Okay, I don't know if it's officially sleeping in if you get up at 7 am to get someone from work, but the fact is that other than that, I had nowhere to be at a certain time this morning and slept until almost noon. My dreams were very vivid and nearly psychedelic, ones that I've dreamt before and always have an intensity that leave me pretty well-rested, but kind of frenetic, too, and if I woke up I'd only have to close my eyes and the images would be there, and I'd go right back in. I'm wondering if I weren't a little manic last night--I blogged a lot and got pretty keyed up. Even this morning when I went to get A I was somewhat frantic--the phone startled me and it was on a different side of the bed, charging, so it confused me as I got out of bed and ran around to get it rather than just turning over. That's a little odd.
Also, on the way to get him my thoughts turned to someone who had been my friend but basically used me to get through her battle with infertility and then dropped me like a stone once her son was born. When I went to the doctor the other day, he asked about her and whether she had managed to adopt a child and I just said I didn't know. The doctor had known her from working with her years before and sees her as a patient. He just assumed I knew she was doing that. I only do because she spends time telling another woman in one of the nearby cubicles who is the process of adoption hreself. Maybe when she manages to adopt, she'll drop her as well. I know, there's obviously some unresolved emotion there, but it was odd that it surfaced days after going to the doctor at a time when I should have been focussed on driving and getting my friend.
She did help me get over my 'I can only really be friends with one person at a time' thing, and it was nice to have a girl friend and get together. But I certainly deserved better--at least a 'I don't want to be friends with you' talk rather than pretending to be friendly but just engaging in small talk. Even when L went insane and broke off our friendship on her blog nastily, I knew where I stood, though it hurt. This friendship just died from lack of care, as I tried to give the new mother space and she put me off for months, then years with being 'too busy'. I know she thinks she's very caring and focussed on other people, but just like the rest of us she's caught up in her own life and although I'd like to think there just wasn't time for me after the baby was born, I know that's not true, because she made time for people who had children or were trying to. I think I make her nervous, because she is well aware that she dropped the ball and she and her husband have behaved very badly in relations with someone they met through me. (As in, husband getting drunk at a dinner, running around screaming 'tallywhacker!' [apparently due to some latent homophobia regarding the host], then throwing up all over the place, and then her promising to make it up by buying dinner and never bothering to fulfill her promise. That kind of thing. She never seemed to understand why my friend might be upset by both the behaviour at the dinner and the lack of follow up to make things right.)
I guess the moral of the story is that some friendships, no matter how solid they may seem, are only there for a short time for as long as they are mutually beneficial, or at least until both parties realise there's no point anymore. And I was too passive and didn't demand to be treated better. On the other hand, I have one friend of 21 years and another of 12 with whom I know where I stand and whose friendships are deeper. But I do miss having another woman to spend time with.
Born, like other comic book characters, out of an otherwise trivial but life-changing animal bite, the Rabid Librarian seeks out strange, useless facts, raves about real and perceived injustices, and seeks to meet her greatest challenge of all--her own life.
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Sunday, March 01, 2009
The rights of women seem to be among the first to fall in Chechnya
Chechen leader imposes strict brand of Islam: Critics fear dictatorship in region where Russian laws will not apply
Ramzan Kadyrov insists seven young women shot in the head and found alongside a road were the victims of Islamic honour killings for having loose morals, even though the facts and quite a bit of public opinion do not agree. It's just one aspect of a move towards a stricter form of Islam that has some worried about the loss of separation of church and state that Russian law ensures.
There is a Jewish prayer where a man thanks G-d for not being born a woman. I thank the Gods I was not born a woman under Islam. I don't have trouble with Islam itself--but the strict forms are hell on women's rights. Lots of religions have problems in terms of how they treat women--how they should dress, how they should behave, etc. I fortuantely don't have that problem in my own religion, which is actually rather female-centric, but all it would take is a change in religious freedom and that could go out the window. Also, the rights I enjoy as a US citizen are not portable through the world, and that's certain true in many Muslim areas, among others. It seems to me that most Fundamentalist faiths seem to share the desire to control women, and any faith focussed on controlling half of the population in favour of the other half is just wrong, no matter what faith it is--Christian, Muslim, Jewish, or non-Biblical religions that relegate women to traditional roles and ideals.
And whilst headscarves can be pretty, and it's certainly any woman's right to wear them should she choose--it shouldn't be imposed on women on pain of punishment. It often seems to start with headscarves, doesn't it? Then it's a birka, or who you can talk to, and what you can talk about. Then it spins downward from that. Other religions have their own versions of headscarves, too, so I'm not just picking on Islam.
