March 31, 2011

United States military

Wings of the United States Armed ForcesImage via WikipediaWings of the United States Armed Forces



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Africa

Map of Africa.Image via WikipediaUp World (regions)















Articles general
  • Africa - "Africa is the world's second-largest and second most-populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² (11.7 million sq mi) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area. With 1.0 billion people (as of 2009, see table) in 61 territories, it accounts for about 14.72% of the world's human population." - Wikipedia
Articles news

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March 30, 2011

Research sources

This page is meant to provide information about sources for different branches of research, to help you on the way when you wish to do your own research on the internet. All the media mentioned below give free access to information.
I just began this page so come back later for more.

Encyclopedia and libraries
  • Internet Archive - "The Internet Archive is a non-profit digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge." It offers permanent storage and access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, music, moving images, and books." (Wikipedia)
  • Wikipedia - "Wikipedia is a free, web-based, collaborative, multilingual encyclopedia project" (Wikipedia about Wikipedia) - Also check out other projects of Wikipedia such as: Thesaurus, Collection of quotations, Directory of species, Free textbooks and manuals etc.
See also
Posted by John Eagles at 2:39 AM 0 comments
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March 29, 2011

Dangers of nuclear energy

The danger classification sign of radioactive ...Image via WikipediaThis page will be expanded

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Articles general
  • High-level radioactive waste management - "High-level radioactive waste management concerns management and disposal of highly radioactive materials created during production of nuclear power and nuclear warheads... Governments around the world are considering a range of waste management and disposal options, usually involving deep-geologic placement, although there has been limited progress toward implementing long-term waste management solutions. This is partly because the timeframes in question when dealing with radioactive waste range from 10,000 to millions of years, according to studies based on the effect of estimated radiation doses." - Wikipedia
  • Radioactive waste - "Radioactive waste is a waste product containing radioactive material... The main approaches to managing radioactive waste to date have been segregation and storage for short-lived wastes, near-surface disposal for low and some intermediate level wastes, and deep burial or transmutation for the long-lived, high-level wastes." - Wikipedia
Articles analysis & background
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Videos


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March 27, 2011

Kale

Curly kaleImage via WikipediaUp Plants A-Z





Articles
  • Kale - "Kale is considered to be a highly nutritious vegetable with powerful antioxidant properties; kale is considered to be anti-inflammatory. Kale is very high in beta carotene, vitamin K, vitamin C, lutein, zeaxanthin, and reasonably rich in calcium. Kale, as with broccoli and other brassicas, contains sulforaphane (particularly when chopped or minced), a chemical believed to have potent anti-cancer properties." - Wikipedia
Cultivation instructions
  • Kale - Growing Kale in the Home Vegetable Garden - "Kale is a leafy vegetable that is usually grouped into the “Cooking Greens” category with collards, mustard and Swiss chard. The leaves can be curly and quite ornamental, but become too tough to eat fresh, as they mature. Kale is a member of the cabbage family and is susceptible to many of the same pests."
  • How to grow kale - "Kale does not do well in hot weather, but doesn't mind the cold. Depending on your climate kale can also be sown in October for spring use if covered with straw during the winter."
  • How to grow kale - "There is an ideal soil and site for Kale but rest assured, it will grow in almost all conditions"
  • How to grow kale - Kale is a cool-weather crop that requires two months of cool weather to reach harvest.
Diary
  • March 28, 2011
Last year i planted kale or borecole around September. That was a little late in the season but the plants still grew to reasonable size before frost set in. It was a cold winter but this sturdy plant survived several weeks of freezing temperatures. A bigger problem were wild rabbits who, when all the land was covered with snow, found my garden to be a nice storeroom. They ate most of the leaves but to my happy surprise the plants began growing new leaves in spring. In recent days the top leaves showed signs that the plants are preparing to make flowers. That's the end of harvest so i decided to take out all plants today except one that i'll keep for getting new seeds.


This is how the kale looked like a few days ago. You can see the yellowish leaves in the top that are forebodes of the plant going to shoot out and make flowers









Today was harvest time. It is essential to keep as little time as possible between harvesting and consuming. I look at this mostly from an energy viewpoint. A fresh and healthy plant radiates good energy and i want to conserve that energy in the food and on my plate.









