Asian Americans & Politics

Posted on February 17, 2014 by Barbara

Sichan Siv, former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations and White House official, will talk about “Asian American Impact on Politics” on Tues., Feb. 18, at 3:45pm in UC 259A. It’s part of the Southeast Asian Heritage Lecture Series.

cover of Media Politics and Asian Americans bookAndersen Library has resources for learning more! Search HALCat for books or videos such as Asian American political action: Suburban transformations (3rd-floor Main Collection, E184.A75 L35 2011), The transnational politics of Asian Americans (3rd-floor Main Collection, E184.A75 T736 2009), and Media, politics, and Asian Americans (3rd-floor Main Collection, P94.5.A75 W8 2009). Search article databases for resources such as “Judy Chu for Congress: A Case Study for Mobilizing Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders for Legislative Campaigns” (Asian American Policy Review, 2010, v.19, pp.49-58) and “Asian-Pacific-American Partisanship: Dynamics of Partisan and Nonpartisan Identities” (Social Science Quarterly, 2009, v.90:no.4, pp.886-910. doi:10.1111/j.1540-6237.2009.00668.x).

More information about Siv is available too. UW-Whitewater students or staff may request Siv’s biographical book Golden bones: An extraordinary journey from hell in Cambodia to a new life in America from another UW library using the free Universal Borrowing service. Requested items usually arrive within 2-5 weekdays. Interviews are available online, including “Envoy is now at home in S.A.” (2012, Jan. 6), “Interview: Sichan Siv Says Khmer Rouge Sentence Doesn’t Match the Crime” (2012, Feb. 10), “On political empowerment: From the refugee camp to the White House, an interview with former UN Ambassador Sichan Siv” (Asian American Policy Review, 2008, vol.17, pp.17-21), an interview video by students of the press team of Global Classrooms conference (2013), and an audio interview for The Vietnam Center and Archive at Texas Tech University (2009, Mar. 12).

screenshot of video interview for Global Clasrooms 2013

Please ask a librarian for assistance with finding additional materials.

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Money Mondays: Compound Interest

Posted on February 17, 2014 by Amanda Howell

In case last week’s blog didn’t convince you of the benefits of saving, this week we’re going to talk about compound interest. Compound interest is often referred to as interest on interest because it is “calculated on the sum loaned plus any interest that has accrued in previous periods” (check out the Oxford Dictionary of Business and Management, available online through Andersen Library, for more definitions like this). This is in contrast to simple interest, which only accrues interest on the principal amount.

Stick with me. A fair amount of financial jargon was just used, but understanding compound interest is critical if you want to save money and pay off debt efficiently. Compound interest is a two-edged sword. It’s a fantastic help when saving money and it’s a tremendous burden when you owe money. Here’s how compound interest works:

Bunny Snuggles, by captainsubtle (flickr)

You have 100 bunnies; this is your “principal.” Each month you get 10 more bunnies, just for kicks. If the bunnies never reproduced, at the end of one year you would have 220 bunnies. However, your bunnies reproduce (compound) at a rate of 0.5% each month, or 6% per year. At the end of one year, you’ll have about 229 bunnies. That’s 9 more bunnies than you would have had without any reproduction (ahem, compounding)! The longer you do this, the more bunnies you’ll have. Before you know it, you’ll have about a zillion bunnies.

(A lot of math goes into finding that 229 number, and I don’t want to scare you off. You can use this calculator to get the result I got above. Make sure you use an interest rate of 6% (0.5% x 12 months) and put 12 into the times per year box.)

Now let’s translate compound interest into dollar terms. You put $100 into a savings account and add $10 each month. The interest rate on your savings account is 6%, and the interest compounds monthly (or at a rate of 0.5% each month). If you don’t take money out and you continue to add $10 a month, in 30 years you’ll have about $10,647. Compare this to the $3,700 you would have if all you did was add $10 a month without the benefit of compound interest.

Keep in mind that compound interest is also used in debt situations and the interest rates are usually higher. This means your debt will accumulate much faster than your savings. To learn more, check out this video from the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis’ No Frill’s Money Skills series.

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Agriculture, a Robust Food-Economy & a Sustainable Society

Posted on February 16, 2014 by Barbara

Tom Philpott, will talk about “Back to the Future of Agriculture: Steps Toward a Robust Food-Economy and a Sustainable Society” at 7 p.m. on Monday, February 17, in the Irvin L. Young Auditorium. It’s the first Spring 2014 Contemporary Issues Lecture.

Philpott cofounded Maverick Farms, an “educational non-profit dedicated to promoting family farming as a community resource and reconnecting local food networks in High Country of North Carolina.” He blogs at Mother Jones, and previously wrote for the online environmental site Grist. His writings on food politics also have appeared in Newsweek, Gastronomica, and The Guardian. Philpott serves on the board of directors of Chef’s Collaborative, a nationwide group seeking to push the restaurant business in more sustainable directions, and on the Advisory Council of the Sustainable Food Center in Austin, TX.

cover of Together At The TableAndersen Library has resources for learning more, such as Food for thought: Sustainability from counter to compost (hearing before the Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming, House of Representatives, One Hundred Tenth Congress, second session, February 26, 2008, available online or in 2nd-floor Federal Documents, Y 4.2:EN 2/F 73) and Together at the table: Sustainability and sustenance in the American agrifood system (3rd-floor Main Collection, HD9005 .A69 2004).

