This day in history
On September 11, 2001, terrorists allegedly associated with al Qaeda hijacked four US commercial airliners, two of which were crashed into the World Trade Center Towers in New York City, with a third hitting the Pentagon in Washington DC. The fourth plane went down in a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania. The attacks spawned an immediate tightening of aviation security regulations and in October 2001 led to Congressional passage of the controversial USA PATRIOT Act, giving the executive broad new national security powers.
On September 11, 1978, Prime Minister Menachem Begin of Israel and President Anwar Sadat of Egypt agreed to the Camp David Accords, a plan for peace between the two countries. This led to the signing of the Israel-Egypt Peace Treaty. U.S. President Jimmy Carter played a major role in the negotiations.
http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/thisday/

Visit the 9/11 Memorial Preview Site to learn about the plans for and progress of Memorial and Museum currently being built at the World Trade Center site, view real time images of the construction progress and more. http://www.national911memorial.org/site/PageServer?pagename=New_Home

The University of Houston's College of Engineering presents a series about the machines that make our civilization run, and the people whose ingenuity created them. Example of a story on sculptures: http://www.uh.edu/engines/epi2484.htm

The big cat covered 100 metres in an amazing 6.13 seconds in Cincinnati. Sarah eclipsed the previous 6.19 seconds record on a specially-designed course at Cincinnati Zoo's Regional Cheetah Breeding Facility at Mast Farm. She is now officially the world's fastest land animal. See picture and story at: http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/World-News/Cheetah-Land-Speed-Record-Sarah-Sets-New-100m-Record-In-Cincinnati/Article/200909215379001?lpos=World_News_Second_Home_Page_Article_Teaser_Region_4&lid=ARTICLE_15379001_Cheetah_Land_Speed_Record%3A_Sarah_Sets_New_100m_Record_In_Cincinnati

After moving back to Cleveland from New York City, Jonathon and Amelia Sawyer's goal was to open their own restaurant that was both simple and approachable. Welcome The Greenhouse Tavern. Located on the bustling East 4th Street, the eatery is the state's first certified green restaurant. Currently open for dinner, Sawyer's plans for the tavern include following green principles of organic and environmentally-friendly ingredients while recycling and using methods to compost, source alternate energy and focus on conservation practices. His plans for the restaurant's menu include creating dishes based on local ingredients.
http://cleveland.metromix.com/restaurants/contemporary/the-greenhouse-tavern-east-4th-street/1117386/content

Font furor When Ikea casually abandoned its version of the famed 20th-century font Futura that had served it for 50 years and replaced it for 2010 with the computer-screen font Verdana, professional outrage was immense. Advertisers, logo designers, magazine and book publishers and catalog creators spend millions on fonts because they know the medium has a message. The design blog idsgn.org presented examples of the Ikea catalog’s look, before and after. Ikea explained that it was abandoning its own version of the Futura font because it wanted one that would be effective in many different languages and on the Web, and that Verdana was designed for just that purpose. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/05/arts/design/05ikea.html

To make up for forcibly deleting copies of two George Orwell books, Amazon (AMZN) is offering to redeliver the books to those users, or a $30 Amazon gift certificate, The WSJ reports. In an email to customers, Amazon says, via the Journal:
As you were one of the customers impacted by the removal of “Nineteen Eighty-Four” from your Kindle device in July of this year, we would like to offer you the option to have us re-deliver this book to your Kindle along with any annotations you made. You will not be charged for the book. If you do not wish to have us re-deliver the book to your Kindle, you can instead choose to receive an Amazon.com electronic gift certificate or check for $30. In July 2009, Amazon deleted copies of Orwell's "1984" and "Animal Farm," as the party that sold those books were doing so illegally.
http://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-offers-to-redeliver-deleted-orwell-books-or-30-refund-2009-9

Both the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal are planning to start San Francisco editions, the NYT reported. The new editions would offer more local news for the San Francisco Bay Area in a bid to win new readers and advertisers. Neither paper has released details of their plans, but the NYT spoke to anonymous sources about the Journal's project who explained that the SF edition would contain a page or tow of general-interest news from California, probably once a week. It anticipates starting the new edition in November or December.
The Wall Street Journal is also looking at a weekly arts and culture section focused on New York City, according to reports in July. This has been interpreted as an attempt to compete more directly with the Times, and a San Francisco edition, if it does indeed include general interest rather than business news, is likely to be viewed in the same light. The Times itself is considering regional editions based in other cities, according to the NYT article.
http://www.editorsweblog.org/newspaper/2009/09/new_york_times_and_wall_street_journal_p.php

