I Confess, I’m a Bibliophile. You may be a bibliophile if:

By Cindy Schuchardt, Reference Department

It’s National Library Card Sign-Up Month, a time when we encourage young people throughout the U.S. to sign up for their very own library cards and harness the power of reading and literacy-based learning.  For those of us who are a bit more “seasoned” and have had our library cards since dirt was invented, this month can be a time of reflection, introspection and enlightenment.

September makes me remember one of my favorite childhood books:  The Velvet Room, by Zilpha Keatley Snyder.  After an unwanted move to a new home, the book’s twelve-year-old protagonist Robin finds herself exploring an abandoned old house nearby.  What she finds there – a mysterious alcove encircled by red velvet curtains – changes her life.

Never in my young life had a character resonated so completely with me! I think the main reason was that Robin was a bibliophile, a lover of books.  Here is how Ms. Keatley Snyder describes Robin’s fascination with the velvet room and adjoining library:

“Next she began to look at the books. That was only a beginning, because it would take weeks to look at all of them and years and years to read them all.  Some of the books looked very old, with their stiff leather bindings and old-fashioned print, but others seemed fairly new. She picked out a collection of fairy tales and went back to the alcove…  intending only to try it out, to see what it would feel like to curl up with a book, as if she belonged there; but the cozy comfort of the draped alcove was soothing, and soon she was deep in the story of the White Cat.”

Like me, Robin understood that magical pull of the words on the page and the other worlds to which they can transport you.  What about you?  Are you a bibliophile?

You may be a bibliophile if:

• You know the names of all the dwarves in The Hobbit.
• You know your library card number by heart, backward and forward, despite the fact that you can’t seem to remember your Social Security number or your best friend’s birthday.
• Your house has a lot of bookshelves, and they are chock full of books – as are the end tables in your living room, and the nightstands in your bedroom. You may also have many boxes of books in your closets, attic, or basement. (Get them out of that basement, before they get damp and musty!)
• Despite the old adage, you sometimes do judge a book by its cover (and the cover design, as well as the art inside, the typeface used, the feel of the paper, and the quality of the binding).
• You’ve overslept and been late to school or work, because you just had to get to the end of that mystery novel at 3 a.m.
• You’ve caught yourself inhaling the smell of a leather-bound book or running your fingers over the embossed type on the cover.
• You have an amazing assortment of bookmarks, book lights, sticky notes and such – but never enough.
• You have several reading apps on your cell phone, e-reader or tablet, which you always keep charged so you can fill the dull parts of your day (say, waiting for a doctor’s appointment) with reading.
• You really find it impossible to read just one book at a time.
• You’ve used flash cards to learn the Dewey decimal system.
• You know that Dewey: the small-town library cat who touched the world can be found at 636.80929 MYR, with the letters denoting the beginning of author Vicki Myron’s last name.
• You love words, word games, word puzzles, and the “It Pays to Increase Your Word Power” quiz in Reader’s Digest.
• You were one of the five kids in your high school English Lit class who loved the subject. (After all, discussing Hamlet’s tragic flaw was so much more interesting than going to the movies.)
• You know the difference between a haiku and a sonnet, and you love them both equally.
• When you are shopping in a new town, you find yourself gravitating into a quaint used book store. (You feel strangely disappointed if the town doesn’t have such a store.)
• Your idea of the perfect day is either a) staying in your pajamas and reading in bed until it is dark, b) spending the whole day at the library and checking out the maximum number of books allowed, or c) spending the day in a rocking chair on the front porch, with all of your favorite books and magazines piled beside you for your reading pleasure.
• You have at least one dictionary in each of the most lived-in rooms of your home.
• You’ve either actually read War and Peace just for the challenge of it, or freely admit that you’d rather read more books that you enjoy than one really large volume of literature.
• You could add five or six more points to this list, and you’ll probably try.

Do these descriptions ring true for you?  Well then, you are a certified bibliophile, with all of the perks, discovery, and learning that go along with that designation. Congratulations!

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Library Resources for You

If you are a bibliophile, WCPL has a whole library full of resources for you! Check out our website Reader’s Corner, where you can learn about the Library’s book clubs and browse through our carefully selected booklists, website suggestions, and database offerings.

You may also be interested in these books about reading, readers and libraries (all are available at our Main library in Franklin):

• The readers of Broken Wheel recommend, by Katarina Bivald ; translated from the Swedish by Alice Menzies (F BIVALD)
• Reading Lolita in Tehran: a memoir in books, by Azar Nafisi (9 NAF)
• The End of your Life Book Club, by Will Schwalbe (616.994092 SCH)
• The Hemingway Book Club of Kosovo, by Paula Huntley (949.71 HUN)
• How Reading Changed My Life, by Anna Quindlen (813.54 QUI)
• Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore, by Robin Sloan (F SLOAN)
• Tolstoy and the Purple Chair: My Year of Magical Reading, by Nina Sankovitch (028.8 SAN)
• Dewey: the Small-Town Library Cat who Touched the World, by Vicki Myron (636.80929 MYR)

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In Memory of 9-11

Patriot Day

By Katy Searcy, Children’s Department

Most of us vividly remember the morning of September 11, 2001. We remember exactly where we were and what we were doing. But today, many children were either born after that date or were too young to remember the attacks. For those kids, here are eleven children’s books about September 11, 2001.

It’s Still a Dog’s New York by Susan L. Roth (J E ROT)
Pepper and Rover, two New York dogs, are miserable after the tragedy of September 11, 2001. Pepper feels overwhelmed with sadness and fear and anger. But in a tour of New York City, his friend Rover shows him that even though they’re sad, they can go on.

September Roses by Jeanette Winter (J E WIN)
On September 11, 2001, two sisters from South Africa are flying to New York City with 2,400 roses to be displayed at a flower show. When they land, they learn of the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center. The sisters cannot go home, and they are stranded with boxes and boxes of roses at the airport. When a kind stranger offers them a place to stay, they decide to repay this kindness by arranging their roses in the shape of the fallen towers.

Towers Falling by Jewell Parker Rhodes (J F RHODES)
As the anniversary of 9/11 approaches, Deja’s fifth grade teacher at her new school begins a unit on the tragedy, but Deja doesn’t completely understand why. Not when she has more important things to worry about, like the fact that her family is living in a homeless shelter or why her father is so sad all the time. As she begins making friends at school for the first time in her life, Deja realizes just how much the Twin Towers affect her.

