On second thought.

You might recall several weeks ago I complained of my annoyance with the new computerized system the Howard County Public Library had been using, in which I would have to reserve any popular books I wanted ahead of time. I of course was being whining and unwilling to use any effort whatsoever to find a free copy of Eugenides' Middlesex. I still think there current system of check-out is needlessly complex and biased towards families without computers at home, but I must give them kudos for an number of other things.

1. They have free books.

2. They're organized with a numerical system that can be deciphered with help of the automated card catalog.

-These are characteristics of any modern library. We can take them for granted, so I ought to have not even brought them up.

3. Since 2006 HoCo has used Ubuntu Linux within its servers and allows vistors use of a number of open-source programs.

If ever there was a truly practical use for open-source programming, here it is exemplified. The severely underfunded HoCo Libraries (yet one of the best funded in the country) decided they'd rather not pay out the ass for buggy and proprietary copies of Vista. They're still paying for it, but at a fraction of the previous costs for what I believe to be better resources. Read up on it if you'd like the exact numbers.

...finally 4. Despite my inablity to find two or three books I wanted back in February, they have an reasonable collection of Noam Chomsky, with whom I plan to be better acquanted with by summer's end.