In the United States nineteen states permit 17-year-olds to vote in primary elections and caucuses if they will be 18 by election day. An amendment to the state constitution is being considered in the Illinois legislature that would lower its voting age to 17 for non-federal elections, though states can set their voting age to lower than 18 for federal elections as well. Because it only applies to state elections, 17-year-olds would not be able to vote in primaries and general elections for representatives, senators, and President of the United States even if the amendment passes the legislature and referendum. To pass, 60 percent of each house of the state legislature would have to approve it, and it would then have to be approved over half of by voters in the November general election. Currently, the Green Party of Maine, the state branch of the Green Party of the United States, calls for the lowering of the voting age to 17. Youth suffrage appears to be gaining ground in Massachusetts; three of the four Democratic United States Senate candidates in 2010 supported lowering the voting age. See voting ages around the world at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voting_age#United_States

On December 14, the U.S. Census Bureau released 5-year American Community Survey (ACS) estimates for the first time, making available social, economic, housing and demographic statistics for every community in the nation. Up until now, small geographic areas had to rely on outdated 2000 Census figures for detailed information about the characteristics of their communities. Consisting of about 11.1 billion individual estimates and covering more than 670,000 distinct geographies, the 5-year ACS estimates give even the smallest communities more timely information on topics ranging from commute times to languages spoken at home to housing values. The data released today are based on a rolling annual sample survey mailed to about 3 million addresses between Jan. 1, 2005, and Dec. 31, 2009. The new 2005-2009 ACS estimates are not related to the 2010 Census population counts that will be released Dec. 21. The ACS complements the decennial count and provides estimates of population characteristics that are far more detailed than the basic demographic information that will be released from the 2010 Census, which will be available starting in February. http://www.census.gov/newsroom/releases/archives/american_community_survey_acs/cb10-cn90.html
Maryland's median household income was nearly $70,000, ahead of Connecticut and New Jersey, and far above the nationwide median of about $51,400.

Comic strip humor on December 15
In Kazakhstan, they refer to nomadic Muppets as They Who Make the Wild Crocodile Seem Cuddly. Get Fuzzy Ho! Ho! H--Thonk! (The Christmas They Left the Flue Shut TV movie). Garfield

Cord noun Middle English, from Anglo-French corde, from Latin chorda string, from Greek chordē first known use: 14th century http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/cord Cordophones are musical instruments that use vibrating strings to make sound.

Concord noun Middle English, from Anglo-French concorde, from Latin concordia, from concord-, concors agreeing, from com- + cord-, cor heart first known use: 14th century http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/concord?show=0&t=1292192361

The 10th Annual National Book Festival in Washington, D.C. set an attendance record at 150,000. The book lovers congregated on September 25, 2010. See lists of authors and illustrators attending at: http://www.loc.gov/bookfest/author/?PHPSESSID=99195036800292829604bbcb6aaf0f5a

In time for the premiere of the first part of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint and Emma Watson posed for Celebrity READ posters for the American Library Association. Browse or buy here:
http://www.alastore.ala.org/SearchResult.aspx?CategoryID=158&gclid=CJiOioiI4KUCFVdn5QodfUpx1w

Librarians and library school faculty variously attribute the origins of bibliotherapy to the Oct. 15, 1939 Library Journal article, “Can There Be a Science of Bibliotherapy?” or to Christopher Morley’s The Haunted Bookshop (1919). Researchers in psychology and gender studies, however, trace the concept back to 17th-century spiritual titles that American colonists counted on to guide them, which gave way to a burgeoning self-help literature that promised health and wealth beginning in the early 1800s. The advice guides of that era never used the term “bibliotherapy” but sold books that promised advice and self-improvement. http://americanlibrariesmagazine.org/columns/youth-matters/feeling-books

Quotes We librarians never really retire because our work is never completely done. Will Manley in Will's World, American Libraries November/December 2010
You can't have too many books. Michigan muse reader