Sunday, September 12, 2010
Saturday, September 11, 2010
VOYA Teen Cover Photos
VOYA (Voice of Youth Advocates, library magazine) features teen photographers’ own creations on the front cover. Submit photographs that express the relationship between teens and the world of reading. Images should portray teens with any type of reading material: books, magazines, comics, computers, their own creative writing, media of any kind—even participating in library programs or other events.
Note: must be submitted by an adult sponsor. We DO NOT accept entries submitted directly from teens.
Photos must be well composed, well focused, and capable of sharp reproduction when enlarged. Seasonal themes, humor, and unusual poses catch the editor’s attention. Award-winning photos from a local library or school photography contest are welcomed.
Teen photographers whose pictures are published will receive a $50 prize and three copies of the magazine.
For more submission information, visit the website.
Note: must be submitted by an adult sponsor. We DO NOT accept entries submitted directly from teens.
Photos must be well composed, well focused, and capable of sharp reproduction when enlarged. Seasonal themes, humor, and unusual poses catch the editor’s attention. Award-winning photos from a local library or school photography contest are welcomed.
Teen photographers whose pictures are published will receive a $50 prize and three copies of the magazine.
For more submission information, visit the website.
Friday, September 10, 2010
Thursday, September 9, 2010
Canine Lifeguards Save Lives
Taken from http://www.npr.org
They leap from helicopters or speeding boats, bringing aid to swimmers who get into trouble off Italy's popular beaches.
They leap from helicopters or speeding boats, bringing aid to swimmers who get into trouble off Italy's popular beaches.
For these canine lifeguards, the doggie paddle does just fine.
Hundreds of specially trained dogs from Italy's corps of canine lifeguards are deployed each summer to help swimmers in need of rescue.
These "lifedogs" wear a harness or tow a buoy that victims can grab, or a raft they can sit on to be towed back to shore, and unlike their human counterparts, they can easily jump from helicopters and speeding boats to reach swimmers in trouble.
With millions flocking to Italy's crowded beaches each summer, the Italian Coast Guard says it rescues about 3,000 people every year — and their canine helpers are credited with saving several lives.
It takes three years for the canines to reach expert rescue status, and currently 300 dogs are fully trained for duty, said Roberto Gasbarri, who coordinates the Italian School of Canine Lifeguards program at a center outside of Rome in the seaside town of Civitavecchia.
"Dogs are useful in containing the physical fatigue of the lifeguard, to increase the speed at which casualties are retrieved, to increase the security of both the casualty and of the lifeguard," Gasbarri said.
"The dog becomes a sort of intelligent lifebuoy. It is a buoy that goes by itself to a person in need of help, and comes back to the shore also by himself, choosing the best landing point and swimming through the safest currents," he said.
The Civitavecchia center is one of a dozen around the country for the school founded more than 20 years ago in the northern province of Bergamo by Ferruccio Pilenga, whose first trainee was his own Newfoundland.
The school will train any breed, as long as they weigh at least 30 kilograms (66 pounds), but Labradors, Newfoundlands and golden retrievers are most commonly used because of their natural instinct for swimming. Each dog works in tandem with a human lifeguard, who also acts as the animal's trainer.
"Being retrievers, they set out to pick up anything we tell them, be it a human being, an object, or a fish, and they bring it back to the shore," said lifeguard Monia Luciani. "They do not associate it with a physical activity, but it is rather a game for them."
New Fiction in the Teen Room
To find out more information on these new books, just click on the image!
Monday, September 6, 2010
Happy Labor Day!
What does a train have to do with Labor Day?
Pullman, Illinois was a company town, founded in 1880 by George Pullman, president of the railroad sleeping car company. Pullman designed and built the town to stand as a workers' community insulated from the moral (and political) seductions of nearby Chicago. Its residents all worked for the Pullman company, their paychecks drawn from Pullman bank, and their rent, set by Pullman, deducted automatically from their weekly paychecks. The town, and the company, operated smoothly and successfully for more than a decade.
But in 1893, the Pullman company was caught in the nationwide economic depression. Orders for railroad sleeping cars declined, and George Pullman was forced to lay off hundreds of employees. Those who remained endured wage cuts, even while rents in Pullman stayed the same. And so the employees walked out, demanding lower rents and higher pay. The American Railway Union came to the cause of the striking workers, and railroad workers across the nation boycotted trains carrying Pullman cars. Rioting, pillaging, and burning of railroad cars soon ensued; mobs of non-union workers joined in.
The strike instantly became a national issue. President Grover Cleveland, faced with nervous railroad executives and interrupted mail trains, declared the strike a federal crime and deployed 12,000 troops to break the strike. Violence erupted, and two men were killed when U.S. deputy marshals fired on protesters in Kensington, near Chicago. On August 3, 1894, the strike was declared over.
The movement for a national Labor Day had been growing for some time. But now, protests against President Cleveland's harsh methods made the appeasement of the nation's workers a top political priority. In the immediate wake of the strike, legislation was rushed unanimously through both houses of Congress, and the bill arrived on President Cleveland's desk just six days after his troops had broken the Pullman strike.
1894 was an election year. President Cleveland seized the chance at conciliation, and Labor Day was born. He was not reelected.
Since that time, however, people have been celebrating Labor day with parades, picnics, and family vacations. Happy Labor Day!
information taken from http://www.pbs.org
Pullman, Illinois was a company town, founded in 1880 by George Pullman, president of the railroad sleeping car company. Pullman designed and built the town to stand as a workers' community insulated from the moral (and political) seductions of nearby Chicago. Its residents all worked for the Pullman company, their paychecks drawn from Pullman bank, and their rent, set by Pullman, deducted automatically from their weekly paychecks. The town, and the company, operated smoothly and successfully for more than a decade.
But in 1893, the Pullman company was caught in the nationwide economic depression. Orders for railroad sleeping cars declined, and George Pullman was forced to lay off hundreds of employees. Those who remained endured wage cuts, even while rents in Pullman stayed the same. And so the employees walked out, demanding lower rents and higher pay. The American Railway Union came to the cause of the striking workers, and railroad workers across the nation boycotted trains carrying Pullman cars. Rioting, pillaging, and burning of railroad cars soon ensued; mobs of non-union workers joined in.
The strike instantly became a national issue. President Grover Cleveland, faced with nervous railroad executives and interrupted mail trains, declared the strike a federal crime and deployed 12,000 troops to break the strike. Violence erupted, and two men were killed when U.S. deputy marshals fired on protesters in Kensington, near Chicago. On August 3, 1894, the strike was declared over.
The movement for a national Labor Day had been growing for some time. But now, protests against President Cleveland's harsh methods made the appeasement of the nation's workers a top political priority. In the immediate wake of the strike, legislation was rushed unanimously through both houses of Congress, and the bill arrived on President Cleveland's desk just six days after his troops had broken the Pullman strike.
1894 was an election year. President Cleveland seized the chance at conciliation, and Labor Day was born. He was not reelected.
Since that time, however, people have been celebrating Labor day with parades, picnics, and family vacations. Happy Labor Day!
information taken from http://www.pbs.org
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