The Library of Congress: The Happiest Place on Earth (& the Interwebz)

Photo by AbLib

As a librarian, one of the highlights of my life was when I was in graduate school and we took a field trip to DC. The field trip was actually to attend the National Book Festival, held every year on the Mall, but our first stop of the day was at the Library of Congress. We were given a tour and then we had a Q&A session with three librarians from the LoC in the Senate Reading Room (which is, obviously, generally reserved for Senators therefore awesome to hang out in).

I bring this up to illustrate how awesome the LoC is because, they have outdone themselves. They have created the National Jukebox making historic recordings freely available to the public. The digital collection contains recordings from the LoC Packard Campus for Audio Visual Conservation collection as well as collections from other institutions across the country.

There are (as of this post) over 10,000 recordings from 1901-1925 from the Victor Talking Machine Company (now owned by Sony). The Jukebox will continue to add content from Sony-owned US companies. Right now, Sony is the only label contributing, but I’m sure we will see more joining up in the future.

There is a fantastic slideshow available tracking the progress of the project which began in 2010.

The Jukebox lets you create a playlist or listen to playlists already completed (I’m listening to the LoC-created “Early Tin Pan Alley” playlist right now!). You can browse recordings by performer, genre, date, composer, etc. plus there are general and advanced search options.

It is beautifully designed and completely fascinating. Set aside some time to browse these nearly forgotten treasures.

COMMON SENSE

Noun.

Etymology: repr. Greek κοινὴ αἴσθησις, Latin sensus commūnis, French sens commun.

Definition:

a. The endowment of natural intelligence possessed by rational beings; ordinary, normal or average understanding; the plain wisdom which is everyone's inheritance.

b. More emphatically: Good sound practical sense; combined tact and readiness in dealing with the every-day affairs of life; general sagacity.

(Source: Oxford English Dictionary Online)

I feel like there are a lot of people out there who would benefit from knowing this definition. Or really, even being aware of the concept.

People who could benefit:

Marketers

Politicians

Sales people

Children

Co-workers

This is not a full list obviously, but serious repeat offenders most in need of rehabilitation.

We all have off days sure, but generally when those of us who have mastered this skill have done something stupid, we recognize it quickly and apologize if it is in front of others or hide it and bury it in our memory if we are alone. This is the way it should be.

Do not revel in your stupidity. Do not flaunt it. DO NOT inflict it on those of us smarter than you, we become annoyed and often effectively passive aggressive. We will cause you to suffer in any way we know how; Social Darwinism at its best.

I do not suffer fools gladly and neither should you. Speak up for common sense! Explain it to those less fortunate to whom it is not a natural state of being.

And if nicely explaining and/or flash cards does not work: do your passive aggressive best.

WARNING: Lotion May Contain C4

I’ve flown many times in my life, but since I moved to Mass, I’m flying more often to go home to see my family. Because of this, you’d think I have many horror stories about TSA and all that, I really don’t. I’m an experienced traveler so I usually don’t have any trouble. I know to have all my liquids in 3 oz. bottles in a quart size Ziploc bag. I know to take off my shoes and coat before going through security. I know not to wear bulky clothing, etc. etc.

I was not aware, however, that some lotions contain C4 or other kinds of explosives. That I learned on my way back to Boston after Christmas.

I had an unlucky morning on the 2nd, first of all, my flight was at 6am so I had to be up at 4am so I could get to the airport, then once I got there, I got pulled for the x-ray machine. All before I got some coffee. I usually don’t get pulled for extra security; I can think of one other time and I was 16 and they didn’t like my backpack at LaGuardia.

I’m not sure what they were looking for considering I was wearing skinny jeans and a form-fitting sweater, but through the x-ray machine I went like a good little drone…I mean citizen. After you finish looking ridiculous with your feet spread and your hands over your head, you step out and they swab your hands with a cotton-like disk and put it in a machine. When they did this to me, the machine turned red and started beeping and flashing: EXPLOSIVES DETECTED.

I’m not really the kind of girl who plays with explosives at 4 o’clock in the morning, so I was a little confused. My confusion was augmented when the TSA agent asked me if I had put lotion on my hands that morning. It is January, it is cold and dry, yeah I put lotion on so my hands don’t bleed. Well, she says, lotion returns a positive for explosives on the machine, we’ve been getting this a lot since it’s winter.

Really? A machine, that I assume is exceptionally expensive, meant to detect explosives, can’t differentiate between dynamite and moisturizer?

I feel so safe.

Bing & Bowie: The Holiday Odd Couple

One of the oddest duets of all time has to be Bing Crosby and David Bowie doing the classic holiday mash-up “The Little Drummer Boy/Peace on Earth.”

Let’s get a little bit of history: Bing used to do a Christmas special with his family every year. Music, skits, etc, mostly music of course, since after all, this is Bing “the Original Crooner” Crosby we’re talking about. Well his last special was shot in London in 1977a few months before his death. It had many guests, as Christmas specials are wont, and one of the guests was David Bowie currently riding high on his “Heroes” album.

No one seems to know who thought bringing Bowie on to Bing’s special was a good idea, but proximity probably helped considering Bowie was living in London at the time. Whoever it was booked Bowie and set him to perform “The Little Drummer Boy” with Bing, but, slight hitch, Bowie didn’t like “Drummer Boy” for his voice and asked for something else.

