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Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Back to School!

It's been a fairly long summer here and I am actually somewhat relieved that Dear Son has started school. Now that's he's graduated, he's moved on to the Transition Center. This is a facility that is paid for by the school district where special needs students can attend until their 22nd birthday. After high school, they can exit the school system and move into a day program or choose to remain in the school system and attend their day program. The difference between the two is funding. You pay out of pocket for the day programs and transportation; most of the time Medicaid will help fund the day programs however regarding transportation, you are on your own. For that reason, I choose the Transition Center through school. The benefit for Dear Son is that he knows all of the kids and more often than not, they have many of the same people that assisted him in high school. The Transition Center focuses on life skills. There is still an IEP (Individual Education Plan) in place and he still receives physical, occupational and speech therapy.
As for Dear Son, we met with the neurologist last week. As you are aware, Dear Son has had a rough summer in terms of seizures. I had been in contact with the doctor on/off all summer and he's been tweaking his meds. About three weeks or so ago, he made a medicine change that seemed to help however Dear Son continued to have seizures every day. One of the issues that we have is that we are getting to a point with Dear Son where they are running out of options. The neurologist increased his vagus nerve stimulator (VNS) and the battery life is now less than four years; we just had the battery replaced last year. Dear Son is on a lot of meds and he's nearly maxed out on those medications. In addition, while there is a newer seizure medicine they could try, once they use it, they won't have any options left. The neurologist instead will review Dear Son's previous levels and increase one of the meds to see if that will help his seizures. He'll follow up with me this week regarding the change.
We also discussed school. Dad was quite insistent on Dear Son attending school full time, five days a week and I told him that will probably never happen again. Dear Son struggled to attend summer school for four hours, twice a week. As a result, I asked the neurologist to speak with Dad regarding school. The neurologist explained to him that Dear Son has deteriorated significantly in the past year and that he could no longer attend school on a full time basis. The most the doctor would agree to was three half days a week. In addition, he was extremely concerned about the upcoming respiratory season where Dear Son is concerned. He explained to Dad that Dear Son almost died last fall and that we may have to keep him home to prevent him from getting sick. Dad was adament about Dear Son attending school so hopefully he understands the situation a little better.
I contacted school and they are working on the transportation for school. Initially Dear Son attended on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 8-noon however now that he will be going three days a week, I asked school if we could change the days to Monday, Wednesday and Friday so that Dear Son could have a day of rest in between. Beginning next week, he'll go to school from 8 to noon on Monday, Wednesday and Friday.
Tomorrow will be ten months since Dear Son was hospitalized for H1N1 and the viral pneumonia. As you will recall he was on a ventilator within 48 hours of contracting that and it took a long time to recover. It was months before he could attend school again and when he did it was only one day a week at first. After that hospitalization, he never moved his legs/feet and ten months later, he has never recovered that skill. In addition, he lost his ability to move his arms and hands. While he can still move his fingers, he can't move his hands so if I roll him over and his hands get bent in an odd position, they'll stay that way until I fix him. Likewise, if I move him in the hoyer lift and his hand or arm is twisted, he can't fix it unless I move it. This is just another milestone he's lost and never likely to recover.
The past ten months have been tough for him and a lot of work for me. As you know, I'll never, ever complain about taking care of Dear Son however that doesn't mean it isn't work. I don't think I've worked this hard taking care of him in all the years. While it can be tough taking care of someone 24/7, it's also one of the most rewarding jobs you could ever have. There is a certain amount of pride when you devote your life to taking excellent care of someone, especially your child. He is such a delightful young man. I call him my "happy boy". When he was a baby, he always had a smile for me in the morning. After this last medicine change, he seemed a bit better and started smiling again. I had been kind of down because he hadn't been smiling anymore and looking back, I think it was just that he didn't feel very well with all of those seizures. Now, when I change his diaper he tries to talk and says "hi". I am always amazed at how hard he works to give me a smile or to say hi. It is really something. It still makes me melt after all of these years.
The care though, is taking a lot out of me. I am tired a lot and it's a bit tougher now that I am , ahem, older, to be up all night and then up all day. I give his last meds at midnight and then start his feeding pump at 3:45 a.m. so his breakfast will be done in time to get him ready for school. In addition, it takes constant attention to detail making sure his arms, hands and feet are positioned correctly along with turning him over frequently so he doesn't get bed sores, giving meds every six hours and not getting a whole lot of sleep. I've also been giving him daily massages with organic virgin coconut oil (I use Now Foods Organic Virgin Coconut Oil; it's $9.99 for a 12 oz. glass jar at Whole Foods.) to reduce the edema in this legs and feet. The coconut oil is a great massage oil so it makes massaging his legs/feet easier. Last year the cardiologist recommended massaging his legs/feet twice a day to reduce edema. Since I've been massaging him regularly, I've been able to reduce and/or eliminate the swelling in both of his legs and his right foot. The left is always swollen and the right requires constant attention to keep the swelling under control. I feel really good that I've been able to keep the swelling down. In addition, I started using the virgin coconut oil on his pressure sore on his right ear. He had a tiny sore on his ear for almost two years and I had tried everything to get rid of it. I applied coconut oil every day and it not longer has a scab on it-it is pink most of the time and some days not visible at all. Other than that, Dear Son doesn't have any pressure sores, which is remarkable considering he is somewhat bedridden. I also have come to enjoy giving him these mini massages and it's great when I can see some results.
As for school, we are blessed. His freshman/sophomore teacher is now his teacher at the Transition Center. This woman has amazing patience and it's a pleasure to work with her again. I am sure Dear Son misses his teacher from high school since she was younger but this one is really quite nice. In addition, they have worked to make sure that they are doing everything they can to help Dear Son-he is the last pick up in the morning for the school bus and the only drop off at noon. That way, he doesn't have to ride the school bus any longer than is necessary. The doctor also asked that they notify me if any kids get sick in school, so that I can keep Dear Son home if necessary, since we need to avoid any respiratory infections. They have agreed to work with me on that. We did have some issues at summer school, which I addressed with the Director of Special Education, however they have worked all of those issues out. There is a different team in there for summer school so I am confident things will go smoothly.
Other than that, it's been a bit of a relief to get three or four hours to myself once in a while. Seven day a week care is quite a bit and I've been doing it for almost a year now. I remember last year, prior to Dear Son getting sick and I used to think it was a lot of work taking care of him 24/7 on a three day weekend when school was out, but this is quite another level. I am sorry I can't blog as much but I'll do my best.
And finally, I am pretty sure Dear Son is enjoying being back at school; I got him off the bus today and he smelled of perfume.
Note: Dear Son is eighteen years old and suffers from severe developmental delay, seizures and dystonia caused by a random mutation of the ARX gene. In addition, he has a progressive neurological disease.

Sunday, August 22, 2010

Dear Son Bed and Breakfast~The Meaning of Rituals

I have this little ritual on Sunday*, when Dear Son is at his father’s. On that day, it’s a day where I can sleep in and totally relax. I don’t have to go to bed after giving the last meds, which is at midnight; I don’t have to get up in the middle of the night to roll him over, or change the occasional diaper, or get up when he fusses and needs me. I don’t have to be up early to get the meds in (they are every six hours) or the food going (so he doesn’t get meds on an empty stomach) so I get up feeling refreshed. I usually try to enjoy the day and then do minimal housekeeping then get out with friends, do a project around the house that I’ve been wanting to do, or something like that.

Prior to doing that though, I take the time to change Dear Son’s bed linens. I normally do this a minimum of once a week anyway, but I try to make sure that everything is perfect when he gets home. That means fresh sheets on the bed, blanket and coverlet washed, bedroom dusted, supplies refilled (toileting and meds) and anything that makes it easier or nicer for him when he gets home. I scrub the bathtub because I know Dad will give him a bath when he gets home. I make sure the bathroom floors have been steam cleaned with my new steam mop. His bed, will be turned down, with the bed pads in place and fresh sheets on the bed. I do this for him, so he’ll know he is loved and well cared for, kind of like Dear Son’s Bed and Breakfast. When he comes home, I tell him how happy I am that he is home and I always mention that he has fresh sheets and have him smell them. I don’t have any clue if he can really smell them, and as a matter of fact, I use a fragrance free green laundry detergent so it probably doesn’t matter a whole lot but it makes me feel good. Dear Son sometimes gives me a big smile or at the very least, opens his eyes wide to acknowledge that he does hear me.

While I have always kept a clean house, I started this ritual a while back. Prior to that, I used to change his sheets on Monday and somehow this seems to make more sense since I have more time. But the bonus of this ritual is that I’ve come to enjoy it. Doing something for someone is nice if not nicer than doing it for yourself. While I do enjoy pampering Dear Son, such as rubbing his feet and legs with virgin coconut oil to stimulate circulation and reduce edema, I have come to view these tasks as a way to be thankful for what I have. Of course you know by now, that Dear Son is the most important thing in the world to me and how much I love and treasure that boy. But what I do is also for me. It’s a way to savor my days and time with him. Most Mom’s get to make meals for their kids. That’s something I really loved doing. Instead, I open a can or two of formula. It never feels right, it’s never felt right and it took me a very long time to get over that or at least accept it (tube feedings). I tried making liquid meals for him but it kept getting stuck in the feeding tube so I gave up. But my point is that these little rituals help me savor all of my time with him. It’s the same feeling you get when you sit down and eat a meal with a beautiful tablescape and a home cooked meal. It enhances the enjoyment of the meal. It also represents a shift in my thinking from “have to” to “love to”. I would hope it also sends a message to him that he’s important and that he’s loved. In the end, I suspect I am going to miss my little ritual after he’s gone. While it’s easy to wish we didn’t have to do all of these chores in the first place, it’s quite another to be thankful for the opportunity to make someone’s life a little nicer, a little more comfortable and to feel loved. I think at the end of the day, we all like that.
*Dear Son spends every other weekend at his father's.

