Thursday, July 23, 2009
Friday, July 17, 2009
US teen gains solo sailing record
An American teenager has become the youngest person to sail around the world alone.
Zac Sunderland, 17, completed the 45,000km (28,000-mile) voyage in 13 months, facing storms, equipment breakdown and suspected pirates.
Hundreds of people cheered as he sailed his 11m (36ft) yacht, the Intrepid, into Marina Del Rey, California.
Zac Sunderland, 17, completed the 45,000km (28,000-mile) voyage in 13 months, facing storms, equipment breakdown and suspected pirates.
Hundreds of people cheered as he sailed his 11m (36ft) yacht, the Intrepid, into Marina Del Rey, California.
US teen gains solo sailing record
An American teenager has become the youngest person to sail around the world alone.
Zac Sunderland, 17, completed the 45,000km (28,000-mile) voyage in 13 months, facing storms, equipment breakdown and suspected pirates.
Hundreds of people cheered as he sailed his 11m (36ft) yacht, the Intrepid, into Marina Del Rey, California.
Zac Sunderland, 17, completed the 45,000km (28,000-mile) voyage in 13 months, facing storms, equipment breakdown and suspected pirates.
Hundreds of people cheered as he sailed his 11m (36ft) yacht, the Intrepid, into Marina Del Rey, California.
Monday, July 13, 2009
Monday 26th January 2009
Initially, Andrew and I found it hard to forgive Tasmania for not being the
South Island of New Zealand. We also found it hard to forgive our wee Hyundai
for not being the Earwig (my name for the Daihatsu we drove around NZ). We got
over one of these things only: while we didn't get to wear out our ooo, I
wonder what's around this corner? Let me guess: ah-ha, I knew it, snow-capped
mountains and an alpine lake sequence in Tasmania it's also beautiful, and
only in a slightly more tame way. The Hyundai Getz remained a problem. We took
the Earwig through the mountains and above the snowline. I wouldn't do that
with the Getz, in fact, I'd avoid taking one up a hill again if I could help
it.
We stayed in Hobart on the night of Tuesday 13, notable mostly because after
walking back from dinner the moon was nearly full and rose spectacularly over
the Derwent. We went inside to grab the camera, Andrew decided to check the
cricket scores and thus deprived me of a photograph as the moon rose into a
cloud bank. We had a humorous interlude the next day involving parking for too
long in the CBD while we tried to find swimming gear. Did you know plus sizes
16 and 18 is different from sizes 16 and 18? Neither did I, but you don't want
the shops to sell out of standard sizes if you wear them, plus sizes are
actually larger at the waist. Then we drove down to Franklin (on the Huon
River, not the Franklin) and remembered that we weren't staying in the B&B
with the spa, but in the cottage nearby.
I was keen to do a fairly serious day walk while we were down there, I would
have liked to have done the South Cape walk (the one that takes about 5 hours,
not the one that takes two weeks). But our rental car insurance was invalid off
sealed roads, and I wasn't terribly interested in having to buy someone else a
new car if I had an accident on dirt. We had to compromise by driving on short
dirt roads: it's impossible to go anywhere interesting south of Hobart on
sealed roads.
We worked up to whatever we were going to do by starting with the Tahune
Airwalk on Thursday 15. This is a metal construction about twenty metres, give
or take, above ground level, and at one point you can walk out along a
cantilever above the Huon, which bounces up and down, much to the thrill of the
toddler who was smooshing her face against the glass and squealing delightedly
at a thirty metre clear drop into a river. I tend to forget about my fear of
heights when doing things like looking at tourist brochures that promise a walk
amid the treetops. On the balance it's a good thing to go through life
believing I'm not afraid of things, but it does occasionally leave me stranded
in a refuge amid the treetops explaining to Andrew that I don't want to go on
the cantilever and, actually, all things considered, I'd probably like not to
be on the Airwalk at all. After I had a minute, I did end up on the cantilever
with the fearless toddler (and, I think, a couple of people who were
deliberately bouncing it up and down too, I hate people who deliberately
trigger phobias, and not just when they do it to me, thanks). Andrew got to
take all the pictures off the end though: fear of heights is for me (and
apparently not a few others), actually a fear of deliberately jumping, and for
me it's also associated with a fear of dropping things (in case I decide to
jump off after them).
We got off the Airwalk in the normal fashion and headed into the forest. One
of the reasons I like to do immense amounts of research into these kinds of
things and always regret not doing so is that I miss important things. For
example, the Huon Pine (lagarostrobos franklinii), which can live to
be 2000 years old (there's a stand of genetically identical trees which was
founded by a tree 10000 years ago too), lives in this area, but the oldest
specimens are over in the west. If I'd know there was a tree that old in
Tasmania I would have gone to see it. We had to content ourselves with a
specimen that was 450 years old.
Since this was a day I'd planned, we weren't doing only one thing that day,
we were also racing down to Hastings Cave. Andrew had never actually been well
inside a cave before and therefore hadn't seen masses of stalactites and so on.
I managed to stamp on his excitement accidentally I think by being more along the
lines of yeah, caves are often like this. We should go down to Jenolan
with James and Yasuko before James moves. We then got our use out of our swim
purchases by going to the hot springs pool.
The next day it rained and I sulked a bit, in between marvelling at how
quickly the weather changes in south Tasmania, which was a theme of the entire
visit. Melbourne should hang its head, and Sydney can go jump, leaving aside
one spectacular storm about two years back at Chatswood in which it went from
clear sky to soaking me to the skin in under 5 minutes. We went off seeking
indoor places to have a good time but unfortunately lost the Cydery. We
stumbled across Peppermint Bay entirely by accident though, where we had a
delightful late lunch platter — good preparation for the linux.conf.au
speakers' dinner there, as it meant I knew to eat lots of the paté — and then
went to a sheep cheesery (variously referred to as the cheese sheepery and the
sheese cheapery and so on). I now own a bottle of whey liqueur and need to
learn how to make tiramisu in order to explain that $20-odd to the great
accounting ledger of life.
The weather luckily cleared up for our dinner at the Home Hill Winery.
Andrew nominated himself to heroically drink three quarters of a bottle of
pinot noir in order not to let it go to waste what with me driving and all. I
remember that the food was good and we drank an allegedly famous pinot, but
it's all lost in the memories of the view through their floor to ceiling glass
out over a vineyard set against a dark hill. My favourite type of weather
varies depending on when you ask me, but at least one of my favourite kinds of
weather is when there are dark clouds above and the sun is low in the sky. I
will never take a picture that is as good as that light.
We finally got to our walk on Saturday after looking and looking for a walk
that was not notoriously hard (eg, the Hartz Mountain climb), not off an
extended unsealed road (South Cape) and not short (everything else). We ended
up on the Pelverata Falls walk, which goes through some beautiful wet forest
before dumping walkers on a path made of loose rocks along the edge of a steep
hill. I had a deep cut in my arm that took about a week to heal after sliding
down along a bit of that path. We hoped for a beautiful clearing at the end and
instead ended up on a wooden platform, albeit with a good view of the falls. We
did wish though that we knew how to get into the spot at the top of the falls:
it's clearly possible because people were waving to us from the top.
It's not clear how many holidays we'll have this year: the conference the
following week has, as usual, made me want to both switch careers (probably
three times in a year) and travel everywhere, all at once. At some point in my
life I do need to do this.
South Island of New Zealand. We also found it hard to forgive our wee Hyundai
for not being the Earwig (my name for the Daihatsu we drove around NZ). We got
over one of these things only: while we didn't get to wear out our ooo, I
wonder what's around this corner? Let me guess: ah-ha, I knew it, snow-capped
mountains and an alpine lake sequence in Tasmania it's also beautiful, and
only in a slightly more tame way. The Hyundai Getz remained a problem. We took
the Earwig through the mountains and above the snowline. I wouldn't do that
with the Getz, in fact, I'd avoid taking one up a hill again if I could help
it.
We stayed in Hobart on the night of Tuesday 13, notable mostly because after
walking back from dinner the moon was nearly full and rose spectacularly over
the Derwent. We went inside to grab the camera, Andrew decided to check the
cricket scores and thus deprived me of a photograph as the moon rose into a
cloud bank. We had a humorous interlude the next day involving parking for too
long in the CBD while we tried to find swimming gear. Did you know plus sizes
16 and 18 is different from sizes 16 and 18? Neither did I, but you don't want
the shops to sell out of standard sizes if you wear them, plus sizes are
actually larger at the waist. Then we drove down to Franklin (on the Huon
River, not the Franklin) and remembered that we weren't staying in the B&B
with the spa, but in the cottage nearby.
I was keen to do a fairly serious day walk while we were down there, I would
have liked to have done the South Cape walk (the one that takes about 5 hours,
not the one that takes two weeks). But our rental car insurance was invalid off
sealed roads, and I wasn't terribly interested in having to buy someone else a
new car if I had an accident on dirt. We had to compromise by driving on short
dirt roads: it's impossible to go anywhere interesting south of Hobart on
sealed roads.
We worked up to whatever we were going to do by starting with the Tahune
Airwalk on Thursday 15. This is a metal construction about twenty metres, give
or take, above ground level, and at one point you can walk out along a
cantilever above the Huon, which bounces up and down, much to the thrill of the
toddler who was smooshing her face against the glass and squealing delightedly
at a thirty metre clear drop into a river. I tend to forget about my fear of
heights when doing things like looking at tourist brochures that promise a walk
amid the treetops. On the balance it's a good thing to go through life
believing I'm not afraid of things, but it does occasionally leave me stranded
in a refuge amid the treetops explaining to Andrew that I don't want to go on
the cantilever and, actually, all things considered, I'd probably like not to
be on the Airwalk at all. After I had a minute, I did end up on the cantilever
with the fearless toddler (and, I think, a couple of people who were
deliberately bouncing it up and down too, I hate people who deliberately
trigger phobias, and not just when they do it to me, thanks). Andrew got to
take all the pictures off the end though: fear of heights is for me (and
apparently not a few others), actually a fear of deliberately jumping, and for
me it's also associated with a fear of dropping things (in case I decide to
jump off after them).
We got off the Airwalk in the normal fashion and headed into the forest. One
of the reasons I like to do immense amounts of research into these kinds of
things and always regret not doing so is that I miss important things. For
example, the Huon Pine (lagarostrobos franklinii), which can live to
be 2000 years old (there's a stand of genetically identical trees which was
founded by a tree 10000 years ago too), lives in this area, but the oldest
specimens are over in the west. If I'd know there was a tree that old in
Tasmania I would have gone to see it. We had to content ourselves with a
specimen that was 450 years old.
Since this was a day I'd planned, we weren't doing only one thing that day,
we were also racing down to Hastings Cave. Andrew had never actually been well
inside a cave before and therefore hadn't seen masses of stalactites and so on.
I managed to stamp on his excitement accidentally I think by being more along the
lines of yeah, caves are often like this. We should go down to Jenolan
with James and Yasuko before James moves. We then got our use out of our swim
purchases by going to the hot springs pool.
The next day it rained and I sulked a bit, in between marvelling at how
quickly the weather changes in south Tasmania, which was a theme of the entire
visit. Melbourne should hang its head, and Sydney can go jump, leaving aside
one spectacular storm about two years back at Chatswood in which it went from
clear sky to soaking me to the skin in under 5 minutes. We went off seeking
indoor places to have a good time but unfortunately lost the Cydery. We
stumbled across Peppermint Bay entirely by accident though, where we had a
delightful late lunch platter — good preparation for the linux.conf.au
speakers' dinner there, as it meant I knew to eat lots of the paté — and then
went to a sheep cheesery (variously referred to as the cheese sheepery and the
sheese cheapery and so on). I now own a bottle of whey liqueur and need to
learn how to make tiramisu in order to explain that $20-odd to the great
accounting ledger of life.
