Monday, March 31, 2008
More trees please!
The moral of this Estonian legend fits with my recent disagreement over my reference professor's educational tactics.
Sunday, March 30, 2008
Marry me?
Read Roger discovered a gem. There are two men embarking on a Typo Hunt Across America tour as you read this. If only more people had the courage to step up and perform the same job as these noble soldiers of the English language.
Saturday, March 29, 2008
Earth Hour
Don't forget, today is the highly anticipated Earth Hour! Just one hour without any lights--people we can do this!!
A letter to an unknown patron
Dear previous borrower of HCL's hardcover Artemis Fowl: The Eternity Code,
THANK YOU! Normally I would not condone writing in a library book, but your little blue edits are phenomenal. Often I find myself wondering why the publishing industry is so competitive if they have such crappy copy editors letting stray letters slip through the cracks. But you, blue penned patron, have made this book quite enjoyable. I am only a third of the way through the book, but I look forward to the little gifts you left for me and future readers.
Kristi(e)
THANK YOU! Normally I would not condone writing in a library book, but your little blue edits are phenomenal. Often I find myself wondering why the publishing industry is so competitive if they have such crappy copy editors letting stray letters slip through the cracks. But you, blue penned patron, have made this book quite enjoyable. I am only a third of the way through the book, but I look forward to the little gifts you left for me and future readers.
Kristi(e)
Friday, March 28, 2008
Enviro-Nazi Strikes Again...
Excessive paper usage is a personal pet peeve. If there is no reason to put something on paper, don't do it. It's that simple. I blog now, instead of keeping a journal. My notebook is Microsoft, instead of Five Star. And yet, some people just want to print things to print them--even if it's grossly unnecessary. That's cool I guess if that's what you're into, but don't make me do it (and for the record, the italics mean it's totally not cool one iota). My reference professor is of the opinion that because our class isn't entirely paperless, it's quite all right to print out things for no reason. Let's see if you follow her logic:
So, in light of the painfully environmentally UNfriendly decision of my professor, I've decided to do a throwback review. This book (and perhaps Dawn from the Baby-Sitter's Club) might explain why I am such an Enviro-Nazi, considering how prevalently I read these books as a youngin'.
A little while back, I recounted the very first book in the Animorph book series. After remembering how awesome the Animorphs are, I decided to reread the entire series (since I'm a huge-mega dork). Anyway, the fourth title of the series, The Message, is intriguing. It's told from Cassie's perspective and begins with strange dreams she's been having. When she tells her friends about them, it turns out that Tobias, her red-tailed hawk buddy's been having them too! Gasp!
When a news report indicates that something washed up on the beach, something that looks an awful lot like a piece of an Andalite ship, the Animorph gang realizes they're gonna have to go to the ocean and find out. Deep at the bottom of the ocean is a stranded Andalite (who, incidentally, was sending messages to any Andalites that may be on Earth to save him, which explains those pesky dreams Tobias and Cassie were having) who tells the Animorphs the real reason the Yeerk-Jerks are enslaving the human race, and it ain't pretty. Not only are they after a race of intelligent beings to control, but they also want to eradicate superfluous lifeforms on Earth. Now the Animorphs realize that they aren't just fighting to save the human race, but all creatures and animals of Earth.
- We are to look at two online or print biographical sources for next week and look up some individuals
- If we look at print versions, we must copy them and bring them to class (understandable as far as discussions are concerned)
- If we look at online sources, we are to print out the web page.
- Even if we use our laptops in class
- No, she's not collecting it
So, in light of the painfully environmentally UNfriendly decision of my professor, I've decided to do a throwback review. This book (and perhaps Dawn from the Baby-Sitter's Club) might explain why I am such an Enviro-Nazi, considering how prevalently I read these books as a youngin'.
A little while back, I recounted the very first book in the Animorph book series. After remembering how awesome the Animorphs are, I decided to reread the entire series (since I'm a huge-mega dork). Anyway, the fourth title of the series, The Message, is intriguing. It's told from Cassie's perspective and begins with strange dreams she's been having. When she tells her friends about them, it turns out that Tobias, her red-tailed hawk buddy's been having them too! Gasp!
When a news report indicates that something washed up on the beach, something that looks an awful lot like a piece of an Andalite ship, the Animorph gang realizes they're gonna have to go to the ocean and find out. Deep at the bottom of the ocean is a stranded Andalite (who, incidentally, was sending messages to any Andalites that may be on Earth to save him, which explains those pesky dreams Tobias and Cassie were having) who tells the Animorphs the real reason the Yeerk-Jerks are enslaving the human race, and it ain't pretty. Not only are they after a race of intelligent beings to control, but they also want to eradicate superfluous lifeforms on Earth. Now the Animorphs realize that they aren't just fighting to save the human race, but all creatures and animals of Earth.
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
: (
JK Rowling showcases the temporality of our problems and the reasons you shouldn't commit suicide. You never know when you're going to strike it rich and change people's lives. It depresses me to think that I almost never met my best friend (yes, I'm a dork and continue to harbor the opinion I've had since high school that this fictional boy wizard is my best friend in the whole world. I'm comfortable with that).
Monday, March 24, 2008
And the dictionary's dead depressing...
What's that you say? Kristi(e) came down with a case of dictionary depression? How can that be?
I'll tell you how. The Oxford English Dictionary, the very same book that cataloged the history of our enriching and ever-changing language, has failed me. I don't know if the sky is up or just an elaborate ruse devised by clever monkeys and vengeful birds. I couldn't tell you if Syd Barrett really was crazy, or just an elaborate story created by musicians with too much time on their hands. And you know what else I couldn't tell you? The meaning of the word embololalia after consulting the OED. That's right, not even the online version that fetches Rutgers a pretty penny. How can this be? The free version of Merriam-Webster was able to define it, so why not the esteemed Oxford English Dictionary? My world is crumbling in front of my very eyes. A better question, perhaps, is why can the OED define McJob, yet fails to enrich the lives of word enthusiasts all over with a genuinely delightful word?
Without further anticipation, I present to you, embololalia:
I'll tell you how. The Oxford English Dictionary, the very same book that cataloged the history of our enriching and ever-changing language, has failed me. I don't know if the sky is up or just an elaborate ruse devised by clever monkeys and vengeful birds. I couldn't tell you if Syd Barrett really was crazy, or just an elaborate story created by musicians with too much time on their hands. And you know what else I couldn't tell you? The meaning of the word embololalia after consulting the OED. That's right, not even the online version that fetches Rutgers a pretty penny. How can this be? The free version of Merriam-Webster was able to define it, so why not the esteemed Oxford English Dictionary? My world is crumbling in front of my very eyes. A better question, perhaps, is why can the OED define McJob, yet fails to enrich the lives of word enthusiasts all over with a genuinely delightful word?
Without further anticipation, I present to you, embololalia:
Pronunciation: ,em-bə-lō-'lā-lē-ə, -'lal-ē-
Function: noun
: the interpolation of meaningless sounds or words into speech
What the?
I walked away from my desk for one minute and someone stole my pen. Vultures. If you ever find yourself at a library and the librarian/information assistant is turning their head, clearly pens are fair game. Jerks.
Thing 13; or, you've got to be kidding me.
After an extended hiatus of a self-created two week Spring Break, I return to blog with a vengeance. Either I'm really excited about getting back into the swing of things, or I'm extraordinarily bored at work and want to provide some lackluster entertainment for Danielle (who is also bored to tears at work). You decide. Bring on the Thing! (that's what she said)
Ahem. Thing 13 leads the traveler of this pointless journey of 2.0 learning to the highly beloved del.icio.us social bookmarking. We're going to do this a little differently today. First, we're going to make assumptions about what they would want us to do, and then we're going to see what it is they actually want us to do. Sound good? Wonderful.
Assumptions
Well, I anticipate that it is School Library Learning 2.0's greatest desire to instruct us how to create a del.icio.us account. Not only that, but we should then explore the web and let the tagging rumpus start. Then, we'll take one of the blogs that we've been reading and tag it with a very distinct tag so we can all find it later and become great friends and have a gay ole time chatting about using del.icio.us in the future.
Bitter, cold reality
They want me to do what?! Oh, that's right. Nothing. First things first: a video tutorial. ENH--wrong answer. After I'm done, not watching this tutorial I'm to explore someone else's account. Well, all right. That's not so bad, but only because it would be helpful when I get pigeonholed into working in a school, as all the public library jobs will cease to exist once city budgeters get their way. So: SJLibraryLearning2. Now comes the hard part. Do you think you can handle it? I am only bravely venturing there because you expect so much from me and I wouldn't dream of letting you down in this great time of need. ::Holds breath::
The one website that would actually be beneficial to librarians, they only made it optional to create an account. This is utter nonsense. Yes, I can see the potential of this for research assistance! Can't you? Clearly not, otherwise there would be a fifth instruction to create one. But I digress.
I get weekly updates from the Librarian's Internet Index with a slew of websites that might be helpful. Without del.icio.us I would never be able to access those in the rare case someone comes to the reference desk looking for information on endangered frogs. Since del.icio.us does exist, I can help that patron in the .0001% chance they come to me. Also, instead of making pathfinders no one uses, librarians can update their library's del.icio.us account. It brings the information to the patron's domain instead of waiting for the patron to come to us. Plus, we can study the language and words people use to tag items and then apply it to materials in the library to aid findability.
Reasons why this Thing didn't waste all of my time
Libraries that del.icio.us
The aforementioned SJLibraryLearning2
Ahem. Thing 13 leads the traveler of this pointless journey of 2.0 learning to the highly beloved del.icio.us social bookmarking. We're going to do this a little differently today. First, we're going to make assumptions about what they would want us to do, and then we're going to see what it is they actually want us to do. Sound good? Wonderful.
Assumptions
Well, I anticipate that it is School Library Learning 2.0's greatest desire to instruct us how to create a del.icio.us account. Not only that, but we should then explore the web and let the tagging rumpus start. Then, we'll take one of the blogs that we've been reading and tag it with a very distinct tag so we can all find it later and become great friends and have a gay ole time chatting about using del.icio.us in the future.
Bitter, cold reality
They want me to do what?! Oh, that's right. Nothing. First things first: a video tutorial. ENH--wrong answer. After I'm done, not watching this tutorial I'm to explore someone else's account. Well, all right. That's not so bad, but only because it would be helpful when I get pigeonholed into working in a school, as all the public library jobs will cease to exist once city budgeters get their way. So: SJLibraryLearning2. Now comes the hard part. Do you think you can handle it? I am only bravely venturing there because you expect so much from me and I wouldn't dream of letting you down in this great time of need. ::Holds breath::
Explore the site options and try clicking on a bookmark that has also been bookmarked by a lot of other users. Can you see the comments they added about this bookmark or the tags they used to catgorize this reference?OMGOMGOMGOMG I don't know if I can do it. Rather, I don't know if I want to do it. Next! ... So the last bulleted instruction does NOT include creating a del.icio.us account. I've created an avatar, which will most certainly not help me in the library field, but it's only optional to create a del.icio.us account? What the? No, the last instruction is a touchy-feely sobfest about how this tool can be useful in libraries. Ready for it? Here I go:
The one website that would actually be beneficial to librarians, they only made it optional to create an account. This is utter nonsense. Yes, I can see the potential of this for research assistance! Can't you? Clearly not, otherwise there would be a fifth instruction to create one. But I digress.
I get weekly updates from the Librarian's Internet Index with a slew of websites that might be helpful. Without del.icio.us I would never be able to access those in the rare case someone comes to the reference desk looking for information on endangered frogs. Since del.icio.us does exist, I can help that patron in the .0001% chance they come to me. Also, instead of making pathfinders no one uses, librarians can update their library's del.icio.us account. It brings the information to the patron's domain instead of waiting for the patron to come to us. Plus, we can study the language and words people use to tag items and then apply it to materials in the library to aid findability.
Reasons why this Thing didn't waste all of my time
Libraries that del.icio.us
The aforementioned SJLibraryLearning2
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
Daily Prophet
The terror and utter paranoia that has come to become synonymous with He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named's rise to power is abound yet again. The Boy Who Lived, as anticipated, is feeling the brunt of You-Know-Who's malevolence. Mr. Potter has enlisted extra security for his beloved crups (known as dogs to Muggles) because it is believed that Death Eaters are tailing him and may murder these defenseless creatures. In an attempt to delay the anticipated revelation of the true nature of his regime, the Dark Lord has taken many measures to ensure the truth never reaches the ears of the Muggles. These measures include ruining film footage, heavy Meteolojinxes, and reports are now indicating that Mr. Potter has been struck by the Fuming Fury Jinx.
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
Good Grief
Thanks to Read Roger, I am able to present more timely Harry Potter news to all ye eager readers clamoring for more. The Guardian presents a comprehensive article covering the on-going litigation between RDR Books and the Rowling/WB crew.
When this first came about, I sided exclusively with Jo, but now I'm not quite sure. Maybe this will just push her to think of more information not yet covered or implied in any of the previously printed books. In fact, I thought that was her intention of creating an encyclopedia in the first place--to have an organized fashion to present facts unable to fit into the book. The Lexicon has the hindrance of only being able to publish information already released by Rowling in some manner or other.
All in all, the Guardian hits the nail on the head:
When this first came about, I sided exclusively with Jo, but now I'm not quite sure. Maybe this will just push her to think of more information not yet covered or implied in any of the previously printed books. In fact, I thought that was her intention of creating an encyclopedia in the first place--to have an organized fashion to present facts unable to fit into the book. The Lexicon has the hindrance of only being able to publish information already released by Rowling in some manner or other.
All in all, the Guardian hits the nail on the head:
And, given the fanaticism of Harry Potter readers, you can't imagine that many would pass up the opportunity of buying a JK book because they had already bought one by Vander Ark several years previously.I know I sure as hell am buying both... you know, if I'm able to. You settle for the unauthorized version because it's out first, but then you shell out the big bucks for the official book because JK herself organized it. Duh. Everyone knows that.
Pottertastic Tuesday, part deux
To make up for sharing painfully old news, here's a quote:
"And are they getting married in my bedroom?" asked Ron furiously. "No! So why in the name of Merlin's saggy left--"::Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows::The Ghoul in Pajamas::(92)
Pottertastic Property
Back when I was in high school I climbed the academic ladder of Chinese. I peaked at about Chinese 3, which, incidentally does not even translate to a complete Chinese 101 at Rutgers. Youch. Anyway, I digress. Previous to this, people hit a cap at Chinese 5, and yet, one girl reached Chinese 5 and she wanted to keep going. So what did the teacher have her do? Translate a play from Chinese to English.
Why on the depreciating planet Earth do I mention this, you're all probably wondering in your heads. Now, you gotta bear with me, because I'm slow here. Real slow--since this piece came out over the summer. But that's how I do news, I read it when I read it. Deal with it. Anyway, after reading this article about intellectual property rights and the illegal French translation I wonder about the existing translation protocols. Translations are happening around us everyday and I wonder what is worth legal merit and what isn't. Gosh. Why won't my boyfriend just hurry up and take intellectual property law already so I can bug him about this kind of stuff? Sheesh.
Why on the depreciating planet Earth do I mention this, you're all probably wondering in your heads. Now, you gotta bear with me, because I'm slow here. Real slow--since this piece came out over the summer. But that's how I do news, I read it when I read it. Deal with it. Anyway, after reading this article about intellectual property rights and the illegal French translation I wonder about the existing translation protocols. Translations are happening around us everyday and I wonder what is worth legal merit and what isn't. Gosh. Why won't my boyfriend just hurry up and take intellectual property law already so I can bug him about this kind of stuff? Sheesh.
