Do you at times feel like you are drowning in a glut of information and data? Well, quite honestly, you are. According to this recent study HMI? How Much Information, the American consumer is subjected to almost 12 hours of information(defined “…as flows of data delivered to people and we measured the bytes, words, and hours of consumer information a day.”) or 1.3 TRILLION hours in 2008. And information from the workplace was not included. No wonder we are tired. Information overload in the business environment is addressed here. “Information overload” is a term coined by Alvin Toffler.
Archive for Uncategorized
Preschool Obesity
This report (abstract here) reveals that 18.4% of all 4 year olds in this country are obese, with the followng racial breakdowns: 31% of Native Americans, 22% of Hispanics, 21% of blacks, 21% of whites, and 13% of Asians. Information on this problem may be found at kidshealth.org, Obesity in Children(National Library of Medicine), and Childhood Obesity(Mayo Clinic). A very informative article, with many full-text references, should be consulted as well: Obesity Prevention in Child Care: A Review of U.S. State Regulations. Please consult the National Academies Press for many freely available monographs on this topic
European Digital Library Opens 11/20, Closes 11/20
So great was the anticipation for Europeana, the name for the European Digital Library, that when it was opened yesterday more than 10 million hits per hour crashed the site. A planned repository of millions of texts, images, sound, and film, Europeana will become a resource of the first order when it is finally back up. Over 1000 institutions from the European Union have contributed digitized collections to this vast multilingual undertaking. A nice review of the project is found here. Europeana is slated to go back up in mid-December. In the meantime, check out our de facto national library, the Library of Congress and its digital treasures.
Life Magazine’s Photo Archives Available via Google Image
Ultimately, all ten million photos from Life will be searchable in Google Image; at the present, about 20% are online, with the rest to be loaded in the upcoming months. You can access this collection here, or you can just add “source:life” to any Google Image search and limit the search just to Life images. The pictures available now stretch back to the Civil War.
Incidence of Diabetes Doubles in Ten Years
In a rather ironic coincidence, a major report on the prevalence of diabetes is released on the day most closely associated with candy. The October 31, 2008 issue of Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report presents compelling evidence indicating that the incidence of diagnosed diabetes has doubled in ten years. What is unique to this report is a state-by-state examination of the increase in this disease. 33 states are represented, and New Jersey is among them. This state’s increase amount to 64%, which is actually among the lowest of the states reported. The highest, with incidence rates of 200% or more, include Florida, Texas, and Idaho. There is much that can be done to control diabetes. Check out this CDC site and this one from the National Library of Medicine.
Metropolitan Museum of Art Collections Database
The Met has dozens of special departments responsible for unique collections ranging from costume to American painting. At this site, you have the ability to search through more than 80,000 images with their descriptions. Do you want to see some treasures from the Cloisters? They are here. Charles Wilson Peale’s painting of George Washington? Got it. An eighteenth-century flintlock rifle? You can find it as well. This is a wonderful repository of cultural information suitable for any academic endeavor.
2008 Jersey City Artists Studio Tour
Stretching over three days from Friday, October 3 to Sunday, October 5, eleven curated art exhibitions, including one by NJCU’s own professor Hugo Bastidas, and another by NJCU’s professor Midori Yoshimoto, will be open to the public free of charge. Also represented in this tour is NJCU art professor Ben Jones who has a retrospective exhibition entitled “Deliverance: The Art of Ben Jones” featured at the Jersey City Museum. NJCU is also featured prominently as host of the Black Maria Film and Video Festival, as well as having the NJCU Art Faculty Biennial Exhibition represented in the tour on Saturday, noon to 5pm. Information on the tour can be found here. A map of the studio tours is available.
Voter Registration for All Fifty States(and Puerto Rico)
This comprehensive site provides detailed information and links for voter registration. Other pertinent information pertaining to the voting process is available as well. The voter registration form for New Jersey is here. And it is not too late to register!! “The right of voting for representatives is the primary right by which other rights are protected. To take away this right is to reduce a man to slavery….” Thomas Paine, Dissertation on the First Principles of Government(1795).
Rosenberg Grand Jury Transcripts Released
Recently, the National Archives released the grand jury transcripts for the trial of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg. This makes news on more than one level since grand jury proceedings are always sealed, but the historical significance of these transcripts was deemed so high that they had to be released. A review of the legal arguments concerning these documents may be found at the Jurist site. A good overview of the Rosenberg case, based primarily on government sources, can be accessed at this CCNY site. A very comprehensive treatment of the trial is here.
New Jersey Hall of Fame
What do Thomas Edison(this site allows you to search over 100,000 digital documents relating to him), Harriet Tubman(find her autobiography here), Albert Einstein(access to some of his papers is here), Buzz Aldrin(read his “Roadmap to Mars” here), Clara Barton(read some of her works here and here, and Vince Lombardi(read some of his quotes) all have in common. They, along with nine other worthies, are the first inductees into the New Jersey Hall of Fame. Although the Hall is only virtual, there are plans to build a physical structure as well. Congratulations to all the inductees! And do not forget to visit the NJCU Athletic Hall of Fame.
