:: In what might be considered a landmark ruling in Canada, Justice Konrad von Finckenstein, a Federal Court judge, today "ruled against a motion which would have allowed the music industry to begin suing individuals who make music available online." Of interest to me is his comparison of placing music files into a shared directory with the placement of a photocopier in a library surrounded by copyrighted material:
"No evidence was presented that the alleged infringers either distributed or authorized the reproduction of sound recordings," he wrote in his 28-page ruling. "They merely placed personal copies into their shared directories which were accessible by other computer users via a P2P service."
He compared the action to a photocopy machine in a library. "I cannot see a real difference between a library that places a photocopy machine in a room full of copyrighted material and a computer user that places a personal copy on a shared directory linked to a P2P service," he said.
Meanwhile, the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry, based in Europe, is filing lawsuits against 247 file-sharing individuals in Italy, Germany, Denmark and Canada.
The full, 34-page text of Finckenstein's ruling is available here, in .pdf format. In essence, what is being said is this: downloading a song from the Internet for personal use does not constitute copyright infringment. If Big Music wants to solve the downloading issue, they may need to go about it a different way. And if you think all successful artists are fighting this, read Janis Ian's two essays on the subject: The Internet Debacle - An Alternative View, and Fallout - A Followup to the Internet Debacle.
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:: While browsing through Time Out New York #437, I read an article called Talk is Cheap - No-hype Skype lets you make long distance calls for free, by Lisa Sweetingham.
Developed by Niklas Zennström and Janus Friis, the two Swedes who created the peer-to-peer file-sharing program KaZaA, Skype is like Friendster for your phone—but no invitations are needed. And while commercial VoIP providers use a centralized system of computers to route calls, Skype cuts out the middle man; your computer calls your contact's computer directly.
Skype works on PCs running Windows 2000 or XP operating systems (Apple users are out of luck for now, but Zennström says they may introduce Apple platforms in the future), and the download takes about 30 seconds. Just plug a mike/speaker headset into your computer (about $30 at any electronics store) or go speakerphone-style with a mike and your computer's internal sound card, and you're ready to chat it up with your long-distance Skype friends.
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:: George Carlin offered the "Seven Words You Can Never Say on TV" on his 1972 album, Class Clown, which caused more than a few legal problems for broadcasters at the time. Read: Appendix to Opinion of Court, to see the words. (NOTE: Appendix is NOT for the faint of heart.)
Anyway, the US House of Representatives recently passed an amendment to a section of the US Code "to provide for the punishment of certain profane broadcasts, and for other purposes." What the punishment might be is not clear. But six of the seven words made it into the amendment - only the word that rhymes with "sits", and refers to a part of the female anatomy, was left out. Lewis Black, rapidly becoming one of my favorite comedians, delivered a scathingly funny take on the new amendment on his most recent Back in Black segment on The Daily Show. It's not available yet, but when it's uploaded, I'll link to it. In the meantime, check out "Back in Black - Series Finales", to learn why he didn't give two shakes about the end of Sex and the City. I'm looking forward to watching his HBO special, Black on Broadway, when it airs - wait a minute - oh yeah, we DON'T GET HBO in Canada. I forgot.
:: Tonya has a new Challenge of the Week. I may try to meet 10% of it.
:: Jerry Orbach may be leaving Law & Order to join - wait for it - the 3rd spinoff series, Law & Order: Trial by Jury. When will Law & Order: Library Fines, go into production?
:: I've received links to a few interested videos lately. Check out the History of the BBC News site, choose 1950s, and click on "Panorama." You'll watch a short documentary on the annual spaghetti harvest in Switzerland, broadcast on April 1, 1957. The BBC switchboard was lit up with callers wanting to know where they could buy spaghetti trees. (via Robert.)
Another message led me to this "index of videos" page. If your vehicle has ever been stuck in snow, and another vehicle tried to tow it out of the drift, this video will make you laugh and cringe (takes a while to load - forget it if you have dialup). Some of the videos are rude, some hilarious, some offensive - you've been warned.
