Labor Day Potpourri from Author Andy Zach

Labor Day Potpourri from Author Andy Zach. “What’s potpourri?” you ask.

It’s whatever I’ve found over the past month or so on the internet.

First, from Facebook, it’s take your cat to work day.

What’s ‘Labor Day’? It’s the US holiday where we celebrate workers by giving them a day off.

Sam Melvin goes from reporter to detective. Zombie detective.

Zombie Detective cover
Labor Day Potpourri — Zombie Detective cover

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Labor Day Potpourri – Get Some Libraries Here

I love libraries. Do you? Let me know.

Where do you think this one is?

Answer below.

The Royal Portuguese Reading Room or Real Gabinete Português de Leitura, is a public library in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Elected the fourth most beautiful library in the world by Time magazine, it has the largest collection of Portuguese literature outside Portugal.

How about this library? Where is it and how big is it?

The clock is ticking.

The answer is next.

The largest library collection in the world is the British Library in London, with a range from 170 to 200 million items! Recognized for its history and architecture, it contains copies of every book produced in the United Kingdom and Ireland, in multiple languages and formats in print and digital. Before its establishment as the British Library, this collection of materials and books was a part of the British Museum until 1973. The Library is recognized as a research library, so it also contains scripts, databases, maps, and more in addition to its extensive book collection. Every year, another 3 million or so reading materials are added into the British Library!

Slang terms from the 1930s

Don’t you hate it when some kaylied up nogoodnik blows your wig at the juke? If you’ve ever been there, or if you have no idea what that means, here are 20 slang terms from the 1930s that you can floss.

Given that the suffix –nik denotes a person associated with something, nogoodnik is, expectedly, a word for someone who’s nothing but trouble.

The largest number we have a name for is the googolplex, or 10 raised to the 10^100 power. In the 1930s, people had a less precise approach to unfathomable quantities—they used bazillion to exaggerate large and indefinite numbers of things.The 1930s-era slang term ‘blow one’s wig’ has a couple of meanings. / John M Lund Photography Inc/DigitalVision/Getty Images

A bazillion of something, whether dollars in your bank account or cars in a line of traffic, might make you blow your wig. In the former situation, the phrase would refer to feelings of happiness or excitement, but according to Cassell’s Dictionary of Slang, blowing one’s wig could also refer to someone feeling furious—which could definitely be the case in the latter situation.

(More here)

Labor Day Potpourri – My Favorite Videos This Month

The little truck that could

And another favorite video/audio pair.

He transcribed this piece and then performed it.

Russian pianist Vasily Kurachen transcribed this piece from Vladimir Horowitz’s recording and then performed it. Pay attention to the amazed expressions of the orchestra members. What did Horowitz’s recording sound like?

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