The weather luckily cleared up for our dinner at the Home Hill Winery.
Andrew nominated himself to heroically drink three quarters of a bottle of
pinot noir in order not to let it go to waste what with me driving and all. I
remember that the food was good and we drank an allegedly famous pinot, but
it's all lost in the memories of the view through their floor to ceiling glass
out over a vineyard set against a dark hill. My favourite type of weather
varies depending on when you ask me, but at least one of my favourite kinds of
weather is when there are dark clouds above and the sun is low in the sky. I
will never take a picture that is as good as that light.
We finally got to our walk on Saturday after looking and looking for a walk
that was not notoriously hard (eg, the Hartz Mountain climb), not off an
extended unsealed road (South Cape) and not short (everything else). We ended
up on the Pelverata Falls walk, which goes through some beautiful wet forest
before dumping walkers on a path made of loose rocks along the edge of a steep
hill. I had a deep cut in my arm that took about a week to heal after sliding
down along a bit of that path. We hoped for a beautiful clearing at the end and
instead ended up on a wooden platform, albeit with a good view of the falls. We
did wish though that we knew how to get into the spot at the top of the falls:
it's clearly possible because people were waving to us from the top.
It's not clear how many holidays we'll have this year: the conference the
following week has, as usual, made me want to both switch careers (probably
three times in a year) and travel everywhere, all at once. At some point in my
life I do need to do this.
Sunday, July 5, 2009
Coming Face to Face With My Own Personal Predjudices…
I like to think Im a pretty fair person. I wont judge you by your religion, color of your skin, apparent size of your bank account etc. But I had an experience last week that made me rethink my own personal prejudices.
I was driving down a main road in our city and saw a small girl with a handful of toys and no jacket (and it was chilly) walking on the sidewalk by herself. The road she was walking on was 40 mph with a lot of cars. I passed her and watched in the rear view mirror and saw her step off the sidewalk and into the gutter. I immediately did a u-turn and pulled up to two men (who had each been in their own cars) were trying to get her to the sidewalk without touching her. I hopped out and as three strangers we tried to decide on a course of action. I talked to the little girl and found out she was 3 and her name was Amalie or Emery, or Emily (it was hard to decipher) and when I asked her where she lived she kept pointing across the large, busy street.
I had my four girls plus a niece in the car with me so I stuck close by and knocked on the immediate doors. One man went farther down the street and the other went around the corner to the street where he lived to ask a neighbor who we was fairly certain would know who the child belonged too if she was from close by (she was in charge of the childrens organization at church).
Most the houses on that immediate street were vacant and the one woman I did talk to didnt recognize the girl. By the the man whod gone further down the street came back empty handed and it had been about 20 minutes since we stopped. Not knowing if the other man was coming back at this point I put in a call to 911. I was on the phone with the 911 operator when the second man came back saying hed found the grandmother of the little girl who was frantically searching the next street over. He offered to take the little girl over there in his car.
I couldnt let him. I couldnt send this little girl with a man that I didnt know to find her grandmother. I knew that I was safe. I also appeared safe since I had 5 kids in the car and certainly didnt need another one and he was a man that I didnt know and instinctively didnt trust with a little girl that wasnt his. I felt responsible for her welfare and safety and my gut reaction was to not send her with a man. One whod just spent almost a half hour trying to help her.
I did get her to grandma (I didnt keep her) who was quite frantic and distraught that shed lost her granddaughter while babysitting. The little girl didnt seem scared or upset in the least.
I tell my kids if they ever get lost to look for a mom or a grandma to help the find me again. Realistically the chances of a random man being a predator are pretty slim, but Ive obviously subconsciously decided otherwise.
Is this a good thing? A bad thing? A product of the society we live in?
Back to day 1
I was driving down a main road in our city and saw a small girl with a handful of toys and no jacket (and it was chilly) walking on the sidewalk by herself. The road she was walking on was 40 mph with a lot of cars. I passed her and watched in the rear view mirror and saw her step off the sidewalk and into the gutter. I immediately did a u-turn and pulled up to two men (who had each been in their own cars) were trying to get her to the sidewalk without touching her. I hopped out and as three strangers we tried to decide on a course of action. I talked to the little girl and found out she was 3 and her name was Amalie or Emery, or Emily (it was hard to decipher) and when I asked her where she lived she kept pointing across the large, busy street.
I had my four girls plus a niece in the car with me so I stuck close by and knocked on the immediate doors. One man went farther down the street and the other went around the corner to the street where he lived to ask a neighbor who we was fairly certain would know who the child belonged too if she was from close by (she was in charge of the childrens organization at church).
Most the houses on that immediate street were vacant and the one woman I did talk to didnt recognize the girl. By the the man whod gone further down the street came back empty handed and it had been about 20 minutes since we stopped. Not knowing if the other man was coming back at this point I put in a call to 911. I was on the phone with the 911 operator when the second man came back saying hed found the grandmother of the little girl who was frantically searching the next street over. He offered to take the little girl over there in his car.
I couldnt let him. I couldnt send this little girl with a man that I didnt know to find her grandmother. I knew that I was safe. I also appeared safe since I had 5 kids in the car and certainly didnt need another one and he was a man that I didnt know and instinctively didnt trust with a little girl that wasnt his. I felt responsible for her welfare and safety and my gut reaction was to not send her with a man. One whod just spent almost a half hour trying to help her.
I did get her to grandma (I didnt keep her) who was quite frantic and distraught that shed lost her granddaughter while babysitting. The little girl didnt seem scared or upset in the least.
I tell my kids if they ever get lost to look for a mom or a grandma to help the find me again. Realistically the chances of a random man being a predator are pretty slim, but Ive obviously subconsciously decided otherwise.
Is this a good thing? A bad thing? A product of the society we live in?
Back to day 1
Thursday, July 2, 2009
lille
Next up on the European itinerary, Lille, France! I had never been anywhere in France other than Paris (read my post about my last trip to Paris here), so when on-line buddy Aelle offered to let me stay with her in Lille, I could not resist!I was also lucky to find a travel partner. Pandacookie was able to come to England in November, so together we jumped the Chunnel and crossed over to France. (In this photo, she is posing with Obama at the Lille train station. This was less than a week after the U.S. election, so there was Obama-fever everywhere!)Here is Aelle, and her partner Wally. They were the coolest hosts. The first night, Aelle had made reservations for us at Le Toucouleur, an Afro-Caribbean restaurant. She had, awesomely, previously made arrangements with the Chef for us to get a two-course vegan dinner! In the above photo, you see our cocktails. All the cocktails at the restaurant are named after African capitals- mine (on the left) was the Yaoundé, a tequilla cocktail sweetened with agave nectar and pineapple juice. I had to get it, just because it taught me how to say agave nectar in French! (nectar de goyave)Our dinner was amazing. We got the first course, this delicious and spicy vegetable stew with rice, and ate it all up, forgetting that we had another course coming!So by the time we got this amazing veggie curry (withs sweet potatoes, carrots, potatoes, onions, and more) we were all stuffed! That didn't stop us from indulging anyway. The experience at the restaurant was so nice- without a host who knew the city so well, what would we have had for dinner? On Sunday, we headed to Lille's large market. It was super bustling, crowded, and filled with beautiful foods and sights. Above, you see some of the brightly-colored spices at a Moroccan spice shop.And here are some giant squash. Everywhere we went, people gave us samples of clementines, grapes, olives, etc. The market was a very multi-sensual experience.Here's one of my favorite photos from Lille- a family of musician playing on the street during market day.After picking up some fresh bread (bien sûr!) we headed home, where Wally and Aelle cooked us a magnificent... Japanese feast. (You see, both of them had been living in Japan until recently). This fragrant dish, full of mushrooms, peppers, and noodles was so satisfying on a cool day, and we inhaled it all.Lille Cathedral.Our lovely hosts at a café, where I got to indulge in my love for French espresso:Here is one of my funnest discoveries in Lille! Kwak beer (being in Northern France, near Belgium, beer is a huge deal in Lille, and people drink it more than they do in other regions.) Kwak beer is called so because it's served in the special glass that you see- and when the drink gets down to a certain point, the sound of air bubbles as you tip the glass make a "quack quack" sound- it's hilarious! And the stuff is very potent, so giggles are sure to accompany a Kwak order!Of course, you can't go to France without gorging yourself on fresh-made baguettes. Pandacookie and I must have gone through at least 10 loaves of this stuff...Both of us were also happy to get to check out Le Furet du Nord, formerly Europe's biggest bookstore! (Now the 2nd biggest)... It was so fun to browse through floor after floor of books, magazines, stationery, and art supplies, including a whole section of books in English (and other languages as well).Here are Pandacookie, me, Aelle, (and of course, baguette), as Aelle dropped us off at the train station on our way to Belgium. Our visit to Lille was so extremely fun, mostly because of the coolness of Wally, Aelle, and her family who were nice enough to take two internet strangers into their house! It was nice to get an insider vegan view of the city, and I can't wait to go back. Merci, Aelle!To see all my photos from Lille, click here.Coming up next, join Pandacookie and Bazu in Ghent...
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Movylo: Create Your Own Mobile Site
Movylo is a cool online mobile cms platform that allows you to create your own mobile site and manage it online. The application is multifunctional and provides a variety of tools using which you can create mobile-friendly web pages with content (text, images, videos and tones), aggregate and publish feeds, write blog posts, create service promotions and video brochures, create and make surveys, create and manage e-mail and sms newsletters and much more.
Created mobile sites will automatically adapt the content style to the screen size of the users phone, be it a Smartphone, iPhone, Blackberry or some regular mobile phone.
Check out the demo videos below to see Movylo in action:
Features:
Create your mobile site, personal or business and publish it online.
Created site automatically adapts to any mobile.
Load and manage multimedia content i.e. video, wallpapers, games etc.
Build and maintain your own blog.
Send your newsletters both via email and SMS.
Make questionnaires and polls to gather votes and research market in real time.
Run competitions in real time.
Create your own mobile shop.
Analyze the stats in real time and see how your users navigate your site.
Free account is limited to 10MB of storage and shows Movylo logo.
Similar websites: Ubik, Mowser, Mofuse and Google Mobilizer.
Check out Movylo @ www.movylo.com
New on MakeUseOf ...
Now you can follow MakeUseOf on Twitter. Recommended!
MakeUseOf 'Geeky Fun' - Hillarious Geeky Pics and Videos from different parts of web.
Movylo: Create Your Own Mobile Site
Categorized under: Mobile Browsing, website mobilizer
Related posts
WireNode : Create your Own Mobile Startpages
Wapipedia : Browse Wikipedia from Mobile Phone
Ubik: Create a Mobile-Friendly Website
PriceCheck: Check Product Prices from Mobile (UK only)
OperaMini: The Mobile Browser Everyone should Know About. Free.
Created mobile sites will automatically adapt the content style to the screen size of the users phone, be it a Smartphone, iPhone, Blackberry or some regular mobile phone.
Check out the demo videos below to see Movylo in action:
Features:
Create your mobile site, personal or business and publish it online.
Created site automatically adapts to any mobile.
Load and manage multimedia content i.e. video, wallpapers, games etc.
Build and maintain your own blog.
Send your newsletters both via email and SMS.
Make questionnaires and polls to gather votes and research market in real time.
Run competitions in real time.
