Solvo Ex Libris (free bookplates)

Posted on November 4, 2009 by Leslie Sigal Javorek | Leave a comment

Posted By: Leslie Sigal Javorek • Date: Wed, Nov 4, 2009 6:45 am

The statistics for the percentage of adults in the USA who read books for pleasure is surprisingly (and dismally) low at only 20%. The percentage of adults in the USA who are illiterate is 15%. I don’t know whether the latter group includes those who are illiterate or not but either way, it strikes me as rather sad that so many people seem to have stopped picking up a book as soon as they got out of school. Now, I’m not one of those who rails against television or movies as I certainly watch and enjoy my fair share. But as an avid reader (generally, a book every day or two when I’m not on chemo) I’ve always thought that there’s something magical about reading a good book that I just don’t get from watching some director’s vision of the author’s words. Imagining the characters, their voices, what they look like, the locations, and being somewhat in control of the pacing makes me feel much more involved in the story (be it fiction or non-fiction) as it allows me to actually feel the tale from the point of view of the narrator. When I’m just watching a film or TV show, it is extremely rare for me to get so caught up in it that I can actually smell the heroines perfume or the salty sea breeze or feel the snow falling on the tip of my nose. But a well-written book will do it every time.

Whenever I come across an especially fine read, I like to share it with my friends so we can talk about it. Consequently, I’m often loaning out my books or buying a second or third copy to give away as gifts. In either situation, I always thought it was both useful and classy to have a bookplate attached on the inside front cover that claimed the book as my own or which dedicated it to a special friend. So for tonight’s post, I’ve got something a little different: a choice of 24 different bookplates. The downloadable files are formatted for printing at 300dpi for a finished size of 3.5″ x 3.5″. You can print them out on any kind of paper you want, but they will look best if printed on a semi-gloss or glossy premium photo paper or label stock which is readily available at most office supply stores or via this link at amazon.com. Hint: If you want to write your name on the printed label, be sure to use a permanent marker like this one to avoid smudges.

Just like all of my other artwork made available for downloading on this blog, these are yours to enjoy whether on your monitor or printed out free of cost – but for your personal use only. (If you wish to re-post them elsewhere, the artwork must be attributed to me and you must include a copy of my Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License. If you wish to use them in any commercial endeavor, whether in full or in part, please contact me directly to get an appropriate license. I appreciate your respect for those terms and my efforts. Thanks! and Enjoy!

Free Icons of the Day

The following image is a reduced size preview. Simply right-click (or control-click) on it to save a zipped file to your desktop that has 24 files (each image is in .png format for 300dpi, 3.5″x3.5″ printed size).

Cleveland Indians & Art Deco Icons

Posted on October 28, 2009 by Leslie Sigal Javorek | 1 Comment

Posted by: Leslie Sigal Javorek • Date: Wed, Oct 28, 2009 10:20 pm

This time of year always puts me in a nostalgic mood. Remembering walking to school in the mornings while it still was dark and being spooked by the sounds of the neighborhood waking up; freezing my buns off at the after-school football games because mini-skirts were far more important back then than keeping warm; and going through the roller-coaster emotions wondering whether my city’s home team, the Cleveland Indians, were finally going to make it into the World Series. The latter memory has been a perennial obsession for most of us in northeast Ohio. We want to believe so much in our team but just about every year, the team’s owner’s do their best imitation of Lucy to the fans’ Charlie Brown by stealing our chances away. I’m not a gambler but for those of you who are, here’s a tip. Watch the Cleveland Indians for the first half of the season and whoever is the best player, our best chance of making it to the Big Game, not only can you count on that player being traded away before the season’s over, whichever team they are traded to is a near-perfect predictor of at least one of the teams that will play in the World Series either that year and/or the next. This is not my imagination nor, of course, am I the first to notice this phenomenon. This year, it’s C.C. Sabathia who’s now a Yankee and our old coach, Charlie Manual, who’s brought the Philadelphia Phillies to the Series. I am by no means an expert sport’s analyst, but with a long pattern like this, it’s hard not to wonder whether the Indian’s are in fact not a major league team but rather the world’s best AAA-baseball team rewarded by being allowed to play with the majors but never taken seriously by their owners. As Charlie Brown would say, “AAUGH!”

