Cheeses such as Cheddar, Swiss, blue, Monterey Jack, Brie, Gouda, mozzarella, and Roquefort, as well as process American cheese, exhibit a potential protective effect against tooth decay… (National Dairy Council)
Did I mention that I love cheese? I knew that it is nutrient rich in protein and calcium, but its relation to oral hygiene is [good] news to me, an avid cheese devotee. Though my diet may sometimes be sparse in this expensive city, I will never give up my cheese supply. Cheese: probably the single reason I am not a strict vegetarian.
June 2009 edit: I am now a vegan. How amazing it is I can turn my diet & cravings around!
Day one of testing the latest stable release (1.1.2) of the Flock browser. It markets itself as a social browser, integrating various social sites such as Facebook, Twitter, Flickr and LiveJournal. I tried an earlier beta version last year – on my PC – and while I found it to be promising, I still preferred the standard Mozilla Firefox browser. Well, look, I’m giving it another go!
At the moment, I’m using their built-in ‘Blog Post Editor’ that lets me write to both my domain blog and my LiveJournal. Other features I’m going to try: the Twitter, Flickr and Facebook toolbar and Flickr photo updater. The only gripe I have right now is knowing that these integrative features will never fully replace the actual application and sites – it’s still relatively limited. For example, I still have to login to Wordpress to make use of features like tagging. But for simple purposes, quick updating is certainly useful.
Sometimes a picture, or a comic in this case, is really worth a thousand words. If the Olympics were not chosen to be held in Beijing in the first place, would there be such a widespread scrutiny on China’s human rights practices?
The other day I saw an article plastered on a Metro paper (Sweden) about the introduction of a female symbol on crosswalk signs. I couldn’t find the proposed image anywhere on the internet, but it’s more or less a silhouette of a feminine figure with curves/hips, wispy hair and a dress. read more…
Summer travelers, beware! Suspiciously, fees are being applied at around the same time – during this month of May. ( See: “You’re charging me for what?!” by Kate Hamman – SmarterTravel.com)
I remember feeling appalled last year when I made the move to New York from California after learning that Virgin America charges extra ($10) for a second baggage. Weren’t travelers always allowed two complementary baggage spaces? For someone who is moving across the country, being limited to one is considerably restrictive. Thinking back, I could have shelled out extra (after all, it was only $10) and saved my new roommate and me a lot of sweat and pain lugging that 60-pound piece up 4 flights of stairs – if only I knew the trend, the standard, now: extra fees for that second bag. According to SmarterTravel.com, major airlines including United, American, Continental and Delta are charging up to $25. Virgin America is also hiking it up to $25. At least JetBlue’s fees are only $20? read more…
Next time you’re strapped for cash and bitter you have to pass on going out with your friends/co-workers/roommates, you should consider that about half the world lives on two dollars or less a day. Though it’s unfair to compare to the standards of living in developing countries, it’s still fair to say that at least most of us are not completely starving. I suddenly feel more okay with being unemployed. Honestly.
Did you know that all the deaths associated with poverty (i.e. hunger and disease) could be alleviated with an estimated $195 billion a year? Several of the world’s wealthiest countries pledged to donate 0.7% of their national income for aid; however, the United States came in last in its progress last year. (Information and data taken from Poverty.com’s International Aid page)
Here are some related resources to check out:
- Freerice.com lets you “learn free vocabulary & give free rice.” No, you don’t lose your “grains of rice” if you get your word definition wrong!
- Print a letter to your government officials to support international aid.
- Food force is an educational game for kids.
- World Food Program is the official site.
I like lists. Here is a tiny list of websites/technologies I currently enjoy. User-centered websites and user-generated content are all the rage.
- Rebtel lets you call abroad on-the-go for cheap or free (if you are located in one of the ‘Rebtel countries’), bypassing the need to use your computer. Since I call out-of-country quite frequently, this is incredibly useful. I haven’t paid a cent to Rebtel; the international part of the call had always been free to me. I haven’t fully broken up with Skype though.
- Muxtape is so simple, but maybe that’s the appeal. It has one of the cleanest and simplest interface I’ve ever seen. You can’t download your mixtapes, but it’s still an easy way to quickly share your mixes online.
- Surf the Channel sure has a lot of channels. I don’t download TV shows (really!), so I go here sometimes to watch missed episodes.
- Pixish is new. I haven’t really tried it, but it seems like a good idea for freelancers!
- Common ties is also new. If you’re a freelance writer or designer, it may be good to check out. But Postsecret is still my first love.
I know my list is severely lacking/incomplete. Rather than stealing someone else’s list to put on here and call it my own, I’ll just link you to someone else’s list directly. I know, how annoying of me. Here’s CNN Money/Business’s Web 2.0 list.
I am in love with parks. You really do develop a deeper appreciation for parks when everyday you are surrounded by the busy chaotic city and even when you tune things out with an iPod and a book, you are always interrupted by others’ music or service announcements or ’suspicious’ activities.
- Central Park, Manhattan
The only time I would probably go here is after work; it’s only a few subway stops from the SoSauce office. Otherwise, it’s a bit out of the way for a large constructed piece of nature in the middle of upper Manhattan. While vast and clean, it’s clearly superficial– half of it is fenced off for “preservation”, and the other public parts– especially the Meadow, is too populated. It’s spring, so people still have a chance to nab a lucky spot in the shade! I sound bitter, but when you don’t want to leave the City, it’s still a nice place to grab a pretzel and lie down and enjoy the landscape… towering buildings poking out from the trees.
- Prospect Park, Brooklyn
I’m madly in love. You can go fishing here. I could count more than a few lakes/ponds and fields and other scenic nature components. It’s big enough (yet small enough) that you can get lost without really being lost. Several turns could make you end up in front of an ice rink near a lake or have you across the street from McDonald’s. But when you lie in the middle of a meadow, you can’t see buildings poking out and maybe you can pretend you’re not in New York. I’ve gone 3 times this month though it’s hell to get there… I’d either have to take a train to the City and transfer back to Brooklyn, or walk for about an hour to get there.
- Fort Greene Park, Brooklyn
The landscape reminds me of Dolores Park, San Francisco, except it has a fort, Ft Greene. It’s hilly, with proper amount of trees and open spaces. I say it’s a great community-sized park, decent for picnics, although not big enough if real isolation is needed.
First, it started with searching for my name. Just so you know, I am definitely not used to having my name plastered everywhere on web pages, much less a domain name of my actual name. So, searching for my exact name did not render myself, but of distant strangers. Not surprising. In my earlier internet years, I was hung up on aliases. I wanted to remain anonymous and I was semi-successful; that is, you couldn’t find me if you searched my full name… but if you searched the right keywords, you’ll find me.
And what do you get when you type in any of those? I’m scattered about. I believe I’m most notable for my free diary designs (made mostly for Diaryland), and my “Which Sylvia Plath poem are you?” online quiz (back when online quizzes were novel, and arguably more interesting — in the early OKcupid days).
I’m glad I finally have my own name out here in the virtual world now. I own it.
…well, maybe not exactly. This is my first attempt at jotting down thoughts in a very public domain, a place with my name written all over it. I’m no stranger to blogging, but I am a novice at regularly writing. Here I go, right now, at past 2 in the morning, when life is indeed Totally Awesome.