Experiences 📍

📽️ Videos

Just get the full pineapple! 🍍

My mom insisted that I should get the pre-cored pineapple for two to three times the price as cutting a pineapple is difficult. She of advanced age has trouble cutting fruit, an issue with sharp knifes I don’t have. And I’m glad I didn’t take her advice.

For one, full pineapples aren’t packaged in plastic that either gets burnt or heads to the landfill. With me, likely the prior but plastic is still toxic and nasty to burn so I’ve been trying to cut back on packaging. In contrast food scraps are just compost to feed the land or fine to burn in a hot fire. I no longer believe in the myth of industrial recycling.

But also a full pineapple offers a superior option for a lower cost. For one, a pineapple unopened need not be refrigerated and will not mold up quickly until openned. The high cost of pre cut pineapple is probably most due to large amount cut and landfilled at the grocery store. Moreover it’s much more fruity when fresh, and you can leave the core and skin on while cooking so it doesn’t fall apart while cooking – or even cook the full pineapple directly on the coals. It’s just a much more flexible option – and with a sharp knife cutting up a pineapple ain’t too difficult either.

SVGZ Graphic: Percent of Albany County Homeowners Who Moved in Before 1990
Map: Estimated Firearm Ownership Percentage

High-altitude observations confirm stratospheric source of toxic groundwater contaminant – NOAA Research

High-altitude observations confirm stratospheric source of toxic groundwater contaminant – NOAA Research

A new study led by NOAA Research has confirmed that a substantial amount of groundwater contamination caused by perchlorates, a class of toxic chlorine-based chemicals, originates in a surprising place – the stratosphere. The study, led by researchers at NOAA’s Chemical Sciences Laboratory (CSL) and published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academies of Science, provides new evidence linking perchlorate formation to tiny airborne particles (aerosols) in the stratosphere, the layer of the atmosphere 7 to 30 miles above Earth’s surface.

The study analyzed detailed aerosol chemical measurements collected from high-altitude research aircraft in the lower stratosphere, where the vast majority of particles in the thin air are made of sulfur dioxide. But the scientists found perchlorates were almost entirely bound to aerosol particles originating from biomass burning and nitrogen-rich sources, which are transported into the stratosphere by atmospheric circulation and by towering plumes of wildfire smoke. While these particles make up only a small fraction of the total stratospheric aerosol population, they carry nearly all of its perchlorate load.

Map: North-South Lake Campground and Kaaterskill Clove