Leap Year!

Today is the 29th of February!

It’s an extra day! You have an extra day! Go crazy! With your extra day! That doesn’t happy very often (“every four years” really isn’t what I’d call “very often”). An extra day! Unless, you know, you have to work or go to school or something.

A patron asked us the other day just what exactly is up with Leap Years and Leap Days, and there’s a lot of really complicated explanations out there that can only confuse a person more than anything else.

For example, this is the opening of the Wikipedia article on Leap Day:

February 29, known as a leap day in the Gregorian calendar, is a date that occurs in most years that are evenly divisible by 4, such as 2004, 2008, 2012 and 2016. Years that are evenly divisible by 100 do not contain a leap day, with the exception of years that are evenly divisible by 400, which do contain a leap day; thus 1900 did not contain a leap day while 2000 did. Years containing a leap day are called leap years. February 29 is the 60th day of the Gregorian calendar in such a year, with 306 days remaining until the end of that year.

That makes sense, right? Besides being a little complicated and kind of confusing, right?

Well, the same Wikipedia article also has a fairly easy explanation for Leap Days, which I’ll break down like this: Each day has 24 hours in it, right? A year is the Earth’s annual trip around the sun, right? And each year, as defined by modern calendars, consists of 365 days, right? Well, yes, and also… No.

The annual revolution of our planet around the sun actually takes 365 days and 6 hours to complete. So every four years we take those accumulated extra hours (6 of them with each year), and we add that to the calendar as – ta da! – February 29. It’s something we do just to make sure that the calendar stays fairly accurate to the planet’s journey around the sun.

Also, there’s this:

Also, there’s the whole Julius Caesar angle.

But basically, like I said, it’s kind of an extra day, and one you want to enjoy.

from here.

Just out of curiosity: Any of our patrons or readers out there who were born on Feb. 29? If so, then HAPPY BIRTHDAY! But also, if you don’t mind us asking, how, and also when, do you celebrate your birthday?

And we hope that everyone has a great Leap Day!

I (Heart) February.

Hey everybody, don’t forget that…

That’s right. February is American Heart Month. Sadly, most of us have known someone who has suffered or died from a heart attack or stroke, so it makes sense that in the same month that you’d especially take the time to love your significant other, that you’d also remember to take care of yourself, and your heart.

That’s why we’re happy to tell you about Million Hearts, an education and prevention program launched last year by the Centers For Disease Control and Prevention and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and whose goal is to prevent one million heart attacks and strokes over the next five years in this country.

This is a very noble cause and an extremely necessary one, especially considering that 1 in 3 people in the United States have some form of heart disease, which can include severe chest pain, heart attacks, heart failure, and strokes, and that cardiovascular disease is still the leading cause of death in this country, with 1 in 3 deaths resulting from heart attacks or strokes.

Million Hearts also provides some helpful and simple ABCS to keep in mindon a day to day basis or when talking to your doctor:

• Appropriate Aspirin Therapy for those who need it.
• Blood Pressure Control.
• Cholesterol Management.
• Smoking Cessation.

We really hope you’ll check Million Hearts out, or at least use it as a reminder to make good choices about eating, exercising, heart disease/stroke prevention, or possibly giving up smoking, which is a leading contributor to heart disease.

And please don’t forget that we have some good books and DVDs at the library about taking care of yourself and staying heart healthy, through diet, exercise, and more.

We really hope you’ll come and check them out and take care of yourself.

February is Black History Month.

In February of 1926, historian Carter G. Woodson, the son of former slaves and the founder of the Association for the Study of African-American Life and History established Negro History Week to honor and recognize African American achievements to American history.  In 1976 the week was expanded into a month by the United States, thereby designating February to be Black History Month.  The month of February was chosen because it is the birth month of both the abolitionist Frederick Douglass (1817-1895) and President Abraham Lincoln. Woodson also founded the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History, which is now known as the Association for the Study of African American Life and History.

It’s important to remember that African American history isn’t about just one month, nor is it about dates and a few facts and figures. It’s a celebration, and it’s about acknowledgment and understanding of the contributions made, and about respecting that people matter. And it’s about remembering that Black History is American History, and that this is a nation of many stories, many angles and beliefs, and many colors.

Resources from the internet:

Black History Month at History.com.

African American History Month at the Library Of Congress, National Endowment For The Humanities, National Gallery of Art, National Park Service, Smithsonian Institute, the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, and the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration.

The National Endowment for the Humanities has a nice collection of resources and lesson plans for Black History Month.

Historic places in the Civil Rights movement.

The origin of Black History Month.

The history of Jim Crow.

Black History Month internet resources for kids.

Articles on Black History and Heritage Month from the Smithsonian.

Black History Month resource center from BlackState.com

A Harlem Renaiisance timeline from the Schomburg Center.

100 Famous African American men and women from the 20th century, a database of African American inventors, a timeline of black political history, and puzzles for all ages from About.com.

from here.

We would like to take this month to highlight, suggest, and remind you of the many print and electronic resources here at the library that may be of interest to anyone researching, learning, or just reacquainting themselves with African-American culture and history.

L-O-V-E.

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Or, if you prefer: Happy Single Awareness Day!

Stop on by the library, if you get a chance. We’ve got books for adults, young adults, and our juvenile readers to tie with in today, both in fiction and non-fiction. Or, pick up a movie to watch with that someone special, even if that someone special is just you.

Books:

What Is This Thing Called Love? by Gene Wilder

William And Kate: A Royal Love Story by Christopher Andersen

Cartoon Marriage: Adventures In Love And Matrimony By The New Yorker’s Cartoon Couple by Liza Donnelly and Michael Maslin

Fearless by Diana Palmer

The Medieval Art Of Love: Objects And Subjects Of Desire by Michael Camille

Love Letters Of Great Men, edited by Ursula Doyle

The Best Of Me by Nicholas Sparks

Massage For Dummies by Steve Cappellini

Prisoner Of My Desire by Johanna Lindsey

Words Of Silk by Sandra Brown

Kiss Me While I Sleep by Linda Howard

A Love Of My Own by E. Lynn Harris

My Mistress’s Sparrow Is Dead: Great Love Stories, from Chekhov To Munro, edited by Jeffrey Eugenides

Nick & Norah’s Infinite Playlist by Rachel Cohn and David Leviathan

Partly Cloudy: Poems Of Love And Longing by Gary Soto

Lost At Sea by Bryan Lee O’Malley

Love And Other Four-Letter Words by Carolyn Mackler

Blood And Chocolate by Annette Curtis Klause

The Fault In Our Stars by John Green

The Statistical Probability Of Love At First Sight by Jennifer E. Smith

The Boyfriend List by E. Lockhart

Just Listen by Sarah Dessen

Cupid And Psyche by M. Charlotte Craft and illustrated by K. Y. Craft

The Best Valentine In The World by Marjorie Weinman Sharmat

Henry And The Valentine Surprise by Nancy L. Carlson

The Valentine Cat by Ann Whitehead Nagda and illustrated by Stephanie Roth

DVDs:

Crazy Love

50 First Dates

Just Wright

Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind

Letter To Juliet

Shall We Dance?

The Fountain

I Hate Valentine’s Day

In The Mood For Love

Date Night

While You Were Sleeping

Last Of The Red Hot Lovers

Solaris

When In Rome

Love Actually

Before Sunrise and Before Sunset

Must Love Dogs

Bonnie & Clyde

Don’t forget: Beginning Genealogy.

Don’t forget that today is the last day to register to be a part of our Beginning Genealogy discussion, which will be this coming Thursday (two days from now), from 6:30 PM to 7:30 PM. Registration is incredibly simple: Just send us an email at robinsbaselibrary@gmail.com and put “Beginning Genealogy” in the subject line.

by Jonathan Brown, from here.

Drop us a line if you have any questions, or check out our previous posts about Beginning Genealogy or other upcoming library programs.

Upcoming library programs.

Just a reminder…

We’ll be hosting a Beginning Genealogy discussion on Thursday, Feb. 16. The discussion will be from 6:30 to 7:30 PM in the library itself and you will need to register beforehand.

If you would like to register then please send us an email at robinsbaselibrary@gmail.com and put “Beginning Genealogy” in the subject line. Please register by Tuesday, Feb. 14 at 4 PM.

