OK Go Visits Sesame Street

OK Go teaches Sesame Street viewers "Three Primary Colors":

I love it when artists pop by for a visit. Remember when Feist taught counting? Or when REM showed up to dance with monsters? How about last month when John Krasinski dropped by to explain "Soggy"?

Grace's Bookshelf for Ages 2 - 3

Grace is turning three today!

In honor of her birthday, I want to share with you some of her favorite books.  As we shared last year, we believe reading to children is tremendously important.

1. The Jesus Storybook Bible by Sally Lloyd-Jones

2. You Can't Move a Hippo by Michael Catchpool

3. Where's My Teddy? by Jez Alborough

4. It's Time to Sleep My Love by Nancy Tillman

5. Harry the Dirty Dog by Gene Zion

6. One Lost Sheep by Rhonda Gowler Greene

7. The Big Yawn by Keith Faulkner

8. Over in the Meadow by Little Golden Books

9. The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle

10. Llama, Llama Mad at Momma by Anna Dewdney

Friday Find: Marcella Tote

Marcella Tote, Z Gallerie, $59.95

(See the previous feature on the matching tray!)

Todd Oldham Art Supplies

Coming in May to a Target near you...Todd Oldham's Kid Made Modern Art Supplies!

At Last

Etta James with "At Last" at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Induction, 1993:

Friday Find: Aliso Pillow

Aliso 18" Pillow, Crate & Barrel, $39.95

End Piracy, Not Liberty

Many major internet sites went dark today to protest two controversial bills soon up for a vote in the United States legislature. The Protect IP Act (PIPA) (IP = Intellectual Property) in the Senate and the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) in the house.  These two poorly worded bills are a futile attempt to crack down on piracy on the web in the US.  Instead, the bills will force censorship on websites from Google & Wikipedia all the way down to this little blog.

If the legislation passes, it will ruin social sites.  Can you imagine a world without Twitter, Google, Facebook and YouTube?  There is no way that all these sites can successfully police their content 24/7. We will be forced into a world without free knowledge.

Google joined in the protest by blacking out its logo.  The internet giant summarized the issue well on its informational page:

"Tell Congress: Don’t censor the Web. Fighting online piracy is important. The most effective way to shut down pirate websites is through targeted legislation that cuts off their funding. There’s no need to make American social networks, blogs and search engines censor the Internet or undermine the existing laws that have enabled the Web to thrive, creating millions of U.S. jobs. Too much is at stake – please vote NO on PIPA and SOPA."

You can find a literal ton of information on these two bills.  Here are just a few links to get you started:

• Wikipedia's Informational Page
• Google's Informational Page
• SOPA Strike
• 1st Web Designer's "How SOPA/PIPA Can Affect You"
• PC Magazine's Top 5 Objections to SOP, PIPA
• American Censorship
• A Technical Examination of SOPA and PROTECT IP

Goodbye, OLTL

Friday Find: Diamond Links Bath Mat

Diamond Links Bath Mat, West Elm, $29

See, You SHOULD Be Afraid of Spiders

Friday Find: Rutbo Pendant Lamp

Rutbo Pendant Lamp, Ikea, $39.99

Joy

My word for the new year is Joy.  I struggle with maintaining a positive attitude, especially lately.  My focus has been on negative things and I have neglected living joyfully - grateful for the many blessings that I have.  This year I want to focus on the positive.  Living joyfully.

***

"But let all those that put their trust in thee rejoice: let them ever shout for joy, because thou defendest them: let them also that love thy name be joyful in thee."
-- Psalm 5:10-12

"When I dwell on the goodness God has expressed towards me, my heart rises up like an artesian well, my eyes gush forth joy that waters my face and leaves the observer in wonder."
-- Gary Amirault

"If we try hard to bring happiness to others, we cannot stop it from coming to us also. To get joy, we must give it, and to keep joy, we must scatter it."
--John Templeton

"Joy does not simply happen to us. We have to choose joy and keep choosing it every day."
-- Henri Nouwen

"Service which is rendered without joy helps neither the servant nor the served. But all other pleasures and possessions pale into nothingness before service which is rendered in a spirit of joy."
-- Mohandas Gandhi

"Joy is a net of love by which you can catch souls."
-- Mother Teresa

"There is something terribly morbid in the modern sympathy with pain. One should sympathise with the colour, the beauty, the joy of life. The less said about life's sores the better."
-- Oscar Wilde

"There are those who give with joy, and that joy is their reward."
-- Khalil Gibran

"If my world were to cave in tomorrow, I would look back on all the pleasures, excitements and worthwhilenesses I have been lucky enough to have had. Not the sadness, not my miscarriages or my father leaving home, but the joy of everything else. It will have been enough."
-- Audrey Hepburn

"Whoever renders service to many puts himself in line for greatness - great wealth, great return, great satisfaction, great reputation, and great joy."
-- Jim Rohn

"Find ecstasy in life; the mere sense of living is joy enough."
-- Emily Dickinson

"Joy is what happens to us when we allow ourselves to recognize how good things really are."
-- Marianne Williamson

"...joy runs deeper than despair."
-- Corrie ten Boom

"To have joy one must share it. Happiness was born a twin."
-- Lord Byron

"Sometimes your joy is the source of your smile, but sometimes your smile can be the source of your joy."
-- Thich Nhat Hanh

"It is the supreme art of the teacher to awaken joy in creative expression and knowledge".
-- Albert Einstein

Book Releases: January 2012

Releasing this month:

• Clark, Mary Jane - The Look of Love (Piper Donovan). (1/17)
• Crais, Robert - Taken. (1/24)
• Evanovich, Janet - Love in a Nutshell. (1/3)
• George, Elizabeth - Believing the Lie (Inspector Lynley, Book 16). (1/10)
• Goldberg, Lee - Mr. Monk on Patrol (Monk, 13). (1/3)
• Green, John - The Fault in Our Stars. (1/10)
• Higgins, Jack - A Devil is Waiting (Sean Dillon, Book 19). (1/3)
• Hyzy, Julie - Affairs of Steak (White House Chef Mystery, Book 5). (1/3)
• Kellerman, Faye - Gun Games (Peter Decker & Rina Lazarus, Book 20) (1/3/2012). (1/3)
• Kuzneski, Chris - The Secret Crown. (1/12)
• Lescroart, John - The Hunter. (1/3)
• O'Connell, Carol - The Chalk Girl (Mallory). (1/17)
• Paretsky, Sara - Breakdown (V.I. Warshawski, Book 15). (1/3)
• Parker, T Jefferson- The Jaguar (Charlie Hood, Book 5). (1/10)
• Patterson, James - #1 Suspect (Private, Book 2). (1/2)
• Preston, Douglas & Lincoln Child - Gideon's Corpse (Gideon, Book 2). (1/10)
• Reilly, Matthew - Scarecrow Returns. (1/3)
• Taylor, Brad - All Necessary Force (Pike Logan). (1/17)
• Todd, Charles - The Confession (Inspector Ian Rutledge, Book 14). (1/3)

2012