Seven were killed and at least 50 houses were destroyed and many more damaged in north-western Ohio on June 5-6. Several people were taken to hospitals as the storm left an eight-mile (13km) path of destruction, hitting Lake Township particularly hard. The extreme weather also affected parts of Illinois and Michigan. The high school in Lake Township was among the hardest-hit buildings. Some buses were thrown across the school car park, Superintendent Jim Witt said. In Michigan, the Fermi nuclear power plant on the shore of Lake Erie was shut down after high winds tore a side from one of the buildings. An eyewitness in Illinois said the city of Streator had been badly damaged. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/world/us_and_canada/10250215.stm

So Many Links, So Little Time
In Nicholas Carr's book "The Shallows," he calls the Web "a technology of forgetfulness." The average Web page entices us with an array of embedded links to other pages, which countless users pursue even while under constant bombardment from email, RSS, Twitter and Facebook accounts. As a result, we skim Web pages and skip quickly from one to another. We read in what is called an "F" pattern: After taking in the first two lines of a text, we zip straight down the rest of the page. We lose the ability to transfer knowledge from short-term "working" memory to long-term memory, where it can shape our worldviews in enduring ways.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703559004575256790495393722.html?mod=WSJ_latestheadlines

33% of the federal waters in the Gulf of Mexico closed to fishing
"On Saturday June 5, 2010, NOAA added 565 square miles to the fishing closed area; the change took effect at 6 p.m. Eastern that same day. The change is at the northeast edge of the closed area, and encompasses the projected movement of oil toward Panama City Beach, Florida. The total federal fishery closure now measures 78,603 square miles, or about 33% of the federal waters in the Gulf of Mexico. Closing fishing in these areas is a precautionary measure to ensure that seafood from the Gulf will remain safe for consumers."

Toledo Area Librarians Association member Karen Rothman helps people retool skills
A new resource created by staff at the Way Library in Perrysburg, Ohio is available to assist area residents looking to return to school or expand their existing skill sets. The Northwest Ohio Career Training and Higher Education Directory premiered in April and includes information on accredited educational and training institutions across the region. "I think there are a lot of folks who are exploring a range of possibilities and I think this is an easy way to do that," said reference librarian Karen Rothman, one of the principal individuals involved in the project.
http://sent-trib.com/trib/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=15485:library-directory-helps-people-retool-skills&catid=1:fp&Itemid=115

Toledo native Josh Clark is a senior writer for HowStuffWorks.com in Atlanta http://www.howstuffworks.com/ , an online resource that aims to provide easy-to-understand information and explanations for thousands of topics. His job caused him, in the words of English poet Alfred, Lord Tennyson, “to seek, to find, and not to yield,” and that’s changed his outlook on life. “It makes going through life that much more interesting,” Josh says. “Your eyes are open, and you’re looking around and you’re willing and able to go from subject to subject.” It makes you, in a word, curious. It’s a quality that’s more valuable than the sum of the little facts it may cause you to accumulate. It gets you thinking, it makes you appreciate everything around you, and it makes you an active participant in your world. http://toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100604/COLUMNIST28/100609886

Quote Knowing trees, I understand the meaning of patience. Knowing grass, I can appreciate persistence. Hal Borland American journalist (1900-1978) Find this and other nature quotes at: http://www.allgreatquotes.com/nature_quotes.shtml

Q: Is there a difference between who has the right of way with a two-way stop sign and a four-way stop sign?
A: "Whoever stops first has the right to continue first," says Sgt. Max Norris of the Ohio State Highway Patrol. "If both stop at the same time," he said, "the vehicle to the right has the right of way."
Q: Hundreds of sandbags are used to keep back floodwaters. What happens to the sandbags when the flood is over?
A: Sandbags that come in contact with floodwaters cannot be reused because the waters are contaminated with pesticides, sewage and other toxic pollution.
In Fargo, N.D., where the Red River overflowed its banks in 2009 and threatened to do so again in March, used sandbags are trucked out of town and emptied into large piles. The sand can be reused for providing fill for road and building construction, but not for children's sandboxes or other household uses where people would be likely to touch it. Even before this year's 1.5 million sandbags were dismantled, there were still 70,000 tons of used sand in the Fargo piles. -- John Flesher, AP, Traverse City, Mich.
Q: A recent article on the World Trade Center steel returning to Coatesville, Pa., reminded me of the somber video showing row upon row of emergency vehicles that were destroyed in the 9/11 attack. What became of these vehicles?
A: At least 95 emergency vehicles were destroyed in the 2001 terror attacks. Some doors and other parts of the wrecked vehicles were given to museums and others were given to investigators. Most others were turned into scrap metal. There are about 20 New York Fire Department and Port Authority of New York and New Jersey vehicles in a hangar at John F. Kennedy International Airport, along with other World Trade Center artifacts. Some will eventually be moved to the Sept. 11 memorial museum, including a fire truck partly crushed by the collapse of the north tower. http://www.thecourier.com/Opinion/columns/2010/Jun/JU/ar_JU_060710.asp?d=060710,2010,Jun,07&c=c_13