:: Robert also sent a note about this: a non-English language site (appears to be Scandinavian) for the upcoming Thunderbirds movie. (Click on the viewer to see the trailer in Quick Time.) Yep, a live action version of the 1960s Supermarionation hit by Gerry Anderson, who also created Space: 1999.
:: From Jena's site, a link to The Crimson Room. The English translation may remind you of "All your base are belong to us." If you solve this, let me know before I commit suicide by beating myself to death with a wet sock. So far I've found only 10 of the items in the room. Jena, what did I do to you to deserve this?
:: I'm not much older than the Fender Stratocaster.
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:: While driving home after my workout tonight, I was listening to CBC News. The newscaster reported that the new leader of Hamas, in the Gaza belt, is a 54-year old avowed militarist and hard-liner, bitterly opposed to Israel's existence, who has warned there will now be "total war" with Israel. In the same breath, the newscaster also mentioned that he is a pediatrician. A pediatrician!
The world is a scary place right now. The Middle East is set to either explode or implode, and even though I live in perhaps the safest country in the world, right now I don't feel particularly safe, as a world citizen. Are we that naive, those of us who don't understand such hatred as it exists in other parts of the world?
Any openings on the next flight to Mars?
:: Meanwhile, the best analysis and criticism of the recent neck-breaking assault of Steve Moore by Todd Bertuzzi turned up in, of all places, a cartoon by Ward "Slap Shot" Sutton, in the Village Voice.
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:: Six Apart, creators of Moveable Type and TypePad, is nearing release of its authentication service, TypeKey: "TypeKey is a free, open system providing a central identity that anyone can use to log in and post comments on blogs and other web sites." I've been using Jay Allen's MT Blacklist, which has worked quite well, to block comment spam. But even Jay is acknowledging that with TypeKey and the forthcoming Moveable Type 3.0, MT Blacklist's continued development won't be needed.
:: For those of you interested in a wallpaper update, yesterday I applied Polyfilla to the wall where required, and sanded it afterwards. I'll check it today for touch-ups, and then begin washing the wall, in breathless anticipation of the forthcoming application of primer. Does it get any more exciting than this?
:: A slightly different version of my Dennis Miller post was uploaded to Blogcritics, and has garnered a few interesting responses.
| TrackBack (0):: The third episode of the 5th season of The Sopranos tonight was a good one (but no Lorraine Bracco for the second week in a row, and no Edie Falco in this one either). I also watched the debut episode of David Milch's new western series, Deadwood, based on the mid-1870s history of the real town in South Dakota. Deadwood's local magazine, called, oddly enough, Deadwood Magazine, has a feature on the new series in the Mar-Apr 2004 web edition. The HBO website has a page called "The Real Deadwood", which gives more background about and history of the town in South Dakota.
David Milch has been around for a while, having worked on Hill Street Blues in the 80s, and co-created NYPD Blue. He also co-created one of my favorite series of the past few years, The Big Apple, set in an NYC FBI office. The series only lasted a few episodes.
If you saw the first episode, you may have been caught off guard by the language - needless to say, the profanity spews forth with such rapidity and volume that I thought for a moment I was watching Oz. But Milch insists this is how the residents of Deadwood spoke of and to each other in 1876.
:: Saw four movies this weekend: The Corporation, Dawn of the Dead, Once Upon a Time in Mexico, and Spartan.
:: I've been working on changing a few eating habits. I discovered recently that I enjoy snow peas, which are selling at a low price at the local grocery stores. Mixed together with grape tomatoes and low-fat mozarella cheese, it's healthy and tasty.
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:: I've been a huge fan of Dennis Miller for years. I liked him on SNL, loved his Chicago-based talk show way back when, and enjoyed his wisecracking on HBO for nine years. Now he's on CNBC, has shifted considerably to the right, and the change doesn't suit him. He's become mean-spirited and hard-edged, and disappointingly, very unlikeable.
