(top) For the second time in 3 years, Mathia Willemijn won the world record for his behemoth pumpkin weighing 2,624.6 pounds. (all the rest) Carving pumpkins is really fun. Simple to complex there are some very creative people out there. And no matter how old you are Halloween is as fun as it is tiring.
While driving down to Heat Treat 2017 in Columbus, Ohio this year (GO BUCYEYES), I started thinking about our plans for Halloween, decorating, pumpkin pie (of course), and getting our pumpkins for carving with the girls. Growing up, we would all have a pumpkin to carve and once completed we would place then on a long piece of wood in the from yard supported on two saw horses. Now having 20 pumpkins in a row was quite a sight! As I got older and had a family of my own, Jackie, the girls and I would go to our favorite pumpkin farm where they had a great deal! All the pumpkins you could pick up at one time for $10.00. So…. any of you who know me most likely know what would happen next. I needed to pick up 6 pumpkins and they all had to be the same size – carvable! I am happy to say – Success! Over the years I had to sadly give up that tradition. Now, I am only allowed to carve pumpkins if I promise to be good and minimize the use of power tools! (Spade drills work really well!) I digress, now with time to wander, I was wondering what the world’s largest pumpkin is these days, who holds the record, and where it sits. So, at a rest stop, I typed into my phone, and found – Ready – Mathias Willemijns, from Belgium, at the 2017 Giant Pumpkin European championship in Ludwigsburg, Germany on October 9th, weighed in at 2,624.6 pounds. WHAT??? Here’s some more fun history and trivia to go along with the newest record – Good luck carving.
Mathias Willemijns grew a pumpkin of proportions not seen until this year. The Belgian man set a world record last week with a super squash that weighed 2,624.6 pounds. Guinness World Records has yet to confirm it.
The previous world-record pumpkin was 2,323 pounds. Swiss grower Beni Meier set that record in 2014 at a weigh-off at the same event.
The first European settlers were stunned by our Native American’s ample crop of squash, which they mistook for melon. Centuries later Irish immigrants abandoned the turnips they carved for jack-o-lanterns on All Hallows Eve, and replaced them with pumpkins, giving us our doorstep decorating traditions we still use today.
For many years, record-setting pumpkins – a variety of Cucurbita maxima, bred in Nova Scotia, was the standard, raised in cool-weather New England, where summer days are in the mid 80’s, maximizing photosynthesis without desiccating the bloated fruit, along with bonus sunlight throughout the growing season.
In the US, during June, giant pumpkins are growing exponentially, and by August, they’re packing on one to two pounds per hour, while guzzling about 100 gallons of water per day.
Many pumpkins are raised by amateur growers, who keep daily diaries filled with secrets. Genetic lines include Pleasure Dome and Freak 2, with individual seeds we’d normally bake, salt and eat, selling at auction for almost $2,000.
The shift to European champions is rather recent, with the first German gourd-baking championship and pumpkin expo in 2001. Since then, old world growers are clustering in northern Europe, using high tech greenhouses, heating, air conditioning, irrigation systems, and automatic fertilization.
The current winner, Mathias Willemijns, is the lead technician at a large vegetable research center, and uses his own 130 foot poly tunnel to handle only four large pumpkins. Soil nutrient nanotechnology and genetic technologies lead to bigger crops and faster growth.
Matt DeBacco of Rocky Hill, Connecticut has developed special blends that has excited the growers, and been a boom for the cannabis industry as well.
In the madcap world of competitive horticulture, the record holders are: Carrot: 20 pounds, Zucchini: 64.49 pounds, Radish: 68.9 pounds, Green cabbage: 138.25 pounds, Watermelon: 350.5 pounds.
Thank you Pintrest – here’s a link to the top carving designs – have fun!! (and send me photos)
There’s no shortage of coffee love in the world and I’m a big supporter of that love. (bottom left) I just had to share this unusual, fun, hand-made mug. Get yours HERE. (bottom right) I love my guest mugs. I use them in customer meetings and when friends stop by. If you’re really, really nice to me I’ll give you one to take home.
I stopped by one of our local coffee shops this morning to visit with a business partner, and enjoyed a fresh cup of delicious coffee. Wow. The aroma, taste, color, temperature and texture was amazing. Being the senior “PIA Job” solver at the company, I of course was wondering “how do they do it”? Was it the beans, the water, the brewing temperature, the cup, the artisans, the setting, or the time of day … just what were the ingredients that made it taste so good. Of course, when I got back to the office, I had a cup of my KHT Mr. Coffee “drip-drip” special coffee … and it was just not the same (by a long shot!). Now, don’t ask my staff how I make mine at the office, they have been judging me for years! So instead, I went digging online and found a detailed, “scientific” article from Smithsonian called – The Chemistry and Physics Behind the Perfect Cup of Coffee – How science helps your barista brew your espresso perfectly every time, (personally, I would have tried for a shorter title!) and just had to share the highlights with you. Thanks to Smithsonian.com and writer Christopher Hendon for the bulk of the article! Enjoy.
Coffee is unique among artisanal beverages in that the brewer plays a significant role in its quality or lack thereof at the point of consumption. In contrast, as drinkers of different preferred beverages we buy, for example, milk (whole, 1%, 2%), juice (pulp, no-pulp), draft beer (spiced, hoppy, light, heavy) and wine (red, white, sweet, silky) as finished products, the only consumer-controlled variable is temperature at which we drink them. So, why is it that coffee produced by a barista at a cafe always tastes different than the same beans brewed at home?
According to scientists, the variables of temperature, water chemistry, particle size distribution, ratio of water to coffee, filter/soak time and, perhaps most importantly, the quality of the green coffee all play crucial roles in producing a tasty cup. It’s how we control these variables that allows for that cup to be reproducible.
Brew Method:
We humans seem to like drinks that contain coffee constituents (organic acids, Maillard products, esters and heterocycles, to name a few) at 1.2 to 1.5 percent by mass (as in filtered coffee), and favor drinks containing 8 to 10 percent by mass (as in espresso). Concentrations outside of these ranges are challenging to execute. There are a limited number of technologies that achieve 8 to 10 percent concentrations, the espresso machine being the most familiar. Many Middle Eastern countries brew their coffee even denser/stronger, and serve less of it in tiny cups (think turbo-charged caffeine).
There are many ways, though, to achieve a drink containing 1.2 to 1.5 percent coffee. Purists prefer using a “pour-over”, a Turkish, Arabic, Aeropress, French press, siphon or a batch brew (that is, regular drip) apparatus – each producing coffee that tastes good around these concentrations. These brew methods also boast an advantage over their espresso counterpart: They are cheap.
When coffee meets water:
There are two families of brewing device within the low-concentration methods – those that fully immerse the coffee in the brew water and those that flow the water through the coffee bed. From a physical perspective, the major difference is that the temperature of the coffee particulates is higher in the full immersion system. The slowest part of coffee extraction is not the rate at which compounds dissolve from the particulate surface. Rather, it’s the speed at which coffee flavor moves through the solid particle to the water-coffee interface. Surprising, this speed is increased with a rise in temperature. (just like heat treating!)
A higher particulate temperature means that more of the tasty compounds trapped within the coffee particulates will be extracted. But higher temperature also lets more of the unwanted compounds dissolve in the water, too. The Specialty Coffee Association presents a flavor wheel to help us talk about these flavors – from green/vegetative or papery/musty through to brown sugar or dried fruit.
Pour-overs and other flow-through systems are more complex. Unlike full immersion methods where time is controlled, flow-through brew times depend on the grind size since the grounds control the flow rate. (Just like grain size for my metallurgist friends!)
