October 30, 2006

Stories

October 30, 7:30 Shivery Stories with master storyteller Candace Wolf. Adults and kids 3rd grade and up.
November 4 and December 2, 10:30 in the morning. Sábados Gigantes for children of all ages.
November 6, 7:00 Eaglebear Returns. Tomas Shash from the Atzlan Native American Cultural Arts Center. Song, dance, storytelling. For everyone.
November 13, 7:00 Celebrate Children's Book Week. Especially for K-5th graders.
December 9, 10-4. Stories for sale. Friends semi-annual book sale. Computer Center rotunda area.

Questions? Please call 301.891.7259

Posted by library at 05:38 PM

October 26, 2006

How To

Make an omelet, tie a bowline, get a cork out of the inside of a wine bottle.

WTOP recently had a segment on the use of online video clips to learn how to do various things. We once had a reference question - how to tie a bow tie - that sent us in desperate search of good illustrations. So to assess various how-to sites we tried the bow tie question.

WikiHow You can both edit and add your own material. This is a collaborative group effort which sometimes leads to odd writing. The instructions on to get rid of house flies at a picnic suggest that one stick clover seeds into an apple. Surely they mean cloves ? The bow tie entry is excellent - clear instructions with illustrations and a link to a video. (They also have photo-illustrated instructions on how to make a pumpkin pie using an actual pumpkin, which was a reference question this week.)

eHow As with WikiHow this is mostly text and the quality of any entry depends upon the care and skills of the creator. However don't ignore the rough ones - this may be a wonderful way to archive folk knowledge. The bow tie entry is a bit hard to find, but is illustrated with photos.

Do-it-yourself reference. AnswerBlog. Someone asks a question, others try to answer it. Some of the people answering questions know what they are talking about, others do not. As with the above sites, it has all the pros and cons of the uncredentialed, collaborative approach. As for the bow tie question, it was asked and the answer is a link to a tie site. Not nearly as useful as the entries in WikiHow and eHow.

ViewDo Videos only. No entry for bow tie. Anyone can contribute videos, but this is much more limited than the sites above because fewer people have the means to make and post short videos. Presumably it will grow. Meanwhile you can learn to French braid hair.

VideoJug is similar and they do have a bow tie video as well as clips on tying Windsor knots and four-in-hands. The video may, or may not, play on your machine.

The British National Archives are putting their informational films on line. 1945 to 2006, and lots of fun. Not the sort of site to search with a specific question, such as tying bow ties, in mind. But great for social history. No bow tie how-tos, or none that were easily found. However you can dig up interesting portraits and photographs by doing a general archives search, as you can with the American Memory colletion. (Emmaline Pankhurst.)

Remember that "how does one tie a bow tie" is just one of the many questions that might be searched two ways: bow tie and bowtie. We just used bow, as we were already within restricted databases at each of the sites, not searching the web.

Posted by library at 12:30 PM

October 18, 2006

Jokes

Joke telling contest for kids. Middle Eastern Market, Sunday October 29, 10-2.

Need jokes? We have some joke books at the library, and plan to order more. They have a short half-life due to fervent reading. Some of our children's magazines, such as National Geographic Kids, regularly have jokes.

How do you tell which end of a worm is its head? Tickle it in the middle and see which end giggles.

Online?

  1. Scatty jokes for your typical 8-9 year old (and some of us who are older).
    Where does the Wolfman live? In a werehouse!

  2. Yahooligans has links to kids joke sites.
    What does a Triceratops sit on? Its Tricera-bottom!


For adults, joke web sites are extensive and everywhere, many very specialized. Examples:
Viola jokes. How do you keep your violin from getting stolen? Put it in a viola case.
NewsMax, one liner jokes from the late night television shows with an archive that goes back to '98.


