In light of the recent East Coast earthquake and the upcoming U.S. landfall of Hurricane Irene, today’s Tuesday Tidbit is focusing on natural disasters.  Natural disasters frequently occur without warning and can cost billions of dollars in damage and significant loss of life.  Check out some of the following links for more information on natural disasters, including tips for disaster preparedness:

National Geographic – National Geographic’s contains excellent information on a variety of natural disasters, including videos and photos, as well as explaining the science behind many natural disasters.

FEMA – The Federal Emergency Management Agency is a division of the United States government responsible for managing both man-made and natural disasters.  Their website has a number of safety tips for surviving various disasters, links to local and state emergency management agencies and current information on any ongoing emergency situations.

CDC – The Centers for Disease Control devotes a very informative portion of their site to disasters.  Information found here includes how to prepare for certain disasters, what to do in the aftermath of disasters and evacuation information.

Ready NC – Ready NC, a site maintained by the North Carolina Division of Emergency Management, provides a wealth of information of how to deal with a number of different disaster, both natural and otherwise.  It contains tips about what to do before and after certain types of events, as well as information about preparing emergency kits, dealing with insurance in an emergency situation and volunteering.

Welcome to another school year at CPCC!  Starting the school year out right is important for both students and instructors.  Check out some of these resources to help improve your success in college.

The library provides access to Learning Express Library.  This database is an excellent resource for anyone who needs practice tests, exercises, or skill-building courses. Practice tests include immediate scoring, complete answer explanations, and an individualized analysis of your results.

Standardized tests covered in Learning Express Library include CLEP, GED, SAT, ACT, US Citizenship and licensing tests for various careers. It also contains basic skills assessments in math and English.

Time management is an important skill to master, not only in college, but for work as well.  Dartmouth University has an excellent site on this subject that includes planners, schedule making and overcoming procrastination.

Finally, Study Guides and Strategies is a site that has a wealth of information on a variety of student success topics, including how to study, doing research and writing.

Good luck with your classes this semester!

Thirty-seven years ago today, Gerald Ford became the 38^thpresident of the United States.  Ford’s ascendancy to the presidency made him the first president in United States history to have never been elected to either the presidency or the vice-presidency.  In late 1973, Ford had been picked to replace Vice President Spiro Agnew, who had resigned his office in the face of tax evasion charges.  At the time of his appointment to the vice-presidency, the Watergate scandal was brewing and many in Congress realized that it would most likely only be a matter of time before Ford became president.  President Richard Nixon’s resignation from the presidency on August 9, 1974 put Ford into a place that he never expected to be: the Office of the President of the United States of America.

For more information on the Watergate scandal that led to Ford becoming President, the Washington Post (the paper that initially broke news of the scandal) has an excellent timeline of events.

For more information on Gerald Ford and his presidency, check out these resources:

Credo Reference has a topic page on President Ford with biographical information.

C-Span’s American Presidents website contains a profile of Ford, including a number of video clips of events from his presidency and the 1976 presidential election campaign.

The Miller Center at the University of Virginia has a very thorough profile of Ford, including videos of many of his speeches and information on his life before and after the presidency.

Finally, the Gerald Ford Presidential Library and Museum website contains a wealth of information about President Ford and his wife, Betty.

Interesting Tidbit about Gerald Ford: To date, Ford is the only United States President who suffered two failed assassination attempts in one month…both by women.  On September 5, 1975, Lynette Fromme, a follower of Charles Manson, attempted to shoot Ford.  17 days later, in an unrelated incident, Sara Jane Moore also unsuccessfully tried to kill the president.

On July 5, 1996, Dolly the Sheep became the first mammal ever cloned from adult cells.  Created by the Roslin Institute in Scotland (and named after country singer, Dolly Parton), Dolly quickly became the world’s most famous sheep.  Her mere existence ignited a debate amongst people concerned about what this might mean for the future of cloning in humans.  In 2003, Dolly developed lung disease and was euthanized.  Whether or not this development was related to her clone status remains unknown.

Interested in learning more about cloning?  Check out these resources:

Credo Reference provides an in-depth look at the topic of cloning.

Films on Demand has a number of videos that discuss cloning.

