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Recently while waiting for a bus, my ears were assaulted simultaneously by the sounds of construction equipment, sirens, car horns and the whiz of traffic. My ears hurt. Yet, when I saw two sparrows pecking on the sidewalk for food, I noticed that they seemed oblivious to all the noise. I thought to myself, “How could such small creatures (a sparrow weighs approximately 0.85 – 1.4 ounces) with ears that are tiny holes on the side of their heads covered with feathers, withstand such a high frequency of noise. I then thought, “Is it possible that these birds are deaf?”  I discovered that I’m not the only one intrigued by birds and their hearing. Stanford University scientists are actively studying why birds never go totally deaf yet we humans do. Their research is showing that birds can regrow damaged hair cells in their inner ears - an amazing anatomical feat. So where exactly are these hair cells located and how do they work? First, let's look at the anatomy of the human ear. The ear is made up of three parts: the outer ear, the middle ear and the inner ear. These microscopic hair cells, which birds can regrow, are located in the cochlea of the inner ear. The cochlea is shaped like a small snail and is about the size of a pea. It is fluid-filled and lined with these tiny hairs (there are about 15,000 in the human ear) Vibrations are transmitted as waves from the outer ear to the eardrum. The eardrum passes the vibrations along through three tiny bones, the malleus, incus and stapes. They pass vibrations to the cochlea. The vibrations pass through the cochlea fluid and over the tiny hair cells in a wave-like motion creating electrical signals which are sent to the brain via the via the cochlea nerve. At the end of this process, we are able to hear the sounds created by the initial vibrations from our outer ear.  Healthy hair cells can be likened to wheat standing tall in a field. In humans, these tiny hair cells die for various reasons: injuries, aging and loud noises.  Dead hair cells look like a wheat field pelted by heavy rain which don’t grow back in humans.  Scientists are working to unravel this mystery of how birds can regenerate cochlear hair cells. And the discovery and identification of gene mutations related to cochlea hair cell degeneration, offers another avenue to pursue in their quest to find a way to regenerate healthy hair cells. If, and when they do, it holds out the promise that one day we could be like our feathered friends and never go permanently deaf. I hope this post gives you a renewed appreciation of the sense of hearing, how our ears work and the wonder of birds.     Spiro, Ruth. Baby loves the five senses: hearing! Watertown, MA, Charlesbridge, 2019.  Sibley, David. Sibley guide to birds. 2nd ed., New York, Knopf, 2014 . 
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A few years ago, I watched from my window what I thought was the construction of a new apartment building. I was wrong. Instead, I discovered it was a new self-storage facility: seven floors with 800+ units, air conditioned with an elevator and security cameras. It was then I became intrigued with the self-storage business. And it’s a huge and growing industry. It’s estimated that there are 49,233 facilities in the US alone. These are the largest companies and the top six are publicly traded: Public Storage Extra Space Storage CubeSmart Life Storage National Storage Affiliates U-Haul StorageMart Prime Storage Group SmartShop Asset Management Metro Storage LLC There are smaller enterprises which are privately owned. Here are statistics gleaned from Self-Storage Almanac, the go-to industrial resource. It was first published in 1985: Self-storage facilities users: 79% Residential 14% Businesses 4% Military 3% Students 32% Baby Boomers (1946 – 1964) 32% Generation X (1965 – 1981) 28% Millennials (1982 – 2000) 8% Greatest Generation (1901 – 1924 & over age 75) Most common sizes and average mid-Atlantic monthly cost (2020): 5’ x 5’ $56.48 5’ x 10’ $81.67 10’ x 10’ $131.79 10’ x 15’ $166.00 10’ x 20’ $190.69 Length of Rental – Residential Users: < 3 months 23.6% 3 – 6 months 17.2% 7 – 12 months 19.9% 1 – 2 years 26.5% Longer than 2 years 23.5% Most common reasons for getting a self-storage unit: Moving Lack of space at home Downsizing/Retirement Death Divorce These statistics lead me to explore the psychology behind our compulsive drive to acquire things and the guilt of too much stuff and not enough room for it. Frequent reasons cited that encourage us to collect stuff: Memories, eras of our lives, our past selves, aspirations, the death of loved ones, achievements and security. Self-storage goes hand-in-hand with the currently popular trend of minimalism, professional organizing and our fascination with hoarding side-by- side with traditional collecting. There a spectrum of stuff and a range of responses to help us manage it or rid ourselves of it. Series such as “Hoarders” and “Storage Wars” sparked visibility and interest in hoarding and storage unit auctions. Collecting junk isn’t restricted to the human race, the animal kingdom has its own popular hoarders: pack rats. They gather all sorts of things and store them in their nests that can extend up to four feet in length. Traditionally, we stored our stuff in our basements, garages and attics or those of family and friends. With growing consumerism and cheaper prices, people