Crop Circles: What the Heck Are They?

Hi All,

Crop circles. What are they? How are they made? And, even more importantly, who makes them? These are some of the interesting questions that I'd like to address in this blog entry.

Click on this link from Wikipedia to find out about Crop circles. Interesting article and very comprehensive summary of the crop circles. As the Wikipedia article explains, 'crop circles are sizable patterns created by the flattening of a crop such as wheat, barley, rye, maize or rapeseed. they are also known as crop formation because they are not always circular in shape.'

An interesting section in the Wikipedia entry is the section entitled 'Paranormal'. Click here for the link to the paranormal aspects of crop circles.

Click here for a link to a Google Images search for 'crop circles'.

The pictures of the various crop circle designs are very interesting and neat and symmetrical and well, just plain cool.

Click here for a link that purports to explain the history of crop circles...it seems like they are not designed by ET's. Hmmmm.

Click on this link for the Crop Circle Connector - which has links to various galleries, videos, bibliographies, conferences and even a link to the 'state of the art'. Neat stuff.

Click on this link to a History Channel video from the show UFO Hunters - Crop Circles.

You can also click on this link to the library card catalog to see what we own on the topic of crop circles - most of the material is in the beginning of the collection in and around the 001.94 area...

Enjoy the crop circles and the websites and don't forget the books!
Regards,
Stu

do we have books on crop circles?

Gently Used Children's Clothing

Hi All,

I was recently introduced to stores that sell gently used children's clothing. At the time I had no idea that the trip to the store would result in a blog entry...but her we are!

Click on this link to About.com's site entitled 'Long Island Thrift Shops'. Shops on the page included Island Thrift in Brentwood, Selden Thrift in Selden, Junior League of Long Island Thrift Shop in Roslyn, Twin Pines Consumer Association Thrift Shop in Port Washington, Unique Thrift Store in Westbury and Unique Thrift Store in Levittown. Along with contact information there is a brief summary for each store which is pretty helpful.

The next link is the store that started this whole children's clothing thing...I went there a few days ago - the stores' name is Once Upon a Child - click here for the link. Their tagline is 'we buy and sell gently used clothes, toys & equipment'. Fair enough and, since I've been to the store, it is certainly accurate enough. I saw rows and rows of clothing ranging from newborns to toddlers to 4T's. And, as advertised, the clothes and toys and accessories were gently used. For real - so there was NO misadvertising.

Now, as I drive to the library every morning, I see a store on Merrick Road in Seaford called Fun Stuff Toys. I haven't been in the store yet, but I plan on making it a road trip with the family very, very soon. So, as the FSToys site says, they 'specialize in kids' toys - infant, preschool and kids of all ages'. Fair enough, but the store really can't be considered to be a thrift shop type retailer.

That being said, the store might be a good alternative to a Toys r Us or a Wal-Mart or a K-Mart...

To round out this blog entry, I found a link to a site called CitiDex Long Island. Essentially this is a 'Yellow Pages' wanna be for the internet. Even the sites' background color is yellow - similar to the Yellow Pages. Anyway, click on this link to CitiDex Long Island - the topic of the link is Children's Clothing on Long Island.

In particular there is a link to 'Used Children's Clothing'. There are three links - Cows Harbor Kids Consignment in Northport, GiGi's Kids in Hampton Bays and Little Angels Thrift Shop in Bay Shore. Click here for the link to the Used Children's Clothing site on CitiDex.

Enjoy the links - and I hope your shopping ventures prove to be fruitful, cost effective and fun!
Regards,
Stu

200 Is a Really, Really Big Number!

Hi All,

Well, I've been thinking about this entry for a long, long time. Why? This is my 200th blog entry! Wow - that's a lot of entries and time spent on the blog.

I don't really know if I should have a cake, have a party, ignore the entry or do something else.

Alas, I'll probably just mention this anniversary entry and move right along...

Last time I discussed 'H is For...'. We're up to 'I' now...forthwith...I is for...

iphone 5 - all things Iphone from Apple - again...

Ikea - website of Swedish furniture and design maker. They have a store in Hicksville on Route 107!!

