Send Your Boat to College

Do you have a boat you no longer have a use for?  Well, send your boat to college.  That's right.  Carteret Community College has a wonderful program for such items.  Take a look at their website:

http://www.carteret.edu/foundation/index.php?page=boat

 

 

Edible Cookie Coffee Cups

Prepare to Be Incredibly Jealous of KFC U.K.’s New Edible Cookie Coffee Cups

           

 

Courtesy KFC

The Brits just took coffee to a whole new level.

On Tuesday, KFC unveiled a completely edible cookie coffee cup in the U.K. Unlike previous snackable cups, this vessel is made from a special wafer-like biscuit that is wrapped in sugar paper and lined with a layer of heat-resistant white chocolate. So the coffee stays hot and the cup stays nice and crispy.
Because these so-called “Scoff-ee Cups” are being released in conjunction with KFC and Seattle’s Best’s partnership in the U.K., they’re designed to look like the coffee company’s red and white logo cups.

RELATED: Keurig’s New Machines Won’t Accept Unauthorized Coffee Pods So Someone Made a Hack For That

Courtesy KFC

The cup-shaped cookies were created by London-based food scientists the Robin Collective and are infused with different scents, Metro UK reports.
“We’ve infused different cups with a variety of ambient aromas including coconut sun cream, freshly cut grass and wild flowers,” a spokesperson for The Robin Collective said. “These scents were used in our recipes as they have a natural ability to evoke the positive memories we associate with warm weather, sunshine and summer holidays. Things that make everyone smile.”

RELATED: Did Kenny G Really Help Inspire the Frappuccino? Starbucks Responds

The cups are still under development, but KFC plans to bring them to some U.K. stores this year. There are no U.S. plans at this time, which leaves us wondering yet again: Why do Brits get all the good stuff?
—Morgan Gibson

NASCAR to Promote STEM Education

    

Associated Press, Kimberly Hefling

 

Landon Neu, eight, of Jacksonville, Fla., experiences what it's like to be behind the wheel of a race car at the NASCAR Acceleration Nation interactive display at Daytona International Speedway, Thursday, Feb. 19, 2015, in Daytona Beach, Fla. Image: AP Photo, John Raoux

It takes a lot of geometry and physics to get a race car to go 200 laps at speeds that can top 200 mph.
In a nod to the often overlooked science behind races like Sunday's Daytona 500, NASCAR is announcing a years-long commitment to promote STEM — the buzzword for science, technology, engineering and math — inside classrooms and out.
The NASCAR Acceleration Nation initiative focuses on the three D's of speed — down force, drafting and drag — and includes instructional materials for teachers.
The effort being announced today is a way for NASCAR to show the fun side of engineering and math and to encourage fans to view NASCAR in a new way, said Brent Dewar, NASCAR's chief operating officer.
"A lot of people see cars racing and they love the sport for the sporting element of cars winning, and racing and passing," Dewar said. "Behind all of that is pure science. It's the horse power, and it's drag and it's aerodynamics."
Driver Carl Edwards was a substitute teacher in Columbia, Missouri, long before he became known for his back-flip off cars after winning races. For him, one of the biggest teaching challenges was keeping students' attention, and he hopes that bringing race cars into science discussions will spark interest.
Edwards said that with every lap, scientific data is involved, from tracking the statistical probability of crashing at different parts of the race to the amount of fuel used by the engine at different speeds in various throttle positions. Although he said he still uses the science and math he learned in school, Edwards wishes he'd learned even more.
"You can take any part of the car and talk about how it was engineered and why it's designed the way it is to interact with the rest of the race car, and there's a physics or a math or a science lesson in any of that," he said.
As part of the initiative, NASCAR partnered with publisher Scholastic Corp. to develop fact sheets and quizzes primarily for middle school teachers focused on aerodynamics. An example of topics addressed: Why can race cars in a drafting formation lined up behind each other go faster than cars moving solo? (The answer is that the air acts like a vacuum and sucks trailing cars forward; leading cars also get a boost because the trailing cars push high-pressure air over the leading cars' spoilers.)
About 7,400 kits will be mailed to teachers initially, but teachers can also go online to download the material and view online demonstrations. The effort includes a website for fans with math and other games and an interactive play area that children and teens can visit on race days.
NASCAR's effort is part of a larger push in both the private and public sector to promote STEM out of concern for the nation's global competitiveness and because of strong projected job growth in those fields.
Michael Lynch, a NASCAR executive involved with the effort, said NASCAR is tracking how students do on a quiz before and after using the material, so they can see what works and what needs to be changed.
NASCAR wouldn't say how much it's spending on the STEM-related activities.