Sunday, August 15, 2010

Dear Son Update

I apologize for the long delay between postings. Dear Son is having a rough summer. I haven't commented on it much but he has been having these cluster seizures since mid to late June. Essentially, he has a lot of little seizures in a row that seem relentless. Soon, he starts crying out, I come over and use his Vagus Nerve Stimulator which may or may not stop the seizure, then the process starts all over again in another minute and continues on for some fifteen minutes. It takes a reprieve and then this process repeats itself sometimes many times in a day. It is exhausting for him and exhausting for me. I have contacted Ped Neuro on/off over these past few weeks and he's tweeked some meds but we still don't have great control. Seizure control can be difficult at times because unlike most people with seizures, Dear Son was born without an gaba, a key inhibitory neurotransmitter. Dear Son had a long seizure on Wednesday that was fairly intense so I had to use Diastat (It's an emergency medication that stop seizures.). It lasted for some forty minutes total. I was fairly certain I was going to have to call the paramedics however it did eventually stop.
He had more seizures on Thursday and Friday. On Saturday, I started tracking them in the afternoon and he had a few every hour. Last night, I was up every 1-2 hours and at 4:45 a.m. he was crying out with a bad seizure. I got up, used his VNS a few times, then got his Valproic Acid. Sometimes that helps although it wasn't due until morning. After ten minutes or so the seizure was escalating pretty fast so I ended up using Diastat. I wasn't sure if I was going to have to call the paramedics or not since the seizure was pretty rough. The Diastat stopped the seizure within about 5-6 minutes though. That was the second time in a few days that I thought I might have to call the paramedics so I know that things are not very stable.
At 8:05 a.m., he had more seizures and I gave the rest of his morning meds. Hopefully, the med increase that Ped Neuro Doc made on Friday will help. Dear Son has an appointment with him next week. At that time, they mentioned a newer med that has been working well for patients that they may try.
I'll try to post when I can. At this point, I've been doing pretty much seven day a week care since last December which doesn't leave a whole lot of time for doing much else. School starts at the end of the month and for now, Dear Son will go two half days a week. I doubt he'll ever return to full days of school at this point and the half days will be stretching it.

Thursday, August 05, 2010

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text: I doubt anyone’s going to see this, but those that visit this site might notice we haven’t uploaded anything new in a while. I should point out that we won’t have anything new here for quite a while. I do have something planned though for the site, not Conroy Cat related, but related to Team Teen so if all goes well, you’ll see something here in the Q2 2016.

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January 26, 2007

Mr Sandman, Build Me A Dream - #147

You've heard of The Palm and The World - this is how they do it.

Ships pumping out millions of tonnes of sand.

Kiwi Boy said...

This goes well with your nickname, Bluey :)

Ioanna said...

It's really amazing! I can not imagine how will cost to anybody to live for 10 days in one of those houses. Is something i would like to do at least once in my life.

Gail's Man said...

I've got a photo of one of the ships blowing the sand out of a giant pipe. It's an amazing feat of engineering.

Arabized said...

why did i think of the song by metallica -Enter sandman

"Exit light
Enter night
Take my hand
Were off to never never land"

D said...

Michael said...

Excellent! I especially liked the links you included.

Mandi said...

It's amazing. Stunning photo!

teo mocchi said...

it's incredible...a new world...!


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Sunday, July 19, 2015

Why Are You Still Looking for Headlines?

If we outsource all of the intelligence, who would notice?

Life is a peach but not a pear. Nobody can fight against a full-grown pear. I only know one fictive character doing that. He survived. The pear did not.

If I'm measuring my intelligence, how long will it take for me to know what I'm measuring?

No-one can be told about the new Playboy 4. But two people who has experienced it can talk about it. Will they be talking about the page numbers or the games they play?

Always when I'm looking at the old female pictures, I think they are a bit of conservative. We should protect the new picture!

I like people who know how to answer the right questions, don't you?

It's nice to know that performance art is not dead. I just read about it, and it seems to be thriving.

You know people who hate politicians who say a lot and still so little. I wish they wouldn't talk so much.

When asked how I always make things look so easy, I say it's magic. Magicians never show their tricks. They make it look so hard.

I miss those old book clubs where you would be send books every month with a price of a yearly subscription and you would just archive them into your bookcase. Internet destroyed it.

Would you accept Groucho Marx into your club? I would just post his application to Internet, and let him deal with the after shower. I would use my own name.

Do you remember when you were kids and toys were smaller than you. Then you grew up and so did the toys. And the budgets. And the bills. And the inflation. And your kids.

I still laugh about the time during that sad Christmas when I was hoping for a cancer that would kill me fast and painlessly, and I got a Playstation 4. I still haven't finished any of the games that I have bought.

Of course every European knows that Santa Claus is from Finland, and American that he is from North Pole, and 9 percent of Christians that Jesus is from Bethlehem. I made the statistics up just to stop people mocking religions.

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Saturday, July 28, 2012

This ought to be self-evident

Alas, in the beyond-satire world in which we live, it takes The Steyn to point out the stuff of basic logic (and freedom). I fear for the future of western civ.

It’s easy to cheer on the thugs when they’re thuggish in your name. [...] It’s not about marriage, it’s not about gays, it’s about a basic understanding that a free society requires a decent respect for a wide range of opinion without penalty by the state.

Thursday, July 12, 2012

Are you busy?

A good post to read for summer: "Busyness, et cetera" over at Pundette's.

No busyness for me now. I'm on holiday. For my part, blogging will be light for the next two weeks.

Yes, I know: these pictures are old. Sue me! Just substitute any of the following titles for the Steyn book above, because I'm taking them with me to the lake:

Flannery O'Connor: Spiritual Writings (edited by Robert Ellsberg)
Led by Faith by Immaculee Ilibagiza
The Abbess of Andalusia by Lorraine V. Murray
Flannery O'Connor: The Complete Stories

and (just in case camping doesn't turn out so well this year)
The Divine Comedy 1: Hell by Dante (translated by Dorothy L. Sayers)

No, I don't intend to read them all. But I like to have something to suit every mood. And I usually have every kind of mood when I go camping in very, very hot weather.

From our way WAY beyond satire files

When Mrs. Beazly sent me this link, at first, I thought, 'YAY! Mark Steyn wrote a new book!!"
"Whoa, it's not Mark Steyn," followed by "gee, that's a lot of effort to spend on a piece of satire.'
Then I thought,
"Wow, this is serious?"
"This was written about 4 and a half years too late."
Then I thought,
"Wow; this is just really really embarrassing."

The Rev. Mark sounds like he's been drinking a bit too much of the Bozzuti juice

Wednesday, July 11, 2012

If you want to see me go absolutely ballistic

...and if you want to be subjected to a long ranting lecture, call me, or come up to me and say (in a whiny voice) "I'm bored."

The first of my July posts at MercatorNet.

Sorely tempted

to give in to Amazon's exhortation to "Get Yourself a Little Something." Except from my budgetary perspective, this is hardly a 'little' something. But, as my 3-year-old once said when gazing at a toy mermaid in a store: "All my life, I've longed for one of these."

I've seen this machine priced at close to $700 in some swanky kitchen shops. On Amazon it's usually $549 and now it's $120 off.

So shiny

Oh, if only I lived in the U.S.! I could swing this as a preventive health care expense and somehow get the taxpayers to pick up the tab! (I want the pasta attachment too, and a grain grinder, so I can start making whole wheat pasta for my family, which of course is much healthier than white...)

Alternately, I could be like some bloggers and beg our readers to buy me stuff. Except that my two sisters and one brother who read DOH probably don't have the extra cash either.

Alternately, my birthday is coming up within a few weeks. Calling all daughters...

LOL and I really mean it.

I consider a piece of writing funny if it makes me laugh out loud--once. And that's not easy to do. When I read this, I lost count of the LOL moments, somewhere around 8. He is (she said under her breath) almost funnier than Mark Steyn.

"Paint-by-Number Hymns" by one Anthony Esolen. He should keep his day job (English prof) but also look into doing church stand up comedy. I am so going to look into his other writing.

And I am so jealous that I didn't write this. (Indeed couldn't write it if I tried.)

Tuesday, July 10, 2012

Like a kid in a candy store

is how I feel when I get to read about Pope Benedict XVI and Flannery O'Connor in the same article.

Damian J. Ference, at the wonderful site, Dappled Things. Enjoy.

[B]oth O’Connor and Benedict write for a similar audience, an audience that for the most part, thinks that Christian belief is absurd.

Being an admirer of both writers, it has struck me that there is a deep connection between them, that as Catholic Christians, Flannery O’Connor and Benedict XVI both ground not only their work, but their very lives, in belief in the Incarnation, and that both O’Connor and Benedict are unapologetic in working to bring their readers to a fuller understanding of and appreciation for the specifi city of the person of Jesus Christ.
But Damian, you need not be "struck" by this. That is how Catholicism works.

Mybad: Mrs. B sent me the link for this article, and I was remiss in not mentioning that.

Your daily irony supplement

While working on a post for MercatorNet, I googled Helen Reddy's 1970s hit "I am Woman." In the sidebar, up pops an ad for "Asian girls for Dating: Beautiful Chinese ladies seek men for love and marriage."

And of course it's not just Chinese ladies, but ladies of nearly every stripe, creed, temperament and denomination. Most of us still wanna find a good man and settle down for life. You can't change human nature, not even if you are invincible. Sorry, Helen.

Monday, July 9, 2012

Do you want to be Queen of the Beach?

Gawrsh, how I love vintage ads...  "Let's vamoose," indeed.

But "ironized yeast" doesn't sound very appealing, dear. You can get the same results with chocolate cheesecake. "I feel swell," will take on a whole new meaning.

And some things never change. Sorry, dude, it's still true: a skinny man hasn't a chance.

See the entire slide show (alas, just eight ads) here.  And I agree with one of the comments protesting the idiocy of the Yahoo headline, re: when women wanted to be "fat." These gals are not fat, just curvy. There's a difference.

Friday, July 6, 2012

Oh, and before even more time elapses

Welcome to our 18th follower. In your honour, one of the most bizarre yet funny Avett videos I have ever seen. Happy Friday.

Thursday, July 5, 2012

Check, check and check

1) contemptible

2) cultish

3) helping to kill feminism

I'm most proud of number three. In praise of stay home moms. Christopher Orlet, American Spectator.

h/t Pundette

Deliver us

The other day we were praying our morning devotions in the family room, where the aftermath of the previous evening's birthday revelry still sprawled in all its glory (see below). Instead of concentrating on the prayers, I was staring straight at the bag of Aero candy on the fireplace hearth. Concluding the Lord's prayer, I caught myself before saying aloud, "...deliver us from Aero."

Considering how much weight I'm trying to lose right now, and how much chocolate I ate the night of the party, I guess it was pretty much a Freudian slip. A bubbly orange, chocolate-coated Freudian slip.

Tuesday, July 3, 2012

What light by yonder winder shines?

Rest in Peace, Andy. You gave us many laughs over the years. Here's one of my favourites (Shakespeare will never be the same again).

I want this

If only I had some wall space in my kitchen.

