How many in space?

I’m a big space fan.  I’ll read anything about space, NASA, or astronauts and I love a good space movie anytime.  So it made me wonder, how many people are in space right now?

Of course, there are always websites to answer these burning questions.  A site called “How Many People Are In Space Right Now?” told me that, today, November 9th, 2009…..there are 6 people in space, all on the International Space Station.

Just where is the International Space Station when you look up into the night sky?  You’ll have to be aware of when it passes over your sector of the sky, so to keep track of its progress, you can follow on Twitter at Twisst.  They notify you when the Space Station will be in your coordinates so that you have your telescope ready!

You can also follow the International Space Station on the NASA website where they list who’s on it right now, what they’re doing (science etc.) and you can also figure out what they might be looking at right now from their vantage point.  NASA has compiled images  of the world taken from the space station so that you can imagine what they see.  As I write this, it is passing over the Cape Verde Islands.

We also have a variety of books on the International Space Station if you’re interested in learning more.  Just pop into the library and we can get you started. It’s a small world!

Fifty People, One Question: Brooklyn

posted with vodpod

Yesterday was my first wedding anniversary and all day, my husband and I were recounting what we were doing at at certain points throughout the day exactly one year ago.  So, naturally, it got me thinking about our wonderful, relaxing honeymoon after such a whirlwind of activity, and I thought, boy, I’d love to be waking up there today.So it was funny to come across a site this morning called Fifty People, One Question because it asked exactly that:  If you could wake up anywhere in the world tomorrow, where would you want to be?  Such a simple question, but one in which everyone has their own idea.  They thought the answers would be interesting, but what they found was beyond that.  They found dreams.  Of course, a lot of people described their favourite vacation spots, but many answers were simply ideal worlds, where they could see lost loved ones again or be free of disease or hunger.  The videos are brilliant and you’ll be entranced by each of them.

Fifty People, One Question was borne out of an idea.  Go to a place.  Ask 50 people the same question.  Video the responses.  It started in a few cities, but the response has been so fascinating that they have now gone to other cities and other countries and asked new questions.  The team of Crush and Lovely, a creative studio based in New York City and Deltree, a production company, are the geniuses behind this idea.  You can see the entire project at the Fifty People, One Question website or follow them on Twitter.

Internet Archaeology

Here’s the latest Frivolous Friday post!

Most of us know that archaeologists unearth bones and artifacts to discover clues to the past.  But what about the internet?  Are there clues to the way the world wide web has evolved over the years?  Most of us don’t even think about the way images have evolved online, but Ryder Ripps has decided that it is an important part of our technological history and he has started Internet Archaeology to keep these images for future internet enthusiasts to see how far we’ve come.

The website itself is very old school— graphics that are small and need to be clicked on, funny fonts etc., but for anyone who was online ten years ago, it will bring back some memories.  This is how everything looked back then…..no exciting flash pictures or games, pictures that were created in the Paint program and very little to look at on each page.  But this was how we viewed the web back then, and at that point, it was exciting and revolutionary!  It makes you wonder about what we see online today.  In ten years, will we look back on this and think it was antiquated?  Probably.

So have a little fun looking at some of these images and be aware of what you see online today.  Pretty soon, it will be the stuff of fossils!

Flu Shot Clinic

Inside the flu shot clinic at the Carleton Place Arena

For those of you who followed yesterday on Twitter, the flu shot clinic here in Carleton Place was well run and very successful.  The clinic was open from 1 – 7pm and the lines were long, but moving well, which made people pretty happy.

The day dawned cool but not frigid and there was little or no wind.  I decided to drive by the arena at 8 am to see if they were handing out arm bands,  and at 8:21….no arm bands, but the lines had already started.  There were about 25 people in line, including parents with little babies who were obviously planning a wait of 4 1/2 hours, which boggles the mind. I had a huge bag of warm clothes, food, water, Kleenex, a book and hand warmers. I’ve decided that hand warmers (those little things you shake to activate the heat) are MAGIC!  They kept my hands so warm and I hardly even thought about the cold.

I got to the arena at about 10:45, right after storytime, and this is what the line up looked like in front of me.

Not too bad.  And I should have counted how many library patrons were there.  I could have easily gone down the line and picked out every second person as someone who regularly comes to the library.  Great!  Readers and health conscious!  Here was the line behind me about a half hour after that:

Pretty soon after that, it stretched out about three times the length here, but it moved quickly.  And people who popped into the library later this afternoon that had been in line said the wait was pretty short.  Ten nurses, a very efficient system and resonable lines will hopefully make everyone happy. They were also very particular about making sure everyone was on the priority list.

There were a lot of great stories out there yesterday….from the mother who stood in line and breast-fed her tiny baby in the freezing cold, to dedicated moms, dads and grandmothers who held places in line and called to have the children brought to the arena once they were about to go in.  It really was a community event…people shared chairs when someone got tired, others passed around cookies, granola bars and juice boxes for the little ones and everyone shared what little information they knew.  This really is the information age….from twitters that updated the event live, to people texting information about line lengths, wait times and forms, it was easy to find out what was going on and what we could expect.

Thanks to my sweet mother-in-law Glenwyn who stopped by to see if I needed anything (like a bathroom break) and a huge thanks to our wonderful librarian Janet who came up with a tea for me, one for my mother and a hot chocolate for my niece!  It was greatly appreciated!

French Storytime at the Carleton Place Public Library

(Don’t forget to follow the library this morning on Twitter…flu shot clinic updates……see yesterday’s post for more details)

If you’ve already joined us for one of our French Storytimes, then you’ll know how much fun we have!  This will be the last French Storytime of the year and we hope to see some new faces.  Join us on Monday, November 30th at 6pm for some holiday-themed stories, hot chocolate and maybe even a treat!  The stories are completely in French, but there will be lots of time for vocabulary and questions, so even if your child only has a limited knowledge of French, this can be a fun event.  Get to know Marc from Starbucks as he reads for us!

We’re now taking registrations for kids aged 3 – 8 and Pre-registration is a MUST as spaces are very limited.  Call us at 257-2702 for more information or to sign up or drop by the library and sign up in person.  It’s going to be a fun event!

We’re now on Twitter!

We’re now on Twitter! Yes, you can now follow our tweets from the Carleton Place Public Library!  We’ll keep you informed about special library activities, daily happenings and general interest items. We might post about new books or what’s happening with our book sale, but it’ll be fun.  You can see all of our tweets on the right hand side of this blog, or follow us by clicking on the little bird below!

Starting tomorrow…follow Heidi on her quest for the H1N1 vaccination at the Carleton Place Arena.