I Survived the Attacks of September 11, 2001 by Lauren Tarshis (J F TARSHIS)
When Lucas’s parents decide football is too dangerous and make him quit, Lucas has to talk to his biggest fan: his Uncle Benny, who is a New York City firefighter. So the next morning, Lucas takes the train to the city instead of the bus to school. It’s a bright, beautiful day in New York. But just as Lucas arrives at his uncle’s firehouse, everything changes—and nothing will ever be the same again.

Cyber Spies and Secret Agents of Modern Times by Allison Lassieur (J 327.12 LAS)
The terrorist attack on September 11, 2001, spurred the United States and other countries around the world to develop new spying techniques, new cutting-edge equipment, and new recruits to meet the challenge of 21^st century enemies and threats. Learn about the exciting modern world of spies and secret agents.

14 Cows for America by Carmen Agra Deedy (J 327.676073 DEE)
Nine months after the September 11 attacks, an American diplomat is surrounded by hundreds of Maasai people in western Kenya. A gift is about to be bestowed upon the American people, and he is here to accept it. Word of the gift will travel newswires around the globe. Many will be profoundly touched, but for Americans, this selfless gesture will have deeper meaning still. For a heartsick nation, the gift of fourteen cows emerges from the choking dust and darkness as a soft light of hope and friendship.

What Were the Twin Towers? by Jim O’Conner (J 725.23097471 O’CO)
When the Twin Towers were built in 1973, they were billed as an architectural wonder. At 1,368 feet, they clocked in as the tallest buildings in the world and changed the New York City skyline dramatically. Offices and corporations moved into the towers—also known as the World Trade Center—and the buildings were seen as the economic hub of the world. But on September 11, 2001, a terrorist attack toppled the towers and changed our nation forever. Discover the whole story of the Twin Towers—from their ambitious construction to their tragic end.

The Man Who Walked Between the Towers by Mordicai Gerstein (J 791.34 GER)
In 1974, French aerialist Philippe Petit threw a tightrope between the two towers of the World Trade Center and spent an hour walking, dancing, and performing high-wire tricks a quarter mile in the sky. This picture book captures the detail, daring, and drama of Petit’s feat.

September 11 Then and Now by Peter Benoit (J 973.931 BEN)
This nonfiction book in the True Book series for young readers recounts the events before, during, and after the terrorist attack on the United States on September 11, 2001.

America Is Under Attack: The Day the Towers Fell: September 11, 2001 by Don Brown (J 973.931 BRO)
Straightforward and honest, this account of September 11, 2001, moves chronologically through the morning, from the terrorist plane hijackings to the crashes at the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and Pennsylvania; from the rescue operations at the World Trade Center site in New York City to the collapse of the buildings.

Fireboat: The Heroic Adventures of the John J. Harvey by Maira Kalman (J 974.7 KAL)
A fireboat, launched in 1931, is retired after many years of fighting fires along the Hudson River but is saved from being scrapped and then called into service again on September 11, 2001.

Children’s Books That (Some) Librarians Don’t Love

By Stacy Parish, Children’s Department

Darling Reader, I’m going to let you in on a little industry secret.  A couple of them, actually.

Most human librarians have not read–and occasionally don’t have an awareness of–every single book in their respective libraries.

And . . . brace yourselves for Librarian Secret #2 . . . there are books that some librarians don’t even like.

Okay, okay, simmer down now.  I know this may come as an unpleasant shock to some of you, but it really shouldn’t.  Just as even the esteemed Dumbledore enjoyed lemon drops but didn’t much care for Bertie Bott’s Every Flavour Beans, so it goes with those of us who spend our days surrounded by the good, the bad, and the ugly of literature.  (Dirty little secret #3: there are actually librarians who do not like the Harry Potter series, but in the interest of good citizenry, I shall not reveal their identities here.  Hey, just because I love those books to the point of dressing up as Bellatrix Lestrange on Halloween and random Tuesdays doesn’t mean that everyone has to love them.)

Since it is a bankable fact that I’m a tremendous slacker and try to get my colleagues to do my work for me whenever any opportunity presents itself . . . oh, wait . . . I mean, since I value the viewpoints and opinions of my co-workers and try to practice inclusion whenever I can . . . and because this would be a really boring article if I just rattled on about the books that I despise (Johnny Tremain), I have solicited (and paraphrased in some instances) opinions from my smart and talented fellow librarians, and several of them have been kind enough to share their thoughts with me about children’s books that they personally find odious, irksome, or just plain weird.  I have also given my “guests” pseudonyms taken from the aforementioned Harry Potter series (and did I mention how much I love those books?) so that no repercussions may befall them for placing their confidence in me.  Therefore, Darling Reader, I present to you in no particular order a short list of books that are disliked by at least one (and sometimes more) WCPL employee.

“The only book that I can truly say that I despise is Madonna’s The English Roses.  And the reason has more to do with the fact that Madonna says she wrote it because, when she had her child, she ‘couldn’t find any good books out there for children, so she had to write her own.’  The arrogant ignorance of that statement caused me to hate the book on general principle!” says a kind and lovely librarian to whom I’ll refer as “Madam Pomfrey,” Hogwarts’ school matron, or school nurse, in American parlance.  (Author’s aside:  a used hardcover copy of The English Roses is available at Amazon for the astonishingly low price of fifteen cents.  I am so not making this up.)

Librarian “Godric Gryffindor” is also not a fan of Madonna’s alleged books, or of those by almost any celebrity or pop-culture figure, whether they go by one name, or two or three.  “However, I doubt if I could name a specific title, because I’ve banished all the crappy ones from my mind,” Gryffindor states.  And by Merlin’s beard, don’t even get him started on some of the adult “classics” . . .

Next up, a two-for-one.  Staffers “Kingsley Shacklebolt” and “Professor Wilhelmina Grubbly-Plank” weigh in on Love You Forever by Robert Munsch.  “This book is sweet if you don’t think too hard about it; very stalker-mom if you do think about it, and once you do, you can never go back to sweet,” says Shacklebolt.  “It is just so incredibly sad!” states Professor Grubbly-Plank.  The author concurs on both opinions.

