Robotic Snow Plow!

After the second snow day of the school year and the third time shoveling my driveway and getting plowed in again by the snow plow, I lamented on Plurk that iRobot should invent a Roomba type snow plow and low and behold one of my friends posted this video. Not exactly a Roomba but it gets the job done! Hope this is not something in the distant future because I would consider something like this right now! Can you tell I am getting tired of winter! Anyway, this got me to wondering which one of my students could invent something like this and what do I have to do to inspire those types of inventors? I hope my library is a research mecca for future inventors and I want to always make sure it is a welcoming place where students feel free and comfortable to come and get answers to their inquiries!
I also found out about National Robotics Week on the iRobot website. I had no idea I could get my students involved in something this cool. So, in an effort to encourage my students to be inventors I am planning to promote National Robotics Week and see what my students can do to make my snow plow robot reality! Some activities on the horion for the week of April 5-13, 2014 include a robotics lab open house at the University of Penn. Sounds like fun to me! Wonder how many of my students I can encourage to attend?

Neil Gaiman's New Blog Post

Neil Gaiman has not blogged much lately and while most of the time I am told don't apologize for not blogging when you do get around to it, he does apologize but his apology includes a catching up that inspired me to write my first blog post of 2014. Happy New Year! Find Neil's blogpost here. His new book Ocean at the End of the Lane  has been nominated for a National Book Award and is now available in the US. The audio version of the book won the Audiobook of the Year award. And then he sat down and interviews JJ Abrams about his new book S. While I love the concept of the book, it is a nightmare for librarians who need to make sure every person gets the same experience as the first reader of the book. How are we ever to keep track of all those bits and pieces? Enjoy the interview and if you have read S let me know what you think!