Alice in InfoLand

at last, a mathematical formula to help you figure out when the NEXT Leap Year will be:

 

(from the Mental Floss blog: http://www.mentalfloss.com/blogs/archives/11693 )

*Breaking News: All Online Data Lost After Internet Crash* — a news report from The Onion.
(found via The Committed Sardine)

Spotted on the marquee of a local Dairy Delite: “Try our new Crunchi-Creme Soft-Serv”

(kvel) verb intr. To feel proud; to beam; to gloat. [From Yiddish kveln, from German quellen (to gush, to well up)]
I am delighted to announce that:

• on February 14 my daughter Abigail and her husband John became the proud (if scared) owners of their first house.
• on February 17 my son Daniel proposed to his lovely Carmelita, and she accepted both him and the ring that MY grandmother brought to America almost 100 years ago.

Who knows what else the future might bring? …only the Shadow knows.

Enjoy!
http://www.buf.fr/WORK/popup.php?kind=movie&id=759
with thanks to David Pogue

“I’m a bookslut. I undress my bookshelf with my eyes and imagine myself buried in their black, smooth lines of text.”
— Ben Casnocha.
What a wonderfully evocative description of an obsessive reader’s mind!

Guaranteed to make your day brighter:
Eleven Twelve , a classic Sesame Street counting video.

Here’s the URL: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KDm0PqjAF78

(Þ: Snarkmarket )

The women in my book-discussion group are mostly in their mid-70’s, cultured and cosmopolitan. Many of them attend performances of opera, ballet, etc. at Lincoln Center in Manhattan. During our meeting on Tuesday I overheard this wonderful exchange:
A: When you saw Tosca on Friday night, did you go over to look at David Blaine in his bubble?
B: No, I couldn’t be bothered. That’s certainly a waste of a good plaza.

Steve Breen’s wonderful comic-strip Grand Avenue takes on blogging, as Michael decides to become a cyber-presence and his caustic twin sister adds her own take on his efforts.
Check out the week of strips from May 1 - 5.
My personal favorite: this one from Wednesday, May 3:

You Are 34% Evil

A bit of evil lurks in your heart, but you hide it well. In some ways, you are the most dangerous kind of evil.

found via Mamamusings, and Yes, I answered every question honestly!!

Signs noticed in passing:

on a moving van: 
    Collegiate Packing & Moving Services: call 1-800-PAY4SCHOOL

on the microwave in a doctor’s office:
    Fat People Are Harder to Kidnap.

Comments on Free Range Librarian have been proposing neologisms (here and here) to describe the landscape of library-related blogs. It seems that some writers find biblioblogosphere (the word, not the place) awkward, and would prefer a more creative catchphrase. So far suggestions have included liblogs, livrastan, biblioblogistan, and my current favorite: Libkuchen; aka That Which Is Cooked Up By Librarians. It also sounds kind of like Lebkuchen, which is a cookie, and therefore has relevance to the web, which also has cookies. (thanks, Genny!)
tags: biblioblogosphere, edubiblioblogosphere

Allow me to kvell by association:

• two of Library Journal’s 2006 Movers & Shakers:
• Angela Crockett: Schoolchildren’s Champion
  
  
• Sophie Brookover: Pop Goes the Librarian
• Shayne Russell: Earthwatch/Teachlive Adventurer school librarian at Olson Middle School
  
  
• Sara Kelly Johns: AASL Activist and Presidential Candidate (Jersey by attitude, if not geography)

These ladies are definitely shaking up those old stereotypes!

Time for this to make the rounds of the edubiblioblogosphere!
I’ve adapted the rules a bit —
Choose any (multiple of) four categories:

Four non-library jobs I’ve had:
waitress
amanuensis
social studies teacher
personal coach

Four Authors, Books, or Series I read over and over:
Anne LaMott
David Allen’s Getting Things Done
Dorothy Dunnett’s Lymond Chronicles
Anne McCaffrey’s Dragonriders of Pern

Four movies I can watch over and over: (ah, the joys of Netflix)
Moonstruck
Singing in the Rain
Mad Hot Ballroom
As Good As It Gets

Four TV shows I love(d):
Northern Exposure
West Wing (in the Sorkin days)
Boston Legal
Grey’s Anatomy

Four places I’ve lived:
New York City (growing up)
Boulder CO (summer school)
Burlington VT (summer school)
Highland Park NJ (now)

Four places to vacation in:
New York City
San Francisco
Paris
Yellowstone National Park

Four sites I visit/use daily:
gmail
bloglines
salon.com
backpackit.com

Four (non-library) people I’d like to meet in person, based on their blogs:
Guy Kawasaki
Ben Casnocha
Dave Pollard
Rosina Lippi

Four foods I yearn for:
Emack & Bolio’s Chocolate Moose
my mother’s poppyseed cookies
Ebinger’s blackout cake
chocolate / pistachio halvah

Four inventions I’m grateful for:
post-it notes
electric blankets
microwave ovens
wireless routers

Four musical choices for my personal soundtrack:
Barbara Cook
Mel Torme
John Pizzarelli
J.S. Bach

Four nouns that describe me:
auto-didact
curmudgeon
facilitator
humorist

Four EduBiblioBloggers I’m Tagging:
Blue Skunk
Lazygal
DeepThinking
Infomancy


Who’s next? Feel free to add/subtract/revise any of the categories… and the scope of the blogosphere!

What do you use as cognitive comfort-food when you need a mental/emotional break from reality ?

What puts you into a totally different frame of mind, if only for a brief respite?

Here are some of my favorite comfort-enablers:

Books:

• Dorothy Dunnett’s Lymond Chronicles
• Anne McCaffrey’s Pern series

Movies:

• any of the old MGM movie musicals — preferably with  Fred Astaire or Gene Kelly

 TV (on DVD, obviously, for instant access):

• Seasons 1-4 of The West Wing 

• FWIW, my daughter depends on episodes from Little House on the Prairie.  I think she’s got the full set of all 9 years on DVD, now!
  

 
What are some of your choices?