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|Authored By: Polly Pitchford, Full Spectrum Health
|Increasing fish in our diets is easy when you add it to a comfort food favorite like Potato Soup. Use mild, white fish like tilapia, grouper, cod, sole, catfish, etc.
|Diet Type: Low Calorie
|Serves: 4
|Cooking Time: Under 30 minutes
|Place all ingredients except fish and dill in a soup pot. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer until potatoes are tender, about 15 minutes. Just before serving, add fish and dill to chowder; stir and cover. Cook 5 minutes on low heat or until fish is cooked throughout. Season with salt and pepper.
|Printable Version
|E-mail a Friend
|Grilled Snapper with Light and Hot Sauce
|Make the sauce the day before to allow flavors to blend, then dinner is...


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The question
"The move highlights one of the key challenges for Linux: can it become relevant to ordinary users?"
I disagree - I think most people who know Linux know it is relevant for ordinary users.
The challenge for Linux is whether ordinary users can be persuaded to give it a go.

subset: commoncrawl


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When the call came on Monday it was thrilling to learn that I was awarded the Jimmy B. Parker SLIG scholarship for 2013. My husband could hear my exclamation of joy in another room of the house. It was all I could do to keep from emailing or phoning all of my friends. There were a few trusted souls that helped me wait until now to proclaim the great joy this has added to my life. Just the honor of being recognized by fellow esteemed genealogists is such a wonderful surprise.
When I first read about the scholarship through an online email post, it intrigued me. Printing out the instructions, they lay on my desk for almost a month, at times falling below other printed items. Finally I awoke during the night of Thursday, October 12, and wrote a page for the essay. After re-reading the instructions I felt that my focus was not really accurate and left it for the next day. Then on Friday I re-wrote the entire essay incorporating a few of the previous ideas.
That day I also contacted one of my good friends, who I have helped with her genealogy work for over twenty years, and asked her to write the letter of recommendation. JoAnne wrote a very gracious letter and I am indebted to her for sharing her reflections on my life. We shared our writings and both felt what we had written was good for sending.
Including my short biography, which I use for conferences and posting online (with information about my blog), a list of my volunteer work over the years, the name of the course I plan to attend, my contact information and a picture, the email was sent. The first email contained the submission in an attachment and I requested confirmation of receipt. When no receipt came, I resent it with the submission within the body of the email. This time confirmation was prompt and this enabled me to move forward on other things. The first confirmation must have been lost in cyberspace.
After sending in the essay and application I told only a couple of people about the submission. Not knowing the competition, and knowing how many qualified fellow genealogists there are, I never really dreamed the scholarship would be awarded to me. Way back in June when Judi and I registered for SLIG it was so exciting to think that my turn to attend an institute was going to happen this coming year. I registered for course #1 with Paula Stuart-Warren, D. Joshua Taylor and Debra Mieszala. They are excellent instructors and the course, American Research and Records: Focus on Families, has a wonderful list of topics.
After submitting the material on October 13, I proceeded to book my flight on October 14. I want to thank my friend Judi Scott, who I will be attending with, for alerting me to the post by Thomas MacEntee about an hour ago. According to the information provided I did not expect it to be posted until this coming Wednesday. And, yes Judi, it is going to be fun. The blog post by the Utah Genealogical Association is at: http://ugagenealogy.blogspot.com/2013/10/winner-of-jimmy-b-parker-scholarship.html
The information on their web page includes:
SLIG Quick Facts


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Welcome to the CRG Discussion Forum!Forum registration problems: Make sure you enter your email correctly and you check your spam box first. *Then* email KurtS2@gmail for help.Classified ads are not allowed on the forum.
I'm kinda new at this. Is this list a means of tracking how many cars are still out there? If so I have one that's not on your list.Len
can you update this list


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One of the challenging parts of interviewing someone is knowing what to ask them. There are a number of websites that provide sample questions for interviews.
Here is a selection of sample questions to get you started:
- TheSmithsonian Folklife and Oral History Interviewing Guide. Sample questions on pp 22-27. (pdf file)
- About.com Genealogy: 50 Questions for Family History Interviews
- Grosse Pointe Historical Society: Sample Questions to Conduct an Oral History Interview (pdf file)
- T. Harry Williams Oral History Center (LSU University): Sample Interview Questions (pdf file)
- A personal webpage with some interesting topics and decade specific questions
- Veterans History Project: Sample Interview Questions for Veterans
While I happen to be conducting a large project, oral history interviewing could be as simple as talking to your mother or father over a cup of coffee. The key thing is to ask them questions and to record their answers so that you have them for the future.
While the above guides provide lots of sample questions keep in mind that the best topic isn't always going to be the most obvious topic.
For instance, during the course of my interviews I wanted to get a sense of how local residents were affected by major historical events. I used various events such as the assassination of President John F. Kennedy and the first landing on the moon. I had hoped that events of national or international scope would elicit responses from everyone.
I was wrong! Not everyone reacts the same way and with the same depth of emotion to major events. Ironically, it was a local event that really got my interviewees talking. The one event that generated the most dialogue and most passionate, animated response was the "Blizzard of '78" that hit the northeastern United States in the winter of 1978.
Perhaps there is a local event or storm that impacted your area. Create a list of a few possible subjects so that if you don't get much response with one topic you can move on to the next. When you find that "golden topic" that everyone wants to talk about, write it down so that you can continue to use it in the future.
Remember, once they get talking, sit back, relax and let them talk! Capture history and memories from their eyes. Your job is to record it and save it for the future.


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Let me share why I have so much admiration for Rachel ~ mind you the reasons are in no particular order but are merely how they popped in my head on this day.
This is the place where you enter into Rachel Ashwell's world and her life on The Prairie ~ the house where she stays, when she is in Texas. It's lovingly named Lilliput Lodge ~ after her daughter, Lily.
You know the question that we've all been asked one time or another, "If you could invite five people to dinner, who would they be?" Well, for me, one of those people would be Rachel Ashwell. And if you were to have told me years ago, when I was a young mother, that one day I would have a chance to have a chat with Rachel, I would have let out a little chuckle and said "Yeah right." Monday ~ I had the honor of meeting this remarkable lady ~ at a blogger's luncheon.
|~ Rachel pausing to chat during lunch ~
First, I respect her as a mother. From reading her books, one can't help but appreciate her unfailing love for her children. Through the years, she has tenderly shared snippets of Lily and Jake's lives. I was always impressed by her devotedness to them and moved by her desire to create a beautiful environment they could live in without worry of mussing things up. Perhaps my deep respect for Rachel as a single mom, stems from the fact that my widowed mother raised four children alone.
|~ Rachel giving a tour of her home on The Prairie ~
Secondly, through her signature Shabby Chic style, she validated my love for tattered things. She dared to be different and gave me the courage to march to the beat of a different drummer. She was true to herself and consequently, she has significantly impacted the design world.
And lastly, I appreciate Rachel for her genuine heart ~ she's the real deal. She is a gentle and gracious hostess and comfortable in her own skin. She loves blue jeans, t-shirts and cowboy boots and likes them all the more when they're worn and comfy ~ my kind of gal. She's a lady and speaks softly and sweetly ~ surely she must lose her temper every now and then. :)
|~ A snapshot taken at Shabby Chic Couture on The Prairie ~


