Favorite patron just came in and told me about a bumpersticker he saw:

Knowledge is Power.
Power Corrupts.
Get an Education.
Become Evil.

or something to that effect. Heh.

I'm off to upstate NY tomorrow for a family thing. Someone is ill, so I'm getting in a tiny, tiny, thin-skinned, poorly maintained metal tube with aged engines and taking off into the global warming-disturbed ether. Multiple thunderstorms are predicted. The jet is tiny. I am in hell. Please think of me. And assuming all goes well...I have to do the same thing in the other direction on Saturday. With the same awful weather predicted. If I'd been free to do so, I could have left yesterday. When it was blue sky beautiful all the way. Life is not even remotely fair.

Things to look forward to if the plane manages to stay aloft:

• Seeing Cosy Sheridan at a house concert in Omaha on Saturday night. She's worth plunging through the air in a metal tube. Just.


• Seeing some family I haven't seen in a while.


• Seeing yet more family I haven't seen in a while when I get back.


• Possibly meeting up with the new friends I made in Omaha when I was there for a church conference a month ago. They have a hot air balloon, but I suspect I'll want to stick to the ground awhile yet.


• Not dying.

Flying. Ick. Yes, I do it all the time. No, it doesn't get any easier. Quite the contrary.

So I'm opening my yahoo mail and we get these little headline blurbs. I normally don't look too closely, but a couple caught my eye just now:

White House admits fault on 'Mission Accomplished' banner

And yet, if you read the article, they really don't admit anything, except that it's been a PR disaster for them. And they don't mention that the Navy disavowed their claim that the carrier crew asked for the banner. Whatever. Give it up, Shrub. We're not biting.

And this one just made me kinda sad. Don't know why:

DNA confirms IDs of czar's children, ending mystery

I guess I'll never find out I'm descended from royalty now.

New YouTube from Brave New Films on Condi's secret meetings on torture.

Really. Enough already. Get the bozos out. This is NOT who we are.

I'm off to PLA in Minneapolis tomorrow. I'll be blogging the conference for PLA, so catch me at the PLA blog.

My brother's blog covers it.

I found this very interesting. Santa Fe Library (friend works for them) has a calculator to show you the value of the library services that you use.

http://santafelibrary.blogspot.com/2008/03/library-value-calculator.html

Thanks amym for the link.

We're going to Hell...and all our handbaskets are imported from China.

Via LISNews - Last 'Harry Potter' Film To Be Released in Two Segments

Link is to WSJ article.

Time Warner Inc.'s Warner Bros. Pictures will release its film adaption of the final "Harry Potter" book in two parts, saying doing so is necessary to stay true to the tome.

Part one of "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" will open during the holiday season of 2010, with part two to be released the following summer. The first five films in the series have grossed $4.5 billion globally. The sixth movie, based on "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" is due to be released in the U.S. on Nov. 21.

I was browsing for a spring-themed bon mot for our home page, and ran across this quote, which amused me no end, as I grew up in Cleveland:

You can't see Canada across Lake Erie, but you know it's there. It's the same with spring. You have to have faith, especially in Cleveland. ~Paul Fleischman

GREAT blog post from David Pogue in the NYTimes Circuits section on the reality of kids and the Internet. Like him, I recommend the completely amazing PBS Frontline documentary (completely available online, free) on Teens and the Net.

Interesting Opinion Today piece in NYTimes yesterday about Steve Jobs' attitude to reading:

Every now and then, someone who is brilliant says something stupid — often the result of spending too much time riding a jet stream of high praise. Steve Jobs, the co-founder and chief executive of Apple Inc., did such a thing last month when he all but declared the death of reading.

...Reading is something else, an engagement of the imagination with life experience. It’s fad-resistant, precisely because human beings are hard-wired for story, and intrinsically curious. Reading is not about product.

...True, reading is down, somewhat, from 1992, especially reading of literature. So what? People are eating fewer vegetables than they used to - or should - but that doesn’t mean carrots have no future.

My friend Joy sent me this. I have no idea what it has to do with driving, but it's fun to tranq some sheep!

Getting old, are we? Reflexes slowing down?
As I remember, the automobile driving manual

Says the average driver's reaction time is:

.75 seconds -or- 1 car length for every 10 mph...
Test your reaction time with this special test.

Click here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/humanbody/sleep/sheep/reaction_version5.swf

moar humorous pics

Thanks to Heather H. for the link!

I hate the Evil Hallmark Holiday. Even when I was in short- or long-term relationships, both, I hated this made-up holiday. Why should you pick only one day to show your love?

That said, I like to do something life-affirming at this time of year, so I am forwarding this from Planned Parenthood:

Okay, so a condom isn't a part of everyone's Valentine's Day. But since the condom first hit the world many thousands of years ago, it has protected millions of people from infection and prevented untold numbers of unintended pregnancies. Not too bad, eh? And Valentine's Day is the first day of National Condom Week, so it's a great time to remind family, friends, and romantic partners about just how fantastic condoms are. How about sharing The Truth About Condoms and Planned Parenthood's condom how-to video?

The latter link is NSFW, for obvious reasons. It is, however, both safe and responsible for Home.

Be loving, be romantic...be safe. Cheers.