Daily Thoughts 09/20/2012

Sugawara no Michizane Print shows Sugawara Michizane, full-length, standing next to a tree beneath a full moon, writing poetry. Date Created/Published: [188-] 

Daily Thoughts 09/20/2012

I finished reading Abundance The Future is Better than You Think last night.  It was a good reminder that we choose which technologies we are going to use and how we will use them.  Many of the choices we make as individuals affect how our future will happen.

This morning, I updated the Twitter and Facebook pages for the library.  I also checked the displays.  I read the latest Library Journal.  I also placed the book The end of money : counterfeiters, preachers, techies, dreamers-and the coming cashless society by David Wollman on hold.

We had the computer lab this afternoon between 2:00 p.m. and 4:00 p.m.

I spent some more time this afternoon looking at the new books.  The new travel books are quite popular.

Things are changing a bit.  We have a new director, Donna Hurwitz.

I read some of The Comic Book History of Comics on the train home.  It is very enjoyable.  The books images often parody the history of comics.  I like the pictures of Walt Disney with Mickey Mouse ears. This makes the book entertaining.  There are a lot of very eccentric artists in the history of comics.  I like reading about people like Hal Foster, Jack Kirby, Joe Siegel, Winsor McCay, Bob Kane, and Wil Eisner.  This book covers the major figures in comics history.  Right now, I am reading about Fredric Wertham who wrote Seduction of the Innocent a critique of comics which led to censorship of the comics industry and a number of legal battles.

Web Bits

Why Philip Roth Needs A Secondary Source by Cory Doctorow
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2012/sep/19/why-philip-roth-needs-secondary-source

Daily Thoughts 09/18/2012

Portrait of a man writing at a table. Hendrick Martensenz Sorgh, 1663

Daily Thoughts 09/18/2012

This morning, I spent some time reading Abundance.  The authors are writing about energy.  Most of the focus is on solar energy with a little bit on wind energy, smart grid technologies and biofuels.  There was nothing on wave energy which was disappointing and next to nothing on geothermal energy.  Still it was interesting.  They discuss the concept of how Moore's law affects photovoltaics in a similar way that it affects semiconductors.  This is description of how photovoltaic costs are plummeting over time. http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/guest-blog/2011/03/16/smaller-cheaper-faster-does-moores-law-apply-to-solar-cells/

I also finished reading The Rapture of the Nerds last night on the train home.  It was very enjoyable and quite ironic.  I will probably write about it later.

I checked the Twitter and Facebook accounts for the library.  I also checked the displays and the gift books.   The career counselor is here today.  She does 45 minute sessions.  The computer lab is also open between 2:00 p.m. and 4:00 p.m..

I sometimes don't get a chance to read all the books which I check out.  I returned a bunch of material today.  I also spent a little bit of time looking at the local paper online.

The library has the Computer Classes tonight.  I spent a little time setting up the lab.  This week is Constitution Week from September 17 to September 23, 2012 http://www.visitthecapitol.gov/education/constitution_week.html

Web Bits

How a Small Net Zero Energy Library Got the Worlds Attention
http://lj.libraryjournal.com/2012/09/buildings/lbd/how-a-small-net-zero-energy-library-got-the-worlds-attention-library-by-design/

Daily Thoughts 09/17/2012

Dans la Bibliothèque (1872). Oil on canvas. Auguste Toulmouche.

Daily Thoughts 09/17/2012

I read some more of Abundance  this weekend.  There is quite a bit on technophilanthropy which is often focused on global issues.  The Bill Gates Foundation addresses issues like sanitation which can effect everyone.  There is also some material on the concept of dematerialization.  This is how objects are becoming increasingly smaller and being computerized.  A cell phone now functions as a camera, telephone and  in some cases computer.  This changes the amount of material needed to make things.  This especially true with nanotechnology.   Earlier in the book, the authors cite the book, Engines of Creation: The Coming Era of Nanotechnology by Eric K. Drexler which was written in 1987.

I also read a little more of Madrigal's Magic Keys to Spanish.

I am enjoying reading The Rapture of the Nerds A tale of the singularity, posthumanity, and awkward social situations.  I am finding it both funny and ironic.  Cory Doctorow and Charles Stross seem to be writing a fractured science fiction novel.  The main character Huw dislikes technology.  Many of the ideas in a typical science fiction novel are turned on their heads.  The writing is different because it includes things like taking baths, swearing, and eating which are the every day things often left out of science fiction novels.

 The future is not so wonderful and the human condition seems to prevail.  It even prevails with various ideas like uplifted gibbons and artificial intelligence devices.  They are often as cantankerous as the people in the story.

Ellen Datlow was part of the editorial team for The Rapture of the Nerds.  I think this adds to the story with some strong characterization.

