Amazing News! Nazi 3D Films from 1936 Discovered

February 24, 2011 //

Unfortunately no Triumph of the Will 3D

Now we can feel uncomfortable about the capacity for man’s inhumanity to man… in 3D.

From the Gurardian:

James Cameron and his team of minions may have produced the high watermark for 3D technology in the 21st century, but it seems the Nazis got there first. The Australian film-maker Philippe Mora says he has discovered two 30-minute 3D films shot by propagandists for the Third Reich in 1936, a full 16 years before the format first became briefly popular in the US.

The first of the films, titled So Real You Can Touch It, features shots of sizzling stereoscopic bratwursts on a barbecue while the second, named Six Girls Roll Into Weekend, features actors Mora believes were probably stars from Germany’s top wartime studio, Universum Film.[full article]

Film nerds/buffs can read the Variety article, which has a taste of the technical information.

Mora is working on a film, “How the Third Reich was Recorded.” As a one time history scholar, I’m a sucker for unsettling docs about Nazis. Not to be glib, but to me they’re creepier than zombie movies. Imagine the two combined.

My thanks goes out to whoever preserved these films and others like it. The best hedge against repeating terrible episodes of history is to record it and make it available, so people can bear witness to it. Oh, the power of libraries and archieves! </soapbox>

Tags , , , ,
Categories Amazing News!

Trying to be a Social Media Moderate? I Propose a Rule of Three

February 23, 2011 //

Rule of Thirds

My weekly update came from LinkedIn today. Nowhere on the internet is a profile I more readily let languish. I’m not the only one.

Most of us are begrudgingly committed to LinkedIn because of the ongoing buzz as a job seach tool. Following the advice of the Internet, I need to spend that 45 minutes and update my LinkedIn profile. Afterall, not much looks worse these days than an out of date profile.

And, then what?

I find it hard to invest time in a social media tool that makes me feel like I need a tie and my interview face to use it. Not to mention, where do I find the time for it amongst my professional and personal responsibilities.

I’m not a full-time social media guru, after all. Like a lot of information professional, social media is important, but only one part of my professional reality. So, I’ve been thinking about a social media strategy that could work for me (and maybe you, too). Read the rest of this entry »

Tags , , , , , , , , ,
Categories Employment, Technology, User experience, web tools

If the Trains Ran on Time…

February 22, 2011 //

Via @NYPLMaps (New York Public Library’s Map Division).

Conductor: www.mta.me from Alexander Chen on Vimeo.

From Chen’s site:

Conductor turns the New York subway system into an interactive string instrument. Using the MTA’s actual subway schedule, the piece begins in realtime by spawning trains which departed in the last minute, then continues accelerating through a 24 hour loop. The visuals are based on Massimo Vignelli’s 1972 diagram.

A  mesmerizing way to re-present geographic information. It also reminds me of video games (gotta love SNAFU) I played back in the Eighties.

For anyone not hip to it, the NYPL’s Map Division has been tweeting an online map of the day. Cartographophiles (a word?)  like me can dig it. But, if one new map a day isn’t enough, why not look at their digital collection and drool.

Tags , , , , , , ,
Categories Library Bric-a-brac, Public Libraries, User experience, web tools

Reference Bomb! It Really Was a “Great” Vowel Shift (when held in comparison)

February 21, 2011 //

Sometimes you learn something in a random place and when you least expect it. Even better is when it’s off-beat and funny.

For example: this Dinosaur Comic sent to me by an English Professor-type friend (after he used it in a lecture on Chaucer).

Dinosaur Comics

And,  just like the better parts of Jurassic Park: the Lost World, dinosaurs have served to teach us something important… about ourselves.

And that’s a paleo-linguistic… thump… thump… thump… Reference Bomb! Bam!

Read more:
Wiki entry on the Great Vowel Shift.
History of the English language.
NPR Report on a Vowel Shift happening RIGHT NOW!
Freebie: some Jurassic Park dinosaur biological inaccuracies.

