Cornhusks and the Electoral College

Greetings,

The eyes of the electoral world were upon the state of Nebraska for a brief moment on Friday. It was announced that Barack Obama had won one of the state's five electoral votes. This is due to a system of awarding some of the state's electoral votes based upon who wins in a particular Congressional district, not on who wins the popular vote statewide.

All fifty states have electoral votes. Each state has two for its US Senators, and at least one for the number of members it has in the House of Representatives. Example, California: 2+53=55, Wyoming: 2+1=3, Tennessee: 2+9=11. Remember, it is not the candidate who wins the national popular vote who becomes President, but rather the candidate who wins the most electoral votes. As a result, candidates fight to win individual 'swing' states to gain the most electors rather than run a campaing to pile up the biggest amount of votes nationwide. (Note: It is possible to come in 2nd in the popular vote but win the electoral vote and become President. Ex. Rutherford B. Hayes in 1876 and George W. Bush in 2000).

Forty-eight of the fifty states currently award all of their electoral votes to the candidate who wins the popular vote within the state. Some have argued the fairness of this system, as a candidate might win California by one vote (theoretically), but not pick up any of its 53 electoral votes. Colorado voters in 2004 defeated a statewide referendum that would have awarded their electoral votes on a proportional basis.

Nebraska and Maine are the two exceptions. These states award their electoral votes in a unique way. The two electoral votes for the two US Senators in each state are awarded to the winner of the statewide popular vote. As a result, McCain picked up two in Nebraska and Obama two in Maine.

Here's where it gets a bit trickier. The remaining votes are awarded based upon the candidate who wins the most votes in each of the Congressional districts in the state. Until 2008, there was nothing unusual about this as in both Maine and Nebraska the statewide winner also won in each state's Congressional districts. However, that changed in 2008. After the counting of mail-in ballots, it was determined that Barack Obama had won more votes than John McCain in the Nebraska 2nd Congressional district (the smallest district in the state, which includes the city of Omaha). As a result, one of the Nebraska electoral votes was awarded to Obama for a 4 to 1 McCain to Obama split in the state's electoral votes. (Maine awarded all votes to Obama). Also, the Republican candidate in the 2nd district won the Congressional election, which would seem to indicate that many voters in the Nebraska second congressional district voted a split ticket.

And in a further peace of trivia, Nebraska is the only state government to not have an upper and lower house in its legislature. It operates on a unicameral system, one where there is only one house in the legislature and one in which the members are officially non-partisan.

JWF

A swift goodbye

The Official Michael Crichton site notes his passing. Blogs and news outlets have shared the information. Wiki Pedia has a complete list of his work with links.

At NMTC, we don't have many pleasure reading books - but in our netLibrary collection there is the 1996 edition of Michael Crichton : a critical companion by Elizabeth A. Trembley.

The summary notes: Until now, Michael Crichton's many readers have had nowhere to turn for more information on one of America's most popular novelists. This companion features clear analyses of Crichton's life and literary influences, as well as chapters on each of his 13 novels to date. It will help Crichton's readers to learn more about how significant events in his life affected the development of his fiction and literary style and how the heritage of popular fiction, including mystery, gothic, adventure, and science fiction, influenced his writing. This study provides close textual analysis of each of his novels in turn, focusing on plot, character development, theme, and critical interpretation.

You can check World Cat in GALILEO for the nearest library that owns a Michael Chrichton title. You may also do an Interlibrary Loan request through World Cat. We'll borrow the book for you from another library! Save on gas - let your computer do the searching.

-kls

Through the air with the greatest of ease

Just reading the news - and this story grabbed me - Pilot completes jetpack challenge ....Known as "Fusionman," he was aiming to follow the route taken by French airman Louis Blériot 99 years ago when he became the first person to fly across the English Channel in a plane.

Which reminded me of the Caldecott winner in our collection, The Glorious Flight: Across the Channel with Louis Bleriot July 25, 1909 by Alice Provensen [TL 721.B5 P76 1987]

The pictures are gorgeous - which one would expect from a Caldecott winner. The story is inspiring as well. It wouldn't take long to read either.

New Native American Related Resources at the Library

Excelsior!

Greetings. Here at the NMTC Library we would like to inform you of two books we have recently received, both of which relate to Native American studies.

