11-11-11

It seems so significant that the numbers are all the same. If you believe in numerology, you might be inclined to attach special meaning to the date. Certainly a lot of people have tried to at various times in history when calendar sequences have seemed particularly fraught with implications. Life's Little Mysteries offers a run-through of various interpretations. Psychology offers another answer: apophenia, or spontaneous perception of connections and meaningfulness of unrelated phenomena. The phenomenon is detailed here in the Skeptic's Dictionary. The term was coined by neuroscientist Peter Brugger, whose experiments are outlined in this New Scientist article.
 

The Real Significance of November 11

But numerology and pattern preference aside, November 11 is significant because it is Veterans Day. Many people today do not realize that the date, which is not moved to make it into a convenient 3-day weekend, has historical significance. Originally known as Armistice Day, it marked the European end of the War to End All Wars, the horrifically brutal World War I. Looking at war casualties today, it is almost impossible to visualize the human slaughter that typified the First World War. This table gives some sense of the sheer horror of the casualty figures, comparing it with U.S. casualties in all other major conflicts up through the Persian Gulf. Four nations, Austria-Hungary, Russia, France, and Romania, saw more than 70% of their fighting forces wounded, killed, imprisoned or go missing (many literally swallowed in the mud of the battlefields). Small wonder then at the relief marking the signing of the Armistice that ended hostilities, at least on the Western Front, in a world numbed by devastation.

The historical importance of this day was confirmed when Congress moved the Veterans day to the fourth Monday in October in 1968. Ten years later, giving into public pressure, Congress changed it back to its original date.Veterans Day has been celebrated on the 11th of November in the United States ever since. The date of the Armistice is celebrated under various names in all of the British Commonwealth countries (Australia, Canada, etc.) as well as England itself, France, Belgium and Poland, where it is also celebrated as Independence Day since the nation was officially created with the end of the First World War. The British commemoration marks the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month of 1918, the time at which Germany signed the Armistice agreement.

The tradition of exchanging poppies for donations made to veterans' charities also traces back to World War I, and more specifically to the poem "In Flanders Field" by John McCrae. Red poppies grew across the war-shattered fields of Belgium, and with particular splendor on the increasing graves of the dead. The poppies, whose blood-red color seemed especially appropriate, soon became the symbol of all who died serving their country.

Veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan

As this country looks with relief to the return of troops from Iraq and continues to support those on mission in Afghanistan, Veterans Day becomes more meaningful to many with each passing year. Today's veterans struggle with many of the same issues as their predecessors: unemployment, service-related disabilities, readjustment to civilian life, alcohol and substance abuse, and post-traumatic stress disorder (includes a link to an hour-long PBS program about whether today's vets are getting the help they need). 

But today's vets also have some special problems of their own. Among these is homelessness. The current economic crisis has left approximately 107,000 veterans homeless on any given night, more than half of them African-American or Hispanic. This generation of veterans is significantly more likely than generations past to find itself living on the street and in dangerous circumstances. 

Not unrelated to the problem of homelessness is another problem unique to this generation of warriors the high incidence of traumatic brain injury. A high percentage of homeless vets suffered from traumatic brain injury during their tour of duty. Increasing awareness of the effects of trauma on the brain has contributed to increasing discussions of brain injury in other contexts as well.

The changing makeup of the modern army has brought attention to different issues.The increase in the number of women in the military (now 1 in 7 of all service personnel) has exposed a culture of sexual violence within it that victimizes both women and men. The impact of this violence on the victims can be profound and lifelong. This well-documented news story and this documentary offer further information about a problem the military has, in the past, tried to downplay as sexual hijinks and now is only beginning to address.

But none of these difficulties takes away from the profound contributions these men and women provided to their country. They have dedicated themselves to the service of our country in the a way that deserves the utmost respect. So take some time to recognize the real significance of 11-11-11, and honor those who have and do serve. If you know of a veteran in need of assistance, direct he or she to the DACC Veterans' Service Center (http://www.dacc.edu/veterans/). If you would like to hear some veterans' stories, go to the Library of Congress' Veterans History Project, or perhaps just take a contemplative walk through Danville National Cemetery.

