Friday Time Killers

Rhymes with Orange and books...

zzshupinga — Tue, 13 May 2008 08:17:52 -0500

No it's not Friday, but didn't think that I should hold onto this until then...

The comic strip "Rhymes with Orange" ran an interesting strip about a couple undergoing counseling and they use an interesting analogy, check it out.

Librarians Fashion Statement

birdie — Thu, 08 May 2008 14:53:11 -0500

Not every librarian is a fashion enthusiast...but those who are might be interested in...

... "Dirty Librarian Chains". Want one for yourself or a friend? Here's their website.

Gifts for Booklovers

birdie — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 11:39:21 -0600

Need a gift for a bookloving friend or colleague? Looking for cool book-related items (well, they're not all book related, but they're pretty cool anyway) to add to the library store or sell at the circ. desk?

Here's a slew of suggestions from Wanda Jewell, Director of the Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance.

Even if you don't buy right away, you can always browse! TGIF.

Want to smell like...an old book?

michelley — Mon, 17 Dec 2007 19:08:54 -0600

Here's a "Friday Time Killer" for a Monday: a perfume inspired by an "English novel" with "Russian & Moroccan leather bindings, worn cloth and a hint of wood polish."

A blog from the makers of ShoeBox

zzshupinga — Fri, 14 Dec 2007 13:50:46 -0600

The guys and gals at ShoeBox greeting cards have their own blog. Checkout their posts on everything from suggestions that don't cut it for what their looking for to funny little drawings. It will keep you entertained and laughing all day.

Undocumented aliens

mdoneil — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 23:08:34 -0600

I have four undocumented aliens in my living room (no not those kind of aliens - although I do live quite close to the Church of Scien...well nevermind) .

I have a friend who needed a place for four people to stay since there was an apartment fire in a nearby city today. They were 'guests' of the 3 people who lived in the 2 bedroom apartment. If they can fit 7 peole in a 2 bedroom I can certainly fit five people in my place. The red cross found the family on the lease a place but it was too small for everyone.

I have not checked their passports, their visas, nor their library cards. I did try to make dinner, but I was ushered out of the kitchen. We had some thing made with the ground beef I had in the refirgerator. I have no idea what it was called but I am down a few potatoes, a couple of carrots, and a bottle of capers - I didn't even know I had capers. (I don't even know what capers really are.) If we can use up the pine nuts I spent four bucks on because I wanted to see what they tasted like I'll be pleased.

The mom also insisted on doing my laundray after she finished all theirs. (I have a couple shirts as I did laundry the other day.)

They will get things sorted in the next few days, and their relatives have already arranged to get them to work in the morning. So right now we are watching some sporting event on TV, eating pretzels and drinking grape soda (well the kids are - store brand grape soda is icky).

In the interim I have some new friends, I think my socks may have been ironed, and I've had the most delightful combination of Ng'ombei and mgoba I've ever tasted (even though I don't think there are capers in Kenya either).

I've kept Fr. Kevin happy and I met people who think keeping cats inside the hosue is simply insane (what do librarians there do?), and I really have not changed my routine at all.

Oh, and I have no idea how they got here or if they have any papers other than the local liberal fish wrapper (that is what I get delivered it is the local newspaper after all). Then again they have no idea how I got here either. Seems fair to me.

Hakuna Matata really does mean no problem. I learn something new every day.

Play Some Library Arcade

Blake — Fri, 26 Oct 2007 16:38:00 -0500

These educational games were developed by graduate students from the Entertainment Technology Center, in collaboration with the University Libraries, and the generous support of the Buhl Foundation.

Cool Twenty Questions Game

birdie — Fri, 12 Oct 2007 05:52:00 -0500

Based on my experience, out of five or so categories (classic and people), the game was able to answer two out of five times before the twentieth question. The three tougher answers were answered with fewer than thirty questions. The game FAQ tells us about the possibility of 'contradictions', explaining: "Since 20Q learns everything it knows from the people who play, it is dealing with opinions, not facts. It's more like a folk taxonomy. Folk taxonomies are generated from social knowledge and are used in everyday speech. Since the opinions of people often differ, 20Q must do its best to sort out conflicting information. Contradictions are also one of the main ways that 20Q learns more about something. If enough people contradict what it currently thinks, it slowly changes its mind about that subject and eventually the contradictions will no longer happen." Try 20Q!

Magazine back issues on DVD

Pete — Fri, 14 Sep 2007 17:54:00 -0500

This brief post on Boing-Boing let's you know some of the magazines available and soon to be available on DVD. Anybody's collections include some of these already?

Play Library Science Jeopardy

Blake — Fri, 14 Sep 2007 10:53:00 -0500

Welcome librarians, MLS candidates, and other interested pursuers of knowledge; welcome one and all to Library Science Jeopardy. Just like the popular television version, the primary rule remains to provide your answer in the form of a question. There are six categories to select from, each containing five answers in ascending order of difficulty. Click on any of these from the game board below and you will encounter your first answer. Below the answer will appear four possibly correct questions, from which you must select the correct question. If you are of the competitive sort, you might want to have pencil and paper handy to keep score. There are no prizes, but, if you guess correctly, you will win an expanded explanation of the correct question.