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Apparently, I am one of the .5% of Blogger users that posts using FTP to my own domain. I've just learned that Blogger is going to stop supporting FTP as it is used by so few and is rather resource intensive for them.
I am in the process of deciding if this means I am going to shift to a different Blogger product/service or switch to a blog client that still supports FTP. The old school geek in me likes the idea of having all my bits on my own domain...but I must say I like some of the widgets, etc that would be available if I stick with Blogger.
Regardless, I'll do all I can to maintain things as they look and feel. Hope springs eternal.
0 Comments on Changes afoot here...please bear with us... as of 1/1/1900
Because it broods under its hood like a perched falcon,
Because it jumps like a skittish horse and sometimes throws me,
Because it is poky when cold,
Because plastic is a sad, strong material that is charming to rodents,
Because it is flighty,
Because my mind flies into it through my fingers,
Because it leaps forward and backward, is an endless sniffer and searcher,
Because its keys click like hail on a boulder,
And it winks when it goes out,
And puts word-heaps in hoards for me, dozens of pockets of gold under boulders in streambeds, identical seedpods strong on a vine, or it stores bins of bolts;
And I lose them and find them,
Because whole worlds of writing can be boldly laid out and then highlighted and vanish in a flash at “delete,” so it teaches of impermanence and pain;
And because my computer and me are both brief in this world, both foolish, and we have earthly fates,
Because I have let it move in with me right inside the tent,
And it goes with me out every morning;
We fill up our baskets, get back home,
Feel rich, relax, I throw it a scrap and it hums.
[Copyright Gary Snyder, used by permission]
0 Comments on Poem: Why I Take Good Care of My Macintosh as of 1/1/1900
There is a well-known curse, "may you live in interesting times". For the rare book world, times have seldom been more interesting (and here I speak only of the book trade, though the worlds of librarians, archivists, curators, etc have been similarly afflicted). The book trade has seen the death of book arbitrage, regional scarcity, and several of our beloved journals/institutions...we have seen a radical shift in the previously rather caste system of dealers and the emergence of a vast class of hobbyist "dealers"...we are in the midst of a radical shift from how the trade used to function to a newer-if not better, different-state of being (e.g. open shops dropping off droves, print catalogues becoming less common, the emergence of other venues for data transfer, etc).
At the same time, there are some really interesting elements emerging. As we seem to be losing one of the *critical* venues for the transfer of bibliophilic passion...the open shop...other venues finally seem to be emerging. The lose of the open shop has been worrying me a great deal for, as one who hopes to be wandering the stacks for many decades, I've been worried where the next generation (or two...or three) will be bitten by the biblio-bug. The primary petri dish has historically been open shops...you could go and hang out...handle books...talk with the owner(s) and similarly afflicted. You had a place you could *be* where you could handle books, listen, and learn. The loss of open shops has meant, in a real way, the loss of one of the primary gateway drugs that hook those so inclined and lead to more sophisticated distractions.
We are finally beginning to see some interesting and potentially important alternatives. As social networking sites have come into their own, we are seeing vibrant bibliophilic communities emerge. Facebook has dozens and dozen of Pages and Groups dedicated to authors, specific books, broad genres, periods, booksellers, printing, binding, etc. (Lux Mentis can be found here). Twitter has vibrant communities of librarians, booksellers, book lovers and, well, any number of other interest areas (Lux Mentis can be found here). Even "business networking" focused LinkedIn has interesting bibliophilic groups emerging (I can be found here). There is also the rather brilliant LibraryThing, a social networking site for booklovers where, among other things, you can post your collections, find others with similar interests and engage in any number of other distractions (I can be found here).
As one who spends a lot of time thinking about and exploring how to find/reach/engage the next generation of collector, I've spent a lot of time exploring these venues and am beginning to be pleased with what I'm finding. I've had dozens of "first contacts" by young (in the collecting arch, if not chronologically) collectors, asking interesting, engaged and/or curiosity questions and established collectors/clients tell me how much they enjoy the sense of community and ease of contact.
