An Alphabetical List of Marked Burials in Greensboro’s Union Cemetery with Hyperlinks to Tombstone Images

Well, I’ve been meaning to do this for some time:  i.e., post a list of individuals buried at Union Cemetery with hyperlinks to photos of grave markers there that I took a few years ago.  Briefly, Union Cemetery is probably the most important burial site for African Americans in Guilford County, it being the final resting place for many of [...]

Famous Astronomer Nicholas Copernicus Reburied After Scientists Use DNA to ID Remains

In yet another neat DNA story, scientists have recently used the building blocks of life to help identify the remains of the famous Renaissance Polish mathematician and astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus (1473-1543), who, with his theory of the heliocentric or sun-centered universe, is often credited with starting the scientific revolution. Alas, poor Copernicus died shortly after De [...]

N.C. Unemployment is Looking a Little Better

Just a brief note that North Carolina’s unemployment rate fell in April to 10.8%, according to today’s News and Record.  This was down from 11.2% in February. There are also hopeful signs for a downward trend nationally, as MSNBC reported today that April jobless rates declined in 34 of the 50 states.  However, the national rate still [...]

Raising Money Smart Kids

How well adjusted are our children when it comes to money?  Statistics show that young people are buying more and accumulating more debt than ever before.  Future Cents is a grant funded project that will help youth and their parents learn budgeting, checking, saving, investing and more.  The goal of Future Cents is to help [...]

Could DNA Analysis Help Solve Mystery of the “Lost Colony”?

I suppose just about everyone has heard of the famed “Lost Colony,” which was one of the first attempts by the English to settle the New World. Located just off North Carolina’s coast on Roanoke Island, the story of the colony began in 1587 when the famous mariner Sir Walter Raleigh, who had received a charter [...]

Restoration Work on Artifacts from the Queen Anne’s Revenge Begins on Ocean Floor

Just a brief note here on an interesting article concerning in situ efforts to preserve artifacts from the wreck of Blackbeard’s flagship, the Queen Anne’s Revenge (QAR), which was discovered in 1996 in waters off North Carolina’s Beaufort Inlet. The notorious pirate — whose real name was Edward Teach — had run the ship aground on a sandbar and abandoned it just a [...]

The Future of eBooks in Libraries: The Coming Revolution for the Book

“Das Buch ist nicht tot!”  The book is not dead.  So reads a sign in old German typeface which hangs in my cube, given to me awhile back by one of my librarian colleagues. And while that sentiment may well be accurate, we’re nonetheless at the beginnings of a sea-change for the book, probably the most dramatic change since [...]

A Neanderthal Eve?

For the last couple of decades the human evolution debate has been dominated by the “Out of Africa” theory, which holds that Homo sapiens evolved in Africa around 200,000 years ago, then began spreading to other continents at around 60,000 to 70,000 years ago.  This theory has developed from analysis of human DNA, i.e., from the study of our genetic makeup.    [...]