33 posts tagged “libraries”
Get it? I came across this while weeding in the 998s, and wanted to get rid of it, solely based on the stupid title. This isn't even the only book with this punny title- there's another one about professional hockey players.
If there's a cooler one, I haven't seen it!
Haven't talked about this in a while. Here's one from today, where I learned something, and got to talk about music I like:
Guest (Customer): what is a good rock song
Me: Welcome, ____. I'm looking at
your question right now; it will be just a moment.
Me: Wow- that is an interesting question. I think you could ask 1,000 different people, and they would give you 1,000 different answers! It's all a matter of opinion.
Guest (Customer): in your opinion
Me: I think I found something from Billboard. Just a moment.
Me: URL > http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/specials/hot100/charts/top-rock.shtml
Me: Are you looking for a classic rock song, or a current one?
Guest (Customer): screamo type
Me: To be honest, I don't think I really listen to screamo bands.
Me: URL > http://www.funadvice.com/q/emo_grunge_scremo
Guest (Customer): can you give me a list of some screamo bands
Me: Here's some people's choices
Guest (Customer): some more?
Me: URL > http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20071217172631AAyAPzE
Me: You have to scroll through that list- there are some people who aren't fans of screamo
Me: http://www.amazon.com/All-Around-Good-Screamo-Music/lm/2ZZSNAA0GW23R
Me: Here's a list on Amazon
Me: (click the green link above to open that page)
Guest (Customer): ok what is your favorite band over all
Me: My favorite band of all-time? THat's tough
Me: Beastie Boys, Bob Dylan, Beatles, Flaming Lips
Me: Guided By Voices, Josh Ritter, Todd Snider
Me: Phish, The Who, Rolling Stones
Me: I listen to a lot of old stuff
Guest (Customer): cool all good bands
Me: The Ramones, Avett Brothers
Guest (Customer): k thanks
Me: Cool- have a good weekend!
Guest (Customer): u too
For those of you who, like me, have never heard of the genre "screamo," here's what wikipedia has to say:
Screamo is a genre of music which evolved from hardcore punk and emo in the early 1990s. The term "screamo" was initially applied to a more aggressive offshoot of emo that developed in San Diego in 1991, which used short, chaotically executed songs which grafted "spastic intensity to willfully experimental dissonance and dynamics," often with a political message. Some groups had an even harder edge that put them closer to the noise rock and noisecore styles. In the early 2000s, the genre name began to describe a different, slower and less dissonant style that borrowed from alternative rock, most notably in a 2003 New York Times article. The term's application to the "second wave" is controversial among fans and practitioners of the earlier style. One musician observed that the term "has been kind of tainted in a way, especially in the States".
I've gotten so sick of the HTML, Java, Linux, and other computer programming books. Now I'm finally in a fun area. Too bad I didn't find this book before- I could have built a friend to keep me company while Jen's in Cali for 5 weeks.
Doesn't he (she?) look so much more friendly than Johnny #5 from Short Circuit?
This one is a dandy:
As I've mentioned earlier, I'm weeding the computer books. Not many fun surprises in there. But, luckily, my colleagues share their finds with me. I'm not going to go into a whole lot of detail on this one. Suffice it to say that I can't imagine there are many people out there who could, through reading this book, have the ability to create "fun caricatures" of the people they know, using clay.
How freaked out would you be if you got one of these as a present?
This one isn't from my section- a coworker came across it (153.14). Mnemonic devices are so handy for remembering things! There are the well-known ones, like Roy G. Biv (colors of the rainbow/spectrum), HOMES (the Great Lakes), and "In 1492, Columbus sailed the ocean blue." But this book doesn't stop there! It has hundreds of handy tips for remembering "all the stuff you ever wanted to know," in nearly 50 categories. For example:
The Original 13 Colonies (in Order of Admission)
Del, Penn, NJ
Led the way.
George, Conn, Mass-
Next in class.
Seven, Mary;
Eight, South Carrie.
New Hamp, nine on
The founding state.
Virginia, ten;
New York was late.
NC, RI,
They cast the die
And saved the day
For the USA
I bet you think it can't get any better than that. Just wait!
The 10 Largest Bodies in the Solar System (in Order of Decreasing Size)
Sunny J-SUN eventually visited Mars gratefully today
(Sun, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Earth, Mars, Ganymede, Titan)
This one is profoundly brilliant. Not only is it completely nonsensical, employing the phrase "sunny J-SUN," it actually uses the word "Mars" to signify the "M" beginning the word...Mars!
Baseball's last .400 Hitter
.41 in '41
Ted Williams hit .406, which (obviously) you're supposed to round up to .41 to make this one work.
The 10 Categories of the Dewey Decimal System
Generally, philosophical religionists see language symbolically to favor literary history.
(000: generalities; 100: philosophy & psychology; 200: religion; 300: social science; 400: language; 500: science; 600: technology; 700: fine arts; 800: literature; 900: history)
Yes! Love for the library. It's soooooo much easier remembering that awesome sentence than just memorizing the 10 headings. Of course, there's really no reason to memorize the headings to begin with. Also, the computer software & programming books are in the 004s and 005s, which certainly ain't represented here.
Bears: Cubs at Birth
Bear bear bare bears.
(Newborn bears are hairless. And this is important to know. I'm amazed at how often this comes up, and I always forget whether cubs have fur or not. Never again will I forget this essential bit of information!)
Alligators vs. Crocodiles
Now, a crocodile is hardly a runt,
But the alligator's snout is shorter and more blunt.
These two reptiles are in the same group-
If you meet them both at once, then you're the soup.
(But, what if the alligator and crocodile attack each other? Then you'd be home free, eh?)
Pi to 8 Places
May I have a large container of coffee?
3.145926
The number of letters in each word represents a digit in Pi. Again: much, much easier to do it this way, than to simply remember 3.145926, right?
I could go on all day. But I'm worried that Rod L. Evans, Ph.d. might sue me if I steal too many of his ideas (not that he actually came up with any of these himself). Last, but certainly not least, we have a mnemonic device for all 27 Amendments to the US Constitution. Again, more profound beauty. Here are a few of them:
Amendment 2
2 arms; I have the right 2 bear arms, not to arm bears.
Amendment 3
No housing troops
(Device has 3 words, so it must be amendment #3!)
Amendment 6
Public speedy trials
(Each word has 6 letters. Of course, the astute reader will also notice that it has 3 words...)
Amendment 8
My horse 8 a "bail" of hay.
(Fair bail and fines/preventing cruel & unusual punishment.)
Amendment 18
You can't drink at 18.
(Prohibition. May I point out that you also cannot drink at 16, 20, 12, and every other number between 1 and 20?)
Amendment 23
2 + 3 = 5
(The Pentagon has 5 sides, and this amendment allows people in DC to vote for President.)
And, finally, my absolute favorite:
Amendment 24
The busiest place on Earth on Dec. 24 is the North Pole, which will be abbreviated to No Pol.
(This Amendment prohibits charging people to register to vote.)
Now, rush out and buy this incredible book! Amazon is selling it for under $9. And there are another 50 pages of spelling tips I skipped over, too!
I am astounded by the number of books I've come across written about Java (the programming language) that have coffee stains on them.
The library just received The Greenwood Encyclopedia of American Poets and Poetry, a 5-volume set. The cover of each volume is the same:
I'm hardly ever in the stacks anymore, so I rarely come across these sorts of things that make me smile:
A closer look at the years these volumes were published:
It's been a while since I've wrote about my experiences providing virtual reference service to the lovely youth of today.
Guest: what is lamar high school mascot, and please hurry
Guest: i think its the eagle
Me: I'll see what I can find...
Guest: nice
Guest: come on know this is taking forever
Me: Excuse me?
Guest: you still their
Guest: excuse you
Me: I'm trying to find your answer. You telling me it's taking forever isn't helping.
Guest: well i tries
Guest: tried motivating you
Me: Looks like it's the Savages (Sent him a story from the sports section of the local newspaper's website)
Me: Yes- the Lamar Savages
Guest: no i just found it its the longhorns
Guest: no its not
Guest: i go to that school dumb
Me: The Lamar Ledger newspaper says the Lamar High School basketball team is the Savages. The girls' team is the Lady Savages.
That was the end of that one. A minute later, I see the same question coming up again- he's probably trying to get someone else. I thought about letting someone else answer, but then figured- why put someone else through that?
Guest: no its not your are damn wrong
Guest: what is the lamar high schools mascot
Guest: whats up jon
Guest: i was just talking to you
Me: I can give you the Lamar High School telephone number, if you would like to call them. You're telling me that the Lamar newspaper is wrong.
Jon: 719-336-****
Guest: yea that newspaper is all messed up man
Guest: you call them i dont have a phone
Guest: pueblo sucks but thats just my opinion
Jon: editor@lamarledger.com is the email address for the Lamar Ledger. Feel free to email them and let them know you think they are wrong.
Guest: u do it i dont know how
Guest: douchebag
Jon: Your behavior is inappropriate, and I am ending this session. Your IP address has been noted.
