22 November 2008
360cities.net - IMPRESSIVE
"Bringing the world to a wide audience in a new way, 360cities.netis a guide that lets you step inside. We bring the full spectrum ofhigh-resolution immersive, virtual reality experience to the web. 360Cities brings you closer to the reality of a place than has ever beenpossible before and gives businesses the power to reach out and invitevisitors in. Whether doing travel research or simply exploring what'snew on one of our many city sites, we're sure you'll find something ofinterest on 360 Cities.
360 Cities is dedicated topromoting geo-mapped, VR panorama photography and VR photographersaround the world. We are a unique global network of members who arespecialists in VR photography and our platform is a highly developed,feature-rich system designed to display the finest quality panoramas toan audience of casual internet browsers, photography enthusiasts,tourists, and those involved in the tourist industry. If you'd like tojoin 360 Cities, please click here.
360 Cities is a limited company registered in the Netherlands with offices in Prague."
20 November 2008
The Sustainable Seafood Dilemma
About Chocolate & Zucchini
Chocolate & Zucchini is a blog written by Clotilde Dusoulier, a 24 25 26 27 2829-year-old Parisian woman who lives in Montmartre and shares herpassion for all things food-related -- thoughts, recipes, musings,cookbook acquisitions, quirky ingredients, nifty tools, restaurantexperiences, ideas, and inspirations.
The Sustainable Seafood Dilemma
I blame it all on my nephew.
Around the time that he was born, earlier this year, something clicked and I decided to take the whole sustainable seafoodthing seriously: if he and his unborn cousins are to enjoy a long lifefull of lobster tails and skate wings, it is up to me to make informedand responsible choices now.
I had heard of the depletion of the oceans before, but Idon't think I had quite realized how dire the situation is: fishpopulations the world over are threatened by overfishing,overconsumption, pollution, and fishing techniques that wreak havoc inlocal ecosystems. If we don't change our ways fast, major fish speciesmay become extinct as early as 2050.
Like all environmental problems, this is an abysmally complexone, with multitudinous causes, implications, side effects, andcollateral damages. And if you factor in other, equally pressingconcerns, such as levels of mercury, PCB, and other contaminants, aswell as the need to favor locally sourced ingredients, it all becomesrather overwhelming, befuddling, discouraging, check all that apply.Not everyone aspires to become an expert in marine matters, and noteveryone has the time or inclination to decode what the experts aresaying.
We just want to eat fish and be merry.
It is perhaps tempting then to sit on one's hands and say, well, I'm just the one consumer,I can't change the world, and that slab of red tuna on the fish stallor on the menu is already out of the water anyway, so I might as welleat it.
But no; it is best to let that slab of red tuna sit there, uneaten,for it is very much a chicken-or-egg (or rather, a fish-or-roe) matter.As much as we would want them to, restaurants and fish markets aren'tin the business of saving the planet; they're in the business of making their customers happy.
And if what makes you happy is to feel sure that the fish you buy has been fished or farmed sustainably-- that is to say, in a way that ensures that the fish population willbe maintained or increased, and that the ecosystem it belongs to isprotected -- then it will become financially profitable for fishvendors and restaurateurs to care.
So, what to do, what to do?
First of all, you can get a pocket seafood guidethat indicates the species you can eat, and those that you shouldavoid; the list varies depending on the region of the world where youlive, and where the fish you can buy comes from. These guidelines arelikely to change over time as seafood stocks evolve, so it's a goodidea to get the freshest edition available.
The WWF links to seafood guides for European countries, the Monteray Bay Aquarium offers several for the United States, and this site lists a few more.
I've printed a copy of the French version for my purse, to use at the restaurant and at the poissonnerie, and I keep another one on the fridge, to use as a cheat sheet when I'm considering recipes.
(In passing, one feature that would be handy to find in such guides is a substitution chartthat would say, "If your recipe calls for [species to avoid], considerusing [sustainable alternative] instead." The Environmental DefenseFund offers this seafood selector, but I've yet to see something similar for the French cook.)
