We’re getting mixed reviews on the latest site design. I’m not especially fond of the current theme (I’m especially irritated that by default it hijacks the favicon—I suspect the previous theme also was trying to that but had some problem that prevented it from succeeding), but have not yet found one that lets me have an arbitrary header image with a completely pleasing layout. More changes will doubtless be implemented; I really don’t want to build my own theme, but will if pressed.
Anyway, thanks for the feedback (it’s always nice to know people are reading).
Edited to add that I’m hating the newest theme less than the previous one.

Great: Found a CD at the library called Now That’s What I Call Arabia 10 (with cover and font in the style of those Now That’s What I Call Music CDs). Even Better: The computer recognized it as The Best Arabian Album 8!

First I was all “That’s a thing?”, then I was all “That’s great!”

1. Stop by the Indian grocery looking for cinnamon sticks (no dice)
2. Notice fresh ginger on sale (99 cents a pound!)
3. Buy a whole bunch
4. Chop it up into a rough paste in the food processor
5. Squish that paste through a clean damp cloth to make ginger juice
6. Put most of that juice into a ice cube tray to save for later
7. Mix the leftovers with sugar syrup and soda water (plus the displaced ice) for a drink spicy enough to make your ears burn
8. Later notice that your hand hurts from ginger juice chemical burns

Success!

In reading through book reviews for work, I’m looking for books that will appeal to the kids who aren’t avid readers, especially for booktalking season. I just read a review for one that sounds pretty good for that. The drawback? Has the same title as one I booktalked last spring. Boo.

I’d been looking at the “you need to upgrade your WordPress software” warning for a few weeks, wondering whether the fixed vulnerabilities existed in 2.7.x, when this broke (Scoble was on 2.7 and got hit, so the vulnerability goes back at least that far), and I finally bit the bullet. It’s harder than it ought to be because my hosting provider doesn’t let me allocate as much memory as the automatic WP upgrade needs, but aside from the natural pain of “I’ve never done this before, and I really don’t want to break my blog”-inspired double-checking of everything, it wasn’t so bad. So if you’re running your own WordPress blog, please upgrade to 2.8.4 now.

From “Manual of library economy, 3d and memorial ed.” by James Duff Brown, an anecdote about (I believe) Brown himself:

Quiet as he was in many ways, he was of a social disposition,
a trait which found an outlet to some extent at the Library
Association, of which he was a councillor from 1890 to 1911;
but for closer purposes of camaraderie he founded, with Mr Jast,
the well-known Pseudonyms, a dining-club of librarians and
their friends, which had its origin in the ‘nineties, and flourished
for many years. The meetings were held in various Bohemian
restaurants in Soho, professional and literary topics were debated,
and Brown reported them in The Library World. The reports
had little relation to the actual proceedings, and few people
were more entertained, and, incidentally, astonished at their
own wittiness (as reported) than the Pseudonyms themselves.

I just flipped through a book (first of many, the peril of weeding the 900s), Cause: Reconstruction America, 1863-1877. Many of the illustrations are taken from Harper’s Weekly, a leading illustrated newspaper of the time: so interesting! But I especially liked this caption, so packed with information:

The New Orleans Tribune, founded in 1864, was America’s first black-interest daily newspaper. Because Louisiana had a large French-speaking population, there was usually a French and an English edition. Sometimes a single issue carried some news in French and some in English. From late 1864 to early 1868, the newspaper’s managing editor was the very radical Belgian astronomer and naturalist Jean-Charles Houzeau. Having a somewhat swarthy complexion, he did nothing to dispel the widespread belief that he was black.

From the Wikipedia:

Although it was written and directed by an American and was filmed in Miami, Florida, Porky’s was funded by a Canadian production company, which means that it is classified as a Canadian film. Porky’s is the highest-grossing Canadian film of all time in domestic box office. In October 2006, Bon Cop, Bad Cop appeared to surpass Porky’s in nominal box office revenues, but as of the end of its theatrical run, Bon Cop, Bad Cop had not surpassed the inflation-adjusted revenues for Porky’s. Taking inflation into account, Porky’s has grossed more than twice what Bon Cop, Bad Cop has earned to date. Porky’s is also the highest-grossing Canadian film of all time internationally.

A few weeks ago, it finally registered that Costco had discontinued Gillette Sensor cartridges (I’ve been going through razors a bit faster over the last several months than I had in the last several years). I was frustrated by this, since the replacements (Mach 3 and (especially) Fusion) are roughly 3x the price (and, really, 5 blades?). I suspected that Gillette had pressured Costco to drop the less-expensive blades, and resolved to ask the question, though I didn’t expect to get an answer. I just got a call from Costco HQ, and I learned some things that surprised me.
Continue reading →

While enjoying pictures from the Flickr “What’s In My Bag” pool (a lovely way to peek into other lives and cultures) I realized that there are many things I don’t carry in my increasingly heavy purse.

Smokes and lighter
Makeup
Camera
Water bottle
Gum
Umbrella
Moisturizer
Hairbrush
Mirror

Almost enough to fill an opposite-me purse!