Beautiful and Beautiful!

Two very exciting pieces of news today!

One: Ben Hatke is offering a Jolly Raffle Giveaway Contest for Julia's House for Lost Creatures!

"When Julia and her walking house come to town, she likes everything about her new neighborhood except how quiet it is! So Julia puts a sign up: “Julia’s House for Lost Creatures.” Soon she’s hosting goblins, mermaids, fairies, and even a dragon. Quiet isn’t a problem anymore for Julia…but getting her housemates to behave themselves is!" (Source)

I can't wait to read this book! I'm guessing it'll be a favorite for library storytimes, too - the pictures are gorgeous, and what child wouldn't  love a house full of friendly fairyland creatures?!

If you aren't familiar with Ben Hatke's work, go read some. Now. I recommend starting with the Zita the Spacegirl series. (Although Julia's House might overtake Zita as my favorite; I'll let you know!)

Two: The FCC was forced to extend the deadline for user comments on net neutrality! We overwhelmed the FCC's site, so they're extending the deadline for our comments until Friday. You may or may not have noticed that I talk about net neutrality a lot. Join with Team Internet, higher education and libraries, education experts, Al Franken, me, and hundreds of thousands of other citizens - help save net neutrality!

Links!

• Libraries, Books, & Authors
• Zoia Horn, library icon, dies at 96 She was an amazing woman, a stellar example for librarians. "'She lived what she believed,' said Barbara Jones, director of the Office for Intellectual Freedom. 'She didn’t just talk about intellectual freedom and the freedom to read. She was on the front lines her whole career. She was an idol to many, many librarians.'" 
• Libraries Are Not a “Netflix” for Books 
• IMLS grant to OCLC for early learning efforts in public libraries 
• Beachfront Libraries Are Pretty Much The Best Idea Ever 
• A Game as Literary Tutorial : Dungeons & Dragons Has Influenced a Generation of Writers
• Net Neutrality Offensive  
• Things You Didn't Know About Dickens's London 
• Net & Tech
• The Post-Privacy Era 
• Google's Growing Silence on Saving Open Internet Leaves Fight to Startups 
• I have a new tech crush: The Man Who’ll Stop at Nothing to Bring Free Internet to the World 
• 'Hidden From Google' lists pages blocked by search engine Related: Hidden From Google - "A list of search results omitted, erased, or censored due to the 'Right to be forgotten'" Once it's online, it's hard to get rid of it. 
• German probe turns to typewriters to avoid NSA 
• NSA: Releasing Snowden Emails Would Violate His Privacy And we all know the NSA is desperately concerned about protecting personal privacy. 
• Comcast Demands An Explanation Before Agreeing To Cancel Your Account 
• Copyright Lawyers Prime The Pump For The Return Of SOPA 
• Fair Use Continues To Pay The Price For YouTube's Direct Takedown Deal With Universal Music Group 
• LAPD Exposes Login To Data Harvesting Software During Interview With CNN Hahahaouchhahaouch...
• Science
• Do We Choose Our Friends Because They Share Our Genes? Just like family, huh?
• New Super Black Material Absorbs 99.965% Of Light 
• To Make Children Healthier, A Doctor Prescribes A Trip To The Park 
• Kentucky Republican angrily doubles down on his Mars conspiracy theory It hurts, guys...it really hurts...
• Other
• Who Needs a Liberal Education?  
• In Desegregation Case, Judge Blasts School Officials and Justice Department
• Why we need paid leave for all (including dads) 
• Religious post: ‘Christian humanist’ Daniel Taylor on freeing your inner atheist An interesting viewpoint.
• Cat Islands New vacation idea... 
• Bobby Jindal leases state parking garage for $2M 
• Dick Cheney: Spend More On Defense, Not On Roads Or Food Stamps 
• The real danger of toy guns 
• Poor Sanitation in India May Afflict Well-Fed Children With Malnutrition