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Little Free Libraries
Did you know in Indiana a child can grow up never having access to a library unless they live in certain townships that support a library. It’s true, thanks to one of Indiana’s many quirky laws libraries receive no state funding so are funded exclusively by their local areas and whatever grants they can manage to get. So if a low income child grows up in a township that doesn’t fund a library his parents are unlikely to be able to afford a libary card then priced at over $100 to use a local library. Indiana is also the only state of the union in which parents have to pay HIGH rental fees for school books because that also isn’t funded. High as in $160 for a year per child…high… on top of school clothes and the biggest school supplies list you have ever see because it includes supplies for the teachers too….yeah high!
I found this amazing having grown up in Michigan where all libraries were free and you could even use one in a neighboring town if you chose to…say it was close to work thus more convient for you then the one closer to your home…or bigger…whatever…you could use it. I just assumed all libraries were free…wasn’t that the point of them afterall? I have a twice a week library habit myself.
Now here is a great idea that would be much needed in backward states like Indiana the 3rd World State of America’s Midwest (Now even the only “Right to Work for Less State” in the Midwest too). Little Free Libraries!
Three years ago Todd Bol came up with an idea to remember his mother, a teacher who had loved books and encouraged people to read. At his home in Hudson, Wisc., he built a box, made it waterproof and filled it with books. It looked like a miniature one-room schoolhouse, with a sign underneath that said “Free Book Exchange.” Bol put it on a post outside of his house and invited neighbors to take a book, and return a book.
That’s when something happened Bol says he never could have imagined.
“People of all ages, men, women, kids came up and just loved the library,” he said. “They got excited and they started coming up to me saying, ‘I’ll build one, do you need books?’”
The rest of the story including a video can be found at http://dailynightly.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/03/10/10634425-using-books-to-build-community A great idea and a wonderful feel good story!
Ivana ClawYou
The Royal Mail have put Lana the cat on probation after she attacked a postman in Portsmouth.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newsvideo/weirdnewsvideo/8105257/Postman-fears-cat-attack.html
Lana’s owners face losing their mail delivery in the UK unless she stops attacking the mail carrier for the Royal Mail. Lana aka Ivana ClawYou may be wanted on other charges, I would run a background check just to be sure.
Common Sense
Shared by Jon in Nova Scotia
Obituary printed in the London Times – Interesting and sadly true.
Today we mourn the passing of a beloved old friend, Common Sense, who has been with us for many years. No one knows for sure how old he was, since his birth records were ago lost in bureaucratic red tape. He will be remembered as having cultivated such valuable lessons as:
– Knowing when to come in out of the rain;
– Why the early bird gets the worm;
– Life isn’t always fair;
– and maybe it was my fault.
Common Sense lived by simple, sound financial policies (don’t spend more than you can earn) and reliable strategies (adults, not children, are in charge).
His health began to deteriorate rapidly when well-intentioned but over bearing regulations were set in place. Reports of a 6-year-old boy charged with sexual harassment for kissing a classmate; teens suspended from school for using mouthwash after lunch; and a teacher fired for reprimanding an unruly student, only worsened his condition.
It declined even further when corporations became people and with more rights than actual people have. When CEOs began to make 300% more than their employees while continuing to press for more and more cuts on the labor that actually did all the work.
Common Sense lost ground when parents attacked teachers for doing the job that they themselves had failed to do in disciplining their unruly children.
Common Sense lost the will to live as the churches became businesses; and criminals received better treatment than their victims.
Common Sense took a beating when you couldn’t defend yourself from a burglar in your own home and the burglar could sue you for assault.
Common Sense finally gave up the will to live, after a woman failed to realize that a steaming cup of coffee was hot. She spilled a little in her lap, and was promptly awarded a huge settlement.
Common Sense was preceded in death, by his parents, Truth and Trust, by his wife, Discretion, by his daughter, Responsibility, and by his son, Reason.
He is survived by his 4 stepbrothers;
I Know My Rights
I Want It Now
Someone Else Is To Blame
I’m A Victim
Not many attended his funeral because so few realized he was gone. If you still remember him, pass this on. If not, join the majority and do nothing…
Deer Matador
Watch the amazing technique of this deer matador from Alpharetta, Georgia in this caught on tape attempted robbery of a Taco Mac restaurant by a deer! See the swirl of the towel (or was it toilet paper?)! Feel the excitement of the chase! The store employee manages to get the deer to leave the restaurant without a taco stolen. I don’t know what the deer in Georgia are eating but it’s really giving them the munchies. I’d look into that.
http://gawker.com/5857719/taco+loving-deers-rampage-through-restaurant-caught-on-tape
Pay It Back Forward in Action!