buy and keep more things. We now outsource much of our stuff to the self-storage industry. A viable alternative in the near future might be self-storage facilities in outer space as the commercial space business grows and becomes less expensive. Ironically, though, even in outer space, junk is a growing concern. More than 27,000 pieces of orbital debris, or “space junk,” are tracked by the Department of Defense's global Space Surveillance Network (SSN) sensors. Much more debris -- too small to be tracked, but large enough to threaten human spaceflight and robotic missions -- exists in the near-Earth space environment. I hope this post gives you an introduction to the U.S. self-storage industry and a few of the reasons that are fueling this flourishing sector of our economy. And perhaps, it’ll give you pause to consider the stuff in your own life and what you want to do with it.    Decker, Jessica. 365 days of organizing : a little help every day to become organized. Bowker, 2020.     www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/news/orbital_debris.htmlhttps://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/news/orbital_debris.html
I walk a lot so I see many weeds. I became intrigued by their grit and resiliency. My curiosity opened up a whole new world to me. I even discovered that there are people in universities who study weeds and their properties. Seemingly innocuous and ingenious, weeds form a large part of our natural and urban landscapes. I’d like to broaden your knowledge of and appreciation for them. Weeds are plants that wind up in places they don’t belong, spread by forces of nature: wind, animals (hiding in fur and feathers), ocean currents and human activities. The modern shipping and airline industries gave weeds more efficient ways to travel from one place to another. Away from the predators and diseases that keep them in check in their places of origin, they become invasive and damage the natural balance of ecosystems. Expositions in the late 1800s were places where some plants, now invasive in the US, were showcased for the beauty of their lush foliage and exotic flowers. Their beauty belied their noxious even toxic traits. Kudzu is one of these mythic weeds. Bill Finch’s Smithsonian article puts kudzu history in the US in prospective: "The true story of kudzu, the vine that never truly ate the South: a naturalist cuts through the myths surrounding the invasive plant". https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/true-story-kudzu-vine-ate-south-180956325/ Weeds are tenacious and hardy but much misaligned. They can be exotic, invasive, benign and poisonous. Some have medicinal and culinary uses. They can be found flourishing in abandoned lots, sidewalk cracks, fields and farms and even in our curated gardens. Weeds have an ability to thrive with a bit of sun, small amounts of soil and space plus many are drought-resistant. Perhaps, one day, these strengths that lie in their genes will be harnessed. When you’re out walking, keep your eyes peeled. You’ll be astonished by the array of weeds that you’ll see. Here are photos of two local weeds. I found them thriving in an empty lot on Bloomfield Avenue.  Pokeweed  Princess Tree Below are some websites to help you widen your weed worldview. Cornell University has a weed garden news.cornell.edu/stories/2015/08/garden-offers-living-library-weeds-poisonous-plants Cornell’s Weed Science Program develops educational programs and conducts applied research in weed biology and management for growers of vegetables, grapes, turf, and ornamentals in the field, containers, and in the landscape. Check out the Weed Science Society of America which was founded in 1956. It is a non-profit professional society promoting research, education, and awareness of weeds in managed and natural ecosystems. https://wssa.net/ Find local weeds in the Rutgers Weed Gallery https://njaes.rutgers.edu/weeds/ There is a practical reason for familiarizing yourselves with weeds, too. Many are toxic to small children and pets. Google Lens app is option to help you ID weeds Another useful app is Picture This - Plant Identifier. The New Jersey Poison Control Center https://www.njpies.org/hotline/ The ASPCA website contains a list of toxic and non-toxic weeds and plants for dogs, cats and horses https://www.aspca.org/pet-care/animal-poison-control/toxic-and-non-toxic-plants/a And I discovered that there are Weed Warrior programs which use volunteers help control the growth of invasive weeds. One example, is in Montgomery, MD https://www.montgomeryparks.org/caring-for-our-parks/natural-spaces/weed-warriors/ I’ll end here on a more positive note. Who knows what benefits will be derived from weeds once their virtues ARE discovered.  Bibliography  Del Tredici, Peter. Wild urban plants of the Northeast: a field guide. Ithaca, NY, Cornell University Press, 2010.  Stewart, Amy. Wicked plants: the weed that killed Lincoln's mother & other botanical atrocities. Chapel Hill, NC: Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill, 2009.  Mabey, Richard. Weeds: in defense of nature's most unloved plants. New York, HarperCollins, 2010.  Jenson - Elliott, Cindy. Weeds find a way. New York, Beach Lane Books, 2014.  Souza, D.M. Plant invaders. New York, Franklin Watts, 2003.  Jones, Pamela. Just weeds: history, myths, and uses. New York, Prentice Hall, 1981.  Rollin Spencer, Edwin. All about weeds. New York, Dover Publications, 1974.
