DTV transition help: A new guide and an updated FCC web site
via Consumer Reports Electronics Blog by Consumer Reports Electronics Blog on 4/24/09

this looks fun:
DIY antennas: Build your own DTV antenna!
construct your own antenna - one is basically a wooden plank and a fistful of coat hangers.
via Consumer Reports Electronics Blog by Consumer Reports Electronics Blog on 4/17/09

Comics for Libraries

Today is Blah, Blah, Blah Day

I saw this on on my What Is Today? widget thingy and thought I'd google it.

From Holiday Insights:

Blah, Blah, Blah Day

When : Always April 17th

Blah, Blah, Blah Day just might be the blah-est day of the year. The intent of this day is to do all of the projects and things that people have been nagging you to do. This may include quitting a habit, losing weight, or working on home projects. The "Honey Do" list or job jar is a top target for today.

Did you know? Blah, Blah, Blah Day is a copyrighted holiday. It was created and is provided, courtesy of the great folks at Wellcat.com

If you like Blah, Blah, Blah Day, you will also enjoy all the wild and crazy holidays in Chase's Annual Events with CDROM

Quotes for April

The chief deduction most people make from their income tax is that government costs too darned much. - Walt Streightiff

Other tax quotes here


Have you summoned your wits from woolgathering? Thomas Middleton

Consumer Reports --- the Conficker worm

Update: Have agencies scrubbed the Conficker worm from their systems? And if so, how? 3/19/10
-


Whatever happened to the Conficker worm? Security experts disagree about whether Conficker threat has passed 7/27/09
http://www.cnn.com/2009/TECH/07/27/conficker.update/index.html
Conficker: Are you infected?.......4/13/09
http://blogs.consumerreports.org/electronics/2009/04/conficker-are-you-infected.html

The Conficker Working Group is offering a quick, simple way to check that your PC is free of the Conficker worm. You don’t have to download a thing, and the test is free. Just take a look at the graphic that shows up on your computer when you click the link, and read the interpretation below it to determine if your computer is infected.
Since Kaspersky Lab recently revealed it had discovered a new variant of the worm, it’s more important than ever for you to protect yourself. Kaspersky says Conficker.C is downloading two new files onto infected computers. One is an e-mail worm that steals data and sends spam. The other is a fake antivirus program that says it will delete viruses for a $50 fee. That’s a double whammy, because if you type in your credit-card number, it’s likely going straight into the hands of cyberthieves.

Kaspersky says it believes the new variant will remain active until May 3, 2009
More Conficker stuff here

Punxsutawney Phil Escapes the Library

Workers at the Punxsutawney (PA) Library are dealing with what they are calling an escape artist. Punxsutawney Phil has escaped his den at the library three times over the past two weeks. Officials said the groundhog was returned to his den each time and has not been injured.
According to workers at the library, the groundhog is climbing into the library's ceiling. From there, Phil travels about 50 feet before dropping into the library's offices from the ceiling. Maybe he's looking for a wee bit more excitement than what the library is currently offering.
The most recent escape was last Sunday.

Virtual Reference Bibliography Website - Now Live

Sent to you by Sarah via Google Reader:

Virtual Reference Bibliography Website - Now Live

via Library Garden by Marie L. Radford on 4/6/09

I write today from Harrisburg, PA, site of the REFolution Conference: Reference Service in a Constantly Changing World sponsored by Lyrasis (formed by the recent merger of PALINET/SOLINET). I just love the name and spirit of this conference, and was honored to deliver the keynote speech on the future of reference this afternoon to an audience of about 200 reference enthusiasts.

I am delighted to announce (as a Library Garden scoop, I might add) that a team of faculty and students at Rutgers have just launched the long awaited, highly anticipated Virtual Reference Bibliography designed to be used by librarians, students, scholars, and others who are interested in publications dealing with all aspects of virtual reference.

Hosted by Rutgers University’s SCILS, this site is a continuation of the digital reference services bibliography maintained from 2000 to 2004 by Bernie Sloan. It now contains 700+ entries from Bernie’s original bibliography, plus 200+ new items published from 2004 to the present. The redesigned site and new search interface was created by Ben Bakelaar of Rutgers as part of a final project for Information Design class, taught by Jacek Gwizdka, Ph.D.

I'd like to thank Ben, Jacek, and Bernie for their creative input and design expertise. I would also like to thank SCILS alums Andrea Simzak and Gillian Newton, and current student Jeff Teichmann for their competent and enthusiastic assistance in hours of verification and data input. I am also indebted to Andy Mudrak, IT Systems Administrator and Assistant Dean Jon Oliver for technical support.

This resource is designed to be an ongoing work in progress. We welcome your input to keep it current and accurate. Please leave a comment at the VR Bibliography website if you want to add a citation, to correct a mistake, or wish to make a suggestion.