The pocket guide is a good start but, as a black-and-white view of a situation that has many shades of grey, it is not the magic shieldone could hope for. Fish comes in so many varieties and under so manydifferent names that the list cannot possibly be exhaustive, andimprecise labelling -- when it is not intentional mislabelling -- is a frequent hurdle on the responsible eater's path.
The only option then is to ask questions, whether at the fish counter or at the restaurant: what kind of fish is it, where does it come from, how was it farmed/caught?
Admittedly, this is not the easiest thing to do -- especially in France, where vendors and waiters are known to get defensive, and where well-intentioned curiosity is occasionally met with a take-it-or-leave-it-mademoiselleattitude. The trick is to adopt just the right tone so as not to soundhigh-and-mighty, yet make it clear how important it is to you.
One can only hope that, if enough consumers show concern, fish vendors and restaurant owners will be just as inquisitive with their suppliers -- if only to get us to shut up.
Lastly, an important thing we can all do is spread the word.A small portion of the public is even aware that there is a problem inthe first place and, as eager cooks, as passionate eaters, we are in aposition to alert and inform our friends, family, coworkers, and, if wehappen to run a food blog*, our readers. I'm not suggesting the soapboxapproach -- has that ever worked for anyone? -- but rather gentlenudges and offhand remarks, at the restaurant and at the shop, in thekitchen and at the table.
What about you? How do you deal with the sustainable seafooddilemma? Do you have resources, strategies, or thoughts to share on howto make better choices?
Recommended reading and resources:
- A series of posts written by an Australian marine ecologist.
- Lia's post on sourcing sustainable seafood.
- A Chef's Guide to Sourcing Sustainable Seafood, available for download from Chefs Collaborative.
- An online compilation of international seafood guides.
- The Monteray Bay Aquarium's Seafood Watch.
- The Oceans Today on the Marine Stewardship Council's website.
- The Marine Conservation Society's FishOnline website.
- The Environmental Defense Fund's seafood selector.
* If you have a food blog, consider participating in the upcoming edition of Teach a Man to Fish this October. Teach a Man to Fish is a food blogging event that promotes sustainable seafood; don't miss the wrap-up of last year's edition.
Never miss a recipe!
Sign up for the Chocolate & Zucchini newsletter to receive monthly news and a digest of recent entries.
Bar grillé au fenouil et flambé au Pastis
 | D'élevage ou Sauvage tu seras selon le cas : un Beau Bar ou un Loup-Bar 
| |
| ||
Wholesome Banana Chocolate Breakfast Bars
Chocolate & Zucchini
Wholesome Banana Chocolate Breakfast Bars
When Heidi posted about her friend Nikki's healthful cookies a couple of months ago, my curiosity was piqued, and the recipe firmly affixed to my mind's corkboard*.
And as soon as I had a few browning bananas on hand -- somemight accuse me of letting them overripen on purpose, but that's justlibel and they'll be hearing from my attorney -- I knew just how to putthem to use.
I made a few modifications to the original recipe: 1- I usedalmond butter rather than coconut oil, which I didn't have. 2- Idecreased the amount of chocolate -- completely out of character, Iknow, but I stopped when the chocolate-to-batter ratio felt right tome. 3- I didn't add the cinnamon because I'm not very fond of thebanana-cinnamon pairing. 4- I also omitted the baking powder: there isvirtually no gluten in the recipe**, so it didn't seem like a leavenerwould have much effect.
Oh, and instead of shaping bite-size cookies from the batter, Isimply poured and baked the whole thing in a rectangular dish, and cutit into squareish bars after the fact: it was just easier, andbecause I knew we'd need a few days to eat our way through them and thefat content in the recipe was not very high, cutting servings as wewent would help keep the texture fresh and moist.
And I'm happy to report it was a smashing success: these vegan oatmeal bars(or cookies) call for no sugar, and rely instead on the sweeteningpower of mashed bananas, and such flavor-bolstering ingredients as darkchocolate and grated coconut. The result is a discreetly sweet, buthighly tasty confection that feels like a treat, but can be eaten forbreakfast (it pairs well with clementines) without getting the dreadedsugar crash in mid-morning.
~~~
* Actually, I'm lying about the corkboard: to file and organize my digital notes, lists, and recipes, I use this handy Notebook tool for Mac OS X.
** Pure oats don't contain gluten, but there can be a smidgen incommercial oats that are processed along with other grains. If youcan't have gluten at all, make sure the oats you use are labeled asgluten-free.
Selma Lagerlöf 1858 - 1940
Författarinnan Selma Lagerlöf uppmärksammas särskilt i Sveriges Radiounder denna vecka i november då det är 150 år sedan hon föddes.
Reportage,musik, radioteater med mycket mera - ett flertal redaktioner har Selmasom tema och här kan du läsa om vad som händer i Sveriges Radio.
Sveriges Radio
TRUTHDIG
Drilling beneath the headlines DAILY.
>> TRUTHDIG ORIGINAL REPORTS:
Robert Scheer on Obama's Best Bet for Treasury
"Change We Can Bank On"-- This is not change we can believe in. Not if Robert Rubin or hisprotégé, Lawrence Summers, get to call the shots on the economy inPresident-elect Barack Obama's incoming administration.
Chris Hedges on War and American Empire
"America's Wars of Self-Destruction"-- War is a poison. It is a poison that nations and groups must attimes ingest to ensure their survival. But, like any poison, it cankill you just as surely as the disease it is meant to eradicate.
The National Prop. 8 Protests in Pictures
"Anti-Prop. 8 Protests Around the Country"-- On Saturday, people took to the streets all around the U.S. toprotest the passage of California's Proposition 8 and to show theirsupport for same-sex marriage. We've compiled 40 of our favorite photosfrom Spokane to Houston to New York City.
Andrew Gumbel Responds to Gore Vidal
"A Rejoinder to Gore Vidal"-- Let me describe what happened in my interview with Gore Vidal forVanity Fair's Spanish edition and why I felt compelled to report whatwas, in my experience, the single most shockingly racist line of the2008 presidential election campaign.
>> SPECIAL REPORTS:
Robert Fisk on the War in Afghanistan"No End to the Savagery in Afghanistan"-- Back in Afghanistan, the mind turns to the small matter of savagery.Not the routine cruelty of war, but the deliberate inhumanity withwhich we behave.
19 November 2008
Iterasi - Every day you find web pages you may never see again. Which is fine, unless you actually need that information.
Iterasi
"At iterasi, we love the Web. So much so, that we want to keep it. Forever.
That'swhy we're taking steps to move beyond traditional bookmarking. Because,these days, saving the address of a page isn't half as important asbeing able to save the page you created.
Our first product,iterasi, makes it simple for any Web user to save the dynamicallygenerated pages that are increasingly becoming the bulk of today's Webexperience. With iterasi, CSS, JavaScript, AJAX, and database driventechnologies, like PHP and ASP, can all be saved—in their currentstate—with the push of a button."
Recording History a Page at a Time
"The results of the United States Presidential Election truly rocked theworld. People from all over the world collected newspapers coveringthis historic event. As you would expect, at iterasi we saw a trafficspike as users decided todigitally commemorate this historic event.
Here is one example. In the blog 'Teaching Online Journalism', MindyMcAdams writes how she had a student spend election night archiving 98different news sites from around the world. From the New York Post tothe Hindustan Times. FromGazeta Wyborcza to The Australian. From the Dallas Morning News to LeMonde. To see the blog post click here: sigalon@gmail.com" target="_blank">http://sqrl.it/?uwn45 or go directly to the public pages sigalon@gmail.com" target="_blank">https://www.iterasi.net/public/users/dpmrr.
It's a very impressive collection. And now the digital versions, likethe printed ones, are a permanent part of the world's history."
Iterasi - Every day you find web pages you may never see again. Which is fine, unless you actually need that information.
"At iterasi, we love the Web. So much so, that we want to keep it. Forever.
That'swhy we're taking steps to move beyond traditional bookmarking. Because,these days, saving the address of a page isn't half as important asbeing able to save the page you created.
Our first product,iterasi, makes it simple for any Web user to save the dynamicallygenerated pages that are increasingly becoming the bulk of today's Webexperience. With iterasi, CSS, JavaScript, AJAX, and database driventechnologies, like PHP and ASP, can all be saved—in their currentstate—with the push of a button."
Recording History a Page at a Time
"The results of the United States Presidential Election truly rocked theworld. People from all over the world collected newspapers coveringthis historic event. As you would expect, at iterasi we saw a trafficspike as users decided todigitally commemorate this historic event.
Here is one example. In the blog 'Teaching Online Journalism', MindyMcAdams writes how she had a student spend election night archiving 98different news sites from around the world. From the New York Post tothe Hindustan Times. FromGazeta Wyborcza to The Australian. From the Dallas Morning News to LeMonde. To see the blog post click here: sigalon@gmail.com" target="_blank">http://sqrl.it/?uwn45 or go directly to the public pages sigalon@gmail.com" target="_blank">https://www.iterasi.net/public/users/dpmrr.
It's a very impressive collection. And now the digital versions, likethe printed ones, are a permanent part of the world's history."
Monty Python
The Monty Python Channel on YouTube
"For 3 years you YouTubers have been ripping us off, taking tens of thousands of our videos and putting them on YouTube. Now the tables are turned. It's time for us to take matters into our own hands.
We know who you are, we know where you live and we could come after you in ways too horrible to tell. But being the extraordinarily nice chaps we are, we've figured a better way to get our own back: We've launched our own Monty Python channel on YouTube.
No more of those crap quality videos you've been posting. We're giving you the real thing - HQ videos delivered straight from our vault.
What's more, we're taking our most viewed clips and uploading brand new HQ versions. And what's even more, we're letting you see absolutely everything for free. So there!
But we want something in return.
None of your driveling, mindless comments. Instead, we want you to click on the links, buy our movies & TV shows and soften our pain and disgust at being ripped off all these years."
Aleppo Soap
Aleppo soap is a vegetable oil soap that is similar to Marseille or Castile soap, but made in Aleppo, Syria.
The composition of traditional Aleppo soap includes olive oil, oil of Bay Laurel berries and soda ash (sodium carbonate).
The history of the soap industry in the Middle East dates back overnearly five millennia, and the production of Aleppo soap has notchanged much since its inception, with the tradition being passed toeach generation.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Aleppo-soap.JPG
Aleppo Soap
Aleppo soap is a vegetable oil soap that is similar to Marseille or Castile soap, but made in Aleppo, Syria.
The composition of traditional Aleppo soap includes olive oil, oil of Bay Laurel berries and soda ash (sodium carbonate).
The history of the soap industry in the Middle East dates back overnearly five millennia, and the production of Aleppo soap has notchanged much since its inception, with the tradition being passed toeach generation.
The Ultimate Slow Food - Sous-Vide Cooking
Sous-vide (French for "under vacuum", is a method of cookingthat is intended to maintain the integrity of ingredients by heatingthem for an extended period of time at relatively low temperatures.Food is cooked for a long time, sometimes well over 24 hours. Unlikecooking in a slow cooker, sous-vide cooking uses airtight plastic bags placed in hot water well below boiling point (usually around 60°C or 140°F).
The method was developed by Georges Pralus in the mid-1970s for the Restaurant Troisgros (of Pierre and Michel Troigros) in Roanne, France. He discovered that when cooking foie gras in this manner it kept its original appearance, did not lose excess amounts of fat and had better texture.[2]Another pioneer in the science of sous-vide is Bruno Goussault, whofurther researched the effects of temperature on various foods andbecame well-known for training top chefs in the method. As ChiefScientist of Cuisine Solutions, Goussault thoroughly developed theparameters of cooking times and temperatures for different foods.[3] The sous-vide method is used in several gourmet restaurants under Thomas Keller, Jesse Mallgren, Paul Bocuse, Joël Robuchon, Charlie Trotter,and other chefs. Non-professional cooks are also beginningto use vacuum cooking.
Read more about Sous-Vide Cooking in the following articles:The New York Times
Slate
Michael Ruhlman
Cooking Sous Vide at Home
Blog dedicated to molecular gastronomy
Sous-Vide & Cooking
What is Sous Vide Cooking?
Happy Cooking - Have a Great Experience!
18 November 2008
USB 3.0 spec finalized
The USB 3.0 Promoter Group today announced the completion of the USB3.0 specification. The new interface technology provides ten times thebandwidth of its predecessor and is expected to be integrated in futuredesigns of consumer electronics and PC peripheral devices. But even ifhardware designers are adopting the technology immediately, don'texpect USB 3.0 to appear anytime soon on store shelves.
More ...
Google preps Chrome patch, adds new features
Mountain View (CA) - After a few maintenance updates, Google isreadying a more significant Chrome update that fixes a known securityissue and delivers an improved V8 JavaScript interpreter. The updatedversion also addresses some of the missing end-user features, such asmore privacy options, a separate bookmark manager and a re-workedpop-up blocker that no longer blocks annoying pop-up windows by loadingthem in a minimized window state.
More ...
Jerry Yang to step down as Yahoo CEO
Sunnyvale (CA) – Yahoo said that it has begun looking for a newchief executive officer as Jerry Yang decided "to return to his formerrole as Chief Yahoo."
Surrendering the role as CEO of thecompany he co-founded concludes a rocky year for Jerry Yang – a year inwhich Yahoo received a $44.6 billion acquisition offerfrom Microsoft that eventually went up in flames as well as adeteriorating share price that currently lists Yahoo with a marketcapitalization of $14.7 billion.
Yang, 40, replaced Terry Semelin June of last year and transitioned the company to an open platformmodel and improved the alignment of costs and revenues. "Jerry and theBoard have had an ongoing dialogue about succession timing, and we allagree that now is the right time to make the transition to a new CEOwho can take the company to the next level," Roy Bostock said.
Yahoo said that it is working with retained Heidrick & Struggles, an executive search firm, to find a replacement for Yang.
Yang said that he will focus on global strategy once a new CEO is appointed.
TG Daily
Tomber comme un cheveu sur la soupe
This is part of a series on French idiomatic expressions that relate to food. Read the introductory Edible Idiom post, and browse the list of French idioms featured so far.
This week's expression is, "Tomber comme un cheveu sur la soupe."
The literal translation is, "falling like a hair* on soup," and itmeans that something or someone appears at an inappropriate orincongruous moment, and is thus completely out of place. (The idiom can also be formed with the verbs arriver, to arrive, or venir, to come, instead of tomber, to fall.)
Interestingly enough, in the context of this expression, the hairfound in a bowl of soup causes no disgust. It is merely seen as an anomaly, a thing of no value or consequence that diverts one's attention from what's really important: the soup.
Example: "Je n'ai vraiment pas aimé la fin : la scène avec les extraterrestres tombe comme un cheveu sur la soupe." "I really didn't like the ending: the scene with the aliens falls like a hair on soup."
Comme un cheveu sur la soupe is also the title of a 1957 movie with Louis de Funès (but no aliens).
* In French, there are two words for hair, depending on where it grows: un cheveu is the hair that grows on the head, whereas un poilis the hair that grows on the body. In both cases, the terms refer toan individual hair; if you were to compliment someone on his hair, youwould use the plural, les cheveux.
Never miss a recipe!
Sign up for the Chocolate & Zucchini newsletter to receive monthly news and a digest of recent entries.
Blue Cheese Salad from the Auvergne
Foodari
Prepare the salad leaves (wash and spin)
Preheat the grill to hot. Meanwhile slice the bread into a dozen slices
Make a dressing out of the last 4 ingredients.
Toast the slices of baguette and top with chunks of the cheese.
Arrange them on top of the salad leaves, scatter over the walnuts and pour some dressing over each one.
150 gm(s) blue cheese (see recipe)
1 small baguette 100 gm(s) mixed salad leaves 30 gm(s) chopped walnuts 1 tsp(s) Dijon mustard 1 shallot (finely chopped) optional 2 tbsp(s) olive oil 2 tbsp(s) sunflower oil
Years-old rumors that Apple will roll out a line of Internet-connected displays have resurfaced in reports that suggest the company will bundle its Apple TV product within a new line of HDTVs.
In a report referencing a rumor floated by Mahalo chief JasonCalacanis, who claims that he knows "first-hand" that Apple is workingon what's described as a networked television, CNET writer Nate Lanxon noted that the assertion "isn't surprising" given Apple's 30-inch Cinema Display.
Back in January 2007, American Technology analyst Shaw Wu supported such rumors with a research notestating that the company was working on "large screen" technologieswithin its development labs. "We are not certain on timing but ouranalysis indicates that AAPL is beyond prototype on large-screentechnologies (for a larger monitor or possibly Apple-branded HDTV)," headvised clients at the time.
However, that was nearly two years ago. Since then, Apple has continuedto sell video projectors from Epson and NEC in both its online andphysical retail stores but does not sell HDTVs in either, indicatingthat the company hasn't exactly rushed to enter the HDTV market. Anumber of cost and usefulness factors have likely come into play.
More ...
Remember!
"...banking institutions are more dangerous
to our liberties than standing armies..."
Thomas Jefferson
(3rd president of US (1743 - 1826)
to our liberties than standing armies..."
Thomas Jefferson
(3rd president of US (1743 - 1826)
Barack Obama: A Photo History
17 November 2008
The New Trough
The Wall Street bailout looks a lot like Iraq — a "free-fraud zone"where private contractors cash in on the mess they helped create - NAOMI KLEIN
Rolling StoneDemocracyNow!
DemocracyNow! Monday, November 17, 2008
Video
Naomi Klein on the Bailout Profiteers and the Multi-Trillion-Dollar Crime Scene. "The more details emerge, the clearer it becomesthat Washington's handling of the Wall Street bailout is not merelyincompetent. It is borderline criminal," says Naomi Klein, author of The Shock Doctrine.
Ex-CIA Officials Tied to Rendition Program and Faulty Iraq Intel Tapped to Head Obama's Intelligence Transition Team. JohnBrennan and Jami Miscik, both former intelligence officials underGeorge Tenet, are leading Barack Obama's review of intelligenceagencies and helping make recommendations to the new administration.Brennan has supported warrantless wiretapping and extraordinaryrendition, and Miscik was involved with the politicized intelligencealleging weapons of mass destruction in the lead-up to the war on Iraq.We speak with former CIA analyst Melvin Goodman and Michael Ratner ofthe Center for Constitutional Rights.AsObama Vows to Close Guantanamo, His Advisers Are Reportedly Crafting aPlan to Create a New System of Preventive Detention and NationalSecurity Courts.During an interview on 60 Minuteslast night President-elect Barack Obama said he plans to close the USmilitary prison at Guantanamo Bay and rebuild the nation's moralstature. Last week, the Associated Press reported Obama advisers arecrafting a plan that would put some Guantanamo Bay prisoners in frontof a new court system designed to handle so-called "national security"cases.
Naomi Klein on the Bailout Profiteers and the Multi-Trillion-Dollar Crime Scene
"The more details emerge, the clearer it becomes that Washington'shandling of the Wall Street bailout is not merely incompetent. It isborderline criminal," says Naomi Klein, author of The Shock Doctrine.
DemocracyNow! video
Obama On Economic Crisis, Transition
Also Discusses National Security, Iraq, And His Cabinet In 60 Minutes Video Interview.
16 November 2008
Surprise! The memory issues are back in Firefox
Numerous users of the latest version of the Firefox web browser(3.0.4 released yesterday) are reporting memory issues causing thebrowser to freeze up or crash. Firefox 2 was plagued with memorymanagement issues, but users had thought Mozilla had put these behindthem with Firefox 3.
More ...
For Sigalon, running an iMac, version 3 is useless - grabs all memory.
Sex, Lies, and Subprime Mortgages
BusinessWeek
The sexual favors, whistleblower intimidation, and routine fraud behindthe fiasco that has triggered the global financial crisis
Statement From G-20 Summit
Published: November 15, 2008
Following is the text of the statement from the Summit on Financial Markets and the World Economy, as released on Saturday.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
