Weekly Shhhout-Out

Finding Funny at the Library

19 Nov 2009 00:00:00 EST

One of the trickier requests librarians receive from adults is "I'm looking for something light, something that will really make me laugh."

Once we've determined that the reader is not a) looking for the latest by Janet Evanovich and b) not interested in joke books, we've probably crossed over into the realm of The Humorous Essay. Humorous essay collections are great because readers can enjoy them piecemeal and skip ahead to the best bits, but they're also annoyingly adept at blending in with the rest of the essays, memoirs, and cultural criticism on our shelves.

In the interest of "fast" and "funny," here's a quick list of some the freshest, funniest books that can be found at the library. Enjoy them; share them; be sure to read them in public so that people can edge away nervously as your laugh out loud.

More Information Than You Require by John Hodgman (818.54 HOD)
"The bestselling author of "The Areas of My Expertise," who is also the Resident Expert on "The Daily Show," compiles incredibly handy made-up facts into brief articles, overlong lists, frighteningly complex charts, and beguiling narratives on new and familiar themes."

The Idiot Girls' Action-Adventure Club by Laurie Notaro (B Notaro)

"This collection of columns, originally written for the Arizona Republic, details Notaro's daring exploits and comical mishaps as she matures from wild teenager to disheveled adult."

When You Are Engulfed In Flames by David Sedaris (814.54 SED) "David Sedaris uses life's most bizarre moments to reach new heights in understanding love and fear, family and strangers. Culminates in a brilliantly funny account of his venture to Tokyo in order to quit smoking."

Mirth of a Nation edited by Michael J. Rosen (817.5408 MIR) "At last, a premier showcase of fifty-four great literary humorists and masters of the journalistic jab, the social spoof, the parodic proof, the satire, the tirade, and the send-up. Here are those "last laughs" and "wit's end" pieces everyone turns to first but then loses in back issues of favorite magazines and newspapers."

Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs by Chuck Klosterman (306.097 KLO) "There is much here to entertain and illuminate, particularly passages on the psychoses and motivations of breakfast cereal mascots, the difference between Celtic fans and Laker fans, and The Empire Strikes Back."

Happy reading!

Ann Geht

Spiders on My Mind

04 Nov 2009 00:00:00 EST

Working full time while taking a couple classes and moving to a new apartment does not a refreshed librarian make. A bit of learning-induced overextension combined with a hefty dose of disorganization (maybe this will help?) has led to an often tired, often muddled little me. Luckily, I’m not forgetting appointments – yet – but I am showing up for them early. (An hour early for a haircut and what would have been a week early for another appointment, had the master calendar at work not clued me in just in time.)

Yet, amid all this abstraction, all this juggling of assignment and work schedules, of writing projects and haircut appointments, I find myself drawn back to knitting, a craft I taught myself five or six years ago. I wondered why this sudden compulsion to pick up needles and yarn returned, when it occurred to me: the ordered, physical activity grounds my frenzied mental manipulation.

When I stumbled across a story on the Wired Science blog, the long history of knitting, weaving, and fabric craft washed over me. The article described the recent discovery of the oldest preserved spider web, spun nearly 140 million years ago, which researchers theorize the web became encased in sap during a wildfire.

According to Ancient Greek myth, spiders are descendants of Arachne, a proud, boastful, insolent and incredibly talented weaver. Navajo creation myth describes Spider Woman, a yei (god) who taught the Navajo people to weave. And legend of the Ghanaian Ashanti people attributes the development of Kente cloth to the instruction of a spider. (See Margaret Musgrove’s The Spider Weaver for a wonderfully illustrated and researched version.)

Another Wired Science entry, also about spider silk, brought all these musings full circle. In this case, dozens of people collected thousands of golden orb spiders from telephone poles in Madagascar, ultimately harvesting the spiders’ silk and making an “11-foot by 4-foot textile[,] the only large piece of cloth made from natural spider silk existing in the world today.” The mythic echoes of creating a textile from spider silk strikes me with whim enough to wish I had a loom and a roomful of spiders from which to harvest materials. As I have neither, and consider it very unlikely I will ever get that collection of spiders, I’ll content myself with my needles and wool. And just might throw a spider design in somewhere as tribute.

- Beth

Ghosts and Ghouls @Your Library?

28 Oct 2009 00:00:00 EST

Q: What do ghosts like to read?

A: Boo-ks (Of course!)

