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Japan's ancient capital has one foot in the 14th century and the other firmly rooted in the 21st.
While the megalopolis of Tokyo catapults itself into the future, Kyoto—renowned for its temples, shrines, and vibrant geisha culture—has grown cautiously. Two years ago, the government banned rooftop and flashing ads and put a cap on building height to preserve the centuries-old landscape. Now, a surprisingly modern city is emerging as stylish restaurants, shops, and inns pop up in 19th-century machiya, or wooden merchants' houses. 1. Scene
For a glimpse of the city's spiritual heritage, head north along the Kamo River to Daitoku-ji, a 685-year-old Zen monastery with 24 temples, and to Okochi-Sanso, the five-acre residential gardens of the late samurai film star Denjiro Okochi. Then fast-forward to the present at the new Iyemon Salon Kyoto, on the lower floors of a kimono company, with a contemporary crafts shop, chic café, and steel-and-glass gallery exhibiting 450-year-old embroidered kimonos. At night, taste rare brews at Sake Bar Yoramu, a low-key bar run by an Israeli expat.
2. Food
The restaurant at Tenryu-ji Temple (lunch for two $60) serves vegetarian meals such as sesame tofu and soup made of dried gourds and sea kelp. Sounds of slurping fill Honke Owariya (lunch for two $38), which has been dishing up handmade soba, udon, and tempura since 1465. If you're not a guest at the tranquil 208-year-old Kinmata Ryokan (dinner for two $330; doubles from $907, including meals), reserve a table for a seafood kaiseki meal made with ingredients from the nearby Nishiki Market. Check out the envelope-pushing Bassano del Grappa (dinner for two $150), where the sashimi comes with a side of pesto.
3. Rooms
Billed as Kyoto's first design hotel, Screen (doubles from $482) opened in 2007 with 13 unique rooms: No. 201 has a sexy red, black, and white scheme. Super Potato is one of the designers behind the Hyatt Regency Kyoto (doubles from $415), where 189 rooms have cedar tubs and silk headboards. Hotel Monterey (doubles from $190) has spotless guest rooms near shop-filled Sanjo-dori. Opening in December is Hoshinoya Kyoto (doubles from $625), a 25-room ryokan near the Oigawa River with rice-paper screens and intricate woodwork.
4. Shops
On one of the city's best shopping streets, Ippodo Tea Company resembles an old-fashioned apothecary, with white-jacketed attendants measuring green tea onto scales. The gallery-like Kyoto Design House sells lacquered bamboo boxes and handwoven silk capes by local designers. At Karacho, 11th-generation craftsman Kenkichi Senda creates woodblock-printed washi paper for temple doors, as well as chic handmade pendant lanterns. And at Eitarouya, tailors stitch men's overcoats from wool, cotton, silk, and hemp.


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CHERRY POINT � As the wife of a Cherry Point Marine, Bridget Platt knows the impact deployments can have on children.
CHERRY POINT � As the wife of a Cherry Point Marine, Bridget Platt knows the impact deployments can have on children.
To help those children, she developed Daddy�s Deployed, a business that creates customized and personal books that can serve as a guide for the children during the deployment while helping them cope with being apart from their parents.
And now, she is one of three semifinalists for the Marine Corps Military Spouse of the Year.
�It�s really crazy,� Platt said of being a semifinalist. �I didn�t think I would make it this far, but now that I have, it�s been this really awesome experience where I feel I can really make a difference. I hope I can keep going.�
The Marine Corps Military Spouse of the Year is scheduled to be announced on Feb. 20. Should Platt receive the selection, she would get the opportunity to attend a celebration in Washington where the national Military Spouse of the Year is selected from a panel of six winners from each service branch. Currently, there are 18 semifinalists for the national award from the Marine Corps, Navy, Army, Air Force, Coast Guard and National Guard.
�I am a huge believer in the power of positive thinking,� she said. �I have a white board where I write things that I want to achieve, so I wrote on there that I would be nominated for the top 18. Now, I�ve written on there that I will be nominated as Marine Corps Spouse of the Year.
�I look at that every day and try to imagine what that would feel like or what I would wear in Washington, and it�s really exciting. It�s a little intimidating, but it�s really an exciting feeling.�
Platt said a friend from San Diego nominated her for the honor but said so many spouses do so many good things that she wasn�t expecting to become a semifinalist.
�I was really surprised,� she said. �There were some very strong contenders.�
Platt�s husband Craig is a Marine Corps captain who serves as an electronic countermeasures officer in the EA-6B Prowler. The couple has one daughter, Charlotte, who turns 2 at the end of the month.
Platt said she got the idea for Daddy�s Deployed when her husband deployed about a year and a half ago.
�It�s been growing exponentially since then,� she said.
Families can go to the website www.daddysdeployed.com and submit information that is used in the book. When the book arrives, it�s personalized with the child�s name as well as cartoon illustrations that depict the child and parents.
�It explains deployments to small children,� Platt said of the books. �It takes it through the entire process, from him leaving to the homecoming day. We�re really proud of what it�s become.�
Platt said she forms personal connections with those who purchase books.
�I was talking to one of my business associates the other day, and it�s almost like we�ve become this giant family because they all tell me their stories,� Platt said. �It�s cool to get to know people in Japan that I would never come in contact with. We had one family in Germany that I got to know through the process.
�It�s really awesome. It�s such a great feeling know that you�re making a difference all over.�
On top of that, $3 from each book is donated to the Lone Survivor Foundation.
�I try to make everyone as aware as possible of what some warriors go through on a daily basis,� she said. �It�s a really cool organization with everything they do with their healing retreats. Reading the stories and the testimonials of those people, it makes you want to change your life and help people.�
The Military Spouse of the Year award is sponsored through Armed Forces Insurance.

subset: commoncrawl


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Can God Bless America?
In this era of terrorism, poverty, oppression and a few less-distinct enemies, waves of patriotism occasionally revive the slogan "God Bless America." Sadly, though, the sentiment long ago became a cliché to which people rarely give serious thought. The …Read More
The Gospel for Muslims
In 2005, I make my first trip to the Middle East. I was there to engage in a Christian-Muslim dialogue sponsored by a local university's Muslim and Christian student associations. As far as we knew, it would be the first …Read More
Loving Our Enemies
A Pakistani Christian woman is sentenced to death for defiling the name of Muhammad. A suicide bomber outside a church in Egypt kills twenty-one people and wounds many more. An attack on a church in northern Nigeria by a thirty-strong …Read More
A Pastor's Reflection
What do you do when the world falls apart? When the planes struck, I was in my office overlooking Columbia University on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, eight miles north of Ground Zero. I listened helplessly to news reports …Read More
Ten Years Later
The world has changed. We are not the same people we were on September 10, 2001. The events of September 11, 2001, and the events that followed in ensuing years have not only changed America but nations and peoples throughout …Read More
What if the Muslims Won?
On October 10, 732 a.d., some 80,000 Muslim cavalrymen attacked 30,000 Frankish infantrymen near Tours in present-day France. Those Muslims had already conquered Northern Africa and Spain, and they were poised to sweep over the rest of …Read More
The Rise of Islam
Two things unite most Muslims: their belief in the unity of God and their veneration of Muhammad as the channel through which God's final revelation was given. Muslims claim that God revealed the Qur'an to Muhammad whom they see as …Read More
Opportunity and Opposition
What is happening with the church in the Muslim world in the beginning years of the twenty-first century? In the past, it was quite common for missionaries to spend a lifetime of faithful service to the Gospel and see very …Read More


