Category Archives: Hot Topics

A World without Satellites

Apr 5

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By Lindsay Roseberry, Reference Department

As Richard Hollingham said, “without satellites, the world would be a very different place, [since] the infrastructure we all rely on has become increasingly dependent on space technology.”  Satellites, of course, help us find directions on our smart phone, but they do so much more. They allow trans-oceanic communication; they keep track of weather; they give us warnings about tornadoes; they help our military track other military parties (and help other militaries track us); and they allow us to have television in remote areas with a satellite dish (dish network).

So what would happen if the satellites crashed or fell??  We could say goodbye to accurately predicting the weather, especially the storms and tornadoes.  Trans-oceanic communication would be in trouble.  AND we would no longer be able to us our cell phones for directions- we would have to rely on maps, and not the ones on the computer, such as Google maps—they rely on satellites as well.  We’re talking giant paper fold out maps.  People would have to come to the library to use old-fashioned atlases… (an aside: Did you know that our dependence on GPS (thank a satellite) is making us have more trouble figuring out where to go without them?  There are reports that our brains are not retaining this information and that may yet have effects on us. )

So if anything ever happens to the satellites (or just to your phone), Travel and Leisure shares some tips about navigating with a paper map, and without the mostly reliable GPS:

  • Check the orientation (look for the compass rose that denotes north – this way you will not get the map upside down
  • Check the scale – is the scale an inch to a mile or to 50 miles?  It truly will make a difference in the time needed to get to your destination
  • Take a look at the legend—this is a key to what is shown on the map.  Places like restaurants, bathrooms, toll roads, rivers and more can be shown, depending on the legend
  • Know how to use a compass (assuming you brought a compass along with you)
  • Check out the topographic maps, or sections.  These would show you where woods, steams, mountains and hills are along your route.  Sometimes even gas stations and camping grounds.

Richard Hollingham also provides a well-thought out possible future if satellites do fall from the sky in a scenario from the BBC.  After listening to several speakers on the subject, BBC Future shared this timeline with the world.  In the span of a day, severe disruptions would appear in our transpot, communications, power, and computer systems and governments would be struggling to cope.  The public order would start to break down, and that was just day one. Hollingham gives credit to Orson Welles as he describes what would happen as a sequence of events.

But what could take out the satellites? Science fiction authors have explored this scenario endlessly, and so have the armed forces.  Ignoring unlikely options such as alien invasions and time traveling egomaniacs, there are still several possible scenarios.  Satellites could be deliberately knocked out by enemy nations, but most experts think this would be self-defeating, since this could also harm other nation’s satellites as well.   A massive solar storm is always a possibility, which actually did happen in 1859 (the Carrington Event), but of course, we didn’t have anything in space then.  Then, there is the Kessler Syndrome; this one you might know more about.  This event was used in the movie Gravity, starring Sandra Bullock and George Clooney.  A missile strike, an asteroid, or something else strikes a satellite, then that satellite hits another one and so on until most if not all of the satellites are inoperable or destroyed.  It could definitely happen.  There is so much space junk up in space that this is completely plausible.

So what are the problems with space trash?  Consider:  while there are around 1,000 functional satellites in space, there are more than twice as many derelict and decommissioned satellites. Some 34,000 objects larger than ten centimeters (!!) have been observed by radar or telescope. For objects between one and ten centimeters, that number jumps up to over half a million. Debris less than one centimeter in size exist in the millions. Actually, Earth is surrounded by a huge cloud of space junk.  Why is this a problem?  Isn’t space huge??  So why would a loose screw or a fleck of paint floating around in space be so dangerous? Because debris can travel at speeds of up to 17,500 miles per hour. Even something as small and soft as a paint fleck can damage spacecraft or satellites when moving at such velocities.  In fact, NASA has been forced to replace many space shuttle windows damaged by paint flecks. If a larger, ten-centimeter piece of space debris was to collide with something like the International Space Station, the damage would be potentially catastrophic.  Another problem is that space debris hitting other space debris create more debris, which create more debris, etc.

Space Debris surrounding Earth

Astrophysicist and former NASA scientist Donald Kessler predicted this exact phenomenon in 1978. Shortly thereafter, a fellow astrophysicist, John Gabbard, coined the term Kessler Syndrome to describe this cascading effect. According to Donald Kessler, it is possible that the debris cloud will eventually grow so large as to prevent future operations within Earth’s orbit. That would translate into a future without weather forecasts, telecom, satellite-assisted navigation, or research satellites.

But what proactive measures can be taken to reduce debris in Earth’s orbit?  Dr.Kessler has suggested that removing just five to ten inoperable satellites a year could halt the exponential growth of space debris. In recent years, a few plans have been suggested to proactively reduce space debris. For example, the Australian National University is developing a laser that can track, target, and destroy space debris. Likewise, the Japanese Space Agency (JAXA) has partnered with a private company to develop a massive 700-meter long aluminum and steel net to sweep up space debris. Other plans call for solar sails and various types of capture mechanisms such as robotic arms and space sling shots.  Whatever is planned in the short or long time will take detailed planning and will be a long-term project.

