In 1967, Data Corp, an Ohio-based company who developed ink jet printing technologies, was contracted by the Ohio State Bar Association to provide a "free-text" search and retrieval system. This development drew the attention of the Mead corporation who would purchase Data Corp a year later. In 1970, Mead Data Central was spun off as a subsidiary of Mead, going on to establish its own phone communications network and providing the long-term strategic and operation plans for the initial LEXIS database. In 1973, Mead Data Central introduces LEXIS® and NAARS services. LEXIS provides the full text of Ohio and New York codes and cases, the U.S. code, and some federal case law. NAARS is the National Automated Accounting Research Service, a tax database from the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants. Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) paves the way for reliable electronic data delivery. The following year Lexis® service pioneers online legal research by allowing attorneys to search case law database in firm via private telecommunications network. In 1994, Reed Elsevier acquired LexisNexis. In 1997, LexisNexis debuted the first Web-based service for U.S. legal professionals, the precursor to LexisNexis® at www.lexis.com. http://www.lexisnexis.com/about-us/history.aspx

Mead Data Central, then Lexis, then Lexis-Nexis, now LexisNexis is the oldest of the computerized legal research and retrieval services. It is fee-based; however, you may go to http://law.lexisnexis.com/infopro/ free and, without a password , access material including Zimmerman's Research Guide, an Online Encyclopedia for Legal Researchers by Andrew Zimmerman. You will find material for general researchers as well as people in the legal field.

The Appalachian Mountains (pronounced /ˌæpəˈleɪʃɨn/ or /ˌæpəˈlætʃɨn/), often called the Appalachians, are a vast system of mountains in eastern North America. The whole system may be divided into three great sections: the Northern, from the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador to the Hudson River; the Central, from the Hudson Valley to the New River (Great Kanawha) running through Virginia and West Virginia; and the Southern, from the New River onwards. The northern section includes the Long Range Mountains and Annieopsquotch Mountains on the island of Newfoundland, Chic-Choc Mountains and Notre Dame Range in Quebec and New Brunswick, scattered elevations and small ranges elsewhere in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, the Longfellow Mountains in Maine, the White Mountains in New Hampshire, the Green Mountains in Vermont, and The Berkshires in Massachusetts and Connecticut. The Metacomet Ridge Mountains in Connecticut and south-central Massachusetts, although contained within the Appalachian province, is a younger system and not geologically associated with the Appalachians. The central section comprises, excluding various minor groups, the Valley Ridges between the Allegheny Front of the Allegheny Plateau and the Great Appalachian Valley, the New York - New Jersey Highlands, the Taconic Mountains in New York, and a large portion of the Blue Ridge. The southern section consists of the prolongation of the Blue Ridge, which is divided into the Western Blue Ridge (or Unaka) Front and the Eastern Blue Ridge Front, the Ridge-and-Valley Appalachians, and the Cumberland Plateau. The Adirondack Mountains in New York are sometimes considered part of the Appalachian chain but, geologically speaking, are a southern extension of the Laurentian Mountains of Canada. In addition to the true folded mountains, known as the ridge and valley province, the area of dissected plateau to the north and west of the mountains is usually grouped with the Appalachians. This includes the Catskill Mountains of southeastern New York, the Poconos in Pennsylvania, and the Allegheny Plateau of southwestern New York, western Pennsylvania, eastern Ohio and northern West Virginia. This same plateau is known as the Cumberland Plateau in southern West Virginia, eastern Kentucky, western Virginia, eastern Tennessee, and northern Alabama. The dissected plateau area, while not actually made up of geological mountains, is popularly called 'mountains', especially in eastern Kentucky and West Virginia, and while the ridges are not high, the terrain is extremely rugged. In Ohio and New York, some of the plateau has been glaciated, which has rounded off the sharp ridges, and filled the valleys to some extent. The glaciated regions are usually referred to as hill country rather than mountains. The Appalachian region is generally considered the geographical dividing line between the eastern seaboard of the United States and the Midwest region of the country. The Eastern Continental Divide follows the Appalachian Mountains from Pennsylvania to Georgia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Appalachian_Mountains

The Appalachian National Scenic Trail runs 2100 miles from Springer Mountain in Georgia to Mount Katahdin in Maine. 90 miles of this long-distance footpath are in Massachusetts running along the ridges and traversing the valleys of Berkshire County. Conceived in 1921, by Massachusetts native Benton McKay, the Trail was designed to provide a continuous green corridor along the ridge of the Appalachian Mountain chain of mountains and hills. In 1968 the footpath was officially designated a National Scenic Trail, and in 1969 the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Management (DEM) enacted legislation to protect the Appalachian Trail. http://www.berkshireweb.com/sports/parks/app.html

