SpinsterLibrarian.net

Friday, November 29, 2002

  Looking for something for that fundamentalist Christian on your Christmas list? Shop online at Landover Baptist Church! (link from David)

Wednesday, November 27, 2002

Tuesday, November 26, 2002

  Well, I've been focusing on cleaning off my desk today, and have found lots of interesting little tidbits that I have accumulated over the past few years:

  • On a scrap of paper, a URL with the note "cool scrollbar"
  • A quote from an episode of Dr. Who, "First things first, but not necessarily in that order."
  • The name of a Toronto bookstore that I thought was really funny: This Ain't the Rosedale Library
  • Actual statement from our department supervisor while reviewing applications for a delivery job, "I don't discriminate, but I wouldn't hire a girl for this job."
  • A photocopy of a Camel Cigarette ad from the just after WWII, that includes this copy:
    According to a recent Nationwide survey: More Doctors smoke Camels than any other cigarette
    When 113,597 doctors from coast to coast -- in every field of medicine -- were asked by three independent research organizations to name the cigarette they smoked, more doctors named Camel than any other brand!

  • Eleven bookmarks
  • A quote that I believe was said by my friend Angela when we were discussing our dating difficulties, "I come with too much baggage -- I actually have thoughts."
  • A stack of overdue notices from The Library of Congress that we received last fall and spring during the anthrax scare. The L of C had to store returned items in warehouses for months because it took so long to screen them for anthrax -- yet the overdues department sent out overdues and nasty letters demanding their return, as if nothing unusual were going on. Ah, bureaucracy!
  • A photocopy of my letter to the editor that was printed in Library Journal.
  • A copy of God's Total Quality Management Questionnaire
  • This quote, unattributed, "If you play a mistake once, it's just a mistake -- if you repeat it, that's jazz."
  • A "Needs Assessment Survey" and "Religious Needs Survey" from a prison that we loan to
  • Pictures of Will Shortz that I took when I got to meet him at IU
  • Three AOL cds


Monday, November 25, 2002

Sunday, November 24, 2002

  Is it just me, or does the white background remind you of a 'Switch' ad?While helping a student find information on Coca-Cola advertising, I ran across a cute Coca-Cola ad from India

Further research revealed that the actor in the ad, Aamir Khan, is a HUGE star in India, and recently appeared in Lagaan: Once Upon A Time In India, which I've been told is a great movie.

Surely some fan could help Aamir redo his sadly lacking Tripod-hosted homepage.


  Problem: Net Nanny blocked access to the website of the Flesh (OH) Public Library.
Their solution: Make a change in Net Nanny to allow access? Get rid of Net Nanny? No, they changed the library's URL.

Saturday, November 23, 2002

Friday, November 22, 2002

  More Kikkoman ads! And here's the translation of the first ad that I posted:

It came from the star of an soybean.
He is the messenger of justice.
Food will become very delicious if soy sauce is poured instantly.
Fly in dining out! It is mortal work Kikko-panch!
"fried egg ... soy sauce is best."
Show me Show you Kikkoman...

It came from the star of an soybean.
Funky that guy is Kikkoman.
Soy sauce is good for the body.
There is also a sterilization action.
It does not become a comparison in sauce and catsup.
It is mortal work Kikko beam!
"Therefore, it must also have been told to egg baking that soy sauce
was the best!"
Show me Show you Kikkoman...


(translation from Tom Tomorrow)

  Longtime readers may remember my August 26th post about Todd's roommate getting his brand new mountain bike stolen after leaving it out on the front porch, unlocked:

Me: So, did he lose another bike?

Todd: And yes that's 4 bikes stolen now: two off the front porch, one from college, and the other one he left locked to a stop sign somewhere...he can't remember, because he was on sleeping pills


Four bikes. In three months. And each time, he just buys another one.


Thursday, November 21, 2002

  We got a really weird patron complaint today...

Free up the inter-library loan system, or do away with it all together. In its present form it is of use to no one but the employee who is paid to oversee it. How nice that some politicaly conected person has that job.


Huh? Who's he talking about -- my boss? Politically connected? Does he think that it's some sort of patronage job? Whatever.

Wednesday, November 20, 2002

  I start my new job December 2nd -- twelve days from now. I have a lot to do before then, such as cleaning up my work area...

OMG, I had no idea that it was that bad...

Tuesday, November 19, 2002

  Everyone keeps congratulating me on the new job, and almost every time I'm like, "Huh, what? Oh yeah! Uh, thanks." They ask if I'm excited, but I'm really more nervous than excited. I'm sure everything will be fine, but I can't help worrying. Will they like me? Will I like them? But then I just think about the money, and it makes it all better. ; )

Monday, November 18, 2002

  WOOT! I got the promotion! Who wants to celebrate? What night? Friday night? Saturday night?

  (Backstory: Chris is working on new themes for his blog) Hey Chris, check out this guy's old skool ascii blog.

Friday, November 15, 2002

  I'm only 22% Bitch?! Some people would disagree...



I'm way below average for my age... "The bitchiest age group so far is 29 year olds. 29 year olds average 42% bitchy."
And fellas, watch out for those beer drinkin' girls... "Women who like the taste of beer are more likely to cheat on their boyfriends."

  What do you get when you mix Flash animation and Kikkoman Soy Sauce? This.

Thursday, November 14, 2002

  Will Barbie's next career be as a librarian? (Scroll down the page and vote on the lower right. Link from Jessica)


Wednesday, November 13, 2002

Tuesday, November 12, 2002

  I'm sort of known for my funky purses, which most of you never get to see, so here's the very first installment of...
Le Sac du Jour



It's a child-sized Harry Potter backback, in honor of the debut of the second HP movie this week.


