Wifi on the Moon!

NASA and MIT have joined forces in making this happen, wifi on the moon! Yep, even when you are visiting the surface of earth’s only naturally occurring satellite you will be able to connect with all your loved ones (and everybody else basically) on the internet. The plan is to create gateway nodes through which wifi will be implemented. The wifi on the moon will be even faster (hence better) than the stuff we have here because there is no atmosphere on the moon to prevent wifi signals traveling with ease. Four telescopes in New Mexico are already set up to send the signal to the moon and plans are on the drawing board to connect the rest of our solar system to the internet. The internet has already made our planet seem smaller by bridging the distance between all of its inhabitants, now it’s poised to make the universe a smaller more accessible place too… 

Next time I hear my grandson holler out, “Grandma! Reset the wifi!” from his fixed position in front of his PlayStation on the other side of the house, I’m going to consider sending him to the moon!

Glamping

This might seem a bit contradictory (alright, I’ll admit maybe even downright hypocritical) considering all my usual off the grid type blogs, but the next time I go out into the wild I want to try glamping (instead of plain old camping). I’m pretty sure the word glamping is a combination of glamour and camping and from what I've read it’s a fairly new term. The idea of glamping isn't new to me though. I once went to a math conference at Rock Eagle in north GA with a bunch of teacher friends that included one serious glamper named Mitzie. We shared a cabin with bunch of bunks (the rather lumpy striped mattress variety) that are also used by the 4H campers each summer and the one bright spot, not including the beautiful fall colors and crispness outdoors was Mitzie’s bunk. This girl really knew how to glamp from the fluffy pillows, sleep mask, snacks, personal playlist, and comfy coordinated linens and matching duvet to everything needed for a mani/pedi. That’s the kind of glamping I’m talking about! Granted I might need my own team of personal movers to accomplish this even a really nice blowup mattress (that has enough air and no leaks to keep my behind off the ground all night) in an air-conditioned tent might be enough to turn camping into glamping for me. My other requirement for any kind of camping is indoor plumbing, preferably with hot and cold running water. And visiting an exotic location is also nice... Maybe I should just forget about going glamping and go on a cruise! 

GA’s New ‘Slowpoke’ Law

Yikes! I've been accused (by my grandkids mostly) of driving like an old lady and now Georgia has a new ‘Slowpoke’ Law. When (and if) my husband reads about this he’ll probably get a laugh out of the thought of me slowpoking along on the interstate. Despite the fact that my motto in the past has been 95 on 95, my little old 4 cylinder engine car doesn't actually have enough umph for that so thinking you can go as fast as the numbers on the speedometer indicates is basically a lie. Therefore, I have no idea why the numbers go that high, because even if I say this and you may conclude I've tried, my car won’t go that fast. So maybe if the name, in my case, slowpoke fits I may as well own it. The GA State Patrol have been pulling slowpokes in the Atlanta area over and giving them warnings. I figure slowpokes might be safer for all concerned to catch than drivers that opt for high speed chases. Maybe the GA State Patrol figures they can cut back road rage incidents by ticketing the slowpokes that ragers find so aggravating. Wonder when they’ll start issuing warnings down here since most of my driving occurs in the southeastern most corner of the state. Speaking as a possible slowpoke, I will say that I have been given ‘the finger’ (not the pointer used for indicating a direction either) a few times by other drivers and even though a couple of my grandkids have encouraged me to return the favor I've preferred not to do so.

Molecular Gastronomy

This is my topic today after just finishing off a lovely sandwich for lunch in the time honored traditional way-for me that’s turkey between 2 slices of whole wheat slathered with mustard. By molecular gastronomy I mean chemical foods the polar opposite of clean eating (meaning eating foods with the least possible or no processing) which I am trying very hard to do. Clean eating is difficult because it seems other than growing my own food there is very little out there untouched by chemicals in some way, either through processing or by pesticides or other chemicals during the growing. That said molecular gastronomy involves using chemical reactions to produce meals from chemical compounds and cooking alone, compounds like maltodextrine, citric acid, or allyl isothiocyanate. Simply put, the idea is food doesn't have to be grown, an alternative to home grown food with the same nutrients and constituent parts can be made completely out of chemicals in a lab. Hampton Creek’s food scientists are working to perfect a perfect egg (without the hen) and their first product, an egg free mayonnaise called Just Mayo is already being sold at Whole Foods in the US and in Europe. Bill Gates recently endorsed them and his foundation also funds another company called Beyond Meat in California that is experimenting with new technologies to turn plants into new foods that taste like beef or chicken. There is even a company called Nu-Tek Food Science in Minnesota that’s producing salt with only a fraction of the sodium in regular salt. I am not sure about all the worry over sustainability in the future for our planet’s burgeoning population, maybe these scientists should focus more on the present with the threat of global warming and the dangers from chemicals we are adding and have already added to our soil, water, and hence our food supply that is supposed to sustain us right now. I don’t think the chemical cuisine of the future sounds very appetizing at all. 

Lionfish Update

Three things…Capt. Jim was recently stung by one of these and suffices to say they have a painful sting. Their venom is located in their spiny spines and they have a lot of them. I spent a good bit of time in the water on my most recent visit to Andros and happily, I didn’t come across any lionfish and as far as I know (or could see actually) none crossed my path either. As I have mentioned in past posts the lionfish is an invasive species, as if being venomous isn't bad enough, and there are hunts, some with prizes, for these (no bag limit) throughout the year.

Thing two…The aggressive invasive lionfish, in addition to painfully stinging Capt. Jim is edible as long as you don’t eat the venomous spines. The meat of a properly (and carefully) fileted and cooked lionfish is white, flaky, and considered quite tasty. And have I mentioned that there are lots of lionfish out there? They've been found in the Caribbean, off the Florida Keys, and along the Atlantic as far north as Massachusetts and they multiply fast as the females produce 2 million eggs each year and they are causing the demise of 56 native fish species even as I type.

Thing three… A 12-year-old science fair entrant Lauren Arrington found out that lionfish can also survive in nearly fresh water (rivers and estuaries beware!). In her science fair experiment using only six fish and six tanks, she found the lionfish could live in water with a salinity level as low as 6 parts per million. Regular ocean water has a salinity of 35 parts per million. Since she didn’t want to be disqualified by killing the lionfish she didn’t go lower than 6 parts per million. Scientists followed up on her idea and found the lionfish limit is 5 parts per million and this puts more native species at risk since the lionfish, which has no known predators, is poised to enter and disrupt freshwater ecosystems.

A possible moral for this update? If you can’t beat ‘em…catch, kill, and eat ‘em!

Aussies on AUTEC

My son, granddaughter, an Aussie, and I were joking around about the difference between leaving and old person (me specifically) in a locked hot car versus leaving kids and dogs, that being passersby would probably not break me out. Something like the oldie was at the end of her ride anyway had us chuckling. All this small talk occurred while we were waiting for the shuttle to take us to our plane and our new found Aussie friend gave us some pretty cool collectible coins (pictured here). One thing I like about going over to the Bahamas is that there are always new people to meet and interesting things going on and this trip was no different. I came to learn that the Australians have purchased a bunch of new helicopters (at quite a price tag but that may be for another blog) and have been practicing on the range with MK54 torpedoes and MH60-HR sensors (basically a bunch of anti-submarine warfare training). That’s the work side of this blog. I also overheard in the chow hall (a comment that I’m paraphrasing here), someone say they thought Aussies were born with a beer in their hand after talk of a ‘borrowed’ golf cart joyride and subsequent crash. The Aussies were however successful after only seven months of operating the MH-60R ‘Romeo’ Maritime Combat Helicopter, and NUSQN 725 achieved successful Mk 54 torpedo firings during the current deployment to the Atlantic Undersea Test and Evaluation Centre (AUTEC). I still like their motto, Be Aggressive and I’m glad they did better with the helicopters!

 

Diclofenac, Another DDT?

Diclofenac, a pain killer not a pesticide, found in the carcasses of scavenge cattle is a threat to Europe and Asia’s eagles much like DDT was to the eagles of North America. Scavenge cattle was the phrase that piqued my interest when I was scanning some reading material. So I looked them up and found that scavenge cattle are free ranging cattle (like my chickens I thought) and in actuality they’re the sacred cows of India. I don’t have it in me to eat my backyard chickens (though the eggs make tasty omelets) but I don’t consider them sacred either, more like pets. Back to India’s free range or scavenge cattle, Orthodox Hindus there would rather starve than eat them, so strong is their abhorrence of the idea of killing a sacred cow. (I’m thinking of googling McDonalds in India next) And they go to the extremes of seeing that the cows are fed regardless of their own personal food insecurity. I am figuring the same goes for the comfort levels of these sacred beasts as they have managed to ingest or be fed this pain killer that we don’t give our cattle (PETA may weigh in on this) called diclofenac. Vultures (in India almost completely wiped out) and perhaps soon to follow eagles and other birds of prey close genetically to the vultures are dying off because of the diclofenac in their food chain (scavenge cattle carcasses). Now the Vulture Conservation Foundation wants the diclofenac banned in Europe. It was registered for use in Spain and Italy in 2013. Officials are so far only willing to put a warning about its toxicity on the label. I hope they don’t have to learn the lesson there the DDT way. Eagles have sharp vision but even I know they aren't going to read the labels.