Thanksgiving

I still lead a blessed life. This year the thing I'm probably most thankful for is that this craaaaaaaaazy semester is almost over.

LIFE Photo Archive

You gotta love Google - they've posted millions of photos, most never published, from LIFE magazine in the new LIFE photo archive.

Don't let the list of subjects on the home page limit your thinking - pick a subject, any subject, and start searching. Try Hawaii or cats or library or Disney or space...

New Food Fave

There is no way Yoplait French Vanilla yogurt is healthy - it tastes too damn good.

btw, if it's not really healthy, I don't want to know - thanks anyway. Ignorance is bliss and all...

Naming Objects

I knew I wasn't the only one, but now someone else has admitted it. Hooray!

For me:

• Car = Beauty
• Computer = Serenity {yes, I know the car should be Serenity, but I got the computer before the car, so the name was already taken}
• 1st PDA = Jade (she, yes she, was a beautiful green)
• 2nd PDA = Panda 'cause it (yes, it) is black and white and when I was trying to name it, Mom had just watched Mulan
  

Why is Panda an it when Jade was a she? 'Cause I could actually use the Grafitti writing system that Jade came with - I even still find myself occasionally using the symbols when writing with pen and paper. When I had to replace Jade several years later, Palm had changed the writing system and I never got the hang of it. Not Panda's fault, I know, but I'm an irrational human - so sue me...

Banned Books Display

"We will be celebrating Banned Book Week by having volunteers read banned and challenged books in our special Banned Book Reading Room at Twin Hickory Library. We have a comfy reading chair, ottoman, reading lamp and a nice selection of banned and challenged books for our readers."

It's worth clicking through to see the photos...

Jon Stewart on 9/11/01

Courtesy of a link from Neil Gaiman's Journal, I was able to see, for the first time, the beginning of Jon Stewart's first Daily Show after September 11, 2001. Not only was I impressed by a man who wasn't afraid to share, and show, the emotions he was battling with, but one of the last things he said really hit me: He said that the view from his apartment used to be the World Trade Center, but that now it was the Statue of Liberty. Not only from his apartment, but from all of lower Manhattan. He didn't dwell on it, but it really got me thinking about the American way of life and our priorities - the dominant feature of a landscape changing from buildings of commerce and business to a symbol of what this country used to, and should, stand for. And, I hope, will again someday.

Hawai‘i State Public Library System in Trouble

A big Mahalo to Librarian In Black for bringing national attention to the plight of Hawai‘i's public libraries.

Map Tunneler

Geek Alert!

A Free Map Tools map that shows you what's on the other side of the Earth.

For the Big Island of Hawai‘i, it's Botswana, Africa.

Where's your opposite?

Brit-Fix

Most of my audiovisual material lately has been from the United Kingdom. For months now, my Netflix queue has been Doctor Who and MI-5 (with the original Avengers creeping in recently), I've been watching and re-watching my Jane Austen collection*, and my iPod keeps me awake while I drive with the Harry Potter books.

Right now, November 18** seems an awfully long way away, although with as crazy busy as this semester is going to be, I'm sure it will actually fly by.

* Pride and Prejudice with Jennifer Ehle and Colin Firth; Sense & Sensibility with Emma Thompson, Kate Winslet, and Alan Rickman; Persuasion with Amanda Root and Ciaran Hinds; and Emma with Gwyneth Paltrow and Jeremy Northam

** Release of Season Series 4 of Doctor Who

Reference Question

One of the most unusual questions I've received at the Reference Desk:

"How many sentences are supposed to be in a paragraph?"

The patron really, really wanted a specific number...

What Does a Rainbow Mean?

Please, PLEASE, somebody tell me this is a hoax: Sprinkler Rainbow Conspiracy.

Some of the hope I felt when I found Splendid Elles just leached away - I want it back! I'm tired of being disgusted with and / or embarrassed by vast numbers of the human race! I'm not perfect, but c'mon, people!

