Washington DC: our nation's capital

Washington DC is the capital of the United States of America. When a new area, we believe it is beneficial to get the lay of the land. We knew they would not try to drive in Washington, DC with Boss. (Remember that the boss is a ton with a double bed and stretched hips. Find a place where parking is difficult. We have heard horror stories of the device, not to mention the DC is adequate. The device is a highway system interstate, which surrounds the city famous considerable congestion.

We found that DC has a wonderful subway, train, subway system that has the traveler almost anywhere in the region in general. The first find the stations near us and discover the Park. The College Park station is nearby, but is marked parking. Most of Maryland University students use this repository via their shuttle. The other station, the terminus of the green line is the green area, the city built after World War II forever. The park has its own service to help end the leaders of the plot. Nearby is the Greenbelt Park, a jewel hidden in the National Park Service. Although the park is officially closed at this time, still allowed to camp in an area of just $ 14.00 per night (Half of seniors with Gold Passport). A dump station is available to the needed. The camp is less than half a mile from the station train at College Park.

Our goal today was to scale the Washington Monument to the aerial view of the city, then visit the Lincoln and Jefferson monuments. To enter the Washington Monument, you must have a ticket, picked up free at a nearby kiosk. For a ticket that you have to be there at 8:00. We arrived around 11:00 and all were taken.

We went to the Lincoln Memorial through the wall of Vietnam, an exciting show with flowers, wreaths and letters at the foot of the monument. At the end of the South are two books with the names of the dead in alphabetical order. The names on the monument is arranged chronologically. Find the name of the person in the book and will direct you to the table on which their name. Through a small green are two monuments to other survivors of war: one of the three soldiers, the other women who served.

What can we say about the Lincoln Memorial, which has not been done before. These days barricades and fences restrict movements of tourists. You can not walk around the monument at the top level. On the ground floor, however, is a museum that traces the construction of memory and events which took place on the site, as the freedom marches, concert Marion Anderson and Martin Luther King Jr. "I have a dream." Once again, the SNP has made a wonderful film about the importance of Abe Lincoln's life through words and images and the impact on the entire history of our great country. Background music is Aaron Copeland Portrait of Lincoln.

At the bottom of the Lincoln Memorial, facing the shopping center at the Vietnam Memorial, the Korean War Memorial. Be sure to visit Rangers get the best experience. The purpose of memory is the participation of all, living and dead, in the experiment. Originally there was to be thirty-eight (Re: the 38th parallel) size statues of soldiers up the hill wild freedom. The number was divided for two to nineteen.

From the road, soldiers are searching the shoulder to signal the troops gathered in the forest around the clearing, filled with juniper and rock. As you climb the hill to the flag American symbol of freedom, the end is carved in stone more than 53,000 men were killed and more than 8,000 have been MIA. At the top is a mirror of water with a wall projection triangular on the Korean Peninsula (). Not to mention the black wall on the other side of the hill. On the wall are engraved in 2500 photographic images of men and women who were accomplices of the combatants. You can not see the face from a distance, up close. Drawing near the wall of the real faces can be seen by looking at you, and you also reflected on the wall with Nineteen soldiers climbed the hill to freedom. You are part of the memory and memory is a part of you. It is a strange unsettling feeling persists in the day.

Across the road we walked tidal basin. Thousands of Japanese Cherry Blossoms. In the distance was the Jefferson and Washington Memorials. En route offers the memory of Franklin D. Roosevelt. It consists of four outdoor rooms writings, water and the statues, each dedicated to a court order. The monument is a tribute beautiful to a president who brought us out of the despair of depression and the horrors of war. The tribute is nothing that we have had previous experience.

The Jefferson Memorial is another to see in the list in Washington DC. Dedicated to the reason and the Enlightenment, which makes it a fitting end to a day full of emotion.

Some impressions of Washington and Washingtonians. The city is like Illinois, in the summer: the construction everywhere you look, cranes, chain link fencing barricades. The police presence wherever you look: on foot, by car, bicycle, motorcycle and horse. Runners, I mean a lot of riders, not just a pass some small Wherever you are in the park on the roads in the tidal basin in the street. People in large numbers, or see the sights in small groups or large towers, or individually. A Calliope people, smells, sights and sounds fill all the pores of the body.

He who rises early, worm, or breakfast with our senators. Every Thursday morning at 8:30, while Congress is in session, Senator Dick Durbin and Peter Fitzgerald organize a Continental breakfast with voters one of the rooms in the building subcommittee Dirkson. We were also goes to the Senate and House Rep. galleries. Talk to your senators, if they do the same.

A visit to the capital is given by the Senate or House staff. You should know that someone visits your property. What has come to our country when he can not even enter the building of capital? Fortunately we had gone from the gallery.

Our first step was the Senate. What a wonderful place to see in action the government .. Us disappointed by the lack of occupants of the gallery. Less than ten percent of the gallery was full. Those who came were mostly in school groups. Does not receive earth trembles votes were taken, but we've heard Senator Barbara Boxer of CA advocate an amendment to add the fight against terrorism to commercial airlines. This was seconded by Senator Evan Bayh of IN also spoken. Sen. John McCain of Arizona spoke in the opposite direction. Senator Kennedy entered the room more later. Each time, Senate President Pro Temp Change. Every fifteen minutes, court reporters turn. What is missing is the modern electronics. Forum No bags, cell phones. Computers were one, we've seen in the clerk's office and operation of television cameras.

From the Senate to the House of Representatives. Considering that the Senators had tables and individual chairs, the Fed will sit on the bench like seats with divisions between them. They have no offices. If you wish to speak should contact one of the tables at each side of the aisle and be recognized. A representative gave a speech about putting troops in Iraq. Eventually withdrew his amendment, but obtained his anti-war point recorded in the Congressional Record.

I went to the Rayburn building, where our representative, Jesse Jackson Jr. has his headquarters. We still have to vote in Illinois and maintained aware of local policies. He was absent from office, but her granddaughter, Jessica, loaded and running staff looking for a lost soccer ball. Its staff is capital by establishing a visit for us.

To end our day of "The Hill", visited the Supreme Court. They did not hear the case this afternoon. So who visited the courtroom and receive a conference (tower) of the building. When in session, you have to get in line early to listen to each case. When all seats are taken in the rest of online shoppers are allowed to sit on wooden chairs in the back room for three periods of one hour. The claimant and defendant lawyers are only half an hour to make their case. Did you know that no other jurisdiction over the Board of the Supreme Court? It is a court basketball. The courts can not be in session simultaneously.

We try to see the Teatro Ford, which President Lincoln was assassinated. The line was too long for lecture tours. We are not allowed to carry backpacks in the theater. But after 1200 can go for a look inside to see minutes.

On the way to the theater that we have adopted the new International Spy Museum. The entry price was slightly steep $ 12.00 overlooked. I was expecting to suffer a disappointment and drove away. To my surprise, I was neither. Museum is the high technology and focuses on many aspects of espionage in biblical times to monitoring devices and technology modern. The museum is divided into different sections with their hands many of the activities. We have spent over two hours and could spend more time watching all the videos and programs. Yes, agent Maxwell Smart, who were in your shoes too. There were many replicas of the cold war, even injecting poison umbrella. Did you know Julia Child was once a spy? That may be the way it has all of their income.

En route to Ford's Theatre, which has been (just a block away). Lincoln was part of my "American Cousin." Today, "1776" was on stage. Unlike 40 years ago, Lincoln box is now out of reach. A photo hangs from the stamens, where Boothe spurs, and thus broke his leg. The staircase of the museum and the house opposite, where Lincoln died is closed for renovation,

Roads in the Interior Department, were from the Willard Hotel, a building of outstanding beauty, where the final negotiations took Union to hold out U.S. in 1861. We went through the White House. Guess what sub-blocks for the construction of many. The closest that anyone can see from the White House in these days watching the west wing. Another beautiful building is the Old Executive Office Building (one of the largest in Washington), next to the White House. This is also closed to the public. It is interesting that the other side of the White House Treasury by President enough to keep an eye on the money.

Finally, we have made to the Ministry of Interior. The building is two blocks long. Anne James gave us a wonderful tour of the facility. There is a great museum in the building that represents the history and various aspects of service. The interior was created in 1849. The primary focus today is the land management and Indigenous Affairs. The seventh floor of the cafeteria is old frescoes painted by artists from various Native American tribes. The windows overlook a beautiful view of the city.

All government buildings are closed Saturdays. Judgement of the Smithsonian, we left. Everything is free. The first museum we wanted to see was the National Air and Space in the city. Arrive early to avoid long queues. The museum has two floors with the history of aviation and space exploration. Some aircraft are original Spirit of St. Louis Lindbergh, Yeager Bell-1, Mercury, Gemini, Apollo capsules, V-1 rocket, ball cap Steve Fossett and many others. The Enola Gay is in stock. Later this year, the museum will close Dulles International Airport and display much of his collection.

