Hello people, I'm writing this entry to let you know I have started a new, a bit more personal blog, at http://wearymusician.blogspot.com
This blog is musically oriented, so be prepared for music geekdom, but please I recommend it of course, even though its about music, and leaves social/political issues completely out, It is still very personal and you can figure out what is going on in my life just through my involvement in music. I welcome you to read and comment on it!
http://wearymusician.blogspot.com
peace to you all
Wednesday, September 19, 2007
Monday, August 27, 2007
Thats no moon...
Behold, the Death Library, capable of destroying planets and punk skateboarders with a single shot.
http://www.englishrussia.com/?p=1320
This is an amazing looking building. It is in Minsk, Belarus. Close to Chernobyl. I doubt the radiation made it grow so big though.
Teachers and students of the local schools had to bring in money every week to contribute to the funding of this bohemoth. The beast will hold 15 million items. 15 million. Think we could get some direct loans and ILLs from them?
I'm just imagining with that large of a collection, they will need a separate for each dewey number, not just ranges. I don't mean to poke fun, but I have seen documentaries on Minsk and children in the orphanages due to having birth defects from Chernobyl. I have to ask if this is a good use of the money.
Anyways on to brighter topics. I went shopping this weekend, picked up a Dreamtheater and Yngwie J Malmsteen CD. Both of them featuring some amazing guitar work. Yngwie though is incredibly arrogant of a man, and I won't buy another one of his CDs but I had to own one. Dreamtheater is quite amazing in my opinion, and am waiting for my concert DVD I ordered on Amazon to come. I also got the Ishao Tomita CD I ordered, "Snowflakes Are Dancing". Its some of Debussy's best piano work orchestrated for synthesizer. It is quite amazing. Its interesting to hear Debussy's twisting counterpoint to be on different timbre's and not all on piano. You hear new things. New melodies, new harmonies. Arabesque no. 1 (common ringtone and theme from the old late night show on PBS called Stargazer about watching the night sky for different astrological events, it used to come on right before the national anthem and then snow. I have been a night owl since about 10, just recently did it turn into insomnia.) is quite memorable on this CD, not just because its one of my favorites by Debussy, but it is really an interesting interpretation. My friend Chet used to play it on piano all the time, it was a really good player, just wouldn't admit it.
Also, I'm getting better, almost dangerous with my iPod. Figured out how to reduce the rip time for DVDs muwhahahaha.
http://www.englishrussia.com/?p=1320
This is an amazing looking building. It is in Minsk, Belarus. Close to Chernobyl. I doubt the radiation made it grow so big though.
Teachers and students of the local schools had to bring in money every week to contribute to the funding of this bohemoth. The beast will hold 15 million items. 15 million. Think we could get some direct loans and ILLs from them?
I'm just imagining with that large of a collection, they will need a separate for each dewey number, not just ranges. I don't mean to poke fun, but I have seen documentaries on Minsk and children in the orphanages due to having birth defects from Chernobyl. I have to ask if this is a good use of the money.
Anyways on to brighter topics. I went shopping this weekend, picked up a Dreamtheater and Yngwie J Malmsteen CD. Both of them featuring some amazing guitar work. Yngwie though is incredibly arrogant of a man, and I won't buy another one of his CDs but I had to own one. Dreamtheater is quite amazing in my opinion, and am waiting for my concert DVD I ordered on Amazon to come. I also got the Ishao Tomita CD I ordered, "Snowflakes Are Dancing". Its some of Debussy's best piano work orchestrated for synthesizer. It is quite amazing. Its interesting to hear Debussy's twisting counterpoint to be on different timbre's and not all on piano. You hear new things. New melodies, new harmonies. Arabesque no. 1 (common ringtone and theme from the old late night show on PBS called Stargazer about watching the night sky for different astrological events, it used to come on right before the national anthem and then snow. I have been a night owl since about 10, just recently did it turn into insomnia.) is quite memorable on this CD, not just because its one of my favorites by Debussy, but it is really an interesting interpretation. My friend Chet used to play it on piano all the time, it was a really good player, just wouldn't admit it.
Also, I'm getting better, almost dangerous with my iPod. Figured out how to reduce the rip time for DVDs muwhahahaha.
Friday, August 24, 2007
Week #9 - Who needs a boob tube, you got Youtube!
Hello world!
As my loyal readers have realized and known for awhile. I have a Youtube account where I post videos of myself and friends, normally doing some pretty stupid and offensive stuff. Its the performance artist in me to display my "creative" side.
In all honesty, Youtube has helped me greatly as an artist. It has stemmed me to look into learning more about amateur film making. Also it has helped me as a musician. I find clips of trumpet players performing and compare techniqes because not can I just hear them but I can see what they're doing too. Suggesting this tule to anyone that comes in a library looking for video footage of anything can normally find it on youtube. For instance:
This Video is the composer Igor Stravinski conducting the Finale from his Firebird Ballet. This is extremely helpful considering I have an audition this coming week and what do I have to play? The trumpet part from the Finale from the Firebird Suite. This video is very interesting, as most interpretations of this piece (brace yourself for some music geekdom) do not have the brass so staccato in the fast part in 7/4. The composer, who also has total control of the orchestra in this case asks for it to be that way. In the notation of the section, it doesn't specify to play the notes short either. This gives me a major heads up going into an audition, as this performance clears up any vagueness in the interpretation of the piece.
I will wrap up my youtube section of this entry with a video of me playing trumpet on my Senior Recital from April of 2003. I am performing a piece titled "Kryl" by the contemporary composer Robert Erickson. It was inspired by a famous cornetist by the same name, Kryl. The piece is considered one of the most difficult 20th century pieces due to the wide use of extended techniques such as falsetto singing, screaming, and removing pipes from the trumpet. Enjoy!
Now for some talk on podcasts. I like them a lot, mainly because I use them to listen to my favorite radio show that come son 1am-5am here called Coast to Coast AM (http://www.coasttocoastam.com/). It is hosted by George Noory. After 105.7 decided not to be a talk station anymore, Baltimore lost its affiliate for this amazing show. I had no choice but to listen via podcast from WDEL, Wilmington Delaware's AM talk station. I could then listen to it anytime I wanted, not at 1am! Though I am a night owl and prefer to listen to this show from bed due to the amazing positive energy this show contains leads to a sounder sleep. This show is amazing, by the way. It covers topics from UFO's to paranormal activity, current events, and even celebrity initerviews. The show always keeps a positive attitude and approach. During 9/11 and the recent bridge collapse, they allowed relatives and friends of possible victims to call in and plead for their loved ones to contact them. It was touching. Anyways, this podcasting technology allowed me to listen to my favorite radio program until the show got a new affiliate on WCBM AM680. Thats right, I'm 27 and listen to AM radio, deal with it.
