I'm trying to get smart. I've been watching Nova. You see that show? I had a thing a couple
of weeks ago about string theory. I started watching that at 8 p.m. and at 803, my brain
exploded. They said string theory is the stuff that the physicists are now figuring out
that Albert Einstein was not able to nail down in his theories. Something will, if Albert
Einstein didn't understand it. Me on account to the bag of potato chips don't have a shot.
Oh, I see what they're talking about. Yeah, you got to incorporate gravity. I was wondering
why he didn't do that. I'm saying they're working on my string-cheese theory. You know,
they always say Albert Einstein was a genius. Then how come when anyone ever calls you
to do that, it's an insult? You don't know where you parked the car. Good job Einstein.
I don't think we're honoring that man properly by using his name in vain and parking lots.
A love was out to get me. That's the way it's seen. Disappointment haunted all my dreams.
Then I saw her face. Now I'm a believer. I'm a train. Put out in my mind. I'm a believer.
I'm a believer. I couldn't leave the car for a try. I thought love was more or less a given thing.
As soon as the more I gave, the less I thought. What's the use of trying to do that?
Then all you get is pain. When the need is sunshine, I got rain.
Oh, then I saw her face. Now I'm a believer.
Another meal diamond saw. This was done by the monkeys. I'm a believer. 708 W.R.J.
and I'm Don Rosen. I want to thank you for joining me today on this Tuesday morning.
It's library time. And most of Donaldson had a digital services and innovation at the
Racine Public Library is here. Thank you for showing up on time. Thank you for having me.
Thank you. I really do appreciate the people at the Racine Public Library. I went three times last week.
Awesome. And I realized I was put a quarter in the meter outside. You only get 14 minutes on a quarter.
It depends on what meter you park it. I know there's the red ones, which you get less.
And then you have two hour, four hour, ten hour.
But I park it the one that this has nothing to do with the Racine Library.
But I park it the one in between Memorial Hall and Library on that.
When you go up on that ramp, you get up there.
I thought you get about a half hour and I put the quarter in 14 minutes. What did that happen?
Yeah, no idea. I just use the app.
And the people, oh dear. And the people who don't, you have to pay.
We have a parking spot, but when I come downtown to all the places, I always use the app.
And the people who don't pay, see them pull in and they don't put any money in the meter.
I want to get a hotline to the meter people say, all right, go on there, show it the library.
This person didn't put a quarter in the meter. Show it now, please.
Thank you. I'll stand here waiting for you. All right, thanks.
That's what I want to do. Just to get them out of the line.
All right, we're going to talk about the, you have a fair coming up.
Not an affair, a fair. The digital literacy fair.
It's coming up soon. May 18th.
Yes.
What does that all about?
So one thing with digital, the digital divide is making sure that people have access to training for various technologies.
So the city of Racine put together a digital divide round table to bring various organizations together to talk about how we can help the community bridge this divide.
And this is kind of the first project that this group of community leaders have worked on together.
You know, just knowing how to use the technology is an important aspect of literacy.
You can't go anywhere without having to interact digitally with people.
No, tell me about it.
I mean, from applying for housing, applying for other benefits.
Even in social security, we've had people come in trying to get help on.
They don't know how to access this. They don't know how to access that.
So we decided to do a digital literacy fair to come up with a variety of topics that would help our community navigate this digital world a little bit easier.
So some of the topics that we're going to be covering is using a social media for career advancement, finding discounted computers, accessing banking apps and credit reports.
New computers, not old used computers.
It depends on what and what like, there's a lot of resellers that do a really good job in.
I know I'm only kidding. I just paid for a new one. I got a used one.
Yeah, it happens.
Accessing banking apps, the credit reports, safely, lifeline, discounted internet program, which is important because the ACP is only have funded affordable connectivity program is only have funded this month.
So people will lose access to affordable internet after this month.
Now, did they want to original, don't they want to Wi-Fi all up America at one point?
Didn't they say they wanted to make all of America accessible to the internet?
It would be nice. That would be a start just because everything is online.
And so if you don't have a connection, you're really kind of just cut off from the world kind of, you know?
Now, this is how we are so relied on the internet and our phones and everything else.
About three years ago, we had a thunderstorm and it knocked out the power.
And all of a sudden, everybody's world was closed down.
We couldn't breathe. We had anxiety. Our phones don't work.
Our, you know, seconds turned into minutes, minutes turned into hours, hours turned into days, days and the weeks went to months and the years.
Or maybe we're thinking of the work case and error. This is it. The end of the world.
And then about 30 minutes later, the power came back on and the all was right again.
