I got 12/16 and once I saw the four I missed, realised I probably should've got 16/16. If you want a hint, mouseover the following text…the site fills in the titles automatically as you guess correctly so picking names of classic novels at random is a good way to cheat…and for the record, I didn't think to use this technique until after I saw the ones I missed.
Usually when I read TechCrunch, I find stuff that gets me excited about some new web site or technology. And don't get me wrong – the make-your-own-Medieval map site, Kidlandia – is something I find pretty cool too. Still, it's rare to find something that gets me excited about technology on behalf of Pace.
But I bet in a few years, there's one boy who would be pretty excited to get a personalized map (assuming the site's still around of course! But since the story's actually about the site partnering with bricks 'n' mortar retailer, Pottery Barn, the chances it sticking around are probably improved.)
Instead of doing literal translations (word X in English is word Y in some other language), I read somewhere that Google Translations uses its massive processing power to analyze words, phrases and other elements of language in different versions of the same works that are provided on web sites, in scanned poems, essays and books that have multiple translations and so on.
This super-crunching does tend to provide a better “first pass” translation than traditional online word matching techniques. But it's still not perfect.
A game that people like to play is to send a phrase into Google Translate and have it returned in another language. Then send it back to the original language. Then repeat this process until the phrase sees no more variations as its passed back and forth. (Here's an automated way to do it using English -> Japanese -> English)
Man, feels like old times doing a FIMS-related post. When was the last time I used the “LibrarySchool” tag anyhow?
The following e-mail was sent out to recent FIMS MLIS Grads
(2004-2008). The deadline is extended until August 23 so if you didn't
receive the e-mail, why not consider participating in this survey by e-mailing fimsrsvp@uwo.ca?
— Dear FIMS MLIS Alumni,
Greetings from the Faculty of Information and Media Studies! The MLIS program at Western has been invited to take part in an important research study, and we are writing to request your participation.
Researchers from the University of North Carolina (UNC) School of Information and Library Science and the UNC Institute on Aging are currently engaged in a three-year project entitled Workforce Issues in Library and Information Science 2 (WILIS 2): Implementing a Model for Career Tracking of LIS Graduates. The study is funded by the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS).
LIS programs from across Canada and the United States are participating in WILIS 2, which involves an online survey of recent LIS graduates with the aim of learning whether programs meet students’ expectations, prepare them for the workplace or meet continuing learning needs. Your participation in this study by filling out the survey will help to support the recruitment, education and retention of the next generation of LIS professionals and will help us learn about the careers of Western MLIS graduates.
Participation is voluntary. Only de-identified data will be shared with the MLIS program at Western.
If you are willing to fill out the online survey, please send an e-mail to fimsrsvp@uwo.ca indicating your willingness to participate and granting your consent for us to send your name and e-mail address to the WILIS 2 research team at the University of North Carolina. The UNC researchers will send you the survey via e-mail. A response to this letter is requested no later than this Friday, August 14 23, 2009. It is anticipated the survey will be distributed in early October.
Thank you for your consideration and your willingness to help us learn more about how we can improve the MLIS program at Western.
No less an expert than Paul McCartney is on record as saying that “God Only Knows” is the best love song ever written. Below is the vocals-only track from the original “Pet Sounds” recording sessions.
If you click through to YouTube, you'll find other acapella versions of some other “Pet Sounds” songs. Sloop John B.” and “Wouldn't It Be Good” are particularly nice.
Oh, and I don't often dedicate Music Monday picks (never actually) but the timing on this one is too perfect. So congrats to Princess Cosine, my former mentee at FIMS and newly betrothed woman. I believe “God Only Knows” is one of her favourite songs so I'll send this post out to her along with my best wishes for her and her hubby-to-be.
I have a memory of having a discussion about “God Only Knows” and how shocking that “I may not always love you” first line is if you're not paying attention!
Below are a couple great presentations I came across via the Slideshare newsletter. The first one is from a year ago and does a bang-up job of explaining what social media is and why it's important. The second is a sequel of sorts that updates some of the information for today.
This is especially timely since I'm doing a presentation for a local service club in a couple weeks about…what social media is and why it's important.
But even though it's basically the same topic, I don't think I'll crib (too much) from these presentations. And I'm pretty sure I won't title my presentation “What The Fuck Is Social Media?”
On the long weekend, we made a loop hitting Fort Qu'Appelle (a resort community an hour outside Regina), Katepwa Beach, our family cottage on the other side of the lake, our farm, Indian Head where I grew up then down to Weyburn to spend the night with Shea's folks at their camp site.
Here's one of my favourite photos from the day…
Not sure what it is about the long weekend but here's one we took at almost exactly the same time last year. Crops are late this year and man, it feels like our weather's been crappy since last winter. Freezing cold winter, ugly cool spring, a summer where I bet we haven't had three days over +30.
Some of the folks on MetaFilter are reporting bugs but after a few trials (admittedly with fairly well-known and recent books), I had no problems with BookSeer. It's nothing ground-breaking – simply a pretty cool interface to present the book recommendations provided by Amazon and LibraryThing in a unique, streamlined fashion.
“I honestly believe that I have the best job in the library.”
That made me think, shouldn't a library's goal be to hire people who *all* say that (sincerely, of course), no matter what their job at the library is?
I used to love any sort of riddles, word games, math puzzles and the like when I was younger. So when I came across this one on Reddit tonight and it brought back my childhood. (Er, that is if my childhood was spent trying to figure out how to time the stock market perfectly!)
My guess for this question was one whole number lower than the average guess of the 1000 economists surveyed which you'll learn when you click on the link below.
So now I'll break to let you read the question and click through to the puzzle for an explanation of how the 1000 economists guessed…
It's interesting that the average guess turned out to be only halfway there (I thought I was all the way!) in that, if you then take 2/3 of that average answer, you get a number that only 3 people out of 1000 picked!
This still isn't the “right” answer anyhow, only the most common answer, at least according to the top comment in the Reddit thread, which attempts to explain some of the logic behind people's different guesses.
I especially love that some people picked numbers higher than 67 which
should be the ceiling for answers when the conditions are to pick a
number that is 2/3 of a range of guesses between 0-100. Professionaleconomists made this mistake. Man, no wonder there's a recession going on! )
Anyhow, click through and hopefully this will all make sense.
(Oh, and in case I was being too cryptic above, I guessed 25 but should've guessed 17 which is 2/3 of what I picked as my final answer and although, not the right answer (that would be 0), it's the “right” guess if you were trying to pick
closest to the average of all the other guesses.)
