Holographic Television Is Coming

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Soon holographic technology will enable television viewers to see images from every angle, just as if they were present when the cameras captured those images.

How about television reception from all angles? You see a view of the subject matter from one direction, but you can also move a bit to the left or right and see beyond what you were seeing. You can see sides, front and back of the image you are watching. By changing your own position, you can even see from above or below as well as all sides of the image.

It is not yet possible, but it is coming. There are several companies working on the idea. It is hard to fathom television reception that is not on a two dimensional plane. All of the televiewing we have been able to do in the past is done on a flat or slightly rounded screen.

The screen is the major problem. The cameras are already able to produce holographic images. Having many cameras producing the images from many angles is quite possible. How to project all of those images at the same time and same place to form a three dimensional viewing experience is where technology still has to provide the answer.

Just think of how many novel features will be possible when the process is perfected and on the market. If you are watching a sporting event, you can move a little to the left or right and scan the spectators to see if your friend is in the crowd. A detective drama will be more easily solved by the viewers if they can adjust the angle of their viewing. The possibilities are nearly endless.

Already, science is using some instruments which resemble holographic television. Medical imaging techniques sort of do holographic-type activities. Still, they find it hard to consider the x, the y, and the z coordinates at the same time.

Think of 3-D movies without the need for those special glasses. It will be nearly the same as being present where the cameras are photographing. You can adjust your view by moving one direction or another. You will no longer be at the mercy of one camera’s point of view.

Disneyland had a novel idea when they introduced the 360 degree screens at the theme parks, but holographic viewing will far surpass the 360 concept.

This article is on the Internet at URL:

http://www.scienceray.com/Technology/Industry/The-Holographic-Television-is-Coming.141861

Friendly Persuasion (Movie)

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This movie revolves around challenges that a Quaker family has concerning their age-old religious ideas.

Although this movie was produced in the 1950s, it has been one of my favorites for many years. I used to see it on late night rerun movies on TV.

The story takes place during the Civil War and mostly revolves around a Quaker family whose Quaker ideas form many of the leitmotifs in the story. The family is supposed to be against violence and war. They are also against music. These are old Quaker ideas. However, when they surface in the story, these ideas are not always presented as ideal.

One of the features of the movie which makes it more appealing is the music soundtrack. Some of the words in the theme song are Quaker style, such as “Thee I love, more than the mulberries on the hill…”

The leading lady in the movie, Eliza Birdwell, is played by Dorothy McGuire. This character is supposed to be a perfect example of the Quaker minister in Indiana. However, some of shortcomings show up in the movie, especially when she takes a broom after one of the Southern soldiers who wants to kill the family goose. This is not a Quaker ideal, beating a man who wants to steal your family’s goose.

The goose, itself, is a comedy element in the movie when the son of Eliza is often being chased by the bird.

Other well-known actors in the movie include Gary Cooper as the Quaker father, Jess Birdwell, and Anthony Perkins of Psycho fame who plays a son of the Birdwell family.

Interesting highlights in the movie, in the author’s opinion, include when one of the family hides a musical instrument from the rest of the family. As model Quakers, they do not think music is appropriate for Christians. However, when another Quaker is visiting their farm and someone is playing with the instrument, they think it is music from Heaven.

The basic idea in the movie is the challenge of old ideas of a strong family in the Quaker sect. It makes for good viewing of a safe nature.

You can also read this same article online at:

http://www.cinemaroll.com/Drama/Friendly-Persuasion.140291

Adopting Older International Children

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For a family with its own biological children, the idea of adopting an older international child can be rewarding while there are significant problems accompanying the process.

Our family with two biological children decided to consider adopting an older child several years ago. The girl was six year old at the time.

We were missionary teachers in a country in the Caribbean. I was principal in a small Christian school, and my wife was the kindergarten teacher. Not long into the school year, an old grandmother approached my wife with a proposition. She introduced herself as the grandmother of one of my wife’s students whom we will call Kelly. She told that Kelly’s mother was deemed unfit and lost custody of Kelly. Kelly’s father, a son of the grandmother, was the legal caregiver for Kelly, but he was willing, even eager, to find a good home for his daughter.

The grandmother wanted my wife and me to adopt the girl and take her to the USA when we returned there. After praying about it and getting assurance that the grandmother’s story was accurate, we agreed.

We went to the authorities in the country and after a while, got the papers to take Kelly with us when we left for the USA. All was arranged, and we returned to Indiana where I was to begin graduate studies at Indiana University. Very soon, we began to get telephone calls from Kelly’s mother’s lawyer. Threats, pleadings and other such messages were overwhelming to us.

