Our agenda for today...

Read this and consider: Are these people high?

First of all, connecting the concept of homesexuality and explicit sexuality together as if to make them equivalent in some way despite there own definitions of each... Are they blind or just stupid? I can't even think of a way to justify this line of thinking. And I'm a philosopher! I can usually come up with something! *laugh*

Secondly, as usual, let' not ask the librarians, the trained professionals when it comes to issues related to books and information and the like. Let's just run headlong into judgement and bills and insults with our narrow little view of ethical conduct, the nature of human behavior and learning, and respect for the truth.

And finally, Libraries are "'usurping the role of parents' unless they segregate some materials"? "The American Library Association is out to sexualize our children." Does Sally Kern have any connection with reality at all? Segregating materials based on non-objective allegedly-moral grounds is NOT usurping the role of parents? Aren't parents supposed to be the ones in charge of their kids ethical upbringing? And the second quote is just too silly to even discuss. It's like saying conservatives are trying to kill us all! It's just sensationalist. However much one side may believe outrageous extremist claims like this, all it does is scare people and avoid dealing with issues in a rational and mature manner.

I have have seen no evidence of the apparent threatening "homosexual agenda" but things like this really make me think that there is some sort of heterosexual agenda for some people.

Here's the bill.

Early...

It's cold this morning. It takes like 1 minute to walk from the shuttle bus that drops me off at the old main entrance of Kingston General Hospital to the Botterell Hall and Bracken Library next door and yet my hand nearly froze off talking on the phone as I walked it. Maybe I'm ust getting to be a wuss. Maybe I should go on a survival/camping trip or something. *laugh*

I like this getting to work a little before I have to. It gives me time to get settled and check my personal email before getting down to business. I was always really early at Queens Public in NYC. I had to take a commuter train and the subway, taking at least an hour and a half, and so I had to leave especially early just in case anything happened along the way to cause a delay. I left on the train before the train before the train that would get me there right on time. So, usually I was like an hour early to work. But working here in Kingston, I was taking my daughter to school which, if everything went smoothly would give me JUST enough time to get to work on time. Now that they closed the lot that I was parking in I have to go to the free parking lot on campus and take a shuttle bus which makes it impossible to take my daughter to school but gives me an extra 15-20 minutes before work.

I wish I was a morning person. It's so nice and quiet and crisp in the morning. Especially winter or early spring mornings. Very nice. But I have a bad habit of staying in bed until the very last minute before I'd have to rush around getting everything done. I would love to be able to read or jog or relax in the morning before work. I was jogging and exercising for a while but that's been lost for a while now. I should get back to it but it's sooooo nice to sleep... Stupid sleep.

Random Tidbits...

Sat in on part of a teleconference on "Library terms that Users Understand" (see here) but really it was mostly about terms that users do not understand or misunderstand. Examples: reference, database, resources, catalog, journal, etc. Issues: fine line between getting people to the information and losing the accuracy that these words necessitate.

Interesting simple site on the new Batgirl (who is eminently cool). Go here.

Still liking Jordan's "Shadow Rising". (Rand just took out all the bad guys in the Stone of Tear in one fell swoop!)

Stuck on a Sudoko problem!!! Arggghhhh!!!

Money's tight. Got any to spare?

And everyone should get out there and publish stuff! We need more information! Yeah!

Other worlds...

Back from my little holiday. It was my daughter's spring break last week and so she spent it with my mother and then I took Thursday and Friday off to visit with everybody. It was a good little break but although it's nice to get out of the house and see my family and veg out, it's always good to be home again. Although we've been slacking at home in terms of cleaning and sorting and fixing but I find it's always better to avoid work nearby just in case I accidentally want to do something about it. *laugh*

I've finished Forever Peace (Haldeman) and am now well into the fourth book in Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series: Shadow Rising.

First, some comments about Forever Peace: Very good. Not a sequel to his award winning "Forever War" but along the same lines, with a lot of the same themes and ideas. It reminded me of Robert Sawyer's Hominids (Neanderthal Parallax) books which I loved, just on the level of style and environment - this action-adventure drama taking place at least partly in an academic world. "Forever peace" also takes place (primarily) in the military world both in the very heart of it (high and low) and the outer edges. As with "The Forever War", I felt a little disappointed with the ending but for the opposite reason. In "The Froever War" the peaceful happy ending is nice but I don't really see it as part of the real story. "Forever Peace" also ends nicely, as is expected, but I wanted more. It felt like he didn't much care about how it turned out and just wanted to say 'and they all lived happily ever after'. I just wanted to know about the details and the process, the problems, the issues, the battles, etc. Even if it was a quick, 20 years later, "Julian is doing this now", "Marty lives in such and such a place", etc. I needed to be let down a little slower.

Shadow Rising, although I'm only a few chapters in and it's a big book (as they all are in this series), I'm really liking it. It's got a lot of stuff that I don't remember from reading it before and it's really building on the powerful roles each character is going to play, specifically Rand, Mat, Egwene and Nynaeve, and Moiraine. That's what I like about books like this. It's exciting to see the underdogs rise up and clean up, fight their way to their predestined place at the top, especially having read much of what's going to happen, knowing where they are going, and really feeling a part of the action. I'm always amazed at authors who can write such long and intricately interwoven series: how do they keep it all straight? Does Jordan have all these details about characters and events laid out in a massive database somewhere or is he keeping it all in his head? I can imagine this bearded South Carolinan gentleman living in his 200 year old house (see here), deep in his Wheel of Time universe, having to snap himself out of it when his wife calls him for dinner. I don't know. The man's a marvel.

