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baseball league that was created because African Americans, who were called Negros at the time, were not allowed to play in the Major Leagues due to segregation. The first league, The Negro National League, was founded in 1920 by Rube Foster. Pay was low in the Negro Leagues, to make |
extra money, players would barnstorm. This meant that they would travel to play exhibition games in one city one day and in another city the next in between their league games. They not only played against other clubs in their league, but major leaguers as well. Negro league teams won |
about sixty percent of the time. Teams would sometimes play two or three games in one day. Major league teams barnstormed as well but because of segregation, Negro League players had a tougher time. They were unwelcome by most hotels so after traveling for hours on a bus, they would |
have to sleep on that bus or in the ballpark. Negro Leaguers sometimes had to travel several hundred miles to find a restaurant that would serve them. They couldn’t use many public restrooms and in some stadiums that were not allowed to use the locker rooms. Despite the hardships,The Negro |
Leagues produced many great baseball players, some of whom eventually made it to the Major Leagues. Jackie Robinson played in the Negro Leagues for one season before becoming the first African American to play in the Majors. |
Yield test for corn turns 90 Numerous generations of farmers have relied on what many still refer to as the Iowa Corn Yield Test. For years that was its name. For 90 consecutive years the test has been conducted at various locations in Iowa to provide information to help select corn varieties and hybrids to plant. Today, the official name of the annual statewide |
because of the farmers in Iowa and their use of the performance data and the many seed companies past and present that participate in the trials,” says Jim Rouse, program coordinator and executive director of ICIA. “Without the trust and support of both of these groups, the program could not have reached such a milestone.” The goal is still the same as it was |
when H.D. Hughes and Henry A. Wallace suggested the idea and helped start the program in 1920. That is, to provide Iowa farmers with unbiased information about the corn they grow. Hughes was an agronomy professor at Iowa State College, as ISU was called back then. Wallace developed some of the first commercial hybrids and helped the seed corn industry get its start before |
he went on to become U.S. secretary of agriculture and vice president of the United States. • Tests help farmers select the best hybrids for their farms. • Look for randomized, replicated data when evaluating varieties. • Consider multiyear district averages to minimize risk. What’s looks to a hog? As editor of Wallaces Farmer, Henry A. Wallace wrote extensively about the promise of hybrid |
corn. An advocate of scientific methods, even as a teenager, he was critical of the practice of selecting the most beautiful ears and saving them for seed. Early in his corn breeding experiments, young Wallace realized a scientific selection process was needed instead of a “beauty contest” approach. The first bulletin of test results, published in 1920, reported yields from a Benton County test |
that included data from 12 open-pollinated varieties, with names such as Reid’s Yellow Dent and Iowa 203. These 12 open-pollinated varieties averaged 63 bushels per acre, as ear corn. Data also were included from a 1918 test in Floyd County and a 1915 Henry County test. The 1921 test, which reflected the first official growing year, included 128 open-pollinated varieties. In his book, “The |
Hybrid Corn-Makers,” Richard Crabb explains the important role the Iowa State Corn Yield Test played in development of the hybrid corn industry. Also, a book titled “The Iowa Crop Improvement Association,” by Joe Robinson and Oliver Knott, discusses the first 44 years of the test. Many changes in the corn yield testing program have occurred in corn production practices, data collection methods, statistical analysis |
and publishing of the results. For many years the reports weren’t released until mid-February following the fall harvest. Today, the results are posted on the Internet as soon as Rouse and his crew can get the plots harvested and the results analyzed. Data for the first plots are usually posted soon after harvest in October, and complete data for all sites is posted in |
November. In fall 2009, with the late-maturing crop, wet weather and the latest Iowa corn harvest in more than 50 years, test results for all locations weren’t completely posted until Thanksgiving. To get the first test started in 1920, the Iowa Corn and Small Grain Growers Association worked with the college, now ISU, planting test plots in the state that spring. The farmers of |
1920 didn’t use corn hybrids. Instead, varieties of open-pollinated corn were planted. The first hybrid wasn’t entered in the test until 1923. In 1924, USDA offered an entry designated as “F1 Hybrid.” Henry C. Wallace, the father of Henry A., was then the U.S. secretary of agriculture. George Kurtzwell entered another hybrid, Copper Cross. More hybrids were entered in 1925, and by 1930 the |
hybrid entries outnumbered the open-cross entries. By 1938 only 63 of 1,110 entries were The test was difficult work. In their 1963 book, Robinson and Knott said the hand-held planters made “an awful” racket when dragged along a railroad depot platform. The early researchers often rode trains to their destination, then hired workers locally to help them plant and harvest. Just a click away |
today It wasn’t until 1960 when mechanical corn-pickers were used to harvest the plots. Today, combines are equipped with monitors and technology to gather information as the crop is harvested. Measurements for yield and grain moisture are made automatically. The methods of delivery of information to the public also have changed. In the 1980s researchers still recorded data with a pencil and paper. Farmers |
300 corn hybrids and 320 soybean varieties tested. Both the corn and the soybean trials today are run in six districts, three locations per district, around the state. LATEST YIELD TEST: Bill Vinson (right) and Bill Fjelland examine a plot during harvest of the 2009 Iowa Corn Performance trial in southern Iowa. HARD WORK: Crews haul, sort and weigh ears for the corn yield |
test, circa 1950. OLD DAYS: Chuck Hutchcroft (left in photo above) and Adin Rouze of the Iowa Crop Improvement Association evaluate hybrids in 1954. This article published in the January, 2010 edition of WALLACES FARMER. All rights reserved. Copyright Farm Progress Cos. 2010. |
Western Pearlshell - Margaritifera falcata State Rank Reason (see State Rank above) This species is widespread in geographic area, but is declining in terms of area occupied and the number of sites with viable individuals; populations showing repeated reproduction (at |
least several age classes) are now the exception rather than the rule. Montana currently has only 14 "excellent" viable populations out of ~200 known locations (Stagliano 2010). - Details on Status Ranking and Review ScoreU - Unknown ScoreE - 5,000-20,000 |
km squared (about 2,000-8,000 square miles) Comment5000-20,000km (2,000-8,000square miles) Area of Occupancy Score - Rank factor not assessed Comment200-1000 km (125-620 miles) linear river Length of Occupancy ScoreLD - 200-1,000 km (about 125-620 miles) ScoreC - Substantial Decline (decline of |
50-75%) CommentSiltation and stream temperature increases with loss of riparian shading and lower snowpack probably contributed to some decline ScoreC - Rapidly Declining. Decline of 30-50% in population, range, area occupied, and/or number or condition of occurrences ScoreB - Moderate |
and imminent threat. Threat is moderate to severe and imminent for a significant proportion (20-60%) of the population or area. CommentClimate Change, increasing stream temperatures and lower snowpack could seriously impact the habitat that this speces exists in SeverityModerate - |
Major reduction of species population or long-term degradation or reduction of habitat in Montana, requiring 50-100 years for recovery. ScopeModerate - 20-60% of total population or area affected ImmediacyHigh - Threat is operational (happening now) or imminent (within a year). |
ScoreA - Highly Vulnerable. Species is slow to mature, reproduces infrequently, and/or has low fecundity such that populations are very slow (> 20 years or 5 generations) to recover from decreases in abundance; or species has low dispersal capability such |
that extirpated populations are unlikely to become reestablished through natural recolonization (unaided by humans). ScoreB - Narrow. Specialist. Specific habitat(s) or other abiotic and/or biotic factors (see above) are used or required by the Element, but these key requirements are |
common and within the generalized range of the species within the area of interest. CommentLong-lived and low fecundity--Host fish relationships are species specific, thus when the host fish (native Westslope Cutthroat Trout) is in decline, this mussel species suffers- The |
western pearlshell is Montana's only coldwater trout stream mussel, and the only native mussel found on the west-side of the state (west of the continental divide). Populations of this mussel on the east-side of the divide in Montana reflect the |
distribution pattern of it's host fish (westslope cutthroat). The shell of M. falcata is elongate, compressed, dark colored, and slightly concave on the ventral edge, oftentimes erosion marks are prominent on the umbo region (see photo). It has weakly developed |
teeth and a purple nacre (see photo). The normal size is 50 to 85 mm with larger older specimens surpassing 10 cm. In Montana, this species is similar to Ligumia recta, which is larger, thicker, has better developed teeth, pink |
nacre and occurs only in warmer rivers much further downstream. Since these species occur in very different habitats the likelihood of misidentifying M. falcata in Montana is virtually impossible. "Similar to M. margaritifera except smaller (maximum length 125 mm) with |
purple rather than white or whitish nacre, relatively smaller anterior pseudocardinal tooth in left valve, and muscle scars in beak cavity entirely visible from below. Hermaphroditic, whereas in M. margaritifera the sexes are separate" (Clarke 1981: 250). Shell morphology: The |
shell of M. falcata is elongate, compressed, dark colored, and slightly concave on the ventral edge, oftentimes erosion marks are prominent on the umbo region (see photo). It is the smallest mussel species in Montana and the only one known |
west of the continental divide. It has weakly developed teeth and a purple nacre (see photo). The normal size is 50 to 85 mm with larger older specimens surpassing 10 cm. In Montana, this species is similar to Ligumia recta, |
which is larger, thicker, has better developed teeth, pink nacre and occurs only in warmer rivers much further downstream. Since these species occur in very different habitats the likelihood of misidentifying M. falcata in Montana is virtually impossible. Margaritifera falcata |
is found in Alaska (SNR), California (S2S3), Idaho (S3), Montana (S2), Nevada (SNR), Oregon (S3), Washington (S4), Wyoming (SNR), British Columbia (S5) and have been extirpated from Utah (SH) (Nature Serve 2006). Their range is widespread in area, but spotty |
in viable population coverage. Western MT was originally known as part of species" range; status of this area for the species currently needs further work (Frest and Johannes 1995). In Idaho, the historical range includes sites in the Snake, Coeur |
d’Alene, Lost, and Salmon River drainages (Frest and Johannes 1997, Frest 1999). Viable populations of pearlshells are persisting in north Idaho in the Coeur d’Alene, St. Joe, and St. Maries Rivers (Stagliano, 2011 unpublished USFS data). In central Idaho, populations |
with good viability occur in the Clearwater, Selway, Lochsa, Pashimeroi, Lost, Salmon and Little Salmon rivers and in Hells Canyon. In south Idaho, populations are thought to be extant in the upper tributaries of the Snake River, including the Blackfoot |
River (Frest and Johannes 1997, Frest 1999). Montana’s populations of M. falcata, in contrast to Idaho’s, may be significantly contracting and becoming less viable with stream decreased flows, warming and degradation. Previously reported mussel beds in the larger rivers (Blackfoot, |
Big Hole, Bitterroot, Clark Fork, etc.) are extirpated from those drainages or are at such low densities, long-term viability is unlikely. This mussel species appears to have crossed the continental divide in Montana from west to east with its salmonid |
host, the westslope cutthroat trout, Oncorhynchus clarki lewisi (Gustafson 2001). This is the only native trout in the Missouri River headwaters and this explains how M. falcata has reached the Smith River drainage downstream of the Missouri River. Reports of |
the eastern M. margaritifera in Montana are apparently due to the mistaken assumption that a mussel could not cross the continental divide. Summary of Observations Submitted for Montana Number of Observations: (Click on the following maps and charts to see |
full sized version) Map Help and Descriptions (Records associated with a range of dates are excluded from time charts) Sedentary as adults, rarely move more than a few meters. As larvae (glochidia on the fish gills), they use their fish |
host for disperal upstream or downstream to other suitable habitats. The species is found in cool and cold running streams that generally have a low to moderate gradient and are wider than 2 m; perferrable habitat is stable sand or |
gravel substrates. It is found in hard as well as soft water, unlike M. margaritifera (Clarke 1981). In large Idaho river systems (Salmon and Clearwater River Canyons), M. falcata, attains maximum density and age in river reaches where large boulders |
structurally stabilize cobbles and interstitial gravels. Boulders tend to prevent significant bed scour during major floods, and these boulder-sheltered mussel beds, although rare, may be critical for population recruitment elsewhere within the river, especially after periodic flood scour of less |
protected mussel habitat. In Idaho's Salmon and Snake River canyon, where reaches are aggrading with sand and gravel, M. falcata is being replaced by Gonidea angulata. Freshwater mussels are mostly filter-feeders, siphoning in floating particulate organic materials (small plant or |
