Saturday, December 17, 2011

Daily Thoughts 12/17/2011

Alexander Kanoldt: Stilleben mit Büchern und Krügen, Öl auf Leinwand, 85 x 65.5 cm, 1920

Daily Thoughts 12/17/2011

I updated the Twitter and Facebook for the library.  There are still negotiations going on over the budget.  Hopefully things will go well for us. Please support libraries.

I read some more of The Life and Legend of Jay Gould.  The book discusses the ties between the railroads and the telegraph.  At one point Jay Gould worked with Thomas Edison.  He also had a rivalry with Cornelius Vanderbilt.

I plan on going to the board meeting on December 21, 2011 at 6:30 p.m. for the library.

I started reading The Shock Doctrine by Naomi Klein.  I am finding it rather odd. It comes across as muckraking progressivism versus a kind of rampant free market fundamentalism which the author, Naomi Klein is opposed to.  The writing is quite bombastic with strong statements. There is very little that seems factually neutral.  It is very much a right wing versus left wing book.  Her main target initially seems to be Milton Friedman who I am not a fan of.   Because I think of myself as independent thinker in many ways, some of the statements by Naomi Klein are puzzling to me.


Web Bits

Austerity's Attack on Knowledge Assaulting Libraries
http://www.counterpunch.org/2011/12/16/assaulting-libraries/
A British view on libraries.

Take This Book: The People's Library At Occupy Wall Street
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/melissagiragrant/take-this-book-the-peoples-library-at-occupy-wall?ref=search
This is a Kickstarter Project designed to crowd fund a book.


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