Librarian's Rant

Amusing site (thanks, Peter): NetDisaster. Choose a web page to 'hit'. Choose a 'Catastrophe' -- from mold to dinos to wasps! -- and let rip. Here's what happened when I 'mold'ed the ALA site



and spilled some coffee...

Browsing Amazon.com today, I notice that the pages for individual titles are no longer cluttered on the left with additional frames of info. Interesting. If nothing else, it will make the pages easier to print. I wonder why the change?

At http://www.biography.com/soulmate/

Based on clues I chose...James Baldwin. Figures. The gay guy. Of course. The course of (dead) true love never runs smooth. Or straight.

But how cool would it be to hang out in Montmartre with James Baldwin?!

My other 'choices' were daVinci or Beethoven. I'm just not sure what this says about me...

Thanks Rita.

I love my friends. No, seriously. They rock (or 'rawk', or whatever the kids are saying these days). Why? Cuz AmyM sent me the following article from SFGate and made my week:

Unitarian Jihad (Jon Carroll)

The following is the first communique from a group calling itself Unitarian Jihad.

...We are Unitarian Jihad. We are everywhere. We have not been born again, nor have we sworn a blood oath. We do not think that God cares what we read, what we eat or whom we sleep with. Brother Neutron Bomb of Serenity notes for the record that he does not have a moral code but is nevertheless a good person, and Unexalted Leader Garrote of Forgiveness stipulates that Brother Neutron Bomb of Serenity is a good person, and this is to be reflected in the minutes.

Beware! Unless you people shut up and begin acting like grown-ups with brains enough to understand the difference between political belief and personal faith, the Unitarian Jihad will begin a series of terrorist-like actions. We will take over television studios, kidnap so-called commentators and broadcast calm, well-reasoned discussions of the issues of the day. We will not try for "balance" by hiring fruitcakes; we will try for balance by hiring non-ideologues who have carefully thought through the issues.

Don't forget to choose your Unitarian jihad name.

Yours in the cause, Sister Broadsword of Love and Mercy
(aka Sister Immaculate Neutron Bomb of Contemplation)

From the NYTimes online yesterday in an article about how the show Spamalot (which I saw in Chicago in January--whoop!) is bringing straight boys to Broadway:

"If I were of frat boy age and I had $100, would I opt for a Broadway ticket or would I want to spend that on booze and drugs?" Mr. [Harvey] Fierstein asked. "Even I, and I am as gay as a pink leather piñata, would choose booze and drugs."

::cue the Wallace and Gromit 'cheese' hand motion::

SCIENTISTS NAME WORLD’S WHIFFIEST CHEESE

Vieux Boulogne, a soft, yet firm French cheese made from cow’s milk and matured by washing with beer, tops a list of the smelliest cheeses reveals scientists today....

“Love it or loathe it, the sign of a fine cheese is often its characteristic smell as well as its flavour and texture and we wanted to find out if France’s reputation for producing smelly cheeses was true,� said Sally Clarke from Fine Cheeses from France.

Dr Stephen White, senior research officer Cranfield University led the study by using an electronic nose as well as a human olfactory panel to sniff out those with the strongest scent.

Okay, I've been following with less than half an eye the story of the poor Chinese delivery guy who got stuck in an elevator for three days in the Bronx. This follow-up from the NYTimes, however, gave me pause. It seems they broke down doors (without warrants, presumably, due to "circumstances that required immediate action") of residents, but didn't think to check all the elevators, even though the delivery guy had called security from the car! WTF? A combo of bad communication, territoriality and (so it seems) corporate ass-covering have made for a Three Stooges week in the Bronx. Oh, yeah, and now the guy may be deported? Welcome to the land of the free, home of the brave.

I've been saying for over a week that the peculiar form that spring fever has been taking this year has been--instead of "happy-squirrely" as usual when the days get longer and the air warmer--more like "angry-squirrely" (my term). I cannot explain it any better, but folks are just...edgy. And here in Iowa, that's really rare. And noticeable.

So...I was emailing a colleague of mine and mentioned, jokingly, that none of the equipment (or people!) in the library was working quite right today and that I 'blamed sunspots'. Being a librarian my buddy AmyM sent me the following:

Sunspots in History Sunspots seem to get blamed for a LOT. I take it with a giant dollop of salt, but it's interesting to think about.

