Way Through - art on campus

Another piece on campus by Howard Taylor always attracts attention.

 

 

 

Tea and tanks

I recently attended an afternoon book launch which was held in a lecture room at the Army Museum of Western Australia in Fremantle.

Unusual juxtaposition - afternoon tea and tanks.

However perhaps not so surprising given the title of the book - Lest we forget? Marginalised aspects of Australia at war and peace.

You can find out about the book from Black Swan Press.

 

What happens on campus

Run for your lives!

 

 

 

The paper and the poster - open and ready for business

In June this year I attended the 35th Annual Conference of the International Association of Technological University Libraries (IATUL) at Aalto University in Helsinki.

I presented a paper on Implementing a Next Generation Library System, a topic on which I could speak for some time and which seemed to engage my audience. The paper and my slides are now available.

http://docs.lib.purdue.edu/iatul/2014/libservsys/1/

I also presented a poster on Virtualising the Bookshelf. I'd not done a poster before and despite the inconvenience it caused me in transportation the conversation and interest that it generated made it a worthwhile exercise. The poster is also available.


http://docs.lib.purdue.edu/iatul/2014/posters/3/

For interest my earlier 2012 paper on Visualization for New Generation Users in the Age of the Electronic Book is also still in print ; )

http://docs.lib.purdue.edu/iatul/2012/papers/42/

Public Art

I try to appreciate public art works. They don't always hit the mark, and sometimes that is just a matter of taste, but someone has gone to the time and expense of commissioning a work and an artist has produced something to enrich our lives. A little respect is called for, even if the end result doesn't work for everyone.

At my place of work there are a many artworks including some installations by the great local artist Howard Taylor.

I'm not sure this is one that really works for me, but it has a certain presence and has stood the test of time!

 

Enjoy.

If you want to learn more about the artist try this website from the WA Art Gallery. It also links to a self portrait this is one of my favourite works in the gallery.

 

Scar tissue

I was told once that rules in an organisation are the scar tissue of past mishaps.

 

This is so true!

The challenge is to wipe away the scar tissue and start over a fresh (but remember that some of those rules might still be needed!)

 

The Door Into Summer - Robert Heinlein

This is the Hundred-and-thirty-eighth in my one-book-at-a-time bookshelf.

 

I've added another Heinlein to my bookshelf. This one from 1957 but with a very new cover. I thought I'd read it but as I started I realised that this one, whose title I knew, had passed me by and I didn't know the story at all. What a treat. Not a long treat as I read it in the afternoon, and it had the unmistakable themes and characters of Heinlein, but a treat nonetheless.

 

 

Browsing is good for the soul

I love to browse my library's virtual bookshelf of new books.

 

I am intrigued sometimes, like this book about Shakers, what is that all about? And then later I see a second book on the same topic and realise someone is doing teaching or research in this area. And what is it with the green cats?

I love window shopping.

 

 

Maths comes to dinner

I was 'helping' ms15 with some mathematics at the dinner table using a serviette and my trusty Doctor Who Experience pen.

 

Most fun I had all day.

(I could say pie for dinner but that would just get howled down.)

 

Pizza night

A family tradition is to make pizza on a Sunday night (no, not every Sunday night). I use a bread machine to make the dough and everyone pitches in to prepare the topping and create the meal.

Ready for the oven.

 

On the go.

 

Out of the oven, set the table.

 

Mushroom, pumpkin and feta.

 

Yum.

 

Dinosaurs in the library

The old state library has been infested by dinosaurs.

 

 

And they have their eye on the new state library.

 

Librarians beware.

 

Not dead yet

I had the pleasure (or drew the short straw depending on your point of view) of making the farewell speech for my boss today at a whole of staff morning tea. She is leaving us for the ranks of the retired after a long and distinguished career.

I couldn't help but think of the eulogies that I have delivered, fortunately only a few, and how I've always tried to reflect the whole person. If you ignore or gloss over all imperfections then you rob the eulogy of authenticity and you do a disservice to those who knew the person and to the person, who is after all composed of all the highs and lows that make us human.

However this wasn't quite a eulogy, as the person was right in front of me, occasionally interjecting, looking thoughtful or laughing. She also had the right of reply!

