World Enough and Time

Is that surprising? Is Tennessee so small?

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widget-alley.livejournal.com

.... Er, well, no, but most people here are not exactly the type to read your blog, if you catch my drift. On a message board of several thousand people I frequent, I'm the only from Tennessee, for instance, so..... it's not that it's small, just that it's unusual to run into someone else from here.

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most people here are not exactly the type to read your blog, if you catch my drift

Yes... well, actually, most people in Ottawa aren't the type to read my blog, too, and I'm always surprised (and pleased) that some of them do.

I was only in Tennessee once, switching planes in Nashville, so I didn't get much of a sense of the place. I wish I'd had a chance to stay and look around a bit.

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Only 420 miles away from you ! LOL

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That's what's most fun about this particular thing - you can see the distances between city, and between friends. That's so cool!

And 420 miles doesn't sound like so much.

I have a librarian question for you.... a friend asked me a question about American libraries that I couldn't answer. Do people in the States have to pay to get a library card?

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Public libraries, I assume? If you're not counting taxes, generally no.

In some cases, where a city doesn't have a library and therefore, no tax money is going towards a library (but they still need a library for resources), they may have to purchase a library card through another city's library, hence a non-resident card. In this case, yes, they are paying for a library card. But I don't think this is the norm.

Not all libraries allow non-resident cards. My library, for example. In Michigan at least, that is up to the individual library and their community.

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That sounds like the system that used to exist in Ottawa - though since the libraries amalgamated when the city did (i.e., local suburbs were all subsumed into the city like a big ameoba) there are, I think, no more non-resident cards since everybody around is a resident. Interlibrary loan covers the rest.

Libraries are such wonderful things. Today Interlibrary Loan got Batman: No Man's Land, vol. 4, for me - something I could never have been able to afford to buy. And a few days ago, a beautiful hardcover copy of Hulk Grey. I am a happy fan.

Not to mention Amphibious Thing by Lucy Moore, which I have almost finished reading.

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You have to remember, if you have a library in your city, you can usually register your card in any of the surrounding areas and go from library to library with your card. All they care about is that you pay taxes to someone, lol, because it means you are supporing a collection in the library community.

There are over 100 libraries on our own network.

There are exceptions. Troy, where I used to live, gives their cards to any bordering cities, and non-resident cards to Bloomfield Hills, which does not have a library.

Interlibrary loan is available to ALL once you register with your library. The Michigan MelCat system was one of the first (and best) nationally to combine libraries from all over a state in order to provide easy access, speedy loans. Most come within three days.

It's addictive. I am thinking of my 18+ Prince Rupert books over vacation. Not only are public libraries on interloan, but all kinds of academic and special libraries too. Isn't it fab!

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I don't know how many libraries there are in the Ottawa system. There are no bordering communities now - Ottawa took in all the little, close towns and to get beyond that you'd have to go to - I'm not sure. Smith's Falls? Kingston? There isn't much around Ottawa, outside the city limits, except farms and trees for a long, long way.

I love being able to get these books. "Amphibious Thing" is from the Toronto Public Library. So was "Batman: No Man's Land". Yay for Toronto! "Hulk: Gray" is from the Halifax Public Library.

It's a wonderful system.

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Lol. So there's just one library in Ottawa?

In my area, that wouldn't work. There's Detroit, but then the suburbs are all majorly populated in their own right. Most of the population of Michigan lives in the metro area, so there are many-many-many libraries from county to county.

I'm sure it's different from location to location, even within the States.

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One library system. Many, many branches, which they keep trying to close. Here's a map and list...:http://www.biblioottawalibrary.ca/explore/branches/loc_e.html

Seems to be 32 different branches.

And "Amphibious Thing" is due today and I'm not quite finished it - waah! I'll get to read at lunchtime but I'll probably have to skim the last chapter or so. It'll be close.