Harvested kale ready for the cooking pan







Before freezing in, i cook the kale until boiling point and then cool them as fast as possible before. The juices that come free are kept as ingredient for soup. Our bodies exist on an energy level too and to keep ourselves healthy we must regard the energy qualities of everything that we eat. There are many principles to be learned for this when cultivating a garden. In the kitchen it is important that:
  • All bad looking parts of the plants are taken out and thrown on the compost heap. Try to not only see what looks bad externally but also remove the leaves that don't 'shine'
  • When washing the leaves don't put them on a table that is also used for 'unclean' things such as newspapers or garbage etc. Keep a special table for preparing food only. This maintains the good energy of that table and place and prevents the good energy of vegetables to be contaminated
  • Keep the time between harvest and preparation of food as short as possible. One hour is much better than three hours and three hours is much better than one day.
Nutritious and medicinal properties
  • Nutrition facts raw kale
  • The truth about kale - "Kale, also known as borecole, is one of the healthiest vegetables on the planet... One cup of kale contains 36 calories, 5 grams of fiber, and 15% of the daily requirement of calcium and vitamin B6 (pyridoxine), 40% of magnesium, 180% of vitamin A, 200% of vitamin C, and 1,020% of vitamin K. It is also a good source of minerals copper, potassium, iron, manganese, and phosphorus. Kale’s health benefits are primarily linked to the high concentration and excellent source of antioxidant vitamins A, C, and K -- and sulphur-containing phytonutrients."
Recipes
Up Plants A-Z
Posted by John Eagles at 8:28 PM 0 comments

