Celebrating the 200th birthday of Charles Dickens http://www.dickens2012.org/
The Charles Dickens Museum, 48 Doughty Street (the author’s only surviving London house) holds the world's most important Dickens collection with over 100,000 items including manuscripts, rare editions, personal items, paintings and other visual sources. http://www.dickensmuseum.com/

Travel quotes
The world is a book, and those who do not travel read only one page.
Saint Augustine Bishop of Hippo from 396 to 430.
One’s destination is never a place, but rather a new way of looking at things.
Henry Valentine Miller (26 December 1891 - 7 June 1980) American writer
Big Sur and the Oranges of Hieronymus Bosch, 1957 http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Henry_Miller
Once you have traveled, the voyage never ends, but is played out over and over again in the quietest chambers. The mind can never break off from the journey.
Pat Conroy (b. 1945) American teacher and writer

Stink bugs infiltrated the U.S. as cargo ship stowaways from Asia about 15 years ago and have proliferated in the past two years. The U.S. Department of Agriculture says the immigrants have spread to 36 states; trade groups say they were responsible for $37 million of damage to apple crops alone in 2010. "It's not so much an evolution but a takeover," says Anne Nielsen, an entomologist recruited by Rutgers University in New Jersey specifically to study stink bugs, known to scientists as the Halyomorpha halys. Brian McCausland, a contractor from Chester County, Pa., conjured up his own solution. He invented a trap that uses light and a spruce-scented spray to draw the pests to a bowl, where they drown. So far, he says, he's sold 5,000 of the $9.99 contraptions by word-of-mouth. The stink bug measures between 1/2 inch and one inch long, with a speckled brown exoskeleton. Its colloquial name stems from the odor emitted from glands on its abdomen—a defense mechanism triggered by disturbances like predators or homeowners who stumble upon them in attics. It feeds through a stylus that is "as hard as steel," says Mark Seetin of the U.S. Apple Association. Scientists are more concerned with the bug's appetite for crops than its smell. The insects are voracious vegetarians that forage on about 300 species of produce, trees and vegetation. HEATHER HADDON http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204124204577148833091069496.html

On Jan. 15, the White House outlined its opposition to two similar bills pending in the House and Senate that would crack down on the sale of pirated American movies, music and other goods on foreign-based websites. The bills would require Internet companies to hobble access to foreign pirate websites, bar search engines from linking to them and prevent U.S. companies from placing ads on them. The Senate is still scheduled to hold a procedural vote on the legislation on Jan. 24. House backers haven't announced any plans to advance the legislation, but they said on Jan. 13 that they will remove a provision that worried some cybersecurity experts. The proposed Stop Online Piracy Act has stoked wild rhetoric from both supporters and detractors. Opponents, including technology companies, have compared some provisions in the legislation to methods used by dictatorial regimes. To protest the proposed legislation, the online encyclopedia Wikipedia said it will close down its English language version for 24 hours on Jan. 18. But supporters say the competitiveness of the movie and television industry—and even that of American business as a whole—is at stake. Major media companies that own TV channels and movie studios have been among the legislation's supporters. They worry that piracy could thwart their still nascent efforts to get consumers to pay for online content. In the TV business, for instance, channels are increasingly making their shows available online only to paying subscribers to cable and satellite operators—a system that could be undermined by pirate sites.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203735304577165081404005466.html

Exactly 100 pieces of trefoil-shaped construction paper crisscross the walls of the Girl Scouts headquarters in Toledo. Every emblem proclaims a message squarely knotted to the Girl Scouts' 100th birthday this year, beginning with No. 1: "1st Chartered Council in the U.S." In 1917, the same year Girl Scouts were for the first time selling homemade cookies as a way to fund troop activities, founder Juliette "Daisy" Gordon Low was signing her name to the first charter for a local council in the United States, and that council was here in Toledo. "No. One" is penned in the corner of that charter, a copy of which is proudly displayed in the Girl Scouts of Western Ohio office on Collingwood Boulevard in the Old West End. An Ohio Historical Marker, now in the works, is to be erected in May to commemorate Toledo's significant link to an organization that has had more than 50 million members since that night when Mrs. Low called a friend saying, "Come right over. I've got something for the girls of Savannah, and all of America, and all the world, and we're going to start it tonight." She assembled 18 girls from Savannah, Ga., on March 12, 1912, to register the first troop meeting of the American Girl Guides; the name was changed to Girl Scouts the following year, and the rest is history. Actually, in 2012, declared by the Girl Scouts of the U.S.A. as the Year of the Girl, it is being termed "HERstory." "It is one of the little-known facts about the Girl Scouts of our area," said Allison Demkowski, program services manager for Toledo and Lima regions of the Girl Scouts of Western Ohio. As part of the celebration, Girl Scouts in the Toledo area will have a rare opportunity to spend the night at the Toledo Museum of Art. "There will be sleeping bags all over," said Carol Bintz, chief operating officer at the museum. She's expecting about 2,000 girls to participate in Girl Scout Night at the Museum on May 5-6, featuring hands-on projects, flashlight tours, and storytelling. On May 5 about 4 p.m., the Ohio Historical Marker is to be dedicated on the grounds of the art museum during a public ceremony, she said, noting close connections between the scouts and the museum. When the Girl Scouts' first charter was issued to the Toledo council, the first commissioner was Nina Stevens, who was assistant director of the museum. She was the wife of museum director George Stevens. The charter was signed by the new council officials on the steps of the museum. All of these significant historical connections are fantastic, she said. Not only is the Girl Scouts of the U.S.A. celebrating its 100th anniversary, but the museum is marking the 100th anniversary of the completion of the building's center core, Ms. Bintz said.
"We are celebrating our centennials together," she said. "We really want to make this a great event for the girls." The Green Hat Society, a nationwide Girl Scout alumnae organization founded in Toledo in 2004, is to hold its 2012 national encampment at Camp Libbey Aug. 15-19, and Green Hatters from New York, Idaho, Oklahoma, and Wisconsin are among those expected to attend, according to Bonnie Hamic of Whitehouse, Green Hat Society, Maumee Valley Chapter chairman.
JANET ROMAKER See images, including the document showing the nation's first charter at: http://www.toledoblade.com/local/2012/01/16/Toledo-celebrates-its-role-in-herstory.print

The first published recipe for Girl Scout cookies was printed in July, 1922. Find recipe and instructions at: http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Original-Girl-Scout-Cookies-100807