In response

I recently received the following comment on an evaluation submitted by someone who attended my CSS class. Since they submitted it anonymously I have no way of responding to them directly. Therefore I've decided to respond here in hopes that they're reading my blog.

One distractor [sic] was that the presenter referred to a .gif file as a .jif file. There are folks that rabidly insist that .gif be pronounced the same as .jif but that confuses the two file types when spoken that way. Common usage (and common sense) dictate that .gif be pronounced with the hard g sound to avoid confusion the the .jif file type. Like I said, it was a major distractor [sic] to me. It also pointed to a lack of basic understanding in an area where the instructor is supposed to be presenting correct information to others. It makes a person wonder what other bad habits he might be perpetuating.

First off, if the person with this concern had mentioned this while in class I would have been happy to respond and explain myself at that time.

Secondly, yes, there is a big argument over whether to pronounce .GIF with a hard 'G' or a soft 'G'. I used to believe that the hard 'G' was the correct way, as does this person, due to the fact that .GIF stands for "Graphics Interchange Format" and therefore should be pronounced accordingly. However, and this is the key point to the whole argument for the soft 'G', the guy who invented the acronym pronounced it was a soft 'G' as in jiff the peanut butter. This is well documented on The GIF Pronunciation Page. Since there is no standard way of pronouncing an acronym (heck, I've seen arguments over how to 'pronounce' WWW,) the rule of thumb is whomever makes it gets to say how it's pronounced. Therefore I've changed my stance and use the soft pronunciation.

Quote

"Mr Norell was very well pleased. Lord Liverpool was exactly the sort of guest he liked - one who admired the books but shewed no inclination to take them down from the shelves and read them."
— Jonathan Strange & Mr Norell

I was walking down the street the other day when I walked past an alley. Just as I had walked by I heard an "Ouch!" come from out of the alley. I paused, not sure of what I heard and then there came another "Ouch!" I backed up a few steps and turned to look for the source of the noise. I saw an old man facing a building's brick wall, leaning in toward the wall, forehead against it. He just stood there, not moving, and I did the same. After a few seconds he straightened up, paused, and wacked his head into the wall with another "Ouch!" I was stunned, as I'm sure he might have been too due to the force of the blow. He pasued for another ten seconds and repeated the process once again. "Ouch!" After witnessing this three more times I finally decided to ask the old man why he would be doing duch a thing to himself. I walked up to him and tapped him on the shoulder. "Excuse me, sir. If you don't mind my asking; why are you banging you head into this brick wall?" The old man turned and looked at me with a puzzeled expression. "Why, I believe the answer to that question is rather obvious." My look implied that it wasn't obvious to me. "Well," he said, "because it feels so good when I stop."

Bush wins!

What did he win? Well, according to a poll in the UK mag Total Film he won Best Villain in a Film due to his appearance in Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 911. Heck, he'd get my vote in that category.
Link may make you click-through an ad to get to the article.

Back to you

Back to you
It always comes around
Back to you
I tried to forget you
I tried to stay away
But it's too late

Over you
I'm never over
Over you
Something about you
It's just the way you move
The way you move me

I'm so good at forgetting
And I quit every game I play
But forgive me, love
I can't turn and walk away
This way

Back to you
It always comes around
Back to you
I walk with your shadow
I'm sleeping in my bed
With your silhouette

should have smiled in that picture
If it's the last that I'll see of you
It's the least that you
Could not do

Leave the light on,
I'll never give up on you,
Leave the light on,
For me too, for me too

Back to me
I know that it comes
Back to me
Doesn't it scare you
Your will is not as strong
As it used to be

— John Mayer

Find of the year!

While stumbling through the only used bookstore in Fairfield, IA I happened across a copy of Dean Koontz's How To Write Bestselling Fiction, a first edition from 1981. Easily worth about $100 in the condition its in. (Book's in excellent shape, the dust jacket has got a small tear.) My cost? $7!

