Dialog

I've been sick for a few days, so I had dozens of e-mails to read this afternoon, the first time since Tuesday when I've felt well enough to tackle work. One of the e-mails in my inbox included a link to this article about Dialog, which I thought was interesting.
I'm a bit surprised that other librarians don't see the point in Dialog, because to me it's so absolutely useful as a means for teaching one how to search properly. I took a course in databases in library school which was one of the most useful I could have taken; not only did we learn how to search a wide variety of databases, we learned how to evaluate them. It's one of the points on which I'm most smug as a librarian: knowing that my understanding of databases and searching is better than that of many of my peers.
(Wow, that was smug! Sorry.)

Elsie's the Sunday monkey!

You know how the Sunday monkey won't play piano song*? The SO and I were talking tonight, and he posited that the Sunday monkey won't play because he can't - a tragic lack of education. But then I realized that it was the Sunday monkey, which was a clear reference to Elsie Dinsmore, who famously (well, famously if you've read Elsie Dinsmore and its sequels) refused to play the piano for her father on a Sunday, because it was in clear violation of Sabbath rules.
So then the mysterious identity of the Sunday monkey was clear!
* and yes, I know the line is sont des mots qui vont tres bien ensemble, tres bien ensemble. But the SO taught me the "Sunday monkey won't play piano song" line, which always amuses me.