text:
Pan-Seared Salmon with Pasta and Spinach Cream Sauce
This pasta is surprisingly light, a delightful characteristic considering the richness of the cream.
While our enthusiasm for cooking has grown immensely over the past year, we still feel mostly reluctant to toss our recipe books aside and approach the task with our own original ideas and ingredients. A sense of improvisation comes with confidence, and as the acting theorist Konstantin Stanislavski suggests, cultivating concentration and trusting one's instincts. Instincts. We don't do those so good. See, when you're acting, you might have a bad idea and you get past it, or you break scene briefly and then regain your concentration. When you're cooking, you bungle a flavor pairing or leave the steak on the heat too long, you end up with some pretty grievous recipes and angry dinner guests. Our idea first came from a desire for some kind of pasta and seafood combination. Blake suggested salmon, and the Joy of Cooking 's Spinach Fettuccine with Smoked Salmon and Asparagus presented itself. But things fell apart quickly. Blake indignantly refused smoked salmon. "You pay like 8 bucks for 4 ounces of the stuff. It's more like a seasoning. I want fresh salmon." "Well that kind of screws up the recipe," Nick politely said. "We'll just like use regular salmon and swing it." "That's a different recipe entirely." "Yeah, well this thing called for a pound of asparagus. Our pee is going to smell for weeks. I thought you were interested in a seafood -based dish." "Whatever." We were at one of those dead ends where our online and print recipe resources had nothing in the vein of what we actually felt like eating. We settled on the spinach idea, fresh leaves, and figured the cream sauce was a good direction. Then we hit the store with no further direction, and ended up with our most satisfying meal in weeks. It also cost us, we must add, eleven dollars total with half a bag of spinach and a bushel of parsley to spare. We drank a 2004 Leitz Dragonstone Riesling , and nearly exploded in happiness. The pasta was surprisingly light, a delightful characteristic considering the richness of the cream. After hearing two wine experts in two days attempt to convince us of the merits of Rieslings, we obliged. This crisp wine--sweet but nowhere near syrupy--was to our mind the perfect compliment. Pan-Seared Salmon Pasta with Spinach 8 oz salmon fillet 5 oz fresh spinach (half a bag) 1 cup heavy cream Small handful of parsley 3 tablespoons of butter 1/2 pound of pasta (half a box) Zest of one lemon Salt and Pepper to taste Serves 2 (easily doubled to 4). Simple instructions here . First things first, fill a large pot with water, salt it, and turn it on high for the pasta. This recipe doesn't take that much time, so having the water ready will avoid aimless standing in the kitchen. Melt some butter in a pan over medium-high. Once the butter has completely melted, foams, and just begins to take on a brown shade, take the fish and place it in the pan flesh side down. Since the salmon is going to be broken up into the pasta, there's no need to splurge for salmon steaks, which run you around twice the price. Sauté the fish for 3 to 4 minutes, or until the skin has nice coloring like in this beautiful picture. Cook for another 3 to 4 minutes until the middle has lost much of its redness. Don't worry too much, since the fish will be placed into the sauce later in the recipe and will finish cooking if need be. You're developing a nice crust in this stage. When ready, remove the fish and place it on a cutting board. Remove the zest from one lemon. This can be done in various ways, but we just use a microplane cheese grater. Vegetable peelers work, too--make sure to use only the yellow skin and not the bitter white layer beneath it. Finely chop a handful of parsley. Wash the spinach in a colander. Place a little more butter in the same pan as you cooked the fish, and throw in the spinach. It will seem like an absurd amount of spinach, but it will dramatically shrink in a few moments. Once it has condensed by half, throw in the lemon zest. Now is a good time to check the pot of boiling water, as the rest of the recipe will be done in 10 minutes. If ready, throw in the pasta. Once the spinach looks wilted, pour the heavy cream into the pan and let it reduce for a few minutes, depending on how far along your pasta is. Meanwhile, remove the skin from the back of the fish. It is surprisingly easy to remove once it has been cooked. You can use a fork or a knife, but it is honestly much easier to peel back with your fingers. Get all of it completely off. Flake the fish with two forks. While the meat is tender and can easily be forced apart, try to feel with the forks for the parts that will separate naturally. This will make the chunks stay together better in the pasta. Place the salmon back into the pan, then toss in a whole handful of finely chopped parsley. Drain the cooked pasta, and dump it into the pan. Toss it with a pair of tongs and serve right away.
Food, Main Course, Beef, Cooking, Food and drink, Heavy Cream, Italian, Konstantin Stanislavski, Meat, Mediterranean cuisine, Pasta, Pasta, Pasta, Salmon, Salmon Pasta, Seafood, Smoked salmon, Spinach, Steak


text:
The Role of Neuro-Optometry in the Recovery of Brain Injury and Trauma
A neuro-optometrist, such as our eye doctors, can treat visual, perceptual, and motor problems that may arise following brain injury or trauma, such as a concussion. All too often, the root cause of these symptoms isn't accurately identified as a visual processing issue— and this may hinder the patient's ability to recover.
Below is a list of the common ocular conditions that can arise following a brain injury and trauma— all of which can be detected and treated at our neuro-optometric vision rehabilitation center. These include:
- Vestibular Dysfunction – hypersensitivity to visual motion which is commonly associated with headaches and motion sickness.
- Acquired Strabismus – also known as "crossed-eyes." This occurs when the eyes do not align properly. One or both can turn inward, outward, upward, or downward.
- Convergence and/or accommodative insufficiency – Difficulty paying attention or focusing on near or far objects for long periods of time.
- Visual-spatial dysfunction/visual processing disorder – a disrupted sense of where objects are in space. Difficulty in detecting differences in shapes or letters.
- Oculomotor Dysfunction – characterized by issues with balance, reading comprehension and speed, writing, and any other focused visual task.
- Nystagmus – a condition where the eyes repeatedly make uncontrolled movements. This can result in problems with balance, visual acuity, and depth perception.
- Post Traumatic Vision Syndrome – may result in reading difficulties (as words will seem to run together), blurry or double vision. Symptoms may not appear for days, weeks, or even months after the incident.
- Hemianopsia/Visual Neglect—losing half of your visual field from either side.
Reduced Cognitive Functioning for Visual Tasks
The visual perceptual deficits following brain injury or trauma may have dramatic effects on academic, occupational, and even athletic success by negatively impacting:
- Visual Discrimination – The ability to discriminate the small differences between objects
- Visual Memory – Retaining a visual record of something observed — a crucial skill for learning
- Visual Sequential Memory – The ability to remember a string of items such as a grocery list, a phone number, or a combination code
- Visual Figure-Ground – Difficulty singling out an object among many, such as a car in a parking lot
- Light sensitivity – Also called photophobia, this is a common condition following a brain injury that makes it unbearable to be outdoors, in a mall, or in a brightly-lit classroom.
These problems and conditions can also result in secondary psychological conditions such as panic attacks and depression.