Also, the water-to-coffee ratio matters, too, in the brew time. Simply grinding the coffee more finely to increase the extraction invariably changes the brew time, as the water seeps more slowly through finer grounds. One can increase the water-to-coffee ratio by using less coffee, but as the mass of coffee is reduced, the brew time also decreases. Optimization of filter coffee brewing is hence multidimensional and more tricky than full immersion methods.
Other variables to try to control:
Even if you can optimize your brew method and apparatus to precisely mimic your favorite barista, there is still a near-certain chance that your home or work brew will taste different from the cafe’s. There are three subtleties that have tremendous impact on the coffee quality: water chemistry, particle size distribution produced by the grinder and coffee freshness.
First, water chemistry: Given that coffee is an acidic beverage, the acidity of your brew water can have a big effect. Brew water containing low levels of both calcium ions and bicarbonate (HCO₃⁻) – that is, soft water – will result in a highly acidic cup, sometimes described as sour. Brew water containing high levels of HCO₃⁻ – typically, hard water – will produce a chalky cup, as the bicarbonate has neutralized most of the flavorsome acids in the coffee. Ideally we want to brew coffee with water containing chemistry somewhere in the middle. But there’s a good chance you don’t know the bicarbonate concentration in your own tap water, and a small change makes a big difference. To taste the impact, try brewing coffee with Evian – one of the highest bicarbonate concentration bottled waters, at 360 mg/L.
Second, particle size: The particle size distribution your grinder produces is critical, too. Every coffee enthusiast will rightly tell you that blade grinders are disfavored because they produce a seemingly random particle size distribution; there can be both powder and essentially whole coffee beans coexisting. The alternative, a burr grinder, features two pieces of metal with teeth that cut the coffee into progressively smaller pieces. They allow ground particulates through an aperture only once they are small enough. Of course, there is contention over how to optimize grind settings when using a burr grinder. One school of thought supports grinding the coffee as fine as possible to maximize the surface area, which lets you extract the most delicious flavors in higher concentrations. The rival school advocates grinding as coarse as possible to minimize the production of fine particles that impart negative flavors. Perhaps the most useful advice here is to determine what you like best based on your taste preference.
Finally, the freshness of the coffee itself is crucial. Roasted coffee contains a significant amount of CO₂ and other volatiles trapped within the solid coffee matrix: Over time these gaseous organic molecules will escape the bean. Fewer volatiles means a less flavorful cup of coffee. Most cafes will not serve coffee more than four weeks out from the roast date, emphasizing the importance of using freshly roasted beans. One can mitigate the rate of staling by cooling the coffee, as described by the Arrhenius equation. While you shouldn’t chill your coffee in an open vessel (unless you want fish finger brews), storing coffee in an airtight container in the freezer will significantly prolong freshness. You can always invest in a vacuum container to keep your coffee fresh!
So, don’t feel bad that your carefully brewed cup of coffee at home never stacks up to what you buy at the café. There are a lot of variables – scientific and otherwise – that must be wrangled to produce a single superlative cup. Take comfort that most of these variables are not optimized by some mathematical algorithm, but rather by somebody’s tongue. What’s most important is that your coffee tastes good to you… brew after brew.
Some of the favorite Places in Cleveland for a Great Cup of Coffee:
Rising Star Coffee Roasters – 1455 W. 29th Street or 2187 Murray Hill Rd (Edgehill)
Erie Island Coffee – 2057 E. 4th Street or 19300 Detroit Rd (Rocky River)
Phoenix Coffee – 3000 Bridge Avenue, (W. 30th)
Loop Coffee – 2180 W 11th Street or 1700 E 9th Street
I just love baseball!! Organized leagues or pick-up games with friends or family what a great sport of skill and comradery. And it’s definitely not just for boys! (bottom) Check out this super slo-mo of a ball hitting the bat HERE. More video links below.
Sad. Lethargic. Just not right today. My beloved Indians are no longer in the hunt this year. Like you, I was hanging on to every pitch, every at bat, every move by the managers – hoping for a hit, or wishing for a swing and a miss. What an amazing game. Through all the data, and pontificators, as the experts will say, most believe in the playoffs, it all comes down to pitching. And, with the best pitcher in the American League this year, and the best bullpen and closer, I really thought we were headed to the big show again. But alas, “maybe next year.” On the “fun” side, watching the games, it did get me a thinkin’… just how do those guys throw those pitches and make the ball move the way it does. So, I went to discover some cool facts for you, and some interesting trivia, “just because”. Enjoy, and thanks to Mentalfloss.com and factretriver.com.
When watching from home, or listening in on the radio, we hear a lot of talk about what kind of pitch was just thrown, will be thrown, should be thrown, might be thrown, or, perhaps, shouldn’t have been thrown at all. Cutters, sliders, sinkers and more. Here’s how they work:
Fastball – This is the basic, most important pitch in baseball. The first two fingers rest just on (or inside) the seams and the pitcher releases the pitch with the palm pretty much facing the batter, producing maximum velocity. How fast are we talking? Generally, in the 90-95 mph range, though some pitchers have been known to easily hurl over 100 mph. Technically, what most pitchers throw is called a two-seam fastball and produces a sidespin that causes the ball to cut in as it approaches the batter. There are other varieties, like the 4-seam fastball, which is thrown by holding the ball with the seams horizontal, rather than vertical. This produces backspin, which creates high pressure under the ball and low pressure on top resulting in the illusion of the ball rising (actually the ball isn’t rising, just falling more slowly than it would normally). There’s also a split-finger fastball where the first two fingers split, or straddle the seams, which causes the ball to drop a little as it approaches the plate. Despite the movement, the basic idea of a fastball is to overpower the batter, so he swings late and misses.
Sinker – If you’ve ever played wiffle ball, you know the ball rises, falls, and curves in and away from a batter depending on where you position the air holes in the ball. Likewise, in baseball, a pitcher can create movement and variation in speed depending on how he releases the ball, or how he spins the ball. Off-speed pitches, like the sinker, are pitches that are released with the palm of the hand facing away from the pitcher. This causes the ball to sink as it approaches the batter. The idea here is to either get him to swing over the ball and miss, or, if he connects with the pitch, to produce a ground ball, rather than a line drive.
Changeup – A changeup is like a sinker, in that it’s an off-speed pitch, only the palm is turned even further out. All off-speed pitches are similar in that they’re thrown with less velocity than the fastball. But the batter doesn’t know when one is coming because a good pitcher is able to use the same arm speed as he does for the fastball. So to throw it with less velocity, the pitcher presses the baseball deep into his palm. Less finger contact means less torque and less velocity. If a batter is expecting a fastball, slowing down, or “changing up” the speed to, say, 87 mph can trip him up and he’ll swing ahead of the ball. Great pitchers can build an entire career on the changeup because they’re able to slow it down all the way to around 80 mph. If they can throw a fastball around 95 mph, that’s a whopping 15 mph slower and really confuses the batter.
Screwball – This is another off-speed pitch that not only sinks, but moves from the pitcher’s left side to the right as it approaches the batter (opposite for lefties). The palm is again pronated away from the pitcher, even further than the sinker and changeup. As the pitcher releases the ball, he twists the ball like a corkscrew. A left-handed batter will see the ball break away from him and a right-handed batter will experience the opposite, as the ball breaks in on him (the reverse is true if the pitcher is left-handed, of course).
