Sunday, June 1, 2008
[CheapStingyBargains] Dell Monitors from Dell Small Business
ASUS P5K-E / WiFi-AP Socket 775 Motherboard $107 at Frys.com
TaylorMade r7 Draw Golf Driver at Dick's - $120 shipped ($115w/FC) and bonus $5 PG Rebate
Philips 42" 1080p LCD TV at Costco $999.99
ASUS P5K-E / WiFi-AP Socket 775 Motherboard $99.90 (outpost.com)
华硕笔记本再登珠峰
2007年5月24日早晨7点，华硕笔记本随珠峰业余登山队登顶珠峰，成为世界上第一台登顶珠峰的笔记本电脑。
2008年4月，奥运圣火将第一次登上珠峰，华硕将继续为中国登山队提供全程IT技术支持。
"在珠峰上用笔记本，这本本的质量可够好的呀！"——这是我（或许还有不少人）的第一反应。珠峰太高了，封顶的最低气温常年在零下三四十摄氏度。山上一些地方常年积雪不化，冰川、冰坡、冰塔林到处可见。在这样的低温条件，本本能受得了吗？
首先是本本的液晶屏幕。很多材料在低温环境下都会变得很脆，容易损坏。液晶也不例外。温度太低，液晶冷却成为晶体，液晶屏就变成黑屏。都黑屏了，本子还能正常使用吗？
再次是本子的电池。电池能供电，靠得就是里面的电化学反应。温度低了，反应就慢了，离子也跑不动了，电量就不足了。启动慢，屏幕暗，这些问题也就来了。
电池的待机时间也是个问题，在户外充电是不方便的吧。
然后是本子的抗震性。登山时有太多不确定性因素，身体可不像平常走路时那么平稳，偶尔摔跤也是正常的。笔记本这样晃荡来晃荡去，硬盘等部件是很容易损伤的。
最后，笔记本在低温环境使用后，放入包包里面，会不会产生水汽。如果有水汽，发生短路，烧坏笔记本也是有可能的。
上面是从物理、化学、机械振动方面，分析了笔记本在珠峰这样恶劣的环境下会碰到的一些问题。这让我想起了SMT方面的一些知识，都快全忘了。
华硕笔记本确实不错，能在这样恶劣的环境测试通过，肯定花费了很多工程师的不少心血。
我的习惯性观念是：在这种环境还能正常工作的笔记本，在平常环境下的表现肯定很稳定，甚至更出色。
以上只是我的观点，朋友们请自辩！
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Pete Wentz Mercedes Blunder
After popping into a local Rite Aid today, Fall Out Boy frontman Pete Wentz had a little luxury mix-up.
Pete tried to get into a big black shiny Mercedes before realizing it wasn't his!
Apparently, the car was a Mercedes S550 (*scoff*). Pete quickly headed over to his nearly identical Mercedes S600 (aaaaah, that's better), smiling and laughing the whole thing off before heading out.
Who hasn't been there? Except with us, we mistook a wood-paneled Dodge Caravan for our wood-paneled Chrysler Town & Country. Wow. That was embarrassing.
Photos by JRI/CHRIS
Eric Dane Brings the Steam to 3rd Street
Eric Dane lived up to his Grey's Anatomy nickname today by looking totally swoon-worthy (or, steamy, if you prefer) while grabbing lunch with friends at celebrity stomach-filler, Joan's on Third.
Is it just us, or does Dane look strikingly like Brad Pitt in the (above) photo on the left? Like, circa Cool World minus 3 vertical inches of hair?
Eric must be a fan of Joan's. We spotted him and his Porsche there not so long ago. At least he wasn't eating a bowl of JOS's finest nacho cheese like this guy.
Click any image to browse the gallery of America's second favorite hottie doctor (opinions are like a**holes, people).
Photos by MATEI/DANIELLE
Eric Dane lived up to his Grey's Anatomy nickname today by looking totally swoon-worthy (or, steamy, if you prefer) while grabbing lunch with friends at celebrity stomach-filler, Joan's on Third.
Is it just us, or does Dane look strikingly like Brad Pitt in the (above) photo on the left? Like, circa Cool World minus 3 vertical inches of hair?
Eric must be a fan of Joan's. We spotted him and his Porsche there not so long ago. At least he wasn't eating a bowl of JOS's finest nacho cheese like this guy.
Click any image to browse the gallery of America's second favorite hottie doctor (opinions are like a**holes, people).
Photos by MATEI/DANIELLE
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
What Do Nick Lachey and Peter Frampton Have in Common?
An escalator. That's what.
The former Mr. Jessica Simpson, Nick Lachey, returned to Los Angeles today. After landing at LAX, who did the crooner run into whilst riding down the electric staircase? Peter Frampton! (Remember Frampton's hi-larious Geico commercial? He also made famous the voice-distorting Talk Box recently used by David Cook on American Idol.)
After shaking hands with Frampton, Nick headed to the curb where his lady love Vanessa Minnillo picked him up and headed off.
Fancy that.
Photos by MO
An escalator. That's what.
The former Mr. Jessica Simpson, Nick Lachey, returned to Los Angeles today. After landing at LAX, who did the crooner run into whilst riding down the electric staircase? Peter Frampton! (Remember Frampton's hi-larious Geico commercial? He also made famous the voice-distorting Talk Box recently used by David Cook on American Idol.)
