Task #3--Masterfile Premier

There are several Consumer Reports articles listing smartphones in the subject area, but the first several articles concentrate on cell phone plans and cell phones, too. So, I'm assuming the article you want is Sept. 2010, volume 75, issue 9, pgs. 24-27. The title of the article is: "Smart Phones." However, the very first article, although it's not just about smart phones, also rates smart phones, so you might be looking for Jan. 2011, Vol. 76, Issue 1, pgs. 30-38, titled "Find the Best Fit." You pick. I guess you can compare the two smart phone charts and see how they've changed in one year. Or if they have.

From "Rolling Stone" 1/9/1992--"Izzy quits Guns n' Roses." How sad.

And yes, please enter my extra credit in the Sony Reader drawing!

Discovery Task #2--Scavenger Hunt

100%!!!!!! A good many of the questions I knew without having to look them up, including the first one. I did learn that we have 4 mobile resources--okay, I'm living in the dark ages...don't text, don't have internet on my phone, just the bare bones. I can call for help if I need to. I also learned that we connect to the Hover Public Library if an error message comes up when downloading ebooks. Do I feel smarter? Well, yes. At least a tiny little bit.

Discovery Task #1

Yaaaay!!!!! I have this part already done. WhooHoo!! And of course, I'd like the Sony reader. What a perfect way to get more adept at ebooks downloading.

Cloud computing

Cloud computing is, in some ways, a bit foggy at the moment, but maybe that's because I didn't get a lot of sleep last night. If I'm understanding it right, it's the ability to use computer programs/storage off-site. In a sense, that's what MARMOT does for us. Because we have MARMOT we don't have to hire our own IT person, as we pay the MARMOT folks to do that. I'm also guessing that some of our databases are cloud computing. As libraries grow and information grows, "clouding" could beneficial to libraries. By not having to hire IT people, significant money could be saved and used toward collection development. I participate in Facebook, which I'm guessing is cloud computing. Also, my delicious account could be considered the same thing. I don't have it stored on my computer. I can see where this type of service might be helpful to me to have a safe and secure place to store my writing, so that if my computer at home died, and my flash drive self-destructed, then I would still have access to what I have written. The drawback would be how secure the information might be. With the ability of hackers, I suppose nothing is completely secure.

BTW--How did they get Wes to narrate the video?

September Webolution--Election

The Libguide for elections is great! Lots of info in one place. I took the quiz and scored 100%. And yes, I've already voted--turned in my mail-in ballot today at the mall location. I'll be glad when Nov. 3rd gets here and the phone is not ringing off the hook from all the political calls. Always starts when we've just sat down for supper and doesn't quit until we go to bed. Aaaaaargh!

Historical events on birth date

"Critical Past" is a fascinating website. It was fun to see the large range of history that it covers. As for my birth date: U.S. airmail was inaugurated in 1918 (we've come a long way in the last 92 years--I thnk); lots of WWII news including the Dutch defending their homeland against the Germans in 1940 (my heritage is Dutch, so this was interesting to me), the fall of the Remagen Bridge to the allies in Ahrweiler, Germany in 1945, and a Japanese air attack on the USS Bunker Hill, 1945. In 1935, King George V of Britain celebrated his Silver Jublilee, and in 1948, a New York City motocade celebrated the new state of Israel. On a more sporting note--Bimelech won the Kentucky Derby at Pimlico, MD for a purse of $50,000 in 1940.

And, yes I already knew the minimum temperature for cooking pork, but went to the website anyway to verify. Yep, 160 degrees F.

Printer Friendly

This site is a very handy tool for printing only the article. It not only cleans up the page, but it shortens the number of pages by eliminating all the junk. I can see where this might be useful with ILL when sending articles to other libraries. The article can be saved as a PDF file, and that could be sent through email as an attachment, saving time and postage. Now, if I can just remember to use it. :-)