From happier times…
Head Tale
Yet Another Librarian's Blog
Throwback Thursday – #tbt – My First Ever Amazon Order (August 1997)
Was digging through the depths of my computer’s hard drive and came across a pretty amazing find…the email receipt I got for my first ever order from Amazon back in summer 1997.
A few things to note…
- not sure why but I used my work email address for the order when I’m pretty sure I had my own email (jhammond@dlcwest.com) DLCWest was one of the main ISPs in Regina in the earliest days of the Net (and a popular BBS before that) which is why I used them at work and home.
- a reflection of the times that it was a text-only message with no graphics or fancy HTML
- I’ve been collecting books on the Beatles for over twenty years!
- Funny to see my old address and phone number
- No free shipping let alone Prime Memberships in those days
- In those early days, Amazon was still only books and it’s insane to think how they’ve grown to be such a force across so many sectors of retail and their founder has become the richest person in the world.
Rolling Stone Revises Their Top 500 Albums List
It’s funny how much debate and controversy that these types of lists stir up considering it is literally impossible to say that “Abbey Road” (#5) or “Pet Sounds” (#2) or “What’s Going On?” (#1) are “better” than one or the other (though obviously “Abbey Road” is the greatest album of all-time!) 😉
The Alt-Right Playbook: You Go High, We Go Low
This video has some good insights into modern politics and especially in light of current battles over seating Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader-Ginsburg’s replacement. It looks specifically at some of the reasons why liberals struggle against conservatives who are less likely to be bound to rules and precedent in their pursuit of power.
Music Monday – “It’s called me belligerent, it’s took me for ignorant/But it ain’t never once made me scared just to be/Could you imagine just constantly worryin’/Kickin’ and fightin’, beggin’ to breathe?”
Okay, getting to one of the top o’ mind topics mentioned in my list yesterday – a new surprise album from Tyler Childers was released the other day. It features eight instrumental fiddle tunes then a single “regular” song with lyrics calling for more kindness and understanding among citizens including many who listen to Childers but may not support (or even understand) movements like Black Lives Matter even though there are many similarities between the plight of black people and the white rural poor.
Maybe anticipating the backlash from a certain segment of his audience, Childers also released a six-minute explanation of his position, his experiences during Covid (got sober, learned fiddle!), and a call to action.
But even with the accompanying explanation, our politicized world led to massive online arguments and fights between the liberal and conservative sides of his audience in FB groups and other places dedicated to being a fan of his music.
Again, this is a song asking for *tolerance*…
“Long Violent History” – Tyler Childers
10 Things I Would Write About If I Had More Energy
- Death of Ruth Bader-Ginsburg
- My Latest Thoughts on Covid
- Watching the Emmys Revamped for Covid
- How Pace Made Most of a Roast Chicken Supper Tonight
- Some Thoughts on Pro Sports During Covid – NHL, NBA, MLB, NFL, CFL
- The US Election
- The Sask Provincial Election
- The Regina Municipal Election
- The New Tyler Childers Album (and resulting controversy)
- How I Watched A Video Someone Posted of What It’s Like To Be At a Mexican All-Inclusive During Covid and Briefly Thinking…Maybe? 😉
Instead, here’s a pic Shea snapped of me during our date night at Crave last night…
Saturday Snap – A Delayed Housewarming Gift
My parents dropped off a very cool housewarming gift the other day – a Century Family Farm plaque our family received on the 100th anniversary of my great-great grandfather homesteading our family farm in 1883 – framed in barn boards from that same farm.
We got the plaque in 1983 (I think the same year we had a pretty huge family reunion) but the farm is still in our family (though we’ve rented the land out since my dad retired from farming) so that means this farm has been in our family for 137 years!
Friday Fun Link – Browsing The Stacks: A Photo Appreciation of Libraries
The Atlantic has a paywall but allows a certain number of free visits each month so hopefully you can get in (or have a VPN or use Incognito Mode).
This is a pretty amazing photo essay.
(via MetaFilter)
Throwback Thursday – #tbt – My Favourite US Trip? (January 2012)
After last week’s post thinking back to the last time I think I traveled to the US, I thought it’d be fun to also highlight what was probably my favourite US trip ever for another “Throwback Thursday” post.
I was very fortunate to have parents who loved traveling and growing up, I got to travel widely across Canada and the US. As well, my dad’s sister graduated from nursing, went to work in Hawaii for six months but met a Hawaiian and got married and have never left for ~50 years. For that reason, my parents have been to Hawaii numerous times over the years and I’ve also been able to go three times in my life (so far).
One of my favourite Hawaii trips didn’t even involve my aunt and her family on Oahu – for something different, we spent a week on Kauai and a week on Maui.
But instead of posting a pic from my personal photo library, I’m going to post a video I came across from one of our personal highlights of Kauai – Anini Beach – which I think Shea would likely call her favourite beach (and possibly her favourite place) in the world to this day (okay, tied with Playa Norte on Isla Mujeres in Mexico.)
Pro Wrestling Territories in the United States: A Brief History
If you’re a pro wrestling fan like I am, you’ll appreciate this walk down memory lane…