30 June 2007

Egypt's Pharaoh Hatshepsut Said Found




Egypt's Pharaoh Hatshepsut Said Found

The mummy of Hatshepsut, Egypt's greatest female pharaoh, has been identified, thanks to gum disease and a missing molar.


The find, said to be the most important in Egypt's Valley of the Kings since the discovery of King Tutankhamun in the early 1920s, follows a one-year investigation led by Zahi Hawass, Egypt's secretary general of the Supreme Council of Antiquities.


Hawass' work will be detailed in "Secrets of Egypt's Lost Queen," a documentary that airs Sunday, July 15 at 9 p.m. ET/PT on The Discovery Channel.


Trovo questo così molto affascinante. Quando ero un bambino, prima che ci sia una cosa come il cavo, l'unica cosa che potrebbe ottenerla che guardo la televisione per tutta la durata era un " Amo Lucy" fine settimana lunghissimo. Come adulto, potrei fare la stessa cosa con le esposizioni che si occupano dei risultati archaelogical, ma particolarmente allineo quando quei risultati sono mummie egiziane antiche. Non posso attendere per guardare questa esposizione.


I find this so very fascinating. When I was a child, before there was such a thing as cable, the only thing that could get me watching the television for any length of time was an "I Love Lucy" marathon weekend. As an adult, I could do the same thing with shows that deal with archaelogical findings, but especially true when those findings are ancient Egyptian mummies. I cannot wait to watch this show.

Congratulations Craig




On the threshold of becoming the 27th man in history to collect 3,000 career hits, Craig Biggio stepped out of the batter's box and called a brief timeout as the sellout crowd at Minute Maid Park chanted his name.

BIG-GI-O! BIG-GI-O! BIG-GI-O!

Once he settled back into the batter's box, he ripped an RBI single to center field to collect his third hit of the night and the 3,000th of his 20-year career, sending the sellout crowd of 42,537 into a five-minute ovation unlike anything seen in Houston outside the 2005 World Series and the Rockets' 1994 and 1995 NBA titles.



He is the epitome of class and a strong work ethic. A true hero in the world of sports. He will always be one of my favorite players for who he is on and off the field. I was at his very first game with the Astros. I was at the first one for Bagwell and the dear departed Caminiti. I'm glad Jeff was there and so wish Ken could have been, but I know Ken was cheering him on from the beyond.

Thank you Craig for the wonderful years you have given to this great sport, my baseball team, and my city. Thanks to your wife and children for sharing you with us all.

You will always hold a special place in my heart for what you did for my daughter some 14 years ago at Astrofest. You, Casey Candale, Shane, DK, Ken(gawd I miss both of you), Jeff, among a few others.

I wish I could have been at Minute Maid for your 3,000th, like I was at the Dome. You've been catcher, 2nd base, and outfield. You've gone to the All-Star game for 2.

A little rundown:

  • He hit his 3000th hit on June 28, 2007 at 9:14 PM (CST), to a sold out crowd at Minute Maid Park.
  • He is the only player in Major League Baseball history with at least 600 doubles, 3,000 hits, 250 homers and 400 steals.
  • He led the majors in runs scored in 1995 and 1997 and in doubles in 1998 and 1999.
  • He became the first player in baseball history in 1997 not to hit into a single double play while playing an entire 162 game season. Two players had previously played an entire season with the same feat, but did not play in as many games in their respective seasons.
  • He scored 146 runs in 1997, which is the most of any National League player since the Chuck Klein of the Phillies' scored 152 runs in 1932.
  • He tops the Astros' career list in games played, at-bats, runs scored, hits, doubles and extra-base hits.
  • He holds the record for most regular season games played before his first World Series appearance with 2,564.
  • In 1998 he became the second player to have 50 stolen bases and 50 doubles in the same season. The only other person to accomplish this is Tris Speaker, a Hall of Famer.
  • He holds the National League record for most lead-off home runs in a career with 52. He is 2nd in behind Ricky Henderson who sits at 81.
  • And last but not least, Biggio is a 7-Time All Star and considered by many to be a future Hall of Famer.

