No. 194 March 1999
THE WHY OF WINDS: THE CORIOLIS EFFECT Did you that know that the Doldrums, which are very light winds, are moving west along the Earth's equator? The Earth's easterly motion causes these west winds to be deflected 180 degrees to the right in the Northern Hemisphere and to the left in the Southern Hemisphere. The Doldrums winds become the Trade winds, now moving easterly along the horse latitudes. The Coriolis Effect is the term for the effect of the Earth's rotation on moving objects (in these winds), which means that such moving objects are deflected to the right in the Northern Hemisphere and to the left in the Southern atmosphere. Just imagine yourself walking west along the equator throwing ping pong balls or confetti up in the air and watch some of it go to the right toward the north pole and some go to the left toward the south pole. All the confetti will end up traveling easterly at about 40 degrees latitude north and south in the horse latitudes. If there were no Coriolis effect, there would be no Trade winds or Westerly and Easterly Winds, no hurricanes, no ocean currents, no high and low weather pressure systems, no cyclones, or tornadoes. Also, for military buffs, it is the Coriolis Effect, which requires naval gunners to consider Earth's motion when firing a salvo of shells at other ships. The Earth and the ships are moving while the shells are in flight and if gun target adjustments were not made, the salvo of shells would not hit the target. "The Cloriolis Effect: Motion on a Rotating Planet" by Bruce Parker, Mariner's Weather Log, v. 42, no. 2 August 1998, pages 17-23 (C 55.135:42/2) is worth the time. You want a picture? See the article: "Wind" in Grolier's America Academic Encyclopedia, volume 20, W-X-Y-Z, page 169 (1996 Deluxe Library edition).
MARY-QUITE-CONTRARY'S GARDEN REVISITED? "Mary, Mary quite contrary, how does your garden grow?" Recognize that? That was the nursery rhyme question asked of Mary Queen of Scots in the 16th century. The next lines tell us what was growing in the garden, however, it does not state how well the flowers were growing. Did she loose her head because of her inadequate answer? Maybe Mary should have been more scientific. If Mary had access to Measuring and Monitoring Plant Populations by Caryl L. Elzinga, Daniel W. Salzer, and John W. Willoughby issued in 1998 by the Bureau of Land Management, National Applied Resources Center (I 53.2:M 46/2) and (I53.35:1370-I), then she would have been on the "cutting edge" of flower gardening and plant growth monitoring. This plant monitoring reference text is a "collection of pieces that you need to choose among and put together for your particular situation and species." Mary, or any plant specialist, can review and select from this book's 13 chapters covering: monitoring overview, setting priorities and scale, management objectives, sampling basics, sampling objectives, sampling design, field measurement techniques, data management, communication and monitoring plans, statistical analysis, demography, and growth in any garden. Unfortunately for Mary, these authors' works came a few hundred years too late. Is her garden still growing?
DROUGHT OF THE CENTURY(IES) Whether you call it a hydrologic drought with low groundwater levels, or an agricultural drought with not enough soil moisture to grow crops, the summer of 1988 was a major drought. The dust Bowl era of the 1930's was even worse for a longer time as depicted in the Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck. 1934, 1936, and 1939 were among the driest 10 of 278 years investigated from 1700 to 1977. The late 1750's, early 1820's, early 1860's and 1890's were long multiyear periods of widespread droughts in the United States. Droughts seem to occur in 18 to 22 year cycles. Droughts prior to and dating from 1600 have been identified via tree rings, lake sediment, coral, and archaeological artifact analysis, and other paleoclimatic techniques which reveal the United States' inhabitants experienced some megadroughts throughout the 13th and 16th centuries. U.S. Great Plains Climatological Records of temperature and precipitation data, which go back to 1851 show 1887-1896, 1910, 1933-1936, and 1952-1956 were periods of major droughts in the United States. The drought of 1988 was a recent sample of the droughts, which have occurred and will happen again. Droughts are a fact of life, as shown in U.S. Drought 1988: A Climate Assessment issued by the NOAA Climate Office in July 1988 as (National Technical Information Service Report PB88-233986). Connie A. Woodhouse (of NOAA'S Paleoclimatology Program) and Johnathan T. Overpeck "2000 Years of Drought Variability in the Central Unites States" Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, v. 79 no. 12 December 1998 pages 2693-2714 explains how doughts have been, are, and will be a part of the world's weather history. The NOAA web page at http://www.ngdc.noaa.gov/paleo/drght.html will provide an abstract and link to the full on-line text of this interesting study. There is a similar paleoclimate study found on the NOAA "What's New" page (at: http://www.ngdc.noaa.gov/paleo/whatsnew.html) about temperature which looks interesting.
