2nd Use Of Water

This week's Change the World Wednesday's Challenge:

This week conserve water by not wasting it. Consider every drop which typically gets poured down the drain and find creative uses for it. Examine your water use and see where, and how, you can make improvements.

Water is something that can often be used a 2nd time before discarding. My favorite 2nd use of water involves coffee. We love our French Press! but getting the grounds out of the bottom is a pain, unless you fill the pot half-full of water and give it a good stir. Now you can just pour the grounds out easily -- but WAIT! DON'T POUR THEM DOWN THE DRAIN! Inside, pour them on the garden. Plants LOVE coffee grounds (and slugs hate them!) I have been feeding our Passion Vine and tomatoes coffee grounds all summer, and they are taking off like rockets!

We also have a limited amount of reuse of rainwater, via a very nice rainbarrel that my father-in-law gave us when we bought this house. I was planning on building a stand and hooking it up to a downspout, but waited too long; by the time I was ready to go, it was full of water ... and VERY HEAVY. I resolved to put that project off until the barrel was empty.

Coffee-Poured Tomatoes
Reuse Rinse Water!

Now that the barrel has been emptied into the garden, I'm delaying mounting the barrel because a bigger opportunity has come along. Since we are "fortuante" enough to live in an area that has a runoff problem, the city is encouraging us to install cisterns and a rain garden. The general idea is taht it's cheaper for the city to encourage 1,000 homeowners to install 500 gallons of cistern, than to build a 500,000 gallon retention pond somewhere ... for one thing, each homeowner donates the land and also gives the water in the cistern a 2nd use before it goes away. Also each solution can be specialized to the particular need of the neighborhood, instead of some larger, less agile solution. We're in the middle of planning, but this sort of thing is a wonderful public-private partnership and I hope to be posting more about our progress soon.

This Is Spinal Tap: For Science!

If I can't be a Mad Scientist, I can at least be a Crazy Minion!

For nearly a year, I'm been participating in a medical study "Effects of Simvastatin on CSF AD Biomarkers in Cognitively Normal Subjects". In college, I simply lacked the study discipline to do well enough in the sciences to be a scientist, but I like science (...and of course we all have an interest in making medicine work better.) So if I can't be a famous researcher, I can at least be a volunteer for studies ... and other brick in the Wall Of Science!

No Problem! The Needle Goes Right Her!

You can read about the study at the link above, but basically, it's trying to better understand "pre-Alzheimer's" with the hope of ultimately slowing the progress of the disease. Who wouldn't want to help with that!
Most of the study consists of taking a pill every night and logging that I took it (...otherwise, it's just too easy to forget.) The pill is either placebo or Simvastatin, a fairly well understood drug that alters blood cholesterol in fairly predictable ways. Periodically I go in for some blood draws and memory tests; also they occasionally call Kris to ask her about my memory and mood. It's all very sciency.
The difficult part of the study is the two lumbar punctures (a.k.a. Spinal Taps), one at the start and one near the end of the study. There's some proteins in the spinal fluid that they need to measure. All my life I've heard of Spinal Taps as being one of the ultimate measurements of pain, so I was not very enthused about this, but they explained to me that their technique and technology had gotten a lot better. While there is always the risk of something going wrong (...and they carefully went down the long list ...) usually it would be merely a bit painful and then uncomfortable for a day or two.
And in fact, that's just what it was. The needles are long but very, very thing. Actually, there are two hollow needles, one inside the other. The needle that draws the fluid is extra narrow, and its opening is on the side, sort of like the needle you use to inflate a ball. This makes sense, the pointy part pushes the flesh apart and you don't want to jam up the opening. This extra thin need starts out inside a wider needle that gets the process started; it's also easier to see in the picture.
Yesterday (Tuesday) I had the 2nd puncture of the study; while it was annoying, it wasn't really worse than getting stung by a bee. There was an elaborate and careful procedure of explaining things and scrubbing. Really the most difficult part was remembering not to drink coffee beforehand; this is Seattle, and it seemed somehow wrong. I made up for it later!
I don't plan on doing this again but if I were, I would shave my lower back first. There's a lot of procedure involving attaching paper towels (or something like them but more sciency) around the work area, and when the tape came off I felt that - they numb the LP area but not the taped area - what's the sense of that!
The doctor was very cooperative about taking pictures afterwards. I'm afraid it's not my best angle, and the sunburn from Sunday made me a real redneck, but what the heck. It's science!
By the way, if this study just creeps you out, don't worry - there are many many less invasive studies you can get involved with. I've experimented with virtual reality goggles, color sensing, and plenty of other things that didn't involve needles. I find these studies by googling "University of Washington Healthy Volunteer"; if you're outside the Seattle area, try a similar search with your favorite university. You can meet a lot of interesting people working on neat stuff!

