25 Insane Reasons Why Kids Don't Like Certain Colleges

Here are some of the ridiculous reasons that kids dismiss some excellent colleges:

1. Dislike of archways

2. No Chipotle within walking distance

3. "I don't know anyone there."

4. "I know too many people there."

5. Aversion to tour guides' footwear (five-toed multiport sneakers) or headwear (Sherpa cap)

6. Tour guide too smug ("In my spare time I'm a midwife, and since returning from Uganda, I've started an NGO that installs solar panels in orphanages.")

7. Annoying bell tower

8. Too many Harry Potter references during info session

9. Not enough/too many vegan options in dining hall

10. Aversion to architecture: too Georgian, too Gothic, too Taco Bell

11. Too many mentions of how Oceanography course changed tour guide's life

12. Tour guide's resemblance to Justin Bieber

13. Too many homeless people

14. Professors look like homeless people

15. Aversion to upstate NY ("Upstate NY is for camp, not college")

16. Tour guide's repeated mention of a cappella groups and/or squirrel clubs

17. Rain

18. Woodland creatures: deer, raccoons, skunks

19. Aversion to school colors

20. Townies reminiscent of characters in "Deliverance," "Big Love," or "Jersey Shore"

21. Mean parking attendant

22. Long line for the ellipticals at the gym

23. Lame Latin words in school motto

24. Emma Watson transferred out

25. School is parents' first choice

More at The Huffingyon Post.

The top ten fast growing and most quickly dying industries

The bad news:

1. Photofinishing
2. Newspaper publishing
3. Appliance repair
4. DVD, game, and video rental
5. Money market and other banking
6. Recordable media manufacturing
7. Hardware manufacturing
8. Shoe and footwear manufacturing
9. Costume and team uniform manufacturing
10. Women’s and girls’ apparel manufacturing

The good news:

1. Generic pharmaceuticals
2. Solar panel manufacturing
3. For-profit universities
4. Pilates and yoga studios
5. Self-tanning product manufacturing
6. 3-D printer manufacturing
7. Social network game development
8. Hot sauce production
9. Green and sustainable building construction
10. Online eyeglasses sales

Details on both lists at The New Statesman, here and here.

The Art of Hemingway: The Old Man and the Sea in Four Minutes

Press play and watch Marcel Schindler artfully sketch out Hemingway's The Old Man and the Sea in 4 minutes. Awesome!



Found at booklicious.

The public librarian

From The Costumed Librarian, via Librarianista.

and (Via TYWKIWDBI.)

Leonardo: Anatomist - by Nature Video

Nature Video was invited to Windsor Castle to see some of Leonardo da Vinci's anatomical drawings. The drawings show that Leonardo did more than dabble in the sciences; he carried out experiments and made staggering medical discoveries which could have transformed the study of anatomy in Europe -- had they not languished unpublished for centuries. In this video, Senior Curator Martin Clayton shows us three of Leonardo's most intriguing anatomical studies.

Introducing LiLi - A Library Cruiser

Right on the heels of National Bookmobile Day comes the launch of the newest library liaison.

Meet LiLi – Library Live and On Tour - a new initiative by the Fraser Valley Regional Library in British Columbia. Touted as the first of its kind in the world:

Library Live and On Tour will shatter preconceptions about libraries, library services and librarians. Library Live and On Tour will deliver services to people in our communities who do not know about our libraries or have some obstacle to visiting them. Unlike ‘bookmobiles’, Library Live & On Tour will stress service, access to information and awareness rather than being exclusively about library materials.

The centerpiece of LiLi is a transformed 2012 Nissan Cube, completely revamped to include:

an undercarriage glow
the back opens to reveal a mounted 40″ plasma digital display screen
external sound system, with wireless mic
built-in bookshelf with giveaway books
2 laptop computers with 3G connectivity
2 Kobos &; a Sony eReader
an iPad2 &; a Blackberry Playbook
an Xbox Kinect
and, of course, the car horn that plays OOOGA!

At least there is still a bookshelf in it!

Post at Dysart &Jones, Now THAT'S a Mobile Library!

(Via Book Patrol.)

