Month: November 2008

Out of the Office, Please Turn Your Monitors Off

This is the last Book of the Day for the week, as we’re off until Monday.

And to make things harder on me, there are only two new books to update from yesterday.  One of them, however, is Green Jobs: Working for People and the Environment.  If the President Elect follows through with one of his campaign promises, a lot of new jobs being created will be created as “Green Jobs”, a lot of which are in the energy insdustry, and all of which will bring an environmental approach to every day tasks and needs while simultaneously minimizing the environmental impact if not actively trying to better it.

This is a big deal.  As these jobs become real, it is important to keep an understanding on what the jobs actually are, and what they will actually do.  So if you’re looking for a change in the job market or just now looking to enter it, it might be worth your time to flip through the book and see the greener future of employment and productivity.

We’ve Found Life in Twilight!

And by that I mean the Book of the Day is Life in Twilight: The Final Years of J. Robert Oppenheimer. Oh, don’t get me wrong, I saw Twilight this weekend, and my favorite part:  there’s a good Radiohead song during the credits.

Not that I have anything against vampire stories (watch True Blood on HBO and read the Sookie Stackhouse books!), but I have my issues with Edward and company (except Alice!).  What does this have to do with Oppenheimer?  Nothing, except maybe that, like a vampire, if Oppenheimer were to walk outside in daylight during his final years, he’d like burst into flames (which is what real vampires should do).  At least for awhile.  See, McCarthy era politics led to the influential scientist to have his security clearance revoked, and spent about a decade in hearings, disgrace, and disrespect.  It wasn’t until years later that John Kennedy, as president, gave Oppenheimer a medal and an “attaboy” to thank him for his contributions to science.

But its more complicated than all that.  There’s the story of a man and his family struggling through the worst of times locked away underneath the political what-have-you, and this book highlights that.  And, its better than Twilight.

My Biggest Complaint About Moving to Kansas: Fred Phelps

While living in Illinois, I’d hoped that Fred Phelps was a myth and that I’d never actually see him.  When I moved to Kansas, I first saw the Westboro Baptist Church in action in downtown Kansas City.  They were across the street from an Obama rally, children and offensive signs in hand. I’ve now seen them protesting twice. [If you’ve somehow been lucky enough to not know who he is, I am warning you:  This is his site, its URL is offensive, and its content is extremely offensive.]

So anyway, I just didn’t know how someone could lead a congregation around so much hate.  I also don’t understand the train of thought one would take to follow the ill-conceived logic.  Not to mention, Phelps, the leader of the church, had previously won awards from the NAACP for excellence in defending Civil Rights of minorities!  What an unfortunate turn-around.

So some KU students made Fall From Grace, a documentary about Phelps and his church, and its won some awards. Its a fairly neutral approach, but it is hard to not have a bias against such a negative attitude and public campaign (unless of course, you were for it, in which case it would still be hard not to have a bias).  Its worth checking out if you can find the stomach for it.  Its heartbreaking to know such hatred exists, but it is something very present in the area, so it is best to be informed.

It’s Happy Hour Somewhere

I love scotch.  And wine, too, particularly Sauternes (particularly 1979 Chateau d’Yquem).  But I’m quite social, and am quite past my ‘get blitzed’ days.  If you’re under 21, I’ll have to take it on good faith that you’re yet to experience either of these phases of life.  But it is entertaining to see your friends go from being associated with a funnel to being associated with a large leather chair, a smoking jacket and a large, dusty book.

But whether it be a 6-pack or maybe 6oz. of liquid, people have been drinking alcohol for millennia, and that brings us to today’s book:  Drink: A Cultural History of Alcohol by Iain Gately.  Wow.  Even his name sounds like he’s sitting in a big, leather chair.  Kudos on the name, Sir Gately.

Want to know about Medieval drinking habits?  Gately’s got it.

Want to know about alcohol and the colonization of America? Gately’s got that, too.

Want to know about why Jay-Z boycotted Cristal?  Wow.. Gately even went there…

I recommend this book, even if you don’t enjoy a drink every now and then.  This is just fascinating stuff.

BotD’s Not Gonna Take It Anymore!

Long before the emo, the goth kids, the grindcore/hardcore/heavy metal, the rap, the meth, but leading into the stealing your parent’s car, the toilet-papering of houses, the drinking and driving, and listening to the rock’n’roll, kids found ways to rebel.  I mean, come on: even in the 1800s, parents were parents, and kids were always able to make problems for them.