29 June 2007

Bigné Chardonnay




Oggi sono andato al mercato mondiale e mi sono comprato due bottiglie del bigné Chardonnay. Proviene dalla California centrale. Desidero che potrei segnalare come ha un sapore, ma il vino era caldo in modo da attualmente sta raffreddando. Indovino invece di prova di ottenere un secondo alberino dentro stasera in una lingua che sto dovendo tradurre usando un dizionario Italiano-Americano, io preferibilmente invierò il mio ultimo alberino di settimana di lingua domani, sabato.


translation


Today I went to World Market and bought myself two bottles of Cupcake Chardonnay. It is from central California. I wish I could report how it tastes, but the wine was hot so it is presently chilling. I guess instead of trying to get a second post in tonight in a language I am having to translate by using an Italian-American dictionary, I will instead post my last language week post tomorrow, Saturday.

What Do You Know?




PubQuiz

Così ho trovato questo quiz su Spiegel in linea. Ho ottenuto 11 di 12. Ho mancato quello circa gli avvoltoi. In ogni modo, gradico Spiegel in linea. Riguardano le cose che non vedo nella mia carta locale o nel NYT per esempio.

So I found this quiz on Spiegel Online. I got 11 of 12. I missed the one about vultures. Anyway, I like Spiegel Online. They cover things I do not see in my local paper or the NYT for example.

28 June 2007

what can I say




Yesterday, I was a bad girl Abbott. I just really did not have a damned thing to say. So, I guess I'll do two posts today.

Ancora realmente non ho un molto da dire. Ho preso oggi la mia neonata al dentista. Sembra in qualche modo ha rotto un dente ieri, un molare nessun più di meno. Ho pensato che fosse di sicuro uno dei suoi denti di bambino. È un dente permanente. Abbiamo dovuto prendere un appuntamento con un orthodontist per vedere quale itinerario sarà preso. Odio vedere il mio bambino nel dolore.

Translated:

I still really do not have a whole lot to say. I did take my baby girl to the dentist today. Seems she somehow broke a tooth yesterday, a molar no less. I thought for sure it was one of her baby teeth. It is a permanent tooth. We had to make an appointment with an orthodontist to see which route will be taken. I do hate seeing my baby in pain.

26 June 2007

Appena un gemito o un farneticamento se (Just a whine or rant if you will)




Faceva caldo oggi. Mentre la temperatura in se non era male, aggirare intorno a 88-92F (31-33C), l'umidità era insopportabile, con esso sensibilità come 102F (39C). Era il genere di giorno che quando punto all'esterno, voi ritenete come se faceste un passo appena dall'acquazzone. Amo mio luogo natio, ma il ragazzo fa io odia le estati.


or

It was hot today. While the temperature itself was not bad, hovering around 88-92F(31-33C), the humidity was unbearable, with it feeling like 102F(39C). It was the kind of day that when you step outside, you feel as if you just stepped out of the shower. I do love my hometown, but boy do I hate the summers.

25 June 2007

Thanks Dixie


The link above explains it far better than I probably can.

Provando la mia mano all'italiano e sperando sono piuttosto grammaticale corretto. Eventualmente alcuni indigeni non saranno offenduti da qualche cosa che potrei ottenere errato.

Amo ascoltare il di lingua italiana. Amo bere il caffè italiano dell'arrosto. Inferno, amo l'alimento italiano. Spero forse l'un giorno persino per muovermi là, in modo da sto pensando che quello imparare la lingua sia piuttosto di importanza fondamentale.

Translation:

Trying my hand at Italian and hoping I am somewhat grammatically correct. Hopefully any native speakers will not be offended by anything I might get wrong.

I love listening to the Italian language. I love drinking Italian roast coffee. Hell, I love Italian food. I hope maybe one day to even move there, so I am thinking that learning the language is rather imperative.

Ora, se siete un indigeno, cadere prego una linea e lasciarlo sapere ho fatto.

