A Simple One Pot Meal

      Again, with camping season upon us we need to think about preparing for the trip.  If you're able to drive to your camp site, and can therefore bring more things (as opposed to packing in, when you are forced to meals of dried foods), you can bring a cooler full of fresh foods.  Once the chore of setting up a camp is done you can enjoy the rest of the time relaxing (except for hauling wood, and water to camp all the time and chopping the wood for cooking, for wash water, and for the sheer relaxation value of a nice fire at night).

      Although the main goal is relaxing and reconnecting with good friends, you still have to eat.  Here's a fairly easy, yet tasty recipe you can cook in one pot, or dutch oven.  I don't have a name for it so call it whatever you want to.  
      Start of with enough chicken for everyone you're going to be feeding.  You better have a pot big enough to start off with then too.  
      Put enough flour into the pot to cover all the chicken well.  Mix your spices right in with the flour.  I might suggest things like sage, thyme, oregano, basil, celery seed, salt, pepper, and of course garlic.  Add to or subtract from this list as you like, and use concentrations according to your own liking.  
      Roll the pieces of chick in the flour mixture.  
      Throw a half stick of butter into the pot.  
      Hang the pot low to the fire (use enough s-hooks to get the pot just above the flame) - and having a hotter fire is good at this point. 

     (or those of you who don't know what an s-hook is, they are for hanging pots over the fire.  They come in different sizes, and can be strung together to form a long chain to reach all the way down to the fire.  You can adjust the height of you pot up or down by adding/removing s-hooks.  In other words, to have camp cooking success, you adjust the pots, not the fire.) 
      Brown the chicken a bit.  You don't have to worry about cooking it all the way through at this point, because there is much more cooking to come.  As you are browning the meat throw in some chopped onions to saute.  
      Cut up some carrots and throw them into the pot as well, along with enough potatoes to feed everybody.  Don't chop the potatoes, just cut them in half.  
      Pour White Zinfandel into the pot, covering the mixture, and place the lid onto the pot.  Let it reach a boil, then raise the pot up high (use just your smallest s-hook) to simmer for about an hour to an hour and a half.  Check for tenderness with a fork.  It should be done by this time.  
      Serve it up!  If you want to, you could mash up the potatoes with a fork, and pour the gravy over them. 

Where the Modern Meets the Ancient

Science Fridays

      Today's post is so late, due to a thunderstorm, and accompanying power outage.  Power's back on, so here it is.  

      Many of my Science Friday posts have been about either, space exploration, technologies, or palaeontology.  The subject of today's post combines all three.  The studies of palaeontology have been getting quite a boost with help from the other branches of science. 
      The space program has been extremely helpful by turning some of their cameras and equipment inward and looking at the Earth.  Using satellites they have been able to discover ancient cities, that have been lost and forgotten about for millennia.  Even some novices have found as yet undiscovered ancient structures just using Google Earth.  They have been spotted in clearings out in the middle of wild places. 

      In jungle regions such as the Yucatan, in Mexico, where the foliage is too thick to see anything through it the satellite images don't find anything.  That's where other cameras come in handy.  Looking down from space they use infrared imaging to scan the jungle and forest landscapes.  Many of the ancient cities were made of stone.  Being much colder than the surrounding vegetation these ancient, abandoned cities, and other structures.  South-east Asia has many ancient sites (in phenomenal numbers) that have not been discovered yet.  Unfortunately for the world of palaeontology, some of these countries aren't too keen on having any western surveillance aircraft flying over their airspace, nor even surveillance satellites pointing at them. 

      While looking for settlements even more ancient than the first cities researchers have utilized such techniques as seismic imaging.  Using technologies such as this they have been able to locate ancient foundations and even 10,000 year old post holes.  
      Chemical spectral analysis has been used to determine where exactly a person has lived or even traveled.  "Otzi," the mummified corpse they found in a glacier in the Alps was analyzed in this way to determine his place of origin, and to learn where he had traveled.  Both he and the grain he was carrying (and had eaten before he died) where run through chemical spectral analysis.  Plants pick up the local chemicals in the soil they grow in.  Anything that eats those plants picks up those specific chemicals and unique isotopes too.  In this way it works as a fingerprint to pinpoint location.  

      DNA research has made great leaps and strides in the last two decades.  Looking at minor differences between DNA strains, the palaeontologist can understand who various people groups are related to.  In this way migrations of people groups have been tracked.  In fact, due to DNA studies much of what was previously written on the subject has been turned on its head, and needs to be rewritten.  Through DNA research we have learned for instance that all Native Americans have Asian DNA, which they had always suspected, but they also found out that the very first people to come to America were hunter-gatherers from western France.  They learned that the Semitic races all came out of sub-Saharan Africa, and that groups of them went out to over run all of Europe.  Through these studies they also learned that all the Indo-European peoples came out of north-central Asia.  
      Even ages of various people groups can be determined through DNA analysis.  This is because mitochondrial DNA has a very specific rate of change.  This way they can tell when one group separated from another.  

