Thursday, December 07, 2006

Whoa, a tornado hit London? Is Mary Poppins in town?

More surprising news: Google Answers has gone the way of the dinosaur. I didn't expect that to happen; I thought they were doing a pretty brisk business.

The Cincinnati Public Library has a plan for the 21st century. Most public libraries will be looking at similar changes, I bet.

Along with the Library of Congress, the Smithsonian consistently has great online exhibits. They've had panoramic maps of hundreds of cities up for a while now; for something more seasonal, they've put up the holiday greeting cards of Bauahus-influenced artist Werner Drewes. (I wish they'd sell these as holiday cards, actually - I'd definitely buy them and send them out!)

The U.S. Mint is also doing very cool things these days. Next up: dollar coins with the faces of the first presidents. Maybe Americans will finally warm up to the concept of dollar coins.

A new site about old photos: Old Pictures tells the stories behind the pictures. What an awesome idea!

For librarians (and non-librarians) who are looking to digitize analog audio: behold the Plug & Play USB turntable!

Tomorrow: lots and lots of links from others. See you then.

2 comments:

Bill Herald said...

Oprah: Don't miss "Women who lost their jobs because they played with maps all day." on the next Oprah.

Thanks, Jinnet. Thanks. (teehee)

Anonymous said...

I like dollar coins, and I suspect they'll come into use when inflation's effects make quarters unwieldy.

I like the presidential coins idea, because maybe this will shut those tired Reagan worshippers up. But given that the coins are to be issued at the rate of four presidents per year, I'm not looking forward to seeing W's smirk cast in metal, in just eleven short years. I might become one of those crazy people who refuses to take them in change.

BTW, sorry to hear that you suffered comment spam. I don't like making people type that verification word, either. But it's a better choice, to my mind, than otherwise restricting comments.