Library Guy

Presentation

2010-11-02T18:29:00.002-04:00

On Writing

2009-10-07T21:07:00.000-04:00

31

Top drawer:
Ratshit stained pages
Thumbed and read through,
Miles of words met only by two eyes that already know them.
Hanta virus headache
From ratshit stained pages.

In a lonely bottom drawer
And printed on pulp,
read by fifty thousand eyes
words about words
meaning what they mean,
and that’s all. What happened?

Maybe the rat liked what he’d read.

Kidney Stones and a Hurricane (a poem)

2009-08-30T11:37:00.001-04:00

Drops of blood micturated,
gale force winds like a brick wall,
and the impending doom of freedom
for three months as classes begin.

Tethered to my desk,
computer cables whipping me to keep working,
eye splitting glare from the display.
Caffeine induced jitters.
Did I mention pissing blood and the hurricane?

Getting Hitched

2009-06-28T18:35:00.001-04:00

I don't always understand the condolences men give me about getting married. It's not like I, or any other man I know, knew what the hell to do with himself before meeting his mate. In some instances, they are divorced and married fiendish women.

But after three years with my girl, I think I know what I'm getting myself into. Life always brings surprises, and having another independant mind inserted into your life presents a great deal of challenges good and bad, it also creates a more dynamic existence.

When I lived by myself, I swear flies dropped from mid-air out of boredom. A few hours on the computer, often browsing unsavory content, cooking pasta, microwaving high sodium cancer causing meals.

For a night out to "cruise for women," I'd be left only finding mostly empty bars with smokehags from the same era as Lauren Bacall eying me. I had a limit of ten dollars for beer (roughly two beers in Portsmouth, NH), and had to choose the place my chances were best. After two hours, I settled for the hags and went home alone at about 11:00. I never was a night owl unless something good was on Cinemax. I recall most single men had the same dilemma.

So yeah, I guess it's really "sad" I am getting married, but I don't just know for whom because I sure am digging it. She likes writing, camping, Baseball, Television, music, busting my chops, and the Ocean, sounds good to me.

Numerati

2009-01-07T20:35:00.002-05:00

And now for something completely different...(Cleese)

No more satire on powder keg topics...this time.

There is a great book out there called "The Numerati." Almost as fascist as the Illuminati, they scour through the tons of digital flotsam and jetsam we leave behind in this information age, they profile us accordingly, and report their findings to grocery stores, web merchants, government agencies, and anyone else who's ready to pay a buck to acquire our personality DNA.

For instance, those frequent shopper rewards cards we get for "deals." Hogwash, it is a way fro them to entice us to spy on what we buy, what deals they can reel us in with, and to predict what products and advertisements we might get suckered in to. The Numerati are a statistical branch of technorati, and using algorithms that made Google the marketing monster it is, for whom we are all leaving footprints for every consumer driven money grubber out there, are categorizing us. So much for privacy (like posting a blog...errrr...)...

Anyway, the book is terrific! As an information science major, I could advertise that libraries don't do such shifty practices and the are the anti-consumerist/pro-privacy alternative to Borders and B&N. I could do this, and I could also say that we don't hound anybody to buy anything, and we don't see green with every body that comes inside. Phew...

Bottom line great book, scary but fascinating story. I'd love to see the algorithms, but there wasn't too much technical data, but enough for the casual reader.

Israel's debacle

2009-01-06T13:21:00.003-05:00

As a peace-nick, I cringe to see the extreme action Israel has taken. As a reasonable person, I know they've been taunted for some time with Hamas and their rockets. What is the solution?

The U.S. of A. has lost all capabilities to work with Arab nations diplomatically or forcefully after our current dereliction for invading sovereign nations (Iraq). So we cannot do anything on behalf of Israel, we can't step in and ask Hamas to stop. We can't send in troops because we are already overextended and on the hit list. So there is only one thing to do. Show business...

Israel needs a catchy PR campaign, like "shock and awe." We'll call it The Kosher Wars, how about that nice Star Wars ring? Their humanitarian choice of WMD will be Matzah Balls and Manischewitz that will be strategically lobbed into the Gaza Strip. This will at once confound, surprise and feed the people of Gaza. Revenge is best served cold, and on a dish associated with a rival culture.

Just as we wage cultural war on the Mideast with billboards of foxy unscarved movie starlets and hamburger joints, our Zionist allies can wage the same sneaky war to utterly piss of the Arab extremists while the moderates discover a tasty wheaty substance, and strip paint with the Kosher wine.

