Net Neutrality

Have you been hearing about net neutrality and wondering what it is all about.

This webpage Who Can Be Against Net Neutrality, Privacy Rules?
will help. It offers information on connectivity speeds worldwide and privacy concerns.

Cleveland Plain Dealer Photo Contest

2011 Fourth Annual Plain Dealer Travel Photos Contest

Photographers, who must be at least 18 and residents of Ohio, have until Friday, Feb. 25, to submit their entries. Up to three photos in each category may be entered.

Photos will be judged using several criteria, including originality, creativity, composition and photography skill, said Bill Gugliotta, the Plain Dealer's director of photography, who will supervise the judging.

For more details http://www.cleveland.com/travelcontest/


Last year's winning photos were a diverse group -- including a serene scene of a bamboo raft on the Li River in China, two men playing chess at The Arcade in downtown Cleveland and a gleaming Brooklyn Bridge at night. Winning photographers included a doctor, a teacher and several college students studying abroad.

The winning photos from 2010 can be found http://www.cleveland.com/travel/index.ssf/2010/04/photography_contest_winners_ar.html

Test My ISP

Participate in a test project and earn a modem.

“ FCC's "Test My ISP" campaign to get a very detailed view of what broadband speeds/latencies/jitters/dropouts/etc that users across America are getting. They'll use this information to set new requirements for ISPs, both in marketing (advertising speeds as "UP TO" ) and in products (so far as I know).

Basically, sign up, and if you are one of the 10,000 chosen, they will ship you a "White Box" router (they said the term "Black Box" was already taken by the airlines lol) designed by a company called SamKnows and actually made by NetGear. This will NOT monitor your traffic or collect ANY data that you transfer! You plug this into your modem like you would any other router/switch, and then plug your actual router/switch into it. “ ( http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/30024-42-campaign-test )

For more information:

http://stopthecap.com/2011/01/18/calling-all-test-my-isp-participants-and-those-who-want-to-be/

Weather Links from Mark McKinley, FAA

Web links from our January 11, 2011 meeting on weather:

The National Weather Service - http://www.weather.gov

• (From there click on the map over northern Ohio and that will bring you to the website for one of the 122 Weather Forecast Offices (WFOs) around the nation and from there you can click on the map over the location of interest and obtain a seven day forecast.
• Digital forecast images are available from those WFO websites such that you can see variations in the forecast fields of high/low and 3-hourly temperatures, relative humidity and dewpoint, wind speed, wind direction, wind gusts, snowfall in six-hourly increments, precipitation (liquid) amounts, cloud cover, and probability of precipitation from place to place. That information can be viewed by click on the maps under the National Digital Forecast Database banner.)

An alternate to the above that allows viewing of the forecast area boundaries - http://www.srh.noaa.gov
(the additional tabs on the top of the page will permit viewing of the Center Weather Service Unit and River Forecast Center websites)

The National Centers for Environmental Prediction - http://www.ncep.noaa.gov

This NCEP web location has links for the following:

1. the Aviation Weather Center (for in-flight advisory information and pre-flight weather information including pilot reports)
2. the Climate Prediction Center (long-range seasonal outlooks up to 13 months into the future)
3. Environmental Modeling Center (the source for numerical weather prediction models)
4. Hydrometeorological Prediction Center (location for finding current analysis and forecast weather maps)
5. Tropical Prediction Center (also better known as the National Hurricane Center - providing advisories on tropical storms and hurricanes)
6. Ocean Prediction Center (tells you how large ocean waves should be, should you being cruising the high seas or you just wish to see how the weather map looks on the other side of the world)
7. Space Weather Prediction Center (for alerts on geomagnetic storms, solar radiation storms and radio frequency blackouts).
8. Storm Prediction Center (for Severe Thunderstorm Watch and Tornado Watch information as well as convective outlooks as well as having a nice national radar mosaic and information on wild fire potential).

Satellite imagery can be found via the National Environmental Satellite Data Information Service
http://www.goes.noaa.gov

Radar - http://www.srh.noaa.gov/ridge/

Historical information is archived at the National Climatic Data Center - http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov

Camera Club in Oberlin

Camera Club is a group of photographers who exachanges ideas, experiences and discuss topics presented by teachers and professionals.

The Firelands Association for the Visual Arts Group is open to experienced photographers and those wanting to learn. Camera Club is open to ages 13 and older and meets from 6:30 to 8pm the first and Third Tuesday of the month at 39 S. Main St. A six-month membership is $35.

(Morning Journal 1.17.11 - B2).

Download music free - Lorain Public Library System Offers Free Downloadable Music From Its Website

If you have a library card from the Lorain Public Library System, you are able to take advantage of a new service that recently became available. Music lovers are now able download music for free from Sony Music’s catalog of legendary artists.


Called Freegal, this new service will allow Lorain Public Library System to increase the size and diversity of its music collection by offering access to hundreds of thousands of songs.


Under the terms of the agreement, library patrons who have a library card issued by the Lorain Public Library System can download three Sony Music tracks in the MP3 format weekly at no direct cost. To use the Freegal service, go to the Lorain Public Library System’s website at www.lorainpubliclibrary.org and click on the Freegal button.


“Sony Music has an incredibly expansive and popular catalog and we are really excited to partner with them on this, a very important product for libraries,” said Brian Downing, co-founder of Library Ideas.


The Lorain Public Library System provides library service through its Main Library in Lorain, the South Lorain Branch, Avon Branch, Columbia Branch, Domonkas Branch in Sheffield Lake, North Ridgeville Branch and the Bookmobile.