We had been taking classes for legally adopting Kelly and had just finished the sessions and had our home study finished. About that time, we were notified that Kelly’s mother had petitioned an international judge and was awarded custody of Kelly again. We had to fly Kelly back to her homeland.

This news was harder for me than for my wife, it seems. I became too emotional at times and could not control my crying. We had planned so well for Kelly to become another daughter for our family.

In the meantime, our older daughter had become very close to Kelly and spent much time with her. Our son was secretly becoming jealous. He and his real sister had been very close, and now Kelly had apparently come between him and his sister. He seemed to have a secret growing hatred for Kelly but was afraid to express it. He was relieved when Kelly had to fly back to her homeland.

At the same time, the Monroe Country authorities were aware of our situation and felt for us in losing Kelly. They had another problem on their hands, however. Another family had acquired an eight year old boy from Asia to adopt. He was to be the brother of a Korean boy they had adopted several years earlier as a baby. However, they found that the other Asian boy, whom we will call Austin, was not at all American. His Asian mannerisms and very poor English language skills were not acceptable to his new family. They asked the county to find another home for Austin.

The county was aware of us and our loss. They contacted us to consider Austin. After praying and thinking it through, we decided to take Austin for adoption. In the month of December, Austin was brought to us. Excitement, nervous tension and confusion all mixed together for all of us. Our older son had graduated from high school and was now a student at a Bible school in Cincinnati. Our daughter seemed to accept the idea of a new sibling to replace Kelly.

As Austin’s earlier family, we also saw problems in Austin, but we felt we could get past them. We changed his name again so by now he has had three different names. We used the name that he had in his homeland for a while, but he soon asked us to change it since classmates at school had never heard that name before. We gave him a choice of four names with the idea of using his original Asian name for a middle name. He chose one of the four, which is the name we now use for him.

His English skills were poor so he was put into the second grade although he should have been in fourth grade. That was temporary until his language abilities improved enough to study fourth grade material.

He went through the typical signs of adopted children, quiet acceptance of his new role in life, active rejection of the new family for a few weeks, a renewed acceptance of his role in the family and finally becoming a loving son for us.

All of this happened many years ago. Now, the new son is a good friend with our oldest son and our daughter. He found a girlfriend when around twenty years of age and married her. They now have given us four grandchildren. He is now a US citizen with English skills that seem native-like. He has completely forgotten his Asian language by now.

We have not heard from Kelly since we sent her back to her homeland. We hope she is doing well. We feel she should have been our child. We are sure she would have had a good future in our family. Still, we would not have adopted our Asian son if we had kept Kelly.

See this article also at:

http://www.gomestic.com/Family/Adopting-Older-International-Children.138774

Oh, Canada

Canada is so quietly proud. They have much to be proud about, including their delightful national anthem.

Having attended a lot of ice hockey games in the USA, I have come to recognize and appreciate the national anthems of the USA and Canada. Of course, the US national anthem has had lots of criticism and has caused a considerable confusion because of some of the seldom-used words it contains. Still, it often brings tears to my own eyes when I hear it.

I have never been to Canada, but I do have strong feelings for the Canadian people, their culture and the two languages of the country. Various icons of the Canadian country are easily identified as Canadian. The maple leaf flag is clearly one of the most familiar, as familiar as the bald eagle is to citizens of the USA. The “Mounties”, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, can only be Canadian in nature.

As for audible icons, Oh Canada is number one. The music to the Canadian national anthem was written by Calixa Lavallee in 1880. Judge Adolphe-Basile Routhier wrote the original French words. The English equivalent was penned by Robert Stanley Weir twenty-eight years later. The song became Canada’s national anthem in 1980, one century after having been sung and loved by Canadians for so long.

The first verse, which is usually the only verse used at hockey games, reminds the author of the first verse of America, the Beautiful. Although that song is intended to laud the praises of the United States of America, it applies to Canada as well. The first stanza of Oh Canada extols the freedom and glory of Canada. It expresses the heartfelt love of the Canadian for his homeland. It is truly an uplifting song for a noble and beautiful people.

Let us remember our neighbors to the north on July 1 each year. That is the Canadian birthday, so to speak. They call it Dominion Day.

This article is online at:

http://www.authspot.com/Journals/Oh-Canada.137911

Please look it up there as well.

Corn, a New World Plant

This major food crop was not known outside the Americas until Europeans found one of the favorite crops of the American Indians.

