Imagine your day ending at sunset. Life without music, motion pictures, radio. Life without light itself. Our modern lives began at the turn of the century in West Orange, New Jersey. The Laboratory and home of Thomas Edison, stopped in time, continue to teach a new generation. For directions, pictures, operating hours and other information, see: http://www.nps.gov/edis/index.htm

Blanket of Cold Weather One of Nation's Most Widespread Since January 1985
WSJ.com: "An Arctic blast swept across a large swath of the U.S. on Monday, sending temperatures plunging from Minnesota to Florida and bringing a bone-chilling start to the first workweek of the year...Temperatures fell below zero from the Great Plains to the Northeast, following a weekend of heavy snow. The reading of minus-16 degrees in St. Joseph, Mo., Monday marked the city's coldest Jan. 4 since 1947, while minus-37 in International Falls, Minn., Sunday was the coldest there since 1911, said Frank Pereira, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service. Dallas, Jacksonville, Fla., and Little Rock, Ark., fell nearly 20 degrees below their average temperatures for this time of year on Monday, he said. The cold snap is one of the nation's most widespread since January 1985, according to meteorologists at Accuweather.com. While the cold is expected to ease slightly starting Thursday, this winter is on track to be one of the coldest in the past decade or two, said Ken Reeves, director of forecasting operations at Accuweather.com"
• Winter of 2009-2010 Could Be Worst in 25 Years

60 Minutes' Bob Simon Reports On Research To Create An Elephant "Dictionary"
The Secret Language of Elephants: "For two decades, a group of wild African elephants has been watched over, studied and protected by their own guardian angel: an extraordinary American scientist named Andrea Turkalo. Turkalo's own story is pretty amazing, but not nearly as compelling as the insights into elephant behavior her research has revealed, especially when it comes to "the secret language of elephants."

The National Trust for Historic Preservation's BARN AGAIN! Program helps farmers and ranchers find ways to maintain and use historic barns and agricultural buildings as part of modern agricultural production. Created and managed in partnership with Successful Farming magazine, the BARN AGAIN! Program offers publications on technical issues, organizes educational workshops and recognizes good stewardship through an annual Awards Program.
How many historic barns are there? For the first time, the U.S. Department of Agriculture Census of Agriculture included a question about historic barns. Information about the number of active farms with barns built before 1960 is now vailable, including a listing of the results by state. A new publication, Historic Barns: Working Assets for Sustainable Farms, is available from the National Trust. Written by Michigan small farmer and author Edward Hoogterp, this publication describes how older and historic barns can provide practical benefits to one of the most exciting and fastest-growing segments of the rural economy – sustainable agriculture. Using several case studies, the publication explains how historic barns can meet important functional, economic and marketing needs of sustainable producers. Download a free copy here. http://www.preservationnation.org/issues/rural-heritage/barn-again/
The preservation of historic barns
http://www.historichomeworks.com/hhw/pbriefs/pb20.htm

Dutch barns, bank barns, crib barns, round barns, multisided barns, prairie barns
http://www.barnsbuilt.com/about-us/articles/HistoricBarnTypes.php

Barnology: explore Iowa's rural heritage
http://www.wcfcourier.com/features/lifestyles/article_1a6756a5-d88e-57b7-9bec-18c488bb71cd.html

Many people say NUKE-yu-lar. The vowel sounds are wrong and the consonant ‘l’ is in the wrong place. It should be NEW-klee-ar.
athletic [e is often wrongly added- atheletic]
arctic [the first c is often omitted]
boundary [a is often omitted]
candidate [the first d is often omitted]]
history [o is often omitted]
laboratory [o is often omitted]
probably [ba is often omitted]
surprise [the first r is often omitted]
usually [the second u is often omitted]
http://wordspin.dk/wordspin/bloopers/bloopers-articles/article/dont-let-mispronunciation-mangle-your-message/
temperament: looks like four syllables, pronounced as three
quandary: looks like three syllables, usually pronounced as two
interest: looks like three syllables, pronounced as two
Margaret: looks like three syllables, pronounced as two
in other words sometimes pronounced or written as one word (anotherwords)

Marla Weeg moved from Iowa City, Iowa to Dodge Center, Minnesota to Chicago. Now her first short story has been published online:
http://www.tonopahreview.org/leif-ericsson.html
Marla says that "so far 4 people in the world have read it"--you can raise that number if you care to look at it.

2010 Saveur 100 list
Saveur magazine asked readers for ideas, inspirations, and favorite food finds. The list appears in the January-February 2010 issue, and comes from every corner of the world, on every imaginable culinary subject, from family recipes to treasured cookbooks to time-honored tips. Julie, see #1; Brit, see #33; see the six herbs of Provence at #40; Armenian cucumbers at #44, dried lemon zest at #79 on the Web:
http://www.saveur.com/article/Kitchen/The-2010-SAVEUR-100-List