MY BLACKBIRD FRIEND

My blackbird friend is building a nest!
For the last few days she has been gathering dry grass and darting off to a secret destination
Early yesterday morning as I was watering my small potato patch, she hopped up oh so close , time and time again, to pick up blobs of mud and wet grass.
How intelligent and discerning she is!
I continue to be careful not to disturb her, and she in turn accepts me as a low risk member of her surroundings.
Little things ,true, but it keeps me going ,day in, day out; as I continue to be blitzed by so much surperfluous electronic junk.

#6 RSS

Mixed experiences ...mixed feelings.
In principle ,and sometimes in practice, newsfeeds have value in that they can save time ,where regular monitoring of a particular topic is involved.
A big plus in the endproduct is that the items are ranked chronologically , the most recent postings first, dated, even by the hour.
However great care has to be taken to set up the system properly, to exclude irrelevant hits, and oh so much junk surging through the internet.
Tried several sources.
Tried TOPIXNET eg "water restrictions Melbourne" and obtained very good results.
However was annoyed by the barrage of ads.
Tried FEEDSTER .. key words " corruption" and" Latvia".. obtained some irrelevant unrelated hits.
Tried "Vladimir Putin" restricted to newsfeds only, but obtained information from blog sources as well.

Lesson learnt.
Take great care to restrict information from reputable sources eg Breaking news fron NYT etc
So much bland trivia , secondhand information cascading down everywhere!

#4 WIKIS

Big doubts re unrestricted user input where libraries provide a venue for chatterboxes, amateurs,busybodies and exhibitionists.
Danger of creating a collage of bland trivia, disjointed snippits,hearsay and downright misleading information.
Without quality control we are inviting technology driven graffiti.
Yet despite these dangers and pitfalls , all the news is not bad.
The Princeton Public Library's Booklover's Wiki cannot be discounted, despite a huge variation in the quality of the contributions.
Internal library wikis created and altered only by authorized staff (deemed qualified to comment in a specific subject field), could provide some value.
Unusual and potent sources of information not traceable via the library's catalogue or via standard textbooks, may be known to a staf member and added to a SUBJECT GUIDE.
Some periodic editing may be required, so as not to let the finished product degenerate into a non hierarchical clutter of unrelated items.
An ELECTRONIC REFERENCE DESK MANUAL that can easily and quickly be updated and expanded, seems a goer.

Perhaps we could produce a "select list of new books added to the collection" wiki, as a service to the increasing number of offsite users, to supplement the current weekly new books display on site
Perhaps.
Umbopo is somewhat sceptical, but is keeping his mind's door ajar.
He has even managed to make a small contribution to the SLV TRAINING WIKI.

text creation

At the back of my house I have a garden.
There I have made friends with a blackbird. She was very timid at first, being bullied by her mate and by some wattle birds. I leave some moist breadcrumbs for her. She backs off whenI approach, but hops back as I leave. Sometimes she sits at the feeding spot waiting for me. When I am outside enjoying sunlight and fresh air ,she comes up to me (at a distance) and observes me. Perhaps she has something to communicate?.
I find all this pleasurable and rewarding.

this is not a genuine blog. i have to do a blog as part of my training requirements at work.