The Future of Media Post #81: Get Out Your Crystal Ball

1.I hate to see the DVD disappear so soon. I still have a large collection of VHS tapes that I can no longer play. I am glad that my DVD collection isn't as big as the VHS collection was. The more recent movies are available pretty quickly on HBO or other cable channels and so we don't feel like we have to own them. I also usee the library to borrow DVDs.  In fact, we have found that we don't watch the movies in our collection. We usually watch something that is being broadcast, even if we've seen it numerous times before. Is that the definition of a "couch potato?" I think more and more broadcasting over the Internet will be the most influental development in the future. I haven't really be following trends in new technology in this field, but have noticed that they are sending TV signals to cell phones. I definitely would not enjoy watching a program on a cell phone.

We just upgraded to HDTV this winter and so are just getting used to that technology. In fact when we had to have the cable company come out because of bad reception we found that we hadn't even been watching HDTV. We didn't have the TV set up properly. So we are already way behind the curve on new technology. I didn't know that Blu-Ray was in competition with HD DVD in a format war. I had no interest in either one. I can see the problems that traditional TV is going to come up against.  It will be a learning curve when the computer and TV merge, but it'll be nice to to be able to do computer things on the big screen. I am not really interested in 3-D TV. It won't be the same if you aren't sitting in the dark in a theater.

I enjoyed the article by Sexton about the future of 500-channel cable TV. I have often complained about having so many channels showing the same things over and over. My Mom who is 88 would sure like to see some of those old black and white movies from the 30's and 40's that no one shows any more. It was interesting to learn that back in the day when we had only 3 stations to chose from, we actually had more choice of what to watch. "On any given day 722 episodes of a television show with Law & Order in its title will air. 542 episodes of a television show with the letters CSI in one or another order will daily." And I watch most of them!

2.
I would say that I am  late adopter. I like to wait for the bugs to we worked out and the price to come down. Except for their bulkiness, I liked VHS tapes. You could stop it and it stayed in place and you could even take it out and put it in again, and then start from the same place. I liked audiocassettes for the same reason, but they were easily damaged with stretched out or twisted tapes. DVDs definitely have the advantage in picture quality and special features. I guess my favorite media gadget currently is our DVR. It is so much easier to record programs using the DVR and the program guide, than it was trying to program the VCR. We are a little late adopting this, my kids have been Tivo-ing for years.

The Future of Media Post #80: Movies

I have been a Hulu user for several years, although usually just TV series. I have sat through more than one episode of a TV series on the computer, so that amounts to the same thing as watching a movie. Now that we have an HD TV I am not as likely to watch things on the computer via Hulu, Blockbuster streaming, or Netflix streaming. We have access to On Demand through Comcast and we also record programs on the DVR for later viewing. I do not order movies through Netflix, although both of my married children use that or a similar service. I haven't been to Blockbuster in ages and have never used the Redbox.

1. I used Hulu to view part of "Racing for Time" and independent Lifetime movie. I much prefer watching movies on DVD or my TV. Often the movies on the computer stop to fill the buffer or some such thing or the computer will freeze up. They can also be jerky. It depends on your connection.

2.I watched a trailer for "The Lightning Thief" on IMDB. I would not use these sites for information on upcoming movies. The TV is full of trailers and advertising and I enjoy watching the trailers when I go out to see a movie.

3. With all of the progaming I am already paying for through Comcast I don't see the need to use other fee-based services. I'd actually rather see most movies in a theater, it just isn't always possible. Have started to really like the Sat. morning matinee.

Future of Media #79 - Television

1) I enjoyed this iHCPL module. I have been a Hulu.com viewer for several years. I have also watched favorite episodes on ABC.com and CBS.com. One of my favorites is "Castle" which is on Monday night and I work on Monday nights. So until recently I watched Castle on Tuesday AM on ABC.com. However now that we have a new flat screen TV and DVR, I record episodes so I can watch them on the big screen. The episodes on the various outlets like Hulu and TV.com and Fancast.com will still come in handy. Yesterday Comcast had to replace our DVR so the items I had set up to record on Tuesday evening didn't record. I wasn't home to redo it and neither was my husband. HULU has full episodes of many series as well as trailers, interviews, and clips. TV.com had pretty full coverage also with many series available.

I had never looked at Joost.com before. It was an interesting site with an Elizabeth Taylor channel, a John Wayne channel, Bob Hope, the Indy 500, Cary Grant, and Charlie Chaplin available. It also had many animated cartoons, videos, and music in most genres.

I found http://www.viewmytv.com/ very interesting. It had news, music, and shows from around the world. Here is a sample: NasaTV, SkyNews, BBC news, Russia today, France 24 (English), David Beckham, etc.

