Some startling numbers

Today I came across some statistics that, frankly, shocked me. Here they are:

1.)"One in six working Londoners is functionally illiterate."
This is in the So Why Can't They Read? put out by the UK-based Centre for Policy Studies.

2.)"The number of food-insecure people at the aggregate level will not improve much over the next decade, declining by only 1 percent. While there will be notable improvements in Asia and Latin America, the situation in Sub-Saharan Africa is projected to deteriorate after 2010. Food-insecure people are defined as those consuming less than the nutritional target of 2,100 calories per day per person."
This comes from the Food Security Assessment, 2010-2020.The report is put out by the U.S. Department of Agriculture Economic Research Service.

Fun Facts and Bibliographies to the Rescue!

Facts too often suffer from being boring. Allow me to present some place where facts, can be, and actually are, fun!

The Library of Congress Science Reference Services put together Everyday Mysteries . You can type things in the search box and find out things like:
Who Invented the TV dinner? (yummy photos!)
Can zebras be domesticated? (I don't want to ruin this one, but some of you may be disappointed.)

Other good places to hunt out facts are resources listed in bibliographies. The Library of Congress Science Reference Services has many fine research guides that have such bibliographies. Perhaps you think, "Oh, bibliography...boring." Not so! Check out some of these:
Picnics
The Science of Smell
African American Women in the Military and at War
Beer and Brewing

See? Facts can be quite entertaining!

Moving Image Archive News

A friend sent me a link to this site, the Moving Image Archive News. It's a specialized news site that deals with historical film collections, newly-found lost gems, archival issues, cultural documentation, and promotes resources that touch on those areas. It's pleasingly put together. The site is self-described as "a clearinghouse of information on film archiving and related endeavors".  You'll find all sorts of interesting articles, such as the archival capturing of  the everyday life of American Indians on film. Check it out.