS, you ask? Check out this Lawrence University page about it and subscribe to Lawrence University RSS feeds. You'll especially want to subscribe to the feed for this blog, of course...

Everyone knows and loves Click & Clack, who are, thankfully, alive and well. But one of those who may have been an inspiration for their names is no longer with us. It was announced today that Werner Groebli, "Frick" of the comedy ice-skating team, Frick & Frack passed away on April 14 at the age of 92. The original Frack died in 1979, so the current Frack made the announcement.

The Mudd can help you repair your pre-1974 engine or learn how to figure skate, 1939-style.

After a long, dry spell, here is an interesting batch of CDs. Today's CD pile is heavy on the Stockhausen and light on the C.P.E. Bach. Ballet by Stockhausen? Songs by C.P.E.? You guessed it.

If it hadn't been for the guy born 110 years ago today, the town 25 miles to our northeast would be a port, a paper making hub and a gateway to Door County. But because Curly Lambeau and his friend George Calhoun casually struck up a conversation about football one day, Green Bay is a lot more. Thank him, thank the Indian Packing Company, and thank the citizens of Green Bay (the team owners) for sticking with the team through the tough years. Here's to a new era.
We've got all kinds of books about the Packers in the Mudd.

Today's quiz: How many ways can you think of to legally transport edible grease? You can get take-out from KFC®. You can fail to wipe your hands before leaving a rib place. You can load yourself up with popcorn at a movie. But illegally transporting inedible grease takes some doing.
NPR reported this morning that a man in California was apprehended after being caught siphoning used cooking grease from in back of a Burger King®. He was charged with illegal transport of inedible grease, in violation of California Food and Agricultural Code, Section 19310-19317.
Sing from, listen to, or view Grease in the Mudd.

The CGA (Compressed Gas Association) Hydrogen Seminar is being held today at the Sacramento (CA) Convention Center. Try not to blurt out the obvious completion of this presentation topic as stated in the form of a question: "Hydrogen in your pocket."
You won't be surprised to learn Philip Glass composed a work with hydrogen in the title.

We always knew those wacky British were animal-crazy, but we had no idea that passion extended to traffic control. On April 2, 1962, the "panda crossing," a new style of pedestrian crossing was introduced in London, replacing the "zebra crossing." It was quite simple, really:

"The panda crossing is activated when the pedestrian presses a button that lights up a "wait" sign. This results in a flashing amber light warning drivers to stop. After five seconds a pulsating red light tells the driver to stop and a 'cross' sign is illuminated indicating to the pedestrian that it is safe to cross the road. Eight seconds later the red light is replaced by a flashing amber light. At the same time the 'cross' sign begins to flash, at first slowly and then faster to warn the pedestrian that his time to cross the road is running out. After 17 seconds both lights are extinguished and the driver is free to drive on."

Who is more multi-faceted than singer/actress Shirley Jones? She went from Academy Award-winner, playing a prostitute in Elmer Gantry, to the most wholesome of TV mothers on The Partridge Family. In between she portrayed Rodgers and Hammerstein heroines, solidified every stereotype of librarians in The Music Man and married both the suave Jack Cassidy and the goofy Marty Ingles. Had she stayed in Western Pennsylvania where she was born 74 years ago today, she might have ended up working in the family business, the Jones Brewery.
We've got her on video in Carousel, The Music Man and Oklahoma!

Today jazz pianist/composer/leader Marian McPartland turns 90. When she started out in the United States in the '40's, an English woman jazz piano player wasn't standard fare. But she soon formed her own trio and played long engagements at clubs in New York. In 1978 she began taping the NPR series, "Piano Jazz," which she still hosts today.
The Mudd has her autobiography, All in good time, and you can see her in the video Piano legends.

March 19 is Act Happy Day. The week of March 17-22 is Act Happy Week. If you are an exceptionally good actor you can act like spring will really be here on Thursday.
In case you need to boost your acting skills, the Mudd has books on acting for just about anybody.

The Big Mac® is a handy punching bag, nutrition-wise. It's made of meat, it's fatty and it's often the default bad guy in calorie comparisons. But did you know that a typical MacDonald's meal (Big Mac®, fries and coffee) "contains at least 19 plant species from 12 families" which "originate in all of the eight global centers of cultivated plant diversity?" The current issue of the journal BioScience has an article detailing these attributes, Serban P, Wilson JRU, Vamosi JC, Richardson DM (2008) Plant Diversity in the Human Diet: Weak Phylogenetic Signal Indicates Breadth. BioScience: Vol. 58, No. 2 pp. 151-159, which you can read if you're an LU person. The authors call the Big Mac® a "symbol of globalization." So, please, a little more R-E-S-P-E-C-T.