Several years ago, I had the pleasure of leveraging modern technology in an interesting way in the sale of a collection of Sommerset Maughan photographs. Not long ago, I'd have had to pack them off to the California dealer who I knew had a sophisticated collector of such material and then wait for him to be available and view the collection. Instead, she and I had an iSight based video conference...I held up each of the 110 photos, she did a screen capture of each one and threw them up on a unique webpage of thumbnail images. She then emailed her client a note saying she had so
0 Comments on Of Rare Books, Emerging Technology, and Social Networking... as of 1/1/1900
From the brilliant HP Lovecraft Society, please enjoy a favorite of mine, "Little Rare Book Room" (Lyrics by Sean Branney and Andrew Leman, based on 'Little Drummer Boy,' written in 1958 by Katherine Davis, Henry Onorati, and Harry Simeone):
Come, they called me The special book room The rarest books to see Librarian's tomb Kept under lock and key In terrible gloom To save man's sanity, It's pointless, we're doomed, thoroughly doomed, utterly doomed. Necronomicon The first I exhumed From the book room.
Book of Eibon So frightfully old Vermis Mysteriis A sight to behold The Monstres and Their Kynde With edges of gold Could make me lose my mind All covered with mold, fungus and mold, poisonous mold. Kitab al Azif Its horrors untold. Still I am bold.
King in Yellow Left me feeling glum The Ponape Scriptures I'd stay away from And then The Golden Bough My brain had gone numb I read them all out loud Well that was quite dumb, terribly dumb, fatally dumb. Freed the Great Old Ones Mankind will succumb. What have I done?
0 Comments on Little Rare Book Room...My favorite holiday carol... as of 1/1/1900
This is the most recent work by David Wolfe, of Wolfe Editions fame. He is one of the best letterpress guys I know and I never cease to be surprised by what he creates. I love that he does not limit himself to presswork.
David took a class at Haystack and, because he is wildly more talented than I (or, most likely, you), this is the result. As I say, he never ceases to amaze me. Let me know if you can't live
without it...
Specifications:
Hook: hand forged 3/4 inch steel stock
Tag: aluminum wire and red copper wire, veiled with copper covered steel welding wire
Butt: copper pot scrubber
Body: aluminum tape,
Rib: aluminum wire,
Wing: steel, brass, brass rivets
Throat: steel wire
Topping: copper covered iron welding wire
Head: steel wire
Size: 21" x 15" x 3"
Weight: 9 lbs.
0 Comments on David Wolfe is fishing for a big one.... as of 1/1/1900
Two lovers of Joyce's brilliant Ulysses have taken chapter 10, "Wandering Rocks" and adapted it to Twitter. They chose the chapter because it follows 19 Dubliners going about their daily activities.
...have dubbed their performance "Twittering Rocks," a play on the chapter's title that could also mean Twittering is awesome. They have registered 54 of the novel's key characters as Twitter users, and Bogost built a software program that tweets their first-person utterances at the correct moments in the chapter.
See, e.g. http://twitter.com/leopoldbloom; http://twitter.com/StephenDedalus
0 Comments on Ulysses meets Twitter... as of 1/1/1900
Tommmcatt the Wet Sprocket 6:46 PM • TUESDAY • MARCH 24, 2009 I dunno, I think a tryst with a fanciable slyph, 52, would be kinda delightful if I were in her age range and inclined that way.
Compelling the Wrong Coast Legal Eagle to query:
SanFranLefty 6:54 PM • TUESDAY • MARCH 24, 2009 @Tommmcatt the Wet Sprocket: Is a slyph a slutty sylph?
And here our exchange takes a turn to the wonderful, as TtWS responds, a mere 30 minutes later:
Tommmcatt the Wet Sprocket 7:32 PM • TUESDAY • MARCH 24, 2009 @SanFranLefty: Surely a “slyph” is a slut of a sylph, Sure as “soot” after sweeping is “toos”, Or the sleeve of a sluice can combine to make sluve, and the sound when a cat flees is “mewve”.
If we dun ourselves in to the spelling of words, or dole them out only by what they might mean, We miss out on some funderful combomakeshuns, And our use of the language is lean.
So celebretype words of the neolodge sort! And forgive me my lapses in art, and if my lackodaise use of orthograpy hurts, I apolomake stryght from my heart.
SFL, clearly smote, responds:
SanFranLefty 7:37 PM • TUESDAY • MARCH 24, 2009 @Tommmcatt the Wet Sprocket: Wanna play Scrabble?
TtWS, recognizing genius as well as crafting it, responds:
Tommmcatt the Wet Sprocket 7:39 PM • TUESDAY • MARCH 24, 2009 @SanFranLefty: That was a practically perfect response in every way, darling.
