CrossRef.org recently improved their OpenURL metadata search to return additional data in their Unified CrossRef XML format. Tellico uses CrossRef for DOI lookup, so I wrote up the new XSL stylesheet this afternoon to take advantage of the additional data.
Chuck Koscher mentioned it on the CrossRef blog and Alf Eaton picked it up on HubLog.
I was reminded earlier this week about the status pages for the Mars Rover, for Spirit and for Opportunity. Spirit just finished its drive to its winter location, tilted to its optimal position relative to the sun so it can get the most solar energy that it can.
In honor of reaching that position, Geoff Landis, one of the drivers, posted a sonnet:
We cannot pause to follow up:
we move or die. We cannot stop.
The lowercase L blog makes me laugh.
Ever notice hand-written signs with letters in all-caps, except for the letter L? It looks like an uppercase i … WHY DO PEOPlE WRITE lIKE THIS?
Casey Durfee, who works over at LibraryThing, posted about the Library of Congress’ new agreement with Microsoft. He makes several good points about vendor lock-in, and the availability of publicly-funded data.
Most disturbingly, users are locked in, too: anybody using an iPhone, an old version of Windows, any version of Linux, or any other operating system or device not supported by Silverlight will be unable to use the Library of Congress’ new website. How is that compatible with the principles of democracy or librarianship? It’s taxation without web presentation. And how exactly is that a quantum leap forward? (If the LOC really wanted to make a quantum leap, it would open up its data.)
No kidding! There are plenty of ways to add whiz-bang to websites, without sacrificing accessibility (in both the OS and the disabilities sense). Silverlight won’t run on Linux, simple as that, no matter how much Microsoft touts it as a “cross-platform” plug-in. Shame on the LIbrary of Congress.
Space Shuttle Atlantis landed successfully earlier this week from the STS-122 mission. The Astronomy picture of the Day for Tuesday was a gorgeous shot of the astronauts working on the Columbus Space Station module.
Make sure to check out the high resolution shot.
I fully understand how this mortgage crisis in the US is affecting a broad swath of the population. And people are getting hurt financially through no fault of their own. But when you see stories like this in the NY Times where they say
But borrowers like Mr. Doyle, the engineer in Northern California, say they are victims of their circumstances — housing prices collapsed and lending standards tightened just as they needed to sell or refinance.
And then find out in the next to last paragraph that
The Doyles took advantage of the housing boom by refinancing their home nearly every year since they bought it in 1995 for $275,000. Until their most recent loan they never had a problem making their payments. They invested much of the money in shares of companies that subsequently went bankrupt.
Subsequently went bankrupt? That’s not circumstances, dummy, that’s stupid investing. That guy is reaping the benefits of bad financial decisions. Pure and simple…
With the hope of God’s blessing, my church, Christ Church of Pasadena, voted last week to extend a call to Chuck Ryor as our Senior Pastor. Chuck has accepted, and as we hope and pray that his call is approved by our Presbytery, he will be coming out to California this summer.
Chuck’s also got a blog, where he posted about his family’s decision to move. I know how tough it is for a church to suddenly know their pastor won’t be with them much longer, so I do pray for Centerpoint. I’m pretty excited, too.
Aleksandar Urosevic emailed me to let me know that he has a review of Tellico published in a popular Serbian IT magazine, Svet kompjutera. It’s also just been published online. Thought I can’t read more than two words of it, it looks pretty great!
Najbolje od svega je to što ćete imati brzo dostupne sve potrebne informacije o svojoj kolekciji u trenutku kada vam zatrebaju. Tellico nudi još neke korisne opcije, ali ćemo se na ovome zaustaviti i pustiti vas da ga isprobate i sami otkrijete sve čari koje ovaj sjajni program pruža.
Atlantis got off the ground yesterday, without any problems. Adrian Warnock was there, even, and took some fun photos. Adrian’s a Brit, doing the Orlando tourist bit.
