Friday, November 19, 2004
Have a spiffy weekend, everyone. See you Monday!
Friday, November 12, 2004
Links from others! Thanks, everyone.
From Glenna: a petition to impeach Bush. Also, a quiz to determine which crazy poet you are. (I was a tie between Sylvia Plath and Byron. Yikes.)
From Daniel: cartograms of the election results showing what votes came from where. I think it makes the nation look diseased, but perhaps that's the point. Also from Daniel: a spiffy neato little TV that looks like it's straight out of the '50s.
From Kathryn: find out what happens when you have a haiku contest in Alaska.
From Paul: find out what the number 1 song was on the day you were born in America and/or the UK. My songs were "American Pie" and "I'd Like to Teach the World to Sing (In Perfect Harmony)." Paul has decided that this means I am the quintessential all-American girl, what with the pie and the Coca-Cola. I think Paul needs to shut up.
Swiped from Jimmylegs: "Sunday Bloody Sunday"... as sung by George W. Bush. Eeeep.
From a librarian: Gamegrene, for all you alternative-minded gamers out there!
Next week I'm going to be at the Internet Librarian conference in Monterey. I'll have email access, but Folderol will be on a week's vacation. Have a good weekend and week, everyone -- see you in a week or so!
Thursday, November 11, 2004
I have to admit that I like this new trend toward making professors and librarians into the ubercool investigators of secret knowledge. It started with Indiana Jones and now (probably thanks to The DaVinci Code) it's back. "The Librarian," a TNT movie coming out in December, stars Noah Wyle as the heroic librarian and also, inexplicably, features Bob Newhart.
Also, information professionals are cool because they are quirky and hold funerals for old code. Hee.
You know Wikipedia has made it big when it's the subject of an Onion op-ed piece. (The accuracy of wikis has been a contentious issue amongst librarians lately.)
The Surgeon General has initiated an interesting family health history project. Part of me says, "ooh, cool, genealogical research manna!" and part of me says "yikes, medical history online, right out there for the taking!"
The New York Subway is celebrating its history this year, and you can check out some very cool historical maps as a result.
For newshounds and researchers: Regret the Error checks up on the media so you don't have to. There's also the chance of seeing some unintentionally hilarious mistakes. Back when I worked at a newspaper, we once ran a correction which said something like, "we incorrectly reported that people should inject [some kind of allergy medicine] directly into their scalp." Ow!
Tomorrow: links from others.
Wednesday, November 10, 2004
There are all sorts of weird things going on in the world right now, politics aside. A Pennsylvania ghost has been caught on videotape. A bizarre cult of Germans living in Chile is just now surfacing in public. The government is working on psychic teleportation (woohoo!). And while war rages on around the world, Fortean Times looks at the odd connections throughout history between magic and warfare.
Tuesday, November 09, 2004
From Daniel: forget about moving to Canada. Let's just move some of Canada south instead.
From both Daniel and Glenna: why Kerry won Ohio. Yes, really.
From Satori: Mr. Rogers's neighborhood is alive and well and living in Pittsburgh!
From Glenna via Amanda: join Americans United for the Separation of Church and State. It's the least we can do to help the nation before it goes completely fruitcake fundamentalist. (See, I am incorporating yesterday's phrase into casual conversation.)
Also from Glenna: it's belated, but you can shoot people to discover where your true sympathies lie and who you should (have) vote(d) for. It was spot on for me. (I am a "left wing communist" who really wanted to vote for someone more liberal, like Nader, but voted for Kerry. Heh.)
From Holly: as the Live Aid DVD comes out, performers remember their experiences. Incidentally, this is not the entire concert; a lot's been cut out. Sad, really.
Monday, November 08, 2004
The UK examines prejudice, thanks to some reggae artists who are singing anti-gay lyrics. Incidentally, the article labels the religious right in the U.S. as "fruitcake fundamentalism," which is my new favorite phrase.
More politics meeting art: filmmaker Theo Van Gogh has been murdered in Amsterdam, most likely due to his outspokeness on Islam. Eeeek.
In less bleak news, why not try your hand at being an extra in a Romanian zombie movie? It looks like fun. Try to avoid any real-life fights that break out, though.
Also, the mad scientist image of shooting electricity through someone's brain is actually being taken seriously. Apparently it helps one's memory. No word on what it does if you work with delicate electronic equipment.
And finally, a personal request. I'm going to be in California next week for the Internet Librarian conference (ooooh, ahhhh) and I'm going to be on my own, trying to look professional and not like a lost little kid (which is how I will feel). The conference is featuring "dine-arounds" in which you sign up to go to a restaurant in the Monterey area and talk about specific themes. Check the list out and recommend a restaurant and/or topic to me! I could use some advice, especially if you're either a librarian or familiar with Monterey.