Found with many other cool vintage posters here

Sorry for the non-blogging. Still very backlogged with other writing deadlines, but at least our household is back on wireless.


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Show just clowns around
Nov 30, 2013 | 2300 views | 0 0 comments | 215 215 recommendations | email to a friend | print
Bob Berky
Bob Berky
PUTNEY- Kingdom County Productions and Marlboro College will present acclaimed clown Bob Berky in “A Feast of Fools,” at 2 pm, Sunday, December 8, at Next Stage Arts.

Berky is funny. He might speak through a kazoo, mime a hell-bent ride on a motorcycle, or amble around the stage in camouflage and goggles to spy on birds. Or maybe he’ll get tangled up in pushed buttons, pulled switches, and mis-connected wires in a loopy battle of man vs. machine.

Berky’s antics are infectious, impertinent, and lots of fun. He has performed at major theaters in London, Paris, Sydney, Belfast, Amsterdam, Hong Kong, Edinburgh, Buenos Aires, and Montreal. In New York, he has played Lincoln Center and the Brooklyn Academy of Music’s Next Wave Festival. He has also performed at the Kennedy Center and the Smithsonian, directed movement and clowning for Joe Papp’s New York Shakespeare Festival production of “Twelfth Night,” and worked as movement coach for performers including Gregory Hines, Jeff Goldblum, and Michelle Pfeiffer.

He also performed with Eric Bass in Sandglass Theater’s production of “Richard III.”

The New York Times compares Berky to French comic Jacques Tati and Monty Python originator John Cleese. The Washington Post calls Berky “A great clown.”

The show is appropriate for all ages. Tickets are available by calling (802) 748-2600 or (888) 757-5559. Online sales are available at

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We encourage civil discourse among readers, and ask that they be willing to stand behind their identities and their comments. No personal harassment or hate speech will be tolerated. Please be succinct and to the point. For longer comments, please consider submitting a letter to the editor instead. It will appear in both the print and online editions.

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Company News: Page (1) of 1 - 06/23/14 Email this story to a friend. email article Print this page (Article printing at page facebook Debuts eXact iDip, the Industry's Most Affordable Smartphone-Connected Digital Water Tester, the "Water Store", has today announced the debut of eXact iDip for accurate, affordable drinking water and pool water testing (June 23, 2014)

SOUTHAMPTON, Pa., June 23, 2014 /PRNewswire/ has built a reputation for providing highly accurate water testing and filtration products and is a member of the Water Quality Association, earning the "Water Store" nickname. The company's new eXact iDip fits perfectly within that reputation and provides accurate results, as well as innovative functionality.

Photo -

Photo -

"The water quality revolution is here and the iDip is an integral part of it," says Alex Lysov, VP of "Everyone should have one at home or at work to ensure they know what's in the water they're drinking."

The eXact iDip breaks the bounds of conventional water testers, and even previous digital water tester technology by pairing industry-leading technology with smartphone connectivity and a free app (currently available for iPhone users; Android development is in progress).

"This water tester puts extremely sophisticated, accurate water testing technology in the hands of the average home or pool owner, allowing them to ensure their water is of high quality," Lysov explained.

The eXact iDip is a photometer that communicates directly with the eXact iDip app, available free through Apple's App Store. A few drops of water are all that's necessary to start the testing process. Once water has been added to the iDip (pool water, drinking water, etc.), data is sent to the app. Water test strips can be inserted directly into the iDip device, and that information is communicated to the smartphone app. All data can be stored on a smartphone, along with the test date and time for later access, allowing users to track water quality over time, which has significant implications for pool companies and other businesses.

The photometer software can also be updated as new features and capabilities are developed, providing a water testing solution that will remain viable for years to come, combined with one of the lowest price points for a digital water tester.

To learn more about, eXact iDip or the company's other high-quality water testing and filtration products, visit

About offers a full range of residential and light commercial water filtration and water testing equipment for homes and businesses. All products are either NSF International certified, or use NSF-certified components. is committed to ensuring water purity and health for everyone.

Contact: Alex Lysov

Phone: 800-439-0263

Web Address:

Copyright 2014 PR Newswire. All Rights Reserved

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Related Keywords:Home, Digital Media Software, Communications, Digital Audio, Smart Phone, iPhone, iPods, iphone, Office Equipment, Mac, Android, OS9, OSX, Apple Computer, Other,

Our Privacy Policy --- @ Copyright, 2015 Digital Media Online, All Rights Reserved


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Monday, November 03, 2008

Flash: Haitian AIDS Patients Need Food

There is a website called PlusNews. This website is a global advocate for AIDS/HIV patients.

See this article and this article.

Isn't it incredible that we can supply certain AIDS patients in Haiti with antiretroviral medication but they don't have enough food to eat?

1 comment:

Sabrina Sanon said...

i caint believe how egoist some people can be.. we have to help each other we r all humain we all have a saoul. but it seems like some people dont have no hearts. i give clothes to children in haiti and im in the procecus of doing even more.. just put urself in their place.. look a that kids eyes begging u for help.. telling us hes hopeless without the help of others


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Friday, August 21, 2009

about:turning the season

we're off for a week to hunt down the summer that left us in a puddle of rain water. i've got the sun hat... and i'm working on my - uhm - err - what?!?!
... a needlebinding hat for charlotte. i might be 'interesting', but i'm not crazy! see you in a weeks time, with 'about: raising the dead'!

Thursday, August 20, 2009

hilarious, but scary

in these health hysteria times...
i came across this in the news a couple of days ago:

the us newspaper investor's business daily has declared that the world renowned theoretical physicist stephen hawking, who suffers from ALS, would be dead if he was british and under british health care system.
they kind of missed the fact that he is british - and still very much alive.

Wednesday, August 19, 2009

forgotten post from earlier this summer. or should i say; forgotten post from the summer. now it's been raining for a month and fall is already here. we're planning to do something about that, though.
digging for earthnuts. on our first 'date' (we don't really 'date' in norway), my husband and i went for a mountain hike and he showed me how to find earthnuts in this very field.
we took our kids back to the lake we used to live nearby when our son was born. i don't think i've ever walked around this lake without at least one of our two dogs accompanying, and our cat following behind us. it was a bit sentimental to be there, since they're all dead from old age now. we plan to do something about that, too.
hm, raise the dead, turn the season?
to be continued....

Sunday, August 16, 2009

viking summer, part 7: stalheim/the royal mail road

just below the stalheim path lies a beautiful piece of the old royal mail road between oslo and bergen. water fall, mist, steep green mountain sides and ice cold river.
(oh, and just in case you didn't get it: the you tube clip is ironic, and the accent is on purpose. and this will be my last viking post) :)

Saturday, August 15, 2009

this is norway

maybe this won't be as funny for the non norwegians of you, but still... i just had to share it :)

Thursday, August 13, 2009

viking summer, part 6: stalheim

just a little outside of gudvangen there is this spectacular place: stalheimskleiva.
at the top of this extremely steep path there is a folk museum (above), and a big hotel. the hotel was first built as a prolongation (right word?) of a small inn. the inn was a stop on the royal mail road between bergen and oslo, and was in turn a prolongation of a farmhouse. the mail road was opened in 1647, the inn was built in 1750, and the first hotel was built in 1885. then it burned. 3 times. the photo below shows the third and, in my opinion, the most beautiful of the four hotels.
skiing activities during winter
biking was a popular sport in the 1800's. some time in 1889 these guys were out exercising. impressive. but the most impressive fact? well, look at them; they got there wearing suits.

Monday, August 10, 2009

Saturday, August 8, 2009

i met the multi talented helene in gudvangen, and she taught me how to make holes for thumbs in my needlebound wristwarmers (make sure to check out helenes incredibly beautiful printed sheepskins here). so now i can finally make those long (and sometimes quite ladylike looking) warmers. these are made with yarn dyed with cochineal, a small louse originally from mexico. that's right; this kind of dried up lice makes red and purple colours!
i didn't get one single good shot of our stall at the market, but i just have to show you my bottles of elderflower syrup - homemade label and all, but i thought it looked quite pro!

Thursday, August 6, 2009

when my grandmother died a couple of years ago, i chose some of her old breakfast plates to keep. i like retro plates, and i used them a lot. but this particular plate broke (a triangular piece down to the left, see it?) i tried to glue it, but it broke off again. still, i wouldn't throw it away. then i remembered having seen this norwegian blog and webshop of a woman who makes jewellery out of broken ceramics. it was perfect; someone else could use it and i didn't have to throw it out. i contacted her and sent the plate off in the mail (and i didn't even have to worry about it breaking during transport, ha).
this was a couple of months ago. yesterday, a small package was in my mailbox.
she had made a pendant for me out of the plate, as a thank you gift. isn't that wonderful?? imagine; an old, broken plate. from my grandmother's kitchen.
thank you, mimmi!

Wednesday, August 5, 2009

viking summer, part 4: craft

this year, i sold every piece of childrens linen clothing i had brought. i sold wristwarmers made in the needle binding technique, using plant dyed yarn. i sold every bottle of homemade elderflower syrup i had made, and the first day i even persuaded my kids to walk around the marketplace and sell pre made elderflower lemonade in small glasses. it was a hit. i also sold several of my felted pouches. new this year was hand stitched, embroidered linen napkins like the ones you see in the above pictures. the motives are bronze age rock carvings, embroidered with plant dyed linen thread.
my friend, the bone carver
from around the market:
we both came home with one of these each.
salt smoked with juniper.
leather work

needle binding - hats, wristwarmers, socks. needle binding was the technique used before knitting and crochet was invented. even though i would say it's almost impossible to learn without having anoyone to show you, randi - a norwegian woman living in the u.s. - proved me wrong. she visited gudvangen last summer, was intrigued by the technique, and when she came back this year she told us that she had tought herself from various tutorials on the internet. i'm impressed!

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Friday, October 30, 2009

no knead bread - revisted

I haven't talked about no-knead bread in a while, so I figured it was time to revisit this tasty treat. For those who don't think bread making is within their abilities, I can't stress how wrong you are. I'd be more than willing to believe you can't draw, before I believe you couldn't bake bread.

A very simple process, you combine 3 cups of flour with 1 1/2 cups of water, 1/4 tsp of instant yeast, and 3/4 tablespoon of kosher salt. You stir this concoction together until everything is combined, before covering the bowl and letting it rest overnight. Just use plastic cling film to cover the bowl, and by overnight I mean 12-18 hours. Be prepared for the amazing yeast to do it's thing, because soon enough that shaggy dough will look like this!

