Tasty Spring Dining Updates

UMaine dining announces updates for the Spring 2024 semester

The Ethno-Categories of a Regional Khipu

The work of John V. Murra remains fundamental to an understanding of Andean human ecology and Inca economics. Nevertheless, some of his most important articles have never been published in English. At the request of Heather Lechtman, Murra translated “Las etno-categories de un khipu estatal”. In this work, Murra reconstructed a quipu prepared and maintained by the lords of Xauxa (Jauja) in the central Peruvian highlands during the early Colonial Period and explored what it may have recorded in terms of Andean thought. We publish Murra’s translation for the first time. In addition to John Murra’s translation, Andean Past Special Publication 13 contains a preface and notes by Monica Barnes, an account by Heather Lechtman, previously published in Chungara Revista de Antropología Chilena, of how she made use of Murra’s article in her MIT classes, and the Spanish language version of Murra’s article, first published in 1974.https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/andean_past_special/1012/thumbnail.jp

Aquaculture Research Institute Newsletter, January 19, 2024

2024 Women in Aquaculture Series. We\u27re eager to spotlight the 2024 Women\u27s Workshop Series for aquaculture, an opportunity brought to you by the Maine Aquaculture Hub in collaboration with Aquaculture in Shared Waters. Tailored for women and nonbinary aquaculturists, this series isn\u27t just a learning journey—it\u27s a chance to forge your path in Maine\u27s aquaculture scene. Dive into a curriculum brimming with expertise in seamanship, business acumen, and safety protocols. Beyond the skills, it\u27s a community waiting to unfold

Support the next generation by sponsoring the 2024 Windstorm Challenge!

The Windstorm Challenge is a unique opportunity for middle and high school students to get hands-on engineering practice at the Advanced Structures and Composites Center (ASCC). Organized by the same team that brings you AFloat, the Windstorm Challenge seeks to educate the next generation of floating offshore wind innovators

Gasoline Taxes from ATVS, Snowmobiles and Recreational Watercraft in Maine

The report updates three earlier reports looking at gasoline use and gasoline taxes paid by users of ATVs, snowmobiles and gasoline powered watercraft in Maine in 2001 following the passage of LD 977. Given time and financial limitations, this report maintains the same fuel use per vehicle/watercraft per season as determined earlier. This implies that these nonroad vehicles have the same level of use per year and that the efficiency per vehicle/watercraft is unchanged. While there has been increases in engine efficiency generally, engines and vehicle sizes have also risen as have the size of boat trailers. While there are different registration trends between ATVs, snowmobiles and watercraft, the overall trend is an increase in the number of nonroad vehicles. Given this starting point and taking into account Maine’s current tax on gasoline of $0.30/gallon, we find that ATVs, snowmobiles and gasoline powered recreational watercraft paid$1,076,772, $2,318,425,$2,296,193 respectively in gas taxes. This is a total of $5,691,390 in gas tax paid by these nonroad users in 2022. We also estimate the current distribution of gasoline taxes to nonroad user groups under current law and compare this to gas taxes paid by each user group

Bananas the Bear on Ice

Bananas the Bear mascot skating on the ice at Alfond Arena, University of Maine.https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/univ_photos/5654/thumbnail.jp

West Branch Logging Camp Clerk Henry A. Milliken\u27s Newspaper Writings: An Annotated Bibliography, 1927-1977

Abstract provided by author: Henry A. Milliken, a Great Northern Paper Company logging camp operations clerk 1926-1939, wrote 230 articles for the Bangor, Lewiston and Portland newspapers between 1926 and 1977. He was one of only five West Branch loggers who wrote a substantial amount about their experiences and observations in logging operations and the only writer whose focus was the human nature of the men in the logging operation jobs he wrote about. With all his topics Milliken provides a context that includes how each topic evolved over time and why. The annotations highlight and clarify the nature of the information in each piece as opposed to summarizing it. Milliken’s voice is an important part of his articles and is only discovered by reading them. These articles are all easily found and read online as noted in the text; most through newspapers.com and the balance through Fogler Library’s Digital Commons. Milliken’s collective work is an important and unduplicated contribution to West Branch logging history

Landings, vol. 31, no. 1

Landings content emphasizes science, history, resource sustainability, economic development, and human interest stories related to Maine\u27s lobster industry. The newsletter emphasizes lobstering as a traditional, majority-European American lifeway with an economic and social heritage unique to the coast of Maine. The publication focuses how ongoing research to engage in sustainable, non-harmful, and non-wasteful commercial fishing practices benefit both the fishery and Maine\u27s coastal legacy. For more information, please visit the Maine Lobstermen’s Community Alliance (MLCA) website

Home in the Dawnland: Sense of Place and Eco-Cultural Relations in the Penobscot River Valley

In a world where a deep disconnect between humans and nature is commonplace, this thesis is motivated by a personal interest in reconnecting with the more-than-human world. The purpose of this project is to explore my own sense of place and lived experience on the land we’ve called Maine and the Dawnland, and to strengthen my relationship to this land through a co-creative artistic practice. It draws on the historic context of the land, as it has been stewarded by Penobscot people, to investigate existing human-land relationships in the area, and attempts to honor Indigenous perspectives. The praxis for the research includes visiting seven sites in the Penobscot River valley, collecting plant materials, and printing their natural dyes and shapes onto silk panels, in a process called ecoprinting. This process emphasizes collaboration with the plants themselves to co-create the final works, where engagement with this process creates a stronger working relationship between human and plant. This, in turn, fosters a stronger connection to place through knowledge of plant behavior, both through on-site exploration of place, and through artistic practice. By resolving to create a stronger personal connection to place, this project hopes to inspire others to do the same, and to explore more ways to collectively strengthen our relationship to the more-than-human world