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When you embellish interior spaces with houseplants, you're not just adding greenery. These living organisms interact with your body, mind and home in ways that enhance the quality of life.
Breathing Easier
When you breathe, your body takes in oxygen and releases carbon dioxide. During photosynthesis, plants absorb carbon dioxide and release oxygen. This opposite pattern of gas use makes plants and people natural partners. Adding plants to interior spaces can increase oxygen levels.At night, photosynthesis ceases, and plants typically respire like humans, absorbing oxygen and releasing carbon dioxide. A few plants –orchids, succulents and epiphytic bromeliads –do just the opposite, taking in carbon dioxide and releasing oxygen. Place these plants in bedrooms to refresh air during the night.
Releasing Water
As part of the photosynthetic and respiratory processes, plants release moisture vapor, which increases humidity of the air around them. Plants release roughly 97% of the water they take in. Place several plants together, and you can increase the humidity of a room, which helps keeps respiratory distresses at bay. Studies at the Agricultural University of Norway document that using plants in interior spaces decreases the incidence of dry skin, colds, sore throats and dry coughs.
Purifying Air
Plants remove toxins from air –up to 87% of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) every 24 hours, according to NASA research. VOCs include substances like formaldehyde (present in rugs, vinyl, cigarette smoke and grocery bags), benzene and trichloroethylene (both found in man-made fibers, inks, solvents and paint). Benzene is commonly found in high concentrations in study settings, where books and printed papers abound.
Modern climate-controlled, air-tight buildings trap VOCs inside. The NASA research discovered that plants purify that trapped air by pulling contaminants into soil, where root zone microorganisms convert VOCs into food for the plant.
Improving Health
Adding plants to hospital rooms speeds recovery rates of surgical patients, according to researchers at Kansas State University. Compared to patients in rooms without plants, patients in rooms with plants request less pain medication, have lower heart rates and blood pressure, experience less fatigue and anxiety, and are released from the hospital sooner.
The Dutch Product Board for Horticulture commissioned a workplace study that discovered that adding plants to office settings decreases fatigue, colds, headaches, coughs, sore throats and flu-like symptoms. In another study by the AgriculturalUniversity of Norway, sickness rates fell by more than 60 percent in offices with plants.
Sharpening Focus
A study at The Royal College of Agriculture in Circencester, England, found that students demonstrate 70% greater attentiveness when they're taughtin rooms containing plants. In the same study, attendance was also higher for lectures given in classrooms with plants.
How Many Plants?
The recommendations vary based on your goals.
To improve health and reduce fatigue and stress, place one large plant (8-inch diameter pot or larger) every 129 square feet. In office or classroom settings, position plants so each person has greenery in view.
To purify air, use 15-18 plants in 6-8-inch diameter pots for an 1,800-square-foot house. That's roughly one largerplant every 100 square feet. Achieve similar results with two smaller plants (4-5-inch pots).
Remember that for the best success with any houseplant, you need to match the right plant to the right growing conditions. Learn more in Tips for Healthy Houseplants. For low light situations, choose a plant adapted to those conditions
Best Plants for Indoor Use
Common Name | Latin Name | Benefits | Best use | |
Spider Plant |
Chlorophytum comosum |
Purifies air rapidly; removes formaldehyde |
Living spaces |
Dragon Tree1 |
Dracaena marginata |
Purifies air; removes formaldehyde, benzene, toluene, and xylene |
Living spaces |
Gerbera Daisy2 |
Gerbera jamesonii |
Releases oxygen at night; purifies air by removing benzene and trichloroethylene |
Bedrooms to refresh nighttime air or living spaces |
English Ivy |
Hedera helix |
Removes benzene from air |
Dorm rooms or home office |
Boston Fern |
Nephrolepis exaltata 'Bostoniensis' |
Humidifies air |
Living spaces; note that dry winter rooms can quickly kill Boston ferns; mist plants daily for best results |
Philodendron3 |
Philodendron |
Purifies air; removes formaldehyde |
Living spaces of new or renovated homes with new floors, walls, carpets, etc. |
Snake Plant |
Sansevieria trifasciata |
Purifies air; removes formaldehyde and nitrogen oxide produced by fuel-burning appliances |
Living spaces, kitchens, rooms with wood stoves |
Peace Lily |
Spathiphyllum |
Removes mold from air |
Bathrooms or damp areas of home |
1Other Dracaenas with similar properties: Janet Craig Dracaena (Dracaena deremensis'Janet Craig') and corn plant (Dracaena fragrans 'Massangeana').
2Gerberas make temperamental houseplants; getting them to rebloom is very challenging. It's best to treat them like cut flowers: When the color show is over, unless you love the leaves, compost them.
3Plants with similar properties: Pothos,Bamboo Palm,Chinese Evergreen,And Weeping Fig


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It's Time For Brewfest At The Utica Zoo
Utica, NY (WIBX) – It's time once again for Brewfest at the Utica Zoo.
Saturday, August 4th from 6:00pm to 9:00pm admission for those age 21 and older includes brews from around the world, live music, and lots of food.
The event is held rain or shine and advance and designated driver tickets are available.
Advance sale ticket prices are as follows:
- Member: $25
- Non-Member: $30
- Designated Driver: $20
At the door prices are:
- Member: $30
- Non-Member: $35
- Designated Driver: $20
For more information click on the Brewfest link above or call the Utica Zoo at: (315) 738.0472. Note that photo identification verifying proof of age is required at the event.

subset: commoncrawl


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This isn't something the traditional digital advertising industry wants to hear (and yes, there is such a thing as "traditional" digital advertising.) Clicks equal cash goes the maxim, though those selling clicks are the ones who make the real cash – not necessarily the companies trying to get customers to click on their ads.
The evidence is everywhere. A recent study published in AdAge found virtually no relationship between a click and an actual conversion; time spent viewing or hovering over the ads actually scored better.
Insisting that clicks on ads equals campaign success is flawed logic at best. Said the CEO of the company that commissioned the aforementioned study: "My key takeaway is that optimizing to viewable impressions or hover time is a better proxy for a brand advertiser than a click-through rate."
True, however there is a larger trend here than all direct marketers turning into brand advertisers (itself a scary thought.) The real impact, and the key trend to watch, is all about time.
Capturing Your "Share of Time"
In a way, marketing has always been about time. For decades there wasn't much of a need to measure time, since there were so few media options. The focus was on audience numbers, whether than audience spent a few minutes or a few hours with your programming.
No longer. We now have infinite choices and channels; media is unbundled and fragmented. With so much choice the "impression" is now meaningless – it's not a true indicator of brand recall or connection.
All that matters is time. And time is what we need to measure. Forget the click – today, it's all about the clock.
The path to earning greater "share of time" online is through storytelling and engagement that taps into people's emotions. This is a large reason why video – especially short-form and serialized stories – continues to expand. As a recent Fast Company article noted, people are spending at least 22 hours a month watching online video, a number from April that's certainly even higher now and will continue to rise.
Good marketing is good storytelling, and stories capture people's attention – and their time – far better than a static direct-response banner ad. Stories that go beyond one-way interaction and tap into more immersive and participatory transmedia, such as USA Networks' "Sights Unseen" adventure, not only capture time but bring people into a brand experience that traditional online marketing tactics simply could never hope to achieve.
Fish where the fish are, the saying goes – this too is about time. Print, radio and TV use is declining while Internet and mobile steadily rise. More people today go online via mobile devices than their PCs.
Time is about place as well as engagement. It's about earning attention and trust, not expecting it. And most of all, it's about accepting that the audience has moved on even if your marketing is still stuck in the past.
Watch the clock, not the click. Spend your time measuring what matters.


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Is "gluten-free" just the latest diet craze? That's what critics say who point out that despite the growing popularity of gluten-free diets, only 2% of Americans have actually been diagnosed with celiac disease, according a 2012 survey.
People with celiac disease can have dangerous allergic reactions when exposed to gluten, a protein found in wheat. Some doctors say there's no need for patients to avoid gluten if they don't actually have celiac disease since doing so without a balanced diet could deprive them of much-needed nutrients found in wheat products. But many people argue that going gluten-free helps them gain more energy, lose weight, and ease gastrointestinal symptoms.
Recent research suggests that gluten intolerance isn't limited to those with celiac disease. A 2011 study included 34 patients with irritable bowel syndrome who did not have celiac disease but said that a gluten-free diet controlled their symptoms.
To test whether the improvement in symptoms was simply the result of the placebo effect, the participants were given two slices of bread and one muffin to eat daily during the study. Half of the participants received bread and muffins containing gluten and half received gluten-free versions specially formulated to be identical in taste and texture to the regular versions. Participants were unaware of which version they received and were simply told to record their symptoms during the study. In the gluten group, 68% of people said their symptoms worsened with more bloating, pain, tiredness, and loose stool.
"Although this study does not identify a mechanism for non-celiac gluten intolerance, it provides the most convincing evidence yet for the existence of this condition," stated William F. Balistreri, MD, of the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, who commented on the research in a recent article from Medscape.
These findings, along with other recent research, led a panel of celiac experts to conclude that there is a broad umbrella of "gluten-related disorders", even in people without celiac disease. However they still do not know how many people are affected by non-celiac gluten sensitivity, or even how to reliability diagnose it.
Although more research is needed to understand non-celiac gluten sensitivities, many patients with irritable bowel syndrome, Chrone'es disease, or other gastrointestinal disorders may benefit from avoiding gluten. Experts caution against going gluten-free without the guidance of health provider however.
"Certainly, getting tested for celiac disease before commencing a gluten-free trial is still optimal," Dr. Balistreri explained. That's because people with celiac disease have an increased risk of cancer, are forced to adhere to a lifelong strict diet, and may have an inherited intolerance requiring family members to be screened, he pointed out.
A doctor of chiropractic trained in nutrition may be able to identify whether you have a gluten sensitivity, and support you in making healthy nutrition decisions.
Balistreri W. "Could this patient have 'non-celiac gluten sensitivity'? Medscape Today. February 11,2013. Accessed March 14, 2013. http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/778320?src=wnl_edit_specol&uac=178718CJ.
Biesiekierski JR, Newnham ED, Irving PM, et al. Gluten causes gastrointestinal symptoms in subjects without celiac disease: a double-blind randomized placebo-controlled trial. Am J Gastroenterol. 2011;106:508-514.
Ludvigsson JF, et al. The Oslo definitions for coeliac disease and related terms. GUT 2012; 62 (1): 43-52.


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Adult/High School Level
Albee, Parker Bishop Jr. Letters from Sea: Joanna and Lincoln Colcord's Seafaring Childhood. Gardiner, Maine: Tilbury House; Searsport, Maine: Penobscot Marine Museum: 1999. The Colcord children were both born at sea and spent many of their childhood years on board their father's vessels. This book incorporates letters from all the family members and explanatory text.
Black, Colonel Frederick Fraser. Searsport Sea Captains. Searsport, Maine: Penobscot Marine Museum, Second Edition, 1989. Biographical entries and pictures of over 350 Searsport captains, researched by a Searsport man. All the captains' stories and images are online at the collections database.
Dow, Scott J. The Story of Captain Jonathan Dow. Unpublished manuscript. Pasadena, California: 1948. Scott Dow typed this manuscript in 1948, as an elderly man. He recounts his early life on board his father's ships, using his own recollections and diary entries written by his mother. The Dows were a Searsport family, with many sea captains.
Mortland, Donald F. Dear Ones at Home and at Sea: The Pendleton-Park Papers. Searsport, Maine: Penobscot Marine Museum, 2007. This compilation includes letters to and from many members of these two families. It includes a letter from Emma Pendleton Blanchard, who was lost in the waterspout disaster, as well as the waterspout story contained in the chapter.


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It's the day after Christmas. And if you're like me, you have a brand-new stain on your favorite Christmas sweater. To be honest, I can't make it through a meal, especially a holiday one, without getting something on myself - wine, salad dressing, something. And I'm not alone. The average American throws away 80 pounds of clothes a year because they're stained or faded. And that's bad for the environment and our bank accounts. Luckily, I have a secret weapon for my often-messy lifestyle.
JAN BRYDON: I don't think of myself as a stain guru. You might, but I don't.
NADWORNY: This is my mom, Jan Brydon. She's actually a dermatologist for her day job. But I use her as my stain encyclopedia.
BRYDON: I think that laziness is the bane of all stain removal.
NADWORNY: Really?
BRYDON: Yeah.
NADWORNY: The most important thing I've learned from my mom about stains is you have to act fast. The longer stains sit on your clothes, the more embedded in the fabric they will get and the harder it'll be to remove them.
BRYDON: You just say, oh, I'll do that next week. I can't do it right now. I'm too busy. Or I'm too bored with this stain stuff.
NADWORNY: Some stains, if you act fast, actually, cold water will get it out, like blood. But others are a little bit more complicated.
SUNNY ESCOBAR: If you take me to a dinner party, I'll probably be your worst guest.
NADWORNY: Sunny Escobar is a senior scientist for Procter & Gamble. They are the company behind Tide and Downy and lots of other laundry products.
ESCOBAR: You could have me speaking hours about stains, laundry machines, water - the most sometimes useless information but sometimes the most helpful.
NADWORNY: She, unlike my mom, actually got paid to be a stain expert.
ESCOBAR: There's so many different kinds of stains. And by definition, there's so many different, like, chemistries that would remove different things.
NADWORNY: But if you break stains into categories, that can help you apply some simple rules.
ESCOBAR: And I talk about it as nutrition, right? Like, the way, you know, you digest bread is different than you would digest bacon grease - again, is the same way how a detergent would clean the different types of stains.
NADWORNY: This scientific thinking can be really helpful because it's just not reasonable to memorize all of the stain remedies out here. But here are some basic tips.
So first, oil stains. This is like the most common stuff. This is a lot of foods like soup or mayonnaise, spaghetti sauce, salad dressing. The fix for oil is dish soap. I always remember this because of the commercials for Dawn after the oil spill in the Gulf, how they used dish soap to clean the animals. That's basically what we're doing on our clothes.
OK, and then there's the category of pigment stains, so, like, ink from a pen or markers. For those, the go-to is rubbing alcohol. White vinegar can also help. For berry stains, like strawberries and for red wine, which is one of my most common stains, boiling water poured from a distance can help.
ESCOBAR: What is the main component behind tomato sauce? And...
NADWORNY: It's an oil stain. Yeah.
ESCOBAR: Yeah. And then you just know what to look for. It's really, to me - that's why I really, like, use the nutrition analogy. It's a little bit about what's really - you know, what is this made of? And what can we tackle it with?
NADWORNY: My mom uses this method of kind of diagnosing a stain given its components all the time.
BRYDON: So sometimes you don't have a recipe for exactly what the stain is.
NADWORNY: I saw this firsthand when I visited Erie, Pa., where my family lives. I had a stain that needed my mom's immediate attention.
BRYDON: Oh, sure, honey.
NADWORNY: I actually got guacamole on my shirt from a delicious lunch we just had.
BRYDON: OK. You want to try the dish detergent first.
NADWORNY: Since the guacamole has a lot of oil in it, we start with cold water and dish soap.
BRYDON: So let's do some cold-water rinse.
NADWORNY: She runs the shirt under the cold water...
BRYDON: And then we'll put a drop of dish detergent on.
NADWORNY: ...And squeezes a dime-sized amount of dish soap on it. She says you don't need a lot. Then she massages the soap into the stain with her finger. We rinse it again with cold water.
BRYDON: There's a little tiny bit left there, you think?
NADWORNY: Mmm hmm.
The stain is not quite out yet. And my mom thinks we need something to get rid of the pigment, that green stain that's left over.
BRYDON: Let's try a tiny bit of white vinegar.
NADWORNY: We dab it with a cotton ball loaded with white vinegar. And then we rinse it again in cold water, and voila. The remaining green color has completely disappeared.
BRYDON: Pretty amazing, huh?
NADWORNY: Tell me what's happening.
BRYDON: It's gone.
NADWORNY: The final thing you've got to remember about stains - and this is really, really important - do not - I repeat, do not put it in the dryer. The heat will set the stain. And then it is game over.
NADWORNY: If you find yourself with stains this holiday season, I went way more in-depth on all of this for an episode of NPR's Life Kit podcast. You can find that at npr.org/lifekit.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC) Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.


