Last Week's Cryptogram Answer

EVEN WITH THE WINDOWS CLOSED, THE SAND STILL MANAGED TO CREEP INTO THE RAILWAY CAR AND FIND ITS WAY INTO THE MOST INCONVENIENT PLACES.

LJLU CPME MEL CPUKBCQ ITBQLK, MEL QXUK QMPTT YXUXVLK MB IALLN PUMB MEL AXPTCXR IXA XUK SPUK PMQ CXR PUMB MEL YBQM PUIBUJLUPLUM NTXILQ.

Theodosia and the Last Pharaoh by R. L. LaFevers

Last Week's Rebus answer

Murder on Sisters' Row a Gaslight Mystery by Victoria Thompson

Halloween Wordsearch

Halloween Words!


A H C Q O T L O W Y M H B S S
Q S D O H C C R T F U W R T C
E O K G B T P R E G A N O A R
T F I C O W A A R F O C O E E
P R L B I P E A J R T O M R A
F U E O H R V B D Y T S S T M
D R M P W E T L S P Z T T Z T
C A L P S E U M A S K U I L S
W T M T K A R Y E M S M C L O
I O O U C I C E S A D E K E H
I N L K F P N A W P W G H B G
E Y E B A L L S P I Y W X R R
T A C K C A L B T E C G K O Q
R M A K E U P C T R P V J O R
E D I R Y A H Y D N A C A D P




BLACKCAT BROOMSTICK CANDY
CAPE CAULDRON COBWEB
COSTUME DOORBELL EYEBALLS
FRIGHT GHOST GRAVESTONE
GYPSY HAYRIDE MAKEUP
MASK OCTOBER PARTY
PUMPKIN SCREAM TREATS
TRICKS WEREWOLF WITCH


Just in case the puzzle got scrambled when I copied and pasted:

Whitinsville High School Band plays an arrangement of Skyrim's Main Theme

I think this high school band making and playing an arrangement from the upcoming game Skyrim is so cool. The music from the Elder Scrolls games is always beyond beautiful and having this small band honor it is such fun.

Once Upon a Time Premier

Once Upon a Time has an entire modern day town enchanted and full of unknowing fairy tale characters. The only people who know this secret are a boy named Henry, the wicked witch mayor of the town, and a doubting bail bondsman named Emma Swan.

The story wends back and forth between the modern day and fairy tale world, showing how things got to be so incredibly odd.

Standout characters are Emma, a tough girl who gave up a baby ten years ago; Snow White, a tragic but flawed princess; The Wicked Witch, who is scarier in her modern day politician's guise than in full witch regalia; and the nasty little character of Rumpelstiltskin, who is glowingly evil in the fairy tale past and in the modern day world.

In the opening, Henry shows up at Emma's door and asks her to come home to Storybrook with him. She obliges reluctantly but after a few rounds with Ms Witch, she decides to stay one week as Henry asks, just to see what things are really like in town.

In the fairy tale world, we see the wicked witch threatening a curse on all, which comes to fruition just as Emma is born to Snow White and Prince Charming.

Next week promises to show just what Snow White did to deserve such hatred from the witch.

The real stories behind the fairy tales will be told as the series plays out.

The weaving of old and new promises to be an interesting way of advancing the story. I am already rooting for Emma to be victorious in "the final battle". She's an underdog with a heroine just beneath the surface.

TVNotes Week of Oct 17

Dancing with the Stars

I was a little relieved to see someone with lesser dancing skills get sent home this week. Although Carson Cressley really worked hard on his dancing skills, he just didn't have what he needed to move forward dancing wise. As the judges are always saying, with ballroom dance, its the whole package that has to be there in order to be good.


Survivor



Silly to send home good competitor Mikayla over good egg Edna, but I think the teams may be getting merge-itis and they're altering their game a bit to take out individual threats who they think may not be loyal after a merge. I've seen it happen too many times where they do this though too early and cause their team to go into a losing streak. Let's hope Mikayla can at least unseat bratty Christine from Redemption Island. I don't think Mikayla will be so brooding and whiny and all around bleh as a Redemptioner.

Person of Interest

Nice episode for Reese who gets to be both a very sympathetic character and a bad ass.

