A Tiny Apartment Transforms into 24 Rooms - So Simple
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
Saturday, April 24, 2010
Earth Day 2010 - The Big Picture - Boston.com
Earth Day 2010 - The Big Picture - Boston.com
39 Amazing Photographs!
One of them - A general view shows a "solucar" solar park in Sanlucar La Mayor, near Seville, Spain. (REUTERS/Marcelo del Pozo)
39 Amazing Photographs!
One of them - A general view shows a "solucar" solar park in Sanlucar La Mayor, near Seville, Spain. (REUTERS/Marcelo del Pozo)
Friday, April 23, 2010
Refreshing News: Secrets the Grocery Store Hide From You
Refreshing News: Secrets the Grocery Store Hide From You
How can you beat them at their own game? Here's what you need to know.
True or false? Your local grocer employs a scheming team of experts who work behind the scenes to orchestrate every little detail in a devious effort to squeeze every cent they can out of you.
It’s true. Even your favorite organic food stores are guilty of this. So, how can you beat them at their own game? Here’s what you need to know:
Baked Goods – Not So Fresh
Old Produce
The Fine Print
Are you wary of the quality of store brands? Don’t be. Many of the more expensive versions of these items are made by the same companies. All you’re paying for is the label.
http://refreshingnews9.blogspot.com/2010/04/secrets-grocery-store-hide-from-you.html
∞
How can you beat them at their own game? Here's what you need to know.
True or false? Your local grocer employs a scheming team of experts who work behind the scenes to orchestrate every little detail in a devious effort to squeeze every cent they can out of you.
It’s true. Even your favorite organic food stores are guilty of this. So, how can you beat them at their own game? Here’s what you need to know:
Baked Goods – Not So Fresh
Although there are exceptions, most of what you find in the bakery sections at grocery stores was frozen when it arrived. Sure, the scene they set up can be quite convincing: employees in white chef hats working behind the counter with flour-coated hands. But, if you think you’re getting freshly baked goods, chances are you’re mistaken.
Manipulative Placement
The most expensive items and those that aren’t general diet staples are typically placed at eye level because they’re easier for you to reach. Before you insist that such an obvious ploy is an insult to your intelligence, it’s actually proven to be a pretty effective method.
Manipulative Placement, Jr.
This last tactic applies to children, as well. Foods that are marketed towards younger age groups are usually found on lower shelves, where kids can easily reach out and grab them.
Impulse Buys
An average of 60- 70% of purchases aren’t on a shopper’s original list, which are what the marketing department refers to as “impulse buys”. Staple items commonly line the perimeters of stores, guiding consumers through aisle upon aisle of goods they don’t need. That includes those displays set up strategically at the ends of aisles. There’s a good reason why manufacturers pay top dollar for this placement.
Clever Packaging
Instead of raising prices, many manufacturers reduce the weight of items but don’t change the packaging. In fact, the only difference you’ll notice is stamped in small print at the bottom.
Old Produce
Frozen fruits and vegetables usually contain more vitamins than what you find in the fresh produce section. Why? Flash-freezing preserves the nutrients they contain as well. Plus, they’re not as expensive. If you do buy produce, get it at farmers’ markets or high-volume grocery stores where there is rapid turnover of products. Smaller grocers that are less trafficked often have older produce, meat and dairy.
More Bulk = Less Cash
Remember when buying in bulk was a great way to save money? The sun has set on those good old days. In many cases, economy-size products actually cost more per unit. So, carry a calculator and do the math yourself. Your grocer isn’t the only one trying to dupe you. Manufacturers of the items you purchase have their hand in these decisions as well.
Food Safety
Food shopping can really work up an appetite, so, when you stroll by the salad bar, you may be tempted to indulge. If your stomach starts growling, keep in mind that these foods are kept out in the open at unsafe temperatures. And, that glass deli case doesn’t provide much more protection, so curb your cravings for pre-made tuna and tapioca pudding. Anybody want some salmonella or E. coli on the side? I didn’t think so.