We had a little time to visit a museum of the Smithsonian less. Nearby is the Museum Hirshhorn specializes in modern sculpture and paintings. The museum itself is a work of art, circular shape with a central atrium with a fountain surrounded by beautiful and elegant carving outside. They had an exhibition of Gerhard Richter, a fugitive from East Germany. His paintings represent either a severe case of myopia or unwillingness to openly say what I wanted say. Many of his paintings are blurred, but photographic in nature. He liked to use gray.

Today, we have designed as a day of rest. I wanted to do genealogical research. So I thought today would be good to find information about my family. The National Archives is in Washington and they have a branch in College Park, MD. Check the Archives, NARA, I registered and received a photo ID to search. Unfortunately, all records I was looking for downtown office. The gentleman said there was a free shuttle service runs every hour between the two facilities. I can hardly believe what heard. At noon, and I jumped on the shuttle promised. I would take some time because of the horror stories of Washington DC and trafficking of women prisoners everywhere. Taking the main road, crossed Hayettsville, Catholic University, with the Basilica of many ethnic neighborhoods. In thirty-five minutes, were in Nara, on Pennsylvania Avenue in the heart of downtown Washington. We had reached the mother lode. Free transport, without the hassle of finding a parking space and travel METRO same time, College Park in Washington DC proper.

NARA is the repository of official documents more than thirty years (72 for the census). The exhibition hall closed for renovations, "the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution on the screen. List my registration card has allowed me full access to sections microfilm and later in the Main Reading Room, where original documents are produced to the investigator by the staff helpful. One note of caution: Make sure there long enough to see the traction. It takes time to recover. I transfer of four hours back to College Park.

We take the center transport and went to the National Art Gallery Nara, just two blocks home. This is an amazing number of beautiful buildings with two main structures: the East Wing and West. Inside are fountains, flower gardens, and, of course, art. Its collection of impressionists are not as extensive as other museums, but have something special: the only Leonardo da Vinci in the United States, de'Benci Ginevra. We spent the day immersed in the beauty that offers artists and sculptors Grand Master. There are special exhibitions of Gainsborough, Kirchner, Vuillard and Matisse. Next week begins a Remington painting exhibition night. We want to return.

At the entrance of a large number of exhibition halls, There are boxes of information cards in different languages on the specific room work. The visitor reads the card and then replaced in the area for others to use. I have not seen this kind of information to other galleries.

We finally got through Andy Wilson, the intern for a member of Jesse Jackson, Jr., and toured the capital. Your staff was happy to see us. A team led tour opens doors to tourists are not available in the spectators gallery regular. We have gone through the steps and to hide in the roundabout with a magnificent view of the dome of the capital. Today, the Senate debated the budget, where it later. The House has debated the drilling natural gas. We were on the way back to the Rayburn building, where the House has requested a vote. The bells rang through the halls, and we expect representatives the House of Representatives. It was exciting to see our government action.

Because it was lunchtime, we showed that the cafe was in the complex House. If ever in the area, I recommend eating lunch. The cafeteria is like a food court. Prices are reasonable and generous portions.

Our next step is the Library of Congress, Jefferson Building. Self-guided tours are offered, but tours are better quality teaching. The paintings and statues in the lobby are allegorical. Everywhere you look, you see the logic that led to the construction of the largest libraries in the world. On display is one of Gutenberg three times! Bibles in the world and illustrated the final hand written Bible. The main reading room is dedicated to different disciplines. The Library of Congress has its own Web site, www.loc.gov. Here you have access to its catalog of maps and other information provided by the library.

Today, we travel to Earth Santa Claus, also known as the Franciscan convent. The facility was built so that people can visit the shrines of the Holy Land without having to spend all his money to go to the Middle East. Sanctuaries are a replica of Golgotha, the tomb, the manger of Bethlehem, etc. There are also replicas of the catacombs. The guides provide an overview of how sites have been authenticated. Despite being a skeptic, I was impressed by his knowledge and the importance of the sanctuary. It is a highly recommended stop for all Christians in Washington.

A few blocks away is the Basilica of the Immaculate Conception. The church dedicated to Mary, Mother of Jesus, was launched in 1920 and still is under construction. The architecture is a combination of Byzantine and Roman dome of the dome model Capital and Bell Tower after the Washington Monument. In addition to the main nave of the crypt and the upper nave, it has many side chapels and oratories sponsored by different groups of people in the world. Each one is dedicated Mary. The predominant form of expression of the artwork is mosaics. The enormous quantity and quality of the mosaics are among the best cities in the world.

At the Museum of Nature History. What we liked About the Museum has been the use of templates to classify the different species of animals, from prehistoric times at present. Some areas are under construction: namely, mammals Exhibition Hall and Native Americans. The collection geological stones, especially the Hope Diamond, saliva every woman who loves to wear beautiful jewelry. The multiple colors of different types of geological formations, are a delight to the eyes.

Staff museum do a lot of good things. The comparison of this museum is like comparing apples and oranges with the Natural History Museum of Chicago. Each has its strengths. In general, I can appreciate the Field Museum in Chicago, a higher grade than the magnitude of his collection, except the Department of Geology.

Visit the Holocaust Museum CC. It is a moving experience. I have done extensive research this black spot in world history. I was struck by the absence of bias in the presentations. The tour homing takes you to the fourth floor, which tells the story of the rise of Hitler and the Nazis into visual images and short videos. The lesson of this story is that many prejudices, fueling fears of ordinary people, and manipulation of the media are still with us, even seventy years after of events that led to this tragedy. Turning to the third floor is the solution to the Jewish problem: ghettos, labor camps, consisting of death, etc. Not only Jews were persecuted, but also Jehovah's Witnesses, Gypsies, Polish and Russian intellectuals, and anyone considered inferior to the Aryan ideal. On display are the piles of shoes of the prisoners, most of their belongings, and one of the cars used for transport to the camps. From my reading of the atrocities committed in the camps, most have been underestimated. The rooms on the second floor to emphasize the resistance to the Nazis by Jews and many citizens of occupied countries. There was also an opaque manner, is condemning the silence of many allies deny any knowledge of the genocide, which is known to occur.

On a more bright light, visit the Forest Service of the United States. How do you say Smokey Bear? Find useful information about our national forests and camping resources and visits.

On the way back to the files, we stopped by the Smithsonian Castle, so named because of the architecture building. The main floor is open to the public and acts as a reception center with a video explaining the different museums of the institution. The Commons at the west end of the building is used as a banquet hall. This reminds me of the nave of a medieval Gothic chapel with no windows.

The return route took us through a garden of butterflies. Most plants do not bloom at the moment. There were many signs that describe the various plants and trees and the type of butterflies they attract. It was a nice finish for a day cathartic.

The National Zoo is home to giant pandas. In general, we were disappointed by the treatment of the majority of animals. No zoo is perfect. All world gets its energy and resources in certain animal species. According to our observations, it appears that the National Zoo has a lot to learn from other institutions. Most animals, especially the more advanced animals are separated from each other. We have not talked to anyone and if there are extenuating circumstances for our observations. Even the monkeys have been isolated from others. We thought what would have happened in the Brookfield Zoo a few years ago, when the gorilla rescued and cared for the child hit their exposure if they are not allowed to socialize and live naturally as a band.

Took a trip to Walter Reed Army hospital today. This is the place where presidents get their annual physical. On the campus of the AFIP (Armed Forces Institute of Pathology) has a museum dedicated to medical research and history. They have a vast array microscope, starting with the 17th century to the early modern electron microscopes today. They are currently presenting the life cycle Stage inherited at birth. They use many different forms photography, MRIs and X-ray normal photographs. Many are surreal.

After spending a few hours at the museum, wanted to visit Georgetown and embassy area. Driving in DC can be a very difficult time. Not only do you have on the diagonal streets intersecting the grid, signaling the creation, or lack thereof. Maggie was more upset that we went through this maze. Finally we find Embassy Row in and around New Hampshire, near Dupont Circle. Outside the circle is M Street, which is the main artery of Georgetown Heights. We have a beautiful view of shops and the multitude of people in the streets because traffic is a scan of turtles.

Across the Potomac River, which wanted to avoid traffic to return to College Park. I knew there was a road that runs along the front of Arlington Cemetery. Which brings us finally to I-95 and College Park. Traveling in the police officer road marking me and told me to follow him. I do not think I was the millionth car on the road trip. I was so sure it was not speed: it is enough to keep up with Jones. I discovered that not allowed to double in this way since 9 / 11. Other trucks, SUVs, etc. allowed. He took my vital information and then tried to take an FBI mug shot. After breaking two chambers, which was finally successful. Look for my picture to your nearest post office. Now they are sought by the FBI, which will have to flee the country.