Cutter – Turning the palm in the opposite direction produces a series of pitches known as breaking pitches. The first stop over from the fastball is the cutter, which is like a fastball, only it breaks in ever so slightly and is generally thrown a few mphs slower than a fastball. The further the palm is rotated toward the pitcher, the more movement (in most cases, but not all). Major league pitchers can create amazing movement in and out from a batter, disguising the pitch to look like a fastball, but then it “cuts” away.
Slider – Basically the same thing as a cutter, a slider is thrown with less velocity than the former and the palm is rotated further toward the pitcher. The slower speed means there’s more time for the ball to move, or slide, from one side of the plate to the other.
Curveball (my favorite) – A good curveball can be devastating, and also fun to watch. These are the pitches that appear to arc up toward the batter’s chest (or even head) before dropping into the strike zone like a bomb as they reach the plate. Of course, not every successful curveball pitcher throws the large arc variety and they need not be so dramatic. Even a small arc keeps the hitter off balance. The pitcher turns his palm in so far that his hand looks like the letter “C.” He then flicks his wrist as he releases the ball (the opposite direction from the screwball) creating topspin. The more topspin, the greater the air pressure difference between the top and bottom of the ball, and the greater the break.
And some “I didn’t know that” fun trivia:
The unofficial anthem of American baseball, “Take Me Out to the Ballgame,” is traditionally sung during the middle of the 7th inning. It was written in 1908 by Jack Norworth and Albert von Tilzer, both of whom had never been to a baseball game.
The life span of a major league baseball is 5–7 pitches. During a typical game, approximately 70 balls are used
A “can of corn” is an easy fly ball. The term comes from when old-time grocers used their aprons to catch cans knocked from a high shelf.
“Soaking” was a very early baseball rule that allowed a runner who was off base to be put out by throwing a ball at him.
The most innings ever played in a major League baseball game was 26 innings on May 1, 1920, when the Brooklyn Dodgers played the Boston Braves.
The longest game on record was between the Chicago White Sox and the visiting Milwaukee Brewers on May 9, 1984. The game lasted 8 hours 6 minutes and went 25 innings.
A big-league player can hit a 90-mph pitch with more than 8,000 pounds during the millisecond that the bat is in contact with the baseball. The ball leaves the bat at a speed of 110 -125 mph.
A player increases his chance of hitting a home run if he hits the baseball at the bat’s “sweet spot.” This spot is an area between 5 and 7 inches from the barrel end of the bat. When a player hits the sweet spot, there is less vibration, and the bat makes a satisfying “crack” sound.
The probable MLBrecord is Leon Cadore of the Brooklyn Dodgers who pitched every inning of a 26-inning game in 1920. It is estimated that he threw 360 pitches over the course of the game. His opponent on the mound, Joe Oeschger of the Boston Braves, also pitched all 26 innings and threw an estimated 319 pitches.
While no records formally exist, it is believed Steve Kowalski can “out eat” most fans in a nine- inning game. This includes peanuts, popcorn, nachos, hot dogs, and the burger of the day.
Some Cool Video Links:
Fun – Grips and crazy ball movements:
University of Massachusetts, Lowell, Baseball Research Center:
(row one) rough drawing of the drinking tube, Joseph B. Friedman and his more refined patent drawing; (row two) The Flex-Straw was first marketed to hospitals; In the early 1950’s, Roy Rogers endorsed the Flex-Straw in an ad aimed at kids; (row three) The Flex-Straw infused with strawberry, chocolate and coffee (for mom?); 1940s – 1950s packaging. (other images) These straws were totally made for sharing a beverage with your BFF…or not.
Problem solving and ideas – the “backbone and spirit” of Kowalski Heat Treating – it’s what keeps us on “our game” every single day and what our customers expect from us – solving your pesky PIA (Pain In The @#$) Jobs. As the guy at the top, like most leaders, I get such a charge when my folks come in and say “Steve, we’ve worked on a bunch of different solutions, and we’re pretty sure we got it.” BAM. Just like that, problem solved. And the best part for me is when I get to pick up the phone and call my customers and say – “yep, we figured it out”.
Recently I was reading an article about an inventor who was born in Cleveland back in 1900, and invented, to this day, one of my all-time favorites – the bendy straw. Like so many inventors, he saw a problem (this one happened to be with his daughter and sitting at a soda shop), experimented, came up with a solution, and then went on to prototyping, a patent and manufacturing. So, to fully enjoy this post, make yourself a yummy root beer and ice cream float, (oh yea, one of my favorites), put in a flexible straw, sit back and enjoy the read. I’m not sure about you all, but one of my favorite things is to blow bubbles in the glass – certainly takes me back and Jackie will just shake her head, again! Special thanks to Smithsonian, Wikipedia and the Atlantic Magazine for confirming the facts for me. And thanks Joe for your problem-solving solution – KHT salutes you!
Historians don’t know what civilization first came up with the idea of sticking tubes into cups and slurping, but the earliest evidence of straws comes from a seal found in a Sumerian tomb dated 3,000 B.C. It shows two men using what appear to be straws taking beer from a jar. (BRILLIANT!) In the same tomb, archeologists also found history’s first known straw – a tube made from gold and the precious blue stone lapis lazuli.
In the 1880’s, gentlemen sipped their whiskey through long tubes made of natural rye that lent a grassy flavor to whatever drink they plopped in. For many centuries, it was not uncommon to order a gin and tonic and wind up drinking it infused with natural grass flavors. Marvin Chester Stone didn’t have much patience when it came to non-mint plants floating around in his mint julep, and did something. He reinvented the straw.
In his first try, he wound paper around a pencil to make a thin tube, slid out the pencil from one end, and applied glue between the strips. Voila: paper straw! Also: glue? Stone refined it by building a machine to wind paper into a tube and coat the outside with a paraffin wax to keep it from melting in bourbon. He patented the product in 1888. Today, Marvin Chester Stone is considered the godfather of the paper straw.
Joseph B. Friedman, born October 9, 1900 in Cleveland, Ohio, was a first generation American and the fifth of eight children. An independent American inventor with a broad range of interests and ideas, Friedman is credited with inventing the flexible straw.
By the age of fourteen, Friedman conceptualized his first invention, the lighted pencil, which he deemed the “pencilite,” and was attempting to market his idea. Over the course of his inventing career, he would experiment with ideas ranging from writingimplements to engine improvements, and household products to sound and optic
In the 1920s, Friedman began his education in real estateand optometry. He would use both of these careers at different points in his life to supplement his income while improving his invention concepts. Although he was working as a realtor in San Francisco, California, ]the 1930s proved to be his most prolific patenting period, with six of his nine U.S. patents being issued then.
While sitting in his younger brother Albert’s fountain parlor, the Varsity Sweet Shop in San Francisco, Friedman observed his young daughter Judith at the counter, struggling to drink out of a straight straw. Sitting on the stool, the cool beverage was too high on the counter to reach. Afterwards back home, he took a paper straight straw, inserted a screw and using dental floss, he wrapped the paper into the screw threads, creating corrugations in the straw barrel. After removing the screw, the altered paper straw could now bend conveniently over the edge of the glass, allowing small children to better reach their beverages.
After fine tuning his approach, U.S. patent #2,094,268 was issued for this new invention under the title Drinking Tube. Friedman would later file and be issued two additional U.S. patents and three foreign patents in the 1950s relating to its formation and construction. In his application, he wrote:
“Applicant has met a problem long existing in the art. A view of any soda fountain on a hot day, with the glasses showing innumerable limp and broken straws drooping over the edges thereof, will immediately show that this problem has long existed. Where we have the conditions where certainly the straw is old, where corrugated tubing is old, and where no inventor, during those years, has seen fit or has been able to solve this problem, whereas applicant did, that situation alone is prima facie evidence of invention.”
