(from U. of Iowa Gifted Teachers Message Board. Contributors: Leni Donlan, Bruce Falk, Jennifer Serventi & others. Editors: Peter Kickbush & Kirk Winters)

"Animal Diversity Web" is a searchable encyclopedia of thousands of photos, descriptions, sound recordings, & other information about individual animal species. Find out about amphibians, arthropods, birds, fishes, insects, mammals, mollusks, reptiles, & sharks. Explore special features on mammals, skulls, & frog calls. Students are invited to contribute. (NSF)

"Biology Student Workbench" introduces the basic concepts of bioinformatics & promotes the use of molecular data in identifying & exploring biological problems. It aims to bring to students' desktops the interactive tools that scientists use to search biology databases & compare molecular sequences, visualize & manipulate molecular structures, & generate phylogenetic hypotheses. (NSF)

"Botany" offers resources related to the study of earth's more than 400,000 documented species of plant life. Topics include the history of botany, paleobotany, plant pathology, genetics, anatomy, ecology, algae, mosses, ferns, agronomy, forestry, horticulture, annuals & perennials, vegetables, wildflowers, invasive plant species & weeds, disease & pest management, taxonomies, plant identification tools, plant databases, & science projects. (NBII/USGS)

"Children's Butterfly Site" looks at the life cycle of butterflies & moths, answers frequently asked questions about butterflies & moths, lists references to butterfly & moth books & videos, & provides photos of butterflies in Asia, Western Europe, North America, & Central America. (NBII/USGS)

"Fisheries & Aquatic Resources" provides information about managed fish populations throughout the U.S., as well as watershed-based data & state-by-state fishing resources. Learn about freshwater & marine fishes, aquatic invertebrates, water quality & habitats, & dams & fish passage. Fishbase, a global database, provides names, pictures, & key facts about more than 25,000 fish species. (NBII/USGS)

"Systematics" focuses on the classification of organisms & their evolutionary relationships. It includes information about Carl Linnaeus (1707-1778), the father of modern plant & animal classification, & links to resources for learning about taxonomies, biological nomenclature, careers in systematic biology, & more. Resources are organized by the five kingdoms: viruses, bacteria, protists, fungi, plants, & animals. (NBII/USGS)

"Tree of Life" offers photos, descriptions, & other information documenting the diversity of the world's organisms. Learn about animals, arthropoda, eukaryotes, flowering plants, fungi, & terrestrial vertebrates. Explore genetic relationships among organisms. (NSF)

"Lakota Winter Counts" offers the world's largest database of Lakota "winter counts" -- pictures drawn on cloth or buffalo hide to remember each year's key events (1701 to 1905). Ten Lakota bands' winter counts are shown side by side on a timeline. Compare how the bands depicted a particular year. Search for an image. Watch interviews with Lakota. Learn about the culture of this Sioux tribe of the northern USA plains that followed buffalo herds for food. A teachers guide is included. (NMNH/SI)

LOC -- Library of Congress

NBII/USGS -- National Biological Information Infrastructure, U.S. Geological Survey

NEH -- National Endowment for the Humanities

NMNH/SI -- National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution

NSF -- National Science Foundation

You create your life one thought, one word, one choice, one action at a time. You choose to live positively or negatively.

Action Steps

1. Focus on your thoughts. Are you choosing positive thoughts or negative thoughts?
2. Focus on your words. Are you surrounding yourself with positive words or
   negative words? Are you speaking positively about life or are you always complaining?
3. Focus on your choices. Are you making good choices that benefit you or bad choices that hurt you?
4. Focus on your actions. What are you doing to create your life? Do you have a good plan and not follow through or do you take action on your positive thoughts and plans?

First Sat – International Day of Cooperatives

July7 11 World Population Day

July 18 – World Youth Day

July 21 – Full Moon tonight

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NOTE: follow-up to an article about the novel "The Da Vinci Code" in the June, 05 issue - "Leaps of Faith." The National Geographic Channel reports that one out of every three Canadians who have read the novel believe that there are descendants of Jesus alive today and that a secret society exists to keep his bloodline a secret.

