Random Thursday: Banned Book Woes, Punctuation Pros, and Yoda Toes

Random Thursday (ˈrandəm ˈTHərzdā): the day on which Sarah plunks down all the odd bits and pieces she’s been sent by friends or has otherwise stumbled upon this week in an effort to avoid writing a real post, the assembly of which usually ends up taking twice as much time as sitting down and creating actual content.

Y’all sent me a lot of grammar and punctuation stuff this week.  I’m trying not to take it personally.

It’s also National Banned Book Week.  I do take that personally.

Throw in a little random Yoda, and it must be Thursday . . .

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Grammatical Art

Grammatical Art over at etsy sells a variety of clever odes to our favorite punctuation marks
in a vast selection of rich colors.

They have science-themed prints as well, which pretty much confirms their spot on my
New Favorite Online Shop List.

If you have limited wall space, they have tee-shirts, too.

Remember: Grammatically Correct Owl says, “Whom.”

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Mapping Censorship

This interactive map—or rather the interactive map from which I took this screenshot, as I couldn’t get the ruddy thing to embed—was a joint project of the National Coalition Against Censorship and the American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression.

It was created by mapping challenges and bannings documented by the American Library Association and the Kids’ Right to Read Project.

The ALA is now maintaining it.

Click the screenshot to see which books are getting people’s knickers in a twist and which of the small percentage of challenges and bannings have been reported.

Most aren’t reported—they just happen.

Makes you wonder, doesn’t it?

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For Dummies, Grammar Is

Yoda toes!

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Censored Underpants FTW!

Dav Pilkey, the Creator of Captain Underpants, has something to say about Censorship.

Here ’tis:

I completely agree with Mr. Pilkey.

You are welcome to monitor your own child’s reading habits. You should, actually, because kids have questions and little skill in evaluating their information sources, and you want to be ready to explain anything that troubles them in ways that don’t have them going to their equally confused friends for answers.

Or, heaven help us, the Interwebz.

But your control over what children read stops at your children. You don’t get to control the reading choices of other people’s children. You don’t judge the parents of a child who is reading something you wouldn’t let your children read, either.

And if you see an seven-year old reading Captain Underpants and the Terrifying Return of Tippy Tinkletrousers*and want to know where on earth her mother is?

I’m at the library, finding a copy for your kid.

Where are you?

 
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Add nerdylittlestitcher to that list.

And not just because I’ll be repeating “afalafel” to myself all day, and giggling.

Try it—it’s fun.

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Borgian Punctuation

The clashing subtitles are annoying, but Victor Borge is totally worth it.

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*Actually, she’s reading Mommy Laid an Egg, and learning where babies really come from.  I have no intention of becoming a grandmother before I retire and education is the key to that goal.

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Random Thursday: TGIT Version

I hope it’s not wrong to look at the calendar and say, It’s Thursday!  I don’t have to come up with a cohesive blog post!  I can just throw bits and pieces at it!  No one can make me make sense!  Whee!

Not that I can claim to make much sense anyway, but I feel better about it on Thursdays.

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It was a record 92F yesterday, with about 89% humidity.  I don’t care if some of you in less temperate areas are snickering, we had a flippin’  freeze three days ago, and my personal temp-tolerance is taking a beating.

The library was supposed to have the AC working, but there was a bit of trouble that wasn’t solved until after everyone went home, which meant I spent the day carrying around my desk fan, unplugging it without turning it off and hoping the blades wouldn’t stop before I reached the outlet at my next destination.

I entered the oven that was my car, cranked the AC, picked up a limp Janie, who had stripped down—or perhaps up?—to her pinafore, and went home to find that the cat had melted all over the living room floor like a furry flounder.

Apparently, Captain Thermostat, aka, That Man I Married, decided that fresh air was more important than protecting his family from stewing in their own juices and preventing his wife from becoming a sweaty, cranky, exhausted Goddess of Doom.   I abused him disabused him of this notion, he turned on the central air, and things are now quite pleasant in the Wesson household.

Technology—it exists for a reason, people.

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But he made it up later by sending me the link to these:

 

 Yes, that’s right!  IKEA SciFi manuals!   Click the link, share the love! 

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Have I ever mentioned Genevieve Valentine’s blog?  Because her movie reviews and her analysis of red carpet fashions are snarktastic crack—or maybe cracktastic snark.  Whichever.

Her pre-review of the move Priest, based on the lobby cards and trailers, had my husband and I laughing out loud and reading lines to each other from our respective laptops.

And I quote:

“However, in this film [Karl Urban] is the chosen representative of the Ham-Off Delegation, and so he has Scenery-Chewing Immunity and must not yet be discussed as per the Curry-Walken Bylaws, which require the film to be viewed before the comparative cinematic value of the Ham-Off can be determined.”

I am in drop-jawed awe of the woman’s wordskills—even  if I occasionally disagree with her, I always enjoy how she states her opinions.

Ms. Valentine also just released a book, Mechanique: A Tale of the Circus Tresaulti, which appears from the description to be a dystopi -Cirque du Soleil-steampunk fantasy. I’m in!

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My reward for finishing the first Pigeon draft by my birthday—which I’m going to accomplish come hell, highwater, locusts, frogs, hallucinogenic-levels of sleep deprivation, caffeine poisoning, and Captain Thermostat—is going to be a Doctor Who Eleven marathon (and thanks to Lyra for the inspiration).

Hey.  Grim determination and borderline obsession is cool.

I currently have 37 days left.

Bring it.