Monthly Archives: September 2007

Restaurant Review: Cotton

September 30, 2007 – 12:11 pm

First Impressions
How much is too much for an entree at a place that plays the kind of anonymous Muzak that Kenny G calls jazz and is decorated like Applebee’s? Trust me, I like renovated mill buildings, but why confuse it with faux grecian columns and too many pictures of dead celebrities? I mean, the interior [...]

By Sandee | Posted in Kitchen, Style, Fashion and Food | Comments (1)



Smashitup Smashitup Smashitup!

September 28, 2007 – 12:01 pm

After all my agitating for small, cheap, fuel efficient cars (and automotive metaphors), I figured I had to post this picture (and a few others) from the demolition derby at the Hopkinton Fair a couple weeks ago. My video of the four-cylinder event is at YouTube.
Extra: I don’t know where it fits in your stereotype [...]

By Casey | Posted in Photoblog, Questionable...funny. Pointless. | Comments (1)

?to ascertain if the applicant is still living?

September 28, 2007 – 5:56 am

Whose Library Is It Anyway?: A Visit to the Lenox
[tags]library, libraries, humor, lennox library[/tags]

By Casey | Posted in Blink, Libraries & Networked Information | Comments (0)

Don’t Mistake Me (Please)

September 25, 2007 – 12:39 pm

Over at KLE’s Web 2.0 Challenge I was surprised to learn:
Both Bisson and Stephens are so excited about this concept of Web 2.0 they have not taken a good look at what they can?t do for our libraries. …with all this new technology we can not forget that what is the most important in our [...]

By Casey | Posted in Libraries & Networked Information, Technology | Comments (0)

Checkouts Vs. GPA?

September 25, 2007 – 9:53 am

Cindy Harper, Systems Librarian at Colgate University, posted to the IUG list with this notion today:
I’m clearing out a large group of expired student records, and wonder if anyone else has had the same idea that has occurred to me. [Our ILS] keeps track in the patron record of TOTCHKOUTs (total checkouts). At the [...]

By Casey | Posted in Dispatches, Libraries & Networked Information | Comments (1)



Copyleft: Defending Intellectual Property

September 25, 2007 – 6:53 am

Anybody who thinks Free Software is anti-copyright or disrespectful of intellectual property should take a look at Mark Jaquith’s post, What a GPL?d Movable Type means. Let’s be clear, Anil Dash takes issue with Jaquith’s interpretation, but the point is Jaquith’s offense at what appears to be Six Apart’s grabbiness for any code somebody might [...]

By Casey | Posted in Copyrights & Intellectual Property, Dispatches, Technology | Comments (1)

Mullenweg on WordPress and Open Source

September 24, 2007 – 5:49 pm

I wish I’d seen this from WordPress maven Matt Mullenweg before I finished My LTR on open source software for libraries. Mullenweg is brushing off some of the mystique and praise the media has been giving him, and giving an honest sense of what makes open source software work:
the real story is more exciting than [...]

By Casey | Posted in Politics & Controversy, Technology | Comments (0)

It’s Standard Playtesting, Everybody Does It

September 24, 2007 – 6:44 am

In another sign that my generation’s culture is gaining dominance, NPR gave video games a bit of coverage this morning. Unfortunately, the story that makes it sound like the company invented playtesting doesn’t suggest that Microsoft’s behemoth investment in the Halo franchise makes that testing (and, perhaps, blandness) necessary. (Meanwhile, MSNBC last year ran an [...]

By Casey | Posted in Dispatches | Comments (3)

Developing and Testing Mobile Content

September 20, 2007 – 11:31 pm

Read: A List Apart: Articles: Put Your Content in My Pocket and Part II.
Test/simulate: Opera Mini, Lynx, a variety of mobile phones, Internet Explorer (because even with Parallels, who really wants to infect their machine with windows?), and iPhone.
mobi, mobile, web development, mobile web, browser testing

By Casey | Posted in Blink, Technology | Comments (1)

A Message From The Establishment To The Establishment

September 20, 2007 – 10:35 am

We must stop thinking of ourselves as a good-idea factory whose every thought has greater merit than those of our customers. Procter & Gamble doesn’t even do that.
— paraphrased
innovation, wikinomics, customers vs. creators, locus of control

By Casey | Posted in Libraries & Networked Information, Politics & Controversy | Comments (0)

NH’s Virtual Learning Academy

September 19, 2007 – 10:21 pm

The CEO of NH’s first online-only, distance education high school expects about 700 students to enroll in its first semester, to start in January. So says a report at NHPR.
high school, virtual learning academy, new hampshire, education, distance education, online education

By Casey | Posted in Dispatches, Politics & Controversy, Technology | Comments (0)

Four Years Of Music Industry Lawsuits & Madness

September 19, 2007 – 12:46 pm

Marketplace reminds us the storm of RIAA lawsuits began in September 2003. In that time they’ve sued a thousands of people, and most lawyers apparently advise those caught in the madness to simply roll over and take it. But Tanya Andersen, a 41 year old disabled single mother didn’t.
After years of litigation (and mounting [...]

By Casey | Posted in Copyrights & Intellectual Property, Politics & Controversy | Comments (0)

Obligatory Talk Like A Pirate Day Post

September 19, 2007 – 5:18 am

Perhaps Talk Like A Pirate Day has been too successful when NPR hosts are doing it, but anything that’s so important to our children’s future success is important enough for me. And if you need a brush up on your skills, don’t miss this instructional video.
TLAPD, Talk Like A Pirate Day, arrrr, holiday, pirate, talk

By Casey | Posted in Dispatches | Comments (1)

NYT: The Link Is The Currency Of The Web

September 18, 2007 – 7:15 pm

The New York Times has struggled with TimesSelect, now they’re killing it. But the news here isn’t that a media giant is giving up on a much hyped online venture. The news is that a media giant is endorsing what we now call web 2.0:
Since we launched TimesSelect in 2005, the online landscape has altered [...]

By Casey | Posted in Libraries & Networked Information, Technology | Comments (0)

Closed Formats Are Bad For Libraries, Stop OOXML Now

September 18, 2007 – 12:40 pm

Microsoft just won’t quit. Now they’re trying to make OOXML an ISO standard. Please help stop this.
Here’s how I explained it in Open Source Software for Libraries:
The state of Massachusetts in 2005 announced new IT standards that required its 80,000 employees and 173 agencies to adopt open file formats. The decision didn?t specify the applications [...]

By Casey | Posted in Libraries & Networked Information, Politics & Controversy, Technology | Comments (2)