On Monday, April 21, 2003, we visited the Smithsonian Museum of American History. We spent five hours, he could and spent a additional period of five hours. Stand first trumpet of Louis Armstrong. The hood folds Horn reminded me of my trumpet in elementary school. Exposure to the Presidency American, and first ladies have been exceptional. I particularly appreciated the traffic control through the exhibits. There was usually a specific entry and exit. This trip with the easiest. The first floor is devoted to various sectors: agriculture, marine, railways, information, transport and Julia Child the kitchen. The museum has something for almost anyone. Having been at Fort McHenry, we were pleased to see the star Spangled Banner is being restored.

The coin collection of coins and money is very large. What I never realized was the variety of coins, both foreign and domestic, circulating during the early history of our country. Each printed and the bat colony its own currency. Currency British, French and Spanish were also considered legal. It was worse than the problems Europeans have the euro. A common currency is a necessity to have a real country.

I went to the National Building Museum. The magnificent building atrium rises fifteen stories and is supported by large pillars. In the first and second floor exhibition rooms around the atrium. Some are semi-permanent exhibitions. You never know what will be displayed. The atrium was a buzz with people to create the largest exhibition of handicrafts in the country. The Smithsonian Institute organizes an annual competition for artisans and winners will exhibit their work in this museum. The exhibitions are also available.

A few blocks away, the Postal Museum, part of the Smithsonian. This museum traces the history postal service, opening paths of New York to Philadelphia, Ben Franklin's appointment as head of the jobs in the mid-1700s by the Crown, the Pony Express, RFD, and airmail. The building itself is impressive. It is in the old Post Office, with a beautiful main room with many cages lining both sides.

Adjacent is Union Station. It is still an impressive building undergoing major restoration and now many home courts food and stores to collect past several minutes before returning items.

Today, we visited most of the rest of the Smithsonian Institute: Freer Art Museum, Sackler Gallery, the Museum of African Art and the arts and the construction industry. Sounds like a lot of walking, but museums are small in the region. The first two focus on Oriental art of China, Japan, India, and the work of several Islamic countries. Some of the first parts of China and Islamic world are exquisite. Do not miss the liberalization of the museum is Peacock Room by James Whistler. He was taken by a commission to decorate a room. Took peacock pattern to the fullest extent. Same ceiling is painted peacock feathers. The room is impressive and a perfect home for the collection of Chinese porcelain owner.

Museum Africa has a lot of old pieces of ancient Nubia, which is south of Egypt in the Sudan today. There are also many pieces 20th century reflecting the culture of the peoples of West Africa.

Not to be missed is the arts industry and construction, the host of many Inaugural Presidential Balls. The atrium is wide and cross. The building houses special exhibits that change regularly.

Another piece was a tropical butterfly house. Enclosed in a closed environment (temperature 90 degrees, humidity 85%), hundreds of Central American butterflies traveled at will. It seemed to be a favorite, because they kept landing in my head. Perhaps my animal attraction is lost in the wrong species. Or maybe as gray hair. They were very beautiful.

He went to the tower of the old Post Office: A building other than the Postal Museum. Washington DC has had a number of post offices that the requirements of the capital. This building has an eight-story atrium a tower with three floors. In the twelfth floor, a viewpoint open to give a bird's eye beneath the city. In the bell tower are the Congress. These bells are ringing changes in the hand by a special ring tones. They practice every Thursday night to hone their skills. They have the stamp of registration. An appeal is a series of more five thousand bells ring in an established pattern that never repeats itself, for the duration of three hours of broadcast. The group has a leader who runs his fingers in precise patterns. If you miss anything, you have to start all over.

About the Author

John Pelley is a Geriatric Gypsy.  He is retired from the rat race of working.  He is a  full-time RVer, who ran away from home.  He began our travels on the East Coast and, like the migrating birds, seek the warmth of the seasons  He has discovered volunteering with the National Park System.  Hae has a CD he has recorded of Native American flute music., A Day with Kokopelli. For pictures, links, and more information visit http://www.jmpelley.org.

Some More Interesting Facts About Horses

Depending on breed, management and environment, the domestic foal today has a life expectancy of 25 to 30 being. It is uncommon, but a few cattle live into their 40s, and, occasionally, afar. The oldest verifiable single was “Old Billy,” a steed that lived in the 19th century to the age of 62. The series of sheep varies by breed, but can also be influenced by food. The broad lead for cutoff in height between what is considered a mount and a charger at wisdom is 14.2 hands(h or hh) (147 cm, 58 inches) as specific at the withers. An animal 14.2h or over is typically considered a foal and one minus than 14.2h is a pony.

However, there are exceptions to the general decide. Some slighter mounted breeds who typically engender individual livestock both under and over 14.2h are considered “cattle” regardless of height. Likewise, some pony breeds, such as the Pony of the Americas or the Welsh cob, segment some skin of cattle and individual animals may occasionally mature at over 14.2h, but are still considered ponies. The difference between a stallion and pony is not modestly a height difference, but also a difference in phenotype or appearance. There are noticeable differences in conformation and temperament. Ponies regularly exhibit thicker manes, tails and total coat. They also have proportionally shorter legs, wider barrels, heavy bone, thick necks, and concise heads with broad foreheads.

Light pigs such as Arabians, Morgans, Quarter Horses, Paints and Thoroughbreds commonly range in height from 14.0 (142 cm) to 16.0 hands (163 cm) and can weigh from 386 kg (850 lbs) to about 680 kg (1500 lbs). Heavy or breeze sheep such as the Clydesdale, Belgian, Percheron, and Shire are mostly at least 16.0 (163 cm) to 18.0 hands (183 cm) high and can weigh from about 682 kg (1500 lb) up to about 900 kg (2000 lb). Ponies are less than 14.2h, but can be much slighter, down to the Shetland pony at around 10 hands, and the Falabella which can be the mass of a mode-sized dog. The small mount is as small as, or smaller than, both of these ponies but are classified as very small cattle very than ponies despite their extent. The largest mount in greatest was a Shire mare named Sampson, later renamed Mammoth, foaled in Bedfordshire, England. He stood 21.2 hands high (i.e. 7 ft 2 in or 2.20 m ), and his acme authority was estimated at over 3,300 lb (approx 1.5 tonnes). The current recorded holder for the world’s least steed is Thumbelina, a copious mature small stallion precious by dwarfism. She is 17 inches tall and weighs 60 pounds.

Horse breeding Pregnancy lasts for about 335-340 living and commonly fallout in one foal (gentleman: foal, female: filly). Twins are erratic. Colts are mostly agreed 2-7 living longer than fillies. Females 4 existence and over are called mares and males are stallions. A castrated gentleman is a gelding. Horses, particularly colts, may sometimes be physically competent of reproduction at about 18 months but in ritual are rarely permitted to breed awaiting a smallest age of 3 existence, especially females. Horses four time old are considered mature, however the skeleton mostly finishes developing at the age of six, and the precise time of completion of development also depends on the stallion’s range (then a connection to breed exists), gender, and the class of trouble provided by its holder.

Also, if the charger is superior, its bones are bigger; then, not only do the bones take longer actually to form bone tissue (bones are made of cartilage in before stages of bone formation), but the epiphyseal plates (plates that fuse a bone into one model by connecting the bone beam to the bone trimmings) are also superior and take longer to renovate from cartilage to bone as well. These plates change after the other parts of the bones do but are crucial to development.

Depending on maturity, breed and the tasks estimated, brood sheep are usually put under load and qualified to be ridden between the ages of two and four. Although Thoroughbred and American Quarter Horse chase livestock are put on the roadway at as babyish as two existence old in some countries (notably the United States), horses specifically bred for sports such as show jumping and dressage are generally not entered top-intensity competition until a minimum age of four existence old, because their bones and muscles are not sturdily urban, nor is their later schooling has done.

Horses are adapted to graze, so their teeth prolong to grow throughout life. There are 12 teeth (six better and six inferior), the incisors, adapted to sarcastic off the pasture or other vegetation, at the front of the rudeness, and 24 teeth, the premolar and molars, adapted for chewing, at the back of the swagger. Stallions and geldings have four additional teeth just behind the incisors, a class of canine teeth that are called “tushes.” Some horses, the gentleman and female, will also exploit one to four very small vestigial teeth in front of the molars, known as “wolf” teeth, which are generally impassive because they can interfere with the bit. There is a barren interdental distance between the incisors and the molars where the bit rests promptly on the bars (gums) of the charger’s opening when the mount is bridled.

