The power of social media is pretty amazing sometimes. I found the clip below via a Facebook post a couple days ago. I followed the Facebook link to YouTube when the clip was at less than 100 views. It's now pushing 10 000!
This really speaks to the way that information can go viral and reach different people around the world in a very quick fashion these days. (I tried to do my part – I posted it on Reddit and saw the hits go from 300 to 800 overnight – not all because of my Reddit link of course but definitely part of the upswing that happened in the last couple days as various blogs and other sits picked up the clip.)
I don't know much in this life but I do know that my version of the great unfinished Canadian novel begins with this line: “There were two kinds of music in my hometown growing up – Country and AC/DC – so the hymn being played at my grandmother's funeral is unfamiliar to say the least.”
This hypothetical novel is in the genre of fictional autobiography and it's sad but true that AC/DC does play a very big part in the lives of myself and many of my fellow flatlanders (well, “Sad But True” is Metallica but I digress.)
So here in the city that rhymes with fun and across the whole province, people are in quite a tizzy that we're getting a visit tonight from the band that defined so many of our teenage years (and continues to define the lives of those I refer to as “They who stayed behind.” )
I didn't get tickets (okay, didn't try either. High school was a LONG time ago!) but I still thought Music Monday would be a perfect opportunity to pay tribute. There weren't any clips up from the actual show yet (unlike when I did a tribute to another icon of my teen years, MC Hammer) so I found this instead:
I rarely do Facebook updates so here's a glimpse of how today would be if I did them all the time.
7:11am – Jason is awake before everyone else to attempt to catch up on his usual e-mail backlog. Getting from 130 down to 50 feels like success. 8:27am – some people say leftover pizza is disgusting. I say it's the best breakfast food ever invented. 9:29am – Having moved all the furniture from the living room to the dining room last night, Jason is a steam cleaning machine 11:00am – Jason, Shea and Pace are having lunch on the patio while the carpet dries. 1:30pm – Jason is trying to convince Pace to have a nap. It's not going so well. 1:32pm – Knees to the face on the day we have family pictures scheduled = no good. 1:34pm – Ouch. And now he's standing and taking running leaps at my head. 1:45pm – Shea's here. Thank god – she'll convince him to sleep. 2:02pm – Okay, well, at least she took him away so I could have a quick nap. 3:00pm – Jason is awake and man, naps are one of the greatest things on earth. 4:38pm – Jason is sitting in the van in the driveway after having taken Pace for a drive – the only way he was going to nap today. So I'm playing crib on my iPhone and he's zonked out…finally. 5:45pm – Jason is off to have family pictures done by one of Shea's colleagues who moonlights as a photographer on weekends. 6:35pm – Jason is pretending to be a model for family pictures at Luther College. Someone tell the photographer that the human body doesn't bend that way! 8:30pm – Jason and Shea are at the Barley Mill to meet one of Shea's old friends and her new boyfriend for a late supper and a drink. 11:02pm – Jason is driving the babysitter home and having a “when did I become an adult?” moment (similar to when he stopped to pick up Pace at daycare on Thursday and one of the kids yelled “Pace's dad is here!” and I was like, “Pace has a dad? Really?” before realising, “Oh yeah, that's me. I'm a dad!”) 11:52pm – Jason is going to bed just as soon as he comes up with some stupid idea to fill up his blog post for the day. 11:53pm – Oh, I think I've got one that I could even re-use anytime I'm hard up for material…
– and a brand new song, “These Are My Twisted Words”, released as a free download with no requirement to even enter your e-mail address, country of origin or a default “Send Us Info” button checked (unlike another top UK-based band)
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!
