Dr. Lobo Jo's prediction for 2030 or before: The Perfect Jack Daniels Strawberry Beef Steak

Altering the genetic structure of food stuffs is all the rage these days.

In the not too distant future we will see these genetic alterations as a blind alley we once went down before finding the simplest of solutions. Instead of genetically altering food in the future we will clone food at the molecular level.

The product will be real having originated with real sources. For meats as example, with digital assembly systems we will be able to create, at the molecular level, perfectly balance steaks, roast, chops, lunch meats etc. with the perfect marbling of elements that will be based on your personal genetic ability to taste the end product. Thus every steak will be the best possible steak you've ever tasted. As you grow tired of each formula it can be predicted and the balance will be reformulated to change each subsequent steak to be "better" than the steak before.

All of the molecules will be perfect examples of the best component molecules of real beef. All elements of the steak "experience" such as taste, texture, crunch, etc. will be present. And of course we will be able to innovate by adding hybrid digital meats such as lamb and lion sirloin, or my personal favorite Jack Daniels Strawberry Beef Steak (TM).

Of course we will also have the less complicated and less expensive products that will use the old fashion extrusion technologies. They will, however, be a much better food stuff than anything available today.

Slow Elk

Heard a story once out of Chama, New Mexico about a down in his luck rancher facing bank foreclosure. It was coming up on elk season and Chama was filling up with eager hunters. The rancher tied elk horns on an old dry milk cow and tethered her out in a field near a hay stack by the road. He and his son hid out behind the hay stack. Sure enough along came some elk hunters, BAM, down goes ole Bossie. As the hunter are walking out to the "elk", he steps out and confronts them about killing his family cow. Meanwhile the son is pulling on a cord and dragging the antlers through the high grass to back behind the hay stack. It worked so well that he propped ole Bossie up several times more until she justhad too many holes in her for him to be able cover them up. That elk season saved the rancher's place for him and put food on the table all winter. I thought of that story as I looked at a Slow Elk Beer poster in a Cafe in Great Falls, Montana this Summer. Looks like maybe more than one rancher may have used that ploy.

Sea Otters Of Alaska

The tour operator assured us that we would see some sea otters. The time on the water was 6 & 1/2 hours. About three hours into the tour we took off across the top of the Sound to reach some glaciers while passing raft after raft of otters without even slowing down. I was beginning to get real irritated.

The quoted matter in this post comes from the Wikipedia article on Otters. "Alaska is the heartland of the sea otter's range. In 1973, the sea otter population in Alaska was estimated at between 100,000 and 125,000 animals. By 2006, however, the Alaska population had fallen to an estimated 73,000 animals. A massive decline in sea otter populations in theAleutian Islands accounts for most of the change; the cause of this decline is not known, although orca predation is suspected. The sea otter population in Prince William Sound was also hit hard by the Exxon Valdez oil spill, which killed thousands of sea otters in 1989."

This is the catamaran that took us on tour in Sitka. It was almost identical to the one in Whittier that took us out on Prince William Sound. Fast and comfortable, we could get close in to whatever we were looking at.

As it turned out the boat captain kinda knew what he was doing. When we got to the glaciers the otters were there too, but not in the large rafts we saw on the way. Mainly because these were females with their half grown young. They raft in smaller groups.

We were able to get some great shots of mothers with their young near the glacier.

"The sea otter (Enhydra lutris), also known as the Kalan,is a marine mammal native to the coasts of the northern and eastern North Pacific Ocean. Adult sea otters typically weigh between 14 and 45 kg (30 to 100 lb), making them the heaviest members of the weasel family, but among the smallest marine mammals. Unlike most marine mammals, the sea otter's primary form of insulation is an exceptionally thick coat of fur, the densest in the animal kingdom. Although it can walk on land, the sea otter lives mostly in the ocean."

These are two half grown kits.

This a kit riding on his mother.

"Sea otters, whose numbers were once estimated at 150,000–300,000, were hunted extensively for their fur between 1741 and 1911, and the world population fell to 1,000–2,000 individuals in a fraction of their historic range. A subsequent international ban on hunting, conservation efforts, and reintroduction programs into previously populated areas have contributed to numbers rebounding, and the species now occupies about two-thirds of its former range."

The sea otter is one of the smallest marine mammal species. Male sea otters weigh 22 to 45 kg (49 to 99 lb) and are 1.2 to 1.5 m (4 to 5 ft) in length. Females are smaller, weighing 14 to 33 kg (30 to 73 lb) and measuring 1.0 to 1.4 m (3 ft 3 in to 4 ft 7 in) in length. Its baculum is very large, massive and bent upwards, measuring 150 mm in length and 15 mm wide at the base.

Unlike other marine mammals, the sea otter has no blubber and relies on its exceptionally thick fur to keep warm. With up to 150,000 strands of hair per square centimeter (nearly one million per sq in), its fur is the most dense of any animal. The fur consists of long waterproof guard hairs and short underfur; the guard hairs keep the dense underfur layer dry. Cold water is thus kept completely away from the skin and heat loss is limited. The fur is thick year-round, as it is shed and replaced gradually rather than in a distinct molting season.

Often we saw the sea otters in a circular raft like this one, facing away from the center. One of the tour's "naturalists" said they had no natural enemies, but that doesn't seem to be true (see below). This looked like a defense arrangement to me as did the fact that the otters rafted in large numbers.