Photo by Frerk Meyer

If you find this interesting, we’ll continue exploring the universe and space during our annual Summer Reading Program for Grown-Ups.  Take a look at some of our special events this summer:

  • An astronomy petting zoo on Thursday, May 23 – have you ever wanted to buy a telescope but didn’t know which one to get?  Come to his program and  narrow down your choices
  • On Saturday, June 15 we’ll be having a film festival of some of the best movies about space.  Stay tuned for titles!
  • On Saturday, July 6, we’ll be having a Cosmos marathon.  Wondering whether it will be hosted by Carl Sagan or Neil DeGrasse Tyson?  Make sure to sign up for our newsletter and check our website for more information.
  • On Saturday, July 20, we’ll be making a day of commemorating the 50th anniversary of NASA’s moon landing.  Movies, refreshments, lectures and more!!
  • On Tuesday, July 23, we’re offering a program about all the inventions NASA created for the space program that we use almost every day!
  • We will also have Dr. Billy Teets from Vanderbilt Dyer Observatory coming to talk and Dr. David Weintraub, a professor at Vanderbilt, will be talking about Life on Mars

Sources:

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Art Begets Art: When Books Inspire Songs

Mar 1

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By Chelsea Bennett, Reference Department

“To me, art begets art,” wrote Susan Vreeland, author of Girl in Hyacinth Blue. “Painting feeds the eye just as poetry feeds the ear, which is to say that both feed the soul.” [1] If you’ve choreographed an impromptu dance routine while listening to a favorite song, for example, or illustrated a beloved poem in watercolor, then you’ll know what she meant.

Kate Bush

Sometimes those creative links span decades and genres. Who could have guessed that an “art pop” song based on the plot of a gothic tragi-romance would sweep the music charts in 13 countries and both hemispheres? But that’s exactly what happened when teenaged English artist Kate Bush released her first single, “Wuthering Heights,” in 1978. [2] That song – and its gloriously, theatrically, beautifully weird music video – has been running through my head for weeks, so I decided to find some more examples of popular music based on literature.

Countless acts, from Radiohead to Dead Kennedys to Stevie Wonder, have found inspiration in George Orwell’s 1984. David Bowie even aspired to produce a musical based on the dystopian novel. Orwell’s widow denied Bowie the rights, but some of the songs ended up on his Diamond Dogs album (“1984,” “Big Brother,” “We Are the Dead”). [3, 4, 5]

Still from “The Ballad of Bilbo Baggins” by Leonard Nimoy

Musicians mine Middle Earth – the setting for J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings trilogy, among other stories – for ideas, as well. Led Zeppelin indulged their Hobbital tendencies in such classics as “Ramble On,” “Over the Hills and Far Away,” “Misty Mountain Hop,” and “The Battle of Evermore.” Rush, Genesis, and Nickel Creek are some other acts who’ve referenced Bilbo et al. Comedy nerdcore duo Lords of the Rhymes exists solely to rap about Sauron and such. The fantasy epics are a favorite of metalheads, too: Blind Guardian, Summoning, Battlelore, Isengard, and Rivendell lead the way in the “Tolkien metal” genre. (Yes, that’s a thing.) [6, 7, 8, 9] But may we never forget the gold standard when it comes to Tolkien-related songs: Leonard Nimoy’s “The Ballad of Bilbo Baggins.” (Trust me: that video is a lot to take in, but you have to watch it.)

Many of the literary songs I’ve come across are much more subtle about their inspirations. Some of them quite surprised me, in fact. Listen to a few tracks from this list and see if you can figure out the connections for yourself. Then, check the links at the end of this post to read more about their bookish origins. And if you’re interested in books that were inspired by famous songs, check out this blog post.

  • Who knew ABBA were such fans of post-apocalyptic horror?

    ABBA, “The Piper” (The Stand by Steven King)

  • Alt-J, “Breezeblocks” (Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak)
  • The Beatles, “Tomorrow Never Knows” (The Psychedelic Experience: A Manual Based on the Tibetan Book of the Dead by Timothy Leary, Ralph Metzner, and Richard Alpert)
  • Black Star (Mos Def & Talib Kwali), “Thieves in the Night” (The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison)
  • Kate Bush, “Flower of the Mountain” (Ulysses by James Joyce)
  • Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, “Red Right Hand” (Paradise Lost by John Milton)
  • Chance the Rapper, “Same Drugs” (Peter Pan by J.M. Barrie)
  • Devo, “Whip It” (Gravity’s Rainbow by Thomas Pynchon)

  • Meat Loaf duets with American Idol Katherine McPhee on “It’s All Coming Back to Me Now” and it’s totally not weird or anything.

    Celine Dion (but really Meat Loaf), “It’s All Coming Back to Me Now” (Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë)

  • Manic Street Preachers, “Motorcycle Emptiness” (Rumble Fish by S.E. Hinton)
  • Neutral Milk Hotel, “In the Aeroplane over the Sea” (The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank)
  • Katy Perry, “Firework” (On the Road by Jack Kerouac)
  • REM, “Disturbance at the Heron House” (Animal Farm by George Orwell)
  • The Rolling Stones, “Sympathy for the Devil” (Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov)
  • The Roots, “Act Won (Things Fall Apart)” (Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe)
  • The Strokes, “Soma” (Brave New World by Aldous Huxley)
  • T’Pau, “China in Your Hand” (Frankenstein by Mary Shelley)
  • U2, “Shadows and Tall Trees” (Lord of the Flies by William Golding)

References and Further Reading:

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We’re The Other Guys or Superheroes That Don’t Come from DC or Marvel

Jan 26

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By Lon Maxwell, Reference Department

Thirty years ago reading a comic book in the presence of your classmates in a middle school was a surefire plan to get picked on relentlessly. Now, every third movie and new television show is about one superhero or another or a team of them combined. The world has changed and now the geeks rule pop culture. So what do you read if you like being on the cutting edge of graphic novels? How do you boost your geek cred in a world where the popular people know the significance of Bobbi Morse and who Caitlin Snow really is? There are only two places left and I’m going to tell you where to find them (if you don’t already know).

