Productivity Falters

Time and space to think

Creativity explodes

Duties fall behind

Farmers Need Your Help

Monopoly's Hurt Democracy
 Guest post by Dave, Lisa and The Food Democracy Now! Team

I Stand With Family Farmers

On January 31, family farmers will take part in the first phase of a court case filed to protect farmers from genetic trespass by Monsanto’s GMO seed, which contaminates organic and non-GMO farmer’s crops and opens them up to abusive lawsuits. In the past two decades, Monsanto’s seed monopoly has grown so powerful that they control the genetics of nearly 90% of five major commodity crops including corn, soybeans, cotton, canola and sugar beets.

 In many cases farmers are forced to stop growing certain organic and conventional crops to avoid genetic contamination and potential lawsuits. Between 1997 and 2010, Monsanto admits to filing 144 lawsuits against America’s farmers, while settling another 700 out of court for undisclosed amounts. Due to these aggressive lawsuits, Monsanto has created an atmosphere of fear in rural America and driven dozens of farmers into bankruptcy. 

Farmers need your voice today.

Please join us in standing up for family farmers everywhere against Monsanto's abusive seed monopoly.  Take a moment to ask your friends and family to join you in protecting family farmers from Monsanto's campaign of fear and harrassment. Spread the word.

1. Pass along this message via email
2. Share on Facebook
3. Post on Twitter

 Thank you for participating in food democracy,

Further information:
1."Monsanto Seed Patents", Public Patent Foundation
2. "Judge to consider oral arguments in lawsuit against Monsanto", Organic Seed Growers and Trade Association (OSGATA), December 29, 2011.

Stop SOPA and PIPA

I've censored the following, in protest of a bill that gives any corporation and the US government the power to censor the internet--a bill that could pass THIS WEEK. To see the uncensored text, and to stop internet censorship, visit: http://americancensorship.org/posts/39601/uncensor

•"Don't you see ████ the █████ aim of ████████ is to ██████ the █████ of ███████?... Has it ████ ████████ to you, ███████, ████ by the ████ ████, at the ████ ██████, not a ██████ █████ █████ ████ be █████ who █████ ██████████ ████ a ████████████ as we are ██████ now?... The █████ ███████ of ███████ ████ be █████████. In ████, █████ ████ be no ███████, as we ██████████ it now. █████████ █████ not ████████-not ███████ to █████. █████████ is ███████████████."

Why We Stare At The Moon




Taken from Harvard Astrophysics Observatory, on my birthday.

  I had the fortunate circumstance to study educational theory and ideas at the Harvard Graduate School of Education with Eleanor Duckworth (2001), and have been on her critical explorations listserve since. My oceanography students were given the task of moon-watching last semester, and lately I have been thinking a lot about moon watching with HGSE grads. I know what moon watching brings to me, but, in light of the resistance I received from my high school students, I wondered what other adults gained from the experience. Here are some of their thoughts:

da wabbit - looking at a not-too full moon (don't want it too bright), the rabbit is in a quiet observant posture - as if snacking on a piece of grass while keeping an eye out for Farmer Brown. If you picture him/her sitting there, with legs underneath, facing right, you are almost there. Now, turn the whole disc 90 degrees counter clockwise. Now the bunny is facing UP (up? ... maybe not ... but maybe). His/Her ears are kind of folded back over hisher back. Good luck. Once you see it, you will not be able to avoid it. So enjoy the journey. ....This week, my fifth grade kids are starting a version of that grid picture. They've been tracking, with various amounts of dedication, things lunar since Sept and I have enjoyed their musings very much. They haven't been real creative, but their enthusiasm is awesome. With our new graph, this round is sure to be a great one. The crescent is incredible against the twilight sky. ~Jeff Davis '02, Santa Fe, NM.

just today as I was driving with my 10 month old, I looked out the window and saw an almost full moon in the middle of the day! I got so excited that I actually said to my 10 month old in the back seat, "If you look outside your window you can see the moon - it looks a little different in the day, doesn't it?" I truly thought about the moon 'study' we did. Of course I didn't expect much of a reply, but for me, seeing the moon always puts me in a good mood - it's a stability in this unstable world. The way Victoria put it, "no matter how well I think I know something, further study will reveal new possibilities" is great because it can apply to wherever you are at in your life. While I always get pleasantly surprised at where and when and what the moon looks like each time I see it, … I am excited to take it a step further and …'use it as an inspiration' for this new journey of parenthood I am on. ~Robin (Kessler) Cohen

Loved the moon. Especially the deeper we got into it. Because I too was constantly surprised by what noticings others offered. Things that hadn't even begun to appear to me. Like the rabbit. And thoroughly surprised by what I did and did not know. ~ ian hersey

One of [Eleanor’s] earliest assignments was to establish a moon watching journal. We were to share our drawings, descriptions, and discoveries with the class.  I must admit I was a bit baffled by the assignment. What did this have to do with improving classroom instruction, I wondered. I wrote to friends back home and told them that I had discovered there was "an   upside down rabbit in the moon." They thought I was nuts. By the time  winter rolled around, I found myself more than once running around  Cambridge at midnight (secretly cursing Eleanor's name) just trying  to  find the moon, let alone wax philosophically on it.  After leaving my Teach For America site in Louisiana of six years and investing twenty thousand dollars I could ill-afford, I began to wonder why I had decided to put my life on hold for grad school.  But I cannot tell you how many times I have returned to the metaphor of moon watching in my subsequent teaching career. For by the spring of 1999, I had come to some rather stunning conclusions. Every time I had tried to establish a definitive pattern about the moon, something unexpected would occur. Sometimes the moon was a cold and distant orb; sometimes it looked as though it must be shining so brightly only over Harvard Square. In class, fellow students would begin with literal descriptions of the moon only to end with mythical references. In the years since I have taken the class, former and current students continue to submit fresh insights.  The lesson for me has been that no matter how well I think I know   something, further study will reveal new possibilities. When we think we've exhausted the possibilities to solve a problem, that's when we must be open to the new ideas and resources that will emerge if only we are willing to embrace them.  I currently teach 9th grade English in a suburban high school in Pennsylvania serving 2400 students. Our school is undergoing a stressful time of transition as we move from an IST program (where struggling students receive individualized tutoring) to RtI (where students are to receive additional assistance in the regular ed. classroom only). Over the summer, the programs that we knew to be successful were eliminated. The new programs have yet to be fully implemented. As we attempt to establish a new vision and to reach kids that are struggling academically, we teachers are becoming understandably frustrated in our efforts to be effective.  Oddly enough, the moon is providing inspiration once again. Instead of concentrating on the present frustrations, I am trying to step back to get a vision of where we are heading instead of where we are currently stuck. As I have done this, I have been reevaluating the pros and get a vision of where we are heading instead of where we are currently stuck. As I have done this, I have been reevaluating the pros and cons of ability grouping, the role of grammar instruction, and the goals of freshman teams. Such reflection is critical for teachers if we hope to improve the quality of classroom instruction.   Okay, I get it now.   Thank you, Eleanor, for sharing with me an instructional strategy that continues to inspire.  ~Victoria Short, HGSE 1998.

Ah, right. That's where I was. Now I remember.

Eleanor's final class at HGSE.

Soapmaking In Chemistry Class

Saponification Is The Word



Cups of soap "curing"



As a part of our "Organic Chemistry" unit, I decided to have students make soap. I wanted to do this activity because it connects chemistry to real life, but the last time I tried it I had not felt successful with it. Not being one to give up, I decided to try again. I reviewed numerous classroom saponification recipes and discovered that there is a wide variety of approaches. I tried five different methods, some cold process, some using heat, some using ethanol, some not. I decided on the simplest cold process "recipe", with a modification of my own: adding a little borax. I would have liked to use coconut oil, but only had olive oil available at the time, so olive oil it was. I also had corn oil available in case the olive oil ran out.

I had all students handstir the oil and lye for at least ten minutes, to get them to see the emulsion occur. Then I allowed them to use the magnetic stirring plates.  I did have one handheld emulsifier that I used to help anyone "finish up" the emulsion. Some students wanted to add color, so I allowed them to melt some crayon and mix it in with the handheld emulsifier. The melted crayon immediately solidified in the soap emulsion, so it came out more flecked than colored, but the students liked it.

The cups of soap are now sitting in my prep room. I will take them out of the plastic cups when they set up a bit, and form them into cakes wrapped in wax paper. Then they will sit until they cure more, and the pH is about 8.

So for kicks, here is the lab approach I used for my classes. I kept a squirt bottle of vinegar handy to neutralize spills.

Background

Evidence of soap making dates back to the Egyptians and Babylonians. In Europe during the Middle Ages, soap was very expensive, and in some locations, it was heavily taxed. Only the rich could have much of it, and few people knew how to make it, because guilds kept tight control of their recipes and the market for soap.

Things changed when people migrated to North America. There were no guilds or taxes to prevent the making of soap by the common person, enough people came to the US that knew how to make it, and the information was shared. Consistency of a soap product, however, was a problem. People used rough measurements or lacked enough fats or lye, and produced soap that was either overly fatty or harsh. Homemade soaps were usually made from kitchen fats or lard. The fats were broken down using ash soaked in water. The soaking ash produced the needed lye, or hydroxide.

The process is called saponification. Saponification is a process in which a fat molecule is broken down by sodium hydroxide (lye) into four smaller molecules; three of the new molecules are soap and one is glycerol. The glycerol molecule keeps the soap moist. Soap molecules have one polar end and one nonpolar end, giving it the ability to attach to oily substances in water. Emulsion is a temporary mixing of two insoluble liquids such as oil and water.

The soap you are making today is fairly crude, and still contains sodium hydroxide at the end. It could therefore be dangerous if you got it in your eyes. I would NOT recommend it for washing your face! It needs to cure for one to three weeks before it is useable.

