Search engines such as Bing, Google or DuckDuckGo can only access about 0.03 % of all the information stored on the Internet. Search engines compile their collection of websites available for searching by using crawlers, programs that gather information about web pages for their indexes. However, crawlers can’t find information that needs to be accessed…
When you’re in a cafe, hotel, library (or any other place besides home or work) access to a public wireless network is really convenient, but you need to take some basic precautions. This video from CNET shows you how to make sure you’re using a secure connection and how to protect your laptop/tablet/smartphone:
Our next book for Somerville Reads, our annual community one town/one book series of events, is the critically acclaimed best-seller The Martian, the story of an astronaut stranded on Mars and his struggle for survival. The Wall Street Journal called it “The best pure sci-fi novel in years.” Kirkus Reviews praised it for being “sharp,…
Today is the last day of work at SPL for Eileen F., who starts a full-time reference job at the Thomas Crane Library in Quincy next Monday. During her time at SPL Eileen shelved, worked circulation, helped write press releases, contributed to the blog, and volunteered with StoryCorps. At left is a photo of Eileen…
On November 18, 1985, people across the country opened their newspapers (this was back when most people read newspapers) and met a sandy-haired six-year old named Calvin and his stuffed (but sentient) tiger Hobbes. Calvin was every babysitter’s nightmare, the bane of his teachers, Dennis the Menace on speed (but with a much better vocabulary…
Snow. Snow. And yet more snow. And we’re all tired of it. And record-breaking low temperatures tonight. It’s all too easy to let the weather get you down. But if it’s too cold to go out, go in: into a book. Reading is a great way to forget whatever is troubling you, whatever you’re tired…
Reading the published diary of someone who died early can be a poignant experience. You can only speculate on what they might have become had they lived. Sometimes all you can think is, “The world lost this person too soon.” Petr Ginz (1928-1944) was a child of extraordinary energy and gifts: between the ages of…
A small art installation by the Somerville Arts Council’s 2014 Multi-disciplinary Artist Fellow Kris Hatch has found a permanent home in two of the Somerville Libraries. Stationed appropriately between the Mystery and Reference sections at the West Branch, ‘The Book of Knowledge’ is a Victorian curio cabinet that invites the viewer to become a part of…
Our latest and penultimate Muslim Journeys event, an interfaith panel discussion, went even better than I had hoped. Everyone, including the panelists, had a great time. Rabbi Eliana Jacobowitz of Temple B’nai Brith, Rev. Jeff Mansfield of the First Church of Somerville, UCC, and Dr. Ghiath Reda of the Islamic Center talked about what their…
Every year on the evening of October 31 children in the US and Canada put on costumes and go door to door asking for candy. Some adults put on costume parties. TV networks and theaters air horror movie reruns. But why? Halloween is a corruption of the term All Hallow E’en or All Hallows Eve,…
