World No Tobacco Day 2013

Free yourself! This is WHO's [World Health Organization] message to governments on World No Tobacco Day 2013, celebrated on 31 May. A comprehensive ban of all tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship is required under the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control. Tobacco kills nearly six million people every year, of which more than 600 000 are non-smokers exposed to second-hand smoke."

Petri dish inventor Julius Richard Petri honored with Google Doodle

Animated Google Doodle

Google has celebrated the birth of the inventor of the petri dish, Julius Richard Petri, who was born on May 31, 1852 with a doodle on its home page.
Guardian.co.uk 31 May 2013
The German bacteriologist's invention allowed for the better identification of bacteria and the diseases they caused.
He studied medicine at the Kaiser-Wilhelm-Academy for Military Physicians in Berlin and later worked at the Imperial Health Office with Robert Koch who is considered the father of modern bacteriology.
The doodle features six petri dishes which are swabbed by a hand. Images of bacteria grow and spread in the dishes.

Petri dishes later moved from the laboratory to the
class room where they are used by every pupil of biology.
Photograph: Fabrizio Bensch/Reuters/Corbis

Petri was not the first to use agar, a substance made from algae, to culture bacteria but he invented the standard dish in which it was done. The petri dish allowed for the better identification of bacteria and the diseases they caused. Petri dishes later moved from the laboratory to the class room where they are used by every pupil of biology.
Petri died on December 20, 1921.
Guardian Staff, 5/31/2013

AI (Artificial Intelligence) Topics

AI Topics: "If you are looking for an answer to the question What is Artificial Intelligence? and you only have a minute, then here's the definition the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence offers on its home page: "the

scientific understanding of the mechanisms underlying thought and intelligent behavior and their embodiment in machines. . .

However, if you are fortunate enough to have more than a minute, then please get ready to embark upon an exciting journey exploring AI (but beware, it could last a lifetime) . . ."
AITopics is a mediated

information portal provided by AAAI (The Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence), with the goal of communicating the science and applications of AI to interested people around the world.

We have selected and annotated many exemplary, non-technical resources within the categories shown in the left menu.   Within each category we offer abundant information through the use of links to online articles, videos, and occasional selections of print resources.

We are accumulating links to online versions of books and papers that have influenced the growth of the field in a virtual archive of classic publications.

AITopics also catalogs videos about AI stored digitally on other sites, or physically in institutional archives. Funding for this project is from the NSF (Award #0738341) and the AI Jounal Foundation.

Recommended in ACRL's March issue of Choice.

LightBox: Time's photo department blog

"LightBox, a new blog by TIME's photo department, will explore how photography, video and the culture of images define today's world. This blog will be our opportunity to give you a daily behind-the-scenes look at our photography as well as inspiring new projects. We want to immerse you in the visual side of the news and highlight photography that pushes boundaries in the art world. As part of our regular features, we'll include the backstory from photo shoots, firsthand accounts from photographers in the field, profiles of legendary imagemakers, photo essays and more."


"For decades, TIME Magazine has been a showcase for the world’s best photojournalism, bearing witness to the most notable moments of history — the triumphs and the tragedies — of the past 90 years. LightBox, a blog created and curated by TIME’s photo department, proudly furthers this tradition, exploring how photography, video and visual culture help to shape and define the modern world.

Launched in 2011, LightBox provides a window into the process of how great photographs are made, and is a means of drawing attention to inspiring projects and groundbreaking work by established masters and new pioneers. LightBox immerses viewers in the visual side of the news while celebrating photographers who push boundaries across myriad subjects, themes and locations.

Beyond photo essays, our regular features include the backstory from photo shoots, firsthand accounts from photographers in the field, profiles of legendary imagemakers, news on noteworthy exhibitions and books, and exclusive looks at work in progress.
And we’re continuing to add to our regular features, including The Best Pictures of the Week (every Friday), The Images That Moved Them Most, the bi-weekly Photojournalism Links (curated by associate photo editor Mikko Takkunen), the monthly Guide to Photography Beyond the Web, and, at the end of the year, 365: A Year in Photographs. "

Read more: http://lightbox.time.com/about/#ixzz2UbgrwjnL.

The 75 Books Every Man Should Read

Esquire, May 2013.

"An unranked, incomplete, utterly biased list of the greatest works of literature ever published. How many have you read?"

Collected Stories of John Cheever
He knew better than anyone the darkness that hides behind the costume of a carefully manicured lawn.

Deliverance, by James Dickey
A reminder of how close we are to animalism, and because there's so much more to the book than that scene.

Blood Meridian, by Cormac McCarthy
Just try sleeping after the scene in which the Apaches thunder over the hills wearing the dresses of the brides they've killed.

The Brothers Karamazov, by Fyodor Dostoevsky
Freud and Einstein both hailed it as a masterpiece, and Kurt Vonnegut claimed that everything you need to know in life is smashed down into this book. It still is.

The Known World, by Edward P. Jones
Free black people who own slaves. Slaves who know the world's brutality and, more shockingly, its beauty.

What We Talk About When We Talk About Love, by Raymond Carver
"That morning she pours Teacher's over my belly and licks it off. That afternoon she tries to jump out the window." And that's not even the best line.

The Good War, by Studs Terkel
All you'll ever need to know about men, women, war, peace, work, home, and just who the people called Americans really are.

American Pastoral, by Philip Roth
One of the few not about Roth. It's about that guy you idolized in high school. And gloves. And you.

A Good Man Is Hard to Find and Other Stories, by Flannery O'Connor
"She would of been a good woman... if it had been somebody there to shoot her every minute of her life." Wouldn't we all.


The Things They Carried, by Tim O'Brien.
No one else has written so beautifully about human remains hanging from tree branches.

A Sport and a Pastime, by James Salter
Remember your college buddy's girlfriend, the one you were in love with? Because of her.

The Call of the Wild, by Jack London
A book about dogs is equally a book about men.

Time's Arrow, by Martin Amis
You've never seen the Holocaust from this angle and with this much ferocity. Backwards.

A Sense of Where You Are, by John McPhee
It's about how two men can be made better just by sharing each other's company.

Hell's Angels, by Hunter S. Thompson
Because it's his first book, and because he got his ass kicked for it, and because in the book and the beating were the seeds of all that came after, including the bullet in the head.

Invisible Man, by Ralph Ellison
Born in an epic fist-fight or forgotten in the sewers, no character is as clearly heard as the man who is never really seen by the world around him.

Dubliners, by James Joyce
Plain and simple: "The Dead"

Rabbit, Run, by John Updike
Because it's one of the few not about Updike. It's about that guy you idolized in high school. And kitchen gadgets. And you.

The Postman Always Rings Twice, by James M. Cain
Teaches men about women. Also, there's not a single postman in the book.

What are the other books ? Read the complete article!

also from Esquire:

The Authors Every Man Must Know
And their one book you must read, from Stephen King to Shakespeare
http://www.esquire.com/features/essential-knowledge/top-authors-list-0310

10 Essential Books to Read Before You Die
Manhood, America, sports, politics, sex. These are the subjects men should know — and these are the authors who can teach you.
http://www.esquire.com/features/essential-knowledge/top-books-for-men-0310

College Graduates Fare Well in Jobs Market, Even Through Recession

New York Times
by Catherine Rampell, May 3, 2013

Is college worth it? Given the growing price tag and the frequent anecdotes about jobless graduates stuck in their parents’ basements, many have started to question the value of a college degree. But the evidence suggests college graduates have suffered through the recession and lackluster recovery with remarkable resilience.

The unemployment rate for college graduates in April was a mere 3.9 percent, compared with 7.5 percent for the work force as a whole, according to a Labor Department report released Friday. Even when the jobless rate for college graduates was at its very worst in this business cycle, in November 2010, it was still just 5.1 percent. That is close to the jobless rate the rest of the work force experiences when the economy is good.

Among all segments of workers sorted by educational attainment, college graduates are the only group that has more people employed today than when the recession started.
Rest of the article

The Right-to-Know Network

The Right-to-Know Network provides free access to numerous databases and resources on the environment. With the information available on RTK NET, you can identify specific factories and their environmental effects; find permits issued under environmental statutes; and identify civil cases filed.

There are no fees; RTK NET is free. It was established in order to empower citizen involvement in community and government decision-making. You can access RTK NET via the web at www.rtknet.org . RTK NET offers the following:

• Databases: We provide access to several government databases on the environment and we let you search them for free. We are continuously adding and updating our databases as soon as the information becomes available. To learn more about the databases, see our Databases page.
• Technical Support: We provide a user manual and other materials that help you access and search the databases (online access to these materials are available under help and documents). In addition, you are welcome to call us if you have problems accessing or searching the databases.

RTK NET was started in 1989 in support of the Emergency Planning and Community Right to Know Act (EPCRA), which mandated public access to the Toxic Release Inventory. It is operated by the Center for Effective Government. In the past it was funded by various government agencies through a previous partner, Unison Institute, and foundations.
"The site is user-friendly, and detailed help screens, including a glossary of terms and a data dictionary, are provided for each database. The environmental data collected are regularly updated and comprehensive. The search interface is straightforward; site visitors can search using standard report queries or by performing simple or advanced searches across a range of fields using either keyword or drop-down lists. Many different options to limit a search are also available (e.g., reporting year). Search results are displayed in easy-to-read tabular or graphical form (bar and pie charts) along with interactive maps. Report output options include HTML, ASCII, or XML formats. The overall value of the site is its comprehensiveness and convenient access to multiple resources; however, it is not unique, as this information can be directly obtained from the source websites. In addition, many states offer access to similar data from their agencies' websites." Reviewed in May 2013 issue of ACRL's Choice.

American Nurses Association

"The American Nurses Association (ANA) is the only full-service professional organization representing the interests of the nation's 3.1 million registered nurses through its constituent and state nurses associations and its organizational affiliates. The ANA advances the nursing profession by fostering high standards of nursing practice, promoting the rights of nurses in the workplace, projecting a positive and realistic view of nursing, and by lobbying the Congress and regulatory agencies on health care issues affecting nurses and the public".

Mission Statement:
"Nurses advancing our profession to improve health for all."

". . .  very comprehensive and well organized, offering in-depth discussions on an array of topics. The main page features six areas of interest to users: Career and Credentialing, Practice, Ethics, Workplace Safety, Policy and Advocacy, and Member Benefits. Each of these categories is divided into subsections containing toolkits and links to further information.

For example, the Policy and Advocacy section includes ANA position statements on topics such as Bloodborne and Airborne Diseases, Drug and Alcohol Abuse, and Nursing Practice. The Workplace Safety section contains information on violence in the workplace, environmental issues, preparing for disasters, and more. There are also separate sections devoted to specific nursing areas/functions such as Staff Nurses, Advanced Practice Nurses, Nurse Managers, and Student Nurses. An FAQ section provides additional information on membership and the nursing profession. The site is easy to navigate and information is current. Access to ANA's journal articles is primarily limited to members only; nonmembers have access to selected older articles. Overall, an excellent resource for obtaining information on professional nursing issues and a must for nursing students, faculty, and practicing nurses. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Nursing students at all levels, researchers/faculty, and professionals / practitioners. -- B. A. D'Anna, Anne Arundel Community College. Reviewed in the August 2012 issue of ACRL's Choice.