January 2019

Nuclear Reactors 647 - Japan's Hopes For Nuclear Exports Fade

        For years, Japan has made the export on nuclear technology a major part of their industrial expansion. The Fukushima nuclear disaster in 2011 dampened public enthusiasm and investor interest for nuclear power but the national politicians kept emphasizing how important nuclear equipment export were going to be for the future.

The Search For Unobserved Radioactive Isotopes Continues

        Elements are identified by the number of protons in their nucleus. A particular element always has exactly the same number of protons in its nucleus. The nuclear of the atoms of an element also have neutrons. While the number of protons remains the same, there can be samples of the element which have different number of neutrons. These variants of an element are called “isotopes.”

The Grossest Yet Most Delicious Cocktails

Gravy fat and turkey stock in a cocktail? Gin with celery syrup and cilantro? Ugh, I can't stand cilantro (the soap herb!) and I didn't even know there was a such thing as celery syrup. These surprise ingredients are supposedly the makers of exquisite cocktails that only sound weird and gross and terrible but are actually amazing and enjoyable. 

Easy on the Apple Cider Vinegar

As a die-hard fan of apple cider vinegar, I will sing its praises until the cows come home. I use it on everything from cleaning agents to body care, sunburn care to yes, a daily drink. It helps everything from complexion to indigestion to blood sugar and is a wonderful, cheap part of a healthy lifestyle. Even conventional doctors praise this solution--with a caveat that I've just learned and explains a lot. Drinking ACV by itself can actually be harmful in the long run.

Dead & Company Set List

Is it odd that we've never heard Dead & Company sing "Alligator"? It's one of the band's most beloved songs, yet the spinoff group, made up of several original band members as well as new faces like John Mayer, has yet to perform the song in one of their many concerts. Many fans are wondering if they will be one of the first to hear them play "Alligator" live at one of the band's summer 2019 concerts. 

Stop Saying You're Colorblind

Black women are seething over white women and boy do they have a good reason. Not only have white women excluded black women from the table since pretty much forever, ignoring them in terms of feminist issues and the unique and even more systemic prejudice, abuse and oppression rooted in color, but they've also let them down as Black women have carried progressive vote after progressive vote while white women continue to vote for their own best interests.

Tea Drops And Southern Breeze Teas

In 2018, during my quest to find all things low-carb and delicious, I came across several really great sources of tea. One of them, Southern Breeze, sells pre-sweetened cold brew tea. I don't like to have sweetener every day, but when I'm craving something I have to say that it's incredibly convenient to be able to brew tea in my water bottle on the go. The raspberry and peach flavors are my favorites but they're supposed to be working on new ones in 2019. 

Government Shutdowns Are Unacceptable

The big orange baby with the tiny hands, AKA the president of the United States, is throwing another temper tantrum and shutting the government down for what I believe is the third time in his term. Why? Oh, it's over that terrible wall that he not only promised his xenophobic supporters but that he also promised Mexico would pay for, of course. What else would it be over? And while people say that it's not really affecting anyone all that much, that's incredibly untrue.

Rhein Haus Seattle

Given how many Germans are in both my husband's and my family, you'd think we'd be much more familiar with German food. Not so; all we know is that we both don't like saurkraut! So we decided to remedy this situation and try some German food recently. The good news is that we loved it! My husband sampled a bunch of brats, which he actually is familiar with already, and I tried schnitzel, spaetzle and a giant potato pancake. It was outstanding.

New Year's Crafts

Do you have any crafting goals or projects coming up in the New Year? Each New Year, one of the first things we do is burn our old tree and calendar, which isn't exactly a craft, but we do save pieces of the tree for crafts throughout the year. We also update our "Family Notice Board" with our map of states we've been to, countries we've collected postcards from, our giving tree and other fun projects.

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