The Detroit area has much greater population, much denser than around here. Ottawa is pretty much surrounded by nothing. Our closest big city is Montreal - two and a half hours away by car. Our closest small city is Kingston - probably about the same.

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Oooh, branches work too.

Can you renew the interloan??

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I could have renewed it if I'd done it two days ago. As it is, I speed-read it over breakfast to find out how the story of his life ends. What a fascinating book! I'm going to try to get my hands on a copy of it again, or maybe try it on ILL again in a few months.

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sparklebutch.livejournal.com

...Why does it say Qiryat Ono?

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I have no idea. Is that a place?

I've heard some people saying it pegs them at places some distance from where they actually live, maybe 100 miles. It pegged me just fine as being in Ottawa.

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sparklebutch.livejournal.com

It is a place. My sister lives there. It's a small suburb-like town rather far from here. "Here" being one of the largest cities in the country and also its capital. So... yeah, weird.

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Hmm. It must have to do with the distribution of ISP numbers, which is what it's actually tracking. Supposedly. I think it may be doing it with little demons that run through the world of virtual reality and sometimes get things wrong.

Or maybe it's just teasing us. At least it didn't put you in the middle of Siberia or Hawaii or something.

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sparklebutch.livejournal.com

Did the same for 2-3 of my friends. Picked random cities around them but not quite hitting the target.

Amusing anyway :)

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I like the way it says how many miles it is from one place to another - one person to another. It's just numbers, but it does give a sense of perspective.

Especially when you seem to close, even if I consciously know you aren't. But you're only a keyboard and a monitor screen away, really.

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And many many miles of cables and servers and other hardware.

If someone isn't registered, it probably just picks the location of someone else using the same ISP, who registered with their system. Otherwise, they'd only be able to detect Israel from the IP. Nothing more, and Qiryat Ono is really small.
In fact, when I saw this icon earlier, it didn't detect anything in the middle east, even, probably because nobody had registered yet.

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My goodness, that is so logical and sensible. I think that explains it.

So is it true that you are 5,535 miles away from me?

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According to this calculator (http://www.geobytes.com/CityDistanceTool.htm?loadpage), the distance between Jerusalem and Ottawa is 5581 miles/8980 km. It doesn't say whether this is a direct line or through airline routes or something. But it is in the same ballpark as that icon.

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I never have a good sense of distances. I'll try to keep this one in mind - 5,581 miles to Jerusalem. It gives me a little perspective. What is the population of Jerusalem? I know, I know, I can look it up.... Sometimes I play the game of thinking: If I took this European or middle eastern or Asian country and put it down in Canada, how much land would it cover? (In the case of China, it's the other way round....) Usually I have no clue. I really should do some number comparisons.

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500,000 or 600,000 was the number I saw a few years ago. The biggest city in Israel by far, if you consider only the municipal area of Tel-Aviv, and not all the sleepers surrounding it, which have their own municipal authorities. We could all do with checking up details, but our time is always dedicated to more important priorities, isn't it? I'm not sure where in Canada Ottawa is and how big it is. I'm not even sure how big Canada is, in terms of population, although I know it's huge geographically and relatively sparsely populated. (Certainly compared to Israel). Ask away. We can have fun exchanging useless factoids. :)

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Yes, it's fun, isn't it? It sounds as if Ottawa and Jerusalem have about the same population, though they've recently amalgamated the city government with what used to be the suburbs and little towns in the vicinity, so the official number is higher now. (Maybe 900,000 all together?) I'm sure Jerusalem is much more densely populated.

The whole of Canada has a population of about 32 million. The area of land mass is 9,984,670 km² or 3,855,103 sq mi, compared to Israel's 8,019 sq mi (I looked it up.) Of course most of our land in uninhabitable tundra, and most of the population is close to the American border (where the land is most arable) and the Trans-Canada Highway. So we're really a long, long ribbon of a country stretching from the Atlantic to the Pacific.

