Lunch With George!

April 8, 2003 - Charley's Steakery

Agenda

• Triangle Puzzle
• Climbing Equipment
• Pears
• Zero-G Tea

Climbing Equipment

Pears

I had been having a lot of allergy and asthma problems while training for the triathlon, and a friend of mine who is well-versed in chinese medicine suggested that I eat a lot of pears. I was telling George about this, and he was telling me about some

George provided me with some invaluable info from the Pear Bureau Northwest FAQ:

Q: How do I know when a pear is ripe and ready to eat?
A: Pears do not ripen well on trees. They are harvested mature but unripe and need to be ripened after harvest. Bartlett pears change from green to yellow indicating when they are ready to eat. Non-Bartletts do not dramatically change color as they ripen. Because pears ripen from the inside out, the best way to check for ripeness is to gently press near the stem, when it gives to gentle pressure it is ripe. If you wait until the pear is soft around the middle chances are it will be overripe.

George also read a dieting book recently which recommends lots of fiber, so he's been looking at the fiber content of foods a lot lately. He's been using per 100 calories as a point of comparison, and pears are pretty good in that regard, at four grams per, the same as Shredded Wheat and Bran cereal.

George's bottom line for me: "By all means, go get yourself some pears!"

Zero-G Tea

Yes, it's surface tension vs. gravity! checout this very cool video sowing an astronaut (Don Pettit) aboard the International Space Station "drinking" tea with chopsticks!

Click on photo to see QuickTime movie

There are other zero-G demonstrations, and you can see 'em here.