'Tis the season for all things spooky and haunted. (And no, I didn't borrow or steal this theme from the last blog entry. It's totally coincidental.) History tells us that not all ghosts stick to haunted houses and cemeteries. Many of them didn't lose their thirst for knowledge and chose to swirl around the stacks in their favorite libraries. Perhaps someof the most well known of these (at least to those of us of a certain generation) might have been the ghoulish spectres that make their prescences known in the opening scenes of the 1984 hit film Ghostbusters. In the New York Public Library's historic main building, we meet a typically middle-aged librarian who encounters flying card catalog cards, slimed drawers, and a hideous apparition all in the library's basement (the real-life Los Angeles Public Library).

A real-life biblio-ghoul resides in the Willard Public Library in Evansville, IN. The Grey Lady was first spotted by a custodian in the 1930s and was last seen in 1997. She has inspired ghost tours and related programming at the library as well several web cams positioned throughout the building so that you too can see if you can catch a glimpse of her. Some stories say that the Grey Lady is the ghost of Louise Carpenter, the daughter of the library's founder, Willard Carpenter. Apparently when he died, he left most of his money to the new library and not to her, though she was provided for. Others don't think the ghost acts like someone who is upset and bearing a grudge (toward the library) so her true identity remains a mystery.

Last year, Encyclopedia Britannica offered a list of haunted libraries across the U.S. and around the world on its blog. There are two in our area, the Hayden House in Ellicott City (although hauntings appear to have ceased when the building was renovated to house the Howard County Law Library) and the rooms on the west side of the U.S. Capitol Rotunda, former home of the Library of Congress.

You can also make your own local branch haunted by appearing at your library in costume at one of our many Halloween themed events.

Have a spooktacular Halloween!

Chris

Scary Stuff

21 Oct 2009 00:00:00 EST

My fiancé and I have been getting ready for the Halloween by watching horror movies. He isn’t into horror as much as I am, so occasionally we watch a comedy with a hint of scare. The last movie we watched was the Burbs with Tom Hanks. This movie is about a group of normal American neighbors in a cul-de-sac who have strange and unsocial neighbors move in. In the film Hanks gets spooked over an urban legend about an ice cream man.

This reminded me of how much I love urban legends. Most urban legends are cultural and develop from fear or worry in the society. Some urban myths are in smaller communities, where others myths are nation wide, for example the “Southern Fried Rat.” What I think is fun about urban myths is that it is an opportunity to tell a story and practices oral traditions. Most urban myths have a core story, and the details change slightly from person to person.

In my home town, one of our urban legends is the mysterious Dr. Crow of Wisner Rd. Along with the myth there is a teenage tradition to drive down Wisner Rd. late at night and stop somewhere on the road. Then you would get out of the car and walk down the road. Your friends would wait in the car see how long you would last without some creature of Dr. Crow’s grabbing you.

There are so many websites devoted to ghosts, ghost hunting and urban myths. Even in the transient areas of Maryland and Northern Virginia there are two urban myths. The Northern Virginia myth is over thirty years old and consists of a crazed lunatic in a bunny suit. The Bunnyman is thought to be the idea behind the cult movie Donnie Darko. While another in Prince Georges County is called the “Goatman.” The Goatman has been developed into a tourist attraction in Riverdale Maryland called the Goatman Hollows.

If you are curious about the areas urban myth or ghost stories have a look at these books.

Spooky Maryland, Haunted Maryland, and Ghosts and Haunted Houses of Maryland.

Gale

Good King Hal

14 Oct 2009 00:00:00 EST

The winner of the 2009 Man Booker prize for fiction was announced this week, and a novel by Hilary Mantel, Wolf Hall, beat out the other 6 shortlist candidates for the prize.

Wolf Hall, described as “a rich, absorbingly readable historical novel” , chronicles the rise to power of Thomas Cromwell, one of King Henry VIII closest advisors. Cromwell aided Henry in ridding himself of Anne Bolyen, but unfortunately brokered Henry’s marriage to Anne of Cleves, to whom Henry referred as “the Flanders mare”. That mistake cost Cromwell his head, an all too common fate for Henry’s associates. Present day political intrigues can't hold a candle to the knife-edged balancing acts attempted by ambitious men of the Tudor era.

Our fascination with the larger than life Tudor king, his wives, mistresses, courtiers, ministers and descendents seems to be just as powerful in the 21^st century as it ever was. Books, films, and websites devoted to either the whole period or various characters both great and small are ubiquitous.

