Meghan

If you know how to knit and want to put your needle-wielding talents to good use today, consider knitting a sweater for a penguin in need. Yes, it's true, New Zealand's penguin population need wooly jumpers—and a Kiwi yarn store has even posted a penguin sweater pattern for do-gooder-knitters to reference.

I still get that giddy feeling from childhood when I'm handed an ice cream Push Up, so why not put cake in a push up container? See how to make them over on My Cake School. [via Helen and Wilma]

Tosca Cafe, San Francisco, California. Some places are just photogenic.

Photos from potkettleblack, CT Young, ioerror, florenwalzer, lcrf, and Steve Wilber.

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I'll be making these soon

• 1 C cola (I use the Whole Foods house brand, 365)
• 1 tsp apple cider vinegar
• 3/4 C sugar
• 1/3 C canola oil
• 2 tsp Kool Kola extract
• 1 1/3 C flour
• 3/4 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 44 maraschino cherries (I know it sounds like a lot.  I did four per cupcake.  You could cut down on the number if you aren't a huge maraschino fan; or, leave them off entirely to just make Coke cupcakes.)

1. In a medium-sized bowl, combine the soda and vinegar and let stand for a few minutes.
2. Add in the sugar and oil, whisking vigorously until slightly frothy.
   
3. Mix in the Kool Kola extract, flour, baking powder, and baking soda until just combined.
4. Fill cupcake liners approximately 3/4 of the way to the top.
5. Drop 4 cherries with stems removed into each cupcake (I put them in a square pattern).
   
6. Bake at 350 F for 20 minutes or until cupcakes bounce back when lightly touched.

• 8 oz cream cheese
• 1/4 C unsalted butter, room temperature
• 2 C powdered sugar (add more if you prefer a thicker frosting)
• 2 tsp Kool Kola extract
  

1. Beat cream cheese and butter.
2. Slowly mix in powdered sugar until the mixture looks like frosting.
3. Mix in extract.
4. Spread or pipe on cooled cupcakes. 

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I miss Lost

In January I was working in Spain and took a day trip to Barcelona.

Legend told me of a bar dedicated to LOST.

So I had to visit.

They have a Tail Section.

A hatch that lights up.

Ruins.

Dharma Station door.

They even have their own energy drink and beer with two different labels, one is black one is white.

And the UPC code is 4815162342.

And sandwiches named after everybody.

And coincidentally I got the veggie.

The street finds its own use for things, and in this case, the street is a nice one in Dolores Park, and the "thing" is a time-honored cocaine dealer's technique.

Cookies Sold by String Dangling From San Francisco Apartment Window (via Super Punch)

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I shouldn't enjoy a timeline of business model negotiations this much, but I really liked the WSJ article this links to.

Filed under: TV News

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So I started looking at recipes for homemade Nutella — pardon me, the non-trademark-protected gianduja paste — which is the smooth and shiny combination of hazelnuts and cocoa loved all over the world. I was surprised to find approaches, as well, all over the map. Some used honey, some began with a caramel but two techniques in particular caught my eye: one in which ground nuts were mixed with just cocoa, sugar and oil, quite close to the ingredient list of jarred Nutella and a very simple one from Martha Stewart, which relied on sweetened condensed milk for its body. I decided to make the Martha version second, but never got there because my mother (who was hanging out for the afternoon) and I never got our spoons out of the food processor bowl from the first batch long enough to even consider if it was less than perfect.

... Read the rest of chocolate-peanut spread on smittenkitchen.com

© smitten kitchen 2006-2011. | permalink to chocolate-peanut spread | 438 comments to date | see more: Chocolate, Peanut Butter, Photo

Like many campuses we do a “one book” program every year. We purchase a ton of print copies, host a variety events, activities, and exhibits, and bring in the author for a public lecture. We also work with our local public library system and schools (including high schools) to push a common reading experience and dialogue around a thought-provoking interdisciplinary topic. (campus press release)

 Last week we kicked off our event by giving away 2,000+ plus print copies. In less than 3 hours we gave away 1,700 books. Before we started there were several hundred students (and some faculty) waiting in line. This is the fifth year of the program and it is great to see people get excited about receiving a book. I’ve enjoyed walking around campus and seeing those bright orange book covers everywhere I look.