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After 20 years of protection, owl declining but forests remain
WASHINGTON — Twenty years after northern spotted owls were protected under the Endangered Species Act, their numbers continue to decline, and scientists aren't certain whether the birds will survive even though logging was banned on much of the old-growth forest in the Pacific Northwest where they live in order to save them.
The owl remains an iconic symbol in a region where once loggers in steel-spiked, high-topped caulk boots felled 200-year-old or even older trees and loaded them on trucks that compression-braked down twisty mountain roads to mills redolent with the smell of fresh sawdust and smoke from burning timber scraps.
Regionwide, the owl populations are dropping 2.9 percent a year. In Washington state, they're declining at 6 to 7 percent a year.
While that may seem like a small number, it adds up, said Eric Forsman, a research wildlife biologist with the U.S. Forest Service's Pacific Northwest Research Station in Corvallis, Ore., who's studied the owl since 1968.
"Nothing we do seems to work for the spotted owl," Forsman said.
The fight over the owl, however, perhaps the fiercest in the history of the Endangered Species Act, was always about more than just protecting a surprisingly friendly, football-sized bird with dark feathers, dark eyes and white spots.
It also was about the future of the ancient Douglas fir, red cedar and Western hemlock forests that once stretched from northern California through Oregon and Washington state into British Columbia, and the habitat they provide for hundreds of species.
The owl was considered an indicator species, reflecting the health of forests where trees as old as 1,000 years grow. When the owl was listed as a threatened species in the summer of 1990, it was seen not just as a way to halt the decline in owl populations but also to end logging in the federal old-growth forests.
"Though the owl triggered it, what was at stake was the survival of the old-growth ecosystem," said Bruce Babbitt, who as the interior secretary during the Clinton administration helped write the still-controversial Northwest Forest Plan, which brought an uneasy truce to the owl wars.
From that standpoint, Babbitt said, the forest plan has been a success despite the declining owl populations. The plan represented a landmark in conservation planning, with forest managers now looking at entire ecosystems rather than just drawing lines on a map, Babbitt said.
Once Forks, Wash. — an isolated town of about 3,000 on the remote Olympic Peninsula, where 12 feet of rain falls annually — was the self-proclaimed "Timber Capital of the World." Logging trucks rumbled through downtown nonstop and tourists were considered pretty much a nuisance.
Though several recent studies found employment in the timber industry had dropped by almost half even before the owl was listed, as mills automated or closed, the early 1990s were tough times for towns such as Forks. By some estimates, more than 200 mills have closed over the past 20 years as the timber harvest in the region's national forests dropped from 4 billion board feet annually to about half a billion board feet.
Forks survived, and is now enjoying an economic boost from an unexpected source.
The town is the setting for the "Twilight" series of books, and so far this year more than 50,000 "Twilighters" have visited to eat Bella burgers and purchase buttons such as one that reads, "I kissed a werewolf and liked it."
Though they don't produce the high-paid logging and mill jobs of the past, other timber towns are turning to tourism. Oakridge, Ore., hopes to become a mecca for mountain biking. Aberdeen, Wash., the hometown of Kurt Cobain, could become a destination for GenXers on grunge music tours.
Though it doesn't grab headlines as it once did, the spotted owl fight is far from finished.
The Obama administration convinced a federal court to toss out a Bush administration plan that would have reduced critical habitat for the owl by 25 percent. Government lawyers told the judge that the Bush plan was "legally erroneous" and tainted with "improper political interference" from a top official in Bush's Interior Department.
Here's a closer look at how the protection of the owl has played out since the summer of 1990:
SPOTTED OWLS — Scientists still aren't sure how many owls there are on federal, state and local lands. Forsman said there might be 1,500 owls in Washington state and 3,000 to 4,000 in Oregon and northern California. The handful of remaining owls in British Columbia are in a captive breeding program at a zoo.
Though the loss of old-growth habitat from logging over the years is thought to be the main cause of the decline, a new culprit has emerged: the barred owl. The barred owl, a more aggressive cousin of the spotted owl, isn't native to the region and has slowly moved westward from the East. While barred owl populations are growing in the Northwest, they reportedly are declining in the East.
The Fish and Wildlife Service is deciding whether to hunt the barred owl to reduce its populations.
Scientists thought it could take up to 50 years for the spotted owl populations to rebound as forests stabilized, but they're troubled by the latest numbers and by the influx of barred owls.
"As a general rule you can't expect a turnaround in five, 10 or 20 years when you had 100 years of harvesting," said Paul Henson, who leads the spotted owl recovery effort for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
Henson said there was some evidence that the bird was doing slightly better on those lands where logging had been banned.
"From my perspective it would be a lot worse without the forest plan, but we aren't out of the woods yet," he said.
FORESTS — As with the owl, it's hard to say how much old growth remains in the Northwest. By some estimates there were once 17 million acres of old-growth forest. Depending on the source, 3 percent to 12 percent may be left.
The Northwest Forest Plan prohibited logging on 7 million acres of "late successional" federal forest.
"There is almost no old-growth logging in Washington state," Boyles said.
The Northwest Forest Plan resulted in an 80 percent drop in logging in the region's 24 million acres of federal forests. The Clinton administration hoped that about 1 million board feet could be cut annually, but that hasn't happened in 20 years.
Logging continues on state and private lands.
"We know it won't ever go back to where it was, but there are things that can be done to help," said Jim Geisinger, the executive vice president of Associated Oregon Loggers, who's been involved in the owl wars since the beginning.
PEOPLE — As protests mounted in the region in the early 1990s, with dead owls tacked onto roadside signs and "owl fricassee" facetiously placed on the menus of cafes in timber country, some estimated that the Northwest Forest Plan could result in the loss of up to 125,000 direct and indirect jobs. The number is now thought to be considerably lower. One 1995 estimate by the Forest Service said that 400 jobs had been lost as a result of the logging restrictions.
"They were hard hit, but much of it occurred in the 1980s, before the owl," said Annabel Kirschner, a Washington State University professor who's studied timber industry employment. "It had nothing to do with environmental policies."
Congress appropriated $1.2 billion over five years to retrain laid-off workers.
Marcia Bingham, the director of the Forks Chamber of Commerce, said many of those who were retrained left Forks.
"They retrained people for jobs that weren't on the Olympic Peninsula," she said.
Over the years, the resentment of those who remained has slowly faded.
"I can't remember the last time I heard someone talk about the owl," said Mike Gurling, a retired Olympic National Park ranger who now manages the Forks Visitor Center. "We landed on our feet."
Fish and Wildlife Service on northern spotted owl recovery
U.S. Forest Service's Northwest Forest Plan Review
Earthjustice on the northern spotted owl
From outer space, a new dilemma for old-growth forests
Study of coal ash sites finds extensive water contamination
Are Australian honeybees behind U.S. hive collapse?
Follow the latest politics news at McClatchy's Planet Washington


