One more for the road - 21 November 2008
Nov. 21st, 2008 05:40 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
silveradeptMy librarian self starts with a "Huh." Namely, The Text 118118 service, which will offer SMS answers to SMS questions. 160 characters, perfect for quick reference. Why don't we do stuff like this? We've got stuff like QuestionPoint that will triage and store and make it easy to do e-mail and chat reference services - why can't we get a nice SMS plan and answer questions through that way? It would be easy and if we consorted with places, there could be a 24/7 possibility for those times when someone needs a Guiness Record at the pub. Or to warn someone away from watching the Twilight movie.
Also, this ties into another important thing - all that time spent on the Internet socializing is good for teenagers. No, really! This is another reason why we need to be where they are, instead of expecting them to come to us.
And before we get into the meat of things, we start with art - Rene Magritte, most famous for "The Son of Man", which at least one person on my Friends List has subtly altered to fit her tastes.
Internationally, Iraq is asking to accelerate the security transfer process, apparently something that makes the military people here have second thoughts. And your feel-good cathartic Iraq stories is that the person behind the killing of a reservist in Iraq has been killed himself in a raid. There, don't you feel better? No? Then maybe a stirring tribute to a recently deceased, long-lived Marine. Doesn't your heart swell with pride now and make you want to enlist?
Machinations in Venezuela, elections, and speculation that Hugo Chavez may not be able to hold onto his power without extraordinary action.
In the domestic sphere, even Barney the Dinosaur wants sound science in the Texas curriculum, but they may have difficulty getting past the creationist-friendly State Board. The General has his own take on the matter, including the obvious implications of Barney's coloration. Perhaps we could get the person who filed the amicus as God to provide some help?
The pentagon takes 1,500 computers offline because of a cyber-attack. And makes it sound positively ho-hum. What's scarier? The Secretary of Defense wasn't worried about his e-mail being compromised because he doesn't use e-mail. The Secretary in charge of a department that has to be able to move at the speed of transmission, if not faster, doesn't use e-mail. If I were feeling snarky, I'd say, "Oh, so that's why it always seems like the military is behind, even when it's supposed to be a high-technology operation." More seriously, cybercrime is a very costly enterprise, possibly leading to a different sort of crisis.
And that slow news day? Continues. Speculation as to whether President Obama will have sex with his wife while in the Whtie House. In other news, water wet, bears defecate in wooded areas, Bishop of Rome a Catholic.
Perhaps slightly more interesting is that Governor Palin appears not to understand that after pardoning a turkey, having an interview where turkeys are being slaughtered on camera is probably a bad idea.
But then we're back to mocking Thomas Kincade's attempt at a movie, gone straight to video, and apparently made with certain visual guidelines in mind. For a change of pace, Matt Duffin's art.
In the opinions, speculation on whether President-elect Obama should visit Georgia in support of the Democratic Senatorial candidate for the runoff, taking a risk on whether he thinks he can hit sixty by campaigning. Larry Elder goes after the President-elect on the Iraq conflict, trying to convince us that the alternative to what we did would have been far worse, as Emmett Tyrrell calls the President-elect "the first motivational speaker elected president" en route to saying he should follow Gordon Brown when it comes to economics, because his lack of experience means he needs a mentor.
And Ann Coulter gives her ringing endorsement of the outgoing administration...by extolling their bipartisan virtures...of what they did before the first major event that defined the presidency. And then says that the incoming President-elect isn't doing anything like all that outreach that the current President did. Well, before that event, anyway. Seriously, Ms. Coulter, if you're going to make the case for a bipartisan, meet your enemies and work with them presidency, shouldn't you include examples from all eight years, instead of the first two?
LaShawn Barber tries a column about how the President-elect should end racial preferences by acknowledging that a core issue is one of socioeconomic class, and hoping that the President-elect will steer his assistance decisions in that way and away from race. There's something to be said for that, and perhaps, if the focus is retooled, we find out that the amount of aid and assistance stays basically the same and to the same places, but some groups may be reworked. A poential worry is that retooling the focus means that minority acceptance and hiring drops out totally because there are enough socioeconomically disadvantaged majority-race folk to fill positions. I don't recall the exact study, but I do remember something that employers prefer names that sound like their own ethnic group over others. And, of course, there will always be racists who have control over hiring. I'd have to ask whether or not most African-Americans feel that affirmative action policies are insulting to them because it uses a lower standard for them, or whether they're happy to be able to do things that their parents or siblings may not have been able to. I don't know.
In our science and tech departments, A frikkin' huge (relatively speaking) single-celled organism, more on using electric signals from the surface of the cranium to control devices, more on using the ocean's different temperatures to generate power, the possibility of using light to stimulate ear neurons, which would allow for much more complex tones to be understood by the deaf, Hond's electric supercar, which would do well in the Bay Area of California, which approved a $1 billion plan to build battery-exchange points, plug-in spots, and control centers for electric vehicles, Google's CEO on using what we've learned about the Internet to make energy more efficient and innovative, and Google rolling out a way for users to customize their search results and have them annotated and saved.
Last for tonight, we go back to the art world with two great bits - phenomenaly cute mascots for blood donation, courtesy of Japan. If those were the things that were asking me to donate blood, especially Kokoron-chan, I think I'd be much more regular about the matter than I am. Which reminds me, I'm eligible again - once I knock the sniffles away, I'll go get myself stuck. And finally, Lunch Bag Art, which takes the brown bag and makes it into a canvas. Awesome!
Also, this ties into another important thing - all that time spent on the Internet socializing is good for teenagers. No, really! This is another reason why we need to be where they are, instead of expecting them to come to us.
And before we get into the meat of things, we start with art - Rene Magritte, most famous for "The Son of Man", which at least one person on my Friends List has subtly altered to fit her tastes.
Internationally, Iraq is asking to accelerate the security transfer process, apparently something that makes the military people here have second thoughts. And your feel-good cathartic Iraq stories is that the person behind the killing of a reservist in Iraq has been killed himself in a raid. There, don't you feel better? No? Then maybe a stirring tribute to a recently deceased, long-lived Marine. Doesn't your heart swell with pride now and make you want to enlist?
Machinations in Venezuela, elections, and speculation that Hugo Chavez may not be able to hold onto his power without extraordinary action.
In the domestic sphere, even Barney the Dinosaur wants sound science in the Texas curriculum, but they may have difficulty getting past the creationist-friendly State Board. The General has his own take on the matter, including the obvious implications of Barney's coloration. Perhaps we could get the person who filed the amicus as God to provide some help?
The pentagon takes 1,500 computers offline because of a cyber-attack. And makes it sound positively ho-hum. What's scarier? The Secretary of Defense wasn't worried about his e-mail being compromised because he doesn't use e-mail. The Secretary in charge of a department that has to be able to move at the speed of transmission, if not faster, doesn't use e-mail. If I were feeling snarky, I'd say, "Oh, so that's why it always seems like the military is behind, even when it's supposed to be a high-technology operation." More seriously, cybercrime is a very costly enterprise, possibly leading to a different sort of crisis.
And that slow news day? Continues. Speculation as to whether President Obama will have sex with his wife while in the Whtie House. In other news, water wet, bears defecate in wooded areas, Bishop of Rome a Catholic.
Perhaps slightly more interesting is that Governor Palin appears not to understand that after pardoning a turkey, having an interview where turkeys are being slaughtered on camera is probably a bad idea.
But then we're back to mocking Thomas Kincade's attempt at a movie, gone straight to video, and apparently made with certain visual guidelines in mind. For a change of pace, Matt Duffin's art.
In the opinions, speculation on whether President-elect Obama should visit Georgia in support of the Democratic Senatorial candidate for the runoff, taking a risk on whether he thinks he can hit sixty by campaigning. Larry Elder goes after the President-elect on the Iraq conflict, trying to convince us that the alternative to what we did would have been far worse, as Emmett Tyrrell calls the President-elect "the first motivational speaker elected president" en route to saying he should follow Gordon Brown when it comes to economics, because his lack of experience means he needs a mentor.
And Ann Coulter gives her ringing endorsement of the outgoing administration...by extolling their bipartisan virtures...of what they did before the first major event that defined the presidency. And then says that the incoming President-elect isn't doing anything like all that outreach that the current President did. Well, before that event, anyway. Seriously, Ms. Coulter, if you're going to make the case for a bipartisan, meet your enemies and work with them presidency, shouldn't you include examples from all eight years, instead of the first two?
LaShawn Barber tries a column about how the President-elect should end racial preferences by acknowledging that a core issue is one of socioeconomic class, and hoping that the President-elect will steer his assistance decisions in that way and away from race. There's something to be said for that, and perhaps, if the focus is retooled, we find out that the amount of aid and assistance stays basically the same and to the same places, but some groups may be reworked. A poential worry is that retooling the focus means that minority acceptance and hiring drops out totally because there are enough socioeconomically disadvantaged majority-race folk to fill positions. I don't recall the exact study, but I do remember something that employers prefer names that sound like their own ethnic group over others. And, of course, there will always be racists who have control over hiring. I'd have to ask whether or not most African-Americans feel that affirmative action policies are insulting to them because it uses a lower standard for them, or whether they're happy to be able to do things that their parents or siblings may not have been able to. I don't know.
In our science and tech departments, A frikkin' huge (relatively speaking) single-celled organism, more on using electric signals from the surface of the cranium to control devices, more on using the ocean's different temperatures to generate power, the possibility of using light to stimulate ear neurons, which would allow for much more complex tones to be understood by the deaf, Hond's electric supercar, which would do well in the Bay Area of California, which approved a $1 billion plan to build battery-exchange points, plug-in spots, and control centers for electric vehicles, Google's CEO on using what we've learned about the Internet to make energy more efficient and innovative, and Google rolling out a way for users to customize their search results and have them annotated and saved.
Last for tonight, we go back to the art world with two great bits - phenomenaly cute mascots for blood donation, courtesy of Japan. If those were the things that were asking me to donate blood, especially Kokoron-chan, I think I'd be much more regular about the matter than I am. Which reminds me, I'm eligible again - once I knock the sniffles away, I'll go get myself stuck. And finally, Lunch Bag Art, which takes the brown bag and makes it into a canvas. Awesome!
Librarian text reference service
Date: 2008-11-23 04:08 pm (UTC)The hype around Twilight is pretty insane. I had no interest in seeing it, but I just keep hearing people talk about it, so i'm very curious.
Re: Librarian text reference service
Date: 2008-11-23 09:56 pm (UTC)It may be worth seeing just to see what the hype is about, but if it's anything like the book, I'll want to steer very wide of it.