Though unseasonably warm weather over the weekend may have been a blessing on sun-starved Philadelphians, similar balmy temperatures a century ago would have sent businessmen in Montgomery County into a deep fret.

A century ago, Pennsylvania was one of America's top ice-making states. Workers would wait for a winter freeze and then cut blocks of ice out of lakes, streams and rivers.

That’s because the Perkiomen Creek was home to a lucrative ice-making industry that — long before Freon — supplied the city and its suburbs with refrigeration.

Ice makers set up shop there in the 1890s, when Pennsylvania was the third-largest ice-producing state in the country. At the industry’s peak, Pennsylvanians used more than one million tons of ice annually.

Because of industrial activity and water pollution, “the banks of the Schuylkill River back in that period had pretty much been laid to waste,” said Larry Roeder, a Montgomery County historian who edits the Town and Country community newspaper in Pennsburg.
Thus, massive icehouses — several stories tall and capable of holding up to 28,000 tons of ice — were built along the more pristine waterways, snaking from Schwenksville through lower Lehigh County, in the Upper Perkiomen Valley.

The location afforded easy access to Philadelphia by rail, and many of the icehouses employed city dwellers during ice-harvesting season. That led to the growth of hotels and restaurants to serve those workers, many of whom traveled there by train, Roeder said.
The workers, along with farmers looking for seasonal work, built huge dams in creeks. In turn, the dams formed ponds that filled and froze; one, in fact, stretched across 46 acres.
To increase production, workers would sometimes drill holes in the ice to allow more water to rise and freeze.

Cutting it up: When enough ice had formed, crews used crowbars and saws to separate blocks of ice that would be floated downstream to the various icehouses.

There, workers with large poles corralled the blocks to inclines, where they were packed together in the warehouses, with layers of sawdust in between to keep them from melding together.

As temperatures rose, skeleton crews shipped ice down to Philadelphia on an as-needed basis, and a single ice shipment could fill eight to 12 boxcars, Roeder said.

Because of the sawdust insulation, the icehouses could supply ice throughout the summer, he added.

Today, almost nothing remains. By the 1930s, modern refrigeration had made the large icehouses unnecessary, and they were all dismantled or destroyed.

Today: The region still isn’t a pushover when it comes to ice manufacturing, however. Now, the region’s ice manufacturing is geared toward selling to convenience stores, with out-of-town companies buying out local ice-making businesses, according to Jason Flexer.

Flexer, who gives presentations with Roeder on the history of ice, sold his ice business, Nolt’s Ice Co., to Home City Ice of Ohio in October.

“I kind of stumbled into it,” he said of the business, where he started working out of high school a couple of decades ago.

Nationally, ice companies these days generate $1.8 billion in revenue. Said Flexer: “Most people don’t realize how big the ice business is.”

___

Reported by ANTHONY CAMPISI of The Philadelphia Inquirer (MCT). Contact him at 215-854-5015, acampisi@phillynews.com, or @campisia on Twitter. Visit The Philadelphia Inquirer at www.philly.com

CGPGrey sets us straight again with a rundown of common misconceptions about animals. http://youtu.be/F9-iSl_eg5U

By TERRI REUTER
Publications/public information coordinator,
Southern York County School District

Glen Rock, Pa – The Pennsylvania Department of Education recently recognized all five schools within the Southern York County School District with Keystone Achievement Awards for outstanding performances during the spring 2011 Pennsylvania System of School Assessment (PSSA) testing. This marks the eighth consecutive year that district schools have received Keystone Awards.

The Keystone Achievement Award is presented to a public school that has achieved Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) standards for two consecutive years. The latest Keystone Award is for the District schools’ meeting AYP standards in the 2009-10 and 2010-11 school years.

AYP is determined, in part, by a school’s performance on the PSSA, the standardized test given annually to students in grades 3-8 and 11. The PSSA measures how well students have achieved in reading, mathematics, science and writing, according to Pennsylvania’s academic standards.

According to Sandra Lemmon, assistant superintendent, the school district was one of three in all of York County to meet all 17 targeted assessed areas.

“We are very proud to have all five of our schools receive the Keystone Achievement Awards,” said Thomas Hensley, superintendent. “This is a testament to all of the hard work by our students, teachers, staff, and administrators.”

From left, front row, Robert Bryson, Susquehannock High School principal; Beth Koontz, Friendship Elementary principal; Donna Koval, Southern Elementary principal; Jodie Sauers, Shrewsbury Elementary principal; and Len Reppert, Southern Middle principal, and back row, Sandra Lemmon, assistant superintendent; James Hollinger and Kim Adkins, both Susquehannock assistant principals; Lisa Boyer, Shrewsbury Elementary assistant principal; Mary Messner, Friendship and Southern elementary assistant principal; Donna Shick, Southern Middle assistant principal; and Thomas Hensley, superintendent.