A few years ago, my brother confronted me about one of my more orthodox Christian ideas, that we should not choose to do unnecessary work on Sunday. I saw evidence in the Ten Commandments that we should do more religious things on the Sabbath than farming or other work which could be done on other days.

My brother tried to quote Scripture, saying that Jesus walked through the corn fields on the Sabbath and picked heads of corn, rubbed them together before eating them, and thus he picked corn on the Sabbath.

I had a little knowledge of the history of corn at the time and shared some of my understanding with my brother. Firstly, there was no corn where Jesus walked on Earth. When the King James Bible mentions corn, it actually means “grain”. Thus, when Jesus walked through the “corn fields” on the Sabbath, it was probably wheat or other small grain. While in earthly flesh, Jesus never saw what we now know as corn.

Corn does not grow naturally as corn. It must be cultivated and developed to become corn on the cob. The history of corn (sometimes called maize) probably began in South America when some native peoples found a wild grass which produced seeds which were good to eat. These natives worked with it and, in time, developed it to the point of having kernels growing in rows on a cob, much like what we grow today.

The newly developed crop spread as the people moved into new territories. In a few hundred years, corn was being grown in what are now parts of the United States of America.

It is now found nearly everywhere in the world, thanks partly to the early Europeans who discovered it when they landed in the Americas. They brought some of the seeds back to Europe and planted them.

Besides being tasty in various cooking styles, corn keeps for many months without spoilage. The dry kernels can be used several months after they are taken from the parent plant. They can be ground into a meal or soaked to make hominy. Also, those seeds can be planted many months after being harvested, and they will reproduce.

Although not as highly regarded as rice, corn is a major food crop that does not grow in the wild. It began as a New World plant with some human engineering to create such a perfect food for animals and humans.

You may find this article on the Internet at:

http://www.scienceray.com/Biology/Botany/Corn-a-New-World-Plant.137908

Hampshire Hogs in the USA Midwest

One of my father’s favorite hogs is still one of my favorites. Hampshire hogs have so much in their favor.

I grew up in Indiana, the oldest son of a farmer. My father’s notions as to which breeds of animals and field crops were best have stayed with me, influencing my opinions to this day.

His choices of cattle were Guernsey for milk production and Holstein for meat. I realize that Holstein is not usually considered a meat cow, but my dad always had a few young Holsteins growing toward butchering day in the early winter.

As to pigs, we always had Hampshires. My dad called them “hamps”. They are a medium to large hog with black skin and a white belt around their front shoulders and white front legs. Their ears were alert-looking, standing up so they appeared to be always paying attention to what was around them.

As I understand, the Hampshire is probably one of the oldest hog breeds to be introduced to the USA. That was in the early 1800s. This breed is common in Northern England and Scotland so it probably was brought by boat by Scotsmen moving to the New World to get set up in farming.

They are good at foraging for food, making them good for a new farm in a remote area. They can find grubs and roots as they root into the ground. Their size is sometimes criticized although their butchered carcases are of high quality. There is less fat on Hampshire hogs than some other large breeds. As time passed and improvements were made to the breed, it became a very popular hog in the Midwest states.

In Kentucky, one of the first associations featuring this hog was called the American Thin Rind Association. The name was popular, especially considering that it suggests that the skin of this hog is less thick than that of some other breeds. Other names for the breed have included McKay, McGee, Ring Middle and Saddleback. In 1904, the decision was made to give this breed one name so everyone knew which breed they were referring to. The chosen name was Hampshire.

This was one of the most popular hog breeds in the corn belt of the USA as early as 1910. In my mind, this is the breed to have on your farm.

This article is available online at:

http://www.gomestic.com/Rural-Living/Hampshire-Hogs-in-the-USA-Midwest.137160

Mozart’s The Magic Flute

If you want to attend the opera and see a happy ending in a great love story, The Magic Flute is the one to see.

This work seems to be one of the favorites of Mozart, the writer of the opera. He attended several of the first performances with some of his friends.

The masterpiece’s story revolves around Pamina, who was the daughter of the Queen of the Night, and Tamino, who had been sent by Pamina’s mother to rescue Pamina from Sarastro. Sarastro was a messenger sent by Isis and Osiris to take Pamina to the temple to be free from her mother’s influence.

The couple deeply desire to be together, which is the crux of the story. Their attempts to be reconciled make up the major elements of this opera.

A few other colorful characters include some priests, some armored men, an older woman and three boys who assist the couple.

This opera differs from so many because it is a positive and inspirational story.