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Rare, Atlanta
Discover a new twist on soul food, tapas style.
Soul food is the fabric of Atlanta," explains Lorenzo Wyche, creator of the restaurant Rare. "For lack of a better term, it's comfort food, the food we grew up with at Sunday dinner. But we challenge the palate a little bit." Ready for that challenge, we kick back, cozy on upholstered "beds," watching vintage cartoons projected on a blank wall (no sound, just memories). The food begins to arrive. First and favorite―lobster mac and cheese, creamy with white Cheddar béchamel. Next: a BLT salad, featuring lightly fried green tomatoes. Then teeny versions of chicken and waffles; Jamaican jerk-spiced tilapia; and pot stickers filled with collard greens, wild mushrooms, and fresh ginger. The concept is tapas, a series of small plates you share.
The music builds as the hours pass; Betty Boop replaces Popeye. The place fills up, the music grows even louder―but people come for the food. "The menu is the story here," says Lorenzo, waving a hand at the bounty. So dig in.
554 Piedmont Avenue; (404) 541-0665. Open from 5 p.m. daily. Plates begin at $5.
Editor's note: At press time, Rare had closed temporarily due to a small fire. It should be open by mid-June, but call before you go. It's definitely worth the trip.
More Flavors
Lorenzo loves to start Atlanta restaurants. His Harlem Bar serves traditional soul food,and The Social House cooks farm-to-table breakfasts. His next vision: a restaurant for pure African-inspired recipes.
Because prices, dates, and other specifics are subject to change, please check all information to make sure it's still current before making your travel plans.


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Mathew Sinclair's latest article
Please help support it with giving feedback and comments
Cricket Dominance
This winter I am unsure of my next professional commitment, a lot of exciting prospects are ahead, expecting a baby and also a book that won't be far way from being on the shelves. So watch this space with developments on all of these things. Till next time.


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I cannot believe it is nearly 25 years since I wore this wedding dress, I have just taken this photograph and I am amazed how gorgeous it still looks, there is not a mark on it and it still looks like new. I did not make the wedding dress, I did consider making my own but decided to make the bridesmaid dresses instead.
The dress is made of embroidered tulle.
I have never posted personal picture's on my blog before,
now you all get a chance to see what I look like, well ok, looked like 25 years ago!
It was a sunny day but very cold, we were actually frozen to the spot when this picture was taken, all we wanted to do was get indoors!
I do hope you enjoyed reminiscing with me over my wedding day all those years ago, I will post pictures of our Silver Wedding celebrations on our return at the beginning of April.
It will be my birthday too so I am looking forward to a really enjoyable couple of weeks!
Happy stitching everyone!
Thankyou for all of the kind comments you leave on my blog, I really do appreciate
them all.


