Steve Knight's Posts - SeaKnots
2024-03-29T11:28:13Z
Steve Knight
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Free book resources for marine weather and storm tactics
tag:seaknots.ning.com,2014-04-26:900123:BlogPost:209475
2014-04-26T21:39:58.000Z
Steve Knight
https://seaknots.ning.com/profile/SteveKnight
<p><span>For anyone wanting reference books on understanding marine weather and storm tactics at sea Steve Dashew has generously made his two volumes on these two subjects available in PDF format, for free to all mariners. The books, Mariner's Weather Handbook,and Surviving The Storm can be downloaded at the following link. Scroll to the bottom of the written article to the book icons and the download links to obtain these valuable references. Thanks, Steve!…</span></p>
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<p><span>For anyone wanting reference books on understanding marine weather and storm tactics at sea Steve Dashew has generously made his two volumes on these two subjects available in PDF format, for free to all mariners. The books, Mariner's Weather Handbook,and Surviving The Storm can be downloaded at the following link. Scroll to the bottom of the written article to the book icons and the download links to obtain these valuable references. Thanks, Steve!</span></p>
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<p><span><a href="http://setsail.com/weather-forecasting-storm-tactics-and-successful-cruising/" target="_blank">http://setsail.com/weather-forecasting-storm-tactics-and-successful-cruising/</a></span></p>
A Voyage To Greenland In “Polaris”, Part 1 and Part 2 (Slideshow)
tag:seaknots.ning.com,2010-12-04:900123:BlogPost:148284
2010-12-04T02:44:28.000Z
Steve Knight
https://seaknots.ning.com/profile/SteveKnight
<p>A Voyage To Greenland In “Polaris”, Part 1</p>
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<p><a href="http://www.morganscloud.com/2010/11/08/voyage-to-greenland-in-polaris-part-1/">http://www.morganscloud.com/2010/11/08/voyage-to-greenland-in-polaris-part-1/</a></p>
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<p>A Voyage To Greenland In “Polaris”, Part 2…</p>
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<p>A Voyage To Greenland In “Polaris”, Part 1</p>
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<p><a href="http://www.morganscloud.com/2010/11/08/voyage-to-greenland-in-polaris-part-1/">http://www.morganscloud.com/2010/11/08/voyage-to-greenland-in-polaris-part-1/</a></p>
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<p>A Voyage To Greenland In “Polaris”, Part 2</p>
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<p><a href="http://www.morganscloud.com/2010/11/30/voyage-to-greenland-in-polaris-2/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+AttainableAdventureCruising+%28Attainable+Adventure+Cruising%29">http://www.morganscloud.com/2010/11/30/voyage-to-greenland-in-polaris-2/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+AttainableAdventureCruising+%28Attainable+Adventure+Cruising%29</a></p>
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<p>Recommend full screen viewing!</p>
Teens adrift at sea almost lost hope:
tag:seaknots.ning.com,2010-11-28:900123:BlogPost:147628
2010-11-28T00:55:41.000Z
Steve Knight
https://seaknots.ning.com/profile/SteveKnight
<p><img alt="" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2539790888?profile=original"></img></p>
<p>By PITA LIGAIULA, Associated Press Pita Ligaiula, Associated Press – Sat Nov 27, 1:11 pm ET</p>
<p>SUVA, Fiji – For more than 50 days, the three boys slurped rainwater that puddled in the bottom of their tiny boat, gobbled flying fish that leaped aboard and prayed for salvation.</p>
<p>Etueni Nasau and his two cousins almost gave up hope they would survive as they bobbed in their aluminum dinghy across the South Pacific for more than seven weeks, before a fishing trawler…</p>
<p><img alt="" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2539790888?profile=original"/></p>
<p>By PITA LIGAIULA, Associated Press Pita Ligaiula, Associated Press – Sat Nov 27, 1:11 pm ET</p>
<p>SUVA, Fiji – For more than 50 days, the three boys slurped rainwater that puddled in the bottom of their tiny boat, gobbled flying fish that leaped aboard and prayed for salvation.</p>
<p>Etueni Nasau and his two cousins almost gave up hope they would survive as they bobbed in their aluminum dinghy across the South Pacific for more than seven weeks, before a fishing trawler spotted them by chance and brought an end to their extraordinary ordeal.</p>
<p>"I thank God for keeping us alive all this while, while were drifting out in open sea," Nasau, 14, told The Associated Press. "We prayed every day that someone will find us and rescue us. We thought we would die."</p>
<p>In a shy, quiet voice, Nasau spoke Saturday from his hospital bed in Fiji, where the trio were brought a day earlier and quickly treated for dehydration, bad sunburn and malnourishment.</p>
<p>Nasau, also known as Edward, and his two 15-year-old cousins, Samuel Pelesa and Filo Filo, jumped into the 12-foot- (3.5-meter-) long boat, known locally as a "tinnie," sometime in late September — Nasau couldn't remember the date — to make what they thought was a short journey between islands in their archipelago home of Tokelau.</p>
<p>But they ran out of fuel for their outboard motor and began drifting out to sea. As land retreated from sight, they contemplated the handful of coconuts they had brought with them to snack on — and the little else in the boat.</p>
