With the ongoing controversy over global climate change, it's interesting to look back at a big scientific controversy from the 80s and 90s, CFCs and the ozone layer. The CFC industry fought change for 20 years, but it turned out to be a) a worse problem than even the "doomsayers" anticipated and b) less costly to fix than even the best estimates. A very complete overview of how science, business, and politics collide.
From the BioOrganics, Inc. newsletter:
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What Do These Plants Want, Anyhow?
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It bears repeating. Providing mycorrhizal fungi spores to plants is NOT giving them something "extra." It is NOT a miracle-plant-food-sort-of-thingy. It is NOT some sort of mystical additive.
Simply put, a plant without mycorrhizae on its root system is not equipped to uptake the necessary nutrients to flourish. You can fiddle with "soil chemistry" as much as you wish, and you may have some short-term success, but if the plant has evolved a dependence on soil fungi over millions of years, that plant will not achieve its full genetic potential without the fungi.
Someday, probably way down the road, it will be widely recognized that nutrients in the soil are not the only important factor for plant productivity. It is far more vital to move those nutrients into the roots on an as-needed basis. And guess what? That is precisely the role that mycorrhizal fungi have assumed. Most plants do not have roots that can do this job by themselves.
To a soil biologist, the frustrating thing is knowing that it can be so very simple to grow food plants that will perform at or near their full genetic potential. But 99 out of 100 growers just keep pouring NPK fertilizer on their fields in the belief that high yields come from expensive chemical methods.
You can plant a beefsteak tomato, drench it with water-soluble plant food every week, and have a decent harvest. I'll take an identical tomato transplant, put it in soil with a small handful of fish pellets and a teaspoon of mycorrhizal inoculant, not add anything else for the entire growing season, and will end up with at least a 50% greater yield than you - maybe 150%. And I'll do it year after year - the soil will never be depleted under a biological orientation.
Higher yields with lower input and long-term sustainability of our valuable crop soils - that's the promise of using biologically-based methods. Using beneficial microorganisms instead of petroleum-based fertilizers is a tough concept to grasp after decades of chemical methods, but the clock is ticking on chem-ag. If we want to leave our children some decent soil to grow crops, it's time to stop burning out our farm acreage and gardens with incomplete "plant foods."
Cheers, and good growing,
Don Chapman
President
BioOrganics, Inc. .
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BioOrganics Inc. News
6/23/04
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This is the real reason why exploring space is important. We may think we know what we're going to find, but we don't. For example, a comet in our own solar backyard has baffled space scientists by refusing to conform to our ideas of how comets should act. Silly comet.
A detailed analysis of the comet Wild 2 (pronounced "Vilt 2") has left astronomers astounded at an object that has no known peers in the solar system.
The comet, examined in a close flyby in January by NASA's Stardust spacecraft, has towering protrusions and steep-walled craters that seem to defy gravity. More than a dozen jets of material shoot out from its insides. Dust swirls around the comet in unexpectedly dense pockets.
Since I seem to be on a holy roller, here's another little goup y'all might want to check out called Reclaiming.
Chris, it's like the feminist wicca stuff I do, only boys get to come, too. Yay!
Starhawk started it and she's got this great book called The Fifth Sacred Thing. It's like a thought experiment in how to implement non-violent action against all odds. I love her vision . . .
This interesting art project sounds like the kind of thing I used to do with my 1972 World Book encyclopedia. It's fun to take a random idea and riff on it by following links.
"Imagination Environment" starts with a live television news broadcast that is displayed at the center of a wall-mounted array of nine computer monitors. A software program scans the broadcast's closed-caption stream and selects keywords that prompt Internet searches for images.
From the sound of it -- I obviously haven't seen the installation -- it's a neat idea, but I wish they had taken it further by having more levels of links off the first set. I can even imagine a complete circle that takes all the photos and tries to display a photo that relates to them all (probably with hilarious results.)
I know, it sounds like an ad for the 700 club, but actually it's an ad of apology and solidarity meant to be seen on Arab television.
