When land is cleared, habitats are lost. It may be cleared for agriculture. It may also be used for building new homes or businesses. Within the past 100 years, the amount of land used for agriculture has almost doubled. Land used for grazing cattle has more than doubled. Many wetlands have also been lost to agriculture. The U.S. has lost almost all the natural tall-grass prairies. Thee areas of tall thick grass have virtually disappeared. These areas of land had thick fertile soil. Their grasses had very deep root systems. These deep and thick roots reduced the amount of soil erosion. They also were home to many plants and animals. Prairies were wonderful places. They were home to colorful flowers, prairie dogs, and herds of bison.

What are the advantages of tall grass prairies?

The film begins with members of the Catholic Church digging up the body of a 19th century church official , whose casket has a box-shaped urn chained to it . Inside the box they discover artifacts belonging to Mater Lachrymarum , the last surviving member of the Three Mothers ; an ancient trio of powerful black witches . In particular , the box contains a magic cloak that , when worn by Mater Lachrymarum , increases her powers significantly . The urn is shipped to the Museum of Ancient Art in Rome , where Sarah Mandy , an American studying art restorationworks . Sarah is dating the curator Michael Pierce , a single father who is away from the museum that night . With help from the assistant curator , Sarah opens the box and finds the cloak , a dagger , and three statues representing the three witches . Sending Sarah to her office to retrieve tools to help her translate the text on the artifacts , the curator is promptly attacked by the demonic agents of Mater Lachrymarum . Sarah arrives too late to save her boss and starts to flee the museum . Unfortunately , she is pursued by Mater Lachrymarum 's familiar and is only able to escape when a disembodied voice magically throws open a series of locked doors keeping her trapped inside the museum . Sarah tells the police what happened as she spends the night with Michael and his son . Michael visits the Cardinal who sent him the urn only to find out that , shortly after mailing the urn to him , he had a severe stroke and is now in a coma .

What attacked and pursued Sarah, what or who helped her escape, how and where did she spend the night?

IBM opened a sprawling and sophisticated semiconductor factory here on Wednesday that cost more than $2.5 billion to build and equip, the largest single capital investment the company has ever made. The factory, which opens as the computer chip business is in a slump, is a costly and risky move for IBM. But it is also an expression of confidence by the company that it can remain a technology leader in the highly competitive global semiconductor industry, and a commitment that the best place to execute that strategy is in upstate New York. IBM is an exception among computer makers in that it still invests heavily in research to advance the design, manufacture and materials used in semiconductor chips. It is spending more than $500 million a year on semiconductor research and development. The factory will produce a wide range of specialized semiconductors used in everything from the largest mainframe computers to cell phones and video-game consoles. The new plant is part of IBM's push to gain a strong lead in chip-making beyond the personal computer business, where Intel and East Asian chip producers hold the advantage. "The core of our strategy is to lead in technology and attack the high-performance segments of the market," said John Kelly, senior vice president in charge of IBM's technology group. An advantage to having the semiconductor fabricating factory here, Kelly explained, was that it was very close to its research laboratories in nearby Westchester County, N.Y. To stay ahead in advanced chip technology, he said, moving innovations out of the labs and into the factory as fast as possible is crucial. "What we call the lab-to-fab time should be as close to zero as possible," Kelly said. "If our strategy were anything but to be on the leading edge, we'd have put the plant in Asia." The new factory, which will begin normal production early next year, will employ about 1,000 people.
What doe "lab-to-fab" time mean?