Tuesday, July 24, 2018

Zummer's Miche Bread: My Dear Dr Watson - Librarians on Bikes

Start with what is right rather than what is acceptable. 
~ Franz Kafka





“It’s better

To go and see your friend than write a letter;

To be a soldier than to be a cripple;

To take an early weaning from the nipple

Than think your mother is the only girl;

To be insensitive, to steel the will,

Than sit irresolute all day at stool

Inside the heart; and to despise the fool,

Who may not help himself and may not choose,

Than give him pity which he cannot use.”

Privilege: We hear that word a lot these days, usually as an indictment lobbed by the privileged themselves. Why? Matthew Crawford has a Theory  

Our culture scoffs at Freud and Jung and puts its faith in science and statistics. One hole in this pervasive rationality: the magic of coincidences


How Is This Shit Legal The Concourse (UserFriendly). A must read. See also New York Daily News to slash 50% of its newsroom CNN (furzy)
The neoliberal ‘progressives’ and their bankster mates are becoming rattled Bill Mitchell. UserFriendly: “Good 3rd way smack down.​”
Antidote du jour. Richard Smith, natch:





America On It’s Way to Being Stalin’s Soviet Union by Publius Tacitus Sic Semper Tyrannis. “Let’s do a mind experiment. Imagine that the woman was name[d] Vicky Hershowitz. Let’s imag[ine] that she is a citizen of Israel. We’ve never had Israelis moving around Washington trying to buy influence and recruit powerful people to support Israel. Have we?”

 
A new concept for a funeral center celebrates the deceased’s life, and focuses on transitional spaces.

“When somebody’s obituary appears in the New York Times, FOIA the Dead sends an automated request to the FBI.”↩︎ FOIA the Dead
Literary theory is choked with jargon and oracular prose, which makes John Farrell's achievement all the more remarkable Remarkable  

Simon Longstaff: Everyday Ethics


JOHN HINDERAKER: “I am by nature an optimist, but it is hard to maintain a positive attitude in the face of the rampant insanity that has seized control over our national life.” 

Librarians on bikes: cycling through US libraries: Oxford University Press Blog: “After working for 26 years as academic librarians, we have reached a point in our careers where we are right-sizing professionally and personally. This year, we requested and were granted a nine-month contract, enabling us to pursue our dream of cycling across the United States, from Washington, D.C., to Astoria, Oregon. Along the way, we are visiting public libraries, taking photos, and making notes about library services and programming, and in particular, services available to bicycle tourists and other non-resident patrons.

Google is not an American company The Week


NPB Neue Privat Bank Enters Nonprosecution Agreement 


From Geoff Manaugh, "Seven Tools for Discerning Burglars"
Law.com: “In September 2017, the American Association of Law Libraries (AALL) published a powerful essay penned by Ed Walters. Walters exhorts law librarians to roll up their sleeves and wield for themselves the powerful tools grouped under the umbrella of “artificial intelligence.” The full benefits of AI, he argues, will be only be realized in a “read/write” world where law librarians create solutions, not just consume them. On July 14, AALL members will converge in Baltimore for the association’s annual conference. The spirit of Walters’ call-to-arms inhabits the official conference theme: “From Knowledge to Action.” 
  The 10 Horniest Men in Literature. "1. Nino Sarratore – The Neapolitan novels by Elena Ferrante"The horniest men in literature aren’t necessarily the ones having the most sex; they’re just the ones who think about it the most. They tend to obsess, to fantasize, and to think with their dicks rather than other body parts. Love them or hate them, these men remind us that horniness can be a defining character trait used for good — but mostly for evil.



Elizabeth Cosson takes command of DVA’s five-year plan
Can the new DVA secretary deliver fairer outcomes in future?


LaLegale's speech case: the snowball that will start an avalanche?
VIEWPOINT: When the AAT agreed it was unfair for Immigration to sack a public servant for anonymous tweeting, federal mandarins took notice. In a rare test case, the High Court will explore limits on free speech for public servants. 

Movers & shakers: women rising in latest SES promotions
Obviously there’s been a huge shake up at the federal Treasury. But there were more promotions and parachutes than just those that made the national news.


Where Gordon de Brouwer went next
Retire is too strong a word for a departmental secretary. There are always more things to move on to when they finally have the free time to choose.