<> Tomorrow's food holidays(s):
* 'National Cake Day'.
- From Wikipedia (Cake):
'Cake is a form of sweet dessert that is typically baked. In its oldest
forms, cakes were modifications of breads, but cakes now cover a wide range
of preparations that can be simple or elaborate, and that share features
with other desserts such as pastries, meringues, custards, and pies.
Typical cake ingredients are flour, sugar, eggs, butter or oil, a liquid,
and leavening agents, such as baking soda and/or baking powder. Common
additional ingredients and flavourings include dried, candied, or fresh
fruit, nuts, cocoa, and extracts such as vanilla, with numerous
substitutions for the primary ingredients. Cakes can also be filled with
fruit preserves or dessert sauces (like pastry cream), iced with
buttercream or other icings, and decorated with marzipan, piped borders, or
candied fruit.
Cake is often served as a celebratory dish on ceremonial occasions, such as
weddings, anniversaries, and birthdays. There are countless cake recipes
some are bread-like, some are rich and elaborate, and many are centuries
old. Cake making is no longer a complicated procedure while at one time
considerable labor went into cake making (particularly the whisking of egg
foams), baking equipment and directions have been simplified so that even
the most amateur cook may bake a cake.
The term cake has a long history. The word itself is of Viking origin, from
the Old Norse word kaka
Although clear examples of the difference between cake and bread are easy
to find, the precise classification has always been elusive. For example,
banana bread may be properly considered either a quick bread or a cake.
The Greeks invented beer as a leavener, frying fritters in olive oil, and
cheesecakes using goat's milk. In ancient Rome, basic bread dough was
sometimes enriched with butter, eggs, and honey, which produced a sweet and
cake-like baked good. Latin poet Ovid refers his and his brother's birthday
party and cake in his first book of exile, Tristia.
Early cakes in England were also essentially bread: the most obvious
differences between a cake and bread were the round, flat shape of the
cakes, and the cooking method, which turned cakes over once while cooking,
while bread was left upright throughout the baking process.
Sponge cakes, leavened with beaten eggs, originated during the Renaissance,
possibly in Spain.
During the Great Depression, there was a surplus of molasses and the need
to provide easily made food to millions of economically depressed people in
the United States. One company patented a cake-bread mix in order to deal
with this economic situation, and thereby established the first line of
cake in a box. In so doing, cake as it is known today became a
mass-produced good rather than a home- or bakery-made specialty.
Cakes are broadly divided into several categories, based primarily on
ingredients and mixing techniques. Butter cakes are made from creamed
butter, sugar, eggs, and flour. They rely on the combination of butter and
sugar beaten for an extended time to incorporate air into the batter. A
classic pound cake is made with a pound each of butter, sugar, eggs, and
flour. Baking powder is in many butter cakes, such as Victoria sponge. The
ingredients are sometimes mixed without creaming the butter, using recipes
for simple and quick cakes. Sponge cakes (or foam cakes) are made from
whipped eggs, sugar, and flour. They rely primarily on trapped air in a
protein matrix (generally of beaten eggs) to provide leavening, sometimes
with a bit of baking powder or other chemical leaven added as insurance.
Sponge cakes are thought to be the oldest cakes made without yeast. An
angel food cake is a white sponge cake that uses only the whites of the
eggs and is traditionally baked in a tube pan. The French Génoise is a
sponge cake that includes clarified butter. Highly decorated sponge cakes
with lavish toppings are sometimes called gateau the French word for cake.
Chiffon cakes are sponge cakes with vegetable oil, which adds moistness.
Chocolate cakes are butter cakes, sponge cakes, or other cakes flavored
with melted chocolate or cocoa powder. German chocolate cake is a variety
of chocolate cake. Fudge cakes are chocolate cakes that contains fudge.
Coffee cake is generally thought of as a cake to serve with coffee or tea
at breakfast or at a coffee break. Some types use yeast as a leavening
agent while others use baking soda and/or baking powder. These cakes often
have a crumb topping called streusel and/or a light glaze drizzle. Baked
flourless cakes include baked cheesecakes and flourless chocolate cakes.
