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"One's first step in wisdom is to question everything - and one's last is to come to terms with everything."
~ Georg Christoph Lichtenberg
You need to be looking at the glass half full :)
Thanks for the links, Mariner* :)
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Matt Mays & El Torpedo - City of Lakes
Car tune!
"I believe I'm a flawed genius.
The flaw being I believe I'm a genius"
~unknown
Red sky at night...
Another railroad
Sheikh Zayed Road - Dubai (2003)
Sheikh Zayed Road - Dubai (1993)
Good for them that they've confirmed their particular problem and are quickly taking steps to fix it.
You're very welcome mnfats :)...and thank you muchly for the synopsis on South African wines :)
And hey you never know...you may get there someday :)
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Orange Sunset
Meatloaf stats
Magic in the Wind
Orchids
Summertime is Watermelon Time
false teeth
Baked earth
Peringuey's desert adder
Colourful Crab
Hold me close
2008 Ugur Sahin Design Corvette Z03 Concept
Not a Cloud in the Sky
Stepping Stones
Somewhere over the rainbow
Soon time to start a Rumpot (Rumtopf)
To start you'll need a 4-5 litre or there abouts stoneware or glass container with a lid.
There are a number of different recipes found on the web but this is how I make mine.
Start your pot in early summer. The idea is to place a layer of fruit mixed with sugar into the pot then cover it with rum. Traditionally fruits are added as they come into season.
First take your fruit then mix it with approx equal amount of sugar by weight and let stand for about an hour. Place into the rumpot and pour over rum until the fruit is covered (use a good quality amber or dark rum). (You may also need to place a plate or similar on top of the fruit to keep it from floating above the liquid). Continue adding fruit (mixed with the sugar) over the course of the summer, each time topping off and covering in more rum. Some people will stir it each time they add new fruit. I don't bother. Keep the rum pot in a fridge or in a cooler place. After the rumpot is full leave it until Christmas time then it's ready to eat. It can be eaten cold, room temp or heated. You can put it over ice cream, waffles or pound cake. Also good in trifle or simply plain.
Fruits that are good to use...
Strawberries
Cherries
Currents
Raspberries
Apricots
Plums
Pears
Blueberries
Blackberries
Peaches
Tangerines
Lycee
Mango
Nectarine
(Pit the pittable ones, slice the sliceable ones and leave the little ones whole).
'Fibrous' steel won't break in a cold snap
* 19:00 22 May 2008
Whether used to make bolts, bikes or buses, steel becomes brittle and more likely to fracture at frigid temperatures unless mixed into expensive alloys. But a novel type of steel can match their performance without costly additives.
Developed by researchers in Japan, the material could make steel structures in Arctic areas, like ships or oil rigs, cheaper to construct.
Yuuji Kimura and colleagues, at the National Institute for Materials Science in Tsukuba, say their new steel's strength comes from its unusual crystal structure.
Steel, an alloy of iron and carbon, is usually formed from crystalline grains that have a rounded shape. The new steel has much longer, cylindrical grains that the researchers describe as being like fibres.
Cold snap
Below a certain temperature, all steel switches from being deformable to being brittle, as increasing cold weakens the connections between crystal grains.
That effect led to 12 of the US "Liberty ships" made to replace cargo vessels lost in the second world war to break in half in cold waters.
Cheap, non-alloyed steel typically becomes brittle at about -30 ºC. Adding expensive metals like nickel, cobalt and vanadium to steel reduces that temperature by strengthening the connections between grains.
Kimura's steel lacks such additives, but only becomes brittle at -100 ºC, matching the performance of alloys. Its longer crystal grains hold together more strongly because each has a greater area in contact with its neighbours.
Under pressure
The fibrous steel is created using heat and mechanical stress in a harsh process Kimura calls tempforming.
Steel plate 4 centimetres thick is rolled into a bar at 1200 ºC and then cooled to 500 ºC, before being compressed by more than 3 times into finished bars with the new fibrous grain shape.
Boosting steel's strength without elaborate chemistry, impresses Bill Morris, a materials scientist at the University of California at Berkeley, US.
Lighter trucks
"It shows that there are still very interesting things to be done – and learned – in the ancient field of ferrous metallurgy," he says.
The steel achieves "a combination of strength and toughness that is comparable to that of modern steels that are very rich in alloy content and, therefore, very expensive," Morris adds.
