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Microorganisms that crashed to Earth embedded in the fragments of distant planets might have been the sprouts of life on this one, according to new research from Princeton University, the University of Arizona and the Centro de Astrobiología (CAB) in Spain.
The researchers report in the journal Astrobiology that under certain conditions there is a high probability that life came to Earth — or spread from Earth to other planets — during the solar system's infancy when Earth and its planetary neighbors orbiting other stars would have been close enough to each other to exchange lots of solid material. The work will be presented at the 2012 European Planetary Science Congress on Sept. 25.
The findings provide the strongest support yet for "lithopanspermia," the idea that basic life forms are distributed throughout the universe via meteorite-like planetary fragments cast forth by disruptions such as volcanic eruptions and collisions with other matter. Eventually, another planetary system's gravity traps these roaming rocks, which can result in a mingling that transfers any living cargo.
Previous research on this possible phenomenon suggests that the speed with which solid matter hurtles through the cosmos makes the chances of being snagged by another object highly unlikely. But the Princeton, Arizona and CAB researchers reconsidered lithopanspermia under a low-velocity process called weak transfer wherein solid materials meander out of the orbit of one large object and happen into the orbit of another. In this case, the researchers factored in velocities 50 times slower than previous estimates, or about 100 meters per second.
Using the star cluster in which our sun was born as a model, the team conducted simulations showing that at these lower speeds the transfer of solid material from one star's planetary system to another could have been far more likely than previously thought, explained first author Edward Belbruno, a mathematician and visiting research collaborator in Princeton's Department of Astrophysical Sciences who developed the principles of weak transfer.
The researchers suggest that of all the boulders cast off from our solar system and its closest neighbor, five to 12 out of 10,000 could have been captured by the other. Earlier simulations had suggested chances as slim as one in a million.
"Our work says the opposite of most previous work," Belbruno said. "It says that lithopanspermia might have been very likely, and it may be the first paper to demonstrate that. If this mechanism is true, it has implications for life in the universe as a whole. This could have happened anywhere."
Co-authors Amaya Moro-Martín, an astronomer at CAB and a Princeton visiting research collaborator in astrophysical sciences, and Renu Malhotra, a professor of planetary sciences at Arizona, noted that low velocities offer very high probabilities for the exchange of solid material via weak transfer, and also found that the timing of such an exchange could be compatible with the actual development of the solar system, as well as with the earliest known emergence of life on Earth. Dmitry Savransky, a Princeton mechanical and aerospace engineering doctoral student, conducted the simulations.
The researchers report that the solar system and its nearest planetary-system neighbor could have swapped rocks at least 100 trillion times well before the sun struck out from its native star cluster. Furthermore, existing rock evidence shows that basic life forms could indeed date from the sun's birth cluster days — and have been hardy enough to survive an interstellar journey and eventual impact.
"The conclusion from our work," Moro-Martín said, "is that the weak transfer mechanism makes lithopanspermia a viable hypothesis because it would have allowed large quantities of solid material to be exchanged between planetary systems, and involves timescales that could potentially allow the survival of microorganisms embedded in large boulders."
All about velocities
The Princeton-Arizona-CAB paper cites two previous studies that present the odds of solid matter from one planetary system being captured by another as being more or less dismal.
The first, a 2003 paper published in Astrobiology by Jay Melosh, a Purdue University earth and atmospheric sciences professor, questioned the probability that meteorites have ever escaped a terrestrial planet in Earth's solar system and wound up on a terrestrial planet in another system. The report concluded that the chances — about one in 10,000, or 0.01 percent — are "overwhelmingly unlikely" considering the speed a meteorite would need to travel (about six kilometers per second) and the roominess of space.
Belbruno and his co-authors calculated that under this scenario of high velocities and dispersed planetary systems, the probability of solid material from any planetary system striking another falls to as little as five in 100,000, or 0.005 percent.
Star birth clusters, which are tightly confined groups of stars and planetary systems, were introduced as a possible setting for lithopanspermia in a 2005 Astrobiology paper by David Spergel, Princeton's Charles A. Young Professor of Astronomy on the Class of 1897 Foundation and chair of astrophysical sciences, and University of Michigan physics professor Fred Adams.
Factoring in velocities of two to five kilometers per second, Spergel and Adams found that the chances of an exchange of life-bearing rocks between star systems clustered in groups of 30 to 1,000 could be as unlikely as one in a million to as good as one in 1,000, or 0.0001 to 0.1 percent, respectively. Spergel and Adams, however, limited their study to binary stars — or planetary systems with two stars — which might elevate star-to-star solid matter exchanges, Moro-Martín said.
Nonetheless, in clusters similar to those considered by Spergel and Adams, weak transfer involves relative velocities of no more than one kilometer per second, which substantially increases the probability of capture by other stars in the cluster. In other words, star clusters provide an ideal setting for weak transfer, Belbruno said.
Chaotic in nature, weak transfer happens when a slow moving object such as a meteorite wanders into the outer edge of the gravitational pull of a larger object with a low relative velocity, such as a star or massive Jupiter-like planet. The smaller object partially orbits the large object, but the larger object has only a loose grip on it. This means the smaller object can escape and be propelled into space, drifting until it is pulled in by another large object.
Belbruno first demonstrated weak transfer with the Japanese lunar probe Hiten in 1991. A mechanical malfunction left the probe with insufficient fuel to enter the moon's orbit the traditional way, which is to approach at a high speed then fire retrorockets to slow down. Instead, Belbruno designed a weak-transfer trajectory that got the probe into orbit around the moon using a minimal amount of fuel.
Adams, co-author of the 2005 paper with Spergel, said that the work by Belbruno and his co-authors succeeds at pulling together the various factors of earlier lithopanspermia models and adding a substantial new element — chaos. Adams is familiar with the study but had no role in it.
"This paper takes the type of calculations that have been done before and makes an important generalization of previous work," Adams said. "Their work on chaos in this context also carries the subject forward. They make a careful assessment of a process that is dynamically quite complicated and chaotic in nature.
"They are breaking new ground from the viewpoint of dynamical astrophysics," Adams said. "Regarding the problem of lithopanspermia, this type of weak capture and weak escape is interesting because it allows for the ejection speeds to be small, and these slow speeds allow for higher probabilities of rock capture. To say it another way, chaos, in part, enhances the prospects for lithopanspermia."
To the simulator!
Star birth clusters satisfy two requirements for weak transfer, Moro-Martín said. First, the sending and receiving planetary systems must contain a massive planet that captures the passing solid matter in the weak-gravity boundary between itself and its parent star. Earth's solar system qualifies, and several other stars in the sun's birth cluster would too.
Second, both planetary systems must have low relative velocities. In the sun's stellar cluster, between 1,000 and 10,000 stars were gravitationally bound to one another for hundreds of millions of years, each with a velocity of no more than a sluggish one kilometer per second, Moro-Martín said.
The team simulated 5 million trajectories between single-star planetary systems — in a cluster with 4,300 stars — under three conditions: the solid matter's "source" and "target" stars were both the same mass as the sun; the target star was only half the sun's mass; or the source star was half the sun's mass.
The odds of a star capturing solid matter from another planetary system under these three scenarios are 15 (0.15 percent), five (0.05 percent) and 12 (0.12 percent) in 10,000, respectively, the researchers report — probabilities that exceed those under the conditions proposed by Melosh by a factor of 1 billion.
To estimate the actual amount of solid matter that could have been exchanged between the sun and its nearest star neighbor, the researchers used data and models pertaining to the movement and formation of asteroids, the Kuiper Belt — the solar system's massive outer ring of asteroids — and the Oort Cloud, a hypothesized collection of comets, ice and other matter about one light year from Earth's sun widely believed to be a primary source of comets and meteorites.
The researchers used this data to conclude that during a period of 10 million to 90 million years, anywhere between 100 trillion to 30 quadrillion solid matter objects weighing more than 10 kilograms transferred between the sun and its nearest cluster neighbor. Of these, some 200 billion rocks from early Earth could have been whisked away via weak transfer.
For lithopanspermia to happen, however, microorganisms first have to survive the long, radiation-soaked journey through space.
Moro-Martín and Malhotra consulted a 2009 paper an international team published in the Astrophysical Journal that determined how long microorganisms could survive in space based on the size of the solid matter hosting them. That group's computer simulations showed that survival times ranged from 12 million years for a boulder up to 3 centimeters (roughly one inch) in diameter, to 500 million years for a solid objects 2.67 meters (nearly nine feet) across.
The researchers estimated that under weak transfer, solid matter that had escaped one planet would need tens of millions of years to finally collide with another one. This falls within the lifespan of the sun's birth cluster, but means that lithopanspermia by weak transfer would have been limited to planetary fragments at least one meter, or about three feet, in size.
Matching the theory with life
As for the actual transfer of life, the researchers suggest that roughly 300 million lithopanspermia events could have occurred between our solar system and the closest planetary system.
But even if microorganisms survived the trip to Earth, the planet had to be ready to receive them. The researchers reference rock-dating evidence suggesting that the Earth contained water when the solar system was only 288 million years old and that very early life might have emerged before the solar system was 718 million years old.
The sun's birth cluster — assumed to be roughly the same age as the Earth's solar system — slowly broke apart when the solar system was approximately 135 million to 535 million years old, Moro-Martín said. In addition, the sun could have been ripe for weak transfer up to 700 million years after the solar system formed.
So, if life arose on Earth shortly after surface water was available, there were possibly about 400 million years when life could have journeyed from the Earth to another habitable world, and vice versa, the researchers report. If life had an early start in other planetary systems and developed before the sun's birth cluster dispersed, life on Earth may have originated beyond our solar system.
The paper stops short of calculating the likelihood of extrasolar life taking root on a terrestrial planet such as Earth, but the higher probability the researchers determined for solid-matter transfer makes that a more worthwhile pursuit, Moro-Martín said.
"Our study stops when the solid matter is trapped by the second planetary system, but for lithopanspermia to be completed it actually needs to land on a terrestrial planet where life could flourish," Moro-Martín said. "The study of the probability of landing on a terrestrial planet is work that we now know is worth doing because large quantities of solid material originating from the first planetary system may be trapped by the second planetary system, waiting to land on a terrestrial planet.
"Our study does not prove lithopanspermia actually took place," Moro-Martín said, "but it indicates that it is an open possibility."
The paper, "Chaotic Exchange of Solid Material between Planetary Systems: Implications for Lithopanspermia," was published Sept. 12 by Astrobiology, and was supported by grants from NASA, the National Science Foundation and the Ministry of Science and Innovation in Spain.