Author Phillippa Gregory has had a recent string of best sellers centered around the women in Henry’s life, ranging from Katherine of Aragon (The Constant Princess) to the ambitious and striving Boleyn women (The Other Boleyn Girl and The Boleyn Inheritance) and on to Elizabeth I (The Virgin’s Lover and The Queen’s Fool). Her books bring to life the machinations of the Tudor court, and the powerful families who brokered their women like chips in a card game to win favor with the mercurial and all powerful king.

Historical fiction often spurs readers on to find out more about the period and characters in the novel. Respected British historian Alison Weir has published several fiction titles about Elizabeth 1 recently, but also wrote two wonderful nonfiction titles about Henry and his wives. The Six Wives of Henry VIII and The Children of Henry VIII give a absorbing and readable look at the turbulent marital history of Henry, and how it affected the English church and English history to this day.

Another fascinating nonfiction book about a rather minor character in the Tudor dramas is Jane Boleyn, by Julia Fox. Jane was the sister in law of Anne and Mary Boleyn, and has been viewed for centuries as the person who sealed the fate of Anne and George by testifying to their incestuous relationship. Jane's friendship with Catherine Howard, Henry's second beheaded wife, led to her eventual execution.

Henry and his court have been the subject of plays and films since the time of Shakespeare. He has been portrayed by actors ranging from the portly Charles Laughton in The Private Life of Henry VIII, to the more believable Keith Mitchell in the BBC drama The Six Wives of Henry VIII, to the smoldering Jonathan Rhys-Myers in the current Showtime series “The Tudors”. The accuracy of some of these portrayals can be, shall we say, debatable, but again the story line is endlessly engrossing even though everyone knows how it all turned out.

It all comes back in the end to the great central figure of Henry (who even has his own Facebook Fan Page). And without Henry, we wouldn't have this.

anita

Highgate Cemetery

07 Oct 2009 00:00:00 EST

First, a confession: I may be the only librarian who hasn’t read The Time Traveler’s Wife, one of the most popular book club titles of all time. Frankly, the theme of time traveling lovers left me cold. (Though I’m not against time travel per se; one of my favorite novels is Doomsday Book by Connie Willis about a historian who travels back to medieval times to study the effects of the Black Death in an English village). So why, when I saw that Audrey Niffenegger has a new book coming out, did I rush to get my name on the waiting list? Two words in the book review: Highgate Cemetery. Her Fearful Symmetry is about Chicago sisters who inherit a London apartment overlooking Highgate Cemetery from their aunt. Much of the action and mystery of the story takes place in and around the cemetery, a magnificently atmospheric relic of the Victorian way of death.

I first visited Highgate on a trip home to London in the 1990’s after chancing upon a newspaper article about the Friends of Highgate Cemetery, a volunteer group dedicated to reclaiming the long disused western cemetery from decades of vandalism and tangles of overgrown vegetation. Opened in 1839 when London ran short of burial space, Highgate was a gracious park-like expanse on a hill overlooking the city and became the cemetery of choice for a burgeoning upper middle class intent on entering the afterlife in grand style. At the center a massive circle of vaults and catacombs was erected entered by the imposing Egyptian Avenue. Here the men who made their

fortunes from the Industrial Revolution vied with one another for the largest, most elaborate mausoleums and monuments. Amid the classical architecture Victorian sentimentality flourished with hosts of weeping angels, flocks of baby lambs, and flowery inscriptions memorializing the departed. English eccentricity was well represented too: a grand piano, a riderless horse, and an enormous sleeping lion are some of the more unusual examples of funerary statuary scattered among the conventional graves.

150 years later towering trees shut out the view and the sun, angels and classical columns lay tumbled among a wild undergrowth of ivy, ferns, and wildflowers, and pathways could barely be discerned between the heaving graves. In short, Highgate Cemetery had become the perfect setting for a Halloween haunting, a horror movie, or a ghost story. On that first visit, escorted through the ruins by volunteers from the Friends, even my teenage children (what do you mean we’re going to a cemetery?) fell under Highgate’s spell.

Earlier this year my family and I made a whirlwind trip to London to show my son-in-law the sights. We didn’t have time for everything on our list. On the last day we had to choose between Buckingham Palace and Highgate Cemetery. I looked at my daughter. There was no hesitation. “Highgate Cemetery” she said firmly. That is how we found ourselves traipsing around a cemetery with a baby in tow on the coldest day in London in a decade. The white mist from our exhaled breaths just added to the ghostly atmosphere. There were some changes since my first visit. The volunteers, ever busy with their garden clippers, had rescued graves and pathways from the stranglehold of nature and righted fallen statuary. But the essential grandeur, poignancy, and strangeness of the place remain.

