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Scientists are digitally recreating an ancient statue of an Amazon warrior.

Kathy Lowers, Founder of Considering Homeschooling This week we are hoping to hear some happy cheeping from the chicken eggs we are incubating.  Homeschooling is ideal for do-it-yourself living creature projects and the butterfly, lady bug, praying mantis, silk worm projects -- to name a few -- that we have done were easy and yet so valuable. How wondrous it is to view the metamorphosis of one of God’s creatures, right in your own home. A public school classroom might have a fish tank with some leaves and a chrysalis or an incubator with some eggs; the students may or may not see the butterfly or chicks emerge during school hours.  Their teacher might teach the life cycle of a butterfly or chicken, but no credit to the Creator could be given. In contrast, Christian parents who teach their children at home find that such a project rises to an infinitely higher dimension.  At home, there is a bonding between parents and children and among siblings as they experience a living miracle -- and there is a resulting acknowledgement and awe of the One who designed it. So, I jumped at the chance when a homeschooling 4-H mom offered her incubator and a clutch of chicken eggs.  Never having incubated eggs before, I assumed it would be a cinch, just like a cocoon.  Just pop the eggs in the incubator and after a while, you would get your chicks, right?   After some web sites, books and experience regarding this subject, the children and I discovered that incubating can be a complicated and risky process. For one, the incubator we have is not the expensive, digital kind that controls its own temperature and humidity.  It is the old-fashioned version where you have to keep checking the temperature, which seems to meander up and down on a whim.  A few times it got below or above the instructed 99.5 degrees, and we panicked, tweaking it back to the proper temperature, but wondering did the fluctuation affect the chicks? Chicks cannot survive extreme temperature deviations.  And then you have to keep the humidity at the ideal level, which varies according to where you are in the 21 day cycle.  You have to add water into special wells in the incubator.  If there is not enough water, the chicks will stick to the shells.  If too much humidity is present, the chicks will drown. Eggs in an incubator must also be turned several times a day.  A hen instinctively turns her eggs to keep the developing embryos from sticking to the sides of the shell. One of more interesting aspects of the incubator project is “candling” the eggs. You shine a light through the eggs to see if you can determine if there is life in them; sometimes you see a beating heart or movement -- very cool.  What you usually find is that some eggs were never fertile while others started growing but “quit” -- either because the environment was not right or just because they were not meant to make it.  You have to remove the non-living ones because they could explode. Out of fourteen eggs we had five infertile ones, two rotten ones, and seven that may or may not make it -- we’ll know in about three days.  I have to admit I have felt pretty incompetent and stressed when I thought the humidity or temperature was off.  But, we tried our very best to give these eggs the cleanest, safest, most conducive environment possible for coming out healthy.  That, along with prayer, gives us some optimism. I could not help realizing there is a strong analogy here between incubating eggs and raising up children.  While at the beginning all the eggs appear the same, all children start out with such potential, such seeming innocence before some are destroyed by the way of the world. But some Christian parents think that they can place the fragile soul of a child in any old environment, like the extreme anti-God environment of government schools, believing that child will come out just fine through going to Sunday school 45 minutes each week. These naïve parents imagine their child being a great evangelist to all the other youngsters there, not realizing their child is being evangelized more smoothly and intensely, by humanist teachers and curriculum. By the time the process is nearing the end, some have really become rotten, both eggs and children.  While sometimes there was no preventing a bad egg, Christian parents putting their children in the perverted incubators of the public schools is by far the biggest contributor to failed children. If you are a loving parent who really knows Jesus and adheres to His Word in all you do, if you can create an uplifting, safe, inspiring Christian environment for children in your home – and I am convinced most real Believers are more than capable of this -- then you should be homeschooling.  Don’t let the world incubate the souls of your children; God gave that job to you!