I've also found a few other DK items while on this trip, including the paperback version of Odd Thomas released yesterday. I'll be adding them to the book when I get back home and then will post more detailed information here.

Lyric

Well, I've been loving you for such a long long time
Expecting nothing in return
Just for you to have a little faith in me
— John Hiatt, Have a Little Faith in Me

Of ladybugs and goats

I'm currently staying in Coralville, IA and teaching the next two days next door in Iowa City. I've got two animal stories to share.

It seems that Iowa is currently suffering an infestation of Asian lady beetles, basically a slightly more aggressive, and smelly when smooshed I've been told, version of what we're all used to. Coralville seems to be ground zero at the moment as the crunching noises I was making while walking across my hotel's parking lot earlier today.

As for the goats, well I had Goat Rogan Josh ("a specialty from Kashmir: lean goat pieces cooked in yogurt, almonds & amp;a unique blend of spices") for dinner tonight at an Iowa City Indian restaurant. Actually, it was quite good. It had the texture of a very tender beef roast. Couldn't make out much of a taste difference however, due to the spicy sauce it was smothered in. The only this that could have made the dish better was if the goat was boneless.

Colorado job, in wyoming, says arizona

Here's an interesting job posting from the AZ state library for someone to develop a Russian collection for the Arapahoe Library district, located in Colorado. According to the "Location" field of the anouncement the job is located in "WYOMING". (I've got a screenshot of this if the fix it and you don't believe me.)

Cedar falls, ia

I made it out of Mason City this morning without a single problem. I think I got out of town before he arrived. Heading in the opposite direction I'm sure helped. I'm now in Cedar Falls @ a Panera Bread Company having just finished a great lunch, savoring a caramel latte, and enjoying the free WiFi access. Especially since it's still too early to check into my hotel I believe I'll be camping out here for a few hours and getting some much-needed pages written on the Blog/RSS book.

Spending the last two weeks before an election in a swing state starts to have consequences...

I'm in Mason City, IA (yes, the city that was the model for River City of "The Music Man" fame,) and I'm heading out for Cedar Falls (the single coldest place I've ever been in my life) in the morning. Trouble is, Dubbyah will be speaking tomorrow morning at the fairgrounds about one mile West of this hotel. Luckily I'll be heading East from here but depending on which roads are shut down, this may be interesting. I may get stuck here a few hours longer than planned. The Hotel is currently full with reporters and volunteers. I might be the only Democrat in the place at the moment. Luckily, only a few of the younger volunteers are currently out by the pool getting drunk, and harassing 20-something female volunteers as they walk by. I've not spotted any secret service but they may be around, scoping out the place? Who knows? If anything vaguely interesting happens while trying to get out of town in the morning I'll be sure to report back.

T-shirt

DEMOCRAT
Because who goes out on
Friday night loking for
a piece of elephant?

From a t-shirt at the Michael Moore rally last night.

Quote

"Her arms were all too feeble
Though she claimed to love me so
The Raven King stretched out his hand
She sighed and let me go."
— Susanna Clarke, Jonathan Strange & Mr Norell

Don't like the way he looks?

Here's your chance to Build a better Bush.
Thanks Laura!

What you didn't see

Today's Boondocks strip is the funniest thing I've seen dealing with the recent presidential debates.

Lyrics

"She is something alltogether different
Never just an ordinary girl"
— Hard Candy, The Counting Crows

Trēo trio

Picked up my second replacement Treo600 at lunchtime today. Seems to be working fine so far.

National Novel Writing Month

O.k., I'm participating. Whether or not I can reach the goal of completing a 50,000 word (175 page) novel in 30 days I've no idea but it sounds like a good reason to try...

Memories and impressions

I just found out today the reference guru Bill Katz passed away a little over a week ago. I graduated from SUNY Albany's program in 1995 and had the pleasure of having Bill Katz as my Reference professor. I have to memories and an impression to share.