Last night he "interviewed" Eric Alterman, author of What Liberal Media?, and co-author of The Book on Bush. Miller blew the interview so badly that it was literally painful to watch. He treated Alterman rudely, was obviously unprepared in advance, acted like a kid who couldn't get his own way, and ended the interview abruptly, mocking Alterman by turning to the camera, saying, "OK, you're great, come back anytime soon." As one contributor on RateItAll noted, "it was the most embarrassing train wreck I have ever seen." South Knox Bubba provides a great blow-by-blow description of what went down during the interview. Better still, watch the interview here, and cringe as it progresses.
But the best viewpoint of what happened last night comes from Alterman himself:
Anyway, what was so weird about it was how professional it seemed until I finally sat down with Miller. It was set up long in advance by the book’s publicists. The car came on time. In my dressing room, which was pretty elaborate as such things go, I met with a series of staff members who informed me that Dennis would be wanting to discuss topics such as George Soros and the funding of 527s; whether Bush was exploiting the 9/11 families, and I forget what else, just like a real talk show. Then I go out there and what? I’m talking to a stoned teenager, who can’t be bothered to say more than, “Whoh, man, you are so totally screwed up. Like, you really believe that stuff, dude?” I paraphrase, but really, Dennis did not say much more than that. Everyone on staff was extremely apologetic afterward and the word “unprofessional” was used over and over.
I try to avoid most of these guys, though I’ve been on O’Reilly, and Scarborough and Michael Medved’s silly radio program a couple of times but never have I encountered a guy who could not be bothered to make his own case on his own show. Really, what can CNBC be thinking with this guy? His ratings are not just in the toilet they have traveled all the way to the septic tank. And as we all know, they need to pay audience members to show up. It has got to cost more than the Phil Donahue show to produce, given the size of the audience and the set and that was yanked even though it was then the highest rated show on MSNBC.
I used to think I should be given half of Joe Scarborough’s show. His ratings aren’t so hot and we sort of get along and things could only improve. Now, perhaps I should be patient and just wait for Miller to implode a couple of more times and then offer my services to the machers up at NBC News. No need for lengthy negotiations. I’ll take whatever Dennis was getting, plus money for liquor and food for my friends when they do the program.What's annoying to me is that for years, I chose Miller as my favorite all-around performer - a great comedian, I loved the non-sequitors and obscure references, and he was an entertainer who gave credit where and when credit was due. He never seemed to take for granted that he was one of the lucky ones who made it in "the biz." Now he's kissing Dubya's Texas behind, giving Bush "a pass" on his show. That's his right, so to speak. But if he is going to treat the guests on his show who don't side with him with no dignity or respect, why bother going through the motions? Instead, feature a bevy of right-wing nutbags and turn it into a 21st century version of the Rush Limbaugh show. And his sidekick on the show is a monkey. No, really. A monkey. And people in the audience get paid to be there.
Dennis! Say it ain't so. Come back, we miss you.
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:: This is straight from Derryl's site, it is at once frightening and thought-provoking:
Here's a little piece of "The Fundamentalist Agenda":
The second agenda item is really at the top of the list, and it's vulgarly simple: Men are on top. Men are bigger and stronger, and they rule not only through physical strength but also and more importantly through their influence on the laws and rules of the land. Men set the boundaries. Men define the norms, and men enforce them. They also define women, and they define them through narrowly conceived biological functions. Women are to be supportive wives, mothers, and homemakers.
A third item follows from the others. (Indeed each part of the fundamentalist agenda is necessarily interlocked, and needs every other part to survive.) Since there is only one right picture of the world, one right set of beliefs, and one right set of roles for men, women, and children, it is imperative that this picture and these rules be communicated precisely to the next generation. Therefore, fundamentalists must control education by controlling textbooks and teaching styles, deciding what may and may not be taught.
