Penguin

There are book publishers and then there's Penguin. To commemorate the company's 60th anniversary(2006), Penguin Classics commissioned new hardcover editions of some of its Penguin Classics paperback line. What's really interesting about this is that the Penguin selected 5 internationally known designers to design the covers for the books.

Look at the dust jacket for Madame Bovary. If your eyes are immediately drawn to the shoes, well no wonder. This dust jacket was designed by Manolo Blahnik.

I think my favorite though is the jacket designed by fashion designer Paul Smith. He chose Lady Chatterly's Lover. The silk dust jacket has hand embroidery on it and the text is printed with purple ink. It's a bit difficult to see in the image, but I can just imagine how gorgeous it must be. Lately, I've become ga-ga over embroidery and I would love to see this in person.

All of the books were limited edition to a thousand copies.

Abebooks had a charity auction with these books in December 2006. Look at some of the winning bids. Way out of my price range.

And if that's not enough, look at these Penguin deck chairs. The chairs have the titles of some of the Penguin Classics. I found this on a site called Objects of Design.

They also have mugs, tea towels, bags and pencils.

"For several days after my first book was published, I carried it about in my pocket and took surreptitious peeps at it to make sure the ink had not faded. " Sir James M. Barrie

Apology

There are times when you do something or in this case write something without thinking. I am referring to my post where I mentioned that Dr. King's daughter, Yolanda had passed away. I really can't beleive that I was so thoughtless as to post the news of her passing as an afterthought to an otherwise light-hearted and fun post. I apologize to anyone that I offended. I really try to be sensitive to what I write and I know if someone else had posted it in the way and matter that I did I would have thought the poster was a bit thoughtless and insensitive, and knowing me-racist. Oh yes, I go there a lot-hopefully when it is warranted.

In otherwords what I am trying to say is I'm so sorry to anyone that I offended. Ms. King deserved better than that as do my readers.

"True remorse is never just a regret over consequence; it is a regret over motive." ~Mignon McLaughlin, The Neurotic's Notebook, 1960

"Keep your words soft and tender because tomorrow you may have to eat them." ~Author Unknown

Round Up

I can't blame Delta and Dawn for being confused. If I were a whale and I was lost, hearing sounds of my own kind would make me think/feel that, "Hey, where is everyone? I can hear you so you must be near." The humans mean well, but I think they should come up with another plan.

A. and I keep seeing this license plate on the way home from work. We usually play this game to see who can figure these out the fastest. I think this is one thing, A another. Any thoughts. 4CHIN1

We were out the other night with some friends and there was this couple at a table right next to us. I don't know if this was their first date or what, but my gosh the male was trying to impress the female. He was driving me nuts because he kept saying how he was a big biblio-feel. He was also driving me nuts because he was so freakin' loud. It took everything for me not to tell this asshat that it's pronounced biblio-file and to stop talking so loud. Since A. and I only correct each other's grammar I of course just sat quietly and the couple soon left.

Bravo, Kudos and You Go Girl!!! to Barbara Hillary. She is believed to be the first female American of African descent to make it to the North Pole. And guess what. She's 75 and a cancer survivor. More on her here.

4 things that I did not know:

How to say Willamette, Oregon. I thought it was Willa-mette, but it's Willam-ette. (at leas that's what I think it is)

I did not know that the Natural Bridge of Virginia is privately owned. I wonder if one of the numerous pamphlets I use to collect when we went on family vacations indicated that and I forgot or if I never knew. Hmmm.

And that Porsche is really pronounced Porsh-uh.

That there are official state dinosaurs.

I would love to have one of these plants in my front yard. It's a Pride of Madeira. I seem to be ga-ga lately over lupines, hollyhocks and this plant.

Some smart person has gathered together Twain Quotes. Great site.

I could go on and on about how important it is to support the Coverdell Act and the Crime Lab Project. About how what you see on the forensics shows isn't exactly the real deal that happens in the state crime labs. How the state crime labs are underfunded and understaffed. I won't do that though. Just read for yourself.

Barn stories.

Love the Horse Project.

People are amazingly creative. Look at the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry made out of matchsticks. Incredible.

Everything you want to know about this new state real id bullcrap.

Library MySpace Study. It's good to see MySpace being used for projects like this.

I'm am bit early, but everyone enjoy their weekend-long or not.


"Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear - not absence of fear." Mark Twain

"That's what it takes to be a hero, a little gem of innocence inside you that makes you want to believe that there still exists a right and wrong, that decency will somehow triumph in the end." Lise Hand

Spitters and Things I'm Diggin'

Why oh why oh why must people spit in public? I don't know what it is, but for the last few days there has been a preponderance of people who have been spitting in my vicinity. Gross!!!!! Yes, I am starting to get a complex. Am I paying off some sort of karmic debt because lo and behold I was a spitter? Is it National Spit Week and I didn't get the memo? What? What? I think I am going to have to starting wearing some sort of rain gear or wrap myself up in saran wrap. Geez!!!! I think there is a special place in hell reserved for public spitters. At least I hope so.

I should have entitled this post things I'm almost diggin'. That would explain this product.Now I love pasta. I could have everyday for every meal. Well, maybe pizza for breakfast and pasta for the other meals. I tried this product because I'm trying everything I can to break my sugar addiction, my carb addiction and to stop the neuropathy in my hands. Tofu Shirataki really isn't bad. It is just like tofu in that it doesn't have any taste. It ends up tasting like whatever you pair it with. Still, it just isn't the same. Grrr.

Now this should fall under "things I can't wait to try and that I know I'll dig" category. McCormick is coming out with a black food coloring that supposedly doesn't stain your teeth.I can hardly wait for Halloween this year. Bwahahahaa!!!

All I can say about Caress Moroccan Body Wash and Beauty Bar is oh my goodness. It's super creamy and smells terrific. And I love the bottle shape and color. Good stuff.

I want to like the scent of lavender. I mean look at it. It's my favorite color, the plant itself is pretty and interesting looking. Even the word lavender has a sort of magical, fairy-tale ring to it. I just have never cared for the scent. That is until I was in the Hallmark store buying some cards. I saw they had some Crabtree & Evelyn lotions and they had some testers. I tried the lavender tester before I knew what it was, and I was in for quite the surprise. I really like the scent. Hmmm. I wonder if it's because this is English lavender and not French.

Love this sun jar. We already have solar lanterns bordering the walkway to our house and solar lanterns lining both sides of the fence. I love them. I'm sure I could find some use for a sun jar.

I'll be the first to admit. The Hello Kitty frenzy sort of passed me by. Maybe if it was Hello Puppy or Hello Pooch I would have payed more attention. I do like this adorable toaster.

As you can see I am still getting the hang of posting images with the "new" blogger.

Have a nice day.

"You campaign in poetry. You govern in prose." Mario Cuomo

Round Up

Well, I feel terrible about talking smack on the Gilmore Girls last season. I"m sure you all have heard-the last show of the series will be on Tuesday, May 15, 2007. I had stopped watching it for the most part last year. I just felt the show's new writers weren't getting it. I started tuning in again this year and it seemed to be back on track. Long may the show live in syndication.

Check out this map of online communities.

I have been nursing my fascination with the Bayeaux Tapestry for quite awhile now. Look at this amazing rendition.

This falls under "what personal tidbit has fig newtons and scotch not shared with us. Could there possibly be more embarrassing tidbits to share? Well, yes there are. I am a groupie. I have been for years. I have read everything I can about the object of my obsession and have watched all of the movies where he is portrayed. And who might this be? Why, Doc Holliday of course. I have watched an amazing amount of Westerns in my time and on occasion I still watch them. They seem to be on when I am going through one of my insomnia spells. So you can just imagine how thrilled I was to find the Complete List of Old West Gunfights.

If you are a dog lover like yours truly then you are sure to enjoy The Daily Puppy. It's a hoot just reading the interesting names people give their pooches.

Roscoe, bindle, dust out, eggs in the coffee-do any of these words mean anything to you?

EurekAlert contains recent postings from research and scientific organizations.

If you were one of the many who sent your name to Mars you can look for your name here. Make sure you get your certificate.

Happy Mothers Day to all of you moms out there. Everyone have a great weekend.

Rory: Oh my God, I hate her.
Lorelai: Ah, me too.
Rory: You have no idea who I'm talking about.
Lorelai: Solidarity, sister.

Emily: Oh, well, thank you. That’s a pretty color. What is that?
Lorelai: It’s called Vicious Trollop.
Emily: Oh, stop it! Now why would you name a lipstick something like that?
Lorelai:‘Cause ‘dirty whore’ was taken?
Emily: You frighten me.

Planes and Asthma Inhalers

500,000 asthma inhalers are going to be distrubted free to patients most in need. (via medpundit-my favorite medical blog).

I seem to keep either coming across aviation-related blogs or someone keeps telling me about them (thanks K.). Here goes.

Russian President Vladimir Putin's Plane.

Atomic Movie Posters. (I know a wee bit off of my topics for this post)

Aviation Archaeology-what is this?

Bessie Coleman has an action figure. I should be ashamed to admit this, but I had never even heard of Bessie Coleman until I started working at my current place of employment 8 years ago. In the small town school district where I went we just didn't learn much about women or minorities. I remember when I was an undergrad and I wanted to take a black history course and my advisor attempted to talk me out of it -I was a history major for pete's sake. And why you ask did she attempt to talk me out of it-because it was being offered at the BOYS SCHOOL-eww cooties, germs. At that time Seton Hill College (now it's Seton Hill University and I've already commented on how upset I was about my school going co-ed) was all female and for some reason my advisor (yes she was a nun) didn't want us girls going over to St. Vincent's for classes. Not that I'm holding anyone, but myself responsible for my dismal knowledge of Black History. Sorry, I digressed.

Famous People Who Have Died in Airplane Accidents. I think what struck me the most when I looked at each decade was how many athletic teams, and I think one choir were wiped out in plane accidents.

Abandonded and Little Known Airfields.

Aviation Blogs and Podcasts.


"The miracle is not to fly in the air, or to walk on the water, but to walk on the earth." ~Chinese Proverb

Round Up

The word on my Forgotten English calendar is shumpgullion. A shumpgullion is a glutton.

I finally got around to canceling our telephone book delivery. Every year I say I'm going to cancel it, and then I forget. For awhile I was donating them to libraries, but then some of the libraries stopped wanting them. Here is the number for the Verizon Directory Distribution Call Center-1-800-888-8448. They are open between the hours of 8-5 (EST) Monday through Friday.

I remember when I first heard about these unclaimed money sites like Missing Money.com. I went on a couple and put in my name and alas-there wasn't anything for me. Well, lo and behold I went back and checked again and there were funds for me from one of the states where I've lived. I just got the check the other day. There are quite a few of these sites, but here are a couple. Here and here. Now what is even stranger is I've just done another search and my name has popped up again. Like I said you might want to periodically check these sites.

The Library of Congress has a blog. They also have a kick-butt newspaper project.

I just finished reading The Element of Lavishness: Letters of Sylvia Townsend Warner and William Maxwell 1938-1978. To receive a letter written by either of these wonderful writers would have a been such a gift. These letters are full of beautiful, lucid descriptions as well as wit and charm. I think this would make a lovely audio book. They corresponded for 40 years so the reader also gets an historical glimpse of what's going on in the world. I could go on and on about these two. Here are some links to biographical information on Ms. Warner and Mr. Maxwell.

I've read epistolary collections before so I deceded to do a bit of research and see what else is out there. I found this handy-dandy Epistolary Bibliography and Bookstore. (I may have linked to this before-it looks very familiar)

Hark!!! I hear tell that Geoffrey Chaucer Hath a Blog.

I was pretty amused by this-Cheddar Vision TV. If you enjoy watching paint dry, you will probably like watching cheese age.

If you are constantly hiding from the sun like me you might want to check the UV Index for your neck of the woods.

I must say that I haven't read any of these alternate history books that appear to be quite popular. You know the books-if this was like this and this happened then would this have been like this. Confused???? Uchronia- The Alternate History List may provide some clarification. Here's Wikipedia's definition of Uchronia.

I'm always looking for small, diverse towns where A. and I can retire. I don't think Jerome, Arizona is all that diverse, but it looks very cool. And before someone from Jerome gets ticked at me for saying there town is diverse and telling me that they have 1 black guy living there, get over yourself. I am always looking at demographics. I've already done "the only black folks living in a place thing" so I am trying to avoid that. Wikipedia indicates that Jerome has 0.30% black, 2.43% Native America and 91.79% white. If I'm really seriously investigating a place I would dig deeper in my research than just Wikipedia, but you get my drift.

Have a great weekend.

"One day our descendants will think it incredible that we paid so much attention to things like the amount of melanin in our skin or the shape of our eyes or our gender instead of the unique identities of each of us as complex human beings." Franklin Thomas