Smelling Books... For Science!

Seriously, book sniffing and its use in the preservation of books.

The test is based on detecting the levels of volatile organic compounds.

These are released by paper as it ages and produce the familiar "old book smell".

The international research team, led by Matija Strlic from University College London's Centre for Sustainable Heritage, describes that smell as "a combination of grassy notes with a tang of acids and a hint of vanilla over an underlying mustiness".

It all involves gas chromatography-mass spectrometry, which is not that intimidating looking a word but don't ask me exactly what it means. Since I've harped on people smelling books in two posts, it seemed only fair to link this.

50 Dangerous Things (You Should Let Your Kids Do)

Here's a scary concept: a book with dangerous activities to do with your children. Sort of.

Some of the stuff doesn't seem that dangerous. My knee-jerk reaction is to think this is a very bad idea. While the Canadian Amazon site's got one review from a disgruntled buyer, the American one has more positive feedback.

Some of the activities include climbing on the roof, breaking glass, sticking your hand out the window of a moving vehicle (the Canadian mother seemed to take offense to that one, "so basic it's insulting"), being blindfolded for an hour, and superglueing your fingers together. Which are all maybe not smart things, but things you can generally survive. And wouldn't you rather your kids climbed on the roof with you there to watch them?

I've kind of wondered what superglueing my fingers together would feel like.

I suppose if you don't approve of some of the suggestions you can veto them.

Toilet Paper Twitter

A man in need of toilet paper Twittered about it and his plea was answered.

Remember, this is PART OF THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS NOW.

Stephen Wolfram - Making All Knowledge Computational

Stephen Wolfram talks about his ideas to make all knowledge computational. I'll be honest, a lot of it goes right over my head, but it's worth watching. Stephen Wolfram designed Wolfram Alpha, a curious little search engine that provides very up to date computational facts.

Moon Language

From librarian.net: Braille isn't the only way for the blind to read. Before braille, there was Moon, which is embossed printing that gives the basic outlines of letters. It mostly makes sense in my head except for P and Q. Just a fun little bit of information.

Parameta Data

Start with meta, get your head around metadata, and then consider parameta data. I think I get it.

Bookulating Suggest-O-Meterometer

The Bookulating Suggest-O-Mometer is a mostly cute book recommendation application. It is ever so slightly annoying for extended use. Do watch the intro!

I inputted my information and came out with a book suggestion I thought sounded very interesting; choosing options that didn't reflect me turned out book suggestions I didn't particularly care for. Worth a look.