Round Up

Well, it's the last day of February and for me it's always sort of a depressing day. I know, I know, spring is coming, yadda, yadda, yadda. I love the spring flowers and blooming trees, but I loathe daylight savings time, the sun and warm weather. I need to move to Longyearbyen and see if I can get a job in the seed vault. Oh I would love that. Cold weather, snow, sweaters all year long and limited population. (this is my first spew of hatred for Daylight Savings Time (DST), it won't be my last)

Oh, my belove Bayeux Tapestry has been animated. (As soon as I stop being lazy I'll set my blog up for videos).

A nice educational Presidents Blog.

I would love to attend the WorldChampionship Cheese Contest. Plus, it's held in Wisconsin, which I bet is nice and cold and snowy.


Singing searches. How very technologically cool! You know when you only know a few bars of a song and no matter how hard you try you can't think of the name of the song. Does that not just drive you nuts? Apparently it must have driven the inventors of the Midomi search engine nuts as well.

Geesh-it's about freakin' time. Government Information-Ask a Librarian.

Do you have neighbor issues? Are they inconsiderate, do they not take their trash cans inside in a timely matter, are they just plain old nasty and filthy people? Or do you have neighbors that are angels? Rotten Neighbor allows the user to post about the good and the bad, which makes me think they should change their name.

This would definitely be a trip I would enjoy. Tactile Travel gives unique tours of Italy where the traveler can visit textile factories and yarn stores and much more. What a very clever idea.

Word roots every day at podictionary.

Have been reading and enjoying this blog for a couple of weeks-Reading Archives. This blog is written by a Library and Information Science professor and he writes about the importance of archives. He also mentions quite a few books that I have added to me to be read pile. I am also shocked that this blog has been around since 2006, and I am just discovering it.

That's all for today folks. Have a nice weekend.

"Man is the only animal that can remain on friendly terms with the victims he intends to eat until he eats them." Samuel Butler

Sightings

Before I get into my nature sightings I want to direct you all to a wonderful, spot on post about the election and what I think is a little known historical note. And if it is little-known that's a damn shame. The Laundress has done it again. Read her February 22, 2008 post. Laundress, you are the bomb!!!

Also, the Library of Congress has put approximately 3000 images on Flickr and is asking the publics help in creating captions/tags for them. Big fun!!!

Before I left work on Friday I had a conversation with a co-worker and we started talking about animals. You know I was talking about the feral cats that romp around my development, she was talking about deer sightings, etc.

So I get in the car and we're almost to the turnoff to get on New Hampshire Avenue, almost by my alma mater. As we are going around the bend I look up and there's a hawk on a lightpost.

Then we are driving past the Soldiers' Home and I glance right by the fence and there's a deer, Doe a deer, a female deer.

Then have just passed Montgomery Blair High School, which is so big a friend of mine thought they were building a mall when it was under construction. We're listening to NPR, talking about what's being discussed and look who flies directly in front of our vehicle and over the traffic. Another hawk, a low-flying one.

On Saturday we had just come from dropping some books off at the library and look whose in the road nibbling on some road kill. The Turkey vulture or American Turkey Buzzard. The first time I had ever seen this bird was two years ago and I spotted them either 2 or 3 days in a row. There was a pair and they were together every time I saw them. The one I saw Saturday was alone.

Now if I could just spot a bear.

Some keep the Sabbath going to Church,
I keep it staying at Home -
With a bobolink for a Chorister,
And an Orchard, for a Dome Emily Dickinson

I just walked back from the Natural History building and I heard a lot of bird ruckus. I look over and there are robins everywhere in this one cordoned off area (cordoned for turf restoration). I couldn't believe it. I started counting them, but stopped at 15. Quite a few of them had quite the plump red breast too.

Round Up

This incessant need of mine to know all the names of all the trees and flowers is still ongoing. I was looking for a particular tree name on the web yesterday and I came across Ten Thousand Trees. Gorgeous images of trees. Look at some of the older posts and check out the Ginkgo Tree avenue. Just gorgeous.

The Smurfs are 50 this year. Never one of my favorite cartoons. I never got their point and I thought Smurfette was probably a bit of a ho, you know the prominent female, high heels, all of those men. You know what I'm sayin'. Of course I thought the same about Snow White.

I can recall way, way back when I was attending nursing school in Pittsburgh there must have been a Hare Krishna temple nearby because I would always see some of their members walking around by the hospital in those beautiful saffron colored robes. I never knew that they had free lunches on Sundays or love feasts, and that they also do some catering. And yes they welcome believers and non-believers as well. (via Saveur)

On the way too work this icy morning A. and I were listening to NPR and Garrison Keillor reminded us this is the big Daddyio of the country's birthday. Yes, it's George Washington's real day of birth today. Garrison Keillor was relaying some facts about Big Daddy that I never knew. He bred hound dogs, was a snorer, had suffered from malaria, smallpox and a host of other ailments all by the time he was 30, and one of his favorite foods was mashed potatoes with coconut. Of course with teeth made from a rhino's horn you would probably like a soft, mushy food too. To learn more facts about Big Daddy you can visit the Writer's
Almanac. It's also the birtday of one of my favorite poets Edna St. Vincent Millay.