The first is a 2008 biography of noted Lakota chief Sitting Bull. This book is by Bill Yenne. The cover is interesing because it features a very stoic portrait of the man himself. Also, at the bottom center of the cover, you can see the autograph of the English version of his name that Sitting Bull learned to write. Just beyond the title page, the book quotes the Dictionary of Canadian Biography as follows: "the greatest Indian engima of his time, perhaps of all time."

A review of this work is available in Galileo . Go to Databases A-Z, then go to 'B,' then go to Book Index with Reviews. Search by title and limit the publication dates to 2008. Then you will find a review of this work.

We also have the book 1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus. The book deals with how the Native Americans lived prior to the arrival of the Europeans in 1492. (Although the Vikings got to North America before that and some say that English fisherman had contact with First Nations tribes off the coast of Newfoundland in the mid-1400's.) One area the book focuses on is the large cities that Native Americans constructed, such as Tenochtitlan in Mexico and Cahokia in Illinois.

A review is available of this work as well in Book Index with Reviews. Do a title search for 1491.

We are very pleased to have both of these resources available at the North Metro Technical College Library for your use. The 1491 book is considered one of the definitive popular books on Native American studies of the last few years.

JWF

To be or not to be

...that is the question posed in Hamlet. We're building our Shakespeare collection to support the growing number (and depth) of our English literature classes.

I'm fond of the No Fear Shakespeare series. It has 'regular' English on one side and 'Shakespearean' English on the other. The cover notes"the play plus a translation anyone can understand".

Quite handy. Check it out - you'll find our No Fear collection amidst the Shakespeare titles PR 2807 etc.

-kls

Election Day and the Fab Five

As Americans go to the polls tomorrow, our thoughts turn to New Wave.

Confused? You shouldn't be if you are a fan of New Wave/New Romance. New Wave was a genre that emerged as both a response to and an extension of punk rock in the early 1980's. Heavy on the synth, New Wave is remembered for its flashy fashions and its lyrics that contrasted from light to brooding and angst ridden.

One of the artists that defined the New Romance expression was a group from Birmingham, England not Alabama, called Duran Duran. (Named for a character in the Jane Fonda camp classic Barbarella.) Made up of singer Simon Le Bon, keyboardist Nick Rhodes, bass player John Taylor, drummer Roger Taylor, and guitarist Andy Taylor, Duran Duran approached a Beatlesque level of popularity for a few years, leading to their nickname of the 'Fab Five.' Girls swooned at the sight of the band, and fans bought up their record in drove. Note that none of the Taylors were related.

The look of Duran propelled the band to stardom as much as their music. Duran was able to form a synergy between the two elements using the newly popular genre of the music video. Duran seized on the young medium of MTV to display what were then some of the most creative and innovative music videos on the airwaves. Duran videos captured the look and feel of 1980's New Romance as much as any other entry into the field. The videos were especially known for their exotic third world shooting locales. The band even cut the title track for the last Roger Moore James Bond film 'A View to a Kill.'

All things must come to an end, and Duran Duran's last performance in their original incarnation was at the Live Aid superconcert until they reunited in 2001. Just prior to Andy Taylor and Roger Taylor leaving the band in the late 1980's, the band formed two side projects. John and Andy helped form the Power Station, a group that had some commerical success with Robert Palmer as the lead singer. Nick, Roger, and Simon formed a group called Arcadia, which cut a studio album but never toured.

Arcadia's one hit from their one album was entitled 'Election Day.' The song features a spoken word moment by Grace Jones, who played an evil Bond girl in the film 'A View to a Kill.' So for true believers in Duran, the term 'election day' conjures up thoughts of music as much as votes.

Duran has a special meaning for me as well. My best friend and his father share names with two of the Taylors in Duran, and yes the two Taylors that I know are related. My friend was married back in the spring, with yours truly as best man, near the city of Gainesville, Georgia. During the drive down and back, I listened to the music of Duran, forming an association of Duran with that wedding weekend.

Andy Taylor, who left the band in the 1980's for a solo career, has left the reunited Duran Duran. He has recently released a book on his experiences in rock and roll. You can read a review of it in Galileo. Go from the Galileo homepage to 'databases a-z' then select 'b.' Then go to Book Index with Reviews. Type 'Andy Taylor' in the search bar and the fourth result will be for his book 'Wild Boy: My Life in Duran Duran.' Click on the result link to read a review of the book (the book has received mixed reviews).

Now isn't all that just as interesting as ballot boxes, dimpled chads, swing states, and red to blue/blue to red?

JWF

Another chance to vote

The old saying about Chicago is the party bosses want you to vote early and vote often....

Now that you're in the mood to vote - try out the GALILEO survey:

When you open the GALILEO website today, you will see an invitation to participate in the annual user survey. Don't miss this chance to provide your feedback on your experience with GALILEO and to enter the drawing to win an iPod Nano. The annual surveys, conducted since 1997, have provided valuable firsthand feedback from users about what they think about the GALILEO web site, as well as experiential feedback from library staff on how their patrons are navigating the site and finding the content they need. Be sure to encourage your users to complete the survey to be entered into the drawing. The survey will be conducted November 3-9, 2008. Just click on the GALILEO User Survey link on the GALILEO home page to participate....info from Karen Minton

The staff at GALILEO take this survey as seriously as a Presidential election. They really do want to hear from their users! So go vote.

-kls

Ooooooooo

Gregory McNamee on the Britannica Blog offers a link to The Legend of Sleepy Hollow by Washington Irving. Very appropriate for today!

Thinking about Washington Irving led me to look in Credo Reference. When was he born, where did he live? Portraits, facts, information about Washington Irving are noted in reference works like the Cambridge Guide to Children's Books in English.

Which led me to wonder about the number of Washington Irving titles available for children. I went to GALILEO to look in NoveList.

NoveList noted 40 titles in an author search for Washington Irving. There are many variations of the Sleepy Hollow and Rip Van Winkle stories, plus collections of ghost stories. I learned Mr. Irving wrote Bracebridge Hall, tales of a traveller, the Alhambra. That didn't sound otherworldly.

Clicking on the WorldCat link showed libraries that owned the print title. NMTC didn't show up.

I wondered if NMTC had any Washington Irving titles that were not listed in WorldCat. Searching the NMTC catalog turned up Bracebridge Hall as well as A Tour on the Prairies , both in our netLibrary collection. I started reading A Tour on the Prairies and was drawn in to his description of the west in 1832.

All this wondering and wandering around started with a scary story. Where does a story lead you? Don't be afraid - wander down that crooked path to a new adventure.

Get the password to use GALILEO at home from your Georgia librarian. Pick up the password to use Credo from the NMTC librarian.

-kls

Flying with the greatest of ease

Our Visual Communication department is hosting a Second Life presentation this afternoon. They want to show instructors, students and administrators what educational (and commercial) value might be found in Second Life.

I have created a newbie avatar. I'll be attending and learning. Flying is harder than it sounds. I keep bumping into the roof. I've got to learn to fly outside and not inside!

We've purchased several books to support the program. The first one that arrived, 'Second Life : A Guide to Your Visual World' by Brian White is chock full of interesting tips and hints for both the newbie and experienced SL resident. I have had the book at my side as I try to learn a bit about living in Second Life.

When the hard copies are checked out, we do have two titles in netLibrary on Second Life. I did a search in netLibrary itself limiting my search to the title and the phrase Second Life. 6 titles were retrieved. Two actually have to do with the virtual world. You'll notice they have current copyright dates.

- Second Life Herald: The Virtual Tabloid That Witnessed the Dawn of the Metaverse
by Ludlow, Peter.; Wallace, M. Publication: Cambridge, Mass MIT Press, 2007.

- How to Make Real Money in Second Life: Boost Your Business, Market Your Services, and Sell Your Products in the World's Hottest Virtual Community
McGraw Hill Professional by Freedman, Robert.Publication: New York McGraw-Hill Professional, 2008.

We have a good collection in netLibrary. You may access our electronic books three ways: from our catalog, from GALILEO, and from netLibrary itself! You do need to create your free account (Library Card) on campus to use netLibrary off campus. A hint- you may create your account off campus by going the GALILEO. netLibrary will recognize you as a NMTC patron when you go through GALILEO.

Your Geogria librarian can give you the current password to access GALILEO at home.


Read - and learn to fly without hitting the roof.

-kls