Photo: Danville National Cemetery

Understanding U.S. Debt

As the deadline for adjusting or eliminating the debt ceiling approaches, the political conversation intensifies, economists weigh in, and the media senses another headline opportunity. But what is the U.S. debt ceiling and what does the August 2 deadline refer to? Before looking at the debt ceiling, let's look at the debt itself. The total or gross federal debt refers to the "outstanding debt issued by the Treasury and other federal government agencies" as explained by the General Accountability Office. This includes debt held in other U.S. government agency accounts like Medicare and that held by outside investors. For a good overview about the National Debt, check out the CQ Researcher issue (access requires DACC user ID and password when off campus).

As is explained in this helpful General Accountability Office web page, the debt limit is not, as people may think, a restriction on government spending, but rather on the Department of Treasury's ability to borrow to meet its current obligations. For this reason, holding the debt limit does nothing about deficit except, potentially make it worse if the U.S.'s credit rating is lowered so that it has to borrow at a higher rate. The GAO prepared a detailed report explaining how the sort of gamesmenship going on in Washington hurts the ability of the Treasury Department to manage the public debt, further increasing problems with the U.S. debt rating. The Economist offers this analysis about why this political brinksmanship may, in fact, result in default, not inevitable compromise, as many assume. And Politifact examines what default might mean.

The foreign press has been highly critical of U.S. politicians during the crisis. The Atlantic samples international opinion on a particular issue weekly. Here's their sampling of foreign reaction to political posturing over the debt.

How did we get here? You can watch the PBS Frontline episode Ten Trillion and Counting online to get some background about how the U.S. got into its current financial position. This documentary focuses on the economic impact of the Bush years: the tax cuts, the wars, the legislation--like the Medicare Pt. D - prescription drug benefit. (A teacher's guide for the film is available here.)  Supporting material on the site provides commentary by economic writers holding different political perspectives as well as Bush White House insiders, while in-depth interviews provide the opinions of key federal officials. The Pew Research Trust did an analysis outlining the principal forces that changed fiscal predictions that in 2001 foresaw a budget surplus by 2011 into a mounting budget deficit. It clearly demonstrates that the biggest drivers of the increase in the debt are first, the Bush tax cuts, and second, various legislative action, such as war funding, Medicare Pt. D, measures to fund the recovery and underwrite the banking crisis, and other defense and non-defense legislative spending.

Another misleading element in a lot of the public debate about the debt crisis is the implication that in some sort of nostalgic "good old days" the government operated in the black. Actually, as the GAO demonstrates, the U.S. has operated at a deficit for most of its history. An interesting breakdown of deficit data has been done by Dr. Stephen Bloch, at Adelphi University. He crunches the historical numbers in various ways and shows how the Great Depression, despite many claims about "Big Government" that might suggest rampant, runaway spending was actually relatively deficit free, and offers comments about electoral patterns related to federal deficits in the 20th century. Another interesting historical fact, the U.S. has previously been in default, twice, as you'll read in this New York Times piece, demonstrating that claims of the event as unprecedented are unfounded, although circumstances are significantly different.

One long-term solution frequently put forward to concerns over the deficit is that the federal government should adopt legislation requiring it to balance its budget annually, rules that the states have in place in various forms. However, the Institute for Truth in Accounting published its 50-State Study documenting the ways in which allegedly "balanced" state budgets are anything but balanced, whether their citizens or even their politicians realize it. Numerous accounting practices permit states to bury long-term obligations, fail to identify newly acquired obligations (such as the need to lease services for assets that have been sold), or simply delay or shift funds from payment cycle to payment cycle. The full report includes state-by-state breakdowns of accounting practices, all of which indicated that "significant liabilities" for each state "were not included." Of interest is the fact that it is Illinois's dubious accounting practices, which conceal significantly larger than realized debt obligations ($70 billion) that inspired the 50-state study (see p. 6).