“I like books that teach or are an example of good behavior or qualities, and use proper grammar.  Also, humor is wonderful, but not bathroom humor,” says a librarian I’ll refer to as “Molly Weasley.”  Again, the author agrees.  I adored the late Barbara Park, author of the popular Junie B. Jones books, as she was a wonderful person and a fellow alumna of the University of Alabama, but I truly cringe every time I connect a child with ol’ Junie B.  Some folks find Junie B. charming and funny, others find her to be ill-mannered and obnoxious.  Ditto for Dav Pilkey’s Captain Underpants books, as well as Jeff Kinney’s Diary of a Wimpy Kid series.  Personally, I try to make myself feel a little better about young patrons being devoted to these series; at least they’re engaged and reading something, I tell myself.  The darker side of my psyche usually responds with a profanity-laced reply that I keep to myself.

The final entries in this ridiculous annoying snarky insanely funny blog are brought to you by two fabulous librarians to whom I shall bequeath the pseudonyms of “Luna Lovegood” and “Hermione Granger.”  Hermione told me that she put some thought into my query, and that there aren’t that many kid-lit choices that she really detests, but that any books featuring Caillou (that whiny bald-headed Canadian kid who torments his little sister Rosie and the family cat Gilbert) are definitely on her list.  Also, “there was this dead bird book that was pretty morbid.”  Indeed—The Dead Bird by Margaret Wise Brown, author of the  classics Goodnight Moon and The Runaway Bunny.  Luna’s least-favorite children’s book also contains a theme of death and grieving:  I Cried Too by Jim Schmidt.  Our sweet Luna wants to make it clear that she doesn’t dislike this book, but that the subject matter just makes it so hard to get through.

Darling Reader, if you’ve stuck with me this far, thank you.  I hope this blog made you laugh, made you think, but most of all I hope it made you want to read—even if it is something that isn’t universally loved by librarians.  Because really, that’s the whole point, isn’t it?  Read what YOU love, and have fun.  Until next time–

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Unlike most of my other blogs, the opinions and viewpoints in this article DO represent those of some other employees of WCPL.  Names and other identifying details have been altered, via my intense love for the world of Harry Potter, to protect the innocent and the not-so-innocent.  Lastly, just because your favorite librarian may not like a particular book, that doesn’t mean that she or he won’t help you find that one, or thousands of other amazing and wondrous books that are available at WCPL. Happy reading!

Bizarre Inventions in History (even though they’re useful)

By Lon Maxwell, Reference Department

Since man learned that there were things in the natural world that he could bend and shape to make his life easier, inventors (however primitive they may have been at the start) have sought for new ways to make our lives easier. In some instances these inventions were stumbled across entirely by accident. Others, revolutionary at their time of inception, have become so common place that we rarely even remark on their origin. Yet these inventions and inventors have transfigured our daily life.

Think back to a time when early man began to use fire. Now we didn’t invent fire, it was most likely gathered naturally from lightning strikes and then kept burning in family shelters for up to centuries. Evidence of this can be found in a cave in China where a fire was kept burning for so long it left a bed of ashes twenty-two feet deep[i]. What they invented was a method to make fire on their own. Now, when you light your fire pit, gas oven or even just start your car, you don’t think about the amazingly complex reactions you’re continuing or their inventor. Similarly, many of the everyday inventions we use don’t even occur to us to be special.

Arguably the biggest impact on everyday life in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries comes in the form of the automobile. While steam trains predate the car, they were limited to the areas that their tracks ran leaving those outside the rail service stuck using the same method of transportation we’d been using for 5,000 years, the horse. Now a carriage comes along with nothing to pull it other than the torque provided by a new method of harnessing that fire our ancestors shepherded so carefully. It’s no wonder that some people thought the whole thing a ridiculous fad. Similarly, when we deigned to light our homes for thousands of years we burnt something: oil, wax, fat or natural gas. It is an amazing leap to move to light bulbs, something that just glowed with the application of electricity. The idea that you could just use these metal and glass contraptions that you hooked in to deadly electricity was considered quite dangerous, even by people who were used to lighting volatile natural gas in their lamps.

As you can see these inventions, along with vulcanized rubber, powered flight, assembly lines and telephones, made the turn of the nineteenth century a time when anybody could completely restructure our daily lives with the newest inventions. All of these things we take for granted were harebrained schemes and crazy pipedreams.

While many innovators have pushed the boundaries of our world with a will and determination, some have stumbled across ideas and devices completely by accident.  Things we’re all used to as models of modern engineering were originally flubs, failures and freak accidents.

Take the microwave for instance. Now you get home after a long day at work, too tired to cook and you throw some leftovers in a magic box for a minute or two and it comes out hot and ready to eat (well, except for the middle, that’s still ice cold).  You’d think some scientific genius would have brought this gift of intellect to us, but actually not so much. A man working with an especially strong magnetron to improve radar for the Raytheon Corporation noticed something odd. The gentleman in question was Percy Spencer, a self-taught grammar school dropout who worked hard enough and had enough natural brilliance to go from the paper mills of Maine to developing and producing radar equipment for M.I.T.’s Radiation Laboratory. He noticed that while working with the magnetron, the chocolate in his pocket melted. He wasn’t the first to see this, just the first to investigate why it happened. From this radar experiment he went on to try it on another food source, targeting a direct radar beam on the food produced a result, and now 70 years late countless households reenact his first experiments nightly when they microwaves bags of popcorn.[ii]

Matches were an accident as well. The lighter may seem newer, but it actually predates the match by three years. The new-fangled match was created when an English Pharmacist noticed a buildup of chemicals on his stirring stick. When he attempted to scrape off the offending chemicals, the stick ignited. That must have been a bit of a shock to Mr. Walker, the pharmacist in question. [iii]

By far my favorite happy accident was the Popsicle. Eleven year old Frank Epperson had been mixing a powdered fruit flavored beverage with a wooden stick. He left the drink out on a cold night and it froze. In the morning he warmed the glass and removed the ice block with its wooden stirring stick still frozen inside. By chance he took a lick of the ice and now children everywhere have one of their own to thank for one of the most famous frozen treats. [iv]

Even being at best absent minded, at worst lazy, can lead to one of the greatest inventions of all time. Dr. Alexander Fleming hadn’t cleaned his lab before leaving for his summer holidays. When he came back he found an untidy workspace that included some exposed petri dishes. Some had a strange mold on them that repelled the bacteria around it. After a little tinkering and some concerted mold culturing, Fleming was able to reproduce the accidental experiment, leading to the development of penicillin.[v]

Some inventions come into being like embryos, bearing a slight resemblance to the finished product. There are a great number of these out there that were crazy when they were first proposed, but are now gaining traction.

• Yves Rossy may have finally perfected the Jet pack we’ve all been waiting for.
• The Inter auto, a spool to spool map that moved as you drove was like a nascent GPS.
• The Laryngophone, a means for speaking over telephone lines without use of your mouth has become the modern day throat mics of pilots.
• Hugo Gernsback once decided to make a wearable pair of small cathode ray tubes to produce a 3D television experience. This concept is finally coming to fruition with google glass and all the VR headgear attachments you can buy for your smart phones.
• Even the idea of the radio controlled lawn mower is reaching fruition. Who doesn’t want a remotely operated spinning blade moving across your yard? Roomba is readying a yard version of the famous vacuum for market.

The future may hold glorious new devices or more feasible innovations on weird ideas from the past. More unforeseen consequences may lead us to new discoveries. Something you see on the “as seen on TV” shelf may turn out to change the lives of every person on earth. You never know.

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[i] The Cartoon History of the Universe Vols. 1-7 By Larry Gonick, 1990  902.07 GON

[ii] https://www.csmonitor.com/Technology/2012/1005/The-20-most-fascinating-accidental-inventions/Microwave-oven

[iii] http://www.historyofmatches.com/matches-history/who-invented-matches/

[iv] http://www.history.com/news/hungry-history/frozen-history-the-story-of-the-popsicle

[v] http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/the-real-story-behind-the-worlds-first-antibiotic/

Guest Post: Are You Ready for the 2017 Solar Eclipse

By Dr. Billy Teets, Outreach Astronomer at Vanderbilt University

August 21st is quickly approaching as one of the most anticipated days of 2017.  For the first time in 38 years, a total solar eclipse will be visible from the U.S. mainland.  Partial and even annular solar eclipses have been visible since then, but for those who have had the rare opportunity to ever witness the splendor of a total solar eclipse, partial and annular solar eclipses cannot compare.

Solar eclipses occur when the Moon passes between the Earth and the Sun and casts shadows on our planet.  For the Moon to be able to obscure the Sun, it has to be in the new moon phase.  We have new moons approximately every 29.5 days; however, we have solar eclipses about every 5 1/2 months.  This discrepancy is due to the slight tilt of the Moon’s orbit with respect to the Earth’s orbit around the Sun.  At most new moon phases, the Moon will either appear slightly above or below the Sun in the sky, so the shadows it casts miss the Earth.  As time passes the apparent annual motion of the Sun in the sky and the daily motion of the Moon in its orbit eventually bring the two bodies to one of two points (known as nodes) in which their paths intersect.  If the Sun and Moon are on the same side of the sky then a solar eclipse occurs.  It is not surprising that approximately two weeks before or after a solar eclipse we experience a lunar eclipse in which the Moon passes through the shadows of the Earth.  In that two-week period the Moon has had time to move to the opposite side of its orbit and the Sun has not moved substantially on the sky.  Thus, the Moon is now on the exact opposite part of the sky as the Sun, allowing Earth to cast its shadow on the Moon.  On August 7th, two weeks before the August 21st eclipse, the Moon will indeed undergo a lunar eclipse; however, the U.S. will not be able to observe it as we will be on the day side of our planet during the lunar eclipse.  By the time we rotate to the night-side of Earth, the Moon will have moved out of our shadow.  Oh well, the U.S. will still have the opportunity to observe a beautiful total lunar eclipse on January 21st, 2019!

The arrangement of the Sun, Moon, and Earth during lunar and solar eclipses. THE OBJECT SIZES AND DISTANCES ARE NOT TO SCALE. Credit: Prof. Patricia Reiff, Rice Space Institute

The August 21st total solar eclipse will be special for several reasons.  This will be the first total solar eclipse visible from both U.S. seaboards since 1918, and Nashville is the largest city in the path of totality.  For this particular solar eclipse, observers will have up to 2 minutes and 42 seconds of total eclipse (“totality”), but this value greatly depends on location, especially with respect to the centerline of the path of totality.  With this being the first total solar eclipse on the U.S. mainland in nearly 40 years, millions of people are anticipating the opportunity to witness this heavenly spectacle.  Numerous events focused around the eclipse are being held in cities all throughout the path of totality as well as outside of the path.  Nashville also has many groups that are planning festivities and viewings on August 21st (a growing list of events can be found here).

Click for Close-up: A map of the continental US showing the path of totality as well as the magnitude of partial eclipse for the rest of the country. Credit: NASA’s Scientific Visualization Studio.

But, as with real estate, observing a total solar eclipse is all about location, location, location!  There is no, “I’m close to the path of totality so that will be good enough.”  IF YOU ARE NOT WITHIN THE PATH OF TOTALITY, YOU WILL NOT SEE THE TOTAL SOLAR ECLIPSE.  The closer you are to the center of the path of totality, the longer the duration of total eclipse you will experience.  Observers are encouraged to move towards the centerline, but that will actually take some planning.  First of all, excitement for the eclipse has really been gaining momentum over the past few months, and many people (some estimates say well over two million) will be flocking to Nashville to witness totality.  As you can expect, this is going to create major issues on the interstates and even side roads, especially as totality is about to occur.  People will be stopping alongside and in the middle of the highways and getting out of their vehicles to see the totally eclipsed Sun – the interstates may literally be parking lots.  The point here is that if you are planning on viewing from a specific location, then plan on leaving very early in the morning or even a day or two before.  Many hotels are already booked solid, so the chances of getting a room in or near the path are pretty slim now.  It is advisable to keep a close eye on the news of road conditions.

A close-up view of the path of totality for Tennessee. The violet contours mark the differing lengths of totality. At the center of the path of totality the duration of total eclipse is greatest (approximately 2 minutes, 42 seconds). Credit: NASA’s Scientific Visualization Studio.

