Dewey Decimal System? Do We Ever!

Bryan's Dewey Decimal Section:

299 Religions not provided for elsewhere

Bryan = 28514 = 285+14 = 299


Class:
200 Religion


Contains:
The Bible and other religious texts, books about the general philosophy and theory of religion.



What it says about you:
You don't mind thinking about the unknown or other very big ideas. You will never feel like your work is finished. The 200-series is dominated by Christian topics, so you may feel like you're constantly surrounded by Christians.

Find your Dewey Decimal Section at Spacefem.com

Wasn't this mentioned in the Bible?

Taken right before they wheeled out the Golden Taurus:

Fabrizio Costantini took this photo for The New York Times

Seriously, what is going on here? Is divine intervention part of our Big Plan to save the economy? Why are there cars on the altar?

I tried reading the article. I really did.

My German Word

Back in high school German class, I invented a word. We'll get to that in a moment, but first:

The Backstory

It was one of those "advanced" classes - basically like English class, but German. We would read a short story or essay and were then tested on our comprehension and whatnot.

One story was about a family on a Spatziergang - basically, a walk in the park. Another was a history lesson, about Hitler's seizure of power, the Machtergreifung.

Later, during a quiz, I confused the two terms and created:

Spaßergreifung. Literally, the seizure of fun.

In His Own Words

Reflections

As I look back on all that I have published these past few months, I am struck by a single thought: why is anyone reading this? Surely, the three of you had better things to do with your time? I've done little but complain, yet here you are, back again. Perhaps it is some form of masochism.

In all seriousness, this was truly a learning experience. I learned that I can't keep a deadline to save my own - well - let's say skin. Also, it seems I don't care for a great many things, or their names. Shakespeare once asked if (and I'm paraphrasing) the names of things really affected their innate qualities. Yes. They do.

So, if given the opportunity, would I do all this again?

The Bryan's 2.0 Experience

The self-titled post.


It has been a long, hard row to hoe getting this far. There were randomly placed stones strewn about the field, blocking any attempt to cultivate the land. Some of these boulders, namely the ones known as blogging from the circulation desk (like right now) and procrastination, were added by yours truly.



This is not, however, supposed to be a rant of the faults or failings of this program or its participant. What this is supposed to be is an analysis of the positives. So:



The best things in this life are the simplest and most flexible. The same is true for the applications explored in this exercise. Those options which improve communication without being cumbersome win out over those which fail to do so.

RSS allows end users to consume content in a manner that suits them while permitting the producers of said content to disseminate information to a wider audience (that is, it's quicker and simpler to add a feed than to frequent a website, meaning that more people will have an easier time getting the message). Similarly, the direct comm-oriented bits (IM, Twitter, MySpace, Flickr, etc.) allow the rapid transmission of ideas without a cumbersome interface (for the most part). There is a reason that cell phone text messaging is so popular: it's fast and easy.

Which brings me to my final point, one which was also made much earlier: portability is paramount. RSS, IM, MySpace? Welcome to 2000. Really. Some of this stuff has been around since the 90's! Amazon has had user-reviewed products and the so-called long tail since what, 2001 at the latest?

Around the same time as all this, an ingenious little device known as the BlackBerry made its debut. By combining the powers of a PDA, cell phone, and (underpowered) notebook computer, this little guy brought all these cool webby particulars into the palm of your hand. Now Steve Jobs has given the BlackBerry a fancy touch screen and two-year period of servitude, er, service contract. By releasing the product as the iPhone at five times the cost of its predecessor, Apple has revived interest in portable computers.



Welcome to the future.



Style over substance.

It's A Cigarette

Why the image of the hand-rolled cigarette, you ask? This is why. Near as I can tell, Rollyo is short for "roll-your-own", and the image seemed to fit. I poked at the site for a bit, tried a few searches (including the "rare books" one), and came to one irresistible conclusion.

No; Google is just fine, thank you.