Semantic Web

Yet another new thing to learn about?

This was posted to the DIGLIB list on May 20, as part of a call for papers.

Semantic transportation data models

An underpinning of any effort to share data is getting agreement on the exact meaning of individual data elements and their relationships. This activity occurs within individual transportation agencies - for example, as part of a data warehousing effort; and in the context of larger data standards setting and data exchange efforts. Precise documentation of meaning is essential for data sharing - it allows a potential data user to determine the suitability of a data set, and it provides the basis for translation across different data elements.

With the emergence of the semantic web, progress is being made in many domains on development of semantic data models or ontologies - using the W3C Resource description Framework (RDF) language, the Ontology Web Language (OWL), or ISO 13250-1 Topic Maps. These are precise specifications of information elements that can be used to improve "findability" on the web and to support intelligent web services.

Open Source aDORe DIDLTools 1.0 software

JB sent this to me. Could be useful for UBdigit info.

Los Alamos, New Mexico, USA, May 17, 2006 ? The LANL Digital Library Research and Prototyping Team & Ghent University Library are pleased to announce the formal release of their DIDLTools software.

The aDORe DIDLTools is a Java toolkit for the construction, validation, serialization and de-serialization of the MPEG-21 DID data model. DID, the MPEG-21 Digital Item Declaration, provides an abstract model for the representation of digital items, whereas DIDL, the MPEG-21 Digital Item Declaration Language specifies how to serialize the model in XML. The API provided by the aDORe DIDLTools allows for the construction of customized DIDL XML documents, as well as provides flexible and extensible serialization methods.

This distribution includes a comprehensive tutorial detailing the steps necessary to model and create a DIDL using the DID-API.

The DIDLTools 1.0 software was developed by the LANL Digital Library Research & Prototyping Team, in partnership with Ghent University.

This software may be used without charge in accord with the terms of the GNU Lesser General Public License (LGPL) .


Further context for the aDORe DIDLTools software is provided in the papers:
* Bekaert, J., Van de Sompel, H. (2005, August).
"Representing Digital Assets using MPEG-21 Digital Item Declaration" http://arxiv.org/abs/cs.DL/0508065

* Bekaert, J., Liu, X., Van de Sompel, H. (2005, November).
"Representing Digital Assets for Long-Term Preservation using MPEG-21 DID" http://arxiv.org/abs/cs.DL/0509084


More information:
DIDLTools 1.0 software page
http://purl.lanl.gov/aDORe/projects/DIDLTools/

GNU Lesser General Public License (LGPL)
http://www.opensource.org/licenses/lgpl-license.php


Send Feedback and Questions to:
Ryan Chute
Digital Library Research & Prototyping
Los Alamos National Laboratory, Research Library
tel. +1 505 665 6955

porterfarms.org

porterfarms.org

This is the organic farm co-op and Chris and Quinn Ankrum belong to, and that I want to join. I think we're going to. How fun to get a bag of produce and figuring out what to do with it.

Update:

We did join this last year, and we were very, very happy with it. We've joined again this year, and I just sent our preferred pick-up dates to our coordinator. The first delivery date is June 23rd. Woohoo!!!

Organic and Frugal?

Organic and Frugal?

Can you buy organic foods and still be frugal?

There are a lot of other links to both organic things and frugal things. Ah, two things I'm striving for, in one neat package!

America's Meat Eaters Turn to Organic & Grass-Fed Beef

America's Meat Eaters Turn to Organic & Grass-Fed Beef

Salon.com Books | The practical ethicist

Salon.com Books | The practical ethicist

This is very interesting. I've been thinking more and more lately about what I eat, what my family eats, what I'm teaching my sons. The usual things parents live with, I'm sure. The conversation about eating meat that we had at our last Third Thursday dinner kind of sparked the thinking, I think. I mean, we can afford to not eat mindlessly, so shouldn't we do our part and support organic farming, both for the sake of the farmers, the animals, and ourselves?

Also, there was the story on NPR recently about the neurologist who's really hard on the diet. (What's Triggering Your Migraine?) I keep thinking about that -- should I just stop being a baby about it and embrace the list of dietary triggers? Or, rather, ban the triggers from my life? Hard to do -- coffee, iced tea, cola, chocolate, restaurant food, avocados........... It's tough. I love food.

I'm going to add some links re getting organic meats.

Capturing Analog Sound for Digital Preservation

pub137.pdf (application/pdf Object)

Carole Ann sent this. I need to read it.

Label: To Read

The Case for Institutional Repositories: A SPARC Position Paper

The Case for Institutional Repositories: A SPARC Position Paper

Have to start keeping track of IR stuff. This is a step in that direction.

Just Another Lousy Week for Creationism: BLOG: SciAm Observations

Just Another Lousy Week for Creationism: BLOG: SciAm Observations

I love scientists!

gladwell.com: Game of Shadows

gladwell.com: Game of Shadows

I'm not normally that into baseball, or sports at all for that matter, but I like Gladwell's thoughts on putting forensic economics to play prior to athletes being put in the record books. Makes things more fair, I think.

The Lost Gospel of Judas - National Geographic

Is this more evidence on the side of "Dumbledore asked Snape to kill him" theory?

Thanks to Nancy Warren for sending the link to me.

Also, Elaine Pagels has an Op-Ed in the New York Times about this.
The Gospel Truth

Bx said, "I hear impeachment calling ..."

And Cara replied:

Moron and Psycho
and all their little minions
Impeach the bastards

More Haikus

Cara's at it again....

Spring eh?