So, what can you expect to see during the three hours of solar eclipse?  For the majority of the time, the Sun will only be partially obscured.  It will take almost 90 minutes for the Moon to move completely in front of the Sun and then roughly another hour and a half for it to move back out. So, in all, most people will get to see approximately three hours of partial eclipse.  During this time, proper solar filters (not sunglasses) must be used to protect your eyes, cameras, telescopes, etc.  If one has a properly filtered telescope, then the partial eclipse would provide an opportune time to get an up-close view of the Sun as the Moon gradually covers it.  It may be possible to observe sunspots (cooler areas that appear as black blemishes on the solar surface).  Some astronomy enthusiasts may even be able to observe prominences (enormous clouds of gas lofted up from the Sun’s surface) during the partial eclipse by using a special type of telescope known as a hydrogen-alpha telescope.  The long durations of the partial eclipses provide ample time for one to take pictures.  Also, be sure to take a look under the surrounding trees – as sunlight passes through the gaps and holes in the tree leaves, numerous images of the partially eclipsed Sun will be projected on the ground.

Tree leaf pinhole projection of a solar eclipse: Credit: Ed Morana

As the last few minutes of partial eclipse pass, one will be able to feel the tension and excitement filling the air.  By this time the vast majority of the solar disk is invisible and only a few percent of the Sun’s photosphere (the technical name for the solar “surface”) are illuminating the surrounding landscape.  If the day is clear, then this time will provide a very dramatic lighting that many often describe as “eerie” or “surreal.”   If you have a good view of the northwest you will notice that portion of the sky is darker and growing darker – you are seeing the umbra approaching at roughly twice the speed of sound! In the final few seconds before totality, as the last percent of the Sun’s surface is still just peeking around the silhouetted Moon, the dramatically diminishing sunlight will begin to allow the corona to take center stage.  The corona is the outer atmosphere of the Sun, and even though the gas of the corona is several million degrees Fahrenheit, it only glows about as bright as the full moon.  The last bead of light visible from the Sun’s surface, along with the corona surrounding the eclipsing Moon, form a spectacular “diamond ring” in the sky.

The diamond ring effect. Credit: Babek Tafreshi

The effect only lasts a few seconds before totality begins and a few seconds just after totality ends.  The faint corona is safe to observe with the naked eye; however, one should not look directly at the “diamond” as direct viewing of any portion of the Sun’s surface can damage your eyes in a matter of seconds.

 

Once the diamond disappears, the corona will blaze forth in all of its glory – totality has finally started.  By now people are screaming, cheering, clapping, crying, you name it!  Observing a total solar eclipse is a life-changing event for most people.  Some people become addicted to seeing them and travel the world in order just to be in the path of totality for those precious few minutes.

During totality one MUST remove any protective eyewear and observe the corona with the naked eye, for solar glasses will completely block out the corona. The corona will appear very tenuous, and you may see some structure in it that is caused by the Sun’s complicated and ever-changing magnetic field.

Numerous prominences appear as bright red “flames” in this view of a total eclipse. Credit: Imelda B. Joson and Edwin L. Aguirre

Right around the edge of the Moon’s silhouette you might even see some reddish-pink tufts barely sticking out from around the Moon – these are prominences, which are now visible to the naked eye. Depending on your observing location one portion of the Moon’s edge may appear outlined in a pinkish-red hue – this is the lower atmosphere of the Sun, which is known as the chromosphere.  The coloration is the distinctive hue of hot hydrogen gas – the main component of the Sun and all stars.

It will be difficult to peel your eyes away from the beauty of the corona, but remember to take a least a few seconds and look around at the rest of the sky.  During totality, the sky will be dark enough to observe a few planets and stars.  Venus will be visible in the upper western sky while Jupiter will appear about halfway up in the southeast.  Both will appear as very bright stars.  Mars and Mercury will be located close to the eclipsed Sun and appear as moderately bright stars.  A few of the true stars, such as Sirius and Arcturus, will likely be fairly easy to spot if you know where to look.  Don’t forget to look around the horizon as well – though the sky above you will be fairly dark the majority of the horizon itself will illuminated.  Try to keep an eye out for odd animal behavior as well.  Birds have often been reported to exhibit roosting behavior around and during totality (birds flock in to roost, roosters crow, etc.)

A simulated view of the Nashville sky during totality (approximately 1:29p.m. CDT). Four planets and numerous stars will be visible to the unaided eye while the Sun is completely obscured. Credit: Dr. Billy Teets

 

It will also be difficult during totality, especially in this age of technology and social media, to suppress the urge to snap pictures and text.  Don’t think about selfies.  The precious seconds of totality will pass by quicker than you think, and you don’t want to spend all of your time looking through a viewfinder or staring at a phone screen.  The end result will be no different than if you stared at a picture of the eclipsed sun on your computer.  Experience this eclipse!  Take in the splendor of the event with your own eyes.  Try to live in the moment so that you can remember it vividly for the rest of your life.  You may never get another chance like this, especially if the skies are completely clear.

If you are going to take away anything from this article, then here are a few key points to remember:

1. Do not look at any portion of the Sun’s surface with your naked eye during the partial eclipse – you MUST have appropriate eye protection when any portion of the Sun’s surface is exposed.  Do not look through an unfiltered telescope while wearing solar eclipse glasses – the focused sunlight will melt the glasses in seconds and then cause permanent eye damage.
2. During totality, when the entire solar disk is obscured by the Moon, you MUST observe the total solar eclipse with your naked eye.  Any protective eyewear will make it impossible to see the total solar eclipse and you will miss the spectacular part of the show.  Remember, the corona by itself is safe to look at naked eye.
3. It is NOT recommended to observe the total eclipse with a telescope as this requires using an unfiltered telescope to view the corona.  This is dangerous because one does not know the exact moment when the solar disk will begin to emerge from behind the Moon.  Less than one percent of the Sun’s surface is easily enough to cause permanent eye damage in a short period of time, especially when looking through an unfiltered telescope.
4. Photographing the partial eclipse is recommended since you will have close to three hours to do so, but remember that your camera can be damaged by the unfiltered Sun.  Therefore, you must use an appropriate solar filter to prevent your camera from being damaged.
5. Photographing the total eclipse is NOT recommended (even without using a telescope) solely for the fact that we will only have a maximum of two minutes and 42 seconds to see the total eclipse.  Due to the large dynamic range of the total solar eclipse, it can be fairly difficult to capture a good image that really shows the awesome splendor of a total solar eclipse. There are, however, websites, magazine articles, and even books that deal with the subject of how to photograph a total solar eclipse. Experienced eclipse observers have also stated that even the best images they have ever seen of a total solar eclipse do not convey the beauty of what you will see with the naked eye.  They also recommend that if this is your first total solar eclipse you should only focus on actually seeing it with your own eyes because it will be an experience that you will never forget.  Don’t waste those precious seconds trying to take images – people all over the United States will be taking images, including professional photographers who have had experience photographing total solar eclipses.

