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It's akin to a light switch; it's that stark. One day mountain lions inhabiting the Southern Yellowstone Ecosystem are predominantly killing mule deer, and the next day they all switch to killing elk. And then they kill elk for five to five and a half months before they switch back to deer.
It happens on a slightly different date each year. In 2013, it was November 14th, two weeks earlier than in 2012. There hasn't been a deer killed by the cats we are tracking as part of Panthera's Teton Cougar Project since that date, and we don't expect we'll find a deer killed by a project cougar until May. Nowhere in their vast geographic distribution do cougars exhibit such distinct summer and winter diets as in our study area.
Ungulate (a fancy word for a "hoofed mammal") migrations, driven by the seasonal availability of forage that sustains them, result in large-scale redistributions of resources for carnivores. In response, carnivores adapt their foraging behaviors in systems with migrating prey.
In summer, carnivores in North America are quick to seize opportunities presented by the birth pulse of numerous, vulnerable, young ungulates. Whereas in winter, carnivores take advantage of the numerous ungulates struggling to survive harsh weather on lesser-quality forage and suffering poorer health. In the Southern Yellowstone Ecosystem, cougars do something more. Not only do local mountain lions follow trends in changing prey vulnerability, but they also track changing prey numbers.
Through November and December each year, thousands of elk descend upon the National Elk Refuge and surrounding Bridger-Teton National Forest and Grand Teton National Park lands in northwest Wyoming (as well as thousands of tourists to ride in sleighs drawn by sturdy horses to view them, but cougars generally steer clear of the tourists). Recent winter elk counts in the area number around 11,500 animals. This boon in prey numbers for local mountain lions coincides with the migration of mule deer out of our study area into the flat lands surrounding Jackson, WY and further south. Thus, it is not surprising that cougars here switch their focus from deer to elk with the Christmas season.
Cougar populations across North and South America are primarily non-migratory and hunt non-migratory prey. Nevertheless, where mule deer exhibit seasonal migrations, some cougars follow, exhibiting seasonal ranges themselves; other cougars remain in winter deer range through the summer, where deer persist, but at lesser numbers (Pierce et al. 1999, Cooley et al. 2008). In contrast, cougars here remain relatively stationary as ungulates migrate across the Southern Yellowstone Ecosystem, and kill different prey in different habitats in different seasons.
As they hunt through the year, mountain lions in the Southern Yellowstone Ecosystem also distribute a wealth in carcasses for scavengers, decomposers and floral communities, in more diverse locations than they would if ungulates didn't come and go. Thus ungulate migrations in the Southern Yellowstone Ecosystem are not just vital to the dynamic health of the area, but a cornerstone piece needed to understand why local cougars do what they do throughout the year.
For those who are interested, click here to read our research paper on this subject. And please follow our work on Facebook.
Pierce BM, Bleich VC, Wehausen JD, Bowyer RT (1999) Migratory patterns of mountain lions: implications for social regulation and conservation. J Mamm 80: 986-992.
Cooley HS, Robinson HS, Wielgus RB, Lambert CS (2008) Cougar prey selection in a white-tailed deer and mule deer community. J Wildl Manage 72: 99-106.


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Altona Mennonite Church (Altona, Manitoba, Canada)
The Altona Mennonite Church was organized in 1962, under the leadership of Frank H. Epp. The The congregation originated through division from the Altona Bergthaler Mennonite Church over a desire to use the English language in a smaller worshiping group. There were 22 charter members. The first building was occupied in 1964, with a subsequent building program in 1996.
267 8th Ave. NE, Altona, MB, R0G 0B0. (204) 324-6773. Minister Gordon Driedger served in 2000 as salaried congregational leaders. In 1965 there were 59 members; in 1975, 80; in 1985, 112; in 1995, 107; in 2000, 122; in 2008, 120. The congregation affiliated with the Conference of Mennonites in Manitoba/Mennonite Church Manitoba in 1962, the Conference of Mennonites in Canada/ Mennonite Church Canada in 1963, and the General Conference Mennonite Church in 1965. The language of worship is English; the language transition from German occurred in the 1960s.
Mennonite Reporter (May 15, 1978): 11, (Nov. 25, 1996): 13.
Epp-Tiessen, Esther. Altona: The Story of a Prairie Town. 1982.
Friesen, Ted. Altona Mennonite Church 25th anniversary, 1962-1987. 1987, 171 pp.
Additional Information
Address: 287 - 8th Ave NE, Altona, MB
Phone: 204-324-6773
Website: Altona Mennonite Church
Denominational Affiliations:
|Marlene Epp
|Date Published
|January 1989
Cite This Article
MLA style
Epp, Marlene. "Altona Mennonite Church (Altona, Manitoba, Canada)." Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. January 1989. Web. 10 Jul 2020. https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Altona_Mennonite_Church_(Altona,_Manitoba,_Canada)&oldid=164080.
APA style
Epp, Marlene. (January 1989). Altona Mennonite Church (Altona, Manitoba, Canada). Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. Retrieved 10 July 2020, from https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Altona_Mennonite_Church_(Altona,_Manitoba,_Canada)&oldid=164080.
©1996-2020 by the Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. All rights reserved.

subset: commoncrawl


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Don't have Netflix,but for those who have and have viewed this new version of this Iconic 60's TV Series,what do you think about this new version?
Seen the adverts,but I just can't get past any other version of the original Robot.And his partner in comedy,Dr Smith(Jonathan Harris).
Still,imitating That mightn't be so flattering.
Lost In Space
Join the chat in this forum to discuss less serious topics.
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Re: Lost In Space
And I thought this was going to be a thread about EFC...
Re: Lost In Space
In the not so serious section?
Surely you can't be serious!
Surely you can't be serious!
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Friday evening marked the opening night of the American Bus
Association Marketplace in Chicago, Chicago is a City committed to tourism and
the restaurant, hospitality and retail industry has learned the importance of
bus and travel coach visitors to Chicago. On Friday night, the Greater North
Michigan Avenue Association hosted a dine around for 180 key travel
professionals, who were first treated to a trolley ride up Michigan Avenue where
they stopped at a number of key businesees. Then it was on to NBC Tower for a
"Taste of Michigan Avenue", followed by the incredible Ron Hawking performing in
the beautiful "His Way" Theatre right in the NBC Studio ( a story about the
theatre follows)>
Our thanks to Art Norm of NBC 5 for representing NBC at the event.
Art is a great Eli's fan and a consummate Chicagoan. His segment "Art Norman's
Chicago" is a great way to get a behind the scenes view of the City.
Welcome to the beautiful HIS WAY
Theater at NBC Tower, home to Ron Hawking in His Way – A Tribute
to the Man and His Music. The theater is most likely a very new experience –
part musical theater, part behind-the-scenes tour of a real working TV Studio,
and part old-fashioned fun! We hope to dazzle your senses and make your evening
one of Chicago's favorite entertainment experiences. In reality, a live theater
inside of a TV studio is – we believe… the first of a kind. Anywhere. We refer
to the theater as our home because it truly is home for a show that has
journeyed in search of the perfect venue to call its very own.
The realization of the HIS WAY
Theater in the spectacular confines of the NBC Tower began on a humorous note in
the summer of 2002 during our five-month-long SRO engagement in suburban
Arlington Heights, IL. Amid all the rave reviews, we really knew we had one of
the hottest tickets in town when one evening local police asked us "what are you
going to do about the people scalping tickets outside the theater?"
Our immediate reaction?
"Alert the media!!" (Trust us when we
say the officer didn't find this tongue-in-cheek response all that
This was a good problem to have! It
just reinforced what we already knew: the show was a hit – the most unique and
exciting evening of entertainment anywhere in the city, a show that could enjoy
a very, very long run in Chicago. However, since the venue was already committed
to a full schedule of other productions, we needed to take the show elsewhere.
But where?
If only we had our own home
During this same time, we considered
a serious opportunity to "take the show on the road – to Broadway – to the big
time." Similar offers had been presented before, and this particular offer
nearly became a reality.
But something just didn't feel
completely right.
If only we had our own home
We then conceded what we had known
for so long in our hearts – that Chicago IS the big time, an entertainment
capital and world-class city second to none. More importantly, it's the city we
proudly call home. There simply was no city that could give the show more heart,
more excitement, more integrity than sweet home Chicago.
And Chicago was also of course, Frank
Sinatra's kind of town.
The answer became clear – we needed
to find our own theatre once and for all! Our own home where night after night
Ron could be "the musical messenger", singing and swinging the amazing Sinatra
songbook with all of his God-given talent while helping fans escape and leave
their worries behind for a few hours.
Our ultimate goal – in reality –
became pretty clear: to help people feel good.
Be Happy. Feel
We then set off in search of the
perfect location, where we could create the ultimate entertainment experience,
an evening that would not only be a favorite of Chicagoans, but also a powerful
attraction and destination point for out-of-towners and visitors who wanted a
taste of what sophisticated Chicago nightlife truly is.
We were determined that our show find
a home in downtown Chicago, in the heart of the glamour and the glitz
that gives the city its soul. Downtown Chicago, Michigan Avenue – destination
points that we knew we had to be a part of. We wanted a theater that was close
to restaurants, parking, hotels and transportation so that Chicagoans as well as
visitors to our great city could easily enjoy a complete night out on the
After considering various locations
and visiting dozens of commercial spaces, we still had not identified the ideal
setting. We were certain that this show deserved the best, and we kept ALL of
our options open and through grandiose creative thoughts.
Then, a very "out-of-the-box" idea
struck like lightning.
Why not approach some of the local TV
station in town about renting some of their studio space? While not a
traditional commercial theatre space, they had everything we needed: location,
square footage, lighting, sound reinforcement, talented set designers, an
extremely unique place to visit, etc. And we had something they needed; a great
show they could be proud to be affiliated with and live audiences in search of
somewhere to visit during weekend evenings – when the studios were not being
used! Perhaps some forward thinking TV executive might realize they could turn
their studio into a seven day-a-week operation and welcome visitors into "their
home". Ultimately, we could create and design our dream home theatre… without
all the bricks and mortar!
We approached NBC, and the rest, as
they say…is history. Immediately, NBC executives embraced the idea and welcomed
us with open arms.
We're confident we've found our ideal
location in this 5,000-square-foot TV studio. With just over 300 seats, we had a
strong vision of what the showroom needed to be: a throwback to the legendary
Copa Room at the Sands Hotel in Las Vegas. We wanted to capture the
sophistication and elegance of that era of entertainment. Featuring ringside
cabaret table seating, romantic love seats (our own lover's lane!), VIP boxes,
dramatic on-stage table seating, high-back, tufted leather VIP booths and 190
beautiful, crushed red velvet theatre seats that once graced the Kennedy Center
in Washington, D.C. (it is believed Jacqueline Kennedy was involved in the
selection of these chairs), we offer plenty of unique choices and something for
With an elegant nod to Art Deco and a
distinctive throwback to the style of a glamorous era, the room became all that
we envisioned and more. The wonderfully versatile theatre proudly boasts
state-of-the-art sound and video systems as well as complete video capability
for television broadcasts and tapings. We have the capability for unlimited
creativity and the ability to host world-renowned entertainers, live broadcasts,
special events and ceremonies and private parties. Musically and technically the
theatre knows no bounds.
It is, truly,
Best of all… we have our OWN home
We wanted to share the story of our
new home with you, our audience, because we want you to feel at home when you
are here. We want you to feel that our intimate showroom, like a warm and cozy
home, is a place you want to visit time and time again. Sit back, enjoy a
cocktail or two and let the music take you away to a time not so long ago when
music was big and brassy, and the fabulous, tuxedo-clad crooner in the spotlight
made all your cares disappear.
Be Happy. Feel


