The most recent 20 comments posted to Making Light by Betsy:

(I skipped the last 80 messages. I hope the discussion on learning to read hasn't died already.)

I used to think I was an early reader, but my mom once told me I wasn't. I grew up with English and Spanish at home, in a Spanish-speaking country, but was sent to a French school. In primary and secondary, half the courses were in French and half in Spanish. We had a lot of French kids (and some Belgians), but most of us had never spoken French before.

In the first two years of school, kindergarden and transition (ages 4 and 5), we learned to read and write in French. Our reading textbooks were Daniel et Valerie books 1 and 2, one book per year. Then in first year of primary school we learned to read and write in Spanish.

Most of my leisure reading was in English, thanks to my grandmother's twice yearly shipment of books. I assume my mother taught me it. We didn't get any formal English instruction until I was 8 (?). That's when my sister and I started going to English grammar classes on Saturdays.

Several years ago, the midwestern convention of morris dancers met in Ann Arbor. At one point, all the groups gathered on the Diag and performed together. Pretty cool.

Is it the "When organists mutiny" one? It's back! Thanks.

And only three years ago, this was considered "wow." Now, it's almost understated.

(Teresa: the Handel's Messiah link is wonky.)

Forgot to mention: the best costumes were a paired Rose and Dalek (ages 11 and 7). (The Dalek kid couldn't wear his costume to school because it was too wide, so he went to school as the Seventh Doctor.)

@10: We got off to an unusually slow start, with our first child around 7 pm (normally the crowds start around 6-ish)

Around here, the local towns set trick or treating times. Here it's 3:30 to 7.

Congratulations on being sprung!

Take care of yourself and get well soon!

I've found wallets twice, both times in my neighborhood (suburbs, not city). The first time, it was right outside the owner's front walk, so that one was easy. I found the second one a few blocks away and I recognized from the photo on the driver's license that it belonged to one of the security guards who patrols that area. I tried to phone the owner but I couldn't find a phone number either in the wallet or online. I could've mailed it to the address on the driver's license but I was worried that perhaps the guard had moved and I didn't want that particular wallet to end up in the wrong hands. See, this wallet was an identify thief's dream wallet: driver's license, credit cards, social security card, security company ID card, gun license, AND birth certificate. I took it to the police station and the dispatcher called me within the hour to say the owner was very relieved it had been found and would it be okay to give my name to the owner (who had asked).

Re my comment at @71: when I said I agreed with the Amazon review, I was referring to the written comments, not with the single star. I would've given it 2, maybe 3.

corgi @66: Last year, I read up on cooking post-storm. Mostly, I looked through books about camping, hiking, RV-ing, bicycle trekking, and such, but I did find a few books specifically about cooking after a storm, two of which I remember pretty well.

The Storm Gourmet: I saw a book review that made it sound good. It looks good, but I didn't think much of it. Too much emphasis on "gourmet," much sneering at canned foods. I agree with S. Barnes' 1-star review of the book at Amazon.

Apocalypse Chow: this one is practical and struck me as much more realistic. IIRC, the recipes were tested on a butane cooker, the kind caterers use for their steam tables. Their website has sample recipes.

(Note: I'm not connected in any way with any of th writers, publishers, etc.)

Speaking of bikes: last year, in Peru, I saw a gardener riding an ordinary bike in traffic, presumably going to his next job. I forget the details (maybe there was a milk crate or somesuch with the rest of his equipment), but somehow he had loaded his pushmower on the rear rack. Me, I would never have thought of it.

I was just reading yesterday about hauling cargo by bike. The link is to an outfit in Iowa that delivers stuff (even furniture) using large bicycle trailers.

chris @ 53

So if a couple of 17-year-olds go skinny dipping and one of them pulls out a digital camera, they're in the same legal category as people who film the rape of 7-year-olds.

In Florida, yes. A 16- and a 17-year old were convicted of producing and possessing kiddie porn because they took pictures of themselves naked. [Details]

paula @ 28

Did you read about this year's Sports Illustrated swimsuit edition? The publisher decided, without notifying them, that the 21,000 paid subscribers identified as libraries or classrooms would not receive that issue this year. (More info at Library Journal and NYT.)

(Last post for the night, honest!)

When I worked in Michigan many years ago, someone called from out of state to ask about bidding on a project at -- here he paused, and I could tell he was debating how to pronounce it and he finally just gave it his best try -- the project at "Salt Stee Maree" (he said with a question mark at the end).

#131 "forward" as a misspelling of "foreword"

While looking for typos in my library catalog, I came upon "foreward." The rule is, if the typo was the cataloger's (for instance, in the summary or subject headings), then we correct the typo. But if it looks as if the error came from the book's title page, then we have to look at the book itself. If the misspelling is in the book's title page, then we don't correct the record but add a [sic] to it.

We found six books with "foreward", including a 1982 Tor.

Ha! I was just thinking about "jejune" a couple of days ago while watching "Jeeves and Wooster" on PBS. Whoever did their closed-captions was obviously working off the soundtrack and not the script. The two more glaring mistakes I can think of right now are: "What a wheeze" became "what a whiz"; and "jejune" became "Georgian."

"The authors have deleted this blog. The content is no longer available."

I'm curious how the new passport rules are going to affect places like the Haskell Free Library (Derby Line, Vermont). The US/Canada border runs right through the reading room. The Opera House (same building) has the audience in the U.S. and the performers in Canada.

See photos at http://jessamyn.info/bday04/index.php?x=11

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