Category: News

Daily Random Recipe

INGREDIENTS:

• 200 g / 7 oz beets
• 400 g / 14 oz couscous
• Juice from one lemon
• 1 dl / 100 ml / 3.4 fl oz olive oil (can be omitted – just use a bit more water then)
• 1 bundle of parsley
• A handful of black olives – or more if desired
• Salt

METHOD:
Shred the beet roughly, or chop it finely, boil it in 1 L / 1 quart of water and pour
it over the couscous. Season to taste with lemon-juice, salt and olive oil.
Leave off heat for 30 minutes. Then add olives and the chopped parsley and blend it
into the dish.

Serve immediately. Can also be eaten cold the next day.

While here in the US, we’re still fighting over a federal shield law that will let journalists protect their sources, Michael Scott points us to the news that the European Court of Human Rights recently ruled that the media can protect anonymous sources.

The Court reiterates that freedom of expression constitutes one of the essential foundations of a democratic society and that, in that context, the safeguards guaranteed to the press are particularly important. Furthermore, protection of journalistic sources is one of the basic conditions for press freedom. Without such protection, sources may be deterred from assisting the press in informing the public on matters of public interest. As a result, the vital “public watchdog” role of the press may be undermined and the ability of the press to provide accurate and reliable reporting may be adversely affected. Having regard to the importance of the protection of journalistic sources for press freedom in a democratic society and the potentially chilling effect that an order for disclosure of a source has on the exercise of that freedom, such a measure cannot be compatible with Article 10 unless it is justified by an overriding requirement in the public interest.

This is definitely a good thing, and a bit surprising, since Europe has, in the past, often been a bit less protective of the right to speak anonymously.

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Are you looking for an affordable, delicious dish your whole family will love? Turn to potatoes! This recipe for Easy, Cheesy Idaho Potatoes and Ham is courtesy of the Idaho Potato Commission.

Nothing beats a slow cooker for ease, and potatoes cook up wonderfully in whatever make or model of slow cooker you have. To keep this dish healthy, use lower fat cheese and reduced-sodium ham and broth.

Image: Idaho Potato Commission

Yield: 4 servings
Estimated Cost per Serving: $3.50*

Ingredients:

• 4 medium Idaho potatoes (about 2 pounds), scrubbed
• 1 cup thinly sliced onions
• 1 cup reduced-sodium ham steak, cubed (about 5 ounces of pieces)
• 1 cup fat-free, reduced sodium canned chicken broth
• 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon minced garlic
• 1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1 1/4 cup reduced-fat, extra sharp, shredded cheddar cheese (such as 2% milk varieties)

Directions:

1. Cut scrubbed potatoes in half lengthwise, then cut each half into ¼-inch thick slices (not too thin or they’ll fall apart during cooking).
2. Place the potatoes, onions, and ham into a slow cooker crock (must be at least 4 quart capacity). In a liquid measuring cup, stir together the broth, flour, garlic and pepper.
3. Pour the mixture over the potatoes, then stir with a wooden spoon to distribute all ingredients.
4. Cover and set slow cooker to HIGH (use LOW setting for 6 hour cooking time). Cook for 3 hours, stirring once after about 2 hours of cooking time. When done, uncover and stir in the shredded cheese. Divide mixture between 4 bowls.

Estimated Nutritional Analysis per Serving: 406 calories, 41 mg cholesterol, 11 g fat ,796 mg sodium, 19 g protein, 61 g carbohydrates

* The Estimated Cost per Serving is a calculated estimate based on a national food average and assumes the preparer already has ingredients like salt, pepper, cooking oils, assorted spices/condiments and other traditional staples readily available in the home kitchen.

Post from: Blisstree

Easy, Cheesy Idaho Potatoes and Ham

We first saw Christen Carter’s light, bright kitchen in the Chicago Reader’s Nest issue (here’s our discussion). Since then Apartment Therapy did a full tour of Christen’s lovely home, and here’s a peek into her vintage-inspired yet thoroughly modern kitchen.

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Happy weekend! Over the next two weeks we’ll be taking a little break from our usual blogging schedule, rounding up our favorite posts from the past year and working through our mailbag of reader questions. We also have more holiday guest posts from our wonderful friends! So stick with us through the next two weeks of holiday festivities, and tell us: what are you cooking this weekend?

