Whe I read the above abstract, I wondered why the authors did not identify the "chemical control" so I obtained a copy of the full paper. The following describes the contents: "The chemical control always included the protectant fungicide chlorothalonil (1.6 kg a.i. ha1 Bravo 90DG, ISK Pesticides Inc,. Memphis, TN) and a sticker spreader. In addition, at every other spray date, starting at the first, one of the following systemic fungicides was also included in the in-tank mix: azoxystrobin (0.4 kg a.i. ha1 Quadris, Syngenta Crop Protection Inc., Greensboro, NC), myclobutanil (0.14 kg a.i. ha1 Nova, Dow AgroSciences LLC, Indianapolis, IN), benomyl (0.9 kg a.i. ha1 Benlate 50WP, DuPont Agricultural Products, Wilmington, DE), triadimefon (0.1 kg a.i. ha1 Bayleton, Bayer Cropscience lp, Research Triangle Park, NC) or no systemic fungicide. These systemic fungicides were alternated to reduce the possibility of the buildup of resistant strains. The milk and baking soda were normal grocery store type products. For the first trial year (2000), the skim milk treatment was replaced by a 50% aqueous solution of raw milk that was obtained from a local dairy and was neither pasteurized nor homogenized." "In the first season (2000), fresh raw milk-based sprays were compared to the standard grocery store product. In the following 4 years (20012004), whole milk-based sprays (3.5% butterfat) were compared to skim milk-based sprays (0.5% butterfat) in order to evaluate the importance of fat content." ------------------------------------------------ In the "Results section" the following appeared: "The data from the year 2000 indicate that there was no significant difference between disease levels in the whole milk and the raw milk treatments. Overall results for the last four seasons (20012004) indicate that, although the efficacy of skim milk was slightly less than whole milk, the difference was not significant." --------------------------------- In the "Discussion and Conclusion" section, the major results are the same as in the abstract. However, the following additional information may be useful to those living in certain climates. "In general, milkbased sprays were most effective when inoculum pressure was low and disease came late in the season after flowering (2001 and 2002). In the last 2 years of this study, powdery mildew appeared early during the last week of July. In particular, 2004 was characterized by frequent periods of heavy rainfall during August, which made it difficult to keep the spray treatments on the foliage. The combination of high inoculum pressure and frequent wash-off resulted in loss of disease control (see Table 3: 2004)." H. Kuska comment on year 2004, in Table 3 data. In the 2004 the control had a disease rating of 1963, baking soda had a rating of 1695, whole milk had a rating of 1715, skin milk had a rating of 1594 and the chemical control had a rating of 752. The authors indicated that the baking soda and milk differences where not significantly different in that year. Also of interest to me was that in 2001 and 2003 the results for the chemical spray and whole milk spray were not significantly different (also from Table 3). These conclusions were determined by the authors with the use of a statistics program, with a criteria of p>0.005.

Robins are birds that I enjoy viewing, but not as they try to build nests under our porch lights which are on both sides of an area right by our front entrance door. For three days my husband has removed the straw, twigs, etc in order to prevent a completed robin's nest. They put the straw, twigs, etc. up, he takes them down immediately. Today after reading these posts, I sprayed the area with ant and roach spray that I use when the ants try to visit too close to our outside walkway. Two robins just came with straw in their mouths, but they flew away. I hope this is a long-term solution. This is the first time that we have had this problem in the nineteen years that we have lived here. I am already tired of the mess on our porch and the potential health hazard presented if the robins succeed in building a permanent nest. We have plenty of trees that the birds usually choose for their nests and are still quite welcome to do so. However, why our porch this year is a puzzle. Thanks to all who have posted for their solutions. To the haters, because one does not want a bird's nest in an area that he/she frequently uses in his/her home, does not label the person as an animal hater. Why should my quality of life be compromised daily upon trying to enter my home for the sake of a bird's nest? The answer is that it shouldn't and will not. We will win this fight and reclaim our safety and keep our good health.

There are lots of ways for Windows to become "corrupted" that have absolutely nothing to do with a virus or other malware. That's not to say that you didn't a some kind of infection and it's important to use software to protect your system. You also need to realize that tech support's solution to almost everything is to reinstall the operating system. Level 1 techs don't have the time or possibly the skill to diagnose every problem. So the pat answer is a fresh install. That's why it is so important to make regular backups of critical data. Invest in an external hard drive or use one of the online services like Mozy or Carbonite. If you are going to use an external device don't forget about multiple backups and offsite storage. All the backups in the world won't do you a bit of good if they are sitting next to the computer when the house burns down or a tornado strikes.

There are some host file edits that have been posted in the past...this has always been an issue with GardenWeb. I no longer have a link to the post, but this is the Hosts file fix from GardenWebber Frattelli: Here is the part from Fratelli's post that I thought feldon meant. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The Universal Solution. This will work on Windows systems for all browsers; IE, FireFox and Netscape. The Windows operating system provides a system-level method to block specific IP addresses before they even get to the browser. To effect this solution you need to edit a Windows system file called hosts. This file is located in the directory: Windows XP: C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\DRIVERS\ETC Windows 2K: C:\WINNT\SYSTEM32\DRIVERS\ETC Windows 98: C:\WINDOWS Open the file in Notepad. Cut the following from this post and paste it to the end of the file. 127.0.0.1 amch.questionmarket.com 127.0.0.1 a820.g.akamai.net 127.0.0.1 iv.doubleclick.net 127.0.0.1 i.ivillage.com 127.0.0.1 m.2mdn.net 127.0.0.1 tste.ivillage.com 127.0.0.1 img-cdn.mediaplex.com 127.0.0.1 ads.vmirror.com 127.0.0.1 cmhtml.ivillage.overture.com 127.0.0.1 ads.pointroll.com Edit each entry so that there is a tab between the IP address 127.0.0.1 and the URLs. Save the file and you're finished. Close and re-open your browser and all the ads will be gone. Unfortunately, iVillage may in the future buy ads from a new source. In this event the new ad source will have to be added to the list. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I did this but had trouble trying to save it, so I had to change the properties of the file from read only. To do that just go to the appropriate folder and right click, select properties and uncheck the read only box. This should work for anyone having trouble saving it, I am using XP, so it might vary a bit if you have another version of Windows. Oh, and so far no more 'wiggle' ads. Thanks God, and thank you feldon and all...glad I was not the only one bugged by this. And here is a very concise fix (similar to the above) that I copied...I did not note the author on this one: This will work on Windows systems for all browsers; IE, FireFox and Netscape. The Windows operating system provides a system-level method to block specific IP addresses before they even get to the browser. To effect this solution you need to edit a Windows system file called hosts. This file is located in the directory: Windows XP: C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\DRIVERS\ETC Windows 2K: C:\WINNT\SYSTEM32\DRIVERS\ETC Windows 98: C:\WINDOWS Open the file in Notepad. Cut the following from this post and paste it to the end of the file. 127.0.0.1 amch.questionmarket.com 127.0.0.1 a820.g.akamai.net 127.0.0.1 iv.doubleclick.net 127.0.0.1 i.ivillage.com 127.0.0.1 m.2mdn.net 127.0.0.1 tste.ivillage.com 127.0.0.1 img-cdn.mediaplex.com 127.0.0.1 ads.vmirror.com 127.0.0.1 cmhtml.ivillage.overture.com 127.0.0.1 ads.pointroll.com Edit each entry so that there is a tab between the IP address 127.0.0.1 and the URLs. Save the file and you're finished. Close and re-open your browser and all the ads will be gone. Unfortunately, iVillage may in the future buy ads from a new source. In this event the new ad source will have to be added to the list. The IE solution. Most of the ads are placed using Java$cript. You can remove the more offensive ads in IE with the browser settings. You can't however remove them all. To improve GW using IE do the following: From the menu select Tools -> Internet Options -> Security and click on Custom Level. Scroll down to the end of the list and you'll see an entry for Scripting. Disable all the sub-entries. Now select the tab labeled Privacy. In the bottom of the box that appears check on the option to block pop-ups. I recommend you also click on the button Advanced and select the option to block Third-party Cookies. NOTE: By disabling Scripting you will also effect the way other websites behave. You may need to get used to switching scripting on and off as desired. That's why this is the least desirable of these various options. The FireFox solution This is an excellent choice -- it's the fastest performing of the options listed here: FireFox is superior to IE in every possible way. FireFox provides the added advantage of blocking all Spyware, an evil that IE brought into this world. * download and install Firefox 1.5 * in the FireFox address bar type about:config * scroll down the list to the entry xpinstall.enabled * right click on the entry and select toggle from the menu * toggle as needed to set the value to true * go to the Firefox website and follow links to extensions * find the extension adblock and install it * remember to toggle xpinstall.enabled back to false * in Firefox select Tools -> Adblock -> Preferences * use the New Filter field to add the following items: http://amch.questionmarket.com http://a820.g.akamai.net http://iv.doubleclick.net http://i.ivillage.com http://m.2mdn.net http://tste.ivillage.com http://img-cdn.mediaplex.com http://ads.vmirror.com http://cmhtml.ivillage.overture.com http://ads.pointroll.com * enable Adblock The trick with Adblock is to block the domain rather than the specific ad. If you click on Adblock to disable an ad. Select Tools -> Adblock -> Preferences from the menu and then edit the new entry; remove anything that follows after .com or .net. This will block everyting from that source. The Netscape solution. With Netscape you can shut down all the iVillage ads using the browser preference settings. From the menu select: Edit -> Preferences -> Privacy and Security -> Cookies Allow cookies for the originating website only Edit -> Preferences -> Privacy and Security -> Images Accept Images that come from the originating server only Edit -> Preferences -> Privacy and Security -> Images Block unrequested popup windows -- turn this on Edit -> Preferences -> Advanced Enable native object scripting -- turn this off Edit -> Preferences -> Advanced -> Scripts & Plug-ins Enable Java$cript for Navigator -- turn this off NOTE: GW will now be ad free, however disabling Java$cript will effect how other websites behave. You may have to get used to switching this setting back and forth. Therefore I suggest the Universal option above is more appropriate. NOTE: You MAC users out there: Sorry I don't have more info for you except to say that FireFox and adblock are available for the MAC. There's no sense in further complaing, iVillage IS an ad. We need to let them be who they are and stop them on our end. Take care all.