JonSmith

Moving on

2005-04-26T18:11:00.000-05:00

Blogger has been good (mostly) but the time has come to take the training wheels of and set out into the real world.

I've migrated my blog to a new location jonsmith.greykitty.net

Please update your links and RSS feeds as I will no longer be publishing here.

See you soon!!!

Continuum Fingerboard

2005-04-21T15:43:00.000-05:00

Imagine a keyboard that plays like a slide guitar. That's what the Continuum is. Jordan Rudess has a video clip up on his site of him playing the instrument. It is way cool.

Check it out.

Coming Soon to a Blog Near You

2005-04-21T08:21:00.000-05:00

I apologize for the lack of posts recently. Grease has taken up most of my time, and when I haven't been busy with that, I've been building the new website. I did settle on Wordpress to be my new blog publishing software. I've done the install (which was very easy), transferred my Blogger posts (which was a pain), and it is nearly ready to launch.

I'll provide more details later, probably when the new blog is ready.

Porcupine Tree - Deadwing

2005-04-15T15:25:00.000-05:00

Porcupine Tree's new album Deadwing is due out on April 26. Pre-orders for the Limited Edition are being accepted. The Limited Edition includes a DVD with a 5.1 mix of the album, a regular stereo CD and a hard-bound 72-page booklet with lyrics, photography by Lasse Hoile and artwork. I realize this may seem extreme to some, but I own a copy of the 5.1 mix of In Absentia, and it sounds incredible. I’ve already placed my order.

The only single being released is for the song Lazarus. It is being released in Germany. I placed an order the day it went live, good thing too as they have already sold out.

The most exciting news, of course, is the 2005 tour. They’ll be kicking off the U.S. leg in Washington, D.C. at the 9:30 Club, and I’ll be there! I only hope that Blackfield will be opening for them.

Visit the newly redesigned site porcupinetree.com for tour dates and more info.

PhD Blogging

2005-04-14T11:04:00.000-05:00

Mathemagenic is the blog of a PhD student who is blogging her research. Her research topic is "Personal productivity in a knowledge intensive environment: A weblog case". In a nutshell, she is blogging about blogging! This is actually a very interesting idea to me. Although I don’t use my blog as a work or research tool, I certainly see how it could be used as one. Perhaps after I get involved in my graduate work I will begin doing just that. The idea of a hyper-linked notebook that is searchable makes perfect sense to me. The more I use the internet and related technologies, the less I think in a linear fashion. Too bad term papers still have to be written on physical paper instead of in a hyper-linked document!

Mathemagenic discovered via Christina’s LIS Rant.

Idris H. His wrote an article in 2002 called "Things New PhDs Should Start Doing". In summary the points made:

Keep a Research Diary
Maintain an Electronic Bibliography
Know Your Search Engines
An Archiving System for Useful Info
Learn The Composition of your Research Community
Document Useful Learning Experiences
Keep a Professional Home Page
Maintain an Updated CV
Get Involved Early On
Develop Research Meta-awareness

With databases and content management systems we have wonderful tools to record information and organize it in many different fashions. Number One, Keep a Research Diary just screams blog. The blog doesn't have to be a public one, but the sharing of information can certainly be useful, especially if you connect with others doing similar research.

New Web Host

2005-04-13T11:25:00.000-05:00

I've setup an account with the webhosting service Catalyst2. They have some good deals and meet all of the requirements I have.

I've also settled on blog publishing software: WordPress. While there were a couple others that provided the same features that I wanted, WordPress appears to be the easiest to install and maintain. It also has an active and sizeable support community. Moveable Type on the other hand, is notorious for being difficult to set up and modify.

I am looking for one other piece of software for my new site, an image sharing program. My wife and I like to share our pictures with our family and friends on our personal site, but right now we're just creating static HTML pages with images on them. I'd like something that she could log in to and upload photos without doing any programming... and depending on bandwidth, perhaps I will even let some family members create accounts to share their photos as well. There are two programs I am looking at right now, Coppermine Photo Gallery and Gallery.

As eager as I am to get the new site up and running, it may be a few weeks yet. As a favor to a friend I'm playing bass in a musical stage production of "Grease" and that has me booked pretty solid. Patience, young jedi.

