By: Heather Saunders,
on 8/23/2016
Record-breaking mobile app Pokémon Go has been downloaded over 75 million times worldwide, a number set only to increase as the game is released in more territories. What five common crimes have police officers had to attend to as a result of this craze taking off?
The post Five crimes being committed by Pokémon Go players appeared first on OUPblog.
Kerfuffle Series: Aldo Zelnick Comic Novels Written by Karla Oceanak Illustrated by Kendra Spanjer Bailiwick Press 9/15/2015 978-1-934649-53-4 160 pages Age 8—12 . “HEAR YE, HEAR YE!” “The Dana Elementary 5th grade Medieval Faire approacheth! We get to dress like knights and kings and damsels, plus play games, drink from gold …
By: Jerry Beck,
on 2/23/2015
What do you do when one of China's largest TV broadcasters rips off your student film?
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By: Mary Lee,
on 4/7/2012
By: Jessamyn West,
on 9/25/2011
“I’m afraid my burning passion overrode my conscience. It may appear selfish, but I felt the books had been abandoned. They were covered with dust and pigeon droppings and I felt no one consulted them any more. There was also the thrill of adventure – I was very scared of being found out.”
Book thief explains why he stole 1,100 ancient books in a hidden room in a monestary library. The theft and the sentencing happened several years ago but just popped on to my radar and resulted in my finding another neat source of library/security information, the library theft category fo the Museum Security Network blog. Current posts are password protected but they become available after a while. Here is their post on what drives people to steal precious books.
Details of the secret room didn’t make the major media, but can be found in this Masters thesis on bibliokleptomania
“While some structural details are uncertain, many accounts agree on certain aspects of Gosse’s methods. The journey inside required him to scale a sheer exterior wall, which led to an attic workshop, which is now part of the hotel. From there, he followed a disused corridor to the next building. At the end of the corridor, he climbed down a very old rope ladder to a small sealed room. By pushing on a portion of the wall, he discovered that a bookcase inside the next room gave way. He then found himself standing inside the library.”
[via]
I’ve recently been going through the UK’s daily papers and finding one or two weird news items and giving you links to them but I’m now finding myself in a position where I can’t keep up with the weird and wonderful so I’m trying a change of tack and just give you a brief rundown of what I found intriguing or amusing!
Here’s my top four for today.
Image by Jim Linwood via Flickr
I was checking out the Daily Telegraph and came across something particularly odd. It seems that, in order to try and keep swine ‘flu at bay in H M Prison The Verne in Dorset, the governor sanctioned the purchase of a goodly supply of anti-bacterial hand gel. As soon as it was distributed amongst the prisoners apparently one of the inmates decided it’d be a good idea to drink it rather than shove it on his hands. I’m not sure how much the prisoner actually drank but he became a tad tiddly and started a fight. Before anyone knew it, there was a full blown behind bars brawl. Oddly enough, the staff at the prison took away what remained of the hand gel, presumably considering it would be easier to deal with a swine ‘flu epidemic than an alcohol poison one!
It just begs the question, who was the prisoner who actually tried the hand gel in the first place? I’m just wondering what I’ve got under the kitchen sink that I could try? How about a Mr Muscle Margarita for starters?
The second news item that interested me was again from the Daily Telegraph. It gave details of some of the strangest items that had been taken from hotel rooms. Amongst those that caught my eye were a marble fireplace; a whole room – the contents were completely stripped; a mounted boar’s head; a hotel owner’s dog; a grand piano and a selection of sex toys.
Once again, my brain went into overdrive, particularly when it came to the sex toys. I can’t imagine even using sex toys provided by a hotel let alone stealing them – you don’t know where they’ve been!!
Image via Wikipedia
My next story which was reported in several papers, relates to a tortoise that was found walking along the M25 motorway (freeway). Thankfully, for once, most of the drivers were obviously keeping their eyes on the road and the tortoise was rescued by a tortoise loving driver who, having taken a little detour to the supermarket to pick up some lettuce and tomatoes for the traumatised turtle and then took him for a check up at the local vet where it was discovered that he was chipped so hopefully owners and family pet will soon be reunited.
Quite what the tortoise was doing on the M25 I have no idea. Maybe, like many travellers before him, he couldn’t find the right junction off the circular motorway to reach home or another alternative could be that he’d been visiting The Verne Prison and had a drop too much of anti-bacterial hand gel!!!
