Consider the Teapot

At first tea was brewed in bowls! Gasp! But pots popped up in the Song Dynasty (AD 970-1279).   Both tea and teapots wandered over to the West in the 1650s.  In Britain in the 1740s, your blue and white teapots were all the rage.  Teapots have been produced by classy companies such as Wedgewood and Spode!  The proverbial ante was upped in the 1860's with animal-shaped pots made of majolica*.  (What the heck is majolica?  I can never remember.  See below.)   Some models were curvier than others, some plain some fancy.  "But were they short and stout?" she fretted?   One could describe as 'short and stout' the monumentally garish teapot-in-the-shape-of-a-house she gave to her sister in the 1980's.  Whew.

Books on Teapot History
Source:  A Spot of Tea. By: Timm, Maureen, Antiques & Collecting Magazine, Apr99
*Majolica:  "earthenware covered with an opaque tin glaze and decorated on the glaze before firing;" Source:  Merriam Webster Online 

They Know Where They're Going

I know the perception is that education in the U. S. is slipping, on the skids, declining.  Apparently that is not true in every aspect.  The average geography score for fourth-graders was higher in 2010 than in 1994 and 2001.  Fourth-graders!  Do not play Trivial Pursuit with these tiny people, they will wipe the floor - or should I say map? - with you.
Scores:

1994 206

2001 208

2010 213

Source:  The Nation's Report Card

County Histories of Iowa

We have county history books for most, if not all, of the counties in Iowa!  Good golly!  The histories live at the Central Library and don't leave the building but they do enjoy visitors.  A few sample titles: 

Biographical and Historical Record of Ringgold and Union Counties.  Two for one!  Actually this is fairly common.   Greene/Carroll, Butler/Bremer, and Chickasaw/Howard are other double-county mashups.  (Mashups!  We're so hip!) 

Then there is the History of Winneshiek county with biographical sketches of its eminent men.  If you were not eminent, or male, I'm guessing the cookies were pretty tough. 

Here's a doozy:  Portrait and biographical album of Henry County, Iowa, containing full page portraits and biographical sketches of prominent and representative citizens of the county, together with portraits and biographies of all the governors of Iowa, and of the presidents of the United States.  Henry County.  Nothing if not inclusive.

Iowa County Histories and Other Interesting Books

Keyboards - Making It Better for You

Wouldn't you just love a little extra oomph in your keyboard?  Say you press a key and you get chocolate.  A key for that, a key to beam me home at the end of the day, a key for money! Now that I think about it, keyboards are kind of pathetic.  Use this generator to make your very own magic key:  Custom Computer Keyboard

Calvin and Hobbes

I miss 'em, I do.  Aside from Stone Soup, Calvin and Hobbes was one of the few comic strips that showed librarians a little respect.  When Calvin calls the library and, using a cheesy French accent, asks for a list of scatological terms the librarian hangs up.  Calvin's take:  "Those librarians are a sharp bunch".   Calvin calls the library asking for books on why girls are so weird.  When the librarian finds no information on the subject Calvin says he 'bets the library just doesn't want anyone to know'.   Nuh-unh!   We do want people to know!    We'll do our darndest to find out!   But what can we do if girls just aren't weird?   At least we have more Calvin and Hobbes books than you can shake a stuffed tiger at. 

Source:  The Days are Just Packed

More Calvin and Hobbes Books

Sadder Than Melted Ice Cream

Oh, the humiliation! Five years ago today Pluto was demoted.  Yes, the planet (ha!) that reminded my generation of a friendly cartoon dog, the food stuff in the mnemonic 'My Very Excellent Mother Just Served Us Nine Pizzas', the little guy who only just became a planet in 1930 ... what was I saying?  Oh yeah. 424 picky astronomers attending the annual International Astronomical Union meeting in Prague voted to demote Pluto to a dwarf planet.  Does that make it Dopey?  At least it would keep it in the family.

Chase's Calendar of Events

American Industry! What Defines 'Food'?

While conducting research by using this book you may run across the heading Food and Kindred Products.  Plus its sub-heading 'Natural, Processed and Imitation Cheese'. Well that explains it - the whole 'cheese food' 'cheese product' mystery.  They could be kindred products, not unlike food but not exactly food either!  As for actual cheese it's been around since about 6000 B.C.  Not just tasty, cheese held up well enough to be a popular take-along for travelers and armies. How well does cheese hold up today?   Well let's find out.  Kraft Foods Inc., the leading cheese producer in the United States, collected $6.8 billion of cheesy revenue in 2009.  Not bad for a category that includes 'Kindred Products'.

Source:  Encyclopedia of American Industries as accessed through Gale Virtual Reference Library DMPL card number and PIN required for access

Man, These Stripes are Hard to Get Off

This is a picture of a Burchelli's Zebra, also known as the plains zebra.  Or, as most of us know it, A Zebra. There's more than one kind of these stripy beasts!  Who knew?  Another one grammatically owned by a person is Grevy's Zebra.  More stripes and they're thinner.  The stripes that is. The animals themselves are bigger.  Grevy's zebras weigh 990 pounds!  Let's call it a ton and get out of their way.  Then there's the mountain zebra with a tan muzzle and a dewlap.  A dewlap.  They've got little flaps on their necks, like a turkey's only way less gross. What the heck is that 'dewing' on a zebra?  Ha!  We try to leave you laughing, folks.  Or groaning?

Source:  Grzimek's animal life encyclopedia.
 Photo Credit: Glenn Franco Simmons

Signpost Up Ahead - The State Fair Zone?

More generator family fun! Kids having trouble finding the garbage they're supposed to take out?  Car keys going missing?  Laundry basket ignored?  Make a reeeeaallly obvious sign and point everybody in the right direction.  Don't make it a swivelly sign though.  That's just asking for trouble.

Directional Street Sign Generator