An ongoing element of the debt debate has to do with the Bush tax breaks. Should they be retained or is their elimination necessary for the country's fiscal health? To get at some answers to these questions, an excellent place to look is the Tax Policy Center of the Brookings Institution. Their Tax Policy Briefing Book presents a lot of information about taxes in a concise fashion. The "Background" section of the Briefing Book includes several sections outlining the impact of the Bush era cuts. These include specific sections related to the national debt, a comparison to Reagan era tax cuts, whether or not the majority benefit from the cuts assuming the cuts result in (or coincide with) economic growth, and what spending cuts and revenue generation would be necessary to make them permanent. Also included in the briefing book is information comparing U.S. tax rates to those of other countries,

Still feel like this whole budget/taxes thing is too hard to comprehend? You're not alone. This is why the Eyebeam Dataviz Challenge asked people to come up with games to help people understand these concepts. Now you can check out the winners! See exactly how much of your federal tax dollar goes to fund something you hate (or love) or explore the budget in other innovative, fun ways.

Farewell to Harry

July 14 at midnight the final Harry Potter film hit theaters nationwide, marking the end of an era of storytelling and the maturity of a generation of readers and viewers who grew up with the young wizards and witches of Hogwarts. In celebration, the library blog points you to some engaging resources from around the web.

A great starting point is the Harry Potter wiki, which includes detailed sections on the books, films and characters. Mugglenet.com is self-identified as the No. 1 Harry Potter site on the web. According to whom, it's not clear, but the site certainly has lots of goodies for Harry fans: news, parodies, songs, games, themes, timelines, trivia, and lots of other things. The Leaky Cauldron proclaims itself to be "the most trusted name in Potter", providing readers with news updates on the films' stars, essays, and even craft how-tos. The Harry Potter Lexicon gets a vote as being the other potential go-to site, with its rich trove of information on everything Harry Potter. Another great resource is Accio Quote!, listed as the largest archive of J.K. Rowling interviews on the web. My personal favorite fact from this site: Rowling was inspired to have a different Defense Against the Dark Arts professor each year by the constant drummer "changes" in This is Spinal Tap.

Controversies

Because of its overwhelming popularity, the Harry Potter series has been the subject of numerous controversies since it first appeared in book form. The most contentious had to do with religion. Many religious groups raised objections to the Rowlings' work at one time or another, most alleging that the series promoted satanism or values that ran counter to those they espoused. Wikipedia's entry on Religious debates over the Harry Potter series provides an excellent overview of the variety of these concerns. In this country we are most familiar with those people contending that the books and films promote anti-Christian values, a debate nicely reproduced in this CBN website, which leaves readers free to draw their own conclusions. Most of us are probably less aware of concerns raised in Islamic nations and the Greek Orthodox church, or that a minor uproar was created when the final novel went on sale on the Sabbath in Israel. Nor are we likely to be aware of the Wiccans' response to claims that these works promote their religion, all of which the Wikipedia entry covers. An interesting related argument has arisen from those who contend that Rowling should have included more religion in her books, saying that her books are too secular in nature, unlike say, the Narnia books of C.S. Lewis.

If the religious controversies took center stage, they certainly weren't out there alone. Commentators on both the right and the left felt that the book argued in favor of the other side of the political spectrum. The books were claimed to be libertarian,  felt to be failed examples of multiculturalism, arguments in favor of capitalism, or favoring a rejection of conservative policies. One particular hot button moment was Rowling's comments regarding Albus Dumbledore's sexuality. Answering a young girl's question during a book talk, Rowling said that the Head of Hogwarts Academy and the most powerful wizard for the forces of good was gay. Not surprisingly, a firestorm of media response ensued. Wikipedia's page on the Politics of Harry Potter provides lots of information on this as well as other topics. For a quick sense of the opposing perspectives, check out these two: Dumbledore: A Lovely Outing from Entertainment Weekly and Gay Dumbledore: Somewhere Jerry Falwell is Smiling.