Fortunately, these are all issues that Eye Q Optometrist regularly treats. If you are suffering from any of the above symptoms or conditions, please reach out to us as soon as possible. We regularly assist patients by retraining their visual systems to overcome these challenges, thus helping them get back to doing the things they love.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Last edited: 28 December 2020
The CooKit was PEP tested with a double Pyrex bowl glazing enclosure.
Panel-style solar cookers are the first solar cookers that are truly affordable to the world's neediest. In 1994, a volunteer group of engineers and solar cooks associated with Solar Cookers International developed and produced the CooKit, based on a design by French scientist Roger Bernard. Elegant and deceptively simple looking, it is an affordable, effective, and convenient solar cooker. With a few hours of sunshine, the CooKit makes tasty meals for five to six people at gentle temperatures, cooking food and preserving nutrients without burning or drying out. Larger families use two or more cookers (See: Cooking for large groups).
The CooKit is made of cardboard and foil shaped to reflect maximum sunlight onto a black cooking pot that converts sunlight into thermal (heat) energy. A heat-resistant bag (or similar transparent cover) surrounds the pot, acting like a greenhouse by allowing sunlight to hit the pot and preventing heat from escaping. It weighs half a 0.5 kg (1.1 lbs) and folds to the size of a large book for easy transport.
CooKits are now produced independently in dozens of countries from a wide variety of materials at a cost of USD 3.00 - 7.00.
CooKits complement other cooking methods needed at night and on cloudy days. Coming about twenty years after the first efforts to replace open fires with improved cooking stoves, the CooKit uses no fuel at all. The CooKit is both user-friendly and environmentally friendly. Families can save scarce, expensive fuel for when they cannot solar cook and when economically capable, add other, higher cost cooking improvements such as modern biomass, smoke hoods, biogas, or liquefied petroleum gas.
CooKit benefits
Addressing fuelwood scarcities:
- The CooKit saves more than four times its value in fuelwood each year. With careful use and storage, a CooKit can be used for two years, reducing fuelwood consumption by two tonnes.
- Reduces pressure on forests for firewood and charcoal.
Improving health:
- The CooKit can pasteurize household drinking water, making it safe to drink.
- The solar cooking process is smokeless, reducing respiratory diseases and eye irritation.
- Solar cooked foods retain vitamins, nutrients, and their natural flavors. There is no smoky taste; the foods cook slowly in their own juices. Nutritious, slow-cooking traditional foods (beans, root crops, and some grains) are restored to the family diet.
- Cleanup is easy as the food never burns or sticks to the cooking pot.
- Solar cooks frequently report that the money they save on cooking fuel purchases is used for many essentials, such as extra food, school supplies, and medical care.
- Without having to gather wood or dung, breathe smoke, and tend a fire – all associated with traditional cooking – solar cooking is easy and safe for people with AIDS and other illnesses, the elderly, disabled, and young orphans.
Enhancing household and women's economic status:
- The CooKit represents a new opportunity for women to capitalize on an underserved market and better meet their own cooking energy needs.
- Solar cooking saves time as there is less need to tend a fire or collect firewood. A person can cook while at work, at the market, or tending crops. Young girls can attend school instead of searching for fuelwood.
- Solar energy is free and abundant in many areas of Kenya, providing a safe, clean, and healthy supplement to traditional fuels.
Co-developers are Roger Bernard of France and Barbara Kerr of the USA, with work also by Ed Pejack, Jay Campbell, and Bev Blum of Solar Cookers International. Extensive field tests in the USA and in many developing countries confirm its performance, convenience, low cost, acceptance, and adaptability to diverse needs.
Construction plans
Detailed plans
- Solar Cookers: How to Make, Use, and Enjoy
- The CooKit - Cook Naturally with the Sun. This is a handbook published by Solar Cookers International that includes detailed plans for building a CooKit solar panel cooker. (There are also detailed versions in Arabic (also a variation), French, Spanish, and English for Kenya, and Galician.)
- Solar Cooking KoZon has published a manual illustrating how to build CooKits in the field.
Simple plans in other languages
German, Indonesian, Italian, Luo, Persian, Portuguese, Russian, and Spanish
If you can't find a large flat piece of cardboard or have difficulty laying out the fairly complicated measurements and angles, consider building one of the variations below.
PDF file for printing out a full-size template
You can download this PDF file to print out a full-size template at a copy center. You can then trace this template onto cardboard to make a CooKit. This eliminates having to lay out the pattern manually or print out the template in sections, and will simplify the construction process. Full-size CooKit template for printout
You can also download this PDF file to print out the full-size template on 25 pages of 8.5 x 11 in (standard US Letter size) paper. No resizing necessary - just open and print, then tape the pages together. Each page overlaps the next page by 10 mm (3/4 in) and has guide marks in each corner to help with alignment. Full-size CooKit template for printout - Tiled.
Using an existing CooKit as a template
Tips and tricks
- To make clean straight folds in cardboard, first make a crease along the line with a blunt edge such as a spoon handle, then fold against a firm straight edge.
- Make the slots a little too small and narrow so that they fit snugly to hold up the front panel.
- To set up, lay panel flat with shiny side up. Fold up front and back parts and fit back corners into the slots in front.
Cooking directions
The pot
Put your food into a dark-colored pot with a dark-colored or clear lid.
- Main article: Pots
Plastic bags and other glazings
- Main article: Glazing
Place the pot inside a plastic bag or other clear enclosure. Close the open end of the bag and place pot and bag into the center of the cooker. When using two plastic bags, one inside the other, temperatures can increase up to 20 °C (68 °F) over what is reached using a single bag (source: SCN).
See tips below for using normal (non-heat-resistant) plastic bags. Note that when solar cooking conditions are very good, you may be able to cook without the use of a plastic bag around the pot.
Please note that if plastic bags have been outlawed in your country, there are many other ways to surround the cooking pot described in Glazing.
Cooking various foods
Choosing a cooking location
Set the CooKit on a dry, level surface in direct sunshine away from potential shadows. For best results, solar cooking requires continuous, direct sunshine throughout the cooking period.
Orienting the CooKit
- Face the cooker ahead of the sun pointing to the location where the sun will be an hour later. This allows the cooker to cook most foods without needing to turn it to follow the sun.
- When cooking beans or when cooking on a marginal day, you will need to turn the cooker at least once to keep oriented optimally.
- FOR ALL-DAY COOKING, orient cooker so that it faces where the sun will be at noon or early afternoon. Food will be ready and waiting for the evening meal.
For recommendations of cooking times for specific foods, see Foods.
Adjusting the front flap
Cooking on windy days
- Main article: Wind protection
See also: Providing more support for the CooKit solar panel cooker - Ashok Kundapur
Care and storage
Store the CooKit in a safe place away from moisture and animals, preferably indoors. Allow plastic bags to air-dry or gently wipe dry with a towel. The CooKit is compact and portable. When not in use, it can be simply folded lengthwise into thirds or folded flat into a 33 cm (13 in) square.
