Category: News

  • A Fast & Organic Christmas Breakfast

    Christmas at my house usually goes something like this – kids up early, stockings, BREAKFAST, then gifts. My son is not so into sweets so it’s not like I’m worried about him binging on Christmas candy, but a fast and casual breakfast is just sort of a tradition on Christmas for my family. You get to chill and be together before gifts which is nice. If you do have a kid who will binge on candy early in the day though, breakfast is also extra useful to keep them grounded.

    fast organic christmas breakfast

    Following is an idea for a quick and fun organic holiday breakfast menu.

    Homemade organic cinnamon rolls with orange icing – any old cinnamon roll recipe will work, below is the one I use though… Start the mix on Christmas eve day, then bake the next day.

    • 4 to 4 1/2 cups all-purpose organic flour
    • 1 package dry yeast
    • 1 cup organic milk
    • 1/3 cup sugar
    • 1/3 cup organic butter
    • 1/2 teaspoon salt
    • 2 organic eggs

    In a mixing bowl combine 2 cups flour + yeast. In a saucepan heat your milk gently with the sugar, butter, and salt til just warm. Add the milk mix plus eggs to the flour and yeast and mix well. I usually beat the mix about three minutes.

    Grab a big wooden spoon and mix in as much of the rest of the flour as you can. Knead the dough til it’s smooth and elastic-like. Shape dough into a ball, place in a lightly greased bowl, then let it sit for about an hour til it doubles in size.

    Punch dough down, divide in half, cover and let it rest 10 minutes.

    While it rests make your cinnamon mix. Mix 1/2 cup sugar with 2 teaspoons cinnamon.

    Roll the dough portions into two 12×8 rectangle, brush 3 tablespoons melted butter over the two rectangles, then sprinkle half the cinnamon mix onto each portion. Roll up your rectangles like a jelly roll. Seal the end seams of the rolls then cut each roll into 12 equal pieces. Place into 2 greased 9 inch baking pans, cover loosely with plastic wrap (I use a cloth because I don’t own plastic wrap) and pop them into the fridge.

    On Christmas morning take the rolls out of the fridge and let them sit for 30 minutes then bake for 20-25 minutes in a 375 oven. Cool, remove from pans and drizzle with icing.

    For icing just mix 1 cup sifted powdered sugar with 1/4 teaspoon vanilla and 1 tablespoon orange juice. If it’s not drizzly enough add more juice (one tablespoon at a time).

    Quick organic fruit salad

    Really I just tend to use whatever organic fruit I see that looks good at my local grocer. I usually do grab some organic frozen blueberries and raspberries plus a can of organic mandarin oranges too though because my son likes them.  Also if I use organic apples, I drizzle some lemon juice over the entire fruit salad so it doesn’t look all brown.

    We have the rolls, fruit salad and some fair trade hot chocolate and we’re good to go. The rolls aren’t too sweet either, which is nice. Oh and if you don’t like, or can’t have orange juice, use organic milk for the icing instead.

    [image via stock.xchng]

    Post from: Blisstree

    A Fast & Organic Christmas Breakfast

  • Deals from Pfizer, Novartis and AstraZeneca. Also: Snake Oil.

    DrugA few quick drug-industry items:

    Novartis is buying closely held Corthera for $120 million. That gives the company the rights to a drug called Relaxin, which is in late-stage trials for acute heart failure. Current Corthera shareholders could get hundreds of millions more in milestone payments if the drug pans out (always an iffy proposition).

    Novartis is also likely to expand its stake in Alcon soon, WSJ’s Deal Journal said yesterday. The company already has purchased a quarter of the company from Nestlé and is likely to buy another 52%, maybe more. Alcon sells eye-care products, and the buy is a diversification play.

    AstraZeneca will pay $350 million to buy Novexel, a company that specializes in new antibiotics, plus another $80 million for the company’s cash. Forest Labs is also in on the deal — the company will pay AstraZeneca half of what it spent on the Novexel deal, and will share development costs of Novexel’s lead experimental compounds. The medicines aim to treat infections that are resistant to existing antibiotics. For all of the wrinkles in the deal, see this story from Dow Jones Newswires.

