Google maps

Wow is this thing great or what? Not only is it possible to get directions to somewhere you have never been before but you get to see what it looks like. Bravo Google.

Wikis

Wikis, great idea, but like anything else only as good as who's scribbling stuff on them. I think it is likely that Wirginia Maixner looked places other than wikipedia for neurosurgery tips this week. She may have used it to find out which Simpsons episode carried a story about conjoined twins though.

Del.icio.us Tagging

This was a new one on me. Portable bookmarks are a great idea. being a librarian, I think I crave some sort of controlled vocabulary for tagging. Serendipity has alot going for it though.

Librivox

mmm, I don't know. I think this could be absolutely marvellous for text books. I can imagine lots of students would love to walk around with the dulcet tones of William E DeMyer telling them about Neurologic Examination. I certainly would have when I was a student. However the great majority of items are fiction and when we read fiction we have our own interpretation playing in our mind. Someone else reading that compromises the interpretation. I know of many people who listen to recorded books in the car and that seems a good idea especially when the books are read by professionals or teams which turn the book into a radio serial, a different beast altogether. Still a good idea with much potential.

GoogleBooks

The idea of Googlebooks is great and follows the very heart of internet freedom. However we live in a world of recognized intellectual property laws and much of the world we are able to enjoy (as the intellectual propery lawers will tell you) is born of their bounty. In any case it seems the US justice department is attempting to, and will most likely succeed in, scuttling the agreement Google thought it had in place. This means Google will probably never be what it had hoped to become, but in a more limited role it has much to offer. Many writers value dissemination ahead of fortune and if the books which rights holders are happy for G to present are able to fing their way there without administrative difficulty it will indeed be a good thing.

In the imortal words of Mrs. Joseph (Rita Webb) from To Sir with Love " the more education the better....What with the bomb and all"

I like the librarythang. I think it would be particularly useful for avid readers of fiction but as a non-fiction reader I still like it. Every book I put in I found. Two thumbs up. I wish it did music also.

My catalogue http://www.librarything.com/catalog/MarcosR

RSS feeds diggin

I like the idea of RSS feeds and I have found some really useful feeds that I will happily continue subscribing to well after my23rd thing. However many of the things from Digg strike me as technology for it's own sake. To use a guitar analogy, it's like adding affects pedals to a good tube amp, what is music what is sound? It is easy to get caught up in the sound and forget about the music, but it is the music that is the pure creativity.

RSS feeds

As far as I can tell, RSS feeds are the closest thing in the real word to getting soneone else to take notes for you in a lecture while you are at home in bed. It works very well and is the logical next step from the email alerting services that cluttered up your emails for many years. Well done Mr or Ms RSS.

Blogs

Hi,
As I commented to DEMBLOG Aleksandr Solzenitsyn once said 'There are a lot of clear thinkers everywhere' and we certainly seem to have our share here at UQ. I have read some very thoughtfully written blogs despite the authors being pushed out of their comfort zones.

Averted on the other half

Hi,
I am sensing a real Michael Jackson/Culture Club thing going on with Flickr and Picasa so this side of the Blogosphere can stop rumbling also.
http://picasaweb.google.com/xxiiithings/Desktop#5376654443105269362

Marcos

calamity averted

Hi,
I too have heard the rumbles around the bloggosphere about the lack of Greg Maddux related matryoshki. It has been addressed http://www.flickr.com/photos/23things/3876942702/

Marcos

My Friend flickr

Hi,
Anyone who remembers the 1950s TV show alluded to in the title will be dealt the same feelings by it's contemporary namesake. Flickr is a shrine to the everyday, the commonplace while doffing it's cap to the esoteric. It's just like Ken giving Flicka a sugarcube all over again, while musing about Dostoevsky's time in Omsk. Why not celebrate the banality of life as well as the excitement? It's all here, ready to take up it's 15 minutes.

7 and a half habits

Hi,
Looking through the 71/2 habits of effective lifelong learners one thing seems easy: Setting Goals! Setting goals can be really easy. One should never anticipate smooth sailing and having a fall back position where the level of achievment is slightly shy of where you are now is often preferable to soul crushing failure.
Now the difficult thing is maintaining a functional tool kit. This totally ignores the impact of two preschool age energetic boys. If the item within the toolkit is physical it is likely to be covered with porridge and coloured in like Buzz Lightyear. If the item is software it will be deleted and replaced by videos of a cartoon bear. If it is more of a guideline or a rule, if it doesn't result in time in the naughty corner for non adherence, it is likely to be ignored.
Lifelong learning comes in many forms.
Marcos

&

The first blog I have to do for 23 things

Hi,
Archimedes once said "Give me a lever long enough and a fulcrum on which to place it, and I shall move the world". Fortunately noone gave him such a lever (although some may have suggested where he should place it). In the 3rd century BC it may have been a thought provoking statement, however had he said it today he would have been charged with planning a terrorist act. How times changed.
Marcos