The Rabid Librarian's Ravings in the Wind

Best 'Unshelved' ever, in my mind

2009-07-19T02:14:00.005-04:00

The library-related comic really got me today. In case you read this after it is no longer displayed on my blog, try the link here to see an archived copy.

Ever heard of The Anarchist's Cookbook? How about And Tango Makes Three? One teaches you to make bombs. The other involves gay penguins and their child. Which do you think is more challenged in libraries? Yes, you guessed it. But Dewey's comment is great.

Okay, I have to get up early in the morning to prepare for the game and have stayed up much later than I planned, especially as I finished the game notes this afternoon. Good night.

An excellent site

2009-07-19T01:41:00.005-04:00

I'll be spending most of tomorrow at the game, but for those of you with free time, follow We Choose the Moon, a site sponsored by the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library & Museum, which re-creates the mission in real-time, including transmissions. There is also archived information there. There's a nifty widget you can download to your desktop or put on MySpace or Facebook (unfortunately there was no version for this blog). You can also follow the mission on Twitter, both from Houston Control and Apollo 11. Be sure to check it out.

Thanks to M of the World History Blog for the link.

I was saddened to hear of Walter Cronkite's death

2009-07-19T00:52:00.002-04:00

although, of course, he was 92, so he lived a long, productive life that kept him close to many great personalities over many years. But it was his own personality, his ability to connect with viewers and provide even the most devastating news in a professional manner that was still somehow reassuring, that made him 'the most trusted man in America'. My thoughts are with his family in this difficult time. He touched many lives in a positive way, and that in itself is the best eulogy one can be given.

‘The most trusted man in America’ dies at 92

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Walter Cronkite: An appreciation; Today's news owes him more than you think

Well, I got the tank filled

2009-07-17T22:46:00.003-04:00

and this was the result (I know, it's not great resolution, but it was the first time I'd tried to do a video on my phone and also the first video I've uploaded to YouTube).

Tonight I came home and there were five fish that had died, including the Mama platy, which is unfortunate. On the other hand, I have a lot of babies in the aquarium, including ones about a third her size down to teeny tiny (as in born within the last few days), so I should be good on fish for awhile. I tested the water with a strip, and the nitrates are high of course, but the nitrites are a little higher than normal. The chloramines are okay. Maybe I didn't treat the incoming water enough, or maybe a few days with less oxygen followed by a sudden influx was too much. I plan to have the folks at Animal House test with a liquid kit; that's supposed to be more reliable. I'd really like to get a couple of golden snails, a couple of cory catfish, and maybe a pleco or other algae eater--but all of those are more sensitive to water quality, so testing's the first thing on the list.

I'm boot free!

2009-07-17T01:05:00.005-04:00

I had three appointments today:

I had my teeth cleaned, which really was the most painful of the three as it involved taking those damn bite-wing x-rays of my whole mouth. Thank goodness they recommend that for only every three-five years.
Had two porcelain crowns and a temporary filling put in (the latter to replace one that had broken when I chewed a sugar-free mint too hard). We're going to pre-authorise a bridge, assuming the crowns haven't taken all my benefits this year. It may have to wait for next year. I think that's all the crowns needed for root-canaled teeth, though. If you don't crown them, they get brittle and break after a root canal, as I found out.
The podiatrist was happy to be able to touch my feet without my nearly yelping. She suggested I use my lace-up brace (much smaller) on my ankle when working for awhile and to do stretching exercises such as tracing out the alphabet with my ankles each day (this is apparently one way to get total range of motion). If it had been really bad still, she would have sent me to physical therapy. I worked yesterday without the boot to see how I would do and am just a little sore today after being on my feet for seven hours, so I think I'm on the mend.

I was off from the hospital due to the appointments. I also:

Went to the public library branch between my house and the doctor's office (it's about a block away from where I live, and both dentist and podiatrist are near the hospital, which is just about the same distance further). I picked up several interesting books, including one that seems to argue that the UFO phenomena/ideas that ancient astronauts came and founded civilisations entered the public mindset through the writings of HP Lovecraft. Hmmmm...well, there are extraterrestrial Mi-Go, Cthulhu, the Elder Things, the Great Old Ones (whose bodies, though conical, were actually already here, but their minds are alien), etc. It might make for an interesting read, anyway.
Went over to Sqecial Media and nearly died of coughing because I forgot how incense-laden the store is. I went in to look at earrings but they were working on that section and had it pulled apart. So I picked up a birthday card for my mom, a scarab sticker for the car, a bumper sticker to replace my old one, and a package of charcoal for incense (to be burned at the appropriate time when I'm not still having times where I'm fighting for breath). I had to ask for the charcoal. The two girls looked at me like I meant the stuff that goes in grills. The man was more knowledgeable and pulled out three packets, one of which he said was slow-burning and better for a hookah. Since I just needed the bricks for a censor, I took the cheapest packet. :) Hookahs have apparently become pretty popular around the university. There was a hookah bar that opened where people could go to smoke flavoured tobaccos, but I don't know how it has fared. I'm just glad I don't smoke. Even being around someone who has been smoking has been setting off my coughing fits (as has perfume, to be fair). Thank goodness Lexington has an indoor smoking ban on businesses that aren't primarily tobacco-related.

By the way, Sqecial (yes, I'm spelling that right) had these cards that were neat in that they folded up and had stereoscopic lenses (think Viewmaster) with art prints such as Dali and Münch to make them look 3-D. Very nice, and although 'The Scream' might have been appropriate for a birthday card in retrospect, I went with a Albrecht Dürer print of a small owl for my mom. She used to collect owl pictures and figures.

What I didn't do:

Call my mom. I got a cell phone call from her yesterday but I don't know if she intended to call me or not. The voice mail sounded like background noise. Or maybe it was garbled somehow. Anyway, I should check.
I didn't call a friend who's really been having a difficult time. I'm going to message her MySpace page and then try to call on Saturday and see if she wants to go out next week, my treat, so I can see how she's doing.
I haven't filled the fish tank yet. That's on the agenda for tonight or tomorrow morning.

Saturday I work in the evening. I'd like to spend the morning and early afternoon working at home. I have a lot stuff that just needs to be thrown away, taken to Goodwill, etc. I really need to clean out my car; you can only fit two people in it right now comfortably. I have nearly every shoe I own in it at the moment, the boot, two empty copier boxes, my winter coat, you name it, it's in there. Plus a bunch of trash. My house isn't hoarded up, it just has a lot of drink bottles and stuff like that to get rid of, plus the bathroom needs to be cleaned and the dishes done. Oh, and I'm sure I'll still be working on notes, although I'm trying to be a little better prepared than I was last week. There's a lot more investigation to get in this week, and that takes more transcription time.

Okay, that's all for now. I'll write more soon. Good night.

Well, that was foreseen

2009-07-17T00:53:00.004-04:00

Lexington library board fires chief executive Kathleen Imhoff

Unfortunately there will most likely be a lawsuit on top of the controversy. But I must say, I've taken notes about what to and not to do as a supervisor, how the balance between library board and directors are important, and being accountable for expenditures when the majority of your income is tax-based. And also, of course, that politics is never absent when it comes to publicly-funded libraries. Here's hoping they find a really good candidate who will help repair the damage, as I suspect the outcome of any suit would be either a settlement or the rest of the money in the contract, rather than her position back.

Thanks to Steven for the head's up, which is ironic, as it's my hometown paper [my only excuse is that I was out of the office today due to doctors' appointments, so I didn't see the paper itself]. :) Oh, and sorry, the Herald-Leader only keeps stories up for about 7 days, so go read it now.

Because they're on their way to world domination

2009-07-15T03:07:00.003-04:00

Those of us who have been blessed to be owned by cats know that cats are the ones that genetically engineered us for our thumbs so we could open the bag of kibble, or even better, operate the can opener. Science hasn't come out in support of that, yet, but there is a report that

Cats 'exploit' humans by purring

Since each of these sounds is produced by a different mechanism, cats are able to embed a high-pitched cry in an otherwise relaxing purr.

'How urgent and unpleasant the purr is seems to depend on how much energy the cat puts into producing that cry,' said Dr McComb.

Previous studies have found similarities between a domestic cat's cry and the cry of a human baby - a sound that humans are highly sensitive to.

Dr McComb said that the cry occurs at a low level in cats' normal purring. 'But we think that (they) learn to dramatically exaggerate it when it proves effective in generating a response from humans.'

Yes, definitely on their way to dominating the planet....

I want this on our pumps at work!

2009-07-15T03:01:00.001-04:00

Well, I'm still coughing--even with the medicine, especially at night

2009-07-15T02:30:00.003-04:00

but it's a little better than it was. The foot is better, too--I've just been wearing the boot when I work at the store, and my ankle is doing okay. I find out Thursday if I can dispense with the boot altogether.

