Happy Holloween!

Pumpkins

worms and composting

Today I set up my worm composter. I went to a tutorial setup by LADPW at one of their county centers and picked up a worm composting bin and some worms. You can get more info about it here: http://www.smartgardening.com

Here are about a half pound of red worms, native to some rain forest.

Here's a couple of them. I think i'll name them Kobe and the Lakers.

Here's their first meal, some banana peels!

Beasty Rider

I saw this on a scooter at work. Motorcycle dog seat!

Buy it here: http://www.beastriders.com/products/beastriders/

So good they had to stop making it

This stuff worked like magic. If I had a break out I would wash my face with some face wash, dry off, apply the pad on, let the solution dry and put on a face moisturizer and in a week or two I would have clear skin again. The secret ingredient is 2.5% benzoyl peroxide. Use it before going to sleep instead of in mornings because your skin will darken if exposed to sunlight. Also always moisturize afterwards since it tends to dry the skin otherwise. It worked so well they had to stop making the stuff since I didn't see it on store shelves anymore and some googling confirmed that it indeed had been discontinued. It's either that or it causes some crazy cancer in people, or maybe we're now at war with the country that supplies 100% of the world's benzoyl peroxide. Now they sell pads with salicylic acid which are pretty weak.

What we hide under building 230?

I love oysters

Jose Hernandez

Jose Hernandez who flew on sts-128 came to lab to talk about his flight to the international space station. He also talked about his youth working in the fields as a migrant worker from Mexico to Stockton and as a technician at the cape prepping shuttle crews before he himself was selected for a flight.

Very cool, I want to see another launch at the cape!

There were a group of high school kids invited to Jose's talk and they all had one burning question for Jose, "do you drink your own pee?!" Jose said it taste better than tap water and at the end of his slide show, he had a picture of the crew drinking the filtered pee water out of their water pouches during their final meal in orbit. So now I understand why the astronaut corp is so selective. Sure, you must pick the best pilots, mission specialists and scientists. But when it comes to selecting the new class to join the corp, the true question is, "who's filtered pee do you want to drink?"