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Science Observations

In any society there are many complicated issues that unfortunately get simplified to the point where short-sightedness wins…. Science teaches us to think more broadly than that. If we really had wise leaders, they would take the long-term perspective seriously precisely because we are so prone to ignore it. They should listen to scientists and philosophers much more than economists who tend to be interested in what happens in the next annual quartile.
– Animal ecologist Hanna Kokko of Finland’s University of Helsinki, in a Q&A in the Sept 9 Current Biology

Found in the October 25, 2008 issue of Science News.

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Zia Taqueria

Made the first of what is likely to be many more visits to the new Zia Taqueria that opened a few weeks ago in the former Fez location.

This place is full of yummy. The atmosphere is casual, and very conducive to just hanging out. Most items on the menu you can order a la carte, or you can choose from a few platter dishes instead. Order placing is kind of a hybrid between a fast food place and traditional sit-down. You go up to the counter, place your order and go grab a seat. After a reasonably short wait, during which you can munch on tortilla chips and salsa, one of the servers brings your meal out to you.

The salsa, while very fresh tasting was pretty heavy on the cilantro. I probably would have enjoyed it if not for my anti-cilantro gene or if there was no cilantro in it.

I opted for the Beef Barbacoa platter with the Borracho Beans and Mexican Rice as the sides and wasn’t disappointed. With the New Mexico Red Chile sauce, I could have easily stuffed myself with 3 or 4 more. The enchiladas were stuffed with tender, flavourful shreds of beef, and the chili sauce provided a nice chile flavour without a lot of mouth-searing heat.

The Borracho Beans were just as tasty. Kind of like a bean soup, it had a rich tasty broth and a little bit of spicyness for kick, but not too much. The Mexican rice was a little under seasoned, but was good as well and helped cut the heat from the Habanero sauce (one of 3 hot sauces you can choose from at the cutlery/iced tea table) I added to my enchiladas.

Tables outside provide additional dining space, perfect for the milder fall temperatures these days. Now when I’m craving Mexican, I can save some gas and just walk up the road to get some.

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Sogginess

The rain stopped about an hour ago, so I ventured out in cold wet sandals to get some more pictures of the back yard.

This is where the swale drains into the ditch. Normally during even heavy rains, the water never gets very deep here. Maybe ankle deep at most. Today in the shallow spots farthest away from the ditch, I was in water up to mid-calf.

Swale meets Ditch. There is a lot of water in both.
Swale meets Ditch. There is a lot of water in both.

The ditch that runs beside the house is about 1m deep. Most of the time it never fills up, even during heavy rains. The 12+ hours of rain today filled it up and then some.

A ditch full of water
A ditch full of water

This is the other end of the yard, next to the neighbours. This is where the water was mid-calf deep (easily 30 cm).

Swale meets the neighbour's fence
Swale meets the neighbour’s fence

Looking down towards the ditch. It’s a lot of water to drain away.

Looking along the swale toward the ditch
Looking along the swale toward the ditch
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A river runs through it

It’s been raining pretty steadily for most of the day. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen it rain like this for so long.

This is what the back yard looks like

A day of rain filling up the swale in the back yard

The dark strip in the middle is ankle deep water in the swale that drains into the ditch. The water in the ditch is just a few inches from the top, and probably over the top in a couple of spots.

Update: The water comes up to mid-calf now in the shallow spots. The dogs want to go swimming in their new pond.

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Illustrating

The last couple of weeks have had me busy working on a couple of lectures I have to give to a group of cardiology fellows at work. In the process of simplifying the lecture material (taking the “One picture is worth a thousand words approach”), I’ve been making up a new batch of graphics for my lectures using Inkscape, which I’m rapidly falling in love with.
A graphic artist I am most definitely not, so creating the graphics has been a lot of work: trying to imagine how to illustrate the concept I’m trying to get across, Googling info on how to make Inkscape do what I imagined up and tweaking the result.
By most standards, most of what I’ve created so far is pretty crude and simplistic, but it looks reasonably decent and (hopefully) gets the point across. I’m sure in the coming months, most of my other lectures will end up getting a similar treatment.
A short list of some of the Inkscape resources I’ve come across