Great way for Family to Learn about Nature & "Rough" Living...

Under canvas: Camping in Oxfordshire

In a moment of weakness, Clover Stroud has agreed to go camping every weekend this summer with her young children, Jimmy Joe, and Dolly.

It is a Sunday afternoon and when it stops raining for 10 minutes I take Hay, my Jack Russell, and my two children for a walk in the field behind the house.

Hay chases rabbits in the brambles that grow close to the railway line and Jimmy Joe, who is seven, and Dolly, four, make a camp in the cow parsley that is already starting to lose some of its froth and go to seed.

The confetti of blossom that litters our path during spring has passed, and the grass is nearly waist high, dotted with buttercups and poppies.

The children try to persuade me to take our tent out to the field to camp for the night, but it's Sunday, and that means violin practice and homework and packed lunches to make for tomorrow morning. But I promise them both that we will go camping all the time this summer.

"All the time? Every weekend?" says Jimmy Joe, squinting at me through the slanting evening sun. "Okay. Sure," I hear myself saying. "Let's camp every weekend."

-----------------------
http://www.camping4less.com
http://www.rei.com
http://www.campmor.com

Vocabulary Game

For each word you get right, they donate 20 grains of rice through UN World Food Program...
http://www.freerice.com/
http://www.freerice.com/faq.html

StoryBox, AdventureBox & DiscoveryBox...`

A SmartyCat fan named "Book" (thank you!) sent a link to Story Box Books... http://www.storyboxbooks.com/ Smarty Cat took a look and seems very interesting and good.

A read-aloud magazine to share with young children

Each StoryBox (ages 3-6) issue contains 52 pages with:

• An engaging and exciting 25-page story that young children will enjoy listening to, with rich, full-page illustrations
• Animal and Science pages to encourage children's curiosity and introduce them to scientific thinking
• Comic: A picture-story about everyday life at the Lovett's, with characters children will look forward to meeting each month
• Number and letter skills practised through play
• Poems from Judith Nicholls

Each AdventureBox (ages 6-9) issue contains 68 pages with:

• An exciting 44-page chapter-story illustrated in full colour on every page with clearly-presented text and simple vocabulary to help beginner readers find their own reading pace
• Fascinating topics and interactive activities about the natural world
• Word searches and games to stimulate children's reasoning
• A comic strip story for a lot of fun with mischievous heroes and wacky scenarios

Each DiscoveryBox (ages 9-12) issue contains 60 pages with:

• Animal section with stunning photos and concise, informative texts to introduce children to animals
• History section with historical events retold through a picture story, facts and photos to stimulate reader's appetite for learning about the past
• Science pages with scientific topics through pictures and with instructions for simple and exciting experiments
• Stories, quizzes, funfacts, games, recipes, things to make and do, jokes, puzzles, cartoons and more.

Who are they?
http://www.bayard-magazines.co.uk/gammebox/index.jsp
Managing Publisher: Christine Auberger
Sales and Promotion Manager: Andrea Chhan
Editorial Coordinator: Elena Iribarren
Editor in chief: Simona Sideri
Art Director: Pat Carter
Text and Research: Liz Sheperd

Bayard
1st floor
2 King street
Peterborough PE1 1LT
or send an email at contact@bayard-magazines.co.uk
-------------
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/StoryBox
It's always good to READ the about and check out who's doing something online—to make sure of the safety of your family. PLEASE CONTACT or CALL ANY BUSINESS you wish to subscribe to or fill out a form. Google them too. Safety is always best.

Millionaire Dropouts

Inspiring Stories of the World's Most Successful Failures... (click)