Sorry I didn't post for a few days; I got very little sleep over the weekend for various reasons and crashed and burned on Monday. I finally feel myself again.

I really need to add water to the fish tank and get the filtration system going again, but so far I haven't done it. Perhaps tomorrow morning before work. So far the fish seem to be okay.

I don't know if I mentioned it, but I re-pierced my ear with my original earrings again a few weeks ago. Today I was able to take those out and put in some blue lace agate crystal earrings that went very well with the gradient blue shirt I bought at Gabriel Brothers. I had a good hair day, too.

In fact it was a good day in general; I was productive at both jobs, listened to music during my various tasks at the hospital. I think we've finally ironed out the particulars of my recent book order so I can go ahead and catalogue the rest of the books on the cart.

Tonight was truck night. We didn't have too many boxes and there were three of us there. I wound up leaving a little early and went home for something to eat before going over to a friend's. I got A from work and then came home and slept in the comfy chair for about an hour before getting up and doing a few things. I'm about to go to bed for real, but I really did want to get a post or two in.

By the way, did you hear about the girl in New York who fell into an open manhole whilst texting? City workers were in process of putting out cones around the hole when the 15-year-old fell 4 or 5 feet into the sewer, getting scraped up a bit. The parents are talking about suing the city. Now granted, the workers probably shouldn't have taken the cover off until the cones were in place, but if she were that distracted, she probably would have walked right past the cones into the hole anyway. How dumb is that? Although I admire her ability to text, walk, (and no doubt chew gum) at the same time, she certainly doesn't have navigation completely down. I'm glad she wasn't really hurt, and of course there is the gross factor, which the mother emphasised in the interview, but gee, it's a sewer--it's supposed to be gross. And this is a symptom of a society that sees no reason for personal responsibility. Nevermind that the girl was doing something dumb, right? I suspect any suit against the city would be dismissed. I hope they wouldn't just settle.

I was once a witness in a similar case where someone did something that the court ruled no reasonable person would do, and the suit against the company was dismissed. Courts do recognise personal responsibility.

I suppose there might be some ruling about the cones, but they were, after all, pulling them off the truck to place as she fell--which is why no one saw her in time. Again, maybe they need to change the policy of when to place the cones, but maybe people should know better than to text while moving. At least she wasn't driving.

Google's getting into the operating systems business, but Microsoft fires back by making Office online...free?

2009-07-15T02:27:00.001-04:00

Microsoft Office to go online — for free

It’s too early to say Microsoft has checkmated Google in online documents – the latest version of Office hasn’t shipped yet. But the sleeping giant in Redmond has clearly woken up to the Internet threat.

Get this: Microsoft – the king of paid software – will announce today that it is going to give a version of Office away for free online. Both the online and desktop versions are scheduled to arrive in the first half of next year. Yes, you read that right. The latest version of its ubiquitous productivity software, dubbed Office 2010, will come as both a piece of software you can buy for your computer, and as a service you can access in your browser. [UPDATE: Microsoft says it will support the Firefox and Safari browsers as well as IE.]

For free. From Microsoft.

Stuck in my head all day

2009-07-11T04:09:00.004-04:00

'Halo' by Beyoncé
Lyrics:

Songwriters: Evan Kidd Bogart, Beyoncé Gisselle Knowles, Ryan Benjamin Tedder

Song lyrics | Halo lyrics

© B-day Publishing; Emi April Music Inc.

I hope someday I might feel the same way about someone. It's a lovely song, a great sentiment, and insidious in terms of sticking in my mind on a loop.

Okay, enough of blogging for the night; it's 4:30 am and I have to be at work by 10. 'Night.

Wow

2009-07-11T03:44:00.002-04:00

I just watched the first episode of R.O.D. (Read or Die), a library- and book-themed anime I've heard of for several years now but didn't watch until YKWIA found it on YouTube.

I definitely share Yomiko's love of books, if not her paper skills, although that would be way cool. And I'd probably leap off the aircraft after a German copy of Immortal Beloved that evil agents were trying to steal, too.

Today we celebrate the birth of a genius

2009-07-10T01:33:00.006-04:00

Today is the anniversary of Nikola Tesla's birth. Google has a great graphic for today:

Tesla was a Serbian-American (born in Europe, he eventually applied and achieved American citizenship) known for his inventions and scientific genius. You can thank Tesla for the very electricity powering your computer; he is the one who worked out the principles of alternating current. He was quite remarkable.

