Posts from — October 2006

United Nations Day:
The anniversary of the entry into force of the United Nations Charter on 24 October 1945 has been celebrated as United Nations Day since 1948. It has traditionally been marked throughout the world by meetings, discussions and exhibits on the achievements and goals of the Organization. In 1971, the General Assembly recommended that Member States observe it as a public holiday

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Happy United Nations Day!

:
s time slides past, doling out its irreversible quanta, perpetual infantility offers us… the perfect wristwatch: shockproof, waterproof, antimagnetic, a perpetual movement which says everything about us except the single intolerable truth: that we have had it and are headed for oblivion, tick by tick.

We have had to make it up as we go along, we Big Babies. And we have not done a terribly good job. We want (don’t we?) to grow up. How? Here’s the simple answer: watch carefully, ask why, and mind our manners. It’s really that simple. How would the world be if everyone did it?
It would be grown up.
How to be an adult

Don’t be affronted Being affronted (or offended, or complaining about ‘inappropriateness’) is no response for a grown-up. Only children believe the world should conform to their own view of it: a sort of magical thinking that can only lead to warfare, terrorism, unmanageable short-term debt and the Blair/Bush alliance

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how to be an adult, this is a nice essay.

Los Angeles Times: McCarthyism Without Habeas Corpus:
My mother always said that in the U.S. you had the right to One Phone Call, and that if the men who rang the doorbell came for her, if something were to happen to her, she would let me know. What if there were no One Phone Call?

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Indeed, what if there is no habeas corpus for political dissidents? to be an enemy… of your own state. we’ve seen those movies as fictions in the recent history and now they might be more true than false… how can one have the right to their own opinion, the freedom of their own conscience… if they are not free in their own body?

Butterflies and Wheels Article:
The only difference is, this horror story occurs in a book thought to be revealed by a God who is fundamentally good and eternally just, one who rewards whom he wants, humiliates when he wants, is jealous when he feels like it, and compassionate when he doesn’t feel like being jealous. He is a lot like the trolls your grandmother told you about, only he lives in the sky, not under a bridge, and he plays tricks on people rather than goats. This God proves his might by exalting his people over other people, except in those (frequent) cases when it becomes necessary for him to spank his elect so severely they perish at their enemies’ hands. Then their enemies, with his blessing, take away their land, destroy their temple, and send them penniless into dispersion. This God seldom brings you presents; almost always sticks and lumps of coal, for which nonetheless you have to say thank you.

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A nice revelation for you about the history of god…. honestly, she doesn’t come when you call, and there’s a reason.

Final Report of the Invitational Workshop on the Comparative Analysis of National Research Systems:

Read the full final report (PDF, 24 pages.)

The Forum on Higher Education, Research and Knowledge examines how research and knowledge are generated, how they are organized and how they play a central role in national development.

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This is an interesting, if short comparative report

United Nations Day:

The anniversary of the entry into force of the United Nations Charter — 24 October 1945 — has been celebrated as United Nations Day since 1948. It is marked throughout the world each year by meetings, discussions and exhibits on the achievements and goals of the Organization.

Check out the United Nations Association of the USA for a history of UN Day.

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This is the day before my birthday…. thus it is extra special and more meaningful

Planning for Library Camp Mid-Atlantic:
Planning proceeds apace – Jeremy Hunsinger is kindly checking to see if space is available at Pratt Institute, and has posted about the event to a mailing list he’s on. I will likely do the same on BUSLIB-L, assuming it’s OK with Dan Lester.
I’ve created a very brief survey for people who might be interested in attending:
Click here to take survey
Even if you’re not interested, please pass the information on to people who might be.

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the fine folks at the business librarian are… thinking of putting on library camp mid-atlantic. it could be fun.

Jeff Ubois on Erasing Televised History, Copyright-style:
Remember Dan Quayle’s attack on fictional character Murphy Brown? Well if you don’t, or want to refresh your recollection of the 1992 episode, you’ll have to rely on secondary sources, Jeff Ubois reports.

Due in part to the vagaries of copyright and contract, public access to the televised part of our historical record is severely limited. Ubois, while a Berkeley resarcher, was able to get almost none of the audiovisual material documenting the Quayle speech, the TV coverage, or Murphy Brown’s response. He’s just published a paper on the project: “Finding Murphy Brown: How accessible are historic television broadcasts?” with the Journal of Digital Information.
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this is absolutely despicable… but… it is not that they are blocking it… it is that there is no market? i’m not sure i believe that.

The Sun Online – News: Bet this tortoise runs on shell:
IT may not be a fast mover but it keeps Tina the three-legged tortoise out of the crawler lane.
The 54-year-old pet has a mini air-filled rubber wheel to replace a leg lost to a predator.

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and people wonder what other people do for a living…

I made it to newark airport… My only hangup of course is that is did something to my back yesterday afternoon and basically haven’t slept much, but eh, that only caused me to walk up and down 34th street for 10-15 minutes wondering where the heck the penn station door was, because I’d never been in before, eventually i just decided to walk against traffic and voila, it was at the end of stream of people. Beyond that, the symposium looks interesting, I’m really happy that I was invited even though… it means flying across the u.s. 2 times in 48 hours so that i can be back in time for the digital archives class.

Governance and conflict resolution in probably a better construct for the Linden Lab meeting, but I think that I’ll easily fit in, and make some of my points. The symposium is all day tomorrow. Tonight I’m trying to meet up with my friend and colleague David Silver, whose teaching until 8pm.