The Human Genome Project,  a project of the United States Department of Energy, has an excellent page covering the history of cloning, as well as numerous links to other sources on the topic.

The Genetic Science Learning Center at the University of Utah provides a summary of  cloning and includs several interactive pages.

After a brief hiatus, Tuesday Tidbits has returned…except, this week only, it’s Thursday Tidbits!  As you will see, there is a method to this madness.  Read on…

In honor of the kick-off of the 6^th Annual Charlotte Shakespeare Festival (originally scheduled for today, now moved to Friday, June 3), this week we are featuring resources about the Bard of Avon.  Although the Charlotte Shakespeare Festival is taking a different turn this season by focusing on Tartuffe (a play by French playwright, Moliere), they will still be having Shakespeare Trivia Nights every Wednesday evening during the run of the play.  Best of all, all activities are free!  For more information about the Charlotte Shakespeare Festival, check out their website.

To learn more about Shakespeare and his plays, check out some of these excellent resources:

The Folger Shakespeare Library website has an amazing selection of resources about Shakespeare and his plays.  Be sure to check out the Discover Shakespeare part of their site…that’s where all the good stuff is.

Bardweb is another fascinating, free resource about Shakespeare.  Of particular interest on this site is a copy of Shakespeare’s will, a section on the debate over whether or not Shakespeare actually wrote the plays attributed to him and information on the Globe Theatre, where most of Shakespeare’s works made their original debuts.

Finally, have a look at the Internet Shakespeare Editions site.  It includes full-text of all of Shakespeare’s plays, as well as copies of the original publications of the plays.  Additionally, there is a very interesting section on the life and times of Shakespeare that allows you to get fully immersed in Elizabethan England.

Pakistan, the second most populous Islamic country in the world,  has been a United States ally in the War on Terror since the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.  Originally part of India, Pakistan was formed in 1947 to provide Muslim Indians with a separate state.  It has been in the news recently since the killing of Osama bin Laden  by U.S. troops  occurred there in the town of Abbottabad.

Want to learn more about Pakistan?  Check out the following free resources:

The Library of Congress has a Country Study on Pakistan.

The U.S. Department of State provides a Background Note on Pakistan.

The CIA World Fact Book provides an overview of Pakistan.

BBC News has a very detailed Country Profile of Pakistan, including links to the latest news stories involving the country.

25 years ago today, reactor number 4 at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in the Ukrainian Republic of  the Soviet Union experienced a catastrophic explosion.  The resulting catastrophe proved to be the worst nuclear disaster in history.  It spread radioactive contamination across much of Europe and western Russia and resulted in the resettlement of thousands of people away from the contaminated areas.  Additionally, the safety of nuclear power was called into question as a result of the accident and development of new nuclear power plants slowed considerably as a result.

To find out more about the Chernobyl disaster, have a look at some of the following sources:

Credo Reference has an excellent topic page on Chernobyl. (CPCC Login may be required.)

Need to Know on PBS.org has a brief feature on the accident.

NPR has a story on life in the Chernobyl area today.

Welcome to the first edition of the CPCC Libraries Blog new feature, Tuesday Tidbits!  Tuesday Tidbits will be your weekly dose of random facts and information about various people, places and things.  Today, in honor of the season, Tuesday Tidbits will be profiling a spring favorite: the daisy.

Daisy: “A perennial native to Europe and W Asia (Bellis perennis), with a basal rosette of oval or spoon-shaped leaves; leafless flowering stems up to 20 cm/8 in, each bearing a solitary flower-head; outer ray florets white often tinged red, inner disc florets yellow. It grows in short grassland and garden lawns where regular mowing prevents it from being smothered by taller vegetation. It spreads by short rhizomes, often becoming a pernicious weed. Forms with double flowers are grown for ornament. (Family: Compositae.)”

“Daisy.” The Crystal Reference Encyclopedia. West Chiltington: Crystal Semantics, 2005. Credo Reference. 29 Mar. 2006. Web. 19 Apr. 2011. <http://www.credoreference.com/entry/cre/daisy>.

Want to learn more about Daisies? Or another common Spring flower? Take a look at the CPCC Library’s Credo Reference Database on the Research Databases page.