InterpNEWS Nov/Dec 2019 Issue. by InterpNEWS

JVA InterpNews

2 Volume 8, #5 Nov/Dec. 2019

The international heritage interpretation e-magazine. Boy – time sure flies doesn’t it? It’s time for the Nov/Dec issue already. As you can see from the table of contents, this is a HUGE issue with lots of different and really interesting articles. Please feel free to pass this issue on to others. An important article on Global Warming – just came in and is the last article for this issue – July the hottest month in history – what global warming is doing today.

Jan/Feb 2020 – Inuit culture – global warming and more.

- Call for Articles for the next issue Jan/Feb 2020 – deadline 1 December. I would love more articles on how you interpret global warming and the affects of climate change to your site, region or area. The Jan/Feb 2020 issue is getting full – over 90 pages of articles thus far. IN subscriptions are free. Just e-mail me your e-mail address and I’ll be happy to add you to our 300K mailing list going to 60 countries. Hope you have a great holiday! Cheers, John Veverka – jvainterp@aol.com

In this Issue - Learning to “give a hoot” for Barred Owls. John Veverka & IN Staff - Best 8 Bird Foods for the Winter Season .Melissa Mayntz - Where Do Insects Go in the Winter? Smithsonian Institution. - So who was Santa Claus – really? The Christmas elf squad. - Using a Scavenger Hunt to Interpret Winter stories and features for Children. John Veverka - Several surprising facts about the Boston Tea Party. Dave Roos (History) - Global warming is shrinking glaciers faster than thought. Seth Borenstein - Scientific evidence for warming of the climate system is unequivocal. – NASA - The First Glacier Killed by Climate Change Is Getting a Haunting Memorial in Iceland - B. Spector - Fun Facts About Bird Migration Melissa Mayntz - How do frogs survive winter? Why don't they freeze to death? Rick Emmer - What do Bees do in Winter? Wonderopolis - Is It True No Two Snowflakes Are Alike? Anne Helmenstine - The first two common wildflowers I learned – their “rest of the story” John Veverka - Heritage Interpretation In Malta - Bringing 7000 years of history to life. John A. Veverka - Reviewing some slaves’ narratives from the Federal Writers’ Project - Dr. Martha Benn Macdonald - The scientific reason you are (or aren’t) a mosquito magnet. Emily Dinuzzo - Greenland is in the grips of a heat wave. Here's what it means for all of us. Sheena McKenzie -10 Tips: Restoring vs. Rehabilitating Your Historic House. Julia Rocchi -What are the Northern Lights? Northern Lights Center - July confirmed as hottest month recorded. Isabelle Gerretsen - Quantifying Winter –and other historic weather. Ron Kley - Museums as Cultural Hubs: The Future of Tradition1- Doreen M. Colón Camacho - The Agents of Discovery TM APP - Julia Welch - How Effective are Visitor Direction Signs? Stephen Bitgood - A Bridal Anything after a Bridle? by Dr. Martha Benn Macdonald

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InterpNEWS is published six times a year as a FREE John Veverka & Associates publication and published as a service to the interpretive profession. If you would like to be added to our mailing list just send an e-mail to jvainterp@aol.com and we’ll add you to our growing mailing list. Contributions of articles are welcomed. It you would like to have an article published in InterpNEWS let me know what you have in mind. Cover photo: Barred Owl in Winter. www.heritageinterp.com – jvainterp@aol.com – SKYPE: jvainterp

We are always looking for additional InterpNEWS Regional and Specialty Editors. It’s simple. Try to provide InterpNEWS with an article for each issue – weather you write it yourself, or find other authors who would like to see their ideas and creativity reach thousands of interpreter, curators and heritage site staff in 60 countries. Let me know if you’re an interpretive dreamer. John Veverka jvainterp@aol.com.

InterpNEWS Our newest Regional IN Editor - Patricia Grimshaw. Having enjoyed museums and history for as long as I can remember, I am a self-professed museum nerd, with an equal interest in both medieval and military history. I received a BA (Hons) from Queen’s University in Medieval History, and an MA in War Studies from the Royal Military College of Canada. Finally, I completed a Master of Museum Studies at the University of Toronto before beginning my museum career. I have lived and travelled all over Canada and Europe, and any chance I get to visit a local museum, I take, whether the institution is national or niche. I am always looking for new and interesting ways to interpret and display history. "I also run my own museum consulting business, museologik."You can contact Patricia at: grimshawp@msn.com.

What’s coming in future issues? Jan/Feb 2020, Mar/Apr and May/June 2020.

Want to be one of our regional or specialist editors. This space is reserved for you. Your photo and bio will appear in every issue. Great way to advertise yourself if you’re a interpretive consultant too. Any questions, send me an e-mail. John Veverka, IN Barred Editor/Publisher, jvainterp@aol.com.

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Learning to “give a hoot” for Barred Owls. John Veverka & IN Staff.

Many years ago when I got my first seasonal interpretive naturalist job with Ohio State Parks (while working on my B.S and M.S. degrees in interpretation at The Ohio State University, one of my programs was offering “night hikes” into the forest. One of the activities we learned about was how to call in owls – specifically Barred Owls. For weeks (months) while driving to the park each summer day I would practice my Barred Owl Call “who cooks for you… who cooks for you all”. This was one of my favorite programs and activities, and I was getting pretty good at fooling the owls who would call me back. So when I was looking for a winter cover and story for my Nov/Dec 2019 InterpNEWS – I called in the Barred Owl. Here is more information about them if you do night hikes and try calling in the owls on your own. J.Veverka -----------------------------------The barred owl (Strix varia), also known as northern barred owl or hoot owl, is a true owl native to eastern North America. Adults are large, and are brown to grey with barring on the chest. Barred owls have expanded their range to the west coast of the United States and Canada, where they are considered invasive. Mature forests are their preferred habitat, but they are also found in open woodland areas. Their diet consists mainly of small mammals, but they are also known to prey upon other small animals such as birds, reptiles, and amphibians. The barred owl is a generalist predator. The principal prey of this owl are meadow voles, followed by mice and shrews of various species; other mammals preyed upon include rats, squirrels, rabbits, bats, moles, opossums, mink, and weasels. A barred owl was photographed in Minnesota in 2012 grabbing and flying off with a fullgrown domestic cat, a semi-regular prey item for the great horned owl but previously unknown to be taken by this species. Birds are taken occasionally and commonly include woodpeckers, grouse, quails, jays, icterids, doves, pigeons and even domestic ducks, and chickens, where they will swoop through small openings in enclosed and covered runs. Less commonly, other raptors are preyed upon, including smaller owls. Avian prey are typically taken as they settle into nocturnal roosts, because these owls are not generally nimble enough to catch birds on the wing. It occasionally wades into water to capture fish, turtles, frogs and crayfish. Additional prey include snakes, lizards, salamanders, slugs, scorpions, beetles, crickets, grasshoppers, and earthworms. Barred owls have been known to be attracted to campfires and lights where they forage for large insects. Prey is usually devoured on the spot. Larger prey is carried to a feeding perch and torn apart before eating. The barred owl hunts by waiting on a high perch at night, or flying through the woods and swooping down on prey. Barred owl has incredibly large eyes that capture as much light as possible, allowing for better night vision. A barred owl can sometimes be seen hunting before dark. This typically occurs during the nesting season or on dark and cloudy days. Of the North American owls, the pygmy, hawk, snowy and burrowing owls are more likely to be active during the day. Daytime activity is often most prevalent when barred owls are raising chicks. However, this species still generally hunts near dawn or dusk.

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Best 8 Bird Foods for the Winter Winte Season By Melissa Mel Mayntz The Spruse

Feeding the birds in winter can be a rewa rewarding way to enjoy birding in your backyard rd when whe the weather outside is less than ideal. If you offer the best wint winter bird foods, you will find a greater variety iety of birds b visiting your feeders even on the coldest days. While hile yyou want to be sure to offer the foods that your specific sp backyard birds like best, these top foods are excellent ent ch choices for many common winter birds. All of these foods offer great nutrition, and their high caloric content tent w will give birds plenty of energy to build fat reserves reserv for frigid winter nights. Black Oil Sunflower Seeds

Black oil sunflower seeds are by far the best food to offer birds in any season. These seeds se have slightly thinner shells and higher oil content con than other types of sunflower seeds, making them hem more m efficient and nutritious food. They will attract a wide range of hungry birds and can be offered in i platform, tube or hopper feeders as well as sprinkled sprinkle on the ground or a table or railing. If you offer hulled sunflower er hearts hea or chips to avoid a buildup of discarded shellss that will w get buried under snowfall and can damage new grass g in the spring. Suet

For high calories, suet is one of the he best foods to offer birds. While many birders prefer to avoid oid suet sue because it will melt in warmer weather, it is superb winter inter food. f It is also available in many blends with different fferent ingredients to tempt different species of birds. It is even ven easy eas to make your custom suet flavors specialized for your backyard backya flock. You can try different suet shapes for more feeding eding fun, f including balls, bells, and wreaths. In addition to suet cakes, chop suet uet into chunks c or shred it so more birds will sample it. Offer small pieces pi in dishes or tray feeders to give birds easier access.

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Peanuts

Peanuts are a high calorie, fat-rich nut that appeals to many backyard birds, including jays, titmice, nuthatches, and chickadees. Because the nuts donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t freeze, they are perfect for winter feeding, whether you offer whole or shelled peanuts. Peanuts are also popular to mix in suet for winter feed. Do not, however, offer birds flavored peanuts. Peanut butter is a great feeding option as well and can be smeared on bark or offered in small dishes or open trays. Both crunchy and smooth butter will be hit with birds. or any peanuts with candy or chocolate coatings.

Nyjer

Nyjer (sometimes spelled nyger or niger) or thistle seed is a favorite food of winter finches such as pine siskins and common redpolls. This is another oily seed that offers a lot of calories, helping birds store the fat they need to keep warm through the season. Though expensive, Nyjer is readily available and is typically treated so as not to germinate if spilled on the ground, but the hulls can get messy underneath feeders. Offer nyjer in a mesh or sock feeder that can accommodate many birds, but keep it covered with a wide upper baffle to keep the seed dry and minimize mildew.

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Fruit While a lot of birds that eat fruit will migrate in the winter, many other birds that stay in snowy areas year-round will enjoy the treat. Offer chopped apples, orange wedges, banana slices, halved grapes and melon rinds on platform feeders, spikes or nailed to trees. Chopped or dried fruit can also be added to suet mixtures, or you might try a garland strung with cranberries or other fruit for a festive feeder. Plant fruit trees and berry bushes for birds and leave the fruit on the bare branches to give birds a natural food source they can rely on in the winter.

Millet White proso millet is a favorite food of many small ground-feeding birds, particularly darkeyed juncos and other types of sparrows, as well as many doves. This starchy grain is inexpensive and can be easily offered in hopper, tube or platform feeders, and sprinkling it on the ground will attract even more small birds. Millet is often a large component of many different birdseed mixes. To make millet more attractive, mix it with black oil sunflower seeds at first. Gradually change the mix proportions until birds are used to straight millet.

Salt Many birds crave salt as an essential mineral, particularly in the winter when roads are regularly salted. Unfortunately, feeding on the side of the road can be deadly for birds, and offering salt crystals at your feeders will help keep them safe. Create a strong saltwater solution and let it evaporate in a shallow dish to make larger crystals, or pour it over a log or stump if there is no danger of freezing. To keep birds healthy, only offer salt in minimal amounts.

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Seed Mixes For convenient and economical winter feeding, nothing beats a good quality birdseed mix. Choose a mix that features large proportions of sunflower seeds and millet, but avoid mixes with large amounts of unappetizing fillers such as wheat, milo, and corn. Better mixes may also include nuts and nut pieces birds will enjoy. You may also want to try different mixes to attract different types of birds. Buy individual types of birdseed in bulk and mix your blends to customize them for your backyard flocks. Keep a supply of your personal blend on hand for conveniently refilling bird feeders.

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Where Do Insects Go in the Winter? The Department of Systematic Biology, Entomology Section, National Museum of Natural History, in cooperation with Public Inquiry Services, Smithsonian Institution.

Insects have a variety of methods for surviving the coldness of winter. Here are a few of them: Migration is one strategy for escaping the killing temperatures. The Monarch Butterfly is the foremost example of this maneuver, but other insects migrate into northern areas from the southern states in the Spring. Crop pests are the most obvious of these migrants.

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Over wintering as Larvae. Many insects successfully pass the winter as immature larvae. The protection of heavy covers of leaf litter or similar shelters protect the woolly bear caterpillar, while other insects replace the water in their bodies with glycerol, a type of antifreeze! Some grubs simply burrow deeper into the soil to escape the cold.

Over wintering as Nymphs. Not many insects are active in the winter, but the nymphs of dragonflies, mayflies and stoneflies live in waters of ponds and streams, often beneath ice. They feed actively and grow all winter to emerge as adults in early spring.

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Over wintering as Eggs. Lesser numbers of insects lay eggs which survive the winter. The most prominent insects in this category are Praying Mantids, and the destructive Corn Rootworms also engage in this strategy.

Overwintering as Pupae. Some insects overwinter in the pupal stage, then emerge as adults in the spring. Moths in the Silkworm Family, Saturniidae, may be found attached to food plant branches as pupae in the winter (cecropia moth pupa (left) and cocoon (center) and moth (right.

InterpNEWS Hibernation as Adults. Many insects hibernate as adults. Lady bird beetles are a well-known example, and are sometimes seen in great numbers in the fall as they congregate at high elevations.

Many large wasps seek shelter in the eaves and attics of houses or barns. Tree holes, leaf litter, and under logs and rocks are common shelters for overwintering adult insects. The Mourning Cloak Butterfly is usually the first butterfly that is noticed in the Spring, and this is because it hibernates in tree holes or other shelters during the winter. As in some insect larvae, it reduces the water content of its body, and builds up glycerol which acts as an antifreeze. Honey bees stay in hives during the winter, and form clusters when temperatures fall. They also are able to raise the temperature by vibrating wing muscles. In general, insects are able to survive cold temperatures easiest when the temperatures are stable, not fluctuating through alternate thaws and freezes. Many insects can gain shelter and nourishment through the winter in a variety of micro-habitats. Among these niches are under the soil, inside the wood of logs and trees, and even in plant galls. One kind of fly is known by fishermen to be present in certain galls in winter, and the fly larvae are consequently used as fish-bait. Blankets of snow benefit insects by insulating the ground and keeping the temperature surprisingly constant. Honeybees have been studied during the winter and are found to remain semi-active in hollow trees through the generation of body heat. The consumption of up to 30 pounds of stored honey during the winter months makes this possible. Heat energy is produced by the oxidation of the honey, and circulated throughout the hive by the wing-fanning of worker bees. Insects that are inactive during the winter months undergo a state in which their growth, development, and activities are suspended temporarily, with a metabolic rate that is high enough to keep them alive. This dormant condition is termed diapause. In comparison, vertebrates undergo hibernation, during which they have minor activity and add tissues to their bodies. Selected References: Gibo, David L. 1972. "Hibernation sites and temperature tolerance of two species of Vespula and one species of Polistes." New York Entomological Society, Volume 80: 105-108. Kelsey, Paul M. 1968. "Hibernation and winter withdrawal." The Conservationist, Oct.-Nov . Lees, A. D. 1956. "The physiology and biochemistry of diapause." Annual Review of Entomology, Volume 1: 1-16.

Palmer, E. Laurence. 1957. "Insect life in winter." Nature Magazine, January. Parsons, Michael. 1973. "Insect antifreeze." Teen International Entomological Group, winter issue: 13-14.

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So who was Santa Claus â&#x20AC;&#x201C; really? The Christmas elf squad.

Letâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s start with Saint Nicholas (graphic top left). Saint Nicholas of Myra was a 4th-century Greek Christian bishop of Myra (now Demre) in Lycia. Nicholas was famous for his generous gifts to the poor, in particular presenting the three impoverished daughters of a pious Christian with dowries so that they would not have to become prostitutes. He was very religious from an early age and devoted his life entirely to Christianity. In continental Europe (more precisely the Netherlands, Belgium, Austria, the Czech Republic and Germany) he is usually portrayed as a bearded bishop in canonical robes. In 1087, while the Greek Christian inhabitants of Myra were subjugated by newly arrived Muslim Turkish conquerors, and soon after their Greek Orthodox church had been declared to be in schism by the Catholic church (1054 AD), a group of merchants from the Italian city of Bari removed the major bones of Nicholas's skeleton from his sarcophagus in the Greek church in Myra. Over the objection of the monks of Myra the sailors took the bones of St. Nicholas to Bari, where they are now enshrined in the Basilica di San Nicola. Sailors from Bari collected just half of Nicholas' skeleton, leaving all the minor fragments in the church sarcophagus. These were later taken by Venetian sailors during the First Crusade and placed in Venice, where a church to St. Nicholas, the patron of sailors, was built on the San NicolĂ˛ al Lido. St. Nicholas' vandalized sarcophagus can still be seen in the St. Nicholas Church in Myra. This tradition was confirmed in two important scientific investigations of the relics in Bari and Venice, which revealed that the relics in the two Italian cities belong to the same skeleton. Saint Nicholas was later claimed as a patron saint of many diverse groups, from archers, sailors, and children to pawnbrokers. He is also the patron saint of both Amsterdam and Moscow. During the Middle Ages, often on the evening before his name day of 6 December, children were bestowed gifts in his honour. This date was earlier than the original day of gifts for the children, which moved in the course of the Reformation and its opposition to the veneration of saints in many countries on the 24th and 25 December. The custom of gifting to children at Christmas has been propagated by Martin Luther as an alternative to the previous very popular gift custom on St. Nicholas, to focus the interest of the children to Christ instead of the veneration of saints. Martin Luther first suggested the Christkind as the bringer of gifts. But Nicholas remained popular as gifts bearer for the people.