****

What is a reference bomb? Find out here!

Email me your Reference Bomb experience! info@dropthereferencebomb.com

Tags , , , , , , ,
Categories Reference Bomb

Library SoundTrack Fridays! Smith Westerns wsg/ Cut Copy and Beach Boys

February 18, 2011 //

The music world is abuzz with Radiohead talk today… I’m going to pass until I’ve heard the whole album.

But, I did make a couple good addition to my playlists this week.

The Smith Westerns remind me of the Islands in a blender with Blitzen Trapper.

And then… new music from Cut Copy!
These guys are my reigning kings of up-beat retro pop. Sing along, dance along, or just bop your head – you cannot prevent these outcome. Great album art, too.

I don’t know why I haven’t listened to Pet Sounds in so long.

“Wouldn’t It Be Nice” is attached to a handful of good and sort of painful memories, but it is a testament to its enduring amazingness that I’m still singing it (in a bad falsetto) in the shower.

Have a great weekend, everyone.

Tags , , ,
Categories Library Soundtrack

Watsonmania: Semantic Web is Still a Little Elementary (ZING!)

February 18, 2011 //

Shelock and Watson

I’ve been busy lately, combined with a long commute and it means I’m not really watching Jeopardy! these days. So, I missed seeing this whole Watson hoopla.

But, I did catch this op-ed from CNN:

There is no doubt the IBM supercomputer Watson gave an impressive performance on “Jeopardy!” this week. But I was worried by the computer’s biggest fluff Tuesday night. In answer to the question about naming a U.S. city whose first airport is named after a World War II hero and its second after a World War II battle, it gave Toronto, Ontario…

Both the humans on the program knew the correct answer: Chicago. Even a famously geographically challenged person like me (I come from the UK and know there is something called the Midwest beyond Chicago) knew the answer.

Why did I know it? Because I have spent enough time stranded at O’Hare to have visited the monument to Butch O’Hare in the terminal. Watson, who has not, came up with the wrong answer. This reveals precisely what Watson lacks — embodiment.[full article]

I’d change “embodiment” to “context” and we’d be at the problem faced by the semantic web (the sort of AI searching magics touted by Watson’s masters at IBM). All merit due to the Watson-box for it’s win, but it’s still essentially a search engine.

The ability to retrieve and process static information, then buzz in at beyond human speeds is novel. Still, if you put Watson on a line between Google and the average human, it’s not far beyond Google.

People do love these John Henry type battles. Man vs. progress. It’s easy to see it as a clear win for Watson, given the strict rule structure of Jeopardy. Back in the day, Deep Blue did well at chess, but that’s an even more strict rule based environment.

Computers will always do well where the playing field is resonably and consistently structured.

And, Watson’s shown that he’s not good at guessing below a certain confidence threhold, and I guantantee that confidence goes down the less rules there are. Intuition is a hard thing to fake and this is what drives a lot of people’s information seeking behaviour.

Anyways, I think the greater challenge will be to see a computer win at Family Feud.

Tags , , , ,
Categories Technology

In Accodance with Concordances: Number Crunching Bibliographics and Our Minds

February 17, 2011 //

Sad Cypress

What happens when statistics and literature collide?

One outcome is NPR’s Radio Lab‘s mini-doc “Vanishing Words”. It’s a thought provoking look into what can be gleaned from the statistical analysis of a person’s collected writing. From Radio Lab’s site:

Agatha Christie’s clever detective novels may reveal more about the inner workings of the human mind than she intended. In this podcast, a look at what scientists uncover when they treat words like data.

According to Dr. Ian Lancashire at the University of Toronto, the Queen of Crime left behind hidden clues to the real-life mysteries of human aging in her writing. Meanwhile, Dr. Kelvin Lim and Dr. Serguei Pakhomov from the University of Minnesota add to the intrigue with the story of an unexpected find in a convent archive that could someday help pinpoint very early warning signs for Alzheimer’s disease and dementia. Sister Alberta Sheridan, a 94-year-old Nun Study participant, reads an essay she wrote more than 70 years ago.