AMERICAN PLANT COLLECTION AND EXCHANGE Did you ever share a few of your favorite plants with a friend? Did you ever receive a(ny) plant(s) as something new or as a replacement for your herb, flower, or vegetable garden? Did you ever share any of yours with someone else? In 1898, the USDA food and plant experts anticipated crop failure, food shortages, plant diseases, and famine. Frank N. Meyer walked a thousand miles in China in 1908 collecting plants. "Plant exploring and collecting are essential for agriculture because crops must be continually enhanced to overcome diseases and pests, expand drought and drought tolerance, adapt plants to new growing conditions, and make them more productive, nutritious, durable or simply better tasting. Plant exploring and collecting has been essential for America's agriculture and food supply. For example, California avocados came from Mexico in 1898, the rice grown in Louisiana and Texas came from Japan in 1900, and the rootstock of American peach trees came from China in 1898, and Manchurian spinach helped the spinach industry survive a blight and disaster in Virginia in 1920. J. Kim Kaplan's "Conserving the World's Plants" in Agricultural Research, v.46, no.9 September 1998 pages 4-9 (A 77.12:49/9) and in the 1999 reprint: Agricultural Research, 100th Anniversary of USDA Plant Exploration (A77.12/A: AN 7) is a commemoration of 100 years of USDA plant collection, storage, and distribution. This is a very good introduction to the plant collection and exchange that helped American agriculture survive and grow.
PRUNES/CHOCOLATE: FOODS THAT FORESTALL AGING? MYSTERY SOLVED On December 18, 1998, in the Associated Press news service(Chocolate, fountain of youth?) and the December 19, 1998 issue of the British Medical Journal there is information about chocolates containing antioxidants. Foods like wine and chocolate that contain phenols have antioxidants that help keep the arteries free of fat-like substances. "Can Foods Forestall Aging? Some high antioxidant activity appear to aid memory" by Judy McBride, Agricultural Research, v.47, no. 2, February, 1999 pages 14-17 (A 77.12: 42/2) explains that we need all the antioxidants we can get to protect our brain and body cells from oxidative damage which comes with the aging process. The antioxidants prevent cell damage by absorbing the "oxygen free radicals" with their high-ORAC (Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity activity. To forestall the brain (and other organ) cell damage and aging, we should eat foods with antioxidants, i.e. with high-ORAC activity. The USDA Human Nutrition Research Center at Tufts University in Boston suggests that fruits and vegetables with high-ORAC value will forestall aging. Prunes lead the top ten fruits with the best oxygen radical absorbance capacity. What about chocolate and wine preventing aging? Did you know about antioxidants and oxygen radicals?
Y2K MILLENIUM BUG PROBLEM AT HOME I know you have heard about the Y2K problem, but what have you heard? How will Y2K affect you? Does anyone in the United States live in a house that is free of computer chips? How will you be affected by the Y2K problem in your home? Some people may worry about the Y2K problem in their household and some may not, the Y2K problem may vary from each household. Yet, everyone who has home computers, fax machines, bread makers, digital clocks, microwave ovens, camcorders, or some machine which functions because of a (or many) microchip(s) may have begun to ask questions about what will happen when the clock strikes 12 midnight on December 31, 1999. On September 24, 1998, two House Subcommittees held a joint hearing on the problems of consumer products in the home. They want to provide answers for consumer questions as to how the Y2K problem will effect the home and debunk some myths about certain products. Y2K: what every consumer should know to prepare for the year 2000 problem: joint hearing…September 24,1998 issued in 1999 with SUDOC class number Y4.SCI2:105/86 is 129 pages of information worth reading if you want to see what will be zapped by the millenium bug.
DISASTERS & TAX DEDUCTIONS: NEAT & TIDY PACKAGE If one has casualty or property losses due to a tornado, flood, or other natural disaster, these losses are tax deductible. You knew that! Or maybe you didn't (know that)?? However, to qualify for disaster loans and grants from some federal agencies, you must have filed all required federal tax returns. How do you get to know about and obtain all the IRS publications and forms which are necessary to claim disaster losses? Did you know there is an IRS Publication 1600, Disasters Losses, Help from the IRS? How about Publication 584, Casualty Disaster, and Theft loss Workbook (Personal-Use Property), which is a 24 page inventory booklet. Publication 584 is a volume of the information schedules to help you figure the loss to your home, its contents, and your motor vehicles. The title to ask for is: Disaster Losses Kit, Help From The IRS, Publication 2194, Revised February 1999. The 224 paged volume containing Publication 1600 and the five other information publications and 13 related tax forms is available in paper format by calling 1-800-829-3676 or fax a request through 1-703-368-9694. It is also may be available via the IRS website: http://www.irs.ustreas.gov/prod/forms_pubs/index.html for anyone desiring this type of access.
FREDDIE MAC AND FANNIE MAE GET RISK LIMITATIONS The Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation (FREDDIE MAC) and the Federal National Mortgage Association (FANNIE MAE) are in the business of investing in residential mortgages and guaranteeing securities backed by residential mortgages. To insure that these Government-Sponsored Enterprises are "adequately capitalized and operating in a safe and sound manner," the Federal Housing Enterprises Financial Safety and Soundness Act of 1992 created the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight (OFHEO). Congress created OFHEO as the safety and soundness regulator of the Enterprise to reduce their risk of failure. "Office of Federal Housing Enterprise, 12 CFR Part 1750, Risk-Based Capital, Notice of Proposed Rulemaking" Federal Register, v. 64, no. 70 April 13, 1999 pages 18083-18300 will tell you all about the OFHEO's plan for insuring FREDDIE MAC's and FANNIE MAE's stable existence. This 217 page proposed regulation presents the economic/financial theory of how our Enterprises can stay solvent and stable over a ten-year period of economic stress. There are some federal agencies that are working to prevent financial disasters. They don't get very much publicity.
July 5, 1999
http://www.nku.eud/~yannarella/news9903.html