Tips and tricks
Dr. Steven Jones found that raising the pot on a wire frame improved cooking in a panel cooker. It is also possible to set the pot on a clear glass bowl. | |
Glass bowls and pie pans can be used to raise the pot off of the bottom of the cooker (note that the pot would normally be enclosed in an oven cooking bag when using a panel cooker). In some cases, they may provide more stability used upside-down. | |
Wietske Jongbloed created a simple frame to allow the use of normal plastic bags (instead of heat-resistant oven cooking bags). | |
Jose Albano created this frame to protect normal plastic bags (photo shows frame with bag removed). | |
Dr. Ashok Kundapur has suggested a way to make a housing out of flat plastic sheeting. A bottom cylinder is supported by wire frame while a transparent cover, made of the same plastic material, makes access to the food very easy. This arrangement can also be used for retained-heat cooking. | |
Stephen Harrigan found that discarded plastic phone cards, which are readily available in Africa, worked well to strengthen CooKits in their most vulnerable areas. See also Making the CooKit more durable. | |
To remedy the moisture problem inherent in a product made of cardboard, the Solar Cookers International East Africa Office and colleagues have added notebook binding tape, also readily available in large cities or capitals to seal steno notebooks for students. | |
Nikwax has been used to waterproof and increase the durability of CooKits, reportedly extending the life of a CooKit by 50%. Its early use was in refugee camps in Chad as a result of a collaboration between Nikwax and TchadSolaire. |
- Stephen Pearson reports: "We build CooKits in pieces using eleven small panels of cardboard. Shops even in rural areas have thin card stock available as scrap. These can be laminated together using local cassava glue (cassava is grown all over Africa) to form stiff panels, thus avoiding the need to import thicker cardboard. Join the eleven panels together with [5 cm] 2 in strips of worn-out dress or shirt (using the cassava glue). Protect the perimeter of the 11 panels with more [5 cm] 2 in strips ([2.5 cm] one in front and one in back to stop delamination of the cardboard). Let each panel dry properly. Then turn it over and glue on the aluminum foil to the side with no cloth hinge strips."
See also
Buying CooKits
- CooKits can be purchased from Solar Cookers International inside the United States.
- Internationally, see NGOs using CooKits to possibly purchase from one of these groups.
European Solar Panel Cooker variation
The European Solar Panel Cooker (ESPaC) is a modification of the CooKit that is engineered to be most efficient in temperate latitudes (as opposed to the standard CooKit, which works best when the sun is high in the sky). Since the power of the sun rays is weaker at low-sun locations since the sun's rays have to traverse a thicker layer of air, the reflector material must be of high quality and high reflectivity. More information...
Manos Unidas variation
Solar Cookers International's standard CooKit calls for a lot of curves, which can be hard to make with a hand held blade. Juan Urrutia Sanz of the Manos Unidas organization in Spain writes that his group promotes a variation on the CooKit shape that is easier for many people to make at home. The Manos Unidas version, called Cocinsol II. Señor Urrutia y Sanz reports that it cooks as well as the CooKit and actually has more reflective surface area. SCI's Jay Campbell agrees. Jay is an engineer who has chaired the SCI Research Committee and who worked on engineering the CooKit for manufacture in Kenya. (One key advantage of the CooKit's curved shape is that it is easier to figure out a way to fold it into an album-sized package for easy storage and transport.) To make your own Cocinsol II, use the shape and dimensions shown in the graphic. Cardboard is an inexpensive material to use which holds its shape and is also easy to fold. However, woven mats or baskets, molded plastics or wood can be used. The solid lines in the design show where to cut; the dotted lines show where to fold. Cover the surfaces of one side with shiny material such as aluminum foil or shiny gift wrap (which will reflect light to the pot at the center of the cooker).
High-Back variation
As part of their testing, Florida Solar Energy Center engineers redesigned the CooKit into a new geometry. The new design simply takes the same amount and type of material that makes up today's CooKit and reconfigures it into a different shape. They dubbed it the "High Back reflector" because it has a back reflector that is much higher (i.e., taller) than the one in the standard CooKit.
Diassana variation
Mr. Gnibouwa Diassana, of Bla, Mali, has been able to find sources for all the materials in or near Bla. "Cardboard is available in big towns," he writes. "Plywood, glass, aluminum foil, sheet metal and plastic bags are available in Bla and neighboring towns."
Mr. Diassana also applies creative thinking to obtain low-cost materials. He notes that tea, a very popular beverage in Mali, is shipped from China in boxes lined with aluminum foil which can be recovered and reused for making reflectors for solar cookers. "It works well," he says.
What is lacking in Bla, however, are large pieces of cardboard. To adapt to this problem, Mr. Diassana makes solar CooKits from five pieces of cardboard which he patches together using small thin pieces of cardboard (see Figure 1), or from pieces of satin fabric (glued or sewn into place to hold the large CooKit parts together (see Figure 2).
King variation
Philip King writes of his variation:
I've made one CooKit and wanted to make more, but each time I've looked at the published plans I've found that they don't suit my way of thinking. I also find them difficult to scale to suit an arbitrary size of material. So, and in case there are others like me who get dizzy looking at all those angles and inches and centimetres, I've drawn my own design with the following intentions:
- to use as few measurements as possible
- to use an arbitrary unit that could be easily enlarged or reduced
- to find all angles automatically
- to use straight-line cuts throughout
- to use as few cuts as possible (I could still lose a few)
- to derive details easily without a template
- to eliminate guesswork or fudging
- to reduce the need for written instructions
I also wanted it to be as close as possible to SCI's classic and well-proven CooKit design but have some distinctive features of its own.
Of course, the production-line cookers are quite quickly made using templates, so this new plan has no advantage there. It is really intended to help those who are making a one-off cooker out of whatever randomly sized material they happen to get hold of.
The design which follows is really meant for heavy corrugated board and not intended to fold to a small size (that's not to say it wouldn't if thin enough, I just haven't worked out yet how to derive the folds) and although the back angles are pretty close to the classic design they are different to a couple of degrees. The front panel is deeper and the back lower than in the classic, but not by much.
The chevron cuts in the ends of the side wings are to retain some surface area while also making the tabs narrower to fit the slots. I had an earlier design with a wider base and front panel to accommodate longer slots, but I like this one better, even though it adds a couple of cuts. The chevrons also satisfy my desire for a distinctive feature. The snips off the corners of the wings are to help with very stiff material when fitting the points into the slots; they don't really have to be measured, just a bit snipped off.
The basic unit is the orange block, and a unit size of 1.5 in gives a sheet size of 48 in x 36 in. Clearly, a unit size of one inch makes a sheet size of 32 in x 24 in. Working in metric, a unit size of four centimetres yields a sheet size of 128 cm x 96 cm, which is about five percent larger than the 48 in x 36 in sheet.
I have also made this plan available as a PDF file.
Having just made a full-sized example from this plan I can confirm that it is fast and accurate. However, I know how it's supposed to work, so I would welcome comments from anyone who tries to follow this plan to build a cooker.
