Winter Term

Hope your holidays were happy.

If you signed up for an on-campus or online winter classes, you are officially behind! Get going on your work because you only have three weeks to do it in.

Slush Week

I do not know what this week is called. We have an odd empty week between Fall Semester and Winter Term. I have been referring to it in my mind as slush week, and today that seem to fit. We got hail and rain and hail today. It is very cold for Del Norte county, which averages a low of 40°F in the winter. Usually it is like spring and summer all year round. This week it has felt more like winter.

Most students have already started their holiday breaks and are off relaxing with their families. If you can't relax until you have all your finals back, you should come into the library. I have papers to hand back from Mr. Owen's classes, Mr. Freneau's classes Ms. Ross' class and all the language classes (ASL, French, Spanish). I also have the art you submitted for the art show.

All next week the whole campus is closed down. We hope you have a wonderful break and a good time celebrating with your family.

Finals

If you are like most students I have talked to, you are nearing the last couple of your finals. Maybe you jsut have to finish your research paper or study a little bit more. Don't Panic. It will end soon enough. Sleep is for after finals, anyway.

Good Luck!

Shopping with plastic does not hurt as much

Scientists have found that shopping with paper money triggers a sense of loss with each purchase. Buying things on credit does not. This is part of the reason people tend to overspend when purchasing items with credit cards rather than cash. Purchasing items with credit cards makes the fun parts of our brains feel good like all shopping does, but without any of the negative reactions our brains have to paying with cash.

It's not your fault America owes 750 billion dollars to credit card companies for products we have, more than likely, already consumes. It's your brain's fault.

Read more about it in the most recent Newsweek.

the foggy fog fog fog

4 hours ago it was sunny and warm. Two hours ago it was sunny. Now, a coud of thick gray fog has floated it and visibility is in the 100's of yards. Walking in the fog is like watching an old movie that has gotten stretched and faded sitting in the sun on a too-tight reel. And it feels like getting wrapped in a cold blanket, thick and surrounding, but clammy and not really that welcome. I lived in the Portland area for 18 months about a decade ago, so I thought I was prepared for the Northwestern weather here in Crescent City, but I was wrong. I do not recall fog like this in Seaside. I still like it, don't get me wrong. But fog is different than rain.

If it is dirty, people will make it worse

Scientists are always wondering what makes things tick. What makes the earth work? What makes the machines work and what makes our brains work? They may have figured out why people tend to contribute to messes that are already in progress. If a wall has graffiti on it, people are more likely to litter and do other socially unacceptable acts. So if you want people to treat your stuff nicely, you had better clean up your yard!

Read more about it here.

Just a little librarian humor

But seriously folks, our online book offerings are awesome. You can find many different subjects and they can be read from any library computer and even your home computer if you sign up ahead of time.

Sure you can surf, but can you research?

There is a gaping difference between the skills needed to find directions to a friend's house and those needed to research and move information forward as expected in academic settings. Specifically, "the researcher of tomorrow must have the skill to extract the required information from these [internet] sources in an effective and efficient manner, while evaluating and using it ethically." This, according to Marsha Spiegelman and Richard Glass, is the goal of Information Literacy, and by default, the goal of college libraries as well.

Do you know where the information on Wikipedia came from and why it is correct or misinformed?
Can you tell the difference between ranting and research?
You do not really know how to use the internet until you do.