Applications for the material range from high-strength bolts to light but strong tubing for trucks or bicycles, he told New Scientist.
Kimura hopes the steel will reduce vehicle emissions by allowing them to be lighter. However, the steel could equally end up boosting oil exploration in remote polar areas.
Journal reference: Science (DOI: 10.1126/science.1156084)
http://technology.newscientist.com/article/dn13962-fibrous-steel-wont-break-in-a-cold-snap.html
Ancient Chinese irrigation system stands test of time -- and quake
by Ian TimberlakeThu May 22, 11:55 PM ET
High above the world's oldest operating irrigation system, Zhang Shuanggun, a local villager, stands on an observation platform cracked by China's massive earthquake last week.
She has a simple answer for why the ancient, bamboo-based Dujiangyan irrigation system sustained only minor damage, while nearby modern dams and their vast amounts of concrete are now under 24-hour watch for signs of collapse.
"This ancient project is perfection," Zhang said.
From the hillside platform, the workings of the ingenious irrigation project that is now a UNESCO World Heritage-listed site are clearly visible.
Built from 256 BC, the system involved diverting the Minjiang River's flow using man-made islands built on bamboo frames that allowed water and fish to flow freely underneath.
UNESCO, the United Nations cultural organisation, says the system "controls the waters of the Minjiang River and distributes it to the fertile farmland" of the plains.
It is "a major landmark in the development of water management and technology and is still discharging its functions perfectly."
The irrigation system is at the foot of mountains on the edge of Dujiangyan, about 50 kilometres (32 miles) from the epicentre of the May 12 quake which measured 8.0 on the Richter scale and killed more than 40,000 people.
Yet despite its close proximity to the quake, the system suffered only minor damage and was not compromised, according to the government.
At the same time, several dams were damaged by the earthquake and are now under constant watch for signs of collapse amid concerns they may not be able to withstand strong aftershocks or flooding.
"The earthquake this time has caused damage at various levels to reservoirs and dams," Gu Junyaun, the chief engineer at the State Electricity Regulatory Commission said this week.
"Dam safety experts have been put in place to monitor the operation of the dams 24 hours a day."
Thousands of people have been evacuated in various areas of quake-hit Sichuan province due to fears of bursting dams.
Qushan, a major town that suffered major damage in the quake, is being relocated altogether partly because of the threat that a dam above it will collapse and send torrents of water through the area.
The contrasting fates of the ancient irrigation system and the modern dams offer a cautionary tale for China as it continues its love affair with trying to tame its vast rivers.
Hundreds of dams have been built, or are being constructed, across the country, and environmentalists have repeatedly warned of the folly of doing so in quake-prone areas such as Sichuan.
But no one has such fears about the Dujiangyan irrigation project.
"The irrigation system is reliable and solid," said He Quyun, 66, a woman who lives above the project in hills which are prone to rock falls since the quake.
"The skills of the ancient people, the architect, were so high," said another area resident, a former village Communist Party secretary who declined to give his name.
He was resting outside the now-closed ornamental gate through which tourists would normally visit the irrigation project.
From above, the project looks deceptively simple.
The river splits around a heavily forested and slightly curved island about one kilometre (0.62 miles) long.
At the top of the island, a protrusion which residents call the "fish mouth" pokes into the river and helps it divide. On one side is a modern dam with flood gates through which the river passes.
On the other is a narrower channel which flows towards the plain where it waters the fields of Xu Shifu and other farmers.
"Yes, it comes from there," Xu, 52, said, leaning on a hoe beside his brown fields of wheat almost ready for harvest. "It's a small tributary... it's originally from the fish mouth."
While his wife planted corn seedlings along the edge of the wheat field, Xu explained that if his paddy needs extra water, it could be directed into his fields through a system linked to the ancient water works.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080523/sc_afp/chinaquakedamunescoheritage_080523035542;_ylt=AqVDnspB1SiaxZx7YlLmBSus0NUE
:):):)welcome:):):)
Have a nice weekend folks!
Hey guys...
I got to speak briefly with the couple from the South African vineyard. They have been back here for several weeks but are heading to South Africa again in June.
Here is their website...
http://www.ashantiwines.com/
In my previous convo with Mr. I understood that they did not yet have their own label but from the website it looks like they do. I guess I must have misunderstood. Anyways, the important thing is that we have a personal invite to tour the estate ifn anytime we are in the area :)
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