ASK! about Singapore 

At around 10pm on 18 September, a 300-strong crowd cheered and welcomed Singapore Paralympics team home, at Changi Airport Terminal 3. Minister for Community Development, Youth and Sports, Dr Vivian Balakrishnan was present to congratulate them. In total, Singapore won four medals, and ranked 46th in the medal tally.

More good news was shared last night as Dr Vivian Balakrishnan announced that Yip Pin Xiu will be conferred the Meritorious Service Medal, and Laurentia Tan the Public Service Medal.

We were there in the crowd too, with red balloons and flower toys to give our athletes. Take a look at the shots we got of last night’s rousing welcome.

Medal Tally
In swimming, Yip Pin Xiu won gold in the Women’s 50m Backstroke and silver in the Women’s 50m Freestyle. She also set new World Records at both events.

Laurentia Tan made history by giving Singapore her first medal in Paralympics. She won two bronzes in the Equestrian events.

The Singapore Disability Sports Council (SDSC) certainly spared no efforts in celebrating the athletes’ return. They engaged reporters to film the event and interview the crowd, and coming Saturday 20 September 08, a party has also been organised at Orchard Cineleisure for the team.

We were one of those approached for the interview, and one of the questions was, what words of encouragement we had for the athletes.

Roy: Their success has heightened the causes of persons with disabilities and he wishes them a bright future ahead!

Mei Jun: Their success and achievements are simply inspiring! She hopes that their stories will live on in people’s hearts and motivate Singaporeans. Mei Jun doesn’t know what words of encouragement she has for them, but she sure knows that they have encouraged us instead to believe in life.

Interested to find out about athletes like with disabilities?

Download our book list here on Sports and Disabilities.

References:
Sim Chi Yin, “ Paralympians’ feats inspire entire country”, Straits Times, 18 Sept 08, News Bank database.
Wang, Jeanette, “More medals for heroines”, Straits Times, 19 Sept 08, B29

What words of encouragement have you for the athletes? Leave your comments here.

Posted by Ang Mei Jun, Librarian, Adult & Young People’s Services

ASK! about Singapore 

Singapore won her first Paralympics medal on 9 Sept 2008. The bronze was clinched by Laurentia Tan Yen Yi at the equestrian games. This is also the first Paralympics equestrian medal in Asia. Her horse, named Nothing To Lose, or Harvey, was rewarded with a hug and carrots.

Tan was born with cerebal palsy and profound deafness. When she was young, she had difficulties walking and sitting, but horse riding improved her movements and control tremendously. Today, she can walk and even drive.

For more information about the Paralympics, check out ASK! and the International Parlympic Commitee website.

 Reference:

Image: Channel News Asia, “Laurentia Tan”, URL: www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/
singaporelocalnews/view/374777/1/.html
“Paralympics First Medal for Singapore”, Straits Times, 10 Sept 08, B11

Posted by Ang Mei Jun,

Librarian, Adult & Young People’s Services

Found this question interesting? What do you think? Post your comments.
If you have a different question, please email to ask@nlb.gov.sg instead of sending a comment.

Kids ASK! about Science and Technology

The Internet has changed the way we do things—it has become so much a part of our lives that it is nearly impossible to imagine living without it. But tell me, have you ever wondered how the Internet came about? Sure, you have read about the invention of computers but how about the Internet specifically, what inspired it and when did it become reality?

I picked up this question from a fellow librarian (Chee Boon – you can read about him here) and remembered a dusty article I had from a long time ago (ok not that long – 4 years) about the history of the Internet. After some sneezes and digging through piles of information, I found what I was looking for… Here is the story of what we call the Internet.

The Internet is a product of war technology, more specifically, nuclear war. In the early 1960s, the U.S. authorities were worried that in the event of a nuclear war, the various command posts in the various cities will lose their ability to communicate as switches and wiring can and will likely be damaged by atomic bombs. They would need a command-and-control center that can withstand the atomic bomb and had no specific location so that it cannot be targeted. It was a strategic problem.

