American actor Kevin McCarthy, who starred as a terror-stricken small-town doctor in the acclaimed 1956 science fiction film "Invasion of the Body Snatchers," died on September 11 at age 96, U.S. media reported. McCarthy appeared in numerous U.S. stage, film and television productions and was nominated for an Academy Award for the movie version of Arthur Miller's play "Death of a Salesman." But he earned his most recognition with his memorable performance as a doctor who tries in vain to warn fellow townsfolk about alien "pod people" in "Invasion of the Body Snatchers." The low-budget film was selected in 2008 by the American Film Institute as one of the top 10 science fiction films of all time and was chosen for inclusion in the U.S. Library of Congress National Film Registry for its importance.
http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/wireStory?id=11620391

In the practice of what they call desert-road archaeology, John Coleman Darnell and his wife Deborah found pottery and ruins in Egypt where soldiers, merchants and other travelers camped in the time of the pharaohs. On a limestone cliff at a crossroads, they came upon a tableau of scenes and symbols, some of the earliest documentation of Egyptian history. Elsewhere, they discovered inscriptions considered to be one of the first examples of alphabetic writing. The explorations of the Theban Desert Road Survey, a Yale University project co-directed by the Darnells, called attention to the previously underappreciated significance of caravan routes and oasis settlements in Egyptian antiquity. Zahi Hawass, secretary general of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, said the archaeologists had uncovered extensive remains of a settlement—apparently an administrative, economic and military center—that flourished more than 3,500 years ago in the western desert 110 miles west of Luxor and 300 miles south of Cairo. No such urban center so early in history had ever been found in the forbidding desert. The 218-acre site is at Kharga Oasis, a string of well-watered areas in a 60-mile-long north-south depression in the limestone plateau that spreads across the desert. The oasis is at the terminus of the ancient Girga Road from Thebes and its intersection with other roads from the north and the south. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/07/science/07archeo.html

Americans did not start calling the president’s wife the “First Lady” until some time in the middle of the 19th century. Some people say Zachary Taylor was the first to use the term in his 1849 eulogy on the death of Dolley Madison. Others maintain that Harriet Lane, niece of President James Buchanan and official hostess for the only bachelor president, was the first “First Lady.” In 1860, Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Monthly described her as, “The Lady of the White House, and by courtesy, the First Lady of the Land.” By the 1870s, newspapers all over the country used the term in their coverage of the activities of Lucy Webb Hayes, one of the busiest and best-loved hostesses ever to preside over the White House. The First Ladies National Historic Site in Canton, Ohio, centered on the home of Ida Saxton McKinley and the City National Bank Building, which serves as the Education and Research Center, provides long overdue recognition of the contributions of all the women who have held the title. The home of First Lady Ida Saxton McKinley is at the center of the First Ladies National Historic Site. The First Ladies National Historic Site is a unit of the National Park System. The Saxton McKinley House is located at 331 S. Market Ave., Canton, OH. The Education and Research Center is located at 205 S. Market Ave. Both the Saxton House and Education and Research Center are open only for guided tours. http://www.nps.gov/nr/travel/presidents/first_ladies_nhs.html

The next time you find yourself in Canton, Ohio, make a stop at the National First Ladies’ Library, home of the Abigail Fillmore Library Room. This room replicates the first permanent White House library, established by Millard and Abigail Fillmore in 1850. Although the library remained mostly intact for more than 50 years, just a few of the original volumes can be found in the White House today. In 2004, the National First Ladies’ Library began working with the Library of Congress and the Bibliographic Society of America to reconstruct the original Fillmore collection.
http://americanlibrariesmagazine.org/columns/librarians-library/first-first-library
Find hours open, current exhibits and more at: http://www.firstladies.org/

The “World Giving Index”, the largest study ever carried out into charitable behaviour across the globe, which ranked the UK the eighth most charitable nation in the world, has found that happier people are more likely to give money to charity than those who are wealthy. The “World Giving Index” used a Gallup survey on the charitable behaviour of people in 153 countries representing 95% of the world’s population. The survey asked people whether they had given money to charity in the last month and to rank how happy they are with life on a scale of one to ten or all countries the Charities Aid Foundation (CAF) compared the strength of the relationship between giving with both a nation’s GDP and the happiness of its population. CAF found that the link between happiness and giving is stronger than the link between wealth and giving. See table of top-giving 18 countries plus a link to the report itself at: http://www.cafonline.org/Default.aspx?page=19479

