the pod bay door

:: 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.

:: 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.

:: 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.

:: 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:

Aidan was chosen by the parents of 130 baby boys born in Alberta in 2003. Others chose Aaden, Adan, Aden, Adin, Adyn, Aedan, Aeden, Aedyn, Aiden, Aidin, Aidon, Aidyn, Aydan, Ayden, and Aydon.

Proud Alberta parents named 114 girls Abigail. Others went with Abbegale, Abbeygael, Abbigael, Abbigayle, Abbi-Gayle, Abbygail, Abbygale, Abigael, Abigale and Abigayle.

That sound you just heard was me, screaming. Sorry, hope I wasn’t too loud. What’s missing from these two lists are variations like Ehdin, A’dyn, Aaddinn, and Haidan, where the parents advise their poor kid that the “H” in his name is silent.

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.)

:: Found on Hilary’s site:

– The UK Royal Mail has issued stamps commemorating the 50th anniversary of the publication of the first two volumes of the LOTR trilogy.

– 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:

“For instance, there will be wireless “smart” necklaces that let library staff communicate and respond from anywhere in the building. If, for example, a patron who speaks only Spanish phones the reference desk, the librarian can tell the device to patch the call through to a librarian who speaks the language. If the patron shows up in person, the librarian at the desk could ask the device to locate the nearest staffer who’s qualified to translate.”

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.

:: Absolutely hilarious cartoon of LOTR director Peter Jackson, after winning the Oscar. (Via: Morrie.)