Thursday, April 17, 2008
More widgeting
Ok..., now that the Wolf's had more time to look at yourminis... it officially rates as a 'Cool Toy' ! Set up a page and create your own nifty, useful (and even fun) desktop e-corkboard - well, sort of - but that's the way you can play with the layout. Pick and choose among the widgets - for pictures, newsfeeds, games, various net searches, and so much more; then you can just have them at the ready - and on any computer you use, if you start a free account. Something to play around with, but a nice way to group many internet bits and pieces that you use alot, or only occasionally. Plus you can have more than one page on the go...
Widgets... smidgets
Another curious place to browse is yourminis - source of many a widget, on many and varied things. How to keep up with some of the things you don't have time to keep up with anyway! Add to your desktop - or even into your blog ;) Try film news...
Monday, April 7, 2008
Sha... Zamzar!
First thing off the list! Got a document/file you'd really rather have in a different format... try Zamzar. A newish? site, still displayed as beta. Choices look nifty so I uploaded my massive 25kb word file to convert twice - once to html, the other to pdf. First attempt was on a Friday afternoon - not a good idea as the site (as a freebie tool) works by emailing you a notification with 24 hrs to collect your new file; one email arrived (expecting 2 tho presumably?!) but not in time for me to access file before time elapsed. So..., next attempt Monday afternoon... and over an hour later still waiting for any email... [they arrived after about 3 hrs - not unfair for a free service; linking and saving the new files was quick]. However, it does look like a nice freebie site (there are $$ subscriber options too) and useful site for odd jobs, especially if you don't have access to the creator parts of software or you receive a file that would be so much more useful in another format. The on-page and pop-up ads are a bit irritating but again only to be expected. One handy page is Zamzar's list of what files can be converted to what other files - quick place to use as a lookup for 'what one earth is that file extension!?' questions.
Learning more things!
Well, the wolf is back - now thoroughly dried out and back on track for more learning thingamies!
Off to explore another set of bits and pieces - useful tools (and hopefully some cool toys?!) out there in the ether that could make e-life a bit easier and/or more interesting.
As to helping in real life and around the library... we shall see...!
Today's lovely pic is the beautiful Long Room of the Library at Trinity College, Dublin, (what I couldn't do with just some of that shelving!)
Tuesday, December 25, 2007
A flood of literature!
It was a dark and stormy… afternoon
Well, it wasn't this bad (Maitland & Cessnock, NSW in 1949) but any conection of the words 'flood' and 'library' send horrors through the strongest of hearts
4.38 pm, Friday 7th December 2007 will go down in the annals as a startlingly soggy moment !
A(nother) big storm came in from the west across Sydney, dumping over 20mm of rain in about 10 mins.
The new building, had just been opened by the big boss from Canberra, refreshments were being enjoyed by staff and invited guests…
Meanwhile, back in the Library, the Lone Librarian (aka LiteraryWolf!) was working at the reference desk, with a few staff perusing the internet and newspapers. The storm was ‘fully engaged’ outside, when loud rumbling and the odd thunk noises were heard… the Library floor was shuddering… then jets of vapour/dust burst from the floor ! ! [see also Ghostbusters movies].
After the odd expletive of astonishment, the Librarian (warden who earned her pocket money that day) encouraged (with gentle cries of “get out!, get out!, get away from the computers!”) the staff, who were likewise observing the floor in surprise but making no move to remove themselves from the volcanic scene.
Barely had the words left the Librarian’s lips, than - with a final KERTHUNK! -, the concrete of the floor slab cracked open, the carpet tiles lifted and a small but elegant, and very fast flowing, fountain of water emerged from a crack in the floor!
The staff, (yes, they were still there), were again encouraged to leave while the Librarian, shortly joined by heroes from facilities management, leapt into action dashing across the rapidly expanding Library Lake to rescue material from the floor and unplug electrical equipment.
The water kept flowing…
Personal items were rescued and the Librarian of the Lake, her arms clad in the purest shimmering samite held aloft her job files, mobile phone, wallet and catering shopping from the water…{oops, sorry that sounds like a film}, and walked upon the Lake to return to dry land - there was a bit left.
A mere few minutes had past, the facilities heroes continued to rescue things and a small crowd had gathered to observe the phenomenon. Now, with a moment to pause, the Librarian squelched across to the only phone left plugged in and sought help from on high - a call to senior Library staff (they’re on a higher floor) to come and see the-Library-in-flood. The fearless Assistant Director quickly arrived on scene.
Brilliant strategies from the assembled crowd, such as putting the wide based newspapers table on top of the carpet tiles to stop the flow, were attempted… but failed.
The ether was burning with the flurries of mobile phone calls from the building owners who had not yet left the celebrations but had been called out to attend to now-filling-most-of-the-Library Lake.
The big boss (who had visited the Library earlier that afternoon with some VIPs to “I always show off our Libraries to visitors”) was engaged elsewhere in the building, but events were observed by many disbelieving and surprised executives, staff and visitors.
By now, some 10 minutes in, the flow was easing (fortunately! but only because the storm had finished) and the Library Lake, (now also spreading out to the building lobby and into a lift well), could be viewed and admired for what it was -- a splendid water feature no backyard renovation program could have accomplished ! And, most effectively, it remained at only several millimetres high - keeping it well below book shelf line.
The fearless Assistant Director liaised with facilities people to get damage control underway and to alert our colleagues here and around the country to our dilemma, only finally got home well into the night. The somewhat damp Lone Librarian beat a retreat around 5.30pm, dragged away after assurances she could do no more. By that time, heavy equipment had started to arrive, the water flow had stopped and the Library Lake remained, glistening in a bit of wet sunshine filtering through the windows.
And the story continued…
Over the weekend the whole Library - books, journals, cabinets,... nearly all fixtures and fittings - were stripped out and stored. Come Monday, the whole area of carpet tiles had been pulled up, the concrete was patched, then all things made their way back to their proper places (praise to the folk of the removals company - a scary déjà vu time for them – as they had only moved us, the Library and the entire office into the building several weeks before). The Library staff, who had been camping on a higher floor, returned to unpack (yet again).
So by late Thursday afternoon, just 6 days later, all was back in place and the new - new Library (no longer the Liquarium) was back in action.
A(nother) big storm came in from the west across Sydney, dumping over 20mm of rain in about 10 mins.
The new building, had just been opened by the big boss from Canberra, refreshments were being enjoyed by staff and invited guests…
Meanwhile, back in the Library, the Lone Librarian (aka LiteraryWolf!) was working at the reference desk, with a few staff perusing the internet and newspapers. The storm was ‘fully engaged’ outside, when loud rumbling and the odd thunk noises were heard… the Library floor was shuddering… then jets of vapour/dust burst from the floor ! ! [see also Ghostbusters movies].
After the odd expletive of astonishment, the Librarian (warden who earned her pocket money that day) encouraged (with gentle cries of “get out!, get out!, get away from the computers!”) the staff, who were likewise observing the floor in surprise but making no move to remove themselves from the volcanic scene.
Barely had the words left the Librarian’s lips, than - with a final KERTHUNK! -, the concrete of the floor slab cracked open, the carpet tiles lifted and a small but elegant, and very fast flowing, fountain of water emerged from a crack in the floor!
The staff, (yes, they were still there), were again encouraged to leave while the Librarian, shortly joined by heroes from facilities management, leapt into action dashing across the rapidly expanding Library Lake to rescue material from the floor and unplug electrical equipment.
The water kept flowing…
Personal items were rescued and the Librarian of the Lake, her arms clad in the purest shimmering samite held aloft her job files, mobile phone, wallet and catering shopping from the water…{oops, sorry that sounds like a film}, and walked upon the Lake to return to dry land - there was a bit left.
A mere few minutes had past, the facilities heroes continued to rescue things and a small crowd had gathered to observe the phenomenon. Now, with a moment to pause, the Librarian squelched across to the only phone left plugged in and sought help from on high - a call to senior Library staff (they’re on a higher floor) to come and see the-Library-in-flood. The fearless Assistant Director quickly arrived on scene.
Brilliant strategies from the assembled crowd, such as putting the wide based newspapers table on top of the carpet tiles to stop the flow, were attempted… but failed.
The ether was burning with the flurries of mobile phone calls from the building owners who had not yet left the celebrations but had been called out to attend to now-filling-most-of-the-Library Lake.
The big boss (who had visited the Library earlier that afternoon with some VIPs to “I always show off our Libraries to visitors”) was engaged elsewhere in the building, but events were observed by many disbelieving and surprised executives, staff and visitors.
By now, some 10 minutes in, the flow was easing (fortunately! but only because the storm had finished) and the Library Lake, (now also spreading out to the building lobby and into a lift well), could be viewed and admired for what it was -- a splendid water feature no backyard renovation program could have accomplished ! And, most effectively, it remained at only several millimetres high - keeping it well below book shelf line.
The fearless Assistant Director liaised with facilities people to get damage control underway and to alert our colleagues here and around the country to our dilemma, only finally got home well into the night. The somewhat damp Lone Librarian beat a retreat around 5.30pm, dragged away after assurances she could do no more. By that time, heavy equipment had started to arrive, the water flow had stopped and the Library Lake remained, glistening in a bit of wet sunshine filtering through the windows.
And the story continued…
Over the weekend the whole Library - books, journals, cabinets,... nearly all fixtures and fittings - were stripped out and stored. Come Monday, the whole area of carpet tiles had been pulled up, the concrete was patched, then all things made their way back to their proper places (praise to the folk of the removals company - a scary déjà vu time for them – as they had only moved us, the Library and the entire office into the building several weeks before). The Library staff, who had been camping on a higher floor, returned to unpack (yet again).
So by late Thursday afternoon, just 6 days later, all was back in place and the new - new Library (no longer the Liquarium) was back in action.
Thursday, December 6, 2007
Still around... just not lately in the blogsphere!
Grrreetings dear readers,
Yes, the Wolf has been off galivanting (read - working!) out in the real world and has been neglecting the virtual !
But things change so little... Google keeps growing, eLibraries are developing e-xponentially and all is lunacy in the world with the chaos of the run down to Christmas (and other festive) occasions.
Important news - make sure you use your favourite search engine to look up the release of baby seahorses {Hippocampus whitei, commonly called White’s Seahorse or the Sydney Seahorse) (press release from Sydney Aquarium, November 2007) to boost a colony at Manly, in Sydney, Australia.
Mega cute, great wildlife and enviro story... and many of the underwater pics/footage PLUS the saving of the colony's home on the beach netting is down to the skills and hard work of the Wolf's big brother, with help from many others !!
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