CGHS Library

Better Than the Book

It is just wrong to wholeheartedly agree with everything on somebody else's list, but the List Universe includes a post that seems scary accurate to me:  Ten Movies that are Better than the Books.  They really nailed the commentary on STAND BY ME, a movie taken from one of Stephen King's stories in Different Seasons.

Browser Wars

Chrome might be the next great browser, defeating even Firefox.  From what I've read, Chrome is the fastest browser ever because it is so stripped down.  SO, if you just want to search and search fast, Chrome might be just the thing.  If you want your browser to do something special, like, say, color management or decent support for RSS subscription feeds, stick with Firefox.

CNET talks about the comparisons in more intelligent detail.  Gizmodo, besides being a terrific blog in general, has published my favorite article on the subject, though:  Dr. Frankenstein’s Browser:  The Strangely Obvious Ancestry of Google Chrome.  For now, I think I’m going to try Chrome on some of the library computers and see what people think. -mh

Sandman Has Too Changed the World!

io9.com (strung out on Science Fiction) is what a blog should be.  Last week, it featured a terrific entry on the 20th anniversary of the release of the first issue of Neil Gaiman's THE SANDMAN.  Yes, we do have it in the library, at least the first twenty issues.  They are contained in one glorious package: THE ABSOLUTE SANDMAN.  If that isn't enough to keep you going, we also have a collection of stories based on the comic books.  Hey, doesn't that usually work the other way around? -mh

Mindmapping

For free online mindmapping software (brainstorming made simple), we've been using bubbl.us, but you might want to explore some other free online tools that do the same thing.

I am Horde

While racking newspapers in the library, the spinster's grunt work, the thought occurred to me that I need to have a new t-shirt made.  On the front it will say "My Blood for the Warchief" and on the back "I Am Horde".  This is of course in reference to my fictionalized life in World of Warcraft.  As I state this out loud to the House, the result is most disquieting.  A tidal wave of raucous laughter spews forth from between her unenlightened lips.  Did she not understand that I am an instrument of The Warchief's fury? Obviously she doesn't understand the pride that comes along with being part of something larger than yourself.  

I follow this up by telling her about the new sword that I got the night before, and she seems to appreciate this a bit more, but who doesn't like swords?  I try to tell her how cool I would be if I did indeed have this t-shirt made, and despite the crippling nerdiness that comes along with such attire, the self-satisfaction and pride would be well worth it.  The House then made a comment about me only being cool in a world consisting of nothing but adolescent males, but I know that even most adolescent males would think my shirt was stupid.  I decide, though, that a world of pre-pubescent boys would be eating out of my hand with such a shirt; that it would be such a talisman of power that I would be like a god-king, ruling over my hip-challenged people, and raising the next generation of sword-loving gamers.  After coming out of the trance I seem to have worked myself into, I decide to have the shirt made after all. Damn the consequences.

-scott

Kansas Health Online

Kansas Health Online is a new website which aims to empower Kansans to make more informed health and health care decisions by providing information in an easy-to-use and easy-to-understand format.  You will find tools, links, and information to:

-compare hospitals

-find doctors

-compare health plans

-analyze symptoms

-get the latest information on medical conditions

-make healthy lifestyle choices

-learn more about health policy

In late January, 2009, the site will launch GoLocalKansas which will allow you to find health care resources in your neighborhood with the click of a button.

 

Geography Awareness Week

Hey, I just realized that it is Geography Awareness Week, and I cannot let such a momentous occasion pass us by without celebrating.  Truly, for a little Geography Awareness fun, go to Google Maps Mania, "an unofficial Google Maps blog tracking the websites, mashups and tools being influenced by Google Maps."

Paper Towns

John Green's latest is PAPER TOWNS, and in typical John Green fashion, the book is scary intelligent and very funny when it is not being very serious.  This YouTube video features John reading the first half of the first chapter of the book.  Here is a review I approve of without actually having to go to all the trouble to review the book myself.  Suffice it to say that I liked the book very, very much and that I adore John Green in general.  -mh

Helvetica

Though I am ashamed to admit it, I love documentaries.  I tolerate self-important, self-conscious, propagandistic documentaries that present one-third of an issue incredibly well and neglect to mention everything else.  I really love the good ones, though:  the movies about small, manageable things that I normally ignore.  These documentaries make me see all the things I take for granted in unbelievable complexity and indecipherable depth, knocking me out of my normal complacency.  It amazes me that almost everything, when carefully considered, is encased in a rich, flavorful historical brine, but, then, I am easily amazed. 

Admittedly, HELVETICA sounded less than engaging because it is a movie about a typeface, a FONT, for heaven's sake.  True, I'm one of those people who reads the bit about the font (A Note on the Type) that exists in the back of some books, so maybe this documentary wasn't that much of a stretch after all.

    

Turns out that we are surrounded by Helvetica and that many people have devoted a considerable amount of time and talent to seeing to it that we are.  If you are interested in graphic design, art, or social and political history, you will be fascinated by this movie.  In an hour and twenty minutes, you will learn to see differently.  Promise.  -mh

Fox On Fire?

Firefox vs. Safari DEATHMATCH

I'm lounging in the spinster's lair when one Jacob U. is having a downright full blown crisis.  No matter how much he begs, clicks, persuades, or seduces the machine, the web browser Safari will not open.  As House leaves on an urgent mission to an unknown part of the building, she mumbles in my direction, "Scott can you maybe help him.....".  No problem.  I mosey over to the machine and tell the kid, "Dude, Screw Safari, just use Firefox".  He proceeds to open Firefox without a hitch. "You should use Firefox all the time. It's better, anyway" I say. "What's the difference?" he intones.  "Well, Firefox has a FOX ON FIRE IN THE EMBLEM!" I exuberantly ejaculate.  The once silent Robby B. states quite seriously "That, is a good point." as he points in my general direction while still gazing at the glowing screen in front of him.

-scott