A/C Problems

You know the air-conditioning is having a bad day when it's cooler outside -- in Hawaii, in June -- than it is inside your place of work.

Lego

Classics in Lego is a flickr photoset showing the re-creation of famous photographs using guess what.

Splendid

Do yourself a favor: without reading anything else on the page (comments, about, etc.) go read this post and this post and then come back here and scroll down...
















...thoughtful, intelligent, and analytical, weren't they? Wondering why you haven't heard this insightful commentator before?

Possibly because she has to finish her homework before she can blog, since Splendid Elles is only 15-years old.

Suddenly, I have some hope for the future, don't you? Thanks, Elles.

Scheduling Meetings

Tired of the endless back-and-forth emails when you're trying to schedule a meeting? Check out When is Good. It doesn't get much simpler.

Bumper Sticker

Saw a great bumper sticker today:

Frodo Failed
Bush has the Ring

Jediism

Courtesy of S., a story that leaves me speechless:

Man Dressed as Darth Vader Spared Jail for Attack on Founder of Britain's Jedi Church

Favorite quote: "In the 2001 United Kingdom census, 390,000 — 0.7 percent of the population — listed Jedi as their religion."

Two other related items:

Jediism Wikipedia article

Google results for search performed today: "about 47,600 for jediism"

On the one hand, it's a lot less harmful than a lot of other things; but on the other hand.... oh, never mind.

More Learnin', with Some Fun on the Side

Professional development is a big thing in the library world - librarians are constantly giving and attending courses, workshops, and conferences. And yeah, some of it is bogus and some people don't take it seriously, but for the most part, I've always gotten a lot out of the experiences I've been able to partake in.

The usual obstacles to professional development in an organization are institutional support and money. Despite the prevalence of professional development as an occupational cornerstone, some organizations still do not give time and / or monetary support to librarians for these activities. Fortunately, my Library Director is a staunch supporter of professional development; her only obstacle being how much money she can finagle for it.

I've read about librarians who don't get any kind of support from their employer, rather, they take vacation time and use their personal money to attend - that's how seriously we take this whole life-long learning concept.

This year, the American Library Association Annual Conference (which always takes place in the summer, and therefore someplace warm; Midwinter conference: someplace freezing) takes place in Anaheim and I get to go!

Now, the quickest way to get kicked out of my library director's office is to say that you want to go to XYZ Conference because you've "never seen Paris in the springtime." And I have to agree with her: first consideration should be the event and how it will benefit you and your organization professionally. That said, my boss already knows I'm a bigger Disney freak than she is, so she knew that my wanting to go to ALA had a little bit to do with the location.

But this is also one of those events where there are two, sometimes three, sessions that I really want to attend that are happening at the exact same time. Decisions, decisions...

So, the countdown has begun and my renewed Annual Pass is quivering. I leave on June 26 (and, if things go smoothly, will eat dinner in the Magic Kingdom that night!) and return home on July 3.

Sure, I'll be happy to tell Mickey "Hi!" for you...

Shiny!

My copies of Absolute Sandman have arrived - don't anyone tell Neil, but I got both Volume One and Volume Two for ~ $99 instead of $99 each.

These are absolutely* gorgeous - I've always enjoyed this series immensely, even though I know that I'm missing a lot of the numerous literary, mythological, and cultural references.


* pun intended

Phoenix on Mars

Here's the Phoenix Mars Lander captured by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter's HiRISE camera as Phoenix descended toward Mars. The wider perspective is also incredibly impressive.

HiRISE also captured Phoenix sitting on Mars after its successful landing.

And thanks to Phil Plait for pointing out:

"Think on this, and think on it carefully: you are seeing a manmade object falling gracefully and with intent to the surface of an alien world, as seen by another manmade object already circling that world, both of them acting robotically, and both of them hundreds of million of kilometers away.

Never, ever forget: we did this. This is what we can do."

Amen.