The Boston Diaries

The ongoing saga of a programmer who doesn't live in Boston, nor does he even like Boston, but yet named his weblog/journal “The Boston Diaries.”

Go figure.

Saturday, November 07, 2015

Bookless libraries, a Latinless Catholic Church and other unbelievable things

Bunny and I were at a restaurant, playing this on-line trivia game when we got the question:

In Texas, there exists a public library that has no books.

Now, I realize this is Texas they're talking about, but really? Surely Texas can't be that backwards, can it?

SAN ANTONIO (AP) — Texas has seen the future of the public library, and it looks a lot like an Apple Store: Rows of glossy iMacs beckon. iPads mounted on a tangerine-colored bar invite readers. And hundreds of other tablets stand ready for checkout to anyone with a borrowing card.

Even the librarians imitate Apple's dress code, wearing matching shirts and that standard-bearer of geek-chic, the hoodie. But this $2.3 million library might be most notable for what it does not have — any actual books.

That makes Bexar County's BiblioTech the nation's only bookless public library, a distinction that has attracted scores of digital bookworms, plus emissaries from as far away as Hong Kong who want to learn about the idea and possibly take it home.

Texas library offers glimpse of bookless future

Oh … well. Um. Okay.

And then the next question came up:

The official language of the Vatican is Latin.

This is a trick question, right? I mean … the Vatican! They invented Latin! This is true, right?

Q: What is the official language of Vatical City?

A: The official language of the Vatican City state is Italian, with Latin and French as secondary languages. Vatican City is a walled enclave within the city of Rome. Its area of 110 acres makes it the smallest independent state in the world.

What is the official language of Vatican City?

What the … ?

Okay, fine! I need to learn a bit more about the Vatican. Next thing you'll tell me, Microsoft is going open source or something silly like that …

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