Ramzan Kadyrov insists seven young women shot in the head and found alongside a road were the victims of Islamic honour killings for having loose morals, even though the facts and quite a bit of public opinion do not agree. It's just one aspect of a move towards a stricter form of Islam that has some worried about the loss of separation of church and state that Russian law ensures.
There is a Jewish prayer where a man thanks G-d for not being born a woman. I thank the Gods I was not born a woman under Islam. I don't have trouble with Islam itself--but the strict forms are hell on women's rights. Lots of religions have problems in terms of how they treat women--how they should dress, how they should behave, etc. I fortuantely don't have that problem in my own religion, which is actually rather female-centric, but all it would take is a change in religious freedom and that could go out the window. Also, the rights I enjoy as a US citizen are not portable through the world, and that's certain true in many Muslim areas, among others. It seems to me that most Fundamentalist faiths seem to share the desire to control women, and any faith focussed on controlling half of the population in favour of the other half is just wrong, no matter what faith it is--Christian, Muslim, Jewish, or non-Biblical religions that relegate women to traditional roles and ideals.
And whilst headscarves can be pretty, and it's certainly any woman's right to wear them should she choose--it shouldn't be imposed on women on pain of punishment. It often seems to start with headscarves, doesn't it? Then it's a birka, or who you can talk to, and what you can talk about. Then it spins downward from that. Other religions have their own versions of headscarves, too, so I'm not just picking on Islam.
Labels:
Chechnya,
Islam,
Persecution,
Religion,
Women's Rights
Funny how they differ in meanings between the RSS feed and the website
Today's Dictionary.com word of the day was pedant.
The meaning as given in my news feed:
The real meaning in all its shading, as given on their website:
World of difference, hmm?
The meaning as given in my news feed:
pedant: person holding books in esteem
The real meaning in all its shading, as given on their website:
pedant \PED-nt\, noun:
a person who makes a show of detailed knowledge, esp. relying on books; also, a narrow-minded teacher or scholar
World of difference, hmm?
An archival document/public vs. private ownership debate in the news
Court: Va. man owns 1776 copy of Declaration: Tech entrepreneur purchased document from a book dealer for $475,000
Although it's a loss to archives, I have to agree with the court. I don't think the state of Maine proved its case.
Maine says that the disputed printed copy of the Declaration of Independence is a Maine official public document and is subject to their ownership because it was never officially released, but rather was retained by a clerk and then was mixed up with his personal estate, which was sold.
The collector's lawyers argued that the copy that was transcribed from this one into the town's books was, indeed a public record, but the Declaration itself is not. It is one of a series of copies of the Declaration printed in Salem and sent to Massachusetts towns (Maine was originally part of Massachusetts) to commemorate the signing of the Declaration of Independence in 1776 so they could be read to the populace.
I just don't see that as an official document; it wasn't produced by the state or local town as a permanently held record, but rather was a copy much like a facsimile of an important federal document might be posted online for others to read. Also, I'm not sure when the state law was made about releasing official documents, but the clerk died in 1929, so I'd be interested in whether the law predated that.
The collector didn't do anything shady, the provenance was not shady, and I don't think the collector should be out anything just because he was shrewd enough to purchase it and a public archives did not. I'm sure there are plenty of my fellow librarians who wouldn't agree, but that's my opinion. It's the court's opinion that really matters. There's nowhere to go up in terms of appeals for cases like this, so the matter is settled.
Although it's a loss to archives, I have to agree with the court. I don't think the state of Maine proved its case.
Maine says that the disputed printed copy of the Declaration of Independence is a Maine official public document and is subject to their ownership because it was never officially released, but rather was retained by a clerk and then was mixed up with his personal estate, which was sold.
The collector's lawyers argued that the copy that was transcribed from this one into the town's books was, indeed a public record, but the Declaration itself is not. It is one of a series of copies of the Declaration printed in Salem and sent to Massachusetts towns (Maine was originally part of Massachusetts) to commemorate the signing of the Declaration of Independence in 1776 so they could be read to the populace.
I just don't see that as an official document; it wasn't produced by the state or local town as a permanently held record, but rather was a copy much like a facsimile of an important federal document might be posted online for others to read. Also, I'm not sure when the state law was made about releasing official documents, but the clerk died in 1929, so I'd be interested in whether the law predated that.
The collector didn't do anything shady, the provenance was not shady, and I don't think the collector should be out anything just because he was shrewd enough to purchase it and a public archives did not. I'm sure there are plenty of my fellow librarians who wouldn't agree, but that's my opinion. It's the court's opinion that really matters. There's nowhere to go up in terms of appeals for cases like this, so the matter is settled.
