Mosquito problems.

 The Dallas area and probably areas around you are fighting the dreaded mosquito this year with everything they have.  The problem with our modern day mosquito is that they can give you the West Nile virus which is potentially deadly.  Now I am not one who has really given two thoughts about the dangers of west Nile or getting anything bad from a mosquito bite except the mild skin irritant.  With the mild winter we just had and the current summer heat, the mosquito is out in full force west nile'ing everyone who sits on the porch of any fancy urban taco dive in town.

So what does our local and state governments do to stop this pandemic from killing off mass amounts of their tax payers?  The send out the fogger trucks to spray citronella smoke in our neighborhoods to fight back, but is this all we can or should be doing in this issue?  I was listening to the radio recently and I forgot who was on or what the station was to give them credit but, they brought up a good point about the DDT ban.  Now, I know almost nothing about science, chemistry, or unicorns but they mention how our current mosquito and its west Nile blood sucking straw could easily be taken care of with the use of DDT which was banned in 1972 because it was thought to cause cancer.  So with this information I did a little research and found out that yes, DDT was banned because of the book  Silent Spring, published in 1962 by author Rachel Carson.  The little research I have done does not include me reading this book and please refer to some of my older posts where I go into talking about the books I read called: magazines.  The talking voices on the radio brought up the lives that DDT use could be saving in African countries where malaria kills large amounts of people which is another disease the blood suckers carry.  Once I hear all of this it now gets me interested to put the two together that instead of DDT we used to use, now we pump twice as much "other stuff" to try and kill these bugs that the old stuff did much better and has not been confirmed but has been linked to bald eagle eggs having thin shells and cancer.

This whole thing might be boring to you but to think about that whole butterfly flapping its wings in Kansas might cause a tornado in Texas subject comes to my mind.  I wonder how people who die from malaria or west Nile might have felt if their lives could have been easily saved if we used a chemical that might hurt them or might not but they would have not died from malaria or west Nile.  This could be me just getting caught up in one of those UFO/ government conspiracy theories but I do think about individual rights and how mas bans on something could be a restriction on those that could be saved.  Could "us" diabetics have a better life if we had more choices on products that have not gone through the slow moving government control of new insulin pumps, virtual pancreases, blood glucose monitors, and insulin therapies.  Maybe even these options could cost less and be more readily available to more type 1 diabetics if the companies did not have to spend so much on half of their redundant testing.  These are just questions the west Nile argument brought to my mind.

Bottle Water Isle

 So I was shopping at a name brand store last night picking up a few items I needed to stock up on for the week.  Lunch items were on the list, dog food, and all sorts of items and one of the items my wife likes to have around the house is a 24 pack of bottled water.  We all have seen how the water section at the store used to be just a small section at the end of the Gatorade's and powerades.  Now it seams that water gets its own isle at the store with all the varieties of what aisles you.  About thirteen years ago I was coming back from a canoeing trip in the Minnesota/Canada boundary waters, and my co-driver was a manager of a bottled water plant.  We had a discussion on how they found out that tap water was healthier than bottled water, because bottled water had no additives and tap water has fluoride and all sorts of other agents to keep it safe to drink that also have health benefits.  Then he let me know that the future of water was to add supplements to water to give you the fluoride you need, or B vitamins, or any supplement that can benefit you, he can put in his water and sell it to people.  This was amazing to me and last night I realized how right my friend was thirteen years ago.  The one that gets me now though is coconut water.  What does coconut water do for you?  Now I was buying milk last night and they also had coconut milk?  Now I am really confused, is a coconut filled with water or milk?

 Then last night I came across what I would call the most confusing water on the planet.  This is alternative energy water?  Is there a windmill or a solar panel on the side to store energy?  How is this alternative energy, maybe you pour the water over a turbine that spins and makes electricity?