animal) from the water column and straining out the particles and expel the strained water. Pedal feeding with the foot muscle has also been observed, mostly in juveniles and younger age-classes. "The gravid period is from mid May to late |
June. Hermaphroditic. The glochidia have not been described. Host fishes are the chinook salmon, rainbow trout, brown trout, brook trout, speckled dace, Lahontan redside, and Tahoe sucker. The greatest longevity so far determined for M. falcata is about 67 years, |
but older specimens probably occur" (Clarke 1981:250). Nearly all mussels (Unionidae) require a host or hosts during the parasitic larval portion of their life cycle. Hosts are usually fish species and hosts for M. falcata in this region were typically |
and historically Oncorhynchus spp. (Chinook Salmon, Westslope Cutthroat trout, Steelhead, etc.), but Salmo and Salvelinus (introduced spp.) and even Rhinicthys and Catostomus (dace and suckers) are reported to be suitable. Margaritifera falcata has recently become a Sensitive Species for the |
USFS (2010), and has been ranked at risk (S2) in Montana since 2008. Despite earlier sharing the same state rank with Idaho, Montana’s populations have shown more dramatic declines (Gustafson, pers. comm., Stagliano 2010) and were downgraded to S2 from |
S2S4 after more intensive sampling in 2007 and 2008 documented few viable populations in the state (Stagliano, 2010). This species is widespread in geographic area, but is declining in terms of area occupied and the number of sites with viable |
individuals; populations showing repeated reproduction (at least several age classes) are now the exception rather than the rule (Frest and Johannes 1995, Stagliano 2010). Clarke (1993) asserted that "over-utilization of water resources by man" is responsible for the extirpation of |
this species in Utah. Individuals of this species can be quite long-lived; populations could exist undetected at low levels for many years without any reproduction. Global Short Term Trend: Declining (decline of 10-30%); Global Short Term Trend Comments: Taxon is |
declining, in terms of area occupied and number of sites and individuals (Frest and Johannes 1995; Hoving 2004). This species has likely recently been extirpated from the Umatilla River in Oregon (Brim Box et al. 2003). Global Long Term Trend: |
Substantial to moderate decline (decline of 25-75%); Global Long Term Trend Comments: All 11 localities (perhaps 9 populations) in Utah have been extirpated; it formerly occurred in the northern third of the state (Oliver and Bosworth, 1999). Threats or Limiting |
Factors Eutropification due to agricultural runoff and siltation from improper agricultural practices are typical problems for many of the rivers in this species' range; impoundments and diversions are also continued threats (Frest and Johannes 1995). Specific threats to all populations |
of M. falcata, include extensive damning and diversion of rivers for irrigation, hydroelectric, and water supply projects has much reduced the WA, OR, ID, and CA range of this species. Heavy nutrient enhancement, siltation, unstable substrate, or similar problems extirpate |
populations. Much of the middle Snake River in Idaho is rapidly becoming eutropified, due to agricultural runoff, fish farms, and urbanization along the river corridor. Much of the river is impounded behind a series of small dams; this is also |
detrimental for cold-water species such as this taxon. Fine sediment influx, generally from the same causes, is also a major problem. A recent (1994) landslide impacted some of the historic sites in the Snake River basin. In the lower Columbia |
River region, threats include impoundments; continued siltation and other impacts on the few remaining sites with habitat characteristics approximating pre-impoundment conditions on the lower Columbia. - Additional Sources of Information Related to "Mussels / Clams" |
Evidently Godfrey straighted up, and set about becoming a respectable citizen of the town of Deerfield, Massachusetts. He married 10 years later, and had six children with his first wife, widow Mary Miller. Following her death, he married Mehitable Smead Hull, with whom he had 6 more children. Each of his wives had also brought two stepchildren to the marriages. |
Godfrey provided for his wife and 15 children by working as a farmer and a shoemaker. In 1694, shortly after his marriage to Mehitable, one of her sons died when their house caught fire. One of the other children accidentally set fire to the flax bed they were sleeping in with a lit candle. Godfrey soon rebuilt his home on |
the same site. In 1697, his three year old son, Thomas, died. In 1703, his son John Nims and stepson Zebediah Williams were captured by Indians and taken captive to Canada. Then the following year, during the night of February 29, 1704, nearly 300 Mohawk and Huron warriors and 48 French troops attacked and burned the town of Deerfield, Massachusetts. |
Many of the townspeople were killed in their sleep, burned in their homes, or otherwise murdered. Over 112 men women and children were taken captive and marched 300 miles to Canada. Those who could not keep up the grueling pace despite the horrific conditions, were killed. Nothing paints the sad picture better than these words from “The Story of Godfrey |
Nims”.. “When the flame-lit night of February 29th, 1704, gave place to the cold dawn of March first; and Godfrey Nims, standing here, looked upon what had been his own hard-won home and was then the smoking funeral pyre of his three little daughters, there was left to comfort him but one member of his family.Another sad story from this |
event was that of Godfrey Nims’ eldest daughter, Mary Williams. She along with her husband and two young children were some of those captured in the raid. On the 8th day of the forced march, Mary spoke to her minister, also captive, telling him she had been “disabled by a fall on the ice, causing a miscarriage during the night. |
I will not be able to travel far, and I know they will kill me today. Pray for me that God would take me to Himself.” It is said that they then parted and she went calmly to her certain death on March 7, 1704. “His eldest son and his step-son captured the fall before; His son Henry, aged 22, |
slain; His eldest daughter and her baby boy slain; His wife, his boy Ebenezer, his baby Abigail, Elizabeth Hull his step-daughter and Mattoon his son-in-law, all led away into the night by bloody and brutal savages; “One alone was there: Thankful, his daughter, whose snow-covered home had concealed its inmates.” In total, his wife and 10 of his children and |
stepchildren were either killed in the raid, died on the march, or never returned. Godfrey himself died the following year. Godfrey Nims was my 8th great grandfather. His aptly named daughter that survived the raid, Thankful, was my 7th great grandmother. 1. Sheldon, George, A history of Deerfield, Massachusetts: the times when and the people by whom it was settled, |
unsettled and resettled, (Deerfield, Mass.: unknown, 1895-1896, 1414 pgs.), V2. 2. Thompson, Francis Nims, The Story of Godfrey Nims as read to The Nims Family Association at Deerfield, Massachusetts, on August 13, 1914, (unknown: unknown 19 pages). 3. Smead, Edwin Billings, compiler Smead Genealogy: Our Footprints and the Footprints of our Parents, (Greenfield, Mass., 1928.) “The Deerfield Massacre of 1704" |
Posted on April 23, 2012 By Alex Reid The MOOC is the massively open online course and there are a number of these now, like Coursera, which delivers courses from |
Princeton, Penn, Michigan, and Stanford. Then there are also stories like this one about Pearson delivering composition and other courses as part of a self-paced online curriculum. The concept is |
simple. If you have 10,000 students (or more) taking a course, even if the course is asynchronous, there will always be real-time peers to collaborate with. When I think of |
things like Coursera, I immediately think of the History Channel, PBS, the Science channel and so on. While they are different genres and different audiences, I think one could create |
a World Civilization course, for example, with the equivalent of one TV season of programming, that had the same production values and entertainment quality as a cable tv show and |
also covered the material of the course. I think you could do the same thing for a composition course where you could have content on the history of writing and |
rhetoric, interviews with writers, writing technologies, the cognitive dimensions of writing and so on. That is, I think you could pull off something mildly entertaining that would meet some of |
the goals of the course. The predictable objection here is that composition isn't a "content" course, that is a course about practicing writing. I disagree with that facile distinction. In |
my view, FYC is a course with content that introduces students to practical rhetorical methods and our understanding of how writing/communication works. For example, students should be introduced to how |
The New York Times American children consumed fewer calories in 2010 than they did a decade before, a new federal analysis shows. Health experts said the findings offered an encouraging sign that the epidemic of obesity might be easing, but cautioned that the magnitude of the decline was too small |
to move the needle much. And while energy intake has not changed considerably for adults in recent years, fewer of their calories are coming from fast food, researchers said. Obesity rates for adults have plateaued after years of increases. A third of adults are obese. The results of the research |
