Fool me once...

In anticipation of April Fool's Day, I'm taking a tip from Doug Johnson at the Blue Skunk Blog and speed-bookmarking a few hoax-checking websites, namely Snopes, Truth or Fiction, and Hoaxbusters. Even so, can't wait to see what Google pulls this year (remember the classic commode-based free in-home wireless broadband service?). National Public Radio is also good at yanking my chain every year.

Not your grandma's craft magazine

On the heels of our first issue of Make magazine, our first issue of its counterpart - Craft: Transforming Traditional Crafts - has arrived. And what a treasure trove of the unexpected! Check out this wearable architecture:



A taste of other offerings: LED hula hoop, duct tape iPod case, T-shirt wedding dress, pantyhose petals, and "hyperbolic baby pants" which demonstrate the clear connection between needlework and mathematics. Come and get it.

Some professions just aren't properly appreciated

Did you hear about the Novelists Guild of America strike? No? You're not alone. Sources report that four months into the strike, it has had no effect on the American public whatsoever.

"While the strike has been joined by an estimated 250,000 novelists - 225,000 of whom have reportedly stopped in the middle of their first novel - it has done no damage to any measurable sector of the economy, including bookstore chains, newspapers, magazines, all major media, overseas markets, independent film studios, major film studios, actors, editors, animators, carpenters, those in finance or banking, the day-to-day lives of average Americans, or anything else anyone can think of as of press time."

Thanks to the Booklist Blog for reminding me how much I love the Onion.

Too many cooks?

Not in the case of Click, written by an all-star cast of ten award-winning authors (David Almond, Eoin Colfer, Roddy Doyle, Deborah Ellis, Nick Hornby, Margo Lanagan, Gregory Maguire, Ruth Ozeki, Linda Sue Park and Tim Wynne-Jones) who each contributed a chapter. Here's a blurb from the review on Teenreads.com:

The novel begins with Maggie and Jason, teenage siblings whose grandfather, world-renowned photographer George "Gee" Keane, has just passed away. To Jason, Gee has bequeathed a cache of photographs, a nearly living library of history that spans Gee's global career. Maggie receives a puzzle box with seven sea shells, one collected from each continent Gee visited, and the message, "Throw them all back." Their inheritances send Maggie and Jason on separate but determined quests that will lead them to discover more of who their grandfather was and who they themselves have yet to become.

I thought this book really worked, despite the different styles and approaches of the various authors (and in contrast to what the Teenreads reviewer thought). An additional bonus: proceeds from the book are being donated to Amnesty International.

Gee's camera reminded me of the fun I used to have with my father's old twin lens reflex camera. Since you are always looking down when you shoot the photo, people don't quite realize you are taking the picture. Makes it easier to get candids.

DIY perpetual burning book

Back from break to more (more, and more!) new books. But just as exciting, our first issue of Make: Technology on Your Time arrived. The theme of volume 13 is magic, featuring "more than a dozen fiendishly ingenious illusions you can build to prove your powers of prestidigitation." Want to make a floating head? A telekinetic pen? An Orpheus fireball shooter? I was taken by Uncle Bill's burning book, which spews flames every time it's opened.



In addition to the magic stuff, find out how to make a backyard graywater (used household water) system, a music control system, a lost screw finder, an internal combustion engine (using Home Depot parts), or Zippy, the recycled marionette (out of old zip drives). You can even learn how to transistorize your iPod. Though, I must say I personally feel very little nostalgia for my old transistor radio.

The only bad thing about this magazine is that it just comes out four times a year. On the other hand, there are 200 packed pages to work through.

Spring break, none too soon

Michelle and Chelsea captured in a chair buddy moment

See you in a week!

Finally!

We've ordered all sorts of books and, finally, a small avalanche arrived today.



You'll be hearing more about these (most likely, starting with my personal favorite-on-account-of-its title, Dominitrix: Whip Your Knitting Into Shape).

Meet a Hero @ Your Library

I was excited to see Elaine's article in the Online Gargoyle about wizard rock coming to the Champaign Public Library as part of its Get Inspired! Meet a Hero @ Your Library initiative. This grant-funded reading project is benefiting a number of area libraries, including the Urbana Free Library, the Champaign and Urbana school libraries, the Parkland College library, and the University of Illinois Library. As a unit of the University Library, the Uni High Library is also getting in on the action. We were already able to purchase a number of books and videos to support the new English class called The Hero's Journey, I'm also going to be able to really flesh out our superhero offerings in the graphic novel collection.

Two videos for the Hero's Journey class

So what comes after the wizard rock event on Friday? Why, the University Library's Edible Book Festival, of course! Personally, I think I have a better chance competing for the culinary prize than the artistic one, but maybe I could get some help there (hint, hint - you know who you are).

Do you Twitter?

I know I've asked this before, but who around here uses the microblogging service Twitter to share updates and keep up on what friends and family are doing? Not many, from what I can see. Well, those CommonCraft geniuses, Lee and Sachi, have come up with another one of their "In Plain English" videos to explain Twitter's value.



If this doesn't convince you, I don't know what will.

Tuning in

In celebration of Teen Tech Week's Tune In @ Your Library theme, Natalie assembled an impressive display of our music books inside the library, and put up another open-comment bulletin board in the hall. Folks have done a nice job of adding their favorite band names and music websites:



After snapping the photo, I discovered I'd left this pithy image on the camera from one day last week:

This wouldn't happen here

Nope. We wouldn't have a group of students gathered around a computer in the library conducting a little experiment to find out which words in the English language are the most "innocent," i.e., the least likely to provoke unsavory associations and sexual innuendo. No siree. And any such students sure wouldn't use Google Images (with SafeSearch turned off) in the library as their variable in making this determination. In no way would these hypothetical students find out that "library" and "optometrist" rank pretty high on the innocence scale. Or that "librarian," on the other hand...

Nope, not here.

Your two cents' worth

It's Teen Tech Week in library land, which has the theme Tune In @ Your Library. As part of the observances, two surveys have been posted to solicit teen input about their use of technology. Hey, it's parent/teacher conference day - you have time!

First, take the SmartGirl Survey on technology use. Then, vote for next year's Teen Tech Week theme. Go on, indulge me (even you, Jacob ;-) ).