Please dispose of responsibly

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Lioness steals camera

YouTube link.

Pallas cat isn't fond of camera

YouTube link

Unclaimed baggage

Filmed at Christchurch International Airport, New Zealand, on 24th May.


LiveLeak link.

Christchurch Airport Communications manager Monique Oomen has responded to the video by saying the bags had been part of a trial of the new baggage handling system installed at the facility.

"We asked locals to donate any old luggage they no longer wanted, and to fill it with old books or newspaper," Oomen said.

"This luggage was then tagged and used to test the system over a period of weeks. At the end, we decided the bags were not good enough for charity and that they had to go out."

Dog honoured for helping save owner's life

Lassie has nothing on Yogi, a golden retriever credited with saving his owner's life after a serious cycling accident near Lake Travis. On Tuesday, the Humane Society of the United States recognized Yogi as the 2011 Valor Dog of the Year for leading neighbours to where Paul Horton lay paralyzed after flipping off his mountain bike. 58-year-old Horton had taken Yogi along last October as he rode trails near his home on a hill not far from Windy Point. As Horton jumped a kerb on his bike, disaster struck. "I'm sure I've done it 100 times, but this time my front wheel stopped, and I went over the handlebars and landed on my head," Horton said.



He wasn't wearing a helmet, but doctors told him that probably wouldn't have prevented his spinal injuries. Horton was knocked unconscious. When he woke up, he couldn't move and was bleeding from the nose and mouth. Yogi was at his side. For the next 45 minutes, Horton pleaded with the 85-pound dog to go home and get help. Yogi didn't want to leave. Horton couldn't yell, and he was out of sight of passers-by, about 100 feet from a dead-end street. Finally, Yogi headed back to the main road, where Horton's neighbours Bruce and Maggie Tate were walking. The normally mellow dog barked frantically. The Tates knew something was wrong and followed Yogi to Horton. There, Yogi stood protectively by his friend.

"It's pretty amazing that Yogi first stayed with Paul when he needed to, then recognized us and came to get us," Bruce Tate said. "Paul was in desperate shape. He wasn't in a place where there's a lot of traffic." Horton was transported to St. David's Round Rock Medical Center, where doctors determined that his vertebrae had shifted, pinching his spinal cord and paralyzing him from the chest down. They operated to relieve pressure and stabilize his spine. Horton spent four nights there, then moved to St. David's Rehabilitation Hospital, where he stayed for two months. His wife, Shearon, brought Yogi to visit several times. "The dog alerting his neighbour was instrumental in getting him to a hospital and preventing his choking to death or going into shock," said Dr. Juan LaTorre. "He might not have survived if he hadn't been found until the next day."


YouTube link.

"It takes a very unique and special dog to do what Yogi did," said Nicole Paquette, Texas senior state director of the Humane Society. "He obviously has a true bond with Paul, and it just demonstrates how close we are to our companion animals and how much we need them." Yogi, Horton said, acts differently since the accident. "He stays within sight of me in the house. If I change rooms, he changes rooms. If I move over five feet, he moves over five feet," he said. Horton remains paralyzed but has regained some sensation in his abdomen, legs and back. He has limited use of his arms and hands. He's also learned that he has arthritis and leukemia.

Stray dogs allegedly caught and shot in full view of children

Residents in Malaysia who witnessed an alleged open-shooting of stray dogs by the Penang Municipal Council have expressed shock and disgust over the inhumane act. The shooting was said to have been carried out in residential areas and in the midst of children who were walking to a nearby kindergarten.



The residents are now urging the council and the Penang government to review the method used to dispose off the strays because open-shooting could pose a danger to the public. A witness to the incident who wants to be known only as Rowe, said that of late, there were many strays roaming at Sunway Mutiara in Batu Maung but the animals did not cause any harm to anyone.

She said that she saw a few council workers shooting the dogs in her neighbourhood a few days ago, leaving behind “a trail of blood.” “When they arrived, the dogs were sleeping under cars parked outside the houses here. They lured one of the dogs out, wrestled it to the ground and shot it several times in its head despite the dog not behaving aggressively,” she said.



Another resident, who wished to be known as Shu, a homemaker, said her three young children had witnessed the brutal slaying and they were now traumatised by the incident. “What if the bullets had gone astray? The children could have been harmed,” she said.

Offensive historic headstones to be replaced

Supervisors in El Dorado County voted on Tuesday to right a historic wrong by replacing 36 cemetery headstones that the US Army Corps of Engineers labeled with a racist slur in 1954. When the Corps built Folsom Dam on the American River that year, it moved remains from a cemetery in the old Gold Rush town of Negro Hill to a new resting place in El Dorado County. The N-word was stamped into concrete headstones instead of "Negro" to note the anonymous remains had come from the former Negro Hill Cemetery.



But the supervisors' 5-0 vote to allow a privately funded project to replace the headstones at Mormon Island Cemetery stirred debate. African American ministers expressed concern over discussion to include one of the headstones with the epithet in a proposed monument to Negro Hill, a multi-racial community that once thrived with gold seekers, and to acknowledge the graves' removal and the Corps' use of the inflammatory term.