Before I delve into the mines of alternative superheroes, I want to quickly mention other options. There are plenty of great graphic novels out there that don’t have anything to do with super heroes. You can find everything from mystery to fantasy to history to horror and even physics covered in books of sequential art. Our blog titled Little Known (but Amazing) Graphic Novels  covers some great options that are not as well known. By that same token, Superhero 101: Foundations in Superhero History can give you some great reading suggestions from the heroes of the distant past. In fact there are a lot of great books out there that might even be considered superhero books if I weren’t sticking with the cape and cowl set. So while Buffy and Harry Dresden and the New Types of the Gundam universe might be super powered they’ll have to stay on the shelf today.

The most common place to look for new super heroes for your reading enjoyment is …the other publishers. There are dozens of small imprints and local publishers but you don’t even have to look that hard. If you are a fan of the super hero books from Marvel and DC, but just want something new try looking at Image, Valiant, and Dark Horse. While these guys are outside of the big corporations, they’ve been around for a while and many of their books have the history and depth you are used to.

Dark Horse is the oldest, dating back to 1986, and has specialized in the types of characters that don’t fit the traditional mold of a superhero, but they do have a few exceptions in their history.

  • They had a revival of Doc Savage, a physician trained mentally and physically to superhuman levels (think Batman). There are many claims that he is the first superhero, predating certain Kryptonians by five years.
  • Ghost was another more traditional hero, she was an undead spirit who spent her afterlife righting wrongs.
  • The American was a cynical take on the patriotic type superhero.

Valiant is more traditional in its character creation. While they did some revivals back in the early nineties, like Turok and Doctor Solar, they had their own stable of superheroes.

  • X-O Manowar is a Dark Age European warrior kidnapped by aliens who stole their greatest weapon and turned it on them only to return to earth and discover that, due to time dilation, 1600 years had passed.
  • Ninjak is a superspy meets techno ninja. It sounds like cool overload, but this Joe Quesada created hero manages to pull it off.
  • Bloodshot was a nanite infected assassin who was trying to rediscover the past that was stolen from him.

Image is possibly the best known of the alternative publishers. In actuality it was a collection of creator owned studios trying to start a company where the idea men actually remained in control of their characters.  The initial line up of talent with image was legendary. Rob Liefeld, Jim Lee, Todd McFarland, Erik Larsen, Jim Valentino and Marc Silvestri all had their own studios producing new characters and new stories like we’d never seen before.  Liefeld eventually left somewhat acrimoniously, Lee sold his Wildstorm Productions to DC and the modern day has seen a shift to a more diversified field of titles with things like Saga and Walking Dead (which we have at the library). While the company has seen changes to its direction since 1992, the list of superheroes they created is lengthy and many are worth a read.

  • The Savage Dragon was Erik Larsen’s childhood creation brought to the page in form he wanted. A green, scaly, fin headed humanoid with invulnerability and super strength.
  • Spawn took a deal with the devil and turned it into one of the most popular anti-heroes of the era.
  • Witchblade is a series detailing the stories of a mystical gauntlet that bonds with women and gives them the ability to fight evil.

One other place to look for stories you’ve never read is the past. Golden age comics are where it all began and while there are decades of stories out there about the heroes you already know, there are other great heroes you may not be quite so familiar with. Marvel predecessor, Timely Comics, gave the world Captain America and Namor, but they also created the original versions of the Angel, Vision, and Human Torch as well as the speedster known as the Whizzer (the Nazi-fighting Destroyer), and the Blazing Skull (the champion of Freedom). DC’s history is even deeper. Not only do they have a host of golden age superheroes you’ve never heard of, they have added those of other now defunct companies to their in-house universe. Fawcett comics gave the line Captain Marvel and the Marvel family, probably better known as Shazam.  Quality Comics published the early adventures of the hero Plastic Man as well as Will Eisner’s original Spirit.  Fox Comics (and later Charlton Comics and Americomics) created the Blue Beetle, Captain Atom and the Question. These are just a few of the many options from golden age.

If you’re bored with the current run of comics and tired of seeing the same old stories retold, look into the corners of the other heroes and the past and find new books to rekindle your love of heroes.

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2019 New Year’s Reading Challenge

Jan 4

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By Lon Maxwell, Reference Department

It’s the start of a new year. A blank slate for new beginnings and refreshing our resolutions and to do lists. That means it is also time for our 3rd annual New Year’s Reading Challenge! (Please make sure your read that in your head with the appropriate cheesy deep toned echo sound effect).

Last year, I tried to theme the options to the month or season they were in. I’m not doing that for 2019. There’s no order, very few rules and will be a challenge the whole family can participate in. There will be three challenge levels; Novice, Reader, and Book Wyrm.

The Novice Level is the simplest level with the easiest qualifications. Read twelve books and twelve periodicals at your reading level. That’s it. Just one book and one magazine or newspaper per month at the level you read comfortably. So if you’re in third grade you don’t have to try to read outside the level your teacher thinks is appropriate, but if you’re 43 let’s leave the Beverly Cleary to the youngsters. The only rule is read the whole book and the whole magazine or newspaper.

The Reader Level is more complicated it’s still 24 books and periodicals but instead of having free reign to read everything you want, this one guides you a bit. With this level you will choose twelve of the options from the list for the Book Wyrms and twelve books or periodicals of your choice. The rules are the same as the novice, read it all the way through, and it has to be at your reading level. The only new regulation here is that you can’t have more than 12 periodicals. If you want to read all books, and no periodicals, that’s fine.

Finally, it is The Book Wyrm Level (devour those books in your literary hoard!). If you’ve made it this far, you probably already planned to read at least two books a month and now you want someone to make it a little difficult.  Well, you’ve come to the right place. Below is a list of twenty-four challenges (with two bonus challenges for those of you who want to do a book every two weeks rather than two a month). These are some of my favorite selections from lists from the past, mine and otherwise. All the rules from above apply.