After shaking hands with Frampton, Nick headed to the curb where his lady love Vanessa Minnillo picked him up and headed off.
Fancy that.
Photos by MO
Claudia Schiffer, Now SHE is a Ski Bunny
Ah, Claudia Schiffer. Somehow, bundled up in all that insulated clothing, you still radiate sexiness. It's unfair, really. Add on top of that, that you have given birth to two children, and the unfairness level just skyrockets.
Today, the supermodel was spotted in Verbier, Switzerland on a little skiing vacation with her husband Matthew Vaughn, and two children (Caspar and Clementine).
There was skiing, wearing of goofy hats, and building of snowmen. Luckily, Claudia's snowman was significantly less scandalous than the one seen here (read: Claudia's snowman's carrot actually formed a nose).
Click any image to see Claudia and Clementine build a snowman in between trips down the slopes.
Ah, Claudia Schiffer. Somehow, bundled up in all that insulated clothing, you still radiate sexiness. It's unfair, really. Add on top of that, that you have given birth to two children, and the unfairness level just skyrockets.
Today, the supermodel was spotted in Verbier, Switzerland on a little skiing vacation with her husband Matthew Vaughn, and two children (Caspar and Clementine).
There was skiing, wearing of goofy hats, and building of snowmen. Luckily, Claudia's snowman was significantly less scandalous than the one seen here (read: Claudia's snowman's carrot actually formed a nose).
Click any image to see Claudia and Clementine build a snowman in between trips down the slopes.
More Stone, Less Weiner (dog)
Yesterday, we brought you highlights from a biker chic Sharon Stone shopping in Paris with her weiner (dog). (We know, we know. We're about 5 years old.)
Today, Sharon stepped out in a more demure outfit, but with equally amusing eyewear. Sadly, her weiner (dog) did not accompany her today. Ms. Stone dropped into Dior today, presumably to buy another pair of bizarrely fashionable sunglasses, big enough (of course) to necessitate that ginormo (real word) bag.
Click any image to see the pics of Sharon Stone's Parisian Dior (and Starbucks) excursion.
Yesterday, we brought you highlights from a biker chic Sharon Stone shopping in Paris with her weiner (dog). (We know, we know. We're about 5 years old.)
Today, Sharon stepped out in a more demure outfit, but with equally amusing eyewear. Sadly, her weiner (dog) did not accompany her today. Ms. Stone dropped into Dior today, presumably to buy another pair of bizarrely fashionable sunglasses, big enough (of course) to necessitate that ginormo (real word) bag.
Click any image to see the pics of Sharon Stone's Parisian Dior (and Starbucks) excursion.
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
Keep your eyes on the ball
These kinds of articles from the New York Times and Wired about the proposed Microsoft-Yahoo acquisition really get to me. Why? They’re premise is all wrong. When it comes to whether Microsoft will acquire Yahoo, it’s not about winning and losing the deal. No matter what happens, the next day will come, and the next, and the next. And it’s what Microsoft does with these days that’s really at issue–whether with Yahoo or not.
The trouble signal is not whether Microsoft tries and fails, but whether they are hungry enough to do anything at all. Lack of hunger is the killer of most every tech enterprise I’ve been around. The engineers have to be hungry. The sales staff has to be hungry. The executives have to be hungry. You have to have the drive to try. You have to have the capacity to keep going despite all odds. Tomorrow’s success will quiet the fiercest fortunetelling naysayer.
What I see that’s so promising about all of this is that Yahoo is expressing their hunger right now as it tries to position itself better and Microsoft is expressing their hunger as they try to find the sweet spot on the web. I see losers in neither of them.
Would you give up Outlook?
Robert Scoble twitters: “My Microsoft Office trial is over. I am not spending $450 just to get Outlook. Gmail and Google Calendar win this game: big time.”
and:
“I’ve been watching my usage. In two months I’ve only used Outlook out of the entire Office Suite. Everything else? Moved onto online servcs.”
Yep, the bells are tolling for Office–at least the 1990s Office.
I wonder how fast the transition might be for many of us from Office to some other product. Remember Wordstar in the 80s? And WordPerfect in the 90s? Will we soon be saying the same for Word/Outlook in 2010? Sure is going to be interesting to see how things unfold. I’m voting on change. Who’s change, I don’t know yet. In the past, I would have given the edge to Microsoft, but hmmm… The calculation isn’t as easy as it once was.
I rarely use Office apps too, except for OneNote. The rest of Office I use most often when I have to interact with others in large companies. For the little things, or when working with others I use Google Docs.
If you use C#, do you need spec#?
Scott Hanselman talks to the spec# team at Microsoft.
What is spec#? It sits ontop of C# and according to its website provides:
“The Spec# programming language. Spec# is an extension of the object-oriented language C#. It extends the type system to include non-null types and checked exceptions. It provides method contracts in the form of pre- and postconditions as well as object invariants.
The Spec# compiler. Integrated into the Microsoft Visual Studio development environment for the .NET platform, the compiler statically enforces non-null types, emits run-time checks for method contracts and invariants, and records the contracts as metadata for consumption by downstream tools.
The Spec# static program verifier. This component (codenamed Boogie) generates logical verification conditions from a Spec# program. Internally, it uses an automatic theorem prover that analyzes the verification conditions to prove the correctness of the program or find errors in it.
A unique feature of the Spec# programming system is its guarantee of maintaining invariants in object-oriented programs in the presence of callbacks, threads, and inter-object relationships.”
