The Bar 2016 Edition

[^Rhino!]

I don't know if song-lyrics have been much recognized as literature before, but I'm all for it!

Congratulations to Bob Dylan for winning it. Did you know he already won a Pulitzer and a couple of Grammys?

He's on a different, higher plane of thought. I wonder what he and Einstein would converse about, and I want to hear the conversation in the afterlife.

I just wish he'd quit singing....he sounds like Bullwinkle on steroids.
Just like Cher sounds like Mr.Ed and Stevie Nicks and Tom Petty sound like a pair of braying billygoats.

[Traveller in Time]

Found an image with splashes about #400 It was the big red wheel trike

Nice transformation story of the bus.

[Elliot]

Thanks, and thanks.
This one?

I ought to rebuild it, since it was such a crowd-pleaser.
.

[Traveller in Time]

This one?

Indeed, and many / most of the pedal propelled contraptions are amphibious as well

[magicmarty]

First rain just started.

I'll start the coffee

(((LF)))

[burner von braun]

Thanks Marty

I hope you get some good rain out there, the kind that has a chance to soak in a bit. I haven't heard much news about the drought conditions lately, hopefully you're getting some relief.

And it is always good to see your kinetic vehicles Elliot!

How is your research going ^Rhino!?

[magicmarty]

Hi BVB. Drought is still with us and likely to be with us for some time. Lot of water to make up. Wish we could somehow corral some of that flood water in the Carolina's. That would likely do the trick. We need some water pipe lines to move water around the country.

[burner von braun]

We need some water pipe lines to move water around the country.

I have no idea what scale this would have to be to be useful. Has there ever been a feasibility study to examine such a thing?

[Traveller in Time]

Can find nothing about the scale of required water transport to divide it over the entire country. Have to estimate myself.
According to Wiki, California currently manages some 5*10^13 liters or 1.1*10^13 gallons of water a year. Some areas in between would also use some.
More the 57*10^9 liters per hour comparing with artificial white water tracks . . . a white water river of some 15km ~~10 miles wide.

Now I'm ready for some of that

[MyDearFriend]

Good morning, Bar! I am here for some

Coversation and a cartoon would be great, too.

I miss you all.

[magicmarty]

Well, just thinking of all the oil and other hazardous liquids that are piped and otherwise moved about the country, so why not water. A water spill is far less likely to catch fire or create pollution, so would be inherently safer than many of the other liquids that are in pipes, tank trucks and rail cars currently being moved about. The only catch is that it would be hard to predict where the supplies would best be sourced, and how to make a profit from it. Some years ago, when we had a severe water shortage here in Marin County, almost over night, a pipeline was rigged over the Richmond - San Rafael bridge in an unused traffic lane to pipe water from Contra Costa County to Marin. Admittedly a shorter distance than North Carolina or Houston to Marin, but it was done quickly and cheaply. Oh well, better we figure out how to travel to Mars. A bit more romantic a project.

So, back to virtual reality and time to start the coffee.

Hope all are having a great weekend.

(((((((((((((()))))))))))))))

[magicmarty]

((((((MDF))))) Just the person I was looking for. Just made the coffee and now that you are here, let's dive into the NEB for a snuggle. Seems like old times!!! Hope all is well in your world.

Dives in to the NEB with a happy smile!

[MyDearFriend]

(((((((((((((((((((Marty))))))))))))))))))))))))

*snuggles*

[Ratty]

*Runs in and dives under the blanket* Whispering....Good morning Marty and MDF. *Smooch, smooch, hug*. Marty, did you ever see those water skiers on the canal? On Hwy 5 going to L.A. people used to water ski in the aquaduct pulled by a truck.

[magicmarty]

Smooch, Ratty Never saw the truck powered water skiers. Just happy to have u joining MDf and me in tbe NEB

[^Rhino!]

Thanks Marty

I hope you get some good rain out there, the kind that has a chance to soak in a bit. I haven't heard much news about the drought conditions lately, hopefully you're getting some relief.

And it is always good to see your kinetic vehicles Elliot!

How is your research going ^Rhino!?

Yo, burner, good to hear from you. The research is going swimmingly, for lack of a better term. My advisor and I have met several times, and we're going to schedule PhD comprehensive exams (the exam to allow me to proceed further) the first week of December. Two more samples from the playa were collected prior to my departure, and the good doc says I'll probably be going out there with him before the event to get more, familiarize him with the area, etc. He was totally impressed with my theory of ikaite to calcite transformation leading to a playa dust component. And in the literature, I just found even more proof of the same...some of the tufa mounds are hollow at Pyramid Lake, and further north as well. It's also going to lead to some new concepts of Aeolian silt sedimentation and structural characters for their recognition, plus an updated Pleistocene stratigraphic tie for the Midwest. All fucking awesome.

I hadn't realized my level of fascination with Aeolian (windblown) sedimentation until I looked back at my old M.S. thesis (1989). In it, I'm talking a lot about tidal sedimentation in a unit from the Lower Ordovician in Missouri. From the casts of gypsum preserved in the sediment, the mudcracks, and some other characters, we know that unit was also exposed, and it has some siltstones that were also near-sea tidal flats. Periodic wetness on those tidal flats trapped the silt (just like the playa), and the major clay mineral is illite (just like the playa) and there's a large quartz component (just like the playa).

Between my fascination with windblown dust sediments, my better than average training in soils, and my ability to think outside the box, the playa was the catalyst for developing all of the new ideas and concepts. Plus dogged determination and radical self-reliance, which go hand in hand. Each new day brings surprises and refinements of concepts. I love it.

[Ratty]

Hey rhino. I was thinking about you at decompression. I met a cook that keeps a jar of playa in his kitchen cabinet as a condiment. He swears that he uses it as a baking soda substitute, also as an ingredient similar to MSG. What do YOU think?

[MyDearFriend]

Go ^Rhino!!!!!!!! Your work sounds totally awesome.



Ratty I put playa in my coffee but if it works like baking soda, hmmm... would explain why so much randon food in BRC is so well tolerated.

[magicmarty]

As always, Rhino, your work and intellect are impressive! Love your writings.

[Aurelia]

Hello dear Bar
My dear friend and magic Marty favorites for sure rhino keep on keeping on the big fight we have ahead of us xoA

[burner von braun]

*starts ECM*



Glad to hear things are going well ^Rhino! It seems to me that this it is how science works; discovering and figuring out various puzzle pieces until the whole takes shape. Good on you for taking on a piece of the puzzle!

..and thanks for doing the rough calculations on water consumption Traveller. So would that be a 10 mile wide white water river to make up for the shortfall, or is that the total consumption rate?


Well, better get back to it here; a lot of things to get done while the weather is good.

[Traveller in Time]

*starts ECM*


..and thanks for doing the rough calculations on water consumption Traveller. So would that be a 10 mile wide white water river to make up for the shortfall, or is that the total consumption rate?

Well, better get back to it here; a lot of things to get done while the weather is good.

Total volume of managed water in the state is what I made of the wiki words. where else for dry facts.
Total use rate comes close.

[^Rhino!]

Hey rhino. I was thinking about you at decompression. I met a cook that keeps a jar of playa in his kitchen cabinet as a condiment. He swears that he uses it as a baking soda substitute, also as an ingredient similar to MSG. What do YOU think?

Consider that MSG is a preservative.

There's a little bit of halite (common table salt) in some playa dust sample reports, while others have seen anhydrite (calcium sulfate) in their samples. Salt was used as a food preservative since early colonial days , while anhydrite will suck up moisture like a sponge and incorporate it into a new mineral, gypsum. There's also quartz, which is used as an anticaking agent in General Foods International Coffees (sissy-la-la coffee, to those who have heard the story)

The heck with it.

I use playa dust on all my BBQ brisket with the normal rub. It's a taste of home.

[trilobyte]

Other than nostalgia purposes, I can't imagine it actually does anything whatsoever for the flavor. Based on my own anecdotal taste-testing over the years there can't be more than trace amounts of anything salty or flavorful. At least with salts and MSG the way it works is to help enhance the flavors a bit.

I never saw waterskiers in the LA river/canal/ditches, but occasionally when it was dry (or at least all of the flow was in a central channel) we used to occasionally drive the Space Wench around in it. I figure the reason they left the aqueduct/rivers open as they run through the state was not only cost of construction/maintenance, and that by having it open air it made for better evap and supporting wildlife.

Last night we got our tickets to the artumnal gathering that's coming up next month. The dinner's too rich for our blood (but hopefully they get plenty of takers, since all the proceeds go towards BMP), so we'll do dinner with friends someplace in town first and then make our way over to the shindig.

Off to grab some more caffeine before running on some errands - have a great day, everyone!

[goathead]

Starting a pot of coffee for early risers. It's been to long.

[magicmarty]

Morning, GH, I'll share a bit of that coffee this morning. Yes it has been too long. How have you and Mona been doing? Hope all is well with you guys!

Dives back into the NEB

[Aurelia]

Good morning
Dear goathead and Magique Marty
I learned to add bit of chocolate into my coffee so delicious
xoA.

[Ratty]

*Runs in with armloads of blankets and starts tossing em over chairs to build a blanket fort.* Good evening bar peeps. I've been working all day filling dump trucks. No drinks for me tonight. I have enough pillows and blankets to withstand a siege till morning. "Good night John Boy".

[goathead]

Mona is doing great, she has two more days of work and then she is a free soul if she wants to be.
Me on the other hand, enough nights into the shift that I am not to sure what day it is, and hoping I get to go home sometime next week. One of the problems of working a skeleton crew and being short handed.

Starting another pot of coffee, chuckle.

[Patsh]

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, YGMIR!!