Week 7 Assignment #16 wikis

I logged onto the iHCPL sandbox wiki and added this blog to it. I also added my favorite animals, restaurants, vacation spots, and tv shows on the other iHCPL wiki pages.
OCLC has always seemed like a wiki to me although the contributors are limited. In the article I read for the last assignment, Chip Nilges, OCLC VP New Services talks about allowing non catalogers, including patrons, researchers, and faculty to contribute information to OCLC records. This function would make OCLC a true wiki.
The cartoon illustrates some problems inherent in wikis.

Now to something that really matters

Did you see the great story on 60 minutes last night about Plumpynut? Plumpynut is a ready to use theraupedic food (RUTF) developed by french scientist Andre Briend in 1999 and is used in countries where severe malnutrition in children is a problem. Plumpynut is a vitamin enriched mixture of peanut butter, powdered milk, and sugar which requires no refrigeration, water, or cooking. Last night's show focused on the group Doctors Without Borders and their use of Plumpynut in Niger, one of the poorest countries in West Africa. Doctors Without Borders distributes Plumpynut to parents and their children who often walk many hours weekly to receive their ration. The results are amazing. Within a few weeks there is noticeable weight gain in the children receiving Plumpynut.
"It's a revolution in nutritional affairs," says Dr. Milton Tectonidis, the chief nutritionist for Doctors Without Borders.
"Now we have something. It is like an essential medicine. In three weeks, we can cure a kid that is looked like they're half dead. We can cure them just like an antibiotic. It’s just, boom! It's a spectacular response," Dr. Tectonidis says.
For more information or to contribute to this great organization go to http://doctorswithoutborders.org or click on the link on the side of the page.

Week 6 Assignment #15 Library 2.0, Web 2.0

From Wikipedia: "Library 2.0 is a loosely defined model for a modernized form of library service that reflects a transition within the library world in the way that services are delivered to users. The concept of Library 2.0 borrows from that of Business 2.0 and Web 2.0 and follows some of the same underlying philosophies. This includes online services such as the use of OPAC systems and an increased flow of information from the user back to the library.

With Library 2.0 library services are constantly updated and reevaluated to best serve library users. Library 2.0 also attempts to harness the library user in the design and implementation of library services by encouraging feedback and participation. Proponents of this concept expect that ultimately the Library 2.0 model for service will replace traditional, one-directional service offerings that have characterized libraries for centuries."

Chip Niles, in his article "To more powerful ways to cooperate" talks about some of the ways OCLC is applying the principles of web 2.0 to enhance user services.
These include opening up WorldCat where anyone with a web browser can search OCLC and expanding the definition of "collective intelligence" by allowing more non-cataloging people, including patrons to contribute to OCLC records.

Week 6 assignment #13 Del.icio.us

I set up a Del.icio.us account. I'm hoping this will come in handy when I'm at Rice on the weekends and want access to my favorites I have bookmarked at HCPL.

Ted Rall

I have added a link over on the right (should be left) to the Ted Rall website. His latest editorial, Onward, Christian Panderers, is a great read, as are his earlier ones. HCPL has six of Ted Rall's books listed in the catalog including "Silk Road to Ruin : is Central Asia the New Middle East?" which I believe is his latest.

Week 6 assignment #14 Technorati

I learned from Wikipedia that Technorati is a search engine that indexes over 94 million blogs. I joined Technorati and added a few tags such as dogs, Antartctica, and anti bush to my profile. I plan to go back when I have more time and add an image and a profile. I also plan to do some searches with Technorati just to see what the advantages are to this type of search engine. I added the Technorati button to my blog and a picture of a nice looking guitar player wearing a Technorati shirt so this wouldn't be a completely boring post.

Bad things come in threes

That's what thedeciderints said and he is seldom wrong which is why he is "The Decider"
On monday when I got home the house was unusually hot. The 15 year old ac unit had finally broken. I was expecting this to happen and was very grateful it happened in October and not in August since the hottest my house got was a tolerable 85 degrees. I ended up getting a new ac and furnace and am now 7,000 poorer. I also missed the HCPL training conference. The next day my 11 year old car started smoking on my way to work. I took it into Demo's in the village on my way home and the radiator was cracked. That and the thermostat needed to be replaced. Now to the third thing. For a month or so I have been looking forward to seeing a friend of mine I haven't seen in over a year. We planned to have lunch on Friday and then maybe shop and just catch up. On Friday morning I started feeling sick but then I felt a little better by the time she showed up at my house. I was ok until about half way through the meal at Grotto. Then I started shivering and my teeth were chattering. I managed to drive home. My friend left and I went to bed. I had 103 fever. Pretty unusual for me to be sick.
BTW, I highly recommend Demo's for any type of auto repair. They do great work and are very reliable. I've been taking my car there for years and I never feel like I'm being ripped off. They are at 2438 Tangley right off of Kirby.