He is always those things, but he was so determined to ease the suffering of the judge who he felt for, and yet he had that old drive the guy in your trunk around in circles to make him dizzy and get him to talk trick up his sleeve. Then he tosses another guy in with him like no problem. He's got subtle torture tricks we can only guess at in his repetoire.

I like how he keeps trying to get in under Finch's skin. The interplay between those two is fun.

Ye Eggs Benedict



Terra Nova

Another weak episode, and they only have 13 episodes and no renewal flag yet. They should have made much stronger storylines, it's just lazy that they did not.

The theme is a little girl from the Sixers comes out of nowhere and wants to join them, she has run away she says. She acts all feral and grubby, but as soon as she is cleaned up a bit she steals something from Mira's old house and tries to get out with it. She makes eyes at Shannon and says wah wah Mira made her do it and Mira would hurt her lil brother Sam...

Of course Shannon cruises right over to the Sixer's area (though nobody knows, wink, where they are) gets beat up, hears a sob story from Mira about the future holding her own daughter hostage (made up is my thought since they were looking a week ago to find a way to get at the new security chief).

Shannon goes back home with Sam and a sort of bond with Mira over family matters...Kinda weak sauce.

First Line Cryptogram for Sat Oct 22

LJLU CPME MEL CPUKBCQ ITBQLK, MEL QXUK QMPTT YXUXVLK MB IALLN PUMB MEL AXPTCXR IXA XUK SPUK PMQ CXR PUMB MEL YBQM PUIBUJLUPLUM NTXILQ.

Book Title Rebus for Saturday October 22

Last Week's Cryptogram Answer

THE WIND COULD BLOW DOWN A FULL-GROWN MAN, BUT IT WAS THE DUST THAT WAS THE WORST.


ZWP QOUC NXITC FTXQ CXQU V BITT-AJXQU GVU, FIZ OZ QVR ZWP CIRZ ZWVZ QVR ZWP QXJRZ.


All the earth, thrown to the sky by Joe R. Lansdale

Last week's Title Rebus Answer

The Edge of the World Terra Incognita Book One by Kevin J. Anderson

Guardian UK: Is Reading on the Loo Bad for You?

It's a great newsday, isn't it? I expected them to mention something about circulation being cut off if reading a real tome in the bathroom, but no, this is a thoughtful write up with a classic bent (as it were). (Must resist making a cartoon to go with this...)

Is reading on the loo bad for you?Filthy habit or blameless bliss? A public health study by Ron Shaoul lifts the lid on toilet reading once and for all

A Well Stocked Reading Room

Library of Congress Teacher's Guide to Primary Sources

It appears the great LC blogs and here's one we librarians can use for all those kids and their papers needing "Primary Sources".

The Library of Congress Teachers Page: Resources for Getting Started with Primary Sources


Click to Enlarge

Momisms and other oddities

I always mean to post these around Mother's Day, but I never get around to it. Time and tide wait for no bozo, so I'll put the ones I have here from all my little scraps of paper.

Mom had a unique view of the world, to say the least.





Scrub before surgery (wash your hands before baking).

He's got a wild hair (usually other drivers but could be anyone who was acting overly aggressively).

Good gummers (one of those ploys to get small children to eat their food).

The hanging kind (droopy women).

I'm no ordinary dummy (she was in fact quite smart and crafty in all ways).

Some people's children...(always her own, when acting badly)

Buy em books and buy em books and all they do is chew the covers (mom's way of saying you're being stoopid)

Taking the chicken route ( in later years she didn't see street signs well and didn't like heavier traffic so she had a set of backroads to take everywhere).

Good enough for who it's for (meaning good enough for you...)

Stroopapeta (one of the words from German or Norwegian she knew, no idea of the spelling..this was someone with messy messy hair, aka me.)

Fight de gout (a concoction of white sauce with brown sugar on bread, meant to fight gout amongst the oldsters. Very sugary and tasty).

Shower, shit and shave (gotten from dad in his army days, I'm sure. Just one of those encouraging get moving phrases moms pick up.)

Don't make a meal of it (eight kids, not always enough food to go around, just take your share)

Don't be a Good Samaritan (Don't go over to a friends house and clean their room...don't ask)

Beauty must suffer (while she cut or combed my unruly hair)

Somebody always knows somebody who knows somebody...(if there was a local grisly murder, one of the kids always knew someone who knew the victim or perp, was her thinking)

She has a mouthful of teeth (people with large, prominent teeth)

Take two, they're small (another way of letting you know you're being a hog, or, it could actually mean a serving was very small in her eyes.)

