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 These days, I mostly post my tech musings on Linkedin.  https://www.linkedin.com/in/seanmcgrath/

Friday, July 31, 2009

Lisa Hannigan <-> Beth Gibbons

So, I've been playing Lisa Hannigan's debut album a lot lately. I have been nagged by the feeling that she reminded me of someone and I couldn't put my finger on it. I've previously blogged the bits that remind me of Leonard Cohen and Norah Jones but the one I missed has finally
come to me: Beth Gibbons of Portishead. It feels like a mystery solved.

Wednesday, July 29, 2009

Faster Jython?

Yes, and faster jruby etc. etc. All thanks to invokedynamic in JDK7. Its been a long time since 2004 but kudos to Tim for getting that ball rolling.

Library of Congress

Well, without a doubt, the highlight of this trip to D.C. for me was the behind-the-scenes tour of the Library of Congress. The scale of the operation is just astounding. I got to stand next to some books that Gutenburg himself probably touched. I got to breath that unmistakable aroma that comes from really, really old books.

The Library of Congress does *volume* like no other entity I know and it was truly impressive. I stood in the stacks - the size of two football fields. 2.5 million books. I gazed at a 5 foot high card catalog which, essentially, disappeared over the horizon in both directions. Amazing. A Disneyland for a book nerd like me.

Sunday, July 26, 2009

Books, cats...life is good

I'm at the AALL conference in Washington DC and amongst all the predictable exhibits from publishers and technology types there is a lady selling T-shirts and nightshirts of a "bookish" nature.

The one that really caught my eye said "Books, cats...life is good".

I can think of, oh, 30 people straight away who would either love one or have a significant other who would love one.