There are super-hot chile varieties. And then there’s the sweat-inducing, tear-generating, mouth-on-fire Trinidad Moruga Scorpion.

With a name like that, it’s not surprising that months of research by the experts at New Mexico’s State University’s Chile Pepper Institute have identified the variety as the new hottest pepper on the planet.

The golf ball-sized pepper scored the highest among a handful of chile breeds reputed to be among the hottest in the world. Its mean heat topped more than 1.2 million units on the Scoville heat scale, while fruits from some individual plants reached 2 million heat units.

“You take a bite. It doesn’t seem so bad, and then it builds and it builds and it builds. So it is quite nasty,” Paul Bosland, a renowned pepper expert and director of the chile institute, said of the pepper’s heat.

Researchers were pushed by hot sauce makers, seed producers and others in the spicy foods industry to establish the average heat levels for super-hot varieties in an effort to quash unscientific claims of which peppers are actually the hottest.

That’s something that hadn’t been done before, Bosland said.

“The question was, could the Chile Pepper Institute establish the benchmark for chile heat?” he said. “Chile heat is a complex thing, and the industry doesn’t like to base it on just a single fruit that’s a record holder. It’s too variable.” The academic institute is based at the university’s agriculture school and is partially funded by federal grants, as well as some industry groups depending on the project.

Hot plants: The team planted about 125 plants of each variety — the Trinidad Moruga Scorpion, the Trinidad Scorpion, the 7-pot, the Chocolate 7-pot and the Bhut Jolokia, which was a previous record-holder identified by the institute and certified by Guinness World Records in 2007.

Randomly selected mature fruits from several plants within each variety were harvested, dried and ground to powder. The compounds that produce heat sensation — the capsaicinoids — were then extracted and examined.

During harvesting, senior research specialist Danise Coon said she and the two students who were picking the peppers went through about four pairs of latex gloves.

“The capsaicin kept penetrating the latex and soaking into the skin on our hands. That has never happened to me before,” she said.

Hotter and cooler: Chile peppers of the same variety can vary in heat depending on environmental conditions. More stress on a plant — hotter temperatures or less water, for example — will result in hotter fruit.

The Trinidad Moruga Scorpion’s new notoriety is already making waves in the industry and among those who love their hot, spicy foods.

“As with all the previous record holders, there will be a run on seeds and plants,” said Jim Duffy, a grower in San Diego who supplied the university with seeds for four of the super-hot varieties. “Like Cabbage Patch dolls right before Christmas or Beanie Babies, it’s like the hot item.”

Not even Duffy or the researchers would dare to pop a whole Trinidad Moruga Scorpion in their mouths, but there are plenty of videos on social networking sites where heat-loving daredevils have tried.

The blood flow increases and the endorphins start flowing. Their faces turn red, the sweat starts rolling, their eyes and noses water and there’s a fiery sensation that spreads across their tongues and down their throats.

using the scorpion: Pepper experts said there are a handful of people who are crazy enough to subject themselves to the pain, but the rest just want to try out these super-hot peppers on their friends or make killer hot sauce — and it doesn’t take a whole pepper to do that.

More bang for the buck is how Bosland describes it. He said a family could buy two of the super-hot peppers to flavor their meals for an entire week.

The beauty of the peppers is they’re not only the hottest in the world, but they’re also some of the most flavorful peppers, Duffy said.

“You can make a barbeque sauce or a hot sauce at a mild to medium level using small amounts of these peppers and it will be so darn addictive that you won’t want to put your spoon down,” he said. “You’ll want to eat and eat and eat.”

____

Reported by SUSAN MONTOYA BRYAN of the Associated Press from ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. Follow her on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/susanmbryanNM

John Glenn fever gripped Cape Canaveral last week, just as it did half a century ago when America was on the verge of launching its first man into orbit.

Hundreds of NASA workers jammed a space center auditorium, three days before the 50th anniversary of Glenn’s historic flight, to see and hear the first American to circle the Earth. Then journalists got a crack at Glenn, ever patient at describing his momentous flight aboard Friendship 7 and the decades since.

The 90-year-old Glenn was joined at both events by Scott Carpenter, 86, the only other survivor of the original Mercury 7 astronauts, as the weekend of anniversary festivities began.

Glenn said he recollects the flight so often it seems like it took place just a couple weeks ago. He and Carpenter visited their old launch pad, Complex 14; it was from the blockhouse there that Carpenter called out “Godspeed John Glenn” before the rocket ignited.

The national attention then was “almost unbelievable,” Glenn said, adding that he and his colleagues learned to live with the acclaim “or tried to anyway.”

Former U.S. Sen. John Glenn talks, via satellite, with the astronauts on the International Space Station, before the start of a roundtable discussion titled "Learning from the Past to Innovate for the Future" Monday, Feb. 20, 2012, in Columbus, Ohio. Glenn was the first American to orbit Earth, piloting Friendship 7 around it three times in 1962, and also became the oldest person in space, at age 77, by orbiting Earth with six astronauts aboard shuttle Discovery in 1998. (AP Photo/Jay LaPrete)

Magical time: The early 1960s were a magical time in Cape Canaveral and adjoining Cocoa Beach, Carpenter said. “Everyone was behind us. The whole nation was behind what we were doing,” he said.

Glenn’s Friendship 7 capsule circled Earth three times on Feb. 20, 1962. Carpenter followed aboard Aurora 7 on May 24, 1962.

Not the first: They were the third and fourth Americans to rocket into space. Alan Shepard and Gus Grissom flew short suborbital missions in 1961, the same year the Soviet Union launched two cosmonauts into orbit on separate shots.

The Cold War was raging, and America was desperate to even the score. Glenn could have died trying if the heat shield on his capsule was loose as flight controllers feared. But the protective shield was tight, and Glenn splashed down safely.

Return to space: Glenn, a U.S. senator for Ohio for 24 years, returned to orbit aboard shuttle Discovery in 1998, becoming the world’s oldest spaceman at age 77 and cementing his super-galactic status.

“Flying in space at age 77, you’ve given me hope. I’ve got a few good years left, and I’m ready,” Kennedy Space Center director Robert Cabana, a former shuttle commander, told Glenn. Another retired shuttle commander, NASA Administrator Charles Bolden Jr., shared how the Mercury astronauts “really lit up the world for me in terms of probability or possibility of things that we could do.”

Glenn recalled how the Mercury astronauts traveled during their training to Cape Canaveral to watch a missile blast off. It was a night launch, and the rocket blew apart over their heads.

“That wasn’t a very good confidence-builder for our first trip to the cape,” Glenn said. Improvements were made, and Glenn said he gained confidence in his Mercury-Atlas rocket, a converted nuclear missile. Otherwise, he said he would not have climbed aboard.

No launch:Glenn and his wife, Annie, for the attempted liftoff of the newest of the Atlas rockets, an unmanned booster that NASA contractors hope one day will carry astronauts. Windy weather forced a scrub of the Navy satellite launch.

Astronaut John Glenn climbs into the Friendship 7 space capsule atop an Atlas rocket at Cape Canaveral, Fla. for the flight which made him the first American to orbit the earth in 1962. (AP Photo/NASA)

“Scrub! Welcome to the space program,” Glenn said at the news conference held in the old Mercury Mission Control, now located at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex. “Not anything brand new to me.” Lousy weather spoiled Friday night’s launch attempt as well.

It took 11 tries for Glenn to get off the pad in 1962. He boarded three times before finally taking off, which he believes created even more of a public frenzy over his flight.

Reunion: On Saturday, Glenn and Carpenter will reunite with more than 100 retirees who worked on Project Mercury. And on Monday, the actual anniversary, Glenn will be feted at Ohio State University; its school of public affairs bears his name.

Glenn said he’s uncertain how he’ll mark the exact time of liftoff — 9:47 a.m. — come Monday. He admitted sometimes forgetting to mark the precise moment in the past. But not for this golden one, “for sure.”

What’s next? Besides reminiscing Friday, Glenn and Carpenter spoke of the future of space travel. When asked by Cabana “given where we’ve come, where are we going,” Carpenter had a one-word response. “Mars.” The crowd applauded.

Glenn had more to offer, stressing the importance of exploration as well as scientific research. He criticized the previous administration for promoting lunar bases and Mars travel, but providing no funds, and for canceling the space shuttle program. “A big mistake,” he said.

Glenn noted how NASA is relying on the Russians to transport American astronauts to and from the International Space Station, now that the shuttles are retired. That will continue until private U.S. companies have spacecraft ready to fly crews, an estimated five years away.

“What a big change that is from the days when there were the depths of the Cold War … fueling a lot of the interest in the space program,” he said.

Carpenter said he deplores the fact that America seems to have lost its resolve to press ahead in space exploration, as evidenced by NASA’s small share of the federal budget.

