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One of my more favorite blogs, Tech Ramblings from the Rare Book Trade, has gone off on an indefinite hiatus. This is unfortunate, as I am fond of the blog and have always found it one of the more interesting in the realm (granted, I am, in addition to being a recovering attorney, a geek of the highest order). What is really unfortunate is that he is not taking his break because he necessarily wants to do so, but because his employer (an unnamed rare book dealer) has made it clear that his personal blog is professionally threatening to his position.

Needless to say, many bookishly inclined bloggers are unhappy about this (see, e.g. Hugh). I agree with Hugh (and ASWR) that booksellers are colleagues, not competitors. More broadly, I concur with many of the voices that Tech Ramblings' employer was extremely short-sighted and/or misguided in his fear/concern of his employees blog (N.B. this was a private blog, but I will ignore the overt "what he was doing on his own time is his own business" issues). The major sticking point appears to have been that the Tech Rambler provided links to "other" booksellers and/or bookseller's blogs.

Personally, I would embrace an employee who was so engaged both in focus of the business *and* the niche he serves (tech) that he wanted to build a voice around the area. Personally, I would have taken the opposite approach and sought to have the blog brought under my "brand" and more closely linked to my business. I track, mostly for personal amusement, where my visitors come from and where they go when the leave. I know better than most how many people link into my site from other book sites/blogs and how many follow links on my site out to other book bloggers. I can personally and professionally attest to the *value* of linking to other's in the profession.

That said, I understand Tech Ramblings' willingness/desire to roll with his employer's request and not threaten his job. I am reminded of O.W. Holmes', "This is a court of law, young man, not a court of justice." It is fine (and proper) to talk about freedom of speech and personal blogs vs business pursuits and all the topics that this issue has opened for debate. In the end, however, I completely understand the decision to walk away from a personal blog run primarily/exclusively for personal amusement and pleasure in the face of losing a job that, one presumes, is interesting and rewarding.

To be clear, I hope Tech Ramblings returns. I suggest Tech Rambler show his boss how much traffic comes to his site through the blog. I hope his employer comes to realize his concern as to "other links" is unfounded. We are a community and are far stronger together than as islands. I will leave the link to TRftRBT in the side bar as it contains some great content...with luck he will return.

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Well, MacWorld was today and Apple announced several new products...but only one really matters to me. I want an iPhone (go here for a great review and MANY pictures). I want it NOW. I want to sleep with it under my pillow. I want to rub it, ever so softly, against my cheek. I want to gaze lovingly at it. I long for it. I covet it. I crave it.

I love Apple for many reasons. I love them most of all for occasionally bringing something to market that genuinely makes me covet a bit of hardware. It is, as one would expect, a stunningly beautiful, simple and elegant device. I can not wait to explore the UI. I can not wait to have a phone that has built in WiFi, so I can get my email/web access *without* paying for the overpriced data service from my carrier. I can not wait.

Oh, and there is a new settop box, AppleTV that looks really slick and several other new/improved toys.....but, oh my, have you seen the iPhone *wistful sigh*. It will be shipping in June. That gives me 5 and a half months or so to really loathe my current phone...all its inadequacies...its poor design (both aesthetic and UI). It's lack of a 4 (or 8)gig drive. It is going to be a long few months.

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President Bush claimed new powers today to search US mail without a warrant. In a "signing statement" he executed while signing the postal overhaul bill on December 20, he basically undermined a substantial aspect of the bill itself. His signing statement directly contradicts the part of the bill that explicitly reinforces protections of first-class mail from searches without a court's approval. My grandmother *often* told me that if I didn't have anything productive to say, perhaps I shouldn't say anything at all...while I often ignore these sage words, what could I really say about this that would not result in a long rant.

That said, please see what the ABA's, "Blue-Ribbon Task Force" said about these statements (in brief: that they are an affront to and undermine separations of powers).

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According to this Wired article, one byproduct of Chicago State University's nearly $40MM library reno is that students will no longer be allowed in the stacks. All shelving and pulling of books will be done by robotic "pickers". This is a technology that has been evolving rapidly in warehouse settings and has the potential to be efficient and, at least in theory, cost effective.

Generally, the stacks can be closer and higher (potentially several stories). Better yet, if implemented as is seen in major warehouse projects, books can be shelved "dynamically"...that is, books checked out more often would be in prime/fast locations and The Starr Report would be in some dank corner. Better yet, the system can learn as it goes...refining its algorithms and becoming more efficient.

On the other hand, please read: Why Things Bite Back: Technology and the Revenge of Unintended Consequences (Edward Tenner, 2004). I suggest this may also result in the modern grocery store phenomena...if/when there is a power/technology failure, no one can function any longer. You literally can not make purchases at a grocery these days when their "system" is down...forget the fact that no one can make change...nothing has prices on it anymore. Good for tweaking pricing for arbitrary and capricious reasons...problematic otherwise. I predict many major libraries will follow this path as well...and will be utterly useless whenever there is a "failure".

Technology is such fun.