Here’s an overview in PDF form.
I haven’t taken more than a couple minutes to see what spec# is, but I can see where the general idea of programming by contract is a reasonable one for some cases. Is this implementation discoverable and valuable enough not only to the human, but the computer? I’m not so sure. Worth checking into.
[Found via thred.com\msdev]
The iPhone isn’t what I want
I hope you’ll indulge me for a few minutes. I have something I need to take care of. It’s rather personal, so I hope you don’t mind.
I need to talk with my iPhone.
iPhone?
You’re beautiful. You’re a wonderful device and a pleasure to be with out on the town. And it’s not just me that admires you. You know the looks you get wherever we’re traveling around. And you’ve made a difference in my life too. I appreciate that. With you I’ve stayed more connected with family and friends. You’ve shown me how to enjoy TechMeme and Twitter and Thredr on the go. And with no other device have I enjoyed so much checking the weather, or stock prices, or using the stopwatch, or alarms. Plain and simple, you’ve been there when I needed you. (OK, minus a few dropped calls.)
However, no matter how much I enjoy our time together, I’ve come to realize that it’s not working out. It’s time for a change.
I know there’s not much I can say at this point, however, please understand it’s me not you. Simply, I need more.
I’ve come to realize I need a larger display. Your display is gorgeous and fine for infrequent web browsing, however, since I’ve known you I’ve come to realize how important browsing is to me and now I accept the fact that your display is not for me.
I also need a good camera. Life is too short and too fast not to capture photos of what I want. Just an example: You know I’ve had some issues keeping track of my various medications this past year. I know I could have typed them into your notepad, however, I really wanted to take pictures of the medicine bottles and labels so I’d have all the information with me all the time. However, your pictures are just too blurry. I can make out some of the details on the labels, but I know now I need more.
I also need video. Yes, I’ve seen an app online that looks promising, however, I don’t know if this will ever be something we can use together….you know, jailbreaking makes me uncomfortable. And even I were to get over the jailbreaking part, I see now that I need direct connectivity to the Internet so I can broadcast live. I want to experience Qik with my device.
I also know now that I need more of a browser. You’re cute and all and a blast to surf with. And I never realized how much I enjoy pinching just for the fun of it. However, I miss Flash. When we first got together you knew how important Flash was to me, however, for whatever reason I realize you couldn’t adjust. And, frankly, I’m tired of you cutting out all signs of Flash and just leaving tiny blue boxes. Truthfully? It just seems so petty to do this to Flash. I don’t understand why we couldn’t just get it to work out.
And then there’s Silverlight. As a developer I have to keep trying out new technologies and seeing what they can do. I need Silverlight. And I’m not going to accept more cut out blue boxes whenever Silverlight shows up. I’m not going to live that way.
And while I’m being completely honest, I need to be up front and tell you that I need a device which is more connected. WiFi is great at home, but on the go, you’re not the same. Sometimes when we’re searching the web at a store or in the car, you just sit there. I can’t tell if anything is happening. You show a little bit of blue in your address bar, but I can’t read you. I can’t tell if I’ve done something wrong or what. It drives me crazy. I need more.
Where am I going now? Well, despite the fact that I still think you’re the best “MID” out there, I’ve decided I need a MID. A real MID. For me, a MID is just the right size, with just enough connectivity and power to give me the browser experience I want, and to provide me with a camera I need. I realize I’m giving up something great for the hope of something better, but as an early adopter I have to.
And as a programmer, I need the freedom. I know theoretically I can add whatever features I need to you. However, you come with so many rules and restrictions, I always feel like I’m being held back and wearing a straightjacket. I don’t think you trust me. I don’t think you appreciate what I can do for you. I enjoy writing programs that make our lives better and help people. With you I feel like I’m being held back. MIDs are offering me the freedom I want.
I’m sorry about this, iPhone. I realize I committed to another year with you, but I think we need to reconsider this. I’m willing to share our settings for another year if you like, but it can’t be an exclusive. I need to move on. Well, take some time, recharge yourself, and let me know what you think.
I know I’m going to kick myself for letting the best thing go, however, I need to try something different. I’m not going to be happy staying here and it’s not fair to you if we stay together and we don’t get along.
It may be tough for awhile, but give it some time. I know it’ll be the best for the both of us.
Translating the Obvious
DRUDGE REPORT FLASH 2008®
Hillary Clinton’s inner circle now fears a stinging defeat is likely in North Carolina.“Look, we worked hard and gave it our best shot, but the demographics, well, they are what they are,” a top campaign source explained to the DRUDGE REPORT as voting began Tuesday morning.
The campaign now believes a 15 point loss, or more, would not be surprising. Her team will work hard throughout the day to lower all expectations in North Carolina.
Here’s what this “leak” to Drudge really means. Hillary now expects to lose North Carolina by five points or less. What her people are trying to do is manage the expectations to make that loss look like a smashing victory (which, in reality, it probably would be).
Today is not going to be a good day for Barack Obama. But I doubt it will change the ultimate outcome. The media, so thoroughly in the tank for Obama, won’t let it.
Blabberwhacky from the WSJ
The Housing Crisis Is Over - WSJ.com
Since then, house prices have fallen 10%-15%, while incomes have kept growing (albeit more slowly recently) and mortgage rates have come down 70 basis points from their highs. As a result, it now takes 19% of monthly income for the average home buyer, and 31% of monthly income for the first-time home buyer, to purchase a house. In other words, homes on average are back to being as affordable as during the best of times in the 1990s. Numerous households that had been priced out of the market can now afford to get in.
