Is Amazon.com spying on me?

This morning I watch three short videos on YouTube featuring ventriloquist Jeff Dunham. Several hours later I added a book to my Amazon.com wishlist and get the resulting 'here's what else you should buy" page. Oddly enough a Jeff Dunham DVD is one of the items suggested to me. Quick looks thorough my browser's history (shown below) Dunham only came up from YouTube and I'd not previously looked at any Dunham related items in Amazon.com. Coincidence? What do you think?

Bad day at the office

I feel better now.

glumbert - Bad Day at the Office

The Year in Review

In 2007
Uploaded by JibJab

The highway of the future via Disney circa 1958

My favorite line: "A teletype panel shows up-to-the-minute traffic bulletins."

What if the Beatles had written Stairway to Heaven?

#2000

I just realized that back on November 23rd, I posted my 2000th license plate photo to my flickr account. Here's that lucky plate:

Something insectile, post-functionally fragile, and neurologically dangerous.

"And it hadn't hurt that Bobby was himself a musician, though not in the old plays-a-physical-instrument-and/or-sings modality. He took things apart, sampled them, mashed them up. This was fine with her, though like General Bosquet watching the charge of the Light Brigade, she was inclined to think it wasn't war. Inchmale understood it, thought, and indeed championed it, as soon as it was digital possible pulling guitar lines out of obscure garage chestnuts and stretching them, like a mad jeweler elongating sturdy Victorian tableware into something insectile, post-functionally fragile, and neurologically dangerous."
— William Gibsion, spook country

No, I won't show you my ID

Stores have been confusing me a lot lately. Despite many being concerned about ID theft, a lot of store have stopped having us sign for credit card purchases if it's under a certain amount. In Starbucks you don't have to sign if the purchase is less than $15. In Borders, less than $20. (These numbers may not be 100% accurate but they're close. I'm working from memory here.) Since there's nothing to sign, many of these merchants are asking to see your ID to prove you're you in lieu of comparing your signature. (Yes, many others are making you sign, and asking to see ID. This annoys me even more.)

The other piece of background information involves these two stories (1 & 2) from Consumerist.com. It seems that according to the Visa merchant agreement, "merchants cannot refuse to complete a purchase transaction because a cardholder refuses to provide ID." Doing so may lead to said merchant loosing the ability to accept Visa cards. (Writing SEE ID on the back of your card, unless that is your signature, is not valid however, no matter what you think.) You can probably see where I'm going with this.

On Sunday I was in Borders and ordered a beverage and cookie in their coffee shop. I handed over my Visa card and the clerk asked to see my ID. (Before even starting to process the transaction to see if my purchase was approved.) Since I'd been wondering what would happen, and since this was the third Borders I'd been into that day (but that's another story) I thought quickly enough to provide the following response: "No."

The clerk gave me a puzzled look. Obviously this wasn't the response she was expecting. "Excuse me?" she responded. I repeated my answer and said that it was against the company's agreement with Visa to require me to show ID as a requirement to complete my transaction. She wiggled her head a little and asked me to repeat myself. I politely explained again that they could not require me to show ID to complete my transaction according to their merchant agreement with Visa and added that "I would be happy to sign a slip so that she could compare my signature to the one on the back of the card." (Not remembering at the time that since my purchase was small that there would be no slip to sign.)

She flipped my card over and looked at my signature. I will admit that the card has seen better days and that the signature is a tad worn, but it is readable enough to compare to anything else I may sign. She then proceeded to show me the back of the card as if my worn signature was a problem. I stared back and continued to refuse to show my ID.

A pause, a sigh and a "whatever" later she ran my card through and completed my purchase. See, that wasn't so hard, wasn't it?

I got my coffee and my cookie ate them, then headed off to the front registers to pick up and pay for the book I had on hold. (My source of frustration and travel to three stores in one day.) In this case, the purchase was above the threshold for signing and I signed the slip presented to me. I was not asked for ID. Ironically, the signature on my card wasn't compared to the one I'd just scribbled either.

Doctor Who: Voyage of the Damned (trailer)

Can't wait!!!

What is content?

