"Simplicity" - Patterns for Sewing Projects

Dear Dress Designers,
Simplicity is a much acclaimed resource for dress patterns. Their catalogues are very attractive and catch one's attention instantly. You can visit their site and browse or search for apparel patterns for women, men, boys and girls, babies etc.
They also host a variety of information under the section Sewing Basics like 'Fit Help' for learning how to get perfect fit for the clothes you construct; 'Sewing 101' for sewing basics and techniques etc.
The site is an excellent resource for finding a variety of sewing projects on apparel, home decor, craft and costumes at one place!!

Fashion Encyclopedia - An Interesting Resource for Dress Designers

Dear Dress Designing & Tailoring students, mentors and facilitators,
I came across an interesting resource Fashion Encyclopedia. You can browse alphabetically or search for different clothing and dress related information on this site. It hosts information on various dresses in the Ancient World, Early Cultures, European Culture and the Modern World.

Encyclopaedia Britannica

Hello readers.
Britannica.com is the website of the 32-volume Encyclopaedia Britannica. Visitors to the site can freely search the main Encyclopaedia, the Britannica Student Encyclopedia and the Britannia Concise Encyclopedia, plus a selection websites, video/media items, and the Merriam-Webster dictionary and thesaurus. A brief synopsis of articles from the Encyclopaedia is provided, with access to full-text available only to subscribers. The site can also be browsed, either alphabetically or via the World Atlas, timelines or subject browse facility. Subjects listed under 'Art' include: Visual Arts and Architecture; Literature; Music; Dance; Theatre; Nonwestern Traditions; Aesthetics. Timelines for Art, Architecture and Music are also available, plus a 'year in review' section and a selection of archived items about the Encyclopaedia.

Science and Consciousness

Good morning dear readers.
Quantum mechanics and consciousness is an upcoming field of interest. Work in this field was being done since long, but interest in this field is picking because of people's enthusiasm science and religion. David Chalmers, Professor of Philosophy, Director of the Centre for Consciousness at Australian National University. Basically, he works in the area of philosophy of mind and related areas of cognitive science. His website http://consc.net/chalmers contain his own papers on consciousness as well as a number of resources on topics related to consciousness like physics, quantum mechanics, neurobiology and consciousness, etc. It also contains MindPapers (a bibliography), Online Papers on Consciousness and much more.

Consciousness Studies: A Book of Reading

Dear Readers,

I hope you found the resources posted earlier, interesting and useful. Consciousness Studies is a book by Robin, Schmidt and Shamantics, hosted on Wikibooks. An excerpt from the Introduction section of the books says “Everyone has their own view of the nature of consciousness based on their education and background. The intention of this book is to expand this view by providing an insight into the various ideas and beliefs on the subject as well as a review of current work in neuroscience…… It is often said that consciousness cannot be defined. This is not true; philosophers have indeed defined it in its own terms. It can be described in terms of two principle components: firstly phenomenal consciousness which consists of our experience with things laid out in space and time, sensations, emotions, thoughts, etc., and secondly access consciousness which is the processes that act on the things in experience. Phenomenal consciousness is much like the “perceptual space” of psychological and physiological research. It is the many simultaneous events that become the space of experience in general and it is now a legitimate target of scientific research.”
Wikibooks is an excellent source of e-books spanning over wide range of subjects and disciplines. Also brought forth by Wiki is an initiative for children - Wikijunior for children. Apart from these there are good books on general reading.

The Encyclopedia of Authentic Hinduism

Yet another good news for Theology students.
One of the reference readings suggested in your recommended readings list is "The True History and Religion of India: A Concise Encyclopedia of Authentic Hinduism" by Prakashanand Saraswati of Jagatguru Kripalu Parishat, whose detailed table of contents can be viewed on their website. Indian edition of this book can be had from Motilal Banarsidass Publishers, New Delhi.
Alternatively, you can also read articles from The Encyclopedia of Authentic Hinduism here. It covers about 70 articles. The site in itself is comprehensive and user friendly. It gives elaborate introduction to the encyclopedic work, information about the author Swami Prakashanand Saraswati, the articles segregated into sections, a detailed glossary as in The True History and Religion of India, a complete section on abbreviations and scriptural bibliography, information about the transliteration of Hindi and sanskrit words. You can save these articles as html files or pdf files for later reading.
I hope this resource will be of interest to you all.

