“Wouldn't it be nice if our lives were like VCRS (video recorders), and we could "fast forward' through the crummy times? " Charles M. Schulz

Do you have a VCR or did you sell it at a yard sale? Now that the box of video tapes are sitting at the back of your closet what will you do with them? Do you even know what is on them? One of my hobbies is buying old video tapes just for sheer fun of being surprised what's on the tapes. I have watched many a wedding or family trip on these tapes and I wonder did they actually mean to sell them. Before you throw out or donate these tapes I recommend a few things below.

1. Look through them. If you got rid of your player borrow it from a friend. I am sure you know a pack rat like me. If you have a VCR pop it in just to see if it’s something important. If not throw it in the donation pile. If it’s personal go onto step #2. Also I should say if it is something good do not over watch it. Even running it through the VCR can degrade the quality.
2. You have two real choices. If it is something you want never to see daylight (your 15th birthday party) you can pull out the film from the cassette and toss it but this is only so good. Instead sandwich the tape between two strong magnets for a day or so. This should erase the evidence. However if you want to keep these recorded images then do not delay and go to Google and type in “VHS to DVD services”. There will be a local one. Even some camera shops do it. They will take your tape, clean it, digitize it, and burn it to DVD. The reasons I say not to delay is that this stuff is magnetic tape. It breaks down over time. The more it is exposed to heat or moisture changes the more it degrades. If you care about it have it transferred. I did this with a tape of the last time my grandfather spoke at a family gathering. If it’s important DO NOT wait!

One other thing I should mention is that during the holiday season many people buy gifts for people that have enough junk. Instead taking an old video and making it new again can sometimes mean far more to them than any other item.

"I got a rock." Charlie Brown

Last year for I did a post about Halloween music. I think I shall continue the tradition and add a few more to the list. So if you are stuck at the office or just surfing the net click a link and listen to some newish Halloween music.

• RE: Brains by Jonathan Coulton
• The Mummy by Benji Hughes. A favorite of mine.
• Friendly Ghost by the Eels
• Halloween on the Barbary coast
• Alkaline Trio by Halloween
• Halloween Head by Ryan Adams
• Halloween Night by Throwing Toasters
• Halloween with Morrissey by Cheekyboy
• Halloween is comin' to town by Tin Lounge
• Hallowe'en dance by American Symphony Orchestra. A very old recording from an Edison Record
• Halloween Parade by Lou Reed

A special to thanks to the following sites.
obscuresound mattsommers
cylinders.library.ucsb.edu popbytes
throwingtoasters sixeyes productshopnyc

“If it's far away, it's news, but if it's close at home, it's sociology” James Reston

The Atlantic Monthly Magazine has been around for quite a while. It was founded in 1857 and it is considered a general editorial magazine. As of January this year they have dropped the requirement of registration to see back issues and made it free to view for anyone. What are the details you ask? Well you can see full issues dating back to 1995 and hundreds of articles dating back to 1857. In addition to this they also are offering slideshows, videos, and blogs to , as they out it, entice viewers to become part of their subscribership. If have ever wanted to delve in to the Atlantic’s history now is your chance. Give it a try.

“Histories are a kind of distilled newspapers” Thomas Carlyle

So you are a news hound and nothing excites you more than reading the paper well then the New York Times has something for you. Recently they opened up their archives that have only been accessible if you had subscribed. They have two sections 1981 to the present which is available in text from only and 1851 to 1980 in PDF from. Clarification is needed here. Some articles are still being charged to view. All the articles previous to 1923 are free in PDF format. 1923 on till 81 might be charged. It is a hit or miss feature. However if you are looking for some recent research (80’s till now) or you want to go way back (23 and previous) all seems free. PDF format is a standard format that any system can open. To read it you will need a Adobe Acrobat which is free. To access all of the archives just go to NYTIMES.com and use the search bar at the top of the page. You can adjust the period by clicking on the pull down menu. So if you need to do some research from one of the largest papers in the US it is time to give it a try.

“Photography has the capacity to provide images of man and his environment that are both works of art and moments in history.”

Not too long ago I finished scanning all my photos I have had stored in the eves. I have had these photos sitting in storage forever and I never look at them. However now they are scanned and backed up I do not have to worry about the paper goods being ruined. Besides the safety of my pictures scanning is good in other ways. I started making slideshows set to music so the family could look at these long forgotten memories or I started emailing them to friends. The other big advantage is organization. All my photos are tagged with keywords and have space for comments so I can find anything easily. Doing all this is thought to be complicated but all you need is a scanner. You can pick up a decent one for less than $150. The scanners I like best have the feature that allows you to put multiple photos at once and then it divides them into different files, saves a lot of time. Once you have a scanner slap the photos down and hit scan. They usually are fairly automatic. Then use software like Picassa (free) or Adobe Photo Elements ($30) to clean them up. Or send them to an online storage place like Flickr. This way many more people can see your stuff and you can email it easily to people. At some of the Providence libraries we have Scanners for the public to use. Give this a try and reclaim your photos.

“Only one thing is impossible for God: To find any sense in any copyright law on the planet.” Mark Twain

The last post to round out the week of Flickr tools is a bit of a double. First, Bubblr is a nice way to use all the photos to make a comic strip. Essentially you search for photos and pick from the results. Once you have the photos assembles in the order you like then grab some of the speech bubble to put over the photos and type in the text you desire. Once you are finished you can email your creation or blog it. This is a beautifully designed and very user friendly website. To see what others have come up with try the archives. I really do like this one and recommend giving it a try. However there might be a problem here. Every time you take a photo you are creating a copyrighted material. How can I use your photos to create comic strips of my own? Many people have their works copyrighted but most have something called creative commons instead. This is a systems where the creator of the material decides how they want the item to be used. I could try to explain it but the video below does a far better job. If you plan to use others photos or upload some of your own then check out the Creative Commons website for more information.

"Set the WABAC Machine to 1895" Mr. Peabody to Sherman

When you look at some websites do you ever wonder what they looked like years ago, maybe when they first started? EBay is a good example. It started in 1997 and has gone through change after change. They added new features, changed their logo and adapted new practices as the Internet grew. What watch need is a way to see what it was like at that point. The Wayback Machine has been archiving the Internet since 1996 and almost has 2 billion pages. You can search for any site and if it has it archive it will be broken up by year and certain archiving dates through that year. It is a very interesting reference to see how much it has changed. it gives some real perspective and helps out the student or researcher to find information that may have been removed years ago. Also they feature categories like how web pages were reacting to the election of 2000 or any other large event. Give it a try to see the past of the net.

Gags die, humor doesn't

As a kid I listened to some music but I mainly listened to Radio Reruns. These were radio shows recorded from the 30s to around the 50s. The genres ranged from westerns to dramas to comedies and everything in between. I have hundreds of these shows on tape but I want the same shows in a different more up to date medium like mp3. This brings us to the Internet Archive. In the future I plan to highlight more of this site but for now this is a listing of some of the greatest shows ever recorded. I could list them all but click the link and step back to the past. It is completely free and a lot of fun. Give it a try.