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Another day, another batch of blurry set photos featuring some of your favorite barely recognizable stars. Today, we have our first look at Kick-Ass 2 star Christopher Mintz-Plasse in costume as The Motherfucker. He doesn't appear to be dressed in the same black-and-orange duds we saw him in at the end of Kick-Ass, but it's hard to get a decent look in these lo-res images. We've also got first looks at Michael Fassbender and Javier Bardem in Ridley Scott's The Counselor. I didn't think it possible, but Bardem looks even stranger here than he does in Skyfall. Maybe it's just the pocket-fan. Hit the jump to check out the set photos.
Director Jeff Wadlow's Kick-Ass 2 introduces a host of new superheroes and reunites us with our favorites from the original. The set photos come courtesy of CBM. The Counselor, written by none other than Cormac McCarthy, centers on an attorney (Fassbender) who gets in over his head with a drug dealer (Bardem). Photos via Just Jared. Check them out below:


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Referral Center
Make an Appointment (706) 721-6744
Visit augustahealth.org
Step 1: Consult
On your first day, you will come in for a consult with your doctor. A radiation oncology nurse will take you into an exam room and check your vital signs (Blood Pressure, Temperature, Pulse) and weight. The radiation oncologist will do a quick examination. Once you have had a consultation with your respective doctor and he/she has given you the necessary information about your specific cancer, the basic plan of action on how your treatment will be approached, and discussed possible side-effects of your radiation treatment, you will have a time set up to get a CT scan.
Step 2: CT scan
The CT scan will give the treatment team a 3D rendering of the patient's internal anatomy. This scan will be used by our planning department and doctors to create your specialized treatment plan. On the day of your appointment, a therapist will come and get you and show you to the CT room. You will be assisted on the CT table by the therapist and straightened to ensure that your body is aligned on the table. You will be placed in the same position that you are to be treated in on a daily basis.
This will include sitting in a reclined position with the arm on the effected side raised above your head. The arm needs to be in the same position everyday for your treatments. Achieving this includes making a device called a VacLok. The VacLok originally starts out with the consistency and flexibility of a beanbag chair. The VacLok will be formed around your elbow, and then, all of the air will be vacuumed out of it to form a hard mold of your arm. The mold will be used everyday to ensure that you are in the same position. After the VacLok is made, you will be scanned once to ensure that your internal anatomy is indeed aligned. When the therapist determines that you are aligned properly you will be ready for the actual CT scan.
Lasers will be used for the therapist to mark crosshairs on your skin, and "BB's" will be placed over these marks so that their location can be seen on the CT scan. Next, the scan will be performed. The CT table will move through the scanner. At this point you will not feel anything and nothing will actually touch you. The room is mounted with cameras and audio equipment so that the therapist can see and hear you at all times should you need anything. All you need to do at this point is to remain as still and relaxed as much as possible. After the scan is complete, it will be sent to Varian Eclipse Planning System for our dosimetrists and physicians to create your individualized treatment plan. You will be assisted off the CT table and given an appointment time for your first treatment, if one has already been determined, if one has not, the clinic will call you with more information and an appointment time when your plan has been completed.
Step 3: Treatment Planning
The scanned information is sent to the dosimetry planning department as soon as it is completed so that your site specific radiation therapy treatment plan can be made. The planning process can take up to a week. When the team has completed your plan, you will be assigned to a treatment room and given an initial "start" appointment.
Step 4: Your Treatment
Your first appointment will take a little longer than the rest of your treatments. You will be taken to a treatment room. Once in the room, you will get in the same position that you were in during your CT scan. The table will be raised, and you will then be aligned to the crosshairs that were marked on your skin. While trying to get you aligned, the therapists will be moving you around. You should relax, "lay heavy", and let the therapist do all the moving. At this point, shifts will be made from these marks based on what the dosimetry team has planned for you. Once shifts have been made, radiographic images will be taken to ensure that you are aligned according to your plan and will be checked by your oncology physician before any actual radiation treatment is administered. It should be noted that films taken in the treatment room are used for set up and localizing specific anatomy and do not show a progression or digression of your disease. Once these images are approved by the physician, your skin will be remarked and you will then receive your first treatment. The machine will rotate to different angles based on your treatment plan. During your treatment, you will not feel the radiation, however, you will hear the machine buzzing.
Step 5: Tattooing
After completing your first treatment, permanent marks, or tattoos, will be made on your skin. This involves placing a drop of ink on the skin and using a tiny lancet to make the marks. These tiny permanent marks allow the Radiation Therapists to ensure consistency in your daily set-up. They also allow you, the patient, the freedom to shower or bathe without the worry of maintaining ink marks and tape on your skin.
Step 6: Photograph
After the permanent marks have been made, a photograph of your treatment set up will be taken for the clinic's records. This is to ensure that your treatment set up will be consistent should a different therapist need to treat you at a later date.
Step 7: Scheduling
Since this will be the room where you receive your daily treatments, you will discuss a daily treatment time with your radiation therapist. Available time slots will vary depending on your treatment room's schedule. The decided treatment time will be consistent throughout your treatment regimen. Treatments are given Monday through Friday- you will not have to come for treatment on Saturday or Sunday.
Step 8: Weekly Follow-up
After your first week of treatment, every Monday you will visit with a physician. This is a time when you can talk to the doctor about any concerns or side-effects you may be experiencing.
Hours: Mon-Fri 7:30am-5:30pmMore contact info


text:
Arizona police say a pregnant woman ran over her husband with the family car because she was angry he didn't vote. KPNX's Oralia Ortega reports.
An Arizona woman, in despair at the re-election of Democratic President Barack Obama, ran down her husband with the family car in suburban Phoenix on Saturday because he failed to vote in the election, police said on Monday.
Holly Solomon, 28, was arrested after running over husband Daniel Solomon following a wild chase that left him pinned underneath the vehicle.
Daniel Solomon, 36, was in critical condition at a local hospital, but is expected to survive, Gilbert police spokesman Sergeant Jesse Sanger said.
Police said Daniel Solomon told them his wife became angry over his "lack of voter participation" in last Tuesday's presidential election and believed her family would face hardship as a result of Obama winning another term.
Witnesses reported the argument broke out on Saturday morning in a parking lot and escalated. Holly Solomon then chased her husband around the lot with the car, yelling at him as he tried to hide behind a light pole, police said. He was struck after attempting to flee to a nearby street.
Obama won the national election with 332 electoral votes compared with 206 for Republican challenger Mitt Romney. Arizona's 11 electoral votes were won by Romney.
More content from NBCNews.com:
- Jill Kelley: The woman at the heart of a scandal
- FBI agent sent shirtless photos to Kelley, officials say
- ISAF commander Gen. John Allen under investigation over 'inappropriate' emails
- Video: Pregnant wife runs over spouse for not voting, police say
- Hearing loss the most prevalent injury among returning veterans
Follow US news from NBCNews.com on Twitter and Facebook


