Our little farm hand

At the Minnesota State Fair, August 2006

News of the day

I didn't like the news today. Woke up late, so the day was off to a bad start, and then my beloved NPR did everything in its power to bring me down further.
1. story about the Senate passing the bill which, in essence, destroys the Geneva Convention (if we don't follow it, how can we expect anyone else to?), makes a mockery of the constitutionally established balance of powers in government (the executive can do whatever it wants!), and ruins the long established writ of habeas corpus. Give up the body, indeed.
2. the change in a federal tax law that makes fractional giving more difficult and less attractive to donors. This is the practice whereby a donor gives a gift to a museum (usually of art) in the future, but keeps it hanging in their living room until, well, they die or get sick of it or whatever. I am oversimplifying, and we at MHS do not benefit from this form of giving much, but still, this change is silly, shortsighted, and pointlessly mean, and will serve to discourage people from donating to what, in the end, is the public good.
3. the review of Niall Ferguson's new book, which seems to argue that the West is currently in a downward death spiral. Ferguson, as an author, is deliberately and historical provocative, but my fear is that he is largely right. (Really though? Really? I argued earlier today when discussing this with a co-worker that perhaps the times we're in, and in which his book is written, is just a crabby blip in the trajectory of history, not really the beginning of the new Dark Ages. I don't know though...I really don't. We can still save ourselves, right? Or am I just the world's biggest pollyanna?)
As the day progressed, the universe sought to right the balance, by:
a. allowing for a brand-spanking new Virigina Quarterly Review to arrive in my mailbox, with a special fiction bonus issue! Oh, the joy!
b. Patrick brought in a lovely donation for the incredibly important Huggins Diary. Yah!
c. I got to come home at the end of the day.

Technologic

Thanks to Daft Punk for the title of this post.
I am supposed to blog about some technological advancement that interests me this week.
1. Something I don't like - Site Pal. This is an application that allows one to create an animated talking head for your web site, online ad, whatever. It is creepy and weird and I don't like it. You may notice, I did not link to it...yes, you may thank me for sparing you.
2. Something I do look forward to learning more about are RSS feeds. While the prospect for being on the receiving end of the feeds doesn't excitement all that much at this point (I can surf myself, thank you very much), I think establishing a feed for various library things will be very cool. We in the Collections Department have a web site Collections Up Close that highlights recent acquisitions; I am very interested in using a RSS feed to enable us to let our patrons and other interested parties know when there is a new addition to this site (and therefore our collection). It may be a good way to keep in touch with potential donors as well as researchers.
3. I spent some quality time in the library stacks today. This served to remind me that no matter how cool some of the new fangled tools may be, nothing will replace the book. Clearly, the printing press is the most exciting technology of all time!

Habit

My blog is called books are best, and therefore perhaps it's time to talk about a book.
I am currently immersed in Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics. We are reading this for my beloved alma mater's alumni group, which meets once a month to talk about great books. My school is St. John's College as anyone who knows me already knows. But this is not about school, not this time, it is about the Ethics.
Did you know that the Ethics is a guide book for raising children? Yeah, me neither, until reading it at this point in my life. It is about living the good life through virtue to achieve happiness and finding the mean enabling one to do it. It also highlights the importance of cultivating good habits, especially in the young. We read books to our daughter and try to get her to say please and thank you...what more can we do? Aristotle, why couldn't you be more specific?
Oh, and one last word about habit...I will be attempting to cultivate the habit in myself of writing here more often.

August Lion, Trafalgar

with spire of St. Martin's-in-the-Fields in the background

Why?

Oh yeah, why am I doing this?
I am learning about all things Web 2.0 related, with the goal of being better equipped to use technology in service of my work at the Minnesota Historical Society Library.
Perpetual learning, all that. First task: make a blog.
Thanks to the good folks at the Public Library of Charlotte & Mecklenburg County, who put this program of 23 Things together.

Girls vs. Boys?

I am also considering this exercise as my own personal effort to combat what is my own personal belief, which is that more boys than girls have blogs. Is this true, or is it just true among people I know? I have more elaborate theories in relation to this, but you'll have to buy me a drink to hear them.

Fall

Yesterday, it was 85 degrees. Today, it is 60. A radical change that I find difficult to adapt to, or to accept. But...utterly powerless we are in the face of weather.
So I went for a walk tonight. Yes, to the liquor store, to buy a bottle of wine. It was a beautiful walk though...cool breeze, fresh air, lots to look at. The walk was good and the wine is good and maybe fall isn't so bad after all.

Blogs are strange

I expect to come here and find something new and interesting to read...then I realize I'm the one who has to put something here! Oh man...
But I do secretly half expect that someone else will have snuck in and added something. That would be strange and, well, not good.

Photo

Let's try inserting a photo!
(Learning!)

Welcome to me

Ah, crap. So apparently I've gotten myself a blog. I blame peer pressure. I do have a lot to say, however...