He said it better than I could

Or at least better than I could today, at the moment I am in a bit of a brain free zone.
I am running by the numbers at work, uni has fallen by the wayside and ALIA 2008 stuff is piling up in my inbox much too rapidly for me to deal with it.
After rejoicing at the fact I was no longer El-Presidente of the rugby club, I've gone an been made secretary of the union. More work which I will fail to do or do in a half arsed manner, up until the point I turn the corner and become manic again and do it all in a week. Why accept the position? Well, all the other positions had been filled by members of one club and they didn't want to be the only ones on the committee because they figured that the morons from the unrepresented clubs would bitch and complain. Anyway, I ended up saying I'd do it.


So who said what better than me now?
Andrew over at Librarian Idol has a great new post about public libraries being free (you get what you pay for?)
He suggests "PUBLIC LIBRARIES - FREE BUT NOT CHEAP" as something we should aspire to and I damn well agree with him.

Plus, we're not free. People just don't know that they are paying to use our services (even those who aren't using them have paid somehow, somewhere along the lines, except kids and those who have never paid taxes, rates, rent... which come to think of it in this town is a large number of people.)

no words for this

I found it at http://www.kiwisbybeat.com/minus.html
(it is part two, but I liked it as a stand alone)

Back in the library

Normal service will be resumed as soon as possible (just as soon as I catch up on 7 weeks worth of email, blog feeds and sleep).

All sorts of stuff coming your way just as soon as I am coherent again.

In the meanwhile I am enjoying duty free Caol Ila and H Upmann.

Hit the road and I'm gone.

I'm running away from work and from this blog for seven weeks.
I'll be in India and the UK and I'll be loving it.
I'll post again when (and if) I get back.

In which I reply to Scott Adams

"Recently a friend joked about going to the library to help with his son’s school project. He said it felt like going back in time, to pre-Internet days. I wonder if libraries have an expiration date on them. I’m guessing yes."

Said Adams in part of a post he wrote a couple of days ago. I as is my want replied as such...

ohhhhh,
now you've put the librarians off side.
boo hiss booo hiss

Oh yeah my my
the library ain't gunna die
yeah yeah my my.

I'm wondering if the library will die (given my vocation I'm hoping not).
But the reason I think not is to do with your mistaken idea of what a library is.
You see a library is not a building for books, it is a place for retrieving information, most people think books because that is how the information has been stored for so long, but we (librarians - or at least the good ones) are early adopters of technology. So libraries have gone from tablets to scrolls then books. We've used microfilm and microfiche, we subscribe to the online databases you can't afford. We have our content online so you can access it from home. A lot of libraries will let you search their catalogue online and then mail you the book you want or email you the information you need.
We have audiobooks in mp3 for you to download, we have books in electronic format for you to read online or on your PDA/phone/camera/internet fridge...

But the real reason the library won't die is that it is a place to store librarians and Librarians (as someone has already commented) are the people who can track down the bit of information you need in amongst the mess of a mass of meaningless crap. Sure, computers can make some of this easier for you to do yourself, but it can make some things harder by hiding the facts you need in the sheer volume of content, and there is no computer yet (or looking like there will be any time soon) which can translate your query from induvidual into a correctly truncated search.

Plus, information needs aside, despite all predictions to the contrary people still like reading real books and the world has more than enough people who don't want to (or can't) buy all the books they want.

Then, there is the social side...
Storytime for preschoolers,
Old men playing chess or reading the newspapers (paper ones or online),
Literacy programs.
Collections of CDs, DVDs, Graphic novels that your mum won't let you buy because of the Japanese proclivity for schoolgirls knickers.
Access to computers for those who don't want/can't afford their own. This is a vital service now as so much of what people need is online, job applications, tax forms, government information all no longer a pamphlet but you need to ensure that there is equity of access to the information.

blah blah my my
this librarian ain't gunna die
I'm gunna burn out
not fade away
librarians way hey

(it will be interesting to hear what he says when he speaks at the Special Libraries Association's annual conference in Denver next week)

we lefties aren't the only ones restoring the balance

I just found this pile of steaming crap online, apparently the book publishing world is trying to force all our children to become dirty liberals.

A California businessman says he is publishing books for young readers to offer a balance to left-leaning tomes on the shelves.
His "Help! Mom! There are Liberals Under My Bed," cartoon book about two boys trying to set up a lemonade stand but bail after encountering red tape and taxes, sold nearly 30,000 copies, said Eric Jackson. His independent World Ahead Publishing staked its claim on the conservative market under the imprint Kids Ahead, the Los Angeles Times reported Friday.
Two other cartoon books took on Hollywood and activist judges.
"You don't hear a lot of umbrage out there about conservative books being foisted onto kids," Jackson said in his Torrence, Calif., office. "There's a need in the market for books that show the other side of the equation."

