Closed Presidents' Day

All six locations of the Des Moines Pubic Library are closed today.  The staff's not being paid; it's a furlough day due to budget cuts.  Speaking of pay, George Washington made $25,000 per year as president.  Bill Clinton received $200,000.  George W. Bush made $400,000 per year as does President Obama today.  Of course these numbers do not include inflation.  Here is a sample from a few years ago:  President Henry Hoover's salary of $75,000 equaled approximately $1,000,000 in 2007 dollars.  Yowsah.

Sources:  National Park Service
Principles of Macroeconomics

Hey Lally Lally (Plus Closed Monday for Presidents' Day)

They use fun words in the construction biz.  I was describing a problem in our house to a friend and he said, "Yeah, I imagine they'll just put up your lally".  OK.  Turns out your lally would be: "a concrete-filled cylindrical steel structural column".  Huh.  At least there's no gagging.  Other entertaining construction terms:
Astragal- Not a Superhero.  "A molding, attached to one of a pair of swinging double doors, against which the other door strikes."  Astragal would never allow herself to be struck in the manner!
Corbel- Not a misspelled alcoholic beverage.  "The triangular, decorative and supporting member that holds a mantel or horizontal shelf."  Both decorative and supporting.  That's a keeper.
Muntin- Not a resident of Oz.  "A small member which divides the glass or openings of sash or doors."  Actually a Munchkin could be a small member - of the Lollypop Guild!

Our books on Architectural Terms

Reba Whittle Tobiason Was the Only One

Reba Whittle Tobiason, a flight nurse, was the only military person of female persuasion to be held as a POW by the Germans in WWII after her evacuation flight was shot down in 1944. The imprisonment apparently flummoxed the U. S. government, as it did not acknowledge her status as a POW.  You'd think it would have been fairly straightforward since everyone agreed she had been held captive.  Whittle Tobiason was awarded the Air Medal and the Purple Heart in 1945 soooo.... it's not like no one knew she existed. They even had an inkling of her heroism Finally in 1992 she was  recognized as a POW.  Unfortunately 2nd Lt. Reba WhittleTobiason died in January 1981.  Here's to you, Reba Whittle Tobiason.  You spent 4 months in Stalag Luft 9 and even managed to administer to the sick and wounded while detained.  And in 1992 you took your rightful place in history.

Military.com
Des Moines Tribune 1/30/1981 p. 15

More to Love

Have you declared your Love for Your Library yet?  Here's what you do: Tell us in twenty-five words or less why you love your library and you can be entered in a drawing for a dozen free cookies from Gateway Market! The first 1,000 entries will receive a free LOVE My DMPL decal to proudly display on your car, on your desk, or anywhere else you wish. Within reason. You can enter online or in print just click I Love DMPL for more information.
What is there to love?  Let's look at a total from all 6 locations. On February 7 if you added up all the books, magazine titles, movies, music, special collections, you arrive at the sizeable number of 559,688.  Of which 419,033 are books.  Printed. On paper.  And they check out like crazy!  Because you love us!  Never stop.

Who Was That Guy?

Did you watch the Grammy show Sunday?  The performances were sizzlin'!   Who knew Cee Lo Green would literally take up Elton John's mantle?  For those of you wondering about the old dude who shuffled onstage, croaked out some unintelligible phrases and then played the harmonica a bit, it was Bob Dylan! Dylan was once so influential that the music scene went nuts when he switched from acoustic to electric guitar.  Nuts. Could you believe Mick Jagger!  The energy! The man jerked around the stage just like he did 40 years ago.  Quite the contrast between the two legends.  And not unlike Dylan, Jagger never really sang, well, melodiously.  So the change in vocal quality from their earlier performances wasn't unbearable. Quite the night.  We have many CD's of these two gentlemen's work.  Help yourself.

Bob Dylan
Jagger/Rolling Stones

Happy Valentine's Day to Everybody!

When I was a sprout in grade school, here's what happened.  You brought a shoebox to class, decorated it and put a slit in the top.  Then every child put a Valentine in every box.  Even if somebody cheated you still got lots of Valentines.  That was nice.  This is my Valentine To Everybody.

How lame is that?  Just like most Valentines!  Now you can have a great day not worrying about whether you get a card.  Because you just got one!  Yippee!

Looove Songs

What are your favorite looove songs?  Or are you lookin' for love songs in all the wrong places?  The library can fix you up.  Here are some of my favorites, in case you are overwhelmed by the options!

A House is not a Home  Dionne Warwick.   Lovely and melancholy. 

Since I Fell for You  Al Jarreau.   Lovely and less melancholy. 

I Would Die 4 U  Prince.   Bouncy!  Speedy!  Dancey!  I would make a dwarf joke but Prince is pretty short so out of my great sensitivity to the issue I will refrain. 

Maybe I'm Amazed  Paul McCartney.   So beautiful.  Deep in requited love. 

Total Eclipse of the Heart  Bonnie Tyler.   Yearning;  Belting;  Bonus Falsetto. 

Just the Way you Are  Bruno Mars.   Unabashedly Romantic. 

OK, now I have to go listen to I would Die 4 U.  By the man who was born to text.

Looove Poem???

Part of  A Love Poem from Ogden Nash:
To My Valentine
More than a catbird hates a cat,
Or a criminal hates a clue,
Or the Axis hates the United States,
That's how much I love you.

I love you more than a duck can swim,
And more than a grapefruit squirts,
I love you more than a gin rummy is a bore,
And more than a toothache hurts.

Ah, the man could sweep a girl off her feet.  But only by using a broom. 

Ogden Nash Poetry

Looove Poem

Ahem.  "To Celia" by Ben Johnson
Stanza the first:
Drink to me only with thine eyes
And I will pledge with mine.
Or leave a kiss within the cup
And I'll not ask for wine.
The thirst that from the soul doth rise
Doth ask a drink divine;
But might I of Jove's nectar sip,
I would not change for thine.

Lovely, isn't it?  Unfortunately I can't read it without the sound of a very sour young voice singing in my head.  You see, all I learned about the classics came from cartoons.  This one featured a young owl who had a chance to sing on the radio and he wanted to warble: "I love to singa, about the moona and the junea and the springa...".  But his classically inclined parents forced him to sing "Driiiink to me on-ly wi-ith thine eeeeeeeeyes..." He wasn't happy and sang it very badly.  As you can see this made quite an impression on me.  Warner Bros. Cartoons.  Teaching the classics one owl at a time.

Books of looove poems
Warner Bros. Cartoons