"Bones:" Archaeology's 3D Imaging Technique

Okay, it’s not quite what you might expect if you’re a fan of  the provocative, squint Angela Montenegro (Michaela Conlin) and her holographic reconstruction of dead bodies on Fox Television’s “Bones” TV Series, but the use of 3D imaging in a process called Photogrammetry is defining  new dimensions in archaeological research and conservation, allowing us to view and, "walk around," the object in a three dimensional perspective.
Photogrammetry is the technique of using laser photography to record minuscule data from sites where hand drawings and regular photography could never capture.  Together with remote sensing, aerial archeology, and laser surveying, our observation of architectural structures and historical artifacts has greatly evolved into a capability of reconstructing an object to the finest detail, never before seen , for study.

From Article Photos

Organized by CIPA, the Comite International de la Photogrammétrie Architecturale, in 1995, a group has been established under the heading of Working Group 5, "Photogrammetry and Archaeology." The goal of the group is to make archaeologists and photogrammetrists aware of technology that’ll greatly improve analysis and conservation of historical artifacts and structures, while also broadening the understanding of the current limitations.  According to the Photogrammetry and Archaeology website, the terms are:

• To identify trends in photogrammetric developments that have application in archaeology.
• To document current applications of photogrammetry in archaeology.
• To promote the use of appropriate photogrammetric procedures in archaeology.
• To spread this information to organizations and individuals through an active program of liaison between CIPA and these organizations.

Ted Kennedy: Death of a legacy

I woke up this morning to the news that Edward M Kennedy, known prominently as "Ted" Kennedy,  Democratic Senator of Massachusetts, died Tuesday, Aug 25, 2009, of brain cancer.  Ted was the last of four brothers from the Kennedy clan, all of whom had led a prominent career in politics.  The oldest of the four brothers, Joseph Kennedy, Jr., was expected to become the next president when his sudden death during WWII brought an end to that dream.  And the assassinations of both John F. Kennedy and Robert Kennedy left the nation distressed and outraged, as I remember all too well.  Now as the last of the Kennedy children has died at the age of 77, he leaves behind a legacy of significant contributions to our American political system.  Both Republican and Democratic parties came together to memorialize Senator Kennedy.  The first Republican voice to speak out was Nancy Reagan as she said, "...Ronnie and Ted could always find common ground, and they had great respect for one another. In recent years...I found ...him an ally and a dear friend. I will miss him."  The Newsvine reported "California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, whose wife, Maria Shriver, was Kennedy's niece, said in a statement: 'He was known to the world as the Lion of the Senate, a champion of social justice, and a political icon. Most importantly, he was the rock of our family: a loving husband, father, brother and uncle.'"  Ted Kennedy's death comes just two weeks after Schwarzenegger's wife's mother, Eunice Kennedy Shriver, founder of the Special Olympics, died at the age of 88.  Newsday.com reported President Barak Obama  as stating '“An important chapter in our history has come to an end.  Our country has lost a great leader, who picked up the torch of his fallen brothers and became the greatest United States senator of our time. For five decades, virtually every major piece of legislation to advance the civil rights, health and economic well being of the American people bore his name and resulted from his efforts.'” 

Ted Kennedy was responsible for successful and historical legislation on such issues as health care, voting rights, minimum wage and education.  I know that despite differences in the party system, Ted Kennedy will be missed and honored, as his brothers had been, for his timeless service to the American legislation. 

My Wife, Me, and Pickles

No, I’m not talking about the Vlasic pickles marketed by a Groucho Marx emulating stork.   Nor, am I talking about Guss’s World Famous Pickles, a store who’s pickles became the staple of New York’s lower East Side Pickle district.  And I’m not referring to your basic garden variety pickles sitting beside the mustard and relish in the garnish isle at HEB.  I’m talking about the delightfully satirical relationship between Earl and Opal, the Pickles comic strip written by Brian Crane.  This  older married couple is an enigmatic recreation of my wife, Cara, and my relationship.  Every day we laugh hardily at a comic’s all too familiar reflection on our marriage.  It seems Earl and Opal eerily captures exactly the mood and discussion between my wife and myself so much so that I thought it necessary to examine the comic as a possible conspiracy.

Of course there is no conspiracy.  The light-hearted jabbing between Earl and Opal is a respectful representation of older married life at its very basic nature.  But the comic is not just a glimpse at the relationship between the married couple, but also captures each individual’s mood and humor.  In the comic below Earl expresses himself so well by saying he’s O.A.O.  Any person over 50 knows this feeling and will immediately see himself through Earl’s eyes.