Blackfield Concert

2005-04-06T18:48:00.000-05:00

I attended a Blackfield concert at Iota Club back on March 14th. I won't give you a blow by blow (unless you want me to!) account of the concert... it is suffice to say that it was awesome. In a word, intimate. You can see from the following photograph just how close we were:

Steven Wilson (Porcupine Tree) on the left, Aviv Geffen in the middle, and Jordan Rudess (Dream Theater) on the right.

Steven opened with some PT songs, I don't remember which exactly. I'm sure a setlist is on the net somewhere. I do remember that he covered Abba, which was quite a suprise and sounded great! During the Blackfield set both Steven and Aviv had a strings break during seperate songs but recovered very nicely and the crowd was very understanding. After Steven's string broke in the opening of the first song (!) I yelled at Jordan and asked him to solo. After a few others in the crowd joined in he acquiesced and entertained us with a virtuosic keyboard solo while the guitar was taken care of.

Ok, enough talk, more pictures.

Taking a bow.

I actually did not get many pictures since they didn't turn out with the flash off, and we didn't start using the flash until the encore.

Steven and I. The man is pure genius.

Steven's shoes. My wife got a 'kick' out of them.

Jordan and I. The Wizard also has a blog of sorts.

Me and Bert. Who is Bert, you ask? Bert (aka the fifth Beatle) played keyboards for Neal Morse on the Testimony tour. He was at the Blackfield concert as Jordan's tech, and I recognized him. What a great guy! I hope I run into him again sometime.

Blog Search Continued

2005-04-05T08:29:00.000-05:00

Topic: Blogging

I have only been able to access my Blogger account a couple of times the past couple of weeks due to problems on their end. After five months of bliss, they are having frustrating technical problems that prevent me from using my account. It seems I have chosen the right time to leave.

While my search for blog software continues I have narrowed it down to three candidates: WordPress, Moveable Type and TextPattern.

We'll see if Blogger actually lets me post this.

Blog Software Search

2005-03-30T15:21:00.000-05:00

Topic: Computers

I'm looking for a new blogging tool. Blogger has been good to me, but I feel that I've outgrown it. I do still recommend Blogger to those who are new to blogging as it is free, web based (nothing to install), and simple to use.

Some of the features I am looking for in blogging tools:

1) FREE
2) can be installed - I plan to find hosting for my websites, it'd be nice to have my blog in the same place, not to mention the benefit of tweaking with the software
3) multiple categories and sub-categories
4) feed syndication
5) template editing (html and/or css)
6) multiple weblogs or sites

Other niceties that aren't required: pinging capabilites, post bookmarklets, ability to import from blogger.

Just from my regular blog browsing two software packages jump out as possibilites:
1) Moveable Type
2) WordPress

I've also discovered a fantastic blog comparison chart compiled by Owen. Exactly the type of thing I was looking for. Thanks Owen!

Europe is risking silence to end its longest war

2005-03-30T12:00:00.000-05:00

Topic: Chechnya/Russia

Gavin points out an article written by Jonathan Steele about Europe's new strategy concerning the war in Chechnya in the Guardian.

So it is with Chechnya, Europe's longest-running but least visible war. When Vladimir Putin, its architect, met the leaders of France, Germany and Spain in Paris last week, the subject was not discussed. Silence was also the order of the day when George Bush got together with the Russian president during his European foray a fortnight earlier. He mentioned his concerns about democracy and the rule of law in Russia, but saw no need to bring up Chechnya.
...
Abductions and killings by Russian and Chechen security forces far exceed the number of victims taken by Chechen radicals at Beslan and in the Moscow theatre. And among the atrocities on Moscow's side, most crimes are committed by their Chechen puppets. Between 3,000 and 5,000 civilians have "disappeared" in the region since Putin launched the second war in 1999 (in addition to at least 80,000 killed by bombing and in crossfire).
...
In short, Europe is replacing its old policy of publicly denouncing Russia over Chechnya. At the current session of the UN Human Rights Commission, the EU has not proposed a resolution this year. But, diplomats argue, the silence is not motivated by cynicism or "condemnation fatigue", let alone agreement with Moscow that Chechnya is a front in the war on international terror. It is part of a new policy of constructive engagement.

Read the whole article, it is very interesting. One thing he fails to mention is the loss of life to the Russian Army. This war has been more costly to them then Afghanistan was in the '80s.