Prior to May, a church in Phoenix rang its bells every hour on the hour, from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Despite all that is wonderful with hourly dinging-and-donging, some of the neighborhood's residents got annoyed and asked a judge to shut down the racket.
The judge did just that--and a little more: He convicted the bishop, Rick Painter, on two counts of creating "an unreasonably loud, disturbing and unnecessary noise." Painter in June was given a suspended sentence of ten days in jail and three years' probation on June 3. Now comes word that a collection of churches have filed suit in federal court against the city for violating its First Amendment right to practice its religion unfettered. They argue that Phoenix's noise ordinance has an exception for ice-cream trucks. They're asking for the same treatment. Click here for the complaint. Click here for the story, from Courthouse News Service. WSJ Law Blog September 9, 2009

Toledo area readers:
This SATURDAY NIGHT SEPT 12, 7:30PM, COLLINGWOOD ARTS CENTER, The Second Annual Film Noir Festival--two big features hosted by WGTE's Ross Hocker: The Great Flamarion (1945) and Detour (1945)
This SUNDAY, SEPT 13TH AT 4:30PM AND 7PM MAUMEE INDOOR THEATRE:
My Man Godfrey (1936) great screwball comedy starring Carole Lombard and William Powell.

President's Speech on Health Insurance Reform
Full text of the president's address to a joint session of Congress, September 9, 2009.
The Obama Plan: Stability & Security for all Americans
Related postings on health care reform

Federal Reserve Beige Book, September 9, 2009
September 9, 2009 - Summary of Commentary on Current Economic Conditions by Federal Reserve District: "Reports from the 12 Federal Reserve Districts indicate that economic activity continued to stabilize in July and August. Relative to the last report, Dallas indicated that economic activity had firmed, while Boston, Cleveland, Philadelphia, Richmond, and San Francisco mentioned signs of improvement. Atlanta, Chicago, Kansas City, Minneapolis, and New York generally described economic activity as stable or showing signs of stabilization; St. Louis remarked that the pace of decline appeared to be moderating. Most Districts noted that the outlook for economic activity among their business contacts remained cautiously positive."

Law Blog on Lawyers.com
Read the latest Law Blog posts from lawyers across the country on a wide range of topics including Immigration, Personal Injury, Estate Planning and more.
http://research.lawyers.com/blogs/

Federal Government Must Hire Tens of Thousands of New Workers to Fill Mission-Critical Jobs News release: “Great news for job seekers this Labor Day: the federal government is hiring tens of thousands of new employees, according to new projections in Where the Jobs Are 2009: Mission-Critical Opportunities for America, released today by the Partnership for Public Service. The online projections outline government-wide, mission-critical hiring needs through 2012 and are based on a survey of 35 federal agencies representing nearly 99 percent of the 1.9 million member federal workforce.
Available at http://wherethejobsare.org, the online data lists nearly 273,000 mission-critical jobs that need to be filled in the next three years, a 41 percent increase compared to the organization’s 2007 survey. Where the Jobs Are is the only comprehensive projection of the federal government’s hiring needs and is searchable by occupation or by agency."

Pew: Recession Turns a Graying Office Grayer America's Changing Work Force
"The American work force is graying--and not just because the American population itself is graying. Older adults are staying in the labor force longer, and younger adults are staying out of it longer. Both trends took shape about two decades ago. Both have intensified during the current recession. And both are expected to continue after the economy recovers. According to one government estimate, 93% of the growth in the U.S. labor force from 2006 to 2016 will be among workers ages 55 and older. Demographic and economic factors explain some--but not all--of these changes. Attitudes about work also play an important role--in particular, the growing desire of an aging but healthy population to stay active well into the later years of life. A new nationwide survey by the Pew Research Center's Social & Demographic Trends project finds that a majority (54%) of workers ages 65 and older say the main reason they work is that they want to. Just 17% say the main reason is that they need the paycheck. An additional 27% say they're motivated by a mix of desire and need."
America’s Changing Workforce - Recession Turns a Graying Office Grayer, September 3, 2009

PBGC Publishes Pension Insurance Data Book 2008
News release: "The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) released the Pension Insurance Data Book 2008, which offers information on statistical trends related to defined benefit retirement plans in the private sector."

Sick Around the World - Five Capitalist Democracies and How They Do It
PBS Frontline: Five Capitalist Democracies and How They Do: UK, Japan, Germany, Taiwan, Switzerland
Graphs: U.S. Health Stats Compared to Other Countries
Health Care Systems--The Four Basic Models
Related postings on health care

For nearly two decades, artist Rafael Lozano-Hemmer has planted motion detectors, searchlights and surveillance equipment in public plazas and parks around the world. Each time, he invites the public to activate his gadgetry with their shadows, heartbeats or some other form of interaction. This fall, the Montreal-based artist plans to turn people's voices into colors. On Sept. 16, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York will unveil "Levels of Nothingness," his interactive installation that will allow people to speak into a microphone connected to a computer that can match their voices' traits, such as pitch and tone, to certain colors. A network of roving spotlights around the museum's theater will instantly send the corresponding hues shooting around the room like at a rock concert. Actress Isabella Rossellini has already signed up to speak first, according to her spokeswoman.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204731804574385040659475478.html

