For reasons involving transnational calls, scheduling conflicts, and one very pissed off chipmunk, my brain is taking the rest of the day off. Here’s a pretty picture:)
Posted in Likes | Tagged awesome, brains, chipmunks, inspiration, photos, pretty, US Interior, work | Leave a Comment »
Things learned while perusing Tasmanian recipes for the Vietnamese beef curry I will not be having for dinner (why must you torture me with your delicious culinary aromas, o neighbor who is also an excellent cook?)
- cassia quill == cinnamon stick
- telegraph cucumbers == English cucumbers
- punnet == basket as for berries (small? large? woven wood or pre-formed plastic? still so much to learn!)
Posted in Food and... | Tagged beef curry, cinnamon, cucumbers, dinner, food, home, inspiration, Tasmania, Thoughts, Vietnamese food | Leave a Comment »
Ah, Friday! I am coming to the end of this week’s work and so have the time for efforts of a less, shall we say, prosaic nature. My project for this weekend will be to build a Museum of Lost Things.
I imagine it will be just as difficult and interesting as one might expect:)
Posted in Writing | Tagged creativity, home, inspiration, persistence, sff, work | Leave a Comment »
That’s right, Canadian citizenship! It’s officially official. Break out the poutine!
Posted in Other | Tagged awesome, Canadian citizenship, citizenship, home, o canada, yay | Leave a Comment »
Today I bring you a great article in National Geographic, The Hunt for Life Beyond Earth. Written by Michael D. Lemonick with gorgeous photography by Mark Thiessen, the piece asks that age-old question: Are we alone?
We may find the answer to that question sooner than we think.
/insert dramatic music here!
Posted in Science! | Tagged aliens, astrobiology, extraterrestrial life, extremophiles, Mark Thiessen, Michael D. Lemonick, NASA, National Geographic, science, SETI, snottites, the Drake equation | Leave a Comment »
Liberty is always dangerous, but it is the safest thing we have.
— Harry Emerson Fosdick
And also:
You have to love a nation that celebrates its independence every July 4, not with a parade of guns, tanks, and soldiers who file by the White House in a show of strength and muscle, but with family picnics where kids throw Frisbees, the potato salad gets iffy, and the flies die from happiness. You may think you have overeaten, but it is patriotism.
— Erma Bombeck
Posted in Holidays | Tagged America, Erma Bombeck, Fourth of July, Harry Emerson Fosdick, home, independence day, quotes, Thoughts, USA, yay | Leave a Comment »
I like to cook. I like science. I extra like it when the two come together. Since Canada Day is coming up on July 1st and Independence Day is on the 4th, I thought I’d bring you this easy (and kinda science-y) way to tell if you have enough propane in your BBQ tank to make it through the festivities.
Thank you, America’s Test Kitchen:)
Posted in Food and..., Science! | Tagged America's Test Kitchen, awesome, BBQ, Canada Day, clever, cooking, independence day, parties, tips | Leave a Comment »
A new report is calling for the global banning of two common pesticides, neonicotinoids and fipronil. Why? Bees. Also birds, earthworms, other pollinators and aquatic invertebrates, but let’s focus on bees for a minute.
If the bee disappeared off the surface of the globe, then man would have only four years of life left. No more bees, no more pollination, no more plants, no more animals, no more man.
― Albert Einstein
Maybe you’re sick of hearing that chemicals are implicated in colony collapse disorder and bee deaths? Maybe your eyes glaze over when someone mentions the importance of bees to the ecosystem? Well, are you sick of eating? Because that’s what this discussion is really about.
One of every three bites of food comes from plants pollinated by honeybees and other pollinators.
The Task Force on Systemic Pesticides is putting out the Worldwide Integrated Assessment of the Impact of Systemic Pesticides on Biodiversity and Ecosystems (yeah, it’s a mouthful, just call it WIA, or on Twitter: #WIAlaunch). It’s the most comprehensive study of neonics ever done, it’s peer reviewed, and it includes industry-sponsored research as well as other source material. The picture it paints is not pretty. From a Treehugger article on the report:
Many of the findings are shocking. The concentrations of chemicals building up in waters exceeds levels approved as safe by pesticide regulations. Many of the species occupying critical links low in our food chains are being exposed via multiple pathways and by cocktails of chemicals acting together.
…
Scientists note that the prophylactic use of pesticides rivals CAFO antibiotic abuse; in both practices, chemicals are dosed into our environment causing real problems in a quest to avoid potential problems.
This Is What Our Grocery Shelves Would Look Like Without Bees
We’d be eating porridge, rice, bread — not much else. Life would be awful.
We’re lucky enough to have a food factory where the most important workers do the job for free, and we’re dousing them with poison. Where’s the sense in that? Humanity is often smart and frequently innovative, particularly when something we care about is threatened. We got over our devil-may-care love affair with DDT when it was shown to have persistent toxicological effects on the environment and, you know, life. We can do this too.
Posted in Food and..., Science! | Tagged bees, chemicals, colony collapse disorder, Einstein, environmental sustainability, food, neonics, pesticides, pollinator health, pollinators, pollution, precautionary principle, science, Thoughts, WIAlaunch | Leave a Comment »
-
Recent Posts
She Said, He Said
-
-
Favorite Posts
Archives
Categories
It’s All So Random
What I’m Reading
You must be logged in to post a comment.