Epcot Living With The Land

 

By Kimberly Button

Epcot Living With The Land: The Happiest Garden On Earth

 

In one of the most popular theme parks in the country, hydroponic growing techniques are just as much of an attraction as race cars and roller coasters.
At Epcot, located at the Walt Disney World Resort near Orlando, Florida, millions of guests have been introduced to innovative gardening ideas since the park opened in 1982.  Epcot Living With The Land takes guests on a boat ride through the history of agriculture, with a modern day look at working greenhouses using hydroponic and aquaponic techniques.
Visitors board small boats for a gentle glide past recreations of how farming has been done through the ages, how harsh weather affects crops, and the environmental toll that the Earth has taken with some earlier farming techniques. Then guests are introduced to what the narrator says is considered the farming of the future, hydroponics.
Edutainment exemplified

The theme park has been opened for more than three decades, so it helps to put the age of the attraction in context with modern day reality. Back in the eighties, hydroponics was definitely a very unique way of farming. Today, it is not as well known but it is a much more accepted. Even so, Living With the Land is probably the first introduction to soil-less growing for most visitors who probably would never have heard of hydroponics if they hadn't enjoyed the Disney ride.
Disney World has even made growing vegetables exciting, as boatloads of visitors glide through huge dome-shaped working greenhouses with crops growing on either side. There are unusual plants that captivate guests, such as the nine-pound lemons hanging off of trees. Of course, there are unique Disney touches, too, including tomatoes and cucumbers grown in the shape of Mickey Mouse heads thanks to special molds placed around the produce as it is growing.
Many well known companies and agencies, such as the USDA and NASA use these greenhouses and the biotechnology lab for actual research being done on plant genetics and developing new species resistant to disease, such as plum pox. Visitors to Disney can glimpse inside the lab and see researchers at work.
More than 'just' a garden

The huge attraction not only serves as a source of edutainment as well as a working lab, but the food grown in the massive greenhouses is eaten and consumed at the Walt Disney World Resort, too. The produce, such as the Mickey Mouse shaped cucumbers, is served in restaurants on Disney property. In fact, nearly 500 heads of lettuce are used each week at Sunshine Seasons, a food court just steps away from the Epcot Living With the Land attraction.
Food that is grown in the greenhouses but not used in restaurants is brought to Disney's Animal Kingdom theme park to feed the animals.
While the Epcot Living With the Land attraction is a brief introduction to the use of hydroponics and aquaponics at the Walt Disney World Resort, interested guests can take the Behind the Seeds tour for a more in-depth explanation of what goes on in the greenhouses, as well as the opportunity to walk through the greenhouses, try produce grown on-site, and get a photo with a Mickey-shaped tree.

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Snow looks good on our walkway bins!

Baa, Baa Dryer Sheet

 

 

By Earth911

Baa, Baa Dryer Sheet, Have You Any Wool? Laundry, Meet Wool Dryer Balls

 

 

 

Have you ever been one of the unlucky souls to show up at the grocery store or post office only to figure out you’re wearing an added accessory – a used dryer sheet?  Unsightly out of the dryer, traditional dryer sheets are also quite wasteful.  Here's how...
By design, traditional dryer sheets are single use, creating additional waste upon use as well as added expense to your monthly budget.  Traditional dryer sheets can also contain harmful chemicals including ingredients listed only as ‘fragrance’.  Is there an alternative?
Baa, baa dryer sheet, have you any wool?

Wool dryer balls by Wool Dryer Balls

Made of 100% wool and handmade in North Little Rock, Arkansas, wool dryer balls contain no toxic chemicals commonly found in traditional dryer sheets, yet accomplish the same end result – soft, static-free clothes.  Each Wool dryer ball measures between 2.5” and 3” in diameter – about the size of a tennis ball.
Wool dryer balls can be ordered in either quantities of 4 or 8 and either scented or unscented.  Available to purchase at YouChange now are ;

• Candy Pop (Set of 4) Wool Dryer Balls for $30
• Confetti Bright Set (Set of 8) Wool Dryer Balls for $38

Because wool dryer balls cut down on drying time, they will also save you time, energy and money all while getting rid of static cling and wrinkles.  The wool literally pulls moisture out of your (drying) clothes.  Isn’t science cool?  Wool dryer balls should also last for thousands of loads (that’s a lot of socks!) of laundry creating a less wasteful clothes drying process.
Wholly wool Batman, this wool has multiple lives

Wool dryer balls by Wool Dryer Balls

Calling all cloth diaper warriors – wool dryer balls are a must for your laundry routine. Wool dryer balls can serve other purposes such as;

• Makes wonderful cat and dog toys when they 'accidentally' make their way out of the dryer
• Makes safe and fun kids toys for babies and toddlers learning colors and counting

The number of wool dryer balls you might need depends on factors such as size and makeup of your clothes load.  A small load of ‘delicates’ – try using 2, 3 or 4 wool dryer balls. Laundry piled a mountain high? Try using a half dozen or more dryer balls. Because they are non-toxic, there is really no limit to how many wool dryer balls one could use.  You’re dryer has always wanted to be a juggler so go ahead – make its day.