What can I say about a day that truly was unique? Experiencing the stimulator version of a Shuttle Launch in the Shuttle Experience, then climbing inside one, then learning about the International Space station in a 3D IMAX movie, all before seeing a real launch live.…. Not many people get to do that.
As seen on the Planetary Society’s blog, Mars wishes you a nice day.
This picture of a crater resembling a “happy face” was acquired by the Context Camera (CTX) on Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter on January 28, 2008. The unnamed crater is about 3 kilometers (1.9 miles) across. It is located among the Nereidum Montes, north of the Argyre basin, near 45.1°S, 55.0°W. North is toward the right and sunlight illuminates the scene from the upper right. Credit: NASA / JPL / MSSS
Image above: As dawn breaks over the Space Coast of Florida,
space shuttle Atlantis stands poised for launch. Photo credit: NASA TV
STS-122 is scheduled to launch at 11:45 PST today. You can follow the launch proceedings on NASA’s Launch Blog. Atlantis is carrying Columbus, the European research facility for the International Space Station. It’s a big important piece!
LifeHacker picked up the Linux.com story and added their own recommendation.
Tellico, a free, open source collection manager available in many Linux repositories, isn’t the only database-style organization tool on the block—especially with the recent explosion of web apps. What makes Tellico totally recommendable is its portability and complete . Sure, there are presets for a wealth of collections—books, DVDs, wine, coins, and the like—but you can put in and take out the labels you really care about. And unlike most programs of its kind, Tellico stores its collection files in XML format instead of SQL databases, making it easy to export your data and visualize it, amongst other perks.
Zotero is cool software, if only for the fact that it gives people a reason to post photos like this on their blogs…
GTD Kitteh! by Karin Dalziel. License:
Yes, I’m a research dork. So sue me. And in the meantime, if you’re doing serious research, go forth and play with Zotero.
The Washington Post has a page that shows which Senators have missed the most votes. And surprise, most of them are the ones who have been running for president.
John McCain has missed more than half of the 446 Senate votes. That’s irresponsible, no matter how many big-name bills he’s sponsored. Barack Obama has missed 38%, and Hillary Clinton has missed 24%. Seriously, how do they justify that? They’re simply not doing their job for the citizens of their states.
Jay Tea asks if either of the eventual party candidates will resign from the Senate to run their campaign. Bob Dole did, John Kerry didn’t. In the debates last night, both Clinton and Obama sounded confident they would win the November election. If they’re so confident, go ahead, resign from the Senate since you’re obviously not representing your state like you should be. John McCain should do the same. It’s called being a statesman.
Linux.com has a nice review of Tellico that just got posted. Shashank Sharma writes
Most of the collection managers I’ve come across are highly specialized for one particular collection. Tellico stand out because it can be used to record various types of collections. With the varied collection fields for each of the collections it supports, it ensures each item is carefully cataloged. To top it all of, its Internet search feature makes adding new entries a breeze and gives Tellico a distinct edge over other similar tools.
Tellico was also mentioned in another Linux.com article about Alexandria. Alexandria just had a recent release of version 0.6.2. The new development activity is great to see. Tellico was briefly mentioned, as well, in another review for Alexandria written by Jonathan DePrizio.
Patrick Guignot wrote up a very comprehensive announcement of the 1.3 release. He pulled information from my blog posts, the documentation, and the Tellico email list to mention just about everything currently relevant about SQL, KDE4, GCstar, etc. It’s in French, so enjoy!
Il [Tellico] permet de gérer facilement toutes sortes de collections et d’importer des informations depuis divers sites Internet afin de remplir automatiquement les champs de ces collections. Du fait de ses très nombreuses fonctions, de la réactivité de son développeur et de son manuel d’utilisation complet, Tellico est devenu une sorte de référence dans son genre au sein du monde du logiciel libre et même au-delà.
Regis had also written an update about the 1.3 pre-releases.
Tellico 1.3 is already in Debian unstable, Ubuntu Hardy, and Fedora Rawhide.