CircleCount helps you better understand Google+

2013-05-22 13:32:06 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 2 +1s)

The world's first completely paperless public library is scheduled to open this summer in Bexar County, Texas, in the US. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-22160990

It will have 100 e-readers on loan, and dozens of screens where the public will be able to browse, study, and learn digital skills. However it's likely most users will access BiblioTech's initial holding of 10,000 digital titles from the comfort of their homes.

2013-05-22 12:21:08 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 1 +1s)

Make sense ... o_O

2013-05-22 09:36:07 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 2 +1s)

Tonight's dinner is Moroccan.

2013-05-21 14:04:50 (3 comments, 0 reshares, 3 +1s)

What is all this tosh I keep not reading about the US IRS "scandal". They audited tea party members? People who constantly bang on about how they don't like paying taxes? Of course they're going to be audited! What did they think would happen? ... Oh, right. They're teabags, they don't think.

2013-05-21 13:44:55 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 2 +1s)

I had forgotten about this one. Awesome video ... what the heck were they smoking?!

2013-05-21 12:08:22 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 2 +1s)

Oooh yeah. .... Because +Neil deGrasse Tyson Fan Club said there are no blues songs about cats. :)

2013-05-20 22:29:55 (1 comments, 0 reshares, 2 +1s)

Watching the news coverage of Oklahoma tornado. The devastation looks terrible from the air. I can't imagine what it's like on the ground. 

2013-05-20 21:48:28 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 0 +1s)

“Yahoo is looking to the future here, and tying the entire life of their company to a bunch of pubescent girl bloggers was the smart move.”

2013-05-20 21:24:22 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 2 +1s)

This would have been perfect for a project just passed. But I'm guessing it will prove apt in the future too.

2013-05-20 21:09:09 (1 comments, 0 reshares, 0 +1s)

I interviewed a bunch of people for library jobs. Here's what happened. 

2013-05-20 13:34:07 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 1 +1s)

Ok then. So yahoo bought tumbler after all. Considering how I feel about that ....... Meh, whatever.

2013-05-19 05:56:09 (1 comments, 1 reshares, 7 +1s)

Oh, gourd

2013-05-19 02:52:27 (1 comments, 0 reshares, 3 +1s)

Smugglers bringing KFC meals into Gaza from Egypt. Palestinians pay about $27 for a 12-piece bucket of chicken.

The French fries arrive soggy, the chicken having long since lost its crunch. A 12-piece bucket goes for about $27 here — more than twice the $11.50 it costs just across the border in Egypt.

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Source:http://goo.gl/9ZTyU

2013-05-18 04:17:28 (0 comments, 1 reshares, 3 +1s)

Australia shamed

An impassioned speech by the leader of the Greens, Christine Milne, as Australia's federal parliament voted this week to excise Australia from Australia's immigration zone. What does this mean? It means if some refugees -- some people from Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, or elsewhere seeking asylum -- should manage to reach the Australian mainland, that the government can then ship them off to detention centres in Papua New Guinea or Nauru, to be held indefinitely while their claims are heard. 

That this happens at all is shameful. That it happens to children is disgusting and inhumane. That our elected reps from both major parties think this is a good idea, that they are so bankrupt of ideas as to be unable to come up with a humane alternative, fills me with despair. They voted for a change that allows them to turn their back on Australia's... more »

2013-05-18 03:19:39 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 0 +1s)

Will Yahoo's acquisition of Tumblr save Yahoo or wreck Tumblr?

Yahoo will probably announce Monday that's it's buying Tumblr. How will this affect each company? 

https://plus.google.com/s/yahoo%20tumblr/posts

UPDATE #1: +AllThingsD reports on Tumblr acquisition by Yahoo.

http://allthingsd.com/20130517/yahoo-board-to-meet-sunday-to-consider-1-1-billion-all-cash-deal-to-acquire-tumblr

UPDATE #2: The Monday announcement is about changes to Flickr, not acquisition of Tumblr or any othr rumr.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-05-17/yahoo-s-mayer-said-to-be-preparing-updates-for-flickr-photo-site.html

2013-05-18 02:55:51 (2 comments, 1 reshares, 5 +1s)

Possibly the most accurate depiction of the workplace ever. :) Gotta love Wally. :)
http://dilbert.com/strips/comic/1997-12-07/

2013-05-17 10:15:34 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 7 +1s)

Out to dinner for a birthday dinner. Menu looks very tasty.

