Hard News by Russell Brown

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Hard News: Detritus

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  • Russell Brown,

    (And Russell, my natlib link doesn't go anywhere now, so perhaps delete?)

    Wow. A searchable online catalogue where you can't link to what you find because every URL expires after 20 minutes.

    Is this particularly user-hostile, or am I missing something?

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report Reply

  • Danielle,

    Is this particularly user-hostile, or am I missing something?

    A lot of catalogues are like that. In fact, one of my library jobs included going through links on course pages and running them through a little programme which removed the expiry stuff, so you could link to items permanently.

    Charo World. Cuchi-cuchi!… • Since Nov 2006 • 3828 posts Report Reply

  • Robyn Gallagher,

    Michael's voice sounds simply weak and pathetic. For that matter, he wrote very few of his songs.

    Hilarious! This reminds me of some punk kid on NZmusic.com who declared that he'd just realised that the NZ Symphony Orchestra were actually a covers band (and therefore shit) because they didn't write their own music.

    Since Nov 2006 • 1946 posts Report Reply

  • Paul Litterick,

    Wow. A searchable online catalogue where you can't link to what you find because every URL expires after 20 minutes.

    Rad, isn't it? What's more, search results are not compatible with EndNote, the industry-standard referencing app.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 1000 posts Report Reply

  • Russell Brown,

    A lot of catalogues are like that.

    But .... why?

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report Reply

  • LegBreak,

    he'd just realised that the NZ Symphony Orchestra were actually a covers band

    Fantastic.

    NZSO should look at running with that line. Might actually work.

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 1162 posts Report Reply

  • Russell Brown,

    Gio, from your post on This is New Zealand (Asian Edition), this image makes me very happy.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report Reply

  • Donald Reid,

    They also should have removed the time travelling scenes.One minute it is the seventies and then it is not. This was done so much better in Back To The Future II.

    This reminds me of a wonderful Film Studies 101 essay that introduced "Double Indemnity and The Maltese Falcon as classic examples of Pinot Noir..."

    Dunedin, New Zealand • Since Nov 2006 • 17 posts Report Reply

  • Heather W.,

    And for those wanting some light reading the SuperCity report is out.

    North Shore • Since Nov 2008 • 189 posts Report Reply

  • st ephen,

    At a street market in Sydney I picked up a copy of Discovering New Zealand (1970, McGraw-Hill), where I discovered that
    "In some ways they find it difficult to adapt themselves to accepted patterns of behaviour".

    No, they weren't talking about rugby league players...

    dunedin • Since Jul 2008 • 254 posts Report Reply

  • Robyn Gallagher,

    Oh, oh, oh! At last year's book fair I picked up a travel guide to the South Pacific. In the Wellington section, it had a photo of Cambridge/Kent Terrace, with a caption saying it was a "typical wide Wellington boulevard". Lolz!

    Since Nov 2006 • 1946 posts Report Reply

  • Rob Hosking,

    tDo Wellingtonians need to be reminded that the DCM bookfair is on this weekend?

    Not here. Our biggest family outing of the year. Other Half was born in Holland but has become quite a History of NZ art and literature buff. That and my personal addiction to second hand book ships makes it a big deal.

    Shame about our wee domestic economy drive. I suspect we can begin that again on Monday.

    No more little luxuries, like animal protein or soap, for a while.

    South Roseneath • Since Nov 2006 • 830 posts Report Reply

  • Kyle Matthews,

    No more little luxuries, like animal protein or soap, for a while.

    If you run out and slaughter something, you can take care of both of those things between the meat and the fat.

    Since Nov 2006 • 6243 posts Report Reply

  • Danielle,

    But .... why?

    Fuck only knows. There's probably some interminably long and boring article about it in a mind-numbing LIS journal somewhere, because That's What Librarians Do. Any systems librarians want to pipe up on this one?

    Endnote sucks, though. Zotero is much better.

    Charo World. Cuchi-cuchi!… • Since Nov 2006 • 3828 posts Report Reply

  • Lyndon Hood,

    this image makes me very happy.

    It's like it belongs on scalpelandgluedisasters.com

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 1115 posts Report Reply

  • Hilary Stace,

    Giovanni, that is a fascinating post of yours. That image of the book cover This is New Zealand (Asian edition) reminded me of Max coming home with a pristine copy (and there may also have been presentation copies in boxes?) but it was just a work PR thing and I never took much notice at the time. I wonder if yours is the same copy or whether there are hundreds of them out there.

    And that Wikipedia reference to Rewi Alley. I visited him in that house in Beijing in 1976. He couldn't say much to the visiting NZers and we just didn't understand why.

    Wgtn • Since Jun 2008 • 3229 posts Report Reply

  • Hilary Stace,

    Danielle, I agree re Endnote. So much it doesn't do.

    Wgtn • Since Jun 2008 • 3229 posts Report Reply

  • giovanni tiso,

    Gio, from your post on This is New Zealand (Asian Edition), this image makes me very happy.

    I can't get over integrating forestry and farming. Somebody just popped in to explain that it didn't quite work.