But it's a very anxious moment when you lose control of your phone and the internet.
I know. And work. I mean, you need this stuff.
Yeah. Even here at this building at one time, you didn't need the internet.
Now we need the internet. You can't survive without it.
Right. I mean, it's just kind of where we are in the world.
Now, do you find a lot of older people coming in or younger people?
I would say a little bit of both. We have, we have younger people coming in.
Everybody seems to think that, oh, young people, they just grow up with this so they know how to use it.
That's not necessarily the case.
So just when we're younger, we're a little less afraid to fail.
So they're not afraid to try it out. Do you know what I mean?
Like we, as we grow older, we gain that fear of failure.
And so we're less likely just to try something. So.
Well, my mother and I have told this story before is 92 and she passed away.
And she was up until the days she died.
She was on Facebook. She was on Twitter.
Now X, she was on Twitter.
She was on everything on her phone.
I used to, I saw in the bed there and this is like one day before she passed away.
And she's on the phone, checking stuff.
And she's going, I hate that.
And she's talking about things on it.
I mean, she was so, she used to get the latest stuff too.
She used to tell me, said, let's see, I got to get a new phone.
I got to get it. I'm on your phone's fine.
Now, I need the latest because I couldn't get onto this app.
And she used to play that, what's that candy crush on the phone?
Okay. Yeah.
And she used to play all these games on the phone all day long.
And one day she hit the wrong button and turned it to another language on the phone.
And she couldn't see anything.
Oh, no.
She said, come over. I said, you want me to find out what language that is?
And I actually took one of the words on there.
And I looked it up on my phone, Google, the found out what language it was.
Now I had to go to that language app and figure out how to change it back to English.
But she was heavily, and this is 92 years old.
My father never touched the cell phone in his life.
He didn't want to. He had my mother doing it.
What did he need for it?
Yeah, exactly.
Exactly.
So do you have to sign up for this or does it change?
We say registration is recommended, not required.
So if you want a registered to help us give an idea about how many people to expect,
we'd really appreciate that.
And you can register on the library's website at racinglibrary.info.
Now you got a lot of people helping out with this.
Yes, we do.
It is, like I said, it's a big partnership between the digital divine road table,
the city of racing and the racing public library.
AT&T's in on this also.
Yep, they're going to be tabling at our.
Now we're taking, it's at the library.
This is taking place on the second floor of the library.
So we have three rooms up there that we will be in.
I went to the author thing, the new one.
They were seeing the author's thing and I saw the big room there.
And I was up there a million times.
I never noticed it before.
And it's right there.
Yeah.
How do they not notice it?
I walk by because I go to get the DVDs, which is right next door.
Okay.
I never noticed that room.
And I sat down.
They had a big, you know, table discussion table with the authors up there.
Yeah.
Well, that's pretty.
So that's where it can take place.
Yep.
Well, that's great you're doing this.
How much does it cost?
Nothing.
Oh, look at that.
I knew that.
Yep.
It's absolutely free because it's your library paying taxes.
And this is one of the, you know, people say, well, where are my taxes going?
This is where they're going.
They're going to help you out.
Your taxes are hard at work.
I mean, they're filling potholes when they feel like it.
And they're doing stuff at the library all the time.
It's just one of the things you guys do all the time, which is great.
Yes.
I just love that.
So people of all ages and closing the digital divide.
Yep.
That's kind of our goal of the digital defined round table.
It's to make that gap just a little bit smaller, making sure that people have access
not only to internet, but also to reliable devices.
Because there are many individuals in our community that face both, where they don't have reliable internet.
And they don't have reliable devices.
Because like most people, it is expensive.
It is expensive.
And most people, they're only, there are quite a few people in our community that only have access to the internet via their phone.
And everybody knows you can't do everything from your phone.
You can do quite a bit, but to do everything from your phone could be very difficult.
I do everything from my phone.
Oh, man.
I don't know how you do it.
I'll tell you why.
Because up until yesterday, I had a computer that was 15 years old.
No, that makes sense.
A laptop.
And the plug was loose on it.
So I didn't want to jostle it.
And I wouldn't put any programs that would make it feel even older.
It's like a 90 year old person.
The bones are brittle.
So I didn't want to do anything on it.
Well, now I got a brand new spanking Windows 11 computer.
Now I can start doing stuff with it.
But on my phone, when I do my Zoom meetings with this company, I do it on my cell phone.
I just sit my phone up and put it on the countertop and zoom away.
Yeah.
This way, I don't have to lug the computer around the house.
And so I found that I like doing it on my phone.
Yeah, things are smaller on the phone.