On www.casttv.com/shows I found all seven seasons of "Star Trek Deep Space Nine," which is never in reruns and five seasons of Stargate Altlantis which I like to go back to now and then as a guilty pleasure. The original Stargate series in not here, but is on Hulu.com.

I didn't like http://www.cwtv.com/ at all. The site was too busy with too many ads and no shows that interested me.

I wasn't interested in Ustream because I don't watch UTube or Justin.tv or any streaming site having no interest in other peoples home videos.

2) I have no interest in watching TV on a tiny cell phone screen. I don't need to carry my TV around with me. I'd rather sit at home with our flat screen tv where I can read during commercials or knit.

3) I do not watch streaming programs or user "channels."  I have never posted a video and have no plan to do so.

Recession Busters #60: Food, Fun and Frugality

1. Depression Cooking with Clara is a delightful series of videos with "depression recipes" for these tough times. She shares many ways to save money preparing food at home. Here is what GMA had to say about her Great Depression Cooking With Clara, A Frugal Dish - ABC News.
More Recession Recipes.


2. The media has been flooding the airways with "recession busters," at the local and national levels. Here are some job hunting tips from Tory Johnson of Good Morning America (GMA).
There have also been many segments on GMA, NBC News, and CNN on budgeting, eating out less, cutting up credit cards, and shopping less. There was a segment just this morning on three couples who had been trying out a new budget and were now starting to see results. Several people talked about saving when you can to build up a 6 month reserve to help you get through tough times.

3. The local media has been very helpful also with tips on how to survive the recession. One thing that has been mentioned several times is borrowing books and DVDs from the local library. There are many sources of local free entertainment on the local TV and Newpaper websites, as well as in the Houston Chronicle. The library owns several books in day trips from Houston. The morning shows have been promoting "staycations" where you have a vacation in your backyard.
We purchased a more efficient car, and we eat out less. Fortunately I only work 3 miles from my house, so gas prices for commuting are not a big issue. We do drive less and try and group our errands when we can.

Potluck #55 Facebook

I have been a Facebook user for awhile now. I have 79 "friends," some named Sandham from England and South Africa. I finally decided to 'hide' the posts from people I don't really know (and some I do) because I wasn't really interested in them or them in me. I have had a great time keeping up with my nieces and nephews, married kids, and former coworkers. I have enjoyed videos and pictures of many relatives and some funny video postings by friends from YouTube. I occasionally chat with my daughter or my daughter-in-law or one of my nieces using Facebook.

I have added numerous applications, Flair, Pets, Virtual Bookshelf , and Good Karma, to name a few. I use Virtual Book shelf a lot, but have kind of let my pet down. My virtual pet, Bennie, the Airdale has been neglected lately and probably needs food and attention. I share Karma and plants from Lil Green Patch with friends and coworkers, just to let them know I am thinking of them.

It was very easy to sign up and to find friends. I will probably stay with Facebook, but I don't get on as often as I used to. I really dislike the new format. My favorite applications are Virtual Bookshelf and Good Karma. I like Notes too and have used it often to take quizzes or to post favorite quotes.

It is good to know that you can permanently delete your Facebook account. May not want this stuff on the 'ethernet' forever!

Post #56 Potluck - Twitter Exervises

1. I looked at various Twitter profiles and found them way too time consuming. I have no desire to twitter by my time away. I have signed up to follow George Stephanopoulos, NPR politics, Stargate Universe and Stargate Central, and GMA. I actually signed up for Twitter about 2 weeks before this assignment came out. I only look at it once a day or less.

2. I used the search feature to look up "polar bears." I also looked at SXSW.

3. I didn't find Twitter very useful or helpful, mostly a good way to waste time. Although after the way Facebook has ruined their site, I may give them both up and have more time to read. Twitter is not your friend, it can get you fired, even before you get hired: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29796962/

Post #54 Exercise 3 - Social Networking with Books

I use the Virtual Bookshelf on Facebook, Library Thing, and Good Reads, to keep up with the books I read and so share them with family and friends. It is fun to look at how others rate a book that you liked or disliked. Often there is a wide range of opinions on a book, people either hate it or love it. Both can make for a good discussion. Books that don't inspire such passion often don't get finished. The reader gets bored and quits. I started using Good Reads to keep track of books "to-be-read." That is much harder than keeping track of what I have read, it is so easy to lose track of a book that looked interesting at one point.