  1. A book that was published in 2019
  2. A book that has won a major award[i]
  3. A banned book
  4. A book that was given to you as a gift (even if you have to give it to yourself)
  5. Read a single issue of a comic book
  6. A book with a song lyric for a title
  7. A book from an author you’ve never heard of before
  8. A collection of Short stories from a single author
  9. A graphic novel that has nothing to do with superheroes or zombies
  10. A book you were supposed to read in high school or college, but didn’t
  11. The next book in a series you’ve started
  12. A collection of poetry
  13. A Classic of Genre fiction[ii]
  14. A book with a terrible cover
  15. A book set in a country that fascinates you
  16. A book you meant to read last year
  17. A collection of poetry
  18. Listen to an audio book
  19. A book you’ve checked out or bought but never read
  20. Something from a book club list, either online, on TV or in your community
  21. A book that was translated from another language
  22. Something from an author that writes in English but is not American
  23. A magazine on a subject you’ve always been interested in
  24. Read a book with somone, or a group of people

Bonus 1: Reading builds a person’s ability to empathize, read a book that tells the story from a point of view you are unfamiliar with.

Bonus 2: Do all of these challenges using making sure that each title you read starts with a different letter in the alphabet. Use this one for any book with that last letter you need.

Read and enjoy and watch this blog for potential opportunities to interact with other people in the challenge.

[i] National Book Award, Man Booker, PEN/Faulkner, Hugo, Nebula, Eisner, Rita, Edgar, Newberry, Caldecott to name a few.

[ii] Mystery, Scisnce Fiction, Romance, Adventure, Western, etc.

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The Wacky World(s) of Quantum Theory

Nov 16

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by Howard Shirley, Teen Department

“If you’re not shocked by quantum theory, you haven’t understood it.”—Niels Bohr, winner of the 1922 Nobel Prize in Physics.

“I think I can safely say nobody understands quantum mechanics.”—Richard Feynman, winner of the 1965 Nobel Prize in Physics

The Universe is weird. And the closer you look, the weirder it gets.

How weird you say?

Well according to quantum theory:

  • We know stuff cannot appear out of nothing (The Law of Conservation of Matter and Energy), but stuff appears out of nothing all the time, but disappears before there is any time for it to be here, so it doesn’t violate the previous law.
  • A pure vacuum, empty of all matter, isn’t actually empty (see the above).
  • A thing in one place can be changed, and it instantly changes an identical thing in another place, no matter how far apart they are.
  • Things can move from one location to another without going through the space in between.
  • Things don’t exist as things in specific places but as the possibility of things in different places at once, until you look at them.

Now, all of that is about things that are very, very tiny (add a lot more “very, veries” to that). Things like electrons and photons and all the things that make up all the matter and energy in our Universe. But it’s also therefore about all the big things too—like stars and planets and black holes and even you and me.

Which means that all that little weirdness has some weird implications for the big things, like:

  • We might be living in a massive simulation, like a virtual world in a computer (don’t take the red pill!).
  • Nothing might exist unless someone observes it.
  • OR, everything might exist in all possible combinations of all possible events, all at the same time, but we only experience (and observe) one progression of these (while, presumably, infinite other “us”-es experience all the other versions).
  • We (and everything else) are all just parts of one big energy field that “ripples” back and forth through time.
  • We could exist alongside a completely invisible, undetectable world with invisible, undetectable living beings, all made out of “dark matter” and “dark energy.”

And none of the above is just another over-the-top Hollywood movie. It’s serious science, all stemming from the basics of quantum theory. And, yes, quantum theory isn’t just wild speculation, but one of the most robustly established concepts in modern science, going back to 1900, proven again and again by experimentation and practical application (you’re looking at one of those applications right now as you use an electronic device to read this blog; if quantum theory were wrong, your electronic device wouldn’t work).

Light photographed as both a particle and a wave by Fabrizio Carbone.

Quantum theory is based on the concept that energy, like matter, is divisible and isolatable into definable, self-contained bits, or quanta. Think of it as a long band of light, seen from a distance. The light looks like one continuous bar. But as you get closer, you can see that the bar is instead made of individual lights separated by gaps. We will call these lights “photons.” Each light in our analogy represents a single “packet” or “quanta” of energy, which cannot be any smaller, but is very much separated from each of the other photons, like particles. That may not be confusing, but what is confusing is that these photons behave both as if they each are individual particles and as if they each are also a continuous wave of energy, like our distant band of light. And if you observe them in one way, they will appear to be particles and not waves, and if you observe them in another way, they will appear to be waves and not particles. They are neither, and they are both, at the same time. And it is from this bit of weirdness that all the other weirdness of the quantum world arises.

It’s heady stuff, but it’s also a lot of fun. If you’re intrigued, come in and search for some of our titles on quantum physics. And don’t worry—they’re written for the layman to understand. So you don’t have to be either Niels Bohr or Richard Feynman to appreciate all that weirdness (but you probably will still be shocked).

*Howard Shirley is the Teen Library Assistant. And no, he doesn’t claim to understand quantum theory, but still enjoys being shocked by it.*

Sources:

  • Rocket Science for the Rest of Us by Ben Gilliland (YA 520 GIL)
  • Quantifying Matter by Joseph A. Angelo, Jr. (YA 530 ANG)
  • The New Encyclopedia of Science: 1 Matter and Energy by John O.E. Clark (YA 503 NEW vol.1)

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It’s the great TURNIP, Charlie Brown!

Oct 26

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IMG_9370

Taken by Rebecca Tischler, Reference Librarian

By Rebecca Tischler, Reference Librarian

We all love It’s The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown, but were you aware that the first Jack O’Lanterns were carved out of turnips?

