Quote of the Day - 03/13/2012

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Tea, food, and routine paperwork had a normalizing effect. - Nevada Barr in A Superior Death (An Anna Pigeon Novel)

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Everyone develops their own approaches for making adjustments prompted by the changes in their life. Activities that tend to have a ‘normalizing effect’ tend to be ones that provide ‘something to do’ during the time we are mentally adjusting to whatever has changed; the objective is to help ourselves be as resilient as possible and sustain our healthy outlook on life. Nevada Barr’s list (‘tea, food, and routine paperwork’) are good examples. Do you have others - ones that are perhaps even unique to you? My list would include looking at botanical prints, sleeping and cleaning house.

What are some characteristics of these ‘normalizing effect’ activities? For me - they must 

  • Be done alone
  • Relatively quiet (i.e. I don’t find having television or radio in the background helpful...music without vocals is appealing)
  • Secure
  • Comfortable temperature…perhaps a little warm
  • Not totally sedentary (this may mean that there needs to be a variety of activity instead of just one) 

Nevada Barr writes mysteries set in National Parks - in this case, Isle Royale National Park. 

Note: Botanicus provides digitized historic botanical literature from the Missouri Botanical Garden Library....one of my favorite web places. 

Gleanings of the Week Ending March 10, 2012

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The items below were ‘the cream’ of the articles I read this past week:

Nutrition Data - a site that has the regular nutrition facts label with added graphics: nutritional target map, caloric ration pyramid, estimated glycemic load, inflammation factor, nutritional balance, and protein quality. Type your favorite food in the box labeled ‘enter food name’ on the right side of the banner line to see how it measures up.

Bed Bugs (infographic) - dramatic increase in this problematic bug in the US…everywhere

Images of Earth from Envisat - beautiful images from a satellite that has lived twice as long as planned…is starting its second decade this month.

Birdcast - a project of NOAA and the Cornell Lab of Ornithology…bird migration and weather forecast. Updated weekly.

Solar Grid Parity (with Incentives) - an animated map showing when electricity in major metropolitan areas becomes cheaper using rooftop solar than utilities (include the current tax credit). Lots and lots by 2020!

Top 10 Benefits of Green Smoothies - Better for you than juice

3 great ways to use salsa - a short video…sparks even more ideas of ways to use salsa

Penguin CAM - Penguin antics 24 hours a day through March and April

13 National Historic Landmarks Added - lots of variety….Frank Lloyd Wright buildings at Florida Southern College…Deer Medicine Rocks in Montana…a parish church in Virginia

25 Wild Bird Photographs - National Geographic is posting a set weekly….this is the most recent

Quote of the Day - 03/04/2012

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So, before the eyes of history has come a nation, from whence is unknown; nor is it known how it scattered and disappeared without a trace. – Nicholas Roerich, 1926 as quoted in Elizabeth Wayland Barber in The Mummies of Urumchi

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We challenge ourselves to learn about a nation from the artifacts they left behind. It is a mystery we set for ourselves to unravel. How like us were they? Were they healthy and long lived or did their bodies wear out very quickly? We overlay our values onto the artifacts and tell their story. It is the best we can do - but not enough. The artifacts are only a snap shot and the hole in our knowledge that implies that ‘it scattered and disappeared without a trace’ means that there is still something we have not found or do not understand.

Knowing there are unknowns means we have the opportunity to be discoverers.

Gleanings of the Week Ending March 3, 2012

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The items below were ‘the cream’ of the articles I read this past week: 

 

Gleanings of the Week Ending February 25, 2012

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The items below were ‘the cream’ of the articles I read this past week:

 

 

Gleanings of the Week Ending February 18, 2012

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The items below were ‘the cream’ of the articles I read this past week:

Which countries grew the most GM crops in 2011? - US, Brazil, Argentina, India, Canada…the post includes a nice graphic

A 3-D Printed Jawbone - For an 83 year old woman. Made from 1000s of layers of titanium dust melded with a laser

Zebrafish May Hold Key to Repairing Serious Eye Conditions - Lots of research on approaches to help people with macular degeneration and glaucoma. This is one.

Motherhood 'Detrimental' to Women's Scientific Careers, Study Concludes - It’s not biased hiring or evaluation…it is outdated policies that are the key stumbling block now. How much progress can really be made as long as there is an underlying assumption that an academic has a stay-at-home spouse?

Alexander Graham Bell and Mabel Gardiner Hubbard’s Love Story in Photos - posted by National Geographic for Valentine’s Day

Raining rainbows - a messy but pretty project

Crock Pot Ideas - Does everyone have a crockpot? This site will encourage you to use it more. Applesauce Chicken sounds good to me. (My crockpot (see photo at the right) is almost 40 years old and still turning out great meals!)

Obama Hikes Royalties on Oil Industry by 50% - Bringing the fees for oil drilling on public land up to those for offshore drilling and for renewable energy generation on public lands. The royalties paid to the government had not increased since the 1920s!

NASA Map Sees Earth’s Trees in New Light - a map that show the height of the world’s forests

Nanoparticles in Food, Vitamins Could Harm Human Health - Think exposure to nanoparticles is something that may be a future problem? Maybe it is already happening

Gleanings of the Week Ending February 11, 2012

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The items below were ‘the cream’ of the articles I read this past week:

Song of a Jurassic cricket - Scientists at the University of Bristol made a recording of how these extinct crickets probably sounded based on fossil evidence and what is known about crickets that survive today

All the food you eat is why you’re fat - very graphical presentation from Fast Company. The big 5 reasons: diet soda, driving, your mom, your job, your fork!

Hans Christian Andersen collection - The Zvi Har’El site that provides background material and the H.P. Paull 1872 translation of Andersen’s fairy tales.

Timeline of Ancient Origins of Plastic Surgery

In Depth: Weather on Steroids - Article on the UCAR site discussing “when greenhouse gases enter the climate system, what kind of weather comes out?”

The Open University - a site with free online courses in many topic areas

Pearl Guide - A large site containing information about pearls

Jack Horner: Shape-shifting dinosaurs (TED talk video) - Where are the baby dinosaurs?

Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation books on Internet Archive - Lots of recent postings - many with color images of 20th Century art that can be easily viewed online.

Gleanings of the Week Ending February 4, 2012

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The items below were ‘the cream’ of the articles I read this past week:

Magnetotactic Bacteria found in Death Valley National Park - evidently these bacteria are unique because they can biomineralize both greigite and magnetite; they may prove enabling to mass produce these minerals

Severe Python Damage to Florida's Native Everglades Animals Documented in New Study - Near complete disappearance of raccoons, rabbits, opossums in the southern part of the Everglades where the pythons have been the longest (11 years)

Learning-Based Tourism an Opportunity for Industry Expansion - lifelong learning and personal enrichment travel increasing among affluent and educated people

Are Diet Soft Drinks Bad for You? - A study finds that the answer is ‘yes’ if you drink one or more a day.

The National Mall gets more efficient LED lighting - Note the paragraph at the end of the article about the phase-out of incandescent bulbs

Snowy owl Invasion - Video from the Cornell Ornithology Laboratory

iRobot ventures into Telemedicine - The company that makes the Roomba robo-vacuum is entering the hospital robotic arena

Innovation without Age Limits - More complex innovation takes more training…and that often takes time.

Yellowstone in winter (video) - a short video just over 4 minutes…full of vignettes of animals…snow…mists

Evolution of the Businessman (infographic) - Does the very bottom (Today’s Businessman) jive with your observations?

Gleanings of the Week Ending January 28, 2012

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The items below were ‘the cream’ of the articles I read this past week:  

  • Psychology of Color infographic - Hmm…never paint a baby’s room yellow because it will cause them to cry more…other factoids. A snapshot (unreadable) version of the infographic is at right...follow the link to get more explanation and larger size (if it still isn't large enough on your monitor - click on the graphic to enlarge further)
  • Food Combining - for optimal health and weight - Goodbye meat and potatoes in the same meal (not a good combination). This article is an easy read with good embedded graphics. Maybe what we eat is not as bad as how we combine it?
  • 2011 was 9th warmest year on record - A video that shows global temps from 1884 to 2011 from NASA
  • Paper Models of Polyhedra - Wow…lots of shapes you can make with paper with templates to help you do it.
  • Smithsonian fire in January 1865 - report and pictures of the event…lessons from that fire applied to the restoration of the building and other museums.
  • Nutrient Lists - From the USDA Nutrient Data Laboratory. Lists of foods either alphabetically or sorted by content for common nutrients.
  • American Verse Project - An electronic archive of volumes of American poetry prior to 1920. If you are in the mood for poetry and don’t have a book already bought, this a great place to go.
  • The Digital Blue Ridge Parkway - Lots of photographs from during the Blue Ridge Parkway construction. This site is also an example of richness of presenting information digitally where it can be accessed from many perspectives rather than in book form.
  • Great Meals with Great Grains - a blog about using whole grains to ‘provide culinary excitement without hours of labor.’ I’ve tried amaranth, quinoa and rolled oats; maybe it’s time to try some others too.
  • How to store fruits and vegetables without plastic - A fact sheet from the Berkeley Farmers’ Market
  • Lisa Harouni: A primer on 3D printing (TED talk) - Is this the future for manufacturing in America?

 

Gleanings of the Week Ending January 21, 2012

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The items below were ‘the cream’ of the articles I read this past week:

Office Workers Spend Too Much Time at Their Desks - A study that provides some numbers to what we intuitively know. This is why I try to get up at least once an hour and have a Black Swopper Chair  chair at my desk!

Fill in the gaps--bird the road less traveled this January - hmmm...there is a county near me that is white (a city…so this would be birding in parks) surrounded my dark gray. Maybe I should plan an outing to look for birds and complete an eBird checklist. They promise maps for February around the 1st of the month so this could be an outing for next month too.

Sewer Mining - reusing wastewater in a decentralized, small scale way; example projects from around the world

The Parrot Trade - Lots of pictures of parrots included chicks/juveniles…and the disturbing wild-caught trade that persists

49 ways to save water - The ongoing drought in many parts of the US and other parts of the world prompts us to take a harder look at how we, as individuals, use water

What is your state good at - Map of the US with graphics associated with each state. Text follows to explain what it means

Photosynthesis Fuel Company Gets a Large Investment - plant being built near Leander, TX. The goal is to produce 20,000 gallons of ethanol per acre per year rather than the 2,000-3,000 gallons per acre achieved with cellulosic fuels such as grass and wood chips.

How Coffee Changed America - an infographic with the history (you’ll have to click on it and enlarge to read the text) followed by a write up on modern issues surrounding coffee

Top 25 Wild Bird Photographs of the Week - from the Wild Bird Trust of South Africa…and there should be more in the weeks to come

Video of recent Solar Flare - colorful close up from NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory

Making origami paper cubes - This has a video made by two girls to show exactly how it’s done.

Gleanings for the Week Ending January 14, 2012

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The items below were ‘the cream’ of the articles I read this past week:

Where the tech workers are - Percentage of computer, engineering, science workers in the adult civilian workforce by state collected by the American Community Survey

Shifts in Employment - Jobs are reduced by information technology at a faster rate than new ones are being created.

Getting Things Done - the collection of David Allen’s free articles detailing tips for how to organize yourself better

The Sands of Time - The 2011 collection at The Poetry Porch edited by Joyce Wilson; in honor of Julia Budenz

Colorado Mountain Hail May Disappear in a Warmer Future - A new model predicts the hail will fall as rain instead

Insect Macro Photography - A collection of photos…also includes pointers to some how-to guides (insectography and DaveWilsonPhotography)

Big Bend National Park - This is a park I have not visited…but would like to. This is a good summary of what it has to offer.

Cape Code Soft Molasses Cookies - these sound yummy…something I’ll try for the next special occasion at our house

Flavor Pairings - pointers to multiple lists…a great resource for trying out some now-to-you food/spices pairings

Community Supported Agriculture - find a farm near you that sells produce through ‘shares’…something I am considering for the upcoming growing season. There is one very near where I live.

Gleanings for the Week Ending January 7, 2012

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The items below were ‘the cream’ of the articles I read this past week:

Gleanings of the Week Ending December 31, 2011

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The items below were ‘the cream’ of the articles I read this past week:

To those who are lonely at Christmas - a poem from Joanna Paterson....it applies to other special holidays as well.

Birding in the National Parks - National Parks Traveler summary of articles on this topic during 2011

eBird - A site hosted by the Cornell Ornithology Department and National Audubon Society. I found it via a ‘Birding in the National Parks’ article. The site is well organized and useful for serious birders as well as more casual observers.

Holiday Guide to Ruse and Recycling - Now that the holiday is waning….time to clean up.

Was 2011 the Year of the Mega-Fire? - A retrospective the large fires of 2011 and a look at the future potential for mega-fires

7 Actions for Becoming More Like Yourself in 2012 - Food for thought as you plan your 2012

Visualizing Asian Energy Consumption - Good graphics showing worldwide energy consumption.

Traveler’s Checklists for 11 National Parks - If you are planning a trip to Guilford Courthouse National Military Park, Kings Mountain National Military Park, Crater Lake National Park, Fort Sumter National Monument, Zion National Park, Wright Brothers National Memorial, Gettysburg National Military Park, Cape Lookout National Seashore, Petersburg National Battlefield or Jefferson National Expansion Memorial…these can help you get the most from you visit.

Circumnavigating the Svalbard Archipelago in the Arctic Circle - Longish post with lots of pictures and associated commentary