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The classification review meeting for Sega’s appeal on Aliens vs. Predator was set for today, but it was not the only that caught the attention of fans. Over at the Australian PlayStation Store, Sega is still apparently

We’ve been expecting this, though we thought it would be earlier …

Get Ready For The Google Branded Chrome OS Netbook

… Google has, according to multiple sources, been talking to at least one hardware manufacturer about building a netbook for Google directly. As in Google gave the company a RFP with quite detailed technical specifications and has begun discussions on building it.

They’re not in any particular hurry and seem to be aiming for the 2010 holiday season, a full year from now. Our understanding is that Google intends to have the devices built, branded with Google, and then sell them directly to consumers. The only firm tech spec we’ve heard is that they’ll be mobile enabled, and likely tied to one or more carriers with a subsidy.

… I’d even go out on a limb and suggest that they may very well be targeting Nvidia’s Tegra line. Those chips are outperforming Atom in every way, say some of the hardware guys we know. HD Flash video no problem (something the Atom can’t do), and at a fraction of the power usage.

What does that mean? It means next Christmas you may be getting a high performance Google branded netbook running Chrome OS for next to nothing. And if it’s running ARM, Intel is going to be freaking the hell out about it…

I speculated last February that Google would eventually have to split the company if this takes off. I think it will be huge.
—
My Google Reader Shared items (feed)

When I called Twitter out in my post of the top 10 failures of 2009 for “failing to innovate,” what I probably should have said was this: Twitter has done a decent job of implementing features that we first saw being used by third-party apps.

The concept of user lists? Sawhorse Media introduced those. Retweet functions? That was a user idea that had already been implemented formally by many mobile and desktop applications. And the hot Contributor API is something that CoTweet has been doing for a while. The geotagging API is hardly new, either. But instead of saying that Twitter failed to innovate, let’s instead name a few features we love from third-party apps that we think they should integrate themselves – maybe with a key acquisition or two.

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Auto-completing Usernames

Third-Party Apps That Do This: Twitdroid, DestroyTwitter

It’s a rather simple feature, but it would make our lives a lot easier. When typing an @ reply or cc’ing a user, it helps to have a cheat sheet in the form of an auto-completion feature that remembers all your friends.

Multimedia Uploading And Embedding

Third-Party Apps That Do This: PowerTwitter, Twitpic

The convoluted process of uploading media to a third party and getting your content synced up to your Twitter account can be frustrating, especially when bugs arise. And not being able to preview images or videos before clicking through is a pressure point, as well.

Threaded Views for Conversations

Third-Party Apps That Do This: Twitdroid, TwiToaster

Being able to see what an @ reply is all about can turn into a trail of digital breadcrumbs 10 tabs long. Seeing a threaded conversation in a single click would be much more convenient.

Management And Analytics

Third-Party Apps That Do This: Bit.ly, TwitterCounter, Tweetmeme, DoesFollow, Twitter Karma

I’m obsessed, you’re obsessed, we’re all obsessed with follower counts! Not to mention click-throughs, reciprocity, retweets, and all the metrics that make up the statistical side of Internet fame. Real-time measurement of Twitter activity would be worth paying for.

Official Mobile And Desktop Applications

Third-Party Apps That Do This: Tweetdeck, Seesmic, Tweetie, Twitdroid, TwitterBerry

The single greatest opportunity for Twitter innovation (and yes, we’re resisting the very strong urge to make a portmanteau from those two words) is perhaps in the desktop and mobile app space. It’s one of the most clearly monetizable avenues for Twitter to pursue, and the “official” stamp of approval on an application would guarantee that app’s success. Moreover, there would probably be clear opportunities for an official app to come pre-loaded on laptops and mobile devices.

Clearly, there’s a universe of features for Twitter to choose from. From social gaming to DM schedule reminders, oneforty is like a catalog of what Twitter could – and perhaps should – be doing next.

What do you think – what Twitter features would you like to see launched in 2010? Give us your opinion in the comments.

Discuss

Got this email today, and decided to share it and my response as a message to college kids out there that are pretty much the same as I was. Here you go:

Mark, I was in the group  that listened to you speak at the XXXX.  And I need some guidance, dude.