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By: Barbara Diamond/Little Things Daniel, 17, had always dreamt of going to his homecoming dance at school. Sadly, he was turned down by all the girls he asked.
You see, Daniel has Down syndrome and has felt the effects of being stigmatized by his peers.
That's when a 10th grader named Kylie stepped up and asked Daniel to the dance herself. "I don't think of kids that have a disability… I don't think of them as being different," Kylie says. "I hope I can make his night fun."
Daniel's mom Tonya was stunned beyond belief by Kylie's incredible gesture. "It's not about that Daniel has a disability. It's Kylie didn't see any disability. That is what your heart wants as a mom."
The team at the FOX5 Surprise Squad was also impressed by Kylie's sweet and simple act of kindness. So, they decided to show up before the homecoming dance to deliver a night of surprises no one could have imagined.
From being driven to the dance in a shiny Rolls Royce and a red carpet entrance, Daniel ended up breaking down in tears of joy before the night was over.


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Just choose a property type from the links below or at the top of the page to start your search.


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BETUMI: The African Culinary Network (www.betumi.com) connects anyone who delights in African cuisine, foodways, and food history.
Wednesday, March 28, 2007
Ghana-style Kenkey
Italy has polenta, Ghana has kenkey. This steamed fermented corn dough dish from Ghana has several versions. The two most well-known include Ga and Fanti styles, the former dough including salt and made of balls wrapped in corn husks before steaming, the latter without salt and wrapped in plantain leaves. It is also called komi in Ga, dokono in Twi, or dokon in Fante, kokui or tim in Ewe (sorry, I'm missing the correct orthography to insert special Akan characters in several of these words).
There are numerous other versions of kenkey, including a type where the skins of the corn are removed before grinding it. A sweet version is called dokompa, and it is one of the few instances where sugar is added to a main carbohydrate (sweet potatoes or yam are also added). Kenkey can also be made from plantains, where very ripe plantains are pounded and mixed with green plantain meal (amada kokonte). Plantain kenkey is known as brodokono in Twi, afanku in Ga, and ahyenku or asenku in Fante.
The preparation of corn-based kenkey involves souring the dough, then cooking half of it slightly to make aflatta, (a.k.a. ohu, or half-cooked banku), then mixing the partly cooked dough with the uncooked dough and wrapping and steaming the mixture. Banku is a smooth, softer dough that is cooked and stirred, rather than steamed.
Kenkey fascinates me, and I hope to continue tracing its history when I'm in Brazil later this year. Apparently some of the peoples in Amazonia, such as the Tupi-Guarani, also ferment corn to make dough. Many parts of sub-Saharan Africa have thick corn-based porridges (pap, bidia, ushima, sadza, ugali, etc.), but Ghana's fermented dough seems different. It is also difficult to duplicate in North America, where we are usually forced to ferment Indian Head or other (white) cornmeal. This disappoints on several counts: the corn should be soaked before being ground and fermented (something to do with how the starch changes to sugar, a food scientist in Ghana once tried to explain to me), it should be white (harder to find in the U.S.), and it should be finer than our stone ground cornmeal. I've also tried soaking dried Indian corn, and grinding it myself, but have not identified the correct types (flint, dent?) and been unsuccessful. Ga-style kenkey is wonderful with crisply fried fish, a spicy pepper sauce/sambal such as Ghana's "sheeto," and a fresh tomato, pepper, and onion "gravy."
Thursday, March 22, 2007
Nigerian Moin-Moin
Here are 3 brief videos to help you make perfect moin-moin. The first is a 2-minute introduction, followed by a 10-minute summary of the ingredients and process (including information on preparing the foil packets in which the moin-moin is steamed), and finally a 9-minute demonstration of dehulling the beans and making the batter.
Sunday, March 18, 2007
Tea Bread Update and Sugar Bread Draft
As they say in Ghana, "Little by little, the chicken drinks water." The tea bread recipe is getting better and better. I've added some gluten flour, trimmed down the amount of yeast, and substituted ground mace for the nutmeg. I'm also using my electric bread maker to mix the dough (otherwise, just knead it).
Into the bread maker (or bowl), add (liquids first):
about 1 (8 oz.) cup warm water, and
2 oz margarine
Next, 1 lb. 1 oz. bread flour (I used Pillsbury this time), and
4 teaspoons gluten,
1 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon ground mace
3/4 teaspoon dry powdered yeast
I set the timer on the "dough" setting, and wait for it to finish, then remove the dough, and put it in a greased bowl to sit for about 8 hours, then punch it down, shape it into a loaf or loaves with slightly tapered edges (I no longer use the bread pans), place it (them) on a lightly greased/oiled cookie sheet and let the dough rest for about half an hour (I always let my dough rise lightly covered with a dishtowel and rest in a slightly warmed oven with a bowl of water. Bake in a preheated oven at 375 degrees for about 45 minutes.
The picture above is actually from one of my earlier efforts and not the best illustration, but the better loaf got eaten before I could photograph it.
I"ve had another request for a sugar bread recipe (see the picture from the blog posting for March 5 to see various ways of shaping the bread besides in a bread pan). I don't believe in hoarding recipes, so even though I've not tested or developed this yet, here are my rough notes from my trip to Ghana (I'll probably halve this recipe as I work on it):
Sugar Bread, loaves and Rosca (working draft)
2 eggs
about 1/4 c full-cream powdered milk, or a single-serving sized packed (like Nido)
2 c sugar
7 c presifted flour (~2 1/2 lb)
2 t salt
4 heaping t ground nutmeg
3 level t yeast
12 oz margarine
1. Break 2 eggs into a large mixing bowl.
2. In a measuring cup add a single-serving-sized packet of full-cream powdered milk (a little less than 1/4 c) with enough water to make 1 c. Add the milk to the eggs along with 2 t salt and mix until foamy.
3. Add 2 c sugar and mix again.
4. In another bowl, measure out the flour and add 4 heaping teaspoons of ground nutmeg and 3 level t yeast. Stir together.
5. Mix together the dry and wet ingredients (she added the flour to the other bowl gradually (?), using her hand to knead it as she added it.
6. Work in 12 oz of margarine to the dough. Push in the middle and turn and turn.
7. Dust a clean work surface with flour and continue kneading the dough until it is smooth, satiny, and elastic.
8. Leave the dough to sit for about 30 minutes (but this was a warm, humid environment—in the U.S. you might need to put it in a slightly warm oven with a bowl of hot water in the oven). Punch it down (Q: and knead again?? I think we formed the loaves, etc. at this point.
9. Here we stopped to make "Rosca" (?) (Rose string?): She took a portion of the dough, divided it into 3 equal pieces, and rolled each piece out to about 17", then pinched the 3 strands together at one end and braided them, (some of them she left in a long braid, others she shaped into a small ring), and also made a couple of different sized "mother and baby" rosca. To do that, first took a small ball of dough (size??) and rolled it into a cylinder (length? about 4 or 5 inches?) and how wide? (about an inch?). At one end, she pinched the dough on each side to form the neck, then made small slits at a 45º angle about halfway (or a little less?) down from the neck on each side to pull away from the rest of the dough to make the arms, then a slit up the other end of the dough (not the end with the head) to make the legs (they formed the legs by gently spreading the dough out a little where the cut was made. )
After shaping the dough, put it in greased/oiled pans and leave to rise until (??)
This dough can be formed into various shapes, including baking in a greased loaf pan, making into round loaves, or the braids (hers was about 17" long), etc.
Our yeast was bad, so we still need to check the rising and baking time (and temperature).
If any of you Ghana sugar bread fans try this recipe, please e-mail me to know of your results.
Monday, March 12, 2007
