New garden blogs -- and 'Hold On Little Tomato,' the lounge song
Adventures in my Urban Garden: Another East Coast gardener at last. (Yes, we're coming alive again in New England, where the weather is just perfect now.) And, from the photo above, it looks as though this garden is a plot in a community garden.
"Black Eyed Susan" leads today with a photo of a box of yellow cornmeal and the headline, "I hate cutworms!" -- then details her personal war against them.
(I can't wait to watch her war against tomato hornworms, the giant dragons of the garden world. You'll find that and other critters on this nice bugs page.)
Jardin ology is a UK blog with lovely photos, Latin plant names and even garden music. First, a nod to the first two:
For sheer 'wow factor' I think my favourite plant in the garden would have to be Cynara Cardunculus 'Cardy'.
A cousin of the globe artichoke, it works really hard year-round to earn its statuesque place in my herbaceous border...
Heard "Hang On Little Tomato"? I hadn't either, but gardener "Jardine" is playing the Pink Martini album of the same name today. The 10-member lounge group from Portland, Ore., based the song on a 1964 Hunt's ketchup ad that urged the tomato to hang on the vine till it's ripe.
The Grape Vine: Alexis in Richmond, Va. has just started this blog. Usually, I wait to see if there'll be a second post, but since Alexis posted a photo and wrote., "(we still have 10 years worth of peppers, from these two plants, frozen from last year)," I want to encourage her to tell us how she does this.
All have been added to the evergreen Garden Blogs list.
Updated: How come 'Zippy' comic strip features Providence's giant rooster
Wednesday 12:15 p.m.
I emailed Bill Griffith, the creator of Zippy the Pinhead to ask how he came upon the Sollitto's chicken featured in yesterday's strip. Here's his reply:
Zippy visits "Real Places" almost every day---you can see where Zippy is on any day by going to"Zippy's Real Places"on the Zippy site:
Readers send me fotos of places for Zippy to visit all the time (I also do my own research)---if you look inside any strip, you'll usually see a "Tip to" someone in tiny lettering--that's the reader who sent the fotos I used as reference. There are more RI strips in the pipeline (Cranston and Providence).
-Bill Griffith
When I was younger, my Nana lived in South Providence off of Narragansett Boulevard and on Saturdays the whole family would get together there. My Papa (grandfather) owned a bar near Rhode Island hospital, and Nana would make sandwiches and meatballs for the bar, which would have to be delivered before lunch time. I always loved going with my mom to bring the Saturday haul up Allen’s Ave and over to the bar (my Papa would let me run behind the bar and choose a bag of chips or cheez doodles). One of the highlights of that trip was seeing the giant rooster outside Solitto’s Liquor store. It was at least four times my size at the time and strangely magical.
The Rooster is still there, brought outside every morning (except, a few years back when it was stolen. The police recovered the giant bird a few weeks later). Unfortunately, instead of just being a bizarre and memorable landmark, the Rooster now doubles as a jingoistic bulletin board...
And, from our archives, here's the rooster in 1999, part of a Day in the Life of Providence series, by Journal photographer Mary Murphy. Her original caption is below it.
"9:09 am -- Dominic Sollitto, proprietor of Sollitto's Liquors...enters the store after he and his employees brought the landmark rooster out for its day on the street. Sollitto bought the rooster at an auction 25 years ago when he took over the store from his ailing father. He didn't know anything about running a business so his brother suggested they buy the rooster and stick it in front of the store. The rooster, which weighs about 150 lbs., has had a colored past. Brown University students took it once and had it in their dorm until a postman informed Sollitto that he had seen it being taken into the dorm. A dean interceded and returned it. Johnson and Wales students ran off with it once, but guys in the bar across the street saw them running down Indiana Avenue. They chased the students, who dropped it. That's how the rooster got its crack. Sollitto says that people ask him if they can buy the rooster. He tells them, 'You can buy the store, not the chicken.' This morning when Sollitto and his three employees opened the doors to the store to take the rooster out, it took less than half a minute to angle it and haul it and place it on the sidewalk. They haul out the rooster every morning as they open the store."
Sollitto's is actually at 905 Narragansett Blvd in Providence (map), near where Allens Ave. turns into the Boulevard, if you'd like a closer look.
(Movable Type is doing strange things today, and normal code is behaving oddly. Sorry if this doesn't look quite right to you.)
Peace Jukebox, 'Map of Bones,' Prairie Home Companion movie trailer.
Holiday weekend, minimal blog:
Theme songs:"The Peace Jukebox plays hours of anti-war music for free. Songs written during the Bush Presidency can be heard as high-quality MP3s, with lyrics, on this ad-free independent website. The Peace Jukebox features anti-war songs by Sonic Youth, Beastie Boys, Jurassic 5, Public Enemy, Jane's Addiction, The Cure, Ani DiFranco, Black Eyed Peas, Green Day, Faithless, Michael Franti & Spearhead, Lenny Kravitz, Paris, System of a Down, Propagandhi, Banco de Gaia, Zach de la Rocha, Noam Chomsky... hiphop, rock, punk, acoustic, classical and spoken word...."
I bought a paperback in the grocery store for backyard reading:Map of Bones. Better -- and better written -- than the Da Vinci Code. Cool high-tech toys, sometimes ancient ones. Not Magdelene, but Magi and the Gnostic Gospel of Thomas drive this thriller. A Prairie Home Companion -- the movie trailer.
Musical obits for Desmond Dekker; Don't dig a flower bed around your trees; Free mp3s: Dylan in NOLA; R.I. beach map mashup
Desmond Dekker: Musical obits/tributes:
-- Born Desmond Adolphus Dacres in Kingston, Jamaica, on July 16, 1942 - Passed May 25, 2006...Thank you to Desmond Dekker for some of the best Ska, Rocksteady and Reggae music.
The set includes a Toots & the Maytals homage, Desmond Dekker Came First.
With a default My Live Journal name, the blog is in Bratislava, Slovak Republic. The art here is vastly different from what meets our eyes. The Dekker post is one of the few in an alphabet readable by me.
Jamaican ska legend Desmond Dekker dead of a heart attack at age 64. Depressing news to kick off a long holiday weekend, so let's celebrate the man's greatness (as I'm sure many other mp3 blogs also will) with a couple of great tracks by the Godfather of All Rude Boys.
At Armagideon Time, where you'll see Toots tunes just below this.
Unbeknownst to most record buyers, Desmond himself had first been introduced to a mass audience in 1968 as the inspiration for the Beatles' horrible plundering of Jamaican music, "Ob-La-Di Ob-La-Da" ("Desmond works a barrow in the marketplace...").
Don't kill your tree with a flower bed: A lot of folks will be setting in plants this weekend, and some of you may be tempted to dig a flower bed around a tree: Don't. It will kill the tree. A former neighbor did it. He didn't believe me.
"I see roots all the way in the back yard," he said, and continued digging a circular bed around an ancient maple.
The following spring, the tree was dead, nary a leaf, and had to come down.
Real Roots is a public service of Purdue University:
Real Roots
This is to show how people perceive roots to grow,
and how they really do. Any damage done to the
root system can be deadly to the tree.
If you cut off these roots, the delicate feeder roots that are growing beyond the drip line won't be able to pass rain water and soil nutrients to the trunk and leaves.
Be careful not to injure the bark with a lawn mower, either. A tree is a circulatory system, like Barbaro's ankle.
Home improvement blues: When plumbing came indoors, the owners of this old house tucked the facilities into a tiny pantry. Steep, narrow stairs make my upstairs usable only as an attic. There is one closet.
I'd love to add a real bathroom/laundry area (with storage!), maybe even another bedroom to the house, but I fear the size of the property tax increase that would follow. No sense making improvements if I'd have to sell the house to afford the taxes on them.
This feels all wrong. There should be incentives for improving your property while you live in it, not just if you sell it.
It's a cynical society whose tax policy counts on replacing residents with wealthier, more desirable people.
Hear it now:Bob Dylan: Live at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, Fair Grounds, Acura Stage, April 28, 2006.
Hybrid map/satellite view of the area near
Rhode Island's Scarborough Beach South.
I'll do a post later about "How I Made the Map" because you can do this, too. I'm a journalist, not a programmer. (A marble-go-througher of Dreamweaver, Excel, Mapbuilder and a text editor was involved.)
I have a set of little icons our designers made to represent beach facilities, but I can't get them to display. I suspect that images are part of Mapbuilder's commercial real-estate version. This is my only real disappointment with an otherwise excellent service. (I don't use the word "service" lightly here. It's free.)
Later: One other thing. These maps use version 1 of the Google Maps API. I want v.2. I've know I've zoomed in closer on this beach photo online (at Google itself?).
Teens share ringtone grownups can't hear; News sites' AP stories to get blogger links; R.I. buildings' histories
Teen Buzz is ringtone that takes advantage of a high-frequency sound that grownups can't hear. If adults can't hear your phone ring, text-messaging becomes possible anywhere, anytime.
In a stunning reimagining of a weapon used against them, teens may have outwitted the grownups again.
You may recall reading last fall about a a Welsh convenience store owner who discouraged teens from hanging outside his shop with a device called the Mosquito, which teenagers found irritating but was inaudible to adults. From Mosquito's manufacturer:
It seems that there is a very real medical phenomenon known as presbycusis or age related hearing loss which, according to The Merck Manual of Diagnosis and Therapy, "begins after the age of 20 but is usually significant only in persons over 65". It first affects the highest frequencies (18 to 20 kHz) notably in those who have turned 20 years of age". It is possible to generate a high frequency sound that is audible only to teenagers.
You can try to hear Teen Buzz at Orange Days, the site of an 18-year-old in Denmark ("I could hear it I think, made me feel slightly uncomfortable"). I couldn't hear anything but headphone buzz through headphones; when I put Teen Buzz through a tuner and large speakers and cranked it up, the tuner started flashing "Overload" but I heard nothing.
Blogging about a sound I can't hear has a lot of potential for egg on the face (lovely new clothes the emperor is wearing, no?) so I shot that link to 17-year-old Liz Petow of Providence, yesterday's guest blogger.
She emailed back, "I hear a low buzzing and then a couple of cracking sounds. That's really interesting."
Mosquito was invented by Howard Stapleton of Merthyr Tydfil in South Wales, the sort of place you might expect to find fairies that only children can see.
What it used to be: Art in Ruins is a lovely site that's documenting Rhode Island buildings, and seeking memories and stories about them.
Now the building demolished after the Downcity restaurant brisket fire this week has joined the archive:
(from RIHPHC review of Downtown Providence, 1984) Second Universalist Church (1847-1849): Thomas A. Tefft, architect. Romanesque Revival, 3.5 story brick structure with end-gable roof; 20th century storefronts; 2nd story windows infilled, five round-head windows with voussoirs and connecting imposts on third story, centered round-head window with tracery flanked by two lunette windows below datestone in attic; simple corbel cornice; irregular fenestration on Eddy Street elevation.
Built as the Second Universalist Church, the building housed the first private normal school in Providence by 1852, the antecedent of Rhode Island College (a normal school trains teachers). The structure was converted to commercial use later in the 19th century. Significant both as one of the few remaining buildings designed by Thomas A. Tefft, and as a reminder of the generally residential nature of this part of downtown before the Civil War. The Second Universalist building, though heavily altered inside and out, adds architectural variety to the streetscape in a block of vernacular buildings.
Today, as a first step, Technorati is now connecting bloggers to the more than 440 AP member web sites in the U.S. that take the AP's Hosted Custom News product, taken by local papers such as the Buffalo News or the Sun Journal. The new service will bring blogger commentary about AP news stories to communities large and small throughout the USA, giving bloggers a voice in trusted local papers throughout the nation. For many news readers, this will be their first exposure to the blogosphere with national, international, business and sports news presented along side links to blogger commentary and perspective.
When readers visit an AP member Web site that uses AP Hosted Custom News, they will see a module featuring the "Top Five Most Blogged About" AP articles right next to the article text, dynamically powered by Technorati. Additionally, when readers click on an AP article, Technorati will deliver "Who’s Blogging About" that article. Now, if you have commentary about an AP story, you can get mentioned in that module simply by linking to that AP news URL, akin to what you can do with Washington Post articles, Newsweek articles, Der Spiegel articles, and a host of other media partners that currently work with Technorati.