I don’t know what Audrey Niffenegger will do with this wonderful setting for her new book, but I do know I want to find out.

Rita

Picture This, Too

30 Sep 2009 00:00:00 EST

Last time I posted here, it was about the way that photos on the internet can make history come alive. Photos can also make us laugh, and many sites trade on that and funny captions alone. There are some sites however, that seem to reveal something deeper about us through photographs, or make us want to read between the lines and add the rest of the story. Awkward Family Photos is one of those sites—a treasure trove submitted by blog readers. Why is that man holding an alligator, and why does his small child look so scared? Why is that boy looking at the sole of his shoe in the background? Has he stepped in something? Did those three young men really want to hoist their horizontal bikini clad mother? (And just so you know this is library related, like many things that start with blogs, this will be a book next year. Random House is publishing it.) If some of these smiles seem tentative, forced, or even scarily maniacal to you, try looking at the faces on Happiest People Ever. Yes, they are being sarcastic with the blog name—here are photos of people caught before or just after a smile perhaps, not ever going to smile at all maybe, or just mad for having to wait so long for the photographer to get it together.

One of the interesting thing about those sites is that the mocked are often willing participants. But in Bighappyfunhouse the photos are found. The blogger doesn’t say found where, but I have thoughts of mildewed shoe boxes in the back rooms of second hand shops. The source of the photos may be different, but the effect is often the same—sometimes just further back in time.
I’d love to know why these people are having dinner in the cellar.

Junk Shop Photos is a little more forthcoming with its source of pictures. “...updated every Monday, Wednesday and Friday with a new photograph retrieved from the dusty corners of an old junk shop. Sometimes the photos have stuff written on them, sometimes they don't. Sometimes I can determine their dates, sometimes I can't. They're presented as-is, never enhanced or restored. Adding your own captions or comments to the photos is highly encouraged.”

Foundphotos.net has another source--unintentionally shared photos: “The Found Photos project consists of a collection of private photos which file-sharing users have unknowingly made public when installing P2P software. The result is a pastiche of modern life upon which you can’t feel at least slightly guilty for intruding: The Found Photos project started in 2004, while searching for mp3’s using a filesharing program. After downloading a folder of mp3’s, I came across a folder named ‘pictures’ inside of the album folder, and found a handful of digital camera photos. This made me wonder what else was out there, what people are publicly sharing – after a few quick keyword searches I came across thousands of them publicly shared.”

Ah, cheap voyeurism.

For some of the most surreal images on the Internet, however, visit Dreamattack.net

You will have to exercise a crazy imagination to make up stories for those images.

Cheers!

Annette

Linux at the Library

22 Sep 2009 00:00:00 EST

Often discussions of computer operating systems such as Microsoft's Windows, Apple's OS X and/or the various flavors of Linux become heated, personal and unpleasant. Now, I promise this entry will not be a comparison of these computer operating systems, no bashing will happen, I will not attempt to get you to change your mind about something, however I might write this article with a favorite Linux hat just cause I can :) What I will discuss are some of the options for learning about the Linux operating system for new users and some of the resources available to more advanced or even professional users.

The Beginner:

You might have heard of Linux and are wondering what it is all about or you, like me, have an old computer that you want to keep rather than buying a new machine altogether.

So I did a search on the catalog using the following terms: "linux not e-book". I didn't want to get to the e-books in this search because those tend towards more advanced and/or professional subjects and thus aren't really necessary for the beginner. Here are some examples from the results.

1. Blum, Richard. (2009). Ubuntu Linux secrets. Indianapolis, IN : Wiley Pub.

2. Sharma, Shashank. (2007). Beginning Fedora : from novice to professional. Berkeley, CA : Apress.

3. LeBlanc, Dee-Ann. (2007). Linux for dummies. Hoboken, N.J. : Wiley

4. Negus, Chris. (2007). Linux bible : boot up to Ubuntu, Fedora, KNOPPIX, Debian, SUSE, and 11 other distributions. Indianapolis, IN : Wiley Pub.

