A while ago I alluded to one of my early summer jobs in an aircraft plant. I mentioned the technique known as “stretching the work” in which small parts were prepped for a brine bath, then set on the bench and stared at for as long as possible. This may have been one of the earliest uses of Zen. There were other interesting facets of the defense plant culture which should not go undocumented. 

Dear editor and staff writer, it is with much respect and admiration that we send this very humble thank you.

Once again, your tribute to our beloved Jason was spot-on and we are so very grateful for your support.

The outpouring of love, respect and testimonials that Jason received during his illness right through the day of his memorial and burial services are indicative of the man he was to all of us.

That’s right: Vitamin D is not a vitamin. While many and most vitamins are edible micronutrients found in our food, vitamin D remains an anomaly born from an unthinkable feat of modern science: putting sunlight in a bottle.

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The newly adopted Local Solid Waste Management Plan (SWMP) sets a lofty goal of 60 percent recycling attainment by 2022 — a noble goal — but falls short when it comes to a plan for the Resource Recovery Agency’s (RRA) waste-to-energy (WTE) plant whose operating contract expires next year. The burn plant has consistently failed to produce a profit resulting in annual taxpayer subsidy, sometimes as high as $6 million a year. This year it is expected that taxpayers will contribute $2 million to offset losses.

Let me see ... a man, here as a student with state aid, his family receiving welfare from the commonwealth, leaves college without a job, with only a green card, gets a woman pregnant and a year after the child is born agrees to marry her if she converts to Islam. The woman, the daughter of an ER doctor, becomes a full convert to Islam. Her friends proclaim she was brainwashed. Her family did not think this is strange, they did not intervene?

MILLBROOK — Millbrook High School held an assembly April 8 to honor Holocaust Remembrance Day. Guest speakers who discussed their encounters with the horrors of the Holocaust were Jean and Kurt Malkisher and Henry and Suzanne Federman. The visit coincided with the sophomore class study of World War II.
Jean Malkisher presented her story through a recorded video. She described the way she and her family were ostracized by society. After they tried to flee to Switzerland they found they would have to remain in Vienna and try to wait out the war.

Dear EarthTalk: What is the “Monsanto Protection Act” and why are environmentalists so upset about it?

Rita Redstone

Milwaukee, Wis.

The so-called Monsanto Protection Act is actually a provision (officially known as Section 735) within a recently passed Congressional spending bill, H.R. 933, which exempts biotech companies from litigation in regard to the making, selling and distribution of genetically engineered (GE) seeds and plants.