You're lucky. Your space solutions most likely involve a few wicker baskets and a double-rod hanging system. But when NASA gets involved it's a whole-nother kettle of fish.
The International Space University symposium, Space Solutions to Earth's Global Challenges, begins today in Strasbourg, France. Here we're talking SPACE space, as in outer. Some topics are a little out-there ("Why We Need an Elevator to Space!") and some are downright bone-chilling ("The Intersection of Air Law and Space Law.") And who knew there was an International Space University?
Listen to some Strauss while you ponder your future on the final frontier.

Today's short stack of CDs comprises all string music, if you agree that a piano has strings and vocal cords are somewhat stringy.

It has been said that copious amounts of snow cause a person to, well, not think clearly. See pibloktoq.
Now municipalities in Wisconsin are mixing beet juice in with salt water to de-ice streets. The only catch is, people who wish to have their streets de-iced must run outside and shout, "Beet juice! Beet juice! Beet juice!"
Read about thawing in the Mudd.

We're announcing this a day early so you can still catch a last minute super-saver over there. East Anglia Potato Day is tomorrow. Here you can buy your Yorkshire rhubarb crowns (we have no idea,) taste some chips, swap some seeds and hear a talk on "The Commonwealth Potato Collection." Might this include common-taters? See November 8, 2007.
FYI: The Library of Congress Subject Heading for potatoes is "potatoes."

Bach, Beethoven, Brahms? Pffft. In our never-ending quest to provide the newest, the oddest, the anti-top-ten-est music, we present in today's CD pile some piano works with a warning label, "Doo-dah" on saxophones, art songs by a German composer in English sung by a German guy and music inspired by paintings. The Mudd collection: not for the faint of heart.

On this day in 1987 Liberace went to that great diamond-studded, fur lined Cadillac in the sky. You young folk may not hear the word "flamboyant" much these days, but this gentleman was the textbook definition. Wisconsin claims him as its own since he was born in West Allis and, as you can see, he also did a few years in Sheboygan

On January 16, 1940 the Milwaukee Journal reported on his debut with the Chicago Symphony at Milwaukee's Pabst Theater. It appears that it took a while to develop his signature style:

"Walter Liberace, a member of the excellent group of young Milwaukee pianists ... was heard Monday night at the Pabst as soloist with the Chicago Symphony orchestra. . . .
"Mr. Liberace, a strikingly good looking young man with a most engaging personality, had won the honor of an appearance with the orchestra in a local competition . . . The young artist was at no time in difficulty, but it was apparent that he was proceeding with infinite care, and the swaggering approach that goes so well with Liszt (Liberace had chosen to play Liszt's Second Concerto in A) was somewhat missed."

Among today's new CDs we have the largest multi-disc CD set in existence: Jacqueline Du Pré and everything she ever recorded on EMI. And, to cleanse your palate after all that cello music, an opera that's really not and a little live jazz.

Dateline, Appleton, Wis., January 28, 1908.

A "daily news special" reported out of Milwaukee stated that "at the close of the present semester this week" Lawrence University students "will have to sign an agreement not to frequent billiard or pool rooms or they will not be allowed to re-enter."

President Plantz got the names of a number of boys "who for some time have visited local billiard rooms." These boys received letters "advising them to desist from the practice or take expulsion from the college as a penalty." He then went on to say any student who refused to abide by this rule and wished to attend a college with less stringent rules would receive a letter of recommendation from him. Don't let the door hit you on the way out.

You can find out a lot more about LU and Samuel Plantz in the University Archives.

Silver discs, silver discs. It's CD time in the city. Today we have recorder chamber music, some Dylan, some Flying Pizzarellis, more jazz, music for strings, plus a lot more.

They're the ships of the desert. They make lovely suit coats. They entice children to smoke. They're camels! And today and tomorrow they have their own festival in Bikaner, India. The Bikaner Camel Festival is a tribute paid to these animals upon whom the people of Bikaner depend for their existence. This region even formed an "elite camel corps," active during the first and second World Wars.

The Mudd has a book about, you guessed it, camels in the U.S. army.

Got some travel funds left over? How about suggesting a little trip for your boss/supervisor/overlord? The World Congress on Neck Pain is going on today and tomorrow in Los Angeles. For light entertainment read some of the program topics and substitute "a pain in the neck" for "neck pain." Example: "The Burden and Determinants of Neck Pain in the General Population."
We are stunned to report that we have books on neck pain in the Mudd.