Post #54 Exercise 2 - Implementing book club

I already have implemented a book club at the library and I use many of these sources every month to choose books and to lead the discussions. Reading Group Guides and Reading Group Choices have been extremely helpful. I also use Books to Movies site because we watch and discuss a movie about once a quarter. Reading Group Guides also has much helpful information on how to handle a book club, including ice breakers, questions to ask if you can't find discussion questions, how to deal with members who won't talk and those who talk too much.

One place to look for book titles is Reading Group Guides under the "Most requested guides" section. This will show you what other book clubs are are reading and what is popular. One of the books we chose for later this year is on the list: Sarah's Key by Tatiana de Rosnay.

Post #54 Exercise 1 - Book Clubs

I facilitate the Evening Book Club at the Barbara Bush Branch Library in Spring. We have been meeting for five years on the 2nd Tuesday of each month. I much prefer discussing books in person rather than online. The feedback is more immediate and it is easier for more than one person to participate in the discussion. Actually it is a book/movie club and 4x a year we show a movie based on a book and discuss it. This is the first and only book club I have been a member of. My subdivision tried to start one but it fell through. I have not been able to participate in the AAUW book clubs because of me work schedule. I have been disappointed in that, they have read some good books.

Post #53 - Exeercise 3 - Reading downloaded book

I downloaded "March to the Sea" by David Weber and John Ringo from the Baen Free Library. I downloaded it in the RTF format and it read like a Word document. I don't like reading things on the screen, the glare and the uncomfortable sitting gives me a stiff neck. I even print out magazine articles to read later so I don't have to read them on the screen. The only advantage I can see over a traditional book is if the book is not available or is out-of -print. I would much rather read a book on my sofa or in my bed then read one on the computer screen. I have not used a Kindle or other book storage device but they don't sound like something I would like. Give me a paperback (or these days LT). I guess on an ebook reader you can set the size of the type, that would probably be an advantage.

Post # 53 Bookstores Exercise 2

I looked for Black Wind by Clive Cussler on the Barnes and Noble's website and on Amazon.com. It was available from B&N at $8.99 (members) and used from $1.99. It was not available in audio from B&N but was on Amazon.com as an audio book on CD and as an ebook available for the Kindle (for $7.99).

Post #53 Exercise 1

Three bookstores in the area are:
Half Price Books
Barnes and Noble
Bookland (on Louetta)

Half Price books and Barnes and Nobles have a national, professional presence on the Web. B&N offers books, DVDs, music, games, gifts and gift cards. Used and out-of-print books and bargian-priced books are available. There is also a "coming soon" and a "recommended" section. Half Price Book's site is also a wealth of information and fun to click around on, however you can't search for books on their site. The search box takes you to Amazon.com. The stock in the stores is all different and changes constantly. Bookland, a local independent bookstore has no website.

#52 Exercises 3 and 4

3. Using Novelist Plus I found authors who are considered similar to Dean Koontz:
Greg Bear, Dan Simmons, Robert MCCammon, John Saul, and Charles Grant.

On the Allreaders.com site, I found similar authors for different titles by Koontz. The title I used was Dark Rivers of the Heart and this website has a lot of information for this title as well as several similar book titles, not just authors.

http://www.allreaders.com/Topics/info_674.asp?BSID=0

4. The order of the series by Tamora Pierce: See link below, scroll to bottom of the page.
http://www.mcpl.lib.mo.us/readers/series/juv/author.cfm?id=498

#52 Exercise 2

Using Novelist Plus I found these titles:

For a girl in grade 4: Animals Hibernating: How animals survive extreme conditions by Pat Stephens for grades 3-5.

For a boy age 13: Ghosts and Real-Life Ghost Hunters by Michael Teitelbaum.

#52 Books, readers and beyond - What to read- Exercise 1

I own Nancy Pearl's two books and am familiar with many of these websites. I run the Evening book club here at the branch and so use them often. It was a great refresher and a few of the sites I hadn't looked at before.

When I first started my "read-a-like" quest, I had a hard time finding titles and authors for the book I chose. Novelist Plus didn't help much in that case - there was no "find similar author" link for that title. It took me to the subject headings and I had to make choices about what I wanted in the books and I was not very happy with the results.

The website "What to read next" was having issues and gave a 505 database error.

So I changed titles to "Black Wind" by Clive Cussler. I had better luck with this title on Novelist Plus and The Downer's Grove PL and Librarybooklist.org which led to Overbooked. The Overbooked and Downer's Grove lists were very similar including authors, Ted Bell, Jack DuBrul and Preston and Child. Novelist included Tom Clancy and Ian Fleming. Read-a-likes is still a challenging issue. It is hard to tell sometimes what it is about a book that made you like it so much, so a similar author may not do at all.

iHcpl Wellness #42 - Staying Well

I put these symptoms into the symptom checker: stiff neck, tingling arms and feet. It listed several possible causes for the stiff neck and indicated that I should see a doctor if it included tingling, numbness, or pain in the arms, hands, or feet. Here are some of the suggested conditions: cervical spondylosis, herniated disk, spinal stenosis, or osteoarthritis.

I tried the pill identifier. The medication I chose is a generic and although there were generics for this one shown, I thought I couldn't find a match, but once I went home and looked again I realized that I had seen a match. The website was easy to use.

I used Medline Plus Go Local to look for resources for Heart Disease in the local area.
List of resources within 10 miles of 77388 for Heart Disease:
http://tinyurl.com/6ea6vb

I made a family medical history tree. This could be useful for our family since 6 of 7 children in my family (my siblings and I) were born with the same heart defect: atrial septal defect (a hole in the wall between the upper chambers of the heart). One sibling died at 16 days old and three of us had surgery to close the hole when we were children. One sister had a procedure done last year in her fifties when the condition was also discovered in her. It wasn't found when she was a child and she had no symptoms until menopause started. My younger brother's hole was so small that it closed on its own and he didn't need surgery. We made the Minneapolis papers back in the 60's when my parents were going through all of this.

I can see where a record of genetic and other conditions could be a useful thing for families, although there was no family history of this condition that we were aware of and my obstetrician said that my chances of having a baby with this heart condition were no greater than anyone else's in the general population. It was just the combination of my parent's genes.

iHCPL #41 part 2 - going green

I have already started doing many of the things listed in the City of Houston website. We now use many fluorescent lights, we set out thermostat higher or lower for savings, and we had our A/C checked. We still need to get in the attic and check the ducts for leaks.

We do as much recycling as we can without having curbside recycling. We have voted for it twice in our subdivision, but it has not passed yet! What are these people thinking? My husband and I also pickup trash on the sidewalks and boulevards when we take our daily walks. Many cans and plastic bottles get recycled this way. I was a natural resources conservation major in college eons ago and so things like this are important to me.

It is hard not to drive with a cold engine because I only drive 3.5 miles to work and so the car hardly gets warm before I get here and it is wasteful to let it run to warm up, the suggestions say to not idle the car.

We usually drive 65 or less, use the cruise control, have no pod on the car, don't use premium gas and we keep the tires properly inflated.

iHCPL Wellness #41 - part one

Activity 1

I used the carbon footprint calculator to discover what our family carbon footprint is. I used two different ones, and with the second it was easier to account for the recycling we do. There is no curbside recycling, but we take our newspapers, cans, and plastic to recycle centers. We set our thermostat at 76 in the summer and 68 in the winter, and leave it alone. I only commute 3.5 miles to work and my husband is unemployed, so we are not putting a lot of miles on our cars. I drive a Ford Explorer and my husband drives a Honda Accord. We try and group our errands.

Eating Green:
When looking at the impact of your diet, you should consider the pesticides, acres, and fertilizer needed to raise feed for animals, as well as the manure created by said animals. See this eating green calculator GreenCalculator. There is an entry for Six Arguements for a Greener Diet (book), taking action, and antibiotic resistance caused by giving too many of them to animals.
Learn how to shop smart and shop green at Foodnews.org.

Activity #2
I have visited two local farmer's markets. There is a small one in Spring on Stuebner-Airline where I have often bought tomatoes in the summer. Earlier this summer I visited a large farmer's market on Airline in Houston. There were many vendors there with a great variety of fresh fruits and vegetables. Nothing tastes like a garden tomato. I hate to buy the ones in the supermarkets, they are hard and have no flavor.

It would be interesting to visit the Midtown Farmer's Market. "The Midtown Farmers Market takes place every Saturday morning (rain or shine) from 8am - 12 noon at Monica Pope's acclaimed restaurant, t'afia - right in the heart of Houston. As a state-certified Farmer's Market, the MFM features locally-grown produce, small-batch & handcrafted prepared foods, artisan breads, locally-roasted coffee, breakfast and a real sense of community. Vendors are both outside and inside the restaurant. "

or

Bayou City Farmer's Market at Richmond and Eastside.
The Bayou City Farmers Market includes local small-scale produce growers as well as family farms producing grass-fed meats, local honey, cage-free eggs and much more. A complete listing of our vendors is available for you to view. Products are seasonal, and the best way to find out what's available this week is to become a subscriber to the market e-newsletter. Regular weekly events include live music and cooking demonstrations using seasonal produce. We also host special events such as our annual Tomato Festival in the summer and Citrus Festival in the winter.

