Wookx and Workx

Well, here we are again. I guess it must be fate. ;)

I was doing my daily reading of C-Net News and found an interesting reference in one their articles. The article was about a gent that collected old computers. He in turn decided to show off his collection on his website. Said website can be found here and is just a touch scary. I say "scary" because it's a bit painful to see how primitive some of what we all used back in the '70s & '80s was. Believe it or not, most of the computers on the earlier side of things didn't use floppies...but instead used cassette tapes! Creepy stuff, huh?

And now for something completely different...to quote Monty Python.

Have you ever wondered if that weird old roadside tourist trap from family vacations long past is still around? If you do wonder than you might want to check out Roadside America. It's a good travelog of all of those kitschy "roadside attractions" of family car trips and vacation odysseys. One of the easier ways to navigate the site is to go to the top of the page and click on the "U.S. Map" link. There you can go state by state and experience the goofiness. For example here in Illinois there's :

A Popeye statue in Chester
Arcola's Hippie Memorial
The McDonald's Museum over in Des Plaines
Downstate, the city of Metropolis has declared itself "The Hometown of Superman"
Gays has a double decker outhouse
There's a golden pyramid in Wadsworth
And I can't go without mentioning the Leaning Tower YMCA up the street in Niles

And that just a sampling from Illinois. You should see some of the stuff from other parts of the country. (Try here and here for two examples)...

Well, gotta run. It's just about time for me to go to lunch.

Roar at ya again soon,

Wookie Boy

Ten Things - Part Three

Thing Nine

I played with Google Docs a while and am underwhelmed. The biggest advantage I can see with it id the fact that any spreadsheet or document you create with it can be accessed anywhere there's a net connection. Otherwise, it's an over glorified e-mail program. I personally prefer BBEdit. It may be offline, but it's scads more powerful. In addition to text editing, it also handles web development, command line, and is also a programing environment. It's the type of thing I wish I had 20 odd years ago, when I was a snot nosed hacker. ;)

I also had a chance to play with Google SMS when it rolled out a while . It's a nice idea, but a pain in the butt to use with the cell phone key pad. If I wanted web browsing on my cell, I'd buy an IPhone. ;)



Thing Ten

The library does have an excellent web presence. If you look over on the right side of my blog you'll notice it's one of my links. In fact, I recommend our site as a good place to start when people ask me where to start looking for something (the other site I mention is Google). In all honesty, I think our site's one of the best around. :)

On the Digital Books thing I've downloaded one or two of the tech books in the past. It's a pretty good idea. Unfotunatly, I'm a bit of a Luddite when it comes to books. I prefer to have a dead tree version in my hand rather than two digital copies on my computer. Plus who brings their laptop with them to read books? To use the Internet, play games, or get work done certainly. But to read books? Come now, that foolishness. ;)

Digital audiobooks are a very good idea. Rent or buy, they can be a major help in getting through a book one's been itching to read. For auidobooks, I prefer to actually buy the CDs, but I know a good amount of people that buy them off of ITunes (for example) or check them out from our digital collection. All the feedback I've heard is positive.

Well that's officially it. All 10 things. As John McClane one said: "Yippie-ki-yay, (bad word deleted) !" ;)

Have fun and I'll be roaring at you again soon,

Wookie

Thing 5:





Canfield, Ohio library - front, originally uploaded by theskokieten.

Well this is the front of the Canfield, Ohio library. The pic doesn't do justice to how small the thing is.

It's a good library though. :) It helped me get through many a boring summer during my teen years. Just so you know, I have family in Canfield, which is why I go there.

Believe you me, I prefer Photobucket to Flickr any day of the week, mainly due to the fact that a good amount of websites I use take it and not Flickr.

Thing Six:

Well I went on del.icio.us and posted one of my favorite websites: Snopes ! Snopes has been a great help to me when family and friends try and spread the latest and greatest Urban Legend. I just run it though Snopes' search tool and as they said on the Sopranos "Bada-boom Bada-bing". Just one warning, though. Every so often some form of urban legend with a really gross or disturbing picture turns up. Snopes marks it with something to the effect of "Warning! Graphic content!", but it can occasionally be easy to miss.

Thing Seven:

I prefer not to use my blog to keep track of my podcasts. Since I'm a Mac user, I use ITunes to do what's described in Thing Seven.

Ironically, I've been listing to Podcasts since at least 2003. Some of the Podcasts I really enjoy are Hometown Tales (Because every town has one), Off The Hook (which is a radio show from WBAI in New York in Podcast form), and WebbAlert (This is a great tech roundup, plus Morgan Webb's wit is just dead on). In terms of library useage, I can see how it has a place for disseminating information, especially to patrons that would otherwise not be served or would normally have little interest in library goings on.


Thing Eight:

Ok, I've made an entry or two on the 10 things wiki. Please excuse my goofiness over there, I can't help it.

Wikis are yet another thing I've had experience with. I'm already on Wikipedia under the username "Twycross", and have done some editing on the "Battletech" article. I'm also on the Battletech Wiki (again under Twycross). From using both wikis I've noticed that the Battletech wiki is more cohesive and less fractious than Wikipedia. There are fewer flame wars and less defacement of articles. I guess that could be considered a definition of "irony" - a wiki about a wargame being peaceful.

10 Things Post 1


Hi to everyone @ Skokie Public Library reading my blog!

Thing 1 - Blogging:

As you can see, I've been blogging for quite a while. It's a fun way to get out your thoughts and viewpoints. It's also a method of keeping friends and loved ones updated on your goings on.

There no real format you have to follow when blogging. You can be as formal or as free as you want. It's up to you. :) Just remember to have fun and talk about things you want.

One warning, though. You need to remember that once you've hit the "Publish Post" button, your words are irrevocably out in the open. Places like The Internet Archive's Wayback Machine archive just about everything. That means that even if you revise or delete a blog post, there's still a copy of it.

Yes, dear blogger, there is such a thing as a permanente record. :(


Thing 2 - RSS Feeds:

Believe it or not, I do read RSS Feeds. I just don't link to them via Google. I use a dedicated "Feed Reader", which is also called an Aggregator. I normally have it set to check the Chicago Tribune, C-Net News, the BBC, and CNN among other places. This is how I keep up with the news when I don't get a chance to watch it at 10 P.M. on TV. Plus, it comes to me instead of me going to it.

Also, I've attached an RSS feed to my blog in case anyone's intereested.

Thing 3 - Instant Messaging:

Believe it or not, I was doing this back in the early '90s. IMing (which is shorthand for Instant Messaging) first appeared on the Internet scene back then as part of the America Online package, which I was (foolishly) using back then. I immediately dove in feet first and ended racking up a $500 phone bill (there was no such thing as "high speed internet" in those days, everything Internet was done via dialup). Needless to say, that phone bill hurt. I've since sworn off any and all forms of IMing, but I can do it if needed. If you want to look for me, I still have an AOL account (twicross@aol.com) and I still pop up on AIM when I log in to check my mail there.

Thing 4 - Socal Networking:

Yep, I'm already on MySpace as well. You can find me here. MySpace is interesting, mainly because it started out as a site designed for musicians, promoters, and record labels to link up and hob-knob. When those of use music fans found out about it, we started signing up as well. One thing led to another, and as they said on the Sopranos "Bada-Boom, Bada-Bing", a phenomena was born.


I'm also on Librarything as well. You can find me here and here.


Well gotta run for now. You know...the whole "duty calls" thing. :)

-Wookie Boy