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University News
'Perceptions' Exhibit Opens at WIU Art Gallery
August 30, 2013
MACOMB, IL – The art exhibition, "Perceptions: Exploring Sense of Self and Place Through Art," is now open at the Western Illinois University Art Gallery and will run through Oct. 19.
The exhibition, which examines how individuals become part of a place and how they acclimate themselves, is the idea of University Art Gallery Director Ann Marie Hayes-Hawkinson and Associate Professor and Interim Director of the WIU Liberal Arts and Sciences Program Amy Patrick Mossman.
"This exhibition looks at place-related topics, including geography of place, memory of place and connection to place," said Hayes-Hawkinson. "We hope the artwork and commentary written by faculty and staff stimulate conversation about how people connect to university life, as well as the Macomb community."
Hayes-Hawkinson said she and Mossman wanted to develop a Gallery project that would appeal to a broader audience, specifically to new incoming WIU students.
"Some of our students, faculty, and staff are from the Macomb area, but many are new to Macomb and even the Midwest," Mossman said. "We hope the exhibit gives individuals across campus a starting point for examining place, identity, and perception from many angles. Regardless of cultural or academic home, we all shape and are shaped by the spaces and places we inhabit."
The exhibition contains mostly Midwestern images and scenes, which celebrate aspects of life and include work by local artists Fred Jones, Bruce Walters and Jim O'Toole. The images are hung in the Art Gallery and are joined by statements written by WIU faculty and staff about their interpretations of each work.
WIU Assistant Professor and Director of the University Writing Program Magdelyn Hammond Helwig wrote a poem about her interpretation of "The Window in the Windy Home."
Neat rows of corn grid into the sky—
a shock of birds, or is it wind, or just
the geometry of the mind?
A distant lighthouse (can you see it?)
turns corn to sea, seagulls drifting
in the wind, the frame cannot contain.
Squares of ceiling balanced on the half round,
the station recedes: from this window,
go where you need to go.
A public reception for the exhibit is scheduled for Thursday, Sept. 5 from 5-7 p.m. at the Gallery.
A variety of special events are planned as part of the exhibition, including:
• Thursday, Sept. 12 at 12:30 p.m.: Hayes-Hawkinson will speak about the exhibit at the Gallery.
• Monday, Sept. 16 at 12:30 p.m.: Knox College Associate Professor of English Chad Simpson will speak at the Gallery about "The Impact of Place." He will also hold a reading at 4 p.m. in the Gallery.
• Tuesday, Sept. 24 at 12:30 p.m.: WIU art Professor Bill Howard will speak at the Gallery about the printmaking process.
• Thursday, Sept. 26, 7-9 p.m.: Open house for WIU students, which includes hands-on activities and an introduction of the exhibit.
• Saturday, Sept. 28, 1-3 p.m.: Open house for families, which will include gallery talks and drop-in activities for students and their families.
• Wednesday, Oct. 2 at 12:30 p.m.: WIU Professor Bruce Walters will speak about a video he is preparing to be part of the exhibit.
Hayes-Hawkinson said the hope is to make the fall exhibition an annual event at the Gallery, with changing themes to accompany the required First Year Experience classes WIU freshmen enroll in when they first arrive on campus.
The Art Gallery is open Tuesdays through Fridays from 9 a.m.-4 p.m. and on Saturdays from 1-4 p.m. For more information on the exhibit, visit wiu.edu/cofac/artgallery/exhibition_campus.php.
Posted By: WIU News (email@example.com)
Office of University Relations


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Dear HG, I love drinking iced coffee, especially with summer just around the corner! Do you have any iced coffee tips and tricks up your sleeve? Java Jane
Hi Jane,
I LOVE iced coffee too. Just like regular coffee drinks, though, it's easy to wind up with a beverage that is a TOTAL calorie catastrophe if you're not careful. Here are some handy HG tips for whipping up guilt-free icy java drinks... Don't be afraid of instant coffee! It's perfect for iced drinks, because you can dissolve it in just a little hot water, and then add cold water. This way, you don't end up with watered-down coffee. Starbucks VIA Ready Brew tastes FANTASTIC and comes in pre-portioned packets. (Just check the labels, because some flavors have added sugar.) I especially love the Veranda Blend Blonde Roast! Folgers and Nescafé Taster's Choice are also really good. If you'd rather brew your own beans, have fun with flavored varieties. Those are virtually calorie-free. Just brew your coffee extra strong, so it won't be too weak once some of that ice melts. If K-Cups are more your speed, Keurig has some cold-beverage versions that you can brew right over ice. Score! Creamy mix-ins are where it's at. I like sugar-free and fat-free powdered creamers, like the ones by Coffee-mate. There are so many fun flavors, and even ones that aren't free of sugar or fat are pretty reasonable in the calorie and fat departments. Just dissolve them in a little warm water. BTW, there's a reason I tend to go for powdered flavored creamers as opposed to the liquid ones. With liquid creamer, it's easy to over-pour and add too many calories to your drink. With powders, a little goes a VERY long way, and you're less likely to overdo it. And here's a GREAT creamer tip: Dissolve the powder in warm water ahead of time, and then freeze the mixture in ice cube trays. Perfect for chilling your coffee! If you prefer liquid creamer, Coffee-mate does have some good options. Try the Low Fat Original (great stats!) and the low-fat creamers in the Natural Bliss line (all-natural!). Some of my other creamy favorites for coffee are light vanilla soymilk and Unsweetened Vanilla Almond Breeze. You can freeze those in trays too. Sweeten the deal. Stir in a packet of your no-calorie sweetener of choice. And to add some ZAZZLE to your drink, try Torani's line of zero-calorie sugar-free syrups. The SF Salted Caramel is a recent obsession of mine. SO GOOD! There's an insane number of sugar-free flavors -- everything from Coconut to Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough -- so find your favorite! Look for them at select supermarkets and specialty stores like Cost Plus World Market (click for Torani's store locator), or just order online. Finally, add a squirt of Fat Free Reddi-wip to your chilly coffee drink. Perfecto! Thirsty for more? Check out these recipes: our Cherry Bomb Iced Mocha and this Super-Duper Cocoa-rific Coffee Malt! And if you're looking for on-the-go caffeine on ice, check out Starbucks' new bottled iced coffee line. There's a low-calorie version with just 50 calories! Happy sippin'!
Dear HG, I love your recipes for baked goodies! I've noticed that many call for both whole-wheat flour AND all-purpose flour, while others call for one or the other. Why is that? Can't I just use all whole-wheat flour all the time? Confused about Flour
Hi Confused about Flour,
Glad you love the recipes, and thanks for the questions! Here's the deal... Whole-wheat flour is great because, unlike regular flour, it has a good amount of fiber. But all-purpose flour brings an airiness and fluffiness that whole-wheat flour doesn't necessarily deliver. That's why many HG recipes for baked goods call for some of each. We experiment to find just the right balance, one that brings a nice dose of fiber and the perfect texture. Our Coffee Crumb-Yum Cake and Choco-Banana Bread are two recipes in which a flour combo works really well. Sometimes, though, whole-wheat flour works perfectly on its own. For example, in our pancake and scone recipes. Other times, a little all-purpose flour alone is what you need, like in HG cheesecake recipes. You can definitely experiment with using one or the other across the board, but we try to do the hard work for you, finding the ideal balance for each recipe. And now you know... Flour power!
Who doesn't love no-guilt iced coffee? Click "Send to a Friend" to share today's tips 'n tricks!
May is National Hamburger Month. Whip up our Classic Cheese 'n Bacon Burger, and chow down!
Have a question for Hungry Girl? Send it in! She answers new Qs each week (but cannot respond to emails personally).
SmartPoints® value not what you expected? Click here for more info on how the values are calculated, plus more FAQs about PointsPlus® and SmartPoints® values on our website.


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Understanding the process
To come up with the very best choices on Hot Tub Installations in Rock Hill, NY, you have to be knowledgeable. You shouldn't go into it without consideration, and it's good to be aware of what to expect. This is exactly why we make every effort to make sure that you are familiar with the process and are not faced with any kind of unexpected situations. Start by calling 844-244-6380 to talk about your project. During this phone call, you will get all your questions resolved, and we will arrange a time to commence services. We consistently arrive at the appointed time, all set to work closely with you.
Consider Hot Tub Installation Guys for Hot Tub Installation in Rock Hill, Wyoming
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The qBittorrent project aims to provide a Free Software alternative to µtorrent. Additionally, qBittorrent runs and provides the same features on all major platforms (Linux, Mac OS X, Windows, OS/2, FreeBSD).
Source qBittorrent Homepage: http://www.qbittorrent.org/index.php
qBittorrent Features
- Polished µTorrent-like User Interface
- Well-integrated and extensible Search Engine
- Simultaneous search in most famous BitTorrent search sites
- Per-category-specific search requests (e.g. Books, Music, Movies)
- All Bittorrent extensions
- DHT, Peer Exchange, Full encryption, Magnet/BitComet URIs, ...
- Remote control through a Web user interface
- Nearly identical to the regular UI, all in Ajax
- Advanced control over trackers, peers and torrents
- Torrents queueing and prioritizing
- Torrent content selection and prioritizing
- UPnP / NAT-PMP port forwarding support
- Available in ~25 languages (Unicode support)
- Torrent creation tool
- Advanced RSS support with download filters (inc. regex)
- Bandwidth scheduler
- IP Filtering (eMule and PeerGuardian compatible)
- IPv6 compliant
- Sequential downloading (aka "Download in order")
- Available on most platforms: Linux, Mac OS X, Windows, OS/2, FreeBSD
Go ahead and try qBittorrent, you won't regret it!
To install qBittorrent just run the following commands via your systems Terminal.
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:hydr0g3n/qbittorrent-stable
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install qbittorrent


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15 successful people who skipped college
Most people know that Bill Gates was a college dropout, but here are 15 others who beat the odds. See some highly successful people who never went or never finished college.
By Business Insider
on March 12, 2013 12:18 PM
Photo: Thomas B. Shea, For The Chronicle