Cheesecakes, despite their name, aren't really cakes at all. Cheesecakes
are in fact custard pies, with a filling made mostly of some form of cheese
(often cream cheese, mascarpone, ricotta, or the like), and have very
little flour added, although a flour-based or graham cracker crust may be
used. Cheesecakes are also very old, with evidence of honey-sweetened cakes
dating back to ancient Greece. Butter or oil layer cakes include most of
the traditional cakes used as birthday cakes, etc., and those sold as
packaged cakes. Baking powder or bicarbonate of soda are used to provide
both lift and a moist texture. Many flavorings and ingredients may be added
examples include devil's food cake, carrot cake, and banana bread. Yeast
cakes are the oldest and are very similar to yeast breads. Such cakes are
often very traditional in form, and include such pastries as babka and
stollen.
Some varieties of cake are widely available in the form of cake mixes,
wherein some of the ingredients (usually flour, sugar, flavoring, baking
powder, and sometimes some form of fat) are premixed, and the cook needs
add only a few extra ingredients, usually eggs, water, and sometimes
vegetable oil or butter. While the diversity of represented styles is
limited, cake mixes do provide an easy and readily available homemade
option for cooks who are not accomplished bakers'.
[The Hankster says] My favorites are German Chocolate and Angel Food, but I never met a cake I didn't like. Sorry W. Rogers.
<> Other holidays / celebrations
* 'Small Business Saturday'.
Saturday After Thanksgiving. Since 2010 by American Express founded Small
Business Saturday.
- From Wikipedia (Small Business Saturday):
'Small Business Saturday is an American shopping holiday held on the
Saturday after US Thanksgiving during one of the busiest shopping periods
of the year.
First observed in Roslindale Village, Massachusetts on November 27, 2010,
it is a counterpart to Black Friday and Cyber Monday, which feature big box
retail and e-commerce stores respectively. By contrast, Small Business
Saturday encourages holiday shoppers to patronize brick and mortar
businesses that are small and local. Small Business Saturday is a
registered trademark of American Express corporation.
The first event was sponsored by American Express, in partnership with the
non-profit National Trust for Historic Preservation, Boston Mayor Thomas M.
Menino, and Roslindale Village Main Street. In 2010, the holiday was
promoted by American Express via a nationwide radio and television
advertising campaign. That year Amex bought advertising inventory on
Facebook, which it in turn gave to its small merchant account holders, and
also gave rebates to new customers to promote the event.
American Express publicized the initiative using social media, advertising,
and public relations. Many local politicians and small business groups in
the United States issued proclamations concerning the campaign, which
generated more than one million Facebook like registrations and nearly
30,000 tweets under the Twitter hashtags #smallbusinesssaturday and
#smallbizsaturday.
Small Business Saturday UK began in the United Kingdom in 2013 after the
success of Small Business Saturday in the United States of America'.
[The Hankster says] Share the love or money as it may be.
<> Awareness / Observances:
o Health
* 'Anti-Obesity Day'. A focus on obesity as a health hazard. Promoted
internationally with majpr emphasis in India and the Gulf States ares.
- From Wikipedia (Anti Obesity Day):
'Anti-Obesity Day (AOD) is observed in various parts of the world on
November 26, with several healthcare organizations and leading Media
primarily in India and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries marking
the day with activities to highlight how Obesity is a public health hazard.
World Anti Obesity Day
In 2001, the Indian Wellness brand VLCC, founded by Mrs. Vandana Luthra,
took the first step towards creating awareness about Obesity and its
ill-effects through the creation of an anti-obesity initiative to address
the global pandemic.
With the active involvement of the medical fraternity and other key
stakeholders in all the countries where it has a presence, VLCC started
observing November 26 as Anti-Obesity Day, as part of an annual campaign
conducted in the months of November and December to promote the development
of good lifestyle habits to stay healthy and fit.
VLCC’s anti-obesity campaign includes organizing health camps, mass
counseling sessions, and talk-shows with health experts, besides extensive
media interactions, and dissemination of special literature on obesity.
VLCC’s Anti-Obesity Day™ initiative has received wide coverage in the Media
with articles on this appearing on this in several key mainstream and
specialized media in India and the GCC countries, which include
publications such as The Times of India, The Hindu, Muscat Daily etc.
In 2012, VLCC had tied up with the United Nations’ World Food Programme
(WFP), to launch the nutrition availability imbalance awareness building
initiative - the Global Balance Program - the public communication campaign
which has been recognized as one of the best Corporate Social
Responsibility awareness building campaigns in the world by the World
Economic Forum (WEF).