Did you know that the horrifying mask worn by Michael Myers in the Halloween movie was actually a William Shatner Star Trek mask?

Halloween is the second highest grossing commercial holiday after Christmas. The National Retail Federation (NRF) predicts Halloween spending this year—including candy, costumes, and decorations—will hit $7.4 billion.   Candy will account for more than $2 billion of that amount and a quarter of all candy bought in the U.S. is for Halloween.

But what are the origins of this creepy holiday? Here’s what we do know about the history of Halloween: it wasn’t created by the Candy Companies, although they’ve certainly profited, nor was it created by the toilet paper companies (though I do wonder how much money they make with all the teepeeing).

The history of Halloween is a rather vague and confusing tale, mainly because no one can seem to agree on how Halloween evolved from a harvest pagan New Year celebration, to the candy gorging and anything goes costumes of today. One thing that everyone seems to agree on, even though there has never been a proven connection, is that modern Halloween begins with the Celtic festival of Samhain (although, they don’t know much about that either).

samhain_scarecrow_2_by_belisarius2930-d4es8y7Scholars are pretty sure that Samhain was an annual celebration of the end of the harvest months to honor the Celtic deities (as well little green leprechauns and tricky fairies). It was also a time to gather resources and slaughter livestock (or maybe they were sacrifices – who knows) in preparation for the upcoming winter months. Some say it was the Celtic New Year. It was also believed that this was the day that the veil between the dead and living was thinnest, and the dead could cross over. They would celebrate this day with bonfires, food laid out for the dead, and costumes to blend with the spirits. Strangely enough, they’re not sure whether these actions were to honor and welcome the dead or to ward off the visiting spirits. Either way, the dead were a big part of the pagan festival.

The second part of Halloween’s history that seems to be agreed on is the attempted Christianization of a pagan celebration. In the eighth century, Pope Gregory III assigned the Christian feast, All Saints Day, to November 1, as a day was to honor all Christian saints and martyrs. It is generally believed that this edict was meant to cause All Saints Day to replace Samhain. However, instead of killing off the pagan traditions, these two celebrations combined to create All-Hallows Eve. The holiday was no longer about the Celtic deities, or about the Christian Saints. The previously celebrated supernatural creatures were now thought to be evil and the main focus of the holiday was about the wandering dead.

Bonaire_Holloween The third fact that seems to be agreed upon is that trick-or-treating came from another two practices that eventually combined. The first is “mumming”, a medieval practice where people would disguise themselves and go door-to-door asking for food in exchange for “tricks” (basically they were putting on shows and clowning around).  The second is the practice of leaving out food and offerings for the dead in order to gain favor with them, which is believed to be part of the original Samhain tradition. So basically, we give kids candy in exchange for entertainment, and to satisfy the little goblins that knock on our door.

 

Sources:

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COMPOSTING: Cut Down on Food Waste and Help Your Garden Grow

Oct 12

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By Sharon Reily, Reference Department

Most of this waste could be composted instead of ending up in a landfill.

Most of us don’t realize how much food we waste each year. It’s awfully easy to toss leftovers and less-than-perfect produce into the trash. Wasted food numbers are staggering. It’s estimated that in the U.S., 72 billion pounds of still-usable food (worth $218 billion) goes to waste each year and that approximately 25 to 40 percent of food grown, processed, and transported in the U.S. will never be consumed. Much of this food that is still safe and edible could be used to feed hungry families or be composted. But according to the EPA, approximately 94 percent of it ends up in landfills, where it takes up a lot of space and generates methane, a potent greenhouse gas. Let’s take a look at a few simple things we can all do to help reduce food waste, and then focus on one of the best methods of utilizing uneaten food – composting.

Several local organizations are on a mission to “rescue” unused food to feed hungry families and divert it from landfills by methods such as composting. Second Harvest Food Bank and the Nashville Food Waste Initiative work with businesses, food service companies, farmers, and individuals to gather food before it goes to waste, distribute it to groups serving the hungry, and keep it out of landfills. Sustainable America suggests ways to become involved in food rescue. Their websites (listed at the end of this article) offer a wealth of information about how we can help in these efforts.

On a smaller scale, there are lots of ways we can reduce food waste in our own homes, and most of them rely on plain old common sense:

  • Plan weekly shopping lists carefully to avoid buying too much food. Think of all the money we can save if we buy only as much food as we can use.
  • Consider how many meals we’ll eat at home in a week versus the times we’ll eat out.
  • Think about how many meals can be made with each food item and shop accordingly. Don’t buy in bulk unless all the food can be used before it spoils.
  • Learn how to store different fruits and vegetables properly to keep them fresh longer and preserve or freeze what can’t be used immediately.
  • Shop in the fridge first! Use what’s already there before buying more.
  • Learn the difference between “sell by,” “use by” and “best by” dates.
  • Get creative using safe edible food parts not usually eaten, such as vegetable scraps, in casseroles, stir-fries, and soups.

Some inedible food will remain even with careful planning, but much of it can still be diverted from landfills. One great way is to compost. Most of us can create a compost pile in our own backyards or at least collect waste material to be taken to a composting facility, such as Compost Nashville.

Benefits of Composting

Compost is simply decomposed organic material and composting is the natural process of recycling organic material such as leaves and vegetable scraps into a rich soil amendment called humus. The EPA lists several key benefits to composting:

  • Enriches soil, helps retain moisture, and suppresses plant diseases and pests.
  • Reduces the need for chemical fertilizers.
  • Encourages the production of beneficial bacteria and fungi that break down organic matter to create humus, a rich nutrient-filled material.
  • Reduces methane emissions from landfills and lowers your carbon footprint.

