Anthoney & Cleopatra
Cahuita
Hebrews 12:14
"Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord:"

Kylemore Abbey, Ireland, September 2007
Kylemore Abbey, Ireland
Chess: "Ocho" "8" "Octavius" "Antony and Cleopatra" "Cahuita"

RIGHTEOUSNESS AND HOLINESS

These two attributes are rather hard to separate, so we have put them together for the purpose of this study. Righteousness, in its basic meaning, is something that is straight without any deviation. But holiness is more in the realm of being separate, set aside for something special.

Holiness is an attribute that man must have if he is to see the Lord Heb. 12:14. Those who stand before God in love must be holy and without blame Eph. 1:4. These high standards of God's requirements are a source of despair for the Christian. All believers in the Roman church had sinned and come short of the glory of God. Can any do better?

The red imported fire ant
The red imported fire ant (Solenopsis invicta), or simply RIFA, is one of over 280 members of the widespread genus Solenopsis. Although the red imported fire ant is native to South America, it is best known in the United States, Australia, Taiwan, Philippines, and the southern Chinese province of Guangdong. In January 2005, several ant-hills belonging to fire ants were found in northern Hong Kong. Later, after a thorough search for the ant was conducted there, several hundred ant-hills were found in different parts of Hong Kong. There were also reports of ant hills in Macau, the former Portuguese enclave that borders the province of Guangdong. They have recently been introduced in the Philippines in July 2005 when an infested cargo plane coming from Texas (via California) arrived in Manila.

Colonies were accidentally introduced into the United States in the 1930s through the seaport of Mobile, Alabama^[1]. Cargo ships from Brazil docking at Mobile unloaded goods infested with the ants; they have since spread from Alabama to the coastal plain and piedmont of almost all of the southeastern states, as well as into California. The ants were accidentally introduced into Australia in 2001, in a similar way^[2].

Overview

RIFA are more aggressive than most native ant species and have a painful sting. A person typically encounters them by inadvertently stepping into one of their mounds, which causes the ants to swarm up the person's legs, attacking en masse. The ants respond to pheromones that are released by the first ant to attack. The ants then swarm and immediately sting when any movement is sensed.

Texas fire ant

RIFA are efficient competitors to other ants, and have been successful at enlarging their range, notably in the United States, where they have gradually spread north and west despite intense efforts to stop them. Today they are found in most of the southeastern states, including Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Arkansas, Mississippi, Alabama, Tennessee, Georgia, Florida, North Carolina, South Carolina, Maryland, and Virginia. It is not uncommon for several fire ant mounds to appear suddenly in a suburban yard or a farmer's field, seemingly overnight. Even in the San Francisco, California, area, there are large numbers of red imported fire ants. (At least one community uses the presence of fire ants as a publicity opportunity: Marshall, Texas, hosts an annual fire ant festival.)

Current distribution of the RIFA in the United States

RIFA are still on the move, often traveling from one area to another in turf, root balls of nursery plants, and other agricultural products. They are a pest, not only because of the physical pain they can inflict, but because their mound-building activity can damage plant roots and lead to loss of crops. Their stings are rarely life-threatening to humans and other large animals, causing only 80 documented deaths as of 2006. They often kill smaller animals such as birds. They sometimes kill newborn calves if the calves do not get on their feet quickly enough. The sting of the RIFA has venom composed of a necrotizing alkaloid which causes both pain and the formation of white pustules which appear one day after the sting.

Red imported fire ants are extremely resilient and have adaptations to contend with both flooding and drought conditions. If the ants sense increased water levels in their nests, they will come together and form a huge ball or raft that is able to float on the water, with the workers on the outside and the queen inside. Once the ball hits a tree or other stationary object, the ants swarm onto it and wait for the water levels to recede. To contend with drought conditions, their nest structure includes a network of underground foraging tunnels that extends down to the water table. Also, despite the fact that they do not hibernate during the winter, colonies can survive cold conditions as low as 16 °F (−9 °C).

