Just for Fun

People, Parking and Performance

/ dwakimoto

Sorry, just couldn’t resist a blog post alliteration on a Monday. The weekend is over and a new week is upon us, but luckily Mondays have something going for them that no other day has (well, actually, that is not entirely true, Wednesdays and Fridays have it too). What is that you say? A brand new xkcd cartoon. I thought we would start off with a cartoon before diving into the techie heart of this Monday’s post.

 

Parking from xkcd

Parking from xkcd

I could not resist this cartoon–haven’t you ever wanted to do that when someone has parked askew, taking up 2 spaces and there are no other ones in the parking lot? People really, really need to work on their parking skills. Or they could just save money, and help save the planet, by buying a smaller, more fuel efficient car. But enough on parking, off to the techie stuff of the day.

Have you heard that YouTube has a new YouTube EDU site. Yes, YouTube EDU, you heard that correctly. The site brings together videos from colleges and universities that have channels and post videos on YouTube, making it easier to sell teachers, professors and other instructors on the value of incorporating YouTube videos in their classroom or in assignments. Yay, for learning being interesting and in multimedia format! Check out the Compliment Guys at Purdue University. Rock on for making people smile! And nice job to all the universities producing such fun videos.

Have you checked out IE8 (Internet Explorer) yet? Here is a very nice review comparing IE8 to IE7. All I could think when reading the article was, that sure sounds a lot like Chrome. So if you use IE7 it sounds like it is time for an upgrade, if you haven’t already moved to IE8. I’m always fascinated by what browsers people use. I have to say that I’m a complete Chrome fan, but have Firefox portable to use whenever I’m doing research for Zotero since I no longer have access to EndNote Web. If you want to share what browser you use and why, leave a note in the comments.

Do you dread calling 1-800 numbers because of the annoyance of speaking to an automated system or pressing “1” so many times you’re afraid you might break the button on your phone? If so, check out 50-Plus Hacks and Tips to Get to a Real Person at Any Corporation in 10 Seconds or Less. This is a good list of tips and tricks, especially handy if you don’t already RSS and read The Consumerist. Because, as we all know, sometimes you just really need to talk to a real person–not a machine.

That’s it for this Monday’s edition of The Waki Librarian. Have a great week and the Waki Librarian will be back with more later this week.

Geek Stuff

/ dwakimoto

I’ve been thinking a lot about geeky stuff lately. Well, I guess that isn’t surprising, considering I write this blog. I think about gadgets, Web 2.0 stuff, science fiction and science fact all the time. But this week it has seemed like geeks are taking over the world–and I think that is a good thing. So here are some fun sites that allow you to embrace your inner geek.

This is a great post on the Ten Annoying Habits of a Geeky Spouse. I love this post. It is funny and so true. So have a chuckle and then look around the GeekDad blog and Wired’s website in general for more fun.

So many of you probably already know about ThinkGeek. But if you don’t, go take a look and find “stuff for smart masses.” From wacky t-shirts to awesome office supplies, you will find something for everyone who is a little or a lot on the geeky side of life. And just remember, as the Vlogbrothers say, there is nothing wrong with being a nerd–or a geek for that matter.

And finally, here is the link to Academic Earth. This is an amazing collection of video lectures and courses from some of the great professors from universities such as Yale, Stanford and MIT. So check out some videos and be prepared to learn. I think this is a great addition to the online video world of education and innovation–nice complement to TED talks if you are already using them.

Have a great day and have some fun. The Waki Librarian will be back with more later.

Making Mondays Productive

/ dwakimoto

Sorry about the delay between posts. With finals week and actually stepping away from the computer for a weekend, I feel like I’ve not blogged in ages. So, without further ado, here are some helpful sites and random fun for making Monday both productive and just a little bit fun.

I am a complete Google Chrome convert. I still use Firefox for the extensions and for those few sites that don’t translate well in Chrome, but for the most part I’m a Chrome fan. So I am so excited for this announcement that Google has released a new Beta version. Now maybe they’ll be working on a version that works on Macs so more people can experience Chrome. This beta version is supposed to be faster, so score one for productivity help on a Monday.

Next up is spring cleaning because it actually is spring (even if it still feels like winter in parts of the country). So what better time is there to clean up your office so you can work more efficiently instead of burrowing through piles of paper in the attempt to find the one report you need that was in hardcopy? Lifehacker has this article and before and after photos of some great office transformations. So get cleaning! Not only will you have a cleaner office but you just might have some more ideas after getting some physical exercise (via cleaning). I know I often get my best ideas when walking and think more clearly in a clean workspace, although when writing my office often resembles the aftermath of a paper tornado. Anyway, get a jump on spring cleaning by starting with your office.

If you use digital images in your work, then you will love this list of 30 free image resources. Yes, there are places to get free and legal images on the web. My personal favorite is EveryStockPhoto. So go grab some images and get creative–you’ll need an outlet for all the ideas you come up with after cleaning your office.

And finally, we can’t leave off a Monday post without having a little fun. So here is Surfline’s Top 10 Colleges for Surfing. Yes, here is a list of the best colleges to attend for surfing. California is well-represented and I can personally attest to the influence of surfing at UCSC. If the swells were good in the spring, classes would be (un)surprisingly, poorly attended.

Have a great, productive and fun Monday. More later this week.

Getting Things Done

/ dwakimoto

Since it is the end of the quarter, I’ve been thinking a lot about how to get more done in less time, mostly because of the fast turnaround time required between giving final exams and when the grades are due. So here are some articles that might help you get things done.

The first battle of the day is actually getting up. If you’re not a morning person, you probably need some motivation for getting up in the morning. That’s where this great article from Wired comes in–here’s tips for getting out of bed. Try a couple and maybe you’ll be a morning person too, or at least not as reluctant to get out of bed.

This Cult of Done Manifesto has got to be my favorite thing that has come over my RSS feeds this week. Made by Joshua Rothhaas (a.k.a. spatulated), licensed under Creative Commons, and just plain awesome. Become part of the Cult of Done and actually get things done. I love all the advice, but especially like the advice, “Laugh at perfection. It’s boring and keeps you from being done.” I’ve got it taped on my wall right about my computer monitor so I can remember that “Done is the engine of more.”

Okay, well, this might tie as my favorite thing to come over the RSS feeds recently. Microsoft might always get the label of big, bad corporation, but now it has a Creative Commons Add-in for Microsoft Office. This rocks. Download and install this Add-in and get led through a few easy steps to create the Creative Commons license of your choice and easily insert the license into your Word document, Excel spreadsheet, or PowerPoint presentation. How cool is that? I love it. Not only does this let you get done with your work more quickly, no more hunting around the Creative Commons site for the license you want, but it also allows you to disseminate your work and hopefully spark ideas for others so they can get their work done too. Isn’t technology and sharing great?

And finally, all this talk of working, getting more done and productivity might be making a few of you overwhelmed with all the things that librarians and information professionals need to get done, like, yesterday. Well, take a quick break with the comic strip Unshelved. Check out this comic about Twitter, have a laugh, and then feel better about getting back to work.

Have a great day, read a lot, and we’ll see you next time on The Waki Librarian blog. Thanks for reading.

Thoughts on a Friday

/ dwakimoto

Don’t you just love Fridays? Even if you have to work on Saturday, like me, Fridays are still great. Everyone is just in a better mood and it seems like everyone is more relaxed. So in honor of Friday, I have an assortment of goodies from Wired. Tech on a Friday; can life get any better?

So, just to be clear, I have nothing against Apple or Macs in general. I will give it up to Apple for running some of the savviest marketing campaigns ever–they’re so good that they make people forget that Apple is a huge corporation that has massive amounts of proprietary formats. I mean Apple is genius at marketing. Not to mention, they have some very nice products.

With that said, I have to now say that I love this article: “Why the Japanese Hate the iPhone.” It isn’t surprising in any way as, by and large, Japanese products sell better in Japan than products from other countries. Also, as the article notes, Japan is lightyears ahead of other parts of the world in advancing technology and using it in new ways. Stories on cellphones, anyone? I personally think this is a good challenge for Apple to come up with a cutting-edge, maybe even bleeding-edge, cellphone.

As long as we are on the topic of technology, we’ve got to talk about netbooks. I love netbooks. Although the keyboards can feel a bit cramped at times, nothing beats only having to carry around 2.5 pounds of netbook versus 6+ pounds of laptop. I take my Dell mini 9 with me to conferences and live blog sessions. It is so handy and allows me to do just about everything I need. If you are on the go a lot, and resist bringing a laptop with you because of the weight, get a netbook and I assure you it will change the way you work.

Now, in honor of the Comic Arts Conference at WonderCon 2009 being held in San Francisco (and our very own Doug Highsmith speaking), I had to include this article on the Secret Lives of Comic Store Employees. It is a great article that has interviews with numerous comic store employees. Maybe it’s just because I finished reading Sandman: Preludes & Nocturnes last night or the fact that I just love graphic novels and comic art, but I totally think we need to be giving more attention to this format of literature.

Happy Friday! Enjoy the weekend and the Waki Librarian will be back next week with more fun.

Value of College and other Fun Discussions

/ dwakimoto

So it’s a rainy Friday in the Bay Area. On the one hand, that is a very good thing because we need the rain, on the other hand, it’s not because I’m still battling a cold and it just makes me want to crawl back into bed and go to sleep. But faithful readers, it will take more than a cold to keep the Waki Librarian from sharing some goodies to make your Friday a little brighter.

First up, Photoshop tutorial. The 60 most wanted Photoshop tutorials to be exact. I’ve managed to keep Photoshop off the blog, but now must share my unending love affair with this program. I love Photoshop–it is fabulous and I know you can find free photo editing software too, which rocks, but my heart belongs to Photoshop. And now with these wonderful, free tutorials on Photoshop, I will never be able to put down my Wacom tablet and pen as I test out more interesting fire effects and painting effects.

What does this have to do with libraries? Well, I’m sure we all know of a few libraries, organizations and/or logos in need of an update or two. Now with Photoshop you can make fabulous graphics or just clean up some photos taken at your last library event. Yes, Photoshop is super-powerful and has a pretty steep learning curve, but if you like design (even a little bit) you will be so glad you learned it.

Moving on now to something that I think is right on point to our continuing discussions of libraries, education, technology and fun is this article called, “Rethink the Value of College”. It is a timely piece about how much a college education is worth in this time of economic uncertainty. It also asks the question: what is the best way to prepare young people for the changes ahead and the fact that most will have multiple careers and jobs. College is still valuable, but it must be re-evaluated and re-engineered to fit today’s paradigm. Coming to college without adequate preparedness hurts everyone and leaving college with staggering amounts of student loan debt hurts many students. We seriously need a holistic re-evaluation and re-alignment of how we educate and prepare people in our colleges and universities.

Now, of course, I can’t leave you on such a gloomy thought on a Friday. So here is one of my absolutely favorite photography blogs A Walk through Durham Township, Pennsylvania. While Kathleen Connally is somewhat uneven in her execution of her photographs, the majority are absolutely beautiful and make even this sun loving California girl think snow looks pretty. Two of my favorites are titled “My Dream Studio” and “Mr. Darcy (A Baby Pygmy Goat).” And did I mention you can RSS it?

Have a wonderful weekend. I’ll see you next week.

Sunday Fun

/ dwakimoto / 1 Comment

I’m at work today. I figured why not make a blog post today as I have seriously lapsed and not done a book review this week. I’m sorry, faithful readers, but I just couldn’t tape any reviews this morning before going to work. I promise to do another book review this coming weekend.

So, like I was saying, I’m at work and it is quiet as it is Super Bowl Sunday and all. So to celebrate, here is a Sunday edition of random fun.

First up is Tyealyzer. I think this is so fun. You just type in a blog’s URL and it will tell you what personality type is evidenced by the blog’s writing style. The Waki Librarian is an ISTP. Or as Typealyzer says, The Mechanics. Apparently that means my blog is independent, a quick thinker and problem solver who likes risks. Hmm… While that isn’t the result of the last Myers-Briggs test I took, I think it sums up this blog very well. This blog is all about problem solving, do it yourself tips and tricks. So have some fun and enter your favorite blogs into the Typealyzer.

Speaking of tips and tricks, it just wouldn’t be a post without mention of Lifehacker. In honor of it’s birthday, Lifehacker has put together a post of Lifehacker’s best posts 2005-2009. This is a really good look at where we’ve been and where we are going technology-wise. So have some fun with it.

Oh, and what has got to be the coolest thing to play with, only tangentially related to libraries, is this tour of Stephen King’s office. Yes, you can take a virtual tour of King’s office, with more on the way later this year. It if fantastic, especially if you like Stephen King’s novels and other writings. It is an interactive tour, so get ready to pick up the Wizard’s glass, see props from various movies and get attacked by Ben. Really, this is awesome. I can’t wait to explore it some more.

Last but certainly not least, here is SpeedCrunch, a calculator program that runs on just about any platform and machine. It’s way more powerful than the puny calculator that comes standard with Windows and helpful for those times when you just don’t have a scientific calculator handy.

