A time for renewal, a time for learning

It's been a while since I've posted. After the coldest April on record (for the Pacific Northwest) and a mostly dismal May,  it's finally starting to be spring-like where I live.

Learning something new can be a great way to shake off the dust of a season that was less-than-wonderful. One fabulous place to get some learning in is TED. TED stands for Technology, Entertainment, and Design. This non-profit started as a conference in 1984 and evolved into an internet idea exchange venue. The videos, called "talks" are fun way to see what experts and artists are doing. As you can see, entertainment is part of what TED is about. There are talks broken down into themes that are subject based-business, science, technology, etc. Then within each theme is a number of talks.

Another great avenue for learning is PBS! Not only does public broadcasting give us educational shows, they also provide educational resources online. You'll find videos galore and some episodes of their popular programs.

How about a little radio online? I'm talking about NPR. You can listen, read, comment, and get more involved in the burning topics of the day. Try Car Talk for figuring out what that noise is your car is making or take a look at the Food section to see what's in store for the food truck craze.

Local and national museums are another treasure trove of  learning. You don't have to go in person to discover something new. Check out the website for your local museum and I'm sure you will be enlightened by something. Take a look at the MuseumStuff, a guide to museums online.

Happy discovering!

Just in Time for Spring!

Image Source: Butterflywebsite.com

Spring is one of my favorite seasons. Hopefully this year's will be bright, wonderful, and filled with new possibilities. One way to get yourself moving in the direction of springlike, transformative thought is to take a look at this fabulous database:
Butterflies and Moths of North America
This database is a project of the Big Sky Institute at Montana State University. The image gallery can be searched by scientific or common name. The site also offers identification tools.

Bug Guide is a place to go to find out what type of ant is eating the potato chip crumbs off your kitchen floor. It is run by volunteer naturalists.

Another place to go to find bug  identification is What's that Bug? This site is run by armchair entomologists so take this as a mix of entertainment and a place to get a little starting information. Readers send in pictures with the hope that someone will know what bug it is.

Step Right Up! See the Ringling Brothers Collection!

I just found out, through Infodocket, that the University of Florida Digital Collections added a Ringling Collection. The collection can be searched, but what really caught my eye was the "Themes" tab. It's a listing of all the different backgrounds or elements that are part of the photo. This includes everything from baldness, to draperies, to supernatural beings. (It's odd to see that five of the actresses were photographed with cats. I thought there would be more.)

Other places to see Ringling history are The John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art, the Wisconsin Historical Society, and The Circus in America (via the University of Virginia's Institute for Advanced Technology in the Humanities).

Some great fiction titles that go with circus history are:
Carter Beats the Devil by Glenn David Gold  
Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen
Geek Love by Katherine Dunn (much, much spicier than Water for Elephants, not for the faint of heart)

Bees.

I love bees. I think they are amazing! They are socially complex, nicely armed, and fun to watch.

Here are some fun facts about bees, taken from Nova Online.
Bees pollinate 95 different crops which translates to $10 million a year for the U.S. economy.
Bees cannot see the color red, but they do see ultraviolet colors.
The queen decides the sex of the young.
Bees fly at about 15 mph.

Scientists believe that the history of the honeybee begins in Africa. In the Science Daily article, "Out of Africa: Scientists Uncover the History of the Honeybee," researchers deduce that the "killer" bee and the honey bee have the same origins.

Have you heard of Colony Collapse Disorder? It's a pretty dangerous situation that's going on in the bee world. Colonies seem to just die. This disorder, on the rise since 2006, can cause a beekeeper to lose anywhere from 50-90% of his or her colony. The University of Florida Extension has a nice, understandable, short paper on Colony Collapse Disorder. You can also find out more about this in places like the Public Library of Science Biology Journals. NPR has an archived interview from back in 2006 when the disorder was starting to escalate. Bee Decline Threatens Farm Economy is a quick  interview with a professor from UC-Davis.

What else is it with bee? They inspire people. Take a look at the online gallery Bees in Art. It describes itself as "the world's first gallery devoted to bees". Perhaps the bees will inspire you too.

Police Guides!

I enjoy reading about crime, especially when the bad guy gets caught. There is a whole world of information out there on crime. One place to go to find some great guides on crime is the Center for Problem Oriented Policing. The organization, directed by academics in law and criminal justice, produces guides to help the police deal with crime. Their publications deal with such topics as: Theft of Scrap Metal, Aggressive Driving, and Asset Forfeiture.

The guides give a definition of the crime, an overview of how it may be perpetrated, who the likely victims are, how to deal with incidents of the crime, and how to assess the effectiveness of dealing with the crime. These guides are fascinating! According to the site, the Department of Justice distributes theses guides throughout the world.

There's an association for everything.

Today I ran across an association I had not heard of. It's the American Association of Wine Economists.Yes, that's right wine economists,. The association focuses on economic research and analysis and publishes a journal.

Since I'm already on the subject of wines, here are some other associations that are wine-specific.
The Wine Institute-This association represents California wineries and is a springboard for advocacy, industry reports, and facts about wine.
WineAmerica-the  National Association of American Wineries.This is an advocacy organization that supports members through political action and research.
AVERN (American Viticulture and Enology Research Network)-this organization is made up of university and industry researchers. Their goal is to put the US on the cutting edge of viticulture through research and technology. However, they have no funding so I'm not sure how that works. By the way, enology refers to the art of wine making and viticulture means the cultivation of grapes and grapevines.
Fermenters International Trade Association.-Yes, that's right, fermenters. This groups goes beyond wine to include home brewing. They aim to promote the "frementation trades" that include home brewing and home wine making. The site provides tips for those wanting to open a business in the "fermentation trades".

Don't say it. Or type it. Or text it.

The fine folks at Lake Superior State University in Sault Ste. Marie, MI, keep a running list of banned words.These are words that have been nominated because people deem them to be "misuse, overuse and general uselessness".

Take a look at the 2011 list. I use a few of these gems. Perhaps you do too. I'm just sayin'.

Soldiers and art

Through Resource Shelf I learned about this exhibit called the Art of the American Soldier going on at the National Constitution Center. The online gallery gives an amazing peek into the act of dealing with war through making art about it. The images offer a wide range of perspectives from the comedy of cartoons to the stark image of a realistic bandaged face. Dating from 1910 to 2010, this one hundred year span of art is quite startling.

It's no secret that art can help people. Making art can be more than just expressive; it can be necessary to who we are, in whatever moment we are dealing with. Take a look at the American Art Therapy Association for what's going on in the news and research about art therapy.

What to do if Delicious disappears

If you haven't heard-Yahoo! is trying to get rid of its popular bookmarking site Delicious. And, like the article says, people are freaking out. This worries me, as I rely on it to a handle on what I see on the web (see my linkroll). According to the Delicious blog, they're not disappearing. They're looking for a buyer. If you're like me, you take some tech news with a grain of salt.

Here's a short article on 5 Delicious Alternatives. It can't help to be prepared.

National Archives Site Redesign

Take a look at the National Archives and Records Administration Site! The redesign is fabulous! It looks clean and friendly.

Consumer Trends!

Take a look through trendwatching.com's list of Consumer Trends for 2011. They include several predictions toward giving and social consumerism. In general, I see these trends as quite positive, even for libraries. I'm all for large economic powers giving back to not just their local communities, but the global community too.

Consumers are becoming more and more web-social savvy and putting in their two cents on a service or product. Not only does this create community, it also creates a certain level of accountability on the part of the manufacturer. You can't hide from a bad review that everyone is reading.

Also included are trends toward the demand for green products and products that help us live better. The list is quite interesting! Check it out!

Hurry! NaNoWriMo is almost over.

I was late to the party on this and NaNoWriMo is almost over. What's that? It's National Novel Writing Month. The goal is to write a 50,000 word novel by midnight, Nov. 30. No kidding. Why? Because it's fun! This is all about quantity, not quality. (The site emphasizes this.) Last year 165,000 people did it! You can too. Of course, if you haven't started by now....
You have 8 days
That's only 6,250 words a day
You can do it!

Science Fiction or Non-Fiction?

I just found a fun website via Resource Shelf. Purdue University runsImpact:Earth! It even has it's own Intro Video that looks just like a movie trailer!

If you've always wanted to calculate the impact of an asteroid (with specific density, etc). on the Earth (and who hasn't?), then this is the resource for you.