This audiobook thing is pretty cool. I have a few friends who use OverDrive, and openly discuss it with me. It is a great asset from their reviews. I'm sure it can help those who can't get into the library. I haven't had time to try it myself, my schedule doesn't supply much time to listen to something that long. I do have an iPod now that I could use for it. Maybe I will look into it. I plan to keep this blog going once I finish this program for the kick of it. I enjoy having someplace to write.
I must say I enjoyed doing this program and assisting my coworkers with this program as well. I did learn some fun things and I think this program will assist me in my future with BCPL. I did have a few issues though. It got a bit tedious by the end registering for all these accounts for things. I fear spam. I have worked hard to keep my staff e-mail account spam free for 3 years and running. This program for the complete noob is quite comprehensive and hopefully did its job in helping our staff get caught up with the ever changing scene of Internet media. The world has changed. When I'm bored at home, instead of putting a dvd on, I go on to youtube and type in a name and follow it from there for a few hours. I haven't read an actual newspaper in years, but I always check news pages like fark.com and digg.com. I go straight to the National Hurricane Center's webpage (http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/) to read the forecasts for tropical storms and such (I'm a closet amateur meteorologist, I wanted to major in it but I couldn't handle the physics, that stupid musician adage of I can only count to 4 is painfully true). The Internet is an amazing tool (duh) but for it to be useful, you need to know where to look, and this program is a great start.
Sincerely and with much peace and meditations to you,
Rich Sigwald, Catonville
As my loyal readers have realized and known for awhile. I have a Youtube account where I post videos of myself and friends, normally doing some pretty stupid and offensive stuff. Its the performance artist in me to display my "creative" side.
In all honesty, Youtube has helped me greatly as an artist. It has stemmed me to look into learning more about amateur film making. Also it has helped me as a musician. I find clips of trumpet players performing and compare techniqes because not can I just hear them but I can see what they're doing too. Suggesting this tule to anyone that comes in a library looking for video footage of anything can normally find it on youtube. For instance:
This Video is the composer Igor Stravinski conducting the Finale from his Firebird Ballet. This is extremely helpful considering I have an audition this coming week and what do I have to play? The trumpet part from the Finale from the Firebird Suite. This video is very interesting, as most interpretations of this piece (brace yourself for some music geekdom) do not have the brass so staccato in the fast part in 7/4. The composer, who also has total control of the orchestra in this case asks for it to be that way. In the notation of the section, it doesn't specify to play the notes short either. This gives me a major heads up going into an audition, as this performance clears up any vagueness in the interpretation of the piece.
I will wrap up my youtube section of this entry with a video of me playing trumpet on my Senior Recital from April of 2003. I am performing a piece titled "Kryl" by the contemporary composer Robert Erickson. It was inspired by a famous cornetist by the same name, Kryl. The piece is considered one of the most difficult 20th century pieces due to the wide use of extended techniques such as falsetto singing, screaming, and removing pipes from the trumpet. Enjoy!
Now for some talk on podcasts. I like them a lot, mainly because I use them to listen to my favorite radio show that come son 1am-5am here called Coast to Coast AM (http://www.coasttocoastam.com/). It is hosted by George Noory. After 105.7 decided not to be a talk station anymore, Baltimore lost its affiliate for this amazing show. I had no choice but to listen via podcast from WDEL, Wilmington Delaware's AM talk station. I could then listen to it anytime I wanted, not at 1am! Though I am a night owl and prefer to listen to this show from bed due to the amazing positive energy this show contains leads to a sounder sleep. This show is amazing, by the way. It covers topics from UFO's to paranormal activity, current events, and even celebrity initerviews. The show always keeps a positive attitude and approach. During 9/11 and the recent bridge collapse, they allowed relatives and friends of possible victims to call in and plead for their loved ones to contact them. It was touching. Anyways, this podcasting technology allowed me to listen to my favorite radio program until the show got a new affiliate on WCBM AM680. Thats right, I'm 27 and listen to AM radio, deal with it.
This audiobook thing is pretty cool. I have a few friends who use OverDrive, and openly discuss it with me. It is a great asset from their reviews. I'm sure it can help those who can't get into the library. I haven't had time to try it myself, my schedule doesn't supply much time to listen to something that long. I do have an iPod now that I could use for it. Maybe I will look into it. I plan to keep this blog going once I finish this program for the kick of it. I enjoy having someplace to write.
I must say I enjoyed doing this program and assisting my coworkers with this program as well. I did learn some fun things and I think this program will assist me in my future with BCPL. I did have a few issues though. It got a bit tedious by the end registering for all these accounts for things. I fear spam. I have worked hard to keep my staff e-mail account spam free for 3 years and running. This program for the complete noob is quite comprehensive and hopefully did its job in helping our staff get caught up with the ever changing scene of Internet media. The world has changed. When I'm bored at home, instead of putting a dvd on, I go on to youtube and type in a name and follow it from there for a few hours. I haven't read an actual newspaper in years, but I always check news pages like fark.com and digg.com. I go straight to the National Hurricane Center's webpage (http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/) to read the forecasts for tropical storms and such (I'm a closet amateur meteorologist, I wanted to major in it but I couldn't handle the physics, that stupid musician adage of I can only count to 4 is painfully true). The Internet is an amazing tool (duh) but for it to be useful, you need to know where to look, and this program is a great start.
Sincerely and with much peace and meditations to you,
Rich Sigwald, Catonville
Friday, August 17, 2007
Week 8 - Who needs office? I guess Microsoft does...
Well Well Well, look at what we have here. Google Docs, what a fascinating little tool. The ability to create documents and spreadsheets on the go! Its about time these fairly basic concepts in modern technology are accessable on the web. This is great for a PC with low resources or for library customers who want to work on a document mutiple places and wants to trust Google with their document. It can even upload a file you have with you into its editor in cace the PC you're on doesn't have MS Office. This service, combined with OpenOffice, should open the eyes of admin's everywhere to the possible wasted cost of purchasing every version of MS Office, unless extremely complex documents need to be created. (It is so not worth the money just to get that awesome, and over used resume template). This tool though, great for libraries, and i think its obvious why.
So browsing the "Web 2.0" awards, I saw craigslist won. I guess that woul dbe the place to go looking for a fellow "Furry"(if you watch Entourage on HBO, you know what I'm talking about). But I have little experience with it. The one on that list though that hits me is meebo.com
Meebo.com is a website that handles Instant Messaging for multiple platforms, all through your browser. Its secure, works with firewalls, and runs pretty effortlessly. It will even keep log of your conversations if you sign up for one of their free accounts. Not to mention, since they are still developing tools for it, when you log in, you see their blog telling you what they did that day or week to try and improve it. Also the entries will sometimes contain pictures of office parties. Those are always funny. I love pictures of people i don't know doing something stupid for the ability to be popular at a party. If the librarians at the information desks ever used IM to communicate between branches, this would definitely be a tool to use. it avoids spyware and malware, and has no annoying ads or anything. They also just introduced meebo chatrooms, wher eyou can make your own chatroom on the site and people can come in and talk to you, and have multiple people talk to each at once in one window. Thats the other thing. This website keeps all your IM windows inside one browser window, it makes a fake desktop where you can close, open, drag and minimize and resize IM windows within it. Also if you accidentally tell it to navigate away, it will ask you if you meant to or not. I am a big fan of their work over at meebo.com and love their tool.