I used to do all my preparatory work prep work for this radio show.
I used to do it on my computer.
Now I just do it on my cell phone.
I sit in bed, and I do it.
And then I just send it to my computer.
I mean, it's really amazing what you could do.
I mean, considering that our cell phones are more powerful than the computers I sent,
the shuttle, the first people to the moon.
Now, let me tell you know, those computers that took up all of NASA's space control,
they had a room full of computers, you know, with a blinking light.
And I never really saw a computer in my life with blinking lights on.
The whole room filled up.
I have more power on my cell phone.
Yes, you do.
And all of NASA did on the first space mission.
Yep.
Isn't that amazing?
It is amazing.
Now the question is, where do we go from here?
I mean, this will be some day, somebody can look at what cell phone?
That little square thing used to use.
I just think of the phone number.
Hold on, we're talking to Melissa Donnell, so we got a lot more to talk about.
He's had a digital services and innovation at the Racine Public Library.
719 WRJ and hometown radio refreshed a civic media station.
She's got a ticket to ride.
She's got a ticket to ride.
She's got a ticket to ride.
And she don't care.
She's had that living with me.
He's bringing her down, yeah.
She would never be free when I was around.
She's got a ticket to ride.
She's got a ticket to ride.
She's got a ticket to ride.
And she don't care.
Don't know why she runs so high.
She's got a ticket to ride.
It's a little trivia about this song, ticket to ride.
The original movie, the movie helped by the Beatles in 1965.
Their second movie, they had a hard day's night, then they had the movie helped.
Originally, it was called Eight Arms to Hold You.
That was the original title of the film.
When I got the 45 RPM for ticket to ride when I was a kid,
my brother and I got the song.
And it said, from the United Artists movie, Eight Arms to Hold You.
And the movie was later changed to help.
But boy, they put this single out.
The United Artists didn't change the name of the movie yet.
They were still called Eight Arms to Hold You.
But it wasn't a bad title when they think about it.
It was kind of long.
And back then, they wanted short titles and help.
They couldn't get any shorter than that.
I love that movie, help.
Take it to ride.
Remember the scene in the movie when they played that song, they were in a ski slope.
I never forget the Beatles movies.
All right, Melissa Donaldson is here, had a digital services and innovation for the Racine Public Library.
We talked about the digital fare, which is coming up.
And again, that date is May 18th.
What day of the week is that?
That is a Saturday.
Ah, look at that.
No excuse.
Yeah, Saturday, May 18th from 10am to 2pm.
Oh, great.
You still have to pay for parking meters on Saturday, by the way.
Unfortunately.
Well, I don't care.
I've got to pay for something in this world.
You can't get everything free.
All right.
Now, here are some digital services and innovation programs and events for the summer coming up.
Yes.
I can't believe we're talking about the summer.
Yes, they were talking about summer movies.
And now we're talking about summer programs.
All right.
Well, that's great.
We're very excited about summer.
Now, these are the steam programs, right?
Yeah.
Okay.
Let's talk about them.
Yeah.
So one big thing that I want to talk about is that we just opened our podcasting studio.
This past April, it was open when we did kind of a soft opening starting in January,
but we did the official opening in April.
So you're welcome to call the library.
It's option number three.
If you want to make a reservation to record.
I mean, I don't have to sit through the hole.
If you want, dial one.
If not, dial two, dial three.
That's dial three.
It's dial three.
Yep.
Now, the podcast.
Now, this week, this is podcast every day on Apple and Spotify and where we get to podcast
at WRJN.com, Civic Media app.
It's like everywhere you can get a podcast today and just type in Don Rosen's show.
And you'll hear this podcast around 10 o'clock this morning.
So when you record your podcast, you don't put it anywhere.
You just record it now.
It's up to the person to make sure it goes somewhere.
Yeah.
It's actually up to the person to record it.
Yeah.
We are basically providing the room and the equipment for people.
We are not sound recording experts orself, but we do provide the equipment.
We have a Mac and I'm Mac with Logic Pro to do the sound editing sound recording.
Could it bring a guest in?
Yeah.
Yeah.
We have a small booth that could fit about two people at the Macs in there.
So how could they do it on a regular basis or is it one and off?
I mean, Jesus.
So you just call making appointment whenever you want to come in.
Yeah.
Yeah.
We have a couple of regulars already.
Now where is this booth?
I want to check it out when I go.
So it is in the innovation lab.
So it's kind of tucked away in the corner in the innovation lab.
It's kind of its own separate room.
So we schedule appointments around the programs that we're already holding in there, which is quite a few.
And so once they recorded, how do you give it to them?