Do take a look and let us know how you like it!

Things you can do from here:

• Subscribe to Library Garden using Google Reader
• Get started using Google Reader to easily keep up with all your favorite sites

What time is it? I'm behind -- Or am I ahead

Well, again this year my "atomic" clock set itself back on the old Daylight Saving Time switcheroo. I thought I'd finally look into this whole thing (it only took me how long).

Is it really an atomic clock? When I bought it years ago it said it was, but I don't think it actually is.

Radio-controlled devices synchronize their time and date information automatically with the National Institute of Standards and Technology's atomic clock in Colorado and you will not have to worry about the new DST changes beginning in 2007. Some companies may have products that only claim to automatically adjust for Daylight Saving Time. If the product is not radio-controlled, it will not correctly adjust for the DST changes in 2007 (info from La Crosse Technology).

There are a number of reasonably priced clocks on the market labeled as "atomic clocks" that are sold for home and office use that are not really atomic clocks, however they do keep very accurate time. interesting (info from essortment - never heard of them, but hey)

But Beware! There are some clocks available these days which have the ability to "set themselves" and/or to automatically adjust for Daylight Saving Time but they are not using WWVB and they are not necessarily setting themselves to the recognized standard of the "correct" time. They're close, perhaps, but not necessarily accurate. If you want to be sure that you're getting a clock which is setting itself according to an atomic clock, be sure that somewhere on the package the product description uses the word "atomic" or "radio control" or "WWVB." If it doesn't mention any of those things then it's not going to give you "atomic time." http://preview.tinyurl.com/dxezcx

It does have the automatic time adjust for daylight savings and changes in the wee hours of the night, but I obviously do not have an automic clock and it obviously does not adjust correctly anymore.

Oh wait, Josh has a little automic clock (for real). Hey Josh....!

How atomic clocks work

Broadband Data Caps Coming to Your Library? by Daniel A. Freeman

Goofing off at work makes you a better employee ?

I thought this was rather interesting - how 'bout you?
(from Library Garden blog)

from Library Garden: Research confirms Library Garden Reporting: Goofing off at work makes you a better employee

A new study by a bunch of Australians with too much time on their hands confirms what Library Garden has previously reported: Not working makes you a better worker.

That's right folks! Employees who surf the net, check Facebook, send some tweets, or regularly check on the latest Brangelina update (are they pregnant? are they adopting again? does Jennifer Aniston always have to be mentioned in these articles?) are actually MORE PRODUCTIVE. Don't believe me? Here's what Wired reported:

The University of Melbourne study showed that people who use the Internet for personal reasons at work are about 9 percent more productive that those who do not.

Isn't that great? But wait, it gets better. There's even a new pseudoscientfic euphamistic acronym:

Study author Brent Coker, from the department of management and marketing, said "workplace Internet leisure browsing," or WILB, helped to sharpened (sic) workers' concentration.

So the next time you're caught watching the sneezing baby panda video you can confidently look your supervisor in the eye and say, "Goofing off? Why no boss, I was WILBing. Scientific research has proven that a good Wilb makes me 9% more productive.

"If your boss still has problem with your wilbful behavior, you can claim, "I just have a bursty style, not a busy style, which means that although it might appear to the untrained eye that I'm never actually working, you'll notice that all my work actually gets done.

"If this line is delivered correctly, it will create a moment of confusion as your boss ponders the busy/bursty conundrum, giving you a small window of opportunity to slip away for a donut break.

Happy WILBing!

12 Ways to Use Your Camera as a Tool from Photojojo

1. Mark your parking Spot
2. Use it instead of a printer
3. Remember fiddly details
4. Mark your property
5. Shopping lists
6. Retrace your steps
7. Collect evidence
8. Use it as a mirror
9. Make a wishlist
10. Use it as a flashlight
11. Remember places you want to go
12. Record phone numbers

to read the expanation about each one go to Photojojo


even more ideas ...

Library 2.0 stuff

Abram, S. (2006). 43 Things I might want to do this year. Information Outlook. Retrieved February 26, 2009 from http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0FWE/is_2_10/ai_n16133338

Abram, S. (2008). The 23 Things - Learning 2.0. Stephen’s Lighthouse. Retrieved February 28, 2009 from http://stephenslighthouse.sirsidynix.com/archives/2008/02/the_23_things_l.html

Blowers, H. (2008a). Learning 2.0: Lessons Learned from “Play” Retrieved from http://www.slideshare.net/hblowers/learning-20-lessons-learned-from-play

Blowers, H. (2008b). “Ten tips about 23 things.” School Library Journal. Retrieved February 14, 2009 from http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/article/CA6600689.html

Blowers, H. (2009). WJ hosts 23 Things summit. LibraryBytes. Retrieved March 5, 2009 from http://www.librarybytes.com/2009/02/wj-hosts-23-things-summit.html