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Small Cell Lung Cancer Concerns
Recently my 58-year-old father was diagnosed with small cell lung cancer. He has undergone chemotherapy and radiation therapy. He smoked 40 of his 58 years. My father is unaware of the lifetime effects this cancer has, and that he has no chance of cure. The doctor has chosen not to tell him this information unless he asks. This is in an effort to keep him positive and fighting. Our family is aware and understands what this disease entails. I wanted to know if this is common practice?
Barbara Campling, MD, Medical Oncologist, responds:
I am sorry to hear about your father. It is peculiar that his oncologist has put him through a course of chemotherapy and radiation therapy without having a frank discussion about the prognosis and goals of treatment. This certainly is not common practice among cancer physicians. Do you think it is possible that you father's physician may be telling him more than your father lets on to his family? Maybe your father is trying to keep the family in a positive frame of mind.
The fact that he was treated initially with chemotherapy and radiotherapy suggests to me that he may have "limited-stage" small cell lung cancer (SCLC), in which the tumor has not spread outside of the chest. If this is the case, his outlook may not be entirely bleak. A small, but significant, proportion of patients with limited-stage SCLC may actually be cured of their cancer with an aggressive combination of chemotherapy and radiotherapy, typically administered at the same time. The patients who are most likely to be cured are those who have a rapid complete response to treatment. If your father falls into this category, he may have reason to feel upbeat, even in the face of this very serious diagnosis.
You also implied that your father has stopped smoking. Patients with SCLC who stop smoking prior to diagnosis actually have better cancer outcomes and responses to therapy than patients who continue to smoke during the course of their treatment. On the other hand, if your father's cancer recurs, and you and your family still feel that his physician is not acknowledging the seriousness of the problem, it would be worth consulting with another physician.


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You will need to be well informed with regards to Foundation Repair in Arlington, OH. We will never let you make ill advised decisions, since we understand what we are undertaking, and we ensure that you know very well what to be expecting with the work. That is why we make every effort to ensure you are familiar with the steps and are not confronted by any kind of unexpected surprises. Start off by contacting 844-329-5836 to go over your job. We'll review your questions and concerns whenever you call us and help you get organized with an appointment. We always get there at the arranged time, ready to work closely with you.
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Continuing Medical Education
Specialty Areas
- See the latest cardiovascular resources at the Broward Health Channel
- Children's Hospital Boston
The Cardiovascular Program at Children's Hospital Boston is a world leader in pediatric cardiology and cardiac surgery, and has pioneered treatments that have dramatically improved the survival rate for fetuses, infants, children, teens and adults with congenital or acquired heart defects. Watch Children's back-to-back Webcasts live from our cath lab and cardiac OR.
On October 4 at 9 am EDT Cardiologists from Children's Hospital Boston will implant a Transcatheter Pulmonary Valve (TPV), currently in clinical trial at Children's Hospital Boston and two other pediatric hospitals in the United States. This non-surgical treatment restores effective pulmonary valve function and potentially prolongs the functional life of regurgitant and/or stenotic right ventricle to pulmonary artery conduits. Children's has one of the largest pediatric Cardiac Catheterization Programs in the country, performing over 1,500 cardiac catheterization procedures per year.
On October 5th at 1 p.m. EDT – Cardiac surgeons from Children's Hospital Boston will repair a complex congenital cardiac defect during the live broadcast. The operation will take place in one of three operating rooms at Children's dedicated to cardiac surgical procedures. Each year, the Pediatric Cardiac Surgery Program provides surgical care to approximately 1,100 patients, including more than 700 cases of open-heart surgery (that require cardiopulmonary bypass) and 400 closed-cases (that do not require bypass), with extraordinary success rates.
Both Webcasts are part of this year's "Frontiers in Diagnosis & Management of Congenital Heart Disease," taking place at Children's Hospital Boston. The conference will focus on review of catheter-based and surgical treatment options for congenital heart disease as well as current developments in intensive care management and cardiac surgery research. For more information, visit www.childrenshospital.org/cvpfrontiers2007
Peter Lang, MD
James Lock, MD
Doff McElhinney, MD


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Pricing & Signup
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DeskAway is a product of Synage Software Pvt. Ltd (Synage Software). Synage Software is committed to protecting the privacy of its customers. This Privacy Policy outlines how we may gather and use information collected from our customers.
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Synage Software ensures that your information remains private and confidential. We will never use, sell, rent, exchange or share your information with any third parties.
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After this line I make the binding of the ? value, why is giving me error? I don´t post the next part of the code because it just gives error in this line, it is the same if i comment or not the next lines.
Code: Select all
$mySqli = $this->openConnection();
$stmnt = $mySqli->prepare("SHOW COLUMNS FROM ?");


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|Garrett, Robert
|Green, Carrie
|Norvell, Wendell
|Chaney, Rufus
Submitted to: Meeting Abstract
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 6/1/2001
Publication Date: 7/27/2001
Citation: N/A
Interpretive Summary:
Technical Abstract: Cadmium is present in all plants, crops differ in their tendency to accumulate Cd, with sunflower, flax and durum wheat containing relatively high levels when grown on uncontaminated farm soils.The uptake of Cd by plants is controlled by many different factors, with soil properties playing a large role. Among the soil properties controlling Cd availability are soil parent material, soil pH, salinity, and organic matter content. This study attempts to further clarify controlling soil factors using a large set of paired samples of soil and grain collected across the state of North Dakota, U.S.A. Corresponding soil and mature durum wheat grain were collected from 150 fields 12 24 counties in 1994 using clean techniques. Soil total and extractable, and total grain elements were analyzed by ICP-AES, and water soluble soil anions by ion chromatography. Grain Cd correlated more closely to DTPA-extractable Cd (Pearson r = 0.512) and Na-pyrophosphate-extractable soil Cd (Pearson r = 0.512) than to the NH4Cl-extractable soil Cd (Pearson r = 0.336), and log transforming the data did not alter this relationship (r = 0.567, 0.577 and 0.444 respectively). Previous studies have shown the importance of Soil Organic-C (SOC), chloride and sulfate in either reducing uptake of grain Cd (SOC) or facilitating that uptake. To determine the relative importance of these factors in our data set, a series of regression analyses were undertaken. Using a linear model grain-Cd was weakly related to SOC, and more strongly related to sulfate than chloride. 41% of the variance was explained by these soil variables. In North Dakota it appears that the effects of salinity were more important controls on grain an


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My Memories of the Past Regarding
Electrifying My Parents Farm
By Orion Rudolph, Ashley, North Dakota
My memories of the past regarding electrifying my parents farm:
I was born June 1,1938 on the rural family farm 8 miles NW of Fredonia, ND. I recall some early childhood memories of not having the modern convenience of electricity. I also recall the old barn lanterns 'laterne' and in the house the fancy kersene lamp with a thing inside the glass chimney that was very bright when it was burning. There is a name for that little delicate white thing, but I do not recall its name. In German we called the whole thing the 'gas-licht'.
I do not recall the exact year, but probably about 1944~1945. (My brother told me it was in the fall of 1944, the year of Mother and Dads 25th wedding anniversary) A decision was made by Mother and Dad to do some electrical wiring on the farm site that was used during the fall and winter months being it was one mile closer to the school. My brother tells me that the wiring was done by two people that worked at the Kulm Mill Co.. One was a Rossman and the other a Hildenbrand that did the wiring in the house and barn for the electricity . A 32-Volt electrical system was installed with a generator charging motor and about 16 large square glass batteries consisting of 2 volts each, all in the basement of the house. I do not recall how often this charging motor was run to keep the batteries charged up, but quite often I would think. (My brother said it was very often) The following spring a electric contractor named Ritter from Wishek came to wire the other farm that was used in the summer. This farm had a bigger house and also had a summer kitchen which folks liked. My brother told me that the 32 volt system was never used at this farm, only the Kohler generator system was used. They moved this unit to this farm in the spring after school was out. Then back to the other farm in the fall being it was a mile closer to school. It all had to do with winter snows and blocked roads, so the closer to school the better. It also meant we were 8 miles to town instead of 9 miles in the winter. Sure was nice, just flip the switch and had instant lights in the house and the barn. The IHC cream separator had a motor attached, and that would crank the separator at the proper speed. Mother got an electric motor on the washing machine too. This eliminated the smell of the gas motor used on the 'veshmachine' washing machine even though the exhaust was piped outside the house.. Mother really liked this. Heck, we even had light in the ole out house, this really came in handy during late evening hours.
A few neighbors even had a "Wind Charger" that was used to generate electricity. This we did not have. This 32-Volt electrical system was used for only a few years. I do not know what ever become of the 16 large square glass batteries. The generator was removed from the motor and then a pulley was put on the motor shaft. This motor, about a 10HP Briggs & Stratton was then used on a farm grain auger. As to the square glass batteries, I have seen a few at antique shops and knew that they were used in the 32-Volt systems.
In 1946, the 110-Volt system came along. Now a larger motor (Kohler) with a 110-volt generator was installed in the garage away from the house. That was set up that we did not need batteries in the basement anymore. This motor would start and generate electricity very time a light was turned on. Then in the fall of the year, a refrigerator was bought, this kept the motor running every so often during the cold nights. This was to ensure that the motor would also start in the morning when lights were needed in the barn and house and to separate the milk in the morning.
Dad was frustrated every now and then when it was very cold during the winter nights and the motor would not start in the morning. So an hour or so went by trying to get this Kohler motor started in the morning. I do not recall, but there must have been some 6~Volt battery that did not have full cranking power to get this motor started. So another fully charged battery needed to be put in place and eventually this motor did get started. Apparently the refrigerator did not need to run very often during the night. So the motor out in the garage would not run enough to keep warm and start in the cold early morning.
In early 1947, dad said he heard that REA was going to be building power lines through our area soon and that he would sign up to have electricity supplied by them. I think it was during late fall of 1947, when that project was completed, and we had dependable electricity after that.
This Kohler generator unit was eventually put on a small two-wheeled trailer, and today we considered it the "Pioneer Portable Generator." I do not recall that it was used very often, but it was available to any of the neighbors that needed electricity at any of the remote farm buildings that were not wired for lighting. This unit has also been used in recent years when power was out from winter related weather. It is not a very powerful unit to run a complete modern farm.
These are my recollection of events as of this date, June 28, 2007.
Orion A. Rudolph Ashley, ND formerly from Fredonia, ND


