No geek
is an island

So today I have started my new job. It is, as readers of Liberal Democrat Voice will be aware, as Internet Campaigns Officer for the Liberal Democrats.

What I post on politics from now on will be tempered by being a member of party staff (and I have ceased to be an editor on Liberal Democrat Voice for the same reason), but we’ll worry about that as and when. If anything, I’ll post more about work than in the past: previously I avoided doing so almost completely whereas now there will hopefully be interesting online projects to plug from time to time.

I’m working in a third floor office and have already been up and down the stairs several times. At this rate, I will be my target weight by February.

A special treat on the Doctor Who advent calendar today. If you’re looking forward to New Year’s Day’s introductory episode of The Sarah Jane Adventures (series title subject to change, according to DWM), take a look for a short clip.

Last Day is a track by obscure indie band Silver Sun, but not the subject of this post.

Today is my last day at Napier, my last day working in Edinburgh, and my last day in the library world. (Fear not, the much loved Dewey Decimal posts will continue as infrequently as ever.) As alluded to recently, I am following in the footsteps of Richard and Steve (who has made a welcome return to blogging) by getting myself a new job. Like Mr Kitchen, I am heading to The Smoke.

That’s four years in libraries, moving from customer services to electronic resources to cataloguing to IT and encompassing such new terms as III, CLA, FOI, HERA, AACR2, MARC21, DDC22, RSS, OPAC, SDI, EDI, RFID, OCLC, LoC, BLDSC, NLS, SQL, PHP, ILLOS… But it’s time to move on to pastures new.

More on that story later; first I have a desk to clear, files to sort, papers to bin, etc. For the time being, have a look at today’s remarkably prescient Dilbert.

The Labour Government want us to trust them. They made that very clear during the passage of the Abolition of Parliament Bill. The trouble with introducing regressive and authoritarian laws, though, is that while perhaps we can trust the current government (this is hypothetical; obviously we can’t trust this government), what about the next one? Labour’s only concern is that legislation should suit their current needs and why would they expect to leave power anyway?

This story from Time (via) demonstrates how that attitude can backfire:

Come January, however, the man that the liberal Nation magazine once called the “Eliot Ness of the Democrats” can do even more, thanks to the two words that strike fear in the heart of every government official: subpoena power. As the new chairman of the House Government Reform Committee, [Henry] Waxman will have free rein to investigate, as he puts it, “everything that the government is involved with.” And the funny thing is, Waxman can thank the Republicans for the unique set of levers he will hold. Under a rules change they put through in the days when they used the panel to make Bill Clinton’s life miserable, the leader of Government Reform is the only chairman who can issue subpoenas without a committee vote.

So, Dr Reid, why are ID cards necessary?

Without them, the terrorists will be able to sneak past any security and kill us all in our beds.

Can you justify the closure of accident and emergency units around the country?

It’s our way or the highway. We need to enhance A&E. If we don’t, we will all die.

Why does the Government insist on allowing religious organisations to run its new academics?

It is the right solution for education. If we didn’t allow it, education wouldn’t work, young people would turn into terrorists and cut us down where we stand.

Finally, Dr Reid, why shouldn’t Scotland become independent from the rest of the UK?

Scotland we be defenceless against al-Qaeda. Terrorists, death, etc.

I am, of course, completely taking the mick. Well, maybe not completely.

Completely unrelated, but here’s a quote from Francis Wheen’s How Mumbo-Jumbo Conquered the World:

“Non-medical ‘doctors’ who insist on drawing attention to their postgraduate qualification - Henry Kissinger in the US, Ian Paisley in Northern Ireland - always bring disaster in their wake: it’s tantamount to having the warning ‘This Man is Dangerous’ tattooed on one’s forehead.”

We’re better than the rest of you. The BBC says it so it must be true:

Left-handed people can think quicker when carrying out tasks such as playing computer games or playing sport, say Australian researchers.

Connections between the left and right hand sides or hemispheres of the brain are faster in left-handed people, a study in Neuropsychology shows. The fast transfer of information in the brain makes left-handers more efficient when dealing with multiple stimuli.

This explains why I am so good at Tetris.