To your health
Yogurt: While yogurt offers some benefits (protein, calcium, etc.), those fruity ones may contain more sugar than a candy bar! In fact, one six ounce cup can have 25 grams of sugar or more. Try plain yogurt and mix in your own fruit.
Flavored waters: They may hydrate, but they also pack a lot of sugar and extra calories. A 20 ounce bottle may have upward of 150 calories. Stick with regular water.
Muffins: These bran and fruit mixes aren't the most nutritious of breakfast foods. A large muffin can have almost 400 calories.
www.healthyroads.com

A PLANE RIDE AWAY FROM ALL MUSE READERS AND A TRAIN OR CAR RIDE AWAY FOR NEW YORK AND NEW JERSEY READERS
New York September 4-7, 2009
On 9/4, we flew to LaGuardia Airport, getting a clear view of Statue of Liberty, lunch at Sweet Shop in Northport, Long Island. The original inhabitants of the area now known as Northport were the Matinecocks, one of 13 Native American tribes of Long Island. The Matinecocks called this land "Opcathontyche", which meant "wading place creek".[1] With land that was well suited for farming, the early settlers grazed cattle on pastures around the harbor. The area soon became known as Great Cow Harbor.[3] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northport,_New_York http://www.northportny.com/
We walked around the harbor, and had dinner at Mill Pond House in Centerport (formerly known as Little Cow Harbor). http://www.millpondrestaurant.com/main/index.php
9/5 family barbeque
9/6 walked around Hoboken, viewing its park, office buildings, stunning view over the Hudson River of Manhattan, shops including Carlo's Bakery, the 99-year-old institution across from City Hall, the subject of "Cake Boss," another in the stream of television reality shows. http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-hometown-hoboken9-2009aug09,0,737139.story
brunch at Court Street Restaurant http://www.courtstreet.com/
took Holland Tunnel to Manhattan to view World Trade Center site,
saw revised version of West Side Story, http://www.playbill.com/events/event_detail/14713-West_Side_Story_at_Palace_Theatre
strolled down Restaurant Row on 46th, selecting Capri for dinner. http://www.capri46.com/
down to Battery Park City, good view of Statue of Liberty at night
9/7 home stopping in Ann Arbor at BD’s Mongolian Grill for a quick meal where we selected food from an array of meat, seafood, vegetables, sauces and spices. http://www.gomongo.com/

Examples of days with certain numbers
Square root day 3/3/09
Odd day 3/31/09
Even day 2/2/10
Alike day 9/9/09
Golden/star/lucky/champagne birthday
9/23/09 (and you turn 23) 12/20/09 (and you turn 20) born in 1919 (and you turn 19)

Annual Institute for Policy Studies "Executive Excess" Report
America's Bailout Barons - Taxpayers, High Finance, and the CEO Pay Bubble. Institute for Policy Studies. 16th Annual Executive Compensation.
“The 20 U.S. financial firms that have received the most bailout dollars from taxpayers awarded their top five executive officers, in the three years through 2008, pay packages worth a combined $3.2 billion. These 100 financial executives, on their way to driving the U.S. economy off a cliff, averaged $32 million each. One hundred U.S. workers making the 2008 annual average wage would have to labor over 1,000 years to make as much as these 100 executives made in three. Financial pay far above average: In 2008, the year taxpayers rescued the financial industry, chief executives at the top 20 financial recipients of bailout dollars earned 37 percent more than their CEO counterparts elsewhere in the U.S. economy. These high-finance CEOs averaged $13.8 million last year. S&P 500 CEOs, by comparison, averaged $10.1 million."
http://www.ips-dc.org/globaleconomy

Site Compares 4 Online Map Services on One Page
Via Google Maps Mania: "Maps Compare [created by Hussein Nasser] is a website with four different on-line map services on one page . The site places Google Maps, the Google Earth browser plugin, Yahoo Maps and Bing Maps beside each other, which can be quite useful if you want to compare the map coverage provided by each provider in different locations."

Toledo’s motto, "Laborare est Orare," freely translated, means "To work is to pray."
http://crwflags.com/fotw/flags/us-oh-to.html
Find information on other cities at Flags of the World: http://crwflags.com/fotw/flags/
Find schools and organizations with same motto: http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=%22Laborare+est+Orare%22+motto&aq=f&oq=&aqi=

What is the most common letter used in English? It must be E because our keyboard has only one “disappearing” letter—the E now resembles an F.