You're right, no one is concerned that the world is becoming some sort of conservative lead mindless big-brother like international war starting bullshit you tried to kill my daddy Saddam and Obama masterminded the world trade centre bombing Fox news is well thought out and unbiased by Grud I better take a smegging breath Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhgh.
So let me scream it now umbrage umbrage umbrage umbrage umbrage umbrage. There, now you hear a lot of it. What he means is that none of his right wing friends ever complain about his right wing bias, well, that's a surprise. None of my Christian friends ever complain that I believe in God. None of my librarian friends ever complain that I believe in equity of access to information, none of my rugby friends ever complain that I don't like cricket.

He's preparing to take on a big gun in the children's publishing world: Scholastic. This fall both publishers will peddle books about global warming -- or in Jackson's case, debunking global warming.
If "The Sky's Not Falling! Why It's OK to Chill About Global Warming!" succeeds, Jackson said he hopes to launch a line of non-fiction children's books presenting a conservative viewpoint on other topics.

This man isn't a conservative, he's a moron. There are almost no scientists left who think that global warming needs debunking. Even the most conservative lobby group funded 'tobacco is harmless' 'have another helping of asbestos' type scientists are only arguing about how much impact humans are having on the process. Even John Howard (last of the dirty rotten stopouts) has pulled a backflip and is going for emission reduction targets.

If it wasn't for the fact that I'm anti-censorship I'd be putting World Ahead Publishing on my blacklist. As it is with luck I'll be able to ignore them because they'll be a flash in the pan in the US and never make it to Oz at all.

To quote from the author of one of this publishing house's tomes, Katharine DeBrecht, former co-captain of Security Moms for Bush (whatever the hell that is).

Liberals have been foisting their ideological agenda on our kids for years, and now they’re beside themselves that someone would stand up to them. Evidently books about socialist fish and gay kings are OK, but a story about hard work and self-reliance is too extreme. Evidently liberals oppose parents who believe in traditional values having a book that will help them teach those values to their children, But, then again, liberals oppose anything that supports religion, traditional families, and the free market. Those institutions are obstacles to their goals of eliminating personal responsibility and establishing a welfare state.

Yes, the Rainbow Fish is a story to brainwash your children into socialist thinking (don't share kids, keep it for yourself, hoard your stuff it is yours, given by God because he loves you more than poor kids). Next time a librarian tries to read your children the Rainbow Fish at storytime, slap them, they want your kids on the dole and probably smoking pot.

Welcome to storytime and pass the scotch.

Questionable Content (one of my regular reads) has asked the question "does the public library have happy hour?"
Well I for one support our new barmaid overlords and will happily transfer to any public library with a liquor license.

The God Fuse

Ten Things Christians and Atheists Must Agree on.

Is a fantastic article on pointless waste of time, a site I visit occasionally for a laugh. Well, this article is a laugh, but it also a well thought out reason why Christians and Atheists should stop acting like dicks when they get together to debate the issues.

I'd give you a synopsis, but this is the internet so you can just click the link and go there yourselves and save me the bother of typing any more.

OK, one last post and then I'm off

I've been meaning to do a post on the search terms that get people here to the ol' ADHD librarian, because there are a lot of seriously fucked up people out there who are being allowed to use Google without professional training or supervision.
Some are obvious,
ADHD is popular
so is
ahdh for some reason.
From there we keep with the theme
adhd + blog + marriage, homosexual and adhd, adhd romance, adhd christian man...
you get the idea if the search is ADHD and goat rapist I'm probably going to get traffic..

There are logical ones which fit some of the topics I've written on.
why did they built the great wall of china or variation on that theme prove my point about how stupid internet users are in this post.
And my Mary Poppins titled rant about my boss must confuse a lot of searchers who want to find things about spoons full of sugar.
jesus underwear is a popular one. That it gets them to my page is less a problem, the problem is why in God's Name (geddit) you'd be searching for that.
Oh and boring searches like rugby league. Stupid leaguies, Union is by far the better game.

bongs that fit in your pocket is less common and to be honest I have no idea why that gets someone to my site. (remind me, did I do a post where I reviewed travel sized hookahs?)

There are a whole raft of searches along the lines of storytime librarian blogs or librarian career, which is nice and fits in with what I'd like to imagine is my core readership..
Then there are the combinations of my two topics along the lines of, books for adhd boys. I hope I'm some sort of help to those searchers (although I doubt it).

By far the most worrying to me though are those people searching aunties in blouse and photos of aunties blouse. I don't know what they hoped to find here and I hope they didn't find it but there are a lot of them.
Go away you sick Aunty Shagging Perverts. There is no incest related porn on my page.
Although, come to think of it, that's a lot of searchers. Perhaps I could up my traffic with a few (tastefully done) photographs of AILFS.
Don't know that I have a lot to write on the subject though. Any of my Aunty obsessed readers want to suggest something?