<p>Day after day, the teens sat helpless in the open craft under a beating tropical sun, scouring the horizon for signs of land or a passing boat.</p>
<p>On many nights, rainstorms churned the sea and lashed the boat. The boys threw themselves to the bottom of the boat, clutching the sides and trying to keep it from capsizing. Though terrifying, the storms also brought a lifeline: puddles of rainwater for them to sip.</p>
<p>They ran out of food all too quickly, and increasingly feared starvation. The sea provided meager pickings in the form of fish that leaped out of the water and sometimes landed in the boat.</p>
<p>"We ate flying fish, very small ones that jump into our boat, about five inches," said Nasau, looking thin and weak, but relieved. "The last time we ate one was last week if I recall."</p>
<p>Once, a bird perched on the boat and Pelesa managed to snatch it with his bare hands. The hungry boys tore at the bird and shared the meat, raw.</p>
<p>"The bird came to our punt and my cousin Sam grabbed it," Nasau said. "We ate it."</p>
<p>In the days before their rescue, the nighttime storms stopped and the boys became desperately thirsty. They began drinking small amounts of sea water.</p>
<p>One night, the boys' hopes for rescue soared when they spotted lights they thought must be a ship, then plunged again when they realized that they had no light and that those on board would never see them in the dark.</p>
<p>"We saw one big ship at night time but it's too far, we couldn't do anything," Nasau said. "So we just sat down and looked at it" as it passed by.</p>
<p>Last Wednesday, at least 55 days into the boys' ordeal, the deep-sea tuna boat San Nikuna came into view on its way to its home port in New Zealand — this time during the day.</p>
<p>First mate Tai Fredricsen said the crew were amazed to see a small boat out so far and in a region rarely used by any vessels. They were even more stunned to see the bedraggled boys frantically waving for help.</p>
<p>They had drifted more than 800 miles (1,300 kilometers) from Tokelau.</p>
<p>Fredricsen took the boys and their little boat on board the trawler, and tried to give them fluids and small pieces of fruit. Officials in Fiji said the boys had so little food and water during their ordeal they would be unable to keep down solid food until their bodies recovered.</p>
<p>The boys have responded quickly to rehydration treatment. Twenty-four hours after arriving in Fiji, Pelesa and Filo had been released from hospital and were staying the consular staff from New Zealand, which administers Tokelau as a territory.</p>
<p>Only Nasau remained in hospital. New Zealand officials declined to give media access to the boys.</p>
<p>"The doctor told me to drink a lot of fluid and take a rest because we are so dehydrated," Nasau said. "He hasn't told me when I will be released, but I guess when I'm strong enough."</p>
<p>The three are expected to be flown to Samoa on Monday. They would then have to wait two weeks for a boat to take them back to their homeland, New Zealand's TV3 reported on Saturday.</p>
<p>News of the boys' survival was greeted as a miracle in Tokelau, a deeply Christian archipelago north of Samoa.</p>
<p>New Zealand maritime authorities began an official search Oct. 5 after worried family members reported them missing. Spotters in air force planes scoured thousands of square miles (kilometers) with no success.</p>
<p>The search was eventually called off, the boys given up for dead. The tight-knit community of 500 or so residents in their village held traditional grieving services.</p>
<p>One of the boys called their home village by satellite phone from the San Nikuna — with some trepidation because they thought they would get into trouble because they borrowed the boat from a relative without permission. Instead, they were greeted with jubilation.</p>
<p>"I'm glad and happy that we were rescued by the fishing boat," Nasau said. "I'm looking forward to see my family back in Tokelau."</p>
<p>The boys come from the atoll of Atafu, one of three that comprise the tiny Tokelau island group where 1,500 people live.</p>
<p>Atafu, Nukunonu and Fakaofo, picture-perfect South Pacific islets, lie 300 miles (500 kilometers) north of Samoa, surrounded by 128 mostly uninhabited coconut palm-covered islets. The territory has a total land area of just 4.7 square miles (12.2 square kilometers).</p>
Doctors sound TSA germ alert
tag:seaknots.ning.com,2010-11-26:900123:BlogPost:147561
2010-11-26T22:04:51.000Z
Steve Knight
https://seaknots.ning.com/profile/SteveKnight
Doctors sound TSA germ alert<br />
Dangers include syphilis, lice, viruses, ringworm<br />
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Posted: November 24, 2010<br />
9:09 pm Eastern<br />
<br />
By Bob Unruh<br />
© 2010 WorldNetDaily<br />
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Syphilis, lice, gonorrhea, ringworm, chlamydia, staph, strep, noro and papilloma viruses all are part of the possible fringe benefits when airline passengers next go through a full hands-on pat-down by agents of the federal government's Transportation Security Administration, according to doctors.<br />
WND reported two days ago on alarmed…
Doctors sound TSA germ alert<br />
Dangers include syphilis, lice, viruses, ringworm<br />
<br />
Posted: November 24, 2010<br />
9:09 pm Eastern<br />
<br />
By Bob Unruh<br />
© 2010 WorldNetDaily<br />
<br />
<br />
Syphilis, lice, gonorrhea, ringworm, chlamydia, staph, strep, noro and papilloma viruses all are part of the possible fringe benefits when airline passengers next go through a full hands-on pat-down by agents of the federal government's Transportation Security Administration, according to doctors.<br />
