I repeated the "sugar test" with better results this time. It appears that the temperature gradient from front to back is pretty small, although it appears to be real. This time I took the same pan I had before (1/2 sheet insulated jelly roll pan), lined it with foil, and sprinkled granulated sugar over the pan as evenly as I could. I preheated the oven to 350F. It cycled at least two times, but I wasn't paying super close attention. I centered the pan on the middle rack and left it in for 15 mins. Results below: None of the sugar melted (the melting point for table sugar is 367F). This tells me that when set to 350F no part of the pan made it to 367F for any appreciable amount of time. The sugar did get a little tosted (to be expected). I then removed the pan and adjusted the oven to 375F. Again, it cycled at least two times when getting to to the 375F setting. The pan went in again in the same position for 15 minutes. The result is below. All the sugar melted in the pan, with the sugar that was towards the back of the oven browning more than the sugar towards the front of the oven (the top of the pan in the photo), indicating warmer temps in the back as observed before. What I have learned: 1) my ability to turn a knob to a set temperature in a reproducible fashion is questionable. 2) there is a temperature gradient in the oven cavity, albeit a small one (probably on the order of 8F or less when the oven is set to 375F in this case). The difference, although small, can be significant in certain cooking situations if other basic precautions aren't taken. 3) I am way too caught up in this and need to get on with my life! ;) BTW the oven door lock issue has not repeated itself. Perhaps the mechanism was just a little sticky when the range was brand spankin' new.

Slone - I am also in the ABB club and have a busy counter also. I went through various stages and also needed to take a backsplash break! - I didn't want subway tiles and really wanted back painted glass. I finally figured out glass just didn't make it. I have samples from a zillion places. When I saw Chitown's backsplash - a light went off in my head. I am going with a very simple light cream crackle (Grazia Rixi Crema) with a band of accent and possibly a few medallions over the cooktop. I am going to use all 5x5 tiles - the bottom row will be straight, then a row of accent and the tiles above will be set at 45 degrees. There is a recent post (Who's backsplash is this) on the colors. I have a lot of tile samples to share with others...

There shouldn't be any reason it wouldn't work as a significant fraction of a soil. I couldn't find any information about the size gradient, so it's difficult to get a feeling about what ratio of ingredients would work best. I'm thinking it's considerably larger than screened Turface and most bark you would use. Because it's going to hoild a significant volume of water (probably more than the bark but less than the Turface). I'm thinking that 3 parts screened bark, 4 parts of the grow stones, and 2 parts of screened Turface would be a good starting part. Some pictures of the product next to some screened Turface would be helpful. Just a note - to get the most out of your mix, screening is important. Al

He is able to make lay people understand some of the more complicated processes in humans. I have as lay person a different opinion when it comes to his quote about language. "And language (''') is not just another facility or skill, it is what makes thought possible...." He claims that it is the difference between humans and animals and therefore animals don't think. Just because they don't speak our languages, they definitely can think, it's not all instinct.