Smartest Babies Ever...Maybe

You would not believe how forward-thinking Des Moines was on the topic of children's intelligence. In 1943, the Iowa Children's Home Society administered I. Q. tests to the children they took in. According to Director Miss Esther M. Jaquith, scientists 'in the child welfare field' produced a test that could be administered to babies as young as 3 months. Three months.  How much can you learn about IQ based on what, eye movement? Smile response?  Burp activity?  Those must have been some tests, back there in 1943. I'm thinking there may be something more sophisticated today, involving wires and such. To read more about the Iowa Children's Home Society, you can find the article I quoted in:  The Des Moines Register, 10/21/1943, p.17.  Unfortunately it doesn't tell you where the heck they got the tests.

Source:  Fun Facts
Graphic Source: Karen's Whimsy

Weddings - well you can just buy everything I suppose.

It's all about making stuff for weddings now. Which is pretty cool, but what about people like me who don't know their way around any kind of sewing, needlework, woodwork etc.  Since we have about 20 books on this subject you'll be sure to find something even I could do! My sister and I made a 'craft' by rolling and stacking towels then decorating them to look like cakes. I can work with safety pins.  Using our wide variety of books you can learn to make favors, journals, hair accessories.  And if you think it's too close to the wedding, how about The DIY bride crafty countdown : 40 fabulous projects to make in the months, weeks & hours before your special day?  That's right, hours.  Kind of makes you look like a piker if you don't craft something. Don't say we didn't war - I mean, help you.  Always with the helpful.

Bridal Craft Books - Pick One!!!!

Now where did I put that grain of sand...

Ever feel like your Google search comes back with the same answers over and over again, no matter how you phrase it? Soon you're buried up to your neck in stuff you can't use. Why not let the Reference Staff at the Des Moines Public Library System work on that search for you? We do this for a living! We know how to use limiters, specialized searches, and we have a pretty good idea of how the information was probably phrased. Plus, we can evaluate sites and get you the most reliable information. Call us at 283-4152 and press 3 as soon as you hear the recording start. We're on it.

Find that Online Resource!

As you know, the Des Moines Public Library has fabulous research aids. Fix your car, take a test, find a company, do a little genealogy - more fun than you can hardly stand. But you gotta find em' to use 'em. So follow these easy steps. I know, that's what they say in souffle recipes. But this time it's true.

1. Stop in at our home page at http://www.dmpl.org/.
2. In the gray box to the right, click on Online Resources.
3. Scroll on down and click on your resource of choice.
4. Pick out your database of choice and give it a click.

If you are in one of our buildings, you are ready to search.
If you are accessing us from home you will need your Des Moines Public Library card number and PIN (usually the last 4 digits of your phone number).
If you are accessing Learning Express from anywhere you will need to set up a user name and password after entering your library card number and PIN. 

Of course you could cheat and just Click Here. But where's the fun?

Name That Mess! Friday Generator Fun

Any disheveled areas in your house?  Any non-disheveled areas in your house?  There are times when my abode is covered in paper.  Books, mail, magazines, craft projects.  I do try to keep  two spots scraped off.  But that means there are many places in my house which would benefit from signage.  I could use 'Put Your Clean Laundry Away!' in the guest room. That stuff does pile up.   And my husband is very accepting - until he can't stand it anymore.  Maybe he could use some signs!  Anyhoo, have fun with the Messy Area Sign generator.

By Association

The Encyclopedia of Associations can be quite the intriguing read.  There are organizations for people with all kinds of interests!  For example, the DeLorean Owners Association.  Both of them joined! A few of the groups strike me as bad ideas. I'm just not getting the positive of the Society for Ambulatory Anesthesia.   But oh to be a card-holding member of the Society for Creative Ethics!  I'm not a crook, I'm just expressing myself.  Then there are the brave brave members of Friends of Feral Felines.  I'm pretty certain feral felines are not all that friendly. Surprisingly, the Friends of Vic and Sade group is no more.  Defunct.  Who are Vic and Sade and why are they no longer loved? It's just sad.   For more information you can take a look at the entries and find out what the societies do. Questions will be answered.  With actual facts.

The Encyclopedia of Associations

Spanish Películas de Terror

At least I call them horror movies: Pan's Labyrinth, The Devil's Backbone, The Orphanage. The films are definitely Spanish, definitely scary and there is a bit of the supernatural in each one. They're all about children which effects the mood, less about the jumping-out 'Boo!' terror and more about psychological responses to strange and stressful goings-on. Genuinely chilling, and for you non-Spanish speakers don't be put off by the language difference. Listen in Spanish and read the subtitles, it adds to the atmosphere.

Pan's Labyrinth

The Devil's Backbone

The Orphanage

What Was My PIN Again?

Ah, the eternal question. Those magic numbers you need if you want to use our fabulous online resources, get into your account to renew stuff, or use the internet computers in our libraries.  Most of the time it's the last 4 numbers of your telephone number. Unless we have an old phone number for you, or you may have actually picked out your very own personal PIN. If what you've got doesn't work, give us a call at 283-4152 and press 3. You provide us with your Des Moines Public Library card number; we look up your PIN for you.  And maybe get a little updating done in the process.  Everybody wins!

Great Mathematicians' Names

These mathematicians are great and they have great names! Let me introduce you to:

Fibonacci: 1170-1240 (approx). The Fibonacci sequence, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 55, is a series that appears with mysterious frequency in nature.   Each number after the first two are obtained by adding the preceding two numbers together. The spirals formed by the centers of daisies pine cone scales and leaves, follow the Fibonacci sequence. Hmmmmm.
 
Charles Babbage: December 26, 1791 - October 18, 1871.  Babbage was looking for a cheap and accurate method of producing tables to replace those laborious instruments put together by hand using the human noggin.   In 1822 he built a small hand-cranked machine "that could compile and print astronomical and logarithmic tables to an accuracy of six decimal places". Genius? Definitely. Father of computing?  Sounds like it.


AND...  Norbert Wiener: November 26, 1894 - March 18, 1964. He worked up a "mathematical description of the flow of information".  Guess what this is called?  Besides information theory. Cybernetics!  Way back in the 60's!   So he had that going for him plus the best name ever for a mathematician.  Or anyone else, really.

Source:  Biography Resource Center.  To read more, select Biography Resource Center; input your Des Moines Public Library card number and PIN then do a search for the mathematician of your choice!