Fourth, fundamentalists spurn the modern, and want to return to a nostalgic vision of a golden age that never really existed. Several of the scholars observed a strong and deep resemblance between fundamentalism and fascism. Both have almost identical agendas. Men are on top, women are subservient, there is one rigid set of rules, with police and military might to enforce them, and education is tightly controlled by the state. One scholar suggested that it's helpful to understand fundamentalism as religious fascism, and fascism as political fundamentalism. The phrase “overcoming the modern” is a fascist slogan dating back to at least 1941.
The fifth point is the most abstract, though it's foundational. Fundamentalists deny history in a radical and idiosyncratic way. Fundamentalists know as well or better than anybody that culture shapes everything it touches: The times we live in color how we think, what we value, and the kind of people we become. Fundamentalists agree on the perverseness of modern American society: the air of permissiveness and narcissism, individual rights unbalanced by responsibilities, sex divorced from commitment, and so on. What they don't want to see is the way culture colored the era when their scriptures were created.
It's no surprise to think that our fundamentalist nature might reach back to a time that fundies don't even believe existed. Animals behave the way they do because it is hardwired into their brains, although allowance for learning must be made. Hell, even computer programs can behave in similar fashions. It is a concern, though, that there are powerful groups of people (mostly men, as noted in the article) who wish to run things their way, and no way else, and the article quoted above gives some eloquent arguments about how to fight back."
:: Tonya has a new web site, Challenge of the Week: "The purpose of the COTW initiative is to gather together handfuls of people seeking a springboard from which to challenge themselves to make changes - big or small - individual or communal." It sounds like a good idea, especially if you believe that big changes can only emerge from small beginnings.
:: Cindi posted this cool site which displays the subways systems of the world on the same scale. The images looks like a group of small webs woven by spiders on major hallucinogenic drugs, or a series of strange cracks in glass windows.
:: My mother contributes another story to my family history project:
His instructions to my mother were to bathe my father's foot in hot water with epsom salt, three to four times daily. My father's bedtime ritual always included kneeling to say his prayers. My mother had helped him ready for the night, elevating his foot on some pillows. My bedroom, which I shared with my younger sister Carol, was directly opposite that of my parents. While I lay in bed trying to go to sleep (as I had been instructed, "Go to sleep now, you have school in the morning"), I noticed my father get out his bed and kneel to say his prayers.
I literally jumped from my bed and ran to his side, pleading with him to get back into bed, as God knew he had a sore foot and would not mind if he did not kneel until his foot was better. With much love in his eyes, my dad reached up, and touching my shoulder, invited me to kneel beside him and pray. By this time I was in tears, certain that his foot must be hurting him more than ever. I knelt, and together we prayed and I asked God to make my daddy's foot better.
Some sixty plus years later, I still remember vividly that night, and realize how much this influenced the prayer life I have had since my early childhood.
:: In the 60s and 70s, I lived and died by the Montreal Canadiens. The past 25 years has seen a waning in my interest in hockey, with baseball overtaking it for a number of reasons. Last week, Todd Bertuzzi of the Canucks assaulted Steve Moore in the Canucks/Avalanche game. He's been suspended, and the Vancouver police are investigating.
The fallout has been predictable and at times, pathetic. Proof that the players are out of touch with their own sport and behaviour comes from listening to Wayne Gretzky, Tie Domi, and others, who call the assault "unfortunate", and use the crutch of "emotions running high out there" as an excuse for what happened. Had Steve Moore been hit by a car, that would have been an unfortunate incident. What happened on the ice was disgusting, premeditated, unwarranted, stoooopid, and the lowest of the low.
An "unfortuate incident"? Oh, puh-LEASE.