On January 18, 1944 the "All American Jazz Band" played the first jazz concert ever presented at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York. The players were chosen as a result of a poll conducted by Esquire Magazine. This jam session was held in conjunction with the awarding of $10,000 in war bonds to these poll winners:

trumpet: Louis Armstrong (first), Cootie William (second)
clarinet: Benny Goodman, Barney Bigard
trombone: Jack Teagarden, Lawrence Brown
saxophone: Coleman Hawkins, Johnny Hodges
bass: Oscar Pettiford, Milton Hinton and Al Morgan (tied for second)
guitar: Al Casey, Oscar Moore
drums: Sidney Catlett, Cozy Cole
piano: Art Tatum, Earl Hines
odd instruments: Red Norvo and Lionel Hampton, tied
Armed Forces favorites: Artie Shaw, Willie Smith and Dave Tough (tied for second)
female vocalists: Billie Holiday, Mildred Bailey
male vocalists: Louis Armstrong, Leo Watson

The Mudd has Esquire Magazine's Jazz Book from 1944, 1945 and 1946 containing information on the All-American Jazz Band plus articles on jazz, jazz players and jazz records.

It was only a matter of time before someone thought of this: Carmen Miranda's saucy tropical hit, "Mama Yo Quiero" sung in Yiddish and Portuguese.
If you are itching for some more, the Mudd does have one Carmen Miranda recording.

On January 9, 1793, the first manned flight in America took place in Philadelphia, with President George Washington in attendance. Here is a first-person account written the day after, as recorded in The Principles, History & Use of Air-Balloons, which the Mudd has access to.

Mr. Blanchard, the bold aeronaut, agreeably to his advertisement, at five minutes past ten o'clock yesterday morning, rose with a balloon from the Prison Court in this city, in presence of an immense concourse of spectators there assembled on the occasion. The process of inflating the balloon commenced about nine o'clock. Several cannon were fired from the dawn of day until the moment of elevation. A band of music played during the time of inflating; and, when it began to rise, the majestical sight was truly awful and interesting. The slow movement of the band added solemnity to the scene. Indeed the attention of the multitude was so absorbed, that it was a considerable time ere silence was broke by the acclamations which succeeded.
          As soon as the clock had struck ten, every thing being practically ready, Mr. Blanchard took a respectful leave of all the spectators, and received from the hands of the President a paper; at the same time the President spoke a few words to this bold adventurer, who was immediately leaped into his boat, which was painted blue and spangled. The balloon was of a yellowish colored silk, highly varnished, over which there was a strong net-work. Mr. Blanchard was dressed in a plain blue suit, a cocked hat, and white feathers. As soon as he was in the boat, he threw out some ballast, and the balloon began to ascend slowly and perpendicularly. After a few minutes, the wind blowing from the northward and westward, the balloon rose to an immense height, and then shaped its course towards the southward and eastward. Several gentlemen galloped down the point road, but soon left sight of it, for it moved at the rate of 20 miles an hour.
          Great numbers, who had neglected to purchase tickets, were afflicted with considerable regret at not having been immediately present in the Prison Court to see the preparations, and to witness the undaunted countenance of the man who thus sublimely dared to soar through the regions of the air. Anxiety for the safety of the aeronaut was painted on every face from the time citizens lost sight of him, and various were the conjectures as to the place where he would descend.
          About half after six o'clock last evening we were happy to meet Mr. Blanchard again in this city, going to pay his respects to the President of the United States. He informed us that his aerial voyage lasted 46 minutes, in which time he ran over a space of more than 15 miles. And the descended a little to the eastward of Woodbury in the states of New Jersey, where he took a carriage and returned to Cooper's Ferry, and was at the President's at half past six o'clock last evening.

We get gifts. Most of the time they're a welcome addition to the collection. Today's CDs come from the library of a fine gentleman who passed away recently. As you can see, he enjoyed music - all kinds of music. And spooky Halloween sounds.

Oi, it seemed like the winter break would never end. Now back to business.
Today begins the IARP/EURON Workshop on Robotics for Risky Interventions and Environmental Surveillance. On this site you will find terms like "suitable modularised mechanised structure" (possibly the right size robot?,) "suspected or real disaster" and "swarm of robots." This site was last modified "on 06/01/2008" so there's some time travel involved, too.
The Mudd has much on robotics. Robots. Is there anything can't they do?

Today's first CD pile is a piano-rama, with the exception of one flute (AND piano) recording that slipped in there. And for good measure we bring you another bunch featuring choruses, orchestra, chamber music and music for wind ensemble.