The incisors show a manifest show and tumor prototype as the stallion ages, as well as change in the slope at which the chewing surfaces gather, and while the diet and veterinary control of the mount can affect the cost of fang erode, a very forceful valuation of the age of a horse can be made by looking at its teeth.

About the Author

To learn about horse fencing and smallest horse, visit the Horse Info website.

Need For Speed Undercover- iPhone/iPod touch First Look Video 2

Plastic sippy-cups (imbibing benzene particles for babies)?

The next time you place a plastic cup on the table, or hand a sippy-cup to your child (instant chemicals in the system)… are we thinking what’s going in (lead paint on the coloring? benezene in the plastic?) — and where it came from/was made? I’d sure like an across-the-board study on when/where/why we all don’t use PAPER CUPS anymore. And why kids have to walk-around with sippy cups, and soccer moms feel kids must drink everywhere… which created the need for using plastic? (who’s fault is that). Even bottled water for adults — when heated upon traveling, or plastic dishes being mic’waved… there HAS to be displacement of chemicals from the plastic?

I check the platic type before I give anything to my daughter. If you look on the bottom for the recycling symbol, 3, 6, and 7 are the kinds of plastic that are harmful and should be avoided. 1,2, 4, and 5 are safe. I have noticed that many of the items I owned were fine. Some were 7′s. Those Gerber baby food packs are 7′s.

Aside from checking the numbers, I really try not to worry about it so much. Like you said, we chewed on all those toys too when we were little. I definitely think our kids are exposed to more these days, so you just do the best you can to limit the things you have control over.

Non-Toxic NO LEAD Ceramic Fishing Sinker – Why?

Fisher-Price Brilliant Basics Rock-a-Stack $6.48 Some things never go out of style. A rainbow of five rings fits over a cone with rocking base. Stacking toys help baby develop fine motor skills while encouraging cognitive abilities. Made of teethable material….

Dora’s Talking House $79.99 Dora’s Talking House…

You are worried over your children playing with Lead Painted Toys?

Tell me, have you given any thought to the children in places like China who are FORCED to work in factories producing those lead painted toys? Handling that lead paint? Yes – it happens.
Thats what America gets for selling out our manufacturing industry.

No. Nothing has happened in the past, nothing if going to happen now.

CPSIA- CPSC claims CHANGES to LEAD TESTING LAW on the WAY- KVAL 13 Eugene OR 01-07-09

Toy Monster: The Big, Bad World of Mattel $3.40 Five Questions for Jerry Oppenheimer, author of Toy Monster: The Big, Bad World of Mattel Mattel is a beloved and iconic toy company – what first inspired you to write an expose of the “secret side” of the company? All of my previous books have been about iconic people and dynasties – The Kennedys, Clintons, Hiltons, Martha Stewart, Barbara Walters, Jerry S…

Old Paint: A Medical History of Childhood Lead-Paint Poisoning in the United States to 1980 $68.97 Old Paint documents the history of lead-paint poisoning in the United States and the evolving responses of public health officials and the lead-paint industry to this hazard up to 1980, by which time lead had been banned in gasoline and paint. Peter C. English traces lead poisoning from a rare, but acute problem confined to a small group of children to the discovery by the end of the 1940s of the …

Chelation Therapy, edta, heavy metal removal and heart disease part 3

Health Care Stakeholder Discussion: Health Disparities

How many people would vote for Lou Dobbs for President of the USA?

Lou Dobbs exposed the ILLegal License plan in NY state…exposed the Lead paint crisis caused by Toys R US and others. Cut the legs out from under Hilary Clinton and her PAC money. Also, degraded the terror Organ. La Raza for the attempted over throw of the USA by ILLegals. Only informed replys please.

He may run but he will never get elected not after alienating the Hispanic vote.

Sealed borders yes but massive deportations? Not even the Nazis were able to deport millions prior to WWII

Keynote with Jeffrey Veen – HighEdWeb 2008 Conference

Lead Poisoning Threatens Pregnant Women

The dangers of lead paint and lead poisoning include a broad range of mental disorders and chronic disabilities. But lead paint and lead poisoning is especially dangerous for women, who run the risk of passing dangerous lead exposure on to developing fetuses while pregnant. Here are some ways that women can experience a safe pregnancy free from the effects of lead poisoning:

Clean Up!

Cleanliness is next to godliness…and can help pregnant women escape the dangers of toxic lead exposure. Pregnant women should clean the house when they see the presence of chipping paint or dust – both of which can contain lead particles. Cover chipping paint in your home with duct tape, plastic or contact paper, and vacuum dust whenever possible. A wet cloth will help wash down painted and dusty surfaces, protecting you from lead particles and their potential dangers to you and your fetus.
Hand-washing, while common-sense, is not practiced enough, so be sure to wash up after interacting with soil, which might contain lead toxins, and before preparing food or eating. Wear garden gloves and wash up after dusting or mopping to prevent cross-contamination with your food or water.

Craft With Care

Ceramic and other pottery may have its appeal, but with lead paint posing a very real threat to your fetus, it may be a good idea to avoid ceramic crafts until after your pregnancy. If you must interact with lead-containing pottery or paint during your pregnancy, be sure to wash your hands well afterwards and wear protective clothing. Solder is a bad idea while pregnant, so hand the soldering iron off to another crafty woman during your pregnancy. Change your clothing after working with lead-filled crafts materials and be sure to wash them away from other family members’ garments.

Take Care At Work

Occupational exposure to lead is dangerous for men and women, but pregnant women run the additional risk of lead contamination to their unborn children. If you work with soldering irons, welding materials, lead-based paint, common construction site chemicals and items, or work in a factory setting, you may be putting your fetus at risk. Ask your employer about a transfer to a lower-risk area of the factory, and be sure to wash hands often. Put your work clothing in a separate hamper and wash it separately from other family’s garments. Keep lead-exposed shoes outside of the house and be sure to vacuum well if they go into the house. Educate yourself about the hazards of lead exposure and be certain to talk to your doctor about how your prenatal care can reflect your concern about lead poisoning and lead exposure.

Seek Legal Advice for Exposure

If you have been exposed to lead paint or other lead at work or at home, consult a doctor and then a lawyer. An experienced lead poisoning attorney can help you recover money for the injury, pain and suffering caused by toxic lead paint exposure that affects the health of you and your baby.

About the Author

Visit www.LegalView.com to learn about a variety of legal topics, legal information and jury verdicts on these related topics. Find information on traumatic brain injury at http://brain-injury.legalview.com or learn how to contact an experienced auto accident law firm at http://crash.legalview.com.

Lead Poisoning Prevention – Cereal Bowl :15

What to look for when evaluating a crib
The Consumer Product Safety Commission issued recalls earlier this month on 387,000 drop-side cribs, a crib style that has been linked to 32 infant deaths since 2001. In the last five years, 11 million drop-side cribs have been recalled in seven separate incidents, the commission says.
Jeff Gearhart on The Alex Jones Show”Lead paint in Toys”3/3

First Alert LT1 Premium Lead Test Kit $7.98 This complete test kit can be used to easily check for poisonous lead on any surface including: toys, dishes, paint, dust, mini-blinds, food cans, plumbing, water, and other items. The kit can be used in your house to test up to four separate surfaces for lead content and provides immediate results. 1) Wipe the toy clean 2) Dip the enclosed cotton swab into the solution provided 3) Rub i…

Homax 5250 Household Lead Test Kit $11.00 Homax Corp. 5250 – 2Pk Lead Testing Kit, Lead check test swabs detect lead on any surface within 1 minute. To use the test swab just squeeze the test swab firmly at the 2 points indicated, shake and then continue to squeeze until yellow liquid appears on…

Song for the Honga

There’s a lot to be said for “pre-season” cruising. First of all, there are no crab pots. Second, there are no bugs (generally speaking). And if it’s early enough in the season, there won’t be any watermen, either, revving up their boats in the wee hours and motoring out the channel. You’ll have caught them between oystering and the start of the crab season, when they’re more likely to be working on their boats or readying their traps.

You most certainly will see an osprey though. We did on that drizzly April morning when brother Henry, sister-in-law Pat and I left Shipwright Harbor Marina in Deale, Md., on their Gulf Star 44, INSSA, bound for the Honga River. As we motored past the daymarker at the mouth of Rockhold Creek, a nesting pair of osprey chewed us out in no uncertain terms–roughly translated, their tirade went something like this: “Don’t come closer or I’ll slice your face with my razor-sharp beak and feed you to the fishes.” We paid them no mind.

INSSA cut into Herring Bay just as the rain that had been dripping incessantly for the last three days let up. Brother Henry and the lovely Miss Pat were planning a summer trip to Canada. This little trip would be the spring shakedown cruise. Henry had been slightly incredulous when I’d first proposed the idea. “The Honga?” he said, eyebrows raised. “Nobody goes to the Honga.”