Never thought I'd say that I love someone's tool...What a Friday...Have a good weekend and Peace. I leave you with this...A movie my friends and I made about the job interview process. All of us were interviewing for new jobs around the same time, and I'm sure, thanks to the prep of this movie, we got the jobs. Btw, we do a lot of improvising. This was all on one take.
So browsing the "Web 2.0" awards, I saw craigslist won. I guess that woul dbe the place to go looking for a fellow "Furry"(if you watch Entourage on HBO, you know what I'm talking about). But I have little experience with it. The one on that list though that hits me is meebo.com
Meebo.com is a website that handles Instant Messaging for multiple platforms, all through your browser. Its secure, works with firewalls, and runs pretty effortlessly. It will even keep log of your conversations if you sign up for one of their free accounts. Not to mention, since they are still developing tools for it, when you log in, you see their blog telling you what they did that day or week to try and improve it. Also the entries will sometimes contain pictures of office parties. Those are always funny. I love pictures of people i don't know doing something stupid for the ability to be popular at a party. If the librarians at the information desks ever used IM to communicate between branches, this would definitely be a tool to use. it avoids spyware and malware, and has no annoying ads or anything. They also just introduced meebo chatrooms, wher eyou can make your own chatroom on the site and people can come in and talk to you, and have multiple people talk to each at once in one window. Thats the other thing. This website keeps all your IM windows inside one browser window, it makes a fake desktop where you can close, open, drag and minimize and resize IM windows within it. Also if you accidentally tell it to navigate away, it will ask you if you meant to or not. I am a big fan of their work over at meebo.com and love their tool.
Never thought I'd say that I love someone's tool...What a Friday...Have a good weekend and Peace. I leave you with this...A movie my friends and I made about the job interview process. All of us were interviewing for new jobs around the same time, and I'm sure, thanks to the prep of this movie, we got the jobs. Btw, we do a lot of improvising. This was all on one take.
Friday, August 10, 2007
Week 7 ... but Why do I get a wiki out of you
The first thing that comes to mind with wiki, besides it sounding kind of dirty, is its resemblance to oral history. Anybody can say anything, and is only as accurate as the storyteller. This isn't a necessarily bad thing, just it needs to be under constant surveillance and double checked, and of course, never cited as an official source. The use that immediately came to mind is that of local histories. Each branch could have a wiki page, dedicated to local hostory, that library patrons can contribute to. In communities where generations of families have lived, such as Catonsville and Towson, I imagine these wiki's could become quite loaded. Local geneologies could be posted, along with first hand accounts of different events in the town. Just a thought...
Libraries can use this of course as an open forum, synopsis of books, book reviews and such. They could post this or have patrons themselves log into a wiki and type up what they thought of the book.Librarians could also post to a wiki answers to reference questions they had to research, so these possibly odd or unusual answers would be stored in one spot for quick reference in case someone else asks the same question.
So enough of the wiki stuff. I watched my first football game on my high definition LCD tv last night...holy crap. I'm a football fan again. I had sworn offof it last year, but I think this has me back in. I could see blades of grass...A BLADE OF GRASS!. I could see Joe Buck's big dumb forehead sweating in the Texas heat. I hate Joe buck, hes a moron, and I loved seeing him sweat. Anyways, HDTV + Football = Amazing. HDTV + Shark Week = FLIPPIN AMAZING. HDTV + Planet Earth = I crapped my pants its AMAZING. They are worth the money if you want more than 2 minutes of tv a month on cable. I got my 37in about 4 months ago for $700 at sams club. Thing only weights like 20 lbs, its a dream.
My iPod continues to dazzle and entertain me. Yes, a straight man just used the term "dazzle". Its the best way to put it. The accessory market for iPods is a huge racket, its as bad as instrument cases. I wanted a case for my iPod. I go to the mac store. They have cases that fit the 30 and 60 gig ipod, and the 60 and 80 gig ipod. Look at that again, if case A fits the 30 and 60, and case B fits 60 and the 80, wouldn't you think A=B? OOOOOH NOOOOOO. Too logical. The 80gig iPod is about 5 millimeteres thicker than the 60, causing the 60gig case I bought for it to shatter, yes SHATTER in my hand when I tried to put it on. So I bought one for an 80gig, and it fits...Why? How? What the hell...Ok, so I got an awesome case for the awesome iPod. I have now watched a 3 hour queen concert on it on one charge, its down to about half life. I watched the Blues Brothers and it used a quarter of the battery life. The thing is a very nice portable "I'm bored and don't like the other people in the room" toy. I am glad though I held out til the 5th generation of iPods.
Wiki Wiki...the sound of old school rap.
Peace
Libraries can use this of course as an open forum, synopsis of books, book reviews and such. They could post this or have patrons themselves log into a wiki and type up what they thought of the book.Librarians could also post to a wiki answers to reference questions they had to research, so these possibly odd or unusual answers would be stored in one spot for quick reference in case someone else asks the same question.
So enough of the wiki stuff. I watched my first football game on my high definition LCD tv last night...holy crap. I'm a football fan again. I had sworn offof it last year, but I think this has me back in. I could see blades of grass...A BLADE OF GRASS!. I could see Joe Buck's big dumb forehead sweating in the Texas heat. I hate Joe buck, hes a moron, and I loved seeing him sweat. Anyways, HDTV + Football = Amazing. HDTV + Shark Week = FLIPPIN AMAZING. HDTV + Planet Earth = I crapped my pants its AMAZING. They are worth the money if you want more than 2 minutes of tv a month on cable. I got my 37in about 4 months ago for $700 at sams club. Thing only weights like 20 lbs, its a dream.
My iPod continues to dazzle and entertain me. Yes, a straight man just used the term "dazzle". Its the best way to put it. The accessory market for iPods is a huge racket, its as bad as instrument cases. I wanted a case for my iPod. I go to the mac store. They have cases that fit the 30 and 60 gig ipod, and the 60 and 80 gig ipod. Look at that again, if case A fits the 30 and 60, and case B fits 60 and the 80, wouldn't you think A=B? OOOOOH NOOOOOO. Too logical. The 80gig iPod is about 5 millimeteres thicker than the 60, causing the 60gig case I bought for it to shatter, yes SHATTER in my hand when I tried to put it on. So I bought one for an 80gig, and it fits...Why? How? What the hell...Ok, so I got an awesome case for the awesome iPod. I have now watched a 3 hour queen concert on it on one charge, its down to about half life. I watched the Blues Brothers and it used a quarter of the battery life. The thing is a very nice portable "I'm bored and don't like the other people in the room" toy. I am glad though I held out til the 5th generation of iPods.