Create your own mobile shop.
Analyze the stats in real time and see how your users navigate your site.
Free account is limited to 10MB of storage and shows Movylo logo.
Similar websites: Ubik, Mowser, Mofuse and Google Mobilizer.
Check out Movylo @ www.movylo.com
New on MakeUseOf ...
Now you can follow MakeUseOf on Twitter. Recommended!
MakeUseOf 'Geeky Fun' - Hillarious Geeky Pics and Videos from different parts of web.
Movylo: Create Your Own Mobile Site
Categorized under: Mobile Browsing, website mobilizer
Related posts
WireNode : Create your Own Mobile Startpages
Wapipedia : Browse Wikipedia from Mobile Phone
Ubik: Create a Mobile-Friendly Website
PriceCheck: Check Product Prices from Mobile (UK only)
OperaMini: The Mobile Browser Everyone should Know About. Free.
Sunday, June 28, 2009
Bryant Terry: Vegan Soul Kitchen
Last year, I attended a "Food and Justice" symposium at Syracuse University. There, I got to hear scholars, writers, food activists, and people from all kinds of backgrounds discuss the intersections of food and justice. There was so much to think about- the availability of fresh produce. Fair prices for small farmers. The cost of organic foods. The best way to get food into the hands of those who need it. Preserving heirloom seeds and varieties. Food education. Nutrition. Politics. In short, it was a bit overwhelming! Bryant Terry is a chef and activist who is deeply involved in all these same issues. As he says in his book, the best way to engage with people on some of the deepest ethical and philosophical issues is through grub. Good, delicious, simple GRUB. The way to our hearts and minds is through our stomachs after all! I think most of us who blog understand this on a deep level- every time we talk about a delicious organic strawberry or some local asparagus or a vegan dessert, we are appealing to the appetite, but also appealing to a shared sense that there is a better way to eat. I received a review copy of Terry's second book, Vegan Soul Kitchen, which gives us plenty of ways to eat better- better for our bodies, for the animals, for the earth, and for the producers of sustainable food. In this book, he gives traditional African-American and soul food recipes that are not only vegan, but also based on a whole foods philosophy. You won't find processed or packaged foods here, but you will find plenty of deliciousness. Case in point, his recipe for Roasted Plantains with Roasted Garlic Lime Dipping Sauce. While this dish is meant as an appetizer, it fed the two of us (along with some tofu and couscous) as dinner tonight. The plantains came out crispy and savory, while the dipping sauce was brimming with fresh and tart flavors, a perfect counterpart. I can't wait to cook more with this book, especially as summer's abundant local produce comes in. Bryant Terry is a man after my own heart- there is a whole section of the book dedicated to watermelon! Get this book if you want to give fresh, local, and seasonal food a twist- who knows, you might change a few hearts and minds along the way.
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
Monday, June 22, 2009
Get Uncomfortable, Finally
The situation: Complacency. Complacency on even the lowest level: A feeling of quiet pleasure or security, often while unaware of some potential danger, defect, or the like; self-satisfaction or smug satisfaction with an existing situation, condition, etc. Homeostasis. The human body and the human mind resist change as hard as they can. Unhappy Enough You may be unhappy. You might be miserable. But are you unhappy enough, miserable enough to get you moving, finally? As long as it isn't that bad, there is no real reason for a change. After all, the change is endangering the status quo. The resolution: Get uncomfortable with the status quo. Escalate the status quo to the point where it gets really uncomfortable and you are ultimately required to get up and finally move. Your Mind is Playing Tricks on You Please note that you are already unhappy with your situation. Do you really think that an eventual change will make things worse? Could it be remotely possible that your mind is playing tricks on you, tricks to prevent change? Any change? Even the change to something better? Something better. That's what is almost guaranteed. What do you think is going to happen after a long stretch of discomfort? The mere change, change itself, will make you feel better, once you overcome the inertia that your mind builds up to save itself. Make it Worse How? Do something stupid. Something stupid that will turn out to be ultimately intelligent. Break that situation by doing something against your values that will literally make you want to run away. Of course, stay somewhat sensible but -- you have to break that situation by going just far enough for yourself. You don't want to destruct other people's life and lives when all you need to do is to break your own mindset. The usual disclaimer applies here. Drive that car into the ground, quit that job, and leave that relationship. Do you really think that anything will be worse that it is now? Make it worse now and expect nothing but the best in return. Again, the plan is not to blow up the situation in a negative way. I do not suggest to provoke getting fired for bad performance; instead, get fired for excellent work; get too big for your current situation. The decision is made. Right? That's the part where thinking can pause and step back for doing. Think up the plan to quit, to change the situation and then do without further thinking. Let go. Avoid rationalizations like the plague. Avoid Rationalizations I can't stress this enough: Fight rationalizations. Dismiss them once the decision is made. The beauty is that you don't know yet what is to come. The trick is to move on anyway. How? It doesn't matter. One thing is for sure, though: It will be better, especially since you don't know what it is. Don't you love surprises? I know that you don't, by the way, but you will love this one. Enjoy and embrace your discomfort and move now, finally. Set a Deadline Set up a deadline, a really outrageously tight, deadline. One that is so tight, it isn't possible to linearly achieve. Set a goal of quitting in 4 weeks, whatever it is. That said, what about tomorrow? Today? The Process To sum it up, the steps are roughly as follows -- You are comfortable and complacent. You set a ridicoulously tight deadline to end complacency. You get really uncomfortable with the little you have. You realize that it will be better. You fight rationalizations. Your mind is playing dirty tricks on you. You have your mind in check and your actions are pursuing the deadline. Quantum leaps happen. Are you uncomfortable enough? Related Items Don't Ask Why: It's Overrated Leap Forward and Benefit from Nonlinear Growth Deliberate Change: Whatever it Takes Enhance your Predictions Free ebook Peer pressure, vanity and behavior, motivation tricks and hacks, success and pain, and how to excel, Celebrate Your Beauty.
Sunday, June 21, 2009
Thursday, June 18, 2009
Recent Pics
Hello. Here are a couple of recent pictures.Lisa speaking at FBC Lansing, Il. (I had just finished my part, and someone had to take pictures.)A yummy lunch with members of FBC Lansing.At FBC Lansing, Il.Jerry L & I.Our friends the Maugel family from Ft. Wayne.Thanks for stopping by today. Please continue to pray for us as we travel and speak. This weekend I'll be teaching youth at South Church in Lansing, Michigan. Next weekend we'll be at Mayflower Congregational church, also in Lansing, Michigan.Please pray for our support needed. We are $1200 a month short still. But God is good. He is able to provide.Thanks again, Tom & Lisa
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Lawyer Disbarred for Sex-For-Fees
Area lawyer disbarred for sex-for-feesThe News Herald Writer by DAVID ANGIER May 2, 2009TALLAHASSEE, FL — The Florida Supreme Court on Thursday disbarred James Harvey Tipler for multiple bar infractions, law violations and unethical conduct, including trading sex for attorney fees. Tipler, 58, who was based in Fort Walton Beach but practiced in Panama City and Alabama, was charged in September 1999 with racketeering and four misdemeanor counts of prostitution. He traded legal services for sex with four women between Nov. 1, 1998, and Sept. 17, 1999. He pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor charge of soliciting prostitution in 2001, which resolved his case without jail time. "He satisfied his own sexual appetite with a client as a sex-for-fees arrangement," Chief Justice Peggy Quince wrote in the unanimous decision. "He altered evidence and caused a witness to unknowingly give false testimony. He has charged his clients excessive fees and stolen their money. He has failed to maintain a trust account. He has broken public confidence in the profession of the practice of law by neglecting his clients and failing to prosecute their cases. He has prejudiced the administration of justice by misrepresenting facts to multiple courts. And, through the disciplinary process in these cases, he has been dilatory, deceitful and evasive." Tipler represented an 18-year-old Bay County woman who was charged with aggravated assault and entered into an agreement with her where he'd knock $200 off her $2,300 fee "each time she engaged in sex" with him and $400 if "she arranged for other females to have sex with him," according to the Supreme Court opinion.After his case was resolved, Tipler began a lengthy process of resolving a disciplinary action in Alabama arising out of the same incident. The Alabama Bar also found that Tipler had edited a videotape in a medical malpractice suit to remove scenes that would have been harmful to his case. He was found to be in criminal contempt of court and suspended for 120 days. The Supreme Court found that Tipler had taken on clients, charged them but did not work on their cases, and misused more than $57,000 in funds. "Tipler secured fees based on intentional misrepresentation and fraud," Quince wrote. "In most of the cases, Tipler charged excessive fee, failed to comply with the Bar rules governing trust accounts and failed to protect his clients' interests." She wrote that while the court questions "whether Tipler is truly amenable to rehabilitation," the justices took into account the mitigating factors in his case, including emotional problems and a mental impairment, and chose not to disbar him permanently. He can reapply after a period of time. The opinion was sent to Tipler in Beverly Hills, Calif.
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
Dreams tell death
I've dreamed three dreams which told death .
1.On the just my uncle's dying day,I and my another uncle both dreamed he's strolling in the hospital yard.
2.I dreamed I was blooding,then the abrotation.
3.About my pet.I left my pet in my mum's house,and one day dreamed my mum teased it,and I told her not to .At last ,I got to know it's dead.
1.On the just my uncle's dying day,I and my another uncle both dreamed he's strolling in the hospital yard.
2.I dreamed I was blooding,then the abrotation.
3.About my pet.I left my pet in my mum's house,and one day dreamed my mum teased it,and I told her not to .At last ,I got to know it's dead.
Monday, June 15, 2009
Sunday, June 14, 2009
The Camera that Changed the Universe: Part 1 [Starts With A Bang]
As I write this, the Space Shuttle Atlantis has just blasted-off a few hours ago, headed for the Hubble Space Telescope. It's hard to believe that Hubble's been up there for more than 19 years now, and has helped revolutionize our understanding of the Universe, from measuring the Hubble constant to discovering Dark Energy. It continues to dazzle us even today. While you can read about the servicing mission that's going on here, I'm going to focus on saying goodbye to one special instrument this week: WFPC2. (If you want to sound like an astronomer, it's pronounced WHIFF-pic-too.) This camera, the Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2, installed in 1993, has been taking some of the greatest pictures the Hubble Space Telescope (or any telescope) has ever seen. Today will be its last day on the telescope, and this week I will be doing a five-part special on the five greatest images this camera has taken over its 16-year history. Let's cut right to it. Part One Battle not with monsters, lest ye become a monster. And if you gaze long into the abyss, the abyss also gazes into you. --F. Nietzsche When you look up into the night sky, in some places there are stars, and in other places is just a black, empty abyss. You can see more stars with binoculars than your naked eye, and more with a telescope than with binoculars. But, at some point, you will have seen it all. Well, in 1995, they decided to do an interesting experiment with the Hubble Space Telescope. Let's take a blank patch of sky, one with practically no stars in it, one with no known galaxies, clusters, or -- pretty much -- anything of interest in it. And let's point our telescope at it, for days, and let's see what shows up. This image is only one degree on each side, or only 0.005% of the night sky. So you can appreciate just how miniscule this area is: the night sky is about 20,000 square degrees, while that little area is less than 0.002 square degrees! There are five faint stars in this field, and -- before Hubble -- they were the only things we knew of in this area. It looked like this: Over the span of 10 days, WFPC2 took 342 images of this abyss, staring at this tiny, black patch of sky where nothing seemed to be, counting one photon here, one photon there, and often not seeing a single thing for minutes on end. At the end of 10 days, they stitched it all together, and here's what they found: (And click here for the full-size version.) Do you know how remarkable this is? Every point of light in this image that wasn't one of the five stars identified up top is its own galaxy! We had no idea how deep, how dense, and how full of stuff the Universe is until we took this picture. Do you have any idea how many galaxies are in this image? Any idea -- in less than 0.002 square degrees -- how many galaxies there are? Well, let's just take 3% of this image, blown-up, of course, so you can count. And remember, every single blob, blur, or distant luminous dot is a galaxy! There's about 130, according to my estimates, more or less. If we do the math and extrapolate this to the entire night sky in both hemispheres (about 40,000 square degrees), we get that there are 10^11 galaxies in the Universe, or 100,000,000,000 galaxies! Keep something else in mind here: 100 years ago, we thought we were the only one. I don't know how I'm going to find 4 other images from WFPC2 to compete with this one, but this is my favorite, and just creating it totally changed our view of the Universe, and how vast and full of stuff it actually is! Add to: Del.icio.us Digg StumbleUpon Reddit Facebook Read the comments on this post...