Some supervisors took offence over a suggestion that some of the stones be sent to the Smithsonian or to universities as history of racism in America. Responding to a public records request, the Army Corps of Engineers released documents acknowledging it was responsible for using the N-word when referring to Negro Hill on the grave markers as well as photos, maps and contracts for the 1954 project.


YouTube link.

"We don't know why, when in so many other instances the cemetery was called Negro Hill, the new gravestones and our records used the more offensive word," wrote Corps Lt. Andrew B. Kiger in releasing the documents. Under a proposal before the county, $18,000 in private funds will be raised to pay for granite for headstones to be replaced by the California Prison Industry Authority. Another $5,000 will go to a still-unspecified monument at the site honouring the people of Negro Hill and the anonymous residents now buried at the Mormon Island location.

New Zealand trucker 'blown up like balloon' by air hose

A New Zealand truck driver who fell on a compressed air hose that pierced his buttock has survived being blown up like a balloon. Steven McCormack had fallen between the cab and the trailer of his truck, breaking the air hose. The nozzle pierced his buttock and began pumping air into his body, which expanded dramatically. As he screamed, Mr McCormack's colleagues turned the air off and laid him on his side, saving his life.

The accident happened at Opotiki on the North Island on Saturday. Mr McCormack, who is 48, is still in hospital in the nearest town, Whakatane. He said that doctors had told him they were surprised that his skin had not burst, as the compressed air - pumping into his body at 100lb/sq in - had separated fat from muscle. "I felt the air rush into my body and I felt like it was going to explode from my foot. I was blowing up like a football ... it felt like I had the bends, like in diving. I had no choice but just to lay there, blowing up like a balloon," he said.



He said his skin feels "like a pork roast", hard and crackly on the outside but soft underneath. He credits his colleagues, especially Jason Wenham who lay him on his side, with saving his life. Mr Wenham, Ross Hustler and Robbie Petersen had lifted Mr McCormack off the brass nozzle which was still stuck in his body, and packed ice around his swollen neck until an ambulance arrived.

Doctors inserted a tube into his lungs to drain the fluid and cleared the wound in his buttock using what felt to him like a drill. "That was the most painful part," he said. "It's fair to say he's lucky to be alive, it was a potentially life-threatening situation," a hospital spokeswoman said. Mr McCormack confided that the air was gradually escaping his body in the way that air usually does.

There's a news video here.

Rare white kiwi hatched

The most successful kiwi breeding season in the history of New Zealand’s national wildlife centre has ended on an extraordinary note with the surprise hatching of a white kiwi chick. Hatched on 1 May, the chick was the thirteenth of fourteen kiwis successfully hatched at Pukaha Mount Bruce this breeding season, by far the most successful since 2003 when kiwi were reintroduced into the wild there.



Named Manukura by local iwi Rangitane o Wairarapa, the chick is not an albino but the rare progeny of kiwi that were transferred to Pukaha from Hauturu/Little Barrier Island last year. “As far as we know, this is the first all-white chick to be hatched in captivity,” said Pukaha Mount Bruce Board chairman, Bob Francis. “The kiwi population on Little Barrier Island has birds with white markings and some white kiwi, but this was still a big surprise.” No white kiwi were brought to Pukaha.

The chick is being hand-reared in Pukaha Mount Bruce’s new kiwi nursery, part of a recent $1.4 million upgrade of the nocturnal house. The white chick will then remain in captivity with other chicks at Pukaha for at least four to six months where, subject to its behaviour and welfare, it will be able to be viewed several times a week while being weighed. When it is old enough to protect itself, it could potentially be released into the sanctuary.



However, Department of Conservation (DOC) rangers, who manage the kiwi programme at Pukaha, will ensure the best interests of the bird remain a priority. “A white kiwi might really stand out making it more vulnerable,” said DOC area manager Chris Lester. We want to ensure that as many people as possible get a chance to see it, and that we keep it as safe as possible. We also recognise the need to take everything into account when deciding how best to keep Manukura safe.”

Rat crawling up leg causes woman to flip car

A rat ran up a Saucier woman’s leg while she was driving, causing her to flip her car on Tuesday.

Heather Morgan, 20, was taken to Stone County Hospital with minor injuries, said Mississippi Highway Patrol Master Sgt. Johnny Poulos.

Harrison County Fire Chief Pat Sullivan said Morgan was taking 20 caged rats to a pet store, when one of them got out and “went up her leg, causing her to lose control.” Morgan flipped her 2008 Chevy Cobalt on its side south of West Wortham Road, he said.

Sullivan said fire crews and Harrison County Animal Control officers spent 30-45 minutes capturing the rats. Some were killed in the accident. “Several didn’t make it,” he said.

Dog becomes surrogate mother to liger cubs

Two liger cubs - a cross between a male lion and a female tiger - are being nursed by a dog at a zoo in Weihai, eastern China.



Four cubs were born at the Xixiakou Wildlife Zoo earlier this month but only two survived.

The mother stopped feeding the cubs after a few days so the dog, which had recently had its own puppies, was enlisted to help.


YouTube link.

Zoo spokesman Cong Wen said it was not clear why the tiger had stopped feeding her cubs. But she said that after some initial problems, the pair were feeding well from their canine stepmother.

