A new way to search the web

There has been a lot of buzz among those who use the Internet for research about a new search portal debuting this week.

Wolfram Alpha is not a search engine, as it does not look up answers to questions from a database or try to match key words to words used on web pages.

Instead it mathematically computes answers and creates relevant visualizations on the fly from a knowledge base of structured data. The farther you get from hard sciences, the less Wolfram Alpha will be able to help. But for those looking for the length of an American football field, fast measurement conversions, the weather history of Chicago, stock comparisons, the chemistry of gold, the mathematical properties of pi, or even the velocity of an unladen swallow (for fans of Monty Python), this can be a very helpful place to stop.

To get some ideas of just what this engine can do for you, check out this screencast video made by creator Stephen Wolfram. It might give you some time and work saving ideas.

Some fun queries: meaning of life ; 7PM CST ; hello ; football field divided by tyrannosaurus rex length

Try it out!

Butterflies at the Library

In honor of this year's summer reading theme, "Catch the Reading Bug," our branches became involved with butterfly gardens over the summer. A particular joy for the Rensselaer branch was the seven caterpillars we received from a local parsley patch and nurtured in July until they emerged today as Black Swallowtail butterflies.

We're very excited about our new and hungry babies, as with all the insects we have been able to watch and share their tender days with.


We invite you to stop in and check them out before they are gone, out to finish their days in the summer sun!

Disaster Information for Kids Online

When the weather gets nasty or the news has stories about people involved in weather disasters, kids may have lots of questions.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has a website that may not only help answer their questions, but some of your own as well.

FEMA's The Disaster Area is a kid-friendly website that has useful information about thunderstorms, tornadoes, wildfires and even national security emergencies.

And for more grown-up kinds of questions and answers, and step-by-step family safety plans, there is always FEMA's main site at fema.gov.

No moon on Wednesday

At 10:26 p.m. on February 20th, residents of North America, South America, Europe, and Africa will be treated to a total lunar eclipse. The eclipse will begin around 8:43 p.m., peak at 10:26 p.m. and wrap up about 12:08 a.m.

For more information about lunar eclipses and projected dates of future eclipses, visit the NASA Lunar Eclipse website.

Pokagon State Park in Angola, Indiana will host a free lunar eclipse viewing. For more information, see their press release.

Pokagon State Park Jan-Feb 2008 activities PDF.