Saturday, June 13, 2009
Grow, grow ... faster!
It's Monday, which means Garden Update. I am sure it is scintillating, what with everything being two weeks in the ground and me photographing their every new leaf. But look... the pumpkin LOVES the miniature raised bed garden! It's now twice the size it was last week! The brilliant blue jay-like bird which I call a Blue Jay and 37 readers emailed to let me know it is a Western Scrub Jay stopped by to say hey. He loves hanging out with his friends in the yard and harassing the squirrel. I have decided to clear up the naming confusion and call him Gomez. He just looks like a Gomez. Except there are many many Gomez birds in my yard now that they have trained me to fetch them peanuts and birdseed. I have a fleet of Gomez birds. Now for the Topsy-Turvy update. Ya'll, it is WEIRD. See, in the pictures on the Topsy-Turvy box the plants grow lush and happy in a downward cascade of leaves and fruit. But in my yard, the little tomato seedlings are struggling to grow upward, like they are really not loving being upside down and their genetic memory is reaching for the world of normalcy where tomatoes grow upright and roots are at the bottom. I don't know, it seems wrong somehow! Cherry tomato: Roma tomato: You can see in that picture how some of the leaves that get the most direct sunlight crisped right up last week. It's the valley. It was 100 degrees a few days in a row. Which also means I had my first garden fatality: It was just too damn hot for the cucumber in the Back 40. I'll replant that spot with a crookneck squash or something that likes heat. What's most fascinating in my garden of eatin' this year is that the only cucumber that seems even remotely happy is the one hanging upside down! This is the best result I've had with a cucumber plant maybe ever, so I am sticking with it. It's all for science! The "Heatwave" variety of tomato seeding is still living out in the raised bed garden and it hasn't been even close to hot weather here yet (two measly 100-degree days is just a little foreshadowing) so only time will tell if he can withstand the infernal valley summers. One plant that has shocked me is the little chili pepper plant in my kitchen garden. This is one of the heirloom chili peppers my dad brought me and planted from a seedling. I've had it for two years or so now and this winter I cut it all the way back to the roots. It started leafing out a month or two ago, but once I added some richer material to the soil and mulched it went CRAZY: It's taking over the herbs. Funny! Speaking of herbs ... last night my mom and I were on the phone talking about happy little things. She was telling me about this pretty ceramic planter she and my dad had found a few days ago and how she'd filled it with a gorgeous red geranium and every time she looked at it she felt happy. Just a little happy thing. So I told her my little happy thing: Yesterday I was making my own salad dressing -- squeeze and zest a few lemons, add olive oil, salt and pepper and stir -- and usually I would add some spices from my cabinet. But I remembered I have this awesome fresh herb garden outside and I went out to the patio with my kitchen scissors and snipped a little French tarragon, a sprig of marjoram and several stems of fragrant thyme. It made me ridiculously happy to chop them up and add them to my vinaigrette. It's the little things!
Friday, June 12, 2009
Never tell a peson who's experiencing deep sorrow, i know how you feel..
i receive a txt today and it said never tell a person who's experiencing deep sorrow, i kow how you feel because you don't. Its true, maybe you went through that same situations but you have different emotions. Nobody knows anyone's emotions but themselves alone, whether your a friend or family or really close to that person but you really dont know whats going inside. what is your reactions to this? what do usually do when your comforting other people who is really in deep pain?
How Many Arrows are Left in Nokia’s Services Quill?
mage via Wikipedia One of the phrases I heard when I worked at Nokia right before they announced the divestiture of the Security Appliance Business (where I worked) was more wood behind fewer arrows. In other words, Nokia was wanting to focus more of their resources behind fewer initiatives, products, services, whatever. Seems reasonable. It should, therefore, be no surprise given Nokias huge fall in profits and the general state of the economy that Nokia is, once again, putting more wood behind fewer arrows by, according to the press release, [focusing] investments on fewer initiatives and [increasing] the use of common enablers across certain services. The press release gives scant details, as press releases often do. However, they do mention a couple of interesting tidbits: A variety of third-party partners will be added to the image capture and sharing features on devices. Presumably, only newer devices. Those of us with Nokia devices today likely wont benefit. And seriously, how long did it take for Nokia to realize theres a thriving ecosystem of services that they simply dont participate in? When Nokia says employees will be impacted by a strategy change, as this press release says, it means only one thing: layoffs. 450 of them, or at least 450 people will have to substantially change their job. At least Nokia gives decent severance packages, but I still feels sorry for those impacted. Given how long it seems to take for Nokia to make any serious changes, based on having worked for them for 10 years, I have to wonder if these changes can be implemented in time to reverse the downward slide of market share and mind share. Based on what I saw in Redwood City when I was at the Check Point office last week, Id say the fight is over and Nokia lost. Many former Nokia employees are now proudly carrying iPhones along with many long-time Check Point employees. Me? Id love to get an iPhone now, but I cant justify spending money on a new phone when Ive got a drawer full of them. Maybe after Apple releases the next generation iPhone Related articles by Zemanta Nokia Asking For Volunteers To Trim The Fat (phoneboy.com) Nokia cuts a further 1,700 jobs worldwide as demand falls! (ceoworld.biz) Too many brands - variety stymies smartphone viruses: study (cbc.ca) Nokia to extend S60 usage, new smartphone defintion (allaboutsymbian.com) Nokia Targets the U.S. Market (businessweek.com) Comments30 April 2009, Kellman writes: PhoneBoy using an iPhone? Isn't that one of the seven signs of the apocalypse? Let's see, had earthquakes, floods, nasty flu brewing. . . . if I see you walking around with an iPhone, I'm moving further north and hiding ;)1 May 2009, PhoneBoy writes: Don't you already live pretty far north? :)Related PostsNokia N75 in April? And the N95 in North America?Nokias Latest AdSense BuyTesting Think Outside Keyboard With Nokia N95Pownce and GrandCentral InvitesCreebies: Nokias Version of Tamagotchi This work originally came from The PhoneBoy Blog and is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.
Thursday, June 11, 2009
New carrier to offer unlimited VOIP and data
Zero1, a new mobile phone carrier has announced that it will begin offering unlimited voice and data on smart phones for just $69.95 a month. The offer is made without a contract and riding on a network that is as wide as the one operated by ATT because it will, in a way, be using ATTs network through some form of roaming agreement that will allow the transmissions to tunnel from ATTs network to Zero1s IP backbone. . Most of the savings that Zero1 will enjoy is by removing traditional circuit switched voice calls. All of the calls on their network will go through their own VOIP application. Currently this only runs on Windows Mobile 6 phones but in the future it will also work for Blackberry, Android, Symbian, JAva and even iPhones. The $69.95 a month plan will include VOIP calling and data, and will be done every month without a contract or credit check. An additional $10 a month, users can enjoy unlimited international calling to 40 countries.
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
Dog and God (Amy Forbus): Snippets
This committed comfy-shoes girl has bought two pairs of open-toed slides so far this month (well, one pair I had to buy for a wedding). And has scheduled her first pedicure for the end of the week. I'm way too practical for this kind of behavior.Our household is enthralled by this composition. We think maybe they spy on people who have been married a while.Glad the weekend road trip is behind us. Less than 3 weeks until the next one...It was dry and cool this evening. Had a rather nice dog-walk.Made that microwave cake-in-a-mug recipe that's going around. My Twitter-sized review: Nice that it exists. Probably great if you're really desperate for cake. Overall: How 'bout that.
Tuesday, June 9, 2009
Newsmakers May 1, 2009
WJR's Smith set to see Michigan Listeners to WJR's Paul W. Smith Show (5:30 - 9 a.m., weekdays) the week of May 4th, will get to hear why Michigan is a very special travel destination, not only from those outside the area but Michiganders as well. It's all part of a special week of broadcasts as Travel Michigan presents the 2009 Paul W. Smith Pure Michigan Tour. The week of special on-location-remotes begins at the Villages of Tullymore in Stanwood (May 4th). Other tour stops include the Grand Traverse Resort and Spa (5/5), the Inn at Bay Harbor (5/6), Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island (5/7) and concludes at the Monroe County Community College's La-Z-Boy Center Meyer Theatre in Paul W's childhood hometown of Monroe, MI (5/8). Smith is scheduled to talk with local business and government leaders at each of the stops on the tour. In addition to the broadcasts, highlights of the tour including photographs and exclusive interviews will be online at MLive.com. Detroit News: Ulysses Wolf is the owner of the booming voice often used to pump up Joe Louis Arena during Red Wings games, and tonight, he will be faceless no more. Normally unseen, Wolf will be at center ice before the opener of the Western Conference playoff series against the Anaheim Ducks. This isn't his first dalliance with the Red Wings organization, though. When the Wings won back-to-back Stanley Cups in 1997 and 1998, he was the voice of Joe Vision. When the Wings were on the road, fans filled Joe Louis and often heard Wynn's voice. "They want it to be powerful and masterful, and I love putting that into a performance," he said... Finally, Red Wings announcer will be seen
Monday, June 8, 2009
Dr. Mary Newport Shares Her Husband's Coconut Oil Cure For Alzheimer's
at：2009-05-12 22:11:59 Click: 0
Dr. Mary Newport with her Alzheimer's disease-stricken husband SteveOne of the worst possible neurological diseases people could ever be diagnosed with is Alzheimer's disease. From the memory loss to weight loss to depression, it's a sad state for the people afflicted with it as well as the family members who are left to deal with a loved one who may or may not recognize them on a day-to-day basis. With 5.3 million Americans suffering from Alzheimer's disease today with a new case being identified every 70 seconds, finding a solution for this problem is a serious topic worthy of discussion. Today's podcast guest stumbled upon an unexpected dietary "cure" for her husband's Alzheimer's disease.In Episode 240 of "The Livin' La Vida Low-Carb Show with Jimmy Moore," we are privileged to hear from Dr. Mary Newport who I first found out about after reading this St. Petersburg Times story about how feeding her husband coconut oil greatly IMPROVED his Alzheimer's. It was such an extraordinary story that I just HAD to book her for an interview to tell this remarkable story to my listeners. She correctly identifies the glucose connection to Alzheimer's disease which is now becoming well-known as Type 3 diabetes, how ketone bodies are the preferred fuel for brain function, and why medium chain triglycerides (MTCs) found in coconut oil are a miracle for her husband's condition. This is one of the most stunning personal testimonies of how a high-fat, low-carb ketogenic diet can dramatically improve health. You can't help but be a believer after listening to Dr. Newport gush about her husband Steve is overcoming his tremors, regain cognitive function, and DEFEATING his Alzheimer's.There are FOUR ways you can listen to Episode 240:1. Listen and comment about the show at iTunes:2. Listen and comment about the show at the official web site:3. Download the MP3 file of Episode 240 [42:01m]:4. Calling (818) 688-2763 to listen via PodlinezSubscribe to the RSS feed or you can click on the "Subscribe" button at iTunes. If you are having trouble, then watch this video tutorial from my producer Kevin Kennedy-Spaien. What do you think about Dr. Mary Newport's personal story of using coconut oil with MCT oil to improve her husband's Alzheimer's disease? Do you believe this is an effective plan for people dealing with neurological ailments? Tell us your reaction in the show notes section of Episode 240. Today, she is sharing what she has learned about coconut oil and why it works so well in treating Alzheimer's disease at her web site Coconut Ketones. And if you missed my podcast interview with Dr. Larry McCleary earlier this year when he discussed low-carb, MCTs, and brain health, then be sure to check it out, too! If you're interested in getting this in your own diet, then check out Premium MCT Gold and Nutiva Coconut Oil (the BEST brand I've found!). CONGRATULATIONS to Dr. Newport and her husband Steve for showing there are natural, dietary cures for preventable diseases that people too often rely on prescription drugs to help them.Coming up on Thursday, I'll have Katie Jay who recently started on her own low-carb journey after going through weight loss surgery and founding an organization called the National Association for Weight Loss Surgery (NAWLS). She authored a book about her weight struggle called Dying To Change: My Really Heavy Life Story, How Weight Loss Surgery Gave Me Hope for Living and she's going through her own low-carb journey to better health now that could positively influence those she comes into contact with through her organization. Tune it to hear Katie's story on Thursday!PLEASE HELP US SPREAD THE MESSAGE OF THIS SHOW! If you have not already done so, please go to the iTunes page for my podcast, click on "Write a Review" and share what my podcast means to you. And if you'd like to financially support this podcast, then please consider clicking on the "Donate" button on the side panel of the podcast web site. We appreciate your generosity and support! THANK YOU for listening to "The Livin' La Vida Low-Carb Show with Jimmy Moore."