March 26, 2011

March 13/19, 2011

Up What's new? - Archive

March 19, 2011
  • Corn salad or Valerianella locusta - New page! - Information about this leaf vegetable that can be harvested in early spring after being sown in autumn.
  • Qatar - Videos - Qatar: Turning knowledge into the new oil - BBC News video - "In a bid to develop a university sector in the Gulf, international universities have been invited to set up campuses." - BBC News video - March 18, 2011
  • The Fukushima nuclear crisis in Japan - Articles news & analysis - 'Water used to cool Fukushima flowing back to sea - effects hard to predict' - "­In an exclusive interview with RT, Sergey Shoigu, Russia's Emergencies Minister, discussed the work of emergency services and international rescue amid the growing threat of a nuclear reactor meltdown in Japan following the quake and tsunami." - RT video - March 18, 2011
  • Nuclear power - Images - 25 Years After: Scenes from Chernobyl--The Worst Nuclear Accident in History [Slide Show]
  • Cyborg - Articles news - Computer chips wired with nerve cells - Experiments could lead to ways of melding minds with machines - Science News - March 18, 2011
  • Nuclear power - Articles general - Where are the world's nuclear reactors? - Short Sharp Science - March 18, 2011
  • The Fukushima nuclear crisis in Japan - Articles news & analysis - The moment nuclear plant chief WEPT as Japanese finally admit that radiation leak is serious enough to kill people - Mail Online - March 19, 2011
  • Kenya - Articles news - State to launch tree planting programme - "The Government will next month launch another mass tree planting drive, similar to kazi kwa vijana initiative to create jobs for women and the youth." - The Standard - March 18, 2011
  • Korea North-South relations - Articles news - S. Korea understands need for cooperation with DPRK regarding Mt. Baekdu - "South Korea said Friday it recognizes the need to cooperate with the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) regarding potential volcanic activities at Mount Baekdu, according to the Ministry of Unification in Seoul." - People's Daily Online - March 18, 2011
  • The Fukushima nuclear crisis in Japan - Articles news & analysis - Shocking new images of Japan's nuclear plant - ITN video - March 18, 2011
  • The Fukushima nuclear crisis in Japan - Articles news & analysis - Japan crisis: Nuclear agency joins France in raising danger assessment - "Japan’s nuclear agency raised its assessment of the nuclear crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station from a level 4 to a level 5 on a 7-level international scale for nuclear accidents, matching an earlier assessment by France." - The Christian Science Monitor - March 18, 2011
  • Capucijner pea - New page! - Today i sowed this pea in my garden. Read my diary and other information about this rather rare pea.
  • Features of North Korea - Videos - A Secret Look Into The City Of Pyongyang, North Korea - "... via a ’secret video’ taken by photographer Steve Gong. With constant military surveillance in North Korea very little images of everyday life are released to the global public." - video - March 18, 2011
March 18, 2011
  • Bahrain - Articles news - Foreign troops in Bahrain - "As neighbouring countries deploy troops to Bahrain, are they containing instability or spreading it?" - Aljazeera Inside Story video - March 17, 2011
  • Foreign relations of Israel - Articles news - Sharansky urges US Congress to help M. East protesters - "... former Soviet dissident Natan Sharansky blasted Western governments for pushing Israel to make concessions amid upheaval in the Middle East that has left the fate of Arab governments unclear." - The Jerusalem Post - March 17, 2011
  • Nuclear power - Articles news & analysis - Harmless? Chernobyl Radiation Killed Nearly One Million People - prisonplanet.com - March 17, 2011
  • Energy resources - New page! - Articles news - World energy crunch as nuclear and oil both go wrong - "The existential crisis for the world's nuclear industry could hardly have come at a worse moment. The epicentre of the world's oil supply is disturbingly close to its own systemic crisis as the Gulf erupts in conflict." - The Telegraph - March 18, 2011
  • Energy - New page! - This is about energy in general. Subtopics will include a variety of topics dealing with energy in nature and fields of life. For example spiritual energy (esoteric concept), energy as used in some healing disciplines, energy resources, energy as a concept in physics, etc.
March 17, 2011
  • The Fukushima nuclear crisis in Japan - Articles news & analysis - Is Japan Reactor Crew on Fatal Mission? - "Radiation risk at Fukushima nuclear plant may be widespread, long-lasting." - National Geographic - March 17, 2011
  • The Fukushima nuclear crisis in Japan - Articles news & analysis - MOX plutonium fuel used in Fukushima's Unit 3 reactor two million times more deadly than enriched uranium - Natural News - March 17, 2011
  • The Fukushima nuclear crisis in Japan - New Page! - Some of the articles about the Fukushima nuclear crisis that are listed below with 'Japan' and 'Nuclear power' now can be found on this page
  • Elder or Sambucus - New page! - This tree grows on several places around our house. I use the flowers and the berries for juice and jam. Find articles with general information and learn about its medicinal properties and how to make wine and jam and pickled elder shoots. There are some videos too. You can find the tree in the wild.
  • Knights Templar - videos - playlist added with 23 videos
  • Food - Articles news - World food supply threatened by Japan nuclear radiation - Natural News - March 17, 2011
  • Nuclear power - Articles news & analysis - Japan Admits Time Running Out to Avert Possible Nuclear Catastrophe - "Japan's government is acknowledging time is running out to prevent a hazardous and significant spread of radiation into the atmosphere from the crippled Fukushima-1 nuclear power plant." - VOA - March 17, 2011
  • Nuclear power - Images - Holes from US nuclear tests
  • Nuclear power - Articles news & analysis - Interview about spent fuel pools with former White House official - "Interview with nuclear physicist Frank N. von Hippel, Former assistant director for national security in the White House Office of Science and Technology, Rachel Maddow, March 15, 2011" - Shows the dangers of the spent fuel rods - Video - March 15, 2011
March 16, 2011
  • Food - Articles news - A New Spin on Cooking - high-speed spin - "High-end restaurants have begun adding a new piece of equipment to the kitchen that until recently was found mainly in medical laboratories and university chemistry departments." - Scientific American - March 16, 2011
  • Nuclear power - Articles news & analysis - Fire at Fourth Reactor: Is Worse Yet to Come in the Fukushima Nuclear Disaster? - Time - March 15, 2011
  • Nuclear power - Articles news & analysis - Alert: Fukushima Coverup, 40 Years of Spent Nuclear Rods Blown Sky High - " In addition to under reporting the fires at Fukushima, the Japanese government has not told the people about the ominous fact that the nuclear plant site is a hellish repository where a staggering number of spent fuel rods have accumulated for 40 years." - Infowars.com - March 15, 2011
  • Nuclear power - Articles news & analysis - “No Happy Ending”: Nuclear Experts Say Japan’s Disaster is Intensifying - Democracy Now! video - March 16, 2011
  • Nuclear power - Websites - MIT NSE Nuclear Information Hub - Scientific explanation of events related to nuclear crisis in Japan
  • Water crisis - Articles news - Cooperation Strategic To Protect Tigris and Euphrates - "Although the brief wet season is just beginning, much of northern Iraq has endured several years of drought, compounding water problems that stem from climate change, migration, a growing population and declining water flows in the country's most important rivers -- the Tigris and Euphrates" - IPS - March 15, 2011
  • Oppression in North Korea - Articles news - NK defector testifies to horrors at concentration camp - "A North Korean defector and activist testified this week at an international forum here to horrors he had suffered while imprisoned in a concentration camp in the communist country." - The Korea Times - March 16, 2011
  • Nuclear power - Articles news & analysis - Underground information on what's happening at Fukushima nuclear power plant in Japan - a dirty bomb waiting to go off - "... some extremely disturbing information that seems to indicate the situation with the reactors in Japan is far, far worse than what the conventional media is describing." - Natural News - March 16, 2011
  • Knights Templar - New page!
March 15, 2011
  • Earthquake - Articles news & analysis - Time-Lapse Animation Shows Japan's Earthquakes - Discovery News - video - March 15, 2011
  • Nuclear power - Articles general - What are the immediate health effects of exposure to radiation? - BBC - March 15, 2011
  • Japan - Articles news - "Get the Children Away from the Reactors": Japan Urged to Expand Evacuation Area Around Nuclear Plants as Leaking Radiation Spreads - "Japanese anti-nuclear activist Aileen Mioko Smith and nuclear engineer Arnie Gundersen question whether Japanese officials are doing enough to protect civilians from radiation, including proper monitoring and widening the evacuation zones." - Democracy Now! video - March 15, 2011
  • Bahrain - Articles news - “Bahrain is No Longer an Independent Country, It is Occupied by Saudi Forces”: Activist Says Pro-Democracy Protests Will Continue - "The King of Bahrain has declared a state of emergency for three months following weeks of pro-democracy protests. The King’s announcement comes one day after about 1,000 Saudi troops crossed into Bahrain to help defend Bahrain’s ruling family." - Democracy Now! video - March 15, 2011
  • Nuclear power - Articles news & analysis - “This Could Become Chernobyl on Steroids”: Nuclear Engineer Arnie Gundersen on Japan’s Growing Nuclear Crisis - Democracy Now! video - March 15, 2011
  • Bahrain - Articles news - In Response to Protests, Bahrain Declares State of Emergency - "Bahrain's king has declared a three-month state of emergency in response to weeks of anti-government protests by majority Shi'ites against the Gulf state's Sunni rulers." - VOA - March 15, 2011
  • Japan - Articles news - "Japan's nuclear emergency prompts panic buying in Tokyo - "Residents in the capital, 150 miles south of Fukushima, prepare for possible lockdown as embassies advise citizens to leave" - March 15, 2011