That was when RAND Corporation (America’s Cold War think-tank) came up with a proposal, the brainchild of one of its staff, Paul Baran. The year is 1964. The proposal is to have a network that is inherently unreliable. The network will have multiple nodes that have the exact same ability to be a beginning or an end point for the transmitting and receiving of messages. The messages themselves are made up of many packets and each packet will find its way through the network to the end point it is addressed to. The route taken by the packet is inconsequential. What matters is the final destination. Having such a system means that even if pieces of the network is destroyed by a bomb, the message packets in the air will still find its way to its destination with whatever nodes that are left.

In 1969, the first node was installed in UCLA (University of California, Los Angeles) and by the end of the year there were 4 nodes in total. The first version of the Internet was formed and it was called ARPANET.

It was good. Scientists could share one another’s notes and soon enough, it became an electronic post office. So much for military technology… ARPANET was used for exchanging research, for chatting and even gossiping. The first mailing list had nothing to do with the military, it was, “SF-LOVERS”.

Through the 70s, the network grew and grew. The message packets switching system also became streamlined and more sophisticated. Eventually, for reasons of control and security, the military segment broke off and became MILNET. The technology was replicated and ARPANET became one network of many though they were all linked. As the 80s came, computers became more common and there was nothing to stop people from linking up to one another as the very nature of such a network system is anarchic and decentralised.

ARPANET died officially in 1989, consumed by its own success, taken over by what we now know as the Internet. The rest, they say, is history.

Reference:
Sterling, B. (Feb 1993). Short History of the Internet. The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction.

If you want to read more about the Internet, here are books you can check out at our libraries.

For Children:

Image retrieved from www.amazon.ca

Computers then and now by Rebecca Weber
Publisher: Minneapolis, Minn. : Compass Point Books, c2005
Call Number: J English 004 WEB

The incredible story of computers and the Internet by Greg Roza
Publisher: New York : Rosen Pub. Group’s PowerKids Press, 2004
Call Number: J English 004.67 ROZ

The computer : passport to the digital age by Joanne Mattern
Publisher: New York : PowerKids Press, c2003
Call Number: J English 004 MAT

All websites are last accessed on 22 August 2008. Please refer to the terms and conditions on the homepages for use.
For the availability of the above book titles, please check the library catalogue.

Answered by Felicia Chan,

Librarian, Children’s Services

Kids ASK! about Anything & Everything

I must confess that part of my motivation for this post is an undying fascination with the exotic and mysterious. I first heard of El Dorado as a teenager, when I watched the cartoon movie, The Road to El Dorado, and for a time, I wondered very much if such a city really existed. It was a city believed to be made completely of gold. A few times every year, there would be a ceremony where the natives would coat their chief with gold dust and he would make offerings on their behalf to the gods by throwing gold and jewels into a lake.

Fascinating is it not? To have so much gold to throw into the lake and so much wealth… the idea of boundless gold captured the imagination of the public and the western explorers of the 1500s. In the hope of striking rich, many people have risked their lives to find this legendary city of gold.

Historically, the term El Dorado, refers to a person—el hombre dorado—not a city. It means the Golden Man. The tale of the golden man and the ceremony of throwing gold into the lake was first recorded by a Spanish Monk by the name of Pedro Simón. However, this was fairly late as by the early 1500s, the Spanish were already robbing the Indians in the New World. Large amounts of gold were stolen from the Incas of Peru and the Aztecs in Mexico.

Imagine when word of a city of gold got out, teams of explorers were just racing to get to all that gold first. There were three initial teams of explorers and they all endured terrible hardships that included falling ill to diseases from mosquito bites, snake bites, dangerous animals and Indians with arrows coated with poison. The rain, which never seemed to end, also caused their clothes to rot away. The first team took 10 months to reach Lake Guatavitá, the lake the chief of El Dorado was believed have held his gold-throwing ceremony, and only 166 people were left alive out of 700 who set out on the journey.