This is just more of the usual rah-rah bullshit from the WSJ, always jawboning economic blemishes into invisibility.
What this article misses is that the “housing boom” didn’t occur nationally. It occurred locally, in major urban areas. Places like my home town, Muncie, IN, had a high affordability rating right through the boom. It was places like my current hometown, San Francisco, where affordability plunged to levels like 12 percent. And it’s still low. In fact, it remains quite low for most of California.
We are still in the earlier stages of the great housing bust. Two years from now, re-read this article, and have a good laugh at the author’s expense.
only in california
Major drug bust at San Diego State University.
Those arrested included a student who was about to receive a criminal justice degree and another who was to receive a master’s degree in homeland security.
“A sad commentary is that when one of these individuals was arrested, they inquired as (to) whether or not his arrest and incarceration would have an effect on him becoming a federal law enforcement officer,” said Ralph Partridge, special agent in charge of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration in San Diego.
Yep. You’ve got to wait until after you become a Fed to break the law.
Big Brother (Is Watching Your Heart - and Liver - and Triglycerides….)
New wi-fi devices warn doctors of heart attacks - Times Online
The Bluetooth wireless technology that allows people to use a hands-free earpiece while making a mobile telephone call could soon alert the emergency services when someone has a heart attack, Ofcom predicts.
The communications regulator said that sensors could be implanted into people at risk of heart attack or diabetic collapse that would allow doctors to monitor them remotely.
If the "in-body network" recorded that the person had suddenly collapsed, it would send an alert, via a nearby base station at their home, to a surgery or hospital.
However, Ofcom also gave warning in its report, Tomorrow's Wireless World, that the impact of such technology on personal privacy would require more debate.
This was inevitable. I’m surprised, in fact, that it hasn’t already been implemented. And this won’t be the end. Look for full-body health monitoring on a 24-7 basis, coming soon. It may only go to your home computer, which will contain diagnosis programs, or it may go into the cloud somewhere. But it’s coming. And I expect geezers like me, who are looking for every little edge we can get to help us over the hump into real longevity, will be among the first to snap it up.
Powered by ScribeFire.
Lots of Microsoft-Yahoo questions
This weekend I don’t know how many times I was asked by friends and neighbors whether I thought the Micorosoft acquisition of Yahoo was going to go through. In particular, I was surprised at how many non-technical people are following the possible deal. The reality is though, I don’t have a clue what’s going to happen. No one does.
Like Mary Jo Foley, the Wall Street Journal and others I have heard rumblings about the proposed deal. Most tech people I know are against it. I’m not, but then again I’m often wrong, so I’m probably on the wrong side of this one. I accept it.
Why do I think a Microsoft-Yahoo mindmelt would be a good idea? It would give Yahoo market leverage and it would give Microsoft new blood–new thinking. The tricky part for both is that Microsoft needs to be careful not to go too overboard in its acquisition so that once if does go through, if ever, that it has the financial strength to leverage it. Likewise, it’s got to be careful not to discourage the Yahoo employees that it very well could benefit from. Same goes for Microsoft’s employees. I also nonsensically like the idea of Microsoft expanding its Bay Area focus. What can I say? I love California–Seattle, not so much.
No matter what happens though, I doubt it’ll have much impact on what I or many of the people I know use or do.
I remember when Microsoft purchased Hotmail. This was one acquisition I was against. The reputation for Hotmail email was terrible. Now, it’s not, even if the name is kind of 1995ish. It just goes to show how things adapt and change.
Monday, May 12, 2008
Heading on Down the Road
Commentary » Blog Archive » The View from the Continent
What they don't seem to understand is that ending U.S. involvement in the war won't end the war. In fact, if Obama or Clinton follow up on their stated commitments, it is likely to trigger mass death and possibly genocide, revitalize al Qaeda, strengthen Iran, and further destabilize the region. The irony would be that the plans laid out by Democrats, if followed, would increase, not decrease, Iraq's dominance of American foreign policy. An Iraq that is cracking up and caught in a death spiral is not something that even a President Obama or Clinton could ignore.
Actually, this analysis is incorrect. We will have a Democrat in the White House next year, and Democrats will control both houses of Congress. And there are too many markers all of the victors will owe to the anti-war left wing of their party, which will be in no mood to accept half measures. Therefore, we will immediately begin withdrawing from Iraq, and I would expect that most of our troops will be gone within a year. (Iran will put a damper on the violence long enough to let the Democrats do what the Mullahs most want, which is get the hell out).
Afterwards, Iran will simply carve up Iraq into the parts it wants, (where the oil is) and the parts it doesn’t care about (where the oil isn’t). In the process, the Sunni minority will be ethnically cleansed, and there won’t be a damned thing Saudi Arabia can do about it.
It isn’t commonly recalled this way, but when Nixon pulled us out of Vietnam, his withdrawal was much less precipitate than the new Dem president’s will be, and he left South Vietnam in better shape to resist the North. Nonetheless, that wasn’t enough for vengeful Democrats, who made sure that not only would South Vietnam get no men from us, it would get no more arms or money, either. Shortly thereafter the South collapsed, and hundreds of thousands were slaughtered, and hundreds of thousands more vanished into camps. Many never came out again.
