Dante Aleghieri, Andrea del Castagno, 1450
Daily Thoughts 08/29/2016
I checked the library Twitter and Facebook this morning.
I read the newspaper on the way to work.
I checked the displays and the gift books this morning.
I read a copy of Publishers Weekly.
I have an interview at 11:00 a.m.
I spent some time both in the computer lab and with the public computers.
I also have been doing some planning for programming for October focusing on coloring and chess.
There is a Fundamentals of Computers Class and a Beginning Microsoft Word class in the computer lab.
Subway Reads
http://www.subwayreadsny.com/
Web Bits
The Fierce, Forgotten Library Wars of the Ancient World
Area Library Publishes Online Literary Magazine
He Tried to Check Out a Robert E. Lee Book from the Library
and Got Jailed Instead
http://napavalleyregister.com/news/nation-and-world/he-tried-to-check-out-a-robert-e-lee-book/article_25755bf8-e202-5fd1-b92c-8fd1ebc40fbe.html
Libraries Have Secrets: The Private Rooms of North Jersey's Public Libraries
http://www.northjersey.com/arts-and-entertainment/libraries-have-secrets-the-private-rooms-of-north-jersey-s-public-libraries-1.1651103
Libraries Have Secrets: The Private Rooms of North Jersey's Public Libraries
http://www.northjersey.com/arts-and-entertainment/libraries-have-secrets-the-private-rooms-of-north-jersey-s-public-libraries-1.1651103
Aliens and Libraries and Stuff. (Because I Can).
I remember talking to
a fellow librarian who said their goal was to be the first librarian in
space. I still have not seen that
happen. There is a blog about the first
library to send something to space which is kind of fun. First Library In Space
http://firstlibraryinspace.org/
There is also Story Time In Space from the International
Space Station which is kind of entertaining.
I have been reading about SETI a lot recently. There have been some really interesting
announcements in the last few days.
There may be an alien signal.
Alien Life, or Noise? Russian Telescope Discovers 'Strong Signal' from
Sun Like Star. https://www.theguardian.com/science/2016/aug/29/russian-radio-telescope-strong-signal-hd164595-seti
Also,there may be an earthlike planet in Proxima Ceti b. This until recently was purely science fiction.
Closest Potential to Our Solar System Found
I remember reading adventure stories about
traveling to other stars when I was a teenager. Now I can read about it in real life in the news.
There is even a proposition to send a probe to another star. $100 Million Plan WIll Send Probes to the
Nearest Star http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/100-million-plan-will-send-probes-to-the-nearest-star1/
Reading this material reminds me of the science fiction I
read as a teenager. It reminds me how
much closer we are to the future than most people imagine. It seems to me to be a hands breadth away.
The idea of a strong signal from SETI has some implications for our everyday
life already. People have been studying
pulsars recently. Radio Signals from
Pulsars Appear to Move Faster Than Light.
http://phys.org/news/2010-01-radio-pulses-pulsar-faster.html
You might think what does this have to do with my every day
life. It will introduce new concepts and
technology which people have only imagined before. Device Makes Radio Waves Travel Faster than
Light. http://www.universetoday.com/33752/device-makes-radio-waves-travel-faster-than-light/
I remember reading about something like this in a science
fiction novel called The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula Le Guin. There was a device in the story called an ansible which
allowed faster than light communication.
Maybe one day we will use a device like an ansible to talk
to an alien civilization. The world is
becoming stranger than you might imagine.
I like the idea of incomprehensible things happening in the
universe. There was even talk for a while
about an alien megastructure. This shows
that there are things which we don't understand out there and I am perfectly
happy to know this. It reminds me of philosophical concepts like cosmic time and how we fit in the universe.
Alien Megastructure? 'Tabby's Star Continues to Baffle
Scientists
I have been reading less science fiction recently and more nonfiction. I read about people like Elon Musk who founded Space X and Burt Rhutan of Scaled Composites. The future is being built right now and we can read about it every day if we want to.
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