text:
Additional model number variants: 110.77985210, 110 77985210, 77985
Documentation Location Service:
Kenmore 29-inch Gas Dryer 11077985210 Service Manual
Fee: $ 9.95
Looking for an Owner's Manual / User Guide? It is most likely available but not listed yet. Send us a message and we will look it up for you.
Kenmore 29-inch Gas Dryer 11077985210 Service Manual
|PDF Document
Fee: $ 9.95
Looking for an Owner's Manual / User Guide? It is most likely available but not listed yet. Send us a message and we will look it up for you.
Did you know that many appliances bearing the same name are produced by different manufacturers? For example, a lot of Kenmore dishwashers are made by Whirlpool and Frigidaire, while certain Maytag washers were produced by Samsung.
Service and repair manuals often refer to the original base model before it was rebranded.
Service and repair manuals often refer to the original base model before it was rebranded.
Service Manual Contents
- Theory of Operation
- Cycle Description
- Component Access
- Parts Removal
- Troubleshooting and Diagnosis
- Error Codes
- Wiring Diagram
- Tech Tips
Document Retrieval:
Already paid? Retrieve your documentation here.
After your payment is complete you will be redirected to the document retrieval section.
Parts List & Diagrams:
Most modern browsers and operating systems are able to display PDF documents. If you operate an older device, you will need Adobe Acrobat Reader to view these documents. Adobe Acrobat Reader is available as a free download.
Customer Reviews:
Do you own this unit? Please describe repair issue you are having.
Kenmore 29-inch Gas Dryer 11077985210 Drum Capacity
Dryer Drum Capacity as per Manufacturer Specifications (in cubic feet):
The manufacturers began using cubic feet capacity numbers only recently. Previously, they used relative terms such as "Large" or "Extra Capacity" or laundry weight (e.g. "16 lbs per load") which did not take into account different fabric weight and volume. Even dryers available today do not have capacity written in the manual because the same manual can be used across multiple models. Once the model is no longer sold, the sales literature is discarded and capacity information often lost.
Analyzing dryers and their components, searching through old technical information and sales literature, and determining their capacity is a labor intensive and time-consuming task and we are far from finished. A small charge will help us continue our research.
Consider this: if you were to spend more than few minutes looking for dryer capacity on the internet, you would be earning LESS than minimum wage.
Calculate Gas Dryer Drum capacity
This is a geometric method to calculate drum capacity based on the cylinder volume formula. Unfortunately, the value could be as much as 25% off from the manufacturer stated capacity.
Why? Because a drum is not exactly a cylinder. The edge where bottom connected to the wall is not at 90 degree angle but smooth and rounded. The end of the drum is not clearly marked and the back is not always flat. Finally, there are baffles inside the drum used for tumbling clothes.
This method can be used as a crude estimate but we do not recommend using it for comparisson when shopping for a new dryer.
To determine your gas dryer drum capacity please take two simple measurements:
1. Use the ruler to measure the depth of the drum (indicated by the red line on the diagram)
2. Now find the distance accross the drum, the diameter (the green line on the diagram). Do not confuse the size of the the door opening with the size of the drum. In this case make the measurements INSIDE the drum.
Solution:Dryer Drum Depth: in. Dryer Drum Diameter: in.
Answer:The Kenmore 29-inch Gas Dryer 11077985210 drum capacity is cubic feet.
Make sure to use the manufacturer's part number when ordering a replacement.
Part list and Diagrams
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text:
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text:
Prime Minister Julia Gillard has called on social media giant Twitter to sign up to new guidelines for dealing with complaints on social networking sites.
On Wednesday, Ms Gillard announced that companies such as Facebook, Google (YouTube), Yahoo! and Microsoft had signed up to a new federal government protocol that commits them to ''robust'' processes for looking at and acting on complaints, clear guidelines for users about acceptable behaviour online and education and awareness campaigns.
''I think we all know what it feels like to be in a room of people, perhaps you can remember back to a day in your school days, when you felt humiliated in front of the classroom or in front of your sporting team and that happened in front of 10, 20, 30 other people,'' Ms Gillard said in Sydney.
''Many people are living with the feeling of humiliation in front of thousands, indeed, tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands, of people because of the way that these social media environments work.''
The voluntary and non-binding protocol was developed in response to recommendations of a 2011 parliamentary committee report on cyber-safety and comes as Ms Gillard announced a new schools education program to combat cyber-bullying.
Ms Gillard called the protocol a ''step forward'' by ''giants'' of social media, but added a further step was needed.
''We need to see Twitter also agreeing to use these protocols and guidelines, because it is on Twitter that so much of the damage has been done by trolls ... I do call on Twitter to replicate what has been done by other major social media companies and embrace these guidelines,'' she said.
Last year, following incidents like the Twitter trolling of TV presenter Charlotte Dawson, Communications Minister Stephen Conroy accused Twitter of treating Australia's laws with contempt over its failure to hand over evidence to authorities investigating cyber abuse.
Fairfax Media has attempted to contact the US-based company.
Judith Ireland is a political reporter for the Sydney Morning Herald and The Age, based at Parliament House


text:
Library Closed in Observance of Independence Day
|Mon, Jul 13
|9:00AM to 9:00PM
|Tue, Jul 14
|9:00AM to 9:00PM
|Wed, Jul 15
|9:00AM to 9:00PM
|Thu, Jul 16
|9:00AM to 9:00PM
|Fri, Jul 17
|9:00AM to 7:00PM
|Sat, Jul 18
|9:00AM to 5:00PM
|Sun, Jul 19
|1:00PM to 5:00PM
The District currently includes 59,000 people. Half of them live in the Village of Niles in the southern half of the District. The north half of the District includes unincorporated Des Plaines and Glenview.


text:
Earlier in the week, we asked our staff, some of our MAKE contributors, and you, dear reader, to share some maker tips and words of wisdom from your dads and granddads. Leatherman even sponsored a giveaway and we gave four of their awesome SuperTool 300s to participants selected in a drawing. We got a lot of great contributions, stellar words of dad-ish wisdom, filled with practical ingenuity, good humor, and garage philosophy as only dad can brew it up. Probably our favorites were from Photo Editor Sam Murphy's dad: "If you ever have to shoot someone, make sure you empty the gun. That makes it look like you were scared" (Okay… thanks, dad. Good to know), and from staff writer, Brookelynn Morris' pops: "If you get in trouble when you are diving for abalone, drop your weight belt. It will be right where you left it at the bottom of the ocean when you go back to find it."
We've divided some of the best tips we collected into categories: General Tips (2), General Tips (Practical) (3), Repair and Maintenance (4), and Tool Tips (5). Click on the numbers below to view the categories. And do read through the initial conversation. We got nearly 140 responses. Many thanks to all who contributed and to the dads and granddads for sharing your ideas, your experiences, and your fatherly wisdom with us.
All love and appreciation from your sons and daughters at MAKE. Happy Father's Day.


text:
Energy companies crowd list of top revenue generators
Energy companies sit at the top, though growth has throttled back this year
Click here to see the top Houston-area companies by revenue.
Refineries, pipelines and petrochemical companies ranked among the all-stars of 2012 among public companies.
The energy sector accounted for 18 of the top 20 revenue generators in Houston, with ConocoPhillips still bringing in nearly $58 billion in revenue, even after the spinoff of its refining division.
"The list is dominated by energy and energy services companies," said Patrick Jankowski, vice president of research for the Greater Houston Partnership. "Four out of five publicly traded companies are in the energy game, which has been true of Houston for the last 20 years. This has been an energy town for the last 100 years, and it probably will be for the next 100 years."
17 percent growth
Public companies listed in the Chronicle's top 100 list increased their revenue by an average of 17 percent last year, said Latha Ramchand, dean of the C.T. Bauer College of Business at the University of Houston. She said that was a slower growth rate than the 30 percent average among the top 100 in 2011.
This lower growth rate correlates with relatively stable West Texas Intermediate oil prices, which have hovered around $95, Jankowski said.
"If you go back and look at the 1990s, we had oil prices that were $20, and the economy still grew - it's just that the economy grows faster when the prices are high," said Jankowski, explaining that the Houston economy generates about 60,000 jobs a year when oil and gas prices are stable, and about 90,000 jobs a year when prices are rising.
"Prices are now leveling off. That is when we are going to return to our normal rate of growth."
Jankowski also expects that any rise in natural gas prices will lead to healthier cash positions for some of the exploration companies, which will in turn increase the capital investments these companies make in drilling.
Business climate
Food distributor Sysco Corp. and waste disposal and recycling company Waste Management remained among the top 20 companies, indicative of the favorable business climate that continues to make Houston a desirable headquarters location.
"When the energy bust hit in Houston (in the 1980s), we had a collapse in real estate prices, but that bust also created the forces of our own healing," said Barton Smith, professor emeritus of economics at UH. "Companies were able to buy office space at a third of its replacement value. That was very attractive to firms considering coming to Houston."
Low overhead costs led to the creation of about 400 businesses each month in Houston during this time, which helped increase the non-energy sector to make up about half of Houston's economic base - a huge increase from about 20 per- cent in the early 1980s.
"Many of these companies were not just another Mexican restaurant," Smith said. "They are producing goods and services for export outside of the region and are part of our economic base."
Pipeline growth
Excess supply of unconventional oil in new plays helped both pipeline companies and refiners, which benefited from stable oil prices. The growth in the demand for pipeline infrastructure allowed midstream companies like Kinder Morgan and Plains All American Pipeline to further expand their networks, resulting in additional revenue.
"These pipeline companies are building and buying midstream assets at a torrid pace, and they aren't going to slow down," said Hinds Howard, chief investment officer with Guzman Investment Strategies. "I expect to see one of the three largest pipeline operators take over the top spot in the next few years."
Larger margins
Refineries benefited from domestic inland crude oil prices that continued to be lower than international prices, resulting in larger refining profit margins in 2012. For example, CVR Energy, a Sugar Land-based company that owns two Midwest refineries, boosted revenue to $8.6 billion, from $5 billion in 2011, benefiting from both increased efficiencies and the relatively cheap price of West Texas Intermediate crude.
Two sides to low prices
Independent exploration and production companies like Anadarko Petroleum Corp. and EOG Resources benefited from stable oil prices but took a hit from low natural gas prices, which averaged about $2.75 per million British thermal units for 2012, and accounted for a nearly 60 percent drop in profits for oil and gas companies, according to an Ernst & Young study.
The low natural gas prices, however, are also driving a historic boom in the petrochemicals business, which will benefit the Port of Houston and generate hundreds of new jobs, Smith said.
"Low natural gas prices are on the verge of creating a renewed growth in downstream energy we haven't seen in a long time," Smith said. "Companies are building billion-dollar plants to produce polyethylene for plastics. Natural gas is the main input for that process, and it will help reinforce Houston as the center for the energy industry as a whole."


