Month: June 2009

Good smelling things

Posted by Rick on in Lists 0 Comment

Good smelling things

I’ve never been much of an olfactory dependent person, I think most people aren’t. On the other hand I do know that my sense of smell tends to be better then most other peoples.

Some recent good smells I’ve noticed:
Barbeque
Tomato Plants
The air when rain is coming (called “petrichor”)
Fresh cut Pine trees (vastly different then the typical Christmas Tree smell)
Garlic
Sautéed Onions
Good quality dirt

I’m sure a physiologist (and even a phycologist) might have something to say about the fact that all the smells are food related, or outdoorsy.

Tomatoes!

Posted by Rick on in House Stuff 0 Comment

Tomatoes!

The best part about having a house? Having a garden!

These little beauties are coming along nicely. Of the three types of tomatoes I’ve got, two types are coming in. Either the third is a later bloomer (I hope,) or it’s being blocked from the sun too much by the bigger plants.

The biggest ones are the Brandywines:

Brandywine

These are huge heirloom tomatoes on the same size as the more common beefsteak tomatoes. They’re supposed to have much more flavor too. Apparently this strain was rediscovered in 1985 and has quickly become the most popular heirloom tomato.

JapaneseTrifle

The Japanese Black Trifele originated in Russia instead of Japan. It’s apparently going to be the size and shape of a Bartlett Pear, but will be a more purple color.

Water found on Enceladus, Sci-Fi crowd yawns

Posted by Rick on in Science 0 Comment

Water found on Enceladus, Sci-Fi crowd yawns

Originally posted: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090624/ap_on_sc/us_sci_saturn_moon

NEW YORK – Scientists have found new evidence that one of Saturn’s moons has an ocean beneath its surface. That’s important because liquid water is a key ingredient for life.
The moon is an icy body called Enceladus (en-SELL-uh-duss.) It gives off huge plumes of water vapor and ice grains, and scientists used the Cassini spacecraft to sample material from those jets.
They found particles containing sodium salts, which indicates that the plumes arise from liquid water.
But a second team of scientists found no sign of sodium with a different sampling method. They concluded there could still be a deep ocean on Enceladus, but that there are also other possible explanations for the moon’s jets.
Both papers are reported in Thursday’s issue of the journal Nature.

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Yeah, see the problem with this is that Arthur C. Clark wrote about this years and years ago. It’s nice for it to be 100% confirmed, but it continues to astound me just how right this man was about a lot of things. So here’s hoping for big black obelisks, and mono-molecular protective diamond coating for all the world’s architectural landmarks.

Happy Birthday “Flying Saucers”

Posted by Rick on in History 0 Comment

Happy Birthday “Flying Saucers”

Today in 1947, Kenneth Arnold reported nine UFO’s flying in a chain near Mt Rainier Washington. His widely circulated descriptions of the craft as disc or saucer shaped gave the newspapers the chance to coin the phrase “Flying Saucers”. While by no means the first sighting of such objects, this can credibly be pinpointed as the start of Modern Ufology.

Jubitz Truck Stop – Review

Posted by Rick on in Review 0 Comment

Jubitz Truck Stop – Review

Originally Posted: 12/13/04

I’ve eaten at my share of greasy spoons and truck stops all over the country, especially in Oregon. Jubitz is located off of I-5 just south of Jantzen Beach. You’ll need to take the Marine Drive exit to get to it.

I went to Jubitz several years ago (2000 as of this writing) The food was bad to fair and was your typical truck stop fare. But I was in the area the other day and decided to stop and see if they’ve changed. They’ve remodeled, added a hotel and a new restaurant. The old restaurant area has been converted in to a country bar with live music, which I quickly avoided. The food quality has gone up.

Truck stop food rarely ever gets to the awesome category, but this did pretty good. Had the ten ounce top sirloin, salad, baked potato and Apple Cobbler for desert. Total bill was still under $15.00. The steak was actually pretty good, much more tender then I expected, it was topped with a garlic butter of some sort that was good enough not to need steak sauce with. The service was pretty good and attentive, and the restaurant itself is fairly nice. I’m a big fan of the old Burns Brothers’ restaurant in Troutdale, but since I don’t live out there any more this is a nice alternative for a cheap meal that isn’t Denny’s or Shari’s.