A mysterious computer coder known as Satoshi Nakamoto is credited with inventing bitcoin in 2008. The name Satoshi is a male name of Japanese origin that means Intelligent History. For a time, no one knew who Satoshi was. It was not even known if Satoshi was a single person or a group of people. There is some evidence that Satoshi Nakamoto might be Nick Szabo, an American attorney with strong ties to online cybercommunities. He has spent years experimenting with digital currency and is rarely in the public eye. You can read Nakamoto’s eight-page white paper, “Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System” at https://nakamotoinstitute.org/bitcoin. Nakamoto’s launch of bitcoin was his answer to the global financial crisis of 2007 – 2008 when the failure of banks and governments jeopardized the world economy. Bitcoin provides a way for direct financial transactions between individuals without the mediation of a bank or government. Many hope that cryptocurrencies will permanently replace fiat money, which is currency whose value is decreed by a government. “Fiat” comes from the Latin, meaning “determination by authority”. Items used for transactions and exchanges between individuals have evolved over centuries from bartering, trading stones and shells, gold and silver, metal coins, paper money, checks, credit and debit cards and most recently cryptocurrency. All currency whatever form it takes, to work well, has to have these qualities:
But there are many more, in the thousands at this point in time: Ethereum, Ripple, Litecoin, Tether to name a few. “Crypto” comes from the Greek word, “kryptos” meaning hidden or secret. It is aptly named since the creation of each bitcoin depends on a worldwide network of highly powered computers with specialized software solving highly complex cryptographic algorithms along with blockchain technology. Blockchain technology is a way of tracking, timestamping and verifying transactions, anywhere in the world, between two individuals using computers and smartphones. Each transaction sends out a message to the network where each computer is a node. Tracking and verifying each transaction is done by a “digital miner” or a group of people called a “mining pool”. The first to solve the algorithm is rewarded with a newly minted bitcoin. Once the puzzle is solved and the transaction is verified by the miner(s), the two pieces of the transaction get linked together.    Every ten minutes or so, multiple individual transactions are gathered into a block. This process repeats itself, over and over again, forming an ongoing, unbroken blockchain going back to the original transaction which is the “genesis block”. You may now understand how the miner(s) acquire Bitcoin but how does an ordinary person get it? First, you need a digital wallet which are specialized apps. There are many. Some are free; others charge a fee and offer options not available with a free digital wallet. To get your bitcoin, you can:
So, how has bitcoin measured up to the qualities listed above which are needed for a currency to work well? Recognizable & Widely Accepted Bitcoin is gaining in popularity and use. Its digital emblem appears regularly on multiple social media platforms (see below). BUT bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are subject to wide fluctuations in value over short periods of time. You could gain a lot but also lose everything quickly. Think of the stock market. It’s not FDIC insured and there is no central authority to regulate it. Interestingly, the lack of a central authority like a bank or government does not exclude your bitcoin transactions from US taxation. Each transaction is considered a taxable event. Notice 2014–21 is an IRS notice which explains how existing general tax principles apply to transactions using virtual currency. Durable Blockchain technology and cryptographic algorithms provide a