The high today is supposed to be 1° (34° F), but this morning it was a balmy -2°! It’s beginning to look a bit like winter is on its way, and this Californian is knitting madly, so I’ll keep this quick:
Now that Arthur C. Clarke is ninety, he’s made his gift wishes known on Youtube. He wistfully commented that he wished Earth would receive alien contact. That’d be one heck of a birthday gift.
An interesting study gearing up in the UK — playground song as subversive humorous political commentary. How many playground ditties contain the name “Tony Blair?” Well, they’ll all have to be changed now. Fortunately, Bush rhymes with everything.
Poet Wendy Cope cruises the Web making sites remove her poetry. She’s obsessive about copyright law, and hates the idea that no one is paying her. The Guardian Blog argues that reposting poems is doing no one harm. Poetry People: what say you?
“More careful analysis shows that the entire product line–books, DVDs, ball gowns, necklaces, toy cell phones, toothbrush holders, T-shirts, lunch boxes, backpacks, wallpaper, sheets, stickers etc.–is saturated with a particularly potent time-release form of the date rape drug.
We cannot blame China this time, because the drug is in the concept, which was spawned in the Disney studios.”
WHOA! The online edition of The Nation has nothing nice to say about Disney Princess products.
We’re a little late, but we wanted to wish a Happy Blogversary to Jen Robinson — two years of reading and writing and sharing about children’s literature in her semi-professional capacity. Three cheers for those of us without kids who dare the strange glances of parents and librarians, wade into the kid’s section, and champion books for our favorite age group. Thanks, Jen, for all you do!
And now a cup of something hot is calling me! More soon from the frozen north!