    Pfizer is licensing an experimental drug out to Medicines Co., a small drug maker. Despite the deal’s size, (the upfront payment is only $10 million), it’s a good reminder that deals can flow both ways: Besides prowling for drugs to bring in from smaller players, giants like Pfizer also have drugs in their pipeline they’re looking to license out for a price. In this case, the drug is a cholesterol medicine called ApoA-I Milano, described in this clinical trial published in JAMA in 2003.

    Amgen and Roche ended a long fight over anemia drugs. Roche admitted that certain Amgen patents are valid, enforceable and infringed on by Roche’s anemia drug Mircera, Reuters reports. That means Amgen’s drug Aranesp isn’t likely to face generic competition in the U.S. until 2014. A court had already issued an injunction keeping Mircera off the market here.

    Earlier filings in the case were pretty spirited. “With all the sincerity of a snake-oil salesman, Roche hyped its infringing product as a purportedly ‘new’ medicine conferring a different medical benefit,” Amgen’s lawyers wrote. Roche said it had acted fairly.


  • Let’s Review

    Note:  If you're having trouble viewing the video, please click here.

    “Life isn't about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself.” ~ George Bernard Shaw

    Today, I have a guest post up with singer/songwriter/blogger Christine Kane

    A little history:  At the start of 2009, I joined Christine in defining one word to be my guide for the year.  The premise behind this concept is to really focus, at a deeper level, with what truly matters…at much more of a "being" level.  I loved the concept, and joined in last year, writing a post about it at the same time. 

    Today, I again join Christine, on her site this time, discussing what this year has meant having one word as a focal point.

    Please join me as I discuss the word I chose, and what that really has meant over this past year. 

    Christine authors a deeply life-affirming blog.  As well, she has written and recorded many songs, including her latest set on CD:  Wide Awake

    Comments are closed.

  • New digital multimeter type DMG 700

    LOVATO Electric presents the new digital multimeter type DMG700 to control energy distribution systems.
    It is capable of measuring 160 electrical quantities.
    Main features include:
    – Simple and intuitive menu navigation
    – Graphic display with 5-language text
    – Function expandability by plug-in modules
    – USB, RS232 and RS485 interface
    – High measurement accuracy
    – Wide power supply, measurement and temperature ranges
    – Suitable for LV, MV and HV energy systems.

    The DMG700 digital multimeter communicates with a PC through expansion modules with a relevant remote control software.

  • EOS – NEW MODELS ARE COMING

    A few months have passed since we have announced the launch of the EOS line, our new miniature, integrated safety light curtain, and we are now introducing more new versions.

    EOS4 product range is becoming wider thanks to the new models with 14 mm resolution – 6 m range, and to the XH versions having a 20 m operating range.

  • EX160 2,44 EURO New style hand wheel 20-40% cheaper then your current parts.

    Introducing new hand wheel with new ergonomic design, robust construction and guaranteed lowest price on the market. Our size EX160 is the best seller for the quality, design and price.
    We are also capable to make any other part for much lower cost.
    We are offering direct factory prices from our warehouse in Czech Republic.
    We are looking for smart direct buyers and resellers worldwide.
    Please, visit our web page www.elementrix.net to see the range of our products and feel free to ask for the quotation.

  • Casella’s CEL Extends Winning Range of Sound Level Meters

    Casella hasn’t rested on its laurels since it launched the CEL-200 series of sound level meters last year to help H&S professionals comply with the implementation of the Physical Agents (Noise) Directive – the Control of Noise at Work Regulations (2005) in the UK.

    The introduction of the CEL-242 and CEL-246 brings new capability to the range, which now stands at four instruments. The new models can store time history onto an onboard memory capable of logging over 400,000 measurements.

    Data is stored as files compatible with spreadsheet software packages (.csv format) and can simply be transferred via USB then graphed as required with any standard package.

    The CEL-200 range can display a non-decaying maximum hold value on a number of screens showing the A or C frequency weighting and slow, fast or Impulse time responses.

