Controversial Discoveries

Friends,

With Colorado hosting one of the nation’s most competitive senatorial races, science news has been a welcome source of relief from political coverage and mud-slinging advertisements. Deep space exploration and deep sea discoveries are a great escape from the deep divide our politicians like to cultivate and exploit. Hmmm… sounds like a challenge. Maybe, I can be the one to politicize these discoveries. Challenge accepted!

Have you checked-out the new comet? Look northwest an hour after sunset, and just below the big dipper you’ll see NEOWISE comet! If you are in the northern hemisphere, that is –sorry southern hemisphere folks. How does this comet get away with discriminating against half the planet? Literally!
There’s a new X-Ray map of the sky with twice the X-Ray sources as its predecessor. On closer examination, it looks suspiciously like POTUS watching a solar eclipse (I’ve augmented the original SRG spacecraft image to highlight the resemblance). BTW, the spacecraft that took the photo is part Russian… coincidence?
Did you catch the article about “Vantafish”? The nickname, a play on Vantablack, refers to the fact these ultra-black fish can absorb up to 99.956% of the light aimed at them, making them invisible in the ocean floors where they dwell. Unfortunately, the process of catching, cataloguing and photographing them kills these odd-looking critters. This needs to stop folks. Black fish matter #BFM.

Yeah... no! Sorry for my pathetic attempt to make controversy where none should exist. Like donuts, cool new discoveries should be something that can bring joy to everyone’s day, regardless of which side of the aisle you’re on. Whether you're left, right, upside down or turned around, I hope you can enjoy a sweet treat –and if you find a cool story to go with it, by all means, share with me.

Happy Friday!

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Happy New Year!

Friends, Happy new year (and, technically, still Friday). As many of you know, my household has a peculiar way of ringing-in the new year. We build effigies representing the old year and burn them at midnight. This year, although we made the tough call of canceling the accompanying annual party, I felt it was important to go ahead with the burning. The theme, of course, was CoVid. My kids and I developed a dozen mutations of the virus and staged them in our backyard. Then, at a quarter ‘till midnight, we proceeded to read the old year’s last will and testament (or, as might be expected for a year like this, an un-will and un-testament). Shortly thereafter they were summarily burned. We then proceeded to stay up way past my bedtime (which in part helps explain the unusual tardiness of my weekly note). In any event a couple of donuts and a day of rest have got me back to my old self. By the way, I’ve posted a public video of the Facebook live stream event on Facebook. Key markers on

THE Oasis

Friends, The book Ready Player One sent me down memory lane this week. The journey was not triggered by the author’s excessive references to the 1980s, which border on obsessive. Rather, it was the name of the massive virtual reality simulation used by characters in this dystopian future to escape their grim surroundings: The OASIS. You see, that was also the name of my grandfather’s country estate, the setting where a disproportionate share of my treasured childhood memories were created. La Quinta Oasis was a bucolic old whitewashed house with a massive stone staircase, three foot thick adobe walls and wooden window shutters that, when closed at night, would submerge the residence in pitch darkness. With no running water, electricity, phone or indoor plumbing, the only modern convenience was the battery transistor radio on which my uncles would listen to “Chucho el Roto”, a radio soap opera. The Spanish fighting roosters crowed long before sunrise, making it difficult to fall back

Accidental Culinary Innovations

Friends, Have you ever inadvertently fermented spaghetti sauce? Yeah, me neither… until yesterday, that is! Imagine my surprise when the half-full bottle, sitting in the fridge from time immemorial, made a sound akin to opening a beer bottle, instantly filling the glass container with a hazy smoke. As the carbonation dissipated, I grabbed a spoon to conduct the obligatory taste test. How was it? I’m glad you asked! Let’s just say chunky carbonated tomato beer is not my thing (although I must admit that if I had been expecting it, my reaction might have been a little more… composed). Now, if you forgo the fermentation and switch the tomato paste with spicy salsa… that might be the next million dollar idea! Sparkling sriracha anyone? How about Carbonated Cholula? Bubbly Habanero? Fizzy Jalapeño?? I could go on, but I have a feeling Gassy Guac might not fly off the shelves. Now, if only I could stumble on a way to improve donuts. Carbonated Jelly filling… yeah, maybe not. I think I’ll

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