Good luck, and here’s hoping for clear skies across the U.S. on August 21st!

 

Back to School

By Katy Searcy, Children’s Department

Does going back to school have your house in a funk? Try a book! Here are thirteen titles for a variety of ages that are sure to get everyone ready for school.

The Class by Boni Ashburn (J E ASHBURN)
Count along with twenty young students from different homes as they get ready for their first day of kindergarten. Some feel eager, some are worried, and some are even grumpy! But they all get dressed, eat breakfast, pack backpacks, and make their way to school, where they will meet their new teacher and become a new class.

First Day Jitters by Julie Danneberg (J E DANNEBERG)
Sarah is afraid to start at a new school. She just knows it will be awful. But both she and the reader are in for a surprise when she gets to her class.

Chrysanthemum by Kevin Henkes (J E HENKES)
Chrysanthemum thinks her name is absolutely perfect—until her first day of school. “You’re named after a flower!” teases Victoria. “Let’s smell her,” says Jo. Chrysanthemum wilts. What will it take to make her blossom again?

The Kissing Hand by Audrey Penn (J E PENN)
When Chester the raccoon is reluctant to go to kindergarten for the first time, his mother teaches him a secret way to carry her love with him.

You’re Wearing That to School?! by Lynn Plourde (J E PLOURDE)
Penelope is so excited about the first day of school. She can’t wait to wear her rainbow sparkle outfit, bring her favorite stuffed toy for show-and-tell, and share a big picnic lunch with all her new friends. “Oh, no, no!” says her best pal Tiny, who started school last year. He has a few tips for Penelope about fitting in without sticking out.

School’s First Day of School by Adam Rex (J E REX)
It’s the first day of school at Frederick Douglass Elementary, and everyone’s just a little bit nervous, especially the school itself. What will the children do once they come? Will they like the school? Will they be nice to him? The school has a rough start, but as the day goes on, he soon recovers when he sees that he’s not the only one going through first-day jitters.

Because of Mr. Terupt by Rob Buyea (J F BUYEA)
It’s the start of fifth grade for seven kids at Snow Hill School. Only Mr. Terupt, their new and energetic teacher, seems to know how to deal with them all. He makes the classroom a fun place, even if he doesn’t let them get away with much . . . until the snowy winter day when an accident changes everything—and everyone.

Ramona the Pest by Beverly Cleary (J F CLEARY)
Ramona Quimby is excited to start kindergarten. Then she gets into trouble for pulling her classmate’s curls during recess. Even worse, her crush rejects her in front of everyone. Beezus says Ramona needs to quit being a pest, but how can she stop if she never was trying to be one in the first place?

The Year of Billy Miller by Kevin Henkes (J F HENKES)
Seven-year-old Billy Miller starts second grade with a bump on his head and a lot of worries, but by the end of the year he has developed good relationships with his teacher, his little sister, and his parents and learned many important lessons.

It’s the First Day of School—Forever! by R.L. Stine (J F STINE)
Everything goes wrong for eleven-year-old Artie on his first day at Ardmore Middle School, from the moment his alarm goes off until the next morning, when everything is repeated exactly the same way.

Recess at 20 Below by Cindy Lou Aillaud (J 371.2424 AIL)
The temperature outside is 20 below zero. Is school cancelled? Nope. How about recess outside? No way!  Learn from the kids’ points of view about what it’s like playing during recess when the thermometer says it’s 20 below.

A School Like Mine: A Celebration of Schools Around the World by Penny Smith (J 371.8 SMI)
Where do children in Jordan learn? What subjects do they study in Egypt? From Africa to the Americas, students explain their daily routines in their own words and talk about what makes their schools special to them.

The Way to School by Rosemary McCarney (J 372.91724 MCC)
Your way to school might be by yellow bus, bicycle or car, but around the world children are also getting to class by canoe, through tunnels, up ladders, by donkey, water buffalo or ox cart. Readers will see that the path to school can be “long and hard and even scary” depending on the lay of the land, the weather, even natural disasters.

ReferenceUSA database

By Lindsay Roseberry, Reference Department

Attention, all business people and job seekers! We have a great database targeted just for you (and everyone else, too.)

Let me tell you about ReferenceUSA. This database offers business and consumer research information on millions of businesses in the United States, as well as consumer information. Created by Infogroup, this reference and research tool is the leading source for business and residential data. This resource can be used for such purposes as searching for jobs, finding doctors, creating business/marketing plans for a small business, conducting competitive analyses and locating specific people.

To access our database, click on this link, which will take you to the Databases by Title page: http://lib.williamson-tn.org/reference/refelect_alphalist.html#r

You can access this database at home, but you must have a library card in good standing. What does that mean? No fines over $3.00 and the card must be current. Every two years all cards need to be updated—even staff cards. ( So when you see the message that your card has expired, it hasn’t really. Just needs to be updated.) There is also an app for ReferenceUSA; you can download it for free from the App Store.

You can search for jobs, by location, and also by industry, using NAICS, SIC codes or by subject. You can research companies worldwide, find out executive contacts, track down addresses and phone numbers for businesses, and using a different section, find someone in a phone book nationwide. You can locate out-of-town companies and find all the information you need before your interview. You can profile a neighborhood, city or state, which is so very helpful if you are starting a new business or advertising for your business. Our database module containing detailed information on more than 14 million U.S. businesses and employers, millions of US residents, health care providers, Canadian businesses and more!