I found this 'take' on the subject rather amusing: Sunspot Cycles and Activist Strategy If you're planning a protest or action, check the cycle!

And finally, proof that I'm not (entirely) crazy--that this week in particular is *freaky*: Sunspot activity for yesterday from NOAA (via a Belgian amateur astonomer's site).

Who knows? All I know is that our printer freaked out for no reason, patrons are just wigged out, and our phone, Internet and network connections were frazzled all day (though that may have been human intervention). Can I go home now??

Via Bernie Sloan on the Web4Lib list, some further responses to so-called 'Gormangate':

News item by Andrew Albanese:
http://www.libraryjournal.com/article/CA512196

Editorial by Francine Fialkoff:
http://www.libraryjournal.com/article/CA512180

Letters to the Editor:
http://www.libraryjournal.com/article/CA512182

I don't know. I like to see us, as a profession, discussing topics. From debate comes (potentially) progress, change and greater understanding. Also tension, strife and schism, but let's try to avoid that, okay folks?

From CNN.com:

"Reuters: Italian media reporting Pope John Paul II has died. CNN working to confirm."

They then pulled this off their website. April Fools or bad reporting?? With CNN, could be either. I'll have to call my friend at Reuters and see...

BOOK NEWS: Winfrey Launches Online Bookseller Oprazon.com

and they couldn't resist a little 'dig' at NextGens: Call for information: LJ Seeks Next Generation Librarian of the Year

and finally...the Blog People did in Michael Gorman!

Michael Gorman, president-elect of the American Library Association (ALA), has stepped down just months before assuming office. “It was the blog people, they did it,� said RLG’s Walt Crawford, a friend and co-author (Future Libraries: Dreams, Madness & Reality; ALA, 1995). “They made Mike’s life a living hell,� Crawford said in reference to the outcry following the publication of Gorman’s essay “The Revenge of the Blog People.�

Todd G. sent me this: Pat Buchanan Doused With Salad Dressing

Commentator and former presidential candidate Pat Buchanan cut short an appearance after an opponent of his conservative views doused him with salad dressing.

"Stop the bigotry!" the demonstrator shouted as he hurled the liquid Thursday night during the program at Western Michigan University. The incident came just two days after another noted conservative, William Kristol, was struck by a pie during an appearance at a college in Indiana.

After he was hit, Buchanan cut short his question-and-answer session with the audience, saying, "Thank you all for coming, but I'm going to have to get my hair washed."

Oh, for pete's sake! THIS is the level of political dialogue on our nation's campuses? Get a grip, kiddies! And a clue. You only help them when you lash out like this.

And besides, it's a waste of a perfectly good pie.

I love April Fools' Day on the Web. Google tends to lead the pack with their clever hoaxes. Some examples:

Google Gulp
http://www.google.com/googlegulp/

Google has also taken leaps ahead in their email storage capacity:
Gmail Infinity+1
http://gmail.google.com/gmail

A Google approach to math.
On the eve of Gmail's one-year birthday, our engineers were toiling away furiously. Notes scribbled all over the walls. Complex calculations on napkins and empty pizza boxes. Millions of M&Ms.

The result?... starting today, we're beginning the roll-out of our new and top secret Infinity+1 storage plan.

In addition, Bloglines has decided to innovate for the galactic masses:

Bloglines in Klingon
http://www.bloglines.com/about/news#81

Bloglines, the world's most popular free online service for searching, subscribing, publishing and sharing news feeds, blogs and rich web content, today opened the doors of its service to audiences beyond our solar system with a new translation in Klingon, the galaxy's fastest-spreading invented language.

"The custom of sharing grand stories of conquest and battle has a long standing history among the Klingon people," said Mark Fletcher, founder of Bloglines. "Blogging is simply an easy way to continue the tradition while stuck in deep space, away from your family. We feel that presenting Bloglines in the Warrior Tongue was long overdue."

Snopes has a Roundup of some great examples of today's hoaxes.

I can take no credit for the mining--these come from Akeisha, the link mistress