Executive Chef Christina Comerford - State Dinner menu (April 24, 2018) - White House insider information

www.cnn.com/ coverage
https://www.cnn.com/2018/04/23/politics/white-house-state-dinner-macron-trump/index.html

Tuesday (April 24, 2018) evening's menu is a careful study in American cuisine with "nuances of French influence." Comerford drew inspiration from "the wondrous first harvest of spring," for the first course, which features greens from the White House kitchen garden, first planted by Michelle Obama and a tradition carried on by Melania Trump.

Guests will dine on a goat cheese gateau, tomato jam, and buttermilk biscuit crumbles before moving on to a Cajun-inspired main course of spring lamb and Carolina gold rice jambalaya. For dessert, a nectarine tart "infused with White House honey and accented by crème fraîche ice cream."

Wine selection was also chosen with the French-American friendship in mind. The Domaine Serene Chardonnay "Evenstad Reserve" 2015 was grown from French plants from Dijon "that thrive in the volcanic Oregon soil." The Domaine Drouhin Pinot Noir "Laurène" 2014 "uses the motto 'French soul--Oregon soil.'"

Happy Birthday, William Shakespeare!

born 23rd April (?) at Stratford-on-Avon -- his baptism was recorded on April 26, 1564 at parish church

GOOGLE Background information =
According to tradition, the great English dramatist and poet William Shakespeare is born in Stratford-on-Avon on April 23, 1564. It is impossible to be certain the exact day on which he was born, but church records show that he was baptized on April 26, and three days was a customary...

Niles Area Community Orchestra (performance at Niles District Library, Niles, Michigan 49120) - April 22, 2018

NACO -- announcement posted at www.nileslibrary.com/

Sunday, April 22, 2018 4 p.m. – 6 p.m.

DescriptionThe Niles Area Community Orchestra welcomes you to enjoy their annual classical music concert. From Haydn to Bach, NACO invites you to join them on this musical journey.

Weekly Quiz results (Multi-choice in categories of News, Politics, World, Sports, Pulitzer Prize award)

from New York Times -- online quiz [ my score 12 / 12 ]

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/04/20/briefing/20weeklynewsquiz.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=second-column-region&region=top-news&WT.nav=top-news

"Stars of heavens" quote - Shakespeare's play "Romeo and Juliet"

William Shakespeare > Quotes > Quotable Quote

“When he shall die,
Take him and cut him out in little stars,
And he will make the face of heaven so fine
That all the world will be in love with night
And pay no worship to the garish sun.”

― William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet

Quotation used in Barbara Bush funeral (St. Martin's Episcopal Church, Houston) - April 21, 2018

Jane Austen > Quotes > Quotable Quote

“I declare after all there is no enjoyment like reading! How much sooner one tires of any thing than of a book! -- When I have a house of my own, I shall be miserable if I have not an excellent library.”

― Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice

Hymn published 1790

1 Amazing grace! How sweet the sound
that saved a wretch like me!
I once was lost, but now am found,
was blind, but now I see.

2 'Twas grace first taught my heart to fear
and grace my fears relieved;
how precious did that grace appear
the hour I first believed!

3 The Lord has promised good to me,
his word my hope secures;
he will my shield and portion be
as long as life endures.

4 Through many dangers, toils and snares
I have already come;
'tis grace that brought me safe thus far,
and grace will lead me home.

5 When we've been there ten thousand years
bright shining as the sun,
we've no less days to sing God's praise
than when we first begun.

Lyrid Meteor Shower (April 22, pre-dawn) -- South sky up to 20 meteors per hour visible

from Almanac dot-com (Old Farmer's Almanac):

• Which seasons? The time of the year for each shower is determined by when in Earth’s orbit it crosses the stream of meteoroids.
• Note that the “best” viewing times are usually predawn and late evening. In nearly all showers, the radiant is highest just before dawn. (The Geminid meteor showers are visible all night long, since Gemini arises just an hour or two after nightfall; the radiant is highest a little after midnight.) Sporadic meteors (unrelated to a shower and commonly called shooting stars) can be seen on any night, but increase in frequency after midnight and peak just before dawn.
• Starting around midnight, your location on the globe spins around to the forward-facing half of Earth (in relation to the direction of orbit). At dawn, your location on the globe directly faces the direction in which Earth is traveling along its orbit. So between midnight and dawn, you’ll be viewing the meteors head-on, for a more frequent display.
• You don’t need any special equipment. In fact, binoculars do not work for meteor showers. The naked eye is best.
• Spread a blanket on the ground and look up in the dark night sky.

Earthquake -- 3.6 Richter Scale -- April 19, 2018 -- epicenter near Detroit, Michigan USA

from Michigan Live! www.mlive.com/

Numerous people in the Detroit area are reporting on social media that they felt tremors.

The earthquake reportedly occurred about 8:15 p.m. Thursday, April 19, 2018.

A 3.6 magnitude earthquake falls with in II and III on the Modified Mercalli Intensity Scale, according to USGS, which means:

It is "felt only by a few persons at rest, especially on upper floors of buildings."

