Keith Haring (1958-1990) was born in Reading, Pennsylvania and grew up in nearby Kutztown. During his all-too-brief life, Keith Haring became a sensation in the art world with his bold, cartoon and graffiti influenced works during the 1980s. He spent many hours drawing with his father and was fascinated by the popular cartoon art of Walt Disney and Charles Schultz. In 1982, Haring had his first New York one-man show at the Shafrazi Gallery. Not only did he create paintings and sculptures for the show, he engulfed the entire gallery with his bold color choices and frenetic designs. A critical success, he soon became one of most popular artists of the time with exhibits in Japan, Brazil, and many other countries. Haring collaborated with other artists and performers, including Andy Warhol and William Burroughs. http://www.biography.com/people/keith-haring-246006

No-knead bread--recipe and video: http://www.breadtopia.com/basic-no-knead-method/

Jim Lahey's No Knead Pizza Dough – Popeye Pizza http://kitcheninspirations.wordpress.com/2009/02/26/jim-laheys-no-knead-pizza-dough-popeye-pizza/

While an undergraduate at Princeton, John Dabiri spent a summer at the California Institute of Technology, filming jellyfish at a nearby aquarium and trying to write mathematical models to describe their movement. After graduating with degrees in mechanical and aerospace engineering, he headed to Caltech for good. Dabiri earned his Ph.D. there in 2005 and became a tenured professor before age 30. Along the way, Dabiri, a native of Toledo, Ohio. unraveled some of the mysteries of the jellyfish and how they propel themselves by creating whirling vortexes in the water. The U.S. Navy is funding development of underwater craft that employ his mathematical models to move using 30 percent less energy than existing options. Dabiri says his goal is “to tap the inexhaustible supply of inspiration found in nature” in the name of innovation. At the moment, he’s applying a lot of his findings to renewable energy. “He was the first person to think of” modeling wind farms on fish schools, says Alexander Smits, one of Dabiri’s engineering professors at Princeton. “It’s a game-changer.” http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2012-04-05/john-dabiri-unlocks-the-mysteries-of-jellyfish

Epsom salts are made up of a naturally occurring mineral that is found in water. More properly known as magnesium sulfate, Epsom salts derives its popular name from the town of Epsom, England, where the compound was first distilled from water. The chemical formula for Epsom salts is a rather simplistic one: MgS04-7H2O. Epsom salts are easily obtained at any drug store or supermarket. Inexpensive and versatile, the salts can be used for a number of different applications around the home. Many of the applications have to do with expediting healing, as well as improving the quality of the skin and helping with basic grooming. Perhaps the most popular application is the Epsom salts bath used to relieve stress. http://www.wisegeek.com/what-are-epsom-salts.htm

WHATEVER happened to the “paperless office”? Thirty years ago the rise of computers was hailed as the beginning of the paperless-office era. In a 1980 briefing in The Economist entitled “Towards the paperless office”, we recommended that businesses trying to improve productivity should “reduce the flow of paper, ultimately aiming to abolish it”. Since then, alas, global paper consumption has increased by half. The average American uses the paper equivalent of almost six 40-foot (12-metre) trees a year. In Belgium paper consumption is pushed up by the EU bureaucracy in Brussels, which must produce its documentation in an array of different languages. See chart showing number of trees "consumed" per person each year at: http://www.economist.com/blogs/graphicdetail/2012/04/daily-chart-0

The man on the front of Quaker Oats, known as Larry to insiders, has gotten a makeover. According to the Wall street Journal, his hair is slightly shorter and he has less of a second chin. They also made him appear younger with a more pronounced jaw line and broader shoulders. PepsiCo, the parent company of Quaker, said they wanted Larry to reinforce the idea that oatmeal is a healthy option, so in addition to the haircut they had its artist give him the appearance of “looking five pounds thinner.” It isn’t the first company to give its logo a health makeover. Morton Salt’s “Umbrella Girl” has gotten noticeably thinner overtime and Betty Crocker looks more youthful than ever.
http://www.dietsinreview.com/diet_column/03/quaker-oats-logo-gets-a-makeover/

The following story was sent by longtime reader Jeff Fort, whose great-uncle is Charles Hartman, and whose father, Ted wrote the note at the bottom of the article. In 1912 Charles Hartman, only a few months past his 11th birthday, relayed a wireless message to the editor of the Millville (N.J.) Daily. He told that the Titanic was sinking in the Atlantic and the messages were coming from the Carpathia, the ship that was eventually credited with saving many of the 700 survivors. The wireless was new, and the message he gave could have been a scoop, but the call to the editor was ignored. Hartman busied himself through the years. He had put together a television before RCA. He drew maps and at one time had a collection numbering more than 35,000, which is now at Rutgers University. Excerpt of an article from The Press, Atlantic City, N.J., September 26, 1985 Note at bottom of copy: "Charles Hartman was my mother's older brother. Ted"