Blurts

Most folks have heard of the Wayback Machine and the Internet Library. It is a way to examine online web content by date. It has records of this site going back to 2008.

I am guessing the opportunity to consider what my content looked like in 2008 is more interesting to me than anyone else. 2008 was the date at which I purchased space through a server farm instead of hosting content on a server I operated through the university where I worked.

I just learned that other content stored by the Internet Archives are now being made available. The Internet Archive has a vast store of historical content and has been limited in lending this content in the same way your local library is limited in lending digital content to users. The library purchases a certain number of subscriptions for a given book and this number limits the number of users who can have access at any given time. The National Emergency Library is a no user limited version of the Internet Archive. I have access to several libraries because I spend time in several locations and these libraries have also been allowed to relax their lending limits. Looking at historical magazines and books could make an interesting history activity for educators.

EdWeek has transformed its online publication to focus mainly on the topic of how educators and educational institutions are coping with the Coronavirus pandemic.

Here is a nationwide summary of school closings and ongoing online activity.

Using your library to get digital books and audiobooks is great, but often you have to wait months to get what you want. If you want Harry Potter books, this is your lucky month. Author Rowley must have waived the subscription limits that were in place. Try now.

I love working in coffee shops. Retired or not, I still call reading and writing my work. I am not sure why I think or at least imagine I work better in a coffee shop. Perhaps the distraction of those around me offers a break or maybe some spark to my imagination that keeps me going.

I have been trying to recreate the coffee shop feel in our gazebo. It seems a reasonable substitute while we are social distancing. I have music. I have wifi. I am all solar powered while the sun is out to keep the place heated and they power on thanks to my solar panel. I don’t have the chatter in the background. I miss those old ladies playing mahjong.