Now, if you are a native speaker, please drop a line and let me know how I did.

The baguette is back

The baguette is back

Steven Laurence Kaplan

GOOD BREAD IS BACK

A contemporary history of French bread, the way it is made, and the people who make it376pp. Duke University Press.$27.95; distributed in the UK by Combined Academic Publishers.£16.99.978 0 8223 3833 8

To be a baker’s boy in eighteenth-century Paris must have been pretty close to hell. You were effectively a slave, both to your master and to the intricate demands of sourdough fermentation. The working “day” began close to midnight. Wearing rough, uncomfortable underwear made from old flour sacks, you were forced to knead as much as 200 lb of dough at a time, using nothing but your hands and – in desperation – your feet. This kneading took place not once but many times over the night, usually in a clammy cellar too dark for you to see what you were doing, and so hot that the dough sometimes melted before it had risen. The baker’s boy in charge of kneading was known as le geindre, the groaner, on account of the blood-curdling noises he made as he worked. When you were finally granted rest, sometime in the morning, you were obliged to sleep in the blinding heat of the bakery. After three hours, you were forced to wake up again, to minister to the sourdough starter, which, like a newborn child, required round-the-clock feeding. In 1788, the journalist Louis-Sébastien Mercier described how unhealthy bakers’ apprentices looked. Unlike butchers’ boys, who were robust and ruddy, bakers’ boys were flour-coated wretches, huddling in doorways, haggard and white.

23 June 2007

Archaeologists discover 3,000yo Egyptian mummy



Archaeologists have discovered the 3,000-year-old mummy of a high priest to the god Amun in Egypt, antiquities supremo Dr Zahi Hawass has told the official MENA news agency.

The 18th Dynasty mummy of Sennefer was unearthed in a tomb in the Valley of the Kings in the southern city of Luxor - one of the most famous archaeological sites in the world, by a team from Britain's Cambridge University.

Revolutionary? Authentic? Stolen?

The Story of the Archimedes Manuscript

For 2,000 years, the document written by one of antiquity's greatest mathematicians was ill treated, torn apart and allowed to decay. Now, US historians have decoded the Archimedes book. But is it really new?

When the Romans advanced to Sicily in the Second Punic War and finally captured the proud city of Syracuse, one of their soldiers met an old man who, surrounded by the din of battle, was calmly drawing geometric figures in the sand. "Do not disturb my circles," the eccentric old man called out. The legionnaire killed him with his sword.

That, at least, is the legend.

22 June 2007

It's been a few days

Knut Keeps Cool, Naturally

New infrared images reveal that Knut is staying cool in the heat -- much to the relief of fans who worried the little furball might be overheating. Meanwhile his keeper Thomas Dörflein has been nominated for a medal for his services to Germany.

18 June 2007

Wait, there's more

Keeping an eye on transgenic crops

Did you know that genetically modified, or "transgenic" crops are now commonplace on North American farms? According to a recent survey in the United States, the majority of Americans have no idea just how pervasive this technology has become. In fact, North Americans have been eating transgenic foods and using products made from their crops for over a decade. So, what kind of effect, for better or for worse, are these crops having on the environment?

It really sucks that I can find so much of this

The high cost of opening the door to GM crops


AN INTERNATIONAL coalition of independent scientists is gathered today in Brussels to present evidence for a worldwide ban on genetically manipulated crops. They will present "damning evidence piling up against the safety of GM food and animal feed" to the European Parliament.

While Europe considers new gene technologies that offer advanced alternatives to GM, Victoria is looking backwards. Government and industry powerbrokers want to lift the bans on commercial GM canola. If they allow GM food crops into Victoria, our clean, green, GM-free food bowl will end. All Australian canola-growing states banned GM crops in 2003. Victoria may be the first domino to fall if the Bracks Government decides to lift the ban next February.

