James LaRue - myliblog

This comes through Suzanne, then from the Daily Grommet . It's about a little "webbook" that's an interesting twist on simple computing. The design has a kind of Zen-like/Mac simplicity. If all your work is in the cloud, it's not bad. It's apparently based on Flash, not on more open standards. Is it as good as a laptop? Not quite - it only has apps in the cloud. Is it as good as an iPad? Not as many apps here, either, and it weighs more, too. I don't see an ebook reader, and the "store" is still a little thin. Still, it's an interesting design by a small company, and maybe handy for folks who just don't want the bother of a computer.

Released on Sept. 3, 2010, a poll by Ciruli Associates reports that support for the statewide ballot initiatives looks like this: Amendment 60 Definitely/likely to vote for: 32% Definitely likely to vote against: 45% Don't know: 23% Amendment 61 Definitely/likely to vote for: 36% Definitely likely to vote against: 34% Don't know: 29% Proposition 101: Definitely/likely to vote for: 51% Definitely likely to vote against: 33% Don't know: 16%

There are three measures on this fall's Colorado ballot - Amendments 60 and 61, Proposition 101 - which, if successful, will not only reduce my library's budget by 58%, but will wreak similar havoc on municipalities, counties, schools, special districts, and the state itself. They will also create an economic climate that is positively repellent to business. I don't know who first called the "bad 3" "a voter approved Depression," but that sums it up. I have been writing newspaper columns for 23 years. Mostly, my thoughts have focused on the issues faced by the library, and a host of various program announcements and policy considerations. A couple of times in the past year, I wrote about federal issues. The lashback from some members of my community was rapid and extreme. They threatened lawsuits, they threatened boycotts and punishment at the ballot box, they actively sought to have me fired by county commissioners and the board. That's ok by me, by...

I spent a while this morning doing something I should have done sooner: refresh my website. On my home (Ubuntu) machine, I fired up the open source web-editor Kompozer . Then I went looking for some templates. Eventually, I found one called "Simple Beauty." I also found Youtube videos that gave me a good, quick introduction to how to use Kompozer with templates. Start to finish, I think it took 3 hours to completely recast most of my site. In the past, I used my website to stash some professional and personal resources that I need from time to time. That's still handy, but these days, I'm seeing the website as something else: a way to make it easier to connect with folks looking for the kinds of talks, workshops, and facilitation that I enjoy doing. To that end, I've concentrated more on sprucing up the look of the pages, and getting a little more professional about what services I provide, what topics I know something about, and which audiences might find any of ...