  • Ivory Coast - Articles news - Ivory Coast Fighting Moves In on Defeated President - "Ivory Coast has been rocked by months of post-electoral turmoil after presidential incumbent Laurent Gbagbo refused to step down despite losing to Alassane Ouattara in the November vote." - Time - March 15, 2011
  • China's economic power - Articles news - China Regains Status as World's Top Manufacturer - "China has dethroned the U.S. and regained its status as the world's largest manufacturing country for the first time since the end of the 19th century, according to a report by the Financial Times." - The Chosun Ilbo - March 15, 2011
  • Israel-South-Korea relations - Articles news - Defense Ministry looking to boost ties with South Korea - "The Defense Ministry is tightening its ties with South Korea as it searches for new military alliances around the world in the face of the economic meltdown and growing political isolation." - The Jerusalem Post - March 15, 2011
  • Nuclear power - Articles news & analysis - Partial Meltdowns Led to Hydrogen Explosions at Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant - "The high temperatures that the fuel rods create boil water and continually turn it into steam. If no fresh water is introduced to cool the rods then they continue to heat up. Once the rods reach more than 1200 degrees Celsius, the zirconium will interact with the steam and split the hydrogen from the water." - Scientific American - March 14, 2011
  • Japan - Articles news - Brink of Nuclear Catastrophe: Elevated Radiation Recorded in Tokyo; 3rd Explosion Rocks Reactor; Some Good News From Neighboring Plant - AlterNet - March 14, 2011
March 14, 2011
  • Human races - Articles news & other - Fire did not spark human colonisation of cold Europe - "Humans may have been much later to master fire than we thought. A review of supposed archaeological hearths in Europe suggests that the oldest date to just 400,000 years ago." - New Scientist - March 14, 2011
  • Japan - Articles news - Newly Released Video of the Tsunami and the Search for Survivors in Japan - PBSNewsHour video - March 13, 2011
  • Nuclear power - Articles news & analysis - Japan Facing Biggest Catastrophe Since Dawn of Nuclear Age - A rather alarming analysis of the situation with the Japanese nuclear reactors, after the second explosion - Democracy Now! video - March 14, 2011
  • Nuclear power - Articles news & analysis - USS Carrier Ronald Reagan Passes Through Radioactive Plume Off Japan Coast - "The aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan and other US Navy ships in the waters off the quake zone in eastern Japan were repositioned after the detection of a low-level radiation plume from the troubled Fukushima nuclear plant located 100 miles away." - ABC News - March 14, 2011
  • Nuclear power - Articles news & analysis - Radioactive releases in Japan could last months, experts say - "As the scale of Japan?s nuclear crisis begins to come to light, experts in Japan and the United States say the country is now facing a cascade of accumulating problems that suggest that radioactive releases of steam from the crippled plants could go on for weeks or even months." - The Economic Times - March 14, 2011
  • Plate tectonics - Articles news & other - How continents do the splits - African study reveals how land gives way to ocean crust - "Researchers have discovered new details of how the Earth’s continental crust is tearing apart in Ethiopia, which will one day give birth to a new ocean." - Science News - March 2011
March 13, 2011
  • Nuclear power - Articles news & analysis - Expert: Nuclear Radiation Could Spread Far Beyond Japan - "An American nuclear expert says radiation from Japan could spread across the Pacific and reach the United States if a complete meltdown occurs at a Japanese nuclear facility damaged as a result of last week’s earthquake and subsequent tsunami." - VOA - March 13, 2011
  • Japan - Websites - NHK World TV - live channel of NHK World TV - "NHK WORLD TV is an English language 24-hour international news and information channel."
  • Nuclear power - Articles news & analysis - Tracking Page: Japan’s Nuclear Meltdown, Aftershocks & Fallout - "Following Japan’s nuclear plant emergency and earthquake aftermath, this page will continue to monitor the ongoing situation, and will include added content as we know more." - Infowars.com - March 13, 2011
  • Nuclear power - Articles news & analysis - Chernobyl: It Will Never Be Over - "The latest scientific studies suggest that the damage to wildlife and fauna continue unabitated in and around the Chernobyl exclusion zone - and far beyond. Research recently concluded provides more evidence that contamination has a "significant impact" on biodiversity." - Infoshop News - August 25, 2010
  • Nuclear power - Articles news & analysis - Japan nuclear crisis indepth - "With more states of emergency being declared at nuclear facilities in Japan, nuclear scientist Imad Khadduri says the risk of damage from meltdown is less than in disasters such as Chernoyl and Three Mile Island." - Aljazeera video - March 13, 2011
  • Nuclear power - Articles news & analysis - Meltdown threat: Japan 'preparing for worst' - "Nuclear expert John Large says Japan is preparing for a 'worst case scenario', as workers there battle with damaged power plants." - ITN video - March 13, 2011
  • Japan - Articles news - Japan earthquake: Footage of moment tsunami hit - BBC video - March 13, 2011
  • Nuclear power - New page!