IMDB - Internet Movie Database - great source for information about movies, actors, actresses and 'things related to Hollywood'

Ipad - all things Ipad from this part of the Apple homepage

IRS - get tax forms, tax booklets and tax information on this major tax portal from the IRS

Italian to English - translate from Italian to English via Yahoo'! Babelfish

Enjoy the sites,
Stu

B is For Blueberries

Hi All,

A little bit of housekeeping is in order before I get to the meat of the blog post. Did you know that this is our 199th blog post? Betcha didn't know that.

Well, I'm going to tell you! Because I am darn proud of having a reference blog that has lasted over 199 posts. If each blog post takes roughly 10 minutes to generate (and I'm doing some very rough calculations here!) thath means that I've spent roughly 1900 minutes writing for the blog.

Which is the equivalent of over 30 hours - which is more than one whole day writing various entries for this blog. I hope you've enjoyed it - I certainly have. Evidently I have a hankering, or a yen, or a passion for writing. Again, I hope this comes across in each and every blog post.

Finally, I think that this is the single longest continuously written reference department blog in the country right now...how is that for good stuff?

Click on this link to see other reference department blogs from around the United States.

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Now, onto today's post

Some readers might remember that I started writing a series of blog entries a few weeks ago about fruit and vegetables.

We are up to the letter 'B' in that series and I'd like to write about one of the two great fruits that begin with the letter 'B'. Today, I'd like to talk about blueberries. When I finish with the whole alphabet of fruit - probably some time in the far future - I'll come back and talk about that other great fruit that begins with the letter 'b' - bananas. So for now, we'll talk about blueberries!!!


Introduction to Blueberries - Lots of Links
Click on this link to go to the Wikipedia entry on blueberries - there are subsections on the various species of blueberries, growing areas (especially in the United States), uses of blueberries, and importantly, the research on the potential antidisease effects of blueberries

Okay, now that that is out of the way, click here for three good, understandable links that talk about the health aspects of blueberries.

The first link is from About.com; the second link is from the U.S. Highbush Blueberry Council. Simply put, blueberries are filled with vitamin C, have a huge amount of dietary fiber and are a great source of manganese; and the third link is from Women's Fitness.com (entitled 'Top 10 Health Benefits of Blueberries').

We all - at least now we do - know that blueberries are healthy. And the taste of a fresh blueberry is amazing. Click on this link from Blueberry-Recipe.com - which has links to blueberry cobbler recipes, blueberry cheesecake, and more. Yum!!!

Click on this link - from AllRecipes.com - for even more blueberry recipes - omg, I'm getting hungry! Finally, click on this link from the FoodNetwork.com to get even more blueberry recipes!

Finally, long time readers probably will realize that I've done something very different with todays' blog entry: I've added pictures! Woohoo! Someone at the library showed me how to add them this afternoon and voila - here they are!

Enjoy the pictures and the recipes and the blueberry information.

Regards,
Stu

Garage Sales

Hi All,

I've been introduced to the wonderful world of garage sales...wow. That is such cool stuff.

Click here for a link to garage sales on Long Island - link is from LongIsland.com - which I've mentioned before on the blog.

Click on this second link - from Long Islandsuperads.com for even more garage/yard sales classifieds on Long Island. Neat stuff - it gives you a bit about the sale (what is included, date, time and location).

Okay, so now that I've whetted your appetite for these little encounters with stuff you might need - what else should garage sales perusers know about them?

Recognize that almost all the prices are negotiable - click here to find out how to negotiate prices - link is from Bestgaragesaletips.com - pretty cool and helpful!

Carefully look at the item you are thinking of buy - check condition, does it have all parts? Is the item dented, scratched, worn, used? If so, these are all good points to make when negotiating the price.

Sometimes you can get a whole bunch of items for one price - kind of like a potpourri of merchandise - but at a really great price.

Finally, if you are thinking of hosting a garage sale or a yard sale, click on this link from Ehow.com. The link is pretty comprehensive and thorough!

Good luck in your travels - hope you find what you are looking for!
Stu