Economic Policy Institute Fact Sheet, Labor Day by the Numbers, September 7, 2009 Note that all numbers are current as of September 4, 2009.
TOTAL JOBS LOST DURING THE RECESSION: 6.9 MILLION.
"New jobs needed per month to keep up with population growth: 127,000
Jobs lost in August 2009: 216,000
Jobs needed to regain pre-recession unemployment levels: 9.4 million
Manufacturing jobs lost since the start of the recession: 2.0 million (14.6% of sector’s jobs)
Construction jobs lost in the recession: 1.4 million (19%, nearly one in fi ve construction jobs)
Mass layoff s (50 or more people by a single employer) in July 2009: 2,157; jobs lost: 206,791"
Related postings on financial system

"The National September 11 Memorial & Museum is a private not-for-profit (501c3), responsible for oversight of the design, raising the necessary funds, programming and operating the Memorial & Museum being built at the World Trade Center site."
New York Times: Sept. 11 Steel Forms Heart of Far-Flung Memorials: "The best way we can honor the memory of those we lost on 9/11 is to find homes in the W.T.C. Memorial and in cities and towns around the nation for the hundreds of artifacts we’ve carefully preserved over the years..." [Port Authority’s executive director, Christopher O. Ward.]

Survey: pattern of North American daily Internet traffic
Arbor Networks: The Internet After Dark (Part 1), by Craig Labovitz: "After dark when the dinner dishes are put away and the kids are safely tucked into bed, the Internet subtly changes. Starting in the twilight of early evening, business traffic slows to a crawl, previously dormant applications flicker on home computer screens, and like clockwork, Internet activity begins its nightly climb towards a regular after hours bandwidth peak...In our last post blog post, we found (somewhat unexpectedly) that the pattern of North American daily Internet traffic differs from Europe and Asia. Unlike European Internet traffic which peaks around 7pm GMT and then quickly drops off until morning business hours, US Internet traffic reaches its peak at 11pm EDT and then stays relatively high until 3am in the morning (i.e. stays above 60% of peak or more). This uniquely American traffic pattern holds true across dozens of individual ISPs, tens of millions of subscribers, and petabytes of daily Internet traffic."

What is a petabyte? A petabyte (often referred to as a pebibyte) is 1,024 terabytes and precedes the exabyte unit of measurement. Since even the largest hard drives are measured in terabytes, petabytes are only used to measure the storage space of multiple hard drives or other collections of data. http://www.techterms.com/definition/petabyte

Microsoft Wins a Stay: Microsoft Corp. won't have to immediately alter its Word program or halt sales because of a patent-infringement case it lost. The Fifth Circuit on September 3 put on hold an order imposed last month that would have limited Microsoft's ability to offer some features in Word. The order won't take effect until an appeal of the underlying patent case is resolved. Oral arguments on the appeal are scheduled for September 23 in Washington. (Bloomberg)
Ratings firms have gotten sued left and right by investors who claim the firms issued misleading opinions about mortgage-backed securities and were partly to blame for the financial crisis. (Here's one post on the rash of litigation against ratings firms and another noting that the SEC chief favors lowering the barriers to suing ratings firms.)
Ratings firms often have cloaked themselves in the Constitution, claiming that their ratings are mere opinions protected by the First Amendment. And courts in the past have held that investors can not sue on the alleged grounds that ratings are too high or too low, unless, that is, plaintiffs can also show that particular ratings were issued with "actual malice." But on September 2, Manhattan federal Judge Shira Scheindlin dealt a blow to ratings firms, rejecting a free-speech defense asserted by Moody's Investors Services and Standard & Poor's. See the opinion here. WSJ Law Blog September 5, 2009

Banned Books Week (BBW) September 26−October 3, 2009
Observed since 1982, this annual American Library Association event reminds Americans not to take this precious democratic freedom for granted. BBW celebrates the freedom to choose or the freedom to express one’s opinion even if that opinion might be considered unorthodox or unpopular and stresses the importance of ensuring the availability of those unorthodox or unpopular viewpoints to all who wish to read them.
http://www.ala.org/ala/issuesadvocacy/banned/bannedbooksweek/index.cfm
Top ten most frequently challenged books of 2008
http://www.ala.org/ala/issuesadvocacy/banned/frequentlychallenged/21stcenturychallenged/2008/index.cfm
Librarians’ Internet Index on BBW http://lii.org/pub/subtopic/474
Banned books online http://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/banned-books.html

Quote
When nothing is sure, everything is possible.
Margaret Drabble (b. 1939) British author

On August 31, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences took a long expected step to ensure that this year's best picture winner won't be hated by 90% of its members by going with a preferential voting system in which members rank their choices from 1-10. In a preferential voting system, votes for the least popular first choice movie are eliminated and those members' second choices are taken into account. The process continues until a nominee receives more than 50% of the votes. Academy spokesperson Leslie Unger confirmed that the organization will apply the same preferential voting system it uses in the Oscar nomination process to best picture voting starting this winter. The news was first reported by The Wrap. Such a move has been in the works since the academy decided in June to expand the number of best picture nominees from five to 10. At the time, academy Vice President Hawk Koch said that there would be a change in the voting process, stating, "We want to make sure that 11% does not win the best picture."
Under the old system, members simply voted for their first choice. With 10 nominees, that would mean a movie with one vote more than 10% could theoretically be named best picture. http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/la-et-quick1-2009sep01,0,823389.story