Ubuntu Linux

2005-03-29T11:57:00.000-05:00

Topic: Computers

I have been gradually weening myself away from Micro$oft products.

Mozilla Firefox has become my internet browser of choice. I have been using it for five months now at both home and work.

Thunderbird is the email client I use at work and I have no complaints. For personal stuff I prefer web based email, such as Gmail. By far the best, free, web based email there is.

I recently downloaded OpenOffice a free productivity suite compatible with all major office suites. The goal being to replace my dependency on Micro$oft Office. So far, so good.

The biggest change however, has been my decision to immerse myself in a Linux environment. I had been waiting for a distro (linux speak for distribution) that didn't require me to use a terminal window. I wanted something your average computer user could use. I don't have a lot of spare time to devote to learning a new OS, so I wanted something that would be easy to install, intuitive to use, and I would gradually be able to learn the intracacies. That time is now.

The are several distros out there with good reputations as getting more user friendly, such as Mandrake, SUSE and Fedora. But I settled on a new distro that is burning up the charts, Ubuntu.

I went with Ubuntu because of their commitment to being easy to install and friendly to use. Thanks to John Little for pointing out this great distro.

I installed yesterday on a second hard drive in my home computer. I'm taking the cautious route... WinXP is the OS on the master drive so I will have it if I need it. But I am going to try to use Linux for everything I would normally do. I'll keep you up to date. As for the installation... no problems at all. In fact, it couldn't have been simpler. If you can put a CD in your computer and restart it, you can install Ubuntu. Here's the default desktop setup. Ubuntu include the Gnome desktop.

I have two programs open, Firefox and The GIMP. The GIMP is The GNU Image Manipulation Program. It is a graphics program that can replace Adobe Photoshop and Paint Shop Pro.

More on Ubuntu Linux to come.

Moscow's Murder of Mashkadov

2005-03-11T10:18:00.000-05:00

Topic: Chechnya/Russia

Moscow has committed a grievous error by murdering Aslan Maskhadov, the legitimate President of Chechnya. Not only was this man elected in a free election that was recognized by the west, but he continued to champion peace - most recently by decreeing a month long cease-fire during February. Only days before his death Maskhadov was again requesting peace talks with Moscow. As always, those requests fell on deaf ears.

It is an outrage to me that Moscow has been able to get away with the oppression of the Chechen people for so long now. This is a place where kidnappings, executions and rapes are common place for no other reason then belonging to an ethnicity long demonized by the Russian elite. Putin picked up the mantle of Stalin when he re-initiated the war in the Chechen Republic, a war fought to demoralize and de-legitimize the existence of a free Chechen Republic. And who has suffered for Putin's heavy handed brutality? The civilians of Chechnya and the soldiers of the Russian army and their families. Let us not forget that Chechnya has been more costly to the Russian Army than Afghanistan was. With the elimination of a legitimate leader, this will only serve the strengthen the small but growing number of radical Islamic militants in the area.

If the west is such a champion for human rights, where have they been the past ten years?

My sincere condolences to the Chechen people on the loss of their President. My condolences also to the mothers of the Russian soldiers whose lives have been lost in this miserable conflict. I pray that somehow peace will be found, but a peace where the Chechen people may live freely and not in fear for their lives.

Blackfield & Deadwing

2005-03-09T19:59:00.000-05:00

Topic: Music

The Blackfield concert is only 5 days away! And there is some big news. According to the Blackfield web site there were some problems getting visas for the full band so Steven Wilson and Aviv Geffen are going to perform a stripped down (acoustic?) show of Blackfield and solo sets. There is a possibility that Blackfield will perform at some U.S. shows of Porcupine Tree this summer. But wait, there's more. Jordan Rudess of Dream Theater will be joining Steven and Aviv on keyboards Monday! Awesome!

According to the Iota Club site SW will be opening the show with some Porcupine Tree tunes. Perhaps some from the new album? Lets hope so.