InterpNEWS Father Christmas Father Christmas dates back as far as 16th century in England during the reign of Henry VIII, when he was pictured as a large man in green or scarlet robes lined with fur. He typified the spirit of good cheer at Christmas, bringing peace, joy, good food and wine and revelry. As England no longer kept the feast day of Saint Nicholas on 6 December, the Father Christmas celebration was moved to the 25th of December to coincide with Christmas Day. The Victorian revival of Christmas included Father Christmas as the emblem of 'good cheer'. His physical appearance was variable, with one famous image being John Leech's illustration of the "Ghost of Christmas Present" in Charles Dickens's festive classic A Christmas Carol (1843), as a great genial man in a green coat lined with fur who takes Scrooge through the bustling streets of London on the current Christmas morning, sprinkling the essence of Christmas onto the happy populace.

Dutch, Belgian and Swiss folklore

In the Netherlands and Belgium the character of Santa Claus has to compete with that of Sinterklaas, Santa's presumed progenitor. Santa Claus is known as de Kerstman in Dutch ("the Christmas man") and Père Noël ("Father Christmas") in French. But for children in the Netherlands Sinterklaas remains the predominant gift-giver in December; 36% of the Dutch only give presents on Sinterklaas evening or the day itself (December 6), whereas Christmas (December 25) is used by another 21% to give presents. Some 26% of the Dutch population gives presents on both days.[17] In Belgium, Sinterklaas day presents are offered exclusively to children, whereas on Christmas Day, all ages may receive presents. Sinterklaas' assistants are called "Zwarte Pieten" (in Dutch, "Père Fouettard" in French), so they are not elves.[18] In Switzerland, Père Fouettard accompanies Père Noël in the French speaking region, while the sinister Schmutzli accompanies Samichlaus in the Swiss German region. Schmutzli carries a twig broom to spank the naughty children.

InterpNEWS Germanic paganism, Wodan, and Christianization Prior to Christianization, the Germanic peoples (including the English) celebrated a midwinter event called Yule (Old English geola or giuli). With the Christianization of Germanic Europe, numerous traditions were absorbed from Yuletide celebrations into modern Christmas. During this period, supernatural and ghostly occurrences were said to increase in frequency, such as the Wild Hunt, a ghostly procession through the sky. The leader of the wild hunt is frequently attested as the god Wodan (Norse Odin), bearing (among many names) the names Jólnir, meaning "Yule figure", and Langbarðr, meaning "long-beard", in Old Norse. Wodan's role during the Yuletide period has been theorized as having influenced concepts of St. Nicholas in a variety of facets, including his long white beard and his gray horse for nightly rides (compare Odin's horse Sleipnir) or his reindeer in North American tradition. Folklorist Margaret Baker maintains that "the appearance of Santa Claus or Father Christmas, whose day is the 25th of December, owes much to Odin, the old blue-hooded, cloaked, white-bearded Giftbringer of the north, who rode the midwinter sky on his eight-footed steed Sleipnir, visiting his people with gifts. Odin, transformed into Father Christmas, then Santa Claus, prospered with St Nicholas and the Christchild, became a leading player on the Christmas stage.” In Finland Santa Claus is called Joulupukki (direct translation 'Christmas Goat'). The flying reindeer could symbolize the use of fly agaric by Sámi shamans.

Chimney tradition

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The tradition of Santa Claus entering dwellings through the chimney is shared by many European seasonal gift-givers. In pre-Christian Norse tradition, Odin would often enter through chimneys and fire holes on the solstice. In the Italian Befana tradition, the gift-giving witch is perpetually covered with soot from her trips down the chimneys of children's homes. In the tale of Saint Nicholas, the saint tossed coins through a window, and, in a later version of the tale, down a chimney when he finds the window locked. In Dutch artist Jan Steen's painting, The Feast of Saint Nicholas, adults and toddlers are glancing up a chimney with amazement on their faces while other children play with their toys. The hearth was held sacred in primitive belief as a source of beneficence, and popular belief had elves and fairies bringing gifts to the house through this portal. Santa's entrance into homes on Christmas Eve via the chimney was made part of American tradition through the poem "A Visit from St. Nicholas" where the author described him as an elf.

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Using a Scavenger Hunt to Interpret Winter stories and features for Children. John Veverka Interpretive Planner and Coach

In the recent Sep/Oct issue of InterpNEWS I did an article on using scavenger hunts for interpretive programs for the Autumn. It was part of our seasonal interpretive naturalist programs at Ohio State Parks. But we can use this activity year round, so here are some ideas for using scavenger hunts during the winter months. You can find more examples of the scavenger sheets and ideas simply by searching for “park scavenger hunts” in your search engine.

Here’s one example using a winter scavenger hunt for young children (accompanied with a parent). In this hunt, the family picks up the scavenger hunt “see if you can find” sheet with flags to flag each item you find along the trail (bottom photo). Remember to have the hunt locate items that are easy to find. More advanced scavenger hunts can be developed for older children and families or older school groups. On the following pages are a few examples of scavenger form sheets. Of course you can make up your park/nature center or site individualized sheets.

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Several surprising prising facts about the Boston Tea Party. Dave Roos History

For starters, the colonists weren't 't prot protesting higher tax on tea. Most Americans can tell you thatt the fi first unofficial “declaration of independence” nce” happened h in Boston, when a band of tax-hating renegades des ddumped King George’s beloved tea into the harbor, ha a spirited act of defiance that united the colonies in rev revolution. But as with most well-trod origin storie stories, the true history of the Boston Tea Party is far more complicated than the grammar-school version,, and tthe real facts of what happened on that fateful night in 1773 might surprise you. 1. Colonists weren’t protesting ting a higher tax on tea. Easily the biggest surprise about the Bo Boston Tea Party is that the uprising wasn’t n’t a protest p against a new tax hike on tea. Although taxes stoked toked colonist anger, the Tea Act itself didn’t raise the price of tea in the colonies by one red cent (or shilling, ing, as it were). The confusion is partly timing andd part partly semantics. Boston’s Sons of Liberty y were absolutely responding to the British Parliament’s passage ge of tthe Tea Act of 1773 when they planned the Boston Bo Tea Party. And with a name like the Tea Act, it’ss fair tto think that the law was all about raising g taxes taxe on tea.

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The truth is that tea imports to the American Colonies had been taxed by the Crown since the passing of the 1767 Townshend Revenue Act, along with taxes on other commodities like paper, paint, oil and glass. The difference is that all of those other import taxes were lifted in 1770, except for tea, a pointed reminder of the King’s control over his far-off subjects. Benjamin Carp, a history professor at Brooklyn College and author of Defiance of the Patriots: The Boston Tea Party and the Making of America, says that the Tea Act of 1773 was onerous in a different way. It was essentially a British government bailout of the British East India Company, which was hemorrhaging money and weighed down with unsold tea. The Tea Act allowed the East India Company to unload 544,000 pounds of old tea, commission-free, on the American Colonies at a bargain price. Cheaper tea sounds good, says Carp, but for the Sons of Liberty—many of whom were merchants and even tea smugglers—the Tea Act smelled like a ploy to get the masses comfortable with paying a tax to the Crown. “You’re going to seduce Americans into being ‘obedient colonists’ by making the price lower,” says Carp. “If we accept the principal of allowing parliament to tax us, they’ll eventually make the taxes heavier on us. It’s the slippery slope argument.” 2. The attacked ships were American and the tea wasn’t the King’s. The popular notion of the Boston Tea Party is that angry colonists “stuck it to King George” by boarding British ships and dumping crate loads of the King’s precious tea into the Boston Harbor. But that story’s not true on two accounts.

InterpNEWS First, the ships that were boarded by the Sons of Liberty, the Beaver, the Dartmouth and the Eleanor, were built and owned by Americans! Two of the ships were primarily whaling vessels. After delivering valuable shipments of sperm whale oil and brain matter to London in 1773, the ships were loaded with tea en route to the American Colonies. Although not British, some of the ship’s American owners were indeed Tory sympathizers. Second, the tea destroyed by the night raiders was not the King’s. It was private property owned by the East India Company and transported on privately contracted shipping vessels. The value of the 340 chests of squandered tea would total nearly $2 million in today’s money. 3. The tea was Chinese, not Indian, and lots of it was green. This is another naming problem. The East India Company exported a lot of goods from India in the 18th century, including spices and cotton, but it obtained almost all of its tea from China. Trading ships traveled from Canton to London loaded down with Chinese tea, which was then exported to British colonies the world over. The East India didn’t install its first tea plantations in India until the 1830s. Another surprising tidbit is that 22 percent of the tea that the patriots sent to the bottom of Boston Harbor was green tea. According to the Boston Tea Party Ships and Museum, Thomas Jefferson and George Washington were fans of a particular Chinese green tea variety called “hyson.” 4. The Tea Party, itself, didn’t incite revolution. There’s this idea that the Boston Tea Party was the rallying cry that galvanized the colonies for revolution, but Carp says that many strong opponents of British rule, George Washington among them, denounced acts of lawless and violence, especially against private property.

Hyson green tea from China. You can still buy it today.

While the Tea Party itself didn’t mobilize Americans en masse, it was Parliament’s reaction to it that did. In 1774, the UK passed what are known as the Intolerable Acts or the Coercive Acts, a series of punitive measures meant to teach the rebellious colonists who was boss.

Many of these sanctions were levied on the Massachusetts Colony and Boston itself, including the closing of Boston Harbor, replacing Boston’s elected leaders with those appointed by the Crown, and forcing the quartering of British troops in private homes. “Taxation without representation was a dangerous precedent in and of itself, but now they were messing with the Massachusetts charter,” says Carp, “taking away rights that Massachusetts had previously enjoyed. As uncomfortable as some colonists might have been with the Tea Party action itself, they were way more uncomfortable with the authoritarian reaction by Parliament.”

InterpNEWS In response to the Coercive Acts, the First Continental Congress met in 1774 and Jefferson wrote “A Summary View of the Rights of British America.” Revolution was officially in the air.

5. Yes, Tea Party protestors dressed as ‘indians,’ but not convincingly. The Sons of Liberty famous masqueraded in Native American dress on the night of the Tea Party raid, complete with tomahawks and faces darkened with coal soot. But were they really trying to pass themselves off as local Mohawk or Narragansett tribesmen? Not likely, says Carp. For starters, it was customary in 18th-century England for protestors to “crossdress” in one way or another—blackening their faces, dressing as women, or even Catholic priests—to create an atmosphere of misrule. Secondly, the Sons of Liberty were cashing in on the image of the Native American as an independent spirit, the epitome of anti-colonialism. “By adopting that identity, they’re saying, ‘We are defiant. We are unbowed. We won’t be defeated,’” says Carp.

InterpNEWS And third, there was the practical reason for masking their identities. They were committing a crime! Even if they knew that no one would believe they were actual Native Americans, the disguise sent a clear message to anyone who would dare to snitch: don’t you dare! 6. No one called it the ‘Boston Tea Party.’ The Boston Tea Party occurred in 1773, but the very first time that the words “Boston Tea Party” appeared in print was in 1825, and in most of those early mentions, the word “party” didn’t refer to a celebratory event with cakes and balloons, but to a party of men. An 1829 obituary of Nicholas Campbell notes that he was “one of the ever-memorable Boston Tea Party.” Soon after the rebellious act was committed, Carp says, it was simply referred to as “the destruction of tea in Boston Harbor, or something similarly cumbersome.” There’s some question if the social known as a “tea party” even existed in the 1770s. The British practice of high tea didn’t take hold until the Victorian Era in the mid-19th century, and Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland, with its famous “Mad Hatter’s Tea Party,” wasn’t published until 1865.

7. After Boston, there were other ‘tea parties.’ According to a 2012 book by Joseph Cummins, there were at least 10 “tea parties” up and down the Eastern seaboard that were inspired by the original and most famous.

InterpNEWS During the Philadelphia Tea Party, which took place just nine days after Boston’s, no tea was destroyed, but the captain of a ship carrying the largest delivery of East India Company tea was threatened with being tarred and feathered if he didn’t return the “wretched weed” to England. Which he did. In Charleston, South Carolina, a ship arrived in November 1774 carrying tea, but the captain swore that he was unaware of the controversial cargo. Angry residents blamed local merchants who had ordered the tea and forced them to dump it in the harbor themselves. Author Dave Roos Website Name HISTORY URL https://www.history.com/news/boston-tea-party-surprising-facts

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Global warming is shrinking glaciers faster than thought. Seth Borenstein, AP Science Writer

The Baishui Glacier No.1 on the Jade Dragon Snow Mountain in the southern province of Yunnan in China. Scientists say it is one of the fastest melting glaciers in the world due to climate change. It has lost 60 percent of its mass and shrunk 250 meters since 1982. (Photo: Sam McNeil / AP)

Washington – Earth’s glaciers are melting much faster than scientists thought. A new study shows they are losing 369 billion tons of snow and ice each year, more than half of that in North America. The most comprehensive measurement of glaciers worldwide found that thousands of inland masses of snow compressed into ice are shrinking 18 percent faster than an international panel of scientists calculated in 2013. The world’s glaciers are shrinking five times faster now than they were in the 1960s. Their melt is accelerating due to global warming, and adding more water to already rising seas, the study found.

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“Over 30 years suddenly almost all regions started losing mass at the same time,” said lead author Michael Zemp, director of the World Glacier Monitoring Service at the University of Zurich. “That’s clearly climate change if you look at the global picture.” The glaciers shrinking fastest are in central Europe, the Caucasus region, western Canada, the U.S. Lower 48 states, New Zealand and near the tropics. Glaciers in these places on average are losing more than 1 percent of their mass each year, according to a study in Monday’s journal Nature . “In these regions, at the current glacier loss rate, the glaciers will not survive the century,” Zemp said. Zemp’s team used ground and satellite measurements to look at 19,000 glaciers, far more than previous studies. They determined that southwestern Asia is the only region of 19 where glaciers are not shrinking, which Zemp said is due to local climate conditions. Since 1961, the world has lost 10.6 trillion tons of ice and snow, the study found. Melted, that’s enough to cover the lower 48 U.S. states in about 4 feet of water.

Scientists have known for a long time that global warming caused by human activities like burning coal, gasoline and diesel for electricity and transportation is making Earth lose its ice. They have been especially concerned with the large ice sheets covering Greenland and Antarctica. This study, “is telling us there’s much more to the story,” said Mark Serreze, director of the National Snow and Ice Data Center in Boulder, Colorado, who wasn’t part of the study. “The influence of glaciers on sea level is bigger than we thought.” A number of factors are making sea levels rise. The biggest cause is that oceans are getting warmer, which makes water expand. The new figures show glacier melt is a bigger contributor than thought, responsible for about 25% to 30% of the yearly rise in oceans, Zemp said. Rising seas threaten coastal cities around the world and put more people at risk of flooding during storms.

InterpNEWS Glaciers grow in winter and shrink in summer, but as the Earth has warmed, they are growing less and shrinking more. Zemp said warmer summer temperatures are the main reason glaciers are shrinking faster. While people think of glaciers as polar issues, shrinking mountain glaciers closer to the equator can cause serious problems for people who depend on them, said Twila Moon, a snow and ice data center scientist who also wasn’t part of the study. She said people in the Andes, for example, rely on the glaciers for drinking and irrigation water each summer. A separate study Monday in Environmental Research Letters confirmed faster melting and other changes in the Arctic. It found that in winter, the Arctic is warming 2.8 times faster than the rest of the Northern Hemisphere. Overall, the region is getting more humid, cloudier and wetter. “It’s on steroids, it’s hyperactive,” said lead author Jason Box, a scientist for the Danish Meteorological Institute.

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Scienti Scientific evidence for warming of the clim climate system is unequivocal. Intergo rgovernmental Panel on Climate Change

This graph, based on the comparison of atm atmospheric samples contained in ice cores and more ore recent r direct measurements, provides evidence that atmos tmospheric CO2 has increased since the Industrial Revol evolution. (Credit: Luthi, D., et al.. 2008; Etheridge, D.M., et al. 2010;; Vos Vostok ice core data/J.R. Petit et al.; NOAA Mauna a Loa Lo CO2 record.) Find out more about ice cores (external site).

