Information Science

Spending my lunchtimes in UWA's Reid Library, it's amusing reading old copies of the Times Literary Supplement. Particularly interesting are the positions vacant ads. Here are a couple from 1975.

The second advertises a salary starting at 

£2,395. That works out to a healthy £46 per week. 

And I'm surprised that the profession of Information Scientist existed 43 years ago. Perhaps it's a fancy term for a librarian who can operate a microfiche? Reading wikipedia, it was regarded as quite distinct from the role of librarian, and provided focused information to technical and research staff. much like Google does today. This might explain why you no longer encounter information scientists.

My Top Podcasts of 2018

My ears are never bored. Back in the 80s and 90s, local radio was so tedious that I spent long hours listening to the world through my Russian shortwave radio. But with the explosion in niche and fiction podcasts, my life is now spent thinking of ways to cram more podcasts into my day. Here are my current favourites:

1. Kermode and Mayo's Film Review
2. The Talking Dead - a podcast dedicated to the Walking Dead tv show
3. Sword and Laser - Science fiction and fantasy bookclub
4. Welcome to Night Vale - the one and only 
5. Pod Save America - US politics. Plenty of Trump idiocy to talk about
6. MonsterTalk
7. Beef and Dairy Network - cow news 
8. The Secret Cabal Gaming Podcast - board gamers with heaps of personality
9. The Slash Filmcast - geeky US film reviews
10. The Black Tapes - creepy fiction set in the Pacific Northwest
11. Geek's Guide to the Galaxy  - a science fiction podcast covering science and fiction
12. SAYER - horror set on a space station
13. Skeptoid - scientific debunking
14. The Folklore Podcast - a quaint UK show with the best theme