As for Porcupine Tree... the new album "Deadwing" will be released 28 March in Europe and 19 April in the U.S. There will also be a 5.1 mix available. The U.S. tour will commence in May, although there aren't any confirmed dates yet. There is also a mini-site devoted to the album with sound clips and such... check it out at deadwing.com

Chechen President Killed

2005-03-08T21:07:00.000-05:00

Topic: Chechnya/Russia

Aslan Maskhadov, the elected President of Chechnya was killed today in a raid by Russian forces on a bunker he was hiding out it. One must wonder who Moscow has to negotiate with now that the only rebel leader who was interested in peace is dead. Actually, it seems to make perfect sense. Maskhadov had been pressing for peace negotiations for a while now, including a cease-fire during the month of February. Despite his attempts, and those of independent Russian organizations like the Committee of Soldiers' Mothers and international organizations such as Human Rights Watch, the American Committe for Peace in Chechnya and Radio Free Europe; Russia (and Putin in particular) seem driven to force Chechnya into submission.

The following are links to news articles on Maskhadov's death:

President Aslan Maskhadov: Shaheed, Insha Allah!
source: Kavkaz Center

Chechen Rebel Leader Killed, Russia Says
source: AP via The Chechen Times

Reports Say Chechen Leader Maskhadov Killed
source: Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty

ACPC Condemns Killing of Aslan Maskhadov
source: American Committe for Peace in Chechnya

Chechen leader Maskhadov killed
source: BBC News

Bad Blogger

2005-03-08T12:59:00.000-05:00

Topic: Blogging

I've been a bad blogger. What keeps readers coming back? New blog entries of course. Gotta keep it fresh! I will be taking the GRE March 17, so between getting ready for that and a few other things my poor blog has suffered. My intention has been write extra articles to be posted later to fill in those holes when I don't have time to write. However, I never quite get to that point. Someday...

Topics
You might have noticed a change recently... the addition of categories! As anyone who uses Blogger knows, there are no categories in blogger. To get around this I created a blog for each category, and used the post template to create a link in each post. It took a bit of work to set it up, but now that its working it is almost as good as the real thing. To save myself double-posting each entry to the topic and the main blog, I enter it once into the topic blog, blogger emails it to my gmail account where I set up a forward to email the post to my main blog account. Nice.

Moving On?
Although I can't imagine remaining on blogger for much longer. It is a fantastic introduction to the world of blogging, and if you want to keep it simple then it is perfect. I feel as though I have already outgrown it as I like to tweak and customize everything I get my hands on. It has been a good five months but I feel like I have pushed it as far as it will go. The topics solution gave blogger a loan on life, but I think I may start looking elsewhere. It seems that Moveable Type is pretty popular, but I would need a host for that. Any suggestions?

Bloglines
I have also recently begun using Bloglines. I know I'm pretty late on that one, but I had been using News Is Free. Bloglines is a web based, FREE, feed reader. It is easy to use, flexible and I love it. I recommend this program to anyone who is new to news/blog feeds or anyone who wants a web based news reader. Go check it out. I especially like the little button you can place in the toolbar of your browser that allows you to subscribe to a site with the click of a button. No searching for the URL of the feed, or trying to remember the site to add it later, just hit the button while you're viewing the site. Awesome!

Dylan says NO to today's music

2005-02-23T16:59:00.000-05:00

Topic: Music

"I know there are groups at the top of the charts that are hailed as the saviours of rock'n'roll and all that, but they are amateurs. They don't know where the music comes from," he wrote, adding, “I wouldn't even think about playing music if I was born in these times... I'd probably turn to something like mathematics. That would interest me. Architecture would interest me. Something like that."
NME

Yes, Bob, I have to agree with the part about chart toppers being amateurs. But don't be so pessimistic! There is great rock music, it's just mostly underground!

Instant Celebrity

2005-02-22T16:31:00.000-05:00

Topic: Washington, D.C.

If you live in the DC area and watched the morning news on Fox 5 today, you might've seen my mug!

Yesterday, I swung by the bank after work and standing outside was a T.V. news crew. I was interviewed by them about the recent spat of crime in Brookland. In the past month, four people were mugged leaving the banks on 12th St. These attacks happened in broad daylight. I was aware of these attacks, and actually had resolved not to use this branch anymore, but it is so convenient for me!

I've had a few people tell me that they saw me on the news this morning. Unfortunately, I missed it. I hope I didn't sound dumb!

Party Like It's 1992!!!

2005-02-22T11:35:00.000-05:00

Topic: Blogging

An eighth-grade student had to choose a year from U.S. history, and live for a week as if it were that year. Billy Frolick chose 1992. Prepare to feel old.