For more information please check out our previous post about our Beginning Genealogy session or send us an email.

Please don’t ever forget that February is Black History Month! We would like to take this month to highlight, suggest, and remind you of the many print and electronic resources here at the library that may be of interest to anyone researching, learning, or just reacquainting themselves with African-American culture and history.

We’re hoping to do several different programs during this month but we’d like to especially invite our younger patrons to come to our usual Story Time, which is every Monday at 10 AM. During every Story Time in February we’ll be learning about different African American achievements and contributions to American history.

We’d like to encourage local teens to tune in as the library celebrates the annual Teen Tech Week from March 4 to 10, 2012. We’ll be joining thousands of other libraries and schools across the country who are celebrating this year’s theme, “Geek Out @ your library.”

Teen Tech Week is a national initiative of the Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA) aimed at teens, their parents, educators, and other concerned adults. The purpose of the initiative is quite simply to ensure that young adults are competent and ethical users of technology, especially the types offered through libraries. Teen Tech Week encourages teens to take advantage of the technology at libraries for education and recreation, and to recognize how important it is to achieve a greater digital literacy.

More details to come but we are looking to do several activities for any young adults interested in participating, plus we’re always open to suggestions or interested in anyone willing to volunteer their time.

For more information on the national initiative, check out ALA/YALSA’s website for Teen Tech Week.

Oh, and let’s not forget to mention…

Our puzzle’s coming along pretty nicely. It looks like The Starry Night is finding a few more of its stars, as it were, but we can always use more help.

Stop on by and help us out with it, when you get a chance. And keep checking back here for more information on Teen Tech Week and Beginning Genealogy and other upcoming library programs.

Taxes!

The Base Tax Center has moved from its former position upstairs here in the Library in Building 905.

A lot of our patrons have been coming in, used to finding the Tax Center here or looking for the forms, and I’m sad to report that we have neither here with us anymore. The physical forms are getting harder and harder to find from what I hear (I think the IRS wants us all to do our part to save the trees by doing our taxes electronically), and we do not have any! If you’re looking for any income tax forms, you’ll want to get them from the Tax Center, if they have them, and the Tax Center has moved!

You can now find it in Building 995 on the base, which was formerly the Robins Elementary School. The 2011 filing season just started (on January 30) and will cease its operations on April 19. The normal business hours are Monday to Thursday, open from 8 to 11 AM, then closed for lunch, and open again from 1 to 4 PM.

For more information…

The Tax Center’s phone number is 478-926-1831.

Or, for more questions, you can call the Legal Office at 478-922-0555.

Beginning Genealogy.

On Thursday, Feb. 16 the Library will be hosting a discussion about Beginning Genealogy. We’re calling it “a discussion” rather than a class or seminar because our presenter, Ms. Barbara Schlafer, wants to be prepared to deal with the needs with anyone who comes, be it the person starting off on genealogy as a hobby or the more experienced researcher (for example, if you wanted to join the Daughters of the American Revolution, that requires specific documentation). Our Beginning Genealogy session is free and will help provide you with some of the tools that will enable you to start finding your roots.

The discussion will definitely focus on your individual interests in genealogy and then getting started in gathering your family stories, discovering and utilizing resources that are both physical and on the internet, and how to organize your research. Space could become limited and advanced registration is required.

WHEN: Thursday, February 16, 2012 from 6:30 PM to 7:30 PM

WHERE: In the Robins Air Force Base Library, Building 905

QUESTIONS/HOW TO REGISTER: If you have any questions or would like to register then please send us an email at robinsbaselibrary@gmail.com and put “Beginning Genealogy” in the subject line. Please register by Tuesday, Feb. 14 at 4 PM. We look forward to hearing from you!

The end of the world as we know it.

This year only has a few more days left in it and then 2012 will take over. We’ve been hearing about the Mayan long calendar and many other potential doomsday scenarios or prescriptions for global change (such as Terence McKenna’s Timewave Zero) and it seems like our pop culture mindset has been very interested in ideas like the “apocalypse” for the past few years. The nice thing is that pretty much all of these prophesies of doom which will most likely not come to pass aren’t even scheduled to come to pass til December of 2012 (either on the 22nd or 23rd, so Armageddon survival tools will be the big Christmas gift item a year from now, I predict) so there’s plenty of life on Earth left to enjoy.

