submitted

January 2010

Fitness, opera, nutrition and historic American quilts will be highlights of the Morgan County Library’s winter 2010 evening program series.

Fitness
During January, three programs will help you get fit and get healthy in the new year and new decade.

On January 7, Dr. Brenda Nairn, DC, owner of Healing Arts Center will discuss "Mind over Body."

On January 21, Jennifer Taber, M.S., a Nutrition Specialist form the University of Missouri Extension will talk about " Creating a Healthy Food Relationship".

On January 28, Mary Jo Jackson, ASCM, Exercise Specialist will present a program to convince you that " Exercise IS Fun".

All three of the health/nutrition classes will be held from 5:30 – 6:30 on Thursday evenings in the library’s Community room.

Opera
On January 11, Morgan County’s leading opera buff, Roger Elliott will continue his popular Wild about Opera series with a big-screen showing of “The Elixir of Love,” Gaetano Donizetti's comic opera, starring Luciano Pavarotti and Kathleen Battle in its entirety. The program begins at 7 p.m. in the Community Room.

On February 8, Elliott will discuss Richard Wagner. His talk, "It's Wagner, But You've Got To Start Somewhere", begins at 7 p.m. in the library’s Community Room.

Quilts
On February 15, Missouri Arts Council member Mary Hayden will show a video and discuss the “The Story of Gee’s Bend Quilts.” These quilts, made for more than a hundred years by the women of Gee’s Bend, Alabama, have become recognized as fine art.

Feel free to bring your own historic quilts to share with the group. The programs begin at 7 p.m. and will take place in the Library’s Community Room

General information

All programs are free to the public.

submitted

The Missouri Department of Transportation recently sponsored training sessions in several cities that will better prepare emergency responders in case of a crash or other airport emergency.

“This is one training we hope no one ever needs to use, but it’s always best to be prepared,” said Joe Pestka, MoDOT Aviation Administrator. “Time is of the essence in an emergency situation. Providing comprehensive training to those who would respond to an airport accident or other type of incident will give them a better advantage for saving lives and protecting airport property.”

The training, Aircraft Rescue Fire Fighting Techniques for Emergency Responders, was presented in the cities of Hannibal, Cape Girardeau, Maryville, Joplin, Trenton and Mexico in the month of December. Classes are funded through a State Aviation Trust Fund grant administered by MoDOT. It is free of charge for participants.

This training is provided to individuals who would most likely be the first to respond to an emergency at Missouri’s smaller airports. Airport officials, structural firefighters, state and local law enforcement and other local emergency responders participated.

During a daylong training session, participants perform exercises and learn planning techniques specifically for responding to aircraft emergencies. The class also is familiarized with critical areas around the airport. Additionally, they learn vital information about aircraft, such as where batteries and fuel tanks are located and where to turn off electrical equipment.

Seven training sessions were held in the fall and additional classes will be held throughout the winter months.

The training is administered by Mark Lee of the University of Missouri Extension Fire Rescue Training Institute in Columbia.

submitted



Donna Comelli (left), owner of Bella Donna Salon in Osage Beach, and her staff present a $425 check to Marcy Maxwell, R.N. (right), director of Lake Regional Cancer Center. The money was raised through the sale of pink hair extensions throughout October for Breast Cancer Awareness Month. It will be used to assist cancer patients with expenses, such as nutritional supplements or transportation to and from treatments.

The writing on the wall declares that tomorrow’s devices will combine several of today’s gadgets into one multi-functional portal—with access to the internet, streaming video and audio, telephony (cellular and VOIP), games, scheduling, contacts, applications and more. Just how big the device should be is the $64,000 question. The first company that gets it right will win the prize—millions, perhaps billions in sales—the next “big thing”.

There will be a place for the full-sized desktop/laptop convertible workstation—but the vast majority will look to these new ‘road warrior’ devices as a catch-all for everyday life on the go. Apple’s record-breaking success with the soon-to-be-updated iPhone is evidence enough that the trend is mobile, mobile, mobile. The oft-rumored, as yet to materialize ‘iPad’, as some call it may capitalize on that.

The Kindle, Amazon’s break-away best-seller shows us the public at large is willing to accept a device that is considerably larger than an iPod. Touch-screen notebook-sized computers, even though they are lacking in power and capability also sell well. With the litmus test size set at 8” x 10” maximum, we can then see the next movement in computing.

Tomorrow’s busy worker-bee will wake to the sound of the alarm on his computer-pad resting on the night table—a touch silences the buzz. Off to the shower, he grabs it and like a tent, stands it up on the vanity, listening to the news and weather while he showers and shaves—its built-in wi-fi streams the information effortlessly through the built-in antennas.

