Women ALIVE Ministries

The original value proposition of the library was not just free books but something more, something I learned as a seven-year-old at the Dunbar Public Library in Vancouver, BC The library looked like dumpy, public architecture but it was in fact a house of many mansions, a place of possibility, a portal. Space travel, time travel, identity travel, you name it, the library could do take you there.

But other media can make the same promise.

The dominance of radio, TV, and Hollywood threatened libraries with irrelevance, and now the rise of the internet, smart phones, and ebooks, threaten them with eclipse.

So libraries are struggling. What can they do in the face of skeptics who say, Print! Why, in Gods name, do we need print? Let the library go the way of the bookstore. Disintermediation is inevitable.

Perhaps the answer lies in the librarys physicality. Can the library do something a Kindle cannot?

My now-local library came up with a lovely idea. They send out a message to local children.

What do you think your stuffed animal friends would do if they spent the night at the library? Bring them to our Stuffed Animal Sleepover and find out!

Will they play on the computers all night? Raid the candy shelves at the cafe? Ride the elevator BY THEMSELVES?

We start with a special Sleepytime storytime for your furry friends, then tuck them in for the night. Overnight, the librarians will keep watch and take photos of everything your stuffed animals do. Come in the next day to pick them up and see what they were up to. Ages 2 and up.

This Culturematic is a magnificent way of signaling to kids that the library is a place where magical things happen. In the language of strategy, the value proposition is renewed.

The librarians, facing stiff and seemingly insurmountable competition, found a mechanism that takes advantage of the librarys Achilles heel, that makes a virtue of its anti-virtuality. My local library is bricks and mortar. Its a very actually place in a very real world. This allows it to stage events that matter in ways that digital experiences cannot.

Once solemn, hushed repositories, libraries are poised to make themselves more vibrant centers. It will take an imaginative rethinking of what a library is and how it works, but, as the sleepover example makes clear, there has never been a shortage of imagination at the public library.

Can your business make the same claim?

A new year and a new home for some animals in Barbour County.

Just before Christmas, the volunteers at Animal Friends of Barbour County started moving the dogs indoors into the new facility. Before the move, the dogs were living inside an old trailer.

Friday or Saturday they started moving the dogs in and things from the puppy shelter and getting some up, said Animal Friends of Barbour County Kimberly Delauder. And some people made some beds so they don#39;t have to lay on the concrete floor. And then Monday we started moving the cats in. And we#39;ve done a few at a time.

Some of the dogs are still out doors but that#39;s because the shelter is already at capacity.

The volunteers have also started moving in the cats the shelter has more than 150 cats in its possession.

For more information on Animal Friends of Barbour County, call304-823-2012 or visithttp://www.afobcwv.org/.

ALFRESCOFESTIVE: Kris Kringle and reindeer? Of course. Kris Kringle and his little woodland animal friends? Chipmunks, muskrats, et cetera?Yep.Weve seen it in a dozen cartoons. But Santa is less often paired with a giraffe, a real giraffe, that is, not an animated one. But he will be on Sunday, Dec. 11, when Safari West in Santa Rosa presents a Santa Safari. Lunch will be served — adults pay $15 — and theres a chance of a photo with Dozer the giraffe. But giraffes are on their own schedule, of course, and any visitors would be wise to heed this message from the animal park: Please understand, Dozer is a true ham, but we cannot guarantee that Dozer will be in the picture…its truly up to his spirits at the time! Well put. If Dozer should make a cameo in your photograph, we think youve got your next holiday card. Done and done.

OTHERTO-KNOWS:Reservations are necessary, and Safari West requests that you show with a donation of an unwrapped toy or a bag of dry goods for the Sonoma County Food Bank.

Heres a peek back at Dozer as a young, strapping man.

Courtesy photograph

Tail-waggers

Jasper is being offered for adoption through Animal Friends
Connection, a Lodi nonprofit organization dedicated to helping
companion animals since 1990.

