Contemporary Youth Culture

The library has just purchased the two volume encyclopedia, Contemporary Youth Culture. This encyclopedia describes the current image of youth, as created by youths themselves, society, the media, and technology, which has brought the youth of the world together through the Internet. In the past, adolescents developed identity and status; now, in addition, they have tremendous buying power. Worldwide communication has produced an international youth culture that affects economics, politics, music, film, and nearly everything else. Containing information on subjects from homelessness, sexuality, and race to the new body image, hip-hop culture, and video games, this encyclopedia offers powerful insights into today's youth culture and the forces behind it. An introductory essay provides historical background for both adolescents and older generations, and a time line illustrating the development of international youth culture enhances the text. Poetry and lyrics by young writers, and entries on what young people think about a variety of issues, add to this fascinating work. Scholars, teachers, parents, and young people will find this authoritative source useful for research and for starting discussions on a variety of topics--highly recommended.

Elephants recognize their image

The Republicans are on to something. Elephants can recognize themselves in a mirror, joining only humans, apes and dolphins as animals that possess this kind of self-awareness, researchers now report.

Happy, a 34-year-old Asian elephant at the Bronx Zoo, faced her reflection in an 8-by-8-foot mirror in a 2005 experiment and repeatedly used her trunk to touch an "X" painted above her eye. She could not have seen the mark except in her reflection. And she did not respond to a similar mark above her other eye that was invisible except under a black light.

"This would seem to be a trait common to and independently evolved by animals with large, complex brains, complex social lives and known capacities for empathy and altruism, even though the animals all have very different kinds of brains," researcher Diana Reiss, a senior cognitive research scientist at the Wildlife Conservation Society. Could this include compassionate conservatism?

Hopefully, she added, this will encourage people to protect elephants. No similar research has been reported on donkeys.
Source: Livescience.com

Institute for Healthcare Improvement

This organization's aim is "to engage US hospitals in a commitment to implement changes in care proven to improve patient care and prevent avoidable deaths." The site offers case studies (called Profiles in Improvement) and How-To guides and tools on a variety of topics (preventing adverse drug events, preventing surgical infection, improving care for myocardial infarction, etc.)
http://www.ihi.org/ihi
Source: Marylaine Block

Librarything.com

Did I ever tell you about LibraryThing? It is what I am using at home to organize my book collection. At its most basic, it enables users to build their own web-based catalog, using information from Amazon.com, the Library of Congress and over 40 other major libraries.
It's fairly easy to add titles to your online collection; note that you can make your collection private or public. You can add your own tags, edit any of the fields, and even note what date you purchased the book, when you started reading it and when you finished. You can import your Wish List from Amazon.com. Your catalog can be sorted by author, title, tag, publication date or even by how many other LibraryThing users also own the book. LibraryThing has tools to generate what must be the geekiest stats you can imagine from a catalog.

I know, I know. You think this a site only a librarian could love. But it is still wicked cool!
Source: http://www.librarything.com

Happy 35th Birthday, MEDLINE

MEDLINE went live for the first time on October 27, 1971.
In 1971, MEDLINE featured 239 indexed journals. In 2006, that number has grown to 4,928. In 1971, MEDLINE served 25 users. In 2006, MEDLINE/PubMed will average 77 million unique visits and about 800 million searches. View a PDF version (2 pages) of the complete article, “NLM to Introduce MEDLINE Service,” from the September-October 1971 NLM NEWS at http://www.nlm.nih.gov/news/medline_news_article.pdf.

(MEDLINE is an international literature database of life sciences and biomedical information. It covers the fields of medicine, nursing, and other health related disciplines. MEDLINE is freely available on the Internet and searchable via PubMed.)
Source: MEDLINE News

Election 2006

Election Day is fast approaching. Here are some useful annotated links to resources, both for informed voting in the November 7 election, and for elections in general. Includes candidate and issue info, electoral maps and calculators, weblogs, and historical election information.
http://www.ipl.org/div/election/
Source: Internet Public Library

Halloween is coming: Recipes and More

http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/et_hd_halloween/
Recipes for snacks like Yummy Mummy, and Spider's Nest Dip, and punches like Green Ghoulade (with or without Wormy Ice Cubes), and pumpkin recipes galore.

Don't forget pumpkin carving and activities for kids and kid wannabees. See also Pumpkin Carving 101 <http://www.pumpkincarving101.com/> for more about the history and art of Halloween carving.