Step-by-step moin-moin (or moyin-moyin), a savory steamed bean (cow-pea) pudding from Nigeria.
Coming Soon: Black-eyed peas are frequently prepared as savory steamed puddings throughout Western and Central Africa. Last October I introduced and interviewed "Auntie Bola" Sodeinde in a podcast (see blog posting for October 21, 2006). She returned to Pennsylvania in March and kindly offered to demonstrate the preparation of moin-moin, similar to Ghana's tubane. We spent a couple of delightful hours cooking together at her son and daughter-in-law's home. I recorded the session with my digital camera and will soon be posting her very helpful Nigerian cooking lesson as a video. To whet your appetite, go ahead and gather the ingredients you'll need to make the moin-moin: a pound of dried black-eyed peas, a medium onion, a red sweet bell pepper, peanut oil, salt (OR seasoning salt), white pepper, chicken, or vegetable or other stock OR granulated bouillon and water. If you want to make our fancy version you can include hard-boiled eggs, a little tomato paste, tinned corned beef, and dried crayfish. You'll also need some aluminum foil in which to steam the pudding (unless, of course, you have banana leaves available), a large pot with a steamer insert, and a food processor (a blender can be used, but it's harder). Check back in a couple of days for the video.
Monday, March 05, 2007
Ghana's Tea Bread Secrets
I've probably had more interest expressed in finding a recipe for Ghana's tea bread than any other recipe.
In 2002 in Ghana I asked the owner of PamFran Co., a bakery in Accra, to teach me to make Ghana-style sugar bread and tea bread. She came to Flair Catering where I was staying, and demonstrated quantities and techniques. After returning to Pennsylvania, my first attempt to recreate her tea bread failed miserably: mine was hard as a rock. I returned to Ghana 2 years later, and went back to Mrs. Spendlove, Pamela Ayele Attipoe, to be shown again. This time I went to her bakery, and realized her commercial mixers and rollers also affect the texture of her bread. I'm still trying to perfect my recipe. I thought I'd share where I am so far.
One difference between Ghana and Pennsylvania tea bread is the gluten content in the flour: Ghana's has more gluten. In Accra we mixed flour from Takoradi and Irani mills to average the hardness (Ghana does not grow its own wheat, but imports it and mills it locally. I've read that around 90% comes from the U.S. I think, but am not sure, that it imports mostly hard red winter wheat). This time I used bread flour, which may still not be as hard.
Anyhow, I've combined the 2 lessons in Accra with another, older recipe from the 1953 edition of Gold Coast Nutrition and Cookery. The 1953 recipe uses palm wine, but I substituted yeast and a little extra water. However, I noticed that Marian Shardow has a recipe for palm wine bread in her A Taste of Hospitality and says you can substitute white wine for palm wine. I'll try that next. I'm still having some trouble getting the sugar and salt in the right proportions, and my dough is rising faster than the 8 hours it takes in Ghana, but I'll keep working on it. In the meantime, any of you who'd like to take a crack at it and let me know your versions/results, here's where I've gotten to so far with my recipe development (I'm using U.S. measurements):
2 lb. 3 oz. of bread flour (about 7 1/2 cups)
2 oz. of sugar (this needs increasing some, I think)
1.5 t yeast (or 1 rounded teaspoon; I may try 1 t next time)
2 t ground nutmeg (reduce to 1 1/2 t?)
2 t salt (down from 1 T)
4 oz margarine
about 2 cups warm water
I weighed, then sifted the flour, added the sugar, yeast, nutmeg and salt, and mixed in the water gradually, first with a spoon, then my hands. Finally, I continued mixing in the margarine (not butter) with my hands.
I kneaded the dough on a floured surface for about 10 minutes until it was elastic and smooth (it's a stiffer dough than a normal white or whole wheat dough), and turned it into a greased bowl, covered it with a dishtowel and set it in a warm oven to rest and ferment for about half an hour. Then I punched the dough down, divided it in half and stretched each half out and formed each into one-pound loaves to put inside lightly greased aluminum bread pans I brought from Ghana and let them rise (proof) inside my warm oven with a bowl of water below them to keep them from drying out (I also covered them with the dish towel). Instead of the 8 hours I was hoping for, after 4 hours they were at the top of the pans and needed to be baked. I put them in a hot oven (425 degrees F) for about 15 minutes, then turned the heat down to 375 for another 30 minutes. Next time I'll just cook them at 375 degrees for the full 45 minutes or so (my crust browned too quickly).
Today I halved the recipe and just added everything into my bread machine on the dough setting and mixed it, then turned it into a lightly greased bowl to let it rise. It's still rising. I'll wait 7 or 8 hours before I punch it down and make the loaf, then let it rise for about 30 minutes and bake it at 375 degrees F for about 45 minutes.
Family taste test: For the first version listed above my husband said there was an elusive flavoring he seemed to think his mother's tea bread used to have (someone suggested it might be mace?). Teenager Sam said he thought mine had too much nutmeg and the texture was different, plus the crust was too tough. Sam and I thought there was too much salt, but my husband disagreed. I'll let you know how the recipe testing process goes as we keep working on this. Please do share your insights.
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Karpov Chess School Appoints New Director |
May 2, 2011 | |
Anatoly Karpov International School of Chess 106 South Main Street, Lindsborg, KS 67456 www.anatolykarpovchessschool. Release: 5/1/11 Contact: Irwin "Wes" Fisk - 785-342-1009 - fisk@anatolykarpovchessschool. The Anatoly Karpov International School of Chess in Lindsborg, Kansas has appointed David Blair as the school's new executive director. Blair, comes with an impressive background of working with young players. Among those, he led his scholastic students in the Kansas City area to 12 Individual and 13 club (team) state/national scholastic chess championships over a five-year period. "David Blair brings a wealth of experience in working with students at all levels and teaching them skills to make them chess champions," said Marck R. Cobb, president of the International Chess Institute of the Midwest (ICIM). ICIM owns and operates the Karpov Chess School. Cobb went on to say, "David instills a love for the game of chess in his students that broadens their abilities as they take on life challenges." Blair, who is a native of Pennsylvania, majored in mathematics at the Indiana University of Pennsylvania. He distinguished himself as a chess player, winning numerous championships. Several years ago, Blair moved to the Kansas City area where he taught chess and tutored students in math. Blair, who is a certified U.S. Chess Federation Chess Coach, is excited about his new position. "One of my goals is to have over 200 students in McPherson County and to play chess at clubs, tournaments and schools by the end of the 2011-2012 school year," said Blair. "I will also attempt to set up weekly chess lessons for every community in the county." The new executive director also has ambitious plans to raise funds for the school. "A primary responsibility of an executive director of a non-profit organization must be to raise funds for that organization, which includes seeking corporate sponsorship, private donations and grants," said Blair. "I will be doing this all summer and through the school years. I will knock on doors, make calls and complete the paperwork while promoting chess at the same time." Blair will continue the chess school's ongoing relationship with local schools. He plans to teach chess online through Smoky Valley Virtual School in Lindsborg. "David will provide the opportunity for more schools in McPherson County to benefit from chess education and training to foster learning outside of the game itself," said Marck Cobb. "He knows how to set goals and get results." David Blair replaces Tom Brownscombe as director. Brownscombe, who served as the school's director for the past five years, resigned to pursue other activities; however, he will work on special projects for the school. Blair will be holding social chess sessions in Lindsborg and McPherson, Kansas. A list of dates and times will be posted on the Karpov Chess School's website: www.anatolykarpovchessschool. |


