the pod bay door

:: I’ve watched this blog unfold and grow since July 2002 (when it was a Blogger site), never really knowing what my next entry will be. I’ve waffled back and forth between posting library-related entries, and everything-else-besides-libraries entries. Recently I started another blog, The (sci-tech) Library Question, which may soon take on a collaborative life of its own, and is a place for me to post library-related items of interest to colleagues working in science, engineering, math, life sciences, agriculture libraries, and the like. Geoff and many others are doing a stellar job of covering an increasingly widening array of library issues on a daily basis.

All of that said, I may choose to concentrate on the rest of my interests here, at the risk of boring my six or seven regular readers. For example, I’m fifteen minutes away from leaving to see The Good Thief. At work today, I neared completion of my talk on guerrila marketing of engineering libraries, to be presented as part of a panel at SLA in NYC on June 10th. Is anyone else watching 24 and cursing when each episode ends? How weird is this? Scientists have discovered a bizarre jellyfish in deep California coastal water.

Snow is still on the ground, the sky is still dark and grey, and I am all over the place.

:: The talk in libraries these days (well, one of the “talks”, anyway), is wireless – when are we going there, how can we make best use of it, how will it change what we do, and in the cases of many libraries already wireless, what has its impact been on what we do. The Wireless Librarian brings together resources for librarians and the experience of working in libraries with wireless technology.

Wireless technology has been with us since the 1890s, thanks to Marconi. In the October 1945 issue of Wireless World, Arthur C Clarke wrote a four-page article called “Extra-Terrestrial Relays: Can Rocket Stations Give World-wide Radio Coverage?” He proposed that satellites in geosynchronous orbit, spaced 120° apart at 36,000 feet, could achieve instant global communication coverage. Scoffed at initially, his proposed “relays”, which would be part of orbiting space stations, evolved into today’s communication satellites, or comsats.
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:: I woke up in snow this morning, and there is no end in sight…

…snow this morning…snow this morning…snow this morning…

:: Test Below, I mentioned the snow to which we woke up last Sunday. Well, that snow melted, we had a few warm days, and then yesterday it started snowing again. Oh yes, it’s May 5th. Anyway, it’s been snowing now for 24 hours. It’s getting ridiculous. Check out my backyard and the front of my house at 8:30 pm MDT tonight. The grass is green, by the way, and until two days ago, I had plans to mow my lawn for the first time.

In the meantime, to remind me of warmer climes, I uploaded a few photos using a free photo gallery program called Web Album Generator. Thanks to Dania for telling me about this one.

:: Changing gears, this 1 May 2003 editorial in the Wall Street Journal got it right regarding the WHO‘s embarrassing and baffling travel advisory to Toronto re: SARS, noting that no new cases have been reported in Toronto since April 9th, and that all 144 cases have been traced to one person who had visited Hong Kong. The WHO did lift its travel advisory, and John Fund writes that the American Library Association will make the right decision regarding holding the joint ALA/CLA conference in Toronto, where up to 25,000 people are expected to attend. Thankfully, the day after the editorial appeared, ALA did just that.

:: Did you know that the planets, satellites and spacecraft in our solar system have been assigned IP addresses by the Interplanetary Internet (IPN)? If you are interested, participate in the ongoing discussion. (Thanks, Karlin.)

:: Last evening, I had the good fortune of playing guitar at the Faculté Saint-Jean Auditorium in Edmonton, as part of “the band” (which includes the brilliant bass player, John Towill), in support of “Amelia Kaminski in Concert.” Amelia is a Fiddler Extraordinaire, with whom I have played and performed since 1986. In 1999 I contributed to her recording efforts as well, a project that was musically satisfying for me, and well received by others. The show last night features a mix of music from the Scottish and Irish traditions, with the support of the a cappella group, Almost Blue, from Los Altos CA.

I’ve performed in most of Amelia’s major concerts in the past few years, but I must say that last night was one of the best times I’ve had on stage with her and John. Two consumate musicians, they bring out the best in me when I make music with them. Amelia takes amazing, gentle care of her backup musicians, and graces the stage with a relaxed and natural presence. She is a collaborator in the true sense of the word, and I find no greater satisfaction in knowing that when I play in support of her, she need only concentrate on her fiddle, and not worry about those of us behind her. John is the kind of musician who is so good that playing with him causes me to raise my own musical abilities – in other words, I become a better musician because I share the stage with him.

Last night was much fun. We were relaxed and had a great time on stage. Contributing to my own enjoyment was the intangible: my brother and parents made a special trip to see the show, and in the audience were another 35 of my friends and colleagues, on hand in support of my efforts. I cannot thank each of them enough! Let me try to explain. It is so much more rewarding to perform for a crowd that includes people who are special to you. This particular show was outstanding – usually I try to sell 10-15 tickets for one of Amelia’s musical extravaganzas, but this time I sold 40! (With little effort, I must say!) So to my friends, colleagues and family who attended the show last night, thank you SO MUCH! You made me a better player last night, and increased my enjoyment of the entire evening!
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:: This Scotsman thinks we should “stop the blooming blogging“.

:: Remember the corporate greed-mongers at Enron? The US federal prosecutors certainly do!

:: I am so looking forward to seeing A Mighty Wind, and am pleased to see that it is scoring high praise from the critics.