The current warming trend is of particula rticular significance because most of it is extremely ely likely li (greater than 95 th percent probability) to be the resultt of hum human activity since the mid-20 century and nd proceeding proc at a rate that is 1 unprecedented over decades to millennia llennia. Earth-orbiting satellites and other technol technological advances have enabled scientists to o see the t big picture, collecting many different types of informati information about our planet and its climate on a global globa scale. This body of data, collected over many years, reveals veals tthe signals of a changing climate.

InterpNEWS The heat-trapping nature of carbon dioxide and other gases was demonstrated in the mid-19th century.2 Their ability to affect the transfer of infrared energy through the atmosphere is the scientific basis of many instruments flown by NASA. There is no question that increased levels of greenhouse gases must cause the Earth to warm in response. Ice cores drawn from Greenland, Antarctica, and tropical mountain glaciers show that the Earth’s climate responds to changes in greenhouse gas levels. Ancient evidence can also be found in tree rings, ocean sediments, coral reefs, and layers of sedimentary rocks. This ancient, or paleoclimate, evidence reveals that current warming is occurring roughly ten times faster than the average rate of ice-age-recovery warming.3

The evidence for rapid climate change is compelling: Global Temperature Rise

The planet's average surface temperature has risen about 1.62 degrees Fahrenheit (0.9 degrees Celsius) since the late 19th century, a change driven largely by increased carbon dioxide and other human-made emissions into the atmosphere.4 Most of the warming occurred in the past 35 years, with the five warmest years on record taking place since 2010. Not only was 2016 the warmest year on record, but eight of the 12 months that make up the year — from January through September, with the exception of June — were the warmest on record for those respective months. 5

Warming Oceans The oceans have absorbed much of this increased heat, with the top 700 meters (about 2,300 feet) of ocean showing warming of more than 0.4 degrees Fahrenheit since 1969.6

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Shrinking Ice Sheets

The Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets have decreased in mass. Data from NASA's Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment show Greenland lost an average of 286 billion tons of ice per year between 1993 and 2016, while Antarctica lost about 127 billion tons of ice per year during the same time period. The rate of Antarctica ice mass loss has tripled in the last decade.7 Image: Flowing meltwater from the Greenland ice sheet

Glacial Retreat

Glaciers are retreating almost everywhere around the world â&#x20AC;&#x201D; including in the Alps, Himalayas, Andes, Rockies, Alaska and Africa.8 Image: The disappearing snowcap of Mount Kilimanjaro, from space.

InterpNEWS Decreased Snow Cover

Satellite observations reveal that the amount of spring snow cover in the Northern Hemisphere has decreased over the past five decades and that the snow is melting earlier.9

Sea Level Rise

Global sea level rose about 8 inches in the last century. The rate in the last two decades, however, is nearly double that of the last century and is accelerating slightly every year.10 Image: Republic of Maldives: Vulnerable to sea level rise

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Declining Arctic Sea Ice

Both the extent and thickness of Arctic sea ice has declined rapidly over the last several decades.11 Image: Visualization of the 2012 Arctic sea ice minimum, the lowest on record

Extreme Events

The number of record high temperature events in the United States has been increasing, while the number of record low temperature events has been decreasing, since 1950. The U.S. has also witnessed increasing numbers of intense rainfall events.12

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Ocean Acidification

Since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution, the acidity of surface ocean waters has increased by about 30 percent.13,14 This increase is the result of humans emitting more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere and hence more being absorbed into the oceans. The amount of carbon dioxide absorbed by the upper layer of the oceans is increasing by about 2 billion tons per year.15,16

References 1. IPCC Fifth Assessment Report, Summary for Policymakers B.D. Santer et.al., “A search for human influences on the thermal structure of the atmosphere,” Nature vol 382, 4 July 1996, 39-46 Gabriele C. Hegerl, “Detecting Greenhouse-Gas-Induced Climate Change with an Optimal Fingerprint Method,” Journal of Climate, v. 9, October 1996, 2281-2306 V. Ramaswamy et.al., “Anthropogenic and Natural Influences in the Evolution of Lower Stratospheric Cooling,” Science 311 (24 February 2006), 1138-1141 B.D. Santer et.al., “Contributions of Anthropogenic and Natural Forcing to Recent Tropopause Height Changes,” Science vol. 301 (25 July 2003), 479-483. 2. In the 1860s, physicist John Tyndall recognized the Earth's natural greenhouse effect and suggested that slight changes in the atmospheric composition could bring about climatic variations. In 1896, a seminal paper by Swedish scientist Svante Arrhenius first predicted that changes in the levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere could substantially alter the surface temperature through the greenhouse effect. 3. National Research Council (NRC), 2006. Surface Temperature Reconstructions For the Last 2,000 Years. National Academy Press, Washington, D.C. http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Features/GlobalWarming/page3.php 4. https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/monitoring-references/faq/indicators.php http://www.cru.uea.ac.uk/cru/data/temperature

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https://www.giss.nasa.gov/research/news/20170118/

Levitus, S.; Antonov, J.; Boyer, T.; Baranova, O.; Garcia, H.; Locarnini, R.; Mishonov, A.; Reagan, J.; Seidov, D.; Yarosh, E.; Zweng, M. (2017). NCEI ocean heat content, temperature anomalies, salinity anomalies, thermosteric sea level anomalies, halosteric sea level anomalies, and total steric sea level anomalies from 1955 to present calculated from in situ oceanographic subsurface profile data (NCEI Accession 0164586). Version 4.4. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information. Dataset. doi:10.7289/V53F4MVP

https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?feature=7159

National Snow and Ice Data Center World Glacier Monitoring Service

National Snow and Ice Data Center

Robinson, D. A., D. K. Hall, and T. L. Mote. 2014. MEaSUREs Northern Hemisphere Terrestrial Snow Cover Extent Daily 25km EASE-Grid 2.0, Version 1. [Indicate subset used]. Boulder, Colorado USA. NASA National Snow and Ice Data Center Distributed Active Archive Center. doi: https://doi.org/10.5067/MEASURES/CRYOSPHERE/nsidc-0530.001. [Accessed 9/21/18]. http://nsidc.org/cryosphere/sotc/snow_extent.html Rutgers University Global Snow Lab, Data History Accessed September 21, 2018. 10. R. S. Nerem, B. D. Beckley, J. T. Fasullo, B. D. Hamlington, D. Masters and G. T. Mitchum. Climate-change–driven accelerated sealevel rise detected in the altimeter era. PNAS, 2018 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1717312115 11. https://nsidc.org/cryosphere/sotc/sea_ice.html 12. USGCRP, 2017: Climate Science Special Report: Fourth National Climate Assessment, Volume I [Wuebbles, D.J., D.W. Fahey, K.A. Hibbard, D.J. Dokken, B.C. Stewart, and T.K. Maycock (eds.)]. U.S. Global Change Research Program, Washington, DC, USA, 470 pp, doi: 10.7930/J0J964J6 13. http://www.pmel.noaa.gov/co2/story/What+is+Ocean+Acidification%3F 14. http://www.pmel.noaa.gov/co2/story/Ocean+Acidification 15. C. L. Sabine et.al., “The Oceanic Sink for Anthropogenic CO2,” Science vol. 305 (16 July 2004), 367-371 16. Copenhagen Diagnosis, p. 36.

InterpNEWS The First Glacier Killed by Climate Change Is Getting a Haunting Memorial in Iceland By Brandon Specktor, Senior Writer, LiveScience

Ok was stripped of its glacier status in 2014, after climate change left it little more than an icy puddle (seen here). Credit: Rice University Vikings thought it was a dead troll. Now, it's just dead ice. Okjökull (or just "Ok," for short) is one of 400 ancient glaciers crowning the mountains of Iceland — at least, it was, until global warming shrank it so much that Ok officially lost its glacier status in 2014. While Ok was the first casualty of climate change in Iceland, it probably won’t be the last. Iceland's glaciers are losing about 10 billion tons of ice every year, and all 400 of them will likely follow in Ok's cold, wet footsteps by the year 2200 without a serious reduction in greenhouse gas emissions in the coming decades. Now, to memorialize the loss of Ok and the hundreds of other Icelandic glaciers that may share Ok's fate, researchers from Iceland and the United States have created a memorial plaque to forever mark the spot where Ok once towered over the landscape.

InterpNEWS The plaque, which will be officially dedicated in an Aug. 18 ceremony at the site of the former glacier, is addressed simply to "the future" and sends a hauntingly simple message.

"We know what's happening," the haunting memorial to Iceland's first vanished glacier reads. Credit: Rice University "Ok is the first Icelandic glacier to lose its status as a glacier," the plaque reads. "In the next 200 years all our glaciers are expected to follow the same path. This monument is to acknowledge that we know what is happening and what needs to be done. Only you know if we did it." The text concludes with "415ppm C02," the current ratio of greenhouse gases in Earth's atmosphere â&#x20AC;&#x201D; and likely the highest amount our planet has seen since before humans evolved. "This will be the first monument to a glacier lost to climate change anywhere in the world," Cymene Howe, an anthropologist at Rice University in Houston and co-creator of a 2018 documentary on Ok, said in a statement. "By marking Ok's passing, we hope to draw attention to what is being lost as Earth's glaciers expire. These bodies of ice are the largest freshwater reserves on the planet and frozen within them are histories of the atmosphere." Howe and her fellow researchers will install the plaque as part of an "un-glacier tour," which will depart from ReykjavĂk and lead participants on a free hike to the former site of Ok. Participants should expect rocky terrain. https://www.livescience.com/65996-iceland-ok-glacier-memorial-plaque.html

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Fun Facts About Bird Migration By Melissa Mayntz

Every birder is familiar with migration as a great time to see new and unusual bird species passing through areas where they might not be found during the breeding or wintering seasons. Learn how long it takes for a bird to migrate south, and so much more. These bird migration facts might surprise you! Trivia About Bird Migration - The word migration comes from the Latin migratus that means â&#x20AC;&#x153;to changeâ&#x20AC;? and refers to how birds change their geographic locations seasonally. There are many different types of bird migration, but all involve some sort of geographic change in a bird species' range. - Migration peaks in spring and fall, but in reality, there are birds migrating 365 days a year. The actual dates of when birds migrate depend on many factors, including bird species, overall migration distance, travel speed, route, climate, weather patterns, and more. -Before migrating, many birds enter a state of hyperphagia, where hormone levels compel them to drastically increase their body weight to store fat to use as energy while traveling. Some bird species may as much as double their body weight in the weeks leading up to migration. This time period is when extra food sources, such as backyard feeders, are especially critical to help birds build up this reserve fuel. - The time it takes a single bird to complete its one-way migration can range from a few days or weeks to up to four months, depending on the total distance, flight speed, route, and stopovers. Birds migrating late in the season typically travel faster than earlier migrants of the same species, even along the same general routes. - Hawks, swifts, swallows, and waterfowl migrate primarily during the day, while many songbirds migrate at night, in part to avoid the attention of migrating predators such as raptors. The cooler, calmer air at night also makes migration more efficient for many species. Birds that migrate during the day most often take advantage of solar-heated thermal currents for easy soaring so they can fly further using less energy. - Migrating birds use the stars for navigation, as well as the sun, wind patterns, and landforms, all of which help guide them to the same locations each year. The earth's magnetic field also plays a part in how birds navigate during migration.

InterpNEWS - Birds may fly from 15 to 600 miles or more per day during migration, depending on when they are migrating, how far they have to go, and the conditions they face along the route. Suitable stopovers and abundant food, water, and shelter also affect how far birds may travel in a single day. - Transoceanic migrants, birds who follow a migration route that crosses an ocean, may spend up to 100 hours or more in the air at a single time until they come to land. In extreme conditions, these birds have been known to land on ships at sea when they are desperate for rest. When they reach land, there are often fallouts of exhausted migrants that all congregate at the first available shelter or food source. Many birding festivals take place at these fallout hotspots during peak migration periods. - Many migratory birds have longer, more pointed wings than nonmigratory species or birds with shorter migrations. This wing structure is more aerodynamic with less air resistance and allows for a more efficient, easier flight, particularly on long journeys. - Migrating birds travel at speeds ranging from 15 to 50 miles per hour depending on the species, flight pattern, air temperature, and prevailing winds that can increase or decrease speed. - While most migrating birds fly at heights lower than 2,000 feet, birds have been recorded migrating at up to 30,000 feet high, a record held by the bar-headed goose. The height of a bird's migration flight depends on wind patterns and landforms that may create obstacles, such as mountain ranges. In the case of the bar-headed goose, these birds migrate across the Himalayan Mountains. - The ruby-throated hummingbird migrates from the Yucatan peninsula of Mexico to the southeastern United States every spring. This journey of 500 to 600 miles over the Caribbean Sea takes 24 hours without these tiny birds getting a break.

InterpNEWS - The rufous hummingbird has the longest migration of any hummingbird species: a one-way trip of 3,000 miles between its breeding grounds in Alaska and its winter range in Mexico. In spring, rufous hummingbirds travel north up the Pacific coast, while in autumn they travel south through more mountainous regions. This allows them to take advantage of flowering plants for quick energy in both directions. In spring, coastal flowers bloom earlier, while in autumn, mountain flowers are blooming later. -The Arctic tern has the longest recorded migration of any bird on the planet. Banded Arctic terns have confirmed a round-trip migration of roughly 22,000 miles, a feat that astonishes ornithologists and birders alike.

- Migrating birds face many threats along their journeys, including window collisions, confusing lights that disrupt navigation, hunting, habitat loss, and predation. Juvenile birds are at greater risk because of their inexperience with migration, yet somehow, billions of birds successfully migrate every year!

https://www.thespruce.com/fun-facts-about-bird-migration-386434

InterpNEWS How do frogs survive winter? Why don't they freeze to death? Rick Emmer, Lead Keeper The Rain Forest Cleveland Metroparks Zoo (In Scientific American Magazine.)

Gray tree frog waiting to emerge. G

Frogs are amazing animals. Despite their fragile appearance and inoffensive ways, they have countless strategies to deal with the most severe climates this planet has to offer. They can be found at the Arctic Circle, in deserts, in tropical rain forests and practically everywhere in between. Some of their survival strategies are nothing short of ingenious. Various frog species use two strategies to deal with environmental extremes: hibernation and estivation. Hibernation is a common response to the cold winter of temperate climates. After an animal finds or makes a living space (hibernaculum) that protects it from winter weather and predators, the animal's metabolism slows dramatically, so it can "sleep away" the winter by utilizing its body's energy stores. When spring weather arrives, the animal "wakes up" and leaves its hibernaculum to get on with the business of feeding and breeding.

Aquatic frogs such as the leopard frog(Rana pipiens) and American bullfrog (Rana catesbeiana) typically hibernate underwater. A common misconception is that they spend the winter the way aquatic turtles do, dug into the mud at the bottom of a pond or stream. In fact, hibernating frogs would suffocate if they dug into the mud for an extended period of time.

InterpNEWS A hibernating turtle's metabolism slows down so drastically that it can get by on the mud's meager oxygen supply. Hibernating aquatic frogs, however, must be near oxygen-rich water and spend a good portion of the winter just lying on top of the mud or only partially buried. They may even slowly swim around from time to time. Terrestrial frogs normally hibernate on land. American toads (Bufo americanus) and other frogs that are good diggers burrow deep into the soil, safely below the frost line. Some frogs, such as the wood frog (Rana sylvatica) and the spring peeper (Hyla crucifer), are not adept at digging and instead seek out deep cracks and crevices in logs or rocks, or just dig down as far as they can in the leaf litter. These hibernacula are not as well protected from frigid weather and may freeze, along with their inhabitants.

Leopard frog hibernating underwater.

And yet the frogs do not die. Why? Antifreeze! True enough, ice crystals form in such places as the body cavity and bladder and under the skin, but a high concentration of glucose in the frog's vital organs prevents freezing. A partially frozen frog will stop breathing, and its heart will stop beating. It will appear quite dead. But when the hibernaculum warms up above freezing, the frog's frozen portions will thaw, and its heart and lungs resume activity--there really is such a thing as the living dead! Estivation is similar to hibernation. It is a dormant state an animal assumes in response to adverse environmental conditions, in this case, the prolonged dry season of certain tropical regions. Several species of frog are known to estivate. Two of the better-known species are the ornate horned frog (Ceratophrys ornata) from South America and the African bullfrog (Pyxicephalus adspersus). When the dry season starts, these frogs burrow into the soil and become dormant. During the extended dry season, which can last several months, these frogs perform a neat trick: they shed several intact layers of skin, forming a virtually waterproof cocoon that envelopes the entire body, leaving only the nostrils exposed, which allows them to breathe. These herpetological mummies remain in their cocoons for the duration of the dry season. When the rains return, the frogs free themselves of their shrouds and make their way up through the moist soil to the surface.

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-do-frogs-survive-wint/

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What do Beess do in Winter?