External links
- Scalable CooKit design simplifies measurements - Solar Cooker Review
- Full-resolution PDF file showing this design - Philip King
Poly-Furnace variation
In February 2008, Stephen and Sheila Harrigan shipped 275 of these durable plastic CooKits to the Sakali Refugee Camp in Sudan. The Poly-Furnace is a cut down model of the CooKit made by Solar Cookers International. Because of the adverse living conditions of the refugees in Darfur, Sudan, the cardboard CooKit will not last much more than six months to a year. The need to have a durable CooKit has prompted us to develop one made of plastic polypropylene flute board. Reflective aluminum polyester is attached to the surface before it is cut and formed. A local group of volunteers have begun to make these for introduction into Sudan in 2008.
See also Making the CooKit More Durable.
Wooden variation
Eagle variation
The Eagle Solar Cooker was designed in 2007 by Manda specifically for Americans. It is made of eleven pieces which begin as 21.5 cm x 28 cm (8 1/2 in x 11 in, USA standard letter size) paper. Intended for students and beginners, it is easy to construct; no protractor or compass is used. An optional twelfth piece (of a whimsical eagle head) can be added at the top.
Aluminum panel variation
Hans and Petty Heerebout, founders of Solar Cooking Project Zambia, have experimented with an aluminum panel version of the CooKit. They feel the cooker is able to reflect more light than the standard CooKit and is more weather resistant.
Teong Tan variation
Here are several ideas for modifying the CooKit. First, the size of
the cooker can be reduced so that more cookers can be made from the same
amount of construction material. Second, the panel locking feature can be
relocated so that the two sides of the front reflector can be tilted to reflect more sunlight towards the desired direction. The modified CooKit is structurally more robust, and can be positioned upside down to cook when the sun angle is low. The cooking pot receives more reflected sunlight under the normal operating range of the cooker. The modified CooKit can be folded down into a small package for easy transportation and storage just like the original design. Review more of Teong's description at:
Teong Tan variation layout diagrams
An enthusiast has submitted photos of the Teong Tan variation positioned to capture low sun angles and also in the standard overhead orientation. He was able to do some winter cooking in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, (latitude 45° N) and had the cooker reach 180 °C (285 °F) in the vertical position, using a pot inside a clear pyrex container.
Round-back variation
- Main article: Rollins Standard Deluxe Cooker
The Rollins Standard Deluxe Cooker is a waterproof panel cooker that is very similar to the CooKit. It is being mass-produced in the UK by Applied Green Technology, and is available in very large quantities.
Haines Solar Cooker variation
- Main article: Haines Solar Cooker
The Haines Solar Cooker is made of IXPE (cross-linked polyester) foam insulation bonded with reflective metalized polyester film (MPET film / 3mm IXPE foam / white PET film). The reflective polyester will not oxidize, cannot be scratched off, and has a high melting point. Importantly, the new material is easy to recycle and is environmentally safe through the whole production and recycling process without pollution. In the USA, this material is used to make high-end auto windshield sunshades.
Two-pot CooKit variation
This simple idea was suggested by a soldier serving in Afghanistan (Colin Hoskins).
Gasy Nahandro variation
- Main article: Gasy Nahandro
This CooKit variation makes use of local materials to create a very affordable cooker. It was designed by Dominique Dutoit for use in Madagascar. The panels are constructed from woven grass mats, and then covered in reflective material. The target is to make the cookers for less than USD 2.00 and be able to offer them through local retail stores.
Quickie Demonstration CooKit
You can make this "quickie" version of the CooKit on the spot for teaching purposes. It only cooks small quantities of food, but it can be used to demonstrate water pasteurization, etc. It is not intended as a substitute for a standard solar cooker.
It involves cutting a typical cardboard box (about 0.6 x 0.6 x 0.3 m, or 2 x 2 x 1 ft) in half diagonally. Then add a cardboard flap in front and cover the inside with tinfoil.
One Sheet variation
- Main article: One Sheet Solar Cooker
Kundapur variation
Xuni variation
This is another multi-pot variation of the CooKit, designed and tested by the Proyecto Olla Solar in cooperation with the Mexican Fund for the Conservation of Nature. Initially tested using a mylar reflective material, the Xuni reached a temperature of 85 °C (185 °F) in three hours.
The Cook-n-Go variation was designed and manufactured by the now defunct Aftarkeia Network located in Greece. The panels are made of wood and are hinged together. When folded the package is quite compact.
A Simple CooKit
Royal Botanic Garden or Jordan variation
Instructions in English and Arabic for building a CooKit out of smaller pieces of cardboard designed by the Royal Botanic Garden of Jordan:
Audio and video
- August 2012:
- February 2009:
- April 2008:
- March 2008:
- February 2008:
- September 2007:
- The link below shows the animated result of a simulation of a cross-section of a CooKit. It does not include the power from the side reflectors.
- This video shows the power contributed by the side reflectors. The display picture shows a view of each reflector. Each reflector is divided into pixels. Each pixel corresponds to an elemental area of the reflector. Black pixels define the extent of the reflector, with a white line representing the boundary between the rear and front portion of the reflector. Pixels corresponding to elemental areas from which reflected sun rays hit the pot are shaded. Rays from the white pixels hit the top of the pot, rays from dark gray pixels hit the side of the pot, and rays from light gray pixels hit the bottom of the pot.
Articles in the media
- April 2016: 3 Solar Ovens that Give You the Power to Cook with the Sun - EcoWatch
See also
- Solar Cookers: How to Make, Use, and Enjoy - A handbook published by Solar Cookers International that includes detailed plans for build a CooKit solar panel cooker. (There is also a French version, an Arabic version, and a Kenyan-English version.)
- Instructions for using the CooKit solar panel cooker
- November 2009: Manual: How to make a CooKit and a WAPI - Solar Cooking Netherlands and the KoZon Foundation.
- June 2007: Research Study on Improvements to the CooKit Solar Panel Cooker Carried Out by Dr. Dale Andreatta and His Students in 2007 - Dale Andreatta
- May 2007: Making the CooKit More Durable - Stephen Harrigan
- July 2006: Optical Properties of the CooKit Solar Cooker - Ed Pejack
- 2006: A Report on the Evaluation of the KoZon Foundation CooKit Projects in Northern Burkina Faso - Jantje Struif Bontkes and Wietske Jongbloed
- February 2002: Tests of the CooKit conducted by the Florida Solar Energy Center
- Greenhouse enclosure comparison - Teong Tan
- The Fun-Panel solar cooker, which is similar to the CooKit, but can be made from a single cardboard box.
