| A poem |
[Aug. 17th, 2008|11:54 pm] |
I heard this on the radio, and thought of one of my friends here.
Paece
peter
For Librarians
Imagine you can consider all ideas
And images represented by all words
And numbers in all libraries worldwide.
Open the book of this consideration.
Touch the paper. See the illustration
Of you, reading, when you were ten
In your local library. Turn
Several pages. Now read how you
And that other person ignited romance
In, of all places, the stacks, third floor,
In quite a different library. Snowflakes
Brushed against dark glass as you two
Stood between PQ and PR.
( Read more... )
As sincerely as librarians worry for books, for shelves,
For catalogues, buildings, and best practices,
So should we worry for librarians, for images and ideas.
At a table in a library, a circle of light
Lies on a book. The hand not writing turns
The page, and something important happens.
Hans Ostrom |
|
|
| Quote of the Day |
[Aug. 16th, 2008|10:53 am] |
First they came for the communists, and I did not speak out because I was not a communist; Then they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out because I was not a socialist; Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out because I was not a trade unionist; Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out because I was not a Jew; Then they came for me-- and there was no one left to speak out for me.
Pastor Martin Niemoellor |
|
|
| Quotes of the Day |
[Aug. 6th, 2008|05:09 pm] |
Today's quotes are all from Augustus De Morgan:
It is easier to square the circle than to get round a mathematician.
Quoted in H Eves In Mathematical Circles (Boston 1969).
I don't quite hear what you say, but I beg to differ entirely with you.
Great fleas have little fleas upon their backs to bite 'em,
And little fleas have lesser fleas, and so ad infinitum.
And the great fleas themselves, in turn, have greater fleas to go on;
While these again have greater still, and greater still, and so on.
A Budget of Paradoxes.
Imagine a person with a gift of ridicule [He might say] First that a negative quantity has no logarithm; secondly that a negative quantity has no square root; thirdly that the first non-existent is to the second as the circumference of a circle is to the diameter.
The moving power of mathematical invention is not reasoning but imagination. |
|
|
| Quotes of the Day |
[Aug. 4th, 2008|02:44 am] |
All progress is based upon a universal innate desire on the part of every organism to live beyond its income.
Samuel Butler (1835 - 1902), Notebooks, 1912
When dealing with the insane, the best method is to pretend to be sane.
Hermann Hesse (1877 - 1962)
One has a greater sense of intellectual degradation after an interview with a doctor than from any human experience.
Alice James
Too many people are thinking of security instead of opportunity. They seem more afraid of life than death.
James F. Byrnes (1879 - 1972) |
|
|
| Quotes of the Day |
[Jul. 18th, 2008|01:21 pm] |
I like life. It's something to do.
Ronnie Shakes
To knock a thing down, especially if it is cocked at an arrogant angle, is a deep delight of the blood.
George Santayana (1863 - 1952)
Fortune can, for her pleasure, fools advance,
And toss them on the wheels of Chance.
Juvenal (55 AD - 127 AD)
Where all think alike, no one thinks very much.
Walter Lippmann (1889 - 1974) |
|
|
| Overheard conversation |
[Jul. 18th, 2008|01:12 pm] |
Two web designers discussing how technical a solution they should take for a page ...
WD1: I think we should go for the middle of the road solution.
WD2: The middle of the road is where you find a lot of dead small animals. |
|
|
| Quotes of the Day |
[Jul. 6th, 2008|01:39 am] |
Anyone still reading this? have some quotes to keep you going.
Peace
peter
Why shouldn't things be largely absurd, futile, and transitory? They are so, and we are so, and they and we go very well together.
George Santayana (1863 - 1952)
No one can earn a million dollars honestly.
William Jennings Bryan (1860 - 1925)
Books to the ceiling,
Books to the sky,
My pile of books is a mile high.
How I love them! How I need them!
I'll have a long beard by the time I read them.
Arnold Lobel
Character is what you have left when you've lost everything you can lose.
Evan Esar (1899 - 1995)
An effective way to deal with predators is to taste terrible.
Unknown
The reserve of modern assertions is sometimes pushed to extremes, in which the fear of being contradicted leads the writer to strip himself of almost all sense and meaning.
Sir Winston Churchill (1874 - 1965) |
|
|
| Looks who's here |
[Dec. 14th, 2007|11:06 am] |
Hi there,
I've not been around on LJ (or is that LJilovski now?) for a while, so comment here if there's something you think I should look back to. In the mean time, here's bit of fun:
Poll #1105932
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: AllWhat have I done recently? What else do you think I've done recently?
Peace
peter |
|
|
| Quotes of the Day |
[Oct. 9th, 2007|02:49 pm] |
Actually yesterday's quotes, but you'd never have know if I hadn't told you :)
Busy, busy, busy here, so no chat right now.