Materials and Apparatus

•  Safety goggles, apron, gloves
• 62 mL of olive oil, 100 mL graduated cylinder to measure oil
• 400 mL beaker
• 50 mL of water, 50 mL graduated cylinder to measure water
• 250 mL erlenmeyer flask
• 10 g of NaOH, Weigh boat for massing NaOH and borax
• 1 g of Borax Glass rod for stirring
• Salt (if required)
• Stirring magnet and magnetic stirring plate (if available)
• Handheld emulsifier (if available)
• Essential oil or perfume (optional)
• Plastic cup for setting soap

 Procedure

 Measure out the oil and water. Pour oil into a 400 mL beaker. Pour water into a 250 mL Erlenmeyer flask. Mass the NaOH in weigh boat or on a piece of paper towel. DO NOT TOUCH IT! Squeeze the weigh boat so that the solid NaOH drops into the water in the Erlenmeyer flask and swirl until completely dissolved. Mass 1 g borax and dissolve in the NaOH solution. The borax will add to the foaming ability of the soap.

 SLOWLY trickle the lye (NaOH) into the oil, stirring continuously to emulsify. DON’T TOUCH IT! Keep stirring to “trace” or a thick paste forms. This could take half an hour. If you still don't have a paste after half an hour, stir in 2 spatulas of salt. Other methods of stirring include using a magnetic stirring plate and magnet, or a handheld emulsifier. Hand stirring can take anywhere from ½ hour to 3 hours; the handheld emulsifier takes just a few minutes to reach trace. Once the proper consistency is reached, you may stir in essential oil or perfume, if you want. Test the pH with a pH strip.

 Pour into plastic cup and leave to cure. After a day or two, we will remove it from the plastic cup and wrap in waxed paper to aid the curing process. This type of soap needs to mature to lose its alkalinity (pH10-12 when new). Use only after at least 3 weeks of “curing”, or when pH level is around 8.

 Note: The Secret is in the Stirring ! Don't Give Up!

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Miscellaneous links
Fight Club Soap
A more complex soap recipe

Lighting Student Interest In Science

Chemists Have Solutions

Solids, liquids, and gases dissolve to form solutions.  In chemistry class, students made a concentrated solution of calcium acetate in water. By mixing together this concentrated calcium acetate solution with ethyl alcohol, students form a colloidal gel that acts like the commercial product Sterno®.  The formation of the gel is a physical phenomenon and not a chemical reaction. When this gel is burned, it can be used as a heat source more desirable than pure alcohol because it is less likely to spill.

2 C2H5OH + 7 O2 -> 4 CO2 + 6 H2O

Students roasted their homemade marshmallows over the sterno. The homemade marshmallows roasted differently than store-bought ones, giving a creamier and smoother melted interior.

The exact structure of the gel is not known, but the calcium acetate solution probably traps the alcohol inside a flexible lattice. If the gel were to sit for several days, the alcohol and water would evaporate, leaving behind the solid calcium acetate.

The video that follows was assembled a few years ago.  A newer video was created this week, but was overly large for this post. I have tried to reduce the size but it has not been going well.

Marshmallow Chemistry

Physical Science Class Considers Organic Compounds

Take powdered gelatin, sugar, and egg whites, apply chemistry skills, and VOILA! Marshmallows. A little salt and vanilla help with flavor.

Basic organic compounds:

• Marshmallows are mostly sugar, sucrose, C12H22O11
• Egg whites are mostly albumen, a protein consisting of 584 amino acids.
• Gelatin is basically made of collagen, giving us the molecular formula of collagen, C2H5NOC5H9NOC5H10NO2. 

Egg whites, beaten to a stiff peak.



 Chemistry Science Skills

I've been working on a master list of science skills that must be developed to provide competency in chemistry (to be posted at a later date). Each lesson Science skills practiced in this activity are all skills related to comparing and measuring: using simple measurement tools to provide consistency in an investigation; sensory observations; quantity; quality; and capacity/volume.

 Gelatin

Here is how one food scientist describes gelatin: Gelatin is a mixture of polypeptides. Its amphiphilic nature gives it foam-stabilizing properties. A typical gelatin polypeptide contains the amino acids alanine, glycine, proline, arginine, glutamic acid, and hydroxyproline. It is prepared from collagen, which is isolated from animal bones and fish skins with a dilute acid.  Now doesn't that sound just yummy?



Beating cooked sugars and gelatin.

How Marshmallows Are Made

 Our recipe came from the Smitten Kitchen. In essence, 1) gelatin was dissolved in cold water; 2) sugars were boiled to the soft ball stage; 3) syrup was beaten into the gelatin until tripled in size; 4) beaten egg whites and vanilla were added to the mix; and 5) the creme was spread into prepared pans to set.

What's in the chemistry?  Gelatin is "dissolved" in cold water, loosening and spreading out its long protein fibers. The heat of the sugar dissolves gelatins original bonds, and air is beaten in. The protein bonds will reform as the gelatin mixture cools, combining them with the other ingredients (remember, egg whites are also proteins), and creating the classic, bouncy, marshmallow texture.

Pans of marshmallow, awaiting cutting.



Marshmallows cut into squares using pizza cutter.



Tomorrow we will make sterno and roast our marshmallows.