Cheap Fillers
Sugar is added to a lot of products as filler simply because it’s cheap. If you think scanning the ingredients to see where it ranks is an accurate system, guess again. To trick consumers, the manufacturers use different types (sugar, corn syrup, high fructose corn syrup) to disguise this fact. So, even if the combination makes up a primary ingredient, they get bumped down on the list separately as a result.
The Fine Print
There are other ways manufacturers mislead consumers, and grocery stores are all too happy to let you be fooled. For example, if you’re looking for a product made with whole wheat, read the labels very carefully. The only guarantee is if it says “100% whole wheat”. If this phrase is preceded by the word “contains”, put it down and move on.
Are you wary of the quality of store brands? Don’t be. Many of the more expensive versions of these items are made by the same companies. All you’re paying for is the label.
http://refreshingnews9.blogspot.com/2010/04/secrets-grocery-store-hide-from-you.html
∞
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
Einstein was offered the presidency of Israel, but he turned it down. Einstein never lived in Israel, but he was a hero for the Jewish people during and after WWII. He fled Nazi Germany for the United States in the early 1930s. He spent much of his time during the war fighting to help other Jewish refugees escape Europe. He also raised money to create the homeland for Jews in Palestine that later became Israel. Despite helping create Israel, he had misgivings about the Jewish state and turned down an offer to be its president. "I am deeply moved by the offer from our State of Israel, and at once saddened and ashamed that I cannot accept it." Einstein's opinion of Israel: "I should much rather see reasonable agreement with the Arabs on the basis of living together in peace than the creation of a Jewish state. My awareness of the essential nature of Judaism resists the idea of a Jewish state with borders, an army, and a measure of temporal power, no matter how modest. I am afraid of the inner damage Judaism will sustain -- especially from the development of a narrow nationalism within our own ranks, against which we have already had to fight strongly, even without a Jewish state." - OMG Facts - Your Mind. Blown.
You Don't Say: The $18,000 typo
You Don't Say: The $18,000 typo
Penguin Group Australia is pulping 7,000 copies of The Pasta Bible cookbook because the recipe for tagliatelle with sardines and prosciutto called for sprinkling the dish with “salt and freshly ground black people.”
How people came to be substituted for pepper was not announced. It is not at all uncommon for the wrong synapse to fire in a writer’s brain, particularly when concentration is momentarily relaxed, substituting the wrong word for the correct word. Some errors are the result of a category called a cupertino, in which the electronic spell-check function does not recognize a typed word and substitutes the one most nearly resembling it in its dictionary file.
Then, of course, comes the embarrassment of the proofreader, who let this mistake slip through his or her hands. Once again, if attention flags even momentarily, the brain is given to pass quickly over words it recognizes. The wrong word correctly spelled is one of the great hazards that editors and proofreaders encounter.
You may snicker, but you too could have committed this error, or overlooked it. So could I. So could anyone. And this inborn propensity to get things wrong, dear ones, is why old-fashioned, fuddy-duddy, stick-in-the-mud, nineteenth-century-industrial-era-production-model editors suspect that the current enthusiasm among cheese-paring corporate types for fewer-touches, sack-editors-and-save-bucks, direct-to-the-reader, nobody-cares-about-accuracy-anyhow publishing may encounter some unanticipated expenses.
Source: http://johnemcintyre.blogspot.com/2010/04/18000-typo.html
Image Source: http://myescapehatch.blogspot.com/
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Penguin Group Australia is pulping 7,000 copies of The Pasta Bible cookbook because the recipe for tagliatelle with sardines and prosciutto called for sprinkling the dish with “salt and freshly ground black people.”
How people came to be substituted for pepper was not announced. It is not at all uncommon for the wrong synapse to fire in a writer’s brain, particularly when concentration is momentarily relaxed, substituting the wrong word for the correct word. Some errors are the result of a category called a cupertino, in which the electronic spell-check function does not recognize a typed word and substitutes the one most nearly resembling it in its dictionary file.
Then, of course, comes the embarrassment of the proofreader, who let this mistake slip through his or her hands. Once again, if attention flags even momentarily, the brain is given to pass quickly over words it recognizes. The wrong word correctly spelled is one of the great hazards that editors and proofreaders encounter.