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), Overweight and Obesity
pose the fifth leading risk for global deaths. A person whose Body Mass
Index (BMI) – the individual’s weight in kilograms divided by the square of
his height in meters – is greater than or equal to 25 is Overweight. A
person whose BMI is greater than or equal to 30 is considered Obese.
The WHO states that at least 2.8 million adults die every year on account
of being overweight or obese. In addition, 44% of diabetes cases, 23% of
ischaemic heart diseases and 7-41% of certain instances of cancer are
attributable to overweight and obesity.
The WHO points out that the incidence of obesity worldwide has nearly
doubled since 1980 and that 65% of the world’s population now lives in
countries where more deaths are attributable to overweight and obesity than
being underweight. In 2008, more than 1.4 billion adults aged 20 and above
were overweight. Of these, more than 200 million men and nearly 300 million
women were obese. More than 40 million children under the age of five were
overweight in 2011.
Some facts on world anti obesity day on Times of India and NDTV'.
<> Historical events on November 26
* 'In 1789, A national Thanksgiving Day is observed in the U.S. as
recommended by President George Washington and approved by Congress. .
- From Wikipedia: 'The Continental-Confederation Congress, the legislative
body that governed the United States from 1774 to 1789, issued several
national days of prayer, humiliation, and thanksgiving, a practice that was
continued by Presidents Washington and Adams under the Constitution, and
has manifested itself in the established American observances of
Thanksgiving and the National Day of Prayer today. This proclamation was
published in The Independent Gazetteer or, the Chronicle of Freedom on
November 5, 1782, the first being observed on November 28, 1782:
On Thursday, September 24, 1789, the first House of Representatives voted
to recommend the First Amendment of the newly drafted Constitution to the
states for ratification. The next day, Congressman Elias Boudinot from New
Jersey proposed that the House and Senate jointly request of President
Washington to proclaim a day of thanksgiving for the many signal favors of
Almighty God Boudinot said that he could not think of letting the session
pass over without offering an opportunity to all the citizens of the United
States of joining, with one voice, in returning to Almighty God their
sincere thanks for the many blessings he had poured down upon them.
* 'In 1863, U.S. President Abraham Lincoln proclaims November 26 as a
national Thanksgiving Day, to be celebrated annually on the final Thursday
of November. (Since 1941, it has been on the fourth Thursday.). .
- From Wikipedia: 'In the middle of the American Civil War, President
Abraham Lincoln, prompted by a series of editorials written by Sarah
Josepha Hale, proclaimed a national Thanksgiving Day, to be celebrated on
the final Thursday in November 1863'.
* 'In 1922, Howard Carter and Lord Carnarvon become the first people to
enter the tomb of Pharaoh Tutankhamun in over 3000 years.
- From Wikipedia: 'was an Egyptian pharaoh of the 18th dynasty (ruled ca.
1332–1323 BC in the conventional chronology), during the period of Egyptian
history known as the New Kingdom.'. .
* 'In 1922, The Technicolor silent film is introduced with the release of
the movie 'Toll of the Sea'. The Gulf Between was the first film to do so,
but it was not widely distributed. .
* 'In 1941, FDR's modern Thanksgiving holiday is initiated. .
- From Wikipedia: 'Abraham Lincoln's successors as president followed his
example of annually declaring the final Thursday in November to be
Thanksgiving. But in 1939, President Franklin D. Roosevelt broke with this
tradition. November had five Thursdays that year (instead of the
more-common four), Roosevelt declared the fourth Thursday as Thanksgiving
rather than the fifth one. Although many popular histories state otherwise,
he made clear that his plan was to establish the holiday on the
next-to-last Thursday in the month instead of the last one. With the
country still in the midst of The Great Depression, Roosevelt thought an
earlier Thanksgiving would give merchants a longer period to sell goods
before Christmas. Increasing profits and spending during this period,
Roosevelt hoped, would help bring the country out of the Depression. At the
time, advertising goods for Christmas before Thanksgiving was considered
inappropriate. Fred Lazarus, Jr., founder of the Federated Department
Stores (later Macy's), is credited with convincing Roosevelt to push
Thanksgiving to a week earlier to expand the shopping season, and within
two years the change passed through Congress into law.
