Happy Holidays 2008

I will not be at work (hooray!) and therefore not checking email, blogs, news, etc. from Friday, December 19 through Monday, January 5.

I will be available by phone until noon-ish on Monday, Dec. 29, but not after that because I'll be getting some much-deserved rest and relaxation at Mom's.

I hope you all have a safe and happy holiday season. I don't know about you, but I'm ready for a new year. So long 2008 - and good riddance!

Cassini Goes to Saturn

A tour of the Saturn system courtesy of the Cassini mission, narrated by Carolyn Porco. Thanks to Phil Plait for the link.

There is lots of CGI, but also note how much actual imagery is used. I'll be the first to acknowledge that I'm an astronomy geek, but I'm guessing that this will be entrancing and exciting even for those who are less obsessed with astronomical exploration.

On Being Sick

One's nose should be allowed to be stuffy or runny. Not both at the same time.

Holiday Shopping

If you are fortunate enough to have some $$ to spend on gifts and have anyone who likes jewelry, I would like to recommend virtuallori's Etsy store. When I attended her* wedding last year, I bought a necklace for my cat-sitter, who still thanks me every time she wears it (yeah, it's that good).

Note that some of the pieces can be customized. Whimsical designs, quality craftsmanship, great value - what more can you ask for? What are you waiting for?


*Have no fear - she may be a friend, but I wouldn't hawk her stuff if it wasn't any good.

Thanksgiving

I still lead a blessed life. This year the thing I'm probably most thankful for is that this craaaaaaaaazy semester is almost over.

LIFE Photo Archive

You gotta love Google - they've posted millions of photos, most never published, from LIFE magazine in the new LIFE photo archive.

Don't let the list of subjects on the home page limit your thinking - pick a subject, any subject, and start searching. Try Hawaii or cats or library or Disney or space...

New Food Fave

There is no way Yoplait French Vanilla yogurt is healthy - it tastes too damn good.

btw, if it's not really healthy, I don't want to know - thanks anyway. Ignorance is bliss and all...

Naming Objects

I knew I wasn't the only one, but now someone else has admitted it. Hooray!

For me:

• Car = Beauty
• Computer = Serenity {yes, I know the car should be Serenity, but I got the computer before the car, so the name was already taken}
• 1st PDA = Jade (she, yes she, was a beautiful green)
• 2nd PDA = Panda 'cause it (yes, it) is black and white and when I was trying to name it, Mom had just watched Mulan
  

Why is Panda an it when Jade was a she? 'Cause I could actually use the Grafitti writing system that Jade came with - I even still find myself occasionally using the symbols when writing with pen and paper. When I had to replace Jade several years later, Palm had changed the writing system and I never got the hang of it. Not Panda's fault, I know, but I'm an irrational human - so sue me...

Banned Books Display

"We will be celebrating Banned Book Week by having volunteers read banned and challenged books in our special Banned Book Reading Room at Twin Hickory Library. We have a comfy reading chair, ottoman, reading lamp and a nice selection of banned and challenged books for our readers."

It's worth clicking through to see the photos...

Jon Stewart on 9/11/01

Courtesy of a link from Neil Gaiman's Journal, I was able to see, for the first time, the beginning of Jon Stewart's first Daily Show after September 11, 2001. Not only was I impressed by a man who wasn't afraid to share, and show, the emotions he was battling with, but one of the last things he said really hit me: He said that the view from his apartment used to be the World Trade Center, but that now it was the Statue of Liberty. Not only from his apartment, but from all of lower Manhattan. He didn't dwell on it, but it really got me thinking about the American way of life and our priorities - the dominant feature of a landscape changing from buildings of commerce and business to a symbol of what this country used to, and should, stand for. And, I hope, will again someday.

Hawai‘i State Public Library System in Trouble

A big Mahalo to Librarian In Black for bringing national attention to the plight of Hawai‘i's public libraries.

Map Tunneler

Geek Alert!

A Free Map Tools map that shows you what's on the other side of the Earth.

For the Big Island of Hawai‘i, it's Botswana, Africa.

Where's your opposite?

Brit-Fix

Most of my audiovisual material lately has been from the United Kingdom. For months now, my Netflix queue has been Doctor Who and MI-5 (with the original Avengers creeping in recently), I've been watching and re-watching my Jane Austen collection*, and my iPod keeps me awake while I drive with the Harry Potter books.

Right now, November 18** seems an awfully long way away, although with as crazy busy as this semester is going to be, I'm sure it will actually fly by.

* Pride and Prejudice with Jennifer Ehle and Colin Firth; Sense & Sensibility with Emma Thompson, Kate Winslet, and Alan Rickman; Persuasion with Amanda Root and Ciaran Hinds; and Emma with Gwyneth Paltrow and Jeremy Northam

** Release of Season Series 4 of Doctor Who

Reference Question

One of the most unusual questions I've received at the Reference Desk:

"How many sentences are supposed to be in a paragraph?"

The patron really, really wanted a specific number...

What Does a Rainbow Mean?

Please, PLEASE, somebody tell me this is a hoax: Sprinkler Rainbow Conspiracy.

Some of the hope I felt when I found Splendid Elles just leached away - I want it back! I'm tired of being disgusted with and / or embarrassed by vast numbers of the human race! I'm not perfect, but c'mon, people!

A/C Problems

You know the air-conditioning is having a bad day when it's cooler outside -- in Hawaii, in June -- than it is inside your place of work.

Lego

Classics in Lego is a flickr photoset showing the re-creation of famous photographs using guess what.

Splendid

Do yourself a favor: without reading anything else on the page (comments, about, etc.) go read this post and this post and then come back here and scroll down...
















...thoughtful, intelligent, and analytical, weren't they? Wondering why you haven't heard this insightful commentator before?

Possibly because she has to finish her homework before she can blog, since Splendid Elles is only 15-years old.

Suddenly, I have some hope for the future, don't you? Thanks, Elles.

Scheduling Meetings

Tired of the endless back-and-forth emails when you're trying to schedule a meeting? Check out When is Good. It doesn't get much simpler.

Bumper Sticker

Saw a great bumper sticker today:

Frodo Failed
Bush has the Ring