“Sure they do,” I told him. “Plenty of people, in fact.”

The Honga River lies on the Eastern Shore, across from the mouth of the Patuxent River and Solomons Island, and not all that far north of the Potomac. Protected by the islands Hooper (Upper, Middle and Lower) on the west and long swampy lowlands on the east, the 12-mile long river offers half a dozen watermen’s harbors, with a couple of working boatyards and crab packing houses to boot. For boats that can make it into Back Creek, there’s also Old Salty’s, a longstanding restaurant that occupies the old Hooper Island schoolhouse. But here’s the rub: Although a deep channel cuts up the middle of the river from Hooper Strait as far as Fishing Creek, the Honga in most places is pretty shallow. Regardless of skinny water, we were going anyway. I wanted to go on this trip simply to lay eyes on the place where the Claud W. Somers went down, on March 4, 1977.

That’s a story I just can’t shake. I wrote about it once for this magazine [see "Good Men Down," March 2005], and I’ve been wanting to write a song about it ever since. Some people capture the Bay in paintings, some with a camera. I try to catch the Bay in music, putting the Bay’s history, people and critters into my lyrics. The story of the Claud W. Somers is one of many topics that I’ve focused on, but for some reason, the muse had thus far been elusive. I thought that perhaps my going to the Honga in early spring and seeing for myself where the boat went down would shake loose some inspiration.

As we moved across the Bay the wind dropped considerably and the whitecapped waves settled into dull pewter ripples. The sun had tucked itself behind a blanket of clouds, and the air was chilly. Far ahead, the lowland of the Eastern Shore hovered on the horizon. We passed the leaning tower of the Sharps Island Lighthouse–it’s so hard to imagine the land mass that once was there, complete with churches, houses, farms. It’s like the Bay’s Atlantis. Then came the long stretch past Barren Island.

We eschewed the Barren Island Gap, which leads between a marshy stretch to the north and what remains of Barren Island to the south through the narrow bridge between the mainland and Upper Hooper Island and into the northern reach of the Honga River and the community of Fishing Creek. We would need local knowledge before we attempted something like that. The watermen use this channel fairly routinely, but the chart said we’d find only three feet of water in one particular leg. With the wind coming from the northeast, we didn’t want to go near it. Instead we took the long way: south around the bottom end of what the chart calls Lower Hooper Island and the locals call Applegarth Island. It held a number of farms and families until the Hurricane of 1933 washed it with salt. We looped around the island, headed north into the Honga and slid into Rippons Harbor at Hoopersville, near the south end of Middle Hooper Island. It had been a long day’s run and we were pooped, glad to be in the shelter of the island and tied up snug along Rippons’s bulkhead.

The late Chan Rippons had built the harbor here, installing a number of commodious slips (though not commodious enough to handle our nearly 15-foot beam) and bulkheading an attractive basin that includes a fuel dock (gas and diesel). Rippons Brothers Seafood, which Chan’s father and uncles established in 1947, steams and packs crab during the season, which starts with the warm weather in April and May and runs through November. We were too early to enjoy a mess of fresh steamed crabs, but we lay alongside the basin there and thought about it. We were happy to be out of the wind, but we would be even happier, we decided, if we could find somewhere to eat off the boat. Somewhere warm. Somewhere dry. Somewhere quiet. . . .

It’s a five-mile walk from Rippons Harbor to Old Salty’s, which is on Upper Hooper Island, in the village of Fishing Creek. If we had ventured farther up the river and taken INSSA into Back Creek, we could have dinghied into a nearby landing, crossed the road and been there, but given the weather, we weren’t so sure that we could even make it safely into Back Creek and out again, so at Rippons we stayed. We knew that Old Salty’s was open (today was Sunday) and that it lay alongside the single main road that snakes along the high ground of the islands. Perhaps, we thought, someone would be kind enough to give us a ride if we asked very nicely.

With that in mind I gave Old Salty’s a call. A cheerful voice picked up on the first ring. “Let me call you right back,” the fellow said, when I told him what we were after. “I just need to check with my boss.” Within minutes our phone rang, and the fellow on the line said that yes, he could pick us up in five minutes, but that we had to be ready since he was the cook and he couldn’t be gone for long. It was early, but not too early to eat, so we assured our chef-chauffeur that we would not keep him waiting. Sure enough, in the space of time it takes to slip on a pair of street shoes, a big ol’ pickup truck was idling on the blacktop next to our slip. Once we were settled, our driver introduced himself as James. He was happy to pick us up, he said, because he’d had no one to cook for as yet, and, given the rainy weather, he was afraid his kitchen was in for a slow night.

In no time we were pulling into Old Salty’s parking lot and then seated in the big open schoolroom next to the windows. Looking west, we could see the waters of Tar Bay, with Barren Island off to the right. Whitecaps topped the waves and spray blew up over the riprapped shoreline. We were glad to be ashore, waiting for wine and martinis and perusing a menu full of tempting selections. The crab imperial here is lovely, we’d been told, and we were determined to try it.

Clearly seafood reigns supreme hereabouts, and small wonder, with so many local watermen hauling in crabs and fish. You can get a steak if you want it. Or chicken. Or a burger. But you can also get fresh flounder, fresh rockfish (in season, which it was when we visited), and crab, crab, crab. It was too early for fresh soft crabs; the ones on the menu were fresh frozen. And while the crabcakes sounded tasty, we held our ground and ordered the crab imperial. Henry had one of the daily specials: fresh flounder topped with crab imperial. Pat had the crab imperial platter, served with fresh asparagus and stewed tomatoes. My crab imperial came slathered on top of a plate full of sea scallops, with steamed kale and a baked sweet potato on the side. The vegetables were done perfectly. The asparagus was still crisp. The kale was firm and flavorful (and swathed in butter!). The flounder was moist and flaky, the scallops were tender, and the crab imperial was lovely. It wasn’t nearly as rich as many we’ve had, and the sauce was mild enough to let the flavor of the crab shine through. We finished our helpings–not overwhelming, but certainly ample–without the feeling that we were destined for imminent heart attacks. Crab imperial isn’t exactly heart healthy, but the Old Salty’s recipe is probably more heart friendly than most. No leftovers for us this time around.

Meanwhile, slow night that it was, a series of diners trooped in and began filling the tables. A congenial looking lady sat by herself at the table next to ours. “You a local?” I asked. She was from Hooper Island, she told me, but she had left and come back again. “I wonder if you recall anything about the Claud W. Somers?” I asked. She looked at me blankly and shook her head. Oh well, I thought. The dining room of Old Salty’s is hardly the place to conduct an impromptu interview, so I respectfully went back to my meal.

James had passed word to us that he could give us a lift back to the boat when we were ready, but first Pat absolutely had to check out the gift shop, where she purchased a pair of hand-knitted slippers. James had been busy enough cooking in the end, but not as busy as usual, he said. Sundays were usually hopping. Lucky for us that things were slow or we might not have gotten a ride! Then again, Hooper Island is the kind of place where sticking your thumb out can stop whatever traffic is going your way. A lift up the road is just a neighborly thing to do in these parts. For that matter, Rippons Brothers has a courtesy van they’ll loan to visiting boaters, but we had arrived on a rainy cold Sunday when no one was around to give us the keys.

We hadn’t really taken in our surroundings the night before, so the next morning we had a clearer look around. It was still raining intermittently, and it had remained cold and raw. Talk (from me) about launching the little boat to go exploring was quickly and decisively squelched by the captain, to the relief of his first mate. I called them weenies and went exploring on foot.

Hurricane Isabel was not kind to the islands Hooper. She flooded just about every house on the middle island and lopped off clumps of shoreline. Among other things, she tore away the screened-in pavilion Chan Rippons’s father had built. I could see its cement floor outlined against the asphalt. “They built the pavilion so my grandfather’s friends could come down and eat crabs,” said Chan’s daughter Janet Ruark, who has been running the family business for her mother since her father died. We had settled into her tiny office in the small packing house, and she was telling me that people used to come to the crab house wanting to buy crabs hot out of the steamers. Then they would hunker down at the tables set out in the screened-in area to eat them. The seafood business hasn’t yet produced the extra cash needed to rebuild the pavilion, Ruark said, but boaters are more than welcome to eat the crabs aboard their boat or at picnic tables across the street, placed there courtesy of the county parks department. Just beware: Mosquitoes are merciless here at dusk in the summertime, rendering the park area dangerous territory from sundown on.