I submitted my article for the Journal of Hospital Librarianship last Wednesday. About Bracken's IM reference service? Remember? That was the deadline and I hope that I submitted it correctly and they accept it. I think they will. It's a pretty good article if I do say so myself. Now I'm working on my review of that "World Libraries" book (still -- it's very grating to read), researching for a possible paper on information ethics, helping with our CHLA poster for the conference, and doing some web stuff of course.

Dem's the breaks...

Well, I'm a man now.

I created a box. Out of wood. Using power tools. Yes!

It's not the most beautiful thing in the world. But I learned a lot, namely, get better wood and get the right hardware. Since I was just playing around really, I just used stuff I found around the house. Fortunately the guy who used to live in the house we bought was a real handy man and left tons of wood and stuff around. Some of the stuff he left is pretty cool: a stand to turn a hand drill into a drill press, long piano hinges, hooks, fence hardware, model train motors, etc.

Oh, and I also worked on my IM reference article that I'm writing for the Journal of Hospital Librarianship. I wrote a whole bunch after having organized my ideas and facts and quotes but then I lost a couple paragraphs because I'm an idiot! *laugh* Oh well.

The kids are at my mom's. Or at least they were. I think they are on their way back as I type this. My mom's going to keep my daughter for a few more days so we'll just have my son to take care of. It will be a nice little break. Mostly for my wife who has to take care of them while I'm at work. At least with a baby/toddler you have periodic naps. And they're not constantly talking and singing and asking for things. Don't you love kids? *laugh*

Heaven and Hell...

Finished reading Haldeman's "The Forever War" and have started on his pseudo-sequel written many years later called "Forever Peace". It's not really a continuation of events but rather a continuation of the ideas: of war, culture, men and women, technology, and behaviour. Very good. I can't talk in detail about this new book yet (still only about 50 pages in) but "The Forever War" certainly deserves the awards and compliments it has been given. I liked every part of the book, even the finale, leaving us with a happy feeling that everything turns out right in the end. I don't really consider the happy ending to be a real part of the book. The real meat of the text is the slowly increasing horror and simultaneous LACK of horror at what is happening in the war and what has happened to the characters over relatively short amount of time and the Earth culture over vast amounts of time.

I have been listening to a few podcasts regarding religion and science. (Check out the "Points of Inquiry" website. I find myself leaning toward the scientific side of the issue because, among other reasons, the "scientists" seem more reasonable and less irrationally pleased with themselves. However, the skeptical philosopher in me still holds back, seeing very similar responses on both sides, all based on unjustifiable assumptions the most basic of which is the very nature of belief and it's supposed requirement for action or even life itself. Atheism may not take as much "faith" as Christianity or Hinduism or Zoroastrianism but it still requires a leap that doesn't seem to have sufficient basis in pure reason. At least to me... What do you think?

Teller, no pen...

Finished reading Book 3 of Jordan's Wheel of Time series... Woo hoo!! Really getting into the good stuff. Dealing with the Forsaken, Black Ajah, hinting and more connections between people and places, the Aiel, etc. Except my library didn't have Book 4 waiting for me! Oh well. I started reading the rather short "Forever War" by Joe Haldeman. Apparently, it took a while for Joe to get this published back in the 70s because "who wanted a science fiction book about the Vietnam War". I'm beginning to see the connections (they don't get real obvious until about the middle of the book) but it's interesting to see this after such a long time. This is a good book. It's an important book. It's always good to take something, beaten to death, and look at it from a different perspective or in a different setting. It helps get a clearer picture of it. War is horrible. War hurts the "winner" and the loser. There should never be a time when war is not seen as a necessary evil. And it should never be assumed that it's necessary at all.

Hopefully I can back to my fantasy world of magic and monsters soon. (They I should have it by Tuesday.)

Speaking of stories, I just attended a session about teaching using stories. I'm trying to think of a way to apply that to some of the things I do: reference, web development, epistemology, etc. Any ideas?

Bugging me...

So, my wife calls me at work yesterday and tells me that the school says our daughter has "nits". EWWWWWW!!!! Ok, it's gross but you know kids: rolling around in the dirt, rubbing heads with everyone, picking their noses and eating it, all par for the course -- if one kid's got something they'll all get it eventually. The only problem is the instant I hear about this I'M the one who suddenly starts to feel itchy all over!!! The rest of my day is RUINED because now I'm feeling little itches all over constantly! Even though I know I don't have anything, I don't even think that my daughter really has anything, still, just the thought makes me all squirmy and scratchy. Thanks, whoever's responsible for making my brain work the way it does! Whoever believes in the "Intelligent Design" theory of the universe obviously didn't think it took that much intelligence! *laugh*

(To close the story, we had to buy some expensive shampoo, wash her hair thoroughly with the horribly smelly stuff, and still I found nothing in her hair. I literally went through her hair with a fine tooth comb -- a nit comb that came with the shampoo -- and saw nothing... I don't know.)

Feel the paved paradise...

Parking for free now... My usual lot is being closed for work on some stupid apartment building nearby. At least I think that's the reason. Hopefully, they'll let us back in after everything's done. The free parking is great (cuz it's free) but it's farther away and I have to take the shuttle (it's a gray-looking school bus, not the Discovery), which means I have to go much earlier, which means I can't drive my daughter to school... AND I don't have my nice walk along the shore and through the park. Oh well, it'll save me money for a while.

It's nice and all living in houses and having nice warm buildings to work in but sometimes I think we're really getting away from the "real world" in so many ways. Although I hated freezing to death on my walk, it was fun seeing the ducks madly eating by the boat launch, hearing the crows caw at each other in the trees, or watching someone's dog run around like a fool in the snow. And it's good to be in the world, if only for a few minutesm, every day, to hear those sounds, to feel the cold, to experience the world we don't really live in anymore... We should go camping when it gets warmer.