Tuesday, March 25, 2014

Daily Thoughts 03/25/2014

Portrait of a Man Writing in His Study, Gustave Caillebotte, 1885

Daily Thoughts 03/25/2014

I read some more of The Second Machine Age this morning.  I am reading about innovation and how the expansion of the internet increases innovation by making it easier to combine ideas together.

This morning, I checked the Twitter and Facebook for the library.  I also checked the displays. We got a large donation of books.  There were a few things worth adding.  I try and be very selective about what I decide to add to the collection.  Most of the books go to the Friends of the Mount Vernon Public Library for the Book and Bake Sale which is on May 2 and May 3, 2014.  Tomorrow, we have the book club from 1:00 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. in the Trustees room.  We are reading a book on Eleanor Roosevelt.

I spent some time preparing an order of new books this week.  I have a few magazines to read.  I did a little bit of checking in the oversize books.  The book, The Heathen School A Story of Hope and Betrayal in the Age of the Early Republic by John Demos came in for me to read.

There are two computer classes tonight, a Microsoft Word class from 5:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. and a Fundamentals of Computer Operations class from 6:45 p.m. to 7:45 p.m.   The computer lab was open earlier from 2:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m..

Web Bits


New York Public Library Partners With Zola to Offer Algorithmic Book Recommendations

Examining Library Spaces Through A “Kindness Audit”
http://mrlibrarydude.wordpress.com/2013/10/17/examining-library-spaces-through-a-kindness-audit/


Inflatable Space

I sometimes like to write about the concept of inflatables in space or near space.  I recently saw this Google plans to build a giant high altitude balloon network to cover the world for internet access.

The goal would be to provide cheap internet access for everyone in the world. 

Project Loon
http://www.google.com/loon/

Larry Page Talks at TED About Building a Better Future, The NSA, and Google's Project Loon
http://www.androidheadlines.com/2014/03/larry-page-talks-ted-building-better-future-nsa-googles-project-loon.html


A Turbine Powered Future 

This is just something that interests me.  There have been recent advances in superconductors.  Smaller and Lighter 10MW Wind Turbines May be on the Horizon. http://www.nawindpower.com/e107_plugins/content/content.php?content.10990

High Temperature Superconducting Breakthrough
http://www.imeche.org/news/engineering/high-temperature-superconducting-breakthrough

Another breakthrough has occurred in addition to the superconductor.  Some companies are developing lenses to focus the wind.  Wind lens triples turbine output.  http://cleantechnica.com/2011/09/02/wind-lens-triples-turbine-output/ 

It is interesting to read that some people believe wind power could provide all of the United States energy.  I can easily see a company developing a wind lens turbine that uses superconductors.  This would change the equation for wind power. I like the idea of a society powered by wind and waves.



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