Indeed the seafood business has been tough for quite some time here. Local watermen will run their boats as far as Cape Charles to get the first crabs of the season. Last year, they didn’t start hauling them in until late May. But Ruark is hopeful for a better season this year. “My grandfathers–both of them–said everything runs in cycles,” she said. “They talked about how the hardheads (croakers) ran so strong back in 1947 they made enough cash to start this business. Then the hardheads fell off and they didn’t see them again until the 1990s. The old-timers say the crabs are the same way.” Oysters are a different story, though. They’re just gone, she said, hauled away and shipped to stew pots and raw bars all over the country. “The [local watermen] used to work the bar off Windmill Point,” Ruark recalled, nodding her head toward the lowland on the other side of the river. “That was an incredibly productive oyster bar. It’s why my grandfather and his brothers picked a windmill as their trademark for this business. But then the state came and hauled the bar away. Dredged the old shell out one winter and hauled it somewhere up the Bay,” presumably as part of early efforts to shore up oyster bars elsewhere. “My grandfather said, ‘Mark my words, there won’t be any oysters there next year.’ Tongers went out next season and there was nothing left. But no one compensated them for the loss of their livelihood. The state pays farmers not to plant; the watermen don’t get anything.”

Now everyone was waiting to see what the state would decide about the new crab regulations. The watermen expected new limitations on catching females. “We’re just not sure if they’ll set a size limit or a bushel limit, or cut the season off in October,” said Ruark. “It’ll be hard on the watermen either way.” (Not long after our visit, Maryland did both things: shortening the season for female crabs by nearly two months and imposing bushel limits for females in September and October, basing the limits on each crabber’s “average historic daily catch” of females for those months. The state also made it flatly illegal for recreational crabbers to catch females, with the exception of soft crabs. Virginia, meanwhile, took the unprecedented step of completely outlawing winter dredging, another move aimed mostly at reducing the female harvest.)

The crabs run best in the fall, from September through November, after they’ve fattened up over the summer and are headed back to the Bay’s mouth to winter over in the mud. That’s when crabbers make the bulk of their money and hope it will tide them over the winter, Ruark continued. To lop one of the most productive months out of their season would be a major hardship. Having to cull through the crabs to check for females adds a degree of scrutiny that will be hard to comply with at that time of year. Crabbers are busy enough running their boats, hauling up and emptying pots. As Ruark put it, culling out undersize crabs is easy enough, but having to determine what’s male and what’s female isn’t so swiftly done by a person who’s also having to watch where he’s going. In summer crabbers can bring along their kids or hire someone to do all that sorting. Help is harder to find in the fall, when the kids are back in school and the summer help has gone home. Many of the helpers on the Hooper Island boats are workers from Mexico, who come to pick crabs or work on the boats for a six-month stay. Then their permits expire and they head back home.

A smattering of Spanish drifted in from the steamer room, where two men were already busy readying the equipment for the coming season. More guest workers would arrive in a few weeks to work on the boats and steam and pick the crabs. Most island residents these days are either retired or have year-round jobs off island, leaving Ruark and other local packing houses strapped for seasonal labor. “The guest worker program has been a godsend, but even that’s getting harder for us. I fill out the paperwork over the winter and hope the immigration office hasn’t reached their cut-off by the time I can file it,” Ruark told me. These workers have returned several years in a row, they know how to pick the crabs and they’ve gotten pretty good at it. “I want the same people back,” she said.

I bent against the wind as I left Ruark’s office and headed back to the boat. Since the weather didn’t seem likely to get a whole lot better, brother Henry offered a compromise to launching the small boat so we could get as up close and personal with the river as I had hoped. Instead, he offered to head INSSA upriver to see the sights and try to get into Back Creek. It was still pretty raw, but at least it was no longer raining. Still, from our vantage point on the open water everything looked gray: the water, the land, the sky. Very little distinguished the horizon, just the broad slash of darker gray to denote the high tide line and the hedge of stumpy trees rising above it. Even that seemed to encircle us; we couldn’t really see the cuts between the long thin points of land, so it looked as if we were in a broad but shallow lake. It reminded me of Susquehanna Flats in that way. We could follow the channel easily enough, but there was mighty thin water everywhere else. A single waterman tended his eel pots just off Wroten Island. He waved as we passed.

We went as far as the “15″ marker, nearly the end of the channel, and looped back. In a shallower draft boat we could have gotten up to Golden Hill, where Goottee’s Marine maintains a narrow channel. If we’d been able to round Wroten Island, we could have made our way to the town of Crapo. Instead we tucked up into Back Creek, a sheltered harbor, but without much room for us there. Phillips Seafood operates a crab packing plant in a big red building at the mouth of the creek, and sturdy old houses line the waterfront. Turning north, P. L. Jones Boatyard is up and on the right. Old Salty’s is beyond that, across the main road on the left. A crew was at work dredging out Jones’ slips; beyond that there was little activity today. We gingerly turned around and headed back down the river.

Having come down the Bay in a wet blow, I had new insight into what it had to have been like for the men aboard the Claud W. Somers before she went down in a gale. The Bay had frozen solid the winter of 1976-1977, and the watermen hadn’t been able to work for months. When the ice finally broke, the dredge fleet from Deal Island was happy to get to work again. But Captain Thompson Wallace aboard the Somers was one of only two skipjacks that headed out on the morning of March 4, into the teeth of what would become a full-tilt gale later in the day. The other skipjack captain did a few licks and headed home. Captain Wallace hung on. When he finally turned back to the harbor, his push-boat engine stalled, leaving him wallowing in heavy seas and buffeted by winds that were too strong for his sails. A passing waterman tried to tow the Somers behind his deadrise, but after an hour or so, the wind and waves were so powerful the cleats tore out of the tow boat and the good Samaritan had to leave the Somers adrift. He offered to take everyone aboard his boat, but Captain Wallace was sure he could get the skipjack back in under sail. That’s the last time anyone saw him and his crew alive. Cold and raw, with the wind howling around their ears, it had to be tough and terrifying.

The Honga is wide open to the south. As near as anybody can reckon, the Somers drove into the river from Hooper Strait before swamping off Norman Cove. All hands were lost: Captain Wallace, his older brother, his older son, a cousin, a nephew and a family friend. When the boat went missing, men from the headwaters of the Honga all the way south to Deal Island went looking for her, hoping at least to rescue the men, if not the skipjack. Not long after midnight, one of the would-be rescuers spotted the top of the mast jutting out of the water. The boat had gone down in 12 feet of water; there was no sign of Captain Wallace or his crew. They fished the men off the bottom the next day, raised the boat and went on with their lives. The boat continued dredging for a few years, then lay idle and deteriorating until the Reedville Fishermen’s Museum found her, restored her and put her under sail again out of their facility on Cockrell Creek, off the Great Wicomico River on Virginia’s western shore.

As we motored past the spot where she went down, there was no wind to speak of–but I shivered in spite of myself as INSSA left Norman Cove to port and edged past Applegarth Island on the west. Headed home, we were hoping to cross the Bay before the wind piped up again. Ahead of us, Hooper Strait seemed placid enough though dreary and cold. We’d not had a lick of sun this whole trip. I pictured a lone skipjack, struggling and overpowered by the wind, awash in water from her leaking seams and the torrent of waves splashing over the sides. It would have been getting dark when the Somers went down, and darker still by the time the storm had abated enough for search boats to venture out. A few days later, when the boat was pulled up from the mud, she had 33 bushels of oysters still on her decks.

I picked up my pen and began to write: Down on the Honga the waters run wide with the land lying thin as a rug, and working the water is all you can do, and pray for another day’s run. . . . It took me a month to finish, but I had my song.

About the Author

By Jane Meneely, writer for Chesapeake Bay Magazine. For more great articles and photos on boating, sailing, fishing, and cruising, visit http://www.ChesapeakeBoating.net

Is there a program that can find the coordinates of different sections of an image?

I was planning to program a CNC code but the image I would like to engrave (and which I have to code for the program to run) I need exact coordinates. It would lead me to have human error and just inaccuracy if I used graph paper. I know Paint, Photoshop have X,Y coordinates but what are they are measured in and how can I convert that to inches? Is there a program which lays an image on graph paper or something in which it gives me a specific coordinate for a specific section of the image?

Download autotrace from sourceforge. It can turn your image into a vector format with pretty good accuracy. I’m sure one of those vector formats can be opened in your CNC prog.

Good luck.

EEP100 – Lecture 28

MATHEMATICS LABORATORY IN SCHOOLS

MATHEMATICS LABORATORY IN SCHOOLS

It is a place where:

1)      Students do experiments with numbers and geometrical shapes and try to generalize these patterns.

2)    Students do most of their calculations with the help of scientific calculators.

3)    Students draw graphs of large number of functions with the help of scientific or graphic calculators and try to become familiar with graphs of all the functions they usually deal with.

4)    Students solve real life problems with real data because complex calculations are no longer a major consideration.