Severed head of patron saint of genital disease for sale

The severed head of a man said to be the patron saint of genital disease will go on auction in County Meath on Sunday. The skull is allegedly that of St Vitalis of Assisi, an Italian Benedictine monk from the 14th century. It belonged to an Anglo-Irish family from County Louth, and is housed in a Queen Anne case dating from the 17th century. There has been no official verification of the claim.

St Vitalis was born in Umbria, Italy, and is said to have lived an immoral and licentious youth. In an attempt to atone for his early sins, he later undertook pilgrimages to shrines throughout Europe, eventually entering the Benedictine monastery at Subiaco. After leaving the monastery, he lived the remainder of his life as a hermit near Assisi. It is said that he wore only rags and shunned all material wealth, with the exception of a basket which he used to fetch water from a nearby stream.



He died in 1370, and word of his sanctity soon spread due to reports of numerous miracles performed on those with bladder and genital disorders. It is unclear exactly how his head may have ended up in Ireland. Auctioneer Damien Matthews, who is selling the macabre item on Sunday, said that the family think an ancestor brought it back from the grand tour of Europe in the 18th century.

The head sat for many years in the family hall in County Louth, but was recently uncovered in an outhouse. Mr Matthews said that although he couldn't be certain it was the head of a saint: "It's certainly ancient, and it's certainly the head of somebody." The auction takes place at Annesbrook House in Duleek, County Meath, on 29 May at 1500 BST. The head, holy or otherwise, is valued at between 800 and 1,200 euros (between £698 and £1,047).

Police helicopter scrambled to find boy who broke greenhouse window with football

Police have been accused of overreacting after sending a helicopter to hunt a teenager who kicked a football into a greenhouse window. The 15-year-old damaged a neighbour’s pane of glass while playing with friends in the back garden of the Crown pub in Chalgrove, Oxfordshire. But within 30 minutes the helicopter had been sent from another job to “locate the youth” and two police officers attended the scene.

The incident was logged as criminal damage by police officers, who defended the use of the helicopter by claiming it was already in the area. But staff and customers accused the police of a “gross overreaction”. Manager Emma Arnold said she was “gobsmacked” when she saw the police helicopter. She said: “It was a gross overreaction. It was a complete accident when the young lad miskicked the ball and it hit the greenhouse. We always tell the lads to play away from the greenhouse and they were doing that.



“I couldn’t believe it when they sent two officers and the helicopter. Since when did a youngster accidentally kicking a ball into a greenhouse become criminal damage? It is ridiculous.” Pub customer Doug Coles, who lives in the village, said: “It was one of the silliest things I have ever seen. I asked one of the cops why the helicopter was there and he told me not to worry myself. How can this be a crime? The lad responsible was having a kickabout with kids who could only have been about 10 to 12 years old.

“They weren’t aiming at the greenhouse. It clipped his foot, looped over the fence and hit the greenhouse. He couldn’t do that if he tried. Accidents happen in life.” The owner of the greenhouse called police after the incident, at about 5.40pm on May 8. Police said one of the officers on the ground asked the helicopter crew to do a sweep of the area to help find the youngster responsible for the damage. The youth involved has apologised to the owner of the greenhouse and will pay for the damage.

Drink drive ban for man who blamed tub of raspberries for putting him over alcohol limit

A bowling club president who claimed raspberries made him drunk before he went out driving a taxi was banned from the road for 18 months. Thomas Cook blamed a large pot of raspberries for making him more than double the drink drive limit but a sheriff told him his excuse was "incredible". Former Royal Marine Cook said he had been teetotal for 50 years but had unwittingly eaten raspberries which were equivalent to ten pints of beer.

However, Sheriff Lindsay Foulis dismissed Cook's bizarre claim and rejected his special reason for non-disqualification plea at Perth Sheriff Court. He banned Cook, of Whitecraigs Road, Cupar, Fife, and fined him £800. Sheriff Foulis said: "I find it virtually incredible that a man who is almost 70 and has the experience of life of someone that age can effectively consume the equivalent of two bottles of wine or ten pints of beer in an hour and get into a car unaware their ability to drive is affected.



"I would have thought it was most unusual that if your account was correct, then when you were stopped by the police officers nothing was said to them. I find it almost impossible to believe that someone consuming that amount of alcohol from any berry compote would not think 'there's something a bit funny about this'."

19-stone Cook, who told the court he was a tee-total Mormon, said he had not touched alcohol since 1961 and was "shocked" when a breath test showed he was well over double the limit. Cook claimed the only way the alcohol could have got into his system was from a litre and a half tub of raspberries he had eaten shortly before driving his private hire taxi. The 69-year-old former Hibs player said the fruit - weighing a kilo and amounting to roughly 250 berries - must have contained alcohol he was unaware of at the time.

VERY UNHAPPY BOOKSELLERS

This from Booksellers New Zealand The Read:
26 May 2011

Booksellers not over the moon with prize-winning publisher

The euphoria of a great title The Moon & Farmer McPhee - by internationally recognised author Margaret Mahy and illustrator David Elliot - winning the New Zealand Post Children’s Book of the Year Awards on Wednesday, 18 May ended abruptly for many booksellers the following day.


