Au Revoir!

This has been a great semester as the Fortenbaugh music librarian intern. I learned a lot, and it is all invaluable information that will help me in the future, no matter what I decide to do. Most importantly, in helping other people with their research, I feel that I have gotten better at researching music materials myself, which will come in handy for 300 and 400-level music classes in the future (and grad school should I pursue that). [excerpt

Book review: fear in the USA: counting the human cost of detention policies after 9/11

Detained Without Cause is a collection of oral history accounts by six New York based Muslim immigrants who were incarcerated following 9/11. None of these men had any connection to terrorism, and yet as their stories reveal, they were presumed guilty by the arresting officers, the FBI, the court system, the media and their communities. They were held without trial for several years in solitary confinement, in maximum security facilities where their human rights were systematically violated before being deported on trumped up immigration charges. Rory Creedon finds an important book with policy implications relevant far beyond the borders of the US. Detained Without Cause: Muslims’ Stories of Detention and Deportation in America after 9/11. Irum Shiekh. Palgrave Macmillan. March 2011

Book review: in defence of politicians (in spite of themselves) by Peter Riddell

How can voters trust politicians that consistently say one thing yet do another? Rory Creedon reviews Peter Riddell’s lastest work, which considers exactly how our levels of respect and trust have changed following the expenses scandal, cash for questions, and other sleazy political behaviour

New Projects and One of My Very Own

Some new projects have happened since my last post (which was before spring break). I helped give a library tour to yet another prospective professor, and it is cool to find out what they would add to the collection if they got a job here. For instance, this one professor was more into pop music and our collection does not have much material on the subject. New professors can really transform the library in that sense, as well as online resources they recommend. I also found full scores and recordings of Bruch pieces that a former professor requested. Instead of looking up WorldCat results, I looked up the pieces on websites that sell sheet music, such as Arkivmusic, Theodore Front, JWPepper, and SheetMusicPlus (which is what I use when I buy my own scores). [excerpt

Aspirations to Empire: American Imperialism, Foreign Policy, and the 1954 Guatemalan Coup d’état

When the sun began to set on the British Empire - the largest the world had ever seen and the dominant world power for over a century – in the aftermath of World War II, the United States designated itself the new arbiter of international relations. Wielding economic imperialism as an Empire-building tool, the U.S., through interference in the internal affairs of countries around the globe, became the world’s dominant superpower. In particular, the United States developed a pattern of interfering in the domestic sphere of Latin American nations to protect the economic interests of American capitalists. Through a historical analysis of U.S. foreign policy regarding Latin America, this paper addresses the events preceding, the occurrence, and aftermath of the 1954 Guatemalan coup d’état. The coup returned the nation to a series of authoritarian dictatorships, sparking civil war and genocide against the Maya peoples, after a decade of democratic elections won through revolution in 1944. While the intervention was allegedly to stop the spread of communism in Latin America, in actuality, it served to protect private U.S. business interests. The case of the Guatemalan coup d’état demonstrates the effective sameness of U.S. national security and economic policy in both practice and oppression. It is but one example of U.S. foreign policymakers demanding intervention in the affairs of other sovereign nations to protect America’s elite. Both historically and in the case of Guatemala, said intervention has come at the expense of both the articulated values of the U.S. and the literal lives of hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of citizens of other nations

Weld-bonded titanium structures

Structurally stronger titanium articles are produced by a weld-bonding technique comprising fastening at least two plates of titanium together using spotwelding and curing an adhesive interspersed between the spot-weld nuggets. This weld-bonding may be employed to form lap joints or to stiffen titanium metal plates

Advancing automation and robotics technology for the space station Freedom and for the US economy

In April 1985, as required by Public Law 98-371, the NASA Advanced Technology Advisory Committee (ATAC) reported to Congress the results of its studies on advanced automation and robotics technology for use on the Freedom space station. This material was documented in the initial report (NASA Technical Memorandum 87566). A further requirement of the law was that ATAC follow NASA's progress in this area and report to Congress semiannually. This report is the eighth in a series of progress updates and covers the period between October 1, 1988, and March 31, 1989. NASA has accepted the basic recommendations of ATAC for its Space Station Freedom efforts. ATAC and NASA agree that the thrust of Congress is to build an advanced automation and robotics technology base that will support an evolutionary Space Station Freedom program and serve as a highly visible stimulator, affecting the U.S. long-term economy. The progress report identifies the work of NASA and the Freedom study contractors. It also describes research in progress, and it makes assessments of the advancement of automation and robotics technology on the Freedom space station