Well, enough moaning and moping. Tonight I’ve decided to catch up with the rest of my Fox Spokane icon series (copper-toned art deco). If you haven’t already got the previous entries, check them out here and here. Enjoy!

Free Clip-Art / Icons of the Day

The following images are either full or reduced size previews. Simply right-click (or control-click) on the preview to save the image(s) of your choice to your desktop. (Unless otherwise noted, images are 512px X 512px in .png format). As always, usage of any of the images offered in the “Free Clip-Art / Icons of the Day” section are free for your personal use, subject to the limitations of my Creative Commons Non-Commercial – Attribution – No Derivatives – Share Alike- 3.0 license. (See sidebar for Terms of Use) For commercial or any other use, please contact me for directly.

Fox Spokane - pkg 1 Preview - CLICK TO DOWNLOAD

Fox Spokane - pkg 2 - CLICK TO DOWNLOAD

Fox Spokane - Servers - CLICK TO DOWNLOAD

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The Moral Chorale

Posted on October 16, 2009 by Leslie Sigal Javorek | Leave a comment

Posted by: Leslie Sigal Javorek • Date: Fri, Oct 16, 2009 1:30 am

The other day, Ali Ersen Erol, posted a comment to my earlier post, “Thoughts on Truth and Justice” which lead me to recall a bit of an old quote about legislating morality. At the time, I could not recall the full quotation and so tonight I got around to looking it up. Turns out it was from a speech by Martin Luther King, Jr. in which he stated:

“Morality cannot be legislated, but behavior can be regulated. Judicial decrees may not change the heart, but they can restrain the heartless.” – Martin Luther King, Jr.

I’m wondering: If playing too many violent video games can desensitize kids to violence, if viewing fast food commercials late at night can make you hungry, if regularly going to porn sites can blur the lines between passion and debasement, and if frequent exposure to shopping malls and e-bay can lure even the most frugal to be more willing to spend, then why are we human beings not as easily swayed by positive messages and role models?

Why is it so much harder to convince people to strive to be kind, loving, forgiving, and honest than it is to entice them to be greedy, gluttonous, shallow, callow, vengeful and selfish? It seems that either you’re born with an understanding of honor and morality or you’re not. Not to say it’s not important to teach our children right from wrong but I do wonder whether such education and role-modeling has any positive effect at all unless an individual has the ability in the brain to receive those messages, which are apparently far more subtle and esoteric than their negative counterparts. Am I wrong about this? Or are we forever doomed only to be able to preach to the choir?

A few more words on the subject of morality from men and women far wiser than I…

“It is not what a lawyer tells me I may do, but what humanity, reason, and justice tell me I ought to do.” – Edmund Burke (Irish statesman and orator, 1729-1797)

“There is no readier way for a man to bring his own worth into question than by endeavoring to detract from the worth of other men.” – John Tillotson (English prelate, 1630-1694)

“You can’t escape the responsibility of tomorrow by evading it today.” – Abraham Lincoln (16th U.S. president, 1809-1865)

“Tell the truth, and so puzzle and confound your adversaries.” – Henry Wotton, Sr. (English author and diplomat, 1568-1639)

“The man who fears no truth has nothing to fear from lies.” – Thomas Jefferson (3rd U.S. president, 1762-1826)

“Though force can protect in emergency, only justice, fairness, consideration and cooperation can finally lead men to the dawn of eternal peace.” – Dwight David Eisenhower (34th U.S. president, 1890-1969)

“In a controversy, the instant we feel anger, we have already ceased striving for truth and have begun striving for ourselves.” – Abraham J. Heschel (Jewish theologian and philosopher, 1907-1972)

Free Clip-Art / Icons of the Day

The following images are either full or reduced size previews. Simply right-click (or control-click) on the preview to save the image(s) of your choice to your desktop. (Unless otherwise noted, downloads are 512px X 512px in .png format). As always, usage of any of the images offered in the “Free Clip-Art / Icons of the Day” section are free for your personal use, subject to the limitations of my Creative Commons Non-Commercial – Attribution – No Derivatives – Share Alike- 3.0 license. (See sidebar for Terms of Use) For commercial or any other use, please contact me for directly.

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