Airplane Pilot Stories as a Library display February 14, 2009

Captain Sully landing in the Hudson is one more story added to the lore of flying.    New York Magazine 2009 February 9 had a good article about pilots.  Libraries looking for a subject to display should consider flying and airline pilots. 

  The novel “Airport” by Arthur Hailey was made into a hit movie, and the movie spawned sequels.  The movie was better than the sequels, and the book was better than the movie.  The novel “The Right Stuff” by Tom Wolfe was made into a movie.  In that movie, Pancho was played by Kim Stanley.  The local library had a copy of the biography “The Happy Bottom Riding Club: The Life and Times of Pancho Barnes”, but it was weeded a few years back. 

 

It was loosely adapted to a TV Movie “Pancho Barnes” starring Valerie Bertinelli.  An earlier novel was “The High and the Mighty”, which was made into a movie starring John Wayne.  I consider the father of this genre to be the autobiography of Ernest K. Gann titled “Fate is the Hunter”.  This was loosely adapted into a couple of movies:  “Fate is the Hunter” starring Glen Ford, and “Island in the Sky” starring John Wayne.  The movies were average, but the book is among my favorites.  Hollywood seldom makes the movie as good as the book, and script changes sometimes drastically alter the facts.  Other books of interest are “Hard Air” by W. Scott Olsen and “Flying’s Strangest Moments” by John Harding.

Digital TV “Granny Box” coupons March 2, 2008

   The digital TV revolution is coming; will some of your patrons be a casualty?  Who will show granny how to connect the converter?  What virtual channels are available in your area?  The Feds offer of $40 coupons is scheduled to end March 31.  **Update:  Offer extended until March 31, 2009 “while supplies last”.  First batch is 22 million coupons.**  Has your library scheduled a program for beginners on the granny boxes before then?  The Ref Desk in the future explaining the deadline passed is of little help.  Libraries should give granny a clue now.
See http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showpost.php?p=12688712&postcount=16 
   To decide whether to buy a granny box now instead of later, check the Digital TV program guide at the website listed below. There’s likely few additional TV shows.  If for example, you decide you can’t miss “Commonwealth Club Speakers” on virtual channel 7-2, then buy one granny box now. 

In Silicon Valley, virtual channel 7-2  comes from Sutro Tower on channel 24.  A rooftop antenna of 12dBd on Channel 24 aimed at San Francisco should work, but I haven’t found specs for 5th or 6th generation DTV chips.  Retailers start their participation this week, but reviewers haven’t committed.  With only 5 million coupon requests so far, looks like the added restrictions won’t kick in soon.  Privately, for now try a Zenith DTT900 though it doesn’t have the smart antenna jack.  Avoid the Insignia, which is a rebranded Zenith, unless LG will back the warranty.  I’ll wait to decide what to buy until May, when hopefully there’s more user results posted and my coupons will still be good.  **Update April 22: Hold off on the Zenith/Insignia because of even more audio problems.  See: http://www.freelists.org/archives/op…/msg00211.html  **

coupon elgible converter box (CECB) official Fed list:
 https://www.ntiadtv.gov/cecb_list.cfm
Digital TV program guide: 
 http://tvlistings.zap2it.com/tvlistings/
Broadcast TV station locator tools: http://www.antennaweb.org
 http://www.tvfool.com/index.php?option=com_wrapper&Itemid=80

List of converter box product reviews:
 http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showpost.php?p=13059530&postcount=59
 http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showpost.php?p=13258993&postcount=70
Spreadsheet of granny box products:
 http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showpost.php?p=13051519&postcount=49
ChannelMaster CM7000:
 http://www.solidsignal.com/prod_display.asp?PROD=CM-7000
Digital Stream D2A1D10L:
 http://www.ezdigitaltv.com/Digital_STREAM_D2A1D10.html
Magnavox TB100MW9:
 http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showpost.php?p=12967623&postcount=1
RCA DTA800 review:
 http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showpost.php?p=13074735&postcount=285
Sansonic ad: http://www.sansonic.net/consumer/atsc_converter.asp
Zenith DTT900 review:
 http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=13047439#post13047439
Roof top antennas are allowed anyway:
 http://www.fcc.gov/mb/facts/otard.html
Sound and Vision Magazine links with Circuit City Stores:
 http://www.broadcastnewsroom.com/articles/viewarticle.jsp?id=304447
The conspiracy on Weapons Signal Destruction (WSD):
 http://broadcastengineering.com/eng/fcc_announces_second_round/
For DX nerds only:  http://www.geocities.com/toddemslie/UHF-TV-DX.html
 http://www.broadcast.net/~sbe1/8vsb/8vsb.htm
 http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showpost.php?p=12688712&postcount=16
 http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6532079.html
San Francisco stations:  http://www.choisser.com/sfonair.html
Ch 3 combiner: http://www.solidsignal.com/prod_display.asp?PROD=SPSC3&xzoom=Large#xview

