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Research: Five Things You Thought You Knew About Avalanches But Were Wrong

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I have been doing a bit of research for another story.

Along the way, I started researching avalanches. For no reason. No reason at all…

Anyway, I thought I would share the results of some of that.

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Five Things You Thought You Knew About Avalanches But Were Wrong

 

1. Avalanches are not triggered by sound.

That is correct. It’s a plot point in many movies, but noise simply does not have enough force to trigger an avalanche.  I was more than a little surprised by this, though I should know by now Hollywood spins a good story, not necessary an accurate one.

 

2. Avalanches are seldom random.

Those sudden and inexplicable snow slides you see in the movies? Very unlikely. In 92% of all avalanche accidents, either the victim or someone in the victim’s party triggered the avalanche. So while a tree falling in the woods is enough to displace the snow pack, it is usually the force of skiers over the snow that causes the snow to break free and start falling down the mountain.

3. Avalanches are not fluffy

You’ve seen the images. The brilliant puff of white snow that hail the impending avalanche. Except in most cases, that isn’t what an avalanche looks like at all. They usually travel at approximately 80mph in one dense slab. They are powerful forces of nature that take down trees, boulders, and other debris with them.

 

4. Avalanches Don’t Start with a Bang but a “Whumph”

Avalanches tend to happen when there is more than one kind of snow on the ground. For example, an original layer of snow that is then covered by fresh snow. The fragile needle-like crystals connecting the new snow to the older snow can be easily broken. Even by the weight of a skier. The weight of the skier can have a ripple effect through the snow, and this can cause the upper layer of snow to collapse by as little as a millimeter. This collapse is often accompanied by an audible “whumph” of settling snow. This settling produces enough energy to shatter the fragile crystals and tends to propagate uphill, leading to a major release of the upper layer. The rest is up to gravity, friction, and the steepness of the mountain.

5. Avalanches Don’t Freeze You To Death

While cold is certainly a factor, most deaths from avalanches are caused by trauma and asphyxiation. Approximately 30% of people caught in an avalanche die from trauma. While you can sometimes swim through snow, once it comes to rest, it will be packed around the victim as hard as rock, squeezing the air out of their lungs. Victims of an avalanche who survive the trauma have a 90% chance of survival if they are rescued in 15 minutes. If they are freed in 30 minutes, the odds are down to 50%. In the event of a significant avalanche dropping more than 6 feet of snow, the odds of the victim surviving are almost zero.

I am not a skier, and I am definitely not a back country skier. After reading a lot of this research, I understand why it considered such a dangerous sport. Still, it does present some interesting “opportunities” for characters.

*evil author laugh*

Research: Food in Ancient Rome

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I have mentioned before that the backdrop for my fantasy story is grounded more in ancient Rome that more traditional medieval Europe.

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Bread. Wine. Fruit. Not much has changed in 3,000 years.

One of the areas I spent some time researching was food. As it happens, the scale of food production would not achieve the same levels in ancient Rome in Europe again until the 18th century. So they were quite advanced on this. Here are a few other things I learned.

Meals

Most people, even slaves, ate three meals a day at similar times to modern breakfast, lunch and dinner. While originally lunch was their largest meal of the day, it would eventually move to supper.

Cooking

Cooking was considered an art, and particularly fine cooking was associated with tasty and unique sauces. It was not uncommon to find wine, oils, vinegar, herbs, spices, and meat or fish juices mixed together to create these sauces. Much of this is known because books were dedicated to these recipes.

Available Foods

  • Cereals – wheat, barley, oats, rye, and millet.
  • Fruits – Apples, figs, grapes, pears, plums, dates, cherries and peaches. The Romans knew how to dry these to preserve their shelf life.
  • Vegetables – Legumes, lentils and peas, were the most common, all of which provided an excellent source of protein and was frequently mixed into bread. Other vegetables included asparagus, mushroom, turnips, onions, cucumbers, artichokes, and lettuce.
  • Olives and Olive Oil – These were so important in ancient Rome that they had their own classification.
  • Meat – This was expensive in ancient Rome and was commonly prepared in small cuts or as sausages. Almost any sort of bird imaginable from quails and pheasants to ostriches and peacocks were served. Most meat we are familiar with today was also on the Roman aristocrat’s table, including pork, veal, mutton, goat, boar and deer.
  • Seafood – Fish was certainly a part of their diet, but supply was irregular. Preservation techniques kept it a useful addition of protein to the Roman diet, and fish and shellfish were even farmed on artificial ponds. Fish sauce (garum) was an extremely popular method of flavoring.
  • Spices – (literally means valuable exotic commodity) were a huge part of good cooking. No fewer than 142 different spices have been identified to date in ancient sources. Some were grown nearby, others imported. This was a huge and sprawling empire, and they were trading with India and Asia.
  • Wine – Wine was served with most meals, frequently watered and flavored with honey. Beer was not served in Rome, and was only found in the northern part of the Roman Empire.

Food Conservation

They were adept at food conservation, and mastered numerous techniques.

  • Fruit and Vegetables were picked in brine or vinegar or stored in honey, wine, or grape juice. Fruits were also dried.
  • Meat was salted, dried, smoked, cured, pickled and preserved in honey

This made sure they could feed their large population and allowed more specialization

Feeding the Poor

Maintaining a regular food supply was very important. There was actually a part of the Roman bureaucracy dedicated to overseeing the regular supply of foodstuffs. In addition, the Romans established a monthly quota of grain at a fixed reasonable price for citizens. Olive oil, pork and wine were also allocated to poorer citizens.

I was surprised doing the research how much closer the ancient Roman diet was to our modern diet than medieval Europe. Now, about clan water…

Ailing Big Box Stores

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I’ve heard a lot of retail stores are ailing, and as I was doing research on purchasing a Mac, I decided to stop at Best Buy to do some of my shopping there.

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Okay, maybe not this grand.

In our house, I’m the researcher. I peruse websites, look up reviews, and otherwise try to figure out the best way to spend our hard earned dollars.

As such, I’ve been responsible for over 90% of the electronics purchases over the last fifteen years.

I haven’t shopped at Best Buy in a couple of years. We bought our plasma TV there, but I bought our last TV and laptop directly from Dell.

My husband decided to stay home with the kids instead of dragging them an electronics store and trying to make them behave, so I was on my own.

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Taking what I’d already learned about a Mac and my small list of questions, I drove to the nearest Best Buy.

I was somewhat surprised at how empty the parking lot was. Last time I was there, I had to park in Famous Footwear’s lot to get a spot. But, I was in the front ¼ of the parking lot, and that was just pulling in. Granted, this was on a Sunday afternoon, but even Sundays used to be so packed you had to walk far enough that your Fitbit thought you were exercising.

Shrugging, I enter the store, get my bearings, and head back to the computer section. There are two couples in the entire computer section. Two. No one else is there.

The first couple appears to be in their twenties, and they’re shopping gaming keyboards.

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It’s going to look like this no matter what keyboard you get. I know from experience.

The other couple is probably in their sixties, and they have two salesmen helping them with a third watching the other two salesmen help them. There are two other Best Buy associates strolling through the computer area.

Interestingly, no one offers to help me or asks what brought me to the store.

I eventually find the Macs, and I take a few minutes lifting them (3 pounds in really light, by the way), and trying to decide how they’ll fit on my actual lap. As I’ve mentioned, my Alienware is a powerhouse, but it’s heavy. More of a portable desktop than a laptop.

After a few minutes perusing the stock, I still haven’t had a salesman help me, and I can’t figure out how to buy one. Is there a slip I take to the front? How do I get the configuration I want?

Finally, I chase down a salesman to ask the few questions I have. Like will Word documents play nicely between a Mac and Windows if both machines are running Word.

The salesman, who is literally doing nothing else, acts like he’s super busy and says he’ll see if he can get someone to help me.

I let him go and left the store.

I called Apple, asked them my three questions, then proceeded to order a computer and have it delivered to my home.