Listen here.

Radio Lab has a great knack for finding the compelling human side of just about any science topic. It’s well produced, humourous and straight forward. I’d call it worth checking out. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags , , , , , ,
Categories Book News

Libraries Under Siege! Some Fiscal Light in the Budget Tunnel

February 16, 2011 //

A reason as good as any

I’ve written about Floridian public libraries and the looming threat to their funding before. Recently, they’ve had cause to breathe a little easier.

From Jasksonville’s Florida Times-Union:

While Gov. Rick Scott axed state funding for a host of programs when penning his budget, nearly $22 million set aside for Florida libraries remained untouched.

It is still early in the process, but the budgetary tea leaves now read better for library officials than many others who rely on state funding.

“I would have to think that it is good news that the governor chose not to cut the funding,” said Barbara Gubbin, director of the Jacksonville Public Libraries. [full article]

Ummm… you think? What a quote. Another conspicuous quote is missing, though.

One reason Scott may have held library funding steady is because a decrease would have affected $9 million in federal matching dollars…

It’s unclear why Scott did not cut library funding, or what role the federal match dollars played in his decision. Scott’s office did not return calls or e-mails seeking comment.

It would have been nice if the good governor had gone out on a limb and supported the libraries he was saving . Insted, he had his office cloak it in some baroque funding shell game. I guess libraries shouldn’t hold out for uneqivocal support from politicians.  

Gubbin says at the end of the article, “We have faced cuts before, and kept it in there. We know how to work the system.” Right on! Gubbin’s attitude is great. Touchy-feely appeals to the inherent value libraries are not enough.

Help is out there, too, at SaveLibraries.org. They’re blogging, collecting resources, and otherwise tweeting the 2011 world of Libraries Under Siege.

Tags , , , , ,
Categories Library News, Public Libraries

Reference Bomb – Big Ideas Need Dough

February 15, 2011 //

Jane's Donuts!

Anyone following my Twitter feed this weekend knows that I was down in Montreal representing for Winged Beast Outfitters at a craft fair.

The weather was against us, but I and all the vendors did our bests.

Silver lining: the Jane’s Donut girls were out. They are experts at the donut craft. 

We got to talking about their plans for the future. Eventually, one said, they want to have a brick and mortar coffee shop. This is an amazing idea, since then I could get one of their maple bacon donuts any time I wanted (when I’m in Montreal)!

To maybe spur them along, I suggested the Young Canadian Business Foundation. They offer loans and peer mentoring to small businesses looking to start-up/step-up their game. I’ve known about this organisation for few years and have heard good things (I too dream of applying one day).

I hope it’s helpful and gets the Jane’s Donut duo a little further down the road to their goals.

And, that was a street-level-small-time-capitalism-dipped-in-chocolate-and-sprinkles Reference Bomb! Bam!

****

What is a reference bomb? Find out here!

Email me your Reference Bomb experience! info@dropthereferencebomb.com

Categories Reference Bomb

Library SoundTrack Fridays! Old Favs! Pulp w/ Sun Kil Moon

February 11, 2011 //

Some old favourites have been key to my successful work-week’s soundtrack.

Let’s start off with Pulp‘s “This is Hardcore”.

I didn’t like this one when I heard it for the first time, back in like 1999. It’s melodramatic, languid drag grew on me. Now “This is Hardcore” has to be my favourite Pulp song. You have to love the intro dialogue: “Hey, I went to college once. And, all they found were rats in my head.”

And, Sun Kil Moon.

Thoughful, a little mournful and haunting, but sort of expansive – this song is perfect for day-dreaming about solitary road trips down wintry backroads. I’ve enjoyed this band for years, precisely because his songs are so simply and honestly written. Mark Kozelek’s album of Modest Mouse covers is pretty stellar, too.

Have a great Friday afternoon!

Tags , ,
Categories Library Soundtrack
« Older Entries
Newer Entries »