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Sept 18, 2012 – Nigerian Lady, Wunmi Adebayo Murdered By Her Armed Robber Boyfriend
To those who do not know her, the late Wunmi Adebayo was a 200 level student of Tai Solarin University in Ogun State, Nigeria in her lifetime. naijagists.com
She's a popular girl of the town who's known to be dating a rich guy but unknown to her, the guy she's dating is a notorious armed robber who operates mainly at night.
On Sunday September 9, 2012, Wunmi barged into her boyfriend's house and to her surprise she saw him and his friends celebrating with guns.
As she tries to make her escape, she was grabbed, raped and shot to death.
This happened at Golden Estate in Ijebu Ode, Ogun State, Nigeria.
Her boyfriend later claimed armed robbers who visited his house killed her.
The news of Wunmi Adebayo's death quickly went viral online and offline with the claim she was killed by some robbers at her boyfriend's house.
Few days ago, a new twist to the story surfaced.
We learnt her boyfriend has confessed to the Police that he killed her.
According to a source, Wunmi's parent who found the story suspicious invoked her spirit to torment her killer.
Invocation of spirits is a common practice in many parts of Nigeria especially if the death of a person is suspicious.
After the invocation ritual, the spirit of the deceased will then torment the killer until he or she confesses.
So he confessed to the police. According to him, he is an armed robber unknown to Wunmi. Wunmi came to his house that day, barged in and met him and his friends celebrating with guns on their table.
She tried to run back, but they caught her, beat her, and raped her before they finally shot her.
He said he had to do that so that Wunmi won't tell anyone what she saw.
Warning to all ladies: Be careful who you go out with.
Not all that glitters is gold
May her soul rest in perfect peace.


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For the second consecutive year, Bemidji State University has been named one of America's greenest colleges and universities by The Princeton Review.
The publication's Guide to 322 Green Colleges, just released, evaluates colleges and universities on environmentally related policies, practices and academic offerings. In partnership with the U.S. Green Building Council, the Review has produced lists of America's green colleges since 2011. The Guide to 322 Green Colleges is an alphabetized list of schools that meet the Review's guidelines for being green and provides no ranking of any kind.
Environmental stewardship has long been a signature theme at Bemidji State University, which has employed a full-time sustainability officer since 2008. That same year, the University became a signatory of the University Presidents Climate Commitment, joining the effort to make college campuses carbon-neutral. Also, BSU students pay a voluntary "green fee" of $5 per semester, which helps fund environmental stewardship, awareness and education activities on campus.
"The students, faculty, and staff at Bemidji State are really starting to play a lead role in making our campus more sustainable," said Sustainability Officer Ericka Bailey-Johnson. "So many of our initiatives now are coming from all across campus, and not just from the Sustainability Office. Just this semester, Student Senate has passed seven bills directly related to sustainability projects."
In the 2012 guide, The Princeton Review noted Bemidji State for its green fee; its aquatic biology, environmental studies and education programs; its status as a Presidents Climate Commitment signatory; its active Students for the Environment club; and its requirement that all students take a People in the Environment course in order to earn a degree. The magazine also recognized the University's efforts to encourage sustainable water usage through tap-water stations and use of reusable bottles to minimize use of bottled water.
Bemidji State participates in a variety of annual energy-savings challenges. A student-driven "Do It In the Dark" effort in the fall is an annual competition among residence halls to see which can attain the greatest energy reduction, and in the spring the University participates in the Minnesota Campus Energy Challenge, an energy-reduction competition among Minnesota colleges and universities. Bemidji State won the Campus Energy Challenge in 2009 and 2010.
In the past year, the Sustainability Office has also undertaken a solar-transpired air study to explore use of solar air heaters for buildings on campus; installed ReRev equipment on elliptical machines to convert their energy output into useable electricity; installed a ColdTub in the athletic training room to eliminate the need for ice in cold-water therapy for student athletes; founded a campus community garden; started a bike-leasing program for students called Bucky's Bikes; and started a FreeStore on campus for students to donate unwanted items for other students to use rather than throwing them away.
The Princeton Review takes a quantitative and qualitative look at sustainability efforts it has identified as most important to students: whether students have a campus quality of life that is both healthy and sustainable; how well a school is preparing students for employment in the green economy; and how environmentally responsible a school's policies are. The Review invited 2,000 schools to take its survey in order to come up with the 322 profiled in the guide.
The Review compiles and analyzes data from 10 survey questions to judge colleges and universities included on the list:
• The percentage of food expenditures that goes toward local, organic or otherwise environmentally preferable food.
• Whether a school offers programs including free bus passes, universal-access transit passes, bike sharing or renting, car sharing, carpool parking, vanpooling or guaranteed rides home to encourage alternatives to single-passenger automobile use for students.
• Whether a school has a formal committee with participation from students that is devoted to advancing sustainability on campus.
• Whether new buildings are required to be certified LEED Silver.
• The school's overall waste-diversion rate.
• Whether the school has an environmental studies major, minor or concentration.
• Whether the school has an "environmental literacy" requirement.
• Whether the school has produced a publicly available greenhouse gas emissions inventory and adopted a climate action plan consistent with 80 percent greenhouse gas reductions by 2050 targets.
• What percentage of the school's energy consumption, including heating, cooling and electrical, is derived from renewable sources (this definition included "green tags" but not nuclear or large-scale hydropower).
• Whether the school employs a dedicated full-time (or full-time equivalent) sustainability officer.
For more information, contact Erika Bailey-Johnson, Bemidji State University sustainability coordinator, at (218) 755-2560.


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Previous Lecture
Complete and continue
React Native School Membership
Navigating React Native School
Slack Community
Bundled Courses
Deep Linking with React Navigation v5
Localization: How to Support Multiple Languages
Understanding Context
Master React Navigation V5
Test React Native Apps with React Native Testing Library
Publishing a React Native App to the App Store
Over-the-Air Updates with CodePush
Build Offline Capable React Native Apps
How to Debug React Native Apps in Development and Production
Building a Component Library with Storybook
Building and Validating Forms with Formik & Yup
Uploading Images in React Native
How to Set up a New React Native Project
Building an Animation Hook in React Native
How to Animate the Items of a React Native FlatList
Playing with React Native Animations
React Native Animated Answer Bar
Improved Form Error Messages using React Native Animatable and Hooks (8:33)
How to Use React Native Calendar (12:07)
Easily Manage Different Environment Configurations in React Native
Managing Configuration in React Native
Using Context to Build a Light/Dark Theme (18:02)
Migrating from Redux to the New React Context API
Migrating from the Old to New React Context API
Core APIs
React Native Basics: Copy to Clipboard
React Native Basics: Geolocation
Intro to Styling in React Native
Layout with Flexbox - React Native Basics
Install and Use Reactotron for Debugging
Intro to Debugging React Native (iOS and Android)
Best Practices for Capturing User Feedback in React Native
Deep Linking
Handling Deep Links with React Navigation
Setup Continuous Integration with React Native
Understanding React Native Deployments
Checklist to Deploy React Native to Production
Tools and Services used in a Production React Native + Meteor App
Preparing a React Native Android App for Production
React Native + CodePush
CodePush Strategy for Beta Testing (10:51)
Developer Experience
Configure Visual Studio Code for React Native Development
Create React Native App + React Native Debugger
React Native Project Git Workflow
Breaking Down React Native v0.60
React Native vs. Flutter - Which to Choose?
Breaking an Interface into Components
How to Organize Your Components
How 💩 dad jokes helped me better understand immutable data
How to Become a React Native Developer in 2018
How to Hire React Native Developers & Find React Native jobs
How to Get Started with React Native
The Easiest Way to Learn React Native
My Process for Building a Cross Platform React Native Component
Organizing a React Native Project
Blueprint to becoming a React Native Developer
Sharing Code between Android and iOS in React Native
App Development Preplanning: Data and Requirements
Build a Cross Platform Button in React Native
Essentials Guides
JavaScript Essentials
React (Native) Essentials
Apollo Setup Kickstart (16:15)
Building a Dimensions Hook in React Native
Migrating from Component State to Hooks for a Fetch Request
How to Upload Images in a React Native App
Progressive Image Loading in React Native
Animated Image Overlay in React Native
How to use the Image Component - React Native Basics
Fade in an Image with React Native with the Animated API
Easily Build Forms in React Native
Detect Multiple Touches in React Native with the Gesture Responder System
Implement a Long Press Button with React Native's Gesture Responder System
Instagram Style Double Tap with React Native
Intro to Gestures in React Native
Snapchat Interface in React Native
Pinch to Zoom Gesture (8:27)
Swipe Gestures with react-native-gesture-handler
A Brief Overview of ES6 for React Native Developers
How to make your React Native app respond gracefully when the keyboard pops up
Dismiss the Keyboard in React Native from Anywhere
Live Coding
Live React Native Development | April 2, 2019
Starting a New React Native Project | Live Coding
Adding Data to a React Native App | Live Coding
React Native + Meteor: react-native-meteor vs. meteor-client-bundler
Offline First React Native + Meteor Apps
Using Meteor as a Backend for Your Apps [Presentation]
Connecting React Native and Meteor
How I use React Native, Redux, and Meteor
Why Meteor is the Perfect Backend for React Native
React Native Meteor: Auth with Email, Username, and Password
React Native Meteor: OAuth with Facebook
Pub/Sub versus Methods in React Native Meteor
React Native Meteor FAQ
Google OAuth using Meteor and React Native
Password Hashing for Meteor React Native
Easily Connect React Native to a Meteor Server
Meteor Authentication from React Native
Building a Global Alert System in React Native
Fix Broken React Native Projects in Xcode 10
Building a React Native Multi-Theme Button
How to Rename A React Native App
React Conf 2017 Overview for the React Native Developer
iPhoneX Compatibility in React Native with SafeAreaView
Integrating React Navigation Back Button with a WebView
Complex Navigation Example with React Navigation
Easily Work on Deeply Nested Screens in React Native (8:31)
Setting up an Authentication Flow in React Native (10:05)
Navigating Navigation in React Native
Use Redux to Manage React Navigation State
Building an Authentication Flow with React Navigation
Getting Started with React Native Navigation V1
Replace a Screen Using React Navigation
Migrate from ExNavigation to React Navigation
Getting Started with React Navigation, the Navigation Solution for React Native
React Native Basics: Using react-native-router-flux
Use the SwitchNavigator in React Navigation for an Authentication Flow (React Native)
Exploring Navigators in React Native
Shared Element Transitions with React Navigation (11:27)
Handling Offline Actions in React Native
Building Offline First React Native Apps
Persistent Data
Migrating Data in AsyncStorage
Push Notifications
4 Questions to Ask When Choosing a Push Notification Provider for a React Native App
Handling Remote Push Notifications from OneSignal in React Native
React Native Push Notifications with OneSignal
How to Setup Push Notifications in React Native (iOS & Android)
React Native Firebase
Install React Native Firebase Core
Setting up your Redux Store
Release Prep
How to Add a Splash Screen to a React Native App (iOS and Android)
Scrolling (FlatList, ScrollView, ListView, etc.)
How to Use the SectionList Component
Enable Scroll in a React Native ScrollView Based on the Content Size
How to use the FlatList Component
React Native Basics: How to Use the ListView Component
How to Search a React Native FlatList
Enable Scroll in a React Native ScrollView Based on the Content Size
React Native FlatList Grid
Sum of Items in a React Native FlatList
Infinite Scroll with React Native FlatList
Pull to Refresh with React Native FlatList
Intro to Styled Components (15:25)
Test Driven Development with AsyncStorage (17:03)
Mocking Fetch API Calls When Using Jest
Component Testing with React Native Testing Library
React Native End to End Testing with Detox
Adding TypeScript to an Existing React Native Application
User Experience
Normalizing Text and Spacing Between Screen Sizes
Checklist to Deploy React Native to Production
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During my youth in the early 80's in Lima I remember walking to the farmers market across from my grandmas home and observed all the "carretillas" (produce carts) playing their small radios am/fm listening to Huayno (Andes Music) or Chicha (Peruvian Cumbia). In those times, Chicha wasn't my cup of tea but I was able to listen to it almost everyday, coming out of fruit vendors, emoliente carts, bodegas and the small rooms in every home that housed a maid. Most of the citizens of Lima are now families that migrated from the Andes region. Huayno is their main musical inclination since the day they are born. It's a tradition in every Andean city to have music roots and continue the tradition. As this families relocated to the capital, so does their music and traditions, norms and values. The changes are uplifted with new instruments and modern sounds which the capital shares with it's population. Chicha is born from the people, the artist are part of the general people that migrated to the capital there is no higher status within the population and the artist in the Chicha community. That is why its sounds is so true and pure, with no gimmicks nor false stories.
Los Jharis are that product of the migration to Lima. Their sounds and lyrics are part of the everyday life, about the families that left their lands and homes to live in the capital and seek a better future and work.
Guitarist Teo Laura who played with Peruvian bands, Los Blue King de Ñaña and Los Sander's, now plays with Los Jharis De Naña, is one of the rawest Chicha artist in the industry he is a product of that migration to Lima.
His guitar sounds are distinguish in the streets of Lima as "Cumbia Carretera" he is proclaimed to be the king of that Chicha style. And this LP confirms that title to Maestro Laura to us. Starting his musical career in 1973, with the band Los Blukins De Naña with the hit song "El Rey Loco" (The crazy king), then in 1975 he formed part of the band Los Sander De Naña with the songs "Si ya te vas" & "Quiero Emborracharme", then in 1982 he formed part of the band Costa Azul followed by Los Jharis De Naña during the same year.
The Carretera Cumbia or Carretera Style comes from Rock, Balada and Guaracha, it was born in 1972 during the years of Los Blukins De Naña (1st band), this style is born also the city of Naña carried by Pascualito and Teodoro Arellano which are singers from born in Naña.
Masstropicas continues its mission in preserving the roots of Peruvian dance artist from the genre that transcends feeling with its rhythmic power… It just gets in you, Cumbia, Chicha whatever we want to call it.
This LP was released in the 80's on cassette and now is pressed onto vinyl for your collection and listening pleasure. A sound that you'll need to experience sometime in your life. Mike P's vision of choosing the right releases, pushes us to continue to support an independent record label that strives to create awareness for a better overstanding a culture and it's people, which in some way has been forgotten, unappreciated and uncompensated by the new promoters of the "cumbia movement".
Learn your roots of Chicha with Masstropicas and listen to this LP by Los Jharis De Naña.
LP FOR SALE @ Light In The Attic Records Distribution <
Renz De Madrugada