Independent inventors around the world

7-UP (Charles Leiper Grigg)
56K modem (Dr. Brent Townshend)
Adolphs Meat Tenderizer (Adolph Rempp)
Adverteasing (Richard Levy)
Aerobies (Alan Adler)
airbag (Allen Breed)
air brake (George Westinghouse)
air conditioning (Willis Carrier)
airplane (Orville & Wilbur Wright)
Independent inventors around the world
7-UP (Charles Leiper Grigg)
56K modem (Dr. Brent Townshend)
Adolphs Meat Tenderizer (Adolph Rempp)
Adverteasing (Richard Levy)
Aerobies (Alan Adler)
airbag (Allen Breed)
air brake (George Westinghouse)
air conditioning (Willis Carrier)
airplane (Orville & Wilbur Wright)
air purifier (Frederick Cottrell)
alternating current (Nicola Tesla)
Apgar newborn scoring system (Virginia Apgar)
Apple computer (Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak)
aqualung (Jacques Cousteau)
atom masher (Ernest Lawrence and Robert Vandergraff)
ATM (Luther Simijian)
audio sound generators (William Hewlett)
automatic sliding doors (Dee Horton and Lew Hewitt)
Avery labels (Stan Avery)
baby bottle with hole in the middle (Nickie and William Campbell)
ball point pen (John Loud)
Barbie doll (Ruth Handler)
basketball game (James Naismith)
Beanie Babies (Ty Warner)
blender (Stephen Poplawski)
Blue jeans (Levi Strauss)
brown n serve dinner rolls (Joe Gregor)
brown paper bag (Margaret Knight)
calculator (William Seward Burroughs)
Candy Land game (Eleanor Abbott)
can opener (William W. Lyman)
car radio (Paul Galvin)
carpet sweeper (Melville Bissell)
Castro Convertible sofa beds (Bernard Castro)
CB Walkie-Talkie (Al Gross)
Celestial Seasonings herbal tea (Mo Siegel)
celluloid (John Hyatt)
cereal (George Kellogg)
Chiclets chewing gum (Thomas Adams )
Clearasil (Ivan Combe)
Clue board game (Anthony Pratt)
Coca-Cola (Dr. John S. Pemberton)
color film - Kodachrome (Leo Godowsky & Leopold Mannes)
condensed milk (Gail Borden)
cotton candy machine (Thomas Patton)
cotton gin (Eli Whitney)
Cracker Jack (F.W. Rueckheim)
Crayola crayons (Edwin Binney & Harold Smith)
crossword puzzle (Arthur Wynne)
Cuisanart (Carl G Sontheimer)
Curling Iron (Theora Stephens)
Cylinder Lock (Linus Yale)
Delta faucet (Alex Manoogian)
diesel engine (Rudolph Diesel)
digital fax (Robert Wernikoff)
digital compact disk (James Russell)
dishwasher (Josephine Garis Cochraine)
disposable diaper (Marion Donovan)
disposable paper cup (Hugh Moore)
Doctor Bag toy (Jack Pressman)
DoveBar ice cream (Leo Stefanos)
Dr. Scholls foot care products (Dr. William Scholl)
dynamite (Alfred Nobel)
earmuffs (Chester Greenwood)
eight-track tape player (Bernard Cousino)
electric blanket (S. I. Russell)
electronic calculators (An Wang)
electric shaver (Jacob Schick)
electro-magnetic motor (Nicola Tesla)
elevator (Elisha Otis)
engine-driven generator (Delco) - Charles Kettering
Erector Sets (A.C. Gilbert)
escalator (Jesse Reno)
Eskimo Pie (D.F. Duncan Sr.)
Etch-A-Sketch (Paul Chase)
fax (Elisha Gray)
Fig Newton (James Mitchell)
Flexible Flyer® Sled (Samuel Leeds Allen)
fly swatter (Frank H. Rose)
FM radio (Edwin Armstrong)
freestone peach (Luther Burbank)
Frisbee ( Fred Morrison)
frozen foods (Clarence Birdseye)
frozen pizza (Rose Totino)
Furby talking stuffed animal (Dave Hampton)
gas mask (Garrett Morgan)
Gatling gun (Richard Gatling)
Gatorade (Robert Cade, M.D.)
George Foreman grill (Michael Boehm)
G.I. Joe (Stanley Weston)
golf tee (Dr. William Lowell)
GORE-TEX® fabric (Wilbert L. and Genevieve Gore)
Graham Crackers (Sylvester Graham)
granola bars (Stanley Mason)
grocery cart (Sylvan Goldman)
gyroscopic compass (Elmer Ambrose Sperry)
Hacky Sack (John Stalberger & Mike Marshall)
Hawaiian Tropic suntan oils (Ron Rice)
helicopter (Igor Sikorsky)
home smoke detector (Randolph Smith and Kenneth House)
hot dog roller cooker (Calvin MacCracken)
Hot Wheels toy cars (Elliot Handler)
hovercraft (Charles Fletcher)
Hula Hoop (Richard Knerr and Arthur “Spud� Melin, founders of the Wham-O Company)
Idaho potato (Luther Burbank)
imaging sonar (Robert H. Rines)
implantable cardiac pacemaker (Wilson Greatbatch)
intermittent windshield wiper (Robert Kearns)
Jacuzzi whirlpool (Candido and Roy Jacuzzi)
Jantzen swimwear (John and Roy Zehntbauer)
Jarvik-7 Artificial Heart (Robert Jarvik)
Jell-O® (Peter Cooper)
jet ski (Clayton Jacobsen)
Jolt Cola (C.J. Rapp)
Kewpie Doll (Rose O’Neil)
Kirby Vacuum (Jim Kirby)
Kitty Litter (Edward Lowe)
Knox Gelatin (Rose Markward Knox)
KOOL-AID (Edwin Perkins)
Koosh Ball (Scott Stillinger)
laser (Gordon Gould)
La-Z-Boy recliner (Edwin Shoemaker)
Lear jet (Bill Lear)
Lego Toys (Ole Kirk Christiansen)
lie detector (John Larson)
Life Savers Candy (Clarence Crane)
light bulb (Thomas Edison)