I, representative of the slacker generation, move that Operation Manja the Matzah begin! We shall Kvetch and Kibbitz on this no further.

Miles Davis

2009-01-05T19:56:00.002-05:00

I was listening to the latest addition my Miles Davis Catalog, Miles Smiles, and appreciated the textures and tones, but have yet to fall in love with it, as I did with Kind of Blue.

Kind of Blue was once in a lifetime. It was a sound I had searched all of my life to find. I was playing guitar for two years at the time, and was crown deep in the Delta Blues of Robert Johnson. Those scratchy tracks resurrected from an old Mississippi hotel room where he sat with the greatest librarian of all time, Alan Lomax, were all I had to cling to as my own discovery.

Then on a whim, I saw a Miles Davis disc on sale. There were plenty of Hendrix, Clapton, and Pearl Jam bootlegs I could scarf up, but something told me to buy this one. The cover in its dark hues called me to it. I had no choice but to take it home.

I went into my room, put in my discman (about three years pre-iPod), and the distant piano on the track "Say What" echoed from a distant corner of the recording studio. The upright bass stings the leit motif, and then finally the gentle dance of Miles' trumpet sliding in and out of the accompaniment. I had discovered Jazz. That Jazz beyond the Swing and Hot Jazz I had grown up with. This was Cool Jazz.

This was before I found Kerouac, a man who shares my date of birth two generations earlier. This was when I had no idea the poetry I had written and loved was eventually married to Jazz with the likes of Charlie Parker, and Dave Amram whom I eventually met. Dave is a nice guy who will sit and chat with any random fellow who might admire song and verse. I cherish the couple of times I had to chat with him so far, and I hope for more.

But, Miles, man. This disc scratched that itch I could never reach. As I bought more of his discs, I fell in love with nearly everyone, but that magic was never duplicated. One of the first CDs put on my iPod was Kind of Blue.

Miles Smiles is a tough nut to crack. As I listen further, I hope to find deeper layers to it. Unlike his collaborations with Gil Evans, there is still a good rhythm. Evans tends to add so much melody that Davis' trumpet work loses that Jazzy pop he likely acquired from his tenure playing Bop. Kind of Blue and Miles Smiles has some good stomps.

Then halfway through Freddy Freeloader, I discovered the Sax was none other than Coltrane. A man I only knew by legend at that point. Giant Steps was great, Blue Train murdered me! His only perfect performance was in Kind of Blue, in my mind. It was the crowning achievment of American Music.

John Adams

2009-01-04T19:44:00.004-05:00

Amidst my presemester buffoonery, I was lent a copy of the John Adams series with Paul Giamatti and Laura Linney. My initial reaction is an enthusiastic cheer.

I am an old time fan of Giamatti, my favorite role was his portrayal of Harvey Pekar in American Splendor. Soonafter, his role as Miles in Sideways won me further in his favor. His role in Cinderella Man is only known through recommendation of friends, but I have seen most of his performances (including his Portrayal of "Pig Vomit" in Private Parts).

I see Adams and can no longer see him as anyone as else but Giamatti. He is that good.

Linney won me over in the sleeper "The Squid and the Whale" as a semi-narcissistic divorcee who decides she is more inclined toward "philistine" men after a marriage with a writer/professor, and focuses this shift on her son's tennis coach played by Luke Wilson.

As Abigail Adams, she embodies the salt and earth of this iconic woman. It is so easy to get lost into her character, and forget that she is acting. She is an amazing talent.

As for the story, it is stunning and intriguing. The pace is thorough yet fluid. The only gripe I have is that Adams and Jefferson seem to express a silent derision for slavery, and I question the accuracy of that element, given it was fifty years until that atrocity was abolished, and that Jefferson was a major owner.

I hope that was factual, but I can't help but feel it may be a rewriting to make our history seem a kinder, gentler one. As great as these men were, I would love to think they had the foresight that slavery is cruel, but, at the same time, neither did anything to really try and subvert the blight of American History. Either way, these are mortal flaws the film was uncomfortably dancing around. This causes a half a point loss for an otherwise flawless film.

Sixteen days until the 20th, and our new administration!

