Women Aviators: Then & Now

A newly discovered photograph suggests aviator Amelia Earhart, who vanished 80 years ago on a round-the-world flight, survived a crash-landing in the Marshall Islands. The photo, found in a long-forgotten file in the National Archives, shows a woman who resembles Earhart and a man who appears to be her navigator, Fred Noonan. The discovery was recently featured…

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Naming Conventions

Taxonomy is the science of defining and naming groups of biological organisms on the basis of shared characteristics, and the practice and science of classification of things or concepts, including the principles that underlie such classification. It is also one of the few chances scientists get to actually inject humor into the published literature, and it’s a…

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Father’s Day: History in the Making

Yesterday, the United States observed Father’s Day. This celebration honoring fathers and celebrating fatherhood, paternal bonds, and the influence of fathers in society is observed by over 40 countries, just not all on the same day. Though it has been celebrated since the Middle Ages, this celebration was brought by the Spanish and Portuguese to Latin America,…

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What’s On Your Summer Reading List?

It’s that time of year again: summer reading! Last year I wrote about how librarians catalog, search, provide readers advice and come up with book lists. This year I want to go in a different direction. Imagine being packed into an old Chevy Suburban filled with cousins and going on road trips to the mountains. This…

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April: America’s Newest Sweetheart

Who is April? I heard that at a least a dozen times last month from friends and colleagues. With more than 1.2 million people logging in to watch  her give birth live online, there were still some who had no clue as to her identity. Over 232 million views took place in the two months…

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Finding Credibility

In November I wrote an article about deciphering fact from fiction but I didn’t cover the whole fake news craze. Perhaps in my naivety I hoped the issue would go away. That after the elections the whole craze would die down and everyone would be more diligent in what they post on social media. Unfortunately…

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Taxonomy of a Taco

Tacos have been on my mind lately with Cinco de Mayo coming up (or rather, gone, since this will be posted afterwards). I love tacos. Who doesn’t? OK, I’m sure there are plenty of people who don’t like tacos, but I’m willing to guess that a majority of people like at least some form of…

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And They’re Off!

I live in Louisville, Kentucky. That means that, for the past week and all this coming week, everything, and I mean everything, is all about that two minute horse race known as the Kentucky Derby. Balloon races, parties, mint juleps, steam boat races, bourbon, parades; the list goes on and on. For corporate organizations, this…

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