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Son is giving his dad a hard time because he is being lazy. Dad is trying to get a date.
Son is giving his dad a hard time because he is being lazy. Dad is trying to get a date.
Jerry took an unconventional approach to try and save his life.
Man angry at a gambler at the casino
A woman gives outrageous advice to her best friend.
A customer service representative counsels a challenging customer over the phone.
Tough athlete has a difficult conversation with her coach.
Jason tries to convince his friend to help him sneak into Space X so he can figure out time travel.
A tough criminal has a challenging conversation with his adversary.
Talking to daughter about her boyfriend.
Boxer warming up for the fight of his life, he's over-matched and seriously injured, telling coach h...
Shrewd Young Salesperson is trying to convince Mysterious Drifter that he can increase his small-tim...
The Hotheaded Tough Guy plays a game of cat and mouse with the Determined Rookie Cop. Tough Guy tel...
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Can you believe? $2.99? What a Bargain!! What, you ask? Well, it's this. The Big Genealogy Blog Book. Author: Amy Coffin ( http://wetree.blogspot.com/ ). Book now at lulu.com.
If you are a new blogger or just read blogs, OR if you need some new ideas on what to blog about or how to improve your blog, then this is something you want to look at. And the price is right! And it's easy.
Disclosures: Do I know Amy? Yes. And she's a really great lady.
Does she know I'm writing this? NO. She has no idea, at least I haven't told her.
Does she know I "bought" her book? I don't know. I downloaded it the first day I heard about it. And I started reading it immediately. Unfortunately life interferred before I could finish reading it.
Did I get any discount for this? No.
Or any other compensation? No. Except for hopefully another smile and another great greeting the next time I meet her at a conference. And would you believe I didn't even know her until June 2010?
Thursday, November 17, 2011
Thrifty Thursday - $2.99 blog book
Labels: Amy Coffin, WeTree
4 comments:
You're the best, Karen. Thank you!ReplyDelete
Well, the book is great. I just wanted others to know about it. And it is a bargain!ReplyDelete
I bought it too. It certainly is a great book, and a bargain.ReplyDelete
I bought it today. Look out for a post on it soon - it has inspired me to write on my own blog: GenWestUK at http://genwestuk.blogspot.com/!ReplyDelete
Thanks, Karen, for pointing me in its direction. And thanks, Amy, for writing it; an excellent book which introduces you to the craft of writing a genealogy blog.
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Growing Doubt (movie)
Tags: Crops, Genetically Modified Organism, GMO, Herbicide, Monsanto
(Please note to turn on the subtitles, click "captions" on the bottom right of the video.)
Renowned agricultural economist Dr. Charles Benbrook was commissioned by Greenpeace to make the first ever forecast of how Europe would be impacted by authorising the cultivation of genetically engineered herbicide tolerant corn, soy and sugar beet.
Greenpeace has also travelled through Argentina and USA to speak to farmers and their communities about how herbicide tolerant crop monocultures have affected their economy, environment and community. These first person accounts formed the basis for the documentary Growing Doubt (the film above).
Witness accounts from Argentina and USA and Dr. Benbrook's forecast report present a grim view of a future Europe: the over-reliance on herbicide-tolerant crops in the U.S. has triggered the emergence and rapid spread of nearly two dozen glyphosate-resistant weeds, driving up farm production costs, as well as the volume and toxicity of herbicides needed to prevent major yield loss. Europe will face a similar reality by 2025, should herbicide tolerant genetically engineered crops be authorised for cultivation.
Greenpeace is facilitating an 18 day tour of Europe with public screenings of Growing Doubt showing the reality in Argentina and USA, followed by Dr. Charles Benbrook presenting his study which you can view here.
These public meetings offer European farmers, politicians, media and civil society a chance to hear directly from Dr. Benbrook, as well as Wes Shoemyer and Wendel Lutz – two American farmers featured in the film, who have personally experienced the agricultural and social catastrophe caused by herbicide tolerant crops. Together, they have joined Greenpeace in Europe to warn European farmers against following the American example.
Greenpeace demands:
• As herbicide-tolerant GE crops lead to an increase in herbicide usage, that no herbicide tolerant GE crops should be authorised for cultivation in Europe.
• As part of the implementation of the 2008 Council Conclusions, that the European Commission should substantially strengthen the EU risk assessment procedure for GE crops by carrying out a thorough evaluation of the environmental and socioeconomic impacts of HTGE crops.