If you’d like assistance with finding additional materials, please ask a librarian.

FDLP logo Andersen Library is a federal and Wisconsin depository library with federal and state government documents on a variety of current and relevant issues available to you in various formats (print, DVD/CD-ROM, online). Check out your government at Andersen Library!

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T3: EBSCOhost Mobile App

Posted on February 13, 2014 by Diana

ebscomobileimage

Do you use any EBSCOhost databases, like Academic Search Complete, PsycINFO, or Communication & Mass Media Complete, on a regular basis on your phone or tablet? If you ever access EBSCOhost databases from your mobile device, you can download an app for iOS or Android devices that makes access to these from on or off campus a snap. While your mobile device will automatically take you to the mobile site when you click on an EBSCOhost database from the Library’s webpages, the iOS or Android apps will allow you to remain authenticated with your UW-W Net ID and password from 7 months. No more typing in your credentials on a tiny screen each time!

Get started:

  • Access any EBSCOhost database from the Library’s website (such as Academic Search Complete) on any computer or device. Make sure you are on campus or have logged in to access the Library’s resources if you are off campus.
  • Scroll to the bottom of the landing page of the database and click on iPhone and Android apps.
  • Fill in your UW-W email address and click Send.
  • On your mobile device, check your email and open the email from ephost@epnet.com.
  • Select either the iTunes Store (for iOS devices) or the Google Play Store (for Android devices) to download the app.
  • Once the app has downloaded, return to your email and click on the Authentication Key link.
  • Your authentication through UW-Whitewater will last for 7 months.

Once inside the app:

  • Click on Settings to choose which database(s) to search.
  • You can also check off Peer Reviewed at the bottom of the Settings menu.
  • Click Search to start searching.
  • Once you have a list of results, click on Refine at the upper left to narrow your search results.
  • Boolean operators (AND, OR, NOT) and the truncation symbol (*) all work in the app.
  • You can read PDFs from within the EBSCOhost app or you can email the citation (and PDFs) to yourself.
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Darwin Day! Wed Feb 12

Posted on February 12, 2014 by Barbara

On Wed. Feb. 12 celebrate Darwin Day! The University, College of Letters & Sciences, Biological Sciences Dept., and TriBeta (Biological Honors Society), will host two free events that you can attend:

The Edible Tree of Life, 6pm in Hyland Hall’s atrium, followed by a keynote address at 7pm by Dr. Laura Lavine, associate professor of Entomology at Washington State University, in Hyland Hall’s Timmerman Auditorium. Dr. Lavine’s talk, “Mechanisms of extreme growth and sexual dimorphism in sexually related weapons: Insights from the beetles,” will “explain how insects adapt and use different parts of their body for weapons or to attract to a mate.”

I’ve attended this celebration in the past, and the Edible Tree of Life is not to be missed. You can buy food that has been prepared in the shapes of different animals, organisms or plants. (The talk is usually really interesting too, of course!)

Cover of How Not To Be EatenAre you curious and interested in learning more? Andersen Library’s resources may help! Search HALCat for books such as How not to be eaten: The insects fight back (3rd-floor Main Collection, QL496 .W336 2012) and The evolution of insect mating systems (3rd-floor Main Collection, QL468.7 .T46 1983). Articles, such as “A nonspecific defensive compound evolves into a competition avoidance cue and a female sex pheromone” about female wasps Leptopilina heterotoma (2013, Nature Communications, v.4, doi:10.1038/ncomms3767), can be found by searching article databases.

Please ask a librarian for assistance with finding additional materials.

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New Stuff Tuesday – February 11, 2014

Posted on February 11, 2014 by Carol

November's Fury

November’s Fury:
The Deadly Great Lakes Hurricane of 1913
by Michael Schumacher.
F551 .S38 2013
New Arrivals, 2nd floor

Ronna thoughtfully chose a warm-weather book for us last week. But I thought I’d drag us back to the harsh, cold reality of winter.

A hurricane isn’t something we associate with lakes — and definitely not something that is likely to happen a thousand miles from an ocean. But that’s exactly what happened in 1913, when a freak storm unleashed its fury on the Great Lakes.

Devastating storms aren’t unknown on the Great Lakes (what Canadian or Midwesterner hasn’t heard of the wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald, memorialized in Gordon Lightfoot’s eponymous ballad)? But the 1913 storm was created by an unlikely covergence of weather phenomena in the same way that a 1991 storm in the North Atlantic became the Perfect Storm (later written about by Sebastian Junger).

Despite stormy forecasts, shipping went on as usual as the Great Lakes ships began to wrap up their season in November, 1913. But when the storm swept in, it was far stronger than predicted, engulfing the entire Great Lakes region — on land and water. Hurricane force winds were accompanied first by rain, then by snow and ice, as 40 foot waves battered the beleaguered and ice-encrusted ships. The storm lasted four days, leaving misery and destruction in its wake. Dozens of ships were lost or damaged and hundreds of sailors died trying to steer their vessels to safety. This story waited 100 years to be told so it’s worth finding a warm, cozy spot to settle down and read all about it.

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Money Mondays: Saving Your Money

Posted on February 10, 2014 by Amanda Howell

Last week we talked about budgeting your money, the goal being to have your income exceed your expenses. “Why would I want to leave money sitting around when I can buy cool things like [insert cool thing here]?” Well, I’ll give you a few reasons. Spending less than you make ensures you have money on hand for emergency situations, like when your clunker of a car disintegrates en route. Another reason to spend less than you make is so you can save money for the future. Saving allows you to eventually get the things you want (a swanky new car, a comfortable retirement, etc.) while staying within your budget and avoiding debt in the present.

Piggy Bank, by 401(k) 2012

You may be thinking, “Doesn’t she know how expensive life is?” I am vaguely familiar with the concept of bills. However, I also know how easy it is to trick myself into thinking I have no extra money when in reality I waste quite a bit going to the movies and eating out. One recommended method for saving is: “Pay yourself first.” Make saving part of your budget and make it one of your fixed expenses. Set a percentage or dollar amount that you want to set aside each month and move it into a savings account as soon as you get paid, rather than waiting until the end of the month to set aside whatever money is left over. Some employers and banks offer services that move this money around for you as soon as you receive your paycheck; take advantage of those programs. If you don’t have a bank account yet, get one. The University of Wisconsin Credit Union (UWCU) has a location in the lower level of the University Center, and they have services specifically designed for students.

Saving will seem less painful if you have specific goals in mind. What do you want to buy or do that you can’t afford right now? If you have hopes of traveling to Europe next summer, figure out approximately how much it will cost. Then figure out how much you will need to set aside each month to make that trip happen. If you’ve created a budget, you’ll easily be able to see where you’re spending too much money. Then you can cut expenses accordingly and start saving money to reach your goals.

Andersen Library has a book by Ronald T. Wilcox called Whatever Happened to Thrift? Why Americans Don’t Save and What to Do About It, which you can find in the Main Collection on the 3rd floor if you’re interested in learning more about this topic.
Call Number: HC110.S3 W54 2008

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T3: Scan Documents to Your Phone or Tablet

Posted on February 6, 2014 by Diana

Did you know that you can scan documents using our BookScan Stations and have the documents sent to your smartphone or tablet via a QR code? Well, you can! All you need to retrieve your scanned document is a QR reader on your mobile device.

Simple Steps:

  • At our BookScan Stations, make sure to choose Scan to Smartphone/Tablet
  • Scan your items
  • Open the QR reader app on your mobile device
  • Scan the QR code on the screen with your device
  • You are done!

Your document(s) live on the BookScan servers for 3 hours before both the documents and QR code are deleted.

Free Options for QR Code Reader Apps:
iOS: RedLaser
Android: QR Droid

simple_scan_station3

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Global Cafe Series- Feb. 5

Posted on February 4, 2014 by Rebecca

Post by Andrew Eppen

Ever had the interest in learning about the different cultures around the world? Looking to meet people who love talking about global subjects as much as you do?

The Global Café going on in the Andersen Library is an excellent way to not only meet these people, but to have fun learning about different ways of life from around planet Earth. The event is on Wednesday, February 5th from 5:30-6:30PM near the big screen TV on the main library floor.

This time around, the Center for Global Education is focusing on Iran, Thailand and Germany.  Check out this edition of Global Café to discover how certain cultures operate in the world today!

Thailand

Inside Central Asia : a political and cultural history of Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkey, and Iran   By Dilip Hiro
Main Collection, 3rd Floor   
DS327.5 .H57 2009
 
Thailand   By Roger Jones
Main Collection, 3rd Floor
DS568 .J66 2003
 
Germany : [a quick guide to customs & etiquette]  By Barry Tomalin
Main Collection, 3rd Floor
DD61 .T643 2008
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Interested in the Peace Corps?

Posted on February 4, 2014 by Barbara

You can learn more about opportunities to serve as a Peace Corps Volunteer at an information session on Wed., Feb. 5, at 5pm in UC262. The event is sponsored by the Center for Global Education and led by Brett Heimann, Peace Corps Regional Recruiter. Peace Corps will also be exhibiting at the Multicultural Career Fair on Wednesday from noon-4pm in the UC.

So you want to join the Peace Corps coverYou can learn more with Andersen Library resources, including books like So, you want to join the Peace Corps–: What to know before you go and articles such as “At the heart of things: Peace Corps volunteers in Sub-Saharan Africa” (African Identities, 2011, vol.9:no.4, pp.349-361. doi:10.1080/14725843.2011.614408) and “Examining today’s Peace Corps” (International Debates, 2011, vol.9:no.7, pp.20-22). A recent issue of CQ Researcher, “Peace Corps challenges,” (2013, January 11) might be useful, as well.

Please ask a librarian for assistance with finding additional materials.

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