At least it's not "Roses are red..." :p
Though not half as fun :D
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At least it's not "Roses are red..." :p
Though not half as fun :D
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/4965234.stmQuote:
For those working through the night or just staying up late, it promises to be a time when clockwatching should be positively encouraged.
In the early hours of Thursday morning, the clock ticks past a time which is sure to appeal to the statistically-minded or just those who like a little bit of order in their lives.
For just a second - naturally - the time will be exactly 01:02:03 on 04/05/06.
Or at least it will be in the UK and the majority of countries which list dates in day and month order. In the US, the same phenomenon was observed on 5 April. ...
UNDERSTANDING WOMEN
"Yes" = No
"No" = Yes
"Maybe" = No
"I'm sorry" = You'll be sorry
"We need" = I want
"It's your decision" = You better select the option I’ve already chosen.
"Do what you want" = You'll pay for this later.
"We need to talk" = You did something wrong.
"Sure, go ahead" = You go ahead, you die.
"I'm not upset" = Of course I'm upset, you moron!
"You're so macho" = Can you please go and shave and shower?
"Be romantic, turn out the lights" = My thighs are flabby.
"This kitchen is so inconvenient" = I want a new house.
“Can’t we just be friends?” = There is no way in hell I'm going to let any part of your body touch any part of mine again.
“I just need some space” = Without you in it.
“We’re moving too quickly” = I want to find out if this guy at the gym has a girlfriend first.
"Do you love me?" = I want something expensive.
"Is my butt fat?" = Tell me I'm beautiful.
"You have to learn to communicate" = Just agree with me.
“I don’t know. What do you want to do?” = I can’t believe you have nothing planned!
“Sure, chicken rice is okay.” = You cheapo slob!
"I said, nothing’s wrong, okay?" = It's that time of the month.
"Are you listening to me!?" = Too late, you're dead.
I wanted to post the Understanding Men part, but considering the nature of this forum, I decided not to post it ;)
It just happened - which probably means I'm going to be late for work again! :pQuote:
For those working through the night or just staying up late, it promises to be a time when clockwatching should be positively encouraged.
In the early hours of Thursday morning, the clock ticks past a time which is sure to appeal to the statistically-minded or just those who like a little bit of order in their lives.
For just a second - naturally - the time will be exactly 01:02:03 on 04/05/06.
Or at least it will be in the UK and the majority of countries which list dates in day and month order. In the US, the same phenomenon was observed on 5 April. ...
Coca Cola is celebrating its 120th birthday...
Coca Cola quiz
booooohissssssssssssss
Oh No. A dissension? What aspect of good ol Coke could possibly elicit these words?
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/4985456.stmQuote:
The shortlist for the Turner Prize 2006 has been revealed, with four artists competing for the £25,000 first prize.
TOMMA ABTS
This German artist, born in 1967, is nominated for her "intimate and compelling canvases", which "build on and enrich the language of abstract painting", according to the competition organisers.
They have singled out her solo exhibitions at Kunsthalle Basel in Switzerland and London's Greengrassi gallery.
Ms Abts insists everything she creates must measure 48 x 38 cm (19 x 15 in) and begins every piece with no idea of what she is about to do.
Her work has been described as "disturbingly weird" by the Guardian newspaper, which noted that she finds the titles for each painting in a dictionary of German first names.
PHIL COLLINS
Phil Collins, 35, is based in Glasgow and specialises in creating videos and photographs of people in places of conflict.
The organisers praised the way he encourages his subjects to "reveal their individuality, making the personal public with sensitivity and generosity".
In Ramallah, he paid nine young Palestinians to take part in an eight-hour disco-dancing marathon for a piece called They Shoot Horses.
He has also filmed Iraqis silently auditioning for a non-existent Hollywood film and invited people in a Basque region of Spain to undress in a luxury hotel as part of a discussion on democracy and beauty.
MARK TITCHNER
The 33-year-old from Luton creates paintings, light boxes, animations and sculptures that include slogans from evangelical literature, musical lyrics, political manifestos and advertising campaigns.
He has made a series of giant billboards for the Gloucester Road underground station in west London.
A separate project invited people to shout into a contraption that translated their sound waves into ripples on a tray of water.
Organisers say Mr Titchner has worked across "a wide range" of media, and "continues to interweave a vast array of references from pop lyrics to philosophy".
REBECCA WARREN
She is nominated for her sculptural installations, which have been at the centre of solo exhibitions at New York's Matthew Marks Gallery and Galerie Daniel Buchholz in Cologne.
Ms Warren has also contributed to the Tate Triennial exhibition in London, which celebrates new developments in the art world.
Turner organisers say she combines "a wide range of sources with a strong formal awareness, injecting conventional materials with a sensual physicality to create something wholly new".
Born in 1965, she studied Fine Art at Goldsmiths College at the University of London as well as the Chelsea College of Art.
Wondering if anyone has seen works of these artists?
PS: It will be boring this year without any dunk or unmade beds.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/4995624.stmQuote:
The Simpsons is more than a funny cartoon, it reveals truths about human nature that rival the observations of great philosophers from Plato to Kant... while Homer sets his house on fire, says philosopher Julian Baggini. With the likes of Douglas Coupland, George Walden and Stephen Hawking as fans, taking the Simpsons seriously is no longer outre but de rigeur.
It is, quite simply, one of the greatest cultural artefacts of our age. So great, in fact, that it not only reflects and plays with philosophical ideas, it actually does real philosophy, and does it well.
How can a comic cartoon do this? Precisely because it is a comic cartoon, the form best suited to illuminate our age.
To speak truthfully and insightfully today you must have a sense of the absurdity of human life and endeavour. Past attempts to construct grand and noble theories about human history and destiny have collapsed.
We now know we're just a bunch of naked apes trying to get on as best we can, usually messing things up, but somehow finding life can be sweet all the same. All delusions of a significance that we do not really have need to be stripped away, and nothing can do this better that the great deflater: comedy.
The Simpsons does this brilliantly, especially when it comes to religion. It's not that the Simpsons is atheist propaganda; its main target is not belief in God or the supernatural, but the arrogance of particular organised religions that they, amazingly, know the will of the creator.
For example, in the episode Homer the Heretic, Homer gives up church and decides to follow God in his own way: by watching the TV, slobbing about and dancing in his underpants.
Throughout the episode he justifies himself in a number of ways.
*"What's the big deal about going to some building every Sunday, I mean, isn't God everywhere?"
*"Don't you think the almighty has better things to worry about than where one little guy spends one measly hour of his week?"
*"And what if we've picked the wrong religion? Every week we're just making God madder and madder?"
Homer's protests do not merely allude to much subtler arguments that proper philosophers make. The basic points really are that simple, which is why they can be stated simply.
Of course, there is more that can and should be said about them, but when we make decisions about whether or not to follow one particular religion, the reasons that really matter to us are closer to the simple truths of the Simpsons than the complex mental machinations of academic philosophers of religion.
And that's true even for the philosophers, whose high-level arguments are virtuosi feats of reasoning, but are not the things that win hearts and minds. They are merely the lengthy guitar solos to Homer's crushing, compelling riffs.
However, being simple is not the same as being simplistic, which is one of the greatest crimes in the Simpsons' universe.
We can see this when Homer's house catches fire, in what could be seen as divine retribution for his apostasy.
But what actually led to the fire was not God's wrath but Homer's hubris and arrogance. Sitting on his sofa thinking smugly, "Boy, everyone is stupid except me," he falls asleep, dropping his cigar.
What really caused the fire was thus a slippage from the simple into the simplistic. Homer's mistake was to think that because the key points which inform his heresy are simple, that the debate is closed and he has nothing left to learn from others. But this is being simplistic, not keeping things simple.
Small dots, big picture
Revealing simple truths about simplistic falsehoods is not just a minor philosophical task, like doing the washing up at Descartes' Diner while the real geniuses cook up the main courses.
For when it comes to the relevance of philosophy to real life, all the commitments we make on the big issues are determined by considerations which are ultimately quite straightforward.
A rich philosophical worldview is in this sense like a pointillist picture - one of those pieces of art in which a big image is made up of thousands of tiny dots (see Seurat image, right). Its building blocks are no more than simple dots, but the overall picture which builds up from this is much more complicated.
Yet we need reminding that the dots are just dots, and that errors are made more often not by those who fail to examine the dots carefully enough, but those who become fixated by the brilliance or defects of one or two and who fail to see how they fit into the big picture.
And the Simpsons certainly plays out on a broad canvas.
Any individual or group is shown to be ridiculous when only their pathetic and partial view of the world is taken to be everything. That's why no one escapes satire in programme, which is vital for its ultimately uplifting message: we're an absurd species but together we make for a wonderful world.
The Simpsons, like Monty Python, is an Anglo-Saxon comedic take on the existentialism which in France takes on a more tragic hue. Albert Camus' absurd is defied not by will, but mocking laughter.
Abstract themes
Another reason why cartoons are the best form in which to do philosophy is that they are non-realistic in the same way that philosophy is.
Philosophy needs to be real in the sense that it has to make sense of the world as it is, not as we imagine or want it to be. But philosophy deals with issues on a general level. It is concerned with a whole series of grand abstract nouns: truth, justice, the good, identity, consciousness, mind, meaning and so on.
Cartoons abstract from real life in much the same way philosophers do. Homer is not realistic in the way a film or novel character is, but he is recognisable as a kind of American Everyman. His reality is the reality of an abstraction from real life that captures its essence, not as a real particular human who we see ourselves reflected in.
The satirical cartoon world is essentially a philosophical one because to work it needs to reflect reality accurately by abstracting it, distilling it and then presenting it back to us, illuminating it more brightly than realist fiction can.
That's why it is no coincidence that the most insightful and philosophical cultural product of our time is a comic cartoon, and why its creator, Matt Groening, is the true heir of Plato, Aristotle and Kant.
I refuse to participate in threads where the title is written in a language other than English. Sorry.
The above post is a disclaimer; it should not be construed as "participation."
The above post is a clarification. Also not participation.
I don't even know what non sequitur means. Is it some kind of dance? Should I be doing the non sequitur as I type this?
Somebody has just sent me a private message informing me that a non sequitur is apparently some kind of hat. Shouldn't that have been explained at the beginning of this thread?? Hello?
(Thanks for the PM, Mililalil)
I was also informed that while sheep go to Heaven, goats go to Hell. Poor goats.
Is it true that in Europe they keep billy-goats on the roofs of the houses? I saw a picture of that once. Crazy!
You know, I bet if I hang out here long enough, someone will come along and offer me some tea. Tea. I despise tea.
Okay, I'm out of here. Have fun wearing your non sequiturs.
come back dear Basil. here is a tray, cream or sugar, lemon or honey. Please.......don't go.
well there you go dear Basil, a tea party and becoming the object of your dear parent's love-solely. That is the spirit. As for the little sister, I have it on good authority that she wasn't that kind to her dear brother , however Rachel noticed she still breathed and whisked her away to faerie land to live with the elves who named her Barrwyn and she is happy there. Now where were we......oh yes, chocolate cake or white, cream or Irish Whisky in your tea dear?
Oh, those dear faeries.
The faeries paid me a visit when I was a little boy. They crept in through my bedroom window late at night. They smelled kind of funny, like rubbing alcohol. Anyway, they whisked me off to Faerie Land, which turned out to be the vacant lot behind Earl's Auto Repair. There we played all sorts of fun faerie games; I can't tell you what they were because the faeries told me they were secret faerie games and I couldn't tell anyone about them (I didn't want to play some of them, but they made me anyway).
It was there the faeries left me; I had to find my own way home in the dark. I never thought I would meet real faerie folk, nor did I guess how closely they would resemble the hoboes who lived out at the old abandoned train depot. Their ways certainly are mysterious. Anyway, the reason I don't like tea is because the faeries kept making me drink "tea" that night, except it tasted really bitter and made my throat hurt and made feel really dizzy and sick and nauseous. Please don't make me drink tea, Rachel. Please?
okay darling, I will tell you what. You write out the entire menu for our tea party, food and drink and where it will be and I will do all I can to please you.
And I am so sorry for what those strange faeries did to you. I promise you they are not from my faerie land, they sound a little like the members of Tuatha de dannan from ancient Celtic lore , I love them, but some were evil rogues. And because they were so skilled in dark magic they actually won wars because the other side could not compete nor even understand their dark and terrifying magik.
Well they had better never come back to bother you again dearest Basil. I know a thing or two that has been passed down to me. And I heard they cannot bear True Love , it hurts their eyes and makes them swoon. I shall use that against them and keep you safe.
So write the menu dear and I will see to your every heart's desire. See I threw the tea away. All gone.
http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/image..._hopest203.jpg
Ok, I probably shouldnt be joking about this (guy got killed there on Friday night), but take a close look at the picture....notice anything wierd? I'm sure in most places in the world the police would use cones to tape off the area. Not in glasgow however, why use a cone when you've got a few kegs lying around?
If I remember correctly, (and I'm over 40) non sequitur means something like "It does not follow" or words to that effect, an oxymoron type of thing. Something like why do we park on a driveway and drive on a parkway? Or if skull size is related to intelligence, shouldn't the T-Rex have been the predominate species? Does SPAM (the canned kind) really stand for SPiced hAM or Stuff Posing As Meat? :lol: :lol: :lol:
Oh when I saw ths my first thought was concerning our recent controversey. We were all going to get banned from the entire internet! :DQuote:
Originally Posted by Scheherazade
Nice going Basil and Rachel, the top of my screen now contains three advertisements for tea.
Speaking of tea:
Tea leaves darken with exposure to oxygen after they are picked in much the same way that any other leaf changes colors in the fall. There are four different categories of tea: green, white, oolong and black. They are diferentiated by the ammount of time that they are allowed to darken after they are picked. White tea is the least processed, and therefore the most expensive and sought after kind of tea.
This is the kind of crap you learn when the girl who works at the health food store is really attractive.
Got a 48. I don't really like that test. My result was probably marred by the fact that I eat quite a bit less than most people (and am still slightly overweight) and the fact that I am a vegetarian.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/5063364.stmQuote:
Experts have warned of the dangers of overuse of mobile phones and game consoles in children after a young girl developed repetitive strain injury. Isabelle Taylor, aged eight from St Anne's, Lancashire noticed pain in her fingers and wrists after sending up to 30 text messages a day.
RSI is normally associated with office workers who spend hours hunched over a computer keyboard.
But the condition is becoming common in children addicted to technology.
Isabelle's mother Jane Taylor, 40, said her daughter was "constantly" texting on her mobile but that it wasn't until she was diagnosed with RSI that the extent of her texting became apparent.
"She got the phone when she was six and she's constantly on it.
ADVICE FROM THE BRITISH CHIROPRACTIC ASSOCIATION
Support your arm on a chair or table to take the 'load' off the neck and shoulder muscles
Massage your arm from the wrist to the elbow at regular intervals and swap hands regularly
Sit in a neutral upright position - head over shoulders and arms comfortably near the body
"I tried to take it off her but she started sneaking it to school. But then she started complaining about pains in her arms and hands a couple of months ago."
Mrs Taylor has limited Isabelle's texting to 30 minutes before and after school and she is doing exercises to alleviate the condition.
Sending text messages can lead to RSI because mobile phone users tend to hold down their shoulders and upper arms when pressing the buttons, cutting off blood to the forearm.
Technology overload
Dr David Cosgrave, who treated Isabelle said he sees two children a month with RSI from overuse of gadgets.
"A lot of youngsters who operate their Playstations or use their phones a lot can suffer inflammation which can be quite painful in the upper arms and wrists.
"Many times these pains are put down to growing pains when there is actually something else causing it.
Tim Hutchful, from the British Chiropractic Association said that text messaging regularly, over a long period of time, could cause repetitive strain which may cause both short and long term injuries.
"As mobile phone technology develops, mobiles are getting smaller, with buttons closer together. Small, fine movements tend to aggravate more than larger movements - this coupled with the smaller buttons can lead to injury as smaller buttons are harder to activate.
"When you are text messaging, you tend to hold your shoulders and upper arms tense. This cuts down the circulation to the forearm, when in fact it needs a greater than normal blood flow to achieve the fine movements of the thumbs and fingers."
Earlier this year the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy issued guidance for mobile phone users on avoiding injury.
Physiotherapist Bronwyn Clifford who helped develop the guide said: "Excessive texting and prolonged use of the buttons and dials found on an array of modern handheld gadgets, including MP3s, Blackberry devices and portable games consoles, can contribute to hand, wrist and arm problems.
"The small, definite, repetitive movements used to manoeuvre controls on these tiny handsets can begin to cause pain over time.
"The thumb, while good for gripping, is not a very dextrous digit and is particularly susceptible to injury."
Here's a far better solution: Take the infernal noisy contraption away from the kid......why children need mobile phones I have no idea.
I would like to know why a child of 6 was given a mobile phone (or of 8 for that matter) and whom they are texting... to say what?
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/5082896.stmQuote:
The Magazine could not possibly condone bunking off to watch the World Cup. So how best to catch the game without annoying the boss? The union Amicus has been red-carded for advising workers on how to pull a sickie in order to watch England play Trinidad and Tobago. While kick-off is late in the working day (1700 BST) for nine-to-fivers, rare is the World Cup fan prepared to wait until then to bag a vantage point.
So how to keep up with the action while keeping the managers sweet (assuming they're not "working from home").
1. Get online - our sport website streams every BBC TV game live, allowing broadband-connected workers in the UK to watch at their desks. IT firms have duly warned that corporate networks might grind to a halt and, aware that some companies might wish to prevent this, the BBC has published the URLs carrying live streams for IT managers asked to restrict access. For those into delayed gratification, TV viewers can replay the match during the evening at the touch of a red button.
2. Bring in a radio. It may seem a tad old-fashioned in a world of high-definition television and live streaming over the internet, but the radio has long been the traditional back-up for football fans unable to watch a match. If your boss needs some persuading tell him it's a solution endorsed by Investors in People, an independent body which sets and measures employment standards.
3. Get a buddy system going. Make friends with those in the office who don't like football - they're the ones who think Rooney's fortunes were inextricably tied to Judy Garland's - and get them to cover your shift and offer to do the same for them when they want time off, maybe to watch tennis, go shopping or go to their kid's school sports day.
4. Team building exercises are all the rage. Suggest to management that allowing people to watch the England match together would be a great team building opportunity. As the union Amicus quite rightly points out, it's a lot cheaper than an away day.
5. Watch at work, on a TV provided by the company. Another team building opportunity, and a way for bosses to avoid the problem of absences while boosting morale and employee relations. A big screen in the corner of a conference room may not have the atmosphere of watching down the pub (even if libation is laid on), but if enough people pile along, you can make your own atmosphere.
WORLD CUP-ITIS
Four out of 10 football fans took 'sickie' during 2002 World Cup
This cost business about £390m
13% of men - and 4% of women - called in sick to watch a match, or recover from post-game drinking
This rose to 16% among men and women aged 18-29
6. Work through lunch and leave early, if the boss agrees. With a goal in mind - finishing in time for kick-off - workers may even be more productive in the time available. "We're allowed to leave a little early for the 5pm games, provided we make up the time," says reader Bruce Castle, of London.
7. And suggest flexible hours, at least during the tournament, so employees can make up time. A recognised business tool, this is known as the "peakie" system. Investors in People also advises employers to extend break times during matches, and suggests a rota for finishing early so that everyone knows they'll get their chance.
8. Take annual leave on match day (ok, you might be a bit late for this option). But be prepared for a knock-back if too many others want the same day off. Richard Smith, employment services director at Croner consultancy, says companies need a fair system for granting leave, such as random selection or on a first-come-first-served basis.
9. Keeping non-footie fans happy is vital - for managers as well as lovers of the beautiful game. They are the people who will cover shifts and hold the fort as everyone else settles down for kick-off. Keeping them motivated by offering similar perks is a good idea, says Investors in People. TV access during Wimbledon anyone?
10. Be self-employed. Then you only have to ask yourself for time off. As reader Gareth Haman from Edinburgh says: "My boss lets me take as much time off as I like to watch the World Cup - he's even happy for me to sit and have a beer in the office. Oh, did I mention I was self-employed?"
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/5091154.stmQuote:
Football's governing body has explained why up to 1,000 Dutch fans watched a World Cup tie wearing no trousers.
Around 1,000 fans arrived for the Ivory Coast tie in their traditional bright orange trousers - but bearing the logo and name of a Dutch brewery.
To protect the rights of the official beer they were denied entry, so the male fans promptly removed the trousers and watched the game in underpants.
Fifa said an attempt at an "ambush" publicity campaign was not allowed.
Fifteen major companies have paid up to $50m (£27m) each for the right to be official partners at this World Cup.
The American firm Anheuser Busch, which makes Budweiser, won the exclusive right to promote and sell its beverage in the stadiums and other venues.
There has been a wider resentment in Germany that a US brewery has the exclusive rights in a country which prides itself on the quality of its beer and has very strict laws governing its composition.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/5105580.stmQuote:
Public libraries are on the verge of extinction warn campaigners. How can they be protected for the future?
Be honest - when did you last use your local library? Do you even know where it is? There is a chance you might find out too late and it'll have closed.
Most of us probably know library usage has been falling for years. But how many realise that a crossroads may be looming for a prized public service - and do we care?
Across the UK more than 100 libraries now face being shut as councils search for savings to ease budget deficits.
"Public libraries are on the verge of extinction and action is needed now to halt their decline," warns campaign website Libri.org.
If the cuts go ahead, campaigners say a network once central to communities will be lost forever - and they are starting to fight back.
Unconvincing
"There is widespread concern that the rationale for closure is unconvincing," says a press release from residents in the Fleetville area of St Albans.
They were responding to news that their local branch and another of the city's four libraries have been earmarked to close.
Hertfordshire County Council says Fleetville library does not meet disability access requirements, that there are "catchment overlaps" and that visits and borrowing are low.
"To ascertain which libraries would be proposed for closure a series of tests were carried out against all the libraries in Hertfordshire," director of children, schools and families, John Harris, told local MP Anne Main in a letter in June.
To offset the proposals, the council says it plans major improvements and extended opening in other libraries.
Local residents deny Fleetville library is poorly used and want more regular opening hours.
Little has been done to tailor the service to local needs and many people will find it harder to visit the main library in town, they say. They are to meet the council to advise ways of improving the library after a four-month review was granted.
Long-term cost
Basic lessons from the book retail trade should be learnt, Fleetville residents say.
Tailored stock, 21st Century opening hours, a stronger service ethic, promotions, community outreach and learning partnerships are all suggestions they plan to put to the council.
The United Kingdom's 3,500 public libraries cost more than £1bn a year. In many cases, shutting a branch saves a few tens of thousands of pounds when councils are millions in debt.
Short-term gain at long-term cost, say supporters who see libraries as having intrinsic value as places of discovery and learning.
"I practically lived in my local library when I was growing up and I'm sure that's why I'm a writer now," says children's laureate Jacqueline Wilson, a prominent supporter of the Love Libraries campaign.
"I think it is such a shame that so many of them are now under threat of closure."
Social benefits
Since Victorian times, public libraries have played a key role in social improvement in Britain for millions of people. Greater literacy affects the types of job people do and their standard of living. Young children who read more are more likely to prosper at school.
The benefits of extending literacy and knowledge are immeasurable - but times have changed dramatically since the Public Libraries Act of 1850. In today's information age, it seems libraries must adapt or die.
Although library spending has risen nationally for the sixth year in a row, book issues continue to fall - down 40% over the past 10 years. The average consumer price paid for books has also fallen. Surveys show young people largely see public libraries as irrelevant these days.
Despite this, when asked, most people don't want the service to disappear.
Essex County Council found that a majority of respondents thought libraries were a sign of "a civilised, caring, responsible society".
Users and non-users alike said society would lose out if services closed. Essex is trying to transform its library service and wants them to be seen as a "front door" for council and other public services.
Working together
Sixteen branches are now open seven days a week and strong community links are being forged.
"Because of the beneficial contracts we can negotiate with our suppliers and because we manage our processes in a very efficient way, we are able to buy 39% more books and other items than we did in the early 1990s," says libraries manager Michele Jones.
"All we wanted was one reading group per library. We now have 350 across 73 libraries and 43,000 children attended our summer reading activity last year."
Essex has invested in its libraries and borrowing rates remain healthy, she says.
Librarians are having to be more than "gatekeepers" stamping books in order to deliver a dynamic, relevant service these days. They must publicise what's on offer and embrace change.
In Cumbria, officials are talking about setting up "library links" in village shops as a way of avoiding closures.
Library supporters say maintaining adequate book stocks - a library's "core business" however many internet access points it has - is also essential.
Spending on books now accounts for just 9% nationally - while staff costs eat up more than 50%.
Tim Coates, who runs the influential Good Library Blog, says it's really about efficiency, not money - and radical reform could bring huge savings. He says London is a case in point with 330 libraries over 33 boroughs - but no effective co-operation.
"The service in London costs £220m per annum. It should have one website, one library card," he told a parliamentary forum last week. Doing so would eliminate £30-40m a year in "wasted replicated management effort" in London alone, he says.
Officials might dispute his figures - but it's increasingly clear that big ideas are needed if the public library network is to survive.