The Mountaineer Reading Room » Technology

Anachronism 2.0

rhslibrary — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 04:45:01 +0000

Another useful citation tool

rhslibrary — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 06:23:02 +0000

Here’s a little video describing WorldCat’s nice citation tool. You’ll need to set up a free account with them, but it’s worth the effort. Visit the RHS Library Citations page for more help.

Countdown to hair launch

rhslibrary — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 04:19:56 +0000

Science fiction author and visionary human Arthur C. Clarke died last week, just a couple days after I finished off his (and Stephen Baxter’s) Firstborn–the third and last installment of the Time Odyssey series. While I haven’t read all of his work, for years his books and stories have served as a reliable means of escape via plausible scientific speculation. Here’s what we currently have in the RHS Library, but you can bet a few more titles will be finding their way onto our shelves in the coming years

There have been many articles written about Sir Arthur over the last few days, but my favorite is from Alan Boyle’s very cool Cosmic Blog. Apparently, Clarke’s hair will one day be launched to the stars, where it will await an encounter with a species capable of reconstituting Clarke via his DNA. He’d have an interesting story to tell.

The Man Who Invented the Internet

rhslibrary — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 05:39:39 +0000

At last, the recognition he really deserves.

Jorge Luis Borges is a difficult writer to classify, which, of course, makes him all the more interesting. How best to describe him? Perhaps as an “Anglo-Argentine classicist-inspired fantasy writer with magical realist and science fiction tendencies.” Now Noam Cohen adds cyberpunk and Web 2.0 visionary to the list in this article in the New York Times. You’ll find the collection of short stories mentioned in the article, Labyrinths, in the RHS collection.

Additionally, Borges is the author of my favorite poem, Juan Lopez y John Ward. Here’s my English translation:

Luckily, it was a strange time.

The planet had been divided into different countries,
Each one with its loyalties, dear memories,
An undoubtedly heroic past,
Ancient or recent traditions, rights,
Serious offenses, a peculiar mythology, heroes of bronze,
Anniversaries, demagogues and symbols.

This arbitrary division was favorable to wars.

Lopez was born in the city beside the immobile river;
Ward, in the outskirts of the city through which walked Father Brown.
He had studied Spanish in order to read Quixote.

The other professed a love for Conrad, which had been discovered
In a classroom on Viamonte Street.

They should have been friends, but they saw each other only once face to face,
On some unnecessarily famous islands, and each one of the two
Was Cain, and each one, Abel.

They were buried together. The snow and corruption know them.
The event I refer to happened in a time that we can’t understand.

For some background, read about the Falklands War of 1982, a conflict which Borges famously compared to “two bald men fighting over a comb.”

The Future of Reading?

rhslibrary — Mon, 26 Nov 2007 05:29:40 +0000

Check out this week’s cover story in Newsweek Magazine. Can the Amazon Kindle–and other devices like it–replace the printed book? Are people ready to upgrade from a familiar 500-year-old technology that has served civilization well?

I’m looking forward to trying it out.

Blog neglected–for now

rhslibrary — Tue, 25 Sep 2007 05:44:55 +0000

Things are busy getting the new Rainier School District Web sites up and running, and until I get that under control I’m afraid I won’t be posting too much here.

In the meantime, check out the new RHS Library site, and please notify me of any spelling errors!