An Apple A Day...

Hi All,

An apple a day helps keep the doctor away.  Well, that old truism holds true - and it makes the basis of a great blog entry.  Especially at this time of the year when it is traditionally thought of as being 'apple season'.

So, when does apple season run?  According to Pochuck Valley Farms in Glenwood New Jersey, apple season runs from September 1st to October 31st - which means that we are toward the end of the season.  So start stocking up on those apples for the upcoming winter.

Now that we are talking apples, click on this link for a comprehensive list of the many varieties of apples that are available.  Note that the site bills itself as a resource for orchards and the apple industry.

Apple picking is a great way to spend some time with kids!  Click on this link from PickYourOwn.org to find some local apple orchards that have apple picking. Yum, yum!

Next, you need to know what makes for a good apple when you pick them in the orchard.  Click here for a quick overview of how to know a good apple from a bad apple - at least in the orchard that is...

Now that you've got more apples than you can shake a stick at, click on this link from Betty Crocker.com for a whole passel of apple and apple-related recipes.  Included in this list are recipes for apple breads and apple muffins, apple cakes, apple coffee cakes, apple pies,  and Betty Crocker's Best Apple Deserts.  Wow - now that is a great way to use all those apples you picked at the orchard!

So there you have it - a whole blog entry dedicated to 'all things apples' - well, most things at least..

Enjoy the sites and hopefully the results of your apple picking.

Regards,
Stu

Top 10 Lists

Hi All,

Fun is the name of the game today. Its a sunny, breezy, beautiful fall day outside and I can't bear to write a serious, long-winded, uninspired post (not that any of my posts are uninspired...:)  )

So...I've always loved lists.   They are a great way to remind yourself what you want to do in the day ahead.  My spin on this topic today is more about 'fun list's. Kind of like David Letterman's Top 10 Lists that he presents on his show each night.  FWIW, here is a list of all of many of his top 10 lists that he's presented. And here is the Wikipedia entry for David Letterman's Top 10 Lists.  And here is a very searchable site for David Letterman's Top 10 List's.

But I digress...  Now that that is out of the way....here are a bunch of comprehensive websites with the topic being 'top 10 lists' - and a few annotations.

TopTenz.net - top 10 lists organized by subject like 'Bizarre', 'Entertainment', 'Food', 'Health', 'History', 'Humor', 'Miscellaneous', 'Nature', 'People', 'Politics', 'Religion', 'Sports', 'Travel', and 'Working'.  Wow - that's quite a list! Links included by the way - just click on the words.

For another list of Top Tens list you can visit this site - called TopTens.com.  Users can actually search the site using a dialog box at the top right side of the screen.  There are also tabs for 'All Lists', 'Newest Top 10 Lists', 'Stats' and an option for users to 'Chat'. On the main page users can also highlight tabs that include 'Featured Lists', 'Popular Lists' and 'New Lists'.

Further down on the page are topics like 'Members with the Most Top 10 Lists', 'Items with the Most Votes', and 'Member with the Most Popular Lists'.  Very interested and well organized site.  Easy to navigate, search and read.  Enjoy!

Hope the lists are what you are looking for!

Regards,
Stu

Thoughts on Websites

Hi All,

What do Yahoo!, Google, Amazon.com, About.com, Bartleby.com, Google Groups, Google News, CNN, Ebay and Download.com have in common?

And you can't even use the title of this blog post to help you since I purposely tried to make it vague and 'confusing'.  Give up? 


Well, these are the 'Top 10 Best Websites' according to a website called 100bestwebsites.org. Click on the link to visit the site. Some of the sites on the list you might be familiar with and others you might not have heard of, but one thing you'll realize: this is a very eclectic and varied list!  Happy searching!

And while the top 10 on the list aren't much of a surprise, 11-20 include the following: Craigslist, Reference.com, Wikipedia, Beliefnet. Anywho, Weather, Search.com, Hotmail, NIH and CNET round out the top 20.  Personally I was surprised to see Beliefnet and NIH in the top 20.

What about the bottom 10 you ask? Interesting question and the bottom tenth of the list is filled with sites as varied as Classical.net, Blogger, NYTimes.com, Earthcam,com, BBB.org, Intelihealth, LiveJournal, BBC Faith, ArtsJournal, TicketMaster and Gutenberg.net.  Surprises?  You bet.  Have I visited all of these sites? Nope - but the list is definitely interesting for those who want to visit popular sites that they haven't visited before. 

BTW, 1-2 sentence summaries of each site is included on the list.  Neat way to learn about sites you've never heard of before. 

