What is wrong with this picture

What is wrong with this picture

At our (university) faculty meeting today we were given permission to skip teaching our classes tomorrow so that we can catch up with paperwork.

I just want to wake up dead

I just want to wake up dead

That is what my father always said about dying. A gentle, uneventful passing. 

This is what happened. He awoke on the fateful day, got up, ate his usual cholesterol-rich breakfast, and then returned to bed for a nap. 

He was in his mid-nineties. 

At some point somebody noticed that he did not look quite right. A check at the bedside revealed that he had died during his nap. As I see it, things turned out better than he had hoped for. He woke up, had a good breakfast, fell asleep and died. 

I'm glad he had the breakfast.  

How well I remember our elderly cat who went on vacation and returned with an attitude

The Special Needs Of Old Cats Caring For Your Elderly Feline 

I am guilty of not remembering the name of a special cat of my childhood. The older I become the more I love cats and forget things such as names.

Well, Cat lived outdoors and would sneak in the house from time to time. My mother did not want animals in the house (well, other than we three sons). The attitude was rooted in an incident from my mother's childhood on the farm, on a day when a goat got in the house at a time when my grandmother was any-day-due with a child. Not pleasant. Not for the people and not for the goat. The goat returned to the outdoors and my grandmother soon gave birth to a healthy little girl.

But I digress. Cat visited the back door of our house every day signally meal time. This was in the 50s and we fed the cat from a can of what I suspect was the cheapest cat food at the grocery store. Can and large spoon in hand, I walked to the back of the yard where a long unused chicken coop sat. The top was a good height for a cat leap and a good height for me to spoon out cat food. I believe the cat got half a can of food a day. I was adept at spooning out the food and breaking it into small hunks for the cat. After impressive gobbles, Cat sat patiently licking any morsel that remained. Where Cat got water I have no idea.

Cat lived with us for several years and then disappeared. It was more than a year later when Cat returned and scratched on the screen door. I understood the body language and the meow. Time to eat. I checked the cupboard and sure enough, a cat food can remained. Can, spoon, Cat, chicken coop. I'm sure that I read an indignant attitude in the cat. "It's late; where was my food?"

Cat ate and I went to bed. The next afternoon Cat was at the back door. More cans had been laid in and the routine returned. I do not remember how long the cat stayed. One day I realized that the cat was not at the door. Cat disappeared and never saw him again.

Cultural Institutions & Wikipedia: A Mutually Beneficial Relationship Webcast (Library of Congress)

Cultural Institutions & Wikipedia: A Mutually Beneficial Relationship Webcast (Library of Congress) 

This is good news. Acceptance of the Wikipedia as a serious and useful should be bolstered. And by the way, I found an objectionable phrase in the Wikipedia this morning and before a note reached the editors the phrase had been removed. Here is what the Library of Congress says about the video cast (or transcript download)

TITLE: Cultural Institutions & Wikipedia: A Mutually Beneficial Relationship

SPEAKER: Dominic McDevitt-Parks, Kristin Anderson
EVENT DATE: 08/13/2012
FORMAT: Video + Captions
RUNNING TIME: 87 minutes
TRANSCRIPT: View Transcript (link will open in a new window)

DESCRIPTION:
Over the past few years, cultural institutions have formed partnerships with Wikipedia in order to increase their visibility on the web and connect with a vibrant community of online volunteers. As a purpose-driven, non-profit educational project, Wikipedia and its sister sites have shared values and interests with cultural institutions that are only now being fully realized. The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) has become an enthusiastic and vocal participant in this movement to build bridges with Wikipedia and its community. Using specific examples, Dominic McDevitt-Parks discusses how NARA views the partnership as a vehicle for increasing access to holdings, citizen engagement, and openness, while addressing practical concerns and challenges institutions will likely face if they choose to become involved.
Speaker Biography: Dominic McDevitt-Parks was Wikipedian in residence at the National Archives and Records Administration from 2011-2012. He came to NARA from the Archives Management program at Simmons College and also holds a B.A. in history from Reed College. He has been a volunteer Wikipedia contributor since 2004.
Speaker Biography: Kristin Anderson is a cataloging librarian in the History and Military Science section at the Library of Congress. She is an active volunteer in the Wikipedia community.