Library offers cinematheque programs

Have you attended one of the DCDL Cin­e­math­eque pro­grams at the Delaware County Dis­trict Library’s Orange Branch? If you like movies cou­pled with good dis­cus­sion, then this pro­gram is for you.

At 7 p.m. Wednes­day, Jan. 18, we will be screen­ing “Michael Clay­ton,” star­ring George Clooney. The film cen­ters on a law firm that brings in its “fixer” to rem­edy the sit­u­a­tion after a lawyer has a break­down while rep­re­sent­ing a chem­i­cal com­pany that he knows is guilty in a multi-billion dol­lar class action suit. The film will be shown in its entirety in the com­mu­nity room at the Orange Branch, 7171 Good­ing Blvd.

Within a few days of the screen­ing, library staff will facil­i­tate a friendly and casual dis­cus­sion of the movie that those view­ing the movie are encour­aged to attend. Even if you can­not come to the dis­cus­sion, you are cer­tainly invited to the show­ing of the movie; con­versely, if you can­not get to the show­ing, you can view the movie on your own and then join in the discussion.

Of course, the movie is free and open to the pub­lic, and there is even pop­corn to enhance your experience.

DCDL Cin­e­math­eque is offered every month at the Orange Branch Library, and for those of you plan­ning ahead, the movie to be shared on Feb. 15 will be “The Big Sleep,” star­ring Humphrey Bog­art and Lau­ren Bacall, a true Hol­ly­wood classic.

As a reminder, the library will be closed on Mon­day, Jan. 16, so that all library staff can attend a day of train­ing and learning.

What can you tell me about Neil deGrasse Tyson?

Neil deGrasse Tyson (born Oct. 5, 1958) is an Amer­i­can astro­physi­cist, a sci­ence com­mu­ni­ca­tor, the Fred­er­ick P. Rose Direc­tor of the Hay­den Plan­e­tar­ium at the Rose Cen­ter for Earth and Space and a research asso­ciate in the Depart­ment of Astro­physics at the Amer­i­can Museum of Nat­ural His­tory. Since 2006, he has hosted the edu­ca­tional sci­ence tele­vi­sion show “NOVA Sci­ence NOW” on PBS. Born in New York City as the sec­ond of three chil­dren, his father, Cyril deGrasse Tyson was a soci­ol­o­gist and human resource com­mis­sioner for New York City mayor John Lind­say, and his mother, Sun­chita Feli­ciano Tyson, was a geron­tol­o­gist. Tyson attended Har­vard Uni­ver­sity, where he majored in physics, and earned a Mas­ter of Arts in astron­omy in 1983 from the Uni­ver­sity of Texas. In 1985, he won a gold medal with the Uni­ver­sity of Texas dance team at a national tour­na­ment in the Inter­na­tional Latin Ball­room style. At Colum­bia Uni­ver­sity, in 1989, he received a Mas­ter of Phi­los­o­phy in astro­physics and, in 1991, he earned a Doc­tor of Phi­los­o­phy in astro­physics. Also a fine wine enthu­si­ast, Tyson lives in Lower Man­hat­tan with his wife and two chil­dren. Cur­rent Biog­ra­phy was the source of this information.

The Myan­mar snub-nosed mon­key has been in the news lately. Do you have any infor­ma­tion about it?

The Myan­mar snub-nosed mon­key or Burmese snub-nosed mon­key, accord­ing to 100 Heart­beats: The Race to Save Earth’s Most Endan­gered Species is a highly threat­ened species found in north­ern Burma (Myan­mar). The monkey’s fur is mostly black; its crown con­sists of a thin, high, forward-curved crest of long, black hairs. It has pro­trud­ing white ear tufts, a mostly naked face with pale pink skin, a “mous­tache” of whitish hairs above the upper lip and a dis­tinct white chin beard. The lips of this species are promi­nent, and the nose upturned, allegedly caus­ing the ani­mal to sneeze in rainy weather. The mon­keys spend sum­mer months in tem­per­ate mixed forests at upper alti­tudes of their range, and descend to lower ground in the win­ter to escape snow. 

Why do dogs walk in cir­cles before lying down?

The cir­cling is a relic of domes­tic dogs’ wild past, hard-wired behav­ior that hasn’t been bred out yet. Biol­o­gists and dog experts say that it might just be a strange quirk for domes­tic pooches, but for wild dogs and wolves, cir­cling before hun­ker­ing down for the night was prac­ti­cal and some­times even life-saving. The Dog Behav­ior Answer Book notes that walk­ing around in a tight cir­cle a few times would mat down tall grass to sleep on and also dis­turb and kick up any bugs or snakes that might be lying in the dog’s cho­sen spot.

If you have a ques­tion that you would like to see answered in this col­umn, mail it to Mary Jane San­tos, Delaware County Dis­trict Library, 84 E. Win­ter St., Delaware, OH 43015, or call us at 740–362-3861. You can also email your ques­tions by vis­it­ing delawarelibrary.org or directly to Mary Jane at mjsantos@delawarelibrary.org. No mat­ter how you con­tact us, we’re always glad you asked.

Posted by Mary Santos on Jan 14 2012. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS Feed. Comments can be made below.