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April 1963 Popular Electronics
Wax nostalgic about and learn from the history of early electronics. See articles from Popular Electronics, published October 1954 - April 1985. All copyrights are hereby acknowledged.
Our two intrepid techno-sleuths, Carl Anderson and Jerry Bishop, are in college by now, but that does not keep them from applying their well-honed mystery solving skills to hometown situations while on spring break. The boys invoke the scientific method of Mr. R.R. Dibble, a New Zealand scientist, to help prove to county commissioners that a certain part of their critical infrastructure was in need of repair. An nth-generation farmer's observation was not proof enough, so indisputable empirical data would be needed. Real-life inventors and company's unique instruments are often incorporated into the Carl & Jerry series by John T. Frye that ran for many years in Popular Electronics.
Carl & Jerry: Slow Motion for Quick Action
Carl and Jerry, home from college on spring vacation, had spent the beautiful warm afternoon wandering along the banks of Wildcat Creek with their transistorized tape recorder gathering a collection of spring sounds. Already stored on the little reel of tape were the gay "churlik! churlik!" of a robin, the excited cawing of a surprised crow, the "barrrump! barrrump !" of a bullfrog, the scolding trill of a piney squirrel, and the sounds the flooding creek made as it poured over rocks and sucked at the swollen buds on the willow branches dipping into its muddy waters.
Now the youths were sitting cross-legged on the floor of a rustic wooden covered bridge that spanned the creek and staring curiously up at the great hewed timbers constituting the framework of the structure. They did not have to worry about traffic through the bridge. A bad washout in the winding road leading to it had taken care of that for several days to come.
"They had some darned good engineers away back when this bridge was built," Carl offered. "It's at least seventy-five years old; yet those timbers look perfectly sound."
"That was partly the reason for the roof," Jerry explained. "It protected the weight-bearing timbers from the weather. The covered bridge also provided the traveler with shelter from a sudden shower."
"Yeah, and what a dan-dan-dandy place to rest the horse and pitch a little woo!" Carl added with a grin. "Hey!"
he exclaimed, "am I imagining it, or did this thing shake a little?"
"Most likely it did," a voice answered from the end of the bridge. Silhouetted against the light was the lanky frame of an elderly farmer.
"I'm Clyde Butcher," he introduced himself. "I own that farm over there in the bend of the creek that has the old grist mill on it. It was my daddy's before me and his daddy's before that.
"This old bridge needs care bad," he explained, "but we can't convince the county commissioners of it. Their smart-aleck young engineer knows nothing about wooden bridges, and he just laughs when we try to tell him the bridge doesn't sound right and it doesn't feel right."
"I'm not sure I understand," Jerry said politely.
"You know that a crack in a violin will show up in the sound long before you can see it through the varnish, and a tight-rope walker can tell by the feel of the rope when something is wrong with the rigging," the old man said earnestly. "Well, just remember that I and many like me have been passing over this bridge all our lives. We know the normal sound it has when a wagon rolls across this floor, and we know it used to have a little bounce to it even when a heavy dog trotted across it. Now it doesn't sound right, and the bounce has gone out of it. The floor is sagging, too, as you can see; but that snooty engineer says it has always sagged. That's a lie. He'd like to tear the whole thing down and put in a new concrete bridge."
"That would be barbaric!" Carl exclaimed. "Only a few of these fine old bridges are left in the whole state."
"I'm glad to meet young men with a little respect for something old," Mr. Butcher said as he shook hands with the boys. "This old bridge is settling a fraction of an inch or so every day, especially during this period when the frost is going out of the ground; and unless she's given some help, she won't be here much longer."
"If you just had some evidence of this settling you could present directly to the commissioners," Jerry said thoughtfully as he stared down at the tape recorder in his lap, "maybe they'd do something."
"Maybe," the old farmer said doubtfully; "but it would have to be something simple and convincing. They know as much about engineering as a hog knows about Sunday - even less than I do."
"Could you run an a.c. line from your barn over here to the bridge to power electronic equipment we would install to record the settling of the bridge?" Jerry asked.
"Sure, but the bridge only settles a freckle every few hours. Those commissioners aren't going to sit still listening to several hours of recording."
"They won't have to. I was reading the other day that RR Dibble, a scientist at the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research at Wellington, New Zealand, had modified a household tape recorder to operate 500 times slower than normal and used it to record 'ice quakes' at Antarctica. The tape only moves about a half-inch a minute; so an 1800-foot reel of tape will last a month of continuous operation. When the tape is played back at normal speed, the very slow vibrations of a quake become audible sounds. What's more, twenty-four hours of recording can be reviewed in slightly less than three minutes."
"You lost me," the old gentleman confessed; "but if you think it will work I'm game to try it. I'll string that wire first thing in the morning."
It didn't take the boys long to drive to their laboratory in the basement of Jerry's house. Once there, they immediately set to work revamping an old discarded tape recorder they had been hoarding against just such an emergency.
"You slow down the recorder, and I'll make up a special bridge-settling transducer and an ultra low-frequency amplifier," Jerry suggested. "I think you can substitute that powerful little 4-rpm synchronous motor for the one in the recorder to get pretty close to that 1/500 speed reduction, and then you can turn down the capstan to hit it right on the nose. Brother Dibble probably didn't do it that way, but it's the quick-and-dirty method we'll use."
"Aye, aye, sir!" Carl said mockingly, starting to remove the tape recorder motor; "but how are you going to make a bridge-settling transducer?"
"We could use a sensitive accelerometer if we had one - which we don't," Jerry mused, "and no ordinary mike will work because we're not trying to detect audible frequency vibrations. We need something that will translate a single slight vertical movement into an audible sound .. What do you think of this? We'll mount a crystal phono cartridge on its side. A length of springy piano wire will be inserted in the needle chuck, and a small weight will be put on the end of the wire. The length of the wire and the amount of the weight will be such that when it's disturbed it will vibrate back and forth at a slow rate, say a couple of cycles per second. The flexing of the crystal caused by this motion will produce a low-frequency alternating voltage that can be amplified and recorded on the slow-moving tape."
"Can't see anything wrong with it," Carl admitted, "but why don't we use the amplifier in the recorder?"
"Shame on you for asking instead of thinking!" Jerry chided. "That amplifier probably starts to fall off pretty rapidly at 100 cycles per second. We need one that will do a good job on 100 cycles per minute. I intend to throw together a little direct-coupled transistorized amplifier, using both pnp and npn transistors, that will amplify right down to d.c. If we use a cheap, high output crystal cartridge, we won't need too much amplification. We'll probably have to change that recording head to a low-impedance transistor type, but fortunately I've got a spare."
Before they went to bed that night, the whole project was completed, even to testing. The slightest movement set the weighted wire to bobbing, and this put a signal on the creeping tape that came out as a quickly damped "beep" when the tape was played back on their conventional recorder.
When the boys took their equipment housed in a sturdy weather-proof box to the bridge the next morning, .they found that Mr. Butcher was as good as his word. The a.c. line was ready and waiting for them at the end of the bridge. Under the curious gaze of the farmer, they fastened the box securely to the upper timbers of the bridge near the center of the span. The recorder was plugged into the a.c. line, and ropes carrying "Keep Off" signs were stretched across both ends of the structure.
"We'll let the recorder run for forty-eight hours and then see what we've got," the boys told the farmer. "That's about all the time we'll have before heading back to school."
It that on the morning the recorder was to be picked up Carl had to drive over to a neighboring town for his father. It was almost one o'clock when he came dashing into the basement laboratory and found Jerry anxiously awaiting him.
"Boy, I'm glad to see you!" Jerry exclaimed. "Mr. Butcher chickened out on presenting our recording to the commissioners. Says he would ball things up because he knows nothing about electronics. We have a one-thirty appointment with them at the court house."
The three commissioners and the county engineer received the youths with poorly concealed smiles of amusement when the boys explained that they wanted to present evidence that the old covered bridge was settling. However, the men showed mild interest as Jerry set up the transducer on a heavy table in front of them and connected it to the slow-speed recorder.
Next, Jerry slid a single postcard under one leg of the table. Then a short endless loop of tape was placed in the recorder, the wire was allowed to come to rest, and then the card was pulled from beneath the leg. The one-hundredth of an inch of vertical movement at one corner of the table set the wire to bobbing. When it finally came to rest again, Jerry transferred the loop of tape to the normal recorder and let the commissioners hear the beep of sound produced by the slight vertical movement of the table.
Finally, he put the tape that had been recorded in the bridge over a 48-hour period on the conventional recorder. During the six minutes it ran, beep after beep was heard, indicating that the bridge was settling a trifle every few hours. Just at the end of the recording, there was some Donald Duck quacking which sounded like nothing that had gone before.
"What's that?" one of the commissioners wanted to know.
"Oh, it's just some voice recording that got in on the end of the tape," Jerry explained hurriedly. "You wouldn't want to hear it."
"How do you know we wouldn't?" the commissioner said suspiciously. "Can you make it understandable?"
"I probably could by playing the tape at a slower speed," Jerry admitted with obvious, very obvious, reluctance.
"Well, do it then," the commissioner snapped.
Jerry switched the recorder from 7 1/2 ips to 1 7/8 ips, and the voices on the tape came out clearly and distinctly. Carl recognized one voice as Mr. Butcher's, and the other apparently belonged to a neighbor he had encountered in the bridge.
"Well, guess the commissioners are going to let the old bridge fall down," the first voice said.
"Seems like it," the other agreed. "Too bad some people care nothing about tradition and history. People drive hundreds of miles to take pictures of this bridge. And it means still more to folks around here. Why, half the men in the county learned to swim beneath it."
"I'm one, and you're another. What's more, I proposed to my wife inside that bridge. Seems a pity three short-sighted, bull-headed men can destroy something that means so much to folks who elected them."
"Maybe that's an idea. The election will be rolling around before we know it. Let's forget party lines, as far as commissioners go, and turn these jokers out and put in men who promise to do something about the bridge. Suppose we start right now talking it up among our neighbors and friends."
"That's a fine idea! I'll start the ball rolling at our grange meeting next Friday. Well, got to be going now. Be seeing you."
Jerry switched off the tape recorder and began collecting his equipment. Out of the corner of his eye he could see the three commissioners in a whispered colloquy.
"Hm-m-m-m !" the one who had been so insistent on hearing the voices said eventually; "boys, your scientific demonstration has been most convincing. It has convinced us that the bridge needs attention immediately. We are hereby instructing our engineer to go to the bridge at once and make a careful study to see what is needed to restore it to its original strength and condition, being careful not to impair its historical significance. As soon as we have his report, work will begin."
While the boys were loading their equipment back into the car, Jerry could feel Carl's eyes looking at him suspiciously. Finally Carl exclaimed:
"There's some hanky-panky going on here. You know audio frequencies would never record on that tape at that slow speed. Furthermore, that transducer is no mike. Finally, even if the voices did record at one-half inch per minute, you couldn't play them back at 1 7/8 inches per second and make sense. Come on; give!"
"I didn't say the voice recording was picked up by the transducer; the commish just jumped to that conclusion," Jerry said with a grin. "Actually I had Mr. Butcher and a crony record that conversation on our regular recorder when I picked up the other equipment. They did darned well without a script. I just had a hunch the commissioners might not be thoroughly convinced by scientific proof; so I decided to include a little something they would be sure to understand. "
"And you sure did! Come on; let's go tell the good news to Mr. Butcher!"
Posted April 7, 2021(updated from original post on 4/2/2014)
Carl & Jerry Episodes on RF Cafe
Carl Anderson and Jerry Bishop were two teenage boys whose love of electronics, Ham radio, and all things technical afforded them ample opportunities to satisfy their own curiosities, assist law enforcement and neighbors with solving problems, and impressing – and sometimes toying with - friends based on their proclivity for serious undertakings as well as fun.
Carl & Jerry, by John T. Frye
Carl and Jerry Frye were fictional characters in a series of short stories that were published in Popular Electronics magazine from the late 1950s to the early 1970s. The stories were written by John T. Frye, who used the pseudonym "John T. Carroll," and they followed the adventures of two teenage boys, Carl Anderson and Jerry Bishop, who were interested in electronics and amateur radio.
In each story, Carl and Jerry would encounter a problem or challenge related to electronics, and they would use their knowledge and ingenuity to solve it. The stories were notable for their accurate descriptions of electronic circuits and devices, and they were popular with both amateur radio enthusiasts and young people interested in science and technology.
The Carl and Jerry stories were also notable for their emphasis on safety and responsible behavior when working with electronics. Each story included a cautionary note reminding readers to follow proper procedures and safety guidelines when handling electronic equipment.
Although the Carl and Jerry stories were fictional, they were based on the experiences of the author and his own sons, who were also interested in electronics and amateur radio. The stories continue to be popular among amateur radio enthusiasts and electronics hobbyists, and they are considered an important part of the history of electronics and technology education.
About RF Cafe
Copyright: 1996 - 2024
Kirt Blattenberger,
RF Cafe began life in 1996 as "RF Tools" in an AOL screen name web space totaling 2 MB. Its primary purpose was to provide me with ready access to commonly needed formulas and reference material while performing my work as an RF system and circuit design engineer. The World Wide Web (Internet) was largely an unknown entity at the time and bandwidth was a scarce commodity. Dial-up modems blazed along at 14.4 kbps while tying up your telephone line, and a nice lady's voice announced "You've Got Mail" when a new message arrived...
Copyright 1996 - 2026
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Blue Mulberry Silk
Blue Silk Pure Silk Fabric Wholesale by Luala Silk. Luxurious, smooth, and soft, silk fabric is highly elastic and wrinkle resistant. Silk fabric is both breathable and absorbent in the heat, temperature regulating.
Creating a calm and inviting beautiful spaces to make you feel comfortable for the modern living, with uncompromised quality and details.
Learn more


