Youth Wants to Know: February 2005

The Gates

I'm off tomorrow for a whirlwind trip to see The Gates. Here's to public art!

If I stumbled and busted my whatchamacallit, I could lie on your floor unnoticed, 'til my body had turned to carrion...

...Madam Librarian.

The real Marian(!!), who knew what the gentleman wanted, is still alive--here's the story in The Provo, Utah, Daily Herald.

The Bird is BACK

One of the greatest things about moving to the back of the house has been getting to know the different types of birds that pass by and visit my neighbors' trees. The usual birds are robins, mourning doves, juncos, crows, scrub jays, and house finches. This year I've noticed a phoebe for the first time. But the most exciting thing is a bird that migrates through each winter. I only get to see it a couple of times a year at most, and only in the winter but it is worth it. Just a few minutes ago I got a really good look at one. And now I am positive that what I am seeing each year is a Townsend's Warbler. It is a striking little birdy, with bright yellow patches--not like the LBJs that usually visit the backyard (not that I have anything against LBJs--I love all birds, except of course pigeons, seagulls, and starlings). I think because it is a bug-eater it flits around a lot, making it hard to get a real good look at it, which is part of the reason I haven't been sure before exactly what I was seeing. But today I got a great look at it right out my window in the plum tree--gorgeous!

For those of you who don't have a bird book handy, here's a site with a drawing of the Townsend's Warbler and a bit of ID info: Warbler Watch: Townsend's Warbler

Stormy Weather

It is an appropriately stormy day today, Harold Arlen's centennial. Here are a few of his great tunes (for your humming inspiration):

Over the Rainbow
It's Only a Paper Moon
One for My Baby (And One More for the Road)
Get Happy
Let's Take a Walk Around the Block
That Old Black Magic
I Gotta Right to Sing the Blues
Ding Dong! The Witch is Dead

and my personal favorite:
Ac-cent-tch-ate the Positive

Doggie Diner Head SAVED!

Read all about it here.

I'm in love

Delahaye
Originally uploaded by Miss Quizzy.

Well, my heart beats faster whenever I look at this picture, so it must be love, right?

Sigh...

That's the Lucky Penny...Used to Be the Copper Penny

Like Leah Garchik's public eavesdropping project only without the movie listings and Dear Abby, Overheard in New York is hilarious. And best of all, it has an RSS feed. Yippee!

Here's a sample:

Kid #1: Paper beats rock. BAM! Your rock is blowed up!
Kid #2: "Bam" doesn't blow up, "bam" makes it spicy. Now I got a SPICY ROCK! You can't defeat that!

--6 Train

RIP 'Red' Shattuck, skating impresario

This obit is mentioned here in honor of another "red" who is a believer in roller skating--you know who you are, girl.

PP Posse Represent

Looking for cool pictures and good-old-days stories about the fog belt? Check out the the Western Neighborhoods Project.

hello? hello?

So I heard about Skype, a free program that enables you to talk to people on their computers (aka VoIP). For free. Well, I really like the sound of free long distance calling, but unfortunately, no one I need to talk to long distance has a computer at home, at least, I don't think so. Do you??
But even though it might not ever be useful in my personal life, Skype has intriguing library potential. Gerry McKiernan, a librarian at Iowa State University, posed a very interesting question on the reference librarians' listserv: "I am curious to know if any library is using Skype for local, regional, and/or consortial Digital/Virtual/Chat service(s)." Now wouldn't that be damn cool? Virtual reference where you could talk to the librarian while you are both looking at the same web page?? Virtual reference service without all that stressful chat-typing and wondering whether the other person has just dropped off the face of the earth? I can't wait to hear the responses--is anyone doing this? Or thinking of doing this? Wow! I am having a total geek-heaven moment!

(Also worth looking at is McKiernan's page of library services via RSS.)

Ah say ah say ah say, "junior!..."

I'm pretty skeptical about the whole zodiac, horoscope, what's your sign thing, but this description of my fellow roosters hits eerily close to home.

Foghorn Leghorn
Originally uploaded by Miss Quizzy.

Somewhere, in a galaxy far far away...

is a land where people appreciate single-screen theaters and don't go to stupid multiplexes showing the same crappy movie on ten screens preceded by an endless loop of bad-movie trivia attached to coke ads. Yes, the Coronet is finally closing.
The Coronet, where you used to have to pay a dollar extra to sit in the loge. Where the loge used to be a smoking section. The Coronet isn't pretty, but it is big and has a big screen and big sound and is an exciting place to see a movie.
The Sound of Music...Singin' in the Rain...Star Wars... I saw all of these for the first time at the Coronet. The Coronet is where I saw my first movie without any parental supervision: 9 to 5. I remember thinking the whole experience was really racy. Why? Because someone says "shit" once in the movie. Ooooo they said a bad word. How can they close the theater where I first heard "shit" on screen without a parent around?
R.I.P. Coronet, you will be missed.

And the music was rompin' and stompin'

Listen to Frankie Manning talk about the first time he went to the Savoy ballroom. I've never been to a place as cool as the Savoy, but I feel just as excited as he sounds here whenever I go dancing. Hooray for Frankie!

The driver on the bus says: "move on back, move on back"

earlycomputer
Originally uploaded by Miss Quizzy.

Who needs a mouse when you have a steering wheel?!

Poop Power!

Ever since I read John McPhee's article about tires years ago in the New Yorker, I have been intrigued by the idea of turning garbage into energy. So maybe it isn't exactly poop that American Ref-Fuel is using, but it sure is a great idea and a cool diagram of a pooppowerplant to boot.