–courtesy of the Joseph B. Friedman Papers, 1915 – 2000, Archives Center, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution.
Friedman attempted to sell his straw patent to several existing straw manufacturers beginning in 1937 without success, so after completing his straw machine, he began to produce the straw himself. Friedman’s younger English relative, Michael Fabricant, would later write that his great uncle’s invention was “arguably the most significant technological achievement of the twentieth century”
On April 24, 1939, The Flexible Straw Corporationwas incorporated. However, World War II interrupted Friedman’s efforts to construct his straw manufacturing machine. During the war, he managed the optometry practice of Arthur Euler, O.D., in Capwells’ Department Store in Oakland, California, and continued to sell real estate and insurance to support his growing family.
Friedman obtained financial backing for his flexible straw machine from two of his brothers-in-law, Harry Zavin and David Light, as well as from Bert Klein, a family associate. With their financial help, and the business advice of his sister Betty, Friedman completed the first flexible straw manufacturing machine in the late 1940s. Although his original concept had come from the observation of his daughter, the flexible straw was initially marketed to hospitals, with the first sale made in 1947.
Betty Friedman played a crucial role in the development of the Flexible Straw Corporation. While still living in Cleveland and working at the Tarbonis Company, she corresponded regularly with her brother and directed all of the sales and distribution of the straw. In 1950 Friedman moved his family and company to Santa Monica, California. Now doing business as the Flex-Straw Co., sales continued to increase and the marketing direction expanded to focus more strongly on the home and child markets. Betty Friedman moved west in 1954 to assume her formal leadership role in the corporation.
On June 20, 1969, the Flexible Straw Corporation sold its United States and foreign patents, United States and Canadiantrademarks, and licensing agreements to the Maryland Cup Corporation, and the Flexible Straw Corporation dissolved in August 1969.
https://www.khtheat.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/khtheat-logo-8-14-14.png00Steve Kowalskihttps://www.khtheat.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/khtheat-logo-8-14-14.pngSteve Kowalski2017-10-06 14:30:072017-10-06 14:02:17I have a solution…
The sights and sounds of fall are all around us. Just the other day I was out for my morning run, and I enjoyed one of my favorites – the “honk honks” (click here) of the big, black-necked Canada Geese, with their signature white chinstrap, migrating south, filling the sky with an enormous long V formation, just as the sun was coming up over the beautiful Cleveland skyline. I’m kinda fascinated by the birds, their innate migration patterns, and just the fun of watching the big formations fill the sky. (Yes, I love order!) I just don’t like them flying directly over head, it may not end well for me! So, I decided to investigate a bit and share the information with my ornithologist (looked up the spelling!) pals out there. Enjoy, and special thanks to allaboutbirds.org from Cornell University for science and detailed information.
>> Get in the spirit with 20 seconds of geese honking! 🙂 >> Canadian geese fly-over in V formation :15 >> This is funny: Canadian Goose flying alongside a car at 40 mph :48
Canada Geese are big water birds with a long neck, large body, large webbed feet, and wide, flat bill. They have a black head with white cheeks and chinstrap, black neck, tan breast, and brown back. Canada Geese feed by dabbling in the water or grazing in fields and large lawns and are often seen in flight moving in pairs or flocks; flocks often assume a V formation.
Birds measure, on average, 30-43 inches in length, with a wingspan of 50-67 inches and weight of between 106 and 317 oz. In comparison, they are larger than a mallard and smaller than a mute swan. In general, the geese get smaller as you move northward, and darker as you go westward. (sun tan?)
Some migratory populations of the Canada Goose are not going as far south in the winter as they used to. This northward range shift has been attributed to changes in farm practices that makes waste grain more available in fall and winter, as well as changes in hunting pressure and changes in weather.
Canada Geese live in a great many habitats near water, grassy fields, and grain fields. They are particularly drawn to big, open lawns for two reasons: one, they can digest lots of grass when they are feeding with their young and two, manicured lawns give them a wide, unobstructed view of any approaching predators. That is why they are especially abundant in parks, airports, golf courses, and other areas with expansive lawns. At least 11 subspecies of Canada Goose have been recognized, although only a couple are distinctive.
Individual Canada Geese from most populations make annual northward migrations after breeding. Nonbreeding geese, or those that lost nests early in the breeding season, may move anywhere from several kilometers to more than 1500 km northward. There they take advantage of vegetation in an earlier state of growth to fuel their molt (feather replacement). Even members of “resident” populations, which do not migrate southward in winter, will move north in late summer to molt.
The “giant” Canada Goose, Branta canadensis maxima, bred from central Manitoba to Kentucky but was nearly driven extinct in the early 1900s. Programs to reestablish the subspecies to its original range were in many places so successful that the geese have become a nuisance in many urban and suburban areas. – Canada Geese are common and increased between 1966 and 2015, according to the North American Breeding Bird Survey. The total North American population in 2015 was between 4.2 million to over 5.6 million. The species rates a 6 out of 20 on the Continental Concern Score. It is not on the 2016 State of North America’s Birds Watch List. – Some 2.6 million Canada Geese are harvested by hunters in North America, but this does not seem to affect its numbers.
The oldest known wild Canada Goose was a female, and at least 33 years, 3 months old when she was shot in Ontario in 2001. She had been banded in Ohio in 1969.
In spring and summer, geese concentrate their feeding on grasses and sedges, including skunk cabbage leaves and eelgrass. During fall and winter, they rely more on berries and seeds, including agricultural grains, and seem especially fond of blueberries. They’re very efficient at removing kernels from dry corn cobs.
Nests consist of a large open cup on the ground, made of dry grasses, lichens, mosses, and other plant material, and lined with down and some body feathers. Usually on a muskrat mound or other slightly elevated site, near water, they prefer a spot from which they can have a fairly unobstructed view in many directions. Females select the site and does much of nest construction. She adds down feathers and some body feathers beginning after the second egg is laid. She does all the incubation while her mate guards her and the nest.
Geese have 1 brood per year, usually 2-8 eggs. The incubation period is 25–28 days, with a nestling period of 42–50 days. At hatchling, the chicks are covered with yellowish down and their eyes are open. They leave the nest when they are 1-2 days old, depending on weather, and can walk, swim, feed, and even dive. They have enough energy remaining in their yolk sac to survive 2 days before feeding.
Soon after they hatch, goslings begin pecking at small objects, and spend most of their time sleeping and feeding. They remain with their parents constantly, though sometimes “gang broods” form, especially in more southern latitudes. These can include at least two broods, and sometimes five or more, that travel, feed, and loaf together, accompanied by at least one adult. Just like when our kids were young!
Geese mate “assortatively,” larger birds choosing larger mates and smaller ones choosing smaller mates; in a given pair, the male is usually larger than the female.
During spring, pairs break out from flocks and begin defending territories. Spacing of these pairs is variable and depends on availability of nest sites and population density; where population is large, even after a great many fights birds may end up nesting in view of one another, and some populations are semi-colonial.
When threatened, displays may involve head pumping, bill opened with tongue raised, hissing, honking, and vibrating neck feathers. When an intruding goose doesn’t retreat, geese may grab each other by breast or throat and hit each other with their wings. Fighting may result in injuries.
In winter, geese can remain in northern areas with some open water and food resources even where temperatures are extremely cold. Geese breeding in the northernmost reaches of their range tend to migrate long distances to winter in the more southerly parts of the range, whereas geese breeding in southern Canada and the conterminous United States migrate shorter distances or not at all. Individuals tend to return to the same migratory stopover and wintering areas year after year.
