Foodpairing - attempting to explain what we taste

FOODPAIRING
This is a fantastically interesting site that attempts to break down the flavors we taste in common foods to explain why certain combinations work--"foodpairing", or how we can substitute one food for a combination of others--"interchangeable." I love this kind of food science.

One of my favorite books is called Cookwise by Shirley Corriher, which dissects the science behind how cooking affects food, and then goes on to describe how to cook and combine different foods to get the desired texture, flavor and smells. This site is a tangent of the work in that book (not that they are related) just in my own head.

Because I love artichokes with an intensity and consistency that boggles my mind, here you have THE AMAZING ARTICHOKE:

FreeRice

Test your vocabulary skills and donate rice to end world hunger. FreeRice

Because I'm vain

I'm in the middle of chewing in this picture (I said before that I didn't have a good picture of myself!) I do admit that my mother looks exactly like Zsa Zsa, so I probably do have some resemblance.



So, I tried another photo from the same exact day.
What do you say when both Julia Roberts, Chevy Chase, Barak Obama, Uday Hussein(!) with a nasty 5 o'clock shadow and VIN DIESEL supposedly look like you!@!$@#$%? I should be flattered with the Julia, Nancy and Eva comparisons, but I'm fixated on the men. I'm insulted! I don't look anything like Vin Diesel. Notice also that there is not one repeat between my first picture and second. And let's get real. I look nothing like Julia, Nancy or Eva. If I did I wouldn't be here blogging to no one.


Here are my husbands' look alikes. NO Vin! Notice there are no women in his look alikes! Argh!

And, I tried another one of cute hubby:

Again, none of them are the same. Of course, my pictures suck, so I don't blame them. I think they have done an incredible job and it's a lot of fun!

Celebrity Look Alike Software or How to Waste Time at Work

Condoleeza Rice? That Ciara chick looks nothing like Nat. She's just got her head tilted the same way. The only one I see remotely similar is Norah Jones. I think Nat is just too beautiful for comparison!


Now this is funny. My son has mostly women look alikes, but their percentage matching is much closer than my daughter. I don't think any of these folks look like him (he's much more beautiful!). Where do they get Serena Williams! And whoever Conner Oberst is, he looks nothing like my kid. Oh well. I would try myself, but I have so few pictures of me, I can't find one that is straight on.

Go check it out, it's a blast and I think the finished product is slick.

Mooch Me

Looking for a book? Come mooch one from me at BookMooch.com



Give away your books at BookMooch.com

National Registry

I met the company that created this website at a seminar this weekend and I thought it is a great idea. It's a website where you can check to see if a deceased friend or family member has left behind unclaimed retirement benefits. Often these benefits are not listed in the State Unclaimed property website. I'm going to send the link to a friend that is active with Estate attorneys. These are the attorneys that frequently handle wills, estates (probate), guardianships and trusts for people. You must have the person's social security number to search the National Registry.

WHERE DO THEY LEARN TO POSE?!!!

Etsy :: Colors

More fun than a left-brain person should be allowed to have!
Etsy :: Colors

GPS Alarm Shoes for Sex Workers on Gadget Lab

I want.

The Meaning of Life

Randy Pausch, a Carnegie Mellon University professor with only 3-6 months to live, gives his Last Lecture on campus as part of a speaker series. This lecture speaks to the heart of what life is, and what to do with it. Read up People!

Layer Tennis?

I've never heard of it. Not that I should have--I'm not in that industry, but this is the neatest internet game/competition. These guys are so creative. I hope they have a blast and generate a ton of business for themselves. Ok, check it out: Coudal Partners' Layer Tennis Presented by Adobe CS3

These are so much fun!

xkcd - A webcomic of romance, sarcasm, math, and language - By Randall Munroe

My new favorite daily comic.

Germs taken into space can come back meaner than before

HITCHHIKER: Wherever humans go, germs are along for the ride.

POWERFUL: Scientists sent salmonella on a space shuttle and found that it killed mice in space more quickly than initially identical germs on earth.

CHANGES: Researchers found 167 genes had changed in the salmonella that went to space, possibly due to a force called fluid shear.

September 24, 2007 - 4:24 p.m. Copyright 2007, The Associated Press. The information contained in the AP Online news report may not be published, broadcast or redistributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press.

Who knew the AP had a sense of writing style.

SPIDER WORLD

Ok, so I haven't had time to blog in forever, although there have been times when I have wanted to. But this is so cool, I have to share.

I love when nature does her funky thing and shocks the H-ll out of us. Check out this picture of giant spider webs at Lake Tawakoni State Park (in Texas, 45 min. from Dallas).

This site has a chronology of the discovery of the web, including comments from Kim Feuerbacher, who happened upon the web a few weeks before it was discovered by the park rangers. She describes what she and her son saw on a bike ride as something out of a science fiction movie. The webs were about 9 feet high and strung across several trees and bushes.

It also describes the discovery by the scientific community of the types of spiders that created the phenomenum. The excitmement of the discovery is palpable. I loved reading about it.

Check out this email from one entemologist just last week:

From: Hank Guarisco/FHSU
Date: 09/06/2007 03:04PM
Subject: spider aggregation at Lk Tawakoni

I have answered the call of the park manager, Donna Garde, for a spider
specialist to check things out. I have been here for several days and am
making some very interesting observations. Do you know of any
Tetragnatha species that has exhibited this kind of behavior? I don't.
The females are actively building webs at night, and the males wander
around. They are often only 1-3 inches apart. It is really amazing. I
heard you identified about 10 species that Mike Quinn sent to you. Would
you please send me the list via email? I am glad you verified the
Tetragnatha guatemalensis. I recognized Neoscona crucifera (only a few),
Larinioides cornutus, Phidippus audax, Agelenopsis and probably
Barronopsis texana, Argyrodes elevatus and their distinctive egg sacs,
Paraphidippus aurantius, Eris militaris, one Argiope aurantia. There are
many Larinioides that come out at night and build webs over everything.

I have seen 2 instances of adult male T. guatemalensis feeding on penultimate males of the same species, five predation events of P. audax on the Tetragnatha, 4 mating events. The egg sacs are everywhere and they are hatching out. The spiderlings start
building webs among the silk strands which are going everywhere. Deep inside, there is Anelosimus studiosus, but not as obvious or common as I originally suspected.

I have been in contact with Gail Stratton, and she advised me concerning what to focus on. It is quite overwhelming at first! A lot of fun. I hope to return in a few weeks to take more data for a paper in JOA concerning the facultative aggregation.

Hank Guarisco
Adjunct Curator of Arachnids
Sternberg Museum of Natural History
Fort Hays State University


I wish I could go see it, but since our September is booked, I'm grateful for those that have posted pictures on the web for us to see.