As someone who was only grounded once for crossing state lines in the vehicle of a friend under the age of 18 for a meal, you can tell that I’m not all that rebellious.  If you’re interested in what kids did to piss off their parents in the past, check out Teenage: The Prehistory of Youth Culture (1875-1945) by Jon Savage.  Or, if you’re a parent, compare your struggles to the struggles of your parent’s parents, and see if you’ve gotten off easy or just in deeper.

Book of the Day Ain’t Afraid of No Ghosts

Starting in Medieval times (the period in history, not the restaurant) and continuing on through present day, Owen Davies explores how the belief in ghosts has shaped history in The Haunted: A Social History of Ghosts.  From scandal to war, from entertainment to religion: the belief in ghosts and been an explanation, excuse, and a source of fear which has shaped the actions of many.  By examining the beliefs of generations and cultures, Davies attempts to explain some of our modern day superstitions and convictions.

It is interesting to think about all of my favorite sources of entertainment and their inclusion of ghosts.  Doom metal.  Ghostbusters. One could argue Six Feet Under.

My favorite ghost of all time?  As seen below, The ghost of Stephen Foster.

Book of the Day: Coming to America

Perhaps its the allusions of an immigrant (though not entirely immigrant) story that has created this historic presidential nominee that has me reflecting on the “Only in America” aspect of the self-made person.  The prejudices against an outsider, the fear of the unknown, and ultimately the integration so instilled that it is typically a non-issue.  Irish Americans by Jay P. Dolan is often hailed as the most complete and/or accurate retelling of the Irish American story.  Unless someone you’ve grown up around someone who held onto some prejudices, its easy to forget that Irish Americans were once considered a distinction from what is now a broad dinstinction of “white”.  I’m not going to compare one person’s struggle to the next, but it is the idea that there was a struggle that this nation has over time moved past that should give excitement, hope, and pride to Americans everywhere.

Book of the Day

Because you’ll probably ask for it:

Call Number: PN147 .G444 2008

First Floor, Reference Section.

… …

In other books:

Capital punishment is the eye-for-an-eye of our legal system, as handed down by a jury of peers.  This book is Execution’s Doorstep: True Stories of the Innocent and Near Damned by journalist Leslie Lysle.  This chronicle of five men put on death row, only to later be proven innocent, shows the hardships, stigma, fear, and degredation any innocent person convicted would feel or endure, yet with the added layer of knowing that meet their end early and in a predetermined fashion.

digitalLabs and Such

digitalLabs has been through a few changes.  First, logos are ready for a lot of our services.  Second, outside of projects we’ve created, we’ve put in links to a lot of our other services.  A quick rundown on what we have and where it stands.

  • The Facebook page is still a little lonely.  It has a few feeds running into it, and we’ve made at least 11 friends.  Still, that’s a little lonely!
  • Our Twitter account has more people following it than we have Facebook friends, but it is still fairly new.  At this point, its been linked from our Web site for a weekend.
  • LibGuides are quite the phenomenon for us, and they’ve been, as a whole, linked from the library’s page since Tuesday.  But even without that, we’re getting hundreds and hundreds of hits a month. We’re getting closer to replacing all of our old subject guides.
  • ScholarSpace is taking submissions and has a few well-defined spaces receiving papers and presentations.
  • The New Items RSS feed is integrated into multiple services we have, and has subscribers.  Hopefully we’ll be able to break down the feed into subjects.
  • 10 Minute Paper Guide:  I think a lot of people will be pleased with this.  Soon, students will be able to search books, articles, and our libGuides while building their bibliography and chatting with a librarian: all in one page.  It is so close to done.
  • This blog is still in the labs, and it is doing quite well. I hope its been fairly enjoyable, but moreso, I hope we get more than Books of the Day on here a tiny-bit more frequently.
  • The Mobile Browser is not yet finished, but for catalog searching, works fairly well with minor annoyances.  Here’s hoping that the completion of 10MPG will give me more time to flesh this out.

So there’s a quick update.  Check some of these out, leave feedback, e-mail me, etc. Here’s to getting things done.

Book of the Day

The Wisdom of Whores by Elizabeth Pasini may focus on prostitutes and their profession, but there is a deeper subtext.  Pasini and her colleagues are known for pushing governments across the globe to beef up on AIDs awareness and prevention.  However, in examining the behavior of prostitutes, Pasini gets a deeper insight into how their actions, choices, and selection of clientele help them protect themselves in regards to health, but also other issues such as physical safety.  How times have changed for the World’s Oldest Profession. But, given that the job often comes without health insurance, they’ve probably had a lot of time think through these things.