To hell in a hand basket...

For some reason, the phrase "going to hell in a hand basket" came to mind as I was riding the escalator down to my afternoon sessions at the CIL Conference. Hmmm…

I was thinking, why a hand basket? Why? So, I looked it up and according the phrase finder it may be similar to going to hell in a hand-cart meaning life is easier (and probably more fun, just sayin'...) to be carried off to hell than to work hard for a place in heaven.

Or, it may relate to the imagery of heads collected and carried in a hand basket post-guillotining. Well, so much for associating hand baskets with bunnies and Easter candy ever again.

You're very welcome for this bit of useless info!

To hell in a hand basket...

For some reason, the phrase "going to hell in a hand basket" came to mind as I was riding the escalator down to my afternoon sessions at the CIL Conference. Hmmm…

I was thinking, why a hand basket? Why? So, I looked it up and according the phrase finder it may be similar to going to hell in a hand-cart meaning life is easier (and probably more fun, just sayin'...) to be carried off to hell than to work hard for a place in heaven.

Or, it may relate to the imagery of heads collected and carried in a hand basket post-guillotining. Well, so much for associating hand baskets with bunnies and Easter candy ever again.

You're very welcome for this bit of useless info!

Standing at a place from history

So I'm in Washington D.C. for the second time in almost as many years. The first time for ALA 2010 and now for Computers in Libraries. The last time I was here, my "must see" was the Lincoln Memorial. We started at the Washington Monument and hiked our way down beside the reflecting pool. Me being the geek that I am, I was quoting lines from that war protest scene in Forrest Gump the whole way… When we got to the Lincoln Monument and trudged up those stairs to that larger than life effigy, I was totally at a loss for words. I stood there and looked back the way we had come and was suddenly struck by the place from history in which I stood. It was a moment in time that I'll never forget.

It's two years later I'm back again in the capital district that's suddenly crawling with librarians of every shape, size and background imaginable. This time I didn't have to go far to be transported back in time. As it turns out, we're staying at the Washington Hilton where in March of 1981 (incidentally the day before my birthday…) an assassination attempt was made on President Ronald Reagan.

I was only 7 years old at the time of the shooting, but remember the flurry it caused even in the little backwater town where I grew up.So as it turns out, the assassination attempt occurred at the back door of this very hotel, my hotel… Being the librarian I am, I looked up the incident on Wikipedia (hey, I was only 7 when it happened and a reference librarian is a reference librarian-we look stuff up!) then went around back to see the spot for myself. Again, I found myself standing in a place out of history.

Standing in a place out of history

So I'm in Washington D.C. for the second time in almost as many years. The first time for ALA 2010 and now for Computers in Libraries. The last time I was here, my "must see" was the Lincoln Memorial. We started at the Washington Monument and hiked our way down beside the reflecting pool. Me being the geek that I am, I was quoting lines from that war protest scene in Forrest Gump the whole way… When we got to the Lincoln Monument and trudged up those stairs to that larger than life effigy, I was totally at a loss for words. I stood there and looked back the way we had come and was suddenly struck by the place from history in which I stood. It was a moment in time that I'll never forget.

It's two years later I'm back again in the capital district that's suddenly crawling with librarians of every shape, size and background imaginable. This time I didn't have to go far to be transported back in time. As it turns out, we're staying at the Washington Hilton where in March of 1981 (incidentally the day before my birthday…) an assassination attempt was made on President Ronald Reagan. I was only 7 years old at the time of the shooting, but remember the flurry it caused even in the little backwater town where I grew up.So as it turns out, the assassination attempt occurred at the back door of this very hotel, my hotel… Being the librarian I am, I looked up the incident on Wikipedia (hey, I was only 7 when it happened and a reference librarian is a reference librarian-we look stuff up!) then went around back to see the spot for myself. Again, I found myself standing in a place out of history.

Online storage options

In just a handful of decades, technology has come a long way in terms of computing storage. There were the punch cards in the 1960s, cassette tapes in the 1970s, floppy disks in the 1980s, CD-R and RW discs in the 1990s, and the 2000s saw the advent of thumb drives and SD cards.

