THE FANTASTIC FLYING BOOKS OF...
Mr. Morris Lessmore. On last week's discussion of e-readers versus “real” books, Marian (sorry, the link you left to your blog doesn't work) left a reference to a little animated movie titled as above. It's magical and wonderful and nominated for an Academy Award this year. Here is the film from Moonbot Studios via Vimeo:

There is also an interactive iPad app for children available here. You can read more about the movie here.

NYC AGENCIES STILL USING TYPEWRITERS
Shocked the hell out of me to read that the City of New York has put out a request for bids to replace 1172 aging electric typewriters that various city agencies, including the police department still use.

“'The offices that use them here have to fill out old-style standardized requisitions and purchase orders, etc. — forms that have multiple carbonless-copy pages and which need an actual keystroke to make a copy on all the pages,' said Department of Transportation spokesman Seth Solomonow.”

Can it be that it has occurred to no one in city administration that nowadays there are apps for that along with printers and scanners and all? Read more here.

WHY VOTE
Nancy Leitz sent this video from Lawrence O'Donnell on MSNBC about the most important reason for us all to vote in presidential elections.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

A FRIEND SENT THIS POLITICAL JOKE
he says has been making the rounds in New York.

Q. How did Newt get Sheldon Adelson to give him $18 million?

A. He promised his next wife would be Jewish.

MAUI THE CAT AND HER TREADMILL
Keeping a svelte feline figure. (Hat tip to Darlene Costner)

OR NOT - THESE CATS SEE IT DIFFERENTLY

STATES TAX POOR AT GREATER RATE THAN RICH
It's not just the federal government that gives the rich a break on taxes. All 50 states and the District of Columbia do it too. Yesterday, Kevin Drum at Mother Jones:

”...data from the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy shows that in the median state (Mississippi, as it turns out) the poorest 20 percent pay twice the tax rate of the top 1 percent. In the worst states, the poorest 20 percent pay five to six times the rate of the richest 1 percent.”

You can see all the data for your state at the Corporation for Enterprise Development's scorecard page.

CANINE PIANIST/SINGER
From the YouTube page (Hat tip to Darlene Costner):

”Imagine, you are a singer and you accompany yourself on the piano. You have a small dog who is your constant companion and watches as you rehearse. Got the picture?

“Now, imagine that you must be away for a few hours and leave the dog alone at home. Here is what happened while you were away.”

ELDERS TEXTING ON THE TOILET
You have to wonder who thinks up these surveys and more, who bothers to answer such questions as, do you use your phone while you're on the toilet. Here's one answer [emphasis mine]:

”The survey of 1,000 people by the marketing agency 11mark found that private contemplation has given way to toilet-time talking, texting, shopping, using apps, or just surfing the Web, by both sexes and most ages. Among those 65 and older, however, only 47 percent have used their mobile devices on the toilet.”

You can find out more than you ever wanted to know about other people's technology/bathroom habits here.

COMMERCIAL FROM AUSTRALIAN TENNIS OPEN
Our own music maestro, Peter Tibbles, spent the past couple of weeks glued to television watching the Australian Open. Well, probably not glued, but still. He sent along this commercial that was broadcast several times during the tournament.

The “ball” in the commercial is a sugar glider, a small possum native to Australia. You can read more about them here and see tons of photos here.

Apparently sugar gliders are sold as pets in the U.S. but Peter tells me the cute, little marsupials are a protected species in Australia so not allowed to be owned as pets in that country.

Interesting Stuff is a weekly listing of short takes and links to web items that have caught my attention; some related to aging and some not, some useful and others just for fun.

You are all encouraged to submit items for inclusion. Just click “Contact” in the upper left corner of any Time Goes By page to send them. I'm sorry that I probably won't have time to acknowledge receipt and there is no guarantee of publication. But when I do include them, you will be credited and I will link to your blog if you have one.