Once I was completely confused about alternative energy water just below it there was urban detox water.  Now I have seen my fare share of detox supplements at the local GNC store but, what is an urban detox?  The only thing that comes to mind is from the move "The Program" where the guy on steroids gets his pee sucked out of him and someone Else's pee put in him.  So I have to assume that urban detox is a bottle of clean pee?  Maybe not but to see the water isle and how each year we put a drop of another supplement in a bottle of common tap water and sell it as some form of health potion just amazes me.  Now don't get me wrong I have tried a few of these waters and most taste funny or cost too much but when I come across one that tickles my fancy I will try it out.  Just don't plan on me trying the urban detox clean pee water stuff any time soon.  Also if you can help me out with this coconut filled with water or milk issue please leave a comment and educate this diabetic.

Outdoor Retailer show excitement

 Not sure if all of you subscribe to the free emails from www.backpacker.com but if you don't you need to because they put all the good articles on this website and email you when they do.The actual magazine is really not for us in the south but when they do gear reviews there is no other place to get all the details.  Recently the Outdoor Retailer gathering just happened and Backpacker has shown us the future of what gear will be looking like.  Above is about the laziest thing I have seen in a while.  Here is the backpacker magazine review:

"For larger straps, check out Sea to Summit’s Accessory Straps with hook release which come in various widths and lengths of webbing, from one to two meters. The easy-to-release hooks are made out of galvanized steel which can bear incredibly heavy loads. I recommend the 10mm-wide and 1.5-meter-long version, which comes in a pair that costs $10 and is perfect for wrapping around packs or strapping gear to a roof rack. seatosummit.com"
Now I would say this is a strap for people that are too lazy to lift the buckle to release the tension.  Of course I am not saying I would not buy one of these straps if any of my current sleeping bag straps break.  It just seams funny that someone sits around all day long trying to figure out a way to make a strap easier to use.  How do people get these kind of jobs?

Here is an improved spork?  What is new about a spork?  CRKT made the eat'n tool which added a knife on the side to cut your mouth while you have a piece of steak on the end and some milk and cereal in the spoon part.  Here is the backpacker magazine review:

"Also check out the new Alpha Light Long Spork ($9, .4 oz) and is perfect for stirring and eating out of deep pots and dehydrated food bags. seatosummit.com"

I would say this is just another attempt to do simple things to a tried and true product and get money out of us fools.

Now we get to some very interesting game changers.  Here is this Helio fabric welded water pressure thingie.  It holds water and you then pump it up and get pressure so if you need plumbing in the outdoors here is a simple way to get it.  Say you need to shower or wash something.  Now I don't see all the potential yet but, I can tell this is something that would be cool to have around.  Kind of like the microwave when it was first brought into the homes and everyone just boiled water in it, then they popped corn in it, and finally we do everything with our microwave.  This is probably not like that but similar.  This item was not reviewed by backpacker but I went to the ORD website and came across it.  Check it out here:  http://www.snewsnet.com/snews/Trade-show-dailies/ORDaily/ORD_DAY1_SM12/index.html

Last I came across this Big Agnes tent that does not come with zippers.  In stead they use magnets to open the doors.  This is another game changer in my humble opinion.  Just like my idea of sewing in LED lights into a tent and having them all go to a USB cord.  Then the tent comes with a rechargeable flashlight that has a USB port on it.  So when you get into the tent and you want some light you just hook your flashlight up to the tent port and then turn on the lights.  Pretty cool idea huh?  Yes, you can say I have camped alot and look for lazy man ideas or just putting two items together.  Well this magnet tent door idea sounds really cool.  This would help with all those late night pee breaks and having to find the zipper.  you can now just push the door open and go out and leak the night away.  Here is the review from trailspace:

http://www.trailspace.com/articles/2012/08/02/fishhook-zipperless-tent.html

Most of this future outdoor equipment is alot of fluff and slight modifications of other items but, in the long run we are really seeing alot of new products that revolutionize and re-engineer what we take to go poop in the woods on the weekends.  I am really excited (and I don't usually get excited about new fangled gear0 about getting my little diabetic hands on some of this cool stuff.  Now if we can just get the temperatures below 105 degrees and I am ready to do some camping.