2013-05-17 09:12:46 (5 comments, 4 reshares, 7 +1s)

Choose your own font for Google+

I recommend people try the new G+ for a day or two before modifying it, because you often get used to changes quickly and grow to like them. Or at least not care so much. But, since everyone seems to be creating Stylish scripts to "fix" things they hate about the new interface, I decided to join in and provide a fix for something that's bugged me for a long time about G+: their choice of font. It's a sans-serif font called Roboto, with Arial as a fallback. I'm not sure if I'm seeing Roboto or Arial, but whichever it is, I don't like it. I find the character spacing too narrow, giving text a cramped look, and making it hard on my eyes.

So this script -- a one-liner, simply removes the specific font names, leaving it to whatever you have set as the Sans default in your browser. Mine is Verdana, which I like better, but... more »

2013-05-17 03:40:08 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 3 +1s)

What's wrong with Dr Who

This is a pretty good analysis of the current series, and why it gives pause to so many fans. Essentially, Moffat has taken the series from rollicking scifi adventures into the territory of the Epic. But the problem with introducing grand themes into the tale is that (a) it takes away some of the fun; and (b) it invites deep thought. And deep thought only leads to us noticing the flaws and inconsistencies, the implausible and the impossible. Which is a bit of a downer really.

I first noticed this, i think, with the Waters of Mars episode, which was way too much wallowing in Consequences for me.

2013-05-16 12:32:31 (2 comments, 0 reshares, 13 +1s)

Oh look ... Facebook made some changes too. How sweet that they're still trying. Meanwhile, after 5 minutes on FB, I come back to Google+ and ... 78 new posts! Awesome.

2013-05-16 10:31:19 (1 comments, 0 reshares, 4 +1s)

And that is how you have a rant on Twitter, well said Richard.

2013-05-16 07:41:12 (7 comments, 0 reshares, 10 +1s)

Google+ new interface. Nothing like Pinterest. Still better than Facebook. ... Yeah, I like it. I recommend people try it for a day or two before rejecting it and running back to FB. But suit yourself. 

Pro tip: if you don't like 3 columns, make your window smaller. Duh.

2013-05-16 04:30:33 (3 comments, 0 reshares, 4 +1s)

2013-05-16 04:06:20 (1 comments, 2 reshares, 7 +1s)

Scientists have made a long-awaited breakthrough in human cloning, by using human skin cells to create early-stage embryos.

In what is being described as a "significant milestone" for medicine, the team from Oregon Health and Science University successfully used a technique which utilised a human skin cell and a woman's egg to produce an embryo which was a genetic copy of the original skin cell.

The resulting embryos were then used as a source of stem cells, which can be used to create specialised tissue cells for transplant operations.

ABC News - http://bit.ly/15OoBNO

2013-05-13 13:13:34 (0 comments, 1 reshares, 2 +1s)

Hah. Was just reminiscing about the old days, about 30 years ago, when I worked in England. I owned an old Triumph, and two cassettes: Stevie Wonder's Innervisions, and Handel's Water Music. .... Whenever I'd  drive into Cambridge, I'd wind down the windows, put on the Water Music, and crank up the volume. Seemed appropriate, and I'm sure the people of Cambridge appreciated the gesture. :)

2013-05-13 12:59:10 (2 comments, 0 reshares, 2 +1s)

So, OK, there seem to be a few issues with Google+ today. Stream is not getting updated with all posts. But worse that that, I seem to be getting lots of spammy crap in my stream. I've just un-circled five people in as many minutes. On the other hand, I've +1'd twice as many posts, so really, it's all good. Maybe I'll go to bed. I'm sure it'll all be fixed by the time I wake up.

2013-05-12 06:48:41 (2 comments, 0 reshares, 0 +1s)

Yum! Look what +Kay Walker made me for mothers' day!

2013-05-11 14:12:44 (1 comments, 0 reshares, 3 +1s)

The Guardian has a good interactive graphic which explains what's happened with CO2 in the atmosphere. This should be a wake-up call to our leaders to take action. But we've heard that before, and have seen as much opposition and stone-walling as we have action, so I won't hold my breath.

If you have children, it looks like the best you can do now is to apologize to them for fucking up their future.

2013-05-11 06:42:59 (1 comments, 0 reshares, 3 +1s)

More cats and kittens than you can shake a stick at. ... Not that you'd want too. They're way to cute for stick-shaking.

2013-05-11 04:44:58 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 3 +1s)

So cool ... I'd love a house like this.

