learning!

I've volunteered to do a 'Lunch and Learn' session at work next month focusing on blogs, wikis, RSS, and other nifty social computing tools. One of my colleagues suggested that I blog my creation of the presentation, and of course the blog provides a good record of where I've been and what's good!

Have been doing some research today, visiting Headshift, the Guardian Online Blog, BoingBoing and Demystifying Usability.

I went to the City Information Group presentation that David Tebbut gave a few months ago on blogging and social computing - I was up to speed with most of it already, but it was a useful summary.

Will be telling everyone about NewsGator as well which is the RSS tool I use for subscribing to content. Google Talk has just been launched today and I'll touch on that as well as Skype which has been big news recently.

If there's any librarians interested, there is a huge Google Directory page with links to loads of librarian created blogs, including Dispatches from a Public Librarian on old favourite McSweenys.net

On a less serious note, I'm not sure how I found it, but I stumbled across this great table today, plotting Global Average temperature vs number of pirates.

stunning!

Kt and I went to Kew Gardens yesterday to see the amazing 'Gardens of Glass' exhibition they've got on there. They have placed glass sculptures by Dale Chihuly around the gardens, both outside, on the lake and in the conservatories. They were just amazing - surprisingly it was sunny yesterday so the coloured glass glistened beautifully in the sun. I especially loved the 'walla wallas' giant pods of glass which were on the lake. A wonderful day out!

even cuter!

Current work obsession is the Polar Cam - the webcam at the Polar Bear plunge pool at San Diego zoo!

cute!

Nicola sent me this link to the San Diego zoo website which has a cute webcam (Panda Cam) of the new Panda cub and its mother Bai Yun. The cub was born on August 2 but the gender will not be known for a few weeks yet.

wayward!

Angus has set up his own blog detailing his often hair-raising kayaking adventures. It's a little bit concerning what he gets up to sometimes, but quite entertaining!

chilling!

Fruitstock on the grass
Originally uploaded by MhairiT.

Had a lovely day at Fruitstock yesterday afternoon. Fruitstock is an free festival that’s held in Regent’s Park every August and is organised by Innocent, a company which makes smoothies and fruitjuices. There are loads of foodstalls, including a very popular stand from our favourite piemakers, Pie.

The DJ tent was fantastic again this year with a good set from Hed Kandi, which saw Andrew grooving along with quite a few babies on shoulders.

Sitting eating Pies are (clockwise from Mhairi in hat) Geraint, Simon, Li-Ann and Melissa.

Fruitstock ambiance

Fruitstock ambiance
Originally uploaded by MhairiT.

renovated!

Visited an old Notting Hill favourite, the Hillgate, last night with John. It's just been renovated and is much more minimal inside than it ever was! No nick-nacks or decorations inside. The outside is much the same with hanging baskets and we had a nice sit outside on the picnic benches.

They stock one of my favourite new beers, Kronenbourg Blanc, which is a rival to the Hoegaarden white beer. It's very nice and refreshing - but I guess from reading the summary above, I'm the target audience!!

dramatic!

Went to Sadlers Wells on Saturday night to see the dance version of 'Les Liaisons Dangereuses', which was created and led by Adam Cooper. It was properly a 'dance drama' rather than a ballet, but the staging, although a little melodramatic, was quite enjoyable. The novel, and the film are mostly told through letters, so it must have been a little difficult to translate this to dance, but it all worked quite well.

innovative!

I visited the British Library at the weekend and took a tour (I was the only person on the tour so it was very personal guiding!). It was fascinating and I loved seeing the different parts of the library, especially the King's Library (donated by George III) and behind the scenes, showing the conveyer belt system that distributes the books from the basement up to the different reading rooms. We weren't allowed to go into the reading rooms as it's all very serious, but there were quite a few exhibitions to see as well.

The Turning the Pages room was really cool and is now available online - you can see pages from famous books and recreate the experience of turning the pages. The British Library has pioneered and sold on this technology. There was a very interesting Hans Christian Andersen exhibition with lots of things for children to play with, but also a good examination of his life. Apparently he went to London and stayed with Charles Dickens at one stage and overstayed his welcome!

musical!

So I'm planning a trip around the South East of the USA for October - my route is from Atlanta, to Savannah then to New Orleans. It's all very exciting and I'm sure a highlight of the holiday will be my visit to Athens, Georgia, home of REM and the B52s!