Magic

Much of the appeal of the Harry Potter books and films comes from the magical alternate reality that J.K. Rowling has created. Who wouldn't be fascinated by textbooks that come alive, chocolate frogs that actually hop about, or garden gnomes with a bit of life to them? For those interested in learning more about the true history of magic, as opposed to its fictional counterpart, the library can offer some suggestions. Students, staff and instructors have online access to the Encyclopedia of Occultism and Parapsychology, which provides full text entries on everything from Abracadabra to Zombie. The California Science Center has an excellent online exhibit, the Science of Illusion, that explores the history of magic as well as explaining some important illusions with the help of Penn and Teller. The online site MagicTricks.com has both a Library and a Museum where you can browse through information about performance magic.

Magic and Science

The Science of Illusion site gives a suggestion of some of the relationships between the Harry Potter books and the history of science. The National Library of Medicine brought some of these into sharper focus with a traveling exhibit called: Do Mandrakes Really Scream? Magic and Medicine in Harry Potter. The web site remains available for viewing. The Alchemy Web Site offers users a wealth of information on the early era of chemistry, with its considerable ties to Harry Potter's potions courses. Much to the surprise of many, a scientist who many today regard as the epitome of classical reasoning, Isaac Newton, spent more than 30 years of his life studying and transcribing alchemical (or chymistry) texts.

Witches then and now

In this country, we are most familiar with notions of witchcraft in relation to Salem, Massachusetts and the notorious witchcraft trials held there. But those were hardly the first persecutions of people on charges witchcraft. Douglas Linder's web page, A Brief History of Witchcraft Persecutions Before Salem chronicles these events in Western culture beginning with Exodus. This site is part of Linder's impressive Famous American Trials web site, which includes the Salem Witchcraft Trials as one of its featured events. Two other great sites about the events in Salem include the Salem Witch Trials Documentary Archive and National Geographic's interactive site, Salem Witch-Hunt, where users follow the story of one participant. Unfortunately for these witch suspects, their life was far different from the one depicted in Rowling's stories. If you're interested in learning more about real witches today, check out The Witches' Voice, a self-described "proactive educational network providing news, information services and resources for and about Pagans, Heathens, Witches and Wiccans." For general information, check out ReligiousTolerance.org, one of the very best resources on the web for information about different religious beliefs and issues. Their information on Wicca can be found here, while their index to their information on all faiths can be found here.

Quidditch

Rowling's books introduced an entirely new sport to the world: Quidditch. Although apparently ill-suited to the world of Muggles, as non-magical humans are called, because competitors fly on brooms and one of the three balls used during the game is a small, gold, self-propelled one with wings and a mind of its own called a snitch, Quidditch has become a competitive sport in the real world. This article from the New York Daily News outlines the last year's world cup, while International Quidditch Association provides the rules of the game, Muggle style. Check the Lexicon site above for Harry's Wizarding World version.

Context: Check It Out!

Context. It is the crux of information literacy. In order to understand something, we need to understand the situation from which it springs, the perspective from which it is presented as well as the one from which we view it. This may be more true now than it has been for the last 100 years as our understanding of objectivity and subjectivity have grown and developed, fundamentally altering our sense of how simply by observing an event, we alter it; how by reporting on it, we participate in it.One of the results of knowledge is a growing tension within the news business about exactly what journalists should be doing. Paul Bradshaw offers a thoughtful analysis of this on the Open Journalism blog: Objectivity has Changed - Why Hasn't Journalism?  In the Christian Science Monitor, Josh Burek offers a contrasting position, defines it specifically as personal and offers plenty of reasons why the other side might be right. One of his concerns is that news outlets benefit from an implicit perception of objectivity, while they may in fact be very one-sided. This is certainly the concern raised by Guy Reel in his essay The New Partisan Press.