2013-05-11 02:55:07 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 1 +1s)

A GIF worth sharing ... this one is (I'm told) Um Kulthoum, Arab music legend.  Gives a new meaning to "blown away"?

2013-05-11 02:44:18 (3 comments, 1 reshares, 9 +1s)

Aaaaand .... it's #caturday. Kittens have had their first major explore of the outdoors, thankfully with no inclination (yet) to climb trees. The older cats are ... accepting the inevitable.

2013-05-11 02:13:19 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 2 +1s)

The tree dahlias are blooming nicely. And the bees are loving them, if you look closely. These are about 4 metres/12 feet high.

2013-05-11 01:58:22 (6 comments, 1 reshares, 9 +1s)

Hah! Remember these? Remember the awesomeness that was a 56K modem? the incredible speed after using 2800 baud? I do. How times change.

2013-05-11 00:46:46 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 0 +1s)

This is great work. There's a whole series of these at the site.

2013-05-11 00:40:14 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 0 +1s)

Brilliant photography here ... +Arno Minkkinen inserts himself into the landscape, sometimes so subtly that you have to look twice to see him.

2013-05-08 01:38:54 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 3 +1s)

Today's doodle is brilliant!

2013-05-06 04:05:01 (11 comments, 0 reshares, 4 +1s)

Hunger-striking detainees at Guantanamo are being force-fed through tubes inserted into their noses, a procedure that a U.S. military defense lawyer describes as “brutal” and agonizing. What do you think? http://nbcnews.to/13Xpmze

2013-05-05 13:46:15 (1 comments, 0 reshares, 3 +1s)

Just stumbled over this interesting verse from John Keats (he of the thing of beauty is a joy for ever):

  Where be ye going, you Devon Maid?
    And what have you there in the Basket?
  Ye tight little fairy just fresh from the dairy,
    Will ye give me some cream if I ask it?

  I love your Meads, and I love your flowers,
    And I love your junkets mainly,
  But ’hind the door I love kissing more,
    O look not so disdainly.

  I love your hills, and I love your dales,
    And I love your flocks a-bleating—
  But O, on the heather to lie together,
    With both our hearts a-beating!

  I’ll put your Basket all safe in a nook,
    Your shawl I hang up on the willow,
  And we will sigh in the daisy’s eye
    And kiss on a grass green pillow.

He was a bit of arascal, really. :)... more »

2013-05-05 11:02:11 (1 comments, 0 reshares, 0 +1s)

Well, that episode could have been better. There was a story there, but that leech was ridiculous. Straight out of BBC props circa 1966. And how did Clara survive the red terror? Unexplained. 
#drwho  

2013-05-05 04:21:22 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 1 +1s)

Ha! I'd forgotten about this, but another post just reminded me. The proper and the vulgar ways to eat a fig. I'm for vulgar. :)
D.H. Lawrence, Ken Russel and Alan Bates at their best.

2013-05-05 04:08:47 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 1 +1s)

It's Sunday. Nit-pickers will be muted.

2013-05-05 00:28:26 (3 comments, 0 reshares, 14 +1s)

Storm drain kitties have found a new mum

2013-05-05 00:22:03 (7 comments, 1 reshares, 10 +1s)

Our Library has new signs. Woo! At last ... er, just need a few corrections. :)

2013-05-04 07:34:55 (1 comments, 2 reshares, 1 +1s)

YES HE SOLD THEM - FOR CASH AND GIFTS

2013-05-04 03:02:35 (0 comments, 2 reshares, 11 +1s)

A GIF worth sharing:

source: http://charmingspaces.tumblr.com/post/37328437894

2013-05-04 02:22:45 (5 comments, 0 reshares, 10 +1s)

LOL. This may be Australia's next Prime Minister. ... Be afraid, Australia.

2013-05-04 02:18:54 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 0 +1s)

Ah! Forgotten novels -- our specialty! This is a lovely blog post about, specifically, the Thomas Hardy novel "A Laodicean". (Maybe the title had something to do with it's obscurity?!)

And yes, we do have this novel in our collection!

2013-05-04 01:47:14 (1 comments, 0 reshares, 0 +1s)

I want to live here. Just for the address. Awesome.

2013-05-03 09:09:19 (5 comments, 0 reshares, 1 +1s)

Tonight's TV movies are a choice between Van Helsing (seen it) or Dark City (have not seen). So, people, what do you recommend? Votes below.