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Passionate about his craft, Chef Greg Hozinsky uses seasonally inspired and locally grown ingredients to compliment his fresh and rustic culinary approach at The Strand House. He credits the progress of his career to his early discovery of his passion for cooking.
- Based on his deep respect for farm-fresh ingredients, Chef Greg was selected to be a member of the Norwegian Seafood Council's Culinary Board in 2014. He participated on a weeklong culinary enrichment trip to Norway where he was able to see the thriving seafood industry firsthand. Upon returning, he promoted Norwegian Salmon and Skrei on his menu, highlighting the unique attributes of each species.
- In 2012, he was named one of Zagat's "30 Under 30: LA's Hottest-Up-and-Comers."
- Greg started at The Strand House, in 2012, after three and a half years at Shade Hotel.
- A the age of 22, Greg became the Executive Chef at Shade Hotel in Manhattan Beach, a Zislis Group Property.
- Hozinsky became Chef de Cuisine at Frascati in Palos Verdes.
- He worked at Avenue in Manhattan Beach and was promoted to Sous Chef at the age of 21.
- He returned to his native Southern California for externships at the House of Blues Foundation Room and Valentino's in Santa Monica. He was also a private chef in Beverly Hills.
- He began working under Michael Mina at Aqua in San Francisco, CA.
- In 2003, Greg graduated from California Culinary Academy in San Francisco, CA.


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Heating Up the Covert Generational War
My latest book Social Security: A Fresh Look at Reform Alternatives (available here) argues that it's not just labor quantity — the number of employees who are accruing future Social Security benefits — that will determine the size of Social Security's future imbalances (and, incidentally, those of Medicare, and the size of deficits for all of government), but also the quality of that labor — the value of the work those employees are doing.
Declining labor quality (as experienced baby boomers retire) will reduce taxable payrolls faster than is being projected by the Social Security Administration and the Congressional Budget Office. The result is even more beneficiaries receiving Social Security checks, and lower‐wage workers who will be funding those checks.
In the book, I construct a detailed simulation of U.S. demographic and economic forces over the coming decades to estimate how much of a drag declining labor quality will exert on labor productivity, countering the effects of capital accumulation and technological advance.
Now James Heckman has coauthored a study suggesting that the same thing is happening in Europe, traceable in part to public policies promoting less use and low maintenance of worker skills through the early retirement incentives of their public pension, welfare, and health systems.
So it is quite clear how the developed world (Anglo‐Saxon and mainland Europe) will spiral downward. We'll all vote to "strengthen" social insurance systems (the U.S. health care "reform" this year being the latest example), only to further weaken incentives for the young to acquire skills, further erode the tax base, which in turn will promote the further "strengthening" of social insurance protections … and so on.
My old idea of a "covert generational war" is playing out before our very (but fully blind) eyes.
Two months ago, EU officials were even flirting with the idea of a cross‐country crisis insurance institution — a European Monetary Fund.
One ironic element in the ongoing European crisis: Remember how the EU's erstwhile Stability and Growth Pact included penalties on nations who exceeded the 3 percent fiscal deficit rule? Turns out, penalties must now be paid by the "successful" countries — mainly Germany and France — by coughing up the aid packages!


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Marilynn Marchione
On Facebook, he describes himself as a �wounded warrior...very wounded.�
Brendan Marrocco was the first soldier to survive losing all four limbs in the Iraq War, and doctors revealed Monday that he�s received a double-arm transplant.
Those new arms �already move a little,� he tweeted a month after the operation.
Marrocco, a 26-year-old New Yorker, was injured by a roadside bomb in 2009. He had the transplant Dec. 18 at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, his father said Monday.
Alex Marrocco said his son does not want to talk with reporters until a news conference today at the hospital, but the younger Marrocco has repeatedly mentioned the transplant on Twitter and posted photos.
�Ohh yeah today has been one month since my surgery and they already move a little,� Brendan Marrocco tweeted Jan. 18.
Responding to a tweet from NASCAR driver Brad Keselowski, he wrote: �dude I can�t tell you how exciting this is for me. I feel like I finally get to start over.�
The infantryman also received bone marrow from the same dead donor who supplied his new arms. That novel approach is aimed at helping his body accept the new limbs with minimal medication to prevent rejection.
The military sponsors operations like these to help wounded troops. About 300 have lost arms or hands in Iraq or Afghanistan.
Unlike a life-saving heart or liver transplant, limb transplants are aimed at improving quality of life, not extending it. Quality of life is a key concern for people missing arms and hands � prosthetics for those limbs are not as advanced as those for feet and legs.
�He was the first quad amputee to survive,� and there have been four others since then, Alex Marrocco said.
The Marroccos want to thank the donor�s family for �making a selfless decision ... making a difference in Brendan�s life,� the father said.
Brendan Marrocco has been in public many times. During a July 4 visit last year to the Sept. 11 Memorial with other disabled soldiers, he said he had no regrets about his military service.
�I wouldn�t change it in any way. ... I feel great. I�m still the same person,� he said.
The 13-hour operation was led by Dr. W.P. Andrew Lee, plastic surgery chief at Johns Hopkins. It was the seventh double-hand or double-arm transplant done in the United States.
Lee led three of those earlier operations when he worked at the University of Pittsburgh, including the only above-elbow transplant that had been done at the time, in 2010.
Marrocco�s �was the most complicated one� so far, Lee said in an interview Monday. It will take more than a year to know how fully Marrocco will be able to use the new arms.
�The maximum speed is an inch a month for nerve regeneration,� he explained. �We�re easily looking at a couple years� until the full extent of recovery is known.
While at Pittsburgh, Lee pioneered the immune-suppression approach used for Marrocco. The surgeon led hand-transplant operations on five patients, giving them marrow from their donors in addition to the new limbs. All five recipients have done well, and four have been able to take just one anti-rejection drug instead of combination treatments most transplant patients receive.
Minimizing anti-rejection drugs is important because they have side effects and raise the risk of cancer over the long term. Those risks have limited the willingness of surgeons and patients to do more hand, arm and even face transplants.
Lee has received funding for his work from AFIRM, the Armed Forces Institute of Regenerative Medicine, a cooperative research network of top hospitals and universities around the country that the government formed about five years ago. With government money, he and several other plastic surgeons around the country are preparing to do more face transplants.


