Oh, that wag Winston Churchill. He was one sharp dude and did not care to be corrected. Once he was scolded for ending a sentence with a preposition. His response: "This is the type of arrant pedantry up with which I shall not put." See how you can mangle a sentence when attempting to avoid those prepositional finales? If you've forgotten all about prepositions (and who hasn't?) they are simple things. According to The Everything Grammar and Style Book, "a preposition is a word that links a noun or pronoun to some other word in a sentence". For example: When criticized, Winston Churchill was beside himself. In this case beside is the preposition that links was and himself. OK, now you're on your own. Good luck!
On this very date in 1862 John Merrick was born. We know him as the Elephant Man, whose story was told in the movie of the same name. He is believed to have suffered from Proteus syndrome, the cause of which was unknown up until last week. On July 27th it was announced that a team of researchers at the National Institute of Health have identified the genetic mutation responsible for Proteus syndrome. The mutation is not inherited, it occurs spontaneously while the embryo develops. And the mutation does not appear in all the body's cells, just some of them. Last fact: this syndrome is caused by a "single-letter misspelling among the 3 billion letters that make up the human genome". Can't say that I fully understand that, but it is amazing.
Who will inherit the earth when humankind bites the dust? Maybe not cockroaches. Personally, I'd rather they didn't. There are other candidates for meek-dom. (Get it? Earth inheritance? Meek? No?) These invasive species have a shot. 
For some, this is the only way to carve. With Power Tools! We are way beyond whittling here, folks. The details you can achieve with these tools are stunning. What tools you ask? Well, if you want to carve birds you need your 'Micro-Motor Machine'. It does not have the high torque of the flexible shaft machine. I thought you should know. The Micro-Motors are little and light carvers that can get you the teeny-tiny cuts you need for feathers and the wee ribs on a bird's claw. Oh! Oh! Vocabulary alert! When you are carving out large chunks of wood it's called wasting - or hogging. Yeah, I said hogging. Whether you wish to hog or detail your piece, the book Power Carving Manual is your source for all things torque. 
You might have missed USA Today's list of "10 great places to motor into a truck stop". Well. The second truck stop they list is in Walcott, Iowa. Have you seen that thing? World's largest! You can see it right off I-80 between here and Davenport. Been past it many a time. Never had the guts to go in. How do you explain to your friend that you got lost in a truck stop? "Come get me, I'm over by the Dog Wash." I'm not kidding, you even can get your pet cleaned and shined. There are a lot of truckers in Iowa. In the Bureau of labor statistic report "States with the highest concentration of jobs and location quotients in this occupation (truckers)", Iowa comes in third. Truck stops are so au courant that the Travel Channel's going to have a show set entirely in the Midway Travel Plaza near Columbia, Missouri. Midway has cow patty bingo. And lawn mower races. It's all about the activities, man. Who can compete with that?
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