HOW TO

There are many different ways to make a compost pile. WCPL and its branches have several books on composting and there are many detailed composting instructions available online. Watch the WCPL website (wcpltn.org) for information about a program on composting coming in August 2019.

Here are a few composting basics.

Composting can be done in a simple pile, a DIY wooden structure, or a commercial unit like this tumbler.

Site Selection

  • Select a location with good drainage that is easily accessible from your kitchen.
  • Choose a partially sunny or shady spot. Too much sun will dry out the pile and total shade may keep it too wet.
  • Your compost unit can be as simple as an actual “pile” of materials in your yard, or you can build or purchase more complex composting devices such as various bins and tumblers. You can also compost indoors with worms, using special stacked worm bins. Eww!

Materials

Compost is made up of three main ingredients:

  • Brown materials, which provide carbon: dead leaves, branches, twigs, bits of cardboard, shredded newspaper, torn-up paper towel and toilet paper rolls, and small bits of cardboard
  • Green materials, which provide nitrogen: grass clippings and other yard debris, fresh uncooked vegetable waste, fruit scraps, and coffee grounds
  • Water, which provides the moisture required to help break down the materials

Some materials should NOT be added to a compost pile. Avoid:

  • Coal or charcoal ash
  • Dairy products
  • Diseased plants
  • Fats, grease, or oils
  • Meat
  • Fish or other animal bones
  • Pet fecal waste or used cat litter
  • Invasive weeds or plants that could root or germinate in the compost
  • Any yard debris that has been treated with chemical pesticides

    Typical green materials.

Establishing a Compost Pile

  • Begin your pile with equal amounts of browns and greens added in 4-inch layers. You could also just toss them in haphazardly, but the decomposition process will take much longer.
  • Water the pile. Keep it moist but do not let it get soggy.
  • After the initial setup, add greens and browns as they become available. Cover fruit and vegetable waste with several inches of compost materials.
  • Yard debris will decompose more quickly if it is broken into small pieces.
  • Stir the pile occasionally with a shovel or pitchfork.

The finished product!

The compost process can take anywhere from three months to two years. Compost is ready when it looks like very dark soil and has a sweet, earthy smell. To test it, put a small amount in a plastic bag. Sniff before sealing. Reopen the bag after a few days. The sample should smell the same as it did before. If it smells worse, your compost needs more time in the pile.

Using Compost

Compost is an amazing amendment to your garden soil and can be applied in several ways.  Think of it as food for dirt. Spread it over your lawn to nourish the grass, or mix it into garden soil.

  • Vegetables:
    • Give your vegetable garden plenty of compost in the fall. Spread several inches of compost on top of the existing bed, then till it into the soil in the springtime.
    • Put a handful of compost in each hole when you’re planting.
    • Once plants begin to grow quickly, you can add a half-inch layer of compost around the base of the plants. Provide “heavy feeder” plants such as tomatoes, corn, and squash with 1/2 inch of compost monthly.

      Adding compost to your garden soil can produce beautiful, healthy plants.

  • Flowers:
    • In the spring, loosen the top few inches of annual and perennial beds and mix in a 1-inch layer of compost.
    • In the fall, apply a 1-inch layer of compost as a mulch to protect plant roots from freezing and conserve moisture.
  • Potted plants and window boxes:
    • Nutrients in potting soil may be depleted as plants grow. To replenish them, add an inch of compost to potted plants and window boxes twice a year.
    • You can make your own potting soil using two parts screened compost to one part sand or perlite.
    • Brew a compost “tea” by steeping compost in water and use it as a foliar spray or a soil drench.

Clearly, composting can be a win-win endeavor. It allows you to cut down on the amount of unused food that otherwise would end up in a landfill. It creates a great, nutritious supplement for your garden. Why not plan to begin a compost pile as your next garden project?

Happy Composting!

SOURCES AND FURTHER READING: Read the rest of this entry →

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William the Conqueror Did WHAT?!?

Sep 28

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William the Conqueror circa 1620 by unknown artist

By Lindsay Roseberry, Reference Department

Rollo (not the candy) was a leader of a band of Vikings who invaded northern France and settled there in 918 A.D.   He was called Rollo the Walker, because he was said to have been too big to ride a horse (either too tall or too fat—it isn’t clear in the sagas). The area he settled, or took over, became the land of the Northmen which over time became the duchy of Normandy. Rollo is significant because he was the three times grandfather of William of Normandy who is known throughout history as William the Conqueror (aka, William the Bastard).

William’s father died when he was eight, and he instantly became the heir.  But he had to fight for his birthright since he was considered by most everyone as a bastard.  Luckily for William, he was very good at fighting and he won his place as the Duke of Normandy.  The English king, Edward the Confessor, had promised William the throne of England upon his death.  Perhaps he forgot this fact (or just ignored it) because he also promised the throne to Harold Godwinson (Harold the Saxon) as well.  Thus a contest for the throne of England was set. Harold was proclaimed king, and William decided to defend his right to the throne.

Family Tree of William’s Struggle for England

By a twist of fate, a Norwegian king, Harald Hardrada (the Ruthless) also decided to take England by force. He wasn’t promised the throne, though; his connection came from Harold Godwinson’s troublesome brother, Tostig (gasp! No nickname?).  He brought 300 ships and 11,000 Vikings to take the English throne.  They attacked at the north of England and managed to take the city of York.  Harold knew that William was going to attack as well but that would be at a different part of England, so what was Harold to do?  He decided to defend England against Harald Hardrada and his Vikings even knowing that William was close to sailing to attack from a different coast.  It turned out that William was delayed in his conquest of England because he was waiting for good winds to take him across the English Channel.  If the winds had turned good earlier, who know what would have happened (now that would be a good alternate history idea).

William the Conqueror and King Harold stained glass window in St Mary’s church, Battle.