“I really miss my citizenship that was once in a can-do nation,” he said.

Another change in five decades: Glenn pointed out how cellphones have “more computing capacity than anything back at the time when we were flying in ’62.” Society has become so accustomed to new things, he said, that it will be difficult for NASA to generate the kind of excitement that Project Mercury or Apollo’s moonwalks did.

Repeatedly Friday, Glenn and Carpenter paid tribute to their five deceased Mercury colleagues: Shepard, Grissom, Wally Schirra, Gordon Cooper and Deke Slayton.

“We need five more chairs here,” Glenn told the NASA crowd.

The two pioneers received standing ovations.

Here’s a look at Glenn’s launch: http://youtu.be/8T0i0YkxGOU

___

Online:

NASA:http://www.nasa.gov/

Ohio State University: http://glennschool.osu.edu/
___

Reported by MARCIA DUNN of the Associated Press from CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla.

York Suburban Middle School students who were named to honor rolls for the second marking period of the 2011-2012 school year are:

DISTINGUISHED

Grade 8:

Jonathan Abel, Kelsey Abel, Tessa Bassett, Elisabeth Curtis,

Alexandra Eckenrode, Olivia Eytcheson, Brandon Flemmens,

Olivia Gettle, Ashley Griffith, Carson Gross,

Emily Hamme, Leah Hess, Devon Hornberger,

Derek Lehman, Susan Lloyd, Carrion Lover-Lily,

Mikala McBride, Madeleine Nesbitt,

Nicole Peritz, Grace Pindzola, Jessica Renjilian,

By TERRI REUTER
Publications/public information coordinator,
Southern York County School District

Glen Rock, Pa – Parents of the Southern York County School District may now obtain the nutritional facts for the meals that their children eat at school. The District recently implemented a program, by which the nutritional values for everyday menu items are listed on its Website. From entrees, such as hamburgers, chicken nuggets, hoagies, and pizza to sandwiches, salads, fruits and vegetables, items are listed with their serving size, calories, carbohydrates, protein, fat, and sodium contents.

“We want parents to see what the nutritional analysis is for usual menu items,” said Bruce Thens, Director of Food Services.

The program is part of the District’s ongoing effort to promote healthy nutrition for the students.

“We believe this nutritional information not only informs, but also empowers students to make healthy food choices,” he said.

To obtain the nutritional information, visit the Southern York County School District’s Website, www.sycsd.org and visit the tab to the left and click Cafeteria Menus and Information, or click here.

Every February Yosemite waterfall turns to lava.

The firefall from Glacier Point at Yosemite National Park can only be seen for a window of time .Photographers wait, as if for an eclipse, until the moment when the sun and earth align to create a fleeting phenomenon. (AP Handout Photo/Yosemite National Park Service)

A window of time just opened in Yosemite National Park when nature photographers wait, as if for an eclipse, until the moment when the sun and earth align to create a fleeting phenomenon.

This marvel of celestial configuration happens in a flash at sunset in mid-February — if the winter weather cooperates. On those days the setting sun illuminates one of the park’s lesser-known waterfalls so precisely that it resembles molten lava as it flows over the sheer granite face of the imposing El Capitan.

Every year growing numbers of photographers converge on the park, their necks craned toward the ephemeral Horsetail Fall, hoping the sky will be clear so they can duplicate the spectacle first recorded in color in 1973 by the late renowned outdoors photographer Galen Rowell.

“Horsetail is so uniquely situated that I don’t know of any other waterfall on earth that gets that kind of light,” said Michael Frye, who wrote the book “The Photographer’s Guide to Yosemite.”

“How many are perched on a high open cliff? Most are in an alcove or canyon and won’t get the sun setting behind it. Yosemite’s special geography makes this fall distinctive,” he said.

Man-made version: Four decades ago, photographers had only to point and shoot to capture another famous Yosemite firefall — a man-made cascade of embers pushed from a bonfire on summer nights from Glacier Point.

But photographing Horsetail is a lesson in astronomy, physics and geometry as hopefuls consider the azimuth degrees and minutes of the earth’s orbit relative to the sun to determine the optimal day to experience it. They are looking for the lowest angle of light that will paint Horsetail the colors of an iridescent sunset as rays reflect off granite behind the water. It materializes in varying degrees of intensity for the same two weeks every year.

“If you hit it at just the right time, it turns this amazing color of gold or red-orange,” said Frye, a photo instructor with the Ansel Adams Gallery in the park.

