We need to do more as a society to defend political prisoners in America, those who live in fear of their own government because of no fault of their own. We should do more to protect the oppressed and unpopular in society, those who must hide and live in fear of the policies that rule our nation.
It’s a bit shocking how much gray I see every time I look in the mirror. But graying hair is not uncommon as one heads towards the fourth decade of their life – historically for that age of mankind it was considered ones later years by 40s and 50s. Nowadays, we’ve doubled the typical lifespan but many of us still gray around the same time.
There are dyes and chemicals one can use to hid the splashes of gray popping up in my beard and parts of my hair widely sold at retailers all over. But I’m not really interested in putting toxic chemicals into my hair. If I am going gray, I figure it’s part of nature, a sign that I am maturing. The gray means I’m experienced, have had a little stress in my life, learned a few lessons over the years. It’s a reminder too that every day I must work towards my savings goals, as retirement and later years, are coming sooner then I want to admit. But I think I will make it. I have a plan, and I’m working to implement it.
A few years back the local public library – Bethlehem Public Library put up a Bond Act that would have ‘modernized’ the library. It would have added more study rooms, and a bigger community room – but if anything it kept or shrunk the amount of books the library would have. Seemed like an odd proposal – when you traditionally think of a place to borrow books.
But I found myself starting a year or two almost never going to the library. For one, my basic smartphone was upgraded to essentially unlimited – they say they may reduce your speed after a certain amount – but I’ve never noticed any slowing of service. My phone basically does everything my laptop does except for map making and coding, without he big bulky computer or it’s electricity consumption. I ended up keeping my laptop at work most weekends.
Yet, what also changed with the Libby and Hoopla library apps for online borrowing of books and audio books. Basically everything you could get at the library now can be requested through and browsed on your phone, in a compact, lightweight package. The apps works well, they are easy to read on for the most part, and you don’t have to worry about damaging books, much less picking up or returning books. They return automatically on their expiration date if you don’t return them sooner.
Not only do the libraries now offer Libby and Hoopla, other options at least with my library is access to New York Times, the Times Union, along with many magazines and historical archives. They have Kanopy for documentaries and education movies. And many other online products accessed by your library card. And that builds on the wealth of other free internet resources, like the Internet Archive and YouTube. And at least in the Upper Hudson Library System, it’s not just the wealthy suburban libraries that offer these services, but virtually all of the other libraries in the system, though the actual extent of books and services may very a bit from library to library.
If any thing, libraries offer much more, but it’s not the physical library where you take out physical books or browse magazines where the action is. Indeed, if you review the library’s budget and other documents, you will see that more then half of the borrows are online, and that’s where more and more of the budget goes every year. The physical library still exists, but it’s getting less and less money, they are buying fewer new books, as most people are just logging on using their smartphones, their computers or Kindle tablets.