    The time history facility of the new models shows how the noise has fluctuated and allows users to understand at what point noise control measures are necessary. The equipment has a large, high-resolution display which show results either numerically or by bar graph and can give a time history trace over the last 1 or 5 minute period.

    Ideal for users who need a simple, low cost meter, the CEL-200 Series is fully compliant with all national and international accuracy standards unlike some budget priced “indicators”.

    Each meter is available on its own or as part of a full measurement kit (e.g. CEL-246/K1) with a matching acoustic calibrator and other accessories, including calibration certificates and two year warranty.

    Optional software (dB24) is required in order to download the stored data.

  • PAR 38 LED Bulb – 12W High Power

    Eneltec Par 38 12 Watts LED Spot Lamp has the standard E27 Screw in Base: Installation is Fast and Easy. No modification necessary. Simply unscrew the old energy wasting Incandescent or Compact Fluorescent bulb and screw in the new PAR 38 12 Watt 12 LED energy efficient long life replacement. For the perfect retrofit or new installation, our PAR 38 12 Watt 12 LED Spot Lamps offer an unlimited variety of uses. Uses 12 x 1W high power LEDs. This light is comparable to 120W light bulb.

    -Luminous Flux: 850 Lumens
    -Base Type E27: Standard replacement of existing energy draining Incandescent or Compact Fluorescent with no modification.
    -Beam Angle: 30 Degrees
    -Body Temperature: Less than 53 degrees Celsius
    -LED Working Temperature: Less than 62 degree Celsius
    -Brightness Degradation: 3%-5%/1kh
    -Life Span: 50,000 hours
    -Color: Red,Green,Blue,Yellow,Warm White and Cool White;
    -Aluminum Housing
    -No UV or IR Radiation

    APPLICATION:

    Household Spot Light indoor / outside
    Entertainment Lighting
    Architectural Lighting
    City Beautification
    Medical lighting
    Portable Lighting

  • Bolt spring plunger APP/A

    Gamm presents the new range of metallic plungers model APP/A. Black oxide steel threaded body with screwdriver slotted head. Hardened steel bolt. Stainless steel spring. Available also with heavy end-force spring. For certain minimum quantities custom threaded metal body upon request. For more information you can visit our web-site.

  • Aluminium : The easy to carry alternative to steel

    Hydraulics specialist Holmatro puts heavy duty lifting applications in a new perspective by introducing its aluminium cylinder line. Compared to steel models, the new lightweight cylinders are easy to handle.

    Mastering power
    All Holmatro products are based on the ground rule that forces can only be applied usefully when controlled effectively. The new aluminium high pressure hydraulic cylinders are available in weights up to 50% lighter than of steel cylinders, but still enable you to master the power you need.

    Ergonomic solution
    Distinctive orange tool handles and the weight of Holmatro aluminium cylinders make them particularly useful on remote sites or on jobs where they have to be carried from one application to the next. They can easily be moved and are quickly applicable for various purposes. The provided benefit has an added advantage: Using these lightweight cylinders also is a substantial improvement in reducing back and shoulder injuries.

  • WMExperts take a brief look at the Lg eXpo

    We have seem many LG eXpo videos, but not many with the projector.  Unfortunately this is not one, but it does briefly compare the device with the HTC Touch Pro 2  and the original HTC Touch Pro, which gives a good idea of the size and bulk of the device.

    The Lg eXpo is available from AT&T for $199 after a mail-in rebate.  The projector is unfortunately not yet, but hopefully will come through soon.

    Read more on WMExpert’s impressions here.

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  • Review: 2009 BMW Z4 sDrive30i is an easy lover

    Filed under: , , ,

    2009 BMW Z4 sDrive30i – Click above for high-res image gallery

    BMW‘s storied history of building roadsters dates back to the original 328 of the 1930s. However, there have been gaps in the brand’s open-top lineage, including one extended stretch through the ’60s, ’70s and ’80s. After a dalliance with the bizarre European market Z1, BMW finally got serious about roadsters again in the ’90s with the introduction of the Z3.