Lincoln Logs (John Lloyd Wright)
Lionel Trains (Joshua Lionel Cowen & Â Harry Grant)
Liquid Paper (Bette Nesmith Graham)
Madame Alexander Dolls (Beatrice Alexander Behrman)
magnetic core memory (Jay Forrester)
manufacture of aluminum (Charles Hall)
Matchbox Cars (Jack Odell)
Maytag washers (Fred Maytag)
M-16 weapon (Eugene Stoner)
microphone & gramophone (Emile Berliner)
microwave cookware (Stanley Mason)
miniature golf (Garnet Carter)
Moen faucets (Al Moen)
monkey wrench (Charles Moncky)
Monopoly board game (Charles Barrow)
mood rings (Marvin Wernick)
Morse code (Samuel Morse)
MRI (Raymond Damadian)
Murphy bed (Willliam Murphy)
Nerf ball (Reynolds Guyer)
Nike shoe (Bill Bowerman)
nuclear reactor (Enrico Fermi and Leo Szilard)
oasis floral foam (Vernon Smithers)
Odor-Eaters (Herbert Lapidus)
outboard motor (Ole Evinrude)
package saver for pizza (Carmela Vitale)
Paint Roller (Norman Breakey)
parking meter (Carlton Magee)
PC-DOS and MS-DOS computer operating systems (Tim Patterson)
peanut butter (George Washington Carver)
Pepperidge Farm bakery (Margaret Rudkin)
Pepsi-Cola (Caleb Bradham)
permanent hair wave machine (Marjorie Joyner)
Phillips head screw (Henry F. Phillips)
phonograph (Thomas Edison)
pinball - coin operated (Raymond Maloney)Â
plastic (Leo Baekeland)
Play-Doh (Joe McVicker)
pneumatic tire (J.B. Dunlop)
Polaroid camera (Edwin Land)
Polarizing sunglasses (Edwin Land)
Pong - 1st video game (Nolan Bushnell, founder of Atari Co.)
Popsicles (Frank Epperson)
pop top can (Ermal Fraze)
pop-up tissue box (Andrew Olsen)
pop-up toaster (Charles Strite)
portable kidney dialysis machine (Dean Kamen)
postage stamping machine (Arthur Pitney)
potato chips (George Crum)
PowerBars snack food (Brian Maxwell)
power hand tools (Black & Decker)
power steering (Francis Davis)
print-to-speech reading machine (Ray Kurzweil)
punch card tabulating machine (Herman Hollerith)
Q-Tips® (Leo Gerstenzang)
quartz timers (George Pierce and Walter Cady)
radar imaging (Robert H. Rines)
radio (Guglielmo Marconi)
Radio Flyer wagon (Antonio Pasin)
radio tube (Dr. Lee deForest)
Raggedy Ann & Andy (John B. Gruelle)
railroad sound dampening apparatus (Mary Walton)
ready mix paint (Henry Sherwin)
reel to reel film (Hannibal Goodwin)
respirator (Dr. Forrest Bird)
revolver (Samuel Colt)
rickshaw (Rev. Jonathan Scobie)
rocketry (Robert Goddard)
Rollerblades (Scott & Brennan Olsen)
rollercoasters (John Miller)
roll film for cameras (George Eastman)
Rolodex (Alfred Neustadter)
Safety Bicycle (J.K. Starley)
safety pin (Walter Hunt)
safety razor (King Gillette)
Samsonite luggage (Jesse Shwayder)
Scrabble board game (Alfred Butts)
ship propeller (John Ericsson)
Silly Putty (Peter Hodgson)
silo (Fred Hatch)
Slam Dunk (Chuck Foley)
Slinky toy (Richard James)
snowblower (Arthur Sicard)
snowboard (Tim Sims)
snowmaking machine (Wayne Pierce)
Snugli baby carrier (Ann Moore)
soda straw (Otto Diefenbach)
solar powered airplane (Paul MacCready)
S.O.S. scouring pads (Edwin W. Cox)
space guidance systems (Charles Draper)
Speaking Doll (Thomas Edison)
spiral ham slicing machine (Harry Hoenselaar)
standardized cooking recipes (Fannie Farmer)
Stowaway Portable Keyboard (Bob Olodort)
strobe lights (Harold Edgerton)
submarine (Cornelius van Drebbel)
super computer (Seymour Cray)
SuperSoaker (Lonnie Johnson)
telecommunications for the deaf (Robert Weitbrecht)
telephone (Alexander Graham Bell)
television (Philo Farnsworth)
traffic light (Garrett Morgan)
Tabasco Sauce (Edmund McIhenny)
teddy bear (Morris Michtom, founder, Ideal Toy Co.)
Teva sandals (Mark Thatcher)
Tickle Me Elmo doll (Ron Druben)
Timex watches (Joakim Lehmkuhl)
Tinkertoys (Charles Pajeau)
Toll House cookie recipe (Ruth Wakefield)
Topsy Tail (Tomima Edmark)
touch screen (Dr. Sam Hurst)
tow truck (Ernest Holmes, Sr.)
trampoline (George Nissan)
Tupperware (Earl Tupper)
tuxedo (Pierre Lorillard)
TV on-screen programming (Michael Levine)
2000 Flushes toilet bowl cleaner (Al Eisen)
Twister (Chuck Foley)
typewriter (Christopher Sholes)
vacuum bottle (James Dewar)
vacuum cleaner (Ives McGaffney)
Velcro (George de Mestral)
Vicks VapoRub (Lunsford Richardson)
View-Master (William Gruber & Harold Graves)
vulcanized rubber (Charles Goodyear)
Walkman (Jerome Lemelson)
waterbed (Charlie Hall)
water skis (Ralph Samuelson)
water softener (Emmett Culligan)
Water Talkies (Richie Stachowski)
wheelchairs (Harry Jennings)
Whitman Sampler (Stephen Whitman)
Wizzzer toy top (Paul Brown)
World Wide Web (Tim Berners-Lee)
xerography (photocopying - Xerox) (Chester Carlson)
Zamboni ice resurfacer for ice skating rinks (Frank Zamboni)
zipper (Whitcomb Judson)

Millionaire Dropouts

Inspiring Stories of the World's Most Successful Failures...

Home and School planner brought to you by The Old Schoolhouse Magazine

We’re excited about our new planner and know that you will be too! We have taken ALL of your suggestions and ideas and compiled them into ONE fantastic planner, so that everything you need to plan in your life can be in one place, making your busy life as a homeschool mom just a bit simpler! In The Schoolhouse Planner, you can expect to find:

• Calendars in various forms – yearly, monthly, weekly, and daily
• Lists of holidays and places to record special days in your family
• Planners for your homeschool – in various styles to meet your individual needs
• Pages for both long-term and short-term homeschooling goals
• Curriculum planning forms
• Evaluation forms and test score recording sheets
• A through-the-Bible in a (school) year schedule
• Forms for recording Bible memory and other memory work
• Logs for recording books read, movies and documentaries viewed, etc.
• A field trip planning form and recording log
• A sample science lab sheet and nature study sheets
• A place to record extracurricular activities
• Outside classes, co-op, and support group information and recording sheets
• Household planning forms
• Daily, weekly, and monthly household schedule charts
• Grocery, menu-planning, and food logs
• Various budget and financial planning forms
• Garden planning sheets
• An appliance and electronics inventory sheet
• Vacation planning ideas
• Address and telephone records
• And much, much more!
And, if that’s not enough, we’ve also included:
• 12 “homeschool must-know” items, one for each month of the year
• 12 essays from some of our favorite authors in the homeschool community – you absolutely won’t want to miss these!
• 24 easy main-dish recipes from some top homeschoolers around the nation
• Forms that are appropriate for preschool – graduation
• A 12-year planning form, so that you can plan your child’s school career from beginning to end!
• 2-page monthly calendar with BIG blocks, providing lots of room for writing in details each day

http://www.theoldschoolhousestore.com/ info
http://www.thehomeschoolmagazine.com PDF download

Nature-Deficit Disorder...

AFB: Rolling Stones Rocker Calls for More Agriculture & Nature Education

WASHINGTON, D.C., June 25, 2008 — Today’s children are increasingly disconnected from the natural world and schools can play a big role in fixing this. That’s the message Chuck Leavell, Rolling Stones keyboardist, shared during his keynote address at the Ag in the Classroom conference in Costa Mesa, Calif., this week. Leavell addressed the teachers present not as a musician but as a Georgia tree farmer and the author of the 2007 American Farm Bureau Foundation for Agriculture Book of the Year The Tree Farmer.

Leavell told the group of more than 500 attendees he wrote his book in response to what he calls “nature-deficit disorder,” where younger generations don’t understand or appreciate nature and agriculture. He adds that classrooms are the ideal place to fix this but teachers are facing increased pressure to teach towards standardized tests.

“Programs like Ag in the Classroom and the American Forest Foundation’s Project Learning Tree help educators make outdoor experiences part of their everyday lesson plans,” Leavell said. “They teach core subjects through experiences in nature and show that learning through environmental education is not incompatible with math and reading instruction.” He adds that this method has also been shown to improve test scores.

(my only problem with this is having Commercial Ag businesses being the main thrust of the "education"). But it's a GREAT IDEA and local and organic farmers should visit local schools and Homeschoolers can visit farms throughout the year!)

STORIES FOR CHILDREN MAGAZINE

A Free monthly Ezine for Children (3 to 12).
Website: http://storiesforchildrenmagazine.org
June Issue PDF SFCmagazineJune2008final.pdf

Stories for Children Magazine, which just launched its new website with its June 2008 issue, announces the addition of three new SFC Team members. VS Grenier, Founder & Editor-in-Chief of Stories for Children says: “SFC has been growing with each new issue. The SFC dream is coming true because of our readers and supporters. I’m so grateful to have a dedicated staff working with me each month. It’s been only a matter of time before we needed more help in other areas to keep the magazine growing. I’m excited to say Cynthia Sherwood (SFC Copyeditor), Neysa Jensen (SFC Proofreader), and Wayne S. Walker (SFC Book Reviewer) have all joined our SFC Family. Cynthia and Wayne have been contributors to SFC for some time, so having them on board along with Neysa is just wonderful.”

Cynthia Willett Sherwood, Copyeditor of SFC, lives in Orange County, California with her husband and eight-year-old daughter. She works as a freelance copyeditor, and writes both fiction and non-fiction for children. Cindy is a former print and broadcast journalist who most recently headed the news department of the ABC affiliate station in Norfolk/Virginia Beach.

Neysa CM Jensen, Proofreader of SFC, is a writer, musician, and mom. She has more than 20 years of experience in publishing, including magazine and book editing. She has written hundreds of articles for national, regional, local, and niche magazines, and she helps authors ready their manuscripts for submission. Neysa’s children’s works have been published in LadyBug magazine, Children’s Playmate, and Winds of Change.

Wayne S. Walker, Book Reviewer of SFC, is a native of Hillsboro, Highland County, in southern Ohio. Married to his wonderful wife Karen for over 25 years, he is the father of two sons, Mark and Jeremy, who are both homeschooled. He also has worked as a minister for almost 35 years. The family currently lives in Affton, MO, near St. Louis. Wayne's interests include classical music, hymnology, and children's literature. He has been a regular book reviewer for The Old Schoolhouse magazine and Home School Buzz.

Magnetic Movie

http://www.animateprojects.org/films/by_date/2007/mag_mov/1/

The secret lives of invisible magnetic fields are revealed as chaotic, ever-changing geometries. All action takes place around NASA’s Space Sciences Laboratory, UC Berkeley, to recordings of space scientists describing their discoveries. Actual VLF audio recordings control the evolution of the fields as they delve into our inaudible surroundings, revealing recurrent ‘whistlers’ produced by fleeting electrons. Are we observing a series of scientific experiments, the universe in flux, or a documentary of a fictional world?

Video Shooting Guide

Shoot your own videos with film-maker Mat Whitecross
Mat Whitecross shares his top filming tips and shows how you can make someone fly in your videos.

When I started out making films I spoke to so many people who told me that you needed to have a special camera or you needed to shoot on film, you couldn’t shoot on video. Actually there’s some of the most famous film-makers in the world right now making films on handycams, just as good as the one you’ve got, so just get out there and make them. It doesn’t matter whether you’re using a film camera, a video camera or your mobile phone.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blast/downloads/blastcasts/filming.shtml
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blast/film/tipsandtools/videoshootingguide/ (excellent, straight forward, how-to info)

Be a GREEN COLLAR entrepreneur! (Tech/Independent/Home School)

http://www.mstc.edu/renewableelectricitytechnician/
http://www.mstc.edu/renewablethermalenergytech/index.htm

This fall, Wisconsin’s Mid-State Technical College will be offering three new renewable energy degree programs. These will include biorefinery technology, renewable electricity technician and renewable thermal energy technician training. Ronald Zillmer, associate dean of MSTC’s technical and industrial division hopes the courses are the beginning of new trend in green energy education. “The college is investing in programs for jobs that will be here 100 years from now. This is not a short-term endeavor; folks feeling the effects of globalization and being displaced from their jobs are looking for stability.”

CCC: These professions are needed TODAY! One can self-school via books/online, as well as apprentice with experienced doers. The "big gov" mostly promotes big business/big projects, but this kind of profession, from the Energy Auditor to the Insulation/home energy improvements to passive solar heat and solar electric consulting and install* (*would need plumbing/electrical license for pro jobs) are all doable.

Be a GREEN COLLAR entrepreneur!
Earn a living doing good, what you love/enjoy, because you care.

Crop Circle Pattern is Pi to 3.14159265358

The fact that the Pi decimal point is included (in the 2008 Barbury Castle barley pattern) and there is rounding up to 10 decimal places is to me a little mind boggling!” – Michael Reed, Astrophysicist

Barbury Castle barley crop formation near Wroughton, Wiltshire, U. K., reported June 1, 2008, 300 feet in diameter. © 2008 by Lucy Pringle.

June 8, 2008 Timberlake, North Carolina - On June 7, 2008, I received the following email from a retired astronomical physicist from the University of Arizona, now living in Timberlake, North Carolina. He had been studying the June 1, 2008, formation in barley at Barbury Castle.

From: mreed@reedev.com
Subject: Barbary Castle Pattern = First ten digits of Pi 3.141592654
Date: June 5, 2008

On looking at the Barbary Castle pattern the ratio of the angles of the radial jumps is apparently the first ten (10) digits of the mathematical constant Pi ( the ratio of the of circumference of a circle to the diameter)

The dot after the first radial jump is even positioned correctly as the decimal point.

Take the pattern and draw radial lines from the center of the central depression though each radial jump. Take the smallest angle sector and call it one (1), then compare the other ten sectors contained angle to the smallest and pick the closest single digit for the ratio. They come out as 3.141592654.

Note that the last ratio digit has even been rounded up to four (4) since the the value of Pi out to twelve digits is 3.14159265358 and the tenth digit would normally be rounded up to four (4) if the number was only given to ten (10) places.

The significance of the three decreasing diameter circles at the end may be trying to convey the the idea that the number goes on indefinitely.

Then he sent me a graphic analysis of his Pi analysis and I called to ask him about his process of discovery, the fact that the ratcheted spiral he measured was also contained in the 1991 Barbury Castle formation and is in some of the complex diagrams contained in the 2007 leaked CARET document from the Palo Alto Laboratory about back engineering of extraterrestrial technology in the 1980s. http://www.earthfiles.com/news.php?ID=1434&category=En

The Story of Stuff...

http://www.storyofstuff.com/

Physicists have 'solved' mystery of levitation

By Roger Highfield, Science Editor 7/08/2007

Levitation has been elevated from being
pure science fiction to science fact.

The University of St Andrews team has created an 'incredible levitation effects’ by engineering the force of nature which normally causes objects to stick together.

Professor Ulf Leonhardt and Dr Thomas Philbin, from the University of St Andrews in Scotland, have worked out a way of reversing this pheneomenon, known as the Casimir force, so that it repels instead of attracts.

The force is due to neither electrical charge or gravity, for example, but the fluctuations in all-pervasive energy fields in the intervening empty space between the objects and is one reason atoms stick together, also explaining a “dry glue” effect that enables a gecko to walk across a ceiling. • http://www.telegraph.co.uk/

Incredible pictures of one of Earth's last uncontacted tribes firing bows and arrows

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/

Skin painted bright red, heads partially shaved, arrows drawn back in the longbows and aimed square at the aircraft buzzing overhead. The gesture is unmistakable: Stay Away.

Behind the two men stands another figure, possibly a woman, her stance also seemingly defiant. Her skin painted dark, nearly black.

When anthropologists first overflew the area, they saw women and children in the open and no one appeared to be painted. It was only when the plane returned a few hours later that they saw these individuals covered head-to-toe in red. 'Tribes in the Amazon paint themselves for all kinds of different reasons - one of which includes when they feel threatened or are aggressive,' Ms Ross says.

OpenCourseWare ~ HOW TO GO TO M.I.T. FOR FREE

HOW TO GO TO M.I.T. FOR FREE

Online 'intellectual philanthropy' attracts students from every nation on earth.

By Gregory M. Lamb | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor

By the end of this year (January 04, 2007 = NOW!), the contents of all 1,800 courses taught at one of the world's most prestigious universities will be available online to anyone in the world, anywhere in the world. Learners won't have to register for the classes, and everyone is accepted.

The cost? It's all free of charge.

The OpenCourseWare movement, begun at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 2002 and now spread to some 120 other universities worldwide, aims to disperse knowledge far beyond the ivy-clad walls of elite campuses to anyone who has an Internet connection and a desire to learn.

Intended as an act of "intellectual philanthropy," OpenCourseWare (OCW) provides free access to course materials such as syllabi, video or audio lectures, notes, homework assignments, illustrations, and so on. So far, by giving away their content, the universities aren't discouraging students from enrolling as students. Instead, the online materials appear to be only whetting appetites for more.

"We believe strongly that education can be best advanced when knowledge is shared openly and freely," says Anne Margulies, executive director of the OCW program at MIT. "MIT is using the power of the Internet to give away all of the educational materials created here."

The MIT site (ocw.mit.edu), along with companion sites that translate the material into other languages, now average about 1.4 million visits per month from learners "in every single country on the planet," Ms. Margulies says. Those include Iraq, Darfur, "even Antarctica," she says. "We hear from [the online students] all the time with inspirational stories about how they are using these materials to change their lives. They're really, really motivated."

more to article: http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0104/p13s02-legn.html

MIT: http://ocw.mit.edu/OcwWeb/web/home/home/index.htm

Here are some links to more universities offering OpenCourseWare:

Tufts: http://ocw.tufts.edu/

Keio: http://ocw.dmc.keio.ac.jp/index.html

Kyoto: http://ocw.kyoto-u.ac.jp/en/index.htm

MIT: http://ocw.mit.edu/index.html

John Hopkins: http://ocw.jhsph.edu/

Osaka: http://ocw.osaka-u.ac.jp/index.php

Toyko: http://ocw.u-tokyo.ac.jp/english/index.html

Utah State: http://ocw.usu.edu/

Waseda: http://www.waseda.jp/ocw/index_e.html

Notre Dame: http://ocw.nd.edu/

and here's Open Course audio
Open Culture too...

http://www.oculture.com/2007/07/freeonlinecourses.html

Parents making plans for homeschool co-op

Inspired by Tahoe Parents Nursery School, a few parents want to start a homeschool version of the successful co-op. The nursery school was founded in 1958, and the "co-op" concept means parents of all the students participate.

Caroline Hansa, one of the parents interested in a co-op homeschool, said the group wants to create a social environment for homeschool children while giving parents a chance to network.

Yolanda Nussdorfer, who has two children, said she likes the homeschool method. "I love watching him learn," Nussdorfer said. "I don't want to miss it when he's gone all day."

http://www.tahoedailytribune.com/

• http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/writmm/142054/
• http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art11220.asp
• http://homeschool.lifetips.com/cat/64324/homeschool-co-op/

Start Your Own School...

We started our own school!

By JANE PHILLIMORE

"Education, education, education!" was Tony Blair's battle cry when Labour came to power ten years ago, but today more parents than ever seem disillusioned with the state system. Here, four parents tell us how they started their own schools...

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/you/article.html?in_article_id=480538&in_page_id=1908

How To Start Your Own School

Written By: Robert Love
Publication Date: January 1, 1973
Publisher: The Macmillian Company
http://www.heartland.org/pdf/16690.pdf
(this is direct link to PDF book)

A Guide for the radical right, the radical left,
and everybody in-between who's fed up with public education.

Start A Food Buying Club...

A buying club is a group of people who pool their time, resources, and buying power to save money on high quality healthful foods.

There are 5 basic steps to buying food
through a buying club:
1. Members combine their individual orders into a single order. .
2. The combined and collated order is sent to the warehouse through the internet ('ftp' or email), by fax or by phone.
3. The truck delivers to your prearranged location. At least three buying club members need to be on hand to unload and receive the order.
4. Members divide up the order among the individual households.
5. Household bills are recomputed after delivery to account for any discrepancies. The buying club keeps track of additional charges or credits which may be carried over to the following month’s order. FoodLink takes care of these functions easily.

Why Join a Buying Club?
In addition to being able to access and purchase high quality natural and organic foods and products and the cost savings available from buying directly from the warehouse, there are many other reasons to start or join a buying club.

• to get to know other people with similar interests from your community
• to support organic farmers
• to be a part of a cooperative food system that is owned and controlled by people who use the products, and to work together to serve your needs
• to learn new skills, such as using a computer or bookkeeping
• to revitalize your neighborhood, small town or rural area by gaining access to high quality natural foods and products which might not otherwise be available
• to learn more about natural food, nutrition and cooking

We recommend you have five to eight households to start a buying club, although some groups begin with fewer. Talk up the idea with your family, friends, neighbors and colleagues. Hold a meeting and describe how a buying club works; emphasize the cooperative nature of the organization.

http://www.unitedbuyingclubs.com/RESOURCES/BCHelp/WhatIsABuyingClub.htm
http://www.unitedbuyingclubs.com/RESOURCES/BCHelp/BCResourcesIndex.htm
http://www.unitedbuyingclubs.com/
http://www.coopdirectory.org/distributor.htm
http://www.cooperativegrocer.coop/coops/
http://extension.missouri.edu/xplor/extcirc/ec0943.htm
http://www.vegfamily.com/articles/coop-food-buying.htm
http://www.foodclub.org/
http://www.newfarm.org/features/2005/0205/club/index.shtml
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CCC: A VERY SIMPLE WAY (in 10 e-z steps), without complex organization/serious meetings or big time planning, is to simply create a LIST of foods, (list) and products that, for example, eight to ten people (friends, family, like minded) buy regularly. Then calculate monthly needs and order the quantity needed (Badda-bing, Badda-boom! All taken care of.)

How to start: 1.a print out food source catalog or weblink; 1.b Each family/person picks & chooses from list. 2. Share lists. 3. Compare lists. 4. Find common, make compromises, some sacrifices. 5. Create MASTER LIST. 6. Pool $$$. 7. Order stuff. 8. Unload stuff. 9. Take stuff home. 10. Eat stuff. (repeat monthly, bi-monthly or quarterly).

PS: You could also bring a Group order to a local-food-coop, small grocery store or Seventh-day Adventist Church (they usually group buy).

Create/Make Your Own "Learn the Herbs" Cards

The game in post below (WILDCRAFT! An Herbal Adventure Game) appears to be EXCELLENT and if you have the interest and funds, consider buying it. But some families may not have the funds, others are adventurous and creative. Simply, you can make your own HERB playing cards (or other topic) and here's how...

You could start with a PDF template (premade) of the size and shape of blank Playing Cards. like this one PDF HERE
and this one: PDF HERE 2 - or - you can trace a card or create a box (with or without rounded edges) in a computer design program, or simply create cardboard cut-outs.

Then, using Google, you can image search for different herbs and place these photos and images within the card (or you can SCAN photos from herb books - or - if you can draw!, then trace or draw the plants). Then add text (or write) the plant name, species, uses, identification, DANGERS, locations found, etc.

Create a dozen or two dozen cards and make up a playing game of your own or use as "Flash Cards" to learn what each plant looks like and can do for your health or dinner!

Something like this can give you an idea of what others have done (professionally): http://www.livingwithbasics.com/wildfree/wf_index.html

You will need either access to a copier (cut-n-paste) or computer, with printer and some type of layout program so you can paste images and re-arrange text. This is something almost anyone can do with a little effort! If you do a good job (after a few "prototypes"), you might even able to sell copies of your own version at local markets or give as gifts! (Ink-jet printers are costly for quantity printing, you may need to use a laser printer or copier and card-stock paper)

Legal Notice: If you use other peoples photos for COMMERCIAL use, you need to get permission, possibly pay for rights to use. "In-house," family use is fine. If you are considering creating a small-business venture...there are hundreds of places to buy images, some very costly, some as cheap as $1 each (for rights). There's also OLD BOOKS (such as pre-1923) that have fallen out of copyright (and images can-be scanned and used from them) are considered Public Domain.

Welcome to Smarty Cat School...

The first lesson is to give the teacher some Feline Greenies (the original smart-treat)