WND reported two days ago on alarmed passengers who noted that TSA agents doing the pat-downs that have been described by critics as molestation since they include touching private body parts were not changing gloves between passengers. In fact, some apparently were patting down dozens of passengers or more wearing the same gloves.<br />
But neither the TSA nor federal agencies such as the Centers for Disease Control was willing to comment on the possibilities that infections and other loathsome afflictions could be passed from passenger to passenger.<br />
Now two doctors – and several others – have confirmed that there is the definite possibility that passengers will be able to catch whatever someone in front of them in line was suffering from via the latex gloves TSA workers use.<br />
"There is no doubt that bacteria (staph, strep, v.cholerae etc.) and viruses (noro, enteroviruses, herpes, hepatitis A and papilloma viruses) can be spread by contaminated vinyl or latex gloves," Dr. Thomas Warner of Wisconsin told WND in a letter to the editor.<br />
"If a traveler has diarrhea and is soiled, as can and does happen, the causative agent can be spread by this method since bacteria and viruses in moist environments have greater viability."<br />
He continued. "The traveler readjusting clothes can easily get the infectious agents on their hands and therefore into their mouth, nose or eyes."<br />
Added a pulmonary critical care physician from Connecticut who did not want to be identified by name, "That doesn't make sense that they're not changing gloves."<br />
"Anything can be transmitted. If there are open wounds and they [TSA agents] are not aware, there's syphilis, gonorrhea, herpes, chlamydia, lice, ringworm."<br />
Worse yet would be for people whose immune systems are compromised by treatments they may be having, including cancer patients, she said.<br />
Physicians undergo extensive training, follow strict rules and even have those who watch them to make sure they follow procedures to reduce to an absolute minimum the likelihood of carrying disease from one person to another, she said.<br />
"How come if we as doctors have guidelines, we must wear gloves and have oversight, it's very different [for the TSA]," she said.<br />
Warner told WND some of the infections are "a tough little beast" and easily would be spread through the contact being used by the TSA.<br />
"Staphylococci are also tough and can be spread on fomites (eg . towels, tampons or gloves ) and survive in dry conditions. Methicillin resistant staph creates havoc in hospitals AND in those awaiting surgery (eg. traveling for a transplant ) when the 'carrier' patient must be clear of the bacterium before elective surgery," he said.<br />
"Emerging infectious and tropical agents create another wild scenario," he said.<br />
He said at a minimum gloves should be changed between pat-downs, "especially if the gloved hand is inside clothes or in the genital ... area even if clothed. Travelers should be advised of this and hand-wash and change clothes ASAP after these intimate examinations."<br />
The CDC previously told WND to contact the TSA, which did not respond to inquiries, on the status of policies that would minimize the possibility of passing infections from one passenger to another.<br />
The response today was the same, according to a WND reader who passed along his question to the CDC about the situation and the agency's response.<br />
In response to a question about minimizing the possibility infections could be passed along, the CDC said:<br />
Thank you for your inquiry to CDC-INFO. In response to your comments that Transportation Security Administration (TSA) agents are not changing gloves between the travelers that they pat-down, we are pleased to provide you with the following information.<br />
<br />
If you are traveling and are going to be searched, you can request that the TSA agent change his or her gloves.<br />
Endorsing the doctors' recommendations was a commentary at Natural News.com.<br />
There, the editorial writer noted the intimacy of the pat-downs by the TSA, procedures which are required for some travelers and offered as an option to those who refuse to go through a full-body image scanner which essentially reveals a nude image of the passenger for TSA workers to review.<br />
"Air travel passengers across America have been complaining of the TSA fingering their genitalia and touching their sex organs. Just this week, an ABC News employee was fingered by a TSA agent who felt around inside her underwear. ... This process of touching traveler's genitals without consistently changing latex gloves means the TSA is involved in extremely risky behavior that could spread disease," the website warned.<br />
"TSA agents are not trained as medical personnel. Just as they don't seem to grasp the Bill of Rights, they also may not understand how infectious disease is spread. They aren't medical personnel; they're Big Brother enforcers who have likely never been taught the principles of how to conduct a sterile body search," the commentary said.<br />
"If an athlete with jock itch (a fungal infection) undergoes a TSA pat-down, that TSA agent could spread the passenger's jock itch from his crotch to his armpits and neck. The same is true for a person suffering from ringworm or other skin fungal infections: Merely touching them and then touching another body part can cause them to spread," the website said. "Even worse, if that same TSA agent does not change his or her gloves between pat-downs, they could be spreading jock itch, ringworm or other infections from traveler to traveler. So traveler #2 could end up with the jock itch picked up from traveler #1."<br />