There are more but those were all on the first page of the results and I think they would do a good job of getting the beginner started. Reading over this list I could understand if a beginner asked: "Hang on a minute, what's this Ubuntu, Debian, Fedora, SUSE and all the other names listed here". Ah yes, these names you here are varieties of Linux that are available and I would have to refer the beginner to the history of Linux and to a list of Linux distributions if they wanted a full explanation but, quite frankly, it is not necessary at all to have this knowledge in order to install Linux. That type of question is why I recommend a book like "Linux Bible" because it will give exposure to the variety that exists in the Linux world. These books will explain in step by step instructions how to go about the installation. Another enjoyable aspect of Linux are the user forums where-in many if not all questions can be or more likely have been answered. Just remember to put the name of your Linux distribution, version number and the topic you need answered into the search field of the search engine you use, ex ubuntu 9.04 flash.

A word now about my own experiences. The first time I installed Linux I had a professional add a spare hard-drive to my computer and then I installed Linux to that drive and it ran quite happily until I blew up the original hard-drive on the machine, oops. Anyway, the professional installation of the drive was the easiest way to get that done and furthermore I didn't want to mess around with having to make room on an existing drive via disk partitioning, that at the time was a bit more than I wanted to learn. My second and most recent Linux install was on a laptop. Disk partitioning was an option because I had things I wanted to keep. I opted however to back-up everything on an external drive and do a complete write-over of the existing software, start fresh. Again it was easy and my laptop is quite happy. Versions of linux I have used are SUSE, Red Hat, and Ubuntu. I would also recommend that you get your hands on a live CD of your desired Linux to make sure that it works on your machine before you install. I did this with my laptop and it really helped me get an idea of how the Linux was going to look and feel on my machine.

The Advanced/Professional:

I do not view myself as an advanced let alone professional user of Linux. At best I'm a casual home user. So what I will do here point out some resources and search strategies that will get the more advanced users to our resources.

The simplest method is to go directly to the Safari Tech Books page using the "eBooks & Audio eBooks" link on our home page and then click on Safari Tech Books, if you are at home/work you will need to log-in at this point. Once you are logged in type Linux into the search box and that will get you a list of 1475 books. Safari provides a list of categories that help narrow the list down, click on "all categories". Much information and most of it way over my head but I hope this provides an idea of the level of coverage accessible to Linux users. New Linux users will note that are even more introductory texts to be found in the Safari Tech Books.

I hope that this entry helps those that might be considering getting starting with Linux and has pointed out access to resources that the more advanced user can use to their benefit. Happy computing.

The Approach of Autumn

15 Sep 2009 00:00:00 EST

Summer has sped right on by, bringing us our first taste of cool autumn weather this past weekend. The comfortable temperatures and beautiful colors make autumn one of my favorite times of year. It doesn't hurt that college football and the NFL have returned to us in full force either. (I was ecstatic that both of my alma maters got thrilling wins this past weekend.)

Getting outdoors and enjoying the fresh air is one of the joys of fall. There are plenty of places in our area to take advantage of it too. Climb up Sugarloaf Mountain and enjoy the scenic vistas while catching a glimpse of soaring hawks before they migrate south for the winter. Closer to home, take a stroll or a ride on horseback through Wheaton Regional Park or Rock Creek Park.

A Youtuber's Hike on Sugarloaf Mountain

Fall also brings with it one of my favorite childhood excursions....visiting the local apple orchard and picking (and eating) fresh, juicy apples. My favorite orchard even has cute farm animals, including some acrobatic goats! After you've picked your apples, come in and visit the library to find that perfect apple pie recipe. Yum!

Here's to a leaf loving, apple munching, colorful autumn!

Chris

Hooray for Library Cards!

02 Sep 2009 00:00:00 EST

Did you know that the single most important back-to-school item you can get for your child is free?

September is National Library Card Sign-up Month, and Montgomery County Libraries wants you to help us celebrate by registering your child for a library card. When I was five years old, my mother took me to get my first library card at the Chardon Public Library. I remember feeling that it was a big deal to have my own card before going to kindergarten. I was issued a thin paper card with a metal numbered strip. Weekly I was allowed to check out up to ten books out at a time, by my mother. She would read every night to me.

In Montgomery County, there is no age restriction to getting a library card, and you can choose from different types of cards to fit your personal or family needs. You can apply for a card online or go to your local library and fill out an application.

With your card, you can check out up to 50 items at a time, and you can also access databases, downloadable eBooks, eAudio books, music and movies, all from the comfort of your home. From home you can also request items for pick up, check due dates and renew items over the phone. If you prefer, come into the library and use your card to get on a computer and get online.

There is so much you can do with a library card. The possibilities are endless. So, celebrate National Library Card Sign-up Month with us and get carded.

-Gale-