Vacation

I'm off to Orlando and won't be back 'till the 6^th of August. No laptop, no e-mail. I'll have my cell but that'll be left in the hotel room each day. I am taking the camera but won't be uploading the photos to flickr until I get back.

A nickle's worth of free advice

I'm requesting your opinion. I was in Starbucks this morning and bought a coffee an iced venti non-fat light ice caramel machiato for $3.95. I paid with four singles which was all the cash I had on me. What should I have done with the nickle? Should I have kept it and not given a tip or put it in the tip jar? Does one of the options insult the barista's less or more? What to you think?

The Library 2.0 Idea Generator

Library 2.0 Idea Generator
Originally uploaded by travelinlibrarian.

For all librarians, but especially for my new readers in NV who just spent the week listening to me give them too many ideas, check out the Library 2.0 Idea Generator. Here's just one example... O.k. maybe some of the ideas shouldn't be taken too seriously, but it's a great way to test yourself on your knowledge of Library 2.0 related terms ahttp://www.flickr.com/blog.gnend technology.

Smoking DOPA redux

The House has passed H.R. 5319: Deleting Online Predators Act of 2006

"This bill passed in the House of Representatives by roll call vote. The vote was held under a suspension of the rules to cut debate short and pass the bill, needing a two-thirds majority. The totals were: 410 Ayes, 15 Nays, 7 Present/Not Voting."

For those not familiar with it, it's the bill that will prevent children from using your library's online reference service since they need to be "protected: from chat rooms.

2006 NV Technology Conference

Hello, from the how to blog session!

Bossa Nova!... Chevy Nova?

If you find the title of this post funny, and know what "TMNT" stands for, then you're probably looking forward to the next film. In the mean time, here's the first teaser trailer for you.

CSNY

CSNY
Originally uploaded by travelinlibrarian.

Last night I went out to Red Rocks to see the third of three sold-out Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young shows. These four guys have got to be pushing 60 and they're still got more energy than many new bands today. A full set of my photos is available but quality does vary.

Librarians vs. City Information Service

Denver's Westword newspaper had a question about the new smoking ban in Denver. So, they logged onto AskColorado, the state-wide virtual reference serivice, and Denver's new 311 information service. Guess who won?

The Daily Show revisits net neutrality
One of the best, and funniest, explaination of Net Neutrality I've seen yet.
(Some of the content may not be appropriate for children. Specifically, what dump trucks are not commonly used for.)

Flash 9 Upgrade in MySpace

Flash 9 Upgrade in MySpace
Originally uploaded by travelinlibrarian.

I logged into MySpace this afternoon and was presented with this page prompting me to upgrade to Flash 9. No problem with the concept but I love how their reasoning makes it sound like my fault. "if your 'about me' got screwed up this weekend, you could have been safe if you had flash 9 installed."

UPDATE: Turns out there MySpace was hacked over the weekend but the article describes someone using the WMF exploit which shouldn't have anything to do with Flash. Maybe MySpace had multiple problems over the weekend...

Battlestar Galactica Season 3 Preview
First shown on the SciFi channel last night, it of course made YouTube today.

Check your scripts

I've blogged about this issue before but here it is again. I was attempting to register for an online event and got this error message:

Yes folks, once again here's a form script that belives only e-mail addresses that end in two- or three-letter top level domains are valid. Sorry, but how about .info (mine), .mobi, .museum? Check your form scripts if you haven't yet. Please fix this problem.

8 ideas that will revolutionize the 21st century (and why blogging isn't one of them)

A video of this talk by Ben Hammersly is available online and needs to be watched by anyone interested in blogging. Since his PPT is hard to read in the vid, here is "The Octet" as he calls it:

1. Information wants to be free
2. Zero distance
3. Mass amaturization
4. More is much more
5. True Names
6. Viral Behavior
7. Everything is personal
8. Ubiquitous computing

He also covers "The Opposition" to each of these items. Lastly, be sure to keep watching through the Q&A portion just in case you missed his talk's point.