In WND's original report on the issue of gloves online forum participants said it was clear the gloves are to protect the TSA agents, not provide any protection for passengers.<br />
Martha Donahue in a commentary at Resistnet said she'd spent 30 years in the medical industry.<br />
"For those of you who fly and opt for the 'pat down,' you need to demand the TSA thugs change their gloves. I've been watching on the news how they operate. People are being searched [with] dirty gloves ... gloves that have been in crotches, armpits, touching people who may be ill, people who pick their noses. Do you want those gloves touching you?<br />
"These thugs are protecting themselves from you. You need to be protected from them," she wrote. "In a hospital, nursing home, in-home care, or even labs, that would never even be considered an option."<br />
While the CDC referred questions about health and disease issues to the TSA, in its online writings the organization repeatedly makes clear the importance of maintaining clean hands to avoid such transmission of communicable and contagious afflictions.<br />
Dr. Julie Gerberding, at the time the chief of the CDC, said during a special presentation on hand cleanliness, "We know that hand hygiene is a critical component of safe and healthy health care."<br />
At the same time, Dr. John Boyce, lead author of the organization's hand-washing guidelines and the chairman of the Hand Hygiene Task Force, said, "There's a large study that was conducted at the University of Geneva Hospital in Switzerland where they demonstrated significant improvement in the adherence of health care workers to hand hygiene practices and they also showed that the incidence of antibiotic resistance to staph infections went down and that the overall prevalence of health care-acquired infections went down ... ."<br />
Suggested Gerberding in the context of health care, "Hand hygiene saves lives. We're recommending a comprehensive evidence-based approach in hospitals that consists of handwashing with soap and water when the goal is to remove unsightly debris; hand alcohol preps for enhancing appearance and reducing bacterial counts; and gloving when people have contact with blood or other body fluids in accordance with universal precautions."<br />
She said even in a "community setting," "washing with soap and water remains a very sensible strategy for hand hygiene."<br />
Other health standards across the country routinely warn against hand contact with sores, lesions or other sources of viruses or contamination. The Lincoln, Neb., health site notes, "This includes hand contact."<br />
Officials at the Canadian Center for Occupational Health noted that "hand washing is the single most effective way to prevent the spread of infections.<br />
"You can spread certain 'germs' (a general term for microbes like viruses and bacteria) casually by touching another person. You can also catch germs when you touch contaminated objects or surfaces and then you touch your face (mouth, eyes, and nose)," it said.<br />
On a TSA blog promoting the agency's actions and policies, one screener explained, "Changing gloves is fairly simple ... . When I gate screen I carry about 10-12 pairs in my pockets."<br />
Respondents to the comment were outraged, "That's just plain disgusting and most certainly not acceptable ... procedures as set forth by the CDC for usage of gloves for protection," said one. "Reasoning being is that the bacteria count in your pockets is about the same is your mouth or armpit."<br />
Wrote another forum participant, "Those gloves are soiled if they come out of your pockets and before handling my stuff you will be expected to obtain a clean, from the original container, pair. ... Who knows what filth inhabits your pockets!"
Thanksgiving 2010 Myths and Facts by Brian Handwerk
tag:seaknots.ning.com,2010-11-26:900123:BlogPost:147519
2010-11-26T04:09:59.000Z
Steve Knight
https://seaknots.ning.com/profile/SteveKnight
"Brian Handwerk<br />
<p class="publication">for <a href="http://news.nationalgeographic.com"><font color="#044E8E">National Geographic News</font></a></p>
<p class="publication_time">Updated November 24, 2010</p>
<div class="article_text"><p class="MsoNormal"><strong>Before the big dinner, debunk the myths—for starters, the first "real" U.S. Thanksgiving wasn't until the 1800s—and get to the roots of Thanksgiving 2010.</strong></p>
<p><strong>Thanksgiving Dinner: Recipe for Food…</strong></p>
</div>
"Brian Handwerk<br />
<p class="publication">for <a href="http://news.nationalgeographic.com"><font color="#044E8E">National Geographic News</font></a></p>
<p class="publication_time">Updated November 24, 2010</p>
<div class="article_text"><p class="MsoNormal"><strong>Before the big dinner, debunk the myths—for starters, the first "real" U.S. Thanksgiving wasn't until the 1800s—and get to the roots of Thanksgiving 2010.</strong></p>
<p><strong>Thanksgiving Dinner: Recipe for Food Coma?<br/></strong></p>
<p>Key to any Thanksgiving Day menu are a fat turkey and cranberry sauce.</p>
<p>Some 242 million turkeys were raised in the U.S. in 2010 for slaughter, down 2 percent from 2009's total, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture's National Agricultural Statistics Service. Last year's birds were worth about U.S. $3.6 billion.</p>