Republicans decried the change, calling it an affront to the memory of
Lincoln. People began referring to November 30 as the Republican
Thanksgiving and November 23 as the Democratic Thanksgiving or Franksgiving
Regardless of the politics, many localities had made a tradition of
celebrating on the last Thursday, and many football teams had a tradition
of playing their final games of the season on Thanksgiving with their
schedules set well in advance, they could not change. Since a presidential
declaration of Thanksgiving Day was not legally binding, Roosevelt's change
was widely disregarded. Twenty-three states went along with Roosevelt's
recommendation, 22 did not, and some, like Texas, could not decide and took
both days as government holidays.
In 1940 and 1941, years in which November had four Thursdays, Roosevelt
declared the third one as Thanksgiving. As in 1939, some states went along
with the change while others retained the traditional last-Thursday date'.
* 'In 1941, The Japanese naval carrier force left its base and moved east
toward Pearl Harbor. .
- From Wikipedia:. 'Japan's final proposal, on 20 November, offered to
withdraw their forces from southern Indochina and not to launch any attacks
in Southeast Asia provided that the U.S., the UK, and the Netherlands
ceased aiding China and lifted their sanctions against Japan.[39] The
American counter-proposal of 26 November (November 27 in Japan) (the Hull
note) required Japan to evacuate all of China without conditions and
conclude non-aggression pacts with Pacific powers. However the day before
the Hull Note was delivered, on November 26 in Japan, the main Japanese
attack fleet left port for Pearl Harbor'.
* 'In 1942, The world premiere of the movie 'Casablanca'. .
- From Wikipedia: 'Casablanca is a 1942 American romantic drama film
directed by Michael Curtiz and based on Murray Burnett and Joan Alison's
unproduced stage play Everybody Comes to Rick's. The film stars Humphrey
Bogart, Ingrid Bergman, and Paul Henreid it also features Claude Rains,
Conrad Veidt, Sydney Greenstreet, Peter Lorre, and Dooley Wilson. Set
during World War II, it focuses on an American expatriate who must choose
between his love for a woman and helping her Czech Resistance leader
husband escape the Vichy-controlled city of Casablanca to continue his
fight against the Nazis.
Story editor Irene Diamond convinced producer Hal B. Wallis to purchase the
film rights to the play in January 1942. Brothers Julius and Philip G.
Epstein were initially assigned to write the script. However, despite
studio resistance, they left to work on Frank Capra's Why We Fight series
early in 1942. Howard E. Koch was assigned to the screenplay until the
Epsteins returned a month later. Casey Robinson assisted with three weeks
of rewrites, but his work would later go uncredited. Wallis chose Curtiz to
direct the film after his first choice, William Wyler, became unavailable.
Principal photography began on May 25, 1942, ending on August 3 the film
was shot entirely at Warner Bros. Studios in Burbank, with the exception of
one sequence at Van Nuys Airport in Van Nuys, Los Angeles.
Although Casablanca was an A-list film with established stars and
first-rate writers, no one involved with its production expected it to be
anything out of the ordinary. It was just one of hundreds of pictures
produced by Hollywood every year. Casablanca was rushed into release to
take advantage of the publicity from the Allied invasion of North Africa a
few weeks earlier. It had its world premiere on November 26, 1942, in New
York City and was released nationally in the United States on January 23,
1943. The film was a solid if unspectacular success in its initial run.
Casablanca did account for three Academy Awards – Best Picture, Director
(Curtiz) and Adapted Screenplay (the Epsteins and Koch) – and gradually its
reputation grew. Its lead characters, memorable lines, and pervasive theme
song have all become iconic and the film consistently ranks near the top of
lists of the greatest films in history'.
* 'In 1948, The first polaroid camera sold for $89.75 in Boston at the
Jordan Marsh department store. The Land Camera model 95 becomes the
prototype for all Polaroid Land cameras produced for the next 15 years. .
- From Wikipedia: 'Land Cameras are instant cameras with self-developing
film named after their inventor, Edwin Land, while working for Research Row
in Boston, Massachusetts and manufactured by Polaroid between the years of
1947 and 1983. Though Polaroid continued producing instant cameras after
1983, the name 'Land' was dropped from the camera name since Edwin Land
retired in 1982. The first commercially available model was the Polaroid
Land Camera Model 95, which produced prints in about 1 minute,and was first
sold to the public in November, 1948.
