Daily Thoughts 05/11/2012

This print depicts a fairly typical poetry reading-except that sparrows are substituted for humans. A distinguished poet, seated before a folding screen, recites his poems for a private audience. His wife and children are seated near him. While most members are attentive, a mother turns to hush adolescents in the back row. In the upper left corner there are twelve "haiku" poems by different writers. These poets were probably members of a poetry club that commissioned Zeshin to design this print for a humorous New Year's greeting.  Shibata Zeshin, Meiji circa 1873 to 1891
Daily Thoughts 05/11/2012

I read some more of Steve Jobs.  The book is describing how Steve Jobs moved towards a new way of thinking about computers where the computer became attached to a number of peripheral devices starting with the Ipod.  It was interesting reading about his music choices.  Steve Jobs loved Bob Dylan, the Beatles and Bach.  Part of his philosophy was to focus on design before engineering to make a beautiful product.

This morning, I checked the Facebook and Twitter accounts for the library.  They waxed the floors in the work room last night.  This meant that I took some time to organize my things a little better.  I also checked the gift books and the displays.  Because I check these things every day, it does not take a huge amount of time.

I also took some time to walk around a bit in the shelving.  The library aides are shifting the oversize books to make things a little bit more orderly.  There also was a bit of rearrangement in the paperback fiction collection which makes it easier to find things.  Things are looking a bit more orderly in the stacks.  Also, a colleague has been inventorying the mezzanine to make sure that all the books are in the computer system.

I did a little bit more time studying CSS on Codecademy.  I am learning more about how CSS interacts with HTML.  After I finish all the CSS, I am going to give a shot at Javascript.  I also spent a little time on Lynda.com learning about Project Management.

I am still thinking about learning some more computer skills.  There is the Stanford School of Engineering Open Courseware system http://see.stanford.edu/see/courses.aspx
There is also the MIT Open Courseware system http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/electrical-engineering-and-computer-science/

I found these by looking the information up on Quora.  In addition there is Google Code, http://code.google.com/edu   and P2PU  Peer to Peer University http://p2pu.org/en  and Code Avengers if you want to learn Javascript  http://www.codeavengers.com/

I took some time to look through the My Metro activities and saw a group called  http://metro.org/events/181/   New York Cultural Tech "Show and Tell" at Metro.  It looks like something which would be worth going to where I could learn something.

I put the book Railsea by China Mieville on hold.  It is a fantasy book.  I also put the graphic novel, Flex Mentallo Man of Muscle Mystery on hold. 


  I took some time to look at the New York Times Bestseller list for Graphic Novels http://www.nytimes.com/best-sellers-books/paperback-graphic-books/list.html   I also took some time to look at the Top 100 Graphic Novels for April from Diamond Comic Distributors which is the largest distributor of comic books and graphic novels in the United States.  http://www.previewsworld.com/Home/1/1/71/945?articleID=121116

On the way home, I read some more of Steve Jobs.  Right now, I am reading about the creation of the different electronic devices that Apple makes;  the Ipod, the Iphone, and the Ipad.  There is a picture of an Ipad like device from 2005 in the book.  I am also learning about how Steve Jobs continually worked to make the devices appear simpler and have less parts.  His design focus was not just on the outside of the devices that Apple built, but also on the insides.