The Zeroll Ice Cream Scoop is a design classic. It was invented by Sherman Kelly of Toledo, Ohio in the early Thirties. The idea came to him after a vacation in West Palm Beach Florida. He noticed the blisters on the hand of a woman selling ice cream, caused by the bad design of her scoop. He developed a revolutionary non-mechanical scoop, made of cast aluminum - but with a twist! Inside the handle was a fluid. This fluid was warmed by the heat from the user's hand, thereby defrosting the scoop. This made the ice cream easier to serve. It also had another major advantage. As the Zeroll rolled the ice cream into a ball, instead of squeezing it, the user could could get up to 20% more servings per gallon. Sherman patented his scoop in 1933. He went on to found Zeroll in 1935 to manufacture his new invention. Constructed from the finest alloys, the Zeroll ice cream scoop has gone on to become the industry standard. Not only is the Zeroll scoop practical, but it's a thing of beauty as well. This was recognized when the New York Museum of Modern Art put it on display.
http://www.kitchengadgetgourmet.com/articles/The-Story-of-the-Zeroll-Ice-Cream-Scoop.html

Bed bugs are parasites that preferentially feed on humans. If people aren't available, they instead will feed on other warm-blooded animals, including birds, rodents, bats, and pets. Bed bugs have been documented as pests since the 17th century. They were introduced into our country by the early colonists. Bed bugs were common in the United States prior to World War II, after which time widespread use of synthetic insecticides such as DDT greatly reduced their numbers. Improvements in household and personal cleanliness as well as increased regulation of the used furniture market also likely contributed to their reduced pest status. In the past decade, bed bugs have begun making a comeback across the United States, although they are not considered to be a major pest. International travel and commerce are thought to facilitate the spread of these insect hitchhikers, because eggs, young, and adult bed bugs are readily transported in luggage, clothing, bedding, and furniture. Bed bugs can infest airplanes, ships, trains, and buses. Bed bugs are most frequently found in dwellings with a high rate of occupant turnover, such as hotels, motels, hostels, dormitories, shelters, apartment complexes, tenements, and prisons. Such infestations usually are not a reflection of poor hygiene or bad housekeeping. A thorough inspection of the premises to locate bed bugs and their harborage sites is necessary so that cleaning efforts and insecticide treatments can be focused. Inspection efforts should concentrate on the mattress, box springs, and bed frame, as well as crack and crevices that the bed bugs may hide in during the day or when digesting a blood meal. The latter sites include window and door frames, floor cracks, carpet tack boards, baseboards, electrical boxes, furniture, pictures, wall hangings, drapery pleats, loosened wallpaper, cracks in plaster, and ceiling moldings. Determine whether birds or rodents are nesting on or near the house. In hotels, apartments, and other multiple-type dwellings, it is advisable to also inspect adjoining units since bed bugs can travel long distances. Sanitation measures include frequently vacuuming the mattress and premises, laundering bedding and clothing in hot water, and cleaning and sanitizing dwellings. After vacuuming, immediately place the vacuum cleaner bag in a plastic bag, seal tightly, and discard in a container outdoors-this prevents captured bed bugs from escaping into the home. A stiff brush can be used to scrub the mattress seams to dislodge bed bugs and eggs. Discarding the mattress is another option, although a new mattress can quickly become infested if bed bugs are still on the premises. Steam cleaning of mattresses generally is not recommended because it is difficult to get rid of excess moisture, which can lead to problems with mold, mildew, house dust mites, etc. Repair cracks in plaster and glue down loosened wallpaper to eliminate bed bug harborage sites. Remove and destroy wild animal roosts and nests when possible.
http://ohioline.osu.edu/hyg-fact/2000/2105.html

The Agriculture Marketing Service (AMS) of the U.S. Department of Agriculture works to maintain a current listing of farmers markets throughout the United States. Market information is provided to AMS from various sources including state market representatives, market managers, and consumers. The farmers market database is updated on a regular basis. http://apps.ams.usda.gov/FarmersMarkets/

Quote Writing is like driving a car at night. You can only see as far as the headlights, but you make the whole trip that way. E.L. Doctorow, writer (b. 1931)