Twister, much like the hula hoop, was one of the many toy fad phenomena that came about in the second half of the 20th century.  Microsoft Encarta labeled Twister as being an "industry phenomenon" that "captures the public's imagination, and sells in the millions".  Being one of the earliest toy fads and a "national craze for a short time", Twister was able to bring all age groups together, whether children or adults.  There are publicly available instructions on how to alter a Twister game to make it accessible to color-blind individuals and to completely blind individuals.  Blindfolded Twister is an accessible variant where there are four different tactile symbols on the mat, and the players are blindfolded and have to find a circle with the named symbol by feeling.  Twister is a game of physical skill produced by Milton Bradley Company and Winning Moves Games USA.  It is played on a large plastic mat that is spread on the floor or ground.  The mat has four rows of six large colored circles on it with a different color in each row:  red, yellow, green and blue.  A spinner tells players where they have to place their hand or foot.  The game promotes itself as "the game that ties you up in knots".  A spinner is attached to a square board and is used to determine where the player has to put their hand or foot.  The spinner is divided into four labeled sections:  left foot, right foot, left hand, and right hand. Each of those four sections are divided into the four colors (red, yellow, green, and blue).  After spinning, the combination is called (for example:  "right hand yellow") and players must move their matching hand or foot to a circle of the correct color.  In a two-player game, no two people can have a hand or foot on the same circle; the rules are different for more players.  Owing to the scarcity of colored circles, players will often be required to put themselves in unlikely or precarious positions, eventually causing someone to fall.  A person is eliminated when they fall or when their elbow or knee touches the mat.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twister_(game)#Accessibility   

If you’ve never found a book you’ve liked, there’s a good chance that you’ve not tried that many books and World Book Night is here to prove to both children and adults that there are plenty of opportunities to get lost in a good book.  Every year, the occasion is coordinated by the Reading Agency, a national charity that aims to help people become confident and enthusiastic readers.  World Book Night celebrates both reading and books every year on April 23rd, when books are distributed throughout the UK to specifically, but not exclusively, reach those who don’t often get the opportunity to read--hospitals, prisons, homeless shelters and care homes are a particular focus.  Those who love a good book are asked to give out their own books to similarly affected people in their own communities or the wider UK.  Now, World Book Night is celebrated in the USA as well as the UK and Ireland, with almost 50,000 people giving away a million books across the three different countries.  https://www.awarenessdays.com/awareness-days-calendar/world-book-night-2024/   

The American songwriter Albert Von Tilzer, who composed the music to the song “Take Me Out to the Ball Game” (1908)—the unofficial anthem of North American baseball—was born March 29, 1878. (The lyricist of the song, Jack Norworth, died 65 years ago on September 1, 1959.)   

Vernor Steffen Vinge (1944–March 20, 2024) was an American science fiction author and professor.  He taught mathematics and computer science at San Diego State University.  He was the first wide-scale popularizer of the technological singularity concept and among the first authors to present a fictional "cyberspace".  He won the Hugo Award for his novels A Fire Upon the Deep (1992), A Deepness in the Sky (1999), and Rainbows End (2006), and novellas Fast Times at Fairmont High (2001) and The Cookie Monster (2004).  Vinge published his first short story, "Apartness", in the June 1965 issue of the British magazine New Worlds.  His second, "Bookworm, Run!", was in the March 1966 issue of Analog Science Fiction.  The story explores the theme of artificially augmented intelligence by connecting the brain directly to computerised data sources.  He became a moderately prolific contributor to SF magazines in the 1960s and early 1970s.  In 1969, he expanded the story "Grimm's Story" (Orbit 4, 1968) into his first novel, Grimm's World.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vernor_Vinge   

Kindness is always fashionable, and always welcome. - Amelia Barr, novelist (29 Mar 1831-1919)   

http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com  Issue 2795  March  29, 2024