Foursquare

Ok, reading about this I thought of two things. First off Lincoln's speech "Four score and seven years ago". I guess they kind of sound alike. My brain works strangely that way.

Second was that it seems like an evolution of geo-caching. With geo-caching, though it is not real time. People don't know where you are at that exact moment. It's a kind of treasure hunt.

I've opted out simply because of the privacy issue. I'm a big wimp when it comes to things like that. You can tell that by my blog entry about the privacy issue here: http://mgauck.blogspot.com/2010/01/ahhh-dreaded-privacy-issue.html

I don't like the thought of Big Brother watching over my every move. It's not that I have anything to hide, it just seems a little too close to that way of thinking, that's all.

24 Things: Week 10 - Part 2 - Online Gaming...

The first game I chose to try was called Small Worlds. The graphics were terrible. It reminded me of the old Pong days. Just basically colored squares and you and to "explore" different worlds with your little square "person". Very boring.

The other game I tried was Library Arcade. This was a really fun game. The graphics were great and it was a little more challenging. You had to help customers doing research. It really was useful in boning up on where information might be found. I would recommend it to anyone who is into that kind of stuff. I don't even work the ref. desk but I found it quite enjoyable.

24 Things...Week 10 Part 1 ...Watching TV Online

Step 1:

Very interesting how all TV network sites have come along and allow users to view full-episodes now.

Fox allows users to watch full-episodes by providing a "Watch Full Episodes" Button which when clicked on will allow the user to choose from a list that pops up.

NBC also has a full episode button which when clicked on will have a shows available box that pops up. They also have webisodes that are accessed the same way.

ABC has a full episodes scrollbar that shows the most popular shows the user can choose from. The User can also scroll down the main page to see all shows and click/choose one.

CBS has full episodes available that can be accessed by clicking on a thumbnail. The date of the show as well as the episode number is listed under the thumbnail.

PBS has an eye pleasing scroll in which the user can click and choose an episode from.

My preference would have to be CBS. I like the thumbnail idea and it was right there when the page opened up.

Step 2:

I reviewed hulu and joost. I found hulu to be the better of the two because it allowed the user to search by choosing channels by areas of interest versus genres like in joost. Hulu was more intuitive and allowed one to subscribe to a show. Both have movies too that a user can watch - both old tv movies and feature films.

Step 3:

The show I would like to recommend is "Cooking with Paula Deen: Making Sweet Potato Balls with Aunt Peggy".

Here's the link:

http://www.clicker.com/web/get-cookin-with-paula-deen/Making-Sweet-Potato-Balls-With-Aunt-Peggy-693103.html

I just love watching Paula Deen. She's so down to earth and her recipes always look so yummy!!! A definite watch for any foodie.

Step 4:

I think if Digital TV doesn't get any better, that perhaps that will open up a whole new future for online TV. However, with cable/satellite there doesn't seem to be as much trouble with pixilation as there is with the DTV receivers on regular TV's. Having a digital receiver and no cable/satellite myself, I can honestly say that if a show is available online and won't spit and sputter like DTV, I may be tempted to wait a day or two until it's posted on line to watch at my convenience, without hiccups.

A Podcast for Chicken Owner's

Yes, I've actually found it!!! A podcast based on owning chickens. Who'd a thunk there'd actually be one of those?

It's called the "Chicken Whisperer". I found it on I-tunes. It's a great listen for anyone who likes chickens.

It tells some great chicken stories as well as some very good advice on keeping a small flock.

Although, most people probably aren't as chicken crazy as I am, I was just surprised there was actually a podcast about it.

Acquisitions on You Tube....

I found this and just had to share. It's hilarious. It's the basics of what we do in Acquisitions. There was also a video on catalogging.

Enjoy!!!

Wolfram Alpha

This is a really awesome "knowledge engine". I like the information it returns to you.

I tried a search on my town of Morning View, but since its not in an incorporated area, or because its kinda small, it didn't have much come back on it.

I also did a search/comparison for Ford & Toyota. I was surprised at the amount of information that was returned.

It was also fun to carry on a "conversation" with the site. Perhaps I enjoyed it a bit too much. I ended up stumping it on a few topics.

Goooooooooooogle

I absolutely love the cooking conversions that Google has. It makes it so much easier than trying to find an actual website through a Yahoo search that will do converstions like that for you.

I also love the street level (pictures) on the Google maps. It's so cool to actually see the building you are looking for.

Google seems to be very intuitive when doing searches such as a type of business and general location such as a zip. It seems much easier to search for such items on Google than on Yahoo.

More on search engines...

I learned a little something about each of the search engines discussed in the video.

The one I found the most interesting was Bing. It's a fun idea that they have a different picture each day with easter egg facts on it. I also like the idea of the company search which lists the customer service phone number for you. As the gentleman in the video stated, that info. can be hard to find on company websites sometimes.

Blind Searching...

I found the blind search exercise interesting. The first search I did pertained to chickens. All 3 search engines had the same 2 hits, then they each veered off in different directions.

The second search I did for Styx. Again all 3 search engines had the same 1-2 hits, then veered off.

The third search I did was for my name. Boy, there were differences all around.

