An Excellent Piece of Library News!

I just read in the Herald-Leader today that the Lexington Public Library is extending their hours! In these times of budget strains and economic woe, this is heartening news for librarians everywhere! Starting in April, every LPL location will stay open two extra hours on Fridays (closing at 7 pm instead of 5 pm), and they will extend their Sunday hours to 6 pm instead of the current 5 pm.
According to the paper, our current economic situation has sparked increased usage of the library, especially by people who are job-hunting. Increased usage! This is definitely a good sign. Even when the economy is under stress and unemployment is on the rise, libraries retain their immense worth to the community. The value of their services may even increase when some of our other luxuries are taken away.
The closing of the research library of the Wall Street Journal was a cause for concern for me, but this great news right here in Lexington gives me hope. Some libraries may be (wrongly?) seen as dispensable, but here in Lexington things have proven otherwise. In a time of need, our library has stepped up to serve its community, responding to increased usage by making themselves more available.

Be nice to your computer!

Thought I would share with you this sobering video about the dangers of technology.

Ascii Art and E-cards

My last two posts have been medically related, and today's is going to follow in that same vein. I found out today that UK Hospital offers a service through which you can send e-greetings to patients (I discovered this fact through my friend's family's blog, which I wrote about two posts ago). So I immediately took advantage of this fantastic service! You can create a greeting though this website, and a UK Healthcare volunteer will print it out and deliver it to the patient. Cards can be sent to anyone who is at UK Chandler Hospital, Markey Cancer Center or Kentucky Children's Hospital.

Originally, when I was thinking "e-greeting," I was imagining being able to pick a template or at least a picture or some kind of design to go on the card. I wanted to send a sappy card with fuzzy kitties and hearts and balloons... you can imagine my disappointment when I was not able to do this. As you'll see if you go to the site, the only option available to me were patient's name, room number, etc., and a box to enter "your message." So I was thinking, how boring can this be? My friend will receive a piece of paper with my typed message on it. And there are only so many of these :) :) :) a person can put up with.

I overcame this obstacle through the wonders of ascii art. You might have seen a little bit about ascii in our readings for module 1. Today it became very useful for me. I found a website that is a veritable ascii art bonanza! So now the only limit to my e-greeting is the size of the text box (500 characters) and the extent of this ascii dictionary. I was amazed at how many people have obviously put much time and effort into creating these designs. My e-greeting was ultimately a success-- I used the butterfly seen above. And in case anyone is wondering, it is nearly impossible to incorporate ascii art within the text of a blog!

Robots at UK Hospital

I read a really neat article in today's Herald-Leader about robots that are being used at UK Hospital. They are currently using two of these "TUG" robots, which are basically big mobile cabinets, to transport blood and other patient specimens from the draw point in the hospital to the lab across the street for testing. The trip between these two points is about a mile long (round-trip), includes crossing a pedway and using elevators, and is typically made about 15 or 20 times each day.
Sending the TUG robots is advantageous to the hospital because they now have a reliable method for delivery (apparently they have had problems with employees stopping to talk on cell phones, grabbing coffee, etc.) and they know about how long it will take. Previously, they had to pull employees from the phlebotomy station and send them to the lab with samples, which became a problem because patients were having to wait in long lines to have their blood drawn.
There are lots of pictures of the robots on Kentucky.com, and included in the online article, there is a video of one of the robots making the trip - here. The robots stop when their way is blocked and wait for it to become clear, and they are able to operate the elevators using radio signals (apparently they are very polite and wait for all humans to exit the elevator before sending it to the floor they need).
The hospital is paying $18,000 per year to lease the robots, plus $3,000 maintenance, and if they like them after the year is up, they may buy them outright. In the comments section below the online article, a few people have pointed out that for this expense, the hospital could have hired another employee. I'd be interested to know how much the robots will cost to buy, and how long they are expected to last, because it does seem that hiring another employee to do this legwork could be cheaper. But that does not take into account the hospital's complaint of employees calling in, dawdling, smoking, etc. These robots, so far, seem to have proven a more reliable method of transportation for these time-sensitive materials.

Blogging in the Face of Adversity

I have lately been introduced to a use for blogs that I had not considered before. I have a friend who was involved in a serious accident recently. Her family and those who are very close to her have been keeping a blog about her progress, and updating it very regularly.
I am so glad they are doing this, and I can see its utility from more than one angle. From my point of view, I have been very concerned about my friend, and toward the beginning of the ordeal I felt like I was always asking people "what's happening now?" and "now?" and "any news in the last hour?" I was very concerned and really wanted a constant feed of information, but at the same time I felt guilty for asking because I don't want to make her family and friends dwell on it any more than they already are. Plus the answer to my questions has usually been "wait and see," and that can be hard. Now that I have access to the blog, I don't have to ask, I can just check the posts and keep up to date with recent developments.
I think this makes it easier on her family as well, because they don't have to keep answering the same tough questions over and over again, and they don't have to call everyone any time a bit of progress is made. And since we cannot currently send flowers, the opportunity to leave comments on the blog has provided concerned parties with a simple way to show their support for my friend and her family.
Also, the blog could serve as a record of sorts, if ever anyone would like to look back at this tough time and remember how it was overcome. Every day looks a little bit brighter.

Kindle?

I just discovered last night that I have an acquaintance who owns a Kindle, so hopefully soon I'll be able to see it! I have done some looking into them, and I have been very curious to see their e-ink technology. I hear people talk about them on many of my LIS discussion boards, and people always say the glare would be terrible, staring at a Kindle for a few hours would hurt my eyes, and so on, but if you do some reading about them, there is no backlighting, and supposedly no glare! Even in bright sunlight, they say it appears just like the page of a book. I would assume this means you can't read it in the dark. And according to my friend who has one, the display is truly amazing and doesn't hurt her eyes at all.
She has the Kindle I. I am so excited to see it. I will keep you all posted (ha).

The Singularity

I recently read an article in Rolling Stone about Ray Kurzweil, who seems like a very interesting character.  He is an inventor who pioneered enabling computers to read text and to translate it into speech.  He is in the Inventors Hall of Fame and has received the National Medal of Technology.  He is known for his ability to make accurate predictions about the future, and most interesting to me is his prediction of what he calls the Singularity, which he says will happen by 2045.  

The Singularity is the merging of humans and machines.  According to his predictions, in the 2030's, nanobots will course through our bloodstreams, eliminating disease and reversing aging.  They will be able to scan a person's brain and transfer it to a robot, so that if something happens to the body, the mind can live on.  After 2045, nanobots will replicate and spread throughout matter, stones, trees-- turning them into computers.  To quote Kurzweil, "the universe is not conscious, yet, but it will be."  

This "Singularity" is a very controversial topic.  There is fear that if computers become smarter than humans, they could get out of control.  Kurzweil says that an "out-of-control replicating nanobot" could destroy the Earth's biomass in only a couple of months.  

Many scientists are skeptical about Kurzweil's prediction, calling it a "new religion" (Kurzweil refers to believers as Singularitarians) and saying it is not likely to happen.  It does certainly seem quite a far cry from where we are right now.  Kurzweil refers to the exponential power of technology, saying that it is developing faster than we can imagine, but one virtual-reality pioneer says "the Singularity won't happen because software sucks."

Also interesting to note is the fact that after the Singularity comes into effect, Kurzweil plans to use technology to bring his dead father back to life.  He has been known for his amazingly accurate predictions in the past, but to me this one seems a little too far out there.  I don't know how anyone could say they know what life will be like that far down the road.  But it's definitely fun to think about.