Not entirely sure what happened at Best Buy. Maybe the guy was genuinely busy. Maybe he didn’t know Mac products. Or maybe he was on his way to break, and I was interrupting him. Not sure, but if I can’t get a better experience in person, I’m going to enjoy the convenience of online shopping and buy stuff that way.

Just an FYI Best Buy. And based on your parking lot, someone needed to tell you that.

 

How about you? Ever had a frustrating experience at a retailer? What happened? How’d you handle it?

And So I Joined a Cult

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Or am thinking about it, anyway. At least, that’s how the Mac users I’ve talked to describe themselves. They’ve all told me once I buy my first Mac, I won’t ever buy another Windows machine.

MacBook
Looks innocuous enough, and no purple Kool-Aid anywhere.

I’m skeptical, as is my nature, but I’ve never known anyone who has a Mac that hates it.

 Ever.

 Yeah, they’re more expensive, but everyone I talked to who owns one was more than willing to fork over their hard earned dollars to get another one.

And this includes some very frugal finance professionals.

So, I started to research more about operating specs, performance, etc. You need to know all of this on a Windows machine. When I bought my Alienware, I had an array of processors to choose from, video cards, hard drive space, RAM, screen size etc.

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Researching.

It’s less daunting to order your computer from Dell than to build your own, as I did on my last machine (where then you have to worry about motherboards, cases, power supply, etc.), but there’s still a lot to sort out to make good decisions.

Not so on the Mac. You have desktop or laptop. Once you choose laptop, there are only three options. A bit of research showed me the MacBook Air was probably the best choice for me in terms of functionality. I am not a high end user, and using Pages and maybe some ebook creating software is not a big deal to a Mac.

Once I chose MacBook Air, I basically had three choices left to make. Which of the two processors did I want, 8MB or 16MB of RAM, and 128GB, 256GB or 512GB for the solid state hard drive. That’s it.

 I should be in awe of the simplicity. Instead, I’m wary. Can it really be this easy? Can it really work as well as the Alienware?

WindowsvsMac
Way too much truth.

We need to replace my husband’s computer so we can each have a machine to work on at the same time. But this is a commitment. A big one.

Am I ready for it?

How about you? Ever make a big change like this from one system to another? How’d it go? Any tips or advice?

When Do You Really Need More?

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When do you really need more of something: more shirts, more horsepower, more channels.

We live in a time with a dazzling array of options, but knowing what you need, versus is what is overkill, can be tricky.

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I am guilty of this.

For example, I did lots and lots of research before buying an elliptical machine for our home gym. Lots. I compared consumer ratings, what Consumer Reports said, and overall customer satisfaction. I finally decided on one after six months of research. And, I way overbought. I will never use a tiny fraction of all the things the model I bought can do. On the plus side, that means it’s been quite reliable as I haven’t really taxed it.

This same thing came up when we decided a few years back to start drinking smoothies for breakfast. It got us a bunch of good nutrients first thing in the morning, they can be made quickly, and they’re easy to get down when your stomach is feeling rebellious. Neither my husband nor I am much of breakfast people as our stomachs really aren’t interested in food right away in the morning, but we can both consume a smoothie without or stomachs protesting too much.

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Triple Berry Smoothie. One of our favorites!

 

After about four or five months of smoothies for breakfast, our blender died. We went to the store and bought another. It was a good little blender, but it didn’t really get the smoothies to the consistency both of us liked. Especially if we tried to sneak something like spinach into them.

I started researching. Our $50 Oster was a very good model at that price point, but if you wanted a truly smooth smoothie, you were looking at quite a bit more. I mean a lot more

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Yeah, about like that.

As part of my research, I asked a woman where I work what she uses. She even makes green smoothies, and they are always smooth.

She told me to buy a Vitamix and I wouldn’t regret it. She said she drinks a smoothie every day, she’s had hers for eight years, and it’s still going strong. Best of all, it makes smooth smoothies. She then tells me a story about how she warned her sister not to buy a lower cost model as she’ll regret it. Her sister didn’t listen, and she regrets it as she can’t justify letting go of her two-hundred dollar blender to get the Vitamix now.

