It is the function of creative man to perceive and to connect the seemingly unconnected.
William Plomer (via sahbapasta)
CRISP-DM model, Cross-Industry Standard Process for Data Mining.
Finding Sherlock: Archives- How else do we find Sherlock?
Just recieved this distressing note from a British and Irish historian list-serve I’m on. Local archives are losing funding all over the UK. This is really really bad. Cultural studies, which works with the connections between the ephemera of the social and the big ideas of the moment, depends on…
Historian accused of altering Lincoln document at National Archives
It was the largest find in Civil War history in a generation: Hours before he was gunned down at Ford’s Theatre on April 14, 1865, President Abraham Lincoln pardoned a Union soldier court-martialed for desertion and saved him from execution.
The pardon, written in Lincoln’s hand, was discovered 13 years ago by Thomas P. and Beverly Lowry, amateur historians from Prince William County who were poring over rarely touched files at the National Archives. Part of a treasure trove of courts-martial with Lincoln’s signature and comments, it was a testament to the president’s compassionate nature.
Thomas Lowry, 78, was catapulted to fame as a chronicler of Civil War military justice. The pardon, exhibited at the Archives’ rotunda in downtown Washington, became a new thread in the narrative of one of history’s most famous assassinations.
Except that it wasn’t.
» via The Washington Post
TweetNest
The app, as described by its creator:
A browsable, searchable and easily customizable archive and backup for your tweetsI’ve seen this tool mentioned a few times but never had a chance to check it out. Over the past couple years, I’ve had a few tweets that I would have loved to find easily. TweetNest looks like the best way to accomplish that.
Hat tip to Ian Hines for getting me interested in the idea again, thanks to his own setup with the app.
13th Annual National Freedom of Information Day Conference to be held March 16 at Knight Conference Center at the Newseum
American Library Association co-sponsors the Annual National Freedom of Information Day at the Knight Conference Center at the Newseum with the First Amendment Center, The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, OMB Watch, OpenTheGovernment.org and The National Security Archive at George Washington University.
The Newbery Medal
Named after the 18th century British bookseller John Newbery, the Newbery Medal is given annually to a children’s novel from the previous year. It is awarded to the best of the best and is considered to be an extremely high honor. The well-known golden seal that adorns the cover of a recipient novel makes the book an instant best-seller and a household name across the country. The award is given by the Asscociation for Library Services to Children(ALSC) and is part of the American Library Association (ALA). In addition to the winner, several books are also given a silver seal as Honor Books each year. The first award was given in 1922 to The Story of Mankind by Hendrick Willem van Loon (you have probably never heard of it, I know I hadn’t).
The medal, however, hasn’t come without controversy. In 2007 the award was given to The Higher Power of Lucky by Susan Patron. The reason for the controversy? The mention of the word “scrotum.” The word is used by a character named Roy who is talking about where his dog got bitten by a rattlesnake. Lucky, the main character, overhears this conversation and finds the word curious. This single word caused a huge uproar and the book was banned in many schools and libraries. I read the book and did not find the word to be such a big deal. Maybe it would be a bit awkward to explain to a child, but it would at least provide a chance to explain the word in a non-sexual context. In this context it was just being used as a scientific term to describe what had happened. Could the author had used a different word or had the dog bitten somewhere else? Of course, but this was the author’s (and their editor’s) choice.
The 2011 Newbery winner was Moon Over Manifest by Clare Vanderpool and it was her first novel to boot! In an article on Publisher’s Weekly, Vanderpool talks about what it was like to hear the news she had won. I can’t imagine what it’s like to publish your first novel and then win the Newbery Medal. Surreal, I’m sure.
all in favor?
“Perhaps in the futility of undergraduate careerism lie the seeds of a new vocational outlook in higher education. It is worth remembering that monasteries were the first institutions in the West that allowed people to explore options beyond the circumstances into which they were born. […] Why not bring together a core group of serious-minded but underemployed academics—who already have adopted a life of poverty, more or less—to form a college that has none of the superfluities that have made higher education the equivalent of a four-year Carnival cruise?”
“Getting Medieval on Higher Education” by Thomas H. Benton, the Chronicle of Higher Education.