Peace
peter
At my lemonade stand I used to give the first glass away free and charge five dollars for the second glass. The refill contained the antidote.
Emo Phillips
Computer Science is no more about computers than astronomy is about telescopes.
E. W. Dijkstra
Biography lends to death a new terror.
Oscar Wilde (1854 - 1900)
I'm seventeen and I'm crazy. My uncle says the two always go together. When people ask your age, he said, always say seventeen and insane.
Ray Bradbury (1920 - ), Fahrenheit 451, 1953 |
|
|
| Quotes of the Day |
[Sep. 25th, 2007|09:50 am] |
More 'quotation' goodness - enjoy!
Peace
peter
Don't you wish there were a knob on the TV to turn up the intelligence? There's one marked 'Brightness,' but it doesn't work.
Gallagher
You couldn't even prove the White House staff sane beyond a reasonable doubt.
Ed Meese (1931 - ), on the Hinckley verdict
The point of philosophy is to start with something so simple as not to seem worth stating, and to end with something so paradoxical that no one will believe it.
Bertrand Russell (1872 - 1970), The Philosophy of Logical Atomism
It's a dangerous business going out your front door.
J. R. R. Tolkien (1892 - 1973), The Fellowship of the Ring |
|
|
| News update |
[Sep. 25th, 2007|09:15 am] |
So, I would have posted yesterday evening, but Joe's ISP has decided to block internet access completely and the contact number they give shuts at 7 PM ... and no one else in the district has an open wireless network. [sigh] It wouldn't be so bad, but this is the one week in three I'm providing 24/7 support to one of our clients.
Anyway, the news:
Monday (last week) - water pours through the ceiling at work for the third time this year. Fortunately it just missed most of the computer kit nearby and this time the smell was only mildly sickening.
Thursday - took half day leave as we had the AGM for my Morris side - meeting went well.
Friday - shopping in Southampton - new camera bag, filters, spare battery for my Sony alpha-100 (and how expensive are they!) - free new phone from O2 'cos I renewed my contract with them - load of books (mostly for Mary ... OK a /few/ were for me, I admit it :) )
Friday evening - meet Derek and Chris over from Canada and not seen for something like 20 years - had great meal with Tony and Angela, and Mike (Derek, Tony, Mike and I were at college together)
Saturday - supported global warming by destroying a glacier ... my freezer was threatening to take over the world kitchen :)
Sunday - washing, packing, gave Mary the books, drove back to Cardiff
Right, better get on with my work :)
Peace
peter |
|
|
| Quotes of the Day |
[Sep. 24th, 2007|02:36 pm] |
Quotes ... more news later ... maybe :)
Peace
peter
In answer to the question of why it happened, I offer the modest proposal that our Universe is simply one of those things which happen from time to time.
Edward P. Tryon
Just once, I wish we would encounter an alien menace that wasn't immune to bullets.
Unknown, Brigader Lethbridge-Stewart in "Dr. Who"
Only fools are positive.
Moe Howard (1897 - 1975)
If you're not scared or angry at the thought of a human brain being controlled remotely, then it could be this prototype of mine is finally starting to work.
John Alejandro King, My War On Terror! |
|
|
| Quotes of the Day |
[Aug. 22nd, 2007|11:49 am] |
Hi there, no posts for ... oh, ages :) ... anyway I'm actually on leave for a week, so I've been trying to catch up on my LJ friends.
Peace
peter
It usually takes more than three weeks to prepare a good impromptu speech.
Mark Twain (1835 - 1910)
Many people would sooner die than think; In fact, they do so.
Bertrand Russell (1872 - 1970)
Don't accept rides from strange men, and remember that all men are strange.
Robin Morgan
People say that life is the thing, but I prefer reading.
Logan Pearsall Smith (1865 - 1946), Afterthoughts (1931) "Myself" |
|
|
| Quotes of the Day |
[Jul. 11th, 2007|09:30 am] |
Two days in a row ... wow! :)
Peace
peter
Advertising may be described as the science of arresting the human intelligence long enough to get money from it.
Stephen Leacock (1869 - 1944)
One of the lessons of history is that nothing is often a good thing to do and always a clever thing to say.
Will Durant (1885 - 1981)
The intermediate stage between socialism and capitalism is alcoholism.
Norman Brenner
When a thing ceases to be a subject of controversy, it ceases to be a subject of interest.
William Hazlitt (1778 - 1830) |
|
|
| Quotes of the Day |
[Jul. 10th, 2007|01:12 pm] |
What, a week since I posted? Surely not. Have some quotes to remind you I'm still alive :)
Peace
peter
If we don't succeed, we run the risk of failure.
Anonymous, often attributed to Dan Quayle
The best way to keep one's word is not to give it.
Napoleon Bonaparte (1769 - 1821)
I quit therapy because my analyst was trying to help me behind my back.
