November 2018

Now that it's autumn, weeds are everywhere, but that doesn't have to be a bad thing. Sure, you want them out of your garden, but many weeds have medicinal or otherwise helpful properties. Milkweed, for example, is what monarch butterflies dine on, attracting them to your yard. You can empty out their pods and dry the seeds to plant even more next year, too. How much do you know about Thistle? Burdock?

Dragons are all the rage, and where you might have once glued googly eyes to a mailbox or your shoes, now it's all about the dragon eyes. Artist Dragonarium does just that and sells her cool creations, but did you know that it's easy to do it yourself? This semester my daughter's been in a geek art class run by a friend of mine and she taught us how to put dragon eyes on journals! Here's a cool tutorial to teach you how to do it.

Amanda C. Gorman, the first Youth Poet Laureate of America, knows a thing or two about starting a project and following through with it. Using a Harry Potter metaphor in an interview with TED-Ed, she says that ideas are like wands and that they choose their own bearers. This means that like many writers, Gorman experiences dry periods as well as times in her life that are filled with endless ideas. She does say that reading other poets' works helps provide inspiration at times.

With the rise of fandemonium, nearly every popular fandom has been used to brand everything from Monopoly to Clue. The Harry Potter franchise, however, has many of its own unique games, which is cool for fans as well as people who just want to try new games. There's Wizard's Chess, which is pretty much just chess with characters from the books, but there's also the cooperative Harry Potter Hogwarts Battle game, which is great for groups who want to reach an end goal together.

Deadheads, you know what month it is! It's time for 30 Days of Dead, when we can all get FREE downloads at Dead.net every day. Visit the site each day to find out which of the 30 tracks you can download and be sure to scoop them up while they're here. 30 Days of Dead kicked off this year with 14 minutes of "China Cat Sunflower" and "I Know You Rider." Be sure to get in on the contests and giveaways throughout the month, such as guessing which venue tracks take place in order to receive free Grateful Dead swag. 

Are you a big tea drinker? If so, could you say that you're an expert on all things tea? Do you know which plant tea is derived from, or who the largest producer of tea in the world is? If you think you might know the answers to these questions and others about your beloved drink, click here for a fun tea quiz. 

Did you hear the news? Hulu has acquired exclusive streaming rights for Family Guy. That means if you want to catch all of the old episodes you'll have to get an account, which, at less than $8 per month, is a steal, especially if you can watch any episode you want at any time. It's even better than having the DVDs since you don't even have to get up to switch them to find your favorite episodes; you just surf through and pick them from the lineup.