Fourdogmom in Utah

These pictures were taken on a trip across southern Utah in July (notice the snow) several years ago. Southern Utah is one of the most beautiful places I've ever seen, especially Bryce Canyon. We flew into Las Vegas, rented a car, and went to Bryce Canyon, Zion National Park, Arches National Park, Panguitch Reservoir, and Moab. There is a picture of me standing in front of Delicate Arch in Arches National Park. On the way home we had a few hours to kill so I decided to go to a casino and I ended up winning several thousand dollars.

New picture from icanhascheezburger

I'm so happy someone told me about this web site. I check it everyday and will occasionally post a really cute picture from it for those who don't remember to look.

Men make decisions. Women make dinner.

Here is a link to an article in the LA Times about new classes offered for women only at the Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-homemaking11oct11,0,900610.story

An excerpt from the article:

"The academic program, open only to women, includes lectures on laundering stubborn stains and a lab in baking chocolate-chip cookies. Philosophical courses such as "Biblical Model for the Home and Family" teach that God expects wives to graciously submit to their husbands' leadership. A model house, to be completed by next fall, will allow women to get credit toward bachelor's degrees by learning how to set tables, sew buttons and sustain lively dinnertime conversation."

And for a really funny response from baptistblog: http://baptistblog.wordpress.com/2007/08/09/swbts-to-offer-additional-degree/

Al Gore

In case you haven't heard, former Vice President Al Gore won the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize, a prize he shares with the U.N.'s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. I can't help but think how much better off the world would be if he had actually become president after he won the election in 2000. While I would be happy with any of the current democratic presidential hopefuls I would love to see Gore run in 2008 and think he has the best chance of winning and returning the White House back to the American people. There is a petition you can sign http://www.draftgore.com/ if you feel the same way.

Organic foods

I try to buy organic food whenever possible and have done so for years. Even my four precious dogs are into organics. I live close to a Whole Foods Market but most stores have organic sections now so finding organics shouldn't be an issue anymore. I'll blog later on why organic is important but for now here is a list of the dirty dozen top fruits and veggies from http://community.gaiam.com/ that one should always try to buy organic:

1. Peaches
2. Apples
3. Sweet Bell Peppers
4. Celery
5. Nectarines
6. Strawberries
7. Cherries
8. Lettuce
9. Grapes (imported)
10. Pears
11. Spinach
12. Potatoes

And here is a list of foods that are of least concern in terms of pesticides:

1. Onions
2. Avocado
3. Sweet Corn (frozen)
4. Pineapples
5. Mango
6. Sweet Peas (frozen)
7. Asparagus
8. Kiwi
9. Bananas
10. Cabbage
11. Broccoli
12. Eggplant

"We don't do body counts" General Tommy Franks

Maybe we don't do body counts but the IBC does and I have put a counter from their website database of violent civilian deaths during and since the 2003 invasion. "The count encompasses non-combatants killed by military or paramilitary action and the breakdown in civil security following the invasion." By their own admission this is a very conservative number. In October 2006 the Lancet, a well respected British medical journal, estimated over 650,000 deaths in Iraq. Everyday on the news we hear about the deaths of American soldiers (3,820), but we seldom see or hear on the news the death toll in the country we were supposed to be liberating. I would really like to see this administration tried for war crimes. I'm sure this will never happen but can't we at least impeach these criminals?

Impeach for peace

http://impeachforpeace.org/

Week 5: #12 The "Library" Elf will remind you!

I signed up with the elf. This will probably not be a very useful tool for me but I can see the usefulness for families with multiple users or those who use more than one library. I signed up for email account updates.

P.S. Now that I've had the elf for a few weeks I really like it. I like the reminders I get of all the materials I have on hold. HCPL tells us when we have an actual item ready for checkout but the elf tell us all the materials on hold.

Week 5: #11 A Thing about Library Thing

I created an account at librarything and added a few books. I added a widget and a little library thing icon. I'm going to look at some of the other library catalog sites because I would like to catalog some folk art objects I own and am interested to see if there is a web site for that.

