Here are the details: Clickity Click

But on the same day, another edict came from Management: Thou Shall Use Only One Towel Per Shift. Towels were a worker’s constant companion, sort of Swiss Army Towel used to grab hot pans, dry drink spills, swipe up loose spaghetti, etc. The average worker used 8–10 towels a night. The laundry bill was huge. Management was faced with a budget crunch, and that laundry bill was an easy target, the budgetary low-hanging fruit.

The fact that there was no way that the two edicts (Thou Shall Clean and Thou Shall Use One Towel) could co-exist seemed to be lost on Management. How can you clean without towels? How can you cut laundry costs while cleaning well?

When I see the horrible news about library cuts, I’m reminded of the Great Towel Controversy. The Department of Education is spending billions—yes, billions—to raise test scores. Reading ability is the #1 predictor of academic achievement and high test scores. Yet at the same time, libraries are being closed. Book budgets are being cut. Librarians are being furloughed and laid-off. Why? Because libraries budgets are easy targets for short-sighted Bureaucrats.

Over a hundred years ago, Andrew Carnegie, the single greatest capitalist in American history, gave away millions to build public libraries all across the country because he realized that an educated nation is a prosperous nation. The heart of a democracy is its collected knowledge. Our Bureaucrats have forgotten that lesson. Rather than making the hard decisions they were elected to make, they are plucking the low-hanging fruit.

President Obama, Congress, governors, state representative, mayors, and local politicians,  as a teacher, author, parent, and yes, 34% taxpayer, I implore you to make the right call for our children. Cut other spending. Raise a few taxes. Drop one less bomb, fire one less missile, into Pakistan today.  You’re about to make a big mess cutting libraries, and there aren’t enough towels to clean up after you.

And please, feel free to spread the word. Our words are powerful when we lift our voices together.

While I was doing my intrigued reading—the best kind, by the way—I happened over a shoe designed for people who want to go barefoot but can’t. Again, I was intrigued (yes, I know I’m easy that way) and did lots of research on the Vibram Five Fingers shoes.  Lots of people love them. Very few people think they suck, which elevates them above the typical As Seen on TV Product. So I bought a pair, the KSO style. KSO stands for Keep Stuff Out.

Trying on the shoes is an adventure. You put them on the floor and kind of inch your toes into the slots.  The problem for me is the pinkie toe. My left one is basically a useless hunk of meat that does not respond to my commands, so it’s like wriggling something that’s shaped like a question mark into an exclamation mark. I’m hoping it will get easier with practice.  Long term, I’m also hoping that the shoes themselves will do what everyone’s says they will do—change my gait so that it’s more natural, therefore reducing strain on my knees and hips.

After getting home and wiggling into the shoes, I took a quick walk around the block. The first impression: man, I hit the ground hard with my heel. In the minimalistic Five Fingers, the shock of that strike went straight up my leg and into my spine.  Ouch.  It took only a few steps before the shock inspired me to find a less uncomfortable stride. Soon, I found myself moving to a mid-sole step that popped my on my toes as I moved to the next step.  There was no pain associated with the change, except for my lower abs, which weren’t used to being worked on a walk. It’s not quite like going barefoot, but it’s close enough that you feed rocks and sticks if you step on them.

So far today, I’ve worn the Five Fingers both with and without socks (Injinji sells socks perfect for the Vibrams) for a few hours. At the Locusts’ request, I switched to ASICS running shoes when we went out, and the ache in my knees and bunions came right back. So far, so good.

Now if only my pinkie toe would learn to cooperate.

Vibram Five Fingers, new out of the box.

On my feet. Quack. Quack.

What the Locusts, fashionistas that they are, think of the shoes.

Presentations:

For Schools & Libraries

• Author Talk and Q&A sessions– For students who have read his work, David will discuss his journey to publication and answer questions about specific works.
  
• Classroom presentations — Writing is a process, especially for published authors who go through dozens of revisions before a book hits the shelves. David will describe his process of creating a novel, including examples form his notebooks, edited drafts, editorial letters, copyediting, and proofs.
  
• Writing workshops for classes (works best for 10–15 participants) — Using an online board, David leads a workshop on developing a story, creating characters, and writing dialogue.

For Book Clubs:

• If your book club is reading Soul Enchilada or Black Hole Sun, David Would love to join your discussion. His publisher even provides a reading guide!

Audiences:
Grades 8-up
Book Clubs

Available Times:
For schools: 9AM-3PM
For book clubs and libraries: times above, as well as evenings

No recording of Skype Sessions without permission from the author.

No Cost Meet the Author Visit: 15–20 minute Author Q&A for schools and book clubs that have read his work.

In-Depth Visit Length: 45–60 minutes (programs listed above)

In-Depth Visit Cost: $100

Prerequisites: Book clubs and students should read David’s work before the presentations.

Contact Information: thunderchikin AT me DOT com

Affiliations: ALAN, NCTE, SCBWI

My neighbors and I have carbon footprints the size of an overgrown Sasquatch.

I want to live some place else.

I want to live differently.

I want to live in a shipping container home.

Seriously.

They are made of steel. They are bug-proof, low maintenance, and easily to assembly. They are also highly hurricane resistant, a huge bonus for where I live.  They are also relatively cheap, and the port a few miles from my little brick neighborhood has thousands of them on hand. Did I mention that they are the ultimate recyclable home?  combine it with a no-maintenance yard away from the city, and my carbon footprint shrinks to a least a size 10.5 Teva recycled rubber shoe.

Here are some examples of shipping container homes:

Yes, Shipping Container is the life for me. Now, all I have to do is convince my wife.

Banned Books Week is September 27 through October 4

It’s time to celebrate the freedom to read and help increase awareness of censorship issues.   And you can do it all with the attached graphic and by linking to our First Amendment Web site:http://www.randomhouse.com/banned/

We’re asking you to forward this email to five people you know — authors, artists, bloggers, industry contacts, friends, or family —  and ask them to post the graphic to their blog or Web site in support of Banned Books Week. They can also embed this graphic onto their web page, using the code below. For more detailed instructions, visit: http://www.randomhouse.com/teens/firstamendment/resources.html

We also encourage you to check out the newly updated First Amendment site — it’s full of valuable information and interesting thoughts on censorship from some of our authors.

We’re hoping everyone will make this year’s Banned Books Week a time to celebrate the freedom to read — and to remember and remind others never to take that freedom for granted.

The Random House First Amendment Committee
Firstamendment [at] randomhouse [dot] com

This was way before Second Life even had a first life, and although I still have crumbling copy of the paper that I pull out of the filing cabinet one in a blue moon, I never had access to the online article because the NYT had a policy for locking its archives. That policy changed a while ago. The NYT now makes its archives searchable and linkable.

So if you or your loved ones have appeared in the Times since 1851, you can find the article. And if you want to read an eight year old article about a small town professor playing with avatars in a cyber classroom you can.  Happily, the Brownie Harris’ photo of me is not available.