Wiki Wiki...the sound of old school rap.
Peace
Monday, August 6, 2007
Week #6 - Delicious? Disgusting
Alright, so I looked at this Del.icio.us thing. Don't like it, don't get it. Its for the slacker on the go. Sure it can help you find some useful links like the eBay typo search, but really...I am having a hard time seeing how this can assist a librarian in finding ANYTHING.
The discussion of tagging is very important though. Every page needs and uses tags for search engine reasons. Technorati simply uses technology that has existed since the birth of the web browser and search engine. Meta Tags are what tells search engines what your website contains, and in order of relevance. This also resulted in the fake pages filled with advertising and your keyword inserted into the websites generic layout but some handy little javascripting. Tags are the reason why you never put something on the Internet you don't want other people seeing (naked pics, recordings of you singing, private journal entries, personal bank records). Knowing how these things work is great knowledge for a librarian and can help get around loopholes in the search world (typos, multiple spellings, multiple names, foreign languages).
This Web 2.0 stuff is really the need for integration, as people rely more and more on portable devices as they make their lives busier and busier, or as I like to say "turning japanese" (reference to the song by The Vapors, though the song is supposedly about pleasuring yourself). Libraries can take advantage of this with a few ideas. Branch to Branch instant messaging, pocket PCs with direct access to the catalogs, a streamlined, mySQL and PHP based cataloging database to simplifly and speed up the circulation processes that would operate through web browsers, that could even even allow check out of items with the pocket PCs while still in the stacks. Customers could actually use GPS devices to find RFID tagged items in the branch. RFI could be used with GPS to diagram on a grid of the library where titles are located. One system to do it all, one system to crash to bring it all to a halt. What we must look at is the need of the library visit to be fast, efficient, and reliable. The library is not the place where people go to sit and read for hours anymore. The 1900's mindset needs to go. The library is nothing but an errand on the list with going to walmart, buying gas, taking the kids to practice, and stopping by the grocery store to get dinner. The only people that sit in the library for extended periods of time are the homeless and those without babysitters. Falling technology prices has placed a PC in every house, services like Netflix and TV OnDemand has taken out the need to go to the video store or the library, and sites like amazon.com has made it easier to simply buy books. Barnes and Noble, and other big box bookstore chains provide a calmer, nicer, more comfortable environment to sit an read. The library has a lot of competition, and looks to be losing. The library can win this, some simplification combined with actually upholding policies, and paying attention to services provided vs time required elements, and of course, education and fighting the fear of technology. Really I think it boils down to a simple fear and intimdation from technology developing. It is important that the computer doesn't make jobs easier or faster, but streamlines processes and allows for multitasking. It only does what you tell it.
The discussion of tagging is very important though. Every page needs and uses tags for search engine reasons. Technorati simply uses technology that has existed since the birth of the web browser and search engine. Meta Tags are what tells search engines what your website contains, and in order of relevance. This also resulted in the fake pages filled with advertising and your keyword inserted into the websites generic layout but some handy little javascripting. Tags are the reason why you never put something on the Internet you don't want other people seeing (naked pics, recordings of you singing, private journal entries, personal bank records). Knowing how these things work is great knowledge for a librarian and can help get around loopholes in the search world (typos, multiple spellings, multiple names, foreign languages).
This Web 2.0 stuff is really the need for integration, as people rely more and more on portable devices as they make their lives busier and busier, or as I like to say "turning japanese" (reference to the song by The Vapors, though the song is supposedly about pleasuring yourself). Libraries can take advantage of this with a few ideas. Branch to Branch instant messaging, pocket PCs with direct access to the catalogs, a streamlined, mySQL and PHP based cataloging database to simplifly and speed up the circulation processes that would operate through web browsers, that could even even allow check out of items with the pocket PCs while still in the stacks. Customers could actually use GPS devices to find RFID tagged items in the branch. RFI could be used with GPS to diagram on a grid of the library where titles are located. One system to do it all, one system to crash to bring it all to a halt. What we must look at is the need of the library visit to be fast, efficient, and reliable. The library is not the place where people go to sit and read for hours anymore. The 1900's mindset needs to go. The library is nothing but an errand on the list with going to walmart, buying gas, taking the kids to practice, and stopping by the grocery store to get dinner. The only people that sit in the library for extended periods of time are the homeless and those without babysitters. Falling technology prices has placed a PC in every house, services like Netflix and TV OnDemand has taken out the need to go to the video store or the library, and sites like amazon.com has made it easier to simply buy books. Barnes and Noble, and other big box bookstore chains provide a calmer, nicer, more comfortable environment to sit an read. The library has a lot of competition, and looks to be losing. The library can win this, some simplification combined with actually upholding policies, and paying attention to services provided vs time required elements, and of course, education and fighting the fear of technology. Really I think it boils down to a simple fear and intimdation from technology developing. It is important that the computer doesn't make jobs easier or faster, but streamlines processes and allows for multitasking. It only does what you tell it.
Saturday, July 28, 2007
Week 5 - Let a playa play!
Hello sports fans, welcome to another... (Bob Uecker cracks me up Major League btw)
Oops
Well this week presented some very interesting things. Before I get to the one that triggered my curiosity the most, i must do a shameless self-promotion
This is a motivational poster I made using one of the image generators. Its promoting my group, a friend and I make some interesting stuff and just finished recording our first CD. http://www.orangealbumproject.com/ is the link, btw. Ok enough of that.
I really found the rollyo create-your-own search engine very cool. I made one myself, http://rollyo.com/elsigwaldio/my_news/
It will search some of my favorite fact gathering and headline pages. I can imagine this being very useful to everybody, whether its the chronic online shopper and wants to search all their favorite online stores for the same product, or a librarian wanting to maybe poll multiple system catalogs through one spot. Very cool, very fun, very simple too. I do wish they had a tool that would actually upload your bookmarks in your browser to their search engine generator to make the process even more awesome. This was far more usefull than the bloglines page.
Oops
Well this week presented some very interesting things. Before I get to the one that triggered my curiosity the most, i must do a shameless self-promotion
This is a motivational poster I made using one of the image generators. Its promoting my group, a friend and I make some interesting stuff and just finished recording our first CD. http://www.orangealbumproject.com/ is the link, btw. Ok enough of that.
I really found the rollyo create-your-own search engine very cool. I made one myself, http://rollyo.com/elsigwaldio/my_news/
It will search some of my favorite fact gathering and headline pages. I can imagine this being very useful to everybody, whether its the chronic online shopper and wants to search all their favorite online stores for the same product, or a librarian wanting to maybe poll multiple system catalogs through one spot. Very cool, very fun, very simple too. I do wish they had a tool that would actually upload your bookmarks in your browser to their search engine generator to make the process even more awesome. This was far more usefull than the bloglines page.
