Government websites: Weather and Drought

The National Weather Service web site at http://www.weather.gov/ has 8 tabs on top of the web page above the U.S. map. The home page defaults to the first tab, which is Warnings & Forecasts. There are several ways to navigate this site. By clicking on a specific area on the U.S. map, you would be linked to a different National Weather Service Forecast Office. Using the drop down menu below the Warnings & Forecasts tab, you can find warnings for a specific state. You can also find the weather forecast to a specific location on the left hand side of the page in the search box that says Local forecast by “City, St.” You can use the search box by typing the zip code rather than the city and state.

The second tab is the Graphical Forecasts tab. This tab will show graphical forecasts for the current weather, temperature, wind speed and direction, precipitation amount and chance of precipitation. This information comes from the National Digital Forecast Database (NDFD).

The National Maps tab is where you can find the old fashion maps seen on TV. You can click on the Legend link, which is located right below the map, for information on the different fronts and other symbols that can be found on a map.

Next is the Radar tab which defaults to the continental U.S. You can choose a specific part of the nation as well as Alaska, Hawaii, Guam and Puerto Rico and by clicking on Loop of this image you can see the radar in action.

The Water tab contains information about rivers with an emphasis on flooding. This is a joint initiative from the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

The Air Quality tab gives information about ozone. By using the Satellite tab, you will find infrared, visible, and water vapor satellite images.


The drought.gov web site at http://www.drought.gov/ is a clearinghouse of information gathered by several agencies. Some of these agencies include the Agriculture, Commerce, Energy, Homeland Security, Interior and Transportation departments. The emphasis for this web site is the scarcity of water. This site has several tabs on top of the web page. After the What is NIDIS tab, which stands for the National Integrated Drought Information System, is the Current Drought tab. This tab has links to the U.S. Drought Monitor and the North American Drought Monitor.

By using the Forecasting tab, it shows the latest U.S. Seasonal Drought Outlook. The Impacts tab defaults to the National Drought Mitigation Center’s Drought Impact Reporter, which gives an opportunity for citizens to report actual drought impacts. This section also has a gallery of photos related to drought.

The Planning tab has a section called Drought Planning Processes and it provides links on how to plan for a drought. The Education tab has links to educational materials and it’s organized by General Audiences and K-12 and Above.

The 100th Anniversary of the start of classes

Monday, June 14, 1909, was the first day of classes for the new institution that would one day be called Southeastern Oklahoma State University, or just Southeastern. At that time it was one of several state normal schools that had been established to help train teachers. Around 500 teachers registered for this, the first summer semester of the institution. According to David Norris, classes conviened each day at 8:00 AM. Since the first building built at Southeastern was not completed until 1911, classes were held at either the high school or the Presbyterian College. There was a break for lunch and then classes continued for four more hours in the afternoon. At 8 PM there were chapel exercises held at the Methodist Church.

This Sunday, marks 100 years from the start of classes at SOSU. Thus, this is the marks 100 years of Southeastern as an institution. This is the day that all activities that have been done this year in commeration of 100 years have been pointing to. Congraulations to Southeastern for 100 years of building futures!


Source:

David Norris. A History of Southeastern Oklahoma State University. Durant, OK: Mesa Publishing Co, 1986.

D-Day 65 Years Ago

This Saturday marks the 65th anniversary of when the combined Allied forces landed on the shores of Normandy, France in an attempt start a second front to bring down Hitler's Nazi Germany. Wikipedia states that D-Day "was the largest single-day amphibious invasion of all time, with 160,000 troops landing on June 6, 1944."

Each year, more and more of those who survived the invasion and passing on, making fewer to remember. But we as Americans should always remember those who made the ultimate sacrifice on that day and the days after to bring the war to its end. We should also remember all those who fought bravely on this day.

The Great Flu Pandemic of 1918-1919

The news media have been comparing this current swine flu epidemic to the great flu pandemic of 1918. Here is a government website from the Department of Health and Human Services that contains information about this great pandemic. http://1918.pandemicflu.gov/index.htm. There is information about what life was like in 1918, facts about the pandemic, the pandemic in every state, documents and media, and books about the pandemic.

Buy Indie Day

May 1st has been declared Buy Indie Day. The idea: buy one book—paperback, hardcover, audiobook, whatever you want!—at an independent bookstore near you. See more information at: Indebound

May Day

Tommorrow is the first of May, called May day. Here is what the Infoplease says about May Day: "May 1st, often called May Day, just might have more holidays than any other day of the year. It's a celebration of Spring. It's a day of political protests. It's a neopagan festival, a saint's feast day, and a day for organized labor. In many countries, it is a national holiday."
"Beltane was a Celtic calendar feast ushering in the start of summer. (It also went by a variety of other spellings and names in assorted dialects of Gaelic.)"

