Thing 14

Technorati was a lot of fun to explore. I would venture to say that it was the most enjoyable "thing" to do so far. I did the Learning 2.0 search and found that a keyword search produced almost 27,000 results, while a tag search found 3,511, and the blog directory search found 254. Of course, blogs are way more encompassing than keywords or tags, but still, it was interesting to see how you can narrow, so to speak, your search.
I really loved just exploring Technorati. Clicking on the tag "lipstick" brought me to a slide show of Connie Francis, with her song, "Lipstick on Your Collar" playing in the background. I did a search for Audrey Hepburn and found an utterly fascinating video of famous actresses, from the 1920s to present, in which each faces morphs into the next one, with a lovely classical cello piece playing in the background. I also found the moving and lovely tribute to Miss Hepburn that I now have on my blog. The popular blog search had a video of our Vice-President, otherwise known as the Man Behind the Throne, talking, in the early 90s, of how worthless and destructive it would have been to go after Saddam Hussein after the first Gulf War. Hmmmmmmm.......
So, needless to say, I spent a delightful and eye-opening time with Technorati, and plan to visit it again.

A truly beautiful woman

Audrey Hepburn_026
Originally uploaded by draeb_FM

Click on the YouTube link below to view a lovely, touching tribute to a great actress and an even greater person.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=epZoZcBiIsM

Thing 13

del.icio.ous left me with indigestion. I think, somewhere in the dusty reaches of this, there is the potential for some type of research assistance, but being sent to someone's blog, in which they have dozens of pictures of weirdly-dressed library workers wheeling around book carts is not my idea of time well spent, and certainly not time spent efficiently. Maybe I'm not a "taggable" person, to coin a term (?), but I think I'll stick to vanilla ice cream with chocolate sauce and ground-up peanuts for a "dee-licious" experience!

Thing 12

This is a good way to put in one area sites that you use often, but it is also a way to make these sites accessible to others. Sharing ideas, or knowledge, is always a fun way to help people.

http://www.rollyo.com/search.html?q=Try+it+out...&sid=305643&x=8&y=8

Thing 11

Not hard at all to work with LibraryThing, although it seems almost more of a social networking site, since you can write a profile of yourself, and then, I assume, find out who likes the same books you do. For my purposes, that's irrelevant, although it's nice to see the number of people who also enjoy the books I like.


http://www.librarything.com/catalog.php

Thing 10

I definitely have mixed feelings about this. It is fun to be able to create your own headline, marquee saying, etc. Some of the generators, though, were difficult, or nearly impossible to work with. Others were, to be blunt, vulgar and offensive. This leads to the problem I have with the Internet, and the idea of free speech. Anyone can post anything on the Net, truthful or not, innocent or not. Certainly, as an adult, I don't have to view these posts, or agree with them, but what about children? Why should they have to be exposed to this stuff? Why should Snoopy or Scooby Doo be available right next to, basically, porn? Who becomes the final arbiter?

monet

monet
Originally uploaded by OverstockArt

Claude Monet; my favorite painter. I'm especially fond of his landscapes/country scenes such as this one. It's so tranquil and inviting. I imagine myself in this scene, feeling the breeze and appreciating the peacefulness on a lovely day. I was very forturnate to see an exhibition of his paintings in Cleveland in April. I've also seen some of his works at the Art Institute in Chicago, and shared thoughts with my niece and sister.

Thing 9

I didn't have too much of a problem finding a number of interesting feeds, although I noticed that, to view the NY Times Book Review feed, you have to subscribe to their site. According to them, it's free, but I can't help wondering if this is a sneaky way to get me on more e-mailing lists.
As far as the other search tools for finding feeds/blogs, I did a search using the term "public libraries". The search on Feedster resulted in quite a few hits, but most all were barely related to the topic. It reminded me of a Google search. Syndic 8's search resulted in only 4 hits, and two were simply the home pages of library systems. Topix was very confusing, in that it appears you can search only via a geographic area. Although, I must say, I found a nice feed in the area where my grandparents, aunts, uncles and parents lived. Technocrati turned out to have the most productive results. Specifically, I found a great blog from a children's librarian in Florida.

Thing 8

Setting up the RSS feed wasn't a problem. The podcast and the video were helpful, though. It certainly is pleasant to be able to get what you want, without the annoying (to say the least!) ads and commercials!

Thing 7

How much more efficient my job as a librarian is with a computer at hand. How nice it is to not have to wait until I get home to see if anyone has tried to call me. How enjoyable it is to get an e-mail from a friend or family member and be able to "write" them back immediately, and know that they will read it the same day. How lovely it is to get a photo online from these same people and see a smile or someplace they just visited. How wonderful it is to shop online and not have to battle traffic and crowds of people.
But, how scary it is to nearly get run off the road by someone driving and talking on their cell phone. How sad to see people walking down the street and staring at their cell/text/camera phone and never looking at you and therefore ignoring you. How annoying it is to be at a restaurant or the grocery store and to listen to someone arguing in a loud voice on their cell phone with someone else. How disheartening it is to watch people staring at a computer screen for hours at a time watching videos or playing games. How depressing it is to be stand next to someone wearing headphones and realizing they have no idea you are even there. And, how frightening it is to think that simple, beautiful, thoughtful things such as handwritten letters and sitting down and talking with someone face to face are becoming increasingly rare occurrences.