4freeCLE August 5, 2012

4freeCLE: Your Free CLE Newsletter! August 5, 2012
In This Issue Webinar CLEs On-Demand CLEs In-Person CLEs Past Issues Trials and Tribulations: Appealing Legal Humor In this collection, Mark Twain, Groucho Marx, A.A. Milne, W.S. Gilbert and many more follow a lawyer's career through law school, job interviews, work at the firm and partnership. The editor, Daniel R. White, is an attorney best known for his "The Official Lawyer's Handbook", a popular satire of the legal profession that drew on White's personal experience with the Washington, D.C., law firm of Hogan. & Hartson. We all need a laugh, and this book may help! Buy It Here.	Webinar CLE Earn and learn anywhere! August 6: Introduction to Fastcase. By Fastcase. August 8: Advanced Tips for Enhanced Legal Research on Fastcase. By Fastcase. August 14: Best Practices in Patent Illustration. By LegalAdvantage. August 14: Criminal Law Best Practices. Practical application of risk management techniques, in the practice of criminal law. By Attorney Protective. August 14/Web: The Expert's Guide to Change Management at Law Firms. Cut malpractice risk, prioritize work, price legal matters better, and more. By North Carolina Bar Association and LexisNexis.  August 14: The Shrinking Attorney Client Privilege for International In-House Counsel-An Ethical Discussion. Disparate treatment of in-house counsel communications internationally. By LexisNexis. August 15: Becoming the Rising Star - Best Practices for Promoting & Using E-Service with the Court and at Your Firm. Hows and Whys of E-Service. By LexisNexis.  August 15: Top Privacy Concerns for Companies and Best Practices for Cyber Breach Preparedness. Cyber privacy concerns, statutes, risk management and insurance coverage. By LexisNexis.  August 16: Mobile Banking: Can the Unbanked Bank on It? Participants must apply for credit on their own. By Shriver National Center on Poverty Law.   August 21: Best Practices: Prior Art Search. Improved IP practice. By LegalAdvantage. August 27: Boolean (Keyword) Search for Lawyers. By Fastcase. August 29: Reflections from the International Criminal Court Prosecutor. Featuring Fatou Bensouda, Prosecutor Elect of the International Criminal Court. Also presented in-person (Cleveland). By Case Western Reserve University School of Law.  On-Demand CLE Whereever you are and whenever you're free, you can earn some CLE!  Applying Collaborative Court Principles to Civil Cases. Continuing "An Overview of Collaborative Court Principles". By Legal Aid Association of California.    Business Succession Planning. Plan the orderly transfer of management and ownership of your clients' businesses. By Lexvid.  Home Foreclosure Process, Timeline, and Important Initial Questions. Free to participants in the Home Foreclosure Legal Aid Project (which is itself free). By WSBA.   4freeCLE's List of On-Demand CLE. Several dozen CLE you can take now - free! In-Person CLEs State-by-State Help your colleagues: if you know of an event offering free CLE, send your event to the editor for free publicity here!  California August 8/San Francisco: Forced Arbitration Today: Where Workers Stand. By American Constitutional Society (ACS). August 14/San Francisco: Introduction to Landlord Tenant Training and Housing Negotiation Project training. By Bar Association of San Francisco.   Georgia  August 15/Atlanta: Seeking Cloture: Is the Senate Filibuster Constitutional? By ACS.  Massachusetts  August 7/Boston: VLP Training - Intro to Guardianship of Adults. By VLP.   August 8/Boston: VLP Training - Family Law 101. By VLP.  August 15/Boston: Supreme Court Review: Health Care, Immigration and Other Key Decisions from October Term 2011. By ACS.  Minnesota   August 14/Minneapolis: Searching Westlaw.com and Searching WestlawNext. By Hennepin County Law Library. August 16/Minneapolis: The Naturalization Project Training. By  Immigrant Law Center of Minnesota.   August 22/Stillwater: A Practical Guide to Jury Selection. Note this is a change in program; the eCourt Orientation has been to October. By Washington County Law Library. August 29/Minneapolis: New Volunteer Orientation/Working with Pro Bono Clients. By Volunteer Lawyers Network.   New York State August 13/Syracuse: Before You Play Golf, You Need to Know the Rules ... the Federal Rules. By NDNY Federal Court Bar Association.   August 21/Albany: Department of Veterans Affairs Claims Process. By Tully Rinckey PLLC.    Ohio August 29/Cleveland: Reflections from the International Criminal Court Prosecutor. Also available as webcast. By Case Western Reserve University School of Law.  Pennsylvania August 15/Honesdale: Wayne County Pro Bono Conference. By Pennsylvania Legal Aid Network (PLAN).  August 25/Reading: Introduction to the Intersection of Criminal Law and Immigration Law. By PLAN.  Wisconsin August 15/Madison: Review of Recent Supreme Court Decisions. For members of the CJA Panel in the Western District of Wisconsin.  Washington State August 8/Seattle: Drafting and Enforcing Parenting Plans. By McKinley Irvin.  August 29/Seattle: Ensuring Equal Access to Washington Courts for Persons with Disabilities and the Implementation of General Rule 33. By WSBA Committee on Diversity and Washington Attorney General's Office.  September 5/Seattle: Navigating Family Law Issues for Military Parties. By McKinley Irvin.   About 4freeCLE 4freeCLE is delivered weekly and will always be free! Please forward to your fellow professionals so they may benefit; if this was forwarded to you, get your own subscription for free by signing up now!