The Fat Cats Finally Got Gout

2008-09-23T09:49:00.002-04:00

Lookie lookie at Wall Street, the Garfields with bloodied hands are finally staggering bloated, overstuffed, and have sore feet. When you gorge yourself, you end up with gout after a while. By the way, aren't greed and gluttony deadly sins, moral majority? And why do you support McCain, Bush and other greedy de-regulators? Aren't you glad their brilliant plan of privatizing Social Security never passed thanks to the "awful" Liberals in Congress.

Corperations without regulations are like babies without diapers, and the there is a mess all over Wall Street someone has to clean up. But, what is scary is who is doing it. Not only my 30% of my wages through taxes (I make well under 50,000 a year) to bail out billionaires, but China and other semi hostile nations are buying up our market.

Remember when we were attacked by Saudi Arabia on 9/11? Ever wonder why we never attacked them back (Bin Laden is Saudi, not Afghan or Iranian, or Iraqi)? Because they own at least 10% of our economy, if we fought back, we'd be screwed. I wonder what China's future plans are now?

Again, the Republican regime has imploded our National Security. The only platform, or more appropriately, threat, they have been running on for the last eight years. Congrats! Now I really do have something to fear, and now my country is truly in peril.

Weapons of Mass Confusion

2008-09-06T10:32:00.003-04:00

McCain threw the Republican party a curve ball. A party once of fiscal conservatism has turned into a party of men who spend like teenage girls with their father's credit card. I wish I was joking. But, McCain came out firing against pork barrel spending, finally some old school conservatism. It's sad a Democrat longs for this sort of thing.

Bill O'Really of Fox Opinion Network shouted over his guests a few months ago about how Jamie Spears pregnancy at 16 was the parents' fault. This last week he is kissing up to the Palins for sticking it out when their 17 year old daughter got pregnant. Billy, oh Billy and your two sided sword, it's a good thing you're not a mohel. Anyway, this little factoid made a nice clip on The Daily Show this week. Fox Opinions, where are you now? Kudos Ms. Palin, Go Obama!

So McCain...I noticed patches of silence from the Texans when you criticized Obama for the corporate welfare he passed for the oil industry. That can get you booted out of the party. Good for you for standing up to those JFK murdering goons! Texans needs some humble pie, and those oil bastards need higher taxes; I pay 1/3 of my puny barely middle class wage in taxes...so should they! Taxes in Texas, I said it, and Obama will deliver on that!

But, drilling? Come on, John boy! They'll sit on their duffs another thirty years before finding (allowing) other sources of energy to be used, and we'll be broke, and choking on carbon monoxide. Still.

Despite my liberal bias, the best Conservative speech ever! While I disagree with McCain on issues, I actually trust him more than most politicians. What would Falwell (the scum even lower than Larry Flint could ever imagine being) think of Palin's daughter? Our society needs to not get hung up on human nature, sexuality is normal, all the violence our society devours is not.

The Palins are real people while right wingers and even politicians in general are phonies. Obama has the economic plan middle class friendly economic plan, and we need balance in the Supreme Court. No matter who wins, we have some true patriotic cadidates (who respect the Constitution and our exalted national history) for a change. Fox News and this NeoCon movement needs go far, far away. A kangaroo jumper like Murdoch has no place infiltrating this country.

There needs to be a third party as my friend commented on the previous blog, Populists needs a comeback. Enough prostheletizing, back to work since we actually work for a living!

Amaya Warning

2008-07-26T22:00:00.002-04:00

I added a final element to my home page linked in the previous post. Amaya does need tweaking in the html with font and margins because the editor tends to put these elements out of order in the code level. Still a great tool for it's price, and beats the tar out of "B.Gatesware" brand crap. I still wish I was him, gosh!

Without further ado, courtesy of Youtube, here is my favorite director, David Lynch, commenting on a cool toy. It's a sad but true statement he makes.

Ha Ha!

2008-07-25T10:15:00.002-04:00

My computer works! I also have my webpage up: http://reignsong.googlepages.com/home

Life is good, I want to make a link for a funny youtube video with David Lynch about iPhones. Next posting I shall embed!

Ass-u-me

2008-07-24T14:02:00.003-04:00

We all know what happens when you assume things, right? Then, why do I continue to do just that.

I assumed that Best Buy would sell my Gateway laptop, and back up their product for a switch...nope.

I assumed that my laptop cord would last more than three months if I gently wound it up every night...nope.

I assumed that since I bought an $85 universal power supply at Best Buy, it would work... nope.