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Copy-Protected and iPod-Incompatible CDs Still Selling Nicely
Posted by Alex Grahmann Categories: Corporate News, Music, Portable Audio / Video,
Reuters is reporting via the Washington Post that despite being incompatible with the 30 million iPods in the US, copy-protected CDs by the Foo Fighters and Dave Matthews band are continuing to sell extremely well. The CDs, put out by Sony BMG, are designed to restrict owners to burning only 3 exact copies of the albums, and then only into Microsoft's Windows Media format. The copy-protection also prohibits the music files from being transferred to an iPod, due to licensing clashes with Apple's Fairplay software and Windows. While both the albums, and others like it, are available in iPod-compatible digital forms on Apple's iTunes service, this hasn't appeased fans who like to own a physical disc from which to rip the songs.
The best part of the Reuters' article comes at the end where Sony BMG advises disgruntled users to rip the songs from the CD, burn them back to a blank CD, and then rip them again in an iPod-friendly format. I always like to see big companies encouraging us to work around security and copyright-protection.
Read More | Washington Post
Gallery: Copy-Protected and iPod-Incompatible CDs Still Selling Nicely
Gap to Give Away iTunes Downloads for Trying on Jeans
Posted by Alex Grahmann Categories: Corporate News, Music,
Gap has announced plans for a fall promotion in which a customer will receive a free song download from iTunes for trying on a pair of jeans at any of their stores around the country. The campaign, entitled "Find Your Favorite Fit," is designed to draw awareness to Gap's new jean cut options – Curvy, Straight, and Original for women and simple Straight for men. Be sure to visit a local gap between August 8-31 to try on some pants and receive your download. I can tell you from personal experience that nothing compliments my curvy cut like a free song.
Read More | Gap Online
Gallery: Gap to Give Away iTunes Downloads for Trying on Jeans
iH5 Alarm Clock Radio Reviewed
Posted by Sparky Categories: Music, Portable Audio / Video,
iLounge just got an advance copy of iH5's iPod alarm clock and gave it an impressive A- rating. They really like the industrial design, and thought that for a $100 clock/radio it had impressive sound. They did find some of the radio features lacking, but if you are looking for an easy way to wake up or fall asleep to music while ensuring your iPod is charged and ready for your day it looks like the iH5 is the way to go. This one seems like a no brainer for listening to the Gear Live podcast first thing in the morning for that fresh burst of technology to start your day!
Read More | iLounge
Gallery: iH5 Alarm Clock Radio Reviewed
Numark To Release iDJ Mixing Board
Posted by Sparky Categories: Music, Portable Audio / Video,
The rumored iDJ dual iPod mixing board looks like it might just be a reality after all! The iDJ from Numark will feature two iPod docks and all the usual mixing board controls. Perfect for that techie geek just getting into spinning, or the professional DJ who wants to avoid carrying around 100's of pounds of records. I for one am very excited about the possibility of having an entire portable DJ setup that I could carry in a backpack including the mixer, more music than I would ever need, and still have enough room left over to throw my Powerbook in there for some extra tweaking. The iDJ will also support USB2.0, and I assume iDJ will also accept line in from other MP3 players if the iPod isn't your thing.
Read More | FutureMusic
Gallery: Numark To Release iDJ Mixing Board
Symphonic Dashboard Widget
I just got turned on to one of the coolest iTunes Dashboard widgets yet - Symphonic by Mindquirk software. Are you ever sitting there at your computer and suddenly have a specific song that you want to hear from iTunes - now it is literally at your fingertips. Bring up the dashboard and type the song title, artist, or any other unique piece of information about the song and it immediately starts playing in iTunes - no need to bring iTunes up or wade through a massive library. Symphonic them displays the full data for the track - artist, album and track name - before reverting to its initial state awaiting your next musical whim.
Read More | Symphonic via TUAW
Gallery: Symphonic Dashboard Widget
MP3 Capabilities Expand on Palm Devices Via Pocket Tunes
Posted by Alex Grahmann Categories: Handhelds, Music, Portable Audio / Video,
With the release of Pocket Tunes 3.1, Palm OS users now have the ability to play MP3s that use the Janus DRM standard for Windows Media 10. This unlocks the possibility of using Palm devices with popular MP3 services such as Rhapsody To Go, Napster To Go, and Yahoo! Music Unlimited. While most Palms inherently lack the memory capacity needed to take full advantage of such services (the 4GB LifeDrive being a possible exception), smaller-scale usage is still a plus. After all, with millions of songs available through these services, a few at a time is often enough.
Read More | Pocket Tunes
Gallery: MP3 Capabilities Expand on Palm Devices Via Pocket Tunes
Tivoli Audio iSongBook
Posted by Sparky Categories: Music, Portable Audio / Video,
Today seems to be a big day for great looking audio equipment. Tivoli just announced their Audio iSongBook, a Tivoli radio product featuring stereo speakers and an iPod dock. Tivoli is famous for making radios with excellent tuners and very clean crisp speakers. I can only imagine what they are going to do with stereo speakers and the iPod to provide the tunes. The iSongBook operates on AC or six AA-size batteries, and it features built-in battery charger to recharge AA-size NiMH and lithium-ion batteries. The iSongBook will be available for $329 in early October.
Read More | MobileWhack
Gallery: Tivoli Audio iSongBook
Eton's +10 XM Satellite Radio of Beauty
Eton and Porche Design have another winner with the P'7131 XM Satellite radio. The P'7131 while having an atrocious name is probably one of the sexiest radio's I've ever seen in my life. With the smooth black exterior, the silver ring dials, and the white on black screen I'm more than sold. I'm not a big XM radio fan myself, but want to get one of these just so I can have it on my desk at work. The P'7131 features AM, FM, and Shortwave reception in addition to XM Satellite Radio.
Read More | P'7131
Gallery: Eton's +10 XM Satellite Radio of Beauty
Apple Reaches 1/2 Billion Mark on iTunes
Posted by Alex Grahmann Categories: Corporate News, Music, Portable Audio / Video,
While every visitor to the Apple homepage will be greeted today by a huge banner proclaiming the company's monumental sales achievement, only one will be receiving the huge iPod-based prize package for downloading the 500 millionth song from iTunes. Amy Greer of Lafayette, Indiana pushed Apple over the mark with "Mississippi Girl" by Faith Hill and will be rewarded with 10 iPods, 10000 free songs, and a trip for four to see a Coldplay concert. While this is an amazing milestone for legal digital music downloads, it's even more amazing to think that iTunes has sold an average of almost 7 songs to every single living person in the 19 countries it services (feel free to check my math).
Read More | iTunes 500 Million
Gallery: Apple Reaches 1/2 Billion Mark on iTunes
JCV HP-DX1000 Wooden Headphones
Posted by Edwin Soto Categories: Accessories, Music,
The audiophile in me is drooling whenever I view these. After the fiasco at the pharmacy yesterday, where i was forced to buy under my taste level, this is exactly what im looking for while never knowing it. Wood is easily one of the best materials to have resonating sound. These puppies are quite nice to look at too. There are only two things to fear: the $1000 price tag and woodpeckers.
Read More | GizMag
Gallery: JCV HP-DX1000 Wooden Headphones
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Calls for a Second Stimulus Package
Amidst the wreckage of the first stimulus package, which passed this February, we are already hearing whispers and rumors about a second stimulus package, including Warren Buffet and Nancy Pelosi's guarded support for such a measure.
Instead of writing a redundant essay with arguments against a second stimulus package (which would simply rehash the same arguments I made in a Feb 1st essay entitled "Economic Folly: 7 Reasons The Stimulus Package Will Be Bad For America"), I have put together a cool, quirky, and totally effective alternative stimulus package.
If it's a second stimulus package they want, then they should pass this one. You can call it "A Conservative Stimulus Package." On second thought- the whole drug legalization part might not make it so popular among traditional conservatives. Better call it "A Libertarian Stimulus Package." I'd also be happy with something like "A Totally Awesome Stimulus Package."
Here it is:
1. Legalize Marijuana and Industrial Hemp
That's right. Repeal Federal Laws that prohibit the production, possession, and use of cannabis and industrial hemp. Many states would be emboldened to follow suit. This would integrate one of America's number one cash crops into its legal economic system, create an untold number of jobs, increase tax revenue, and sharply decrease government expenses related to the interdiction of marijuana and incarceration of offenders.
CNN's Jack Cafferty quotes a senior Harvard economist who estimates that "we spend $44 billion a year fighting the war on drugs. He says if they were legal, governments would realize about $33 billion a year in tax revenue. Net swing of $77 billion." And remember, that's just the net gain on the government's balance sheet- that's the icing on top of all the economic growth and job creation that legalization would allow to happen.
Have a problem with that Mr. President? Madame Speaker? Insert all the scary, santimonious fearmongering about how jobs are being lost and we absolutely must act here --> [ ]. Wasn't that convincing? Now get your people to start drafting the bill!
2. Normalize Trade With Cuba
When President Obama reached out to Cuban leaders at the "Summit of the Americas" this April and lifted travel restrictions on Americans with families in Cuba, Fidel and Raul Castro criticized him by saying that he hadn't gone far enough. Cuba is clearly interested in opening up economic relations and would respond favorably to a repeal of the U.S. embargo- and lifting it would be a major boon to the American economy.
Just think of what it would do for cigar retail alone. Then imagine the kind of lucrative contracts hotel chains and construction companies would score to help turn Cuba into the tourist paradise it once was, and should be, and could be again! And consider what an end to the embargo would do for America's struggling airline industry.
They say that obesity-related conditions create a huge drag on the economy and the rising price of health care: In addition to lifting the embargo, the U.S. should end all import quotas on sugar cane from the Caribbean. Almost overnight, this would radically change how we sweeten our food and help put an end to the high-fructose corn syrup cartel that has fattened its wallets by fattening American children for years.
Mr. Obama is hesitant to lift the embargo however, arguing that "The Cuban people aren't free and that's our lodestone, our north star when it comes to our policy in Cuba." Okay- so as long as the Cuban people aren't free, the only rational course of action is to restict the travel, trade, and production of U.S. citizens and thereby make us less free too? Not to mention less wealthy and prosperous? Not to mention that the embargo makes Cuba even less free?
Trading with the Cuban people does not endorse their government's shortcomings- it undermines and subverts their government's shortcomings. If we had been trading with Cuba all along these past couple decades, enough of them might be using Twitter right now to elect a different president. I'm only half-joking.
3. Drill in ANWR and Offshore
According to the U.S. Geological Survey's mean estimate, there are 10.4 billion barrels of crude oil and natural gas in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Oil prices are pretty volatile, so let's just pick a nice round number and say that at $50/barrel that means we are not even touching $520,000,000,000 worth of oil just sitting there waiting for us to get to it!
That's right, this number: $520,000,000,000. If oil is running at $100/barrel, then it's twice that amount and more than one trillion dollars, this number: $1,040,000,000,000. Yeah. That's a whole stimulus package worth of money that could be in the economy, but it's not because of the porcupine caribou. I haven't even mentioned, by the way, all the oil waiting for us in offshore reserves on several American coastlines.
There is no rational justification for keeping that much wealth out of the hands of the American people who are struggling and losing jobs at a dizzying pace, for the sake of a plot of land no bigger than the Dulles Airport in a wildlife refuge the size of South Carolina.
4. Auction Government Assets- Like the USPS
The government should also sell off a lot of its assets for fast cash now and permanent reductions in annual expenses. For instance, two lawmakers in Minnesota "are asking the state's legislature to consider a proposal that would sell to private firms the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport, along with other state property and programs, in an effort to bring in roughly $6 billion or more."
It's a brilliant idea. The Federal government should sell off its mismanaged assets that lose money and don't create value for the American people. This will give it an instant shot of cash to pump back into the economy (in the form of lower taxes, not corporate bailouts!) while creating value for the private companies that purchase these assets. It will also save on the future yearly costs of maintaining them.
A good place to start would be selling the U.S. Postal Service. In order to provide us an increasingly low-quality, poorly-managed, inefficient, and unneeded service, Americans pay billions every year to fuel and maintain the USPS fleet of over 250,000 vehicles, its huge staff (it's the third largest employer in the US), infrastructure, and operations costs.
"Mail service is becoming slower, more expensive, and less reliable. The United States Postal Service (U.S.P.S.) is probably the worst managed and one of the least honest corporations in America." These words were written in a Cato Institute policy analysis in 1985! How much truer do these words ring in the Internet age and as the USPS continues to lose market share to FedEx, UPS, and electronic communication?
5. Privatize Social Security
The net present value of privatizing Social Security is estimated to be as much as $20,000,000,000,000. The historical data on countries that have privatized their government run pension-systems promises us great reward if we follow their example. When Chile made this revolutionary reform to its own government pension system in 1980, the results after 15 years were exemplary:
Pensions in the new private system already are 50 to 100 percent higher--depending on whether they are old-age, disability, or survivor pensions--than they were in the pay-as-you-go system. The resources administered by the private pension funds amount to $25 billion, or around 40 percent of GNP as of 1995.
By improving the functioning of both the capital and the labor markets, pension privatization has been one of the key reforms that has pushed the growth rate of the economy upwards from the historical 3 percent a year to 6.5 percent on average during the last 12 years. It is also a fact that the Chilean savings rate has increased to 27 percent of GNP and the unemployment rate has decreased to 5.0 percent since the reform was undertaken.
Congress should give workers the option to put their money in their own, personal, private account. They'll have the assurance that the government can't spend their money. They'll also have the opportunity to grow their savings by investing it and they'll be fuelling economic growth in the process, injecting productive capital into the economy.
6. Radically Reduce Federal Spending
The US government spent more in 2008 alone than it did during the entire 19th century! Even worse, if the US Federal government cut its 2009 budget by the amount of spending it did during the entire 19th century- it would barely even make a dent.
Current spending levels are simply outrageous. There can be no wonder that the US economy has struggled under the weight of so much debt and withered from the starvation of so much confiscated capital. Congress needs to cut taxes, but in order to do so, it must drastically reduce spending!
How do we get government spending reasonable again? A good start would be to cap Federal spending at a level from a previous year. For instance, Federal spending in 2011 is presently estimated at $3,623,000,000,000.
Congress should act to cap Federal spending at say, 2005 levels, spending no more than $2,472,200,000,000. Remember 2005? That wasn't very long ago at all. It wasn't so bad, right? The whole world didn't fall apart because we weren't spending the amount we're spending today, right?
Yet by capping spending at that level, we would eliminate over a trillion dollars in government waste- effectively creating a trillion dollar stimulus every year, year after year after year (if we continue to keep spending down, that is). What will have to get cut to make this happen?
To begin with, all corporate welfare. There is no reason whatsoever that government should ever take money from taxpayers and give it to corporations and businesses. No more bailouts, no more corporate handouts, no more arguments. Period.
We would also have to start eliminating waste from all the departments and agencies in the executive branch. Frankly, we should begin phasing some of them out entirely because they are unnecessary and/or unconstitutional elements of our Federal government, among these: The Departments of Education, Energy, and Homeland Security.
We should also slim down the Department of Health and Human Services by reforming our entitlement system the way America did in the 1990s through a bipartisan act of a Republican Congress and Democrat Administration. Last of all, the Department of Defense is guilty of a lot of wasteful spending and needs to have its budget cut too.
7. Pass Measures To Prevent Future Economic Meltdowns
After digging ourselves out of this hole, we need to make sure we don't ever fall into it again. A balanced budget amendment to the Constitution would help. An audit of the Federal Reserve would be a step in the right direction. A bill requiring Congressmen to read legislation before voting for it would help keep government slim and sane. These would all be good starts.
Pass a stimulus bill with the above provisions- and I bet you a big fat wad of Federal Reserve Notes that the U.S. economy would start to absolutely boom in no time. So what are you waiting for? Take this message to the streets and be sure to e-mail this article to your Representatives in Congress!