Enjoy the day and I’ll see you again soon.

Rock on Neil Gaiman!

/ dwakimoto

Happy Tuesday! Yes, I am well aware of the fact that this blog post is late. I usually get a post up on Monday, but it has kind of been a crazy weekend and start of the week. So I apologize for the delay. But to make up for it, here is a post all about Neil Gaiman.

First off, congratulations to Neil Gaiman for winning the Newbery Medal for The Graveyard Book. Read more about it in this page about the Newbery Medal from ALA. That is really cool and Gaiman is a fantastic writer so celebrate by getting one of his books and reading!

Also, Neil Gaiman happens to have a fantastic blog which you can find at Neil Gaiman’s Journal. Honestly I don’t know how he can write as much as he does on his blog and Twitter feed (follow: neilhimself) and still have time to write such amazing stories.

Also, the claymation movie Coraline, based on Neil Gaiman’s story, is coming to theaters February 6th. Did you like The Nightmare Before Christmas? Well, this has the same director, Henry Selick and looks fabulously creepy. I can’t wait.

Haven’t heard of this before? Check out the trailer below:

And just in case, for some reason, you aren’t into Gaiman’s work, here is a little piece you might be interested in: a post about how to embed almost anything in your webpage. This is great. I learned how to embed the high definition version of the Coraline trailer that you watched above.

Enjoy your day, more later in the week.

Friday Random Fun Stuff

/ dwakimoto / 1 Comment

Happy Friday! It’s almost the weekend, but first I have a few random, fun and hopefully helpful resources for you and your other library buddies. Fridays should be fun and slightly random, or else how would we get ready for the weekend?

So as you know, faithful reader, I also do podcasts of workshops I lead. Well, I have to say, I would love this podcast set-up. Basically, as Wired says, it is a studio in a box for podcasting. I bet my audio would sound better with this. So if you want to get into podcasting, here is your chance. And just to let you know, Audacity really doesn’t crash that much, but save a lot you know, just in case.

I am always looking for ways to keep organized, so I am very happy with this article on eight ways to keep your office clutter free. This is a constant challenge that I think everyone struggles with at some point. And I just love the fact that one of the suggestions is to create and keep a records retention policy! Records managers for the win on this one!

And who doesn’t like free stuff? Well, here is your freebie for Friday: an audiobook copy of 7 Habits of Highly Effective People from Audible. Yup, completely free. Don’t you just love it?

And last, but certainly not least, here is Ueatcheap.com, a website that helps you find places to eat for under $10. I know this will be of great interest of anyone looking to save money, but especially all the starving grad students out there. And, yes, you can join the site and start adding your own opinions and restaurants you like.

So that is all I have for on this rainy Friday. Have an awesome weekend! Now, stop staring at your computer and go read (or listen) to a book!

End of the Year Lists, Fire Ants, and Other Stuff…

/ dwakimoto

Yes, we are actually closing in on the end of another year. So what can the waki librarian have for you to help with this year’s wrap-up? Well, a little bit of fun, a little bit of “ecological karma” and a little bit of information on college presidents.

Okay, so first for the end of the year lists. I absolutely love this The Top 10 Everything of 2008 from Time. It is great, definitely a sink-hole of time, but a good way to review what happened in 2008. I love the editorial cartoons. There has to be a use for this in my information literacy class next quarter.

So, for the ecological karma. From Wired Science comes this article on fire ant invasions. I love this short article, with links to the original research, because it just goes to show that Mother Nature bites back when there is unnatural ecological change to an environment. So are fire ants superior to other local species of ants? The answer apparently seems to be no, not in undisturbed habitats but with plowed fields-bring on the fire ants! Yeah, ecological karma, guess we should stop plowing under natural habitat for strip malls. Who’d of thought it?

I just love this article on Facebook and the National Archives. I love how people never stop to think where information they give out will ultimately end up. Now granted these papers won’t, most likely, go into the National Archives, but still it pays to think about what is happening to all the information generated when you send out your information into cyberspace. Digital trails, archives have got them. And, if you think you can’t hide anything from a librarian who is searching for information, try an archivist.

And, to end this post. Check out these figures about the inflation of college presidents’ salaries versus instructors and the general U.S. population. No wonder our students are paying a ton and we have institutions that are so top-heavy. I haven’t checked the statistical sources yet, but they look like valid sources to me.

So that ends today’s blog post on random stuff that you can use while teaching, or at least fascinate someone at a party with trivia.