My brother Chris was the most reluctant to participate in the project, as he is way obsessed with the new Maroon 5 CD that he downloaded and didn’t like having to listen to crud like Billy Ray Cyrus and Boyz II Men for the duration of the control period. He has a massive DVD collection, which was out of bounds, too, given that DVDs had not been invented in the olden days of 1992. Though Chris has an abiding attachment to one of the girls on “The Real World: Philadelphia,” I told him that, for the sake of historical verisimilitude, he had to learn to live without her—and TiVo or his iPod—for a week.
...
I learned that one of the biggest hardships endured by people back in 1992 was not being able to use cell phones. At first, I had thought that maybe I could just cut back on the number of calls I made, thinking that usage plans were more limited. However, my research (at the library!) unearthed the fact that cell phones really were not in widespread use back then; there were only humongous car-phone versions, prevalent among early executives in the hip-hop industry.

Attending school for a week without my cell phone aroused feelings of depression. It seemed like everyone around me was text-messaging each other, and after a while I became convinced that they were text-messaging about me. I felt really humiliated, and it made me appreciate the world I live in today.

Read the entire article, its great. Published in the New Yorker.

I also have to wonder how many 8th graders know the word "verisimilitude." Must be those SAT prep courses.

Forget about DVDs, I didn't buy my first CD until 1994! Although, I already knew Billy Ray Cyrus and Boyz II Men were losers back then. So what if they made more money than I ever will. Funny thing about cell phones too, my parents had one of those huge car phones, but I didn't get a cell phone until... 2001, I think. I put that one off as long as I could. Now I don't even have a land line!

Fallujah the Movie

2005-02-21T19:17:00.000-05:00

Topic: Iraq

Some tankers and engineers over in Iraq put together a movie from the footage they had collected with their video and digital cameras. It's the assault on Fallujah, from their point of view.

The movie itself is 7 minutes, and they did a great job of editing. The picture isn't always clear, but hey, what do you expect when you're bouncing around in a tank firing main gun rounds? Everybody needs to see this film.

You can download it here: http://24.26.33.179/RedSix/

Lt. Prakash wrote about it in his blog here.

Fender Rumble

2005-02-16T13:26:00.001-05:00

Topic: Music

Last week my practice bass amp combo bit the dust. It was a Crate BX-15, 8 inch speaker. This was the only amp that I had and I was long overdue for a "legit" amp anyways. I did some shopping around for a new one, and ended up going to Guitar Center in Rockville.

I had to drive out after work, and if you've ever driven the beltway or Rockville pike during rush hour, you'll know what kind of nightmare it was. It took me nearly an hour and half to get there. Having said that, playing around on expensive guitars is a great way to relieve stress! I had a great time shopping for a new amp, and I ended up buying one there.

The Fender Rumble 100. 100 watts, 15" speaker, this puppy is suh-weet!!! I'm a novice bass player, but I have a fairly good ear from years as a musician and I like the way this amp sounds. Not to mention the power. Oh yeah, lots of power. I play a five-string and it sounds good on low B as well. Awesome. I'll have to post a picture sometime of it and my bass, a Hamer 5-string. I'm convinced this amp got me the best bang for my buck.

There's only one problem. The dang thing weighs a ton, and I live on the third floor of an apartment building that doesn't have an elevator. And I go out for rehearsal at least once a week. Oh well, guess I'll just have to start working out.

Passover

2005-02-15T16:10:00.000-05:00

I have celebrated a Christian Passover seder for a couple years now. We usually do it the Thursday before Easter, which is not the same date as the Jewish Passover. I began wondering why the date for Easter does not correspond with the Jewish Passover, so like a good librarian, I've done a little digging!

The Hebrew calendar is a "lunisolar" calendar, meaning that the months are determined by the phase of the moon, and every few years an extra month is added to keep the seasons in the same place of the year. This way, the Hebrew year always begins in the Spring.

The calendar in use by the subjects of the Roman Empire at the time of the early Christians (and up until the 16th century) was the Julian calendar, a "solar" calendar. The calendar we use today, the Gregorian calendar is also a solar calendar. However Jewish holidays were (and still are) determined by the Hebrew calendar. The Jewish Passover is celebrated on the 15th day of Nisan but this day would move around in relation to the Julian calendar. Sometimes it could be on Tuesday, sometimes Thursday, etc. The early Christians had established Sunday (of the Julian calendar) as the day of the week on which to gather and worship and wanted to keep this tradition for celebrating the Resurrection. Those who were Jewish also kept the Passover, as determined by the Hebrew calendar.