Interesting stuff. AP give bloggers an incentive to read its stories on the pages of news sites that subscribe to its feed rather than on Google or Yahoo News. (Here's projo's AP front page.)
Local papers increase their page views, and get blog readers following links into their sites. Bloggers get exposure as part of their hometown papers (commenting on mostly national stories, though). And, while bloggers might hope to be similarly cited alongside the paper's own staff-written stories, the papers' "content management systems" vary in their ability to do that.
One potential snag: News sites that require registration. Bloggers are loath to burden readers with lengthy registration processes when the same story can be found at non-reg sites. How will papers react if bloggers offer a generic password or a link to BugMeNot, a site that collects donated passwords?
The New York Times has long made available a special link for bloggers that will keep stories so linked from slipping into the paid archive after seven days. Perhaps a similar workaround might offer a registration bypass for blog links?
Back to that lead: "Today, as a first step..." What comes after this, David?
The Hercules (Calif.) City Council voted unanimously Tuesday night to take the unprecedented step of using eminent domain to prevent Wal-Mart from building a big-box store on a 17-acre lot near the city's waterfront.
The vote caused most of the 300 people who had packed Hercules City Hall for the meeting to break out in cheers and applause....
By now nearly all of my graduating friends and I know exactly where we will be come September. But the questions about why we did or did not get into our first-choice colleges are still resting at the back of our heads.
I know how I feel about unexpected rejections, but after writing my last post (College Admission: It's Over), I wanted to learn about how college admissions officers viewed this year’s admissions too.
Why did it seem more competitive this year? I had originally thought there simply had to be more people graduating from high school in 2006.
In an email, Margit Dahl, the Director of Undergraduate Admissions at Yale University, agreed with me, at least partially. She said she would attribute this growth in college applications at least in part to “the continuing increase in the number of high school graduates nationally,” a trend which she predicts may continue for the next couple of years.
One point both agreed on: There was no exact reason for the increase in applications this year. Dahl offered that “more students are applying to more colleges because of the uncertainty they feel in the admissions process.” With top institutions barely reaching the double digits in admissions rates – Yale hit a record low of 8.6% accepted this year – there is no sure thing in the admissions process, no matter how spectacular a student is.
Dahl also offered theories of colleges’ “additional recruiting and outreach” and perhaps “the ease of applying to multiple institutions.”
Middlebury's rep simply stated that there was “no definitive reason” for the increase in admissions.
It seems impossible to pinpoint one variable that altered this year’s applicant pool. Did the colleges change their admissions process in order to chose from all these candidates? Or just tighten it?
As Jeff Brenzel, Dean of Undergraduate Admissions at Yale, pointed out in an email, a disproportionate number of applicants to the number the school can accept is nothing new for highly selective universities.
“Yale…for many years received far more applications from superbly qualified students than we have places in the freshman class.” Therefore, they did not change much in their process this year from what they have done in the past. Middlebury did not alter their criteria for admissions either.
Dahl, of Yale, however, did add that the admissions officers were aware that they would have to deny admission to more students than they would have in the past while making their decisions. “With the knowledge that our admit rate would go down, we knew we had to be quite rigorous in our admissions committee discussions of candidates.” She is also the only person with whom I spoke who overtly stated “some students who might have been admitted a few years ago were not admitted.”
One point all agreed upon was that admissions officers were looking beyond academic credentials and test scores when combing through the unusually high applicant pool. Although, nationally, the top credentials reviewed on a college application continue to be grades in college preparatory courses, standardized admission tests, and overall high school GPA, qualities like “intellectual curiosity, the motivation to stretch oneself, passion for one’s pursuits, the likelihood of thriving in a residential community, etc.,” were looked for in applicants, according to Dahl. As many of Middlebury’s applicants were “good students,” the admissions committee reviewed other talents and life experiences in conjunction with their academic success.
Brenzel offered an insight that I think is important both for students who have already been accepted and rejected and for those applying next year.:“I think the important thing to realize about the increasing competition for the most selective schools is that chance inevitably plays a role, and that it is truly important for even very strong students to apply to a fairly broad range of colleges in order to be sure of a good match.”
Sidebar: Nobody home
It is remarkably difficult to contact a college admissions office even though schools bombard applicants with brochures and websites encouraging us to contact admissions offices with more questions. I suppose they expect much more simplified questions than I had.
When I called my first, second, and fifth admissions office I met a complicated web of receptionists and voicemails. I was connected to person after person. I hit the same dead end almost every time:
I left my seat by the telephone with only one conversation, a voicemail message, and two email addresses. So, what did I learn? I learned not to call college admissions offices after noon.
Liz Petow, who is to graduate from St. Mary's Academy, Bay View, in Riverside June 12, plans to attend the University of Vermont in September. She is on the waiting list at Middlebury.
A great read that will make you smile. Humor columnist Art Buchwald: Heaven Can Wait at WaPo:
...In February I was warned that if I didn't take dialysis I wouldn't survive more than two or three weeks.
Since I didn't want dialysis, I decided to move into a hospice and go quietly into the night.
For reasons that even the doctors can't explain, my kidneys kept working, and what started out as a three-week deathwatch has turned into nearly four months.
When word got out that I was in a hospice, I became a celebrity. I was on all the TV shows and the notice of my intentions was in all the papers, including The Washington Post and the New York Times, which made it valid.
The more publicity I got, the more attention my kidneys got, and instead of going quietly into the night, I was holding news conferences every day...
But that was then. Now, well... Hallelujah, Art Buchwald. Not many patients get advised by their doctors to leave hospice for Martha's Vineyard. On the other hand, it sounds like a good gig he has going, right there.
The photo of Buchwald above was taken by Journal photographer Sandor Bodo in Providence in 2002.
Blogged earlier: I was hoping to meet Buchwald in Boston next month.
Norman Rockwell Exhibit (Vt.) plans models reunion; blogger's Downcity fire photos; wicker coffins
Want to buy a museum?Norman Rockwell's models reminisce is a lovely story in The Saratogian. Rockwell lived in Arlington, Vt., from 1939-53. The artist paid each model $5 -- "In the 1940s, a person could fill his car with gas and have enough left over for a Coke and a sandwich.":
On July 16 from 1 to 4 p.m., the Rockwell Exhibit will host a reunion of local people who posed for the artist. Today, there's a danger that Rockwell's legacy will be lost in Arlington, because Hinrichsen(Joy Hinrichsen, whose husband, Henry, founded the Rockwell Exhibit in 1982) wants to retire and spend more time with her grandchildren.
The Rockwell Exhibit is housed in a former Roman Catholic church, built in 1875, whose sacred paintings still adorn the ceilings. About 15,000 people per year visit the site from all over the world.
"It's such a peaceful place to be every day, in a church surrounded by his work," Hinrichsen said...
She's already turned down offers from two prospective buyers, because they wanted to use the building for other purposes.
"I'm looking for someone who will keep it as it is," she said. "Hopefully someone will keep the Rockwell name going here in Arlington. I hope the right one comes along."
The Norman Rockwell Exhibit on Route 7A in Arlington, Vt., is open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily. For information, call (802) 375-6423.
Man in the street: Providence blogger Woneffe posts more than a dozenphotos of the fire that destroyed Downcity Food & Cocktails on Weybosset Street. The fire was started by a brisket gone wild.
I was thinking it was today or tomorrow, but I see it was in fact 6 years ago last Sunday that I started this blog. It was iris time then, same as now, as the seasons they go 'round and 'round.
Here's his first post, May 14, 2000: "This is what those thousands of years of evolution were all about: being able to share our thoughts with a million other humans."
On my 4-year blogiversary March 21, the indefatigable Hanan Levin made this blog Grow-A-Brain's Blog of the Day.
I don't have such a formal structure, but here's to your longevity out here, Fort Boise.
Sunday, 12:41 p.m.
I've been sneezing, coughing, fevered with a large heavy head all weekend. Nevertheless, and unwisely, I made a brief appearance last night at a going-away party for a young couple leaving our lovely state because they can't buy a house here.
She's an architect, -- ironically, Sandy has been managing the teardown and construction of a multimillion-dollar mansion on Blackstone Boulevard. Travis does fine cabinetry and finish work. They're married, with no children, no significant debts, and both work full-time. The bank told them they just don't make enough to qualify for a mortgage.
Who can buy an entry-level home here for $369,900? That's the asking price of a tiny house on a tiny lot around the corner from where Travis and Sandy rent now. It's a modest, quiet neighborhood near the Pawtucket line, long home to teachers, public defenders, journalists, postmen and firefighters. New couples buying in seem to have a doctor in the pair.
ONE AREA the report highlights is the disparity between housing prices and typical incomes for Rhode Island's five most common occupations. The jobs and their incomes are: office, clerical and other administrative positions, $28,787; sales and retail, $22,506; food preparation and serving, $16,910; manufacturing, $25,854; teachers and librarians, $40,685.-- Providence Journal (Home price, income gap widening) May 17 report on the HousingWorks RI 2006 fact book. (pdf)
They started thinking about relocating to an area where they could buy a home, perhaps to Saratoga, N.Y., where they both went to college and Travis's father lives.
She started looking in the fall, and has just landed a job with an innovative firm in Glens Falls, N.Y. that designs buildings for colleges and universities. It even pays a little more than what she's making here now. He's got a foot in the door at a construction firm, hired to do finish work on a group of townhouse renovations.
The Saratogian newspaper's real-estate classifieds today include a display ad with pictures of houses that range from $154,900 to $339,999.
The smaller asking price buys a long one-story peaked box on two acres; 4 bedrooms, 2.5 baths (master suite with garden tub) , three-tiered deck, cathedral ceiling throughout, open floor plan.
The top price gets a custom raised ranch 20 minutes from Albany with a stocked pond, gazebo, heated pool and views (there seems to be plenty of land, too.)
Catching my eye, a 4-bedroom mint Colonial with a pool in a family area close to shops and schools. Looks like it has a sun porch on the front for plants, too. Asking price: $165,000.
There, Travis and Sandy will be able to buy a nice house.
If Rhode Island drives its creative youth away to states where incomes cover housing costs, who can buy these houses?
Much of the blame for rising prices is placed on people who work in Boston for higher wages but can't afford that city's even-higher housing prices. (Who can afford Boston? Same problem there for young creatives.)
Boston commuters buy here at top dollar, consider it a bargain and drive housing prices out of reach for local, lower-wage workers. Young artists, musicians and craftspeople -- the cast of the Renaissance City -- find they can longer live here.
That could change. Increased fuel costs could make commuting unattractive; the inability of workers to afford housing closer to the workplace could spawn widespread telecommuting to virtual offices. Workers could then live where we really want to, rather than near our workplaces, and our differing desires might let the demand spread out more, to hamlets, mountaintops or wherever you are now.
The Bostonians could finally flee to the rocky coast of Maine.
Rhode Island could just be a nice, provincial place again, that we live in for itself, for its easy life, where we meet new people knowing we're likely to know at least one of their relatives or friends.
Sandy and Travis might come back, and become part of building Rhode Island again.
...Privacy protects us from abuses by those in power, even if we're doing nothing wrong at the time of surveillance.
We do nothing wrong when we make love or go to the bathroom. We are not deliberately hiding anything when we seek out private places for reflection or conversation. We keep private journals, sing in the privacy of the shower, and write letters to secret lovers and then burn them. Privacy is a basic human need.
Journal/ Frank Gerardi
A future in which privacy would face constant assault was so alien to the framers of the Constitution that it never occurred to them to call out privacy as an explicit right. Privacy was inherent to the nobility of their being and their cause. Of course being watched in your own home was unreasonable. Watching at all was an act so unseemly as to be inconceivable among gentlemen in their day. You watched convicted criminals, not free citizens. You ruled your own home. It's intrinsic to the concept of liberty.
For if we are observed in all matters, we are constantly under threat of correction, judgment, criticism, even plagiarism of our own uniqueness. We become children, fettered under watchful eyes, constantly fearful that -- either now or in the uncertain future -- patterns we leave behind will be brought back to implicate us, by whatever authority has now become focused upon our once-private and innocent acts. We lose our individuality, because everything we do is observable and recordable.