Impression: He was there to have a good time and keep himself amused. If that was passed along to the students (as it constantly was) all the better for everyone.

Memory #1: As the editor of RQ he was sent a copy of almost every reference text ever released. They literally piled up the walls in his office, many still in the boxes, never opened. He welcomed all students into his office to go through them and take whatever they wanted. I still have the Bio-Bibliography of Boris Karloff I got from that never-ending pile.

Memory #2: One day in class there was a heated discussion over some topic I don't recall. His final word on the topic was "Me being a good Jew and you being a good Christian, let's just start throwing stones at each other and get it over with." The class broke out into great laughter at that point and it diffused the situation wonderfully.

He will be missed.

It was ten years ago yesterday…

…that Netscape Communictions Copp. announced the release of their first browser. I remember that day as I was in library school and discovering the wonderful world of the Net. Ah, how far we've all come since then. (I'm still bummed that my dad didn't listen to me when I sent him the prospectus for Netscape's IPO…)

Farscape

Apple's hosting a full trailer for Farscape: The Peacekeeper Wars which starts this Sunday evening.

Where's wifi

Oh, I'm getting me one of these!

Worst case scenario

Here's another way to look at cell phone use on airplanes. I've got to admit that I completely agree with the author, especially since I mostly read while on a flight.

Debate remixes

Here's a couple of debate remixes: This or That & Hard Working George (both .mov)
and a Bill O'Reilly song (.mp3)

Traveling Music
by Neal Peart

Off the shelf

It's not that I haven't been reading, I've just not read anything in a while worth taking the time to post about. Well, last night I finished Traveling Music the latest book by Rush drummer & lyricist Neal Peart and I've just got to rave. This man can write! It's a travelogue about a three-day trip through the American West all the while writing about the music he's listening to on the car stereo. Interspersed throughout the book are tales of other times in his life and the music that meant something to him at that time. At over 300 pages his writing is so smooth that I finished it in three sittings. A perfect read for that cool Sunday morning outside a coffee shop. Ditch the newspaper and read this instead.

Note: Be sure to have a pen & notepad next to you while reading this. I found myself constantly writing down artists and album titles that he made me want to hear. I've not no fewer than a dozen CD requests into my library because of this book.

Debate humor

Like Andrea, I didn't watch the VP debate either but this image from the debate was just too hilarious not to pass along to my readers.

Hooray wickenburg!

I never thought I'd ever hear myself saying that. (I've been through there many a time on the road between Las Vegas and Tucson. Next thing you know I'll be praising the existence of Wickiup, AZ...) It seems that they're not bowing to the pressure of nearby Phoenix regarding the installation of filters in the library.

Key trouble

In response to the recent problem with my Treo Laura felt it necessary to send me the following:

The Thutton Typewriter Thervice,
12 New Thtreet,
Thutton, Thurrey

Dear Thir,
Will you pleathe thend thomeone to mend thith typewriter? Thith ith the thecond one we have had from you on which the eth key doeth not work.

Yourth thincerely,
T. Thamuelth

 

Mr. T. Zamuelz

Dear Zir,
We quite underztand your trouble, and will be zending zomeone around az zoon az pozzible.

Yourz zincerely,
The Zutton Typewriter Zervice

Dean koontz photos

Well, not of him, but of the lettered edition of The Taking as promised.

This post brought to you by the letter t.

I'm on my second Treo 600. This one is having a problem. I'm not upset with the equipment, I'm upset with the Sprint service people. What's up this time. Well, the 't' key works intermittently. IF you press is firmly and squarely it seems to work more often but with the keys the size they are, this is not exactly convenient. So, off to the Sprint store over my lunch hour.