<p>About 46 million turkeys will end up on U.S. dinner tables this Thanksgiving—or about 736 million pounds (334 million kilograms) of turkey meat, according to estimates from the National Turkey Federation. (See the <a href="http://www.thegreenguide.com/home-garden/holidays/green-thanksgiving"><font color="#044E8E"><em>Green Guide's</em> suggestions for having a greener—and more grateful—Thanksgiving</font></a>.)</p>
<p><a href="http://travel.nationalgeographic.com/places/states/state_minnesota.html"><font color="#044E8E">Minnesota</font></a> is the United States' top turkey-producing state, followed by North Carolina, Arkansas, Missouri, Indiana, and Virginia.</p>
<p>These "big six" states produce two of every three U.S.-raised birds, according to data compiled by the U.S. Census Bureau.</p>
<p>U.S. farmers will also produce 735 million pounds (333 million kilograms) of cranberries, which, like turkeys, are native to the Americas. The top producers are Wisconsin and Massachusetts.</p>
<p>The U.S. will also grow 1.9 billion pounds (862 million kilograms) of sweet potatoes—many in North Carolina, California, and Louisiana—and will produce 931 million pounds (422 million kilograms) of pumpkins.</p>
<p>Illinois, California, and Ohio grow the most U.S. pumpkins.</p>
<p>But if you overeat at Thanksgiving dinner, there's a price to be paid for all this plenty: the Thanksgiving "food coma." The post-meal fatigue may be real, but the condition is giving turkeys a bad rap.</p>
<p>Contrary to myth, the amount of the organic protein <a href="http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2005/11/1122_051122_thanksgiving.html"><font color="#044E8E">tryptophan in most turkeys isn't responsible for drowsiness</font></a>.</p>
<p>Instead, scientists blame booze, the sheer caloric size of an average feast, or just plain-old relaxing after stressful work schedules.</p>
<p><strong>What Was on the First Thanksgiving Menu?</strong></p>
<p>Little is known about the first Thanksgiving dinner in the Plimoth (also spelled Plymouth) Colony in October 1621, attended by some 50 English colonists and about 90 Wampanoag American Indian men in what is now <a href="http://travel.nationalgeographic.com/places/states/state_massachusetts.html"><font color="#044E8E">Massachusetts</font></a>.</p>
<p>We do know that the Wampanoag killed five deer for the feast, and that the colonists shot wild fowl—which may have been geese, ducks, or turkey. Some form, or forms, of Indian corn were also served.</p>
<p>But Jennifer Monac, spokesperson for the living-history museum Plimoth Plantation, said the feasters likely supplemented their venison and birds with fish, lobster, clams, nuts, and wheat flour, as well as vegetables such as pumpkin, squash, carrots, and peas.</p>
<p>"They ate seasonally," Monac said, "and this was the time of the year when they were really feasting. There were lots of vegetables around, because the harvest had been brought in."</p>
<p>Much of what we consider traditional Thanksgiving fare was unknown at the first Thanksgiving. Potatoes and sweet potatoes hadn't yet become staples of the English diet, for example. And cranberry sauce requires sugar—an expensive delicacy in the 1600s. Likewise, pumpkin pie went missing due to a lack of crust ingredients.</p>
<p>If you want to eat like a Pilgrim yourself, try some of the <a href="http://www.plimoth.org/kids/recipes.php"><font color="#044E8E">Plimoth Plantation's recipes</font></a>, including stewed pompion (pumpkin) or traditional Wampanoag succotash.</p>
<p><strong>First Thanksgiving Not a True Thanksgiving?<br/></strong></p>
<p>American Indian peoples, Europeans, and other cultures around the world often celebrated the harvest season with feasts to offer thanks to higher powers for their sustenance and survival.</p>
<p>In 1541 Spaniard Francisco Vásquez de Coronado and his troops celebrated a "Thanksgiving" while searching for New World gold in what is now the Texas Panhandle.</p>
<p>Later such feasts were held by French Huguenot colonists in present-day Jacksonville, Florida (1564), by English colonists and Abnaki Indians at Maine's Kennebec River (1607), and in Jamestown, Virginia (1610), when the arrival of a food-laden ship ended a brutal famine.</p>
<p>(Related: <a href="http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2007/01/070112-jamestown.html"><font color="#044E8E">"Four Hundred-Year-Old Seeds, Spear Change Perceptions of Jamestown Colony."</font></a>)</p>
<p>It's the 1621 Plimoth Thanksgiving that's linked to the birth of our modern holiday. The truth is the first "real" Thanksgiving happened two centuries later.</p>
<p>Everything we know about the three-day Plimoth gathering comes from a description in a letter wrote by Edward Winslow, leader of the Plimoth Colony, in 1621, Monac said.</p>
<p>The letter had been lost for 200 years and was rediscovered in the 1800s, she added.</p>
<p>In 1841 Boston publisher Alexander Young printed Winslow's brief account of the feast and added his own twist, dubbing the 1621 feast the "First Thanksgiving."</p>
<p>In Winslow's "short letter, it was clear that [the 1621 feast] was not something that was supposed to be repeated again and again. It wasn't even a Thanksgiving, which in the 17th century was a day of fasting. It was a harvest celebration," Monac said.</p>
<p>But after its mid-1800s appearance, Young's designation caught on—to say the least.</p>