How do they give it to them?
They have to bring their own media to save it too.
So a thumb drive.
Sometimes an external hard drive.
Something to save it to because it is a guest computer, so nothing gets saved to our computer.
So they have to remember to bring something to save it to.
Okay.
So once they save it, then they take it home when they could put it wherever Apple or wherever they want to.
They would do their podcast.
Yeah.
Well, that's good.
No charge.
No charge.
Well, that is great.
Now we've talked about this before, but I never knew the inner workings of it.
So it's on the second floor.
It's on the second floor.
Everything's happening on the second floor.
Is anything popping on the first floor?
Yeah, that's where children's department is.
So that and our friends of the library book, booktick.
That's where you'll find that stuff.
So I had a thing.
My wife and I had a discussion group.
And it was in the back right in the back of the children's area.
There was a room there.
I felt so creepy walking through.
There were all these kids around there.
They would look up and I look at you and stuff.
I felt creepy.
There was a DVD I wanted.
And it was a Disney DVD.
And it was in the children's thing.
I said, now, what'd it go?
They said, well, you can walk in.
I know I feel kind of creepy.
Oh man, walk it through our area.
Yeah, I didn't want that.
It's just me.
I know there's nothing wrong with it.
You know what I like going through?
The seats are all like, it's like miniature furniture.
I feel like land of the giants.
Because everything and the shelves, everything is low.
And by the way, here's a little children's tip.
When you go to the supermarket to the cereal section,
next time you take a look at the boxes,
all the characters' eyes are looking down.
Because they want to look at the children.
Cool and creepy all at the same time.
Tony the Tiger.
His eyes are looking down.
Two can Sam from Fruit Loops.
You can't believe I know his name is Two Can Sam.
His eyes are looking down.
All the cocoa puffs, all the pebbles, the pebbles,
they're all looking down.
Not very slightly.
But they're looking down because they want to make eye contact
with the children.
It's so cool.
It's smart and creepy at the same time.
All right, let's talk more about going on.
Yeah, so by the way, steam stands for
Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Math.
You got everything covered?
Yes.
Okay.
Yeah, so big things coming up is summer reading program
starts at the Racine Public Library on June 1st.
So we're having kids, teens, adults, and steam
of summer reading program.
And the steam one is open to everybody.
All ages, you just participate through the library's
Beanstack app.
You will participate in various activities that we have listed
on the challenge.
You'll earn tickets for every activity that you complete.
And then you can use those tickets to enter into
drawings for various prizes.
So this year for the steam,
challenge, we have a mini computer, a switch light,
an Apple iPad, an Apple AirPods.
So those are the prizes that you could choose.
Now when you see reading program,
somebody reads you or just you discuss books.
So the reading program is where you read a certain number
So ours are all based on challenges.
So the steam challenges is all activities that you'll do
based on the steam.
But like our summer reading program for adults,
they have a certain number of hours that they have to read.
Children have a certain number of hours.
They have to read.
To be honest, I don't know what the teens are doing quite yet.
I haven't seen anything come out on that one.
You know my wife reads to me.
We have a whole bunch of books at home we want to get to.
And she says, let's read a chapter tonight.
She reads them to me because she's such a great reader.
That's awesome.
And I lay in bed.
I do it.
And I love when she reads to me.
I never had people read to me in my life.
Really? I love to win my mom.
My brother read to me a little bit, everyone.
But not my wife.
She actually sees doesn't stumble.
She reads it perfectly.
Well, this is Donaldson.
We're seeing public live.
We've got lots more to talk about.
Don't forget, showers, thunderstorms, likely today.
Eyes near 66.
Part of cloudy tonight.
We'll see you at WRJ and home town radio refreshed.
99.9 FM.
98.1 FM.
On the legendary AM Frequency of 1400.
Y'all your phone number out in the middle of the store?
That's not smart. Security.
Ladies, don't yell your phone number out in the middle of the grocery store.
Not if I'm around.
Because I'll call you.
I'll call you up.
I called a lady a couple of weeks ago.
Y'all hell, yeah, this is Dennis.
I thought I'd be fine at the grocery store.
Yeah, I was wearing a brown shirt.
But you were kind of ignoring me.
But you gave me your phone number?
Well, you didn't give it to me specifically,
but I was there to catch it.
Thought I'd give you a call and see what's up.
So what's up?
I'd come by your house.
I don't know your address, though.
I can find it on the internet doing a $40 reverse look up.
But I thought you might save the money.
I'll come by and bring you some flowers.
You know, I don't know what kind of flowers you like.
But I do know your phone number.