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- Length: 58:55 minutes (20.23 MB)
- Format: MP3 Mono 44kHz 48Kbps (CBR)
Today's Conversation with Maria and Lisa was about parent teacher conferences. Once again, Ginger Lewman joined us. She has been thinking about making changes to the approach her school takes to conferencing with parents. We hope to have Sheila back with us next week.
Chat Log
to follow when posted


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Metatonia, are you related to Qaim Ali Shah? This disgusting man and his government openly said they would block the movement of Pakistanis within thier own nation and then backtracked under political pressure. Why would you defend that? Have some shame. We all have to answer to Allah, how can you politik over the suffering of people?
1) No.
2) You worry about your own answers and I will worry about mine.
Qaim Ali Shah is just like any other politician...I won't use that specific term here because I am fasting.
However you need to understand the reason for initial refusal was not racism or some hatred for the IDPs........the provincial government was simply not informed. SIndh itself is an impoverished province....plus Karachi ka haal dekha hai apnay? All these factors came into play.
Finally the IDPs are allowed with open arms provided they have ID cards....and this is for their own safety as well and stop the terrorist infiltrating in guise of normal public.


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Florida Land for Sale
Wecome to Florida Properties Group. Buying land in Florida is as easy as counting 1-2-3. Step 1 - Pick a property from our website. Step 2 - Make a small down payment. Step 3 - Sign the documents. That's it. Three easy steps and you're a Florida land owner. This website includes land listings in some of the fastest growing areas of Florida. First click on the city or category that you are interested in, then click on an image to see the details of that property. Our Florida land specialists have over 60 years experience to help you find and purchase the land of your choice.
All lots are now available for sale to the public at wholesale prices. Guaranteed seller financing is available with no credit check and no income verification.
There is no time limit on building, so you can build now or just hold on to the land as an investment for your retirement.
According to the U.S. census bureau, Florida ranks # 1 in the country for new housing starts. Florida also has top areas for new job growth. Check our cheap land section and get some great bargains. Don't miss out on the next real estate boom. Buy now while land prices are still affordable.
Over 1,000. people per day are moving to Florida and they're not making any more land. Invest for your future and buy Florida land at today's prices!
--- Florida Properties Group, Inc.


