What Facebook Quizzes Know About You

What Facebook Quizzes Know About You

Wow! a friend from high school included me on a friend quiz on facebook. I thought was that something I should check out and sure enough, more privacy setting needed to be adjusted. Facebook, I am not a fan!

You Just Have to Believe in Yourself

The 2010 Winter Olympics are almost over. It's time to gear up for the Winter Paralympics. This podcast features the Canadian Ice Sledge Hockey team.

To find out about the U.S. national sled-hockey team check out this article for the Buffalo News.

Online Photo Editing

I chose picnik because I already have flickr account. Picnik is really easy to use and I will use it again. I edited the picture just like would with any desktop application. I was pleasantly surprised by the number and variety of editing options. I’m not big on photo editing, mostly just red eye removal. For this exercise I added text to a picture, something that comes in handy when working on presentations and newsletters.

I chose picture2life because it can run on machines without flash installed. Uploading my picture was easy and I did not have to register which was plus. The user interface for adding text on picture2life had lot of options but not as intuitive as picnik. I couldn’t figure out if I could angle my text box. Still adding the text to picture only took a few minutes. Then was able to directly post the edit picture on my blog. Cool! To read another review of picture2life and see some effects in action click here

Kudos to the KCPL staff who put this lesson together . I learned a lot in a very few minutes. I would not have explored these photo editing websites on my own. The 24things class gave me just the push I needed.

To see the orginial pic and 2 edits next to each other visit my flickr photostream.

Governor Beshear signs legislation to benefit Kentucky Veterans

From the press release:
HB 14, sponsored by Rep. Charles Siler, of Williamsburg, allows for permanently and totally disabled veterans who are citizens of Kentucky to stay at Kentucky state parks for up to three nights per year at no cost, subject to space availability.

HB75, sponsored by Rep. Mike Cherry, of Princeton, amends current state government personnel statutes to provide a preference to veterans.

To read the whole release click here

Streaming Audio for 24 Things class

I created a station on Pandora. I added coldplay & smashing pumpkins and then made a quickmix with the 2 stations. I limit my use streaming audio or video at work because of bandwidth issues. At home I listen to satellite radio for new music. I buy music from Amazon.com.

One music website I really like is Setlist.fm. It’s a wiki-like service that collects and share setlists. Type in an artist and the site brings up a list of concert dates. Click on a date and you see the setlist for that concert. The songs in the setlist are linked to videos or music.

For example Snoop Dog is coming to town this weekend, to get preview of the concert checkout the list of songs from his concert Tuesday (2/16/2010)night in Chicago .
http://www.setlist.fm/setlist/snoop-dogg/2010/metro-chicago-il-43d75723.html

Kenton County Public Library Digital Branch

On 2/16/10 I downloaded the eBook “Building Bone Vitality” by Amy J. Lanou and the audiobook “The Year of the Flood” by Margaret Atwood from the digital branch of Kenton County Public Library (KCPL).

I am familiar with the KCPL digital branch and Overdrive Media Player. I’ve downloaded both eBooks and audiobooks from the website before this assignment. EBooks from the digital branch aren’t for me, I have a Kindle but I do not have a smartphone or a laptop. To read eBooks from the digital branch I have to be at my desktop computer, not one of my favorite places to read books.

Audiobooks downloaded from the digital branch are nice. They have good sound quality, the download times are reasonable and I can transfer them to my MP3 player. One small complaint I have about the overdrive software is how breaks up the books into “parts” for downloads and transfer to MP3. I found this confusing the few times I listened to an Overdrive audiobook.

Two problems I have with KCPL digital branch are the selection and the hold process. I view digital 24 hours access as “on demand” but many of items I wish to download are not available either because they aren’t part of the collection or they are already checked out. With regards to the hold process, by time I get an email saying an item is available for checkout, I’ve either found the item someplace else or I’m no longer interested.

To visit the KCPL digital branch click here
For free audiobooks samples from Overdrive Media click here
To learn more about the Amazon Kindle click here

Federal Benefits for Veterans, Dependents and Survivors

For the 2009 Edition PDF and an online a summary of the benefits programs provided by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) for which Veterans and their families may be eligible click here.

Click here for a list of applications and links to the forms for VA benefits that can be submitted online.

KCPL 24 Things Week 5

I'm subscribing to the following feeds:

24ann41011
http://24ann41011.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default

Joe'sWorld
http://joestalkshow.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default

KCPL's 24 Things
http://24thingskcpl.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default

Keith
http://oldog75.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default

Leigh Does 24 Things
http://leighdoes24things.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default

Natalie's Notes
http://nataliesnotesnow.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default

Still Learning
http://cmayhugh.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default

Veterans May Get to Stay at Kentucky State Parks for Free

Kentucky lawmakers have approved legislation giving totally disabled veterans a free 3 day stay in state parks. Read the whole story here.

Accessibility Review

Just in time for Superbowl Sunday the AFB (American Foundation for the Blind) evaluates three popular sites:

NFL.com
ESPN.com
SI.com

for ease of use with a screen reader.

Bottom line SI.com scored more points than the others.

Read the all the reviews here.

Radioshackakistan

Jay Leno jokes about obsolete technology, audio tapes and finding old machines to play them.

Privacy and Facebook

The 3 Facebook Settings Every User Should Check Now

This in-depth article from the Technology section of the New York Times reviews and explains 3 key elements of facebook privacy settings:

Who Can See The Things You Share
Who Can See Your Personal Info
What Google Can See - Keep Your Data Off the Search Engines.

For someone new to facebook like me, it was very helpful for understanding who sees what and where they see it. The article concludes "it's time to be proactive about things and look out for yourself".