Generation Y's Bad Rap

People make a lot of generalizations about the younger generations. I liked this little piece: Generation Y's Bad Rap, Bus. Week, Oct. 8, 2007.

Video: RSS in Plain English | Common Craft - In Plain English

I love this video: Video: RSS in Plain English | Common Craft - In Plain English.

Bill Patry on Why I Wrote a Treatise

Why would a professor sink years into writing a huge treatise? PrawfsBlawg: Bill Patry on Why I Wrote a Treatise.

Online Users Spending More Time Reading Content

Internet users are spending nearly half their online time visiting content, a 37% increase in share of time from four years ago, according to the Online Publishers Association (OPA). The OPA today announced a four-year analysis of its Internet Activity Index (IAI), a monthly gauge of the time being spent with e-commerce, communications, content and search.

Web Users Now Spend Half Their Time Visiting Content, Far Outpacing Time Spent With Search, Communications And Commerce, Online Publishers Association press release, Aug. 13, 2007.

Dog Parks from Seattle to Minneapolis and Back: Lucky's First Road Trip

We just took a road trip to Minnesota and back. Since we were traveling with our young, athletic dog, we made it a point to stop at dog parks along the way. We'd done what we could on the Web to find them before we left, but information was sometimes skimpy. And so, for the convenience of others (as well as our own future reference), we're posting our notes.  

 

Spokane, Washington: Gateway Park  

 

Directions I-90 Exit 299. Follow the blue signs for Visitor Info. Park is north of I-90, between the highway and the Spokane River. Comments Gateway Park is a county park that was once the rest stop on I-90, just west of the Idaho border. It includes a state visitor information center and nice restrooms (always a bonus for the humans in the group!). The off-leash area is well-maintained and spacious. It includes an open field area and paths through trees. Shaded picnic tables are pleasant for travelers who are watching their dogs frolic. 

There are drinking fountains for the dogs: faucets to refill built-in bowls. The park had secure boxes for leaving donations. I think this is a great idea: we left a couple of bucks each time we visited and would happily have supported the other parks we enjoyed on our trip in the same way. This park is very convenient for travelers on I-90. Unfortunately, it's much less convenient for people who live in Spokane, since it's some 17 miles out of town. Spokane Dog Park page.  

 

Missoula, Montana: Jacobs Island Bark Park 

 

 Directions I-90 Exit 105 (Van Buren Street) Go west on Van Buren (toward University of Montana). Where Van Buren ends, park on the street. Walk over the footbridge to Jacobs Island Park. The dog park is to the left. Comments This park offers an interesting natural setting -- field, bushes, riverbank, river.  

Unfortunately, it's not fully fenced -- 

 

and Lucky is the sort of dog who would charge on out through the bushes to go chasing birds, so we kept her on leash. There were other people there whose dogs were having a great time playing tag on the beach or swimming after sticks. And we think our dog had fun even on leash. 

Missoula Parks page, Enjoying Your Pet in Parks.  

Bozeman, Montana  

 

1. Softball Complex  

Directions I-90 Exit 309 (Main Street). You'll see a blue and white "H" sign -- the park is near a hospital. Turn left on Highland Blvd. A softball complex is on the left. Turn left on Ellis and park. The dog park is past the outfield fence.  

Comments This is a no-frills dog park -- no water, no shade, only one picnic table -- but Lucky had a lot of fun running and running, and that's what counts. 

 

Across the parking lots there's a recycling station, so you can get rid of the soda bottles you've accumulated during the drive.  

2. Bozeman Pond  

Directions I-90 Exit 306 (7th Ave.). (This takes you to the visitor information house, where we got a map and the man on duty recommended this park.) Turn right on Main Street. Main Street angles to the left. After you see Gallatin Valley Mall on your right, start looking for a park on your right. turn right on Fowler Avenue and park.  

Comments This is a good park for dogs who like to swim. The side fence doesn't go all the way to the water (and certainly doesn't extend out into the water), so Lucky walked around it and took off running in the adjacent field. We got her to come to us (whew!) and then took her to the Softball Complex -- a much better park for her. The Bozeman Parks Division page says that the city has a "Canine Beach" and "a small Dog Park," but doesn't offer more detail.  

 

Bismarck, North Dakota: Century Bark Park 

Directions I-94 Exit 159 (Hwy 83) north (same direction as Lewis & Clark Interpretive Center). Turn left on Century Ave (about half a mile from the highway). Century High School is on the right. Century Bark Park is after the high school -- the Bark Park parking lot entrance is through the high school parking lot.  

Comments This is a spacious park, with separate areas for large dogs (Big Paws Field), small dogs (Wiggly Field), and obedience training (Fetch Field), as well as a central common area. 

See Something to bark about: Dog park on track, Bismarck Tribune, July 29, 2005.  

 

Fargo, North Dakota: Village West Dog Park  

Directions I-94 Exit 348 (45th St.) Go north about 15-20 blocks Turn right on 9th Ave S. Dog park is on the left, beneath the big water tower that says "Fargo." 