<p>U.S. President Abraham Lincoln declared Thanksgiving Day a national holiday in 1863. He was probably swayed in part by magazine editor Sarah Josepha Hale—the author of the nursery rhyme "Mary Had a Little Lamb"—who had suggested Thanksgiving become a holiday, historians say.</p>
<p>In 1941 President Franklin Roosevelt established the current date for observance, the fourth Thursday of November.</p>
<p><strong>Thanksgiving Turkey-in-Waiting</strong></p>
<p>Each year <a href="http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2001/11/1120_TVprezturkeys.html"><font color="#044E8E">at least two lucky turkeys avoid the dinner table</font></a>, thanks to a presidential pardon—a longstanding Washington tradition believed to have originated with U.S. President Harry Truman.</p>
<p>Since 1947 the National Turkey Federation has presented two live turkeys—and a ready-to-eat turkey—to the President, according to federation spokesperson Sherrie Rosenblatt.</p>
<p>"There are two birds," Rosenblatt explained, "the presidential turkey and the vice presidential turkey, which is an alternate, in case the presidential turkey is unable to perform its duties."</p>
<p>Those duties pretty much boil down to not biting the President during the photo opportunity with the press. In 2008 the vice presidential bird, "Pumpkin," stepped in for the appearance with President Bush after the presidential bird, "Pecan," had fallen ill the night before.</p>
<p>Starting in 2010 the lucky birds will no longer share the same happy fate as Super Bowl-winning quarterbacks—for the past five years pardoned turkeys have gone to live at Disneyland's Big Thunder Ranch in California.</p>
<p>This year's birds will instead follow in the footsteps of the first president and live out their days at George Washington's Mount Vernon Estate and Gardens.</p>
<p>After the holiday season, however, the two turkeys won’t be on public display. These fat, farm-fed birds aren't historically accurate like the wild birds that still roam the Virginia estate.</p>
<p><strong>Talking Turkey</strong></p>
<p>Pilgrims had been familiar with turkeys before they landed in the Americas.</p>
<p>That's because early European explorers of the New World had returned to Europe with turkeys in tow after encountering them at Native American settlements. Native Americans had domesticated the birds centuries before European contact.</p>
<p>A century later Ben Franklin famously made known his preference that the turkey, rather than the <a href="http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/birds/bald-eagle.html"><font color="#044E8E">bald eagle</font></a>, should be the official U.S. bird.</p>
<p>But Franklin might have been shocked when, by the 1930s, hunting had so decimated North American wild turkey populations that their numbers had dwindled to the tens of thousands, from a peak of at least tens of millions.</p>
<p>Today, thanks to reintroduction efforts and hunting regulations, wild turkeys are back.</p>
<p>(Related: <a href="http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2002/11/1126_021125_BirdersJournal_Turkey.html"><font color="#044E8E">"Birder's Journal: Giving Thanks for Wild Turkey Sightings."</font></a>)</p>
<p>Some seven million wild turkeys are thriving across the U.S., and <a href="http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2007/11/071119-wild-turkeys.html"><font color="#044E8E">many of them have adapted easily to the suburbs</font></a>—their speed presumably an asset on ever encroaching roads.</p>
<p><a href="http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/birds/wild-turkey.html"><font color="#044E8E">Wild turkeys</font></a> can run some 10 to 20 miles (16 to 32 kilometers) an hour and fly in bursts at 55 miles (89 kilometers) an hour. Domesticated turkeys can't fly at all.</p>
<p><strong>On Thanksgiving</strong><strong>, Pass the Pigskin<br/></strong></p>
<p>For many U.S. citizens, Thanksgiving without football is as unthinkable as the Fourth of July without fireworks.</p>
<p>NBC Radio broadcast the first national Thanksgiving Day game in 1934, when the Detroit Lions hosted the Chicago Bears.</p>
<p>Except for a respite during World War II, the Lions have played—usually badly—every Thanksgiving Day since. In this year's game, the 71st, they take on another team with a bit of a Thanksgiving theme—the New England Patriots.</p>
<p><strong>Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade<br/></strong></p>
<p>For a festive few, even turkey takes a backseat to the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York City, originally called the Macy's Christmas parade, because it kicked off the shopping season.</p>
<p>The tradition began in 1924, when employees recruited animals from the Central Park Zoo to march on Thanksgiving Day.</p>
<p>Helium-filled balloons made their debut in the parade in 1927 and, in the early years, were released above the city skyline with the promise of rewards for their finders.</p>
<p>The Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, first televised nationally in 1947, now draws some 44 million viewers—not counting the 3 million people who actually line the 2.5-mile (4-kilometer) Manhattan route.</p>
<p>Thanksgiving weekend also boasts the retail version of the Super Bowl—Black Friday, when massive sales and early opening times attract frugal shoppers.</p>
<p>The National Retail Federation reports that in 2010 some 138 million Americans, about 4 million more than last year, will brave the crowds to shop on Black Friday or on the following weekend.</p>
<p><strong>Planes, Trains, and (Lots of) Automobiles</strong></p>