I got there, explained my problem to one of the sales people and took my Treo into a tech in the back room. She reappeared a few minutes later and told me that according the tech manager, if I was willing to "first uninstall all the third party software first" he would then do a system reset to see if that solves the problem. Considering my recent state of mind regarding hearing things that don't make sense, I threw a very calm fit. She offered to get said tech manager. I said that would be a good idea.

He made his appearance and I tried to explain to him that this was a hardware problem and that no software could be causing this problem. I said that what he was telling me was like saying that reinstalling Windows would fix a problem with my desktop computer's keyboard. His response, "Well, Windows is a completely different operating system and I can't speak to that. Can you tell me for sure that none of the third party software on this machine is not causing the problem." Well, no, I can't, but it's just a basic application of logic. Besides, if all he wants to do is a hard reset of the Treo, there's no need to uninstall anything first as a hard reset would put the Treo back to the way it was the day I got it, sans all additional software. Confirming that's what he wanted to do, I told him to go ahead and do the reset.

For an unknown reason he had to go into the back room to perform this simple operation. Five minutes later he reappeared once again, and showed me that the 't' key now worked. I walked out with the Treo and got into my car. I tried the key again and the problem still existed. Obviously, he wasn't clear on the definition of intermittent. I walked back in, told him it was still broken. Without any further investigation he got another sales person to order me a replacement unit. It should be here tomorrow or Friday.

Did that have to be so difficult?

Odd request of the month

I just heard back from the winner of one of my eBay auctions. He lives in Germany and asked if I could include two boxes of Cap'n Crunch cereal with his book. It seems that they don’t sell it in Germany and this guy's got one heck of a jones for the stuff.

I'm the owner of a domain, finally

I broke down an registered a domain name: travelinlibrarian.info (sauers.info was taken by a German family with the last name of 'sauer'. Go figure.) I finally did it since I got a year free. I've now got twelve months to decide whether or not it's worth moving everything to that domain. First question to answer: how much is my Web/e-mail hosting company going to charge me to host it?

Growing clothing

Want a leather coat but don't want to harm a cow? How about growing one?

Quotes

"...there was a tug on my heart as well as tiny slashing wounds..."
— Anne Rice, Blackwood Farm

"You like people for their qualities. You love them for their defects."
— Hellboy

"There are only two things I can promise you. One, I'll always look this good. Two, I'll never give up on you. Ever.
— Hellboy

Lettered editon

My Charnel House lettered edition of Dean Koontz's The Taking arrived today. I got letter 'M'. Photos later this week.

Work for google

If you want to give it a shot take the Google Aptitude Test. Looks fun but most of it is over my head.

Who's on first?

Bud Abbott and Lou Costello's famous sketch "Who's on first?" Might have turned out something like this If done in 2004

COSTELLO CALLS TO BUY A COMPUTER FROM ABBOTT.

ABBOTT: Super Duper computer store. Can I help you?

COSTELLO: Thanks. I'm setting up an office in my den and I'm thinking about buying a computer.

ABBOTT: Mac?

COSTELLO: No, the name's Lou.

ABBOTT: Your computer?

COSTELLO: I don't own a computer. I want to buy one

ABBOTT: Mac?

COSTELLO: I told you, my name's Lou.

ABBOTT: What about Windows?

COSTELLO: Why? Will it get stuffy in here?

ABBOTT: Do you want a computer with Windows?

COSTELLO: I don't know. What will I see when I look in the windows?

ABBOTT: Wallpaper.

COSTELLO: Never mind the windows. I need a computer and software.

ABBOTT: Software for Windows?

COSTELLO: No. On the computer! I need something I can use to write proposals, track expenses and run my business. What have you got?

ABBOTT: Office.

COSTELLO: Yeah, for my office. Can you recommend anything?

ABBOTT: I just did.

COSTELLO: You just did what?

ABBOTT: Recommend something.

COSTELLO: You recommended something?

ABBOTT: Yes.

COSTELLO: For my office?

ABBOTT: Yes.

COSTELLO: OK, what did you recommend for my office?