Wellness #40

I clicked on all of the links in this exercise about exercise. I was not surprized by my results because I have been paying attention to information about health, fitness, and exercise for several years. My BMI was a little higher than I would like, but the loss of 10 pounds would bring it into the right range.

I don't think I would have much success with an online fitness or diet program because I don't like to spend a lot of time on the computer when I am not at work. Having a walking partner would be the best. Right now my partner is my dog, Henry, and he is 12 years old and doesn't want to walk as far as we used to. I may have to start taking a second walk without him to get in the amount of walking I need.

The exercise-at-your-desk is not really practical when you have nine people sharing a small workspace, but I do use the stairs rather than the elevator every day. In the fall and winter when it isn't raining I can walk during my lunch hour, it is too hot in the summer.

I am doing pretty with healthy eating, but like most people my age, I could use more exercise. I have maintained my weight at its current level for over a year. Of course my goal is to lose those 10 extra pounds, isn't that everyone's??!!

iHcpl #39 Nutrition Data

Wow, I found the site (Nutrition Data) a little overwhelming. There was too much information there in too many formats. I had trouble navigating the site and finding anything useful or new. I was able to figure out my BMI which is something I really didn't want to know.

I used apple cobbler as a recipe to figure out nutritional information. It had 430 Calories, 20 grams of fat, and 6gm of saturated fat. It was low in cholesterol and had a glycerol load pf 31 which was 1/3 of the daily recommended amount (100).

I liked the Recipes.sparkpeople.com site better. I used one of the potato salad recipes from GMA as my favorite recipe. When I ran it through the nutrition calculator with a recipe that serves 12, it came back very high in all of the calories and fat!

I then ran it through with no-fat or low-fat ingredients (cream cheese, sour cream and Mayo) and turkey bacon in place of regular bacon the numbers were much better, but I'd have to taste test it before I made it for a group.

Here is the recipe: Potato Salad

8-10 large baking potatoes
3 eggs
8-10 slices of bacon
8 oz cream cheese
6 oz sour cream
1 c mayonnaise
1/4 c yellow mustard
1 large vidalia onion
1 small jar sweet Gherkin pickles, chopped
2/3 tbsp sweet Gherkin pickle juice
1 small jar pimentos, drained and chopped
1 16 oz block sharp cheddar cheese, grated
salt and pepper to taste

Nutritional Information: Normal recipe
Nutrition Facts
12 Servings
Amount Per Serving
Calories 1,022.7
Total Fat 70.6 g
Saturated Fat 27.6 g
Polyunsaturated Fat 10.0 g
Monounsaturated Fat 28.7 g
Cholesterol 382.0 mg
Sodium 1,845.7 mg
Potassium 1,642.3 mg
Total Carbohydrate 51.6 g
Dietary Fiber 4.8 g
Sugars 2.4 g
Protein 45.4 g
Vitamin A 20.8 %
Vitamin B-12 40.1 %
Vitamin B-6 49.0 %
Vitamin C 33.7 %
Vitamin D 8.5 %
Vitamin E 12.0 %
Calcium 24.7 %
Copper 20.9 %
Folate 25.0 %
Iron 27.4 %
Magnesium 23.5 %
Manganese 26.1 %
Niacin 45.7 %
Pantothenic Acid 26.7 %
Phosphorus 67.4 %
Riboflavin 46.1 %
Selenium 65.8 %
Thiamin 51.7 % Zinc 33.1 %

Nurtitonal Information: Low-fat recipe
Nutrition Facts
“Doctored” recipe
12 Servings
Amount Per Serving
Calories 401.4
Total Fat 15.6 g
Saturated Fat 7.6 g
Polyunsaturated Fat 1.3 g
Monounsaturated Fat 5.0 g
Cholesterol 287.7 mg
Sodium 370.7 mg
Potassium 1,228.9 mg
Total Carbohydrate 46.8 g
Dietary Fiber 4.8 g
Sugars 2.6 g
Protein 19.6 g
Vitamin A 15.7 %
Vitamin B-12 14.5 %
Vitamin B-6 37.2 %
Vitamin C 33.8 %
Vitamin D 8.5 %
Vitamin E 5.1 %
Calcium 23.9 %
Copper 13.8 %
Folate 24.0 %
Iron 18.5 %
Magnesium 18.5 %
Manganese 24.5 %
Niacin 14.7 %
Pantothenic Acid 17.1 %
Phosphorus 41.1 %
Riboflavin 30.8 %
Selenium 35.6 %
Thiamin 12.6 %
Zinc 14.9 %