May, 2021

"This Just In..."

Is there a finer month then May?

It fills us with promise and possibilities. And do we ever need that now. Vaccinations are up, infection rates down, beaches and restaurants are open, we're cautiously seeing friends and neighbors again and we're all anxious to get back to work.

OK, some exaggerations may be expected, after all this is...Just In. Enjoy the month - stay safe.



When is a spring not a spring, but then it is a spring?

Could on be when it’s an Intermittent Spring?

Wyoming’s Intermittent Spring runs and stops alternately, in segments of about 15 minutes.

The mechanism isn’t known for certain, but scientists suspect that a cavern in the rock face is filling continuously with groundwater, and when the water reaches a certain height it spills through a tube that empties into the valley.

Here’s a video worth a quick look.

If only because we thought you might never have seen one – we include this marvelous… Madagascar Radiated Tortoise. And, of course, now you have.

These are the reasons you read this epistle, no?

860 813 9122

Careful.

If you’re traveling to exotic locales this summer or ya know Hammonassett, consider the pain of meeting the stonefish. According to the Ocean Conservancy, “the stonefish are tropical reef fish with spines on their back.

Don’t touch one.

They are excruciatingly painful – and nothing not even opiates will relieve the pain – “when someone phones in and thinks it's a stonefish, if there isn't someone screaming in the background, it's not a stonefish.”

So…there’s that.

The Chauvet Cave, France, and the art of prehistory.



In 1994, three friends discovered in the south of France a cave with magnificent cave paintings, more than 30,000

years old.

Under the ground of the Ardèche region, an invaluable treasure is hidden for its antiquity, its conservation and the pictorial quality of the representations; one of the oldest and most splendid examples of Arieñaciense parietal art, dating approx. between 40,000 and 30,000 B.C.

So much more information here:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chauvet_Cave

Tune-Up Time Take Two!

170 of you responded to our April Tune-up Time invite.

Thank you!

The benefits of keeping your heating and cooling systems maintained on a regular basis are pretty clear –

* Reducing the chance of a breakdown (and they always happen on the hottest or coldest day)

* Increase the life of your system (save money down the road)

* Improve the efficiency of your system (save money today!)

Daniels provides a 12-point tune-up for your heating and cooling systems with three goals in mind:

* Provide same day service

* Do it right the first time

* Guarantee all our repairs

Finally, we try to do all that with a highly trained, friendly, courteous staff – people you have come to rely on for more than 95 years. 

If you haven’t yet scheduled your periodic system maintenance – call us today and schedule anytime from May 15 through August 30. 

860 813 9122

We discovered podcasts have exploded over the interwebnet during the pandemic. Here are a few to consider sharing with your kids, ages 6-10.

Apparently listening to podcasts helps learn critical listening skills. Hope this helps you get through the day and brightens your child’s life.

Fiction Series

The Alien Adventures of Finn Caspian – sounds like a “mystery gang” story ala “Scooby-Doo” meets “Buffy the Vampire Slayer.” In space! There are 200 episodes.

Eleanor Amplified – evil villains are no match for the intrepid radio reporter. These are perfect for long drives, they average nearly 2-hours. Off to grandmas!

The Unexplained Disappearance of Mars Patel – a Peabody Award winning series about students who keep disappearing from the H.G. Wells Middle School.

Best for kids 8-12.

Hank The Cowdog – Matthew McConaughey plays Hank a know-it-all dog that gets into all sorts of adventures on the ranch he guards.

Educational

The Past & The Curious – introduces listeners to some of the lesser-known stories and historical figures of the past.

Mystery Recipe – Molly Birnbaum, the editor of America’s Test Kitchens, challenges listeners to learn about one surprise ingredient each show. Then add them all up in an interactive cook-along finale.

Who Smarted? Does your kid love facts? These 12 min. episodes are filled with them, including about animals, black holes and video games.

Stand Alones

Goodnight Stories for Rebel Girls – it shares the biographies of incredible women – read by incredible women.

Greeking Out – From National Geographic Kids this series retells favorite Greek myths in a modern (kid-friendly) way.