See this article on the Internet at:

http://www.musicouch.com/Genres/Classical/Mozarts-The-Magic-Flute.135643

The Mother Road, Route 66

This highway has had a number of names over the years, the most enduring being The Mother Road, perhaps because it was the name used by John Steinbeck in his novel The Grapes of Wrath. Since the road ran diagonally from Chicago to Oklahoma, it was sometimes called The Great Diagonal Way. Of course, you can see a sign in Santa Monica, California, calling the road The Will Rogers Highway. In the mind of the writer of this article, it will always be called Route 66.

On our honeymoon in 1966, we took Route 66 most of the way from Illinois down toward Phoenix, Arizona, although Route 66 does not actually go as far south as Phoenix. It was economical at that time to take a diagonal road to get to the Southwest from the Midwest.

There are so many interesting facts about Route 66. Largely due to efforts by Cyrus Avery, a businessman in Oklahoma, Route 66 was a part of the US Highways national highway system. That was in 1927 although the paving of the road was not done until 1938. It was the first highway to be completely paved. Although Mr. Avery wanted the number of the road to be 60, he finally accepted a compromise on the number 66.

During the westward movement of people in the 1930s, this highway became one of the most travelled roads. During World War II, the highway was used as well for the transport of military equipment. During the 1950s, Route 66 became one of the favorite highways for vacationers heading to the West Coast. The highway went through various popular tourist areas including the Painted Desert, Meteor Crater and close to the Grand Canyon.

Small businesses soon realized profits by setting up shops along Route 66 to take in money from travellers.

The highway generally bypassed larger cities to avoid congestion. A number of relatively minor changes in the pathway of Route 66 were made as time went by in order to make it a better route.

Route 66 lasted for sixty years before the Interstate Highway Act of 1956 hastened its demise. The new highway act was patterned after the Autobahnen in Germany. Some bypassing of parts of The Mother Road began in 1953. Some of the new Interstate Highway system even took over parts of Route 66 in some areas. By 1985, Route 66 ceased to exist officially.

Some states in which the old Route 66 existed have set up Route 66 Historic Routes. This old favorite highway refuses to simply become a relic of the past. Some areas of the old Route 66 have the logo of the road painted on the surface.

Originally the historic road crossed into eight states and covered 2448 miles from Chicago to near the Pacific Ocean. A television series developed with the title Route 66. The theme song of the show declares that one can ‘get his kicks on Route sixty-six’. There is even a mythical animal which has become the mascot of Route 66, the jackalope. It is a jackrabbit with the antlers of an antelope.

The highway is officially gone, but those of us who used it will fondly remember it for a very long time.

This article is published online at:

http://www.socyberty.com/History/The-Mother-Road-Route-66.135113

Soy-based Car Interiors in Fords

Ford Motor Company is the first in the USA to try to ‘go green’ all the way they possibly can when fabricating car interiors. Their intention is to replace around forty percent of polymer-based products in the new cars they build with soy-based products.

The ‘new car’ smell will soon be different. The thirty pounds of petroleum-based foam used in cushioning the insides of new cars will be replaced with material derived from soy beans. This includes head restraints, arm rests and seatbacks.

This change from petrol products to vegetable products inside automobiles will result in a savings of around twenty-six million dollars per year to the auto makers. Besides the financial savings, there will be a significant reduction in non-biodegradable trash showing up in landfills in the future.

One of the problems which Ford has with the new soy-based polyurethane foam is the odor. Some people consider the ‘new car’ smell is more like rancid cooking oil. Ford has applied for two patents for their soy-based foam. One of these is for a low-odor process to synthesize polyols. Ford is attempting to get a new car smell that consumers will not object to in their products.

The new seats can still be leather-covered if that is the only objection consumers will have to the new material. Around 45,000 cars with this new bio-polymer will be available by the year’s end. The models which Ford is using for the ‘go-green’ approach are the Lincoln Navigator SUV, Mustang, F-150 Pickup and Ford Expedition.

It is not clear why Ford chose only the most expensive of its models to experiment with instead of the cheaper or the hybrid models. Still, it is a major step toward becoming less dependent on oil products, at least in the production of cars.

To see this article as a published piece on the Internet, go to:

http://www.scienceray.com/Technology/Applied-Science/Soy-Based-Car-Interiors-in-Fords.135068

Balut, An Asian Treat

Try balut. It is common in several Asian countries and even about as popular as hot dogs are in the USA in one particular Asian country.