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By Karl Lindholm
I'm writing this week to celebrate Homer, a hunter of uncommon skill and zeal. I apologize to Matt, the outdoors columnist, for intruding on his territory. Given my skills in the woods, he doesn't need to worry that it will happen often.
By KATHRYN FLAGG
BRISTOL — When Paulette Bogan steps down at the end of the year from her position as principal at Mount Abraham Union High School, a familiar face will be standing by to take the baton.
By JOHN FLOWERS
MONTPELIER — Rep. Betty Nuovo, D-Middlebury, has filed legislation to repeal Act 82, a law passed two years ago that requires public school budgets that exceed a prescribed threshold be presented to voters in two parts.
MIDLEBURY — The Better Middlebury Partnership (BMP) will spice up the downtown scene on Feb. 21 with the "First Annual Middlebury Winter Carnival" that will feature a chili contest and many other fun activities for the entire family.
By ANDY KIRKALDY
MIDDLEBURY — Visiting Champlain Valley got off to a hot start against the Middlebury Union High School girls' hockey team on Friday, then held off a rally from a tired but determined Tiger team before taking a 10-4 victory.
MIDDLEBURY — Rep. Michael Fisher, D-Lincoln, has promised to file legislation calling for a temporary state income tax increase in order to preserve some of the programs that serve the Vermont's most needy citizens.
MIDDLEBURY — Gathering in Gov. Jim Douglas' figurative back yard on Monday, several dozen residents from around Addison Country congregated at Court Square across from the Middlebury Inn to protest the Middlebury Republican's proposed budget cuts to human service agencies, which protestors argued unfairly hurt low-income Vermonters.
VERGENNES — In January directors of the four Addison Northwest Supervisory Union schools approved spending proposals for the 2009-2010 school year that, if approved by voters, would boost budgets by between 1.7 and 4.9 percent.
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It's Rand Paul vs. armed bureaucrats
Questions benefit of having agency, 'with arms, stop people from selling milk'
Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., dropped a potential bomb into the ongoing battle between local food producers and federal bureaucrats who want to regulate all food transactions.
Paul introduced an amendment that would disarm Food and Drug Administration bureaucrats and accomplish several other goals.
"I'm troubled by images of armed agents raiding Amish farms and preventing them selling milk directly from the cow," he said in a Senate floor statement posted online. "I think we have bigger problems in our country than sending armed FDA agents into peaceful farmers' land and telling them they can't sell milk directly from the cow."
Mike Adams, who writes at NaturalNews.com as the "Health Ranger," said the move was "stunning and completely unannounced."
The amendment, he said, "would disarm the FDA and make the agency stop using guns against the American people; it would halt the FDA's armed raids on raw milk farmers; it would also stop the FDA's outrageous and longstanding censorship of truthful health claims of dietary supplements and medicinal herbs."
"This is a big deal," he said. "While it may not pass … the very fact that U.S. Sen. Rand Paul has introduced such an amendment is proof positive that Rand Paul is exactly the kind of leader that can help take our nation out of the age of government tyranny and censorship and into a new era of transparency, accountability and liberty."
In fact, the amendment hours later was defeated 78-15.
The core of the conflict stems from the federal government's desire to regulate the food industry from start to finish. Local growers and producers who would like to sell their products often face enforcement actions for not having a proper packaging facility or following some other regulation. A major dispute has developed over the sale of unpasteurized milk, which many people consider more healthy. Thirty states allow it but 20 don't, and the federal government forbids it in interstate commerce.
Paul's amendment addresses those concerns.
The senator said the first provision would halt the "overzealous regulation of vitamins, food and supplements by codifying the First Amendment prohibition on prior restraint."
"The First Amendment says you can't prevent speech, even commercial speech, in advance of the speech. You can't tell Cheerios that they can't say there's a health benefit to their Cheerios. Under our current FDA laws, FDA says if you want to market prune juice, you can't say that it cures constipation," he said.
"Despite four court orders condemning the practice as a violation of the First Amendment, the FDA continues to suppress consumers' rights to be informed and to make informed choices."
See his statement to members of the Senate:
Regarding his effort to disarm the FDA, Paul said, "Historically the criminal law was intended to punish only the most horrible offenses that everyone agreed were inherently wrong or evil, offenses like rape, murder, theft, arson – but now we've basically federalized thousands of activities and called them crimes."
He continued, "If bureaucrats need to involve the police, let's have them use the FBI, but I see no reason to have the FDA carrying weapons."
He noted the Constitution cites four federal crimes, but today "it's estimated there are over 4,000, but no one has an exact number."
Paul explained the last part of his proposal would make it a requirement that defendants know and intend to break a law to obtain a conviction.
"It can't be an honest mistake where a businessman or woman has broken a regulation and didn't intend to harm someone," he said.
"We've gone too far, and we've abrogated the First Amendment, and what we need to do is tell the FDA that the courts have ruled that the First Amendment does apply to commercial speech, and the FDA has been overstepping their bounds," he said.
WND reported Monday that a business in California said government health officials have begun tracking down the names and addresses of natural-foods customers and showing up at their homes, demanding to confiscate any raw milk they might have.
The latest report is at NaturalNews.com, which interviewed Mark McAfee of Organic Pastures.
The report said Los Angeles County health department officials have "unleashed door-to-door raw milk confiscation teams to threaten and intimidate raw dairy customers into surrendering raw milk products they legally purchased and own."
"According to Mark McAfee, both L.A. County and San Diego County have attempted to acquire customer names and addresses from Organic Pastures for the sole purpose of sending 'food confiscation teams' to customers' homes to remove the raw milk from customers' refrigerators."
NaturalNews.com quoted from one of McAfee's reports:
I received a phone call yesterday morning from a wonderful young gal, a 36-year-old mom out of LA County. She's one of our UPS customers that we deliver overnight raw milk to her house. When the CDFA was in here the other day on our recall, they demanded to have all our delivery addresses for overnight UPS delivery. We screwed up and [inadvertently] gave it to them, they got it from one of our secretaries here. The LA County health department started calling her, six or seven times, demanding that she give up her raw milk from her own home to the health department.
She refused, then they showed up at her house and demanded that she give her raw milk to them. She was getting ready to call 911 for the sheriff's department and have them removed from her front doorstep, and she was threatening to use her camera to take a picture of them and post it on Facebook for harassing her over her raw milk… The investigators left after she told them she was not going to give them the raw milk and to get the hell off her property.
This is what's going on, it's like food Nazis, it's incredible what these people are doing, trying to collect food from people's houses, that have not made them ill!
Then the San Diego health department called me up and said oh we want a list of all your buyer's club members, and I said no… and they said we want all their addresses and their names, because we want to go to their homes. I said it ain't happening, we aren't going to give it to you.
Just one week earlier, mothers in Minnesota staged a protest at the trial of the manager of a farm buying club, according to the Farm Food Freedom Coalition.
The Farm Food Freedom Coalition protested the Minneapolis trial of Alvin Schlangen, a farm buying club manager. The group said that mothers in the state who act as hosts for "drop sites" for farm buying club members now have been threatened with criminal charges.
Another supporting organization, the Raw Milk Freedom Riders, said Schlangen founded the Freedom Farms Co-op, which simply connects people with the foods of their choice from local producers.
Over the past two years the Minnesota Department of Agriculture has raided Schlangen's operations several times.
Pete Kennedy of the Farm-to-Consumer Legal Defense Fund, who tracks such issues nationally, said, "Nowhere in the country at this time is state action against food freedom and consumer choice more oppressive than in the state of Minnesota."
The FDA said there have been reports of illnesses from raw milk, but a report from the Weston A. Price Foundation revealed that from 1980 to 2005 there were 10 times more illnesses from pasteurized milk than from raw milk.
In California, three people are facing trial following an investigation of the Rawesome buying club. In that case, one of the defense lawyers was stunned by the militancy of the prosecutor, declaring, "She doesn't want raw milk. … She wants blood."
The federal government has a long history of cracking down on producers of raw milk who make it available to consumers – even when the consumers are the ones who own the cows and milk.
In the recent case in Wisconsin, a judge ruled that Americans do not have a right to choose their food, not even when they own the cows and the milk.
Kimberly Hartke of the Campaign for Real Milk, a project of The Weston A. Price Foundation, has told WND as the cases have developed the government's "heavy-handed" tactics simply have gone too far.
"As more consumers seek greater access to local farm fresh milk to feed their families, our federal government is working overtime to curtail freedom to feed your family the way you deem necessary. Since most seek raw dairy for health reasons, this is a serious concern," she said.
A ruling from Circuit Court Judge Patrick J. Fiedler in Wisconsin said the families who reported they were boarding their cows for a fee and then getting the milk instead were running a "dairy farm."
"It's always a surprise when a judge says you don't have the fundamental right to consume the foods of your choice," said Kennedy.
Fiedler's decision said: "Plaintiffs argue that they have a fundamental right to possess, use and enjoy their property and therefore have a fundamental right to own a cow, or a heard (sic) of cows, and to use their cow(s) in a manner that does not cause harm to third parties. They argue that they have a fundamental right to privacy to consume the food of their choice for themselves and their families and therefore have a fundamental right to consume unpasteurized milk from their cows," the judge wrote.
Nonsense, he said.
"They do not simply own a cow that they board at a farm. Instead, plaintiffs operate a dairy farm. If plaintiffs want to continue to operate their dairy farm then they must do so in a way that complies with the laws of Wisconsin."
He continued, "The court denied plaintiffs' motion for summary judgment, which means the following:
"(1) no, plaintiffs do not have a fundamental right to own and use a dairy cow or a diary (sic) herd;
"(2) no, plaintiffs do not have a fundamental right to consume the milk from their own cow;
"(3) no, plaintiffs do not have a fundamental right to board their cow at the farm of a farmer;
"(4) no, the Zinniker plaintiffs' private contract does not fall outside the scope of the state's police power;
"(5) no, plaintiffs do not have a fundamental right to produce and consume the foods of their choice; and
"(6) no, the DATCP did not act in an ultra vires manner because it had jurisdiction to regulate the Zinniker plaintiffs' conduct."
In proposing the plan, Paul said there were 40 different federal agencies that have armed officers, and he was recognizing an issue on which WND has reported in the past. In fact, some 15 years ago, WND documented how a commando-style raid by "20 heavily armed federal agents and local sheriff's deputies" involved employees of the National Park Service.
Even then, there were an estimated 60,000 federal agents trained and authorized to enforce thousands of laws, and that was long before the development of the Transportation Security Administration and the Department of Homeland Secuirty.
The report said among the agencies with armed employees are the Department of Agriculture Office of Inspector General, Ag Department's U.S. Forest Service, the Department of the Air Force, Department of the Army, Department of Commerce, Bureau of Export Administration, Department of Commerce National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, National Marine Fisheries Service Staff Office for Law Enforcement, Department of Education, Department of Energy, Department of Health and Human Services Food and Drug Administration, Department of Housing and Urban Development, Department of the Interior, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Department of Justice, Department of Labor, State Department, Treasury Department, EPA, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, General Services Administration, NASA, Small Business Administration, Social Security Administration and the U.S. Railroad Retirement Board, and others.
SCARY MEDICINE: Exposing the dark side of vaccines
'Vaccines: the risks, the benefits, the choices': Must-see DVD for parents on the fence about whether to vaccinate