It's a Franken Food kinda day

Genetically Engineered Foods May Cause Rising Food Allergies - Part 1

and

Genetically Engineered Foods May Cause Rising Food Allergies - Part 2

The huge jump in childhood food allergies in the US is in the news often [1] , but most reports fail to consider a link to a recent radical change in America’s diet. Beginning in 1996, bacteria, virus and other genes have been artificially inserted to the DNA of soy, corn, cottonseed and canola plants. These unlabeled genetically modified (GM) foods carry a risk of triggering life-threatening allergic reactions, and evidence collected over the past decade now suggests that they are contributing to higher allergy rates. Food safety tests are inadequate to protect public health. Scientists have long known that GM crops might cause allergies. But there are no tests to prove in advance that a GM crop is safe. [2] That’s because people aren’t usually allergic to a food until they have eaten it several times. “The only definitive test for allergies,” according to former FDA microbiologist Louis Pribyl, “is human consumption by affected peoples, which can have ethical considerations.” [3] And it is the ethical considerations of feeding unlabeled, high-risk GM crops to unknowing consumers that has many people up in arms.

GM Potato Controversy - A case with disturbing implications for present day science

GM Potato Controversy - A case with disturbing implications for present day science

Two years after the release of the first GM plant, the FLAVR - SAVR tomato in the USA in 1995, there was still not a single publication in peer-reviewed journals probing into the safety of GM foods. As this was of public and scientific concerns..the Scottish Office Agriculture, Environment and Fisheries Department (SOAEFD, as it was called then) called for research proposals to investigate the safety of GM foodcrops; their possible effects on the environment, soil, microorganisms, animals, and whether they presented any risks for human consumers.

this weeks food of the week is....

Figs

Did you know that figs are the most concentrated source of phytosterols of all of the World's Healthiest Foods? Plant sterols are plant compounds with chemical structures similar to that of cholesterol. While animal sources of cholesterol are easily absorbed and can raise cholesterol levels, phytosterols are difficult for the body to absorb. Because phytosterols so closely resemble cholesterol, they can actually help block food-based cholesterol from being absorbed into the bloodstream. The end result is that more cholesterol is excreted from the body, which helps reduce total blood cholesterol levels. Figs are also a good source of dietary fiber, especially soluble fiber, another nutrient known to help reduce cholesterol levels as well as normalize blood sugar levels. Plus, figs have great flavor and a unique combination of chewy, smooth and crunchy textures. So, be sure to enjoy these delectable fruits as part of your Healthiest Way of Eating while they are in the peak of! their season and available in your local markets.

17 June 2007

FYI on Soy

Are there special concerns related to soy foods?


We include soy as one of the World's Healthiest Foods, and for good reason. It's the most widely grown and utilized legume in the world, with about 13,000 years of cultivation and over 5,000 research studies. There are studies that show soy to help regulate blood sugar, blood pressure, and estrogen balance. And there are studies showing soy intake to help prevent colon, breast, and prostate cancer, as well as atherosclerosis and post-menopausal hip fracture. It's seldom the case that a whole, natural food can be this widely used and studied for such a long period of time and have predominantly negative impact on our health.

14 June 2007

Ok my little history buffs

Have ya seen this?

Rome Reborn

June 11, 2007 - How do you say megabyte in Latin? Ancient Rome was reborn—as a virtual city—today, when a team of American and Italian academics unveiled Rome Reborn, a real-time 3-D computer reconstruction that allows visitors to navigate the ancient city as if it were 320 A.D. again. Thanks to the complex software run on PCs, modern visitors can fly over the ancient city, pan down into the Colosseum, cruise the Roman Forum and stroll into the Senate building. The aim is to provide a new tool for scholars of the ancient city to imagine how the buildings may have looked in greater detail than two-dimensional models afford.

Is it?

I've never really been a fan of the man, but I think he's knocked this one outta the park.

Is Europe's Health Care Better?

In his new film Sicko, gadfly Michael Moore's latest target is the US health-care system. He makes his case that it is expensive, unfair, and leaves nearly 47 million Americans uninsured. The director's answer to the US national crisis? Europe. Across the Atlantic, France, Britain, and most other Old World countries long ago took the plunge into universal health insurance and have made it work, with varying degrees of success.

