Total standstill. I was walking around with my laptop, figuring that people would be starving for information about the crash and highway closure.
- Greg Schwartz
Can't keep a librarian from helping people...
- Sarah G.
from iPhone
is unamused that her congressmen still consider her a 2nd class citizen. Viagra & vasectomies covered, birth control/abortions not. And it's legal for pharmacists to choose not to fill an unmarried woman's birth control scrip. How convenient for those with penises. http://www.nytimes.com/2009...
It seriously boggles the mind. And all I can think is that Atwood was prescient with her Handmaid's Tale, since as 'advanced' as we are, we're never too far from falling back into that sort of governance, where women are valued as chattel and not much more.
- Archangel ωαřмaiden
I can't find any mention of birth control in any of the articles I'm reading- could you point to one that mentions it? Was that part of the original bill or part of the stupak addition?
- Kårín Dalzĭel
But "elective" can be a loose definition. What if it is a surgery that will save an enormous amount of pain? What if it is one that will reduce complications later on, but not right now?
- Kårín Dalzĭel
Never feel guilty for saying 'No due to current obligations, but thank you for considering me and I welcome the opportunity to help in the future.' :)
- Nikki D.
That's pretty much what I said, Nikki. And then I suggested a couple of other names, too. :)
- LAMB
"John Kyzer had to escape L.A. The 18-year-old’s plan was to catch the midnight Greyhound for Montana. He had no bag, no hat for the March cold, no nothing. Where is your stuff? I asked. John stood at the mouth of the subway station at Hollywood and Western, tall, blond and thin under a puffy coat and jeans many sizes too big. “I was going to get some clothes, but shit got messed up and I never got a ride,” he said with a shrug. His icy-blue eyes scanned Hollywood Boulevard’s 11 p.m. seediness. We sat down on a bus bench. Across Hollywood, indigent youths huddled in the light of a Starbucks. Farther up Western you could see the dark buildings, long abandoned, where a dozen or more street kids live. John knew the corner well, from a stint at a group home, a failed foster placement and listless hours spent with the troubled youths who make the boulevard their home. John too was troubled. “I gotta do this now,” he said...."
- WorldofHiglet
from Bookmarklet
"RNC Chairman Michael Steele told the Washington Times that it was "bad form" for President Obama to talk about a letter he received from the late Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-MA), at last night's speech to Congress. "I'm sorry, but I just felt a bit unnerved by it, in the sense he just passed," said Steele. "His wife was still clearly emotional," Steele added. "I just thought that was bad form. We all understand and appreciate the role Sen. Kennedy has played in this debate and the passion he brought to health care. I just thought that was a little bit much for me, so soon after his death, using that as a political tool."...
- WorldofHiglet
from Bookmarklet
<GIGANTIC EYEROLLS> Know what's bad form? Campaigning on 9/11. But not mentioning the man who made healthcare reform his life's work? Not so much.
- Admiral Anika
'noun verb nine one one' like they are stuck in amber
- WarLord
If the content of Kennedy's letter didn't shout 'Mr President, I want you to use this poignant communiqué as my first big posthumous public statement in front of the largest possible audience and to its greatest effect' then I don't know what does.
- Micah Wittman
*snort* bad form? hey, mikey! go talk to your pal joey about bad form, eh? *sheesh*
- MikeAmundsen
A little over a week ago I evacuated the lake cottage so that out of town relatives could have it during their visit. Along with the food they left were two cans of tuna. I'm not a fan, but I think this would be a good night to give the kittehs a little treat.
I was impressed that even Sophie had some. Normally, she won't eat any treats - just her dry cat food. Plum, on the other hand, would be a little (or no longer little) glutton if I let her.
- Katy S
This may be a dumb idea, but it seems like a lot of us have some degree of interest/experience in role playing games. Is there any way we could do an online game together? I don't mean a MMORPG, as that doesn't appeal to me, but some kind of slow-motion RPG?
My preference would be for something that would be mostly or entirely asynchronous, as my time at home is pretty important to me, and I'm time-zone-challenged relative to most of you. Beyond that, my mind is open.
- s t e v e
something like a play-by-mail diplomacy game?
- DJF
a guy I used to work with had an automated, anonomizing, web-based Dilomacy application. If there is interest in that, I could ask him of he still has the app running.
- Peter Murray
from BuddyFeed
For setting, my mind is pretty open. I guess I'd be more interested in a swords & sorcery/SF/espionage thing than, say, something about the US Civil War or ice fishing or something. Also, something that isn't Very Serious and Important.
- s t e v e
I've never played before, but I'm willing to try.
- cecily
As with Librarian X, if we can figure out the logistics, I'm in. Would love to get my game on again...especially since I'm missing GenCon for the 2nd year in a row.
- Jason Griffey
Oh, and I'm up for any setting. I've always leaned towards cyberpunk/sci fi, but would be interested in a good fantasy setting. Anyone here going to IL? If so, I'll bring my dice and we should do a one-shot one evening.
- Jason Griffey
I'm up for that. (Both the slow-motion RPG and the one-shot at Internet Librarian.)
- Laura H.
Me too, at least the RPR. ILin 2010, I think!
- Lorena O'English
OK, folks. I'm too much of a noob to be GM, so I guess I'm hoping that someone sets this up and invites me. (After further discussion, of course, if that's needed.)
