Annual In-Service Day for Library Staff

School Districts do it. Companies do it. And Sacramento Public Library does it, too.

All libraries are closed Wednesday, October 8, for annual staff in-service development and training. Why Wednesday? Ah ... well, you see, the library is a 7-day operation. No, not at all branches, but some libraries are open evenings, weekends and Sundays, and Wednesday is one of the few days of the week all staff are working. Telephone services are available seven days a week, except for holidays ... and the annual in-service training day.

Online self-service will still be available: look for books in the catalog, renew items online or by phone at 916-264-2952 or 916-264-2953, research homework topics using our licensed magazine indexes and e-research tools - and we'll see you again in person on Thursday, October 9, during regular hours.

Smeerch's photo used with permission.

RINCON LATINO : "LA PALABRA DEL DíA"

epónimo

"En la Atenas del período preclásico, los principales magistrados eran los arcontes: el arconte rey; el polemarco, jefe del ejército; y el arconte epónimo, jefe de gobierno y magistrado principal. Este último daba su nombre al año en que desempeñaba su gestión. En la actualidad, epónimo se aplica al ‘nombre de una persona o de un lugar que designa un pueblo, una época, una enfermedad, una unidad’.Así, el nombre de Napoleón designa la era napoleónica, el apellido del médico británico James Parkinson es epónimo de la enfermedad de Parkinson, y el del ingeniero escocés James Watt, del vatio o watt.Epónimo proviene del griego eponymos ‘el que da su nombre a algo’, formado por epi ‘sobre’ y onymos ‘nombre’. Esta última voz griega también está presente en palabras castellanas como anónimo, homónimo, sinónimo, seudónimo y otras."

Bring Your Cameras---The Sacramento Ballet is Coming!

Aren't Sundays fabulous?
You don't have to work (unless you're like me, and you actually do have to work), parking is free on the street, and the Central Library offers one great program after another for your viewing pleasure! Last week ArtWorks told folktales, the previous week we enjoyed my storytelling, but while all of these programs were great, there was just something missing from those events...
Costumes.
On Sunday, October 5 th at 2 pm, come to the library to meet characters from The Sacramento Ballet's Alice in Wonderland. Cast members will share the story of their adventures, sign autographs, and pose for pictures. So bring your cameras and don't forget your memory cards!

Walt Disney Drove an Ambulance in the Great War and Timothy Leary was a West Point Cadet...

Really. It happened. Dashiell Hammett, Ernest Hemingway, and Somerset Maugham were also ambulance drivers. The godfather of American Gothic horror, Edgar Allen Poe also walked the long, grey line at West Point. Thomas Ayres' collection of military trivia entitled "Military Miscellany" is a look at war-making through a different lense, one that runs from the heady days of the American Revolution to the dusty allyways of Falluja. Rarely too serious and just plain fascinating, the anecdotes are true insight.

Near the beginning of the American Civil War, Union and Confederate units shared a hospital at Chatanooga. Because the space was behind Union lines, all of the medicine - low in supply - went to the Yankees. For bad wounds, this usually consisted of chloroform and lint, the latter used to keep maggots out of cuts.

On the other hand, the Rebels, were left with nothing. Maggots were left to feed on wounds. Eureka. Curiously enough, Confederate wounds were healing faster than those of the Union. Although far from experts on bacterial infection, the Rebel doctors knew that the maggots were making a considerable difference.

When Union physicians were informed of the find, they remained steadfast, staying with traditional medicines.

Then there's the ghost fleet of July 26, 1942. A fleet of U.S. warships were operated near the Aleutians when their radar picked up large imagery, the inference being that this was a force of Japanese warships heading for the Japanese outpost on Kiska Island. For the next thirty minutes, the U.S. ships fired at the wouldbe enemy. When scout ships were sent out, they found nothing. There was no resolution. Radar officers speculated that it may have been the U.S. radar impulses reflecting off of Alaskan mountain peaks. If this is true, the fleet was actually firing on a reflected image of itself.

Oh, in the class of 1861 at West Point, finishing last in a class of 34 was George A. Custer. Not such a surprise when we look at the history of the Western U.S.

A young Walt Disney as a Red Cross volunteer in France, 1918.

Paul Newman, 1925-2008

Isn’t it funny what you remember when people pass away?

When Bernie Mac died I remembered an early episode of his show. His wife enrolled their niece in a preschool that emphasized strong feminist values, but the little girl refused to go to school in anything other than her ballerina costume while insisting, “I’m a princess!” That same weekend Isaac Hayes passed. I don’t remember Shaft, but recall watching a South Park episode in which his character (Chef) is dressed like Mel Gibson in Braveheart while facing off a turkey, also in blue face paint. And right before these two deaths, George Carlin passed away. But I’m not supposed to speak about him---according to Carlin, after six weeks you can officially remove the deceased from your phone book. (That or puts their info in a file with another deceased person they didn’t get along with in life---you know, to see if maybe they can work things out, LOL.) So when Paul Newman died I realized that I remember him for a movie in which he played a lawyer (The Young Philadelphians and not the better known The Verdict).

I also recalled his visit to the Tonight Show on March 13, 2006. Jay Leno bet him $10 to eat his brand of dog food.

Newman took the bet.

No more waiting in line!

Although this subject has been blogged recently, I wanted to share my exciting experience with all of you. After work on Wednesday evening I decided to grab a book for the light rail ride home. I headed over to the non-fiction section in Central Express (first floor of the Central Library) to see if there were any new titles about Antarctica. What I came across instead is Tori Spelling's new autobiography, sTori Telling. I was so excited because I have been on the waiting list for months and was still sitting at number 53. But because the Express collection is now "non-holdable," anyone can walk into the Central Library, find a hot new title and walk out the doors with it. No more waiting in line for a popular title!

Central Express has lots of wonderful collections, for example, general fiction The lost duke of Wyndham by Julia Quinn; science fiction Saint City sinners by Lilith Saintcrow; mysteries Blood dreams by Kay Hooper; westerns Thunder of eagles by William W. Johnstone; non-fiction The big sort: why the clustering of like-minded America is tearing us apart by Bill Bishop; and, last but not least, travel guides Backpacking California. So what are you waiting for? We're open six days a week, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays until 8 p.m., with free parking on Saturdays. After your visit to Express, you may want to stop by one of the two new restaurants that have opened up across the street from the Library, Fuzio and Table 260.

Will Rap for Food

Has anyone seen this article?

It appears Ed McMahon is turning to rap in order to pay his debts. After seeing him in that suit (though he admittedly looks better in his than the plastic surgeon from Dr. 90210) my first thought was, “Isn’t this one of the signs of the Apocalypse?”

No. It’s a sign of brokenness.

Many of us have been down-on-our-luck-pass-the-ramen-noodles broke at one point in our lives---I believe it’s called the college years. But this is getting ridiculous. First I watch the couple on Oprah trying to wrench sympathy from Suze Orman for getting behind in payments on their 29 (yes, 29) credit cards, and now I have to watch this? But at least Ed McMahon is famous enough to get offered commercials. What will happen to the rest of us non-celebrities? In this economy you’re lucky if you can get a job waiving a sign on a corner while dressed up as a taco. So for those who are in a little hot water yet haven’t come up with a more creative manner in which to sing/rap/chant/yodel F-R-E-E-C-R-E-D-I-T-R-E-P-O-R-T.com, check out our personal finance section.