There was no city of gold. There was some gold dust and emeralds in the Lake Guatavitá, but not enough to justify all the hard work getting to the place and the lost of lives. When they discovered there was no city of gold at Lake Guatavitá, the teams tried to look elsewhere. Some thought the city was in Venezuela but that too turned out to be false. More and more teams tried to look for the city in the 50 years that followed but none came back with gold and most were fortunate if they even got back alive.

Not too long ago in 1965, after a few attempts of trying to drain the Lake Guatavitá to retrieve any gold that may be at the bottom of it (one company did manage to drain the lake and find a few golden ornaments), Colombia turned the lake into a historical site and henceforth, all efforts to find the treasure of the Golden Man became banned.

Does the city exist? To read the full version of this story, you can check out this book from the library,

Image retrieved from www.amazon.ca

Legends or Lies by Gary L. Blackwood
Publisher: New York : Marshall Cavendish Benchmark, c2005
Call Number: J English 398.2 BLA -[FOL]

Reference:
Blackwood, G. L. (2005). The City of Gold. Legends or Lies. New York : Marshall Cavendish Benchmark

If you want to read more about El Dorado and Lost Cities, here are books you can check out at our libraries.

For Teens & Children:

Image retrieved from www.amazon.co.uk

Lost cities by Sue Hamilton
Publisher: Edina, Minn. : ABDO Pub. Co., c2008
Call Number: Y English 398.234 HAM

Image retrieved from www.amazon.ca

Cities of the dead: finding lost civilizations by Denise Rinaldo
Publisher: New York : Franklin Watts, c2008
Call Number: Y English 930.1 RIN

Image retrieved from www.amazon.ca

Lost cities by Neil Morris
Publisher: London : Franklin Watts, 2007
Call Number: J English 930.1 MOR

All websites are last accessed on 18 August 2008. Please refer to the terms and conditions on the homepages for use.
For the availability of the above book titles, please check the library catalogue.

Answered by Felicia Chan,

Librarian, Children’s Services

ASK! about The Librarian 

On 2 August 2008, NLB once again supported people who are disabled by participating in the SDSC’s Beijing 2008 Paralympic Games Roadshow, held at Ngee Ann City Civic Plaza.

Roy, our librarian, was there to promote books to the public and athletes with disabilities.

“Serving people with disabilities is very meaningful, as we have a chance to bring the joy of reading to them. In doing so, I hope that we can make a positive difference in their lives.” - Roy Won

FAQ: What started the Paralympic Games?
The idea began when Sir Ludwig Guttmann organised games involving British WWII veterans who sustained spinal injuries, in England in 1948. As other countries joined in, an international initiative was born. More athletes of different disabilities also joined in. The first Olympic-style Games for disabled athletes were held in Rome in 1960.

In 1976, the Winter Games started in Sweden. The International Paralympics Committee was formed in 1989. Today, Paralympic Games are held at the same venue and same year as the Olympics, part of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and International Paralympics Committee’s (IPC) “one bid, one city” initiative.

FAQ: What is NLB doing at the Paralympic Games Roadshow?
Or rather, what business has the library got at any roadshow for that matter. The answer is: education. We are knowledge providers. We cover the whole range of DDC, 000s to 999s, and fiction stories too. Thus, we have practically every topic that’s written in the world. Beyond books, we even have the Digital Library, where you can retrieve current information like research and news. Clearly, information is important, and the library is a rich source of it. What’s more, the library’s free too!

At the SDSC Beijing 2008 Paralympic Games Roadshow, a selection of books on athletes with disabilities and the Paralympics were showcased. These books can be generally found at the DDC number 796.08 and 796.01, in the recreation, or Young People general collection of libraries.

