Jeffrey Pomerantz

A new exhibit both online and in realspace at the Library of Congress: Bound for Glory: America in Color Bound for Glory: America in Color is the first major exhibition of the little known color images taken by photographers of the Farm Security Administration/Office of War Information. These vivid scenes and portraits capture the effects of the Depression on America’s rural and small town populations, the nation’s subsequent economic recovery.. Read More

iPods making inroads at Duke, from The Herald-Sun By Yvonne’s own admission, the reporter selected the blandest quote possible: “Now we know more about what kinds of uses work well”… I should hope so!

This just in from John MacMullen, Reporter-At-Large for PomeRantz: Smoot, Namesake of a Unit of Length, Retires, from NPR For those of you unfortunate enough not to be familiar with Boston, the Mass Ave bridge, which crosses the Charles River to MIT, is measured in smoots, which get repainted every year — as I just learned, by the new pledges in Smoot’s fraternity. It’s called the Smoot bridge probably as.. Read More

I learned about this new board game yesterday. Daryl Hannah, of all people, has invented a board game called Liebrary. I haven’t played it (yet) but from what I’ve read, it sounds similar to Balderdash. From this article about the game: Players listen to the title and a synopsis of a real book, then write down what could be the first line to that book. You earn points for each.. Read More

Once again, my home town of Newton, MA was rated the safest city in the US. According to this CNN article, Cary, NC was also near the top of the list. The ranking is based on “six basic crime categories: murder, rape, robbery, aggravated assault, burglary and motor vehicle theft.” I suppose I should be proud of the old home town. But of course now I can no longer say.. Read More

Strunk & White’s The Elements of Style has been turned into an operatic song cycle. I’m not kidding. “The Elements of Style: Nine Songs” … had its gala premier Oct. 19 in the main reading room of the New York Public Library on Fifth Avenue.

UNC is in the news! We’re above the fold on CNN’s front page, as of my writing this (1:15 pm). The CNN article is about the new exhibit in Wilson, Slavery and the Making of the University. Unfortunately, the CNN article does not mention the library at all!

Actually only one rat. But a really really smart one. At least we’d better hope that this one is smarter than average, or the human race is in grave danger. Intercepting the first rat ashore, from Nature In November 2004, we captured an adult male Norway rat by using a chocolate-baited trap … on the uninhabited and forested Pakihi Island… The rat was fitted with a radio collar and a.. Read More

In a recent post, Jason used the term “format-shifting.” I’d never come across that term before, but it’s a good one. I interpreted it as analogous to time-shifting — Jason, am I correct in that? So it occurred to me to look at the Sony v. Universal Studios case, which ruled that time-shifting is fair use, to see just how analogous these terms really are. The text of the Sony.. Read More

The recent radio silence is on account of the fact that Yvonne & I were in Montréal for a long weekend. She for a conference, me just because it’s Montréal. And how big a geek am I? The first thing I did in the morning on the day that Yvonne was conferencing was walk to McGill & give myself a walking tour of campus, & then go walk around the.. Read More