Pull the dough out from your container, and give it a few folds. At this point, I always stick mine in a parchment lined pot, and sprinkle on a topping. Everything from whole sesame seeds, crushed sesame seeds, poppy seeds, cornmeal, and even flour. Cover again for 2 hours.

Bake the bread in a covered, 450 degree oven proof container for 30 minutes. Remove the lid and continue baking for another 20 minutes. Remove and cool for about an hour before you attack it with your bread knife. See, simple wasn't it...and oh so delicious!

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Thursday, October 29, 2009

opm asian bistro and lounge - edmonton, ab

opm asian bistro and lounge
1820 99 St NW

After two trips to my local immunization center, and spending what seemed like an entire day in line, I was finally ready to take a H1N1 vaccination in the arm. After wards, with some in the group feeling a little worse off, we headed in search of food. A quick discussion took place before OPM was suggested and we soon jumped in our cars and headed south.

Situated, in the middle of South Edmonton Common, OPM falls between an Earls and Montana's. So while it has the Asian cuisine on lock-down among it's immediate neighbours, you can easily walk a few blocks and find everything from sushi (Mikado) to steaks (The Keg) to family (Ricky's) dinning. With an upscale interior, OPM definitely gives off a trendy Asian personality. This is not your parent's Chinese take-out joint, if that makes sense. The slogan, Fresh Dining From Ancient Places, along with the name, give you a clue to the cuisine, while the menu confirms the dishes come from China, Thailand, and Japan.

With only one person at the table drinking beer, OPM's house offering China White (dark wheat ale), it was a quick round of waters while we looked over the menu. Regarding the beer menu, I was really happy to see 3 local offerings. 2 from Amber's brewing and 1 from Alley Kat. With not a lot of local brews available, OPM gets a thumbs up for including these choices along side it's regulars like Kokanee and Keith's.

The dishes will arrive to your table when they are cooked, which means you may have some down time between plates. First to the table was Lemon Scallops & Prawns. Apparently wok fired with vegetables in a tangy citrus sauce, this dish tasted like lemon pie filling. That's right, a few bites of this and I found it over whelming sweet and lemony. All I needed was a dollop of meringue. Terrible dish.

The remaining two dishes arrived together (7 or 8 minutes after the first), OPM Spicy Chicken and Coconut Yellow Curry Prawns. First up the spicy chicken, which is billed as the hottest dish on the menu. Unfortunately, it didn't live up to the hype. Sure there was some heat trapped inside the red chilies, but the chicken itself seemed to have a sweet (brown sugar?) BBQ sauce flavour. The chicken was juicy and the mixed vegetables were solid, so the dish as a whole was decent enough.

The curry prawns came swimming in enough sauce to drown a gnome. The shrimp were cooked nicely and the dish worked well. Probably my favorite of the three, it didn't have any heat but was well balanced with 'Thai' flavours. Good thing a few bowls of plain rice were delivered to the table or we would have needed straws to fully utilize the sauce.

Based on one previous visit, and the above three dishes, I don't think I'll go out of my way to come back. Nothing jumped out at anyone of us in the group, yet talking with my father, who eats here regularly, it's the appetizers that shine. Oddly enough his favorite (yam fries and rock shrimp) were not on the menu. At least our hunger cravings were curbed after the long day in line, and we were able to relax and enjoy the company.

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Wednesday, October 28, 2009

the week that was and is - october 27th 2009

Howdy everybody! Get up to anything exciting this week? The biggest adventure of the week for myself was getting my H1N1 vaccination. After stopping by twice on Monday, I finally decided to bite the bullet and stick it out. Probably 3 hours in total, the lineups were crazy with hundreds and hundreds of people. Is this what standing in line at Disney Land is like?

  • Hopefully you are following along with the east coast food tour, care of the crew at foodosophy. Our country is so big, that at times, it's easy to forget how different dining can be. Plus, lobster at McDonald's is just plain rad.
  • With pumpkin carving just around the corner, why not consider adding pumpkin to your meals. Closet Cooking has a list of 10 delicious sounding recipes to try.
  • Rats fed unlimited junk food show behaviors similar to those addicted to heroin. "This is the most complete evidence to date that suggests obesity and drug addiction have common neurobiological underpinnings"
  • It must be McDonald's week in the news, because I found that some regions are getting the McRib back. Never a fan, I'm surprised at the almost cult-like following of this offering.
  • With over 70 percent of it's 70,000 plus work force overweight, Mexico City is cracking down and putting some officers on a diet.
  • "There shall be no cupcakes. No chocolate cake and no carrot cake. According to New York City’s latest regulations, not even zucchini bread makes the cut.In an effort to limit how much sugar and fat students put in their bellies at school, the Education Department has effectively banned most bake sales, the lucrative if not quite healthy fund-raising tool for generations of teams and clubs." As a baker, this makes me sad, but I understand their reasoning.

  • I dined at Ric's Grill this past Saturday. Unfortunately, a last minute change of drivers meant I left my camera in my car and didn't get any photo's. It's been a long time since I've visited a Ric's Grill, and I must say it wasn't as impressive as I wanted it to be. Service was bland, and my attempts at interacting with the staff seemed to be fluffed away. The bread basket was nothing special, just your average warm white bread (we didn't accept any offers for more). As the only person (out of 4) to not order a beef plate, I was disappointed to find my spinach salmon salad arrived with an overcooked piece of fish. And as someone who orders dressing on the side, I couldn't help but wonder how they would have tossed the delicate greens because the dressing had the consistency of paste. The starter salads, Greek and Cesar, were good and arrived on gargantuan plates (any reason for this). The steaks were deemed a success, as were the garlic mash potatoes. The seasonal vegetables seemed a little off, with everyone commenting on the very sub par piece of corn on the cob. The only dessert ordered was banana chocolate cheesecake which my fellow diners felt had a fake banana flavour. With our dishes bringing the bill close to 200 bones, it was a nice treat, but not great enough to bring me back any time soon.
  • I've been stopping by Transcend Coffee more than usual lately, and I'm not being seduced by the customer service skills these days. I realize they offer a premium product, but on my last visit, I overheard a customer (and the barista) basically talking smack about two americano's (my order). It's one thing to live in the upper coffee echelon, but without a turnaround in attitude I'll stick with my friendly, and local, Starbucks.
  • Last but certainly not least. Culina Highlands, has been labeled by enRoute Magazine as one of the top 10 new restaurants in Canada. Congrats.

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Tuesday, October 27, 2009

chocolate chip squash bread

Finally, I can clean out my containers of squash puree. With just under 15 ounces left, the amount found in a store bough container, I decided to try yet another quick bread. This time, I included chocolate chips for that extra bit of gooey goodness.

The end result was good. Surprisingly, even with a cup and a half of sugar, it wasn't extremely sweet. Better than a recent store bought sample, I thought it also had quite the rustic look for a quick bread. If I baked this again, I would leave out the chips and maybe add nuts instead.

The List:
15ozs pureed pumpkin
1 1/2 cup dark brown sugar
1/2 cup butter (room temp)
3 eggs
3 cups all-purpose unbleached flour
2 tablespoons baking powder
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
2 cups chocolate chips

Cream the butter and sugar together before adding in the rest of the wet ingredients. Sift the dry ingredients together and mix until you see little specks of flour left. Remember, this is quick bread, so we don't to over work the batter. Finally fold in the chips and scoop everything into a 9x5 inch loaf pan. Bake in a 350 degree oven for about an hour, or until a tooth pick is clean when inserted.

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Monday, October 26, 2009

pumpkin milkshake

OK, so not exactly pumpkin, this milkshake helped to use up yet another portion of my huge supply of squash puree. So I guess you could call it a squash milkshake, but that isn't nearly as sexy and it might deter some folks. Don't let it though, stay the course!

I picked up the inspiration for this treat over at Closet Cooking where a pumpkin milkshake was recently featured. I was, however, lacking frozen yogurt, cloves, and gingersnap cookies so I made some alterations. Damn tasty if I do say so myself, it really does give you an autumn sensation....although one lucky recipient said it reminded them of Christmas.

The List:
2 cups vanilla ice cream
1/4 cup milk
1/3 cup squash puree
1/4 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ginger
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1 tablespoon crumbled graham cracker

Blend everything together until the right consistency, adding more milk if needed. Insert a straw, sprinkle a little garnish, and enjoy.

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Sunday, October 25, 2009

pain a l'ancienne - bread baker's apprentice challenege #21

Pain a l'Ancienne...where to begin. Bread 21, in the bread baker's challenge, are these baguette shaped goodies. Not a straight forward creation, this recipe is going to take you two days to create. Don't feel too overwhelmed though, it's not rocket science.. It may however, as Peter says, have you facing the words "Unknown Kingdoms Be Here."

Why would you be facing the unknown you ask. In two words, cold water. Describing a process that has tremendous implications for the baking industry and for both professional and home bakers, this 'unique' delayed fermentation process, based on ice-cold water, releases all those flavours trapped inside flour in a different manner.

Even with all this fancy smancy talk, it boils down to this. Using the cold water will allow the flour itself to break down and release sugars that wouldn't normally be available at the start, if you mixed in warm water. These additional sugars will add a natural sweetness and help to caramelize the crust during baking.

This dough has a high level of hydration and as such, isn't that easy to handle. Being so wet and floppy, it sticks to your hands and arm hair (if you are like me). Once you are done mixing everything, it goes straight into the fridge over night.

The bread finally starts the rising period on day two, where it will need 3 or 4 hours to come out of hibernation and double in size. At this point, you'll need to heavily flour your counter or board, and start the shaping process.

With your dough prepped, and your oven ready for hearth baking, it just a matter of waiting 20-30 minutes for everything to come out.

How did it taste? Really good. Even with these being fairly tiny loaves, they had developed decent pockets of air.

Absolutely delicious straight from the oven, I downed an entire baguette with a bowl of homemade chili.

The next day brought a different texture to the bread, and created a chewier crust. Which just so happened to go wonderfully with tuna salad. What was I so worried about..maybe it's in the names. Pain de Champagne is next, and it almost 'sounds' as intimidating!

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Friday, October 23, 2009

pantry chili

Sure you can eat a hearty bowl anytime of the year, but it seems to make more sense when the weather starts to go south. This little cooking adventure virtually materialized out of nowhere. While I was cleaning out the vegetable crisper this week, the homestead was gifted 8lbs of ground beef. It seems the very kind meat-donor, had recently purchased a side of organic Alberta beef and didn't realize how much product they would actually be receiving. So, combining the homesteads new found stash of beef with a cleaned out crisper, I set out to make chili.