Varieties of Religious Experience by William James

Dear Theology students,
The Varieties of Religious Experience: A Study in Human Nature by William James is one of the suggested readings as per the list of recommended reading provided to you. Incidentally, a web version of the same is available here. You may download the contents of your choice and read at leisure.
Also Charles T. Tart's States of Consciousness is one of the suggested readings, which I had previously posted.
There's also a plethora of resources on Mysticism and like on University of Central Florida's web server. But they are heavily slanted towards Western Mysticism. However, you can also visit this site and choose to have a look at other resources too.
Do some of you like writing? As you learn you may want to express your thoughts. You may wish to publish too. Or you may wish to read more research oriented literature in your area of interest. Perhaps these online journals will be of some interest to you like: Journal of Consciousness Studies, Mind and Matter, Zygon etc. Though access to fulltext articles and papers in the first two journals is not completely free, most of them are available online. If you get interested in anything from Zygon, you can contact me for reprints. Sometimes Nature also publishes interesting articles on consciousness and religion.
Do try these resources at leisure and let me know of their usefulness.

Happy Teachers' Day!!

Good morning dear readers,

Today is Teachers' Day, birthday of our Second President Late Dr. S. Radhakrishnan. Its a memorable day for all of us in the academic field to remember the teachers who have mentored us and celebrate. When Dr. Radhakrishnan became President, some of his students and friends requested him to allow them to celebrate his birthday, September 5. He replied, "Instead of celebrating my birthday, it would be my proud privilege if 5 September is observed as Teachers' Day." Thank you Dr. YVS for sharing the following lovely lines as a mark of respect to a teacher.

Oh respectable teacher........

You are a preacher – of good, strengths and virtues

You are a potter - for all students are clay and alike

You mould them - with your hands with care and love

You shape them - with utmost tenderness and affection

You carve them - by cutting the vices and ego slices

You etch them - with sharpened warnings, shaped blesses

You teach them - with utmost care and for ultimate results

You reach them - with selfless affection and zero friction

You broach them - with parental feelings and hearty dealings

You pamper them – with your patience and patronage

You hamper them – when you find them on evil roads

You sharpen them – by your homework and class work

You paint them – that the world can see the beauty in them

You tough them – that they do not break in future life

You rough them – that they learn all men are not alike

You finally send them – with a great agony and farewell

You know that – their future is perfect and safe, if they listened to you

Oh my beloved teacher........ I bow my head with humbleness and respect so that

All your blessings help me achieve positive results!!

I hope you enjoy these lines and celebrate teachers' day with affection. Theology students can find links to some of the works penned by Dr. Radhakrishnan here like An Idealist View of Life.

Free e-journals resource for M.Phil. (Phys, CS) students

Dear M.Phil. students,

This site is for you. It hosts free e-journals in Physics. You may even search for resources on Google Scholar also. You can request for a detailed list of journals (printed) and e-journals available in DEI Central Library. You can also contact me at kshemaprakash@gmail.com for reprints of research papers and I'll try to help you. Do let me know what you think of this attempt.

Google unviels Chrome

Hello dear readers.
Google has unleashed a new web browser called 'Chrome'. It appears like Google is trying to capture the still MS's IE and Mozilla's Firefox dominated browser market with its own web browser. My friend Jason and myself share similar views on this browser that its just okay but not spectacular. You can download the beta version of Chrome and try it out yourself from this link: http://www.google.com/chrome.

Further on, here's a good site for fulltext science and engineering books - Techbooks for free. Its a good attempt to list all possible free downloadable e-bboks in Science and Engineering at one place. The site hosts links to such e-books from ibiblio openbooks project, MIT press, Indiana University, National Centre for Biotechnology Information (NCBI), Mathematical Sciences Research Institute (MSRI), University of Miami and so on and so forth. What do you think? Some of them will be useful for PGDCSA students?

Useful Site for All

Dear All,
The Project Gutenberg is a very useful site. You can find loads of useful fulltext e-books here. You can even download and read them at your leisure. Do visit it.
I'll try to add some more useful links in the due course of time.

New Resource for Textile Designing & Printing and Dress Designing & Tailoring students

Dear TDP and DDT students, mentors and facilitators,

This information resource is for you. The blog named Needle n Thread provides many useful resources in your area of interest. Lots of embroidery designs and techniques too. Todays' highlight is a an e-book - Handbook of Embroidery by L. Higgins. Enjoy your reading!!

Resources for Theology Students

Dear Theology students,

This link hosts the full text of Charles T. Tart's "States of Consciousness". Enjoy your reading!!

Deutsch Engine Info

Dear MVM mentors, facilitators and students........
Have a look at this blog - Jonathan's Blog. It gives information about Deutsch Engine's working.

Information Resource for MVM and WM Students

The link below is a very useful site for finding manuals and related study material on automobiles and electrical and electronics related material. MVM and WM mentors, facilitators and students may visit to find useful information.

National Instructional Media Institute, Chennai

Welcome

Hello and welcome to the blog of your Coordinator, Distance Library Services, DEI.

Distance Learners of DEI can use this blog as a platform to communicate informally with me for any library and information resources related matters.

I will be posting useful information and links to useful information resources here.

I will try my best to follow and update the blog postings.

Have a nice time.