Market your library's WiFi for free

LibrarianInBlack asks: Is your library listed in free Wi-Fi directories? Now there's an idea. It's free, easy, and a great way to let travelers coming to your town know that they can get free access at the library.

Do this, don't do that, can't you read the signs?

Stephen Abram has posted a seven-step for reviewing all of your library signage. I'm considering his advice, especially #2 (about how many signs say "no" vs. "yes") when it comes to the new signs I'm putting up in the Friends bookstore. When recently asked to create a "no food/drink/pets" sign I posted one that asked customers to "please enjoy their food, drink, and pets outside". It gets the point across without saying that word no one likes to hear.

Firefox 2 Review

I've not installed it yet but this review of Firefox 2 (beta) from InformationWeek is making me consider it. Most of the features that the beta has added actually replace the plugins that I'll miss the most.

Space Invaders with Real Humans

This video took 4 hours, 67 people and 390 photos for 3 minutes of animation.

Domain Names

Did you know that Google currently owns 520 domain names? And, for your morning laugh here's a list of the the top 10 unintentionally worst company URLs.

Darwin Award nominee

Right here in Aurora, CO

"A man who may have been trying to steal copper wiring from a high-voltage transformer was apparently electrocuted last night, police said."

Cybermen Rock!

Picture 1
Originally uploaded by marcosparco.

This pic was just too funny to pass up.

Wikipedia does RSS!

Finally, you can get RSS notification of changes to Wikipedia articles! Find it in the toolbox on the left of any article history page.
Via LibrarianInBlack

SWILSA--News and Views: LoTP Part III--What you can plug into a USB port--Michael Sauers

Karen of the South West Iowa Library Service area was serious when she said she was blogging my session. I'm still not used to people blogging me. I guess I should be by now.

USB presentation available for downloading

The PPT of my USB presentation, mentioned earlier today, is now available for downloading on my presentations page.

Top 10 IE7 Annoyances

Chris Pirillo has blogged his Top 10 IE7 annoyances. I agree with his points but one must keep in mind that he is critiquing beta software. Despite this, it is good to make these points while it's still in beta and can (possibly) be fixed.

Jon Stweart on The Internet According to Senator Ted Stevens

I read about Senator Ted Stevens' description of the Internet as "a series of tubes" last week but had been avoiding blogging about it due to the sheer lunacy of the speech he gave. However, yesterday someone told me that Jon Stewart had covered it on The Daily Show and I've found the video on YouTube. So, here it is:

What Can U Plug Into a USB?

What Can U Plug Into a USB?
Originally uploaded by travelinlibrarian.

This past week in Iowa I presented "What Can U Plug Into a USB" six times in two locations. (PPT available soon, I left it on my laptop at home.) The photo shows all of the items I had with me to pass around. (The version in flickr contains notes naming everything for those interested.) For the attendees of the sessions I ran a contest to guess which of the items presented were fictitious. I don't know who won yet, but I did promise to post the answer here...

There was only one fictitious device in my presentaion and that was the George Foreman iGrill. Yes, everything else I showed was real, believe it or not, including the lava lamp.

As soon as Michelle lets me know who won the copy of XHTML and CSS Essentials for Library Web Design I'll post that information to the blog.

Also, I have scheduled a WebLive version of this presentation through BCR for the morning of Friday, September 29th, 2006. Watch the BCR site for registration information. (Everyone is welcome, but seats are limited so BCR members will receive priority registration.)

One other note for those that were wondering about my trip home: I did make it to the airport on time to check in for my flight but due to the VERY stormy weather, we didn't end up taking off until 8:10pm. Pictures of the storm and all of the other pictures from the trip can be found in my flickr account.

Another great story from IA

One rural IA librarian just shared the story of a patron who was looking to buy a used car. The patron found the listing, took the seller's phone number, Googled it, found the seller's address, and then, using Google Maps, pulled up a satellite image of the house attempting to see if he could see the car parked in the seller's driveway. The patron was ultimately unsuccessful, but it's a very creative use of the avilable resources.