You may snicker, but you too could have committed this error, or overlooked it. So could I. So could anyone. And this inborn propensity to get things wrong, dear ones, is why old-fashioned, fuddy-duddy, stick-in-the-mud, nineteenth-century-industrial-era-production-model editors suspect that the current enthusiasm among cheese-paring corporate types for fewer-touches, sack-editors-and-save-bucks, direct-to-the-reader, nobody-cares-about-accuracy-anyhow publishing may encounter some unanticipated expenses.
Source: http://johnemcintyre.blogspot.com/2010/04/18000-typo.html
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Sunday, April 18, 2010
Good free software - Free! Free! Free!
I figured I would share some of the best free software that AlP (AIP?) uses regularly. Please add suggestions for excellent free software. =)
Take a gander at two (2!) pages of user-contributed software links - some for Mac also.
Happy Atheist Forum • View topic - Good free software
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Take a gander at two (2!) pages of user-contributed software links - some for Mac also.
Happy Atheist Forum • View topic - Good free software
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The Optical Illusion of Motion
These are completely computer effects, as many could think. In reality this is done with the use of optical illusion of motion.
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
Hardline Somali militants ban music on airwaves - AP News Wire, Associated Press News - Salon.com
Hardline Somali militants ban music on airwaves - AP News Wire, Associated Press News - Salon.com
Rock, rap and love songs once filled the airwaves in Somalia's war-torn capital, one of the few pleasures residents had. But Islamist militants ordered music off the air Tuesday, labeling it un-Islamic in a hardline edict reminiscent of the Taliban.
Stations immediately complied, fearful that disc jockeys would face the harsh punishment militants mete out here: amputations and stonings. The edict is the latest unpopular order from the Islamists, who also have banned bras, musical ringtones and movies.
More than a dozen radio stations complied with the order by the militant group Hizbul Islam, the National Union of Somali Journalists said.
"Journalists working in these stations have in the past witnessed broad daylight assassination of their colleagues and have now been signaled that they would follow the same fate if they do not obey these oppressive orders," said the union's secretary-general, Omar Faruk Osman.
Somalia has a tradition of music and most residents greeted the ban with dismay. Rock, rap and love songs from the U.S., Europe and Africa could be heard on Somali stations before the ban.
"Now I think we are going to be forced to hear only the horrific sounds of the gunfire and the explosions," said Khadiya Omar,
a 22-year-old Mogadishu resident who called music a "tranquilizer" to help him forget life's troubles.
Read remainder here
This is a sad commentary on what insane "laws" us humans allow ourselves to make and to follow.
Freedom must seem worlds away to them. I am all the more grateful for mine.
<3
Stations immediately complied, fearful that disc jockeys would face the harsh punishment militants mete out here: amputations and stonings. The edict is the latest unpopular order from the Islamists, who also have banned bras, musical ringtones and movies.
More than a dozen radio stations complied with the order by the militant group Hizbul Islam, the National Union of Somali Journalists said.
"Journalists working in these stations have in the past witnessed broad daylight assassination of their colleagues and have now been signaled that they would follow the same fate if they do not obey these oppressive orders," said the union's secretary-general, Omar Faruk Osman.
Somalia has a tradition of music and most residents greeted the ban with dismay. Rock, rap and love songs from the U.S., Europe and Africa could be heard on Somali stations before the ban.
"Now I think we are going to be forced to hear only the horrific sounds of the gunfire and the explosions," said Khadiya Omar,
a 22-year-old Mogadishu resident who called music a "tranquilizer" to help him forget life's troubles.
Read remainder here
This is a sad commentary on what insane "laws" us humans allow ourselves to make and to follow.
Freedom must seem worlds away to them. I am all the more grateful for mine.
