Library App

I love my library! The Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County is really a wonderful library, and their online resources are pretty good….. but there’s an application that would totally rock.  What if you could create an RSS feed out of your checkouts, holds, etc…  This could serve as a “What am I reading now” list that you could port onto your blog, Facebook, Del.icio.us, etc…  You could also set up RSS alerts whenever you were getting close to the due date of the return or even the mounting library fees that I seem to be good at accumulating (up to $27 at the moment).

Here’s what has circulated through our household of late:

A place of my own : the education of an amateur builder by Pollan, Michael.
A potty for me! : a lift-the-flap instruction manual by Katz, Karen.
An introduction to biblical hermeneutics : the search for meaning by Kaiser, Walter C.
Baby Wordsworth [videorecording] : first words, around the house
Blue’s checkup by Albee, Sarah
Blue’s sniffly day by Egan, Brigid.
Clifford and the big parade by Bridwell, Norman.
Contemporary theologies of mission by Glasser, Arthur F. (Arthur Frederick), 1914-
Crossing the chasm : marketing and selling high-tech products to mainstream customers by Moore, Geoffrey A., 1946-
El laberinto del fauno [videorecording] = Pan’s labyrinth
Greed by Tickle, Phyllis.
I love it when you smile by McBratney, Sam.
Missions in crisis; rethinking missionary strategy by Fife, Eric S.
My first signs [videorecording]
Pirates of the Caribbean. At world’s end [videorecording]
Second nature : a gardener’s education by Pollan, Michael.
Smotherhood : wickedly funny confessions from the early years by Lamb, Amanda.
Strawberry Shortcake. The sweet dreams movie [videorecording]
The natural garden book : a holistic approach to gardening by Harper, Peter, 1945-
The new world [videorecording]
The Sweet dreams movie storybook by Bryant, Megan E.
Toward an exegetical theology : Biblical exegesis for preaching and teaching by Kaiser, Walter C.

(Can you tell we have a 4 year old girl!)  It would be so sweet to integrate my library activity with the social networking world.  Anybody know of a library that is doing this?

Meme Watching

Sorta like Whale Watching or Bird Watching only different. According to Wikipedia:

“A meme (pronounced /miːm/^[1]) consists of any unit of cultural information, such as a practice or idea, that gets transmitted verbally or by repeated action from one mind to another. Examples include thoughts, ideas, theories, practices, habits, songs, dances and moods and terms such as race, culture, and ethnicity. Memes propagate themselves and can move through a “culture” in a manner similar to the behavior of a virus.”

I like Meme Watching and keeping tabs on early adopters, trend setters, and innovators is key to the process.  But not everything that these creative-types latch onto ends up with the stickiness for the main chunk of society.  I like checking in on those gatekeepers who proliferate “ideas, theories, practices, habits, songs, dances and moods and terms” from the margins into the mainstream.  Apple is one of those gatekeepers.  So a good place to look is on their RSS page - Apple - RSS Information. This handy tool lets the emerging ideas (anything from applications to iTunes songs) port directly into your daily reading without you having to seek them out.  That is particularly helpful because memes, like birds and whales, can be particularly difficult to spot.

Wesley-ified.

So, I took another one of those Facebook apps quizes.  I took one a while back that said I’m “Very Reformed”, now apparently I’m also “Very United Methodist”.  Is it possible to be a Reformed Wesleyan?  If so then I might qualify.  According to the (fun) FB quiz I’m….

John Wesley’s other brother

You’re very United Methodist

Jesus - networked.

Waldensians - sign me up.

So we’re watching this video in the 11th Grade Bible class that I’m subbing - The Spreading Flame:

“This video takes you on a journey to the beautiful Alpine hills and valleys of Northern Italy, where the faithful Waldenses followed the simple path of New Testament Christianity. To Germany and walk in the footsteps of Martin Luther and see the doors where he nailed his ninety-five theses, the church where he preached every week and Wittenberg Univeristy where he taught. To the Reformation Monument in Geneva, Switzerland, and gaze upon the trusty features of Zwingli, Beza and Calvin whose witness for truth changed whole nations. And in England to admire the bravery and determination of John Wycliffe and William Tyndale whose combined vision put the word of God into the mother tongue of their fellow countrymen.”

The video is pretty boring, but the content is wonderful!  I love seeing how the Spirit of God has moved throughout peoples throughout history.  I had not had much exposure to the Waldensians, so I googled and wikipediaed -

Waldensians - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
“The contemporary and historic Waldensian spiritual heritage includes proclaiming the Gospel, serving among the marginalized, promoting social justice, fostering inter-religious work, and advocating respect for religious diversity and freedom of conscience.”

That’ll do.  That’ll do nicely.