People Suck

And I hate them.

So I’m driving to work, and about 50 yards ahead of me (on a busy 6-lane road) a guy is riding his bicycle across the road. In traffic, not at a crosswalk. Bad enough, but then I see there are 2 dogs, a pit bull terrier and a chihuahua, following him. In traffic.

At which point I would very much like to pull over and beat him about the head and shoulders. Except I’m not allowed to do things like that because I’m not allowed to do things that would result in me going to jail according to my wife.

Then he gets across the road and the dogs stop *chasing* him, which is evidently what was happening, and at a leisurely pace head BACK across the busy 6-lane road, through traffic, to go home. They are both wearing collars and there are residential areas on all the side streets so they clearly belong to someone.

Someone who lets them wander around outside unattended and thinks little enough of them to let them wander back and forth across a busy 6-lane road. I am tempted to follow them and have a discussion with their owners, but see above. I settle for making sure they get back down the side street they came from and head off to work.

Did I mention that people suck and I hate them? Oh, and I like your dog(s) and cat(s) better than I like you.

It’s (Kinda) Funny Because It’s (Kinda) True

Nation Down To Last Hundred Grown-Ups

‘Mature Adults Could Be Gone Within 50 Years,’ Experts Say

According to recent data, the grown-up population has plummeted dramatically since 1950, when a Census count found that more than 24 million Americans could both admit when they were wrong and respect a viewpoint other than their own. Today, only one in three million citizens can provide thoughtful advice to a fellow human being instead of immediately shifting the topic to their own personal issues or what they had for lunch.

P.S. I hate people, and the fact that this article (and most everything The Onion does) is so bloody accurate (yes, I understand satire – quit judging me!) is a large part of that.

SCIENCE!

Knowing some of it is important, sometimes.

 

A Useful Skill For Anyone

How to Read a Legal Opinion: A Guide for New Law Students, by Orrin Kerr at GWU Law.

It’s concise, straightforward and does exactly what the title claims. This is something most people don’t realize they should know how to do but the fact is that you can’t understand modern U.S. jurisprudence without being able to read the opinions the courts issue.

3 Geek Icons

No waiting. I bet these are the moments Comic-con’ers live for…

 

Still not as cool as Wil Wheaton collating papers.

 

Beyoncé’s FrankenChicken Cousin

Jenny’s giant metal chicken Beyoncé’s weird FrankenCousin has a cameo in Angry Birds Rio 8-15.

Just Keep Your Mouth Closed

…when the chatty, verbose, looking-for-a-friendly-ear-to-bend, notorious problem patron comes in and starts making small talk. The briefest of comments will be seized upon as an excuse to pontificate on anything and everything for waaaaaaayyyyyyyyyyyyyyy too long.

I know better, dang it.

This Is For Felicia Day

Only people following her on Google+ will get this…

Technology – Love It or Leave It

When I was growing up in small town America the local convenience store (which was named the Deli, though it was nothing of the sort – it was actually kinda similar to the modern 7-11 or Circle K) had a vending machine that sold soda,  which we called pop and would fight vigorously with you if you didn’t, in glass bottles with non-screw-off tops. It only took change, no bills, and usually only exact change. They still made Coke, Pepsi and RC with real sugar then too, and there was no water in bottles unless it was carbonated and had weird minerals.

Now I use a debit card to buy bottled, filtered water from a machine in the school cafeteria.

I’m old…

Weeding

No, not in a garden. Sheesh.

Fine – deselection as a facet of collection development. Not everyone realizes that librarians are perfectly happy getting rid of books if A: there is a more current version available, B: the information in it is just so outdated as to not be useful or reliable, C: it hasn’t circulated in a very long time (and there’s other titles in the call number since you have to account for in-library use), and/or D: <insert reason that you feel is valid but that you can also justify to any combination of:  your library director, other librarians, administration, faculty, staff, students, community users , random people on the street, cats, dogs, and birds – not necessarily in that order>

So, I’m at the library trying to weed the reference collection. And I keep running into this problem – I’d dump print resources if there is a good online version in  a heartbeat. A good example is the Statistical Abstract of the United States. It’s available online from the Census Bureau, it is much more usable than it was even a few years ago, and *all* the data is there; slice-able, dice-able, easy to manipulate.

And then I remember that not everyone is comfortable with technology, especially web-based searching a web-based database searching, the way I am (which is unfortunate but true). And that we receive a print Statistical Abstract from the GPO every time it comes out at a relatively low cost, and there will be that person who doesn’t want to deal with the website, or just wants to see it in print, or whatever, so I should just leave it alone.

And yet it takes up a whole shelf of a 5 tier unit. Real estate…having it available in print…real estate…

When in doubt leave it alone. I guess *sigh*.