Another view of the hard-to-photograph optical illusion at Yosemite National Park. (AP Handout Photo/Yosemite National Park Service, Bethany Gediman)

Adams photographed the fall, but his iconic black and white images do not capture its fiery quality, and it’s unclear whether he ever noted it.

Picture time: To be successful in photographing the watery firefall, it takes luck and timing, and the cooperation of nature. Horsetail Fall drains a small area on the eastern summit of El Capitan and flows only in the winter and spring in years with adequate rain and snow, which is scarce this year. Experts say it doesn’t take a lot of water for the fall to light up.

Most important, the southwestern horizon must be clear, and February is the time of year when storm clouds often obscure the setting sun.

When conditions come together, the scrawny Horsetail Fall is the shining star of a park famed for its other waterfalls — raging Yosemite Fall and Bridalveil Fall. But Horsetail is the longest free-falling one, with a drop of 1,500 feet before it hits granite and spills another 500.

The fire lights up around dusk and lasts for about two minutes. The best views are east of El Capitan along the main roads into and out of Yosemite Valley. Most photographers gather at the El Capitan picnic area, a small pullout marked only by a sign with a table etched on it. But park officials say the inexperienced can look for the hordes of tripods and cameras to find a vantage point.

Recent storms and snowfall mean the finicky fall is flowing again, and park officials are hopeful it will last through February 24, which is generally the last day of the year it can be seen. Once an obscure event, park officials say that Internet discussions have made it more popular in recent years.

A tender shoves the ashes over the side of Glacier Point in Yosemite in the early 20th century. (AP Handout Photo/Yosemite National Park Service)

Park workers do the same: The popularity is reminiscent of an actual fiery fall that entertained guests in the park from 1930 to 1968. Each summer evening as the sun set, employees of the park concessionaire would build a huge red fir bark fire atop Glacier Point. At 9 p.m., as the fire burned down to embers and the Indian Love Song waned, someone would yell, “Let the fire fall!”

With long rakes men pushed glowing coals over the 3,200-foot cliff.

Had visitors looked in the opposite direction at a different time of year they would have seen the watery fire-fall of nature.

“There’s no comparison, and I’ve seen both,” said park spokesman Scott Gediman. “The natural activities and occurrences in Yosemite are far more amazing and more valuable than the human-made ones — everything from a sunset to wildlife to rainbows at Vernal Fall. There are a lot of amazing things, and they’re here year after year.”

Reported by TRACIE CONE of the Associated Press from YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK, Calif.

Red Lion Area Junior High School students who were named to honor rolls for the second marking period of the 2011-2012 school year are:

DISTINGUISHED

Grade 8:

Ian Adler, Kody Allen, Hayley Athoff, Brooks Argento, Emily Ayre,

Samuel Bacon, Stephen Baker, Christopher Balbier, Jennifer Barshinger, Zachary Boyer,

Makayla Cameron, Christopher Carr, Rachel Clark, Kevin Crumbling, Zane Culp,

Justin Dashler, Levi Davis, Lauren Deaver, Victoria Dewees, Courtney Dimoff,

Noah Ervin, Jessica Evans, Emily Falenski, Kristen Farley, Grant Fickes, Charles Flaharty, Chloe Fleming, Samuel Foess, Kevin Forrest, Bennett Frey, Katelyn Frock, Taylor Funke,

Elizabeth Gable, Ashlee Galloway, Stephanie Gerver, Jayla Godfrey, Allison Green, Elijah Gregory, Rachel Groff, Dalton Grove, Morgan Grove,

Rider Haga, Christian Harry, Sarah Helt, Riley Henry, Dillon Hildebrand, Alexander Hoffmaster, Joy Holbink, Galen Hook, Hayley Hurt, Grayson Huson,

Members of Northeastern High School’s National Honor Society are sponsoring two fund-raiser events.

First, a spaghetti dinner will be held from 4 to 7 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 25, in the high school’s cafeteria, 300 High St., Manchester.

Dinner includes drink, salad, garlic bread, spaghetti, meatballs, desserts, and coffee. The cost is $8; children younger than 5 eat for free.

Non-perishable food will be collected at the door. Proceeds will benefit the Northeastern Food Pantry and Rock 4 Dakotah (benefits children with rare genetic disorders).

The second event is a Family Fun Night, 5 to 8 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 28, at Friendly’s, 423 Loucks Road.

Come celebrate Dr. Seuss’ birthday a few days early. High school students will provide story time for children as they wait for their meals. All are welcome to celebrate Read Across America Day. Ten percent of the bill will be donated to the honor society.

Check out all these itty-bitty animals! http://youtu.be/EaoBZCKeEmY