How many of us have paused during conversation in the past four-and-a-half years, suddenly aware that we might be eavesdropped on? ...
He concludes, "Widespread police surveillance is the very definition of a police state. And that's why we should champion privacy even when we have nothing to hide."
Further: Do you really have nothing to hide? Nothing big, just something that would be embarrassing to you. A medical record you'd rather not tell your mother/your boss/your boyfriend about? An ill-advised or indiscreet phone call? A brief, mutually unpleasant work experience? A long-ago memory you still wince at?
Suppose it's all out there, recorded and available to any number of government agencies for any purpose, and perhaps revealed in the course of developing a case involving someone else who knows your secret.
Do you think it's your patriotic duty to be embarrassed in the name of stopping terrorism?
McCartney: Let's get this out of the way: Paul McCartney is ending his marriage to Heather Mills one month short of his 64th birthday. Britain is aquiver.
Springsteen fans, if you haven’t already, you need to be heading over to ickmusic for an insane ****load of awesomeness. Pete’s been tossing up performances from the current Seeger Sessions Band tour right and left. As I write this, you can get “Ramrod” (5/12, Milan), “Bring Them Home (If You Love Uncle Sam)” (5/10, Paris), and the entire May 6 London performance.
Later: It must be Springsteen week. BigO Singapore just posted its Friday ROIO (Recordings of Indeterminate Origin) of the Week and it's the entire May 9 London performance, Live at LSO St Luke's
Deal: eMusic 50 free downloads, no strings attached. (One blogger says it's just through the end of the month. You can cancel after that, if you're not hooked. Artists still get paid.)
...Two RI based bands will come together in WICN's performance studio to celebrate the life and the music of the man. Fred Wilkes, Michele Wilson, Rich Sage and Kenny Johnson from Harmony roots rock band Five Of A Kind will join with Rick Bellaire, John Dunn and Vincent Pasternak of Providence based acoustic band Folks Together to perform the songs, and host Nick DiBiasio will read interesting facts about Bob Dylan's life and excerpts from his book "Chronicles, Vol 1."
Here's you'll find cilice, cryptex and my old favorite, the Fibonacci sequence. She doesn't quite get it, though (you can tell):
Fibonacci sequence: A progression of numbers in which the term is equal to the sum of the preceding two terms. In the book, we're given a Fibonacci sequence of 1-1-2-3-5-8-13-21, which is supposed to help our two heroes solve an important puzzle.
More: Plants that are formed in spirals, such as pinecones, pineapples and sunflowers, illustrate Fibonacci numbers. Many plants produce new branches in quantities that are based on Fibonacci numbers.
After you install the extension, go to a page, select a fragment from the page that can include images, right-click and choose "Note this". You'll see a very small windows in the bottom-right corner which will stay there even if you go to another page. You can open or close the notebook from the status bar.
If you maximize the notebook, a new tab will open, but the new page will have all your notes in full size. You can edit the notes with a rich-text editor, print the notebook and even create more than one notebook. If you have more than one notebook, you can move a note from one notebook to another using drag and drop, but the experience isn't great (in Firefox, it doesn't work most of the times). Divide a note into sections to organize your notes, especially if you want to print them.
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AP) - King Abdullah has told Saudi editors to stop publishing pictures of women as they could make young men go astray, newspapers reported Tuesday.
The king's directive, made in a meeting with local editors, caused surprise as the monarch has been regarded a quiet reformer since he took office in the ultra-conservative country last August.
In recent months, newspapers have published pictures of women - always wearing the traditional Muslim headscarf - to illustrate stories with increasing regularity. Usually the stories have had to do with women's issues. The papers have also started publishing a range of views on causes that are not generally accepted in Saudi Arabia - such as women having the right to drive and vote.
The king told editors on Monday night that publishing a woman's picture for the world to see was inappropriate.
"One must think, do they want their daughter, their sister, or their wife to appear in this way. Of course, no one would accept this," the newspaper Okaz quoted Abdullah as saying.
"The youth are driven by emotion ... and sometimes they can be lead astray. So, please, try to cut down on this," he said."
Might he instead have said, "Please, try to see women as people"?
Western newspapers have for some time tried to include women and people of color in more news stories as part of covering the entire society. With such opposite and contradictory values, can there ever be understanding and detente with the Arab world?
Note:Crooks and Liars, a source of the Al Gore SNL video and others, is down today. algore.org and iFilm also have the Gore clip.
Thanks to all these gardening bloggers who screwed up their courage to ask for a link. Be brave -- this is not a contest, and I'm happy to list your blog. Just have a real garden blog with recent posts. The only blogs I haven't posted have been spam sites trying to get legitimate links and a couple of people who were planning garden posts but hadn't made them yet -- or still.
I'll be uploading the full Garden Blogs list, topped with these new entries, a bit later this afternoon.
The garden myth is that peonies need ants on them in order for the buds to open properly. This is not true. A peony bud will open just as well with or without the ants.
But before you go running for the pesticide, the ants do serve a purpose. These ants will eat the bad insects that will hurt your peonies.Mother Nature very rarely does something without a very good reason. Peonies secrete a sweet sap when they are in bud, which attracts the ants. The ants come for desert but find a second helping of harmful insects. The peonies want the ants to come so that they have some protection.
Before that, there was a nice post on Guerilla Gardening: What the cool gardeners are doing these days -- "random acts of gardening without permission from the land's owners." Abandoned land, that is, not your neighbor's undeveloped sunny patch. On the left sidebar are very faint links to garden-site coupons that look very useful.
Digging: Diary of a Central Austin Garden: Like me, Pam is in her fifth year of blogging. Her Texas garden -- and especially her photo of the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center that's leading now -- look shockingly different from our rain-drenched New England spring gardens, desperate for sun.
Empress of Spring is in Ontario, where it's also soaked. "Empress" Melissa writes,
I am located in zone 5a in Ontario, Canada on the edge of small city. My garden was created from a plain, sod covered lot after years of attending garden tours and wishing I could have something as beautiful as all the gardens I was visiting. Despite the odd layout, lack of trees, and ridiculously hard clay soil, and no experience, I set out to learn how to garden. While waiting for the young plants to mature, I turned my attention to garden junk-making to add interest to the yard.
Another interest is videoblogging and I occassionally post short movies featuring scenes from my garden [see Knockin' On Heaven's Door]. This is something that I hope other garden bloggers will start doing as well. It's as easy as uploading photos and, I believe, very enjoyable to view.
Richiesoft Garden Blog, from Conwy, North Wales, has large, lovely photos. He also seems to be paralleling our seasons, showing tulips and pansies, with photos of irises and poppies in his parents' garden.from previous years.
Weeding the Garden is a breezy MSN Spaces blog by Alison, in Georgia, who writes,
It is a blend of gardening and my kids, my two favorite things.. I also do my own photography of my flowers which is my new found hobby. I grew up in Idaho and now adjusting to the Georgia climate and adjusting what I grew up knowing what did well in the garden, to what grows in the Georgia climate well..
Geranium Blog is Dawn Hill's account of growing pelargoniums -- the proper name -- in hot, sunny Las Vegas. It sounds like the perfect climate for them.
Al Gore on Saturday Night Live this weekend: Gore gave a mock address to the nation as if he were president. (George Bush is Commissioner of Baseball and gasoline is 19 cents a gallon.) He's not wooden any more. Video and transcript at this link at Crooks and Liars.
Jimi Hendrix. Voodoo Child, Berkeley 1970. Video, also at C&L. Near the end, he's playing guitar with his teeth.
From "1. Start with a question:" to "7. Finally, big ideas rule," it's a good, short read.
My favorite:
4. Kill the defensive, authoritarian newsroom culture. Break down the hierarchy. Dismantle the content silos. Don't manage, enable. Newsrooms are filled with creative people whose talents and ambitions are shackled by a plethora of inhibiting rules. Reward effort. Fail. Learn. And repeat. Free the newsroom 55,000! This is called fun.
Bon Echo (aka Firefox 2) Alpha 2 Review, with screenshots, at the Mozillalinks blog. Consider it a preview of Firefox 2, coming in September or October. (In general, alpha previews are for volunteers willing to report the bugs; betas are for early adopters. If you're just switching to Firefox, stick with the stable 1.5 release.)
Providence Geeks to meet Wednesday; Army balks at West Point Grads Against the War; Vineyard cerebral-palsy camp splits in two; Light moves backwards
It must be spring. Three geese and 16 goslings cross the road this morning in Canandaigua, N.Y. (AP)
Providence Geeks gets its own domain -- providencegeeks.com of course -- just in time to spread the word about the next Geek Dinner: next Wednesday, May 17, at AS220, 115 Empire St. You can mill in the performance space from 5:30 to 7 p.m., then move over to the adjoining bar and lunch counter. You can drop a note to say you're coming. Heres the permalink.
West Point Graduates Against the War-- a group that claims a membership of around 50 -- "have been warned by the Army to stop using the words "West Point" in its name, saying they are trademarked," according to AP. (This came out last week but didn't get much play.)
A co-founder of West Point Graduates Against the War countered that his organization is simply following the cadets' code.
"At West Point, we were taught that cadets do not lie, cheat or steal _ and to oppose those who do," said William Cross, a 1962 West Point graduate. "We are a positive organization. We are not anti-West Point or anti-military. We are just trying to uphold what we were taught."
Cross founded the group with two fellow members of the Class of 1962.
Internal dispute splits Camp Jabberwocky: The longtime cerebral palsy camp on Martha's Vineyard has split into two camps -- the faction with the campers moves to Nantucket, the one with the land stays on the Vineyard. The issue: whether counselors can have a cocktail after hours. The Martha's Vineyard Times does a long, New Yorker-like treatment of the split.
Robert Boyd, the M. Parker Givens Professor of Optics at the University of Rochester:
"We sent a pulse through an optical fiber, and before its peak even entered the fiber, it was exiting the other end. Through experiments we were able to see that the pulse inside the fiber was actually moving backward, linking the input and output pulses."
So, wouldn't Einstein shake a finger at all these strange goings-on? After all, this seems to violate Einstein's sacred tenet that nothing can travel faster than the speed of light.
"Einstein said information can't travel faster than light, and in this case, as with all fast-light experiments, no information is truly moving faster than light," says Boyd. "The pulse of light is shaped like a hump with a peak and long leading and trailing edges. The leading edge carries with it all the information about the pulse and enters the fiber first. By the time the peak enters the fiber, the leading edge is already well ahead, exiting. From the information in that leading edge, the fiber essentially 'reconstructs' the pulse at the far end, sending one version out the fiber, and another backward toward the beginning of the fiber."
Boyd is already working on ways to see what will happen if he can design a pulse without a leading edge. Einstein says the entire faster-than-light and reverse-light phenomena will disappear. Boyd is eager to put Einstein to the test.
It's way too late for this tonight
Feed your moms: If you have mom to honor Sunday, you might start by feeding her. I put together Mother's Day recipes for kids and occasional cooks from decades of Journal Food sections (on projo.com and in the previous post on this blog).
Mother's Day recipes for kids and occasional cooks
One of my earliest memories involves carrying a huge glass of orange juice upstairs to my mom on Mother's Day, trying very hard not to spill it. She waited patiently there for our sake, so we could say we had brought her breakfast in bed.
With this in mind, I combed through decades of recipes in our archive, looking for breakfast and brunch dishes. Some are low-fat, some low-carb, others take advantage of fruits and vegetables coming into season now. Some are simple enough for young children to make with adult supervision -- and for adults to make who don't cook much themselves. Others are more adventurous, but none are tricky or complicated.
Somewhere here, there's a recipe that will delight your mom twice -- once in the eating, and again in the memory of you making it for her.
5/04/1994 AMBROSIA
Peel and slice three oranges and two bananas and arrange in a bowl. Combine 1 1/2 cups flaked coconut with 1/4 cup confectioners' sugar and pour over top. Chill. Serves 4. (Sugar is optional.)
12/22/2004 How to Microwave Bacon Lay two sheets of paper towel on a heavy paper plate and arrange six bacon strips on top. Cover the bacon with another paper towel and cook on high (100 percent) power for 4 to 6 minutes (depending on how well-done you like it, and how powerful your microwave is). Take the bacon out of the oven while the fat is still slightly translucent and bubbly, and let it stand about 5 minutes to crisp. To clean up, just throw away the paper towels and plate.