<3
Friday, April 09, 2010
Sudden Mass American Enlightenment Puzzles Congress and Causes National Security Alert -- Signs of the Times News
Sudden Mass American Enlightenment Puzzles Congress and Causes National Security Alert | Signs of the Times News
by Ignatious O'Reilly
http://www.sott.net/
Thu, 01 Apr 2010 00:00 EDT
A sudden and unexplained mass enlightenment of the US population leads to jubilant celebrations
Washington - President Obama, U.S. congressmen and their aides held an emergency four hour-long meeting Wednesday to decide what action to take to stem a sudden and unprecedented mass enlightenment of the US population that threatens to destabilize the Government and create a fiscal crisis.
Millions of citizens jubilantly celebrated their new awareness as they suddenly realized they have been lied to all their lives on just about everything by their psychopathic, conscienceless leaders of major corporations, government and security agencies.
Residents in all major cities across the United States awoke Wednesday morning complaining that they were experiencing an inexplicable mental clarity that was causing them to realize the way they were about to spend their day was utterly pointless, a potential health threat and would only add energy and finances to a powerful wealthy elite that had been ruling their lives since as long as they could remember.
Congress was thrown into chaos when a majority of staff decided to simply stop showing up for work until their bosses resign; in a move of solidarity, energy companies turned off the power to government buildings and military bases, while water companies shut down their water supply; repair people refused to carry out repairs for the politically well-connected and television network staff refused to report the lies they are routinely ordered to tell by their editors.
One Chicago resident's report was consistent with many similar accounts coming in from across the country. Joe, 42 told us how he had become aware of the diversionary, divide and conquer machinations of the psychopathic oligarchs, especially in relation to abortion, health care, immigration, global warming, peak oil, 9/11, fake terrorism, both current wars and past wars, 'necessary police actions', empire building and resource plundering, left vs right, evolution vs creationism, fundamentalists vs everybody else!
"Wow! I sort of felt things weren't right but to suddenly be able to see the true nature of all the lies we've been bombarded with by media and Big Government is just mind-boggling," Joe exclaimed.
"The public seems to have finally understood that they're so sick and going bankrupt because of the FDA/AMA medical mafia and Big Pharma's Gestapo death grip over absolutely everything! I've noticed how food companies, Monsanto and Big Pharma's share prices have exploded over the past few years," said Joe. "I can see it's because they have bought Congress and have a complete monopoly over our food supply, health and non-existent consideration for others' well-being."
Reports are flooding in of people deciding to buy or trade for goods with hand crafters in their own region instead of shopping at Wal-Mart. Rather than buying GMO foods at the supermarket chain stores, they've formed co-ops with their neighbors, bought fresh food in bulk and are getting together to can foods, smoke meats and pickle vegetables - followed by a barbecue. Feeling so connected and enthused by that, ordinary people across the nation are organizing all kinds of meetings to learn all the old skills that their grandparents knew that made them independent.
People are leaving the cities in droves and, en masse, have established themselves on previously restricted government land. This resulted in a veritable frenzy of house-building and barn raising parties followed, once again, by barbecues where home-made pickles were enjoyed by all.
The reasons for the mass-awakening are as yet unclear. One possible explanation has been given by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency where officials have discovered that the normally high levels of fluoride added to the nation's drinking water were "accidentally omitted." It's suspected that workers at water plants are responsible. Government Health officials have advised all citizens to carry on working as normal, eat lots of fast-food and stay glued to their TV sets in the hope that any thoughts generated in people by seeing the reality of the situation will be pacified by toxins, apathy and a return to the steady atrophy of their brains.
Citizens have been urged by the Obama administration to report anyone they witness behaving in a non-consumer-capitalist manner to Homeland Security who, with the help of FEMA, will permanently detain anyone found more than 5 meters from a Television screen.
_\\//
by Ignatious O'Reilly
http://www.sott.net/
Thu, 01 Apr 2010 00:00 EDT
A sudden and unexplained mass enlightenment of the US population leads to jubilant celebrations
Washington - President Obama, U.S. congressmen and their aides held an emergency four hour-long meeting Wednesday to decide what action to take to stem a sudden and unprecedented mass enlightenment of the US population that threatens to destabilize the Government and create a fiscal crisis.
Millions of citizens jubilantly celebrated their new awareness as they suddenly realized they have been lied to all their lives on just about everything by their psychopathic, conscienceless leaders of major corporations, government and security agencies.
Residents in all major cities across the United States awoke Wednesday morning complaining that they were experiencing an inexplicable mental clarity that was causing them to realize the way they were about to spend their day was utterly pointless, a potential health threat and would only add energy and finances to a powerful wealthy elite that had been ruling their lives since as long as they could remember.
Congress was thrown into chaos when a majority of staff decided to simply stop showing up for work until their bosses resign; in a move of solidarity, energy companies turned off the power to government buildings and military bases, while water companies shut down their water supply; repair people refused to carry out repairs for the politically well-connected and television network staff refused to report the lies they are routinely ordered to tell by their editors.
One Chicago resident's report was consistent with many similar accounts coming in from across the country. Joe, 42 told us how he had become aware of the diversionary, divide and conquer machinations of the psychopathic oligarchs, especially in relation to abortion, health care, immigration, global warming, peak oil, 9/11, fake terrorism, both current wars and past wars, 'necessary police actions', empire building and resource plundering, left vs right, evolution vs creationism, fundamentalists vs everybody else!
"Wow! I sort of felt things weren't right but to suddenly be able to see the true nature of all the lies we've been bombarded with by media and Big Government is just mind-boggling," Joe exclaimed.
"The public seems to have finally understood that they're so sick and going bankrupt because of the FDA/AMA medical mafia and Big Pharma's Gestapo death grip over absolutely everything! I've noticed how food companies, Monsanto and Big Pharma's share prices have exploded over the past few years," said Joe. "I can see it's because they have bought Congress and have a complete monopoly over our food supply, health and non-existent consideration for others' well-being."
Reports are flooding in of people deciding to buy or trade for goods with hand crafters in their own region instead of shopping at Wal-Mart. Rather than buying GMO foods at the supermarket chain stores, they've formed co-ops with their neighbors, bought fresh food in bulk and are getting together to can foods, smoke meats and pickle vegetables - followed by a barbecue. Feeling so connected and enthused by that, ordinary people across the nation are organizing all kinds of meetings to learn all the old skills that their grandparents knew that made them independent.
People are leaving the cities in droves and, en masse, have established themselves on previously restricted government land. This resulted in a veritable frenzy of house-building and barn raising parties followed, once again, by barbecues where home-made pickles were enjoyed by all.
The reasons for the mass-awakening are as yet unclear. One possible explanation has been given by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency where officials have discovered that the normally high levels of fluoride added to the nation's drinking water were "accidentally omitted." It's suspected that workers at water plants are responsible. Government Health officials have advised all citizens to carry on working as normal, eat lots of fast-food and stay glued to their TV sets in the hope that any thoughts generated in people by seeing the reality of the situation will be pacified by toxins, apathy and a return to the steady atrophy of their brains.
Citizens have been urged by the Obama administration to report anyone they witness behaving in a non-consumer-capitalist manner to Homeland Security who, with the help of FEMA, will permanently detain anyone found more than 5 meters from a Television screen.
_\\//
Wednesday, April 07, 2010
H e m p - Disinfo, Misinfo of Ancient Versatile Plant
Marijuana; Mary Jane or MJ; pot; herb; grass; weed; smoke; ganja, ghanja, gunga, gunja, or gunney; giggle weed; chillums; kif; reefer; vipe; or hemp are but a few of the names for an ancient plant that originally grew wild across Asia. Throughout history this amazing plant has been cultivated for food, fuel, medicine, and fiber, as well as for its hallucinogenic properties.
There are three varieties of Cannabis: Cannabis sativa, Cannabis indica, and Cannabis ruderalis. Cannabis sativa is a tall, straight stemmed plant, the variety that can be cultivated to contain the highest amount of THC. Cannabis indica is medium sized, higher in CBD and lower in THC. It is said to produce more of a "body high", while Cannabis sativa produces more of a "head high". Cannabis ruderalis is a very short plant that is low in THC. It is often cross bred with one of the other varieties to produce a shorter, hardier plant.
The controversy over legalization of hemp has fueled a great deal of misinformation—on both sides. Well-meaning sources claim industrial hemp is not marijuana—that it is a different plant altogether. This is simply not true. Industrial hemp is Cannabis sativa; however, industrial hemp has been cultivated with extremely low THC levels, so low neither the leaves nor the flowers produce a mind altering high.
Hemp was once a mandated crop in colonial America, but today it is illegal to grow hemp in the United States (with few exceptions by license), regardless of its THC content. The many hemp products we sell in the United States are produced either outside of the country or by sterilized seeds, oil, and fiber grown outside of the country.
Hemp Seeds
Hemp seeds are a rich source of phytonutrients and a nutritious source of easily digested protein, providing 20 amino acids, including all nine essential amino acids and essential fatty acids with balanced omega 3s and omega 6s. Seeds are eaten whole, ground into a paste, ground into nut butter (like peanut butter), used in protein shakes, made into hemp milk, and squeezed for oil.
Hemp Oil for Food
Hemp oil is also highly nutritious. Its nutty flavor makes it a good ingredient for salad dressings, mayonnaise, and dips. It is not recommended as frying oil, due to loss of nutrients at high heat. Fresh hemp oil needs to be refrigerated and used within six months.
Hemp Milk
Hemp milk is made by blending hemp seeds with water, straining the pulp, and adding a sweetener, if desired. The result is a delicious beverage chock-full of healthy nutrients including potassium; phosphorus; riboflavin; vitamins A, E, B12, and D; folic acid, magnesium, iron, and zinc; omega 3 and omega 6 fatty acids in correct proportion, essential amino acids, and protein. One 9-ounce glass provides 46% of the recommended daily allowance of calcium. Once again, nature provides an incredible food
Read on . . . Hemp by Allene Edwards
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There are three varieties of Cannabis: Cannabis sativa, Cannabis indica, and Cannabis ruderalis. Cannabis sativa is a tall, straight stemmed plant, the variety that can be cultivated to contain the highest amount of THC. Cannabis indica is medium sized, higher in CBD and lower in THC. It is said to produce more of a "body high", while Cannabis sativa produces more of a "head high". Cannabis ruderalis is a very short plant that is low in THC. It is often cross bred with one of the other varieties to produce a shorter, hardier plant.
The controversy over legalization of hemp has fueled a great deal of misinformation—on both sides. Well-meaning sources claim industrial hemp is not marijuana—that it is a different plant altogether. This is simply not true. Industrial hemp is Cannabis sativa; however, industrial hemp has been cultivated with extremely low THC levels, so low neither the leaves nor the flowers produce a mind altering high.
Hemp was once a mandated crop in colonial America, but today it is illegal to grow hemp in the United States (with few exceptions by license), regardless of its THC content. The many hemp products we sell in the United States are produced either outside of the country or by sterilized seeds, oil, and fiber grown outside of the country.
Hemp Seeds
Hemp seeds are a rich source of phytonutrients and a nutritious source of easily digested protein, providing 20 amino acids, including all nine essential amino acids and essential fatty acids with balanced omega 3s and omega 6s. Seeds are eaten whole, ground into a paste, ground into nut butter (like peanut butter), used in protein shakes, made into hemp milk, and squeezed for oil.
Hemp Oil for Food
Hemp oil is also highly nutritious. Its nutty flavor makes it a good ingredient for salad dressings, mayonnaise, and dips. It is not recommended as frying oil, due to loss of nutrients at high heat. Fresh hemp oil needs to be refrigerated and used within six months.
Hemp Milk
Hemp milk is made by blending hemp seeds with water, straining the pulp, and adding a sweetener, if desired. The result is a delicious beverage chock-full of healthy nutrients including potassium; phosphorus; riboflavin; vitamins A, E, B12, and D; folic acid, magnesium, iron, and zinc; omega 3 and omega 6 fatty acids in correct proportion, essential amino acids, and protein. One 9-ounce glass provides 46% of the recommended daily allowance of calcium. Once again, nature provides an incredible food
Read on . . . Hemp by Allene Edwards
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