Tolkien Jr completes Lord of Rings

Tolkien's last unfinished book has been completed by his son. Begun in 1918 and revised several times, the tale was never completed by Tolkien before his death. Read the article from the Independent. HarperCollins is the publisher and the contents are being "jealously guarded." However, the Tolkien estate has released this synopsis: "The Children of Húrin takes the reader back to a time long before The Lord of the Rings, in an area of Middle-earth that was to be drowned before ever Hobbits appeared, and when the great enemy was still the fallen Vala, Morgoth, and Sauron only his lieutenant. This heroic romance is the tale of the Man, Húrin, who dared to defy Morgoth's force of evil, and his family's tragic destiny, as it follows his son Túrin Turambar's travails through the lost world of Beleriand."

$15,000 Sheet Set?

I must admit that I never gave a thought to what the rich and famous slept on. If I had thought about it I might have figured they slept on the softest, most luxurious sheets that, perhaps, would cost a few hundred dollars (okay, maybe $1,000). Never in my wildest dreams did I think that a company would make and there would be a market for a set of $15,000 sheets. Don't mean to insult anyone but no one in their right mind would waste this much money on a set of sheets.

Wacky Library Rules

Maybe it's me, but tonight when I visited my local library I got really hot under the collar. To use the computerized card catalog I had to enter my million digit library card number. This is a new policy at my local library. Used to be one could simply sit down at a terminal and look up books. No logging in, no big deal. Now, if one doesn't have a library card, one must apply for one or sign up for a guest pass in order to look up a damn book. And ID may be required to get a guest pass! Why in the world can we no longer browse anonymously at our local library? I can access the card catalog from home anonymously and only have to input my library card number if I want to check out a book. I think they've carried their computer security much too far. I ranted at the reference librarian about this new, stupid policy and, of course, she had no justification for the new method except that people were accessing the Internet in other ways at the computers designated to be used for card catalogs. So lock out all other access except for the catalog on a couple or three computers. Surely that's not impossible. It really irks me that people can no longer go into our library and look up books themselves without there being some sort of electronic trail. I wonder if our library system is one of those that would readily turn over patron records to whomever asked for them. Knowing this area and the people who work at the library, I tend to think they might. Sigh...I told the reference librarian we might as well have our library number tattooed on our arms. The first thing she thought of was the "mark of the beast" when I intended fascism to come to her mind. (maybe I'd best reread the prayer I posted on Sunday...)

Prayer for today

Lord, Make us servants of your peace; where there is hate, may we sow love; where there is hurt, may we forgive; where there is strife, may we make one. Where all is doubt, may we sow faith; where all is gloom, may we sow hope; where all is night, may we sow light; where all is tears, may we sow joy. Jesus, our Lord, may we not seek to be consoled, but to console, nor look to understanding hearts, but look for hearts to understand. May we not look for love's return, but seek to love unselfishly, for in our giving we receive, and in forgiving are forgiven. Dying, we live, and are reborn through death's dark night to endless day: Lord, make us servants of your peace, to wake at last in heaven's light.

based on a prayer attributed to St. Francis of Assisi (1182-1226)

Higher Risk of Brain Tumor for Cellphone Users

No good news on the cell phone and cancer front. A group of scientists in Europe conducted a study to investigate the relationship between mobile phone use and risk of glioma cancer. The results of their analyses "do not provide consistent evidence for increased risk of glioma related to the use of mobile phones" for less than 10 years but they found an indication of increased risk for more than 10 years usage. To me, this does not bode well for our young people who often have mobile phones glued to their ears. I haven't read the study completely and don't know whether it addresses the various radiation levels of particular phones but, imho, it makes sense to use a mobile phone with the least amount of radiation. CNET has a good site for finding the radiation output of different cell phones. As you can probably imagine, some of the newest and most cool phones don't have the lowest SAR rating. Hopefully, using the speakerphone option or a headset will help. Good thing kids like to text so much, eh?

Loire Valley Fiction Conference - Ahhhh

If only I could go (and if only I could write- this just might be the place to learn)...there's still space available to attend the University of Memphis writers' conference in the Loire Valley in France. Sixteen students will study in small groups with Richard Bausch, Charles Baxter, Ann Beattie, Bobbie Ann Mason, and Robert Stone. Application deadline April 1, 2007. Hope you can make it!

Books ARE love!

Books are love!
Originally uploaded by janetmck.

Are You a Yankee or a Rebel? Take the test!

This is a fun thing to do! Visit alphaDictionary.com to see. And, after you take part one there's an advanced test you can take. Also at this site is a cool online crossword puzzle. Don't know how often they change the puzzle (perhaps it changes when you complete the one you're working on). It's not the hardest thing in the world, since I was able to do a lot of it, but it is somewhat challenging. Hope y'all have fun!

Refdesk.com

I love Stumbling! Today I ran across the Refdesk.com site. It's got just about everything one could use when looking for something. Just thought I'd pass along the link in case others of you haven't seen this resource yet.