5)    Students express their answers to mathematics problems in decimal numbers and not in symbols and have a good idea about their magnitudes.

6)    Students get practice in estimating orders of magnitudes and obtaining approximate answers when exact answers are difficult to find.

7)    Students make charts and models to illustrate mathematical ideas.

8)    Students do almost all the work themselves, of course under the guidance of teachers, but the students are active all the time and are involved with what they are doing.

9)    The creativity of students is allowed free play.

10) Students solve graphically equations involving all types of functions.

11)  Students are free to discuss among themselves and with the teachers; in fact students and teachers form joint investigating teams.

12) Students find areas and volumes of both regular and irregular solids.

13) Students undertake projects both in mathematics and its applications.

14) The concepts and theorems are not given to the students; these arise naturally from their investigations.

15) Interfaces between algebra, geometry; probability; calculus etc are freely investigated and discussed.

16)  Attempts are made to interpret every symbolic solution.

17) The process of mathematics is emphasized much more than the product of mathematics.

18) Students are encouraged to find alternative solutions and alternative methods of solving problems.

19) Students enjoy learning mathematics.

Before we proceed further, let us explore as to why students do not fair well in mathematics. The reasons are not difficult to find.

It is not because:

i)                   Students are unable to solve certain problems,

ii)                Or, students are not able to memorize formulae etc.

But, it is due the fact that there are some inherent weaknesses in the teaching of present day mathematics. These are listed below:

1)      Mathematics is taught as an abstract subject.

2)    Mathematics education is far removed from applications.

3)    Mathematics is taught as an isolated subject.

4)    There is too much emphasis on symbols and their manipulations and relatively little on problem solving.

5)    Too much time is spent on routine monotonous drill type arithmetical calculations.

6)    The goal of mathematics education appears to be passing examinations in mathematics and not understanding mathematics and its applications or developing capacity to think mathematically.

7)    Instead of developing creativity, mathematics education encourages conformity to standard methods.

8)    It trains students to think that there should be only one method of solving mathematics problems.

9)    It trains students to think that there can be only one solution to a problem.

10) Mathematical proficiency is often confused with proficiency in making arithmetical calculations.

11)  The process by which mathematics is created is seldom taught or emphasized.

12) Mathematics is presented as a purely deductive science though it is also as much an experimental science as physics or biology.

13)  Geometric and Physical visualizations remain very weak.

14) Even geometric objects become just relations between symbols and are not curves or surfaces.

15)  It convinces the students that the only law which matters is the linear law.

16)  Students develop no idea of the order of magnitude of the results they get.

17)  Students are passive learners.

18)  Students do not talk mathematics, discuss mathematics or think mathematics.

19)  Mathematics is taught as a collection of topics.

20)                       The historical development of mathematics is never emphasized.

Thus the objective of a mathematics laboratory is to:

a)     Remove the weaknesses of present day mathematics education which the mathematics laboratory and the mathematics laboratory alone can do it.

b)    To develop the much needed confidence in students.

c)     To generate interest in the subject.

d)     To make the students divergent thinkers.

Having seen “WHAT” and “WHY” of a mathematics laboratory let us now discuss the “HOW” of it.

Time-table Re-scheduling:

While preparing class-wise time-table, in JNVs, the provision for mathematics practical periods may be made in the following manner:

From classes VI to X, there is a provision of one theory period of mathematics in each class in every day working time-table. Also in each class two periods for “ART” are allotted per week. It is suggested that one theory period of mathematics may be combined with one period of art and the combined periods may be re-named as “MATHEMATICS PRACTICAL PERIODS”. This way in five days each class will have an opportunity to visit the laboratory. As regards classes XI and XII are concerned, the students normally opt either mathematics or biology. The students opting mathematics can be taken to the laboratory during the practical periods for biology.

Layout of a mathematics laboratory:

The ideal mathematics laboratory will have the following sections:

1)      Section for job discussion and planning the solution.

2)    Section for making sketches, drawings for taking observations.

3)    Section for reporting the results.

4)    Section for making the working models as per job specifications.

5)    Computer section for doing experiments of mathematics on computers.

The above sections (steps to be performed by students) need be discussed by the teacher in-charge, in the laboratory. Before the children are asked for execution, the teacher should explain the planning part as well as he/she should help them in identifying the appropriate solution in respect of choice of proper tools and their use in execution. The teacher should also explain the use of computers in finding the solution and the method of checking the accuracy of the solution already found in the laboratory.

Furnishing Mathematics Laboratory:

Sufficient furniture should be provided in the laboratory to do experiments and at the same time for displaying the working models and other means of taking observations; to carry out experiments and make a clear understanding about the use of procedural tools in engineering projects.  These models are made out of discarded toys and waste articles found around us. This approach boosts the creativity, scientific development of the brain of the children, and satisfies their zeal to do something new and unique.

Raw Materials:

To enable the students to work in a mathematics laboratory, there should be a few cupboards to store raw materials, which can be issued to the students when they come to the lab for doing practical work. The list of some of the essential raw materials is as under:

I)                 Circular discs: Plates of different diameters may be cut on thermo Cole sheets or may be plastic metal discs purchased from the market to determine the value of ? or such other experiments.

II)            There should be square/rectangular plates cut from thermo Cole sheets, different solids like cone, cylinder for drawing different shapes and making observations for various computations.

III)        A thick card sheet, capable of folding, to prepare packing boxes, envelops etc or other small objects.

IV)            The students will be required to use drawing sheets, graph papers, cutting tools, thread, small balls made of different materials, ready reckoners, rubric cube, calculators etc.

Measuring Equipment:

1)      Measuring tapes 30m; 10m; 2m; 1m and smaller lengths, arrows (iron wire nails 20 to 30 cm long; 2.5 mm in diameter)- they act as pegs to mark points on the field ; pipe hole 1m long ; 10 mm in diameter, pointed at one end; painted with red and white strips- used for making solar observations and determination of N-S direction at a place and also finding out the angle of elevation of the Sun at any time.

2)    Plain mirror, plum bob suspended from a hook, drawing board , mini drafter, vernier calipers , working models to verify law of parallelogram of forces, triangle of forces etc.

Display models:

1)      Children are assigned task to imagine suitable design data to prepare models and keep them for display in the lab. This includes different types of packing boxes; tents-pyramid shaped; circular and dome shaped etc.

2)    Storing typical shaped tin cans or paper packets like a tetrahedron; prism; cylindrical shaped which are available in the market for packing milk or juice. The children are assigned task to imagine suitable design data to prepare attractive packets for liquid contents.

3)    Certain models are prepared to demonstrate the principles used in making some scientific instruments, e.g. optical square; cross staff; periscope; kaleidoscope etc. The students thus come to know the use of such scientific equipments.

Working Models:

1)      Plane co-ordinatograph: It is a model prepared in the lab and used for making observations of co-ordinates of various points in a plane. This is of great help to explain the basic concepts of co-ordinate geometry in two dimensions. Students are asked to take observations of points and write equations of incident ray; reflected ray; equations of circles; parabola; plane; straight lines; tangent lengths etc on the basis of co-ordinates observed on the working model. The students can understand the transformation of one system of co-ordinates into the other, trigonometric ratios and their applications etc.

2)    Plane Space Co-ordinatograph: It is a model prepared in the lab and used for making observations of co-ordinates of various points in the space above the surface. This is of great help to explain the basic concepts of co-ordinate geometry in three dimensions. Students are asked to take observations of points in space; write equations of straight lines in space and locate points in space. The students can understand the transformation of one system of co-ordinates into the other. With such experiments, children come to know how to determine the distances of cloud; sun; moon; space craft at the time of Arial photography etc.

3)    Dip Measurement Model: It is a model made out of transparent plastic cylinder to represent railway tanker. This demonstrates how easily the liquid contents or the volume can be determined in case of cylindrical tanker making few observations.

4)    Water analog model: It is a model to take observations for filling the pool by different taps having different rates of discharge. Such observations enable the students to formulate quadratic equations and find out their solutions. Such working models analogy can be applied in solving different types of problems related to the formation of quadratic equations on the basis of given conditions. Also the observations may be used to tackle problems based on dispersion theory and determination of the most probable value in a set of observations.

5)    Model To Make Observations of Time Periods: A pendulum is suspended in the lab and time period for the oscillations are observed. This leads to the value of g, the acceleration due to gravity.

6)    Equilibrium Forces Analog Model: This model is used to formulate the equations of equilibrium.

The Concept:

On the lines of science laboratory, the concept of mathematics laboratory may be visualized and developed. It is a place where every one should get an opportunity to establish correlation of one subject with allied subjects.

The basic linear equation answering the needs of mathematics laboratory is:

Ml = aiXi + bi Ym + ciZo ; where:

Ml denotes activities in mathematics laboratory.