    Giovanni, if your copy looks like it might have been stored in a garage, it might be the one we donated. Oscar's father was involved in the translation and production of it (he was a Mandarin speaker) through the then Wool Board.

    Oh, that's a very special connection indeed. I'd very much like to think it's your copy except it's in mint condition. Although missing the dust jacket, so who knows, maybe it is...

    I've had requests from Auckland, Dunedin and Sydney, I think the only solution is to get hold of an A3 scanner. Anybody in Wellington who has access to one?

    Wellington • Since Jun 2007 • 7473 posts Report Reply

  • 81stcolumn,

    Hmmmm...

    Despite their origin or indeed because of such I fear for the Monkeys...where do they land ?

    I strongly suspect te Beatles would have been a better band had they chosen nicer guitars.

    WIth respect to the Sony PVR it struck me that you can see how this would fit into a history of design and technology. I would also grant the cult of Mac some grace in this respect. At least they have an identifiable history, what of the the Beige PC ? 20 years and one still looks pretty much like another.

    Nawthshaw • Since Nov 2006 • 790 posts Report Reply

  • Rex Widerstrom,

    You've uncovered my secret fetish -- old broadcast gear. Even pictures of it has a similar effect to that which pr0n has on other people (or so I'm told).

    Stored somewhere in NZ I have an NZBS "portable" tape recorder. It comes in two parts - a drive unit to make the spindles turn that's about 1m x 1m x 0.5m and can barely be lifted by one person as it seems to have been carved out of solid steel; and a recording unit that's 1m x 0.5m x 0.5m complete with valves. The VU meter alone is 3x larger than my digital solid state recorder. It entirely fills the back of an average hatchback and makes the suspension visibly sink.

    Still, I'll say one thing. Step on my digital watchamacallit and it's history. Step on the NZBS portable and you're history. Specially if it's plugged in, when it glows and runs at about 50 degrees I'd guess.

    And another thing -- it still works (or did, last time I switched it on and tried it). I doubt the digital stuff will be 50+ years from now, given I'm already onto my third.

    [I can remember the excitement of winding tape onto my first video recorder. But that was the late 70s and it was the mere size of two briefcases by then]

    Perth, Western Australia • Since Nov 2006 • 157 posts Report Reply

  • James Green,

    Library catalogues do have a history of being feral like that. I'm not really sure what it is. I'm not sure if it's changed, but Te Puna always used to redirect you to one of n servers, each with a different name, but search engines always manage to hide behind one name. This made it a biatch to bookmark, until I worked our the url that would put you in the queue to be redirected to a server.
    All of the academic databases have a similar expiration thing. I think it's because they keep your session search history live for 30 minutes, but most of the academic databases now also create pointable links that you can re-use later.

    Limerick, Ireland • Since Nov 2006 • 703 posts Report Reply

  • 3410,

    Anyone know anything about the Google Book Search Settlement Agreement? [Also, FAQs]

    Specifically, the wisdom of opting out or not?

    Auckland • Since Jan 2007 • 2618 posts Report Reply

  • Russell Brown,

    It's like it belongs on scalpelandgluedisasters.com

    That site is my new best friend.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report Reply

  • Russell Brown,

    Anyone know anything about the Google Book Search Settlement Agreement? [Also, FAQs]

    Specifically, the wisdom of opting out or not?

    I wasn't sure till deadline day (today) but I opted in my one little book, having been somewhat persuaded by Auckland University Press's point that opting in actually gives the owner some control. I registered myself as an agent for the other authors in the anthology. They have all given permission previously for their works to appear online, so I can probably do something about it if they change their minds.

    Also: that it's something I would find useful if other people did it with their books.

    David Slack just opted in for his two. He'll be with us to talk about that on Media7 next week, along with Martin Taylor and Lynley Hood.

    Two cool things:

    1. The copy of Great New Zealand Argument scanned by Google is in the library of The University of Michigan

    2. They give you a word cloud of your most frequently used terms.

    For amusement, compare the racy cloud for Chad Taylor's Electric.

    With the earnest, cardigan-wearing language of my book.

    I feel so tweedy.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report Reply

  • Lyndon Hood,

    Anyone know anything about the Google Book Search Settlement Agreement?

    My (mostly second-hand) impression is it depends on pragmatism - if you want to control what they do with your work - or if you approve, of course - opt in. If you feel like taking a stand against global companies usurping your stuff opt out.

    I source an template angry letter if you require one.

    My suspicion is it won't stand anyway. The way Google describes what they're allowed to do does not sound very legal at all.

    I can see why they would want to set up affairs so they were, by default, allowed to carry on rather than not. But it's all gone a ways beyond playing fair to my mind.

    Tangential on The Onion: Google Opt Out Feature Lets Users Protect Privacy By Moving To Remote Village , Google Announces Plan To Destroy All Information It Can't Index

    post links as your heart guides you

    Werewolf 4 is live. You might want to get your Sunday-suppliment reading in prior to the weekend if you're going to the book fair.

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 1115 posts Report Reply

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