Bill Drew posted a mini-rant on his blog yesterday titled "Blog posts with no content". In this short post he complained about those who create blog posts that had no narrative but that "contain only links to things they added in del.icio.us." His reasoning: "If it is important enough for you to post a link in your blog, then write a full post about the topic."

Sorry Bill, but as someone who does the thing you're complaining about (sort of) I respectively disagree. To explain the "sort of" I don't post my del.icio.us links as a blog post but if you subscribe to my blog's feed you will get one item per day that contains the items I bookmarked that day. Since most people read my blog as a feed, I believe this would count to Bill.

I post my bookmarks because people might be interested in what I'm currently researching, preparing for, or just looking into. On a day in which I have six new links to the Kindle, this would imply that I'm thinking about it. Recently I've been adding bookmarks for Web site dealing with Creative Commons. Not because I have something particular to say about it right now, but because I'll be presenting a full-session on the topic at CIL2008. Maybe I'm bookmarking sites in preparation for a blog post in the next few days.

In any case, I like seeing people's new bookmarks without having to get yet another feed from del.icio.us. It's something they're doing and so I like all that info in one place. Ultimately, I find a lot of cool new resources from such posts so it's worth my time to at least glance at them.

Now, as for reposting tweets on your blog, that's the one that bugs me. Mainly because if I read your blog chances are you're a Twitter friend too and I don't need to see those posts twice. More importantly a day full of Twitter posts as a blog post completely takes them out of context of the conversation at the time making them mostly unintelligible.

A brutal stabbing & user-generated content

It can't be said that our police chief, and blogger, here in Lincoln doesn't have a sense of humor. From the Lincoln Journal Star:

“There was a brutal stabbing last night,” Lincoln Police Chief Tom Casady told reporters the next day.
Victim’s last name: Bob.
First name: Sponge.
Yes, he wears square pants.
And he’s yellow.

"Police had no word on the condition of the air-filled Christmas decoration, but they estimated damage caused by the stab wound at $20." The article adds that "luckily, the fallen SpongeBob SquarePants was rescued with some clear duct tape."

Beyond the obvious humor in this story I noticed something more serious and interesting at the end of the article.

Publishing opinions about the guilt, innocence or character of the accused in open criminal cases can affect that person's constitutional right to a fair trial. For that reason, JournalStar.com has chosen not to accept user comments on this story.

In other words, there are just some stories that the paper isn't going to let you comment on since those comments might influence a defendants right to a fair trial. Interesting. I've not seen this before but the again I don't read newspaper Web sites with much frequency. Is this common or is this the first time you've see this too?

Kindle

Yep folks, I'm not the only one who's disappointed. Designer Philippe Starck finds the Kindle "almost modern" and "a little sad". I love how he points out the awkwardness of the huge button-bars on the sides.

Link: sevenload.com

Oh, and the DRM's been hacked. That could only be an improvement.

Neil Gaiman is the best!

I don't think  I put this up on my blog previously but if I did, this is then officially a follow-up post. Recently Neil Gaiman did a book signing in which he was involved in a marriage proposal. Here's the full story behind the event and the reason for my post is I just found a video of what happened.

Christmas mashup

Google Chart API

Need a quick chart on your Web site and don't want to bother with creating it in Excel then exporting the image? Try the Google Chart API instead? Just build a URL, set it as an img source and see your results.

For example here's the code for a simple pie chart:

<img src=http://chart.apis.google.com/chart?
cht=p3&chd=s:hW&chs=250x100&chl=Cool|Not Cool />

and the results are:

Or how about a Venn diagram?

It gets way more complicated but this should give you a basic idea.

Flash Countdown Timer Generator

Flash Countdown Timer Generator - Create a countdown for your blog, Web site, or myspace page

How many can you name?

48

Minneapolis Dating

Kindle Coverage

Thinking of buying a Kindle? Well, check where you live to see if its wireless connection will work. See those white areas? Live in one of those and you're out of luck. (Which pretty much rules out 90% of my state of Nebraska and 99% of Wyoming and Montana. And those are just the worst examples.)