Or, perhaps this website isn't your thing but you like to watch movies about asteroids colliding with Earth. Here's a list. (Please note that I do not endorse the viewing of any particular film listed here, especially Armageddon. It's a stinker, IMHO.)
Armageddon
Deep Impact
Meteorites
Doomsday Rock
Fire in the Sky

The encyclopedia-a most underrated resource!

Every now and then I like to do a random search for something I know nothing about. (Okay, I actually do this often.) It keeps me on my toes. Today I felt like finding out about strange encyclopedias. I regularly use WorldCat so that seemed like a logical place to go to get a a million and one results. As I'm doing this, I realize I want reviews of encyclopedias. So off to another resource!

I also did some looking on Booklist Online. (Note: to get the long view of the reviews you do have to be a subscriber. However, some of the titles feature "buy it on Amazon" links. You can go use these to hop on Amazon to see reviews listed there too. Some come directly from Booklist.)
The American Beauty Industry Encyclopedia
The Encyclopedia of Perception
Liberators, Patriots and Leaders of Latin America:32 Biographies 
The Encyclopedia of Things that Never Were: Creatures, Places, and People

Celebrate Sept 25-Oct 2, 2010! Read a Banned Book!

It's Banned Books Week! That means it's time to celebrate! Get out to your library, your bookstore, your e-book, reader, your blog, your wherever/whatever and support the right to make your own reading selections. Here are a couple of sites that give the background, events, interesting fact, and courses-of-action on Banned Books.
American Library Association (ALA)
Banned Books Week
New York Times-10 Ways to Celebrate Banned Books Week
Banned Books.com

New Thesaurus

Wordnik has a new thesaurus.Wordnik offers a few extra features not traditionally found in a dictionary or thesaurus. It gives Flickr images that are tagged with the searched word, Twitter tweets that use the word, statistics on how many times it has been searched, and a chart of "occurrences of the word, per million words". There are also nerdy extras, such as the Scrabble score of the word. Do you know how many times the word "kitten" has been looked up? I do. (628 as of this writing).

Weird Books!

I thoroughly enjoy lists of strange titles, odd book covers, and hilariously out-of-date volumes. Therefore, when a friend sent me a link to Abe Books' Weird Book Room. Oh my, these books are funny. Here's a list of some of my favorites:
Fantasy: The Incredible Cabbage Patch Phenomenon
Cadaver Dog Handbook
Cheese Rolling in Gloucestershire
Hanging Out the Upside Down Exercise Book
50 Sad Chairs

Take a look at this list. I'm sure you'll find something unusual.

Archive o-rama

The Internet Archive has a subscription-based service called Archive-It. It's a place where organizations can keep their "born digital" content. It looks like a range of k-12 schools, small government offices, and universities are choosing to archive their digital content here. I searched through the public collections. It seems to me that organizations are still getting a handle on what they want to store in Archive-It. A lot of the pages I ended up on didn't have much content or were unclear. In any case, this fee-based service might be a great place to store content. It's worth keeping an eye on.

Some startling numbers

Today I came across some statistics that, frankly, shocked me. Here they are:

1.)"One in six working Londoners is functionally illiterate."
This is in the So Why Can't They Read? put out by the UK-based Centre for Policy Studies.

2.)"The number of food-insecure people at the aggregate level will not improve much over the next decade, declining by only 1 percent. While there will be notable improvements in Asia and Latin America, the situation in Sub-Saharan Africa is projected to deteriorate after 2010. Food-insecure people are defined as those consuming less than the nutritional target of 2,100 calories per day per person."
This comes from the Food Security Assessment, 2010-2020.The report is put out by the U.S. Department of Agriculture Economic Research Service.

Fun Facts and Bibliographies to the Rescue!

Facts too often suffer from being boring. Allow me to present some place where facts, can be, and actually are, fun!

The Library of Congress Science Reference Services put together Everyday Mysteries . You can type things in the search box and find out things like:
Who Invented the TV dinner? (yummy photos!)
Can zebras be domesticated? (I don't want to ruin this one, but some of you may be disappointed.)

Other good places to hunt out facts are resources listed in bibliographies. The Library of Congress Science Reference Services has many fine research guides that have such bibliographies. Perhaps you think, "Oh, bibliography...boring." Not so! Check out some of these:
Picnics
The Science of Smell
African American Women in the Military and at War
Beer and Brewing

See? Facts can be quite entertaining!