On September 4, 1998 Google was first incorporated as a company. Google was the brainchild of two Ph.D. students at Stanford University, Larry Page and Sergey Brin. They designed a search engine with one important difference from all the others: Instead of giving you results based on how many times your search term appeared on a Web page, they created software that would figure out how many times each relevant Web site was linked to from other relevant Web sites and sorted those and then laid them out for you, all on a clear, simple screen. In June of 2006, "Google" was added to the Oxford English Dictionary as a verb. The Writer’s Almanac

The Gonzales Cantata, a concert opera about Alberto Gonzales's Senate Judiciary Committee hearings, is playing at this year's Philadelphia Fringe Festival. It is a 40-minute choral work based on the hearings that punctuated the U.S. attorney-dismissal scandal back in 2007. (Actually, every word sung is from the transcript of the hearings.) Click here for WSJ reporter Evan Perez's story on the hearings, which links to a whole trove of other goodies. (Scroll to the bottom of the post to watch a video clip of the Cantata. Other clips can be found through the show's very cleverly designed Web site.)
In Disney's $4 billion acquisition of Marvel Entertainment, Disney paid a hefty premium for the parent company of Spidey, X-Men, and the Incredible hulk--about 29 percent, according to the WSJ. Leading the deal: Dewey & LeBoeuf's Mort Pierce for Disney (who, legend has it, bills 3300 hours, at least when the times are good); Paul Hastings's Carl Sanchez for Marvel. But now, no sooner than the ink has dried on the deal, comes a lawsuit. According to Bloomberg, a Marvel shareholder sued in the Delaware Chancery Court alleging that Marvel directors failed to conduct an appropriate sales process. The plaintiff, shareholder Christine Vlatos, is seeking a court order barring the deal as well as unspecified damages. WSJ Law Blog September 2, 2009

Justice Department Announces Largest Health Care Fraud Settlement in Its History
News release: " American pharmaceutical giant Pfizer Inc. and its subsidiary Pharmacia & Upjohn Company Inc. (hereinafter together "Pfizer") have agreed to pay $2.3 billion, the largest health care fraud settlement in the history of the Department of Justice, to resolve criminal and civil liability arising from the illegal promotion of certain pharmaceutical products, the Justice Department announced today. Pharmacia & Upjohn Company has agreed to plead guilty to a felony violation of the Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act for misbranding Bextra with the intent to defraud or mislead. Bextra is an anti-inflammatory drug that Pfizer pulled from the market in 2005. Under the provisions of the Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act, a company must specify the intended uses of a product in its new drug application to FDA. Once approved, the drug may not be marketed or promoted for so-called "off-label" uses–i.e., any use not specified in an application and approved by FDA. Pfizer promoted the sale of Bextra for several uses and dosages that the FDA specifically declined to approve due to safety concerns. The company will pay a criminal fine of $1.195 billion, the largest criminal fine ever imposed in the United States for any matter. Pharmacia & Upjohn will also forfeit $105 million, for a total criminal resolution of $1.3 billion. In addition, Pfizer has agreed to pay $1 billion to resolve allegations under the civil False Claims Act that the company illegally promoted four drugs–Bextra; Geodon, an anti-psychotic drug; Zyvox, an antibiotic; and Lyrica, an anti-epileptic drug–and caused false claims to be submitted to government health care programs for uses that were not medically accepted indications and therefore not covered by those programs. The civil settlement also resolves allegations that Pfizer paid kickbacks to health care providers to induce them to prescribe these, as well as other, drugs. The federal share of the civil settlement is $668,514,830 and the state Medicaid share of the civil settlement is $331,485,170. This is the largest civil fraud settlement in history against a pharmaceutical company."

Amazon Files Brief in Federal Court Against Google Book Settlement
bizjounrals: "Amazon.com Inc. this week joined the groups filing objections in court against Google Inc.'s settlement with authors and publishers. Amazon said in its 41-page brief filed in federal court that Google will stifle competition if the settlement is approved."