  Les Morris Presents:

Interlibrary loan theater: A tragedy

  • Act I: A discussion of the dreaded staples. Blood, alarums, wailing.

  • Act II: A discussion of bookbands - removal and return. Threats, posturing.

  • Act III: A discussion of tape and post-it notes on books. Preservationist revolt.

  • Act IV: Offenders murdered in the stacks. Civil war. Tapers vs. staplers. Preservationists vs. tapers vs. removers in a grand melee.

Now, there's a play worth the ticket price. (A preview can currently be seen on the ILL-L listserv.)

  Here's a little sumptin-sumptin for the gamers: Penny Arcade

I don't even play games, but I love their comics...they'd probably be even funnier if I knew what in the hell they were talking about!

Monday, November 11, 2002

  Looking for that special something for Christmas? How about a Possum fur G string and Possum fur nipple covers?!

  We got a call today on the library switchboard...

Switchboard Operator: Library switchboard -- how may I direct your call?
Caller: I wanna talk to somebuddy about gettin' a job, 'cause I know that there liberry's gettin' built.
SO: (trying not to laugh) Please hold and I will connect you to our Human Resources department.
Caller: The whut?!
SO: The people that do the hiring...
Caller: Oh, okay.


  Shh...

Today, on the way back from lunch, a car backed into a street sign, resulting in a really loud, horrible noise of metal on metal, right next to us. I jumped, and shrieked, "SHIT-SHIT-SHIT!" God, I was embarrassed...


Saturday, November 09, 2002

  On my way to work today, there was a stretch of highway where there were about 16 cars pulled over on the shoulders and in the median going in either direction. So, I'm thinking, "Chain reaction wrecks...in both directions...simultaneously?!" When I got up closer, I saw one wrecked car -- front end totalled, steam coming out of the busted radiator, approximately twenty people (mostly men), and one dead deer. It was a good sized buck, with six to eight points, and I think that they were all hoping that they would get to take it home.

It reminded me of the time that a deer wandered into my high school's football arena, and couldn't find its way out again. A bunch of male students ran out to the parking lot to get their hunting gear. Thank God, it was only bow season...

Friday, November 08, 2002

  No Child Unrecruited
Buried deep within the No Child Left Behind Act's 670 pages, is a provision requiring public secondary schools to provide military recruiters not only with access to facilities, but also with contact information for every student -- or face a cutoff of all federal aid.
Recruiters are up-front about their plans to use school lists to aggressively pursue students through mailings, phone calls, and personal visits -- even if parents object. "The only thing that will get us to stop contacting the family is if they call their congressman," says Major Johannes Paraan, head U.S. Army recruiter for Vermont and northeastern New York. "Or maybe if the kid died, we'll take them off our list."


  1. Did you vote in your last elections? Yes. I always vote, even in the primaries.

2. Do you know who your elected representatives are? Yep.

3. Have you ever contacted an elected representative? Yes. If so, what was it about? Most recently, I wrote to our congressman asking him to vote against the war powers resolution.

4. Have you ever participated in a demonstration? Yes. I went to D.C. in October, and I protested in Louisville when Bush visited there Nov. 1.

5. Have you ever volunteered in an election? A. When I was in high school, I passed out flyers at a polling station for a school board candidate. B. I worked at a polling station during the 2002 election farce. What was the result? A. He got re-elected. B. America got screwed.

Wednesday, November 06, 2002

Tuesday, November 05, 2002


Monday, November 04, 2002

 

Okay, so at this trade show they had an enormous scanner, and for 2000 yen ($18) you could get a 4' x 6' poster of your full-body scan...



  From an article about the librarian shortage:
In the next 12 years, nearly half of the nation's 125,000 fully trained librarians are expected to retire, according to the Chicago-based American Library Association.

Earlier this year, first lady Laura Bush -- a former librarian -- proposed spending $10 million next year to recruit a "new generation of librarians." That money has yet to be approved by Congress.

Public perception about the profession may be one reason proponents have been unable to attract new blood. Low salaries may be another. For careers requiring a master's degree, librarians earn among the lowest salaries, on average less than $32,000 for starting positions. A school librarian with five years' experience working in Indianapolis Public Schools earns $37,919.

And Indiana's 1,004 licensed librarians are graying. The state averages about 60 to 70 school librarian vacancies a year. Indiana University, the only state university with a library science program accredited by the American Library Association, turns out about 25 graduates annually -- not enough, based on the need.


Saturday, November 02, 2002

  After nineteen years of avoiding all contact with water, my cat, Moggie, is now fascinated with it, and even jumped in the tub the other morning...



  I saw this on a website today and thought that it was interesting:

If we could shrink the earth's population to a village of precisely 100 people, with all the existing human ratios remaining the same, there would be:

57 Asians
21 Europeans
14 from the Western Hemisphere, both north and south
8 Africans
52 would be female
48 would be male
70 would be non-white
30 would be white
70 would be non-Christian
30 would be Christian
89 would be heterosexual
11 would be homosexual
6 people would possess 59% of the entire world's wealth and all 6 would be from the United States.
80 would live in substandard housing
70 would be unable to read
50 would suffer from malnutrition
1 would be near death; 1 would be near birth
1 (yes, only 1) would have a college education
1 would own a computer

Friday, November 01, 2002

  Dead But Awake: I have an aunt who died, was revived, and remembered everything that happened while she was dead. She was able to recount for the doctors their entire conversation about what to put on her death certificate as the cause of death -- a conversation that they had while she was dead.