Mozilla Firefox 2 Beta 1

Mozilla Firefox 2 Beta 1 has been released. I'm actively considering not installing it as I use many of my extensions daily and don't want to loose them. So, don't expect much from me on the beta in the immediate future. Here's the official list of new features:

• Built in Phishing Protection.
• Search suggestions now appear with search history in the search box for Google, Yahoo! and Answers.com
• Changes to tabbed browsing behavior
• Ability to re-open accidentally closed tabs
• Better support for previewing and subscribing to web feeds
• Inline spell checking in text boxes
• Search plugin manager for removing and re-ordering search engines
• New microsummaries feature for bookmarks
• Automatic restoration of your browsing session if there is a crash
• New combined and improved Add-Ons manager for extensions and themes
• New Windows installer based on Nullsoft Scriptable Install System
• Support for JavaScript 1.7
• Support for client-side session and persistent storage
• Extended search plugin format
• Updates to the extension system to provide enhanced security and to allow for easier localization of extensions
• Support for SVG text using svg:textPath

Librarian of the Year

Librarian of the Year
Originally uploaded by travelinlibrarian.

Now here's a great piece of library marketing! While driving through downtown Omaha, NE this is what I saw on the back of the bus ahead of me. A close-up version is also available.

The return of Rocky Balboa

Yes folks, Rocky 6 will be released on December 22nd. Mark your calendars then check out the trailer.

"Approaching witty..."

"What you've put on your action plan my be written in pen, but it's not written in stone."
— Michelle Leininger, State Library of Iowa

IA Rural Sustainability Workshops

IA Rural Sustainability Workshops
Originally uploaded by travelinlibrarian.

For those looking for them, photos from this trip can be found in their own flickr set.

Put your shredder to use

Here's another idea that I just heard, advertise the fact that your library has a shredder. If you have more than one, maybe hold a shredding party at the library. Add a local police officer to talk about identitiy theft and you've got an event.

Libraries as password keepers

Here at the IA Rural Sustainability conference, we're currently talking about what libraries can do for their patrons. One librarian just shared with us the fact that a good number of her older patrons who sign up for e-mail accounts on the library computers soon forget their password. What she does is write the password down and keep each one in an envelope in her desk. (Her service population is measured in the hundreds so this is probably not practical for larger libraries.)

iread wiki

Michelle at the State Library of Iowa has started a reader's advisory named iread. It's just getting started so there's not a lot of content yet but she'll be using it some upcoming online workshops so it's a resource to keep your eye on. (Sorry, but it's not for public editing.)

Is Homeland Security bugging your computer? Is Dell helping them?

Here's the story of someone who bough a new Dell laptop and found a keylogger built into the computer without his permission. The Department of Homepand Security says that the information about this is "exempt from FOIA"!

UPDATE: As a commenter points out, this is a hoax.

Interesting IM

I just had the following IM conversation. (Other person's IM name withheld)

[07:34] xxxxxxxxxxxx: Good Morning
[07:37] msauers: Sorry, not recognizing your IM name...
[07:37] xxxxxxxxxxxx: It's me DEBBIE
[07:38] xxxxxxxxxxxx: you know your sis in law
[07:38] msauers: Sorry, you've got the wrong person.
[07:38] xxxxxxxxxxxx: who is this?
[07:38] msauers: Michael Sauers, Aurora, CO
[07:38] xxxxxxxxxxxx: oh sorry
[07:38] msauers: no problem
[07:39] xxxxxxxxxxxx: have a great day
[07:39] msauers: you too

I'm not sure what the moral is here but I do find it polite to assume that someone contacting you via IM is not a spammer. You can always block them if they are. Also, I wonder how many other "msauers" there are out there. I've been using that username for more than ten years now so it's not often I'm confused for someone else.

Which Bowie am I?

Which David Bowie are you?

Movies on YouTube

Small, low quality, and in multiple parts, but there are 38 full-length hollywood produced movies available on YouTube. No information is available on the legality of their appearance there however.
via digg

Weekly Sellers Report

Weekly Sellers Report
Originally uploaded by travelinlibrarian.

I get this weekly e-mail regarding the stats on the online listing for my house. This morning I received the latest e-mail in a new format. Now this is an impressive statistics presentation.

Netflix Libraries

Niagra University has a Netflix account and they're sharing it with their patrons! Now how's that for 2.0?
via Libraryman

Time to install SP2. No, really, it's time.

If you've been putting off installing XP service pack 2 you've been putting it off since 17 September 2004. Well you're not going to be able to put it off much longer. Support for XP and XPsp1 will end on 10 October 2006, 24 months after the release of sp2 as promised by Microsoft.

Windows Vista for TabletPC

Microsoft has put up a page titled "Improve Your Tablet PC Experience with Windows Vista" covering how an upgrade to Vista will effect TabletPC features. "Flicking" seems to be the coolest feature.

"Flicks are gestures that help you to use your pen more effectively. A quick flick of the pen can scroll a window up or down or navigate forward and backward on the web. Flicks can also perform common actions such as copy, paste, delete and undo."

Unshelved Book Club: JPod

Dewey takes on JPod by Douglas Coupland. That's one of the books I'm currently reading and highly recommend it to everyone.

Spider-Man 3 trailer

Can't wait ten months for the next Spider-Man movie? Well here's your fix.

Followup: Uninstalling IE7 Beta Releases

If my instructions for uninstalling IE7 betas don't work for you, take a look at these instructions from the IEBlog.

Google Browser Sync

Google Browser Sync is a Firefox extension that allows you to "continuously synchronize your browser settings – including bookmarks, history, persistent cookies, and saved passwords – across your computers". Sounds like a good plan as long as you have control over all the computers involved (office and home for example) but isn't a good solution for public computers or, possibly, the reference desk. I'll continue to stick with Portable Firefox.

Ego Surfing

I've searched on my own name in Google before, I'll admit it. I knew I wasn't the only one but the confluence of blogging and ego surfing leads to some interesting results...

Back in March I posted about a video of Frank Zappa debating John Lofton on Crossfire back in 1986. Well, through what I'm assuming was an ego surf, Mr. Lofton found my post and has left a comment. My only response to his thoughts is that he and I definitely do not agree on the intelligence level of the late Mr. Zappa.

Update

To clarify a statement made in this post from September 2005, Tim Powers will not be writing the introdcution to Dean Koontz Encyclopedia. (That book is by someone else, not to be confused with my Collector's Guide to Dean Koontz.)

Enhanced SpringerLink Offers eBook Collection

It looks like Springer is going to offer 10,000 titles in electronic format by the end of 2006.

"The company has provided a chapter level approach to the e-books, with individual DOIs assigned. The HTML or PDF documents are fully searchable and can be downloaded—by individual chapter—and printed. The service allows unlimited, simultaneous access to the e-books. There are no course-pack or other restrictions. A key differentiator is that libraries will own in perpetuity any e-books they buy and can store and archive them locally if they wish. The company hopes this model, combined with attractive pricing, will accelerate the adoption of its e-books in academic and corporate markets."

I like the fact that the material is sold, not licensed, to the libraries but to be honest, I'm still skeptical about the whole e-book thing. Sorry, I just love the printed book.

Thanks Lisa

Wonderful comment

Since I;m assuming most of my readers don't troll my comments, here's a great one regarding XHTML & CSS Essentials for Library Web Design. Read it then go buy a copy for yourself. ;-)

Creative Commons Add-in for Microsoft Office

Whenever I submit an article to WebJunction I'm asked to add a CreativeCommons license of my choosing to the end of the article. Doing this involves going to the CC site, filling out a form, getting the license, and finally copy&paste-ing the license into my Word file. Well, this morning I discovered that there's a Creative Commons Add-in for Microsoft Office which adds a CreativeCommons link to the file menu of Word, Excel, and PowerPoint allowing you to insert a CC license from directly within office. That's sweet! There's not much to it but you can check out the screenshot slides (five images) in my flickr account.