high level of security making hacking more difficult, but not impossible. Decentralization means that cryptocurrency is distributed across a global network to help remove the risk of fraud and hacking that come with data being held in one centralized place like a bank. But if you lose or forget your password, a new password is NOT an option. Without a password, your cryptocurrency will be durable in your smartphone but NOT accessible. Portable Cryptocurrency is extremely portable on a smartphone or computer. The cryptocurrency is essentially weightless since it’s a bunch of specialized digital files that live on your device, unlike traditional coins or paper money. BUT its portability is dependent on having a smartphone or computer, reliable high-speed Internet access and electricity. Many people in the world still do not have access to all of the above. Divisible Traditional money can only be spent in amounts set by the governments and banks. Bitcoin can be spent in much smaller amounts up to 8 decimal places (0.00000001) called satoshis vs (0.01) for a US penny. This means that bitcoin can be used for very tiny purchases. Limited in supply To avoid a flood of bitcoins, Nakamoto allowed for 21 million bitcoins to be released into circulation over many years. The cryptographic algorithms will grow in difficulty for the remaining bitcoins as their number gets closer to the 21 million mark. Once the 21 million amount is reached, no more bitcoins will be created so the supply will remain limited, retain value and hedge inflationary pressures of traditional currency where the government prints more money leading to the supply outstripping demand resulting in decreased value. Make transactions more efficient and faster Bitcoin, and other cryptocurrencies transactions do not go through a central authority which increases the speed and transmission of the transactions. And miners that timestamp and verify each transaction are motivated by speed to be the first to get the bitcoin rewards. The speed at which miners process transactions is called the hash rate. Now, even large traditional financial institutions are looking at the efficiency and speed that blockchain technology offers. A reverse of their initial criticism. I hope that this blog post gives you some basics about cryptocurrency. There is a lot more to know and understand about cryptocurrency and blockchain technology both their promise and perils. I want to leave you with this important thought: Caveat emptor, a Latin term that means "let the buyer beware." Sources: Books: January, Brendan. Cryptocurrencies and the blockchain revolution. Minneapolis, MN, Twenty-First Century Books, 2021. Field, Jacob. Money: how to save, spend, and manage your moola! New York, Kingfisher, 2021. O'Neil, Andrew. My first guide to bitcoin: an easy read on the cryptic topic. hippocryptical publishing, 2020. Fernn, Ray. Bitcoin for babies: blockchain basics. Yoknee, LLC, 2017. Conley, Kate. Cryptocurrency. Chicago, IL, Norwood Press, 2020. Caras, Michael. Bitcoin money: a tale of Bitville discovering good money. 2019. Ferrie, Chris, and Marco Tomamichel. Blockchain for babies. Sourcebooks Jabberwocky, 2019. Largie, Anthony D. Bitcoin: the future of money. Vol. 5, Kemet Kids Books LLC, 2019. Bitcoin for babies. Code Babies Media, 2018. Harzog, Beverly, et al. How money works: the facts visually explained. New York, DK, 2017. Websites: Internal Revenue Service, www.irs.gov Notice 2014–21     "My first guide to bitcoin: an easy read on the cryptic topic" by Andrew O'Neil. 2020.  "Blockchain for babies" by Chris Ferrie and Marco Tomamichel. 2019.  "bitcoin for babies: blockchain basics" by Ray Fernn. 2017    "Bitcoin: the future of money (Kid's guide Volume 5)" by Anthony D. Largie. 2019.  Kings of crypto : one startup's quest to take cryptocurrency out of Silicon Valley and onto Wall Street by Jeff John Roberts. 2021.