So this week I got myself an iPod. 80 gigabytes. Its amazing so far. I have put the entire Queen live from Wembley Stadium dvd on it. Also the movie "Airplane!". I don't know why I didn't have one of these before, but I am glad I waited for the video iPod and such a massive size. I also plan to put all my CDs on it. I am still learning through all of its ins and outs. Heres to crazy portableness. We watched airplane on it last night in the orchestra pit, kept us out of trouble.
Peace to you all
Friday, July 20, 2007
I am the Octopus?? coo coo ca choo
I read a fascinating article last night about how humans, thanks to technology, are catching up to Cephalopods in how they can transform to make themselves stand out or blend in, depending on the situation. As I read the article talking about creating online personalities different from our real life, I thought of this project, and why we would want to do that. Many feel persecuted for how they are in the social standings. The Internet is far more forgiving of social deviants. You can find websites dedicated to every sexual fetish, lifestyle, clothing fashion, or hatred. We can let ourselves out thanks to technology because theres no intimate contact, but we must conceal our identity because we know the RL world will find us and then our "dirty little secret" is let out of the bag. This really exposes, on a basic level, our shame. The level of vanity that went into creating the blogs was really amazing. Why were all of us so ashamed to admit who we are on here? What are we afraid of? I'm not saying post your name and address on the net for everyone to find. But I'm curious about the psychology behind why we all had to come up with witty names for our blogs, why we wanted to hide, but at the same time, many felt so overwelmed with the sudden ability to freely express themselves on the Internet, they locked up in a "freedom panic". Are my fellow co-workers afraid of ridicule for not knowing about youtube or flickr? Are they afraid of us finding out that they aren't as strong in technology as others think? Are they hiding a lack of writing skill? I will be honest and tell you why I went semi-anonymous. I have a studder from OCD. I get stuck pronouncing certain words and will repeat myself due some some subconcious pleasure received from the phrase I said. Typing in a blog allows me to avoid the vanity of this. I also wanted to remain secretive to avoid being nagged for help without someone actually trying first. Though for those reading my blog know who I am and can of course ask me for help. I don't mind helping, I really like to help actually. But, thing is, when I worked for tech support, people would never try to fix something themselves, just it doesn't work I need to get help and make someone else do it for me. I personally feel thats no way to go through life. Anyways, back on topic.
The Internet, and blogging, and online communities like MMO's have given people a chance to live how they want to. People can be homosexual, they can hate people with curly hair, or have a fetish for long toe nails. The Internet allows us be what we want. Theres no physical contraints unless you tell the truth and post an actual picture of yourself. We must be careful with a place where we can make up the truth. Take wikipedia.com for example. Its an online encyclopedia where anyone can publish information on anything. What you put there doesn't even need to be factual, but there is some integrety and people do monitor it and will take down fake postings but they too are members of the site and contribute.
I'm not going to bash the Internet for having this ability, I'm not going to be closedminded about it. I will say we all must be careful of what we present ourself as on the Internet, we have the ability to completely prepare and present ourselves free of what nature has given us. But, just in real life, what we do now affects us later. This power is great and awesome.
This video really gives a humorous look at this power going horribly wrong. Warning it has course language, freedom of speech is HUGE on the Internet.
I really hope we all can enjoy living our double lives! Peace to everyone.
The Internet, and blogging, and online communities like MMO's have given people a chance to live how they want to. People can be homosexual, they can hate people with curly hair, or have a fetish for long toe nails. The Internet allows us be what we want. Theres no physical contraints unless you tell the truth and post an actual picture of yourself. We must be careful with a place where we can make up the truth. Take wikipedia.com for example. Its an online encyclopedia where anyone can publish information on anything. What you put there doesn't even need to be factual, but there is some integrety and people do monitor it and will take down fake postings but they too are members of the site and contribute.
I'm not going to bash the Internet for having this ability, I'm not going to be closedminded about it. I will say we all must be careful of what we present ourself as on the Internet, we have the ability to completely prepare and present ourselves free of what nature has given us. But, just in real life, what we do now affects us later. This power is great and awesome.
This video really gives a humorous look at this power going horribly wrong. Warning it has course language, freedom of speech is HUGE on the Internet.
I really hope we all can enjoy living our double lives! Peace to everyone.
Monday, July 16, 2007
Week 4 - RSS sinks like the HMS...Titanic
Alright fellow noobs, today I tinkered with RSS. I like the concept, I don't like the execution. Bloglines seemed bulky, confusing, and just plain not well thought out. RSS is intended to be delivered directly to your browser. Browsers like Firefox, my personal choice, has a built in RSS reader. I did not like the Bloglines page at all and do not plan to use it.
RSS itself though can be a great tool for a librarian if they don't have to rely on bloglines to use it. Librarians can get up to the minute notes on releases, seller lists, and other information so they would always know what they're conveying to a customer is up to date and ready.
Just as a side note, I believe flickr has an RSS feed for different accounts. For instance, the link to subscribe to my flickr account is:
http://api.flickr.com/services/feeds/photos_public.gne?id=8763101@N02&lang=en-us&format=rss_200
So you should be able to put that into the subscribe box thing on Bloglines and see that I had posted
the other day, that being the picture of the week. Its the sunset photo from New Towne High School in Owings Mills last wednesday night. I took it with my cell phone. I'm kind of impressed by its quality.
But back to RSS, so everyone who has made a flickr account has their own RSS feed. I personally would have taken advantage of that to teach about XML (the programming language RSS is written in), and really let people see both ends of a feed, by subscribing to their own feed, have them upload and see what happens.
On another note, insanity has set in with Bye Bye Birdie tech week starting tonight. This is normally when all the musicians in the orchestra pit bring their new toys and do a bit of show and tell in the dark...get your mind out of the gutter. Not a lot of people know this but most musicians are closet tech geeks. We were the ones spending $400 on the first first like 2 gig iPods, and $1000 for the first CD burners. That brings me to this hot little item: http://www.estandmusic.com/
I want one but at the same time, my tech side tells me not to. The website and info is so watered down because they assume musicians won't know anything, don't want to know anything and just will buy it because it is a solution to a problem. Who doesn't want a backlit, digital music stand?? Its TOUCH SENSATIVE...COOOL! Problem is, when you look at it closely, its nothing but an overgrown pocket pc. This hot little item sells for a cool $1500...That doesn't include the stand for it or the footpedal for page turning, or the carry bag. Each of those are an extra $99. They really think musicians are dumb. Its sad. This thing is so cool yet, they cloud its details. Well thats it for me. Everyone have a good week. Peace to you
RSS itself though can be a great tool for a librarian if they don't have to rely on bloglines to use it. Librarians can get up to the minute notes on releases, seller lists, and other information so they would always know what they're conveying to a customer is up to date and ready.
Just as a side note, I believe flickr has an RSS feed for different accounts. For instance, the link to subscribe to my flickr account is:
http://api.flickr.com/services/feeds/photos_public.gne?id=8763101@N02&lang=en-us&format=rss_200
So you should be able to put that into the subscribe box thing on Bloglines and see that I had posted
the other day, that being the picture of the week. Its the sunset photo from New Towne High School in Owings Mills last wednesday night. I took it with my cell phone. I'm kind of impressed by its quality.
But back to RSS, so everyone who has made a flickr account has their own RSS feed. I personally would have taken advantage of that to teach about XML (the programming language RSS is written in), and really let people see both ends of a feed, by subscribing to their own feed, have them upload and see what happens.
On another note, insanity has set in with Bye Bye Birdie tech week starting tonight. This is normally when all the musicians in the orchestra pit bring their new toys and do a bit of show and tell in the dark...get your mind out of the gutter. Not a lot of people know this but most musicians are closet tech geeks. We were the ones spending $400 on the first first like 2 gig iPods, and $1000 for the first CD burners. That brings me to this hot little item: http://www.estandmusic.com/
I want one but at the same time, my tech side tells me not to. The website and info is so watered down because they assume musicians won't know anything, don't want to know anything and just will buy it because it is a solution to a problem. Who doesn't want a backlit, digital music stand?? Its TOUCH SENSATIVE...COOOL! Problem is, when you look at it closely, its nothing but an overgrown pocket pc. This hot little item sells for a cool $1500...That doesn't include the stand for it or the footpedal for page turning, or the carry bag. Each of those are an extra $99. They really think musicians are dumb. Its sad. This thing is so cool yet, they cloud its details. Well thats it for me. Everyone have a good week. Peace to you
Friday, July 13, 2007
A Brief Update
I realized I hadn't posted anything for awhile so I figured I'd write a lilttle bit.
Did anyone happen to catch that sunset Wednesday night? it was spectacular. We were on break from a run-through rehearsal of Bye Bye Birdie and stepped out for some fresh air. It was amazing! It was one of those times I wanted to cry for not having my camera with me. I took a snapshot with my cellphone. I'll add it later, but I doubt it captured the reds and pinks very well.
I feel like I am behind in this program but then I realized I really started early. I just need an opportunity to go through the RSS feed stuff, one of the things I really want and need to learn.
I bought a new keyboard for my computer, its pretty k/a. Its backlit so this wonderful blue LED lights glow through transparent letters so I can see my keyboard at night. This is just of course more fuel for my insomnia. I am getting about 6 hours of sleep a night now though.
I will tell you this though, a few new homemade beer commercials have been uploaded to my youtube account.
Alright, I'm out. Peace to all of you.
Did anyone happen to catch that sunset Wednesday night? it was spectacular. We were on break from a run-through rehearsal of Bye Bye Birdie and stepped out for some fresh air. It was amazing! It was one of those times I wanted to cry for not having my camera with me. I took a snapshot with my cellphone. I'll add it later, but I doubt it captured the reds and pinks very well.
I feel like I am behind in this program but then I realized I really started early. I just need an opportunity to go through the RSS feed stuff, one of the things I really want and need to learn.
I bought a new keyboard for my computer, its pretty k/a. Its backlit so this wonderful blue LED lights glow through transparent letters so I can see my keyboard at night. This is just of course more fuel for my insomnia. I am getting about 6 hours of sleep a night now though.
I will tell you this though, a few new homemade beer commercials have been uploaded to my youtube account.
Alright, I'm out. Peace to all of you.
Saturday, June 30, 2007
Week 3 - Flickr quickr pickr uppr
I always thought the Bounty paper towel slogan and Flickr should team up...Anyways....
This weeks fun thing was Flickr. I did start playing with flickr about a month ago to try and get my lame photography a few more hits. Flickr is a fun little tool. I don't find it quite as convenient as using my own website to host Picassa slideshows of my work, but Picassa is more of a desktop application that, if you have your own webpage, will format the photos into a simple presentation for you.
So well first here is a picture I took at Assateague Island of a young boy playing in the surf:
So I post that, image is hosted by flickr. I liked this photo alot for some reason. I'm not particularly drawn to young boys or them playing in water, but theres a certain memory in it for me, of when I was that young and going to the ocean for the first time and how exciting and frightening it was.
Anyways, back on topic. I decided to play around with the "Color Fields Colr" 3rd party utility for flickr. This utility makes something very complex, very simple. You choose a color from the palette presented you and it then scans flickr for a photo where that color is the dominant element in the photo. A simple example is, you click green, and you get pictures of limes and grass.
This was quite interesting and could actually serve multiple purposes. It could help children to learn how to associate colors with certain things. Also help an artist get idea of color usage. This site though also stems to an idea I once had but lack the knowledge to follow through on it. I once thought of a search engine to where you would upload your photo of something and the search tool would locate what it could possibly be in the photo, details about it, and then add your photo to its database so others can reference it as well.
That might not be clear, so let me give an example. Suppose a person flying over Baltimore takes a photo of Fort McHenry from the air.
(well not exactly a satelite image but you know what I mean)
This guy gets home and goes "wow, I wonder what that is in my picture!?"
He would upload the image to (insert catchy, cliche search engine name here).com and the search results would first turn up Fort McHenry, Baltimore, War of 1812, National Anthem, Francis Scott Key, Fort McHenry Tunnel, I-95, Pentagon (The maybe but just wrong result), Starfish (random 5 legged creature that is the good intention result), Hot Babes of Fort McHenry (porn always has to turn up in a search result, its the American Way), and ilovehotdogs.com (the "oh my god, how is this even possible but I must click" search result).
Then this image would also be stored for reference by the engine, so then people will get multiple photos of fort mchenry, and its hot babes that are waiting for you!
Needless to say this technology probably is just starting to be made, if things like the color search is on the net and works fairly well, now its just getting something to recognize shapes and then unique features.
I don't know why I go off on these tangents, but its an idea, and thats what this thing is all about right?
And in other news, the iPhone I believe went on sale the other day. So much hype for a cellphone that can do other things you shouldn't do while driving. Toys like these, though awesome, are leading away from a techological innocence people had and turning more into ignorance. For a little bit of time, it was understandabe that people didn't realize driving and being on the phone could be dangerous. People know it now and still do dumb things even more.
