A Most Excellent Resource

Q and A NJ: http://www.qandanj.com/

It's a chat service where you can chat live with a librarian. It's staffed by a cooperative effort of Our Fair State's libraries. Per their web site:

"QandANJ is a service for New Jersey residents and students.QandANJ.org is designed to provide fast answers to your questions, using information found on the Internet and in proprietary databases funded by libraries. In most cases, QandANJ.org Librarians will provide an answer online in 15 minutes or less! If your question involves lengthy research, we'll get you started and/or provide a referral for you or your question. "

This is a most AWESOME tool, which I think libraries don't advertise enough. Librarians love to be asked questions, really they do, and this is a great way to get help writing your paper in the middle of the night, or getting the information in your blog post verified before you hit "publish" and make a fool of yourself, or myriad other uses.

I get searches- recycling edition

Recycling information in Mercer County: The Mercer County Improvement Authority has links to curbside recycling schedules and hazardous waste recycling, including electronics equipment. The next electronics recycling day is scheduled for Nov. 14, 2009 9AM-2PM. More info on that here, with a link to a PDF about the plan.

Don't forget about freecycling- the program of letting folks take your usable but unneeded items off your hands, while perusing the stuff of others. Mercer County Freecycle maintains a Yahoo group, where you can subscribe to their listserv and peruse their rules for use.

I've gotten a lot of serches about recycling lately. You ask, and here at CoNJL we eventually get around to attempting to deliver!

The five biggest lies in the health care debate

1. You'll have no choice in what health benefits you receive.
2. No chemo for older Medicare patients.
3. Illegal immigrants will get free health insurance.
4. Death Panels will decide who lives.
5. The government will set doctors' wages.

LIES! ALL LIES! Newsweek breaks them down this week, with actual facts from the proposed laws. (This is a follow-up to an earlier article with Seven Falsehoods about Health Care, where they try to debunk even more ridiculous claims.)

Here's the actual bill, where folks should go to verify or disprove any wacko claims they might hear- especially before they repeat them or shout them out at town halls.

If the last month is any indication, more wacko claims will be forthcoming.

Crazies come out for Rep. Palone's meeting

This is frightening. And pathetic. "Nobody's listening to the facts."

I am ashamed of the residents of Central New Jersey. When they shout down and heckle the disabled woman, I no longer want to proudly proclaim my citizenship of Our Fair state. Just as pathetic is the wingnuts parroting the lies, without even knowing or caring what they mean.

Can there be any room for a centrist at a health care reform town hall meeting

Back to school!

This seemed perfect for library school. From Brad Veley, found via the Funny Times.