Recently found … 09/29/2009

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

A Better Pencil

A Better Pencil

A Better Pencil

From A Better Pencil, by Dennis E. Baron:

I start with Plato’s critique of writing where he says that if we depend on writing, we will lose the ability to remember things. Our memory will become weak. And he also criticizes writing because the written text is not interactive in the way spoken communication is. He also says that written words are essentially shadows of the things they represent. They’re not the thing itself. Of course we remember all this because Plato wrote it down — the ultimate irony.

We hear a thousand objections of this sort throughout history: Thoreau objecting to the telegraph, because even though it speeds things up, people won’t have anything to say to one another. Then we have Samuel Morse, who invents the telegraph, objecting to the telephone because nothing important is ever going to be done over the telephone because there’s no way to preserve or record a phone conversation. There were complaints about typewriters making writing too mechanical, too distant — it disconnects the author from the words. That a pen and pencil connects you more directly with the page. And then with the computer, you have the whole range of “this is going to revolutionize everything” versus “this is going to destroy everything.”

More than a little food for thought …

Phew!

If you’ve been following the Philly budget crisis and fate of the Free Library, this just in:

Just minutes ago, the Pennsylvania State senate passed bill 1828 by a vote of 32 to 17. For all of you who have been following the saga over the city’s budget crisis, this is indeed the legislation that was needed for the City of Philadelphia to avoid the “Doomsday” Plan C budget scenario, which would have resulted in the layoff of 3,000 city employees and forced the closing of all libraries.

We are enormously grateful to everyone who advocated on our behalf. More than 2,000 letters to state legislators were collected from our libraries, and countless others made calls and sent emails underscoring how important public libraries are to the economic, educational and social life of our city. We also thank our incredible library staff, who despite the threat of imminent layoffs continued to provide excellent service to the thousands of people who use one of the 54 libraries in our system.

Stay informed by reading the Free Library Blog.

Recently found … 09/21/2009

  • Free online diagram software – Flowchart & process diagram, Network diagram, BPMN diagrams, Sitemap, Organisation chart, Wireframe, business drawing software.

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  • Register & use it anywhere, anytime: No download. Compatible with Windows, Mac OS X, Linux.
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  • Tracking your time—for your clients, for yourself—doesn’t have to be a dreaded task. Dispense with the preparation, avoidance, and gnashing of teeth. Freckle eliminates all the nonsense between you and your work.

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  • As one of the cornerstones of the U.S. Geological Survey’s (USGS) National Geospatial Program, The National Map is a collaborative effort among the USGS and other Federal, State, and local partners to improve and deliver topographic information for the Nation. It has many uses ranging from recreation to scientific analysis to emergency response. The National Map is easily accessible for display on the Web, as products and services, and as downloadable data. The geographic information available from The National Map includes orthoimagery (aerial photographs), elevation, geographic names, hydrography, boundaries, transportation, structures, and land cover. Other types of geographic information can be added within the viewer or brought in with The National Map data into a Geographic Information System to create specific types of maps or map views. The National Map is a significant contribution to the National Spatial Data Infrastructure (NSDI) and currently is being transformed to better serve the geospatial community by providing high quality, integrated geospatial data and improved products and services including new generation digital topographic maps.

    tags: maps, geography, reference, map, tools, social studies

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Recently found … 09/19/2009

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.