Where is the ADHDinsanity?

Well,
I'm currently playing politics on another blog. Now being as I'm combining this with my religious nutjobbery, I thought I'd spare my library based readers from having to listen to any more of my rants on the subject. With a federal election looming I'm putting a bit of thought into that side of things, so feel free to drop by and see it, oh and it's not all my work on that blog, but I'm sure you can work out which ones might be mine (hint, look for the post All Christians are Wankers). Otherwise, I'll be posting here still as inspiration strikes, but I wasn't that regular to begin with.


But think about the fun you're going to get if I get this thing off the ground. Someone try to imagine me sharing the stage with the Christian Political Lobbyists on Compass or Insight. Reason enough to support a group, even if it disagrees with your own religion and politics, right!

Hey diddle diddle

It's from Cyanide and Happiness and it is funny.
message ends.

With a melon?

My new assistant has been doing a fair few of the storytime sessions recently. She's a natural at it, full of confidence and playful with the kids although, not having any of her own, she tends to think they are fragile and easily scared. So she tends to edit the stories to make them a bit more innocent and fluffy. I however tend to enjoy the bits that make the parents squirm a bit and am happy to think that there'll be a bit of explaining to do on the way home.
However, I haven't had to read this book yet.

ADHD reprints - pt6

This was a comment on Tom Goodfellow's blog which was long enough that I shouldn't have wasted it in a comments box. So it is the latest in my reprint series. As for the year seven story,
well I haven't yet found the correct box but perhaps in time I will.


As an expat Pom, I have to say that I am appalled by the way people keep on banging on about the old country. Now this isn't just Poms, it's Kiwis who won't shut up about the all blacks, or Greeks who cheer Greece over Australia in the round ball game.
When my family stepped onto the runway at Kingsford Smith, we decided Australia was home now and there was to be no more barracking for the old country.

That said, I add my hopes for an English victory in the cricket. Not that I am supporting England (you understand) but rather I can't stand the Aussie cricketers. they are a bunch of poor sports on and off the field. They sledge even when they are winning. They treat other countries (and their people) like dirt. And to top it off they insist that Warnie should be playing, despite the obvious facts that he is a drug cheat and in the pocket of Indian bookies. If he was playing for any other nation, Australians would be up in arms because we're always the first to scream cheat when anyone else give a positive test.

The trouble is growing, in that of late I've been finding that I feel the same way about the Leaguies (come on New Zealand) and I would probably feel the same way about international rules if it wasn't for the fact that that is a joke game, so I don't care about AFL players acting like dickheads (they all are anyway).

All in all it is getting hard to support Australians in any sport and still keep your sense of fair play and decency.

Still, at least the union boys are learning to be gracefully losers. I just hope they can start winning a few and still keep the good manners.

ADHD reprints - pt5

This time, in the reprint series, I've taken two posts I put up on signposts in 2005. I've combined them into one and removed names. The first (italicised) part is some of a quote I was writing in response to. Again, it might show a change in my writing but it also makes this blog a bit more of a comprehensive look at my writing.
Next in the series?
Perhaps the novella the I co wrote with Conway Chung during year seven (which I think I still have in a box of stuff and I will then need to transcribe as there is no way you could OCR our year seven cursive script).


“...I’m so used to acting another role in order to fit in as the ‘heterosexual’ at church and the Christian ministry where I worked, and before that, in my family... I’ve found I have absolutely no idea how to act as myself.
Has anyone any ideas on how to revert from playing the role that others expect of you, to being yourself? And particularly making that work within a church setting, ...”

I’ll just say for the moment that some of the specific scenarios going through my head of being authentic in church makes the whole concept just laughable.
e.g. You’re at a wedding and you’re thinking the bridal party look just like nondescript clones wearing WAY too much make-up and the groomsmen look really cute, and one of them’s a real spunk.