All in all it was more fun than a eulogy.

Gardener's dilemma

It is always difficult to judge the moment to prune the roses. They are still putting out some great buds but the aphids and rust are a problem. This weekend? Next weekend? When did I do it last year? Surely July is getting late!

I must admit I watch the rose bushes in the neighbourhood and those council rose gardens I drive past on the way to work. When I see them chopped then I know that I am running with the herd and it must be time to prune. Are we all waiting this year for someone else to go first?

 

 

One last Diana Wynne Jones

I found The Islands of Chaldea in the bookshop yesterday.

 

Diana Wynne Jones is one of my recently discovered but very much loved authors. She is no longer with us so I was surprised to see a new book and then noticed that it was 'completed by Ursula Jones'. Oh dear I thought. My experience with other authors collaborating or continuing the work of a well known author hasn't been very good. However I looked a little closer and discovered that Ursula is one of the younger sisters of the author and the family had agreed that she should attempt to complete this last novel. There is a very touching afterword where this is explained and my fears were calmed.

I bought the book and am looking forward to a little more from Diana Wynne Jones.

 

Growing your own

Last November I obtained a colour bond vegetable planter, compete with good composted soil.

 

 

The first crop was a mixed success with the tomatoes and capsicums eaten by grubs but the beetroot and pumpkin were a great success.

The winter crop is cabbage, broccoli and onion. The wet weather has been great and they are thriving!

 

Let there be light

I drive with my headlights on during the day. I believe this improves my safety on the road. Other cars can see me more clearly and not do anything stupid, or if I do something stupid (and we all do sometimes) then they may compensate for my stupidity if they can see me. However the downside of driving with my lights on all the time is that the globes blow more often.

As it turns out cars are not always designed for easy maintenance. And I am not the most mechanically minded person. I could get the lights changed when the car gets serviced but that is sometime away and driving with one headlight (or none) seems to go against my goal of improved safety.

The car parts place will change the globe for me for $10 but do I want someone barely old enough to drive themselves doing that job and costing me $10. No I don't.

In the front passenger side you have to remove the coolant bottle. On the driver's side you have to unclamp the battery and move it about two inches. Perhaps the designers never expected the car to outlast the light globes?

Long socket and the battery is unclamped and moved back a little.

 

Out comes the old globe taking careful note of how the spring clip works.

 

Oh and by the way don't touch the new globe with your bare fingers or it will not last very long after you put it in. Hence the gloves, the lamp and the socket. And the car manual.

 

 

Job done. Money saved. Sense of satisfaction. Priceless.

 

Harry Potter and the French Language

Ms 15 was told that she needed to start reading some French books to improve further in her study of the French Language. This makes a lot of sense to me. Reading is the basis of her large English vocabulary and her grasp of the finer points of the language.

She found the French edition of the fourth Harry Potter in the school library and after a long time (for her) she is near the end. Harry Potter is a good choice. She knows the books really well and they are amusing and interesting but not too difficult to read (they are kids books after all). Now she needs the rest and they are hard to find.

So off to the Amazon Kindle store, and then onto the Pottermore Store and finally we have the first three, in French, on the Kindle. Happy.

 

 

 

Robert Frost and Chicken Soup

Something there is...that makes me want to find my Robert Frost.

'The Tuft of Flowers' was one of the poems I studied at school (as you can see from my annotations) that has always stayed with me. A sign of a great poem I think. You may like to read it online.

 

Chicken Soup (Julie Goodwin's excellent recipe) was what got me thinking. The makings had all been prepared by my better half who was out doing kids taxi service when I got home. I got busy making the soup which she enjoyed later. We made the soup together even though not together.

Robert Frost and Chicken Soup.

 

The personal touch

In my office at work I have a few personal touches, usually objects that have been given to me by the children (and hand made) or that I have acquired whilst travelling. They are there to remind me that there is life outside work!

Above my desk.

On my door.

 

 

Gutted

On a large campus there is always building work taking place. In this case one of the larger buildings has been completely emptied of staff and students and the building has been gutted ahead of a major refit. It is always interesting to see a building without windows, doors, internal walls or ceilings. The bones of the building are now visible for a little while.