Destroy the Libraries? The words of a complete and utter idiot!!

I won’t give energy by providing a link to the imbecilic ranting of a computer sub-geek who wrote that it would be a good idea to destroy the libraries of the world now they’re no longer needed.

This is a person who most erroneously believes that all of the world’s knowledge and information can be retrieved from the laptop he brings to Starbucks.

Google and Wikipedia are the fonts of all wisdom in his small and stagnant brain.

Google and Microsoft, along with many school libraries are busy transferring information from books, but have barely touched the surface of the books held by universities.  Even so, even if every book in the world had been scanned, would it still be a reason to destroy the libraries?  Of course not.

If this person had bothered to visit a library recently he would have seen that public book stacks are the thin skin made visible.  In geek language, they are the Favorites.

I won’t go into a long defense of an institution in its many incarnations, but will invoke the ghost of Andrew Carnegie and direct him to this man’s front door. I am sure Mr. Carnegie’s shade will know what to do next.

LiveJournal Tags: Book Burning

If You Vote, It Just Doesn’t Make Sense to Avoid Opera 9.61!

The point to make here is anyone who doesn’t use Opera Browser, now in version 9.61, is about as smart as an undecided voter.

You may have thought the Blog heading would be followed by a political statement.  The only political statement I can make now is that undecided people should not be allowed into the polling place.
I am forced to use Internet Explorer at work and Mac OS Safari where I volunteer.  Both are so completely cumbersome it can be painful at times.

There was a time you couldn’t drag me away from Firefox.  Then one day I discovered I was no longer using Firefox as a browser but a place where I can store extensions.

More of my usage time was spent waiting for the extension to load and look for updates and then reading every RSS feed where newer and better extensions could  be found.

Also, I was using Google Reader as my RSS source, Thunderbird as my email program and a variety of others to manage downloads.  All of that activity can be conducted inside Opera loaded with its default features. 

When I first started to reuse it, (more on that in another post,) I found myself looking for add-ons, widgets and the like.  Than, epiphany time, every feature I used the most was already part of the program.

Dropping the extension addiction took a monkey off my back.  Let Opera help you break  your extension addictions as well.

LiveJournal Tags: Opera And Voting

People Can Be Found

People can be found in the weirdest places.   I was looking for something about acoustic waves for my son when Amber MacArthur’s name flashed by my eyes.

It was in an article found it, of all places, a web page called Guitar Wave.  It promotes itself with the phrase: A place for guitar enthusiasts with emphasis on equipment and tutorials

I am a large fan of Amber. 

First seeing her along with the guru of gurus Leo Laporte on Screen Savers, I’ve watched her share her love of all things computer - right up to her present incarnation on commandN.
Each week I try to comment in the episode’s page.

Expect nothing profound in our comments.  The episode before this found us commenting on the dog-tag style earrings.   It also took us a while to get use to the low-key style of Will Pate, her current co-host.  Before him was Mikey. 

If you went out of your way to find a personality polar opposite of Mike Lazazzera, you must find Will.

I hope you come to commandN in a less oblique way than a search for information on sound waves, but when you do get there, expect yourself to start looking at older episode for no other reason than to watch the few weeks where her hair went native.  This careful warning before you go there, it’s addictive.

LiveJournal Tags: Amber MacArthur

Combing Palin and Kipling – An interesting recipe…

LiveJournal Tags: Palin and Kipling

In today’s NYT, Mr. Cohen brought together the written word of Rudyard Kipling and the quoted words of VP candidate, Gov. Palin.

At first, I thought this was going to be quite a thin stretch.  However, it did connect, however tenuously.

Each year, on his birthday, I read the poem If by Kipling to my son.  Each year I ask him “Now, what does it mean to you?”

Each year he puts a different slant to his answer, showing a broader understanding of the world. 

He will be able to vote in not this but the next Presidential election.  Perhaps now I should have him read all of the poems, especially those quoted in today’s Op-Ed Column written by Mr. Cohen.

The Debate as an effective window into the candidate’s mind

When you hear of the famous Lincoln-Douglas debate, you hear of resounding oratory, playing the emotions of the crowd, exciting them to condemn or support the issue at hand.

This evening I watched two men who answered questions with prefabricated sound bites. 

The only moment I found interesting is when the Democratic candidate said Warren Buffett would be a possible choice for Secretary of the Treasury.  This exclamation was soon followed by a series of names and generalities that said, he would, of course think of other candidates for the job before appointing Mr.. Buffett. 

I wouldn’t call it a bad taste, but I’ve a feeling it will take some flossing to remove the platitudes and sound bites from my brain.

LiveJournal Tags: Debate

Autumn Was Nice

What there was of it. 

One morning all of the trees on the way to work were vibrant green. 

Then the weekend passed. 

The next Monday the colors changed; orange, red and still the constant evergreen.

Then the weekend passed and here on this Sunday morning we look out on the front yard as the glassy grass reflects the first rays of the sun, refracting parts of the rainbow with the blade’s ice crystal coating.

The ice will melt and it will be shirtsleeve weather for most of the daylight hours, but with the sun’s setting the frost will once more slide down from the surrounding hills.

LiveJournal Tags: Frost

Then another weekend will pass and the frost will no longer leave with the sun, but be our guest for the long winter.