I put the book Finding my elegy : new and selected poems, 1960-2010 by Ursual Le Guin on hold.  

The Comic Book History of Comics by Fred Van Lente and Ryan Dunlavey came in for me to read.  It is the history of comics in comic book form.

This morning, I checked the Twitter and Facebook accounts.  

Web Bits

What Popular Culture Is Telling Us About Libraries
http://lj.libraryjournal.com/2012/09/opinion/backtalk/what-popular-culture-is-telling-us-about-libraries-and-why-we-should-listen-backtalk/

Print On Demand: Major Announcement Could Change How You Buy Books
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/09/13/print-on-demand-books-espresso_n_1882616.html?ref=topbar

Daily Thoughts 09/13/2012

Robert Martineau, Last Chapter, 1863
 
Daily Thoughts 09/13/2012

This morning, I relaxed and took some time to think on the train to work.  There will be a new exhibit coming in the gallery soon in the rotunda.

I checked the Facebook and Twitter account for the library.  I also took some time to look at the new books this morning.  I always enjoy looking at the new books.  We have some new Batman, Fantastic Four, Spiderman and other traditional superhero comics.  We have a group of young men who like superhero comics.  They often read the graphic novels before they go on cybercorner to use the internet.

I spent some time checking the poetry section in the mezzanine today.  The library has the Computer Lab open today from 2:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. today.  I helped someone set up an email account today.

I am looking at Richard Stark's Parker The Score Adapted and Illustrated by Darwyn Cooke.  It is a graphic novel in very stark yellow, orange, black, white, and brown.  Richard Stark is a pseudonym for Donald E. Westlake, the mystery writer.  Parker is a very hard edged professional criminal in this story.  He is a master thief, bank robber, and criminal organizer.  The feel of the story is very much a 1950s crime noire.  It is a large scale criminal caper.

I read a bit more of Abundance.  I rather like the idea that the concept of Cornucopia is a counter philosophy to Malthusian ideas about overpopulation.  If Cornucopia works it is better than overpopulation.

I also read some more of Margarita Madrigal's Magic Keys to Spanish.  I finished Chapter 25.  I think I am beginning to understand things a little better.

Web Bits

Vintage Ads for Libraries and Reading
http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2012/09/11/vintage-ads-for-libraries-and-reading/

Daily Thoughts 09/12/2012

Ex-libris of P. F. Madigan (Patrick Francis Madigan, book dealer in New York?); figure reading a book (by Kelmscott Press), in the background "Madigans Bookshop", Before 1907 http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ex_libris_of_P_F_Madigan.jpg

Daily Thoughts 09/12/2012

This morning on the train to work, I read a little bit more of Abundance.  The authors are writing about Ray Kurzweil and Gordon Moore who have had a big impact on technology.

This morning, I checked the Twitter and Facebook accounts for the library.  I also checked the displays and gift books.  We are getting new books every day for the new books display.  People like it. I also spent a little time in the local history room looking at pictures and clippings.  There are quite a few old pictures of the library in the files.  http://www.mountvernonpubliclibrary.org/Library-in-pictures

We have the computer lab today from 2:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m.  Some of the students from the computer classes on Tuesdays come in to practice typing and other things in the lab.

I did a little more checking of the 800s in the mezzanine.

Daily Thoughts 09/11/2012

[Reading room, view toward the delivery room, Carnegie Library and Music Hall, Allegheny City, Pennsylvania] Date Created/Published: [ca. 1890]

Daily Thoughts 09/11/2012

This morning, I updated the Twitter and Facebook accounts for the library.  We have a display next to the circulation desk for 9/11 remembrance.  I also checked the other displays and the gift books.

We have the computer classes this Tuesday evening.  There was also a meeting with the new director in the afternoon.  I did a tiny bit more checking the 800s in the mezzanine.

The book, The Rapture of the Nerds A tale of the singularity, posthumanity, and awkward social situations by Cory Doctorow and Charles Stross came in for me to read.  Cory Doctorow writes columns for Locus Magazine and Publishers Weekly.  He is one of my favorite authors.

On the way home, I read some more of Margarita Madrigal's Magic Keys to Spanish, I am on Chapter 23 now.  I also read some of Abundance The Future Is Better Than You Think.  It is currently about how people tend to create a much more pessimistic view of the future than is actually occurring.  They are also trying to create a philosophical and material approach to the future which will guarantee food, shelter, education, water, and comfort for all of humanity which is very positive.

Web Bits

Something Old, Something New, Dicing Data at NYPL Labs
http://www.thedigitalshift.com/2012/09/digital-libraries/something-old-something-new-dicing-data-at-nypl-labs-cover-story/