at：2009-05-12 22:11:59 Click: 0
Dr. Mary Newport with her Alzheimer's disease-stricken husband SteveOne of the worst possible neurological diseases people could ever be diagnosed with is Alzheimer's disease. From the memory loss to weight loss to depression, it's a sad state for the people afflicted with it as well as the family members who are left to deal with a loved one who may or may not recognize them on a day-to-day basis. With 5.3 million Americans suffering from Alzheimer's disease today with a new case being identified every 70 seconds, finding a solution for this problem is a serious topic worthy of discussion. Today's podcast guest stumbled upon an unexpected dietary "cure" for her husband's Alzheimer's disease.In Episode 240 of "The Livin' La Vida Low-Carb Show with Jimmy Moore," we are privileged to hear from Dr. Mary Newport who I first found out about after reading this St. Petersburg Times story about how feeding her husband coconut oil greatly IMPROVED his Alzheimer's. It was such an extraordinary story that I just HAD to book her for an interview to tell this remarkable story to my listeners. She correctly identifies the glucose connection to Alzheimer's disease which is now becoming well-known as Type 3 diabetes, how ketone bodies are the preferred fuel for brain function, and why medium chain triglycerides (MTCs) found in coconut oil are a miracle for her husband's condition. This is one of the most stunning personal testimonies of how a high-fat, low-carb ketogenic diet can dramatically improve health. You can't help but be a believer after listening to Dr. Newport gush about her husband Steve is overcoming his tremors, regain cognitive function, and DEFEATING his Alzheimer's.There are FOUR ways you can listen to Episode 240:1. Listen and comment about the show at iTunes:2. Listen and comment about the show at the official web site:3. Download the MP3 file of Episode 240 [42:01m]:4. Calling (818) 688-2763 to listen via PodlinezSubscribe to the RSS feed or you can click on the "Subscribe" button at iTunes. If you are having trouble, then watch this video tutorial from my producer Kevin Kennedy-Spaien. What do you think about Dr. Mary Newport's personal story of using coconut oil with MCT oil to improve her husband's Alzheimer's disease? Do you believe this is an effective plan for people dealing with neurological ailments? Tell us your reaction in the show notes section of Episode 240. Today, she is sharing what she has learned about coconut oil and why it works so well in treating Alzheimer's disease at her web site Coconut Ketones. And if you missed my podcast interview with Dr. Larry McCleary earlier this year when he discussed low-carb, MCTs, and brain health, then be sure to check it out, too! If you're interested in getting this in your own diet, then check out Premium MCT Gold and Nutiva Coconut Oil (the BEST brand I've found!). CONGRATULATIONS to Dr. Newport and her husband Steve for showing there are natural, dietary cures for preventable diseases that people too often rely on prescription drugs to help them.Coming up on Thursday, I'll have Katie Jay who recently started on her own low-carb journey after going through weight loss surgery and founding an organization called the National Association for Weight Loss Surgery (NAWLS). She authored a book about her weight struggle called Dying To Change: My Really Heavy Life Story, How Weight Loss Surgery Gave Me Hope for Living and she's going through her own low-carb journey to better health now that could positively influence those she comes into contact with through her organization. Tune it to hear Katie's story on Thursday!PLEASE HELP US SPREAD THE MESSAGE OF THIS SHOW! If you have not already done so, please go to the iTunes page for my podcast, click on "Write a Review" and share what my podcast means to you. And if you'd like to financially support this podcast, then please consider clicking on the "Donate" button on the side panel of the podcast web site. We appreciate your generosity and support! THANK YOU for listening to "The Livin' La Vida Low-Carb Show with Jimmy Moore."
Sunday, June 7, 2009
Creative Cooking With Herbs
Creative Cooking With HerbsCooking with herbs is a smart move for anyone looking to change things up in the kitchen. Herbs contain natural antioxidants, oils, subtle flavors, and wonderful aromas. You can use fresh or dried herbs to cook. Even simple foods can be enhanced with the right combination of herbs. Most people are already familiar with some of the more common herbs used in the kitchen. Garlic, oregano, basil, rosemary, mint, bay leaf, coriander, parsley, thyme, and sage are the most popular in general. There are a ton of other herbs out there to choose from, and you can improve almost any dish with the right application.One thing to note when cooking with herbs is that dry herbs are more intense in terms of flavor than fresh herbs. Typically, you will cook with dry herbs for the flavor, and then you can garnish the food with the fresh herbs when you are ready to serve the meal. This way you engage the sense of smell, the sense of taste, and the sense of sight when that delicious dish comes out with fresh herbs on top. Think of some of the best Italian food you have ever had to eat. Chances are it was served with a nice herbal garnish. It really is the perfect way to step up your cooking to another level.Dry herbs should be kept in a cool dry place. Use them before too much time has passed. They will lose their aroma and flavor over the course of time. Add dry herbs to the food when it is in the early stages of the cooking process. Fresh herbs should be added towards the end when the food is almost done cooking. Make sure not to turn up the heat too high. Excessive heat will diminish the essential oils and the flavor in the food. Once you have got your collection ready, it is time to put them to use. Cooking with herbs is great for pastas, sauces, dips, soups, meats, and stews.There are lots of other dishes to create when you are cooking with herbs. The key is to be creative. You can invent all sorts of new smells, textures, and flavors. On top of this, it should be mentioned that herbs have a number of medicinal benefits. That is why people have been using herbs for thousands of years. Stay healthy and enjoy delicious food. Cooking with herbs brings you the best of both worlds.Cooking with herbs is only limited by your imagination the author can help you improve your cooking to a higher level, for more information on the use of herbs in cooking and medicinal applications go to http://HerbsForHealthAndTaste.com.
Thursday, June 4, 2009
To Puerto Vallarta, Mexico and Back
Amidst all the news of the H1N1 Infuenza, I went to Mexico with friends. I know what youre thinking, but the plans had been made for quite some time, and after doing a bit of research on just how many had been affected and in which areas, I blinked once and then packed. A good friend and I were dropped off at the border crossing on Otay Mesa, and we walked across smiling about the four bottles of wine the two heavily armed Mexican military guys asked about after checking my luggage. It was in a zipped carrier and they asked something I thought I understood. I responded cheerfully that I had vino tres blanco y una roja porque es mas caro en Mexico or something like that. They waved us through muttering to one another, and with my friend commenting that she didnt think they were asking about what kind of wine I had. Clearly didnt matter. A quick ride in a white taxi we were cautioned not to use because of overcharging got us to the airport where a few people were wearing masks mostly employees but not enough to do anything but remind me of when the Avian flu was in the news years ago. I guess if I was paranoid, Id avoid getting in my car and on the freeway. Ah, the things one does to take advantage of a $120 round trip flight to Puerto Vallarta. Wait. This is a food blog, isnt it? Yes, we had food. And I have to be honest. If I could eat the street tacos we purchased many times from the cart a block from where we stayed, Id be a very thin woman. We watched the women make the corn tortillas with a ball of masa and a hand press. The perfectly round tortillas were peeled from the plastic wrap that lined both sides of the press, slapped on a griddle and then turned by hand as they cooked. Smaller than the tacos I make at home, we all agreed that even though two were more than enough, we could eat four or six. Carne asada and a few beans filled them, and we helped ourselves to green salsa, guacamole, cilantro, and pickled cucumbers, carrots, jalapenos, and fresh radishes. Trust me. There will be reconstructed street tacos on my cooking agenda soon. But there was other food, too. The first night there, we walked quite a ways to a small restaurant that only locals would know about since it was off the tourist trail a bit, and we were privy because our host had been going there for years. It was a tiny place with a small menu and the six of us grouped in twos to sample and share what wed ordered: tamales, pozole, and thick corn cake-like rounds topped with meat and cream. It was delicious and we left feeling stuffed even though we hadnt eaten that much. Walking through the streets of Puerto Vallarta brought back childhood memories of Spain and those of some parts of Italy from our vacation last year minus the palm trees, of course. It was hot, but no where near as hot as we knew it could get later in the summer when the rainy season began. We were on a quest one morning to find a French Bakery of all things, and after trudging through one street after another, found that it had been closed for renovations. We decided to settle in at a hotel restaurant for some chilaquiles, which were fabulous. Yes, theyll be on my cooking agenda as well, but I will sadly lack the high pitched, palm covered roof and open sides with a view of the water that was so refreshingly cool after our hot, dusty walk through town. The second night, we ventured a couple of blocks to a restaurant where our table sat right on the beach. Waiters ventured down to serve tangy margaritas and plates of tacos made of pulpo if we chose and I chose. Pulpo is octopus and Id never tried it before. Ive enjoyed squid for many years, but somehow have just never been able to take on octopus. Im thinking my resolve was dissolved or marinated in margaritas. Or pina coladas. Okay, both. The pulpo was very good, but if I think about it, I need to apologize and suggest it tasted like chicken. Really. Since we were all there in celebration of a friends 40th birthday, we walked through the town and up the steep streets to share Tapas and sangria at Tapas Barcelona. The place was packed and we were fortunate to have a corner table with a panoramic view of the coast. No windows just fresh air. The tapas came out as they were ready: Spanish tortilla, grilled asparagus, sauteed spinach with raisins and pinones, more octopus cooked with potatoes, shrimp cooked with garlic&.the list goes on and on. Yes, we rolled down the hills to the beach after we were finished, quite happy with the meal. All in all, it was a pleasant trip. A bit of shopping, a few bus rides and then a water taxi to a tiny village called Yelapa. We hiked through the hills to a trickling waterfall, then plunged into the surprisingly chilly ocean to cool ourselves off before dozing briefly on the sunny beach. There are many palapas there where you can stay if youre one who needs a bit of nature with your vacation, and I did find myself wondering if I might coerce my husband to come back with me one day. Back in Puerto Vallarta, cocktail hour each evening on our hostesss sun drenched patio wasnt too shabby, either. In fact, I think Ive developed a taste for mineral water especially after those Pina Coladas. Related posts:Not My Mamas: Mexican Street Tacos Because Ive been dreaming of the street tacos I... Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.