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Lt. Gov. Timothy P. Murray will not run for governor in 2014, citing the demands of campaigning, serving in elected office and his desire to spend more time with his wife and two young daughters.
"I've decided that I am not going to run for governor," the former Worcester mayor told the Telegram & Gazette this morning, ending speculation among many and hope among his supporters that he would try to succeed Gov. Deval L. Patrick next year.
"It's something I have been thinking about for some time," Mr. Murray said of the decision, which he said came after sitting down to talk it through with his wife, Tammy, and key supporters since the Christmas holidays.
"I love the job of being lieutenant governor. I loved the job of being mayor. I loved the job of being a city councilor," he said of his 15 years in elected office. But the demands of running a campaign and serving in office can require 15- and 16-hour days, six and seven days a week, he said, and would leave him little time to be with his family.
"When I look at the next 20 months — How do I do my job with the issues in my portfolio? How do I run a campaign that my supporters and the people of Massachusetts deserve, and be a father to two daughters, who are 6 and 7 years old, and a husband to my wife, and I don't know how I could do all of those things well," Mr. Murray said.
He said he expected that if he ran for governor he would win, and that he would then have four years of equally demanding work.
"It really comes down to a family decision, and that is where I need to focus," Mr. Murray said. He did not rule out future runs for political office.
He said controversies over a car accident on Interstate 190 in December 2010 and his previous political involvement with Michael E. McLaughlin, the disgraced former director of the Chelsea Housing Authority, played no role in his decision.
Mr. Murray's decision is expected to create a wide-pen field for the Democratic nomination for governor next year. Besides Mr. Murray, state Treasurer Steven Grossman has also been viewed as a potential candidate.
Mr. Murray, 44, said he has been involved in nine campaigns for elected office, running for Worcester City Council twice, mayor three times, in a Democratic primary for lieutenant governor, the general election in 2006 and the 2010 re-election campaign.
Mr. Murray had $391,000 in his campaign coffers as of Dec. 31.
"There are very few people across the state who know the demands that this requires. I'm not independently wealthy. I can't finance my own campaign, my wife has to work, and we have got two daughters," he said.
During the 2010 campaign "for 15 months I was gone six or seven days a week from morning to night." "My daughters are at an age now that they ask what am I doing," he said, and he tells them "working."
"You are always working daddy," he says they will tell him. "My brothers all coach their kids, and this year my daughter asked me, 'Daddy, how come you don't coach?' " he said. "Those things kind of hit you."
"To me, this is a chapter. It's not the end of the book. I may be a fairly young politician, but I am an old father," he said.
Mr. Patrick said he has mixed feelings about Mr. Murray's decision and that he was ready to back Mr. Murray as a candidate for governor.
"If he chose to be a candidate, I was with him. He was my candidate. I've seen him in action. I've seen his intellect and heart, and I hope his time will come," Mr. Patrick said.
"I so respect the decision he is making and that he is thinking about his family first. He has been such a magnificent lieutenant governor, and I hope one day he will be governor," Mr. Patrick said in an interview today.
"He's got a beautiful family and cares about those girls so much and wants to be a part of their lives," the governor said. He said campaigns are demanding, not just on the candidate, but on his entire family.
"They are always demanding in terms of time and physical stamina, but they are often demanding in terms of emotional stamina, because they can be so nasty," Mr. Patrick said, recalling the toll his first campaign took on his family. "Our kids were older and out of the house in the first campaign, and it still took a toll," on them, Mr. Patrick said.
Mr. Murray, he said, "is a true partner" taking a leadership role in the administration on veterans services, homelessness and retention of military bases. He said he has also been at the center of dealing with transportation and infrastructure development and brought real-world knowledge of local government to bear on numerous municipal reforms.
"He understands how these systems work and he is very, very, good at bring people together and getting to yes," Mr. Patrick said of the role Mr. Murray has played in the administration.
The governor said he does not believe the controversy over Mr. Murray's accident and involvement with Mr. McLaughlin, while difficult issues for Mr. Murray to confront, prompted his decision.
"No doubt they have taken an emotional toll, but I would not say they were central factors in these decisions. They are controversies, and in the midst of them it seems that this is it. Then you weather them and get back to work and keep producing, and that is what he has done," the governor said.
In a letter being sent to his supporters today, Mr. Murray explained that he has been "grappling with how I can juggle a campaign and work duties with my responsibilities as a husband and the father of two active and beautiful daughters, Helen and Kati, who are seven and six years old."
In that note he talked about his accomplishments and pride in projects like the Gateway Cities program that brought new state educational and economic assistance to the mid-size cities of the state.
He recalled advice he got years ago when he played football at St. John's High School.
"My high school coach always told our football team to finish the game strong. I intend to work with Gov. Patrick over the next 22 months to finish this second term strong and build a record of generational responsibility," Mr. Murray told his supporters.
Return to telegram.com for more on this story.
2014. timmurray.org/2013/01/plans-…— Tim Murray (@TimMurray_MA) January 18, 2013


