I rather think the media is entranced with Lexington's smoking ban, given our location in 'tobacco country'

Click here for information.

Scientists have linked areas of the genome to depression

And guess what? Several seem to be sex-linked, which may explain why women at most stages of life are more likely to suffer from depression than men. Check out the article at Reuters.

On the one hand, this scares me soooo much. On the other hand, considering a year ago I was suicidal, I guess this means I'm better. Right?

Either that or I've slipped further into the yummy goodness of my imagination. :)


Pink:
You see the world in bright pink. The world is a
happy, happy place! You love all people and
things!! Life is great! You're just like a
happy child. Spread the cheer.

Made by
Sara


What color do you see the world in?
brought to you by Quizilla

One last thing...

Check out the Spooky Librarians. Bunny and I went to the same school, although as far as I know not at the same time, although who knows, I have the memory of a gnat, and both his picture and name are really familiar. It's a shame I didn't know him then, though, because you really have to appreciate someone who knows who Ookla the Mok is and wants to proclaim his devotion via tatoo. And he has a job that most people would expect me to have--a mortician college library. Between his reading taste (HP Lovecraft rules!) and Jeanne's music taste (The Pogues, Dead Can Dance, Elizabethan chamber music, etc.) and hobbies, I rather think we'd get along well, and they're only what, 80 miles away? Hmmm...I think I might make a submission to their Rogues' Gallery.

Ah, blog design...

I finally tweaked the style sheet on this page to display correcly (in my rearranging I'd made a couple of mistakes) but learned that having a cat on the keyboard can be a problem when half your template goes away. Fortunately, I had a backup on my computer. :) Then my connexion had a snafu that took a restart to fix. I think someone's trying to tell me to get off computer, already. So adieu for now.

Hehehe

Now that I have cable again, I finally got to watch Monk, USA Network's series about an obsessive-compulsive detective. Lover of mysteries that I am, I had some trepidation going in (no pun intended), mainly because I have OCD myself. But...

I loved it. I love Tony Shaloub anyway--I have ever since he played Antonio on 'Wings'. But I have to admit--he does a bang-up job with his acting out the rituals of OCD. The theory is that he was fine until his wife's death, showing that OCD isn't necessarily a failing but could happen to anyone with a predisposition. The same things that made him a good detective--attention to detail, for one--now limit his interaction with the world around him, but does not prevent him from solving the case. His assistant is great--both prodding and protecting him at once, she interprets his behaviour to others and has patience which I can understand is necessary for such a severe case. The OCD is really meant to show him as a sort of eccentric, but it's probably the first time many people see OCD in action and maybe they can understand that regardless of how irrational it can be...it is real. I don't think they make such light of it that it's gratuitous in any way--it's an essential part of the character. It's kind of nice to have an OCD hero, frankly, although I really want to spike his bottle water with megadoses of Paxil. :)

Yipee!!!!

Lexington passes an anti-smoking ordinance, touted on the national news due to our location in the heart of tobacco country.

I know there are a lot of people who grumble about this. But frankly, your right to smoke stops when it infringes on my right to breathe. Period. There is no God-given or Constitutionally-protected right that allows someone to blow smoke around while other people try to eat, do laundry, shop, etc. As someone with asthma who's sensitive to smoke, I'd like to give the Urban-County Council a big thumbs up. And for those businesses that do worry about smokers staying away--there are more of us out there who will probably go out and do things when we don't have to deal with all the smoke than you think. Personally, I plan on celebrating the first smoke-free day at O'Neil's.

Mystery Writer Joan Lowery Nixon Dies

Joan Lowery Nixon, age 76, died Saturday, June 28, 2003 in Houston. Mrs Nixon specialised in mysteries for young adults. She is particularly known for her 'Orpan Train' series. She won many awards for her writing and was the only person to have received 4 Edgar awards. She wrote over 140 books published in 20 languages. She developed 'Kids Love a Mystery Week', and initiated the writing badge for the Girls Scouts of America. If you do a web search on her, you'll find many interviews where she really wanted to encourage kids to write. [Some of the material above was derived from an obituary making e-mail rounds; I'm unsure of the original source and The Houston Chronicle doesn't archive paid obits; I'm assuming it may be from there, but I couldn't link to one.]

A Classic...

A burglar broke into a house one night. He shined his flashlight around, looking for valuables, and when he picked up a CD player to place in his sack, a strange, disembodied voice echoed from the dark saying, "Jesus is watching you."

He nearly jumped out of his skin, clicked his flashlight out, and froze. When he heard nothing more, after a bit, he shook his head and promised himself a vacation after the next big score, then clicked the light on and began searching for more valuables. Just as he pulled the stereo out so he could disconnect the wires, clear as a bell he heard, "Jesus is watching you."

Freaked out, he shone his light around frantically, looking for the source of the voice.

Finally, in the corner of the room, his flashlight beam came to rest on a parrot.

"Did you say that?" He hissed at the parrot.

"Yep," the parrot confessed, then squawked, "I'm just trying to warn you."

The burglar relaxed. "Warn me, huh? Who in the world are you?"

"Moses," replied the bird.

"Moses?" the burglar laughed. "What kind of people would name a bird Moses."

"The kind of people that would name a Rottweiler Jesus."

[Although my personal experience with Rottweilers is that they're more likely to drool and hug you than anything.]

Here's some obligatory library news clips I found whilst catching up on my reading...

Caldecott winner Robert McCloskey, author/illustrator of Make Way for Ducklings, amongst others, is dead at age 88. [The NY Times requires a free registration to view]

More on the controversy regarding Cuban libraries and how a library should be defined...I still think there are extreme view on both sides (certainly that's been reflected in the warring e-mails I've seen) and the truth probably lies somewhere in between. [The NY Times requires a free registration to view]

Singapore Sends Noise Police to Libraries--apparently they choose a public education campaign each year and this is the newest one. On the one hand, I'm sure they're pretty polite as a society. On the other hand, surely there are more important things to worry about these days? Hmmm...still, I think most people have no idea how much louder they get when they talk on a cell phone, for instance. I went by a woman at the grocery the other day who was shouting so hard than my ears rang as she went back. I think since they're so small, people assume they'll be harder to hear, when really, we have pretty good microphones (yes, even micro ones) these days. :)

Ouch. Yet another library is cutting services due to the budget crunch...although that's at least better than some which are closing, such as the Medical Library Centre of New York after 40 years of service.

Here's interesting article on African manuscript collections and their possible aid in understanding disease.

'Dear Abby' points reader to the library for answers.

Laura Bush's promotion of early literacy hits a snag with booksellers...(and heaven help the poor viewer who didn't hear the author's name--try typing in Book! Book! Book! into Amazon's search and see if you come up with it. I tried several permutations, and I know how to search. The average user probably wouldn't fare as well. I can see mentioning the wish list for the literacy organisation, but returning the book you bought at a local store for credit after reading it on national television is rather tacky.

Yup...Canada's looking better and better

I was perusing the InfoMistress site and came across a note that the publisher of Harry Potter in Canada, Raincoast Books, uses post-consumer recycled paper. They have a page about it here. Hmmm...I haven't bought a copy yet. Of course, then I'd have to go back and get the other four, which I'm tempted to do since they seem to dumb down certain things for the American reader. Okay, 'dumb down' is perhaps too strong. But really, some of us know what a philosopher's stone or a lorry or a jumper are. Really. Some of us...gasp...even grew up reading British books. :)