As The Read ran a feature on the surge in sales that accompanies most major prizewinning books, eager booksellers placing their orders were met by the ‘sorry we are out of stock and having to reprint’ advice from publishers Random House New Zealand.
Indications are that the title is unlikely to be available until the first week of July.
These are days of instant gratification – customers might wait a week, but will they wait seven weeks?

“The situation is extremely frustrating, we offer to take orders, but customers want it NOW,” says Children’s Bookshop Christchurch’s Mary Sangster.

“It is really disappointing that this is now the second time the title is out of print since it made the shortlist.”

Booksellers in general are indignant because when a publisher signs an agreement to the book being promoted as an New Zealand Post Children’s Book Award nominee, they undertake to keep stock available.

Booksellers New Zealand’s Lincoln Gould contacted Random House’s Karen Ferns on Monday, 23 May to ascertain when stocks would be available.

Karen replied “As discussed we were in stock at the time of the awards and have since gone out of stock and are currently reprinting in Asia. We expect to airfreight stock to meet the demand.”

“Seriously disappointed,” is how Annemarie Florian of Storytime in Whangarei describes her reaction to discovering the book was out of print.
“Even more so because the publisher that won has given good support to the award and usually looks after its supply chain. This time they dropped the ball.”
Annemarie was carrying good stock of The Moon & Farmer McPhee, but sold all her copies on 19 May (the day after the book's awards win).

“You have only got a short window to capture all the people who want the title following the win. People are excited at the time but in four to five weeks they will forget, and be on to something else.”

Yesterday, 25 May, Karen advised “We are still negotiating hard with the printer to get a better June date for Farmer McPhee.
“The very production values that helped the book win is a factor in slowing down the speed of the reprint. So we haven’t been able to make an announcement yet on when we can get new stock back into stores.”
Today’s update from Karen as The Read is released:

“It is currently looking like late June but we are expecting an update around 2pm to 3pm today when Hong Kong comes back online for a new day.

“So we can’t be more definite. Sales department here has sent out an order form saying 1 July, which I hope would be the worst scenario.”
Booksellers are holding their breath.
This story will be updated on our website as more information comes to hand.

BREAKING NEWS: Bookstores Whitcoulls and Borders have been sold, three months after their parent company REDgroup Retail collapsed under a mountain of debt.

Anne and David Norman, owners of the Farmers department stores and a raft of Australasian jewellery stores, bought the 62 Whitcoulls and five Borders shops from administrator Ferrier Hodgson for an undisclosed sum.
Staff were told of the sale this afternoon, and David Norman said store closures would be avoided ''if at all possible''.

Ian Draper, the former managing director of Whitcoulls and then the REDgroup, would be appointed to run the business.
''Ian has been working with JPL during the due diligence phase of the process and has demonstrated both passion and zeal that we know will be welcomed back by the team at Whitcoulls and Borders,'' Norman said.

Ten Whitcoulls stores at New Zealand airports were sold last month to travel retail specialist LS Travel Retail Pacific.
The stores - five in Auckland, two in Wellington and Christchurch and one in Rotorua - were to be renamed under the new owner's Relay brand.
The Bennetts chain of eight stores located in New Zealand universities was last month bought by an entity owned by private Kiwi investor Geoff Spong.

The Normans own Pascoes, Stewart Dawsons, Prouds, Goldmark and Angus & Coote, plus Farmers - which they bought in 2003 - and Stevens homeware.

Photo Kirk Hargreaves +-The Press

And more from stuff.co.nz

New Zealand Hall of Fame: 50 Remarkable Kiwis

by Maria Gill

illustrated by Bruce Potter
New Holland


Review from NZ Society of Authors Chapbook - Issue 5 , May 2011 



Take a walk down New Zealand’s Hall of Fame ... Many New Zealanders are WORLD famous! From pioneers to musicians, inventors to sports stars – what is it about this small island nation that can produce so many people who lead the world in their chosen fields?
 In this inspiring collection of challenges and triumphs, Maria Gill introduces you to 50 remarkable Kiwis, past and present, to help you discover just what enabled them to succeed.  Maria’s tireless research builds a picture of their lives through personal journal entries, photographs and impressive trophy boards. And their compelling stories are brought to life by Bruce Potter’s striking caricatures and illustrations. For ages 8 to 12.


Maria Gill writes children’s non-fiction often with an environmental message. She has had nine books published, including Save Our Seas and Eco-Rangers Save the Planet with New Holland (as well as another 13 educational books).  Maria has a background in Primary school teaching, has just finished a Graduate Diploma in Journalism and now writes full-time from her lifestyle block in Matakana.

