Here is my contribution to Valentine’s Day on behalf of librarians everywhere 
Enjoy!
__________
In other news…I believe the blog break is nearly over, and when it is the blog will be moving to new digs (as yet finished and unfurnished). Though I will miss my well-connected WordPress home, I hope that you all will still come visit. Happy Valentine’s Day!
Walking through the library tonight after having taught a library instruction session (which is part of what I do in my day job), I saw that these two models had been set down in interesting poses relative to one another. Even in passing by I could see that there were some close ups that might tell a story. So after work, I dug out my camera and went to work with the models just as they were positioned. I swear, I didn’t move a muscle
It is amazing to me how in some shots it looks like one model is talking, and in others the second one seems to be. Based on their posture, gaze, and touch it seems like they are practicing some pretty good communication and listening skills.
In my work as a librarian I came across this amazing site, which is thought provoking and alternately heartbreaking or amusing, though much too much more the former.
The way it works is a bit like a semi inflated balloon in ones hands. If you compress one part of the balloon another part of the balloon must get larger. If you squeeze several parts, other parts get larger or smaller respective to the amount of the pressure exerted on them. And, many of us know from experience, if one puts too much pressure on any one area, the whole thing simply explodes (but that is a metaphor that deserves consideration in greater depth later).
However, in the brightly colored maps on the site, country sizes balloon or deflate depending upon whatever statistic is being measured, whether that be the amount of a resources consumed by countries respectively or “the proportion of all people living on US$10 purchasing power parity or less a day worldwide,” as the map at the top of this post shows. Worldmapper has a detailed page for each concept being considered and also printable pdf page, which sometimes provides even more information. If you take even a little time to look at the map above, you can begin to see why I included “break your heart” in the title of this post.
But there are many maps which are even more stark in the information they convey.
Here is one one on deaths from drought…
…and deaths from malaria…
Are you beginning to get the picture.
Well, I thought it might be an interesting and mutually edifying exercise if we together mined these maps (there are 366 of them) and used them to spark discussion. Very usefully, each map is numbered and has a link which can be incorporated in a comment when one is making a point.
Here is an example (which admittedly is supplemented by the image below which cannot be done in the comments field of this blog):
“Map 58 shows which country seems to be the largest importer of toys…and map 57 shows where they are all coming from!”
Of course, you would not have to make a comparison. You could comment on a single map that got you thinking or weeping or walking, and why it did so.
Worldmapper (which has gotten a lot of press) very conveniently gives you several options in which the maps are categorized.
And if discussions arise around a country or topic, I will add them to the tag cloud of this post and hopefully attract more participants.
Finally, this site assumes basic geographical knowledge to appreciate it fully, but I think it would be a great teaching tool for subjects of all sorts, geographic and scientific and social, just to name a few, as were the Earth Lights sites here and here, which tell us a great deal about geography, privilege, and freedom. Not convinced? Just take a gander at North and South Korea.
Well, I cannot exactly say “happy traveling,” but I do hope it may be profitable, thoughtful traveling.
P.S. This site and mapping technology was created at the University of Sheffield in England, so it should be reliable.
Well, this new version of The Dassler Effect has had a more promising start than I could have imagined. And yet its previous incarnation was no slouch either (it still shows up first on Google). Because it was around for longer, it has far more more photos on it than the current blog and there is a far sight more writing of various types on it as well. Here are links to its categores. A word of warning: the photo and art pages do take a rather long time to load:
Of course, taking care of a donkey and getting it to go, I am sure, is rather difficult work, even if I have always rather had a fondness for the beasts, especially Puzzle of Narnia. And baby donkeys? Well, I cannot begin to describe their cuteness.
However, I digress. This story is really quite cool, though, and more so for its non-donkey aspects. The eagerness with which children wait to read and then read the books made a particular impression upon me. In truth, it rather brings me up short as I sit typing this in my room, with books strewn on the floor near the head of my bed, books still in boxes from my recent move, books in thrift stores around the city which I can take hours to broswe and buy at a pittance, which itself is only a pittance because I make such a handsome wage, books at the library which pays my handsome wage on shelves and shelves and shelves, with numerous computers that can access the Internet and, yes, millions more books throughout the state of Missouri, and books, used and new, at Amazon which I can buy for rather more than a pittance, but still at amazing prices.
Now, I am not saying it is a bad thing to have access to so many books. It is wonderful, and this story highlights just how much of a privilege it, indeed, is, one that is not only good to reflect upon, but one that I, especially as a librarian, should be seeking to extend to others.
Another intersting aspect of the story was how the donkey library is also striving to have people treat donkeys with more care and respect, which is very cool. Don’t care for donkeys? Perhaps you might consider the Kenyan camel library.
