61

Other topics / Re: The Natchez Trace

« on: May 04, 2016, 11:14:02 AM »

Comparatively long way. You traveled like through 2-3 small countries (maybe like the size of Laos and Portugal?)

Did you count how much does this travel cost? (Fuel, food?) What sum (budget) is reasonable? I think it's a comparatively inexpensive travel, because you don't pay for hotels and motels and this saves a lot, right?

Comparatively, costs weren't an issue. I was driving my pickup which is a 4 cylinder and gets good gas mileage. We carried most of the food for our trip with us from the start, making sure we had plenty of ice along the way.  So about all we bought was gas, ice, and occasionally a drink. In the park itself, for the large majority you can't spend money. There is nothing that takes it. I had a portable white gas stove and it sets up just about anywhere, including the tailgate.

About the languages -- interesting moment is that in 2008, Edward Vajda of Western Washington University presented evidence for a genealogical relation between the Yeneisian languages of Siberia (it's in Asia) and the Na–Dené languages of North America

Often ancestral sources can be traced through languages and what is common in them. You give a fine demonstration of that with your comment.

62

Other topics / Re: Those who have questions about the USA...

« on: May 03, 2016, 02:02:34 PM »

Trends show that in the US, religion is losing it's foothold. I think the last thing I read about this was something like 50% religious and 49% not. The 49% is gaining while the 50% is losing ground. It won't be too much longer till religion will no longer be the majority.

63

Food / Dairy Punch

« on: May 03, 2016, 12:05:49 AM »

Dairy Punch

Ingredients

4 c. vanilla ice cream, slightly softened
4 c. lime sherbet, slightly softened
4 c. milk
6 oz. can frozen lemonade concentrate
6 oz. can frozen limeade concentrate
2 c. water
4 c. ginger ale

Directions

In a large punch bowl, stir together ice cream, sherbet and milk. In 1 quart pitcher, stir together lemonade concentrate, limeade concentrate and water. Pour over ice cream mixture. Add ginger ale, stir until slightly mixed.

64

Other topics / Re: The Natchez Trace

« on: May 02, 2016, 11:53:05 PM »

Through out these images, you will see signs that indicate how far we traveled while showing what is along the way. We started at the very beginning outside Natchez. In the image here you see that all this and we've only covered about a 1/3^rd of the way in the first state, to give  you some idea of scale.

All along the way, you find spots like this as the rule rather than the exception. Some have historical significance, most do not.

Through out the US, there are places that are named for the original Indian names. This has not been some idea to credit the Indians with socially correct movements but rather that was what such a location was known as from the first introduction to a place. The names are often what is seen as near unpronounceable to those who first encounter such names. Here is one such name that you might see for yourself.

65

Other topics / Re: Those who have questions about the USA...

« on: May 02, 2016, 04:40:28 AM »

The positioning behind the political scenes, is often over votes and catering to the various groups that support their party. There is a huge political storm that has been raging for a long time now over abortions. The religious aspect is the key driver in this, with many individuals influenced on which side they fall on, depending on their personal beliefs which the religious community takes full advantage of.

With NASA, much of it is of course controlled by it's budget. A budget whose amounts determine what it can and can not do. This is not helped by the political turmoil that is part of our system of changing leaders every or every other election cycle. NASA's missions are often on the decade or better time scale. Something that does not line up with the election cycles at all. So NASA spends 8 years, in preparation for a mission only in the last years before it is ready to have the funding cut out from under it. This has driven NASA to come up with what it calls faster, cheaper, smaller.

Much of the satellite gear, is specifically designed and hand made to preform the tasks assigned. There is no shelf of parts to reach up and grab to assemble this or that satellite or mission gear. This problem was amply demonstrated a couple of years ago.

Our weather satellites are a pair of them. Between the two of them, they cover the entire US. These particular satellites had reached the end of their useful life. NASA was prepping a pair of replacements when the budget got cut for them. They were near done. NASA informed congress of the problem they faced and it was more than just the satellites. The people who build this hardware are very specialized. You can't just run an ad in the newspaper under jobs available. It takes a few years at least to bring those capable up to speed on the requirements of what it takes to build a piece of mission hardware.

Congress in it's wisdom, killed the project. Within three months one of the weather satellites failed. The other started degrading shortly after. The people who worked these jobs were no longer there to do the mission hardware tasks as they were laid off. They went and found other jobs. Today they are now rushing to get two weather satellites prepared before the last one dies.

When religion gets influence in the political sway like the example above (which may not have had anything to do with religion at all) you never hear of it, not publicly. It is always hidden behind the scenes other than for moral issues.

66

Other topics / Re: The Natchez Trace

« on: May 02, 2016, 04:21:18 AM »

I became aware of the Pearl river in China when I made sure my facts were correct on the one in the US flowing into the Gulf and not into a tributary. I used to make frequent canoe trips with a group who once a year took a trip down another river that flowed into the Pearl. It took them about a week to get near the Gulf Coast from their starting location. I never made the weekly trip as my work schedule would not allow it.