"Predators of sea otters include orcas and sea lions; bald eagles also prey on pups by snatching them from the water surface. In California, bites from sharks, particularly great white sharks, have been estimated to cause 10% of sea otter deaths and are one of the reasons the population has not expanded further north. Dead sea otters have been found with injuries from shark bites, although there is no evidence that sharks actually eat them. An exhibit at the San Diego Natural History Museum states that cat feces from urban runoff carries parasites to the ocean and kills sea otters."

Jeannie kept saying they are so damn cute, and where did they all come from?

The naturalist on the Sitka tour said "hauling out" behavior was rare in this area. But here they were up on the rock all dry and fluffy like, looking much bigger than they did in the water. The naturalist had an otter's pelt that was on loan from the local wildlife department for us to touch but only with the back of the hand to keep body oil from being transferred to it. It never got to me. I was on the uppermost deck trying to get that perfect shot.

This was such an unusual sight that even the tour crew and the naturalist were taking pictures and cooing about how lucky we were to see this.

"Although each adult and independent juvenile forages alone, sea otters tend to rest together in single-sex groups called rafts. A raft typically contains 10 to 100 animals, with male rafts being larger than female ones. The largest raft ever seen contained over 2000 sea otters. To keep from drifting out to sea when resting and eating, sea otters may wrap themselves in kelp.^"

By all standards this otter is upside down.

If you enlarge this picture you can just make out some otters in the water between the islands. This eagle and two immature eagles with it may have been waiting to snatch some of the otter kits from the nearby female rafts.

I kind of expected to see a few otters, but apparently it is almost impossible to do that. They gather in groups so large and so frequent in the home range that it is amazing.

Sitka Bear Compound

Well I did get some pretty fair pictures of Grizzly on the island of Sitka, Alaska. Sitka has a facility for errant bears called Fortress of the Bear. It has some very large and very natural enclosures where bears that have had too much contact with people are allowed to live and not be "put down". Right now the facility has six Brown Bears. Two grown adults, three 18 month old cubs, and a three month old cub. Keeping Grizzly bears in any form of captivity is quite a feat, but these guys seem to be doing a fantastic job.

Here's one of the older adults.

The two cubs wouldn't stay still long enough to get a sharp exposure of them.

They not only had several ponds for the bears but even a flowing stream through one of their compounds.

Look at those claws.

Wild bears frequently visit the site out of curiosity. This bear smells one out side the compound.

Here two of the 18 month old cubs are playing.

Turning up rocks looking for a meal.

The facility provides natural food when it is in season.

Good doggy.

Bear Island Excursion 2011

Holland America Cruise Line call the place Icy Straight Point. National Geographic calls the island "Bear Island". They say, "One of the last grizzly strongholds, the dense rain forests of Chichagof Island in southeast Alaska hide more of these bears per square mile than any other place on Earth. But logging, road construction and human development are changing the shape of the grizzlies' world."

Note out of focus bear tracks in foreground of this photo.

We landed here from the ship the MS Amsterdam via a small boat and took a tour of a brown bear watching area provided by the Tlingit Tribe who own that area of the Island and live in the village of Hoonah near by. Right away our expectations of seeing a bear were lowered by the fact that the salmon were not running. There was only an outside chance of seeing them as they fed on the plants and berries because most of them were already grazed out by the bears.

So we boarded a school bus from the tribes elementary school and rode over logging roads to a site prepared with gravel paths and board walks down to the raised viewing platforms over the creek and adjacent meadows.

On the way we did see several small sitka deer (about the size of a big German Shepherd) which were game for people and bears alike.

It was apparent that the "wild" started at the edge of the road.

We got of the bus and started down the gravel path. For me down was the operational phrase. At about a 10 degree slope every step took its toll on my knees. In no time at all I was at the end of the line being urged to 'keep up here in bear country'. 800 yards later we made it to the first viewing platform.

Great view, but no bears. There were eagles that of course showed up as everyone else left.

I took a few hurried shots. Here we were joined by a middle aged tribesman carrying a lever action 45/70 rifle. In that he was bringing up the rear of the group he and I walked together. I had two emotions. First I was embarrassed that I could not keep up with group. Second I was gratified that the guy with the heavy artillery was walking right beside me.

So we get to the next viewing platform and there were ravens there. So I silently asked Grandfather Raven to show me a bear. Ravens are often tricksters. Almost immediately at the other end of the platform mumbles about 'there is a bear' started. So I leaned way out and sure enough 50 yards away was a very big brute of a bear walking across the stream. He went out of sight , but then came back and stared at us, even took some steps in our direction. I had my camera set to a high f-stop landscape and multiple shots so I started clicking away, then I heard the the guy with the rifle chamber a round. Talk about a distraction.

So here is my picture of the bear. I have six more just like it. Didn't use the telephoto, but that didn't matter much because of the low low light we were in, the camera (against my wishes and programming) decided to focus on the tree limbs in the foreground as a default setting. If you look very carefully at the picture you can see a brown smudge just to the right of the center of the photo. That is my Alaskan photograph of a Grizzly Bear in the wild. But aren't those limbs in sharp focus, hey? I'll share more photos like this one with you as I post my pictures.

P.S. If you have troubles walking and actually take this tour, ask ahead of time and see if they will let you start on the trail at their pick-up point. It is only 100 yards from the viewing platforms, but is still down hill. It will save you a lot of grief however.

Food, Food Food, Everywhere

MS Amsterdam, Holland America cruise ship older style, 14 days to Kodiak Alaska and back with points in between. I'm aboard for the animal life, geography, & geology. One evening however they captured my attention with food.

All around the biggest swimming pool were tables filled with deserts and pastries. Being a diabetic it was a forbidden feast. The confectionery "dust" alone was enough to send me into a coma.

I ate not a mouth full.