on childhood consumption patterns, the only federal analysis of calorie trends among children in recent years, came as a surprise to researchers. For boys, calorie consumption declined by about 7 percent to 2,100 calories a day over the period of the analysis, from 1999 through 2010. For girls, it dropped |
by 4 percent to 1,755 calories a day. “To reverse the current prevalence of obesity, these numbers have to be a lot bigger,” said Marion Nestle, professor of nutrition, food studies and public health at New York University. “But they are trending in the right direction, and that’s good news.” |
National obesity rates for children have been flat in recent years, but some cities have reported modest declines. The new evidence of a lower calorie intake for children may also foreshadow a broader national shift, experts said. “A harbinger of change is a good phrase,” said R. Bethene Ervin, a |
researcher at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and one of the authors of the report. “But to see if it’s really a real trend we would obviously need more years of data.” A drop in carbohydrate consumption drove the decline, a point of particular interest for those who |
study childhood obesity. Sugars are carbohydrates, and many argue that those added to food like cereal and soda during processing are at the heart of the childhood obesity epidemic. Dr. Ervin said it was not clear whether such added sugars alone were behind the carbohydrate decline. Over all, calories from |
fat remained stable, while those from protein increased and those from carbohydrates fell. The calorie decline was most pronounced among boys ages 2 to 11, and among teenage girls. Carbohydrate consumption declined among white and black boys, but not among Hispanic boys. Among girls, whites were the only group that |
consumed fewer calories from carbohydrates. Another surprise, researchers said, was the decline in calories coming from fast food among American adults. Those calories fell to 11.3 percent of adults’ total daily intake in 2010, down from 12.8 percent in 2006. The decline was sharpest among 40- to 59-year-olds, said Cynthia |
L. Ogden, a C.D.C. researcher who oversaw the research, which comprised two studies, one on caloric intake for children and the other on fast-food consumption among adults. For the analysis, called the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, people were interviewed in their homes and at mobile examination centers around |
the country. Americans eat about a third of their calories outside the home, according to federal data, and some demographic groups still get a lot of calories from fast food. Blacks between the ages of 20 and 39 consumed more than a fifth of their calories from fast food, the |
highest share for any group. The lowest rate was among older people, ages 60 and above, who got 6 percent of their daily caloric intake from fast food. Obese people also consumed more fast food, researchers found. |
If your mental image of an older person is someone frail and thin, it may be time for an update. For the generation currently moving through middle age and beyond, a new concern is, well, growing: obesity. "We're already seeing a large number of obese elderly, and if we don't do something, that figure is sure to rise," laments David |
Kessler, former commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration and author of The End of Overeating. Government figures show that Americans in their 60s today are about 10 pounds heavier than their counterparts of just a decade ago. And an even more worrisome bulge is coming: A typical woman in her 40s now weighs 168 pounds, versus 143 pounds in |
the 1960s. "People used to start midlife [at a lower weight] and then lose weight when they got into their 50s, but that doesn't happen as much anymore," Kessler says. If you're entering that danger zone now, be aware that it's not going to get any easier to lose weight, because people need fewer calories as they age. Blame slowing |
metabolism and the body's tendency starting in midlife to lose muscle mass—a process known as sarcopenia—and gain fat, especially around the abdomen. (Fat burns fewer calories than does muscle.) "All that conspires to make it harder for people to maintain the same body weight when they eat their usual diets," says Alice H. Lichtenstein, director of the Cardiovascular Nutrition Laboratory |
at Tufts University. "People have fewer discretionary calories to play with, so they need to make better food choices." Why do those choices matter? First, carrying an extra 20 or 30 pounds with you into old age doesn't bode well for attempts to head off the myriad diseases that strike in midlife and later and are linked to weight—including diabetes, |
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