15 Sedona Vortexes

Photo of Cathedral Rock in Sedona, Arizona courtesy 123rf.com

Iron ore, silicon dioxide, and sandstone content in rocks can cause rocks to have a magnetic field.  In Sedona, Arizona there are 15 locations that exhibit intense positive or negative magnetic fields, powerful enough to cause the human body to react.  These areas are called vortexes and are sought out by people for physical-health and spiritual reasons.  For more information click here and click here.

Flooding of the Kalahari Desert

Map showing Botswana in blue, courtesy 123rf.com

Every year from June through August the Kalahari Desert in Botswana, South Africa is flooded with water.  Prior to June, the rain in the Angola highlands causes the Okavango River to flood.  Since this river has no outlet to the sea, the overflow rushes down to the desert land and stalls, saturating more than 4,000 square miles (10,359 square kilometers) of the desert floor.  Then the rains stop, and the desert sun dries up the flooded desert again.  During those three months, that area of the desert becomes a lush green, and animals come from miles around to drink and eat and breed.  For more information click here and click here.

Deserts

Photo courtesy 123rf.com

Deserts are found on every continent.  Not all deserts are hot.  Deserts cover 1/3 of the land on Earth.  Africa's Sahara Desert is the largest of all.  For more information click here.

Mayonnaise

Photo courtesy FreeImagesLive.co.uk

Many people in the U.S. think the best part of Thanksgiving Dinner is the leftover-turkey salad that is made and usually used in sandwiches (for a change, try adding a little ground cumin--yum).  To make the salad you have to first make the mayonnaise from scratch--yes, I'm from The South, that's the 15 southern states in the United States (actually I'm from The Deep South: Alabama, aka "The Heart of Dixie").  If I'm not able to make mayonnaise from scratch (which is Never--I always make my mayo from scratch--I'm from The South, remember), then I would, of course, buy Hellmann's (The South, etc...).  When I lived in California the mayonnaise to buy was Best Foods, which is Hellmann's west of the Rockies.  A lot of people would say just about anything savory can taste better with mayonnaise on it.  I've even added a cup of mayo to a chocolate cake recipe, which made it more moist & delicious.

I've always wondered who developed the mayonnaise recipe, and how did they know--or did they know--that the chemical reaction of slowly dribbling oil into beaten eggs would not produce a drippy, oily mess but a fluffy, white emulsion that makes the tongue happy.

The most widely accepted story begins with the British rule of Port Mahon in 1756.  The French sent the infamous Armand de Vignerot du Plessis, 3rd Duc de Richelieu (1696-1788) to take the port.  During the course of the siege, the French ran short of supplies, but the Duc still wanted to host a banquet.  The Duc's chef decided to try whipping eggs and oil together to serve in place of the seasonings that they did not have, and it was a big hit.  The French won the Battle of  Port Mahon and returned home with, among other things, the new recipe named after the battle and called mayonnaise.

Below is my basic mayonnaise recipe, which is made in a food-processor and can be doubled.  There are endless variations, just try an internet search if you don't believe me.  Try adding a little onion powder to the recipe:  I swear it tastes like fried onion rings, and of course anything savory OR sweet tastes better fried, doesn't matter where you're from.

1 egg
2 egg-yolks
1 teaspoon Kosher salt
1 Tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 & 1/3 cups Wesson vegetable oil

1.  Process eggs for one minute. 
2.  Add salt and juice and process for 30 seconds. 
3.  With processor running, add oil in a very tiny steady stream until all oil is used.

Where is the Driest Desert on Earth?

Photo courtesy of FreeImageFinder.com

The Atacama Desert is a 600-mile (1,000 km) strip of land on the South American Pacific Coast, running through Chile and Peru.  Outlying less-dry areas of the desert run through Bolivia and Argentina.  The Atacama Desert is the driest desert in the world with no rainfall having been recorded since rainfall records began being kept.  It is also the highest desert on earth, and one of the coldest deserts on earth.  Since certain bacteria and sea-life fossils have been found in gypsum boulders (similar to rocks on the planet Mars), it is believed that the Atacama Desert was once underwater.

For more information in addition to the above links, see the websites of the Gypsum Association and the ALMA telescope, which is the Atacama Large Millimeter Array telescope erected in the Atacama Desert by the National Radio Astronomy Observatory.