It is "felt quite noticeably by persons indoors, especially on upper floors of buildings. Many people do not recognize it as an earthquake. Standing motor cars may rock slightly. Vibrations similar to the passing of a truck."

http://www.mlive.com/news/detroit/index.ssf/2018/04/a_36_magnitude_earthquake_occu.html

State Dinner - FLOTUS invites GOP only -- No members of Press invited either for Tues. Evening April 24, 2018 (only 150 total)

from POLITICO coverage (Friday 4/20/2018) -- as reported by "The Hill" dot-com

 President Trump and FLOTUS will host French President Emmanuel Macron and Mrs. Macron April 24, 2018 for the Administration's first state dinner (after 15 months), no Democrats or members of the media will be in attendance.

Politico reported on Friday (April 20) that Trump has not invited any Democratic lawmakers to the Tuesday dinner, nor has he extended invitations to members of the media — a departure from past state dinners (since 1789).

Of the roughly 150 people that are set to attend the dinner, only four are members of Congress: House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.); Rep. Ed Royce, the chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee; and Sens. John Kennedy (R-La.) and Bill Cassidy (R-La.), according to Politico.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) was invited, but is unable to attend, Politico reported. Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) was not extended an invite.

Lea Berman, the White House social secretary under former President George W. Bush, told Politico that the exclusion of Democrats and members of the media is "a break with tradition."

During the last state dinner for a French president, Macron's predecessor François Hollande, then-President Obama featured lawmakers from both parties, and an appearance by singer Mary J. Blige.

Also at that dinner were a number of representatives from major news outlets. CNN President Jeff Zucker was there, as was Jill Abramson, then The New York Times's top editor. Representatives from other media companies, like The Associated Press and Reuters, were also present.

http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/384195-trump-shuts-democrats-and-media-out-of-first-state-dinner

What is the Jubilees "Palimpsest Project"? -- ancient scribal writing discovery and exegesis

The Jubilees Palimpsest Project

The Jubilees Palimpsest project is devoted to recovering illegible text from ancient manuscripts through new tools in digital archaeology.

The project will recover an ancient collection of books attributed to Moses and an interpretation of the Gospel of Luke. These writings reflect major movements and debates in early Judaism and Christianity. Later, they were rejected by the mainstream and nearly lost forever.

The technology allows Hanneken and the project team to distribute, without cost, not only the textual discoveries, but the experience of working with the manuscript as a cultural artifact. For many students and scholars, this interactive online copy will be the closest they come to handling a fifth-century manuscript.

more about this at faculty page for Todd R. Hanneken, St. Mary's University, San Antonio, TX webpage =

Todd R. Hanneken, Ph.D., studies the Hebrew Bible in the context of Jewish literature in antiquity, including the Dead Sea Scrolls, the non-canonical books, Josephus, Philo and Rabbinic literature.

His publications and presentations focus on apocalyptic literature and the Book of Jubilees, a book that was authoritative among the Dead Sea Scrolls but omitted from European bibles.

Hanneken teaches biblical and related Jewish literature in the context of the variety of interpretations in the Jewish and Christian traditions, historical-critical and contemporary-critical approaches.

https://www.stmarytx.edu/academics/faculty/todd-hanneken/

The Book of Jubilees PALIMPSEST PROJECT Conference (May 15 - 17, 2018) at Notre Dame, University campus

http://jubilees.stmarytx.edu/2018/201805Workshop.html

http://jubilees.stmarytx.edu/

RECENT DEVELOPMENTS

& THE FUTURE OF SCHOLARSHIP & TEACHING ANCIENT SCRIBAL HERITAGE

Workshop on Mirador and WebRTI: tools for the study of spectrally enhanced images, texture, and annotations for scholarly collaboration

Latin Moses (Jubilees and the Testament of Moses): digital tools and what we are learning from them

Additional palimpsests at the Biblioteca Ambrosiana: sample pages imaged in 2017 and prospectus for future work.

All meetings are free and open to the public.

Tuesday, May 15, 2018

1:00 pm, Opening Session

Todd R. Hanneken, St. Mary’s University, The Next Generation of Digital Tools for the Study of Manuscripts

3:00 pm, Workshop

Web-based tools for spectral enhancement, collaborative annotation, and texture visualization
A hands-on tour of Mirador and WebRTI, including how to use and interpret spectrally-enhanced images, how to view and add annotations such as transcriptions, and how to visualize texture using interactive relighting

Wednesday, May 16

9:00 am, Workshop

Digital tools for the study of Latin Moses (Jubilees and the Testament of Moses)
A.M. Ceriani’s 1861 edition in photographic reproduction and TEI XML, Dillmann’s translation which influenced Ceriani, annotations of manuscript images, paleography chart, other translations

1:00 pm, Featured Presentation

James C. VanderKam, University of Notre Dame, The Transmission and Reception of the Book of Jubilees

3:00 pm, Workshop

The Arian Commentary on Luke and pages from Origen’s Hexapla, Wulfila’s Gothic Bible, and as-of-yet unidentified palimpsests.

Thursday, May 17

9:00 am, Workshop

Prospects for imaging additional manuscripts at the Ambrosiana and elsewhere

1:00 pm, Featured Presentation

Annette Y. Reed, New York University, Palimpsests, Remembering, and Forgetting

3:00 pm, Closing Discussion

Goals and desiderata for the role of digital tools for manuscript studies in scholarship and teaching ancient literature

4:00 pm, Additional Advanced Workshop

Creating advanced images from raw multispectral capture data
ImageJ, the SpectralRTI_Toolkit, and principles of multispectral image processing