Questia Quiz - The Piano

Only one of the following statements is TRUE. Which one?

A. The piano is known as "The Queen of Instruments."
B. The total string tension in a concert grand piano is close to 20 tons.
C. Felt, buckskin, paper, steel, iron, and copper are among the materials used to make various parts of the piano's playing mechanism.
D. The first practical piano with an escapement mechanism for the hammers and capable of being played softly and loudly was built in Japan in 1887.

The one true statement – and correct Quiz answer – is C: Felt, buckskin, paper, steel, iron, and copper are among the materials used to make various parts of the piano’s playing mechanism. According to Piano World, because of its broad tonal and dynamic ranges and ability to produce melody and accompaniment at the same time, the piano is known as "The King of Instruments." The total string tension in a concert grand piano is actually close to 30 tons. And the first practical piano with an escapement mechanism for the hammers and capable of being played softly and loudly was built in 1700 by an Italian, Bartolomeo Cristofori.

U.S. News & World Report Best Universities

In late October, U.S. News & World Report released their compiled list of the top 200 universities worldwide. Check the rankings and the methodology for their compilation at World's Best Universities.

Doing your own research at PCL? Our selection of tools includes:

The college blue book (2009)

BusinessWeek guide to the best business schools (2003)

Campus visits & college interviews: A complete guide for college-bound students and their families (2002)

Early entrance to college: A guide to success (2007)

How to pay for college: A practical guide for families (2005)

PCL also has publications available on local Lehigh Valley colleges and universities, just ask at the Reference Desk.

Inventors and Inventions

A new 4 volume set titled Inventors and Inventions is available in the Reference section.

This publication features 413 inventors throughout history, both nationally and internationally renown, detailing their life and works in 3-4 pages. Each entry also includes the impacts of their inventions (useful for History Day research) as well as an annotated bibliography (to track down additional sources).

Available in print in the Reference section at 609.22 GRE or access online from the Parkland Community Library homepage following this path: Reference Services > Research Databases > Inventors and Inventions

Understanding Poetry

Author of the book The Art of Poetry: How to Read a Poem, Shira Wolosky says that "Poetry is language that always means more." She writes "word and word order, sound and pause, image and echo is significant."

Explore some of these poetry titles at PCL:
The poets' corner: The one and only poetry book for the whole family/poems selected by John Lithgow. (2007)

The 100 best poems of all time/edited by Leslie Pockell. (2000)

The best poems of the English language: From Chaucer through Frost/selected and commentary by Harold Bloom. (2004).

The best American poetry, 2009/ David Wagoner, editor; David Lehman, series editor. (2009)

The poem I turn to: Actors and directors present poetry that inspires them/ edited by Jason Shinder (2009).

Reducing Power Used by Computers

Global warming is happening because of a buildup of greenhouse gases in our atmosphere, most of them produced by power plants that burn fossil fuels to generate electricity. Information and communications technology consumes a good deal of electricity, much of which is wasted as heat, consumed by computers and monitors needlessly left on, or used to cool hardware that is not running efficiently.
Did you know?

* Electricity generation alone is responsible for 40% of carbon dioxide emissions in the US.
* IT around the world generates 2% of all greenhouse gases, roughly equivalent to all the world's airlines
* The average desktop PC wastes nearly half of the energy it consumes as heat.
* Letting your computer sleep can save approximately $60 in electricity costs per year!

It is very easy for you to make small changes that will have a significant positive impact on both the environment and your wallet. Suggestions from Climate Savers Computing.

1. Use computer and monitor power management.
2. Don’t use a screen saver. Screen savers are not necessary on modern monitors and studies show they actually consume more energy than allowing the monitor to dim when it’s not in use.
3. Buying a new computer? Make energy efficiency a priority while shopping for your PC and monitor. Look for the ENERGY STAR label.
4. Turn down the brightness setting on your monitor. The brightest setting on a monitor consumes twice the power used by the dimmest setting.
5. Turn off peripherals such as printers, scanners and speakers when not in use.
6. Fight phantom power; plug all your electronics into one power strip and turn the strip off when you are finished using your computer. When feasible, we also recommend unplugging the power strip from the wall to avoid high voltage surges which may occur during an electrical storm.
7. Use a laptop instead of a desktop. Laptops typically consume less power than desktops.
8. Close unused applications and turn off your monitor when you’re not using it.
9. Use a power meter to find out how much energy your computer actually consumes and to calculate your actual savings.

information taken from TechSoup and Climate Savers Computing.

Sunday, November 1st – Fall Back

Daylight saving time in most of the United States ends this at 2 a.m., local time, on Sunday, November 1.

Contrary to popular belief, no federal rule mandates that U.S. states or territories observe daylight saving time. Locations that do not include Hawaii, Arizona, Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands.

Spring ahead to daylight savings time will not occur until the second Sunday in March.

The History of Daylight Saving Time

The US Department of Transportation is charged with oversight of daylight savings time and it all dates back to the heyday of railroads. Localities set their own time and standardization was necessary for train schedules.