Richard Lewis
The tooth fairy teaches children that they can sell body parts for money.
David Richerby |
|
|
| Quotes of the Day |
[Jul. 3rd, 2007|09:53 am] |
Good morning. Just a quick comment 'cos I'm busy.
Cheers
peter
Good judgment comes from experience, and experience comes from bad judgment.
Barry LePatner
A lifetime of happiness! No man alive could bear it: it would be hell on earth.
George Bernard Shaw (1856 - 1950), "Man and Superman" (1903), act I
Remember that as a teenager you are at the last stage of your life when you will be happy to hear that the phone is for you.
Fran Lebowitz (1950 - ), Social Studies (1981)
The good life, as I conceive it, is a happy life. I do not mean that if you are good you will be happy - I mean that if you are happy you will be good.
Bertrand Russell (1872 - 1970) |
|
|
| Not waving, but drowning |
[Jun. 25th, 2007|08:26 am] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| |  discontent | ] |
Hi there,
Just a quick post to say:
a. yes, I am OK, although now taking a tablet a day to reduce my blood pressure
b. made it to work today through rivers and lakes that used to be roads
c. barely coping with a client system with some 3,500 users world wide that is being most unreliable (eg call-out at 11.30 PM and then 7.30 AM the next morning)
d. the work network is completely dead this morning (just don't ask how I'm doing this post :) )
Hope your life is going better than mine.
Peace
peter |
|
|
| Quote I had to share |
[May. 26th, 2007|11:40 pm] |
I haven't been around LJ for a good while now, but I had to share this quote with you - seen in a free newspaper when returning from a day working in central London.
My favourite Tantric sex position is called the plumber - you stay in all day and nobody comes.
John Mortimer |
|
|
| Quotes of the Day |
[Mar. 29th, 2007|10:46 am] |
Any reviewer who expresses rage and loathing for a novel is preposterous. He or she is like a person who has put on full armor and attacked a hot fudge sundae.
Kurt Vonnegut (1922 - )
Patriotism is often an arbitrary veneration of real estate above principles.
George Jean Nathan (1882 - 1958)
You can't wait for inspiration. You have to go after it with a club.
Jack London (1876 - 1916)
Liberty means responsibility. That is why most men dread it.
George Bernard Shaw (1856 - 1950)
Children are the only form of immortality that we can be sure of.
Peter Ustinov (1921 - 2004) |
|
|
| Risk of Maternal Death |
[Mar. 29th, 2007|10:37 am] |
I know, not the sort of topic you'd expect from me, but I thought there were people reading this who might be interested.
Peace
peter
Globally, a woman's lifetime risk of a maternal death is 1 in 74. This ranges from 1 in 2,800 for women in the developed world to 1 in 16 for women in sub-Saharan Africa. The contrast is even more stark when individual countries are compared. A woman in the UK has a lifetime risk of maternal death of 1 in 3,800 (it is 1 in 29,800 in Sweden) compared to a lifetime risk of 1 in 6 in Sierra Leone and Afghanistan.
Source: http://www.who.int/reproductive-health/publications/maternal_mortality_2000/ |
|
|
| Quotes of the Day |
[Mar. 27th, 2007|05:47 pm] |
It's been a while since I posted quotes, so I'll do some today for you all.
Peace
peter
Ninety percent of everything is crap.
Theodore Sturgeon (1918 - 1985)
All the world's a cage.
Jeanne Phillips
The statistics on sanity are that one out of every four Americans is suffering from some form of mental illness. Think of your three best friends. If they're okay, then it's you.
Rita Mae Brown
The spirit of resistance to government is so valuable on certain occasions, that I wish it always to be kept alive.
Thomas Jefferson (1743 - 1826)
War may sometimes be a necessary evil. But no matter how necessary, it is always an evil, never a good. We will not learn how to live together in peace by killing each other's children.
Jimmy Carter (1924 - ) |
|
|
| I'm easily amused |
[Mar. 27th, 2007|05:38 pm] |
Found an article on a client's website -
New evidence on gender and growth by ...
( Click to see )
Ah yes, made me smile as I tried to test a server in Afghanistan ... and failed.
Peace
peter |
|
|
| |
[Mar. 19th, 2007|08:25 am] |
I'm in London today and guess what ... I'm waiting for a BT engineer! At least this time I've got broadband access at the moment [touches the wood of the desk]. I may post later, if life doesn't get too hectic.
Peace
peter |
|
|
| Lack of me ... |
[Mar. 10th, 2007|07:39 pm] |
FYI I still have no internet access at home ... coming up to 4 weeks down time now! I am having to take Monday off (a second day) to await a BT engineer. [big sigh] See you all sometime.
Peace
peter |
|
|
![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small}
petersheil's journal
2 (66.7%)