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The row-crop tractor has long been the primary tractor used on Midwest farms. But an increase in the size of farm implements is stretching the limits of this classic standby.
Take for instance the 36-row Case IH Early Riser planter, which requires a minimum of 270 hp to pull. John Deere's 48-row DB120 planter, named for its 120-ft. wingspan, takes a recommended 375 engine hp. In comparison, John Deere's largest row-crop tractor, the 8360R, tops out at 296 PTO hp.
"It would be a real yank with a regular fixed-frame tractor," says Wade Prouse, marketing manager for New Holland tractors. "Some of the new planters are almost forcing these guys into a four-wheel-drive."
Prouse says in light of industry's new large planters and other row-crop implements, farmers need more horsepower and hydraulic capacity than ever before. In response, manufacturers are offering 4-wd models designed with a row-crop chassis capable of running between the rows.
"We can now offer those customers up to 500 engine horsepower in a row-crop package," Prouse says.
Truck vs. trike
Four-wheel-drive tractors have typically been reserved for "broad-acre" applications such as tillage, scraping, and air seeding, where driving is not limited to the constructs of rows, according to Ryan Shust, marketing manager for Versatile tractors. Shust says, in those applications, horsepower is the main requirement, which 4-wd tractors are designed to deliver. The tractors are built with wider, heavier frames and larger wheels of equal size to transfer up to 600 hp to the ground without spinning or getting stuck.
Row-crop tractors, on the other hand, are designed to provide visibility. Their rigid frame, small front wheels, and narrow chassis allow for tight steering and a clear view of the rows during planting and other row-crop work. But those same features can limit power transfer, says John Bohnker, marketing manager for Case IH row-crop tractors.
"Think of it as a tricycle," Bohnker explains. "If you load a trike with a 300-hp engine, the wheels are just going to spin, right? It doesn't have enough weight or footing to transfer the power to the ground. The same thing is true for a tractor. As it grows in horsepower, you have to grow the ability to get that power to the ground by providing enough tire contact and weight to keep the wheels from spinning."
Hybrid 4-wds
The increased size of farm implements is requiring the benefits of both types of tractors. As a result, more 4-wd models are being offered in wheel spaces that accommodate 30-in. rows.
Case IH and New Holland launched the newest of these "hybrids" last fall. Three 4-wd models in the new Case IH Steiger series and four 4-wd models in New Holland's T9 series allow tread settings as narrow as 60 in. to accommodate 30-in. row-crop spacing. The new models, which range from 350 to 500 engine hp for New Holland and 350 to 450 engine hp for Case IH, pick up where the largest row-crop tractors leave off.
"It's basically now a tractor designed for middle U.S.A.," says New Holland's Prouse. "Anyone doing row-crop work will find a big benefit because it can now go up and down the rows and offer very high horsepower and up to 113-gal./min. hydraulic flow to handle those heavy draft applications and to pull the largest planters."
Mitch Kaiser, product manager for Case IH, says the chassis on the tractors was narrowed up to 36 in. instead of the standard 44 in. to allow for 60-in. tread spacing required for row-crop work. In addition, front-wheel frames and fenders were sculpted in to fit 480/95R50 tires, currently industry's largest tires.
"This 86-in.-tall tire provides a longer footprint within the row than standard radial tires to spread out the weight of the tractor and reduce in-row soil compaction," Kaiser explains.
Case IH, New Holland, Versatile and Claas all offer 4-wds that can be configured for row crops. AGCO and John Deere offer both track models and 4-wd articulated models with various options to fit row-crop applications (see sidebar).
"We do focus on offering customers a 4-wd row-crop model," says Dave Guetterman, John Deere. "Every one of our models can be configured for row-crop applications. With the way our chassis is designed, customers can set it up in row-crop configuration pretty easily."
"Our 4-wds were always used to some degree in row crops," says Versatile's Shust. "With the right tire selection they will work in row-crop applications."
Economical choice
Kaiser says Case IH is seeing a need for "row-crop" Steigers to pull the bigger planters and strip-till rigs. He says, instead of having two or three smaller tractors, a farmer can have one bigger 4-wd and reduce the number of experienced operators required.
Rawly Hicks, marketing manager for AGCO Challenger tractors, reports an increase in demand for 4-wd tractors in the 300- to 400-PTO-hp range. He says this size offers growers an economical choice to the standard row-crop tractors.
"Growers are increasingly conscious of the cost of horsepower," Hicks says. "As the cost of fixed-frame MFWD technology increases, the power, performance, and maneuverability provided by fully articulated 4-wd machines is available as a more cost-effective choice."
Place for row-crop tractors
So will the growth in these dual-purpose 4-wds cut into sales of row-crop tractors? Manufacturers say no. All report an increase in sales of both classes.
"You're right to ask the question," says Case IH's Bohnker. "And it would be logical for more of the row-crop tractor demand to go to a Steiger. But there are a lot of farmers who have the mind-set that they want to have a row-crop tractor rather than an articulated tractor."
In row-crop tractors, steering is tighter and the front wheels track with the direction the driver is turning, he says. Articulated tractors, on the other hand, have a pivot point behind the seat that creates a steering action that is less intuitive.
"Farmers are accustomed to having the steering action where they want it to be," Bohnker says. "For some people, having both the front tires and rear tires turn on them takes some getting used to."
Regional differences also are a factor. Bohnker says demand for 4-wds is highest in the Red River Valley and western Canada, where large planters and huge air seeders are common. In other areas like western Iowa, where small fields, point rows, and hills are common, row-crop tractors make more sense because implement size is limited.
"The thing about it is demand for our new 8Rs has been outstanding, too," adds Guetterman of John Deere. "I would say the numbers are pretty consistent."
Versatile's Shust says there will always be good demand for row-crop tractors in applications where rear visibility is important, such as working with a tractor's PTO or 3-pt. hitch.
"In row-crop tractors you are sitting right over the drawbar, 3-pt. hitch and hydraulic remote valves," Shust says. "In a large 4-wd, you and your cabin are further away from the implement hook-ups. There will still be requirements for row-crop tractors for reasons like these. But all tractors are going up in horsepower, of course."
Row-crop-capable 4-wds
Case IH Steiger Series (new)
Steiger 350, 350 engine hp
Steiger 400, 400 engine hp
Steiger 450, 450 engine hp
Suggested list price: $250,000 to $425,000
Visit www.caseih.com/na.
New Holland T9 Series (new)
T9.390, 350 engine hp
T9.450, 400 engine hp
T9.505, 450 engine hp
T9.560, 500 engine hp
Suggested list price: $245,000 to $420,000
Visit www.newholland.com.
Claas Xerion
3300 (Trac, VC, Saddle Trac), 330 engine hp
3800 (Trac, VC, Saddle Trac), 380 engine hp
Suggested list price: $336,690 to $394,000
Visit www.claasofamerica.com.
John Deere 9030 Series
9230, 325 engine hp
9330, 375 engine hp
9430, 425 engine hp
9530, 475 engine hp
9630, 530 engine hp
Suggested list price: starts at $208,254
Visit www.deere.com.
AGCO Challenger MT900 Series
MT945C, 440 engine hp
MT955C, 475 engine hp
MT965C, 525 engine hp
MT975C, 585 engine hp
Suggested list price: $302,616 to $462,501
Visit www.challengerag.com.
Versatile 4-wd Series
HHT 4-wd Series
435, 435 engine hp
485, 485 engine hp
535, 535 engine hp
575 hp, 575 engine hp
Suggested list price: $181,000 to $259,000
4-wd Series
305, 305 engine hp
340, 340 engine hp
375, 375 engine hp
400, 400 engine hp
Suggested list price: $181,000 to $259,000
Visit www.versatile-ag.com.
Row-crop-capable 4-wds
Case IH Steiger Series (new)
3 models, 350 to 450 engine hp
Suggested list price: $250,000 to $425,000
Visit www.caseih.com/na or circle 000.
New Holland T9 Series (new)
4 models, 350 to 500 engine hp
Suggested list price: $245,000 to $420,000
Visit www.newholland.com or circle 000.
Claas Xerion
2 models, 330 and 380 engine hp
Suggested list price: $336,690 to $394,000
Visit www.claasofamerica.com or circle 000.
John Deere 9030 Series
5 models, 325 to 530 engine hp
Suggested list price: starts at $208,254
Visit www.deere.com or circle 000.
AGCO Challenger MT900 Series
4 models, 440 to 585 engine hp
Suggested list price: $302,616 to $462,501
Visit www.challengerag.com or circle 000.
Versatile 4-wd Series
HHT 4-wd Series
4 models, 435 to 575 engine hp
Suggested list price: $181,000 to $259,000
4-wd Series
4 models, 305 to 400 engine hp
Suggested list price: $181,000 to $259,000
Visit www.versatile-ag.com or circle 000.