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Posted by John Eagles at 11:31 PM 0 comments

March 22, 2011

Radish

Growing radishplantsImage via Wikipedia
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General articles
  • Radish - "The radish is an edible root vegetable of the Brassicaceae family that was domesticated in Europe, in pre-Roman times." - Wikipedia
Diary
  • March 22, 2011
Now here's a vegetable that's easy to grow! There are a few things to pay attention to. Make sure that the soil in which they grow never dries out. Don't use fresh manure or your little turnips will be eaten by any of those crawling devouring little creeps that hide in the soil and that you'll only discover after they bored holes through your radishes.
I always grow radishes in a greenhouse. This is mainly because once or twice a day i go there to water the plants, so that assures me that i won't forget the radishes. They need water each day or else the roots will get dry and too hot to eat.
Here's how i do it. I have a board of 15 x 20 cm with bumps on it less than 1 inch apart. I push it into the soil and it makes a pattern of holes. I put one radish seed in each of them and cover that with soil or lava gravel.
You can grow these radishes in a small back garden and when you let your kids do the sowing and watering, they'll love it and the radishes will taste even better.



Here you see the little holes made by the board with bumps about 2 cm apart. One radish seed in each hole. I cover them with lava gravel or fine soil.











Recipes

Up Plants A-Z
Posted by John Eagles at 12:31 PM 0 comments

Birch

Betula pendula (syn. Betula aetnensis)Image via WikipediaUp Plants A-Z












Articles general
  • Birch - Wikipedia
  • Birch, Common - A modern herbal by Mrs. M. Grieve
  • Birch sap - "Birch sap is the sap extracted from a birch tree, such as a North American Sweet Birch or a Silver Birch. The sap is often a slightly sweet, thin syrupy-watery liquid. The tree sap contains sugars (namely xylitol), proteins, amino acids, and enzymes." - Wikipedia
Diary
  • March 22, 2011
Yesterday i had cut a few branches off from a birch tree. The branches were in the way. Today we noticed drops of fluid coming out from the cut end of the branches. The birch tree was giving birch sap.



Birch sap dripping from a cut branch













It's a precious juice, in traditional herbal medicine used for antiseptic, anti-parasitic, anti-inflammatory, and anti-itching treatment. Birch sap contains fructose, glucose, fruit acids, amino acids, vitamin C, potassium, calcium, phosphorous, magnesium, manganese, zinc, sodium and iron. All substances of the sap have their own important functions also in the human body. It isn't cheap to buy, for example, the price in Japan is said to go up to 70 US dollar per liter. I was to (re)discover this precious juice more or less by chance. I hung several empty bottles below the cut branches and after a few hours i already had collected over half a liter. We are drinking it fresh as this sap cannot be conserved well without losing some of its medicinal and nutritious content.













We drank half a glass each of this juice today. The taste isn't very sweet, but pure and it gives a kick of vitality that i felt all through my body.

Videos


Up Plants A-Z
Posted by John Eagles at 11:20 AM 0 comments

March 21, 2011

Basalt flour

BasaltImage via WikipediaBasalt



Up Gardening









Articles general
  • Basalt - Wikipedia
  • Rock flour - "While this originally was an alternative concept, increasing mainstream research has been devoted to soil amendment and other benefits of rock flour application: for instance, a pilot project on the use of glacial rock, granite and basaltic fines by the U.S. Department of Agriculture exists at the Henry A. Wallace Beltsville Agricultural Research Center. The SEER Centre in Scotland is a leading source of information on the use of rock dusts and mineral fines." - Wikipedia
Articles other
Diary
  • March 21, 2011
Today i sowed a fine layer of basalt flour over my gardens. Not so many people know how to use this fertilizer. Basalt flour is finely or more coarsely ground basalt. Lava flour has the same effect as basalt flour. This type of rock is full of minerals and energies from the inside of the earth. They provide the soil with trace minerals of which many soils are depleted. Lava or basalt flour can be added to the compost or sprayed directly over the garden. It is also possible to cover the leaves of plants and trees and bushes with a fine layer of this dust. The plants will feed themselves through the leaves. It also prevents many plant diseases. When a garden has a sufficient amount of this material, the plants will be healthy and the leaves will shine and be colored dark green. By eating such vegetables we get plenty of trace minerals for our body and our immune system will be strengthened. I once read a story about a village where most people reached a high age in good health. Their fields were irrigated with river water that flowed through volcanic mountains. The vegetables that grow in a soil rich of volcanic elements do taste much better too.



This is a picture of the basalt flour that i used. It is a bit too grainy to my taste. The grains in this photo are still much smaller than 1 mm though.








Documents
Websites
  • Earth Regeneration Society
  • Remineralize the Earth is a nonprofit organization assisting the worldwide movement of remineralizing soils with finely ground rock dust, sea minerals and other natural and sustainable means to increase the growth, health, and nutrient value of all plant life.

Up Gardening
Posted by John Eagles at 10:07 AM 0 comments

Greenhouse

Giant greenhouses in the NetherlandsImage via WikipediaUp Gardening












Articles general
  • Cold frame - "... a cold frame is a transparent-roofed enclosure, built low to the ground, used to protect plants from cold weather. The transparent top admits sunlight and prevents heat escape via convection that would otherwise occur, particularly at night. Essentially, a cold frame functions as a miniature greenhouse season extension device." - Wikipedia
  • Greenhouse - "A greenhouse (also called a glasshouse) is a building where plants are grown. These structures range in size from small sheds to very large buildings... a structure with different types of covering materials, such as a glass or plastic roof and frequently glass or plastic walls; it heats up because incoming visible solar radiation (for which the glass is transparent) from the sun is absorbed by plants, soil, and other things inside the building. Air warmed by the heat from hot interior surfaces is retained in the building by the roof and wall." - Wikipedia
Diary
  • March 21, 2011
The first day of spring. This year it also was the first day that felt like spring. In addition to a normal greenhouse, i like to work with a cold frame, so i built one of cheap materials. Cold frames are excellent for sowing seeds of plants that later are planted in the open, such as cabbage and salad. Cold frames also allow vegetables to be grown earlier in spring and later in autumn. The height of my cold frame is such that it can accommodate pepper plants. To start with, i planted a species of potatoes that grow very fast. Having them in a cold frame they are protected against frost and harvest will be three weeks earlier. By that time, the potatoes of last year won't taste very well anymore and are are depleted from vitamins.


