A Great Example of Thinking Outside the Box!

Who knew this about crows? Most people just see them as a nuisance but evidently they could be so much more! Take a look (& listen) to this TED talk. People like this who dare to think in totally new directions will be the ones who move us and the planet forward. (Or so says Miss Bun!)

Super Full Moon Tonight!

It doesn't happen that often so get on out there and watch it! You'll be glad you did.

And to find out more about it check out NASA's info on it from their Science News page.



And now for your listening pleasure (don't know why, but, Miss Bun's brain made a leap from Super Moons to this!):  Enjoy!

Got Skunk? See This!

Dear Readers,
Last night Miss Bun's Terrible Terrier (aka, The Great White Land Shark) got himself embroiled in a bit of an altercation with a skunk. If you have never experienced ground zero skunk spray thank your lucky stars because, believe me, you don't want to!  It is now the next day but the smell is still upon us with a vengeance. So Miss Bun mustered all her mad librarian skills under fire and came up with this informative video to share with other victims of random skunk attacks. Watch it! (And be warned!)

If You Dream of Life in the Country (or have any interest in it) then this Blog is for You!

Get on over to Chickens In The Road - life in ordinary splendor authored by Suzanne McMinn which is just chock full of stories of her life on a small farm in West Virginia. Suzanne is obviously a very interesting person who has lived many places, loves animals, country crafts, gardening and food. In her spare time she writes romance novels and a column for the Charleston Daily Mail.  She also takes great photos and videos of the daily goings on at her farm and the best part is that she likes to share.

Hop on over to her About Me page to get the full scoop and get a glimpse of the characters living on the farm. You'll find goats (including the fainting variety), cows, chickens, sheep, ducks, dogs, cats, and donkeys. I probably left something out but you get the idea.

There is a forum, a newsletter, recipes, crafts, gardening, contests, and seemingly never a dull moment. Miss Bun loves to read CITR while she's sipping coffee in the morning and is super glad that someone is living the life she is certain she was meant to live.

Enjoy!

(And thanks to Laura R. for sharing this with me!)

Check out SnagFilms for all your Free Documentary needs!

Hello Peeps! Happy Spring to you all!

If you are interested in independent and free documentary films you will want to go to : SnagFilms where you can choose from 1,000 different films on many topics.

From their About page:

"SnagFilms is committed to finding the world‘s most compelling documentaries, whether from established heavyweights or first-time filmmakers, and making them available to the wide audience these titles deserve."


"We make it easy for you to find a film that shines a light on a cause you care about. You can then open a virtual movie theater on any web site, so any one can watch your favorite SnagFilms for free.
SnagFilms can be summed up in four words: Find. Watch. Snag. Support."

You can search by topic, what's hot, channels (of their supporters), and a to z

Topics cover everything from the humorous to the disturbing and all points in between. Films with adult content are clearly labeled as such.  Film lengths vary from minutes to hours but all appear to have commercial intros....FYI.

Here is just one of Miss Bun's favorites. Enjoy!:

Celebrate Lasers!

Ok, Peeps, who knew that 2010 marks the 50th anniversary of the first laser?

"No!", you say? 

"Why, yes it is!" Miss Bun says.  

Check out these sites for a fascinating look at all things laser related:

LaserFest is ground zero for this celebration. It's mind-boggling!

Bright Idea: The First Lasers is an online exhibit produced for LaserFest by the Center For History of Physics of the American Institute of Physics.


(I've gotta say that the AIP does a fantastic job of bringing this branch of science to life especially for those of us with degrees in the humanities! Kudos!) Check it out!

Do You Know the Snowflake Man???

Wilson A. Bentley, aka "Snowflake Bentley", from Jericho, Vermont was only 19 when he made the world's first photomicrograph of a snow crystal in 1885. His process was so unique and innovative that professionals at first doubted his results and his veracity.


 "In 1898, at the age of 33, he began to publish articles of his findings and images. He published 49 popular and 11 technical articles about snow crystals, frost, dew, and raindrops, including the entry on "snow" in the 14th edition of the Encyclopedia Britannica."

During his lifetime he filled nine notebooks with 47 years worth of observations and lived to see his book, Snow Crystals, published.

To learn more about this fascinating scientist & his work check out these links:

The Bentley Snow Crystal Collection of the Buffalo Museum of Science
(includes his photographic process, bio, photographs, notebook entries, articles & more!)

Wilson A. Bentley, The Snowflake Man
( by the Jericho Historical Society)

More resources below :

Snowflake Bentley by Jacqueline Briggs Martin

is the author's site about her 1999 Caldecott Award winning book that has good resources for classroom teachers & homeschoolers.

Kind of makes one look at the white stuff in a whole different way, doesn't it?

Enjoy!

Frosty the Snowman....

  

What's winter without a snowman?

Ever wonder where the snowman comes from? Glad  you asked! It turns out that the snowman does have a history and it just might be one that you weren't expecting. Check out this Smithsonian article by Bob Eckstein (who also wrote a book on the subject called History of the Snowman): Snowman Gone Wild.

We are so glad that Frosty was able to clean up his act which led to the famous song from the 1950's. Get the scoop on the song @ Wikipedia: Frosty the Snowman 

And then take a look at this original vintage Frosty the Snowman video (with lyrics) from 1954:






To finish our "Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Snowmen" tour try building one of your own online from the good people at Highlights:
Build A Snowman (Don't forget to print your creation!)

Now we just need a good snow day!!!

Happy Thanksgiving & a Video . . .

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

Here is a little Turkey Day video by MentalLapse from YouTube for your enjoyment:

The History of Thanksgiving. . .

On The History of Thanksgiving by history.com you can:

• Find out what the first Thanksgiving menu was
• Read the proclamation that started it all
• Find out about the first broadcasted  football game in 1934
  
• Look up Thanksgiving trivia

And lots more!

So, don't just sit there like a stuffed turkey.....trot on over to this site and enjoy!

What's Big & Scaly & First Appeared in Japan in November 1954?

Godzilla (or "Gojira" as he was known at the time) was first seen in Japanese theaters November 3rd, 1954 and has gone on to become a pop-culture icon to the world.

Check out these sites for all the info you could want or need (and then some!) on our favorite gigantic lizard monster:


Godzilla - Wikipedia

Barry's Temple of Godzilla
This site has video clips, sound clips, photos, movie reviews, FAQ's just to get you started. The site is not being updated but should be looked at as more of a Godzilla museum and is well worth a visit.

A Little Edward Gorey, in keeping with the season, plus a video!

In case you are not familiar with Edward Gorey (and you might not be if you don't have a macabre sense of humor) here is a mini- introduction:



Edward St. John Gorey (1925 - 2000) was an American writer, illustrator and designer most noted for his offbeat sense of humor and gothic sensibilities.

He created over one hundred works, including The Gashlycrumb Tinies, The Doubtful Guest and The Wuggly Ump; prize-winning set and costume designs for innumerable theater productions (including a Tony award for his costume design for the Broadway revival of the play Dracula); a remarkable number of illustrations in publications such as The New Yorker and The New York Times, and in books by a wide array of authors from Charles Dickens to Edward Lear, Samuel Beckett, John Updike, Virginia Woolf, H.G. Wells, Florence Heide and many others.

Most folks might know him for his design of the title sequence animation for the PBS Mystery series. (One of Miss Bun's favorites!)

Check out these sites for more info:

The Edward Gorey House
(which you can go and visit on Cape Cod)

and

Edward Gorey Biography
(from Biography.com)




Last, but certainly not least, take a look at the following very well done YouTube video production (by mandreas) of Gorey's most celebrated illustrated alphabet The Gashlycrumb Tinies in which he disposes of 26 children from A to Z in his signature Edwardian, macabre pen and ink style.  (Miss Bun's favorite is "N is for Neville who died of ennui".)  Enjoy!

History Channel's History of Halloween. . .

