Gambling

There is a lot of news lately about winning the BIG ONE. The mega-million lottery prize. I hope you enjoy this picture of Gambling Patoli and the god, Xochipilli, from Codex Magliabechiano

Library Staff Statewide Help Celebrate National Library Week in South Carolina

COLUMBIA, S.C. – During National Library Week, April 8-14, 2012 staff members from all types of libraries across the state will take a wide range of photographs of library staff members working, helping patrons, teaching, and doing all that librarians do in a given day.

Library staff members from all types of libraries are encouraged to be creative in taking photos that capture the essence of South Carolina librarianship. Winners will be recognized on the SC State Library’s web site and during the 2012 SCLA Annual Conference held October 24-26, 2012 in Columbia.

To participate in the contest, simply join the Flickr group (http://www.flickr.com/groups/nlw2012) and post photos. For detailed contest rules, visit http://www.flickr.com/groups/nlw2012/rules.

For more information, contact Dr. Curtis R. Rogers, Communications Director, 803-734-8928, crogers@statelibrary.sc.gov.

1962 recap

Some births and deaths from 1962. If you would like to know more about these people, the library suggests you try Biography in Context.

Born in 1962
Paula Abdul (singer, Am. Idol)
Trace Adkins (singer)
Tracy Austin (tennis player)
Clint Black (singer)
Jon Bon Jovi (singer)
Matthew Broderick (actor)
Jim Carrey (actor)
Sheryl Crow (singer)
Jodie Foster (actor)
MC Hammer (singer)
Evander Holyfield(boxer)
Star Jones (The View)
Demi Moore (actor)
Axl Rose (singer)
Wesley Snipes (actor)
Al Unser, Jr. (auto racing)

Died in 1962
Eleanor Roosevelt (former 1st lady)
Patrick Ewing (basketball)
Marilyn Monroe (actor)
Lucky Luciano (criminal)
Charles Laughton (actor)
Hermann Hesse (author)
William Faulkner (author)
Adolf Eichmann (Nazi war criminal)
e.e.cummings (poet)

History in Pictures (WW2)

The library subscribes to a number of databases that has information on the various wars. For example, Gale World History in Context has special topic pages for
Balkan Wars, Boer War, Cold War, Crusades, English Civil War and the Commonwealth, French Revolution, Haitian Revolution ,Hundred Years' War, Iraq War, Israeli-Arab Conflict, Korean War, Napoleonic Wars, Peloponnesian War, Punic Wars, Russian Revolution, Rwandan Genocide, Spanish Armada, Spanish Civil War, Spanish Inquisition , Thirty Years' War, Vietnam War, World Trade Center and Pentagon Attacks, World War I, World War II. These topic pages can be found here.

There are also many, many other pictures and articles about war. One good example of pictures was published in The Atlantic.

Pi

Most of us know that it is the length of the circumference divided by the length of the diameter and equal to 3.141592. Do you want to see it actually calculated? Watch this video from the Films on Demand database.

Or if you don't like that kind of pi, see our World Food Cultures page.

The Universe

Do you know the definition of "universe"? According to Access Science, which the library subscribes to, "The universe comprises everything in existence, including all matter and energy, and the enormous volume which contains them. The observable universe currently spans about 2.6 × 1023 km (1.6 × 1023 mi), and contains approximately 2.4 × 1052 kg (5.2 × 1052 lb) of matter, yielding an average density equivalent to a few atoms per cubic meter. Most of the universe, then, is empty space; the matter is distributed thinly throughout, forming objects and structures at a variety of different sizes. The study of this matter and energy, and its distribution, composition, and origin, is what constitutes the sciences of astronomy and cosmology."

Do you want more information on the universe? Like when the Big Bang happened? And what planets are in our universe? Then see Access Science. You can get to that database by starting at the eReference tab of the Science and Technolgy subject page.


(X-ray image: Crab Nebula Courtesy of J. Hester (Arizona State University), NASA/CXC/SAO posted in Access Science.)

Quotes

Are you just feeling the urge to quote someone today? Maybe you just need to know who said a quote and what was the context. Why did Patrick Henry say "Give me liberty or give me death!"? What quote is Mary Kay Ash famous for? Credo offers links to the following books of quotations:

Bloomsbury Biographical Dictionary of Quotations
Bloomsbury Thematic Dictionary of Quotations
Book of Bible Quotations
Collins Dictionary of Quotations
The Elgar Dictionary of Economic Quotations
Rawson's Dictionary of American Quotations
Respectfully Quoted
Simpson's Contemporary Quotations


*Mary Kay Ash -
"If you think you can, you can. And if you think you can't, you're right."
NY Times 20 Oct 85