Recipe sounds great, Stradee.
Ozone is not a football term
There’s a useful side study on how people frequently confuse the ozone problem (a big hole) and the greenhouse gas problem (a blanket):
Some Americans thus reason that this “hole” either allows more solar radiation into the biosphere"warming the planet"or, alternatively, allows heat to escape"cooling the planet.
@sumac,
Have a wonderful artichoke dip recipe to share also.
brb
A great chilly weather dish...
Artichoke Dip
1 can artichoke hearts
1/2 yellow onion
4 chopped Jalapeno peppers (or less - to taste)
1/2 Cup Mayo
1/2 Cup grated Parmesan Cheese
1 Lb Munster Cheese - grated
Mix all ingredients and place in an oven proof Casserole Dish
Bake 20 Min at 350*
Serve with crackers or Bagette Slices
If you all got the exploding pyrex dishes e mail I sent - you might want to shop for a casserole dish manufactured in America!
@Stradee,
All clicked - I see beer in the mirror.............. gone.
@danon5,
Happy Veterans day Danon5. Thank you. The story you shared about your landing gear failing to open, then you reaching down and in,..pulling cable manually with hand,..is something I will never forget.
Clicked.
An important BYTimes columnist weighs in on the need to finance rainforest conservation systems in and along the Amazon basin.
November 11, 2009
Op-Ed Columnist
Trucks, Trains and Trees
By THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN
Tapajós National Forest, Brazil
No matter how many times you hear them, there are some statistics that just bowl you over. The one that always stuns me is this: Imagine if you took all the cars, trucks, planes, trains and ships in the world and added up their exhaust every year. The amount of carbon dioxide, or CO2, all those cars, trucks, planes, trains and ships collectively emit into the atmosphere is actually less than the carbon emissions every year that result from the chopping down and clearing of tropical forests in places like Brazil, Indonesia and the Congo. We are now losing a tropical forest the size of New York State every year, and the carbon that releases into the atmosphere now accounts for roughly 17 percent of all global emissions contributing to climate change.
It is going to be a long time before we transform the world’s transportation fleet so it is emission-free. But right now " like tomorrow " we could eliminate 17 percent of all global emissions if we could halt the cutting and burning of tropical forests. But to do that requires putting in place a whole new system of economic development " one that makes it more profitable for the poorer, forest-rich nations to preserve and manage their trees rather than to chop them down to make furniture or plant soybeans.
Without a new system for economic development in the timber-rich tropics, you can kiss the rainforests goodbye. The old model of economic growth will devour them. The only Amazon your grandchildren will ever relate to is the one that ends in dot-com and sells books.
To better understand this issue, I’m visiting the Tapajós National Forest in the heart of the Brazilian Amazon on a trip organized by Conservation International and the Brazilian government. Flying in here by prop plane from Manaus, you can understand why the Amazon rainforest is considered one of the lungs of the world. Even from 20,000 feet, all you see in every direction is an unbroken expanse of rainforest treetops that, from the air, looks like a vast and endless carpet of broccoli.
Once on the ground, we drove from Santarém into Tapajós, where we met with the community cooperative that manages the eco-friendly businesses here that support the 8,000 local people living in this protected forest. What you learn when you visit with a tiny Brazilian community that actually lives in, and off, the forest is a simple but crucial truth: To save an ecosystem of nature, you need an ecosystem of markets and governance.
“You need a new model of economic development " one that is based on raising people’s standards of living by maintaining their natural capital, not just by converting that natural capital to ranching or industrial farming or logging,” said José María Silva, vice president for South America of Conservation International.
Right now people protecting the rainforest are paid a pittance " compared with those who strip it " even though we now know that the rainforest provides everything from keeping CO2 out of the atmosphere to maintaining the flow of freshwater into rivers.
The good news is that Brazil has put in place all the elements of a system to compensate its forest-dwellers for maintaining the forests. Brazil has already set aside 43 percent of the Amazon rainforest for conservation and for indigenous peoples. Another 19 percent of the Amazon, though, has already been deforested by farmers and ranchers.
So the big question is what will happen to the other 38 percent. The more we get the Brazilian system to work, the more of that 38 percent will be preserved and the less carbon reductions the whole world would have to make. But it takes money.
The residents of the Tapajós reserve are already organized into cooperatives that sell eco-tourism on rainforest trails, furniture and other wood products made from sustainable selective logging and a very attractive line of purses made from “ecological leather,” a k a, rainforest rubber. They also get government subsidies.
Sergio Pimentel, 48, explained to me that he used to farm about five acres of land for subsistence, but now is using only about one acre to support his family of six. The rest of the income comes through the co-op’s forest businesses. “We were born inside the forest,” he added. “So we know the importance of it being preserved, but we need better access to global markets for the products we make here. Can you help us with that?”
There are community co-ops like this all over the protected areas of the Amazon rainforest. But this system needs money " money to expand into more markets, money to maintain police monitoring and enforcement and money to improve the productivity of farming on already degraded lands so people won’t eat up more rainforest. That is why we need to make sure that whatever energy-climate bill comes out of the U.S. Congress, and whatever framework comes out of the Copenhagen conference next month, they include provisions for financing rainforest conservation systems like those in Brazil. The last 38 percent of the Amazon is still up for grabs. It is there for us to save. Your grandchildren will thank you.