The process, invented by Polaroid founder Edwin Land, was to employ
diffusion transfer to move the dyes from the negative to the positive via a
reagent. A negative sheet was exposed inside the camera, then lined up with
a positive sheet and squeezed through a set of rollers which spread a
reagent between the two layers, creating a developing film sandwich. The
negative developed quickly, after which some of the unexposed silver halide
grains (and the latent image it contained) were solubilized by the reagent
and transferred by diffusion from the negative to the positive. After a
minute, the back of the camera was opened and the negative peeled away to
reveal the print.
In 1963, Land introduced Polacolor pack film, which made instant color
photographs possible. This process involved pulling two tabs from the
camera, the second which pulled the film sandwich through the rollers to
develop out of the camera. The instant colour process is much more complex,
involving a negative which contains three layers of emulsion sensitive to
blue, green, and red. Underneath each layer are dye developing molecules in
their complementary colours of yellow, magenta, and cyan. When light
strikes an emulsion layer, it blocks the complementary dye below it. For
instance, when blue strikes the blue sensitive emulsion layer, it blocks
the yellow dye, but allows the magenta and cyan dyes to transfer to the
positive, which combine to create blue. When green and red (yellow) strikes
their respective layers, it blocks the complementary dyes of magenta and
cyan below them, allowing only yellow dye to transfer to the positive.
In 1972, integral film was introduced which did not require the user to
time the development or peel apart the negative from the positive. This
process was similar to polacolor film with added timing and receiving
layers. The film itself integrates all the layers to expose, develop, and
fix the photo into a plastic envelope commonly associated with a Polaroid
photo. The Polaroid SX-70 camera was the first to utilize this film.
Improvements in SX-70 film led to the higher speed 600 series film, then to
different formats such as 500 series (captiva), and spectra'.
* 'In 1952, The first modern 3-D movie 'Bwana Devil' premieres. .
- From Wikipedia: 'Bwana Devil is a 1952 U.S. adventure film based on the
true story of the Tsavo maneaters and filmed with the Natural Vision 3-D
system. The film is notable for sparking the first 3-D film craze in the
motion picture industry, as well as for being the first 3-D film in color
and the first 3-D sound feature in English. Bwana Devil was written,
directed and produced by Arch Oboler and stars Robert Stack, Barbara
Britton and Nigel Bruce.
The advertising tagline was: The Miracle of the Age!!! A LION in your lap!
A LOVER in your arms!
The film is set in British East Africa in the early 20th century. Thousands
of workers are building the Uganda Railway, Africa's first railroad, and
intense heat and sickness make it a formidable task. Two men in charge of
the mission are Jack Hayward and Dr. Angus Ross. A pair of man-eating lions
are on the loose and completely disrupt the undertaking. Hayward
desperately attempts to overcome the situation, but the slaughter
continues.
Britain sends three big-game hunters to kill the lions. With them comes
Jack's wife. After the game hunters are killed by the lions, Jack sets out
once and for all to kill them. A grim battle between Jack and the lions
endangers both Jack and his wife. Jack kills the lions and proves he is not
a weakling'.
* 'In 1956, The TV game show 'The Price Is Right' debuts on NBC. .
- From Wikipedia: 'The Price Is Right is a television game show franchise
originally produced by Mark Goodson and Bill Todman, and created by Bob
Stewart, and is currently produced and owned by FremantleMedia (Endemol in
Netherlands). The franchise centers on television game shows, but also
includes merchandise such as video games, printed media and board games.
The franchise began in 1956 as a television game show hosted by Bill Cullen
and was revamped in 1972. This version was originally hosted by Bob Barker.
Since 2007, Drew Carey has hosted the program.
In the show, contestants compete to win cash and prizes by guessing the
pricing of merchandise. The program has been critically successful and
remains a stalwart in the television ratings. It also managed to break away
from the quiz show format that has been used in other game shows. Since the
current version premiered, it has also been adapted in several
international formats around the world, most notably in the United Kingdom,
Australia and Mexico.
In 2013, TV Guide ranked it No. 5 in its list of the 60 greatest game shows
ever'.
* 'In 1965, France launched its first satellite the Diamant-A. It becomes
the third country to launch it's own spacecraft.