My day is made. It can not get better. I am going to bed.
1 Comments on Elegant wordplay springs up in the most unexpected places..., last added: 4/6/2009
Absolutely one of the best sites I've discovered in a long time (admittedly, I have two young boys). Most importantly, the have 800 different instructions for making various paper airplanes (all free). They have an archive of reviews, newsletters and you can sign up for a newsletter that promises a new airplane design each week.
Hours and hours of fun...until someone looses an eye. Fold like mad and be careful. Enjoy.
0 Comments on Online Paper Airplane Museum...too much joy as of 1/1/1900
No bookish hook here, just the pure goodness of geekdom run amok. ArcAttack amuses themselves doing remarkable things with Tesla coils.
Creators of the original Singing Tesla Coils, the crew of ArcAttack uses high tech wizardry to present music in a whole new light.
ArcAttack employs a unique DJ set up of their own creation (an HVDJ set up) to generate an 'electrifying' audio visual performance. The HVDJ pumps music through a PA System while two specially designed DRSSTC's (Dual-Resonant Solid State Tesla Coils) act as separate synchronized instruments.
These high tech machines produce an electrical arc similar to a continuous lightning bolt which put out a crisply distorted square wave sound reminiscent of the early days of synthesizers. The music consists of original highly dance-able electronic compositions that sometimes incorporates themes or dub of popular songs.
Joe DiPrima and Oliver Greaves are the masterminds behind the design and construction of the Tesla Coils while the music is developed by John DiPrima and Tony Smith.
The Guardian article's basic argument is that nearly all players in the book world, collectors, dealers and libraries/special collections all tend to be as quiet as possible regarding losses. This, added to the tendency toward personal fiefdoms and the strong aversion to sharing data, allows miscreants and thieves a much "safer" playground within which to work.
This is a very interesting issue and one that deserves deeper thought and, possibly, an attempt at a data[base] driven solution. I lack the time to run with this at the moment...but we shall return to it in the future.
So I was ranting about Microsoft's Songsmith a bit ago and it turns out that I might have been a bit hasty. It turns out that it can make tragic statistical data seem perky and nice...
Oh, but then there is this, arguably the best/worst thing I have seen spawned by the demon-code that is Songsmith:
I am quaeritating you all to go take a look at "Save the Words", assuming you have a succisive moment or two. Sponsored by the Oxford U. Press, the site seeks to save unusual words from a teterrimous extinction. You can adopt a word (pledge to use it in correspondence and conversation) and sign up for a "word a day" emailed to the comfort of your 'puter.
These are words that will have a locupletative effect on not just your vocabulary but on your life as a whole... While it can sometimes be a senticous matter to use words that require explanation and/or definition, I don't think I should be prescited for hoping to save idiosyncratic terminology.
I, for one, am ecstasiated that they have embarked on this program. It is neither vexatious or dilatory to add interesting words to one's vocabulary...it certainly beats molrowing.
My squiriferous nature requires I thank JG for the heads up.
0 Comments on Save the Words...Best website of the year (thus far) as of 1/1/1900
Stanford has reclaimed its hold on the "fine print" crown, having just written "S U" "assembled from subatomic sized bits as small as 0.3 nanometers, or roughly one third of a billionth of a meter". The letters were written in the "interference patterns formed by quantum electron waves on the surface of a sliver of copper". Isn't technology fun! We've come a long way since 1959 when Richard Feynman first challenged the scientific publishing world to:
find a way to rewrite a page from an ordinary book in text 25,000 times smaller than the usual size (a scale at which the entire contents of the Encyclopedia Britannica would fit on the head of a pin).
It was not until 1985 that Tom Newman (at Stanford) "printed" the first page of Dicken's, Tale of Two Cities onto the head of a pin (see smaller image). Fun...though hard to read without a scanning electron microscope. It is said that Tom's biggest problem in collecting his prize was finding the page of text in the vast expanse that is the head of a pin.
The fine folks at Slashdot are all excited because this same feat has major implications for computer storage. In a nutshell, there is/was a presumption that data storage limits would be capped:
when you get to the point that an atom represents one bit in some form or fashion. But Stanford University researchers have used a quantum hologram model to store the characters 'S' and 'U' by encoding the data at a rate of 35 bits per electron.