10/2/1985 APPLE BRAN MUFFINS
The following recipe for a refrigerated bran muffin batter can be made and used for up to six weeks. Simply spoon out the batter for the number of muffins needed and refrigerate any leftover batter.
3/4 cup vegetable oil
3/4 cup sugar
3 eggs, slightly beaten
2 teaspoons cinnamon
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon allspice
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 3/4 cups flour
3 cups raisin bran cereal
2 cups applesauce
Mix oil, sugar, eggs, cinnamon, soda, allspice and salt. Beat until smooth. Stir in remaining ingredients until well mixed. Refrigerate and use as needed.
Make 6 muffins at a time in paper liners in microwave-safe muffin ring, filling liners about 1/2 full. Microwave on medium-high (70 percent) power, turning often, until top springs back yet still is moist to the touch, about 3 to 3 1/2 minutes for 6 muffins. Cool on wire rack.
12/22/2004 FRENCH TOAST
2 eggs
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
4 tablespoons sugar
3/4 cup milk
1 tablespoon butter
6 to 8 sliced white bread
Butter and syrup
With a fork, lightly beat the eggs, salt, nutmeg, sugar and milk until well mixed.
In a frying pan, melt butter until it begins to brown.
Dip each slice of bread in the egg batter until it is well soaked and place it in the frying pan.
Cook one side until lightly browned; turn over to brown the other side.
Keep the French toast in a warm oven until you've cooked all the bread. Serve hot with butter and syrup.
Serves 4 to 6.
-- From Retro Kids Cooking: Timeless Recipes for Cooks of All Ages by Richard Perry
5/9/2001 GERMAN APPLE PANCAKES
4 eggs
3/4 cup all purpose flour
3/4 cup milk
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup margarine or butter
2 medium apples, peeled, thinly sliced
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Heat oven to 400 degrees. Place 2 round cake pans (9-by-1 1/2-inch) in oven with 2 tablespoons margarine in each pan. Rotate pans until margarine is melted and coats sides of pans. Beat eggs, flour, milk, salt in small mixer bowl on medium speed 1 minute. Remove pans from oven once margarine is melted. Arrange half the apple slices in each pan. Divide batter evenly and pour over apples. Mix sugar and cinnamon. Sprinkle 2 tablespoons sugar mixture over batter in each pan. Bake uncovered until puffed and golden brown (20-25 minutes).
Yields 2 large pancakes
1/29/2003 SWISS BAKED EGGS
4 large eggs
1/4 cup half-and-half or milk
1 teaspoon dry sherry or white wine (optional)
1/4 cup grated Swiss cheese
Salt and freshly ground pepper
Paprika
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter 4 custard cups. Break an egg into each one. In a cup, mix half-and-half with sherry, if desired. Pour evenly over the eggs. Sprinkle with cheese, salt, pepper and paprika. Place ramekins in a baking dish or pan. Pour hot water into dish to come one third of the way up the sides of the ramekins. Bake until eggs are set, about 20 minutes. Serve immediately.
PAN-POACHED EGGS
1 teaspoon white vinegar (optional, to hold the shape)
1 teaspoon salt (optional)
4 large eggs
In a deep skillet or sauce pan over medium-high heat, bring 1 1/2 inches of water to a gentle boil. Reduce heat to low. Add vinegar and salt, if desired. Break 1 egg into a small bowl or cup and slip it into the water. Repeat, adding eggs clockwise. Cover and simmer for 3-4 minutes, or to desired doneness. Do not allow water to boil. Remove eggs with a slotted spoon in the order they were added to the pan, and blot the bottoms with a paper towel. Trim ragged edges for a neat, even look. If you won't be using them immediately, poached eggs can be stored in cold water in the refrigerator for up to 2 days and reheated in hot water.
EGGS POACHED IN RAMEKINS
Place eggs in lightly sprayed or oiled ramekin dish or custard cups placed in a steamer rack in a deep pan over water. Bring the water to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and cook until they reach the desired doneness, 4-5 minutes. Run a knife around the edge of each egg and gently slide it out of the ramekin.
EGGS BENEDICT FLORENTINE
1 bag (6 ounces) fresh spinach, stems removed and rinsed
4 English muffins, split, toasted and lightly buttered
8 thin ham slices
Dash of ground nutmeg
8 large poached eggs
Hollandaise Sauce (recipe below)
Parsley sprigs for garnish
In a large saucepan over medium heat, cook spinach in a small amount of water, covered, until wilted, tossing once with a fork, about 3 minutes. Drain, squeeze dry and blot with a paper towel.
Place 2 muffin halves on each of 4 plates. Top each half with a ham slice, 1 heaping tablespoon of spinach and a sprinkling of nutmeg. Add a poached egg to each muffin half. Spoon some Hollandaise Sauce over each egg. Garnish with parsley sprigs and serve immediately.
HOLLANDAISE SAUCE
4 egg yolks
3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 tablespoon water
1/4 teaspoon salt
Dash cayenne pepper
1 cup (2 sticks) butter (no substitute), melted
In a small, heavy saucepan over medium-low heat, combine yolks, lemon juice, water, salt and cayenne pepper. Whisk constantly until mixture bubbles and begins to thicken, 2 to 3 minutes. Scrape mixture into blender. Add butter in a slow, steady stream and blend until all the butter is used and sauce is thickened, about 30 seconds.
Variations. Add one of these to the finished sauce:
1 tablespoon chopped chives or parsley
1 teaspoon dried mixed herbs
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
You can poach eggs in a special egg poacher, in a steamer, or in a pan of simmering water until the white is firm and the yolk is almost set. Use the freshest eggs possible because the whites in fresh eggs will hold their shape around the yolk better.
-- The Big Book of Breakfasts
12/24/2003 SWEDISH PANCAKES
1 1/2 cups sifted all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
4 cups milk, divided use
4 tablespoons melted butter
Fruit preserves such as lingonberry
Confectioners' sugar
Sift together flour, sugar and salt. Add eggs to 2 cups milk and beat until well mixed. Add to flour mixture and beat until smooth. Beat in remaining 2 cups milk, and 4 tablespoons melted butter. Heat large frying pan, and melt butter or margarine. Pour about a tablespoon of batter into pan. Brown pancakes on one side, turn and brown on second side. Pancakes may be spread with fruit preserves, preferably lingonberry, rolled and sprinkled with sugar.
7/23/2003
This recipe comes from Rocky Point Farm, Warwick.
BLUEBERRY STUFFED FRENCH TOAST
6 slices bread, crust removed, cut in 1-inch cubes
1 8-ounce package cream cheese, cut in 1-inch cubes
6 large eggs
1 cup blueberries
3-4 tablespoons maple syrup
1 cup milk
Arrange half the bread cubes in buttered baking dish (9-inches by 9-inches). Scatter the cheese cubes and blueberries over bread. Scatter remaining bread cubes over top.
Whisk together eggs, syrup and milk; pour mixture evenly over bread. Cover and chill overnight.
Cover with foil and bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes; remove foil, bake 30 minutes more until puffed and golden. Serve with sauce, recipe follows.
SAUCE
1 cup sugar
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1 cup water
1 cup blueberries
1 tablespoon butter
Mix sugar, cornstarch and water. Cook over moderate heat for 5 minutes or until thickened. Add blueberries and simmer for 10 minutes. Remove from heat and add butter. Pour over bread mixture and serve.
Serves 4-6.
BLUEBERRIES WITH BARBADOS CREAM
Blueberries and cream are a natural pairing. For guests, you can put the bowl of Barbados Cream in the middle of the table and let them add as much or as little as their calorie count allows. Limoncello on the side is also nice.
1 1/4 cups heavy (whipping) cream
1 1/3 cups plain yogurt
About 1/3 cup light brown sugar
2 pints blueberries
In a bowl using an electric mixer or a whisk, beat together the cream and yogurt until somewhat but not too stiffly thick. Add the sugar and stir until completely combined. Cover and refrigerate for at least 12 hours or, better still, up to 24 hours.
To serve, spoon into individual dishes and top with blueberries.
Per serving: 229 calories, 3 gm protein, 22 gm carbohydrates, 15 gm fat, 56 mg cholesterol, 9 gm saturated fat, 41 mg sodium, 2 gm dietary fiber
Adapted from How to Eat by Nigella Lawson (Wiley, 2002).
6/11/1986
PROVIDENCE CHEESE CRUSTLESS SPINACH QUICHE
1 1/2 pounds fresh, well-drained ricotta cheese
4 eggs, well beaten
Salt, pepper to taste
2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese
2 cups raw spinach, chopped
1/4 cup fresh breadcrumbs
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Beat ricotta and eggs together well until light in color. Add salt and pepper, Parmesan and spinach. Blend thoroughly and pour into lightly oiled 8-inch square pan. Sprinkle top with bread crumbs and bake about 15 minutes, or until golden and set.
Finely diced raw zucchini may be used instead of spinach. A 9-inch round pan may be used if preferred. Makes 8 moderate servings.
5/6/1998 The oatmeal chocolate chip muffins topped with chocolate streusel won a $12,000 grand prize from Quaker Oats for 8-year-old Emily Barnett and her mother of Knoxville, Tenn.
OATMEAL CHOCOLATE CHIP MUFFINS
Chocolate Streusel:
1/3 cup sugar
1/4 cup flour
2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
2 tablespoons margarine or butter, melted
Muffins:
1 1/4 cups flour
1 cup uncooked rolled oats (quick or old fashioned)
1/2 cup regular or mini chocolate chips
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup buttermilk (see note)
1/2 cup honey
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 egg, lightly beaten
Heat oven to 350 degrees. Line 12 medium-size muffin cups with paper baking cups.
Combine all streusel ingredients; set aside.
Muffins: Combine flour, oats, chocolate chips, baking powder, soda and salt in large bowl; mix well. In another bowl, combine buttermilk, honey, oil and egg; blend well. Add to dry ingredients all at once; stir just until dry ingredients are moistened. Do not overmix.
Fill muffin cups almost full. Sprinkle with streusel, patting gently.
Bake 20 to 22 minutes or until lightly golden brown. Cool in pan on wire rack 5 minutes; remove from pan. Serve warm.
Store cooled muffins, wrapped in plastic, at room temperature. Makes 1 dozen, each 250 calories, 10 grams fat, 120 mg. sodium.
Note: For buttermilk, you may substitute 2/3 cup milk mixed with 2 teaspoons white vinegar.
To make mini-muffins, spoon batter into 24 paper-lined mini muffin pans, top with streusel and bake 14 to 16 minutes.
7/6/2005
These enormous, delectable, tender, blueberry-filled delights are easy to make. Although the following recipe, furnished by Jordan Marsh years ago, says that it will make a dozen, if you fill a large muffin tin with the batter you'll create six huge but light muffins that made the store's bakery famous. Don't skimp on the sugar poured over each muffin in the tin before baking. It's the secret. OFFICIAL JORDAN MARSH BLUEBERRY MUFFIN
1/2 cup shortening
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 eggs
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 cups flour
1/2 cup milk
1 pint blueberries
Sugar for the top
Shortening may be all vegetable solid shortening or all butter or all margarine or a 50-50 blend.
Clean and rinse berries; pat dry.
Grease muffin cups well, including the top, and flour lightly (or use paper liners).
Beat shortening with sugar and vanilla until well mixed. Beat in eggs.
Mix dry ingredients and mix in alternately with the milk. Fold in berries. Batter will be very heavy.
Fill muffin cups to top. Sprinkle sugar on top. Bake in preheated 450-degree oven for 5 minutes. Lower heat to 375 degrees and bake an additional 30 to 35 minutes, until they test done. Cool and remove from pans.
9/12/1987
HASH BROWN POTATOES
6 large potatoes, boiled, peeled and cut in 1/2 -inch cubes
1 medium-size yellow onion, peeled and minced
3 tablespoons bacon drippings, butter, margarine or oil
1 teaspoon salt, or to taste
1/8 teaspoon pepper
Brown potatoes and onion 5 to 7 minutes in fat in a heavy skillet over moderate heat, pressing into a pancake. Shake pan often so mixture doesn't stick. Sprinkle with salt and pepper, cut into wedges, turn, brown other sides and serve. Serves 4.