I don’t know if you’ve ever experienced addictive behavior before, but I’m sure you’ve got an idea of what it would be like.  Now I want to specify that I’m not addicted to drugs or alcohol or any of that junk.  I’m addicted to adventure.  Of pushing physical boundaries and experiencing new things.

But man, it’s killing me right now.  I can’t focus on anything that I need to do.  I’m a full-time undergrad and real estate agent (among other things), and this desperate search for adventure is not driving me toward my goals; it is crippling me.  Before you had the freedom to do whatever you want, whenever you want, how did you maintain focus on the things you needed to do?

My Response:

You are still in school. You don’t need to have all the answers or focus on one thing. You should be trying a lot of things until you find the one thing you really love to do and are good at. When that happens, you will be able to focus.

Being focused at 21 is way over rated. Now is the time to screw up,  try as many different things as you can and just maybe figure things out.

The thing you do need to do is learn. Learn accounting. Learn finance.  Learn statistics. Learn as much as you can about business. Read biographies about business people. You dont have to focus on 1 thing, but you have to create a base of knowledge so you are ready when its time.

You will never know when that time will come.  But you can be ready when it does.

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Ever since finding myself the happy owner of a Droid (+1 for early Christmas presents), I’ve found myself increasingly interested in the app market for Android-powered devices.

As has been noted in many iPhone/Droid sudden-death-round comparisons, the latter languishes in quality and quantity of available applications. Perhaps in an effort to increase Droid’s competitiveness in the market, the powers that be have created a new section of resources for Android developers. Let the games (and other apps) begin!

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In the new Resources tab of the online Android SDK documentation, devs can now access technical articles, some pretty detailed tutorials, a breakdown of platform versions, common tasks, troubleshooting tips, a community across groups/IRC/Twitter channels and a library of code for sample apps – just what a mobile/smartphone developer would need to get started.

The list of sample code now includes:

• API Demos
• Bluetooth Chat
• Contact Manager
• Home
• JetBoy
• Lunar Lander
• Multiple Resolutions
• Note Pad
• Searchable Dictionary
• Snake
• Soft Keyboard
• Wiktionary
• Wiktionary (Simplified)

The Android dev team has also taken their most popular developer blog posts and turned them into a series of technical articles ranging in scope from backward compatibility issues and future-proofing apps to layout tricks and text-to-speech uses.

Currently, around 10,000 applications exist in the Android Market as compared to the (roughly) eleventy bajillion apps in the Apple App Store. Hopefully, these resources will help this open-source mobile development platform take off, allowing Android’s available applications to become a selling point for Android-powered devices rather than a point ceded to Apple in the smartphone wars.

Discuss

What’s in store for you in the PlayStation Store this week before Christmas? A LOT. Apart from the usual game updates, they also have the Best of 2009 Collection, and several items up on sale. And what’s

The 1990s were marked by marvels that scientists are still trying to understand: the discovery of planets outside our solar system … the mysterious dark energy that appears to dominate our universe … embryonic stem-cell research that has sparked so much hope and concern over the past decade.

Today’s installment of our 50-year science timeline, drawn up to mark the 50th birthday of the Council for the Advancement of Science Writing, focuses on the advances of the ’90s. This list isn’t set in stone, so feel free to weigh in with your own suggested milestones. We’d also love to hear what milestones you’re hoping to see in the next 50 years.

Last year my son (age 11) got to take part in an Elks program where they took select students out to spend a certain amount of money on themselves for

IMG: Sxc.hu

Christmas. My son bought one item for everyone in the family, two gifts (small) for himself and even a gift for Toys For Tots. Now before you say anything he did this all on his own, I will admit he may have felt it was no big deal since every year we normally do this. The teachers and the Elk were all shocked by his behaviour and the fact he didn’t buy everything for himself like the majorityof the students did.

I began thinking about this earlier this week when I started reading stories about “Secret Santas” around the country, most of the stories I read dealt with the ones in Kansas City. By now I’m sure many of you have heard of Larry Stewart, one of the Secret Santas that had passed out $1.3M before passing away from cancer. Before leaving this world he did pass this on to another “secret santa” who just recently enlisted a group of teens to help out. His response to the news media was we should start off young to begin the seed. I agree.