And, no, Vitamix isn’t paying me to say any of this.

Armed with my research and testimonial, I scoured the web to find the best price on it. Finally, I bought one.

I’ve never regretted it. We’ve had ours for almost three years now, and we use it almost every morning. Even on weekends. It does an amazing job, chomps through ice and frozen fruit with no problem, and makes a smooth smoothie. It was worth what we paid for it, especially as we expect to have it for many more years to come.

 

How about you? Ever over-bought on something and regretted it? Ever under-bought and regretted it? Do you research the heck out of a decision before making it? Or do you rely on your gut for this?

It'll Be Fun, They Said

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Ah, the family vacation. We didn’t take these much as kids as our family simply couldn’t afford it. Family vacations in my childhood primarily consisted of me being sent off with grandparents so our parents could get some time away.

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DH and I didn’t take too many vacations when our first child was small, partially because of the restrictions I was on as we tried to have a second.

Now that both children are older, we thought it would be fun to try a quick three-day vacation. We all were excited, and I had high-hopes.

I’d done my research, having both searched the internet and talked to lots of other people as to where a good place would be to go with a toddler and pre-schooler in the winter. I wanted to be close enough to home we could come back if we needed to, but far enough away that we’d test out the over-night thing.

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After selecting where we were going, then came all of the planning. Making sure we had snacks in the car and in the room. Enough  drinks. Enough clothes to get us through. Toiletries. Entertainment for in the car.  I felt like I was planning a military assault. Perhaps that should have been a clue.

And yes, the vacation was as horrible as some of you are imagining

They had all kinds of up-charges for different things to add to your room, but none of them including giving you a “toddler proof” room. You forget what it means for your toddler to have access to every cord, every cable, and every outlet in a typical hotel room. There are no toddler gates barring off stairs, no toddler locks on doors.

There is no safe place in the room where she can play for ten minutes while you catch your breath. And if you try to make a play area anyway, there were will be tissues scattered across the carpet and you’ll find yourself sprinting across to room to stop her just as she attempts to figure out how to unplug the lamp.

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Vacation also meant being subjected to kids out of their comfort zone. Out of their comfort zone and over-tired, cranky and irritable. Everyone’s favorite kind of child!

The biggest issue to my having fun of any sort was my expectations. I went into the long weekend wanting a vacation. Time to relax, unwind, and recharge. This was anything but that.

They were kids at a water park. They needed constant supervision. I knew that going into it, but what I didn’t understand was how much work this was with none of the fun.

See, my oldest child is big enough to do a lot of stuff at a water park. I figured DH and I would switch-off going on the slides and rides with the oldest, and then spending time in the toddler zone with the little one.

What I didn’t anticipate was that my oldest child would want to do nothing but play in the baby area with her sister. No water slides, no fun rides. We literally spent hours in water up to our ankles. Our knees when the oldest finally got a little braver.

Yeah, fabulous way to spend our time at the water park.

Our issues were compounded by DD1 being an early riser. She’s up at 6am and ready to go. The park doesn’t open until 9am. This means her having to wait and me having to listen to her ask “if it’s time to go yet” for three hours. By the time we got the water park, I was ready to leave.

Let’s also remember that I’m an introvert.  Being stuck in a huge crowd of people I don’t know, wearing only a swimsuit, is already not my idea of fun. I thought this was going to be tempered with the excitement of water slides. I was wrong.

But it did teach me some valuable lessons. One of them is that we’re just not ready for a family vacation yet. None of us.

I work full time and so does DH. If we’re going to do a vacation, it has to be a vacation for the whole family. Something we’re all going to enjoy.

I know DD1 had a blast. She will be talking about it for weeks.

I’m just glad to be home, book in hand, and iPad waiting.

 

How about you? Did you go on family vacations as a child? Did you like them? Do you go on family vacations now? How are they?  Where did/do you go on vacation? A favorite place come to mind? Something you really loved?