And last but not least #23 - Reflecting

I can sum up these last few weeks in a few thoughts. I experienced frustration, eagerness, laughter and more frustrated hair-pulling. But this can also be used to describe all learning experiences. I am a firm believer in learning new things, so I enjoyed the time I spent on this project and would welcome another opportunity.

I loved the opportunity to read through my co-workers postings, it gave an insight into their thoughts and humor. If I was able to figure out who was who, sometimes I would really laugh hard 'cause I'd have a known voice to go with the writings.

I really enjoyed learning about and playing with the mashups and the wikis. The newsreaders and rss' were confusing at first, but once figured out, gave me more than enough to keep track of - kinda feel guilty if I fall too far behind on the news, 'cause I know I won't read it. And I just do not see myself using rollyo in the future, unless I start a new career where I need to keep track of specific searches; or the online office applications, simply because I have office at home.

Now all I need to do is figure out which thing I learned that will give me the best chance of my family learning and using it to stay connected by adding pieces to it. Almost like a family blog with extras.

Thing #22 - LibriVox

Luckily it was easy to find the FAQ page. Because I had a question immediately about copyright and that stuff. I found my answer about half-way down the page. I had never paid attention to the information about "public domain". So I learned that "public domain" pertains to the literature whose copyright has expired - about everything printed before 1923.

So, a-browsing I went and found that they have Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes, something that I will have to explore. What I did not find was an easy way to go from page 1 of the D's to page 2. After a little bit of playing around, I found that the "easy" way is to click on the next numbered page before the "..." and you're on the next page or 2 pages past what you wanted.

Because these are all public domain, there are a lot of the old classics listed - Charles Dickens, Shakespeare, Stephen Crane, and a whole lot more that I've never heard of. So it's a good option if you cannot find a copy of a certain book that you absolutely need for english class to know about this resource. It was also nice to see that there are some readings in foreign languages, a nice way to get better at listening and hopefully speaking in French.

Thing #21 - Podcasts, Smodcasts!

I've heard about podcasts - that they're neat and informative and fun. I started looking at the 3 given directories. At podcast, I typed in library news and got 1 item about SirsiDynix Institute. Since I didn't feel like listening to that I tried another search this time book reviews. And it looks like I get a lot (100) of podcasts involving reviews on anything and everything. And the final keyword search "libraries" looks like it has turned something up.

If I was interested and I knew how to speak Italian, I could listen to a podcast on library news in Italian. Hmmmm, motivation there, but sadly no time. There were 2 other promising casts, the first one is teenlibrarian and the second is teleread (about e-books).

Both podcast and yahoo were just seach engines for the podcasts, didn't have a lot of excessive information on the screen. Might be nice for some, but I wanted a little help at first. Which is why I liked the looks and style of podcastalley. I had learned my lesson from the first searching, so I just typed in libraries and got 27 hits. It's so easy! You click on one and a short menu unfolds to give you a description and the option to get the podcast. I think I'll put any podcasts off to the sidebar. And then I shall explore more...

A review on the movie "The Golden Compass"

After hearing that certain Catholic heads had put this on their "Do Not Watch" list, I had to see the movie to find out what all of the fuss was about. I found that it was a delightful movie.

The movie is about a cheeky young girl, Lyra, who gets into the adventure of her life. She runs around all over the place. She has no interest in being labeled a lady, in fact she tells her best friend (paraphrasing: "...to take it back. I ain't no lady. Take it back or we're not best mates!"). Lyra's world is one where a person's soul lives in an animal form outside of their bodies, called demons.

Lyra is living at the university, while her guardian is off on expeditions. She is allowed a temporary holiday from learning at the university, to help a lady, Mrs. Colter; who appears like a breath of fresh air to a young lady confined within the stuffy atmosphere that she lives. Before she leaves, the headmaster visits Lyra and gives to her a golden compass, telling her that her uncle had given it to him for safe-keeping and he believes that it belongs to Lyra now, and he also told her not to show it to anyone, especially Mrs. Colton. When Lyra and Mrs. Colton head to town, Lyra finds that the rules of society with Mrs. Colton are even tighter. Mrs. Colter has a hidden agenda for Lyra and a secret life with the Magesterium, the ruler's of society. Lyra discovers that Mrs. Colter is behind that disappearance of the missing children and that her best friend's name is on the list. She runs from Mrs. Colter and falls in with the gypsums (sp?). And they are off, on to a rescue mission to find the missing children. Along the way, Lyra meets new friends and learns how to use the golden compass, which shows the truth to those who know how to ask.

After watching the movie, I still had no idea as to why the banning. The movie showcases the adventures of a girl out to rescue her friend. He was taken as part of a secret experiment of the Magesterium's to separate the children from something of their world called dust, which gave life to their souls/demons. Then they were going to raise these children to follow a certain way of thinking that did not disagree with the teachings of said Magesterium. They were going to subvert the "free will" of a new generation. The next day I talked to my sister-in-law and she said that it was because the ruling class was called the magesterium, which is also the name for the learning class of the Catholic church.

Flimsy much! Arrgg! I do not like those who ban a book "because"; makes me think of dictators, not a good image for the church in my opinion. But that's one opinion among many.