Kathy Lowers, Founder of Considering Homeschooling This week we are hoping to hear some happy cheeping from the chicken eggs we are incubating.  Homeschooling is ideal for do-it-yourself living creature projects and the butterfly, lady bug, praying mantis, silk worm projects -- to name a few -- that we have done were easy and yet so valuable. How wondrous it is to view the metamorphosis of one of God’s creatures, right in your own home. A public school classroom might have a fish tank with some leaves and a chrysalis or an incubator with some eggs; the students may or may not see the butterfly or chicks emerge during school hours.  Their teacher might teach the life cycle of a butterfly or chicken, but no credit to the Creator could be given. In contrast, Christian parents who teach their children at home find that such a project rises to an infinitely higher dimension.  At home, there is a bonding between parents and children and among siblings as they experience a living miracle -- and there is a resulting acknowledgement and awe of the One who designed it. So, I jumped at the chance when a homeschooling 4-H mom offered her incubator and a clutch of chicken eggs.  Never having incubated eggs before, I assumed it would be a cinch, just like a cocoon.  Just pop the eggs in the incubator and after a while, you would get your chicks, right?   After some web sites, books and experience regarding this subject, the children and I discovered that incubating can be a complicated and risky process. For one, the incubator we have is not the expensive, digital kind that controls its own temperature and humidity.  It is the old-fashioned version where you have to keep checking the temperature, which seems to meander up and down on a whim.  A few times it got below or above the instructed 99.5 degrees, and we panicked, tweaking it back to the proper temperature, but wondering did the fluctuation affect the chicks? Chicks cannot survive extreme temperature deviations.  And then you have to keep the humidity at the ideal level, which varies according to where you are in the 21 day cycle.  You have to add water into special wells in the incubator.  If there is not enough water, the chicks will stick to the shells.  If too much humidity is present, the chicks will drown. Eggs in an incubator must also be turned several times a day.  A hen instinctively turns her eggs to keep the developing embryos from sticking to the sides of the shell. One of more interesting aspects of the incubator project is “candling” the eggs. You shine a light through the eggs to see if you can determine if there is life in them; sometimes you see a beating heart or movement -- very cool.  What you usually find is that some eggs were never fertile while others started growing but “quit” -- either because the environment was not right or just because they were not meant to make it.  You have to remove the non-living ones because they could explode. Out of fourteen eggs we had five infertile ones, two rotten ones, and seven that may or may not make it -- we’ll know in about three days.  I have to admit I have felt pretty incompetent and stressed when I thought the humidity or temperature was off.  But, we tried our very best to give these eggs the cleanest, safest, most conducive environment possible for coming out healthy.  That, along with prayer, gives us some optimism. I could not help realizing there is a strong analogy here between incubating eggs and raising up children.  While at the beginning all the eggs appear the same, all children start out with such potential, such seeming innocence before some are destroyed by the way of the world. But some Christian parents think that they can place the fragile soul of a child in any old environment, like the extreme anti-God environment of government schools, believing that child will come out just fine through going to Sunday school 45 minutes each week. These naïve parents imagine their child being a great evangelist to all the other youngsters there, not realizing their child is being evangelized more smoothly and intensely, by humanist teachers and curriculum. By the time the process is nearing the end, some have really become rotten, both eggs and children.  While sometimes there was no preventing a bad egg, Christian parents putting their children in the perverted incubators of the public schools is by far the biggest contributor to failed children. If you are a loving parent who really knows Jesus and adheres to His Word in all you do, if you can create an uplifting, safe, inspiring Christian environment for children in your home – and I am convinced most real Believers are more than capable of this -- then you should be homeschooling.  Don’t let the world incubate the souls of your children; God gave that job to you!

The Library of Congress’ Labs team wants to learn more about new segments of users who aren’t yet connected to our digital collections and services.? We are specifically seeking people who use digital resources like history photos, books, documents, newspapers, music, video, maps, data or websites but don't use Library of Congress materials for the following activities.? Formal and informal education -? K-12 teachers, guides or tutors that might use digital resources to build activities, ? lesson plans, or educational games or experiences.? ? Activism and community leadership - People, clergy, organizers or activists who might use digital library-like resources to inform awareness of a community, or cause, its history and relationships.Data journalism, communications or media work -These people might use digital library-like resources and data to produce articles, visualizations, or media for general audience. People who produce data-driven stories are of particular interest.Undergraduate creative / art studies - These people might use digital library-like resources as inspirational material or as content or material that they may re-mix or re-make through their creative work.With the selected participants, we will carry out 1-on-1 interviews (not to exceed an hour). All work will be conducted remotely over video chat. The schedule for the interviews will be based on what works best for the participants.? Can you connect us with anyone in your network who may want to participate? Feel free to forward this message or direct folks to this sign up form: via the online application (https://forms.gle/xiaB8Swp9VR9xL1j8). Any questions can be sent directly to me, Abbey Potter at abpo@loc.gov.? ? Thank you very much for helping us make this connection! We will share the outcomes of this research publicly and it will help shape future directions of our work.?

November News from the Library of CongressNovember is Native American Heritage Month What started at the turn of the century as an effort to create a day of recognition for the significant contributions the first Americans made to the establishment and growth of the U.S., has resulted in a month being designated for that purpose.The Library of Congress, National Archives and Records Administration, National Endowment for the Humanities, National Gallery of Art, National Park Service, Smithsonian Institution and United States Holocaust Memorial Museum join in paying tribute to the rich ancestry and traditions of Native Americans with this joint web portal highlighting collections, resources and events: nativeamericanheritagemonth.gov/? Living Nations, Living WordsEarlier this month, Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden appointed U.S. Poet Laureate Joy Harjo to a third term, making Harjo the second laureate to receive this extension since terms for the position were established in 1943.During her third term, Harjo will focus on her signature project, “Living Nations, Living Words,”? a digital project that maps 47 contemporary Native American poets across the country. The map connects to a new online audio collection developed by Harjo and housed in the Library's American Folklife Center, which features the participating poets reading and discussing an original poem.Read the announcement: ? loc.gov/item/prn-20-075/?loclr=ealn Everyday Mysteries: Sweet Potato vs. YamJust in time for Thanksgiving, tackle an important question – what's is the difference between sweet potatoes and yams? You can find out the answer to this question and other everyday mysteries by checking out fun science facts from the Library of Congress!Discover the Answer: loc.gov/everyday-mysteries/item/what-is-the-difference-between-sweet-potatoes-and-yams/?loclr=ealnEveryday Mysteries: loc.gov/everyday-mysteries/?loclr=ealn New Virtual Series: Behind the BookIf you have ever wondered how a book goes from rough manuscript to published masterpiece and how an author rises from obscurity to fame, then a new series of programs from the Library of Congress is just for you. The new series, Behind the Book, provides a behind-the-scenes view of the world of American book publishing, highlighting the editors, designers, publicists, agents and publishers who make the books that win prizes and endure.? Series announcement and schedule: loc.gov/item/prn-20-078/?loclr=ealn 12/3 Webinar: "Influenza and Covid19: What To Expect This Winter"The Library of Congress' Health Services Division and Science, Technology and Business Division invite you to participate in a webinar, “Influenza and Covid19: What should we expect this winter?” featuring international experts on infectious disease outbreaks, epidemiology and modeling.? This webinar, scheduled for Thursday, Dec. 3 at 10 a.m., requires advance registration, which is limited to 1,000 participants. You can submit questions in advance for the panelists using the Ask A Librarian service. When submitting questions, please indicate that it is for the December 3 webinar.Register Now Library of Congress MagazineExceptional photographs communicate with viewers in a universal language to inspire, provoke, educate. In the November/December 2020 issue of LCM, Library of Congress curators and reference librarians choose great photographs from Library collections that have inspired them, including images from the dawn of the photography to the present day.Download Magazine: https://loc.gov/lcm/pdf/LCM_2020_1112.pdf Library Seeks Applicants for the 2021 Junior Fellows Summer Internship ProgramThe Library of Congress is seeking applicants for its next Junior Fellows Summer Internship Program, which will run from? May 24 – July 30, 2021. This 10-week paid internship is open to undergraduate and graduate students interested in learning and conducting research at the largest library in the world. For the second year in a row, the internship will be conducted virtually.? The deadline to apply is? Monday, Nov. 30, 2020. Students can learn more information or apply to the program by visiting? loc.gov/item/internships/junior-fellows-program/.