Head Tale

Music Monday – “So I looked at the scenery/She read her magazine/And the moon rose over an open field.'”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G5w87CVlbdk

“America” – First Aid Kit

¶ Posted 25 May 2015 § MusicMonday § Video ‡ Comments (0) ° Tagged: music, television

Secular Sunday – At What Point Does This Become Blasphemous?

¶ Posted 24 May 2015 § Humour § SecularSunday § Wisdom ‡ Comments (0) ° Tagged: atheism, education, history, language, philosophy

Saturday Snap – (Un)Hip Waders

My uncle and I while putting in the dock at our family cottage…

¶ Posted 23 May 2015 § Family § Humour § MemoryLane § Photo § Saskatchewan § SaturdaySnap ‡ Comments (0) °

Friday Fun Link – Find Out What Your Name Would Be If You Were Born Today

This site uses census data to match your name’s popularity the year you were born (Jason = #3 in 1973) with the same ranked name from this year (Mason = #3 in 2015) as well as some other years as well.

For the record…

Shea would be Amaya
Pace would be Abriel
Sasha would be Zara

Pretty cool!

¶ Posted 22 May 2015 § Family § FridayFunLink § Meme § Pace § Sasha § Shea § Technology ‡ Comments (0) ° Tagged: cool, language, parents

You Can’t Defend Public Libraries and Oppose File Sharing

Libraries and file-sharing do not differ in principle. The purpose of libraries was – is – to make culture and knowledge available to as many as possible, as efficiently as possible, for free – simply because of the greater socioeconomic benefit of an educated and cultural populace. How is this not file-sharing?

Great article that sums up very nicely how I feel about the topic.

Ultimately, both the public library and torrents are ways of making cultural knowledge available for free to a wide number of citizens. Yes, one method is *way* more efficient than the other but isn’t that the impact technology is having in every industry to one degree or another?

We have built the most amazing public library ever created. All of humanity is able to access the collective culture and knowledge of all of humanity, twenty-four by seven, as well as contribute to that collective pool. All the tools are already in place, all the infrastructure already rolled out, all the training already completed. Not a single tax penny needs to be spent to accomplish this. The only thing we need to do is to remove the ban on using it.

¶ Posted 21 May 2015 § Library § Politics § PopCulture § Technology § Wisdom ‡ Comments (0) ° Tagged: book, copyright, economics, movies, music, television

The Second Job You Don’t Know You Have: How Self-Checkouts, ATMs and Airport Check-Ins are Changing Our Economy

Shadow work [is] all the unpaid jobs we do on behalf of businesses and organizations: We are pumping our own gas, scanning our own groceries, booking our travel and busing our tables at Starbucks. Shadow work is a new concept, so as yet, no one has compiled economic data on how many jobs we, the consumers, have taken over from (erstwhile) employees. Yet it is surely a force shrinking the job market, and the unemployment it creates is structural. Thanks in part to this new phenomenon, widespread joblessness could become entrenched in the social landscape

Read more: http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2015/05/shadow-work-excerpt-118119.html#ixzz3aiTeRFSm

An interesting article and libraries are not immune as they increasingly move towards self-check, mobile apps and self-serve holds among other technological changes that impact the staffing requirements of the organization.

One one hand – increasing automation feels inevitable and has been ever since the spinning loom was invented in the Industrial Revolution. The question then becomes how does society continue with this new reality? For example, could the increasing calls for a Guaranteed Minimum Income offset the increasing loss of entry-level, service sector and other jobs?

¶ Posted 20 May 2015 § Jobs § Library § Wisdom § Work ‡ Comments (0) ° Tagged: economics

Happy 8th Birthday Pace!

You rock!!!

¶ Posted 19 May 2015 § Pace ‡ Comments (0) ° Tagged: holiday

Norm MacDonald Gets Emotional During Final Stand-Up Set On Late Night with David Letterman

David Letterman’s final show is this Wednesday and he’s been having a farewell run of top-notch and personal favourite guests all of whom are paying tribute to Letterman’s innovation and influence (and I definitely don’t disagree – how radical was David Letterman when he first started?)

Anyhow, Norm MacDonald’s comments after his stand-up set the other night, twenty-five years after Letterman gave him his first big break, was pretty touching…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X9I9zafXQkk