When winter rolls around, bears hibernat bernate and birds fly south, but what about the bees? Like L every other creature on earth, bees have their own uni unique ways of coping with cold temperatures ures during dur the winter season. One way bees prepare for the winter er is bby gathering a winter reserve of honey. Honeybees head to the hive whenn temper temperatures drop into the 50s. As the weather becom ecomes cool, the honeybees gather in a central area of the hive and for form a â&#x20AC;&#x153;winter cluster" A winter cluster is much uch like l a huddle you may have seen at a football game â&#x20AC;&#x201D; except cept it lasts all winter! Bees have one main job in the winter â&#x20AC;&#x201D; to take care of the queen bee. This means ns they must m keep her safe and warm. In order to do so, worker bees es surr surround the queen and form a cluster with their heir bodies. bodi The worker bees then flutter their wings and shiver.. This cconstant motion and continuous use of energy rgy is how the bees keep the inside temperature of the hive warm.

In order to keep shivering, the beess mus must have enough honey. This is how they get their energy. e One of the most important jobs of the beekeeper inn the wi winter is to make sure the honey supply stays ys full so the bees can keep shivering. Though the queen is always at the center of the cluster, worker bees rotate from the he outside outsi to the inside of the cluster, so no individual worker beee gets too cold. The temperature of the cluster ranges anges from 46 degrees at the exterior to 80 degrees at the interior.. The colder the weather is outside, the more compac ompact the cluster becomes. In order to produce body heat and nd stay al alive, honeybees must rely on honey for energy. nergy. Some S studies have found that hives of honeybees will consu sume up to 30 pounds of stored honey over the course cou of a single winter. On warmer days, bees will leave the clus cluster briefly in order to eliminate body waste outside outsi the hive.

InterpNEWS Bee fun Facts; Honeybees are the only insect that produces food eaten by humans. Worker honeybees are female. The average worker bee produces only 1/12 teaspoon of honey over her lifetime. A worker bee lives about 6 weeks. The queen bee can live to be 5 years old. Honey never spoils. To make one pound of honey, bees must visit 2 million flowers Although humans don't stay inside a hive all winter to survive, we do make certain changes when colder weather rolls around. What do you do differently during the winter to deal with the cold weather? What changes do you make in the types of clothing you wear? Do you change your leisure time activities? Make a list of at least five things you do differently when the weather turns colder. When the winds outside are howling and the temperature has dropped below freezing, it's time to stay inside and play. You might even want to grab a blanket to stay extra warm. Of course, you could always combine playing and your blanket by making a blanket fort! Check out Amazing Blanket Fort Ideas online to see how others create fun indoor play spots when it's cold outside! Feeling sweet? Give the birds a treat from the bees. Winter is a great time to make homemade bird feeders with simple, everyday ingredients. You will need: a bagel, honey, bird seed, and yarn. Cut the bagel in half. Tie a piece of yarn through the center of each bagel half. Be sure to make the loop large enough to slip easily over a tree branch. When the yarn has been fastened around each half, spread a lot of honey on the flat side of the bagel. Sprinkle birdseed generously over the honey. Then head out into the backyard to find the perfect spot for your new feeders. Thankful birds will soon be singing your praises.

https://www.wonderopolis.org/wonder/what-dobees-do-in-winter

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Is It True No Two Snowflakes Are Alike? Anne Helmenstine Science Notes

You’ve likely been told no two snowflakes are alike — that each is as individual as a human fingerprint. Yet, if you’ve had the chance to closely examine snowflakes, some snow crystals do look like others. What’s the truth? It depends how closely you look. To understand why there’s a dispute about snowflake similarity, start by understanding how snowflakes work.

Although two snowflakes may look identical under a microscope, the chance that two snowflakes are the same on the molecular level is infinitesimally small. (Aaron Burden)

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How Snowflakes Form Snowflakes are crystals of water, which has the chemical formula H2O. There are multiple ways water molecules can bond and stack with each other, depending on the temperature, air pressure, and concentration of water in the atmosphere (humidity). Generally the chemical bonds in the water molecule dictate the traditional 6-sided snowflake shape. Once a crystal starts forming, it uses the initial structure as the basis to form branches. The branches may continue to grow or they can melt and reform depending on conditions.

Why Two Snowflakes Can Look the Same Since a group of snowflakes falling at the same time form under similar conditions, there’s a decent chance if you look at enough snowflakes, two or more will look the same to the naked eye or under a light microscope. If you compare snow crystals at the early stages or formation, before they have had a chance to branch out much, the odds that two of them might look alike is high. Snow scientist Jon Nelson at Ritsumeikan University in Kyoto, Japan, says snowflakes kept between 8.6ºF and 12.2ºF (-13ºC and -11ºC) maintain these simple structures for a long time and can fall to Earth, where it would be hard to tell them apart just looking at them. Although many snowflakes are six-sided branched structures (dendrites) or hexagonal plates, other snow crystals form needles, which basically look much like each other. Needles form between 21°F and 25°F and sometimes reach the ground intact. If you consider snow needles and columns to be snow “flakes”, you have examples of crystals that look alike.

Why No Two Snowflakes Are Alike While snowflakes might appear the same, at a molecular level, it’s very nearly impossible for two to be the same. There are multiple reasons for this: 

Water is made from a mixture of hydrogen and oxygen isotopes. These isotopes have slightly different properties from each other, altering the crystal structure formed using them. While the three natural isotopes of oxygen don’t significantly affect crystal structure, the three isotopes of hydrogen are distinctly different. About 1 in 3,000 water molecules contains the hydrogen isotope deuterium. Even if one snowflake contains the same number of deuterium atoms as another snowflake, they won’t occur in the exact same places in the crystals.

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

Snowflakes are made up of so many molecules, it’s unlikely any two snowflakes are exactly the same size. Snow scientist Charles Knight with the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colorado estimates each snow crystal contains around 10,000,000,000,000,000,000 water molecules. The number of ways these molecules can arrange themselves is nearly infinite.



Each snowflake is exposed to slightly different conditions, so even if you started with two identical crystals, they wouldn’t be the same as each by the time they reached the surface. It’s like comparing identical twins. They might share the same DNA, but they are different from each other, especially as time passes and they have unique experiences.



Each snowflake forms around a tiny particle, like a dust mote or pollen particle. Since the shape and size of the starting material isn’t the same, snowflakes don’t even start out alike. To summarize, it’s fair to say sometimes two snowflakes look alike, especially if they are simple shapes, but if you examine any two snowflakes closely enough, each will be unique.

InterpNEWS The first two common wildflowers I learned – their “rest of the story” John Veverka The Heritage Interpretation Training Center

Jewelweed. Cleavers (bed straw)

When I first started in interpretation over 40 years ago, my first year as a seasonal interpretive naturalist with Ohio State Parks, I had to begin to learn my wildflowers for my interpretive walks with visitors. The two most common wildflowers everyone interpreted were cleavers and jewelweed, because they were easy to find, see, and had interesting stories associated with them. Amazingly, I still have these two growing in my backyard today. I thought it would be fun to share to other newer interpreters how even the most “common” plants or animals can have interesting “rest of the stories” to share about them. So here are two “rest of the stories” about these two most common plants. Let’s start with Cleavers. Cleavers Herb Author : Karen Bergeron 2/16/2019 Galium aparine Other Names: Goosegrass, Barweed, Catchweed, Cleavers, Stickywilly, Zhu Yang Yang. Warning: Fresh Cleavers plant can cause a severe contact dermatitis for some people. Wear gloves and long sleeves when harvesting Cleavers. Strain infusions and tinctures of uncooked Cleavers carefully to avoid throat irritation. Cleavers Herbal Use and Possible Benefits The Cleavers plant has a long history of use, often utilized by herbalists as one of the primary blood and lymph system "cleansing" herbs. It is considered a diuretic, so one should keep well hydrated if using this herb. The following information is based on historical uses found in herbal lore. There is insufficient research on this herb to scientifically prove any medical benefits in humans. In herbal tradition, it is believed that many irritating skin conditions are due to toxins in the blood that are well served by "cleansing the system." Cleavers is often taken to treat skin problems such as seborrhea, eczema, and psoriasis. The fresh plant or juice of Cleavers herb is used as a poultice for wounds, ulcers and many other skin problems. If only dried herb is available, it can be made into an infusion, decoction or tincture. Some herbalists say that it is better to use juice from the plant, but I can't see that it would yield much. Cleavers herb is considered a cooling and detoxifying agent in serious illnesses such as cancer, but consult your oncologist before using this herb. Cleavers could be regarded as a milder remedy than Pokeweed, which is also used for such purposes but is considered to be toxic. It may have a slight laxative effect and stimulate the lymphatic system.

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An infusion has shown to be of possible benefit in the treatment of glandular fever, tonsillitis, hepatitis, and cystitis and has also used to treat liver, bladder, and urinary problems. You should always discuss such conditions with a physician, as well as your use of any herbal remedy. Cleavers is said to be good for the hair, making it grow long when an infusion is used as a rinse. Several Native American Tribes used an infusion of the plant for gonorrhea. Cleavers was also believed to remove freckles. Cleavers Edible Uses The Cleavers plant is edible raw though said to be unpalatable. It is mainly used as a pot-herb or as an addition to soups. Using the plant as a vegetable is supposed to have a slimming effect on the body. Cleavers seed is one of the best coffee substitutes, it merely needs to be dried and lightly roasted and has much the same flavor as coffee. Cleavers Habitat and Description Cleavers is a worldwide native annual whose original origin is debatable. It is common in Australia, Britain, China, Europe, France, Iraq, Mexico, Spain, Turkey, and the United States. Cleavers herb can be found growing in hedgerows, woods, fields, among cultivated crops, and in waste places, in sparse woods at the base of trees, and around buildings which it will often use as a means of support to grow upward. The stems and leaves of Cleavers are covered with little-hooked bristles, which attach to passing objects, in this way it fastens itself to adjacent shrubs, to climb its way upwards through dense undergrowth into daylight, often forming matted masses. Leaves are narrow, lanceshaped and are rough along the margins and surface, with the prickles pointing backward. They occur in whorls of 6 to 8 leaves, around and along the square, weak, branching stem which may grow to 6 or more feet in length. The flowers are white, tiny, 1/16 to 1/8 inch in diameter and star-like, growing in a stemmed bud rising from the leaf axils and arranged in clusters or whorls, six or eight together, blooming separately, 2 or 3 at a time, so flowers and seeds are present in each cluster. Note: Some species of Cleavers produce only 2 or 3 flowers and seeds to a cluster. Flowers bloom April through Sept.

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How to Grow and Harvest Cleavers Herb Cleavers is very easy to cultivate. It prefers a loose moist leafy soil in partial shade. This plant does not really need any help to reproduce itself and can be invasive. It provides food for the larvae of many butterfly species. Gather the above ground plant, being careful not to gather whatever it touches. Unless you are sure that you aren't allergic the the fresh plant, wear gloves and long sleeves to harvest. Apparently, the dried plant is safe but still use caution at first. Dry for later herb use, should be picked through before drying to ensure herb is contaminant free. Cleavers Herbal History and Folklore Cleavers was used as a love medicine by one Native American tribe. The infusion of plant was used as a bath by women who wished to be successful in love. A red dye is obtained from a decoction of the root, it is said to dye bones red. Gerard writes of Cleavers as a marvelous remedy for the bites of snakes, spiders and all venomous creatures. A thick mat of the stems, when used as a sieve for filtering milk, was said to give healing properties to the milk and is still used in Sweden for that purpose. Herbal Recipe Herbal Tea: To 1 pint of boiling water add 3 heaping tbs. of dried or fresh herb, steep 10 min. Strain to remove bristles. Take in mouthful doses throughout the day. https://learnaboutherbs.com/gallery/cleavers.htm

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So, that’s the “rest of the story about cleavers. Now let’s look at the rest of the story for my other favorite plant, Jewelweed that I’ve been itching to tell.

Jewelweed, Nature's Answer to Poison Ivy? Impatiens capensis Author: Karen Bergeron (c) 1999 Updated 02/26/2019 What is Jewelweed ? Jewelweed is a native plant that has been used for centuries in North America by Native Americans and Herbalists, as an herbal remedy for poison ivy and poison oak rash and itching. Learn to find and use Jewelweed below. The juice from the Jewelweed plant turns orange when exposed to air. Water preparations of Orangeflowered Jewelweed, as well as soaps made with it, will be orange to brown colored, but oil infusions and salves will be green. What is Jewelweed used for? The Jewelweed plant is best known for its skin soothing properties. Think of it like an aloe plant, though it's juice will often turn orange once squeezed from the plant. The leaves and the juice from the stem of Jewelweed are used by herbalists as a treatment for poison ivy, oak and other plant induced rashes, as well as many other types of dermatitis. Jewelweed may work by counterreacting with the chemicals in other plants that cause irritation. Poultices and salves from Jewelweed are folk remedies for bruises, burns, cuts, eczema, insect bites, sores, sprains, warts, and ringworm. The science behind it is lacking, but many people swear by it. A 1958 study showed that 107 out of 115 people had good results, but newer studies negate the findings. Just search Jewelweed on Facebook to see how many people use it. I have used it for decades and it works for me, every time. When I wash with Jewelweed soap the same day as exposure, I don't break out and when I get a little breakout, it clears up fast! Jewelweed Plant Identification and Habitat Jewelweed is a native annual found in the eastern part of North America from Southern Canada to the northern part of Florida. The Jewelweed plant is seen most often in moist woods and is a common plant of shady, wet areas. You will often find Jewelweed in ditches, along creek beds, or in shallow water growing in large colonies. It is also often found on the edge of wooded areas. Also known as Touch-me-nots, Jewelweed grows from 2 to 6 feet tall, or taller in fertile soil, and bears hundreds of seeds per plant over the growing season. It is commonly said that wherever you find poison ivy, you will discover Jewelweed - however, this is not always true. Jewelweed will not grow in dry places for long and does not thrive in direct sunlight. Poison Ivy will grow in sun or shade.

InterpNEWS Jewelweed leaves are oval, usually round- toothed; lower ones opposite, upper ones alternate. They have a waxy surface coating that repels water like a newly waxed car. The veins in the leaves end in the notches between the teeth. A bit trumpet-shaped, Jewelweed flowers hang from the plant much as a jewel from a necklace. Pale Jewelweed has yellow flowers and Spotted Touch-Me-Nots have orange flowers with dark red dots. The flower is unmistakable, the only flower I can think of that resembles Jewelweed is Trumpet vine flower, and that takes some stretch of the imagination. Trumpet vine climbs trees and has pointed pinnate leaves. The Jewelweed stem is succulent, hollow, and usually reddish at the joints. Jewelweed has very shallow reddish roots with fibrous tan rootlets. The seeds will 'pop' when touched, that is where the name Touch-Me-Nots came from. Jewelweed seeds are edible and said to have a mild walnut taste. The Spotted Orange Jewelweed variety is most commonly used for treating irritated skin and poison ivy rashes, although the Pale Jewelweed may also have soothing properties. Jewelweed can be used to shade young ginseng plants. There is plenty of Jewelweed in the wild, and it is not hard to find once you learn to identify it. It can sometimes become invasive but is easy to pull up because of the shallow roots. How to Use Jewelweed When you are out in the field and find you have been exposed to poison ivy, oak, or stinging nettle you can reach for the jewelweed plant and slice the stem, then rub its juicy inside on exposed parts. It is said to ease irritation and prevent breakouts for most people. Jewelweed or an infusion made from boiling leaves of Impatiens capensis may be frozen for later use. The easiest way to use it is to brew chopped jewelweed in boiling water until you get a dark orange liquid. Yellow Jewelweed will not yield orange color and may not be effective. Strain the liquid and pour into ice cube trays. When you have a skin rash, rub it with a jewelweed cube, and you might be amazed by its soothing, healing properties. It will keep in freezer up to a year. You can also preserve the infusion by canning it in a pressure cooker. Jewelweed does not dry well due to its high moisture and oil content. If you make a salve from Jewelweed, it is best kept refrigerated for long term storage. Do not make alcoholic tinctures from Jewelweed because some people have had a bad reaction using jewelweed in alcohol based preparations. More isn't necessarily better with Jewelweed, and a strong concentrate should be diluted for use on skin, as some people have had reddening of skin with strong concentrations of Jewelweed Clinical Study on Jewelweed "The Results of a Clinical Study,in which a 1:4 jewelweed preparation was compared for its effectiveness with other standard poison ivy dermatitis treatments was published in 1958 (Annals of Allerty 1958;16:526-527). Of 115 patients treated with jewelweed, 108 responded "most dramatically to the topical application of this medication and were entirely relieved of their symptoms within 2 or 3 days after the institution of treatment". It was concluded that jewelweed is an excellent substitute for ACTH and the corticosteroids in the treatment of poison ivy dermatitis. The active principle in the plant responsible for this activity remains unidentified." by Varro Tyler, PhD in his book HERBS OF CHOICE https://learnaboutherbs.com/jewelweed.htm

InterpNEWS Heritage Interpretation In MaltaBringing 7000 years of history to life. By John A. Veverka jvainterp@al.con

What do ancient temples, Romans, The Order of St. John, seven UNESCO world heritage sites, Cutthroat Island, Gladiator and Popeye all have in common? They are all part of the Malta story. But first you are probably wondering just where is Malta? Nestled in the warm waters of the Mediterranean, Malta is about 60 miles to the Southeast of Sicily and about 250 miles to the Northwest of the coast of Africa. And to the thousands of tourists that come to Malta and its sister island Gozo, they find an overwhelming historic story with heritage sites spanning 7000 years of history waiting for them. You have probably seen Malta, or at least a part of it, already! Malta is a frequent movie location. The pirate movie Cutthroat Island, and Gladiator had portions of their film shot here. Also the movie Popeye with Robin Williams was filmed here. The village of Sweet Haven that features in Popeye still remains and has been preserved on its island location as a tourist attraction. Why is interpretation seen as something so important for Malta tourism? Malta officially joined the European Union on 1 May 2004 with tourism having been given major importance through the country’s deliberations on membership. In looking the tourism markets being attracted to Malta, the main market group was the “sun, sea and sand” groups. Malta beaches and resorts are first rate and thousands of cruise ship visitors embark to explore the island on almost a daily basis. But with the downturn in tourism since 9/11 and competition from other destinations for the sun, sea and sand markets, Malta tourism began to look more closely at the increasing and powerful heritage tourism market. Heritage tourists are a different kind of tourist, seeking out different kinds of experiences and products. They want to stand, see and feel where history took place. And with 7000 years of history – Malta is a treasure chest of sites and experiences ripe for discovery. But a historic site without interpretation is just an “old site”. It is the interpretation of the story of the site - the who, what, when and why - expressed in a memorable, provocative and evocative manner that brings the story to life. Simply put, you can’t really have quality “heritage tourism” without quality “heritage interpretation” to tell that sites story.