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Tokyo, Dec 08, 2011 (JCN Newswire via COMTEX) –
CyberAgent, Inc. (tokyo:4751), a Tokyo based leader in Internet services provider, is proud to reveal ‘Animal Land’ on Facebook, a new PC web-browser focused social game accessible worldwide.

‘Animal Land’ is a city management game where players must explore land, build houses and shops, and decorate their own city with trees and facilities to attract cute animal residents. Players can level up and create thriving metropolis in order to collect different kinds of animals, while also earning unique decorative items by helping friends.

Players attempt to create the “best” Animal Land as they see fit.

CyberAgent already provides some popular communication games, such as virtual world ‘Ameba Pico’ for Facebook with more than 4M registered users worldwide; Animal Land will help strengthen CyberAgent’s strategic overseas projects.

“We are thrilled to bring the world our most creative characters and animals,” said Yasutomo Takehara, Producer of Animal Land. “We hope players from around the world enjoy ‘Animal Land’.” Following the roll-out of virtual world ‘Ameba Pico’ and ‘Animal Land’, CyberAgent plans to develop additional international services and games in the future.

About ‘Animal Land’

URL:

http://apps.facebook.com/animal-land/

Price: Free

Languages: English

‘Animal Land’ features include:

Feature 1 – Invite Various Cute Animals to your City!

Feature 2 – Personalize your City with Over 100 Unique Items!

Feature 3 – Customize your City’s Layout to Make Residents Happy!

Feature 4 – Help your Friends and Get Special Decorative Items!

Press Kit (Screenshots)

Screenshots of CyberAgent services can be found from the URL below.

http://www.cyberagent.info/presskit111209/

About CyberAgent, Inc.

CyberAgent, Inc. is a leading worldwide developer, publisher and distributor of interactive entertainment for PCs, handheld and wireless devices. Founded in 1998, the company has provided many kinds of businesses in Japan including being the largest social game provider, running the #1 blog based communication service (Ameba), the #1 internet, and the #1 corporate venture capital. CyberAgent maintains operations in the U.S., China, Vietnam, Japan with corporate headquarters located in Tokyo, Japan. For additional information on the company and its offerings, please visit
www.cyberagent.info
or contact pub@cyberagent.co.jp

Contact:

Akiko Kashiwa
PR/IR Division
CyberAgent, Inc.
Tel: +81-3-5459-0227
E-mail: pub@cyberagent.co.jp

Copyright (C) Japan Corporate News NetWork

Soon temperatures will fall to seasonal levels, the snow will fly, and ski slopes or toasty beaches beckon.

But as snow-lovers break out the winter coats and skis, they should also take some time to make sure their animal friends are properly insulated against the cold.

Dr. Julie Greene, DVM, veterinarian at McGrath Animal Hospital in Billerica, shared some advice to keep companion animals safe in the winter. Greene shares her home with seven cats and two dogs and is a General Practitioner who graduated from the Ohio State University Veterinary College.

Cat safety

Cats can easily be left alone for two to three nights when they eat dry food, Greene explained, I use a gravity feeder with low calorie food when Im away, but its fine to leave the dry food in bowls. Be sure to have plenty of fresh water and an appropriate number of litter boxes.

Greene keeps the heat in her house at a reasonable level when shes away, in her case 58 60 degrees, although this can vary. If cats are left alone longer than a couple of days, Greene recommends asking a friend to stop in every couple of days to check on food. McGrath and other facilities in town offer boarding, and some people feel safer when they board their pets.

Young crated dogs do better being boarded because they get much more exercise that way, said Greene.

The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) recommends that cats always be kept inside, and especially in the winter. Hazards abound for felines, and in winter this is particularly true. Cats can become lost, or even freeze due to cold weather. The ASCPA recommends that if a cat does go outdoors, brush any snow from legs and stomach when your pet comes indoors.

Outdoor cats sometimes sleep under the hood of a car in an effort to stay warm and can be injured or killed by fan belts when motors are started. The ASPCA suggests banging loudly on the car hood before starting the motor to give a cat a chance to escape.

Dogs and snow

Dog safety is more complicated in winter, since they are outside more often than cats. Dogs still want to walk, and that depends upon the owners preferences. Greene warns that frail elderly dogs especially do poorly in snow.

Dont leave an elderly dog (or a puppy) out by himself for more than five or ten minutes on a leash in snow, Greene said. Many people with shorter-haired breeds put coats or sweaters on their pups, and thats a good idea. Be very careful of small dogs and deep snow.

The ASPCA reminds pet owners that more dogs become lost in the winter months than at any other time of the year. A dog can use his sense of smell in the cold, and easily become lost. Dogs slip off leashes and get lost without ID tags.

Antifreeze and coolant are lethal poisons for both dogs and cats. Be sure to clean any spills from your car, and use products that contain propylene glycol instead of ethylene glycol.

For more information on pet care, visit www.ASPCA.org or www.mcgrathanimalhospital.com.

Certain Shelby County commissioners think that enforcing an ordinance requiring minimum standards of care for pets would amount to unwanted government interference in the private lives of those who may not be treating their animals decently (Dec. 1 article, Animal welfare ordinance gets preliminary OK).

You would have to be pretty young not to remember the bad old days when a man could treat his wife and children as he chose because they were his to treat as he chose. Unbelievably, the argument of government interference was used against minimum standards of conduct when it was suggested that a mans wife and children should be treated well.

Fortunately, we have moved along since then because there are laws that say that a man cannot abuse his wife and children with impunity. Women and children are no longer considered as property to do with as we will.

We must extend that same consideration to our animal friends as well. We have invited them into our homes and have conveyed the message that they can depend on us forever. They cannot simply return to the woods because we tire of them and no longer wish to treat them with a modicum of decency. It is a basic requirement of an enlightened society.

Kingsley Hooker

Memphis

While the death of a treasured pet is certainly a heartrending experience, owners can find comfort in wonderful memories of happier times as they remember the joy and laughter the animal brought to their life.

Pets offer unconditional love, and as one author proclaims, always leave a paw print on our hearts after they cross the Rainbow Bridge and enter into eternity. Who cant forget the reassuring purrs of a gentle tabby or being greeted by a happy hound with wet kisses and a wagging tail?

Acclaimed author, pet writer and artist Christine Davis has written and illustrated a charming new book entitled Forever Paws to bring comfort and hope to anyone who has lost a beloved four-legged friend or experienced a significant loss in their lives.

I write books that celebrate the magical connection that we have with our animal companions, Davis begins during a recent telephone interview from her Oregon home.

The author of four previous bestselling pet themed books reveals that it wasnt until the loss of two beloved feline companions last year — Dickens and Pippen — that her world fell apart and she decided to take a friends advice and write a small tome about coping with the loss of an animal companion.

Davis recalls frequent, colorful dreams where her departed feline companions told her: Remember what you are feeling — there is another book to be written.

I heard these words over and over again, the author writes in the books introduction. They came in whispers on the wind. They spilled like sparkling droplets into my tears. It became crystal clear to me that the loss of my dear cats was a loving gift from my precious feline friends #166; a sort of cosmic thump on the head to keep me on my path.

While Davis credits the two felines for writing the beautiful story of Forever Paws, she says it was her job to get it out there.

I feel so unbelievably blessed to be able to do that, she discloses.

Using simple words and whimsical and often amusing illustrations, Davis conveys a powerful message about how pets transform lives and forge an unbreakable bond with their owners that endures forever.

I believe that our spirits carry on, Davis notes when asked if she thinks that pets enjoy an afterlife. I believe that my pets are waiting for me.

In the book, Davis begins by sharing that whenever a puppy or kitten is born on earth, it is given a wondrous gift — the gift of forever paws.