My phone number?
No, I got that block caller ID.
Yeah, you can help me too careful these days.
A lot of nut shops out there.
A lot of whack shops.
It's no one that your door is always open.
And your path is free to walk.
That makes me tend to leave my sleeping bag rolled up and stashed behind your couch.
And it's no one I'm not shackled by forgotten words and bonds.
And the ink stains that are dried upon some line.
That keeps you in the back roads by the rivers of my memory.
It keeps you ever gentle on my mind.
It's not clinging to the rocks and ivy planet on their columns now that find me.
Or something that somebody said because they thought we fit together walk in.
It's just knowing that the world will not be cursing or forgiving.
When I walk along some railroad track and find.
That you're moving on the back roads by the rivers of my memory.
And for hours you're just gentle on my mind.
Though the wheat fields and the poles lines and the junkyards and the highways come between us.
And some mother woman's crying to her mother cause she turned and I was gone.
Melissa Donaldson with us this morning loved Glenn Campbell.
My mind what a great song she had.
Melissa Donaldson this year she's the head of digital services and innovation at the Racine Public Library.
And we're talking about all the stuff coming up this summer.
And here's the thing that I still can't grasp 3D printing.
I don't know how you can make a working object.
There's a guy trying to make a Lamborghini piece by piece with 3D printing.
How is he going to do the body?
I don't know.
But he's doing piece by piece trying to build a Lamborghini with this.
I don't think in a while but he's going to do it.
It's got to be expensive even by 3D printing standards.
I don't know how you print working things.
When it first came out I said to somebody it's not what you think it is.
Now I find out it's more than you think it is.
It's a really really cool technology.
You can make this pin.
I could.
You wouldn't but I couldn't.
It's cheaper to buy it.
Basically what 3D printing is really really good for is creating your first prototype of something
let's say you're inventing something.
That's what in the business world that's what is great about 3D printing.
At the library we do real basic introduction to 3D printing.
You have a 3D printer?
I have seven of them.
We do have 3D printers.
We offer classes throughout the year.
The 3D printers we have introduction to 3D printing which is a little more in depth.
Some of the programs that we're starting this summer.
They're going to learn about 3D printing and what they need to get started.
That's going to be open to adults.
It's going to be on the first one is going to be Tuesday June 4th from 10 a.m. to 11.
If you're interested in 3D printing that will be a good one to check out.
How do you teach them?
Is it like a copy machine where you put something under a lid and you push the button in the end?
There's some websites where people share the 3D images that they've created.
Basically you create a 3D file like a 3D image file.
Then you use that file you load it into what we call a slicing software.
Then that takes it and divides it into layers that the 3D printer can print for.
I have never seen anything done with a 3D printer.
I've heard about it.
If you wanted to make a copy of the microphone I'm using,
would you put it under the machine?
They do make scanners that you can have.
We don't have the scanners.
They do make scanners that can take a 3D scan.
It is plastic.
There are other materials that you can use but we use plastics.
This is twilight zone stuff.
It's really cool.
This past weekend for May the 4th we had a lightsaber for.
People came in and were able to build 3D printed lightsabers.
They had one of those sliding lasers from when we were kids.
You could do that with a 3D printer.
We did that with a 3D printer.
We printed all the pieces separately and the people got to put it together.
We created the file for us.
We did not create the file.
People were able to choose the colors they wanted.
They could choose what color laser they wanted.
They created a file.
Is it complicated?
For me?
Yes, I'm not an artist.
This is just amazing.
If you wanted to create something on your own you would need an AutoCAD.
I don't know how it transitions to radio works.
I don't know how this radio station works.
I don't know how you can get something in the air that bumps into people
and you can turn on a radio in your car and hear it.
That works.
There's no wires attached.
Could they make a prosthetic hand?
People have done that.
We have not.
But there are people who have made prosthetic hands for children.
Then it was easy to modify as they got older.
They were able to do it for a fraction of the cost.
3D printing is an amazing technology.
They're using it to print human cells so that they can use it to, at some point,
be able to print whatever work and we may need where people may not have to die on the transplant list.
That kind of stuff.
It is a really cool technology.
But again, we just do the basics.
We show you how the machine works, how to slice a file.
How to get on, how to start it.
That kind of thing.
So we're very, very basic intro.
We also do print things for the public as well.
If they have a file that they want, we do have a three hour limit per file.
And they can request one through our website racinglibrary.info.
This stuff, you know, I'm looking at a baby being born today in a hospital.
And that baby, by the time that baby is in the 30s and 40s, who knows what's going to be around?
