The Reverend Michael Downs (bio) This spiritual journey began, as spiritual journeys do, with a question. "I know it's a lot to ask," Courtney wrote, "but we would be honored if you'd consider becoming a fake minister and marrying us." Her request came via e-mail. Courtney had been a student when I taught journalism at a university in Montana, and we later grew to be friends and colleagues. Now I call Baltimore home, but Courtney and Jacob still live in Montana, where, apparently, fake ministers can conduct weddings. This fact does not amaze me. Montana is wild and libertarian; in some towns the Stockman's bar opens Sunday mornings, but the whitewashed church closed a decade back. In such a vast landscape with so few people, the law provides that God's proxies may easily be found—or made. Somehow, a minister can even be formed out of a lapsed Catholic whose idea of Sunday church is a walk with his wife and dogs in the woods. Courtney wrote that she and Jacob believed I understood the values and the spirit of their lives, so "when we're up there ready to say our vows, you would be able to articulate in a way few other people could what the whole hullaballoo is all about." I felt honored, humbled, and just a little grand, vain in a kerchief-in-the-suit-pocket way. [End Page 1] "Think about it," Courtney wrote. "There will be lots of free beer." The Montana Code Annotated of 2007, 40-1-301: Solemnization and registration (with my italics). (1) A marriage may be solemnized by a judge of a court of record, by a public official whose powers include solemnization of marriages, by a mayor, city judge, or justice of the peace, by a tribal judge, or in accordance with any mode of solemnization recognized by any religious denomination, Indian nation or tribe, or native group. Also … (3) The solemnization of the marriage is not invalidated by the fact that the person solemnizing the marriage was not legally qualified to solemnize it if either party to the marriage believed that person to be qualified. So, were I a huckster, a purveyor of false gods, a Bible salesman with pornographic playing cards in my briefcase, I could still unite Courtney and Jacob so long as one of them was convinced of my credentials. In Montana, by law, marriage truly is an act of faith. I telephoned Courtney and said yes. Ordination, she explained, was necessary ("any mode of solemnization recognized by any religious denomination") and would be easy if I pointed my Web browser toward the Internet address of the Universal Life Church. I'd never heard of the ULC, but among certain folk the church is famous. Not famous as the Church of Latter Day Saints is famous, or the Society of Jesus, or even the Branch Davidians. The church's name travels underground, through pop culture and counterculture and trivia games. One example: Chris Stevens, the convict/radio deejay from the 1990s television comedy Northern Exposure, was his fictional hamlet's clergyman, ordained via the Universal Life Church through an advertisement in Rolling Stone magazine. The ULC, like The Rocky Horror Picture Show and In-N-Out [End Page 2] Burgers, has a cult following. Right away I visited the church via the Internet. A pixilated dove welcomed me as it winged through a cosmic sky of stars and nebulas. I clicked and read that the ULC was founded in 1959, that it maintains weekly services in an unassuming white building in Modesto, California, and that all seekers are welcome. I read prayer requests ("I'm controlled by some kind of voodoo and black magic. I need God to save me, protect me and cleanse me"), and noted that anyone could confess online ("Have you forgiven yourself for your sins?" Click "Yes" or "No"). I could purchase clergy kits. I could be ordained for free. All the ULC required was contact information. In fact, I was already ordained! God had ordained me, the ULC explained, as God ordains everyone. I wrote Courtney a note. "I'll get myself ordained fairly soon...

Prickly lettuce is an annual weed that germinates in both the fall and the spring. It is often found in no-till soybeans and winter wheat in Ontario, Canada, as well as along the edges of fields. Field studies were conducted from 2001 to 2004 to estimate crop yield losses, and to characterize the phenology and seed production of prickly lettuce in relation to time of emergence. Prickly lettuce had a large impact on soybean yield, with losses of 60 to 80% at densities of 50 plants m(-2) or more. Prickly lettuce density estimated to cause a 10% soybean yield loss varied from 0.2 plants m(-2) in 2002 to 1.2 plants m(-2) in 2003 and 2004. In winter wheat, prickly lettuce at densities up to 200 plants m(-2) caused no detectable yield loss in this study. Plants that emerged in the fall generally were larger, flowered earlier. and produced more seeds than those emerging in spring, but size and fecundity were strongly density-dependent. The number of flowers produced per plant could be estimated from the height of the main stem. Seed production per plant ranged from 2,200 to 67,000 in soybeans, and up to 87,000 in a noncrop area at the edge of the field. Winter wheat harvest interrupted prickly lettuce flowering, and only about 25 to 30% of the plants present in the wheat crop survived harvest and flowered in untreated stubble. These plants produced less than 4,000 seeds per plant. Postharvest control with glyphosate, mowing, or cultivation prevented prickly lettuce seed production in wheat stubble. This study suggests that prickly lettuce populations could build up quickly in continuous no-till soybeans, but rotation with winter wheat and control of plants at the edge of the field would help to limit population growth.

Root traits and growth of spreading orach and common lambsquarters were compared in response to soil compaction, drought, and waterlogging under controlled environment conditions. On the basis of the typical habitats occupied, the hypothesis was that spreading orach Would be more tolerant of compaction and waterlogging and common lambsquarters more tolerant of drought. When grown in buckets with soil bulk densities (1.2 and 1.6 g cm(-3)) two sol for 8 wk, the two species responded similarly to compaction, with the fraction of fine roots reduced by 10%, total root length by 70%, root and shoot dry weight and leaf area by 50 to 60%, and plant height by 30% at the high compared with the low bulk density. When grown for 6 wk in soil columns I m long, which were watered daily or allowed to dry, common lambsquarters was deeper rooted than spreading orach at both moisture levels and better able to sustain growth in the drying columns. The watering regime did not alter the rooting depth of either species. Total root length in successive 10-cm increments declined exponentially from the top to the bottom of the watered columns, but root proliferation was reduced in the upper 20 cm of the drying columns. The average root diameter of both species decreased with drought and increased with soil compaction. When gown in waterlogged soil at 10 or 20 C for 4 wk, seedlings of spreading orach survived with little reduction in growth, whereas survival and growth of common lambsquarters were drastically reduced, particularly under cool soil conditions.

Seed production of velvetleaf, lamb's-quarters, common ragweed, giant ragweed and giant foxtail was studied in corn and soybeans in relation to distance from the crop edge. Individual weeds were grown 0.5 in outside the last crop row, in the last crop row, 0.5 in into the crop, or 2.5 in into the crop. Plots either had no herbicide applied, or were treated with half rates of a pre- or post-emergence herbicide. Survival of emerged weeds to maturity was recorded. Basal stem diameter of the broad-leaved weeds, and number and length of inflorescences of giant foxtail were measured in late summer. Seed production per plant was estimated from these traits. Seedlings were more likely to survive to reproduce at or near the crop edge than within the crop, particularly in corn after herbicide application. Fecundity of all weeds was two to four times higher 0.5 in outside the last crop row, compared to 2.5 in within the crop. Seeds from weeds close to the crop edge are likely to be dispersed into the crop by the combine. These studies highlight the potential value of border sprays to control weed seed production where it is likely to be highest.

Horseweed is a winter annual weed that has evolved resistance to multiple herbicide modes of action in 11 countries worldwide. A paraquat-resistant horseweed population in an Ontario orchard that was being managed by a rotation of herbicides began to show increased tolerance to the herbicide linuron. Experiments were conducted in the greenhouse to compare the response of this population and several paraquat-susceptible populations to linuron, diquat, and oxyfluorfen. Plants were sprayed with a range of doses of each herbicide when they were from 5 to 10 wk old, and the ED50, or dose at which shoot dry weight was reduced by 50%, was estimated. There was a sevenfold difference in the ED50values of the paraquat-resistant and -susceptible populations in response to diquat and a threefold difference in response to linuron. The response to oxyfluorfen was age dependent. The ratio of resistance to susceptible ED50values was estimated as 57 for 5-wk-old plants and 11 for 8-wk-old plants in response to oxyfluorfen. Ten-week-old plants from both populations showed no response to oxyfluorfen at rates up to 4.8 kg ai ha−1.

Lactuca serriola (prickly lettuce, compass plant) is a winter or summer annual, introduced to Canada from Eurasia, and found in all provinces except Newfoundland. It occupies a variety of disturbed sites, and is becoming an increasing problem in crops grown with reduced t illage. Most seedlings emerge in autumn and form overwintering rosettes, with a smaller peak of emergence in spring. Flowering occurs from July through September. Seed production is proportional to stem height, and ranges up to 200 000 seeds per plant. The wind-dispersed seeds have no primary dormancy and form only a short-term seed bank (1 to 3 yr). Many populations in the western United States and southern Australia have developed resistance to Group 2 herbicides, which inhibit the enzyme acetolactate syn thase. Prickly lettuce is closely related to, and inter-fertile with, cultivated lettuce, Lactuca sativa L. Key words: