Here’s a librarian’s response to a patron’s request to remove Uncle Bobby’s Wedding, a picture book from a young girl’s perspective about her uncle’s marriage to a man, from the children’s collection (or restrict access somehow): Dear Patron… (via sonatine)

ETA: As Jeff notes in the comments, this picture book actually stars guinea pigs! I didn’t know that from reading the linked post above. :P

This news story about a bear with a plastic jar stuck on his head is sad. The bear was shot and killed because he was too close to a festival with lots of people. He had the jar stuck on his head for days and couldn’t drink or eat.

This morning, Mr. Giles accompanied me to the grocery store to pick up a few items. I left him outside the store tied to a fence. Upon exiting the store, I saw a woman with her small, fluffy brown dog walking by Giles. The dog was straining towards Giles and barking yet the woman did not try to steer her dog away. When I got over to Giles, the woman and her dog had crossed to the other side of the fence, but the dog was still pulling towards Giles and barking. As I untethered the Giles, the woman asked, “Is he friendly?” I shook my head.

A block away, Mr. Giles and I were accosted by a beagle named Isabelle who had slipped her collar and come running up to us in wide arcs. I walked Mr. Giles up the lawn of the synagogue to keep Isabelle from running into the street in front of cars. Isabelle’s person came up. “She doesn’t come when I call.” I said Giles is the same way. I called for Isabelle who excitedly came running up to me, a stranger, even though she was completely ignoring the woman. I learned this trick from my friend Cindy who showed it to me once when Giles got away from me and was himself running in circles, dashing dangerously close to the road and busy traffic. The woman and I chatted a bit about our unruly dogs. I mentioned that we prefer to use the buckle collar on Giles because the snap “safety” collars seem too easily unsnapped.

Dogs like to run up to Giles. He is so popular.

From Kyoko Mori’s Stone Field, True Arrow:

Maya is witnessing the wordless bovine quality Jeff laments in his students. “You’ll show them the most amazing things,” he often complains, “and they’ll stare and say nothing. I wish they would talk.”

Oops. I just spent an hour on loldogs.

I’ve been keeping track of books I’ve read (cover to cover, not including the ones I pillage for research purposes) since last summer.

My Roomba battery has died. Even after a full day’s charge, it will only vacuum for about ten minutes before dying. The charge light stays red at all times (it’s supposed to turn green when it’s fully charged, yellow when it’s low). I’m wondering if I should get a new one. The latest ones, according to my brother-in-law, are much more efficient if less fun to watch since they don’t slam into walls and things as much anymore. I’m also wondering if going with the low end “shop vac” called the Dirt Dog would be fine. I haven’t been using the Roomba much the last half year or so because things are so cluttered in the apartment, and it’s been too much work clearing the floor of all my books and stuff. But now that I’ve gotten the clutter under control, it would be nice to be able to vacuum more frequently with the Roomba since there is lots of dust coming in through the windows from the street construction. Hmmm… I’m currently checking the intarwebs for troubleshooting tips on how to resuscitate the battery.

Also, apparently iRobot is piloting a new gadget called the Virtual Visiting Robot.

And, finally, Margaret Cho and lesbian jokes: