Find - Searching and Browsing¶
In addition to the QuickSearch, there are three other ways to locate records, each providing a higher degree of precision than the QuickSearch: The basic search, the advanced search, and the browse. All three are accessed from the Find menu in the Global Navigation.
At its simplest the basic search is a full text search (Fig. 3.1) across all fields within the table you’re searching in (e.g. Find > Objects searches for Object records, Find > Entities searches for Entity records). Simply type in a word or phrase and click on the “search” button to receive matching results.
A search syntax may be used to create more precise basic searches that include boolean combinations, wildcard searches, searching on creation and modification dates and more.
Fig 3.1: Basic search bar
The Advanced Search allows users to define custom search forms, consisting of specific fields. While the basic search, by default, looks across all fields, the advanced search always searches within specific fields and generates highly targeted results.
Fig 3.2: Example of an advanced search form
Advanced search forms are created through Manage > My search tools > Search forms.
The Browse allows you to generate and refine results by filtering on specific attributes of data. For example, by browsing for Objects by Entity, you can retrieve every single object that is created by a particular Individual or Organization. You can further refine these results by selecting additional attributes. For example, by selecting Decades you can choose to retrieve only records made in the 1970s.
Fig 3.3: Browse menu for Objects
Once you have generated results using any of the available search tools, there are several options available to control how the data is displayed, refined, edited and exported.
Fig 3.4: Search result tools: Export tools, Refine results, Display Options (respectively)
Fig 3.5: Display Options
Click on the display options icon to view all settings to control how search results are displayed.
Sort: choose how results are sorted. You can sort on relevance, title, idno, or any number of other data attributes.
Ascending/Descending: specifies the direction to sort, either ascending or descending order.
#/page: the maximum number of results to be shown per page (12, 24, 36, 48)
Layout: three layout options for search results are available for Objects (a subset of these options are available for other types of records). Thumbnails displays image thumbnails, along with title and idno. The List layout displays results in a tabled format, similar to a spreadsheet. The metadata that is shown is controlled by Displays, explained in detail below. Finally, Full mode displays the primary object image as well as all metadata from the chosen Display, but in a vertical form, rather than a tabled spreadsheet.
Fig 3.6: Full display
Fig 3.7: Thumbnail display
Fig 3.8: List display
Display: choose which metadata Display to use to view your search results. Displays allow you to precisely control the fields and formatting displayed in search results or on a Summary page. Once you create custom displays and configure the search results or record summaries, you may batch-edit data in spreadsheet format or export the data as tab or comma delimited files, an Excel spreadsheet or as a PDF. Through their ability to define both fields and precise formatting of field data, displays form the backbone of CollectiveAccess’ reporting system. Once defined, any search or browse result set can be piped through a display and into on-screen, printable or shareable output.
Export Tools Export tools allow you to export the results of a search or browse – with any configured Display – to a variety of formats, including tab and comma delimited, Microsoft Word and Excel, or PDF.
Fig 3.9: Export tools
Refine Results Refine controls enable filtering of search results using the same controls used for browsing. It is essentially no different from the Browse, except that you can run a full text search first and then use the browse facets to further refine the results of the full text search.
Fig 3.10: Refine results
Edit in Spreadsheet Spreadsheet mode looks similar to the List mode, but allows you to apply edits directly to most fields in the listed records without leaving the search results screen.
Fig 3.11: Edit in spreadsheet button
Set Tools Sets, explained in greater detail below, are ordered, ad-hoc groupings of a single type of record defined by users for a practical purpose (e.g., a working checklist for an upcoming exhibition, or a set of records that need to be completed). Sets are distinct from Collection records in that they are typically temporary groupings and meant for workflow, while Collection records are archival or curatorial in nature and intended to record collection-level cataloging. An additional use of Sets is for grouping records for batch editing en masse using the Batch Editor.
Fig 3.12: Set Tools You can create Sets directly from results using Set Tools.
Create set: Allows naming and creation of a set consisting of either a) the entire search results or b) only those checked.
Open set for batch editing: Opens the set in the Batch Editor for applying global edits.
Add checked to Set: Allows addition of records to pre-existing Sets, by checking them off and selecting “Add checked to Set.”
Visualization Provides visualization options for data when available. Options include maps to visualize records with georeference coordinates and timelines based upon entered dates.
Fig 3.13: Visualization Tools
Fig 3.14: Visualizations


10 December 2016
Durban, South Africa- December 10, 2016, marks twenty years since Nelson Mandela signed into law the South African constitution. The book entitled “Reflections on the Bill of Rights” comes at the perfect time.
Published by the SA parliament, it carries the views and experiences of some of the men and women who penned Chapter 2 of the Constitution, the Bill of Rights.
It features contributors including South African State President Jacob Zuma, Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa, Willie Hofmeyr (Deputy National Director of Public Prosecutions), Dr. Leon Wessels (former Commissioner of the Human Rights Commission), Science and Technology Minister Naledi Pandor, the late Dene Smuts (the longest serving female MP in SA history) and Higher Education and Training Minister, Dr. Blade Nzimande.
At onset, the book clearly depicts that extraordinary commitment, political vigour, patience, skill and intellect were prerequisites on all participants to undertake the historical task of formulating South Africa’s highest rule of law, regarded as one of the best constitutions in the world.
In it, CEO of the Constitutional Assembly, Hassen Ebrahim noted that the big task was to calm the fears of the minorities and yet found favour with the majority.
Reading the book makes one comprehend that the clearly depicted complex Constitutional negotiation process of 1994-1996 renders it too simplistic to call the negotiators sell-outs.
There clearly could never have been one winner. Compromises had to take place. No lawmaker could claims to have fully satisfied their constituency. The constitution emerged as a compromise and this book provides the reasons why.
It is further revealed that the earlier political negotiations of the 1980s and early 1990s played a great role in guiding the work of the Constitutional negotiators.
Former National Party (NP) MP Shiela Camerer called constitutional negotiation period “frenetic”. The book leaves one to consider the mood in the country at that time, the fact that the majority of ANC lawmakers had no experience of governance and that a sizeable contingent of white MPs were from the National Party. The success in formulating the constitution was, indeed, a ‘miracle’.
Ultimately, the book is a great historical installation. It offers concise but imperative accounts of the action of 1994-1996 directly from key protagonists.
It details how South Africans from all walks of life thrived in jubilation after the promulgation of the constitution. The evil of Apartheid had seemingly been halted. Herein, finally, a document that sought to preserve human dignity, affirm human rights, ensure equality and redress the imbalances imposed by Apartheid.
The book is heavily political in nature. In it, negotiators downplay the failure of the constitution in advancing radical change set to the benefit the previously disadvantaged black section of population.
Baleka Mbethe wastes no time in announcing that the legislation to amend the Expropriation Act is now finalized.
IFP MP, Albert Mncwango, takes a swipe at the ANC about the violence in KwaZulu-Natal.
Blade Nzimande talks about how NSFAS has helped over a million students and how this government remains committed to an inclusive education system.
Not many pages apart, the late Dene Smuts seeks to promote the ‘resilience of liberal democracy.’
The fact is twenty years after the promulgation of the constitution, the democratic transition honeymoon phase has passed. The stagnant economy of the country cannot be divorced from its tumultuous and uncertain political scenery. The demonstration of anger and loss of patience by the people has resulted in South Africa being ranked as the most protest rich country in the world. And well, apart from the addition of a few privileged blacks into the South African elite social and economic circles, society remains untransformed and racist incidents keep on mushrooming everywhere.
The men and women who wrote South Africa’s constitution are very much aware of this. This is evident in the book. Perhaps a great admission emanates from South African Ambassodor to Namibia Mavivi Myakayaka-Manzini who concludes on these words:
“very little dialogue has been taking place on the challenges of poverty, inequality and unemployment we still face, and on our political differences. We still have to make our Constitution a living document respected by all.”


MyExifLibrary is fully managed .NET Framework easy-to-use library for .NET Framework 2.0 designed for reading, editing and saving the EXIF (Exchangeable Image File Format) data embeded in images taken from digital cameras. EXIF data can be both read and written or removed. Completely new EXIF data can also be added to images.
- written in fully managed .NET C#
- reads and writes EXIF (Exchangeable Image File Format) metainformation from and to image files
- easy to use and fully documented
- multi-lingual output - EXIF tag names/descriptions can be in English, German, French, Dutch, Danish, Spanish or Polish
- powerful and fast with very small memory footprint
- recognizes thousands different EXIF tags
- includes custom tags (combination of existing tags to provide easy to understand output)
- each EXIF tag is fully described including tag name, tag description and tag group
MyExifLibrary is a free trial software application from the Components & Libraries subcategory, part of the Development category.
The app is currently available in English and it was last updated on 2011-01-07. The program can be installed on WinXP, WinVista, WinVista x64, Win7 x32, Win7 x64, Win2000, WinOther, Other, WinServer.
MyExifLibrary (version 1.1) has a file size of 827.39 KB and is available for download from our website.
Just click the green Download button above to start. Until now the program was downloaded 30 times.
We already checked that the download link to be safe, however for your own protection we recommend that you scan the downloaded software with your antivirus.


How to Make Kombucha: The Big Book of Kombucha
From the Basic Kombucha Recipe to Creatively Flavored Brews
Have you ever wanted to learn how to make kombucha? Kombucha is everywhere lately, and the health benefits of kombucha are being widely documented by dieticians and natural health practitioners alike. For thousands of years, kombucha has been used as a health drink to detoxify the body and improve overall health. Now with the resurgence of interest in fermented foods and the benefits of adding fermented foods to our diet, kombucha has been introduced to mainstream America as a yummy and healthy way to help you feel your best.
Fermented foods like kombucha introduce beneficial bacteria and yeast to our digestive tract to improve digestion and elimination. Kombucha is also an adaptogen — a substance that helps the body remove the effects of stress and encourage the body towards a state of homeostasis (balance). As a daily drink, homemade kombucha is better for overall health and costs less than most store-bought soft drinks, waters, alcohol, and fruit juices.
Learning how to make kombucha requires the right equipment, tools, and environment, so having a solid reference book can make all the difference in your attempts at brewing kombucha at home. Even if you’ve never heard of a SCOBY before, we have The Big Book of Kombucha: Brewing, Flavoring, and Enjoying the Health Benefits of Fermented Tea by Hannah Crum and Alex LaGory to get you started on brewing your first batch of kombucha at home.
The idea of brewing a fermented drink at home can sound intimidating to many of us, especially if you’ve never attempted to make your own beer or other fermented foods like sauerkraut, pickles, or other fermented vegetables. It sounds as if the process of fermenting kombucha at home is a costly, time-consuming process, right? But with The Big Book of Kombucha, you’ll find all the information and instruction you need to get started learning how to make kombucha in one place.
What you’ll learn in this book:
• Kombucha benefits, and how it can relieve stress, encourage healing, improve digestion, and help detoxify the body
• SCOBY 101: What it is, how it works, where to get one, how to take care of your SCOBY, and how to grow your own when you’re ready
• Using tea and sweetener to make your kombucha, the best type of sweeteners, and why using some kind of sugar is important to making great kombucha
• Brewing equipment and supplies: everything you need to learn how to make kombucha at home, including scoping out a great environment for your first brew
• Basic methods for brewing kombucha: detailed instructions and clear photographs to help you successfully brew a gallon of your own kombucha
• Helpful Do’s and Don’ts for every step of the brewing process
• Precise measurement and brewing times for each method of brewing kombucha
• Bottling your kombucha
• Dozens of tips and tricks for troubleshooting your kombucha brew
• Dozens of ideas for flavoring your homemade kombucha brew using fruits, vegetables, and herbs: whether you want a great party drink or a medicinal brew, including recommendations for Ayurvedic and Traditional Chinese herbal medicine
• Recipes! Use your kombucha to make drinks, dressings, snacks, salads, pudding, and even baked goods (yum!)
• Using SCOBYs to make personal care products and bug repellents
For someone who already understands the basics of how to make kombucha, The Big Book of Kombucha offers some advanced techniques. With lots of detailed instructions and full-color photographs, you’ll learn how to adjust the levels of alcohol in your kombucha creations, flavoring your primary and secondary fermentations, understanding and boosting carbonation, and even making your own beer, wine, and champagne from your kombucha brews.
Did you know that you can flavor your own homemade kombucha with all kinds of fruits and vegetables? The Big Book of Kombucha includes dozens of recipes and suggestions for using blueberries, cherries, cranberries, dates, elderberries, figs, apples, bananas, apricots, grapes, and guava to make unique and tantalizing kombucha. Choose from your favorite healing herbs list, and learn how to make flavored kombucha using burdock root, chamomile, cinnamon, lavender, juniper berries, mint, rose petals, thyme plant, and St. John’s Wort.
If you’ve been hesitating to learn how to make kombucha because you didn’t have the right information, this book will take you step-by-step through every part of successfully brewing kombucha at home. Drawing on 20 years of experience in brewing, consuming, and using kombucha for all kinds of purposes, authors Hannah Crum and Alex LaGory share their tried-and-true methods for mastering the art of brewing kombucha. The Big Book of Kombucha: Brewing, Flavoring, and Enjoying the Health Benefits of Fermented Tea is a comprehensive resource for anyone who wants to explore the many benefits and uses of this age-old fermented health drink.


Yolande Cornelia Giovanni or "Nikki" Giovanni was an American poet, writer, commentator, educator, civil rights activist, and outspoken social critic, born on June 7th, 1943. She idolized herself as "a proud Black American, a daughter, and a mother." Giovanni was a hardworking single mother who raised her only son, while fighting a war for civil rights and equality. Very touched by the discrimination the Black society had to face at that time period, Giovanni had chosen to become a civil rights activist besides her regular occupations, such as poet, writer etc, which were inspired to her by the black power movements. Giovanni's poems and literature was used as political commentary. When going through hardships in life, Giovanni wrote poetic pieces to express her hurt feelings, though never gave up fighting for the ultimate war of equality. She was very hardworking, determined and passionate about what she did, because even after getting put down many times, she never gave up, and continued her journey.


The $21 Challenge is getting a new cover.
We've copped a lot of flack in the past about the $21 Challenge and are hopeful that this new cover and text will reduce the confusion.Scroll down to see the back cover of the book.
The $21 Challenge by Fiona Lippey & Jackie Gower
paperback, 288 pages, 22 x 17cm
ISBN: 978-0-9806533-0-4 (Aust)978-0-9806533-1-1 (NZ)
First chapter Second chapter


ICCA Congress Book Singapore now available
Delegates to the 2012 Congress in Singapore will receive a copy of ICCA Congress Series No. 17: "International Arbitration, The Coming of a New Age" by post in the coming weeks. The volume is also available for purchase on-line at www.kluwerlaw.com. The volume opens with Governing Board Member Chief Justice Sundaresh Menon's much-discussed keynote address, and is followed by papers presented by some of the world's leaders in the field of arbitration. Click here for more information or to order. You may also view the complete Table of Contents here.


The secrets of the Great Pyramids of Giza
To understand the Pyramids of Egypt, how they were build, which was the purpose and who built them, as well as to answer many more questions, we would have to dig deep and discover many things.
A very interesting documentary, Zero Point, explores in the first volume this facts, starting from the beginning, the position of the Pyramids and many more ancient sites which seem to be aligned in a same line throughout the globe.
This documentary has been made through deep studies which interested many professionals and students, and it may answer many of the above questions, as well as other questions on the nature and misteries of the great pyramids of Giza.
To watch the first part, please click here.
The above is a great documentary with which to start, in order to better understand this secrets ancient knowledge. More facts, studies and information about the Pyramids will be posted here. Stay tuned for more!


'1491': Vanished Americans
By KEVIN BAKER
MOST of us know, or think we know, what the first Europeans encountered when they began their formal invasion of the Americas in 1492: a pristine world of overwhelming natural abundance and precious few people; a hemisphere where - save perhaps for the Aztec and Mayan civilizations of Central America and the Incan state in Peru - human beings indeed trod lightly upon the earth. Small wonder that, right up to the present day, American Indians have usually been presented as either underachieving metahippies, tree-hugging saints or some combination of the two.
The trouble with all such stereotypes, as Charles C. Mann points out in his marvelous new book, "1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus," is that they are essentially dehumanizing. For cultural reasons of their own, Europeans and white Americans have "implicitly depicted Indians as people who never changed their environment from its original wild state. Because history is change, they were people without history."
Mann, a science journalist and co-author of four previous books on subjects ranging from aspirin to physics to the Internet, provides an important corrective - a sweeping portrait of human life in the Americas before the arrival of Columbus. This would be a formidable task under any circumstance, and it is complicated by the fact that so much of the deep American past is embroiled in vituperative political and scientific controversies.
Nearly everything about the Indians is currently a matter of contention. There is little or no agreement about when their ancestors first came to the Americas and where they came from; how many there were, how and where they lived and why they were not more effective in resisting the European invasion. New archaeological discoveries and interpretations of Indian materials are constantly altering the historical record, and every debate comes equipped with its own bevy of archaeologists, anthropologists and other social scientists tossing around personal invective with the abandon of Rudy Giuliani on a bad day.
Mann navigates adroitly through the controversies. He approaches each in the best scientific tradition, carefully sifting the evidence, never jumping to hasty conclusions, giving everyone a fair hearing - the experts and the amateurs; the accounts of the Indians and their conquerors. And rarely is he less than enthralling. A remarkably engaging writer, he lucidly explains the significance of everything from haplogroups to glottochronology to landraces. He offers amusing asides to some of his adventures across the hemisphere during the course of his research, but unlike so many contemporary journalists, he never lets his personal experiences overwhelm his subject.
Instead, Mann builds his story around what we want to know - the "Frequently Asked Questions," as he heads one chapter. He moves nimbly back and forth from the earliest prehistoric humans in the Americas to the Pilgrims' first encounter with the Indian they (mistakenly) called "Squanto"; from the villages of the Amazon rain forests to Cahokia, near modern St. Louis, the sole, long-vanished city of the North American Mound Builders; from the cultivation of maize to why it was that the Incas apparently developed the wheel but never used it as anything but a child's toy.
Mann remains resolutely agnostic on some of the fiercest debates. What he is most interested in showing us is how American Indians - like all other human beings - were intensely involved in shaping the world they lived in. He is sure that "many though not all Indians were superbly active land managers - they did not live lightly on the land." Just how they did live, so long uninfluenced by the vast majority of the world's population in Africa and Eurasia, forms the bulk of his fascinating narrative.
What emerges is an epic story, with a subtly altered tragedy at its heart. For all the European depredations in the Americas, the work of conquest was largely accomplished for them by their microbes, even before the white men arrived in any great numbers. The diseases brought along by the very first unwitting Spanish conquistadors, and probably by English fishermen working the New England coast, very likely triggered one of the greatest catastrophes in human history. Before the 16th century, there may have been as many as 90 million to 112 million people living in the Americas - people who could be as different from each other "as Turks and Swedes," but who had cumulatively developed an incredible range of natural environments, from seeding the Amazon Basin with fruit trees to terracing the mountains of Peru. (Even the term "New World" may be a misnomer; it is possible that the world's first city was in South America.
Then, disaster. According to some estimates, as much as 95 percent of the Indians may have died almost immediately on contact with various European diseases, particularly smallpox. That would have amounted to about one-fifth of the world's total population at the time, a level of destruction unequaled before or since. The exact numbers, like everything else, are in dispute, but it is clear that these plagues wreaked havoc on traditional Indian societies. European misreadings of America should not be attributed wholly to ethnic arrogance. The "savages" most of the colonists saw, without ever realizing it, were usually the traumatized, destitute survivors of ancient and intricate civilizations that had collapsed almost overnight. Even the superabundant "nature" the Europeans inherited had been largely put in place by these now absent gardeners, and had run wild only after they had ceased to cull and harvest it
In the end, the loss to us all was incalculable. As Mann writes, "Having grown separately for millennia, the Americas were a boundless sea of novel ideas, dreams, stories, philosophies, religions, moralities, discoveries and all the other products of the mind. Few things are more sublime or characteristically human than the cross-fertilization of cultures. The simple discovery by Europe of the existence of the Americas caused an intellectual ferment. How much grander would have been the tumult if Indian societies had survived in full splendor!
Kevin Baker is the author of the forthcoming historical novel "Strivers Row." http://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/09/books/review/09baker.html


Welcome to the LRC
I have been the Media Director at MCHS since 1998. During the last decade, the library (also referred to as the Media Center, Learning Resource Center or LRC) has seen many changes. We have automated the library, as well as added a computer lab, multimedia retrieval system, online resources, and audiobooks. Our library is a member of the RAILS (Reaching Across Illinois Library System) which allows us to share resources with libraries from around the state and beyond.
I believe it is important to expose students to the necessary resources for students to succeed, not only at Morris High School, but throughout their lifetime. In doing so we must provide resources in various formats that will prepare them for their future, while teaching them to use these resources effectively and responsibly. Having the experience of using electronic resources, students leaving MCHS will be better prepared to use the vast array of electronic resources they will encounter in their futures. Our online resources include informational databases and electronic books. In order to provide additional research opportunities, all of our online resources can be accessed at home, using the schools logins and passwords.
My Background includes:
- Illinois State University, Normal
Bachelors of Science in Education
- University of Illinois, Champaign
Masters of Library and Information Science
Professional memberships include:
I can be contacted at 941-5328.


Apr 22, 2023 1:57 AM EDT.
Read Tiddalick the Frog here.
Apr 8, 2017 · Mythical Creatures. Show me how to explore a topic with text sets.
There are Gods. . .
Displaying texts 1 - 20 of 22 in total.
MUSSIE A. When intelligent animals do use tools, though, they often do so in very creative ways, Shumaker says. The story of the bestial Minotaur trapped in a labyrinth created for him by his horrified stepfather, King Minos of Crete, dining on human flesh in his underground prison, has.
. The story of Icarus is one of the most famous tales from Greek myth.
Native American Animal Stories: An excellent collection of American Indian legends about animals, told by Abenaki storyteller Joseph Bruchac. .
The surprising ending proves that even smaller animals can be clever!”.
Bees can only sting you once.
The roots of the unicorn myth date back at least as far as 400 BCE, when the Greek historian Ctesias first documented a unicorn-like. Daedalus and Icarus. These descent traditions usually name a particular species as humanity’s ancestor, and the peoples frequently take their name from the plant or animal.
. . Mar 1, 2021 · Several famous herds of cattle appear in Greek myths. May 17, 2023, 11:00 a. We are familiar with medieval artists who tried to draw exotic beasts from nothing. Myths and legends are ways of explaining the unexplainable.
Bats Are Blind.
The roots of the unicorn myth date back at least as far as 400 BCE, when the Greek historian Ctesias first documented a unicorn-like.
Native American stories also tell of animals that can take human form, such as men and women who appear as bears, but are really people in bear skins, or the stories of the.
Jul 1, 2016 · 3.
Fantasy creatures are a timeless fascination of people all over the world.


(Part) of what I wrote on the plane back to Moline.
There once was a pen. It was fairly innoculous, with black ink and a comfortable grip, but otherwise very dull. It sat with several others in a small cup on a large, ornate desk in a rather plainly furnished room at the top of a boarding house in the north of England.
It was a rather dreary day in February when Grahm Barker picked up this pen and began writing a letter.
As he wrote, he would pause momentarily and gaze out his window at the rain that rippled down the glass. It went on like this for hours. The patter of the rain mixed with the scratching of the pen and created a thoroughly melancholic atmosphere in which Grahm Barker found himself thoroughly entrenched.
Perhaps, he would later reflect, this mood rubbed off into his letter, and this was the reason that Mr. Henry Davies of The Greater Northwestern Bank was so apt to reject his loan request.
Upon reciept of this letter, Grahm Barker looked around his room and did a fair amount of calculating. One week later, his pen found its new house on the bureau far less interesting, but the money Grahm had received from the sale of his grandfather’s desk ensured they (both Grahm and his writing implements) would have a home for another week.
As the days wore on, Grahm’s pen found its ink reserves dwindling at about the same rate as Grahm’s savings. Letter after letter was sent and received, each bearing the same regrettable and respectable response. Grahm found himself becoming more and more desperate.
As a young boy, he had spent his summers at his Auntie’s resort. He would entertain himself on the rocky beaches, running in the surf and having adventures. As he grew older, he found himself less interesting in having adventures and more interested in recording the adventures of the dashing gentlemen who would pat his head and give him pennies for carrying their bags. He would remember their stories and embellish, adding pirates and gypsies and great acts of daring, wishing he might be taken away on some great adventure some day as he stared off into the great grey expanse of the sea.
Eventually, his aunt grew old and passed on (as such things are bound to happen in life) and so the seaside inn was boarded up and the dashing gentlemen moved up the coast to the next hotel.
For weeks, Grahm had found himself dreaming of those summers, and on February 5th he awoke to the sound of the postman slamming the gate on his way to the porch. This slam would signify yet another letter of rejection from yet another bank, and it was another slam of a larger wooden door that would symbolize Grahm’s next move.
At 1:50 PM Grahm found himself boarding the last afternoon train with the last of him pocket money, and at 6:47, he found himself deposited on the front steps of his Auntie’s boarded up resort with nothing but his trunk, and umbrella and a package of peanuts, which he had found on the train.
It was terribly cold, and his umbrella seemed useless against the rain . It was, perhaps, partly due to the mist that blew off of the winter sea, that mingled with the rain that gave it a salty taste, but Grahm did not stop to enjoy it, but instead stared morosely at the inn and realized that this was (you’ll forgive the expression) his last resort.
With a furtive glance at the abandoned path behind him, he dragged his trunk up the wide front steps and pushed it up against the rotting boards that blocked the entrance. There was a small gap high up in the narrow boards, and he thrust his umbrella in as far as it would go and pulled down sharply. The weathered wood held for a moment and then bowed out and snapped away from the door frame with a sharp crack.
One by one (with his umbrella much worse for the wear), he knocked off the boards until the door was revealed.
He paused for a moment–the once bright door had faded to peeling gray, and the cheery floral wreath his Auntie had hung lay shriveled and black in the threshold. Thankfully, time had beaten away most of the door’s frame and so jimmying the lock was quite simple, and Grahm found himself inside without much effort.
He dragged his trunk to the foot of the winding staircase and then set about carefully restoring the boards to as to fool any passerby that might wonder about the now uncovered door.
It was dark inside, and the fading evening light that managed to trickle through the boards was thick with dust, and did little to help illuminate the expanse of the entryway and reception.
The floor creaked ominously under his weight, and Grahm wished it was light enough to see the top of the high ceilings –perhaps the shingles had blown off and rain had rotted the floor–he began to tread cautiously as he made his way to the desk.
It had been topped with marble, but the thick layer of dust made it impossible to determine if it was still there. Grahm felt his way behind the desk and in the last light of the day was able to make out the cubbyholes for each room that now were filled with a smattering of bird’s nests and cobwebs in equal amounts.
He stretched and thought better of navigating rotten stairs by moonlight, and instead made his bed on the desk. Grateful to his landlady, who had kindly insisted he bring with him several quilts, he wrapped them around himself as best he could and curled up with one last look at the blackness above him. In the dark, he could barely make out the outlines of the great crystal chandeliers that once lit the room. In the morning, he would see about shining them up and fixing up a bed for himself, but for now he just relished in the solitary thought—
It was good to be home.


Andantino, Second Movement from Sonatina, Op. 29
- 1.Andantino Accompaniment0:37
- 2.Andantino Accompaniment + Melody0:36
‘Andantino’ is the second movement from Sonatina Op. 29 by Malcolm Arnold for clarinet and piano.
Sir Malcolm Henry Arnold, CBE (21 October 1921 – 23 September 2006) was an English composer. His output of works features music in many genres, including a cycle of nine symphonies, numerous concertos, concert works, chamber music, choral music and music for brass band and wind band. He wrote extensively for the theatre, with five ballets specially commissioned by the Royal Ballet, as well as two operas and a musical. He also produced scores for more than a hundred films, among these The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957), for which he won an Oscar.
- Accompaniment + Melody


Book Holder for Desk Reading Stand
As a student, you are bound to read plenty of books and texts to study. Not to mention there are plenty of exams and tests that you have to study for. And unless you read the books then you cannot study for the things that will come out in your tests and exams. Overall, if you are a student then you will really need to get accustomed to reading your books. So, make sure that you can read comfortably so you can really understand what you are reading. So, use this book holder for-desk so you can position your book well. More so, this will become your new best friend when it comes to studying because you can read your materials and books better. Also, this is a perfect gift for book lovers so they can have something to hold their book while they read. This will encourage reading.
Books can vary in sizes and weight and some are heavier than the others. So, you need a book stand that can withstand and securely support the weight of your book. Unlike other book display stands, this one does not slide when the book is too heavy. Consequently, it has anti-skid padding support on the back which supports and holds the stand on its place. This anti-skid pad does not slide when pushed by the weight of your book. With this, you won’t have to hurt your neck when having to look down all the time when reading since this holder can hold up your book.
This display stand has foldable book support that you can use. When this book stand is not in use, you can fold this support so it is easier for you to keep this. Overall, this has a very convenient and helpful function and design for students and book lovers.
Shipping rates: We offer free shipping across all orders! Processing time: Order verification, tailoring, quality check, and packaging.
All orders are sent to the production facility for dispatch within 24 hours after the order is placed. Postal services process the orders, which takes an additional 3–5 days.
- Shipping time: This refers to the time it takes for items to be shipped from our warehouse to the destination. International delivery usually takes about 15–30 business days. But can take longer from time to time. Shipped by e-packet, USPS; DHL; UPS; FedEx, EMS. We will choose the most suitable delivery method according to the size and weight of the package.
Our guarantee: We take pride in our products as we believe they are amazing.


Providing the tools for success
a living legacy
One of the bedrocks of our program is our Instrument Library. We provide professional, high grade instruments to each Primavera Artist with funds generously donated from the estate of Dr. Norman E. Holland Hull. These instruments allow our students to excel as musicians and provide a competitive edge when auditioning and performing.
A lover of life's finer pleasures, Norman filled his homes in Philadelphia and Bucks County with wonderful examples of classical art and furniture. He loved all of the sensory pleasures of life - taste, smell, sight, and most of all hearing, and believed in the arts scene of Philadelphia and wanted to be part of its legacy of excellence.
The Psychiatrist for Graterford Prison for more than thirty years, Dr. Holland-Hull's guidance was so valuable tohis patients at the prison that they held a memorial service for him after hearing of his passing. Norman cared for his mother for most of his life, supporting her until the end. We are forever in his debt for allowing us to provide this opportunity to the youth of Philadelphia in his memory.


At the start of the 19th century, it is assumed that 100% of North American inhabitants composted and vermicomposted. It is a process that remains active today in only a few pockets of the modern world. While nations such as Cuba and Chile have embraced its benefits, further mechanized societies have left it behind.
‘SQUIRM’ is the story of Cathy Nesbitt, Canada’s foremost authority on vermicomposting. Tracing the history of the agricultural practice back to Cleopatra, this unique documentary examines the role played by the red wiggler worm throughout history to the modern-day campaign of Cathy’s Crawly Composters.


Dr. Elizabeth Keller’s Writing for Project Management class utilized student skills and perspectives to help accomplish campus goals. Course work coupled project management analysis and field work. Who were our stakeholders? Dr. Keller had arranged for us to work with the marketing committee of Helmke library. They were looking to hold grand opening activities and increase student use of newly renovated space beyond the ribbon cutting ceremony.
As students managed their projects, course materials and lectures focused on project management models and the importance of documentation and communication in each. We studied models such as Adaptive, Waterfall, and Agile, with a particular focus on the benefits of Lean as demonstrated in Jeff Gothelf’s book, Lean UX: Applying Lean Principles to Improve User Experience. Students studied the effects of these models and applied them in practice.
We began individually. Each of the seven students wrote scoping proposals for the library committee to consider, drawing up budgets and researching implementation methods. After individual proposals were made, students were paired to own projects through stakeholder interviews, scheduling, research, deliverable development, packaging, and final presentation.
I was partnered with Ali Rairigh. The two of us had been partnered in a previous course where we developed a working relationship of trust and complimentary skill. Together we made Team RAAR. We successfully harmonized our skills, deliverables, and schedules to work in tandem on both proposals. Ali’s project was to research and plan special tours for the grand reopening. My proposal was to generate informational and creative marketing materials to use on websites and social media, perhaps even projecting them on the exterior of the building.
Our projects went through several iterations, downsizing or expanding to fit available resources. Mine, in particular, saw great decreases because of the very limited budget. However, solving problems led to networking connections and research that the library could use in the future. The emails and phone calls I made led to an immediate collaboration between campus departments. When I wasn’t working on my own project, I helped Ali complete hers. Ali’s proposed events came to fruition and the materials we created were put on display.
We executed exemplary work which came to life for Helmke library’s grand re-opening. Effects of our projects will extend into the library’s future in the form of greater awareness, interaction, and cross-departmental campus partnerships.
Contact Beth Boatwright, our primary contact on the library marketing committee, to discuss our Fall 2016 performance directly with a stakeholder.


When the Earth reached the mid-point of the galactic center, we decided to go north to where the spiritual community joins together each night as the crown of the aurora borealis spins around the north pole. The date December 21, 2012 was seen by many to mark the celebration of the middle point of the 25,920-year cycle called the Platonic Year, or the body of the Goddess. When the Earth reaches this galactic mid-point, every 12,960 years, or so, humans can take giant leaps in consciousness and the Earth itself can go through cataclysmic earth changes that accompany this great influx of cosmic energies.
The three substances of salt, mercury and sulphur are the three forms or modes of action in which the universal primordial will is manifesting itself throughout nature, for all things are a trinity bound together in a unity. Each of these forms of will power is an individual power; nevertheless, they are substantial, for “matter” and “force” are one and originate from the same cause.
The three substances, held together in harmonious proportions, constitute health; their disharmony constitutes disease, and their disruption death.
The medieval alchemist knew that if he did not combat his passions in one incarnation, he would be born with a predisposition for illness in the next one, but that if he purified his passions he would enter life in the next incarnation with a predisposition for health. The process of overcoming through spirituality the forces that lead to decay is microcosmic salt formation.
We can understand how a natural process like this occasioned the most reverent prayer.
Dr. Douglas Gabriel presents an opening lecture on his book The Eternal Curriculum for Wisdom Children – the literature and cultural icons needed by Wisdom Children to integrate the development of humanity into a healthy, living, and meaningful world-view. If you enjoyed Dr. Gabriel’s lecture, you might also enjoy his other lecture series located at the links inside.
The heart as central sense organ of the physical and spiritual worlds transforming earthly substance into cosmic food that nourishes self-development.
Artificial intelligence no match for human imagination and creativity. Join master teacher Douglas Gabriel in a discussion about human thinking vs machine functions. His guests are Michael McKibben, Founder and CEO of Leader Technologies and Andrew Linnell, Founder of MysTech
In the third lecture in the series The Quest for Spiritual Paths, Douglas Gabriel discusses the blood relics of Christ and their provenance over the centuries. He also discusses the two Jesus children.
More and more people are having the Damascus experience. A new world is awakening. Are you ready for the journey?
Douglas Gabriel gives a lecture at the Rudolf Steiner House in Ann Arbor, Michigan on Transhumanism on September […]
The Hidden History of the Grail Queens illuminates the primary importance of the Maidens of Wells and the descent of Grail Queens from the Mother of Jesus to the Spanish infantado queens who possessed and guarded the holy blood relics – the grails of the Christians. The essential element of the Holy Lance of Longinus and its provenance is compared to a comprehension historical study of all known associations with the “Spear of Destiny” that pierced the side of Jesus; spear and grail must join together to complete the procession of the Holy Grail.
Tyla and Douglas Gabriel review a conference they attended on vibrational science. They review several modalities and devices that they found effective.
Continue learning about vibrational science, with two more audios that go into more depth about energy, frequency, and vibration.


This is where I talk mostly about Young Adult and New Adult books. Thanks for checking out my reviews :)
One moment of recklessness will change their worlds.
Smart. Responsible. That's seventeen-year-old Breanna's role in her large family, and heaven forbid she put a toe out of line. Until one night of shockingly un-Breanna-like behavior puts her into a vicious cyber-bully's line of fire—and brings fellow senior Thomas "Razor" Turner into her life.
Razor lives for the Reign of Terror motorcycle club, and good girls like Breanna just don't belong. But when he learns she's being blackmailed over a compromising picture of the two of them—a picture that turns one unexpected and beautiful moment into ugliness—he knows it's time to step outside the rules.
And so they make a pact: he'll help her track down her blackmailer, and in return she'll help him seek answers to the mystery that's haunted him—one that not even his club brothers have been willing to discuss. But the more time they spend together, the more their feelings grow. And suddenly they're both walking the edge of discovering who they really are, what they want, and where they're going from here
Again another fantastic read by Katie McGarry!
I think I liked this book slightly better than the first one as there was more drama and tension which made for an entertaining read.
In the first book we were introduced to The Reign of Terror Motorcycle Club but in this book we saw a different side to them. In book 1 we were taught to trust them completely because Oz did, but in this we actually doubted them. There were grey areas to the club that we didn’t get to see previously which I don’t know how I feel about. Yes they are a family and would do anything for each other but they have a lot of rules that can be a bit much to take sometimes like when something is labelled “club business” even when it involves those outside the club.
I loved Breanna and Razor together, although they are completely different they were drawn to qualities mirrored in each other. I also loved that we got to see a lot of Oz, Chevy and Emily in this book :D I did miss Olivia as she was one of my favourite characters from the first book. It would have been nice to see what she thought of Breanna and her relationship with Razor.
I liked the addition of the social media site ‘Bragger’ and how it affected Breanna as today everything is online and blackmailing people with pictures etc is sadly a part of our society. I wasn’t expecting things with Kyle to turn out the way they did but was happy with the turn of events.
I love listening to the playlist after I finish Katie’s books and reliving the feelings and emotions of particular scenes. ‘Blank Space’ was also the perfect song to represent Razor.
I’m so excited to read the next book as I’ve been dying to read Violet and Chevy’s story since ‘Nowhere But Here’!! It’s going to be a long wait until 2017 though :(


Town of Bell Community Center
The Community Center serves the public in many ways: as the town hall, a meeting space, polling place, and library.
The Community Center has three separate spaces available for meetings, events, and activities. Please email firstname.lastname@example.org to request a room reservation.
The Great Room upstairs is the largest space in the Community Center, suitable for larger events such as weddings or public meetings. The room includes a raised stage with a piano and an attached kitchen for catered events. This room may be reserved.
The Learning Center is equipped with tables, chairs, a dry erase board, and a SmartBoard. This room may be reserved.
The Cornucopia Library is volunteer-run and employs a self-checkout system. There are Little Libraries at the Community Center, the artesian well, across from the Sweet Shoppe on Superior Ave, and soon at Siskiwit Lake Campground.


Shropshire's Historic Pubs by Jan Drobzynski
With over 650 to choose from and hundreds visited, the task of selecting a representative number of historic pubs in Shropshire was far from easy, especially since this perfect embodiment of an English county has so many unique establishments worthy of mention. The search to find the choicest pubs took the author through all of the county's towns and villages, along its rivers, over the rugged hills and along Shropshire's lost and forgotten highways and byways.
There were certainly more pubs found that could be put into this book, but sixty of the best were selected as a fair choice. All the pubs represent a particular style, type, or age of establishment and are dispersed throughout the whole county, but above all, they are of the highest standard. Included here are establishments that capture the essence of the wayside inn, the local, riverside mug house, railway and canal pub as well as the increasingly brewery tap house. Suffice it to say the pubs featured in this book are among the best in Shropshire and all certainly have a history and perhaps a tale of the unusual or even the supernatural.
They are whole-heartedly recommended to anyone in search of good beer, a warm welcome and a historical setting.
top of page
bottom of page


Next Monday, we will be holding a special sneak peek and test screening of Song of the Untouchable. This is a great opportunity for fans to not only see the film for the first time, but also give their feedback. Come see what editor Irvin Coffee has been working tirelessly on for months now!
When: Monday, September 26th
Where: Canyon Theater Main Library, Boulder, CO
Free parking located at the 11th and Canyon, and 11th and Arapahoe entrances.


This file, BIABTools.zip, BIABTools.zip (300.0 kB, 13 Nov 2009) contains a program that I wrote to convert certain types of BIAB files to abc. I find
it easier to enter melodies in BIAB, add chords and export to abc for nice, compact
printing for fake and tune books. This can be useful for other types of music, such
as jazz. There is a read-me file in the zip file that explains what you need to do.
I wrote this program SightRead.zip (369.5 kB, 21 Jun 2011) to help me improve my sight-reading.
It might be useful to someone else. You need abcm2ps, ghostscript and ghostview installed on
ABCEditor abceditor.zip (950.9 kB, 06 Nov 2014) from Elizabeth Scarlett
is on this site. This is a multiple document interface (MDI) version of the
popular features of ABCTools and ABCFind. It also provides a GUI interface to
abcm2ps (and the like) and provides a tune index for multiple ABC files. The zip
file has some short instructions for setting up ABCeditor, Ghostscript and the
other files you need to print music.
ABCTools & ABCFind - Programs for working with abc files by Elizabeth
Scarlett. These versions were re-compiled to deal with long file names. ABCtools
lets you make cheat sheets or cards to help remember tunes and sets.
explained - If you are going to use abc you need to read this at least once in
your life or go here where you
will find an excellent tutorial and other material.


Townhall Meeting about MAC formation
OUR MAC is a group of citizens in the Eden Area communities (San Lorenzo, Ashland, Cherryland, Hawyard Acres) that is advocating the formation a Municipal Advisory Council (MAC). They will be hosting several events, including a Town Hall meeting at the San Lorenzo Library, 395 Paseo Grande in San Lorenzo, on Tuesday April 18th from 6 to 8 pm. Come by and hear from the committee about what a MAC is, and how establishing one could benefit the communities.
Click the flyer below for information about all their upcoming events, and see their website for more information about the group.


A group of seasoned translators and interpreters joined forces to create a practical guide to translation students and newcomers to the field. These tips and advice stem from their experiences and are available online, free of charge. The guide addresses our profession in a no-nonsense way, but the book is also encouraging and offers practical hands-on tips about how to make it in our field.
Translator and interpreter are not professions that require official certification (except for court-certified interpreters and authorized translators), so anyone can hang up their shingle as a translator. The majority of translators and interpreters are either solopreneurs or small businesses, this guide tackles the everyday problems of solopreneurs, but inhouse translators may also benefit from the insights.


REQUIRED LISTENING: a musician's personal notes about favorite artists.
JOHN LEE HOOKER
The Ultimate Collection (1948-1990).
John Lee Hooker passed away in 2001, at the age of 83. His life was spent being one of the innovators and creators of the
blues. The GREATS of the genre are defined by the fact that each one had an identifiable SOUND. John Lee Hooker's rhythmic feel
was unique and it stayed that way throughout his entire 60 year recording career. He found his first success with "Boogie
Chillin'" in the late 40s (which laid the ground work for many more great songs). "Crawlin' King Snake,"
"Dimples," "Boom Boom," "Big Legs, Tight Skirt" and "Bottle Up and Go" are all
serious grooves that are almost impossible to emulate. Also included in this collection are some of his fine work with
Canned Heat, "I'm Bad Like Jesse James" and "Burnin' Hell." In the end it all comes down to the John
Lee Hooker groove, that is what makes his music so great. With his passing we have lost one of the last of the original
John Lee Hooker recorded up to the very end of his career. No sitting on laurels here, there's just not enough time for that
sort of nonsense in this life.
posted: June 2004.


Experience is the best teacher. And of course there is no substitute for working with a mentor. However, there are also some excellent books and other resources out there that I highly recommend (as well as a lot of crap that I don’t). I find myself returning to some books again and again for the wealth of knowledge contained within.
Here are my Favorite Ten.
1. Practicing Primitive: A Handbook of Aboriginal Skills
by Steven M. Watts
I find this book ridiculously inspirational. A compilation of years of Steve’s writings, illustrations, and philosophy, Practicing Primitive is probably my #1. While it wasn’t written all at once as a cohesive book, I pour over the details of Steve’s drawings again and again and find the answers I’m looking for. It includes a breadth of skills, an overview of human technological innovation, and the packet for the primitive living intensive that Steve once offered at the Schiele.
by Tom Elpel
A great title for a great book. Tom encourages us to be a part of nature, not apart from it. He uses his musings during a day hike from sunrise to sunset as the guiding metaphor of the skills he covers: fire, shelter, water, tools & weapons, animal processing and more. He merges the primitive with the modern and blends the lines between wilderness survival and primitive living. This is a great introduction to outdoor skills with a primitive angle.
3. Bushcraft: Outdoor Skills and Wilderness Survival
by Mors Kochanski
Kochanski is a bit of a living legend. He popularized the term ‘bushcraft’ and coined the phrase “The more you know, the less you need”. Bushcraft was his original work and covers specific wilderness skills to a depth that’s unrivaled. If you want to learn axecraft, knifecraft, sawcraft, shelter, rope/cordage, and other hard skills related to long-term life and safety in the wilderness, this is the book for you. It’s targeted at life in the northern boreal forests, but most of the book translates to other places.
Also check out our article ‘Choosing The Right Survival Knife That Will Last‘:
4. Earth Knack: Stone Age Skills for the 21st Century
by Bart & Robin Blankenship
I think Bart and Robin are a few of the unsung heroes in the world of primitive skills. They birthed and raised their kids in a tipi, sewed their owed buckskin clothing, made tools – and then wrote this book based on their experience. To this day, I think this book covers some of the basic skills (like making a Stone Age tool kit or twining a willow shoot basket) in an approachable and detailed way that I haven’t seen elsewhere. Better treatment than most of some of the basic truly ‘primitive’ skills.
5. Botany in a Day: The Patterns Method of Plant Identification
by Tom Elpel
THE book that launched me into plant identification in a huge way. Not an ID guide, but more of a fun tome of botanical study, Botanyteaches ID using common patterns in related plants (i.e. a square stem, opposite leaves, aromatic odor = member of the Mint Family, which includes 3,500 species!). In just an hour or two, you can learn Elpel’s 7 introductory plant families – totalling nearly 50,000 individual species of plants worldwide. I mean, damn. This is Gone Feral’s preferred method of teaching plant ID.
6. The Forager’s Harvest and Nature’s Garden
by Samuel Thayer
OK, so I’m squeezing two books into one slot. Sam Thayer changed the face of wild food literature with these books, in two significant and notable ways.
First, the typical plant guide covers hundreds or thousands of single species, but with only a few sentences on each. Thayer covers only a few dozen plants in each of his books, but offers an entire chapter on each plant, from ID and harvesting to preparation, consumption, and preservation.
Second, most of the common field guides are simply reprints of older versions – often handing-down mistakes that were made (and printed) decades ago. Thayer bucks the trend by writing based significantly on his own experience – even harvesting and consuming some ‘known’ poisonous plants. He is well-researched, but writes primarily from first-hand experience.
Note: These are two different books, covering entirely different plants, not new editions of the same book.
If you want to get into plant identification, check out our primer ‘How to Identify Edible Plants – An Introduction‘:
7. 98.6 Degrees: The Art of Keeping Your Ass Alive!
by Cody Lundin
Straight-up survival. You might know Cody as ‘the barefoot guy’ from Dual Survival‘s early seasons. Besides being a character, Cody is smart, witty, and well-researched. 98.6 is uncharacteristically science-based for a skills book. He approaches survival from what actually happens to people (not what Hollywood dreams up) and spends most of the book getting you to understand physiology, heat loss, and the body’s reactions to fear/anxiety – and how & why they effect his strategy for survival. He then presents a ‘kit-based’ approach to surviving. Know that his presentation of the material (specifically the illustrations) may be offensive to some.
8. The Traditional Bowyer’s Bible, Volumes 1-4
by Tim Baker, Jim Hamm, et al.
As the name indicates, this series is The Bible for those interested in walking the path of the traditional bowyer (one who carves bows). If you can’t take a class, this is a fantastic alternative. (Hell, if you can take a class, this series should be on your shelf.) The combined experience of the multiple authors of the first book alone totals over a century. I think of these books as my own mentors: when I have bow issues I haven’t faced before, I crack them open and find my answer.
9. Mammal Tracks & Sign: A Guide to North American Species
by Mark Elbroch
The weight of this one is felt not just in the physical poundage, but in the amount of information and experience that Elbroch packed into nearly 800 pages on tracking: gait patterns, foot morphology, nests/dens, scat, and natural history. If you like to geek out about scat, there’s no shortage of pictures here. Of particular personal interest are the unique diagrams Elbroch includes that corroborates the way an animal is moving with the pattern left behind. This one was another game-changer.
10. Primitive Technology: A Book of Earth Skills and Primitive Technology II: Ancestral Skills
by The Society of Primitive Technology, edited by David Wescott
The Bulletin of Primitive Technologywas a bi-annual publication of the Society of Primitive Technology that ran for 25 years, beginning in 1991. Contributors to The Bulletin included Steve Watts, Tom Elpel, David Wescott, Errett Callahan, Mors Kochanski, Scott Silsby, Tamara Wilder, Norm Kidder, Jim Riggs, Dick Baugh, Dino Labiste, Tim Baker, and many, many, many others.
The first 12 issues of The Bulletinwere reprinted in the form of these two books: Primitive Technology I & II.
A wide array of experiential primitive skills and experimental archaeology as well as ethnographic research is presented within these pages: stone, bone, and wood tools, boats, shelters, edible & medicinal plants, basketry, hide tanning, and more.
These books represent a great resource for those interested in primitive, earth, or ancestral skills from a variety of voices.
And lastly, if you’re interested in learning a breadth and depth of primitive skills, bushcraft & survival, try out a free two-week trial of our online, place-based, independent study program THE PACK.
So those are my Top 10 Favorite Outdoor Skills Books!
We always recommend that you borrow or buy used when you can. However, if you plan to buy any of these titles from Amazon, please consider using the links above. Gone Feral will receive a small percentage of each sale, at no additional cost to you.
Thanks for your support – and happy reading (practicing).
Founder & Director


This stunning book shows how to recreate hairstyles from the 1930s, 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s and breaks them down into simple, easy-to-follow instructions.
Vintage Hairstyling: Retro Styles with Step-by-Step Techniques is your go-to guide to re-creating hairstyles from the 1920s-1960s.
This 2nd Edition takes hairstyles from the 1920s, '30s, '40s, '50s and '60s and breaks them down into simple, easy-to-follow instructions. It uses over 700 photographs for directions and explains each step in detail.
The Finished Styles chapter of the book contains high-quality images of modern-day models with their finished hairstyles. Throughout the book are interesting facts about the history of hairstyling, origins of styles, and information about starlets and performers who made the styles popular.
This 200-page full-color book has 6 main chapters. The book begins with the basics of styling and works its way back to advanced techniques. It also provides information on makeup, nails, and accessories for a finished look.
- 2nd Edition
- Chapter 1 describes the tools and products used throughout the book
- Chapter 2 offers detailed instructions on creating different curls, including the pin curl
- Chapter 3 shows how to comb the curls for the effect including creating fingerwaves, Marcel waves, victory rolls, pompadours, and waves from pin curls
- Chapter 4 provides step-by-step start-to-finish detailed instructions for 33 different hairstyles created with different hair lengths and textures
- Imported from the USA


Email: email@example.com 43rd St. S. #103
Literacy is a complex relationship of sounds and symbols used to communicate meaning. It includes reading, writing, speaking, listening and analytical thinking. Literacy development begins at birth and continues throughout life. Ensuring that all learners have equitable access to literacy attainment is a collective community responsibility (ND Department of Public Instruction Literacy Plan definition).
Literacy gives a person the ability to navigate the world with dignity. The ability to read, write, and comprehend is critical to taking control of our own lives and advocating for ourselves, for our families, and for our communities. When people aren’t equipped with those skills, they’re left with limited options in life.
New technologies, such as fMRI brain scans, help us understand the science of how the brain learns to read and the instructional practices to support that learning. This emerging research is referred to as “the science of reading” (SoR). SoR offers educators, students, and families in North Dakota hope that 95% of students can read proficiently by the end of the decade.
The SEEC's belief in evidence-based research to inform and guide its work is very apparent when it comes to the Science of Reading (SoR). This page serves as a place to understand your knowledge base around SoR and how the SEEC is applying regarding professional development available to schools (ND Department of Public Instruction SoR).
We aim to increase the use of evidence-based methods in our state, so every student becomes a skilled and confident reader.
Starting the Conversation
The SEEDS of Early Literacy is an educational framework. The SEEDS acronym represents what matters most - quality interactions between children and adults. When children engage in SEEDS quality interactions, they are more likely to enjoy learning and continue on the road toward language and literacy.
Content area specialists are uniquely positioned to contribute to a student's literacy outcomes. This course will affirm the value of music educators, physical education educators, library media specialists, school counselors, and other educators who don't teach reading directly of their importance in a student learning to read. Intended audience: K-3 educators who do not teach reading directly (Art, PE, Library, Music, etc.)
North Dakota Reading Corps, a strategic initiative of South East Education Cooperative, demonstrates how national service and literacy science can accelerate improvement in both students and systems. By mobilizing the people power of AmeriCorps, Reading Corps provides evidence-based literacy interventions and data-based assessments to children from age three to grade three. Our goal is to help every child become a successful reader by the end of 3rd grade.
The project's goals are to familiarize with and implement research-based literacy strategies that will increase student achievement for ALL learners.
This course will provide participants with a framework for writing instruction that can be used in all grade levels and content areas—including elementary and middle/high school content area educators.
Because the approach taught in this course relies on mentor texts and explicit instruction, this will contrast with a writer's workshop and process model.
A three-part learning series designed to provide educators with the knowledge, skills, and tools necessary to address a variety of students' needs in reading. Sessions will focus on Reading Foundations, Assessment, and Intervention.
This course is designed for educators who are committed to learning about the connection between reading and research, theoretical models of reading, and best practices for language and literacy instruction in the classroom. Intended audience: K-3, reading, special education, and English learner teachers that teach reading directly; K-3 principals; and Instructional Coaches leading literacy work.
Good news - approximately 90-95% of all K-3 students can achieve literacy skills at or approaching grade level! Bad news - it takes approximately 17 years to turn 14% of original research into practice for the benefit of students. In this course, district and school-level instructional leaders will be provided with the scientifically based knowledge and tools needed to close the research-to-practice gap.
LETRS® provides K-12 educators with an in-depth understanding of the science behind teaching literacy and gives them the background and depth of knowledge to teach language and literacy skills to every student. Designed to be the cornerstone of a multiyear, systemic literacy improvement initiative, LETRS® is the most respected comprehensive professional development course for instructors of reading, spelling, and related language skills.
This opportunity consists of 3 parts: watching a pre-recorded informational video, attending a synchronous Zoom meeting, and an optional in-person browsing experience.


June 11, 2021 – It is time again for one of my book recommendations, and I think this wonderful book would make an excellent read this weekend. It is quite a long book, so it may take you more than a few days to read it. It is packed full of wisdom anyone who enjoys history and philosophy will truly appreciate Christ the Eternal Tao by Hieromonk Damascene.
Hieromonk Damascene was originally a Buddhist who considered himself a follower of the Zen tradition. Nonetheless, he still felt an emptiness, something missing in his soul. All that changed when at college he met a group of Eastern Orthodox Christians at U.C. Santa Cruz. They invited him to listen to a lecture by the legendary Father Seraphim Rose, an amazing scholar and priest. After this meeting, Father Damascene made many pilgrimages to Fr. Seraphim’s monastery in the secluded Northern California wilderness. Through these visits, he learned the truth about God and he developed a dialogue with Father Seraphim, which ultimately led to Fr. Seraphim becoming his Spiritual Father. These experiences led Fr. Damascene to write Christ the Eternal Tao. Father Damascene sought, with this book, to create a new way of seeing Christ and to provide a new language to express His message.
“There exists a Being undifferentiated and complete,
Born before heaven and earth.
Abiding alone and changing not,
Encircling everything without exhaustion.
Fathomless, it seems to be the Source of all things.
I do not know its name,
But characterize it as the Tao.”
—Lao Tzu, Tao Teh Ching
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”
– John 1:1-5
“Christ the Eternal Tao” looks at the work of ancient wisdom by Lao Tzu, the Tao Teh Ching, and presents it alongside parts of scripture and the revelation of Jesus Christ. Arguing that Lao Tzu was himself a eastern prophet of the incarnate God, the juxta-positioning examines his work as a foreshadowing of what Christ would reveal.
Comparing the New Testament with the Tao Teh Ching and presenting it through the eyes of Lao Tzu, creates a whole new meaning. I think the book demonstrates a definitive connection between the two, and then it goes on to provide a breakdown of that history of revelation.
It delves into the mystery of the Holy Trinity or “Triad” and offers modern advice from Eastern Orthodox teachers and monks. It is an incredible study in comparative religion that looks at whether the two are compatible.
Hieromonk Damascene believes the two concepts of the Logos and Tao too similar to be a coincidence. He believes that ultimately these two things were striving towards the same understanding and ultimate reality. However Father Damascene does confirm that Christians have a firmer understanding of the concept, but he does not condemn Taoism as it was formulated before Christ’s incarnation. Thus they were grasping at a reality that they could only understand through observation, contemplation and self examination.
Here are some excerpts from the book that I think you will find intriguing:
This is an icon of the Chinese Orthodox Martyrs killed during the Boxer Rebellion.
The Chinese translates the word Logos as Tao.
The forward explains why the embarkment on this study is both worthwhile and relevant to Christians.
The first chapter looks at how the Greek and Chinese philosophers were coming to some of the same ideas and revelations around the same time, despite being on opposite sides of the world.
Here Father Damascene differentiates between what in an earlier age Lao Tzu could intuit through observation and what Christians later revealed through divine revelation — what once was only just grasped at is made complete in a later age.
Father Damascene presents the Nine Ennead and then he goes on to explain the similarity to Christ.
Hieromonk Damascene then tries to explain the revelation of Christ through the eyes of Lao Tzu.
Here he beautifully presents Christ, as Lao Tzu would conceive of Him.
He explains here that Christ is the I AM.
I encourage and implore you to take the time to read the whole book. It can be purchased in paperback form on Amazon or from Orthodox websites, if you do not want to give Amazon your business. I recommend ordering it from Orthodox sellers, as Amazon is anti-Christian.
The book serves as a guide to aligning oneself with Christ and trying to live as He did. Ultimately, whether or not that is possible in this fallen world is debatable but we can try. It gets into discussions on our inner being and inner peace and how to attain it by way of the Orthodox faith — inward reflection, gaining control over the passions and desires, and killing the ego.
Finally, drawing on the similar ideas of Taoism and Christianity it serves as a practical spiritual guide for Christians. It strives to guide the reader toward spiritual transformation leaning into Eastern Orthodoxy. It provides images and stories of the Orthodox Saints, recollecting some of their thoughts and examples for us to apply.
There are passages on peaceful prayers that encourage inner tranquility, and ease the anxious into rest. Father Damascene has sections on sober watchfulness (metanoia) and on the proper use and the misuse of the ancient and powerful Jesus Prayer.
All in all, while it does focus on a lot of ancient material it also relates to our modern times, addressing some of the issues we face now. I think that it is a perfect weekend read!
If you are interested, there is an online PDF version you can download for free, but I prefer a physical copy that I can hold in my hands, and highlight.
Warm yourself up a pot of tea, go outside on the back porch and start reading! You don’t even have to read the book in a linear fashion, you can skim the book and read passages that you find compelling and meaningful. I can guarantee there is something for everyone. Enjoy!


The Democracy Saga
There are bookshelves full of academic arguments for participatory democracy; recommending a greater role for the citizens in their own governance. None of these has excited the imagination of the people. My approach is to present the arguments in story form, with believable characters and scenarios that will illustrate the feasibility of upgrading our political system in America. I want my fellow Citizens to read these stories, identify with the characters and then indignantly ask why such improvements have yet to be made. Hopefully, an “edutainment” approach will provide the missing spark. The prospective audience for The Democracy Saga is everyone who is disenchanted with America’s present political system. That number grows daily.
The major parties stumble just as a new movement challenges politics as usual. T. J. Carroll is elected President on the promise to take America's democracy to a new level. That was the easy part. Now he has to battle Congress to return to the Citizenry some of the powers they had lost over time. If he can maneuver the professional politicians into passing the proposed amendment, voters will no longer be allowed to only choose between Bad Candidate A and Worse Candidate B. They will directly determine the policies that affect their lives.
The Ninth Caucus
With passage of Amendment XXIX, the Caucus comes into existence. Millions of conscientious Americans volunteer to serve. Christine Whitcomb is amazed when she is randomly selected to sit on the Ninth Caucus. Over a period of weeks, she and six other diverse Citizens struggle to agree on a national policy proposal worthy of a nation-wide referendum. Many of the ideas from previous Caucus groups had failed to gain popular support. Finally, they arrive at a proposal that will truly define the course of the nation for the next century.
The Third Convention
At President Carroll's urging, the Citizenry agrees with the Ninth Caucus that a new constitutional convention must be convened to better define the responsibilities of the four branches of government. Each state is encouraged to select three wise delegates, preferably with no history of party affiliation. Diligent planning by a Presidential Commission, which includes the First Lady, yields an efficient and productive event, conducted with exemplary civility. The nation is gifted a new foundation document, worthy of the twenty-first century.
A Note From the Author
My saga began over thirty years ago when I started writing a movie script titled “Mr. Smith Returns to Washington”. It was meant to be a sequel to the timeless Frank Capra movie which gave us hope that Washington could be fixed if only one brave soul would stand up to it. However, Hollywood failed to recognize the importance of the work (I know – I was shocked too) , so I began converting it to a novel.
The fight that my Mr. Smith waged was to get an amendment passed that would move America to a higher form of democracy. The novel was retitled "Amendment XXIX". It introduced the key innovation (The Caucus) that would allow the Citizenry to play a strong role in their own governance. ( Yes, I am aware that there are only 27 amendments on the books now. I had hoped the Equal Rights Amendment might finally be added by now.)
On completion of the first novel, I realized that I needed to illustrate just how this new component of government would function. A first edition of "The Ninth Caucus" got its cover in 2017. Somewhere along the way, the story began to write itself and the characters came to life in the virtual reality I had built for them. But -- the way The Ninth Caucus ended, it begged for an additional volume to complete the trajectory of the story.
The Third Convention developed fairly quickly and, quite honestly, I felt at times like my hand was being guided. The catch was that now the first two books needed revision to ensure consistency and to fill in some gaps in the story. So, the script grew into a trilogy, a set of three novels that tells the story of everyday heroes as they take their country back from the professional political class and re-establish the USA as the world’s leading Democracy. I pray that this legacy gift helps achieve that purpose.