I love to post those feel good stories when I come across them, this is definately one of those:
Call it a twist of fate.
Victor Giesbrecht, 61, of Winnipeg, stopped his pickup along an interstate highway in western Wisconsin to help two stranded women change a flat tire. Minutes later, his life was in their hands.
Sara Berg, of Eau Claire, Wis., and her cousin, Lisa Meier, were headed home Saturday night on Interstate 94 when they “heard an awful noise.” They were somewhere between Menomonie and Eau Claire when they pulled to the side of the road with a flat tire — something neither knew how to fix. Meier’s husband was on his way to help when Giesbrecht, who was driving by with his wife, Ann, showed up and asked whether they needed help.
“We were so grateful,” Berg said. “Nowadays, nobody ever really stops to offer their help. It’s kind of scary sometimes, because you really don’t know what you’re getting into.”
Giesbrecht is the type who always wants to stop to help a stranded motorist, his wife said. “He’s the type of person who gives you 100 percent and worries about himself later,” she said.
When Giesbrecht finished, Berg thanked him and they shook hands. Berg recalled Giesbrecht’s farewell words to her: “Someone up above put me in the right place at the right time.'”
And then they parted. Giesbrecht and his wife pulled back onto the interstate. Seconds later, Berg followed.
Less than a quarter mile down the road, Berg noticed Giesbrecht’s red truck pulled over. She passed it and then pulled over herself, figuring the couple may have forgotten something.
No sooner had she gotten out of her car when she saw Giesbrecht’s wife waving frantically at passing motorists.
When she saw Berg, she called out: “I think he’s having a heart attack.”
Berg, a certified nursing assistant trained in CPR, jumped into the truck. Giesbrecht had no pulse and wasn’t breathing. Berg began chest compressions. Meier called 911.
Emergency personnel arrived in about five minutes, “but it always feels like forever at a time like that,” Berg said.
Wisconsin state trooper Kate Sampson arrived first, and gave mouth-to-mouth resuscitation while Berg continued the chest compressions. When two Dunn County sheriff’s deputies arrived, they helped move Giesbrecht out of the truck and to the shoulder, using the vehicle as a buffer from passing traffic. Sampson, along with Meier’s husband, who had just arrived, and the deputy resumed CPR while the second deputy used an automated external defibrillator to deliver shocks to his heart.
So this Canadian and his wife stopped to help two ladies on a highway in out in the middle of nowhere Wisconsin then later needs their help to save his life. Reminds me of vacationing in the Upper Pennisula of Michigan with my family as a girl, before we left the farm my father would always ask me to fill a few empty jugs of water and put them in the truck. When I asked why he said,”Driving on a hot day, you never know if you will need it or someone else will.” Every time I filled the jugs, we used them not for the truck but when my father would stop to help someone. He couldn’t pass up someone with a flat tire or overheated radiator…just couldn’t even when my mother would say we didn’t have the time. He would stop, change the tire or fill a radiator then we would be on our way again. He would use the excuse that the kids needed to stretch their legs anyway.
What it really was about is a call to help where you can and in the Upper Pennisula of Michigan, if you break down it might be a long time before another car even passes by. This was before cell phones so even if it was something he couldn’t fix we would cram in the cab someone who needed a ride to the next gas station. When we would get the tires on the car at home changed, he would save those and have them mounted on spare rims from the gas station then toss one in the back of the truck since they were a common size for General Motors cars. Every time he did that he always managed to give those tires away, either on his way back and forth to Saginaw (45 min drive one way on I-75) to work or while we were on vacation. He hated the space saver emergency tires so thought he was providing a more permanent fix then those provided.
Do I carry jugs of water in my truck on a hot day? You bet I do.
English from Around the World
Credit to John via email
Wonderful English from Around the World:
In a Bangkok temple:
IT IS FORBIDDEN TO ENTER A WOMAN, EVEN A FOREIGNER, IF DRESSED AS A MAN.
Cocktail lounge , Norway :
LADIES ARE REQUESTED NOT TO HAVE CHILDREN IN THE BAR.
Doctors office, Rome :
SPECIALIST IN WOMEN AND OTHER DISEASES.
