November 4, 2008

I just voted today for the Presidential election.

David Byrne. new song

http://www.everythingthathappens.com/

Above Hamburg

Soldiers and the NY Public Library

"In each of the library’s branches, [Anne Carroll] Moore abolished age restrictions. Down came the “Silence” signs, up went framed prints of the work of children’s-book illustrators. “Do not expect or demand perfect quiet,” she instructed her staff. “The education of children begins at the open shelves.” In place of locked cabinets, she provided every library with a big black ledger; if you could sign your name, you could borrow a book. Moore considered signing the ledger something between an act of citizenship and a sacrament, to be undertaken only after reading a pledge: “When I write my name in this book I promise to take good care of the books I use in the Library and at home, and to obey the rules of the Library.” During both the First and Second World Wars, soldiers on leave in the city climbed the steps past Patience and Fortitude, walked into the Children’s Room, and asked to see the black books from years past. They wanted to look up their names, to trace the record of a childhood lost, an inky, smudged once-upon-a-time."
- The New Yorker, July 21, 2008. "The Lion and the Mouse" by Jill Lepore.

a German ladybug

Leitungswasser

Last night C and I went out to dinner. I don't order bottled water in the US so why would I start in Germany? So I asked for "Leitungswasser" - tap water. Or, literally, "pipe water." Afterwards, a woman at the next table leaned over and asked C, in German (so I'll paraphrase) and quite incredulously, if we really ordered tap water and if they would bring it to us - for free! Seems like I've started a trend here!

Kirchererbsen

I like the top of this can.