But this isn't just a problem for journalists. This awareness places greater demands on us to examine and contextualize what we read and hear, or even visit. For example, this year across the South several events are planned to mark the 150th anniversary of the Civil War. But as this Time magazine article notes, many of the events sponsored by the Sons of Confederate Veterans erase or minimize the aspect of slavery, the South's "peculiar institution", from the events they are planning. Similarly readers need to know when editions of a book alter the original text, a process primarily done on the basis of scholarly decisions, but recently performed on The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn for the explicit reason of making the book approachable to general readers, as described in the book's introduction. The editor of this edition removed the N-word  from the book, replacing it with "slave," and performed a similar function on The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, replacing "Injun" with "Indian". While many writers and readers have raised objections to this approach (including a humorous one from the Daily Show's "Senior Black Correspondent" Larry Wilmore), the one raised by Marybeth Gasman in the Chronicle for Higher Education touches on the subject of this post most closely. Her concern is the erasure of critical markers of context.

Embracing the challenge of context as an individual, as an educator, and as a student demands additional work on our part. It means asking why things are being presented in a certain fashion and if everything is being told. Fortunately the internet has made asking such questions easier at the same time that it has made the need to ask them more pronounced.

Beginning with fundamental searching, a solid search tool targeting educators but suitable for use by anyone is Sweet Search, the selective directory search engine sponsored by findingDulcinea. The Sweet Search engine indexes sites recommended by librarians and teachers that meet specific quality criteria. FindingDulcinea is web site targeting K-12 educators (and their students), but the content is appropriate for 1st and 2nd year college students as well. Content changes daily, with birthdays and this day in history information, all of it contextualized with links to sources.

Another useful tool is zuula, a metasearch engine that gives users the option to easily compare results from various search tools, thereby increasing the likelihood of identifying contrasting perspectives and breaking out of patterns of search that lock us into set results. Zuula provides the added benefit of stripping sponsored results (a.k.a. ads) out of search results and so preventing them from fooling unwary users.

In order to test the validity of current political events, go to the Annenberg Center's FactCheck.org, which rates statements by various commentators, politicians and key newsmakers. Another resource is Politifact, run by the St. Petersburg Times, but which focuses most of its efforts on press reporting and politicians specifically.

And as a useful resource for checking information sources, or locating information sources, on a variety of topics, check out the Annenberg Center's FactCheckED.org web site. Targeting educators and students, this resource summarizes the perspective and quality of information on all different types of internet resources, from watchdog organizations to federal agencies and think tanks.

Dateline: Mideast

Traditionally, when Americans think of Egypt, they think of King Tut and mummies, pyramids, ancient pharaohs and the Sphinx. Recent events, however, have made many realize that this sense of Egypt as a nation of the past is as misleading as thinking that American history stopped with the drafting of the Constitution. So this edition of the library blog will provide you with resources to help you feel more up to speed with contemporary Egyptian events and culture as well as those of other nations caught up in popular uprisings against their governments.

Library Resources

The library provides students and staff with some excellent resources that can help you find out more about different countries (World Geography) and keep up with current news while providing excellent context (Facts on File's World News Digest). You will need to provide a DACC user ID and password to access both resources.

Egypt

To get caught up on recent events in Egypt, both in terms of depth of coverage and high quality analysis, it pays to check out Al Jazeera English. Its Mideast location gives it a natural edge in covering developments. The English version of the network has gained a reputation as one of the best sources for international news, and for being a source that makes a serious effort to look at all sides of tough issues. Another excellent source for in-depth coverage and analysis is the BBC News site. This site also offers profiles of key figures, such as Hosni Mubarak and Omar Suleiman. To get a sense of the big picture regarding Egyptian history and the way in which current events connect to the past, take a look at this BBC timeline. 

An unfortunate element of the uprising in Egypt for archeological enthusiasts was the theft of several antiquities from various locations. Fortunately some artifacts have subsequently been returned or recovered, as reported in this Fox News report. For those who would like some pointers to online sites for exploring Egypt's rich historic heritage, here are some of the best: the Egyptian Collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, British Museum, the BBC's Egyptian History section and the history section of Tour Egypt.