This has little short-term implications...but huge potential for the future.
1 Comments on Tiny print+Storage record=Geek moment, last added: 1/31/2009
Says Chronicle Books, "The Classic Regency Romance—Now with Ultraviolent Zombie Mayhem!" The publisher's blurb reads:
Pride and Prejudice and Zombies features the original text of Jane Austen's beloved novel with all-new scenes of bone-crunching zombie action. As our story opens, a mysterious plague has fallen upon the quiet English village of Meryton—and the dead are returning to life! Feisty heroine Elizabeth Bennet is determined to wipe out the zombie menace, but she's soon distracted by the arrival of the haughty and arrogant Mr. Darcy. What ensues is a delightful comedy of manners with plenty of civilized sparring between the two young lovers—and even more violent sparring on the blood-soaked battlefield as Elizabeth wages war against hordes of flesh-eating undead. Complete with 20 illustrations in the style of C. E. Brock (the original illustrator of Pride and Prejudice), this insanely funny expanded edition will introduce Jane Austen's classic novel to new legions of fans.
I don't even know where to start. As you know, Gregory Maquire started a one-man rewriting of classics in alternative voices (e.g. Wicked, A Lion Among Men, Son of a Witch, Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister, etc). What we have here appears to be a different beastie...not a well-known tale told from a different perspective...rather, a well-known tale with flesh-eating zombies thrown in. I have already ordered a copy (possibly more than one).
I predict that P&P will see a bump in sales because of this...doubly so if they make a movie of it. Oh, please let someone make a movie based on this iteration.
I also predict this is the first in a series. Perhaps next we will see Matheson's, vampires ala I Am Legend invading Holmes' London. Maybe L. Bloom (of Ulysses fame) will have to fend off a werewolf as he wanders Dublin. Or Tom Sawyer will follow one more cut-off in the cave...and in his madness, release the Old Ones upon a Twainian world. Then again, it just might be a zombie horde roaming from one classic to another.
I hope this is as clever as it seems to want to be. It could actually be good fun...it could also be very painful. I will review it when it appears... Thanks for the heads up JG.
0 Comments on Pride and Prejudice and Zombies - Coming in April as of 1/26/2009 10:41:00 PM
David Wolfe, not content with the obsessive nature of hot lead letterpress work, ties flies...both "working" and "trophy". To those can now be added "art flies".
This work includes 16 "urban flies", tied from things like electrical wiring staples, a zip tie, and a 22 bullet. There are also 16 letter pressed descriptive cards (plus a title page), each of which includes a fine water-color illustration of the given fly.
It is simply wonderful and I can not wait to show it at the SF book fair. Better images to follow as to allows.
0 Comments on Urban Trout Flies of the Northeast as of 1/22/2009 3:07:00 PM
A sleeping bag you can wear around you house (or campsite). We keep the house rather cool during the winter (cooler still when it is just old people in the house). I prefer it cool and Suz prefers to suffer rather than burn oil. She spends much of the winter in several layers and/or down around the house...
Mom and dad picked her up a Lippi Selk' bag. It has arms and legs and vent holes and a hood....you can get your hands out so you can type (or cook, or whatever). Personally, I think she looks far too cute in her Selk .
One of the first to sell these (originally created by Chilian graphic designer, Rodrigo Alonso Schramm) in the US was bookseller Dan Wyman at his "Wyman Outdoors" arm...some are currently on sale there. Some of the iterations can be found at Amazon, too.
I'm pretty certain we can shut the heat completely off now...woohoo ...
2 Comments on Keeping your house cool, have I got something for you...., last added: 12/31/2008
Way too cool. I work at home, next to floor-to-ceiling plate-glass windows. They are single pane, old glass, and let in all the cold air that December, January, and February can muster. While I never envisioned working as a bookseller in a haz-mat suit, this looks like just thing to keep toasty warm!
I am very pleased this year, to provide the video (audio, really) above in addition to the lyrics below.
From the Scary Solstice collection (1, 2, or 3) of holiday music offered by the HP Lovecraft Society, please enjoy a favorite of mine, "Little Rare Book Room" (Lyrics by Sean Branney and Andrew Leman, based on 'Little Drummer Boy,' written in 1958 by Katherine Davis, Henry Onorati, and Harry Simeone):
Come, they called me The special book room The rarest books to see Librarian's tomb Kept under lock and key In terrible gloom To save man's sanity, It's pointless, we're doomed, thoroughly doomed, utterly doomed. Necronomicon The first I exhumed From the book room.