-- The Doubleday Cookbook
6/19/1985
STRAWBERRY OMELET
1/2 cup strawberries
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 medium eggs
pinch of salt
Hull the berries and cut them in half. Sprinkle with half of the vanilla. Beat the eggs, add salt and remaining vanilla. Pour into preheated, 6-inch nonstick skillet. When eggs are set, place berries on one half of the omelet and fold the other half over fruit. Roll out of pan onto a warmed plate. Divide and serve immediately. Makes 1 serving/200 calories.
From Weight Watchers International Cookbook. CHEESE PANCAKES
1/2 cup uncreamed cottage cheese
1/4 cup evaporated skim milk
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 egg
2 tablespoons white flour
1/2 pint low-fat yogurt
1/2 pint strawberries
noncalorie sweetener
Blend cheese and milk until smooth. Add baking powder, egg, and flour and blend well. Pour 1 tablespoon of batter for each pancake onto a moderately hot nonstick griddle. When brown on both sides, remove the a hot plate to keep warm. Sweeten strawberries to taste with a noncaloric sweetener. On each pancake place 1 tablespoon strawberries and 1 tablespoon yogurt. Roll the pancake to enclose mixture and serve immediately.
Makes l6 pancakes. 60 calories for 2 pancakes.
HOT BLUEBERRY SYRUP
1 cup unsweetened blueberries, fresh or frozen
1/2 cup unsweetened grape juice
sugar substitute to taste (optional)
Combine berries and the juice in saucepan; bring to a boil. Crush the berries with the back of a spoon. Simmer 2 to 3 minutes. If desired, take off heat and stir in sugar substitute. Serve hotl Store in refrigerator, reheat to serve again. Makes about 1 cup, l0 calories per tablespoon.
Recipes from The Slim Gourmet.
8/28/1985
SAUSAGE AND EGG BAKE FOR BRUNCH
2 pounds bulk sausage
4 slices white bread, cubed
8 ounces (2 cups) grated sharp Cheddar cheese
8 large eggs
2 1/2 cups milk
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 1/2 teaspoons dry mustard
In large skillet, break up and saute sausage over medium heat. Drain off fat. Place bread cubes in bottom of three-quart casserole or baking dish. Add cooked sausage, then grated cheese. In bowl, beat together eggs, milk, salt and mustard until frothy. Pour egg mixture over cheese and sausage in casserole. Cover and refrigerate overnight. When ready to cook, bake at 35 9degrees for 45 minutes. Makes eight servings.
9/12/1987 BRIE-FRESH STRAWBERRY FRENCH TOAST
1 pint strawberries, washed and hulled
8 slices French bread
4 ounces Brie cheese
3 eggs
1/4 cup milk
2 teaspoons nutmeg
Strawberry sauce (recipe below)
Slice about 2/3 of strawberries, reserving nice whole ones for garnish. Spread 4 slices bread with Brie cheese. Top with sliced strawberries. Cover each with second slice of bread. Lightly beat eggs with milk and nutmeg. Dip each sandwich in egg mixture and heat in non-stick skillet or one sprayed with non-stick cooking spray until lightly browned on each side. Serve with reserved strawberries and warm syrup. Makes 4 servings/225 calories each.
- From the Los Angeles Times
FRESH STRAWBERRY SAUCE
3 cups fresh strawberries, washed, hulled and halved
2 tablespoons orange juice concentrate thawed and undiluted
1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon grated orange rind
1/2 teaspoon grated lemon rind
Place all ingredients in container of an electric blender. Process until smooth, scraping sides of container as necessary. Pour mixture into a small bowl; cover and chill thoroughly. Yield: 1 1/3 cups, 6 calories/tablespoon.
- From Cooking Light '87 4/30/1986
ASPARAGUS RABBIT
1/4 cup butter or margarine
1/4 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon dry mustard
2 cups milk
1/4 teaspoon hot pepper sauce (such as Tabasco)
2 cups shredded Cheddar cheese
1 pound asparagus, cooked
Toast triangles
Melt butter in large saucepan. Blend in flour, salt and mustard. Gradually add milk and cook over low heat, stirring constantly, until mixture thickens and comes to boil.
Add hot pepper sauce and cheese and stir until cheese is melted. Serve over cooked asparagus on toast triangles. Makes 4 to 6 servings.
- From Los Angeles Times
FRESH STRAWBERRY BREAD
2/3 cup crushed strawberries
2 eggs
2/3 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup flour
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
Grease an 8 1/2 x4 1/2 -inch loaf pan. Hull strawberries and crush. With mixer, beat eggs with sugar, oil and vanilla. Stir in flour, cinnamon, soda and salt. Mix until blended; do not overbeat. Stir in strawberries with their juice. Spread in pan. Bake in preheated 350 degree oven 55 to 60 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into loaf will come out clean.
Cool on wire rack, then remove from pan. Makes one small loaf. Serve plain or with butter, cream cheese or strawberry neufchatel cheese.
8/8/1984 BANANA BRUNCH CAKE
1 cup soft butter or margarine
1 1/2 cups sugar
3 1/2 cups flour
1 cup mashed bananas (about 2 medium)
1/2 cup coffee liqueur, such as Kahlua
1/4 cup milk
3 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon soda
1 teaspoon salt
4 large eggs
3/4 cup flaked coconut
3/4 cup chopped walnuts
Beat butter with sugar until fluffy. Slowly beat in flour, 1/2 cup at a time, together with all other ingredients except coconut and nuts. Beat on low speed until blended. Increase speed to medium and beat 2 minutes. Stir in coconut and nuts. Turn into well-greased 10-inch tube pan. Bake at 350 degrees 45 to 50 minutes, until cake tests done. Cool in pan on wire rack 10 minutes, remove cake and cool. If desired, dust with confectioners sugar when cool.
10/5/1994
The crepes - which are simply thin pancakes - are made ahead and refrigerated, to bake at serving time. CREPES WITH SPINACH AND RICOTTA CHEESE
Crepes:
3 eggs
1/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups milk
1 1/2 tablespoons unsalted butter for cooking
Filling:
1 pound fresh spinach, boiled, then drained
1/4 stick (2 tablespoons) butter
10 ounces (about 1 1/4 cups) ricotta cheese
2 eggs
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
Grated nutmeg, salt, pepper
For baking:
1/3 cup melted butter
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
Crepes: Beat the eggs. Sift flour with salt. Add flour and milk to eggs; mix until smooth. Let rest a few minutes. Heat a 12- to 14-inch nonstick skillet over moderately high heat. Brush with a little melted butter. Add about 4 tablespoons of batter, swirling it around to evenly coat the pan. Cook until lightly brown on one side. Turn and cook for 15 seconds on other side. Repeat with remaining batter and butter. Stack the crepes and set aside.
Filling: Chop the cooked spinach, then saute in butter to cook off excess liquid. Mix with ricotta, eggs, Parmesan, nutmeg, salt and pepper to taste.
Spread filling on each crepe and roll them tight. Refrigerate at least two hours or overnight. Grease an oven-proof baking dish; cut crepes into 2-inch rolls. Place all the rolls upright, standing in the dish. Sprinkle with melted butter and grated Parmesan.
Place in a 375-degree oven for about 10 minutes. Serve as is or with red pepper fondue as a sauce. Serves 10 as first course.
SWEET RED PEPPER SAUCE:
Place two large red sweet peppers in a preheated 450-degree oven for 1 1to 15 minutes. Remove from oven and place in a paper bag for 10 minutes. Peel and seed.
Peel and thinly slice one medium-size onion. Saute in 2 to 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, add red pepper, 2 cups chicken or beef stock and cook on moderate heat for about 15 minutes, until almost all of the liquid has evaporated. Puree in blender or food processor. Set aside until ready to serve. Can be made in advance.
- From Giovanna Folonari-Ruffino
1/8/1997
This fruit-stuffed French toast is low in fat because it's baked rather than fried.
BLUEBERRY-STUFFED FRENCH TOAST
Cooking spray
6 eggs
1 teaspoon grated orange peel
2/3 cup orange juice
3 tablespoons sugar, divided
1 cup frozen (or fresh) blueberries, thawed, drained
8 slices Italian bread, 1 1/4 -inches thick
1/3 cup sliced almonds
Blueberry sauce
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Spray a large baking sheet with cooking spray.
Beat eggs with orange peel, juice and 2 tablespoons of the sugar. Pour into a 13- by-9- by-2-inch baking pan; set aside.
Combine blueberries and remaining 1 tablespoon sugar; set aside. With tip of a sharp knife, cut a 1 1/2 -inch-wide pocket in the side of each bread slice. Fill with blueberry mixture.
Place filled slices in egg mixture. Let stand, turning once, until egg mixture is absorbed, about 5 minutes per side.
Arrange on baking sheet; sprinkle with almonds. Bake until golden brown, about 15 minutes, turning slices after 10 minutes.
Serve with syrup or blueberry sauce. Makes 4 to 6 servings.
BLUEBERRY SAUCE: Combine 3 tablespoons sugar, 1 tablespoon cornstarch and dash of salt. In small saucepan, bring 1/4 cup orange juice and 1/4 cup water to boil. Add 1 cup fresh or frozen blueberries and 1 cup orange sections (about 2 oranges), return to boil and cook about 2 minutes. Stir in sugar mixture; cook-stir until sauce thickens, about 2 minutes. Makes 2 cups.
- American Egg Board
This French toast, adapted from Nicole Routhier's Fruit Cookbook (Workman, 1996), is similar to a caramelized tarte tatin, the French upside-down apple tart. It needs no additional butter or syrup.
UPSIDE-DOWN FRENCH TOAST WITH APPLE AND BANANA
4 tart apples
5 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
6 large ripe bananas
1/2 teaspoon each ground cinnamon, ginger, cloves and nutmeg
4 tablespoons ( 1/2 stick) butter
1/2 cup light brown sugar
2 tablespoons maple syrup
4 large eggs
1 cup milk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
8 slices challah bread, cut 1 inch thick
Peel, core and cut each apple into 3/4 -inch-thick wedges. Place the apple wedges in a large mixing bowl and toss gently with the lemon juice to prevent discoloration. Peel the bananas and slice them crosswise 3/4 inch thick. Add the bananas to the apples and toss to coat evenly with lemon juice. Sprinkle the cinnamon, ginger, cloves and nutmeg over the fruits, and toss well to combine.
Melt 3 tablespoons of the butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the fruit and saute until tender, about 30 seconds. Add the brown sugar and maple syrup and cook until the sugar is dissolved, 30 seconds longer. Remove from the heat.
Pour the contents into a lightly buttered 13- -by-9-inch baking pan. In a medium-sized bowl, beat the eggs, then stir in the milk and vanilla. Dip the bread slices into the egg mixture just to moisten (both sides), then place them over the fruit in a single layer in the pan, making sure to cover the fruit entirely. (You may need to slice some of the bread in half to cover the fruit.) Pour any leftover egg mixture over the bread. Dot the bread with the remaining 1 tablespoon butter. Let the mixture sit for 10 minutes. (This can be prepared up to this point in advance, covered and refrigerated overnight.)
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Bake the French toast, uncovered, until the top is golden, 30 to 35 minutes. Cool for 5 minutes. Place a serving tray over the pan, and carefully turn it over to unmold the French toast. Spoon any syrup or fruit left in the pan over the bread, and serve at once.
Makes 6 servings, each 541 calories, 16 grams fat, 335 milligrams sodium.
This make-ahead casserole is adapted from A Cozy Book of Breakfasts & Brunches, by Jim Brown and Karletta Moniz (Prima, 1997). The authors describe it as a savory bread pudding.
UNION SQUARE BRUNCH
2 tablespoons butter
1 pound mushrooms, sliced
1 medium onion, chopped
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
3/4 pound sweet Italian chicken or turkey sausage
12 slices white bread, crusts removed
1/2 pound grated sharp Cheddar cheese
6 eggs
2 1/2 cups milk
1 tablespoon Dijon-style mustard
1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
In a 12-inch nonstick skillet, melt the butter over medium heat. Add the mushrooms and onion, and cook until the onions are translucent, about 1 1minutes. Remove from the pan and place in a medium bowl. In the same skillet, heat the oil and brown the sausage, breaking it up until it is crumbly. Drain well and add to the mushroom-onion mixture.