    Earlier this year, the Munich brand introduced what’s essentially the third generation of its modern mainline roadster (discounting the aforementioned low-volume Z1 and the Z8) in the shape of its all-new Z4. Upon its introduction, the esteemed Mr. Harley took our first crack at the new “E89” at its Southern California launch last spring and came away with mixed feelings.

    To be fair, whenever an automaker builds a new model, there’s always a distinction between what the engineers and designers expect of it and what consumers bank on. There’s also a big difference between spending a few hours on a prescribed driving route under controlled conditions versus living with a car as a daily driver for a week or longer. So we wanted to spend time with the Z4 on more familiar turf to see what life is like with BMW’s newest roadster.

    Photos by Sam Abuelsamid / Max Abuelsamid / Copyright (C)2009 Weblogs, Inc.

    Continue reading Review: 2009 BMW Z4 sDrive30i is an easy lover

    Review: 2009 BMW Z4 sDrive30i is an easy lover originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 23 Dec 2009 11:57:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

    Permalink | Email this | Comments

  • ASSOC PRESS: Buffett and Paulson to talk about economy in Omaha

    OMAHA, Neb. — Billionaire Warren Buffett will sit down with former Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson to talk about the economy at an Omaha event next year.

    Buffett, who is CEO of Berkshire Hathaway Inc., and Paulson, who led the Treasury during last year’s economic meltdown, will headline the Greater Omaha Chamber of Commerce’s annual meeting on Feb. 9.

    Buffett and Paulson will discuss excerpts from Paulson’s new book “On the Brink: Inside the Race to Stop the Collapse of the Global Financial System.” The book is scheduled to be released on Feb. 1.

    Share Investor Links

    Share Investor Blog – Stockmarket & Business commentary
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  • How many times do you have to be burned by BlackBerry to consider your options?

    bbdown

    What’s the phrase? Oh, yeah: Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me. BlackBerry went down yesterday across North and South America. Users couldn’t send or receive e-mail, and some complained that they couldn’t connect to the Internet. It’s the second time in a week that BlackBerry has failed. Considering how important the service is to some people—I dare you to go to Wall Street and not see everyone using the device—you really do wonder: how long will people tolerate this shoddy service? It also raises the related question of, How wise is it to rely on “the cloud” to host all of your important data? Surely you wouldn’t leave “mission critical” information in the hands of someone else, someone who’s unsettling opaque when it comes to explaining outages?

    Before we get into this, here’s RIM statement about this latest bit of downtime:

    A service interruption occurred Tuesday that affected BlackBerry customers in the Americas. Message delivery was delayed or intermittent during the service interruption. Phone service and SMS services on BlackBerry smartphones were unaffected. Root cause is currently under review, but based on preliminary analysis, it currently appears that the issue stemmed from a flaw in two recently released versions of BlackBerry Messenger (versions 5.0.0.55 and 5.0.0.56) that caused an unanticipated database issue within the BlackBerry infrastructure. RIM has taken corrective action to restore service.

    RIM has also provided a new version of BlackBerry Messenger (version 5.0.0.57) and is encouraging anyone who downloaded or upgraded BlackBerry Messenger since December 14th to upgrade to this latest version which resolves the issue. RIM continues to monitor its systems to maintain normal service levels and apologizes for any inconvenience to customers.

    I’ve never had an important thing to do in my life (clearly), so I’ve never really needed the BlackBerry’s always-on e-mail capability. I’ve never had a job on the line, or a fancy business account at stake, at that beck and call of RIM’s servers. So I read these “BlackBerry down~!” stories like you read international news: interesting to a degree, but nothing that’s going to upset the carefully choreographed rhythm of my day.

    That’s not to say I don’t rely on services that I have zero control over. I use Gmail for both personal and professional (if that’s the word to use!) e-mail. If a tornado rips through Google’s servers I’m pretty much doomed. I play World of Warcraft for many, many hours per week. If Blizzard’s servers mysteriously vanished my playtime would have all been in vain. I listen to music now on Spotify (in fact, I haven’t downloaded an album in several months because of Spotify). What happens if aliens invade, shooting a death ray at the Spotify servers? There’s goes my music “collection”!

