November 27, 2006 by Alison.

The Tech Library is a U.S. Patent and Trademark depository. One of the things I do to pass time is look up some of the ridiculous things people are coming up with…you would be surprised what gets patented. I found this gem on a list of off the wall ideas.

A Rubber Band man? The pages take a while to load..but worth the wait for the excruciating detail on the concept. Explore the site while you are there.

Its started a whole industry apparently. Rubb-Origami.

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November 27, 2006 by Alison.

According to David Pogue, techie writer for the New York Times and soon to be host of Discovery Channel’s “Its all Geek to Me”, there is no difference between prints of the same size from a 5, 8 and 13 megapixel camera, respectively.

 In theory you should be able to tell a difference…the reality it appears not or at least not noticeable to 95% of people tested.  Hmm, I should run my own test..a future blog perhaps?

Anyway, check out Pogues commentary , in the “The Truth about digital cameras“..

Posted in Photography | No Comments »

November 27, 2006 by Alison.

I take it everyone had a good Thanksgiving.

To give new meaning to the definition of Vegetarian: its a paper Turkey, designed in 3d open source software, Blender.

Check it out in MAKE.

One of our favorite past times here at the library is digging for new useful, free software…and giving it a test run. Blender is one of those such discoveries. To accompany your test run of Blender: the documentation: check out this site for other free tech related documents.

Considering Blender is completely free, open source, software its worth the download: Its small in size and runs on many platforms. Compared to other 3d modeling software such as Maya (used in animated features such as Shrek )..it does quite well, but having read various comparisons it sounds there is more room for “experimentation as you go” with Maya. When using Blender its best to already have a well thought out design /plan. Maya allows for more flexibility.

For more on Blender…check out the artists forum.

Posted in Computers /Technical | No Comments »

November 21, 2006 by Alison.

With election time having just past I’ve found myself caught in the middle of various political conversations. It always pays to know where to go to get up to date government information, don’t rely on your local paper. You have to do some digging, but it’s usually out there and it’s usually free.

FGI recommended blogs/ sites

• Federal Computer Week (FCW) [Feed]
• FDSys blog — The blog of the Government Printing Office’s “Future Digital System (FDSys).” [Feed]
• Government Computer News [Feed]
• Government Publications Library–University of Colorado at Boulder [Feed]
• Government Technology [Feed]
• Memory Blog, the blog for The Memory Hole [Feed]
• Open Access News [RSS Feed, Atom Feed]
• Red Tape Blog — Michigan State University library and GODORT of Michigan [Feed]
• Secrecy News [Feed]
• Swem Government Information [Feed]
• UC Berkeley GovBlog [Feed]

Posted in Interesting News/ Facts | No Comments »

November 21, 2006 by Alison.

There has been a rumor circulating that Vegemite has been temporarily banned by the FDA due to the ingredient folate,an FDA regulated food additive , which in the United States is only allowed in bread and cereal?..not spreads? Whats the difference?..Ok, if this isnt confusing enough, conflicting tales have some saying there is no validity to the Vegemite story, but then it is odd that it seems to be out of stock at most grocery stores.

What exactly is Vegemite? If your not already familiar with the “Men At Work” song “Down Under”..Vegemite is a salty spread used for toast and sandwiches made from yeast extract. The product is imported from Australia.

Why my interest in the ban?…I grew up on Vegemite’s first cousin, Marmite ( the British version and much better in my opinion..sorry Vegemite fans.)
I looked around and could find no such ban on the FDA site. Although I was able to locate seizures of Vegemite and Marmite “at the borders” in the  FDA refusal reports.

Wanna see what people are getting stopped at the border with?

Refusal Reports

Seems as if the conflicting stories are a result of the fact the problem is with Kraft, the US distributor of Vegemite. Kraft it seems , due to the folate issue (labeling perhaps?), is not allowed to import Vegemite for distribution until the problem is resolved, but individuals are allowed to bring Vegemite into the country.

My suggestion: switch to Marmite–its much better.

My recommedation for tasty british treats…Taste of Britain in Norcross– lots of wonderful teas, spreads, treats of all kinds…

Posted in Interesting News/ Facts | No Comments »

November 21, 2006 by Alison.

Since Im on the topic today, a few informative links on the subject of marketing and libraries:

Marketing Blog 

 Article

Posted in PR projects | No Comments »

November 20, 2006 by Alison.

I was recently assigned to the PR/Marketing committee. One of the focuses here is applying business philosophy in an academic environment. Marketing the library and its resources to the student body is crucial to the success of an organization. Demystifying research tools while making the library and its staff approachable are key. The committee is embarking on various projects to promote library databases and other resources.

One such project is the T-paper. A monthly newsletter aimed at library patrons.

The hope is for something eye catching, brief, yet informative. The newsletter format calls for a captive audience; what better place to put a “T-paper” than the public restrooms. The T-paper has been in place for over a year now and has been overall fairly successful. I took over design in November and edited October. Work was done in Photoshop and Illustrator.

Summer T-paper:

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November 19, 2006 by Alison.

FREE E BOOKS

not a big fan of reading online…but these are worth a look.

• Project Gutenberg: “There are 18,000 free books in the Project Gutenberg Online Book Catalog.”
• WorldeBookFair: for a limited time, you can have access to over a million free ebooks.
• 55 Ways to Have Fun with Google: a fun eBook from Phillip Lenssen on how to get more out of Google.
• WorldLibrary:”More than 330,000+ unabridged original single file PDF eBooks by the original authors.”
• FreeTechBooks: just like the name of the site, you can get free technology-related books here.
• iPod eBook Creator: enter in a text file and this handy utility converts it to a file you can view on your iPod.
• ReadPrint:”Our website offers thousands of free books for students, teachers, and the classic enthusiast.” Lots of free classic books and literature here.
• FullBooks.com: organized alphabetically; there are a TON of books here.
• Bartleby eBooks: a huge array of classic literature, all available for free download.
• Bibliomania:”Free Online Literature with more than 2000 Classic Texts.”

Posted in Reading, books .. | No Comments »

November 19, 2006 by Alison.

Really great site explaining Politics and the all powerful dollar.

Open Secrets
Lobbying Overview:
Top Spenders, 2006