h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

The version I heard of the shyness study said that many people compensate for their innate shyness as they grow up, but that the marker remains in the brain despite the compensation.

I found this article about that study:

http://www.salon.com/mwt/wire/2003/06/19/shyness/

Banks and cars are pissing me off...

For the first time *ever* I am late on a car payment. I will pay it Friday, and call in to make sure they update the account with teh payment # but the person I talked to on the phone was incredibly rude. Yes I know I owe a debt. Yes I am making good on said debt.

To top it off I have two repairs that must be done very quickly on my car. One is the EGR valve and the other is my wheel bearing and hub assembly. There goes $300.

Hi. everyone ! I would have posted yesrerday if not for the white screen problem. I had no problem getting on hootoo, but sometimes it would act up if I tried to get to my space, sometimes if I tried to get on the atelier, sometimes if I tried to post on the atelier.

Am looking forward to your entry on the Kalevala, Titania. I have always been interested in epics (the Illiad, the Oddysey, Beowulf, Song of Roland, El Cid, Epic of Gilgamesh), but never knew much about the Kalevala. So don't give up !

I don't know if I really buy the permanent shyness argument. I am much less shy than I used to be. As a child, I was very shy with those my own age, but related well with adults. As a teenager, I could not relate with other teens. Now I like to think I relate with all groups well, with one exception- those in whom i might develop a romantic interest. When it comes to attractive members of the opposite sex, I'm still as self-conscious as ever

[{Courtesy}]

Hi Munchers, welcome back Z!

Remember how I said I intended to savor the Book as long as I could? Hah! I just finished it about half an hour ago, had to go put drops in my eyes because they had gone dry. All I will say (all I can say under the self-imposed ban) is that I found a creature that I really want to draw.

I don't know that this will help any Lil, but I would like to see your vision of the

Yesterday I:

Turned up an hour early for an appointment. Placement tested corporate types in leather chairs. Went to School 2. Had to explain in great detail why I had lost a book, forgotton to bring a tape, and was offerring three different books in order to get the resourses manager to sign a bit of paper. Went to the admin building and presented more bits of paper to more people until they paid me for finishing my contract. Signed a contract for one class. Got offered an office job (I have a sinking feeling that they are trying to promote me again. I wish they wouldn't). Splashed out on some bubble bath to celebrate all the money in my pocket. Went to a book shop to take down some titles for the incredibly long book wish list I've been preparing. Started to walk to school 3. Realised I was near second hand bookshop someone had recommended and made a detour and bought some books. Made it to location 3. Updated book list. Sorted out the book cupboards for the last time. Prepared this morning's lesson. Danced out of the building a free woman for the summer, provided I don't sucumb and accept aformentioned job offer.

So today, having taght my one lesson, I plan to do very little.

I was exceedingly shy as a child, not helped by all the moves and school changes associated with Dad's career. Both parents were determined to make me overcome it, my mother never allowed shyness to be an excuse and Dad nagged us to walk with our heads up as if we owned the land we walked on and not to look for sixpencces.

Some years ago I was dragged along to a group therapy thing where we had to take it in turns to sit in a circle and have good and bad things said about us by complete strangers. It was terrifying, but I squared my shoulders, walked into the room and paused for a moment and looked round for someone to say hello to.

When it was my turn to sit in the circle a number of the others said that I had great presence as I walked in, some found it intimidating and others attractive!

If only they had known how terrified I was, still am, at walking into a room full of people! I shall never go to anything like that again though.

I'm not shy at all but I do come out in red blotches at interviews and when talking to groups of people I don't know well. It's a condition called rosacea. Parties and other social occasions are no problem though. I'll talk to anyone.

What I think I missed to explain last night was that the Swedish article about the shyness study seemed to suggest that one of the conclusions was that you can't do anything about it - once shy, always shy, which is what I objected to - I believe you can work on your shyness just as you can work on fobias and other 'mental' things

In today's paper there was a small notice about the US Supreme Court allowing libraries to block porn sites on computers used by the public, since it's no threat against the freedom of speech

The notice also mentioned that a librerians' union and an organization for civil rights had objected because the filters used also blocked sites containing information on such things as breast cancer and homosexuality - it would be interesting to hear Hypatia's view on this

[Ben]

Sitting queitly twiddling thumbs before setting out to get to the vale of Avalon and the interesting experiences that await. Trying not to and shout "hooray I'm off to Glastonbury later today"

Right the time has come for me to go a wandering. I've got both the raincoat and suncream packed. I've got to remember to get some earplugs.
So see you all next week sometime!

Have a great time, Phil!~waves~

Have fun, Phil.

From what I read about the Supreme Court ruling, it was a very tentative thing. Apparently they decided that actively blocking certain web sites was not much different from passively not buying certain books (not their words, and I disagree), but they indicated that they expect further challenges to the law based on both free speech and on the cumbersomeness of enforcing the law.

Ah, CIPA. Child Internet Protection Act. It doesn't /allow/ libraries to block porn; it mandates it. Which is a horse of a different color.

The law was overturned by the 7th(8th?) circuit court - the one in Pennsylvania - after it was contested by the ACLU and the ALA (American Library Association). Now the Supremes have overturned the lower court, so we apparently have a law again. And it requires the actual use of filtering software - unlike the Missouri law which allows libraries to formulate a policy prohibiting assess to pornography or to use the content advisor. The law further states that the filtering software must be disabled if an adult patron so requests.

They have tied compliance to the loss of federal funds. There is a pesky program called E-rate where the government helps defray the costs of long distance telephone lines and data lines. So, libraries would lose E-rate funds. They would also lose LSTA grant funds, which used to be for basic equipment but now afre primarily for things like ESL programs, etc.

I didn't apply for the E-rate grant. We would have saved about $250 a year and the paperwork would have taken me a full week's work. Not cost effective. But, MOREnet applied. So since we have our data line supplied by MOREnet, I have to comply.

If I could put the filters just on the children's computers, then I wouldn't mind so much. But they have to go onto any computer that has a MOREnet connection. And the filters screw with the operating systems, and as Ti said, they block legitimate websites.

As to the ethics of the whole thing...like most librarians, I am fundamentally opposed to censorship. Let's keep the camel out of the tent. I also understand that pornographic sites are so well disguised that it's very likely you're going to inadvertantly stumble onto one. And some of them have a high vomit factor - definitely not what I want my grandkids to see. So, there's a problem between basic civil liberties and the practical reality of keeping this filth away from people who don't want to see it.

Also, library computers are in a public place with the potential that people other than the ones actually using the computers will see the screens. And when you have teens who deliberately want to make a statement and pull someone's chain leaving the stuff up and walking away for little 5 year old Johnny to stumble across...you get the picture. It's not an easy question, and there aren't any really good solutions.

[spk]

Sorry I've been out of touch for a couple of days. I read through the Order of the Phoenix between Saturday evening and 2am on Sunday, and for the last two days have been juggling my volunteer schedual with catching up on the sleep I missed. I'm going to re-read the book now, slower, to savor it.

So, Hi, all, and I hope to actually read the backlog next time I post

Irv! Long time no see. And Lil and Amy and all the rest: Heya!
(for all those who haven't seen me, don't mind the user name, just call me Dan or dd)

Been out of touch for a very long time. Been in the doldrums of graduating and boring meaningless job. Fortunately now I've got a pretty nice internship as a web developer/graphic designer, so all is well.

Am anxiously awaiting my own copy of the new HP book and also want to see Lil's phoenix drawing.

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