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A delicious combination of roasted organic pumpkin seeds and roasted organic almonds lightly seasoned with organic Eden tamari soy sauce. These are mixed with raw organic sunflower seeds, organic raisins, and organic and 'transitional to organic' dried Montmorency tart cherries. Rich, nutty flavor with the perfect balance of sweet, tart, and salty. Very low sodium, rich in magnesium, and a good source of protein, fiber, and zinc. Easy to keep at hand when on the go, at school, work, or home. Nice for making desserts, pastries, breads, granola, popcorn balls, muesli, hot cereal, and whatever your imagination comes up with. Reclosable standing pouch.
Organic almonds and organic pumpkin seeds are separately dry roasted to perfection. The roasted almonds are lightly misted with organic Eden Tamari Soy Sauce. After cooling the almonds and pumpkin seeds are mixed with raw organic sunflower seeds, naturally sweet sun-dried organic Thompson raisins and our own Dried Montmorency Tart Cherries before packing. Our dried tart Montmorency cherries are grown on organic and 'transitional to organic' family farms along the shores of Lake Michigan. The cherries are pitted, infused with organic Eden Apple Juice Concentrate, slowly low heat dried, and then coated very lightly with a mist of high-oleic, organic Eden Safflower Oil to keep the cherries from clumping. Eden Quiet Moon contains no added refined sugars, oils, or sulfites.
Eden Quiet Moon is cholesterol free and very low in sodium. Although the nuts and seeds contain fat, it is mostly monounsaturated (5g) and polyunsaturated (4g) fats. The mix is a good source of dietary fiber and protein, and rich in magnesium.
Most other roasted nuts and seeds are highly salted with poor quality refined salt, and many are oil roasted in inferior quality, highly refined oil. Most dried fruit is treated with toxic sulfites and coated with refined sugar or high fructose corn syrup.
There are many health benefits associated with eating nuts and seeds according to several recent studies. Researchers at Tufts University in Boston found that most of the nutrients in almonds and their skin, when eaten together, may offer a significantly higher amount of protection than when the skin and meat of the almond are not consumed together. Studies at the University of California, Davis confirmed this and suggest that there are antioxidant compounds in the almond skin in addition to naturally occurring vitamins that may provide positive health benefits when eaten with the meat of the almond. At Kings College in London research showed that we may actually be getting less fat from almonds than was previously thought. According to the study the cell wall of the almond may play an important role in the way the body absorbs the fat of the almond. Since chewing almonds breaks down the cell wall but at the same time leaves some of the almond intact. Dr. Karen Lapsley, senior nutritionist for the Almond Board of California says, "This is exciting new research. Because some of the almond remained intact not all of the fat was released for digestion. This suggests that almonds may be a lower calorie food than suspected because not all of the calories from fat are absorbed."
The Montmorency cherry has long been known as the 'pie cherry' and the 'healing cherry', recently found to be a source of beneficial antioxidant nutrients. Where Montmorency cherries have been grown for generations the locals attest to its ability. Organic raisins are another healthy choice. Research over the past year has found that sun-dried raisins contain phenolics (a class of antioxidant compounds).

subset: commoncrawl


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The monogram could match the rest of the cake:
If you do find a mistake in your cake's monogram, don't panic. There are plenty of seamless ways for your baker to fix the error.
Now, I'm all for sharing new words, broadening folks' horizons, furthering education, etc, but if you have to explain to the baker of your wedding cake what a monogram is - a "T, J, and H" put together, for example - then maybe, just maybe, a few alarm bells should go off.
After all, what could go wrong?
Thanks to today's wedding wreckporters Anony M., Hilary R., Cyndi P., & Cyndee M., who think all bakers should be required to ask, "Can I quote you on that?"


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Not that letter.
Wait. "Nappy Boos's Day"? With a period? Seriously? Maybe this is a lost cause...
A-HA!! YES! You spelled it ri...oh. Wait. No, you're still wrong here. See, the plural of "boss" is just "bosses."
[rubbing temples with eyes closed] Um. Ok. Look. Yes, you did spell the plural of "boss" right, but "Boss's Day" is possessive. Plus you spelled "you're" wrong.
Now, "possessive" means that...[blinking]...ah, screw it. Can you just write the word "boss" so it's not plural OR possessive?
[sigh] Alright, look, you want to see the perfect cake to get your boss? Something that gets right to the heart of the matter? Something spelled correctly, and conveying just the right amount of gratitude?
Then here:
Jeneec K., Eric, Annette, Michelle O., Jennifer N., Angela P., Mandy W., Kate C., & Anony M., I say from now on we call it "Bossy Day." Who's with me?
Note from John: Yes. Some people accept Bosses Day as correct. However, if you think about the fact that this is a day for either your boss or your bosses, it really should be Boss's Day or Bosses' Day. Of course the original singular possessive of boss was Boss' but I think this hurt our American brains so we added the s. Just make sure you never use Bosseses' Day. bossbossbossbossboss


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Wednesday, April 18, 2007
Steel is Real
The next frontier (ironically enough) will be steel. Steel delivers a fantastic ride, with beautifully sculpted lugs, perfect brazing materials and temperatures, and buttery smooth tig-welded joints. Steel is predictable in its ride, comfortable over the roughest of roads and delivers a message from the BB directly into your body which unmistakably conveys that you are one with your machine. Now if that was not enough, throw in a beautiful paint job. Most of the bikes on the road have a natural carbon finish with the only color being the occasional decal. Steel is truly an artisan's product, with decades of perfected building techniques.
If steel were a new material, recently engineered to be the ideal replacement material for bicycle frames, it would be the hottest thing to hit the industry. Comfortable, resilient, serviceable, light and delivers a ride like no other. In fact the ride is so wonderful that exotic materials often try to imitate.
Steel is real.
Photo Courtesy: Seven Cycles
32 comments:
- Unknown said...
- April 18, 2007 at 7:04:00 AM CDT
Steel............... is the new Black
- April 18, 2007 at 7:25:00 AM CDT
- gewilli said...
(to be argumentative)
Steel is Real.... HEAVY
esp for some 6'6" freak...
its real for the short masses (oops) i mean average sized cyclists out there ;) - April 18, 2007 at 7:34:00 AM CDT
Right now steel is the domain of artisan builders (Sachs, Vanilla, etc.) Will a big company start producing high-end steel frames? Seems unlikely.
- April 18, 2007 at 9:36:00 AM CDT
- esthetecyclist said...
Steel has many pro's.
1) The environmental impact that its production has is markedly lower than that of ti or aluminum, and carbon fiber heavily supports the oil industry.
2) The craftsmanship of brazing lugged frames or tig-welding welded frames keeps artisans in business and the frames are altogether more handsome.
3) It absorbs shocks well and will not fatigue and break as quickly as carbon.
4) Wanna save weight? Ride more and shave of yourself. Or don't throw a second bottle on your ride.
5) Carbon fiber is good for aircraft and cars.
Seriously. - April 18, 2007 at 9:43:00 AM CDT
- Radio Freddy said...
The bicycle industry is built on the trickle down effect. Take the component manufacturers for example. Last year's top range, high-tech becomes this year's middle level hot feature. I am not saying the revolution will come in the form of your local bike shop only sells steel bikes. I am saying that slowly, the dedicated cyclist will feel that carbon no longer gets them excited and the allure of steel begins to grow. Soon, the hot bike on a local group ride will be a truly handmade machine, with made to measure geometry and a deep, glossy paint job. I have seen the trends first hand in years past. Then, and to answer your question; yes, the production companies will offer a steel bike as a response to the $3000-$5000 piece of the market share that is lost to small artisans. Look at it this way, once the influential (eg, the passionate cyclist) begins to drive the desire for steel it will be warmly welcomed. It is cheaper than any of the current "hot options" (at least in the begining) and there are currently no supply issues with alloyed steels (eg, Airbus, Boeing's use of the world's carbon inventory) and the factories in Taiwan, (where they will build your steel frame) already have generations of experience with tig-welded steel. I give it 24 months.
- April 18, 2007 at 9:56:00 AM CDT
You know, I agree to a certain extent, don't think it will take over the industry, but I do think it will return to a point when the diehard, enthusiast, whatever you want to call it, will realize that he or she can get a real work of art that will last multiple seasons, or something really light that may last one. I mean, look at last year's orbea orca. Last year it was fine, but now it just looks old....
- April 18, 2007 at 10:06:00 AM CDT
- Francis said...
Damn Straight. I've been building steel frames the past several years. Simple, well crafted, lugged road bikes. It is on a hobby basis, but I am tooled up like a professional : )
pun intended
Between my trips to the NAHBS, and participating on Frameforum.net with the pro framebuilders willing to share their knowledge, and the joy of building my own bike... I've reshaped my view of the bicycle.
I've always known bikes can be special. A bike tuned for you really enhances the experience.
More importantly:
Owning high-end steel detaches you from the rat race. Its more than a luddite, retro fashion.
E-Ritchey once remarked in a forum: "Are you going to ride it, or benchpress it?"
Make no mistake: no property intrinsic to carbon fibre or aluminum makes a faster machine than steel. Consider a stat from a recent Pez bit; "the fastest Paris - Roubaix ever, was in 1964 when Peter Post won over 265 kilometres at 45.129 kph. Moser's last win, in 1980 was at 43.108 over 264 kilometres. Fabian Cancellara won last year at 42.240 over 259 kilometres"
I do work in the cycling industry, and have some pretty neat-o carbon bikes... but steel sure makes me smile. - April 18, 2007 at 10:09:00 AM CDT
As a working aerospace engineer, I have three technical comments to make in regard to the steel/carbon bicycle argument.
1.) This part is for the people that actually buy their bikes unlike the PROs.
The entire industry working with carbon fiber is still looking for a reliable method of evaluating the health of composite. Most people know about ultrasound testing of carbon fiber to find any inconsistencies and cracks. No cyclist will have their frame undergo ultrasound testing before hard rides. "Condition-Based Maintenance" methods exist that allow you to visualize damage to composite without special equipment, but that technology has not made it to bicycles yet. Since you cannot evaluate the condition of carbon fiber visually, you run the risk of having your equipment fail when you think it'll be ok (case in point, the broken carbon forks and steer tubes of the Paris Roubaix).
The ductility of steel implies cracking, buckling, or bowing that will hopefully give you time to react to the situation. Similarly, a dent or crack in steel will not propagate or fail the way it would in carbon fiber.
BKW did talk about the cost of carbon fiber molds, and yes, that can be a hinderance to getting a production bike that fits you.
2.) This part is for everyone, PROs included. Composite theory and composite practice have not exactly converged. The theoretical strength of composite is difficult to match by any fabricator. The quality of a composite structure depends on the orientation of the carbon fiber plys, the impregnation of those sheets with resin, the temperature/pressure of the curing, and whether the person designing the structure took all the expected forces into account. Steel is pretty homogenous and there are very many welders who can join steel tubes in such a way that the weld is basically as strong as the material.
3.) On the opposite side of the argument, steel corrodes and carbon fiber doesn't (well, not readily). It is nice to have a pretty paint job, but paint doesn't make you any faster. Paint goes on steel bikes to prevent rust, not because only steel bikes are allowed to have handsome paint jobs.
Sorry for the diatribe, but just thought I'd put it out there. Thanks for the site! - April 18, 2007 at 11:03:00 AM CDT
- Radio Freddy said...
David G - Thank you for your great comment and thank you for bringing a PROfessional perspective to our discussions.
- April 18, 2007 at 11:31:00 AM CDT
- strangelife said...
Dunno about the fickle masses, but for me steel has always been "real". An uber-alloy seems to me the most likely material in the future. The S, M, L, XL, sizing of most carbon bikes is lame and I'd like to see it go. Regardless, the cyclical nature of retail says that what's old becomes new again. Steel may entice some to turn away from the dark side, but most people don't buy bikes because they have nice paint, a supple ride, or beautiful lugs. Performance (what the computers tell us is 2% stiffer/stronger!) and weight are still king of the marketing room. And we all know what a convincing lot they are.
- April 18, 2007 at 12:28:00 PM CDT
Good call, Freddy. It would be a shame, though, if "steel is real" became a mass-marketing tool. I'm quite happy with the status quo where PRO bikes are objects of envy for their lightness, stiffness and fantasy factor. For those of us looking for something reliable, individual, and customizable, the boutique steel frame remains the ride of choice and there are plenty of great options already.
And if you really want to ride faster, two simple steps: good wheels; train harder. - April 18, 2007 at 2:00:00 PM CDT
Why do so many of us focus on frames before wheels. Wouldn't a steel Strong (for example) with Lightweights be a better bike than a Parlee with Kysriums?
- April 18, 2007 at 2:35:00 PM CDT
- Radio Freddy said...
Anon - That is a great question and I feel the right answer is that the ideal bike is defined differently by different riders. For me, I think the LWs would be too stiff based on the reviews I have read. However, if the Strong was built to suit me and my intended use it would be a great ride. I have owned many steel bikes, many ti bikes, 1 great aluminum bike and many carbon bikes. I would say that all have great characteristcs but none of those bikes have ever been the end-all, be-all. My custom ti bikes are by far the finest in overall construction and fit but when the carbon bug bit me, the ti bike had no response. The wheels do go a long way to making the ride of a bike. The finest riding wheelset I had the pleasure to use were King hubs built on a tubular Reflex rim with a Vittoria CX/CG combo. I feel those wheels could have made any bike ride nicely.
- April 18, 2007 at 4:41:00 PM CDT
- Bobke Strut said...
I think the current generation of pro cyclists have forgotten the old pro adage "You can't win a race if you don't cross the finish line". Or maybe it's more a factor of their equipment sponsors forgetting. It seems the quest for lighter, lighter, and lighter still carbon equipment is verging on the point of racing truly disposable bikes. Bikes that knowingly won't last a season of hard riding plus the dings and scuffs which afflict any machine which travels extensively.
I think there's a disconnect between the bulk of the cycling public who actually pay cash for the latest carbon wizardry and the reality of what goes on behind the scenes of a pro team. Mr. Cycling Public sees his Euro heroes riding some tricked out equipment and seeks to emulate his favorite riders, but he doesn't see how many frames/wheels/handlebars etc. are destroyed and replaced throughout the season. I remember recently reading about Team CSC and reps from Zipp testing Zipp carbon wheels on Roubaix cobbles last fall and the team destroyed about 15 pairs of wheels in an afternoon! This person may not have the technical know-how to properly maintain his 14 lb. carbon bike (torque wrench?...why do I need one of those?) and will pay the price when his carbon fork or carbon bars explode.
At the height of my fitness and racing prowess in the late 80s/early 90s I was racing a steel rig with a total mish-mash of componentry which today would be deemed a "tank". But I bet if my earlier self (and bike) were teleported to today's domestic peloton I don't think my results would be appreciably different. Fitness and smarts will take you pretty far, even if you're on a 22 lb bike that's in good working condition. And if you ever get to the point where grams will make a difference, it's highly likely that you'd be racing for a team where that equipment would be purchased for you and maintained for you (relatively) worry-free. Although I bet there's some Gerolsteiner pros who are a bit skittish about riding their carbon bikes on pave. - April 18, 2007 at 4:43:00 PM CDT
- Radio Freddy said...
Bobke - What a treat to have your voice among the comments. Thank you for stopping by. I am in agreement with you. As a team mechanic in the 40s and 50s my father developed a saying that sticks with me whenever I hear a casual cyclist reference what the PROs do. My father's reply would always be: "the only thing you do like a PRO is piss". I think that sums it up nicely.
- April 18, 2007 at 4:55:00 PM CDT
- Johnny Stash said...
953 is where its at.
- April 18, 2007 at 5:29:00 PM CDT
That's not the Bobke you're thinking of...
- April 18, 2007 at 11:14:00 PM CDT
my steel bike weighs 15lbs.
Heavy? I don't think so - April 18, 2007 at 11:56:00 PM CDT
- Radio Freddy said...
Fannypackofcourage - Its not Bob Roll, its Bobke Strut. I am regular reader of his blog and Bobke Strut was the first blog to link to BKW. BS is a great blog, you should drop by and read his piece "Oscar Freire - "I Jam Econo" Hi-larry-e-us.
- April 19, 2007 at 6:13:00 AM CDT
- Tim Jackson said...
Steel is decidedly real... for real. As long as I'm the guy responsible for Masi in the US, we'll always have steel bikes in the line- that's a promise.
The best frame I've ever had, in 25 years of racing and riding; 2005 Masi Speciale Carbon. Dedacciai lightwieght steel with a carbon rear triangle. My 60cm built up at just over 17 pounds too. I love steel.
All frame materials have their place and their strongsuits. (David G did a great job with his analysis.) Carbon is no more the one and only true frame material any more than steel, aluminum, Ti or bamboo. New materials are on the horizon and they promise to make cool frames. Will they last like steel? Don't know yet. Will they ride like steel? Don't know yet. Will it be as cheap as steel? Not likely... dollars to ounces, steel is still one of the best values available.
Artisan builders can make any material look good and ride great. That's why we love them so much. Richard Sachs could make balsa wood look amazing. Brian Baylis could make frames out of plywood! Artisans are artisans, so the material is really relevant there... but they sure can make some really amazing steel bikes.
Pro bikes are a thing of fiction; designed for one season and in some cases one race. Many of the bikes ridden in Roubaix these days will never be ridden again. If I were a pro, and I wish I was, I wouldn't feel too keen to race a modern frame after racing Roubaix. A steel frame though? No problem.
Excellent post... I could ramble for days on this. - April 19, 2007 at 2:27:00 PM CDT
- Brett Svatek said...
I have never ridden carbon...wait, a Kestrel (circa 1991), but I don't remember it, other than I wasn't impressed, but I'm sure they've changed a lot since then...and I've ridden a few AL bikes, road and mtb., but I have never ridden a bike that I enjoy more than my fillet brazed Bontrager Cross.
I liken well-made steel bikes to a pair of Gucci loafs or a croissant from La Pain, and the rest of the frame materials something along the lines of a serious make-out session with your middle school girlfriend in her parents basement...uncomfortable and unpredictable..but the idea is nice. - April 20, 2007 at 12:23:00 AM CDT
I have been riding a carbon bike for several years and a ti bike before that. I rode a vintage steel Colnago recently and was struck by the liveliness and responsiveness of the ride. I am awaiting delivery of my new steel Della Santa right now. It's all good.....
- April 20, 2007 at 8:11:00 AM CDT
Why is the Photo at the top of this blog called "titubes1.jpg"? (right click and check for yourself... from Seven Cycles, no less) Are these tubes steel or ti? Does it matter?
- April 23, 2007 at 2:46:00 PM CDT
- Radio Freddy said...
The tubing shot is indeed a ti set from the Seven site. I love the composure of the raw tubes and felt the image captured the essance of the artisans materials. A cool note about Seven is that their very first frames were steel and they continue to produce beautiful tig welded steel frames.
- April 23, 2007 at 2:57:00 PM CDT
I know this is an old post, but I had a thought while reading through all the comments: why is steel only real for frames? Couldn't you extend all the same pro-steel arguments onto stems, seatposts, rims, bars, etc?
Aluminum seems to be accepted as the best material for bars and other components for certain technical reasons. Shouldn't the same reasons apply across the board to frames as well? Or vice-versa: if steel is so great for frames, shouldn't some of the reasons for that apply to other components, too? Steel frame fans should be lobbying and promoting steel use in all metal components, no?
Just a thought I had. - May 4, 2007 at 11:50:00 AM CDT
- Radio Freddy said...
Fannypack - I hear you on the steel thought. I can clearly remember the days of steel components, rims, seat posts, cranks, etc... The problem with steel in these areas is its strength to weight ratio. It simply becomes heavier that its counterparts for like applications. There remains a number of beautiful steel stems out there; just take a quick peak at the Vanilla site.
- May 4, 2007 at 4:18:00 PM CDT
Okay - this post is old - but couldn't help leaving a response.
I agree with RF - think steel will return as the "new black". After a few more years of the carbon fiber craze, what's next?
The industry needs something to hype to sell new bikes - and you can't tell me carbon will be it forever.
Being the old school guy, have a few steel bikes hanging in the garage, one aluminium(full suspension mountain bike), and one carbon fiber bike.
I didn't want to like carbon, but after a few test rides on various bikes - it's too damn nice not to like. It rides great and is stupid light. I still laugh when pulling it off the ceiling hook.
Also, why do so many nice steel bikes have carbon forks? Or even carbon rear ends? Think about that one.
Even so - if I had to own one road bike, it would be steel - frame and fork. I admit it. There's a feel and history to it that can't be denied.
The weight deal is overblown however. Having a 3 and 7 year old at home, 99% of my riding is commuting. I've done the same route hundreds of times and time each ride.
Even though my 16 pound carbon Ibis feels faster and snappier - overall - I'm riding no faster then I did on my 21 pound '91 steel Bridgestone RB-1 or '97 steel Ibis Hakaluggi 'cross bike.
Sad but true - or maybe I'm just slow....
Dan O - June 28, 2007 at 6:52:00 PM CDT
All these comments seem to consign steels future as a vision of the past, repeated. The peoples lowly metal. Nothing could be further from the truth. The new Reynolds 953 is as space age as any material can get, and when this phenomenal metal is finally discovered by the "masses", will consistently build the most unbreakable frames ever made that will be corrosion proof, have the feel of steel, and the light weight of the best Carbon and Ti frames. I plan to be building my share of those too. I have waited for this material ever since I first discovered the concept of "mar-aging" steels 30 yrs ago while studying steel heat treating, when dreaming of the ideal material that I would wish for if anyone ever gave me the wish, and now it's here.
Check it out. And with a redesigned fork/stem arrangement, we will have all stainless bikes, for sure the frame and fork, then rims, spokes, handlebars, seat rails, hollow cranks, just about everything. They will go faster because they will help isolate the bike and rider from the rolling resistance factors better than other materials. Not to mention the smaller tubes having less wind resistance.
It's coming, and it's underestimated, and it is definitely real, so quit yakking about the past, Steel is here for the long haul! Period! Start saving though, because it is not cheap. John M. CCW. - December 1, 2007 at 2:37:00 AM CST
Wow, what a great thread. I have beenn riding for about 20 years, consider myself a "serious non-racer". I work at a Bike Shop so I buy bikes pretty often. I have 2 carbon road bikes, Parlee and Calfee, and a lugged Della Santa. I tend to roll the most on one of the 2 carbons, for no real reasons. When I take the DS for a ride, I am always surprised at how heavy it feels coming down off the wall. As soon as I am under way though, it is all good, very good in fact. I smile on that bike. I know how little I spent compared to the other 2 frames! I agree with the previous post; for most a steel bike with great wheels would be a better combo than a carbon bike with Ksyriums.
What a great site; I need to register. - December 10, 2007 at 7:44:00 AM CST
first 'good' early 70's era Peugeot PX-10; now I ride a steel Waterford with Campy Chorus--older 10 spd w/o plastic thank you--and a Brooks Pro. Could afford lighter but wanted the ride wanted the reliability wanted the cachet and the feel of steel.
At my age it is easier and more affordable to lose a pound (or 10?) of ME than it is to buy a pound less bike weight. My suggestion? Get off the plastic kick and go for the real--you'll come around and be glad you did.
By the way, it is a rare cyclist that really can tell the difference and identify WHY the plastic might be what she needs--but for 99 and 44 100ths of the rest of us something like my Waterford is it--art and artistry and my bike. - December 10, 2007 at 9:52:00 PM CST
Freddy Parr says >>
Steel is re-emerging in Aerospace also.
Fact is that experimentations are being conducted worldwide not just in Mojave.
Our Super X steel teatment consists of first a cryo treatment to make the grainstructure receptive to a chemical saturation which converts the carbon to a metal bearing secret alloy, then by heat treating at very low and short duration the once very rough and loose grain is fully uniform without spaces.
Thus Excalibur is re born.
Handing the newly strengthened material is the future problem as skin thickness being 2-300% tougher can be drawn to thickness never even considered in the past.
Also with the bonus of zero Hydrogen or disolved water/gases in the grain structure (Yes ther is water in there normally)
Other Research being done in California is the re-think Howard Hughes and the Giant Presses are laminating tri and quad metals at diamond forming pressures, problem once again is handling the result.
No current mills can form such Super Metals into tubing and if preformed a large loss of improvement is a factor.
Newer to cycling the SS's from the tube co's such as the mystery 953 are very modest compared to alloys over 65 years old in High Performance Aircraft and Space Vehicles, Just in the lower 10% of high tech, much more is there already to work with.
Our last year of developing joiners for cycle tubes aimed at 953 have brought total success as the most practicle and universal joiners but do to the small mill orders and the constant battle with overseas shipping being closely monitored by Customs it is only getting started into the endusers hands, very slow process?
Bottom line is old Steel was Real, and it's offspring is really amazing stay tuned
Freddy Parr
Cycle Design Group - January 5, 2008 at 6:13:00 AM CST


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About 100 advocates of turning White Flint into a transit-oriented urban area crowded into a back room at Seasons 52 restaurant one evening last week to talk about making Rockville Pike more hip.
The location was appropriate. The restaurant is in a block of newer buildings, near the White Flint Metro stop, that includes an Arhaus Furniture store and a Whole Foods Market. The stretch is linked together by landscaped streets and sidewalks.
Across Rockville Pike is White Flint Mall. Built in the 1970s, the mall's empty stores and surface parking lots are exactly what many people at the Jan. 29 networking event wanted to replace.
Advocates for urban development built around public transportation say White Flint can be a model for similar growth elsewhere in Montgomery County and in the nation as a whole. To accomplish that, groups that sprang up around a sector plan a few years ago are redoubling their efforts and drumming up support for their vision.
The Coalition for Smarter Growth, founded in 1991, pushes for walkable communities around the District, connected by high-quality transit, said Kelly Blynn, manager of the coalition's Next Generation of Transit campaign.
"We are focusing a fair amount on White Flint, which we see as an important model for how you need to plan land-use planning with transit planning," she said.
The White Flint Sector Plan, which set guidelines for development and land use in the area, was adopted in 2010. Now, Blynn said, the area is entering another critical phase as individual developers submit building plans and government officials consider creating new transit options.
Officials are considering putting a rapid bus transit system in the area, which Blynn said would tie the communities on Rockville Pike together.
"We think it's a complementary system for other programs that are underway," such as upgrades to the Metrorail system and the Purple Line, she said.
Lindsay Hoffman, executive director of the organization Friends of White Flint, said the sector plan was the big picture and the vision for White Flint, but advocacy groups still play a role in making sure that individual development projects fit into the plan.
"Every little site and development and piece of land has to go through [its] own process very similar to the sector plan process," she said. "We still want to generate energy, generate positivity and generate a collaborative framework."
Hoffman said Friends of White Flint helped get community groups, residents and developers together relatively early in the sector-plan process, which offered a venue for people to give feedback on ideas for the area rather than waiting until developers submitted plans to the planning board further down the line.
"By having that collaboration early on, we were able to overcome [many] people's concerns," she said.
Now, Hoffman wants to get people involved in the early stages of discussions about plans for transit projects and funding transportation improvements.
"We're going to work on stimulating some energy among community residents who are interested in it to speak out," she said.
The White Flint Partnership, a group of major property owners, also formed around the sector plan development process, but is planning to stay active.
Francine Waters is the senior managing director of transportation and smart growth for Lerner Enterprises, one of the developers working on plans to demolish most of White Flint Mall and replace it with a mixed-use town center. She also serves as executive director of the White Flint Partnership.
Waters said the partnership plans to work with groups such as Friends of White Flint to keep people up-to-date on the status of development projects and infrastructure improvements. She also hopes to bring in urban planning experts for a speaker series.
Rod Lawrence, a partner at JBG Companies who helped found the White Flint Partnership, said the group stayed together to make sure the plan doesn't stray from its original intent. It also helps bring attention and resources to the area, he said.
"We're trying accelerate the infrastructure development [and] encourage the right type of redevelopment," Lawrence said.
JBG developed North Bethesda Market, which houses Seasons 52, and is planning a second phase of the mixed-use development project, dubbed North Bethesda Market II.
Lawrence sees the White Flint Partnership as a precursor to some kind of business improvement district or place-management group to bring attention to the area and encourage public-private cooperation.
The group needs "people — citizens, businesses, public officials, everybody — coming together to make sure that you build momentum and keep momentum for the plan," he said.


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WASHINGTON (AP) — For years, doctors have lamented that there's no Pap test for deadly ovarian cancer. Wednesday, scientists reported a tantalizing hint that one day, there might be.
Researchers are trying to retool the Pap, a test for cervical cancer that millions of women get, so that it could spot early signs of other gynecologic cancers, too.
How? It turns out that cells can flake off of tumors in the ovaries or the lining of the uterus, and float down to rest in the cervix, where Pap tests are performed. These cells are too rare to recognize under the microscope. But researchers from Johns Hopkins University used some sophisticated DNA testing on the Pap samples to uncover the evidence — gene mutations that show cancer is present.
In a pilot study, they analyzed Pap smears from 46 women who already were diagnosed with either ovarian or endometrial cancer. The new technique found all the endometrial cancers and 41 percent of the ovarian tumors, the team reported Wednesday in the journal Science Translational Medicine.
This is very early-stage research, and women shouldn't expect any change in their routine Paps. It will take years of additional testing to prove if the so-called PapGene technique really could work as a screening tool, used to spot cancer in women who thought they were healthy.
"Now the hard work begins," said Hopkins oncologist Dr. Luis Diaz, whose team is collecting hundreds of additional Pap samples for more study and is exploring ways to enhance the detection of ovarian cancer.
But if it ultimately pans out, "the neat part about this is, the patient won't feel anything different," and the Pap wouldn't be performed differently, Diaz added. The extra work would come in a lab.
The gene-based technique marks a new approach toward cancer screening, and specialists are watching closely.
"This is very encouraging, and it shows great potential," said American Cancer Society genetics expert Michael Melner.
"We are a long way from being able to see any impact on our patients," cautioned Dr. Shannon Westin of the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. She reviewed the research in an accompanying editorial, and said the ovarian cancer detection would need improvement if the test is to work.
But she noted that ovarian cancer has poor survival rates because it's rarely caught early. "If this screening test could identify ovarian cancer at an early stage, there would be a profound impact on patient outcomes and mortality," Westin said.
More than 22,000 U.S. women are diagnosed with ovarian cancer each year, and more than 15,000 die. Symptoms such as pain and bloating seldom are obvious until the cancer is more advanced, and numerous attempts at screening tests have failed.
Endometrial cancer affects about 47,000 women a year, and kills about 8,000. There is no screening test for it either, but most women are diagnosed early because of postmenopausal bleeding.
The Hopkins research piggybacks on one of the most successful cancer screening tools, the Pap, and a newer technology used along with it. With a standard Pap, a little brush scrapes off cells from the cervix, which are stored in a vial to examine for signs of cervical cancer. Today, many women's Paps undergo an additional DNA-based test to see if they harbor the HPV virus, which can spur cervical cancer.
So the Hopkins team, funded largely by cancer advocacy groups, decided to look for DNA evidence of other gynecologic tumors. It developed a method to rapidly screen the Pap samples for those mutations using standard genetics equipment that Diaz said wouldn't add much to the cost of a Pap-plus-HPV test. He said the technique could detect both early-stage and more advanced tumors. Importantly, tests of Paps from 14 healthy women turned up no false alarms.
The endometrial cancers may have been easier to find because cells from those tumors don't have as far to travel as ovarian cancer cells, Diaz said. Researchers will study whether inserting the Pap brush deeper, testing during different times of the menstrual cycle, or other factors might improve detection of ovarian cancer.


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(Born 12 December 1950 in Cannes, in France)
In the past, there never seemed to have been one great artist associated with the accordion, an instrument that, because of its connotations, seemed as far removed from swing as it is possible to be. Then along came Richard Galliano, fired by an unrivalled determination to share his conviction that the accordion was worthy have a place at the heart of jazz alongside the saxophone and trumpet. Inspired by the admiration he felt for his friend Astor Piazzolla, creator of the Tango Nuevo, Galliano succeeded not just in doing this, but with his "new musette" style managed to breathe new life into a thoroughly French tradition that seemed to have got stuck.
Son of the Italian-born accordion teacher Lucien Galliano, Richard started playing the instrument at the age of four. At the same time as he was learning the accordion, he also studied harmony, counterpoint and trombone at the Nice Conservatoire. It was the discovery of the music of Clifford Brown that introduced him to jazz, at the age of 14, and while he picked up his style of playing choruses, he found, to his amazement, that the accordion was almost unknown in this type of music. Galliano then got interested in Brazilian accordionists like Sivuca and Dominguinhos, discovered the American specialists who approached jazz (Tommy Gumina, Ernie Felice and Art Van Damme), and the top Italian players, Felice Fugazza, Volpi and Fancelli, turning his back completely on the traditional style of playing that dominated in France. In 1973 Galliano moved up to Paris where he impressed Claude Nougaro. He spent three years as arranger and conductor as well as composer in a group where he found himself playing alongside real jazz musicians. He also played on countless recordings by popular French artists like Barbara, Serge Reggiani, Charles Aznavour and Juliette Gréco, and on film scores. From the beginning of the 1980s he was able to play much more often with jazz musicians from all backgrounds and improvise alongside them: these included Chet Baker (in Brazilian repertoire), Steve Potts, Jimmy Gourley, Toots Thielemanns, the cellist Jean-Charles Capon, with whom he cut his first disc, and Ron Carter, whom he paired up with to make an album in 1990.
In 1991, following the advice of Astor Piazzolla, whom he had met in 1983 while working on incidental music for the Comédie Française, Galliano went back to his roots, and the traditional repertoire of Valses-Musette, Javas, Complaintes and Tangos that he had long disregarded. Taking a lead from the spirit of Gus Viseur and Tony Murena, he managed to rid the accordion of its old-fashioned image by working on the three-four rhythm, and introducing a whole new rhythmic concept and harmonic style to adapt it to jazz. He announced his new approach on the CD New Musette that he recorded with Aldo Romano, Pierre Michelot and Philip Catherine for Label bleu, and it won him the Académie du Jazz's Django Reinhardt Prize for "French musician of the year" in 1993.
This led on to a whole series of albums where Galliano, playing his trademark Victoria accordion, has shown his ease in adapting the instrument to the freedom of jazz. His assurance, mastery of phrasing, and ability to get a vast range of tone-colours from the accordion have meant that he has broken down musical barriers with an instrument that cuts across all genres. In 1996 he crossed the Atlantic to record his New York Tango with George Mraz, Al Foster and Biréli Lagrène, a disc that later won him a Victoire de la Musique prize. He started to gain an international reputation, and a host of new collaborations followed. He created some unusual instrumental pairing, getting together with artists ranging from Enrico Rava, Charlie Haden and Michel Portal (their 1997 disc Blow Up was a huge commercial success, selling more than 100,000 copies), to his fellow-accordionist Antonello Salis, in Italy, and the organist Eddy Louiss, in 2001. For years he played in a trio with Daniel Humair and Jean-François Jenny-Clarke (from 1993 until the death of the bass-player in 1998), and then returned to this format in 2004 with a "New York" rhythm, made up of Clarence Penn and Larry Grenadier. There have also been one-off collaborations with Jan Garbarek, Martial Solal, Hermeto Pascoal and Anouar Brahem, Paolo Fresu and Jan Lundgren, and Gary Burton, among others. In 1999 he presented his own compositions, with chamber orchestra accompaniment, together with pieces by Astor Piazzolla. This led to his 2003 homage Piazzolla Forever, in which he went back to playing the music of his mentor
Galliano is an exceptionally versatile musician, able to make his mark in all kinds of musical contexts, from solo appearances (like the Paris Concert from the Châtelet, which came out in 2009), to playing with a big band like the Brussels Jazz Orchestra, in 2008. His exceptional abilities as a soloist are now well-recognized, and he continues to explore a vast range of music, without ever losing that lyrical quality that infuses the ballads on Love Day that he recorded with Gonzalo Rubalcaba, Charlie Haden and Mino Cinelu, or the French Touch which allowed him to make the link between Billie Holiday and Edith Piaf, with the trumpeter Wynton Marsalis. Keen to pass on his wealth of experience, he is the author, together with his father Lucien, of an accordion method that won the SACEM prize for Best Pedagogical Work in 2009.
Richard Galliano signs an exclusive contract with Universal Classics & Jazz France – Deutsche Grammophon in 2010 and records the same year an album dedicated to Johann Sebastian Bach. In 2011, he pays tribute to Nino Rota – the famous original soundtracks Italian composer – with an album recorded with John Surman and Dave Douglas among others, where Galliano delivers a jazz interpretation of La Strada, The Godfather and La Dolce Vita themes. In 2013, Galliano comes back to classical music with a baroque album dedicated to Antonio Vivaldi's music, rearranging is famous Four Seasons.
Vincent Bessières
Translation: Kenneth Chalmers


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Southeast Colorado farmer Ryan Loflin tried an illegal crop this year. He didn't hide it from neighbors, and he never feared law enforcement would come asking about it.
Loflin is among about two dozen Colorado farmers who raised industrial hemp, marijuana's non-intoxicating cousin that can't be grown under federal drug law, and bringing in the nation's first acknowledged crop in more than five decades.
Emboldened by voters in Colorado and Washington last year giving the green light to both marijuana and industrial hemp production, Loflin planted 55 acres of several varieties of hemp alongside his typical alfalfa and wheat crops. The hemp came in sparse and scraggly this month, but Loflin said but he's still turning away buyers.
"Phone's been ringing off the hook," said Loflin, who plans to press the seeds into oil and sell the fibrous remainder to buyers who'll use it in building materials, fabric and rope. "People want to buy more than I can grow."
But hemp's economic prospects are far from certain. Finished hemp is legal in the U.S., but growing it remains off-limits under federal law. The Congressional Research Service recently noted wildly differing projections about hemp's economic potential.
However, America is one of hemp's fastest-growing markets, with imports largely coming from China and Canada. In 2011, the U.S. imported $11.5 million worth of hemp products, up from $1.4 million in 2000. Most of that is hemp seed and hemp oil, which finds its way into granola bars, soaps, lotions and even cooking oil. Whole Foods Market now sells hemp milk, hemp tortilla chips and hemp seeds coated in dark chocolate.
Colorado won't start granting hemp-cultivation licenses until 2014, but Loflin didn't wait.
His confidence got a boost in August when the U.S. Department of Justice said the federal government would generally defer to state marijuana laws as long as states keep marijuana away from children and drug cartels. The memo didn't even mention hemp as an enforcement priority for the Drug Enforcement Administration.
"I figured they have more important things to worry about than, you know, rope," a smiling Loflin said as he hand-harvested 4-foot-tall plants on his Baca County land.
Colorado's hemp experiment may not be unique for long. Ten states now have industrial hemp laws that conflict with federal drug policy, including one signed by California Gov. Jerry Brown last month. And it's not just the typical marijuana-friendly suspects: Kentucky, North Dakota and West Virginia have industrial hemp laws on the books.
Hemp production was never banned outright, but it dropped to zero in the late 1950s because of competition from synthetic fibers and increasing anti-drug sentiment.
Hemp and marijuana are the same species, Cannabis sativa, just cultivated differently to enhance or reduce marijuana's psychoactive chemical, THC. The 1970 Controlled Substances Act required hemp growers to get a permit from the DEA, the last of which was issued in 1999 for a quarter-acre experimental plot in Hawaii. That permit expired in 2003.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture last recorded an industrial hemp crop in the late 1950s, down from a 1943 peak of more than 150 million pounds on 146,200 harvested acres.
But Loflin and other legalization advocates say hemp is back in style and that federal obstacles need to go.
Loflin didn't even have to hire help to bring in his crop, instead posting on Facebook that he needed volunteer harvesters. More than two dozen people showed up — from as far as Texas and Idaho.
Volunteers pulled the plants up from the root and piled them whole on two flatbed trucks. The mood was celebratory, people whooping at the sight of it and joking they thought they'd never see the day.
But there are reasons to doubt hemp's viability. Even if law enforcement doesn't interfere, the market might.
"It is not possible," Congressional Research Service researchers wrote in a July report, "to predict the potential market and employment effects of relaxing current restrictions on U.S. hemp production."
The most recent federal study came 13 years ago, when the USDA concluded the nation's hemp markets "are, and will likely remain, small" and "thin." And a 2004 study by the University of Wisconsin warned hemp "is not likely to generate sizeable profits" and highlighted "uncertainty about long-run demand for hemp products."
Still, there are seeds of hope. Global hemp production has increased from 250 million pounds in 1999 to more than 380 million pounds in 2011, according to United Nations agricultural surveys, which attributed the boost to increased demand for hemp seeds and hemp oil.
Congress is paying attention to the country's increasing acceptance of hemp. The House version of the stalled farm bill includes an amendment, sponsored by lawmakers in Colorado, Oregon and Kentucky, allowing industrial hemp cultivation nationwide. The amendment's prospects, like the farm bill's timely passage, are far from certain.
Ron Carleton, a Colorado deputy agricultural commissioner who is heading up the state's looming hemp licensure, said he has no idea what hemp's commercial potential is. He's not even sure how many farmers will sign up for Colorado's licensure program next year, though he's fielded a "fair number of inquiries."
"What's going to happen, we'll just have to see," Carleton said.


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Error: Use InfoLithium battery only
Follow the procedure below to troubleshoot the error.
NOTE: This error may also appear as For InfoLITHIUM battery only or For use with compatible battery only.
IMPORTANT: Sony cannot guarantee operation and does not support use with third-party batteries. Any issues with third-party batteries should be directed to the battery manufacturer.
- Check to see if the terminals of the battery or battery charger are dirty.
NOTE:- If the battery terminals are dirty, wipe off the dirt with a dry cloth, cotton swab, or the like. Then charge the battery.
- Be careful not to touch the battery terminals with your hands or metal objects.
- If available, Use a different Sony InfoLithium battery.
- If applicable, try connecting the AC power adapter to the camera.
NOTE: The power adapter should be plugged directly into an electrical wall outlet without using extension cords or surge protectors. If the issue occurs while the AC power adapter is connected, service may be required.


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College costs are driving decisions about which schools to attend, what to study and even where to live, according to a report from loan giant Sallie Mae.
Parents no longer foot the largest portion of the bill, according to the lender's annual survey. That role goes to grants and scholarships, with student loans coming in third.
While the recession has largely passed, economic worries have not, and many families are making college choices driven by fears of tuition hikes and job losses, according to the survey.
"Parents are willing to stretch themselves," said Sarah Ducich, Sallie Mae's senior vice president for public policy. "It's not that they're willing to pay. It's that their income is not keeping up."
College spending per student was about $21,000 during 2012, down from a peak of $24,000 in 2010, according to the Sallie Mae-Ipsos Public Affairs report.
The annual survey of student financial aid found students earned about $6,300 in grants and scholarships to pay for college costs, taking the top spots from parents.
Parents chipped in $5,727 on average, a decrease of 35 percent since 2010.
Student loans were the third most common source to pick up the bill for courses, housing and books. The average student borrowed $8,815 in federal loans.
The rate for those loans was the subject of debate in the Senate last week, as lawmakers considered a compromise that would offer some students lower rates for the next few years but would prescribe higher rates for future classes. The Senate is expected to vote on that White House-backed compromise this week.
"Rates on every single new college loan will come down this school year, offering relief to nearly 11 million borrowers," Education Secretary Arne Duncan said Wednesday.
The White House estimates the average undergraduate student would save $1,500 in interest charges if Congress acts before leaving town for the August recess. A vote has not been scheduled.
Last year, the average family turned to grants and scholarships to cover 30 percent of college costs. Parents' income and savings covered 27 percent of the bill and student borrowing covered 18 percent.
"We have moved into a post-recession reality in how people pay for college," Ducich said.
Parents' enthusiasm for college has not shriveled, though. The survey found 85 percent of parents saw college bills as an investment in their children's future.
"We're in a new normal where big ticket items like college, families will pay for them but won't stress about them too much," said Cliff Young, managing director at Ipsos.
One-fifth of parents added work hours to pay for college, and half of students increased their work hours, too. The report found 57 percent of families said students were living at home or with relatives, up from 41 percent last year and 44 percent in 2011.
Among other strategies employed to deal with costs:
One-fifth of students from low-income families chose to transfer to less expensive schools.
About one-fifth of students said they changed majors to fields that were expected to be more marketable upon graduation.
In all, 67 percent of students and their families eliminated colleges at some stage during the application process because of costs, up from 58 percent in 2008.
"It forced them to adopt new behaviors of savings and ways to find nickels and dimes," Young said.
The tuition sticker price at public four-year colleges is up 27 percent beyond overall inflation over the last five years, according to the latest figures from a separate study from the College Board. This past year, it rose nearly 5 percent to an average of $8,655 nationwide. Including room and board, the average sticker price at public colleges is now $17,860, and students pay on average $12,110. At private four-year colleges, the average full tuition price is now just under $40,000, with the average student paying $23,840.
What does that mean for the average college student?
About two-thirds of the national college class of 2011 had loan debt at graduation, and their debt averaged $26,600, according to the most recent figures from the California-based Institute for College Access and Success. That was an increase of about 5 percent from the class before them.
The Ipsos telephone poll was conducted between April 10 and May 9, with 802 parents of undergraduate students aged 18 to 24, and 800 18- to 24-year-old undergraduate students. The survey has a margin of error of plus or minus 2.5 percentage points.


text: One of the most popular questions asked of us is "What book do I need to restore my Corvette"? Here they are. These are the single most helpful reference books available anywhere, period. Each one of the Technical Manuals is the result of thousands of hours of research by the most knowledgeable hobbyists in the country. They are the culmination of everything currently known about each model.


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One of the most special and characteristic wall tile options is to use mosaics. Their irregular finish and range of combinations create interesting spaces that are full of nuance, reflections and unique variations.
Texture and movement in different materials
Mosaics made of natural materials bring texture to walls and contribute to a pleasing sense of motion. They are made from a wide range of materials, selected from the best and most beautiful raw materials. Produced in countless colours and in different materials such as wood, stone, ceramic, glass or metal, the hundreds of available tiles can be found in different formats: square, hexagonal, rectangular or even in arrowhead or diamond shapes. There are also mosaics that combine materials, series that work with brushed surfaces, different heights and pieces that unite matte and gloss-finish tiles, multiplying decorative options and giving rise to very different interiors.
They are commonly used to cover bathroom spaces thanks to their fresh appearance and dynamism and, more specifically, to dress walls that house the shower space, where the richness of the mosaic invokes traditional Greco-Roman baths. Each material used to produce the mosaic tiles adds different subtleties to the decoration. Natural wood mosaics stand out for their three-dimensional volume while glass mosaics stand out for the brightness they give off. Stone mosaics highlight the sobriety and modernity of spaces, and metal mosaics play with light to help create a dramatic appearance. All overcome the barrier of linear designs and create an interesting combination of lights, shadows and relief.


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By GOPUSA Staff - 1/22/2013
ILION, N.Y. - The big brick Remington gun factory pieces together military-style rifles in a state that has just banned their sale after a string of mass shootings led to a national outcry over civilian ownership of them.
Residents of Ilion see the issue far differently: The gun factory is a major local employer and a source of pride for almost two centuries.
As Mayor John Stephens put it, "Remington is Ilion. Ilion is Remington."
Little wonder that residents in this blue-collar stretch of the Mohawk Valley are defending Remington after state lawmakers banned the sale of semi-automatic rifles like the Bushmaster weapon made there. The move came after the weapon was linked to gunmen in the deadly Connecticut school shooting and in the Christmas Eve slayings of two firefighters in western New York.
Remington employee Tom Bradle said don't blame the guns in mass shootings, blame the shooters.
"It's the person that pulls the trigger. I don't care what kind of gun it is," Bradle said as he walked back to the factory from lunch break on a chilly, gray day recently.
Chad Delmedico, who works on Remington's Model 700 bolt-action rifle, said it more simply: "We have a bum rap."
Remington has been intertwined with Ilion since shortly after Eliphalet Remington crafted a flintlock rifle on his father's forge in 1816. Even the elementary school shares the company's name. Company officials did not respond to calls seeking comment, but locals say the factory employs about 1,200 people and produces Bushmaster, Marlin and H&R products.
Parts of the Remington Arms Co. factory, with its imposing four-story front of brick and old-style, multi-paned windows, date back to the days when upstate New York was a manufacturing powerhouse. But factory jobs have become rarer in the string of modest towns along the Mohawk River, and Ilion, with about 8,000 residents, depends heavily on Remington.
Stephens, the mayor, was disgusted by the news last month of 20 first-graders and six adults killed by a gunman at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn. But he is critical of the New York state law approved last week banning certain semi-automatic rifles and large-capacity magazines and calling for background checks on ammunition purchases, among other measures. He dismisses the idea that there's an emotional link between Newtown and Ilion.
"Are people disappointed and distraught?" Stephens asked. "Do they feel bad and are they sad? Absolutely! Absolutely! I would never wish that on anyone, never. But as far as an emotional attachment between us and them, I don't see it."
Stephens voiced a sentiment heard frequently in this largely conservative area: New York's law and the sweeping gun regulation package proposed recently by President Barack Obama are wrongheaded.
The New York law, starting when Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed it Jan. 15, defined as illegal assault weapons semi-automatic rifles that accept detachable magazines and have one additional military-style feature such as a pistol grip, flash suppressor or bayonet mount. The old law required two such features.
At the State Bowling Center next to the Remington factory, Rod Brown said the weapon that the Newtown gunman used could easily have been a Smith & Wesson or a Browning instead of a Bushmaster model.
Kelley Holmes-Morton in her salon, Heads-R-Turning, said she is a National Rifle Association member who believes gun makers are not to blame. And Betty Watkins said as she pumped gas that the Second Amendment, about people's right to bear arms, is being "pushed around and misused."
Robbi Breit at the Sellers Avenue consignment shop seemed more conflicted than others in Ilion but still feels that closing Remington won't end gun violence.
"I cried my heart out" after Sandy Hook, she said. "I'm torn between both sides. But you can get another job. You can't get another kid."
Bushmaster is owned by Freedom Group Inc., the largest firearms maker in the U.S., which has its headquarters on Remington Drive outside the neighboring small towns of Madison and Mayodan, N.C.
No guns or ammunition are manufactured there. Most people around know the 43,000-square-foot building near the high school and the Walmart as the home of Remington Arms, which moved to the site in the mid-1990s, and not the weapons conglomerate Freedom Group has become, said Mayodan Town Manager Michael Brandt.
"They're not big contributors to the community like a typical large company would be in an area," Brandt said. "This is where they're located, but we don't really see much of them."
Word that Freedom Group is for sale and changes are looming has generated little local concern in an area where surviving textile producers and a Miller-Coors brewery are bigger employers, said Sharon Chirichella, who runs a temporary staffing agency and is an officer with the local chamber of commerce.
That contrasts with Ilion, where the concern among people is the future of Remington. The company had said last March it could leave New York if the state went ahead with a move to add unique identifying information on spent bullet casings. That proposal is off the table, but people in town wonder where things stand in the wake of the new state law, which does not affect Remington's ability to manufacture military-style weapons.
"If I'm an executive at Remington, what's my attitude going to be toward the state that bans one of the premier products that I produce?" local Assemblyman Marc Butler asked.
Obama's gun control proposal added more uncertainty. Jamie Rudwall, who has worked at the plant since 1995 and is president of the United Mine Workers of America Local 717, said he expected the gun business to increase in the short term amid new regulatory proposals, but he worries about jobs in Ilion long term.
"We've been here almost 200 years," he said. "I hope to be here another 200."
AP Business Writer Emery P. Dalesio in Raleigh, N.C., contributed to this report.
Justice William Smith House, Mercersburg, PA -- Birthplace of the Second Amendment in 1765.
Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution - Bill of Rights
"A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed."
Preservation and Proposition
Our mission is to document the pivotal Second Amendment events that occurred in Frontier Mercersburg, and its environs, and to heighten awareness of the importance of these events in the founding of our Nation.
We are dedicated to the preservation of the place where the Second Amendment was "born" and to the proposition that the Second Amendment (the "right to bear arms") is the keystone of our Liberty and the Republic.
We are dedicated to the preservation of the place where the Second Amendment was "born" and to the proposition that the Second Amendment (the "right to bear arms") is the keystone of our Liberty and the Republic.
Tuesday, January 22, 2013
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Tuesday, October 4, 2011
Pure Awesomeness
Step 2: email Collin to schedule your video shoot: firstname.lastname@example.com
This is one of my favorite things I've ever watched! Had to share it with you all.
Happy Tuesday!
48 comments:
- Tanya Privalova said...
very fun video!super!so emotional and lovely!i smiled during all video!your dances are perfect))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))super!!!
- October 4, 2011 at 7:59 AM
- Julia said...
I have huge smile on my face, this is amazing :D
- October 4, 2011 at 8:10 AM
- Ann R. said...
This was great! I watched several other of his films. Wonderful. Your hubby has such talent. :)
- October 4, 2011 at 8:31 AM
- Unknown said...
Uhh... - yep, that is totally awesome!! I love Collin's work!! :)
- October 4, 2011 at 8:42 AM
- Unknown said...
What fun!!
- October 4, 2011 at 8:57 AM
- Michele said...
Definitely a smile maker!
- October 4, 2011 at 9:00 AM
- lucysinspired said...
I totally turned up the volume! Love it....abundance of talent. We need to get you guys to the south!
- October 4, 2011 at 9:45 AM
- Elizabeth said...
this is awesome!! Will he come to Wisconsin?? :)
- October 4, 2011 at 10:04 AM
- likeschocolate said...
I agree! My smile is very big1
- October 4, 2011 at 10:05 AM
- elana k said...
Wow wow, just awesome. Big smile over here too!! :)
- October 4, 2011 at 10:35 AM
- Sharon said...
Wow- awesome job!
- October 4, 2011 at 10:54 AM
- Jen Schow said...
Your husband has a serious talent. Amazing!
- October 4, 2011 at 10:54 AM
- Kim Woods said...
Awwww Super Sweet Family! I couldn't help thinking about their laundry piles and the ordeal it was for everyone to look that cute all at once! I only have 3 kids :) and it is a miraculous adventure for dress up times.
- October 4, 2011 at 11:36 AM
- Jola said...
Oh I wish I could do step 2 too !!
What a lovely family !And then the pretty mom ; five kids and lookiing so amazing !
Collin, you did a great job, love the way you captured them !! - October 4, 2011 at 12:08 PM
Totally smiling. Now if only I lived somewhere even close to UT.
- October 4, 2011 at 1:03 PM
- Emilie said...
- October 4, 2011 at 1:25 PM
- kinze said...
yea that's like really awesome ... and that family is to cute for words :)
- October 4, 2011 at 1:59 PM
- Pearl said...
Too cute! Love the song too!!
this made me smile for sure!
Olga - October 4, 2011 at 2:34 PM
- Tiffany said...
So cute!!!!!
- October 4, 2011 at 3:06 PM
I loved it, I so look forward to seeing what you post next. Now if I could convince you to come to Colorado............HMMMMMMM. Its closer than Tokoyo.
Vicki R
firstname.lastname@example.com - October 4, 2011 at 4:09 PM
- Jennifer Johnson said...
Awesome video & beautiful family! If you ever take the biz on the road, you have a client in Kansas! :)
- October 4, 2011 at 9:29 PM
- Myrna Marcano said...
God bless!!! - October 5, 2011 at 6:52 AM
- Unknown said...
Are these people some of your friends? or is it collins job to create videos like this? and would you tell me how these sweet kiddos are named?
i love love love to watch these kind of videos, it makes me happy.
watch out!
lovely greets :) - October 5, 2011 at 7:25 AM
- Tami McBeain said...
Perfectly amazing!
- October 5, 2011 at 8:08 AM
- Queen of Bristol said...
Who is singing this awesome song???? Great video!!!
- October 5, 2011 at 8:09 AM
- AndreafromNoVA said...
AHHHHHMAZING!!!!! Just loved that!! beautiful family!! (Isn't that one of BH's friends?) or maybe I've just seen them in your work?? You'll have to excuse my photographic memory, I just know I've seen them before in my inspiration books. ;-) Sooooooo when are you guys coming to the East coast to do something like that??
- October 5, 2011 at 8:10 AM
- sophie said...
is it normal if I both smile and cry!! this is so beautiful!!!
cna Collin come to France!! pleaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaase!! - October 5, 2011 at 8:56 AM
- Jenifer said...
Thank you for sharing.
I LOVE it. Collin is very talented. - October 5, 2011 at 9:57 AM
- Andie said...
Brilliant dancing! I love how the Dad plays the baby as an air guitar near the end...very funny x
- October 5, 2011 at 10:04 AM
Indeed it's awsome ! I'd love to have a video shoot like that ! Maybe one day if you'll come in France ^^ ?
- October 5, 2011 at 10:07 AM
This is PURE AWSOMENESS!! What incredible personalities, and boy did Collin capture them, looks like a family that anyone would be blessed to be friends with!
- October 5, 2011 at 10:22 AM
- joolee said...
what a beautiful family! and props to Collin's skillz. :) i'd love a video shoot like that! would he travel to rainy WA? :)
- October 5, 2011 at 10:25 AM
- pakosta said...
that was BRILLIANT!! it actually made my eyes tear up and a lump in my throat and made me SMILE> LOVE IT!
great job Colin, YOU ROCK!
wish I lived closer!
tara - October 5, 2011 at 12:15 PM
- Unknown said...
Once again, I am amazed....
:) Amazing job Collin. - October 5, 2011 at 12:30 PM
- lexsmama said...
Amazing talent, Collin! Awesome video! What talent!
So, the next time y'all are in the Texas area... :-) - October 5, 2011 at 12:43 PM
What a great video of a family enjoying the simple things in life. Love, Laughter and Family.
Thank you for sharing. - October 5, 2011 at 1:36 PM
- Ben and Camille said...
awesome video! i just made a music video with my family over this conference weekend, i thought you would get a kick out of it! http://vimeo.com/30083062. YES that is my mom and dad joining in:)
- October 5, 2011 at 7:05 PM
- Jamie said...
What a great family!!! Thanks for the smile!!!
- October 5, 2011 at 10:38 PM
oh my goodness, i smiled the entire time! :)
- October 5, 2011 at 11:51 PM
what song is that?
- October 6, 2011 at 7:30 AM
- Andrea said...
this is AWWWWEEESOMMMME!!!!
people at my work are like.. what in the world are you listening to?? haha!!
why cant you guys live in kentucky??? collin- what do you shoot with? - October 6, 2011 at 9:44 AM
- Collin Kartchner said...
Thanks everyone. The song is "Tokyo" by Imagine Dragons. I shoot with Canon 5D Mark 2's. I like Spicy Italian Subway sandwich's. I think that answers everyone's questions.
- October 6, 2011 at 10:01 AM
- Amanda said...
Wow! This is such a fun video! (And a fun family :) )
- October 10, 2011 at 6:21 AM
- Renee' Morris-Dezember said...
Collin that was AWESOME...totally put a smile on my face :) ...so wanna come to WA and make one with my cute kiddos ;)
- October 11, 2011 at 9:27 AM
- Jaimie said...
this is so great. collin is super talented.. what a cool job too.
- October 13, 2011 at 1:07 PM
- Sarah said...
after watching that I thought "that is so awesome" then I saw the title of your post!! very cool vid
- October 13, 2011 at 11:51 PM
- Lisa said...
Very cool! Perfectly captures how great family life is. Well done!
- October 14, 2011 at 11:21 AM
- trish said...
That Mom is a hoot! Love her dances. And did that kid just do the worm? Dang! Totally fun. Genius Collin! You're good kid. Cleetus could NEVER do anything like that!
- October 27, 2011 at 11:15 AM