Who doesn’t love fall? It’s such a pretty time of year and there are so many things to do as you’ll see in the list below. Take in the stunning Tow Path, go apple picking, make caramel apples, take a fall drive, visit a farm, walk through a huge sunflower field, find a pumpkin patch or just stay home and have a blast in those colorful piles of leaves. Love it!!
Today marks the beginning of one of my favorite seasons – fall. (here in NE Ohio I actually have four favorite seasons). It’s when the air shifts, the temperature begins to slide, and the landscape explodes with vibrant colors of red, yellow and orange. Read more
https://www.khtheat.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/khtheat-logo-8-14-14.png00Steve Kowalskihttps://www.khtheat.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/khtheat-logo-8-14-14.pngSteve Kowalski2017-09-22 14:30:562017-09-22 22:33:36The Seasons They Are A Changin’
(top bunch of photos) Mmmm. From a pumpkin spice latte to pumpkin spice muffins, pies, pancakes, dough nuts, bread and creamy soups, these wonderful smells and tastes tell you it’s fall. (row two left) Raw pumpkin spice–see the recipe below. (row three) Just a sampling of the many, many products that add pumpkin spice flavoring this time of year. Most are a lot of fun but pumpkin spice Doritos, even for me, is over the top. (row four) Speaking of over the top, really? These products need pumpkin spice flavoring & smells?? Really??? Hahaha… Turns out these are all fake. The creations of people with a working knowledge of Photoshop and a bunch of time on their hands making a statement on the pumpkin spice craze. BTW, the pumpkin spice Dorito’s are fake, too. Whew!
Each fall, as the leaves turn golden, footballs start flying and the crisp autumn air carries the scent of pine, I anxiously wait for Jackie to bring home one of my favorites – the fixens to make pumpkin pie, of course it must also include the “a la mode!” Everything is always better with a la mode! You know me, and my love of food. To be honest, I think this pumpkin spice craze is kind of funny – but then find myself stopping to “sample” a latte, eating an entire box of pumpkin-spiced Cheerios or the whole package of orange and black fall flavored Oreos. Scientists and nutritionists call the current trendiness of pumpkin spice “a fantastic example of the psychology of consumer behavior and fads.” Here’s some fun facts, science and links to some great recipes – enjoy those lattes!
History shows that pumpkin spice-like combinations have been used for millennia in various cultures,” says Kantha Shelke, an adjunct professor of regulatory science and food safety at Johns Hopkins University. “Similar mixtures of spices are used in Indian masala chai and Middle Eastern baklava. These mixtures are often used in celebratory occasions, most often to ease the digestive impacts of overindulgence.”
The sweet smell and tantalizing taste of pumpkin spice triggers a nostalgic emotional response in our brains. Spice blend has been used in popular baked goods for quite some time, but mostly in home-baked goods. Since these are popular spice combinations, it’s very likely we have encountered some or all of them combined in a favorite baked good in a comforting situation, like a family gathering, early in life. (ever walk into a home that’s smells like cinnamon or hot apple cider?)
Pumpkin spice seems to have emerged as a common seasonal scent and taste in the home and food market a couple of decades ago, when spiced pumpkin candles grew in popularity. Back then, a few high-profile companies, like Starbucks, ran some super successful experiments, and then you add in the fantastic marketing strategies, and you’ve got a fad that turns into a trend.
Most pumpkin spice mixtures don’t involve an actual pumpkin. Typically, it contains ground cinnamon, nutmeg, dry ginger and clove or allspice mixed together.
When many food companies use a pumpkin spice flavor, they often develop a synthetic version with various compounds and aromas designed to trick your brain into thinking you consumed a mix of cinnamon, nutmeg and other spices. Included in many of these synthetic pumpkin spice flavors are top notes that mimic the aroma of butter browning with sugar, which creates an olfactory illusion of a freshly baked pumpkin pie.
Starbucks first developed its pumpkin spice latte, known as the PSL, in early 2003. In a news release, Peter Dukes, the product manager who led the development of PSL, said, “Nobody knew back then that it would grow to be so big – It’s taken on a life of its own.” The seasonal beverage, which has its own verified Twitter and Instagram accounts, returned to stores nationwide last week for the fall.
The marketing behind many pumpkin spice-flavored items, like the latte, condition our brains to expect that pumpkin spice is the flavor of fall and to anticipate the flavor’s arrival each season as something comforting.
According to scientists, we don’t have innate odor responses. We learn odors through associations, but the associations we make with pumpkin spice are generally all very positive. Though, even without the seasonal marketing, the brain has a special response to pumpkin spice when the flavor is mixed with sugar. It’s kind of addictive.
When an odor or flavor — and 80% of flavor is actually smell — is combined with sucrose or sugar consumption in a hungry person, the person learns at a subconscious, physiological level to associate that flavor with all the wonderful parts of food digestion. By combining the recognizable pumpkin spice flavor with sugar, we train your brain and body to remember how delicious the combination is – and as soon as you smell or even imagine pumpkin spice, our body has an anticipatory response and craves it.
On the other hand, natural pumpkin spice mixtures without added sugars, fat or salt offers some potential health benefits if used in a pumpkin soup or to flavor vegetables. Pumpkin is a source of vitamin A, fiber and other nutrients. Spices are powerhouses of phytochemicals — chemicals that the plant makes to protect itself — that can afford us health and protection from many health issues. Like with any food, the amount consumed determines the experience and the benefits.
All spices come from plants. There are no spices from the animal kingdom, so spices are perfect for vegetarians, vegans and those who follow Halal and Kosher diets.
As with all good marketing, sometimes the manufacturers go a little too far with the pumpkin-spice trend – Just consider – Pumpkin Spiced (PS) Twistix Dental Chews for Pets, PS buttery blend margarine, PS Pringles, PS Bar soap, PS body powder, PS bagels, PS peanut butter and Milano cookies.
So, go ahead and enjoy your pumpkin spice and everything nice. And here’s a simple recipe to make your very own pumpkin spice at home (fresh is better!
INGREDIENTS
3 Tablespoons Ground Cinnamon
2 teaspoons Ground Ginger
2 teaspoons Nutmeg
1-1/2 teaspoon Ground Allspice
1-1/2 teaspoon Ground Cloves
Splash of sugar
INSTRUCTIONS
In a small bowl, whisk together cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, allspice, cloves and sugar until well combined. Store in a small jar or container.
https://www.khtheat.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/khtheat-logo-8-14-14.png00Dan Fauverhttps://www.khtheat.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/khtheat-logo-8-14-14.pngDan Fauver2017-09-15 14:30:532017-09-15 14:28:03Got the craving?
They’re not the “Fab Four.” In fact, they are best known for being the “Prefab Four,” but they were good. Like, really really really really good. (above) Vintage Monkees promotion photos. (upper right) Some of their album covers (lower left) Jimi Hendrix actually opened for the Monkees on tour in 1967. The Monkees crowds had no idea what Jimi Hendrix was playing, much less playing his guitar with his teeth. (lower right) Peter Tork, Davey Jones and Micky Dolenz pose during portrait session to announce the bands 45th anniversary tour held at The Groucho Club on February 21, 2011 in London, England.
