I was just thinking the other day about how I used to buy Leonard Maltin's movie encyclopedia when it was on sale. I loved that thing.

My mother still buys it! If not every year, many years.

I was just thinking the other day about how I used to buy Leonard Maltin's movie encyclopedia when it was on sale.

Yes! For ages I used to buy one every 3-4 years and absolutely wear it out until it was time for the next one and some more recent movies. So much fun to flip around at random (and find connections, and make lists, and hunt for the great or horrible stuff...). IMDB, Wikipedia, Rotten Tomatoes, et al have so much more when it comes to looking up a specific film, but that kind of browsability just isn't the same without a big fat book on the coffee table.

The lack of random discovery is a big downside to computerized catalogs of all sorts. I've dealt with libraries who have forgotten they even have a certain book because the keyword search in their computerized catalog doesn't pick up said book. In a card catalog, though, you could go to a category and flip randomly. The library bought a new copy, then discovered they already had it when they went to put it on the shelf.

Though it makes it very easy to hide things.

Connie, yes -- same reason I hate doing any kind of research in closed-stack libraries (even though I understand the need for things like special collections). I want to get to my book and *also* see what else is around it that I didn't think to look up (or didn't succeed in searching for quite right).

I have no memory of waking up during my colonoscopy, because basically they roofied me. I literally don't remember putting my clothes back on, afterward. I still maintain I could have made my way home on my own, given that I managed all the zippers and buttons correctly.

I want to get to my book and *also* see what else is around it that I didn't think to look up

This, totally.

Yeah, I used to just get lost thumbing through it. Although IMdB is a tempting rabbit hole for me, too.

"Oh, so THAT'S how lungs are supposed to work"

Hil, that was my experience also. "Oh, AIR. What a great idea!"

I'm also a big fan of Breathe-Right strips, which allow me to breathe almost normally through my narrow, slightly deviated-septum nose.

Ok, people, a HS classmate of mine posted a picture of the text:

"People with autism…do not lie, do not judge, do not play mind games. Maybe we can learn something from them."

I am looking for a better response than "You've clearly met different people on the spectrum than I have"

"You've clearly met different no actual living people on the spectrum than I have". Emphasis on people. Who do people-like things.

Puppies, OTOH, totally do not lie or play mind games. Maybe they got those mixed up.