Wiki 2

I found a great image to show us all the bits of a hardcover book and what to call each piece :) I thought since we have a bit about what happens to new books when they come to us I would find something about the construction of the books themselves. It was easier than I anticipated to add the image (however I missed seeing the sidebar with the up/down arrow and paniced twice and deleted the image because I thought I had erased the existing material on the page). I still think the wiki is a neat idea but I foresee lots of problems with so many people being editors (I am only semi computer literate and know how much I can rearrange things without meaning to and/or noticing). I don't know if it will be an easy tool for everyone to use (I am thinking of the frontline staff and their tight schedule/high workload/iterrupted access to computers). Tee hee, just read Underground Dweller cause my brain froze up. As usual, much more entertaining/well-written/reasoned than my little blog bits. However I have the best youtube video linked! Back to wikiland (good name for a little desert island, neh?). Can anything be done about the scrunched up type on the sidebar? It was giving me a terrible headache trying to find where to click.

Wiki

Yeah, brilliant title but it is Monday. Hmm...could be cool to have book suggestions for different ages and tastes shared from branch to branch. I liked the Book Lust wiki, got some titles I need to checkout. The Stevens County Wiki had some good info on it. It makes me wonder if it could simply replace the normal webpage of a library? I am not a tech person so I have no idea in what that would entail but at first glance they seemed to have a lot of similar info to what we have on our website. Then we could simply have a public and staff wiki. Of course that would depend on what the public would be allowed to edit in the wiki. Sorry, I am giggling ever time I type wiki. Can't help it. And wiziwig just makes me think of Fizzgig from the Dark Crystal. Sigh, just another sign of my misspent childhood. Am off to correct spellings and so on in the fake branch.

Youtube makes my nephew laugh...

he loves watching the alphabet song and Cookie monster. I had to sign up and set up a playlist for him :) Oh, the assignment? Found the fish video and some videos I enjoyed. You'll find the Muppets now on my blog (get that song out of your head now! mha, ha, ha). The librarian video is great except for the annoying pauses (guess the filmstrip just didn't want to change with the times). Youtube is another one of those great tools you could use for all sorts of things (emergency knitting help, etc). It's definitely becoming a staple in our society for all your infotainment needs (Chad Vader is hilarious by the way). Not necessarily an educational tool but enjoyable none the less.

Sick and tired...

of being sick. Too sick even to knit :( Am feeling slightly better today so went to read fav knitty blogs to cheer up. Love this from The Yarn Harlot (note, my computer is behaving itself nicely so this is only for others whose computers are naughty)
"I would like a wee virtual button for my desktop that says SMACK MY SERVER."
Tee hee :)
The knitting blogging was making me feel better (although the printer was making me unhappy - had to hand write the Unoriginal Hat directions since it was out of ink). Found some lovely pictures on Yarn Harlot that made me laugh and think of Underground Dweller. Check them out at
http://www.yarnharlot.ca/blog/archives/2007_11.html
The ones that made me giggle are from the Nov 12th post when Stephanie hits "The Royal" for fibre fun. The spinner's gang sign and the butter sculptures are the best! Might even pick up my socks and work on them. Have been reading my "comfort" books, Terry Pratchett of course. All those with Granny Weatherwax. If you haven't read them you should (check out my Librarything-got lots of them on there).
Watched parts of the Battlestar Razor last night and now want to go back and watch all the rest and am cranky that I have to wait til March for more! For those who haven't heard (which is probably not any since I am always the last too find these things out) Joss Whedon is doing a new series that should be on the air in February or thereabouts!!! Not as exciting as say Firefly back on the air but still good news.
Of course this has nothing to do w/2pt0 but what the heck. I am bored of feeling sick and wanted to do something. Might even cast on that hat (hey, most of my gift knitting is done...sort of).

Library thing

I like this one! I got a little carried away with all my favorites (that I could think of at the moment). Always have a problem with the Discworld books since there are so many and they are all great. This would be cool for the ref librarians to have to get more ideas for good books from people with similar lists/tastes. I wasn't able to find a really fun childrens' book we got in recently. The title is Hallowiener...just realized I spelled it wrong the first time I searched for it so I stand corrected - you can find it on library thing and add it to your library :) In parting if you haven't checked out Underground Dweller's pic of her beautiful shawl (http://dwelltech.blogspot.com/ ) hop on over and take a peek - it is a work of art!