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May 2009 Journal of Geoscience EducationVolume 57, Number 3
Editorial: The Evolution of JGE: Responding to Our Community's Needs
Julie C. Libarkin, Michigan State University
Joe T. Elkins, University of Northern Colorado
Kristen St. John, James Madison University
Full Text (Acrobat (PDF) 685kB Nov12 09)
For 58 years, the Journal of Geoscience Education (JGE) has served a vital function as the dominant peer-reviewed dissemination mechanism for curriculum, development of new materials and methods for instruction, as well as research into the effectiveness of these interventions, has become increasingly important to the STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) community, and to all communities of learners. In addition, fundamental research into the nature of complex cognition in adult learners is emerging across STEM fields, with new and exciting efforts finding traction within the geosciences. As the longest-standing education journal focusing on a specific STEM discipline, JGE has the opportunity to lead the dissemination of the highest-quality pedagogy and research evolving out of the current resurgence in STEM educational activities. Now and in the future, JGE is expected to be a publication venue for a diversity of material, including new curricular approaches, research into the effectiveness of instruction, and fundamental education and cognitive investigations.
URL for this article: http://www.nagt.org/nagt/jge/abstracts/may09.html#v57p165
Commentary: On Teaching the Nature of Science and the Science-Religion Interface
Barry R. Bickmore, Bringham Young University
Kristen R. Thompson, Bringham Young University
David A. Grandy, Bringham Young University
Teagan Tomlin, Bringham Young University
Full Text (Acrobat (PDF) 2.3MB Nov12 09)
Here we argue that there are several reasons why students are still graduating in droves with inadequate views of the Nature of Science (NOS) and strong anti-evolutionary sentiments. 1) Science educators often neglect teaching the NOS because they feel pressure to cover a certain amount of science "content," and it takes too much time to adequately teach the NOS. 2) But even if they do address the NOS, scientists and science educators often harbor naïve views of the NOS similar to their students' views. 3) Furthermore, even those who do have more sophisticated views of the NOS typically soft-pedal those aspects of the NOS that might lead their students to adopt more sophisticated views. 4) Science educators usually neglect to discuss students' religious objections to scientific theories because they are typically not very religious themselves. but 5) if they do, they often make the situation worse by making outrageous gaffes regarding the science/religion interface. 6) Finally, standard resources meant to help science teachers teach the NOS and deal with religious objections actually encourage instructors to softpedal certain aspects of the NOS and make naïve claims about the science-religion interface. In the following sections, we further explain and support the above characterization of this complex problem, and then describe a suggested course of action.
URL for this article: http://www.nagt.org/nagt/jge/abstracts/may09.html#v57p168
Science As Storytelling for Teaching the Nature of Science and the Science-Religion Interface
Barry R. Bickmore, Brigham Young University
Kristen R. Thompson, Brigham Young University
David A. Grandy, Brigham Young University
Teagan Tomlin, Brinham Young University
Full Text (Acrobat (PDF) 2.2MB Nov12 09)
Here we describe a method for teaching the NOS called "Science as Storytelling," which was designed to directly confront naive realist preconceptions about the NOS and replace them with more sophisticated ideas, while retaining a moderate realist perspective. It was also designed to foster a more sophisticated understanding of the science-religion interface, where occasional science-religion conflicts are seen as inevitable in cases where religious beliefs incorporate supernatural intervention in the natural world. We evaluated the program as implemented in a geology course for pre-service elementary teachers at Bringham Young University, ans showed that it was successful at helping students understand the tentative and creative aspects of scientific thought, and fostering more positive attitudes toward science. Our evaluation also showed that the students adopted a more irenic stance toward science-religion conflict. These results directly contradict fears that emphasizing the creative and tentative aspects of the NOS, and admitting that science and religion sometimes conflict, will cause students to reject scientific claims to an even greater degree.
URL for this article: http://www.nagt.org/nagt/jge/abstracts/may09.html#v57p178
Investigating Earth Science in Urban Schoolyards
Anna Endreny, Syracuse University
Donald I. Siegel, Syracuse University
Full Text (Acrobat (PDF) 751kB Nov12 09)