Today, there are a number of storage options are available for students on most campuses, including jump drives, CD-R & RW, DVD-R and file space on campus servers. Your ipod can also be used just like a thumb drive, provided you haven’t packed it to it’s limit with music… And don’t forget that you can store your files in the “cloud.” For instance, many colleges have obtained Google Enterprise accounts and offer students free accounts. Using such an account, you can create an unlimited number of google documents, presentations and spreadsheets. Additionally, you can upload up to 1 GB of word, pdf, and power point, and excel files to your google docs account. Once you do so, you can access them from any computer with internet access.

There are a number of other online storage services for which you can take advantage, most of which offer 1 or 2 GB of free storage. Dropbox is an online storage service that allows you to store/share up to 2GB of files. You have to install a small program on your computer to run it, but it allows you to upload any type of file as long as it is under 350MB. Similar services include ElephantDrive (2GB free), FilesAnywhere (1 GB free), and FlipDrive (1 GB free) to name a few. (LiveMesh is a similar service that allows you to store up to 5GB for free, but only works for PC users running Vista or Windows 7).

For storing photos and videos, there are a number of options available. Google’s Picasa Web Album is accessible through your Geneseo Google Apps account. Picasa allows you to store (and share if you wish) up to 1 GB of video and photo files. An alternative to Picasa is Flickr, which allows you to upload up to 300 MB of photos and 2 videos per month.

Do you have a favorite storage/sharing service not mentioned above?  Leave a comment below to let me know about it!

In just a handful of decades, technology has come a long way in terms of computing storage. There were the punch cards in the 1960s, cassette tapes in the 1970s, floppy disks in the 1980s, CD-R and RW discs in the 1990s, and the 2000s saw the advent of thumb drives and SD cards.

Today, there are a number of storage options are available for students on most campuses, including jump drives, CD-R & RW, DVD-R and file space on campus servers. Your ipod can also be used just like a thumb drive, provided you haven’t packed it to it’s limit with music… And don’t forget that you can store your files in the “cloud.” For instance, many colleges have obtained Google Enterprise accounts and offer students free accounts. Using such an account, you can create an unlimited number of google documents, presentations and spreadsheets. Additionally, you can upload up to 1 GB of word, pdf, and power point, and excel files to your google docs account. Once you do so, you can access them from any computer with internet access.

There are a number of other online storage services for which you can take advantage, most of which offer 1 or 2 GB of free storage. Dropbox is an online storage service that allows you to store/share up to 2GB of files. You have to install a small program on your computer to run it, but it allows you to upload any type of file as long as it is under 350MB. Similar services include ElephantDrive (2GB free), FilesAnywhere (1 GB free), and FlipDrive (1 GB free) to name a few. (LiveMesh is a similar service that allows you to store up to 5GB for free, but only works for PC users running Vista or Windows 7).

For storing photos and videos, there are a number of options available. Google’s Picasa Web Album is accessible through your Geneseo Google Apps account. Picasa allows you to store (and share if you wish) up to 1 GB of video and photo files. An alternative to Picasa is Flickr, which allows you to upload up to 300 MB of photos and 2 videos per month.

Do you have a favorite storage/sharing service not mentioned above? Leave a comment below to let me know about it!

Facebook Gestures and privacy

The newly announced Facebook Gestures feature is being added to websites all over the net (ie. The Huffington Post Connect feature or sharing music on Spotify). Gestures is an opt-in feature that allows you to share content from a website directly to your Facebook timeline by clicking the "Add to Timeline" button.

What many Facebook users might not be aware of, is the price for all this one-click convenience. Once you add the app to your timeline it will auto-share ALL your activity to your Facebook friends unless you manually change the settings to turn the feature off. It's all well and good when the latest tech article I've read at the Huffington Post is sent to my Facebook profile, but do I really want my friends and colleagues on Facebook to know that I also had a peek at the latest celebrity gossip while I was there? Hmmmm, that's a lot of privacy to give up for convenience...