So… Gabe and i were both procrastinating last night.. And some how we ended up shining my UV laser on some olive oil.. We were kinda surprised to see that the normally blue violet beam made a bright red florescent spot in the oil. We tried other oils: canola, grapeseed, etc.. But they all fluoresced a dull green.. Or not at all. So.. Looks like we figured out a way to detect fake olive oil…

Then Gabe told me that he had heard that all the great healthy benefits of using olive oil go out the window when you heat the oil even a little.. Evidently heat breaks some of the good polyunsaturated double bonds in the fats and causes them to saturate with hydrogen bonds…. (Hence saturated fats) That lead father and son to hypothesize that such a restructuring might change the florescence of said oil…

So.. We got out a frying pan and heated a small amount of Diane’s really good virgin olive oil to the point it smoked then let it cool then poured it into a glass We then poured an equal amount of uncooked olive oil into an identical glass. We then shined the UV laser through both..

Pasta fazoul ! It worked… The uncooked oil had the same bright red florescence..

The cooked stuff had a completely different crazy pink florescence

So .. Weve invented a way to detect heat induced saturation of olive oil. I searched the internet and didn’t see anyone else who had reported It.. how cool is that ?

Anything to put off homework… ,

Nite all, nite sam

-me

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Still jelagged… but had a wonderful day… Diane and I went for a 3 and a half our walk up on Ricker mountain again Our goal was to go up the stephensville brook trail to the old sawmill.. there used to be a big community up here a hundred years ago.. but it’s all gone now…  just cellar holes and scrap’s of brick and steel are left to show all that was here..

we found this very cool moss man… isn’t he cute

this was the most amazing find of the day. A welded steel wheel hoop that a fair size tree had grown through 

This is one of the 150 Hp boilers used to power the sawmill.. there were 200 people working here around 1900

the saws here were used to make wood for ammo boxes .. and wooden forms called ‘lasts’ for making shoes..

there are some plaques up there describing some of the home sites.. the first cabin site dates from 1790.  this guys name was Russ.. he lived here from 1861 until 1920.. .. its hard to imagine anyone living up here then.. it’s so remote now.. it would have been a whole days walk  or half a days horse ride into Waterbury from here.. 

ok.. jet lag really kicking in.. time for sleep.

more tomorrow..

nite all. nite sam

-me

Heading back home.. feeling a bit down.. Many dangling things from this week. So much to do..

Eager to get past talking and back to doing..

Took a nice run this morning. Up st giles hill.. Great view of the city….

ok.. flight is boarding.. Cant wait to see my family

more from home

nite all, nite sam

-me

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Long, fun day at Hursley. As always, I tried to pack too much in… And left too much Undone. I saw many old friends met many new ones and left many dangling threads. Now I need to do some follow-up to make sure those threads are tied up.

It was pretty fun walking around the old Pursley lab. I hadn't been inside there for 27 years and believe it or not I could still find my way around. Here's the old cafeteria . I think some of the food dates back to then.

I have some great meetings with folks and gave a talk learned a lot

After work we all went to the wykeham arms, the local bar down the street from our old apartment.

It has not changed at all My friend Dave, Bill, Nick and hugh joined me for dinner. It was delicious and the company was great (Even if the lighting was poor)

Afterwards we took a quick stroll up Cannon Street to see our old place

The Samstone was still there and it had been moved

On the way home we stopped by the Chessell rectory where Diana and I were engaged . Great memories

Okay… That's all for today at the flight home tomorrow at five more from the road.
Night all, night sam
– Me

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