How many of you think that allowing a child do a good deed for someone and knowing it really matters may change the way they feel? Have you ever given someone a $10 bill and saw that they really appreciated it? These teens that were enlisted were taken to thrift stores where they really got to help people out, I’ve heard of others passing out $20 bills on buses before leaving and some even shopping in toy stores and dropping off bags of presents while the kids are at school to help out the families. I think this would definitely put some type of seed in a child.

I for one will continue to donate to Toys for Tots, allowing my children to pick out the toy and drop it in. Last year we also did the tree, where you take one item (name) and buy what the wish is. The girls felt great about picking out a jacket, shirt and scarf out for a little girl that we knew needed it.

If you’d like to get your teens involved there are many programs that they can do:

–  The Wish Tree (inside stores such as Walmart)
–  Volunteering at a homeless shelter
–  Volunteering at a retirement home
–  Donate to Toys for Tots
–  Ask parents in the neighborhood if they’d allow them to take them through the store and purchase christmas items for mom and dad.

If you can think of any please list them below.

Post from: Blisstree

Get the Kids to be Secret Santas

We’ve noticed plenty of sports leagues really fighting against the internet, and assuming it’s a “problem” or a “challenge” that needs to be stopped, rather than a great tool that needs to be embraced. A prime example of this is the way the Premier League has gone on the attack against online video, even as it refuses to offer many customers any other way to watch the matches. It looks like Formula 1 racing is taking a very different approach. Paul Rodriguez alerts us to an article about how Formula 1 is looking to really embrace the internet and avoid the mistakes that others have made in the past. At first, I was a bit nervous, because the article mentions that Formula 1 wants to “follow the example of the music industry…” in embracing the internet (it’s news to me that the music industry has actually embraced the internet), but further down in the article, it does appear that they realize what’s really happening:

“It doesn’t make sense to try to charge people for something that they will figure out how to get for free. F1 will be available on the internet and you need to be prepared for that. The challenge is not in deciding what you give away for free but in deciding what sort of value you’re going to provide on top of that — elements that people are actually willing to pay for.”

Bingo. It’s exactly what we’ve been saying about so many industries, but too many of them focus on the core content and assume it must be sold. Instead, Formula 1 seems to realize that the core content is going to be free, so you need to focus on providing additional scarce value on top of that which is worth paying for.

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  << click for youtube video

great article

Debtor’s Dilemma: Pay the Mortgage or Walk Away – By JAMES R. HAGERTY and NICK TIMIRAOS – In Down Real-Estate Market, Homeowners Are Deciding to Abandon Their Loan Obligations Even if They Can Afford the Payments  – PHOENIX — Should I stay or should I go? That is the question more Americans are asking as the housing market continues to drag. … – Wall Street Journal

From the street, it can be hard to tell just what or even where Spice Station is. Located in Silver Lake’s Sunset Junction, the shop is hidden from the general hustle and bustle, and the curious shopper, perhaps lured by a chalkboard listing “Today’s Spice Prices,” must amble down a walkway, past a fountain, and through a small courtyard. But inside awaits a world of herbs, spices, chiles, salts, and teas…

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Filed under: Fitness, Healthy Eating, Ask a Fitness Expert

Canadian fitness expert Brendan Brazier, author of Thrive: The Vegan Nutrition Guide to Optimum Performance in Sports and Life, is a big fan of a eating a plant-based diet. Here, he fills us in on some of the benefits of cutting out animal … Read more

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Gail Collins – Sorry, Senator Kerry – NYTimes.com

… my favorite explanation comes from Jonathan Chait of The New Republic, who theorized that Lieberman was able to go from Guy Who Wants to Expand Medicare to Guy Who Would Rather Kill Health Care Than Expand Medicare because he “isn’t actually all that smart.”

It’s certainly easier to leap from one position to its total opposite if you never understood your original stance in the first place, and I am thinking Chait’s theory could get some traction. “When I sat next to him in the State Senate, he always surprised me by how little he’d learned about the bill at the time of the vote,” said Bill Curry, a former Connecticut comptroller and Democratic gubernatorial nominee.”…