One of the most popular sessions at the annual Wisconsin Library Association conference is a panel presentation on new technologies or applications for use in the library. That is partly due to the playful, humorous presentation of the librarians but also because they share their experiences with some useful and fun products. This week one of my tasks was to get the photos from the Lorine Niedecker Wisconsin Poetry Festival onto the Niedecker Web site. I sat down to work on it but I just wasn’t in the mood to have to format lots of pictures and code them into the Web page, etc. etc. First I thought I would use the library’s Flickr account, but being unable to quickly remember the login, I recalled a description of a photo management/sharing Web site from the conference. I went back to look at my notes and there it was “Picasa.”

Picasa is free photo editing software from google. Rather than simply working with an online application, with Picasa you need to download the software to your computer. The download went smoothly so I started working with my collection of 44 photos. I had to mess with the program a little to be able to find the photos that were stored on the library’s server, not on my computer. Once I was able to access the server and obtain the photo collection I was given the ability to do a variety of edits.  I was able to view and discard the blurry photos, rotate the ones that were sideways, correct a variety of photo attributes and add captions. I could also save the photos in a variety of sizes for different uses. Picasa also has the capability of making a movie from your photographs.

Once I had the photos the way I wanted them I selected the ones to display and dragged them to a collection. From there I simply hit the upload button. I was able to label these photos as “public” so that I could make them easily available. Take a look at the results.  The photos can be viewed individually or seen as a slide show. It is also possible to keep your photo albums private. Once the photos were uploaded, Picasa gave me the code to embed on the Niedecker Web page, greatly simplifying that job. All in all, Picasa is a useful photo editing site with enough features to keep most photographers happy.

Yesterday we had another exciting staff day.

It was the first one with Kathryn W so to ease her in we started the day with a bacon sandwich and a cup of tea.

We discussed projects, such as the ‘Source Young Artists’, who will be handing their Silver Arts Award work in to be moderated next week. We also planned ahead for projects that will start early next year.

Part of the work we want to do is to improve the services we offer on our website. We need your input so we can tailor it to your needs. To help us with this you can fill in a short questionnaire.

Click here to take the survey.

Watch this space to find out more about our up and coming work.

We finished of the day with a TED Talk by Emily Levine which we’d like to share with you:

MC-Nudes gallery

Hello friends!

Today we have another exciting double header! We start with MC-NUDES with 48 very hot pictures, then we go to WALTERBOSQUE-ART with 30 pictures of gorgeous Argentinean models, pure spice!

WalterBosque-Art gallery

In honor of Thanksgiving, I’m going to take a short hiatus. Be sure to check back Monday for the latest fashion news, deals, and trends. I hope that everyone has a peaceful and joyful Thanksgiving.

 I do read all of your comments and appreciate it them. I’m very thankful for my readers, Twitter followers, my God given talents, and the opportunities I’ve gotten because of this blog.

Have a good one!

-Chanél, TFG Publisher, Editor/Writer

Dear Guru,

Would you have this handbag Designer Inspired Multi-Colored D&G Handbag, $40.00 in black and white stripped?

-Mary

Dear Mary,

I feel like an IMShopping Assistant! (Take note, IMShopping!) I think you will most likely find black and white striped D&G bags at flea markets. You can also search for them on Ebay. I did find one below for $47.50 at www.myfauxdesigner.com. Of course it’s black and cream, not black and white. (But it looks rather close to white.)

I can see why you’d like those two colors…They’re very classy and chic together. Happy hunting!

-The Guru

P.S. If you have any fashion or beauty questions, please submit them here.

Grooveshark is an online music service that allows you to sample different music for free (or pay a small fee for the ad-free version).   Fresh from a legal settlement, Grooveshark’s audience is growing daily.  The LA Times points out that Grooveshark is about enabling people to sample and discover new music artists, giving folks the ability to share their discoveries with friends.

With an easy-to-use interface, a very good search engine, and a great recommendation system, Grooveshark has the potential to keep you exploring music on your computer way too long.

According to Wikipedia, Grooveshark doesn’t have any Beatles music.  But it does have quite an extensive catalog.  Also, it has more than just music.  I just finished listening to Bill Cosby’s Revenge.  I hadn’t heard that since I was a little girl.   It was just as funny all these (many) years later!

Thanks to the Columbia Journalism Review, we have a comprehensive guide to sites which deal with the current economic crisis. From government blogs to newspaper special sections, this guide – Bailout!Stimulus! – Your Essential Guide is just that. We highly recommend it.

Hi!

I’d like to invite you to see my Nude Cover presented by Nude Art Gallery. I’m having a lot of fun here at the beach!

Anya

The Global Framework for Action (GFA) is an alliance of national governments, donors, civil society organizations and other development partners working together to increase political will and improve aid-effectiveness by mobilizing and better targeting resources for water supply and sanitation.

The UK and Dutch Governments launched the GFA in September 2008. Both governments are members of the the GFA Interim Core Group, which also includes AMCOW, ANEW, End Water Poverty, UNICEF, UN-Water, WaterAid, WSSCC, WHO, and World Bank/WSP. UNICEF is coordinating the GFA secretariat.

The GFA web site, maintained by End Water Poverty, includes background information, documents, contacts and updates.

Web site: sites.google.com/site/globalframeworkforaction/

Hello friends,

Nude Art Gallery brings a terrific HEGRE-ART double gallery filled with hot, provocative images. You’ll be delighted!

Also, bringing a bit of humor is PHOTOS & SMILES! Let’s have fun!

Hegre-Art galleries #1 & #2

Having recently broken the 16,000 projects mark I thought it was about the right time to share this web site with you all. CO+K is a web site hosting arts and crafts projects for its users with handy how-to’s on some of the projects. Over the last couple of years this web site has proved priceless in its creative inspiration for me with everything from home baking to plush toys and charms.

The range of crafts is huge and the collection of projects is impressive, I suggest you join the site if you’re interested in all things crafty!

http://www.cutoutandkeep.net/

Today’s suggestion is to get involved in the Open Directory on the World Wide Web by applying to be an editor for the directory. The idea is to assist in manually categorising web sites submitted to the directory

For more information on the Open Directory visit:

http://dmoz.org

I have enough work in maintaining and adding to the many web sites, blogs, etc, that I own. So I’ll opt out of getting involved in this project, but none-the-less think it is a very worthwhile one.

I’m playing a bit of catch-up, ever since I left town this past weekend to see Bob Waldmire’s Last Art Show. Here are a few things of interest to roadies …

– The Route 66 Marathon in Tulsa this year was a doozy, with more than 7,000 runners participating, along with 60 classic cars and 30 bands performing. The route essentially crossed Route 66 twice, with it going on the 1920s alignment near downtown and also the Southwest Boulevard alignment. Zac Freudenburg of St. Louis set a world record by running the 26.2 miles in 2 hours, 32 minutes, 10 seconds while pushing his son in a baby stroller (yes, there is such a record) and was the overall winner. He’d hoped to run it in 2:40, but blew that goal out of the water. The top women’s runner was Chelsea Jones, running it in 3 hours, 38 seconds.

— It looks like Bill Scales, who attempted a full restoration of the historic Eagle Hotel building on Route 66 in Wilmington, Ill.,  has dropped the asking price for the property to $150,000 if the buyer commits to preserving it. Scales tried to restore the building, but fell into financial trouble and kept missing deadlines set by the city. If you’re interested in buying the hotel, you can contact Scales at 815-806-1815.

— An apartment fire threatened the historic Hotel Cuba building in Cuba, Mo., but did not destroy it. There was some damage, but apparently not enough to seriously compromise the structure.

— Also in Cuba, the new owner of the historic Wagon Wheel Motel tore down an unsightly structure that was next to the Wagon Wheel Cafe building, revealing the smaller, most historically significant gas-station building underneath. This is part of a long-term project to restore the motel. The cafe building will be reopened as Connie’s Shoppe at the Wagon Wheel Motel as a gift shop and registration area for the motel rooms.

— Gordo of Handcolored66.com now has a Web site to display some of the striking images he shot during a Route 66 trip in August and September. He’s an old-school photographer who shoots with film and hand-colors the prints himself. You can see some of his work at Miller’s Grill in St. Robert, Mo. He’s looking for galleries to display his work and maybe acquire a storefront on or near Route 66 in mid-Missouri. If you know of anyplace, please drop him a line at the contact page.

— If you want a weird and wonderful holiday experience, go to the Santa’s Magical Kingdom, which is just off Route 66 west of Eureka, Mo., at the Jellystone Park Resort grounds. Santa’s Magical Kingdom combines a bazillion Christmas lights and decorations with a heapin’ helpin’ of Ozark hillbilly kitsch. It even has its own radio station. It has to be seen to be believed. It runs nightly through Jan. 3.

— Rand Elliott, the architect of POPS in Arcadia, Okla., and the Oklahoma Route 66 Museum in Clinton, Okla., and his firm of Elliott + Associates in Oklahoma City recently were honored by the International Architecture Awards in Florence, Italy.

Alison Freed, a blog network owner, will guest blog on the Fashion Guru blog every so often to include her fashion tips and  researches.

Follow her on Twitter at @alisonfreed or read her blog at http://www.catwalkcatfight.com.

Enjoy!

For those of you unfamiliar with the Kurt Greenbaum saga, it is a textbook example of Internet usage gone wrong.

Here’s the condensed version of the story:

Kurt Greenbaum is a social media expert for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. He writes a blog for them called “Talk of the Day”, which is essentially a personal-type opinion blog used to discuss a variety of topics. Recent topics include usage of BC versus BCE, and a discussion of the craziest thing you’ve ever eaten. It was this last post that has caused quite a bit of uproar. It seems that a poster to the site, confident in the anonymity of the Net, decided it would be funny to answer with a bit of sophomoric humor (in the words of Naughty by Nature “It’s another way to call a kitty a cat”). Surprise, surprise, right?

Anyway, Greenbaum promptly deleted this post, but upon its re-posting from the same IP address, took the matter into his own hands. Using  analytic software (we’re watching you!), he determined the IP address originated from a St. Louis-area school. He then called the school and informed them of the situation. The school’s IT administrator traced the IP address back to a certain school employee, who was then confronted. The poster then resigned on the spot.

Since this incident took place, Greenbaum has been skewered online, everywhere from Reddit and Digg, to the Huffington Post, not to mention countless Tweeters, have picked up this story, most reacting unfavorably towards Greenbaum. Perhaps worst of all, an Internet vigilante has taken Greenbaum to task, hijacking his own name, to create a flame site, KurtGreenbaum.com (warning: site contains vulgar language).

This situation shows how the Internet brings out the worst in people, as well as demonstrating how not to react to a situation online. First of all, the commenter, is obviously someone with a juvenile sense of humor. Like most trolls, he no doubt felt secure behind the black veil of anonymity that the World Wide Web provides. Of course, as he now knows, that veil is primarily a facade. Any web master worth his or her salt has analytic software in place that tells you exactly who is looking at your site.  Thus, troll or flame at your own risk.

Secondly, if you’re going to be the online idiot that everyone hates, do it from home or the library, or basically anywhere except your place of employment. Almost every business has some form of Internet policy, and posting vulgar comments to Web sites is generally not accepted practice.

Of course, the worst decision in this entire saga was Greenbaum’s knee jerk reaction to tattle. Now I understand the impulse. I’ve dealt with trolls and idiots. It’s a common reaction to call them out for their behavior. But the comments in question were not attacking Greenbaum or the Post-Dispatch, they were just immature. And they surely didn’t warrant a call to the poster’s place of employment.

Additionally, it seems that part of the Post-Dispatch’s Web site privacy policy states: “We will not share individual user information with third parties unless the user has specifically approved the release of that information.” To my mind, this is sort of a gray area. It’s not directly solicited user information like an e-mail address, but at the same time, user information is user information, and seemingly covered under the above statement.

By taking the law into his own hands, Greenbaum has unwittingly brought about the wrath of the online community. Almost universally, his actions have been decried in message boards, forums and comment sections.

Personally, I don’t think it was Greenbaum’s intention to villainize himself this way. Had the IP address in question not linked back to a school, I wonder if he would have had the same reaction. Unfortunately, his actions set a precedent, one that reflects very poorly on his own employer. All in all, this further shows the power that an online presence can wield, whether for good or bad. The Internet is not your living room. Please consider what you are doing, because it does reflect back on you.

Hello friends,

It’s an honor for me to invite you to visit Nude Art Gallery! I hope that you’ll like my Cover photo. I’ll be waiting for you with love and affection.

Kisses,

Anne

Anne

This is the web site of the Municipal Services Project (MSP), which has been running since 2000 and has now entered its third phase (2008-2013). Phase III of MSP is an inter-sectoral and inter-regional study that systematically explores ‘alternatives to privatisation’ in service delivery, with a thematic focus on health, water/sanitation and electricity and a regional focus on sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America and Asia.

MSP partners include universities, labour unions, NGOs, social movements and activists from South Africa, Ghana, Zimbabwe, Bolivia, El Salvador, Canada, UK and The Netherlands. MSP is coordinated by the Institute for Social and Economic Research, Rhodes University, South Africa and the Southern African Research Centre, Queen’s University, Canada. The MSP is funded in large part by the International Development Research Centre (IDRC), and in particular the Governance, Equity and Health (GEH) programme

The MSP web site includes all project publications since the start in 2000 and links to related research, publications and web sites. A discussion forum, and lists of events and multimedia are being developed.

StackOverflow.com ဆိုတာ အ​ေမးအ​ေျဖ ဆိ္ုဒ္​တစ္​ခုပာ။ ကမာၻဘာတစ္​ဝွမ္းက ပညာရွင္​ေတြ ဝင္​ေရာက္​ေျဖဆိုျကတာ​ေတြ  ့ရမွာ။

Programming နဲပတ္​သက္​ရင္ ​ေမးခ်င္​တာ​ေမးလို့ရတယ္။

Server အ​ေျကာင္း​ေမးခ်င္​ရင္​ေတာ့ ServerFault.com ဆိုတာ ရွိပာတယ္။

Windows/Linux အ​ေျကာင္း​ေမးခ်င္​ရင္​ေတာ့ SuperUser.com ဆိုတာ ရွိပာတယ္။

http://www.soemin.net/

Nochmal Twitter Usability – das Suchergebnis (Namenssuche): kein Hinweis darauf, wieviele Suchergebnisse es sind, auch am Seitenende nur ein lapidarer Button für “Weiter/Next”.

Anfang der Seite:

twitter suchergebnis

twitter suchergebnis

Besser wäre natürlich: Anzahl der Suchergebnisse oben und unten.

YouTube has a new promo video for hip resurfacing sponsored by a hospital in Columbus, Ohio.

Femjoy Gallery

Hi Folks, friends of Nude Art Gallery!

Have we got good stuff for you today!

A tremendously sexy double header, FEMJOY gallery with 48 beautiful pictures! Then comes DOMAI with 59 pictures, that will knock your socks off. Gigantic size pictures, a special treat for you!

Domai Gallery

As Black Friday, the shopping extravaganza after Thanksgiving, comes once again. I have some tips and tricks for getting you through this time of year with the most savings.

The first tip is to read every flyer and advertisement carefully. As CNN’s Money site points out, many stores will try to  lure you in with incredible deals in extremely limited quantities. So unless you plan on being in front of the store hours before it opens, you are probably best off avoiding those situations.

Some stores, like Wal-Mart, have decided in order to avoid those mad rushes for bargains to open stores 24 hours, but activate the sales at 5am. In this situation, you may be able to grab the item you want and just wait to checkout at the appropriate time. While this may not work in every Wal-Mart, it may be worth a shot if you want to grab the best bargains.

One site that I mentioned in my last post was BlackFriday.info, but if you prefer more of a blog format to the layout of that site you can check out BFAds.net. I also prefer this site’s search function, but both sites are worth checking out.

However, for online shoppers, it’s even better if you don’t have to leave your house. That’s where sites like DealNews and Ben’s Bargains come in. These sites will have update on online offers and coupon codes, many of which include free shipping. However, most of the deals are in the technology market, so if you are getting gifts for people who don’t like electronics these might not be the perfect sites for you.

One other thing to keep in mind is that after the Black Friday rush marketers have come up with a new way for online stores to get some attention by creating “Cyber Monday.” The theory is that everyone is  coming back to work after the holiday weekend will be working on their holiday shopping list instead of working at their job. However, as tends to happen with these things, perception has become reality and “Cyber Monday” has become a real phenomenon with increased sales and deals to attract those sales. Make sure you check those websites on that Monday for the good bargains that can be available.

