Thank you for your effort to educate me but I learned early in my undergraduate years exactly what an abstract is. For those who may not know, reading abstracts and drawing scientific conclusions from them is like reading the dust jacket of a novel and thinking you understand the book's deeper meanings. An abstract, by necessity, ignores the methodology, experimental results, etc and is often wrongly used as a substitute for reading the full article by lazy students and amateur scientists. And while I am not the scientist that Crankyoldman fancies himself, I do have a technical background that requires me to read actual articles in journals, professional magazines and technical manuals (not just abstracts, I can't bluff my way through life on the Cliffs Notes plan,) and I can assure you that a history of actual reading does qualify me to read the directions and warning labels on containers. (I assume you were expressing actual concern about my reading abilities rather than just being boorishly condescending.) The initial post warned about the dire dangers of using Rotenone, yet evidence that Rotenone, used as directed, i.e. applied to plants in a controlled manner, was, sadly, forgotten. All I've seen were lists of Google hits and abstracts that ~may~ contain some evidence that Rotenone, when used as directed, will cause Parkinson's, as Finnbiker implied and you reinforce. I going to have to assume that you've read nothing so far that substantiates this or you would have said something to the effect of "Look at the June, 2006 issue of Journal of Something Or Another, Page 43, in the discussion where Dr. So and So concludes that the field research clearly shows that the occasional garden use of Rotenone, per recommended application rates in a garden setting, will cause such and such disease." But you seem reluctant to divulge this info. If Finnbiker or you believe Rotenone to be dangerous when used as directed, is it too much to expect that you demonstrate it, not imply it while you so vehemently sound the alarm? So, again, posting a link to a list of abstracts does nothing to prove your points. Telling me to read all of the abstracts you've found to find some evidence that may or may not exist, and that you yourself seem to have no clue as to where to find it is just a silly game on your part, one that I am not going to play. However, it may surprise you to know that I actually did read (or, more honestly, skimmed) through some of the complete articles. (You do know that you can limit your search on that site to only articles with free text available, don't you? A useful feature if you plan to actually read an article.) I did find a few notable quotes regarding a link to Parkinson's Disease: "... several other risk factors are associated with an increased risk of developing PD, including rural living, well-water consumption, and farming. We found no studies that have been able to determine whether these risk factors are independent risk factors or correlated with pesticide exposure." "At present, the weight of evidence is sufficient to conclude that a generic association between pesticide exposure and PD exists but is insufficient for concluding that this is a causal relationship or that such a relationship exists for any particular pesticide compound or combined pesticide and other exogenous toxicant exposure." And: "However, Betarbet et al. (2000) also reported that rotenone seems to have little toxicity when administered orally (Sherer TB, Greenamyre JT, unpublished data)." All the data presented does confirm that intraperitoneal injections of Rotenone into rats will cause Parkinson-like symptoms. (I haven't yet had the need to use Rotenone in that manner.) But nothing I've seen there directly links Parkinson’s to occasional use of Rotenone as directed in the garden. It may be there and I haven't found it and, for some reason or another, you refuse to say where it is to be found, preferring to try to send me on a fool's errand. Since no one is pointing to any studies that implicate the occasional use of Rotenone in a garden setting, I'm just going to wait until someone does. If and when that happens, then I'll thank you as you (prematurely) expect us to now. And, I'll stop the occasional use of Rotenone in gardening. (Occasional, in my case being perhaps two or three times over the last 5 years.) I've nothing more to say on the subject. I'll watch for some sign that you have actually have read any of the articles and found something substantive concerning the real-world use of Rotenone that you are willing to reference. Wayne

This is what he sent me. I have had this for awhile now, it might be a bit different now. Please follow the next steps to correct the issues on your Pandigital Novel: 1. Plug your reader into your computer using the USB cable. 2\. Locate the "My Computer" icon on your desktop or just "Computer". This can also be found by clicking on the "start" button in the lower left\-hand corner of your screen. 3\. Locate the drive listed as "Removable disk". 4\. This file should have Adobe Digital Editions as the first icon. Delete everything in this file except for Adobe Digital Editions. \_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_ Re\-run the firmware update. I have included specific instructions on how to update your Novel: If you should have any questions after following these directions, please do not hesitate to call our customer service phone number at: (800) 715\-5354. 1. Please visit our website on your home computer at www.pandigital.net 2. This will bring you to our home page, on the right\-hand side of the screen you will see a box with the words "Firmware Updates Click here", please click on this box. 3. This will bring you to the next webpage asking you to select your region. For your specific Pandigital Novel please click on the \[American/Canadian\] flag. 4. You have now reached our information page. On this page, please locate the blue lettering that states: "Click here to learn more and to update your Pandigital Novel." 5. This will bring you to the actual update page. Please read over the information on what the latest firmware update can do for you. The additional features that come with this update are something to be excited about and we�re sure you will be too! 6. Please locate the blue text at the bottom of this screen that states: "Click here to run PC Updater Application." 7. At this point if you have a pop\-up blocker in use, you may get a yellow/gold bar that appears at the top of your screen asking if you would like to allow this pop up. Click on "temporarily allow pop\-ups" and refresh the page by hitting the F5 key on your keyboard. If you do not have a pop\-up blocker in use, ignore this step. 8. You will now have a download box appear on your screen asking you if you wish to run or save this program. If you are using Windows XP with IE you will choose the "Run" option. If you are using Windows Vista, please "Save" this file to your desktop. 9. Windows XP: At this point you may have an information box appear that will inform you that the publisher of this program could not be verified and ask if you are sure you would like to run this program�Click "Run" again. The Updater Application will start automatically. Windows Vista: Please double\-click the download icon on your desktop to being running the Updater Application. 10. The Updater Application should now be on your screen. It lists the steps that you will go through to update your Pandigital Novel. Click on the blue text that states "Click here to start the process". 11. At this point, the program will list some steps you will need to do before updating your novel. These steps are: 1. Unplugging any other USB mass storage devices from your computer. These kinds of devices include flash drives, cameras, photo frames etc. Keyboards and mice are not considered storage devices so if you have any of those plugged into your USB ports, they are ok to leave plugged in. 2. Powering your Pandigital Novel with the supplied AC adapter (please ignore this step and just be sure that your Pandigital Novel is fully charged before you attempt the upgrade process). 3. Connect your Pandigital Novel to your computer using the USB cable that was supplied with your device. 4. Power your Pandigital Novel on (your Novel will go into "PC Mode"\- this means that your Novel will be inoperable while connected to your computer). 12. Once you have completed these steps, please click on "Ok" to advance to the next step. 13. The Updater Application will then display a screen and ask you to confirm the details of your device (serial number, model number, etc.). Confirm these details by clicking on the "Confirm" button. 14. You will now begin the download process. (This process can take some time depending on your computer and your internet speed). 15. Once you have finished the download the screen will display that you have successfully downloaded the firmware update. At this point you will see another text box on appear on your screen giving you more instruction. These instructions will include: 1. Removing your Pandigital Novel device from your computer 2. Informing you that your Novel may or may not turn itself off, if it does not turn itself off, please power the Novel completely off by pressing the power button and choosing the "power off" option. 3. Now it will ask you to power your Novel back on in a very specific way. Please press the power and volume up button (located on the top of your device and is the + key) at the same time (not one and then the other, they must be pressed at the same time) for 10 seconds. Please do these steps until you see two lines of white text appear at the top of your screen that states the boot count and firmware version. As soon as you see these lines of text, let go of the power and volume + buttons. This should begin the update process in the form of a blue progress bar appearing at the bottom of the screen that will state things like "verifying update." If you have reached this screen your Novel is now updating properly. If you do not see this screen, please power your device off once more and try the activation process of holding the power and volume + buttons again. Do not be discouraged if this takes a few tries, and be sure you are holding the edge of the power + button; holding it too close to the middle will not activate the update. 4. Once the update is complete, please power off your Pandigital Novel completely, then reconnect the device to your computer using the USB cable and power it on after it is plugged in. 5. Click on "Ok". This will then run a process called a "restore". Once this has finished please disconnect your novel and once more perform the activation process of holding down the power and volume + buttons. You will again get another blue progress bar at the bottom of your screen when done correctly. 16. Congratulations! You have now updated your Pandigital Novel successfully! I have attached a new user manual for your use as the interface of your Novel has now changed to the most recent version. We hope you enjoy your Novel even more now and make use of all of the newest features! Happy Reading!

Thank you. This thread has kept me from the gardening and a possible bee sting. I see many old favorites and more exciting, new authors to try. One of my favorites not listed is Robert Van Gulik, Dutch, world reknown expert on China, son of a diplomat I believe and wrote about Judge Dee in the Tang dynasty. Warning, one book has descriptive scene - 'drawn & quartered' for a mean malevolent being. Was Nevada Barr mentioned? Her lonely ranger, Anna Pigeon, works in the natl. parks. Rarely have physical locales' descriptions stayed with me as strongly. I can still go back to the depths of Lake Superior or the Anasazi cliff dwellings. Perhaps a bit on the dark side.

Pollan's talk was a sold-out event (which is rather unusual around here except for Metal Music and rap like Snoop). The uni here had set one of his books for the Freshman Summer Read, so no doubt there were lots of extra credit opportunities being used. :-) However, there were a lot of community people there as well, and I have to say that it was a pleasure to listen to someone who is a good writer and speaker. Pollan has a great vocabulary and it was wonderful to hear him use words that you don't hear very much. Nothing too fancy, but just really well selected vocab. Lovely. He didn't really talk about his books that much, although there were various selected readings from some of his earlier work (like Second Nature) etc.). Most of his talk was about his path to being a writer (how circuitous it was etc.) and that you never really know what you are going to end up doing, career-wise, in the end. Took loads of questions from the audience and was overall a pretty nice guy. He did thrown in a snippy comment about politics, which was unnecessary, but then, again, if his politics had agreed with mine, I probably wouldn't have minded. :-> Good stuff. I have moved In Defense of Food higher up the TBR pile now... If you ever get the chance to hear him, he is worth the ticket price. Was going to do a lot of reading last night, but took the dog for a walk at the park, it got dark, I dropped my house key somewhere in the park in the dark, and ended up sitting on my door step (avec dog) for 2.5 hours while the Pop-a-Lock people tried to open Fort Knox. (DH is out of town at the mo and I was trying not to let him know I had lost the key AGAIN...) They couldn't open the super-duper special lock we have in the door, and in the end, I had to call DH and admit to losing my key and getting a long-distant friend to come over. Needless, I was cold and tired when I got in, so went to bed. Sigh. Anyone want to come to the park and walk all over the place to see if they can help me find my key? It's yellow.