67

Food / Rosemary Potatoes

« on: May 02, 2016, 02:04:00 AM »

Rosemary Potatoes

Ingredients

8 Yukon Gold potatoes, quartered
1 tbs dried rosemary
1/4 c olive oil
salt and pepper to taste
 
Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).   In a large bowl, combine the potatoes, rosemary, oil, salt and pepper.
Toss well to coat. Spread evenly onto cookie sheet and bake in preheated oven for 30 minutes.

Note: This is a fairly standard recipe and comes in a wide variety of different spices, besides the one here.

68

Other topics / Re: Those who have questions about the USA...

« on: May 02, 2016, 01:54:53 AM »

As you well know, I can talk 'politics'. Being sensitive at times to some of way the political winds blow, perhaps it is better not for me to do this here. Very often I find on the internet, such as is demonstrated here at this site, that individuals from various nations can get along; their governments can not.

Religion and politics often bring out the strong feelings that people have over topics, subjects, and events. I have no wish to create tempest in a teapot. For that reason in all likelihood beyond the occasional, I'll not deal with those two topics here. You'll also notice it is not often I participate in the NK thread for the same reason.

On the rare occasion the topic must cover these items which is why it is here in this thread as it is central to the topic at hand and the pressures put upon the genetic research from outside forces.

69

Other topics / Re: The Natchez Trace

« on: May 02, 2016, 12:59:04 AM »

The Pearl River runs all the way to the Gulf Of Mexico. It is the source of the water for the reservoir you saw in the earlier pictures.

Pine forests are pretty much all over the US but the species varies depending on climate. The pines you are seeing in this image, are of the southern varieties which usually consist of the short leaf, long leaf, loblolly, and yellow pine. As the pine ages, the bark gets slicker
 

70

Plants / Re: The nature in Guangdong, China

« on: May 01, 2016, 04:57:18 AM »

Very nice. I would love to see some more of these.

71

Food / Re: Food from my kitchen

« on: May 01, 2016, 02:17:51 AM »

Every time I see one of your food photos, I am reminded that this looks professionally done. I continue to be amazed at the quality of the photo, as well as the variety of dishes and foods.

I applaud your skill.

72

Food / Spicy Cabbage

« on: May 01, 2016, 02:16:11 AM »

Spicy Cabbage

Ingredients

1 lb ground beef
1 lg onion, chopped
1/2 bell pepper, chopped
6 tsp garlic, chopped
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp oregano
18 oz can Rotel tomatoes with green chives
1 (8 oz) can tomato sauce
1/2 c raw rice
1 cabbage (about 2 lb), shredded
1 c grated American or Cheddar cheese

Directions

Fry together first 7 ingredients after mixing them well together. Fry in small amount of light oil. When completed, remove from fire and set aside. Mix the next 3 ingredients (tomatoes, tomato sauce, and rice) together thoroughly in a bowl and set aside. Shred cabbage, set aside; cut or grate cheese, set aside. Mix together all fried ingredients (first 7) and tomatoes and rice mixture real well. In buttered 9x13x2 inch pan, layer 1/2 meat mixture, 1/2 cabbage and 1/2 cheese. Repeat layer, ending with cheese. Cover pan well with aluminum foil. Bake covered for 1 1/2 to 2 hours in oven at 350 degrees.

73

Food / Re: Santa Fe Stuffed Chicken

« on: May 01, 2016, 02:08:37 AM »

You will notice the Scoville rating is mentioned in your wiki link. It's a way to measure the 'heat' of a pepper or hot sauce. Basically someone who has sensitivity to capsaicin (which is what makes a pepper hot) is hired to be a tester. They then halve the sample with water and then the taster, tastes to see if there is any heat in the sample. Eventually they wind up with a sample that has no heat to it and that is how the scoville rating is determined.

Normally I use a product called Dave's Insanity Sauce, which if you are interested you can look up on line, for added heat to a pot of food I'm cooking. It's not a really, really, high rating on the Scoville scale but it does the job. You don't use this product on the plate of food. You use it by the pot of food you're cooking.

Up till the ghost pepper, anything that reached 1 million Scovilles, was a distilled product made from the seeds of the pepper to concentrate the capsaicin. There has been a new pepper since the ghost pepper made and I can not recall the name of it today. The ghost pepper is no longer the hottest pepper in the world.

74

Food / Re: Santa Fe Stuffed Chicken

« on: May 01, 2016, 01:59:52 AM »

Thank you for straightening my mess up, much appreciated.

75

Other topics / Re: The Natchez Trace

« on: April 30, 2016, 12:34:16 PM »

It is very beautifully done! Thanks a lot for sharing!!!

You're welcome PageRank. I hope you enjoy the images.

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The West Flordia boundry of 1764. 

This follows with a trip to a swamp. You'll see things like cypress knees, which are the root system's method of getting air to the roots in water. If you've not been in a swamp, most are not as clean as this one, which is setup for visitors to walk through with clean feet and look at various vegetation. What you see as green, like grass in color is algae floating on top of the water.

On this trip we visit two swamps so there are a lot of images of swamps. I won't show you them all but there are more than I care to host and resize in a single setting.