November 11, 2009
Scientists: New Dinosaur Species Found in SAfrica
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Filed at 11:42 a.m. ET
JOHANNESBURG (AP) -- A newly discovered dinosaur species that roamed the Earth about 200 million years ago may help explain how the creatures evolved into the largest animals on land, scientists in South Africa said Wednesday.
The Aardonyx celestae was a 23-foot- (7-meter-) long small-headed herbivore with a huge barrel of a chest, and the scientists told reporters it could prove to be a missing evolutionary link.
This is a species ''that no one has seen before and one that has a very significant position in the family tree of dinosaurs,'' said Australian paleontologist Adam Yates.
Yates, who is based at the University of the Witwatersrand's Bernard Price Institute for Paleontological Research, led the research with a number of other local and international scientists.
Their findings were published Wednesday in the Proceedings of The Royal Society B, a London-based peer-reviewed journal.
The Aardonyx celestae species walked on its hind legs but could drop to all fours. Yates said the creature found in South Africa stood nearly 6 feet (about 1.7 meters) high at the hip and weighed about 1,100 pounds (500 kilograms). It was about 10 years old when it died, and its death may have been caused by drought.
Yates says the Aardonyx celestae species shares many characteristics with the plant-eating herbivores that walked on two legs. But the new species also has similar attributes to later dinosaurs known as sauropods, or brontosaurs, that grew to massive sizes and went about on all fours with long necks and whip-like tails.
''The discovery of Aardonyx helps to fill a marked gap in our knowledge of sauropod evolution, showing how a primarily two-legged animal could start to acquire the specific features necessary for a life spent on all-fours,'' said Paul Barrett, a paleontologist at the British Natural History Museum who assisted on the dig that led to the finding but was not directly involved in the research.
The discovery of the new species was made by postgraduate student Marc Blackbeard, who was excavating two sites about five years ago.
Yates believes that the scientists may have stumbled onto a ''paleontological oasis'' in central South Africa that may yield further previously unknown dinosaur species.
Already they are working on the bones of two other specimens found at the site and said they also have unearthed some giant teeth believed to belong to a mysterious carnivorous dinosaur.
Veterans Day Facts:
The 11th Hour: The Date Behind Veterans Day
by Claudine Zap
While most know that Veterans Day honors those who have served in the military, the meaning behind its exact date (November 11) may not be so familiar. Here's the backstory:
Back in 1918, in the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month, a stop to hostilities was declared, ending World War I. An armistice to cease the fighting on the Western Front was signed by the Allied powers and Germany.
President Woodrow Wilson immediately proclaimed the day "Armistice Day," kicking off the annual commemoration on November 11. But over the years, with veterans returning from World War II and the Korean War, Armistice Day became Veterans Day " a day reserved to honor veterans returning from all wars. But 11/11 still represented the end of the Great War in the public's mind, and the date stuck.
In 1921, unidentified dead from the war were buried in Arlington National Cemetery in Washington, D.C., Westminster Abbey in London, and the Arc de Triomphe in Paris. The tradition to honor those killed in the war but never identified continues every year in the U.S. The ceremony is held at 11 a.m. at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington National Cemetery.
Congress designated Veterans Day as a legal holiday in 1938, and since then, most Americans have come to know it as a day for store sales and parades. Yahoo! Searches on the holiday have already surged on the Web. People want to know "veterans day history," "veterans day closings," veterans day sales," and "veterans day free meals."
Links highlighted at:
http://buzz.yahoo.com/buzzlog/93165?fp=1
@Stradee,
Hi all - thanks for the thanks Alex. The next and last thing I was ready to pull that day was the ejection seat. My enlisted electronics operator would have gone first though. Then I'd head the plane for a crash site that wouldn't harm anything and punch out. Glad that didn't happen.
I just got a message from --------------?------------Wayfarer!!!!! Wonderful......
So how is Wayfarer?
All clicked here. And we finally got some rain.
@danon5,
Good earthturn dan, sue, and all the wildclickers
wayfarer, matrix, wordworker and all the gang...
waving and saying hi from the Sierras
Have a marvelous day all ~
http://rainforest.care2.com/i?p=583091674
@sumac,
10 clicks including the wolves, plus a new daily every day. That's whats' so good about a group like this. It's the most peaceful group I belong to besides Care2.
@teenyboone,
Hi teeny and sumac and all the Wildclickers.
Looks like the E coast got a LOT of rain!!!!!!
All clicked.
@danon5,
Not only that, we got a full N'oreaster! The wind is still roaring outside because I'm right on the Atlantic Coast, (4 blocks away)! 2 days ago, it was "spring-like", but now it's more like November, as I've known it. Dan, I park in an underground driveway, so as not to deal with snow and flying debris, but you still have to dress appropriately, just to get to your vehicle. Well, since I'm up already, did my 10 clicks. Weather should be waning to calm, after today. Happy clicking, everyone.
@Stradee,
I wasn't online Nov. 11th, because I was serving Veterans at my American Legion Post that day. Happy Veterans Day, Dan.
