Randomness
Jan. 17th, 2008 09:10 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
resonantHere's something interesting I learned. The opposite of 'liberal arts,' according to Plato? 'Servile arts.' In other words, 'liberal arts' = what Plato thought were appropriate subjects for study by free people men.
Something else interesting I learned. You know the Library of Alexandria? Did you ever wonder how they got their collection in the first place? Here's what the New Yorker has to say about it in a story about Google Book Search from last November:
Librarians, imagine this! Every car that comes into your town gets stopped at a checkpoint and searched for books, and if the library doesn't have them, it just takes them.
[sigh] Somebody tell me to either get to work on the novel, or get to work on the Rodney genderswap, or, like, go work on one of my January chores like cleaning out the filing cabinet or something.
Something else interesting I learned. You know the Library of Alexandria? Did you ever wonder how they got their collection in the first place? Here's what the New Yorker has to say about it in a story about Google Book Search from last November:
When ships docked in Alexandria, any scrolls found on them were confiscated and taken to the library. The staff made copies for the owners and stored the originals in heaps, until they could be catalogued.
Librarians, imagine this! Every car that comes into your town gets stopped at a checkpoint and searched for books, and if the library doesn't have them, it just takes them.
[sigh] Somebody tell me to either get to work on the novel, or get to work on the Rodney genderswap, or, like, go work on one of my January chores like cleaning out the filing cabinet or something.
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(no subject)
Date: 1/17/08 03:22 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 1/17/08 03:25 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 1/17/08 03:40 pm (UTC)Sadly, most of what we would confiscate would probably be either our own books, long overdue, or Cassie Edwards "novels."
(no subject)
Date: 1/17/08 03:45 pm (UTC)Nicholas Nickelby doesn't make a very good car book, actually; if you leave it alone for long, you forget what's happened. I should replace it with a book of travel essays or something.
only if I get a stun gun and a cool hat.
Picturing an entire TV series now: Librarian Enforcer!
(no subject)
Date: 1/17/08 03:45 pm (UTC)*pets your head* Please get to work on the Rodney genderswap? *g*
(no subject)
Date: 1/17/08 04:22 pm (UTC). . . not that I'd exactly object to Rodney genderswap.
(no subject)
Date: 1/17/08 04:31 pm (UTC)Or, you know, Rodney is good, too.
(no subject)
Date: 1/17/08 04:36 pm (UTC)How great is THAT!
(no subject)
Date: 1/17/08 04:52 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 1/17/08 05:04 pm (UTC)But, I will say the novel, because, Novel! From you! Yes!
(no subject)
Date: 1/17/08 05:32 pm (UTC)If this were DVDs, the MPAA would absolutely plotz.
(no subject)
Date: 1/17/08 07:46 pm (UTC)Pretty please?
Since I'm already going to buy three copies? (It'd be more, but ... I'm pretty broke.)
(no subject)
Date: 1/17/08 11:37 pm (UTC)Somebody tell me to either get to work on the novel, or get to work on the Rodney genderswap, or, like, go work on one of my January chores like cleaning out the filing cabinet or something.
Hm. *considers*. Not that I wouldn't welcome more fic from you like I welcome oxygen? But actually I want you to continue with the knowledge-finding-and-sharing, plz.
(no subject)
Date: 1/17/08 11:38 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 1/17/08 11:42 pm (UTC)I think that a lot of librarians would like that idea...
(no subject)
Date: 1/18/08 03:12 am (UTC)EEE! Thank you!
Date: 1/18/08 03:18 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 1/18/08 03:27 am (UTC)This explains why there are Muses of astronomy and history but not of visual arts.
actually I want you to continue with the knowledge-finding-and-sharing, plz.
good thing, because I can't stop!
(no subject)
Date: 1/18/08 03:54 am (UTC)...and now I'm wondering why I never wondered about that before. *knocks brain against side of braincasing a few times, hoping deep thoughts will shake loose*
Do we know how Plato felt about singing, being as how the hands are not involved? (Well. Unless you're, say, Kiri te Kanawa or Snoop Dogg and your art form requires specific hand motions.)
Also, and randomly: are you reading Shadow Unit (http://www.shadowunit.org/index.html)? You strike me as someone who'd find it interesting...
(no subject)
Date: 1/18/08 05:34 am (UTC)At least it doesn't turn into Queen's Greatest Hits...
(no subject)
Date: 1/18/08 05:35 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 1/18/08 05:57 am (UTC)Librarians, imagine this!
...I would exploit this so hard! I would pile all my old books in the car, drive out of town for a night, then come back -- voila! All my worn-out books taken away and nice new copies issued to me!
(no subject)
Date: 1/18/08 06:02 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 1/19/08 03:58 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 1/19/08 03:59 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 1/19/08 04:00 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 1/19/08 04:00 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 1/19/08 06:29 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 1/19/08 10:39 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 1/20/08 02:29 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 1/24/08 04:24 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 1/24/08 04:25 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 1/24/08 04:30 pm (UTC)There is a Yahoo group populated primarily by the sort of people who are always the first or second to figure out when the new stuff's posted and where the Easter eggs are. It's a nice way to keep up on the top-level Shadow Unit stuff without having to plunge hip-deep into the message boards. If you like, I can hunt up the group name for you - or, hey, just send you the messages when I get them.
(no subject)
Date: 1/24/08 04:40 pm (UTC)