Some Monkees to listen to while reading this post:
Some Monkees to watch if you have some time on your hands:
Check it out. This is the original screen test for the show: 19 minutes. Rare black and white footage of Mike Nesmith, Micky Dolenz, Peter Tork, and Davy Jones auditioning for The Monkees
Ever have an idea? You know, something that feels right at the time. Not with some crazy big goal so much, or the “twenty years from now, people will…” kind, but just an idea. We have them here all the time. Dad started this thinking back in the day, and it’s helped us build a great company, founded on solving your PIA (Pain In The @#$) Jobs! Just the other day I had one of the guys say, “Steve, what if we tried it this way?” And it worked. I love it, and really encourage my gang to have ideas and give them a try! Our best ideas have always started with WHAT IF…
In 1965, over 400 people responded to a talent call ad seeking zany young men for a new television show about a mythical rock group. Kind of quirky, kind of fun, and just the right ingredients at the right time. And so was born – The Monkees, starring Davy Jones, Micky Dolenz, Michael Nesmith, and Peter Tork premiered in September 1966. Audiences adored the humorous antics of the band. Though made especially for TV, The Monkees had real-life hits. Some of their best-loved and number one hits included Neil Diamond’s “I’m a Believer”, “Last Train to Clarksville”, “Little Bit Me, Little Bit You”, Gerry Goffin and Carole King’s “Pleasant Valley Sunday”, and “Daydream Believer” by John Stewart of the Kingston Trio. I remember watching the show with my brothers and sisters, and dancing around the house to the “stereo” sound – it was just plain old fun. Here’s some trivia I thought you’d enjoy. (thx Wikipedia)
Aspiring filmmaker Bob Rafelson developed the initial idea for The Monkees in 1962, but was unsuccessful in selling the series. He had tried selling it to Revue, the television division of Universal Pictures. In May 1964, while working at Screen Gems, Rafelson teamed up with Bert Schneider, whose father, Abraham Schneider, headed the Colpix Television and Screen Gems Television units of Columbia Pictures, and ultimately formed Raybert Productions.
The Beatles’ film A Hard Day’s Night inspired Rafelson and Schneider to revive Rafelson’s idea for The Monkees. As “The Raybert Producers”, they sold the show to Screen Gems Television on April 16, 1965. Rafelson and Schneider’s original idea was to cast an existing New York folk rock group, the Lovin’ Spoonful, who were not widely known at the time. However, John Sebastian had already signed the band to a record contract, which would have denied Screen Gems the right to market music from the show.
On July 14, 1965, The Hollywood Reporter stated that future band member Davy Jones was expected to return to the United States in September 1965 after a trip to England “to prepare for a TV pilot. Jones had previously starred as the Artful Dodger in the Broadway theatre show Oliver!, and his performance was later seen on The Ed Sullivan Show the same night as the Beatles’ first appearance on that show, February 9, 1964.
On September 8, 1965, Daily Variety and The Hollywood Reporter ran an ad to cast the remainder of the band/cast members for the TV show. Out of 437 applicants, the other three chosen for the cast of the TV show were Michael Nesmith, Peter Tork and Micky Dolenz. Nesmith, to work alongside Davey Jones. Of the final four, Nesmith was the only one who actually saw the ad in Daily Variety and The Hollywood Reporter. Tork, the last to be chosen, had been working the Greenwich Village scene as a musician, and had shared the stage with Pete Seeger; he learned of The Monkees from Stephen Stills, whom Rafelson and Schneider had rejected as a songwriter. Dolenz was an actor (his father was veteran character actor George Dolenz) who had starred in the TV series Circus Boy as a child, using the stage name Mickey Braddock, and he had also played guitar and sung in a band called the Missing Links before the Monkees, which had recorded and released a very minor single, “Don’t Do It”. By that time he was using his real name – he found out about The Monkees through his agent.
The band’s music was initially supervised by producer Don Kirshner, backed by the songwriting duo of Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart. For the first few months of their initial five-year career as “the Monkees”, the four actor-musicians were allowed only limited roles in the recording studio. This was due in part to the amount of time required to film the television series. Nonetheless, Nesmith did compose and produce some songs from the beginning, and Peter Tork contributed limited guitar work on the sessions produced by Nesmith. They eventually fought for and earned the right to collectively supervise all musical output under the band’s name.
Dolenz described the Monkees as initially being “a TV show about an imaginary band … that wanted to be the Beatles, [but] that was never successful”. The actor-musicians became, ironically, one of the most successful bands of the 1960s. The Monkees sold more than 75 million records worldwide and had international hits, including “Last Train to Clarksville”, “Pleasant Valley Sunday”, “Daydream Believer”, and “I’m a Believer”. At their peak in 1967, the band outsold the Beatles and the Rolling Stones combined.
During the casting process Don Kirshner, Screen Gems’ head of music, was contacted to secure music for the pilot that would become The Monkees. Not getting much interest from his usual stable of Brill Buildingwriters, Kirshner assigned Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart to the project. The duo contributed four demo recordings for the pilot. One of these recordings was “(Theme From) The Monkees” which helped get the series the green light.
When The Monkees was picked up as a series, development of the musical side of the project accelerated. Columbia-Screen Gems and RCA Victor entered into a joint venture called Colgems Records primarily to distribute Monkees records. Raybert set up a rehearsal space and rented instruments for the group to practice playing in April 1966. Kirshner called on Snuff Garrett, composer of several hits by Gary Lewis & the Playboys, to produce the initial musical cuts for the show. The producers quickly found that when brought into the studio together, the four actors would fool around and try to crack each other up. Because of this, they would often bring in each singer individually.
According to Nesmith, it was Dolenz’s voice that made the Monkees’ sound distinctive, and even during tension-filled times Nesmith and Tork sometimes turned over lead vocal duties to Dolenz on their own compositions, such as Tork’s “For Pete’s Sake,” which became the closing title theme for the second season of the television show.
The Monkees’ first single, “Last Train to Clarksville” b/w “Take a Giant Step”, was released in August 1966, just weeks prior to the TV broadcast debut. In conjunction with the first broadcast of the television show on September 12, 1966, on the NBC television network, NBC and Columbia had a major hit on their hands. The first long-playing album, The Monkees, was released a month later, spent 13 weeks at #1 and stayed on the Billboard charts for 78 weeks. Twenty years later, during their reunion, it would spend another 24 weeks on the Billboard charts. This first album is also notable, in addition to containing their debut single, for containing band member Nesmith’s first foray into country-rock, “Papa Gene’s Blues,” which mixed country, rock and Latin flavors.
In assigning instruments for purposes of the television show, a dilemma arose as to which of the four would be the drummer. Both Nesmith (a skilled guitarist and bassist) and Tork (who could play several stringed and keyboard instruments) were peripherally familiar with the instrument but both declined to give the drum set a try. Jones knew how to play the drums and tested well enough initially on the instrument, but the producers felt that, behind a drum kit, the camera would exaggerate his short stature and make him virtually hidden from view. Thus, Dolenz (who only knew how to play the guitar) was assigned to become the drummer. Tork taught Dolenz his first few beats on the drums, enough for him to fake his way through filming the pilot, but he was soon taught how to play properly.Thus, the lineup for the TV show most frequently featured Nesmith on guitar, Tork on bass, Dolenz on drums and Jones as a frontman, singer and percussionist.
Unlike most television shows of the time, The Monkees episodes were written with many setups, requiring frequent breaks to prepare the set and cameras for short bursts of filming. Some of the “bursts” are considered proto-music videos, produced to sell the records. The Monkees Tale author Eric Lefcowitz noted that the Monkees were—first and foremost—a video group. The four actors would spend 12-hour days on the set, many of them waiting for the production crew to do their jobs. Noticing that their instruments were left on the set unplugged, the four decided to turn them on and start playing.