Odds & Ends

There's been a few news items of late that I've been thinking about yet somehow can't bring myself to write long posts about so I'll just throw out my general opinion on the issues here:

The SAFE Act
Many a library blog have been complaining about the implications of this potential new law when it comes to offering public and open WiFi in the library. While I'm not defending this bill in any way, shape, or form, I think certain bloggers are overreacting. Here's the relevant text:

"Anyone providing an “electronic communication service” or “remote computing service” to the public who learns about the transmission or storage of information about certain illegal activities or an illegal image must..." [emphasis added]

The key phrase here is "who learns about". In other words, providers of open WiFi are not required to troll for illegal activity, just report it if they find out about it. Which, in my opinion is something that we should be doing from a moral standpoint anyway. (You see child porn on a computer in the library, you say something.) If you're concerned about having to report, this is just another reason to not look over the shoulders of your patrons.

The Kindle
I've held one and I'm not impressed. I have a Sony Reader (and not even the latest version) and that impresses me. (I may have one or two of my facts wrong in this bit so please correct me if appropriate. The Kindle is $400. The Reader, $300 or less. The Kindle has a keyboard, the Reader doesn't. So what. I'd rather have that space taken up by the screen instead of having another device on which I have to type with my thumbs. I can easily get pretty much any document I want onto my Sony Reader through an iTunes-esque interface. For the Kindle I either need to buy it from Amazon or go through some undocumented hack-like steps to get my files into it. The Kindle is physically larger than the Reader and just feels more cumbersome. The Reader does audio, the Kindle doesn't. (Ok, not a big deal to me but it might be tom some people.) Those big honkin' buttons on the side of the Kindle are too easily accidentally pressed. The Kindle's WiFi? From what I hear every little thing you do is going to cost you. But you might be in the airport and finish off the last book and need to buy a new one you say. Sorry, but if you're on a trip and have read everything on a device that can hold hundreds of books, you've either had way too much free time to read (go out and get some exercise) on your trip or it's the result of poor planning on your part. Go buy a paperback for $7.99 at the gift shop. At least then you'll own something more than a license.

No, the Sony Reader isn't perfect but I don't believe the Kindle is the killer app of eBooks or even much of an improvement. It's tacking on a bunch of features to a good product that no one really needs. And no, I'm not going to get into the whole DRM discussion here as that applies to both platforms. (Well, no more than I did at the end of the previous paragraph.)

Rock N' Roll Readers in the Library

Your Friday morning chant

Won't you blog this song?

Thanks Michael

Who are we to decide

Continuing the theme of my last post, here's a college library in the UK in which "[u]sing the social networking site in the library is now banned" because "[d]uring peak times students had to queue for up to twenty minutes to get onto a PC in the library last week. Infuriated students were left standing in line watching their fellow students writing on each other’s Facebook walls and ‘poking’ each other." The funniest part is the response from students. Here's a common one:

“It pisses me off,” she said, referring to other students using Facebook. “But then I do the same sometimes.”

In other words, the students get upset if they have to wait yet admit they make other wait. So, the library decided to just ban Facebook since it obviously isn't a "legitimate" use of computers in the library. Oh, IM and gaming on library computers are banned to. "Exeter Students’ Union tried to ban Facebook on campus, but the plan was blocked by addicted undergraduates."

Teaching road safety by banning roads

Another topic I've been on the record with is my feeling that banning a technology (Wikipedia, Google, Social Networking services, Cell phones) as a result of some not using it "correctly" or "appropriately" is short-sighted at best, harmful at worst. This morning a co-worker forwarded me an article which says that the Ohio Education Association has officially "strongly discouraged teachers from using social-networking web sites such as MySpace and Facebook to create personal profiles or communicate with students." Why, because "the dangers of participating in these two sites outweigh the benefits.” [emphasis added]

It seems that a few teachers in Ohio have created seriously inappropriate MySpace profiles which their students had access to. The examples include "one [who] says she’s an 'aggressive freak in bed,' another says she has taken drugs and likes to party, and a third describes his mood as 'dirty'." As a result, no teacher should use these services. Yep, let's take the actions of a few and apply it to everyone. Hey, a few people have hit people with cars, let's ban everyone from cars. Better yet, let's ban roads! That's a great way to teach kids how to drive safely.

