The United States' place in the OECD? According to this article http://practical-vision.blogspot.com/2009/03/we-are-losing-america-right-before-our.html, last.

Get Rich Slowly is one of my favorite money blogs. One of the spotlighted articles from its five years (and counting) is Understanding the Federal Budget.

Charlene Walker suggests this article on Universal Design particularly for how it would improve the lives of differently-abled students.

Great synopsis of the Creative Cities Lexington conference from Scott Clark.

Once again, I should have gone to something like this, and didn't. Need to find a way to not go the the 3 or 4 other things I'm supposed to do on April 23, and get to TedX Lex.

The eroding role of libraries as reported at Inside Higher Ed http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2010/04/07/survey, more and more, the faculty see the library as a gateway to information, rather than a service that will help them get to the information that they need.

Distillations of Library Research

Roy Tennant points to a distillation of library research at his libraryjournal.com blog - http://www.libraryjournal.com/blog/1090000309/post/650053465.html.

Looking for someone who has a good summary of what really is (and is not) in the new healthcare reform legislation.

Not sure I've found a great place yet, but Slate's Guide to Health Reform looks like a jumping-off point.

Many things still point to August 09 and earlier versions of bills/proposals/etc.

And the Wall Street Journal carried an opinion piece that says this is the start of bitter fights over funding and policy that will consume the nation for decades to come.

A whole slew of links to financial literacy since April is Financial Literacy Month.

Good idea for having a conversation with your spouse about money and where to get started.

Going back to Joseph Campbell, "follow your bliss" doesn't mean just doing what feels good: it means doing what you would give up everything else for.

Stuff won't make you happy, experiences will

Advice from the Unclutterer on doing things, rather than buying things.

Wouldn't mind having a corner desk like this one you can build yourself for $50, but I'm not sure I have a place for it.

Mashable offers Five Ways to Identify the song stuck in your head.

I used to work with a music librarian who provided roughly the same service, you hummed a tune, and she could tell you what piece of classical music you were humming. Don't think she probably was good with pop tunes, so maybe Shazam, Midomi, Musipedia, Tunatic or Name My Tune will work for you.

Here's the article I most wish were an April Fool's day joke - University of Louisville official given a $1 million buyout, but, it's not.

The jokes about "I'd not work for a lot less" are not even funny anymore. What happens to people once they get to a certain level? Why do they seem to lose all perspective?

Interesting idea - social networking site to discuss books - http://www.bookdiscussions.com/

(new, and a work in progress)

There are add-ons to Facebook, etc. that let you show people what you are reading or have read, but this looks to be a place to talk about books.

I would like to see an idea like this integrated into library catalogs some day (or at least an Amazon-style "review" feature).

Not sure how to start asking a question at the reference desk?

Here are some good ideas from Spencer Jardine (Coordinator of Instruction at Eli M. Oboler Library, Idaho State University):

It seems to be useful when students volunteer information. Many reference librarians will ask for some of the following information, but if it comes first from the student that's great.

* Tell us what you have tried already
* Explain your assignment:
o how many sources do you need
o what kinds of sources do you need
o when is the assignment due
* Do you just need to get pointed in the right direction i.e. a useful database, or would you like some pointers and tips on using the database?
* Ask for a business card or contact information from the librarian. It will flatter the librarian and then you can ask follow-up questions.
* Give the librarians clues about your topic. Which aspects interest you the most?
* Where are you in the research process? This is similar to the first bullet point, but it is useful to know if a student is just starting, somewhere in the middle, or wrapping things up by locating one last source.
* Reference librarians can help students find statistics, though the statistics they find might not be exactly spot-on with their topic since most are of a generic/general nature.

One way to look at your time

http://www.studygs.net/schedule/

via Dan Miller (http://www.48days.com)

Some cool web sites for real estate include

http://www.homepath.com for foreclosures

http://www.redfin.com for interesting $/sq ft etc.

Added the Yahoo Answers badge - find me that as stevestone_ky

Adding more videos at YouTube - find me there as stevestoneky

What they should have told you

Scary and true http://www.viruscomix.com/page347.html