100BestWebsites.org is updated frequently and there is no registration required.  The site is free and they don't accept compensation from any of the sites listed.  Click on this link to learn about their 21 criteria to judge website quality.  Again, interesting stuff, but you'll probaby want to to explore various websites first...like #35 Sciam.com (Scientific American), or #56 ArtForum or #77 (Pogo - games)...

One beef I have with the site...no pictures and the sites should be organized by subject.

Enjoy and go forth and search, search, search!

Regards,
Stu

Government Shutdown Part II

Hi All,

Just a quickie post about the ongoing United State government shutdown.  USA.gov is the Official United States government portal for 'all things government'.  For example, there are links to Government Services, Government Blogs, Topics, Various Government Agencies and 'how to contact government'.  Click on any of the above links to go to that topic.

But the real reason I'm writing this blog entry is to write about the government shutdown and what it means to citizens.  Click on this link from USA.gov for a page entitled 'What's Affected by a Government Shutdown?  This is an extremely extensive list of impacted services by the government shutdown.  It is an interesting and informative list of services!!!

Policy wonks, reports, interested citizens, government workers and government consultants might want to click on this link entitled, 'Federal Government Contingency Plans'.   This link connects to various agencies' contingency plans across the Federal Government.  Links have an 'as of updated' date so users can see how current the information is.

Users can click on this link from CNN to read an article entitled 'Government Shutdown: Get Up to Speed in 20 Questions' which is a very concise, neat summary of what the shutdown means to citizens in real terms.

Hope the links help.

Regards,
Stu

A to Z in the Library - You'll Love This

Hi All,

Just wanted to do another one of my 'shameless plug blog entries'.  Only this time the subject is the library....from A to Z.  We offer some service, material, program or resource for anybody on almost any topic you can think of!!!  And it is all free.  How cool is that?   Enjoy the links - I bet you something new about the library while you click on the links!

Regards,
Stu

A is for Annotated Bibliography of books in our Book Club in a Bag service.

B is for books...of course we have books.  Here's the link to the library card catalog.

C is for the library Calendar of Events.  C is also for 'Career Counselor'.  Appointments can be made at the reference desk to meet with our Career Counselor on Tuesday nights from 5pm-9pm.

D is for  downloading e-books (through our service called Overdrive).

E is for Encyclopedia's - which are accessible in the library and remotely via our online databases.  Click on this link for at-home access to our encyclopedias.  (Library card number needed!)

F is for Freegal - our downloadable music service (which happens to be free)

G is for 'Get a Library Card' - yes, its a stretch, but it works for the list!

H is for our 'Homework Help' for teens section. Click on this link for more information.

I is for 'iTunes' and ebooks and Audiobooks.

J is for  'Just for Fun' links from the ALA.  Neat!

K is for downloable books for your Kindle.  Here are the instructions for downloadable books to your Kindle Fire.

L is for 'Long Range Plan' for the Farmingdale Public Library. Opens in pdf format.

M is for 'Magazines and Newspapers' - here is a list of magazines and newspapers we have. 'M' is also for 'Meeting Room's' - which can be reserved. Okay, 'M' is also for 'Museum Passes' - a list of which we own can be seen by clicking here.

N is for 'Notary Service'.  Call ahead before you need a notary public!  'N' is also for 'Nassau Digital Doorway' - where you can download ebooks and audiobooks from home.

O is for 'Oscar winner's' - we have a link to the 2013 Oscar winners on this page.

P is for 'Playaways' - which are little devices that have a single book on a small, portable device.

Q is for 'Reference Questions'.Call the library and ask for the Reference Desk and we'll answer any question(s) that you might have!

R is for 'Research' - click on this link for access to our databases, our digital collection, government documents and specials collections.  We've got something for everyone.

S is for  'Special Collection's' - which includes our Tamara Greenspan Head Injury Collection, our Long Island Memories Collection and our Special Needs Collection of material.

T is for 'Teachers Center' - we have a collection of material geared toward teachers!

U is for 'You the patron'.  Click here for a link to the library newsletter so you can see what is going on at 'YOUR Farmingdale Public Library'. It might take a few seconds for the newsletter to load.

V is for 'Visit the Library' - click here for a Mapquest map of how to get to the library. 

W is for 'Welcome to the Farmingdale Public Library'.  Click this link to go to the library homepage.

X is for 'Xerox' - yes, we have photocopiers for your photocopy needs.

Y is for...I can't find anything library related that begins with 'Y'.  So....I'll use 'I' which remotely sounds like 'Y'.  'I' is for internet access.  We have 24 internet accessible computers available for patron use.

Z is for...I can't find anything library related that begins with 'Z' either. So...I'll use 'T' which remotely sounds like 'Z'. 'T' is for Teen Services. OMG - we have lots of teen services for you!  Click on any of these links for a whole passel of teen services! Shelfari, College Help, Homework Help, List of Teen Magazines.