Many early Christians, beginning with the apostles had a tradition of celebrating the Resurrection on the first Sunday following Passover. Over time, the Passover lost importance in the Church. Gentiles had never celebrated it to begin with and others felt that the celebration of Easter replaced that of the Passover.

In 324 the Council of Nicaea convened. This is seen as the beginning of the "Catholic" Church. One of the items they covered was establishing an official date for Easter. When determining this they did not consider the date of the Jewish Passover. They created a complex formula for determining the date of Easter each year, but in the simplest terms Easter was to be celebrated on the first Sunday after the first full moon of the vernal equinox. The vernal equinox that year was March 20th.

Over time, the Julian calendar got out of sync with the seasons. In 1582 the Julian calendar was replaced with the Gregorian calendar, making some adjustments and adding "Leap Year". However, the Catholic Church continued to determine the date of Easter the same way it had been. As the Protestant Church came out of the Catholic, we continue to celebrate Easter on the same day.

And so, this is why the date of Easter has nothing to do with the date of Passover!!!

Blackfield concert

2005-02-15T10:15:00.000-05:00

Topic: Music

Blackfield will be playing at the Iota Club in Arlington on March 14 at 8:30pm. I am sooo there. Cover is $12, and there is NO pre-sell of tickets. First come, first served! I'll probably head down as soon as I get off work. Awesome.

Sun Tzu Says...

2005-02-10T13:08:00.000-05:00

Thus, in war, I have heard tell of a foolish haste, but I have yet to see a case of cleverly dragging on the hostilities.
The Art of War Chapter 2: "On Waging Battle"

Computers In Libraries

2005-02-09T17:54:00.000-05:00

Topic: Librarianship

The Computers in Libraries conference will be held in DC at the Hilton on March 16-18. Being that this is my home town, I plan on going! According to the brochure it is "North America's largest technology conference for Librarians and Information Managers." Very cool. Definitly looking forward to it. The only problem is that there are too many sessions I want to attend! Lots of cool stuff that directly apply to my job and career.

I've registered for a post-conference workshop as well, "Web Content Management: Essential Pre-Implementation Planning." This is right up my alley as one of my current projects has been researching content management systems and we are about to start the design phase. I've built a couple prototype sites to test out different CMSs and we've nearly settled on one. It has been a fascinating project as I pretty much began from scratch, not even knowing what a CMS was. I have learned so much in the past two months. One very interesting thing about our situation though is that we have very little money to spend on a CMS. Partly because it will be used for the staff intranet and not the public site. Most libraries spend tens of thousands of dollars to have a CMS custom tailored or designed for them, but I have mostly been looking at open-source solutions.

I've always been a fan of open-source and I have become even more so as I have learned about all of the open-source CMSs out there. There is some good software being developed by these people and if I had more time I'd love to involved with one of these projects. I have a friend who's involved in the OpenOffice.org project and it involves some real dedication (he's a doctoral student in math at UMD). The whole concept of open-source seems utopian, but it really does seem to work. Firefox is a fantastic recent example.

But I digress. Computers in Libraries will be my first professional conference and I am stoked. You can expect a full report following the event.

Librarians Rule

2005-02-07T15:16:00.000-05:00

Topic: Librarianship

Why you should fall to your knees and worship a librarian

Ok, sure. We've all got our little preconceived notions about what librarians are and what they do. Many people think of them as diminutive civil servants, scuttling about "Sssh-ing" people and stamping things. Well, think again buster.

Librarians have degrees. They go to graduate school for Information Science and become masters of data systems and human/computer interaction. Librarians can catalog anything from an onion to a dog's ear. They could catalog you. Librarians wield unfathomable power. With a flip of the wrist they can hide your dissertation behind piles of old Field and Stream magazines. They can find data for your term paper that you never knew existed. They may even point you toward new and appropriate subject headings.

People become librarians because they know too much. Their knowledge extends beyond mere categories. They cannot be confined to disciplines. Librarians are all-knowing and all-seeing. They bring order to chaos. They bring wisdom and culture to the masses. They preserve every aspect of human knowledge. Librarians rule. And they will kick the crap out of anyone who says otherwise.

Librarian Avengers via The Shifted Librarian

That's right. Librarians rawk!