I assumed that if I bought all of this faulty equipment, Best Buy would just power up my computer long enough to retrieve my paper due Monday 3/5 finished at this point...nope.

I assumed Best Buy would not lie to me when I asked if the cord was still covered under manufacturer's warranty...nope.

Fortunately, Gateway is sending a free new cord in 3-5 business days, (a few days after the paper is due). I called Best Buy corperate, and they told me shhhh...buy another cord, and return it once my free one ships and I'm not out any money. Hmmm...

So, I now have to assume that another adapter will work. I assumed they carried Gateway specific power supplies, and erred there.

I always assumed I'd get my paper done in time since I started eight days in advance, and would never have to ask for an extension...nope.

I should have not assumed my work was safe, and made back ups. Dr. T and Queen S. may get an email pleading ignorance by assumption. But, I think I may be able to get it in the slot a day early as long as another power cord works.

As far as CSS, I figured it out, but it may not be terribly functional on my Thoreau page because the tweakings were irrelavent to the page. I have a few days to work on that, though. Perhaps a rerwrite. 'Til then...

Phew!

2008-07-23T15:08:00.002-04:00

I have my homepage set up on Google Creator, it looks nice for something that is prefab. My fragment will be a day or two, I think I have it pretty much done. I used Amaya, but am tempted to try a few other editors to see the variation. Amaya isn't bad, especially for free software, but it doesn't quite have the clout that DreamWeaver has.

The CSS doesn't appear to have too much impact on the doc, unless that is where I botched my margins. It is linked beneath the html head, and it looks about right. I'm not going to attempt anything too fancy since the original pressing of the Thoreau wasn't too lavish, and I don't wan't to go in over my head and goof it all up. I've noticed that no matter what program I use, the font size always gets screwy. Something I need to work on, I suppose.

Well, over and out neighbors.

Thoreau

2008-07-22T22:34:00.002-04:00

I've been workin' on my fragment, all to live long day...

The fragment thing with the external CSS is a bit of a pain in the neck. Amaya is not as lovely, I have CSS Web Design for Dummies and I think I got it. It didn't give me any error codes, but my margins are whack. I may redo it at work and FTP from there. The old tried and true system.

For now, my home page is on Google creator and it is fast and easy. But I think I'll do Thoreau the hard and unpolished way.

Home again...

2008-07-19T21:49:00.002-04:00

I'm home to hail storms and armed with my Amaya web design tool. I'm thinking the Dreamweaver at work will be better for my page. My cousin just texted me about blogs and reminded me I should get in here and write.

I miss Pitt. It felt like home to me, funny how a week in a new place can get to you. I'm looking forward to next semester courses, but I want to buy a Mac and learn more about Linux so I can start tinkering from my armchair. I caught the bug! I will download a Linux OS on my half Kaput desktop.

Adios hermanos y hermanas...

Sleep comes soon

2008-07-16T18:57:00.002-04:00

All the city lights have fried this yankee soul. My dad's neighbors may own a power company or two because his house is lit up like a thousand suns every night. I have slept a total of 22 hours over the past six days, needless to say I've been punchy, though I am normally pretty outlandish. Maine is the dark side of the galaxy, I'm sure of it.

I'm enjoying everyone so much. I will miss this campus experience, and the wonderful city. I'll miss my dad, too. It will be nice going home to my fiance and dog, but it was a hell of a time, with some cool new friends.

How about a link for "yins"

2008-07-14T08:08:00.002-04:00

So I was bragging about the ease of koha in a previous post, and lo and behold, I never actually pasted my link. Duh! I'm enjoying my class sessions, class mates, and the city. It is a wonderful experience, and I may be getting a bit of the Panther pride!

http://pitt2.kohawc.liblime.com/cgi-bin/koha/bookshelves/shelves.pl?viewshelf=59

In Pitt

2008-07-11T10:34:00.002-04:00

I flew in last night, as always, the flight was fine and actually enjoyable. Logan airport security is like Guantanamo if you ask me, but that's a whole other thing. At least it's safer, hopefully.

Amaya is a fun tool. I may build a site for a friends business in my down time using it. The Google Docs is wonderful for the group project, I'm zipping along and made 10 to 15 slides on top of the 30 or so a colleague created, and now I'm cutting back so we have good length. Hooray again, for Google Docs.

Before too long, I'd like to do some multi media posts to make this more interesting. Hopefully I will get to that. It's nice to be back in Pitt, my dad and I are playing some gold (I'll be in the woods-not Tiger, either...I haven't played in three years...yikes!)

