No Title ()

"Never Gonna Be Bored" is by Adam and the Couch Potatoes.

H. H. Monro (known as Saki) wrote "The Storyteller."

The poet Horace wrote the Ars Poetica, which says (depending on your translation) that "poetry has two aims -- to instruct and to give delight."

You can read a little bit about the history of children's literature at Random History.

American Children's Literature and the Construction of Childhood is by Gail Schmunck Murray.

Louisa May Alcott wrote a lot of stuff for children, including:

* Little Women, followed by Good Wives (sometimes published as part of Little Women)
* Little Men, followed by Jo's Boys
* Eight Cousins
* Rose in Bloom
* An Old-Fashioned Girl, parts one and two

"Lumberin' Bunny" is by Tom Smith.

"It's Windy, Your Majesty" is by KidsCastUK.

The American Library Association has an official Library Bill of Rights. They emphasize that parents should be involved in and will be held responsible for their children's reading. They also say that librarians should withhold from the parents as much information about the child's reading choices as possible:

"Parents are responsible not only for the choices their minor children make concerning the selection of materials and the use of library facilities and resources, but also for communicating with their children about those choices. Librarians should not breach a child’s confidentiality by giving out information readily available to the parent from the child directly. Libraries should take great care to limit the extenuating circumstances in which they will release such information. (ALA, "Questions and Answers on Privacy and Confidentiality." -- scroll down to the question, "Are privacy rights of minors the same as those of adults?")

In case anyone is wondering if I know what I'm talking about regarding the ALA, I got my PhD in Library and Information Science.

James R. Kincaid wrote Child-Loving: The Erotic Child and Victorian Culture, as well as Erotic Innocence: The Culture of Child Molesting.

Anne Geddes takes photographs of babies dressed up or staged as if they were food or flowers, among other things. The purpose of the photographs is to make us think of the Geddes children as consumables, which we can buy a picture of and consume with our eyes over and over without having to deal with the complexities of babies in real life. It works a lot like porn.

"I Wrote a Song About Allergies" is by Kyle Dine.

Emma Cooper does the Alternative Kitchen Garden podcast.

I'm involved with two writers groups affiliated with the Society for Children's Book Writers and Illustrators.

"Now, That's Magic" is by KidsCastUK.

All the music (and the KidsCastUK bits) were provided by Mevio.com.

"Some Strange Feelin'" is by Davis Coen, and is available at Mevio.com.

"Our Pet Rat" is an essay published anonymously in Chambers's Journal of Popular Literature, Science, and Arts in 1878. I found it in Google Books. The publisher, William Chambers, was the Lord Provost of Edinburgh who was included as a character in the film Greyfriars Bobby. (He paid for Bobby's dog license so the dog would not be put down by the authorities after the dog's master had died.)

Read about bee space at the University of Illinois Extension website.

McGee harassing Gibbs:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wl2G3TKckGw&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0&color1=0x3a3a3a&color2=0x999999]

Notice that, at about 53 seconds in, Gibbs turns on McGee with his fur fluffed out like an angry cat.

"Ain't It Strange" is by Bosco and Peck, and is available at Mevio.com.

A friend of mine went with me to The International Gem and Jewelry Show in Rosemont, IL. She and her husband also went to the Anime Central Convention, which was held in the same building that weekend. I would have gone to both, too, if it weren't for the facts that (a) I still had to grade a lot of final papers for my classes, (b) I am a huge wuss and a whole day of fun would have been too much for me physically, and (c) I did not have enough money lying around loose to pay for both shows.

As it was, I got to take some pictures of some awesome costumes. Most people were very gracious when I asked if I could photograph them (getting asked is a compliment, I'm told). I, on the other hand, was very pleased that whenever I asked someone to pose, three or four other people immediately started photographing my models too. I took that as a signal that I have a good eye for costumes -- even though I know zippo about anime.


I've tried looking these characters up, and all I found was an ad image for a site, not the series:


See them there? Right in the middle? Blue eye patches, blue eye patches!


The two girls (I think) in blue warned me that they were not from the same series, and I told them, "I don't care. I don't know anything about series. I just like your costumes." They were not impressed with my answer, as you can tell from their facial expressions.


This guy is not from a series. Lots of people just dress up as animals.


I am mainly interested in her arm armor, which she made. My friends told me later that there was a girl with homemade, lightweight armor all over her body, in curlicues reminiscent of (but less chilly than) Princess Leia's outfit in Jabba the Hutt's den.


Eeeee! The guy was walking around with the box slightly open, and just his eyes peering out. I wish I knew who this was supposed to be.


Gas mask! And, perhaps, Waldo.


Unicorn!


"Strange Town" is by Ivan Chew, used under a Creative Commons Noncommercial Sampling Plus license.

"Space Cowboy" is by Matthew Long and is available on GarageBand.com.

The short story, "Operation Earthworm," was written by Joe Archibald and published in Fantastic Universe in September 1955. I found it at Project Gutenberg.

1000 Ideas for Creative Reuse: Remake, Restyle, Recycle, Renew (1000 Series) is by Garth Johnson.

Robot makers:

* Mike Rivamonte
* Scott Sauer
* "Chrome-delicious Robot Art & Ray Guns" article on robot makers, with links to their websites, from Dark Roasted Blend

The Expectant Knitter: 30 Designs for Baby and Your Growing Family is by Maria Connolly.

Natural Nursery Knits: 20 Hand-knit Designs for the New Baby is by Erika Knight.

"Chiron Beta Prime" is by Jonathan Coulton and is available on Music Alley at Mevio.com.

The Prologue to Geoffrey Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, read for you on LibriVox (by Kara Shallenburg). The modern English translation is me glossing the text using the definitions on the Librarius.com page.

"Garden of Roses" is by Spring Heeled Jacks Original Swinging Jass Band.

Gerard Manley Hopkins wrote "Pied Beauty."

"Grow a Garden" is by Kesang Marstrand.

Thomas Carew wrote "The Spring." Evidently I pronounced his name wrong: it should be said "Carey."

"Flowers" is by Gold Box Kingdom (featuring AMY B).

Garden Gnome Liberation provides the free template "Letter to Gnome Captor."

"Bees and Flowers/Joe Smallwood's Reel" is by Duane Andrews.

Charles Dudley Warner wrote "My Summer in a Garden." Please note that times were different then. However, the difficulties that beset the gardener are pretty much the same now.

"Flower" is by Supraluxe.

Edgar Wilson Nye wrote "The Garden Hose."

"Farmyard Rock n Roll" is by The Jackass-Penguin Show. You may recognize it from my Episode 6.

Frances Hodgson Burnett wrote The Secret Garden.

"Among the Green Leaves" is by Kesang Marstrand.

All the music on this podcast was provided by Mevio.com.

"The Man Who Understood Women" is a short story by Leonard Merrick, published in 1911.

The theory of knowledge-making, or epistemology, that I described is drawn from actor-network-theory but can also be found in other theories of knowledge-making, such as those of John Dewey or Brenda Dervin.

SCBWI is the Society for Children's Book Writers and Illustrators.

These are my new glasses:

The Dapper Rat site offers some ideas for fun toys for pet rats.

The music in this podcast is provided by Mevio.com.

"A Mutual Misunderstanding" is by Peter, Bjorn and John.

"Nobody Really Understands" is by Dan Coyle.

"Better" is by Jonathan Coulton.

The segment from George Orwell's novel, 1984, is taken from Part 3, Chapter 2.

All the music in this podcast is provided by Mevio.com.

"Dear Mother" is by Jordan Doucette.

"Things I Used to Know" is by James Casto.