• Small-business owners and entrepreneurs can conduct market research, search for similar businesses in the area, find information on competitors, search for businesses to buy and much more.
• Job seekers can access information on more than 24 million U.S. businesses, including 200,000 human resource contact names, to assist with their job search — company descriptions and website links to job postings are also provided.
• New homeowners or those looking to purchase a home can research neighborhoods, including home values and median income of residents in the area, as well as locate nearby schools, churches, doctors, childcare facilities and more.
• Students can access articles for research on businesses, including data summaries to profile a neighborhood, city or state by type of business, size of business or household median income, spending habits and growth of a business, as well as finding businesses of similar size and scope to compare to.

You can search for a single business, and find the information you need about that business. Or, using the Advanced Search, you can search by company type using SIC Codes or NAICS codes to find what businesses are in a certain area. This would be of great assistance if you wanted to send flyers or notices to these businesses. You can create a list of businesses that you would like to send a resume to if you are job searching with our database of 24 million businesses. You can find out about the area you just move into with our Consumers/Lifestyles module.  All you need is a library card! And you can access this database at home as well.

All of this information is included with each and every search—over 24 million businesses; not all information is available for every business, though.

• Company name
• Phone number
• Complete address
• Key executive name
• SIC Codes
• Employee size
• Sales volume
• Business expenditures
• Geo-codes for mapping
• Fax and toll-free numbers
• Website addresses
• Franchise and brand information
• Headline news
• Liens
• Judgments and bankruptcies
• Email addresses
• Number of computers
• Work-at-home businesses
• Business credit rating scores

Here are some sample research questions as examples:

• I’m thinking of opening a bakery.  Can I find out how many bakeries are in my area already?
• Using the Advanced Search option in the U.S. Businesses database, choose the Business Type and click in the Business Type box. This will give you a way to search for Bakeries – Wholesale or Bakeries – Retail. Then click on the gray SEARCH button. To add another category, try Geography.   You can choose a city, county or metropolitan statistical area. This will decrease your number of hits, and make it more manageable. Since our library is in Franklin, TN, we put in Franklin, TN for the Geography selector. Although the information changes from time to time, we got sixteen hits. Click on any one of these businesses and you will see more information included in the list above. You can find job listings, business profile, photos, maps and directions, demographics, management, stock data, expenditures, history, nearby businesses and competitor’s reports. And the best part is this list of 16 hits or 225 hits can be downloaded to Excel.

If you are job searching, ReferenceUSA will help you out too. The database gives you access to more than 22 million companies and employers all day and all night, right from your home computer. The database now has Indeed.com job listings included in each record. ReferenceUSA also helps you research the company you are interested in working for. That’s always helpful when you get the dreaded question “What do you know about our company?”   Once you have a job interview, you can search for that company using the Quick Search and get current news and click though the website.

 

Remember, this is a free database you can access in the library, at home or from the app FOR FREE! We subscribe to it so you don’t have to!

So, a Shark…Nado?… and Other Strange Phenomena

By Lon Maxwell, Reference Department

By now, anyone who has strayed into the modern miasma of pop culture is familiar with the concept of giant sharks dropped in L.A. by water spouts while has-been and never-will-be actors line up to kill or be killed. It’s ridiculous. It’s impossible. It’s ludicrous. It’s not as weird as some things found in nature.

One of the most common types of odd phenomenon is the optical illusion. Our atmosphere likes to play with light a great deal more than you might expect. Take for instance the green flash. This odd blink of green light just as the top ridge of the sun hits the horizon is rumored to bring good luck in love. In actuality it is the light of the sun’s journey through more atmosphere than any other time that absorbs the lower wavelengths of light, leaving green. It’s also visible right as the sun hits the horizon at dawn, but being diurnal creatures, most of us aren’t watching for it then. Other optical phenomenon, when light and water, ice or dust interact includes sun dogs (small sun like balls on either side of the sun), light pillars (a ray of light going straight up from the sun when it is near the horizon) and arcs or rings around the sun. The most impressive are, or can be, the fata morgana. The fata morgana is a mirage caused by the drastic temperature differences in the atmosphere causing something to appear to be floating in the sky. They can be as basic as a boat appearing to be above the surface of the water to as complex as the city in the clouds seen over Foshan China in October of 2015.

Frost Flowers, photographed by Mark Adams

The atmosphere can produce other bizarre things as well, in the form of weather phenomena. Frost flowers form on plants and frozen surfaces. They’re actually two separate phenomena. The ones that form in meadows are windblown frost crystals that accumulate into curling petal-like structures. The crystal structures at sea are formed from ice crystals freezing from the atmosphere creating long chains the stretch out similar to ferns or cacti.

Another amazing weather phenomenon is the Catatumbo Lightning. This is a raging lightning storm in Venezuela with an average of 280 strikes per hour, ten hours per day up to 260 days out of the year. The air and water currents make for a spectacular light show that has been going on for years. Although it pales in comparison with the Great Red Spot on Jupiter, a cyclonic storm that has been continually observed for over 300 years, and was probably seen earlier than that.

Tales of fish or frogs falling from the sky date back to Pliny the Elder in the first century. The predominant theory involves tornados or waterspouts picking up the animals and depositing them outside their natural habitat. There have been documented occurrences of everything from fish to frogs, to even jellyfish in England in 1864 and spiders in Australia in 2015 (no sharks though).

Natural climate activity does not have a monopoly on the unusual event front.  Animals have a few crazy occurrences of their own. Crop circles have been seen all over, but under the water? Seven foot diameter patterned circles popped up off the coast of Japan. The cause is a mating display by one species of puffer fish.

Pyrosoma

Also underwater are great tube-like things called pyrosomes. The structures look like jelly fish and can stretch up to 60 feet in length, but they are not actually a single organism. Each tube is composed of hundreds or thousands of individual organisms that are actually clones of one another. These zooids such water in through mouths on the outside of the tube and all expel the water thrught the center, creating a jet like propulsion.

The red crabs of Christmas Island also observe an insane mating display. Every year in late October or early November millions of crabs make a journey from the mountains to the sea shores to mate and release their eggs on the tide.  They cover the ground and cause roads to be closed. A month later a seething carpet of ant sized baby crabs return from the water and make their way back into the mountainous forests to mature.