Wednesday, June 3, 2009
How long will you bear?
I can't stand long reading.,of which more than 800 words,I won't have patience to read.
What about you? How long will you bear?
What about you? How long will you bear?
Tuesday, June 2, 2009
Autism Awarness Month
I have been trying to get to this all day.....trying to gather my thoughts on what I want people to know about Autism since it is Autism awareness month then I read my friend Terri's blog who just knows it all and she summed it up perfectly. Please take the time to read it ,pasted below . She and I share this world. We each have a beautiful little boy who is in this crazy world of autism and has taught us , at times, more that we ever wanted to know. Patience, nutrition, patience, love, patience, medicine, neurology, patience, etc..... It is what we do. Thanks, Terri! But first, I want to leave you with my thougths. I don't share much of this on my blog because I want to focus also on prevention. Prevention that is about nutrition for ourselves and our families. You see, the problem with our world today is that they are spending millions, billions, trillions of dollars on trying to find this Autism cure. The problem is talking about the prevention. The Dr.'s dare not say a thing about what may be causing it. It would open a can of worms. There are so many variables that Terri Talks about. So many things that needs to be changed. Getting chemicals out of our foods, out of our homes. No more lead from china and mercury in our apple juice. The world isn't going to change it. It would take a revolution of sorts. But, I beg of you, the mothers, change it in your homes. As the new research points out, as many as 1 in 38 of boys will be diagnosed with some form of autism. That is astronomical. If you knew that there was a disease headed your way affecting that many children what would you do? How would you protect your children? Well, that is happening. What are you doing? I go into classrooms at school and can identify sometimes as much as one forth of the children in each class with signs of autism. I am a professional at this now. The sad part, so much of it can be prevented or reversed. I see friends with children with early signs and want to scream at them to stop it, reverse it, don't let it progress! But, I don't. Moms don't want to see it and usually don't many times until it is progressed to the point of full blown autism. It is scary. We don't want it to be us. So, my mothers out there. Take a moment. Look at the signs. If you suspect anything, anything at all, check it out. If you catch it early, you can reverse it. It takes hard work. It takes determination to change the diet and chemicals in the body. But, it can change a life. It can change your life. Me and Terri are living proof. Our little boys play together. That is a miracle in itself. Not too long ago our little ones would be incapable of interacting together on a social level. Just the other day they were playing "Train" and had imaginary tickets they were handing out. Such typical play for 4 and 5 year olds, almost completely impossible play for children with autism. Our hard work and research is working. I want everyone to know. I want everyone to stop this from happening in their homes. Please read below and learn and share. Here are the signs I had with Tate that I had to figure out myself after the Dr. told me I was a neurotic mother. Six months later he was formally diagnosed. Six months I wasted at the hand of a neurotic Dr. My signs:DiarrheaEczemaHead banginglining up toysrepetitive play, same movement over and overhand flappingobsession over certain thingsanger and aggressiononly wanting wheat products, very picky eaternon verbalwould loose skills, ie, saying "ball" then would not say it againhard to make eye contact sometimeseyes would look spacey at timesirritableallergies*These did not happen all at once. It was little things at first. Lining up the cars, lining up videos. Wanting to hold a certain toy for days on end. Loosing skills he once had learned. It progressed in the end to banging his head in anger on everything until he was bruised. I would be happy to talk to anyone with questions. I know Terri feels the same. My little boy is still mostly non verbal although that is coming. But, most every other symptom is gone. He is so happy. So fun. He signs and told me all about his day today and I really could understand so much. When he was in trouble at the ball game tonight for wanting one of the boys baseball helmets and taking it from him, he sat in the car to "think" about it then in sign language, without prompting, signed that he was sorry and put his fingers on his cute little cheeks with a big smile to indicate that he was happy now. He gets it. He is out of the fog he was in. Miracles... everyday in my life. Don't wait for signs of autism in your family to make changes. Bad diets, too much immunizations, too much antibiotics can cause so many problems. Change your habits now to save your family from a lifetime of problems. It is so important. Here is Terri's beautiful article. I am sure she wouldn't mind me sharing.I love April, it is Autism Awareness Month but today is extra special. It has been deemed World Autism Awareness Day. Autism has become an epidemic of such proportions, the UN has dedicated a whole day to it. And yet in our country, our CDC has yet to call it an epidemic. Jenny McCarthy was on Good Morning America yesterday along with Dr. Jerry Kartzinel, a DAN! (Defeat Autism Now!) practitioner. Check the GMA website if you missed it. They were discussing some possible indicators that you MAY have higher chances of having a child with Autism. (I love Jenny for always getting out there and saying the controversial things that many mainstream doctors bash, even when her son has recovered from Autism like so many others - without the help of mainstream doctors who have nothing to offer most families with Autism!). They discussed the Methylation issue which showed family history of mental disorders (depression, bipolar, manic, etc) and then the autoimmune dysfunction side (lupus, MS, arthritis, etc) which probably relates the the sulfation chemistry I have blogged about before. Having relatives with those issues is a key that there is faulty sulfation and/or poor methylation which is very prevalent in the Autism community. My son has both poor methylation and faulty sulfation. That means his brain doesn't communicate quickly enough without help (methyl B-12 injections). He also has faulty sulfation which is huge in Alzheimer patients as well. Poor sulfation is another kink in the hose of biochemical processes and can have a huge impact on sensory issues (which have their own behavioral fallout as a result). We do nightly epsom salt baths and increase sulfer rich foods like broccoli in his diet. And we avoid ALL Tylenol products.Evidently the UK did a new study and the rates are staggering, 1 in 38 boys will be diagnosed with some form of Autism. And yet many are still so skeptical about the role of toxins (not JUST immunizations) in the development of Autism. More money gets thrown at "genetic studies" when about 1% of all children with Autism have it at birth. Many develop normally up to a point or regress into Autism. Early intervention is key and I believe, so is biomedical treatment. It still baffles me as to WHY Autism is still considered a psychiatric disorder, and not a physical one. Yes, there are odd behaviors that come, but they have biological roots! My son is proof. As we found out what has gone wrong in him body we've taken things out of his diet that he cannot tolerate and guess what, many of those behaviors are GONE now that would classify him as Autistic. I will go through the progression again since this is WAAD and I want people to be aware of what Autism can look like:You have a child that has a developing immune system. You assault it with toxins (immunizations, bleach cleaners, pesticides in your environment and on our food, mattresses and bedding and paint that off gasses VOC's, flouride, etc). Add in a few rounds of antibiotics and the natural good flora in the body is disrupted. Yeast and bacteria can take over. It can become so invasive that it rips holes in the lining of the gut. Digestion is impaired due to enzymatic failure and you have large peptides in Gluten (wheat) and Casein (dairy) that get through these holes and shouldn't. Oddly enough, they fit opiate receptors perfectly in the brain. You have kids "high" on wheat and dairy. They crave it, some kids will self select which means ALL they eat is dairy and wheat. They are reacting like they are on opiates. You can see bizarre behavior like headbanging (since they have impaired pain sensation), aggression, red cheeks/ears, they can act like they are in a fog, don't hear you, don't respond, etc. The yeast can also contribute to those behaviors. Bacteria like Clostridia can cause high escalation. You then have a child who freaks out at the smallest issue, can get a toy to work right for example. Instead of asking for help or coming to an adult, a tantrum ensues. Inappropriate response to challenging situations. These kids can be SUPER sensitive to the junk in our foods, dyes, soy, trans fats, MSG (all 200 forms), etc. They can become hyper after ingesting these things, especially dyes and MSG. They can have profound sensory challenges. My son has auditory issues. He has super sonic hearing and certain sounds send him over the edge. When he was younger, if there was a sound that bothered him, he would make other sounds to cover it up. He would get ALL of his sound making toys to play at once, or he would scream. You can see HOW this would be a psychiatric disorder at first because they can act in very strange ways. But then you begin to understand the role of biochemistry and see how it is failing in these kids. The sensible thing would be to FIX those things, not JUST stick them in behavioral therapy. I don't care who you are, if a child has an intolerance to their food and is impacted by that, no therapy is going to as effective as when they are not being influenced by that physical challenge. That's like taking a test when you have the flu. Certainly you will not do as well when you are sick as when you are well. Some kids can muddle through and do make small gains but I have found with my own son, he completely blossomed when we "fixed" some of those biomedical challenges. We have yet to tackle viruses, but that is next in his treatment protocol. When an immune system is not functioning properly, viruses, bacteria and yeast have an even better chance of getting a hold of a body. My son rarely ran fevers, even with 2 bouts of chicken pox. There is now data to suggest the herpes virus (which is what chicken pox is) can spark Autistic-like behavior in children. I think the role of viruses can be huge in children with Autism. And with a mal-functioning immune system, they can wreak havoc. I compare it to a virus on your computer, your computer may work but it just kind of acts funny or doesn't exactly do what you want it to.So there are just a few things that WE know about Autism. Every child with Autism is different. Once you know one child with Autism, you know one child with Autism. We cannot lump them into simple behaviors or characteristics. Each child (as with kids NOT on the Autism spectrum) is unique. I truly believe that Autism is not JUST a genetic issue. As we see this disease rise, we need to look at the toxic burden we place on our bodies and our babies that are born into this world. Inherited disease is a theory in Eastern medicine. It means as we continue to pollute our bodies, each generation "inherits" the fallout and the susceptibility of the diseases of our parents and grandparents. We don't know the effects of all the things in our food, water, drugs, clothes, mattresses, carpets, and the list goes on and on. Things get more and more cheaply made with concern for health and safety left by the wayside in favor of big profits. We are creating this disease called Autism and our children are the fallout. I urge everyone to learn the signs and symptoms of Autism. And they can be varied:* Speech delay* Or the other side which is no speech delay but intense interest in ONE thing (like trains for example) and a young, young child being able to know EVERYTHING about that one specific category.* Repetitive behaviors* Lack of eye contact* Aggressive behaviors and/or self-injury* Fixation on random objects (my son used to get attached to weird things and HAVE to carry them around)* Low muscle tone* Sensory issues - sensitive to touch, sound, failure to respond appropriately to pain, likes to be hugged tight or the other extreme - hates to be touched.* GI problems, constipation or chronic diarrhea The list goes on and on. I just want people to be aware of some of the signs of Autism. These kids often times have exceptional talents and cognitive functioning but they need extra work to help them communicate these things. Parenting a child with Autism has been the most challenging and yet rewarding thing all at the same time. We have been tested more than I thought possible and yet forced to grow and recognize things in my child I would never have without this experience. If it tells you anything, there is an 80% divorce rate in families where there is a child with a disability. It can be very stressful and yet the changes our family has made and the knowledge we have now is invaluable. We've seem dramatic and measurable changes in our son as the result of biomedical interventions. My son is very close to losing his diagnosis of Autism. I could not be happier at how present, focused, and happy he is now. My goal is to help other families out there who believe that their child CAN be helped and to show them what has worked for us. No guarantee that what we have done will work for anyone else but I believe it can give the HOPE that is so crucial for parents to keep going, keep striving to help their child with Autism feel better, be healthier and put together their child's puzzle that is Autism.