Unspookable - Scary stories and urban legends like Bloody Mary, Charlie and Ouija boards come to life here. Recommended for kids 8 and up.

Where are we and what are we looking at?

Think you know – tell us here and you may win one of those vaunted, especially timely, Amazon gift cards everyone is so excited about!



Colin L, and 64 of you recognized our two mustachioed men – Sam Waterson (he of Godless and of course Law and Order) and Sam Elliot. Only 39 – and Mary Ann M, identified the uniquely shaped Sicilian city of Centuripe. Good luck.

Green energy pioneers plan to reinvent wind power by foregoing the need for turbine towers, blades – and even wind.

“We are not against traditional wind farms,” says David Yáñez, the inventor of Vortex Bladeless. Based just outside Madrid, he has pioneered a turbine design that can harness energy from winds without the sweeping white blades considered synonymous with wind power. 

The bladeless turbines stand 10-30 feet high, a curve-topped cylinder fixed vertically with an elastic rod. To the untrained eye it appears to waggle back and forth, not unlike a car dashboard toy.

In reality, it is designed to oscillate within the wind range and generate electricity from the vibration.

The turbine is no danger to bird migration patterns or wildlife, particularly if used in urban settings. For the people living or working nearby, the turbine would create noise at a frequency virtually undetectable to humans.

Might this be wind power’s answer to the home solar panel?

More here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ULCMJGfKBDM&t=1s

Rabbit Hash, Ky., has been governed by dogs since 1998.

The hamlet’s first elected mayor was a dog “of unknown parentage” named Goofy Borneman-Calhoun. He was succeeded by Junior Cochran, a black Labrador elected in 2004.

When Junior also died in office, a special election installed Lucy Lou, a border collie and the town’s first female mayor, who was named Best Elected Official in 2013 by Cincinnati City Beat magazine and reportedly considered a presidential run in 2015. The 2016 election went to a pit bull named Brynneth “Brynn” Pawltro.



The current mayor, a French bulldog named Wilbur Beast, took office last year. Wilbur’s human, Amy Noland, told NBC News because of “all of the negative media that’s out there surrounding America, and the election, and COVID-19, I guess I wanted Wilbur to be something positive in the news."



Tick Tock...

This – this – is a not-so-gentle reminder that if your oil tank is 25+ years old it is living on borrowed time. And, if it’s three decades old or more perhaps you might want to call us – today.

If you see any of these warning signs – please call us.

Rust and Dents

Wet spots under the tank

Unstable legs

Frozen or broken fuel gauge

Pipe clogs

Tank failure is rare – but when it happens it can be a catastrophe. Daniels can remove your old tank and install the next generation oil tank – all in one day. So give your tank a quick glance and if you see something – say something…like, “hello, Daniels.”

860 813 9122

Founded in 1957, catalog showroom Best Products distinguished itself with highly unorthodox facades, designed by architect James Wines for 9 retail facilities across the U.S.

This one, the “Indeterminate Facade” in Houston, Texas, was said to have appeared in more books on 20th-century architecture than photographs of any other modern structure.

The company eventually went bankrupt, and most of the buildings have been redesigned or demolished, but one in Richmond, Va., with a forest in its entryway, is now home to a Presbyterian church.

An architect should know they’ve made it when they start to get hate mail. James Wines of the SITE architectural practice reached that point in his career following a late ‘70s exhibition of his work at the Museum of Modern Art in Manhattan.

One letter to the press regarding that show characterized Wines’ work as “atrocities and abominations, affronts to human dignity, insults to architectural innovation, evidence of sheer lunacy and tailor made to incite the anarchist tendencies in our society.”

The American businessman Sydney Lewis founded the chain in 1957. When BEST flourished, Lewis developed a taste for contemporary art, and, in 1972, he struck a creative relationship with Wines’ firm and sought to include contemporary, artistic qualities in its buildings.

“In the case of the BEST showrooms, each edifice was based on the assumption that people have a subliminal acceptance of certain archetypal buildings in their daily lives, in suburban homes, office towers, civic centers and, especially, big box stores,” the architect is quoted as saying in his book, Postmodern Architecture: Less is a Bore, “so this reflex identification could be used to challenge routine expectations.”

Responses to these challenges varied. When Wines unveiled the Intermediate Façade Building in Houston back in 1975– a quite normal looking brick construction that tapered out into a ruin of white masonry – one member of the public approached the architect in a state of unnerving excitement.

“I thought he was gonna try and fight me,” Wines told the site Atlas Obscurca. “‘Did you do that?’ He asked. I told him I did. ‘I love it! That’s what I always have wanted to do, kick the sh*t out of one of those buildings.’”

Staff at the Notch Building (above) in Miami, meanwhile, had the opportunity to tear their store apart on a daily basis. This branch, featured a ‘wandering wall’, which was pulled out to open up the entrance.

Wines’ partnership with the firm ended in 1984; Best Products ceased to exist in 1997, and today, though Wines’ Best retail buildings are regarded as great works of postmodernism, the playful irreverent style of architecture that followed modernism, by the end of the 1990s, they had all but disappeared.

However, Wines’ influence within today’s consumer environment endures; he designed the original 2004 Shake Shack stand, which still stands in Madison Square, New York.

https://siteenvirodesign.com/content/best-products

Here are three chances to win one of those coveted $25 Amazon Gift Cards.

Tell us who played Wonder Woman (yep, that's the easy one) and tell us who played the first, live-action Superman. (The hard one) You’ll get a bonus entry if you get them both right.

Tell us here. You could be this month's superhero!

Crispy Baked Tofu

Well, OK, so I’ve been informed by a daughter that man (and woman) does not live on bread, meat or most importantly, macaroni, alone.

So, for our healthier, some would argue smarter, readers here’s a fabulous recipe just for you!

Here is how to make super crispy tofu in the oven. Recipe yields 4 servings of tofu, as a compliment to a larger meal.

To make super crispy tofu (without deep frying!) - the trick is to toss in a little oil, soy sauce and cornstarch before baking!

INGREDIENTS

• 1 block (12 to 15 ounces) organic extra-firm tofu
• 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 tablespoon tamari or soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon cornstarch or arrowroot starch

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit and line a large, rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper to prevent the tofu from sticking.
2. To prepare the tofu: Drain the tofu and use your palms to gently squeeze out some of the water. Slice the tofu into thirds lengthwise to make 3 even columns, then slice across to make 5 even rows.
3. Line a cutting board with a lint free tea towel or paper towels, then arrange the tofu in an even layer on the towel(s). Fold the towels(s) over the cubed tofu, then place something heavy on top (like another cutting board, topped with a cast iron pan or large can of tomatoes) to help the tofu drain. Let the tofu rest for at least 10 minutes ( preferably more like 30 minutes, if you have the time).
4. Transfer the pressed tofu to a medium mixing bowl and drizzle with olive oil and tamari. Toss to combine. Sprinkle the starch over the tofu, and toss the tofu until the starch is evenly coated, so there are no powdery spots remaining.
5. Tip the bowl of tofu over onto your prepared baking sheet and arrange the tofu n an even layer. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, tossing the tofu halfway, until the tofu is deeply golden on the edges. Use as desired

The olive tree of Vouves, on Crete are old. Way old. This tree, which has a trunk 15 feet in diameter, is at least 2,000 years old, and likely 2,900 years old, based on the graveyard found nearby.

This tree likely lived through the writing of the Iliad, the golden age of Athens, the rise of the Roman Empire, and the birth of Christ – and then lived for 2,000 years after that. It still produces olives, as well!

A Poem... about Traffic and Patience.

Carolina Calm by Paul Stone, 1938

A native of New England, Paul Stone is influenced by the scenes that surround him whether they are the landscapes of Vermont or the seascapes of the rugged New England coast.

Equally adept with watercolors or oils, his paintings are distinguished by a strong sense of composition and a master's control of the medium. Here are a few more:

In 1938, Douglas “Wrong Way” Corrigan departed New York, ostensibly headed for California, and flew instead to Ireland. The New York Post ran this headline on Aug. 5.