When you go to a foreign country, you should try to go native, right? As in, ‘When in Rome, do as the Romans do’. Thus, when you are in Manila or most any other Philippines town, buy balut from a street vendor and take off the shell to eat the delicacy on the spot. No salt is used or other flavour enhancer. The locals eat it just as it is.

You have seen it on the Survivor Show I suspect. At least, I have seen it on some episodes of the reality show. This is real food. It is best to eat without asking any questions, especially when you chomp down on something fuzzy or something somewhat solid. Eat and enjoy.

Someone wants to know what it is before they eat it. The answer is that it is an egg, a boiled egg. Not just any egg but a duck egg.

Let’s learn a little more. Duck eggs usually take around twenty-eight days to hatch. After a mother duck begins sitting on the eggs, she gets very weary of the long job. Around the twenty-sixth day, the eggs may show some signs of life; even a few may get a little hole through which the baby ducklings can get oxygen.

Balut is made from duck eggs that have been fertilized and have begun the incubation period. Around the fifteenth day, they are boiled. They are then bona-fide balut members.

Now, you know what makes them so special. There is a duck embryo inside the egg that is boiled. The body parts are well on their way to becoming perfect baby ducks. There is a head, sometimes some fuzz on their skin, bones and all of the unmentionable parts.

When in the Philippines, do as the Filipinos do. Enjoy crunching the skull and leg bones. Enjoy the cooked entrails’ flavor. If you are lucky, there may be a few baby feathers already in the formation stage. That should tickle your taste buds.

Bon appetite.

Find this article at:

http://www.purpleslinky.com/Humor/Food/Balut-an-Asian-Treat.133687

First Franchiser also an Inventor

During the era when Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton were beginning to campaign for women’s rights, another woman was showing what women were already capable of doing.

Canadian Martha Matilda Harper had worked as a domestic servant for many years. She felt that chemicals found in hair shampoo and other beauty products were more harmful than they should be. After some time of trying different chemicals, she managed to develop a hair tonic which she considered safe.

When she had saved enough money, she opened her Harper Method Shop in 1888. She emphasized nutrition, hygiene and exercise in her beauty method. She personally had floor length hair and used it as part of her advertising.

To make her idea of a ‘salon’ more professional, she invented a reclining shampoo chair. The invention plus her beauty products helped her to institute the idea of hairdressing salons. Previously, beauticians visited their customers privately in their own homes for beauty treatments.

She developed a franchise system in 1891, selling salon franchises which used duplication of services and products. She had a strongly regimented training program for every franchisee. Although the franchisees owned their own salons, Harper visited them for quality control and for advertising purposes.

In time, she had over five hundred salon franchises under her control. Along with these salons, she had a number of training schools.

Amazing as it sounds, one of her clients was Susan B. Anthony.

This article is found at:

http://www.quazen.com/Reference/Biography/First-Franchiser-Also-an-Inventor.132795

Prayer Life of Christians

What about the amount or type of prayer that is expected for Christians? Is there a specific number of minutes-per-day requirement or a physical posture requirement? What about signs or actions during prayer? Prayer is considered a Christian element. Let’s look at Scriptural suggestions.

In the Gospel of Luke, a disciple asked Jesus Christ to teach His disciples to pray, just as John the Baptist taught his followers. At that time, Jesus introduced the Model Prayer, which some people refer to as the Lord’s Prayer. Actually, however, the Lord’s Own prayer is found in the Gospel of John, chapter seventeen, when Jesus prayed for His followers at the time as well as those people who would become His followers in the future.

The Model Prayer was not intended to be memorized and quoted over and over. It was an example to be followed when a Christian prays. The Christian’s prayer most likely would not be exactly like the Model but would contain similar elements as the Model.

Most devout Christians try to live as though Jesus Christ is walking beside them at work, at home, at play as well as in a worship service. Not only do they pray when they awaken in order to thank God for allowing them to awaken to another day. They often choose to pray before eating a meal and again at bedtime. Of course, they remember to go to God when significant problems come into their lives. This seems to be a natural reaction.

In the same chapter in the Gospel of Luke in which we find the Model Prayer, Jesus went on to describe a situation in which someone wanted to borrow some bread from a friend at night. The friend was already in bed and did not want to arise to grant the request. The one who wanted the bread kept asking until the friend got tired of the imposition and got up to give his friend the bread he wanted. Jesus suggested that there are situations in which Christians need to be more concerned than to simply ask one time for a request.

Jesus does not tell us to do special magical things, such as making the sign of the cross or falling on our faces on the ground when praying. The Scriptures tell us that He and the Heavenly Father are our friends. We can approach them as friends. In fact, Abraham, one of the Old Testament patriarchs, was called the Friend of God.