Reference:
- “Paralympic Games”, International Paralympic Committee, 2008, 11 Aug. 2008, www.paralympic.org/release/
Main_Sections_Menu/Paralympic_Games/
- “Beijing 2008 Olympic Games: Mount Olympus Meets the Middle Kingdom.” Encyclopædia Britannica. 2008. Encyclopædia Britannica Online Library Edition. 11 Aug. 2008 library.ebonline.com/eb/article-277422

Posted by Ang Mei Jun,

Librarian, Adult & Young People’s Services

Found this question interesting? What do you think? Post your comments.
If you have a different question, please email to ask@nlb.gov.sg instead of sending a comment.

Kids ASK! about Health & Fitness

The 2008 Olympics is in full swing! Want to know which countries won the most medals for the past 10 Games? Read on…

Beijing is the host nation for the Games of the 29th Olympiad, and this coupled with their sporting prowess make them the favorite to top the medal standing this year. This table shows the top three countries with the highest medal tally for the past 10 Olympic Games held:

(Source : http://www.olympic.org)

Past Olympics games are full of interesting trivia and make fascinating history, such as the suspension of the Munich Games of 1972 due to a terrorist attack which killed two members of the Israeli team, and the drug disqualification of American sprinter Ben Johnson in the 1988 Seoul Games.

To read more on the Olympics, you may be interested in these books:

Flaming Olympics, by Michael Coleman
Publisher : London : Scholastic, 2008
Call No. : J 796.48 COL

Modern Olympic games, by Hadyn Middleton
Publisher : Oxford : Heinemann Library, 2008
Call No. : J 796.48 MID

Great Olympic moments, by Haydn Middleton
Publisher : Oxford : Heinemann Library, 2008
Call No. : J 796.48 MID

Amazing pace : the story of Olympic champion Michael Phelps from Sydney to Athens to Beijing, by Paul McMullen
Publisher : Emmaus, Pa. : Rodale, c2006
Call No. : 797.21092 MAC -[REC]

Crises at the Olympics, by Haydn Middleton
Publisher : Oxford : Heinemann Library, 2008.
Call No. : J 796.48 MID

Outstanding Olympics, by Clive Gifford
Publisher : Oxford : Oxford University Press, 2007.
Call No. : J 796.48 GIF

Gold medal for weird, by Kevin Sylvester
Publisher : Toronto. Ont. : Kids Can Press, c2007.
Call No. : J 796.48 SYL

All websites were last accessed on 9 August 2008. Please check the websites’ homepages for the terms and conditions of use.
All images were extracted from www.amazon.com and www.bn.com.

For the availability of the above book titles, please check the library catalogue.

Posted by Galvin Soh
Librarian
Children’s Services

Found this post interesting? What do you think? Post your comments.
If you have a different question, please email to ask@nlb.gov.sg instead of sending a comment.

ASK! about Singapore 

Do you feel a sense of loss or nostalgia when you watch children playing? It could be that you lament how ‘traditional’ games have been replaced by technology like computers, or simply feel sadness that children today are not privileged to the simple joys you had long past.

For the youths who are reading this blog, their reactions are probably more of curiosity, a keenness to find out how people in the past could have possibly entertained themselves in the absence of technology like today’s.

Fortunately, information and books have been compiled to preserve the history of games played during early times. Below are some suggested sources:

1. Gateway to Asian Games (Call No.: J SING 790.15095 GAT) 
Inside the book, Gateway to Asian Games, you will find concise information of various games played in Asia, many of which belong to the fond memories of our childhood and parents’ days.  Accompanied by coloured pictures and step-by-step instructions, the book is a user-friendly game guide as well.

The book is packed with surprises as it contains many unknown facts. For instance, you will discover, that a number of games played in Asia, such as Hopscotch, originated in non-Asian countries . It was actually first played in Britain during the early Roman Empire. In Malaysia, it goes under the name ‘ketengteng’ or ‘ting-ting’. Some of the games such as playing swings and kite flying, are followed by a comic strip to explain their origins.

Games you will find inside: Dayam & Paramapadam, Weiqi, Cherki Cards, Paper Dolls, Gasing, Tangram etc.

