The World of Wikis

Today I learned about wikis, which really are much more than wikipedia. With wikis, people with a common interest can post info, revise it and add their thoughts -- kind of an ongoing and everchanging website. When wikipedia first came out, my kids and I thought it was great. However, we have learned that anybody can post anything, so the info just isn't reliable for a school research paper. Still, we often find info at Wikipedia that sets us on the right track to other info, so it still has its uses!

The other wiki sites I visited -- http://www.wikia.com/, http://uncyclopedia.org/wiki/Main_Page, http://wikis.ala.org/readwriteconnect/index.php/ALA_wikis and http://www.wikihow.com/Main-Page -- led me to some interesting stuff on Harry Potter, Star Wars, and Twilight, and I even got to see the trailer for the still-7-months-away Half-Blood Prince movie. I think I would use wikis for their fun value instead of for hard facts.

Image generators are very fun!!! The easiest to use and most fun site I've discovered is RedKid.net. I can't wait to show my kids!

RSS = Really Simple Stuff

I have recently learned about RSS, which actually stands for RDF Site Summary. Because I don't always have time to catch up on the news, I've subscribed to a feed with CNN.com -- now I get updates every time there is new information added. Great concept!

eBooks Rule the Miller Household

I've finally broken down and learned about podcasts, which are actually very fun and can be extremely helpful to teachers and other educators. I wonder if they have one to teach my son to drive better??

That same kid, however, boasts a superior proficiency in the realm of downloading cool books from the library. It's so important to him that the Clevenet eMedia Collection is his home page on our computer! Anyway, I am now a novice (but not a clueless) audiobook downloader! This is a big step for me!!

Advising the Readers

Thanks to my manager Kym, I've learned about some great readers' advisory sites.

The Morton Grove Public Library's Webrary has Websites for Book Lovers . . . and they're all you'll ever need to help just about anybody find any kind of good book. Some of the wonderful offerings are media spotlights, book discussion guides, book reviews, a research center, and separate sites for kids, teens and seniors.

The Webrary also offers the Fiction_L booklists, an awesome index of books by themes, author styles and even by audience groups. It looks especially helpful and more than a little fun. I look forward to discovering more there.

It's a website full of great info! I'm sure I'll put the Webrary in my favorites file.

Thanks, Pandora!

I've done it! I've opened up Pandora's box! Well, actually, I've opened up an account at pandora.com, and I'm thrilled! This website allows you to create your own music stations -- just the stuff you like with none of the commercials. It works by analyzing a favorite artist or musical genre that you choose and then creates a station of similar artists and works. It's awesome! I plan to use it all the time -- my very own set of stations . . . what a great concept!

Rolling my Rollyo

I have rolled my own Rollyo search engine! It's called Millertravels and includes some very fun websites for our future travels. We are hoping to go to Europe when Zack graduates, with maybe a sidetrip to Greece just for fun.

Regina's Fun Photos

boys on top of a mountain in Vail
Originally uploaded by Book Diva 45

The boys at the top of a mountain in Vail

JR & Mom
Originally uploaded by Book Diva 45

JR and Mom in the mountains

Garden of the Gods, too
Originally uploaded by Book Diva 45

A surprisingly great shot of Garden of the Gods in Colorado Springs.

Garden of the Gods
Originally uploaded by Book Diva 45

Garden of the Gods, too

Temple Canon
Originally uploaded by Book Diva 45

Zack, JR, Sam, and Peggy Davison at Temple Canon in Colorado

WiseWomen Western group
Originally uploaded by Book Diva 45

Here we are . . . the western group!

"Tagging" your favorite books

Here's something I just learned about: tagging. If you have a favorite author or book genre, you can go on different websites like Amazon.com (www.Amazon.com) or the Ann Arbor District Library (http://www.aadl.org/sopac/tagcloud) and just click on a tag, which is basically a key word. You are then linked to other great books or movies with similar themes! One more step are tag clouds, where the size of the tags is determined by their popularity. The more popular a key word is, the bigger the word is. Very interesting and useful, though I personally would rather just peruse the bookshelves of my favorite library or bookstore. :)

New chick flick

Here's a movie that sounds great. Let me know what you think! http://www.mylifetime.com/lifestyle/entertainment/faves-raves/jane-austen-book-club

Jane Austen mashup

Who would have ever thought to combine Jane Austen and Harry Potter? Yet here it is. It's funny . . . worth a look. http://popwatch.ew.com/popwatch/2007/10/jane-austen-the.html

It's time to begin, ladies! My 13 co-authors and I have begun the exhilirating, and at times overwhelming, task of gathering our thoughts to begin writing our book entitled The WiseWomen's Guide to Life. We do not claim to be experts but only friends sharing advice with other women friends.

Imagine a well-lit kitchen with an oblong wooden table at its center. On it are a variety of chips, salsas, dips, veggies, wine glasses in various states of fullness, and beer bottles with exotic names. More importantly, around the table are a group of women laughing, nibbling, sipping and -- above all -- talking and sharing. This is how we friends meet, and this is the basis for our book. We don't claim to be experts, but we all have battle scars and war stories to share with each other. Everything is discussed from battles with cancer to battles with teenagers and husbands.

We come from so many places and from every imaginable background. One friend is from the very Polish Gorsky Street in Buffalo, another lives in Anchorage, another is from Germany, yet another is from the mountains in Colorado. We have laughed and cried and struggled and had epiphanies. Our goal is to share what we have learned so that others can benefit. After all, we don't all have an awesome group of friends who can meet once a month to talk, yet we all need each other.