Did America or the rest of the world care? No, not beyond braying about how the collapse demonstrated how thoroughly the commies had defeated America and its puppet military.
It will be the same in Iraq. Iraq will vanish in a quiet bloodbath, and Greater Iran will emerge. The Sunni and the Shia will then be oil equals, and free to resume their internecine war that has been on hold the past few decades while both united against a US presence. Once we are gone, they will be free to return to their millennial efforts to slit each others’ throats.
In the end, that may be the best solution after all. I don’t care if they all murder each other over there. They are only nominally civilized, and barbarian savages do tend to engage in final solutions. As long as they turn their attention to each other and leave us alone, I have no problems with it.
We will have to find some substitute for the energy they export to us, but we will. The price of oil guarantees it. (And sometimes I wonder if Bush isn’t smarter than he looks - by deliberately declining to do anything effective to manage energy policy in this country, he has effectively ceded that management to the free market. And the free market always finds a better way than statist interventions.)
The world will look very different two years from now. It’s going to be an interesting time.
Of course, you know what the Chinese say about interesting times, don’t you?
Oh, hey! The Chinese! Remember them?
McCain + RINOs = “Real Disaster”
TheHill.com - Gingrich warns GOP of 'real disaster’ this fall
Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) is calling on Republicans to seek “real change to avoid a real disaster” in the wake of another Democratic victory in a special election on Saturday.
In a letter to House Republicans posted on www.newt.org, Gingrich urges House leaders to call an "emergency meeting" of House Republicans to address what he describes as a "catastrophic collapse of trust in Republicans."
Forget it, Newt. You’re not going to lure conservatives back to this shit sandwich banquet. There are some decent GOP folks in congress, and they’ll ride this out. But as for the party? The “real disaster” it has been begging for is going to happen. What survives will be the better for it.l
Luddite Dumbasses
Megan McArdle (May 05, 2008) - Kindling a flame in my heart
From a comment:
I have some books that I have owned and used for 25 years. I am confident that they will still be usable for the rest of my life, and indeed for several generations hence. Any kindle users willing to make that bet about their eBooks?
I have some books chiseled into stones. I am confident they will still be usable ten thousand years from now. Who needs a Kindle? I have an abacus. I am confident it will still be usable ten thousand years from now. Who needs a computer? I have a sharpened stick with a charcoaled point.
Look. Why don’t you just say you hate progress, and have done with it? Obsolete technology is obsolete technology. No harm in clinging to it because you’re a fogey. Hell, my dad refused to have a push-button phone, and he never mastered the high technology of a VCR player. It didn’t make him a bad person.
But for gawds sake, please stop trying to convince the world that your chiseled rocks are better, okay? Just admit you’re permanently mired in the first and second millenniums, grampy, and leave it at that.
Sunday, May 11, 2008
He’s Got Nothing
Is It Jaw-Jaw or War-War? - HUMAN EVENTS
Is war with Iran inevitable, even imminent? Or is peace at hand?From the public diplomacy of the administration, either conclusion may be reached.
Consider.“West Offers Iran ‘Refreshed’ Deal,” ran the headline in the May 3 Washington Times. The story described an offer to Iran, agreed to by all five members of the Security Council — the United States, Britain, France, Russia and China — of a sweetened grand bargain, if Tehran will suspend its enrichment of uranium.
Blessing the offering in London was Condi Rice.
Details will not be made public, but the offer is said to include Western aid to Iran for a civilian nuclear program, a light water reactor and a five-year stock of enriched uranium held for Iran by the International Atomic Energy Agency.
America’s contribution would be support for Iran’s admission to the World Trade Organization, a conference to discuss regional security in the Gulf, a U.S. offer to sell Iran spare parts for its U.S.-built civilian aircraft and a beginning of the lifting of three decades of U.S. sanctions.
News of this offer, plus the relaxed mood in Washington, which is utterly unlike the tense atmosphere prior to March 2003, suggests that war with Iran is far from the mind of this city.
Or the nation’s president.
Wasting their time …
It will
The commission is also to increase the amount of raw audiovisual material which it already provides free of charge to audiovisual media professionals and will increase its own production of videos to illustrate or explain EU policies.
This is on the basis that TV and radio channels remain the preferred medium of information for most people so that, if the commission wants to reach a larger audience, it must go down this route.
However, as always, it is wasting its time – and our money. Although, in Eurobarometer surveys financed by the commission, "EU citizens" express a desire to be better informed about EU issues, the fact is that there are plenty of information sources available – not least this blog.
The main reason why people are ill-informed is because they do not want to be informed, or cannot be bothered to find out – not least because EU affairs are so damn boring. Furthermore, even if they could care less, their national media establishments are much more interested in domestic issues.
Nothing the commission can do will change all this, but it does mean that there will be a lot more money sloshing around, some of it to find its way into the pockets of that band of journalists who will push the EU line whenever they have the opportunity.
COMMENT THREAD
'Raw Power' indeed
Done properly, eating raw food isn't just part of your life, it becomes your life.
During the past 30 days, I've learned definitively I don't have the time or, frankly, the interest it takes to live at such a high raw threshold: Soaking and sprouting seeds or nuts before I can eat them, sorting through the reams of advice and counter-advice, monitoring the minute details of my digestive process. It's just not for me.
That's not all I learned, however, when I gave up meat and dairy products and anything cooked above 118 degrees. And though I was initially determined not to, I even gave up coffee (mostly because I ran out of beans before I had a chance to buy more).
