When I moved I inherited a large established vegetable garden that had been plowed up by a tractor for the last decade or so. The vegetables were growing in 8 inches of loose soil over hardpan. Roots couldnt penetrate the hardpan, grow to their full depth and take advantage of nutrients and water in lower levels of the soil, so I had to supply more water and fertilizer than I liked. The following spring I marked out permanent beds and walkways to avoid compacting the soil in my planting beds and added nutrients to the paths to help keep them weed-free. I turned the beds by hand with a...

Recently the U.K.s Society of Authors has called for payments to authors made under the national tax-payer funded Public Lending Rights (PLR) program to be expanded to include digital content. Though such an expansion seems unlikely in a time of austerity, the principle of appropriately compensating creators of content is an appropriate extension the concept of intellectual property rights. Most of the countries of the world that value individuals intellectual contributions to society have some model of tracking library usage of authors works and compensating them for that usage. Such ...

Weve added a new tab type called "Archive". This new tab type was requested by several users that wanted to close a tab to discussion, but not delete the tab. The basic function of this new tab type is to make a tab private and make it read-only. Existing users are still members of a tab that has been archived and can use the Archived tab for reference. The organizer of the tab can change the tab back to an active tab to renew the discussion. Use the Manage menu > Security to make changes to your tab type.

This is a pretty funny bit of info about Siri. The Nokia Lumia 900 as the best Smart Phone was the answer given by Siri last week, seems Siri is having second thoughts this week and now is giving a more iPhone friendly answer. :-)

As someone who really loves music, I was nervous about deciding who to hire for my reception music: a DJ or a live band. There are benefits and drawbacks to both, so its critical to shop wisely and check references. A DJ is typically less expensive than a live band and can offer a wider range of music that will please guests of all ages. One friend of mine hired a DJ who was great at getting the crowd excited. He even managed to get my friends mother-in-law, who never dances, out on the dance floor! However, if the DJ isnt up to par, it can really ruin the mood of the reception. A ba...

I keep looking for ways to improve my garden soil without spending a lot of money. Cover crops do this quite well. The seed is cheap, and the crops dont require much maintenance, though choosing them and timing their planting take some attention. Cover crops protect the soil from being compacted by repeated freezing and thawing over the winter. Ive planted frost-hardy annual ryegrass and oats as late as September--right around the first frost where I live--and had them grow a good soil-protecting mat before the ground froze hard. During the growing season cover crops can outcompete...

I dont want to feed my family too much beef, and when we do eat it, Id rather serve a small cheeseburger or a good steak than a dish where the beefiness is covered up by other ingredients. Adding sauted and finely chopped mushrooms, onions, carrots makes ground turkey a succulent substitute for ground beef for a wholesome version of a diner favorite. While Im generally opposed to sneaky recipes la Jessica Seinfeld, I am happy to get some potassium-rich shrooms into the kids. The umami provided by the one-two punch of mushrooms and Worcestershire can stimulate kids appetites for this...

We had a question about how to turn on multiple calendar layers (calendars from several tab).

1) from the dashboard go to full page calendar (full screen icon)

Wedding programs are a great way for guests to know whos who at the altar and what to expect from the ceremony. They also make wonderful keepsakes. I designed my own wedding programs for a personal touch. People were coming up to me all night at the reception to tell me how much they liked the programs! Wedding programs are not mandatory, of course, but for those who choose to have them, there are a few things to keep in mind: * Wedding programs can be expensive, but they dont have to be. Couples can spend as little as the cost of printer paper, or as much as $2,000, depending on t...

My college offered Backpacking as a legitimate way to fulfill a Phys. Ed. requirement. One of the most useful things the instructor taught the class was the value of the standing rest. When the going gets tough on a big hill the last thing a hiker wants to do is to lose too much momentum. For many homeschoolers and afterschoolers, this is the time of year when kids (and parents) start to feel somewhat burned out by the school year. For public school kids, state tests may be finished and it can be difficult to keep plugging away after weeks of build-up. Test day itself can feel like som...

How possible is it to have two announcement apps on a tab? One used for a general announcement which may need to remain up for awhile for members to see, while the other for weekly announcements, or something to that effect?

Thanks!

Mulching helps me get more from my water, time, fertilizer and energy. Ive written about how mulch helps me deal with hot and cold, wet and dry. It also smothers weeds and enriches soil during the growing season and protects soil structure from repeated freezing and thawing in winter. There are many materials you can use as mulch. Lawn clippings add nitrogen to the soil as they decompose. They may be weed-free if you mow your lawn before anything goes to seed in it. Be careful of clippings from lawns that have been treated with herbicide; it can kill garden plants. Keep the layer of cl...

Subject: Kate and Will Anniversary
Date: 04/29/2012
Time: from 8:30 AM to 9:00 AM
Location:
Source: Wedding Knots
Description: Kate Middleton and Prince William Married One Year Today!

What could be sweeter than reciting self-written vows while standing alongside the love of ones life? Thats what I was thinking when my now-husband and I decided to write our own vows. Still, like many things about a wedding, it was not as simple as it seemed. There were a few steps that we had to take before sitting down and writing away. First, we needed to check with our officiant to make sure he was okay with it--and he was. He did not need to see the vows beforehand, but this is a requirement in some faith communities. We had to decide if we wanted to collaborate on writing our ...

MS to invest $300 Million in the Nook Business Unit was reported in the NYTimes today. Expect to see a Nook e-reader type integration with the upcoming Windows 8 release. Microsoft seems to be covering all the application types as they get ready to release Windows 8.

Welcome to Ms. Morris' AP Literature Summer Reading Discussion board!!

Here, you will find discussions on the readings over the summer. Please check back frequently for updates!

Considering how many public school teachers express feeling burned by standards-based curricula, I expect that many are feeling understandably resistant to the post-NCLB Common Core Standards. I recently read most of the 66-page document Common Core Standards for English Language Arts & Literacy in History / Social Studies, Science, and Technical Subjects, and I hope that time-strapped teachers will take the time to read the standards in their original form (beware of cheap imitations!). I found nothing terribly radical in the Standards. They show a logical progression of knowledge bu...

Tor Publishing is making its titles Digital Rights Management (DRM)-free in a test run that may give ebook owners better control over the content they purchase. Now buyers of any ebook on the Tor list will be able to move that book from one reader to another without having to go through stripping the DRM. Market-savvy J.K. Rowling has used her clout to offer her titles DRM-free exclusively through her own website. Perhaps surprisingly, this has not increased the pirating of her books. Tor president and publisher Tom Doherty sees the majority of the sci-fi and fantasy community as a so...

Unlike urban and community gardeners, I dont have obvious space limitations for my vegetable garden. But I dont want to expand it, partly because thats about all the area I can keep picked, watered and weeded and partly because Ive put up an eight-footdeer fence. So Im learning how to grow more food in less space. My garden is50 x 250, which isnt huge considering Im trying to grow enough food for my family to eat in summer and preserve for winter, plus extra for guests and a local soup kitchen. Intensive plant spacing helps. Instead of row-cropping I grow plants in beds three or fou...

There are a lot of things to keep in mind when setting up a wedding gift registry. I was overwhelmed when a sales associate placed a scanner in my hand, said "Have fun!," and walked away. The entire store was at my disposal; where to begin? Here are some tips that helped me organize the wish-listas well asthe thank-you notes aspects of wedding gifts: DO register for gifts together. Your spouse-to-be probably will think its fun, and after all, your gifts will go into the home youll be sharing together. DO select items in a range of prices, from inexpensive to pricey. We needed napkins...