Xi denotes necessary infra structure.

The coefficients are:

a1 denotes library and reference books.

a2 denotes furniture layout.

a3 denotes laboratory equipment- Computers; Calculators; Geometry Box; Cutting Tools; Letter-Stencils; Drawing Equipment; Mathematical Charts; Logarithm tables etc.

Ym denotes necessary mode of working and management tools.

The coefficients are:

b1 denotes Computations leading to desirable outputs.

b2 denotes Making drawings and sketches to explain the procedure.

b3 denotes Analysis and decision from set of observations.

b4 denotes Field layout and model making to achieve the objectives.

Zo denotes the number of objectives associated with the activity.

For example: an activity for determining the nature of ? may have the following objectives:

c1 denotes : What is ??

c2 denotes: What is the value of ??

c3 denotes : Whether ? is rational or irrational?

Now finally I suggest some activities which can be done in the mathematics laboratory:

1)      Mathematics laboratory- Definition.

2)    Activity 1: Mathematics laboratory- Introduction.

3)    Activity 2: Half Life.

4)    Activity 3: One-Less.

5)    Activity 4: Doubling.

6)    Activity 5: Span.

7)    Activity 6: Roller.

8)    Activity 7: Center-Point.

9)    Activity 8: Bigger.

10)  Activity 9: Equals.

11)  Activity 10: Side by Side.

12)  Activity 11: Paper art.

13)  Activity 12: Cut Away

14)  Activity 13: Impossible Challenge.

15)  Activity 14: Get triangle equal in area to a parallelogram.

16)  Activities 15, 16: Quick Calculations.

This is not the exhaustive list of activities to be performed in the laboratory. Many more activities may be thought of and performed in the laboratory.

The details of the above mentioned activities are available in the accompanying CD. These can be viewed using Microsoft Power Point and clicking to view slide show.

About the Author

PRABHAT MARWAHA
M.SC MATHS, B.ED.
15 YEARS TEACHING EXPERIENCE TO SENIOR CLASSES.
PRESENTLY WORKING AS VICE PRINCIPAL IN JNV
LONGOWAL, SANGRUR, PUNJAB (INDIA).
EMAIL-ID:prabhat.marwaha@gmail.com

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Cheap Things to See and Do in New York City

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Everybody knows New York’s famous attractions such as the Empire State Building and the Statue of Liberty, Central Park and Times Square, Wall Street, Brooklyn Bridge and etc. They are all great and worth seeing. However, if you’ve seen all them and want to do something more unique or see more of New York, the following top ten things to do in New York off the beaten path will help you to get started. Most of these activities are free and can be easily included in your itinerary if you visit New York City on a budget.

Staten Island Ferry Ride

The 5 mile, 25 minute ride on Staten Island Ferry is a great way to enjoy the views of Downtown Manhattan and New York Harbor, the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island absolutely for free at any time of the day or night. Manhattan South Ferry Terminal located at South Street in Manhattan Financial District, very close to popular New York attractions, such as Battery Park, Wall Street and South Street Seaport.

Roosevelt Island Cable Car Ride

If you’ve already seen the skyline of Manhattan from the water, then why not to get a view of the city from the sky? The Roosevelt Island Tramway will quickly bring you from Manhattan to Roosevelt Island and on a way you can enjoy breathtaking views of East Side of Midtown Manhattan, East River and The Queensboro Bridge. Great fun and very cost efficient – the ride costs the same as the subway ride.

The Cloisters Museum and Gardens
The Cloisters Museum and Gardens

The Cloisters Museum and Gardens

New York City has dozens great famous museums worth visiting, but the Cloisters is the truly unique experience and great combination of art collection and setting. Being the branch of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Cloisters museum is devoted to the art and architecture of medieval Europe. Located in Fort Tryon Park in the north of Manhattan, the building of the museum and gardens are treasures in themselves and well part of the collection housed there. Five medieval French cloisters were disassembled and brought to New York in 1934 and reassembled here in a setting with gardens planted accordingly to medieval traditions, creating European atmosphere of the Middle Age right in a modern city of New York. You can easily spend all day here, enjoying art collection, serenity of gardens and great views of the Hudson River.

Bryant Park

New York City parks, with Central Park most famous, are fabulous spots to visit at any occasions. Bryant Park is small green oasis right in a middle of busy midtown Manhattan. During the winter Bryant Park is home to a fabulous and free ice skating rink. In the summer enjoy movies and picnics sitting right on a park lawn under Manhattan sky. Till this year Bryant Park hosted the most glamorous New York City event – New York Fashion Week. And New York Public Library, another place in New York off the beaten path, is right here in Bryant Park.

New York Public Library

The New York Public Library is one of the leading public libraries not only in the United States but in the world. However, not even every New Yorker was inside of this magnificent building right on Fifth Avenue between 40th and 42nd streets. Meanwhile the building is one of architectural jewels of Manhattan and National Historic Landmark. The Library’s grand entrance with two famous stone lions (nickname “Patience” and “Fortitude”), majestic steps and glamorous rooms with high ceilings have been appeared in many movies such as Breakfast at Tiffany’s, Sex and the City, Spider-Man, The Day After Tomorrow, Escape from New York, Regarding Henry and etc.

Grand Central

You don’t have to travel outside of New York City in order to visit Grand Central, just stop by there and walk around! Start your tour at the famous four-sided clock on the Main Concourse, this is a perfect spot to see most everything on the Main Concourse. Look up and around, and you will see the great astronomical mural painted in gold leaf on cerulean blue oil, beautiful melonshaped chandeliers, grand stylish staircases and many small interesting architectural details. Grand Central is home to many stores including famous Grand Central market, and quite noticeable restaurants such as Oyster Bar with the biggest selection of oysters in New York. And just for fun, stop by at unique Whispering Gallery. This one of the biggest attractions of the Terminal offers a phonic treat. Get two volunteers and put them in opposite corners facing the walls. A person can whisper into one of its corners and be distinctly heard diagonally across the gallery on the other side.

Koreatown

New York City being a very ethnically diverse city has plenty of interesting ethnic neighborhoods with Chinatown and Little Italy are probably most popular. But if you want to try something different and less touristy, then visit Koreatown (or Little Korea) located in Midtown Manhattan between 31st and 36th Streets and Fifth Avenue and Sixth Avenues. The area is close to popular destinations like the Empire State Building and Macy’s and will indulge you with very authentic Korean culinary experiences and night entertainment. Here you will find a lot of great Korean restaurants and stores, quite fancy karaoke nightclubs and fabulous Korean spas.

Union Square Greenmarket

Union Square is a very popular tourist destination in New York. If you visit the square on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays you will get very New York experience. In these days, Union Square becomes New York biggest fresh farmer’s food paradise. You don’t have to buy anything, just mingle around and taste some local just-picked fresh fruits or vegetables, farmstead cheeses and artisan breads, jams, ciders and even local wine. You can catch local chefs from the city’s top restaurants shopping early in the morning for the freshest ingredients. Or take some time to chat with your local farmer and learn about their growing practice and don’t be surprised if you rub shoulders with the celebrity – many of them are shop here!

The High Line

Probably one of the newest attractions in Manhattan, the High Line is a 1.45-mile New York City park built on a section of the former elevated freight railroad of the West Side Line, along the Hudson River. Opened to the public in June of 2009 the High Line runs from Gansevoort Street to 20th Street. The park welcomes visitors with naturalized plantings that are inspired by the self-seeded landscape that grew on the disused tracks and with new great views of the city and the Hudson River. The Meatpacking District, located nearby, is trendiest area for shopping in New York, as well as the most popular for dining and one of best places to go out and have fun in Manhattan.

Brighton Beach

If you really want to see New York off the beaten path, then get on a subway and go explore New York outside of Manhattan. New York boroughs have plenty of unique neighborhoods that really worth a visit. Brighton Beach is definitely one of them and one of best places to visit in Brooklyn. Here you will immerse yourself in an authentic atmosphere of Little Russia where most of sings and store names written in Russian language, where you would barely hear English speech, where you would find variety of Russian books, art, music and food. Local cozy cafes serve hearty ethnic foods, such as borsch, pirogues, chicken Kiev, beef stroganoff and etc. The extra bonus is seaside, so you can promenade on the boardwalk for the sea breezes or just go to the beach. There are a group of Russian restaurants on the Boardwalk between 4th and 6th Brighton streets with outside dining that gives a wonderful ocean view.

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About the Author

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I would check your apartment complex that led based paint or if lead-free. It is against the law for buildings to have leaded paint and if it applies to housing for removing paint and lead paint. The Association American Cancer Society was founded conclusions breathing lead paint for the long term can cause lung cancer. Good luck.

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