Sunday, September 30, 2007

Bread making comments from a reader

A reader left some very interesting comments about breadmaking. There is so much good information here, that I just had to move it to the top of the page.

Desert Tortuga said...

Found your comments on the AUX battery setup interesting. Thought you might find these observations on bread making interesting.

First, I use sourdough starter for making bread. No, sourdough bread does not taste sour, unless you let it ferment to get that sour [lactic acid] taste. With a starter you don't need to buy those tiny packets of yeast every time. You can save the starter in a mix form, freeze it and even in a dry cake form [yeast cake].

Second, you don't need to roll out the dough or flour board, you can mix it all in a bowl and pour that into your bread maker or let the bread maker do the mixing. I mix mine in a bowl, as the mixer part of my bread maker is broken.

Third, moisture/dryness of bread, sugar while sweetening the bread has an important role in the moisture content of the bread. Some people say that this is it main purpose, moisture content and not the taste of the bread.

Fourth, sour dough made bread has the taste of the starter, which gives it a great taste, just eaten plain. This is why some starters date back hundreds of years and are very prized by their owners.

As you are aware, homemade bread is very good for you, store bought bread contains up to a teaspoon of salt per slice, that's a lot of salt!!

Soy flour is good to add to the bread, give it a nice flavor to both the body and the crust. also increase the protein content of the bread.

Fifth, bread without whole wheat flour added to it is a high glycenic food, it raises your blood sugar levels too quickly. Counter act this by making bread with at least 1 cup of whole wheat flour per 4 cups of regular flour. Also use a natural sugar rather than refined, this will slow its uptake.

Here is a source for sour dough starter:
http://home.att.net/~carlsfriends/
USA Residents
Send a self-addressed, stamped (41¢) #10 envelope [SASE41] to:

Oregon Trail Sourdough
P. O. Box 321
Jefferson, MD 21755 USA

HIGH PROTEIN DIET/CORNELL BREAD
Amount Measure Ingredient -- Preparation Method
-------- ------------ --------------------------------
1 1/3 c -Water
1 1/3 tb Vegetable oil
4 ts Honey
1 t -Salt
8 ts Wheat germ
1/3 c Soy flour
1 1/3 c Whole wheat flour
1 2/3 c Bread flour
1/3 c Nonfat dry milk
2 ts Yeast

Thanks for the great info, Desert! Write again anytime; this kind of quality work is always welcome.

Thursday, September 27, 2007

The Meteor that Hit Peru



When I heard this story on the radio news last week, I forcibly ejected my drink from my nasal passages. Well, not really, but that would likely have been the case had I been drinking anything at the time. I mean, it had such a quality of surrealism about it; not so much like a real radio news report, more like a radio news report in a Superman comic. In fact, as soon as I got to a computer, I immediately emailed the story to a friend who is heavily into comic books like that. Still haven't heard back from him either; perhaps he is in a cave somewhere waiting to see if the world is gonna end.
Apparently some other people found it strange, too. In fact, there was even a story that someone had retrieved the meteor and sold it on Ebay. Here are some excepts from that story: "The buyer has agreed to go down to Peru to pick up the meteorite locally. He will have the meteorite cut into pieces and sent back aboard an old DC-3 aircraft that has been refitted with two 747 jet engines.

The meteorite was scrubbed and the smelly organic matter that covered it was removed. The organic matter originated in outer space. Tests conducted on the organic matter have revealed that the source of the smelly goo was a large intergalactic squid which came from the constellation Hydra."
Come on! Now somebody's pulling my leg. You can't put a 747 engine on a DC-3, that would be like putting a 426 Hemi in a VW Bug!
Now, a week after the fact, I'm still seeing news stories about the meteor, focusing on the fact that "experts" are pooh-poohing the whole thing and saying nothing fell from space. Of the reports from locals who reported seeing a bright meteor, they say that what the locals actually saw was a "fireball". So I looked up "fireball" on Wikipedia and its definition was "a bright meteor".
These "experts" go on to say that the crater is no crater at all, but rather a preexisting lake, from whence noxious fumes are emanating. Yeah, right. I buy that. These locals (who are referred to as locals because they happen to live locally to the crater) have been living there all their lives, never suspecting the existence of this nearby lake until, after seeing a fireball in the sky and hearing a large explosion, they just happen to stumble upon it.
Know what I think it was? I think it was a weather balloon.

P.S. If somebody will pick up the travel expenses, I volunteer to go to Peru and get to the bottom of the matter, and report my findings here.

Wednesday, September 26, 2007

Sourdough Bread

Desert Tortuga sent the following comments on breadmaking:

First, I use sourdough starter for making bread. No, sourdough bread does not taste sour, unless you let it ferment to get that sour [lactic acid] taste. With a starter you don't need to buy those tiny packets of yeast every time. You can save the starter in a mix form, freeze it and even in a dry cake form [yeast cake].

Second, you don't need to roll out the dough or flour board, you can mix it all in a bowl and pour that into your bread maker or let the bread maker do the mixing. I mix mine in a bowel, as the mixer part of my bread maker is broken.

Third, moisture/dryness of bread, sugar while sweetening the bread has an important role in the moisture content of the bread. Some people say that this is it main purpose, moisture content and not the taste of the bread.

Fourth, sour dough made bread has the taste of the starter, which gives it a great taste, just eaten plain. This is why some starters date back hundreds of years and are very prized by their owners.

As you are aware, homemade bread is very good for you, store bought bread contains up to a teaspoon of salt per slice, that's a lot of salt!!

Soy flour is good to add to the bread, give it a nice flavor to both the body and the crust. also increase the protein content of the bread.

Fifth, bread without whole wheat flour added to it is a high glycenic food, it raises your blood sugar levels too quickly. Counter act this by making bread with at least 1 cup of whole wheat flour per 4 cups of regular flour. Also use a natural sugar rather than refined, this will slow its uptake.

Here is a source for sour dough starter:
http://home.att.net/~carlsfriends/
USA Residents
Send a self-addressed, stamped (41¢) #10 envelope [SASE41] to:

Oregon Trail Sourdough
P. O. Box 321
Jefferson, MD 21755 USA

HIGH PROTEIN DIET/CORNELL BREAD
Amount Measure Ingredient -- Preparation Method
-------- ------------ --------------------------------
1 1/3 c -Water
1 1/3 tb Vegetable oil
4 ts Honey
1 t -Salt
8 ts Wheat germ
1/3 c Soy flour
1 1/3 c Whole wheat flour
1 2/3 c Bread flour
1/3 c Nonfat dry milk
2 ts Yeast

The Mojave Phone Booth


This website cracked me up. I love finding stories like this! At one point, while talking on the phone to the author of a book about the Mojave, the guy says:
"I've always had a fascination--well, I kind of grew up in a place called Coolidge, which is in the middle of nowhere here in Arizona--so I have this fascination with the desert."

(Author)You study history, do ya?


"Uhh. . .well, I just find the whole thing interesting. See, I always think that if I were a pioneer and I was going West, I would have heard that if I went far enough, I could be by an ocean. So why would I stop in the middle of the desert? That's what I find puzzling."

I have some ideas about that, myself. Pro and con.
Then he adds:
"I mean, it must have been terrible to live in Arizona. I can't imagine living here before there was air conditioning."
He should try living in the Southeast before there was air conditioning. I did. Well, actually, there WAS air conditioning, just not in OUR house.
Then he makes a comment I can agree with:
"It's unforgiving territory. I just find it fascinating, though. I'm kind of a hermit in some ways, and I think it'd be fun--at least for a while--to live where there isn't anybody."
I got a real kick out of the whole thing. Then I got to wondering: you know, there aren't many phone booths anywhere anymore. But, as discussed in this article, there are also a lot of areas, especially in the desert, where cellphone coverage is nonexistent. So, are there still any lonely phone booths 'way out in the desert? That's a question for you folks. Have you seen one? If so, or you have any other thoughts on the matter, let the rest of us know in the comments. I haven't seen one, but I'll be watching from now on.

Tuesday, September 25, 2007

Terlingua dreaming


Just felt like posting a gratuitous Terlingua photo, because that's where I'd like to be right now. It's time to start planning another trip there. Soon.

Sunday, September 23, 2007

A Slab City squatter

For those who haven't heard of it (and if you're here, you probably have), Slab City is kinda like Quartsite, only more so. Expect to read more about both Slab City and Quartzsite right here on these pages, in the future; because they're both of substantial interest to me. Until then here's a pretty cool site I found. Warning: some nudity at the bottom of the page.

Imported goods and the US economy

Here is an article I found about the effects of importation on the US economy. It says in part:
"I spent the last few decades wrestling with the question was an information economy as viable as a manufacturing one. It doesn’t really matter. A Chinaman can make and sell a stainless steel knife for about a buck in bulk purchase pricing and walk away with a nice profit. The company in this country can buy it for a buck and sell it for five, the four buck profit having as much buying power as the Chinese profit. Everybody wins, including the consumer. If the item was made in America, it would retail for five to ten times as much, the company would make no extra profit due to sales volumes falling and the consumer would get screwed. The only winner would be Union workers. That wouldn’t be bad if we were all Union and all made their wages, but as it stands now only a small minority of workers get those benefits. My supporting them does nothing to strengthen this country as a whole."
This is one of the most thoughtful comments I have seen on this subject, and it is most refreshing in a time when almost everytime I interact with people out in public, I hear the same overworked complaints about "our economy is going down the tubes because of China-Mart". In fact, most people should have a string sticking out of their backs; pull it and you get a random, pre-recorded comment from a list of five subjects. Enough about that; back to the subject at hand. I personally wish the writer had chosen a different example, because knives are one of the things I don't buy as a Chinese product. Not from a buy-American standpoint, but from a quality standpoint. Practically all knives nowadays are made of crappy stainless steel; the only stainless knives I have found to be worth buying are all made in Switzerland, Sweden or Finland. As far as I am concerned, Buck's stainless steel knives (which is everything they make), as one example I am unfortunate enough to be familiar with, is no better than the typical Chinese knife. A subject for another time.
Bottom line: Buy what suits your needs, at the best price you can get. Don't fall into the trap of mixing politics with necessity.

Thursday, September 20, 2007

Connecting an auxiliary battery to your vehicle's charging system

A recurring question on some of the forums I monitor is, how do I connect a "house battery" or auxiliary battery to the charging system in my vehicle, so it can be charged as I drive?
I've addressed this issue before, but I recently saw the question surface again, and I had an idea I think is worthy of mention. I would like to point out that this is not just a theoretical exercise for me, because as an avid Jeeper, ham radio operator
and RV boondocker, I have built and used several auxiliary vehicle battery systems.
Setting up one of these systems would seem to be simple: just run a hot wire, suitably fuse-protected, from the alternator to the house battery, then run a ground strap from the negative terminal of the house battery to the chassis of the vehicle. There are several problems with that approach, the first and simplest of which is that, if left connected like that while the engine is not running and hence not charging, any current used by the house battery system will draw current starting battery as well, so that after camping and using battery power for awhile, you may find that you are stranded with a vehicle that won't start. Another problem is that, even if you don't use the house battery when the engine is not running (as may be the case with a car sound system aficionado or ham radio operator) the two batteries will "fight" when the vehicle is parked, eventually draining both batteries. This is usually attributed to the two batteries not being matched as to type, age and capacity, leading some to use a deep cycle battery for the house battery, while at the same time replacing the starting battery with a second, identical deep-cycle battery. This is a bad idea, and doesn't work anyway unless the two batteries are physically close and connected with a heavy gauge battery cable that is as short as possible, in which case it is no longer a dual battery but simply a single, larger battery. If the two batteries are separated and connected by a longer wire, they actually do become electrically separated by the resistance of the wire connecting them, and then you have the mutual disadvantages of a house battery that is limited in size and capacity to that which is appropriate for the starting battery, and a starting battery that is not really designed to be a starting battery. Also, they quickly cease to be matched, because the starting battery is subjected to heavier loads (the starter motor) and higher charging voltage due to closer proximity to the alternator.
A much better and more popular way to go, regardless of the end use, is to separate the batteries with some type of isolator which allows both batteries to be connected to the alternator while the engine is running, and disconnected from each other when the vehicle is parked. That way one can use a house battery or battery bank that is designed for the load it will be used for, and a standard starting battery in the normal location for starting the engine.
There are two schools of thought concerning how to isolate the battery systems. The first is to use a passive isolator, and the second is to use some type of switch. Actually there is also a third, ultimate solution, which I will briefly describe later, but is beyond the scope of most needs.
A passive isolator is simply a pair of diodes, one going to the house battery and the other going to the starting battery. A diode is a semiconductor which allows current flow in one direction, but not the other. This is good because it allows each battery to receive charging current from the alternator, but does not allow current to reverse flow from one battery into the other system. The passive isolator doesn't require any input from the operator; it just sits there quietly doing its job. However, diodes are not perfect; they have a voltage drop of approximately one volt. Guess how much difference there is between the voltage of a lead-acid battery, such as a starting battery or deep-cycle battery, in the fully charged vs. fully discharged state? One volt, in a 12 volt system; 11.7 volts (at rest) discharged and 12.7 volts (also at rest) charged.
For this reason a lot of people, previously including myself, use a switch arrangement in the line to the house battery. This switch must, like a passive isolator, be rated to handle the highest current that will be passed through it. In use, the switch must be opened (turned off) when the engine is off and closed (turned on) when the engine is running. This can be accomplished manually by throwing the switch at the proper times, or automatically (best for most folks) by using a relay instead of a manual switch, and connecting the control circuit to a point in the vehicle's electrical system that is powered only when the engine is running. The most commonly used relay is popularly known as a "continuous duty solenoid" and is usually rated at 100 amperes. I have used these, and they generally do a good job. This is a fairly good choice for most people.
There is a problem, though, that all auxiliary battery systems have; and that is voltage drop on the long wire from the alternator to the house battery. It wouldn't be that big of a problem in and of itself, because the alternator has a voltage-sense circuit in its regulator, that senses battery voltage and tells the regulator how much voltage to supply. I already discussed at-rest battery voltage; lets go a little further now with charging voltages. Because of internal losses, a 12V battery needs 13.5 to 13.8 volts from the alternator just to maintain its charged state if there is any load on the system. Actually charging the battery requires 14.1-14.5 volts. This is on top of any losses, such as a long section of wire or a diode. Switches and relays aren't perfect either; they all have some loss. You won't be able to measure that loss with a voltmeter when the system is at rest, but start passing current through the wire and/or switch and then you can measure the voltage drop at a given current. The way around that is to run a second, smaller, sense wire from the regulator directly to the house battery. That way the regulator will raise the voltage output of the alternator to compensate. The problem now is, what is happening to the starting battery? It is being overcharged. Now, lead-acid batteries are fairly forgiving creatures, so that running at 15 volts for awhile probably won't damage a typical starting battery (stay away from the sealed, gelled-electrolyte, super deluxe batteries though; they are not so forgiving). The thing to do is make sure the electrical path to your house battery is a good one: use a good switch or relay, large-gauge wire (I generally use 6 gauge) and run a ground wire of the same size if not even larger, directly to the case of the alternator. Not to the starting battery, and not just to the chassis (although, do make that connection as well). The ground side carries exactly as much current as the positive side does, and expecting that current to find its own way back through the steel chassis guarantees problems. The losses in that path add to the losses in the positive wire, so give it a good, copper return path. The ground losses through the engine block from the starting battery back to the alternator actually help here, as they bring the losses in the starting battery charging system up closer to the losses of the long wire to the house battery. If the difference in voltage loss is 1/2 volt or less, the system will be quite workable.
With a passive isolator, the same is true as long as the sense wire goes to the house battery; not through the isolator but bypassing it.
I was given an isolator once that was burned up on one side, so that one of the diodes would not pass current. I just jumpered over that side, figuring that actually, only one system needed a diode to isolate the systems. It worked, too. However, the side I used the diode on was the house battery, which exacerbated the losses I already had from the long wire; but I made up the difference by plugging a charger into the house battery whenever I had a chance (a good idea with any unbalanced system, BTW). The sense wire was in its stock configuration, so that is the only way it would work without some rewiring; and I was getting ready for a trip, so I made the best of it.
That brings me to my idea: connect a large-gauge, low resistance wire directly from the alternator output to the positive terminal of the house battery, and a ground wire from the negative terminal back to the alternator case, as well as a chassis ground connection near the battery. Now, cut the wire that goes from the alternator to the starting battery, and insert a passive isolator, using only one side. The other side is unneeded and becomes a backup, in case the diode in use ever fails (it probably won't). The voltage drop across the diode offsets the drop across the long wire to the back, making for a well-balanced, trouble-free system. The sense wire should go to the house battery.
But what about the third option, the ultimate system I mentioned? Simple. Two alternators, one connected to each system. The stock alternator can remain connected exclusively to the starting battery, while a second, high-output alternator is added, connected exclusively to the house battery. The two systems are therefore totally separate and cannot affect each other. This is the best way to go for several reasons, but the expense and difficulty is not warranted in most systems.

Note:Any wire that is connected to your auxiliary battery MUST be fused at the battery, and the charging wire from the engine compartment must be fused at BOTH ends. That long wire is exposed to enough hazards to present a very real chance of developing a short circuit, and if not fused, it can burn your rig to the ground, perhaps with you in it.
Just a word to the wise.

Friday, September 14, 2007

Book Review: Farmer in the Sky by Robert A. Heinlein


Most current scifi is garbage. The "science" displays a complete lack of knowledge of how things actually work, and emphasis is on social relationships and politics. Mankind's past is generally disparaged, and everything is now generally better, from a left-wing perspective. Most if not all humans are now enlightened and live in a Utopian society, free from conflict with any other living creature. Food is either conjured out of thin air by some machine that runs on the unlimited free energy of the universe, or is a synthesized vegetable product produced (also using free energy, of course) in a "green" manufacturing facility operated by the same benevolent, authoritarian government that oversees and attends to all needs of all living creatures. If the story in question is in book form, it is usually full of poor grammar and punctuation, and misspelled and improperly used words.
Enough of that. My point in the preceding is to illustrate an author whose work is not like that; the late Robert Anton Heinlein. I won't go into a lot of details about his life, except to say that Mr. Heinlein was a libertarian (small "l", philosophical libertarian as opposed to large "L", Party Libertarian) who was a firm believer in individuality, personal liberty and self-sufficiency. Furthermore, he was a highly educated man with a keen interest and understanding of hard science, from the study of planetology to the seemingly mundane study of agriculture. Moreover, he studied sociology, psychology and physiology in terms of how people really are, not how some wish people were.
On to the book itself. "Farmer in the Sky" is a story about a young man who is coming of age and is emigrating with his father and his father's new family (his mother having died some time before) to Ganymede, one of the moons of Jupiter, on which man has settled and begun the process of building a pioneer farming planet to relieve overcrowding on Earth.
In the story, potential emigrants are screened with an eye to choosing those most likely to be healthy, self-sufficient and able to adapt to the hard work and isolation of homesteading. The land is doled out in the manner of the old Homestead Act in the US, where the homestead must be "proved up" within a certain number of years by building a dwelling and making the land productive.
The surface of Ganymede is mostly rock (the water ice having been melted by the process of creating something similar to our ozone layer for a greenhouse effect), and making the land productive involves grinding the rock into sand and rock dust, then mixing in compost and a small amount of "pay dirt", soil imported from Earth which has the harmful organisms removed while preserving the beneficial organisms. These organisms feed on the compost and multiply, and later earthworms are bought from the cooperative to assist the process.
The cooperative loans out a machine for grinding the rock, and people from the community pitch in to help. Each homestead produces enough fertile ground to grow its own food, plus enough extra produce for trading purposes, as well as producing a few acres of fertile ground to give back to the co-op as payment for the land. Credit is extended to the homesteaders for purchasing building supplies, earthworms, and other needed equipment and supplies; this credit eventually being repaid in the form of produce or more converted acreage.
Wikipedia's article about Ganymede says that Ganymede contains water ice and liquid water (in addition to silicate rock, salt, iron, sulphur etc.) and an atmosphere of oxygen produced, along with hydrogen, by the action of radiation on water. Most of the hydrogen escapes into space, due to its low atomic weight. Heinlein discusses this in the book, as well as describing the view of the sky from Ganymede, its orbit including the fact that one side always faces Jupiter as our moon does Earth, and many other aspects which are backed up by hard science. The man knew what he was talking about.
I enjoyed this book very much, and heartily recommend it.
Farmer in the Sky was published in 1950.

Thursday, September 13, 2007

New: Affair With Gravity



Katelyn's at it again. Everytime I post one of her videos, I get several visitors to my site from Germany, via search engines. Either she has become kind of popular there, or perhaps she has some relatives there.