Names and archives and all…

Following on from the visit to the National Archives at Kew last week, TOTD was ‘filing’ info on a newly ‘discovered’ great-great-great grandfather only to notice a certificate of baptism from 25 years ago this very day.  To mark the occasion (in a Nigerian river as it happened), here are some websites sent in by someone inspired by last week’s visit to the Archives:

Etymology of Christian names:
http://www.behindthename.com/nm/l3.php

Surnames:
http://surnames.behindthename.com/

History, ethnicity, ranking UK names:
http://www.nationaltrustnames.org.uk/

Yarnstorm

We’ve had this somewhat surreal offering sent in with no commentary as to why it might be of particular interest.  So we’ll leave you to make of it what you will:

http://yarnstorm.blogs.com/

If Google…

It’s now a week since our Head and long time supporter of this blog retired.  We appear to have survived.

But in memory of his contribution we offer the last suggestion he sent in:

http://www.makeuseof.com/tech-fun/if-google-were-your-roommate-video/

David Lynch makes his mark

Aparently there’s a market for David Lynch directed versions of big movies (or at least trailers showing what they ‘might have looked like’).  Here’s one for _Dirty Dancing_:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wjvuCOlkO4E

And _Return of the Jedi_:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wjvuCOlkO4E

and a little more topically:

Michael Jackson’s _Dangerous_ video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tdlf1DzX0iQ&NR=1

Timelines

Our intrepid darksider has come across the following which are interesting and may even prove useful:

http://www.dipity.com/

http://www.xtimeline.com/

or check out your peers or figures from history:
http://www.ourtimelines.com/contemp.html

The National Archives

If Library staff are a bit thin on the ground today, it’s because some have gone on a summer visit to Kew:

http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/

and if that doesn’t grab you, perhaps this section will:

http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/spies/ciphers/default.htm

or if even that is too real, maybe:

http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/ufos/

When is a 20p worth more than 20p?

When the Royal Mint have made a mistake!

See link below and check your piggy banks.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/cbbcnews/hi/newsid_8120000/newsid_8123600/8123613.stm

Good luck!

[Thanks to A for submitting this]

Log Cabin Day

Today our friends across the pond in the United States will be commemorating Log Cabin Day. This day looks back to a time when many Americans, who were moving west, would build their homes using the woods nearby:

http://www.holidayinsights.com/moreholidays/June/logcabinday.htm

Midsummer

Midsummer, Summer Solstice, the Feast Day of St. John, call it what you will. Today marks the pagan festival of Midsummer where, over most of the Northern Hemisphere, bonfires shall be lit and maypoles shall be danced around. Here is a Wikipedia article about it:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Midsummer

And here’s something from the BBC Website:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/paganism/holydays/summersolstice.shtml

Today is also the Ratha Yatra festival in Hinduism, commemorating Krishna’s return to his people after a long absence:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ratha_Yatra

E-Learning

Last week we had a training day at the library where we learned about and tried out various e-learning websites and facilities. Here are a few we looked at:

GCSE Bitesize (http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/) is a very useful site for exam revision with key points, videos and tests.

Intute (http://www.intute.ac.uk/) is a search facility where anyone can easily search for web resources and sites. Another good thing about it is it’s free!

Open Learning (http://www.open.ac.uk/openlearn/home.php) is an initiative from the Open University where users can use some of their course materials free of charge.

The day was very successful and interesting in how the Internet can be used in education at various levels.