Exactly. I mean, they've been saying for years, like, stuff that children are going to be working at.
They're being born out, the jobs may not even be here yet.
You know, like, they're not, we're not doing them yet.
So it's, it's really, really cool.
The rate and the jobs haven't been invented yet.
Yep.
You know, when I was at the 1964-65 Words Fair when I lived in New York, we used to go a lot.
And my parents took me one day and they were in the rest room.
My brother and I were out there.
And the bell system.
Remember the bell system?
That was a 18-
18-
They were called the bell, like bell telephone.
Yeah, the bell.
Alexander Graham Bell, yeah.
Oh, don't tell me you don't remember the bell system.
I'm not that old.
Anyway, so they had touch-tone phones in these phone booths.
And I said to my brother, you know what a touch-tone phone is.
Yeah.
So I said to my brother, let's ask dad if he'll let us make a phone call on it.
So my father came out, the seer of the future that he was.
And he said, nobody's going to use these button phones.
They can use the little thing where you put your finger in and turn around.
They can use that forever.
They didn't call him rotary dial.
He just had the regular telephone.
I said, can we make a phone call?
He said, no, you're not going to waste a dime to make a phone call.
It's just so you can use the buttons.
He said, they just hear it the fair.
You're never going to see them.
Again, my father a great seer of the future.
But that's where I first saw a touch-tone telephone at the world's fair.
They had a lot of innovation stuff at the world's fair.
Some stuff made it, some stuff didn't.
But still, and I'll tell you what we saw at the world's fair.
A building right here on 16th Street and received the Golden Rondell Theatre.
Oh, I bet.
He was the Johnson Wax Building and I was in it at the 1964 World's Fair.
It was red and white.
It wasn't gold then.
It was a red and white building.
I remember, I have a picture of my family standing in front of that.
At the Golden Rondell, yeah.
Yeah, so basically we're there to provide an introduction to that.
Can I make a copy of you?
Yeah.
So we don't need you anymore?
I don't think we've gotten that far.
I don't think we're able to.
Okay, so that's 3D printing in.
When is that coming up?
So we have various classes throughout the year on that.
But right now, the big ones for the summer are June 4th.
From 10 to 11.
July 15th from 1 to 2.
And again, on August 12th from 10 to 11.
So you would just register on our website, RacineLibrary.info.
All right.
Let's talk movies because you have the Black Cinema Series coming up.
Yes.
Yes.
So the Black Cinema Series is this movie series that focuses on movies produced by black producers about black characters.
This is going to be held in the community room.
So not in the innovation lab.
This is the only program that we're doing outside of the innovation lab.
It's in our community room because we have a really nice projector and sound system in there.
So they can feel like you're in the movies at the movies.
I love movies.
I know I think about movies.
I know everything.
And I just love movies.
And for the talk about a great producer director, Spike Lee.
I love some of his films.
Don't love all of them.
But I love some of them.
He does great work, Spike Lee.
And there's other ones to Gordon Parks.
Now, people that you might know who he is.
But he produced a lot of films in the late 60s, early 70s, Gordon Parks.
Great African American director producer.
And there's a lot of them out there.
And I'm glad you're going to feature that.
That's good.
Excellent.
Make stuff.
Picture puzzles.
All right.
Now, that I can do.
So basically, we had done this one before.
So make stuff series we brought back.
It's a craft series that we do throughout the year.
And June, we're going to be doing picture puzzles.
So basically, what we're going to do is we're going to need you to bring in a four by four inch picture.
I'm going to glue it to some cardboard.
We're going to cover it with some glued painters tape.
And then we're going to use the laser engraver to cut out the puzzle.
And the reason why we put the painter's tape on there is so that it actually doesn't burn the picture.
It burns the painter's tape because it is a laser.
It's a 40 watt laser that's actually cutting it.
Look what you guys are doing.
Yeah.
So it's really, really cool.
Other things that we're doing this summer is a variety of coding classes.
We have coding cadets.
We have virtual coding classes for all age ranges.
We're doing preschool and toddler steam time, where it's just time for little ones to explore.
The areas of science, technology, engineering, arts, and math.
So we have stations that parents can work with their children on just a plethora of stuff.
One really cool thing that our programming team is working on getting is the portable planetarium to come into the library and do a show for us.
So we're going to be hosting them on August 6th.
So we're very excited about that.
I can't believe it.
It's all free.
It's all free.
You don't have to make reservations.
But it's nice if you do so.
They know what it is.
Yeah, so like some of them are registration.
So a lot of my make stuff series, you have to register because we can only afford to buy supplies for a limited number of people.
So you do have to register for them.