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To this end, the Malta Tourism Authority feels that developing a more powerful heritage tourism market required excellence in interpretation as well. In November 2003 the Malta Tourism Authority sponsored its first ever week-long interpretive planning training course, attended by representatives from many of Malta’s main attractions and service organizations, including Heritage Malta and the Malta Tourism Authority. Developed and presented by John Veverka in 2002, the intensive 5-day training focused on what interpretation was, but more importantly, how to use interpretive planning and design principles in developing, marketing, and evaluating heritage tourism programs, services and media to accomplish real objectives. What are The Malta Tourism Authority goals for interpretation? In general, the goals for interpretation in Malta are based on the general benefits interpretation can provide any heritage agency or organization using interpretation. These benefits can include: 

 Graduates of Malta’s first Interpretation Course.

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Interpretation shows the visitors why the heritage site has value – to them (the visitor), to the community, and perhaps regionally or nationally.

Interpretation can inspire visitors and create a sense of individual and national pride.

It is the interpretation (programs, living history, guided tours, exhibits, etc.) that visitors come to the heritage site for – the story and site experience. Without interpretation a historic site is, in the eyes of the visitor, just another OLD site. Interpretation gets visitors to CARE about heritage (theirs or other cultures). Interpretive services are the reasons visitors come back to heritage sites. Interpretive programs and services can increase visitation by increasing the perception of BENEFITS tourists receive by going to a particular heritage site. Interpretive programs and services can produce reductions in site maintenance, and related management issues when used as a management tool. Interpretive programs and services can make money! Interpretive programs and services provide added value to any heritage tourism experience, and heritage site marketing efforts.

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Malta’s Interpretive Experiences

Malta’s current interpretive experiences run from the highly developed, to “successes waiting to happen”, and to talk about all of them here would take hundreds of pages, so we’ll just look at some highlights. World Heritage Sites.

Malta has seven of them, ranging from the ancient temples like the one at Hagar Qim, built in 2700 B.C. and the Hypogeum – a unique underground temple built in 2500 B.C, to the city of Valleta (Malta’s capital) itself. The newly formed organization Heritage Malta is currently involved in bringing innovative and imaginative interpretation to these and related temple sites. Current interpretation is provided by tour group leaders with currently no on-site interpretation. This will change as future plans call for interpretive facilities and more self-guiding opportunities. These are some of the typical “successes in waiting” that will soon emerge as interpretive site “super powers” on Malta.

Interpretive workshop with Malta Heritage staff at the Hagar Qim temple site, built in 2700 B.C

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Malta’s temples receive thousands of visitors a year, many arriving from cruise ships. Plans are in place to provide both self-guiding interpretation for these visitors, as well as conducted tours by trained interpreters as part of ongoing planning for better interpretive opportunities. The historic city (and capital of Malta) Valleta began with the corner stone of the city being laid on March 28th, 1566, and was named after the Grand Master La Valette who led the Knights of St. John and the Maltese to victory over the Turks in 1565. Upon visiting Vallletta Sir Walter Scott described the city as “that splendid town, quite like a dream”. It still holds that same sense of wonder today, which is one of the reasons it is also a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Thousands of visitors go on guided heritage walks (interpretive tours) – many offered by licensed tour guides, through the city.

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Besides its lengthy list of museums, galleries, and other unique and memorable experiences, Malta also has some other outstanding interpretive opportunities waiting and ready for visitors. The Malta Experience, located in the capitol of Valletta, is a must “first stop” for any heritage tourist. Here through a audio visual spectacular, you can witness Malta’s unique 7,000 year history in just 45 minutes. This is the place to come for the “big picture” – and then decide which of the many sites and attractions you would want to go and see next. Fort Rinella gives the visitors a totally different experience. Fort Rinella was built in the late 1800’s at a time when the growing naval power of nearby Italy posed a potential threat to British commerce and navigation in the Mediterranean. The main feature of this Fort was its 100-ton gun batteries. The site and story of this important historic site in now managed by Foundazzjoni Wirt Artna (Malta Heritage Trust), which restored the site, and provides both self-guided, and on weekends “living history presentations and tours”. We had the pleasure of attending one of the living history programs and found them to be of the highest interpretive quality, a feeling expressed by the many visitors to the site.

Living history interpretation of Malta’s military heritage at Fort Rinella.

Working with the transportation sections to create new and innovative interpretive experiences. Besides the traditional way of seeing Malta and its heritage attractions, interpretive opportunities that are under development include several “historic” transportation means around the city that are still in use today. Karrozzin – or the Horse-Drawn Cab were once the main transportation means in Malta until the coming of the motor car. But they are still favorite heritage experience.

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Depending on the driver, a visitor can not only get to their destinations, but receive some first-hand interpretation of the history of the city too.

The Dghajsa – or the taxi boat has been in use at Malta for centuries. The dghajsa (pronounced “dye-sah”) is a brightly painted cousin of the Venetian gondola – each boat with its “eye of Osiris, God of the UnderWorld” painted on the bows to ward of the evil eye. Today is it being developed as another unique Malta heritage tourism product, with the Captains providing interpretation of the harbor and its history.

The author enjoying interpretation from the water taxi “interpreter”.

InterpNEWS We can’t forget the famous Malta Buses!

While still providing transportation around the island for locals and tourists alike, these buses have their own character and historical stories. Malta Tourism has been working to develop interpretive bus tours with trained “interpretive” drivers to drop off and pick up tourists at standard destinations throughout the island. This is an interpretive experience in itself! This is just a small sample of the more that 70 sights to visit and unique interpretive experiences, from historic churches, cities and villages, to forts, harbors, and museums, that waits for Malta visitors, with interpretation becoming more important for each. Malta Tourism Authorities goals and vision for interpretation in the future. The main goals for Malta interpretation include: -

Continue to provide interpretive training for commercial and non-profit tourism providers. Use interpretation principles more widely in heritage tourism development and marketing. To insure the quality of the interpretive experience. To provide interpretive training for Malta’s Licensed Tour Guides.

Summary Malta is a treasure trove of interpretive experiences, stories and visions reflecting over 7000 years of history. The heritage tourist will have to spend weeks here to see and do it all, and interpretation will be the cornerstone to help make Malta’s many stories come to life for visitors. But more than that, interpretation will be a key part of Malta Tourism marketing strategy to help lure more heritage tourists to this enchanting location. The sun, sand and sea are still here too, but now “heritage” will be an ever growing part of the Malta Tourism market – with interpretation in the forefront to help that happen. I would like to thank the Malta Tourism Authority and Heritage Malta for their support and photo contributions for this article. For more information on Malta, visit their web site at: http://www.visitmalta.com. For further reading: -Malta Prehistory and Temples, by David Trump and Daniel Cilia -Malta & Gozo – Sun, Sea and History by John Manduca -The Hal Saflieni Hypogeum – Edited by Anthony Pace – National Museum of Archaeology, Malta.

InterpNEWS Reviewing some slaves’ narratives from the Federal Writers’ project, edited by Sarah H. Hall and John N. Booth, from Georgia, I was especially interested in the memories which Rachael Adams shared.

Dr. Martha Benn Macdonald InterpNEWS Regional Editor

George Dillard's oral history was recorded for the Slave Narrative Collection by the Federal Writers' Project (1936)

As we all agree, slavery was a horrible institution, and some experienced harder living conditions than others. Imagine living in a mud-daubed cabin with “chimblies” formed from sticks and mud, sleeping on springs made from stout cords and mattresses and pillows that scratched you? “Evvy time I moved at night it sounded lak de wind blowin’ through dem peech trees and bamboos ‘round de front of de house wher I lives now (3).” Rachael mentions that her mother was a weaver, that her grandparents were field hands, and that she was one of seventeen children. Three children ate out of the same bowl, and children usually ate cornbread, whereas “grown folks had meat, greens, syrup, cornbread, ‘taters, and ‘possums (ibid).” In addition, there was rabbit, fish ‘taters, and ground peas. Rachael and her family belonged to “Marse” Lewis Little and his wife. In addition to telling her stories, Rachael analyzes. “Now warn’t dat terrible,” she says, that a slave had to be put in the ground in a pine box the same day he died. She also references “patterollers,” the white men who patrolled and beat slaves if they didn’t have a pass to walk, for example, to another plantation and notes that Christmas Day was special because they were given biscuits to eat. She also says that she and her friends played “run ‘round in a ring” and particularly enjoyed corn shucking parties and the day cotton pickin’ was completed, for those celebrations meant “de big eats, de likker, and de dancing.”

InterpNEWS What engaged me the most in her stories were what the medicines doctors used: oil and turpentine, camphor, assfetida, cherry bark, sweetgum bark, and red-oak bark. Turpentine oil, for example, helped patients with rheumatism, joint pain, and neuralgic pain, and the vapors of turpentine helped patients breathe more easily. A friend, Mrs. Johnie May Coachman, in a personal interview said that when she fell and injured her knee years ago when she was thirteen, her mother applied lard and turpentine to her knee (2001). Ever heard of Asafedita or Assfetida? The very name, sounds curious, doesn’t it? Dr. John A. Veverka noted that assafedita was the dried latex from the taproot of a perennial her that belonged to the celery family (2019). Sonny Williamson in a short book entitled Cooking with Grandma, writing in a delightfully colloquial tone, said that “this highly odorous, resinous material is now used in various medicines. It didn’t just have an odor, it really STUNK. Many years ago it was worn around the neck in a conjure bag to ward off disease or shaved into whiskey as a cough medicine. It probably didn’t help but it limited your number of visitors. Anyway after a few doses you probably really didn’t give a damn (6). According to Herbert C. Covey in his book entitled African-American Slave Medicine, red-oak bark and sweetgum bark were boiled in water and made into a tea which served as blood medicine (182). Moreover, in the very useful book entitled Magic and Medicine of Plants), the writers note that an extract of sweet gum bark helped cure diarrhea and that, blended with the leaves of sweet gum, a cream or lotion was produced which helped hemorrhoids and skin ailments (315). Cherry tree bark could be made into a tea to cure lung ailments, decrease diarrhea, and promote sweating (334). Finally, the Pennsylvania Herb Website suggests that Native Americans found a tea from red oak bark useful for the heart and the lungs. Native Americans passed along aspects of their culture to other cultures, and, of course, slaves brought their own knowledge of roots and herbs from Africa. This knowledge passed from one generation to the next. Another source for relieving pain, inflammation, itching, and cold sores was camphor. Students of early medicine have shown that camphor from the camphor laurel tree was calming. Camphor also increased the blood flow. Even though she had no “schoolin,” Rachael’s simile referencing wind blowin’ through dem peech trees and bamboos” was a rich image (you can sniff those peaches, taste them, and see them, and you can hear that wind. The house where she lives now (in the narrative) refers to the house she moved into when she married Tom Adams. She said her weddin’ dress was blue and trimmed in white. “My aunt give us a big weddin’ feast…, and she sho’ did pile up dat table wid heaps of good eatments (8).” Rachael joined a church after her marriage because she wanted to go to Heaven and sent her blind grandson off to “blind school.” The boy, blinded at three weeks, made his home with her. Another book, Slave Ghost Stories: Tales of Hags, Hants, Ghosts, & Diamondback Rattlers, offered medicinal information. Maulsey Stoney, living on Edisto Island, related that a hag was trying to attack her when she was sick: “Mammy took her seat alongside my bed and watched. She had her bottle of herb physic close to hand to keep her nerve. The herb is soaked with whiskey or it don’t work on you right. By her feet rested an empty bottle with a cork in its mouth” (74). The hag began to attack at dawn, causing Maulsey’s stomach to cramp. But her mother was quick, for “she uncorked the empty bottle and placed it on my stomach with the mouth turned down. All that time her left hand fumbled in her dress for a needle” . . . she found the needle and counted to 33, then lifted the bottle off Maulsey’s stomach and threw the needle into the bottle. After that the hag never came again (75).

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Then, in a story entitled “Ghosts Are Good Company,” Solbert Butler related that back when he was a slave, you sometimes had to “be born wrapped in the caul to see them,” meaning ghosts (127). The stories are painful when we realize how cruel some masters and their overseers were to their slaves, but we learn a great deal about the foods, medicines, games, songs, and much, much more of a culture which has enriched our lives through the years.

Born in slavery: slave narratives from the Federal Writers Project, 1936.

Dr. Martha Macdonald College English instructor (Ret), author, and performer. doctorbenn@gmail.com

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The scientific reason ason you y are (or aren’t) a mosquito quito magnet m Emilyy Dinuzzo Din

One of the 12 most dangerous bugs gs you need to watch out for during summer is mosquitoes. mosqui But no matter how you try to avoid them, some people naturally attract mosquitoes more than others. Your breath attracts mosquitoes One of the most important facts too reme remember is that mosquitoes track people down wn by smell and body odor, according to Bart Knols, PhD, a vector ector bbiologist dedicated to the study of mosquitoes. uitoes. The carbon dioxide people exhale, along with chemicals als fro from the skin, create an “odor plume” that mosquitoes mosqu can detect from up to almost 100 feet away, Knolss says. “Each person gives off more than 300 chemica hemicals from the skin, more than 100 in exhaled breath,” Knols ls says says. It’s one of the 11 things mosquitoes don’t n’t want wa you to know.

Your smell attracts mosquitoes The specific compounds on the skin kin tha that mosquitoes respond to vary by species. The yellow y fever mosquito and Asian tiger mosquito, for example, mple, respond well to lactic acid from skin. African rican malaria m mosquitoes respond to a blend of fatty acids, accord according to Knols. Your individual mix of compoun pounds and smells determine how much of a mosquito to magn magnet you are, depending on the mosquito species. specie The blend of chemicals you produce are only partiall artially in your control. These chemicals depend d on your y genetic make-up, health status, diet, skin pH, and microflo icroflora, Knols says. “Bacteria on the skin break eak down do the compounds that we give off through our pores, andd these are the attractive smells,” Knols says. “So So it is i not actually us that attract mosquitoes, but the bacteria ia on oour skin.”

InterpNEWS Although this is a complex and partially understood phenomenon, Knols says that we do all have a unique smell based on our bacteria flora species and the density of bacteria. There are many myths and folklore stories about why some people are more or less attractive to mosquitoes. Some people falsely think having “sweet blood” or your blood group are factors, and others believe taking vitamin B or eating garlic makes people less attractive to mosquitoes—but Knols notes there’s no scientific data backing these claims. COLORS OF CLOTHING THAT ATTRACT MOSQUITOES Most of us are aware that mosquitoes are drawn to certain odors (for example, perspiration and carbon dioxide), and are repelled by others, like citrus and geraniol. As it turns out, they feel the same way about some colors. Mosquitoes are attracted to the heat retained by dark clothing: black, browns, dark blue and the like are especially appealing. Lighter-colored clothing is more likely to reflect heat, so mosquitoes are less likely to notice it. That’s not to say that you’ll go completely unbuzzed, but if you wear white, beige, or yellow, the mosquitoes will nibble on your friends in the darker duds first. Wear these colors to avoid mosquitoes

Here’s how to keep mosquitoes away If you are a mosquito magnet, you’ll want to invest in a proper repellent—like this one—to apply to all exposed body parts. “DEET, picaridin, or lemon-eucalyptus oil (with elevated concentration of citriodiol) are good repellents,” Knols says. Citronella, another popular option, only protects for a short amount of time. That’s not the case for these 2 things mosquitoes absolutely hate.

