From Sippican Cottage….

There’s a lot of figuring and checking. My helpers can’t be hurt, as they’re at the top of this rollercoaster looking down, but I imagine that watching the thing crush me and being sent to the workhouse for the rest of their miserable lives would be less fun than shoe-shopping and playing X-Box, so I was determined not to let the thing land on me. I’m considerate like that.

But it started to rain, less than thirty seconds after I was dumb enough to say: “Thank God it hasn’t rained.” Time to act.

I have had more excitement moving heaver weights, but I am not as smart as Sippican Cottage is. Life is always more exciting when you are dumb.

From The News….
…..

SCIENTISTS have discovered that going veggie could be bad for your brain – with those on a meat-free diet six times more likely to suffer brain shrinkage.

Vegans and vegetarians — such as Heather Mills — are the most likely to be deficient because the best sources of the vitamin are meat, particularly liver, milk and fish.

Vitamin B12 deficiency can also cause anaemia and inflammation of the nervous system.

From Gene Logsdon…

The seeds of giant ragweed are 47% crude protein. That is very, very high, much higher than any cultivated grain. What’s more, these seeds, which the plant produces in prodigious amounts, provide, in the words of Roger Wells, a certified wildlife biologist and national habitat coordinator for Quails Unlimited, “the highest amount of metabolizable calories, more even that corn, soybeans, wheat, or any other grain that we know.” What that means is that the seeds are very digestible. Quail or pheasants, in a good stand of giant ragweed will double and triple in population. (You can find all this and more at QuailRestoration.com on the Internet.) And what is the corn and soybean farmer’s second worse dream? Now you can actually buy giant ragweed seed by the bag if you want to plant some to increase wildlife on your farm.

I always figured that Ragweed seeds were edible. But I am surprised they have such a large protein content.

This training clip for the Marine Core is not for the faint of heart.

For those that are interested in Building Codes you can click on this link. I know that you are out there.

The Last Samurai and Europe’s First Suicide does what all good historical essays should do. It draws connections between different historical events that you would not have thought connected otherwise. But the essay would have been better off if the author had been content to make the comparison and contrast between General Maresuke Nogi and the European generals of World War I. Unfortunately, the author felt compelled to go off on rant at the end of the essay that does not fit with the rest of what he wrote.