North Carolina's Endangered Warbler Elicits 'Jolt' from Dominion Power

Birds perching on power lines have hundreds of thousands of volts flowing under their feet, yet are not electrocuted because they have not created a closed circuit. However, power surges, or spikes in voltages in the lines, can cause an arc to occur between transmission lines wherein a closed circuit is created. Instances have been documented in which power surges caused thousands of perching birds to be simultaneously electrocuted and dislodged from power-lines. In one tragic instance, Mathew Boydstun, 28 was killed after his car was pummeled with hundreds of bird carcasses and lost control, careening into one of the towers. EPA officials have recently demanded that power companies install a dummy line in certain critical habitats, especially those which harbor the endangered Kirtlands Warbler (Dedroica kirtlandii) that would allow birds to perch in safety. In a power surge incident in March 2007, 37 of the estimated 2,700 remaining Kirtlands Warbers were electrocuted. The proposed installation of dummy perch lines would prevent both bird fatalities and potential human accidents.

State ecologist Erik Island has noted that the Warblers prefer to perch on the highest lines for visibility while traveling on their yearly migration. In these critical migration routes, dummy lines would need to be installed as the highest point on the towers. The estimated cost for this endeavor is 15.6 million dollars in the state of North Carolina alone, and the installation would also cause local power disruptions as the perch lines are installed. Dominion Power CEO Jeffery Gisham has demanded that the state subsidize such an effort, "We are very concerned about this risk to our consumers, the birds, and our equipment however, we're in the business of power, not birdhouses." Appeals have been made to the North Carolina supreme court with the case to be heard late this fall.

Vaseline Shortage

As a result of recent increases in crude oil prices, profit margins for companies making products derived from petroleum have declined. Many of these companies are looking for alternative solutions. The Unilever Corporation, for example, the makers of Vaseline, are looking towards alternative, non-petroleum bases for their popular product.

Between March 2006 and December 2007, quarterly earnings for the Vaseline line dropped 16.5% prompting the company to research switching to a soy-based product. In June of 2007, a report in the Wall Street Journal leaked that the company was researching alternatives bases for the Vaseline line. The news sparked a panic that instigated regional stockpiling of vaseline. Many people were fearful of losing a product they had used for years. Minnesota, which is the highest per capita user of Vaseline, due to both the cold temperatures as well as social reasons, was hit the hardest. Vaseline could not be found anywhere in the St. Paul/Minneapolis area. As a result, tanker trucks were brought in and people filled any containers they had to stockpile.

In the coming months, with crude oil prices expected to continue to rise, other companies may reach similar thresholds with their products, making it cost effective to search for substitute ingredients or to stop production entirely on certain lines. Products including Neutrogena's cream-based and Avalon's aloe-based moisturizers have raised record earnings this quarter as people turn to these more affordable alternatives.

The Cheese Grater

The invention of the cheese grater is generally attributed to François Boullier, a Paisian eccentric in the 1540’s. The first grater was made out of pewter and is currently display at the Muséum du Havre (in Le Havre, France) . The grater was invented as a result of the cheese surplus in the first half of the 16th century. The surplus is recorded in detail in Jaques Debonier's Encyclopedic History of Cheese (1854). According to Debonier, the surplus is attributed to post-enlightenment thought, wherein consumption of meat was discouraged. Farmers, due to the drop in meat demand, converted much of their operation to dairy, which accounted for the literal explosion of cheese varieties in the 16th century. However, the market quickly became saturated with cheese and it began sit in great quantities in storage. Some of the newly discovered cheese varieties hardened over time.

Boullier developed the grater, which he used to convert the hard cheese into a marketable table condiment, which quickly became popular. The grater saw a surge of popularity among Bourgeois Parisians in the 1540s and early 1550s. In 1555, however, a drought stuck continental Europe, and it quickly diminished dairy stocks. As soon as it began, the cheese surplus ended. With the rise in price of cheese, it was soon considered a luxury good and the grater only remained in use with the elite. By the 1580’s, the grater and grated cheese had all but disappeared from French culture and cuisine.

Jeffery Taylor, a great entrepreneurial spirit, reintroduced the grater in the 1920’s in Philadelphia. The proprietor of a cheese shop, he had read about the grater in Debonier's opus and was inspired to recreate it as he had also experienced surpluses of hard cheeses. He fashioned his prototype out of a metal shower drain, after filing the holes so sharpen them. It quickly became a local success and he began fashioning and selling them in his shop. Taylor's take on the grater didn't see widespread popularity until the Great Depression when Taylor pitched the grater as an implement that that increased the volume of cheese. The grater made portions of cheese look larger, which pleased housewives who could seemingly supply more with less. Taylor began marketing and selling the tool as the "greater". Since then, is has been a staple in American culinary culture.

Anacards

The anacard, a close relative to the mango found in southeast Asia, secretes an oily coat during the rainy season as a protection against bugs feeding on the immature fruit. This clear coat prevents insects from burrowing and laying their eggs in the fruit as well as eating the flesh. The coat is naturally removed during the rainy season. However, if there are insufficient rains, or if the rains arrive early, the coat will dry at the end of the season, becoming very flammable. The anacards if exposed to a constant dry heat of over 41°C can burst into flames, becoming incendiary bombs that can ignite the dry understory. During several instances in recorded history, large portions of the countryside were engulfed in flames, due to a convergence of “perfect storm” conditions. The famous Battle of Zhennan Pass (also known as the Tonkin Affair) during the Sino-French war occurred just days after a large anacard fire had ceased. More recently, during the Vietnam war, the Vietcong tactically used dried anacard mixed with cow dung as a simple napalm.

In the past decade, Vietnam has been exporting more and more mangos into the United States. The anacard, which to the American consumer eye, is indistinguishable from the mango, is often slipped into shipments of mangos. Growing anacards requires much less maintenance compared to mangoes, as anacards can grow on its own in the wild and a new tree will produce fruit after only 3 years (mango trees take at least 8 years to fully mature and produce fruit). Because these trees are easier to grow, and wild ones are prevalent in the forests, Vietnamese farmers will often slip anacards into mangos shipments to meet quotas.

In 2001, this first became a problem when a faulty refrigerator container carrying mangos on the deck of the MSC Zurich malfunctioned. As the temperature in the container increased, a few anacards burst into flames causing a fire which destroyed close to 20 containers before it was extinguished. The most severe anacard incident occurred in late 2004 in a supermarket in Eugene, Oregon where a display of mangos under bright halogen lights ignited, destroying over half the store and two neighboring buildings . Three people, including an infant, were hospitalized with minor injuries. Oregon has since banned the importation of any mangoes originating from Vietman and similar legislation is expected in several other states. The USDA is currently investigating preventative strategies to screen mango shipments originating from Vietnam for anacards before they leave port. but these screens will not be in place before the end of 2009.

A Concise History of the Double Yellow Line

When carriages were first used on a large scale in urban areas, the speed of the vehicles combine with the lack of paved surfaces meant that there was no delineation between lanes of traffic in cities. When cars first appeared on the streets, the significant increase in speed of vehicles resulted in an increased amount of serious collisions.

In 1907 in Birmingham, England the local lamp lighter, Thomas Freemont's son was paralyzed in a tragic automobile/carriage accident. The automobile was driving on the incorrect side of the road while attempting to pass a carriage and did not see another oncoming carriage, resulting in a serious collision. After this event, Mr. Freemont began drawing a single yellow chalk line down the center of the road in areas where there was insufficient line of site for passing thus creating a physical division of lanes in these areas.

This practice soon caught on, beginning in neighboring villages, and by 1910, lamplighters in all of central England began to get paid to draw chalk lines in treacherous areas during the day. The summer of 1911 was one of the wettest on record in central England and, as a result, the lines needed to be redrawn daily, not only an inconvenience but an increasing expense for many of the small villages. The rain, not only washed away the chalk lines, but it also resulted in massive potholes and erosion. These two factors were the impetus that began the massive effort to pave roads in cities. Once roads were paved, a single white painted line replaced the chalk markings.

As automobiles began appearing in larger numbers, another problem began presenting itself. Many of the city streets were so narrow that it was common for mirrors on two passing cars to collide and cause damage. In the spring of 1913, Frederick Holmes¹, the Minister of Agriculture, had his mirror knocked off in a minor collision. A few days later at a dinner party, Holmes was discussing this issue to the Martin Hall, the Minister of Transportation, a newly created position. Hall had previously received complaints of a similar nature and decided to act. By placing two lines, spaced 6 inches apart, the incidence of mirror/mirror collisions were greatly reduced and resulted in the double line that we are accustomed to seeing today.

¹Holmes is most notably known for his work leading to the invention of the screw mason jar in 1885, which replaced the clamp-top.

Magnetic Salmon and Sustainable Fishing

At the turn of the 20th century, there were several reports of various fishing and shipping vessels having Atlantic Salmon (Salmo salar) stuck to the side of the hull. During this period the hulls on the vessels were still made almost completely out of iron. The reports at the time theorized that some kind of magnetic current was holding the fish to the hulls. Little attention was paid to the reports and it fell into obscurity and theoccurrences stopped with the rise of alloy hulls.

However, in 2002, Dr. Eilert Moen, whose grandfather had been aboard a vessel who has reported an instance of the salmon phenomenon, began research on these occurrences in the hopes of developing a sustainable fishing practice, one that could be used to replace bottom trawling and large, environmentally unfriendly nets. In 2003, in a paper entitled Electromagnetic Attraction of Salmo spp. to Marine Ferris Objects, he determined that Atlantic Salmon have an enzyme called Therrase, which is used to aid in the digestion on amphipods. He proposed that when a certain current is induced in the water, it flips the enzyme, causing it to become slightly magnetic. This causes the fish to be attracted to the large charged metallic objects, such as hulls. Current research is being completed to try to determine what current is most effective at flipping Therrase through large bodies of water.

Dr. Moen hypothesizes that if this current could be induced on a large enough scale, the fishing industry could be revolutionized. Fishing for Atlantic salmon could be accomplished by sending a current through the water, which would flip the Therrase enzyme in nearby fish. These fish could then be harvested using large magnets, which would be a much more sustainable fishing practice as compared to current methods, which includes bottom trawling. If implemented, this current would cause only the Atlantic salmon to be attracted to the magnets, thus reducing the damaging effects of the fishing industry. "World fisheries are in decline, it is projected that they will collapse by the year 2050. Practices like these can reduce our impact on the world and other living species", said Dr. Moen in a recent interview.