Cast no aspersions on Bertuzzi's character. My guess is, he feels like garbage for what he did, which, in addition to nearly ending Moore's hockey career, his ability to walk, or his life, also includes reducing his team's chances of winning the Stanley Cup. His public apology, while heartfelt in my opinion, still lacked a direct apology for what happened. Like others before him in this situation, he refused to say "I'm sorry for what I did to you," but rather, "I am sorry for what happened." No one associated with the Vancouver Canucks has apologized to Moore or his family. Bertuzzi, now the fodder of political cartoons, now wants to meet Moore and apologize personally.
Hockey is courting disaster, as it seems to do with as much predictability as the tides. For years the players have had no respect for each other. I've been a lifelong Habs fan, and am pleased at their comeback this year. But overall, the NHL is a goon-based, skill-deficient collection of players, only of which a few stand out with their talent and class. Count Sakic, Yzerman, Koivu, Sundin, Naslund, Francis, and a few dozen others, and what you are left with are the Bertuzzis, Tuckers, Marchments - those who seem to relish in injuring others.
Anyone remember Dave Forbes butt-ending Henry Boucha in the face, from behind, breaking his cheekbone with his stick on Jan 4, 1975? The eye injury forced him to eventually retire, and Forbes was charged by the police. Boucha still suffers from impaired depth perception and double vision. Here we are, 29 years later, and nothing has changed.
Don Cherry, Domi, Tucker, and similar goons, have insisted for decades that fighting reduces tension, allows the players to let of steam, etc. This is such a load of hooey. Fight in any other team sport, and you are out of the game. The solution in hockey is simple: 1) ban fighting - you fight, you're out; 2) increase the severity of penalties for high-sticking, boarding, elbowing, etc. The result: goons will not be needed in the league anymore. What will remain are skilled players, and the quality of the game will increase dramatically. Why this will never happen? Americans want to see fighting in the game, and more viewers means more television and gate revenue, so the NHL will never move in this direction.
Recently I read that bowling is bringing in more viewers in the USA than hockey.
Duh.
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:: Four of the largest ISPs in the States have filed six lawsuits against hundreds of large-scale spammers. The plaintiffs are Microsoft, AOL, Earthlink and Yahoo. While I'm sceptical about the lawsuits, it's nice to finally see some serious legal action being taken to fight back against spammers. The lawsuits were filed subsequent to the passing of new anti-spam legislation in the US. Now, can we get the same thing happening in Canada, please?
:: Mercer Human Resource Consulting has released a World-wide quality of life survey, and Zurich and Geneva topped the list for 2004, with Vancouver BC, and Vienna, close behind. Further details of the survey reveal that Calgary is the cleanest city on Earth! It's not clear from the report which cities from the planet were included in the survey.
| TrackBack (0):: Nineteen years after it happened, on July 13, 1985, Live Aid is finally coming to a DVD store near you. I remember the show well, watching it on Much Music, and bemoaning the dozens of interruptions by Dick Clark (who announced Phil Collins as an Academy Award winner, which he wasn't at that time), and commercials and what not. I still have my videotapes of the concerts. Interesting that it took the discovery of pirated DVDs of the concert to convince the organisers to release a legitimate copy, with proceeds going to Band Aid Trust, which still exists to this day. Here's another Live Aid website.
| TrackBack (0):: Today in our library, a student was attacked and stabbed in the arm and shoulder by three other individuals, while studying on the second floor. Most of us working in the building weren't aware anything had happened until afterwards. The student apparently bolted from the library, bleeding profusely. Soon afterwards, Campus Security, the Edmonton Police, and other officials were in the building. Currently, a section of the entrance, and the second floor, are sealed off as a crime scene. The incident made the local news, and a statement was issued by the University. In addition, the students on campus are already discussing it online.
The event and its aftermath left most of us feeling a bit unsettled. In my 25+ years as a librarian, I've never experienced anything like this.
Update on 18 March 2004: The Edmonton Journal story has been removed from their website, so here's an account of what happened from the UA Student newspaper, The Gateway.
