Beautiful to rediscover

Haven't listened to the Brigham Young University Women's A Capella Chorus, Noteworthy's cover of 'Bird Set Free', my favourite Sia song, in a while. They do a lovely job, and I love what they do with the T-shirts.

 

This was sweet...

Swedish Library Forgot to Close Its Doors and Something Beautiful Happened: They say a reader does not steal and a thief does not read. In the city of Gothenburg, Sweden, that's definitely true.

It was All Saints' Day, a national holiday, and the library traffic was light, but still well-used.

Unbeknownst to the staff, a door had been left unlocked the previous evening. Throughout the day, 446 visitors entered the library, unaware it was officially closed. Families gathered in the children’s section, individuals browsed the shelves, and others perused newspapers—all behaving as they would on any regular day. Some patrons even borrowed books using the self-service system. By day’s end, 246 books had been checked out, and remarkably, every single one was returned on time.

Third try was not the charm ☹️

Well, I tried again. I went to the Kentucky Blood Center for the third time this month after being deferred twice for low iron. Hemoglobin on the first stick (right finger) was only 11.9, but she really had to squeeze to get it out, so it may have skewed the results. Left finger on second try was 14.2 so yay!!!!

Unfortunately, the stick didn't get the vein well, and even with adjustments from another phlebotomist, the little tiny bag wasn't filling up fast enough, so they had to abort, and it left a bruise. I can come back and donate after my hematoma has healed, they said.

Sigh. I did get another $20 gift card to Amazon, though. But I did want to donate. The stars are not aligning. I haven't had this much trouble in about 25 years.

I made it, or, two more books and a challenge completed!

Granted, they were both short, but still...

#24 Food Journal Magic: A Daily Food and Fitness Diary to Create Lasting Weight Loss That Stays Off Without a Diet by Alegra Loewenstein

This is not actually a food journal, but how to set up one and what to include, and how best to execute it. I was a little disappointed for that reason. I was able to find a food journal that allows me to write directly on it for the Kindle Scribe, which, of course, I am not including in the reading challenge, though. That is: Food Journal and Weight Tracker by No Yellow Snow Media, and it allows you to export the data via email so you can just erase the information and reuse the pages as needed.

THIS BOOK COMPLETED THE Goodreads 2026 READING CHALLENGE!!!!!

# 25 My Novel Work Book: A step by step guide for novice writers by Roger Alderman

This one basically shows you how to outline a novel in 12 chapters using classical format along the lines of Joseph Campbell's Hero's Journey. Some spelling errors could have used an editor's eye (it's self-published), but otherwise, the book is adequate. It got me thinking. I have wanted to be an author since I was a child. Granted, I've published over 30 pieces of writing, from book chapters, book reviews, articles, etc., and I mean went-through-a-committee-and-editor published in a book or journal, but I never feel like a published author. I would like to write a novel. Not the Great American novel, but still. Something people would enjoy reading. Seeing my name in print, or at least in digital form. 😉

Interesting

A Crisis in the Humanities: The norms governing scholarship now often serve to protect a rigid orthodoxy on certain politically charged issues—with ideological tests substituted for proper academic standards

We begin from what ought to be a platitude: The humanities and the social sciences are academic disciplines aimed at understanding the human world and the larger reality of which it is a part. There is room for debate about what it means to “understand” a historical episode, or a literary text, or a social phenomenon. But it should not be controversial that, like all academic research, scholarship in these disciplines is in the business of asking questions; that these questions have answers (when they are well-posed); that these answers are not simply evident and can therefore only be arrived at indirectly, by appeal to evidence and argument; and that it is the role of academic disciplines to cultivate methods for collecting the evidence relevant to their questions and for assessing scholarly proposals on the basis of it.

Two new shirts

from the American Library Association, which is celebrating its 150th anniversary, so these are vintage designs they've brought back from the past.

 

I knew about this already, but I find it fascinating

A hairstylist with no archaeology degree solved an ancient Roman mystery scholars got wrong for centuries

She spent years recreating elaborate Roman hairstyles and discovered they were far more ingenious than scholars had realized

For centuries, scholars believed that the intricately braided, gravity-defying updos synonymous with Roman hairstyling were achieved with wigs. Then a professional hairdresser turned bona fide “hair archaeology” specialist proved them wrong.

Wow. I did not know this, and I've kept up with Voyager a bit since I watched it launch as a child...

Voyager 1 has no engine running. The 38,000-mile-per-hour speed it has held since its Saturn flyby in 1980 is borrowed momentum from planets it grazed more than four decades ago, and that free ride carries it to one light-day from Earth this November

The probe is moving because it was launched onto a carefully chosen path and then reshaped by planetary gravity. Its present outward motion is mostly the inheritance of encounters that happened when the spacecraft was still young: Jupiter in 1979, Saturn in 1980, and the rare alignment of the outer planets that made the Voyager mission possible in the first place.

Not to be the parking police, but...

Okay, I'll admit it. This infuriated me. This is not how you park in handicapped parking, even if you do have a placard. Also, they have an 'Honour nurses' licence plate, but apparently have no regard for anyone with a disability who might need the blue-lined space to get out with a wheelchair ramp. I did report it to Chinoe Kroger, but I think the guy getting the carts just was like, yeah, it's horrible, but didn't say anything to anyone or maybe page anyone to freaking move their vehicle.

So frustrating

So I checked the blood supply at the Kentucky Blood Center and O blood is in low supply (both + and -). I really am trying. I've been deferred twice this month for low iron. I got some vitamin C to take with my iron tablets (I have been taking those for years) because that's supposed to help the iron absorb, and I just went to the store and got some things they suggested to eat, including garbanzo beans and pumpkin seeds for our nightly salad, and generic V8 juice that includes beets. We'll see. I can donate three days from yesterday, but I'll wait a few more and try to build up some more. But for you all, who, like me, are type O and who normally donate (or would like to try), they really could use some. O blood can be given to any blood type. O- can be given to anyone [and is therefore the person is called a universal donor]. O+, like mine, can be given to any blood type which is also +. So it's really useful. Anyway, here's the graphic...

My last donation was my 9th gallon. I've been donating since I was in college, at age 17 (full disclosure, at that time you had to have permission from your parent--you can donate now at that age without it--and I had it, verbally, but I didn't have a note, and it's the first and only time in my life I forged my mother's signature on something. But let me reiterate: I was living on my own in a dorm, making many decisions on my own, and I did have her permission.)

I obviously haven't donated as much as I could have. I've gone years without donating. But I did donate when 9/11 happened, and I donated the day after COVID was announced in Kentucky, because I didn't think people would, and just started donating regularly after that. It's how I know I didn't get the virus during the actual pandemic, because they were testing for antibodies. I've had it once, only after it went endemic, and it was just like a bad flu and no worse, thankfully. So I went from about 7 gallons to 9 pretty quickly. I donate about every 2-3 months now. Which may be why my iron's low; I don't know. Anyway, I'm going to try again in a few days.