2. Gateway to Eurasian Culture (Call No.: SING 305.804 GAT)
This book is a collection of the history, culture and lives of Eurasians in Singapore, from the past to the present. Under the chapter ‘Daily Life’, is a mention of Eurasians playing the Peranakan card game Cherki.

Games you will find inside: Cherki, sports like softball, tennis etc

3. Gateway to Malay Culture (Call No.: 305.89928 GAT)
What did the villagers play during the Kampong days? They had no Nintendo or Playstation then, but life in the village was still just as fun. Described in section ‘Home and Attire’, are games like kite flying, chapteh, and congkak.

Games you will find inside: Gasing, kite flying, chapteh etc.

4. National Library’s Infopedia
The Infopedia articles below were compiled base on research from various books and electronic sources:
- Five stones by Bonny Tan (1999)
- Gasing by Zaubidah Mohamed (2004)
- Wayang kulit by Endon Salleh (1999)

Contributed by Ng Cheng Soon, Librarian, Adult & Young People’s Services

Found this question interesting? What do you think? Post your comments.
If you have a different question, please email to ask@nlb.gov.sg instead of sending a comment.

ASK! about Recreation

Spain won the Euro 2008, after footballer Fernando Torres’ single goal in the final match ended Germany’s dreams of lifting the prestigious Cup. This is their second time winning the Euro Cup, with their previous win in 1964.

Here’s the list of previous winners of the Euro Cup:

1960 - USSR
1964 - Spain
1968 - Italy
1972 - West Germany
1976 - Czechoslovakia
1980 - West Germany
1984 - France
1988 - Netherlands
1992 - Denmark
1996 - Germany
2000 - France
2004 - Greece
2008 - Spain

Source: euro2008.uefa.com - History. Retrieved June 30, 2008, from euro2008.uefa.com Web site: http://en.euro2008.uefa.com/history/index.html

For more information, here are some recommended library books on European soccer:

50 years of the European Cup and Champions League by Keir Radnedge
Publisher: London : Carlton, c2005
Summary: “First published in 2005 to celebrate the golden anniversary of European football’s grandest competition, “50 Years of the European Cup and Champions League” covers every season’s competition with a full report and statistical summary of the Final.”
Call No.: 796.33464094 RAD -[REC]

A season on the brink : Rafael Benítez, Liverpool and the path to European Glory by Guillem Balagué
Publisher: London : Orion, 2006
Call No.: 796.3340942753 BAL -[REC]

Fields of glory, paths of gold : the history of European football by Kevin Connolly and Rab MacWilliam
Publisher: Edinburgh : Mainstream Pub., c2005
Call No.: 796.334094 CON -[REC]

Spirit high and passion pure : a journey through European football by Charlie Connelly
Publisher: Edinburgh ; London : Mainstream, 2000
Summary: “Is modern European football just big business? Or is the game a vehicle for passion, spirit, and national identity? In an attempt to find out, Charlie Connelly embarks upon a European journey in search of the soul of the European game.”
Call No.: 796.334094 CON -[REC]

You can also visit the website, http://www.uefa.com/, for more information about Europe’s soccer scene.

All websites were last accessed on 30 June 2008. Please check the websites’ homepages for the terms and conditions of use. All book summaries were taken from the book descriptions. All images were extracted from www.amazon.com and www.bn.com.

For the availability of the above book titles, please check the library catalogue.

Posted by Ms Elizabeth Lee
Children’s Librarian
Children’s Services

Found this post interesting? What do you think? Post your comments.If you have a different question, please email to ask@nlb.gov.sg instead of sending a comment.

ASK! about Anything & Everything

Online resources

1) Rootweb.com

Rootsweb.com is a thriving, free genealogy community on the web, providing a robust worldwide environment for learning, collaborating and sharing for the expert and novice alike.

 2) Ancestry.com

With more than 5 billion names, and 23,000 searchable databases, Ancestry.com is the #1 online source for family history information, including the web’s largest collection of historical records.

3) Genealogy.com

Few other family history sites are as trusted or as visited as Genealogy.com, which offers a wide range of family and local histories, vital records, military records and much more.

