I saw a brief segment on the news about a book printing machine at Blackwells in London that will print and bind in only a few minutes. They've added 150,000 books to their stock with no more shelf space because it's all electronic. The Espresso Book machine is shown on the link below. It's one of only 20 such machines in the world and I wondered why we haven't heard of it before. Then I thought perhaps others had heard of it. If you'd like to see it use the link below.

Does anyone know if there's such a machine in the U.S.?

bookshop.blackwell.co.uk/jsp/editorial/browse/espresso.jsp

A friend sent this to me and I can't resist passing it on. It made me smile - hope someone out there enjoys it.



Recently, in a large French city, a poster featuring a young, thin and tan woman appeared in the window of a gym. It said:

THIS SUMMER DO YOU WANT TO BE A MERMAID OR A WHALE?

A middle aged woman, whose physical characteristics did not match those of the woman on the poster, responded publicly to the question posed by the gym.

To Whom It May Concern:

Whales are always surrounded by friends (dolphins, sea lions, curious humans). They have an active sex life, they get pregnant and have adorable baby whales. They have a wonderful time with dolphins stuffing themselves with shrimp. They play and swim in the seas, seeing wonderful places like Patagonia, the Bering Sea and the coral reefs of Polynesia. Whales are wonderful singers and have even recorded CDs. They are incredible creatures and virtually have no predators other than humans. They are loved, protected and admired by almost everyone in the
world.

Mermaids don't exist. If they did exist, they would be lining up outside the offices of Argentinean psychoanalysts due to identity crisis. Fish or human? They don't have a sex life because they kill men who get close to them, not to mention how could they have sex? Therefore, they do not have kids either. And, who wants to get close to a girl who smells like a fish store? The choice is perfectly clear to me;

I want to be a whale.

P.S. We are in an age when media puts into our heads the idea that only skinny people are beautiful, but I prefer to enjoy an ice cream, a good dinner with a man who makes me shiver and a coffee with my friends.

With time we gain weight because we accumulate so much information and wisdom in our heads that when there is no more room it distributes out to the rest of our bodies. So we aren't heavy, we are enormously cultured, educated and happy. Beginning today, when I look at my butt in the mirror I will think, Good gosh, look how smart I am.

I'm reading a great little book called Wicked Plants by Amy Stewart and recommend it to anyone who is interested in plants or spends much time wondering around outdoors looking at unusual vegetation. There's some really startling information in it. She says, for example, that when people bring a new baby home from the hospital they immediately put child proof plugs in the outlets, but don't think about the houseplants. But there are are only 3800 electricity related injuries or deaths in the U.S. annually compared to 68,000 plant related poisonings and deaths. The book is full of short historical tidbits - the plant that killed Lincoln's mother, etc. The writing is first rate and the illustrations are excellent.

I had to go to the strip yesterday and I turned on the right-wing radio station because it broadcasts more information about which streets have road work crews on them than any of the others. I was appalled to hear the topic for the day: whether tax payers should have to pay for Obama's mother-in-law to live in the White House so she can care for the children. (This is because the wife of the President has so many official duties, not because Michelle plans to do a lot of shopping.) Did I miss something? Isn't this the "family values" party? Aren't they supposed to believe children should be cared for by a family member? I mean it's not as if they have to build on an in-law apartment for her. Okay, so it's only one talk show host, and I know they have to try and come up with provocative topics to stimulate phone calls, but this is really over the top.

I had to be on the road early to get a number of things done and I got behind a school bus. I was surprised to see that the school buses wait...and wait...and wait while the kids leisurely stroll from the corner of the block to the middle where the bus stops. Traffic backed up in both directions while the little darlings ambled along toward the bus. Why didn't they hurry? If they were late getting to the bus, why didn't they run? I would have. The answer is that they knew the driver would wait.