ABBOTT: Office.

COSTELLO: Yes, for my office!

ABBOTT: I recommend Office with Windows.

COSTELLO: I already have an office with windows! OK, lets just say I'm sitting at my computer and I want to type a proposal. What do I need?

ABBOTT: Word.

COSTELLO: What word?

ABBOTT: Word in Office.

COSTELLO: The only word in office is office.

ABBOTT: The Word in Office for Windows.

COSTELLO: Which word in office for windows?

ABBOTT: The Word you get when you click the blue "W".

COSTELLO: I'm going to click your blue "w" if you don't start with some straight answers. OK, forget that. Can I watch movies on the Internet?

ABBOTT: Yes, you want Real One.

COSTELLO: Maybe a real one, maybe a cartoon. What I watch is none of your business. Just tell me what I need!

ABBOTT: Real One.

COSTELLO: If it's a long movie I also want to see reel 2, 3 &4. Can I watch them?

ABBOTT: Of course.

COSTELLO: Great! With what?

ABBOTT: Real One.

COSTELLO: OK, I'm at my computer and I want to watch a movie. What do I do?

ABBOTT: You click the blue "1".

COSTELLO: I click the blue one what?

ABBOTT: The blue "1".

COSTELLO: Is that different from the blue w?

ABBOTT: The blue "1" is Real One and the blue "W" is Word.

COSTELLO: What word?

ABBOTT: The Word in Office for Windows.

COSTELLO: But there's three words in "office for windows"!

ABBOTT: No, just one. But it's the most popular Word in the world.

COSTELLO: It is?

ABBOTT: Yes, but to be fair, there aren't many other Words left. It pretty much wiped out all the other Words out there.

COSTELLO: And that word is real one?

ABBOTT: Real One has nothing to do with Word. Real One isn't even part of Office.

COSTELLO: STOP! Don't start that again. What about financial bookkeeping? You have anything I can track my money with?

ABBOTT: Money.

COSTELLO: That's right. What do you have?

ABBOTT: Money.

COSTELLO: I need money to track my money?

ABBOTT: It comes bundled with your computer

COSTELLO: What's bundled with my computer?

ABBOTT: Money.

COSTELLO: Money comes with my computer?

ABBOTT: Yes. No extra charge.

COSTELLO: I get a bundle of money with my computer? How much?

ABBOTT: One copy.

COSTELLO: Isn't it illegal to copy money?

ABBOTT: Microsoft gave us a license to copy money.

COSTELLO: They can give you a license to copy money?

ABBOTT: Why not? THEY OWN IT!

A FEW DAYS LATER .

ABBOTT: Super Duper computer store. Can I help you?

COSTELLO: How do I turn my computer off?

ABBOTT: Click on "START"..........

Thanks to Karen Burns

Stress level

Well, if you've listened to my audio post you'll know that United had me at the airport much earlier than needed. Then when I was finally able to check in, I opened my wallet to find that my driver's license wasn't where expected. Five minutes of extreme panic later I found it in the wallet but in with my library cards. How it got there I have no idea. Then my boarding pass and the departure screens contained no gate number for my flight. (Luckily DSM has only five gates to choose from for United.) Find my gate, check the e-mail. It seems that one person wants significant changes to one of my workshops that will involve compressing three hours of material into two, and filling the now empty hour with new material. Another e-mail informs me that some advice I gave in my security workshop on Tuesday has hosed a library's network. (I think that my she took a suggestion for securing a client and did it on her server...) As if this wasn't enough, 15 minutes later I was fidgeting with the only ring a wear and dropped it. Poof, it had disappeared. I ended up having me and three other people looking for it for ten minutes. One lady found it finally when the light caught the silver just right; it had rolled a good two yards and blended in with the carpet. On the plane... The guy in the next seat spilled his coffee some of which landed on my leg. (Luckily it wasn't that hot any more.) I need a vacation.