Book of Eibon So frightfully old Vermis Mysteriis A sight to behold The Monstres and Their Kynde With edges of gold Could make me lose my mind All covered with mold, fungus and mold, poisonous mold. Kitab al Azif Its horrors untold. Still I am bold.
King in Yellow Left me feeling glum The Ponape Scriptures I'd stay away from And then The Golden Bough My brain had gone numb I read them all out loud Well that was quite dumb, terribly dumb, fatally dumb. Freed the Great Old Ones Mankind will succumb. What have I done?
0 Comments on Little Rare Book Room...a holiday favorite. as of 12/17/2008 10:17:00 AM
"Sarcasm may be the lowest form of wit, but Australian scientists are using it to diagnose dementia, according to a new study. Researchers at the University of New South Wales, found that patients under the age of 65 suffering from frontotemporal dementia (FTD), the second most common form of dementia, cannot detect when someone is being sarcastic."
On tech and bookseller, there are many interesting things afoot. I'm working on a few related posts on such subjects...expect them over the next few days/weeks. With luck, a bit of signal within the noise...
0 Comments on quick tech post...facebook and beyond... as of 12/12/2008 3:22:00 PM
The only problem I have with her post is her claim that this image is "frightening"...shocking! Personally, this image fills me with warmth and happiness. A nice representation of my system...love the iMac tucked in.
1 Comments on Chaos theory? I think not..., last added: 12/12/2008
are you kidding? in the past booksellers have HIRED me to reclaim their offices because they couldn't find something important. after the visit from the cleaning fair they always went back to SNAFU.
In Philogelos, a fourth century (and arguably the first) joke book has been getting a bit of press lately. William Berg, a classics professor in the US, has translated it and created a digital iteration (see below). It is confirmation that there really are no new jokes.
Consider the brilliant "Dead Parrot" skit by the collective genius that was Monty Python (e.g. "he's resting"). 1600 years ago, when a man complains that the slave he purchased was dead, he's told, '"By the gods," answers the slave's seller, "when he was with me, he never did any such thing."'
You can literally hear Dangerfield, Rickles, Youngman, etc tell:
"A misogynist is attending to the burial of his wife, who has just died. When someone asks, 'Who is it who rests in peace here?', he answers, 'Me, now that I'm rid of her!'."
"I had your wife, without paying a penny". He replied: "It's my duty as a husband to couple with such a monstrosity. What made you do it?"
"A student dunce goes to the doctor and says, ‘Doctor, when I wake up, I’m all dizzy, then after half-an-hour I’m O.K.’ ‘Well, wait a half hour before waking up,’ advises the doctor."
The BBC is reporting that the massive digital "library", Europeana, crashed shortly after its launch. This is interesting in several ways. First off, it is a nice hat tip to traditional libraries...while they occasionally burn, they do not crash. More importantly, it is a testament to the interest (at least in Europe) in cultural, literary and artistic history.
The site was built to be reasonably robust...able to support several million hits per hour. It is reported that before it went down, they were consistently running 10MM hph. I tried to poke about earlier and figured they were getting pounded...turns out I was right. They will be back in December...on much more robust hardware. I'll be there...
From the BBC report:
The Europeana website was attracting more than 10 million hits an hour - more than double the number which had been anticipated.
The site includes paintings, photos, films, books, maps and manuscripts from 1,000 museums, national libraries and archives across Europe.
It is expected to reopen in December after technological improvements.
From an AP article:
The Web site collected some 3 million artifacts — including books, maps, paintings and videos — from some of Europe's top museums, such as the Louvre in Paris and the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam. It will be available in 23 languages including English, French, German and Spanish.
0 Comments on EU's huge new [digital] library crashes hours after opening... as of 11/21/2008 7:11:00 PM
Stanford has 
scanning electron microscope. It is said that Tom's biggest problem in collecting his prize was finding the page of text in the vast expanse that is the head of a pin.
Credit where credit is due:
http://locusmag.com/2009/April1_Mashups.html
Cited in the original, but not your link.
I'd lay odds on the Stephen King volume being a success, but by the time the rest come out, the fad will have passed.
Except the Zombie Bible, of course. That lives forever.