Librarian's Rant

Too many cheese choices in your life? Too little time to choose an appropriate cheese snack? There's a solution! Thanks to Kate on the Chatty list for the link to the Snackulator. Cheeeeese... {does Wallace and Gromit 'cheese' hand motion}

J.K. Rowling has announced the title of the next Harry Potter book: Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince. No release date set, of course.

Today is my 34th birthday. I've just had a lovely 'birthday weekend' while getting some work done at ALA (yes! I did work!). Saw lovely friends, old and new, ate, drank, played and sweated (Florida in June--Yick!).

Many thanks to the Chattylibrarians and others at the conference who made my weekend so convivial--John W. (Ninja Librarian Extraordinaire), Tracey (my shared brain cohort), Brian W. ("The Eyes"), Ayanna (girlfriend!), Amy M., Amy K. and many more. Merci bien, mes amis!

Thanks to the peculiarities of the airline hub system, my lovely friends and my work schedule, I've been up for the better part of the last 36 hours, and still have to close the library, so I'm off to find some caffeine.

I'll leave you with this bit of fun sent to Library Underground by Chris Z.: Wrapped Up in Books Game.

Well, loyal readers, I'm off to sunny Orlando for the ALA Annual Conference. Thanks to the kindness of a friend (thanks, John!) and some quick work on my part, I'm getting to go enjoy the wonder that is the ALA Annual...which means, of course, that I'll be run off my ass for three days. But that's fine. I get to see some old friends, make some new friends, and maybe even take in some House of Mouse activities. Au revoir, friends, until next week!

Sheila, you evil woman, now this is going to be in my head for days...

Judge Suspected of Masturbating in Court. Gah! Presumably jurisprudence in Oklahoma is really, really boring...

Jen on the Chatty list has found me yet another time waster in the Steer the Drunken Man Game. Move your mouse to the left or right of him to try to keep him on track (no need to click). Warning: has sound (not necessary for play). So far my best is 41 meters.

Fireworks make me happy, virtual or not. Sparkle, sparkle!

(And, yes, I'm a bit silly today. Lack of sleep. Excited to be going out of town. Lack of sleep.)

Kate, the Spinster Librarian (who is about to lose her title, I think, by getting married!), brought my attention (via Chatty) to The Top 25 Weirdest Things That You Can Buy on Amazon. They have the Leg Lamp!

Thanks to Joshua on the NexGen list. A piece from The Onion on Operation Due Date.

I'm equally amused by the article on "Science Fiction Writers Have the Bomb"!

This is a bit old news, but I like BoingBoing.net's piece on the RIAA CD deal "RIAA squats and dumps on nation's libraries".

Here's the original piece from MSNBC. Thanks to my buddy Alan for the BoingBoing link

I'm amused that they keep using the Des Moines Library as their example. (I work in suburban Des Moines)

From LII Chief Karen G. Schneider via LISNews: "The Librarians' Index to the Internet is pleased to present a new LII Theme Collection, The Olympic Games. Visit games and Olympians of past, present, and future; explore Athens, the home of the 2004 games; learn about the many different competitions; browse sites related to mascots, collectibles, doping, security, and the Olympic Truce; or just look up a quick fact. Bon appetit!"

I love the Olympics! Prefer the Winter Games, though, for some reason...

When I got a notice from MoveOn.org that Michael Moore's new documentary, Fahrenheit 9/11 was going to be opening the same weekend as the ALA Annual Conference I wondered why ALA and Moore's people didn't organize a special showing at the conference. Well, looks like they have. Got this email via Library Underground (thanks, Joel):

Forwarded from the SRRT mailing list:

Dear Colleagues,

Fahrenheit 9/11 will be shown at ALA in the Auditorium at the Convention Center, Sunday night, June 27, at 10 pm.

There will be a $10 donation that will go to ALA's efforts in the areas of the First Amendment, Intellectual Freedom, and the struggle against the USA PATRIOT Act.

Thanks to Ann Sparanese with an assist from me, ALA was able to arrange with Lions Gate (the distributor) to show the movie at ALA as a benefit.

It originally was supposed to be a benefit for the APA Salaries Initiative, but Lions Gate would not agree to that because donations to a c6 are not tax deductible.

Please redistribute and post at will.

See you all there.

mitch

Maurice J. Freedman, MLS, PhD
Immediate Past-President, American Library Association
Director, Westchester Library System

In other Moore news, it looks like Ray Bradbury is having a little hissy about the "use" of his book title. Well, actually Ray, it's an homage and completely within Moore's rights as a fellow creator, as I understand them (standard disclaimer, I guess). How sad that the author who wrote the seminal work on the frightening logical extensions of censorship, should try to censor another artist's work. I agree Moore's people should have handled this better, but I feel as if Moore's film reiterates, to some extent, Bradbury's arguments about the dangerous effects of controlled thought.

Too cute! The Librarian Smiles at Me.

Thanks, Joy!

Those Chatty Librarians will be the death of me, for sure. A new time waster. You doodle and then it takes your doodle and redraws it. Along the way, you can change the properties like color and line thickness. Productivity today = zero!

My friend Michael knows I am a "Canuckophile" (our word), so he sent me this lovely site. Cool, eh?