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Local News
La Crosse Man To Prison For Crash
A La Crosse man has been sentenced to five years in prison for driving while impaired and causing a crash that killed his 22-year-old girlfriend.
Tyler Deal was sentenced in Marathon County Thursday after the victim's friends and family offered tearful testimony. The 22-year-old Deal lost control of his car and crashed into a utility pole in the town of Spencer in February 2012. Paige Delo, the mother of two young girls, died at the scene. Prosecutors say Deal was under the influence of alcohol and marijuana at the time of the crash.
Delo's father, Scott Delo, told the judge Deal's decision to driving while intoxicated caused unbearable pain for both families affected by the crash.
Deal will also serve nine years of extended supervision.


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Stuffed courgette rolls
Nutrition and extra info
- Vegetarian
- kcal49
- fat5g
- saturates1g
- carbs1g
- sugars1g
- fibre0g
- protein2g
- salt0.03g
- 4 small courgettes, ends trimmed
The courgette is a variety of cucurbit, which means it's from the same family as cucumber,…
- 3-4 tbsp olive oil, plus extra to drizzle
Olive oilol-iv oyl
Probably the most widely-used oil in cooking, olive oil is pressed from fresh olives. It's…
- 3-4 tbsp balsamic vinegar, to drizzle
Balsamic vinegarbal-sam-ick vin-ee-gah
True Balsamic vinegar is an artisan product from Modena, in Emilia Romagna, Italy, and is made…
- 250g tub ricotta
Ricotta is an Italian cheese made from whey and traditionally a by-product of…
- squeeze lemon juice
- handful fresh basil leaves, chopped
- 50g pine nut, toasted (see Know-how, below)
Slice the courgettes lengthways, using a swivel vegetable peeler – you'll need 24 long strips. Drizzle some of the olive oil and balsamic over two large plates and lay the strips flat, trying not to overlap. Sprinkle with more oil and balsamic, cover and leave to marinate in the fridge for at least 20 mins. Can be prepared up to 6 hrs ahead.
Mix the ricotta with lemon juice and seasoning to taste, then mix in the basil and pine nuts. Place 1 tsp of the ricotta mixture onto one end of a courgette strip and roll up. Repeat until you have used up all the filling. Arrange rolls upright on a plate and grind over some black pepper. Drizzle with a little more oil and balsamic vinegar to serve.
Recipe Tip
Gordon's know-howTo toast pine nuts, tip into a hot frying pan – no oil needed – for 2-3 mins, shaking the pan often until the kernels are golden all over. Tip onto a plate and leave to cool.


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Item Description
The voice of Kansas; let the South respond.
Author: Anderson, Joseph C.; Atchison, David R.; Boone, Albert G.; Buford, Jefferson ; Russell, William ; Stringfellow, B. F.
Date: June 24, 1856
The Law and Order Party made this appeal to southerners to provide support for the proslavery cause in Kansas, in the form of emigration, financial donations, and/or moral support. The text of the main portion of this pamphlet was written by David Atchison,William H. Russell, Joseph C. Anderson, A. G. Boone, B. J. Stringfellow, and J. Buford. A printed note at the end of the text was addressed to Col Jefferson Buford and encouraged him to go to the South to solicit support for the proslavery advocates in Western Missouri and Kansas Territory.
Location of Original: KSHS Call Number: CK 978.1 L41
Item Number: 102650 Number of images: 8
Keywords: Anderson, Joseph C.; Atchison, David Rice, 1807-1886; Boone, Albert G.; Buford, Jefferson; Law and Order Party; Proslavery; Proslavery support; Russell, William H (of Russell, Majors and Waddell); Southern emigrants; Southerners; Stringfellow, Benjamin F.
pg. 1
pg. 2
pg. 3
pg. 4
pg. 5
pg. 6
pg. 7
pg. 8


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The Dan Brown Code
A pulse-pounding race to discover...Dan Brown. The astonishing truth behind history's bestselling storyteller...unveiled at last.
Chapter 16
Brown was able to turn out his first three novels—Digital Fortress, Angels & Demons, and Deception Point—in just four years. They were all commercial failures, selling only 26,000 copies combined. He had once thrown away all his demo tapes from his music career, and, again troubled by his career prospects, he discarded boxes of notes and even his original manuscript for Digital Fortress. "This may sound surprising," Brown wrote in his affidavit, "but both Digital Fortress and my music career felt like creative failures (as did Angels & Demons and Deception Point) and big boxes of old notes felt like painful reminders of years spent for naught." He considered giving up, but Blythe said he should try once more.
Brown knew he wanted to look at the origins of the Catholic Church, and Blythe encouraged him to write about the slandering of Mary Magdalene, who she thought belonged in the pantheon of the church's most important women. His father wasn't sold on the idea, but said, perhaps in half jest, that women might like the idea. And women bought more books than men.
Frustrated with the lack of promotion of his earlier work, Brown found a new publisher, Doubleday, and a new agent, Heide Lange, who seemed a perfect fit for him for two reasons: He noticed her surname was an anagram of "Angel" and she had just signed a new writer to a million-dollar contract. "I wondered if Heide could get the same kind of money for my thriller idea," he wrote his affidavit. She got him a $400,000 two-book contract, which was more money than he'd ever made writing. (After the success of The Da Vinci Code, Lange renegotiated a deal to reflect Brown's status as the world's most popular author.)
The money allowed Brown to quit his teaching job and write full time, which was good news because the new novel became the most labor-intensive project he'd ever tackled. The subject matter allowed him to blend his love of art, history, and secret codes. By the time the manuscript was finished, however, even he had lost sight of whether the story was any good. Meeting a visitor in his office shortly after handing it over to his publisher, Brown said, "I hope they like it."
To hedge his doubts, Brown dove into the task of publicizing the book with unbridled zeal. He went on an extensive charm offensive, dining with executives of major bookstores and spending days on the phone with owners of smaller stores. It was far more glamorous than selling books out of the trunk of his car, as desperation for success had driven him and Blythe to do in the past.
This time around Brown also exerted an extraordinary control over his image. After the local Portsmouth Herald interviewed him for a story about the new novel, he wouldn't allow the newspaper to use the photo it had taken of him. Instead, Doubleday distributed photos of Brown that looked eerily Robert Langdon–like: wearing a tweed jacket and a black turtleneck (he's rarely been seen in public in anything else since). When he spoke to the press, Brown made sure to accentuate his scholarly approach, describing careful research in the Vatican archives and a meticulous devotion to accuracy. To readers who'd never heard of him, Brown would be seen as more than merely a writer of potboiler fiction—he'd be regarded as a dogged researcher who rooted out hidden secrets and dragged them into the light.
Honing a clear storyline took work. Brown once wrote that for every page he published, he needed to throw out 10 pages of extraneous material. He now set about doing the same sort of editing with his personal biography, deleting the parts that didn't mesh with his new persona. He pulled from his website any mention of his days as a songwriter, as well as the clumsier pieces of self-promotion (any talk of the Secret Service, for one) that he'd used to sell his other books.
Chapter 17
It is impossible to overstate the phenomenon that The Da Vinci Code became when it was released in March 2003. The excitement catapulted Brown's previous novels onto bestseller lists worldwide, where on some his oeuvre occupied the top four spots. It was an unprecedented achievement.
By not announcing which details in his novel were true and which were fiction, Brown stirred readers to wonder. As a result, the book began to radically alter public perception of church tenets: At one point, according to a poll of British readers on the question of whether Jesus fathered a child, those who'd read The Da Vinci Code were twice as likely to believe he did, despite what they'd learned from the Bible. In some quarters, Brown's word had become gospel.
It was all the cornerstone of a burgeoning industry. Every week, it seemed, a new group of coattail-riders appeared, a phenomenon that became known as "Brownsploitation." There were books that debunked the "facts" of the novel (Da Vinci Code Decoded), unauthorized biographies (The Man Behind the Da Vinci Code), parodies (The Asti Spumante Code), and even a diet book (The Diet Code). Then there were the Hollywood adaptations of two of his novels that together grossed well over a billion dollars.
All the while, Brown found himself accosted by people who wanted him to debate the "secret history" of his novel, substantial details of which he claimed were entirely true. "I recall feeling defenseless," Brown wrote in his affidavit. "The precise names, dates, places, and facts had faded somewhat in my memory." He enlisted Blythe to provide him "a refresher course" on the research so he could speak with more authority. What he didn't clearly reveal is that it only made sense she would be his teacher—after all, Blythe was the one who'd done much of the book's research.
Chapter 18
In 2005, the British authors of a book called Holy Blood, Holy Grail sued Brown's publisher, claiming that the key revelation of The Da Vinci Code—that Jesus fathered a child with Mary Magdalene—had been lifted from their work. The case in London's High Court revolved around Brown's research methods and when exactly he had read Holy Blood, Holy Grail.
Brown's publisher ultimately won the case—the judge ruled that a fiction writer can't be told what he could borrow from a book billed as nonfiction, as Holy Blood was. And yet the judge wrote that Brown was not the "deep and thorough researcher" he made himself out to be in the media; that person was his wife. She read most of the reference material and gave Brown summaries that he would weave into his story. "Mr. Brown knew very little about how the historical background was researched," the judge wrote. "He in my view simply accepted Blythe Brown's research material."
During the trial, Stan Planton, the longtime Brown researcher, got a barrage of calls from reporters curious about Brown's methods. He told one that Blythe was "the quiet power behind the throne." The off-script comments distressed Brown's camp. "Stan heard from the handlers," said Jim Barrington. "They said, 'Hey, you can't talk about that stuff.'"
For Brown, the court ordeal and the airing of his work habits stung. "That lawsuit really kicked a hole in him, I think," said Barrington. "Dan started shutting down."
Friends who had once exchanged a dozen e-mails a day with the author now got replies from personal assistants whose signature lines read "The Office of Dan Brown." Ron Wallace, the mail-order music salesman, sent Brown a note of congratulations, along with a $5 commission check for the sales of his last one or two copies of the Angels & Demons CD. He asked Brown to send more copies. The businesslike reply said Brown wasn't making any more. Wallace never heard from him again—though Brown did cash the $5 check.
Chapter 19
In December 2003, Brown held a charity book signing at the bookstore beneath his old office in Exeter. It had been nine months since he had published The Da Vinci Code, and he was planning to spend the next 14 months wrapping up what would ultimately become The Lost Symbol. Over the subsequent six years, Brown would rarely resurface.
Originally slated for a 2005 release, The Lost Symbol has been pushed back several times under mysterious circumstances. "We call it life," Brown's publicist told Storrs by way of official explanation. "Dan went from being a mid-list writer to a superstar in the literary world." But there were rumors as well: The London lawsuit forced him into conducting his research much more carefully. The release of the 2007 movie National Treasure: Book of Secrets—which, like Brown's book, is set in Washington, DC, and involves the Freemasons—stole his creative thunder and prompted major rewrites. ("That has the ring of Dan Brown lore to me," Brown's publicist said.)
The delays have only heightened the demand for Brown's next installment. It will have a first printing of 5 million copies, one of the largest ever for a novel. Today, Masons are as nervous as Catholics once were about the unique power of Brown's characterizations, and the tendency of his readers to accept them as fact. Some Masons are already forming attacks that address his penchant for secrecy. "When The Da Vinci Code came out, Dan Brown was the underdog attacking the church," says Mark Tabbert, an executive at the George Washington National Masonic Memorial, a likely setting for The Lost Symbol. "What little I know about Dan Brown is that he had a desire to be famous, and you have to be careful what you wish for. Like a lot of authors, he thought he could write a book and keep himself hidden. He's always been very coy about whether the fact of what he has written is true. If he had come out boldly and said everything is a fiction, that would have defused some things."
Chapter 20
It was dusk when Francis Storrs steered his car into Dan Brown's quiet neighborhood in Rye Beach, about a half-hour drive from Exeter. Brown bought the property for $1.6 million a year and a half after The Da Vinci Code was published. Soon after, he petitioned the town to build a seven-foot-high wall around it.
Forbes magazine estimates that Brown has cleared over $200 million since the publication of the book. To help manage the fortune, he and his wife deputized their personal attorney and others to act as their agents for a number of limited-liability companies. One called Stellata handles books and screenplays. Another, Epilogue, presumably manages the couple's growing real estate portfolio: According to town records, they have bought up some 15 acres bordering their original one-acre plot. By the end of the year, they hope to move into a massive house they are building even farther back from the road.
On this day, as the evening light faded, there was nothing more for Storrs to see. Brown's house was invisible from the road, and the man himself had essentially been erased from any document pertaining to it. In his place there stood a real estate trust, its name—like so many things in Brown's life—fraught with layers of symbolism. It was meant to conjure the Isles of Shoals, an archipelago at the edge of Rye Harbor, the place where legend has it the pirate Blackbeard buried his treasure. And the name also paid tribute to Brown's alter ego, the hero from whom his own vast treasure derived.
Dan Brown called his property the Isle of Langdonia. And he was its king.
Francis Storrs awoke with a start.
I almost forgot that Brown's novels end twice!
He slowly raised his head from his desk. For weeks, Storrs had been trying to sort through everything he had learned about Dan Brown's life, but now he found himself fixed on something he'd not considered.
Could it be?
There is one idea that Brown returned to again and again: on his website, in public appearances, in court documents…
"I was reminded of the old truism that since the beginning of recorded time history has been written by the 'winners,'" Brown wrote in his affidavit. History was not set in stone, he figured, but changed depending on who was telling the story.
Like the murmurs of spirits in the darkness, revelations already known echoed.
The quest to understand Dan Brown is the quest to kneel before a mythmaker with the genius to fashion himself into his most compelling character.
Like Robert Langdon in the Louvre at the end of The Da Vinci Code, Francis Storrs fell to his knees (or would have, if he weren't already sitting down).
For a moment, he thought he heard Dan Brown's voice…taunting from behind a wall of his own making…whispering from within the cash-lined cocoon of a multibillion-dollar industry of one…Have I got a story to tell you.