At present, RIFA in the United States can be controlled but not eradicated. A number of products are available, which can be used on a mound-by-mound basis to destroy ant colonies when they appear. With all such efforts, it is important to reach and kill the queens, which may be as far as six feet (2 m) underground; otherwise, some queens may simply move a short distance away and quickly re-establish the colony.

Green Beer for Fewer Greenbacks

DRINKING UP THE SUN: Brewer and co-owner Alex Stiles toasting the sun in front of the Lucky Lab's solar array. He drinks Solar Flare Ale, which is "light and balanced with a slight malty character and a refreshing hops bitterness," according to co-owner Gary Geist.
IMAGE COURTESY OF GROVER P. THUMPER

You have probably heard of green buildings, green cars and, perhaps, even green phones. But were you aware that green beer is flowing from the taps of some U.S. breweries, and not the kind for St. Patrick's Day tomorrow? Among the leaders of the movement is Lucky Labrador Brewing Company in Portland, Ore., which for the past year has been saving big bucks by using solar energy to heat water used in the brewing process.

Lucky Labrador's first green beer, "Solar Flare Ale," was an instant sensation when it was introduced in February 2008, according to brewery co-owner Gary Geist. Sales spiked in the month following the beer's debut, Geist says. But, he notes that going solar is more about long-term benefits than about temporary sales spurts.

He says the entire system, which includes 16 solar panels on the brewery roof, cost about $70,000 up front but that it ended up costing only about $6,000, thanks to a $21,000 (30 percent) federal tax credit, a $35,000 (50 percent) state tax credit, and an $8,000 incentive from the Energy Trust of Oregon (a nonprofit that assists businesses taking steps to reduce their gas and electrical energy consumption). It was quite the investment, he says, given that it saves the company about $3,000 annually in gas bills, which means it will have paid for itself by this time next year.

To understand how the sun powers Lucky Lab's beer-making operation, you must first understand how the beer is brewed. There are three stages to brewing, and two of them require very hot water, Geist explains. The first is to mix barley with water that's about 160 degrees Fahrenheit (71 degrees Celsius) in a nine-foot- (2.7-meter-) tall steel tank called the "mash tun" (the traditional term for barrel). When combined with hot water, the enzymes in the barley convert its starch into sugars.

Using a large fiberglass paddle, a brewer stirs the mixture, which Geist says looks like "cereal in water." After about an hour and a half, the sugary liquid, now called "wort," is separated from the barley with a sieve and transferred into a kettle, where it is boiled, along with hops—plants containing oils that give beer its bitter aroma and flavor. Finally, the wort is removed from the kettle, cooled, and then poured into a closed tank called a fermenter where it is combined with yeast, microbes that convert the sugars to alcohol and carbon dioxide.

The solar power drives the first step of the brewing process when the barley is mixed with hot water, says Bruce McLeod, lead installer for Ra Energy, the company that provided Lucky Lab with its system. Water entering the mash tun gets its heat from 16 four-by-10-foot (1.2-by-3-meter) "solar thermal collectors," thick panels atop the brewery's roof. As the panels absorb heat from the sun, a liquid made of propylene glycol and water that resists freezing during Oregon's cold winters within them becomes scorching hot (up to 230 degrees F, or 110 degrees C), McLeod explains. This broiling liquid passes through pipes into a heat exchanger, which transfers the heat energy to water stored in a massive 1,500-gallon (5,680-liter) tank in the brewery. This storage tank supplies hot water not only for the brewing process but for the kitchen and bathroom sinks, too, according to Geist.

He notes that the system works like a hybrid car, meaning it gets its energy to heat water from two sources: solar energy, used in the mash tun phase, and natural gas, which is necessary for the kettle phase. The reason the sun cannot drive the whole process, he says, is because the solar system cannot heat water beyond 180 degrees F (82 degrees C), which is shy of the 212 degrees F (100 degrees C) needed to make it boil.

For this reason, Lucky Labrador cannot go 100 percent green—though it gets kudos from enviros for reducing its natural gas consumption by about 25 percent in the past year.

Does the beer taste any different? Not a bit, Geist says, noting he has no regrets about his decision to brew green.

"We discovered that going solar was not only good for sustainability," he says, "but a good business decision with a great investment return."

Source : scientific american