Librarian's Rant

Via LISNews, an amusing little karaoke ditty about the nails-on-a-blackboard annoyance that is the amateur geneaologist. A sample (sung to 'Desperado'):

Genealogist
Why don't you come to your senses
You've been here reading census
For too long I say...

Cute!

Bad, bad, scary news from Maine today: Bill would make libraries tell what kids read:

Critics of the bill told a legislative committee the measure would needlessly violate the privacy of children, force libraries to make potentially tough decisions about who should have access to records, and discourage young people from using libraries at a time when society is trying to encourage children to read.

...Hotham, who was the only supporter of the bill at a hearing held by the Legislature's Education Committee, said he filed the bill on behalf of a 15-year-old from Peru, Maine. Hotham said the girl...was upset when a librarian who called her home to check on an overdue book that the girl had taken out refused to identify the book to the girl's mother.

The girl was upset? Imagine how upset she'll be when she's a few years older and mom can know if she's checking out books on sex or anorexia or dating. Or, heaven forbid, civil liberties.

Thanks to Ken P. for the heads up.

According to Brian, today marks exactly 42 days until the opening of the new HGTG movie.

Break out that ol' Janx Spirit!

Proof that Sauron has prevailed: Lord of the Rings becomes a musical.

And I don't mean the tap-dancing Hobbits parody playing in L.A.

The comments at Slashdot are hysterical, though.

The official site for the musical is here. Pretty graphics, I'll give them that. I'm just...deeply worried.

From the NY Times, No Need to Stew: A Few Tips to Cope With Life's Annoyances.

To examine the little weapons people use for everyday survival is to be given a free guidebook on getting by, created by the millions who feel that they must. It is a case study in human inventiveness, with occasional juvenile and petty passages, and the originators of these tips are happy to share them.

...When ordering a pizza from Domino's, Mr. Kirk says he always requests a "small," knowing that he will be corrected and told that medium is the smallest available size. "It makes me feel better to point out that their word games aren't fooling anyone," he said.

...[note from the Rant: this is my favorite!] Mitch Altman, a 48-year old inventor living in San Francisco, said that in the last three months he has sold about 30,000 of his key-chain-size zappers called TV-B-Gone, which can be used discreetly to switch off televisions in public places. "When you go to a restaurant to talk with friends, why should you have to deal with the distraction of a ceiling-mounted television?" Mr. Altman said.

Okay, I was monkeying around on that TV theme show site I posted about earlier, and went to a link about Jan Smithers, who played Bailey Quarters on WKRP in Cincinnati (a show I loved). So on the ClothMonkey site was a fan page to Jan, including this classic bit:

John Updike once wrote about plain, unadorned, natural women being "juicier" than the more conventionally attractive types, and as time has passed I have learned the great wisdom of that observation. All my best nights have been with librarians.

Although the descriptions are badly written, there are some fun links at this site of the Top 100 Greatest TV Themes from Retrocrush.

I'm trying, once again, turning the comments back on. It's not that I don't want to hear from you, dear readers! It's the damn spammers. We'll see how this goes...

Louise.

IPL is 10 years old! And to think, I was there at its birth...and no sticky goo or anything!

Congrats, folks. You've earned the accolades!

Andre Norton has died.

Pirate!
You are a scurvy Pirate.


Monkey, Ninja, Pirate, Robot?
brought to you by Quizilla

Thanks, Akeisha!

Our Iowa legislature (Republican controlled) just passed a disturbing resolution. Yesterday the Iowa House passed HJR 1 by a vote of 54-44. What's the gist? House Joint Resolution 1, an amendment to the Iowa Constitution that states that "only marriage between a man and a woman shall be valid or recognized."

This after a VERY disappointing 'debate' at Drake on the same-sex marriage issue last week. I really despair. There were plenty of people there in support of same-sex marriage, but I suspect less than a dozen of them actually called their state legislators to voice their opinion. 54 to 44? Sad.

Then again, this is the same state (and almost the same legislative makeup) that came up with the 'English only' law. Sigh.

The Homosexual Agenda.

I like 2:30pm.

Thanks, Akeisha

http://www.cnn.com/2005/TECH/internet/03/11/blogs.reut/index.html - "Internet bloggers should enjoy traditional press freedoms and not face regulation as political groups, lawmakers and online journalists said Friday."

Well, at least some lawmakers have a clue, but I worry about the FEC's reaction. How do you define a 'political' blog? I have political content and *opinions*, for instance, but I also have pirates and Hello Kitty toys. No, of course they're not going after me, but I'd hate to see some knee-jerk piece of FEC legislation make me keep my mouth shut. That just wouldn't be pretty...

A Day In The Life Of...Darth Vader.

Thanks, Akeisha.