The Urban Schoolyards project is a two year partnership with a university Earth Science Department and the surrounding urban elementary schools. The goal of the project was to develop the capacity of elementary teachers to teach earth science lessons using their schoolyards and local parks as field sites. The university personnel developed lessons and resources which were taught to the teachers during a summer institute. The teachers then implemented these lessons with their elementary classes during the following school year. It was found that 70% of the teachers who participated in the summer institutes used their schoolyards and local parks for science lessons during the following school year.
URL for this article: http://www.nagt.org/nagt/jge/abstracts/may09.html#v57p191
Siphons, Water Clocks, Cooling Coffee, and Leaking Capacitors: Classroom Activities and a few Equations to Help Students Understand Radioactive Decay and Other Exponential Processes
John B. Brady, Smith College
Full Text (Acrobat (PDF) 1.3MB Nov12 09)
Although an understanding of radiometric dating is central to the preparation of every geologist, many students struggle with the concepts and mathematics of radioactive decay. Physical demonstrations and hands-on experiments can be used to good effect in addressing this teaching conundrum. Water, heat, and electrons all move or flow in response to generalized forces (gradients in pressure, temperature, and electrical potential) that may change because of the flow. Changes due to these flows are easy to monitor over time during simple experiments in the classroom. Some of these experiments can be modled as exponential decay, analogous to the mathematics of radioactive decay, and can be used to help students visualize and understand exponential change. Other, similar experiments produce decay or change that is not exponential. By having classes, in small groups, conduct several experiments involving flows, a learning synergy can be encouraged in which the physical and mathematical similarities of flow processes are emphasized. For the best results, students should be asked to analyze the experimental data, using graphs and algebraor calculus as appropriate to the class, to determine the nature of the decay process and to make predictions, either forward or backward in time as would be done for radiometric dating. Basic quantitative skills are strengthened or developed as part of these activities. Encouraging a number of important geologic processes in the same mathematical processes hyelp build a quantitative literacy that can be transferred and applied to the other processes.
URL for this article: http://www.nagt.org/nagt/jge/abstracts/may09.html#v57p196
Environmental Media Phase-Tracking Units in the Classroom
David E. Langseth, Gradient Corporation
Full Text (Acrobat (PDF) 937kB Nov12 09)
When teaching phase partitioning concepts for solutes in porous media, and other multi-phase environmental systems, explicitly tracking the environmental media phase with which a substance of interest (SOI) is associated can enhance the students' understanding of the fundamental concepts and derivations. It is common to explicitly track the customary mass, length, and time based units. The expansion described here is to also track the specific media phases to which these fundamental units apply. This additional step forces students to think more carefully about concentrations and other terms. This paper presents a consistent system of notation for teaching these concepts and some examples of how this system is used. The examples presented here are based on solid-liquid partitioning and a linear Freundlich adsorption isotherm, but could also be applied to other environmental media, such as air and biological tissue, as well as other partitioning models. This approach is most appropriate for advanced undergraduate and graduate students.
URL for this article: http://www.nagt.org/nagt/jge/abstracts/may09.html#v57p206
Using a Historical Controversy to Teach Critical Thinking, the Meaning of "Theory", and the Status of Scientific Knowledge
Keith Montgomery, University of Wisconsin Marathon
Full Text (Acrobat (PDF) 860kB Nov12 09)
It is important that students understand the "open-ended" nature of scientific knowledge and the correct relationship between facts and theory. One way this can be taught is to examine a past controversy in which the interpretation of facts was contested. The controversy discussed here, with suggestions for teaching, is "Expanding Earth versus Sea Floor Spreading." Although this was a short and limited controversy within the mainstream scientific community, it has the advantage of having primary sources that are accessible to students to read for themselves. What makes this controversy intriguing is the later conversion of one of the protagonists (Tuzo Wilson) to tectonics. The controversy is framed explicitly in terms of several criteria for agreeing on the optimal theory: it is an exercise in what has been termed "theory choice" by Thomas Kuhn. Framing the controversy in this way can teach students a great deal about the emergence of scientific theories as well as criteria that can be used to judge ideas in a mature fashion.
URL for this article: http://www.nagt.org/nagt/jge/abstracts/may09.html#v57p214


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Nutrition Facts
Ingredients and Preparation
- Season chicken breast with ¼ teaspoon salt and a dash of pepper. Place on grill coated with cooking spray and cook over medium heat for 5-7 minutes on each side. Move to cutting board and cut into strips.
- Season spinach with a dash of salt and pepper to taste.
- Whisk together balsamic vinegar, garlic, and oil in a large mixing or salad bowl. Add the spinach to the bowl and toss to combine.
- Place spinach onto plates and top with the chicken strips, apple wedges, and goat cheese.


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How to Enhance Your CV for Job Searching
Getting your Curriculum Vitae (CV) into its best possible shape is an essential step towards getting the job you're looking for. Here are four suggestions as to how you might improve your CV:
Research, research, research to know the skills, education, and experience you need for the job you want.
Include a Job Objective or Skills Summary targeted to the job you want.
Include the correct name, title, and address of your CV recipient.
Proofread your CV, in addition to relying on your computer spell-checker.


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A giant panda at Zoo Atlanta gave birth to twin cubs Monday, the first panda multiples born in the U.S. in 25 years.
Lun Lun, the 15-year-old Giant Panda, was in labor for about 90 minutes before giving birth to the cubs, her fourth and fifth. The sex of the cubs has not yet been revealed, and the public won't see them until late fall.
The names will be announced when they reach 100 days old, based on a traditional Chinese tradition for good luck.
Zookeepers artificially inseminated Lun Lun back in March with sperm from Yang Yang, the father of all five of Lun Lun's cubs. Until the younger cub arrived at 6:23 p.m., two minutes after its older sibling, the giant panda team had no idea Lun Lun was pregnant with twins.
Twin births do occur in the wild, but typically only one of the cubs will survive because mother will only care for one. In zoos, keepers rotate the cubs with the mother every few hours for the first few months.
Giant pandas are born tiny, and the risk of mortality is very high in the first few months. Twins face even more danger because of their smaller size -- the combined weight of the newborn cubs is just 8.6 ounces.
"This is a success we share with all of our fellow zoological organizations working to understand and protect this iconic species, and we share our joy with our local community and with our colleagues in China," said Raymond B. King, President and CEO. "Twins are an entirely new scenario for Lun Lun, Zoo Atlanta and our animal care teams, who will no doubt be extremely busy over the next few months."


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Echocardiography is an imaging test. It uses sound waves to make detailed pictures of the heart.
The test can be done in two ways.
Echocardiography is an important imaging test for heart problems in infants and children. It may help diagnose problems your child was born with (congenital). Or it may help diagnose a problem that has developed (acquired). Below are reasons for having echocardiography.
The echo may be done in a cardiologist's office, at a hospital, or at an imaging facility. It takes about 45 to 60 minutes for a transthoracic echo. A specially trained technician (cardiac sonographer) usually does the test. The steps are:
Your child will need sedation if he or she is having a transesophageal echo. For this test, the transducer is passed into your child's mouth, throat, and into the esophagus. A bite protector will be placed in your child's mouth. Vital signs including heart rate, blood pressure, and oxygen levels will be monitored. Once your child is sedated enough, the TEE probe will be inserted into the esophagus. This test lasts about 15 minutes.
Before you agree to the test or the procedure for your child make sure you know: