Did you know that the library lends board games? The following titles are perfect for a snowy winter’s day:

• 1812: The Invasion of Canada
• Amerigo
• Carcassonne
• Colonial Europe’s Empires Overseas
• A Few Acres of Snow
• New Amsterdam & the Dutch West India Trading Company
• Puerto Rico
• Settlers of Catan
• Zulus on the Ramparts!: The Battle of Rorke’s Drift

All are available for two-week loans at the service desk in the McLennan Library. Just bring the call number to a staff member.

And please don’t lose any pieces…

Diagram Prize

The 2014 Diagram Prize has been awarded once again to purveyors of scatological titles.

“How to Poo on a Date: The Lovers’ Guide to Toilet Etiquette” was the hands-down winner with “The Origin of Feces” close on its tail, squeezing out a second place. To get to the bottom of this story, check here.

Wolrdcat gives only 5 locations for the winner; but the runner-up gets over 300 locations and yes, we have a copy.

Epicurus

Having recently read Daniel Klein’s Travels with Epicurus : a journey to a Greek island in search of a fulfilled life, here are some of the things I learned:

Epicurus said:

Not what we have, but what we enjoy constitutes our abundance.

Nothing is enough for the man to whom enough is too little

Eating without a friend is the life of the lion or the wolf.

I also learned that “prefa” is a Greek card game and “Ossa” is the Greek goddess of rumour and gossip, a great name for a blog.

Happy Birthday, Rome

And finally, on 21^st of April (Easter Monday) I celebrated Parilia (the name given to the annual festival celebrating the founding of Rome) by looking at some guidebooks and maps to the city daydreaming about when I would return. And because it wasn’t built in day, Rome is 2767 years old.

Back by popular demand, we will once again welcome therapy dogs in the Redpath Library Building. The dogs will visit us on Tuesday, April 15th from noon-2pm.

Come to meet people (who are just as stressed out as you are, btw) and engage a bit of collective ooh-ing and ahh-ing over these gorgeous beasts, but also come for the anti-stress benefits that result from interaction with animals. The benefits run deep: check out this study that found that contact with a cat or dog led to a drop in blood pressure for male and female college students. The hypothesis was that there would be differences between the way the male and female students reacted to a dog versus a cat. However, not only was there a correlation between handling cat or dog and a drop in blood pressure, but whether the animal was a cat or a dog did not matter. Everybody wins: female students, male students, cats, and dogs! (Also: does this mean we can finally put the age old cats versus dogs debate to rest?)

Somervill, J. W., Kruglikova, Y. A., Robertson, R. L., Hanson, L. M., & MacLin, O. H. (2008). Physiological responses by college students to a dog and a cat: Implications for pet therapy. North American Journal of Psychology, 10, 3, 519-528.