I don’t see the problem with this scenario. You think the bride is a meringue and the bridesmaids look like someone ate a florist’s stock then threw up on a frock?
Hell I think that too and I quite like women. Honesty isn’t the same as blurting out everything you think (I tend too be a blurter and I don’t recommend it). So it comes back to what is ‘authentic’. Let me continue your analogy.
You’re sitting in a wedding thinking to yourself that the best man (a rugged librarian) has buns of steel and a face that’d make a Greek God weep. Your mate Barry turns to you and says “phwarrr, that bridesmaid looks a right proper root rat, wouldn’t you love to do her”

• If you reply, I bet she’s into photography nudge nudge, know what I mean. Turn to page 32.
• If you say, she doesn’t do anything for me. Turn to page 16
  
• Or if you respond, I’m a homosexual and if you don’t accept this fact here and now then I’m being persecuted. Turn to page 96
  

OK, it's not a choose your own adventure post, but I’d say option one isn’t being true to yourself, option three would probably cause some sort of a scene and spoil the wedding for the meringue.
Option two however allows you to talk further to Barry after a few pints at the reception or to simply leave it be if you couldn’t be bothered to talk to Barry because if you ask me he sounds like a bit of a dickhead.
I think Christianity and conformity are different animals. I’m also a bit of a lefty (but not a drinker of Chardonnay) I’ve voted democrat and green, I’ve had arguments with people about my refusal to condemn abortion or nude beaches or ...
You get the drift, I have no problem with a Christian being a homosexual, nor with a homosexual being a Christian. I see the hypocrisy when the church can change its stance on so many issues which were once “man the barricades, we’re here to the death!” issues. Divorce and remarriage is one example where I’ve seen the change (and I didn’t grow up in the church).
The whole question boils down to what is the essence of Christianity, and I say it is between God and me. I wouldn’t get an abortion (as a man I couldn’t but you know what I mean) yet I won't condemn someone who did. I wouldn’t have sex with a man, but I think that has more to do with what I find attractive in people than it does with my faith. If someone else thinks that a bit of bloke on bloke action feels good for them, well it’s up to them to work out how God feels about it. If someone with a club foot feels like becoming ordained as a minister, I’m not about to complain about that either (although I could quote scripture at them and stand on my moral high ground as someone who God loves more as is evidenced by my lack of club feet – but somehow I don’t think that’d feel right).
I know the frustration of engaging with people whose views are already fixed and immovable, yet in a debate where the prevailing ethic is a Christian one it would be a poor debate if the conservative views weren’t raised.
That the Christian Church has moved on and accepted change does not automatically mean that we model our Christianity on what is culturally appropriate. Sometimes we need to be inappropriate (salty if you will) to demonstrate what makes us different from everyone else. If the only argument we have against that, is that we don’t accept it or that we’ve moved on from there then I don’t think we’re being true to our shared belief.
I personally hate the writings of Paul (much to the dismay of many at the Bible study I facilitate) I find him a misogynist, think that when he writes he is oversimplifying and I worry that what we are getting is his personal opinion. That said, it is the Bible folks and as Christians that alone carries some weight.
We can argue that we imperfect people place more emphasis on homosexuality than on other things but if we are watering down our beliefs in some areas that doesn’t mean that watering them down in all areas is better. Some people believe they are correct in labeling homosexuality a sin, therefore what they says on the subject is consistent with their beliefs. What if they are correct, should they shut up just to be socially acceptable? Does the fact that our society has changed override scripture? It depends on where you stand on the authority of scripture and the literal interpretation of the Bible and while I don’t subscribe to those views I see that they have a firm base from which to argue, as opposed to someone who calls themselves Christian without reconciling their personal beliefs with the core beliefs of their faith. If I stand up and say that homosexuality is not a sin, I need to either accept that scripture is not literal or not unerring otherwise, calling myself Christian seems to fly counter to the definition most people would use.
I know it is broadening the debate but I have problems when someone like Spong or Thiering stands up and states that they are a Christian who does not believe in the divinity of Jesus. It would seem to me that to deny divinity is to refute Christianity and I don’t know why someone who doesn’t believe Christ was God would want to be called Christian. Yet I can also see how someone more conservative than myself could see my beliefs as counter to the basic tenants of the faith and wonder why I wanted to attach the tag Christian to my beliefs when I don’t accept some of the Church’s teachings and have questioned or will question most of the others.
If liberal Christians can’t cope with the arguments of conservative Christians it is probably because rather than draw our liberal theology from Jesus we have drawn it from western society. Society's influence on us is unquestionable, yet I stand firm in saying I am left wing because of the example of Christ. Despite being protestant I draw a lot from the liberation theology of South American Catholicism. Jesus came to set captives free, give sight to the blind, reduce poverty, combat oppression (even that of the Church). I believe it is this spirit of Christ which should influence me as a Christian rather than a literal interpretation of a Greek text translated into my tongue via Latin which covers issues I don’t experience from a time and a people whose context I can’t comprehend. But the fact that our permissive society would side more with me than with the conservatives, does not in any way indicate that I am right nor does the fact that I hope they are wrong make it so.

By the year 2023 everything I have ever watched on TV will be on You Tube

Some time ago (in this post) I mentioned a Not the Nine O'Clock News sketch which rewrote the apostle's creed. Well, I found it on you tube, so here it is. But, it is better than that, it also has "Where was God when I cut my finger" (which I mentioned here).