Al Oerter Interview

At the risk of my blog becoming an obituary column Al Oerter has long been a hero of mine. So after entering a post on him it would be remiss of me not to do so again now with his recent passing.
4 golds in a row, one after taking off a neck brace!

I am a hal 9000 computer

My mind is going.

#23 Is this really the end? Or just the beginning ...

Well, I came into this program from a different position to my fellow bloggers. As I said in a previous post I do not work on reference desks so a knowledge and understanding of 2.0 stuff to assist our valued clientele is not really something I need.
I have found the program enjoyable and informative. I knew relatively little of this world. For the most part it has been fun (not exercises 12-14) and interesting (especially not exercises 12-14) and while I perhaps did not explore as much as I could have, I feel I got my head around the concepts and quickly, perhaps too quickly decided if I found them worth further exploration.
So in brief-
• I liked Flickr and will go back.
• I use wikis and will do so again.
• If my patience holds out for the loading time I will continue to have fun with YouTube.
While Rollyo, Technorati and LibraryThing will never see daylight through this little black duck’s PC again.
Acknowledgments:
Thanks to gurus at Yarra Plenty.
Big thank you my sensei master, Blog-dancing.

#22 Audiobooks (or "The end is in sight ")

I had a look around World EBook fair and listened to Kipling's Gunga Din. As did other people around me because I plugged my earphones into the microphone plug instead of the earphones. (sigh) It was ok, useful for getting a good quote right.
Great movie, not a bad EBook.

#21 Podcasts, Smodcasts!

I had a play around with the suggested sites. Tried a search for RFIDs for library applications. while I didn't have much success I found the searching relatively simple.

#20 You too can YouTube

Master of the Unusual, Michel Lauziere
This was so good I did it twice.
I saw this on Letterman one night and when knowing adding a clip from YouTube was a task I thought this would be appropriate. I did a search and found it straight away.

#20 You too can YouTube

Yabby Jeans and Tom Hafey, those were the days!

#19 Discovering Web 2.0 tools. Take 2.

Sorry, I should have said that Pipl claims to be
The most comprehensive people search on the web.

#19 Discovering Web 2.0 tools

I had a look and a play with Pipl.
I didn't try it for anyone outside the US but for Americans it gave a lot of information.
News articles, IMDB links etc.
I looked up Al Oerter who won four consecutive Olympic gold medals in the discus. Had a nice little video on his current hobby where he creates "art" by painting a discus which he then throws at a canvas!.
It also links to another site called PeopleData. Here you can see info on the person including-
Name, DOB, Address and Phone number.

#18 Web-based Apps: They're not just for desktops

This was good.
Easy to register, easy to use, good features/tools.
I can see value in this when using internet cafes while traveling and wanting more formatting options than an email program may offer. I liked the user friendly table function.

#17 Playing around with PBWiki

I did the tour, listened to the intern, what a nice man, and added my blog as directed.
I have used Wikipedia for medical advice a few times lately. Oh the diseases I could have!

#16 So what’s in a wiki?

I did some searching in the listed wiki sites for things in my area, registrations, library cards, retrievals etc, without much success. Some interesting reading about weeding collections and fiction or non-fiction.

#14 Getting not-so-technical with Technorati

Performing a search for learning 2.0 in Technorati I clicked on the photo tab and found this little gem.
Next.

#13 Tagging, folksomonies & social bookmarking in Del.icio.us

Have I mentioned yet that my job does not involve reference desk work or that through a lifestyle choice, I spend virtually zero time on personal surfing? I get no further than the first interesting article on ESPN. My loss perhaps?
Some of the previous activities and resources have been entertaining but I am really starting to struggle with being constructive and positive. I am reading, looking & doing, but at the moment is a bear I have to cross rather than the dawn of a new era.

#12 Roll your own search engine with Rollyo

O Rollyo, Rollyo! why art thou Rollyo?
I can see a purpose as a filtered alternative to Google for schools or for homework.... But not something I would bother with.

#11 All about LibraryThing

This is scary.
If She Who Must be Obeyed ever got serious about this...
I remember a removalist we used once rolling around laughing at a box label. Fiction G - H. He stopped laughing when he saw the non-fiction boxes.
My Library Thing page is a reflection on a simpler, more carefree time in my life...

#10 Play around with Image Generators

The Simpsons avatar was fun for awhile. Annoying that I couldn't go back though and I kept forgetting which eyes I liked.
I used The Ninja Text Generator to create this newspaper cutting.

#9 Finding Feeds

Good circulation . . .

Internet helps libraries, despite predictions it would spell the end

By Eric Moskowitz, Globe Staff | July 29, 2007

Library directors remember the talk, not long ago, of technology rendering libraries obsolete. But statistics show that the opposite has occurred.

full story

Mike Reid

Sad news that Mike Reid who played my role model Frank Butcher of Eastenders passed away in Marbella last week.
Some of my favorite quotes-

You're a wave short of an ocean, aint ya?

PATTTTT!
PEGGGGYYYYY!!!!!!
JANINE!!!!!
RICKY!!!!
BIANNCCCA!!!

........... .... you kids give me a migraine!

#8 Make life "really simple" with RSS & a newsreader

Ok, that seems to work ok and is certainly something I would use.

Bonds slams down the hammer, cracks No. 755

#7 Blog about technology

#7 Blog about technology

This would not be required by anyone in AID but its value is obvious!
It has an integrated fan inflating the cushion with a circulating cooool cushion of air. Ahhh bliss.
Even uses a USB connection.
Read more at Thanko

#6 More flickr fun

#6 More flickr fun

Ok, that wasn't too bad.
Mappr was ok but I prefer the map function in flickr .
I'll tell the kids. They might enjoy the others more than me.

#5 flickr
A couple of holiday photos from 2006.

See the webcam of Old Faithful Geyser here
It is a fun way to spend an hour or so waiting for an eruption. They occur roughly every 40 minutes +/- 10 minutes.
The webcam updates its image every 30 seconds.

Margerison & McCann have a lot to answer for

My first attempt