Well, one of the commenters to this post pointed out another blog post along these same lines. A Proposal for Banning Pencils was written by Doug Johnson, the Director of Media and Technology for the Mankato Public Schools, back in 2005. Why does he think pencils should be banned?

1. A student might use a pencil to poke out the eye of another student.
2. A student might write a dirty word or, worse yet, a threatening note to another student, with a pencil.
3. One student might have a mechanical pencil, making those with wooden ones feel bad.
4. The pencil might get stolen.
5. Pencils break and need repairing all the time.
6. Kids who have pencils might doodle instead of working on their assignments or listening to the teacher.

His justification? These are the same reasons for banning MP3 players in the classroom:

1. They might get stolen.
2. They make kids who can't afford them feel bad.
3. Kids might listen to them instead of to the teacher.
4. Who knows what kinds of lyrics the kids might be listening to?
5. Kids might listen to test answers.

Read both article and all the comments. Then think about your library's cell phone policy? Is the policy based in the reality of technology today or a knee-jerk reaction to the behavior of a few?

Signage improvements

I've gone on record with regards to my skepticisim about getting rid of Dewey. I believe that before we ditch Dewey (problems and all) completely, maybe we should try better signage. Here's an example of what I'm talking about from Sandy Kallunki, Supervisor, Children's Dept./Adult Fiction Dept./Teen Zone, Brown County Central Library. (Reprinted with her permission.)

As part of a project for making our department more "browser friendly" for people of all ages, reading levels and languages, we are re-doing our children's nonfiction shelf signage.  We are revising our "end of range" lists (signs) to include little images in addition to dewey numbers and the subject names, and then we are putting a matching image and subject name on shelf label holders where the actual books are.  So for instance, the list at the end of one set of shelves includes not just "567 Dinosaurs" but also a little picture of a dinosaur.  Initial reaction from kids and adults has been very positive.

We use the "grip on" shelf label holders from Demco and it is still a bit awkward sliding books over the top part. 

It has been a challenge to find images that kids and adults recognize and that are identifiable when shrunk down small.  Also, we looked for non-copyrighted stuff.  We are happy with most of the images that we've come up with, others less so.

The other tricky part is that this has forced us to look at what Dewey numbers we use to try to be more consistent where possible.  For instance, rather than having Titanic books in two different places (two different call numbers), let's put them all in one spot.

We also plan to use the shelf label holders to identify popular series and authors in our chapter books section.  And we have used them in our children's Spanish section to identify where the different types of Spanish books are--picture books as opposed to nonfiction.  There the challenge is translating the terms we use into Spanish.

In response to my request to reprint her e-mail here she also added:

Our new nonfiction signs/shelf labels are actually part of a 2007 LSTA grant project (almost finished) through which we are setting up a revitalized "Parent/Teacher Center" in our Children's Department as part of a broad-based local Community Partnership for Children. One of the objectives of the grant was to make the entire department easier to "self-navigate" for our very diverse customer base.

I've asked for some photos and hope to share them here in the future.

Quote on librarianship

"The problem is finding a disinterested authority. Anyone with a strong opinion inevitably has an ax to grind. Father Leonard Boyle, keeper of manuscripts can chief librarian at the Vatican until 1998, and a good egg by all accounts, denied it [a secret stash of forbidden pornography] in a sane, good-humored way, but then he would, wouldn't he? By contrast the Web site of the Legion of Decency (the name's a registered trademark) not only insists that the collection exists, it even provides shelf numbers: F2—F-1T, rows 89 to 704,969. They also say that those with a reader's card&#8212secior clergy only—can call the library on the Vatican in-house telephone system and have items delivered by one of thirteen young nuns in less than ten minutes. At this point in history it's hard to believer that any library can find and deliver anything to anyone in less than ten minutes, while the notion that nuns do the delivering just sounds like feverish fancy. But I have no proof that this isn't true. And no proof that it is."

From Sex Collectors: The Secret World of Consumers, Connoisseurs, Curators, Creators, Dealers, Bibliographers, and Accumulators of "Erotica" by Geoff Nicholson