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Illuminated Heritage

August 4, 2008

Blockbuster Offers Movie Digitization

Well, it had to come around eventually! Blockbuster has teamed up with Home Movie Depot in 44 stores across the Midwest. Home Movie Depot will convert old home movies to DVD. Conversion can be done for 8 mm, Super 8 mm and 16 mm film and camcorder and VHS tapes. Also, they will do photo film or slides into a digital format as well. Output formats include streaming videos, DVDs and digital tapes. Periodically I get questions about where to get movies converted and, well, here’s one answer! Click for the full article.

posted by Kay at 8:28 am | Comments (0)

July 24, 2007

On a Side Note…

Ok, so as you probably know if you’ve read this all along, I have a horse. A lovely little 8-year old bay Morgan named M’Lord Prince Charming. And you probably know that I (and our trainer, Dawn Atlas) take him to little horse shows in the IL-WI area.

So this weekend we were up at a charity show in Walworth County because there was a costume class both days and I wanted a chance to show off my lovely Medieval caparison that I made him. I spent months studying how to as accurately as possible create such a garment, contacting the Royal Arms Museum branch in Kentucky even to check on materials and all. As such it is wool lined with linen (which I dyed black) with leather and silk ties. The binding is hand-sewn wool. The coat of arms are the Schlumpf family’s (handed down from the original 14th century bearers) and are all hand-appliqued. The bridle is also hand-stitched and created from late Medieval sketches/drawings. This is a serious outfit which I created to just about fit the SCA (Society for Creative Anachronism) guidelines for such so I would be prepared should I ever decide to join. It was also a very fun project for me, to put that Medieval Civ. degree to work, to use all the crafty skills I’ve acquired over the years, and to have a horse who loves to show off and wear such things! But I digress…

So, my question is how is this at all humorous? Out of the 3 trophies awarded – Most Original, Prettiest and Most Humorous, we won Most Humorous. I’m not complaining, we got an award, but I have to say I’m quite perplexed. My parents, who came to one of our shows for the first time just to see this costume in all its glory, figure it must have been a clerical error.

I’m asking your opinion now, here’s a photo of us and besides for the expression on my face (I have no idea what I was saying at the time) – how do you think it’s humorous?

And, in case you’re curious, here’s what Prince looks like out from under all that:

Hard to believe he was rescued from the slaughter pens, huh?

posted by Kay at 11:06 am | Comments (1)

May 9, 2007

Typology of Information and Communication Technology Users Quiz

Pew Research has a quiz out to see where you fit in their Typology of Information and Communication Technology Users research. It’s really kind of interesting, especially the different typologies and percentage of population in that group. I came out as a “connector” which is about 7% of the population. I wouldn’t say ALL of it directly applies to me, but you know how these classification things work – there’s some stuff that’s right on and some that’s not so true. I’ve actually been online since before “online” was what is now called “online.” I got my first e-mail address in 1988…

Here is who they are:

Connectors, which make up 7% of the population, have a median age of 38, with a majority (54%) in the 30-49 age range. Ethnically, it is mostly white (72%); 16% are Black and 12% are English-speaking Hispanics. The typical Connector has been online for 9 years, which suggests they were a second-wave of late 1990s adopters. Most are women (55%) and they rate above average in educational attainment and income.

Try it out!

posted by Kay at 10:19 am | Comments (0)

March 20, 2007

Protect Your Pets! Pet Food Recall

Ok, this has nothing to do with genealogy or history, but if you know me at all, you know I’m a major pet person. I have a horse, a dog, several cats and fish and I used to have house rabbits too. So, I’m sure you’ll forgive me this off topic post!

I heard about this over the weekend but was just reminded that maybe not everyone has heard. And even though I know you may not have cats or dogs, I bet you all know someone who does have one.

Anyway, there is a massive recall on “wet” pet foods right now from a large variety of brands, both “top shelf” brands like Iams and Eukanuba and local store brands. Both cats and dogs are dying of kidney failure caused by, latest word is contaminated wheat gluten, in these products. Kidney failure is awful awful stuff, we lost our cat Dante to that years ago. You’ll find the recall notice and list of foods all over the place, but since I have ABC News open, that’s what I’ll reference you to:

Story: http://abcnews.go.com/Health/story?id=2963443&page=1
Cat Food: http://www.menufoods.com/recall/product_cat.html
Dog Food: http://www.menufoods.com/recall/product_dog.html

Be sure to pass along the word.

posted by Kay at 9:14 am | Comments (0)

July 24, 2006

IMLS RSS Feed

Enough acronyms for you? IMLS (Institute of Museum and Library Services) has a RSS feed that you can subscribe to through your blog/RSS reader/aggregator. This is a great way to keep up on grant offerings and deadlines plus whatever other news they feel fit to post. You can check it out by going to their site and clicking on RSS at the top to subscribe.

posted by Kay at 8:58 am | Comments (0)

July 19, 2006

US Archives Reopening After Flooding

The National Archives in Washington DC which had to close due to the torrential rain and ensuing flooding has reopened to the public. There was some damage to equipment and a theater, but no original records were damaged. Good news!

posted by Kay at 9:13 am | Comments (0)

June 30, 2006

More News on Flooding in DC

Many basements at the Smithsonian museums and NARA have been closed due to flooding. Exhibits and materials are said to be safe but there’s been a lot of damage to mechanical equipment, carpeting, walls, etc. NARA is still planning on holding their annual Fourth of July reading of the Declaration of Independence on Tuesday. To learn more, you know what to do…

posted by Kay at 10:36 am | Comments (0)

June 26, 2006

National Archives Closed Due to Flooding

I just read on Eastman’s Online Genealogy that they National Archives have closed due to flooding in the area but all the records appear to be ok though.

posted by Kay at 1:11 pm | Comments (0)

May 31, 2006

New Orleans Aquarium to Open

If you’ve been reading this blog long enough, you’ll know that I was very concerned about the animals at the zoos and aquariums in the hurricane-torned areas last Fall. I am happy to pass along this story today, that the Aquarium of the Americas in the French Quarter is set to reopen and is almost fully stocked again! Particularly touching are the stories of the other aquariums that reached out to help when help was needed.

posted by Kay at 2:30 pm | Comments (0)

February 16, 2006

Proposed Budget Cut

Yesterday Gov. Blagojevich gave his budget message and the state budget for FY 07 was released.

In going over the budget, we noticed that the budget line item for Annual Equalization Grants, Per Capita and Area Grants, and Per Capita Grants to Public Libraries has been reduced by $510,500. These are the grants that support services at public libraries and the regional library system services including delivery.

More information will be forthcoming when specifics become available. In the meantime, we are bringing this to your attention. You might wish to contact your state legislators and Secretary of State Jesse White with any concerns you might have ASAP about this reduction in fund and how it may affect library service.

If you need telephone numbers consult ILA Cap Wiz at http://capwiz.com/ila/state/main/?state=IL

The Illinois State Budget can be found at http://www.state.il.us/budget/FY07%20Budget%20Book.pdf Note this is a pdf file. Scroll down to page 366 or 478 pdf pages for the entry noted above.

posted by Kay at 3:00 pm | Comments (0)

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