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      In other science news for this week, the World Science Festival started in New York this week.  Major topics for discussion at this years festival include such things as the study of extra-solar planets, the studies of cosmic sands to understand the origins of the Solar System, and multiple universes, or as they call it "The Multiverse." 

The Results of Unsatisfactory Results  

      Today I heard a very funny news report.  It wasn't intended to be funny I think, but I have an affliction wherein I think things through, and I have a very warped mind.  The result of that is I find things funny that most people wouldn't.  In fact most people would never even consider joking about some of the things that I find as funny.  The picture below illustrates this point well. 

      The story I laughed at today was about Frosted Mini Wheats.  They have become the target of a class action lawsuit.  "So how is that funny?", you might ask. 

      They are being sued for false advertising.  Yes.  Over the last several years they have had commercials where they say something like, "Breakfast is the most important meal of the day.  Frosted Mini Wheats have all the vitamins and minerals your child needs.  They will give your child energy that will last through the morning.  A good breakfast with Frosted mini Wheats will help your child to pay attention and help your child's memory."  

      They are not being sued for the first statement, for that statement is true.  Breakfast IS the most important meal of the day.  Many well paid off scientists have said so.  They are not being sued for the second statement either, for that is also true.  They do contain all that FDA daily requirement stuff.  Even the third statement is true.  Whole wheat (especially with all the bran) is a complex carbohydrate, and takes longer to break down in the digestive system.  The result of that is it provides energy over a longer period of time.  Even the last statement is bathed in truth.  A good breakfast will help keep a person's mind operating at its optimum.  The problem is that "its" in this context is a relative term.  

      The brain will operate at "its" optimum, meaning its own optimum.  Each brain is different, and each brain has its own level that would be called optimum.  The brain of a garden slug for instance, while operating at its optimum would make that slug eat slimy things and make much slime of its own.  Sheldon Cooper's brain, just like the brains of some real life geeks who are just like him operating at optimum would think up some really cool physics formulas for string theory, or something, and severely annoy everyone within his spheres of contact. 
      They are being sued for the claim that Frosted Mini Wheats will help your child's memory and attention span.  The chief lawyer for the prosecution in this case was being interviewed, and he was asked how this case originated.  

      He said there were a few parents who were unsatisfied with the results (now that's the part that's real funny).  When I heard that while driving along I burst out in laughter.  I visualized  a family (possibly from a trailer court) saying (and with a Forest Gump accent), "Our kids are idiots and they forget stuff all the time.  We fed them Frosted Mini Wheats for two years, and they're still morons.  I want my money back." 
      And that's all the plaintiffs in the case will get - enough money to pay for a few boxes of Frosted Mini Wheats.  The judge presiding over the case should have thrown it right out of court.  He should have looked the parents right in the eye and said, "Frosted Mini Wheats won't help your kids.  Nothing will.  Your children's problem is genetic." 
      The principle is simple enough.  If you plant corn seed, you're going to get corn for your harvest.  If you plant wheat, you're going to get wheat.  And what you get from the seed from a couple of idiot morons is more idiot morons.  Dum Basses.  'Nuff said.  

      And one more thing; the results of the court case.  Kellogs not only lost the case, but they were ordered to reword their commercials.  They can still say that breakfast is important, but they could no longer say that Frosted Mini Wheats will improve anything.  They can only say that eating Frosted Mini Wheats is better than eating nothing at all.  Seriously. 

Time For An Anniversary

The Arts

      Yes, one hundred years ago today (Wednesday) a musical score premiered that redefined classical music for the 20th Century, and its accompanying ballet redefined modern dance.  If you have already guessed that it was "Le Sacre Du Printemps," otherwise known as "The Rite of Spring" by Igor Stravinsky, then I am impressed.  I truly am.  The Avant Garde work was so different from what concert goers were used to that when it premiered in Paris on May 29, 1913 a riot broke out.  

      Previous to this ballets were all danced by stereotypical ballerinas wearing tutus (the larger ones had to wear four-fours), and men in leotards who appeared to be very in touch with their feminine sides.  The music was all perfectly metrical, and mathematic, and other than a few maverick composers, most musical pieces were named things like Opus 37, and Divertimento in E Flat Major  Divertimento in E Flat Major is actually a great tune, but its title is as boring as a discussion on garden slugs.  The most exciting thing in the classical world had been Chopin, and Franz Liszt (who was really "the world's first rock star" - Anne Anderson, PhD - 1986).   Most men in that era Just went to the opera and to ballets with their binoculars to "cheque ou't le Chics." (which was finally perfected decades later by Arthur Fonzerelli as "checking out chicks").  Renoir even painted this theme in one of his paintings.  Real rebels would use their dessert fork to eat a salad.
      Where was music going before this?  What direction were the greatest creative minds of the era heading at that time?  (The not so great minds were just copying the styles of the status quo).  I can't say for sure, but have a hunch.  I had the privilege once to hear a very rare wax cylinder recording of one of Johannes Brahms' last compositions (it might have actually been his last work, but I can't say for sure - I don't remember).  It begins with an introduction from Maestro Brahms himself.  It was a ragtime piece. 
      Igor Stravinsky wrote The Rite of Spring.  It has great contrapuntal leitmotivs, and seems to change time signatures at will.  Sacre du Printemps uses dissonance as a tool, with a primitive back beat.   Stravinsky was assisted in this collaberation by Vaslav Nijinsky, who was the choreographer.  In the video sample below, it is quite tame compared to Nijinsky's production.  Nijinsky had all the performers dressed in "cave man" clothes (furs and a lot of nothing - a far cry from two-twos and four-fours), and he insisted that they have mud on their feet.

         A modern interpretation of the piece.  It is quite tame compared to the premier.

      Some of the patrons felt that a composition like this was a slap in the face to their social morms (which was partly the intent).  Combined with a choreography of half naked people jumping around like apes defending their territory, it was as if someone had dropped a fecal bomb in their Cheerios.
      Many of the patrons stood up in their seats (a big cultural no-no in that era - this was the Victorian era, after all).  They started screaming things not nice for "small ears" and booing loudly.  Other patrons applauded the artistic ingenuity (actually, not literally).  They also stood up in their seats, and they started to loudly shout "bravo."  They also shouted thing not nice for small ears, but these expletives were not directed at the stage, but rather at the patrons who were shouting "boo."  They probably called them things like "uncultured #!!&*@$ troglodytes, which probably confused the ballet dancers who were dressed like and portraying uncultured #!!&*@$ troglodytes.  It was that sort of thing that the "nay" side was shouting at them. 
      The Rite of Spring was both a catalyst for change and an evidence for changes that were already in motion  

Walt Disney also did an interpretation of the piece in "Fantasia" - a cartoon not as geared for children as his normal fare

Profits Are Sinking For Cruise Lines

      What the heck!?  Seriously, what the heck is wrong with the cruise lines?  They have ships that are breaking down at sea, backing up their plumbing, and bursting into flames.  We've seen their captains breaking down at sea too, and when they saw what they had done, their plumbing backed up too, and were probably ready to burst into flames (or tears, or both). 
      Within a very short time there have been either three or four cruise ships that had their engines quit running out in the middle of the ocean.  Maybe they should have paid closer attention to their "Check Engine" light.  

      Two of the cruise ships that broke down had small fires in the process of their breakdowns.  And there was a cruise ship in Norway caught on fire in a fjord, killing two people.  Another cruise ship just caught fire on a trip through the Bahamas yesterday.  Nobody was hurt, and they were all returned to Baltimore.  Passengers were refunded, and given free air flights home.  

  The Ship that ran aground, tipped over, then sank (it sounds like a Monty Python Skit)

                                           The Burning Ship in Norway

                                       The Ship that Burned Yesterday  

                                             Some Other Burning  Ship

      Most of the cruise ship mishaps have been with ships belonging to the Carnival Line.  Yesterday's fire though, was a ship belonging to Royal Caribbean.  I was pondering this today, and couldn't help but consider that these companies are having just about as much good fortune with their ships as the White Star Line, and the Cunard Line.  
      The Cunard line was the line withe all the huge ocean liners around 1911 - 1920.  They all had names that ended in "-ic", and most of them sunk with great loss of life.  They had the Titanic, the Britannic, the Oceanic, and so forth.  
      The White Star Line began as a rival to Cunard, and their disasters rivaled the Cunard Line too.  Their huge ocean liners had names ending in "-tania," such as the Aquitania, Mauritania, and the Lusitania.  

      Some people would say these cruise line companies, especially Carnival are having a real string of bad luck.  The people who believe in karma would insist that they must have done something bad - real, real bad - either here and now, or as they suggest, in a past life.  