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Rock n' roll's bad boy is still at it.
Rolling Stones' guitarist Keith Richards, who has been tried on drug charges five times, seems offended that his public imaging has softened. He insists he hasn't given up booze.
"Rumors of my sobriety are greatly exaggerated," the 66-year-old Englishman told Rolling Stone in its latest issue. "And we'll leave it at that."
U.S. & World
The day's top national and international news.
Back in January, British rag The Sun reported that Richards was sobering up, despite claims that he would never give up the hooch.
The comments come several months before a special re-release of The Stone's classic album Exile on Main Street. The record, which drops May 18th, was one of the highest ranked album of all time by The Rolling Stones and will include ten unreleased tracks. It will feature the never-before-heard song "Pass the Wine," a phrase which Richards insists he's still uttering.
Richards has not ruled out more studio work later this year, but was less enthusiastic about another tour. Even if he can still party hard, it looks like rock's legendary guitarist is finally slowing down a bit.
"Maybe we'll search for a different way for the Stones to go back on the road," he told Rolling Stone. "Maybe not the football stadiums anymore. Maybe something different. You can't go around there in lemon-yellow tights forever."


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Muscle Mustangs & Fast FordsHow To Engine
Dyno Testing CXRacing's Twin-Turbo System - PSIchotic Stroker
Makin' over 900 hp with a carb'd twin-turbo 347
What constitutes a cool engine build? High-boost, twin turbos, sick power—check, check, check. You can add big-inch, stroker short-blocks, wild cams, high-rise intakes and free-flowing cylinder heads, too. Lesser magazines might be satisfied with any one of these, but that's not how we do it at MM&FF.
With wretched excess in mind, we decided to combine all three elements to create nothing less than a PSIchotic stroker. In truth, we wanted to test a new twin-turbo system offered by CXRacing, but why stop at just a simple turbo test when the dyno session can be so much more?
Since fuel-injected 5.0L's get all the love, why not toss a bone to the carb contingent and ditch the injectors and electronic management system? That's right fellow Ford fanatics, the twin-turbo kit fed all that wonderful boost through a simple carburetor.
Like most of the cool forced-induction on the market, the twin kit from CXRacing is actually designed for the fuel-injected 5.0L Ford. But as much as we love the fuelie Fords, not every small-block receives fuel through electronic injection.
Carburetors not only work well, they can also be combined with blowers, nitrous, and even turbos with tremendous success. In fact, carburetors actually offer a few advantages over injection, including cost savings, simplicity, and additional charge cooling. It might be common to see a supercharged or turbocharged 5.0L Ford, but when was the last time you saw one blowing through a carburetor? Though designed for the side-mounted throttle body on the 5.0L, the tubing on the twin-turbo kit provided by CXRacing was easily altered to feed the carburetor.
The turbo kit includes exhaust manifolds, turbos, wastegates, stainless exhaust tubing, aluminum intake tubing, and all the clamps and couplers to connect the system. The kit also features all the oil feed and drain fittings, braided oil feed (but not rubber drain) lines, and air-to-air intercooler. The exhaust manifolds were designed to accept T3 turbine housings, meaning they will accept any size T3 turbo, but our kit came with GT35-style turbos said to be capable of supporting over 500 hp each.
Given the ease with which we exceeded 900 hp, we feel certain the rating was accurate. Before running in anger, it was necessary to orient the compressor and turbine housings to line up the oil feed and drain fittings, the compressor discharge, and then mount the turbine housing to the exhaust manifold. The wastegates were also mounted to the provided wastegate flange on the manifold.
The wastegates were used to regulate boost, but a small turbine A/R sizing resulted in a rising boost curve. CXRacing offered a larger A/R housing to cure the issue. It was necessary to drill holes in the oil pan to serve as drain back from the turbos. This was made easier with the provided bulkhead fittings that eliminated welding by simply bolting to the pan (with pan removed).
To test the merits, we built a 347 stroker with forged internals that included a 4340 forged crank and rods combined with forged flat-top pistons from JE. With sufficient strength and displacement, we added the necessary power producers, including heads, cam and intake. Air Flow Research supplied a set of new CNC-ported 205 Renegade heads, which were combined with a Crane hydraulic-roller cam and single-plane, Funnel Web intake. Effective for both normally aspirated and boosted combinations, the Crane cam offered a 0.579/0.595 lift split, a 236/244 duration split and 114 LSA.
Crane also supplied the necessary lifters, double-roller timing chain, and hardened pushrods. The AFR heads offered flow rates exceeding 330 cfm, or enough to support over 660 (normally aspirated) hp. They were more than enough for our 347. Ensuring plenty of high-rpm power, the single-plane, high-rise Funnel Web intake was fed by a Holley 950 Ultra HP carburetor and fired by an MSD billet distributor. In normally aspirated trim, the 10.8:1, carbureted 347 stroker produced 519 hp at 6,900 rpm and 434 lb-ft at 5,400 rpm.
After our baseline runs, we swapped on the turbos. Installation was easy and we were pleased that the exhaust manifolds offered plenty of clearance for the factory plug wires. The thick flanges sealed perfectly using Fel Pro exhaust gaskets and ARP header bolts.
For boosted use, we replaced the Holley Ultra HP carb with a conventional Holley HP series, modified by Carb Solutions Unlimited (CSU). Designed specifically for blow-through applications, the CSU carb featured an adjustable boost-reference power valve. CSU also supplied the necessary carb bonnet.
The use of the carburetor instead of the 5.0L throttle body required that we change the discharge tubing from the intercooler. The remainder of the kit remained as-supplied for the 5.0L. The fix was an easy one, as CXRacing also offered all manner of turbo components for the do-it-yourselfer, including the required aluminum tubing. A U-bend and a couple of 90-degree bends were all it took to attach the intercooler to the carb bonnet. The kit also included a blow-off valve to eliminate the pressure surge that occurs when you lift off the throttle at high rpm/boost.
Here are a couple of things we noticed when installing the kit. The driver's side wastegate required use of a short oil filter—available at any auto parts store. We ran the 3-inch downpipes as up-pipes on the dyno as they fit better. A crow's foot wrench made installation of the exhaust manifolds much easier—as Ford header bolts are always a pain.
We installed a carb spacer equipped with a variety of different vacuum fittings to run the wastegates, blow-off valve, and provide a vacuum/boost signal to the fuel- pressure regulators and dyno readout. To ensure adequate fuel delivery to the carb, it was critical to boost reference the fuel pressure regulator.
With everything hooked up, we dropped the static timing from 35 degrees down to 23 degrees and eventually revved the motor high enough to reach 919 hp and 747 lb-ft of torque at just over 15 psi.
The power and boost were climbing rapidly (1 psi and 45 hp per 100 rpm), but we shut it down at 6,600 rpm. The twin-turbo kit was plenty powerful, the carb worked flawlessly (dropping charge temps even lower than the intercooler alone) and (best of all) the PSIchotic stroker was alive and ready for more action.
|Twin-Turbo 347 Stroker
|Power Numbers-NA vs. CXRacing Twin Turbo


