Current Map Events (No. 32 act. 1 and 2)

My Hypothethical question: Volunteer to research mammals

Try going to Http://maps.google.com and type in "volunteer vacation research mammals"

There are some really great sites. I particularly like Earthwatch--they have volunteer opportunities in Scotland and Greece to help with research on whales and dolphins.

The image you see is the Zuni-Bandera Volcanic Field in western New Mexico. It is the easternmost potentially active volcanic field in the United States. I like maps, but the incident maps kind of freak me out. (I, kind of, don't want to know.) It is nice to have a reference of maps for different circumstances, which might come in handy for school projects.

Relocating with Online Maps (no. 33 Act. 1 and 2)

I have scoured har.com for the perfect house (and a ton of individual real estate pages as well) and I am just not happy with what I find. The pages themselves yield almost enough information to make at least the most basic decision (the I wouldn't live here if they paid me to buya house here or I have got to go see this one) regarding the house. I just don't like the neighborhoods that have houses for sale. I know most of the ones either by reputation or because I have driven and been overwhelmed by the cars that crowd the streets.

I tried all three of the sites listed and I liked har.com the best. The urban living one had so many cabo san lucas, tx or orlando tx listings that it was just unreal. or only four listing to a page where on har.com you would get more houses to explore. Plus it was fairly easy to adjust the criteria I was searching with. I would reccommend this site above others.

I also tried the walking score site. I liked how easy it was to use, but heavens, it was depressing. Nothing is really within walking distance of the house I live in or the house I want to live in.

This is some of what I found around the house I live in now; Grocery Stores0.8 Mi
Country Market 1 Mi Creeks Grocery1.05 Mi Time Saver Food Sto1.1 Mi
Snappy Mart1.24 Mi Angel's Gas & Groce1.37 Mi Gerland's Food Fair1.37 Mi
Gerland's Food Fair2.66 Mi Jack's Grocery IncRestaurants0.87 Mi
Country Pride Resta 1.09 Mi El Rio Mexican Rest1.1 Mi Backdraft Bar-Be-Qu1.12 Mi
Jose's Mexican Rest1.26 Mi Subway Sandwiches &1.32 Mi Sonic Drive-In1.37 Mi
Jack In the Box1.43 Mi Domino's PizzaCoffee Shops3.36 Mi Starbucks 4.39 Mi
Starbucks4.46 Mi Starbucks4.7 Mi Victoria's Gourmet 5.61 Mi Starbucks Coffee Co7.44 Mi Mexican Cafe Comala8.43 Mi Shipley Donuts9.52 Mi Beyond Latte LLCBars1.24 Mi
Sunset 2.47 Mi Dimes4.07 Mi Bob & Jean's4.12 Mi Don's Place4.93 Mi Besaw's Cafe & Salo4.95 Mi N Main Ice House5.39 Mi Sheldon Road Ice House 5.6 Mi up's Sports Club Cinema IV 3.15 Mi Premiere Cinema11.11 Mi
Highlands Jr High 1.03 Mi Nena's Child Care1.28 Mi Highlands Elementar1.34 Mi Chinquapin School T1.42 Mi Bonnie P Hopper Pri1.42 Mi Hooper Primary1.42 Mi Goose Creek School 2.16 Mi Baytown Junior SchoParks1.01 Mi Highlands Park 1.34 Mi
Edna Mae Washington1.39 Mi Kaminski Park1.74 Mi Highland Community 1.74 Mi Stratford Park1.97 Mi Stratford Library 4.52 Mi Exxon Corporation L4.72 Mi San Jacinto Museum 6.03 Mi Sterling Municipal 6.34 Mi Fina Oil & Chemical7.05 Mi North Channel Libra20.83 Mi Houston City Aviati22.59 Mi Liberty Muni LibrarBookstores3.14 Mi Waldenbooks
4.92 Mi Anchor5.04 Mi

I also found a site that are specific to Highlands (which is where I live and where I plan to build at some point in the future. http://www.highlandstexas.com/
There was also a wiki article http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Highlands,_Texas and some sites related to organizations and businesses in town.

My Life in Maps (No. 31)

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My life in maps
I have added most of my Texas life. Places I have been. Places I enjoy. It's not complete in any way, but it is kind of fun to touch all the places one has been and think about how they have affected me.

Console Gaming (No. 38)

I did play these "retro" games growing up. I remember Atari: Mario Bros, Donkey Kong, Galaga, Centipede, the Pac Man family. Oh, the games I used to play. I played with the NES, duck hunt, pole position, super mario bros. As for the skills I acquired: hand eye coordination, quick thinking, tenacity, perseverance. I learned that there was not a single solution to a problem, how to go back, start over and try new combinations to reach a more profitable solution.

As for console gaming in the libary. Any of the three would be sufficient to use. Being able to network consoles together would allow library users to work together or compete withing the game. Having a large selection of games to choose from is also a major plus, but should detract from the usefulness of newer game systems. Interactivity is also a plus, anything that will get people out of their chairs and interacting with each other is a plus is my book. So which one whould I get for the library? As it stands I probably would get the Playstation 3 because it can also play high def blu-ray discs and I am told it can play ps2 games as well. So it has the game selection. But I would love to get a wii because of the remote feature. I don't like being tied to the console and I am sure it is going to catch up in the game selection category the longer it is available. Now if it could only play blu-ray movies.

Gaming in the library continues (No. 35)

I played both games in the Carnegie Mellon page and once I got a handle on the rules I did well, as it should be. But part of playing a game is figuring out the rules.

Do video games belong in the library? Sure, why not? Libraries should be about allowing people to have access to information. Video games, though not everyone's idea of valuable information, can provide experiences, both social and intellectual, that can be gainfully used by a person in other situations. Games allow us to change the procedures and policies without decimating the world around us. They allow us to change how we approach a problem and alter solutions without fear of life destroying permenance.

The fact that games change so often and become obsolete so quickly is a good reason for libraries to jump in now. By obtaining video game systems and games, libraries can allow access to materials that not everyone can spend money or space on.

Am I a Music Pirate???? (No. 25)

I have a program on my laptop at home that makes it easy to burn from one cd to another, to save to to my computer or a mp3 player (if I owned one).

I think that musicians can see both benefits and losses when they share their music online. Songs that are really great and that touch people can take off like wildfire by word of mouth (or typing of fingers), songs that people don't like aren't going to sell. Then there are hackers and general creeps who will cheat and find ways to get around buying the music and just downloading it. Of course, they do the same things now with CDs, movies and videos. Regardless of rules and consequences, there are going to be people who bend the rules if not flat out breaking them.

Strict versus open? I believe that rules should be flexible and if penalties must be paid, they should be reasonable. I think that being willing to listen to the consumer is the best way to go. (Speaking as a consumer, I guess I might be biased.)

Sound of Music (No. 24)

I don't even own a MP3 player. All the pay for play sites or free play sites confuse my brain, so I just never bothered to get involved with them at all. I'm still not very clear on them or what I am allowed to use.

So, this assignment has given me an opportunity to try something new. I was able to download a song to the branch MP3 Player. My favorite station does play via the internet.

I think it's great that bands are able to put their music online and that people can then pick the ones they want to buy. You have to admit that there are some albums that you buy for just one song and never listen to the rest. It's nice to have the option of taking music from different bands, putting them together to make what YOU think an album should be. But, of course, there is also something to be said for an artist using the whole album to make a statment.