post 100

Are you feeling full of childlike Halloween fun? Well, check out this site for 100 fun things to with a pumpkin. 100 things

photos of the library

I have found a photo of the library online I didn't know existed. Thought I would share.

Ewoks in Del Norte county

Well, not now. But 25 years ago the place was crawling with them. Our own redwoods played the set for many of the scenes from Return of the Jedi. Check it out in Saturday's Daily Triplicate or read it online here.

How distinct are the marbles murrelet?

A Pacific Northwest bird whose endangered status has protected over 89,000 hectares of old Redwoods could be declared the same species as their Canadian cousins, which are more plentiful. Scientists are at odds over whether the birds represent one species or two. They have a year to decide. In the meantime, here is a photo in case you are lucky enough to see one.

Did racism die in 1996?

According to Science, a journal writing on all things relating to the field, race may be the last factor Americans are considering when it comes to choosing a President. Although many social scientists have warned about a "Bradley affect" where the poll show an African-American candidate in the lead but on the actual election day he or she loses, such an affect has not occurred since 1996. But social scientists and pollster and political analysists alike are fascinated with the idea. Is it possible people would lie to a pollster? Who is likely to do so and when? Some of these answers will only be known in two weeks when people go to vote for real.

This weekend

Are you bored this weekend? Well there is nothing going on at the college, but Crescent City has lots going on.

The Dance troupe Polaris is coming to town and will be performing at the Crescent Elk Auditorium at 7:30 pm on Saturday.

Also, Del Norte's own Habitat for Humanity is hosting a fundraising dinner on Saturday at 5:30 at the Crescent City Cultural Center: "A House by the Sea, a Place to be."

See you there.

Too much sweet stuff

Have you ever wondered why a bee, hummingbird or other pollinator would choose to go from flower to flower rather than finishing up all the pollen at one flower? Well, I always assumed they did finish up the pollen in each flower. Turns out I was wrong. Many flower types (specifically the desert tobacco) have a sweet scent and a bitter side (in this case nicotine). Why would a plant choose to attract a pollinator and then scare it off? To diversity the gene pool, of course. Self-pollinators like the desert tobacco don't technically need other flowers to produce seeds, but having them around diversifies the population and ensures larger seedpods which means more flowers.

Don't believe me? Read about it yourself in the 29 August 2008 Science journal.

Not CGI

These are real plastic black balls (over 400,000 of them) released into a Los Angeles resevoir. The idea? to stop harmful bromate from forming. Sunlight is required to transform chlorine and bromide into the harmful bromate. LA officials figured: no sunlight nor bromate.

They will be there for five years.

Are you into black and white?

Black and white photographs are the quindicential symbol of history. Simply making a photo black and white makes it timeless and brings out amazing detail we would otherwise miss.

Did you know we are offering a photography class in the short three week term in December and January? This would be a great chance to really learn how to capture all those cool things you see around you.

Also, if you just like seeing in black and white, check out the Library of Congress' account on Flickr. you can view photos from years gone by and even comment or label them if know more about the photos they posted. Check it out!

What's your 856?

In cataloging, each field has a number which indicates more about the book and its subject, publication date and so forth. Field 856 has been used at the Library of Congress as a way to indicate a record has been digitized (or otherwise made available electronically). Digitizing books has been going on for 0over a decade, but the availability of those records on the open web is a fairy recent development. Google Books has scanned in literally millions of books from libraries and partner publishers, enabling people to access information and authors at an amazing rate. Librarians can use cataloging fields like 856 to indicate the record is available in a place besides the shelf in your local library.

The College of the Redwoods provides access for students to two separate sets of digitized information. The first are e-books as part of NetLibrary, a collection of books you can see all the information as laid out on the printed page, including photographs and diagrams. The other set of digitized information are the indexed periodical databases available here.

The lesson here is that you no longer have to attend a huge university to access a large amount of information.

the Debate

My mind is all pictures today and no words.

MLA format cheat sheet

Did you leave your St. martin's handbook at home again?

Is it impossible to remember when to use a comma and when to use parentheses in your citations?

Never fear, MLA citation guide is here.

Wit extensive examples and explanations, this is the best thing for writing a paper since reading your teacher's directions!