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Liberty Knolls at Colonial Forge
LOCATED IN Liberty Knolls at Colonial Forge
About the Home
Designed with the modern lifestyle in mind, the Palermo offers an open and airy floor plan while still including all the amenities you need. Step into the Foyer and you're greeted by a formal Dining Room, perfect for entertaining. An optional cased opening leads past a convenient powder room, mud room and coat closet and into the living area of the house. The gourmet Kitchen is a cook's delight with plenty of counter space and a large pantry closet. Don't forget to add the Morning Room and kitchen island for even more space. The Dinette is perfect for informal entertaining and is open to the Great Room so you never miss a moment with friends and family. Add a fireplace for even more light and warmth. The Home Office is located off of the Great Room to give you privacy without feeling isolated. Optional windows make the area both inviting and functional. Add the 4' extension for even more space, or choose to make it a First Floor Bedroom with its own private bath. Upstairs the feeling of space continues with three large bedrooms with ample closets, hall bath, and convenient 2nd floor laundry. But the real story of the Palermo is the owner's suite. Choose from four different Owner's Baths designs to find the one that fits your style - whether that's an oversized shower, soaking tub, or shower with seat. No matter what you choose you'll still have an enormous walk-in closet and double bowl vanity. Be sure to choose the Bonus Room with its double-door entry and large closet for even more space to work or play; or make it another bedroom with a private bath. No matter what options you select on the Palermo, you'll still have a variety of traditional and Eastern Cottage elevations to choose from in brick, stone and siding, many with covered entries or porches. Many areas also offer an optional finished lower level featuring a full bath, media room and exercise room.
Stafford, VA 22554


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The watchdogs bite again: Another agency in danger of losing CCHD funding
Here we go again: Companeros, an organization that serves primarily Spanish-speaking immigrants with health care and legal support in one corner of Colorado may lose the $30,000 it gets from the Catholic Campaign for Human Development because it is a member of an immigration advocacy umbrella group, the Colorado Immigrant Rights Coalition, which opposes discrimination against LGBT immigrants and supports same-sex civil unions. According to the New York Times, Companeros will lose its funding--half its annual budget--if it doesn't end this affiliation.
Get that? Companeros can't have anything to do with CIRC because it supports civil unions--as do 71 percent of U.S. Roman Catholics--even though Companeros is focused on the immediate needs of immigrants in one small area in Colorado. By the same logic, since the Holy See is a member of the United Nations, and many of its member nations have same-sex marriage, the Holy See should withdraw from the U.N.
That's what we are reduced to when we follow the blind-alley logic of groups such as Reform CCHD Now and the American Life League, who have drawn fire from none other than the two U.S. bishops responsible for domestic advocacy: Stephen Blair of Stockton, California, and Jaime Soto of Sacramento, California. These two bishops have repeatedly rejected the claims of CCHD opponents that CCHD grantees oppose church teaching as baseless. We at US Catholic have done our own major feature about the controversy.
As I wrote in my May column about these witch hunts against partners in the fight against poverty, these kinds of guilt-by-association accusations are counterproductive and are doing serious damage both to our Catholic outreach to the poor and to our image as a community who joins wih all people of good will in works of charity and justice. More and more it appears that Catholics in general are so obsessed with issues of sexuality that we can't even feed the poor or shelter immigrants anymore.
This is nonsense has got to stop, and it's time for people to start speaking up and saying that groups such as Reform CCHD Now and the American Life League don't speak for Catholics--or the Catholic bishops--when it comes to our efforts to serve our sisters and brothers in need.


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Garden Tool Basics
An informative guide to your basic gardening tools.
Caring for your garden requires special tools, but it's easy to become bewildered by the bevy available at nurseries and hardware stores. That's why it's important to take a few minutes to understand what task each garden tool is designed for before pulling out your wallet.
Regardless of your experience or your garden's size, purchase quality tools. They'll be in regular use for many years, and while it may be tempting to buy cheap, you and your garden will soon realize the difference.
Pruners that cut poorly, for example, damage plant tissue and are hard on your wrist. And cheap garden forks that bend upon contact with compact soil are an unnecessary source of frustration. But even the best quality tool can be used incorrectly—damaging the tool or its user.
With these points in mind, here's a list of essentials, what to consider before purchasing them and how to use each correctly.
Used for weeding around plants and for cultivating topsoil, vegetable gardeners find hoes particularly useful because their reach allows gardeners to work amid plants without disturbing them.
There are many specialized kinds, such as onion- and triangular-shaped hoes, on the market, but these are unnecessary for the average gardener. A simple hoe is fine for general tasks.
Spades, Shovels and Forks
Although there are various sizes of spades and forks, don't be misled into thinking you need one of each to suit each task. A single round-point shovel for digging, a flat-edged spade for edging and double digging (a technique of turning soil for a new garden bed) and a simple garden fork for cultivating soil is all you really need.
These tools are in constant use, so make sure they're comfortable to handle. Lightness and strength are key, as you'll use them for lifting and leverage.
Look for shovels and forks with long, wooden shafts, as they're strong and relatively inexpensive. A D-shaped handle provides the best grip. Stainless steel is the best material for the head because it won't rust (although it can be expensive). Coated-steel blades are more affordable and age well if kept clean.
Weight is another factor—if you're slight, a heavy spade or shovel may be difficult to use. You could strain your back, especially if you're lifting heavy earth. Lift and test a variety of tools to find the one that feels right for you.
Leaf Rake
Leaf rake heads are fan-shaped and often made of plastic, metal or bamboo.
A leaf rake is one of the more useful tools, good for leaf removal, spring cleanup of lawns and all the other important general clean-up duties. Because you'll use it a lot, buy one with a comfort grip along the shaft.
Leaf rakes are ill suited to the heavier tasks that are given to the garden rake, and can be damaged in the process if not used the proper way.
Edgers are often overlooked, but they are really versatile tools. Their principal task is to tidy lawn and garden edges to create a finished look. But they're also almost mandatory for cutting and laying sod, and can be used for dividing plants, cultivating and even light digging in a pinch.
When selecting an edger, look for the same qualities as you would with a spade.
Garden Rakes
The garden rake is different from a leaf rake and intended for a different function.
A general-purpose cultivation tool, the garden rake (as opposed to the soft-tined leaf rake) can be used to break up the surface of the soil and collect stones, leaves and other debris. Inverted, it's used to level the ground.
Choose a rake with a head of suitable width for the scale of the raking job you most commonly undertake. Also, as with shovels and spades, consider the shaft length carefully. To avoid back sprain, you should be able to rake without bending.
The rake's handle should come to about the bridge of your nose. So, while a standard 5-foot shaft suits most people, taller or shorter gardeners may want to consider something different.
The strongest rake heads are made of a single piece, unlike the cheaper, riveted heads, with their individual nail-like prongs, which may break or bend.
Hand Forks and Trowels
The two "hand tools" most commonly used in the yard and garden are forks and trowels. These are required for weeding and cultivating in small areas, as well as dividing plants. As with pruners, they should fit comfortably in your hand.
Hand forks have two basic types: those with wide and flat prongs, and those with round and narrow prongs. The former is more suited to weeding, since weeds are more easily trapped and held between the wider prongs. The latter, on the other hand, is better suited for cultivating.
Pruners are essential for light cutting in the garden. That includes everything from cutting back shrubs and pruning roses to gathering cut flowers. A good bypass pruner cuts cleanly and easily through woody stems up to at least 1/2 inch in diameter (for larger cuts, shears, loppers or pruning saws are required).
Get a good-quality blade, because a poor blade results in uneven cuts that might promote disease. Take the time to select tools that fit your hands comfortably; a tool fitted to your hand's size and shape requires less effort to cut and therefore places less stress on your joints and muscles. This is an especially important consideration for the elderly or those suffering from arthritis or tendinitis.
But even good-quality pruners can cause problems in the yard if used incorrectly. The No. 1 error? Lack of sanitation. Sterilize your pruners after pruning each plant, or you'll risk spreading disease from one plant to another.