Daily Thoughts 01/02/2012

Girl reading. Signed G.JAKOBIDES. Oil on canvas, 53 x 40 cm, 1882


Daily Thoughts 01/02/2012


I spent some time looking at E-readers reviews this morning.  There are a number of color readers listed for about $100 with very bad reviews. This indicates in the near future, it will be possible to get a good color reader for that price. I am also seeing the Nook Tablet for about $250 and the Kindle Tablet for $200. There are a lot of E-readers which I had not even heard about.  Google has an E-reader called the iRiver.  There are also a number of E-readers based on the Android operating system.

I also finished reading The Filter Bubble.  Eli Pariser reminds us that our personal information is valuable and should be protected.  Advertisers are there to sell your information so that people can sell you things.  It is actually quite a bit more than this in my experience;  companies want your resume, your opinion, your money, and your time all of which are valuable.

This afternoon, I was at Target looking at the Ereaders. I also was looking at the digital cameras.  I am thinking that I might want to get an Android based phone with a built in camera.  I found that I very much liked the Nook Tablet more than the other devices.  It is not as expensive as the Apple, is a solid E-reader and has applications which look interesting.  I was not that impressed with Kindle Fire. A lot of this is about patience and learning more about devices.

This evening, I read a bit more of The Life and Legend of Jay Gould.  I also started reading World On The Edge how to Prevent Environmental and Economic Collapse by Lester R. Brown.  He writes about LED lighting.  I think this is nowhere near enough.  There needs to be a lot more done about energy efficiency and alternative energy than is being done now.

Web Bits

Wilton Library Monster Clash
http://www.wiltonlibrary.org/monster-clash/

Daily Thoughts 1/1/2012

Daily Thoughts 1/1/2012

I read a bit more of The Filter Bubble this morning. I also updated the Twitter and Facebook accounts.

I went to Barnes and Nobles today to look at the Nook.  In the higher end Nook, it has basically become a tablet device for $249 with apps, color books, magazines, and internet access.  I spent some time looking at the Cat In Hat App for the Nook.  It was fun to look at. I talked to the salesperson for a while on how it work.  I also played around with the Nook until the alarm went off and they asked me to stop playing with it.

I read some more of The Filter Bubble in the laundromat.  The author is wrting about how geeks sometimes have technological determinism where they say it is inevitable the way technology develops.  I disagree with this completely.  We all make choices in what technology we buy and use.  Technology should support people, it was created by people not some magic hand.

Daily Thoughts 12/30/2011

Gottfried Hensel: Europa Polyglotta. Multilingual Europe, showing the genealogy of the languages, together with the alphabets and modes of writing of all peoples. 1730.

Daily Thoughts 12/30/2011

I have been reading some more of The Filter Bubble.  Eli Pariser is describing how personalization can end up damaging a person by stereotyping them.  Internet tracking cookies are used to profile a person and a person can be misinterpreted easily.  There are also some rather scary things which he is saying like personalization can attempt to predict a persons politics, whether or not they own a gun, and their ethnicity.  It is the exact opposite of anonymity.

This morning, I updated the Twitter and Facebook pages for the library and checked the displays.  I also took some time to print some flyers for programs.  I try and do this at the beginning of the month for the months programs.

I also spent quite a bit of time figuring out how to translate my schedule into Google Calendar.  I put in two months worth of programs. It probably needs some editing and clean up.  It is my first time doing this.  I like the layout of the calendar.

Daily Thoughts 12/27/2011

Gerard Ter Borch The Younger, 1675, Portrait of a Man Reading

Daily Thoughts 12/27/2011

This morning, I looked through the gift books.  There were a number of classics as well as several books on religion and mysticism like Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis and The Essential Rumi.  I also checked the displays and updated the Twitter and Facebook accounts.

We also some time discussing the logo for the library and the Jr. Trustees program for the library. http://www.mountvernonpubliclibrary.org/node/343  We also discussed the library newsletter which is here.
http://www.mountvernonpubliclibrary.org/node/228

I am looking at the From Earth to the Solar System Exhibit available from NASA.  It is very interesting.
http://fettss.arc.nasa.gov/collection/

The computer classes are tonight.  The teacher is working on opening a computer training center in Yonkers which is kind of interesting.

The book, The Filter Bubble What The Internet Is Hiding From You by Eli Pariser has come in for me to read. This book writes about how companies like Google and Facebook are personalizing their services to match individual users.  While this helps block out unwanted information, it also can be excessive.  One thing that occurs to me is that a person who has their web address and personal information filtered by a web company will have a more difficult time conducting research that is unbiased because the results are alredy filtered.

This is why I think it is often important to use more than one search engine to see different results and sometimes use desktop search applications like Webferret or Copernic which are not personalized.
I have been reading Forecast from Baker and Taylor.  Two books which are coming out in February which look interesting are The End of Money: Counterfeiters, Preachers, Techies, Dreamers-- and the Coming Cashless Society by David Wolfman and Arctic Rising by Tobias Buckell. 

Board of Estimate and Contract Special Meeting Notice for Decmber 28, 2011 at 10:00 a.m.
http://cmvny.com/2011/12/27/board-of-estimate-and-contract-special-meeting-notice/
The meeting on December 29, 2011 is canceled.

Web Bits

Occupy Wall Street Organizer to Speak at Larchmont Library
http://scarsdale.patch.com/announcements/occupy-wall-street-organizer-to-speak-at-larchmont-library
There are stronger ties than people may realize.