And the nice thing about the apocalypse is that it makes for fascinating history and for some really great fiction. If you’re interested in brushing up on the coming year’s end times scenarios, we have The Complete Idiot’s Guide To 2012 by Synthia Andrew and Colin Andrews at the library, as well as 2012: The Return Of Quetzalcoatl by Daniel Pinchbeck.

And on DVD we have both non-fiction items, such as Doomsday 2012: The End Of Days and After Armageddon, both from the History Channel, and fiction such as Roland Emmerich’s 2012, starring John Cusack, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Danny Glover, Thandie Newton, and Woody Harrelson.

Talk about some light reading/viewing for holidays, right?

Don’t let the doom and gloom get you down. And if we don’t see you before then, we hope you have a very Happy New Year’s and we’ll see you in 2012

Three nights before Christmas.

It’s not too late to pick up some books or DVDs to keep you warm over the Holiday break. There’s plenty of normal titles and materials from you to choose from, plus that of the more seasonal variety…

…like Murder For Christmas, which you see above, which is a very cool anthology featuring several classic writers of the mystery and crime genre, such Dame Agatha Christie, John Dickson Carr, Ellery Queen, and Dorothy L. Sayers. And don’t forget that we have plenty of books for the kids and younger readers dealing with the holidays.

And just a reminder: Don’t forget that our hours are going to be slightly different between now and the end of the year. These are our hours for the next two weeks:

Monday, 12/19 thru Thursday, 12/22: 10 AM to 5 PM

Friday, 12/23 thru Monday, 12/26: CLOSED

Tuesday, 12/27 thru Thursday, 12/29: 10 AM to 5 PM

Friday, 12/30: 12 Pm noon to 5 PM

Saturday, 12/31 thru Monday, January 2, 2012: CLOSED

And we will reopen on Tuesday, Jan. 3, 2012 at 10 AM and resume our normal hours of operation.

Happy Holidays!

New and Featured Books: Lisbeth Salander.

The American film version of The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, based on Stieg Larsson’s Lisbeth Salander/Millennium novels, is due to be released this Tuesday, December 20, and it’s easily one of the most anticipated movies of this year, let alone this holiday season. The film, directed by David Fincher, and starring Daniel Craig and Rooney Mara, has a lot of hype and good buzz surrounding it, as well as a lot to live up as far as expectations.

The novels by Larsson have been among our most requested items this past year (and the year before), but I wanted to remind you as well that we also have the novels in audio format and that we also have the two original Swedish film adaptations of the books, The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo and The Girl Who Played With Fire. To me, the first of the Swedish movies is okay, but just okay, and the second one, The Girl Who Played With Fire, is somewhat less than “just okay,” but for a lot of us, they’ve been decent holdovers while we waited for the new film version of the story.

Normally I wouldn’t hype the remake of a film, but I will happily make an exception here just because I didn’t think the original Swedish movie was a good adaptation at all, let alone a particularly great movie. I’d actually say that just the trailer that you see above for Fincher’s film was more successful on both counts than the original movie version. But maybe I’m biased in that I really like David Fincher’s work, as well as Daniel Craig, wwhom I didn’t use to like, but who won me over with his portrayal of James Bond and some of the other films he’s done in the past few years.

And Rooney Mara (who was in Fincher’s The Social Network as well as the remake of Nightmare On Elm Street) looks extremely promising in the very unique role of hacker heroine Lisbeth Salander.

Interesting side note: The stars of the original Swedish movies, Michael Nyqvist and Noomi Rapace, both have movies out this week as well. Rapace is in Sherlock Holmes: A Game Of Shadows (and will appear in Ridley Scott’s upcoming Alien pseudo-prequel Prometheus) and Nyqvist is the villain in Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol.

Larsson’s novels are hardly high art but if you haven’t read them yet, now is a good time to start for a good mystery/thrill ride.

And if you get a chance to see it, let us know what you think of the new movie.

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Please note that books could be checked out between the time they end up on the blog and when you come to check them out. If you don’t see the items you’re looking for then please come up to the front desk and we’ll put your name on the reserve list for when the item returns.