November 2009

How our brains learned to read
The brain in its modern form is about 200,000 years old, yet brain imaging shows reading taking place in the same way and in the same place in all brains. To within a few millimetres, human brains share a reading hotspot – what Stanislas Dehaene calls the “letterbox” – on the bottom of the left hemisphere.
(From a review of Reading in the Brain: The science and evolution of a human invention by Stanislas Dehaene)
Thanks Ender!

A Richmond jury awarded a research librarian at the Library of Virginia $8 million in damages yesterday, the full amount sought by her lawyers after the woman was struck by a GRTC Transit System bus and severely injured.
Meikiu Lo, now 34, suffered spinal and shoulder damage and multiple hip and pelvis fractures that resulted in chronic pain after a GRTC bus making a right turn struck her as she crossed North Eighth Street beside the library two years ago.

She had waited on the sidewalk and was two-thirds of the way across the street when the bus, making a right turn off East Marshall Street, struck her, her attorney said.

Full story here.

Living with Data Smog
We are a nation awash in data smog. This is more than just information overload — it’s not just that there’s too much information out there for one person to adequately encompass, it’s that there’s too much data out there to even make out the information clearly, let alone to evaluate and act on that information.

What seems obvious to you and me may not seem so obvious to the members of the Tulsa OK Library Board…that a librarian should be in charge of the library system.

Tulsa World editorializes: “The Tulsa City-County Library System continues to hunt for a new chief executive officer. Former CEO Linda Saferite announced Aug. 4 that she would be on extended medical leave until she retires in March.

The library board met last week to talk about what its looking for in a new library boss, who will be earning $130,000 to $150,000 a year.

The responsibilities include fundraising, strategic direction and policies, long-range planning and community relations.

Those are important jobs, and we don’t begrudge the planned salary, but the title CEO bothers us.”

The History of the Internet in a Nutshell
If you’re reading this article, it’s likely that you spend a fair amount of time online. However, considering how much of an influence the Internet has in our daily lives, how many of us actually know the story of how it got its start?

Here’s a brief history of the Internet, including important dates, people, projects, sites, and other information that should give you at least a partial picture of what this thing we call the Internet really is, and where it came from.

The Book Cover Archive Blog: “To summarize a decade’s worth of brilliant design with 20 covers is little more than an exercise in futility. We can all agree, however, that the best part of passing into a new digit bracket is the lists that come with it. This collection is little more than a representation of my own tastes, but I tried to choose works which were representative of their respective years. “

After an incident two weeks ago at its Fountain City branch, the Knox County Public Library system has posted signs prohibiting handguns and any weapon at its branches.

Such a sign has been posted for decades at the Lawson McGhee Library in downtown Knoxville, but not at the 17 branch libraries, said Larry Frank, director of the library system.

Frank said he wrote a memo to Knox County Law Director Bill Lockett about the handgun policy in libraries after a man came into the Fountain City library with a “visibly holstered handgun.”

Full story at the Knoxnews.com

Iam a Luddite. I refuse to use an electric toothbrush or can opener. I threw away our plug-in teakettle. I only read actual books; I don’t listen to them on CD while I drive, and I can’t imagine scrolling through “The Portrait of a Lady.” But I am a lazy Luddite. I don’t wash my clothes on a rock; I love my TiVo; and when it comes to research, I think nothing beats the Internet.

For example: “Luddite.” As I sat in my pajamas, Google brought up 632,000 results in 0.36 of a second after my one-word request. Wikipedia, as usual, came in at No. 1. In fact, on every search engine I tried, Wikipedia came up first or second. The hierarchy is based on keywords, algorithms and number of hits to the site. Despite teachers everywhere denigrating Wikipedia, it seems to be going strong.

Opinion piece in the L.A. Times

There is this article that discusses how Stephen King’s new book is priced at $35 in ebook format.

Excerpt from article:

Amazon.com and others already have been losing money by offering such deep discounts and presumably would lose even more if they sold King’s for $9.99.

In another shot at the emarket, King’s ebook will not be released until Dec. 24, virtually the end of the holiday season and a month after the hardcover. Ebooks already have been delayed for Senator Edward Kennedy’s “True Compass” and Sarah Palin’s “Going Rogue” as publishers try to prevent the cheaper digital editions from taking sales from hardcovers, which, until recently, cost more.

***

Amazon does have the ebook and it is being sold for $9.99

In 1989, The National Security Archive requested documents from the CIA regarding the Iran-Contra affair. This year, the CIA released them. President Barack Obama promised a new era of transparency and adherence to the Freedom of Information Act, but has he followed through? Yvette Chin, FOIA coordinator for the NSA, tells the story behind the long, long wait for information.