It may surprise the young folk out there that what is widely considered to be the first rock 'n' roll recording was done three years before Bill Haley and the Comets did "Rock Around the Clock." Jackie Brenston and the Kings of Rhythm recorded "Rocket 88" in 1951, a recording which had nothing to do with either the space program (then non-existent) or a piano. It was an Oldsmobile. Again, ask your granddad. Please enjoy the audio on this clip and ignore the wildy inappropriate video. We have a recording in the Mudd, too.
One of the people responsible for that 1951 recording died today. Ike Turner, probably more widely known as the Svengali/abusive husband to Tina Turner, was 76. Ike and Tina were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1991.

We can hardly keep ahead of the onslaught. For all of you who have been clamoring for CDs featuring doughnuts, trombone, didjeridu and Brahms piano music, too, today is your day. You can get everything you want in the Mudd's latest CD pile.

Today's new CD pile takes you from Bach to Takemitsu with a stop for some American composers. Take a look.

Frank Sinatra would have been 92 today. That's all (which is a great song and the Mudd has it.) Enjoy some Sinatra, too.

This latest bunch of CDs carries on the Mudd tradition of bringing you just about every kind of music you desire. Today if you want vocal music, we've got it, both jazz and classical. How about cello? Some nice string quartets? Does symphonic music float your boat? Done, done, done and done.

Discover is the greatest periodical. Naturally the Mudd subscribes to it. The latest issue (January, 2008) has "20 Things You Didn't Know About Snow." We'll let you read about the other 19, but this one is a doozy: Too much snow can drive a person crazy. It seems pibloktoq, a little understood hysteria, can "cause senseless repetition of overheard words and running around naked in the snow." Since our area is getting another 2 or 3 inches today (on top of what we already have,) this caught our eye. Since our area is getting another 2 or 3 inches today (on top of what we already have,) this caught our eye. Since our area is getting another 2 or 3 inches today (on top of what we already have,) this caught our eye.

Who has to win the award for the hippest minister ever? Why Little Richard, of course, whose birthday is celebrated today.

Listen to a few versions of Tutti Frutti, including one by Pat Boone (ask you granddad.) For the real thing, watch the master at work on Long Tall Sally, and then compare the version by a very fine cover band. This recording we've got.
Rolling Stone has an item about the bizarre rivalry between Pat Boone and Little Richard.

It's December. It's cold. There's snow. That means two things are certain: fewer students wearing shorts and flip-flops, and the concert season is in full swing. Today's CD pile features some fine performances by well-known artists, and some home-grown talent on LU Conservatory CDs. We'll be dribbling in more LU CDs on future CD piles.

It was a very sad day in 2001. George Harrison died of cancer in Los Angeles. Those of you who remember the 20-something George will be stunned to see his son Dhani who looks exactly like him. This clip is from "Concert for George," organized a year after his death by his widow Olivia and his friend Eric Clapton, who, incidentally used to be married to George's ex-wife Pattie Boyd.
If you're under 30 you can get a good sense of George on the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame website. And the Mudd has a few of his recordings.

We love to sing-a about the moon-a and the June-a and the spring-a. All of our CDs in today's pile contain vocal music. We've got chants, art song favorites with violin obbligato, and opera excerpts. For good measure we've also got some chamber music with and without voice.

On this day in 1942 possibly the most famous interpreter of the United States national anthem was born. Listen to the greatest left-handed guitar version performed outside a stadium or arena.
The Mudd has several recordings of riffs on Jimi Hendrix.

Sometimes our CD collection has such depth and breadth we can hardly stand it. Today we offer CDs containing piano trios; choral music; an Orff work probably new to you; chants that are, to say the least, unusual and a '50's pop vocal quartet.

Todays' new CD pile is prid near all Miles Davis. We threw in a little Coltrane, Wayne Shorter, Herbie Hancock, Tony Williams and a couple of Ben Allisons, too.

We completely missed another hugely interesting resource here at the Mudd: American Broadsides and Ephemera. Since this collection comes from the same company that gave us Early American Imprints, 1801-1819, you can do a "curiosities and wonders" search here, too. The Mudd: for all your curiosities and wonders needs.