Monday, June 1, 2009
David Bowie 1972 The Year of the Spiders BBC Sessions Various Dates & Location @ 320
THE SOUND OF THE SEVENTIES WITH BOB HARRIS (18th May 1972)[Maida Vale Studios, London, UK]1. Hang Onto Yourself2. Ziggy Stardust3. Waiting For The Man4. Queen Bitch5. Five YearsTOP GEAR TV SHOW WITH JOHN PEEL (16th May 1972)[Maida Vale Studios, London, UK]6. White Light White Heat7. Making Believe8. Hang Onto Yourself9. Suffragette City10. Ziggy StardustTHE JOHNNY WALKER SHOW (22nd May 1972)[The Aeolian Hall, London, UK]11. Starman12. Space Oddity13. Changes14. Oh You Pretty ThingsTHE SOUND OF THE SEVENTIES WITH BOB HARRIS (23rd May 1972)[Maida Vale Studios, London, UK]15. Andy Warhol16. Lady Stardust17. White Light White Heat18. Rock'n'Roll Suicide http://rapidshare.com/files/100792105/Bowie1972p1.rarhttp://rapidshare.com/files/100794648/Bowie1972p2.rar
Sunday, May 31, 2009
with a glass for you to fill
So this morning I was feeling particularly gross. There's always one day of my cycle that is the worst. That day is today. I decided I needed some things to make me feel pretty. Some bronzer, maybe some new nail polish, maybe even lipstick. I really wanted to see as few people as possible, so I decided to avoid the Wal-Mart/Meijer/Target crowds and instead I went to Walgreens.Never again.As I go through the front door, I am accosted by a woman informing me that body sprays were 2 for $9. Did I want to smell them? Let her tell me about all the summer scents! Blah blah blah.And then? No sooner have I politely made my way past her than I am approached by yet another saleswoman - literally about 5 steps later - asking me if I need a basket (I have nothing in my hands yet). I politely say no. No more than a minute later (still in the same aisle!) the original lady asks me if I need help finding anything. Um, I'm standing still in front of a rack of fingernail polish...I think I have a handle on things. Geesh.So, fingernail polish and bronzer in hand, I make my way to the second aisle and am trying to decide if I want to change from the usual Ponds face wipes to the Dove ones when I hear a loud, "Ma'am? Ma'am? Ma'am?" increasing in intensity each time. I turn around, shocked that this could be directed at me. "I can check you out over here when you are ready!" I roll my eyes and was d.o.n.e.I put back my unnecessary purchases. I pick up my "girl stuff," toilet paper, and iTunes card. As I check out with the only cashier who didn't harrass me, a previous harrasser gives me a sad look - like I broke her heart by not going through her line.Seriously?So much for the lack of interaction...
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
Belt and braces. Then another belt.
Whether the UK version of Wired will work or not will depend more on the buoyancy of the UK print advertising market and the health of the American parent title than anything else. However, I was intrigued to see that the launch issue comes with a peel-off day-glo orange sticker describing it as "the new magazine about what's next". This suggests that after the usual nervous conversations about what the first cover should look like, what would make the appropriate cover image (looks like Manhattan but it's actually London) and the exact combination of cover lines that position the title - "ideas/technology/culture/business" - with more pointed invitations to read further inside - who could "the genius who killed the economy" possibly be? - and the designer's painstaking efforts to incorporate the announcement "UK launch issue" into the logo so completely that you don't actually notice it, somebody profit-responsible has come in there at the last minute and said "what this needs is a sticker saying what it is".
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
Free of charge,Pfizer
The United States, Pfizer (Chinese name Pfizer Pharmaceutical 500), the company began to handsel unemployed youth 70 kinds of drugs, including well-known Viagra Viagra and cholesterol-lowering drugs such as Lipitor Lipitor
Monday, May 25, 2009
Staff Assistant
The War Crimes Research Office (WCRO) at American University Washington College of Law is seeking a qualified and highly motivated candidate for the position of Staff Assistant. The Staff Assistant supports the day-to-day operations of the office, assists with the implementation of WCRO initiatives, and serves as a key contact person for student activities, including the Summer Law Program in The Hague. As a full-time employee of American University, the Staff Assistant becomes eligible for tuition remission benefits at the University in the second semester after hire, making this an ideal position for a recent graduate interested in furthering his or her education. Regular duties include: - Managing office logistics, including office supplies, scheduling, and travel arrangements - Drafting correspondence for WCRO staff - Drafting grant proposals and reports to funders, and helping the Director to identify new sources of funding - Assisting with budget management - Coordinating the WCRO’s volunteer and consultant staff - Maintaining the WCRO website and online resources - Overseeing mail and electronic distribution of reports and publications - Arranging logistics for WCRO conferences and speaker events - Assisting with the outreach, implementation and follow-up activities related to the Summer Law Program in The Hague Other duties may include: - Preliminary design and layout for publications and marketing materials - Assisting with the collection and indexing of jurisprudence from international/ized courts and tribunals - Conducting research related to the work of the Office War Crimes Research Office: Originally established to work with the Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, the WCRO now provides research for a variety of international/ized criminal tribunals engaged in the prosecution of war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide, including the International Criminal Court, the Special Court for Sierra Leone, and the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia.
Sunday, May 24, 2009
When Experts Picked California Wine Over French Wine
"Alan Rickman portrays Steven Spurrier, the British wine dealer who organized a famous blind wine tasting near Paris in 1976, in Randall Miller's "Bottle Shock."" Source of the caption and photo: online version of the WSJ article quoted and cited below. Cultural pretension and conspicuous consumption are among the less admirable aspects of human behavior. So the blind wine tasting where California beat France, has always had appeal. This, plus the inimitable Alan Rickman (aka Snape), put this movie on my "to see" list. (p. B7) "Bottle Shock," an easygoing little movie, made with more affection than skill, takes us back to the days when men wore loud plaid suits and people who were serious about wine sneered at the very mention of California. Sticking reasonably close to the historical record, the director, Randall Miller (who wrote the screenplay with his wife, Jody Savin, and Ross Schwartz), reconstructs a watershed moment in the wine world's acceptance of the Golden State and, eventually, of many other non-French viticultural regions. In 1976, at a gathering near Paris, a panel of experts conducted a blind tasting at which two California wines emerged victorious over their more pedigreed French competitors. That tasting provides the climax to "Bottle Shock," and even if the potential surprise of its outcome were not already spoiled by history, the movie's adherence to the clichés of the triumph-of-the-underdog narrative would be enough to remove any doubt. There are, indeed, at least two underdogs hungering for triumph. The first is Steven Spurrier, played by Alan Rickman, whose parched low voice and air of beleaguered pomposity are never unwelcome. For the full review, see: A. O. SCOTT. "Plaid Suits, Prize Grapes and the Rise of Napa." The New York Times (Weds., August 6, 2008): B7.
Saturday, May 23, 2009
Thursday, May 14, 2009
Saturday, May 9, 2009
New York's Finest in LA - 1977
It was 32 years ago yesterday and today, that The Ramones made their sophomore appearance on LA's Sunset Strip.They debuted at the Roxy in August of 1976, and in February 77, they headlined a New York's finest set of days at the Whisky a Go Go down the street with Blondie opening. Blondie headlined the previous two days, sharing the stage with Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers.Coincidentally, all three of those seminal 70s bands are in the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame!These gigs showed me what Beatlemania might possibly have been like. My friends and I were excited and had been anticipating the double-header of these CBGB all stars for weeks, if not months.Not sure if it is "fun" being a superstar... but it seems that the blonde faction of that week in February 1977 at the Whisky a Go Go made it all the way to the top of the charts and made grand careers out of chart topping.
Friday, April 24, 2009
Some Seed updates
I haven’t blogged much recently, but I put a lot of work in to Seed this weekend and thought I would discuss some of the changes. New imports system First I should note that the design of this is pretty much lifted from gjs, and the two implementations should be compatible. I do however think, it’s a very cool system, even if a bit unorthodox. People who have used Seed would recognize that the two primary methods of importing things are Seed.import_namespace("Gtk") For importing libraries and native modules and Seed.include("bla.js") for importing files. This however was pretty ridden with problems, notably: Importing GI namespaces had no sort of cache, so multiple files including eachother can’t all import the namespaces they need, one central file would have to import them all and the others rely on that No search path for native modules The including files, was merely evaluating the file in the context which was called, which could create a lot of scope issues, in particular when you have a lot of complex interdependencies in what files need from what. So the new imports system works like this, and remedies most of these problems. There is a toplevel imports object, which itself has a “gi” property (the imports.gi object) which handles importing libraries handled by introspection, and has a pretty simple set of semantics, notably the first attempt to access imports.gi.NameSpace will return the module object for that library, and subsequent attempts will return the same object. You can set imports.gi.versions.Namespace to a value to force GI to require that version of the library, so importing a library might now look like. imports.gi.Versions.Clutter = "0.8"; Clutter = imports.gi.Clutter; Gtk = imports.gi.Gtk; The exciting part is really the handling of native modules and files, there is an imports.searchPath property which is set to an array of directories used to search for files/modules. An attempt to access imports.name will now look for “name.*” in search path, and behave as follows: If the found file is a native module, import it and return the module object If the found file is a regular file, attempt to evaluate it as a JavaScript file in a new context, and return the global object for that context. Unless the file has already been imported, then return the global object from the last import If the found file is a folder, return a special object which works like the “imports” object for that folder So, importing files is now much nicer, i.e. BrowserView = imports.browser.BrowserView and then you could access the toplevel contents of the file “browser/BrowserView.js”, through the BrowserView object. This has a lot of advantages, notably any file that needs anything in BrowserView can do this, without having to worry about scope, or overlap with other files that might include it. All in all I think this is a really big improvement to the maintainability of large programs, and makes it feel like there is much more of a real module system. In addition this should make it pretty possible to port GNOME Shell to Seed, and this is something I will be looking in to. OS module There are a lot of low level unix functions not provided by GLib, which might still be useful under Seed, and to that account I’ve taken to reimplementing a large subset of the python “os” module, attempting to preserve semantics where it makes sense, for familiarity purposes. This should be nice for increasing the scope of where Seed is useful, but it’s really boring work…which should hopefully be finished over the next week or so. Canvas The canvas module has a pretty large subset of canvas implemented now, and properly handles saving/restoring state. I’m hoping to implement gradients and a few other missing things within the next few days. DBus I am still working on DBus bindings, this is slow work, and will be done eventually :P. A lot of work got done recently though, and hopefully should be ready to go in GIT soon. New Release After these changes, the goal is to put out a release within the next few days, as soon as someone can find time to update documentation, all the examples, etc… On top of this there have been all the usual bugfixes, optimizations, and small features, so I definitely encourage anyone interested and using the last release to start investigating GIT. There will be a lot more reorganization of the builtin functions (on the Seed global object) over the next few days, with the goal of eliminating (or eliminating for most code) the requirement of this object, and I suppose this will break most code out there, but I think it’s definitely necessary changes for presenting a more “mature” interface in a sense.
" in crowd" to feel cool?
Most of the time becoming popular is very important especially to the young generations today, popularity is very important to them. becoming popular means fitting in the current "in crowd" is cool. many people think that being part of that particular crowd or doing what you see a lot of other people doing makes you cool. definitely its not true. because what is cool to you may not cool to others. be yourself all the time because pretending or imitating someone else is not good and not comfortable.