With the beef basically appearing out of the nowhere, this chili was a random free for all. I browned off 2 pounds of beef, with onions and garlic, while chopping vegetables and opening cans. Eventually both my recycling bin and slow cooker were filled to the brim. Opting for the fastest route, I switched the cooker to high and patiently wait 4 hours to fill my belly. For such a gong show creation, I was actually quite impressed by the final product. Needing to keep the heat to a bare minimum for the heat-allergic homesteader, I didn't sink too deep in the spice cupboard, but fixed this after wards with a generous sprinkle of chili flakes. I almost wish I had more vegetables in the crisper, as I could have easily added another zucchini, some mushrooms, or even shredded carrots. At least I had freshly baked Pain a l'Ancienne to accompany everything.

Pantry Chili
2lbs organic beef
2 19oz cans of mixed medley beans
1 19oz can of dark red kidney beans
2 28oz can whole tomatoes
1 14oz can of hot and spicy diced tomatoes
2 8oz cans of hot and spicy pizza sauce
4 or 5 tbls of chili powder
1 tsp of basil
1 tsp of Italian seasoning
1 tsp cayenne
1 can of corn
1 zucchini
1 green pepper
1 sweet onion
4 cloves of garlic minced
1 cinnamon stick

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Thursday, October 22, 2009

buttercup squash bread

So, truth be told, I've been eaten a good portion of my roasted squash. All I do is heat it up, add some fresh cracked pepper and it's delicious. The crazy thing though, is that even with the cupcakes I made, I still have a pile of puree to use up. So with the homesteaders big fans of banana breads, I figured a pumpkin bread would fit in nicely.

Where the cupcakes used 'pumpkin pie' spice, I decided to go at it with the original spices themselves, allowing me to create my own ratio. The bread itself is great. Perfectly moist, with that great quick bread texture. If I make this again, I'll definitely add more spice to really give you that autumn flavour kick and sub some of the oil out for apple sauce (which I was out of).

Squash Quick Bread

1 cup vegetable oil
3 eggs
15ozs squash puree
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup white sugar
1 cup brown sugar
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp ground nutmeg
1 tsp ground allspice
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease your 10 inch bundt pan. Cream oil, beaten eggs, squash (pumpkin) and vanilla together. Combine the flour, sugar, baking soda, ground nutmeg, ground allspice, ground cinnamon, ground cloves and salt together. Add the dry mixture to the wet mixture and mix until just combined. Pour batter into the prepared pan.

Bake for 1 hour or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Let cake cool in pan for 5-10 minutes before removing to wire rack.

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Wednesday, October 21, 2009

the week that was and is - food on tv

So normally on Wednesday, I fill this post with a few lines about interesting and/or local stories. Today, I wanted to chat about food related television. The topic has been milling around in my head for some time, and with some recent inspiration, I figured it was as good a time as ever.

First off, I think it would be safe enough to say that Food Network Canada controls a huge portion of the market here in Canada. Which, really, should come as no surprise. Being the only 24/7 channel dedicated to food, it would be pretty tough to top. However, in saying that, there is definitely more. Maybe not as obvious or readily available, but it's there. Take for example;

KCTS 9 (PBS) which is broadcast out of Seattle, Washington and provides a wide range of food related programming. While you will come across the occasional food related show during the week, the weekend is where food takes over. Anywhere from 4-8 hours of programming, including Julia and Jacques Cooking at Home, Primal Grill with Steven Raichlen, Joanne Weir's Cooking Class, Lidia's Italy, Chefs A' Field, America's Test Kitchen, Cook's Country, Gourmet's Diary of a Foodie, and KCTS's very own KCTS Cooks. While very few of these shows are as flashy as their mainstream siblings, the shows are very educational and to the point. Primal Grill, for example, does a wonderful job of showing how real BBQ is done south of the border. America's Test Kitchen is extremely informative, covering everything from recipes to cookware, and it's pretty difficult not to be impressed by Julia Child. Her humor alone is worth a few minutes of your time.

Travel Channel, which unfortunately for many is a specialty channel, also offers something for the foodie. In fact, I think they have 3 of the best food shows around; Adam Richman's Man V Food, No Reservations With Anthony Bourdain, and Bizarre World with Andrew Zimmern. None of these shows follow your classic structure, or for that matter, help you create the perfect dish. Instead they use food as the stepping stone to great entertainment. Adam Richman works his way around the US, in search of food challenges. While he gets stoned by most foodies on the internet, I find it very entertaining. Not only does he promote a city, helping to uncover some very cool gems, he takes on some intense challenges. From a 72oz steak to 6 of the hottest wings in the world, Adam isn't (IMO) promoting unhealthy eating, just good food entertainment. Anthony Bourdain, who I find fantastic in his own right, travels around the world, learning, discovering, and eating. While any number of chefs could film a similar show, it's Tony's down to earth, sarcastic, and witty personality that sucks in the viewer. Andrew Zimmern is currently filming his first season of Bizarre World after 5 seasons of Bizzare Foods. As someone who based his show around eating life's oddities, I'm glad Andrew Zimmern is developing a new niche on Travel Channel. Bizarre World takes his original concept one step further, allowing him to interact with the locals to discover both the food and what makes each region interesting.

One thing I also think Travel Channel does extremely well, is promotion. Having participated in their live chats, including a recent one with Andrew Zimmern, I can honestly say how great it feels as a fan. These live chats are actually quite relaxed, well moderated, and the fan questions cover almost all topics. What foodie wouldn't want to ask Anthony Bourdain a question? Even if you hate him. As well, Travel Channel has developed widgets for the blog world, allowing you to bring updates/new show information right to your desktop every week. On top of all of that, Twitter. Now I know that twitter isn't everyone's cup of tea (much like Facebook), but I quite enjoy reading actual, down to earth updates. No, that isn't some lackey in the offices updating for Adam Richman, it's him.

And finally what about those Canadian gems. You know what I'm talking about; Wok with Yan, What's for Dinner?, The Inn Chef, The Great Canadian Food Show, The Urban Peasant, Cooking for Love, Anna and Kristina's Grocery Bag. Sure plenty of these shows are over and done with, yet many still show up somewhere on the TV dial. I, for one, loved Wok with Yan back in the day. Those aprons (You Are Wok You Eat, Wok Goes up Must Come Down, Wok's New, Pussycat?, Wokkey Night in Canada) were EPIC and his personality was so wonderfully over the top. Mary Jo Eustace and Ken Kostick have been around for what also seems like forever. Their playful banter is oddly entertaining, and I think they have the ability to show how much fun cooking can be. I've seen my fair share of friends and couples who struggle to cook with each other, so maybe a few lessons from Mary Jo and Ken would be handy. While Carlo Rota isn't nearly as exciting in real life, compared to his role in 24, he does a good job of eating his way around our country. Anna and Kristina are another team that have created a perfect niche, testing and reviewing cookbooks. As amateur chefs, cooking for a professional chef, they work 5-8 recipes from a given cookbook. Heck, they even tried to conquer the El Bulli cookbook, something I wouldn't dream of.

Which brings me to something I mentioned in last week's update;

Scripps Networks Interactive Inc. said it plans to launch a cooking-focused TV channel next year, the company's chief executive, Ken Lowe, said in an interview Thursday.

The new Cooking Channel will be a 24-hour network that caters to avid food lovers by focusing on food information and instructional cooking programming. Offered in both standard and high definition, the new network will launch with a VOD offering and a fully interactive Internet and broadband platform as it delivers more content focused on baking, ethnic cuisine, wine and spirits, healthy and vegetarian cooking and kids’ foods.
Even with food occupying such a large market, I wonder if we can support another entry into the food arena. My concern isn't about filling the time spots, it's about how they are going to find quality hosts and themes. With Food Network already creating competitions to find the next big thing, and plenty of boring shows, will another food channel just be leftovers? Is Food Network prepared for battle? Will this be better for all of us? Who knows.

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Tuesday, October 20, 2009

butter cup squash muffins

With a giant bowl of squash puree in the fridge, I started looking for recipes that required pumpkin puree. Not that pre-made pumpkin pie puree, just straight up pumpkin puree. I remembered reading about pumpkin muffins at Baking Bites, so I went looking for the recipe. I decided after tracking down the recipe, these babies have to be good, there called Impossible Pumpkin Pie Cupcakes.

Maybe I'm out to lunch but I don't think I was aware of the "impossible" style recipe that Baking Bites mentions;

This cupcake recipe is based on an impossible pie recipe. Impossible pie is a concept that is a popular “back of the box” recipe for baking mixes, like bisquick. These “pies” have a little bit of flour in their mix that turns into a firm, crust-like outer layer around the filling.

So there you have it, this style of recipe is supposed to stay soft in the center while forming it's own crust. Crazy! This was an awesome first puree recipe. Simple and straight forward, it allowed me to see if my puree had too much moisture in it. The cupcakes fell in the center, just as mentioned, and really did give that mini pumpkin pie experience. I've been keeping them in a fridge so they stay cold (pumpkin pie is soooo good cold), and topping them with a bit of whip cream. Yum yum!

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Monday, October 19, 2009

roasted buttercup puree and seeds

I'm not going to deny it any longer; there is a small army of buttercup squash in my basement and they must be dealt with. How you ask, well first I'm going to cut them all in half, that's right all of them! Then I'm going to pull out every baking sheet I can find and fill them with squash. Cut side down of course. Now like the evil food captain I am, I'm going to ship my army of squash off to oven land (350 degrees) and wait until they come back from their mission, soft and delicious. After which, I'll scoop out their insides and pulse, mash, and whip everything into a light, smooth pile. Muhahahahaha.

As you can see, just like most of us, they love their time in the heat!

I decided last minute to keep some of the seeds and roast them off as well. There are a million ways to go about this; some people suggest air drying the seeds for one or two days before baking, while others suggest a soak in heavily salted water for that same time. Instead of just soaking, some people boil the heck out of their seeds in salted water, while others are using the microwave...strange indeed. I've always just let the seeds dry up a bit naturally, but feeling the need for change I took the plunge and decided to dry-fry them in a skillet. The tough part is getting all the squash goo away from the seeds. Seriously, it took me almost an hour to clean, de-goo and prepare my seeds.

