Science Fridays
This week the world of the sciences has many stories to report; so many of them that it might have been hard to choose which one to publish for this week's Science Friday. In the world of drones, the Navy had success with a drone that can land on the deck of an aircraft carrier. A hovercraft golf cart has been developed. In Spain a computer program has been developed and used that mimics a 14 year old girl in order to catch online sexual predators. Those are just a few of the things this week from the world of science and technology.
So that makes this week perfect for observing the birthday of Nikola Tesla, and it is only fitting then that this week's post be about him. Maybe I can save the other stories for weeks that are scientifically and technologically weak.
Nikola Tesla was born in Serbia on July 10th, 1856 (died on Jan. 7, 1943). This man thought so far out of the box for his era that people are still trying to figure out all of his works. The world was just simply not ready for him yet. Someone during his lifetime, in his defense said something to the effect of, if you invent some great new life changing creation, everyone will pat you on the back and congratulate you. If you invent two things like that people still like it but you won't get the adulation. If you make three great things people will still use the invention, but will be leery of you. If you create any more than that people will fear you, refuse to acknowledge or use the invention, and they will brand you as a mad scientist.
Nikola was already well established in the world of science when he came to America at the invitation of Thomas Edison to work for him. His time with Edison was short lived and filled with stress and disappointment. He was basically treated as Edison's slave, and was only paid a very minimum wage. To get anything done he had to argue with Edison every step of the way, and anything he did accomplish for him was Edison's property. When he quit, Edison declared that Tesla owed him money, and that he had stolen some of Edison's inventions. After this Tesla built a lab just outside of Colorado Springs. His lab was raided and ransacked by some of "Edison's Men."
Some of the things that Tesla invented that are used all over today are the electric motor, radio, neon lights, remote control, and he made what can be called the first robot (the last two took a century for people to finally use and embrace). One of the things he argued with Edison over was using AC current instead of DC current for a number of reasons. DC current has too much "heat loss," (lines can't go too far from the power source before they lose power), is far more dangerous (what would be a shock with AC current would instantly kill a man who accidentally bumped a live DC line (many men died horrifyingly working with Edison's DC cables), and DC current is just way more expensive to operate. There are many other issues with DC current, but these are the main three. Edison refused to budge. Westinghouse, however did listen and after his ill fated stint with Edison Tesla worked with Westinghouse to develop a system for using AC power. The reason you can read this right now and have your lights on and a refrigerator keeping your food from spoiling, as well as a host of many other conveniences, is because of Tesla's work in this field.
Some of Tesla's most amazing work was from his years in Colorado Springs. In 1886 (a very early date for work such as this) he set up a bank of lights at the end of a field, each one equipped with something like a radio receiver. He then on the other end of the field set up an AC generator (an alternator - yes thank him for the fact that your car runs well and has lights and radio and the rest). With this alternator he had a device not unlike a radio transmitter and he broadcast the electricity to the lights on the other end of the field. He and his assistant were able to walk between the transmitter and the lights without any harm (below is an old photo of this experiment). What he had there was wireless transmission of electricity.
Tesla had a deep understanding of the workings of magnetism. He understood how the earth is a giant magnet, and he also used the earth itself to create electricity. He said that using just the static electricity from the earth people everywhere could have free electricity for all their needs.
One of his most controversial inventions was what he called the Teleforce. By his description, both of how it is made, and what it would be capable of doing, it would be the equivalent to a Star Wars blaster, or a Jaffa staff weapon. The US army upon hearing of it called it the Death Ray. Tesla's own description of it is a particle gun that "[The nozzle would] send concentrated beams of particles through the free
air, of such tremendous energy that they will bring down a fleet of
10,000 enemy airplanes at a distance of 200 miles from a defending
nation's border and will cause armies to drop dead in their tracks." In 1937 a banquet was given him in his honor for his experiment with the Death Ray. He explained though, "But it is not an experiment... I have built, demonstrated
and used it. Only a little time will pass before I can give it to the
world." None of the governments he approached however, wanted to by it. Someone did break in to his lab though, and try to steal it.