InterpNEWS Greenland is in the grips of a heat wave. Here's what it means for all of us. By Sheena McKenzie, CNN

Extreme heat bowled over Europe last week, smashing records in its wake. Now, the heat wave that started in the Sahara has rolled into Greenland -- where more records are expected to crumble in the coming days.

ÂŠ Education Images/Universal Images Group via Getty Images Melt water on the Greenland ice sheet. The Greenland ice sheet (Sermersuaq in Greenlandic) is a vast body of ice covering 1,710,000 square kilometers (660,000 sq mi), roughly 80% of the surface of Greenland. The thickness is generally more than 2 km (1.2 mi) and over 3 km (1.9 mi) at its thickest point. This section of the ice sheet was photographed on the Western part, close to Ilulissat and the glacier Semeq Kujalleq. Positioned in the Arctic, the Greenland ice sheet is especially vulnerable to climate change. (Photo by: Education Images/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)

ÂŠ Eko Siswono Toyudho/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images Vehicles in a flood caused by rising sea levels on a highway in Central Java, Indonesia on February 2.

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That means the heat wave is now Greenland's problem, right? Not quite. When records fall in Greenland, it's everyone's problem. Greenland is home to the world's second-largest ice sheet. And when it melts significantly -- as it is expected to do this year -- there are knock-on effects for sea levels and weather across the globe. Greenland's ice sheet usually melts during the summer. This year, it started melting earlier, in May, and this week's heat wave is expected to accelerate the melt.

The country's mammoth ice sheet rises 3,000 meters above sea level. Forecasters predict that its summit will be particularly warm this week, at just below zero degrees. "It's a very warm temperature for that altitude," said Ruth Mottram, climate scientist at the Danish Meteorological Institute. Now 2019 could come close to the record-setting year of 2012, said Jason Box, professor and ice climatologist at the Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland. During that "melty year," he said, Greenland's ice sheet lost 450 million metric tons -- the equivalent of more than 14,000 tons of ice lost per second.

InterpNEWS Global effects What happens in Greenland will be felt across the world. Box said that this year's melt is flooding the North Atlantic with freshwater, which could affect the weather in northwestern Europe. The result could be stronger storms, he added, citing flooding in the UK in 2015 and 2016. "Whatever happens in Greenland radiates its impact down," he said. During a year like 2012 or 2019, water produced by Greenland's ice sheet adds more than one millimeter to global sea levels, according to Box. But countries in the tropics could see a rise of two millimeters or more, he said. Extreme is the new norm. It will still be some time before the full "meltiness" of 2019 is measured. But it's already poised to rival the proportions of 2012 -- and we haven't even reached the end of summer. In July alone, Greenland's ice sheet lost 160 billion tons of ice, according to Clare Nullis, spokeswoman for the UN World Meteorological Organization. That's roughly the equivalent of 64 million Olympic-sized swimming pools, she told reporters on Friday. One of the most remarkable things about the 2019 heat wave is not just the number of records it broke across Europe -- but the margin by which it did so, she said. "Normally when you get a temperature record broken, it's by a fraction of a degree," said Nullis. "What we saw yesterday was records being broken by two, three, four degrees -- it was absolutely incredible."

And it's not just the heat that's breaking records. Last year, Greenland experienced its coldest year in decades, said Box.

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According to Nullis, intense heat waves such as the one bringing up temperatures in Greenland "carry the signature of man-made climate change." It's a view shared by a group of European scientists, including scholars at the University of Oxford, who earlier this month concluded in an analysis published in World Weather Attribution that recent French heat waves had been made five times more likely because of climate change. The researchers also said that the world is "very likely" to see more extreme heat waves in the future due to climate change.

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10 Tips: Restoring vs. Rehabilitating Your Historic House Julia Rocchi

Study the house's history, choose the right approach, and integrate modern touches with care and caution.

In a previous National Trust toolkit series, the NT walked you through the steps of finding and buying a historic house. Now the search is over, and you're the proud owner of a new old home. Congratulations! Sooo ... now what? As you'll find out, historic homeownership brings with it a unique set of questions, decisions, and goals. Let's address one of the most basic questions first: Should you restore or rehabilitate your house? Your decision will influence the house's finished character, the project cost, and the amount of time it takes. It will also impact how much of the work you take on yourself and how much you'll hand off to professionals. With that said, here are 10 things to keep in mind when determining which approach will work best for you:

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1. Identify the factors that will shape your decision. Deciding whether to restore or rehabilitate your house, and to what extent, involves understanding its history; its architecture; and the present condition of its materials, finishes, and systems. You should also consider your household’s lifestyle and what personal needs the finished house must accommodate. More broadly, local historic district designations, local building codes, property insurance, and other regulatory or financial considerations will impact the path you take. 2. Review the house’s history. Who lived in the house and when? Did important events occur there? Did either (or both) scenarios have historical significance? If so, you could consider restoring the house to that period to help interpret its history.

Home of A. J. Kearney, 1894. The process of researching the roots of a house or other building can be extensive and confusing, as there are many places to search for potential information. Researchers sometimes must search through a vast number of records in different locations. At other times, research can prove frustrating when little or no information exists about a particular piece of property.

3. Know what “restore” means. To restore a house means to return its interior and exterior appearance to a particular date or time period. Strict restorations—ones that eliminate everything not present during the period chosen—are rare for homes, with most owners opting to maintain modern systems (plumbing, anyone?) and sympathetically designed changes, such as later additions, that add to the house’s history. 4. Know what “rehabilitate” means. To rehabilitate a house means to make it useful and functional for contemporary living while preserving important historic and architectural features. For example, a rehabilitated old house would always include modern electrical, mechanical, and plumbing systems, a modern kitchen, and other attributes typical of present-day homes.

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5. Choose your approach. The major difference between restoring and rehabilitating is to either exactly duplicate a particular period or concentrate on preserving a sense of the changes that have occurred over time. For example, if an Italianate-style house had lost its wood eave brackets, a restoration project would duplicate them in wood as they originally appeared, while a rehab project would add new brackets of a compatible design in an appropriate substitute material (ex. fiberglass). 6. Evaluate existing alterations. Consider the quality, design, materials, and craftsmanship of the original house as well as the changes that have occurred over time. Compatible interior and exterior changes of the same or better quality than the original house, even if done in different styles or materials, should probably be kept and restored. Conversely, you should probably remove any poorly designed or executed changes. 7. Design new additions and alterations with attention to detail. When adding to or altering your home, consider its scale (apparent size), actual dimension, and massing (proportion/balance). Use materials, textures, and colors similar to those of the original building.

8. Integrate modern touches with care and caution. The key to a quality rehabilitation is how well it accommodates modern technologies and living styles. Keep changes non-intrusive and compatible with the house’s design and style, and don’t let alterations destroy or cover historically or architecturally significant features or materials. 9. Take care not to falsify the history of the house. This might seem counter-intuitive, but you actually do want to be able to tell additions apart from the original. That way, the house’s history is visible and transparent. Also be careful not to design additions that make the house appear to date from an earlier or later period, or alter the house’s details to an extent that suggest a different architectural period.

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10. Look to the experts. For a more detailed list of recommendations, check out the Secretary of Interior’s Standards for the Treatment of Historic Properties. This jam-packed resource from the National Park Service includes guidelines on preserving, rehabilitating, restoring, and reconstructing historic buildings. There’s no right or wrong answer when it comes to determining whether you should restore or rehabilitate your historic home. Let your property, capabilities, and needs help guide your decision, and chances are you’ll arrive at an accurate, appropriate solution.

Julia Rocchi is the director of content marketing at the National Trust. By day she wrangles content; by night (and weekends), she shops local, travels to story-rich places, and gawks at buildings. tweet @rocchijulia - info@savingplaces.org

The Treatment of Historic Properties Web site: The Standards offer four distinct approaches to the treatment of historic properties—preservation, rehabilitation, restoration, and reconstruction—with accompanying Guidelines for each. One set of standards will apply to a property undergoing treatment, depending upon the property's significance, existing physical condition, the extent of documentation available and interpretive goals, when applicable. The Standards are a series of concepts about maintaining, repairing, and replacing historic materials, as well as designing new additions or making alterations. The Guidelines offer general design and technical recommendations to assist in applying the Standards to a specific property. Together, they provide a framework and guidance for decision-making about work or changes to a historic property. The Standards and Guidelines can be applied to historic properties of all types, materials, construction, sizes, and use. They include both the exterior and the interior and extend to a property’s landscape features, site, environment, as well as related new construction. https://www.nps.gov/tps/standards.htm

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WHAT ARE NORTHERN LIGHTS? Northern Lights Center Yukon Territory Canada https://www.northernlightscentre.ca/northernlights.html

WHAT ARE NORTHERN LIGHTS? The bright dancing lights of the aurora are actually collisions between electrically charged particles from the sun that enter the earth's atmosphere. The lights are seen above the magnetic poles of the northern and southern hemispheres. They are known as 'Aurora borealis' in the north and 'Aurora australis' in the south.. Auroral displays appear in many colours although pale green and pink are the most common. Shades of red, yellow, green, blue, and violet have been reported. The lights appear in many forms from patches or scattered clouds of light to streamers, arcs, rippling curtains or shooting rays that light up the sky with an eerie glow. WHAT CAUSES THE NORTHERN LIGHTS? The Northern Lights are actually the result of collisions between gaseous particles in the Earth's atmosphere with charged particles released from the sun's atmosphere. Variations in colour are due to the type of gas particles that are colliding. The most common auroral color, a pale yellowish-green, is produced by oxygen molecules located about 60 miles above the earth. Rare, all-red auroras are produced by high-altitude oxygen, at heights of up to 200 miles. Nitrogen produces blue or purplish-red aurora. The connection between the Northern Lights and sunspot activity has been suspected since about 1880. Thanks to research conducted since the 1950's, we now know that electrons and protons from the sun are blown towards the earth on the 'solar wind'. (Note: 1957-58 was International Geophysical Year and the atmosphere was studied extensively with balloons, radar, rockets and satellites. Rocket research is still conducted by scientists at Poker Flats, a facility under the direction of the University of Alaska at Fairbanks - see web page http://www.gi.alaska.edu/

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The temperature above the surface of the sun is millions of degrees Celsius. At this temperature, collisions between gas molecules are frequent and explosive. Free electrons and protons are thrown from the sun's atmosphere by the rotation of the sun and escape through holes in the magnetic field. Blown towards the earth by the solar wind, the charged particles are largely deflected by the earth's magnetic field. However, the earth's magnetic field is weaker at either pole and therefore some particles enter the earth's atmosphere and collide with gas particles. These collisions emit light that we perceive as the dancing lights of the north (and the south). The lights of the Aurora generally extend from 80 kilometres (50 miles) to as high as 640 kilometres (400 miles) above the earth's surface. WHERE IS THE BEST PLACE TO WATCH THE NORTHERN LIGHTS? Northern Lights can be seen in the northern or southern hemisphere, in an irregularly shaped oval centred over each magnetic pole. The lights are known as 'Aurora borealis' in the north and 'Aurora australis' in the south. Scientists have learned that in most instances northern and southern auroras are mirror-like images that occur at the same time, with similar shapes and colors. Because the phenomena occurs near the magnetic poles, northern lights have been seen as far south as New Orleans in the western hemisphere, while similar locations in the east never experience the mysterious lights. However the best places to watch the lights (in North America) are in the northwestern parts of Canada, particularly the Yukon, Nunavut, Northwest Territories and Alaska. Auroral displays can also be seen over the southern tip of Greenland and Iceland, the northern coast of Norway and over the coastal waters north of Siberia. Southern auroras are not often seen as they are concentrated in a ring around Antarctica and the southern Indian Ocean. Areas that are not subject to 'light pollution' are the best places to watch for the lights. Areas in the north, in smaller communities, tend to be best.

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WHEN IS THE BEST TIME TO WATCH FOR AURORAL DISPLAYS? Researchers have also discovered that aurora activity is cyclic, peaking roughly every 11 years. The next peak period is 2013. Winter in the north is generally a good season to view lights. The long periods of darkness and the frequency of clear nights provide many good opportunities to watch the aurora displays. Usually the best time of night (on clear nights) to watch for auroral displays is local midnight (adjust for differences caused by daylight savings time). http://www.gi.alaska.edu/ LEGENDS OF THE LIGHTS 'Aurora borealis', the lights of the northern hemisphere, means 'dawn of the north'. 'Aurora australis' means 'dawn of the south'. In Roman myths, Aurora was the goddess of the dawn. \par Many cultural groups have legends about the lights. In medieval times, the occurrences of auroral displays were seen as harbingers of war or famine. The Maori of New Zealand shared a belief with many northern people of Europe and North America that the lights were reflections from torches or campfires. The Menominee Indians of Wisconsin believed that the lights indicated the location of manabai'wok (giants) who were the spirits of great hunters and fishermen. The Inuit of Alaska believed that the lights were the spirits of the animals they hunted: the seals, salmon, deer and beluga whales. Other aboriginal peoples believed that the lights were the spirits of their people.

You can buy this print at: https://www.deviantart.com/eternalegend/art/Aurora-Spirits-320788295

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July confirmed as hottest month ever recorded! By Isabelle Gerretsen, CNN

The July record comes after a period of extremely hot weather around the world which has triggered mass melting of Greenland's ice sheet. (CNN)July 2019 has replaced July 2016 as the hottest month on record, with meteorologists saying that global temperatures marginally exceeded the previous record. The European Union's Copernicus Climate Change Programme, which analyzes temperature data from around the planet, said that July was around 0.56 °C warmer than the global average temperature between 1981-2010. That's slightly hotter than July 2016, when the world was in the throes of one of the strongest El Niño events on record. El Niño events are characterized by warming of the ocean waters in the Pacific Ocean and have a pronounced warming effect on the Earth's average temperature. Though there was a weak El Niño in place during the first part of 2019, it is transitioning to a more neutral phase, making the extreme July temperatures even more alarming.

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A flooded street in Miami, 2015 (and NOT from rain, but raising sea levels). Jean-NoĂŤl ThĂŠpaut, head of the Copernicus program, said: "While July is usually the warmest month of the year for the globe, according to our data it also was the warmest month recorded globally by a very small margin." "With continued greenhouse gas emissions and the resulting impact on global temperatures, records will continue to be broken in the future," he added. According to Copernicus, 2015 through 2018 have been the four warmest years on record. April, May and July this year all ranked among the warmest on record for those months, and this June was the hottest ever. Freja Vamborg, a senior scientist at Copernicus, told CNN last week that the data suggested we are on track for the second-hottest year ever, after 2016. The temperature record was close to 1.2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels. This means we are rapidly approaching the crucial threshold of 1.5 degrees, which will precipitate the risk of extreme weather events and food shortages for hundreds of millions of people. The UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change warned last year that we have until 2030 to avoid such catastrophic levels of global warming and called on governments to meet their obligations under the landmark 2015 Paris Agreement. Almost 200 countries and the European Union have pledged to keep the global temperature below 2 degrees Celsius as part of the Paris Agreement. Petteri Taalas, secretary-general of the World Meteorological Organization, said last week that this July has "rewritten climate history, with dozens of new temperature records at the local, national and global level."

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Civic workers remove dead fish floating in a partially dried up lake Ambattur, India. The July record comes after a period of extremely hot weather around the world. Intense heat waves have swept Europe this summer, breaking temperature records in at least a dozen countries. Scientists have warned that the world should expect more scorching heat waves and extreme weather due to climate change.

Europe swelters under a heat wave called â&#x20AC;&#x153;Luciferâ&#x20AC;?.

InterpNEWS Europe wasn't the only region baking in July. Anchorage, Alaska, recorded its hottest month ever, and extreme heat helped facilitate "unprecedented" wildfires in the Arctic and triggered mass melting of Greenland's ice sheet.

Arctic tundra fires. "This is not science fiction. It is the reality of climate change. It is happening now, and it will worsen in the future without urgent climate action. Time is running out to rein in dangerous temperature increases with multiple impacts on our planet," Taalas stressed.

InterpNEWS Quantifying Winter – and other historic weather. Ron Kley

Winter in New England has been called the “dominant season,” reflecting the fact that its influence extends well beyond its astronomically allocated three-month duration. A good deal of the remaining months of the year are spent here in preparations for winter or picking up after it. There can be no doubt that in earlier times winter in New England was also a pivot point on which the balance beam of survival or non-survival rested. The same is doubtlessly true of other places, but New England winters have probably had more said and written about them (in combined prose, poetry, profanity and scientific discourse) than the winters in any other environment. To this day winter in New England is a prime topic of conversation and a driving force of activities at least for its duration which often extends well beyond the time span between December’s winter solstice and the vernal equinox in March. We locate and inspect snow shovels, snowblowers, windshield scrapers, parkas, ice creepers and gloves/mittens beginning sometime in mid-autumn, and we hardly dare to put those cold weather accoutrements away or remove the snow tires from our vehicles until mid-April, when Mother Nature is still capable of showing us who’s boss by dropping up to a foot of snow. We speak of the remembered winters of our childhood when snow was often up to our knees or even deeper – conveniently overlooking the fact that our knees were lower then – and we sometimes express a wish for just a day or two of “Global Warming” at times when our daytime high temperatures have remained below freezing for weeks at a time. Seldom, however, do we quantify winter in any rigorous fashion. We may remark or complain about whether a current winter is colder, warmer, snowier or iceier than the previous one, but we seldom delve into such quantitative seasonal measures as degree-days or use computer graphics to compare year-to-year weather/climate parameters. Whether we use that quantitative data or not, at least we can be confident that it exists in the files of NOAA, our National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration, and in records maintained by counterpart agencies worldwide. But what of times prior to such agencies and their systematic data recording? Historical weather records of various sorts do exist, and they can provide us with sources of useful quantitative data about winters of the past, and the degree to which they do or don’t resemble those of our own time. In years prior to official government involvement in the documentation of weather and climate such records were often maintained by private individuals as a matter of personal scientific curiosity or by others, especially farmers, whose livelihoods could depend, for example, upon their ability to predict the probable time of first or last killing frosts that would define the ending of one growing season and the beginning of the next.

InterpNEWS In many instances this historic data remains intact but unused, among diaries, letters, ships’ logbooks, account books and even newspapers that survive in archival repositories or among museum collections. Newspapers then, as now, were likely to report unusual weather events such as damaging storms, floods, extreme heat or cold, and unusually wet or dry weather, but they seldom offered day-to-day weather information. In researching the archival records of one family of scientifically curious and pragmatically minded “gentleman farmers” (the Vaughans, of Hallowell. Maine) I’ve come upon a good deal of information that not only serves to quantify their experiences of New England winters, but enables me, in my role as an interpreter of their home and their lives, to convey cognitive, affective and even kinesthetic understandings that might not be as readily achieved without these data sources. Benjamin Vaughan, the first year-round resident of what’s now known as the Vaughan Homestead (vaughanhomestead.org), had arrived in Hallowell in the fall of 1797 along with his wife and seven children. They settled into a house that had been built several years earlier, and six generations of their descendants have since called the place home, at least seasonally, prior to its transfer to institutional ownership.

Cutting ice for domestic food preservation at the Pettengill farm,Freeport, Maine, early 1900s (left photo) and Shoveling snow at the Pettengill Farm, Freeport, Maine, early 1900s. Courtesy of the Freeport Historical Society Letters written by Benjamin within a month of his arrival report a dry well, (suggesting a spring and summer of unusually sparse rainfall). Other letters, to Parker Cleaveland, his good friend and professor of “natural philosophy” (natural science in today’s terminology) at Bowdoin College, include many observations of dayby-day weather conditions, including a detailed account of his attempt to freeze mercury during a particularly cold February night in the early 1800s.

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He had placed drops of mercury in folded paper “cups” along the railing of his piazza, and monitored them through that frigid night to see if any of them had jelled to a solid state – all the while recording temperature – presumably on the same sort of thermometer that he had recommended to another good friend, Thomas Jefferson. The experiment failed. Although he recorded temperatures within a degree of mercury’s freezing point of 37.89°(F). The two-story nine-room Vaughan Homestead was heated by a fireplace in each room, and there is no doubt that a prodigious quantity of firewood was consumed during the course of each winter to maintain a livable environment within the house. One of Benjamin’s grandsons recorded the revealing observation that even with all fireplaces blazing it was not possible to maintain an indoor temperature more than 40 degrees (F) above the concurrent outdoor temperature. The implications of that observation are profound! The “cozy” hearthside warmth that Benjamin returned to after taking each of his temperature readings while attempting to freeze mercury may not have been much (if at all) above freezing. It was also said, perhaps with little or no exaggeration, that a man standing with his back to one of the Homestead’s fireplaces could singe the tails of his coat even while tea froze in his cup.

A late 1800s recreational skiing/sledding gathering of Vaughan descendants and friends in front of the Vaughan Homestead piazza, with the frozen Kennebec River in the background. Courtesy of Vaughan Woods & Historic Homestead

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It was with some degree of excited anticipation earlier this year that I found and perused an almanac for 1816 (in the collection of the University of Michigan’s Clements Library) that Benjamin Vaughan’s son, William Oliver Vaughan, had owned and had heavily annotated. Here, I thought, might be solid and detailed documentation of winter, and spring/summer/fall of New England’s infamous “Year Without a Summer,” when snow or frost was reported in the region during every month of the year, and crop failures were said to have been severe and widespread. All of this was, and still is, thought to have been the byproduct of sunlightattenuating atmospheric dust thrown up by a massive volcanic eruption of Mt. Tambora, half a world away in present-day Indonesia. Surprisingly, and disappointingly, I found no such documentation – nothing at all among the almanac’s annotations that seemed abnormal either in terms of recorded temperatures, comments about weather, figures for crop yields or any other weather-linked parameters! Did William Oliver Vaughan (and presumably other farmers in Maine’s Kennebec River Valley), enjoy some immunity from what has been thought of and interpreted as a region-wide “Year Without a Summer” or was that rather sensationalistic sobriquet the result of some writer’s “cherry picking” and pulling together of scattered local reports from communities (mostly at higher elevations) where frost and/or snow routinely came earlier in the fall and/or later in the spring than regional averages might reflect. It will take more research to figure out a definitive answer, but I’m confident that the pertinent data can be found in archival collections, among old letters, diaries, account books, almanacs and the like. Meanwhile, another New England winter is closing in, and I need to wax my snow shovels. Ron Kley ronkley@juno.com

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ICOM Kyoto 2019 - 25th General Conference: Museums as Cultural Hubs: The Future of Tradition1 Doreen M. Colón Camacho During the week of 1–7 September 2019, the city of Kyoto welcome 4,500 participants from 120 countries and regions to the International Council Of Museums’ (ICOM) 25th General Conference. The triennial gathering inspired a range of discussions and exchanges on museum-related issues. The central topic was the redefinition of museums, their responsibility towards the preservation and sustainability of Nature, Human Rights as well as collections. The conference began with the formal visit of Prince Akishino and his wife Princess Kiko, the governor and mayor of Kyoto and many other dignitaries from the government of Japan. The president of ICOM, Ms. Suay Aksoy (photo https:// emya2019.com/speaker/suay-aksoy/) and Mr. John Sasaki, ICOM President of the ICOM Kyoto 2019 Organising Committee were most gracious welcoming us all to the Kyoto 2019 Conference. A beautiful array of traditional music and performances were part of the opening ceremonies that took place at the impressive Kyoto International Conference Center. (wikimapia.com).

Suay AKSOY, President of ICOM

Kyoto International Conference Center.

Three prestigious guest speakers architect Kengo Kuma (Japan), photographer Sebastiao Salgado (Brazil), and artist Cai Guo-Qiang (China) all addressed the issue of sustainability, social values, and community involvement from their own field of work. The concern of global sustainability, innovative strategies that can support society to meet unprecedented challenges; the discussion about the overall need for a change in the museum definition, its vision and potencial as well as the threats/challenges that museums are facing today were the essence of the plenary sessions. The United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDG’s) were the 2 cornerstone for the revision and rethinking of museum’s definition. 3 The ICOM urged museums to take action in redefining their missions and programs that obliges them (the museum institution) towards a wider community involvement to create awareness and foster systemic changes with regards to climate change (fires(photo: Hurricane María destruction of Puerto Rico, Democracy Now) National Museum of Brazil under blazing fire - thegardian.com) , hurricanes (photo:, earthquakes, and volcano explosions, typhoons and tornados), commercial exploitation of natural resources, the rising of carbon emissions, and the effect of wars effects are having in the destruction of forests, human and animal species as well as on world cultural heritage. _____________________________________________________________________

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To attend local or international museum conferences is an excellent manner to meet peers of the field, update knowledge in what have become new standard operating procedures, changes in the public vision of what museums should be and what they expect from these institutions so, that changes and challenges be addressed in order to make themselves sustainable as well as pertinent. The ICOM 2019 Kyoto conference was a huge success from all aspects: content, coordination, extracurricular activities and a spectacular conference center in beautiful Kyoto. I was an experience that will have a longlasting effect in all 4,500 delegates that were able to attend. Museums must keep playing an important role in society. Amidst the global political, economic and social changes that are taking place around the world, museums are cultural hubs that contribute and build a peaceful and sustainable future for all. Regardless of the hard work, museums are committed institution created for the wellbeing of society through the safeguarding, interpretation and making collections pertinent to all our diverse communities.

Doreen M. ColĂłn Camacho DMCC Art & Museum Consultant ICOM Member â&#x20AC;&#x201C; USA/Puerto Rico doreenmcolon@gmail.com . _____________________________________ globalgiving.org 2 COM.org3

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The Agents of Discovery TM Julia Welch, Agents of Discovery McCall Coordina oordinator, Payette National Forest

The Agents of Discovery™ ™ platform m is aan app which encourages kids to use technology hnology as a way to interact more deeply with their landscape,, movin moving to explore and learn. By presenting thought-provoking educational content in a fun and engaging way,, users are able to gain an environmental educational tional experience e through play. Igniting curiosity through sensory-based, based, ffactual, and fun questions, kids can learn n about the National Forest’s diverse resources, as well as the importanc portance of our management actions. There are Agents of Discovery™ ™ “missions” missions” nationwide, and even in other countries. ountries. Within W these missions, there are a series of challenges relating ting di directly to the topic or location of the mission. ion. One category of mission topics available for programming are re “Age “Agents of Culture.” On the Payette Nationall Forest in west central Idaho, there are many rich cultural resources, ces, as well as natural ones. From Chinese gold d mining minin sites in the town of Warren, to cambium peeled trees byy the N Nez Perce, and firefighting- there is a lot to learn from f the history in this area. Educators on the Payette have be been implementing Agents of Discovery™ ™ as an interpretive i technique, creating missions with challenges intende intended to engage users with historical featuress on the forest-some that are even right in town!

Photo: Payette National Forest Archives.

This is a cambium peeled tree, like the he one that can be found in Rotary Park inn dow downtown McCall, Idaho. A challenge at the Rotary tary Park Mission, based on a cambium peeledd tree is shown above right.

Photo: Agents of Discovery

Users will select their answer and nd have the opportunity to receive feedback about it. In this thi case, the correct answer is the hand. The Post-Challenge lenge IInfo goes on to describe how Native Americans ricans created cambium peels, and even works to engage the user’s ’s diffe different senses, so as to fully experience the place they t are in and the features they are learning about.

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Photo: Agents of Discovery

learnin about one’s By implementing technology as a positive way to explore, educators can promote learning landscape, community, or culture,, creatin creating an interactive, place-based experience.. From the initial technology based experience, users can be drawn wn into m more traditional place-based explorations ons that align with an organizations interpretive themes or learni learning objectives. In this way, the use of the app provides p a bridge to attract new tech-oriented audiencess but the connection can then be fostered through h engaging enga interpretive programming. Download Agents of Disc Discovery today by searching for Agents of Discove iscovery™ ™ in The App Store or Google Play, then look at the ma map of missions close to you, download yourr missions miss and have fun exploring!

Photo: S. Dingmann

By Julia Welch, Agents of Discovery McCall Coordinator, nator, Payette National Forest Conservation Education Intern, Northwe hwest Youth Corps discoveryagentsmccall@gmail.com

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How Effective ve are Visitor V Direction Signs? Sign Stephen ephen Bitgood Jacksonville ille State St University

This sign is ambiguous. Are visitors bein being encouraged to run in the direction of the ar arrow?

Navigation systems within exhibit hibit ccenters are important to help guide visitors, s, but they t are often poorly understood by those who designn visitor eexperiences. Navigation includes: conceptual ptual orientation, or wayfinding, and circulation/movement (Bitgood, ood, 2006; 2011; 2013; 2014; 2016). This article le focuses focuse on one aspect of navigation: the use of direction signs ns to gguide visitor movement/circulation. Whilee visitor visit navigation is a complex interaction of many factors, rs, the complexities are easier to understand if wee examine exa one issue at a time. Subsequent articles will focus us on ot other aspects of visitor navigation in exhibit bit centers. cent Most exhibition centers provide de som some type of direction signage to help guide visitor traffic flow. While it is generally assumed that signage is effec effective, there are three reasons to examine the he issue more closely: (1) prominent writers in the literature have que questioned whether direction signage has any influence inf on visitors (e.g., Falk, 1993; McLean, 1993); (2) few w studi studies have examined what makes signage effective ffective; and (3) a closer examination of what makes signage ge effec effective is needed. We agree with Weiss & Boutourline Boutour (1963): Good exhibits “… should be able to attract act people people, hold them for a time, and communicate ate a meaningful m experience to them … There are undoubtedly principl principles of design which can help achieve these se aims, aim and it [is] … a worthwhile research objective to discove iscover them.” [p. 27]. Do Direction Signs Influence uence Visitors? Two prominent writerss (Falk, 1993; McLean, 1993) are among several who ho have questioned the effectiveness of direction signage. nage. John Falk (1993) argued:

Since there were no alternative pathways, s, th this signage seemed unnecessary. All areas of the museu useum were located in this direction. A map showingg th the location of each area might have been more useful to vis visitors.

“A considerable body of research resear documents that visitors to museums rarely ly follow foll the exact sequence of exhibit elements intended by the developers. Visitors will fulfill their own agendas, a for example, turning right (Melton, 1972; 72; Porter, Por 1938), or leaving from the first available exit xit (Melton, (Me 1972), rather than doing what the developers velopers intended. (p. 117). direct path through the exhibitio ibition from the entrance to the exit. (p. 123).

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Kathleen McLean (1993) expressed a similar opinion: “…. No mater how the design plans for a specific traffic flow, people will go where they want, when they want… Studies have shown that most people go to the right when entering a gallery, and most people make a direct path through the exhibition from the entrance to the exit. (p. 123). While there may be a thread of truth to the statements of Falk and McLean, they failed to cite a number of studies that contradict their conclusions. Their over-generalizations about visitor movement are contradicted by a review of actual navigation studies (e.g., Bitgood, 2011; 2013; Bitgood & Dukes, 2006). The literature clearly indicates that effective navigation systems (including direction signs) do work if designed following a few simple principles (see Bitgood, 2011; 2013; Bitgood & Davey, 2014). The question is not “Do direction signs work?” More important: “What are the factors that determines success?” Melton’s Study (1935) One of Arthur Melton’s (1935) studies examined the effectiveness of direction signs related to visitors’ pathway choice as they entered an exhibition hall. As visitors entered the hall, a direction sign with an arrow prompted them to turn either right or left. The signs were placed at 0, 2, 4, or 6 feet from the exhibit hall entrance. As shown in Table 1, 90% of visitors turned left when the sign to turn left with the arrow was located at the entrance. Even at a distance of 6 feet from the entrance, the majority of visitors (65.8%) followed the direction signage to turn left. However, the sign to turn right had a slightly larger impact, since 99.5% turned right when the sign was placed at the entrance, and 89.3% turned right when the sign was 6 feet from the entrance. Table 1: Visitor Response to Direction Signage (1935) Distance from entrance 0 feet 2 feet 4 feet 6 feet

Direction of Signage Turn right Turn left 99.5% 98.0 92.0 89.3

90.0% 85.0 77.0 65.8

Two points should be emphasized from Melton’s study: (1) visitors had a strong tendency to follow direction signage, especially when it was at the entrance; and (2) the impact of a sign to turn right was stronger than one to turn left. It is unclear whether the right-turn advantage was from a cultural habit, a genetic factor (e.g., right handedness), or from some other factor such as taking fewer steps when entering the exhibit hall on the right side of the pathway, since a number of studies have documented the fewest-steps preference when choosing pathways (Bitgood, 2006; Bitgood & Dukes, 2006; Bitgood, Davey, Huang, & Fung,2012; Spilkova & Hochel, 2009). Bitgood, England, Lewis, Benefield, Patterson, & Landers Study (1986) The major purpose of this study was to examine object satiation effects in the Reptile House at the Birmingham Zoo (AL). During the course of the study, the one-way direction of visitor traffic flow was reversed by signage at the building’s entrance and exit. Viewing times for the first and last exhibits were examined before and after the change in traffic flow. Since reversing the traffic flow was part of the study, assessment of following one-way signage was an important aspect of the study. As in the case of the Melton study, the direction signs were highly effective in controlling traffic flow, with over 99% of visitors following the direction signs whether moving in one direction or the other.

