Year: 2011

  • “Where in the world are you…. exactly?”

    If you’re talking to a member of the degree confluence project, they really mean exactly.

    When you were young, did you ever look at those lines on the globe and wonder what it was like where two of those lines met? Well Alex Jerrett and Peter Cline did too, and they decided to find out.

    They did not find two lines drawn into  the earth (as a certain 5-year-old once imagined), but rather, this oddly-shaped tree in New Hampshire:

    43 degrees north, 72 degrees west

    Thus began the “Degree Confluence Project,” proudly hosted by ibiblio.

    In their own words:

    “The goal of the project is to visit each of the latitude and longitude integer degree intersections in the world, and to take pictures at each location. The pictures, and stories about the visits, will then be posted here.”
    (more…)

  • ibiblio Director recognized for pioneering spirit

    According to their website, The IBM Faculty Awards is a competitive worldwide program intended to:

    • Foster collaboration between researchers at leading universities worldwide and those in IBM research, development and services organizations
    • Promote courseware and curriculum innovation to stimulate growth in disciplines and geographies that are strategic to IBM.

    This is the second year running that Mr. Jones has been honored thus, and we are excited to be a part of an effort at collaboration and innovation. Jones said of the award:

    “This money will help us set the future directions for ibiblio services and to explore new partnerships.”

    We at ibiblio thank IBM for the recognition, and are excited to bring what we have to offer to the open source community to the next level.

  • Philip Levine

    Balladeer for the working man, newest Poet Laureate of the United States

    With the arrival of autumn, we enter a new literary season, according to the Library of Congress. To usher in this period of erudite orchestration and balladry, the Librarian of Congress has appointed poet Philip Levine (who thankfully would never use the phrase erudite orchestration) as the new Poet Laureate of the United States.

    Levine was born in 1928. He grew up in Detroit, and worked various blue-collar and manufacturing jobs. He began writing poetry in college, and has since been the recipient of many distinguished honors and awards, including the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award.

    Describing the inspiration for his poem “What Work Is”, Levine talks of an episode in which he was made to wait in the rain for two hours with a group of men looking for work outside of a Ford plant. He recalls:

    “I realized that they’d done this on purpose… They required a test of our docility. If we hadn’t waited for two hours, then we weren’t right for these sh**ty jobs… And it angered me. I carried that anger with me for many, many years…”

    The anger at the indignity suffered by America’s working class comes through in much of Levine’s work, especially earlier in his career. His later writing includes more of an ironic, and loving touch.

    This “loving irony” is a quality that makes Mr. Levine instantly likable, and it certainly comes through in some of his readings, which are available on the Internet Poetry Archive, hosted by ibiblio. On this site users can listen to Levine, as well as other poets such as Nobel laureates Seamus Heaney and Czeslaw Milosz read and discuss a selection of their own works.

    Here is Levine reading his National Book Award-winning poem: “what_work_is

    The IPA is a unique resource, and contains recordings of these distinguished artists that are not found anywhere else. We at ibilio highly recommend browsing the collection, and maybe you too will be inspired to try out your lyrical chops…

    In exposure to po’ms are you wanting?

    Seek ye words both alluring and haunting?

    To remedy this, do not be remiss,

    to find them need not be so daunting…

    All you have to do is visit the Internet Poetry Archive, at ibiblio!

    Hm, maybe we’d better leave it to the pros. Congratulations, Philip Levine!