Jesus, by His own example, lets us know that prayer sometimes needs to be of longer duration and with more earnest implications. When he prayed in the garden at night, the disciples who were with Him slept. After he prayed a while, he came and rebuked them for not having enough interest to pray with Him. There seem to be times when longer prayers are in order. These are not the time for public displays of prayer but rather, when intense interest from deep within us prompts us to go to God for our immediate needs.

An old hymn of the Church, written by C. Austin Miles, expresses the outlook of Christians concerning prayer. The hymn is In the Garden. The chorus is enough to express the Christian’s feeling about prayer:

“And He walks with me, and He talks with me,

And He tells me I am His own.

And the joys we share as we tarry there,

None other has ever known.”

Prayer is and should be the act of communicating with our Best Friend.

This article is found at:

http://www.relijournal.com/Christianity/Prayer-Life-of-Christians.132784

Aida Opera by Verdi

Her name is Aida, and she is the daughter of the king of Ethiopia although most of the characters in the story are unaware of this fact. The third person in this three-way affair is Amneris, the daughter of the king of Egypt. Although she loves Radames, he does not return her romantic notions.

Amneris has suspicions that Radames is in love with someone else, but she does not know who has taken his eye. When a war breaks out between Egypt and Ethiopia, Amneris tells Aida that Radames was killed. She tells this lie only to find out if there are romantic feelings within Aida for Radames. When she hears of his alleged death, Aida reveals that she has strong feelings for Radames. He is the greatest love of her life.

The king of Egypt decides to reward Radames for the victory over Ethiopia. He pleads with the Egyptian king to spare the lives of the Ethiopian king and his family. The king of Egypt agrees to this. He also gives Radames his daughter Amneris to wed. He does not want to marry Amneris so he and Aida arrange to flee to the desert. Their plans are overheard which leads to the opera’s climax.

Dutch Elm Disease

I recall when my parents bought five acres of land on the edge of a little rural town in Indiana in 1950. There were no buildings on it; my dad had decided to build a small hobby-type farm there with a house, barn and chicken house. On the land was an old inter-urban railroad track which was not used any more. Lots of cinders and a few rotted railroad ties ran through the center of the five acres.

There were only four trees on the land when they bought it. There were two black walnut trees and a mulberry tree on the far northwest corner of the five acres. There was a nice-looking elm tree very near the center of the south line fence. Later, I and my mother planted a few other trees including Colorado blue spruce and some type of maple tree that sprouted in the side ditch.

My father built a five bedroom house, with Mom’s help. As I was only ten years old, I was not much assistance. After the house was done and while we were living in it, my dad quickly turned his attention to building a medium-sized barn with a milking parlor, a stall for my Palomino horse and room to store alfalfa and timothy hay for the animals to eat in the winter. This barn was within ten feet of the handsome elm tree. The cows and my horse enjoyed standing under that tree many times on hot days or when it rained.

The tree grew over the years and became an even more appreciated asset to the little farmstead. Its green leaves on wide-spreading branches made the area around the barn quite picturesque.

However, one springtime seemed different. The tree was much slower to get its leaves after the winter ended. When the leaves came on, they were not as healthy in appearance as before. My dad recalled that the top of the tree seemed to be dying earlier during the autumn before. The tree seemed to be sick.

In the following spring seasons, there were sucker trees trying to grow up from some of the exposed roots of our beloved elm tree. They grew for a while, but in a couple of years, they were afflicted and died.

Neighbors with similar elm trees seemed to all have the same thing happening. The large, healthy-looking trees seemed to have an upper branch become afflicted with the leaves turning yellow and falling before autumn. Someone learned that the problem was due to a thing they called Dutch Elm Disease.

From studies that I did later, I learned that the disease was first noticed in the Netherlands, hence the name Dutch Elm Disease. It was first seen in the 1920s although our tree was not afflicted until the 1950s. It is caused by bark beetles which plug the flow of nutrients from the leaves to the roots. There are two species of beetles which can afflict an elm tree, the European elm bark beetle and the native elm bark beetle.

From what I have learned, there are two or three fungicides which seem to be able to prolong the life of affected trees. They seem to be less effective than elm owners would prefer.

Now that it is too late for our tree beside the barn, I have become aware of a few elm trees which seem to be resistant to the Dutch elm disease. Another idea which seems to have merit is to make hybrid elm trees to resist the disease. I trust they will catch on in popularity so we will again see the lovely elm trees in our cities.