And everything that is required has registration required lists that on our events calendar on our website.
So you'll be able to go there and
tinkering with robots, a variety of robots.
Yes.
Are these like, it's not like my room, but at home.
No, though we have one.
That's what cleans the innervation lab is like a little, little room.
Yeah, we don't have a room.
We have the knockoff.
Yes, we do too.
I find that amazing.
I don't know.
I don't know how that thing works, but it goes around the room, bumps into my feet when I'm trying to relax.
But there are ones that they can map out your room so they won't do the same spot twice.
That is really cool.
We do.
I have that one.
I just kind of bumps everywhere and kind of goes places.
Quick story here.
So I once had to do a voiceover work for a, it was a case, it was case.
I don't remember the tractor company.
And it was for a new tractor that farmers didn't have to be in the drive.
They programmed it.
It looked like a regular tractor and a plowed their fields for them from their computer.
You would program it and it would stay within a quarter inch of the previous line.
So it would do a perfect line of plowing, turn around and redo it again.
You know, the next line with an a quarter inch.
That's amazing.
And technology.
So what they would do is all night long, it would plow their field.
They didn't have to plow it.
You know, they just do it from their computer.
And I did this thing and I'm doing the voice work for it.
And I said, is this on the level?
Sure is.
You can buy the tractor and that's expensive.
But you can do and hold in there.
Well, listen, Donaldson is here.
We're talking about programs coming up this summer.
Are you techies?
Even the people that aren't techies, you'll learn how to be a techie.
You have to receive public library.
If you're a library, you pay taxes.
And this is your money hard at work.
Do, do, do, do.
Devil or angel.
I can't make up my mind.
Which one you are?
I'd like to pick up and find.
Devil or angel.
Do whichever you are.
I miss you.
I miss you.
Ah, Bobby V. Robert Ball.
Take good care of my baby.
And Devil or angel.
A lot of hit songs from Bobby V.
Ah, you know.
At 751, WRJ and Radio.
Shower some thunderstorms.
Lankley today with a hundred or sixty-six.
Part of Clotty tonight.
Low is 52.
Sunshine.
Gorgeous day tomorrow.
Highs near 69.
Right now, 54 in Part of Clotty.
Still a beautiful morning.
And Melissa Donaldson is here to talk with me.
She is the head of digital services.
An innovation at the Racine Public Library.
We've all heard of the bookmobile.
But have you heard of the tech mobile?
Looks like a giant ambulance.
Except this baby blue.
I think powder blue color.
And it is.
I'll just talk about that.
So the tech mobile was a real cool that we got.
I think it's coming up on two years.
Really?
In September, it'll be two years.
And it's really cool because we can...
Everything on there is focused on digital literacy.
So we have for all ages.
So we have digital literacy from babies all the way to adults.
But we also have regular,
so a few regular books on there as well.
So we are actually going to be having regular stops this summer,
starting July 9th through August 22nd.
On Tuesdays from 9am to 11am,
I'm going to be at North Beach Kids' Covet Playground.
Oh, yeah.
That's right, where I live now.
I used to walk my dog right by there.
And then on Thursdays from noon to two,
I'm going to be in the parking lot of the SC Johnson Community Aquatics Center.
You go there, huh?
You said you drive it.
I do drive it, yep.
How many people can fit inside at one time?
We've had like five or six.
It's not as big as our book mobile,
but we do work.
I'm going to do tech demos throughout the summer and there or so.
Oh, like Kids' Covet must be a line to get in that place.
Yeah, we haven't done this yet.
Oh, this is going to be...
This is going to be...
That's great, Kids' Co.
What a great area to be.
A nice parking lot there to pull into.
Yep.
And those little urchins running out and screaming
and want to touch everything.
Yep.
So we're going to bring out different tech throughout the summer,
out to the people.
So, yeah, we're really, really excited.
We're going to have internet.
I'm going to have a few computers that have internet access
so people need to check their email.
They can do that too.
Oh, that's great.
You know, this is great.
I had the book mobile when I was a kid,
which was fun going in there, grabbing a book,
but the tech mobile.
All these little kids running around in there learning stuff.
They probably know about it already.
That's a funny part.
It's still cool to see their faces light up when they learn something new.
So yeah.
So when they go inside,
give me a quick rundown of what's inside the tech mobile.
So right now what we have inside the tech mobile on a permanent basis
is our collection.
So we have early readers.
We have nonfiction.
We have all sorts of materials.
So we have like steam kits that people can check out.
Take home and learn a little bit more about steam.
What I'm going to be bringing is various technology,
like our 3D printers,
our small lid on the road.
Yeah, we have a few that we could take with us
that are easy to transport.
Whoa.
We'll have our Chromebooks out there
so people could check their email.
We'll have I'll be bringing various robots
so people could try various tech that we have in the innovation lab.
Kind of the innovation lab on the road a little bit, you know.
So we'll be bringing various things throughout the...
Let's hope for a nice weather when you do that.
Oh God, I hope so.
So when do you take that on the road?
We're starting on July 9th.
So July 9th through August 22nd on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
Now where do they get the schedule for this?
Okay, along we'll be a kid's call on this day.
It will be here at the Aquatic Center or this day.
It will be on our website,
every soon library.info.
Oh wow.
This is great stuff.
We do it with a kid again.
We really do.
It's for adults too.
It's not just for kids.
I know, but I'm six foot three
and I get clunky in these places and I bang my head.
I can't even walk on my basement without it.
My house is a hundred years old.
There must have been short people back then.
Because I walked through,
I got to bend down the into.
My wife is like five foot something.
She walks right through
and I bang my head on pipes and everything.
So yeah, but I want to, you know,
I don't want to take up space for those kids
because they deserve it.
This is fun.
Magic going to kids,
but then you go into that.
Then you go to the beach and get what a summer.
Yeah, it's going to be a fun summer.
We're really, really looking forward to it.
We also have open gaming lab this summer.
On Saturdays, July or June 22nd and August 17th.
This is open to kids in kindergarten through sixth grade.
Registration is required and again,
you can register on our website.
You can play.
We have various games on our computers.
The ones I like are like Minecraft.
I know Fortnite is really big.
Roblox is huge.
So those are some of the big ones.
I played a game last night in my wife's pad.
The iPad should count there.
And it was as quick as you can,
you had to match up these symbols.
They were like cards,
but they weren't card.
They look like cards.
A lot of them were Japanese symbols.
So they were close.
And I was, I did the baby one, the beginning one.
And I still had trouble doing it again.
And she's on the advanced.
She's, but holy macro.
Am I behind the evil on this stuff?
Well, this sounds great.
Let's talk about the digital fare again.
I want to get the times and dates in for the digital fare is coming up soon.
Yes.
The digital literacy fare is on May 18th,
from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Again, this is a partnership between the city of Racine's digital
via and round table,
city of Racine, Racine Public Library,
R.P.R.W.R.R.T.P. Big Step,
the Financial Empowerment Center,
Education Opportunity Center,
Safe and Sound,
everyone on.org,
AT&T and Expo,
and Racine Literacy Council.
So this is a big partnership between all these organizations.
We are having various workshops throughout the day.
Please register if you can.
If it's not required.
So if you could just want to show up and just go.
How would you want to know how many trips?
Yes, we want to know how many people to expect.
So how many stake in lobsters to bring out?
How many subway sandwiches to bring out?
Yeah, and we are partnering with lasagna loves.
So they're going to provide a lasagna lunch for anybody who
purchased them.
I was kidding.
You're really good.
We are, but you have to participate in the program.
And then you will get a ticket for lunch for that day.
So you know, when the authors were there two Saturdays ago,
they got lunch and everything.
It was a nice lunch.
I'm seeing these people leave their lunch.
I felt a bit of talking to them while they were eating.
But they said, no, no, no.
I'm taking a bite of food.
I said, you know,
I'll come back when you get down.
When he's, no, no, that's fine.
I just felt guilty talking to them while they were eating their sandwiches.
Well, this is just great stuff.
And all this stuff is on the library website.
If you just Google, we're seeing public library at Pops.
If I do it all the time.
But you have something else interesting on that website.
Whenever I'm looking for a movie, you go to the thing
and just click on category type in the DVD.
And not only does it tell you if it's available to a scene library,
it tells you every library it's available at.
Yes.
So someone's got to go out there and schlep and go pick it up for me.
And they did with both Godfather films.
I was looking for Godfather Coda and the Restoration.
They actually schlepped out wherever this was.
Yes.
So we do we are part of a multi-county system.
So we are part of your scene, Kenosha while we're in Rat County.
Is we are all one catalog system.
Thank you, Melissa Donaldson.
Thank you for coming by.
I have a digital services and innovation for the scene public library.
Tomorrow morning, Chris Maros in here because we're talking about
the WRNCHAN Historical Marker number nine in the history of this radio station.
And he even started here when he was a teenager.
And now look at him as an old man.
And you can tell you about that.
I'm Don Russ.
Catch you tomorrow morning at 6 a.m. here at WRNCHAN.
Home town radio.
We're fresh.