Butter a 13- by-9-inch baking dish and cover the bottom with half the bread, then half the mushroom-onion-sausage mixture, then half the cheese. Make another layer with the remaining bread, mushroom-onion-sausage mixture and cheese.
In a medium bowl, mix the eggs, milk, mustard and nutmeg. Pour this mixture over the layers in the baking dish. Cover and refrigerate overnight.
The next day, preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Bake, uncovered, for 1 hour, until the top is brown and the eggs are completely set.
Makes 8 servings, each 413 calories, 23 grams fat, 639 milligrams sodium.
HUEVOS RANCHEROS
2 cups commercial red or green Southwestern-style chili sauce such as picante sauce or salsa
4 to 8 eggs
4 corn tortillas
Vegetable oil
1/2 cup grated Cheddar cheese
Heat the sauce in a shallow frying pan. Crack the eggs into the sauce, cover with a lid and poach to the desired firmness (about 3 to 4 minutes).
Place about a quarter-inch of oil in a skillet and heat. Fry each tortilla for a few seconds until soft and warm but not crisp. Drain.
Place the eggs and sauce on the tortillas. Top with grated cheese. Serves 4.
(Additions: Onion. Oregano. Cilantro. RO*TEL Diced Tomatoes & Green Chilies. You could warm a can of beans for this, too (or refried beans). Don't use sweet baked beans. Black soybeans are low-carb. If you're teenagers or an ambitious adult, you might even make Refried (Black Soy) Beans)
4/19/2000 STRAWBERRY-STUFFED FRENCH TOAST
6 ounces (two-thirds of 8-oz. package) Neufchatel or cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup maple syrup, divided
8 slices brad
1 1/2 pint baskets strawberries, stemmed and sliced, divided
2 eggs
3 tablespoons milk
1 tablespoon butter or margarine
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
Powdered sugar, optional
In a small bowl, using a fork, mix cheese and 2 tablespoons of the syrup until blended. Spread one side of each bread slice with this mixture.
Layer each of four slices with sliced strawberries to cover surface. Close sandwiches with remaining four slices, facing cheese side down. Press together lightly.
In shallow dish, beat egg and milk until blended.
In large nonstick skillet, heat butter and oil over medium heat until hot. Dip sandwiches into egg mixture, turning to soak both sides; place in skillet. Cook 5 to 6 minutes, until browned, turning once.
Meanwhile, in small saucepan, combine remaining 6 tablespoons of syrup and remaining strawberries. Heat over low heat just until warmed; remove from heat.
Sift powdered sugar, if desired, over French toast. Cut each diagonally in half. Serve with warm strawberry mixture.
Makes 4 servings.
- From California Strawberry Commission
2/28/1996 CARPENTER'S JONNYCAKES
1 cup jonnycake cornmeal
1 tablespoon sugar
1/2 to 1 teaspoon salt
1 cup boiling water
Milk to thin
Corn oil or bacon grease for frying
Mix dry ingredients in large bowl. Add boiling water and mix well, being sure the water wets all the meal. Immediately thin with 3 to 4 tablespoons milk, to make a mixture that will drop easily from spoon. Additional milk may be needed. Mixture should be the consistency of thin mashed potatoes.
Heat 1 or 2 tablespoons corn oil or bacon grease on griddle or frypan. Drop by spoonfuls onto medium-hot griddle. Cook 5 to 6 minutes on each side, turning once, until a brown crunchy crust is formed and inside is soft. Add additional oil if needed; don't let the griddle get dry.
Add butter and serve hot. Makes 10 to 12 three-inch jonnycakes.
Serve with good jam for breakfast.
4/24/1985 ASPARAGUS ROLL-UPS
1 tablespoon minced fresh parsley
2 teaspoons well-drained prepared white horseradish
3 ounces cream cheese
6 pieces (2-by-4 inches) smoked salmon or thin slices of ham
6 asparagus spears, each 4 inches long, cooked
Cream together parsley, horseradish, and cream cheese.
Spread about 1 tablespoon of the cream cheese mixture over each salmon strip. Place asparagus over cream cheese on the long side. Fold or roll salmon over to enclose asparagus. Chill 1 hour. Before serving, cut each strip into 4 (1 inch) pieces. Makes 24 pieces. Serve cold, with toothpicks.
Note, if desired, place 4 salmon pieces on a lettuce-lined plate and serve as first course. (Makes 6 servings as a first course.)
Recipe: from Easy Appetizers.
FLAN de QUESO
1 12-ounce can evaporated milk
1 can sweetened condensed milk
8 ounces cream cheese
6 large eggs
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
Caramel:
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon water
Thoroughly mix evaporated and condensed milk with cheese, beaten eggs and vanilla. Heat sugar with water in skillet over high heat until caramel is formed. Pour caramel into a baking dish. Add milk mixture. Bake 1 hour at 35 9degrees, or until set. Refrigerate overnight.
You may need to place the casserole in a large pan of hot water for 5 to 10 minutes before unmolding, to soften the caramel.
Recipe: Bon Appetit
GINGER-GLAZED FRUIT SALAD
1 large white grapefruit
1 large pink grapefruit
1 orange
1 can (8 ounces) pineapple chunks, in juice
1 pear
1 can (8 3/4 ounces) dark sweet cherries, or 1 cup fresh cherries
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
2 tablespoons honey
2 cups lemon sherbet (optional)
Over a medium bowl to catch the juices, peel the grapefruits and orange and divide into sections. Add pineapple and juice to bowl. Cut pear into slices. Add to bowl, making sure each slice gets coated with juice. Drain cherries and add cherries to bowl; discard juice. Drain fruits in bowl, reserving juice. Arrange fruits in a wide shallow bowl or on a platter.
In large skillet, stir sugar and ginger together. Add 2/3 cup of the fruit juices and honey to skillet. Cook over low heat stirring until sugar is dissolved. Bring to a boil. Boil, stirring occasionally, 3 to 5 minutes until thickened and reduced to about 1/2 cup. Pour over fruit. Serve with lemon sherbet, if desired. Makes eight servings.
To turn into Oriental fruit salad: Substitute lychee nuts (from can in Oriental markets) for pear, add canned loquats, mangos and bananas instead of cherries.
Recipe: Great Desserts.
What are AIM Pages, you ask? Good question. The truth is, that’s up to you. We’ve made a place for you to express yourself by choosing your own content and layout. You can add pictures, video, music and more with the click of a button.
Maybe you could go beyond, "express yourself." Teach me what you know, show me interesting things you discover and see, tell me what you think about something besides yourself.
The entire U.S. Constitution had to be in danger
in order for the Left and Right to work together in the past. That's just what
it's taken for the alliance to form again. The U.S. Constitution and Bill of
Rights are in danger again today.
The issues the Right and Left are already working together on are related to
the Constitution: (1) Exposing the Bush administration's policy to eliminate
the right to trial, as in the case of Jose
Padilla, (2) Stopping the Bush
practice and advocacy of torture, (3) Ending the administration's unnecessary
Iraq War, (4) Eliminating
unconstitutional, warrantless wiretapping, and the most objectionable parts
of the PATRIOT Act, (5) Stopping multilateral trade agreements such as CAFTA,
renewal of the WTO, and the upcoming Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA).
Unreal timesuck:Second Life is an immersive world -- pick a cartoon avatar and be somebody. (If you really get into it, you can pay $9.95 a month for a premium plan.) If you haven't heard of it, maybe it's because it's, in Ethan Zuckerman's words, a "walled garden occupied mostly by highly wired alpha geeks." You'll get a sense of it from reading this very good criticism by Zuckerman of Second Life's attempt to set up a virtual Darfur refugee camp: Virtual Darfur, and why I don’t get invited to technology conferences anymore. Best line:
The reason Second Life bugs me is not the fact that it slows my computer to a crawl, that most of my fellow characters are impossibly thin girls with overinflated breasts, or that most of the activity of the world seems to rotate around real estate and sex. (It reminds me of Reagan’s America, without the cocaine.) No, it’s the cyberutopianism...
And that this fake refugee camp is empty of people and danger and full of firewood.
Intuitively, I shrink from Second Life. In part, I somewhat regret how so much time on the Web has removed me from physical life; on my deathbed, Google searches won't deliver comforting memories. I can't imagine that wandering around cartoon space as a little virtual Mighty Mouse would, either.
So there I was, having traced a drunkard's walk from Richard Feynman, to Tuvan throat-singing, to Captain Beefheart, to Frank Zappa, and then from Zappa to the Web, which threw me back to Captain Beefheart... and unexpectedly back to Tuvan throat-singing and Richard Feynman.
The National Security Agency has been secretly collecting the phone call records of tens of millions of Americans, using data provided by AT&T, Verizon and BellSouth, people with direct knowledge of the arrangement told USA TODAY.
The NSA program reaches into homes and businesses across the nation by amassing information about the calls of ordinary Americans — most of whom aren't suspected of any crime. This program does not involve the NSA listening to or recording conversations. But the spy agency is using the data to analyze calling patterns in an effort to detect terrorist activity, sources said in separate interviews....
"It's the largest database ever assembled in the world," said one person, who, like the others who agreed to talk about the NSA's activities, declined to be identified by name or affiliation. The agency's goal is "to create a database of every call ever made" within the nation's borders, this person added.
For the customers of these companies, it means that the government has detailed records of calls they made — across town or across the country — to family members, co-workers, business contacts and others.
The three telecommunications companies are working under contract with the NSA, which launched the program in 2001 shortly after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, the sources said. The program is aimed at identifying and tracking suspected terrorists, they said. ...
AllThe Web Livesearch Beta has launched. As you type it kicks up results instantaneously.
I'd heard it reads minds. I've been playing with GoogleMaps mashups, and was looking for info on how to code the sidebar links, so I started typing "side..." At that point, the results were dishing up links on the T-Mobile Sidekick 3, which I'd forgotten I've been waiting for. Rumor has a June 26 release date, a week before my birthday.
After All These Years: Songwriting great makes stunning comeback
Paul Simon is 64 years old. That’s a lot of water—troubled or otherwise—under the bridge, and the temptation is to view him as a pleasant but irrelevant anachronism. The truth is he hasn’t released a good album since 1990’s Rhythm of the Saints, and his last sighting—the sweet but ultimately slight “Father and Daughter” from the Wild Thornberrys soundtrack—didn’t exactly inspire visions of past greatness. And that’s why Surprise lives up to its title. Co-produced by Simon and Brian Eno (U2, Talking Heads, David Bowie) and mixed by Tchad Blake (Tom Waits, Phish, Los Lobos), the 11 songs here re-establish Simon as one of our best songwriters, and they masterfully probe the uneasy malaise and melancholy that has always characterized his finest work. ...
Since Bill wrote, Jefitoblog has added 31 Beatles tracks -- "outtakes from solo recordings and end-period Beatles sessions."
A screenshot of the SenseWeb sensor mapping application. The user highlighted a geographic region (red lines and dots) and typed “Seattle Sensors.” Green icons indicate traffic cameras; white and purple icons (thermometers), temperature sensors; blue icons (cameras), individual Web cams. Clicking the mouse on a traffic camera icon called up the inset video image of an intersection.
Microsoft's Plan to Map the World in Real Time: Researchers are working on a system that allows sensors to track information and create up-to-date, searchable online maps. At MIT's Technology Review,
Researchers at Microsoft are working on technology that they hope will someday enable people to browse online maps for up-to-the-minute information about local gas prices, traffic flows, restaurant wait times, and more. Eventually, says Suman Nath, a Microsoft researcher who works on the project, which is called SenseWeb, they would like to incorporate the technology into Windows Live Local (formerly Microsoft Virtual Earth), the company's online mapping platform.
By tracking real-life conditions, which are supplied directly by people or automated sensor equipment, and correlating that data with a searchable map, people could have a better idea of the activities going on in their local areas, says Nath, and make more informed decisions about, for instance, what driving route to take.
"The value that you get out of [real-time data mapping] is huge," he says, and the applications can range from finding a parking spot in a cavernous parking garage to checking the traffic flow in different parts of a city.
They dress up in pink catsuits, have names like "Spider Mum" and feel a social obligation to plunder the most expensive restaurants and gourmet delicatessens in town as part of a campaign to help the poor...