The Berkshires are characterized by varied topography and bedrock geology which in turn have contributed to the exquisite diversity of species and biotic communities. Environmental forces, including the role of human activities, have conspired to make the landscape of the Berkshires a mosaic of biological communities in a dynamic state of change: From most places in the Berkshire region one can sample biological communities that are typical of an area extending 1000 miles from central Canada to the mid-Atlantic states. The biological communities also vary in age from newly mown suburban lawns and cultivated farm fields to ancient woodlots and fragments of the pre-colonial forest. Envision the Berkshires as a broad, longitudinal valley forming a conduit for the Hoosic River in the north and the Housatonic River in the south. The valley is defined by the Taconic Range (ca. 2400’ above sea level) on the west, forming the boundaries between New York State and three states to the east: Vermont, Massachusetts, and Connecticut. The Taconics are comprised predominately of phyllite shist. The Hoosac Range, with a complex of phyllite, quartzite, and granitic bedrock, defines the eastern flank of the valley as its summits form the Berkshire Plateau, at around 2400’ in the north, decreasing to about 2000’ in the south. The Berkshire Plateau merges to the north with the granitic Green Mountains of Vermont. Mt. Greylock rises as a massif in the northern Massachusetts portion of the region. I ts summit at 3491’ being the highest peak in Southern New England. While the geographic position of Mt. Greylock aligns with the Green Mountains to the north, its bedrock geology is more closely related to the Taconic Range to the west. The Hoosic-Housatonic valley bottom (ca. 700’ above sea level) is punctuated by marble hills rising to 1200’ or so. The southern portion of the Berkshires is drained by the Housatonic River whose major branches arise on the southwestern flanks of Mt. Greylock and the east-central Berkshire plateau and converge in Pittsfield, MA. The Housatonic River then meanders through the broad valley of the southern Berkshires flowing south through Connecticut and eventually entering Long Island Sound. The North Branch of the Hoosic River flows south from Readsboro, VT to North Adams, MA where it joins the South Branch that originates in Lanesborough, MA. The Hoosic then flows west through Williamstown, MA, north into Pownal, VT and then north and west through eastern New York, entering the Hudson River at Stillwater, NY. During the peak of the most recent geologic epoch -- the Pleistocene -- some 18,000 years ago. the entire Berkshire region was covered by a kilometer-thick ice sheet that scoured out the U-shaped valley as it crept southward toward Long Island. As the ice sheet receeded northward through the region14,000 years ago, the Hoosic River valley below the1000’ elevation contour was filled by Lake Bascom as the glacier dammed up the melt water, preventing its drainage to the northwest. Lake Bascom persisted for about 800 years until it emptied toward the Hudson River in a series of dramatic flood events. Similarly, in the late Pleistocene Lake Ashley filled the Housatonic Valley from what now is Great Barrington, MA to Falls Village, CT. http://cdm.williams.edu/nhb/

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Within 60 miles of Mount Ararat, scientists have unearthed a surprisingly advanced winemaking operation, surrounded by storage jars, and say it dates back 6,000 years, making it the earliest known site in the world for wine-making with grapes, by far. Its presence, along with the recent discovery of the world's oldest leather moccassin in the same cave outside the small town of Areni, is requiring professionals in the field to broaden and, to some extent reexamine, exactly what constituted early civilization and where it occurred. "This is the oldest confirmed example of winemaking by a thousand years," said Gregory Areshian, an archaeologist and co-director of the dig. "People were making wine here well before there were pharaohs in Egypt." The winemaking in the cave appears to be associated with burial rituals because numerous graves are close by, he said. "This was almost surely not wine used at the end of the day to unwind." Areshian said that the discovery of winemaking in the Areni cave complex, outlined in the peer-reviewed Journal of Archaeological Science and released January 11, indicates that the people there were settled and relatively sophisticated 6,000 years ago. Although researchers traditionally look to Egypt and Mesopotamia to understand ancient civilization, Areshian said that "there were many, many specialized and unique centers of civilization in the ancient world, and we can only understand it as a mosaic of these peoples." http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/01/10/AR2011011006227.html

Toledo Museum of Art Peristyle Sunday, January 23, 2011 3 p.m. The Composer is Dead Bob Clemens, narrator Tickets start at $20 at 419-246-8000 or http://www.toledosymphony.com/ Enjoy Lemony Snicket's "The Composer is Dead." Dastardly deeds have happened at the hapless Toledo Symphony Orchestra. Help narrator-extrordinaire (and TSO cellist) Bob Clemens find the culprit in this whodunnit concert aimed to celebrate the joys of reading--with lots of help from the Toledo-Lucas County Public Library. Also on the program will be works by Smetana, Stravinsky, Strauss, and others.