  

Plan for free link to the web

Janine Rankin  - Manawatu  Standard

Manawatu could become the largest free wireless internet area in New Zealand if a proposal by the Chamber of Commerce, backed by Vision Manawatu and Destination Manawatu, is picked up.
Advocate and chamber member Brynn Neilson said Inspire Net has the infrastructure in place to make the plan a reality, and said work could begin as early as next month.
It would provide visitors to the region with free access to email and basic internet services, as well as helping locals keep in touch when they had their laptops away from their home-based connection.
Although Wellington has begun providing free internet access in Lambton Quay, and other centres are also working on similar plans, Mr Neilson said Manawatu could be a leader in the extent of the coverage being offered.
"To be a leading city in the world, we have to be IT literate. It's crucial," he said.
The plan is to pilot the project through most of the city and the Feilding central business district first, extending to cover the whole district later.

Full report here. - the news just keep getting better !

James Beattie work uncovered in Sir Walter Scott's library

A 9,000-word poem by Scottish scholar James Beattie has been discovered in Sir Walter Scott's library in the Scottish Borders.

The ‘Grotesquiad’ is the latest in a series of finds at Abbotsford House during online cataloguing by the Faculty of Advocates.  Scottish literature lecturer Dr Rhona Brown said the discovery was "exhilarating for many reasons", and that it showed the “wealth and worth” of Scott's library.

James Beattie was born in 1735 at Laurencekirk in the north east of Scotland.  The son of a farmer, he became professor of moral philosophy at Aberdeen University and was a strong opponent of slavery.  He is also regarded as a strong influence on William Wordsworth.

The ‘Grotesquiad’, Beattie's poem in four volumes, is gaining increased recognition among literary scholars.  Dr Brown, of the University of Glasgow, said the discovery was an “important milestone” in studies of 18th century Scottish literature. 

From Ibookcollector:

Ibookcollector © is published by Rivendale Press Ltd

Learn letterpress in a day

Hidden away down a battered-up side street in Williamsburg is The Arm: a tiny print studio presided over by letterpress maestro Dan Morris. It started as his own private workspace (housing his ever expanding collection of Vandercook presses) but over the last six years has become a honey-pot for artists and budding printers from all over New York.

"People kept on walking past and poking their heads in to ask if they could try their hand with the printers", he says, "so I decided to open it up for others to use".

Inside The Arm's Type room

I joined a one day beginners course (11-5pm $150) and am now totally and utterly hooked. Designed to teach you the basics of working with these incredible antique machines (surprisingly straight forward by the way: much easier than working my printer at home!) and utilizing various techniques (wood type, metal type, hand cut linoleum etc) you'll come away with enough know-how to return in your own time and work on personal projects (studio time is just $20 an hour). Below are a few of my - very basic - creations. But I had a ridiculous amount of fun making them.

PS. If you are mulling over hand-crafting your own wedding invites, business cards or creating a bespoke poster - this is the place to do it. To find out more about the classes click here.

Poster made with wood type blocks

Letterpressed business cards

The Arm's logo printed using photopolymer plates

Pasifika Writer Awarded Seresin Landfall Residency

Seresin Estate and Otago University Press are delighted to announce poet and fiction writer Serie Barford as the 2011 recipient of the Seresin Landfall Residency.

Barford has been publishing her work since 1985 and first had a short story in Landfall in 1987. After the publication of Tapa Talk, her third book of poetry, she returned to writing short stories and this spring will use the Residency to work on a collection at Waterfall Bay in Marlborough.

Serie Barford says, ‘I’m delighted to be the recipient of the Seresin Landfall Residency.  I’ve so many ideas and I’m grateful for the opportunity to establish creative space in a beautiful location. I’ll forget about the demands of my day job and will immerse myself in storytelling for a while. Fa’afetai tele lava.’

The stories in the collection are based on the concept of ‘teu le va’, the Samoan notion of taking care of relationships within and between the visible and invisible worlds. Her working title is ‘Our Stories are Within Us’, the title of a story published in Niu Voices: Contemporary Fiction 1 (Huia, 2006). This story was also translated for publication in Brèves 91, a French journal devoted to short fiction (Atelier du Gué, 2010). Serie is also a teacher and it is hoped that the opportunity to focus on her writing without interruption at Waterfall Bay will see the completion of this collection.

Michael Seresin says ‘the creative world, in all its manifestations, is a tough one to survive in, let alone thrive. I hope the powerful land & seascape of Waterfall Bay will provide a haven for Serie to find some stimulus to help her undoubted talent as a writer and poet. I love her work and know she is deserving of this award.’

Established in 2009, the Residency provides a New Zealand writer with six weeks’ accommodation in either Tuscany or Marlborough, to progress or complete a significant project. The inaugural Seresin Landfall Residency winner was C.K. Stead, who spent six weeks in Tuscany in 2009 working on his memoir South-west of Eden and other projects. Wystan Curnow. worked in Tuscany in 2010 on his forthcoming book on Colin McCahon. Extracts from his Residency journal appear in Landfall 221, which has just been released. In 2010, the entry criteria for the Residency were revised so that it was targeted to support early to mid-career writers.

Entries for the 2012 Seresin Landfall Residency close on 31 January 2012. Criteria for entry are available on the Otago University Press website, www.otago.ac.nz/press

The Real Me

This what I look like most days. Unshowered. No make up. Bed head. Lounge clothes. The real me un-filtered.

little lion coat

Searching for the prefect present for my little nephew Pablo (who adores all and any kind of dress up) I stumbled on this had-to-be-bought Ferocious Felt Lion Coat (it even has little claws sewn into the cuffs!!).  If I were five-years-old this would rock my world and I'd probably love it so much I'd sleep in it.