 

Comments Spacious park, with separate areas for large and small dogs. Sheltered picnic tables. There's also  

Yunker Farm Dog Park, at 29th Ave and N. University, but we didn't visit it. See Fargo Parks page on Dog Parks.

12 Ways to Use Facebook Professionally «

I want to save this link to tips for Facebook users: Web Worker Daily » Blog Archive 12 Ways to Use Facebook Professionally «

Encyclopedia of Life

beSpacific: Newly Launched Encyclopedia of Life Will Be Online Reference Source for 1.8 million Species: "Press release: 'Many of the world’s leading scientific institutions today announced the launch of the Encyclopedia of Life, an unprecedented global effort to document all 1.8 million named species of animals, plants, and other forms of life on Earth. For the first time in the history of the planet, scientists, students, and citizens will have multi-media access to all known living species, even those that have just been discovered...Over the next 10 years, the Encyclopedia of Life will create Internet pages for all 1.8 million species currently named. It will expedite the classification of the millions of species yet to be discovered and catalogued as well. The pages, housed at http://www.eol.org, will provide written information and, when available, photographs, video, sound, location maps, and other multimedia information on each species. Built on the scientific integrity of thousands of experts around the globe, the Encyclopedia will be a moderated wiki-style environment, freely available to all users everywhere.'"

Wow!

U.S.-born don't learn the language easily

More sobering news -- about the kids who are not lining up in libraries and bookstores: U.S.-born don't learn the language easily, Seattle P-I, March 7, 2007.

Teens buying books at fastest rate in decades

Here's some good news: Teens buying books at fastest rate in decades, Seattle P-I, March 7, 2007.

U.S. students learning less, reports say: Nation & World: The Seattle Times

U.S. students learning less, reports say, Seattle Times, Feb. 23, 2007. Lots of AP credits and better grades, but lower 12th grade reading scores.

Future Law Libraries, Generations of Lawyers

Interesting post by Bruce MacEwen, based on his keynote address at a conference on management of law libraries (firm): The Law Library of the Future?, Adam Smith, Esq.: An inquiry into the economics of law firms...., Feb. 21, 2007.

MacEwen discusses the different generations of lawyers and their approaches to legal information. He sees us in a shift from old model (information is scarce; librarians are needed in order to find it) to new model (information is ubiquitous; librarians are needed to help find the needle in the haystack).

Harvard University Library: Open Collections Program

Harvard University Library has a cool Open Collections Program where it's digitizing books, manuscripts, maps, and photographs in topical areas. So far it's launched Women Working, 1800-1930 and Immigration to the United States, 1789-1930. Valuable resources for students and scholars -- as well as idle browsers!

Books - Forbes.com

The Dec. 1 issue of Forbes has a special report on Books. Looks interesting, but I don't have the time to read it now. Thanks, beSpacific.

ETS Assesses Information Literacy

The Educational Testing Service has developed a test to measure undergraduates' Information and Computer Technology Literacy. Preliminary findings, based on giving the test to 6,300+ students at 63 institutions, are here. The good news: students could sort emails and files into folders; students recognized that .edu and .gov sites were less likely to have biased information than .com sites (well, that all depends, doesn't it? -- but I see the point). The bad news: students were often unable to narrow searches or to eliminate irrelevant results. The ICT Literacy project home page is here.

The Top 100 - in U.S. History

Lists and rankings are great for stirring up discussion. Here's The Atlantic's list of the The Top 100 most influential figures in American history.

James Patterson PageTurner Awards

Author James Patterson last year launched a very cool awards program, giving money to libraries, bookstores, and schools that promote literacy and the joy of reading. Home : James Patterson PageTurner Awards.

PrawfsBlawg: When the Law Review was Young

Doing research on the historical development of a doctrine, a law professor read lots of law review articles from the early 20th century and noticed that they seemed much fresher and more interesting than articles today. Andrew Siegel, PrawfsBlawg: When the Law Review was Young, PrawfsBlawg, Oct. 19, 2006.

Thomas's opinion about Kansas's law...

Should it be Thomas's opinion about Kansas's law? Or Thomas' opinion about Kansas' law? I'm strongly in the former camp, but controversy roils. Gimme an 'S': The High Court's Grammatical Divide, Legal Times, Oct. 17, 2006, Law.com.

Delaware Judges as Scholars

Usha Rodrigues comments on The Publishing Propensity of the Delaware Judiciary:

In the past 16 years, Delaware Chancery Court judges and Supreme Court justices have collectively written around 50 articles on corporate law topics (roughly defined), and 28 on non-corporate topics (shout out to my research assistant, D.K., for compiling these numbers). 35 of the corporate articles have been published since 2000. I haven't run any kind of study, but these preliminary numbers support my intuition that Delaware produces more legal scholarship than the average state.

Myspace is the Press's Space

The editor-at-large of the Seattle Times comments about the press use of social networking sites.

Make no mistake, reporters should and will utilize these sites for news-gathering purposes. People who post profiles, pictures and blogs in public places on the Internet are volunteering information about themselves, much of which never would before have been available to strangers, even those in the press.

Mike Fancher, Social-networking site post ethical concerns, Aug. 20, 2006.