personally, I think we are way past due for some healthier examples of Pop Stars. Sick *is* just plain Sick. Stodgy Old Me > OOOOOOHHHHHHH YYYYEAAH!!!! > > When friends meet, hearts warm...proverb > >

Our Friends the United Way http://www.cnsnews.com/ViewNation.asp?Page=%5CNation%5Carchive%5C200111%5CNAT20011108e.html CNSNews.com reports that the September 11th Fund--affiliated with the United Way and intended to help the victims of Sept. 11--has donated $177,000 to the Legal Aid Society, which is "aiding in the legal defense of eight suspects detained in Brooklyn, N.Y. as a result of the government's investigation into the terrorist attacks."

Michael Mewhinney Nov. 13, 2001 NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, Calif. Gregory Slabodkin SGI Lynn Chandler NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greembelt, Md. RELEASE: 01-86AR 1,024 SUPERCOMPUTER MAKES MORE ACCURATE CLIMATE ASSESSMENTS NASA scientists can now evaluate the global impact of natural and human-induced activities on climate and better predict probable climate patterns in the future, thanks to the world's first 1,024-processor supercomputer. The newly installed 1,024-processor machine at NASA's Ames Research Center in California's Silicon Valley, along with a 512-processor supercomputer at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md., are producing a 10-fold improvement in Earth science applications. Scientists say the performance gains achieved on these supercomputing systems will allow the United States to develop objective policies for large, future industrial activities, such as urban planning, and for examining alternative plans for urban development. The supercomputers -- SGI Origin 3800 machines -- also can portray current climate more quantitatively and simulate future global warming scenarios. "The new 1024-processor SGI Origin 3800 supercomputer at NASA Ames will lead to faster and better development of climate models for the Earth science community, government and industry," said William Feiereisen, chief of the NASA Advanced Supercomputing (NAS) division at Ames. "We have improved our ability to merge observed data and simulation by a factor of 10 with considerably greater increases in the core climate solver. Such a substantial increase in performance allows Earth scientists to complete climate simulations in days, rather than months, leading to a better understanding of how human activity has changed climate patterns." For the past three years, NASA Ames and SGI have been testing the limits of single-system-image shared memory, in which all processors share the supercomputer's memory as if it were a single entity, to improve performance significantly over other clustered architectures. A series of joint research agreements between SGI and NASA Ames has resulted in SGI expanding the original SGI Origin 2000 product offering from 128 to 512 CPUs, and most recently from 512 to 1,024 CPUs for the SGI Origin 3000 product line. "The new techniques have demonstrated a development path that will allow us to move forward to100-times performance improvements over the next few years," said James Taft, co-director of the Advanced Computing Technologies Group at Ames. "At these performance levels, we can begin to execute climate simulations at truly high resolution, while taking advantage of the huge data streams emerging from the latest Earth resources satellites." To improve the prediction capabilities of the climate models, the 1,024-processor SGI Origin 3800 supercomputer at NASA Ames assimilates thousands of gigabytes of observational data from the whole Earth to create a database for verifying the physics of the computer model. NASA Ames then backs up a few years and runs the climate model to see how good its predictions are. The computer models then can be adjusted to improve their accuracy for future predictions. A memorandum of agreement with NASA Ames placed a separate 512-processor SGI Origin 3800 supercomputer at NASA Goddard, which is only the second site in the world to put an SGI Origin 3800 of this type into production. "This collaboration between Goddard and Ames to acquire the latest supercomputing technology grants NASA scientists a significant new capability for understanding the intricacies of our planet's climate system," said Dr. Ghassem Asrar, Associate Administrator for the Office of Earth Sciences, NASA Headquarters, Washington, D.C. "For instance, the Goddard Institute for Space Studies has been able to complete in two months research that would have taken six months on their previous computing platform. This latest supercomputing technology will grant NASA scientists a significant new capability for understanding the intricacies of our planet's climate system and being able to simulate them," Asrar added. The primary user of the new SGI Origin 3800 supercomputer is Goddard's Data Assimilation Office (DAO), which is preparing for the Aqua satellite by building NASA's next-generation software for incorporating observations into global climate models. Data assimilation uses observations from satellites and other sources to define the physical processes that make up weather and climate. "With the SGI Origin 3800, NASA will more than double the amount of data it ingests to 800,000 observations each day," said Dr. Richard B. Rood, DAO senior scientist and acting director of the NASA-NOAA Joint Center for Satellite Data Assimilation. "We will also integrate assimilation systems for several satellites so that, like the real Earth, the impact of one type of data will be felt by another type of data." The SGI Origin 3800's processing power, along with the multi-level parallelism (MLP) software developed by Taft, which takes advantage of its unique memory design, will enable the DAO climate models to run more than four times faster and at double the resolution. Climate models divide the globe into a grid of stacked boxes, solving the relevant equations in each box and then assembling the full results. With a box only 1/2-degree wide (or 30 miles over the continental United States), the model will more faithfully represent atmospheric conditions worldwide for periods as long as 15 years. "These advances will reduce uncertainties in the climate assessments that are an essential ingredient of the U.S. Global Change Research Program," Rood noted. - end - To receive Ames news releases, send an email with the word "subscribe" in the subject line to: [email protected] To unsubscribe, send an email to the same address with "unsubscribe" in the subject line. Also, the NASA Ames News homepage at URL, http://amesnews.arc.nasa.gov includes news releases and JPEG images in AP Leaf Desk format minus embedded captions

This was forwarded to me by a friend who watched and video taped the congressional hearings at the time. Too bad we did not pay more attention to Ollie North at the time. We were captivated by our media and liberal politicos who made fun of Ollie. At a UNC lecture the other day they played a video of Oliver North during the Iran-Contra deals during the Reagan administration. There was Ollie in front of God and Country getting the third degree. But what he said was stunning. He was being drilled by some senator. ------------------ 'Did you not recently spend close to $60,000 for a home security system?' Oliver replied, 'Yes I did sir.' The senator continued, trying to get a laugh out of the audience, 'Isn't this just a little excessive?' 'No sir,' continued Oliver. 'No. And why not?' 'Because the life of my family and I were threatened.' 'Threatened? By who.' 'By a terrorist, sir.' 'Terrorist? What terrorist could possibly scare you that much?' 'His name is Osama bin Laden.' At this point the senator tried to repeat the name, but couldn't pronounce it, which most people back then probably couldn't. A couple of people laughed at the attempt. Then the senator continued. 'Why are you so afraid of this man?' 'Because sir, he is the most evil person alive that I know of.' 'And what do you recommend we do about him?' 'If it were me I would recommend an assassin team be formed to eliminate him and his men from the face of the earth.'

I was watching his new video last night and creepy isn't a strong enough word! He's passed into ghoulish!! His face looks like it's melting and it just isn't human anymore!! [email protected] wrote: > OOOOOOHHHHHHH YYYYEAAH!!!! >

MMMMM----- Recipe via Meal-Master (tm) v8.05 Title: Smoking Salmon and Trout Part I - Caring for the Catch Categories: Fish, Smoked, Info, Salmon, Trout Yield: 1 text file Fish begins to spoil the minute you land it. Enzymes and bacteria go to work immediately especially in the slime, gills and intestines. To reduce spoilage and maintain flavor you must bleed, clean and cool fish quickly. ~1- Remove the slime and scale [if applicable] as soon as possible. ~2- Cut the throat and remove the gills. The intestines can wait a few hours. -3- Remove the intestines. Save the liver, roe and milt. Remove the kidney, that dark streak along the backbone by cutting away the covering membrane on either side of the kidney, where it is attached to the flesh. Then scrape out the kidney. -4- The head may stay on but remove the head now if you have to save cooler space. Leave the lug bone, that boney plate behind the head if you are going to smoke the fish as the lug will support the handling cord. -5- Cool the fish to close to freezing with chipped ice. Make sure that there is a layer of ice between every layer of fish in the cooler. Careless handling can bruise fish. Use a net if possible; if gaffing, gaff the least valuable part- the stomach if possible. If using a fish club to kill quickly and prevent threshing, one sharp blow to the head is enough. Rigor Mortis: a dead fish will stiffen but in time will relax again unless it goes into accelerated rigor form being too warm. If you try to straighten out a fish in Rigor or the fish goes into heat induced Rigor, you will tear the flesh disturbing the appearance and allowing succulent juices to escape. Prevent Rigor damage with prompt cooling and filleting before or after the fish has passed through rigor but not during it. Cooling: Ice has a terrific ability to absorb heat when it melts as it took a tremendous amount of heat removal to freeze the water in the first place. 2 lb of ice melting will do the same job of cooling as 37 lb of block ice or extremely cold water. Chipped ice will melt faster and therefore chill fish quicker than block ice. Pack the belly cavity of cleaned fish and make sure there is a layer of ice between every layer of fish. To transport frozen fish you need dry ice or Eutectic ice, as melting ice would thaw frozen fish. Eutectic ice is a solution of 23% salt by weight and 77% water by weight, which freezes at 0 deg F. [-18 deg C.], in a breakproof plastic container. You can buy these or make your own. Extracted from: Smoking Salmon & Trout by Jack Whelan. Published by: Airie Publishing, Deep Bay, B.C. ISBN: 0-919807-00-3 Posted by: Jim Weller MMMMM MMMMM----- Recipe via Meal-Master (tm) v8.05 Title: Smoking Salmon and Trout Part Ii - Filleting And Boning Categories: Smoked, Info, Bbq, Salmon, Trout Yield: 1 text file A very sharp knife [and a whet stone and a sharpening steel nearby] is essential. ~1- Skin on Fillets: Begin at the vent [anus] making a cut on either side of the anal fin just deep enough to reach the backbone. make these cuts all the way back to the tail. Start the next cut where the head has been removed on top of the backbone. Cut through the fish, from back to belly, lengthways right down to the tail. You will run into the belly bones which get tougher as the fish gets bigger. Here is where the *sharp* knife comes in; it must be able to cut through the belly bones easily. As you continue the cut from head to tail work the knife along the backbone with the cutting edge slightly slanted towards the bone. Remove the first fillet, turn the fish over and cut the second fillet. There should be very little meat left on the backbone. Now the belly bones can be removed without loosing any meat. this leaves you a boneless fillet except for the line of long, thin bones just above where the backbone used to be. You can feel their sharp ends with your fingertip. These last bones can be lifted out in a strip by making a cut on either side of the row _just_ to the skin. This final deboning will somewhat spoil the fillet in appearance and utility when making smoked products that are thinly sliced. A more finicky method is to remove these bones one at a time with small needle nose pliars. If the bones don't pull out of the flesh readily, you can do it after smoking. ~2- Easy Skinless Fillets: [This section by JW not the author.] Most smoke recipes call for skin on fillets but for sauteeing, frying, poaching and grilling fresh fish the easiest way to get a skinless fillet with just a little waste is as follows: Start with whole fish, uncleaned and head on. Make the first cut just below the gills done to the backbone at a slight angle. Turn the knife and cut along the backbone to the tail at a slight angle so as to "float" over the belly bones. Stop just short of the tail and peel back the skin-on fillet without tearing it away from where it is attached to the fish at the tail. Lay the fillet on the table skin side down and start a cut at the tail. Cut down to but not through the skin and turn the blade sideways. Cut the fillet away from the skin and continue back up the fillet to the other end. Turn over the fish and repeat. Be careful throughout not to puncture the intestines, bladder or stomach. You should now have two skinless fillets with the guts still attached to the carcass. This way you do not have to scale or clean and you loose only a small amount of meat and belly skin. This works best on larger fish say 4 lb and up. -JW ~3- Defatting Fat Fish: Salmon and trout are fat fish and you *may* want to defat them for various reasons- to adhere to a low fat diet or remove contaminants that may be concentrated in the fat tissues of fish from certain waters. To do this, when you fillet, leave plenty of meat on the backbone where the meat is especially fat. Cut off the belly portion. Skin the fillet leaving about 1/8" meat on the skin. Make cuts on either side of the lateral line, lift it out and discard it. ~4- Boning Small Trout: French Presentation I - Through the back with the belly uncut. Start by snipping the fins off with scissors. With a small knife cut the gills loose at the throat. With your fingers pull the gills loose along with most of the intestines. Make a cut along one side of the backbone, working the meat loose from the bone and all the way to the belly without cutting the belly skin. Repeat on the other side. with scissors snip the backbone as close to the tail as possible and then again at the head. Now you can finish cleaning the belly cavity with your fingers and the fish with head and tail on is ready for smoking or cooking. French Presentation II- Boning through the belly. After cleaning, start by making a cut from the vent, along each side of the backbone to the tail. Then work the meat loose from the ribcage and along the backbone to but not through the skin of the back. Then snip off the backbone close to the tail. Pull the bone free up to the head and snip off. Scissor off the fins. Ready for smoking or cooking. Extracted from: Smoking Salmon & Trout by Jack Whelan. Published by: Airie Publishing, Deep Bay, B.C. ISBN: 0-919807-00-3 Posted by: Jim Weller MMMMM MMMMM----- Recipe via Meal-Master (tm) v8.05 Title: Smoking Salmon and Trout Part Iii - Smoking Fish Categories: Smoked, Info, Trout, Canadian, Salmon Yield: 1 text file There are several methods that fall into two overall categories: Hot smoked [cooked] methods include barbequed, kippered, smoked-canned and small whole fish and Cold Smoked [below 85 deg F] include Scotch/ Irish/Norwegian/Nova Scotian style, Lox, Indian or hard smoked, pickled-smoked, Seelachs and smoked roes & livers. Cold smoked products are still raw, deeply colored, with a texture like cured ham and can be thinly sliced without crumbling. Hot smoked products are colored on the outside only and will flake like other styles of cooked fish. Barbecued: or smoke-cooked fish is made in a pre-heated covered barbecue or a box-and-hotplate smoker. The fish is cooked in a smoky atmosphere without preliminary cold smoking or prior conditioning. Kippered: fish are conditioned before hot smoking by first drying the fish in barely warm air, then bringing it up to cooking temperature gradually to improve its appearance and quality. Canning: fish is first lightly smoked by putting it into a pre- heated smoker. High temperatures are used to draw the oil out to the surface. The smoking is light as the flavor will intensify during the pressure cooking stage. The fish should also be further dried before canning. Cold smoked: is known variously as Scotch, Irish, Norwegian or nova Scotian smoked and is appreciated by gourmets more than any other method. The fish are salted before smoking and is still raw although it is cured when finished. Lox: or Lachs [German] can mean many things- traditionally fresh fish lightly salted and mildly smoke cured [therefore still needing refrigeration and is perishable], recently frozen fish thawed, salt-sugar cured and lightly smoked [Nova Lax] and even salt-sugar cured and unsmoked. Hard smoked: jerky like and so dehydrated that it does not need refrigeration; based on traditional Native Indian preparations of cutting fillets into thin strips. These strips are partially dried by wind on sunny days or by fan in a dehydrator or a force draft smoker and smoked for only a portion of the drying time. Pickle-smoked: fish are pickled before smoking. This is a good way to enhance the taste of lean fish that do not otherwise smoke well. Seelachs: or ersatz salmon are salted, sliced thin, then dyed and smoked white fish. The Smoking Process: When fish is smoked it is also dried which improves the keeping qualities and improves the texture. Hot smoking also cooks the fish. The steps are filleting, cutting, salting, curing, smoking and final preservation. Filleting exposes more flesh to salt and smoke and allows faster drying. Whole fish unless small take a long unpredictable time to do. Small whole fish benefit from having the skin slit to allow penetration. Large sides of fish salt and smoke easier if the fillet is chunked into pieces according to thickness. Individual pieces can then be salted, smoked and dried for varying times according to the thickness of each piece. Thick pieces can be used for lox and Scotch smoked that are later thinly sliced crosswise for presentation and thin pieces hot or hard smoked, kippered, canned for serving whole. Salt: is necessary for flavor, relasing moisture from the fish thereby drying ut and for modifying [firming up] the flesh so that it can be thin sliced when serving. N.B. Use only PURE pickling salt not rock salt of unknown purity or table salt that contains additives. Curing: is the process of draining off the brine and partially drying the fish. The flavor develops fully during this waiting time [ of up to 24 hours] before actually smoking. Smoking: is generally done today in forced draft units to get a uniform amount of smoke onto all the fish. Natural draft smokers are unpredictable, variable and have no natural updraft in hot waether unless the smoker is set over 85 deg which results in poor quality and cooked fish. Final preservation is important because smoked fish, except for hard smoked, is still perishable. We salt and smoke lightly for [mild] flavor and not for preservation. Therefore refrigerate [up to three weeks max], freeze or can promptly. Extracted from: Smoking Salmon & Trout by Jack Whelan. Published by: Airie Publishing, Deep Bay, B.C. ISBN: 0-919807-00-3 Posted by: Jim Weller MMMMM MMMMM----- Recipe via Meal-Master (tm) v8.05 Title: Smoking Salmon and Trout Part Iv - Scotch Smoking Prepara Categories: Fish, Smoked, Info, Salmon, Trout Yield: 1 text file This method is first as it is the most well known and the best; it is also the most complex. Scotch smoking can be done to a whole side, that is a large skin-on fillet or to several pieces cut according to thickness which is easier. Don't brine a whole side as the thinner parts- the tail and belly get too much salt. Dry salt instead- this allows you to place a specific amount of salt on each part of the side according to its thickness. Let the developing brine drain off. With pieces you can brine for varying times according to thickness. For dry salting use plain pickling salt not a mixture to condition the flesh so it can be thinly sliced for serving. Other flavors can be added after. When brining pieces sugar and spices can be added to the brine if you want. Dry salting whole sides: Cut thick [over 4"] fillets into two slices OR inject brine into the thickest portion with a pumping needle. Injection brine should be made up in the ratio of 1 1/4 c salt per quart water, cooled to 60 deg F and injected before applying the dry salt. Score or cut just through the skin into the fatty tissues beneath [slashes] in several places with a sharp knife or a razor blade to promote salt penetration and apply the salt. Rub salt into the scores, lay the fillet down on a 1/4" bed of salt in a tray and palce salt on the top of the fillet- from a 1/2" on the thickest part to just a sprinkling on the tail. Slant the tray so that the brine that develops flows away from the thin belly meat. Fatty fish take longer to salt as they contain proportionately less water. DRY SALT TIMES :Fillet Thickness Fat Fish Lean Fish : 3/4" 9 hrs 5 hrs : 1" 12 hrs 7 hrs : 1 1/4" 15 hrs 8.5 hrs : 1 1/2" 18 hrs 10 hrs : 2" 24 hrs 13 hrs : 2 1/2" 30 hrs 17 hrs : 3" 36 hrs 20 hrs With experience you can tell by feel; a moderately fat fish will loose 10% of its weight. When touched with a fore finger the flesh should feel firm and spring back when pressed. After salting you can use a special Scotch sugar-rum cure or a finishing brine. Scotch sugar-rum cure: rince the dry salt off the side. Drain and cure it in a cool place for 6 hours. Rub it with vegetable oil [olive or peanut preferred] and let it stand another 6 hours in a cool place. Rub off the oil with a rum soaked cloth. Cover the side with brown sugar just as you did the dry salt and let it stand another 6 hours. Then wipe off the sugar, coat it with oil again and let stand 6 hours. Wipe off the oil again with a rum soaked cloth and proceed to smoke. Finishing brine: If not using the scotch sugar-rum cure, use a finishing brine to take away some of the hardness caused by the dry salt and finish distributing the salt through the fish. Make finishing brine in the ratio of 11 oz salt to 4 qt water and leave the side in the brine for 20 min for a 3/4" fillet up to 90 min for a 2" thick fillet. Drain the side skin side down making sure the brine can drain away so there are no salt deposits on the fish. A salt gloss will form and the flesh will cure. Allow to cure overnight 12 hours or even more. Extracted from: Smoking Salmon & Trout by Jack Whelan. Published by: Airie Publishing, Deep Bay, B.C. ISBN: 0-919807-00-3 Posted by: Jim Weller MMMMM MMMMM----- Recipe via Meal-Master (tm) v8.05 Title: Smoking Salmon and Trout Part V - Scotch Smoking Prep Con Categories: Fish, Smoked, Info, Salmon, Trout Yield: 1 text file Wet brining pieces for Scotch smoking: You can use a plain brine or a sugar-spice-salt brine. Plain brine: prepare in the same ratio as injection brine above. Cool brine to below 50 F and keep the fish and brine cool throughout the process. PLAIN SALT BRINING TIMES :Piece thickness Fat fish Lean fish : 3/4" 2 hrs 1 1/3 hrs : 1" 3 hrs 2 hrs : 1 1/4" 4 hrs 2 2/3 hrs : 1 1/2" 5 hrs 3 1/3 hrs : 1 3/4" 6 hrs 4 hrs : 2" 8 hrs 5 1/3 hrs : 2 1/2" * 10 hrs 6 2/3 hrs : 3" * 12 hrs 8 hrs * These thicker pieces will benefit from brine injection with a needle. Salt-sugar-spice brine: ratio 4 1/2 c pickling salt and 1 1/2 c white or brown sugar to 4 qt water. Add, adjusting to taste, 50 bay leaves or 2 tb mace or 8 tsp peeper or 5 tb juniper berries. simmer the spices in brine 45 min. Strain brine through a cloth, discard spices and cool the brine. SUGAR-SPICE-SALT BRINING TIMES :Piece thickness Fat fish Lean fish : 3/4" 2 1/2 hrs 1 1/2 hrs : 1" 3 1/2 hrs 2 1/2 hrs : 1 1/4" 4 3/4 hrs 3 1/4 hrs : 1 1/2" 6 hrs 4 hrs : 1 3/4" 7 1/4 hrs 4 3/4 hrs : 2" 9 1/2 hrs 6 1/2 hrs : 2 1/2" 12 hrs 8 hrs : 3" 14 1/4 hrs 9 1/2 hrs These times are just a guide; each fish is different. When done the flesh will be firm enough for slicing and feel like the lean part of a slab of bacon when pressed between the thumb and forefinger. After brining, place the fish pieces skin side down so they can drain. Tilt the drain trays so that the brine runs off the fish to prevent salt deposit build up on the fish. cure 12 hrs at a temp below 70 F Extracted from: Smoking Salmon & Trout by Jack Whelan. Published by: Airie Publishing, Deep Bay, B.C. ISBN: 0-919807-00-3 Posted by: Jim Weller MMMMM MMMMM----- Recipe via Meal-Master (tm) v8.05 Title: Smoking Salmon and Trout Part Vi - Scotch Smoking Categories: Fish, Smoked, Info, Salmon, Trout Yield: 1 text file How to Scotch smoke: the properly salted and cured salmon now needs smoke color and flavor and sufficient drying for good taste and texture. Often the fish needs more drying time than smoking time to avoid aan overly smoky flavor. In smokers with suppementary heat drying can continue after smoking at the same temp -85 deg F. In smokers without supplementary heat use a small clear fire with as little smoke as possible. The amount of color depends not on the amount of smoke deposited but the temp. Smoking Sequence: -Smoke for sufficient color. -Dry further without smoke to firm up if neccessary. -Give the fish a polished look. ~Sweat the fish to firm up. -Refrigerate for further firming. Smoking:- In a forced draft smoker, smoke temp at 85 F, time 10-12 hrs, smoke density medium. in a natural draft smoker, 85 deg, up to 24 hrs depending on the weather [you get stronger updrafts at 85 deg on cool days- if the ambient temp is 85 or more the smoker will have NO updraft!], smoke density light to medium. Drying: Forced- 1-3 hrs at 85 without smoke. Natural-up to 24 hours at 85 with as clear a flame as possible so as not to oversmoke. Polish: Give the fish a moderate burst of heat [100 deg f] for 15 min to bring the oil to the surface. Weight Loss: From salting and smoking/drying should run around 18% for fatty fish up to 25% for lean. Sweating: For fish that are still not firm enough, sweat the fish by leaving in a cool place 24 hrs. Moisture will come to the surface. Then continue drying in the smower. Refrigerate: Difficult fish improve by letting the fish condition a few days in the refrigerator unwrapped before slicing. Storage: Cool the fish before wrapping. Even at 85 the fish will sweat if wrapped before cooling and spoil quickly. Freeze any surplus as Scotch smoked fish is still perishable. Serving: Slice very thinly. Serve with rye or pumpernickel bread and unsalted butter or cream cheese. Pass around lemon wedges and the pepper grinder. Garnish with sliced or grated hard cooked egg, paper thin onion slices and capers, country ham slices and home made flavored mayonnaises. Extracted from: Smoking Salmon & Trout by Jack Whelan. Published by: Airie Publishing, Deep Bay, B.C. ISBN: 0-919807-00-3 Posted by: Jim Weller MMMMM MMMMM----- Recipe via Meal-Master (tm) v8.05 Title: Smoking Salmon and Trout Part Vii- Kippering And Barbecui Categories: Smoked, Info, Bbq, Salmon, Trout Yield: 1 text file These are different processes from Scotch smoking which is cold smoking- the fish remains raw. Kippering and barbecuing are hot smoke processes where the fish is cooked. In barbecuing you have no control over the heat; the smoke is hot only. The fish is placed in a pre-heated smoke oven and kept there until cooked. The only control is smoke on or off during prolonged cooking. In kippering you gradually bring up the heat to condition the fish before final hot smoking and cooking. The salting procedures are the same for both cooking methods. You can kipper or barbecue whole sides for special occasions but pieces of fillets cut according to thickness is easier to salt and smoke cook. You can dry salt, plain or mixed, whole sides and wet brine, plain or mixed, pieces. Thick sides are hard to dry salt so either slice into two thinner fillets or inject brine. Plain salt:Score the skins as for dry salting before Scotch curing and place the salt the same way. The time required is 1/3 as much as for Scotch smoking and 1/6 if brine is injected. This is because Scotch smoked fish must be thoroughly conditioned so as to be able to slice it thinly but here we are just adding enough salt for flavor. Also Scotch smoked fish is an appetizer, a tid-bit and can be salty to the taste but kippered and barbecued fish is a main course. After dry salting, simply rinse off the salt and drain before cooking. Salt mixes: add 3/4 cup white or brown sugar to each 2 1/4 c pickling salt and optionally add up to 50 bay leaves, 8 tsp pepper, 2 tb mace, 7 tsp allspice, 2 1/4 tb cloves, or 2 tb juniper berries. Prepare the side for salting as for dry salting for Scotch smoking and place the salt as for Scotch smoked fish. The time required is 1/2 as much as for Scotch smoked fish or 1/4 if brine is injected. Plain Brine: Prepare brine [2 1/2 c salt to 2 qt water] and cool to 50 deg. Keep fish and brine cool at all times. Stir pieces from time to time. The time required is about 3/8 as much as for plain brining for Scotch smoking. Drain fish coming out of the brine before smoking/cooking. Sugar-Spice Brine: Prepare brine as for Scotch smoked sugar spice brine. Time: 3/8 as much as Scotch smoked method. Drain fish coming out of the brine before smoking/cooking. Reusing brines: Because the fish has absorbed sugar and salt and released water, you must bring the brine back up to strength by adding more salt or mix. Use a salinometer to be accurate and bring back up to 90deg salinity. Smoking Kippered Salmon: Drying- is improtant for appearance and flavor. During drying the salt soluble protein protein from the fish forms a skin on the surface called a pellicle which combines with the smoke for a pleasant appearance and most of the smoke flavor. Methods of drying include hanging under building eaves in a breeze out of the sun, with a fan, a forced draft smoker and a small clear fire in a natural draft smoker. Dry at 100 deg with maximum draft for 1 1/2 hr [forced draft] or 3-4 hours [natural draft]. First smoking- 1 hr, medium density at 100 deg. Tempering- is gradual as opposed to sudden heating and is important for appearance and quality, so soluble protein juice does not pool on the surface and form curds or the flesh dry unevenly and crack. Gradually raise the temp to 175 with medium smoke over an hour. Second Smoking- 1 hr at max. smoke at 175. Take thinner pieces out of the smoker now and give the thick pieces 1 more hour. Barbecued fish: after salting or brining, place in a hot pre-heated smoker and cook until fish flakes readily. Storage: of kippered or barbecued fish. Cool as quickly as possible. Do not wrap before it has cooled or it will spoil. Freeze the surplus promptly. Extracted from: Smoking Salmon & Trout by Jack Whelan. Published by: Airie Publishing, Deep Bay, B.C. ISBN: 0-919807-00-3 Posted by: Jim Weller MMMMM MMMMM----- Recipe via Meal-Master (tm) v8.05 Title: Smoking Salmon and Trout Part Viii - Making Lox Categories: Fish, Smoked, Info, Salmon, Trout Yield: 1 text file There are three products called Lox: old fashioned Lox, Nova Lox and Lox Salmon [ plus a whole lot of other smoked and pickled products using the name but bearing little resemblance to any of these]. Old fashioned Lox: Freshen mild-salted fish [salting instructions follow in a later chapter] by soaking in several changes of water. Thin pieces will require less time than thick pieces that may take up to 24 hours. Test by tasting, remembering that the subsequent smoking will dry the fish and concentrate the saltiness. Drain the freshened fish on the smoking racks. Smoke at 85 deg F with medium density smoke for 6-8 hrs [forced draft] or 12-16 hrs [natural draft]. Cool the fish before wrapping and freeze any surplus. Lox is perishable. Nova Lox and Lox Salmon: Fish may be either fresh or frozen. Frozen is actually better as the freezing and thawing removes some of the moisture. If the fish are frozen whole, fillet them when they are half thawed. Cut into pieces according to thickness. Use the thick portions for Lox and the thin ones in kippering, drying, canning or eating fresh. Make a dry salt-sugar mix of equal parts sugar and pickling salt. Dry salt by placing the pieces in a container of mix. Cover each piece but do not rub it into the flesh. Sprinkle some mix into a container and lay the salt mix dredged pieces on it skin side down. Sprinkle each layer with more mix and add another layer etc. Times for salting according to thickness are the same as for Scotch smoked dry salting above. Remove the pieces from the mix, rince and drain. Now brine the pieces in 90 deg sal brine [2 1/2 c salt per 2 qts water] with optional bay leaves included. Keep brine and fish cool throughout the process. Then freshen the fish under running water more or less to taste; the table is just an appoximation. BRINING AND FRESHENING TIMES Thickness Brining Time Freshening Time 3/4" 9 hrs 45 min 1" 12 hrs 1 hr 1 1/2" 18 hrs 1 1/2 hrs 2" 24 hrs 2 hrs At this point decide whether you want smoked Nova Lox or unsmoked Lox Salmon. For Nova Lox smoke as for old fashioned Lox. For Lox Salmon the pieces must be dried without heat until firm enough for slicing. A frost free refrigerator will dry uncovered Lox enough to firm it. Extracted from: Smoking Salmon & Trout by Jack Whelan. Published by: Airie Publishing, Deep Bay, B.C. ISBN: 0-919807-00-3 Posted by: Jim Weller MMMMM MMMMM----- Recipe via Meal-Master (tm) v8.05 Title: Smoking Salmon and Trout Part Ix - Indian or Hard Smoked Categories: Smoked, Info, Trout, Native, Salmon Yield: 1 text file Info file Low-fat fish make the longest keeping hard smoked fish as it is the fat that causes rancidity. Very fat hard smoked fish should be frozen or salted until just before eating. Medium fat fish will last a week unrefrigerated before starting to go slightly rancid. And lean fish will keep indefinately unrefrigerated. Hard smoked fish can be made from fresh, frozen or hard salted fish [instructions for hard salting follow in a later chapter]. Hard salted fish should be freshened before smoking. Depending on the hardness of the salting, your taste and the thickness of the pieces to be smoked this may take 24 to 48 hours with water changes every 3 to 6 hours. There should be no salty taste left as the drying will concentrate any saltiness remaining. Other products retain 50 to 75% of their original moistur but hard smoked fish only 6% Fresh fish and thawed frozen fish should be very lightly brined if at all. Brining draws out moisture and cuts drying time but salt also speeds fat rancidity in the finished product. Make a 90 deg sal brine and soak pieces no more than: BRINING TIMES : Thickness Time : 1/4" 2 min : 1/2" 4 min : 3/4" 7 min : 1" 10 min : 1 1/2" 15 min : 2" 20 min Smoking directions: Smoke for only a portion of the total drying period according to taste. Dry at 85 deg F for 30 hrs with a forced draft smoker and up to 3 weeks with a natural draft depending on the weather or until the fish is completely dry and hard. Extracted from: Smoking Salmon & Trout by Jack Whelan. Published by: Airie Publishing, Deep Bay, B.C. ISBN: 0-919807-00-3 Posted by: Jim Weller MMMMM MMMMM----- Recipe via Meal-Master (tm) v8.05 Title: Smoking Salmon and Trout Part X - Smoking Small Trout Categories: Fish, Smoked, Info, Salmon, Trout Yield: 1 text file Unboned: Make an 80 deg sal brine with 8.5 oz salt per quart water, score skin and brine 1 hr. Spit them through the eyes with a heavy wire [a welding rod works well here]and hold the belly open with small match stick sized sticks. Dry at 90 deg F for 30 min [forced draft] or 1 hr or more [natural draft]. Then smoke at 160 deg F for 1 1/2 hrs [forced] or 3 hrs or more [natural]. Boned: Make an 80 deg sal brine and brine 8 min stirring often. Depending on the shape desired and the boning method used, spit through the eyes and prop open with match stick sized wood, or hang over a dowell, or rolled and skewered. Drying and smoking temps and times are the same as for unboned. Extracted from: Smoking Salmon & Trout by Jack Whelan. Published by: Airie Publishing, Deep Bay, B.C. ISBN: 0-919807-00-3 Posted by: Jim Weller MMMMM MMMMM----- Recipe via Meal-Master (tm) v8.05 Title: Smoking Salmon and Trout Part Xi - Pickle Smoked Fish Categories: Smoked, Info, Pickles, Salmon, Trout Yield: 1 text file Pickle smoked: fish are pickled before smoking. This is a good way to enhance the taste of lean fish that do not otherwise smoke well. Prepare and defat skinless fillets: To do this, when you fillet, leave plenty of meat on the backbone where the meat is especially fat. Cut off the belly portion. Skin the fillet leaving about 1/8" meat on the skin. Make cuts on either side of the lateral line, lift it out and discard it. Divide the filletinto pieces of different thickness. The pickling procedure is similar to corning meats. The flavored suagr-salt brine is weaker than normally used and the fish brined longer to achieve a cured taste. prepare brine in the following proprotions: 4 tb mixed pickling spice, 3 cups salt and 2 cups brown suagr per 4 qts water. Keep the brine and fish below 45 deg F at all times. Use a slainometer and maintain salinity at 60 deg minimum at all times adding more salt periodically if needed. Don't overpickle; remove the thinner pieces as they become cured. PICKLING TIMES :Fillet thickness Fat Fish Lean Fish : 1/2" 30 hrs 20 hrs : 3/4" 40 hrs 30 hrs : 1" 2 1/2 days 40 hrs : 1 1/4" 3 days 2 days : 1 1/2" 3 1/2 days 2 1/2 days : 1 3/4" 4 days 3 days : 2" 5 days 3 1/2 days : 2 1/2" 6 days 4 1/4 days : 3" 7 days 5 days Overhaul [stir and move around] the pieces daily to ensure even pickling. When ready rince off the pieces and let water drain off. Cold smoke at medium density 7 to 10 hours depending on thickness or 30 to 48 hours natural draft depending on thickness and weather. Continue until the flesh is firm enough for slicing. Cool the finished product almost onto freezing before wrapping to prevent sweating and spoilage. Freeze the surplus. Serve as for Lox and Scotch smoked. Extracted from: Smoking Salmon & Trout by Jack Whelan. Published by: Airie Publishing, Deep Bay, B.C. ISBN: 0-919807-00-3 Posted by: Jim Weller MMMMM MMMMM----- Recipe via Meal-Master (tm) v8.05 Title: Smoking Salmon and Trout Part Xii - Making Seelachs Categories: Fish, Smoked, Info, Salmon, Trout Yield: 1 text file Seelachs: or ersatz salmon are salted, sliced thin, then dyed and smoked white fish. they can be made from fresh, frozen or salted white fish. Fillet the fish skin on. For ling keeping, hard salt the fillets. For immediate use dry salt. Then freshen the fish. Slice the fish as thin as possible. Dye the slices using a solution of 5 oz water, 30 drops red food color dye and 45 drops yellow food dye. Dying time varies from 15 min to an hour. Test by cutting a slice to check penetration every 15 min. Drain the pieces well. Cold smoke 30 to 60 min or 1 to 2 hrs natural draft. Pack the slices on olive or any vegetable oil. Refrigerate. It will last up to one month if fairly salty. Completely freshened fish is more perishable. Extracted from: Smoking Salmon & Trout by Jack Whelan. Published by: Airie Publishing, Deep Bay, B.C. ISBN: 0-919807-00-3 Posted by: Jim Weller MMMMM MMMMM----- Recipe via Meal-Master (tm) v8.05 Title: Smoking Salmon and Trout Part Xiii - Smoking for Canning Categories: Fish, Smoked, Info, Salmon, Trout Yield: 1 text file Because the fish is hot smoked and inclined to crumble, cut the side into canned sized pieces before smoking. Use a 80 deg sal brine: 5 cups salt per 4 qt water. BRINING TIMES : Piece thickness Time : 1/2" 10 min : 3/4" 20 min : 1" 30 min : 1 1/2" 40 min : 2" 1 hr Smoking must be minimized to avoid harsh flavor in the finished product, but drying is important for quality. For forced draft smokers with hot plates, smoke 2 1/2 hrs at 110 deg F, and sry two more hours without smoke. Fro narural draft smokers, smoke 7 hours low smoke or 3 1/2 hrs medium smoke and finish drying two hours in a very low oven with the door ajar. Skin the pieces while still warm. Pack jars or cans as full as possible finishing with small strips. Process. N.B. IMPROPERLY CANNED FISH OR ANY OTHER FOOD CAN CARRY BOTULISM - A DEADLY POISON! Always process in a pressure cooker. Meat and fish are particually susceptible to botulism. If you have any doubts about a canned product- do not taste it. Always boil home canned products at least 10 minutes before consuming. Never use any canned foods that show any sign of spoilage. Bulging can ends and jar lids usually indicate spoilage. When you open containers, check for off odours, froth, foam or mold. How to control botulism: Botulism type E bacteria are found in fish intestines, gills and in mud from the sea. They thrive in the absence of oxygen in low acid environments. 5% salt retards growth but smoked salmon runs 1 to 4% only. Prompt removal of guts and gills followed by thorough washing of the belly cavity reduces contamination by as much as 90%. Bacteria can grow, albiet slowly, in temps as low as 5 deg C so immediate icing of fish and dropping the temp below 4 deg and maintaining until eaten will keep them safe. When pressure cooking, the heat must penetrate into the centre of the can. Every last bit of food must reach 240 deg F [118 deg C] to be safe. Test your guage for accuracy periodically. Use pint jars or smaller. Or you can use small enamel lined 1/2 lb or 1 lb tin cans. Process 2 hours at 10 lb pressure. Extracted from: Smoking Salmon & Trout by Jack Whelan. Published by: Airie Publishing, Deep Bay, B.C. ISBN: 0-919807-00-3 Posted by: Jim Weller MMMMM MMMMM----- Recipe via Meal-Master (tm) v8.05 Title: Smoking Salmon and Trout Part Xiv - Smoking Roes & Livers Categories: Fish, Smoked, Info, Salmon, Trout Yield: 1 text file Roes that are immature are best for smoking as they are easier to handle and less likely to rupture. Hard [Female] Roe: Fresh, frozen or salted roes may be used for smoking. Salted hard roes must be freshened in several changes of water for up to 24 hours. Frozen roes must be thawed before salting for smoking. Fresh and frozen-thawed roe must be brined first. Use 70 deg sal brine [2 cups salt to 2 qts water.] Brining time varies from 5 minutes for small roes to 30 minutes for 1 lb roes. Drain. Smoke at 90 deg F at medium density for 2 to 6 hours according to size [4 to 12 hours for natural draft]. Soft [Male] Roe or Milt: Becuse they are soft, they benefit from conditioning before smoking. Large soft roes around 1/2 lb need about 30 min in a 70 deg salbrine before conditioning. Small ones do not. Conditioning consists of simmering them in salted water untio they are firm enough to handle. Drain before smoking. smoke as for hard roes. Smoking livers: Remove the gall bladder carefully without breaking by slicing off the portion of the liver it is attached to. Condition them by dropping them into boiling salted water until they change color and get firmer. Brine larger livers in 70 deg sal brine for 10 to 45 min. Drain. they will still be sticky so oil them so they don't stick to the smoking trays. Smoke at 90 deg with dense smoke for 1 to 3 hrs [or 2 to 5 hrs for natural draft]. Extracted from: Smoking Salmon & Trout by Jack Whelan. Published by: Airie Publishing, Deep Bay, B.C. ISBN: 0-919807-00-3 Posted by: Jim Weller MMMMM MMMMM----- Recipe via Meal-Master (tm) v8.05 Title: Smoking Salmon and Trout Part Xv - Salting Categories: Fish, Smoked, Info, Salmon, Trout Yield: 1 text file Use only pure pickling salt as it has no impurities or additives to toughen or discolor fish. Mild salting still requires refrigeration; hard salting does not. Salted fish will require freshening before eating. Mild Salting: Clean the fish and ice them if you can't salt right away. Fillet them. Cut the fillets into chunks according to thickness. Score the skin. Caseharden the fish by soaking in a cold deblooding bath of 65 deg sal brine [2 2/3 c salt to 100 oz water] for 1 hr. to stop fat fish from oozing oil. [press out any blood in this bath with your fingers.] Weigh fish and have ready 1 lb salt for every 10 lb fish. To salt the fish, spread the required salt in a pan or tray. Lay each piece of fish, skin side down on the salt ans scoop salt over it; don't rub it in- just cover it. Pick up the piece with as much salt as will adhere to it and place skin side down in the curing container. when a layer is completed sprinkle it lightly with salt and pack successive layers, skin side down until the top layer- pack it skin side up. Fill the packed container with saturated brine- 100 deg sal[ 4 1/2 cups salt per 100 oz water.] Weight the fish down to submerge completely in the brine. Cover. Store at 35 to 40 deg,-normal refrigerator temp and let cure two weeks. Will keep up to one year. Hard Salting: Follow as above except increase salt to 2 1/2 lb per 10 lb fish. Will keep one year if kept in a cool place. Extracted from: Smoking Salmon & Trout by Jack Whelan. Published by: Airie Publishing, Deep Bay, B.C. ISBN: 0-919807-00-3 Posted by: Jim Weller MMMMM MMMMM----- Recipe via Meal-Master (tm) v8.05 Title: Smoking Salmon and Trout Part Xvi - Caviar Categories: Smoked, Info, Caviar, Salmon, Trout Yield: 1 text file Salmon caviar is second only to sturgeon in quality. To make red caviar you need a piece of 1/4" to 1/2" mesh screen at least one foot square,depending on the egg size. first choice is plastic or stainless steel but plain steel can be coated with vegetable oil and galvanized can be coated with resin. Separate the eggs from the membrane by gently rubbing the skein of eggs over the screen. Discard the membrane and blood vessels remaining on the screen after most of the eggs have passed through. Make an 80 deg sal brine [ 1 cup + 2tbs salt to 1 qt water]. Gently stir the eggs in the cooled brine from 15 to 30 min. The uptake of salt will depend on the maturity of the eggs; they should become opalescent. Do not over salt. drain for 8 hours. Keep cool but above 40 deg so the eggs do not congeal. Pack into jars. Refrigerate between 34 and 36 deg. up to a year. Over 40 deg it will have a very short life. N.B. Once sealed in jars it MUST be kept refrigerated at all times to prevent possible BOTULISM. some caviars can be pasteurized with minimal loss of flavor and color but not salmon. Rely on good refrigeration instead. Extracted from: Smoking Salmon & Trout by Jack Whelan. Published by: Airie Publishing, Deep Bay, B.C. ISBN: 0-919807-00-3 Posted by: Jim Weller MMMMM MMMMM----- Recipe via Meal-Master (tm) v8.05 Title: Smoking Salmon and Trout Part Xvii - Freezing Fish Categories: Fish, Smoked, Info, Salmon, Trout Yield: 1 text file Home freezers are good for storing frozen fish but not _freezing_ fish. Fish should be quick frozen- in under 2 hours. However freezing water throws off a lot of heat which must be removed by the system. Home freezers do not generally have circulating fans to carry this heat to the refrigeration coils. 5 lbs of wet fish will raise the temp of 100 lb of already stored frozen fish by 14 deg. The already frozen fish act as a heat sink for the freezing wet fish until the system can carry away the excess heat. Also as water begins to freeze inside the fish at 30 deg the minerals and salt in the fish concentrate in the remaining water causing an antifreeze effect until the temp drops to 23 deg F. Slow freezing allows large ice crystals to develop which damage the connective tissues of the fish and there is excessive moisture loss upon thawing. How to improve home freezing: ~1- Never freeze more than 5% of capacity at any one time. ~2- Place wet fish as close as possibe to the cooling coils. ~3- Freeze fish in the freezer compartment of the fridge which does have a circulating fan and use the deep freezer only for storing already frozen product. ~4- Make a heat sink of containers of eutectic ice which freezes and thaws at 0 deg F. That way the freezing wet fish will drop to 0 quickly and the other already frozen products will not rise above 0 as the fresh fish freeze. ~5- Put the fish to be frozen in poly bags and add both the fish and the eutectic containers in a container of brine. The water in the brine transfers heat faster than air. Extracted from: Smoking Salmon & Trout by Jack Whelan. Published by: Airie Publishing, Deep Bay, B.C. ISBN: 0-919807-00-3 Posted by: Jim Weller MMMMM Cheers, YK Jim

----- Original Message ----- From: "Spring" <[email protected] WHAT IS CREATIVE FRUGALITY? Nancy Twigg Most people understand what creativity is and have a good idea what it means to be frugal. But the idea of putting the two together is a little hard to grasp. Because creative frugality is one of those things that is easier to show than to tell, here is a quick list of dead giveaways for identifying creative frugality in action: 1) It's making something out of little bits of nothing that the average person would have overlooked or just thrown away. 2) It's stubbornly refusing to pay full price because you know that if you hold out, the store will have a sale soon. 3) It's using your talents, skills and abilities to produce a gift that's priceless because it cannot be purchased in any store. 4) It's looking for free or low-cost ways to have just as much fun as if you went out and spent a bundle. 5) It's finding unusual ways to make things last longer or go farther so you don't have to spend as often. 6) It's making dinner with what you have on hand rather than what the recipe calls for and ending up with a tastier dish than if you'd followed the recipe. 7) It's figuring out how you can reproduce some expensive something sold in stores for next to nothing at home. 8) It's being happier with extra money in your bank account than a new toy in your garage or entertainment center. 9) It's enjoying the thrill of the bargain chase much more than the instant gratification of just going and buying. 10) But most of all, it's understanding that your mind works a little differently than everyone else's ... and being proud of it!

Shared by Spring on another list.... This chart refers to cookie frosting colors, but I'd bet it would be useful in other things, too. ~Robin in Mexico City ------------------------------------------------ COLOR CHART FOR CREATING CUSTOM COLORS Apricot = 2 Orange + 1 Golden Yellow Aqua = 5 Sky Blue + 1 Leaf Green Avocado = 4 Lemon Yellow + 1 Leaf Green + touch of black Burgundy = 5 Rose Pink + 1Violet Chartreuse = 5 Lemon Yellow + 1 Leaf Green Rust = 8 Orange + 2 Red Red + 1 Brown Copper = 1 Golden Yellow + 1 Brown + 1 Xmas Red Hunter Green = Kelly Green + small amount of Black Coral = 3 Parts Rose Pink + 2 Parts Lemon Yellow Lavender = 5 Pink + 1 Violet Black = Mix left over color icing together, then add Black Skin Tone -Use a small amount of Copper Silver (Gray) = 1 Black + 1 Blue Turquoise = 6 Sky Blue + 1 Lemon Yellow Teal = 9 Sky Blue + small amount of Lemon Yellow Dusty Rose = 5 Rose Pink + 1 Violet Mauve = 5 Rose Pink + 2 Orange + 2 Red + 2 Black Plum = 1 Violet + a touch of Christmas Red Gold = 10 Lemon Yellow + 3 Orange + 1 Red Maroon = 4 Red Red + 2 Burgundy Ivory = Use Ivory Paste Moss Green = 2 Violet + 3 Lemon Yellow Navy Blue = 1 Sky Blue + 1 Violet Grape = 1 Sky Blue + 6 Rose Pink Raspberry = 3 Rose Pink + 1 Christmas Red Ruby Red = 1 Red Red + touch of Black From: Kitchen Collectables, Inc. Home of the world's largest collection of copper cookie cutters and hard to find cookie decorating supplies. Visit our Web Site at: http://www.kitchengifts.com

----- Original Message ----- From: "Spring" <[email protected] There are presents to wrap, pies to bake and stockings to hang, but you still want to make time to deck the halls. Try a few small touches and simple decorating ideas guaranteed to bring joy-not stress-to your holiday season. 1. Don't let your favorite holiday storybooks gather dust while tucked away on a shelf. Instead use them to bring out the child in your holiday decorating. Every year I buy at least one Christmas book to add to our family collection, sometimes classics like How the Grinch Stole Christmas, a reprint of the original Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer or a new book destined to become classic, such as Olive, the Other Reindeer. These literary accents look great displayed across the length of a mantel, arranged on a coffee table ready for reading, as a centerpiece on a dining table, gathered together in a basket by the end of the couch or placed under the tree. Mix in a few vintage toys or ornaments, and it's a guaranteed recipe for capturing the spirit of the season and recalling childhood memories. 2. Make a festive candle chandelier to crown your holiday table. An inexpensive, large square frame makes a perfect base. Add candle cups at the midpoint on each side, then completely cover the frame with lemon leaves or other greenery hot glued in place. Hang the frame with lengths of ribbon securely fastened to each corner of the frame with nails or staples. Add bows at the ceiling and corners of the frame. Remember to never leave burning candles unattended. 3. Dress up your holiday place settings with some sparkling whimsical touches. Stitch beads, baubles or charms to dangle from each corner of napkins. Instead of rolling up napkins into a napkin ring, add a little intrigue by gathering them up around a party favor and tying them up with a bright ribbons. Place the wrapped favor on the center of the dinner plate or tuck it into a wine glass, letting the beads and charms dangle over the edge. 4. Inexpensive cone-shaped wire tomato cages can be used in a variety of ways with a touch of imagination for holiday decorating. With little effort, they can become spectacular topiaries to be set outside or inside at your entryway to welcome your guests. Start by turning the tomato cage upside down on top of a large pot or urn, then cover it with greens, add mini lights and twine ribbon or tulle from top to bottom. Another option would be to use the same idea to create a centerpiece for a table, using a smaller tomato cage. Or try lining a walkway with large cages stuck in the ground upright like baskets and fill them with greens and lights. 5. Do you have too many ornaments to fit on one tree? Highlight special collections or use the leftovers throughout the house in small festive groups. Showcase a collection of small glass ornaments by placing them in the bottom of large, tall clear vases to surround and hold a taper candle. Or gather your favorite ornaments, tying each separately to the end of long pieces of ribbon. Attach the other end of the ribbons to the top of a window frame about 2" to 3" apart so the ornaments are displayed as they hang in front of the window. Finally, write the guest's name and the year in gold or silver paint marker on a simple colored-glass ornament and tie a ribbon bow on top to use as a place card. 6. Near your entryway door, set out a tree covered with bright, inexpensive toys and candy. This is sure to delight and enchant the small children who might come and go during the holidays, especially when you let them select a prize from the tree branches. The toy section of dollar stores is one of the best places to shop for packages of wonderful eye-catching fun that will inexpensively load the tree. Another option is to fill a very large, clear jar to the brim with toy prizes and candy galore. 7. How quickly the years seem to go by. This season, build a new tradition designed to savor the holidays past. Gather and display photos from family holidays spent together, creating a way for your guests to reminisce. Children will love listening to the oral histories, past traditions and priceless memories that they can then make their own. Continue the tradition by adding a disposable camera to each place setting so relatives can snap a new supply of photos. Instead of a name card, set the table with a favorite picture of each guest in a frame that they can take home as a table favor. 8. Instead of a tablecloth, use sheets of cotton Christmas batting glittered to mimic snow. Stockings are great for holding silverware-personalize each stocking with paint markers in silver or gold. You can also make red flannel covers designed to look like Santa hats to slip over the back of each dining chair. Just trim the bottom edge of the cover in white faux fur, letting the top edge gradually come to a point, and then drape the excess over the back of the chair. Top it with a white fur ball. 9. Quickly dress up your table for holiday fun with a few of these touches guaranteed to be easy. Simple things add a lot-such as tying Christmas trinkets onto the stems of wine glasses with ribbons or tying a jingle bell onto the handle of your dessert spoons. Interesting napkin rings can be made from inexpensive beaded bracelets, wired strands of miniature fruit or strips cut from old Christmas cards stapled into a ring. Photocopy sheets of favorite Christmas music to use as place mats to encourage guest to sing along. You could also layer clippings from real evergreens to peek out from under the edge of a charger plate. 10. Not just for wrapping packages, holiday ribbons can add shimmer throughout your home. Tie ribbons around the top of lamp shades, twine them up bed posts and stair railings, drape ribbon to cascade across the arms of chandeliers or trim your tree with swirls of ribbons. For extra fun on a special party night, tie a small wrapped gift to one end of each length of ribbon and tuck it into the boughs of the tree. To the other end add a gift tag penned with a guest's name. Before the end of the evening, hand each guest the end of the ribbon with their name attached and let them follow the twisting and turning ribbon trail until each finds the end of the ribbon-and the surprise! 11. If you love the look of naturals and evergreens, give your mantel a non-traditional makeover that can be changed to fit the season. Cover the mantel with a coat of lush, green sheet moss. Cut sheets of lightweight cardboard to fit mantel sides and top. Attach pieces of sheet moss to the cardboard with hot glue. Tack the moss-covered cardboard onto the mantel with brads. Fill in any holes along the edges with moss. For Thanksgiving, the mantle is a rich background to display colorful fall foliage. At Christmastime, create the magic of an elfin cottage amidst a forest of miniature trees, or a Christmas village. When spring rolls around, display Easter eggs tucked into the deep green moss surrounded by baskets filled with grass. 12. Set the mood by greeting your guests with a festive message hung on the door or front gate. Choose one of your favorite holiday greetings such as "Noel," "Happy Holidays," or "Cheer." First, style block letters from lengths of twigs. Lay them out on a painted board and then secure them in place with small brads. Hang the plaque surrounded by evergreens and berries. 13. Chicken wire can be used to make quick and easy outdoor lawn decorations. Form a length of chicken wire into a cone shape (think of a topiary) and wire the loose edges to hold the shape. Spray the wire form white. Twine the form with strands of lights on white wires. Remember to stake the topiary forms in place so they don't blow away in the wind. Smaller versions of the tree could be used to decorate inside, placed on an entry way table in front of a mirror to reflect the lights. 14. Dress up a window by filling it with lengths of brightly-colored Christmas ribbons each tipped with a bell. Choose ribbons with various widths and colors, cutting pieces to fit the inside length of the window. Attach each piece of ribbon to the inside top of the window frame, spacing them an inch to two inches apart. Let the loose ends drape down in front of the open window. Tie a bell or a favorite ornament to each ribbon to finish the ends. 15. Grab a cup of cocoa and think back to those simple Christmas projects you did as a child. With a nostalgic eye, you can create wonderful projects to do with the whole family. Join colorful strips of paper together to make paper chains, make swags of popcorn and cranberries, form wonderful chains of people holding hands cut from folded strips of paper, or decorate cookies to hang on the tree. These are simple decorations from inexpensive materials, but the time spent together is priceless. 16. Check your local garden shop for topiary forms in large, interesting shapes. Use the wire topiary form as the base for a festive centerpiece. Set the form firmly into a terra-cotta pot. Brush the outside of the pot with a wash of gold paint. Cover the frame with fall leaves, lemon leaves, evergreens or other preserved naturals and secure them with floral wire. For Thanksgiving, pheasant feathers could be added to the foliage. At Christmastime, hang glittering ornaments from the wires. At each holiday place setting use a small terra-cotta pot brushed with gold, then line the center with greens and nestle a special ornament or treat in each pot as a party favor for your guests. 17. When decorating outside, don't ignore the window boxes. Fill them with dramatic winter arrangements. Wire groups of greens together. Make groups of decorative elements such as pine cones, branches of berries, twigs or shiny ornaments and wire them together. Fill the box, letting some of the greenery drape over the front edges. To hold the arrangement in place, fill in the bottom of the box with stones or sand around the wired stems. 18. Children's toys make great decorating accessories for Christmas. Gather the stray presents and contain them in a doll buggy or a child's wagon next to the tree. You could also use the wagon, placed conveniently by the front door, to hold extra gifts for unexpected holiday visitors. A toy train can make a great centerpiece for a buffet, while the open box cars hold items like napkins, silverware and breadsticks. Mount several doll size chairs onto a wall and use them like shelves to display holiday collectibles. Pull out a few of your favorite well loved toys and stack them under the tree. 19. Adding candles and miniature lights can enhance the festivities. Instead of burning logs in your fireplace, fill the fireplace with various sizes of pillar candles. Set taller candles in the back or set some of the candles on top of bricks like risers. Here's another quick idea­stand a taper in the middle of a clear glass jar, filling the jar about halfway with brightly-colored Christmas candy to hold it in place. For a centerpiece, place shiny glass ornaments in a large clear bowl intertwined with a set of battery powered lights. Be sure to place the battery pack so it is accessible. 20. Nothing brings wintertime to mind more quickly than the sound of sleigh bells. Use antique or reproduction brass sleigh bells tied with ribbon as a napkin ring. Other quick ideas for napkin rings include small pinecones wired into a ring, peppermint twist candy rings, or a candle in a Victorian style candle clip which can be clipped onto a folded napkin and set upright on the table. 21. For a special Christmas party activity, let your guests make gingerbread-people ornaments to decorate. For the adventuresome types, prepare rolled out cookie dough ready for the cookie cutters and let the guests design their own ornaments from beginning to end. If you're short on time, you can simplify the process by having a stack of prebaked cookies awaiting decoration. Guests of all ages will have fun creating their own personal gingerbread folk to take home. 22. For a dramatic effect at a dinner party, softly swag sheets of inexpensive muslin from nails on the walls around the room. Light the fabric from behind with hanging strands of Italian Christmas lights, and the room will simply glow with atmosphere. 23. How about decorating a piece of furniture that you pull out just for the holiday celebration? Decoupage the surface of an old chair with holiday wrapping paper or sheets of Christmas music. Set it in a special spot by the entryway and use it to hold a bowl of candy or small gifts for special visitors or surprise guests. 24. Create an elegant designer table setting quickly and inexpensively with metallic paint markers. Write in gold, copper, or silver on the outer surfaces of clear glass goblets and around the edges of clear glass plates. Avoid writing in areas that come into contact with food. Have fun with your designs­inscribe guests' names on the pieces, quote snippets from your favorite holiday song, or just scribble random designs. It will look impressive no matter what you do. 25. Decorate a lamp shade to use just for the holidays. Stencil a holiday motif around the top and bottom edge of a plain white shade. With a pin, pierce small holes around the holiday shapes or use an artist's knife to cut out certain shapes or to make small slits in the paper. The holes and slits will let the light shine through, enhancing the decorative border when the lamp is lit. 26. Cover the bulbs of a small chandelier with gathered fabric shade covers made from Christmas taffeta, festive tulle, or elegant moire satin. Drape swags of evergreens, chains of cranberries, or streams of ribbons across the arms of the chandelier and tie shiny ornaments onto the swag to hang brightly below. 27. Are you running out of room to display your favorite holiday collectibles? Add a simple wooden shelf with decorative wooden brackets above a doorway or at the bottom of a window as a wide ledge. Large home centers carry all sorts of premade shelving and brackets. 28. Buy inexpensive metal window screen and incorporate it into shimmering New Year's decor. Cut large squares of screen to cover glass votive holders. Center the votive holder on the square and bend the excess screen up to encase it in soft folds of metal wire mesh. The candle light will glimmer on the metal folds. Cut a long piece of screen to use as a table runner. Wearing gloves, crush the screen together then unfold it to leave some of the wrinkles. Twine Italian lights down the center of the table, then top the lights with the layer of crushed screen. For a shining centerpiece, fill a large glass bowl with silver ornaments and strips of screen, then set a candle in the middle. Or try wrapping strips of screen into evergreen swags to use around windows, mantels, and outdoor decorating. 29. For a whimsical statement, exchange the finial on top of a lamp for one with a holiday theme. If you can't find one that you like, make your own. Purchase a new finial and use it as a base. Enhance it with plastic clay, Christmas jewelry, evergreen sprays and berries, or small bows. If your lamp has a pull chain, add a special touch there by tying on a small brass sleigh bell, a sparkling beaded earring, or a vintage gift tag. 30. Transform your window sill into a mini forest scene. Purchase several small live trees, and either re-pot the trees into attractive containers, hot-glue moss to the existing containers, or wrap the containers in burlap sacks. Place a layer of moss onto the window sill, then scatter some red berries atop. Add a fence made of cinnamon sticks, and hang a cookie cutter moon and stars from ribbons above the trees to finish the look. 31. For a festive centerpiece, tie a small cascade of fresh evergreens, sprigs of herbs, and holiday florals onto a bottle of wine or champagne. Decorate the stems of your wineglasses with smaller cascades. Tie larger swags with ribbon to chair backs to complete the look. 32. Update plain table linens with removable holiday designs. Purchase holiday fabric with easy to cut out motifs. Adhere fabric to Instant Stick and Hold for Fabric, a repositionable sheet adhesive product from Coats and Clark. Cut out designs, remove backing, and apply to napkins and table linens. The decorations will stay in place and are temporary unless ironed in place. Use the same set of linens for every holiday by changing the fabric cutouts to fit each event. 33. Make a rustic and inexpensive centerpiece with different size shopping bags. Fold the top edges over about 2" and roll several more times to create a firm edge. The bag will look almost like an open bowl. Arrange bags and fill with nuts, dried and fresh fruits, and cookies. Tie twisted gold cording or strands of raffia around the bag just below the folded edge. 34. Cover the tabletop with inexpensive mirror tiles. Create a winter wonderland centerpiece with bare branches and twigs sprayed white and highlighted with silver. Hang crystals and clear strands of beads from the chandelier with silver ribbons. Soften the look by lightly dusting the mirrored tabletop and arrangement with spray snow. When spraying, protect other surfaces with newspapers or plastic. Set the table with clear glassware. Bundle the silverware into a napkin and tie with a silver ribbon and a crystal. 35. Pull together an eye-catching centerpiece from Christmas items you have around the house. Gift wrap both the tops and bottoms of lidded boxes in shiny or brightly colored paper. Arrange the open boxes in the center of the table. Line with colored tissue paper and fill with glass ornaments intertwined with battery operated lights. Rest the lids in place as if they had just been lifted off the boxes; hold in place with double stick tape. Tuck crumpled tissue paper around the bottoms of the boxes and under the lids. Add ribbon and bows. For place cards, write your guests' names on colored glass ornaments and set in center of dinner plates. 36. Use color copies of photographs of favorite holiday moments to create a very special tablecloth using a photo transfer medium called Picture This by Plaid. Add new photo memories with every holiday. Have guests sign the tablecloth with a paint pen or permanent marker. Be sure to write the date and identify the partygoers in the photos. 37. For extra seating at big family dinners, paint yard sale chairs in bright holiday colors. Using rub-on letters protected by a sealer or stencils and paint, personalize each chair with the guest's name on the chair back or seat. Surround each name with stenciled or painted holiday motif's or decoupage gift wrap scraps. 38. Serve up a new tradition for your holiday meals. Create festive family dinnerware with pieces found at a local ceramic studio or shop. Shop staff can help you choose the unfinished pieces, glazes, designs, and help with the firing. It is an investment in time, yet fairly inexpensive when compared to the cost of traditional holiday dinner sets. Each member of the family can make their own special place setting or you can paint the dishes to mix and match. Pick simple and common styles; it will make it easier to add pieces to the set and replace those that may break. 39. Add holiday-patterned ready-made or stitched-yourself seat and back cushions to your dining room chairs. Dress them up with appliqués and trim. These are quick-change accessories that can really make a room sparkle. 40. Fill the center of your table with a summer harvest. Jars of home canned vegetables and fruits such as beans, tomatoes, and corn have beautiful color. Stack them beside jars of homemade preserves, apple butter, and jellies. If you don't can, purchase homemade items at farm stands and bazaars. Cover the lids with scraps of calico and gingham tied in place with ribbons, raffia, or twine. Mix in baskets of fresh fruit. Set votive candles on top of a few canned items. The light will reflect off the glass and make the colors look warm and inviting.

~*~ To make nut meats come out whole: soak nuts in salt water overnight before cracking. ~*~ Instead of the water your recipe calls for, try juices, bouillon, or water you've cooked vegetables in. Instead of milk, try buttermilk, yogurt or sour cream. It can add a whole new flavor and improve nutrition. ~*~ Add a couple of tablespoons of butter or vegetable oil to your dough, and your bread will stay fresher for a longer period. ~*~ If you use your flour fairly quickly, store it in a cool, dry cupboard and stick a couple of bay leaves in the bag to discourage any visitors. If you use your flour more slowly, especially your whole wheat, put it in a lock type plastic bag and store it in your freezer. ~*~ Try substituting a little dried fruit, vegetables, cheese, nuts, grains, seeds or herbs and spices for some of the flour in your recipes. Merely add it into the cup before you measure your flour. It will add a whole new dimension to your baking. ~*~ Stir-fry your vegetables in broth. Chicken, beef or vegetable broth give your vegetables a great flavor, and using broth instead of oil really cuts down on the fat. ~*~ Plain, microwaved broccoli again? Try tossing in a bit of non-fat or low fat Italian salad dressing first for a tangy flavor. While you're at it, throw in some cauliflower for color! ~*~ Spice up your chicken broth Sauté fresh or frozen snow peas with fresh sliced mushrooms in chicken broth. Very colorful, very quick, very low fat and very delicious. ~*~ Fun with bananas Broil bananas halves after sprinkling with cinnamon. ~*~ Sift first - batter later Always sift flour, salt and baking powder together before adding to batter. ~*~ Removing burnt-on food Add 1/2 cup of vinegar to a pot with burnt-on food and fill it with water. Let it soak overnight and the burnt-on food will come right out. ~*~ Sparkling Glass If you want your glass to shine just add ammonia to the water when you wash your glass. ~*~ Whipping Eggs If eggs are placed in cold water before being broken, they will whip easily. The whites will whip more readily if a pinch of salt is added. ~*~ Hard Boiled Eggs Instead of boiling eggs, put in pan, bring water to a boil and turn off flame, water has cooled, eggs will be hard. ~*~ No-Stick Pancake Batter When cooking pancakes, dip the spoon in milk or water and the batter will drop off easily from the spoon. ~*~ When buying avocados, squeeze gently. If they give slightly, they are ripe. Hard is unripe, squishy is too ripe or rotting. ~*~ Freeze soups in smaller portions Freeze in small round-bottomed plastic bowls with lids on. When frozen, remove lids, place bowls upside down on top of lids in sink. Run hot tap for a few seconds until frozen soup blocks drop out. Wrap in greaseproof paper, store in freezer. Reheat in pot for use. ~*~ Garlic Bread The secret of garlic bread is that if you want it to be soggy, you should wrap it in tin foil, but if you prefer it crispy, broil it uncovered, ensuring that the garlic pieces do not burn. ~*~ How to peel garlic When peeling garlic, thump clove with the side of a cutting knife or cleaver and the skin will lift away easily. ~*~ Cooking in frying pans? When cooking in a frying pan with butter. Put a small drop of oil in the pan to keep butter from burning. ~*~ Frosting a cake Putting the cooled cake in the freezer for about 20 minutes make the cake easier to frost and less crumbly. ~*~ For a heartier taste and better nutrition, try using 1/3 Stone Ground Whole Wheat Flour with 2/3 All- Purpose Flour in your cookies, cakes, brownies, muffins, pies and pastries. ~*~ Turkey Brown To keep a turkey from browning too much, or burning before it is done, place foil wrap on top of it. ~*~ 123 Fruit Dip I 7 oz jar Marshmallow cream 1 8oz Package softened cream cheese Combine Marshmallow cream and the softened cream cheese: mix well till blended. Keep chilled till ready to serve. Use to dip fresh strawberries, peaches or any of your favorite fruit. you may also add a drop of food coloring to the dip if you wish. ~~*~~ A Congressman is awakened in the middle of the night by his wife who whispers, "I think there's a thief in the house." "Not in the House," her husband says. "Perhaps in the Senate, my dear, but never in the House." ~~*~~ Sally Jo

NASA Science News for November 13, 2001 Have you ever wondered what happens when the solar-powered International Space Station glides through Earth's shadow? And if astronauts took their favorite CD player or an electric razor from Earth onboard, could they plug it in? And would it work? This story answers such questions and more. > > > >FULL STORY at > >http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2001/ast13nov_1.htm?list489379 > _________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com/intl.asp

OOOOOOHHHHHHH YYYYEAAH!!!! When friends meet, hearts warm...proverb

Old Jim's prayer: A minister passing through his church in the middle of the day, Decided to pause by the altar and see who had come to pray. Just then the back door opened, a man came down the aisle, The minister frowned as he saw the man hadn't shaved in a while. His shirt was kinda shabby and his coat was worn and frayed, the man knelt, he bowed his head, then rose and walked away. In the days that followed, each noon time came this chap, each time he knelt just for a moment, a lunch pail in his lap. Well, the minister's suspicions grew, with robbery a main fear, He decided to stop the man and ask him, What are you doing here?" The old man said, he worked down the road. Lunch was half an hour. Lunchtime was his prayer time, for finding strength and power. I stay only moments, see, because the factory is so far away; as I kneel here talking to the Lord, this is kinda what I say: "I JUST CAME AGAIN TO TELL YOU, LORD, HOW HAPPY I'VE BEEN, SINCE WE FOUND EACH OTHER'S FRIENDSHIP AND YOU TOOK AWAY MY SIN. DON'T KNOW MUCH OF HOW TO PRAY, BUT I THINK ABOUT YOU EVERYDAY. SO, JESUS, THIS IS JIM CHECKING IN TODAY." The minister feeling foolish, told Jim, that was fine. He told the man he was welcome to come and pray just anytime. "Thanks." He hurried to the door. The minister knelt at the altar, he'd never done it before. His cold heart melted, warmed with love, and met with Jesus there. As the tears flowed, in his heart, he repeated old Jim's prayer: "I JUST CAME AGAIN TO TELL YOU, LORD, HOW HAPPY I'VE BEEN, SINCE WE FOUND EACH OTHER'S FRIENDSHIP AND YOU TOOK AWAY MY SIN. I DON'T KNOW MUCH OF HOW TO PRAY, BUT I THINK ABOUT YOU EVERYDAY. SO, JESUS, THIS IS ME CHECKING IN TODAY." Past noon one day, the minister noticed that old Jim hadn't come. As more days passed without Jim, he began to worry some. At the factory, he asked about him, learning he was ill. The hospital staff was worried, but he'd given them a thrill. The week that Jim was with them, brought changes in the ward. His smiles, a joy contagious. Changed people, were his reward. The head nurse couldn't understand why Jim was so glad, when no flowers, calls or cards came, not a visitor he had. The minister stayed by his bed, he voiced the nurse's concern: No friends came to show they cared. He had nowhere to turn. Looking surprised, old Jim spoke up and with a winsome smile; "the nurse is wrong, she couldn't know, that in here all the while everyday at noon He's here, a dear friend of mine, you see, He sits right down, takes my hand, leans over and says to me: "I JUST CAME AGAIN TO TELL YOU, JIM, HOW HAPPY I HAVE BEEN, SINCE WE FOUND THIS FRIENDSHIP, AND I TOOK AWAY YOUR SIN. ALWAYS LOVE TO HEAR YOU PRAY, I THINK ABOUT YOU EACH DAY, AND SO JIM, THIS IS JESUS CHECKING IN TODAY." May God hold you in the palm of His hand and Angels watch over you. ~Author Unknown~

> > "WHY I LOVE HER" > > (America) > > > > You ask me Why I Love Her? > > Well, give me time and I'll explain. > > Have you seen a Kansas sunset > > Or an Arizona rain? > > Have you drifted on a bayou > > Down Louisiana way? > > Have you watched a cold fog drifting > > Over San Francisco Bay? > > Have you heard a bobwhite calling > > In the Carolina pines, > > Or heard the bellow of a diesel > > At the Appalachia mines? > > Does the call of Niagara thrill you > > When you hear her waters roar? > > Do you look with awe and wonder > > At her Massachusetts shore, > > Where men who braved a hard new world > > First stepped on Plymouth's rock? > > And do you think of them when you stroll > > Along a New York City dock? > > Have you seen a snowflake drifting > > In the Rockies, way up high? > > Have you seen the sun come blazing down > > From a bright Nevada sky? > > Do you hail to the Columbia > > As she rushes to the sea, > > Or bow your head at Gettysburg > > At our struggle to be free? > > Have you seen the mighty Tetons? > > Have you watched an eagle soar? > > Have you seen the Mississippi > > Roll along Missouri's shore? > > Have you felt a chill at Michigan > > When on a winter's day > > Her waters rage along the shore > > In thunderous display? > > Does the word "Aloha" make you warm? > > Do you stare in disbelief > > When you see the surf > > Come roaring in at Waimea Reef? > > From Alaska's cold to the Everglades, > > From the Rio Grande to Maine, > > My heart cries out, my pulse runs fast > > At the might of her domain. > > You ask me Why I Love Her? > > I've a million reasons why: > > My Beautiful America, > > Beneath God's wide, wide sky.

Headline: Small girl's generosity is paid off in Barbies Author: Associated Press ST. GEORGE -- Four-year-old Jayde Cluff was so moved by New York's plight that she gave all she had -- 60 cents -- to the Twin Towers Fund. A few days after the Sept. 11 attacks, Jayde handed her savings to her mother, Sarah, and said, "This can build the towers again." "I just started to cry," her mother said. Each dime was Jayde's weekly pay for cleaning her room and making her bed every day. She was saving them toward the $1 that was to be her portion of the price of a Barbie doll. Instead they went into an envelope, along with an explanation of Jayde's sacrifice, and mailed to New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, where accounts of Jayde's generosity touched hearts throughout the city. The New York Post published a story Tuesday about the girl's selfless act and was inundated with telephone calls wanting to know about the little girl. On Thursday, two giant boxes arrived at the Cluff home. In them were 15 Barbies and accessories, courtesy of Mattel Inc., the doll maker. Another doll came from a New York hotel. "It is because of your generosity that we are proud to be Americans," said a letter from staff of the New York Doubletree. "We sent you this Angel (Barbie) because you are our angel." "There is such an incredible lesson that everyone can learn from this girl," Mattel spokeswoman Lisa Marie Bongiovanni said Thursday. "When you give of yourself, it comes back to you." Lots of children have been doing the same thing. Pennies taped to papers have been pouring into the Twin Towers Fund, which will benefit families of fallen firefighters and police. But Tamra Roberts Lhota, who oversees the fund, said the group was particularly touched by Jayde's generosity. "For her, helping others was more important than a Barbie doll," Lhota said. "Speaking as a mother I know the sacrifice she made, and her donation means just as much to me as any million-dollar gift." Jayde promised to share her dolls with her three older sisters and has set aside one doll. "I want to send this to the little girl that lost her daddy because the bad men crashed the airplane into the building." "Jayde keeps talking about this little girl she saw on television, so I want to find her so we can send her the doll," Sarah Cluff said. Sarah Cluff said she would like to send other dolls to other little girls who lost a parent in the twin tower attacks. "Those kids need to know someone cares and loves them," she said. ---------- Copyright 2001, Deseret News Publishing Co.

Grave-Digger Held for Skull-Sale Sideline November 12, 2001 8:13 am EST LAGOS (Reuters) - A Nigerian grave digger with a sideline in the sale of human skulls has been arrested while trying to deliver two fresh specimens to a customer, police said on Saturday. "We arrested a man yesterday in the Ikeja area of Lagos with two fresh human heads," Mike Okiro, Lagos state commissioner of police, told Reuters. In Nigeria, Africa's most populous nation with more than 110 million people, many believe witchcraft involving the use of human genitals, eyes, tongues and skulls can make them instant millionaires. "The man said he has been in the business of supplying human heads to people for some time now. He was taking the two fresh heads to a new customer when our men arrested him," Okiro said. "The man said each head fetches him about 15,000 Nigerian naira ($131). We are investigating the case to establish how he came about the heads and who his customers are." Police were also on the trail of another man who allegedly chopped off the heads of three people he had kidnapped. "We have recovered the three headless bodies and are still looking for the man believed to have cut off their heads," Okiro said. Ritual killing to provide body parts for witchcraft is common in some parts of Nigeria. In August, three men hoping to be millionaires were arrested in the southwest for possessing a fresh human skull, which they said they bought for 500 naira and planned to use in money-making rituals. A 13-year-old girl confessed in July to taking part in the ritual killing of 48 people in the last seven years after being initiated into a secret cult. The girl told police in the northeastern city of Maiduguri that the body parts of victims, among them a two-year-old boy, were usually removed and sent to the cult headquarters in Nigeria's commercial capital of Lagos.

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Mr. Gillespie By Angela Sturgill When I was in seventh grade, I was a candy striper at a local hospital in my town. I volunteered about thirty to forty hours a week during the summer. Most of the time I spent there was with Mr. Gillespie. He never had any visitors, and nobody seemed to care about his condition. I spent many days there holding his hand and talking to him, helping with anything that needed to be done. He became a close friend of mine, even though he responded with only an occasional squeeze of my hand. Mr. Gillespie was in a coma. I left for a week to vacation with my parents, and when I came back, Mr. Gillespie was gone. I didn't have the nerve to ask any of the nurses where he was, for fear they might tell me he had died. So with many questions unanswered, I continued to volunteer there through my eighth-grade year. Several years later, when I was a junior in high school, I was at the gas station when I noticed a familiar face. When I realized who it was, my eyes filled with tears. He was alive! I got up the nerve to ask him if his name was Mr. Gillespie, and if he had been in a coma about five years ago. With an uncertain look on his face, he replied yes. I explained how I knew him, and that I had spent many hours talking with him in the hospital. His eyes welled up with tears, and he gave me the warmest hug I had ever received. He began to tell me how, as he lay there comatose, he could hear me talking to him and could feel me holding his hand the whole time. He thought it was an angel, not a person, who was there with him. Mr. Gillespie firmly believed that it was my voice and touch that had kept him alive. Then he told me about his life and what happened to him to put him in the coma. We both cried for a while and exchanged a hug, said our good-byes and went our separate ways. Although I haven't seen him since, he fills my heart with joy every day. I know that I made a difference between his life and his death. More important, he has made a tremendous difference in my life. I will never forget him and what he did for me: he made me an angel. .·:*´¨`*:·..·:*´¨`*:·. *: * Missi * :* *·. .·* `*·-:¦:-*´ ³´`*:»§«:*´`³

Astrologer Says Laden Search to Frustrate US November 9, 2001 8:17 am EST BANGALORE, India (Reuters) - A leading Indian astrologer who says she predicted the September 11 attacks in the United States believes Washington's hunt for Osama Bin Laden may end up in frustration. Gayatri Devi Vasudev, editor of "The Astrological Magazine," India's best-known astrology journal, also predicted some tense periods ahead for the United States, particularly in January, with increased violence by attackers. Vasudev, whose magazine is sold in various nations including the United States, had said in the January issue this year that there would be fundamentalist violence and the "retrogression of Mars...(could) carry seeds of violence for the White House." She said that she based her predictions on the relevance of Saturn to the United States and planetary movements this year. "The...transits (planetary movements) are such as to frustrate the American efforts to hound out and nab the world's most wanted fundamentalist," Vasudev said in the November issue of the avidly followed journal. "Nor do these planetary patterns support the deliverance of Afghanistan from the Taliban and restoring of the country to its former king." Vasudev had on September 25 told Reuters the United States would launch retaliatory attacks for the air attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. The military strikes started 12 days later. Vasudev had also then warned of further strikes, but of smaller magnitude, and an eventual victory for Washington. The astrologer, who linked the September suicide attacks by hijackers to an astrological opposition between Mars and Saturn, said December 6 and 22, followed by January 13, 15 and 30 represented sensitive planetary positions. "These periods, and more especially, those of January 2002, can see tensions escalate with terrorist activity pepping up," she said, describing them as "treacherous dates" around which authorities and intelligence agents must be alert. But Vasudev, whose father and teacher B.V. Raman built up an avid following for the magazine for decades, said the United States would be in a position to hit back at further attacks. "A series of Martian aspects will take place in the coming months when terrorist attacks are likely to be met with swift military retaliatory action by the United States," she said. Vasudev says astrological predictions are scientific in nature and knowing them can help one take corrective action.