Eve of the New Year

The iconic event of this holiday for many Americans is the dropping of the mega-ball in Times Square. Do you have any idea how long this has been going on? On December 31, 1907 over 200,000 revelers witnessed the original descent of the electric ball from the Times Tower. It was a huge hit! The crowd's noisy approval could be heard in Shropshire. Well, maybe not, but I'm sure it was very loud. The previous 3 years Adolph Ochs, owner and publisher of the Times, shot off fireworks from the Tower. From the base of the Tower. In the middle of New York City. At the Turn of the Century. Miraculously, the city didn't burn down to a teensy pile of ashes, and we can thank the Mother of Invention for the existence of the New Year's Ball. Read all this and much more in:
The Devil's playground : a century of pleasure and profit in Times Square

Celebrate Rudyard

So on this day in 1865 Rudyard Kipling was born in Bombay India. Actually Joseph Rudyard Kipling was born. Why he chose his middle name over the perfectly spell-able Joseph remains a mystery. There can't have been that many Kiplings running around for pete's sake. The 'Rudyard' didn't keep him from winning the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1907. He wrote poetry, novels, short stories, children's books - everything but agricultural manuals. So L. Frank Baum, author of The Wizard of Oz has one up on him. Baum's first book was The Book of the Hamburgs, A Brief Treatise upon the Mating, Rearing, and Management of the Different Varieties of Hamburgs. Hamburgs are chickens. You'd think they'd be cows, but no. I digress! Two of Kipling's most famous works, the Jungle Book and Just So Stories start with the letters 'ju'. What were the chances? About the same as someone choosing the name 'Rudyard' instead of 'Joseph'.

Graphic source: Biography Resource Center

Not Kitschty, but recycled.

Wrapping paper bows. This is such a good idea! You know all those scraps of gorgeous wrapping paper that you are loathe to pitch, but they're waaay too small to wrap anything? Use 'em to make even more gorgeous bows. Cut the scraps into strips, width and length dependent on the size bow you want. Strips should be more than twice as long as the desired diameter of your bow. (should have given you a math warning, huh.) Experiment! They're scraps already! Make a loop of each strip and squish the middle together, keeping the ends of the scrap in the middle of the squish. Staple through both layers of the strip in the middle of the squish, making sure the loop ends are secured. Keep making smaller and smaller loops, and set them inside the original loop. Adjust the position of each loop so the bow takes on a full appearance. Fluff so the staples are not visible. Admire your handiwork. Wear it as a hat if you wish. I'm not tellin'.


Graphic source: Instructables

And...Closed Again

All six buildings of the Des Moines Public Library are closed yet again! We'll come back tomorrow, we promise.


Today's Tidbit from our Local History Wiki:
The latest day to record snowfall in Des Moines was May 28, 1947.

Graphic Source: Dover Sampler

Still Closed

All buildings of the Des Moines Public Library are still closed!

Today's Tidbit from our Local History Wiki:

The top snowfall in Des Moines was 19.8 inches on January 1, 1942!

Graphic Source: Dover Sampler

We are Closed Today

All buildings of the Des Moines Public Library are closed today. But you can still return items in our drop-boxes.

Today's Tidbit from our Local History Wiki: The lowest temperature ever recorded in Des Moines was –30 degrees on January 5, 1884!

Graphic Source: Dover Sampler

Sleep Like a Baby. A happy, just-fed one.

OK, I know you tried a vegetable yesterday and I'm guessing your system did not reject it. (There were no news reports about spontanous human detonations, anyway.) See how well that worked out? Here's something else I'll try to goad you into, as my campaign to keep you healthy escalates. You have got to get some sleep! Go to bed now! This is what I tell myself when I'm up late staring vacantly at a mound of stuff that needs to become some other kind of stuff. If repeating this to myself 20-30 times doesn't work, my husband eventually registers the lump in the chair and encourages me to make the effort to move. In the past this has occasionally involved gently pushing me up the stairs. But not everyone has a personal trainer, so you may need a little help sleeping. This book could be just the thing. You know how I am about books. They're the next best thing to a pushy husband.

50 ways to sleep better / Neil B. Kavey

Eat One Healthy Thing Today

If you're like me, your blood currently contains near-hallucinogenic levels of sugar. I see sweets everywhere - oh wait! They're real! All too real and I cannot resist them. So I force myself to have a bran cereal for breakfast instead of cookies. I know, I'm being too hard on myself. But you might want to try the odd veggie or two this season. Best reason by far - it make the chocolate taste even better! If you need inspiration, here are titles:

Vegetable love / Barbara Kafka

Melissa's great book of produce : everything you need to know about fresh fruits and vegetables

A passion for vegetables

Foreign Film Festival

Sounds dreary, doesn't it? Movies long on deep, subtle meaning and short on entertainment. But it's nothin' but fun if you go with Hayao Miyazaki's work. He is the premiere artist of animated film today, in my opinion. You've got your brave and lively young heroines; interesting and often bizarre worlds; and familiar plots that seem fresh again. Here are 4 recommendations, and the order in which I think you should see them. From good to absolutely amazing.

Kiki's Delivery Service. Kiki delivers by way of broomstick. Just light fun and the inevitable storm. Too bad Kiki doesn't pack a so'wester when she's outside running deliveries on her dust bunny destroyer.

Howl's Moving Castle Sophie is bewitched and winds up a servant in a handsome wizard's castle. The castle looks like a Rube Goldberg creation and staggers around with a Goldbergian lack of grace. The movie is meatier than Kiki's Delivery Service, but stumbles when Miyazaki introduces elements not found in Diane Wynne Jones' book, on which the movie is based. But you'll love Sophie enough to forgive this.

Princess Mononoke In this gorgeous movie, the battle between industry and nature is played out between physical embodiments of both. The people of the mine destroy the earth not for personal fortune, but to give a better life to society's cast-offs. The gods of the forest, appearing in animal form, fight back. Prince Ashitaka tries to avert war. That gives you the plot basics, but there is more going on in this thoughtful (yet action packed!) movie.

Spirited Away. Chihiro and her parents enter a tunnel in a remote area and come out in a mysterious place with a row of restaurants, completely unattended. Her parents eat and eat and disappear! Chihiro finds employment in a bath house for spirits - the design work here will take your breath away. There are several plots, all related to over-consumption and pollution but they mesh beautifully with the main story line. Spirited Away was awarded the Oscar for best animated film in 2003, a recognition well-earned.