With those things off limits, I found myself necessarily paying closer attention to the food I've been eating. Because I've prepared much of it myself, I know what ingredients comprise pretty much everything I have ingested, and that's surprisingly empowering. It's also what I'll take with me as I return to a more inclusive diet.
There are parts of the raw-food diet I'll keep. Salads of sprouts and dark, leafy greens, for example, and breakfast smoothies, along with certain dishes that were delicious. I'll be eating more fruits and vegetables and way less processed food.
I also plan on eating meat and cheese and bread, and by the time you read this, I will have already brewed myself a hot cup of dark-roast coffee.
I doubt the level of raw food in my diet will qualify for what raw foodists call "high raw," but that's OK: Henceforth, I don't mind getting most of my "Raw Power" from Iggy & the Stooges.
Spicing things up
The beauty of a fantasy is that it can change at will.
Instead of that lonely tropical island I longed for, I am now on a yacht, sailing warm, calm seas. I am still alone.
Well, almost alone.
There is a chef on board — a culinary master with unimaginable skills. She knows Thai. She knows Indian, Mexican, Cajun, Asian, Caribbean. And, yes, she knows raw.
Tropical green smoothies for breakfast. Luscious salads for lunch. And endless, eclectic delights for dinner.
With so many choices in the world, and so little time to enjoy them, why would I settle for just one option?
After 30 days of eating exclusively raw foods, I am hungry for variety. That doesn't mean I won't carry a lot with me from this experiment. My eating habits definitely have changed permanently. I'm not willing to forgo the extra energy I feel or to regain the small amount of weight I have lost, which makes exercising so much easier.
And although this is a healthful way to eat, it's not the only healthful way, and I don't see my life taking me down an exclusively raw path — mostly because of its limitations, but also because I am just not an extremist in anything I do.
So I won't be sad to leave this experiment behind, but I won't be going back to SAD, either.
I envision eating salads, smoothies and chia seeds daily. Soaked nuts, almond butter and almond milk are here to stay. Raw agave and honey will be my sweetener of choice. Processed foods are mostly part of my past. But I will be eating dinner with my family and dining out with my friends in moderation. My choices on those occasions will no doubt include more raw, but not exclusively.
What I won't miss? The monotony. Green juices. Multiple trips to Whole Foods. Thinking today about what I'm having for tomorrow's dinner. And my bathroom.
Will I ever eat exclusively raw again?
Only if my yacht sinks, my chef drowns and I end up stranded on that island after all.
A New Balance In Post-Raw Diet
Yesterday's paper carried essays from the three of us explaining what we plan to do, post-raw. Here's what I wrote. Be sure to check back on the blog in two weeks, and then in a month, to see how we're doing.
There's a perception that this month of going raw has been about deprivation, that a celebration of burgers and fries awaited at the end. But for me, that would be beside the point of going raw in the first place. And it's not at all how I've been looking at this challenge.
I wanted to give raw food a go to quiet the frenetic pace I had found myself in -- eating on the run, chewing on sugary sweets, slapping meals together without much thought. I felt tired and burned out, and I hoped a living-foods lifestyle would be the pick-me-up I needed.
None of us came to raw to tackle a major health problem, as a lot of people suffering from chronic illness or obesity do. And that's where you'll hear a lot of the stories of staggering transformations, of people vibing big-time on raw.
Still, it's fair to say I saw my own tangible shifts. Did I find the raw bliss I envisioned? No. Do I feel better, lighter and more alert? Without question. I no longer rely on a java jolt to wake me in the mornings, and I don't have the afternoon slumps that drew me to the office coffeepot for another cup. I've learned there's a lot more variety and pleasure in eating raw than I expected. And I've found a balance that keeps me energized enough to sweat through my evening spinning classes.
Am I going 100 percent raw? I don't see that in my permanent future. But I see it for today, tomorrow and probably next week. I figure, I'm in a raw groove and feeling good, so I might as well stick with it until I decide it's not working for me. Why fix what ain't broke?
Still, rigid rules aren't my bag. So I'm certain I'll find my way to the coffeepot and an order of grilled salmon soon enough. I enjoy those things too much to swear off them for life.
But for now, I'm keeping as high a raw diet as is practical in the daily grind and seeing where it takes me.
Hello, Freedom
People keep congratulating us -- like we've done something special.
But people set challenges for themselves all the time, diet or otherwise. They succeed. They fail. They try again.
But they don't do it with hundreds of people watching.
So on this evening, during the last few hours of our little experiment, that's what I'm looking forward to most. Not breakfast, but the choice to choose what I eat without it being so public -- the choice to fail or succeed without letting anyone else down.
Don't get me wrong. I've truly enjoyed most of this, but I'm not sure I could have done it without the pressure of everyone watching.
So I don't feel that I have done anything that challenging or special. The people who are conquering real challenges are the raw foodists who are constantly bombarded with the memory and smells of cooked foods but resist eating them because they believe it is what is best for mind and body.
So I'm happy to be out of the public eye, but I'm willing to let you know what I'm eating for breakfast on the first day of my new semi-raw life:
One piece of sprouted-grain toast with organic butter and raw honey, chia seed and almond milk pudding and organic freshly squeezed oj.
The rest of the day is for my eyes only.
Bye-bye Raw?
People have been asking me what's on the menu for my breakfast tomorrow, the first official meal outside the confines of this raw experiment.
