麻倉葉

年の初めに神様の前で願いを言う

でもそれは神だのみじゃなくて

自分に誓いを立てる事なんだ

今年は何をしたいとか

今年の自分はこうありたいとか

---

ウラミかあ

そんなもんいつまでも　かかえててもつまんねえし

さっさと忘れちまえばいいのになあ

ポー老師

The world you live in is mysterious, exciting, unknown and mine is older, familiar, and calm. You will never know my world not I yours. . . . Can you see with my eyes? Think with my brain?

---

We are one, yet we are not the same.

---

Do not see yourself as the center of the universe wise and good and beautiful. Seek rather wisdom, goodness and beauty that you may honor them everywhere.

---

See the way of life as a stream. A man floats with the stream and his way is easy. But if he fights and tries to go upstream, he exhausts himself.

ケイン

If you plant rice, rice will grow. If you plant fear, fear will grow.

---

A strong man is always needed.

---

I seek not to know all the answers but to understand the questions.

Paul Edwards, Gene L. Coon

Where is evil? In the rat whose nature it is to steal the grain. Or in the cat, whose nature it is to kill the rat?

The rat steals. Yet, for him, the cat is evil.

And to the cat, the rat.

Yet, Master, surely one of them is evil.

The rat does not steal, the cat does not murder. Rain falls, the stream flows, a hill remains. Each acts according to its nature.

Then is there no evil for men? Each man tells himself that what he does is good, at least for himself.

. . . a man may tell himself many things but is a man's universe made up only of himself?

If a man hurts me and I punish him, perhaps he will not hurt another.

And if you do nothing?

He will learn he can do as he wishes.

Or, perhaps, he will learn that some men receive injury but return kindness.

Первое послание к Коринфянам 10:13

Вас постигло искушение не иное, как человеческое; и верен Бог, Который не попустит вам быть искушаемыми сверх сил, но при искушении даст и облегчение, так чтобы вы могли перенести.

村上もとか

神は乗り越えられる試練しか与えない

Gregory Stock

They are about your values, your beliefs, and your life; love, money, sex, integrity, generosity, pride, and death are all here. Here is an enjoyable way to find out more about yourself and others, and to confront ethical dilemmas in a concrete rather than an abstract form.

Rachel Snyder

Awaken your sense, your intuition, your desires. Awaken the parts of yourself that have been sleeping. Life is a dream, and to live it, your must be awake.

George Sand

There is only one happiness in life - to love and to be loved.

Helen Keller

The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched. They must be felt with the heart.

Shannon Crown

The best thing about me is you.

日本新聞協会

Александр Пушкин

Когда за пяльцами прилежно

Сидите вы, склонясь небрежно

Глаза и кудри опустя

Я в умиленье, молча, нежно

Любовь

Любовь, это все

что тебя окружает

Любовь здесь

в твоей улыбке

в твоих волосах

Любовь, везде

Jimmy Page, Robert Plant

if the sun refused to shine

I would still be loving you

if mountains crumble to the sea

there will still be you and me

i.A.1

we said we would say anything and everything

and foster a face-to-face relationship

we kissed and touched the hearts of each other

and shared our invisible love

when I feel that you are cold

my heart rusts in the wind

when I feel that you are gentle

my heart rests in the sun

loving you more than anybody

loving you

澤地久枝、中村哲

人は愛するに足り、真心は信ずるに足る

なかにし礼

出会いは誰にでもある。それに気づくか、それを掴めるか。。。

国井雅比古

長野と岐阜の県境にある標高３０６７メートルの御嶽山。神が宿る霊峰といわれ山には今も信仰が息づく。色とりどりの高山植物や深い緑色に輝く池など、楽園のような風景も多くの人を引きつけている。信仰に生き、８９歳の今も登りたいと願う男性と、男性を背負って登る強力（ごうりき）。神秘の池に魅せられ、その信仰の心を描きたいと望む青年。６０年の歴史を持つ学校登山に挑む中学生たち。山のひとときに身も心も清められる旅。同じ景色は二度とは現れない。一瞬一瞬がすばらしい。

Martin Luther King

I say to you today, my friends, that in spite of the difficulties and frustrations of the moment, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.

I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal."

I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at a table of brotherhood.

I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a desert state, sweltering with the heat of injustice and oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.

I have a dream that my four children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.

I have a dream today.

I have a dream that one day the state of Alabama, whose governor's lips are presently dripping with the words of interposition and nullification, will be transformed into a situation where little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls and walk together as sisters and brothers.

I have a dream today.

I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together.

This is our hope. This is the faith with which I return to the South. With this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.

Николай Дмитриевич Кондратьев

Michel Chossudovsky

The global political economy is a system that enriches the very few at the expense of the vast majority. The global economic crisis has contributed to widening social inequalities both within and between countries. Under global capitalism, mounting poverty is not the result of a scarcity or a lack of human and material resources. Quite the opposite holds true: the economic depression is marked by a process of disengagement of human resources and physical capital. People’s lives are destroyed. The economic crisis is deep-seated.

1971

愛ってもっと大きくて、もっともっと暖かくて、もっと、いいもののはずなのに

i.A

I love you.

Charles Barsotti

Malcolm Gladwell

U.S. Ambassador to General: “We know they know our code…We only give them things we want them to know.”

General to Russian Ambassador: “They know you know their code.”

Russian Ambassador to General: “We have known for some time that they knew we knew their code. We have acted accordingly – by pretending to be duped.”

General to American Ambassador: “They know you know they know you know!”

American Ambassador: “What? Are you sure?”

Kim Taylor

New York City originated as New Amsterdam, in the state of New Netherland, in the mid-1600s and prospered into the sprawling metropolis it is today through a combination of reform movements, comprehensive city planning initiatives introduced in the nineteenth century, nonpartisan municipal commissions, and the ceaseless lure of commerce.

David Letterman

Traffic signals in New York are just rough guidelines.

Le Corbusier

New York is a catastrophe - but a magnificent catastrophe.

千宗屋

ニューヨークは、アメリカの中でも突出して変わった場所で、世界中の人が集まり、共同体を形成している。そういう町でお茶をしていると、非常にしっくり来た。お茶というと、日本の伝統文化、純日本というイメージですが、そもそも非常に異種混交的な、ハイブリッドな文化なのです。

茶そのものも、お茶の背景となる禅の思想も、すべて中国から入ってきました。千利休以前は、道具にも、日本のものはほとんどなかった。中国や朝鮮、東南アジア、遠くヨーロッパの道具も使ったのです。茶席に掲げる掛け軸は、中国の水墨画や墨跡でした。

京都の禅寺は、今でこそ日本の文化を体現するような場と思われていますが、当時は公用語が中国語でしたし、中国大使館状態というか、中国の人と文化、思想の最新のものが集まっている場所だったのです。

茶の湯の文化が成立し、発展していく時、大きなかかわりを持ったのが堺でした。当時は国際貿易港で、中国、韓国、東南アジア、さらにヨーロッパとも交易があった。最先端の貿易都市の都市文化として、お茶が発達をしてきたのです。

京都はもちろん、当時の首都で、大都会ですから、人やもの、情報が集まる場所でした。そういう場所だからこそ成立し得た文化だったわけです。

床の間

遠仁者疎道

（仁に遠き者は道に疎し; をにはそと）

不苦者有智 / 富久者有智

（苦しまざる者には智有り、富に久しき者は智有り; ふくはうち）

芥川龍之介

僕はもうこの先を書きつづける力を持つてゐない。

かう云ふ気もちの中に生きてゐるのは何とも言はれない苦痛である。

Кижи

CITIZEN

Mark Knopfler

It's a mystery to me / The game commences / For the usual fee / Plus expenses / Confidential information / It's in a diary / This is my investigation / It's not a public inquiry

I go checking out the report / Digging up the dirt / You get to meet all sorts / In this line of work / Treachery and treason / There's always an excuse for it / And when I find the reason / I still can't get used to it

And what have you got at the end of the day ? / What have you got to take away ? / A bottle of whisky and a new set of lies / Blinds on the window and a pain behind the eyes

Scarred for life / No compensation / Private investigations

Farrah Fawcett

God gave women intuition and femininity. Used properly, the combination easily jumbles the brain of any man I've ever met.

Eckhart Tolle

• Emotion arises at the place where mind and body meet. It is the body's reaction to your mind — or you might say, a reflection of your mind in the body.
• Nothing ever happened in the past; it happened in the Now. Nothing will ever happen in the future; it will happen in the Now.

Herman Hesse

If I know what love is, it is because of you.

赤瀬川原平

お金も血も、命にかかわる。エネルギーの源である。流体である。生臭いものである。でも輝いてる。

Bill Keller

The administration, while strongly condemning WikiLeaks for making these documents public, did not suggest that The Times should not write about them. On the contrary, in our discussions prior to the publication of our articles, White House officials, while challenging some of the conclusions we drew from the material, thanked us for handling the documents with care, and asked us to urge WikiLeaks to withhold information that could cost lives. We did pass along that message.

Christian Christensen

At the heart of the death of journalism myth is the presumption of a causal relationship between access to information and democratic change. The idea that mere access to raw information de facto leads to change is as romantic as the notion that mere access to technology can do the same. Information, just as technology, is only useful if the knowledge and skills required to activate such information are present.

In a digital world that is constantly being redefined as non-hierarchical, borderless and fluid, Wikileaks has reminded us that structure, boundaries, laws and reputation still matter.

Donald E. Knuth

People who analyze algorithms have double happiness. First of all they experience the sheer beauty of elegant mathematical patterns that surround elegant computational procedures. Then they receive a practical payoff when their theories make it possible to get other jobs done more quickly and more economically.

Claude Monet

A force de transformations, je suis la nature sans pouvoir la saisir.

Edsger W. Dijkstra

• The question of whether Machines Can Think... is about as relevant as the question of whether Submarines Can Swim.
• Elegance is not a dispensable luxury but a quality that decides between success and failure.
• Thank goodness we don't have only serious problems, but ridiculous ones as well.
• Probably I am very naive, but I also think I prefer to remain so, at least for the time being and perhaps for the rest of my life.

Thomas Cole

Stephen Hannock

WHO

"Sex" refers to the biological and physiological characteristics that define men and women.

"Gender" refers to the socially constructed roles, behaviours, activities, and attributes that a given society considers appropriate for men and women.

To put it another way: "Male" and "female" are sex categories, while "masculine" and "feminine" are gender categories.

Aspects of sex will not vary substantially between different human societies, while aspects of gender may vary greatly.

EOS

1. Supporting libraries for nearly three decades
2. Over 1,000 libraries worldwide
3. Microsoft Certified Gold Partner
4. Authorized GSA contract vendor
5. Fully web-based solutions, built on Microsoft .NET & SQL technology
6. Available as a SaaS or local solution
7. Over 25 PREMIUM software modules
8. 24/7/365 LIVE Help Desk Support
9. Global data centers around the globe
10. On-site, virtual, and in-house training opportunities

Гагра

小倉紀蔵

歴史というのは、どんな考え方もあり得る。どんな考え方を持ってもいい。それが間違った事実にもとづいて、自分の歴史観を構築したら、それは正していかなければならないけれども、歴史を語る資格はないという言い方は、間違っていると思う。　。。。　歴史問題というのは、権力者があなたの考えは完全に間違いと言詮封鎖してはいけない。

崔洋一

当時の日本のイデオロギーは、そういう方向に流れていた。国そのものがそうなっていた。だけど、36年間にわたる植民地支配がそれによって肯定されるという考え方は、基本的に歴史を語る資格がない。

吉岡忍

取引先や同僚のものわかりが悪い、とけなすビジネスマンの言葉。友達や先輩後輩の失敗をあげつらう高校生たちのやりとり。ファミレスの窓際のテーブルに陣取って、幼稚園や学校をあしざまに言いつのる母親同士の会話。相手の言い分をこき下ろすだけのテレビの論客や政治家たち。

ここには共通する、きわだった特徴がある。はしたない言い方をすれば、どれもこれもが「自分以外はみんなバカ」と言っている。自分だけがよくわかっていて、その他大勢は無知で愚かで、だから世の中うまくいかないのだ、と言わんばかりの態度がむんむんしている。私にはそう感じられる。

高度産業社会を経験した人々は、こういう心性を抱え込むのかもしれない。そこでは、だれもが何かの専門家として学び、働き、生きている。金融の、製造の、営業の、行政の、政治の、そうでなかったら消費のプロだ、あるいはそのつもりだ。かぎりなく細分化した一分野に精通しているという自負はだいじだが、それがそのまま周囲や世間に対する態度となる。

この現実はやっかいだ。自分以外はみんなバカなのだから、私たちはだれかに同情したり共感することもなく、まして褒めることもしない。こちらをバカだと思っている他人は他人で、私のことを心配したり、励ましてくれることもない。つまり私たちは、横にいる他者を内側から理解したり、つながっていく契機を持たないまま日々を送りはじめた。

内在する歴史や矛盾を切り捨て、自己の責任や葛藤を忘れて、威勢よく断じるだけの態度が露骨となる。

辻井喬

丸山眞男さんは敗戦のとき「これで日本は民主主義になる、何年かしたら自分で判断できる大衆が生まれ、日本の社会も政治も合理的に動いていくはずだ」と考えていた。ところが、実際には何年経っても、自分の考えで世の中や政治に対する態度を判断して、投票先を決めることのできる大衆は生まれてこなかった。これは私の解釈ですが、「どうして日本では自立した大衆が生まれてこなかったのか」というのが、彼にとっては大きな悩みだったと思います。

西部邁

なるほど、民衆政治は多数決制という数の制度である。しかし、これから正が出るか邪が出るかは、民意なるものが優等か劣等かによる。たとえば、議会での議論が必要なのは、民意によって選ばれた多数派の政権も、fallibility を免れえないからだ。またたとえば、ほとんどすべての独裁が民意によって、換言すると民衆政治を民衆自身が否定することによって、生み出されもした。こういうものにすぎぬ民衆政治を民主主義の理念にまで昇格させたのは、近代の理念における錯誤だらけの模型であり流行である。

Democratism は民衆という多数者に主権ありとする。主権とは崇高、絶対、無制限の権利のことである。ただし、民衆が国民であるならば、国家の歴史に秘められている英知のことをさして、主権という修辞を与えることも許されよう。しかし国家のことを歯牙にもかけない単なる人民の民意に主権を見いだすのは、民衆政治の堕落にすぎない。これから誕生する保守の最初の仕事は、民主主義を国民政治への最大の敵と見定めることであろう。

Michael Pollan

The Times has much less power than you think. I believe we attribute power to the media generally that it simply doesn't have. It's very convenient to blame the media, the same way we blame television for everything that's going wrong in society.

Patrick Süskind

Es gibt eine Überzeugungskraft des Duftes, die stärker ist als Worte, Augenschein, Gefühl und Wille. Die Überzeugungskraft des Duftes ist nicht abzuwehren, sie geht in uns hinein wie die Atemluft in unsere Lungen, sie erfüllt uns, füllt uns vollkommen aus, es gibt kein Mittel gegen sie.

Jean Baudrillard

La simulation s’oppose à la représentation.

Les phases successives de l’image sont:

• elle est le reflet d’une réalité profonde (bonne apparence);
• elle masque et dénature une réalité profonde (mauvaise apparence);
• elle masque l’absence de réalité profonde (joue à être une apparence);
• elle est sans rapport à quelque réalité que ce soit (simulacre);
• elle est son propre simulacre pur (simulacre).

Andrew Wachowski, Laurence Wachowski

I know exactly what you mean. Let me tell you why you're here. You're here because you know something. What you know you can't explain, but you feel it. You've felt it your entire life, that there's something wrong with the world. You don't know what it is, but it's there, like a splinter in your mind, driving you mad. It is this feeling that has brought you to me. Do you know what I'm talking about?

Adam Fisher

Chris Anderson

The theory of the Long Tail is that our culture and economy is increasingly shifting away from a focus on a relatively small number of "hits" (mainstream products and markets) at the head of the demand curve and toward a huge number of niches in the tail. As the costs of production and distribution fall, especially online, there is now less need to lump products and consumers into one-size-fits-all containers. In an era without the constraints of physical shelf space and other bottlenecks of distribution, narrowly-targeted goods and services can be as economically attractive as mainstream fare.

Someone

In any bureaucracy, paper work increases as you spend more and more time reporting on the less and less you are doing.

Mitch Hedberg

I bought a doughnut and they gave me a receipt for the doughnut. I don't need a receipt for the doughnut. I give you money and you give me the doughnut, end of transaction. We don't need to bring ink and paper into this. I can't imagine a scenario that I would have to prove that I bought a doughnut. To some skeptical friend, "Don't even act like I didn't buy a doughnut, I've got the documentation right here. Oh, wait. It's in my file at home, under 'D'.

Эрих Фромм

Хотя бюрократы вызывают не меньший ужас, чем садисты, они на самом деле страшнее, потому что они даже не ощущают противоречия между совестью и долгом: совесть приказывает им выполнять свой долг, а человек как объект сострадания и доброты для них вообще не существует.

川久保玲

服作りはゼロから始まる

Nedragnu

Ellen Goodman

We are told that people stay in love because of chemistry, or because they remain intrigued with each other, because of many kindnesses, because of luck… But part of it has got to be forgiveness and gratefulness.

Dana Fox

To anyone who has ever been dumped and to anyone who has ever been fired ...

George Wing

There's nothing like a first kiss.

藤原正彦

何かにつまずいた人を叩くのがマスコミは好きだ。。。成功者がいったんつまずくと、正義をふりかざし大衆を煽る。成功者に対する嫉妬の火に油を注ぎつつ攻めまくる。リンチだ。正義とはいやなものだ。

S.A. Gordy, S.K. Gordy

I feel on top of the world with my lady

I'm gonna rock your body all night

She make me wanna say la la la la, la la la la, la la la la, la la la la,

la la la la, la la la la, la la la la, la la la la, ohh

Rina Castelnuovo

Editor, Pick The Brain

We live in a society obsessed with happiness.

DR

Reality is subjective.

John Maynard Keynes

The inhabitant of London could order by telephone, sipping his morning tea in bed, the various products of the whole earth, in such quantity as he might see fit, and reasonably expect their early delivery upon his doorstep; he could at the same moment and by the same means adventure his wealth in the natural resources and new enterprises of any quarter of the world, and share, without exertion or even trouble, in their prospective fruits and advantages; or he could decide to couple the security of his fortunes with the good faith of the townspeople of any substantial municipality in any continent that fancy or information might recommend. He could secure forthwith, if he wished it, cheap and comfortable means of transit to any country or climate without passport or other formality, could despatch his servant to the neighboring office of a bank for such supply of the precious metals as might seem convenient, and could then proceed abroad to foreign quarters, without knowledge of their religion, language, or customs, bearing coined wealth upon his person, and would consider himself greatly aggrieved and much surprised at the least interference. But, most important of all, he regarded this state of affairs as normal, certain, and permanent, except in the direction of further improvement, and any deviation from it as aberrant, scandalous, and avoidable. The projects and politics of militarism and imperialism, of racial and cultural rivalries, of monopolies, restrictions, and exclusion, which were to play the serpent to this paradise, were little more than the amusements of his daily newspaper, and appeared to exercise almost no influence at all on the ordinary course of social and economic life, the internationalization of which was nearly complete in practice.

ニュー・エイジ・コネクション

Everyone is aware of their five basic senses. What everyone is not so well aware of is their sixth sense - a connection to something more and greater than their physical senses.

Azorín

Una criada entra llevando en las manos una ancha bandeja llena de flores.

— Ya están aquí las flores—dice Lola.

— ¿Han traído flores?—pregunta D. Joaquín.

— Son las flores que hemos de tirar cuando e la Virgen—contesta Clara.

— ¿Qué flores son?—torna á preguntar don Joaquín.

— Son rosas, claveles y jazmines—contesta Lola.

— Toque usted, D. Joaquín, toque usted—dice Conchita, poniéndole la bandeja delante.

Robert Pagani

Le jour où elle devint Reine, il y eut beaucoup de fleurs, beaucoup de bruit, beaucoup de sang et beaucoup de morts, mais elle ne fut pas vraiment surprise. Dans les dix secondes qui suivirent l'explosion, elle ne fut pas non plus vraiment inquiète, mais non à cause du choc : parce que son esprit était ailleurs. Trois mois plus tôt, elle avait lu un livre, plus exactement la première page d'un livre, car il lui fut enlevé aussitôt, vu qu'il provenait d'un rayon de la bibliothèque qui lui était interdit, lequel racontait l'histoire d'un professeur de musique et de sa femme, et commençait ainsi : ...

Γιώργος Σεφέρης

Δε θέλω τίποτε άλλο παρά να μιλήσω απλά, να μου δοθεί

ετούτη η χάρη.

Γιατί καί τό τραγούδι το φορτώσαμε με τόσες μουσικές

πού σιγά-σιγά βουλιάζει

και την τέχνη μας τη στολίσαμε τόσο πολύ πού φαγώθηκε

από τά μαλάματα το πρόσωπό της

κι είναι καιρός να πούμε τα λιγοστά μας λόγια γιατί η

ψυχή μας αύριο κάνει πανιά.

小田島利郎

そこでは、日が落ちると、日中の酷暑に耐えた身体には厳しすぎる程の冷え込みが襲ってきた。また、予告無しに起こる猛烈な砂嵐にも幾度となく悩まされた。信じられぬ程、深く澄んだ青空から照らす太陽は容赦無く肌を刺すが、夜になると、慈悲深い月と星の光が輝いていた。自然は紛れも無く過酷だったが、旅の途中で出くわすオアシスには驚くほど澄んだ冷たい水があった。その自然は中途半端なところがなく。。。男たちはタフで強靱風貌をしていて、握手をする時など、力を込めて足を踏ん張っていないと、引きずられるかと思うほど力強かった。彼らは、見ず知らずの異国の旅人である私を家に招き入れ、土壁の粗末な小屋の中で乏しい食料を分け与えてくれた。。。人々は、優しく寛容だった。彼らの生活は、貧しいものだったが、我々が忘れかけていた心の豊かさが感じられた。。。一日一ドル程の僅かな予算で旅する間に思い知らされたのは、自分がいかに世界を知らなかったかであった。

チャールズ・モンロー・シュルツ

Yesterday I was a dog. Today I'm a dog. Tomorrow I'll probably still be a dog. Sigh! There's so little hope for advancement.

Charles Monroe Schulz

Don't worry about the world coming to an end today.

It's already tomorrow in Australia .

Mark Twain

Too much of anything is bad, but too much of good whiskey is barely enough.

いわさきちひろ

Karl Marx

Above all, we note the fact that the so-called rights of man, the droits de l'homme as distinct from the droits du citoyen, are nothing but the rights of a member of civil society, i.e., the rights of egoistic man, of man separated from other men and from the community. Let us hear what the most radical Constitution, the Constitution of 1793, has to say:

Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen. Article 2. "These rights, etc., (the natural and imprescriptible rights) are: equality, liberty, security, property."

What constitutes liberty?

Article 6. "Liberty consists in being able to do everything which does not harm others."

Liberty, therefore, is the right to do everything that harms no one else. The limits within which anyone can act without harming someone else are defined by law, just as the boundary between two fields is determined by a boundary post. It is a question of the liberty of man as isolated monad, withdrawn into himself.

Jonathan Cook

Name-calling, however distasteful, cannot justify Human Rights Watch distorting its findings to placate the Israel lobby. But that seems to be just what is happening.

Robert L. Bernstein

Human Rights Watch had as its original mission to pry open closed societies, advocate basic freedoms and support dissenters. But recently it has been issuing reports on the Israeli-Arab conflict that are helping those who wish to turn Israel into a pariah state.

At Human Rights Watch, we always recognized that open, democratic societies have faults and commit abuses. But we saw that they have the ability to correct them — through vigorous public debate, an adversarial press and many other mechanisms that encourage reform.

That is why we sought to draw a sharp line between the democratic and nondemocratic worlds, in an effort to create clarity in human rights. We wanted to prevent the Soviet Union and its followers from playing a moral equivalence game with the West and to encourage liberalization by drawing attention to dissidents like Andrei Sakharov, Natan Sharansky and those in the Soviet gulag — and the millions in China’s laogai, or labor camps.

John D. Sutter

The stereotypical library is dying -- and it's taking its shushing ladies, dank smell and endless shelves of books with it.

Books are being pushed aside for digital learning centers and gaming areas. "Loud rooms" that promote public discourse and group projects are taking over the bookish quiet. Hipster staffers who blog, chat on Twitter and care little about the Dewey Decimal System are edging out old-school librarians.

And that's just the surface. By some accounts, the library system is undergoing a complete transformation that goes far beyond these image changes.

Nevaeh