Game Review for Alpha Omega

Another review I posted to RPG.net and I gave it a 5 for Style and a 4 for Substance due to a few things that were missing. However, it is an excellent game that I cannot wait to play again.

Disclaimer: While I received the pdf and print copy for free, it was not for me to review them, it was due to a give-a-way that was going on in the rpg.net forums around a year ago.

Bad News about Climate Change

But great news to us Paleo and Primalers!

The concept of ocean acidification is pretty bad, what with its causing harm to shelled organisms. This was going to hurt the shellfish industry.

But it turns out that the amount of protein in plants goes down with increasing atmospheric CO2 ppm. This is because the plants cannot assimilate nitrates as easily (which is our main way of fertilizing, btw). This loss of protein slows plant growth and reduces nutrition content.

Carbon Dioxide Enrichment Inhibits Nitrate Assimilation in Wheat and Arabidopsis

The concentration of carbon dioxide in Earth’s atmosphere may double by the end of the 21st century. The response of higher plants to a carbon dioxide doubling often includes a decline in their nitrogen status, but the reasons for this decline have been uncertain. We used five independent methods with wheat and Arabidopsis to show that atmospheric carbon dioxide enrichment inhibited the assimilation of nitrate into organic nitrogen compounds. This inhibition may be largely responsible for carbon dioxide acclimation, the decrease in photosynthesis and growth of plants conducting C3 carbon fixation after long exposures (days to years) to carbon dioxide enrichment. These results suggest that the relative availability of soil ammonium and nitrate to most plants will become increasingly important in determining their productivity as well as their quality as food.

They used ppm's predicted for ~2100 to show this, but also saw harmful effects on crop growth using ppm's similar to what we're going to see in the next 40 years, even assuming some progress on limiting CO2 growth.

This also means that higher CO2 means poison ivy becomes more virulent.

Bacon Fruit Cups

These are perfect for buffets, picnics, and other single-serving, no-utensils eating extravaganzas.

Feta-Stuffed Celery

My wife and kids seem to get tired of meat as a large part of every meal, so I am looking for items that I can make for them that does not have meat, like the following Primal recipe:

6 stalks of celery
1/4 cup sour cream
1/4 cup feta cheese, crumbled
1/4 cup chopped almonds, toasted
1/4 t. dried dill

Rather simple, clean the celery and cut off the ends as normal. Mix all of the above ingredients with each other, though only use half the almonds. Fill the celery with the mixture and top it with the remaining almonds, sprinkled lightly. Cut into 4 inch pieces and serve.

While this will not be edible by myself due to the fact that dairy and I are incompatable, my wife and kids love dairy and this would make a quick and easy snack for them.

Should have 4g carbs and 3g protein per serving, which is perfect for those of us who are eating this way.

The Art of Smoking... food that is

The modern method of smoking foods evolved from its roots as a process for preserving. Long before refrigeration and chemical preservatives, smoke was used to extend the shelf life of most foods, especially meat. Wood smoke contains many of the chemicals (formaldehyde and acetic acid, among others) that slow the growth of microbes. In addition, the pH level of smoke is a very low 2.5, which is extremely friendly to microbes.

Today, smoking has become much more than an age-old technique for preserving, tenderizing, and adding flavor to food. Smoking has become an institution to festivals, clubs, organizations and above all, competitions. People are smoking cheeses, fruits, nuts, vegetables, salts, and anything else they can get their hands on.

This post, however, is about smoking meats. C'mon, its a Paleo blog, did you expect nothing less?

Meat to Use

The great things about civilization

John Durant from Hunter-Gatherer.com posited the following question to other paleobloggers and I thought I would join in:

Here's the question. If you had to live as part of an actual hunter-gatherer tribe 10,000 to 40,000 years ago, what would you miss the most about the modern world? Culture and technology are likely to be popular answers, so get more specific. If you say music, tell us what bands. If you say the technology, tell us why UNIX stirs your soul. Make it personal. Try to find things that if given the choice between a perfectly healthy hunter-gatherer lifestyle without what you love about modernity and a "healthy" modern lifestyle based on the conventional wisdom, you'd choose modernity.

This question actually is something that I have been thinking about quite a bit over the past few months. When I read about the Hadza in a National Geographic magazine and how they live, it really sparked something within myself and is more than likely a large reason as to why I switched to a Paleo lifestyle so readily. While I think it would do me a world of good to actually live off the land as they do, I also have quite a few hesitations about it.

Game Review for Apocalypse Prevention, Inc.

I originally posted this review to RPG.net, but felt the need to re-post it over here due to quality of this game and the number of sourcebooks that are coming out, on schedule. Unfortunately, since this review was written, I have yet to have been able to play or run a game using this system and setting. I hope to rectify this in the near future. However, what I said in this review still stands.

The cover touts the game as "An Action, Horror RPG... with a twist of Humor", and it gives some humor already in just the Disclaimer, though it is slightly lacking in the rest of the book. Starting off, there is summary of the setting, the mood of the game, playable races, and of the system that is used. I rather like a page full of short and sweet summaries of what the book is planning on giving you.

Water and Dehydration

When I first decided to go Paleo, one thing was topmost in my mind: What am I to drink? I lived off of green tea of the Arizona brand, I drank copious amounts of the cranberry flavoured Sierra Mist, and the best drink in the world for me was Canada Dry Ginger Ale. But, they all contained one form of sugar or another, and depending on the different brands they might contain more than one type of sugar.

I tried regular teas but I'm not one to drink green tea or english tea. I do like herbal teas, but as of yet I have not made myself any due to my preference for sugar in one form or another to make said teas palatable.