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Showing posts from July, 2010

Banana tree treasure hunt

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The original grid system is preserved in an  OpenOffice spreadsheet without banana variety notation. The student source of the particular variety is reported in  another spreadsheet . The SVG garden map includes in the desc and title elements information on the variety and student source of the identification. Due to browser implementations as of summer 2010, most browsers are displaying the xlink:title attribute on the anchor element rather than the title with the role attibute set to tooltip. Obtaining full identification information requires digging through the source code for the garden file .  The banana below is apparently in A1.If this is correct, then the banana might be a Preisihl (Brazil) variety. To the north of the largest of the bananas at grid D1 can be seen the bananas found hidden under the tall grass. If this location is correct, then the variety may be that known as Kaimana, Kundihna, and Pisang Awak White. Serious neglect and the impact of the January to March dr

Haruki Flowers

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On the to do list this summer was cleaning up Haruki. cemetery . The ethnobotany class tackles this task on Ohigan, March 21 and September 21. I try to tackle it on the solstices, December 21 and June 21 or thereabouts. Summer school delayed my getting up there to whack down the razor grass and unbury the plants. Unburying is the main task in this cemetery. Despite being covered by reh padil , the plants were in profuse bloom. Weeding around an agave means bleeding around the agave. What is a visit to the cemetery without a little pain. A beautiful plant to behold from afar, attempts to hold this plant up close, however, produces holes in one. Gardening and love are like that. Not all of the flowers are in the Haruki garden. Some flowers are found in the office this summer.

Na Na Na

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The play-offs for a basketball tournament were in action at Enipein Elementary School in Kitti, Pohnpei, on Sunday evening. Over at Na Na Na market the ukeleles were out and playing. The market is the largest and most consistent of the markets in Kitti. Using a continuously reloaded peitehl , the market offers both pohn takai and by-the-cup options. Continuouly reloaded stones provide strong sakau on into the evening. The market attract both youth and elders. The younger crowd sits at tables dispersed around the edges of the market and prefers sakau by the cup. The market is a meet and greet place for the youth, under the watchful eyes of the elders. At least until we go na na na. I took the stone option, six dollars all you can drink as long as you can drink. Sakau prices are going up steeply. Bottles in Pehleng are 4.50 for a full size bottle, Kolonia sells weaker stuff for five and up. All of the major markets around Kolonia are eight dollars pohn takai, ten dollars if you wa

Student evaluations

SC 130 Physical Science spring 2010 had 29 students. The students answered fifteen questions using a Likert scale provided by the college. All faculty are evaluated by the students using these same fifteen questions.The Likert scale was converted to number ratings from one to five and then averaged by the college. Question Never Rarely Sometimes Usually Always Avg 1. Keeps regular schedule, every class day. 1 28 4.97 2. Shows interest in the subject. 29 5.00 3. Gives individual help as needed. 1 28 4.97 4. Avails himself/herself for student conferences. 1 28 4.97 5. Welcomes questions, suggestions and discussions from students. 29 5.00 6. Shows interest and respect for students. 1 28 4.97 7. Helps the students in meeting individ

Snorkeling

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My son and I accompanied the marine science program coordinator for a trip to obtain gobis for an aquarium at the college. A boat trip on a tropical lagoon is magic enough for a young lad. Pohnpei outside of Kolonia is exotic and appears uninhabited when seen from the lagoon. As ride-alongs we enjoyed snorkeling among the many colorful fish and coral. As a physical science instructor I am literally a fish out of my water in identifying the fish and coral we saw. Wide-eyed at the wonders of Jacques Cousteau's Silent World, especially when a black tip shard swam lazily by. Up close and personal is better than Discovery Channel. Healthy coral comes in a wide variety of colors. The shapes and variety of coral are many. Along the Intertropical Convergence Zone heavy tropical rain can move in at any time. Heading home. Lino caught the fish, Brian shows it off.

RipStik Round Pohnpei

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Although chased by rain showers, we finally did a round island road trip with occasional stops to caster board. Our first stop was out in U. Rain grounded us all the way to the former site of the Pohnpei Agriculture and Trade School in Madolehnihmw. In Rohi, Kitti, near the Madolehnihmw border we enjoyed a fairly high speed run into a bowl the smooth asphalt of the Japanese road project. A final stop was made in Enipein in Kitti, rain again closing in and shutting down the pidek . A final swing around the basketball court. A stop at the college to introduce another new rider to the joy of RipStik riding!

Compactor

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The paper-airplane-a-day calendar had a fun blast from the world war II past that I had to explain to my son for Tuesday. The island's first and only compactor is up and running in the dump. This was our evening excitement - a trip to the dump to check out the compactor. Summer can be that way. A good time to do less and reconnect with big machines.

Laboratory prep room cleaning

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The chair declared a day of laboratory prep room cleaning, fueled by free pizza. I had long known I needed to work on the physical science counter top space, which had disappeared in the wake of the re-tiling of the floor. All kinds of stuff was piled on the cabinet. I took the opportunity to also reorganize all the shelves and work on the contents of the physical science cabinets. I also tackled the notorious north side counter which had disappeared under boxes and assorted equipment over two years ago. That is the cleanest that counter top has been in a decade. Observant residents of the prep room might note that the machete box is gone as well as the green roofing ramp. The machete box now has a new home in A101, as does the green roofing ramp and a few other items. ,

Orchids, pizza, and summer reading

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On Saturday I tackled the first in a short list of summer gardening activities at the college. I had been meaning to move Spathoglottis plicata growing in the wild over to the college entrance sign. A previous attempt to move flowers into the planter was undone by the El NiƱo dry spell from January to February, along with subsequent damage done by weed whackers.  A couple wild plants were selected and transplaneted.  One was planted in the north side planter. The other in the south side planter. This time wire fencing was put around the plants to protect them. On a hot, humid, tropical summer day a picnic can mean a homemade pizza dinner in an air conditioned lounge. I just finished reading The Tyranny of Email by John Freeman, a new acquisition by the college library . While a good read, one keeps having the feeling that the focus on email may already be misplaced. The upshot is that email is consuming vast amounts of time while impacting our ability to think deeply and functi

Clara's store

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My son and I visited Clara's new store out in Meitipw, Madolehnihmw, Pohnpei. Mugging for the camera in Meitipw. On the way back we passed the 158th anniversary of the arrival of Protestant missionaries held at Ohwa Church. We were neither dressed for nor invited to the occasion, so we skipped the obvious photo opportunity.