And finally, what would you expect a badger to eat? I’d always considered they spent their evenings rummaging around the woodlands looking out grubs, insects, worms and the odd mouse or two but it seems it’s now been discovered that the latest badger delicacy is hedgehog. How can a badger who normally eats small and relatively ’smooth’ food cope with the prickles? What motivates a badger to even consider tackling a hedgehog. Maybe their lives are so mundane that they decided they wanted more of a challenge. It’s a mystery to me but I’m sure that some night wildlife watcher will come up with a bit of video footage to enlighten me!
I’ve recently been going through the UK’s daily papers and finding one or two weird news items and giving you links to them but I’m now finding myself in a position where I can’t keep up with the weird and wonderful so I’m trying a change of tack and just give you a brief rundown of what I found intriguing or amusing!
Here’s my top four for today.
Image by Jim Linwood via Flickr
I was checking out the Daily Telegraph and came across something particularly odd. It seems that, in order to try and keep swine ‘flu at bay in H M Prison The Verne in Dorset, the governor sanctioned the purchase of a goodly supply of anti-bacterial hand gel. As soon as it was distributed amongst the prisoners apparently one of the inmates decided it’d be a good idea to drink it rather than shove it on his hands. I’m not sure how much the prisoner actually drank but he became a tad tiddly and started a fight. Before anyone knew it, there was a full blown behind bars brawl. Oddly enough, the staff at the prison took away what remained of the hand gel, presumably considering it would be easier to deal with a swine ‘flu epidemic than an alcohol poison one!
It just begs the question, who was the prisoner who actually tried the hand gel in the first place? I’m just wondering what I’ve got under the kitchen sink that I could try? How about a Mr Muscle Margarita for starters?
The second news item that interested me was again from the Daily Telegraph. It gave details of some of the strangest items that had been taken from hotel rooms. Amongst those that caught my eye were a marble fireplace; a whole room – the contents were completely stripped; a mounted boar’s head; a hotel owner’s dog; a grand piano and a selection of sex toys.
Once again, my brain went into overdrive, particularly when it came to the sex toys. I can’t imagine even using sex toys provided by a hotel let alone stealing them – you don’t know where they’ve been!!
Image via Wikipedia
My next story which was reported in several papers, relates to a tortoise that was found walking along the M25 motorway (freeway). Thankfully, for once, most of the drivers were obviously keeping their eyes on the road and the tortoise was rescued by a tortoise loving driver who, having taken a little detour to the supermarket to pick up some lettuce and tomatoes for the traumatised turtle and then took him for a check up at the local vet where it was discovered that he was chipped so hopefully owners and family pet will soon be reunited.
Quite what the tortoise was doing on the M25 I have no idea. Maybe, like many travellers before him, he couldn’t find the right junction off the circular motorway to reach home or another alternative could be that he’d been visiting The Verne Prison and had a drop too much of anti-bacterial hand gel!!!
And finally, what would you expect a badger to eat? I’d always considered they spent their evenings rummaging around the woodlands looking out grubs, insects, worms and the odd mouse or two but it seems it’s now been discovered that the latest badger delicacy is hedgehog. How can a badger who normally eats small and relatively ’smooth’ food cope with the prickles? What motivates a badger to even consider tackling a hedgehog. Maybe their lives are so mundane that they decided they wanted more of a challenge. It’s a mystery to me but I’m sure that some night wildlife watcher will come up with a bit of video footage to enlighten me!
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I use Newspaper Blackout with my students. They love it. Go on you tube there is a fantastic trailer for the book : o )
I tried to do a Newspaper Blackout poem just a few days ago but it was a fail.... Maybe I should try again too, and maybe I need a bit of that resource you mentioned by Austin Kleon. Thanks for the inspiration.
I have never tried a Newspaper Blackout poem but I will soon - with students. Thank you for the idea.
No, you shouldn't wander into B & N. I can't go near Tattered Cover, like Carol does-it's just too tempting. This is terrific, Mary Lee-what fun. I've never seen it before, so will have to try, maybe tomorrow in the Sunday paper? When I freewrite I am often surprised at the outcome, so maybe this is kind of like that? I do like the back & forth feelings of the person speaking.
I have tried blackout poems before but have never had much success. I'm willing to give it another try. Hmmm, maybe it needs to be an episode of Poetry Can'ts? :)
Love Kay Ryan!
Love this idea! Thanks for sharing. I tried the Book Spine poems with my students last week and they had loads of fun creating them. This should inspire them too!