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Culture Cuts
26 Aug 2013
I was looking for the label that read "occhio sporgente." I couldn't find it. Knowing it was probably just my horrible Italian translation skills, I still tried to find the "rib eye" cut among the many slabs of beef laid before us at Elisa Estate Farm in the Italian province of Reggio Emilia. Instead I found the lombata (loin) con filleto (filet) cut next to the sottospalla (chuck), which were nearby the noce (walnut) and scamone (chump) cuts. And, clearly, my Italian was worse than I thought if I was looking at "walnut" and "chump" cuts, and still couldn't find a simple rib eye. My international master program class from the University of Gastronomic Sciences (UNISG) was visiting Emilia-Romagna this past February to learn about the region's food culture and production. We were learning that Emilian meat is just as important as the Parmigiano Reggiano cheese and Aceto Balsamico Tradizionale that the region is famous for. Finally I asked Chef Gianni Brancatelli, our host and instructor for the session, where the rib eye was. He smiled, pointed to the lombata con filleto cut, and said, "Half of it is in here." He explained that in Italy the rib eye cut doesn't exist—just like the noce cut doesn't appear in my home country of Canada—but is instead just a small part of the bottom sirloin. Chef Brancatelli further explained that the filet, one of the most expensive cuts in Europe and North America and prized for its tenderness, is exported in South America, where the tastier diaphragm is preferred for their recipes; it's all a matter of taste. It seems logical: different food cultures developing their own recipes would of course cut up the beef in different ways and prize different cuts. But for me—someone who has grown up in an area dominated by beef production—this was eye opening. Never before had I thought about not being able to eat a rib eye steak, or that there isn't some sort of international standardization in meat exports. Instead, I learned that the lombata con filleto is perfect to make a steak tartare, and that the girello is great to make a carpaccio, or even a vitello tonnato (a typical Piedmontese dish that I have come to love). Chef Brancatelli's meat seminar taught me that, even in a simple cut of meat, food tells a rich story. This has been my greatest takeaway from my time at the UNISG, a place that has exposed me to so many new cultures and points of view. I've met with farmers, food policy makers, chefs, and food writers—not to mention classmates representing 17 different countries—and have discussed the various food production systems and how they have an impact on all of us in different, yet similar ways. I may not have found the occhio sporgente in Reggio Emilia, but I've found so much more. The UNISG offers four Master programs in Food Culture and Communications, with a rich program of study trips in Italy and around Europe. Applications are now open for 2014. Find out more at www.unisg.it Image: Pearson Scott Foresman (wikicommons)
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Terry Garner, Oregon farmer, eaten by his hogs, authorities say
(AP) COQUILLE, Ore. -- Oregon authorities are investigating how a farmer was eaten by his hogs.
Terry Vance Garner, 69, never returned after he set out to feed his animals last Wednesday on his farm near the Oregon coast, the Coos County district attorney said Monday.
A family member found Garner's dentures and pieces of his body in the hog enclosure several hours later, but most of his remains had been consumed, District Attorney Paul Frasier said. Several of the hogs weighed 700 pounds or more.
It's possible Garner had a medical emergency, such as a heart attack, or was knocked over by the animals, then killed and eaten, Frasier said, adding that at least one hog had previously bitten Garner.
The possibility of foul play is being investigated as well.
"For all we know, it was a horrific accident, but it's so doggone weird that we have to look at all possibilities," Frasier told The Register-Guard.
A pathologist was unable to identify a cause or manner of death, the newspaper reported. The remains will be examined by a forensic anthropologist at the University of Oregon.
Terry Garner was "a good-hearted guy" who cared for several huge adult sows and a boar named Teddy, said his brother, Michael Garner, 75, of Myrtle Point.
Piglets were typically sold to local 4-H kids.
"Those animals were his life," Michael Garner said. "He had all kinds of birds, and turkeys that ran all over the place. Everybody knew him."
Michael Garner said one of the large sows bit his brother last year when he accidentally stepped on a piglet.
"He said he was going to kill it, but when I asked him about it later, he said he had changed his mind," the brother said.
Domestic hogs are not typically known to be as aggressive as their feral cousins, but "there is some degree of danger associated with any animal," John Killefer, who heads the Animal and Rangeland Sciences Department at Oregon State University in Corvallis, told the newspaper.
While pigs "are more omnivorous than other farm animals, (such as) cows," Killefer called the case highly unusual.
Most hogs are raised until they reach a market weight of between 250 and 300 pounds, while breeding female pigs rarely weigh more than 400 pounds, Killefer said.