Folding the device flat, it’s on to the kitchen, where he sits and reads the front page news like a book, occasionally sliding out the stylus or using his finger to circle or highlight interesting items. He can tap into his apartment’s TV feed for local news before rushing off to work. Turning the screen over locks it into place on the keyboard for protection during the drive.

At work, he places it on his desk and opens it up like a laptop, wirelessly connecting to his workstation’s tower, mouse and large format monitor. He’s free to use the keyboard, mouse or stylus to toil away prior to the big presentation. He detaches the touchscreen and now it’s off to the conference room for the meeting.

The built-in projector shows everyone his ideas for the client. The device is also streaming a Powerpoint presentation and sharing budget figures for the campaign. The built-in microphone and camera come in handy as he makes notes, records the meeting and gets quick 5 megapixel snapshots of the other ideas presented. The stylus lets him make notes and drawings on the touchscreen—an OCR program converts his thoughts to document format. Before adjourning, the meeting’s participants exchange files and notes, synchronizing the data wirelessly.

Once back at his cubicle, our busy worker docks the touchscreen, synching all the data from the meeting, and he is free to make the revisions to the campaign before the end of the day. As he leaves for home, his carry-along is again folded flat then connected to the car’s stereo wirelessly to listen to his favorite MP3 music during the commute. A quick touch or two brings up the contact list in the car, so he can select his home and tell the family he’s on his way. Traffic reports beamed from overhead sign markers are updated on his onboard navigation system showing him the fastest way to his destination. A Bluetooth headpiece lets him take calls and answer emails through voice recognition effortlessly.

Once at home, he sets it on the charging pad on his desk where it also synchs his appointments and data with his home server in preparation for tomorrow’s workday.

Sound far-fetched? Laptops and touchscreen pads are here today and are commonplace. The newest phones offer wireless connectivity to the internet and one another, and one sports a built-in projector. Most have digital cameras built-in with at least 5 megapixel resolution. Synchronization, OCR (Optical Character Recognition) and sketching software are also available readily. Wireless keyboards and mice are commonplace and video for monitors can now be streamed as well. Solid-state hard drives and new compact high-density memory chips will let the device have more than enough storage and horsepower to allow for synching with his workstations at home and the office. Sharing information with his colleagues wirelessly is easy as well. And, applications like an alarm clock, weather forecasts and news headlines can be found today on smartphones everywhere.

How big, exactly? Our computer-pad will come in at around 8” x 10”, with a removable 4” x 8” touchscreen that folds into the lower unit. It’s snap-in mount allows for swivel and tilting. A Bluetooth headpiece is used for teleconferencing and VOIP or cellular calling. Standard input/output options are onboard like USB, SD Slot, headphones, HDMI out and wired networking. How much? Good question, but the sweet spot for the detachable 2-piece keyboard base unit and touchscreen may be around $750, with the home/office workstation/charging unit with keyboard, mouse and wide screen monitor about the same. The two devices would be completely functional even when not connected to their counterpart.

What do you think? What do you see as the computer of the near future?

Submitted

Help protect Camden and surrounding counties natural resources by becoming a Missouri Master Naturalist. The Missouri Master Naturalist program is a community-based, adult natural resource education and volunteer program designed to engage Missourians in the stewardship of our state’s natural resources. A little of your time and a desire to learn how to care for the environment are all you need to sign up for the program. The Missouri Master Naturalist program and professional natural resource experts will provide the training needed to get started.

The next Master Naturalist certification training course starts with an orientation on February 4, 2010 from 6-8 p.m. at the MO Department of Conservation Office in Camdenton. Classes will commence on March 4th and run through May 27th. The classes will be held on Thursday evenings from 6-9:00 p.m. at the MO Department of Conservation office in Camdenton. In addition three Saturday field trips are included. The 50-hour course will teach you about Missouri’s natural resource ecology and management.

After graduation participants are asked to provide 40 hours of volunteer service on land management, citizen science, education, and other conservation related projects in the local community and achieve eight hours of continued education annually. To maintain Master Naturalist certification volunteers continue to contribute 40 hours of service and achieve eight hours of advanced training annually.

Camden County graduated its first Master Naturalist class in May, 2009 with 25+ graduates. Those individuals have since gone on to form the Lake of the Ozarks Master Naturalist Chapter.

You must be 18 or older to enroll in this training. The enrollment fee is $100. For more information or to sign up for the class contact Jackie Rasmussen, Ph: 573-346-2644, E-Mail: rasmussenj@missouri.edu or www.lakeozarkmasternaturalist.com

The Missouri Master Naturalist program is co-sponsored by the Missouri Department of Conservation and University of Missouri Extension.