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Christmas Banana Pudding
Rate this recipe • Read reviews
From the kitchen of Lenna Whitt
This recipe has been on northpole.com from the beginning… since 1996! We hope you enjoy this classic North Pole recipe. Let us know your opinion by submitting a review!
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Recipe Details
Bake Time: |
minutes |
Yields: Tags: |
12 servings Good for parties/potlucks, Kid friendly |
3/4 cup sugar, divided
1/3 cup flour, mixed with a dash of salt
3 eggs, seperated
2 cup milk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
45 vanilla wafers divided
5 medium ripe bananas sliced (about 3-1/2 cups)
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Mix 1/2 cup of the sugar, flour and salt in top of double boiler.
Blend in 3 egg yolks and milk.
Cook, uncovered, over boiling water 10 to 12 minutes or until thickened, stirring constantly.
Remove from heat; stir in vanilla.
Reserve 12 of the wafers for garnish.
Spread small amount of custard on bottom of 1-1/2 quart baking dish; cover with layers of 1/3 EACH of the remaining custard over bananas.
Continue to layer wafers, bananas and custard to make a total of 3 layers of each, ending with custard.
Beat egg whites on high speed of electric mixer until soft peaks form.
Gradually add remaining 1/4 cup sugar, beating until stiff peaks form.
Spoon over custard ; spread evenly to cover entire surface of custard and sealing well to edge.
Bake 15 to 20 minutes or until lightly browned.
Cool slightly.
Top with reserved 12 wafers just before serving, also get some food color (red & green) and make one half red and the other green. Special Extra: Garnish with additional banana slices, if desired!
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1004twin2 says:
Homemade like this is the best! Like my mother made.


