In the mid 1500’s in South America, the Quechua tribe used deer, elk, and buffalo to make their jerky in the sun or over a fire. “Charqui” as it was called was introduced to the Spaniards who brought it to other countries including South Africa. In the early pioneer days of the United States, cowboys and settlers hung meat from their wagons to dry in the sun or would smoke over a fire. The Native American Indians also made jerky from the wild game they caught. The word charqui, meaning “to burn,” evolved into “charki,” “charque,” and then finally: “jerky.” This chewy snack has a shelf life of up to two years and does not need to be refrigerated. Read how to make jerky at: http://www.hobbyhelper.com/how-to-make-jerky/

Learn how to make puzzles and do puzzles at: http://www.hobbyhelper.com/category/games/

Federal agents swooped in on Gibson Guitar August 24, raiding factories and offices in Memphis and Nashville, seizing several pallets of wood, electronic files and guitars. The Feds are keeping mum, but in a statement yesterday Gibson's chairman and CEO, Henry Juszkiewicz, defended his company's manufacturing policies, accusing the Justice Department of bullying the company. "The wood the government seized is from a Forest Stewardship Council certified supplier," he said, suggesting the Feds are using the aggressive enforcement of overly broad laws to make the company cry uncle. If you are the lucky owner of a 1920s Martin guitar, it may well be made, in part, of Brazilian rosewood. Cross an international border with an instrument made of that now-restricted wood, and you better have correct and complete documentation proving the age of the instrument. Otherwise, you could lose it to a zealous customs agent—not to mention face fines and prosecution. John Thomas, a law professor at Quinnipiac University and a blues and ragtime guitarist, says "there's a lot of anxiety, and it's well justified." Once upon a time, he would have taken one of his vintage guitars on his travels. Now, "I don't go out of the country with a wooden guitar." The tangled intersection of international laws is enforced through a thicket of paperwork. Recent revisions to 1900's Lacey Act require that anyone crossing the U.S. border declare every bit of flora or fauna being brought into the country. One is under "strict liability" to fill out the paperwork—and without any mistakes. Consider the recent experience of Pascal Vieillard, whose Atlanta-area company, A-440 Pianos, imported several antique Bösendorfers. Mr. Vieillard asked officials at the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species how to fill out the correct paperwork—which simply encouraged them to alert U.S. Customs to give his shipment added scrutiny. There was never any question that the instruments were old enough to have grandfathered ivory keys. But Mr. Vieillard didn't have his paperwork straight when two-dozen federal agents came calling. Facing criminal charges that might have put him in prison for years, Mr. Vieillard pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor count of violating the Lacey Act, and was handed a $17,500 fine and three years probation.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424053111904787404576530520471223268.html

The Lacey Act of 1900, or more commonly The Lacey Act (16 U.S.C. §§ 3371–3378) is a conservation law introduced by Iowa Rep. John F. Lacey. Protecting both plants and wildlife by creating civil and criminal penalties for a wide array of violations, the Act most notably prohibits trade in wildlife, fish, and plants that have been illegally taken, transported or sold. The law was signed into law by President William McKinley on May 25, 1900, and is still in effect, although it has been amended several times. In 1900, illegal commercial hunting threatened many game species in the United States. The original Act was therefore directed at the preservation of game and wild birds, making it a federal crime to poach game in one state with the purpose of selling the bounty in another. The law prohibited the transportation of illegally captured or prohibited animals across state lines, and addressed potential problems of the introduction of non-native species of birds and animals into native ecosystems. It was the first federal law protecting wildlife, although today it is primarily used to prevent the importation or spread of potentially dangerous non-native species. The Lacey Act also makes it unlawful to import, export, transport, sell, receive, acquire, or purchase in interstate or foreign commerce any plant in violation of the laws of the United States, a State, an Indian tribe, or any foreign law that protects plants. The Lacey Act was most recently amended as of May 22, 2008, when The Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008 expanded its protection to a broader range of plants and plant products (Section 8204. Prevention of Illegal Logging Practices). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lacey_Act_of_1900

"Back formation continues to make a few contributions to the language. Television has given televise on the model of revise/revision, and donation has given donate on the model of relate/relation. Babysitter and stage manager have given babysit and stage manage for obvious reasons. More remote was the surprising lase from laser (the latter an acronym for 'lightwave amplification by stimulated emission of radiation'), recorded from 1966."
(W.F. Bolton, A Living Language: The History and Structure of English. Random House, 1982) "Stripping the in- from inchoate is known as back-formation, the same process that has given us words like peeve (from peevish), surveil (from surveillance) and enthuse (from enthusiasm). There’s a long linguistic tradition of removing parts of words that look like prefixes and suffixes to come up with 'roots' that weren’t there to begin with."
(Ben Zimmer, "Choate." The New York Times, Jan. 3, 2010) http://grammar.about.com/od/ab/g/backformterm.htm

Badge engineering is the process of selling what is the same car apart from a few minor changes, mainly to the appearance, as different models with different model names. http://www.cardictionary.com/definition/badge-engineering.html

Just what is mesclun? Literally, a mixture. The name comes from the Latin verb misculare--"to mix." And what is in this mix? Well, that depends both on the season and the gardener's tastes, but it preferably includes some sharp and even slightly bitter greens, as well as herbs, flowers, and some wild plants or plants of wild origin, as well as some cutting lettuces, all harvested at a young and succulent age. You may to grow mesclun ingredients broadcast over a raised bed or scatter the seed over a finely prepared bed enriched with plenty of rotted manure plus a source of potassium, such as greensand. Rake it lightly and water regularly. All the classic salad greens taste better when they get plenty of water. Plant small amounts at a time, at frequent intervals, for harvest at the peak young stage. Mesclun is an ideal crop for apartment dwellers, incidentally, because of its quick turn-around time. You can sow mixed seed, or pots of individual ingredients. Supply plenty of fertilizer and water for lush succulent growth. Mesclun greens are especially grown in large bowl-shaped pots, as they resemble just what they are--big bowls of salad. http://www.frenchgardening.com/aupotager.html?pid=311086548324136

Novel titles inspired by Shakespeare--also find links to operas inspired by Shakespeare at: http://www.nosweatshakespeare.com/resources/shakespeare-inspired-novel-titles.htm