Wired
Connectomics aims to map the atlas of the brainWHEN last years Nobel prize for chemistry was awarded to the discoverers of green fluorescent protein, the pages of newspapers (this one included) lit up with photographs of brainbows . Jeff Lichtman, the neurobiologist who created those pictures, had used the discovery to invent a way to tag nerve cells with genes whose products fluoresce green, red and blue. By mixing these three hues in different proportions he was able to paint the cells in question in more than a hundred different colours. Besides looking pretty, the resulting pictures allow the numerous protrusions of individual nerve cells that connect those cells together to be followed through the labyrinth that constitutes the average brain. Dr Lichtman hopes to use his brainbow mice to answer questions about neurological development, such as why the nerve cells of babies have far more connections than do those of adults. That could shed light on what happens when the wiring gets connected wrongly and, as it were, blows a neurological fuse. Such faulty wiringconnectopathies, in the jargonmay be the underlying explanation of such disorders as autism and schizophrenia.
Monday, April 20, 2009
Short Fiction on the Undergraduate Experience
Continuing the ideas from my last post: the following is an excerpt from a project I did for an undergraduate "writing for teenagers" course. Our assignment was to write the first chapter of a book (not the book itself, mind you) which could be marketed to high-school students.My first chapter, incidentally, was determined to be too "complex" for teenagers to understand, and was judged to contain "too many references."I'll let the story speak for itself. (It speaks best in Firefox; it'll look all jumbled in IE.)******************** When Miriam had been in sixth grade, her parents had let her attend a camp for young gifted students. At the time, Miri had loved it; even the goofiness of the icebreakers and the other organized events like Pie Fight and Pajama Day. Now, however, she felt ridiculous. She had just finished writing in her journal about Orientation Week, the oddly-chosen name for the four days before classes officially began in which first-year students were subjected to all kinds of team-building torture inbetween mini-seminars on important details such as How to Use the Library. The 120 residents of Bryson Hall had all had to run through an obstacle course, sing the Name Game Song, and then sit quietly while a university staff member explained to them how their meal plan worked. Miri hadn’t known exactly what to expect, but she hadn’t expected this. She had, she supposed, expected something along the lines of Dead Poets’ Society, where intimidatingly charming professors engaged bright young intellectuals in stimulating discourse about life, truth, and the hidden secrets of literature. Of course, Dead Poets’ Society was actually about a prep school. This, however, had never appeared in any movie or book about college life that Miri could remember – the experience of being told how to do everything, from using an online card catalog (with which Miri was already rather familiar) to making new friends (Risa had already divided the third floor into clusters, and at the end of each day the clusters met for a few moments to talk about their experiences and play more goofy games). In the meanwhile, there seemed to be continual candy. The RAs were practically plying them with candy. In cluster meetings, every time a resident was able to call anyone else by her correct name, Risa threw that person a Tootsie Pop or a Mini-Snickers. Candy and ice cream and freezer pops – it was still much too warm in the un-airconditioned dormitory. Miri was baffled, and more than disappointed. She had applied to college, but found herself back in summer camp.(Yes, before anyone asks, she's got the same name as my cat.
Saturday, April 18, 2009
The shape of chocolate's future
Many of us grew up on Cadbury's chocolate and are familiar with the story of Willy Wonka and his chocolate factory. However, it is a little known fact that Cadbury's own early years were not unlike Wonka's in that they had a highly sensitive factory where no workers ever entered and only the most gorgeous chocolates came out. Even more surprising is the fact that the factory is still there and continuing to produce a very limited supply of chocolate exclusively for the most elite members of our society. Due to continuous inbreeding the factory is now seeking new blood. Eight men and women, four of each sex, will be allowed into the factory to work in a breeding programme to try to inject new life into what is now a very tired workforce. The quality of the chocolate produced has slipped and it is said the Her Majesty The Queen of England herself has visited the factory to see what has gone wrong. The lucky people selected, in exchange for their use in the programme, will live a life of luxury and ease, with the finest chocolate literally on tap.
The nationality of those that join the programme is not important. Just as deep love of chocolate in all its many forms and a willingness to breed more chocolate workers. Would you be interested in applying for one of the 8 posts? Are you a fertile chocaholic? This is a one day only opportunity so get your applications in.
The nationality of those that join the programme is not important. Just as deep love of chocolate in all its many forms and a willingness to breed more chocolate workers. Would you be interested in applying for one of the 8 posts? Are you a fertile chocaholic? This is a one day only opportunity so get your applications in.
Where's the bookcase?
When I go into someone's house I always look to see if they have a bookcase or at least some books lying around. I am finding that this is a rarer sight these days. 52' plasma screens, racks of DVDs, but few books. Of course they may have them hidden where I don't see them. But I wonder. Do you have books in your house. Do you read?
The Grammys - And We Don't Care
I remember back around 1980 or so, The Go Go's were nominated for a Grammy Award. None of my punk rock friends nor I really cared about this dubious mainstream honor, but at the same time, it was an indication that lots of people out there noticed what you were doing.Belinda Carlisle is pictured above standing next to a cardboard cut out of Elvis Costello, one of two punk rock era artists to actually win a Grammy Award. EC however won his Grammy in 1998, a good 20 years after the punk rock fact and he won it for Best Pop Collaboration With Vocals for a recording he did with classic pop master Burt Bacharach.Needless to say, although I believed that perhaps the Go Gos were one of punk's Grammy winners, a search of the Grammy website for past winners turns up ZERO for notable punk rockers, many of whom are in the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame and museum of discarded leather pants.I remember the Go Gos Grammy thing pretty vividly because a few weeks later, at one of my annual April Fools Parties (for those of us born in that month), Plimsoul Peter Case, (an April Fool himself) who was at the time dating Go Gos guitarist Charlotte Caffey described to me the whole hanging backstage at the Grammys experience which included a chance meeting with The Killer, Jerry Lee Lewis who had recently recovered from open heart surgery and was there downing beers like water.That brings me to remind you that last year, Peter Case was nominated for a Grammy in the FOLK category for his fantastic album Let Us Now Praise Sleepy John. Peter also is recovering from recent open heart surgery (he wrote about it in his own blog on petercase.com, so I'm not revealing a secret, and if you'd like to send him your well wishes, you should drop by his blog and leave a note)Blondie were nominated early on - the track "X Offender" from their debut eponymous album received a nod but not the statue. I also could have sworn that "Call Me" won some kind of Grammy... but perhaps it too was just a nominee.Much to my surprise, platinum selling artists Joan Jett and Billy Idol are also absent from the Grammy winners list! And so are the Ramones who are however in the Hall of Fame.Another Hall of Fame punk rock artist that doesn't show up in the Grammy winners list:The PretendersIt boggles the mind. Well, my mind at any rate.The Clash long form video "Westway to the World," directed by Don Letts, who was Mick Jones's partner in Big Audio Dynamite and an important figure in UK punk rock was a 2002 "Best Long Form Music Video" winner. But that award went to Letts, who for all the great work he's done, including the documentary Punk Attitude, seems to ignore the contributions of California punk rock, or at least think of us as an afterthought.Green Day, who wear their admiration for the Ramones on their collective sleeves, have won three Grammys - in 1994, 2004 and 2005... in dubiously important big categories. Well, good for them... but... but... but... what about the artists who influenced them, and moreover, made the airwaves safe for the Green Days of the world?No respect I tell ya! But it really really doesn't matter and I don't care. I don't think anyone should care either. Who wants acknowledgment from a body of people whose taste you don't agree with?I will not be watching the Grammy Awards tonight. Whatever you do tonight, have fun.
Thursday, April 16, 2009
Punk + Elks Lodge Doesn't Always ="Riot"
A full year before the notorious and legendary Elks Lodge Riot, there were indeed completely successful punk rock gigs held at downtown LA's Elk Lodge -- and by successful, I mean no police interruptions.One such set of gigs include the February 24 and 25 benefits for The Masque at the Elks Lodge.Many of the artists who performed are featured in today's photos (none of these pix are from the Elks Lodge show, however).F-Word's Rik L Rik and Darby CrashThe DilsBlack Randy and Dickies guitarist Stan Lee (both bands performed)Dianne Chai of the Alley CatsPatricia Morrison aka Pat Bag, of The BagsJohn Doe and Exene of XThe success of 1978's Elks Lodge shows compared to the bloody battle between punk rockers and cops a year later is a hint at why I think that 1979 was a bad year for punk rock, despite everything cool that was happening... getting on the radar definitely had its down side...
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
Legs Weight Loss
If you want to workout your legs you have to do it right. Doing it right also means doing the right exercises. Think of your legs as your foundation. If they are weak your ability to walk, run, jog, hike and so on will be limited. By strengthening them you increase your abilities to do all of those things.
There are so many leg exercises you can choose from but my two favorites are squats and lunges. Either exercise can be performed with dumbbells or straight bars, the choice is yours, but I find there is less stress on my back when I use dumbbells.
The squat routine is very popular among all who workout with weights and the exercise is performed just as it sounds. You squat down by bending at your knees until the tops of your thighs are parallel with the floor and then you slowly lift yourself back up to a standing position. If you are doing this exercise with dumbbells you will hold one of equal value in each hand. In other words one hand should not have twenty pounds while the other hand is holding thirty pounds, and both hands should always be holding weights.
With the weights in hand perform the squat just as described above, slowly lowering yourself by bending at the knees and then slowly raising yourself up back to the standing starting position. Never do more weight than you can handle and always perform the exercise to failure, meaning your body could not possibly do one more repetition of the exercise.
If you would rather use a straight bar the exercise is done exactly the same way except you place the bar behind your head and on your shoulders. If you use this method make sure you use a spotter (someone that watches you and helps you if something should go wrong). One way is not better than the other in regards to muscle development, it is more or a preference.
If you would rather do lunges to build your legs then you would be choosing another excellent routine. The way a lunge works is you alternate each leg lunging forward. Again I use dumbbells for this exercise but you can choose either method of dumbbells or straight bar.
As with any weight training exercise you do, you should start off slow to prevent injury, always move slow during all the movements and have a spotter near by to give you a hand when necessary.
There are so many leg exercises you can choose from but my two favorites are squats and lunges. Either exercise can be performed with dumbbells or straight bars, the choice is yours, but I find there is less stress on my back when I use dumbbells.
The squat routine is very popular among all who workout with weights and the exercise is performed just as it sounds. You squat down by bending at your knees until the tops of your thighs are parallel with the floor and then you slowly lift yourself back up to a standing position. If you are doing this exercise with dumbbells you will hold one of equal value in each hand. In other words one hand should not have twenty pounds while the other hand is holding thirty pounds, and both hands should always be holding weights.
With the weights in hand perform the squat just as described above, slowly lowering yourself by bending at the knees and then slowly raising yourself up back to the standing starting position. Never do more weight than you can handle and always perform the exercise to failure, meaning your body could not possibly do one more repetition of the exercise.
If you would rather use a straight bar the exercise is done exactly the same way except you place the bar behind your head and on your shoulders. If you use this method make sure you use a spotter (someone that watches you and helps you if something should go wrong). One way is not better than the other in regards to muscle development, it is more or a preference.
If you would rather do lunges to build your legs then you would be choosing another excellent routine. The way a lunge works is you alternate each leg lunging forward. Again I use dumbbells for this exercise but you can choose either method of dumbbells or straight bar.
As with any weight training exercise you do, you should start off slow to prevent injury, always move slow during all the movements and have a spotter near by to give you a hand when necessary.
Saturday, April 4, 2009
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