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Fair warning, minor rant to follow: Yesterday's Atlanta Journal-Constitution ran a heart-warming piece titled: Cobb gives up on evolution book stickers. In brief, the Cobb County school board, in an attempt to add their own surreal touch to Cobb's colorful (or is it colorless) history ordered stickers be tipped into all the science books (35,000) basically stating that evolution is a theory, not a fact.

Needless to say, some number of rational residents of CC brought suit, supported by the ACLU and many lawyers were made extremely pleased. A judge ordered the stickers removed. Many people sat around scrapping stickers out of books. CC appealed. CC settled the action, agreeing to pay about $167,000 to cover the Plaintiff's legal fees. Add to this sum their own legal fees and I wager that CC has managed to blow about $250,000 or so that could have been spent on...er...new science books.

The issues in CC can best be summed up with the closing comments of the article. Larry Taylor, a father of three students in the system and an advocate for the stickers used the currently trendy "if I find it threatening to my myopic view of the world, blame 'terrorists'":

"They were trying to do the right thing. It's terrorist organizations like the ACLU that are hijacking our country's educational system by imposing their own secular agenda on the rest of us."

On the rational side of reality, Barry Lynn, executive director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State in Washington, D.C., stated:

"Students should be taught sound science, and the curriculum should not be altered at the behest of aggressive religious groups. Cobb County school officials have taken the right step to ensure that their students receive a quality education."

This is, of course, the latest skirmish in the ongoing "Intelligent Design" debate and I am not going to dwell on the generalities (admittedly, I have ranted about this before). I have, however, had a thought.

This textbook contains material on evolution. Evolution is a theory, not a fact, regarding the origin of living things. This material should be approached with an open mind, studied carefully and critically considered.

I have had a change of heart. I rather like this statement. It is clear and states things that make sense. The textbook contains material on evolution - *excellent*, I'd be worried if it did not and it lets me know what to look forward to in the book. Evolution is a theory, not a fact, regarding the origin of living things - again, *excellent*, evolution is in fact a theory (a reasonably well tested and understood theory, but a theory just the same)...with luck, this statement might trigger useful discussions about theories, hypotheses and facts, a very useful conversation in this age of reality distortion. And finally, noting that "this material should be approached with an open mind, studied carefully and critically considered" should be a "restating the obvious" issue...but if schools find it necessary to remind students (and/or teachers) of this *fact*, so be it.

No, to be fair, I think there should be a sticker added to the front of all bibles (and possibly other religious texts, but for the moment, just bibles. I propose something like the following:

This bible contains material on spirituality, the nature of the human condition and a hypothesis on the origin of all things. The text contained herein is the product of many centuries of an oral history, the stories being told by one person to another, with all the inherent issues origin presents. It is also the product of many iterations and revisions, again over many, many years...some official, some less so, with large portions edited, excised and/or added at various points of time and for various reasons; it should be viewed as a theory, not a fact regarding the original of all things. This material should be approached with an open mind, studied carefully and critically considered.

Or words to that effect, this is clearly very preliminary. It's just a thought...but it might might be a useful approach. I am very open to all constructive thoughts.

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Vladimir Lenin, noted advocate of the press is quoted as saying:

Why should freedom of speech and freedom of the press be allowed? Why should a government which is doing what it believes to be right allow itself to be criticized? It would not allow opposition by lethal weapons. Ideas are much more fatal things than guns. Why should a man be allowed to buy a printing press and disseminate pernicious opinions calculated to embarrass the government?

So have things changed since he said this? Well, unfortunately, no. TPM Muckracker has an incredibly disturbing story: Bush Admin: What You Don't Know Can't Hurt Us.

Basically, someone noticed that after issuing monthly reports on the number of attacks in Iraq since the war began, DoD suddenly declared these reports "classified" since September of this year. Curiosity as to what triggered this change led, as such things often do, to discovering an extraordinary pattern of conduct when it comes to reports/studies/commissions/etc. that produce (or may produce) data the administration does not want to hear (and/or want you to hear).

Some examples:

When a gov. report showed an increase in global terrorism in 2005, the Admin. announced it would stop publishing the report.

When the Bur. of Labor Statistics reported a significant increase in the number of factory closings in the US, the Admin. announced it would stop publishing information about factory closings.

When the Dept. of Eduction found that charter schools were underperforming, the Admin. announced it would sharply curtail the amount of information it collects on charter schools.

The EPA announced plans to close several libraries used by researchers and scientists. The agency claimed it was a cost-cutting measure...which conflicts with a 2004 report indicating that the facilities *made* the EPA a $7.5MM surplus annually.

And, of course, on November 1st, 2001, President Bush issued an executive order limiting the public's access to presidential records. This order undermined the 1978 Presidential Records Act, which required the release of such records after 12 years. Bush's order prevented the release of "68,000 pages of confidential communications between President Ronald Reagan and his advisers" (some of whom had positions in the Bush Administration).

There are many other examples. It depresses me. I want to rant about it...but lack the energy. I think I will just go reread 1984, curl up into a fetal position and wait for this to be over.

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