Red Zee-a new search engine. Love the mascot.

Just love these nature projects that anyone can do and make a bit of a difference.

I tend to tease A. about his ice cream choices. We go through ice cream stages where we seem to be at Baskin and Robins a couple of times a week. Then we aren't eating any ice cream for months. Now, I'm your sundae woman. 2 scoops of pralines and cream in a cup with some hot fundge and I'm good to go. Occasionally when I'm feeling pious I have 1 scoop of pralines and cream on a sugar cone. Now, A. he's your french vanilla or run raisin guy. French vanilla actually reminds me of my grandparents, but that's what it seems to be to me a senior citizens flavor. Then I do recall when I was an undergrad my school would do all of these different things during midterms and finals. They would leave the cafeteria open all night and have either cereal night (which totally did nothing for me because I hate all cereal) or ice cream night. I would then proceed to eat french vanilla with pretzels in it or maple walnut (anything maple is aces with me) with peanut butter in it. And I didn't gain weight with this. Oh, how I miss that metabolism. And what sparked this reminiscence. I ended up on Vanilla.com the other day that's what.

Okay celebrity endorsements have always left me feeling a bit perturbed, but this yarn really through me for a loop.

Store bought cookies were never anything we had a lot in my house when I was growing up because my mother is a baker. Occasionally we did eat Oreos. I had seen Hydrox cookies in the store, but I always thought they were just a cheap imitation, a poseur so to speak to Oreos. Apparently the Hydrox cookie has been taken off the market and boy are people ticked. Here is a site dedicated to the Hydrox cookie, and of course there's a petition to bring it back.

One of the rock stars of children's literature (still don't care for that term) Jane Yolen has a online journal.

Okay, I must make eggplant involtini.

I recall reading an article about a woman came to America from Russia and she said that cried when she went into her first supermarket. She couldn't believe how much of everything there was. Not just a few bottles of shampoo, but many different types of shampoo, not just a few apples, but all of these different types of apples. She said that she was overwhelmed. And it's just not the products. It's the grocery stores or supermarkets themselves. In Southwestern Pennsylvania we have/had Giant Eagle, Shop & Save, Foodland and Kroger. A&P had gone out of business when I was just a wee lass. When I moved to the WDC area there was a whole new group of stores to learn. Giant, Safeway and now Whole Foods, Trader Joes, Superfresh, Shoppers and Food Lion (which I've only been in once). I love learning about the history of stores, and I found a convenient one-stop learning center at Grocerteria.net.

Alex Prior-what an amazing kid.

Have a nice weekend.

"Create the highest, grandest vision possible for your life, because you become what you believe." - Oprah Winfrey

Round Up

Congratulations Uno the Beagle. You sure are cute. And the first beagle to win Best in Show ever. Woof Woof!!

Well, now he's done it. Now Bush want's to eliminate Reading is Fundamental. Please contact your respresentatives about this bonehead move.

I hate styrofoam peanuts. In fact I hate styrofoam. If you seem to have a plethora of peanuts and you don't know what to do with them, the Plastic Loose Fill Council can take them off of your hands.

If you are a fan of C Spans Q & A Series they have all of the past programs archived and you can listen to the podcasts.

Whenever I see scholarships advertised I always wonder just who are the lucky people that obtain these wondrous gifts. I spent hours filling out forms,etc. for scholarships for grad school and I didn't get a one. Well, yes I got one for $300. My classes were $800 a credit. Yep, very little help. Anywho, I've developed a perverse enjoyment out of reading scholarship offers. Here's a list of design scholarships.

I used to subscribe to Saveur magazine. At one time or another I've subscribed to quite a few of the cooking magazines. The Saveur 100 issue is the one that I buy straight off of the newstand as soon as it is out. Every year Saveur compiles a list of 100 culinary people, products, places and so on that were the best from that year. This sort of culinary detective work must be so much fun. I'm linking to the list without really looking at it because I'm only about a quarter of the way through my issue. I relish every page.

There are many times in my library career when I have thought I would love to be a cataloger. I still think that from time to time. I love records, and I enjoy the process of creating a beautiful, correct bibliographic record. Plus there's rules, and the anal portion of my personality needs that. The last few years have shown me though, that bibliographic records, catalogs and databases are just as arbitrary as anything else. Are just as apt to drive me nuts as anything and everything else in life. Grrrrr!!!!Just wanted to vent a bit.

Make a photo cube.

I could give two hoots about phones, but I do like design, and I tent to favor the phones from the 30s and 40s as opposed to the unstylish boxes we have today. I really like some of the phones on the Old Phone Works site.

L.L. Bean lets you design your own tote. Very cool.

Great gathering spot for tech reports, e-prints and preprints, The Virtual Tech Reports Center.

Shuttersisters-wonderful, whimsical website filled with gorgeous photography.

I can't wait to page through the new 8-volume African American National Biography. Here's an article about this tome.

Tabblo-a place to make cool things with your photographs.

Have a wonderful weekend.