The same technology that would make a charged particle weapon possible would also make possible things such as force shields, cloaking, and propulsion for hovering, flying, and even space travel. He also claimed to be able to teleport both in space and time. Nearly every tech idea found in Science Fiction books and movies are derived from his works (both confirmed and claimed works). Conspiracy theory nuts love to cite his works.
Many inventions have been named after him (such as the Tesla coil), and so have been universities, labs, streets, and even a unit of measurement. Nikola Tesla was part of that generation that took the world from the last vestiges of the Medieval world into the modern world - from a world of mostly animal powered travel, and candle and lantern lighting to the speeding world of cars and electricity and radio. Had people not feared him and branded his work as balderdash and the ravings of a mad scientist, he would have completely bypassed the world we live in today and taken us straight into the world of Star Wars or Star Trek.
post # 77
At living history events, sometimes we try to keep things period correct. We make things that the Voyageurs would have eaten, or we eat traditional native foods, Sometimes people use recipes that can be authenticated to the periods we portray. At least we do this for the hours when there is public present. Fortunately, most of the things they ate then, like stews and roasted things have been around for millennia, although the details of which spices to use, or the exact method for cooking have changed. Breads have changed a lot, but many of the old recipes are still out there to be found.
Today's recipe is an easy one, It is basically pork chops baked in chili. It would be perfect for reenactors from the southwest, but if nobody sees you, or if those from the lodges near you are too critical, or if you just don't care what people think about what you eat, then go for it. This would be a good recipe to try at home too.
Start with a good chili (I'll give you that recipe here too) that has had enough time to meld all the flavors together. Tonight I used some leftover chili, and the flavors were perfect. Chili and spaghetti sauce are both things that taste much better the second time, so when I make these I make enough to have leftovers a couple of times. I often try my recipes at home first before taking it on the road to a ca,ping trip or to a rendezvous.
Heat your oven to 350 F.
In a heavy, cast iron fry pan pour some of the chili.
Lay in a layer of pork chops.
Pour more chili on top of them.
Add another layer of pork chops, and in turn cover them with chili too
Repeat this until your fry pan has enough in it to feed the people you are serving it too.
Make sure that there is chili covering the final layer of pork chops
Cover the fry pan and place it in the oven. Slow bake these for about an hour, but longer and slower if you want the meat to get more tender.
The acid in the tomatoes helps to break down the meat. I suppose you could do this same thing with a cheaper cut of beef. Pork steaks would also be great for this.
The Chili :
Brown the meat (whatever kind you use)
Into the heated kettle of cooking meat saute a whole chopped onion, about a half of a green pepper, and about a half cup of celery. At this time you should also add your spices:
salt,
pepper,
chili powder,
a healthy dose of ground cumin,
and much garlic.
(all to taste)
When the sauteing is done add a can of tomato sauce (two if you are making a big batch - use your noggin for something besides a hat rack and adjust everything according to how many victims you will have people you will be feeding).
Add:
a can of simple baked beans
a can of black beans or kidney beans.
a can of crushed tomatoes
(don't drain anything you're putting in this - those liquids provide another source of flavor)
Add your chilies or whatever source of heat you will use - again do this according to taste and preference (both your own and that of your victims gastronomical audience).
Simmer this until the flavors have melded well and some of the liquid is gone.
Eat it up while it's hot.
Both recipes can be made in a dutch oven.
Post # 76
There are just a lot of very odd things I read about this week, from the mad scientist who wants to conduct human head transplants to some of the quick snippets I will write about today. Weirdness seems to come in waves. Police forces anywhere will tell you, for instance, that they have all the strangest cases around a full moon. It's a new moon this week though, so I don't know what the gig is. Maybe all this odd stuff happened on a full moon week, and the incidents are just getting reported now. I don't know.
If weirdness comes in waves, then this week is a veritable tsunami.
A woman in Seattle named Eliza Webb got her car broken into. There were a few things stolen, but the thief dropped his cell phone in the car while robbing it. Mrs. Webb scrolled through the contacts list and called the thief's mom. After a little embarrassment mom got involved in her son's rehabilitative correction. The son is 19 years old and still living at home. Apparently he and a friend got drunk (how many bad stories begin with "well me and my friend got drunk,...") and then went on a car robbing spree.
Eliza Webb and the kid's mom began by confronting the prodigal boy and broke him down to a puddle of tears. Then they made the two young men go to every person they had robbed, return the stolen property, and apologize. I think there was an offer of restitution too.
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Robert Vann Marshall of McMinn County Tennessee, an abusive man, was sent to jail for breaking an Order For Protection filed by the County Court on behalf of his wife. He had threatened to kill her over the order. After spending time in jail for it he was released and went straight to his wife's home. The wife called 911 as he was trying to break into the house. Mr. Marshall broke in successfully and his estranged wife retreated to a back room. While still on the phone with 911 she shot him dead with one shot (good shootin' lady! See, this is why we need to retain our right to keep and bear arms). This all happened in a little less than fifteen minutes after his release from jail. Officials are calling this a shooting in self defense.
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There could be a new member to S.H.I.E.L.D.'s Avenger Initiative. Let me introduce to you Lady Hulk. Helen Stephens calls herself that because of a rare disease she has. Her disease has baffled the medical personnel working on her case. Whenever she gets upset about something, her muscles start to swell up and bulk out - in other words, she goes Hulk. She doesn't turn green though, so I guess that's a good thing. It just causes her a lot of pain, so maybe if she did turn green it would at least make the situation seem kind of cool. It would maybe distract from the pain a little.
Ms. Stephens has scars from the muscles ripping. From the description I read it sounds like she gets charlie horse in every muscle in her body simultaneously. Since the condition is activated by her getting mad or upset, the only thing she can do right now is stay as calm as possible (as the medical professionals can't do anything except prescribe pain killers after she has "Hulked" - they don't really know what she has let alone how to treat it), and avoid stressful situations. Maybe she should go have a shawarma. It wouldn't cure anything, but it would make the situation a little more bearable.
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The final story for today involves the Galaxy S3. They are in the news again, because yet another one exploded. What do these things have in them that makes them apparently achieve critical mass? Fanny Schlatter of Switzerland was at work with her Samsung Galaxy S3 phone in her pocket when it exploded. She suffered severe burns on her leg and had to have her pants surgically removed. This is the first injury caused by the Galaxy S3.
A man in Dublin had his Galaxy S3 explode in his car, and a south Korean man had the battery from his Galaxy Note just burst into flames. Over the years there have actually been several different cell phones that have exploded, and some of these have caused minor injuries.
Fanny Schlatter with her exploded Galaxy S3 and the bandages on her leg from the incident
Post # 75
Today's story is the stuff that really creepy bad dreams are made out of - that and really awful B- and C+ Sci-Fi movies. What I'm talking about is head transplants. I'm probably going to have nightmares just for reporting/writing this story. I actually wish I hadn't read the report on this, but you can't unread something, just like you can't unsee, or unhear something. So why not share my misery with you, so we can all have bad dreams together.
Just a few days ago in a post I said that there are so many research labs out there researching so many things, that if
there's something you can imagine - even really weird things - then
there is probably a research lab somewhere already working on it. That statement was made more true again today - unfortunately.
Italian neuroscientist Dr. Sergio Canavero of the Turin Advanced Neuromodulation Group recently published a paper outlining how to successfully accomplish this macabre feat (if you can call making a whole generation of society have nightmares that you can't wake up from a success). Dr. Canavero is calling the procedure a "head transplant," but since the consciousness of a person resides in their head, it is really a body transplant. The multitude of ethical questions concerning all this are flooding through my head like the images from a bad New Wave video from the mid 80's.
Many years ago someone successfully transplanted a monkey's head (or rather a monkey's body, but it wasn't a complete success. In fact I don't see it as a success at all. They couldn't connect the spinal cords, leaving the poor monkey a quadriplegic that needed to be on a life support machine in order to breathe or even pump blood. Dr. Canavero says that he has figured out how to make those connections.
Dr. Sergio Canavero
In his report he said the key is first of all to make a very clean cut through the spinal cords. The name of Canavero's project is called Project Gemini. Specific goals Canavero and his research team have are treating things like muscular dystrophy and quadriplegia with massive organ failure, among other things. Besides being sure to make a clean cut through the two spinal cords, the team at Turin say that they will use polyethylene glycol as an adhesive to attach the base of the skull to the donor body.
Dr. Canavero and his team are being called everything from geniuses to mad scientists (gee, I wonder why). Dr. Jerry Silver, neurologist from Case Western Reserve University said, "This is bad science. This should never happen."
Dr. Canavero, the part time mad scientist and evil genius in his lab
The whole idea just creeps me out beyond my ability to really even express it. If I was faced with a choice between dying and having my head put on a body that's not my own, I would gladly choose death. It would be a nightmare that I would be unable to awake from. I wouldn't care that I would be able to control all actions of this foreign body, or be able to feel all things through it. I would feel no better than a Goa'uld, possessing and controlling a body against its will. I know; the body wouldn't have a will, because its (his - it better be a his. If they put my head on a her, I'd be peed off besides being totally freaked out) head will have been removed.
Then comes some of the ethical questions. Whose body would they "donate?" Would it be someone who died in a construction accident by getting an I-beam through the head without any damage to the rest of the body? Or, would they use the body of some criminal who is no longer on death row, because he left death row the hard way? Or would it just be someone who they decided had a life that wasn't worth living, so his body would be donated to someone who they felt would make "better" use of it? Maybe they could get someone deeply in debt to donate his body in return for his debts and his family being taken care of for life.
According to Dr. Canavero the procedure would cost (today) about $13 million US. Given that I could see that only the very privileged one percenters would ever get the privilege to experience this nightmare. In fact, some of this group of people probably wouldn't be bothered by possessing someone else's body anyway. Those people among them whom they feel are better than everyone else would receive new bodies again and again, as often as the bodies wore out. Lorenzo Magrassi of the University of Pavia and his research team in an unrelated series of studies have just proven that brain cells can outlive the rest of the body by a long shot. Magrassi and his colleagues recently published the results of this study in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
So what do you think? Is it a good idea, bad science, or just plain creepy?
I have posted a few things on here that are quite unbelievable, but this one you are probably thinking, "No way whatsoever. This has to be the biggest load of BS you ever wrote. When looking for a picture of Dr. Sergio Canavero, I found the internet filled to the full with stories about this. If you think this is baloney, then just do a quick google search under his name.
Keeping the Ticks At Bay
Dirty, rotten, little, disease carrying bloodsuckers. Lyme's isn't the only thing they can carry. If you get bit by one, even if they don't carry Lyme's, you can still get an infection from them and have a spot that swells up and doesn't heal for about a week or more. Some areas have more of them than other areas. Some areas seem to just have a natural infestation of them. That's the case in the woods around where I live. When I was a kid growing up here I remember there were always lots of ticks here. Not as many as there were mosquitoes (mosquitoes get so big and numerous here that they can carry away small livestock).
Wood ticks are ugly enough, but bloated, they are just gross
The ticks seem to be immune to any type of bug repellant. I'm not sure if even ant and roach killer spray kills them unless it is sprayed directly on them, and they suffocate. And that takes a long time too. I've seen it. Those little buggers can hold their breath for well over an hour. I've found that the best way to kill them if you find one crawling on you is to throw it into the microwave for a couple of minutes. My dad, grandpa, and others used to try to hold onto them as they burned them with a lighter or a match. I watched a lot of burnt fingers that way, and heard a lot of cuss words that went with the burned fingertips. IF you can get a good grip on them between your fingernails, then you can tear them in half. But if you keep breaking fingers and thumbs and having other injuries to your digits, getting the necessary grip is kind of hard. So microwave it is. But don't get caught. Your family will want to empty a 55 gal. drum of bleach into the microwave, and then still throw it out to the dump.
The best thing you can do is to try and prevent them from being around you in the first place. But like I said, repellant doesn't work. I knew a guy from around here who took tick and flea collars meant for dogs, and tied them around his ankles. Since a tick can jump 20 feet (*actually, ticks can't really jump, even though my old World Book Encyclopedia I had when I was a kid says they do - and I do still have that old encyclopedia - they can't. It just seems like they do. They just sit high on the foliage and wait to fall on you - like hungry, bloodthirsty goblins. But for the sake of drmatic writing I will still say that they do, because it sure seems like it*), they just jumped up(**), way past his ankles, and into his hair. The only thing those collars did for him was make him look dorky.
For about ten years I raised chickens along with a lot of other livestock. During the entire time I had those chickens I hardly ever saw a wood tick (unless I went out into the woods, of course, which I do a lot). At least I didn't see them in my yard, or have them wait outside the door like hungry goblins and wait for me to open the door and make their 20 foot leap into the house (**I really have no idea how they get into the house, but, **). I'm not joking or exaggerating about this. They really have done that this year. I've found them crawling along the floor about six different times. They went right past the ant and roach spray barrier, that the ants won't cross. I know. That sounds really sad. I think that maybe they like to eat the poison in between their three blood meals. At least the poison kills some of the bacteria that infests their mouths.
An infected sore caused by by a wood tick bite
That's one of the weird things about ticks (besides looking weird, being able to leap long distances, and being too flat to crush like any normal, self respecting bug). They only eat three blood meals during their entire two year life. I get crabby if I go a few hours late on my lunch. No wonder they sit outside my door like a bunch of angry, bloodthirsty goblins. They are a bunch of angry, bloodthirsty goblins. If they could talk, you would be able to hear them say, "I smell man flesh!" I don't know what they eat between the blood meals - maybe nothing.
The tick, specifically the deer tick, however, isn't the real culprit in Lyme's disease. The tick is just sometimes a carrier. I read an article on PBS Nova's web site wherein the causes of Lyme's disease were discussed. The real culprit is the White Footed Mouse. Apparently the White Footed Mouse always has Lyme's disease. It;s like they're born with it or something. They don't live long enough to be affected by the disease. Ticks get the disease when they bite a White Footed Mouse for one of its three blood meals. The White Footed Mouse eats a diet almost exclusively of acorns. Every three years oaks produce more acorns than normal, and the population of the White Footed Mouse explodes. Then more ticks get the disease. Fortunately for me the forest around me has no oaks. They were all burned out in a massive forest fire almost a hundred years ago. The fire was so severe that there were no oaks left for seed. They never came back.
About seven years ago I quit raising livestock. I was always having to mend fences that were knocked down during the night by the deer, and then chase my cattle halfway across the township to get them all back in again. I think the deer wanted them to go free. No, actually the deer are just really stupid and will run through the same fence again and again. Their brains are too small to have any room in there for anything that they wouldn't experience in their natural world. Their brains are only about the size of a tablespoon or two (why do I know this? I've saved the brains before for brain tanning their hides, and that's all that's in there). This is the same reason they run out in front of cars. Their little tablespoon sized brains can't see anything that can move faster than they can.
So I got rid of my cattle herd (to a really odd man), and while I was at it I quit raising hogs and even the chickens too. The entire time I was raising all those critters I was pretty much stuck at home all the time, or at least I had to make two daily appearances. Whenever I wanted to leave for a weekend (and for a reenactor that's several weekends per year), I had to find someone to come over for me and do all the chores. I could have never had them while I owned a business 215 miles away. Then I was gone for a week at a time, and only coming home for the weekends.
Then the wood ticks came back. In a few years time they were in full force. The chickens used to run around the yard and were constantly eating the ticks and whatever little bugs they found, just like a bunch of mini-T-Rexes. They also used to eat the larva of the ground mosquito, and the grass mosquito.
I'd like to have at least chickens again, just for their bug prevention qualities. Unfortunately I still can't, because my schedule changes daily. One day I might be sent home around lunch time for a lack of work, and the next day I might work 12 or more hours (because you can't leave a family without water or a working toilet - I have to finish a job and turn their water back on or reconnect their sewer before I can leave). With a schedule like that you can't have livestock.
The only other option I have then is to mow a very large lawn, and keep it really short. If it's short enough it does two things to the ticks. IF it's sunny out (which is not too common around here, but at least we have more sunny days than Seattle or England) then the ticks kind of burn a little. They don't like it and wait until it's overcast to come hang around the house like hungry goblins. The second thing the short grass dies is make them more visible and accessible to the birds that like eating them.
I keep about two and a half to three acres mowed like this. This gives them a much bigger gauntlet to go through to get to the house. That also means that about once a week I have to spend about ten to twelve hours with a lawn mower. That's how I got to spend my day today.
A wood tick's head. No wonder it hides that ugly head under your skin.