Pros and Cons

Daylight savings time has critics basically questioning whether more daylight in the morning or in the evening is most beneficial to the greatest number of people in terms of energy consumption, traffic accidents, crime, and better synchronizing business hours to the EEC.

Reference: Daylight Savings Time 2009: When and Why We Fall Back. (26 October, 2009). National Geographic News. Retrieved October 26, 2009, from http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2009/10/091026-daylight-savings-time-2009-fall-back.html.

Monday, October 12, 2009

October 12, 1935 The Birthdate of Pavarotti

Luciano Pavarotti was born in Modena, Italy. This popular tenor made opera accessible for a wide audience in the 80’s and 90’s by performing as one of the Three Tenors (other members were Placido Domingo and Jose Carreras). He is considered the best bel canto singer of the 20^th century and was a renowned philanthropist for humanitarian causes. Pavarotti died in Modena on September 6, 2007 at the age of 72.

Library audio/visual materials:

La bohème [DVD] The Metropolitan Opera. (2005)

Carreras, Domingo, Pavarotti in concert [compact disc]. (1990)

Great tenors of the century [compact disc]. (1999)

Romantica [compact disc]: the very best of Luciano Pavarotti. (2002)

Ti adoro [compact disc]. (2003)

Today in History...

The Anniversary of the Great Chicago Fire

According to legend, the Great fire of Chicago began October 8, 1871, when Mrs. O'Leary's cow kicked over the lantern in her barn on DeKoven Street. The fire leveled 3.5 square miles, destroying 17,450 buildings and leaving 98,500 people homeless. Financially, the loss was $200 million.

To learn more check out these PCL resources:

New York Times Historical Database - search keywords 'Fires in Chicago'
The Oxford Companion to US History -available on ACCESS PA > Oxford Reference Online
The great Chicago fire / Dynise Balcavage. (2002)The Great Chicago Fire / R. Conrad Stein. (2005)The great fire / Jim Murphy. (1995)
excerpted from: Chase's Calendar of Events 2009 (available in the reference section)

Primary or Secondary Sources? - Questions Answered

Sources: Primary vs. Secondary

"Whether conducting research in the social sciences, humanities (especially history), arts, or natural sciences, the ability to distinguish between primary and secondary source material is essential," says University of California Santa Cruz University Library in "How to Distinguish Between Primary and Secondary Sources."

"Basically," they note, "this distinction illustrates the degree to which the author of a piece is removed from the actual event being described, informing the reader as to whether the author is reporting impressions first hand (or is first to record these immediately following an event), or conveying the experiences and opinions of others — that is, second hand."

Primary sources
These are contemporary accounts of an event, written by someone who experienced or witnessed the event in question. These original documents (i.e., they are not about another document or account) are often diaries, letters, memoirs, journals, speeches, manuscripts, interviews and other such unpublished works. They may also include published pieces such as newspaper or magazine articles (as long as they are written soon after the fact and not as historical accounts), photographs, audio or video recordings, research reports in the natural or social sciences, or original literary or theatrical works.

Secondary sources
The function of these is to interpret primary sources, and so can be described as at least one step removed from the event or phenomenon under review. Secondary source materials, then, interpret, assign values to, conjecture upon, and draw conclusions about the events reported in primary sources. These are usually in the form of published works such as journal articles or books, but may include radio or television documentaries, or conference proceedings.

Defining questions
When evaluating primary or secondary sources, the following questions might be asked to help ascertain the nature and value of material being considered:

• How does the author know these details (names, dates, times)? Was the author present at the event or soon on the scene?
• Where does this information come from — personal experience, eyewitness accounts, or reports written by others?
• Are the author's conclusions based on a single piece of evidence, or have many sources been taken into account (e.g., diary entries, along with third-party eyewitness accounts, impressions of contemporaries, newspaper accounts)?
  
• 
  

Taken from: How to Distinguish Between Primary and Secondary Sources, University of California Santa Cruz University Library (2009). Retrieved from http://library.ucsc.edu/help/howto/distinguish-between-primary-and-secondary-sources.

Full Moon Questia Trivia

Full moons — like the Full Harvest Moon which shines this year on October 4 — were named by Native Americans hundreds of years ago. Which of the following is NOT a real full moon name?


A. Full Snow Moon
B. Full Worm Moon
C. Full Salmon Moon
D. Full Blue Moon

Correct Quiz answer: C. Full Salmon Moon

According to Space.com's Full Moon Names for 2009, Native American tribes "kept track of the seasons by giving distinctive names to each recurring full moon." The Full Snow Moon occurs in February, when "usually the heaviest snows fall." When "the ground softens and earthworm casts reappear" in March, it's time for the Full Worm Moon. When a full moon occurs for the second time in the same month, it is known as a "Blue Moon." And there's a Full Sturgeon Moon in August "when this large fish... is most readily caught" but there's no Full Salmon Moon.

Taken from Questia's email newsletter...sign up for yours at http://www.questia.com/Index.jsp

New Magazine

Starting with the November/December 2009 issue, PCL will be receiving WebMD the Magazine. A print counterpart to the webmd.com site, this periodical offers timely health news, healthy living solutions, and every article is reviewed by medical professionals. Look for WebMD the Magazine in the coming weeks.