Ottawa is directly north of New York State, if you know U.S. geography enough for that to be helpful. I am reminded of one playing Trivial Pursuit in San Diego with one other Canadian and two Americans. I got the question, "What states share a border with Manitoba?" The Americans groaned - "A question about Canada, Elizabeth will get it for sure!" and I muttered, "But it's a question about American geography, and I haven't a clue." I don't even remember now if I guessed right.

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Where'd you get the info? Not sayign it's wrong, only wondering if they include the west bank or not, cause that's a huge area, comparatively.

And WOW! Lots of mileage, not so much population.

I know where NY State is. Where is Manitoba?

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btw, if you go on aim, it would be a more immediate conversation and less strain on email.
I'll be here for about another hour.

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I wish I could go on aim! But I'm still at work still and I shouldn't even be taking peeks at my LJ. Use of aim on this computer is expressly forbidden, sort of like the villainous group in Marvel Comics. They have an evil international organization known as AIM for Advanced Idea Mechanics; used to come up against Iron Man. Now, how's that for trivia?

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:)

See, I work at home. If I had the self discipline to not go on chats and LJ while I work, I would have been finished sooner.

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Somehow I manage to find distractions even without aim.

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I'm shocked.

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I grabbed the number on Wikipedia. I didn't stop to look for details and I've no idea what they included.

I used it to look up the population density of Canada, which works out to 8 people per square mile. (Would you rather I used miles or km?)

Manitoba is the next province west of Ontario, the one I'm in. That doesn't mean it's close by any means - it's 1,042 miles from Ottawa to Winnipeg, which is Manitoba's capital city. It's a prairie province, which means that it's mostly flat grasslands (like the steppes of Russia), with some interesting gorges and badlands.

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I grabbed the number on Wikipedia. I didn't stop to look for details and I've no idea what they included.
That would depend on the political orientation of whoever wrote the entry, then.

Canada sounds lovely. All this wild nature and so few people.

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Canada is lovely, but in downtown Toronto you wouldn't think there weren't many people.

We do have amazing lakes. And trees. And lots of them.

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Even with all the people, I'd love to be there.

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wijsgeer.livejournal.com

I am Amsterdam, 07

Amsterdam, yes that's correct, but 07 Am I Bond? It is not a district of Amsterdam or something like that.

Distance: 5535. Too much to walk, definitely too much. Even if we meet half way.

BTW you have to pay for a library card overhere, but it is not that much. I pay about 35 euro, this is a 'adamnet card' I can use it in the public library (about 12 branches) 2 universitary libraries (also many branches) specialised libraries like the the one of the Tropical Institute, Institute of Social History, Archive of the Women's Movement, Archive of the Gay Movement, Press Museum and possibly a few more. Plus interlibrary loan both for the public as the universitary library, the latter also international. For borrowing I don't pay, for IBL one generally does. Music and CD's and DVD's cost money as well, educational stuff doesn't.

Just public library is cheaper, if you have minimum income you get a reduction and under 18 it is free anyway.

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07? How... perplexing. I'm sure there is some esoteric significance.

Well, 5,535 miles is too far to walk at once go, but it would be quite easy over years. Remember when I walked from the Shire to Rivendell, and then to Minas Tirith? I don't remember how many miles it was. A lot.

On the other hand, to walk to you, or even to meet halfway, there's be some sort of swimming involved, and I don't swim. On principle. (And because I swim really badly.)

Does the 35 euro cost cover a span of time - like, do you get to use it for a year? Or a lifetime?

We now have something called a SmartCard, which I love. If you have a card with the Public Library, they give you something that entitles you to a card a the university libraries. I already had a card at Carleton U. as an alumna, but now I can get books from the University of Ottawa as well - which is much more convenient. I love it! No cost. The program is 'experimental' and not advertised. I just hope it doesn't go away.

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wijsgeer.livejournal.com

eh, 35 by year.
But I still think it is quite a good deal. Note, this is the Amsterdam area, all local libraries are under municipal government and there can be different arrangements, either cheaper or more exepensive.

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