Not surprising, my preferred searches ended up being Yahoo. That could be because that's what I use all the time and the wording/phrasing were more comfortable for me because that's what I see all the time.

Just my .02 worth.

This was a harder week....

It seems like it took longer for this weeks lesson than the others. I enjoyed putting pictures on Flickr. I never knew how/where to put them. Kind of cool.

The editing part of the exercise is what took the longest. While pixlr.com looked more like the editing software I use, I found that I preferred fotoflexer.com. It had some really good demos on the site and once I got started, I was having fun. It seemed pretty easy after watching the demos, but it wasn't as intuitive as some of the other sites (Walgreens for example) are.

Here's the pic I edited.

Styx, Styx and more Styx....

Ok, it's no secret that I am an avid Styx fan, so I love idea of the lastfm.com site. They played other artists that I enjoy too! Kansas, REO Speedwagon, Boston, Journey just to name a few. Gotta love that 70s-early 80s music.

I haven't gotten used to having an MP3 player plugged into my ear all the time like I see some people, but I do enjoy having it if I want to quietly listen to music while others are watching TV or doing something else, since not all people have the same taste of music.

Don't get me wrong, I still love to crank up the ole stero and let the music blast sometimes too. I love to sing along at the top of my lungs and dance around like a crazy person. Talk about a great way to release some tension. Works every time!!! I hope they never do away with the old style stereos and go completely to earbuds!!!

Gotta love technology (e-books)....when it works right (Overdrive)...

I've been using Overdrive for quite some time now. Gotta say, I love it. I was glad I watched the guided tour because one of the things I hated about finding a book was I'd find one and it would be checked out. Now I know I can go into the Advanced search, check the box for "only show checked-in titles". That will make it so much easier!!!

I wasn't able to download the e-book. I kept getting a message that there is a newer version of Adobe reader available and if I clicked on the update now, I got the dreaded System Administrator needed box. The black box comes up, like it wants to work, but the book just doesn't come over. Since I waited so long to work on this, due to the snow, I've decided to give it a try at home. I really don't think there will be a problem. If I were thinking, I would have brought my laptop in and tried it. I'll post a comment after I try it again on another computer that's not locked down so tight.

Till then!!!

RSS feeds...

Here's the feeds I've subscribed to:

Newly Acquired/Ordered DVDs at Kenton County Public Library (now I know how holds get on them so quickly).

I've also subscribed to KY Post Top Stories.

I'm sure I'll add more as time goes by, I just couldn't think of any others while doing the assignment. The snow has gotten into my brain and caused a white out I think.

Wikis - Part Deux

I found it pretty easy to add the link to my blog to the Participant's list. It was a little more challenging to add the link to my page.

I do hope to embellish my page a little in the future. Right now, it looks pretty bare. Maybe I'll do a chicken page (hehe). Keep checking and see what's added.

Wikis....

The thing I find the most interesting about Wikis is that they are so easy to edit by anyone. It's a little scary to think that information you post can be changed fairly easily. Maybe I'm paranoid.

I did find the library wiki interesting in that right now we are working on Strategic Planning and on the LISwiki, Durham County Public Library has their Strategic Plan listed. It was interesting to read and compare/contrast.

As far as using a wiki in my job, I can see them helping with cutting down on meetings. If you can post, add/edit, and make changes instead of having to meet each time, it could cut way back on the amount of time spent on meetings.

As for using a wiki in my personal life, I think my first paragraph explains how I feel about that. If you are planning a party, it could be helpful and used the way the little film showed. Other than that, I can't say I'd use if for my personal life.

I did go into the knitting wiki that was listed. I found it very interesting, especially the Knitting in the round section. I was happy to find the section on free patterns. I'm always on the lookout for those.

Ahhh the dreaded privacy issue....

The article we were assigned was very informative, if not a little frightening. When online, I always try to remember to not write anything I wouldn't want printed in the newspaper. It is all available to the public no matter how "private" the site may claim to be.

I Googled my name and was surprised I had as many hits as I had. I first did a search without quotations. I got a lot of hits on my last name due to some guy in Germany "Joachim Gauck". He is apparently some big-wig in Germany.

When I put quotations around my whole name, I got only 1 1/2 pages of hits. One was from Facebook, some were lists of names of people such as mylife.com.. There were a couple from newspaper articles written for Sullivan University and that was about it. Nothing really came up that surprised me. I guess I'm more of a lurker than a poster.

Anyway, I do try to be very cautious online. Even on Facebook, if one of my "Friends" starts to write using foul or abusive language, I automatically un-friend them. One, because I don't appreciate that type of language and two, because I don't want to be linked to those posts in any way.

Well, that's my .02 cents worth on privacy. I probably should blog more, but I've always been the type that wanted to start writing in a diary, but only got 1-2 days worth of writing then threw it aside. I believe in living in the moment, not in the past.

I'm a "Desktop Veteran"

Wow!! That quiz pretty much hit the nail on the head. It said I'm content to use a high-speed connection, but my cell phone is basically only useful for phone calls. That's pretty much how I see it. I can't seem to bring myself to do all that texting or surfing on such a small device. I love the big flat screen and full-size keyboard of a computer. It's so much easier on the eyes and fingers!!