Jessup Journal

Happy holidays, everyone! The library will be closed from December 20, 2014 until January 4, 2015. Enjoy your winter break; we know we will!

We received many responses to the last Mathville puzzle. From all the correct responses, 10 winners were drawn randomly. There are two first places, four second places, and four third places. The winners of The Advertising Executive puzzle are: 1st place ($30 gift card to the bookstore) Paula Woods Miranda Elliott Rader 2nd place ($15 gift card to The Mermaid Cafe) Robert Porter Tess Meadows Brian Quinlan Ashley London 3rd place (a big Hershey's milk chocolate bar) Michelle Stanislaus Veronica Deighan Sarah Dolan Matthew Jordan And now the answer to the puzzle The question was:  If Joachimsthal's Notations Office is assigned to the seventh slot, then which of the following MUST be assigned to the fifth slot? The answer is: Keith Numbers, Attorney at Law (choice E) MUST be placed in the 5th slot. We start by placing Joachimsthal's Notations Office in the 7th slot.  Next we place Fibonacci's and Hypercube in the fourth slot. But Hypercube c

Source: Pixabay Thanksgiving has come and now that even the leftovers are gone, most of us are eagerly looking forward to the winter holidays! We often think of this time of year as a season of holiday parties, festive decorations, and shopping, but it can also be a season of giving. The holidays are a great time to volunteer, help out at a charity event, or give a donation to a non-profit organization. Amid the commercialism of our modern Christmas traditions, let's strive to practice principles of generosity and compassion. For a great book on the importance of giving, check out Showing Up For Life: Thoughts on the Gifts of a Lifetime by Bill Gates Sr., or Giving: How Each of Us Can Change the World by Bill Clinton. Discover how even a single person can make a world of difference through the inspiring stories of visionary humanitarians in The Blue Sweater: Bridging the Gap Between Rich and Poor in an Interconnected World by Jacqueline Novogratz, Leaving Microsoft to Ch

Aliquot Part is an advertising executive with Abelian Group Advertising, located at 31416 Adams Circle in Mathville. Mr. Part is in charge of scheduling the commercial breaks for the show Chain Rule , a top rated TV show in Mathville. For the first commercial break there are seven slots available for advertisements. These slots are numbered 1 through 7, in the order in which they will be aired. Mr. Part has lined up the following commercials to air during the first commercial break: Bary Center Housewares Cantor's Point Realty Data Structure Computers Fibonacci's Italian Restaurant Hypercube Builders Joachimstahl's Notations Office Store Keith Numbers, Attorney at Law Mr. Part must schedule only one commercial per time slot, and the arrangement of the spots is subject to the following rules: (1)The Bary Center Housewares and Data Structure Computers commercials must occupy consecutive time slots. (2)The Bary Center Housewares commercial must be aired du

Mrs. Blivet's final exam turned out to be quite challenging for non-Mathvillians. None of the respondents got all the questions right, so Mrs. Blivet threw out one question, and this yielded 4 qualifying entries, with 7 responses each. One first place and 3 second places were drawn randomly from these entries. The winners are: Peter Kleeman -- $30 gift certificate to the PVCC bookstore. Seth McElroy -- $15 gift certificate to the Mermaid cart. Robert Porter -- $15 gift certificate to the Mermaid cart. Alexander Mertz -- $15 gift certificate to the Mermaid cart. Winners must pick up their prizes at the library by December 5th at 4 p.m. And now for the answers to all eight questions. What USA state is surrounded by the most water? Hawaii. The clue is in the question. "Surrounded" means "all around." Only Hawaii has water all around. You have only one match. You enter a dark room in which there are an oil lamp, a wood burning stove, and a cand

The library will be open from 8 a.m.-5 p.m. on Tues., Nov. 25. We will then be closed for the rest of the week. Happy Thanksgiving!

With Thanksgiving break just around the corner, and the bitter bite of winter settling in like a houseguest, now is a great time to drop by the library to browse our selection of new books. Whether you're looking for the latest in YA fiction or a hefty IT manual to curl up with over a cup of hot chocolate, we've got it. Looking for suggestions? We’ve got those too. If the upcoming holiday has you dreaming of home-grown kale and locally-produced, pasture-raised turkey, explore the future of good food in The Third Plate by Dan Barber. Cindy Burke guides readers through the often confusing world of organic, conventional, local and sustainable foods in To Buy or Not to Buy Organic . History and food intersect in The Taste of War: World War II and the Battle for Food by Lizzie Collingham, and Karen Le Billon discusses the benefits of "eating French" (including a cure for picky eaters!) in French Kids Eat Everything . If Le Billion’s book inspires you to delve furthe

  Graphic courtesy of Alberto G. Every year, Mrs. Blivet's 12th grade students at Bitwise Shift High School in Mathville take a final exam to see who the cleverest students are.  The exam consists of 8 questions, some requiring mathematical thinking, others requiring common sense or attention to detail (such as identifying irrelevant information). Can you find the correct answers to all 8 questions in this year's final exam? Mrs. Blivet's 12th Grade Final Exam 1.    Which USA state is surrounded by the most water? 2.    You have only one match. You enter a dark room in which there are an oil lamp, a wood burning stove, and a candle.  Which would you light first? 3.    There are 100 houses on Protractor Road. House numbers are 1 to 100. How many houses have the number 9 in their address? 4.    The Sun is about 100 million miles from the Earth. The speed of light is 186,000 miles per second, and light takes 8 minutes to reach the Earth. The sun rose at 6:11 am t

Thank you to everyone who showed interest in participating in the library’s usability tests. Within a matter of hours, all of our volunteer slots were filled. We definitely felt loved. Have a great week!

The library is seeking 5 volunteers to participate in a usability study. The participants will receive a $10 gift card to the Mermaid Express as a ‘thank you’ for their time, of which no more than 45 minutes is required. What you will be doing: Completing simple tasks using the library's Web site and Research Guides. We will record your movements using Panopto (a screen capture program), and you will answer a simple questionnaire at the beginning and conclusion of the activity. When you will be doing this: We are flexible and can work with your schedule; however, please plan to complete the task before December 12, 2014. Where you will be doing this: We will use the computers in the CT3 located within the library. What will we do with this information? We will use this data to improve the usability and navigation of our Web site and Research Guides. Your opinions matter, so please consider volunteering. If you are interested, contact Crystal Newell at cnewell

Thanksgiving is a truly American holiday. It’s a time when we celebrate family, friends, and, naturally, food! What could be more American than that?  At the first Thanksgiving in 1621, the settlers of Plymouth Colony celebrated their first successful harvest in the New World with a feast that lasted for three days. Alongside their Native American neighbors, the Pilgrims ate roast goose, duck, venison, and crops from their recent harvest, including beans, squash, and corn. Annual Thanksgiving celebrations became popular in the United States during the early nineteenth century, and over the years we have added many of the Thanksgiving traditions that we know today, like eating turkey, football games, and the Macy’s Day Parade. In 1863 Thanksgiving gained an official date (the last Thursday in November) and was proclaimed a day of giving thanks by Abraham Lincoln. Almost eighty years later in 1941, Congress formally established Thanksgiving as a national holiday. You c