Can it be the breeze that fills the trees

[austin_dern]

There's a trick to borrowing DVDs from the library that probably occurs to anyone aware of the three-day limit on borrowings: since most of the library branches are closed on Sundays, Sunday due dates are automatically bumped to Monday. So Thursday is obviously the day to take things out, particularly as I can't really get to watching anything I want until my father's done for the night, and he goes until well into the evening. So I was looking eagerly to borrowing something on Thursday, because of a great calendar coincidence: the whole library system is closed for Christmas, of course, but enough of the branches that are closed on Sundays are also closed Christmas Eve. Therefore borrowings that would be due Monday are bumped to Tuesday and therefore to Wednesday, nearly a week for most anything I might want to watch. Even within my time constraints that's enough to catch something.

Eventually what I found wasn't specifically in the DVD racks at all: one was a show about the laying of the trans-Atlantic telegraph cable that seems to come from History Channel or an equivalent product (and why do you never hear anything about the laying of the trans-Pacific telegraph cables, when that would seem to be at least as challenging a task?). The second was actually a videotape, a Ken Burns documentary on the Golden Age of Radio that dates back to when he was just making a name for himself and still created documentaries that were shorter in length than the thing documented. (It was not quite coincidence that orv had mentioned recently that I would enjoy it, if I found a copy to watch.)

Since the videotape was put inside a protective clamshell slightly more dangerous to open than a sea anemone is I brought all this to the circulation desk for them to open and cut away the poisonous stingers rather than use the self-check-out desk. Of the seven tabs that look like they might be unlatched to gain access only one actually does open. I also discovered that since the DVD and tape were from general stacks tucked away in the 620's of the Dewey Decimal System, rather than being in the Movies and TV Shows circulations, they were three-week loans instead and the library's state early this week was irrelevant to it. Hardly seems worth the rush to watch, now.

Trivia: William the Conquerer was crowned King of England by Aldred, Archbishop of York, the same man who had crowed Harold. Source: 1066: The Year of the Conquest, David Howarth.

Currently Reading: Empire of Light: Edison, Tesla, Westinghouse, and the Race to Electrify the World, Jill Jonnes. And I'm surprised that `Edison' is not in the Apple Dictionary.

Comments

[porsupah.livejournal.com]

After all that, it seems almost a requirement now to be a day late returning them. =:)

[austin-dern.livejournal.com]

And welcome back, good to see your name around here again.

I've got until the tenth of January to return them, too, which is really a lot for a total of three hours' programming.

[orv.livejournal.com]

I suppose the Atlantic cables get all the attention because they were the first ones, where all the problems had to be worked out. The Pacific ones presumably proceeded with a better idea of the challenges involved, although the undertaking was presumably a lot more massive.

[austin-dern.livejournal.com]

That's the natural assumption, and you can compare how many books you see on the first transcontinental railroad to the second. But then I've got a book describing the second and, I believe, third and fourth transcontinental railroads. Not counting the one in Panama.

[chefmongoose.livejournal.com]

Since my local comic book store has stopped renting videos, now preventing me from renting for two weeks and paying late fees with a box of donts, I've been making my rare rentals from Redbox, which is a large vending machine thing at the stop n' shop. $1 a day, which makes me weirdly eager to watch movies promptly but unconcerned about returning them.

I should be trying out the library, too. And finishing what I have.

--Chiaroscuro

[austin-dern.livejournal.com]

Oh, the place with the pirated videos? Huh.

I saw the vending machine DVD places in Singapore, but they never had the odd, obscure things I really like. The libraries here are more convenient and I don't have to fuss with region encoding or making region-free players.

[billfl.livejournal.com]

Oh no, it isn't the breeze - it's love in bloom!

(The main reason I know these lyrics is that I have the Spike Jones version of the song)

[austin-dern.livejournal.com]

I've got that one too, as it happens. The thematic connection was that it was the theme for Jack Benny's show and if I recall correctly he never quite knew why it should be.