I think that novels that leave out technology misrepresent life as badly as Victorians misrepresented life by leaving out sex. - Vonnegut

Further explorations in Internet applications: Cuil. I am NOT impressed. This is being touted as the replacement Google and provides more privacy but in my estimation, provides no results. I appreciate that there is no personal information retained by the Gaelic-named search engine pronounced "cool" (seriously? totally geeky) but if there are no results retrieved, why would I use it? I found IxQuick, a metasearch, to be more useful and it retrieved things in my control search that Google did not. A lot more actually. I think I have a new friend. That said, the love I feel for Google will never be supplanted because Google encompasses a search plus Email, Documents, Chat, Maps . . . the list seems endless. Don't worry, my Googley darling, I'll always be true. Or until something better comes along.

Ours is a world of nuclear giants and ethical infants. If we continue to develop our technology without wisdom or prudence, our servant may prove to be our executioner. - Omar Bradley

Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic. - Arthur C. Clarke

Again, School Library Journal has made me the happiest little techno-kitten in the Internet yarn shop. July's issue has a long article about Twitter, one of my new applications with which to experiment and has inspired me to do two things: 1) work to get Twitter added to my library district's homepage, and 2) begin a folder with articles that further my professional development in the library field. The article gives tips on using Twitter, a list of the most followed librarians on Twitter (a new aspiration of mine!), and Twitter tools and mashups to be used for enhancements. Marvelous fun for experimentation. And ladies? Jane, Zelda, Sam, R. Batty? I expect you to get involved here.

I started reading a book called Water Cooler Diaries that follows a work day for a variety of women across America. It is mind-blowing to see the variety in women's days between states and occupations and pursuits. I love reading feminist and feminine literature, even the occasional chick-lit but mostly of the classic variety, like Valley of the Dolls or Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. I have read countless tomes on the female experience, like Ophelia Edut's collections of essays on body image or essays about quinceneras or anything unique to women. Perhaps it is because I am a lesbian (sorry to the islanders in Greece who so object to sharing this term!) or perhaps it is just because I love and value women as a feminist but either way, it is just good.

To fall in love is to create a religion that has a fallible god. - Jorge Luis Borges

Happiness depends upon ourselves. - Aristotle

Book recommendation: The Geography of Bliss

I began reading this book and am completely absorbed by the content. A correspondent for NPR decided to visit the countries with the highest "happiness rating" to determine what makes a place one of the happiest in the world. It is part-travel and part-psychology, completely intriguing. While in Bhutan, learning about collective happiness, he came to the conclusion that "trust is a prerequisite for happiness. . . . Several studies, in fact, have found that trust - more than income or even health - is the biggest factor in determining our happiness." If this is indeed the case, no wonder the US scores so low on the rating scale. Though we have great wealth in resources, trust in neighbors, the government, institutions, everything, is often absent. Another point he made later (in Iceland) caught my eye: that happiness and unhappiness are not two sides of the same coin but are different coins entirely. Icelandic people he met told him that they "cherish (their) melancholia" and that "you nurture your little melancholia, and it's like a buzz that makes you feel alive. You snap yourself a little bit and you feel this relief of how fragile life is and how tremendously fragile you are." I agree with the assessment that you must have pain to know when you feel pleasure. The book is definitely opening me up to new understanding of happiness and forcing me to recall what I learned while getting my psych degree.

A lifetime of happiness! No man alive could bear it: it would be hell on earth. - George Bernard Shaw

Addendum: I finished the book and the entire thing was just as good as it began. A tip I picked up from Thailand is that relationships come before problems, and preserving a realtionship is more important than addressing a disturbance. The Thai also have a good sense of when to say "never mind" and actually forget something, instead of the bitter American "never mind" that actually means something else entirely. Excellent read.

Those who dream by day are cognizant of many things which escape those who dream only by night. - Poe

When the time comes for Google to rule the planet, I will lay down and let it (them?). Since I began this blog, I discovered iGoogle, as mentioned previously. I continue to tweak my iGoogle page to ensure that all my needs are being met, including my most recent addition of a comparative cost-of-living calculator as I fantasize about leaving Vegas and wonder if I could afford to live elsewhere. This Google obsession drew me into getting a Gmail account, since my beloved Sam has one and now we can chat while we are both at work. Then I explored Google Reader and now have feeds on my iGoogle page to update me on all my favorite sites. Finally, Google Documents. No longer will I fall prey to the tyranny of the flash drive ruling my life by requiring me to carry it at all times. Now I can access my work any time from any Internet connected computer. So frankly, Google has won my heart completely though Sam does have concerns about privacy invasion BUT I say small price to pay. Also, in a School Library Journal article I read, I learned a Google search can be limited by using the term "site:gov" or "site:edu" or anything to establish what type of source is sought. One would imagine I would have learned this already in 2 years of library school but . . .

I can't wait for work to end today because I have dinner plans with Jane then we will arise early to go swimming, a pleasure that is so regressive in the absolute enjoyment of it. Onward to sunshine and lots of sunscreen and good friends.

Live in the sunshine, swim the sea, drink the wild air…
Ralph Waldo Emerson

To have a really good time, you don't have to actually look good, you just have to think that you do. - Warhol

One of the pleasures of living by yourself is the privilege of being able to practice, day after day, in whatever order you wish, the rituals that define your tastes and aspirations without any threat of disruption. . . He had loved, a few times briefly but only once seriously. The love wasn't returned and so he made peace with all the aspects of single life that so many people find abhorrent. Now he valued them above all else. Over time he'd mutated from a lonely, watchful person into a completely self-sufficient one, treating himself with the same affection a love would. - Katherine Tessaro

Goodbye, Bunny.

The dead celebrities party was a danceteria success and I quite enjoyed posing as Wendy O. Williams for the night. Warhol danced with Kurt Cobain and Brandon Lee practiced Bollywood moves with Zelda Fitzgerald. Selena and Princess Di got tipsy and fell together on the couch.