Another week...

2008-07-07T21:51:00.002-04:00

It's my fiance's birthday, we spent the day with her family again. I had a great time fishing out in the ocean from her uncle's boat, the whole time I was thinking "I gotta get to work on grad school work."

Koha was nice, we are friends now. Now I'm onto getting more sources for the team project, I'm being gently nudged that a few books would be good sources. I'm typically tied to the computer, so electronic resources are my thing, more or less, but I'm going to try and diversify.

I think factoids that tie together into the case of the digital divide, and the needle in the haystack of information scenarios will work best. Wish me luck, while I wish the same for you :)

Over and out.

Koha la la

2008-07-01T16:25:00.003-04:00

So far, I am finding Koha the easiest assignment. I've done Z39 access cataloging with Triple I databases, so it's good. Plus, I read some oddball stuff. My poetry collection will work in a pinch since no one reads that rubbish :)

The last paper for Understanding Info really put me into a stupor. Either that, or the Belgian Tripel Ales I have been imbibing since my fiance's family came to visit, my future bro in law is great company! Summer in seacoast Maine means every family member from away comes and stays for a spell. As a tradeback, I stay in Pitt for free with my dad for school, and go to Phoenix, AZ when it gets cold here. Not a bad trade.

Now back to work. The group project is next, and some more Koha.

E-prints

2008-06-27T12:58:00.002-04:00

Eprints seems to lack some stability, unless my internet connection is bad. I've lost data when loading to the next screen several times...Doh! It seems the connection resets an awful lot, my approach may be flawed, but I like to blame anything but myself...a family trait.

The extra step of uploading the doc before adding metadata really slows the process down. It's a pretty cool exercise, though, and I understand why we're only doing twenty five now. I want to watch the Koha tutorial soon so I can get that knocked down.

We survived cutbacks by losing one coworker, again. Ouch! I guess that's the way. If the job market and stocks are down, it shows we need some economic TLC. Let's cross our fingers someone has a solution.

Jing and my stupidity

2008-06-25T13:00:00.002-04:00

So, I've been comfortable with most of the technology we've been exploring, but my head has been in the sand because I never realized we had to post our refshares on the Db, there's likely a whole morgue of my assignments in my professor's now overstuffed inbox (sorry Dr. T.) Sometimes I get lost in all of the stimulus, or perhaps I'm just flaky.

I think Jing worked, and once it embeds it will appear at the end of this post. Or paragraph: http://www.screencast.com/users/reignsong/folders/Jing/media/6e6fbe04-a159-4c77-b1fb-5840c7bda972

Speaking of Jing, there was a helpful presentation by a classmate on our World of Science project. The last assignment was just a matter of adding RefWorks as a citation in Google Scholar preferences. Until a later time, and much desired sleep, adios muchachos!

Scopus

2008-06-18T16:01:00.002-04:00

Scopus was easy to upload into Refworks. RIS and UTF-8, and it was there. I'm now thinking about the Google Scholar. I bookmarked all of the suff, but the citations aren't anyplace. I may refgrab my bookmarks. Hmmm...I still haven't done the end note, and that could very well be what I need to do. Off to the technical questions post.

Back to work.

Jittery

2008-06-17T13:12:00.003-04:00

Well, it's a week to loathe.

Tonight the board meets to decide what cutbacks they are going to make in order to make the budget from the town. I'm a department head and have been here for four years, but the library, as we know it, will certainly change.

To be honest, it's my hope that Public Library work is in its final stages for me. If I can find anything else. I love my job, but the politics all around and within it are hard.

The spin they might give this aspect is that it's a challenge because of the politics. In my book, a challenging career and a pain in the neck are two different things. Finding a program to mine the Internet and nest it in a suitable index is a challenge. Dealing with people who have limited understanding of your livelihood is a pain in the neck. Big difference!

I admit that I have a limited understanding of where they stand, as well, but this only complicates it. I don't envy anyone else's positition in this game, either. Good people have to make crummy lose-lose decisions everyday.

I love my job, I'd rather be working with the predictable machines in the background while remaining oblivious to the rest of the system. But, I'd miss the people.

My endeavor with Google scholar and Scopus have been a pleasure, and I'm still working out Koha. Glut is a wonderful read! I love old books, and this reads like a antiquarian book collector's overview. Nicholas Basbanes kind of stuff!