Bookmobile, 1928 (photo)

This bookmobile for the sick was wheeled around Los Angeles hospitals in 1928, a service of the LA public library.

(Via Boing Boing.)

One-in-five American Adults Do Not Use the Internet

From the Pew Internet and American Life Project post today titled Digital Differences:

“One-in-five adults do not use the internet. The difference between that group and the majority of Americans who do go online remains strongly correlated with age, education, and household income, which are the strongest positive predictors of internet use.

Certain aspects of the current internet population still strongly resemble the state of internet adoption in 2000, when one of Pew Internet’s first reports found that minorities, adults living in households with lower incomes, and seniors were less likely than others to be online…”

Read the full report

(Via The Proverbial Lone Wolf Librarian's Weblog.)

Rotting food as art

Austrian photographer Klaus Pichler, pictures of rotting food stuffs are ravishing and repugnant at the same time.

The project is intended to be a comment on global food waste. On Pichler's website, each image is paired with a caption containing details about the origination and transportation of each item. Check out the full gallery there. And be sure to pass this along to any friends who might still be eating lunch.

IKEA reinvents the television - and very well.

From IKEA:

IKEA introduces UPPLEVA, a completely new range that integrates smart TV and sound system with furniture. UPPLEVA brings beauty and functionality to the living room, solving the problem of cable clutter and miss-match between TV and furniture.

You will find UPPLEVA in Stockholm, Milan, Paris, Gdansk and Berlin in June 2012. During autumn 2012 UPPLEVA is available in all of the stores in Sweden, Italy, France, Poland, Denmark, Spain, Norway and Portugal , and during spring 2013 in even more countries.

Please come to America soon!

Muscle Cars as Vector Art

Many more delightful examples here.

No fiction award by Pulitzer Prize judges in 2012

The 2012 Pulitzer Prize for fiction went to no one, it was announced Monday. The Pulitzer judges did reveal that three books had been named finalists, but declined to award one the prize.

The three finalists were "Train Dreams" by Denis Johnson, "Swamplandia!" by Karen Russell and "The Pale King" by David Foster Wallace.

In deciding the Pulitzer Prize for fiction, a committee of readers, which changes annually, recommends a small slate of titles to a panel of judges, who choose the winner.

Since its founding in 1918, the Pulitzer Prize for fiction has not been awarded nine other times. The most recent year in which there was no fiction award was 1977.

On occasion, the decision not to award the fiction prize has been marked by controversy. In 1941, the committee's recommendation of "For Whom the Bell Tolls" by Ernest Hemingway was deemed offensive by the president of Colombia, and no award was given.

From The LA Times Blog

Computerized page layout in 1977 (video)

In 1977, Bell Labs built an early touch-screen system to more easily produce advertisements for inclusion in the Yellow Pages. The system was designed to eliminate the need for physical paste-ups, allowing easy creation of graphic advertisements that would go directly from the screen to the Phone Book.

The system represented a huge leap forward for the business directory, which had been published in various forms, by various companies, since 1906. AT&T sought to constantly improve the publishing process — even small efficiency boosts in the Yellow Pages production could make a huge difference in cost, because of the huge quantities involved in both content and printing.

Improvements in desktop publishing software through the last few decades obviated the need for the system seen in this film, and the emergence of the internet and other information-distribution media drove down profits for the Yellow Pages themselves. AT&T announced in April 2012 that it would sell a majority stake in its phone book business to an outside company.

Footage courtesy of AT&T Archives and History Center, Warren, NJ

British artist Jonathan Callan makes large scale sculptures out of used/vintage books held together by large screws. British artist Jonathan Callan makes large scale sculptures out of used/vintage books held together by large screws. British artist Jonathan Callan makes large scale...

(Via Libraryland.)

Library Rules, 1799

Ever wonder what library rules were like in 1799, soon after the founding of the University of North Carolina library? In this gem of an entry from the General Faculty and Faculty Council Records, the Board of Trustees write the rules for the library. Notice that some things never change: reference books remain in the library for the most part, call slips go out with books, and fees are paid for “defaced” books.