What Do You Want to Do: Free Resource

E-how
Providing “clear instructions on how to do (just about) anything,” the E-how web site boasts of receiving “over four million visitors each month.” Its popularity is not difficult to understand. The web site’s instructions are easy to understand and follow. E-how covers a very wide variety of subjects ranging from how to play the kazoo, kiss on a date, create a tile mosaic, to how to fix your car. E-how’s users are encouraged to submit their suggestions on how to do anything via its wiki site (http://wiki.ehow.com). The site is funded in part by advertisements via Google which are related to the subject being researched. E-how is recommended for anyone who has felt that with just a little knowledge and a little courage “I could do that myself.”
http://www.ehow.com

Carbon Neutral College

"In a move we hope will inspire other institutions to follow suit, College of the Atlantic (COA) has pledged to become the first college in the U.S. to go carbon neutral. Coming at the request of incoming President David F. Hales, the college vows to avoid, reduce or offset all contributions to global warming that are associated with any of the college's activities, including travel by students to and from campus. Located in Bar Harbor, Maine, COA has about 300 students drawn from 47 states and 51 countries who all study in the one program offered by the school: Human Ecology. Since its inception in 1969 to offer a new educational philosophy to prepare students to address the world's social and environmental challenges, the institution has been walking the walk: in 1972, students were instrumental in getting Maine to pass its groundbreaking bottle recycling bill; in 2004, it become the first institution of higher learning to sign a multiple-year contract to offset 100% of the emissions generated from its electricity use in 2004 and in 2005, the college had the first zero-waste graduation; commencement and a reception for 800 people netted no more than five pounds of waste."
Source: Treehugger, a web-based magazine

New Books in the Library: Keeping up with Science

Gravity's Arc
How did one of the greatest geniuses who ever lived retard the study of gravity for 2,000 years? How did a gluttonous tyrant with a gold nose revolutionize our view of the solar system? How could an eccentric professor shake the foundations of an entire belief system by dropping two objects from a tower?And how could a simple patent clerk change our entire view of the universe by imagining himself riding on a beam of light?

In Gravity's Arc by David Darling, you'll discover how some of the most colorful, eccentric, and brilliant people in history first locked, then unlocked the door to understanding one of nature's most essential forces.

Trouble with Physics: The Rise of String Theory, the Fall of a Science & What Comes Next
The confrontation between string theory and its critics is one of the great intellectual dramas of our age. With this book, the physicist Lee Smolin, finally raises the curtains for all to see. While Smolin is a devastating critic, he is also optimistic and constructive. He exudes a love of science and imagination, and a faith in the next generation of young physicists.

The God Effect: Quantum Entanglement, Science's Strangest Phenomenon
If you thought science was a predictable, commonsense business--maybe even a little dull--you haven't encountered quantum entanglement. A physical phenomenon so strange and all pervasive that the author Brian Clegg calls it the "God Effect."

CQ Researcher: Caring for the Elderly

Who will pay for care of aging baby boomers?

Nearly 70 percent of those turning 65 this year will need long-term care (LTC) in their lifetimes; 20 percent will need it for five years or longer. But — unlike most other industrialized nations — the United States has no public or private insurance infrastructure to pay for LTC. Those needing years of care will have to impoverish themselves before Medicaid will pay for it. But state officials say Medicaid — intended as a health-care safety net for poor children — could be bankrupted by rising LTC costs as the baby-boom generation ages, and the number of people over age 85 soars from around 5 million to 21 million by 2050. Meanwhile, understaffing, low pay and poor working conditions at nursing homes put residents at risk of life-threatening malnutrition and bed sores. As an alternative, states and nonprofits are offering more home- and community-delivered care, but LTC experts say the alternatives may not be any safer.

Last week's CQ Researcher report addresses this problem--highly recommended readng for health science students and faculty (and other interested parties). The report includes summary, issues, background, chronology, current situation, outlook, and bibliography. Contact the library for user name and password for accessing CQ Researcher.

Confused About HIPAA?

Several health science students have been asking the library staff what the HIPAA law really says. The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (PL 104-191), known affectionately as HIPAA, has confused and unnecessarily alarmed many conscientious health careproviders. Nurses in particular are likely to be on the front line of family caregivers' inquiries, because physicians are often difficult to reach and because family caregivers look to nurse as sources of reliable information. A major retraining of health care providers at all levels is needed to dampen the "HIPAA scare" and clarify what HIPAA does and does not say about communication with family caregivers. Carol Levine published an article in the August Journal of Nursing on "HIPAA and Talking with Family Caregivers." This is a good place to start. The article also has a list of references, most of which are available in the Goodwin Library.
Source: American Journal of Nursing August 2006

Guide to Public Opinion Poll Web Sites

With the midterm election only a few weeks away, polls and polling are in the news. Here is comprehensive source on polling data in the United States and around the world. According to the authors Thompson and Conley, "since their beginnings in the 1930s with Gallup, Roper, Harris and others, scientific polling organizations have grown dramatically in number, scope, and stature to their worldwide presence today. This compilation focuses on significant Internet sites concerning general public opinion polls, especially those providing polling results in usable formats."
Guide to Public Opinion Web Sites

