Thursday, December 29, 2011

I'm a Joiner

I'm joining in the fun of the Super Librarian's TBR challenge for 2012 in an attempt to encourage me to dive farther back into shelves (e and paper) and because it will also get me back into the habit of talking about books I liked a little more often (or, you know, didn't like).  Anyhoo, looking forward to it.  And next week or so should also start me with my 2011 round ups.  (I like to wait until 2011 is, you know, actually done.) 



Wednesday, December 28, 2011

Even Zoo Animals Have Neighbor Problems

I want to stress that everyone is okay, which is why I'm going to poke a little fun.  When I first saw the headline that a crocodile in Australia had snapped up a lawnmower, I was intrigued because, let's face it, lawnmowers do not sound that appetizing.  As it happens, the crocodile - named Elvis - is in a reptile park and a keeper was mowing the lawn.  Elvis lunged at the keeper, I feel certain that he was tired of the stupid lawnmower noise, and the keeper brandished the lawnmower at him so Elvis took the lawnmower and plunked into the lagoon.  He then guarded the lawnmower, the keepers say like a new toy, but I again stand by my theory that he wanted to make sure they didn't take it back and start mowing again. They eventually distracted Elvis and got the mower back.  (I assume so that it wouldn't leech toxins into the lagoon since I'm guessing even zoo-grade lawnmowers are not designed for full submersion.  They say Elvis is quite pleased with himself, and why not, the mowing stopped, and he got kangaroo meat.  Sounds like an excellent day for a crocodile.



Thursday, December 22, 2011

Look, it's Free Stuff

It is a wonderful thing knowing talented people.  So, over here we have a tale of what happened after Little Red Riding Hood, by my lovely chapter-mate Alethea Kontis (Red may have gone a little stalkery over her woodcutter). 
And, if music is your thing, and you'll be in DC for New Year's, Showlist DC has a chance to win tickets to the 9:30 Club's concert.  (Showlist DC, if you are unaware, compiles all of the DC/Balto area concerts in one convenient listing.  Seriously brilliant. And I would say that even if it wasn't run by a fellow yarny person.)



Monday, December 19, 2011

Does This Count as Sculpture Graffiti?

I was alerted to this story of mysterious paper sculptures that appeared around Edinburgh.  The sculptures are gorgeous and I love a story about happy gifts being left for nice places. Apparently the artist did leave a note with the final sculpture indicating that she was a she, not a he, and that she enjoyed remaining anonymous (but apparently not being referred to as male).  Hopefully these gifts got extra visitor traipsing through these places. 


Wednesday, December 14, 2011

That Would Never Happen

I had forgotten to mention that my fellow WRW chapter-mate has a blog - the Prime Time Crime Review, where she looks at "Law and Order: SVU" and compares it to her experience as a prosecutor.  I confess, I'm not a big SVU fan, but I still find this type of analysis really interesting, and apparently I'm not the only one since the ABA has named the blog of of the best of 2011. 
I also read and enjoyed Allison's book, Law of Attraction.  It was so nice to read a DC book by someone who has an actual idea of the place. ( I may have cheered when I read the protagonist had a basement apartment.)




Monday, December 12, 2011

Those Kind of Books

Because it's that kind of morning, let me share Maya Rodale's video on why people are trying to convince you not to read romance.
And should you instead (or also) wish for more Trekkie cookie humor, we have this.

h/t to my Face book friends, from whom I shamelessly stole these links.


Thursday, December 08, 2011

Teaching Prisoners to Knit

I thought I had mentioned this before, but apparently not.  I first heard about this program when one of the local yarn stores was trying to help garner votes for a donation to support the program.  The program at the time was teaching prisoners to knit and having them make trauma buddies (stuffed items trauma workers could offer to a kid at a trauma scene to try and help calm them down).  This article states that the program has expanded beyond that and now even has a waiting list. 
I'm so happy to hear that this program has had such success.  And hopefully, some similar programs will get started elsewhere.



Monday, December 05, 2011

Memo to My Teen Self: Ha!

This got passed to me after the youth group had a discussion about education.  Now, the part of this that interests me is this school board member went and took the test that they give tenth graders to measure reading and math skills. Now, I think there's an interesting point here. I think this piece overlooks the things that I was sure I would never need again, and then, maybe did, but certainly there's food for thought.  If these adults all agree that many of these things are not useful to their current lives and jobs, then is this the measure we want to use while evaluating schools and kids and who should think about college. 
Now, I confess, I was (and still seem to be) a pretty good test taker, so I was not led astray by errant test results. But while I understand the value of having some sort of consistent measure of students from different schools, I think most people agree these things have flaws. I'm not sure there is a perfect solution, but maybe there is a better solution.  And kids, maybe you should see if you can get your parents to take the test.