Blogger stats

Blogger have just added some new features. One is Blogger stats, which is great - they show you a map of where in the world you've been viewed. Where in the world is Lynwaho? The US, China, Indonesia and Poland. World domination at a glance.
What is Lynwaho? Its a mashup of my name and the Maori name for where I live, Opawaho. A pa is a fortified village and waho means means outlying or far-out, or far-off. So Lynwaho is Lyn far-out. Far out!
Getting some really mean spring weather now. Warm one minute, bitterly cold the next. The daffodils are pushing up and out though. I've just staged another raid/intervention on the development site, but I've ricked the muscles in my shoulders carrying shopping bags full of bulbs and earth. Being on someone's else's property made me feel deliciously wicked, just that wee kick of adrenaline, sure that some awful man will arrive in a dirty truck and ask me what I think I'm doing with his bulbs.

Secrets of the grown-up brain

This is the title of a wonderful book that I have been reading lately and recommending to all my older friends and colleagues. Written by Barbara Strauch, the sub-title is "the surprising talents of the middle-aged mind" and what a comfort it is. Yes, you may forget the name of your best friend's daughter or walk into the kitchen without remembering why you went there, but your middle-aged mind is actually functioning at the top of its life-time game. Strauch details new research that reveals that the middle-aged brain is about solutions rather than facts, and is synergistic rather than analytic, giving the lie to the widely held belief that a brain during midlife is simply a young brain closing down. The middle-aged brain is slower but better, able to make decisions based on complex variables rather than black-and-white factoids. Strauch reveals that mid-life crisis and empty nest syndrome are bunkum and that the brain can grow new cells. So there, all you young whippersnappers! I get so annoyed at those books labelled "for the over-fifties" as if the day after your fiftieth birthday, you suddenly turn into a brainless zombie with a head full of custard, incapable of functioning in your world and good only for drooling by the fire.

Still blogging

Yes, I'm still at it. Blogging has proved totally addictive, and somehow I always endup on my own blogpages. Looked back at the work I did on RSS feeds and copied some of the URLs to my blogpage. NZ life and leisure is a magazine that has lots of positive and interesting stuff about people doing things Here in NZ. I started reading a copy as I waited for my car's Warrant of Fitness (yay! passed) and was really impressed by the article on Aaron Kereopa, an artist who carves surfboards. His life story is a real inspiration, and his creations are so beautiful and original they just wow me. "The shifted librarian" (yes, thats shIfted, not shafted or shit-fed, although sometimes we might feel a little that way) was from an RSS feed, maybe other libo's out there might find interesting. Some of it is way subversive, which is great, because librarians are subversive people. Free information for everyone - in light of some of the world's regimes, this is subversive stuff.
I'm at the end of my five book challenge now, but I've given the fairies and elves the shove and have opted for cyberpunk instead. I'm really enjoying Cory Doctorow's "Makers" which has a sort of Bladerunner feel about it, but a lot less grim. Read it and see what can be done with RFID's, and how to convert Disney's Fantasyland into a Goth homepark.

1500

The library I work for (Christchurch City Libraries, Christchurch , New Zealand has just celebrated its 1500th blog posting.
You should look at it. Its a great website.
I've just been looking at screensavers, and read that free screensavers are the most frequent source of virii and "malware". I love this word malware - malevolent software coming at you like a great white shark, to the place where you surf and blog. Urgh.

Silvereye

Silvereye
Originally uploaded by noodle_snacks

Snowdrops

Snowdrops
Originally uploaded by Madam Mim

Today

Today we are going through the last phase of out CCLearn course, assessment and reflection. I have found the course very good, it has introduced me to a lot of aspects of cyberspace that I had little or no understanding of. It was good to get some time to play, rather than squeezed in between doing other things. I am not a good multi-tasker, and learn best when focused on one thing at a time. Remember the days when multi-tasking was all? Thankfully the tide is turning, and now management and human resources people are realizing that expecting staff to do four things at once is a recipe for having four things done poorly, instead of one thing done really well. It is not possible to pursue excellence and multi-tasking at the same time. Did Einstein multi-task? Did Galileo? The hell they did.
Yesterday I carried out my part of the Landcare Garden Bird Survey, which involved standing in the garden for an hour, counting birds. It was a sunny day, though not warm, so I fortified myself with several Irish coffees. (well, Scots coffee really, because the whisky was Glenfiddich). Counted lots of blackbirds, silvereyes and sparrows, which was what I expected. Found the first snowdrops in the garden, the first celandines and hellebores.