Do you have an inside track for deals in this season? Make a note in the comments.

In the Wall Street Journal’s issue on November 12, 2009, Journal writer Jane Hodges offers a “Cranky Consumer” article in which she compares and contrasts various online programs to create a do-it-yourself Will. The article, entitled “Before It’s Too Late: A Test of Online Wills,” provides a review of how easy each program is to use, and it offers information on costs, services, and technical support for each of the programs reviewed. However, Ms. Hodges seems to fail her own “test.”

The laws related to Wills and trusts vary by state. What may constitute a valid Will in Texas may not be a valid Will in California. Likewise, because of the extreme differences in the probate laws across the various states, the most effective method of planning for your estate in some states may be the creation of a revocable living trust, while in other states the most effective method of handling your estate may involve a traditional Will. Likewise, depending on the overall assets owned by an individual or married couple, including certain tax provisions in a Will or Trust might be useful in saving significant amounts of taxes when one or the other of them dies.

Ms. Hodges article fails to provide a single warning or caution about any of the programs that she reviewed. She does not address whether or not the programs create documents that adhere to the specific laws of the state in which you live (most do not). While she does make passing mention of the fact that only one of the programs even mentioned future taxes, she does not attempt to caution her readers of the fact that this issue along could be significant. Likewise, while she seems to presume that a Revocable Trust is the appropriate method for planning for an estate, she does not point out that this may not be the best advice for each consumer. Most disturbingly, Ms. Hodges makes a cavalier reference to seeking the advice of an attorney, and she seems to suggest that an attorney’s advice is not necessary. However, she does tout the fact that one of the programs allows you to call into their hotline and ask questions.

In reality, do-it-yourself Wills are very often poorly drafted, and they frequently fail to properly conform to the laws of the specific state in which you live. As a result, it can be significantly more expensive to probate the Will at your death, or the Will may be completely invalid because it was not prepared properly. Additionally, the thought that you can call a hotline to have an attorney in California answer “general” questions regarding your Will is preposterous, unless you live in California. You should not accept legal advice from an attorney who is not properly licensed in the state in which you live. In fact, it violates the ethics rules of every state in the country for an attorney to express a legal opinion about laws in a state in which he is not licensed.

While Ms. Hodges’ article may have some value, she should have done a much better job to caution her readers as to the very significant pitfalls that can befall them by using an online Will program rather than seeking the advice of a competent lawyer.

Nope, I haven’t forgotten about Black Friday and Cyber Monday! Here, I compiled a list of what brick-and-mortar stores, online stores, and home shopping networks that willl have Black Friday/Cyber Monday deals. Either you can brave the craziness and go out, or stay snug on your coach.

1. Old Navy

Their madness starts at 3 A.M. and will include fleece for $5! Better stock up!

2. QVC

This network is finally going to have their very first Black Friday sale. Theirs will start 8 P.M. on Thanksgiving night and will run for 28 hours straight. So while the guys watch football, the girls can shop! No news on what kind of deals that they will have. They better have really, really good deals if they want to compete with the stores! I did hear that their 3 Today Special Values might be from Susan Graver, the Sharper Image, and Playhut.

3. Wal-Mart

This heavily advertised store will be open at 5:00 A.M. on Black Friday and will have Cyber Monday deals on their web site.

4. Amazon

They’ve been having Black Friday deals all week. If you haven’t, check them out right now.

5. Forever 21

 

When the doors open, the first 100 shoppers will get a free tote. There will also be $6 tees and jeans, $4 pajamas, and $1 nail polishes!

6. HSN

In order to compete with QVC, HSN will be having Cyber Monday deals. And if you know HSN like I do, you know that they always have great deals on their site!

7. KMart

KMart will be calling their Black Friday deals, Blue Friday specials. Their doors will open at 6 A.M. and will include deals such as $29.99 Jacklyn Smith cashmere sweaters.

8. JCrew

If you shop at their site now, you will receive 20% off their Holiday Sale and free shipping on orders of $150 or more. Of course you have to use code EXTRA20 at check out. (Valid through 11/29/09.)

9. Sears

This often forgotten store will have Black Friday doorbusters starting from 7 A.M. to noon time.

10. New York and Co.

Everything will be 50% off on their web site.

Image Source: Google Images