    The point is, it’s hard not to run into, and use on a daily basis, services that you have very little control over. How many people do you know who run their own e-mail server? Who has backups of all the photos they store on Flickr or Facebook?

    I know it’s not the same, but this latest BlackBerry outage does highlight my concern with everything moving to “the cloud.” Like I said, I haven’t downloaded an album in months because of Spotify, but what if the record labels suddenly decide to revoke their support? How is that any more wise than buying a cheap hard drive then stuffing it with MP3s and FLACs? Then buy a backup hard drive.

    I guess this makes a cloud skeptic. (Incidentally, while my fellow CrunchGear writers will be at CES clutching to their phone to see their Google Calendar schedule, at the mercy of the wireless networks in Las Vegas, I’ll be walking around with a pen and a piece of paper stuffed into my wallet with a list of all of my meetings. A piece of paper won’t crash, and if AT&T dies in Las Vegas that week, and I fully expect that it will given all the iPhones that will be crawling up and down The Strip, I’ll be skipping along with everything I need in my pocket. It’s sorta like Steampunk, just not stupid.)

    So as RIM gets BlackBerry up and running (to be fair, everything looks to be running just fine as of this writing), you do wonder how long people will continue to passively allow this to happen to them. What are you going to do the next time an outage happens, tweet your displeasure to the world? Provided Twitter itself isn’t down, of course.

    Flickr

    Crunch Network: CrunchGear drool over the sexiest new gadgets and hardware.


  • Washington Post Reporters Believes Bogus Police Report Over Own Editorial Aide Eye Witness And Photographic & Video Evidence

    Post updated to clarify that it was an editorial aide, rather than an editor who witnessed things

    Via Jay Rosen we learn of the absolutely bizarre story of how a Washington Post editorial aide witnessed an altercation involving an off-duty police officer who pulled his gun on people in a snowball fight — and the eventual Washington Post writeup on the story which completely ignored the eyewitness account of its editorial aide in favor of the claim by the police that the gun wasn’t drawn. Yes, a Washington Post staffer happened to have been on the scene and witnessed the whole thing. He called it in and told a reporter about it — but the reporter simply ignored the guy’s account. As Jay Rosen notes: “Who you gonna believe? The police department or your own staffer’s lying eyes?” Even worse, by the time the Washington Post put out its report, there was already photographic evidence of the drawn gun posted online, along with a video where the cop admits to pulling the gun.

    Later on, the Washington Post did “update” its report, mentioning the online evidence, but waited for quite some time before finally linking to the video (and never linked to the photos). As the Washington City Paper notes about this, it’s in part due to very old school media thinking:


    Yet the reason why the Post screwed this up is that they all have linkophobia. If you link to an outlet—such as, God forbid, the Washington City Paper—you’ve lost. You got scooped and all your colleagues are going to look down on you. Linking is a huge sign of weakness—you just can’t do it. Far better to, like, call a top police official, buy his version of events, and just place it in a post, regardless of the contradicting evidence that’s already posted elsewhere.

    Take a close look at that 10:20 update on the maybe-gun-pulling cop: “The plainclothes D.C. police detective may have unholstered his pistol during the confrontation with participants in the huge snowball fight, based on video and photos posted on the Internet.”

    Bold and italics are mine. They’re mine because this is the most cowardly, selfish, arrogant news conduct out there today. What the fuck is “video and photos posted on the Internet”? How does that help readers? It’s as if I can go to www.internet.com, and there, on the first screen, will be the video and photos of the snowball fight and the maybe-gun-wielding cop. “Posted on the Internet” would be acceptable if this were 1997.

    The reporters used this hazy phrasing because they were too chicken-shit to do something that we all have learned to do over the past, say, decade or more. And that’s to link to competitors and acknowledge their contributions to stories.