Harold was successful in defeating the Viking forces at Stamford Bridge, but at great cost.  And since the Vikings had attacked England at the north end of the country,  the English under Harold Godwinson had to force-march ten miles a day for three weeks to get to the south of England and meet William.  They were mostly walking—most of the soldiers didn’t have horses, and given the distance, they made good time.  But they were exhausted when they got there, and they had to fight the next day.  No day of rest for them.  William and his Norman forces won the day; Harold was killed with an arrow through the eye; and history was made.  This was effectively the end of the English kings, and the beginning of Norman/French rule.  William continued to fight to consolidate his rule of England.  He fought other battles in 1068 against Harold Godwinson’s heirs and in 1069 the Danes attacked York, aided by revolting (what they did, not how they looked) English nobles.  He scorched the earth so badly after he won it was said that there was famine in the area for nine years.

And why was William conquering England so important? 

  • The Normans brought French language to England.  The rulers and the courts spoke French, and it was the official language of England for centuries.  In time it trickled down through the whole country and became closer to the language we know today.  The reason we can read Chaucer and other Middle English works is that they are not in Anglo-Saxon.
  • Many believe that the Normans won because they used stirrups when they rode to battle.  Stirrups hadn’t made it to the island of Britain yet and the Normans were using armored cavalry, 3000 strong!  When throwing spears and slashing from horseback, it is far easier to stay in the saddle with stirrups!
  • William ordered that a national census be done in 1086; the first census was called the Domesday Book.  He wanted to see what he had conquered.  It is still extant and can be looked at in the National Archives.  It is also available online and as a book.
  • Some sources believe that the legend of Robin Hood was actually born during the time of the Norman invasion under William, not under his 4th great grandson John.

Coronation of William the Conqueror

  • The Norman Invasion brought castles to England.  France invented the castle as a way to protect property and dominate the land, and the Normans built many stout and menacing castles in England to control England.  Many are still standing today.
  • Chivalry came to Great Britain with the Normans.  Imagine life without the romance of knights and their ladies; King Arthur would not have been such a great influence without this way of acting and living.
  • William banned the English slave trade.  He even sometimes freed slaves.  Some historians believe that 15% to 20% of the population was enslaved before the Invasion.  True, they brought in the feudal system with serfs, who were treated sometimes like slaves.  But they couldn’t be sold, except when the land was sold or traded hands.
  • William erected an abbey at the spot where Harold died, in remembrance and in penance.  Ruins of the abbey are still there, as is a town called Battle.  Normans erected other churches, cathedrals as well as castles.
  • The Battle of Hastings was recreated on a 230 feet long (and 20 inches wide) tapestry by the women of Bayeux, France (either nuns and/or women in William’s family).  It is the longest tapestry in existence.  It is known as the Bayeux Tapestry and is quite famous for the battle scenes, which are quite graphic.  If it was created by nuns, they knew battle…
  • Normans brought surnames to England as well.  Anglo-Saxons, similar to the Vikings, had a descriptive surname, like Luke the Fat or Marcus the butcher.
  • And finally, for the gross factor: William died in his French capital, Rouen.  He confessed his sins and distributed his treasure to the poor and to some of the churches in his realms.   It is believed that William was injured by a fall or perhaps from the pommel of his saddle (he was very heavy later in life).  In any case, it was an internal injury and swelled badly.  The priests had a hard time getting him into his stone sarcophagus, which was a little too short and not big enough for him, and had to push hard.  His wounds, having festered, burst from the corpse; it was a very quick burial after that… (ewwww…)
  • Still, all kings (and queens) in England after William were descended through him.  Some believe over 25% of the English population can trace their genealogy back through him.  And may Americans can also count him as an ancestor.  Justin Timberlake and Barack Obama are very distant cousins, both having lines back to William!

Further Reading: Read the rest of this entry →

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In the Future, the Year 2000… :Thoughts on Science Fiction

Sep 14

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By Chelsea Bennett, Reference Department

Can you believe we’re living in The Future? For decades, the year 2000 seemed impossibly far away. Folks imagined that, by now, we’d have robot teachers and colonies on Mars, and the end of all disease. Companies would add the number “2000” after model numbers to connote cutting-edge technology from the bright, distant horizon. Marty McFly’s 2015 was a land of flying cars, expanding pizza, and self-tying shoes. (And fax machines. Fax machines were everywhere.)

Some of those visions for the future were spot on; others now seem charmingly out-of-date; and we’re still waiting for many of the rest to be invented. But isn’t it fantastic how often we hear about inventions that were inspired by Science Fiction? If “[science] is magic that works,” as Kurt Vonnegut says in Cat’s Cradle, then Science Fiction is the root of much of that magic. Imagination becomes ideas, which in turn become experiments. Experiments lead to discoveries, then inventions, and ultimately to the commonplace wonders we take for granted: such as the submarine (Jules Verne’s Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea), the cell phone (the direct descendent of the “communicator” from the original Star Trek series), and even nuclear power (H.G. Wells’ The World Set Free). [1]

Wait. A fiction writer born in the 1800s gave the world the idea for nuclear power? It’s true! Decades after its publication, a scientist named Leo Szilard “read [The World Set Free] and was immediately inspired to create what Wells had dreamed up” – for better or for worse. [2] And when a teenaged Robert H. Goddard read Wells’ The War of the Worlds, it set him on a path of “research [that] culminated with the Apollo program, and man’s landing on the moon.” [3] So there’s an undeniable link between the Science Fiction genre and humanity’s incredible achievements. Keep that in mind the next time your friends give you a hard time for being a sci-fi geek!

