John Mark Ockerbloom

A Philadelphian with professional interests in libraries, technology, copyright, and culture, and nonprofessional interests that include singing, reading, hiking, biking. Also other personal interests that you might pick up from my posts over time.

He, him, his. Lent, Easter, Pentecost. Speak out, organize, vote.

Last Notes

2025-10-20 20:16:33 UTC

TechCrunch's story on claims that "GPT-5 solved previously unsolved Erdős problems" raises more questions for me than it answers. https://techcrunch.com/2025/10/19/openais-embarrassing-math/
It's clear that all GPT-5 did was find references to "solutions" the Erdős problems website maintainer was unaware of. But that could mean pre-existing vetted solutions were somehow unnoticed (which seems odd given those problems' fame), or that these "solutions" aren't fully vetted (which seems common with famous math problems). Anyone know?

2025-04-17 14:06:17 UTC

Nearly 1000 Yale faculty so far have signed a letter to the university's administration urging it to stand firm against "extraordinary attacks that threaten the bedrock principles of a democratic society, including rights of free expression, association, and academic freedom". The last of the 6 actions urged in the letter is to "work purposefully and proactively with other colleges and universities in collective defense". https://sites.google.com/view/yalefacultyletter2025/home #HigherEd #USPol

2025-02-18 23:53:02 UTC

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It's probably a good idea to check the CW policy on your void instance before your scream.

2025-02-02 17:42:03 UTC

The Library of Congress's Frederick Douglass Day transcribe-a-thon is still on for February 14. Join in if you can: https://blogs.loc.gov/bibliomania/2025/01/30/valentines-day-plans-how-about-transcribing-historic-pamphlets-for-douglass-day/. (And make noise if between now and then someone says you can't.)

2025-01-29 03:01:23 UTC

"[W]hat I felt during my final year at the Times was a push toward blandness, toward avoiding saying anything too directly in a way that might get some people (particularly on the right) riled up. I guess my question is, if those are the ground rules, why even bother having an opinion section?"
Paul Krugman on why he stopped writing for the New York Times: https://contrarian.substack.com/p/departing-the-new-york-times

2025-01-23 22:51:46 UTC

"'I have told officials at the highest level of the University that they only have two options: fire me, or let the [Harvard Slavery Remembrance Program] do this work properly,' Cellini wrote in a September statement to The Crimson.
"On Thursday, Cellini wrote in a text message: 'Today Harvard fired me. So now we know.'"
https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2025/1/24/harvard-disbands-slavery-remembrance-program/
(Harvard also abruptly laid off the rest of the HSRP as well, transferring its work to an outside contractor.)

2025-01-21 03:25:31 UTC

"All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws."
US Constitution, Amendment 14

2024-12-31 01:20:28 UTC

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Thanks for this! This article is in the public domain (in the US at least). Here's a link to a non-paywalled scan: https://archive.org/details/sim_american-library-assoc-ala-bulletin_1936-06_30_6/page/495/mode/1up

2024-10-07 17:43:08 UTC

The highest point on the Appalachian Trail was for a long time officially named Clingmans Dome, after Thomas Clingman, a Confederate general who had surveyed the mountain before the Civil War.
On September 18, the National Park Service announced the restoration of the mountain's Cherokee name, Kuwohi: https://www.nps.gov/grsm/learn/news/kuwohi-name-restored-to-the-highest-peak-in-the-smokies.htm
Its Wikipedia article was retitled the following day: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kuwohi
I expect the Library of Congress heading will change too, but that's a slower process.

2024-09-04 16:38:54 UTC

"Is it 'fair use' for a nonprofit
organization to scan copyright-protected print books in their entirety and
distribute those digital copies online, in full, for free, subject to a one-to-one
owned-to-loaned ratio between its print copies and the digital copies it makes available at any given time, all without authorization from the copyright-holding
publishers or authors? We conclude the
answer is no."
Full Second Circuit ruling against the Internet Archive: https://www.courtlistener.com/opinion/10104144/hachette-book-group-inc-v-internet-archive/?q=internet%20archive%20hachette

2024-08-29 20:14:50 UTC

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There are still some gaps; I don't know if or when they'll be filled, but a lot of interesting stuff going back to the dawn of MARC appears to be there now.

2024-08-29 20:06:24 UTC

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And in looking that up, I've found that a lot more of ITAL's is now freely readable online. (Previously they had free online issues back to 2011; now they have them back to the 2000s, as well as issues of predecessor title Journal of Library Automation from 1968 to 1981.). Thanks!

2024-08-26 21:11:11 UTC

Finale announces it's no longer updating its software, first published in 1988 for creating and editing musical scores: https://www.finalemusic.com/
I'm not aware of any open specification of Finale's native format. Those needing to preserve files created with it might want to convert them to another format (such as MusicXML, an open format supported in recent Finale releases) while Finale can still be run. I do not know offhand if that conversation preserves all relevant info. #DigitalPreservation

2024-08-12 17:07:00 UTC

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We've enjoyed our induction range. We upgraded our electrical panel while we were at it, though that was partly in anticipation of further electrical conversions in the future.