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:: For years I've ranted about parents giving stoopid baby names to their children. It's one of the reasons that certain people should not be permitted, by law, to procreate. One of my favorite web sites is Baby's Named a Bad, Bad Thing: A Primer on Parent Cruelty, compiled by Diane Goodman in San Francisco. Goodman visits various baby naming bulletin boards (like BabyCenter), grabs actual posts about what names parents are considering giving their new babies, and adds editorial comments to each one. It's one of the few sites that makes me laugh out loud.
Friday's Edmonton Journal featured an article on the top Alberta baby names for 2003. Titled Now who'd name their child Zxyrill? (good question, and a sad one at that), the article not only highlights stoopid names, but the bizarre trend of parents to create variant spellings on a name, as if in doing so, they have bestowed some special individuality on their poor, unsuspecting child.
Examples from the article:
Proud Alberta parents named 114 girls Abigail. Others went with Abbegale, Abbeygael, Abbigael, Abbigayle, Abbi-Gayle, Abbygail, Abbygale, Abigael, Abigale and Abigayle.
One boy in Alberta was named Connnor. Yes, there are three "n"s in his name. Another girl was named Lexus-Nykole. Among the baby names for boys, registered in Alberta in 2003: Blade, Boston, Caprice, Chaos, Coletrane (jazz fan?), D. (yes, with the period), Dee-Jay (radio fan?), Dilbert (likes the funnies?), Diesel (likes Vin?), Denzel (obvious), Ebenzer (is that a typo?), Exzavier (wanted to ensure correct pronunciation), Fox and Foxx (one's parents like Mulder, the other Redd), Freedom (Woodstock outtake), Frost, Genesis ("there must be some misunderstanding..."), H. (will he meet D. someday?), Hillary (this kid will get teased), Houston (will he meet Boston someday?), J.R., Jetli (martial arts fan?), Jonathn (typo?), Journey (did they ever tour with Genesis?), K.C. (also KC), (NOTE: The Ks have many bizarre variations on many names beginning with C), Lucky, Madeleine (he'll need to team up with Hillary), Man, Maxxam (palindrome), Memphis (ok, geothematic stuff happening here), Neo (Matrix fan?), Oblio (old Nillson fan? "Me and My Arrow..."), Ocean, Osama (er, um...), Ozzy (70s headbanger?), Pure (?), Phoenix (continuing with cities), River (perhaps he'll be in the same class as Ocean), Shady, Shooter, T. (ok, so maybe D., H., J.R., K.C., and T. will form a rock band called The Initials), Thunder, Tiger, Tolkien (could become friends with J.R.), Trigger (will become friends with Shooter), Wang (there was also a Chung, please, please let them become friends, too!), Xyler (what, Tyler isn't good enough?), Zyler (ok, you win).
More variant spelling examples: Braden: Bradyn, Braedan, Braeden, Braedon, Braedyn, Braiden, Braidin, Braidon, Brayden, Braydin, Braydon, BrayDyn. What, Braydan wasn't good enough? What about Breigh-Dann?