You'll find it in Molly Goodhall's Etsy store (along with an adorable teddy bear toddler duffel and other hand-made creations) Ferocious Felt Lion Coat $145

Libraries face growing demand for ebooks, and complicated rules about using them

Publishers are struggling to find a business model that works as popularity soars

 By Janet Steffenhagen, Vancouver Sun May 24, 2011

  

 Chief librarian Sandra Singh wants people to know that ebooks are available at the Vancouver Public Library, although the collection is still somewhat limited. Photograph by: Ian Smith, PNG, Vancouver Sun

The book-lending business at public libraries used to be a simple affair: Buy books, catalogue them, loan them out and keep them in good repair. But that's all changing with the soaring popularity of ebooks.
While libraries try to provide the same seamless service for ebooks as they do for print copies, they are stymied by an array of rules from publishers that dictate which books will be available in electronic form, how long libraries can hold digital rights to those titles and what borrowing restrictions will apply.
That's confusing for patrons who assume libraries have the same control over ebooks as over print copies, and frustrating for librarians.

Some publishers -including two big ones, Simon & Schuster and Macmillan -don't allow any of their electronic titles into libraries, saying they've not yet found a business model that makes financial sense for them and their authors.
Harper Collins, meanwhile, has set a cap of 26 on the number of times its ebooks can be loaned out before the library has to purchase a new licence or forfeit the title.
That's prompted calls for a boycott of Harper Collins and criticisms from those who say the cap is arbitrary and far lower than the number of times a hardcover book can circulate before it's worn out. They fear other publishers may follow suit, punching a hole in library budgets.
These struggles with publishers come at a time when libraries are experiencing surging interest in ebooks.

Read more: http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Libraries+face+growing+demand+ebooks+complicated+rules+about+using+them/4829757/story.html#ixzz1NPBHOh2D

Confession

Confessions you may or may not want to know about:

1) I secretly like living in a mess. You would never guess because every time you come over I power clean, thus my house appears spotless. I can't wait to have a baby so I have an excuse.

2) I am worlds biggest procrastinator. One of the reasons I married Nathan, I need a swift kick in the ass to get me going.

3) I always have laundry baskets full of clean laundry

4) And always have clothes in multiple piles in my bedroom. I habitually do the smell-check.

5) I love being barefoot. Inside and outside. Every day I take Bella for a bike ride, barefoot. It makes me feel more connected to the earth.

6) I don't wash my kitchen counters every day, the granite pattern camouflages it and I love that.

7) I febreeze the trash can instead of taking the trash out.

8) I cut my fingernails twice a week. I do not like them and wish I could remove them permanently if I wouldn't look like an alien. On a side note: I keep my toes perfectly polished and pretty.

9) I think fake nails are disgusting and tacky

10) I pose in the mirror naked every day to see if my body has changed

11) The thirties have brought chin hairs. I hate you chin hairs! You are NOT welcome here!

12) I have never had a bikini wax, and am completely terrified to have one. I plan to schedule one in the next week to get over my fear. For those of you that don't know...I reside in Florida and spend 90% of my summers in a swimsuit.

13) The age a woman is in her prime? I'm thinking its 32 because I feel like a crazy sexed up 17 year old boy. I don't think my husband can keep up. LOL

14) I like attention. A lot of it.

15) I'm a bit vain, but am really hard on myself about how I look.

16) I wish more people would pick on me and give me a hard of time as I give them. Its fun and makes me laugh. (Thanks Jen, you've passed the friend test)

17) I wish I could have one of those crazy laughing fits every single day, they make me feel so good.

18) I wonder if all black people think white people are racist.

19) I wonder if all white people are extra nice to black people to show them they aren't a racist.

20) I am agile and athletic. and I will take you on!

21) I'm also an awkward klutz. I always have a bruise, cut, scrape, or something on my body. I run into walls and tables daily. Yes even when the light is on.

22) I have never watched Oprah. I don't feel like i'm missing out on much.

Ok so that's it. Are you going to un-follow me now? LOL Do we share any oddities?

Ubud Writers & Readers Festival 5-9 October 2011 - an update from the organisers

Thus far we have over 80 writers in the international program, writers from all over the world who will converge with local writers in Ubud from 5 - 9 October to share their stories, words and ideas with each other and our audiences..

One of the guests confirmed for this year's Festival include author Junot Diaz (above). US based Diaz, was born in the Dominican Republic and is the author of Drown and The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao which won the John Sargent Sr. First Novel Prize, the National Book Critics Circle Award, the Anisfield-Wolf Book Award, the Dayton Literary Peace Prize and the 2008 Pulitzer Prize. His fiction has appeared in The New Yorker, African Voices, Best American Short Stories (1996, 1997, 1999, 2000), in Pushcart Prize XXII and in The O'Henry Prize Stories 2009.

Another of our guest writers is Professor Tim Flannery, one of Australia's leading thinkers and writers. An internationally acclaimed scientist, explorer and conservationist, Tim's books include the definitive ecological histories of Australia (The Future Eaters) and North America (The Eternal Frontier). He has published more than 100 peer-reviewed papers.