In it, local Democrats, including my rep Gordon Fox ("Stay the course; trust us.") channel Republicans in their rush to lower taxes for the rich. The only one who sounds normal is Charles Fogarty, who's challenging Gov. Don Carcieri:
On Thursday, while awaiting New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson's arrival for some campaign appearances, it was evident that the Chamber of Commerce had not yet stolen Fogarty's brain. He told me, "Property tax first. You don't start with tax breaks for those wealthiest folks. You start with broad-based property tax relief for everybody."
Fogarty was skeptical that the income tax cuts would help the economy.
If this were Kansas, I could see us having trouble keeping rich folks around. But Rhode Island, with its roughly 100 miles of waterfront property, gourmet restaurants staffed by culinary-school students and graduates, and lively cultural scene, doesn't have to worry about attracting folks with money. If the ones here now move to hot, buggy Florida to avoid taxes, others will rush in to take their places.
Clock turns back for Iraqi women: an iraqi tear is a blog by an Iraqi woman who describes herself,
I am an Iraqi single mother who managed to survive the wars and the sanctions; yet I could not manage living under the occupation; writing is a resort to forget the idea of leaving Iraq.
She publishes three photos:
The first two photos are Iraqi female students in 1963-1964; the third photo is Iraqi female students in 2006!! In other words the Iraqi women before and after "liberation"…
You can imagine the condition in Iraq through these photos. Iraq was the most developed and liberated country in the Middle East and among the Islam World although the Iraqis were devoted Moslems; yet they knew the real Islam not the Iranian imported Islam… I have no more comments.. Waiting yours..
Related: 'No one knows what we are going through' Women in Iraq are living a nightmare that is hidden from the west. Now one has turned film-maker to give us a window on to what they endure. Guardian (U.K.):
Zeina also shows, in a way that will surely give pause for thought even to those people in Britain who supported the war, how women's lives are being curtailed by the rise of religious fundamentalists who have stepped into the power vacuum. "All the time in the television and the newspapers there is propaganda concerning women. It is really disgusting, it is nothing to do with Islam, but everything to do with taking women back into the home and depriving them of rights."
To show the negative effects of these developments on women, Zeina travels to Basra. It will not come as news to those who have followed developments in southern Iraq that women are being forced to wear the hijab and prevented from living their lives freely. But it brings these developments home when we see young women and their families talking about being sent bullets and death threats because they played sport or did not wear a headscarf. As Zeina emphasises, this kind of experience is new to most women in Iraq, who enjoyed economic and social freedom before the occupation. "A while ago, I was looking at photographs of my aunt in college in the 60s, wearing pants and sleeveless tops, playing sports in the college yard; and then I looked at the photographs of the women in college today, and they are covered in black from head to toe, their faces also covered."
I prefer plain Google for recipe searches. (I make "recipe" the first search word, to filter out restaurant ads, reviews and menu items).
A recipe: African Peanut Soup. Quick, excellent. I added about a quarter-cup of chopped onion and a tablespoon of chopped shallots to the oil with the garlic. Pass the cayenne.
Surreal modern: Surrealism: Desire Unbound: The page of this special exhibition at the Met includes Dali's 1936 Lobster Telephone. Why don't cell phones come in funky shapes like this?
Distillation of Ethanol - In recent days, we have seen several news items on people distilling ethanol at home to supplement their gasoline needs. Unfortunately, some of the reports do not inform the public that it is illegal to distill alcohol without first obtaining a Federal permit through the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB). Failure to obtain a Federal permit prior to engaging in this activity is a criminal offence under the Internal Revenue Code.
Federal law provides for the issuance of Alcohol Fuel Plant (AFP) permits for persons who intend to produce, process, store, use or distribute distilled spirits exclusively for fuel use. Persons wishing to distill ethanol for fuel use should contact TTB’s National Revenue Center at 513-684-3334 in order to apply for a permit. There may also be additional permitting requirements and other restrictions on the State and local level.
Cover me:MOISTWORKS: AN MP3 BOOMBOXPiece of My Heart by Erma Franklin (the original version), Dusty Springfield, and Janis Joplin twice.
Here are 39 versions of the song that doesn't remain the same, depending on whether it's the the Australian music hall version, the Gilligan's Island version, the backwards version, the backwards splice-and-dice quarter note version, the glass harmonica version, the Doors version, the reggae version and on and on (all MP3s). Much of this came from former FMU DJ KBC's CD of the same name, which took much of it's content from this 1992 LP.
The last post of Burningbird: Shelley Powers leaves the building
Nothing lasts: On Burningbird, Shelley Powers links to Bill Coppa's family saga, 'Ischia to 155 Ridge Street' that I blogged Friday, noting,"I’d love to hear of something comparable for Missouri–and Washington and Idaho and points beyond. I always imagined this is where the true value of this environment would arise."
Unfortunately for me and those of you who've been readers of Burningbird, her blog, Shelley has just joined the growing list of longtime bloggers packing it in.
Maybe the fad is over. Blogs were edgy four or five years ago, but the Web isn't as much fun now; not so quirky, there's less worth pointing to. Some early bloggers got famous from it, and now mostly blog their appearances elsewhere. The research that goes into daily blogging -- for bloggers who go beyond shooting from the hip -- takes a lot of time, time not spent sleeping, dancing, reading books, gardening, making love, going out, visiting with other humans.
As for Burningbird the weblog, the persona, the concept–I’m not sure what I want from a weblog, or what I can continue to deliver. I have reached a point where I am repeating myself. I have reached a point where I am repeating myself. I have reached a point…
There are a lot of good times associated with an old weblog, but a lot of unhappy times, too. I’m not having fun with my site, and I think it shows in the writing. The only fun at the site has been what you all have been contributing: in comments, emails, and your own weblogs. That’s enough to continue reading you–it’s not enough to continue writing me, or whatever me is as the ‘Bird.
It must seem as if ‘quitting’ one’s weblog is the hip new thing. I appreciate the fact that this is one of those few times I may be in with the insiders–actually, I savor the moment, wonder if I’ve developed a golden aura as a result–but this wasn’t the impetus for this change. I don’t plan on ‘quitting’, but I do want to rethink what it is I want from my online presence.
Regardless of what I do, it’s time to retire the ‘Bird. I don’t expect this to be my last post, forever, but this will be the last I write as Burningbird.
In the blogosphere, where we seldom meet other bloggers we like, going silent is ceasing to exist. I feel I've lost an old friend. Maybe I have.
'Ischia to 155 Ridge Street' - a Rhode Island family's story
I had an attack of comment spam last weekend -- a barrage of comments from fairly vile fake email addresses that ended when Six Apart, the maker of this Movable Type software, sent an email that it had automatically banned the Dutch IP address that had spewed too many comments in the last 200 seconds.
So I was not in a receptive mood Monday when this comment arrived:
Go to my site
the-coppas.net
Because the author's email address was local, I sent him this note:
Bill, this is comment spam. Please don't use my blog for this purpose. If you have a legitimate site with content of interest to Rhode Islanders, tell me about it.
And got back this reply:
Sheila, My site is a story about a Rhode Island family migrating to Federal Hill in the 1920's.
I went to Bill Coppa's site, Ischia to 155 Ridge Street and was utterly charmed from the moment I read this line:
BILLY COPPA’S MEMORIES OF 155 RIDGE STREET,
ABOUT THE TIME, THE WALTONS WERE GROWING UP ON WALTON’S MOUNTAIN.
This is a memoir, an oral history; it's not journalism, and it's not politically correct. It's a family saga that begins in Italy and comes through Ellis Island to Federal Hill, looping back and forth.
Ischia is a small island off the coast of Naples, Italy near Capri. The island has been called the Island of Pines, The Emerald Island, The Island of Dreams, and even Paradise.... Mama’s father and brothers were landowners in Forio D’Ischia. They were producers of grape and wine and became successful and wealthy....It didn’t take too long for Papa to like America. Mama was always home sick. Her first impressions were terrible. She had to live in tenement houses cramped for space. While in Italy she lived in a nice one family house with plenty of open space. The vineyards, the beaches, the fountain in the piazza, and all the churches were within walking distance from her home. She missed her father and brothers immensely. The Island of Ischia is a paradise. Federal Hill must have been a nightmare to Mama.
Along the way it lays out, with great humor, some of the history of Prohibition in Rhode Island, tension between the Irish and Italians, and the customs of a neighborhood that's changed a lot over the decades.
...All of Papa’s customers from General Fire were coming to the house to get their MOONSHINE. Not only MOONSHINE. They would stay for a shot and a sandwich. Then Papa started to make HOME BREW. He converted the kitchen and living room into a Speak Easy .The customers were ordering a SHOT AND A BREW AND A SANDWICH.
A piano, chairs and tables were brought in. An Irishman would play the piano and Mama would sing …SANTA LUCIA… AVA MARIA… O’SOLO MIA……RETURN TO SORRENTO…..MAMMA….O MARIE…. Mama had a beautiful opera voice. I loved it when she would sing for me. The basement of 103 Ridge Street became a distillery and a brewery. Profits were coming in hand over fist. It became very obvious what was going on at 103 Ridge Street. Too many men were staggering on their way out!
The Providence Police raided Papa’s SPEAK EASY. They never checked out the basement. Papa was fined one thousand dollars. That fine was well spent. Papa started to get some new customers at his Speak Easy. They were the Irish Providence Police and on occasion the Irish Judge that fined him one thousand dollars would stop in to say hello and get a few free drinks. After all, Papa was just trying to feed his family! My fathers booze tested to be of very hi grade and quality. The courthouse was good advertisement for Papa.
And there's a very modern marketing tale in here, too:
...I remember Zio Salvadooda for the big half dollars he gave to me and the flat straw hats he wore in the summers. (Zio Salvatore was called Salvadooda). After prohibition, Zio Salvadooda, I believe became the first person to ever package spaghetti sauce in jars in 1933. The label read ROSA’S SPAGHETTI SAUCE and had a picture of Mama dressed in white and a large red rose next to her. The sauce and business did well. His product sold in most of the food stores in Rhode Island. Uncle Salvatore died in his late forties from cancer in 1941.
Uncle Venonzio, (Papa’s oldest brother,) took over the spaghetti sauce business and also was doing well with it. Until the LA’ROSA Spaghetti Company claimed that they owned the rights to the name ROSA OR ANY NAME THAT SOUNDED LIKE ROSA. The name and label was changed to Mary and John’s Spaghetti Sauce with a picture of Uncle Salvadooda wearing a white chef’s hat. The magic of Mama’s picture with a large red rose on the label was missing. The sauce lost its marketability. Mama really was, MAMA ROSA! For Uncle Venonzio that was a stroke of bad luck because five years later in the early fifties spaghetti sauce in a jar became America’s number one food product....
Visit here when you have a chunk of time. The saga is long, and you don't want to skim it. Bill Coppa is a fine storyteller, and every few paragraphs a new tale begins that could be a short story of its own.
The slide show takes a long time to load -- it's loading 83 photos and Connie Francis singing Mama -- but you can click on tiny thumbnails on the photo pages to see large images at your own pace.
Do you have a family site you'd like more people to see? Let me know about it in comments or email me by clicking on the envelope icon below. We'll start a collection of Rhode Island family histories.
"It's time for Theme Time Radio Hour," Dylan growls after he is introduced, doing his best to sound chipper. "Dreams, schemes and themes. Today's show -- all about the weather. Curious about what the weather looks like? Just look out the window, take a walk outside."
You don't need a weatherman, the weatherman says when they pay him to take a new chance.
Future shows will be built around themes such as 'cars', 'dance', 'police' and 'whisky' and also feature special guests including songwriter Elvis Costello, film star Charlie Sheen, Penn Jillette, the TV illusionist, and comedians Sarah Silverman and Jimmy Kimmel. Dylan will read and answer selected emails sent by listeners - a thrill for fans who have regarded him as a Messiah-like figure of unreachable mystique.
I'm still waiting for that XM free temporary password in my hotmail inbox. Is there a podcast? If the Dylan show were a link away, I'd be there, but pay radio is a tough sell. It's still somebody else's choices. Howard Stern has faded out of the culture on Sirius, although he's chugs on in subscribers' lives.