"Don't interfere with anything in the Constitution. That must be maintained, for it is the only safeguard of our liberties. And not to Democrats alone do I make this appeal, but to all who love these great and true principles." Abraham Lincoln
--August 27, 1856 Speech at Kalamazoo, Michigan

Round Up

January 11, 2008 was Sr. Rosetta Tharpe day. Sr. Rosetta Tharpe was a gospel singer who performed in the 1930s and 1940s. She was the first big recording star of gospel music. Other artists such as Elvis Presley, Little Richard and Keith Richards have all proclaimed that her style of performing and guitar playing were an influence on their own musical stylings.

Sadly Sr. Tharpe resides in an unmarked grave in Philadelphia. The concert that occurred on January 11, 2008 raised funds to get this wonder woman a proper gravestone. More about her here. You can see her peforming on YouTube. She was something. I'm not a huge fan of gospel music, even though hearing Mahalia Jackson sing can bring tears to my eyes and goosebumps to my skin. I tend to appreciate talent and great voices in any genre though. Watching Sr. Tharpe you can see that she possessed that special charisma that so few people are gifted.

This woman rocks. I may have written about her before, but she is so cool she deserves another mention. Erin McKean is a lexicographer and the Chief Chief Consulting Editor for American Dictionaries at Oxford University Press. She has not one, but two cool blogs. The Dictionary Evangelist and A Dress a Day. Check her out.

Recycle your crocs.

And speaking of Crocs-visit Shoefinder.

Create your virtual lemonande stand and sell your items.

ATM Locator brought to you by VISA by way of Lifehacker.

The incomparable Nina Simone has a daughter, and guess what she sings.

Okay, I've had this thing, this curse, this plague for almost a month. My doctor tells me that this "thing" has a hold on you for 4 to 6 weeks. Good freakin' grief. If you want to find out if your community has some soul-sucking bug going around visit Who Is Sick.

The TSA, yep the Transportation Security Administration has a blog.

I'm flagging so it's time for me to go. I wish you all a great weekend.

"You probably wouldn't worry about what people think of you if you could know how seldom they do." - Olin Miller

Stuff

I wasn't going to open this can of worms, but I am getting so annoyed by it I'm just going to open the can.

We all know that race, gender, orientation and all of the nonsense that we use to discriminate against people and to place people in inescapable boxes is wrong. We all know this. And that being said I get so tired of hearing about Hillary being a WOMAN and Barack being African American. Yes, Hillary is a Woman. Barack is biracial. Okay folks. He's biracial. Like I said it doesn't matter, but since the media keeps tooting this horn, why can't they toot the correct horn. He's biracial. Halle Berry-biracial. Jasmine Guy-biracial, Soledad O'Brien, Mariah Carey, 4 of the Diana Ross brood, Wentworth Miller and Lenny Kravitz-and his rockin' hot body-all biracial. And a whole host of other folks both in the public eye and not in the public eye are biracial. Since the media is so keen on placing labels, they should place the right labels. Just think about it. Enough said.

Since I've been sick so much this past month I've been going through my to-be-read-pile. I just finished The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick. I can see why this book won 2008 Caldecott Medal, was a finalist for the 2007 National Book Awards in the Young People's Category and was named one of the New York Times Ten Best illustrated books of the year.

I also read The Friday Night Knitting Club by Kate Jacobs. This is a departure from my unsual nonfiction and mysteries, but I enjoyed it. Even if you aren't a knitter, but you like a good story filled with interesting, evolving female characters set in an urban setting, then this is the story for you. Even when I was reading this novel I thought I thought that this would be something that could be adapted for a movie. Rumor has it that I was correct in my assumption. I was hoping Julia Roberts wouldn't be the main character, even though I know she is an experienced knitter, but was hoping for someone not so mainstream.

I came across some more documentaries that I would like to see. Run Granny Run, Hear and Now, and one that hasn't hit the screen yet, Ken Burns National Parks (2009, and Secrecy. I also think I'm going to check out the female buddy movie Bonneville when it is released at the end of this month.

While I was browsing through different publishers websites looking for reference books I found quite a few interesting reference books on McFarland & Company's website. Before I even get to some of their cooler reference works they have sheet music books; Confederate Sheet Music, Presidential Sheet Music,Suffragist Sheet Music, and Early Broadway Sheet Music.

Here are some of the titles that caught my eye. I don't necessarily have an interest in some of these, but I do think it's interesting that someone wrote about the subject.

Children’s Counting-Out Rhymes, Fingerplays, Jump-Rope and Bounce-Ball Chants and Other Rhythms by Gloria Delabar

Forts of the United States by Bud Hannings

Graves of Southern Musicians by Eward Amos

Funeral and Memorial Service Reading, Poems and Tributes edited by Rachel R. Baum

Psychotherapists on Film,1899-1999 by John Flowers and Paul Frizler

Radio Crime Fighters by Jim Cox

The Zombie Movie Encyclopedia by Peter Dendle

I could go on, but you get the gist.

"Whining is not only graceless, but can be dangerous. It can alert a brute that a victim is in the neighborhood." - Maya Angelou