Answer: Probably a greens-and-fruit smoothie.
You can read more in tomorrow's paper about what exactly the three of us plan to do, post-raw. But I'll just say this much. I wasn't looking at this challenge as, well a challenge. It wasn't an experiment of deprivation with the reward dangling at the end of 30 days to pig out. In fact, it didn't feel very depriving at all. I came to this month of raw out of curiosity, and to see if I could dust off some good health habits that had fallen to the wayside. I had a slow, frustrating start. But standing on this side of 30 days, I'd say mission accomplished.
One of the coolest things about this process, though, has been the response. I've heard from a good number of people who've said reading along has made them reflect on their own dietary choices, and think a little harder about what they're putting into their mouths and onto the table for their families. It doesn't have to be a question of 100 percent raw or nothing. Cutting back on sugar and packaged foods, putting out more fresh fruits and vegetables, scaling back on caffeine. Even my mother, come to find out, has been inspired to make green smoothies her breakfast and lunch staple. (We'll set aside the fact she has some strange combinations. Romaine lettuce, fruit and...red bell peppers?)
All these little steps that people have told me they're making can add up to big changes. I fully believe that.
Last weekend, I finally had a chance to watch an advance review copy of "Raw for 30 Days", the documentary film that, in part, inspired our experiment. (None of us, however, came into this trying to treat a major health issue). The movie's new title is "Simply Raw: Reversing Diabetes in 30 Days" and it's set to premiere at the Newport International Film Festival in Rhode Island in June. It's a provocative film and worthwhile viewing for anyone exploring the connection between food and illness. Hopefully it'll spark an important conversation about the way we look at health and medicine in this country.
So am I going 100 percent raw? I won't answer that right now. But the question is, if I do, do you think my editors will let me change my byline to Courant Raw Staff Writer?
Thank you and goodnight
Today is the last day of our 30-day raw-food diet.
First, to all my colleagues who predicted I'd quit halfway through, thbbbbbbbt!
Seriously, though, I've learned a lot over the past month. Raw food is more than just twigs and berries, for one thing. In fact, it can be delicious, and was especially so Sunday night when we three went to Pure Food and Wine in New York.
But it wasn't cheap. The diet as a whole isn't cheap. Raw foodists say the food bills normalize once you get a better sense of what, and how much, you'll be eating. But the diet just really isn't for me.
As I said at the outset, I like cooked food. Giving up meat and dairy (and bread and so on) for 30 days was definitely an interesting experiment in getting by. But I did it. Eventually, I even gave up coffee, though that was mostly because I ran out of beans before I had a chance to buy more. (And no, I don't feel more energetic or alert.)
I'll be incorporating all those things back into my diet, though I'll be much more watchful about how I do it. Making most of my meals at home, from natural ingredients, let me know exactly what I was eating, and I like that enough to not forswear it just for the sake of a cheeseburger. Well, not every day, at least.
Wining and Dining
One of my main sticking points with raw has been this air of rigidity that swirls in certain circles. Even if you think you're doing a heckuva job eating 100 % raw, there's someone eager to point out that well, actually, those almonds you're eating aren't really raw, and you should be careful about how much fruit you're eating, and you shouldn't be drinking water with your meals, or eating fruit with your salad, and it sounds like you're getting too much salt -- no, not enough - no, too much salt in your diet.
It can be paralyzing, this constant correcting. My first two weeks I had this sense that no matter how thoughtfully I went about my food choices, I somehow was still doing raw wrong. When you get these bits of discouragement coming at you from different directions, you just want to throw your hands up at the impossibility of it all. I can understand the enthusiasm people might have to share what's worked for them, but it can be counterproductive in what should be the real goal : to encourage people on the path to making healthier choices and give them reason to keep going. Otherwise, it just becomes about being able to wear the "100% raw" label. And who exactly is keeping score?
Which is why our celebration dinner at Pure Food and Wine in New York on Sunday was so refreshing. Forget the fact that the meal, from appetizer to dessert, was absolutely delicious, with each innovative dish presented like a little piece of artwork. But there was no sense of raw vs. cooked judgment around the dinner tables. About 14 or so people, all at their own levels of commitment to raw foods, came along with our raw coach, Glen.
I particularly liked something that Frank Giglio said. A local raw food chef with an inspiring story, he just came back from a 10-month apprenticeship at The Tree of Life Rejuvenation Center in Arizona and is training for a 100-mile endurance run this summer. (That's not a typo. 100 miles. Non-stop. Fueled by raw foods. Really).
There are so many raw food gurus out there, he said, each with a different take. He suggested people not get so caught up in all their various "rules", but to take in all the information and try things on for size. What fits, keep. What doesn't, toss. Trust your intuition. He told a great story that bordered on parable about his friend, a vegan-raw foodist who lives out in the wild somewhere. She had been weak and underweight, and started having recurrent dreams about eggs -- not part of a vegan diet. When she woke one morning to find a chicken had laid an egg on her bed, she figured it was as clear a sign as any. Veganism aside, she started adding raw eggs to her smoothies. Sure enough, her strength and energy came back.
My intuition tells me pretty strongly that I can skip that raw egg idea entirely. But now I'm wondering what to make of the weird dream that I had last night. I'll tell you if anything strange shows up on my bed tomorrow morning.
******
If you can't stand the heat...
...sneaking a peek in the kitchen at Pure Food and Wine.
