Comments on Let Us Now Praise Seattle Public Library

Too funny. I was thinking the answer had something to do with astronomy (say, maybe that's how long it takes Neptune to orbit the sun).

i have a crush on raul.

i have a crush on raul.

Are you going to share the answer in the Google group thread?

What kind of underwear does Bill Clinton not wear?

Briefs.

That's fantastic. An on-call googler. I should have gone into library science.

The SPL is awesome. They have great books - reading Babylon is Burning. They have great CDs - listening to No Thanks! a Rhino punk collection that is THE BEST. SPL's also works as NetFlix if you're diligent, and they're very nice every week when I manage to return CD covers without the CDs.

Raul and I share jobs! Zing!

@7, hope you're not stealing CDs from the library, bc if you are, that's really lame. just burn them if you like them that much.

I think she's referring to forgetting them accidentally.

Raul is, quite possibly, the coolest name ever.

Obviously, his parents were on to something.

Librarians are the most awesome people on the planet.

Even the lady who sat down next to me and gently chided me for having pornography visible on my laptop screen, and suggesting that I angle it away from the children if I wanted to view it at the library. "We don't want to censor anyone" she said. I was pretty steamed, because I WASN'T looking at porn -- but the guy at the next table saved my pride by admitting to her that it was HIS porn. I think the librarian was a little suspicious still.

But that's what you get for going to a different library than your local. The folks at Wallingford are always delightful.

Yet another self-indulgent post by a Stranger staffer... no big suprise there.

But man... if that is what you are doing with your Thursday nights then I think a part time job might be in order.

I LOVE Seattle Public Library. I can't afford to buy tons of cds, so I've burned quite a selection from SPL. They augment my Netflix habit as well...always dvds to watch around the house. Last night it was the films of Kenneth Anger. I love the online holds...and on my daily downtown run I just run in and pick them up. Super cool staff too. And fuck me...I like the building too. I'll have to use the question line sometime.....

This is a LONG post. Add a jump.

Thx poe for defending me. Obviously, I'm not stealing CDs. I feel guilty when I don't return things on time. My only quibble with SPL is the 1 hour Internet policy. I understand why there needs to be some cutoff, but if there are computers avaiable couldn't the policy be that you could get another hour? A lot of our lives are lived on the computer, including job hunting, and an hour a day is a little short.

You don't post enough, Christopher!

This was tremendously awesome. :)

This just made me applaud in my dining room. And want a muffin.

Christopher, you obviously need to add the powerful weapon known at the 'quotation mark' to your Google arsenal.

Shit, I could have told you all the questions without reference to a computer. Mind you, I am a treasure trove of useless information.

Anyone wanna hear about the Arian Heresy?

I want Raul's job. Is it as simple as getting an MLIS? Is that really what librarians get to do? I can't think of anything that would make me happier than to be paid for looking up obscure stuff for people.

Happy to hear there are other libraries offering this awesome service - it's called 'askaway' in Vancouver, Canada, and I've been using it for years. I find the late hours are awesome for us bloggers who are itching for that special reference late at night. I plugged them in my blog a couple of months ago. http://www.seabuckthorn.net/index.php/?p=22

good god, you didn't think of longest lifespan when you saw 114years?

"Down the hall, second door on your left" is probably an answer to the well-known most-frequently-asked-question-at-the-library-reference-desk: "Where's the restoom?"

@ 25,

no sandy, its up the stairs, second door to your left for the ladies and third for the guys

Muffins? In Madrid?

What a moron...

Aw, cut Chris some slack sally@27. I'd never have known about this cool service without him. I just tried it myself and LOVE IT.

Plus (callie@17) this was probably all the work he could manage to do this week, aside from the readings listings. We all know he isn't great at multitasking.

Anyway thanks Chris!

Okay, this isn't about the library, but my dad and I were wondering about the ad and I decided to e-mail Ketel One and ask. They sent back the most pathetic list of questions -- not at all clever. Seems to me if you're going to do this kind of marketing, you need to have a second stage that's as fun as the first. In any case, here's what they wrote back:

Dear Sarah,

Thank you for visiting the Ketel One website and for writing us with
your request. Here is a list of answers that our creative agency came up
with.

1. Could be anything
2. Could be anything relating to George Washington (first president,
cherry tree, most schools named after him, etc.)
3. Boxers or Briefs?
4. Could be anything
5. Could be anything (where's the bathroom? Where's your office?
Where's the copier?)
6. What does 'D.C.' stand for? American citizens living where lack
voting representation in Congress?
7. Could be anything
8. What's the longest river on Earth?
9. Could be anything
10. What's the average distance from the sun to the Earth?

Kind regards,
Dana Hollenbeck
Marketing Assistant

HEY I READ YOU R ANSWERS I STILL DONT GETE THE NILE ONE BUT 114 YEARS AND 211 DAYS IS THEW OLDEST WOMAN IN THE WORLD, THATS WHAT I GOT WHEN I GOOGLED IT!