<p>It may seem like everyone in the U.S. is on the road on Thanksgiving Day, keeping you from your turkey and stuffing.</p>
<p>But just under 40 million of about 308 million U.S. citizens will drive more than 50 miles (80 kilometers) from home on the 2010 holiday, according to the American Automobile Association.</p>
<p>If you include airline and rail passengers, more than 42 million Americans will travel at least that distance in 2010, an 11 percent increase from last year.</p>
<p><strong>Thanksgiving North of the Border</strong></p>
<p>Cross-border travelers can celebrate Thanksgiving twice, because Canada celebrates its own Thanksgiving Day the second Monday in October.</p>
<p>As in the U.S., the event is sometimes linked to a historic feast with which it has no real ties—in this case explorer Martin Frobisher's 1578 ceremony, which gave thanks for his safe arrival in what is now New Brunswick.</p>
<p>Canada's Thanksgiving, established in 1879, was inspired by the U.S. holiday. Dates of observance have fluctuated, sometimes coinciding with the U.S. Thanksgiving or the Canadian veteran-appreciation holiday, Remembrance Day—and at least once it occurred as late as December.</p>
<p>But Canada's colder climate eventually led to the 1957 decision that formalized the October date.</p>
</div>
Rocket Loaded With Solar Sail and Satellites Blasts Off From Alaska
tag:seaknots.ning.com,2010-11-20:900123:BlogPost:147212
2010-11-20T02:26:07.000Z
Steve Knight
https://seaknots.ning.com/profile/SteveKnight
<p><strong><font color="#1B4872" face="">Rocket Loaded With Solar Sail and Satellites Blasts Off From Alaska <br></br></font></strong><font color="#333333" size="1"><strong><font face="">By</font></strong> <a href="mailto:%20mwall@space.com"><strong><font face="">Mike Wall</font></strong></a><br></br><font face="">SPACE.com Senior Writer<br></br></font></font><font color="#330066" face="" size="1">posted: 19 November 2010<br></br>08:25 pm ET</font><br></br></p>
<p class="western" style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0.14in">This…</p>
<p><strong><font color="#1B4872" face="">Rocket Loaded With Solar Sail and Satellites Blasts Off From Alaska <br/></font></strong><font color="#333333" size="1"><strong><font face="">By</font></strong> <a href="mailto:%20mwall@space.com"><strong><font face="">Mike Wall</font></strong></a><br/><font face="">SPACE.com Senior Writer<br/></font></font><font color="#330066" size="1" face="">posted: 19 November 2010<br/>08:25 pm ET</font><br/></p>
<p style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0.14in" class="western">This NASA craft — short for Fast, Affordable Science and Technology Satellite — weighs about 325 pounds (148 kilograms) and is about the size of a washing machine. It's part of a broader NASA effort to find ways to perform research in space cheaply and reliably.</p>
<p style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0.14in" class="western">The agency spent less than $12 million developing the spacecraft, agency officials have said.</p>
<p style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0.14in" class="western">FASTSAT is carrying six different scientific experiments. One of those is a smaller satellite called NanoSail-D, an 8.5-pound (3.9-kg) probe designed to eject from FASTSAT and deploy a <font color="#000080"><span lang="zxx" xml:lang="zxx"><u><a class="western" href="http://www.space.com/missionlaunches/worlds-first-solar-sail-photo-japan-100618.html"><font color="#0000FF">solar sail</font></a></u></span></font> in orbit. Solar sails catch photons from the sun much as ships' sails catch the wind.</p>
<p style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0.14in" class="western">NanoSail-D will use its solar sail to deorbit itself, potentially demonstrating a new way to bring satellites and debris back to Earth without any chemical propellant, NASA officials have said.</p>
Fuel Additives
tag:seaknots.ning.com,2010-10-19:900123:BlogPost:144996
2010-10-19T00:37:24.000Z
Steve Knight
https://seaknots.ning.com/profile/SteveKnight
<b><i><font color="#000080" size="2"><font color="#000080" size="2"><br />
</font></font></i></b><p><b><i><font color="#000080" size="2"><font color="#000080" size="2">Regards and felicitations, Captain,</font></font></i></b></p>
<p><b><i><font color="#000080" size="2"><font color="#000080" size="2">/</font></font></i></b></p>
<p><b><i><font color="#000080" size="2"><font color="#000080" size="2">Thanks for responding to my post about diesel fuel additives. Forums such as these are so very useful for…</font></font></i></b></p>
<b><i><font color="#000080" size="2"><font color="#000080" size="2"><br />
</font></font></i></b><p><b><i><font color="#000080" size="2"><font color="#000080" size="2">Regards and felicitations, Captain,</font></font></i></b></p>
<p><b><i><font color="#000080" size="2"><font color="#000080" size="2">/</font></font></i></b></p>
<p><b><i><font color="#000080" size="2"><font color="#000080" size="2">Thanks for responding to my post about diesel fuel additives. Forums such as these are so very useful for discussing and understanding the needs of the sailing community. If I can shine a light into a dark corner and perhaps save someone some grief or money, I am glad to help in whatever way I can.</font></font></i></b></p>
<p><b><i><font color="#000080" size="2"><font color="#000080" size="2">/</font></font></i></b></p>
