Happy Birthday

Join the chorus of "Happy Birthday" to North Carroll Library, which celebrates its first anniversary from 1 to 3 p.m. Saturday.Treat the family to all the festive activities, including entertainment, visits by storybook characters, face painting, free pizza and door prizes.Children age 3 to 8 are invited to a special program at 1:30 p.m.North Carroll Middle and North Carroll High School will join the gala, striking up their bands at 2:30 p.m.The staff also plans a "Forever Friends" program for area families at 11 a.m. Saturday.

A community-minded church nestled on Mount Airy's Main Street has found a secret to keeping enthusiasm for each year's Christmas celebration, even after Dec. 25, through bells, baby gifts and birthday cakes.For the past six years, Calvary United Methodist Church has sponsored a Happy Birthday Jesus celebration on the Sunday after Christmas at the 8:30 a.m. and 11 a.m. worship services.The tradition will continue Sunday, and the community is invited.The Sunday after Christmas is "often seen as a let-down Sunday in the life of the church," said the Rev. Carol Yocum, pastor of Calvary UMC."

CAMBRIDGE, England - They arrived armed with stories about a man and theories about the universe. They talked of a genius and friendship. And they celebrated a 60th birthday that some called "a miracle." During a work week of parties and lectures, Cambridge University physicist and cosmologist Stephen Hawking was lauded by colleagues as an original thinker, a cherished confidant and a gritty survivor who - despite all predictions to the contrary - has lived for decades after receiving a diagnosis of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, known as Lou Gehrig's disease.

One Baltimore woman eating out for her birthday got an extra treat when one of her favorite actresses, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, sat down at the next table. "OMG," Tweeted blogger Fadra Nally, who was turning 42 and celebrating at Cinghiale in Harbor East . "I'm out for my birthday dinner in downtown Baltimore and JULIA LOUIS DREYFUS just sat at the table next to me!!!!!" The actress returned to town last weekend to resume filming her HBO show "VEEP. " Nally, who was out with her husband, watched out of the corner of her eye as Louis-Dreyfus, in a party of three, sat down and slipped on some glasses to read the menu.

We are talking today about social graces on social media, and I don't mean Congressman Anthony Weiner and his over-sharing. We will save that compelling topic for another time. No, today we are talking about me and my birthday and my flooded basement and my Facebook page. I awoke that morning to my cellphone chirping like the birds outside my bedroom window, as dozens of birthday greetings flowed in from every corner of Facebook, and I felt the love. This is a kind of artificial love, but it is love.

Everyone who opts into the $20 fixed-price lunch menu at Petit Louis this week receives a complimentary glass of champagne and a slice of birthday cake. It's in celebration of the Roland Park restaurant's 11th anniversary. Happy birthday, Petit Louis , or as they say in French, ou est la bibliotheque ?      

AS IF there weren't already enough irritating aspects to modern life, along comes the wonderful world of technology to offer us two more. First there is this: Banks are coming out with talking ATMs that greet you by name and wish you a happy birthday. The idea of a talking ATM is disturbing enough, of course. Who needs another hollow, insincere, computer-generated voice in his or her life? ("Please, stay on the line. Your call is important to us ...") To the more paranoid among us, it also summons visions of a petulant ATM flip-out like the one the super-computer Hal experienced in the movie "2001: A Space Odyssey."

Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday, dear Mom, Happy birthday to you.Looks awful in print, doesn't it? It's certainly not the kind of greeting you'd write in a birthday card to your mother. But delivered with gusto by one or more slightly off-key voices, "Happy Birthday" always conveys its message -- your love and best wishes.So why not deliver it via e-mail?It's easy to attach a voice message to electronic mail, whether it's a birthday song or an explanation of a business plan.

Coin convention Check your pockets, raid the piggy bank and dust off the safe-deposit box. Gather those old coins and any rare paper money you've been stashing, and find out if they're more valuable than you thought at the Suburban Washington/Baltimore Coin and Currency Convention tomorrow through Sunday at the Baltimore Convention Center. Browse tables from more than 750 dealers, participate in coin auctions, see the "Billion Dollar Currency Exhibit" by the Bureau of Engraving and Printing, attend educational seminars, free appraisal sessions and evaluation clinics, have your coins graded, learn how to look up values, receive a show-issued souvenir card, and for young numismatists -- ages 12 and under -- receive free coins, information and supplies.

Bill Herold at the Susky River Grille, at 600 Rowland Drive, presents Cecil County's only comedy club, the "Laff Lounge," on Saturday nights throughout the summer. This Saturday, June 16, Dennis Ross will perform at 9 p.m. and next Saturday, June 23, comedian Rob Reibold will take the stage at 9 p.m. Tickets for the "Laff Lounge" are $10 each and can be reserved by calling the restaurant, 410-378-4600. The officers and board of directors of the Port Deposit Heritage Corporation met June 6 in the upstairs board room of the Paw Paw Building.