It's in the "up front" defined-by-the-HR-department benjamins. They don't have to care about actual product costs, where long memories and experience count. They just have to worry about the average worker cost compared to a mythical industry standard.

One issue that I've seldom seen mentioned is that those who often know the most about public issues (the directors of various public institutions) can seldom use their real names because they necessarily report to political or quasi-political bodies. It would be professional suicide.

There's a huge difference between the "expectations for todays' pop music" and the "expectations for serious music (could be classical, could be jazz, could be many things as long as it cares for quality)." Back in the day, we dropped AM radio in favor of FM ... but AM was good enough as background noise and FM was where you bought serious equipment. People accept what they're used to until exposed to something much better.

It's interesting that the areas with the worst health problems -- outside of some urban areas -- are also full of people who are terrified of health care reform. That may not be quite right. They're afraid of an America which is willing to take "individual rights" seriously, including a right to decent health care. 1865 redux.

I'm reminded of the old New Yorker cartoon ... a map of the US drawn from a New Yorker's perspective. There's Manhattan, the Hudson River, New Jersey, then nothing but blank space until L.A. and San Francisco. Everything else is ignored. "Flyover country" seems to be the common term. SatNav means being able to go some place by car w/o having experienced what's in between. That may not always be a good thing and the question arises as to whether or not ignorance is indeed bliss.

Another reason why we librarian types should be reading /.

http://www.rexresearch.com/wilkes/1wilkes.htm I guess I should not be surprised that no one remembered this. :-) Just us old farts.

Heh. That's why I'm interested in what the experts (you all) have to say. It's trivial to find a list of best computer books, hard to find the ones people believe in.

It is a mid-sized public library northwest of Chicago (www.lvdl.org). We serve about 35,000 people ... and circulated over 1,000,000 items last year. But we can do better. :-)

As I'm a librarian I'm extremely interested in what people will suggest. The opinion of practitioners is a lot more relevent than that of book reviewers.