There’s a popular (and long-lived, since I remember it from my own grade school days) elementary school reading assignment that involves requiring students to read a book from each of the major fiction genres. The drawback, I feel, is that they are the major fiction genres for adult fiction (Realistic Fiction, Fantasy, Mystery, etc.*), not for kid fiction, and they haven’t been changing with the changes in publishing.**

I just found a couple possible books for a fourth grader who needed to read a mystery. The drawback being that mysteries are far more popular with people well out of childhood (and possibly well on their way to 40, as I find myself enjoying mysteries more these days). This may have something to do with children being less interested in books involving horrible murders and police corruption and poisoning and secret hatreds. Seems to frighten them, for some reason. The mysteries available for children almost feel like a different beast. More art theft, for instance.

And why not have kids read kid genres? I think this will teach them that there are different types of books within fiction (at least I hope that’s the purpose of the assignment). How about requiring them to read a book with animals that act like people, a dystopian novel where kids save the day, a school-based comedy, a best friends/worst enemies popularity drama, or a book with Serious Family Issues?

*Thank all that’s holy that they no longer require Westerns, since even adult fiction isn’t publishing more than a handful these days. I also don’t get why Fantasy is so often required while Science Fiction almost never is. Yes, there are fewer F than SF in the children’s section, but there’s some great new kid SF these days.

**The only possible benefit of teaching to tests is that it’s harder to keep using the same assignments for decades on end.

I was pleased to see the NYPD’s name badges were being worn and were readable in coverage of the Wall Street protests. In almost every media photo of protests (especially ones requiring crowd control) in London this year, police name badges were covered or removed entirely. I am sometimes annoyed by working in a nametag job, but now I think I’ll remember that it is a vital part of being accountable to the people you serve. I’ll stand behind my actions.

A patron came in the library for the first time, looking for information on a particular career, including magazine articles. I walked her through the process of getting to our magazine article database and searching for appropriate articles, then the same for our career search databases, then showed her an especially good online sources of information from the federal government, explaining that she could either use the library computers or a home computer, but that she would need to apply for a library card to use the databases outside the library building. I then presented her with a written list of the resources I had explained to her

Her response to this was “So, I didn’t even need to come to the library at all?”

Sigh.

It’s a mug shot from Australia in the ’20s, but it should be an album cover. I think he’d be a singer/songwriter, very thoughtful.

A review of a book by a Buddhist writer finding the ideal (unknowing) spiritual teacher in the woman with Alzheimer’s she cares for made me wonder: is it ethical to gain enlightenment from a spiritual teacher who isn’t aware of or able to consent to teaching you?

Premise: (nearly) every time I provide an email address for an organization to reach me, it is customized for them: if I deal with Ford, they will send me mail at ford@[this domain]. This lets me see who has sold my address on to someone else.
Aside: apparently almost nobody sells email addresses anymore, as virtually all the spam that folks attempt to send me is directed to addresses I foolishly allowed to be published in my naïve youth. As a result, if you want me to get mail and you use my favorite address to reach me, you’d better be on my whitelist.
Story:
Last week (I think it was), I received spam that wanted me to go to what I believe is a malware-infect{ed,ing} site. That spam was sent to an address I had provided to what I believe is a conscientious organization, so I was disappointed that their security had (apparently) been breached.
Today, I received email from that organization stating that one of their email service providers (Epsilon) had had “an unauthorized entry into [their] computer system,” and apologizing for the inconvenience. The break-in has been reported elsewhere. The thing that was missing from the apology was any indication how I might change my email address with them, as I would (barely) rather change my address than just turn off the compromised address. Even an “if you wish to remove your address from our mailing list …” would have been nice (practically de rigueur, for that matter, considering virtually every piece of mail to a list is expected to have information regarding opting out). Also of note: the apology email was sent via Epsilon. I hope the organization got a good rate for it.

A recipe for Orange Juice Surprise:
Shake the orange juice jug to mix the juice, find out that the lid is on less securely than you thought it was. Surprise!

A nifty collection of camera-trap images of wildlife from Smithsonian. How do you know they’re the full unedited collection? Ocelot balls.

A weekly email from a restaurant rating web page tells me about “last minute openings” in reservations. After several months, I suspect that all restaurants have available tables at all times they are open. Because I don’t live in New York.

How you may not use ATT’s Create-a-Code:

You may not use or allow others to use the Service, directly or indirectly through your Device or wireless number, nor upload, distribute, transmit, communicate, link to, publish or access any Content through, using or otherwise in connection with the Service, that: Is a commercial product or service, advertises or promotes a commercial product or service, or allows, solicits, or facilitates the sale or purchase of a product or service.

Kickboxing remains the sport of the future.