Among the baby names for girls, registered in Alberta in 2003: A., Arizona-Rayne, Babe, Bay-JA (my name is spelled capital b, small a, small y, hyphen, capital j, capital a), Becca (that had to happen, in addition to destroying spelling, parents are now chopping up names as well), Brie (name your kid after cheese?), Brooklyn (ok, when did naming a girl after an NYC borough become popular? And the variations? Migod... Brookelyn, Brooke-Lyn, Brooke-lyn, Brooke-Lynn, Brooke-lynne, Brooklin, BrookLyn, Brook-Lyn, Brook-lyn, Brooklynn, Brooklynne. They forgot Broocklinne), Charisma (no pressure on this kid), Charlize (nicely timed), Colby (another cheese), Desert (will have to date Ocean or River), Dwyshina, Dylynn (aghh!), Georga (another typo?), Ice (will be in contention with Desert to date River or Ocean), Island, Isabell'a (is that pronounced Isabell-AHHH?), J'dynn (a Klingon?), Jewelyanna, Jor-el (isn't that Superman's father's name?), Jythsaint (try saying that while eating crackers), Kennedy (and Kenadee, Kenady, Kenedy, Kennadi, Kennedi - shoot me now), Leaf, November, Ocean (and Oceana, Oceanna, Océanne), Orielle-Floriane, Peris, Poetry, Prescious (are the parents named Gollum and Smeagol?), Promise, Rabeaca (if this is a variation on Rebecca, the others include: Rebbeca, Rebbecca, Rebecka, Rebeka, Rebekah, Rebekka, Rebekkah, and Rebeccaanne - spare a hyphen, maybe?), Sappho (are they expecting her to bat for the same team?), Sarah-Lee (future cake baker?), Shaquille (c'mon, she's a girl, dammit!), Sparrow, Solaris, Storm, Sunshine (they must become friends), Swastika (oh-my-God; maybe she'll have it changed, or shortened to "Tika"), Teardrop, Ty'r (Klingon again?), White, and Zowie.
Perhaps many of these children might end up in the same kindergarten class. I pity the teacher. The images are frightening. "Mom, Sappho and J'Dynn are here, can I go out and play with them? We're going over to Tolkien's house, Ocean, River and Ice will be there too." How will Chaos's parents react when he brings his girlfriend over to meet them? "Mom, Dad, I'd like you to meet Swastika."
Can't any of these parents be slapped upside the head, or given a good, swift, hard kick in the behind?
:: BTW, The Sopranos returned to tv, after a 15-month hiatus. The first episode tonight was quite good. Here's a review (with spoilers, if you haven't seen the episode, don't read the whole thing.)
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:: Found on Hilary's site:
- Seattle's new Central Library, opening in May, 2004, is truly on the cutting edge of technology these days. In addition to wireless service available anywhere in the 11-story building, staff will use wireless "smart" communication devices a la Star Trek:
To be able to provide reference service from anywhere in a library would be interesting. We wouldn't be restricted to the information desk area when answering a question by phone, and we could move about the floors of the building without losing contact with a customer.
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:: Absolutely hilarious cartoon of LOTR director Peter Jackson, after winning the Oscar. (Via: Morrie.)
| TrackBack (0):: A colleague at work sent me an e-mail, pointing to a site called musicplasma, which "maps" artists of similar musical styles to each other. The idea is, you search an artist you like, and the resulting map will list artists you are most likely to also like, because of similar styles. I searched Steely Dan, and the artists listed as closest to Don & Walt's sound are Cher, with Annie Lennox and Celine Dion not much farther away. Methinks the program creators don't much like our boys from NYC. The site is interesting, but there isn't much explanation as to why it even exists, what the colour scheme represents, etc.
In the same e-mail, however, was a link to Geist, a Canadian magazine "featuring the best in Canadian fiction, non-fiction, photography, comix and what-have you." Check out Caught Mapping, which features thematic maps in .pdf format. The maps are quite good, but don't translate well into a .pdf frame. Try these maps: The Erotic Map of Canada, which includes Hump Island, Bare Butt Bay, The Nipples, The Buttocks, and Lac du Pénis de Caribou. However, the funniest collection of names belongs to Newfoundland.
There is also The National Beer Map of Canada, The Doughnut Map of Canada, The Philosopher's Map of Canada, and many more.
:: The 76th Academy Awards were nice, friendly, predictable, funny in parts, and came in well under four hours. New Zealanders were happy with the results, as well as with Keisha Castle-Hughes' appearance as a nominee for Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role, for Whale Rider. Her family in NZ was very excited for her. She wore a special whale pin in her hair. Megan Gibb, reporting for the NZ Herald, provided a moment-to-moment commentary as the evening progressed. Another reporter took the NYTimes to task for describing Jackson as a "bespectacled Australian".
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