Geek Speak:
How Life + Mathematics = Happiness
by Graham Tattersall
QA93 .T38 2008
New Book Island, 2nd floor
Numbers are all around us. They’re unavoidable. You’ve got gas prices, interest rates, caloric intake, time spent working, the prison sentences of OJ Simpson and Rod Blagojevich… all kinds of numbers. But how do you quantify the seemingly unquantifiable? This week’s featured book explains how.
Tattersall, a self-proclaimed Geek, believes that numbers are the path to knowledge and wants to teach you how to be a “nice, thoughtful, sweet-smelling Geek, the kind you’d like as a friend.” The author uses everyone’s favorite subject, mathematics, to answer some of the more important mysteries known to humanity, such as ‘How heavy is my house?’ and ‘What are the best words to use in a personal ad?’. This lighthearted and enjoyable read also has the purpose of causing you to think critically about the statistics and ‘expert statements’ made in our society. Just because an ‘expert’ in the field makes a claim that you should be able judge its validity by looking at the raw data yourself. All in all, you should be speaking Geek in no time.
Folk singer Odetta died on Tuesday, December 2nd, according to NPR:
Odetta’s folk songs made her a symbol of the civil rights movement. She performed at the Civil Rights March on Washington in 1963 and sang “O Freedom.” Her ballads and songs became, for many, the soundtrack to the American civil rights movement. Manager Doug Yeager says Odetta died Tuesday of heart disease at the age of 77.
If you’d like to hear her sing, your University Library has some recordings, including Odetta sings ballads and blues (1st-floor Media Center CDs, M1630.18.O43 O43 2005). It includes “O Freedom.” Just search the Library Catalog to find other recordings.
You can learn more about Odetta using the Library’s article databases and reference sources. For example, search WilsonWeb’s Biography Ref Bank Select database to get Odetta’s entry in Current Biography. Search the Reference Universe database to find resources in the Reference Collection that have information about Odetta, such as the Encyclopedia of African-American Culture and History, 2nd ed. (2nd-floor Reference Collection, E185 .E54 2006).
Please ask a librarian for assistance in finding additional materials.
I know it’s starting to look white out, but “green” is a mindset we can have all the time. It might take a little effort and research, though.
A web site mentioned during a morning news show recently is green.yahoo.com. It has a lot of info in one place, including how to measure your carbon footprint, tips on living and buying green, links to blogs and other web sites such as Greenpeace’s Guide to Greener Electronics, etc.
Your University Library also has resources. 
Search the Library Catalog to find titles such as Green collar economy: how one solution can fix our two biggest problems (2nd-floor McNaughton books, call no. JON) in which the founding president of Green For All introduces a “Green New Deal,” 
Green: your place in the new energy revolution (3rd-floor Main Collection, HC110.E5 H625 2000), Hot, flat, and crowded: why we need a green revolution-and how it can renew America (2nd-floor McNaughton Collection, call no. FRI), and The green book: the everyday guide to saving the planet one simple step at a time (2nd-floor New Book Island, call no. TD171.7 .R64 2007) with practical suggestions for all of us such as turning off the tap while brushing teeth to save up to 5 gallons of water per day.
Another useful web site is provided by Recycle More Wisconsin, an organization that was featured on Milwaukee’s WTMJ program “The Morning Blend” on Friday, November 14th. Their web site provides a tips on recycling and lets you look up details about what can be recycled in various Wisconsin communities.
Please ask a reference librarian if you’d like assistance finding more materials.
On Friday (December 5), the Friends of the Library is sponsoring a follow-up to the successful workshop led by Professor Cottle last year to a standing room-only crowd. Cottle continues his discussion of the grammar of photography with (at least) ten ideas for better photographs. In this session, he moves beyond simple compositional matters to the selection of subject matter and other conceptual issues. The workshop will be held in the International Education Conference Room, Andersen Library, Room 2254, from 1:30 to 3:00 PM.
If you weren’t able to attend last year’s workshop, you can the presentation available on Professor Cottle’s website – cecfoto.com.
The 3rd Annual Black Student Union World AIDS Meeting will take place on Tues., Dec. 2nd, from 5:15-6:15 p.m. in Upham Hall room 145. The event will take a look at the AIDS crisis around the world. The Rev. Adrian Malone of Higher Dimensions Church of God in Christ in Racine will be a guest speaker. The UW-Whitewater Gospel Choir, TIFU Cultural Ensemble and others will also perform.
Your University Library has resources on AIDS, of course. Search the Library Catalog to find titles such as The AIDS pandemic: complacency, injustice, and unfulfilled expectations (3rd-floor Main Collection RA643.8 .G675 2004) and AIDS in the twenty-first century: disease and globalization (3rd-floor Main Collection RA643.8 .B37 2002).
Search article databases to find journal, magazine, and newspapers articles such as those in International Affairs’s special issue (March 2006, v.82, no.2) marking the 25th anniversary of the discovery of the HIV virus with a collection of articles from scholars on the challenges posed by the HIV/AIDS epidemic.
You also can find informative web sites, such as that of UNAIDS: The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS which includes speech texts, news, events, and publications including the 2008 report on the global AIDS epidemic.
Social Security:
A Documentary History
by Larry DeWitt, Daniel Béland & Edward Berkowitz
HD7125 .D495 2008
New Book Island, 2nd floor
With the recent tumultuous financial market performance, many people are concerned about their futures, namely, their retirement. While some have separate accounts to fund their non-working lives, others have relied on the subject of this week’s featured title, social security.
DeWitt, public historian at the US Social Security Administration, along with Béland and Berkowitz, professors at the University of Calgary and George Washington University, respectively, have compiled an excellent resource on the formation and development of the social welfare system created by the Social Security Act in 1935 and signed into law by President Franklin D. Roosevelt. While the authors do provide an introduction about the history and evolution of the program, the meat of the content is devote to primary source documents, the actual legislative materials that have guided the policy’s administration over the years. There is also an annotated bibliography for further research. Overall, Social Security: A Documentary History provides an outstanding reference for those researching the government program.
As an aside, the Wisconsin Historical Society at UW-Madison houses one of the three major Social Security collections used in gathering sources for this book.
Do you have to watch a particular film for class and Blockbuster’s out? Would you like to screen a video for a class that you’re teaching next semester? Have you put your own personal copy of a movie on reserve because the Library doesn’t own it?
STOP!
The Library would like to know the titles that we’re missing! If you feel that we should own a particular film or any other item, then use the Suggest a Book/AV Material Form to tell us that we don’t have what you need. We’re always looking to improve our collections and your input is incredibly valuable to us – so valuable that there’s a Suggestions? link on every page of the Library’s website.
This post is part of the Featured Resource, which was previously on the Library’s home page. The Featured Resources Archive contains the past spotlights from December 2002 – Summer 2008.