I keep hearing comments in the media for the need to reduce our personal, corporate and global carbon footprints. What the heck is carbon and what does it have to do with a footprint? Before we dive into what a carbon footprint is, let's start with carbon, and as a gas, carbon dioxide (CO2). The word carbon comes from the Latin carbō (“charcoal”, “coal”). Coal, which is mainly carbon, is used as a fuel, are often referred to as a “fossil fuel”. It’s called “fossil fuel” because it comes from the chemical remains of prehistoric plants and animals. And carbon is a basic element necessary for life, too. Our bodies are estimated to be 18% carbon. Carbon, as a gas it's carbon dioxide (CO2), is one of a number of greenhouse gases (GHG) and the most common. But there are others, too. Let’s meet them now. https://climatekids.nasa.gov/greenhouse-cards/ (be sure to click on each card to see its front & back) Greenhouse gases (GHG) absorb and trap heat in the atmosphere like a greenhouse, hence their name and help warm our planet. Earth’s existence depends on an exquisite and delicate balance of heat and cold. A Goldilocks zone: not too hot and not too cold. Problems arise when this balance is thrown out of whack by the buildup of greenhouse gases (GHG) beyond the planet’s ability to use and/or absorb them. This disruption results in rising temperatures which is known as global warming. And global warming causes climate change with negative effects on our planet. Who came up with this idea of a carbon footprint? A carbon footprint is a concept which is related to, and grew out of an older idea of an ecological footprint, a concept invented in the early 1990s by Canadian ecologist William Rees and Swiss-born regional planner, Mathis Wackernagel at the University of British Columbia. I initially thought the concept of a carbon footprint would have been promoted by large and influential environmental organizations like the Nature Conservancy, or perhaps the Sierra Club. What I discovered next surprised me. Ironically, it was popularized by British Petroleum (BP) in their early 2000s ad campaign: “Beyond Petroleum” (BP). The BP ad campaign has been praised by some as being an exemplar of an oil corporation as a socially conscious company. Others have criticized it as presenting an inaccurate portrayal of the corporation. Disagreements aside, let’s explore what a carbon footprint is. It’s not visible like a footprint in the sand but everyone and everything has one. The term carbon footprint is defined as the amount of carbon dioxide (CO2) and other greenhouse gases (GHG), usually measured in tons (2,000 lbs.) or metric tons (2,204 lbs.) , being emitted into the Earth’s atmosphere by an organization, event, product or individual directly or indirectly. And the symbol is CO2e. Each of us contributes to greenhouse gas (GHG)emissions by everything we use, buy, eat, wear, how we travel and how we get around. The average carbon footprint for a person in the United States is 16 tons, one of the highest in the world. Globally, the average is closer to 4 tons per person. So, if your carbon footprint isn’t visible, how can you wrap your head around what a ton of carbon dioxide and other GHG looks like, let alone 16 tons, if you live in the US? In 2009, the United Nation’s climate talks in Copenhagen attempted to answer this question with the giant multi-media art installation by Millennium ART entitled, "CO2 CUBES: Visualize a Tonne of Change " https://youtu.be/ZfIM8f6nma4 . (best in full screen view) The cube is made of 12 shipping containers and measures 27′ x 27′ x 27′, the height of a three-story building. The CO2 CUBE represents one metric ton of carbon (2,204 pounds). It reflects the carbon footprint that an average citizen in an industrialized country produces in one month; this same amount is created by a U.S. citizen in only two weeks. The project's goal was that if the public could see the actual size of a ton of greenhouse gases (and not just imagine it), they would begin to understand their impact on the planet and work to find solutions to minimize the damage. Another way to conceptualize a ton of carbon dioxide and other GHG is to use a carbon footprint calculator. Many are available online. None of them give an exact calculation of your individual carbon footprint. What they do is provide an indication of your carbon and GHG emissions based on the particulars of your life situation and personal choices you input into them. Some calculators require you to gather as much information as possible about the things you and your family do that use energy before inputting this information in to it. www.epa.gov/carbon-footprint-calculator Others are more user-friendly and animated, too. www.footprintcalculator.org Another way to develop a carbon instinct is to watch a video(s) on how a seemingly ordinary thing(s) in your daily life then see the carbon footprint it creates. Check out this video on the carbon footprint of a sandwich: http://www.facebook.com/NPR/videos/10155743247386756/ Calculating your carbon footprint is a way to figure out which changes you can make to have the most positive impact for our planet. These are personal and individual