Boomers take over Facebook! MySpace under threat!

Just imagine if social networking became as popular with the people in my age demographic as it is with the teens and 20-somethings. The Baby Boomers would take over the social sites. Would that be bad? It might be the kiss of death for this kind of thing for the age group these sites were originally aimed at. There are probably quite a few young people who don't like the idea of anyone over, say, 30 joining "their" sites, and just imagining their mom or dad or (gasp) grandma networking and becoming their friends creeps them out.

But, hey, maybe I'm the one with the problem. Am I being age-ist here? Am I imposing my own ambiguous feelings about a)--social networking (a virtual experience) replacing real-life/real-time/face-to-face experiences, and b)--my own discomfort at being thought too old to be hip anymore? In all honesty, I think there's a bit of that going on with me these days which is why the ELL is a good thing even if I don't join up or use every 2.0 tool we're exploring.

Ciao. Barb

LibraryThing and me

Thing 11--LibraryThing--wasn't hard to do. It was, however, one of those things in life where once you get started, it's hard to stop. So many links to click, so many FAQs to read, so many potential ways to spend life on a website [sigh]. Honestly, I have to wonder how 2.0 fans have the time to keep up their own blogs, read all their RSS feeds, up-date their Flickr and YouTube accounts, visit their social sites, check emails (how quaint, email), text, eat and breathe. It's all so, um, virtual. My goodness, this has turned into a bit of a rant. I thinks it's time for me to go offline for a while.

Ciao. Barb

Vive la difference!

In answer to the age-old question "is contra dancing like square dancing?"...I'd have to say yes and no. The calls are similar--allemande, balance & swing, do-si-do, etc.--the patterns are not. There is a caller for contras, but he or she is usually calling a specific dance, whereas many square dance callers wing it, making the dance pattern up as they go. And, a huge difference is that lady contra dancers don't dress in extreme versions of what I call a twirling skirt, there are no ruffled petticoats or poufy sleeves; and the gents don't wear those string ties. I do sometimes wear my cowboy boots, they are just the best for an occasional stomp or two. To muddy the waters a bit, contra groups will throw in a square dance now and then. Here's an example of what was done at Chicago Barn Dance last fall. The goofy turkey hats? Don't ask...please just try to ignore them.



I forgot to mention that the groups that meet regularly in the Chicago area always feature live music and some folks come just for that (entry fee is $6/person). The type of music varies from Old-Time-y, jazzy folk, Celtic, good ol' American country, you name it. Most times there are fiddle, banjo, and guitar players, sometimes base and keyboard.

Hope some of the ELL learners would like to give this a try. It's good for the body, brain, and soul.

Ciao. Barb

Contra dancing--what's that?

I love all kinds of dance, and have taken classes in ballet, modern, jazz, salsa and more for a long, long time. I've been contra dancing for four years now. Many folks aren't quite sure what it is. I usually describe it as like the line dancing you'd see in the movie "Pride and Prejudice" (you know--two lines facing each other, partners weaving in and out in complex patterns, flirting with each other like crazy). So, for the YouTube Thing, I thought it would be fun to show you what contra dancing looks like. There are a couple of places around Chicago where there are regular dance gatherings, so I just entered the search terms "contra dance Chicago," and, sure enough, there they were. One was from a University of Chicago contra dance that I've attended. I clicked play to check it out, and, by golly, there I was center screen!

Anyone interested in a fun, energetic, social evening can join us this coming Monday for the Chicago Barn Dance gathering in Evanston. Visit the site for details
Chicago Barn Dance

The University of Chicago contra gatherings are during the school year on the 1st Saturday of each month. Here's the site with the schedule for the 08/09
U of C. Folk

Ciao. Barb

Books on my nightstand

I often will read two books at the same time, one fiction, one non. One becomes the upstairs book, one the downstairs. Right now I'm reading my bookclub selection, Loving Frank by Nancy Horan, and Tony Horwitz's new book, A Voyage Long and Strange: Rediscovering the New World. Not shown here are all the books waiting for me on the hold shelf at North Branch. I need more time and more reading stamina--if I'm too comfy-cozy, I get all drowsy [sigh].

The photo here is my first attempt at uploading a pic. I did a Flickr one, too (same books, different shot). I am feeling very accomplished right now and have given myself an "atta-girl."

Ciao. Barb

Spell with Flickr--make it work for you

Thanks to Heather for the link to this fun site Spell with Flickr. Here is one possible application:









Ciao. Barb

I'm baaack!

I left, now I'm back. Wordpress was not making me happy, nor did I feel particularly tech savvy floundering around their universe. Too much lingo, too many cute-sy gizmos, way too many steps to accomplish simple tasks. I suppose I could have tried for a private tutorial, but we at EPL are way too busy for that especially since I had sooo many questions.

So, on to my true purpose in blogging (and less griping)...a book on the New Titles table caught my eye, 15,003 Answers: The Ultimate Trivia Encyclopedia, 2nd edition. (031.2 Newma.S) Just imagine how many family arguments could be settled at the Thanksgiving table if you had this handy. Having given it a quick perusal, I found a section with the first lines of famous works. Do you know where these are from?
(Answers below, no peeking.)

"Mr. and Mrs. Dursley, of number four, Privet Drive, were proud to say that they were perfectly normal, thank you very much."

"The great fish moved silently through the night water, propelled by short sweeps of its crescent tail."

"Marley was dead, to begin with."

"Stately, plump Buch Mulligan came from the stairhead bearing a bowl of lather on which a mirror and a razor lay crossed."

"All children except one, grow up."

"In my younger and more vulnerable years my father gave me some advice that I've been turning over in my mind ever since."





Harry Potter and the Sorceror's Stone
Jaws
A Christmas Carol
Ulysses (Not Homer's...Joyce's)
Peter Pan
The Great Gatsby


Hope you had fun.

Ciao. Barb