This month just wouldn't be complete without a visit to The History Channel's History of Halloween site.

Here you can explore & learn all sorts of things such as Halloween history (ancient origins, coming to American, today's traditions, around the world, historic haunts & superstitions) to pumpkin stencils to ghost hunting games to videos and more!

P.S. There are annoying adverts on this site so just use your esp powers and mentally make them invisible!

What Do You Know About Poe?

 
Knowing Poe  is an award winning website from Maryland Public Television that aims to introduce us to the literature, life, and times of one of America's foremost writers.






Take your time while visiting this site because there are many  interactive activities, videos, and more to look at that have been created especially for students in middle and high school.

Check out the Classroom Connections, For Families, and About This Site links at the bottom of the homepage.
 .
"In addition to these interactive experiences, there are lesson plans created by Maryland teachers, primary source documents, links for further research, and materials for fun family activities related to Edgar Allan Poe."

"Throughout the site, watch for the Random Raven to give you some inside information and little known facts about Poe the person and Poe the writer."

Edgar Allan Poe + Halloween = How Cool Is That??? (So says Miss Bun!)

A Haunting We Will Go . . .

LibraryGhost is all about Willard Library (over 110 years old & the oldest public library building in the state) in Evansville, Indiana and the Lady in Grey who walks alone among the bookshelves there.

 There are ghost cams set up in three locations in the library that avid library ghost hunters can watch to their hearts content as well as photos, videos, and related links to explore.


It's too bad that some of the links don't work but that shouldn't stop you from checking out this awesome Victorian Gothic building that any self-respecting phantom would be honored to call home.

Halloween road trip, anyone?

Who ya gonna call????

R U a Sci-Fi Fan?

Then you will be thrilled with io9 the blog of choice for all things Science Fiction.

This site was launched in 2008 by Gawker Media. (Check out Wikipedia info on Gawker here.)


On the blog you will find a monthly calender of science fiction, including new episodes of television, movies, books, and author appearances.

Miss Bun was infinitely interested in the post on taking a peek inside author Neil Gaiman's library.

What a great blog!

Happy Birthday to.....

Star Trek! It was 43 years ago that the show first aired on NBC.

(Was it that long ago?Seems like yesterday!)

The folks over at TrekMovie.com have a nifty walk down memory lane to check out: Star Trek Turns 43.

And the folks at Wikipedia have a great Star Trek entry with many links covering the six television series and eleven feature films. Oh, and the books, fan base, computer and video games and cultural references (and more!) are covered too.

So dust off your tribbles, practice your Vulcan death grip, crank up the holodeck and enjoy!

Tell Your Story & Share With The World . . .

Another great example of how the Internet can connect ALL of us who access it in meaningful and important ways.

Our First Loves Project is a place to tell the story of your first love and read about the stories of others. It began life as a student journalism project and is really a treat to experience.

The stories themselves are simple and short. Most are accompanied by audio and/or visuals but all have a wonderful sense of humanity and will engender an emotional response which you can rate at the bottom of each piece. There are also similar story recommendations as well.

Ok, Peeps, go ahead.... share your story with the world too!

From their About Page:

"Our First Loves is a multimedia storytelling experiment. Produced by a group of student journalists in an interactive design class at the Medill School of Journalism, it is based on the idea that journalism on the Internet should be about connectivity. Not just hyper links or social networking, but connectivity in the sense that it has the unique ability to bring even perfect strangers together and show us what we have in common. New media journalism can be the ultimate equalizer, a proof of the human condition."

And Now For Your TGIFF Listening Enjoyment . . .

Check out this amazing international vocal theater group that hails from Israel. Too much fun!!!

Librarians Out Of Control (And None Too Soon!).....TGIFF!!

Who knew librarians had such talent???

This little segment is from the 2009 ALA (American Library Association) Annual Conference in Chicago and features the Fifth Annual Bookcart Drill Team World Championship winners, Oak Park Public Library in Oak Park, Illinois

Don't believe me? See for yourself: