Has it really been a month? More selected numbers, this time from the latest two sets of Dewey Decimal subject mappings.

• The eyes have it: Peacocks in art – 704.943286258
• Vicar of Dibleyest number: Clergy on television – 791.456827
• 100,00 BC: Prehistoric peoples on television – 791.45658
• “But she hates James Blunt already”: Musical perception in infants – 155.422215
• Don’t go there: Sin City (Imaginary place) – 741.5973
• We’re turning Chinese, I really think so: Sinicization – 303.48251
• The fraud that got away was this big: Phishing – 005.8
• Beam me up, Scotty: Quantum teleportation – 530.12
• Fairly long number: Sephardim in literature – 809.933529924046
• Very long number: Quetzalcoatl in literature – 808.80382997845202113

These large numbers are, however, dwarfed by this monstrosity from the Canadian subject mapping for works about a four-and-a-half month strike at the Versatile tractor plant in Winnipeg:

Buhler Versatile Inc. Strike, Winnipeg, Man., 2000-2001 – 331.892829225209712743090511

Wow. It’s certainly the longest I’ve ever seen. And they say size isn’t everything.

I see they’ve picked this one out at Dewey Towers too.

Looking for publications of the US government online? Then try the relaunched Catalog of U.S. Government Publications.

Searching on “United Kingdom”, I found a “Protocol amending tax convention with the Netherlands“. This is a

message from the President of the United States transmitting protocol amending the convention between the United States of America and the Kingdom of the Netherlands for the avoidance of double taxation and the prevention of fiscal evasion with respect to taxes on income (including exchange of notes with attached understanding)

The language of the message is a little archaic (although the UK Parliament is hardly a shining example of modern language):

To the Senate of the United States:

I transmit herewith for Senate advice and consent to ratification, the Protocol Amending the Convention Between the United States of America and the Kingdom of the Netherlands for the Avoidance of Double Taxation and the Prevention of Fiscal Evasion with Respect to Taxes on Income, signed at Washington, DC., on March 8, 2004. Transmitted for the Senate’s information is an exchange of notes with an attached Understanding, which provides clarification with respect to the application of the Convention, as amended, in specific cases. Also transmitted for the information of the Senate is the report of the Department of State with respect to the Protocol.

[…]

I recommend that the Senate give early and favorable consideration to this Protocol, and that the Senate give its advice and consent to ratification.

GEORGE W. BUSH.

It’s that time again, so buckle in: selected numbers from the latest Dewey Decimal subject mappings.

• Longest number: King Bladud (Legendary character) – 398.20936239802
• As close to being about the leadership election as I could get: Neoliberalism – 320.51
• But MPs’ private lives are private: Condom use – 613.9435
• Number closest to ITV1’s Saturday night line-up: Figure skaters – 796.912092
• And “spree” is such a nice-sounding word: Spree murderers – 364.1523092
• But the rat came back the very next day, the rat came back, they thought he was a goner but the rat came back, he just wouldn’t stay away: Rodenticide resistance – 632.951
• Most unexpected number: Surprise birthday parties – 793.2
• Whatever Happened to Scabies Pain?: Diseases in motion pictures – 791.436561
• Most vocabulary-expanding number: Rhombencephalon – 573.86
• Most poetic number and most South American: Ecuadorian Haiku – 861.041089866
• Number I’ve been to most often: King’s Cross Station (London, England) – 385.3140942142
• Watch out – books!: Libraries–Risk management – 025.11
• Go out with a bang: Pyrotechnists – 662.1092

More bad “diseases in motion pictures” puns are, of course, welcomed.

Went on a tour of the National Library of Scotland last Friday, and very informative it was too. The most interesting part was seeing behind the scenes. Their meeting room has a lovely view of the top of St Giles Cathedral and out towards Arthur’s Seat, which was peering up out of the mist.

I had wondered where all the books were stored as the building seems quite smaller – only two or three storeys higher than the entrance on George IV Bridge. However, the building goes right down under the bridge to Cowgate, and we walked down a Vertigo style spiral staircase to reach one of the stock rooms. This was filled with books, sorted by years of acquisition, subject and – in order to use space as efficiently as possible – height.