The cold frame i built in ca one day. 3 x 4 meter and about 70 cm high at the middle. Covered with UV proof plastic.








Practical information

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Posted by John Eagles at 12:04 AM 0 comments

March 20, 2011

Mesopotamia

Up Cultures ancient A-Z


Articles general
  • Gilgamesh - "In Mesopotamian mythology, Gilgamesh is a demigod of superhuman strength who built the city walls of Uruk to defend his people from external threats, and travelled to meet the sage Utnapishtim, who had survived the Great Deluge." - Wikipedia
  • History of Mesopotamia - "The history of Mesopotamia describes the history of the area known as Mesopotamia, roughly coinciding with the Tigris–Euphrates basin, from the earliest human occupation in the Lower Paleolithic period up to the Muslim conquests in the 7th century AD." - Wikipedia
  • Mandaeism - "Mandaeism or Mandaeanism is a monotheistic religion with a strongly dualistic worldview. Its adherents, the Mandaeans, revere Adam, Abel, Seth, Enosh, Noah, Shem, Aram and especially John the Baptist... Mandeans seem to be indigenous to Mesopotamia and are certainly of Pre Arab and Pre Islamic origin. They may well be related to the Assyrians..." - Wikipedia
  • Mesopotamia - "Mesopotamia (from the Greek Μεσοποταμία "[land] between the rivers", is a toponym for the area of the Tigris–Euphrates river system, largely corresponding to modern-day Iraq, northeastern Syria, southeastern Turkey and southwestern Iran. Widely considered to be the cradle of civilization, Bronze Age Mesopotamia included Sumer and the Akkadian, Babylonian and Assyrian empires." - Wikipedia
  • Uruk - "Uruk was an ancient city of Sumer and later Babylonia, situated east of the present bed of the Euphrates river, on the ancient dry former channel of the Euphrates River, some 30 km east of modern As-Samawah, Al-Muthannā, Iraq." - Wikipedia (see also Uruk in the Bible, Gen. 10:9-11: "He was a mighty hunter before the LORD; that is why it is said, “Like Nimrod, a mighty hunter before the LORD.” The first centers of his kingdom were Babylon, Uruk, Akkad and Kalneh, in Shinar. From that land he went to Assyria, where he built Nineveh, Rehoboth Ir, Calah."
Videos



Up Cultures ancient A-Z
Posted by John Eagles at 9:35 PM 0 comments

March 19, 2011

Corn salad or Valerianella locusta

Corn saladImage via Wikipedia

Up Plants A-Z











Articles
  • Corn salad - "Corn salad is a small dicot annual plant of the family Valerianaceae. It is also called Lewiston cornsalad, lamb's lettuce, fetticus, field salad, mâche, feldsalat, nut lettuce and rapunzel." - Wikipedia
  • Corn salad - "When cultivated in gardens, Lamb's Lettuce may be sown in rows all through the autumn, winter and early spring, so as to produce a constant succession of crops. A small portion of garden earth sown with the seeds in August, will supply an excellent portion of the salad throughout the winter. The younger the leaves, the better they taste in salad." - A Modern Herbal by Mrs. M. Grieve
  • Corn salad 'Dutch' - with planting calendar - myfolia.com
  • Valerianella locusta - "Corn salad is a small, weedy-looking vegetable that grows in a basal rosette of round to spoon-shaped leaves up to 6 in (15.2 cm) long. The whole rosette is never more than 1 ft (0.3 m) across." - Floridata
  • Valerianella locusta (L.) Lat. Lewiston cornsalad - Map of distribution in North America, plants profile - US Department of Agriculture
Diary
  • April 3, 2011
I had kept some of the plants in a greenhouse and they are blossoming now. I plant them outside to harvest seeds later. What a tiny little flower!












