I have been meaning to post about this every October since I have been putting my mundane thoughts on the web some 15 Halloweens ago. As Halloween nears lots of listicles are coming out now with things to read, watch, wear. eat, and numerous other verbs. Most of them are being generated by Ai scraped out and plopped in your feed like so much pumpkin guts…or brains… When the pumpkin becomes a head the guts become brains…Anywho, this isn’t about pumpkin innards; it’s about a mysterious beast in Scotland (not that one) and a curse.
Continue reading A Long Way from DuckburgAll posts by James M. Burnes, PhD.
A World Away
And a lifetime ago.
Twice.
Posting this today as it’s been 20 years since the return of Beakman’s World (in reruns not new episodes) was announced (or reported, rather) in the New York Times. And that was 14 years after the show originally aired.
Why was it back?
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336th Engineer Combat Battalion
About 30 years ago my grandfather travelled from Texas to Virginia to meet up with an old army buddy from their WWII days. James “Jim” McGrady (pictured on page 93 of the PDF) gave him this photocopied packet from a Battalion reunion held at the Holiday Inn Motel East in Syracuse New York on the 6-8 September 1990. I’ve finally been able to scan that in as a PDF and want to post it here so maybe someone searching something might stumble across it and add to it or take something from it for their own stories.
Mary Anning Die erste Sauier-Expertin der Welt.
While perusing the e-shelves on the Libby app I stumbled upon this little gem called Geo Lino Extra. It’s a German Language magazine for kids 8-14, or at least the main GeoLino is, I am not sure about the Extra one. Always interested in how dinosaurs and paleontology are portrayed for kids I took a dive into Die welt für junge Entdeckerinnen und Entdecker (“The World for Young Explorers”) to see what it had to say about Die erste Saurier-Expertin de Welt (“the World’s first dinosaur expert.”) Even though none of Mary Anning’s finds–marine reptiles, pterosaurs, and invertebrates–were technically dinosaurs.
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Crikey! Twenty Years Gone
My son has an uncanny ability to plan his exhibits around times that make them pertinent beyond the capricious interests of a child his age. Some of the other exhibits he’s curated have all landed in or around thematically appropriate semesters. (e.g. Smurfs’ 65th anniversary and the release of The Garfield Movie). This one is no exception.
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Ben and Me; Me and Ben
Today marks the 320th birthday of America’s favorite statesman, diplomat, scientist, and inventor. Having just missed posting Keaton on his birthday and Darwin on the annIversary of the Beagle sailing (and my new strategy of working across multiple days in drafts and not all at once) I am setting this one down. So here we go, on the correct day and in celebration of an American who has more books about him than he would have candles on his cake.
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Rage Against the Screens!
It’s that time of year again where the most recent purchase of a new and fresh planner, journal, notebook, or calendar will completely change your life. This time things will turn around as soon as you crack open the cover and lace the little attached ribbon across Page One.
Except it won’t.
But it could.
It just needs your help. And attention.
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Darwinning or Dar-Winning
Another installment of my son’s exhibits outside my office. Timely as ever we just finished this one up before the building closes for Christmas break. And as the HMS Beagle set sail with Darwin aboard on December 27, (1831), it’s worth sharing now.
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Watch it, Buster
We chanced across this gem of a book (The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore) a few weeks ago and after reading it–which I highly recommend–we went looking for the award winning short that was mentioned on the sticker.
We found it readily on youtube of all places, and I’ll link it below because it is indeed worth the 15 minutes. Go watch it first. Once you do, the rest of this will might make more sense.
When Quiet Isn’t Peaceful
Welcome to another installment of “a small talk question sends me into a philosophical quandary for days” wherein I try to sort out my thoughts on quiet days and my continuing bafflement with how people think about children.
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