GREAT NEWS FROM THE CAPITAL - Wellington first for free wi-fi

Wellington will become the first city in New Zealand to provide free wireless internet – wi-fi – across most of its central business district, with a council-run network starting before the Rugby World Cup. 

All internet sites will be accessible with the network but Wellington City Council could block some if problems emerge.
The council will provide $80,000 to establish the network and $216,000 a year to maintain it, but hopes to recover money through sponsorship of its access page.
The network will be available in most of the area from Waitangi Park and Courtenay Place to Westpac Stadium, as well as Cuba St. Tourist spots will be added later, including the zoo and Zealandia. The network is designed for outdoor use at ground level in public places but should work through glass in some areas.
Each free wi-fi session can last up to 30 minutes but users can log on more than once.
The network would be prioritised for web browsing and email traffic to avoid users streaming or downloading large files and disadvantaging others.
Wellington Mayor Celia Wade-Brown said free wi-fi was a "significant step in our city's evolution to a creative digital city".
It will go live in August, shortly before more than 25,000 Rugby World Cup fans start arriving.

Read the full story at The Dom-Post.

Bravo bravo ! Well done Wellington.

AWRF - Michael Connelly - The Lincoln Lawyer

From our roving reporter

Specialist crime fiction journalist Craig Sisterson gave Michael Connelly (photo right - NYT) a warm and generous introduction at this final event of the Auckland Writers & Readers Festival.

Then Michael gave the audience an insight into how he came up with the Mickey Haller character and the behind-the-scenes story of the leap from page to screen. Michael enthused about the film adaptation, particularly the quality of the actors, and the choice of music in the film. He said it was rare for an author to be so enthusiastic about a film adaptation of their own book, so he's been included in a lot of the promotional activity around the film. 

An interesting anecdote which Michael recounted on the book signing table, was that the real-life inspiration for the 'Lincoln lawyer' character, a lawyer who worked from his car, traveling from courthouse to courthouse, actually lived next door to Matthew McConaughey, who played Mickey Haller in the film. Despite being neighbours year ago, they'd never met, until the film's Hollywood premiere.

The film was incredibly enjoyable and very well received by the audience, who queued up enthusiastically after the screening to meet Michael Connelly and get their numerous books signed.  The overwhelming consensus was that Matthew McConaughey played the perfect Mickey Haller, with the right mix of charm, sleaze and cool. Well worth watching when it comes out on DVD on August 3, if you missed the opportunity to see it last night.

Below - Two pics from the night, author signing, and with Craig Sisterson

Amazon Wants You To Know It Has a New Kindle, Too

PublishersLunch

With Kobo and Barnes & Noble having announced actual new models of ereaders, Amazon announced a new offer of their own on Tuesday night. For people who need their "special offers" on the go, now there's a Kindle 3G version priced at $164. Kindle director Jay Marine said in the release that the 3G Special Offers, ready to ship on the day of the announcement, was created "in response to customer requests." Among the forthcoming offers is "$1 for a Kindle book, choose from thousands of books including Water for Elephants and the Hunger Games trilogy."

In other Amazon news, the company said they will open new Kindle  customer support center in Edinburgh this August, creating 500 permanent and 400 temporary jobs.
Reuters

CARMEN CALLIL AND PHILIP ROTH

Nicholas Clee has his say on Book Brunch

Carmen Callil (photo above) was a guest at the Royal Society of Literature Ondaatje Prize dinner on Monday (23 May), and looking rather bruised. She has been given the impression, rather forcefully, that the entire literary establishment disapproves of her resignation from the Man Booker International jury over the decision to award the prize to Philip Roth.

I don't agree with her assessment of Roth's work, but I can see what she's getting at. "It's as though he's sitting on your face," she said of the experience of reading him. It's true: Roth is relentless. He grabs hold of the reader, or perhaps one should say he grabs hold of his subject matter, furiously subjecting it to an intense, bleakly comic anatomization. While I find his writing magnificent, I can see that for others it might induce claustrophobia. I did, I admit, have to abandon Operation Shylock.

Callil's view is of course a supportable one, as is her right on a three-person jury (with Rick Gekoski and Justin Cartwright) to block the giving of a prize to an author she doesn't care for. How could the Booker International have gone to Roth anyway?

A previous example of a three-person jury on which feelings ran high was the 1974 Booker, at which Ion Trewin, AS Byatt and Elizabeth Jane Howard compromised by giving the Prize jointly to Nadine Gordimer and Stanley Middleton. On Monday, the three members of the Ondaatje jury - Ali Smith, Sarah Waters, and Don Paterson - chose their winner unanimously. I asked Waters whether they could have given the Prize to someone to whom one of the jurors had objected. She replied that one or two such authors had come up at the shortlisting stage and had been rejected, on the grounds that they could not win.

Philip Roth is a worthy winner of the Man Booker International Prize. But he should not have won it this year.

Waterstone's necessary for discoverability, says Page

The Bookseller - 25.05.11 | Graeme Neill

The safeguarding of Waterstone's future will secure the midlist of history and science writing, literary fiction and memoir, the m.d. of Faber has said.