Monday, March 10, 2008
Acritochromacy
Reasons I love Wordsmith's Word-A-Day:
Well, this week we're seeing all things 14. We'll feature words that are 14 letters long, and define each of them in 14 letters.
acritochromacy (uh-KRIT-o-kro-muh-see) noun
Color blindness.
There is no way Fruit-by-the-Foot is three feet long; or, Thing 12
I have a long day ahead of me, I'm quite sick and I have to get up earlish for work tomorrow. So clearly I need to do one of these inane things that probably don't relate to libraries, despite being part of a library continuing education bullcrap website. Today's chosen 2.0 tool? Rollyo! [cue parade, or at least the effing confetti]
Itinerary:
Itinerary:
- Create an account. Check.
- Create a searchroll. Topic? Degrassi: The Next Generation
- Blah blah blah--it was easy to make an account. As for being useful in libraries, sure, I can see it. The librarian has to be dedicated enough to search through the sites selected to make sure they aren't too broad. For example, I included the Degrassi Wikipedia page, thinking that it would only use the Degrassi page. Enh! Wrong answer. It uses all of Wikipedia, so if I wanted to search "Jimmy and shot" I would be there for a while. One neat thing about this, however, is you can limit the search by specific webpages in the collective group picked out by the Rollyo account holder.
Sunday, March 9, 2008
DA: Danielle Alert
Dear Danielle,
Until you join the elite population of Harry Potter readers, I am going to designate specific posts that you are not allowed to read. I will be discussing aspects of the text that would only make sense if you read the books, not to mention, it will probably contain spoilers. To make this easier (and keeping in Pottertastic style --which you will find out when you read the books) I have decided to include the initials DA in front of the titles of any post you should not read. Please view the above title for an example.
Thank you very much for your time in this matter. Hope you have a splendid day at work reading blogs.
Yours truly,
Kristi(e)
Until you join the elite population of Harry Potter readers, I am going to designate specific posts that you are not allowed to read. I will be discussing aspects of the text that would only make sense if you read the books, not to mention, it will probably contain spoilers. To make this easier (and keeping in Pottertastic style --which you will find out when you read the books) I have decided to include the initials DA in front of the titles of any post you should not read. Please view the above title for an example.
Thank you very much for your time in this matter. Hope you have a splendid day at work reading blogs.
Yours truly,
Kristi(e)
Thursday, March 6, 2008
BOGUS!
I missed National Grammar Day!!!! I'm going to diagram two sentences today, just to make up for it! Blast! Fortunately I read the site and found SPOGG: The Society for the Promotion of Good Grammar blog. Just what my blogroll was missing.
Thanks to Finding Wonderland for letting me know about it, even though I missed it. Sigh...
Thanks to Finding Wonderland for letting me know about it, even though I missed it. Sigh...
Wednesday, March 5, 2008
Words! Words! Wordfabulous words!
So, this week's theme for my Wordsmith's: A Word A Day is lesser known components of common words and I am totally digging it. This whole shebang makes me think of one of my FAVORITE words, whelm. Which, whelm is of course an uncommon way to say the common word overwhelm. There really is no difference aside from the noun whelm, which is a wooden drain-pipe, according to the Oxford English Dictionary online.
I figured you would be as enthralled as I am and get into all kinds of fights with me if you discovered that I was withholding the goods. Since these definitions are free and I have homework clawing at the back of my mind, I'm just gonna give the links. Deal.
Prepone
Nocebo
Dystopia
Inhume
Prequel--even though I'm sure George Lucas did his part for this word becoming more popular
You better believe I'll edit this later in the week to complete the week.
I figured you would be as enthralled as I am and get into all kinds of fights with me if you discovered that I was withholding the goods. Since these definitions are free and I have homework clawing at the back of my mind, I'm just gonna give the links. Deal.
