2A / NEWS / MONDAY, APRIL 18, 2011 / THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN / KANSAN.COM
QUOTE OF THE DAY
"Any intelligent fool can make things bigger and more complex ... It takes a touch of genius — and a lot of courage — to move in the opposite direction."
—Albert Einstein
FACT OF THE DAY
On April 18, 1955, Albert Einstein died in Princeton, N.J., at the age of 76.
— funtrivia.com
Weather forecast
Mostly cloudy, with a high near 67. East wind 5-10 mph.
MONDAY:
A chance of showers and thunderstorms. Cloudy, with a low around 51. East wind 10-15 mph. Chance of precipitation is 50 percent.
MONDAY NIGHT
TUESDAY: Showers and thunderstorms likely. Cloudy, with a high near 68.
Southwest wind 10-15 mph. Chance of precipitation is 60 percent.
TUESDAY NIGHT:
A chance of showers and thunderstorms. Cloudy, with a low around 42. Chance of precipitation is 50 percent.
WEDNESDAY: Mostly sunny, with a high near 58.
THURSDAY: A chance of showers and thunderstorms. Cloudy, with a high near 59. Chance of precipitation is 30 percent.
Emancipation Day celebrates the anniversary of President Lincoln signing the Emancipation Act on April 16, 1862. Because the holiday isn't celebrated on a Saturday, it was observed on Friday the 15 this year, which bumped back Tax Day to today.
- Information from forecasters Jordan Carroll and Aaron White, KU atmospheric science students
What's going on?
April 18
"To Kill a Mockingbird" will be shown at 7 p.m. in the Woodruff Auditorium at the Kansas Union as a part of the "Read Across Lawrence" series.
TUESDAY
April 19
Dan Savage, a columnist from The San Francisco Chronicle and author of "Savage Love," is the recent creator of the It Gets Better Project, a movement helping promote awareness about LGBT issues. He will speak in the Kansas Union from 7 to 9 p.m.
At the outside area between the Art and Design Building and Lindley Hall there will be an Earth Dance, Earth Day Celebration which will incorporate environmental, primitive and Native American influenced choreography.
FRIDAY
April 22
WEDNESDAY
April 20
All University students, faculty and staff are invited to participate in a free runner's clinic at Watkins Memorial Health Center. Participants can be evaluated on strength, flexibility and running or walking form. The clinic is from 1 to 4 p.m.
Free Cosmic Bowling at the Kansas Union Jaybowl from 10:00 p.m. to 1:00 a.m.
SATURDAY April 23
April 23
THURSDAY April 21
The Center of Latin American Studies is hosting a free movie, "Paraiso Travel," as part of the Latin American Film Fest. The movie will begin at 7 p.m. in 330 Strong and is open to all University students.
■ There will be a Carillon Recital from 5:00 to 5:30 p.m. at the Campanile.
SUNDAY April 24
Foul-smelling flower to bloom in Ohio
COLUMBUS, Ohio — Spring is in the air, and that means an unpleasant smell for one greenhouse at Ohio State University.
An 8-foot-tall rain forest plant that's known as a "corpse flower," because it smells like rotting flesh, is getting ready to bloom.
The Columbus Dispatch reports greenhouse coordinator Joan Leonard has been growing the flowers since 2001, and this would be the first of five to bloom.
Leonard says smelling the Amorphophallus titanium for the first time will be the culmination of a decade of work. But it will be a quick experience because the flower withers after a day or two.
Associated Press
ON THE RECORD
Lobster shells revived as tiles and trivets
On April 16, an individual was arrested for breaking a window on a door and entering a locked building, causing $300 in damage.
On April 16, an individual was arrested in Ellsworth Hall for possession of drugs and drug paraphernalia with intent to sell.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
The shells from Maine's signature seafood are being used to manufacture decorative tiles, trivets and drinking-glass coasters. Work is under way to use them in countertops and tabletops. And at the University of Maine, a professor has developed prototypes of biodegradable golf balls and plant pots made out of ground-up lobster shells.
"Instead of dumping the shells at landfills, the idea is to add value to the product, which hopefully will funnel back into the industry," said David Neivandt, a professor of chemical and biological engineering who created a biodegradable golf ball with a core made of lobster shells.
Neivandt and one of his
Lobster processors dispose of tons of lobster shells that are left over after the meat is removed. Industry leaders have long wondered if there might be a way to make money from the part thrown away.
students, Alex Caddell, together developed a golf ball using ground-up lobster shells mixed with a glue-like substance for its core. The shell is also made out of naturally derived biodegradable material, but they aren't giving specifics because they don't want to give away any secrets. The ball is the same size and weight as a standard golf ball but is intended for use on cruise ships or at driving ranges that are on lakes or the ocean.
Dumping golf balls into the sea is prohibited under international convention because they are made of plastic and don't break down, but the lobster golf ball is biodegradable and disintegrates in the water in about three weeks.
Caddell, who played golf in high school, said he and Neivandt tested numerous balls that cracked, didn't fly quite right or otherwise didn't make the cut. Finally, they came upon just the right mixture that makes the ball hit nearly like the real thing.
"The first time I hit it, I was surprised it didn't shatter into a million pieces," Caddell said.
"And it flew straight. I usually have a pretty bad slice, so to hit it straight was amazing."
With an iron, the ball flies nearly the same distance as a standard ball. With a driver, it'll go 60 to 70 percent of the distance.
There are other biodegradable golf balls on the market, which sell for about $1 each, Neivandt said. The raw materials for the lobster golf ball cost about 19 cents per ball, which could make it competitive in the open market.
The university has filed a provisional patent for the lobster-shell mixture. Neivandt said a private company could buy the licensing rights and market the ball, or the school could spin off a company that would produce it.
While developing the golf ball, they also came up with a plant pot made out of lobster shell mixture — which has a high calcium content beneficial to flowers and vegetables — to place directly in the ground with flowers or vegetable plants.
Turning seafood waste products — such as lobster or
clam shells — into products with commercial value would benefit the seafood industry, said Bob Bayer, head of The Lobster Institute Research and Education organization at the University of Maine.
Most lobster shells are dumped in the garbage or at landfills, Bayer said, with some of it going toward seafood compost used for gardens or turned into lobster meal, which is an animal feed additive. There have been failed efforts to turn the shells into other marketable products — such as lobster bait — over the years, so Bayer is pleased to see new products come on line.
"The whole idea is to add value to our lobster," he said. "The more value we can extract, the more fishermen will be paid and more jobs will be created."
EcoSeaTile LLC, a small company based in Mount Desert, has been making tiles of reclaimed lobster, mussel, clam, oyster and scallop shells for use in homes and businesses, for the past year, selling at dozens of high-end tile shops in New England and New
York. It recently added a line of drinking-glass coasters that are sold at gift shops.
Owner Mickey Shattow said the tiles seem to be most popular among customers who live on or near the ocean.
"This probably won't be a big hit in Chicago, but I can see it being a hit up and down the coast," he said. "But the coaster might be a hit universally."
Aron Butterbaugh is making trivets in the shape of lobster claws, made of lobster shells and recycled glass, among the products at Beachstone, Inc., a company he runs out of South Portland.
He's also working on developing vanities, bathroom countertops, tile accessories and tabletops for patio furniture, coffee tables for the home and restaurant dining room tables that use shells from mussels, clams, oysters, scallops and lobsters in combination with recycled glass, he said.
"They're plentiful. They're a waste product. They're decorative," he said. "It's a win-win-win strategy in my opinion."
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