Actually it was yesterday, rather than today, that I spotted this work recently made available through the good offices of Project Gutenberg:
William Carpenter, One Hundred Proofs that the Earth is Not a Globe (1885) -
- and I can't see that he entirely manages to give a plausible explanation for eclipses, but then he does think that the sun is ( Read more... )

Last night I succeeded in foregathering with
( Read more... )

I set out determined to change the world of public libraries.
And a) I'm wondering to what extent is this rather severe vision of libraries and librarianship still the case? are libraries still full of severe tweedy ladies in hornrims going sssshhh (outside some people's erotic fantasies)? are they not more welcoming and user-friendly?
And b) Is ( Read more... )

(And still open to suggestions...)

This question/prompt came from
( Read more... )

Dept of Schadenfreude:
[A] dose of costumed Brit-flick sniggering.
Can you imagine a prequel to Naomi Wolf's Vagina: A New Biography with a screenplay by Richard Gordon, author of Doctor in the House? No, nor can I.

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Dept of, As I Have Far Too Oft Had Occasion to Remark:
How not to write about libraries - some guidelines for reporters:
5. There ( Read more... )

John McTernan has an MA in librarianship from Sheffield University and worked in libraries from 1984 to 1994.

That might explain his rah-rah optimism about people's* ability to find information on teh internetz and to negotiate online sources and systems. (So we no longer need actual libraries...)

I.e. he's not had to deal with people at all levels ( Read more... )

A few items specifically archivally/manuscript related:

Blood thicked with cold: A proposed law may lead to the destruction of Hungarian secret police documents preserved by the Historical Archives of Hungarian State Security:
[T]he Hungarian government is preparing to enact a new law which may lead to the blatant, politically-motivated ( Read more... )

Transport for London havin a laff: I'm convinced that there is someone with a warped sense of humour behind the Journey Planner bit of their website, because there is always one suggested mode of getting from A to B which has me going 'WTF, do we really need to go via L, Q and back to H first, using at least 3 forms of available transportation and ( Read more... )

Today is World Book Day. Or at least, it is in the UK - bizarrely, we don't celebrate this Unesco day on April 23 like the rest of the world. [Maybe because we have our own April 23 things to celebrate, like St George and one W Shagsberd?] Naomi Alderman says hug a librarian go to the library today. However, I'm v dubious about her claim that ' ( Read more... )

A controversial project which has killed hundreds of hedgehogs preying on rare birds in the Hebrides has been abandoned after new evidence showed they could be safely taken off the islands alive.

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What did a librarian think of Underneath the Lintel?;
It's a rather old-fashioned view of libraries. The librarian (played by Richard Schiff, aka Toby ( Read more... )