Posted by library at 03:07 PM

October 09, 2006

Bulletin Board

Although the City maintains an electronic notice board, we still have a paper bulletin board. It hangs on the short stretch of wall between the two sets of doors on the City building side of the library. Our rules are that every flyer posted there must be dated, and we occasionally go through and remove everything that is older than 30 days or not dated at all.

Unfortunately this means we sometimes remove very useful information. So for the sake of quasi-permanence, and to find a wider audience, here is some information from flyers we discarded.

Silver Spring Camera Club, since 1950. Guest speakers, workshops, mentoring programs, safaris and field trips (US and abroad), social activities. Meets at 7:30 PM on the first and third Thursdays of each month at the Marvin Memorial Methodist Church. (That is the church located right in the intersection at Four Corners, where University crosses Colesville.)

Experience Corps 55 or older? Give a few hours a week to children in a District school. Currently over 1,000 volunteers have joined this national program. Call 202.797.1150 or write dcinfo@experiencecorps.org

Interages, since 1986. Adults aged 50 plus needed for one hour per week: reading, dialogues, homework help, etc. Montgomery County schools in Wheaton, Silver Spring, Rockville, Gaithersburg and Germantown. Please call 301.949.3551

At the library itself we need homework helpers to come in after school to help kids who may have no one at home to give homework support. We are currently covered for Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays, but are still looking for someone for Mondays and/or Fridays. Please call Karen MacPherson at 301.891.7259.

Posted by library at 06:23 PM

October 07, 2006

Harvest Moon

Last night, the 6th, was the night of the harvest moon. Of course you couldn't see it because of the unceasing rain, but it was up there. The harvest moon is the first full moon after the autumnal equinox and was very late this year.

Lyrics:
Nora Bayes and Jack Norworth (1908)traditional
Neil Young

In the library: J PIC SKOFIEL Crow moon, worm moon; J PIC SCHAEFE Full moon barnyard dance; J PIC RYLANT Long Night Moon; J 398.26 MORONEY Moontellers : myths of the moon from around the world; J PIC HUNTER Possum's harvest moon; J 811.54 POLLOCK When the moon is full ... and of course many adult books. The titles just aren't as interesting.

For fun:
Earth and Moon Viewer
Virtual Reality Moon Phase Pictures
Chinese Autumn Moon Festival

Did you know?: You can't read in moonlight.

What are the other moons?
Harvest Moon
Hunter's Moon
Beaver Moon (Frosty Moon)
Cold Moon (Long Nights Moon)
Wolf Moon
Snow Moon
Worm Moon (Full Red Moon, Lenten Moon)
Pink Moon
Flower Moon
Strawberry Moon
Buck Moon (Full Hay Moon)
Sturgeon Moon (Full Red Moon)
In the years where the Harvest moon is very late, interpolate the Full Fruit Moon (Barley Moon) just before it.
Names of the Moons
Another List
The Goddard Lists (and things start to get really complicated)

Posted by library at 07:06 PM

October 04, 2006

College Bound 2006

Thursday October 5 7:30 PM
Financial aid for college.
Dr. Herm Davis, the author of Financial Aid for Dummies and head of the National College Scholarship Foundation, will discuss the financial aid timetable, scholarships, loans, work-study, FAFSA and more.

Wednesday October 11 7:30 PM
Going to college - an overview.
Dr. Laurie Potts-Dupre will help you get started on the selection process. A former faulty resarch associate at the University of Maryland where she taught in the honors undergraduate scholarship program, Dr. Potts-Dupre now has a private counseling practice in Takoma Park. She advises students and families on college options and choices.

Wednesday October 18 7 PM
How to prepare for SATs/ACTs.
Dr. Ilhan Cagre returns with her son Yahya Mokhtarzada to demystify the dreaded SATs. Ms. Cagre is a linguist who has taught and designed SAT preparation classes for Montgomery County Public Schools, private schools and as a private tutor.

Parents and their highschoolers are invited, encouraged, urged to attend, but should call the library first to reserve a place.

Posted by library at 01:49 PM
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