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Bitgood & Patterson (1989) Study This study tracked visitors through hrough tthe exhibit halls of the Anniston Museum of Natural Na History (AL). One aspect of the study examinedd compl compliance with direction signs as visitors entered red the exhibition halls. On entering, visitors were directed too turn le left. A map of the exhibition halls was provided ovided for f conceptual orientation which also may have helped elped pul pull visitors to the left. Observation of 150 visitors visi found that 80% turned left as they entered the exhibition hibition ha hall. Since the study did not actually control ontrol the attracting power of the map, we can only conclude thatt the ffindings were consistent with the conclusion on that tha direction signs were a factor. However, it is possible thatt the aattraction of the map was also a factor. What makes direction signage effective ffective? The Melton and Bitgood studies udies de described above suggest that direction signss can be effective; however, the studies did not address the factors tors tha that make them successful. If poorly designed, ned, signs sig are not likely to work. Based on our experiences, here ar are some of the most important factors related ted to succ su

The “N”s on this sign are mystifying. ng. Si Since two directions are included (straight ght ahe ahead and to the left), they probably do not rrefer to “North.”

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Salience of signage: The he direction dire sign must capture attention effectively. Not ot only onl must the signs capture attention, but competing ng visual visua and auditory stimuli must be minimized so that hat visitors’ vis attention is not being pulled away from the direction di signage and toward some more powerful erful stimulus. s

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Visual access: Visitors engage engag in visual search of the environment, looking down alternative a pathways before choosing one or another. anothe If attractive objects are viewed along the path consist onsistent with direction signage, the signage is more likely l to be effective. Signage at eye level, rather ther than tha higher or lower, is also more likely to engage ge visitors. vis

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Location of signage: For or optimum opti impact, signs must be located as close as possible to the visitor and in a location that facilitates usage of directional guidance (i.e., where visitors are likely to t seek guidance).

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Content of signage: Signs ns should sho be as simple as possible and clear regarding ding direction di and the possible consequences of following ing signs sig (e.g., arriving at desired destination). Text ext material ma should provide only the necessary informatio rmation.

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Evaluation of signage: The only onl way to ensure success is to incorporate visitor input into i the process. Remedial evaluation (assessin ssessing impact, making changes, and re-assessment ent of impact) can determine how effectively the signs ns work, wor and if additional changes are needed to make ake them the work (e.g., Bitgood, 1994; Bitgood & Shettel, l, 1994). 199

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Conclusions What conclusions can be made about direction signage? First, it is important to emphasize that direction signs are, in fact, used by visitors, especially if they are effectively designed. Second, it is important to evaluate success by documenting visitorsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; response to the signs and, if necessary, modify them in order to improve their ability to guide visitors. Finally, because so little research is available, more studies are needed to sort out all the factors that influence effectiveness. BIBLIOGRAPHY Bitgood, S. (2006). An analysis of visitor circulation: Movement patterns and the general value principle. Curator, 49(4), 463-475. Bitgood, S. (2011). Social design of museums: The psychology of visitor studies, Vol. 1, [Section on Orientation & Circulation, pp.316-443]. Edinburgh, UK: MuseumsEtc. Bitgood, S. (2013). Attention and value: Keys to understanding museum visitors. Walnut Creek, CA: Left Coast Press. [Chapter 15, pp. 166-175) Bitgood, S. (2014). Understanding the importance of visitor navigation. InterpNews, 3(5), 6-9. Bitgood, S. (2016). The dimensions of visitor movement in museums. InterpNews, 5(1), 45-50. Bitgood, S., & Davey, G. (2014). The facts and fictions of visitor pathway choice. Presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Association of Museums. Bitgood, S., Davey, G., Huang, & Fung (2012). Pedestrian choice behavior at shopping mall intersections in China and the United States. Environment & Behavior, 44(4). Bitgood, S., & Dukes, S. (2006). Not another step! Economy of movement and pedestrian choice point behavior in shopping malls. Environment & Behavior, 38(4), 394-405. Bitgood, S., England, R., Lewis, D., Benefield, A., Patterson, D. & Landers, A. (1985). Visual satiation at the zoo: Enough is enough! Presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Association of Zoological Parks & Aquaria. Columbus, OH. Bitgood, S., McKerchar, T., & Dukes, S. (2013). Looking back at Melton: Gallery density and visitor attention. Visitor Studies, 16(2), 217-225. Bitgood, S. & Patterson, D. (1989). Orientation and wayfinding in a small museum. Visitor Behavior, 1(4), 6. Bitgood, S. & Shettel, H. (1994). The classification of exhibit evaluation: A rationale for remedial evaluation. Visitor Behavior, 9(1), 4-8. Falk, J. (1993). Assessing the impact of exhibit arrangement on visitor behavior and learning. Curator, 36(2), 133-146. McLean, K. (1993). Planning for people in museum exhibitions. Washington, DC: Association of Science-Technology Centers.Whyte, W. (1988). City: Rediscovering the center. New York: Doubleday.

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Melton, A. (1935). Problems of installation in museums of art. New Series No. 14. Washington, DC: The American Association of Museums. Spilkova, J., & Hochel, M. (2009). Toward an economy of pedestrian movement in Czech and Slovak shopping malls. Environment and Behavior, 41, 3, 443-455. Underhill, P. (1999). Why we buy: The science of shopping. New York: Simon & Shuster. Whyte, W. (1988). City: Rediscovering the center. New York: Doubleday. Stephen Bitgood Jacksonville State University steveb@jsu.edu

Just for fun - JV

InterpNEWS

“A Bridal Anything after a Bridle?” by Dr. Martha Benn Macdonald*

Since I’ve been asked to tell stories again at Andrew Jackson State Park in November, I am excited, as always. “What tales have been successful? What new ones might I add?” Of course, I’ll share a few traditional stories, such as “Hansel and Gretel,” “Rapunzel,” and “Those Violets at ‘Mordecai’s Mount,” but I’ll add some new tales and some games to engage the audience as they wait with me by the flaming fire before their tour begins. To persuade my audience, especially those children and teenagers, and, yes, some parents, to know that my stories may surpass their instant messaging on cell phones, I’ll tell them about the very earliest Halloween costume in 16th-century Scotland when the souls of the dead roamed, guising, with a mask as well as about references Shakespeare made to mumming, and I’ll ask the young people about their own costumes and masks. After they’ve shared their stories, I may tell them about my first costume. Or I may not. This choice depends on my “read of the audience.” I’ll know. You will, too, when you’re giving an interpretation. Now that I’ve given everyone an opportunity to answer, I’ll continue with my presentation. Of course, the awkward “thing” about this set-up is that as soon as I start a story, my audience is told to begin their tour, and I have another audience. After the second or third round, I realize that I need to start with my latest find, a discovery I recently made, and one which I must share. Suggestions, my readers?  I’m figuring that out, and here we are. I would never have known about this story which I am about to tell, even though my beloved seventh-grade teacher, Bernice W. Yeager, took us on a picnic to historic Waxhaw Presbyterian Church, in 1956. My identical twin, Mary, and I were especially pleased because Mamma drove. Back then, parents could car-pool without all of the permission slips. Why? We attended Winthrop Training School, which was affiliated with Winthrop College, now Winthrop University. There were about 32 students in our class from K-12. A little different from the schools of today! But here we are----a long preamble to a tale. That’s Southern. We’re still an oral culture. Rebecca Sutton, my dear friend and former student, had finished looking at the graves in an enclosed stone wall of the Leckie family and at other graves when she decided to google the church, Waxhaw Presbyterian Church. Wow! Isn’t it crazy that you can google anything? Although the information may be contradictory, it seems to engage. What came up fascinated us. William Richardson, an earlier preacher at this Presbyterian Church, was born in England and was educated for the ministry at the University of Glasgow. He came to the colonies and married Nancy Agnes Craighead, also a Presbyterian (her father who was a Presbyterian minister had settled in Pennsylvania and preached in Virginia and North Carolina). William Richardson and Agnes married and settled in the Waxhaw District, then a part of the Camden District, in South Carolina. That was before Lancaster became a county----approximately 1785 (York was the White Rose, Lancaster the Red Rose). William and Agnes loved each other. They lived in a log cabin and owned acres of land which William farmed and owned at least ten or more slaves.

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Yet they did not have children (perhaps they did not want children, or did they? We do not know. Were they depressed? Again, we do not know). We can only speculate and wonder. After all, from speculation and wonder, marvelous stories come. We do not always need documentation, sometimes just intuition. William’s sister, back in England, had married Archibald Davie, and she’d given birth to a child, whom they named William Richardson Davie. Thrilled, William invited Mary to send their young son to spend time with him and Agnes in the colonies. Later, Mary and Archibald arrived. What were Archibald’s motives? We have learned through recent research that Archibald did not work. William preached at the church, built in 1755, and this sprawling wooden church was used as a hospital during the American Revolution, during which time it was burned by the British. Later, another church was built.

William Richardson Davie 10th Govonor of North Carolina.

Some scholars insist that William’s wife, Agnes, had a temper. Perhaps she did. Perhaps she was depressed because they did not have children. But did her husband want children? We don’t know. Rebecca Sutton (former student, but also a local historian and founder of The Rock Hill Reader), has examined the various interpretations of scholars analyzing William Richardson’s death, e.g., Daniel W. Patterson’s Back Country Legends of a Minister’s Death (October 30, 2012), as well as M. Ruth Little’s Sticks and Stones: Three Centuries of North Carolina Grave Markers, Peter N. Moore’s World of Toil and Strife: Community Transformation in Backcountry and his The Death of William Richardson: Kinship,

Female Vulnerability, and the Myth of Supernaturalism in The Southern Backcountry, as well as Charles Wood Mason’s The Carolina Backcountry and Other Writings of Charles Wood Mason. Incidentally, his name always seems to appear in any analysis of back country farmers, wherein he says that cabin doors and windows are open and children are half-naked. I wonder is his assessments are accurate. Anglican itinerants have suggested that Richardson often left Agnes to preach at smaller congregations, so that he might make money. But according to the Reverend James Randolph McSpadden, a Presbyterian minister, in a personal interview, “Presbyterian preachers in the 18th century were not paid in money. They were given a chicken or eggs. Very little to enrich their purses.” Was William Richardson depressed, or was Agnes? Because he had not been successful in converting the Cherokee Indians to Christianity, William grieved. Moreover, because his church frowned upon the New Lights movement, whose theology William espoused, as well as his using the 23rd psalm in church, William was melancholy. So what do these views suggest? Even though the Reverend William Richardson was initially an excellent minister and a compatible leader, perhaps a loving husband, he gradually lost his fervor and became more and more withdrawn and melancholy. Is it, then, possible (and Rebecca and I agree, after studying) that when Agnes came home from a quilting afternoon with Andrew Jackson’s mother, Elizabeth (Andrew was born in 1765 and probably taught by William Richardson because Elizabeth wanted him to become a Presbyterian minister), late that afternoon, ready to fix a simple supper in their log cabin, and heard a knock, she invited the guest, one Mr. Boyd, an elder in the church, to come in and go upstairs where she imagined her husband studying?

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Agnes was stunned when Mr. Boyd asked her to join him upstairs where they saw her husband, holding onto a chair, one arm extended in prayer, the other strangling himself with a horse’s bridle. You may question that, but two friends, equestrians, have said that’s entirely reasonable to strangle yourself with a bridle. “For sure,” were their words? But did William strangle himself? Could he possibly be strangling himself for sexual pleasure, a question brought forth within the last few years? What do you think? Who would gain? Did someone else strangle William Richardson? Someone who would gain financially? Yes. Even though William could have strangled himself, perhaps his brother-in-law, Archibald did. What do you think? His wife, Mary, William’s sister, dead, Archibald would have gained financially, and that is why he pressed the widow, Agnes. A year after her husband, William, died, his body was exhumed. Why? Because Archibald was determined to prove that Agnes had killed her husband, he wanted his brother-in-law’s body brought up from underground. This invoked the old Scottish superstition of trial by touch, not unlike the Salem witch trials or the ducking pond. Although Agnes was not ducked in a pond, she had to press her fingers into her husband’s forehead. Hoping William would bleed, in order to prove Agnes’ guilt, Archibald pressed her fingers so hard that Agnes cried. Willian never bled, thus proving Archibald’s guilt, and Agnes was able to marry George Dunlop who loved her dearly. Some scholars have said that she waited one year, others two. Had Agnes been proven guilty, her evil brother-in-law would have inherited their slaves and surrounding fields and Agnes would have been hanged. So I’ll tell this story at Andrew Jackson State Park on the second Saturday in November, hoping it will not be too cold, but certain I have a ghost story. Imagine passing that cabin and hearing, “I’m, ugh, gasping . . .yah, . . . and whatever else you might feel. Thank you.

Dr. Martha Benn Macdonald College English instructor, published author, and performer. Associate Editor for InterpNEWS (doctorbenn@gmail.com)

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InterpNEWS Market Place

JVA interpretive writing courses.

Weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve been working to update our interpretation programs, services and media Market Place as a place for exhibit planners and designers, media developers and other interpretive related agencies and organizations to advertise their services. We are happy to offer non-profit organizations reduced advertising for their memberships or fund-raising as well. We reach thousands of agencies and organizations in 60 countries! Our new reduced advertising rates for 2020: - Full page advertisement - $200.00 - Â˝ page advertisement - $100.00 Âź page advertisement - $50.00 For advertising details visit our InterpNEWS Advertising Website: http://www.heritageinterp.com/interpnews_advertising_details.html For special discounts for multiple ad placements for 2020, send me an e-mail and we can work out a deal for you. jvainterp@aol.com

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The Heritage Interpretation Training Center The Heritage Interpretation Training Center offers 44 college level courses in heritage interpretation, from introductory courses for new interpretive staff, docents and volunteers, to advanced courses for seasoned interpretive professionals. Courses can be offered/presented on site at your facility or location, or through our e-LIVE on-line self-paced interpretive courses. Some of our on-line courses are listed below. You can start the course at any time and complete the course at your own pace: Introduction to Heritage Interpretation Course. 14 Units - 2 CEU credits. $150.00 http://www.heritageinterp.com/introduction_to_heritage_interpretation_cou rse.html Planning/Designing Interpretive Panels e-LIVE Course - 10 Units awarding 1.5 CEU Credits $125.00 http://www.heritageinterp.com/interpretive_panels_course.html Planning Interpretive Trails e-LIVE Course - 13 Units - 2.5 CEU Credits $200.00 http://www.heritageinterp.com/interpretive_trails_course.html Interpretive Writing e-LIVE Course - 8 Units and 2 CEU Credits $200.00 http://www.heritageinterp.com/interpretive_writing_course.html Training for Interpretive Trainers e-LIVE Course - 11 Units and 2 CEU Credits. $200.00 http://www.heritageinterp.com/training_for_interp_trainers.html The Interpretive Exhibit Planners Tool Box e-LIVE course - 11 Units and 2 CEU Credits. $200.00 http://www.heritageinterp.com/interpretive_exhibits_course.html Interpretive Master Planning - e-LIVE. 13 Units, 3 CEU Credits. $275.00 http://www.heritageinterp.com/interpretive_master_planning_course.html A supervisors guide to Critiquing and Coaching Your Interpretive Staff, Eleven Units, 1.6 CEU Credits. $175.00 http://www.heritageinterp.com/critiquing_and_coaching_interpretive_staff.h tml

The Heritage Interpretation Training Center/John Veverka & Associates. jvainterp@aol.com â&#x20AC;&#x201C; www.twitter.com/jvainterp - Skype: jvainterp Our course catalog: http://www.heritageinterp.com/interpretive_training_center_course_catalogue_.html

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InterpNEWS The Heritage Interpretation Training Center Interpretive Bookstore and the Heritage Interpretation Resource Center http://www.heritageinterp.com/interpretation_book_store.html

If you’re looking to expand your interpretive library, check out our interpretive bookstore. Most of these books are available as e-books. These are the same text books that I use for our 44 interpretive training Courses. All of these books can be ordered/purchased through PayPal at the bookstore web site page. http://www.heritageinterp.com/interpretation_book_store.html --------------------------------Interpretive Master Planning Volume 1, Strategies for the new millennium. (Available as an e-book $30.00), Interpretive Master Planning Volume 2, Philosophies, theory and practice resource materials. (Available as an e-book - $30.00). Advanced Interpretive Master Planning -.Developing regional and multi-site interpretive plans, interpretive systems planning and creating “Landscape Museums”. John Veverka's Master Copy is available as a PDF ebook - $30.00. The Interpretive Trainers Handbook Available as an e-book - $30.00. The fine art of teaching interpretation to others. The Interpretive Trails Book. The complete interpretive planning book for developing and interpreting selfguiding trails. John Veverka Master copy – e-book publication copy available as a PDF - $30.00 The Interpretive Writers Guidebook - How to Provoke, Relate and Reveal your messages and stories to your visitors. Interpretive copy writing for interpretive panels, museum exhibits, self-guiding media and more. Available as a PDF - $40.00 - this is our new Interpretive Writing text book used for the Heritage Interpretation Training Center's Interpretive Writing Courses. 40 Years a Heritage Interpreter – This is my huge collection of interpretive resource articles and reference materials from 40 years of doing, teaching, and writing about heritage interpretation. $40.00. Sent as an ebook. You can also visit: The Heritage Interpretation Resource Center: http://www.heritageinterp.com/heritage_interpretation_resource_center.html The Heritage Interpretation Resource Center has a list of FREE articles and handouts.

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