Winter begins

Each week, the U. S. Naval Observatory (one of the oldest scientific agencies in the United States) provides information on interesting happenings in the sky, such as the Winter Solstice. In 2005, Winter begins at the Winter Solstice on December 21st at 1:35 pm EST. Visit the Sky this Week for current pictures of Mars and additional facts about the position of the Sun, Moon, planets, and the stars.

Los Alamos Technical Reports and Publications

In 2002, Los Alamos National Library removed many unclassified reports along with other policy and historical publications from its web site. The Federation of American Scientists has gathered archived copies of these reports and made them available on their web site at: http://www.fas.org/sgp/othergov/doe/lanl/index.html. You can search the Energy Citations or NTIS (only available on campus) databases for additional energy reports. Both of these databases contain citations with the occasional link to full-text. The Government Publications Library has many of these reports--please bring the title and accession or report number to the reference desk for help finding these publications.

Audit of CU's athletic program

The State Auditor released its report on the Boulder Campus Athletic Department at the University of Colorado examining the football camps and the University's oversight of the campus. CU's response to the report can be found online at: http://www.cu.edu/news/releases/audit/AuditReformRelease_12-12-2005.htm.

Papers pertaining to Judge Samuel A. Alito, Jr.

On October 31, 2005 President George W. Bush nominated Samuel Alito to the Supreme Court. His nomination is currently being considered before the Committee of the Judiciary, chaired by Arlen Specter (R-PA). In addition to answering a questionnaire from the Judiciary committee numerous documents have been released by the National Archives and both the Reagan and Bush presidential libraries, all of which can be found at: http://www.archives.gov/news/samuel-alito/.

Treatment of "BATTLEFIELD DETAINEES" In The War On Terrorism

The Congressional Research Service has updated its report, Treatment of Battlefield Detainees in the War on Terrorism, which is available to the University of Colorado at Boulder through GalleryWatch.com. This report summarizes the background of this controversy and describes the Law of War in regard prisoners of war and civilian detainees. There is a section describing the treatment of detainees at Guantanamo. The final section of the report describes recent bills introduced in Congress as a result of recent reports on this issue.

Economic effects of Pandemic Flu outbreak

The Congressional Budget Office released a report this week on the economic effects of a pandemic flu outbreak. "A Potential Influenza Pandemic: Possible Macroeconomic Effects and Policy Issues" states that if there was a pandemic the effect would be similar in "depth and duration to that of an average postwar recession." The CBO provides reports at the request of congressional committees and subcommittees and occasionally congress members. They also analyze the costs of any bill before Congress and provide reports for the federal budget.

Educational Experiences of American Indians and Alaska Natives

The NCES (National Center for Education Statistics) has issued two reports describing the early learning and educational experiences of American Indians and Alaska Natives. American Indian and Alaska Native Children: Findings From the Base Year of the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Birth Cohort (ECLS-B) is an on-going survey of 10,000 children born in 2001. The report indicates that these children have similar skills at 9 months to the general population despite poverty and other barriers. Status and Trends in the Education of American Indians and Alaska Natives describes the academic achievement of American Indians and Alaska Natives over the past 20 years.

Christmas at the White House

White House pets have always been stars and in recent years have even "written" books. The White House even has a page devoted to Barney, President Bush's Scottish Terrier. This year for Christmas Barney has a video in which he plays the jealous brother to Miss Beazley, the Scottish Terrier Laura Bush got for Christmas last year. The video is on the Holiday page at the White House in Real Media and Widows Media versions. If the video is too long, check out the edited version at the Washingtonpost.com (this site may require free registration).

A cold and windy day

Did you get blown down by the cold wind yesterday? NOAA has a great page on Boulder winds that links to a number of other sites of interest to those wanting to learn more about wind here in Boulder. The winds that brought in the cold weather yesterday are called bora winds. The library catalog is named after the much friendlier chinook winds which bring in warm weather. The CU weather lab has a nice page contrasting these two types of wind.

The trip home

I am sure you have all heard about the new TSA changes to items allowed in checked baggage. Starting December 22, baring Congressional action, the TSA will allow small scissors and tools in carry on baggage. Flying before December 22? Check out the permitted and prohibited items as of 9/6/2005. Interested in how much time to budget to get through those lines at the security checkpoint? The TSA has developed a web site that gives the average wait time at airports across the United States.

Gulf of Tonkin Declassified Documents

The National Security Agency just declassified documents from the Gulf of Tonkin incident that lead up to the Vietnam conflict. This release "includes a variety of articles, chronologies of events, oral history interviews, signals intelligence (SIGINT) reports and translations, and other related memoranda." There has been considerable debate on whether this "attack" justified our entry into the Vietnam conflict.

World AIDS day

Today is World AIDS day, with the theme "Stop AIDS. Keep the promise." For more information on where you can get involved check out the World AIDS campaign. For information on international efforts against AIDS check out UNAIDS, which has a variety of publications including country-specific HIV and AIDS estimates and data for 2001 and 2003. In the US, the White House has set up a Office of National AIDS Policy where you read about policy and funding in the United States, including links to other departments dealing with the AIDS issue.