"Bonfires, often created by rubbing sticks together, were common features of Beltane celebrations. Related rituals included driving cattle between two fires, dancing around the fires, and burning witches in effigy. Another tradition was Beltane cakes, which would be broken into several pieces, one of which was blackened. They would be drawn by celebrants at random; the person getting the unlucky blackened piece would face a mock execution."

"In medieval England, people would celebrate the start of spring by going out to the country or woods—"going a-maying"—and gathering greenery and flowers, or "bringing in the may.""

"Another English tradition is the maypole. Some towns had permanent maypoles that would stay up all year; others put up a new one each May. In any event, the pole would be hung with greenery and ribbons, brightly painted, and otherwise decorated, and served as a central point for the festivities."

"May Day was also a time for morris dancing and other dances, often around the maypole. In the 19th century, people began to braid the maypole with ribbons by weaving in and out in the course of a dance. Other later traditions include making garlands for children and the crowning of the May Queen."


"In many countries, May Day is also Labor Day....Labor Day is still celebrated on May 1 in countries around the world, and it is still often a day for protests and rallies. In recent years, these have often been targeted against globalization."

For more information see the Infoplease web site at: http://www.infoplease.com/spot/mayday.html

New Government Documents

The Library at Southeastern has recently acquired a number of books about the military from the Department of Defense. Since Southeastern is a government depository, the library has an excellent collection of military history as well as what’s been going on with the war on terrorism, Iraq and Afghanistan. A majority of the material published by the Department of Defense including those that are listed below are located in the Government Documents room on Floor 2A. Some of the other titles are located on the second floor.

D 1.2:SCO 8
Scouts out!: The development of reconnaissance units in modern armies by John J. McGrath

D 101.2:AF 3/2
Long hard road: NCO experiences in Afghanistan and Iraq

D 114.2:AR 5
The U.S. Army and Irregular Warfare, 1775-2007

D 114.2:T 68/2
Transforming an Army at war: Designing the modular force, 1991-2005 by William M. Donnelly

D 114.2:V 67/3
Field artillery, 1954-1973 by David Ewing Ott

D 208.202:AS 4
Asia eyes America: Regional perspectives on U.S. Asia-Pacific strategy in the twenty-first century by Jonathan D. Pollack

D 214.13:AL 4
U.S. Marines in battle: al-Khafji, 28 January -- 1 February 1991

D 214.13:IR 1/2
U.S. Marines in Iraq, 2003: Basrah, Baghdad and beyond by Nicholas E. Reynolds

D 214.13:IR 1/3
Among the people: U.S. Marines in Iraq by David A. Benhoff

D 221.2:C 88
The world cruise of the Great White Fleet: Honoring 100 years of global partnerships and security by Michael J. Crawford

D 301.26/6:AF 8
Stopping mass killings in Africa: Genocide, airpower, and intervention by Douglas Carl Peifer

D 301.82/7:D 72
General James H. Doolittle : the Air Force's warrior-scholar

D 301.82/7:K 82
Khobar Towers: Tragedy and Response by Perry D. Jamieson

D 301.82/7:L 46
A century of air power leadership: Past, present, and future: Proceedings of a symposium by Jacob Neufeld

D 301.82/7:L 56
United States Air Force 60th anniversary: Lessons learned in airpower throughout the ages

D 301.82/7:R 25/2
Reflections on Air Force independence by Herman S. Wolk

Other titles that have been added to the government documents collection are

HE 1.2:R 53/SPAN.-ENG.
The road to a healthy life: Based on the dietary guidelines for Americans

HE 1.2:W 84/10
The healthy woman: A complete guide for all ages

HE 20.6202:2007
Adolescent health in the United States, 2007

J 1.14/2:C 33/3
The FBI: A centennial history, 1908-2008

LC 1.6/4:AE 8
Aeronautical and astronautical resources of the Library of Congress: A comprehensive guide

NF 3.2: AM 3/8
Picturing America

PREX 3.17:AG 3
The Agency and the Hill: CIA's relationship with Congress, 1946-2004 by L. Britt Snider

Y 1.1/7:108-224
Black Americans in Congress, 1870-2007

Y 3.N 21/29:2 H 34
The health benefits of volunteering: A review of recent research