New blog/site redesign

How did I spend my summer vacation? I updated my website! This weblog address has been archived, so if you want new stuff, move on up to librarianavengers.org. Grr!

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.

New Schlock

Remember to properly label your librarian.
New librarian buttons and magnets at the Cafepress store.
Get some

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.

Conference 3

Julie, the wickedcool NSDL representative tells us that she doesn't have any PowerPoint slides and there is a spontaneous burst of applause.

Conference part two

Cornell catering is trying to kill me. Every single entree or snack for every meal so far has contained nuts. Peanut chicken on a stick last night, pesto (with pine nuts!), nutty granola for breakfast, and peanut-laced snack bars at the break. I'm trying to suck the nutrition out of a cold cup of mint tea.

We're starting up again. Ohboy PowerPoint! Constructivist learning theories? Cognitive supports within software? Ok. Here goes.

Conference

I'm liveblogging from the WDIL web conference, conveniently held where I work. I got shanghaied into this. I just wanted to meet the wikipedia guy, but somehow I ended up going to the entire thing. I'm no huge fan of conferences, as a rule. Usually the signal-to-noise ratio is insanely low, and I've got the attention span of a gnat when it comes to listening to ill-prepared speakers. Mercifully, coworker Rafe loaned me the office laptop, which is running Ubuntu, a very cool flavor of Linux, so I'll be talking to you guys all day.

Microsoft Word took my Baby Away

You know what I like least about Microsoft Word for OSX? Besides it's very bug-encrusted existence? When you do something simple like make a word bold, it defaults to making the ENTIRE DOCUMENT bold. The only way to avoid this is to click "undo" every time. Brilliant.

Alternatives, anyone? Help?

Strange

What a strange day. I got to work, and the building was closed. No water, and thus, no air conditioning. The Big Software Launch was today, so we intrepid few stayed anyway, fighting the clock and 95 degree heat whilst the servers politely melted.

Then the tornados came. Or tornado warning, which is unusual enough around here. Power lines down, benches blown over, little whorls of superfast litter in the street.

And to top it off, I rescued three snapping turles from the road. It's egg-laying day in snappingturtleland, and several turtlemammas thought our dirt road looked like ye olde ancestral breeding ground. Ever try to pick up a snapping turtle the size of a garbage can lid using only a cattail and your shoe? Ever pick up a CD-sized snapping turtle in the act of bravely stomping out in front of a BUS, only to have it kick you and pee on your foot? Ever pick up a mousepad-sized turtle from the edge of the road, and reveal five ghostly white ping-pong ball eggs in a hole beneath her? This was my day.

Also, the cow-orkers and I saw a spotted fawn and his mom hanging out in the parking lot. Nature perserve librarian, y'all. It gets no better. Execpt for the turtle pee, which stains.

One sentence movie reviews

For your summer viewing pleasure, here are some one-sentence movie reviews culled from my recent media consumption. Tune in tomorrow for two-sentence movie reviews.

The Corporation: Creepy facts set to ominous music.

Star Wars III: Dialog by Elmer Fudd.

A Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Too much Arthur Dent, not enough Ford Prefect.

Doctor Who (new BBC series): That Bittorrent guy who gave me these sure is great.

The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou: It feels like I've watched this movie before...

Hero: Swing your swift sword sister, swing your swift sword now.

Finding Neverland: In Which Johhny Depp Acts and some other stuff happens, I dunno I lost track, but there's a really great dog.

Devil's Playground: Why the Amish are stupid.