Of the library and librarian

1. There shall be a room appropriated to the library, apparatus and curiosities of the University. Shelves shall be put up in it, at the expence of the board. Fire shall be made and kept up in the room once every week for two hours, by order of the librarian, and then be entirely extinguished. And no person but a trustee or member of the faculty shall be admitted into the room of the library, without the presence of the librarian: but either of these shall be admitted whenever they require it.

2. The librarian shall be appointed by the faculty every half year, who shall make a report to them as often on the state of the library. He shall also account to the treasurer of the board for the monies he has received as librarian.

3. Every student on the establishment of the university, may use the books of the library on paying fifty cents into the hands of the librarian for the session in advance. The encyclopedia shall not be taken out of the library by any student not belonging to the senior or junior classes; and no other shall ever consult them, except in the presence of some member of the faculty.

4. The librarian when he delivers a book out of the library to a student shall write a receipt for the book which shall be signed by the student who takes it out.

5. A volume shall not be kept out of the library more than three weeks, without being returned to the librarian and the receipt of it renewed. And if any other person shall want the volume at the end of that time the person who has before had it, shall not be at liberty to take it out again at that time.

6. If a student who shall take a volume from the library, shall by any means, deface or abuse it, he shall pay according to the damage done, as estimated by the faculty even to the replacing of the set; and if he shall lose it he shall pay the librarian for it, the price at which the faculty shall value the set, or else he shall replace the whole as before. If he shall not return it in three weeks after taking it out of the library, he may be deemed to have lost it, and the faculty may proceed accordingly. If the student shall refuse to comply with the decisions of the faculty, he shall be admonished, suspended or expelled as the nature of the case may require.

7. The librarian shall keep a book in which he shall have a catalogue of all the books of the library. And if any book shall be presented to the university, the name and place of residence of the donor shall be recorded.

8. The librarian shall appoint a day and hour for giving books out of the library, and he shall attend once a week at the time appointed for that purpose.

9. If books be hired from the library, the price to be paid shall be fixed by the faculty, and the person who obtains the book shall pay in advance.

Originally published at University Archives at UNC-Chapel Hill.

16 Ways Educators Use Pinterest

(Via The Proverbial Lone Wolf Librarian's Weblog.)

Push to add drama! The best prank ever! (video)

Eleven Thank You Notes From Famous People

Once upon another time (1974), John Lennon showed up drunk to LA’s Troubadour club and proceeded to heckle the Smothers Brothers during their act. A fight ensued which involved just about everyone, including actress Pam Grier. The next day, she got this letter from Lennon:

After reading Yann Martel’s book Life of Pi with his daughter, President Obama sat down to write this short note of thanks.

Nine more at Mentalfloss.

It's National Bookmobile Day!

National Bookmobile Day (Wednesday, April 11, 2012) celebrates our nation’s bookmobiles and the dedicated library professionals who provide this valuable and essential service to their communities every day.

National Bookmobile Day is an opportunity for bookmobiles fans to make their support known—through thanking bookmobile staff, writing a letter or e-mail to their libraries, or voicing their support to community leaders.

National Bookmobile Day is coordinated by the ALA Office for Literacy and Outreach Services (OLOS), the Association of Bookmobile and Outreach Services (ABOS), and the Association for Rural & Small Libraries (ARSL).

And a whole bunch of bookmobile videos here!

DOJ may sue Apple, publishers over e-book pricing

The Justice Department may sue Apple and possibly two publishers over alleged price-fixing of e-books for the iPad as soon as Wednesday while reaching settlements with other publishing houses, a knowledgeable source confirmed to POLITICO.

The suit is the result of a lengthy investigation into allegations that Apple and five major publishers coordinated the pricing structure of e-books, as Apple sought to enter a market dominated by Amazon and its Kindle e-reader two years ago.

The publishers that have been under investigation are Simon & Schuster, HarperCollins Publishers, Hachette Book Group, Pearson and Macmillan.

Several publishers have been engaged in settlement talks with DOJ, while Apple has not participated, a source told POLITICO. However, the DOJ was said to be readying cases against possibly two of the publishers.

Apple declined to comment. The Justice Department also declined to comment. The five publishers could not be reached.

Full story at Politico.