16 September 25

Happy Birthday, Mom Wilma Wollenweber! To help her celebrate this 96th milestone, she asked me to wear my "library books" tie, which is one of her all-time favorites in my collection (matching one from Dad's wardrobe that now belongs to my sons!).

16 September 24

This is Wilma Wollenweber's official birthday #95! She has always loved this tie covered with books! Happy birthday, Mom!

24 August 22

Around this time in August, 1456, Johannes Gutenberg completed building his "printing press," the first mechanical way to produce identical copies. At least that's the conventional story. Gutenberg used his press to print the Bible, and that achievement spread rapidly through western Europe. So my library-books tie celebrates the wonder of books! The actual history of printing goes back at least 400 years before Gutenberg (1400-1468), apparently originating in China and Korea. "The fantastical idea that Gutenberg alone invented the printing press ignores an entire continent and several centuries of relevant efforts." "Perhaps it should be Choe Yun-ui whose name we remember, not Gutenberg’s."

8 August 21

Jimmy Wales, the founder of Wikipedia, was born in 1966. Due to a quirk in documentation, his birth certificate says 8 August although the natal event occurred just before midnight on 7 August. My library books tie recalls the bygone days when our primary reference tools were hardcover sets of Encyclopedia Britannica or World Book or The Book of Knowledge, with their "annual supplements" to catch up with events and discoveries. Wikipedia's constantly evolving construction through crowdsource editing draws criticism for allowing misinformation, errors and intentional corruption to creep into reputable knowledge. But it is the very best compendium we have for accumulating all the facts of our current world and connecting them to all of history. To do research on a new topic, start with Wikipedia and branch out to the multitude of links you'll find there!

8-9 August 19

Susan Ayer Burberry's birthday is 9 August! She loves books and so she asked me to wear my "library books" tie. We first met Susan in 1986 at Berea United Methodist Church and we have shared many good times ever since. The tie is also very suitable for National Book Lovers' Day, also on 9
August! And in the same vein I will say that my shirt is very well "read."

11 July 18

Today is a special day to think about books and censorship. Thomas Bowdler (1754-1825) was born on this date, and some calendars list today as "Bowdler's Day." He was an English physician, but is most famous for publishing "The Family Shakespeare" in 1807. This was a cleaned-up edition of Shakespeare's plays, "in which nothing is added to the original Text: but those words and expressions are omitted which cannot with propriety be read aloud in a Family." The idea of censoring literature by expurgating (deleting or paraphrasing) “bad language” has come to be called bowdlerization! To celebrate the day you can think about the powerful effects of censorship. You might also de-bowdlerize your own speech by employing some Shakespearean insults!

16-17 September 17

Happy Birthday #88, Wilma Wollenweber! For my tie today, Mom chose my "library books" option, because she loves reading all kinds of books, and because Dad (who died last October) had the very same tie in his collection.

5 July 17

Happy Birthday, Jean Marlow! Her EKU title is Deputy Chief Technology Officer, which means that she tries to keep me and several dozen other people working happily. She seems to spend many hours per week tracking budgets. She explains her choice of my library-books tie for me to wear today this way: “I love reading, and as a child, it was my only window to the world.”

23 April 17

This is "Talk Like Shakespeare Day," honoring 23 April in both 1564 (his birth) and 1616 (his death). There's a Web site at http://www.talklikeshakespeare.org/quiz# that will help uncover one quotation from Shakespeare that matches your personality. Mine came out to be "No more cakes and ale?" from Twelfth Night, Act II, Scene 3. My tie's library books celebrate Shakespeare's works and the enormous volume of commentaries published about them. Personally, I would benefit from learning the wisdom in these words from Polonius (in Hamlet, Act II, Scene 2): ". . . brevity is the soul of wit."

24 May 16

This is Robert Wollenweber's 91st birthday! He has been my wonderful father-in-law for almost 41 years. He chose this tie for today because he loves books -- printed and on his Kindle®! Next year maybe I'll have a tie for one of his other passions -- railroads -- although I would not wear an actual railroad tie.

8 September 15

Today is International Literacy Day, sponsored by UNESCO. Find a book (made of paper or megabytes) and celebrate your own literacy! Find a great organization that combats illiteracy and support it! (For a list of some literacy promoters, see http://www.readingrockets.org/resources_new/c604.)

24 August 14

Around August 24, 1456, Johann Gutenberg completed his original printing press. His invention brought about the modern world of publishing, giving brand new meaning to the ancient words in Ecclesiastes: "Of making many books there is no end . . . "

4 June 13

June is "Audio Book Appreciation Month." I am currently listening to "The Upside of Irrationality: The Unexpected Benefits of Defying Logic at Work and at Home," by Dan Ariely. What are you appreciating, audibly, today?

16 September 12

For her own 83rd birthday today, Wilma Wollenweber (my mother-in-law) chose my "library shelves" tie. She said I should wear it "to honor the books I won't have to hold" now that she is enjoying her new Kindle!

7 February 12

My tie-ful of books honors the 200th birthday of Charles Dickens. Today also marks the birthday of Dom Helder Camara (1909-1999), a bishop of the Catholic Church in Brazil. The Common Prayer Web site provides the following details: "Dom Helder Camara became a bishop of the Catholic Church and one of the twentieth century’s great apostles of nonviolence. After joining a conservative political movement as a young priest, Camara experienced a conversion while ministering among the poor in the favelas of Rio de Janeiro. 'When I fed the poor they called me a saint,' Camara said. 'When I asked why they were poor, they called me a Communist.' Labeled 'the red bishop,' Camara worked tirelessly for democracy and human rights in Brazil, even as he watched friends and fellow priests imprisoned, tortured, and killed. When a hired assassin knocked on the elderly Camara’s door, he was so moved by the sight of the bishop that he blurted out, 'I can’t kill you. You are one of the Lord’s.'"

11 July 11

My "bookshelf" tie honors the birthday of E. B. White (11 July 1899-1 October 1985), writer of Charlotte's Web and Stuart Little, and coauthor of The Elements of Style (with William Strunk). Today also marks the 51st anniversary of the publication of Harper Lee's book To Kill a Mockingbird.

07 February 11

Today marks the birthday of Charles Dickens, Sinclair Lewis, Laura Ingalls Wilder and probably several other famous writers!

01 November 10

November 1 is celebrated annually as National Authors' Day! I have one book to my credit, a minor classic in Internet citation standards. Andrew Harnack and I wrote Online!: A Reference Guide to Using Internet Sources, first published in 1996 by St. Martin's Press. It sold well for seven years, through three editions and several updates.

24 August 10

Johannes Gutenberg completed building his "printing press" around August 24, 1456.

21 October 09

October is:
National Book Month
National Reading Group Month