My time on the Internet Help Desk really showed this. Pop-up ads, trojan horses, viruses, stealth dialers, and other "mal-ware" have been around since before I got my first computer with Internet capabilities connected in 1996. I learned quick at the age of 16 that sites with lots of pictures take a long time to load, pages with pop-ups are annoying and slow. Eventually you notice the computer is slower and realize those pages install things on your computer. So, you find them, clean them and avoid them in the future. This issue, when I was answering calls from 2004-2006, was the primary reason why people were talking to me. But, it wasn't different people, it was the same 1% of the customer base calling everyday to tell me WE installed this ugly stuff on their computer. I can forgive one or two calls, but after 5, you aren't innocent anymore, you are ignorant. The whole point of this program so far, seems to try and fight this and make us take responsibility for our own ignorance. Take for instance the case of the person driving a car over a spike strip. One time, its ok, you didn't see the sign to go the other way and blow out your tires. The mechanic gets a good laugh out of it, and so does the person. Say this pattern continues for 5 days. The mechanic, though making a great business off of tire sales to this special customer, is going to get angry and frustrated because he is tired of the fact that this person is not learning. There are two failures here; the patron is dumb and fails to learn, and the mechanic is failing to educate. At some point the mechanic needs to grab the customer by the shoulders, shake them violently, and tell them not to go out of the lot that way any more. This applies to us in that we must learn these things not for us (Imagine if that mechanic didn't know how to change a tire, you wouldn't ask him for help for other things, would you), but we must learn these things so we can educate those who don't know. This story does backhandedly say that theres a real potential that with some customers I was a bad technician, that I didn't properly educate the customer to get them to solve this issue on their own. This program isn't just to make us more tech savvy, but make us educators for those less savvy than us. There will always be someone with a question to which we don't know the answer, we must accept that, but ignorance on our part leads to closed mindedness, while the innocent approach will lead us to learning along with the customer and generally preparing us for the next.
More on this topic in later posts. Have a good one, be safe. Peace
Special Thanks to:
http://www.geocities.com/baltforts/
http://www.krazydad.com/colrpickr/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/8763101@N02/ - my flickr site
http://sig.bounceme.net/sig -my personal website where I use Picassa to create slideshows
This weeks fun thing was Flickr. I did start playing with flickr about a month ago to try and get my lame photography a few more hits. Flickr is a fun little tool. I don't find it quite as convenient as using my own website to host Picassa slideshows of my work, but Picassa is more of a desktop application that, if you have your own webpage, will format the photos into a simple presentation for you.
So well first here is a picture I took at Assateague Island of a young boy playing in the surf:
So I post that, image is hosted by flickr. I liked this photo alot for some reason. I'm not particularly drawn to young boys or them playing in water, but theres a certain memory in it for me, of when I was that young and going to the ocean for the first time and how exciting and frightening it was.
Anyways, back on topic. I decided to play around with the "Color Fields Colr" 3rd party utility for flickr. This utility makes something very complex, very simple. You choose a color from the palette presented you and it then scans flickr for a photo where that color is the dominant element in the photo. A simple example is, you click green, and you get pictures of limes and grass.
This was quite interesting and could actually serve multiple purposes. It could help children to learn how to associate colors with certain things. Also help an artist get idea of color usage. This site though also stems to an idea I once had but lack the knowledge to follow through on it. I once thought of a search engine to where you would upload your photo of something and the search tool would locate what it could possibly be in the photo, details about it, and then add your photo to its database so others can reference it as well.
That might not be clear, so let me give an example. Suppose a person flying over Baltimore takes a photo of Fort McHenry from the air.
(well not exactly a satelite image but you know what I mean)
This guy gets home and goes "wow, I wonder what that is in my picture!?"
He would upload the image to (insert catchy, cliche search engine name here).com and the search results would first turn up Fort McHenry, Baltimore, War of 1812, National Anthem, Francis Scott Key, Fort McHenry Tunnel, I-95, Pentagon (The maybe but just wrong result), Starfish (random 5 legged creature that is the good intention result), Hot Babes of Fort McHenry (porn always has to turn up in a search result, its the American Way), and ilovehotdogs.com (the "oh my god, how is this even possible but I must click" search result).
Then this image would also be stored for reference by the engine, so then people will get multiple photos of fort mchenry, and its hot babes that are waiting for you!
Needless to say this technology probably is just starting to be made, if things like the color search is on the net and works fairly well, now its just getting something to recognize shapes and then unique features.
I don't know why I go off on these tangents, but its an idea, and thats what this thing is all about right?
And in other news, the iPhone I believe went on sale the other day. So much hype for a cellphone that can do other things you shouldn't do while driving. Toys like these, though awesome, are leading away from a techological innocence people had and turning more into ignorance. For a little bit of time, it was understandabe that people didn't realize driving and being on the phone could be dangerous. People know it now and still do dumb things even more.
My time on the Internet Help Desk really showed this. Pop-up ads, trojan horses, viruses, stealth dialers, and other "mal-ware" have been around since before I got my first computer with Internet capabilities connected in 1996. I learned quick at the age of 16 that sites with lots of pictures take a long time to load, pages with pop-ups are annoying and slow. Eventually you notice the computer is slower and realize those pages install things on your computer. So, you find them, clean them and avoid them in the future. This issue, when I was answering calls from 2004-2006, was the primary reason why people were talking to me. But, it wasn't different people, it was the same 1% of the customer base calling everyday to tell me WE installed this ugly stuff on their computer. I can forgive one or two calls, but after 5, you aren't innocent anymore, you are ignorant. The whole point of this program so far, seems to try and fight this and make us take responsibility for our own ignorance. Take for instance the case of the person driving a car over a spike strip. One time, its ok, you didn't see the sign to go the other way and blow out your tires. The mechanic gets a good laugh out of it, and so does the person. Say this pattern continues for 5 days. The mechanic, though making a great business off of tire sales to this special customer, is going to get angry and frustrated because he is tired of the fact that this person is not learning. There are two failures here; the patron is dumb and fails to learn, and the mechanic is failing to educate. At some point the mechanic needs to grab the customer by the shoulders, shake them violently, and tell them not to go out of the lot that way any more. This applies to us in that we must learn these things not for us (Imagine if that mechanic didn't know how to change a tire, you wouldn't ask him for help for other things, would you), but we must learn these things so we can educate those who don't know. This story does backhandedly say that theres a real potential that with some customers I was a bad technician, that I didn't properly educate the customer to get them to solve this issue on their own. This program isn't just to make us more tech savvy, but make us educators for those less savvy than us. There will always be someone with a question to which we don't know the answer, we must accept that, but ignorance on our part leads to closed mindedness, while the innocent approach will lead us to learning along with the customer and generally preparing us for the next.
More on this topic in later posts. Have a good one, be safe. Peace
Special Thanks to:
http://www.geocities.com/baltforts/
http://www.krazydad.com/colrpickr/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/8763101@N02/ - my flickr site
http://sig.bounceme.net/sig -my personal website where I use Picassa to create slideshows
Monday, June 25, 2007
I've been tagged, 0h Noes!