Tunisia

Prior to events in Egypt, the citizens of Tunisia staged a successful uprising of their own after an unemployed young man, Mohamed Bouazizi, set himself ablaze in an act of desperate protest following persistent demands for bribes from government officials who otherwise refused to allow him to sell his vegetables in Sidi Bouzid. One day in December they took his goods and scales when he refused to pay and then beat him. When they refused his efforts to get them returned, he bought some gasoline and set himself on fire. The government's harsh response to initial protests inspired many more, leading ultimately to President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali stepping down.This BBC page can catch you up on events in Tunis. This New York Times article offers interesting evidence about how organizers in Egypt and Tunisia worked together to plan the revolutions that to many Western observers seemed spontaneous. If you would just like to find out more about Tunisia in general because, like most Americans you aren't even really sure where it is, you can find an up to date country profile on the BBC web site. The U.S. State Department's national profile is not as current, but is more detailed regarding the information it does provide.

Other Parts of the Region

The small island nation of Bahrain is now in the spotlight, as are Libya and Yemen. Click on the country names to go to country profiles for each. The BBC provides this analysis of the current situation in the Mideast. On CNN's International edition, the Inside the Middle East Blog offers a series of thoughtful posts on ongoing events.

Foreign Correspondents

One final note. If you have been following the news coverage of these events, you have probably heard something about Lara Logan, the CBS News reporter who was sexually assaulted while covering the victory celebrations in Egypt. To get a good sense of the larger context of the risks foreign correspondents, especially female foreign correspondents, take when providing us with the news about important world events, see Suzi Parker's essay in Politics Daily. This 2007 essay by Judith Matloff in Columbia Journalism Review also addresses this largely concealed aspect of the very real dangers these men and women face. And in an essay in U.S. News, Susan Milligan addresses those who have raised the question of whether Logan should have been in Egypt at all.

Beyond YouTube: Free Video Online

As the semester winds down, it seems like a good opportunity to take a look at some ways you can occupy yourself over break and locate interesting material for classes in the spring. Let's take a look at some sources for free, high quality video available online. Please note that in preparing this list I have avoided some of the more familiar sources that primarily provide brief clips of programs or only recent episodes of current programs online.

Today internet users can pick and choose from far more than synchronized Christmas light shows and surfing parrots when they watch video online, all while still watching material that is both legal and free. Most people know about Hulu, the online home of a backlog of "classic" television shows, 2nd and 3rd run movies, and episodes of some current season shows. But far fewer people are aware of the availability of the Internet Movie Archive, a treasure trove of silent and unusual feature films, government films, news reels, and documentaries.

A smaller trove of films, strictly documentaries, is accessible via SnagFilms. Snag links to such well known documentary producers as the National Film Board of Canada, Lionsgate, National Geographic, and New Media. Currently viewers can view such major films as the Buena Vista Social Club, Super Size Me, Run Granny Run, Hacking Democracy, and The Times of Harvey Milk on the site. However, it's important to realize that Snag does not necessarily provide access to all of the films available on a particular site it snags from. For example, although it pulls from PBS, it only scratches the surface of this rich source of educational and documentary video. Among the shows that can be viewed extensively online are those from the American Experience, Nova, Nature, and Art21.

Looking for something inspiring or challenging? Try TED Talks. The TED series (Technology, Entertainment and Design) seek out leading thinkers and artists and ask them to present 18 minutes (approximately) worth of their ideas or performance. The subject matter can be anything from astrophysics to zoos while the performances can be in any art form. What they are all guaranteed to be is interesting. Check out some of these particularly popular talks: Ken Robinson on how schools kill creativity, Julian Assange on why the world needs Wikileaks, Jill Bolte Taylor's Stroke of insight, and Conrad Wolfram on teaching kids real math with computers. Another source of rhetorical inspiration can be found on American Rhetoric, a website dedicated to public speaking. On this site you can watch videos of powerful speakers at their best -- both real life speakers and some of the best scenes of cinema speechifying (although be aware that these change on a rotational basis for copyright reasons).

Sites that provide high quality content connected to their own cable channels and organizations are good sites to be aware of as well. For example, the Smithsonian Channel provides access to a lot of clips and several full-length programs on its site, although content is likely to change over time. Similarly National Geographic offers a lot of its material available as full episodes online. For those interested specifically in science video, Sixty Symbols, a website sponsored by the University of Nottingham, offers short videos focusing on the symbols used in astronomy in physics. AcademicEarth provides access to a variety of online courses on video, but among these is a series of videos of human anatomical dissection.

In terms of videos related to history and politics, the pickings are diverse and interesting. HaveFunWithHistory.com provides access to a wide collection of videos, mostly documentary in nature, but some old newsreel footage of the type that can be tracked down in the Internet Movie Archive. The American Memory Project of the Library of Congress includes a motion picture collection, of which 16 collections have been digitized into streaming media files available online. For those interested in politics and current affairs, nothing is quite so rich as C-SPAN's Video Library, which includes not only the recordings of floor debates and testimony, but also noteworthy events like Ted Kennedy's funeral, Glenn Beck's Restoring Honor Rally and White House correspondents' dinners. 

Vimeo is a site that focuses on user-created video, but the users who upload video to the site tend to be people  interested in getting certain kinds of high-quality information on video. So there are large collections of animation and amateur film, as well as well as videos about film making techniques and technology. It also includes music, comedy and art videos as well as science and nature videos, including whole sections on physics and chemistry. Vimeo also has several ongoing projects that users can participate in, such as "What I Like About You", "10 Second Question" and "Me Right Now".

Finally, if nothing here suits your needs, one tool that can help you find video resources on the web is OVGuide while you can also try searching using Google Video or just adding the term "video" to a regular search with a search engine. Also bear in mind that most government agencies produce and publish video to the web that may be of interest. Search the entirety of the U.S. government web via USA.gov.

Shopping Gone Wild!

The Thanksgiving holiday marks the beginning of Shoppers Gone Wild, the annual rite of consumerism that begins with Black Friday and only ends with the after-Christmas sales. Whether or not you become part of the American retail engine that engages this weekend, its history and elements are intriguing. Time magazine runs down the history of Black Friday in this article, explaining how the term originally referred to a nineteenth-century economic crash. Only later did "black" assume a more positive meaning, referring to a retailers being "in the black" of profit rather than the "red ink" of loss. Black Friday has found its online corollary in Cyber Monday, the bane of employers everywhere. Paste Magazine offers this brief history of the quasi-official start to the online shopping season.

Most Wanted 

No discussion of holiday shopping would be complete without a look back at the "it" toy of Christmases past. Buysight Insights provides a picture of all of the most popular toys from 1960 through 2008 while Forbes offers some information about popular toys from the last 100 years.  To get an in-depth view of some of the most popular toys of all time, check out the National Toy Hall of Fame, where you can find out about individual inductees, like 2010's game of Life and the Deck of Cards. Hubpages offers up its core list of 2010's most wanted gifts as well as some specialized lists as well. And Listverse offers some cautionary advice with a list of the Top 10 Most Returned Gifts.

Dark Side of Shopping

But for many people, shopping seems to have a dark side. Although it has yet to be officially recognized by the American Psychological Association (it has been recognized by the comparable German organization (Deutsche Gesellschaft Zwangserkrankungen), Compulsive Buying Disorder is certainly receiving more attention as purchasing becomes easier and easier using electronic methods.  This article in World Psychiatry is just an example. Think you or someone you know may have problems with shopping? Here's a great list of warning signs and behavioral patterns of people who shop in unhealthy ways.

Choosing to Not Shop

Not everyone opts to participate in the annual shopping fest, and some choose to go so far as to actively protest it by participating in an event called Buy Nothing Day. Buying nothing, as the organization's site makes clear, is harder than you think when you include those little unnoticed purchases like interest accrual. Here's Adbusters recommended carnivalesque alternatives to shopping on Friday. But Buy Nothing has generated criticism, much of it from the political left.

Whether you buy or don't buy, have a great beginning to the holiday season!