Swan Lake Ballet

This ballet tells a tragic love story of a beautiful woman who is trapped inside the body of a bird. That is because of a spell cast upon her by an evil man, Von Rothbart. She is a bird by day and a woman by night. The ballet tries to come up with answers to her dilemma.

As the ballet opens, the prince has the problem of having to decide whom he will marry. His decision is to be made at a ball on his birthday. His desire is to marry for love, but it seems rather impossible. He goes into a wooded area and sees some swans, one of which intrigues him since she seems more like a woman than a bird.

As they dance, the prince learns that she is one of a set of twins and that Von Rothbart put a spell upon her which can only be released if a man expresses love for her.

Von Rothbart comes upon the two dancing. The prince wants to kill him, but the swan lady lets him know that the spell cannot be undone if Von Rothbart dies before the spell is cured.

In the third and fourth acts of the ballet, the other twin enters the picture and confuses the prince.

Usually, both twins’ parts are danced by the same person. This situation increases the dancing load on the main female. This problem is augmented by the fact that one of the earlier dancers to dance the parts performed thirty-two fouettes in a row. Now, all dancers of the lead role are expected to follow suit and also dance thirty-two fouettes in a row.

Swan Lake is one of the world’s favorite ballets. The music by Tchaikovsky plus the beauty in the story have worked together to make this a well-loved ballet.

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Worldwide Tips for Grilling Fish

Seafood and fish have been popular for centuries. That is because of the taste as well as the great variety available. Considering fish, for example, one can choose fresh water fish or from among nearly endless varieties of saltwater fish. Another aspect of eating fish involves how to cook them.

Some Oriental cultures sometimes eat fish without cooking them. There are different styles of sushi, uncooked fish. The Japanese are high on the list of sushi eaters. In fact, about a tenth of the fish eaten by humans are eaten by Japanese people. This article, though, is about cooked fish rather than fish which are eaten raw.

Actually, fish is very easy to cook. That is because fish does not have much connective tissue so it is easily made very tender with a minimum of cooking required. Methods of cooking fish include frying, baking, grilling, broiling, poaching and sautéing. You know the fish is cooked enough when the flakes easily break apart or when the internal temperature of the fish is at least 145 degrees Fahrenheit.

In island cultures, grilling fish is probably the most common method of cooking it. The local island peoples always have lots of tips for grilling fish, their own favorite suggestions. Almost always, they express their favorite saltwater fish and why it is the best species to cook. Usually, they include either lemon or lime as a necessary ingredient for perfectly cooked fish. Beyond these tips, the recipes vary greatly.

After consulting many local island people, you will probably notice that some of them suggest that you buy a fish grilling basket. They are usually available at local hardware stores and some department stores where barbeque supplies are sold. These baskets are designed to hold the fish so that they can be turned from side to side for grilling on both sides of the fish. Some of them are large enough to hold several fish at the same time to make the grilling more efficient.

Various cultures have differing recipes for grilling fish. Some fish have more bones to watch out for than others. These fish require a different recipe than those which can be easily filleted and have few bones to irritate the eater of the fish. The island people of the Caribbean often use rum in the recipes for grilled fish while Australian fish eaters do not always want alcohol as part of the recipe. Hawaiians and some oriental peoples often decide to use pineapple in their fish grilling recipes.

Of course, some people prefer to grill fillets of larger fish. The salmon and other larger fish are more easily cooked as filleted fish. Large tuna are also often sliced across the grain of the meat to form great steaks to grill.

Since fish are reported to be so good for humans, we should carefully study various methods of cooking them, especially looking at grilling recipes. There are surely recipes which will appeal to each of our tastes, from rum favorites to pineapple tinged grilled fish.

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Hybrid Animals

Having been raised on a farm in the Midwestern USA, I believe I know a few things about farming, both the animal and plant life involved. My early years were filled with driving a tractor or riding on the corn planter on the back of the tractor when my father drove.

My dad learned, through trial and error as well as from neighboring farmers, that there was such a thing as hybrids. This was in relation to the plants that farmers grew. Hybrid animals were not brought up at this point in time.

As my father learned and shared with me and my brothers, we all began to understand that hybrids are combinations of breeds and that those combinations were designed to bring out the best of the breeds which had been combined.

Later, my own son was involved in hybrid seed production when he took a brief summer job detasselling corn. He would cut off the tassels before they were allowed to spread their fertilising sperms onto the silks of the corn cobs below. Then, the farmer would use a different type of sperms to spread over the silks. This produced a hybrid.