NGOs using CooKits
- Obia Solar CooKit Group
- Adventures in Health, Education, and Agricultural Development
- Association des Femmes Ingénieurs du Mali
- Association Malienne des Femmes Handicapées
- Earth Passengers
- Student Solar Cooking Science Project
- ET-Solar Tech
- Friends of the Old
- Fundación Inti Uma Ecuador
- Solar Cookers International
- Girl Guides Association of Malaysia
- Japan Solar Energy Education Association
- Lejofonds
- Lotan Center for Creative Ecology
- Rotary Club of Fresno
- Trust in Education
- Solar Cooking KoZon
- Solar Connect Association
- Sustainable Utilization of Renewable Energy
- United Village Transformation
- Lady Fatemah Trust
- Mount Kenya Energy Project
External links
- Nikwax homepage
- CooKit Simulation and New Simulation Tools - Earthbound Technology
- Buy from Solar Cookers International in Sacramento, California
- Plans for the CooKit in many other languages
- April 2008: Interview with Linda Frederick Yaffe discussing what it's like to cook with a CooKit - Wildebeat
- The Big Adventure of a Little Solar Cooker - Roger Bernard (In French La Grande Aventure d'un Petit Cuiseur)
- Greenhouse Enclosures Comparison Tests - Teong Tan


text:
Displaying items by tag: The Other Hell
Monday, 06 March 2017 15:38
Logan BD/4K pre-orders, new Shout/Scream, Split official, Terminator 2 3D & more, plus Robert Osborne RIP
Afternoon, folks. We're starting off the new week with a pair of new Blu-ray reviews for you to enjoy. Tim Salmons has turned in his look at Scream Factory's The Legend of Hell House and longtime Bits veteran Todd Doogan has returned with a look at Kino Lorber's terrific new One Million Years B.C. Blu-ray. Both are well worth your time, so be sure to check them out.
In release news today, first up a biggie: 20th Century Fox's Logan is now available for Blu-ray and 4K Ultra HD pre-order on Amazon (via the links in this sentence and also the temp cover artwork below). We hear it's pretty damn good, so go check it out in theaters and use our links to pre-order (we appreciate it!) if you enjoy the film. [Read on here…]
Published in
My Two Cents
Tagged under
- Hidden Figures
- A Dog's Purpose
- Bluray
- My Two Cents
- The Digital Bits
- Bill Hunt
- Bluray Disc
- Logan 4K
- Robert Osborne RIP
- Todd Doogan
- One Million Years BC review
- Tim Salmons
- The Legend of Hell House review
- Split
- Orange Is the New Black: Season Four
- The Lawnmower Man: Collector's Edition
- Island of Terror
- The Paul Naschy Collection
- Scream Factory
- Shout Select
- Shout! Factory
- The Four Skulls of Jonathan Drake
- The Angry Red Planet
- The Evictors
- The Alienator
- Cheech & Chong's Next Movie
- Where the Buffalo Roam
- Trespass
- Car Wash
- The Other Hell
- Dark Waters
- Severin Films
- Olive Films
- Inspector Clouseau
- Son of the Pink Panther
- James Cameron
- The Abyss
- Terminator 2 3D
- The Last Ship: The Complete Third Season
- Dracula: Complete Legacy Collection
- The Mummy Ultimate Trilogy 4K
- The Mummy: Complete Legacy Collection


text:
Make Memorial Day Memorable. Quick, easy menu - Delicious and Kosher!
• Baby carrots, peppers, cucumbers in large tray with hat set on it and filled with chips!
Green Olive Dip
Guacamole Auténtico
Eggplant Salad with Lemon and Oil
• BBQ chicken
• Grilled Burgers — Have it Your Way... pickles, lettuce, tomato and try a "shmear" of Baconnaise on your roll!
• Corn on Cob with Earth Balance margarine
• KosherEye Signature Cole Slaw
• Heinz OU Baked Beans (oldest kosher product in America).
We "doctor" ours by adding:
1–2 tablespoon of Heinz Ketchup
1/2 teaspoon of yellow prepared mustard
3 tablespoons of dark brown sugar
Mix together and simmer on stove.
• All American Apple or Peach Pie with So Delicious brand parve Ice Cream


text:
Fifteen-minute favorites and other famous folks that don't fit in the former forums.
Use this control to limit the display of threads to those newer than the specified time frame.
Allows you to choose the data by which the thread list will be sorted.
Order threads in...
Note: when sorting by date, 'descending order' will show the newest results first.
Forum Rules


text:
Aurora polaris (ger: Polarlicht; fr: aurore polaire)
Aurora is latin for 'dawn'. The Northern Lights and the aurora borealis are two names for the same thing. The term aurora borealis was introduced by Galileo Galilei in 1619 who wrongly thought that the aurora is caused by sunlight reflecting from the high atmosphere. However, from thereafter the name was used for Northern Lights. The proper name for the aurora of the southern hemisphere is the aurora australis. Together the aurora australis and the aurora borealis are known as the aurora polaris. Nowadays the simple name aurora is mostly used, as is the name Northern Lights.
In fact, the aurora is a luminous phenomenon occuring in the upper atmosphere at altitudes between about 100km and 1000km. Auroras are visible best from the auroral zone the region about 15-30 degrees from each magnetic pole with the greatest frequency of aurorae. The region within which auroral activity occurs is the auroral oval and is only visible from space. The center of the auroral oval lies at the geomagnetic poles - not to be confused with the geographic poles.
However, infrequently they might be seen as far down as the equator. Like giant curtains in the sky that slowly wave as if a gentle breeze were blowing, aurorae fill the entire sky with changing colours and motion and no two aurorae are ever alike. An auroral display may begin with a faint glow, an overall veil, or weak patches in the sky towards the pole. Eventually it will form an arc and may develop rays. Their intensity may vary, multiple bands are likely to form flickering and flaming in surges of brightness across the sky.
What Makes Northern Lights Happen?
Click here.
Is Earth the only planet with aurorae?
Clearly no! Every rotating planet with a magnetosphere - or magnetic field should have aurorae. The proof has been given by the famous Hubble telescope in 1996 when it took breath-taking images of a Jupiter aurora. For it's lack of a magnetic field o
ur Moon does not display aurorae - what a pity!.


text:
YAMAHA - MusicCast SUB 100
Out of stock
Experience the ultimate sound stage with formidable bass. Enjoy the expertise with sublime MusicCast multi-room technology. Works exclusively with MusicCast BAR 40, network-capable RX-V 85 Series, RX-S602, AVENTAGE Series 9, MusicCast 50 and MusicCast 20.
- Ability to be used as wireless subwoofer with select MusicCast models
- Twisted Flare Port technology
- Auto crossover and frequency adjustment via paired master device
- Modern piano finish
Out of stock
Welcome to the family.
Yamaha offer the ultimate choice in sound to suit your lifestyle. Whether you prefer Home Theatre or sleek stereo sound, peruse the MusicCast* catalogue for your perfect speaker partner.
Time for turbulence.
When you want to feel every moment with your sound… as your favourite musician's drum kit thumps into your living room floor to that addictive action movie explosion vibrating through your bones… Yamaha delivers real sound as it was meant to be heard.
Born to be free.
With Wi-Fi connectivity your subwoofer can be placed anywhere in your room. A simple power point and you are ready to take your sound to another level where it feels right and looks its best!
There are no reviews yet.


text:
Poetics of Design
Make Aurlaea Your Homepage
Aurlaea Calendar
Thursday, July 25, 2024
Art & Image
Life & Style
The Resilient Style
Ancient bead design reflected the human passion for individuality. It was possible, within the artistic space of bead design, to create a visual energy, which, through sublimal suggestion or charismatic power, re-conceived the human spirit.
Art and the Present Moment
To me there is no past or future in art. If a work of art cannot live always in the present it must not be considered at all. --Picasso. Before the ancestors were completely human they were completely natural...
The Far House of Graves
Deià is one of the oldest, remotest, and most beautiful villages in Spain, una pequeña aldea of cafés, hotels, villas, fincas, olive trees, and vineyards terraced into stony hillsides, between sea and mountains on the Mediterranean island of Mallorca.
Bavaria's fairy tale city
"There are pointy church steeples and frosty windows adorned with jewels of stained glass, and building fronts painted in an array of candy-like pastel hues"
Ralph Vaughan Williams should be as revered as Shakespeare
"There is the irony that, long before the nostalgia industry hijacked Vaughan Williams, he, to an extent, hijacked it. His collecting of folk-songs in the first decade of the last century was an act of massive cultural importance"
Diamond planet idea boosted by telescope find
"You might see land masses and mountains made up of diamonds," the lead researcher Dr Nikku Madhusudhan told BBC News."
Opal: Delicate Beauty in a Watery Orb
"In the hands of the master jewelers René Lalique and Louis Comfort Tiffany, opal enjoyed a reputation as a mystical, moody stone in line with the eras longing for nature, fluidity and movement."
The art of the Renaissance: In the line of beauty
"In 1413, the great Florentine architect Filippo Brunelleschi discovered linear perspective, enabling artists not only to create a seductive illusion of a three-dimensional world on a flat, two-dimensional surface for the very first time, but also to combine real and imaginary space in a single painting. A new human-centred naturalism..."
Cezannes atelier remains Aix-en-Provence sanctuary
"The olive tree just by the garden was supposed to be destroyed when the studio was built, but Cezanne had a builder construct a barrier around it to protect it: It knows everything about my life and gives excellent advice, he once said."
Wine and Earth in Provence
"I was having lunch with a friend recently at Le Caire, in the country near Aix-en-Provence. It was a warm afternoon and we were served outside on a shady veranda..."
Poetry, Tea and Tao
In 1908, New York merchant Thomas Sullivan packaged tea samples into hand-sewn muslin bags, intending for his customers to empty the leaves into hot water. Some though, unsure what to do, submerged them in their tea pot...
'Extraordinary' art collection to go on sale
"When boldly-coloured works completed in the coastal town of Collioure by Derain and Matisse were exhibited at the Salon d'Automne exhibition in Paris in 1905, one critic described the pair as "Les Fauves", which means "the wild beasts"."
Couleurs et Lumière
"Son regard de peintre en matière de couleur et de composition, sa passion pour lexotisme et ses innovations dans le domaine du verre font de lui, dès 1900, un chef de file du design américain dont la réputation sétend jusque dans les grandes capitales européennes : il rivalise avec les grands verriers européens de la fin du XIXe siècle."
Elaborations of the Spirit
The Impressionist engagement of nature concurred with the primal human experience of nature, which depended on submitting life to both the measured...
Titian, Tintoretto, and Veronese
These three painters were to rub shoulders for over thirty years, and after Titians death in 1576..
The Distant Travels of a Restless Mind .
"La Farge painted his islanders naturalistically, according to his keen understanding of human anatomy. Less iconic and more conventionally rendered than Gauguin's figures, La Farge's nevertheless exude great human vitality and warmth."
Artifacts hint at earliest Neanderthals in Britain
"The dearth of evidence for human occupation in Britain between 200,000 and 65,000 years ago has perplexed researchers. The English Channel would have posed a physical barrier to humans trying to cross from the continent..."
A Polish City Feels Its Future Has Arrived
"On the other side of the Odra River, the restored old central square is a mishmash of architectural styles that speaks of the varied cultural influences on a place that was at different times claimed by Bohemia, Prussia, Austria, Germany and, of course, Poland."
Sanctus Luxurri
As they set about following the migration paths that had been trodden for centuries before them, setting up camps and providing for the necessities of life, ancient people managed to surround themselves with
sanctus luxurii
, an ensemble...
Unified by Art Nouveau
One of the highlights of the exhibition is the recreation of a 1900s room in Art Nouveau style, indicating that another key feature of the movement was the way that people began to appreciate furniture, interior and products as aspects of an environment unified through design...newly rich people wanted to decorate their home in their own, new style..."
Book Review | In Such Hard Times
"For Wei, poetry was a habit, a mode of autobiography and being. He lived at a time and in a place when, whatever else was going on, educated people wrote poems the way we text or tweet. Wei somewhat dolefully observes..."
Sargent and the Sea
In Sargent and the Sea, the Corcoran Gallery of Art brings together for the first time more than 80 paintings, watercolors, and drawings depicting seascapes and coastal scenes from the early career of John Singer Sargent."
Ancient Trade and Civilization
Ancient trade originated in the migratory patterns of prehistoric nomadic people who ranged over long distances across the continents of Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe, North America, and South America, for thousands of years...
Book Review | The Origins of Globalization
"The Shang and Zhou eras are pictured as a golden age where everyone knew his or her place in the great harmonious hierarchy of Chinese life. Rulers ruled and everyone farmed..."
Sketches of Spain
"Sir Thomas Lawrence and John Singer Sargent both adopted a kind of buttery, flashy paint-handling that derives from Velázquez..."
Early music discovered on carving
"To find out that it might be early harp music was very exciting indeed, and having the chance to hear it..."
Haymakers Resting, Camille Pissarro (1891)
In Camille Pissarros rural images of harvesting and shepherding, sensuous color is often a gradually nuanced pool of light that mirrors the movement..."
Wine and Earth in Provence
Ancient Trade and Civilization
The Poetics of Design
Ten Foods Eaten by Ancient Civilizations
The Resilient Style
What Lasts in Time
Ancient Trade and Civilization
The Light of Chiang Mai
Beauty and Desecration
Wine and Earth in Provence
Copyright © 2005-2024 Aurlaea®. All Rights Reserved. |
Contact / About Us
Terms & Conditions


text:
Due to the size, weight or materials involved, this product is currently not able to be delivered. However, you can still buy online and collect this product at your local Mitre 10 or Mitre 10 MEGA store.
We are happy to exchange or refund products within 28 days provided that the product is returned with a valid invoice or delivery docket, and;
is unopened and unused
in original condition and packaging
includes all accessories
is not a customised item
Customised products, which include products cut, made-to-measure, special order or mixed to specific requirements, cannot be refunded or exchanged.
Clearance items or products purchased during Clearance events in our stores, cannot be returned or exchanged.
It's always easiest to return your product to the store you got it from, but you can return it to any Mitre 10 store. If you prefer to courier your product back to us, just check your invoice to see which store dispatched your order and that's where you send it back to.
We will refund to your original payment method where possible or, if you prefer, we can issue you a Mitre 10 Gift Card for the sum equal to the cost of the product excluding handling and any delivery or returns costs.
If you return products which were purchased in full or part using Airpoints Dollars™ and choose to have your purchase refunded, we'll refund you in the same proportion of Airpoints Dollars™ and other payment types that were used for the original payment.
If a problem occurs with a product purchased from Mitre 10, bring it back to us with your proof of purchase. We will either repair, replace or provide you with a refund, as set out in the Consumer Guarantees Act.


text:
Zack Snyder, the guy who brought you muscled men moving in really slow motion, has apparently signed a deal with Electronic Arts to make video games.
According to the Los Angeles Times, the director of the Watchmen will make three ORIGINAL games for the company. And surprise, those games can be turned into movies!
Whew, thank god, it won't be the other way around. I hate movie-licensed games. They're never done right and we've had enough of those. I figure that his games will include Bullet time and may look like this episode of South Park. Maybe he should hire the guy who created The Dishwasher: Dead Samurai.
OK, now who's taking bets on which comes out first — Snyder's first game or his Watchmen film mired in a legal battle.


text:
Information Sheets
Generators Serviced Per Year
PM's Performed Per Year
Pieces of Equipment Tracked
Reports Generated Per Year
Customer Testimonials
Ultimate Service Associates has been a company that we have depended on to get any job done put forth to them on time, within budget, and surpassing expectations every time.
Our company has successfully utilized the services of Ultimate Service Associates, and has been very satisfied with your ability to perform generator system maintenance and repairs I would like to commend you on the quality and professional service you provide to us.
I have had the fortunate experience to work with the Ultimate Service Associates (USA) team over the past two years. We utilize their services to provide portable power solutions for expansion project for our independent terminal system. I have been completely satisfied with their performance, timely responses, and ease in which they provide their services
Frequently Asked Questions
Question - How do I ensure my generators will start when the utility fails? Answer – You need an effective planned maintenance generator service schedule.
Question - Why should a correctly installed generator fail to start? Answer – It may be susceptible to fuel deterioration, battery discharge, component corrosion or other issue that only schedule maintenance will diagnose.
Question – Is it not more economic to use service technicians for other equipment on site to service the generator. Answer – No. Only a trained and certified generator technician should perform maintenance on a generator system.


text:
EMCOR Group, Inc. Declares Regular Quarterly Dividend
NORWALK, CONNECTICUT, October 4, 2021 – EMCOR Group, Inc. (NYSE: EME) today announced that its Board of Directors has declared a regular quarterly cash dividend of $0.13 per common share. The dividend will be paid on October 29, 2021 to stockholders of record as of October 15, 2021.
EMCOR Group, Inc. is a Fortune 500 leader in mechanical and electrical construction services, industrial and energy infrastructure and building services. This press release and other press releases may be viewed at the Company's Website at www.emcorgroup.com.


text:
Pachinko is actually definitely an arcade or slot machine game in which particularly popular in China. There it is played in special rooms called Pachinko Parlors where you could find rows and rows of Pachinko Turbines.
I can say, however, that you can apply solutions for compulsive gambling that can be used Pg slot as you help yourself get past your compulsive gambling abuse.
You also go for therapy like Cognitive-behavioral therapy for problem gamblers; the therapy is many times helpful for gamblers who wants to overcome game playing. The main focus of the said therapy is on the myths visit https://1jun88.co/ concerning your gambling problem and how gambling has effects on your life and destroying it. Essentially works adjust the beliefs of folks and their life style and how to prevent gambling if you suffer from an want.
The important thing you may need to have before obtain into gambling is money. It is advisable that the work go into gambling blindly. It is often better conscious of your financial stand prior to starting betting. Extremely healthy ingredients . save through an involving heart ache and financial problems right at the end of the day. In case you end up with in a predicament where you have lost everything, you should turn towards bank, instead of to the blades. It is essential to keep in mind that you won't place all your hopes on luck, like it is bound to change on an every day basis.
Know the rules. Of course, your money is really a stake when you engage in gambling or simply if happen to be just in it for fun, losing everything at once may quit fun in any way. Make sure also that likely to putting overall finances on the phone and be sure you enter a gambling site prepared. Preparation is important as well. Help you rules from the game plus know the gaming website.
The believe the MP3's are so effective is often that they operate in your depths of the mind where the Gambling problem exists. May do make a conscious decision to stop Gambling. The remote feature rationally and consciously that it is ruining your life, and yet, you still want to gamble. Is actually not because your subconscious brain is programmed head gambling issue how how devastating it possibly be. The only to help treat that is to relax you certain that your subconscious is more accessible following put positive thoughts that are powerful and will help you to quit.
Craps gambling offers the option to bet for or bet against the shooter rolling a specific number or outcome; however, you can also choose the option to bet for and through the shooter also. How's that for confusion? Here's the tip – even though you have the option help make a specific bet or bets, don't ever make a bet just because a table employee suggests the side bet. Remember tip number 2.
Whatever the reason, Monopoly remains a slot player favorite. It's my wife's favorite slot video games. Next time you are previously casino, look for a Monopoly Slots game and it an effort. Maybe it will become one of the favorite slot games too.


text:
CHECK MEOWT: Cotton Fantasy Review - A Fantastically Fun Game
With just under 10 days to go, I'm eating breakfast in a red wig and riding my broomstick to the office in anticipation of the next installment of the Cotton series, Cotton Fantasy.
If you're like me, you have an appreciation for well-crafted Japanese video games. So when I saw Cotton Fantasy coming to the Nintendo Switch, I was immediately intrigued, given the history of the franchise's retro roots. Well, it turned out to be everything I hoped it would be and more! Here's why I love this game so much…
Obviously, the main character is Cotton. In addition to your standard shot and bomb, she has magical attacks that take up large chunks of the screen, showering her with point bonuses. When downed, certain enemies will drop a colored crystal which will give magic attacks depending on its color when picked up. Cotton's set-up, in addition to requiring speedy, reactionary play, also entails constantly flitting around the screen to juggle priorities.
Similar to success' delightful shooter series, Psyvariar, the player tackles this game with Ria and reaps no benefits from jewels, magical attacks, or endless showers of point items. In turn, as the bullet passes near you, your weapon levels up, and a shield is created for a brief period, in which you can use it to smash through bullet patterns or shoot enemies close up. Play through the game with Ria, and you'll need a totally different survival and scoring strategy.
Another popular one is Fine from Success' own obscure shooter, Sanvien, which has a time system to keep you constantly on the verge of death. Then there's Luffee, which manages to boil the game down to a much more traditional shooter. You will also find the game's final boss, the antagonist, who features a new play mechanic, such as throwable projectiles, found in classic R-Type.
If that wasn't enough variety, finishing the game with each character unlocks a fresh, console-exclusive level, depending on their abilities and themes, with every character we've defeated thus far. With Ria, for example, there is a horizontal Psyvariar, featuring enemies, patterns, and backdrops just like in the previous game. Additionally, the cotton onstage offers a modernized version of one of her past performances.