Cheese It!

Make Cheese?
Yes, You Can!

It turns out that making cheese in your kitchen is REALLY EASY!
Now, it's possible to get very complicated and messy, and it's also possible for it all to go wrong. But that said, we stumbled into cheesemaking by chance and could not be happier!
The other week we stopped by a beermaking supply store just to look around, and in the corner was a cheesemaking kit: basically a recipe book, thermometer, package of rennet pills and packet of citric acid pills. Maybe there was some other stuff, but that's what counted.
Well, we sat on that for a while until we decided, heck, let's try it. We got a gallon of milk, taking care to ensure it was not "Ultra-Pasteurized" - according to the book, that would keep it from turning into cheese.
Kris followed the directions, which were basically to heat the milk up to around 90 farenheit, add the rennet, stir, after a while change the heat, stir, as it coalgulated chop it up, add the citric acid, stir and then dry out.
We ended up with a whole lot of whey, and more than a pound of the best mozzarela you've ever had, and this was on our first time!
We used the whey to make pizza dough - the dough was tangy and tasty!
The 2nd time we made cheese it didn't curdle all the way; we used cheaper milk and maybe it was ultra-pastreurized even though the label didn't say so. However, the result was something very much like ricotta; it was tasty on tomatoes we cooked on the grill, so it's hard to say that it was a failure; it was just a different kind of success.
We're looking forward to more cheese fun. I'm not sure whether the result is a big cost savings, since we have to buy milk, but it's a lot of fun and we are assured of very good quality. We plan to try adding herbs we grow in our garden to some locally-sourced, organic milk and see if we can taste the difference. One thing is for sure - you won't get fresher cheese anywhere. Try it!