The best Pickles comics are the ones that humorously depict the inside jokes that occur between older married couples.  When I saw this frame I immediately related to the jabbing between Earl and Opal.  As I relate to Earl’s old crony spirit, Cara is empathetic to Opal’s frustration; her comment to the cartoon below was “Earl’s really in trouble now.”

Brian Crane captures the mood and humor so well that it’s evident he must have an intimate connection with each of the characters in the strip.  I encourage any married couple over 50 to read Pickles and see if doesn’t relate to them.

Cream Cheese, Tabasco Sauce, and Popcorn Shrimp Dip

My wife, Cara, and I were preparing a variety of snacks to set out on the deck for some friends who were going to drop by one evening, when I remembered a snack I used to crave for days on end one summer years ago. Pushing back a cold Fat Tire I was drinking at the time, I rummaged through the kitchen fridge to see if I had the ingredients for it.  All that I needed was here; chipotle flavored cream cheese, popcorn shrimp, tobasco sauce, grape tomatoes, and paprika. I had Club Crackers and Triskets in the cabinet, so I was set to go. Geez, this dip went back to the 80's, but if it was good then, it surely had to be good today.

I set up the ingredients - still a few hours before our friends were to arrive so plenty of time to chill the dip before our gathering. The dip is so good it's a wonder I dropped the idea of it so many years ago, and the original recipe is so simple that it's just not worth fooling with.

Ingredients:

16 oz. softened chipotle flavored cream cheese.  

1 cup popcorn shrimp or crab meat, chopped.

Dash of paprika

1 cup grape tomatoes, chopped.

Splash of Tabasco sauce

Dash of Parsley

Stir the cream cheese until soft.  Mix in the popcorn shrimp or crab meat and grape tomatoes.  Splash in a little tobasco sauce (be careful, too much will ruin the flavor) and the paprika and blend well.  Pour contents into a serving dish and sprinkle with parsley.

Chill for about 2 hours. Serve with Club Crackers or Triskets, or your own favorite cracker.

As expected the dip was a success.  We sat around on the deck with the Cream Cheese dip, a spinach dip, and a hot cheddar cheese dip, a bucket of crackers, and the Fat Tire.  The conversation flowed till around midnight. 

Give it a try and see what you think.

Chicken & Strawberry Salad

During the summer, my wife, Cara, and I hate heating up the kitchen to cook dinner.  That’s why we live, pretty much, on cold salads – preferably some form of a noodle salad.  While she has tried to get me to go vegetarian, I consistently regress to a good diet of meat.  Now, I can be flexible, so instead of a medium broiled sirloin, I can be convinced to settle for fish, chicken, or shrimp, but it absolutely has to be creative, inconsistent – meaning, not the same dish every day – and good tasting. 

Today, while Cara and I were attending a presentation of Native American culture at a Methodist Church in Port Lavaca, we were treated to lunch hosted by the Ladies Auxiliary.  To my pleasant surprise, one of the ladies had made a delicious chicken, strawberry, and peanut salad.  The blend of fruit, chicken and nuts was so engaging that I had to come up with my own recipe, with a slight variation. 

In my remaking, I added crushed red pepper (I actually prefer New Mexico Green Chili Peppers to the crushed red pepper, but the later is much easier to find), goat cheese and Pepper Jack cheese to give the sweet strawberries a slight spicy bite.  I also found I liked the Vinegar and Oil Dressing, but figured the Ranch would do just as well. 

Ingredients:

Romaine Lettuce, shredded – about 6-8 servings.

2-3 Chicken breasts, broiled and sliced or shredded.

1/4 cup of peanuts, unsalted.

1 cup strawberries, sliced.

1/2 cup Ranch Dressing or Vinegar and Oil Dressing.

1/4 cup Pepper jack or Monterey Jack cheese.

1/4 cup Goat cheese, Blue Cheese, or Gouda Cheese.

1 tbsp crushed red pepper or 2-3 New Mexico Green Chili Peppers.

Grate cheese, and slice the strawberries.  Chicken is broiled, then shredded or sliced.  Mix ingredients with Romaine lettuce and, peppers.  Stir in Ranch Dressing or Vinegar & Oil Dressing.  Chill for at least 2 hours.  Makes 6-8 servings.

Enjoy…

Smoking: The Dead Right to Stop

 

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Lung failure.  That was my experience in 2006.  After 35 years as a smoker and managing to cover every gambit of smoking habits from cigarettes, to cigars, and pipes, I finally did myself in.  In 2006 I collapsed with a 10% capacity in both lungs.  I couldn't breath and had to be taken to the hospital where I was put on oxygen and spent the next two weeks trying to survive. 

Now, I had halfheartedly tried several methods to quit smoking in my years of abuse; the patch, medication, acupuncture,  hypnosis, support groups, motivational therapy, trips to the hospital for a real look at cancer victims.  Hell, my father even died from smoking, but that wasn't an eye opener for me.  I've always been a hard person to convince when I was doing something wrong with my life and body.  It took two arrests for DWI before I realized I had a drinking problem.  I quit drinking after the second arrest found me sitting in jail wondering where the person was who had been in the car with me; that was an hallucination.  So fixing bad habits meant that I had to be put on the spot in a life challenging moment of decision. 

Smoking cessation is not an easy thing to confront.  Smoking so pleasant.  It's relaxing.  It's socializing.  It's what you do when you're having a drink.  It's even what you do when you're attending AA meetings - go figure!  But in reality every day you try to convince yourself that you can quit anytime you want, there's nothing really wrong with you.  Truth is, you just don't have the courage to see it through.

Yes, I mean courage.  The fear was that I'd miss smoking so much that I'd dwindle away into obscurity for not keeping up with my habits.  I would no longer be the sociable and upwardly mobile guy with the cigar after dinner.  I couldn't go out on the patio at a party, laughing and mingling with the other smokers.  Taking breaks at work to have a cigarette with others would have to stop; how could I network then?  And having that pipe while I was sailing - looking so robust and adventuresome - would have go away; no more attracting the ladies with my pipe at the helm.

I didn't think it was fear.  I thought it was simply the desire to smoke.  I knew I could quit.  I could quit anytime I really wanted to.  Hell, you know, I quit several times.  I just enjoyed smoking and I really didn't want to quit.  All the stop-smoking programs were just to convince others that I was willing to try, when, in fact, I was scared that I'd lose my friend and really had no intention of quitting.

Then, I was taken to the hospital and the respiratory therapist told me I had a very small oxygen content in my blood.  And the pulmonologist advised me from the other side of the oxygen mask, that if I smoked one more cigarette, he wouldn't see me again.  So, I had to come to the realization that I had nearly died from a habit I had told myself I really enjoyed.  Confronting the issue of death and not being able to breath was all too real.  I had to accept that I was addicted to smoking and I had to quit.

That moment was all too clear.  There was no other choice, quit or die!  I chose to quit.  I quit.  Simple as that.  It didn't take any medication, no hypnosis, no patches, nor anything to support me while I went though cessation.  Later I found that this was something I really could have done any time in my life. 

I recognize now that the cessation devices are only a crutch; a way of saying I can't succeed on my own, so give me a tool to help me and that I can put my faith in.  Fact is, you don't really need the crutch.  It's called resolution.  You get humble and look closely at yourself and make that decision - do I smoke or die?  All the programs in the world won't help you unless you make that one choice in your life - quit smoking.  Simple as that.  Once you've made the choice it's a no-brainer and it was really quit easy.  I accepted that I would no longer go down to sidewalk for a smoke-break.  Sort of like quitting drinking - I'd no longer be the life of the party at the local bar.  But then in that respect, I could be the life of the party!

Now I suffer from COPD.  What a loss.  The sailing has become arduous.  Working outside on my building projects is almost impossible.  I make do with my morning Advair treatment and occasional doses of my inhaler when I'm in need.  I'm fortunate that I don't have to wear an oxygen mask throughout the day, though I did have to wear one when I first left the hospital - sort of a final reinforcement I think.  My wife is scared anytime I come down with a cough and cold - I could relapse and end up back in the hospital.  I tell myself that I'm okay and getting healthier every day, and I really am.  But the damage is now done.  Only two years before, on another stop smoking binge, I could easily scale two flights of stairs without losing a breath.  Now I can't walk to the mailbox without losing my breath.  It's so real.

The fact is, if you want to quit, take a good hard look at yourself.  Recognize that smoking is not the pleasant pass-time you might think it is.  Really examine your breathing habits.  Do you cough frequently?  Do you get short of breath easily.  How does your food taste? What does it taste and smell like when you kiss another smoker - a damp ashtray?  Then, when you quit lying to yourself get humble.

Vacation Panic

My wife and I were giving thought to our upcoming vacation plans.  Would it be Guatemala, Peru, Mexico, or Belize.  Or perhaps we'd stay on U.S. soil and go for the Pacific Northwest, Cape Cod, or maybe Alaska?  While considering this my thoughts went from the news of drug cartels and their abductions and killings of innocent people, to the Swine flu, cholera, or malarial sicknesses which seemed to dominate the news south of the U.S. border.  For a moment, I felt a pang of panic.  To stay in the U.S. is probably the safer choice.  Okay, but wait a minute!  What about terrorist attacks on U.S. soil; that could happen anywhere.  And certainly drug trafficking, car-jacking, and senseless acts of violence are not limited to Mexico and Central America.  For that matter, neither is the Swine flu. 

About then, I saw a television commercial where the mother was waiting for her child to board a school bus for the first time.  A pang of fear swelled up, again, as I thought of child abductions, school house shootings, or playground sexual assaults; how can parents endure the threats facing their children in today’s world?  When I was younger, I'd go off on my own without giving much thought of the dangers involved;  make my plans, gather my gear, make sure I was well outfitted, and go – even if by myself.  Now we’ve become a society of fear and loathing for anything that might put us in unreasonable jeopardy.

While I realize there has been an overall increase in crime in general, our awareness of these crimes have increased in recent years predominantly because of the media and the Internet.  Hardly an event can pass without the news channels exploiting the fear and anxiety of the senseless crimes; movies depict extremely violent acts because, that’s entertainment; video games are becoming more and more hostile and marketed to young teens and children without consideration of their innocence.  We’ve been led down a path of social hysteria due, in large part, to media sensationalism.  Violence sells.  That’s what we’re really facing.  What is marketable?  The media further compounds our fears by emphasizing the threat of death from prescription drugs, the inevitable cancer from mother’s breast milk, and brain damage from watching too much TV, oh and let’s not forget carpal tunnel syndrome from too much Internet porn.  We’re becoming a society that embraces apprehension rather than optimism.

Perhaps what is really needed is to take a step back and look at our society .  Should we really dread walking outside for fear the rain might contain acid, or should we embrace it and let it lighten our spirits.  My wife, Cara, of Choctaw decent, is a glorious exception to the prevailing fears that encompass our society; she, resolutely, fears nothing.  She takes her action without giving consideration to global events.  She’ll face off a person who throws trash on the street until the person relinquishes and tosses the trash back into their car.  Before she retired as a school teacher, she would routinely stand up to gangster wannabes demanding they adhere to the rules or suffer the consequences.  It was her look at me when I frowned about our vacation choices that made me wake up to the realization that I had allowed myself to be drowned in the stigma of irrational fear.

Cold Mexican Salad

My wife, Cara, asked me to make up a batch of my Cold Mexican Salad, so I thought, while I was at it, I’d share the recipe with any of you out there that might want to try it for your dinner.

Now, for some reason, I like using Penne noodles in my salad. I use good cup to make fair quantity. You can try your salad with elbow macaroni, or maybe try the colorful garden twirls, if you perfer. Doesn’t really matter. Bring the noodles to boil as you prepare other parts of your salad.

Mix up a Mexican sauce with the following ingredients:

2 Tbsp. chili powder
1 1/2 Tsp. paprika
1 Tsp. onion powder
3/4 Tsp. garlic powder
1 Dash red pepper

For the salad ingredients I use:

1 cup Penne pasta
1 lb hamburger, browned
2 whole New Mexico Green Chili Peppers, braised and peeled
2-3 slices of an onion - chopped
1/4 cup water
1 cup corn
1 cup peas
1 can 16 oz. black beans - very important
about a cup of cherry tomatoes - cut into quarters
1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1/4 cup Ranch Dressing

Notice: I don’t use salt when I cook, you might – so I would suggest no more than a 1/2 tsp. if you feel you really need it.

Brown the hamburger in a skillet. Add the chopped onions, peppers and a quarter cup of water once the hamburger is browned – you don’t want softened onions and pepper by over cooking them since it’s a cold salad, but you do want the onions and peppers to mix with the sauce. Add the sauce ingredients and mix well on a low heat.

While that’s cooking, rinse in hot water the black beans, peas, and corn and let drain. I use the frozen peas and corn only because it’s easier and I don’t like the taste of the canned corn or peas. Fresh is ultimately better, but you know. Leave the mix in the strainer until your ready to drain the penne noodles.

When the noodles are done, pour them over the vegetables in the strainer. This will thaw any remaining frozen vegetable (if you used frozen). Add mixture to a large bowl with the cherry tomatoes (I use a storage container here so I can put the lid on and mix up the ingredients by shaking).

Finally I add Ranch Dressing to the mix – about a quarter cup, if you need to measure it. Stir and shake if you’ve got a container with a lid. Set the combined ingredients in the fridge for about two hours, or until thoroughly chilled. Makes about 4-6 one cup servings. Enjoy.