Remember, the young one is told, your glowing paws celebrate the shining spirit within you, but only you can see their brilliance. They will take you on grand adventures, and lead you to new friends, but their true purpose is to guide you to the person who would welcome you home, the story continues.

Should you find the one who is meant to hold your gentle heart, the gift of the paws will keep you connected always and forever.

Davis reassures readers — especially those grieving the recent loss of a special cat or dog, that Just before they leave this world, every animal you loved on earth takes a little piece of your heart, which they carry on a ribbon that floats in the sky.

In its place, they leave on your heart a print from a brilliant forever paw, a gift that will one day light your way back to the four-legged friend who loves you.

Perhaps the most beautiful illustration in the book — and one that certainly will warm every readers heart — depicts a colorful menagerie of pets — cats, dogs, a rabbit, a horse and other delightful creatures, all drinking from the river of tears that flows under the Rainbow Bridge that leads to all eternity.

Each evening, just at sunset, the animals gather at the bridge to drink from the river of tears, for all of the sadness has been left behind and only love remains, Davis writes.

One day, when your time on the earth has ended, the paw prints that you hold in your heart will light your way to the stars, the book concludes. All your animal friends will be there to welcome you home with woofs and purrs. Then you will cross the bridge together, paw print and heart forever entwined, never #166; ever #166; to be parted again.

Forever Paws is available from Davis imprint, Lighthearted Press and on Amazon. For more information, visit the Web site: www.lightheartedpress.com; or call toll free (877) 385-6837.

Swansea resident Brian J. Lowney has been writing about pets for more than a decade.

PHILIPPI -

Update: The shelter planned on moving in the cats starting Monday afternoon. However, that did not occur due to a shortage in staff. The shelter hopes to start moving the animals into their new home soon, but does not have an exact date planned at this time.

Original Story:

An animal shelter in Barbour County has come a long way in the past nine years but the journey isn#39;t over yet.

The Animal Friends of Barbour County shelter has been working for a long time to house and take care of unadopted pets. But the accommodations haven#39;t been ideal.

Snow comes, it sometimes brings the tarps down and bends the frames, said founder of AnimalFriends of Barbour County Dorothy Hayhurst. Hard to keep the dogs warm. They do have straw and tarps to keep them warm but it#39;s dirty, it#39;s messy.

The animals have been living outside, or caged in one of two trailers.

The dogs have been in one trailer, Hayhurst said. Originally we started putting puppies and new moms in the trailer. Which is pretty shot. And then we had to add outdoor pens.

But the work of Hayhurst and some others is about ready to pay off.

It was donated, Hayhurst said. The building was built by a gracious couple in the community who said they were going to build the shelter for us.

The new building will allow cats and dogs to live in separate corridors. The building will also allow the dogs to get exercise and fresh air. It features private kennels with access to the outside. The shelter hopes to someday have a common pen for them to play and run.

It also hopes it can operate to its potential. But that means hiring someone full time. And right now, the funds just aren#39;t there.

Once we move in we would need to have an employee I would guess at least 12 hours a day, Hayhurst said.

The past nine and a half years the shelter relied on the work of volunteers. People who had other jobs, family and commitments to tend to. It#39;s gotten to be just too much.

Frankly, they are really burned out, Hayhurst said.

The shelter plans to move the animals this coming Monday starting with the cats. The shelter has a meeting Thursday night at 6:30 pmto talk about ways to help raise funds to fill the needed position. It will also be selling memorial bricks that will be on display at the shelter and help pay for needed supplies.

If you would like to help, you can give the shelter a call at 304-823-2012 or visittheir website.

UPDATE: The shelter planned on moving in the cats starting Monday afternoon. However, that did not occur due to a shortage in staff. The shelter hopes to start moving the animals into their new home soon, but does not have an exact date planned at this time.

Katie Nelson/News-Sentinel

Cold weather words of wisdom for pet owners

Patricia Sherman gets a kiss from a puppy at the Animal Friends
Connection on Cherokee Lane in Lodi on Wednesday, Dec. 7, 2011.