Another cool thing about the sci-fi genre is that it often combines elements of many other genres, as well. There’s sci-fi horror, sci-fi thriller, sci-fi mystery, sci-fi romance… You get it. So, without further ado, I’m going to leave you with a great list of Science Fiction authors (many of them you’ll find on our genre bookmarks in the library), titles of some of their works, and sometimes the additional genres that come into play. (For example, when you see “humor,” think of it as “sci-fi + humor,” and so on.)

AUTHORS

  • Douglas Adams – The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy series (humor)
  • A. American – Survivalist series (pulpy but fun)
  • Charlie Jane Anders – All the Birds in the Sky
  • Hiromu Arakawa – Fullmetal Alchemist (manga)
  • Catherine Asaro – Quantum Rose
  • Isaac Asimov – Foundation series; Galactic Empire series; Robot series
  • Gertrude Barrows Bennett – Citadel of Fear (under pseudonym “Francis Stevens”)
  • Alfred Bester – The Stars My Destination (cyberpunk); The Demolished Man
  • Leigh Brackett – The Long Tomorrow
  • Ray Bradbury – The Martian Chronicles; The Veldt (short story)
  • Octavia E. Butler – Xenogenesis series
  • Pat Cadigan – Synners (cyberpunk)
  • Orson Scott Card – Ender’s Game series (YA)
  • Margaret Cavendish – The Blazing World (published in 1666!)
  • Becky Chambers – A Closed and Common Orbit
  • C. L. Cherryh – Downbelow Station
  • Arthur C. Clarke – 2001: A Space Odyssey (there are four books in the series); Childhood’s End
  • Ernest Cline – Ready Player One; Armada
  • Peter Clines – 14 (mystery, horror, paranormal); The Fold (thriller)
  • Michael Crichton – Sphere (psychological thriller); Jurassic Park; Prey
  • Philip K. Dick – Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?; Ubik; A Scanner Darkly (police procedural)
  • William Gibson – Neuromancer (cyberpunk); The Difference Engine (written with Bruce Sterling) (steampunk); Virtual Light (dark humor, detective)
  • Charlotte Perkins Gilman – Herland
  • Joe Haldeman – The Forever War series; The Accidental Time Machine
  • Frank Herbert – Dune saga
  • Hugh Howey – Silo series (post-apocalyptic)
  • Kameron Hurley – The Stars Are Legion
  • Aldous Huxley – Brave New World; Ape and Essence
  • P. D. James – Children of Men
  • Nancy Kress – Beggars in Spain
  • Larissa Lai – Salt Fish Girl
  • Ursula K. Le Guin – Hainish Cycle; The Eye of the Heron; The Left Hand of Darkness
  • Madeleine L’Engle – Kairos cycle (beginning with A Wrinkle in Time) (children’s, “science fantasy”)
  • Cixin Liu – Remembrance of Earth’s Past trilogy (hard science fiction)
  • Katherine MacLean – Pictures Don’t Lie (stories)
  • Emily St. John Mandel – Station Eleven
  • George R. R. Martin – Tuf Voyaging; the Wildcards universe
  • Robert Masello – The Einstein Prophecy (historical fiction, mystery, thriller)
  • Julian May – Pliocene Exile series (high fantasy)
  • Anne McCaffrey – The Ship Who Sang
  • Seanan McGuire – Parasitology Trilogy series (sociological, under pseudonym “Mira Grant”)
  • Maureen F. McHugh – China Mountain Zhang
  • Judith Merril – The Tomorrow People
  • Elizabeth Moon – The Speed of Dark
  • Larry Niven – Tales of Known Space series; Ringworld and the Fleet of Worlds series
  • Alice Norton – The Time Traders (under pseudonym “Andre Norton”)
  • Christopher Nuttall – The Oncoming Storm (military, space opera); The Royal Sorceress (steampunk, alternate history)
  • Nnedi Okorafor – Who Fears Death
  • Malka Older – Infomocracy
  • George Orwell – 1984 (speculative, “social science fiction”)
  • Frederik Pohl – The Coming of the Quantum Cats; the Heechee saga (space opera)
  • Kim Stanley Robinson – Mars trilogy (literary)
  • Joanna Russ – The Female Man (experimental and not what you think)
  • Mary Doria Russell – The Sparrow
  • Carl Sagan – Contact

  • John Scalzi – Redshirts; Old Man’s War series

  • Alice Bradley Sheldon – Her Smoke Rose up Forever (stories, under pseudonym “James Tiptree, Jr.”)
  • Mary Shelley – Frankenstein
  • Dan Simmons – Ilium series (fantasy); Hyperion Cantos series (fantasy)
  • Neal Stephenson – Cryptonomicon (historical fiction); Snow Crash (cyberpunk)
  • Karin Tidbek – Amatka
  • Jules Verne – Journey to the Center of the Earth (adventure)
  • Thea von Harbou – Metropolis
  • Kurt Vonnegut – Cat’s Cradle; Slaughterhouse Five; The Sirens of Titan (all conceptual/unconventional)
  • Sabrina Vourvoulias – Ink
  • David Weber – Honor Harrington series (military); The Apocalypse Troll
  • Andy Weir – The Martian; Artemis
  • H. G. Wells – The Time Machine; The Island of Doctor Moreau; The Invisible Man; The War of the Worlds
  • Martha Wells – The Murderbot Diaries series (described as a fun read!)
  • Connie Willis – To Say Nothing of the Dog (historical fiction, rom-com, humor, time travel)

 

That’s enough to get you started, right? Remember, if we don’t have a book at the Williamson County Public Library, we’ll try to locate it with Inter-Library Loan. Enjoy – and be inspired!

 

Sources:

 

I sourced most of the woman authors and their works from this excellent list: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/blog/sci-fi-fantasy/50-sci-fi-must-reads-by-women

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