• Half the foods eaten throughout the world today were developed by farmers in the Andes Mountains. Potatoes, maize, sweet potatoes, squash, all varieties of beans, peanuts, manioc, papayas, strawberries, mulberries and many other foods were first grown in this region.
• Social scientists have studied and concluded that Jan 24^th is the most depressing day of the year. Why? New Year’s resolutions are now being broken, middle of the cold winter, credit card debts of Xmas coming in.
• University of Toronto, in Canada, developed the first electronic heart pacemaker, artificial larynx, nerve transplants and artificial pancreas.
• There are more than 16,580 bananas eaten each week in the Boston University dining rooms.
• You are more likely to catch the common cold by shaking hands than by kissing.
• If somebody you are not interested in dating approaches you, be nice anyway. Someone who you might like may be watching or approaching you.
• The track record of winners of lotteries and those who create their own wealth is very different. More than 90% of lottery winners use up their winnings within 10 years!

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2. Develops and evaluates weatherization and energy conservation programs, including experimental and demonstration projects to test methods for improving delivery of energy conservation or weatherization services; for example, sets up standards for weatherization of mobile homes and furnace efficiency tests.

3. Conducts programmatic and technical needs assessments for grantee agencies and provides training and technical assistance to those agencies.

4. Develops and implements specific training to grantee agencies based on needs identified during monitoring visits such as inventory systems, construction techniques and new materials applications.

5. May be responsible for development and participation in nation-wide or regional technical assistance or training programs for the staff of community based organizations operating the energy conservation programs.

Most people know about bartending jobs but mixing regular alcoholic drinks can be only a small part of the job. Devising new creative concoctions and fancy ways of pouring for contests, adding balancing/juggling and manual dexterity to the work can be rewarding.

Regarding money, there is usually a set hourly rate and a percentage of the tips of the waiters/waitresses.

Bookmarking: If you want to quickly go to specific places to add more content in a large/long word processing document, try using the "Bookmark" feature. A document may have several sections - such as this newsletter - which get added to over time so bookmarks save precious seconds locating exact spots to begin.

How to do it: Place cursor where you want it in the document. Go to "Insert" and find the "Bookmark" or "Go to". Give the location a name and click "add". The next time you come to the document, go to "Insert" and then "Bookmark". Highlight the location you want and click, "Go to".

Another way is hold "control" and then press "F" for find. Type in a word and the word will be found and highlighted. Use the "find next" if the word is used more than once.

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(from Now Magazine)

How do bands come up with their names? Who knows? But we can all enjoy their efforts to be noticed. Here are some recent funny finds:

Weakerthans, Outer Ashes, Trash Can Sinatras, Crush Luther, Radar Brothers, Gift of Gab, Wedding Present, Transient Noise, Newspaper Taxi, A Thousand Cures, Moon Violet, The Tannahill Weavers, Winghammer, State of Blake, B.A.D. Ride, The Brown Hornets, Say Ah!, Comic Book Fever.

(O.S.)

Stress is a given in life. How we handle it is unique to each of us. Reducing stress through relaxation, spa treatments, etc. is a growing business. Shouldn’t there also be more effort made to prevent stress in the first place?

One of the greatest negative stress-producers is the growing expectation of perfection in others. This is partially caused by shallow relationships as people move around more from job to job. There is also the related idea that "I must be perfect in the eyes of others." People think they need to present themselves perfectly – whether boss or employee – until there has been a chance to know others better. Often by that time somebody has moved on.

Because money has become the new "God" in our society, a great deal of stress is generated. In order to maximize sales, profit, etc. everything must be done perfectly and nothing less. After all, demanding stockholders do not take "break-even years" lightly. Maximum output for minimum outlay is the new "golden rule". Some people think the only way is to lay blame, punish and rebuke so that profits can be maximized. This seems to be prevalent in many businesses. Again, there are huge amounts of needless stress produced.

