books

Columbus Public Library Budget Cuts Force Me to Look for Alternatives

Submitted by J. Adams on Fri, 07/31/2009 - 15:17

<div xmlns:cc="http://creativecommons.org/ns#" about="http://www.flickr.com/photos/timetrax/376152628/"><a rel="cc:attributionURL" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/timetrax/">http://www.flickr.com/photos/timetrax/</a> / <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/">CC BY-SA 2.0</a></div>The Columbus Public Library system has had to cut its budget by $8.5M this year, which will mean fewer library hours, fewer media materials (back to 1988 levels!! - that sucks!), and no pay increases for its staff. This is incredibly disheartening news for anyone who uses the library system here in Columbus, Ohio. The library system is one of the few shining glimmers of culture in this city, in my opinion, and to see our state economy suffering so much that we would lose this wonderful resource is truly a devastating blow for my wife and I personally, and for many of our friends in this city.

New Books to Read: "A Study of History" by Arnold J. Toynbee

Submitted by J. Adams on Mon, 11/19/2007 - 10:25

While listening to TWiT this week I heard about the work of Arnold Toynbee called A Study of History which is apparently a massive overview of world history. I am hoping to dig into these books in the near future. Read on for links to the books on Amazon...

Part of Toynbee's thesis resting on the ideas that a great civilization's rise or fall hinges on the climate and suicide rates in that civilization. While I fundamentally disagree that a civilization is capable of shaping its own destiny by it's own bootstraps, this sounds like an interesting work of writing to plow through in the coming months.

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