This time around I wanted to dabble with something a little different and so we offered 100 eBook versions of The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. I figured this would be a good way to bring some new attention to the program and to also move our library further into the realm of digital books.

The Logistics

I called Random House and asked for any info they could provide about digital copies. They said that wasn’t their line of work (paraphrasing) and suggested I talk with Amazon.

The Amazon fortress is kind of hard to break, but I submitted an email describing what I wanted and expected to never hear back. But about a month later one of their sales reps called and things started to fall into place.

They agreed to push out copies of our campus book to students and faculty, but it had to be at least triple digits (100 copies) in order to make it feasible for them. (Worth there effort, so to speak.) And it had to be at list price $9.99. I was hoping to get a bulk rate deal, but I guess they are not there yet in terms of delivery.

In order to make this happen I needed to send Amazon an excel sheet with the individual’s email address associated with their Amazon account and either their Kindle serial number or the name of the device associated with their Kindle account (Brian’s iPad). So we hosted a giveaway, both online and in print format.

One of the advantageous things about Kindle books is that they can be read on numerous devices, including laptops and desktops, iPhone, iTouch, iPad, BlackBerry, and Android. And of course, Kindles.

We received some decent press and promotion, and many of the academic departments blasted out emails to their students. Our planning committee was a little worried that we would not reach 100 interested individuals, but that wasn’t a problem. Over the span of five weeks we had 165 people submit their info for our drawing: 18 faculty members, 33 campus staff, and the rest were students.

Of the 165 people, 22 of them were incomplete entries. I put those aside and then randomly selected 100 from the pool to send to Amazon.

Of the 100 winners, Amazon found that 35 of them were invalid. Many of them were “deregistered.” Long story short—I emailed the 35 invalid accounts and shared the info that Amazon provided. I gave them a deadline of two days to fix their account. 17 of them did. The remaining 18 copies were given to others who were not the initial winners. This was a bit of effort, especially with people emailing and asking when their book would arrive or what was wrong with their account.

My suggestion for Amazon

Amazon was great to work with. The Kindle Division was very patient with all my unusual questions. But some advice--- looking ahead, it would be beneficial to offer edu and/or non-profit discounts for large orders related to campus reading programs.

Additionally, the Amazon registry system works so well, it seems like they could develop a tool for raffles or giveaways. It would be great for orgs to setup a page with whatever prizes they wanted to offer (via the Amazon catalog) and then invite people to enter their Amazon info (with a simple click) along with whatever else is required, such as a campus ID number, a response to a question, or other necessary information. This tool would make it an easy experience for both the user and the coordinator. Although this requires an Amazon account, it would offer a precise method for gathering correct information. If they could add a randomizing function to select winners, that would be a great enhancement too. And of course being able to pay via a campus p-card would make it a nice enclosed system. So in theory I could select a prize via Amazon, like a Kindle Reader, and then invite students to submit a response to a questionnaire or whatever, and then when they are done they can connect their info (separate from their response) to the giveaway. After a few weeks, when I close the process, Amazon will automatically generate my winner, notify them, and ship the prize, proving me with a receipt and whatever specialized data I asked from my participants.

We host several giveaways every year and so having a tool that could manage all these various components of the process would be an ideal time saver and just a more streamlined practice.

Thoughts on eBooks

Back to the topic at hand... eBooks.

We promoted the eBook copies fairly heavily and while I am happy that we were able to reach the 100 marker, I was surprised at how difficult it was to sign people up to take a free digital version of the book. With a campus of 18,000 students, 800 faculty, and 1,000+ staff I thought there would be greater demand than 165 people.

One thing I noticed via the demographics was that about one third of the student respondents were from engineering or computer science. I didn’t expect this, however, it doesn’t surprise me. Perhaps this indicates the population that is quickly embracing digital books?

The other aspect that stood out was the wide variety of devices entered into the drawing. There were about 30 Kindles in the bunch, but the rest were spread across other platforms (iPads, Androids, laptops, etc). Undoubtedly, many students are interested in receiving books on their phones.

I plan to conduct some follow-ups with the students and faculty who opted for the eBook versions and gather some insight into their experience. I’ll post anything that seems interesting. If you have something you want me to ask them, post it in the comments.