Prepone
Nocebo
Dystopia
Inhume
Prequel--even though I'm sure George Lucas did his part for this word becoming more popular
You better believe I'll edit this later in the week to complete the week.
A Silly Something
Goodness! I was so busy with homework that I almost forgot to procrastinate!! Good thing I remembered that it's Tuesday just in time for it to technically be Wednesday morning (blasted technicalities!). Anywho... here is your weekly Harry Potter fix:
This man's music is sillier than Harry and the Potters. I know, I know, you thought it couldn't be done, but oh yes, Mirror of Erised pulls it off. Feel free to listen to five seconds or so before you can't take it anymore and silence it. Why is it worth the visit? A look at his top friends (not to mention his profile picture) should answer that for you. My personal favorite friend of his is the Hermione Crookshanks Experience. What a freakin' cool band name, but again, I don't advise listening to the music for very long. Even the great Harry and the Potters can be listened to for a very limited duration. Unless, of course, you're listening to Stick it to Dolores; because that song is freaking amazing and deserves a few rotations on repeat, if you catch my drift.
This man's music is sillier than Harry and the Potters. I know, I know, you thought it couldn't be done, but oh yes, Mirror of Erised pulls it off. Feel free to listen to five seconds or so before you can't take it anymore and silence it. Why is it worth the visit? A look at his top friends (not to mention his profile picture) should answer that for you. My personal favorite friend of his is the Hermione Crookshanks Experience. What a freakin' cool band name, but again, I don't advise listening to the music for very long. Even the great Harry and the Potters can be listened to for a very limited duration. Unless, of course, you're listening to Stick it to Dolores; because that song is freaking amazing and deserves a few rotations on repeat, if you catch my drift.
Monday, March 3, 2008
Thing 11; or, Widgets are the newest best friend of Xanga ANAs
I keep hearing all sorts of folks talking up widgets. I personally keep my blog to the preselected "page elements" that Blogger lays out, but that's just 'cuz I'm old fashioned like that. Anyway, Thing 11 wanted me to experiment with a whole range of web 2.0 award winners, and let me tell you, I'm glad I did. How else would I figure out how to let everyone know my BMI, BMR and waist to hip ratio?!?
School Library 2.0 Learning led me to Widget*Mart (better known as yourminis). Thinking that a helpful place to start for a librarian-to-be's blog would be the information widget section, I set about with a plucky false hope only to be appalled by this:
Last time I saw one of these bad boys on someone's blog was during my those sad early mornings my sophomore year of undergrad where reading poor ana/mia blogs was the only way to cure my insomnia (I have no idea how it worked, but it did. Yes, I'm weird). Now, call me crazy, but this seems like it's destined to end up on a site like that, no? Not only could I put a BMI widget up, but I could also showcase my WHR and BPR. The BPR one is especially disgusting, as it calculates exactly how many calories I would have to ingest in order to loose one pound a day without exercise (for the record, it's 1200--excuse me? Is that healthy?). And here I thought we were trying to make it harder for pro-ana sites to flourish. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to have some Ellio's.
School Library 2.0 Learning led me to Widget*Mart (better known as yourminis). Thinking that a helpful place to start for a librarian-to-be's blog would be the information widget section, I set about with a plucky false hope only to be appalled by this:
Last time I saw one of these bad boys on someone's blog was during my those sad early mornings my sophomore year of undergrad where reading poor ana/mia blogs was the only way to cure my insomnia (I have no idea how it worked, but it did. Yes, I'm weird). Now, call me crazy, but this seems like it's destined to end up on a site like that, no? Not only could I put a BMI widget up, but I could also showcase my WHR and BPR. The BPR one is especially disgusting, as it calculates exactly how many calories I would have to ingest in order to loose one pound a day without exercise (for the record, it's 1200--excuse me? Is that healthy?). And here I thought we were trying to make it harder for pro-ana sites to flourish. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to have some Ellio's.
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