Increasingly, North American wine producers are aiming to be as green as possible inside and out, constructing their new facilities to standards set by the LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Green Building Rating System. Developed by the U.S. Green Building Council, introduced in 1998 and since adapted by Canada, the voluntary LEED certification is an international benchmark for buildings that are environmentally friendly and healthful places in which to work or live. See information and pictures of certified projects at Sokol Blosser, Stratus Vineyards, Stoller Vineyards, Frog's Leap Winery, Southbrook Vineyards, Hall St. Helena, Murphy-Goode Winery Tasting Room, Torii Mor Winery, and Cade. At the end of the article see about projects waiting approval and soon-to-be-completed projects. http://www.winespectator.com/webfeature/show/id/42211

The Niagara River, as is the entire Great Lakes Basin of which the river is an integral part, is a legacy of the last Ice Age. 18,000 years ago southern Ontario was covered by ice sheets 2-3 kilometers thick. As they advanced southward the ice sheets gouged out the basins of the Great Lakes. Then as they melted northward for the last time they released vast quantities of meltwater into these basins. The Niagara Peninsula became free of the ice about 12,500 years ago. As the ice retreated northward, its meltwaters began to flow down through what became Lake Erie, the Niagara River and Lake Ontario, down to the St. Lawrence River, and, finally, down to the sea. There were originally 5 spillways from Lake Erie to Lake Ontario. One fifth of all the fresh water in the world lies in the four Upper Great Lakes-Michigan, Huron, Superior and Erie. All the outflow empties into the Niagara River and eventually cascades over the falls. See more information and pictures at: http://www.niagarafallslive.com/Facts_about_Niagara_Falls.htm

The Code of Hammurabi is one of the earliest known examples of human laws being defined and written down in an orderly way. Little is known about Hammurabi himself; he ruled Babylon nearly four millennia ago, from roughly 1792-1750 B.C. The code has 282 entries covering all sorts of civil interactions, from inheritance to theft to slave ownership. Some of the laws are general (anyone caught committing a robbery shall be put to death) and others quite specific ("If any one hire an ox-driver, he shall pay him six gur of corn per year"). The code's best-known dictum is "If a man put out the eye of another man, his eye shall be put out"--commonly quoted as "An eye for an eye." http://www.answers.com/topic/hammurabi

"Link Rot" & Legal Resources on the Web: A 2010 Analysis
"The Chesapeake Project Legal Information Archive has completed its third annual analysis of link rot among the original URLs for law- and policy-related materials published to the Web and archived though the Chesapeake Project. The Chesapeake Project was launched in 2007 by the Georgetown University Law Library and the State Law Libraries of Maryland and Virginia as a collaborative digital archive for the preservation of important Web-published legal materials, which often disappear as Web site content is rearranged or deleted over time. More about the Chesapeake Project. In the three years since the archive was launched, the Chesapeake Project law libraries have built a collection comprising more than 5,700 digital items and 2,300 titles, all of which were originally posted to the Web. For this study, the term "link rot" is used to describe a URL that no longer provides direct access to files matching the content originally harvested from the URL and currently preserved in the Chesapeake Project’s digital archive. In some instances, a 404 or "not found" message indicates link rot at a URL; in others, the URL may direct to a site hosted by the original publishing organization or entity, but the specific resource has been removed or relocated from the original or previous URL. All of the Web resources described in this report that have disappeared from their original locations on the Web remain accessible via permanent archive URLs here at legalinfoarchive.org, thanks to the Chesapeake Project's efforts." [Sarah Rhodes, Digital Collections Librarian, Georgetown University Law Library]

imbricate (adj: IM-bri-kit, -kayt; verb: IM-bri-kayt)
adjective: Having overlapping edges, as tiles on a roof or scales on a fish.
verb tr., intr.: To overlap as roof tiles or fish scales.
From Latin imbricare (to cover with pantiles: semicylindrical tiles), from imbrex (pantile), from imber (rain).
batten (BAT-n)
1. verb: To fatten or to grow fat; to thrive and prosper at another's expense.
2. noun: A long strip of wood, metal, or plastic used for strengthening something.
3. verb: To fasten or secure using battens.
For 1: From Old Norse batna (to improve). Ultimately from the Indo-European root bhad- (good), which is also the source of the words better and best.
For 2, 3: From Old French batre (to beat), from Latin battuere (to beat).
The term is often heard in the idiom "to batten down the hatches" meaning to prepare for a difficult situation or an impending disaster. It is nautical in origin. Literally speaking, to batten down is to cover a ship's hatch (an opening in the deck) with a tarpaulin and strips of wood in preparation for an imminent storm. A.Word.A.Day with Anu Garg

BEANS:
Organic Pintos: rich and remind me of chicken
Anasazi: sweet, mild and creamy
Azuki: sweet and meaty
Black Beans: extra meaty with a little earthiness
Black-Eyed Peas: earthy, robust
Cannellini: creamy, lush, a Rolls Royce of a bean
Chickpeas: cook to nut-like and a little sweet. Their cooking water makes a fine broth to eat on its own or use in soups
Great Northern: neutral and pleasing
Kidney Beans: assertive, bean-like
Lentils: have all the proteins of meat with flavors ranging from earthy (brown), to meat-like and nutty (green) to nut-like and starchy (red)
GRAINS:
Whole Wheat Berries: nut-like, toothy
Barley: sweet and good with almost any flavoring, especially tomato sauce or high spicing
Brown Rice: complex, resembles hazelnuts
Whole Wheat Couscous: wheaten and toasted tasting and so easy — just moisten and it's ready to eat
Buckwheat: can be mild and delicate
Bulgur: cooked whole wheat that's been dried and cracked. All this needs is 30 minutes in warm water. Very wheaty. The Splendid Table May 5, 2010

Quotes
Take your work seriously, but don’t take yourself seriously.
Clint Eastwood (b.1930) American actor, director, producer, musician
Love and time, these are the only two things in all the world and all of life that cannot be bought, but only spent. Gary Jennings (1928-1999) American author Aztec 1980