- s t e v e
I would LOVE to be in on this, but really can't spare the time right now - in a year or three, maybe.
- Catherine Pellegrino
I would totally be up for this too, but am also a noob. :)
- holly
Reposting to the CORRECT thread: Hey, Neffski, how about Mouse Guard as a play-by-email?
- D0r0th34
If Neff is willing to run Mouse Guard by email, I'm totally in.
- Jenica
Yes. (as in, yes I want Mr. Neff to run Mouse Guard. I have no idea how it would work slow motion, but I want to give it a try. Would forums be a better match than email? I'd be happy to host on my site.)
- s t e v e
Though we all know Josh has a lot on his mind. No pressure if you don't want to GM this first try, Nerdboy.
- s t e v e
If Neff thinks it's a good idea but can't do it himself, I could give it a go. It's reputed to be a relatively easy game to GM.
- D0r0th34
Mouse Guard is extremely easy to GM. I love it. But I'm already running it in meatspace, & the idea of running or playing RPGs online just really doesn't appeal to me. But thanks for thinking of me!
- josh neff, geek at large
Update: The plan is Mouse Guard, Dorothea as GM. Jenica, Griffey, and I have all confirmed as players. If you want to play, comment again here to verify. A lot is still up in the air, and Dorothea will have to make a judgment call as to how many players is enough. We won't be starting immediately or anything, given that none of us have the book yet!
- s t e v e
Where can I get me some of that letterhead? Well done!
- Connie Crosby
Am I the only one enamored by the fact it's on graph paper?
- Nikki D.
No, it's not just you, Nikki. I <3 graph paper. (I'm kind of hoping there's a map of a dungeon on the other side of the letter.)
- josh neff, geek at large
Oh, Josh, if only! "See, if you detect the secret door, you can enter the treasure hall with the platinum pieces and the Vorpal Sword, but that triggers the Mind Flayers to attack from behind this *other* secret door... Oh, yeah, and there's a check in the envelope, too."
- s t e v e
I just sent a reminder, with the link to the LJ article, to my statewide library list. I hope you get a few more donations from that, Steve. And HI to Steve's MOM! :)
- Louise Alcorn
This is my 1st time hiring student assistants in a while and I'm wondering if anyone has good hiring questions/training guides...basically anything they'd be willing to share. I'm hiring what we're calling "tech student assistants" they'll sit on the ref desk helping folks with microsoft office, printer issues, and very basic directional questions
My advice? Hire for customer service skills, patience, friendliness and an interest in learning more about tech rather than hiring tech gurus.
- marthalib
Martha is wise. Definitely look for customer service and communication (esp. oral but written is important too) skills. Put them through a role-play in the interview process where you play a clueless n00b and they have to help you.
- Catherine Pellegrino
Agreed re: customer service skills. One question I received when I interviewed for a student lib asst position that stuck with me was, essentially, "If you're here by yourself and don't know exactly how to solve a student's problem, what will be your approach?"
- Rachel Walden
when I hired for IT support we did the classic 'someone sends you an email, there's someone on the phone, and someone just knocked on your door with a problem, what do you do?'
- Fiona Bradley
Ask them to describe a how-to task in detail. It can be really simple but it can show if they are aware of taking steps and adjusting to their audience's understanding.
- Abigail
thanks all for the help! greatly appreciate it
- Sir Shuping
Click through to my blog post for more details. The upshot? PayPal donations to LSW.LFPL@gmail.com (or use the button on the blog post at See Also...) and I'll send every dollar we raise to the Louisville Free Public Library on Sept. 1. I challenge you to help me raise $5,000.
- s t e v e
from Bookmarklet
I hate to tell you this, but I'm getting "error establishing a database connection" when I go to your blog post. Dude, we crashed Steve's server!
- Catherine Pellegrino
"Awesome!" and "Oh no!" are battling it out in my head.
- Imitation lris
One of my library's patrons just tweeted to me that he donated, even though he's not a librarian nor does he live in Louisville. That makes me so happy!
- josh neff, geek at large
Added a reminder to my calendar to donate when I get paid next week - thanks for keeping this open through sept 1, steve!
- ÉllbeeÇee
I have said the same thing in the past w/r/t how special collections librarians and other librarians view books.
- s t e v e
Not this librarian Steve, but then again I don't have a 'traditional' librarian's role. I will admit that I probably underestimate how disconnected many colleagues feel from the scholarly communication process. Initially it was faculty that come to us to provide a hosted solution for scholarly outputs and the repository remains largely in the library service domain. Understanding the disconnect and doing something to ameliorate it is an important challenge.
- Garret McMahon
OMG, it is a cod! I want the t-shirt RIGHT NOW!
- marthalib
Wow. The people want Cod. I'll see what I can do.
- s t e v e
Me: "The Cod of Ethics is going to be a t-shirt." Huz: "Do you want one?" Me: "Not a t-shirt, but maybe something else. Because everybody should have a Cod of Ethics." Huz: "Indeed. Stuffed and mounted on the wall."
- D0r0th34
... oh, man, now I am imagining one of those wall-mounted singing fish things spouting maxims about ethics...
- D0r0th34
I've never been so proud of a typo in my life.
- laura x
Do we have a cafepress? Because I could definitely see myself hauling a bag with this or carrying a coffee mug. What can I do to help bring that about?
- Abigail
LSW has a cafepress. I think Sheriff Neff owns it.
- D0r0th34