Dry cleaners, Bangkok :
DROP YOUR TROUSERS HERE FOR THE BEST RESULTS.
In a Nairobi restaurant:
CUSTOMERS WHO FIND OUR WAITRESSES RUDE OUGHT TO SEE THE MANAGER.
On the main road to Mombasa, leaving Nairobi :
TAKE NOTICE: WHEN THIS SIGN IS UNDER WATER, THIS ROAD IS IMPASSABLE.
On a poster at Kenco:
ARE YOU AN ADULT THAT CANNOT READ? IF SO WE CAN HELP.
In a City restaurant:
OPEN SEVEN DAYS A WEEK AND WEEKENDS.
In a cemetery:
PERSONS ARE PROHIBITED FROM PICKING FLOWERS FROM ANY BUT THEIR OWN GRAVES .
Tokyo hotel’s rules and regulations:
GUESTS ARE REQUESTED NOT TO SMOKE OR DO OTHER DISGUSTING BEHAVIOURS IN BED.
On the menu of a Swiss restaurant:
OUR WINES LEAVE YOU NOTHING TO HOPE FOR..
In a Tokyo bar:
SPECIAL COCKTAILS FOR THE LADIES WITH NUTS.
Hotel , Yugoslavia :
THE FLATTENING OF UNDERWEAR WITH PLEASURE IS THE JOB OF THE CHAMBERMAID..
Hotel , Japan :
YOU ARE INVITED TO TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THE CHAMBERMAID.
In the lobby of a Moscow hotel across from a Russian Orthodox monastery:
YOU ARE WELCOME TO VISIT THE CEMETERY WHERE FAMOUS RUSSIAN AND SOVIET COMPOSERS, ARTISTS AND WRITERS ARE BURIED DAILY EXCEPT THURSDAY.
A sign posted in Germany ‘s Black Forest :
IT IS STRICTLY FORBIDDEN ON OUR BLACK FOREST CAMPING SITE THAT PEOPLE OF DIFFERENT SEX, FOR INSTANCE, MEN AND WOMEN, LIVE TOGETHER IN ONE TENT UNLESS THEY ARE MARRIED WITH EACH OTHER FOR THIS PURPOSE..
Hotel in Zurich :
BECAUSE OF THE IMPROPRIETY OF ENTERTAINING GUESTS OF THE OPPOSITE SEX IN THE BEDROOM, IT IS SUGGESTED THAT THE LOBBY BE USED FOR THIS PURPOSE.
Advertisement for donkey rides in Thailand :
WOULD YOU LIKE TO RIDE ON YOUR OWN ASS?
Airline ticket office in Copenhagen :
WE TAKE YOUR BAGS AND SEND THEM IN ALL DIRECTIONS.
A laundry in Rome :
LADIES, LEAVE YOUR CLOTHES HERE AND SPEND THE AFTERNOON HAVING A GOOD TIME..
And finally, a sign in in an Alabama Motel:
WIVES FIRST NAMES TO BE REGISTERED AT CHECK-IN, EVEN IF SOMEBODY ELSE’S WIFE…
Word of the Day – Obama
I think we need to take up a collection to buy this pair of Good Ole Boys some shirts. I’m thinking the phrase “If you have it…flaunt it” doesn’t really apply in this particular case. Maybe switch to a lighter beer as those 12 oz at a time workouts don’t seem to be paying off. 40 ozers might work the bicepts just a bit more. What do you think? 
Lego Man Makes Landfall in Florida
Lego Man arrives in Florida!
While the sight of a beached whale is a sad but fairly common occurrence, the
sight of a giant Lego man washed up on the beach is something to put on
YouTube.
As BoingBoing
reports, Jeff Hindman, a resident of Siesta Key Village, Fla., was surprised to
find a larger-than-life-sized Lego man washed up on the shore. Now people are
scratching their heads as they try to figure out where the giant Lego man came
from and whether they should put out an APB for any more refugees from the Land
of Lego.
So where did the 8-foot, 100 pound giant come from? Not from Lego. A
spokeswoman for Legoland told the Sarasota
Herald-Tribune that the Lego man is a counterfeit and is not
endorsed by Legoland or its parent company, Merlin Entertainments
Group.
He’s so Right!
In the Middle East, the people rise up against their madmen. In the USA, we let them appear in televised debates. – Andy Borowitz
The Julianna Michigan Show 