    Remember, this is the Washington Post, that recently had a column claiming that a blog linking to a Washington Post story (multiple times) had ripped off the Washington Post. So, perhaps that explains why the Washington Post refused to link to others who had more accurate takes on the story. It didn’t want to “rip them off,” and preferred to get the story wrong, even though it employed an eye witness.

    So where are all those reporters who insist that the professional press is needed because they get this stuff right, while it’s the upstarts that rush to post false claims?

    Permalink | Comments | Email This Story





  • dear Granny…

    well, I have been festive most of this season.

    "happY holidays"

    I love you.

  • IBM – Green Six Sigma

    IBM logo
    IBM has the perfect Green Gift … bringing together both GREEN and Six Sigma. 

    Better Green Business

    " … author, Eric Olson, is an IT strategist … wields degrees from the likes of Cornell University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute … approach…  emphasizes practical steps for setting a specific “environmental stewardship” plan in motion … draws heavily on IBM’s Green Sigma approach for running a green business … might be just the ticket for someone who is sick of hearing ideas OR someone who might need proofpoints to get their own managers to buy into green."

    Download a sample chapter – LINK.

     

    Via:  ZDNet.com  LINK

     

  • Cadillac afirma que el CTS-V Coupé estará en Detroit

    Hace ya bastante tiempo desde que General Motors dió luz verde al nuevo Cadillac CTS-V Coupé y gracias a las últimas noticias publicadas ya podemos decir que estamos más cerca de poder ver en vivo este nuevo modelo.

    Cadillac CTS-V

    Cadillac ha confirmado mediante una nota de prensa que el CTS-V Coupé hará acto de presencia en el próximo Salón de Detroit.

    Por otra parte, os recordamos que este vehículo contará con un motor V8 de 6.2 litros y 556 CV de potencia. Seguiremos atentos por si se filtra algún tipo de información.

    Related posts:

    1. Cadillac CTS-Coupé presentado en directo
    2. Cadillac CTS Coupé
    3. General Motors esta desarrollando el Cadillan CTS-V Coupé
  • Obama’s Inherited Deficit

    From the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities:

    Some critics charge that the new policies pursued by President Obama and the 111th Congress generated the huge federal budget deficits that the nation now faces. In fact, the tax cuts enacted under President George W. Bush, the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, and the economic downturn together explain virtually the entire deficit over the next ten years

    As Ezra Klein notes, Congressional Republicans want to use the huge deficits to browbeat the Democrats into…what, exactly? More tax cuts? Bigger deficits? Electoral defeat, yes, but there doesn’t seem to be any realistic plan coming out of the minority to budget responsibly. In fact, short term frugality (through near-term spending cuts) will lead to a crippled recovery, and therefore a larger deficit in absolute terms along with a smaller economy for the coming decade.

    That’s not fiscal conservatism. That’s holding your breath to try to get your way.

  • The Year in Science, 2009 | The Intersection

    It wasn’t for nothing that I asked these questions yesterday (and some of the responses were very helpful). Over at the Science Progress blog, I’ve now done a full piece about what happened in science in 2009, which includes observations like these:

    It was a year of complete U-turns in science policy. President Barack Obama reversed George W. Bush’s dramatic restrictions on embryonic stem cell research, and the first 13 new stem cell lines were approved for federally funded research since 2001. Meanwhile, the Obama Environmental Protection Agency moved to regulate carbon dioxide emissions, finding that they do indeed endanger the public.

    It was also the year of the first-ever passage, by a 219-212 margin in the U.S. House of Representatives, of a cap-and-trade bill that would cut domestic greenhouse gas emissions—but not the year for any parallel action in the U.S. Senate.

    It was the year that everyone seemed to own an iPhone and use the word “app” in regular conversation. It was the year Twitter went from being a mere annoyance to the epitome of web-based communication.

    It was a year that saw the very first Nobel laureate scientist assume a cabinet position, in the figure of U.S. Secretary of Energy Stephen Chu.

    It was the year of….many, many, many other things, some funny, some outrageous, some profound. Read here for the whole list, and leave comments about anything you think may have been left out!