Other than the drivers who started honking, does anyone else think this is a bad idea? It's as if we're teaching our children that the world will wait for them? I suppose this particularly bothers me because, as a Human Resources manager, I have had to fire literally hundreds of people over the years because they didn't come to work on time. You probably think this is an exaggeration, but I worked in the field for 35 years. A lot of the places I worked had entry level jobs requiring no more than a high school diploma. Many of these jobs provided quite good pay and benefits and training leading to much better paid positions. The young people who lost their jobs usually sat and looked stunned. They couldn't believe they would get fired just because they didn't get to work on time.

When I was a kid, if you weren't at the bus stop when the bus arrived, you got left behind. No one thought that it was "too harsh" to leave us behind. They thought that it would make us learn to be on time. It was a good lesson. In the adult world, the "bus" doesn't wait.

I think many people opposed to gay marriage believe that homosexuality is like a contagious illness that will spread if it isn’t controlled. This kind of belief is hard to fight because most people won’t admit to thinking it. They hide behind religious positions. But I grew up in rural Ohio and had relatives from Kentucky and Tennessee, and I’ve heard this fear expressed in many different ways. They talk about gay people getting to straight children and “turning” them. And they talk about how if everyone is gay the human race will vanish because there won’t be any more children. I know many of you will scoff and think that no one is dumb enough to believe that kind of thing. But I promise I’m not making this up. I have a brother who actually believes that the “reason” his daughter is a lesbian is because she went to college at Wellsley in Boston and they “got her.”

I bring this up is because most of the discussion about proposition 8 and others like it are based on rational arguments. I am very concerned that these propositions may succeed because not enough is being done to overcome the irrational fears.

Yesterday I saw The Seeker: The Dark Is Rising. I was a little startled by the addition of "The Seeker" to the title - could they have hired Terry Goodkind to write the script? Surely not. I left the theater wondering whether people who hadn't read the book might have enjoyed it. For me, the experience was just such a terrible disappointment. The book is so wonderful! I realize that movies can't put everything in the film that appears in the book and I was prepared for some deletions, but the changes and additions were worse than the parts left out.

Ah, well, I hope she got a lot of money! Here's hoping Phillip Pullman will receive better treatment - at least they haven't changed the title.

This is a test entry.

Has anyone heard anything about this book? I know nothing about it, except I liked the title. Does anyone know anything about it? It's by Christopher Moore and was mentioned in the Boston Globe Book section. He has also written another book titled A Dirty Job. I'm always looking for books for my husband, especially at Christmas. These were in the humor section and said to be "highly recommended."

Hi Everybody! Happy Halloween! So far we've had 2 Harry Potters, 3 Power Rangers, a couple of Princesses and several kids I couldn't identify - clearly I'm not keeping up!

It's good to be back on LJ. I had a great time at OVFF and it was wonderful to see so many of you and to hear such wonderful music.

But shortly after I got back, I ran into an unusual situation at work and I wonder if any of you could shed some light on it. I work for Vanguard - Alamo/National Rental Car Company in Las Vegas. We have a large Hispanic population some of whom are from Cuba. One of our employees came back from a vacation in Cuba dressed entirely in white, including a white hat. He is wearing a lot of beads and carrying a white umbrella. He has asked for an additional month and a half off because he says that as part of a religious commitment he is not allowed to be in the sun and he is not allowed to get wet. Oh, and he has to wear the white outfit.

Since he works outside cleaning cars obviously he can't work during this period. I asked him if there was anyone in our area who could knew about this requirement. I was thinking maybe a professor of comparative religion at the local university. He said most of the employees from Cuba knew about it. Since his English is limited and my Spanish is non-existent, we were talking through a translator. Not very easy. His manager told me that the beads represent the saints, but he's not Catholic.

Has anyone encountered anything like this in their travels? or readings? Our religious accommodation has been limited to a day here or there and I doubt we could stretch it to give someone a month and a half off. But before we turn his request down, I'd like to know as much about it as I can. Thanks.