The NOAA pages have always been excellent. Attractive, packed with information and graphics, and without ads. Please take a look at them.
For hurricane updates: National Hurricane Center
For national weather: National Weather Service
For the Takoma Park forecast:
National Weather Service outlook for Takoma Park
see also: our local geography page
At the Moose Family Center 926 Wayne Ave Silver Spring, until 7 pm. Go up Fenton, turn left on Wayne, park at the County parking garage that is on your immediate right, and the Moose Family Center is right across the street. You will get soft drinks, pretzels and a great MASH-looking T-shirt.
Blood supplies are always disastrously low around late August and Labor Day. If you can't get to the downtown Silver Spring location today, check the Red Cross donor information pages for the next location near to Takoma Park. You can also make an appointment online.
Although only 5% of the population donates blood, the chance is 97% that at some point someone you know will need blood. More statistics.
Are you Jewish? Many believe that if one is able to give blood, doing so is obligatory, not optional. It is an act of Pikuach Nefesh, "Saving a Life." The Islamic position is similar. (See this as well) From the Quran: To save one life is to save all humanity.
Statements from various religious representatives concerning tissue donation.
The Texas list.
... and another version.
The farmer's market returned to the usual location on Laurel yesterday (in front of the post office). Sundays 10-2
Recently some of our library users have been asking us to show them the most basic of computer skills - how to use a mouse and keyboard. There still exists a sizable group of people who have never used computers. Why are they now compelled to learn? Apparently the driver's tests in some jurisdictions are now offered only on computer, there is no paper and pencil option.
Increasingly all sorts of applications, registrations and exams require the use of a computer. See below for some sites we have found useful for mouse and keyboard practice.
And here are the MVA documents one can download. They include the driver manuals. You can also complete some transactions such as tag renewal online.
Mouse and Keyboard practice:
Memory match with flags for fairly large mouse targets
The Black dog online coloring pages for smaller targets, gaining precision
Try the graffiti wall. Hold down the leftmost button and write your name
Jigsaw puzzle for click and drag
20 questions for lots of click on the little buttons practice
Pacman arrow key practice
Typing letter keys
Animal Planet quizzes for radio button multiple choice questions.
Problem pages that work only with some browsers on some machines:
Lots and lots of driver's test problems.
Orisinal games (Easy-going, language independent, lovely to look at)
Info to Go is a monthly newsletter listing interesting, selected web sites. Many of the most avid readers are reference librarians, and indeed our reference librarian was probably the only reader here when we subscribed to the print edition. We have now switched to the the online version so all our library card holders can use it from home or work.
Remember that there is an enormous difference in the quality of sites retrieved by machine keyword searching via Google, Yahoo or whatever search engines you use, and sites that have been viewed and preselected by humans. Reference librarians care about this difference, so another good source of pre-viewed sites is the Librarian's Index to the Internet.
Although some parts of Info to Go are updated daily, it is basically a newsletter and so chronological. As with blogs, older issues may contain links that no longer work. You can usually retrieve those pages using the Wayback Machine or the mirror housed at the Bibliotheca Alexandrina.
We have had at least two recent requests for help in locating the Maryland Sex Offenders Database online. It isn't easy as the page moved. This is the current address:
http://www.dpscs.state.md.us/sorSearch/
You can search by name or by zip code. The search is free.
The DC Metropolitan Police site explicitly states that their sex offender registry list is incomplete. No direct search by zip, but you can search by name, district or PSA. The police district adjacent to Takoma Park is 4 and the PSAs are 401 and 402. They also have a page of links to other state registries.
The library (and other City departments) will be closed August 26th. Books that would normally be due that day will be due Saturday, the 27th, instead.