Week 5: #10 Play around with Image Generators

This was fun. I created 3 Avatars and was even able to find one who was normal sized. I also put fourdogmom in lights with notcelebrity. Grace helped me resize fourdogmom in lights and then we lost it but then it magically reappeared. Must be the library elves at work (see later posts). I played around with a lot of other image generators.

Assignment # 9

OK. I think I did this before but maybe didn't label it. So here goes. I looked at Technorati and at Feedster. I like Feedster and added a purple feedster widgit to my page.

Breast Cancer Awareness Month

While looking at Salon I discovered a link to an organization http://www.thinkbeforeyoupink.org/

This is a project of Breast Cancer Action that calls for accountability by companies that use the pink ribbon campaign to promote sales of their products, many of which are linked to the disease itself. One example is Yoplait's "Save Lids to Save Lives." Yoplait yogurt is made with milk from cows treated with rBGH. Recent studies have shown a link between this growth hormone and an increased risk of breast, colon, and prostate cancer. Estee Lauder, which will donate $500,000 from it Pink Ribbon Collection, still uses chemicals such as parabens linked to breast cancer.

Before buying these pink products ask yourself these questions:

1. How much money from your purchase actually goes towards breast cancer?

2. What is the maximum amount that will be donated?

3. How much money was spent marketing the product?

4. How are the funds being raised?

5. To what breast cancer organization does the money go, and what types of programs does it support?

6. What is the company doing to assure that its products are not contributing to the breast cancer epidemic?

Contribute to a Cause, Not Cause-Marketers

"Far too many marketing campaigns exist for it to be possible to trace the threads of profit for each, and it’s difficult to verify whether a promotion is legitimate while you’re standing in the store. Make the best choice you can with the information you have. If you have trouble getting answers or if you feel that a promotion is questionable, write to the company responsible, consider buying a different product, and tell your friends"

Presidential poll

Here is a link to a poll to find out which candidate's views are closest to yours.
www.wqad.com/Global/link.asp?L=259460

The candidate I am most closely aligned with is Kucinich followed by Richardson and Edwards.

For Gindiaries

I found this on http://icanhascheezburger.com/ and immediately thought of gindiaries at http://manicelegies.blogspot.com/ who has issues with Mondays.

Ruthie the cat

Here is a picture of Ruthie. Ruthie used to live in the parking lot of an apartment complex where I lived.
She was one of many feral cats who lived there. I managed to round up most of the cats to be spayed or neutered at SNAP www.snapus.org When I moved I brought Ruthie with me she continues to live happily outdoors (her preference)
SNAP is a great organization which offers low cost or free neutering or spaying. They are located on Durham
near I-10. See their web site for more information.

Penguin movie

I did this using ImageShack

Anybody but a republican avatar

OK my avatar is done. I'm happy with all the democratic candidates so have tried to include as many as possible. My apologies to Richardson, Kucinich, and the others who would all make better presidents than the thug we have in office now.
Yahoo has full figured avatars which really aren't full figured but are at least more realistic. Here I am on the floor of the Democratic convention with my trusty dog Oxford.

Pugs not drugs

Here is Rosie in her new shirt. Rosie doesn't do drugs and wants everyone to know that if you have a pug (or most any other pet) you probably won't want to do drugs either. Rosie also acknowledges her issues with weight and would appreciate encouraging comments and suggestions as she pursues her fall fitness program with her mom.

BlueDog in the news

Houston's Farmer's Market

Every Tuesday from 3-7:30 pm there is a wonderful farmer's market set up in the parking lot south of Rice Stadium, University Blvd near Montclair with free parking in the lot at Entrance 9 or in the Greenbriar Lot, entrances 13A and 13B. For more info and directions see http://www.houstonfarmersmarket.org/

Some of the items for sale are: cucumbers, new potatoes, squashes, basil (8 kinds), mint (4 kinds), heirloom tomatoes, hothouse tomatoes, field tomatoes, chicken, beef, lamb, cheeses, milks, fresh prepared foods, peas, homemade breads & sweets, pastured eggs, local honey, handmade soaps, plants, herbs, and flowers. All locally produced, some organic!

Michael Vick takes PETA's empathy course

I received this letter in my Yahoo mailbox this morning from Ingrid Newkirk, president of PETA, my favorite organization.

"Following news of his guilty plea, I contacted Michael Vick suggesting that he hear—for the first time in his life, he confirmed—about animal protection issues, learn how animals feel joy and pain and deserve respect, and receive specific instruction on what to say to young people whom he has influenced in the worst possible ways. In mid-September, Michael Vick visited PETA's headquarters in Norfolk, Virginia, to meet with me privately. I told him that PETA advocates an end to all exploitation and needless violence based on prejudice, including the prejudice against other species, and that we believe that he should equip himself with information and materials in order to be able to live up to his responsibility to counsel children not to engage in cruelty to animals. He expressed his willingness to learn and his belief that everything in life happens for a reason, and he offered an apology to PETA and to "everyone" for "what I have done to dogs." I also explained that even if he took our basic empathy course, our position that he should serve jail time and have a lifetime ban on contact with animals would nevertheless remain unchanged, and he accepted that. Two weeks ago, Michael Vick returned to PETA to take the "Developing Empathy for Animals" course, an all-day seminar on "who animals are," alternatives to cruelty, animal protection philosophy, and humane education, which PETA has now excerpted online. We believe that this course should be adopted by the NFL for all players to take in order to give them a chance to learn empathy, compassion, and nonviolence. Two days after the seminar, Vick came back to PETA's office to take the course exam.PETA's course teaches the Golden Rule—treat others as you wish to be treated. Only time will tell whether Michael Vick has benefited from what he has learned, but he has pledged to use this knowledge to urge kids not to follow in his footsteps and to be kind to animals. Meanwhile, we are urging the NFL to take the important step of requiring that every player do what Michael Vick has done and take the course in order to help prevent future acts of violence against animals and to equip players with information about respecting animals that they can share with their young fans.Although the Vick story served as the first glimpse for many people into the gory details of dogfighting, the abuses detailed in Vick's indictment are as widespread as they are horrific. In the last year alone, PETA has responded to more than 14,000 calls and e-mail messages regarding other dogfighting and individual cruelty-to-animals cases. The crucial step now is to urge policymakers and law enforcement officers to treat all cases of dogfighting and cruelty to animals the same way that they handled Vick's high-profile case. To that end, please join PETA and ask the NFL to require that all its players, some of whom have been involved in a series of cruelty-to-animals cases, attend PETA's "Developing Empathy for Animals" course."

DUH

The Decider in TS has pointed out why one might want an RSS feed instead of just having something book marked. When you look at the bloglines account you set up, it tells you automatically if anything new has been added to that site, saving you the time and trouble of going to every site everyday. OK now lets hear it ... DUH.
I admit it, I'm slow. That's why it so nice to work with so many helpful people including thedeciderints, ancatexanca, and librarylioness8. Thanks!

Washington Square Serenade

Steve Earle's new CD has arrived! You can listen to samples at www.amazon.com.

Videos

You may notice on the right hand side of my blog are 2 videos. Be sure and listen to the music that goes with them. I'm experimenting with all the fun features available on blogger. The cats and kittens one is for ancatexanca and all the other cat lovers.

Please don't make me catalog this

Jenna Bush has "written" a book. I found this little poem by Madeleine Kane about her on the internets. It's funny now but it won't be when I actually have to catalog the thing.

A Bush twin (not Barb, but the other)

Is shopping a kid’s book. Oh, brother!

Can Jenna Bush write?

Do her verbal skills bite?

Let us hope she takes after her mother.

Pot of Gold??

Pot of Gold??, originally uploaded by MaggieOAE.

Imagine a rainbow in Antarctica! From my RSS assignment I went to the Antarctica site I had added and found this truly magnificent picture.

Week 4 assignment RSS

I subscribed to 16 different sites including Salon, Treehugger, and an Antarctica feed. I'm sure the usefullness of this will become clear later. For now I don't get it as it seems simpler to me to just bookmark the sites I look at everyday. Because this is rather boring I have included 2 cartoons to amuse the reader.

Kandinsky cubed

Monarch butterfly trip

Every winter millions of monarch butterflies migrate to the mountains of central Mexico from North America. A few year ago I went on a trip to see the butterflies and also to see the surrounding area including Mexico City. Here are some pictures from that trip. Included are pictures of Mexico's 4th highest peak, a painting by the artist Tamayo, a Diego Rivera mural featuring Frida Kahlo, pictures from Museo Nacional de Anthropologia, Mexico City, and a picture of fourdogmom at Teotihuacan. I have more pictures in an album if anyone at HCPL wants to see them.

Kitties

Here are some kitties I had before the dogs took over. Clockwise, starting with the black cat, are Slicky, Cricket, Sally, and Burke. Burke has on a Snoopy polo shirt and is sitting on my daughter's desk in our house on Catina in New Orleans.

Paul Klee

One of my favorite artists is Paul Klee (pronounced Clay), the Swiss expressionist painter. Here are examples of some of his works.