It’s true! At least according to a study published in the online journal PLOSone (the Public Library of Science) and titled Getting a Grip on Memory: Unilateral Hand Clenching Alters Episodic Recall. Researchers Ruth E. Propper, Sean E. McGraw, and Michael Weiss of the Department of Psychology, Montclair State University in Montclair, New Jersey; and [...]
Looking for an outdoor adventure that is both cheap and nearby? You might want to take a trip downtown to view the great blue heron rookery in the middle of the James River. Now is the best time to go before the trees leaf out and obscure your view of the herons’ nests. Parking along [...]
Or should I ask does your garden grow? Here in central Virginia we have had colder than normal temperatures this spring. Despite that the longer hours of daylight have many people thinking of planting, tilling and eventually reaping a bountiful harvest. Gardening tips abound both on the web and in print. The Virginia Cooperative Extension, [...]
Q: What Hollywood movie star of the 1930s and 40s known for her pin-up posters during World War II developed the technology that makes wireless communication possible today? A: Hedy Lamarr, once considered the most beautiful woman in the world and star of Samson and Delilah and Ziegfeld Girls invented and patented a frequency-hopping device [...]
Or a teacher or an artist or a nurse or maybe you don’t even know what you want to be when you “grow up.” Because that is one of the toughest decisions you will ever make and there are so many paths to choose this is a good time for you to examine your options [...]
The Chinese New Year begins this Sunday, February 10. Unlike in the west, the Chinese New Year follows the lunar calendar and, according to Chase’s Annual Events , begins “on the day of the second New Moon following the winter solstice.” According to the 12 year cycle of the Chinese zodiac this makes Sunday, [...]
“Hey, Timon, ever wonder what those sparkly dots are up there?” “Pumbaa, I don’t wonder; I know.” “Oh. What are they?” “They’re fireflies. Fireflies that, uh… got stuck up on that big bluish-black thing.” “Oh, gee. I always thought they were balls of gas burning billions of miles away.” “Pumbaa, with you, everything’s gas.” [...]
Are you planning on some movie watching over the Winter break? According to Chasing the Frog.com an average of thirty books are made into movies each year. The John Tyler Community College libraries have many titles that have found their way onto the big screen. Check out some of these items and let us know: [...]
Each November since 2005 lexicographers (“n., a writer or compiler of a dictionary”) at Oxford English Dictionary announce the word that qualifies as word of the year. After watching word trends to determine what word best illustrates the current zeitgeist, the 2012 winner is GIF. You probably recognize GIF—an acronym standing for graphic interchange format—after [...]
Three debates down and two weeks before the election: are you more confused than ever? For an historical view of presidential debates have a look at these video clips from the library database, Films on Demand. The 1960 debate between John Kennedy and Richard Nixon is often cited as a turning point in that year’s [...]