choices. Change isn’t easy and sometimes you have no readily available alternative but it’s a beginning. I hope that this blog post gives you a basic understanding of greenhouse gases (GHG), the problematic impact of excessive GHG emissions and an understanding of a carbon footprint. Next step for me, and I hope for you, too, is to explore the myriad innovative and intriguing responses to this issue of our time: carbon marketplace(s) where carbon is priced, usually by the ton, then traded almost like, a type of commodity; carbon offsets programs and projects where you buy carbon credits to negate your personal GHG emissions; making carbon credit donations, carbon capture, even carbon taxes. Sources: Books: David, Laurie. Down-to-Earth Guide to Global Warming. New York, Orchard Books, 2007. Berners-Lee, Mike. How Bad Are Bananas?: The Carbon Footprint of Everything. 1st Edition, Vancouver, BC ; Berkeley [Calif.], Greystone Books, 2011. Thomas, Isabel. This Book Will (Help) Cool the Climate: 50 Ways to Cut Pollution and Protect Our Planet! New York, Random House, 2018. Websites: “Household Carbon Footprint Calculator.” Environmental Protection Agency, 2021, www3.epa.gov/carbon-footprint-calculator. “Carbon Footprint Calculator.” Global Footprint Network, Global Footprint Network, 2021, www.footprintcalculator.org. NASA Climate Kids. NASA, climatekids.nasa.gov. Accessed 3 June 2021. Videos: Cole, Adam. “How Your Sandwich Changed the World.” YouTube, uploaded by Skunk Bear NPR, 20 June 2017, www.facebook.com/NPR/videos/10155743247386756. “CO2 Cube Highlights.” YouTube, uploaded by Obsura Digital, 14 Dec. 2009, www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZfIM8f6nma4. Some Related Books from Our Collection:      "Inconspicuous consumption: the environmental impact that you don't know you have" by Tatiana Schlossberg. New York : Grand Central Publishing, 2019.  "The zero-waste lifestyle: live well by throwing away less" by Amy Korst. Berkeley, CA : Ten Speed Press, 2012. 
I often hear on the news, more so during these pandemic days, this phrase, “the number or percentage of individuals and families in the US living at or below the poverty level”. It got me thinking. What constitutes poverty in America? Here’s what I discovered: President Johnson announced an “unconditional war on poverty” in his first State of the Union address in January 1964. He considered the depth and extent of poverty in the country (nearly 20 percent of Americans) to be a national disgrace that merited a national response. Since then there have been numerous efforts to improve the official poverty measure. Currently, there are three different versions of federal poverty measures: poverty thresholds, poverty guidelines (official U.S. poverty measure OPM) and beginning in 2010, Supplemental Poverty Measure (SPM). Poverty thresholds are issued by the Census Bureau. They are used for statistically calculating the number of people in poverty without any geographic variation. Poverty guidelines, sometimes loosely referred to as the “federal poverty level” (FPL) are issued by Dept. of Health & Human Service and are administrative figures used to determine financial eligibility for certain federal programs. Guidelines vary by family size. And there is one set of figures for the 48 contiguous states and D.C (below).; another set for Alaska; and one for Hawaii.  The Supplemental Poverty Measure or SPM was introduced by the Census Bureau in 2010 to provide an alternative view of poverty in the United States that better reflects life in the 21st century, including contemporary social and economic realities and government policy. As its name suggests, the SPM supplements but does not replace the official poverty measure (OPM), which remains the nation’s source for official poverty statistics and for determining means-tested program eligibility. Another poverty measurement tool which has gained traction is a United Way project, the ALICE Report. ALICE is an acronym for Asset Limited, Income Constrained and Employed. ALICE households earn more than the Federal Poverty Level (FPL), but less than they need to afford a basic survival budget. The ALICE threshold represents the minimum income level necessary for survival for a household. Derived from the House Survival Budget, the ALICE threshold is rounded to American Community Survey www.census.gov/programs-surveys/acs/programs-surveys/acs income category and adjusted for household size and composition for each NJ county. Essex County, New Jersey, 2018 (below):  Sources: ALICE Threshold, 2007-2018; American Community Survey, 2007-2018  Source: ALICE Threshold, 2018; American Community Survey, 2018 The Household Survival Budget (see below) reflects the bare minimum cost to live and work in the modern economy and includes housing, child care, food, transportation, health care, technology (a smartphone plan), and taxes. It does not include savings for emergencies or future goals like college or retirement. In 2018, household costs were well above the Federal Poverty Level of $12,490 for a single adult and $25,750 for a family of four.  