Month: July 2005

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New Site!

It all started at the South x Southwest conference this spring. I sat behind a fellow who had written a piece of weblog software called WordPress. The very mention of WordPress made the open-source and webstandards geeks at the conference go all gushy, so I figured it had to be pretty good software. Well. I installed it for a project at work and my heart went pitterpat. Great interface, tons of plugins, complete control over templates, open source, and a slick layout converted me.

Blogger has been good to me, but I’d like to experiment with this software. I’ll keep my old weblog up so your links will work (you will always be able to click on archives 2003-2005 in the right column to get to the ancient stuff), but this change of venue means you’ll have to update your RSS and bookmarks. I’m going to start writing about the books and media I’m consuming, in addition to the usual collection of rants, antecdotes, gloating about my cool job, and library related things.

Soon, I’m going to start writing about some of the nifty things we’re coming out with at my workplace, The Macaulay Library at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. I’ve been able to watch and help build an insanely complex audio-video digital library over the last year, and I think there might be some stuff of interest to you guys from what we’ve learned in the process. We’re doing a big launch at the end of the summer, so I can show you the payoff then.

Thanks again to everyone who has posted and helped this site out along the way. Grouchy librarian kisses to all of you.

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The good the bad and the furry: Choosing the Dog That’s Right for You

book coverMy ever lovin’ dog lovin’ friend Lizz brought this book over and we spend a happy hour snarfing at the clever illustrations and the Extremely Accurate descriptions of life with various dog breeds.

For example, this book suggests that if you are uncomfortable with the idea of a grown man going to the bathroom in your backyard, then the St. Bernard may not be the dog for you. Natch.

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Transmetropolitan

book cover My local comic book guy recommended this. I trust him because he has a huge fluffy dog and digs David Mack. I bought the first trade paperback and became so addicted that I am now spending $10/week there getting caught up on all of the issues. Curse your impeccable taste, comic book guy!!!

Transmetropolitan is, first, not work-safe. Librarians: keep this out of the children’s section or be prepared to mop up the exploded heads of your more conservative patrons. Transmetropolitan follows the adventures of gonzo journalist Spider Jerusalem as he stomps through a futuristic distopia filled with two-faced smoking cats, Ebola Cola, and incredibly creative profanity. You’ll love it.

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The Lost Boys Of Sudan: An American Story Of The Refugee Experience


I picked this up at the Tompkins County public library this weekend (shoutout to the reference staff!) and spent the next ten hours reading it, to the detriment of housework, gardening, exercise, and other weekend tasks. This is the story of a group of boys from Sudan who suffered unimaginable hardships during their country’s ongoing civil war, and were brought to cities across the United States as refugees. After three months of governmental support, these “Lost Boys” were required to support themselves in a world where everything was new: stairs, cleaning products, packaged food, the concept of pets. Despite an almost religious desire for education, these young men were introduced to a new form of poverty as members of the American Working Poor. The book follows the lives of four Lost Boys as they travel from war-torn Sudan to Atlanta, Georgia and learn to survive in their new home. Lions no longer lurk in the bushes, but after 9/11, drunk locals pulled a knife on a refugee and called him a terrorist.

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Cartography Tricks

Maps are fun. Especially obedient maps. This blog catalogs some of the nifty things people have done with the Google Maps API. (from boing boing)

Here’s a trick. A couple of years ago, I moved to Ithaca, NY. It’s a good place to live.
Here’s Google’s map listing the Sushi restaurants in Ithaca:
For contrast, here’s a map showing the sushi restaurants in my hometown of Flint, Michigan:
{crickets chirp}
Now look what happens when you search in Flint for “Guns”:
Thanks everybody, next show’s at nine. I’ll be here all week.

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Broken!

It was a fantastic 4th of July softball game. We played in Beezoo and Lexie’s sheep field. There were two friendly German shepherds, a handful of players, a famous digital librarian (whose name rhymes with ‘Hill Farms’), and bases made out of flannel shirts. Occasionally, the dogs would grab the ball and run around looking pleased with themselves. Hill Farms kept dropping the ball. Chris hit a home run with the bases loaded. At one point, five sheep and a couple of goats ran through the infield, bleating frantically. “Stop this madness!” they seemed to say.

I twisted my ankle running to third and felt a rather alarming ‘POP’. Once the adrenalin wore off, I realized I was having a difficult time walking. X-rays were taken, braces and crutches assigned, and I’ve been hopping around on one leg ever since. Yesterday I got downgraded from an avulsion fracture to a ligament something-or-other. I’ve been having fun abusing Advil and making up stories about what happened.