<p><b><i><font color="#000080" size="2"><font color="#000080" size="2">First, let me mention that I noted your entry about having removed your fuel tank and cleaning it. That was also one of my first jobs when I bought my current boat 13 years ago. We (the seller and I) had to change the fuel filter three times on the 10 mile round trip to and from the travel lift, a dead giveaway of fuel contamination.</font></font></i></b></p>
<p><b><i><font color="#000080" size="2"><font color="#000080" size="2">/</font></font></i></b></p>
<p><b><i><font color="#000080" size="2"><font color="#000080" size="2">Let's break this discussion down into its separate issues;</font></font></i></b></p>
<p><b><i><font color="#000080" size="2"><font color="#000080" size="2">Taking StarTron's claims at face value, we need to know exactly what their enzymes do to improve the fuel purity that flows into the engine. I will mention here that after passing through one or more filters, the diesel fuel passes through the lift pump and into the high pressure fuel pump where the pressure is increased upwards of 1,000 pounds per square inch and then forced through the fuel injector nozzles and into the combustion chambers. The fuel injector nozzles on a diesel engine are the critical components. The injector passageways that the fuel passes through are barely a few thousandths of an inch in diameter, very easy to plug should any contaminants get past the filters.</font></font></i></b></p>
<p><b><i><font color="#000080" size="2"><font color="#000080" size="2">/</font></font></i></b></p>
<p><b><i><font color="#000080" size="2"><font color="#000080" size="2">Any contamination at all, be it the dead microorganisms, or a sludge created by enzymes breaking the organisms down will plug these critical ports, shutting off all fuel to the engine. Hence the fuel filters. Nothing must be allowed past the filters and into the injectors except clear and bright diesel fuel.</font></font></i></b></p>
<p><b><i><font color="#000080" size="2"><font color="#000080" size="2">/</font></font></i></b></p>
<p><b><i><font color="#000080" size="2"><font color="#000080" size="2">Getting back to the question of the enzymes, do they remove the impurities or just change their state? I think you would agree that whatever the enzymes accomplish, returning the fuel to its original pristine state is not one of the benefits. Therefore it is incumbent upon the fuel filters to remove the contaminants before they can plug the injectors and shut down the engine. Knowing that you want only clear and bright fuel to pass the injectors, what function do the enzymes really serve?</font></font></i></b></p>
<p><b><i><font color="#000080" size="2"><font color="#000080" size="2">/</font></font></i></b></p>
<p><b><i><font color="#000080" size="2"><font color="#000080" size="2">The reality is there are only two sure fire methods for removing fuel contaminants, cleaning the tank, and quality fuel filters. Fuel polishing while expensive only filters out suspended contaminants and will not dislodge any longstanding precipitate stuck to the bottom of the tank. True, it would work for a recent contamination in a otherwise clean tank, but usually it only temporarily alleviates the problem until you hit rough seas.</font></font></i></b></p>
<p><b><i><font color="#000080" size="2"><font color="#000080" size="2">/</font></font></i></b></p>
<p><b><i><font color="#000080" size="2"><font color="#000080" size="2">Getting back to the Startron product, I note that it costs about 50 percent more than most of the other biocides. Are you getting your money's worth if the resulting byproduct of the enzymes must still be filtered from the fuel before it reaches the fuel pump and injectors? Remember, the fuel needs to be clear and bright when it reaches the pump.</font></font></i></b></p>
<p><b><i><font color="#000080" size="2"><font color="#000080" size="2">/</font></font></i></b></p>
<p><b><i><font color="#000080" size="2"><font color="#000080" size="2">You did exactly the right thing by cleaning out the fuel tank, the advice was spot on. With a clean fuel tank and faithful application of the biocide, you should never have to have the tank cleaned again. But beware, it is possible to pick up contaminated fuel at a fuel dock so always treat any new fuel with biocide after you've added it to your tank, and never overadd more biocide than is called for as it could cause crystalization in the fuel and plug the injectors that way.</font></font></i></b></p>
<p><b><i><font color="#000080" size="2"><font color="#000080" size="2">/</font></font></i></b></p>
<p><b><i><font color="#000080" size="2"><font color="#000080" size="2">As to the StarBrite Company, I've discovered that they are a repackaging business. They are not a chemcal manufacturer. I assume that you insist on using Chevron Delo 400 oil to lubricate your expensive diesel engine and would never settle for 'Fred's Engine Oil' or any other 'boutique' brand. You'd want to know what you're getting and where it came from. Who better than the manufacturer who markets its products under their own name?</font></font></i></b></p>
<p><b><i><font color="#000080" size="2"><font color="#000080" size="2">/</font></font></i></b></p>
<p><b><i><font color="#000080" size="2"><font color="#000080" size="2">Sincerely,</font></font></i></b></p>
<p><b><i><font color="#000080" size="2"><font color="#000080" size="2">Steve</font></font></i></b></p>
<p><b><i><font color="#000080" size="2"><font color="#000080" size="2">/</font></font></i></b></p>
<p><b><i><font color="#000080" size="2"><font color="#000080" size="2"><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B3WS51n7drQ">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B3WS51n7drQ</a></font></font></i></b></p>