For example, a corn plant which usually produces yellow kernels could be fertilised with sperm from a plant which produces white kernels. The result would be a different breed of corn.

All of this was done to make a better product for the farmer to take to market.

How this can be applied to animals

We tend to produce too many baby rabbits when we go into the rabbit-raising business. They are nice and pleasant little creatures but too hard to get rid of when we have too many.

Our cats on the farm are not talented enough to catch and destroy the rodents such as mice and rats. There are not enough cats to do the job completely.

My hybrid idea is to produce cabbits. Yes, you heard it correctly, cabbits. It is a combination, a hybrid if you will, of cats and rabbits. They are hybrids because they are neither pure cat nor pure rabbit.

Benefits of cabbits

The children and grandchildren love to look at and pet our rabbits. They are so lovable and cute. They are much more lovable than our cats. Of course, since rabbits are so good at reproducing that we always have far too many of them. However, rabbits are vegetarian. They would not eat a mouse if it was in front of them.

Cats, on the other hand, don’t reproduce nearly as fast as rabbits. Also, they are quick to catch mice and destroy them. They usually do not eat vegetable matter, preferring meat.

When I get a cabbit produced, I will have the best of both worlds. This will be a cute and lovable animal with soft fur such as the rabbit has. The tail will be a fluffy tuft instead of that long cat-type tail. They will not overproduce as rabbits tend to do.

Feeding a cabbit is a cinch. I will intend that it eat mice and other pests. However, if it can’t catch any for a time, it will eat clover or grass. Its ears will be those of a cat so they don’t get in the way of hunting.

Both cats and rabbits are mammals and are around the same size. I am sure that there will be no significant problems concerning feeding of their young. As soon as I learn how to transfer the sperm of one species to the female of the other species, my cabbit farm will be off and running.

Speech Disorder Treatment

Speech disorders are usually treatable. They should not reflect negatively on the child because the child usually cannot help having the problem.

Some of the children whom we notice because of speech problems are very much in need of speech disorder treatment. Most of them are not simply lazy speakers or from homes in which the parents are careless about their speech.

Proper diagnoses followed by long-term corrective processes are bringing correct speech to many children nowadays. It is a time-consuming series of activities, but it is bringing good results.

Children and even some teenaged people sometimes suffer from a speech disorder called apraxia of speech. This is not a problem with the muscles used in speech but in the internal wiring of the brain itself. Victims of this disorder can find help in several areas, making them more able to express their thoughts.

The first step in assessing the condition is to rule out other conditions such as hearing loss. Usually, a person who does not hear well will also have trouble speaking correctly. Tests need to determine whether the speech problem is due to auditory problems. If the hearing is acceptable, the next step is to have the child examined by a pathologist.

The pathologist will examine the speech organs to determine if there are any physical irregularities which diminish the speaking ability. The tongue, the lips and jaw are examined as well as the muscles involved in the movement of those organs. There are various types of tests to determine if particular coordination problems are present. This assessment also endeavors to determine if particular vowels or particular consonants present unique problems to the child.

After the testing is completed, speech disorder treatment focuses on the areas of need in order to help the child to communicate more effectively, even if his speech skills are defective. If the child is actually suffering from apraxia, the remedies do not focus on muscle strengthening activities but on production activities. The muscles are not the problem with this condition.

Often speech disorder treatment uses a lot of practice and involves becoming aware of the senses when speaking, particularly the senses of touch and sight. The victims of this speech problem spend much time watching videos of people speaking as well as watching themselves in a mirror as they pronounce particular words or phrases. This helps them to concentrate on areas which are problematic for themselves.

Of course, the foremost goal in speech disorder treatment is to help the child to learn to speak more normally and feel confident and comfortable while speaking. When a child has confidence in his speaking ability, his disorder tends to diminish somewhat. Often his reading ability and reading comprehension improve as his speech improves.

Learning to speak normally is a long process for the victims of speech disorders. It usually involves their families, teachers and other school personnel as well as the children themselves. There are assigned activities for the child to practice at home and school. A motivated child with a supportive family can expect to see positive results after working on his own problem for a long period of time.

In a few cases, a child’s speech disorder treatment involves the use of other, more technical equipment to help him see improvement. Such equipment could be computerized systems which help the victim to write and produce speech sounds. For those who need these systems, the dependence on them seems to become less necessary as time goes on. The child learns to reproduce the correct speech sounds himself and uses the machines much less.

Speaking problems do not necessarily mean permanent social obstacles. Early detection and speech disorder treatment are helpful to many children.