Congratulations to Beth (comment #72), winner of the Yoshi prize package! Enjoy your fabulous Yoshi collection!
You can still order the new 2010 Yoshi calendar in time for the holidays. It makes a great gift and a portion of the proceeds go to animal charities.
Eco Factor: Concept car fueled by an electric engine for zero-emissions.
MIT Media Lab’s Smart Cities Group has developed and prototyped a compact city car dubbed the CityCar. The vehicle can be parked in much less space than a Smart Car and gets an equivalent of up to 200mpg, running on an all-electric engine.
Every year, I struggle to find gifts for my parents. They really don’t need anything, and I don’t want to buy gifts that will just end up at the Salvation Army or be sold at a garage sale in the near future. Last year, I purchased a Community Supported Agriculture half share for my father. This year, I’ve decided to give a Heifer International gift to my dad.
Choose a meaningful gift to give a loved one and help children and families around the world receive training and animal gifts that help them become self-reliant.
“I loved my Heifer gift. I don’t need more chocolate or knick-knacks. Knowing that a family gets a goat for milk, and can be self-sufficient is a great positive thing to bring into the world. It’s wonderful to know a family has been given help in my name.”
— Eileen, Rochester NY
I chose the “Hope Basket” for my father.
The Heifer Hope Basket, with its chickens and rabbits, offers just that to Heifer’s project partners. What can be more hopeful to a struggling farmer than a gift of fast-multiplying livestock? Rabbits are easy to care for and reproduce quickly, allowing their owners to sell the offspring for extra income once they’ve fulfilled Heifer’s “Passing on the Gift” promise; and chickens lay eggs and provide manure for vegetable gardens. That’s why this gift of Hope goes on and on, lasting much longer and helping more families than the usual gift basket filled with pastries or presents ever could.
I hope my father appreciates the Heifer gift. During this season of excess and overconsumption, I feel it is important to extend the spirit of giving to those with the greatest need.
Eco Factor: Zero-emission electric bus debuts in New York.
The latest addition to New York’s formidable bus fleet is an ultra-quiet zero-emission turbine hybrid knows as the DesignLine. The bus is being touted to be as quiet as a tomb, and is fueled by a spinning turbine that recharges an onboard Li-ion battery pack.
Die-hard Devil May Cry 4 (http://ps3.qj.net/category/Devil-May-Cry-4/cid/212) fans out there will surely put this at the top of their Chrismtas wish lists. It’s the one and only Red Queen, as weilded by hunky
Daily Random Recipe
INGREDIENTS:
Mix your choice of fruit with the lime juice and chilli, Season with salt to taste and cover with toasted pumpkin seeds.
NOTES: 
Here are some great ideas for homemade gifts from the kitchen, including the totally retro and awesome Russian Friendship Tea (it has Tang!) with cute free downloadable labels.
If you’re looking for a rocking horse for the holidays that’s outside of the rocking horse box then why not go with a more cheery holiday moose!
The EKORRE Rocking Moose from Ikea is made of eco-friendly rubberwood and birch but at just $$39.99, this toy costs much less than most rubberwood toys. Of course rocking is one of those great developmental skills for kids – working both their sense of balance and allows them to sort out sensory impressions. Plus rocking is soothing for many kids.
This toy is not available online though. If you’d like this cheerful red moose for the holidays check at your local Ikea store.
Post from: Blisstree
A bunch of folks have sent in Matthew Lasar’s excellent look back at some of the early days of the telegraph system and how it parallels some questions that we face today over things like net neutrality. The basic story is that Western Union worked out a way to gain a monopoly on the telegraph, and then worked out a deal with the Associated Press, whereby all AP papers would use Western Union, and none would support the creation of a competing telegraph company. From all of this, there is even the suggestion that a presidential election was stolen. It’s a worthwhile read.
Of course, the parallels are not perfect, and there are lots of other questions to be raised, but there are some good points to think about, when you’re dealing with a communications system that is, effectively, a natural monopoly. As the FCC suddenly seems open to the concept of line sharing again, after being down on it for so many years, it’s at least worth looking at the history on things like the telegraph, to understand why competition really is a good thing, especially when it comes to the major means of communication.
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These cookies are very impressive. Though they might take a little longer to prepare than most, they are well worth the time. They look magnificent and taste even better!
When I made these shortbread cookies, I substituted vanilla extract for the almond extract (just because I didn’t have almond on hand). They turned out divine!
Image: BHG.com
Prep: 40 min
Bake: 10 min per batch
Stand: 30 min
Ingredients
Directions
1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Spread cherries on paper towels to drain well.
2. In a large bowl, combine flour and sugar. Using a pastry blender, cut in the butter until mixture resembles fine crumbs. Stir in drained cherries and 4 ounces (2/3 cup) of the chopped chocolate. Stir in almond extract and, if desired, food coloring. Knead mixture until it forms a smooth ball.
3. Shape dough into 3/4-inch balls. Place balls 2 inches apart on an ungreased cookie sheet. Using the bottom of a drinking glass dipped in sugar, flatten balls to 1-1/2-inch rounds.
4. Bake in preheated oven for 10 to 12 minutes or until centers are set. Cool for 1 minute on cookie sheet. Transfer cookies to a wire rack and let cool.
5. In a small saucepan, combine remaining 8 ounces white chocolate and the shortening. Cook and stir over low heat until melted. Dip half of each cookie into chocolate, allowing excess to drip off. If desired, roll dipped edge in nonpareils and/or edible glitter. Place cookies on waxed paper until chocolate is set. Makes about 60.
6. To Store: Layer cookies between waxed paper in an airtight container; cover. Store at room temperature for up to 3 days or freeze for up to 3 months.
Nutrition Facts
Calories 87, Total Fat (g) 5, Saturated Fat (g) 3, Cholesterol (mg) 9, Sodium (mg) 28, Carbohydrate (g) 9, Fiber (g) 0, Protein (g) 1, Vitamin C (DV%) 0, Calcium (DV%) 0, Iron (DV%) 0, Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet
Image and Recipe Courteay of BHG.com’s 100 Days of Holidays.
Be sure to visit BHG.com this week to find out the big winner of their America’s Favorite Better Homes and Gardens Cookie contest.
Post from: Blisstree
The discovery of malformed frogs in the Minnesota River watershed in the 1990s touched off field and lab research on endocrine disrupters that is continuing to yield findings.
Minnesota, the state that made national headlines with the discovery of malformed frogs in the 1990s, has found endocrine disrupting chemicals and traces of pharmaceuticals even in some of its most remote and otherwise cleanest waters. Armed with substantial state funding, the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) has released a new report and is now continuing field work to determine the aquatic range of endocrine disrupting chemicals that can mimic hormones and cause changes to the reproductive system or development of organisms.
The new study found the hormones androstenedione in 64 percent of sampled lakes and 50 percent of sampled rivers, estrone in 55 percent of the lakes and 75 percent of the rivers, and 17β-estradiol in 55 percent of the lakes and 38 percent of the rivers. “These may be of human origin, naturally occurring, or both,” MPCA observed. Bisphenol-A was found in 45 percent of the sampled lakes and 38 percent of sampled rivers.
We love the looks of just about every recipe in Pasta Sfoglia (see our review here). But we decided to reprint one of the simplest, most elemental recipes in the book: Fusilli al Telefono.
We’ve been working our way through a few more books that we think would make good gifts this holiday season. Here’s the next in our lineup: the gorgeous, mouthwatering pages of Pasta Sfoglia. “Sfoglia” means an uncut sheet of pasta, and as soon as you open this book you’ll want to run to the kitchen and make your own sheets of pasta so you can get to work on this book’s recipes.
Q: I’m working on my holiday shopping and would like to get an onion chipper for my boyfriend, who won’t cook with onions because they make him tear up. I looked on Amazon but many choppers seem to be flimsy or difficult to clean.
Any recommendations?
Sent by Neon
We are total suckers for this kind of story! Recently our hometown alternative rag asked two local chefs to take a bag of cheap (read: not nice) groceries and turn them into something gourmet. The results were pretty impressive, and while we might not go to the same lengths (separating frozen vegetables?) it is an inspiring look at turning unappetizing ingredients into something more interesting.
•Flaunt your URL in webmaster forums. Webmasters usually have the toolbar installed. You’ll get webmasters to visit your website and offer useful feedback. It’s also a good way to give back to the community if you have useful articles to share with others.
•Post in Asian social networking websites or forums. Some webmasters have suggested that East Asian web users are big Alexa toolbar fans, judging by the presence of several Asia-based websites in the Alexa Top 500. I suggest trying this only if you have the time or capacity to do so.
•Get Dugg or Stumbled. This usually brings massive numbers of visitors to your website and the sheer amount will have a positive impact on your Alexa Rank. Naturally, you’ll need to develop link worthy material.
•Use PayperClick Campaigns. Buying advertisements on search engines such as Google or Exact Seek will help bring in Traffic. Doubly useful when your ad is highly relevant to webmasters.
•Buy banners and links for traffic from webmaster forums and websites. A prominent and well displayed ad will drive lots of webmaster traffic to your website, which can significantly boost your rank.
•Optimize your popular posts. Got a popular post that consistently receives traffic from the search engines? Include a widget/graph at the bottom of the post, link to your Alexa post or use Alexa redirection on your internal URLs.
•Hire forum posters to pimp your website. Either buy signatures in webmaster forums or promote specific articles or material in your website on a regular basis. You can easily find posters for hire in Digital Point and other webmaster forums.
•Use MySpace . This is a little shady so I don’t recommended it unless you’re really interested in artificially inflating your Alexa Rank. Use visually attractive pictures or banners and link them to your redirected Alexa URL. This will be most effective if your website has content that is actually relevant to the MySpace Crowd.
•Get friends to review and rate your Alexa website profile. Not entirely sure of its impact on rankings but it might help in some way.
•Create a webmaster tools section on your website. This is a magnet for webmasters who will often revisit your website to gain access to the tools. Aaron Wall’s webpage on SEO Tools is a very good example.
•Try Alexa auto-surfs. Do they work? Maybe for brand new sites. I think they are mostly suitable for new websites with a very poor Alexa rank. Note that there be problems when you try to use auto surfs alongside contextual ads like Adsense. They aren’t also long term solutions to improving your Alexa Rank so I suggest using with caution.
id Software is confident that Rage will “blow past any expectations” that Doom and Quake fans may have. Creative Director Tim Willits boldly makes this statement in an interview with Now Gamer, exclaiming that Rage will definitely
It’s December, a month when people start thinking about their New Year’s resolutions. This year you might want to cut out all the losing weight, eating better, and saving money resolutions and just choose one good resolution that takes care of all of these issues – grow a garden.
Gardens are healthy, encourage smart eating habits, and can save you money. For example…
A study (pdf) done at Texas A & M University shows that patients in hospitals with gardens gain major benefits simply from looking at the garden. The study points out that simply “Viewing nature settings can produce significant restoration within less than five minutes as indicated by positive changes, for instance, in blood pressure, heart activity, muscle tension, and brain electrical activity.” Furthermore people exposed to exposed to plants and nature settings experience ower levels of fear and anger, and report far higher levels of positive feelings.
Gardening is an active task and when done correctly can be a workout but it’s also been shown to be a relaxing active activity that can significantly lower blood pressure in people with hypertension and prehypertension and even fights osteoporosis.
Other experts note that fresh produce is superior to frozen or non-local because over time, vitamin stability decreases. Temperature changes, air and artificial light exposure all rob fruits and vegetables of nutrients which is why your homegrown garden produce is going to be a healthier bet than the stuff sitting around at the supermarket.
Youth who garden grow stronger nature appreciation skills which can lead to smarted green living. Youth also gain hands on skills, gain engaging connections to academics, introduces them to healthful foods, plus research has shwon that kids who spend time in green spaces have reduced symptoms of attention-deficit disorder, obesity and ADHD. Community gardens provide a great way for kids to improve and give back to the community.
Based on the above it makes sense to put a stop to all the other resolutions and just have one simple garden resolution. If you’ve got a little bit of land why not plan on growing a garden this spring?
[image via stock.xchng]
Post from: Blisstree
Our product line has evolved to a new level of outstanding peformance and value in analytical instruments: the Ultrameter II series.
While priced like affordable single-parameter instruments, the Ultrameter II does the job of three, four or even six instruments.
Both Ultrameter II models deliver performance of ±1% of reading (not merely full scale). This high level of accuracy has been achieved through advanced four-electrode conductivity cell technology, a unique pH/ORP sensor and powerful microprocessorbased circuitry. With displayed values of up to 9999, the full four-digit LCD ensures resolution levels never before
possible in such affordable instruments.
Factory calibrated with NIST traceable solutions, each Ultrameter II may be supplied with both certification of traceability and NIST traceable solutions for definitive calibration.
Beyond their affordable purchase price, Ultra-Fast, Ultra-Easy, Ultra-Powerful Ultrameter II‘s save both time and money. Measure for measure, Ultrameter II‘s give you a better return on your investment than any other handheld instrument.
Sensortechnics’ new CLW series detects point levels of liquids and granular or pulverised materials without contacting the media. The user can easily adjust a high and low switch point with a hysteresis of less than 25 mm. The CLW device uses a new non-invasive capacitive sensor technology and allows for complete media compatibility and sterility. Due to its miniature size these level switches can be perfectly integrated into OEM devices.
The CLW sensor can be mounted to the outside of a container or vessel and is able to measure through almost any non-metallic wall material. The level switch is highly flexible and can be easily calibrated to measure to the desired levels, media and application set-up. The CLW series achieves a very high accuracy and reliability due to an additional reference electrode which compensates for all changes in ambient environmental conditions such as temperature and humidity. Additionally, Sensortechnics can also provide continuously measuring level sensors based on the same contact-free capacitive technology.
Important features of the new CLW series are:
– Contact-free capacitive sensor technology
– Point level monitoring of liquids, granular or pulverised materials
– Adjustable hysteresis of less than 25 mm
– Miniature size for easy integration into OEM devices
Due to its new contact-free capacitive technology Sensortechnics’ CLW level switch can be used in many level monitoring applications within medical, laboratory and analytical technology, chemical and pharmaceutical industries, also biotechnology as well as food and beverage.