Alright so heres 8 things about me due to the tagging
1. I have a music performance degree
2. I am 27 years old
3. I can make some pretty weird sound effects
4. I own 6 trumpets, a euphonium, a keyboard, and a theremin
5. I built my own computer
6. I am the first generation born in the US on my fathers natural side of the family
7. I am phobic of needles
8. I consider myself fairly professional at guitar hero
1. I have a music performance degree
2. I am 27 years old
3. I can make some pretty weird sound effects
4. I own 6 trumpets, a euphonium, a keyboard, and a theremin
5. I built my own computer
6. I am the first generation born in the US on my fathers natural side of the family
7. I am phobic of needles
8. I consider myself fairly professional at guitar hero
Tuesday, June 19, 2007
7 and a half habits
So I have just watched the 7 and a half habits of successful people tutorial. I actually use many of these in my own life philosophy and teaching. My trumpet student is always hearing me tell him "think of the final product, but pay attention to the skills you must learn to get there, because that is where the satisfaction and the ability to do something else comes from".
Habit 2 especially hits home, "Accept responsibility in your learning". I use a bit of a different approach with this. This can be used as a guilt factor on yourself. Its a "Why Not do it" clause. I use this in many facets, whether its to get over stage fright or performance anxiety, concern over the quality of a new project, a weak photo subject, or an arrangement for my band that didn't turn out quite right. It has to be tried, and you have to put confidence behind what you do. This is where I feel Habit 4 "Have Confidence" comes in. But the other thing with confidence is never thinking your idea is bad. Its a bit ridiculous, but I start and pursue just about any idea I have, creatively. Say I want to play "More Than a Feeling" by Boston, in my brass quintet. That song isn't exactly chamber music. I sit down with a recording of the song and start breaking it down as to how I can simulate it on brass instruments. I start transcribing the music. Now this project of mine, I abandoned. It was going to be too dificult and just wasn't going to sound right with a brass quintet. But I had to start it, you never know. My friends tend to ask me why and how about a lot of the stuff I do. My basic answer is "Why not?". Theres no reason to not try. I find it exciting and fun to jump into things like that. I am self taught with most of the stuff I do. Photography, videography, writing, building a website, building computers, all of it I taught myself by telling myself theres no reason why I can't I do that, and do that well. I find myself feeling very satisfied about those things, but the backlash is always the emotional feeling of "I can do better".
on a side note, the narrators voice was pretty annoying I thought, other than that though, good little program.
Habit 2 especially hits home, "Accept responsibility in your learning". I use a bit of a different approach with this. This can be used as a guilt factor on yourself. Its a "Why Not do it" clause. I use this in many facets, whether its to get over stage fright or performance anxiety, concern over the quality of a new project, a weak photo subject, or an arrangement for my band that didn't turn out quite right. It has to be tried, and you have to put confidence behind what you do. This is where I feel Habit 4 "Have Confidence" comes in. But the other thing with confidence is never thinking your idea is bad. Its a bit ridiculous, but I start and pursue just about any idea I have, creatively. Say I want to play "More Than a Feeling" by Boston, in my brass quintet. That song isn't exactly chamber music. I sit down with a recording of the song and start breaking it down as to how I can simulate it on brass instruments. I start transcribing the music. Now this project of mine, I abandoned. It was going to be too dificult and just wasn't going to sound right with a brass quintet. But I had to start it, you never know. My friends tend to ask me why and how about a lot of the stuff I do. My basic answer is "Why not?". Theres no reason to not try. I find it exciting and fun to jump into things like that. I am self taught with most of the stuff I do. Photography, videography, writing, building a website, building computers, all of it I taught myself by telling myself theres no reason why I can't I do that, and do that well. I find myself feeling very satisfied about those things, but the backlash is always the emotional feeling of "I can do better".
on a side note, the narrators voice was pretty annoying I thought, other than that though, good little program.
Amendment Number 1
After re-reading my post, I realized I probably shoud have provided some URLs to my accounts on Youtube and Flickr. I must insert this disclaimer, especially for the Youtube account. The majority of my videos contain coarse and infantile humor that my former college friends thought was brilliant at the time. Also there are signs of possible serious mental illness in some of the postings. I also am a natural performer and will sacrifice some dignity in the name of entertainment. Some video on my account will shock you at some point, normally at the level I am willing to insult "myself". My youtube profile can be found at:
http://youtube.com/elsigwaldio
My Flickr account is far more tasteful and really requires no disclaimer besides I'm sorry about the poor photography attempts. My Flickr can be found:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/8763101@N02/
Have a safe one folks, Peace
http://youtube.com/elsigwaldio
My Flickr account is far more tasteful and really requires no disclaimer besides I'm sorry about the poor photography attempts. My Flickr can be found:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/8763101@N02/
Have a safe one folks, Peace
Monday, June 18, 2007
The cherry post
Alright so this is the first postings of probably many for this Maryland 23 Things technology training program. This blog's intention is to chart my progress through the steps of the program. Popular web services such as Youtube, Flickr, and RSS feeds will be discussed.
I am somewhat familiar already with Youtube, having a director's account, which allows posting of videos longer than 10 minutes. I also have a Flickr account as well posting some of my photography. I have really no idea how RSS feeds work though which is one reason why I signed up for this. The primary reason I signed up for this though is I feel that it seems that the library is about 10 years behind in technology and this program will really help catch it up and since I have interest in this field, I feel it can help me help my coworkers understand these great tools better. The blending of technology and creativity is a great thing and I feel the library can be the catalyst of encouraging youth and adults alike to explore their imagination and assist them in sharing their talents and thoughts with the world.
For example, my friends and I made a silly video. I was tinkering on the Internet this weekend and actually found a Cuban version of Youtube was linking to my video. So people in Cuba were able to "enjoy" this silly little movie that my friends and I made in a dark parking lot one night. I feel that if my friends and I can reach an international audience, imagine the knowledge, wisdom, and spirit a whole library system can share with the world.
I am somewhat familiar already with Youtube, having a director's account, which allows posting of videos longer than 10 minutes. I also have a Flickr account as well posting some of my photography. I have really no idea how RSS feeds work though which is one reason why I signed up for this. The primary reason I signed up for this though is I feel that it seems that the library is about 10 years behind in technology and this program will really help catch it up and since I have interest in this field, I feel it can help me help my coworkers understand these great tools better. The blending of technology and creativity is a great thing and I feel the library can be the catalyst of encouraging youth and adults alike to explore their imagination and assist them in sharing their talents and thoughts with the world.
For example, my friends and I made a silly video. I was tinkering on the Internet this weekend and actually found a Cuban version of Youtube was linking to my video. So people in Cuba were able to "enjoy" this silly little movie that my friends and I made in a dark parking lot one night. I feel that if my friends and I can reach an international audience, imagine the knowledge, wisdom, and spirit a whole library system can share with the world.
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