In closing, I want to share a snippet of an email I received from a student:

You know, when I first saw the Kindle book, I wanted to cry because I like the feeling of holding an actual book in my hands and seeing the words, even though the actual, physical book is far more than the words on the pages.

This probably sounds funny coming from someone with dyslexia who has to use audio books for everything she reads, but there is still something magical about actual books that seems to be missing from eBooks--in the same way that there is always something missing when I am listening to robot voice recordings of books.

In any case, thank you very much for helping me get the eBook.

Over the past year I’ve been thinking more and more about the future of libraries and particularly library collections. It’s inevitable that eBooks are going to be the primary format for general collections in the future. (I have a post related to that in the works—hopefully it will be out in the next two weeks.)

What strikes me about this patron’s comments (a young Gen Y-er) is the affinity to print despite her reliance on digital editions. I feel like a big part of my role over the next 30 years of library leadership is going to be directed toward helping this transition occur—providing patrons with experiences and opportunities to make the leap from the page to the device. But if I’m being honest then I have to admit that I feel like I am betraying them somehow—I’m definitely not in the “print is dead” camp, but if I’m going to buy into the “Education for the 21^st Century” and the goal of “preparing students to compete in the global economy” than this is important. It is my our responsibly to ensure that they gain exposure and experience with digital content in all it’s various forms, including the long form (books).

We need students to gain comfort, confidence, and competence with digital literacy. While there are still a lot of issues (like licensing, costs, copyright, cataloging, discovery, and reader preferences) to be worked out, the bigger picture is that the future is digital and it is our job to prepare them for the information landscape. So I guess my giveaway is a bit subversive because my goal isn’t to get these 100 people to just read this one book, but rather, to trigger many additional purchases and hours spent reading many more books via their screen of choice. And beyond that, I want to give the impression to our campus community that the library endorses eBooks and that this is something they should explore as well

Related Post
I read my first ebook… all the way through

At the Friday ‘Big Heads’ meeting much of the conversation revolved around Incrementalism vs. Revolution, as have so many conversations, about so many things. Someone quoted David Mamet (I can’t find the quote) that what we need is sledge hammers, not chisels, and I thought it was a notion too good to pass up as a jumping off point to discuss that meeting.

There were a lot of interesting topics discussed at the meetings, but as is my habit I’m going to focus only on the topics of interest to me. As usual there were a number of vendors in the audience, and when a few of the ‘heads’ at the main table voiced the expectation that they would be depending on the vendor community for help as they experienced additional staff reductions and resource constraints in general, the vendors came up to the microphones to respond. A couple of vendors expressed their concern that the library community in general has not been able to articulate what they want from vendors, and this has made it difficult for them to develop business plans. I hear a variation of this line when I stroll the exhibit halls and talk to vendors about what their plans are for RDA implementation. Almost always I hear that they have not heard from their customers about what they want, and they’re waiting for that before making plans. As a result, when I’m presenting to librarians about RDA, I tell them that they should be talking to their vendors, asking when and how they will be implementing, etc., etc. The problem with that approach is that a) most of the time the librarians don’t know what to ask, beyond the when and how; and b) when they get an answer they often don’t know how to interpret it. Maybe I’m slow, but I’m coming to the conclusion that I should stop telling people to talk to their vendors about RDA. I’m not sure it matters.

I went up to the microphone for one of my usual rants, after hearing quite enough of this dancing around. Here’s the reality, as I see it:

1. Libraries are unlikely to agree on what they want (this has been true in the past, and will likely be true in the future)
2. Given the generally low level of understanding of RDA data issues across the library spectrum (and certainly the vendors), it’s unlikely that any articulation of needs to vendors would represent something that vendors could rely on to build a business plan
3. Vendors are still talking about the provision (e.g. sale) of bibliographic records as a basis for their services to libraries.

My rant included all three of those points and more. Little over a year ago, the R2 report on the marketplace for MARC records (upon which I blogged) assumed that there is a marketplace for MARC records which will continue and that a direct return on investment is possible (or desirable) for creators of data. I said then, and still believe, that such a viewpoint is both unrealistic and in fact destructive to the task of moving forward into a world where data is not the coin of the realm but freely available (this is the basis for linked open data) and the investment and return on investment is around data services, not data sale. After my rant to Big Heads, one of the vendors came up to talk to me and offered up some useful nuggets to support my view: a) they provide records, but don’t make much money on them; b) the realm of digital metadata is vastly more complicated than that for physical metadata. It’s a huge challenge for vendors to operate in this world, but clearly the usual answers are no longer working, even as the data revolution is not yet fully upon us. The inevitable conclusion is that vendors who wait for their customers to tell them what they want may not survive the coming revolution. This is no time for chisels.

In this context it’s good to meditate on Henry Ford’s famous statement: “If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses.”

So cute story... Point me to the author, please!

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These are my two favorites right now, and they just did a campaign together for Basic Heart. So cute...

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oh god. they refer to gloves and mittens as "pulse protectors."

Even if you aren't a Twilight fan or watch "True Blood", you'll love the edgy and stylish knitting patterns in Vampire Knits by Genevive Miller. The book features 27 knitting projects featuring cozy caplets, sweaters, shrugs, arm warmers, scarves, socks, and more. I am particularly drawn to some of the beautiful cable knits like the arm warmers and neck warmers, cleverly titled "Pulse Protectors" (shown bottom left) and the Belissima mittens inspired by Bella of Twilight (shown bottom right). The cover project is the Lore Hoodie by Cirilia Rose of Berroco who was inspired by her long winter walks she took in between devouring Twilight and episodes of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer". The hoodie is a perfect sweater project for fall and I love the beautiful lace pattern in the lower half of the sweater. In fact, most of the projects in this book are a perfect for "back to fall/winter" knitting. Looking all all the gorgeous photos, you'll just want to pick up your needles and knit! Find out more about the book on the Vampire Knits blog where you can also print a free pattern for the Tourniquet Scarf.

Book Giveaway Time!
Three lucky CRAFT readers will win a copy of Vampire Knits. Just tell us why you would like this book in the comments. All comments will be closed by Noon PST on Monday, October 25, 2010. The lucky winners will be chosen randomly and announced later on the site. Good luck!

one of my favorite corgis in flight series… EVAR

mycorgi:

Corgi Pic of the Day: Name: Sian, Owner: Wendt worth Corgis, Location: Fairview Park, Ohio

corgis in fancy dress, from nickdraws.com

(tipped off by tiffanyruns)

Hocus Pocus

Lobster costumes are incomplete without the proper accessories.  :D

submitted by my new favorite person (corgi??) in the whole fucking world: Edison

AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! This is one of the best submissions I’ve EVER received!!! A LOBSTER CORGI AFTER MY OWN CRUSTACEAN HEART! 

I am giggling like a complete mad woman. This what I’ve always hoped I would see on the internets and never ever thought I would actually have it submitted directly to me. It’s like a gift from the lobster corgi gods!

Lobster corgi. Complete with accessories!!!! Hahaha, omg the slab of butter. This is complete win. LOVE IT!

Corgi Addict just had a serious lobster corgi related cuteness attack. Too much cholesterol. Corgi Addict will resume posting corgis once she recovers from this mind blowingly rare photo of the lobster corgi in action. 

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Wow. This came up as SLISdrama on the listserv and eventually turned itself into action. Color me impressed.

The Wayne State University School of Library and Information Science is seeking proposals for a select number of one-credit classes to augment its Winter 2011 course schedule.  These offerings will focus on practical topics that complement the subject matter of regular, full-semester courses.  Topics might include:  library/vendor relationships, project management, budgeting, managing personnel, grant writing, and/or marketing library services.

We hope to offer these courses primarily as a service to our students who need 4 credits per term in order to qualify for financial aid and yet find taking 2 three-credit courses per term too burdensome.  It is also an opportunity for library professionals to highlight and address current trends in the field with future professionals.

These courses will be offered for 5 weeks but can be spread out over a longer period if warranted (as long as total contact time equals 14 hours).  We are looking for a mix of on-campus and online offerings. Compensation is $1327 – $1453 per short course.

If you are interested in teaching a one-credit course for Winter 2011, please send a brief proposal to me (dx1042@wayne.edu) indicating the following:

Topic/Title:

Description:

Learning Objectives:

Format (online/on campus):

Suggested dates:

Stephen T. Bajjaly

Director and Professor

School of Library and Information Science

Wayne State University

www.slis.wayne.edu

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I remember heavy orthodontic sedation. Pretty much exactly like this.