Task # 3 Intelligent Telephones

In Jan. 2011, Consumer Reports published an article entitled "Best Phones & Plans." This article isn't necessarily about smartphones specifically, but it is about cell phones in general, and cell phones in general are becoming increasingly smart. That is why I think this is the answer to your query. Also, there is an article in the same issue entitled "Find the Best Fit"--also about cell phones, also has the word "Best" in it. Hmm . . .

Something I did notice is that I didn't get these results when I typed smartphones as two separate words. So that was kind of tricky. Hmm . . .

Extra Credit: This one was even more tricky than making smart phones into one word. How about "Izzy Quits Guns 'n Roses" for an article title from the first page of results for the 1/9/92 edition of "Rolling Stone"? That's right. Yay!!!!!

I would like another entry into the downtown gift card drawing. By now, you should already know my reasons.

Oh, and in other news, they really are making "The Hobbit" into a movie!!!!!!!!!!! (I wrote my high school senior thesis on Tolkien--I guess I'm kind of a nerd.)

This One's for David, or, Sad Day

It's a sad day MCPLD. I echo the sentiment of the little dog in check-out: Don't go, David. I find it strange that right after Borders has closed, David is moving away--coincidence? I leave that for you to decide.

Well, this one's for you, David.

#2 and 80's Day

I'm graduating this Sunday. Well, actually, I graduated in December, but commencement is this Sunday--kind of anti-climatic. Anyway, I am now a BA just like Anne of Green Gables. I'm really happy to be done with school. I do not miss the homework or the papers or the late nights writing the papers. One thing that I do miss, however, is being graded. Good grades are pretty validating. That is why I enjoyed this task so much. I got a 100% on the website scavenger hunt!!! Yay! I knew right where to go for the grocery bag question, too.

As excited as I am about graduation, I think I may actually be more excited about 80's day tomorrow.

Here's a little music to help get you in the mood.

Task #1: Create a Blog, check

Hello, one and all! I would like to start out by saying that I would like to be put into the drawing for the down town gift certificate. If you have read my blog in the past (most notably my post from June entitled Free e-Books and the Destruction of the Future) you will no doubt understand my reasons for not particularly wanting a Sony e-reader.

Note the awesome books shown on the left (Penguin Classics is publishing these amazing linen hardbacks--I want them all). How could you not prefer real books to e-Books when real books are so wonderful? In addition to reading real books, you can actually place them on a bookshelf and bask in their stately beauty and excellence. You cannot do that with e-Books. These fabulous hardbacks are one of the reasons I have no interest whatsoever in an e-reader and wish to be placed in the drawing for the gift certificate. Not that it really matters--I never win drawings anyway.

Newseum

I liked this task tremendously. Yes, tremendously. But for some reason there seemed to be a lot of newspapers focusing on soccer, though. In fact, two different newspapers in Spain have the exact same soccer-related photo on their front pages today (they're probably affiliated, but I don't know since I can't read them). (I hope I'm not offending anybody by calling it "soccer"--we also use our own system of measurement here in America--it's because we like to be different--also, we are monolingual).
I'm really glad that anyone who gets on this site will be able to see the front page of our local paper. For instance, today (July 3rd), our paper features the mug shots of roughly twenty-two people arrested in connection with a meth ring. The Sentinel seems to be quite fond of featuring mug shots on its front page (whether it be a meth ring bust or simply the current listing of Mesa County's most wanted--people who also happen to be facing various drug-related charges, incidentally).
I like that Newseum gives the links for the papers' websites. That is really handy. The only problem I have is that newspaper websites in general seem really hard to maneuver. I think they do this on purpose so that you have to actually buy the paper. The fact that Newseum has the actual front pages of papers is pretty cool considering that that's more than you can get from the papers' own websites.
I'm trying to imagine a scenario where I would have reason to recommend this site to a patron. Maybe if they asked, "Is there a resource that can give me information on various newspapers from across the globe--perhaps that shows the current front pages of these papers as well?" Then I would say, "Why yes, yes there is!" You never know, it could happen. I really did enjoy this task, though.

Free e-Books and the Destruction of the Future

A couple of weeks ago, my pastor said that if someone hands you something that's free, it's usually a good thing--unless it's a puppy. There's no such thing as a free puppy. Since you don't have to clean up after free e-Books and they don't incessantly make high-pitched noises, they must be a good thing.
So, now that I have logically come to the conclusion that free e-Books (am I typing that correctly--is the b supposed to be capitalized?) are a good thing, I guess this post is done. Yes, good--free e-Books are good. That is all there is to it...

...But wait. What if real books are rendered extinct by the existence of e-Books. Then free e-Books would be a very bad thing. I see a future where fire men do not put out fires, but rather they burn books. Books just take up space and collect dust anyway, right? Everyone (the people of the future that is) will be forced to read only e-Books. You could be arrested for possessing real books. That's the future and it's all because of free downloadable e-Books.
Free e-Books are obviously an evil plot to rid the world of everything that is noble and good.

In answer to the prompts, I was able to find free downloadable e-Books of some of the books that I bought for school last semester. That's kind of lame. See, there's a difference between buying books that you want to own and buying books that you are forced to buy for a class. It was pretty easy, too! Besides the fact that free e-Books are part of a conspiracy to take over the world, I think they're a great tool for students (literature students like myself) who are forced to (I mean "get to") read the classics. Yay for not having to buy overpriced books that you don't ever want and they only give you a dollar for at the book buy-back. Boo for the destruction of real books.

Optimal Resume

Okay, school's out for summer and I'm ready to think about Webolution again. (Yay for 20 page papers!)
There were a couple of features I really liked about Optimal Resume. 1) It gives pointers on what to hi-light on your resume based on the specific field you are in, and 2) it has that cool portfolio option so you can attach stuff. I think this will become a better resource the more employers get involved with it. It's really neat to be able to search for jobs based on the specific field/key word.