I had these asparagus and avocado nori rolls for an appetizer. (No, not sushi!) The rice, I'm told, is made from a jicama base.
My main dish, a flavorful saag paneer with "rice."
The flourless chocolate cake that Cindy and I had. She declared it "the best dessert I've ever had."
Charmed, I'm Sure
This started out as the hardest weekend of all. So close to the finish line, yet still too far to go.
I'm ready to be finished. So ready. During my trip to the market this weekend, I found myself stuffing my cart with goodies for my family. A horseradish cheddar. Marinated olives. Steaming, creamy lentil and coconut Thai soup. Then it hit me. These weren't foods my family wanted. These were foods I wanted.
I bought it all anyway. I made them eat it.
That was Saturday. Sunday was better.
Great actually. First I got to meet Joann's delightful sister, Donna, our guest blogger, who was kind enough to walk me around the city with Joann for several hours before our dinner at Pure Food and Wine in New York -- 14 "raw foodies" hooking up for a gourmet meal. Everyone was charming and the food was fabulous. We had three courses, and I had my first glass of wine in more than six weeks. I had a mushroom and white asparagus appetizer; white corn tamales with raw cacao mole, marinated mushrooms, salsa verde and avocado as my entree; and the flourless chocolate cake for dessert. The first two courses were tasty, but the dessert was outrageous. In my limited experience, raw desserts are by far the best of the magic that raw food chefs are able to create. (I even caught one member of our party, who shall remain nameless, licking his dish.)
I can't possibly remember everyone's name, but Joann, Eric and I sat with Glen Colello, Lisa Storch and Frank Giglio, a really nice guy aptly named because of his honest and direct answers to my questions (although the mother in me is a little freaked out by his goal to run 100 miles in under 30 hours.)
It was refreshing to hear from him that each person has to to search for what works for her, that trying to live someone else's rigid dogma is a sure way to fail. He's been eating raw for a while now, and I gathered that he's eating really high on the scale, very few nuts and fats. But he's not grossed out by the smells of grilling food, and it did my mother's heart good to hear him say how fondly he remembers the food from his childhood. His understanding of the world's temptations was comforting and went a long way toward easing some the of the guilt I'm feeling about certain things I plan to eat after Tuesday. (Hey, that's tomorrow!)
We didn't get home until 1:30 in the morning, so I'm running on about 4 hours of sleep today. In my pre-raw life, I would have dragged myself out of bed and been dragging myself around the rest of the day, counting the hours until bedtime. But I feel good. Good enough, in fact, that I'm going to the gym tonight. Not bad for the old gal in the group.
Saturday, May 10, 2008
More raw treats...
...because who doesn't love pictures of (unusual) foodstuffs?
As I mentioned, I brought back raw snacks that I picked up in New York last weekend to sample with Eric and Cindy. Some were bigger hits than others.
Raweos cookies? An obvious crowd pleaser. Soft and chewy, sweet and chocolatey? You can't go wrong. (Er, except for that $8 price tag. And that just gets you nine teensy morsels).
The essene bread ($6 for a small box) and cashew cheese ($7.50 for a tiny knob) were tougher sells. Made from dehydrated sprouted grains and vegetables, the "bread" is really more of a crispy cracker. I liked it okay, though it definitely goes better with a dip or spread. The others weren't so impressed, rendering it about as dry and flavorless as cardboard.
I had high hopes for the cheese. But the truth is, cheese is cheese. There's no recreating it. This one was made from cashews and a probiotic called acidophilus. It left a sour aftertaste, and, sadly, the remainder ended up in the trash can.
Early on, the three of us bemoaned the lack of a cereal crunch in our diets. There are plenty of raw granola recipes around, but my issue with them is they tend to be heavy on the nuts.
The folks over at Living Intentions got wind and sent us some samples of their soon-to-be-released granolas, made from sprouted buckwheat, sunflower and flax seeds and coconut, dried fruits and protein powders. We sampled two kinds -- hemp & greens and cacao & agave. I had to shoo my (non-raw) colleagues' paws away from the cacao flavor, in particular. But I'll be snacking on both once they hit the stores.
One last morsel for you to chew on. Our trio finally made it out for lunch together this week at Alchemy, an organic raw and vegan restaurant just a few minutes from the office. We noshed on great salads and smoothies (I had a tasty almond milk and chai concoction, and a hummus dip that was as close to the real thing that I've tasted).
Once we were happily stuffed, co-owner John Zito brought out a plate of raw confections and melt-in-your-mouth chocolates. So rich and delicious, all you needed was a bite (or two) to satiate your sweet tooth.
The How’s And Why’s Of Link Baiting
Linking could very well be the perfect candidate for the office. Your website is no good if there is no traffic coming in for a look at it. One of the jobs of a search engine optimizer is to ensure that a website gets sufficient traffic or visitors coming in.
Hyper linking or linking takes an SEO’s efforts forward by a jump by getting people to either link to a client’s website or else link someone else’s website to the client site.
There are various techniques that SEO’s make use of to accomplish this, link baiting being one of the more popular ones. Link baiting rides on the concept of drawing visitors to a particular site based on the manner in which the content is written.
The content can be a sounding board of co-related ideas or it can be a pool of controversies; either way it has to possess the ‘buzz-factor’ in order to draw second-looks and get attention from a wide reach of interested individuals. Source: http://alwaysthebestoftheweb.blogspot.com/
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