Difficulty Level
Cotton Rock 'n' Roll is high-octane and moody. Set in a cheerful gothic world, its main character, a witch, is trying to find out the secret behind the disappearance of Willow, the in-series equivalent of our world's magical candies. That sends her to a zone that exudes personality, where enemies continually fill the screen. Things move fast, and thanks to superb varieties of approaches to level design, you'll face all kinds of different challenges, from somewhat tight areas somewhat reminiscent of R-Type's core gameplay to battles with level-sized flying fortresses, as well as vertically scrolling horizontal sections and races tearing through ever-tightening gaps. Finish a shmup from start to finish and you'll experience the feast of an entirely different genre.
Graphics & Sound
And one of Cotton Rock 'n' Roll's strongest features is its level design. It is dynamic, detailed, and contains sweeping set-pieces and elegant shifts around the player characters. Polygonal visuals are used and can bring style and class to a game set in a 2D playfield. Mixed media stages can make you look twice at times, but Cotton Fantasy blends them nicely, and continues to be a treat for the eyes.
With bosses full of character, they also have attacks with a variety of different effects, catering to every style of play. Playing at the default 'Normal' difficulty, the boss battles can feel short. In most cases, the second form isn't revealed until the very end when there's just a few seconds left. Turning the difficulty up remedies that, if you're up to the challenge.
This release lives up to Cotton's usual high quality standards. Few shoot 'em ups have as many varieties in terms of how you can play, nor such a well-designed world as what Cotton does. No matter what type of game you like, Cotton Rock 'n' Roll will offer something to please you.
It should come as no surprise that Cotton Rock 'n' Roll Fantasy manages to pull off its total execution beautifully. Action sequences in the game are absolutely incredible, and the fun is easy to find.


text:
Strange as it may seem, archaeologists often look to the sky to discover sites buried deep beneath the earth. Space archaeology, as it's called, refers to the use of high-resolution satellite imaging and lasers to map and model everything from hidden Mayan ruins in Central America to specific features on the ancient Silk Road trade route in Central Asia. The process saves research teams years it would have taken to do the same work using ground-based survey techniques.
Archaeologist, Egyptologist, University of Alabama at Birmingham professor, TED Fellow and 2016 TED Prize winner Sarah Parcak makes extensive use of this technology in her work, and she has done much to popularize space archaeology. She wrote the world's first overview book on the subject, and gave a talk at TED2012 to explain how borrowing the tools of space exploration helped her identify an ancient Egyptian city that had been hidden for thousands of years. Here, she tells us more about how it all works — and how she applies it to her on-the-ground explorations.
How long has space archaeology been around? Who figured out that this could work?
Archaeologists have used aerial photographs to map archaeological sites since the 1920s, while the use of infrared photography started in the 1960s, and satellite imagery was first used in the 1970s. But it wasn't until a seminal conference held at NASA in 1984 by my friend Dr. Tom Sever, whom I call the father of space archaeology, that we started to see more peer-reviewed papers on the topic. Tom introduced the field to a number of influential archaeologists — and then things really started developing when those archaeologists trained their graduate students, and those students started getting positions ten years ago.
Today, space archaeology is fairly standard practice. Conventional excavation and survey are crucial to confirm any satellite imagery findings, but analyzing the images saves time and money and allows projects to focus on specific locations at archaeological sites.
How do these technologies help to identify objects buried in the ground?
The only technology that can "see" beneath the ground is radar imagery. But satellite imagery also allows scientists to map short- and long-term changes to the Earth's surface. Buried archaeological remains affect the overlying vegetation, soils and even water in different ways, depending on the landscapes you're examining. So, for example, buried features in desert environments appear different from buried features in floodplains. When a wall is slowly covered over by earth, the materials it's made from decay and become part of the soils around and above it, sometimes causing vegetation above and next to the wall to grow faster or slower. Satellite imagery helps archaeologists to pick up these subtle changes.
If you find a series of linear shapes in the same alignment as known archaeological features, and they match excavated examples, you still need to excavate to confirm, but you can be fairly sure that the imagery is accurate. Often discrepancies are much more readily apparent in the infrared part of the light spectrum, since vegetation and other changes to soils appear more strongly in infrared.
You've been working in Egypt recently. How does the process of using satellite imaging work in practice? Do you get satellite maps sent to Alabama, from where you plan excavations?
We do extensive background research on what is known or has already been excavated or surveyed in each area to create a comparative dataset. We then look at previous work (if we have not done any) to determine what season might be best for ordering imagery. Seasonality is a huge factor, as some sites appear in rainy seasons and are invisible during dry seasons, and vice versa.
We then check databases from NASA and DigitalGlobe, which is the largest provider of high-resolution satellite imagery in the world (hopefully they have data from the right location at the right time of year!). We use the data to create a Geographic Information System (GIS) — a layered database for all of our imagery and archaeological data. Then, and only then, do we begin to process the data. Once we've analyzed the satellite imagery, we look at the potential sites and features we've discovered, and begin to plan our fieldwork.
Why is satellite archaeology especially useful in Egypt?
The state of preservation beneath the sand is excellent, and the soil and geological makeup of archaeological sites in the floodplain are conducive to satellite remote sensing. The imagery can detect entire sites or features — many of which can be hidden by cultivation or partial urbanization. We were able to map the entire city of Tanis using high-resolution satellite imagery, and we are beginning to map other sites as well.
What's been your most spectacular find using this technology?
I don't think there is one single thing I've found that I consider spectacular. But what I do think is amazing is that the imagery analysis has shown us that we only know about a tiny fraction of sites and features in ancient Egypt. Think about all of the huge questions we have not been able to ask due to a dearth of data: about the rise and collapse of ancient Egypt or how and why the Nile River changed over time. Our entire picture of ancient Egypt will be totally different in 25 years.
Have the two industries "borrowed" from one another? In other words, have any aspects of archaeology made their way back into space or satellite technology?
I think we are small potatoes compared to the military needs for satellites. I will say this, though: without archaeologists taking aerial photos of sites during military reconnaissance in WWI, the field of remote sensing wouldn't have developed as quickly. Archaeologists gave the military the idea to use aerial photographs for spying and field survey. We are fortunate that the spatial and spectral resolutions of the imagery available to us are so broadly useful for archaeology.
Why is the combination of space and archaeology so very seductive?
I think it appeals to two basic interests nearly everyone has: space exploration and archaeology. Put them together and people's minds start to wander — in a good way! I also think people are already so captivated with ancient Egypt that the idea that only a fraction of its sites have been discovered from space is just mind-blowing.
"Questions Worth Asking" is a new TED editorial series; this week we asked the question, "Can I borrow that?" to dig into themes of cross-disciplinary innovation and idea-sharing. See also Seth Godin's op ed, "Why I want you to steal my ideas," a story about SkyBox Imaging, a company using unexpected technology to build a new type of satellite, and an interview with Suzanne Lee, who's mixing science, fashion and kombucha to extraordinary effect.