Over one hundred volunteers turned out from 3-8 pm at the QCCA Expo Center in Rock Island, IL Tuesday March 3, 2009 to help prepare sapling oak and pecan trees to be distributed and planted throughout six states this spring.
The effort is part of Living Lands and Waters 1 Million Trees Project started in the fall of 2007, with goal of growing 1 million trees in the next 5 -10 years.
Education Coordinator, Tammy Becker, stated, "The main motivation behind this effort was to plant trees to create a food source for wildlife. Because over the years we've lost a lot of our hardwoods that produce nuts and fruits. Trees also help clean the air we breathe and when planted near water they help reduce erosion and clean the water before it hits the waterway."
These trees were grown from seeds at a LLW nursery in Beardstown, IL and included six varieties of Oak and one Pecan tree.
According to Programs Coordinator Denise Mitten, organizers and volunteers were working on bagging and sorting close to 100,000 trees over two days. Volunteer efforts continue on Wednesday March 4 from 3 to 8 p.m. and organizers say the advance volunteer call ins for Wednesday's second shift are not as full as they would like.
Volunteers can show up to the QCCA Expo Center at 2621 4th Ave., Rock Island, IL or call 309-236-6279. More info can be found at www.livinglandsandwaters.org
Kirwan Cox and a crew from EyeSteel Films (www.eyesteelfilms.com) visit Hunter's Club in Rock Island, IL. The Canadians were here to film a portion of a documentary they are producing for the Canadian version of History Channel about John Vincent Atanasoff. Atanasoff testified in the seminal 1970's Rand Sperry patent trial over the rights to the fundamental elements of modern computing. Atanasoff, a mathematician professor from Iowa State in Ames testified that he conceived of the four principles of the modern calculator as it was known at the time.
1. Binary arithmetic 1's and 0's rather than decimal arithmetic.
2. Use regenerative memory to store information.
3. Use logic instead of enumeration of numbers.
4. Use vacuum tubes to count.
Using vacuum tubes meant electrons which became resistors.
The invalidation of Sperry IBM's patent claim 30 years after Atanasoff conceived the ideas allowed innovation to prosper and changed the world foerver, says producer and historian Kirwan Cox from Montreal, CA.
His crew filmed a visit from Intel researchist Dr. John Gustafson, who built the replica of the BerryAtanasoff computer. Dr. Gustafson had never been to Hunter's. His first visit to the hallowed ground of where modern age computing concepts were born was captured on film for the documentary.
In this clip Kirwan Cox talks about how Atanasoff came to Rock Island in the winter of 1937, the importance of his stop at Hunter's, and how he feels he has proven Hunter's is the famous "roadhouse" Atanasoff testified he conceived the basics of modern day computers.
Hunter's owner Brad Emmert talks about Paul Fessler who explained the intent of the film makers. Fessler is cited by Cox to have recorded an audio interview with Dr. Atanasoff who shared with him the details of the route he took across the Mississippi River.
A diverse crowd of protesters gathered at the corner of Brady and Locust streets in central Davenport today, unified in their contempt for last year's bailouts and this year's stimulus bill approved by Congress and signed by Obama last week. (The bill is the H.R.1—American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, and can be read at http://www.opencongress.org/bill/111-h1/show. The following story includes a 4 minute video log of interviews at the protest.)
Given
its scope and depth, one might expect that St. Ambrose University's
Darwin Project started with a big idea. After all, 2009 is the 150th
anniversary of the original publication of Charles Darwin's On
the Origin of the Species,
as well as the 200th anniversary of its author's birth. (Both he
and Abraham Lincoln were born on February 12, 1809.)
Imagination
Library, a program originally developed by Dolly Parton's
not-for-profit organization, is coming to the Quad Cities. United Way
of the Quad Cities Area is sponsoring the program, which sends one
book per month to children through age five. Books are chosen with
skill levels specific to those ages.
A diverse crowd of protesters gathered at the corner of Brady and Locust streets in central Davenport today, unified in their contempt for last year's bailouts and this year's stimulus bill approved by Congress and signed by Obama last week. (The bill is the H.R.1—American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, and can be read at 
Given
its scope and depth, one might expect that St. Ambrose University's
Darwin Project started with a big idea. After all, 2009 is the 150th
anniversary of the original publication of Charles Darwin's On
the Origin of the Species,
as well as the 200th anniversary of its author's birth. (Both he
and Abraham Lincoln were born on February 12, 1809.)
