T&T with the Police

Tonight Cpl. Smith of the Takoma Park Police will escort Halloween Trick & Treaters along this route:

- 7500 Maple Avenue (Municipal Building)
- Grant Avenue, crossing over to Ray Drive
- Left on New York Avenue
- Right on Baltimore Avenue
- Follow to short section of Takoma Avenue
- Right on Piney Branch Avenue
- Left on Eastern Avenue
- Left on Holly Avenue
- Right on Dogwood Avenue
- Cedar Avenue (both sides) to Tulip Avenue
- Left on Spruce Avenue to Park Avenue
- Circle the neighborhood back around to Willow Avenue
- Willow Avenue to Valley View Avenue
- End at Maple Avenue (Municipal Building)

6:30 p.m. - 9:00 p.m. This is a long route so we suppose you can join in and leave wherever convenient.

And what is happening in the library today? (Photos)

Update:

Jill Feasley keeps a yearly tally. Here is her list for 2007.

Total trick-or-treaters: 131
(this is down from last year's all-time high: 157)

First trick-or-treaters: 5:52 p.m.
Last trick-or-treater: 8:46 p.m.
Peak period: 7:30 - 8:00 (42 trick-or-treaters)

The (rough) Costume Break-down (it's hard to remember all the costumes when a big group of kids comes up):

14 Princesses/Fairies (including 4 Tinkerbells and 1 dog dressed as Tinkerbell)
10 Ghouls/Zombies (including "Death Himself" and Edvard Munch's "The Scream")
8 Pirates
7 Witches
7 "First Responders" (3 fire fighters, 2 police men, 2 ER surgeons)
5 Fortuneteller/gypsy/hobo
4 Peaceniks/hippies
4 Kids dressed in "Silly/Random" clothes
3 Pippi Longstockings
3 Skeletons
3 Surfer dudes
3 Girls wearing Hot Pink Wigs (all trick-or-treating separately; not in the same group)
2 Black cats
2 Mobsters
1 Crack dealer
2 Pumpkins
1 Couch potato
2 Little Old Ladies
2 "Mix and Match" girls
2 Exercise women from the 1980's (think leg warmers and bad hair)
2 Karate kids
2 Ninja
2 Sports guys (generic)
1 Extreme Redskins fan (and only one)
Cheerleader
Football playing girl goth (so not a cheerleader)
Batgirl
Alien (generic)
Aztec king
David Bryne
A Baltimore "Hon"
Devil
Angel
High school janitor
Weirdo
Dragon
Tiger
Green elf
Root child
Evergreen tree with cardinals
Girl dressed as a rainbow
A group of kids that formed a rainbow (one was dressed in red, one was dressed in orange, etc.)
Undertaker
Gay hairdresser
Luna Lovegood
A dementor
Darth Vader
Mr. Spock
Minnie Mouse
Superman
Hulk
X-man
Thomas the Tank Engine
A Young Republican
George Bush
George Bush's illegitimate daughter
Mother Earth
Hercules
"Global Warming"
Hazardous Waste worker
Russian doll
Cry Baby
Generic/Jack of all Trades fairy tale girl
An "abused child"
Euro/Brit trash
Tacky teen
Hillbilly
Biker babe
and one girl who, when asked about her costume, answered, "It's complicated. Just give me the candy."

Nut Collecting

Outside the library, at 101 Philadelphia Avenue, a giant bin awaits your October nut collections.
1. Each bag should contain nuts from a single tree. Please don't mix them.
2. Don't take all the nuts from under a tree - the animals need them too.
3. Put in one leaf to help identify the tree.
4. Bags should be paper, not plastic.
5. Tags are available near the bin, but you will need a staple or something if you can't tie on the string.

What happens to your nuts? State nurseries will grow seedlings and then plant them out along stream banks .
Growing Native (the sponsoring program)
The trees they want
What tree is it? A great key-type guide from the Ohio Division of Forestry
Virginia Tech tree fact sheets
Their list of Maryland trees

Of course you can pop into the library and check out one of our many tree books. We have lots, both in the J room and the adult collections. Most are in 582 or are nearby. (We also have a stapler and pens.)

Book Sale

Saturday, November 10th, 10-3
Semi-annual Friends of the Takoma Park Maryland Library book sale.

Thank you all for your wonderful book donations but we can't accept any more. We've run out of room.

Open Columbus Day

We are open today, though WTOP is reporting that area libraries and schools are closed.

"If you're thinking about using this time to catch up on some errands, consider this: Columbus Day is a federal holiday, which means all federal, state and local government offices will be closed including schools, libraries and courts"

Update at 3:30 PM: WTOP has amended the story. It now reads ...

"It's a federal holiday, which means all federal, state and local government offices are closed. Courts, banks and most post offices are also closed. The Merrifield Post Office on Lee Highway in Virginia is open until 5 p.m. and the Takoma Park Library is open."

Give 1 Get 1

Did you read David Pogue's article on the XO in the New York Times? (Now free online, but you may have to register) For jargon afficianados: The XO is AKA the OLPC computer - from the One laptop per child volunteer project.

Our library now has over three years experience with children using Linux computers, and we think the combination marvelous. But the XO's have a lot more than Linux to recommend them.
1. Designed for children, they are both cute and incredibly sturdy.
2. Battery life is something like 6 to 8 hours, but you can also power them mechanically or with a $12, 12" solar panel. And battery life is much longer if the child is using the unit to read a book.
3. Wifi is built in. So is a video camera.
4. Push one key and you can both see and modify the code behind a page or program. Think of the talent this will unleash. Brilliant.

These were created for children in developing countries. If you want one for your USA tot, you will have a short time window via the Give 1 Get 1 program. Pay $400 and you get one for the kid in your life, and one for a child somewhere else in the world who desperately needs it. Begins Nov 12.

Note: This is not the same as the Asus Eee PC which is also Linux based, also about 7 inches, and also rolling out this fall. (Review in French.) Unlike the XO, the Eee PC is commercial, will be publicly available and wasn't specifically designed for children in the developing world. And it isn't lime green, except in some photos from China.

With these small units you are going to need to tote a little extra portable storage or learn how to keep your files online. Get acquainted with something like Yahoo briefcase. (If you already have a Yahoo account for mail or groups, you also have a briefcase there.)

Thanks to RCN we have free wi-fi available in the library and next door in the computer area. We will be adding some small tables and wall trays there for the wi-fi users.

Update October 30: BBC story on the XO

Update November 12: The Give One Get One program for the XO began on November 12th and will last through the 27th. The recipient, for the one you give, will be a child in Rwanda, Haiti, Afganistan or Cambodia.

The Goldie List

Add to your "born and raised in Takoma Park" roster - Eric Hutchinson

See also:
an old interview
a youtube snippit

Sample Lyrics (with a buggy display)

Speaking of lyrics, does anyone know the B&O Trestle at Takoma Park ????