Photo Blog Gives Snapshot of the Day’s News Around World

In May, The Boston Globe launched a photo blog called The Big Picture: News Stories in Photographs. The photo essays are visually stunning and cover a range of stories from the Chaiten Volcano to World Environment Day to life in Afghanistan, and much more. Each photo series is followed by links to additional information on the topic, and visitors can leave comments.

It’s a terrific site and worth visiting often or adding to your RSS reader.

New Hampshire’s Changing Human Ecology

The next showing of Communities and Consequences, a film that examines the graying of New Hampshire, will be at Keene State’s Redfern Arts Center, Wednesday, May 14, at 6 p.m. The event includes the hour-long film, followed by a panel discussion, which will be moderated by Steve Chase, and audience Q&A.

Science 2.0

Great article, “Science 2.0—Is Open Access Science the Future?”, from Scientific American about the move toward more open science from several different quarters. One example comes from scientists at MIT, who have created a wiki for sharing lab data and more at OpenWetWare.

Best French Toast on the Planet

Thanks to everyone who came to visit the library for this morning’s breakfast. And in response to popular demand, here’s Cathy Boswell’s recipe for the french toast casserole that was such a hit:

Praline French Toast Casserole

1 loaf day-old French bread, sliced about 1 inch thick
8 eggs
2 cups half and half
1 cup heavy cream
2 tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

• Arrange bread in buttered 9 x 13 baking dish.
• Whisk together eggs, half and half, cream, sugar, vanilla, and spices and pour over bread, coating all slices. Cover with foil and refridgerate overnight.
• Next day, preheat oven to 350 degrees and prepare topping (see below).

Praline Topping
2 sticks butter, softened
1 cup dark brown sugar
2 tablespoons light corn syrup
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 cup chopped pecans or walnuts

Combine all topping ingredients and blend well. Spread evenly over casserole. Bake for 30 to 40 minutes until puffy and golden brown.

Serve with maple syrup.

Also — can omit praline topping and serve with fruit, etc.

YUMMMMMM!

Complete Works of Charles Darwin Online

Zounds! There’s really wonderful material at Cambridge University’s Darwin website.

Darwin Online is by far the largest Darwin publication in history. It contains over 43,000 pages of searchable text and 150,000 electronic images. This site contains at least one exemplar of all known Darwin publications, reproduced to the highest scholarly standards, both as searchable text and electronic images of the originals. . . . The site also provides the largest collection of Darwin’s private papers ever published in c. 20,000 items in c. 90,000 images, thanks to the kind permission of Cambridge University Library.

And if you don’t get enough of Darwin there, you can always visit the Darwin Correspondence Project to have a look Darwin’s unpublished correspondence.

BIF (Because It’s Friday): Your Birth Tune

From David Pogue, New York Times tech guru, comes this BIF post.

What was the #1 most popular song on the day you were born?

Has this question been keeping you up at night?

Then today’s your lucky day.

All you have to do is visit The #1 Song on This Date in History.

There you can look up #1 song for the day you were born, the days your children or grandchildren or niblings were born, or your dog or your cat, or your co-worker if you’re looking for theme music for that cake and icecream break. Have fun!

Chaffee Method to Instructional Success

Watch one of ANE’s terrific science teacher certification students, Rose Chaffee, talk about and demonstrate how to rock the classroom:

Goldman Environmental Prize

The Goldman Environmental Prize recognizes and honors grassroots environmental activists:

The 2008 Goldman Prize recipients tackled some of the most pressing environmental issues of the day through grassroots efforts, helping to educate and motivate local communities to get involved in the effort to protect the natural environment around them and to stand up for their rights.

The 2008 recipients were announced on April 13:

• Jesús León Santos, Mexico
• Feliciano dos Santos, Mozambique
• Marina Rikhvanova, Russia
• Pablo Fajardo Mendoza and Luis Yanza, Ecuador
• Ignace Schops, Belgium
• Rosa Hilda Ramos, Puerto Rico

Their stories are inspiring and uplifting.

Mountaintop Removal Road Show

David Cooper’s “Mountaintop Removal Road Show” is coming to Keene this
Wednesday Night, April 16th, 7pm
At Antioch University New England’s Community Room

The Road Show is a 70-minute presentation by David Cooper, which includes a stunning 25-minute slide show about the impacts of mountaintop removal coal mining on residents, communities, and the environment in the southern Appalachians. It also features traditional Appalachian mountain music, a focus on alternative forms of energy and economic development, and storytelling about the grassroots citizen movements working hard to save the Appalachian mountains from corporate pillage driven by short-term profits.

After 20 years working as a mechanical engineer, most recently at the 3M plant in Cynthiana, Kentucky that makes Post-it notes, Cooper decided to devote his full attention to environmental activism. What changed his life was seeing a mountaintop removal mine on Kayford Mountain in West Virginia. He is now a member of the Sierra Club and Kentuckians for the Commonwealth, and has worked as a coalfield organizer for the Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition.

The program, sponsored by Antioch New England’s Department of Environmental Studies, is free and open to the public. For more information about the event, contact Steve Chase at 603-283-2336.

And here are a few resources available in the library:

• The new resource wars: native and environmental struggles against multinational corporations
• To save the land and people: a history of opposition to surface coal mining in Appalachia
• Monacans and miners: Native American and coal mining communities in Appalachia
• Public domain, private dominion: a history of public mineral policy in America
• The effect of copper mine drainage on the Benthic macroinvertebrate communities in a central Vermont river
• Pike Hill Mine, Corinth, Vermont : a study of the geology, history, and environmental impacts

All the Rage: Helping Adolescent Girls in Crisis

Don’t miss Marti Straus’s presentation tonight in the ANE Community Room:

All the Rage: Helping Adolescent Girls in Crisis
Martha Straus, PhD, professor, Clinical Psychology, Antioch New England
Monday, April 14, 7 pm
Dr. Martha Straus will address many of the issues covered in her recent book, Adolescent Girls in Crisis: Intervention and Hope. Many adolescent girls today are in a crisis of rage and despair. How can therapists become more effective with this volatile population? We will explore ten vital principles underlying effective practice with adolescent girls. Learn about practical strategies that work, including harm reduction, inviting resistance, and developing a protective circle of adults. Find out what it takes to stay connected to these struggling girls as you help them become competent, inter-dependent young women.

Check out a copy from the library, or buy a copy from Powell’s Books, an online independent bookseller.

Antioch New England invites the public to attend this free event as part of its Spring Speakers Series.