After working on the set all day, the Monkees (usually Dolenz or Jones) would be called into the recording studio to cut vocal tracks. As the band was essential to this aspect of the recording process, there were few limits on how long they could spend in the recording studio, and the result was an extensive catalogue of unreleased recordings.
Pleased with their initial efforts, Columbia (over Kirshner’s objections) planned to send the Monkees out to play live concerts. The massive success of the series—and its spin-off records—created intense pressure to mount a touring version of the group. Against the initial wishes of the producers, the band went out on the road and made their debut live performance in December 1966 in Hawaii.
They had no time to rehearse a live performance except between takes on set. They worked on the TV series all day, recorded in the studio at night and slept very little. The weekends were usually filled with special appearances or filming of special sequences. The last show of the premiere season, “Monkees on Tour”, was shot in a documentary style by filming a concert in Phoenix, Arizona.
During the summer 1967 tour of the United States and the UK (from which the Live 1967 recordings are taken), they were backed by a band called the Sundowners. In 1968 the Monkees toured Australia and Japan. The results were far better than expected. Wherever they went, the group was greeted by scenes of fan adulation reminiscent of Beatlemania. This gave the singers increased confidence in their fight for control over the musical material chosen for the series.
With Jones sticking primarily to vocals and tambourine (except when filling in on the drums when Dolenz came forward to sing a lead vocal), the Monkees’ live act constituted a classic power trio of electric guitar, electric bass and drums (except when Tork passed the bass part to Jones or one of the Sundowners in order to take up the banjo or electric keyboards).
[NOTE: There are hundreds and hundreds of news photos out there. I’m sharing some that I found particularly interesting and I’ve done my best to give proper attribution to the wonderful photographers and agencies that make them available to us.]
(top)The water continues to rise in Houston and the surrounding area in wake of Hurricane Harvey. (DAVID J. PHILLIP/AP) (row 2) Naomi Coto carries Simba on her shoulders as they evacuate their home after the area was inundated with flooding from Hurricane Harvey on August 27, 2017 in Houston, Texas. Photo- Joe Raedle, 2017 Getty Images; An elderly woman and her poodle use an air mattress to float above flood waters from Tropical Storm Harvey while waiting to be rescued from Scarsdale Boulevard in Houston, Texas, on Aug. 27, 2017. Photo by Adrees Latif/Reuter (row 3) A family evacuates their Meyerland home in Houston, Texas. (Mark Mulligan/Houston Chronicle via AP); Residents wade through flood waters from Tropical Storm Harvey in Beaumont Place, Houston, Texas. (row 4) Alexendre Jorge evacuates four-year-old Ethan Colman from his flooded neighborhood. (Photo by Charlie Riedel / AP); Man floats on the freeway, after helping the driver of a submerged truck escape to safety. (Photo by Charlie Riedel / AP) (row 5) Isiah Courtney carries his dog Bruce through flood waters from Tropical Storm Harvey in Beaumont Place, Texas, U.S., on August 28, 2017 – Photo by Jonathan Bachman, Reuters. (bottom) A detached view of Hurricane Harvey via NASA.
This week’s devastating hurricane and rainfall throughout Texas and New Orleans is beyond compare. Day after day we are witnessing the amazing impact of winds, rain and flooding like we’ve not seen in years, coupled with the heroic efforts of citizens, law enforcement, the military and volunteers across the region. I hope you will join Kowalski Heat Treating in donating to the short term and longer term relief efforts. Below are just some of the organizations who need our help – choose those who best meet your interests and needs. I know your heartfelt donations WILL make a difference. Finally, please take a moment and say a prayer for all of those involved.
Local Organizations
Hurricane Harvey Relief Fund of Houston’s mayor, Sylvester Turner, which is administered by the Greater Houston Community Foundation.
American Red Cross is accepting donations on its website. You can also text HARVEY to 90999 to donate $10.
AmeriCarestakes medicine and supplies to survivors.
Catholic Charities provides food, clothing, shelter and support services to those from all religious backgrounds.
Bottom of Form
Salvation Army can be made online, by calling 1-800-SAL-ARMY (1-800-725-2769) or texting STORM to 51555.
AABB, which coordinates a task force to manage blood collection efforts during disasters, put out a call on Sunday for blood donations in the aftermath of Harvey. Most in demand: those with type O-positive blood.
Online-only Organizations
Airbnbis waiving service fees for those affected by the disaster and checking in between Aug. 23 and Sept. 25, and can guide users in creating a listing where their home is offered to victims free.
GoFundMehas created a page with all of its Harvey-related campaigns, including one started by the country singer Chris Young, who donated $100,000, and another created by the president and chief executive of the Rockport-Fulton Chamber of Commerce.
YouCaring has a fund-raising page set up by J. J. Watt of the Houston Texans with a goal of $1 million. By 6 p.m. Monday it had raised more than $700,000.
GlobalGiving’s Hurricane Harvey Relief Fund supports local organizations by helping to “meet survivors’ immediate needs for food, fuel, clean water, hygiene products and shelter.” It will also assist with longer-term recovery efforts.
How to Avoid Being Scammed
Charity Navigator, which identifies worthy charities, has a handy list of organizations that are responding in the aftermath of the storm.
https://www.khtheat.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/khtheat-logo-8-14-14.png00Steve Kowalskihttps://www.khtheat.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/khtheat-logo-8-14-14.pngSteve Kowalski2017-09-01 14:30:422017-08-31 15:47:21Our Thoughts & Prayers Are With Them
(top) How we used to pinpoint our location was with a push pin, marker, crayin, etc. (second from top) How we do it now. GPS satellites cost billions of dollars more than a push pin but, these days, both are at our finger tips. (left column) Maps aren’t totally out of style. (or are they?) What people are doing with maps these days: Umbrella graphics, paper dress art, a guy in Germany is selling crumpled maps in a bag of major world cities (haha…), incredible paper sculpture art and of course…wrapping paper. (right column) Go to Google Maps, put in 3611 Detroit Ave Cleveland, Ohio 44113. Those satellites will triangulate the location of Kowalski Heat Treating. Then you can go from maps to satellite view and keep zooming in to my location in 3D and finally the street view. Technology is simply and literally out of this world.
When we were kids, Mom and Dad were really superheros. They’d think nothing of packing up the car, loading in the kids, and heading off for our end of the summer vacation. I can remember Mom fussing with the road maps, trying to follow the red line they drew on the maps. Of course, Dad at the wheel, we’d occasionally hear “are you sure this is the way”? By the time my baby brother and sister were 21 years old, they had actually visited all 50 states on family vacations! It was nothing for us to go on cross country trips of exploration and wonder! Thinking back, I can say that I have been blessed to have been able to visit 38 states across this incredibly beautiful country that is filled with caring and generous people along with being able to sample amazing food! Today, we are blessed with amazing GPS technology, in our cars, on our phones, or stuck to the windshield. We can preprogram the routes, and then listen to a nice lady tell us where to turn, or even suggest shortcuts. So, with my investigative curiosity peaked, I dove in to learn more, and of course, share with you. Enjoy, and thanks to howthingswork.com and Wikipedia for the extended history lesson.
The Global Positioning System (GPS) is a network of about 30 satellites orbiting the Earth at an altitude of 20,000 km. The system was originally developed by the US government for military navigation but now anyone with a GPS device, be it a SatNav, mobile phone or handheld GPS unit, can receive the radio signals that the satellites broadcast.
The GPS system does not require the user to transmit any data, and it operates independently of any telephonic or internet reception, though these technologies can enhance the usefulness of the GPS positioning information. The GPS system provides critical positioning capabilities to military, civil, and commercial users around the world. The United States government created the system, maintains it, and makes it freely accessible to anyone with a GPS receiver.
