Fireworks on the 4th
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Monthly Archives: July 2006
Fun on the 4th of July
We had a really fun time together with Michele’s family last week on the 4th of July. Below are some photos from that day showing the kids playing in the sprinkler.
TagFetch
TagFetch Searches YouTube, Flickr and More
This new service sounds quite interesting. I haven’t really tried it out yet, though. One big missing piece here is LibraryThing. I hope that someday the extensive amount of tags used in LibraryThing will be included in such metasearch engines.
LibraryThing and the moose
It’s taken me a while to do but I wanted to comment on this interesting post from the folks at LibraryThing about a moose incident near their building. I thought it was incredible that a moose had wandered into Portland, Maine! I’ve been there (and elsewhere throughout the state) a few times and it is one of my favorite places on earth. I would never have imagined a moose wandering around in the city proper, though.
There is a bit of irony for me personally in this story, because each time I’ve been to Maine, as well as to other areas where moose are supposedly prevalent, such as northern Minnesota, I secretly hoped to see a moose. I have struck out so far. The only place I recall seeing moose was many years ago in the area around Glacier National Park.
Praise you in the storm
This song from Casting Crowns has developed special meaning for me during a time of great uncertainty and discouragement:
I was sure by nowThat You would have reached downAnd wiped our tears awayStepped in and saved the dayBut once again, I say “Amen”, and it’s still rainingAs the thunder rollsI barely hear Your whisper through the rain”I’m with you”And as Your mercy fallsI raise my hands and praise the God who givesAnd takes awayI’ll praise You in this stormAnd I will lift my handsFor You are who You areNo matter where I amEvery tear I’ve criedYou hold in Your handYou never left my sideAnd though my heart is tornI will praise You in this stormI remember whenI stumbled in the windYou heard my cryYou raised me up againMy strength is almost goneHow can I carry onIf I can’t find YouAs the thunder rollsI barely hear You whisper through the rain”I’m with you”And as Your mercy fallsI raise my hands and praise the God who givesAnd takes awayI lift my eyes unto the hillsWhere does my help come from?My help comes from the LordThe Maker of Heaven and Earth
Some excellent advice about writing
Information Wants To Be Free » Blog Archive » A big fat done stamp (and some advice)
Meredith Farkas does it again. She writes about finishing her book project — EARLY, mind you. I am so envious. Why? Because as I’ve mentioned before, I am a procrastinator by habit. I admire anyone who completes lengthy writing assignments early, let alone on time.
But there is more than that in her posting; she also gives some excellent advice about writing. This post is one I will return to again and again to reread what she has to say.
State of the library blogosphere, 2006
blogwithoutalibrary.net » state of the library blogosphere, 2006
Amanda Etches-Johnson of blogwithoutalibrary.net has produced some interesting graphs about the state of the library blogosphere. (When writing this, I just noticed that she didn’t use the term “biblioblogosphere” — thank goodness.) Of particular interest to me was the statistic that 12% of academic library blogs have been inactive since the last time Amanda did her survey. She notes some of the reasons that might explain this and I can concur with most of them from personal experience. Sometimes blogs — and wikis — are greeted with much enthusiasm by library administration because they give the impression of being progressive and change-oriented. But these new tools (and that is how I think of them, as tools) require a significant amount of ongoing investment, and it is this part that is ignored or overlooked sometimes.
Maybe I’m just being grumpy
Marc Meola from ACRLog writes about the Wall St. Journal article on LibraryThing. What stood out to me in his post was the phrase “Maybe I’m just being grumpy…” I am glad he wrote that, admitting that sometimes we who blog can sometimes just be in a particularly negative frame of mind. That is often my problem, too. For instance when I wrote about a panel discussion at the American Library Association conference a while ago, I think I must have been in a particularly grumpy mood. I reread that post now and cringe a bit. All of this is just to lead up to a point that has been made umpteen times before, and that is, that it really pays to think carefully about the tone of one’s remarks before hitting that Publish button.