      As I wanted to look up a few things about the Cunard Line, and the White Star Line if I was going to make crass comparisons between them and the Carnival line, I was mildly surprised by my findings.  I was also amused in a very ironic sort of way.  Back in the latter 1800's the Cunard line was the big company, but then along came their huge competition, the White Star Line.  It was at this point that their board of executives made a series of bad decisions, either that or they held a seance to summon the dark one.  It was at this time that to some they appeared cursed.  The designs they chose for their ships were about 93% flawless, but it's that 7% of flaw that will kill you.  One by one their not quite exactly flawless ships sunk to the bottom of the sea.  
      Since that didn't work they chose "Option Two" next.  "Option Two" was simply to buy the White Star Line, and create a merged company called the Cunard White Star Line.  During this reign of terror is when they created the whole ill fated "-tania" line of ships.  After all the "-tania" disasters, they did okay for several decades, until the 1950's.  That was when the Andrea Doria tipped over and sank right in the harbor.  
      Then came "Option Three," which I call the ironic option.  This is when the Cunard White Star Line along with all their apparent curses changed their name to....... wait for it....... Carnival.  Yep.  And it seems that their curses are still with them today.  

A Time to Honor Our Fallen Soldiers - Memorial Day 

 
      Memorial Day here in America is a day that people all across the country will visit cemeteries, and put flowers on graves, and flags on the graves of veterans.  It is a day filled with picnics, prayers, and political speeches.  It is a day to honor those who gave their lives in the service of this country.  
      Memorial Day differs from Veterans day in a few key points.  Veterans Day honors all people who have served in the US Armed Services.  Memorial Day honors specifically those who died while in that service.  Veterans Day arose out of a holiday that was called Armistice Day; a day to commemorate the veterans of World War I.  Right after World War II, veteran Raymond Weeks and General Dwight Eisenhower pushed to have the observance to include all veterans.  During his administration in 1954, then President Eisenhower signed the bill to enact Veterans Day, to honor all veterans.  Memorial Day began as a holiday called Decoration Day.  People decorated the graves of soldiers who had died while in service in US conflicts.  
      The custom of decorating the graves of fallen soldiers with flowers goes back to very ancient times.  In the US the custom took on new energy during and after the Civil War.  On June 3 1861, in Warrenton, Virginia a public observance was made and the graves of fallen soldiers were decorated.  In 1862 it is well documented that the women of Savannah Georgia observed a day of memorium for fallen soldiers of the war.  Memorial observance was made at the dedication of Gettysburg National Cemetery in 1863, and there was a prominent memorial service for fallen soldiers as part of the July 4th celebrations in Boalsburg, Pennsylvania in 1864.  
      After the war there were many and various annual memorial observances in various places for those who died in the Civil War.  This was due to the somber statistics of the Civil War.  Over 600,000 soldiers lost their lives in this conflict.  These "Decoration Days" would take place on dates ranging from April 24 to July 4.  For the first few years afterward, these observances were exclusive.  They either honored the dead Union soldiers without any consideration for the fallen Confederate soldiers, or vice versa.  National Cemeteries such as Arlington National Cemetery and Gettysburg National Cemetery were created initially for fallen Union soldiers only.  In 1868 a National Decoration Day was enacted by Union General John Logan to honor the fallen Union Soldiers.  May 30th was the day chosen, because that would be the day that the most flowers would be available.  

                    Union Veterans in Boston Observing Decoration Day

      In 1866 the women of Columbus Mississippi laid flowers on the graves of Confederate and Union Soldiers alike.  It was this event that General Logan used as a model for his "Decoration Day."  For years, the North and the South each had their own versions of the day.  It first became more of a true national event after the Memorial Day event of July 1913.  There were four days of parades, picnics, reenactments, and speeches honoring the soldiers of both sides of the conflict.  

                           Gettysburg National Cemetery and Monument

      There's nothing so unifying to a populace as a war.  After the US involvement in World War I "Decoration Day" became a time to also honor the fallen soldiers from the trenches of France.  The holiday didn't take on the full meaning of honoring ALL fallen US soldiers though until after World War II.  
      Although the name "Memorial Day" was first used in 1882, that name for the holiday wasn't used by very many people until after the second World War.  The name of the holiday was changed officially by Federal law in 1967.  My grandparents continued to call it Decoration Day for their whole lives.  

 

               A Newspaper cartoon depicting the observance of Decoration Day

      Official observance of the holiday includes raising the flag quickly to the top, then solemnly lowering it to half staff to honor the dead.  The flag is left at half staff until noon, when it is raised up to full staff.  This is symbolic of the living raising up the memory of their fallen comrades and resolving that their sacrifices were not in vain, and vowing to rise up in their places to continue the fight for liberty and justice.  
      Other elements of celebration include parades, and an annual nationally televised concert on the West Lawn of the White House.  Unofficial traditions include picnics and barbeques, and auto races the day before.  The Formula racers have held the Indianapolis 500  on that day since 1911, and NASCAR has held the Coca-Cola 600 in honor of the holiday since 1961 (and last night's race was amazing - it was an exciting race, and went so late I couldn't write today's post until this morning - many of the racers deserve credit for their skill, and congratulations to Kevin Harvick for an excellent finish and a first place trophy).  

                                                   "Lest We Forget"