Numbers, Numbers, Numbers Everywhere!

Hi All,

Don't know if you know this about me, but I am a numbers guy. From memorizing baseball statistics, to learning the DDC (Dewey Decimal Classification code for you library newbies...), to well, just liking math...I really, really love numbers.

So, in keeping with the A is for...fruit/vegetable entries and the A is for...(using Google seeing what auto-fill in results pop up) set of entries; I just thought of a new set of entries! What about using numbers and typing said number into Google?

What would happen if I put in - for example - the number 1 or 2 or 3 and so on...and what would happen with special numbers like '4' (July 4th - Independence Day) or 1776 (year of the founding of the United States) or other fun/special/unique numbers? We'll find out since I'm going to start a whole new set of blog posts on this theme very shortly! Wish me well -and of course, enjoy the posts!


Click on this link for the phrase 'numbers' - the link goes to an old favorite of mine: Wikipedia. The entry is interesting, but you might also want to scroll down to the bottom of the page and select a few of the external links like 'What is the World's Favorite Number?' from NPR...click here for the link.

FYI, I'll start with the number '1' in a future entry - be sure to check it out!

Regards,
Stu

What Day of the Week Is This?

Hi All,

Quickie-fun-silly educational post coming up...

How on earth did the names of the week get named? Interesting question - glad you asked!

Click here for the complete and thorough answer from our old friend, Wikipedia. There is a summary chart and there is interesting information on weekdays being named after planets from various historical traditions (Greco-Roman, Hindu, East Asia)...Names of the weeks in various languages also included.

Straight from the Encyclopedia Mythica is this link: Origin of the Names of the Days. This is a quick, concise summary in well, day-to-day format. No fuss, no muss as to how the names got that way.

Enjoy the day (ha - sorry, I had to get that very little bit of humor in...)

Stu

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Show and Tell

Happy New Year

When the Reference Department organizes their individual weekly displays, one of the first sources we go to is the Chases’s Calendar of Events book which is a guide to special days, weeks and months for the country and beyond. Sometimes we hit upon a display that would apply, sometimes not. It is a reference book so we recommend you come back to the Reference Desk and take a look. A lot of those special events are quite entertaining. It also contains anniversary birth & death dates for notable people.

Typical entries are as follows:

January 5-Monday: Alvin Ailey: Birth Anniversary

January 5-Monday: All my Children TV Premier

January 7-Wednesday: Nanakusa: Festival dates back to the seventh century and recalls the seven plants served to the emperor that are believed to have great medicinal value

January 7-Wednesday: I’m Not Going To Take it Anymore Day

January 8-Thursday: Show and tell day at work

January 11-Sunday: Cuckoo Dancing Week: (Jan. 11-17) To honor the memory of Laurel and Hardy whose theme “The Dancing Cuckoos” will be celebrated

January 11-Sunday: Golden Globes Award Show

A lot of these entries have contact information for more information.

So you see, what may appear random to you, the patron, is a well thought out display by the Reference team. Take a look at Chase’s and while you are at it. Check out our constantly changing displays.