Down in front! (lots of people watching tv seated on the floor who might be in everyone else's way.)

I just don't live right (when she was discouraged, she felt this was the cause)

I'm just going to buy a cow (hard to keep a supply of milk for eight kids)

When my ship comes in (she had many plots for making money or becoming famous for her arts and crafts.)

The best laid plans of mice and men often go astray (classic stuff to make you feel better when things went poorly)

When one door closes another door opens (I certainly heard this alot from her, there's always some other opportunity ahead).

Everybody and their brother (big crowd)

This too shall pass (thank heavens she was right on this one)

Heard tell ( I heard tell...letting you know she already knew all about something)

Where you born in a barn? (Don't leave the door open)

After me, then you come first (putting you in your proper place, eh?)

One side or a leg off! ( Don't get in mom's way!)

Better than a sharp stick in the eye (accept things as they are)

Make do (with what you have)

We'll see...(no and just stop bugging me)

See, Stew? (You get it? or Just Do it!)

Shaking like a leaf (We Leary's all try to appear calm but sometimes our body betrays us and we shake from the inside out)

Shaking like a dog sh*tting pea seeds (no idea what a pea seed is but this is when you're REALLY shaking inside and out).

Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.

Where there's life, there's hope (sometimes used inspiringly, sometimes snarkily)

See America Accidentally! (getting lost or taking those Chicken Routes will allow you to see America accidentally)

Don't get your shorts in a bind

TV Notes: Last Week's Edition

How time is flying!

Dancing with the Stars

Another snoozer of an episode. Missed most of it. What can I say. I did see pro Tony really being a twit to Chynna who seemed pretty wounded by his jerky behavior. I think she lost confidence in their partnership and it played out on the dance floor. I would have thought people would feel sorry for her, but noooo. Taking out the best dancers seems to be what we're getting this season. It will be sort of a farce to watch the finals with poor dancers stumbling the light fantastic.

Survivor

The world's grossest challenge as the survivors have their hands tied behind their backs and they bite off roasted pig and spit it into a basket to be weighed. Spit. Meat stuck in teeth. Winners get to take their basket home...vomit city!

Cocky Ozzie, who looks like a dream but thinks like a bonehead gets his snuggle mate voted off in a blindside. Elise had no personality and nothing to offer on her own so no loss to the tribe, and a good strategic move orchestrated by villanous Jim.

Person of Interest

Good episode with a nice plot twist and an ending that we can only guess the outcome of. A dedicated doctor becomes the Person of Interest for a sexual predator who uses date rape drugs. As it turns out, she is actually stalking him. Very brave lady, determined to get vengeance at all costs. She had a great plan for ridding the world of her vermin-esque prey.

Terra Nova

Classic sci-fi plot with a remote science station that has fallen to some unknown organism. Can our heroes help figure out the cause and the cure in time?

I think the Malcolm character is becoming a bit too much of a punching bag, they need to give him some dignity.

Hints that the security chief has the hots for Commander Taylor.

At episode's end, Mira, the stylin' leader of the Sixers is revealed to have the ability to communicate with the future and get people sent through and who knows what else.

A Saturday Cryptogram

ZWP QOUC NXITC FTXQ CXQU V BITT-AJXQU GVU, FIZ OZ QVR ZWP CIRZ ZWVZ QVR ZWP QXJRZ.


A new first line of a book cryptogram. Again, dipping into my own fine collection of books.

A Saturday Title Rebus

This title sort of really went to the edges...good luck! I've decided to use my own collection now instead of random books coming across my work desk :)

Cryptogram Answer

The answer to last week's Cryptogram:


CLARA WAS STARTLED BY THE METALLIC CLANK AS THE LOCK ON HER CELL DOOR TURNED.

TWSPS ZSJ JUSPUWNM HR ULN ANUSWWBT TWSEO SJ ULN WYTO YE LNP TNWW MYYP UKPENM.

The Lady of Bolton Hill by Elizabeth Camden

BookNotes: The Enemy and The Dead by Charlie Higson

I read the second book first, something I seem to be doing lately.

