Librarian in Black Blog – Sarah Houghton

The American Foundation for the Blind brings us the Braille Bug site. Targeted toward children, this site teaches about braille, offers a braille reading club, braille games, and more.

Reuters reports that Bush & Cheney will testify before the 9/11 Commission on Thursday. However, they had some conditions:
1) That they appear together
2) That the hearing be held behind closed doors…
3) without being recorded…
4) and without transcripts of any kind

Nice! Yeah, I wonder if they’re going to hold anything back? Cuz, ya know, if they did, that would be dishonest and all….

OK, so I know today is Ben & Jerry’s free cone day, but I would have to walk several hilly blocks to get to the one in my town, and walk several hilly blocks back, and it’s rather hot right now. So, lazy LiB says screw it. There’s Ben & Jerry’s in the freezer–I’ll make my own sundae

Attention all users of Librarians’ Index to the Internet: LII would like its users to take a short, ten-question annual user survey. To take the survey, go to: http://tinyurl.com/3c886

If you run into technical problems with the survey, e-mail survey@lii.org

Responses are due by midnight (Pacific Time), Friday, May 14.

Mmmm, Google Blaster. If you don’t know what blasting is, it’s the ability to enter multiple search queries, and have them all searched at once. And with Google Blaster, you get a tabbed results screen. Very nice for queries relying on variations of terms or names. Much easier than formualting a true-to-life Boolean query with lots of () and + and – and *. Me gusta mucho.

Consumer Reports has reviews of 6 online mortgage loan services. Issues of privacy, service levels, and cost are covered.

Thanks to BeSpacific for the link.

As a recovering English major, I found the Eats Shoots & Leaves punctuation game to be rather fun. Can you match LiB’s 100% stickler rating? (actually, it’s not that hard)

Link via GreenFairy.com

I know none of my readers are this stupid, but I tell you only so you’ll tell patrons/friends/family who are, mayhaps, a little less tech savvy.

Please don’t open any attachments to a message titled “Osama Bin Laden Captured.” It purports to be from some major news organization like MSNBC, CNN, or the BBC. Obviously, it’s not. It’s a virus. And a rather prolific one at that. I’ve gotten over a dozen of these e-mails in my work account alone. Apparently it’s making the rounds rather quickly.

Found this at ResearchBuzz… The Electronics Industries Alliance has a Consumer Education Initiative site where you can find places to safely recycle your electronics (TVs, computers, etc.). There are over 1800 programs listed nationwide, and each one has a description listing hours, location, and what they will and won’t take.

I found this one via Neil Gaiman’s blog (yes, he actually has a blog, and it’s a good one too). The i-Duck is a 256 MB Flash Drive, hidden inside a little glowing duck (that only glows when it’s plugged in, naturally). The 256 MB i-Duck will run you $149.