OVER 2 YOU, 152 (21/10/03)

FOX PROBLEM

Most nights I am plagued by urban foxes rooting through my dustbins and at various times – presumably during the mating season -- making the most horrific screeching noises (at first I thought someone was being murdered!). I’ve seen various noise making gadgets that are supposed to scare off cats and dogs, does anyone know of a similarly humane deterrent for foxes – perhaps some sound effects that I can download onto my PC or tape recorder -- or a web resource with suggestions for getting rid of these nocturnal pests?

Dennis Shearer, Enfield

I also had this problem until I came across a successful antidote, human urine! Beat the foxes (and other such intruders) at their own game. How do they mark out their own territories to deter others?  Exactly! And I recommend Mr Shearer to do likewise.

Once a week or thereabouts and at various access points (I have a long garden) I do this and pour from my 'bottled collection' a reminder that this is my property.  It works. My neighbour either side does likewise and since then there has been no fouling of lawns and garden, no bin disturbances and none of those horrific screeches to which you refer. Maybe in adjacent gardens but certainly not in ours.
 

We are trying to encourage, with some success, other residents to join our H.U.D. Society (Human Urine Deterrent). Apart from it having its social aspect of conversation over the garden fence, there is the added therapeutic benefit that we all get an undisturbed night's sleep resulting in a more even-tempered attitude towards everyone next morning.

Mervyn Brown, Pinner 

The most difficult time to scare off urban foxes is during the January-February mating season - which is when they make most noise. To keep them away from your garden, renowned expert Professor Stephen Harris suggests removing the scrub and piles of rubbish which provide cover, and using rags soaked in creosote or diesel oil to keep them out of an earth or away from your garden shed. The National Fox Welfare Society www.nfws.org.uk advocates a chemical repellent called Renardine, produced by Roebuck Eyot Ltd www.roebuck-eyot.co.uk and available at garden centres. Dennis Shearer should obtain dustbins with secure lids, to stop foxes (and cats) from rooting through the contents.
Philip Talmage, Croydon

Perhaps Dennis should try a tape of the sound of the horn and hounds in full cry. Charlie might then move to another garden. Unfortunately the obvious noisy gadget we use in the country most effectively could not be used in urban areas…

John Long longhawl@btinternet.com

BOOK CLASSIFICATION

I have recently been sorting out my loft and cataloguing 40 years of accumulated books.I thought it would be a good idea to use the standard catalogue system found in public libraries. However, to my astonishment, my local libraries were unable to help much. They receive books already catalogued. They did give me a list of number codes (e.g. Technology is 620) but this has to be refined into subcategories using a number of digits after the decimal point (e.g. 621.38392 is a book on recordable CDs). I have searched on the Internet but cannot find this full category listing. Can anyone help?

Michael Guest, via e-mail.

The number codes come from the Dewey Decimal Classification System, originally created in 1873 by Melvil Dewey. Now in its 22nd edition, the copyright is owned by OCLC. A one-year online subscription costs £195 and the 4 volume print version costs £250.  It won't be available for free on the Internet as OCLC enforce their copyright very effectively. Earlier this year they sued the owners of a hotel that had themed its rooms using Dewey numbers! However, your local county reference library may have a copy you could refer to. To find out more, go to http://www.oclc.org/dewey/
Frances Holmes, Assistant Vice President Information Research Associate
Library and Information Services, EMEA frances.holmes@csfb.com

A personal book collection is unlikely to need more than a simple catalogue. A basic description of each book would include: Author(s)/Editor(s); Title; Edition no (If other than first); Publisher; Year of publication. This could be supplemented by up to 2 or 3 subject descriptors and/or a short note field. A simple Access database or Excel spreadsheet would suffice for the task. The books can then be arranged (packed or shelved) in alphabetical order by Author or Title and retrieved through a simple search of the catalogue.

I am appalled that Mr Guest's local library was unable to offer suitable help. Librarians are graduate professionals who should be expected to provide answers to any queries, especially one that touches on their own area of professional expertise.
John Burr, burr_jf@yahoo.com

There is a fairly detailed summary of the Dewey Decimal System at: http://www.lib.nearnorth.edu.on.ca/

dewey/ddc.htm, which may be enough for a general collection. Many libraries, at least in North America, have online catalogues.  It may be easier to search individual books in one of these and simply use the classification assigned there.

As a further note, I am a retired librarian, with a large collection of books.  At one time I did classify my books, but found that, for me at least, it wasn't worth the effort -- a lot of books don't fall nicely into a given slot, and I was spending too much time trying to decide on the "correct" number (for my collection) and this using up too much valuable reading time.

Eric Clyde, Ottawa, Canada

I would recommend to Michael Guest that he try Readerware, from http://www.readerware.com/. This package allows you to catalogue your books by ISDN number and will pick up all the details from the Internet. I'm in the process of doing our books at the moment and have loaded up the details of over 700 in a few days work. The package can be downloaded for a 30-day free trial and the disk arrived within a few days of me purchasing it.

Aidan P Magill, a_p_magill@hotmail.com

SCIENTIFIC CLIPART

Can anyone point me in the direction of scientific clipart that I can use in connection with a geology project for my adult education class? I’m also looking for clipart showing English sports such as Cricket, Football and Rugby, and English oriented scenes and vehicles. Most of the packages I’ve seen seem to be American in origin. 

Mick Penn, via email

English (and Scots, Welsh and N. Irish) clipart can be found in the Home Views collection. Full details at http://homepage.ntlworld.com/rt.allen/hv/index.html Sports include cricket, football, rugby, hockey, bowls and Highland Games. Also covered are animals, plants, scenes, buildings, maps, heraldry, people, transport, plus instructions on how to use and combine the pictures (all WMF files, plus some GIF versions for use on websites)

David Waters, davewaters200747@yahoo.co.uk

I have a clipart program of 80,000 pictures produced by GSP which is UK-based and has pictures of cricket, rugby etc which I use for school PE posters. You also get a book with the 4 discs for easy reference - all for under £30.  They also have cheaper versions with more pictures but no book for under £10.  Their web address is www.gspltd.co.uk or email cserv@gsoft.demon.co.uk
Vivien Parsons, Crawley Down

I suggest he uses Google Images at www.google.co.uk. Clicks on the Images tab and enter a word (or words). Google will usually find any number of images, right click on one and it is saved to your hard drive or copy and paste it into whatever software you are using. As an ICT teacher I am amazed by the number of people who use Google as a search engine but are unaware of this Images search feature. I have rarely used clipart in the last few years because of the quality and variety of images available.

Peter Heap, m.heap6@ntlworld.com

CAN YOU HELP?

With the increasing popularity of laminated boards as floor covering does anyone know of a computer program that can calculate the optimum layout for minimum wastage? It should take into account floor area and shape, board size, the minimum allowable staggering of the joints and any clearances recommended by the board manufacturer.

R. Aked, Goring-on-Thames

As I grow older my hearing has deteriorated. These days more documentary TV programmes seem to have background music. The problem is the music is not turned off during the dialogue, making it almost impossible to hear the essence of the programme. Is there any technology, which will eliminate background music and allow just the dialogue to be heard?
Peter Sheardown, via email

I have read on several occasions that it is theoretically possible to construct a nuclear weapon from plans or instructions published on the Internet. Is this true and can anyone tell me where I might find them?

Cheryl Wilder, via email