We don't often wish we were in Los Angeles, but we do now. The Hammer Museum at UCLA is hosting Extraodrinary Exhibitions: Broadsides from the Collections of Ricky Jay from now until November 25. The exhibit features "80 examples of 17th-, 18th-, and 19th-century ephemeral advertising sheets known as broadsides...with an emphasis on remarkable entertainers and visual deceptions." Today's New York Times has an interview with Mr. Jay along with some amazing examples and descriptions from the exhibit.
The Mudd subscribes to Early American Imprints, 1801-1819 which includes the subject category "Curiosities and wonders." Here you can find your "Great anaconda or the terrific serpent of Java," a little tamer fare than Mr. Jay's singing mouse, enormous head, or living skeleton.

On this day 40 years ago Rolling Stone published its first issue. The title comes from the Bob Dylan song "Like a rolling stone". It looked a little different back then - no shiny glossy cover. But its founder Jann Wenner is still the editor and publisher.

The obvious choice for the first cover was John Lennon, a popular entertainer at that time who composed, sang and played guitar, and who'd just finished filming the Richard Lester film How I Won the War.

The Mudd subscribes to Rolling Stone and keeps the paper copies for a year. We also have R.S. on microfilm from January, 1978 to June, 2002 for all your fogey rock needs.

It's Saxophone Day! It's a woodwind made of metal! It's named after a real guy whose birthday is today! It comes in all different sizes! And what could be cooler than a saxophone, or for that matter, a saxophone player? Once you get past the shades and the slouching demeanor, you'll find a hug-able human being. So go hug one.
The Mudd has a boat load of recordings, scores and videos featuring the saxophone. Of course there's Coltrane. But we also feature a composer who writes for saxophone(s) and ghettoblaster. For the less adventurous, how about some saxophone quartets?

The Gunpowder Plot of 1605, in which a bunch of conspirators in England tried to blow stuff up, occurred on this day. It's celebrated as Guy Fawkes Night, Bonfire Night, Fireworks Night, Cracker Night or Plot Night. In any case, explosions and fire are the order the day.
Today's New York Times has a pretty sad photo of a rugby club viewing a film of a bonfire last year on Guy Fawkes Night. It's a sorry state of affairs when the mayhem-loving British must discard their customs. But one rogue town will not be moved: "...the Slough Borough Council...decided not to have a bonfire this year. (It will have fireworks, though, along with an Asian Elvis impersonator.)"
Read all about him (Guy Fawkes, not Elvis) in the Mudd.

We've got not one, but TWO new CD piles today: The first one is string-crazy. The second is a mish mash of vocals, instrumental, orchestral, jazz and your favorites from the Great Depression.

It was 38 years ago today that the first internet message was sent. On October 29, 1969, the word "Lo" was sent from UCLA to Stanford via the network then called the ARPANET. They were trying to send the message "log in," but the system crashed before they could send the "g." UCLA did a big thing for the 35th anniversary in 2004. Naturally the Mudd has a book mentioning the ARPANET.
That same day across the continent, a work by Jon Hassell for four players with hand-held magnetic tape heads, Superball, was premiered in Ithaca, N.Y. They were so last century.

Eli Whitney applied for a patent on the cotton gin on this day in 1793, a patent he was granted March 14, 1794. The U.S. Patent Office web site states: "Eli Whitney watched a cat pull feathers through a cage -- it was how he thought of the invention now known as the cotton gin." One must wonder: as Eli watched this disturbing scene, did he do nothing to rescue the unfortunate player in this "light bulb" moment? For surely these feathers were attached to some hapless bird who was trapped in that cage.

Let's hoist a glass to Eli Whitney and the cotton gin, a name and an invention inextricably linked in grade school and barely thought about since then. And read about all kinds of American inventors.

Here at the Mudd we're nothing if not eclectic. This latest CD pile has Bach cello transcriptions for piano and a new St. Matthew passion, "Professor Bad Trip," and Donaueschinger Musiktage 2002. Who could ask for anything more?

Pablo Picasso was born on this day in 1881. On Oct. 25, 1955 Tappan sold its first microwave oven. It cost $1,200. That same year Picasso painted this pitcher. It's worth $8,000-12,000. If only he'd had access to a microwave, maybe he could have melted the actual pitcher and painted it the way it REALLY looked instead of having to use his imagination.
Here's a super cool Picasso site from Texas A & M University.

National Mole Day is today. Please choose from the following the type of mole that is being recognized:

1) the kind that lives in the ground
2) the kind that lives on your skin
3) the kind who infiltrates an organization
4) a spicy sauce made with chilies and usually chocolate
5) a mass (in grams) whose number is equal to the atomic mass of the molecule

If you said #5 you would probably fall down laughing at this joke that passes for humor in chemistry circles:

Q: What did Avogadro teach his students in math class?
A: Moletiplication

Curl up by the fire with a book on molecular theory.