The Dead envisions a London that has either killed or turned into child-eating zombie like creatures everyone 16 and over. It starts in a boys school where the plague is new (just a week or so) and kids are fighting off the teachers who have slowly turned from protectors to raging slavering beasts.

The kids decide they have to try to get away from the school, hoping things are better in either the countryside or in London proper. The group splits, and is soon ravaged by younger zombies who overpower them and decimate their numbers. They fall back together under the protection of Greg, a former butcher with a young son who seems to have avoided the plague and who offers them a place on his bus, headed to London.

I thought the wide cast of characters were well drawn, and as they were inevitably picked off one by one, you really felt their loss. No character, no matter how likeable, was safe from being dispatched in a quick or spectacular manner.

If you like post apocalyptic novels, survival stories, or just adventures, you can't go wrong with this page turner.

The first book, The Enemy, which I read next, is a bit slower, characters not as well developed (in fact I had a hard time deciding who I liked and was rooting for quite a ways into the book).

The Enemy takes place about a year after the beginning of the zombie plague. Kids have holed up in a supermarket which they have reinforced, but they must go in an ever widening arc to scavenge for supplies.

On one of these runs they are ambushed by grownups, which is new behavior for these lumbering beasts. Their ranks are decimated, and their leader, who is the most engaging character, is fatally wounded. I think that Arran's getting taken out so soon before all the characters were established was a real flaw in this one. It just left a gap in leadership and someone to root for too early on. Hmmmm.

There are a few characters in The Enemy who are further developed in The Dead. There is a new book out in England in the series called The Fear which we won't get here for, what, a year? I hate those delays.

I suspect and hope in book three that many of our characters will come together in a nice climactic battle. I hate waiting so long for a sequel.

TVNotes: Kind of a Blah Week

Kind of a blah week in the tv trenches.

Dancing With the Stars

I thought everyone danced well this week, gone were the obvious flubs. I couldn't guess who might go but I was surprised when it was Kristin Cavallari. She (was) one of the most promising dancers. I do watch the show to see people gliding effortlessly across the floor looking wondrous. Luckily I am not attached to anyone this season so I don't mind so much seeing someone really good get popped because they lacked personal oompf.

Survivor

Stacey has got to be the grumpiest Survivor ever. I wasn't sorry to see her go at all. She never exibited any of the snuggly mom behavior I hoped for when she started. She was more like a scary "I'm to to whoop you" mom. Glad Christine beat her at Redemption so she can go poof from the show. Sheesh.

Person of Interest

Not a favorite episode, with a theme of returning vets robbing banks to make extra cash. Everyone was pretty unlikeable.
Small glimpse of Reese's old love (whom I had thought was dead) running into him and offering to try again with him.





Terra Nova

I admit I read all the reviews of the episode before watching and I was prepared to hate the episode, but I liked it. The family was much more normal and likeable, even the dad. They toned all the jerkiness out of everyone and it was more what I had hoped for in the first place--colonists dealing with the the incredible environment they were now living in. If they can stay on that path they'll be alright.

Testing a Maze

Click to enlarge

Just fooling around...

Literary Rebus

Cryptogram for the Cryptic

TWSPS ZSJ JUSPUWNM HR ULN ANUSWWBT TWSEO SJ ULN WYTO YE LNP TNWW MYYP UKPENM.

iPad @ the LIbrary

This isn't us! But off to the wilds of Wisconsin with you if you'd like to borrow a loaded iPad:http://mashable.com/2011/09/23/library-ipad/

Incorrect Email Distribution

On September 29th, you received two emails regarding the Star Wars™: The Old Republic™ Game Testing Program. These emails were sent to you by mistake. This was due to an internal error and not the result of hacking or malware. Please be assured that no personal information was compromised. We are sorry for any confusion this may have caused. Please note that receipt of these e-mails does not affect your chances to be invited to test the game at a later date.

Between now and launch, we will be conducting additional large scale Beta Testing Weekends where we will be inviting more people than ever before. Additionally we will be releasing even more information about the game as we gear up for launch in December. If you haven't signed up for game testing yet, you can still do so at www.swtor.com/tester.

Thank you for your understanding,
The Star Wars: The Old Republic team.



....at least they still have my name on file :)

This will be me...

No sub today with two back to back programs for families (and no lunch time for us in sight) and tomorrow afternoon four hours with no sub and just ever punier from chemo me. Somewhere the library gods are laughing...