When we think of something that is as plain as plain can be we often go to water as an example. However, water can elicit some strange effects while doing nothing out of the ordinary. At the confluence of the rivers Negro and Amazon you can see two separate rivers flow within the same banks, one brown and one black, for miles until they truly merge. In Alaska a similar situation occurs when glacial melt water encounters the sea. Both of these situations result from different particulates in the suspension of the particular body of water in question.  The Negro is a slow moving river with a lot of vegetation that steeps in the river like tea, while the faster Amazon carries a lot of sediment. The Glacial melt also meets the differently dense ocean carrying particulates the leave a clear line where one starts and the other stops. The most extreme examples of this are the underwater pools. Yes, SpongeBob was right, there are pools of water under the water but I don’t think anyone wants to take a dip here. High salinity and dissolved methane mean that almost anything that goes in this pool is not leaving.

In some cases, Mother Nature is trying to add insult to injury. Imagine frozen wastelands with explosive bubbles and volcanic lightning. Methane comes back here as bubbles are forming in arctic lakes. These dangerous little spheres are close to the surface too. All it takes is an ice axe, a lighter and an extreme lack of sense to create a fountain of fire for anywhere from a few seconds to a few minutes. The methane rises from the ground beneath the lakes and usually passes through into the atmosphere, but during the winter the bubbles can be trapped, waiting for a thaw or adventurous ice fisherman. If flaming ice wasn’t bad enough try volcanic lightning. Dirty thunderstorms, as they are called, occur when the particles in a volcanic eruption build up static electricity the discharge occurs with a bolt of lightning.  So you may be able to be struck by lightning while running away from lava and pyroclastic flow.

While not reaching the level of sharks dropping from the sky in danger, the natural world sure does have its share of weird and amazing phenomena.

What’s Crazier than a Tornado full of Sharks

By Howard Shirley, Teen Department

Sharknado.

Sharktopus.

Megashark.

Sharks with frickin’ lasers for eyes. (Yes, that’s a thing.)

What do these have in common?

Sharks, you say?

Well, duh.

They always come out on Shark Week?

Okay, yes, that too. But keep going.

They’re really, really silly ideas for monsters?

Bingo! Winner, winner, monster dinner!

Sharks in a tornado? A cross between a shark and an octopus (which really isn’t that scary a beast, unless you’re a clam)? A giant shark (okay, yes there did use to be these megalodons)? And laser eyes? What are they, sharks from Krypton?

Okay, they’re all fine as a doodle on the side of your algebra homework (which you really need to finish; it’s due tomorrow). But let’s be honest they’re kind of, well, dumb.

But they’re not the dumbest ideas ever for monsters. And the truth is, dumb monsters can be a lot of fun.

Dumb combination monsters go back a long way. The ancient Egyptians believed in jackal-headed men, crocodile-headed men, cat-headed women, and of course the original sphinx, with a man’s head on a lion’s body. The Phoenicians gave us a man with the body of a fish. But the Greeks topped them all. One-eyed giant (cyclops), men with the bodies of horses, the chimera with the heads of a dragon, a lion and a goat, the medusa with snakes for a hairdo (maybe she got all stone-faced because she couldn’t do anything with it), a man with the head of a bull, men with goat legs, a man with a hundred eyes, and worse.

But it seems every age has its bizarre combos. The Middle Ages gave us the unicorn and mermaids, and things went so bizarre in the Renaissance that travelogues seriously suggested there were men with their faces in their stomachs (talk about fast food).

Today we know that’s all nonsense. Unless, of course, you believe in Nessie, Champie, Bigfoot, Mothman (no kidding), Yetis (no, not the coolers), Chupacabras, the Jersey Devil, and human-faced goats (okay, that last one is bizarrely real)! And, of course, aliens.

Why do we create these monsters? Is it to explain, to entertain, to scare, or just because we can? That’s a question for another article, but at the library, we like ‘em all. So if you want to “check out” some monsters on your own, here are a few of our favorite literary monster mish-mashes:

Miss Erin’s Picks:

• Zombies vs. Unicorns by Holly Black. With a title like that, you know it’s gonna be epic!
• Hot Pterodactyl Boyfriend by Alan Cumyn. Because nothing says “hunk” like a dude who’s also a dinosaur.
• Zombie Blondes by Brian James. Mean girls are so much meaner when they’re undead.
• A History of Glitter and Blood by Hannah Moskowitz, featuring fairies maimed by the cannibalistic gnomes who work for them (“Call it a tax.”), and a revolution and, well, what more do you need to know? Read the rest for yourself!

Mr. Howard’s Picks:

• The Dragonback series by Timothy Zahn, featuring an alien dragon poet-warrior who’s also a living tattoo. Starting with Dragon and Thief, this sci-fi action series is part Star Wars, part mystery, and part coming-of-age tale, and all terrific.
• Squirrel Girl, from The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl graphic novels. Okay, not a monster, but a superheroine with the combined powers of a squirrel and a girl, which turns out to be awesome. And yes, she can beat anyone, even the most powerful villains of the Marvel Universe. Take that, Galactus.
• The Monstrumologist by Rick Yancey, being the purported memoirs of an assistant to a 19^th century monster hunter who hunts down the “those can’t be real” monsters of fable (including those “face in their stomach” guys). Scary, realistic, and very intense, Yancey pulls off turning nonsensical creatures into a horrific threat. And then does it again in two more books in the series!
• The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents, by Terry Pratchett, seems like a light, funny fantasy “con game” story… until the legendary “Rat King” monstrosity enters the picture, in a sequence that will have you looking over your shoulder with every word.
• The Hungry Cities Chronicles, beginning with Mortal Engines, by Phillip Reeve, which has the best mash-up ever: a city and a tank. Okay, no that’s not a monster, but actual cities on tank treads that gobble up other cities? How could your inner monster-mashup muscle not love that? Just because it’s mechanical, doesn’t mean it’s not a monster!
• The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams. The President of the Galaxy, who’s also a starship thief, has two heads. And he’s one of the more normal monstrosities the hapless British hero meets in this over-the-top scifi laugh fest.

Or come by the Teen Room and peruse our Dungeons & Dragons manuals, ‘cause nothing says ridiculous monster mash- up like an Owlbear. (Yes, it’s a bear. That’s also an owl! Oooo, scary!) Unless it’s a Gelatinous Cube, which is, uh, basically acidic Jello. Shaped like a giant cube. That moves.

Sharknado, you’ve got nothing on us!