Confessions of a Mad Librarian

1) Stanford Law School has a great caterer.

2) I was forewarned, but Lessig gives great, mind-blowing, eyes-rolling-in-the-back-of-the-head PowerPoint. I craved a cigarette afterwards (but refrained).

3) In Lessig's presentation, I finally saw a clip of the Peanuts/"Hey Ya!" video. I would hope that Charles Schultz would find it very amusing, but we'll never know. There are also a few other amusing media clips, including a skit from "The Daily Show."

4) There was a surprise guest: Eric Eldred. I saw him at the buffet table, went about my business for 2 seconds, blinked, wheeled around suddenly and introduced myself to him as a future librarian. I asked if he came out to California just for the signing/reception. Turns out that he's in charge of one of the Internet Archive's bookmobiles and he drove it out here from the East Coast.

5) There's going to be a WIPO conference in Palo Alto next month. Far too rich for my blood (and bank account), but maybe a local group (EFF?) might plan alternative activities around the same time. Prof. Lessig is one of the participants.

Oh, and a caveat: if you end up buying a copy of Free Culture with its original jacket, you may not want to just throw it on the front passenger seat and take off for a drive. The bar pattern with the subtle copyright symbol may be semi-hynoptic (at least it was for me, standing in line to get the book signed). Just a warning ...