 4) Familysearch

The largest collection of free family history, family tree and genealogy records in the world.

5) NLB’s pathfinder on ‘Tracing your family history’

This is a guide for people who are beginning a search on the history of their family.

*Above sites’ introductions are taken from the respective websites.

Books

1) The people detective: discovering your family roots by Tom McGregor

Call no.: 929.107 MAC

2) Finding your roots online by Nancy Hendrickson

Call no.: q025.069 HEN

3) Genealogy online for dummies by Matthew L. Helm & April Leigh Helm

Call no.: 929.102 HEL

4) Tracing your family history by Anthony Aldoph

Call no.: 929.107 ALD

5) @home with your ancestors.com: how to research family history using the internet by Diane Marelli

Call no.: 929.102 MAR

6) The everything family tree book: finding, charting, and preserving your family history by William G. Hatley

Call no.: 929.1 HAR

To check availability of above titles, use our  online catalogue

Originally answered by Ng Kiak Peng, Librarian, Adult and Young People’s Services

 Posted by Yen Yen Toh, Librarian, Adult and Young People’s Services

Found this question interesting? What do you think? Post your comments.
If you have a different question, please email to ask@nlb.gov.sg instead of sending a comment

Kids ASK! about Anything & Everything

Have you ever wondered about the coins sitting in your purse or pocket? Our coins come in different sizes and colours, just like coins in other countries.

Coins have had a long and varied history as a form of money. It was first made in 560 B.C. in Lydia, which is a place we now know as Turkey. Then, the use of coins in trading spread to other countries such as Greece and China.
Source: Bailey, G.(2006). Cowries, coins, credit : the history of money. Minneapolis, Minn. : Compass Point Books.

Coins today are made from different metals and come in different sizes to denote its value. For example, our one-cent coin is made from copper-plated zinc while our gold one-dollar coin is made of aluminium bronze. You can find out more about them, such as when they were first issued, at the Singapore Mint website.

Recently, the British Royal Mint released a new series of coins to renew the old designs which have been in use for almost 40 years. What’s interesting about this new design is, when the different denominations are put together, it fits together to form an image of the Royal Arms (see picture on right).

Here are some interesting facts about coins:
- People who collect coins are called “numismatists”
- A study by the Melbourne Herald Sun found that 95% of dollar bills and coins in Australia contains bacteria that can cause gastroenteritis with symptoms of fever, diarrhoea, vomiting. So remember to always wash your hands after handling money!
- The world’s most expensive coin is the 1913 Liberty Nickel – a five-cent coin that was sold for $5 million in 2007.
- Notice a funny metallic smell on your hands after touching coins? Its not the smell of coins, but of the oil in your skin mixing with iron atoms.

Intrigued by coins? You can read up more from these books:

Cool coins, by Pam Scheunemann
Publisher : Edina, Minn. : ABDO Pub. Co., 2006.
Call No. : J 737.4 SCH

Cowries, coins, credit : the history of money, by Gerry Bailey and Felicia Law
Publisher : Minneapolis, Minn. : Compass Point Books, c2006.
Call No. : J 332.4 BAI

Currency, by Patricia K. Kummer
Publisher : New York : Franklin Watts, c2004.
Call No. : J 332.4 KUM

I know about money, it’s so funny! by Tracy Kompelien
Publisher : Edina, Minn. : ABDO Pub. Co., c2007.
Call No. : JP 513.2 KOM

The history of money, by Roberta Basel
Publisher : Mankato, Minn. : Capstone Press, c2006.
Call No. : JP 332.4 BAS

All websites were last accessed on 6 June 2008. Please check the websites’ homepages for the terms and conditions of use.
All images were extracted from www.amazon.com and www.bn.com

For the availability of the above book titles, please check the library catalogue.

Posted by Galvin Soh
Librarian
Children’s Services

Found this post interesting? What do you think? Post your comments.
If you have a different question, please email to ask@nlb.gov.sg instead of sending a comment.