10 June 2007

Food of the Week

Garlic

Although garlic may not always bring good luck, protect against evil or ward off vampires, it is guaranteed to transform any meal into a bold, aromatic and healthy culinary experience.

Fresh, dried and powdered garlic are available in markets throughout the year, however, fresh varieties from California are in season from June through December.

Garlic is arranged in a head, called the "bulb," averaging about 2 inches in height and diameter consisting of numerous small separate cloves. Both the cloves and the entire bulb are encased in paper-like sheathes that can be white, off-white or pinkish. Although garlic cloves have a firm texture, they can be easily cut or crushed. The taste of garlic is like no other-it hits the palate with a hot pungency that is shadowed by a very subtle background sweetness. While elephant garlic has larger cloves, it is more closely related to the leek and therefore does not offer the full health benefits of regular garlic.

08 June 2007

Where is that pink daisy razor

He was a mentor to me. One of my favorite chefs and as I approached my final graduation, a friend.

He was 65 and died of a heart attack in his sleep. He was the first instructor hired for the culinary program at my school and all the recipes we used in the first few labs were his creations. He designed the program. He taught there for 13 years and realistically probably taught half the people working in kitchens in this area (4 new classes a year).

The chef instructors, faculty, staff, and students are numb. Everyone knew him, even those not in culinary. Everyone in culinary loved him.

One friend said, he was so good, why does it seem the good ones always leave us.

He loved when he would taste a students food and it wasn't seasoned enough, he would taste, then begin with this 'can you hear that'? What chef the student would always ask. Then he would very quietly say 'hep me' in his Swiss-German accent. Student would respond with a pardon me or something like that. He would say, the food, it is screaming 'hep me' I NEED salt.

He was hysterical and had a wealth of knowledge about food and cooking. He began as an apprentice in Switzerland when he was 9 years old. Not a typo, NINE years old. He left home and lived in a room above the kitchen and for 2 years was essentially a slave to the chef, but he said he woudln't have done it any other way because of all he learned.

He came to here by accident. He was flying somewhere else (South America somewhere) and in mid-flight, the pilots went on strike. His plane was closest to here, so that's where they landed. This was 1966. He was stuck here with little money and no way to get anywhere, but he could cook. He went and got a job and stayed here. He was going to retire in a year or so and move back to Switzerland.

I was at work when I got the call. Work is maybe a mile from school, so I went there. It was really hard, seeing these men, chefs (like baseball, there's no crying in the kitchen) that are always so tough and stoic, all looking as if they had just been crying or could not wait for their class to end so they could go cry.

I'm really freakin bummed and feel like I could cry for days. I'm gonna miss him.

Oh yeah, the reason God required Peter home. He was tired of his food tasting like Peter's wife's food and/or being totally bland. We did have a laugh over God's lasagna screaming 'hep me'.

God bless you Chef and thank you.

04 June 2007

Happy half-Birthday baby boy

Knut Celebrates Six Glorious Months


Just born: Knut was born on December 5, 2006 in Berlin Zoo and spent his first weeks in an incubator after his mother Tosca rejected him.


At seven weeks, Knut was clearly starting to enjoy life.



His first public appearance on March 23, when he was three-and-a-half months old, was a global media event and the Knut show got started.




Here at four-and-a-half months: Fed a porridge of fish, catfood and vitamins, Knut thrived.


At five-and-a-half months, he had turned into a shaggy fighter.


Now, at six months, he's taking on the unmistakable shape of a predator.






Knut turns half on June 5 after six glorious months for Berlin Zoo which has hand-reared the celebrity polar bear from a guinea pig-sized baby into a powerful 28-kilo fighter. He'll be spending the day munching fish and playfully biting his faithful keeper Thomas Dörflein. It's a friendship that can last six more months at most.

01 June 2007

Well if that's not one of the sweetest things ever




Herd of Cows Adopts Young Wild Boar in France

In a touching example of the lion lying down with the lamb, a young wild boar has been adopted by a herd of cows in France.