Trying to save animals from a deadly fungus in the wild
Scientists Build an Ark To Save Jungle Amphibians
A fungus called chytrid has been spreading for the past 20-30 years through streams in Central America, killing up to 80% of the amphibian population and eradicating some species completely. A couple established a centre for capturing amphibians from the wild in the hopes of establishing breeding programmes to ensure the species survive towards a time when chytrid can be controlled and the animals can be re-introduced into the wild.
A fungus called chytrid has been spreading for the past 20-30 years through streams in Central America, killing up to 80% of the amphibian population and eradicating some species completely. A couple established a centre for capturing amphibians from the wild in the hopes of establishing breeding programmes to ensure the species survive towards a time when chytrid can be controlled and the animals can be re-introduced into the wild.
More than a little unusual
Mich. woman with 2 wombs delivers twins: Mother has a condition known as uterus didelphys
She bore each girl from a different uterus. Wow! The babies are premature so here's hoping everyone stays healthy.
She bore each girl from a different uterus. Wow! The babies are premature so here's hoping everyone stays healthy.
A master storyteller, gone
Radio commentator Paul Harvey dead at 90
I loved Paul Harvey's 'The Rest of the Story' from the time I first heard it as a child. It was often thought-provoking and he was wonderful in his use of a phrase, a pregnant pause, always keeping you waiting for his story's 'punchline'. He was a consummate storyteller, and those are few and far between these days. His distinctive voice was comfortable and inviting.
I loved Paul Harvey's 'The Rest of the Story' from the time I first heard it as a child. It was often thought-provoking and he was wonderful in his use of a phrase, a pregnant pause, always keeping you waiting for his story's 'punchline'. He was a consummate storyteller, and those are few and far between these days. His distinctive voice was comfortable and inviting.
(Shakes head sadly)
Breast-feeding, cell-using driver charged: Ohio police cite woman with child endangerment
I'm all for breast-feeding, but going down a road with the child nestled between you and a steering wheel/probable airbag IS NOT THE WAY TO DO IT!!!! The woman, when asked about it, said she didn't want her child to go hungry.
As opposed to a child with its head bashed in from blunt force impact.
I should stop being surprised by stupidity.
Really.
I should.
I'm all for breast-feeding, but going down a road with the child nestled between you and a steering wheel/probable airbag IS NOT THE WAY TO DO IT!!!! The woman, when asked about it, said she didn't want her child to go hungry.
As opposed to a child with its head bashed in from blunt force impact.
I should stop being surprised by stupidity.
Really.
I should.
Good library press
Hard economic times a boon for libraries
It would have been nice to mention that many libraries are struggling to continue such great services with budget cuts, layoffs, and branch closures, but hey, good press is good press.
Thanks to Libraryman for the link.
'Whenever you have tough economic times, public libraries are a place people go because they have no other alternatives or because they know they are going to get the kind of powerful information that will make a difference in their lives,' said Kristin McDonough, director of the Science, Industry and Business Library in New York City.
It would have been nice to mention that many libraries are struggling to continue such great services with budget cuts, layoffs, and branch closures, but hey, good press is good press.
Thanks to Libraryman for the link.
Interested in librarian weblogs? Here's your book!
The Liblog Landscape 2007-2008: A Lateral Look by Walt Crawford
I've mentioned this before. It's a look at various blogs written by library people and analyses how various metrics change over time. It looks at over 600 blogs from 2007-2008 and for 143 it also includes change from 2006 on. This blog happens to be one of those. I plan on getting the book once I can. It lists for $35 but is currently on sale at Amazon.com for only $27.76 (and thus qualifying for free shipping). I hope the sale stays through to the latter part of March. Anyway, I've seen some of the author's past work and I'm interested in how this came out. If you are as well, be sure to buy the book or at least check out his blog at Walt at Random: The Library Voice of the Radical Middle.
I've mentioned this before. It's a look at various blogs written by library people and analyses how various metrics change over time. It looks at over 600 blogs from 2007-2008 and for 143 it also includes change from 2006 on. This blog happens to be one of those. I plan on getting the book once I can. It lists for $35 but is currently on sale at Amazon.com for only $27.76 (and thus qualifying for free shipping). I hope the sale stays through to the latter part of March. Anyway, I've seen some of the author's past work and I'm interested in how this came out. If you are as well, be sure to buy the book or at least check out his blog at Walt at Random: The Library Voice of the Radical Middle.
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