Casey, M. & Stephens, M. (2008) “Cheers and Jeers.” Library Journal. Retrieved February 26, 2008 from http://www.libraryjournal.com/article/CA6539361.html

Hanly, B. (2007) Public Library Geeks Take Web 2.0 to the Stacks. Retrieved February 12, 2009 from http://www.wired.com/culture/education/news/2007/03/learning2_0

Hastings, R. (2007). “Journey to Library 2.0.” Library Journal. Retrieved February 15, 2009 from http://www.libraryjournal.com/article/CA6431957.html

Lewis, L. (2008). Library 2.0: taking it to the street. Retrieved February 16, 2009 from http://www.valaconf.org.au/vala2008/papers2008/35_Lewis_Final.pdf

Dictionary, thesaurus, what else, oh my!

Lexipedia
Visual forms of a word categorized by nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, fuzzynyms, synonyms, and antonyms. Every grouping of language words is color coded. Nice! Scroll over the word in the web and a definition is displayed in a pop window along with a feature to have the word spoken to the listener! Don’t want all of the words in the web, click on the tool bar on the left and only show one category, i.e. verbs. In addition, suggested usage of the words is displayed. Six different languages are supported which allows for this tool to be used world wide. Similar to ThinkmapVisual Thesaurus and Visuwords online graphical dictionary .

Visuwords online graphical dictionary -- Look up words to find their meanings and associations with other words and concepts. Learn how words associate. Produce diagrams reminiscent of a neural net. Learn how words associate. Visuwords uses Princeton University’s WordNet, an opensource database built by University students and language researchers. Combined with a visualization tool and user interface built from a combination of modern web technologies, Visuwords is available as a free resource to all patrons of the web.

The Visual Thesaurus is an interactive dictionary and thesaurus which creates word maps that blossom with meanings and branch to related words. Its innovative display encourages exploration and learning. You'll understand language in a powerful new way. Of course you have to pay for it (subscription).

Weboword is a visual vocabulary website designed to help students learn new vocabulary words through hand-drawn, situation specific cartoons, drawings and sketches depicting the meaning of the words. Students are encouraged to submit their own drawings to Weboword. Weboword also offers crossword puzzles for students to try.

new addition

Lights Out!

Neat pictures! More than 1,000 cities in over 80 countries observed Earth Hour 2009 on Saturday March 28th, as homes, office towers and landmarks turned off their lights for an hour starting at 8.30 pm local time.
Collected here are a series of before-and-after photographs - which (starting with the second one below) will fade between "on" and "off" when clicked.
Link: http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2009/03/earth_hour_2009.html

Boys Reading

From Recess Duty blog:

Boys Read
Posted by recessduty on 04/01/2009

Description: “It’s not that boys can’t read; it’s that they don’t!” While that is not true for all boys, Boys Read’s mission is to “transform boys into lifelong readers”. It impressed me that this entire website and organization was created and maintained by parents, educators, librarians, authors, and more. First and foremost the website has a boys’ feel. White text on grey background with splashes of red and blue. Good start! Beyond that, Boys Read has an incredible research of literacy studies, articles, etc. that pertain specifically to boys.

The Good Stuff:
This page has books specifically geared toward boys at different age levels. This page also contains information for friends in Australia, for writers, screenwriters, and other artists. I would have liked something like this when I was younger!

Implementation: Our literature teacher allows students time to check out books each week and has discovered that students take books according to how the cover looks. A proven strategy, but one that doesn’t narrow the focus. Boys Read will be given to the students, along with Help Readers Love Reading, in order to promote book findings.

View Live Site goPlay!

Follow the Yellow Brick Road

A Storybook Production by

Main Street Dance

Ft. Pierre, SD

May 30, 2009

Riggs H.S. Theater

Pierre

Matinee @ 3 p.m.

Evening performance @ 7 p.m.

...a little bit of everything - ballet, lyrical, modern/jazz, tap, hip-hop, pantomime

I will be dancing as part of the Rainbow and the Tornado; I will also be Auntie Em. My brother, Josh, will be Uncle Henry and the Tin Man (if he only had a heart). He is also dancing in the Tornado.

see pictures from the performance

HOME

Tell Your Money Where to Go!

Family Finance Seminar with speaker, author and pastor Jack Glass - for those who have too much month left at the end of the money and what to do when you and your spouse are opposites!

Sunday, April 5

9:15 am - "What You Wished Your Parents Would Have Told You About Money" (meeting in the Fellowship Hall)
10:30 am - "Four Reasons People Encounter Financial Difficulty" (meeting in the Sanctuary)
6:00 pm - "Eight Money Blunders People Make" (in the Sanctuary)

Location
New Life Church
1120 N. Harrison Avenue, Pierre, SD
605-224-1594