Mercer County Library Blog

I love composting and the rich soil that it creates in my own backyard. The aroma and the crumbly feel of this black gold are as satisfying as knowing I’m keeping waste out of the landfill. Making compost is surprisingly easy. You could certainly buy one of the many different kinds of composters that are available, such as a stationary enclosed bin, a compost tumbler, or worm composter. But I use none of these. Instead, in a protected spot in my yard that receives a half day of sun, I keep two piles. One is surrounded by an open cylinder I made out of hardware mesh (¼” chicken wire) and twist ties. Into this I put clippings, leaves, non-invasive weeds, food scraps, non-meat and non-dairy refrigerator cleanout, and coffee grounds (including unbleached filters.)  This pile breaks down fairly quickly, especially when the weather is warm. I periodically pull off the wire hoop and use a garden fork to lift, sift, and aerate the pile. I place the un-...

The decision to re-read a book can be one that is fraught with peril. For some, however, it is not really a decision at all. Some people are almost compulsive re-readers of the books of which they are fond. There are those who annually re-read The Lord of The Rings , for instance among an almost infinite number of other books. There are some who read a book and, immediately, re-read it. There are some who read a book in their youth and return to it later in life to find new perspectives within it. The text has stayed the same (or has it?) but the reader has changed. They are, in essence, an almost completely different reader. There are others more circumspect about the very idea about re-reading. Wary. Superstitious, even. Would the magic of the original reading experience of a cherished work be destroyed by the very act of re-reading? Is re-reading, in and of itself, a revisionist act? A changing of memory? Might it not even supplant the original reading? I search my mind and in it...

Every year the first Thursday in May is World Password Day, which is intended to raise awareness of poor password habits and encourage more thoughtfulness in maintaining identity safety online. Below are myths, facts, and tips for dealing with passwords.

Happy May 24!   Честит 24-ти май! Regardless of physical location and stage of life, I’ve never hesitated to call May 24 my most beloved holiday - the day of the saints Cyril and Methodius when, in my motherland Bulgaria, the Slavonic Alphabet gets celebrated. It is a most festive holiday, with school children and teachers marching in a joyful parade and celebrating the love of reading and culture - a holiday that I’ve known forever. Many schools and educational institutions bear the saints’ names, including the National Library of Bulgaria in the capital city Sofia, with a statue of the saint brothers in front of it.  Even though I haven’t participated in person in these parades for years, the brothers Cyril (born Constantine, 826 - 869) and Methodius (815-885) always come to my mind when May 24 approaches. With time, I came to understand that the magnitude of their deed extends beyond my own heritage and has a broader appeal with the cause for the right to read and write ...

I was woken up very early today by a tremendous crash of rolling thunder and then lay there thinking that it would be a good day to just stay in bed. Recognizing that staying in bed was not an option, I switched to thinking about thunder. I know rolling thunder is a real thing, caused by the thunder echoing back from other storms in the area, but perhaps there are other kinds of thunder? We’ve all heard about various types of lightning (chain lightning, ground lightning, lightning in a bottle), but are those real things and are there more? Then there’s the rain (by this time it was raining cats, dogs AND buckets). Are there different kinds of rain, scientifically speaking? And what about the Inuit’s 50 words for snow? Certainly, there are a bunch of cold weather precipitation words in English (snow, sleet, wintry mix – also known as insta-slush!) but can we get close to 50? All that precipitation comes from clouds, and I have never managed to reme...

Baseball is called a “timeless” sport, and in one sense, it’s precisely that—being one of the few professional team sports whose terminus is not dictated by a game clock, in contrast to such time-bound sports as hockey, basketball, soccer, and football. In baseball, a half inning could conceivably be over in as little as a minute (there have been at least eighty-four three-pitch half-innings in baseball history, according to Baseball Almanac )...or it could go on for an hour or more. Games are generally nine innings long, but if a game is tied at the end of nine innings, it could theoretically go on forever if the tie is never successfully broken. Thus far, the longest professional baseball game has been a mere 33 innings, lasting a svelte 8 hours and 25 minutes [1] —a long time, indeed, but well short of infinitely long [2] . So perhaps it would be more accurate to call baseball a timeful game? We use time to measure change , according to Aristotle ; and the concept of time and the...

Have you seen Encanto yet? It’s so good. It’s an amazing film that is connecting with kids and adults alike. If you want to see it and don’t want to pay for Disney+, the Mercer County Library System has you covered! We’ve got the DVD . We’ve got the Blu-ray . We’ve got the CD soundtrack . We’ve got the digital soundtrack through hoopla . We’ve also got a number of children’s books based on the film . The Mercer County Library System is your one-stop Encanto shop. For those of you that do not know what film I’m talking about, let me explain. I will try to tread lightly on the actual plot, but beware some things will be spoiled. Encanto is a 2021 animated film directed by Jared Bush and Byron Howard, with original music from Lin-Manuel Miranda (Lin-Manuel Miranda also did the music for Disney’s 2016 animated film Moana , so they clearly like what he’s doing). Encanto is a film about the Madrigal family, specifically Mirabel Madrigal. The Madrigal family live in a magically protected v...

Proper planning goes a long way in ensuring a successful vacation. The latest apps, tech and social pages make it easier than ever before to plan a trip, take in the visual imagery of your destination, track your progress, and experience the richness of the local history and culture. The advantage of on the spot technology nowadays means you’ll have current hours and schedules at your disposal, be able to receive instant communication from your hotels or other bookings, make last minute adjustments and find alternatives when necessary.  Travel pros recommend immersing yourself in the culture of your destinations through media such as film and literature and the library has myriad free resources to help! Whether or not you tend to be a last-minute traveler, or one who plans everything way in advance, you’ll be able to access the library’s offerings, including: Reading nonfiction for background; learning the local geography, history, culture and current events. Accessing langua...