- From Wikipedia: 'The Diamant rocket (Diamant is French for 'diamond') was
the first exclusively French expendable launch system and at the same time
the first satellite launcher not built by either the USA or USSR'.
* 'In 1990, The Delta II rocket's maiden flight.
- From Wikipedia: 'Delta is an American versatile family of expendable
launch systems that has provided space launch capability in the United
States since 1960. There have been more than 300 Delta rockets launched,
with a 95% success rate'. .
* 'In 2011, The Mars Science Laboratory launches.
- From Wikipedia: 'Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) is a robotic space probe
mission to Mars launched by NASA on November 26, 2011, which successfully
landed Curiosity, a Mars rover, in Gale Crater on August 6, 2012. The
overall objectives include investigating Mars' habitability, studying its
climate and geology, and collecting data for a manned mission to Mars. The
rover carries a variety of scientific instruments designed by an
international team.
MSL successfully carried out the most accurate Martian landing of any known
spacecraft, hitting a small target landing ellipse of only 7 by 20 km (4.3
by 12.4 mi), in the Aeolis Palus region of Gale Crater. In the event, MSL
achieved a landing 2.4 km (1.5 mi) east and 400 m (1,300 ft) north of the
center of the target. This location is near the mountain Aeolis Mons
(a.k.a. Mount Sharp). The rover mission is set to explore for at least 687
Earth days (1 Martian year) over a range of 5 by 20 km (3.1 by 12.4 mi).
The Mars Science Laboratory mission is part of NASA's Mars Exploration
Program, a long-term effort for the robotic exploration of Mars that is
managed by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory of California Institute of
Technology. The total cost of the MSL project is about US$2.5 billion.
Previous successful U.S. Mars rovers include Sojourner from the Mars
Pathfinder mission and the Mars Exploration Rovers Spirit and Opportunity.
Curiosity is about twice as long and five times as heavy as Spirit and
Opportunity, and carries over ten times the mass of scientific
instruments'.
No. 1 song
Top movie
Monthly holiday / awareness days in November
Food
Banana Pudding Lovers Month
Diabetic Eye Disease Month
Epilepsy Awareness Month
Gluten-Free Diet Awareness Month
National Georgia Pecan Month
National Peanut Butter Lovers Month
National Pomegranate Month
Health
American and National Diabetes Month
Lung Cancer Awareness Month
MADD's Tie One On For Safety Holiday Campaign
National PPSI AIDS Awareness Month
National Alzheimer's Disease Month
National COPD Month
National Diabetes Month
National Family Caregivers Month
National Healthy Skin Month
National Home Care and Hospice Month
National Impotency Month
National Long-term Care Awareness Month
National PPSI Aids Awareness Month
NET Cancer Awareness Month
Pancreatic Cancer Awareness Month
Stomach Cancer Awareness Month
Vegan Month
Animal and Pet
Adopt A Senior Pet Month
Adopt A Turkey Month
Manatee Awareness Month
National Pet Cancer Awareness Month
Pet Diabetes Month
Other
American Indian Heritage Month
Aviation History Month
Critical Infrastructure Security and Resilience Month
Family Stories Month
Historic Bridge Awareness Month
Military Family Appreciation Month
National Entrepreneurship Month
National Inspirational Role Models Month
National Memoir Writing Month
National Native American Heritage Month
National Family Literacy Month
National Novel Writing Month
National Runaway Prevention Month
National Scholarship Month
Picture Book Month
November is:
November origin (from Wikipedia): 'November is the eleventh month of the year in the Julian and Gregorian
Calendars and one of four months with the length of 30 days. November was
the ninth month of the ancient Roman calendar. November retained its name
(from the Latin novem meaning 'nine') when January and February were added
to the Roman calendar.
'
'November is a month of spring in the Southern Hemisphere and autumn in
the Northern Hemisphere. Therefore, November in the Southern Hemisphere
is the seasonal equivalent of May in the Northern Hemisphere and vice
versa.'
November at Wikipedia: More
If you couldn't afford 90 cents for a movie ticket, 50 years ago,
or your 45 RPM record player was broke, you might watch one of these shows on TV.
From this Wikipedia article: More
Best selling books of 1966 More
Sites for downloading or reading free Public Domain eBooks. Available in various formats. More