Hells Canyon, North America's deepest river gorge, encompasses a vast and remote region with dramatic changes in elevation, terrain, climate and vegetation. Carved by the great Snake River, Hells Canyon plunges more than a mile below Oregon's west rim, and 8,000 feet below snowcapped He Devil Peak of Idaho's Seven Devils Mountains.
Establishment: The National Recreation Area was established by Congress Dec. 31, 1975 (learn more)
Wilderness: The HCNRA includes 215,000 acres of wilderness (learn more).
Wild and Scenic Rivers: The Hells Canyon HCNRA has three rivers which are designated Wild and Scenic: the Snake, Imnaha and Rapid rivers (learn more).
http://www.fs.fed.us/hellscanyon/overview/index.shtml

American College of the Building Arts in Charleston, South Carolina is the first in the country with a four-year program teaching trades that seem to have vanished from the modern world. An entire curriculum is aimed at equipping a generation of students with the skills needed to preserve America's historic heritage. Not only do students today attend classes in the Charleston’s 1802 jail, where Union troops were held during the Civil War, they are also using what they learn to help restore this neglected vestige of Charleston's history. http://www.preservationnation.org/magazine/2009/september-october/hands-on-education.html
The Old Charleston Jail is the heart of the college’s campus and home to the General Education classes and to the Masonry, Plaster Working, and Architectural Stone programs. The jail is in the heart of Charleston and an official "Save America's Treasures" project of the National Trust for Historic Preservation and the White House Millennium Council. Upon acquisition of the jail in 2000, after it had sat vacant for 61 years, an emergency stabilization program commenced to meet the immediate needs of this historic property. The college began in 1998 when a small team, led by John Paul Huguley, created the School of the Building Arts (SoBA) in Charleston, South Carolina. Inspired by legendary Charleston master artisan, Philip Simmons, SoBA was established to solve the growing problem in building preservation that became evident in 1989 when Hurricane Hugo swept through Charleston and severely damaged many of the city’s historic structures. Mayor Joseph P. Riley, Jr. and the citizens of Charleston sought to restore these buildings to their historic glory by using traditional building methods and materials. It was discovered that, in spite of Charleston’s commitment to historic preservation, there were only a few local craftsmen trained and qualified for the task. The lack of master craftsmen is not unique to Charleston as quality design and craftsmanship training have been steadily declining throughout the nation. After the South Carolina Commission on Higher Education licensed the School to begin recruiting on July 8, 2004, the name of the institution was changed to the American College of the Building Arts to more accurately reflect its place in the American educational hierarchy.
http://www.buildingartscollege.us/About/history.html

Whatever happened to Tanganyika? In 1964, it merged with Zanzibar, off the east coast of Africa, and became Tanzania. In Harry Campbell’s “Whatever Happened to Tanganyika?” the author brings a wry attitude and a historically rich perspective to what he calls “the ¬Museum of Dead Place Names.” He globe-trots in prose, using name changes as an ¬occasion to ¬describe an exotic culture or a ¬colorful history. Turkmenistan, for example, is one of those Central Asian republics that sprang into official existence with the break-up of the Soviet Union. And so it is, but Mr. Campbell reminds us that, long before, the region was called Transcaspia, a name that shakily ¬captured its position “east of the Caspian and south of the Aral Sea.” http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204619004574320640704902268.html

bird-dog (buhrd-dog) noun
a talent scout, especially in sports
verb tr., intr.: to seek out or follow a subject of interest
After bird dogs, various breeds of dogs trained to hunt or retrieve birds. A.Word.A.Day

World Wildlife Fund was on the warpath September 1 after a tasteless ad exploiting 9/11 appeared online bearing its famous panda logo. It showed dozens of planes diving at lower Manhattan with the tag line: "The tsunami killed 100 times more people than 9/11. The planet is brutally powerful. Respect it. Preserve it." The ad surfaced--days before the eighth anniversary of the attack--when it won a best of 2009 award from The One Club, a nonprofit that promotes "excellence" in advertising. The image was presented by admen from the agency DDB Brasil to WWF officers in Brazil and quickly rejected. You hear a lot of concepts in meetings, and WWF assumed it was dead and gone. But it appears now that someone submitted it to a competition. Officials at The One Club, the Manhattan-based group that named it the best public service print ad of 2009, did not respond to messages asking them to explain why. See picture at:
http://www.nydailynews.com/money/2009/09/02/2009-09-02_wwf_appalled_by_911_terror_ad.html

In the 2009 edition of the UNESCO’s Atlas of World Languages in Danger, Manx was listed as effectively dead. Chief Minister Tony Brown wrote to UNESCO claiming the language was still flourishing on the island. The classification will now be changed to 'critically endangered'. Government minister Phil Gawne, who is a fluent Manx speaker, added that as well as Mr Brown's letter there were many others sent by Manx speakers. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/isle_of_man/8210192.stm