  • March 19, 2011
Today i harvested corn salad. I sowed the plants in pots last autumn and planted them outside in November, 3 plants together, some 15 cm apart in the line, rows about 40 cm apart. I gave them quite some compost as all leafy vegetables like that. Although the winter gave quite some frost, the plants survived on their own without damage. Cold months of January, February and March slowed down growth but now we have plenty of fresh salad.
The corn salad i am harvesting now


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Posted by John Eagles at 10:37 AM 2 comments

March 18, 2011

Capucijner pea

Blauwschokker Kapucijner rijserwt bloem Pisum ...Image via WikipediaUp Plants A-Z


Here's first some general information about this little-known pea:
"During the late Middle Ages, Capuchin monks in Holland and northern Germany devoted considerable energy to the improvement of field peas for agricultural purposes. This has resulted in a group of large-seeded gray peas referred to as Capuchin, especially those from the Netherlands where the breeding of new pea varieties became a national pastime by the early 1600s. One of the classic peas from this group and one which dates from the 1500s is the handsome blue pod Capucijner, a soup pea growing on six-foot (two m) vines." - source





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  • March 18, 2011
This type of pea is rather rare, but I got some of these peas to try them out.



This photo i took from the package










First i loosened the soil and added 30 l/m2 worked-out compost to the top layer (peas don't like fresh manure).



I sowed the peas in lines, 2 seeds together and on a distance of 10 cm.















Because these plants grow 2 meter high, i put up fences of iron wire netting of the same height.








I know that these peas can be dried and kept well and used like kidney beans, but they are much more delicious when harvested fresh and then cooked.
I am a little worried about birds going to eat the peas, as they like the sweet peas and there are loads of birds around my garden.

Because my garden is new and on a poor sand soil, and formerly was grassland that hadn't received any fertilizers for many years, i apply many nitrogen-fixing plants for the first year. These plants are capable to produce a portion of their own nitrogen with the help of symbiotic bacteria that grow on their roots.

Here a quote from a Wikipedia article:
Plants that contribute to nitrogen fixation include the legume family – Fabaceae – with taxa such as clover, soybeans, alfalfa, lupines, peanuts, and rooibos. They contain symbiotic bacteria called Rhizobia within nodules in their root systems, producing nitrogen compounds that help the plant to grow and compete with other plants. When the plant dies, the fixed nitrogen is released, making it available to other plants and this helps to fertilize the soil.

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Posted by John Eagles at 7:08 PM 0 comments

March 17, 2011

Energy resources

Worldwide energy sources (TW)(2004)Image via WikipediaEverything that could be used by society as a source of energy. Energy sources could be hydro, solar, wind, biomass, geothermal, coal, nuclear, crude oil, natural gas, and ocean-wave motion.

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  • Energy and society - "The use of energy has been a key in the development of the human society by helping it to control and adapt to the environment. Managing the use of energy is inevitable in any functional society. In the industrialized world the development of energy resources has become essential for agriculture, transportation, waste collection, information technology, communications that have become prerequisites of a developed society. The increasing use of energy since the Industrial Revolution has also brought with it a number of serious problems..." - Wikipedia
  • Energy development - "Energy development is the effort to provide sufficient primary energy sources and secondary energy forms for supply, cost, impact on air pollution and water pollution, mitigation of climate change with renewable energy." - Wikipedia
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Posted by John Eagles at 7:07 PM 0 comments

Energy

Lightning over the outskirts of Oradea, Romani...Image via WikipediaThis is about energy in general. Subtopics will include a variety of topics dealing with energy in nature and fields of life. For example spiritual energy (esoteric concept), energy as used in some healing disciplines, energy resources, energy as a concept in physics, etc.

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  • Energy - "In physics, energy is a quantity that is often understood as the ability a physical system has to do work on other physical systems. Since work is defined as a force acting through a distance (a length of space), energy is always equivalent to the ability to exert pulls or pushes against the basic forces of nature, along a path of a certain length." - Wikipedia
Posted by John Eagles at 6:56 PM 0 comments
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The Fukushima nuclear crisis in Japan

Earthquake and Tsunami damage-Fukushima Dai-Ni...Image by DigitalGlobe-Imagery via FlickrFukushima nuclear plant before the disaster


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  • Fukushima I nuclear accidents - "The Fukushima I nuclear accidents are a series of ongoing equipment failures and releases of radioactivity at the multiple-reactor Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant, following the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami on the eleventh of March." - Wikipedia
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Posted by John Eagles at 3:47 PM 0 comments
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