National Beer Day

Seriously - I got an email on this today through Mentalfloss

It's even verifiable on the authoritative Wikipedia!

And guess what?  All the snow from last Friday has melted - hallelujah.

I think I'll go celebrate - and have a beer ;-)

Random Tuesday

I found this on the sidewalk outside of Boy-child's high school the other day.

This is my souvenier yarn from Rapid City. A lot of people are bothered by the spelling of the color but I couldn't care less.

And who do you suppose has the rights to Frida's image that they sold to a brewery?

Jackhammer Thursday

It's Thursday and that means Plant Pathology Library. Normally Plant Pathology is a silent cave, particularly in the summer, but this summer we have super-special construction so the silence alternates with jackhammering. Three hours. Every Thursday.

To entertain myself, and with the hope I don't lose my mind, I read American Libraries Direct on Plant Path days, I mean, why not? It's not like I can concentrate on anything.

And before I start, could I just mention that the North Koreans have slam-dunked Hillary Clinton - this just in from the wire services:

North Korea's Foreign Ministry lashing out at Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton in unusually personal terms for "vulgar remarks" that it said demonstrated "she is by no means intelligent."

Right. Consider the source.

And here are this week's favorite tid-bits from the library world:

Who knew that drinking beer could be such a literary endeavor? I usually curl up with a good book when I have a beer in the evening, but this beats all! This in from Brews and Books:

Avery Mephistopheles - Mephostophiles, by Faust.

Rogue Shakespeare Stout - The bard himself, William Shakespeare.

Samuel Adams Old Fezziwig - A Christmas Carol, by Charles Dickens. The Fezziwigs are the owners of the warehouse business Scrooge worked at as a lad.

Baltimore-Washington Beer Works’ The Raven - The Raven, by Edgar Allan Poe. The Raven is brewed in Poe’s native Baltimore, and a nod to the author’s most famous work.

Sweetwater The Grapes of Cask - The Grapes of Wrath, by John Steinbeck

Bad Habits’ The Hops of Wrath - The Grapes of Wrath again, natch.

Mattingly 1984 Golden Ale - 1984, by George Orwell.

Lost Abbey Inferno - Dante’s Inferno.

Grand Rapids A Clockwork Orange and Watch City Clockwork Orange - Both (a cream ale and an orange-flavored wit) are named after Anthony Burgess’ A Clockwork Orange.

Philadelphia Brewing Company Walt Wit - Walt Whitman, transcendentalist and (unfortunately) prohibitionist.

Shipyard Longfellow Winter Ale - Henry W. Longfellow. Fun fact - HWL was born at the current site of the Shipyard Brewery!

Rock Bottom Catcher in the Rye - Catcher in the Rye, by J. D. Salinger.

Bell’s Oberon - A Midsummer Night’s Dream, by William Shakespeare. Oberon (or Auberon) is the King of faeries in Shakespeare’s play.

New Holland’s The Poet - While it isn’t entirely clear from the description, the label for The Poet suggests it is another brew named for Poe’s The Raven.

New Holland’s Mad Hatter - Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, by Lewis Carroll.

O’Hanlon’s Thomas Hardy’s Ale - English author and naturalist Thomas Hardy.

East End Ugly American - Eugene Burdick and William Lederer’s The Ugly American.

Cisco Whale’s Tale Pale Ale - Moby-Dick, by Herman Melville. Though it isn’t obvious (other than the spelling of the word “tale” in the name), the brewery higher-ups have confirmed that the beer is named for Melville’s eponymous whale.

I'll have to get cracking since I've tried very few of the beers listed.

Also, and this is not a joke, did you hear about Kindle erasing the Orwell books? I was never very enthusiastic about Kindle but this will keep me away for a long, long time.

A very long time.

And although I know I'm old and a librarian and I knit and I'm oh-so-boring, I am able to enjoy the wild side vicariously. I can also appreciate creative fund raising. Take a look at this new 18-month calendar of tattooed librarians.

Maybe I should get a tattoo?