Keeping things relatively simple, all I did was toss the pile of seeds with oilve oil and kosher salt. Into the oven at 325 degrees I kept checking every 5 minutes, giving the pan a shake and flip. It was about 25 minutes in when I decided to pull them. Of course, I then burnt my lip trying to sample the scalding hot seeds. Silly me, I know. But oh so delicious.

Compared with actual pumpkin seeds, I didn't pick up any major difference. If anything, using olive oil was the most notable one as it changed the flavour profile a bit. I'm pretty sure I've used neutral oils in the past. These puppies are addictive, but even better like roasting nuts, you can toss them in whatever you like. Curry power, cumin, chili powder. Experiment a little and I bet you find something so surprisingly good, you will never want to tell anyone your secret.

Enough of the squash seeds though. It's time to bake!

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Sunday, October 18, 2009

boston pizza millwoods - edmonton, ab

boston pizza millwoods
5228 23rd Avenue

Foreward - I'm not a fan of Boston Pizza. It's always left a bad taste in my mouth. From the service to the food and everything in between. From Grand Prairie to Medicine Hat, Rocky Mountain House to Cold Lake, my experiences have always been sub par. The only good experience I've had was in the US version of Boston Pizza, (Boston's) in Great Falls, Montana.

With that said, last night I was invited to Boston Pizza in Millwoods for supper. As I'd already enjoyed dinner, I thought I would meet up and maybe have something light while enjoying the company. Arriving sometime around 6:30, the restaurant was full with the wait-line reaching the outer doors. Having a peek into the lounge yielded the same result, but just as we turned to leave we noticed 3 free stools at the bar and decided to hop on. Being that it was a Saturday night in October, it almost goes without saying that every TV in the lounge was showing Hockey Night in Canada. A very wings and beer crowd was occupying this side of the restaurant.

My fellow diners decided on their meals and we asked for a round of calamari to nibble on. The strangest thing about calamari to me, is how often it's cooked incorrectly. I find more often than not, it comes to you on the chewy side so I didn't really have high hopes. Strangely enough, it wasn't rubbery at all. I should say though, I think this had to do with the calamari being so thin. If the breading wasn't so thick, I'm pretty sure you could have use these guys for a window. There was a plus side to this though. After the paper thin pieces were fried, they ended up so crispy and delicious. It reminded me of fried pig skin..which if you haven't had, is quite addictive. We all agreed that we must have been given a funny scoop of tzatziki, because our little dish tasty like sour cream.

While we were chatting about the calamari, the two entrees arrived. Zorba the Greek pizza for the one and Ginger Citrus Chicken Salad for the other. Can anyone explain to me, why every salad comes with garlic toast? Do people commonly do this at home?

Both dishes served their purpose without any major flaws. The pizza seemed to be different than what was remembered from a previous visit so it came as a bit of a surprise to my fellow diner. I noticed half of the individual sized pizza was boxed up to go home, so I'm not too sure if that was a good sign or not. The salad, if anything, was dressed pretty heavy. So while the chicken held up fine, the salad greens had a tough go and after a few minutes were looking pretty limp. Does anyone else ask for salad dressing on the side? I've taken to doing this in the last couple of years because of the 'heavy dressing' situations I've encountered more often than not.

Lastly a comment about the service. The bartender, who did a good job of taking care of us between the steady flow of beer, didn't smile once, or interact longer than absolutely required. Picking up that 'she's having a rough night' vibe, I couldn't help but overhear the conversations she had with the wait staff in the lounge. Most importantly a flurry of f-bombs in quick succession used to describe a gentleman who was in earlier. Now I know it's one thing to have a bad night, and another to have crappy customers...but really is there any need to drop f-bombs in front of customers. Even though I know I'll occasionally end up at Boston Pizza, I always do, there is nothing enticing me to do it more often. Although I must say, from the steady lineups..they must be doing something right.

Read More......

Saturday, October 17, 2009

multigrain bread extraordinaire - bread baker's apprentice challenege #20

The big two-O. Phew! A fairly straight forward bread, this particular loaf is taken to that next level by soaking a few ingredients overnight. And what might those ingredients be...cornmeal, oats, and bran! This overnight water absorbing party, softens every thing, creating a light texture from seemingly heavy ingredients.

While I only made the one loaf, it was a solid success. Like the Light Wheat, this bread was utilized mostly in a toasted form. In fact, I think this loaf disappeared in a one-day toast extravaganza which is really why I have no pictures. Something about the nuttiness of those added grains really comes out after a few minutes in the toaster. Really though, a layer of peanut butter and jam probably makes any bread scrumptious!

After a a couple weeks away from the challenge, it's now time to dig in and attack the Pain a l'Ancienne. I think the name alone sounds intimidating! Eek!

Read More......

Wednesday, October 14, 2009

the week that was and is - october 14th 2009

Snow in Edmonton! Oh dear me..what will all the kiddies do for Halloween! Speaking of Halloween, what is everyone giving out this year? If you do that sort of thing. The homestead is handing out those mini bags of chips.

One of my favorite blogs, I'm Only Here for the Food!, is celebrating one year on ye ol' internet. Do check it out if don't already. Not only does Kim do a fantastic job of visiting spots in and around Vancouver, he travels occasionally and gets to sample treats from Richmond, VA to Panama and back.

Local food aficionado, Kevin Kossowan, recently returned from a trip to the Okanagon where it looks like he went on a bit of wine bender! In his words - I'm back. 22 wineries. 140+ sets of tasting notes and scores. Full review to come. Can't wait Kevin!

One of my favorite TV personalities, Alton Brown, is celebrating 10 years of Good Eats. From food basics to winning a Peabody award. I think Alton does a great job providing insight and techniques for every skill level. Without him, Food Network (IMO) would be seriously lacking. Great work Alton.

Speaking about food based programming, are we ready for another food specialty channel. I wonder if we will get the Cooking Channel here in Canada.

Anytime a Canadian food product gets recognition is great, but how awesome is this - 'crowned World Champion in Las Palmas at the world’s largest cheese competition. Canadian goat’s milk cheese, Le Cendrillon, saw off nearly 2,500 other competitors to take the title of World Champion Cheese 2009'. Best cheese around. Boo yeah!

I received a sample of Mom's Healthy Secrets cereal in the mail this week. Seriously do we even get this cereal here? The website claims - Mom's range of cold cereals includes 3 varieties each with a specific functional purpose: antioxidant-rich VibraBerry, high in-fibre FibreFit or OmegaActive a source of both Omega-3 and Omega-6. The package I got was FibreFit, and I didn't really like it. It didn't seem to have any real identity. It was like raisin bran (bran flakes and raisins) + shreddies + dry oats + goji berries. My cereal choice is Fiber One so believe me when I say I couldn't figure out how this sample was so bland.

I can't remember where I was exactly, but the first time I tried a Tim Tam slam was like love at first sight. So, with Tim Tam's now available in Canada, the homestead picked up chocolate and chewy caramel. If you've never attempted a Tim Tam slam, start with the original as the caramel biscuit requires a bit extra sucking power.

Taking in the Canadian Thanksgiving, my friend Sarah and I ventured off for a mini tour of the Edmonton's sights and sounds. We started at the Royal Alberta Museum, which was quite deserted. We were both excited to find out there is a Robert Munsch exhibit, but in the end were won over by the live creepy crawlers! Unfortunately, neither of our cameras lasted (who checks batteries these days), which turned out to be a real bummer as our next stop was the Muttart Conservatory. I'll never get over how much beauty is enclosed in those glass pyramids, and I think we both loved learning about the prehistoric Wollemi Pine.

P.S. Happy Birthday Jenn, I hope you have a fantastic day!!

Read More......

Monday, October 12, 2009

thanksgiving turkey - the saga

What says a good time like cooking a turkey? I don't think it's always the bird, but the entire meal as a whole that gets people a little hectic. So many pots on the stove, so little space in the oven, and before you know it, the turkey is overcooked. Sure, some of the dark meat is delicious, but those lean breasts look like they need an IV. This year things were going to change. Not having to participate at a girlfriends house, I decided to not sit idle by. That's right, with the advent of high quality meat thermometers and a better understanding of proteins, this man was going to attempt his first crack at the celebratory turkey.

First things first, the brine. Look around, I'll be far from the first person to tell you about the glories of a salt water soak. Yet...many people still decided to forgo this step. In today's day and age, our turkeys our so big that it becomes hard enough to cook one of these behemoths to a juicy result. The brine soak, will help to denature some of the protein and create pockets of moisture. Look at that tip eh, get a little extra moisture in before you start cooking AND break down the meat.

I used one pound of salt and one pound of brown sugar stirred into 6 quarts of warm water. Once the salt and sugar were dissolved I let the water cool for 20-30 minutes. Finally, sink the bird into the bucket and drop in 5 pounds of ice. I put a lid on the container and placed my trusty bird in a cool, calm place (8-16 hours).

The bird needs to warm up after it's wet slumber, so remember to remove your bird about 30 minutes before you are ready to rock n' roll. Rinse the bird under cold water to remove the brine and then pat dry. You may choose, of course, to stuff the bird or not at this point. Just remember, stuffing the bird will result in a longer cooking time. The homestead bird was 4.08KG. So I figured if I factored in the stuffing, this bird would take a brief 2 1/2 to 3 hours.

I had a few loaves of bread cooking away at 450 degrees, so it didn't take long for the oven to work its way up to 500. After stuffing the bird, I rubbed her down with oil (you can use butter) for that added golden hue. Now 500 degrees might seem high, but your bird is only going to spend 20 or 30 minutes at this temperature before dropping to a more sustaining 350.

As you can see, my bird didn't exactly brown all over. Oh well, such is life. The next step of course is basting. I remembered reading about using bacon to keep the bird self-basted. So with that in mind, I covered the bird in maple roasted bacon when I dropped the temperature.

Now it's just a matter of checking in on my bird every half hour or so. Making sure a) there is liquid in the bottom of the pan, b) she's nice and basted and c) she isn't browning too much. If you do find your bird browning more than you would like, don't hesitate to place a layer of foil right on her.

Before I knew it the house was filling with the most delicious odor of maple syrup and turkey. Deciding to check the temperature just shy of 2 1/2 hours, the lowest temperature I could find on my bird was 160. So out it came for the foil-down period. I am a strong, strong advocate of this post cooking relaxation, especially with poultry. Just give your bird a layer or two of foil and put it to the side for 20-30 minutes. I promise all the juices will flow back in, and nobody will be disappointed! Plus, this gives you plenty of time to work on those last few dishes; mash, boil, steam, and stir away.

I can't help but think that the 70's and 80's were filled with so much cooking fear, that people forgot what a properly done turkey should be like. Just think about how many over cooked chicken breasts you've encounter (or dry pork chops for that matter). I mentioned at the beginning of this post about new understandings. Maybe it's not a new understanding of cooking, I mean people have been cooking for centuries. But some things have changed. From the conditions they live in to the animals themselves. Don't believe me, have a heritage bird (or pig). We have breed birds that are too heavy to bread and pigs that lack proper fat marbling as we search for the 'healthiest meat'. I don't really know where I'm going with this...It just seems no matter how many times I produce perfectly cooked and super juicy poultry products, some diners fear under cooking - 'this breast is way too juicy to be cooked'. Winning some people over, to a place where turkey doesn't have to be 190 degrees may be impossible, but I know that cooking my first turkey was neither hard, tiring, or complicated.

Brine + Bird + Heat + Rest = fantastic. Happy Thanksgiving!

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Main » eBook Catalog » Home & Garden » Animal Care & Pets

How To Build A Chicken Coop
2011-05-07, 7:38 PM
Building your own chicken coop will be one of the best decisions you'll make in your life.
Your own backyard chicken coop will provide you with daily fresh organic eggs for the kitchen. It will recycle your families food scraps and produce high quality fertilizer for your garden. Best of all, your family will be proud of the coop that you created with you own two hands.
It just makes perfect economic sense to build a chicken coop yourself instead of buying an expensive pre-built chicken coops. Pre-built coops have to be assembled anyway, you're really just paying hugely inflated prices for the material.
I understand that building a chicken coop can seem like a hard project. Working out dimensions, materials, insulation, ventilation, lighting, positioning, nesting, perches, waste collection and protection from the elements and other predators can seem complicated.
Luckily for you, using my many years of experience in the poultry industry, I've created an easy to follow guide to building your own backyard chicken coop. It's designed it for the total beginner, you don't require any carpentry skills. It doesn't matter if you want a big coop or a small coop, or if have a big or a little budget.
Introducing "Building A Chicken Coop"...

No special tools required - I designed these plans specifically for the total total beginner. You wont require anything but the most simple of tools

Easy To Build Plans - Includes color step-by-step plans with scale diagrams and dimensions that even a child could follow

Save Money - On average our users save about 50% over buying their own coop. That adds up to hundreds (sometime thousands) of dollars
Print As Needed - My downloadable format allows you to print of as many copies as you need in case your lose or dirty a copy, or if you require multiple copies for those helping you

Here is just a small taste of all the things you will find in your copy...
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Nonprofit Employment Trends

Bob Cryer

Bob Cryer

The recently published John Hopkins Nonprofit Employment Bulletin #38 gives perspectives on how the nonprofit sector has changed over the last decade.

In 2010, nonprofits employed 10.7 million people, or 10.1% of total national employment in the private sectors. Nonprofits are the third largest sector behind retailing (14.5% of all private employees) and manufacturing (11.5% of all private employees). 57% of nonprofit jobs are in health services, 15% are in educational services and 13% are in social services.

From 2000 to 2010, nonprofit employment grew by an average of 2.1% per year compared to a 0.6% average employment decline in the for profit sectors. More impressively, nonprofits showed an employment growth in every in of those years, including the recession years of 2007-09.

87% of nonprofit employment is in the services sector compared to for-profits having only 9% of their employees in services sectors. Nationwide, employment in services sectors grew by an average of 2.7% per year from 2000 to 2010, whereas all other sectors declined by an average of 0.8% per year.

Because nonprofit employment growth (2.1%) is less that the total growth in services employment (2.7%), nonprofits share of the business in their respective sectors is falling. In health services, their share fell from 45% to 43%. In educational services, nonprofit share dropped from 69% in 2000 to 64% in 2010. And in social services, nonprofit’s share of employees fell from 62% in 2000 to 54% in 2010.

The report mentions several causes for this decline. One was for-profits relative ease of accessing capital to respond to new demands. For example, when Medicare made home health care eligible for reimbursement, for profits raised the capital needed to move into that niche quickly and now dominate this niche that was originally pioneered by nonprofits.

Another competitive advantage of for-profits is their stronger relations with government officials through campaign contributions and lobbying. For-profits also seem more willing to offer their employees lower wages and fewer benefits than nonprofits, enabling them to under-cut nonprofit costs.

In addition to these factors, public funding is under siege and private donation sources are strained. For the first time in decades, nonprofit employment growth seems very uncertain.

Author:  Bob Cryer,  Executive Coaches of Orange County,


text:
Bryan Caplan

FP2P Quip of the Day

Hmmm... The Intellectual Propertarian/...
From Arnold and Nick: "In many poorly governed countries, ordinary businesses are as tenuous as drug-dealing in the United States."

Comments and Sharing

CATEGORIES: Regulation
Twitter: Bryan Caplan @bryan_caplan

COMMENTS (5 to date)
Stephen Smith writes:

To the extent that you can quantify something so abstract, I don't think this is defensible. The most objective way to measure the risk premium is the rate of return demanded by entrepreneuers. Retail drug dealers never settle for less than 40% profit margins, and a more realistic average would be about 75%. And we're not talking annual rate of return - we're talking every time the dealer "reups," which is generally once every few weeks. At an annualized rate, the profit margins are astronomical, even when taking into account business expenses like free drugs to all your various hangers-on and a healthy habit yourself.

chipotle writes:

Stephen Smith, do you have a source for your statistic of 40% - 75% ROI every time a retailer clears his supply and restocks his inventory?

Eric Johnson writes:

I'm failing to understand. Supposing revenue is 150% of expenses on every re-up. Shouldnt revenue then be 150% of expenses for the year, too?

Stephen Smith writes:

@chipotle: Personal experience. Five pounds of high-grade marijuana (known on the street as "headies") is purchased on the East Coast from California and shipped via FedEx overnight. The purchase price is $20,000 for five pounds, which comes out to $250 for an ounce. Ounces retail for $400 on the East Coast, which is a 60% profit. Smaller dealers will purchase this ounce at $400, and then resell by the gram at $20/gram, for 40% profit margins. To use another example, an ounce of powdered MDMA (i.e., ecstasy – the powder form known on the street as "molly") goes for about $1,500 on the East Coast. Grams retail for $100, and individual hits (that is, 100 mg) retail for anywhere from $15 to $20. That makes about 100% profit for each gram sold. Dealers buying in ounces don't often sell that many individual hits – those are usually sold by people who are buying grams at or around $100 each, which makes a profit margin of 50-100%. You'll have to excuse me for not providing my sources.

@Eric Johnson: Ah, the magic of compound interest! If I start with a $500 investment and make 50% profit once, that turns into $750. I then reinvest that two weeks later and then have $1125. Do this over and over, and the annualized rate of return if you're making 50% every three weeks for 40 weeks (assuming a few weeks that you're not able to get your proudct) is over 20,000%.

Douglass Holmes writes:

Stephen S.
Thanks so much for validating my decision to never purchase illegal drugs. Who can afford to spend $400 for an ounce of marijuana?
I don't doubt the profit levels. Our jails are full of drug dealers. Profits have to reflect the level of risks involved, and the risk of jail is very real for the seller. And even if they don't go to jail, they can have their assets seized and then must go to court and prove that the assets weren't related to drug dealing.
So, back to the original issue, are 'ordinary businesses' in some countries really as tenuous as drug-dealing in the United States? You are right to view such claims with skepticism. Still, the point is a valid one. Some people view any profit as evil. And such people do elect guys like Hugo Chavez.

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Economics at your fingertips

Accounting, Economics, and Law: A Convivium

2011 - 2016

Current editor(s): Reuven S. Avi-Yonah, Yuri Biondi and Shyam Sunder

From De Gruyter
Series data maintained by Peter Golla ().

Access Statistics for this journal.
Track citations for all items by RSS feed
Is something missing from the series or not right? See the RePEc data check for the archive and series.

Volume 6, issue 2, 2016

Stress Testing International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS): Accounting for Stability and the Public Good in a Financialized World pp. 93-118 Downloads
Haslam Colin, Tsitsianis Nick, Hoinaru Razvan, Andersson Tord and Katechos George
Disclosure on Related Party Transactions: Evidence from Italian Listed Companies pp. 119-150 Downloads
Bava Fabrizio and Gromis di Trana Melchiorre
Bank Credit and the “Creation” of Deposits pp. 151-159 Downloads
Schumpeter J. A.
Isabel Brusca, Eugenio Caperchione, Sandra Cohen and Francesca Manes Rossi: Review of “Public Sector Accounting and Auditing in Europe. The Challenge of Harmonization” pp. 161-168 Downloads
Boisseau-Sierra Marion
Answer to the book review on “Public Sector Accounting and Auditing in Europe. The Challenge of Harmonization”, by Isabel Brusca, Eugenio Caperchione, Sandra Cohen and Francesca Manes Rossi (Governance and Public Management Series, Palgrave Macmillan, 2015) pp. 169-171 Downloads
Brusca Isabel, Caperchione Eugenio, Cohen Sandra and Rossi Francesca Manes

Volume 6, issue 1, 2016

A Symposium on Financial Power pp. 1-3 Downloads
Woll Cornelia
Explaining Variations in Bailout Policies: A Review of Cornelia Woll’s The Power of Inaction pp. 5-30 Downloads
Barnes Kelsey M. and Wilmarth Arthur E.
The Power of Inaction or Elite Failure? A Comment on Woll’ “The Power of Inaction” pp. 31-45 Downloads
Thiemann Matthias
Power of Inaction or Ability to Learn in Action within a Political Process? Comments on “The Power of Inaction” by Cornelia Woll pp. 47-56 Downloads
Moutot Philippe
The Power of Banks and Governments pp. 57-63 Downloads
Reinke Raphael
Comment on The Power of Inaction by Cornelia Woll pp. 65-78 Downloads
Jensen Jason O.
Empowering Market-Based Finance: A Note on Bank Bailouts in the Aftermath of the North Atlantic Financial Crisis of 2007 pp. 79-84 Downloads
Yuri Biondi
A Rejoinder by the Author pp. 85-92 Downloads
Woll Cornelia

Volume 5, issue 3, 2015

Deconstruction and Reconstruction of the “Comply or Explain” Principle in EU Capital Markets pp. 233-288 Downloads
Sergakis Konstantinos
The “Comply or Explain” Approach as a Pascalian Wager pp. 289-293 Downloads
Duhamel Jean-Christophe
An Economic Analysis of ‘Comply or Explain Principle’ under a Review Panel Regime pp. 295-300 Downloads
Yuri Biondi
A Rejoinder on Mr. Duhamel’s Commentary pp. 301-304 Downloads
Sergakis Konstantinos

Volume 5, issue 2, 2015

Alternative Banking and Theory pp. 105-171 Downloads
Butzbach Olivier and E. von Mettenheim Kurt
Extraterritorial Discovery in Aid of Execution and State Immunity: Case Comment on Republic of Argentina v. NML Capital, Ltd., 573 U.S. ___ (2014) pp. 173-192 Downloads
Ishikawa Tomoko
The In Pari Delicto Defense for Auditors in Professional Negligence Cases: Imputation of Managers’ Unlawful Acts to the Client Firm pp. 193-226 Downloads
Blythe Stephen E.
Isabelle Huault and Christelle Richard: Regulation Writ Large: A Comment on Huault and Richard’ “The Discreet Regulator” pp. 227-232 Downloads
Carruthers Bruce G.

Volume 5, issue 1, 2015

Why Accounting Matters: A Central Bank Perspective pp. 1-42 Downloads
Claudia Schwarz, Karakitsos Polychronis, Merriman Niall and Studener Werner
The Institutional Transformation of China’s Stock Exchanges: A Comparative Perspective pp. 43-89 Downloads
Lyu Kai
A Comment on “The Institutional Transformation of China’s Stock Exchanges: A Comparative Perspective” by Kay Lyu (AEL: A CONVIVIUM, 2015) pp. 91-97 Downloads
Ortiz Horacio
The Role of State/Market Division and Political Economy in Understanding Institutional Transformation of China’s Stock Exchanges: Response to Dr Ortiz pp. 99-104 Downloads
Lyu Kai

Volume 4, issue 3, 2014

Harmonising European Public Sector Accounting Standards (EPSAS): Issues and Perspectives for Europe’s Economy and Society pp. 14 Downloads
Yuri Biondi
EPSAS and the Unification of Public Sector Accounting Across Europe pp. 14 Downloads
Mussari Riccardo
The Use of Accrual Accounting in New Zealand’s Central Government: Second Thoughts pp. 15 Downloads
Newberry Susan
A Perspective on the Proposal for European Public Sector Accounting Standards, in the Context of Accruals in UK Government Accounting pp. 18 Downloads
Jones Rowan and Caruana Josette
Harmonisation of EPSASs (European Public Sector Accounting Standards): Developments and Prospects pp. 22 Downloads
Calmel Marie-Pierre
Governmental Financial Accounting and European Harmonisation: Case Study of Finland pp. 27 Downloads
Oulasvirta Lasse Olavi
Accounting Rules for the European Communities: A Theoretical Analysis pp. 36 Downloads
Yuri Biondi and Soverchia Michela

Volume 4, issue 2, 2014

The Value of Accounting for Value pp. 2 Downloads
Liu Huifeng
The Embedded Firm: Corporate Governance, Labor, and Finance Capitalism – Commentary pp. 14 Downloads
Mocsary George A.
“The People Demand Social Justice”A Case Study on the Impact of Protests on Financial Markets pp. 23 Downloads
Chernin Yulia and Lahav Yaron
Commentary on “Accounting for Value” by Stephen Penman pp. 26 Downloads
Marzo Giuseppe
Collective Action Clauses in Sovereign Bond Contracts and Investment Treaty Arbitration – An Approach to Reconcile the Irreconcilable pp. 36 Downloads
Ishikawa Tomoko

Volume 4, issue 1, 2014

Remuneration of Non-Executive Directors in German Listed Firms: An Empirical Analysis from a Practitioners’ Perspective pp. 1-16 Downloads
Lazar Christian, Metzner Yves, Rapp Marc Steffen and Wolff Michael
Have Academic Accountants and Financial Accounting Standard Setters Traded Places? pp. 17-26 Downloads
Glover Jonathan
“Trading Places”: A UK (and IFRS) Comment pp. 27-40 Downloads
Macve Richard
Some Historical Reflections on “Have Academics and the Standard Setters Traded Places” pp. 41-48 Downloads
Zeff Stephen A.
Economic Patriotism in Open Economies, Ben Clift and Cornelia Woll (Eds.), London: Routledge, 2012 pp. 49-54 Downloads
Thiemann Matthias
Do National Accounting Traditions fit in a Globalized World? A Review of “A Global History of Accounting, Financial Reporting and Public Policy” Edited by Gary Previts, Peter Walton and Peter Wolnizer pp. 55-61 Downloads
Fuelbier Rolf Uwe

Volume 3, issue 3, 2013

Control of Finance as a Prerequisite for Successful Monetary Policy: A Reinterpretation of Henry Simons’ “Rules versus Authorities in Monetary Policy” pp. 18 Downloads
Thorvald Moe
What Financiers Usually Do, and What We Can Learn from History pp. 19 Downloads
Pierre Hautcoeur and Angelo Riva
What Do Banks Do? What Should Banks Do? A Minskian Perspective pp. 35 Downloads
L. Randall Wray
The Global Financial Crisis in Historical Perspective: An Economic Analysis Combining Minsky, Hayek, Fisher, Keynes and the Regulation Approach pp. 93-139 Downloads
Boyer Robert
Hyman Minsky’s Financial Instability Hypothesis and the Accounting Structure of Economy pp. 141-166 Downloads
Yuri Biondi
Minsky Financial Instability, Interscale Feedback, Percolation and Marshall–Walras Disequilibrium pp. 167-260 Downloads
Solomon Sorin and Natasa Golo
Why Banks Do What They Do. How the Monetary System Affects Banking Activity pp. 333-356 Downloads
Fantacci Luca
Back to Basics in Banking Theory and Varieties of Finance Capitalism pp. 357-405 Downloads
Mettenheim Kurt

Volume 3, issue 2, 2013

The International Politics of IFRS Harmonization: A Comment pp. 1-6 Downloads
Saito Shizuki
Evaluating Accounting Standards: A Comment on Ramanna’s ‘The International Politics of IFRS Harmonization’ pp. 1-15 Downloads
Madsen Paul E.
The International Politics of IFRS Harmonization pp. 1-45 Downloads
Ramanna Karthik
A Political Economy Explanation for Country Variation in IFRS Adoption – A Comment on ‘The International Politics of IFRS Harmonization’ by K. Ramanna pp. 1-8 Downloads
Nölke Andreas
Towards a Comprehensive Appraisal of Global Accounting Harmonization: About the “Desirability” of IFRS – A Comment on Ramanna’s “The International Politics of IFRS Harmonization” pp. 1-16 Downloads
Haas Jerome

Volume 3, issue 1, 2013

Myths about Shareholder Value pp. 1-14 Downloads
Stevelman Faith
Deconstructing the Mythology of Shareholder Value: A Comment on Lynn Stout’s “The Shareholder Value Myth” pp. 15-42 Downloads
Clarke Thomas
The Shareholder Model of the Corporation, Between Mythology and Reality pp. 43-60 Downloads
Weinstein Olivier
The Troubling Question of Corporate Purpose pp. 61-70 Downloads
Stout Lynn
Page updated 2017-02-21


text:
NASA vegetation globes

Mapping the green on the blue planet

Scientists have released new high-resolution maps that illustrate the lushness of vegetation, or lack thereof, around the globe.

Researchers at NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) used satellite data from April 2012 to April 2013 to create maps like the ones below (click to enlarge).

NASA vegetation globes
Source: NASA

“The darkest green areas are the lushest in vegetation, while the pale colors are sparse in vegetation cover either due to snow, drought, rock, or urban areas,” NASA/NOAA says.

Satellites are able to gauge the lushness of vegetation because sunlight reflect off plants differently than cities, barren peaks, and other non-vegetated areas. “Plants absorb visible light to undergo photosynthesis, so when vegetation is lush, nearly all of the visible light is absorbed by the photosynthetic leaves, and much more near-infrared light is reflected back into space,” NASA/NOAA says. “However for deserts and regions with sparse vegetation, the amount of reflected visible and near-infrared light are both relatively high.” Here’s a diagram illustrating the concept:

Zooming into West

Compared to the rest of North America, the American West stands out for the relative lack of vegetation in many interior areas. Although the Pacific Northwest and taller mountain ranges show up as deep green, the Southwest looks pretty tan. Check out the rain shadow to the east of the Sierra Nevada Range, as well as the verdant ranges in the Great Basin, in this closeup:

NASA vegetation California
Source: NASA

Below I’ve zoomed into the Southwest, where you can clearly see the irrigation along the Colorado River. I’ve also marked some notable islands of green, such as the Kaibab Plateau and the elevated archipelago of “sky island” mountain ranges in Southeast Arizona.

NASA vegetation Southwest
Source: NASA

Downloading map

NASA/NOAA create a new greenness image every week. With a resolution of 500 meters (each pixel depicts about 62 acres), the weekly maps weigh in at 13 gigabytes each. You can download a 30,000 pixel by 15,000 pixel image (176 megabytes) and that’s what I’ve used to create the close-ups above.

Below is a video tour that shows how the vegetation changed during one year, both due to the changing seasons and human activities. The footprint of cities in Europe and Asia is striking.

EcoWest’s mission is to analyze, visualize, and share data on environmental trends in the North American West. Please subscribe to our RSS feed, opt-in for email updates, follow us on Twitter, or like us on Facebook.

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MFA for Educators

Engage your students with the collections of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, to illustrate themes and concepts in any discipline.

Amplifier (No. 1 Hawaiian guitar model)

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Round body, neck, open headstock, and nut of one piece cast aluminum painted brown with faux wood grain, accented by gold paint in recesses of body. Lyre logo and elongated f-holes cast into body. Back of body and neck covered with brown felt. Fingerboard of rosewood with twenty-six frets of...

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Cast into body: DOBRO; stamped on back of headstock: A252; inscribed inside amplifier: National / Dobro Amplifier / SER. NO. 5090 MODEL 13-16 / …

1936, sold by Roger Morse, Brockton, Massachusetts, to his student, William E. Metta (b. 1915), Massachusetts; 2000, sold by Metta to the MFA. (Accession Date: December 13, 2000)

Credit Line

Museum purchase with funds donated by Bradford M. and Dorothea R. Endicott

about 1936

Object Place

Los Angeles, California, United States

Overall length: 945 mm (37 3/16 in.)

Accession Number

Medium or Technique

Aluminum, rosewood, plastic

Musical Instruments

Musical instruments, Chordophones