News from the Mudd

Today Ringo Starr is 68. Yes, 68. Those of you mature enough to know his real name will be feeling extremely ancient and those who have never heard of him will be asking, "Whose grandpappy is that?"
In a dastardly bit of birthday irony, it was reported yesterday that his birthplace is certain to be demolished after English Heritage decided not to list it on its register. But Pete Best's home will be preserved only because it was the location of the original Cavern Club, and..., oh, just read the article.
Do what Richard requests today: "...everyone, everywhere, wherever they are, at noon on July 7 make the peace sign and say 'Peace & Love.'" And listen to some tunes.

If ever the Apocalypse was in sight, it's now. That most scholarly of encyclopedias, The Encyclopedia Britannica, is going wiki. But the editors have taken a lot of the fun and adventure out of the wiki experience by only allowing readers to suggest revisions, not make them themselves. So you merry pranksters may not change Winston Churchill's middle name to Bassingbourne or make Inigo Jones the love-child of Elizabeth I and the Sir Walter Raleigh.
If you're in the Mudd you can search the Encyclopedia Britannica and even suggest changes.
Listen to the report on NPR.

Once again it's Sir Paul McCartney's birthday. He's been in this music business for over 50 years, and he's still touring. His latest stop was in Independence Square in Kiev, Ukraine where he gave a concert sponsored by Victor Pinchuk, Ukrainian businessman and philanthropist. Pinchuk said, "One could not imagine this 30 years ago. Nobody could even dare to hope for this 20 years ago. One could only dream about it 10 years ago. 5 years ago we could only envy our neighbors for whom this became a reality. And finally the day has come. For the first time we have the opportunity to hear the songs that changed the world and created a new culture." We couldn't agree more.
Sure, we have the Beatles recordings and even one McCartney solo disc. But the library's McCartney collection includes Lennon-McCartney tunes interpreted by vocalists Kiri Te Kanawa, Cathy Berberian and Cristina Zavalloni, double bassists, and a brass quintet. Very versatile.

It's Reunion Weekend and the Library invites alumni to visit the Mudd. We're open Friday the 20th, 8am to 4pm and Saturday the 21st, noon to 4pm.

While you're here (and even while you're not), you can search the library catalog for books by alumni authors or visit the Lawrence Archives Digital Collections to view photos and documents that document Lawrence's past.

Stop by and say hello. We look forward to seeing you again.

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We're heavy on the vocal music today with our latest CD pile. Once again we've dipped into the storeroom of gifts and have emerged with arias, vocalises, songs and voice with instrumental ensemble.

June IS busting out all over. You may think June is noteworthy only because it is the month of Paul McCartney's birthday (June 18,) but it's also Lane Courtesy Month. Will you be compelled to purchase large women's clothing? Be polite to Superman's girlfriend? Continuously sing "Mule Train?" No, no, it's the month to yield the left lane to faster drivers. This applies to motorists only. And for those for whom "courtesy" is an alien concept, this site also has links to Fight Your Ticket and Find an Attorney.
Get yourself lane-ready with the Wisconsin Motorists' Handbook and Study Guide.

Today the Mudd and physical plant staff said a fond farewell to Connie Bruner, the Mudd's 1st and 2nd floor custodian for the last several years. We wish her well on the next part of her adventure. Happy travels Connie!

After a long, dry spell, here's the latest batch of new-to-us CDs. We have dipped into our treasure trove of gifts and extracted a pile of what we like to call the good ol' M1505's. For you browsers, M1505 is excerpts from operas. To get the whole deal, go to M1500. This batch even has a few selections from musicals.

Today would have been Don Martin's 77th birthday. And he was not a lounge singer, half of a comedy duo, or a manufacturer of British luxury cars. No, children, Don Martin was a brilliant cartoonist, best known for his work in Mad magazine back when it was funny. His comic strips, according to Wikipedia, "featured outrageous events and sometimes outright violations of the laws of space-time." Who else would picture a man who, after inserting a dollar bill into a change machine, was changed into a woman?

One cannot think of Don Martin without remembering his great use of onomatopoeia. In his honor, and in the hopes that our gentle readers will make appropriate use of it, we give you The Don Martin Dictionary, an alphabetical archive of all his sound effects.

You know how things work. In order to prove anything to some people, you have to have data. And that means numbers. One of our favorite sources of data is the Statistical Abstract of the United States. We just received the 2008 edition, which, in reality, gives you stats for 2005 or 2006 and sometimes several years earlier.

There's an electronic version on the U.S. Census Bureau's web site that goes all the way back beyond 1878. Compare and contrast the number of post offices (1878: 39,258 - 2006: 36,826) or coal production (1878: 49,130,584 tons - 2005: 1,133,000,000 tons.) Astonish your friends with your storehouse of scintillating factoids.