Wolrd Turned Upside Down

OK, the title may be a bit dramatic but since moving to North Carolina there is one pressing issue that has captured my attention.

Like so many, I love my coffee in the morning. I watch the sun slowly waking up my world as the coffee slowly wakes me up; it really is one of my favorite things. Because of this, I decided a while back to take my coffee making to another level. I purchased a French press. 

For those who don't know, to use a French press one needs ground coffee and boiling water. The coffee is placed in the carafe followed by boiling water.  A screen/filter/plunger is then used to push the grounds down, thus allowing this barista to enjoy his coffee!

 Upon arriving in North Carolina, however, I found a glitch in the system. Water seems to take FOREVER to boil here! I know a watched pot never boils but this is a little ridiculous. How did the move to North Carolina change a seemingly simple operation?

It turns out there is quite a large difference, a little more than 3,500 feet to be exact. As a child I heard people taking about high altitude cooking directions and I thought they were crazy—up until now. As I agonize over the extra minutes of not having my coffee, I decided to take look into this interesting phenomenon.

 We moved from an elevation of 4,100 feet above sea level to an elevation of 564 feet above sea level. What this boils down to is the temperature at which water boils. I was taught it boiled at 212 degrees F or 100 degrees C and this is true, under specific circumstances. One of these is to be at sea level. The higher the elevation, the lower the temperature at which water boils.  In fact, every 500 feet lowers the boiling temperature by about 1 degree F.

In doing the calculation, this means water boils at 204 degrees F in our previous home, Helena Montana.  Eight degrees may not seem like that much of a difference, but when you are waiting on your coffee, I assure you it feels like hours!

Pressure is responsible for disrupting my morning coffee procedure. At sea level there is about 14.696 pounds of pressure per square inch pushing on you, water, everything. The amount of pressure in Helena (depending on where you are standing) is around 12.228 pounds.

We are accustomed to feeling the air “pushing” on us so we do not notice it unless we change elevations quickly--like driving over a mountain pass or flying in an airplane.

This affects the boiling point of water because at the higher elevations, water molecules are not held together as tightly as they are under the more weight.

Having come to the realization that there is really nothing I can do to make my water boil faster, I have given up my French press. That and I broke it, but still, lesson learned! C'est la vie!

For the Rare Lute Lovers

Christmas has come and gone and it seems every year it happens faster and faster.  I am sad to see most signs of the holidays leave but there is one I am not at all sad to say goodbye to.

My wife Cory calls me a Grinch because I do not particularly enjoy listening to Christmas music.  I feel Christmas music can be overdone very quickly, this year was particularly bad because here in Chapel Hill there is a station that plays it 24/7, and has since before Thanksgiving!

It is not that I totally dislike it; I just wish it was not the same songs with different people singing them.  Amazingly, almost every song I hear somehow reminds me of two of my favorite holiday movies, Home Alone and National Lampoons Christmas Vacation.  This could stem from one of my family traditions I grew up with of watching Christmas movies on Christmas day.

I love my family dearly and appreciate the value of tradition but there is one I never could get on board with and am having a difficult time continuing.  If you have never had the pleasure of eating, smelling, or even seeing Lutefisk, I will do my best to illuminate the mystery behind this "fish".

My mom makes Lutefisk every Christmas Eve, as it is a traditional holiday meal for Scandinavian-Americans. 

Lutefisk is typically made from cod or ling that is skinned, deboned, salted and hung out to dry.  It is then soaked in cold water which is changed out every day for five days.  The next step is what gives Lutefisk its name.

Lutefisk translated means lye fish.  It is placed in a solution of lye and water and soaked for two days.  Yes lye; the corrosive alkaline that is used for soap making, biodiesel, and to clear clogged drain pipes. 

When removed, it hardly resembles a fish as it has swelled, lost half of its protein and has a pH of 11 – 12!  To make the fish edible, (edible because at that pH it is caustic; capable of burning, corroding, or destroying living tissue!) it is again soaked in cold water, which gets changed out every day for up to six days.

Once it is safe to eat you are left with the challenge of cooking it.  This is particularly difficult because the process of preparing the fish gives it a jellylike flakey appearance and consistency.  My mom opts for the boiling method, which should be another indicator of just how appetizing this “fish” is.

Not that I was ever a big fan of Lutefisk, but in learning all this, I really doubt I will eat it again.  Some people however, really love Lutefisk, my family included, which now makes me wonder if I should commend or commit them.

Finally, I cannot help but wonder why the lye?  People theorize it has to do with the preservation of the fish and to keep other animals, like dogs, from eating it. 

                I am sorry mom, please do not be upset with me, I will continue some of our other traditions and I will speak of this one, but I will probably not prepare it. 

Whatever your traditions are, I hope you had a fantastic holiday and a very great new year!

How To Smile Blog Post

by Deborah Lee Rose

 

Kyle Hunter is a wizard at turning everyday items into afterschool hands-on science. As an educator at the Morehead Planetarium and Science Center in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, his “Closet of Awesomeness” (the afterschool supply cabinet) has a special stock of recyclables he brings from home, plus a seemingly bottomless supply of “magic wands”—also known as popsicle sticks.

In December, popsicle sticks came in very handy as Hunter and his fellow afterschool staff led their students in howtosmile.org’s Robot Hands activity. Students from grades K-5 explored how sensing is part of robotics, by trying to tie their shoes with constraints like popsicle sticks taped to their fingers. The students loved not only trying to tie their shoes, but doing everything with popsicle stick hands, Hunter reports.
Hunter expanded the technology theme with howtosmile.org’s Program a Friend activity. “Kids get more out of the science when they do a couple or a few activities that expand the theme and give them more ways to understand the concepts,” he says. In Program a Friend, one person "programs" another like a robot that must move through a space while trying to avoid obstacles and reach a goal. Fixing problems along the way gives learners firsthand experience at the scientific process of iterative testing.
To engage students who come to the program five days a week, from five nearby elementary schools, Hunter has found he continually needs to expand his supply of activities (and restock his popsicle sticks). He now turns to Howtosmile.org 50-70% of the time for new activities.
Hunter and 19 other Morehead educators also plan and staff special events for afterschool kids and their families. In coordination with the North Carolina Science Festival, the program ran a “Science Night in a Box,” where kids got to show off and teach their parents hands-on activities like Sound Sandwich, one of the most popular activities in the howtosmile.org collection.