Here's a photo of the scientist at age 40. Eccentric and misunderstood, he was often regarded as a mad scientist who, among other things, supposedly actually invented a death ray. He didn't really profit in the long run from his inventions; finances were not so important to him and he died impoverished. What a mind he must have had!

This is really excellent

2009-07-10T00:51:00.006-04:00

A new web series:

The cinematography is absolutely breathtaking. I really want to know where they're filming.

The Bellord siblings who star in the show grew up in Hong Kong, the children of a Chinese mother and British father. From childhood they learned martial arts, yoga, and meditation, and are life-long vegetarians, according to the Karma Kula website (see below). Cool.

For more episodes, go to: http://www.youtube.com/user/TheNinjaiGang
For more information, go to: http://karmakula.ign.com/

Thanks to YKWIA for showing me this!

Hopefully that will help

2009-07-08T01:56:00.004-04:00

My gas tank was nearly empty so I put some fuel injection cleaning solution into the tank and then filled up. It's supposed to take the whole tank of gas to clean the injectors, but already it seems to be helping, at least when the speedometer is on. When it's at zero, the car still jerks, but that's not a power issue, it's where the transmission doesn't know how to shift because it doesn't know how fast the car is going. It's a little disconcerting, though.

I went to the doctor today as part of a six-month follow-up. I gave urine and blood samples and told him about the cough from Hell that's been so bad a friend called the office and told them to fix me. I have a sinus infection and he's put me on Cipro, Tessalon Perles (the things that if you bite down on them they can numb your mouth and cause choking or a bad allergic reaction that makes breathing difficult, but they really help with coughing), nasal spray, and told me to continue using the codeine/phenergan syrup. To be honest I've done nothing good to help my diabetes or even tested myself daily, and I told him that, so he wants to see me back in a couple of months. I'm going to try to improve how I eat and get back to testing.

I was off work at the library because my appointments generally run three hours since he's the only doctor in the practice, but I did work at the store this evening. It was truck night but with my gimpy foot I mostly ran register and the other two people put away the order.

Okay, time to go to bed. Tomorrow I hope to get back into the swing of things with work; I was only there a couple of hours Monday and none today. I still need to finish a book review, too.

Great news for scholars

2009-07-08T01:43:00.004-04:00

World's oldest Christian Bible goes online

More than 160[0] years ago, a scholar named Constantine Tischendorf came upon a Bible in the Monastery of St. Catherine in the Sinai desert. Recognizing its significance, he took some of the pages away with him to have them published in Germany. He returned again, and again, to take more pages, which wound up scattered in Germany and Russia. Later, some of the pages were purchased by the British Library.

Now the Codex Sinaiticus Project has brought the various pieces of the over 1,600 year-old text together in digitised form online through partnerships with the British Library, the National Library of Russia, St. Catherine's Monastery, and the Leipzig University Library.

Oldest known Bible goes online

World's oldest Christian Bible digitized

Is the Apocalypse nigh?

2009-07-08T01:29:00.003-04:00

Google apps is out of beta (yes, really)

Amazingly, Google has finally dropped the 'beta' designation from several of their applications, including Gmail, Calendar, Docs, and Talk. Gmail, for example, has been in beta for five years.

I think the idea is to get more businesses to adopt their suite of for-pay applications, but the removal of 'beta' is true for those of us who enjoy the use of the free versions as well. Most businesses don't want something still in early 'almost-ready-for-primetime' kind of testing that 'beta' designates.

A serious problem in Kentucky, and elsewhere

2009-07-06T01:16:00.001-04:00

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Happy Independence Day!

2009-07-04T12:30:00.004-04:00

The small falsehoods and great truth of the Fourth of July: A lot of the lore that surrounds the holiday isn't accurate, but its meaning and power are undeniable

National Geographic's 'Exploding the Myths'

(Warning: it's a 45-minute video)

Unfortunately I didn't make it to the festival this morning; my ankle was really hurting last night and I'd asked off long before I went into the boot. I didn't want to walk all over downtown in that condition. Plus, I was up until 5 am to take a friend home from work, and needed more sleep, because I'm working from 2-10 pm today. That means I wouldn't have been able to watch the parade anyway, and I'll miss the fireworks, too.

But I still can wish the country a happy birthday. :)

Just in case you can't watch fireworks tonight (a lot of communities are cutting out displays due to the recession, for example), here's one from New York from last year:

A small patriotic prelude to Independence Day

2009-07-03T15:39:00.002-04:00

Heehee.

