Librarian in Black Blog – Sarah Houghton

I now have a Gmail account (courtesy of Blogger). Feel free to e-mail me, spam me, whatever at sarahfaery@gmail.com, especially if you, too, have a Gmail account. I’m doing a little covert testing…

During Colin Powell’s recent interview on Meet the Press, his press aide tried to end the interview early by moving the camera off of Powell as Russert asks him about the faulty intelligence that was used as an excuse to go to war in Iraq. The press secretary is saying that Russert had gone over the agreed-upon time limit and that’s why she tried to cut the interview short. You decide.

From the Transcript:

Russert: Finally, Mr. Secretary, in February of 2003, you placed your enormous personal credibility before the United Nations and laid out a case against Saddam Hussein citing…
Powell: Not off.
Emily: No. They can’t use it. They’re editing it. They (unintelligible).
Powell: He’s still asking me questions. Tim.
Emily: He was not…
Powell: Tim, I’m sorry, I lost you.
Russert: I’m right here, Mr. Secretary. I would hope they would put you back on camera. I don’t know who did that.
Powell: We really…
Russert: I think that was one of your staff, Mr. Secretary. I don’t think that’s appropriate.
Powell: Emily, get out of the way.
Emily: OK.
Powell: Bring the camera back, please. I think we’re back on, Tim. Go ahead with your last question.

Thanks to BoingBoing for the link.

Wired Magazine held its first annual NextFest this weekend at Fort Mason in San Francisco. The Librarian In Black attended on Saturday, and here is my review.

Digest Version: The technologies featured were very cool, but the set-up and the venue were not.

Extended Version: There were a lot of super-cool gadgets, ideas, and technologies at the Wired NextFest. My favorite by far was the FogScreen, a walk through display system in whcih images are projected onto a thin water-vapor surface. Totally cool looking. The prize for the most Orwellian exhibit goes to Brain Fingerprinting. From their publicity materials: “Brain Fingerprinting detects whether or not specific information is stored in a person’s brain. Words or pictures are presented on a screen while a subject’s brain wave responses are measured and analyzed by a computer. When a person sees a word or picture that is relevant and significant–for example, the dedtails of a crime known only to the perpetrator and investigators–his brain emits a specific brain wave response. Brain Fingerprinting technology analyzes
these responses to determine scientifically whether or not the relevant information is stored in the subject’s brain.”

The exhibits were set up in a series of round raised platforms, staggered down the warehouse-style venue of the Fort Mason building. While this looks pretty nifty when viewed as a floor plan, and clustered similar technologies in little bubbles, it was a foot traffic nightmare. Not only was the building clearly over capacity, but the layout prohibited many of us from getting to exhibits we wanted to see. The shoulder-to-shoulder crowd wasn’t moving in clear lines because of the organic layout of the exhibits. Instead, everyone was swarming in a chaotic pattern, bumping into each other and a crowd standing at one exhibit prevented people at nearby exhibits from moving at all. I think I would have enjoyed myself a lot more if the set-up was more organized and accessible.

While the stuff was cool, I do think it was a wasted $15 per ticket. I could have researched these things online and not only learned more, probably, but definitely been more comfortable. I hope that for next year’s NextFest, the venue designers pay a little more attention to the practical matter of traffic flow.

The ALA/APA Library Worklife newsletter has an article about blogging. The most interesting thing to me was that they mentioned Male Librarian Centerfold, who they imply is anonymous, but he isn’t, by any means. He’s got his centerfold body and mug out there for the world to see. Barring that, it is nice to see the library blogging world getting a little press.

Wow, I am full of useless non-library, non-tech related things today! The AgeProject lets you guess how old people are, and then find out their actual age & the average age guessed by others. I came across one guy who I guessed was 48, and who was actually 24. Poor dude. You can also add your own photo to the mix.

Sheila Chilcote-Collins has created a list (through Amazon’s listmania) of the 25 weirdest things you can buy on Amazon. My favorites were the Sugar Free Milk Chocolate Dipped Pork Rinds and Mr. Poopy the Octopus.

The authors of the forthcoming recipe book Dewey or Don’t We? Librarians Cook are looking for submissions! Recipes will be accepted until June 20, 2004. LiB submitted two recipes, so look for some super yummy vegetarian entrees

The Shining in 30 seconds, and re-enacted by bunnies. Like it? Try The Exorcist in 30 seconds, also re-enacted by bunnies.

European researchers introduced Eurocrypt, a piece of software that illuminates what’s behind all those blacked out sections of government documents. Very cool. Now, how can I get my hands on this software?

As promised, Torin is now on the Infinite Cat Project site. I sent his photo in last night, and there are already two cats after him! Sometimes the speed of the internet surprises even me