Based on the overwhelming success of ALICE research in identifying and articulating the needs of vulnerable populations, this work has grown from a pilot in Morris County, New Jersey to 21 states and more than 648 United Ways. There isn’t one single figure which defines poverty. There are multiple guidelines designated by various agencies in the U.S. – federal, state, local and non-profits. Some programs call for a multiple of the federal poverty level (FPL); other it’s just the amounts determined by particular agency. Geography matters. Cost of living ranges in different parts of America. There are poverty guidelines, thresholds and weighted averages. Definition of income varies: net income for some programs; gross income for others. What strikes me is how exacting and complicated it is to calculate poverty in America. And how much effort and research are invested in defining and calculating it. Yet, what intrigued me more is when I discovered in the FAQs section of U.S. Department of Health & Human Services (HHS), Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning (ASPE) website, that the federal government does NOT have official definitions for such terms as “middle class”, “middle income”, “rich”. Go figure. SOURCES: US Dept. of Health & Human Services Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning & Evaluation https://aspe.hhs.gov/poverty-guidelines United for A.L.I.C.E. https://www.unitedforalice.org/ 2020 ALICE Report for NJ https://docs.unitedwaynnj.org/main/2020ALICEReport_NJ_12_3_2020.pdf United Way of Northern NJ https://www.unitedwaynnj.org is an acronym for Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed, f Institute for Research on Poverty at the University of Wisconsin - Madison https://www.irp.wisc.edu/resources/how-is-poverty-measured/ Books about & related to poverty and income in our collection:      
You would think that as the daughter of an Irish-Welsh mother who made AMAZING Italian food that I’d know the difference between PANCETTA and PROSCIUTTO. Not so. But I'm learning. Here’s what I discovered: Pancetta is a cured meat made from pork belly and needs to be cooked before eating. Pancetta is Italian for “bacon”. The key factor is the need to cook it. It’s cheaper, too. Prosciutto is a cured meat, too. It is the Italian word for “ham”. I found there’s a hierarchy of cured ham, and not just Italian, each with its own distinct taste: speck (Italian), jamon serrano and jamon iberico (Spanish), even American prosciutto exists. Spanish jamon iberico is the most expensive and perhaps the rarest of the cured hams listed above. It comes from a special breed of free-range black-skinned pigs native to the Iberian Peninsula. Famously, they forage for acorns in protected oak forests. This ham costs $100.00 - $200. per pound. Speck and jamon serrano range from $25.00 to $35.00 per pound. But Italy’s prosciutto di Parma is best known. It’s even named-protected. A combination of factors gives it its distinctive character - location (Parma), the breed and diet of pigs, section of pig used (the hind leg), curing method and length of curing time. It’s all natural, too. The price reflects this tradition-bound method ranging from $22.00 to more than $40.00 pound. It is one of few hams awarded the elite PDO(Protected Designation of Origin) status from the European Union. PDO certifies high quality European foods that are produced using traditional methods in a specific region. Prosciutto di Parma is fully traced from the birth of the pigs to the final product which is branded with the Parma Crown as a guarantee of authenticity, quality and consistency. I guess by now you can tell I’ve been taken by both the unique flavor and history of prosciutto di Parma. No more pancetta for me. So, next time I make Lidia Bastianich’s recipe for Verza e Prosciutto (braised cabbage with prosciutto) from her cookbook, Lidia’s commonsense Italian cooking: 150 delicious and simple recipes anyone can master, you can bet that I'll go whole hog (no pun intended) and get prosciutto di Parma. Recipe only calls for 3 ounces. Sources: https://parmacrown.com/ https://www.cooksillustrated.com/how_tos/10680-pancetta-versus-prosciutto List of Italian cookbooks from our collection:   Lidia’s commonsense Italian cooking: 150 delicious and simple recipes anyone can master by Lidia Matticchio Bastianich Tanya Bastianich Manuali. New York: Knopf, 2015.    
 The Curiosity Corner is Glen Ridge Public Library's new virtual locale where fleeting questions are captured and pursued.
You know the ones that pop into our mind while we're having our morning coffee, walking our dog or just taking out the trash. Our usual response is: "Where did that come from?" Yet these questions spark something in us. Lighthearted, silly or serious, let's give them their due. You never know where they may lead us - perhaps to new interests or hobbies that could enrich our lives. Plan on meeting me at the Curiosity Corner at the intersection of Wonder and Why right here on this blog. It's where I'll offer up my own question(s) then share with you what I discovered. |
Curiosity Corner writer & contributor:Helen Beckert, Reference Librarian at the Glen Ridge Public Library Archives
December 2021
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