Scottish cows on Flickr

Instead of searching for a subject I looked at the world map and clicked on the photos from Scotland. There is a great shot of a horned cow in the highlands. The horns are framing an old castle in the distance. Really beautiful. A neat way to see photos of places you've never been taken by people you won't ever meet!

Shh...listening to podcasts

Found an archived podcast from the BBC, "Can America Go Green?"http://www.bbc.co.uk/mediaselector/check/worldservice/meta/dps/2007/11/071102_americagreen1b?size=au&bgc=003399&lang=en-ws&nbram=1&nbwm=1&bbram=1&bbwm=1
Good question. Are we to busy figuring out how to do podcasts and make tinier computers and cell phones (with toxic parts that pollute in the making and at the end of life of these devices) to make the small (everyday recycling and composting) and big (what cars we buy/our commutes) adjustments to help keep the world in a livable state for humans. Most of the focus is on our biggest problem - cars. The electric car sounds great except for the issue of where that electricity is coming from - nuclear, hydroelectric, solar, etc. Along with the fact that none of the big car companies want to make them (not enough profits at the start or throughout the life of the car). The news is always so bright and cheery don't ya think?
Setting aside the content of the 'programme', podcasts and especially archived news podcasts are nice since you can catch the show you missed cause the dog was needing to go out, the phone rang, etc. I was able to find the title of a book my father and I had heard about on the radio (radio in our home and car is NPR 90% of the time) by searching the archived programs. Now my father can buy a copy of the book for his friend. Pretty neat but not something I will use all the time.
Side note - It is really difficult to listen when I can't get any sound when I plug my headphones into the monitor. Instead have to bend forward and not move my head when the headphones are plugged into the jack on the front of the cpu (cause I don't have an extra long cord on the headphones).
Argh.

RSS

Whoops...forgot to blog about RSS before putting it on the tracking log. I blame the toothache :( I definitely like Google Reader (got some help from a friend who pointing out that since I already have the Gmail account I don't have to come up with yet another password!). It is cool to have all the blogs I like to read altogether and up to date. It would be good for the reference librarians to have RSS for all the popular author's sites so the release date for the next James Patterson or Nora Roberts book is right at their fingertips when the patron asks. That is all I can think of right now other than I am really looking forward to going to the dentist for my root canal (maybe then the constant headache will stop).

tagging...

Hmm...interesting idea. As you might have noticed I tend to tag blogs by knitter (surprised aren't you). Both Stephanie Pearl-Mcphee and Laurie Perry have great knitting/life stories from opposites compass points (Canada to the north and California to the south). Combining my two favorite things (reading and knitting) in one amusing, regularly updated story is really rather wonderful. These ladies both have great books about life and knitting that even those without a yarn addiction can enjoy (go on, you know you've always wanted to learn and I dare you to go into a yarn shop and touch that beautiful fuzzy skeins and not become ensnared!). Sorry about that, I'm always trying to get other people join in and learn to knit or crochet (or both), if nothing else but to keep all my favorite yarn shops open and thriving :)
So, tagging. I can see this being really great for things like YP sharing sites with great event ideas or even HR using it for making the websites of our insurance providers easy for staff to find in one place and use. I don't know how much I will use it myself but if will be nice to have my favorite websites easy to read on a page together and marked with a little note (reminding me what connection I have to it or reason I like it) instead of scrolling through a long favorites list.

43 things I might want to do this year....

Well, that is a wonderful idea if you are inclined to get tied to a computer for hours at a time. In my spare time I prefer having my knitting or books in my hands. Having said that I do like some video and computer games(old school Zelda and spider solitaire, nothing that makes me motion-sick) and surfing the Internet for knitting patterns and news about new books from my favorite authors. I am willing to try out all these popular gizmos but have the feeling they take more looking after than I can manage (I have a hard time remembering to check my personal email more than once a week let alone keeping up a facebook or myspace page). Instead of trying out the website Stephen is so excited about I'll just walk through our krl2pt0 training and get a guided tour rather than jumping in over my head. Some of these things sound really great but I'd rather create something with my fingers that I can wear or give to another :)