Frantic, the special’s team quickly wrote a new melody and lyrics to go over “Drummer Boy” and create a new medley. Once “The Little Drummer Boy/Peace on Earth” was complete, Bing and Bowie rehearsed for about an hour and filmed the performance.

Thus was the creation of one of the most beloved, if most anomalous, Christmas duets ever. It still feels weird to think of Bing and Bowie together, but I think everyone can agree they created a beautiful and haunting duet and it is certainly in keeping with the message of the season: Peace on earth, good will toward men.

AbLib Strikes Back! ...mostly to rant

I am a very impatient person. I hate waiting for lunchtime, I hate waiting in a line, I hate the people who seem to think if there is no posted speed, they should go 20…I am, regrettably, a product of our instant gratification culture.

Which is why I have a love/hate relationship with book series.

I read a lot of fantasy and science fiction which are rife with series. I’m pretty sure authors in these genres have some kind of long-named phobia regarding stories that are confined to a single book. This is not necessarily a bad thing. I enjoy spending many hours with characters and worlds I have fallen in love with. A new book in a series is like checking in with an old friend you don’t get to see very often, which is why I don’t really have a problem with a continual series like Janet Evanovich’s Stephanie Plum or Charlaine Harris’s Sookie Stackhouse. Those kinds of series, while they have a general overarching storyline of a character’s life or a specific fantasy world, are completely satisfying in a single volume. You know there will be another book eventually, but there’s no rush because all is right with the fictional world when the current book ends.

Not so with a series like Harry Potter or Rick Riordan’s Percy Jackson. In these series, while each book has a quest or task that must be completed within each volume, the real story is the overarching task of defeating Voldemort or Kronos, respectively. Which, don’t get me wrong, is great, but the waiting to discover just HOW our plucky heroes will prevail kills me.

Most people will say, “Oh the anticipation is wonderful! I love feeling the suspense and riding the roller coaster! Trying to imagine what will happen is so much fun I almost wish they would NEVER publish the next volume!”

To those people I say, “Bite me.”

I hate horror movies BECAUSE of the “anticipation” and “suspense.” It makes me jumpy and nauseous and a complete emotional wreck. And I HATE roller coasters, I hate that feeling in your stomach when you go down a hill and the bumps and height and the realization that all that is holding me in place is a bar and gravity, neither of which I particularly trust. I don’t want to IMAGINE what is going to happen, because if I come up with something really cool, I’m going to mad when the author doesn’t think of it too and then I will remain disappointed for the rest of my life and end up in a dark basement writing fan fiction which no one will read.

The best time to start a series like Potter or Jackson is when the penultimate book has already been released and there is a date set for the final title. That way, you can read books 1-6 or 1-4 and not have an agonizing time waiting for the end of the story. It’s a win-win.

I speak from experience. I started the Harry Potter series when the first 3 books were already released and I had to wait about 7 years until I got to know the end of the bloody story all of which supposedly happens in 7 years. On the other hand, I got into the Percy Jackson series when the first four were out and I only had to wait about 6 months for the last book to be released, there was much less anguish.

Moral: Do not start a series unless you already can get your hands on the majority of the books.

But to be safe, just wait until they’ve all been published and pray you can finish before the apocalypse.

This song goes out to all my member stations

I’ve been slacking on my posts a bit lately. My rehearsal schedule has been getting a little crazier so I haven’t had much free time, but after I saw this video on npr.org today, it was too good not to share.

I don’t know who this kid is, but he is a genius. It may just be the best YouTube video I’ve ever seen. And that’s including March of the Librarians (which is epic).

An Open Letter to Politicians on Election Day

I am not a particularly politically-minded person. I have my beliefs of course, and there are issues I strongly support and others I strongly oppose. I might be more involved in politics and the governing of this country if I did not hate the people who try to run it quite so much. All of you seem to have a lot of problems that would best be solved on a psychologist’s couch as opposed to the halls of our states and nation.

All of you need to chill out.

Seriously.

I don’t think I’d despise you all quite so much if you actually treated the citizens you propose to represent with a little more respect. Most of us are not the complete idiots you seem to think we are. I cannot think of one person I know who responds positively to the attack-ads that have become the political norm. Everybody hates them. You need to re-think your marketing.

Here’s a crazy thought…how about advertising your campaign using your platforms. How about making the largest icon on your website “ISSUES” instead of “DONATE.” How about having enough respect for your constituents to treat them like adults who care about their governing system instead of children who still like to pick on other kids at recess.

I have a Master’s degree. I’m a librarian. I am completely capable of researching you and your opponents and figuring out for myself what they and you stand for and which side I agree with. And, another crazy thought, I don’t have to agree with everything you stand for. What I need to agree with are your methods and your plans for the future. What I need to agree with are the issues you emphasize.

I am having a hard time with this election. Partially because I’m in a new state and I am unfamiliar with the political landscape, and partially because I am having a more difficult time finding out what the $*@#& it is any of you stand for, and that is your fault.

So politicians, grow up. Remember the lesson we all learned in kindergarten to “treat others as you would want to be treated” and try to remember what you stand for other than against the “other guy.”