Happy Birthday, Old Man!

On this day in 1899, Ernest Hemingway was born. There's no Google Doodle, sadly. If I was designing one, I'd have Hemingway as the titular old man out fishing. Maybe a few seconds of nothing - and then he'd get a fish, and smile, and be happy, which he probably wasn't very often in real life, but I'd like him to be, anyway.

Hemingway and I share a love for polydactyl (a.k.a. gypsy, six-toed, and Hemingway) cats. I would love to visit the Hemingway Home, mostly to pet the cats. And if anyone wants to get me a Hemingway kitten, that's nifty, too!



Links!

• Libraries, Books, Writers, & Suchlike
• As we (or, at least, I) gear up for Banned Books Week (this year's theme: Young Adult Books!), let's take a look at the most banned and challenged books of 2014. "Well, I'm sure people had good reasons for asking for the books to be banned." 5 Books Banned for the Most Absurd Reasons 
• Speaking of banning books absurdly: Children's books set in Afghanistan, Iraq challenged in Florida schools "Several residents of Duval County, Florida, are protesting the inclusion of two children's books set in Afghanistan and Iraq in the third-grade curriculum of the county's public schools, the Florida Times-Union reports. They argue that 'The Librarian of Basra' and 'Nasreen's Secret School' contain subject matter too heavy for children, and promote 'prayer to someone other than God.'  The two books, both written by Jeanette Winter, are based on true stories. 'The Librarian of Basra' tells the story of a woman who saved books from a library that was later burned down; 'Nasreen's Secret School' is about a girl seeking an education in an area of Afghanistan ruled by the Taliban." Both, in my not-so-humble opinion, are excellent books, and I highly recommend parents get their children to read them. Apparently, Duval County is fond of banning books, though: "[...]almost 300 books have faced banning attempts over the years, including 'Puss in Boots,' 'The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn,' and 'Some Swell Pup' (which was challenged in 1983 'for the pup's proclivity for urination and defecation').  Several books remain banned from the county's public schools, such as Tony Kushner's Pulitzer Prize-winning play 'Angels in America' and Tom Robbins' 'Even Cowgirls Get the Blues.' The list of banned materials also includes Thrasher, a monthly skateboarding magazine." 
• American Psycho pulled from shelves by police in Australia 
• The British Library Puts 1,000,000 Images into the Public Domain, Making Them Free to Reuse & Remix 
• 3D scanning deciphers ancient Hebrew scroll 
• Musical Training Can Accelerate Brain Development And Help With Literacy Skills 
• Net & Tech
• Scientific studies show why everyone should play video games 
• Authority Issues
• Bland's Death Being Treated Like Murder Investigation Related: Sandra Bland and the Long History of Racism in Waller County, Texas 
• International
• Costa Rica Becomes First Latin American Country to Ban Hunting for Sport Hurrah! Also, awesome big cat photos! 
• Confidential Documents: Red Cross Itself May Not Know How Millions Donated for Haiti Were Spent "The group has so far not given details of how it spent the almost $500 million in donations for Haiti." That's an awful lot of money...
• Other (Serious Stuff)
• The U.S. has a serious infrastructure problem, and we apparently don't even know how bad it is. Collapsed I-10 bridge given an A rating just last year "There are 45 bridges on Interstate 10 that have received lower ratings than the bridge that collapsed Sunday near Desert Center. There are also 119 obsolete and 79 structurally deficient bridges in all of Riverside County." Yikes! And, as the article points out, "[...]that's just on the I-10." Related: America: Dangerous Curve Ahead "The most recent grade for our overall infrastructure? A D+." This is not a test we want to fail. 
• More children are in poverty today than before the Great Recession "One out of five American children live in poverty, and we have the Great Recession to blame."
• Trump Doxxes Graham on Live TV He's either an asshat OR an idiot asshat.