Developers are from Mars, Programmers are from…

The summary written by this gentleman found some great quotes to invent by, in the Programmers are from Mars… post.

Bioengineering Undergraduate Student Seeks New Cancer Treatment

Working alongside OSU chemical engineering professor Christine Kelly, undergraduate bioengineering student and OSU Presidential Scholar Erin Rieke is seeking ways to treat cancer with microscopic nanoparticles that would keep healthy tissues from being exposed to the harmful effects of chemotherapy or radiation. Read more about Rieke’s research.

I added RAM today

You know that memory that allows you to open lots of applications at one time on a computer…the RAM? I swapped my second 256 chip for a 512 chip (not necessarily a smart purchase)…all by myself! I began to panic when I couldn’t get the chip in; took me 15 minutes of gently pushing to realize I had it in backwards. I didn’t break anything and it’s definately  helped run the Adobe suite.

In addition to adding more RAM, I removed all the music from my hard drive…a bit scary. Now Adobe apps have more hard drive to pull from when doing hard work.

Art Cars

Jenny Holzer painted a BMW V12 LMR in 1999. She is one of thousands around the world who make art of cars.

Holzer is a conceptual artist whose recent works primarily use text as art. She is one of several famous artists who’s painted on BMWs. See a list on the BMWworld.com site.

I learned about art cars from a women who travels the USA in a motorhome when she’s not soaking in the rays in Baja. Her art car uses fiber optic light cables glued to the outside surface and makes liberal use of blacklight and flourescent paints on the inside. The women’s name has escaped me, but she travels to the Burning Man festival each year and takes her art car, like hundreds of others.

I’m working on an art car project for Jackson Street Youth Shelter in Corvallis, Oregon, to be raffled off in Oct. Keep up on details at my i-Paint.us site.

Saving screenshots using Office Picture Manager

Many times we want to explain with pictures. When teaching computer skills, most students want to look at the computer as they progress through steps. Illustrative screenshots can improve understanding of step by step instructions when coupled with hands-on learning.

In this module, students will create a screenshot file suitable for viewing online. This optimization process includes capture, cropping, and exporting in the correct dimensions, file format, and resolution.

Objectives:

Upon completion of this tutorial, students will be able to:

1. Take a screenshot image.
2. Crop the image in Office Picture Manager.
3. Export a new file as a .gif.

If you don’t own Photoshop for Windows and need to crop your image, the Windows accessory called Paint may not provide the tools you need. Office Picture Manager, which comes as part of the Office Suite, provides many easy-to-use editing and exporting options. Follow these steps to capture, crop, and export screenshots to place in your project pages.

1. Save the file you are working on (perhaps a spreadsheet workbook).
2. Click the Print Screen button on your Keyboard (windows only).
   • Open Office Picture Manager.
   • Paste.
3. Double click on the thumbnail picture of your screenshot.
   • Your thumbnail image becomes a large, editable image.
4. Click Edit Picture from the horizontal menu bar at the top.
   • Read the menu choices on right-hand tool pallette.
     • Choose Crop.
     • Using the corner handles (shaped like an L), click and drag them inword to cut out all the unnecessary parts of your picture. Zero in on the parts of your picture that illustrate the point you’re trying to make. Click OK.
     • For example, if you want to show a small spreadsheet, then crop out the Windows desktop, spreadsheet window, and Picture Manager menus.
5. Export the screenshot to a .gif file with the proper file size and dimensions.
   • Choose Export from the File menu on the horizontal tool bar at the top.
   • Read the options available on the right-hand Export palette.
     • Browse to place your new file in a directory you can find; either in My Pictures or your Project folder on your hard drive.
     • Change the file name to fit the action depicted in your screenshot.
     • Change the default file type from .bmp to .gif.
     • Keep the original size.
       • Screenshots are best viewed at their original resolution (72ppi) and dimensions.
     • Click OK.
6. Now, open the application and file you want to place the screenshot.gif file into. If this is your blog, then login and locate the page you need to place it on. Follow upload instructions.
   • Choose to keep the thumbnail linking to an original-sized image options.

Further Reading

Managing Pictures with Office Picture Manager

Tools for Designing Graphics for Web Sites

OSU Oceanographer Receives White House ‘Early Career’ Award

07-28-06. WASHINGTON, D.C. – Kelly Benoit-Bird, an assistant professor in the College of Oceanic and Atmospheric Sciences at Oregon State University, has been honored by the White House with a prestigious Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers.

Daily pill to ‘cure Alzheimer’s’

Scientists have developed a once-a-day pill that they hope could potentially cure Alzheimer’s disease. Dr Susanne Sorenson, head of research at the Alzheimer’s Society, said: “Initial tests have shown that the drug improves cognition and memory in mice, and we hope the same results can be recreated in humans.”

Women Studies at OSU returns from NYC

What can be done with a women studies degree? The six Oregon State University students who traveled to New York City and Washington, D.C., as part of Susan Shaw’s feminist organizing course have an answer to that question: Anything and everything.  Women studies class enriched on eastern tour (Corvallis Gazette-Times)

How Women and Men Use the Internet

Worthwhile reading for Gender and Technology students (as well as business owners).

How Women and Men Use the Internet: Women are catching up to men in most measures of online life. Men like the internet for the experiences it offers, while women like it for the human connections it promotes. Pew Internet and American Life Project. 2005. Deborah Fallows.

Orange tips new queens of fiction

BBC News online reports authors Ali Smith, Zadie Smith and Sarah Waters are in the running for the Orange Prize for Fiction, which celebrates female writing.