Stephen Page, writing in the Guardian, said if the Waterstone's acquisition by Alexander Mamut goes ahead, it would be "tremendous" news for readers and writers. He said: "Despite all the noise about e-books and online marketing, bookshops are still at the heart of creating audiences for books."

Page said as shops close, sales are not matched by the growth of purchases online. "Recently it was claimed that when Borders closed in the UK as many as 46% of its shoppers simply didn't buy books anymore, once the impulse of visiting the shop was absent." He cited BML Bowker data which said UK shoppers make twice as many impulse purchases in physical shops as they do online. He said "discoverability" of new titles was still dependent on physical bookshops, regardless of the work publishers do on digital marketing.

He said: "Clearly, readers are happy to browse for books and e-books online, and Amazon et al do a superb job of serving the online customer. But it's equally clear that online choice can be overwhelming and the lack of 'signposting' problematic—roblems that were easily solved in the traditional comfort of the good bookshop. If that were to diminish quickly, we may jump from Long Tail to Cheshire Cat: the grinning faces of dominant bestsellers, with the larger body of publishing hardly visible."

He said a mixed economy of physical bookshops and digital marketing publishing and shopping was the best solution for the consumer. However, he stressed this would take time as readers change their reading habits and retailers need to strike a balance between online and offline offer.
He said: "The new ownership of Waterstone's should ensure that a breathing space to evolve the model exists, and that publishers and writers have a sizeable high-street partner to work with to make this rich new world flesh. Until last week, there was a real danger that the mid-list would vanish from view and become a ghostly memory: a great loss for our culture and for the pleasure of readers everywhere."

30 Books That Could Be The Next Harry Potter

Pretenders to the Boy Wizard's crown...

By George Wales | May 25th 2011- Total Film

From Artemis Fowl to The Hunger Games, writer names 30 contenders.

Read more: Film features: 30 Books That Could Be The Next Harry Potter | TotalFilm.com

Scottish municipality bans Israeli books

JTA - May 24, 2011

(JTA) -- A Scottish municipality has banned from its libraries books by Israeli authors and that were printed or published in Israel.
The West Dunbartonshire Council, consisting of towns and villages west of Glasgow, ordered new books by Israeli authors to be banned from the council's libraries, according to reports.

The ban reportedly was ordered after last year's raid by Israeli commandoes on a ship attempting to break Israel's blockade on Gaza that led to the death of nine Turkish nationals. The ban followed a decision made 2 1/2 years ago following the Gaza war to boycott goods produced in Israel. According to that law, the council and all its public bodies are forbidden to sell goods that originated from Israel.

A West Dunbartonshire Council spokesman told the UK Express over the weekend that the boycott is not retrospective and that no books have been removed from libraries.
The council told the Express that 10 other councils had agreed to join the boycott.

The Scottish city Dundee also issued a recommendation to boycott goods produced in Israel, but it was set aside after city legal advisers said it was likely illegal under European Union law. The city instead will distribute posters throughout the city asking its residents not to buy Israeli goods and place a special sticker on products that are made in Israel.

"A place that boycotts books is not far from a place that burns them," Israel's ambassador to the U.K., Ron Prosor, told Ynet Tuesday.
European Jewish Congress President Moshe Kantor called the banning of Israeli books and the marking of Israeli products in Scotland "eerily reminiscent of darker times, and perhaps there is a level of hatred that connects them.”
“While those behind the boycott will claim that this is not anti-Semitic, targeting the only Jewish state, a democracy, while ignoring serial human rights-abusing nations tells us that this is indeed anti-Semitic in intent and in effect,” Kantor said in a statement released Tuesday. “This demonstrates how far ‘respectable anti-Semitism’ has come. Clearly it has become acceptable to boycott and discriminate against Jews, as long as there is a thin veneer of anti-Zionism which purportedly covers the hateful act.”
Kantor called on Britain and Scotland to pronounce the boycott illegal.

More than 3 million free e-books online as Google's e-book store grows

The Independent - Tuesday, 24 May 2011

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Within just six months of launching, Google has added over one million titles to its e-book store, Google eBooks, putting its total number of free e-books in excess of 3 million.

"Free ebooks aren’t the only thing on the rise," said Google product manager Abe Murray. "At launch, there were just over 100 independent booksellers selling Google eBooks - now there are more than 250. And while we had just over 5,000 publishers participating when Google eBooks first hit the cloud, we now have more than 7,000 - a 40% increase in half a year."

Readers are voraciously consuming free e-books on line via the Google Books Web Reader, on mobile devices via free applications and on compatible e-readers, said Google.

Downloads of the company’s Google Books apps for iOS, Android and Chrome have exceeded 2.5 million since December.  

Google isn't the only one bringing free e-books to the masses. Sites such as Free-eBooks, FreeBookSpot, Many Books, Scribd, and of course Project Gutenberg offer free, downloadable e-books.

In May online retailer Amazon announced that sales of digital books for its Kindle e-reader had surpassed sales of print books on its websites.

Google will be sharing additional facts and figures about its e-book store at BookExpo America on May 24-26.