Weak 26 of LL 2.0 October 30, 2007

LibraryLearning 2.0

How has this program assisted or affected your lifelong learning goals?

There are now new ways of accessing information, with more new ways being created.

What were your favorite Learning 2.0 discoveries or exercises?

Librarything and Delicious.  Blogging could be fun. 

Did anything surprise you?

The large number of difficulties, and stuff that didn’t work.  For example, the blogs of Deweylearn, Vanhua and Puckduck had lettering on the screen that was too big to read.  Videos sometimes worked, and otherwise didn’t.  As I said in my blog, some stuff just didn’t work.   A large amount of time was required.  In hindsight, I shouldn’t have been surprised.  The software world has always been buggy and unclear.

Was there enough help available when you needed it?

No, but I wasn’t demanding it.

What could we do differently to improve upon this program’s format or concept?

That would take some deep thought.

Would you like to see similar training opportunities as new library-relevant technologies emerge?

If we as a library are going to keep up, new training will be necessary.  I suspect that it will be awhile before one particular method becomes dominate over its competition.  It is tempting to wait until then before getting deeply involved.  The new ideas are worth hearing about without waiting.

Are there other things you would like to have seen covered?

There is only so much time, so coverage is limited.  I would consider doing less, not more.

And, last one, if you could go back in time and tell yourself to either participate in the program or skip it, what would you do?

Dabble in it, which is what I did.

Weak 16 October 22, 2007

I’m trying week 16. Hmm.  what is my blog address anyway? My blog link is underlined and in blue. the instructions say “Look to the very bottom of the edit window and enter your blogging name in the box next to ‘Who is making this edit?’ If you have already logged in you will not see this screen – you may skip to the next step.”  I am clueless. It is getting late, so I’ll give up.  Got an email saying “Welcome to PBwiki email notifications!” Will disable it later, hopefully I won’t be buried in notifications.

Up to Wikis October 2, 2007

I have given up on RSS feeds, skipped facebook, and slid into tagging.  Folksonomies is interesting as it means cataloging needs to be more user oriented.  I’ve used wikipedia before.  I like the idea of a wiki as a way for a group to complete a task.  Software for group tasks is not new, but this seems much easier to do.  Hopefully, next week I will have more time to catch up.

learning project 7 September 5, 2007

I’m going to take another shot at lesson 7: RSS feeds.  Tried the “Feel the needs” link, but couldn’t get the video.  Tried the next link “Palinet” and it worked.  Tried the “Commoncraft” link and it worked.  Tried to set up a feed account with www.bloglines, but they don’t send me a confirming email.  Tried the Commoncraft link again and it failed; I think the DSL wasn’t giving enough bandwith to get the job done.  Sent an Email to Bloglines about the feed account problem, the  site says reply takes 2 biz days.  I have been using the tag surfer on my blog site (I subscribed to “libraries”) and find it entertaining.  One thing that seems to be true of all aspects of computers and the net is they are very time consuming.  I am tempted to do some blogging in the category “libraries”.  Should I refer you to such blogs by Email?  I’ve decided not to face Facebook; at heart, I am still a nerd.  Start the party without me.

Don’t see the big picture August 26, 2007

Seems like software has so many glitches.  Computers have always been very time consuming.  I tried the tutorials mentioned on RSS feeds, but only the non-video one worked for me.  I’ll try to set up some feeds.  Don’t see a need for Flickr, as I can Email pictures.  It sounds like a picture  or video can be included in a blog, but I don’t think I will try.  I search for info, not pictures.  I will post most of my blogs in the Categories of “Libraries”.  Had a memo cross the desk I don’t have saying reporter questions can be referred to another department.  What I should be getting from that department is a memo about what not to say in blogs.   

Hello world! August 15, 2007

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