it's all fun & games

The Mansion of Happiness (1843)

There's nothing like a good game night to get me smiling and laughing with friends or family.  The Library of Congress' Picture This blog recently posted A Look Back at Board Games, which features beautiful images of vintage gameboards (including the one to the left).  The gameboards are part of the Prints and Photograph Division's collections.  If you've never done so, check out loc.gov sometime and browse the vast number of digitized collections available--it's amazing!

dancing with the carts

Samantha Stainburn writes: “What sport demands the precision of synchronized swimming and the book smarts of a librarian? Book cart drills, of course, the choreographed routines performed by librarians and graduate students in library science. The activity was popularized in the mid-2000s by Demco, the book-cart manufacturer, which sponsored a world championship competition at the ALA annual conference for several years. These days, the action is at homecoming parades and state library association conferences.” Watch the Gettysburg College team in 2010 in this video (8:07)...  ALA Direct, Feb. 12; orig. in New York Times, Feb. 7

shutting down by force

Chris Hoffman writes: “Many computer users were trained never to turn their PCs off by pressing the power button on their desktop case. This used to cause problems in the previous millennium, but it’s now perfectly safe to shut down with the power button. This is especially useful on Windows 8, where there’s no obvious power button unless you know to look in the charms bar or the hidden Windows Key + X menu. But there is a power button, and it’s on your PC’s case.” If your PC is taking forever to shut down, try these tips....  ALA Direct, Feb. 2; orig. in How-To Geek, Mar. 1, May 19, 2012; July 8, 2013; Feb. 1; MakeUseOf, Feb. 4