A theory about smoke and flyes and preserving food Comments Off

Before refrigeration was invented, to preserve food you had to do one of the following:

• dry and smoke the fruit, vegetable or piece of meat;
• salt and smoke it;
• pickle it, somehow;

Although smoking is not always used, it surely is used in many cases. The question is why? Drying and salting is clear. It takes the water out of the food you want to preserve and prevents bacteria from destroying it. But smoke? Besides the taste and smell?

I have a theory about why smoke is and was used, especially when doing the drying in open space, and not in a house or controlled environment: it keeps insects away! Put a piece of meat in the sun to dry and leave it there and you will soon have a ton of flies on it. Eat that, if you dare!

Now, there is one more part to this puzzle. Why is smoke such an effective insect repellant? It’s not deadly, or anything. My theory is this: It’s a defence mechanism. No creature wants to get into a forest fire and burn and die. And where there is fire, there is smoke, so if there is smoke, better turn around and get out of there.

So this is my theory about smoke: it triggers a defence mechanism and because of this effect on insects, it works magic for food preserving

Sir David Attenborough – Storyteller Comments Off

I’ve been a fan of Sir. Attenborough for many years. As a kid I used to devour all kinds of books about animals and plants and dinosaurs and space. His programs have always been fascinating stories about our planet and the natural world. I’ve always admired them and watched them with fascinations.

Now, I had the chance to listen to the audio version of his wonderful memoris, Life on air, and Sir. Attenborough managed to make me an even bigger fan. Besides the wonderful tale of how his many programs were filmed, it is a story of an incredible life told with the skill of the greatest writers. Funny and subtle, it’s one of the best books I had my hands on for some time, a great inside look at the wonderful world of animals and the people that document and study their behaviour.

As much as I enjoyed the book, as a story, I liked it most because it ignited anew that spark of curiosity and wonder about nature that I had as a child. That, I believe, is the greatest gift a book can give someone.

I recommend anyone to read, or even better, to listen to it, it’s story of a great life and a great passion for life.

Below are is a clip I love about persistence hunting and below it a clip about which Sir. Attenborough talks in his book.

The Lyre bird

The picture and the thousand words Comments Off

The saying goes that a picture is worth a thousand words but some seem that are worth more than that. For one reason or the other I’ve started paying more attention to photography in the last weeks. By doing so a whole new world just opened the door a little more. There are some brilliant pictures taken at the exactly right time and some brilliant photographers that know how to be at the right place and at the right time.

Below are 3 examples of absolutely brilliant photography. I’ve linked the pictures to their appropriate source so just click on them to find out their story.

Trees (credit goes to Kottke.org for lead):

Friends:

Afghan girl (Won Pulltzer price)

Shameless plug: I think this picture I made is quite good and this one too.

Go tell a story, make pictures!