Week #10

I will probably use my MP3 player to download audiobooks since my iPod won't. It's been a good while since I listened to The Lord of the Rings by Rob Inglis but NetLibrary doesn't have it. I'm sure I can find something else to listen to. Maybe "Mists of Avalon" or a good Western. I also like Old Time Radio programs so I might be able to find a podcast of that. I am already subscribed to The Onion's podcast and Ask A Ninja's as well. I also have a subscription to a syndicated radio program out of Texas that only plays in Orlando at night.

I'm happy to know I can search Yahoo for podcasts. I don't really like the one I was using very much.

Week #9

Digital Rights - Personally, I totally get Metallica wanting to make sure they are paid for their work. I'm not a musician but I think that most people would like to receive credit for their creations. So yeah, they should get paid. I think that doing so might have killed their careers/fan-base but I feel sure they have a bit of money squirreled away somewhere. What the music industry needs to keep focusing on is ways to allow people to get access to music in an affordable way. I feel, as many people do, that CDs are way overpriced. At OCLS, we sell blank discs for $1.00. Yet if I go to Best Buy, many CDs are in the neighborhood of $14.00 and up. Obviously, the companies are running businesses and their 1st and only priority is making money (as it is with all companies, always; it's not just a friendly endeavour to enrich the world's cultures as their marketing departments would have you think. But, these days, I can't buy a CD from an up-and-coming band and even enjoy 2 or 3 songs off it. You get one 2min song you enjoy for $14. That's one reason people steal music. Should Metallica get paid what they're worth? Absolutely! It's just too bad I didn't like St. Anger. Fortunately, their DVD documentary (Some Kind of Monster) about the making of the album was pretty interesting. I'll buy CDs again (or whatever the appropriate format is) when I actually have a decent chance of liking more than two of the 14-20 songs on the disc. Maybe the concept of an "album" is dead; iPod killed it... or maybe we did. Maybe musicians just need to release a song as soon as they finish making it.

One last thing (as quoted from the 2.0 week 9 assignment):
"Disclaimer: this is an awareness session only. None of us are lawyers, nor do we play one on TV. If you have a question, take it to your supervisor and get some help before you act, waiting until after the fact is waiting too long."
Ben Matlock actually is a lawyer. Zombie Matlock is too. They do play lawyers on TV when they're not being real lawyers. They are Matlock; they do what they want, when they want.

Week #8

Firstly:

• tsimpson's flickr profile


• I did a flickr search for "Matlock" (apparently, some sensible people in the Derbyshire area of England thought it would be a good idea to name some things after old Ben).


• The Flickr picture I posted.

Secondly:

I've taken online courses before and they are fine. If you are responsible enough to keep up with them on your own, they can really save your time, effort and money (no gas needed). If you aren't able to keep up with them, it can be very easy to get behind. Creating a schedule to work on your online homework can be the one of the most important steps to success.

I have offered to assist people at my location and also have a partner that I team up with every week to work on assignments. So far, it is working very well.

My Book Worm High Score

Check it!:

Week #7

Well, I'm not a cat person or a beer person or a wine person; I'm a dog person... but I'm not a dog person that feels the need to have a communal dog appreciation experience. So I signed-up for the YouPlay account. Personally, I like Yahoo Games more though. Check my Bookworm score above! I've totally owned (or pwned) your pathetic Bookworm score!

Week #6

My favorite library technology is probably Amazon. Why? Because Amazon (and some of its users) have gone to the trouble of putting in Gigs & Gigs of info on all manner of books, DVDs, videos, CDs, etc ,etc etc, etc. I also like Books in Print. It's great for those books that have been out-of-print for a good long while. Novelist and What Do I Read Next? are also good resources.

I've visited the Book Mooch site before but never used it myself. One of my friends has used it though and she likes it a lot. If I go to the effort of buying a book, I keep it; I don't think I'd pass it on to anyone else. I can definitely see how others (non-collectors) would love it though.

Wikimapia is interesting. I use Google Earth a lot and LOVE it. This seems like a global community version Google Earth; letting users mark landmarks they (and others) find interesting.