I sent out an email to my mailing list to recruit agents. I didn't want to give away the exact nature of the prank for fear of word spreading to Best Buy employees ahead of time. I had to be as vague as possible and still make sure everyone wore the correct clothing:
In order to participate you must arrive adhering to a very specific dress code:
1) Blue Polo Shirt. Short sleeved. Any brand. Preferably with no logo. As Close to Royal Blue as possible. As close to this exact shirt as possible.
2) Khaki Pants. Any shade of khaki is fine. No shorts.
3) Belt. Any belt is fine.
Other Instructions:
-If possible, please wear black shoes. This is not required, but please wear them if you have them.
-You must also bring a NEWSPAPER (Any newspaper is fine--just grab a free one on the street.)
-If possible, do not bring a backpack or any type of bag. This is not a huge deal, but it will work better without bags.
-Do not bring any type of camera. This mission is, as all IE Missions should be, participatory. We are covering it with our own small staff of camera people and do not need any more cameras or journalists. Only show up if you are wearing the proper dress and ready to participate and have fun!
We met at Union Square North at 3:30 PM. Around 80 agents showed up, most them looking like wonderful Best Buy employees. More than a few came dressed in navy or teal, but with the belt and the khakis they still looked employee-like. After everyone arrived I explained the mission. The first step was for everyone to throw their newspapers away. The instruction to bring a newspaper was a red herring meant to throw people off the scent of the mission's true nature. I then revealed the plan, "We're heading up to the Best Buy on 23rd Street. We'll enter the store one by one. Once inside, spread out and stand near the end of an aisle, facing away from the merchandise. Don't shop, but don't work either. If a customer comes up to you and asks you a question, be polite and help them if you know the answer. If anyone asks you if you work there, say no. If an employee asks you what you're doing, respond 'I'm waiting for my girlfriend/boyfriend who is shopping elsewhere in the store.' If they question you about your clothing, just explain that it's what you put on when you woke up this morning and you don't know any of the other people dressed like you."...
Agent Scott, brought his daughters:
I was actually surprised that my kids didn't feel a little disappointed by the prank itself, because there was no, like, "big moment." Keeping on a game face and seeing their dad do something so... I don't know... ridiculous and silly and "daring" was obviously entertaining enough.
WASHINGTON -- The chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, accusing the White House of a ''very blatant encroachment" on congressional authority, said yesterday he will hold an oversight hearing into President Bush's assertion that he has the power to bypass more than 750 laws enacted over the past five years.
''There is some need for some oversight by Congress to assert its authority here," Arlen Specter, Republican of Pennsylvania, said in an interview. ''What's the point of having a statute if . . . the president can cherry-pick what he likes and what he doesn't like?"
Specter said he plans to hold the hearing in June. He said he intends to call administration officials to explain and defend the president's claims of authority, as well to invite constitutional scholars to testify on whether Bush has overstepped the boundaries of his power....
...Over the past five years, Bush has stated that he can defy any statute that conflicts with his interpretation of the Constitution. In many instances, Bush cited his role as head of the executive branch or as commander in chief to justify the exemption.
Bush made the claims in ''signing statements," official documents in which a president lays out his interpretation of a bill for the executive branch, creating guidelines to follow when it implements the law. The statements are filed without fanfare in the federal record, often following ceremonies in which the president made no mention of the objections he was about to raise in the bill, even as he signed it into law...
...Specter added: ''He put a signing statement on the Patriot Act. He put a signing statement on the torture issue. It's a very blatant encroachment on [Congress's constitutional] powers. If he doesn't like the bill, let him veto it."...
...''We're undergoing a tsunami here with the flood coming from the executive branch on one side and the judicial branch on the other," Specter said. ''There may as well soon not be a Congress. . . . And I think that most members don't understand what's happening."
"Signing statements" seem like a sneaky way to veto a bill without facing political consequences or risking a possible "veto of the veto" if two-thirds of both houses of Congress vote to override it. Any president's use of such a loophole to expand the power of the Executive Branch would horrify the founders of this nation, who so feared putting too much power in the hands of any one branch that they devised a careful system of mutual checks and balances on the president, the courts, judiciary. Congress must not be winked out of this process.
Regardless of where your political loyalties lie, an insistence that the President abide by the separation of powers built into the Constitution is a profoundly patriotic stance.
If nothing else, Specter's hearing will be a refresher course in the Constitution for all of us.
3:39 a.m. From Singapore's BigO rock magazine (the name is an acronym for "Before I Get Old"), this week's Recording of Indeterminate Origin is A Coltrane Serenade by the The Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra, Alice Tully Hall, New York, August 9, 1991:
To celebrate John Coltrane, the "house band" of Todd Williams, Wynton Marsalis, Marcus Roberts, Christian McBride, Billy Higgins and Wes Andersen are supplemented by guests Joe Henderson, McCoy Tyner and Roy Haynes.
This is a very comfortable way to get into Coltrane as the music here are among his most accessible. Dear Lord is taken at a lounge-y pace, with enough soloing to make this jazz. Coltrane’s explosive, experiential side is gently avoided. The final track Mr Symes is a sweet ballad....
... (these are high quality, stereo MP3s - sample rate of 192 kibit/s). As far as we can ascertain none of the tracks have been officially released.
Also downloadable, David Murray Octet Plays Trane, live at Chicago Jazz Festival, Grant Park, Chicago, IL, September 1, 2000.
Ten states, including California and New York, plan to file suit this week to force the Bush administration to toughen mileage regulations for sport utility vehicles and other trucks.
The suit, which the states are to announce on Tuesday, contends that the administration did not do a rigorous enough analysis of the environmental benefits of fuel economy regulations, as required by law, before issuing new rules last month for S.U.V.'s, pickup trucks and minivans. The suit will also claim that the government did not consider the impact of gasoline consumption on climate change when devising the new rules.
While the states have initiated a number of suits over Washington's environmental policies, the new suit is the first to take aim at federal fuel economy regulations....
California will be lead plaintiff in the suit, which also includes Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island and Vermont, as well as New York City and the District of Columbia....
O Click All Ye Faithful:: The nun who launched the Vatican's Web site is at work on a MySpace for Catholics, Business Week reports.
Deep inside the Vatican, a white-haired nun dressed in a brown habit opens the door to a room full of computers. The whirring machines hold some of the mysteries of the Holy See, including photographs of the Vatican Secret Archives and of ancient illustrated manuscripts. No, this isn't a movie trailer for The Da Vinci Code. Our guide is Sister Judith Zoebelein, the editorial director of the Internet Office of the Holy See. She's showing off a small but potent Vatican data center, which bristles with servers and other high-tech gear.
It's no secret that the Vatican has a fantastic Web site. It brims with fine art and practical information about the Catholic Church. The site, www.vatican.va, which comes in six languages, was even nominated for a prestigious Webby Award a few years back. But little is known about the woman who is behind it. Sister Judith, a 57-year-old American, grew up in a middle-class household in the Hamptons on the eastern tip of Long Island. She and a handful of colleagues were Internet pioneers when, in 1995, they launched the Vatican Web site. Since then, she has greatly expanded the site, including images of art from the Vatican Museums, a powerful search engine, and videos of restoration projects.
Now Sister Judith is creating a second Vatican Web site, set for launch in the fall, that is aimed at bringing together the faithful so they can interact. Think of it as MySpace.com (NWS ) for Catholics. There will be personal news updates, e-learning programs, and areas set aside for families, young people, and parishes. Collaboration is key, and that should differentiate the site from others in its genre. "People will be able to find each other and work together online, and then go back and use what they have learned or done in their own communities," says Sister Judith....
Stephen Colbert at White House press dinner; Bush challenges hundreds of laws; Why Van Gogh cut off his ear; cat deterrents for gardens
AP
Valerie Plame Wilson, a former undercover CIA agent outed by the Bush administration, and her husband, Ambassador Joe Wilson, leave a party after Friday night's White House Correspondents Dinner. The Wilsons were guests of ABC News.
Buzz: The annual White House Correspondents' Dinner. You wouldn't know, from reading Elizabeth Bumiller's account in the Times today (At Annual Correspondents' Dinner, a Set of Bush Twins Steal the Show), that Stephen Colbert -- a Jon Stewart spinoff comedy star and coiner of the word "truthiness" -- was the evening's featured entertainer.
President Bush had the press eating out of the palm of his hand at last night's White House Correspondents' Dinner. (If you need proof, a Google news search reveals more than 300 articles dedicated to the celebration of Bush and his look-alike lampooning the president for such now-innocuous foibles as mispronouncing "nuclear." If you control them, they will follow...) But it was comedian Stephen Colbert's biting political satire, and the awkward silence that followed, that brought the real "truthiness" to last night's event.
If the mainstream press' allegiance to the current administration wasn't painfully obvious enough, so far only Editor and Publisher has extensively reported on Colbert's roasting, which, in the best kind of political satire, resonated as hard-hitting political commentary disguised as stupidity in the form of Colbert's faux-Republican persona. ...
...As excited as I am to be here with the president, I am appalled to be surrounded by the liberal media that is destroying America, with the exception of Fox News. Fox News gives you both sides of every story: the president's side, and the vice president's side.
But the rest of you, what are you thinking, reporting on NSA wiretapping or secret prisons in eastern Europe? Those things are secret for a very important reason: they're super-depressing. And if that's your goal, well, misery accomplished....
Editor & Publisher notes,
Colbert closed his routine with a video fantasy where he gets to be White House Press Secretary, complete with a special “Gannon” button on his podium. By the end, he had to run from Helen Thomas and her questions about why the U.S. really invaded Iraq and killed all those people.
WASHINGTON -- President Bush has quietly claimed the authority to disobey more than 750 laws enacted since he took office, asserting that he has the power to set aside any statute passed by Congress when it conflicts with his interpretation of the Constitution.
Among the laws Bush said he can ignore are military rules and regulations, affirmative-action provisions, requirements that Congress be told about immigration services problems, ''whistle-blower" protections for nuclear regulatory officials, and safeguards against political interference in federally funded research.
Legal scholars say the scope and aggression of Bush's assertions that he can bypass laws represent a concerted effort to expand his power at the expense of Congress, upsetting the balance between the branches of government. The Constitution is clear in assigning to Congress the power to write the laws and to the president a duty ''to take care that the laws be faithfully executed." Bush, however, has repeatedly declared that he does not need to ''execute" a law he believes is unconstitutional.
Former administration officials contend that just because Bush reserves the right to disobey a law does not mean he is not enforcing it: In many cases, he is simply asserting his belief that a certain requirement encroaches on presidential power....
Having revolted against a monarchy, the founders clearly distrusted unlimited executive power .
Why Van Gogh cut off his ear: The Independent (U.K.) reviewsThe Yellow House by Martin Gayford, which details the weeks leading up to the amputation. It has to do with... St. Peter? via Robot Wisdom
No littering:Cat deterrents for your garden: Scroll down to this post at GardenWeb for an extensive list of ways to convince your cat that your flower bed is not a litter box. I've chosen the "lay down clippings of brambles and rose bushes" method as least likely to affect the soil and be washed away by rain. Don't use cayenne pepper; cats will get it in their eyes and scratch till they hurt themselves.
Sheila Lennon
is features & interactive producer of projo.com, the Web site of The Providence (R.I.) Journal
Rhode Island
Library Lookup: Updated See a book on Amazon,
reserve it at the library! PPL
Drag the 'PPL' link above to your browser's personal toolbar folder or links toolbar;
click PPL from a book's page at Amazon, etc., to search the library catalog and request the book
The number of clockwise and counterclockwise spirals in a sunflower are always two consecutive Fibonacci numbers.
Richiesoft Garden Blog, from Conwy, North Wales, has large, lovely photos. He also seems to be paralleling our seasons, showing tulips and pansies, with photos of irises and poppies in his parents' garden.from previous years.
In an email, 
Tom von Alten of 
A co-founder of West Point Graduates Against the War countered that his organization is simply following the cadets' code.
One of my earliest memories involves carrying a huge glass of orange juice upstairs to my mom on Mother's Day, trying very hard not to spill it. She waited patiently there for our sake, so we could say we had brought her breakfast in bed.
How to Microwave Bacon
HUEVOS RANCHEROS
