Patron Saint of the Internet, Saint Isidore of Seville

I didn’t know the internet had a patron saint. Did you? He lived in the 7th century, and was known for being the first great Christian encyclopedist. St. Isidore of Seville, Bishop, died in 636. My kind of guy.

 According to Magnificat, Vo. 28, no. 3, May 13, "It was his curiosity about the world around him that made him the greatest scholar of his age. Not only did he write about Catholic theology--he collected information about music, medicine, geography, clothing, war, language, animals, plants, astronomy and physics. He compiled this information and carefully arranged it into textbooks that were used by scholars for generations to come."

I don't care much for Wikipedia, but it's getting harder NOT to use it since AI platforms use it and people grab the first thing that pops up. The phrase, "do your own research" is very hard to do unless you have a personal library pre-internet, and it won't help much with some of the current tech stuff like AI.

I used to have 7 sets of encyclopedias, but I think 3 were for children, so they left the house years ago. Although I own many "cyclopedic" type reference books, I don't call them that. But I do own the 11th, 12th and 13th editions of Encyclopaedia Britannica (inherited from my grandfather) and their history is fascinating although I don't necessarily agree with all that's said about it in the internet article.

The 12th was so focused on WWI (incredible maps) the editors soon had to publish the 13th to bring back some balance to scholarship about the world. Reminds me of the phenomenon we call Trump Derangement Syndrome and the Left/socialists believing the world of blame and evil only revolves around their own myopic viewpoint.

Censorship or common sense?

As a librarian I think I've seen or read just about everything that's out there (that's stupid) about digital porn, filters, libraries and access. It's always about freedom and never about protecting children or library patrons who have to sit next to the perverts. "Well, what if they are doing a school report about AIDS in Africa, and you've got a filter on the computer?" Yeah, sure. I know people who will not take their children to public libraries unattended--and that's just fine, indeed recommended, by some library directors. God forbid some slimeball should be prevented masterbating at the terminal or stacks while he views naked girls and women. Now it's Wikipedia. What? Librarians on their board/staff? Here's the story in E-Commerce News.

A decades-old record album cover showing a young girl posing nude may be illegal in the UK, but the controversial image has not been banned in the U.S., where Wikipedia is hosted. The user-created online encyclopedia has therefore determined it would be censorship to remove the image from its pages. Several British ISPs have restricted access to the page, however, in response to a complaint.