All of the mainstream stress-reducing methods work in some way or another. However, they are responses to the symptoms, not the cause. Self-calming is important but doesn’t really address the underlying causes of the stress. Rather than just showing people how to calm themselves and reduce stress, perhaps we need to address the ways they produce stress for themselves and others. How about an effort to humanize the workplace? Far too often, people quit or move on instead of trying to make their workplace a more civil place that:

• respects individual strengths AND weaknesses,
• considers the relationships between people most important than problems
• encourages team rather than individual responsibility,
• considers the solution more important than the problem,
• considers finding solutions more important than laying blame

Shallowness of relationships makes it easier to abandon others - a "hands-off. Not-my-problem" approach. Perhaps the traditional family could be a good model for the workplace.

Other ideas to make the workplace more people-friendly and reduce stress:

- There are lots of jobs that people don’t like to do. How about some creative ways to make them more palatable or acceptable and provide some dignity, respect and honor to the persons doing them. Perhaps the person would be more likely to stay and even be happier. Not everybody who quits is a "misfit."

- Train leaders in ways that reduce stress in others in conflict situations, scenes of rage and anger, bad news, accidents, mistakes, miscalculations, etc. Kindness, respectfulness, consideration, allowances, cooperation, caring about others and following the Golden Rule all still work.

- Get everybody to care more about the physical well being of the team. Drink natural fruit juices that provide more energy than coffee. Encourage people to drink more plain water to prevent dehydration and many headaches. Share healthy meals together. Lots of plain water is very important in reducing dehydration and headaches.

- Attitudes: I should not expect myself to be right all the time and allow myself to make mistakes, focus on solutions not the problems, focus on "how are WE – not I – going to solve the issue." In other words, be more inclusive.

- Breathing: natural, deep breathing to the bottom of the lungs all day. This takes practice and discipline.

- Choices: Take pressure off individuals by emphasizing team approach and team responsibility. Modify the "produce or leave" mentality to one that is more inclusive and tolerant. Job insecurity, expectations to work extra hours for free are often present in business. It is so bad that studies show that people make about 10 job changes in their working years. It can’t be all related to money. The insecurity, shallow relationships, demands on individual perfection take their toll in stress.

Learning to live with stress and reduce it on a personal level are fine but they don’t address the cause of the stress. Our "modern" society needs to put more emphasis on the care of individuals instead of profit and be more team oriented. Stress can be prevented.

There are no days in life so memorable as those which vibrated to some stroke of the imagination. – Ralph Waldo Emerson

If you give everybody a slice of pie, you will still have more than enough. – Jay Leno

I still believe that love is all you need. I don’t know a better message than that. – Paul McCartney

"I think knowing what you cannot do is more important than knowing what you can do. In fact, that’s good taste." – comedian Lucille Ball

"You miss 100% of the shots you never take." – Wayne Gretzky

"Success is going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm." – Winston Churchill

Possum arrested for faking his own death.

Robin v. Robin: Who was earliest and therefore entitled to the worm?

Mice caught whilst playing; allege entrapment, asserting cat said she would be away.

Canary's family sues coal-mine owner: "He assured our son there was nothing wrong with the air"

In the Cat v. Dog divorce settlement, Ms. Cat got the tongue.

Parrot charged with copyright infringement.

Leopard fails spot-check, identity questioned.

Following a legal separation, the amoeba sued itself for divorce.

The horse resisted adding a further rider to its employment contract.

Homicide detective charges vulture with evidence tampering.

Clam cited for contempt after failing to testify.

Electric eel's case moved to Circuit Court.

Grandmother accuses wolf of identity theft.

Young joey to be tried as adult in kangaroo court.

Race officials say they will test the tortoise for performance-enhancing drugs.

Roe v. Caviar.

Show horse re-arrested for jumping bale.

Sow sues genetic engineering company for loss of ear in silk-purse experiment.

Wile E. Coyote sues the Acme company for its faulty products.

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