Government Secrecy

"The Department of Justice reported that the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court approved 2,072 orders to conduct surveillance on foreign nationals in the United States in 2005. It rejected 0 orders. Another Justice Department report on secret wiretap warrants indicated that the government issued 9,254 National Security Letters during 2005. These letters can be used to obtain information about individuals without the government applying for a court-reviewed warrant. The number of Freedom of Information Act requests increased by 65,543 requests sinced 2004. Agencie overall have been unble to keep up with the number of requests, with 43 percent more pending requests this year than in 2002."
Source: Security Report Card 2006: Indicators of Secrecy in the Federal Government
OpenTheGovernment.org

National Environmental Scorecard

“When it comes to the environment and energy, 2006 will be remembered for sky-rocketing gas prices, record-high oil company profits, an acknowledgement by even President Bush that America is addicted to oil, the Alaska BP pipeline spill, and a widespread recognition that human activity is causing global warming to happen far more quickly than previously thought. Unfortunately, as the League of Conservation Voters 2006 National Environmental Scorecard reflects, Congress did virtually nothing to help solve these problems, with little hope for anything positive to emerge from an anticipated lame duck session.”
Full Report (PDF; 2.54 MB)
Source: League of Conservation Voters

Medline Plus: Sleep Disorders

Sleep Disorders is just one of over 700 topics on conditions and diseases at the National Institution of Health's Medline Plus site. This is a reminder for you that Medline Plus is one of the best sources of patient education information--very user friendly.

Medline Plus is a gateway to many authoritative resources on sleep disorders. There is a directory for finding services in your local area. You can also see a slideshow on sleep disorders.
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/sleepdisorders.html

Lack of Cyber-Terrorism Preparedness

The Business Roundtable Security Taskforce says the United States is not prepared to reconstruct the Internet after a major nationwide disruption and offers a 21 page report of policy suggestions. Business Roundtable is an association of chief executive officers of leading U.S. companies.
http://www.businessroundtable.org/pdf/20060622002CyberReconFinal6106.pdf
Source: Business Roundtable

Booker Literary Award

The novelist Kiran Desai won the Man Booker Prize on Tuesday this week for The Inheritance of Loss, a novel that examines identity, displacement and the indissoluble bonds of family. The Booker, Britain’s best-known literary award, is awarded annually to a novelist from Britain, Ireland or a Commonwealth country. The prize comes with a check for £50,000, or about $93,000, and a guaranteed increase in visibility and sales. Ms. Desai’s mother, Anita Desai, has been a Booker finalist three times, but has not won. They are the first mother-daughter team of nominees in the prize’s 37-year history.

The Inheritance of Loss is set in a remote corner of India against the backdrop of growing Nepalese unrest, and in the streets of Manhattan, where illegal immigrants try to make a living while eluding the authorities. It is Ms. Desai’s second book and concerns itself with what she calls “the enormous anxiety of being a foreigner.” This book is available in the Goodwin Library.

Turkish Writer Wins Nobel Prize

The Turkish novelist Orhan Pamuk on Thursday won the 2006 Nobel Prize in Literature.
Mr. Pamuk, is Turkey's best-known and best-selling novelist but, according to the New York Times, " also a divisive figure in a nation being pulled in many directions at once. A champion of freedom of speech at a time when insulting Turkish identity is a criminal offense, he has run afoul of Islamists who resent his Western secularism and of Turkish nationalists who object to his unflinching, sometimes unflattering portrayal of their country. "

In an interview in New York, where he is spending a semester teaching at Columbia University, Mr. Pamuk said he saw the prize as a recognition of his work rather than a statement about his beliefs. “I think less than people think I do about politics,” he said. “I care about writing. I am essentially a literary man who has fallen into a political situation.”

The library staff recommends two of his best-known books. My Name Is Red is at once a mystery, an intellectual puzzle and a romance. Snow, published in the United States in 2004, expands further on themes — alienation, religion, modernization, the unseen corners of Turkish society — that Mr. Pamuk has explored over and over in his work. He has also recently written a book about his beloved city, Istanbul.

Military Blogs

This guide to over 1500 military blogs from 28 countries offers views and experience often ignored in current political and policy debates. It's searchable and browsable by branch, language, gender, and country (including 373 from Iraq and 40 from Afghanistan, among others). Sample blog titles show the range of military experience represented: Navy Corner, Afghan Warrior, Anonymous Army Wife, Chaplain Kline, Blogs of a Retired Infantryman, British Army Reservist in Iraq, An Army Combat Medic, Blogging for Kosovo, etc.
http://www.milblogging.com