I've only been up for three hours but I've done a lot

2009-07-03T15:10:00.003-04:00

I put fluids in my car in the hopes that might ease the lack of power issue (which it didn't). There was enough transmission fluid, although it's kind of dark, and I understand that's not a good sign. I'm doing a little better financially but I really can't afford to rebuild the transmission (again) if that's the issue. I did need to add oil (it's apparently still leaking, so the oil filter might have come loose again). I almost accidentally added some transmission fluid to the oil since the bottles look the same and I was juggling the hood, the funnel, and the bottle. That would not have been good. I also put in some 50-50 coolant as well (in the right receptacle, mind you).

I did a couple of errands, hunting for a few things and got them fairly quickly, but trying to stay fairly frugal. Now I've come home and eaten a little. I have 2 1/2 hours before I go to work. I can read, nap, clean, or write a review for a journal. I'm not sure I'm feeling productive enough for the latter two. Sometimes you just need a day of downtime. Also, the truck tonight is supposed to be *very* big.

I've been very non-compliant the last couple of days with the boot, reasoning that I wasn't standing or walking anywhere for any real length of time. Last night it hurt just a little, but no more than it does when I'm in the boot. But I'll go back to wearing it tonight and certainly if I go to the Fourth of July Festival tomorrow (barring rain, I'm okay to go in the morning, although I'll miss the parade and fireworks due to working--but it's double time).

I am Spartacus!

2009-07-01T21:58:00.004-04:00

If you enjoy classic movies and ancient history, you'll like this Pepsi commercial:

[Spartacus being one of my favourite classic movies...]

Thanks to M over at the World History Blog for this one.

Another one...

2009-07-01T00:41:00.001-04:00

Your result for The Steampunk Character Test...

Artillery Officer

-2 Urban, -6 Physical, -6 Technophobic, 2 Belligerent and 22 HighClass!

You are an artilery officer! You command the great guns that rain explosive shells on your nation's enemies, digging up trenches and crushing stone redoubts into fine powder. You lack the dash of the mechanized cavalry, but you never fail to land a crushing blow on enemy forces. If your army is battling savages, even better! You don't even have to hit anything, the thunderous roar of your big guns will frighten them into a rout.

Take The Steampunk Character Test at HelloQuizzy

Hmmm....

2009-07-01T00:24:00.002-04:00

Your result for The Lover Style Profile Test...

The Devoted Lover

59% partner focus, 33% aggressiveness, 40% adventurousness

Based on the results of this test, it is highly likely that:

You prefer your romance and love to be traditional rather than daring or out-of-the-ordinary, you would rather be pursued than do the pursuing and, when it comes to physical love, your satisfaction comes more from providing a wonderful time to your partner than simply seeking your own.

This places you in the Lover Style of: The Devoted Lover.

The Devoted Lover is a wonderful Lover Style, and is perhaps the best Lover Style when it comes to developing a long-term, caring and rewarding relationship. The Devoted Lover is a treasure to find, though it is sometimes difficult to time establishing a relationship with one just right; usually, this is the last romantic relationship you'll need to find, so sow any wild oats first.

In terms of physical love, the Devoted Lover can be shy at first but gradually warms and eventually can be a thrilling partner who knows every need of his/her partner. Given a strong and loving relationship, and the right lover, the Devoted Lover can be a delight in bed.

Best Compatibility can probably be found with: The Suave Lover (most of all) or the Classic Lover, or the Carnal Lover.

Congratulations!

If you enjoyed this test, I would love the feedback! Also, you might want to check out some of my other tests if you're interested in the following:

Nerds, Geeks & Dorks

Professional Wrestling

Buffy the Vampire Slayer

America/Politics

Thanks Again! -- THE LOVER STYLE PROFILE TEST

Take The Lover Style Profile Test at HelloQuizzy

Two crafts: one dying, the other revived but trapped

2009-06-30T00:35:00.009-04:00

First of all, the solar probe Ulysses:

Farewell, Ulysses: Lights Out for Solar Probe

Ulysses Hears the Siren's Song

[Design by Emil Petrinic - http://www.strangegoat.com/ - merchandise at http://www.cafepress.com/strangegoat]

There are videos that show efforts to free Spirit, but my attempts to embed the videos didn't work very well; the original wouldn't work and the update played automatically and had to be turned off. Sorry about that. I've included the links, though, and here's a story about what Spirit is doing in the meantime:

Spirit Rover Begins Making Night Sky Observations