Wherever you are on the planet, at least four GPS satellites are ‘visible’ at any time. Each one transmits information about its position and the current time at regular intervals. These signals, travelling at the speed of light, are intercepted by your GPS receiver, which calculates how far away each satellite is based on how long it took for the messages to arrive. Once it has information on how far away at least three satellites are, your GPS receiver can pinpoint your location using a process called trilateration.
The technology works this way – Imagine you are standing somewhere on Earth with three satellites in the sky above you. If you know how far away you are from satellite A, and do the same for satellites B and C, you can work out your location by seeing where the three circles intersect. This is just what your GPS receiver does, although it uses overlapping spheres rather than circles. The more satellites there are above the horizon the more accurately your GPS unit can determine where you are.
GPS satellites have atomic clocks on board to keep accurate time. General and Special Relativity however predict that differences will appear between these clocks and an identical clock on Earth. General Relativity predicts that time will appear to run slower under stronger gravitational pull – the clocks on board the satellites will therefore seem to run faster than a clock on Earth. Furthermore, Special Relativity predicts that because the satellites’ clocks are moving relative to a clock on Earth, they will appear to run slower. The whole GPS network makes allowances for these effects – proof that Relativity has a real impact.
This animated GIF is from a fabulous learning site for kids 14 and under called MOCOMI. Check it out HERE. It’s great for adults (parents, teachers…) who want to help kids understand the world around them.
The GPS project was launched in the United States in 1973 to overcome the limitations of previous navigation systems, integrating ideas from several predecessors, including a number of classified engineering design studies from the 1960s. The S. Department of Defensedeveloped the system, which originally used 24 satellites for use by the United States military and became fully operational in 1995. It was allowed for civilian use in the 1980s. Roger L. Easton of the Naval Research Laboratory, Ivan A. Getting of The Aerospace Corporation, and Bradford Parkinson of the Applied Physics Laboratory are credited with inventing it.
The design of GPS is based partly on similar ground-based radio-navigation systems, such as LORAN and the Decca Navigator, developed in the early 1940s and used by the British Royal Navy during World War II. Friedwardt Winterberg proposed a test of general relativity — detecting time slowing in a strong gravitational field using accurate atomic clocks placed in orbit inside artificial satellites.
When the Soviet Union launched the first man-made satellite, Sputnik 1, in 1957, two American physicists, William Guier and George Weiffenbach, at Johns Hopkins’s Applied Physics Laboratory (APL), decided to monitor Sputnik’s radio transmissions. Within hours they realized that, because of the Doppler effect, they could pinpoint where the satellite was along its orbit. The Director of the APL gave them access to their UNIVAC to do the heavy calculations required.
The next spring, Frank McClure, the deputy director of the APL, asked Guier and Weiffenbach to investigate the inverse problem — pinpointing the user’s location, given that of the satellite. (At the time, the Navy was developing the submarine-launched Polaris missile, which required them to know the submarine’s location.) This led them and APL to develop the TRANSIT system
The first satellite navigation system, TRANSIT, used by the United States Navy, was successfully tested in 1960. It used a constellation of five satellites and could provide a navigational fix approximately once per hour. In 1967, the U.S. Navy developed the Timation satellite, which proved the feasibility of placing accurate clocks in space, a technology required by GPS.
In the 1970s, the ground-based OMEGA navigation system, based on phase comparison of signal transmission from pairs of stations, became the first worldwide radio navigation system. Limitations of these systems drove the need for a more universal navigation solution with greater accuracy.
During the Cold War arms race, the nuclear threat to the existence of the United States was the one need that did justify this cost in the view of the United States Congress. This deterrent effect is why GPS was funded. It is also the reason for the ultra-secrecy at that time. The nuclear triad consisted of the United States Navy’s submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBMs) along with United States Air Force (USAF) strategic bombers and intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs). Considered vital to the nuclear deterrence posture, accurate determination of the SLBM launch position was a force multiplier. Precise navigation would enable United States ballistic missile submarines to get an accurate fix of their positions before they launched their SLBMs.
The USAF, with two thirds of the nuclear triad, also had requirements for a more accurate and reliable navigation system. The Navy and Air Force were developing their own technologies in parallel to solve what was essentially the same problem.
To increase the survivability of ICBMs, there was a proposal to use mobile launch platforms (comparable to the Russian SS-24 and SS-25) and so the need to fix the launch position had similarity to the SLBM situation.
In 1960, the Air Force proposed a radio-navigation system called MOSAIC (Mobile System for Accurate ICBM Control) that was essentially a 3-D LORAN. A follow-on study, Project 57, was worked in 1963 and it was “in this study that the GPS concept was born.” That same year, the concept was pursued as Project 621B, which had “many of the attributes that you now see in GPS” and promised increased accuracy for Air Force bombers as well as ICBMs.
Another important predecessor to GPS came from a different branch of the United States military. In 1964, the United States Army orbited its first Sequential Collation of Range (SECOR) satellite used for geodetic surveying. The SECOR system included three ground-based transmitters from known locations that would send signals to the satellite transponder in orbit. A fourth ground-based station, at an undetermined position, could then use those signals to fix its location precisely. The last SECOR satellite was launched in 1969.
With these parallel developments in the 1960s, it was realized that a superior system could be developed by synthesizing the best technologies from 621B, Transit, Timation, and SECOR in a multi-service program. During Labor Day weekend in 1973, a meeting of about twelve military officers at the Pentagon discussed the creation of a Defense Navigation Satellite System (DNSS). It was at this meeting that the real synthesis that became GPS was created. Later that year, the DNSS program was named Navstar, or Navigation System Using Timing and Ranging. With the individual satellites being associated with the name Navstar (as with the predecessors Transit and Timation), a more fully encompassing name was used to identify the constellation of Navstar satellites.
The effects of the ionosphere on radio transmission through the ionosphere was investigated within a geophysics laboratory of Air Force Cambridge Research Laboratory. Located at Hanscom Air Force Base, outside Boston, the lab was renamed the Air Force Geophysical Research Lab (AFGRL) in 1974. AFGRL developed the Klobuchar Model for computing ionospheric corrections to GPS location. Of note is work done by Australian Space Scientist Elizabeth Essex-Cohen at AFGRL, concerned with the curving of the path of radio waves traversing the ionosphere from NavSTAR satellites.
After Korean Air Lines Flight 007, a Boeing 747 carrying 269 people, was shot down in 1983 after straying into the USSR’s prohibited airspace, in the vicinity of Sakhalin and Moneron Islands, President Ronald Reagan issued a directive making GPS freely available for civilian use, once it was sufficiently developed, as a common good. The first Block II satellite was launched on February 14, 1989, and the 24th satellite was launched in 1994.
Since its deployment, the U.S. has implemented several improvements to the GPS service including new signals for civil use and increased accuracy and integrity for all users, all the while maintaining compatibility with existing GPS equipment. Modernization of the satellite system has been an ongoing initiative by the U.S. Department of Defense through a series of satellite acquisitions to meet the growing needs of the military, civilians, and the commercial market.
If you have any “fun” map or GPS stories, be sure to send ‘em to me at skowalski@khtheat.com.
https://www.khtheat.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/khtheat-logo-8-14-14.png00Steve Kowalskihttps://www.khtheat.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/khtheat-logo-8-14-14.pngSteve Kowalski2017-08-25 14:30:572017-08-24 19:26:12Honey, Are You Sure We’re Going the Right Way?