Little puffed clouds now,
April blue sky. This morning
snow came down, fast, hard.

But it didn't stick
Like Earth enjoyed a Snow Cone -
All gone, now it's Spring.

101 Cookbooks

I just discovered this site. How could this be the first time I've seen this? It's incredible! This woman is doing what we should all do -- actualy use our silly cookbooks. I don't have 100 of the silly things, but I have half a bookcase full.

101 Cookbooks

Here are my other favorite cooking sites:

Cooking

• Allrecipes.com - Here you can find recipes for just about everything. You can also share your recipes with others.
• Breadrecipe.com - Exactly what it sounds like.... Includes a section for break machines.
• Cooking Light's Main Menu - Cooking Light is a really good magazine devoted to low-fat cooking and healthful living. I've always liked there very balanced look at life. They have dessert recipes in their magazine, with the understanding that it's probably better if you don't eat cake every day. The site has a recipe finder, a Tip of the Day, and articles that augment the magazine.
• Cook's Thesaurus - "The Cook's Thesaurus suggests substitutions for thousands of cooking ingredients, including low-calorie and low-fat alternatives for dieters, inexpensive substitutes for gourmets on a budget, and innovative replacements for hard-to-find ethnic ingredients."
• Culinary Café - lots and lots of cooking information -- recipes, a spice encyclopedia, things you should have in your kitchen, hints & tips, etc.
• Epicurious - Subtitled "For People Who Eat." Here you'll find links called Eating; Drinking; Playing with Your Food; Epicurious TV; Bon Appétit; and Gourmet. You can search for recipes based on a huge number of criteria, including ingredients, course, cuisine, etc. You can also get etiquette information, learn various cooking skills by watching videos, and get "Tips from Great Cooks." A wonderful web site for anyone who cooks.
• Food Network - I love this channel. My favorite shows are Good Eats with Alton Brown, 30 Minute Meals, and Cooking Thin. But I will watch just about anything on there, except Mario Eats Italy, which just stinks.
• Good Cooking - Includes Cooking, Culinary & Professional Links; Recipes/Techniques/Guides; Reviews & Articles; Travel Links & Restaurant Reviews; Wine and Beverage Links; and World Guide to Good Cooking.
• Tavolo - "... where the kitchen is the center of the universe. We have everything you need to fuel your passion for cooking, eating and entertaining." You can shop here as well as find recipes and menus and get cooking tips.
• Top Secret Recipes on the Web - "Creating Kitchen Clones of America's Favorite Brand-Name Foods"
• MPR's The Splendid Table - This is the site for the Minnesota Public Radio program. I love this program. It airs on Sundays at 2:00 on WNED AM 970 in the Buffalo area. The site has recommendations from guests, recipes that Lynne talks about on the show, shopping, etc. There used to be a page with tales from listeners about their worst restaurant experiences. I loved that page, but couldn't find it when I just looked again. If anyone finds it, please e-mail me.

Wine

I'm trying to improve my wine awareness. But, you know, that $5.99 a liter Almadden Mountain Rhine just hits the spot sometimes. ;)

• Tom Cannavan's Wine Pages - This site is from the UK, so the "cheapies" section doesn't really apply here, but there's some good information here.
• Wine Lovers' Page - This has a great link -- Getting Started -- for those of us without a clue.

Welcome...

Welcome to the my blog. This is my first attempt. I'm thinking of using this as a replacement for my stale old Web site, so we'll see how it goes. I need to learn more about blogs, and what better way to learn than to do, right?

I'm going to put in the haiku competition from the other day and see if we can get a discussion going about it.

-- Stacy

Literary Stadium

On March 20, Cara graced us with a haiku, to which Lisa responded. I issued a challenge and the rest, well, read below....

The opening gambit, from Cara ...

Flurries and bright sun
A crazy Monday commute
It's Spring in New York

To which Lisa responded:

black cat in the sink
grey cat horks up some brown slime
one more damn Monday

and Battle Haiku was born....

I asked for more, and Cara requested ground rules....

Stacy: Sticking with the spring theme, and one of my favorite things, let's go with flowers. Or, more broadly if you have to, gardening.

On your mark, get set, GO!

Peg: Iron Poet. Today in Literary Stadium we have Iron Poet Cara and challenger Lexa. Welcome to Battle Haiku.

and the battle continues....

C:

Me and my green thumb
Trying not to kill plants - what
A load of compost!

L:

every winter
mites kill all non-succulants
very humbling

C:

Garden Sturm und Drang
What on earth made me plant the
Seeds of discontent?

L:

plants on my work desk
under artificial light
thriving - what's with that?

And then I tried to post this little event to my site on Googlepages (ugh!), and things got a little off track:

C:

Stacy's Page not found
You get what you pay for, eh?
We'll send cash to her

And then I had to go pick up Ethan, who was sick and grumpy with an ear infection.

L:

what's in Ethan's ear?
nasty flora? potatoes?
No Q-tips!, says Mom

C:

Put servers to bed
Tuck in the laser printers
Done! Sneak out early ...

L:

back to Monday theme
so little to do I clunk
no one notices

C:

One for the road:

Panda's visiting.
Now outside in the garden,
He Eats, Shoots and Leaves ;)

L:

Cheater! =]

Cara's impatient
so she fires off two haikus
before I write one

And there, my friends, ends tonight's battle of Literary Stadium. The winner? We have yet to hear from our judges....

Judges.... Discuss. Who one the competition? And, can we answer the question that Lisa posed the next day:

So if fois gras is the duct tape of Kitchen Stadium, what is the fois gras of Literary Stadium?