Archive for December, 2020

Christmas Annuals, Part 2

December 24, 2020 at 5:35 am · Filed under Holiday, Literature

Almost one year ago, I wrote an entry on this type of publication; I have now found more examples of this literary genre. But first, here is a very informative entry on annuals from, of all places, The Encyclopedia of Fantasy.

Please peruse the following titles: The Garland, or Token of Friendship; Leaflets of Memory (with colored “illuminations”, one of the first annuals to do so); The Token: A Christmas and New Years Present (title varies); The Gift (the 1845 volume has a story from Edgar Allan Poe); The Keepsake; and All Year Round (edited by Charles Dickens).

These anthologies were just that – an accumulation of wide-ranging stories; however, there is a special published volume that contains only Christmas-themed writings from All Year Round and Household Words (this also edited by Dickens) – Christmas stories from Household words and All the year round.

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How Did the Victorians Celebrate Christmas?

December 23, 2020 at 9:46 am · Filed under Holiday

It may come as a surprise to many that the celebration of Christmas that we know is a relatively new tradition. This delightful exhibition from the British Library, along with the many links provided, gives one an insight into how this holiday was observed in the 19th century. You can also find additional information at A Victorian Christmas and Victorian Christmas.

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PubMed Central Houses Over 100,000 Open Access Articles on COVID-19

December 22, 2020 at 12:58 pm · Filed under Health/Nursing, Open Access

PMC now provides a portal to freely-accessible articles from more than fifty major publishers, including the American Chemical Society, Elsevier, and Cambridge University Press that involve research into COVID-19. Articles appear from around the world, examining trends, vaccine development, past outbreaks of coroviruses, and other related areas of investigation.

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2020 in Pictures

December 9, 2020 at 7:21 am · Filed under Photos

This was a year of chaos and shambolic behavior. Please review 2020 in Photos: A Year Like No Other from The New York Times.

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National Security Reports – November 2020 Update

December 1, 2020 at 1:24 am · Filed under Reports, Security

Biden may have trouble unearthing Trump’s national security secrets (Politico); Evidence-Based Practice for Public Health Emergency Preparedness and Response (NAP); President Trump’s Executive Orders on Critical Infrastructure(National Security Archive);  A Researcher’s Guide to Some Legal Risks of Security Research (CyberLaw Clinic); Chief of Space Operations Planning Guidance; Reducing Nuclear Risks:
An Urgent Agenda for 2021 and Beyond (Nuclear Threat Initiative); Repairing the World (Foreign Affairs); What is forensic science? (BBC); Agency Review Teams (Biden-Harris Transition); 5G Cybersecurity Project (NIST); In Break From Trump, Biden Opts for Experience, Expertise for Top National Security Jobs (Foreign Policy); US national security policy in the 117th Congress and a new administration (The Hill); and Why America Must Lead Again (President-elect Joe Biden, Foreign Affairs).

Presidential Transition Act: Provisions and Funding; Status of U.S.-Russian Nuclear Arms Control Talks; China’s 14th Five-Year Plan: A First Look; Emerging Military Technologies: Background and Issues for Congress; Hypersonic Weapons: Background and Issues for Congress; Department of Defense Counter-Unmanned Aircraft Systems; China’s Engagement with Latin America and the Caribbean; and Defense Primer: Geography, Strategy, and U.S. Force Design (all CRS).

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