dandelions — 2013 — The 21st Century Matriarch

The items below were ‘the cream’ of the articles and websites I found this past week. Click on the light green text to look at the article.

The electric car is here to stay - Infographic showing the history of electric cars.

New Rockies GigaPannery - 8 geology related panoramas from the Rockies allowing zoom in to the various parts of the image. One is a road cut (a typical stop on a geology field trip!).

Kid Friendly Dyeing - Making your own play silks - My daughter and made tie-dyed silk scarves many years ago with Kool-Aid. We didn’t achieve the really bright colors but I still have some of the pastel creations. One is tied to the handle of my purse this summer!

Dew on Dandelions - Turning weeds into things of beauty. I’ve always liked the puffs of dandelions but I haven’t caught them with dew (see my ‘best’ photo to date to the left).

What do supernovae and salad dressing have in common? - Watch the video!

What can we do to make cities less lonely for the elderly? - Use the arrows to bring up annotations on the city scenes. Many things that make is less lonely for the elderly also make it better for everyone else too!

Inca Children Got High before Death - Mummies of three children sacrificed about 500 years ago and discovered in a high altitude cave in 1999. The hair analysis showed consumption of alcohol and coca in the year before their deaths. That consumption spiked dramatically in the weeks before their deaths.

Boys with Autism or ADHD More Prone To Overuse Video Games - Technology is a mixed blessing. There is a challenge that all people have to use it effectively - rather than becoming addicted or overwhelmed. Evidently autism and ADHD make the challenge even higher.

Living Longer, Living Healthier: People Are Remaining Healthier Later in Life - This is certainly what we hope is happening and will continue.

8 tips to make your life more surprising, from Tania Luna, Surprisologist - Cultivating the ‘surprise’ in life is well worth the effort. I wrote down my answer to ‘What surprised you today?’ for several years and then transitioned to recording the ‘little celebrations.’ There is definitely an overlap between the two!

The dandelions beat the application of pre-emergent on our lawn this year. We have quite a crop. The flowers are low to the ground so that the mower would completely miss them. One year I had my (young) daughter take a little basket and fill it with the flowers. She enjoyed plucking them as they nestled in the grass almost like an Easter egg hunt; but there were so many buds waiting to open and produce seeds that the exercise did not diminish the dandelion population in our yard.

I’ve read that the colonists actually brought dandelions as a garden plant - used for salads. The greens taste bitter to me although supposedly if they are harvested early enough they are less so. The flower petals add an interesting color to salad; they don’t have much flavor (which may be a good thing).

This year my husband has already started his battle with the dandelions by spraying them. We both know that it is likely a losing battle.