EPA Announces New Steps to Protect Americans from Lead Poisoning
EPA website on Lead in Paint, Dust, and Soil: News release: “The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has announced a series of steps to increase protections against and raise awareness of lead-based products in our environment and communities, particularly to prevent lead poisoning in children. EPA announced that it will grant a petition to initiate regulatory action to address lead hazards associated with the manufacture, processing, and distribution in commerce of lead wheel balancing weights ("wheel weights") According to a U.S. Geological Survey study in 2003, 65,000 tons of lead wheel weights were in use in the United States and approximately 2,000 tons of these weights were lost from vehicles into the environment. Voluntary actions on the part of U.S. auto manufactures and an European Union ban on their use has reduced the number of lead wheel weights, but they continue to be the predominate product in the tire replacement market." EPA intends to strengthen requirements it issued in 2008 to protect children from lead-based paint poisoning associated with renovation and repair activities in homes and schools. EPA will propose to expand lead-safe work practices and other protective requirements for renovation and painting work involving lead paint to cover most pre-1978 housing, and after certain renovation, repair, and painting preparation activities are performed to require renovation firms to perform quantitative dust testing to achieve dust-lead levels that comply with EPA's regulatory standards. Renovations on the exteriors of public and commercial buildings will also be proposed to be covered and EPA will evaluate whether renovations in the interior of these buildings create lead-based paint hazards.

Long Island's windmills were called smock mills because settlers thought the skirted towers resembled baker's aprons. Two renowned builders, Nathaniel Dominy and Samuel Schellinger, designed and constructed most of the mills from white oak. Inside, millstones ground grain (one type of millstone imported from France ground baker's flour, and a different stone brought in from New England ground cornmeal and animal feed). Soon, communities sprang up around the essential facilities, and a sort of flour hierarchy developed: Unlike local farmers, magistrates or ministers could grind their grain for free, according to Richard Barons, executive director of the East Hampton Historical Society. For decades, a group of villages on Long Island have worked diligently to preserve the 11 mills here—the largest collection of wooden windmills in the United States. Thanks to their efforts, seven have been added to the National Register of Historic Places. "They tell the story of technology in the Wooden Age," says Hefner. "They're irreplaceable." http://www.preservationnation.org/magazine/2009/september-october/form-function.html

Richard Neutra (1892-1970) moved to Los Angeles from his native Vienna in 1925 and became one of the foremost proponents of Modernism, a style that embraced simple, rectilinear forms and shared social space. The Modernists broke down the barriers between interior and exterior, taking advantage of a house's natural setting while introducing new, often industrial materials. All this at a price most everyone could afford. http://www.preservationnation.org/magazine/2009/september-october/living-with-neutra.html

Ken Wilkinson knew that he wanted to open a chocolate boutique, using recipes and techniques he had learned in Europe, and that his present hometown of Houston wouldn’t support the scenario he envisioned. So when Wilkinson came across a deteriorating 1874 bank building along Main Street in Calvert, Texas, a Victorian town that boasts one of the largest historic districts in the United States, his entrepreneurial wheels started spinning. Calvert, he soon learned, enjoyed great prosperity in the 1870s as a rail link for goods headed to and from Galveston. By the 1950s, though, when the area’s cotton plantations were mechanized and work grew scarce, the town settled into a rhythm of languor. Many of Main Street’s historic buildings lay vacant. Wilkinson, a self-described “exacting bastard with a low tolerance for compromise,” bought the bank building, restored it, and opened CocoaModa. http://www.texashighways.com/index.php/component/content/article/49-dining-a-tastes/5959-th-taste-calverts-cocoamoda

Google "cob" today and you'll find numerous references to a marvelous mix of dirt, water, and straw, which has been used for centuries to build beautiful, comfortable homes--warm in winter, cool in summer--even in cold, wet SE England, where there are tens of thousands of cob homes, some of them 500-700 years old! In Devon, they say "give a cob house good boots (foundation) and a good hat (roof), and it will last forever!"
In the U.S., in the past 15 years, there has been a huge revival of interest in cob and other traditional, earthen materials (like adobe, from the Arabic, Al-toba, meaning "the brick"), rammed earth, light-straw clay, and the modern hybrid straw-bale, which is, at best, straw protected with a thick layer of mud plaster. It makes sense. We all know how to make mud pies, and when you work with mud, architecture reverts to its traditional roots, which are sculpture and playful nest-making. For more info, try digyourhandsinthedirt.net, or look up The Hand Sculpted House, at chelseagreen.com, or just look up "cob" on the web! A mud house won't burn down, the bugs can't eat it, and it's dirt cheap (if you make it yourself)! Mine took just 700 hours, and it cost me less than a thousand bucks. Kiko Denzer (potlatch cmug.com)

On September 2, 1901 at the Minnesota State Fair Teddy Roosevelt (books by this author) gave a speech and uttered his famous phrase, "Speak softly and carry a big stick." He said that it was a West African proverb that he had always liked. He probably picked it up from his wide reading—he often read a book a day, even after he became president, and he wrote a total of 40 books during his lifetime.
On September 2, 1666, at one o'clock in the morning the Great Fire of London broke out at the king's bakery on Pudding Lane. The king's baker was named Thomas Farynor, and it was his house that caught on fire. There wasn't a centralized method of fire control in London. People usually took care of fires themselves, and if the danger was serious enough, they tore down adjacent buildings to make a fire break. When the Great Fire broke out, people in the neighborhood called in the Lord Mayor of London to ask permission to tear the buildings down. He didn't think it was a big deal—in fact, he said, "A woman might piss it out." A lot of the information we have about the fire comes from Samuel Pepys, who kept detailed diaries about his personal life and the events going on around him. The Writer’s Almanac

The new robocall ban to take effect September 1 is part of amendments to the FTC's Telemarketing Sales Rule, which went into effect a year ago. Calls not covered by the ban include those from charities, banks, insurers, phone companies, survey calls, and certain healthcare messages such as prescription notifications. Other exceptions are calls not trying to sell goods or services, such as informational calls about cancelled airline flights and those from debt collectors. Some are protected as free speech under the First Amendment; others do not fall under FTC jurisdiction. http://www.csmonitor.com/2009/0829/p02s07-usgn.html

Dana's World Headquarters on Dorr Street in Toledo closed August 28. As of September 8, the Dana Law Department will be moving to 3939 Technology Drive, Maumee, OH 43537. The final auction of Dana’s Art and antique collection will be held September 10-September 12 at 4500 Dorr Street. Details on preview and online bidding at: http://www.pamelaroseauction.com/documents/DanaPostcard-SeptemberAuction.pdf
The supplier started in 1904, when engineer Clarence Spicer developed a universal joint and driveshaft for cars. He moved the business to Toledo, Ohio, in 1929, and the company took on the name of financier Charles Dana in 1946. The company moved in 1970 to the Dorr Street headquarters, with about 160,000 square feet of total space.
In March of 2006, Dana filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy after missing a $21 million bond payment. Dana Holding Corp., the maker of car and truck axles, hasn’t made a profit since emerging from bankruptcy last February. Dana has sold its headquarters to Health Care REIT Inc. http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103&sid=aL0TCX7vdmF4&refer=us

Geocaching is a high-tech treasure hunting game played throughout the world by adventure seekers equipped with GPS devices. The basic idea is to locate hidden containers, called geocaches, outdoors and then share your experiences online. http://www.geocaching.com/

In a vault beneath the British Library, Jeremy Leighton John grapples with a formidable challenge in digital life. Dr. John, the library's first curator of eManuscripts, is working on ways to archive the deluge of computer data swamping scientists so that future generations can authenticate today's discoveries and better understand the people who made them. His task is only getting harder. Scientists who collaborate via email, Google, YouTube, Flickr and Facebook are leaving fewer paper trails, while the information technologies that do document their accomplishments can be incomprehensible to other researchers and historians trying to read them.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125139942345664387.html

Rogue apostrophes ‘Both spellings--martini's and martinis--are correct,' he said firmly.
‘I know this is right because, when I heard what you wanted to know, I checked it on Google.' http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1086832/Apostrophe-catastrophe-The-rogue-apostrophe-spreading-like-measles-Its-time-fight-.html
English reader responds: I blame teachers and greengrocers for much mis-use of apostrophes. It's not that difficult to get it right. We could extend this to other errors such as "Your on CCTV" and a sign I saw at a county court recently "accomadation".

Currywurst is as German as pizza is Italian, hot dogs are American, and fish and chips British. This month, the dish was immortalized in the new Deutsches Currywurst Museum in Berlin, a sausage shrine dedicated to all things currywurst, including sausage sofas, a curry "spice chamber" and a movie montague of all-time currywurst cameos. The museum opened commemorating the dish's 60th birthday. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204884404574364600782551292.html

Q. Where is it and what is its name?
Called Pagganck or Nut Island, then called Noten Eylant or Nutten Island
Lumber from its trees were used to build structures in what is now Lower Manhattan
With added landfill, it has 172 acres
First flight over American waters started there
A. Governors Island off the south tip of Manhattan
See history and how to get there and visit free at:
http://www.govisland.net/PDFs/Facts&History.pdf
http://www.govisland.com/
http://www.governorsislandalliance.org/newsite/2007/11/new_yorks_first.html
http://nyharborparks.org/visit/gois.html

On September 1, 1951, Australia, New Zealand, and the United States signed ANZUS, a mutual defense accord similar to NATO in Europe. The alliance between the U.S. and New Zealand, however, has been suspended since 1985, after the institution of New Zealand's nuclear-free zone prohibited U.S. nuclear warships from entering New Zealand's ports.
On September 1, 1942, a federal judge in Sacramento, California, upheld the wartime detention of Japanese-Americans and Japanese nationals during World War II. Learn more about Japanese-American internment. http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/thisday/
On September 1, 1939 Nazi Germany invaded Poland, and World War II began.
The Writer’s Almanac