Roxanne's is a restaurant where they take sustainable eating to whole new level --
WHY SWITCH TO A LIVING FOODS DIET
Living foods are the key to our health and longevity. They allow our bodies to perform as they were meant to . . .
THE INGREDIENTS
The dishes at Roxanne's are pure, elegant and full of life. Our ingredients are all natural and organic. Our produce, fresh fruits, exotic herbs and edible flowers are from our own 3-acre garden, or from other small, local sustainable farmers and producers . . .
THE ECOLOGICAL DESIGN OF ROXANNE'S RESTAURANT
Just as our organic cuisine supports a more sustainable planet, our restaurant's construction and interior design were driven by this principle. All of the wood used in the construction of the restaurant is either recycled, or certified sustainably harvested by the Forest Stewardship council, the most stringent certification organization. The front trellis is made from salvaged windfall Sonoma County Cypress. The racks in the wine room are being built from recycled cedar . . .
Anyone want to go out to eat? :)
I'm up first and I didn't get to do fun birthday things this weekend, so I get to put up the Happy Birthday message. Ha! Here, for Karen's birthday, is a very random site with a picture of a scary guy, information about people named "Chris," and everything you want to know about people born on June 14th. Something for everyone.
A while back, I was talking to Steve about an example of how punctuation can make all the difference. Share and enjoy.
Karen sent me this article on Debbie New, a woman who creates unusual artwork by knitting.
When two of Debbie New's grandchildren visited Upper Canada Village, a park depicting pioneer life just east of Cornwall, Ont., a lady in period costume spinning wool asked them, "Does your grandma knit?"
...Their grandmother knitted teacups, a lace coracle (a small seaworthy boat), a 20-by-12-by-7-foot labyrinth, a 'cellular automaton' shawl and -- the latest project taking up space in Ms. New's dining room in Waterloo, Ont. -- a free-standing grandfather clock, which ticks.
Deana sent this story from Yahoo! News:
German researchers have found a border collie named Rico who understands more than 200 words and can learn new ones as quickly as many children.
...The researchers found that Rico knows the names of dozens of play toys and can find the one called for by his owner.
...The border collie, a breed known primarily for its herding ability, was able to go to the room with the toys and, seven times out of 10, bring back the one he had not seen before.
..."Apparently he was able to link the novel word to the novel item based on exclusion learning, either because he knew that the familiar items already had names or because they were not novel," said the researchers.
I'm glad I'm not the only one looking for a bit of perspective about the Reagan presidency. The article calls for a bit more "balance" than I'd allow, but at least it's more thoughtful than the current love-fest has been.
Reagan's growing reputation as the great victor in the Cold War who made Mikhail Gorbachev tear down the Berlin Wall depends on looking at Reagan and his times through the light cast by subsequent events.
...To one who covered many of the key international events of that day, Reagan seemed in fact to come late to a realistic view of the Soviet Union and the world, and -- like most presidents -- to have improvised furiously and not always successfully in foreign affairs.
One person can make a difference, as long as we don't forget.
Thanks to Karen for reminding me.
A quickie: The SpaceShipOne folks have announced a historic launch on June 21: the ship will reach 100 km, generally regarded as the "edge of space". Apparently this is the first space launch that can be viewed up close by the public, since the rocket itself doesn't fire until the carrier plane is aloft.
This article about Irshad Manji, a feminist Canadian Muslim and author of The Trouble With Islam — a Wake-Up Call For Honesty and Change, caught my attention.
I'm very impressed by her candor, and I think she is right to press for a Muslim reformation, in that the true power of a faith comes from individuals choosing, after thought, to follow tenets, not blindly. There seem to me (not that I am an expert on Islam) to be so many good aspects to the religion, if only individuals can allow themselves to choose, and not feel they have to live a medieval religion.
Just a quick update on the War Against Spam: The new blocking software seems to be doing a good job. Only one spam comment got through, and it was quickly eradicated once I updated the list of messages to block. The logs show a few others that were blocked without requiring any intervention from me. Yay!