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Calling all pop culture geeks! Toycon 2018 is just around the corner, are you excited? 😀
The Philippine TOYCON, Asia's longest-running culture convention for toys, collectibles, and various pop culture fandoms, announced the latest line up of guests for this year's highly-anticipated event.
Two Power Rangers, a Peter Pan Fire Lord, a lycan (ie. werewolf), and a legendary comic book creator are coming to TOYCON POPLIFE FanXperience 2018 on June 8-10, 2018 at the SMX Convention Center, Mall of Asia Complex, Pasay City.
Leading the list is comic book industry Hall of Famer Neal Adams, whose reinvention of Batman's look to the blue-and-gray color scheme highlights his work and influence during the 1960s and 1970s, aside from creating Batman villains Ra's al Ghul and Man-Bat, and revitalized other titles such as Green Lantern, Green Arrow, and X-Men.
Filipino-American actor Dante Basco will get to meet his kababayan fans. He played Peter Pan's sidekick Rufio in the 1991 movie Hook alongside Robin Williams, and is the voice actor for the fire-bender Zuko in Nickelodeon's Avatar: The Last Airbender, Jake Long in Disney's American Dragon: Jake Long cartoon series, as well as various video game characters.
Two actors from the Power Rangers franchise will share the TOYCON 2018 stage. Jason David Frank played the Green Ranger and the White Ranger in the 1993-1996 Mighty Morphin Power Rangers series and its other iterations over the years. Michael Copon's breakout role was playing the Blue Ranger in last year's Power Rangers: Time Force movie, but he was also known for his roles in the TV series One Tree Hill.
Another TOYCON 2018 guest is Kevin Grevioux, best known for his role as the lycan Raze who fought against vampires in the Underworld film series, which he also co-created and wrote the screenplay of the movie. He also appeared in films such as Tim Burton's Planet of the Apes remake, The Mask, and Steel.
American actress, fashion model and beauty queen, Kelly Hu will join Toycon, he's popularly known to play as Sorceress Cassandra in The Scorpion King movie, then Kelly played a villain in X-men 2 movie as Lady Deathstrike, the mutant with adamantium finger claws. She did voice roles for characters in Phineas and Ferb, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and Green Lantern:Emerald Knight. On TV she played as Pearl on CW series The Vampire Diaries and also in Arrow tv series as China White.
According to Cholo Mallillin, Event Marketing Head for TOYCON PH, this year's event aims to give Filipino pop culture fans a playground experience with a community that shares their common interests.
"What we want to give TOYCON fans every year is a sense of belonging to various fan communities. We bring in guests and experiences that bring fans back to why they collect toys, cosplay, read comics, or rewatch their favorite TV series or movies in the first place," Mallillin said.
Mallillin added that more guests and attractions will be announced in the coming days and even on the opening day itself.
Among the other attractions in TOYCON 2018 is "Sikat Ka Toy!", the Philippine's first ever toy design contest. Artists and toy aficionados can submit their designs by June 2 for a chance to receive more than Php 30,000 worth of prizes and the opportunity to have their winning toy design produced for limited sale. Toy designs for the Sikat Ka Toy! contest can be emailed to email@example.com by June 2, 2018, and contest mechanics are on toyconph.com.
Other attractions for this year include toy exclusives from the popular Funko toy line, as well as toy exhibits and launches from global designers, Anatoy from South Korea, Coarse from the USA, Deewy from China, Playhouse from Thailand, and Hidden Fortress Manila featuring the works of premier Pinoy toy designer Quiccs Maiquez.
- The biggest gathering of Toys, comics and merch exhibitors in the country
- The biggest toy display by the Philippines Toy Group Association
- International celebrities and guest from PopLife FANX
- International toy designers from Philippines, South Korea, Malaysia, Thailand and USA
- Toy exhibit by XM Studios, Sideshow, Prime One and Hot Toys
- Visual art exhibit by Toym Imao
- Arts and Comics artist Alley
- Filipino Comics Legends Exhibit
- ABS CBN Display
- Cosplay K.O.
- Solar, Jack TV and MTV display
- Sinag Animation Presentation
- TMC mini cinema showing Tokyo Ghoul, Fist of Fury and The Wailing
- TRESE Toy Launch
- The Creator Stage featuring online creators and celebrity
- Gaming Stage
- Sound Arena Stage featuring: KISSBEE, HYOLYN and APL DE AP
- Warner Bros. presents Teen Titans and The Meg
- Action figure and toy customization contest
- Sikat Ka Toy! Philippine toy design competition
- Toycon Exclusive – TEQ63 Manila Killa by Quiccs
- Toycon Exclusive – Toycon Minifig by Pinoy LUG
- Pinoy Pop Culture Icon Award
TOYCON 2018 + POPLIFE FANX is sponsored by Maxi Collector, Legendary Beast Studio, XM, Filbars, Great Toys Online, and Gaming Library.
Supported by Kramer Toy Warden, Warner Bros, Tagalized Movie Channel, Sinag Animation Studios, Anotoys Collectibles, Hubbyte Toys and Collectibles, Dreamworks Dreamplay, City of Dreams Manila, Shopback, Halimaw Studios, Big Boys Toy Store, KidsCompany, Bandai, Gundam Build Divers, Devant, Tamashii Nations, Good Smile Company, Jinio, Comic Odyssey, DC Superheroes Cafe, Food Panda, Bruder, Xend and Oishi O Wow.
Media Partner with ABS CBN, Expat Philippines, WheninManila.com, Manila Bulletin, MTV Philippines, Jack TV, PSICOM Publishing, Retro 105.9, Clickthecity.com and the Philippine Bloggers Network.
Event Partner with TEQ63, Anima Alliance, Philippine Toy Groups Association and Ex-Link Events.
TOYCON POPLIFE FanXperience 2018 regular day passes and FanX VIP Experience passes are available in all SM Ticket outlets or through www.toyconph.com.


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Since 1991
If you're a trucker looking for a trucking job, our free Truck Driving Job Match service will help you find the best trucking opportunities available. There's no need to fill out multiple applications. Just fill out our online application once, and we will forward it to several trucking companies that match your skills and requirements. Just sit back and wait for the trucking companies to contact you.


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The upcoming budget for the Chicago Public Schools will rely on $500 million in yet-to-be-enacted pension savings by Illinois, school officials said on Monday.
Hundreds of schoolchildren in the southern Philippines have fallen sick after eating durian-flavoured sweets, the provincial governor said Saturday.
South Africa has eight of the top 15 universities in Africa but its higher learning institutions are rated as the worst performing among the BRICS emerging market nations.


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Pablo Picasso is one of the greatest artists of all time - and right up until his death in 1973 he was the most prolific of artists. Many films have dealt with these later years - the art, the affairs and the wide circle of friends. But where did this all begin? What made Picasso in the first place?Somewhat overlooked, it is time to look at the early years of Picasso; the upbringing and the learning that led to his extraordinary achievements.
Three cities play a key role: Malaga, Barcelona and Paris.Young Picasso explores the influence of each on the artist, focusing on specific artworks from these early years.The film thus explains how this young artist acquired his craft. Looking carefully at two key early periods - the so-called Blue Period and Rose Period - the film takes us all the way to 1907 and the creation of a key painting in the history of art - Les Demoiselles d'Avignon. It was a painting that shocked the art world but changed it irrevocably. Picasso was only 25 years old. Working closely with all three Picasso Museums in Malaga, Barcelona and Paris this film explains how he rose to such great heights.
2018, UK, 90 min.
Language: English
Translation: russian
There are no screenings in your city currently..


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Guided Therapeutics to Showcase LuViva® Advanced Cervical Scan at Arab Health 2013
Guided Therapeutics to Showcase LuViva® Advanced Cervical Scan at Arab Health 2013
Seeking to add distribution partners to market new women's health technology
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Guided Therapeutics, Inc. (OTCBB: GTHP) (OTCQB: GTHP), developer of a rapid and painless testing platform that uses biophotonics for the early detection of disease, today announced plans to showcase the LuViva® Advanced Cervical Scan at the 38th Annual Arab Health 2013 Healthcare Exhibition and Congress taking place January 28 - 31, 2013 in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
The LuViva booth is located in the USA Pavilion Hall 1, Booth G01 at the Dubai World Trade Center.
"Arab Health is an excellent venue for meeting and helping to qualify distribution partners for the Middle East, North Africa and South Asia, important geographic markets for LuViva," said Mark L. Faupel, Ph.D., CEO and President of Guided Therapeutics. "LuViva provides distributors in the gynecology space with an innovative and exciting product that is simple to use, cost effective and features a device and single-patient-use disposable business model to attract new and recurring business."
To schedule appointments, contact Melissa White or Sue Jones at +1-770-242-8723 or e-mail email@example.com.
LuViva currently has marketing approval from Health Canada and received its first CE Mark, an ISO 60601 Edition 2 Notification, in July. Guided Therapeutics was awarded ISO 13485 certification in January 2011. Additionally, LuViva has been under U.S. Food and Drug Administration Premarket review since September 23, 2010. After meetings with the FDA, the Company filed an amended PMA application with the agency in November 2012.
About Arab Health
Arab Health, now in its 38th year, is the world's longest running healthcare exhibition and congress, taking place every January in Dubai. With the Middle East healthcare industry worth an estimated $80 billion per year, Arab Health is truly at 'The Heart of Global Healthcare.' For more information, visit www.arabhealthonline.com.
Some key facts about Arab Health:
3,500 Exhibitors
32 Country Pavilions
83,278 Attendees
142 Countries Represented
About LuViva®Advanced Cervical Scan
LuViva is a technologically advanced diagnostic device that scans the cervix with light and uses spectroscopy to measure how light interacts with the cervical tissue. Spectroscopy identifies chemical and structural indicators of precancer that may be below the surface of the cervix or misdiagnosed as benign. This technique is called biophotonics. Unlike Pap, HPV tests or biopsies, LuViva does not require laboratory analysis or a tissue sample, and is designed to provide results immediately, which eliminates costly, painful and unnecessary testing. LuViva is designed for use with women who have undergone initial screening and are called back for follow up with a colposcopy examination, which in many cases, involves taking a biopsy of the cervix. The device is used in conjunction with the LuViva® Cervical Guide single-use patient interface and calibration disposable.
About Guided Therapeutics
Guided Therapeutics, Inc. (OTCBB: GTHP) (OTCQB: GTHP) is developing a rapid and painless testing platform for the early detection of disease based on its patented biophotonic technology that utilizes light to detect disease at the cellular level. The Company's first planned product is the LuViva®Advanced Cervical Scan, a non-invasive device used to detect cervical disease instantly and at the point of care. In a multi-center clinical trial, with women at risk for cervical disease, the technology was able to detect cervical cancer up to two years earlier than conventional modalities, according to published reports. Guided Therapeutics has also entered into a partnership with Konica Minolta to develop a non-invasive test for the early detection of esophageal cancer using the technology platform. For more information, visit: www.guidedinc.com.
The Guided Therapeutics LuViva®Advanced Cervical Scan is an investigational device and is limited by federal law to investigational use. LuViva, the wave logo and "Early detection, better outcomes" are registered trademarks owned by Guided Therapeutics, Inc.
Forward-Looking Statements Disclaimer: A number of the matters and subject areas discussed in this news release that are not historical or current facts deal with potential future circumstances and developments. The discussion of such matters and subject areas is qualified by the inherent risks and uncertainties surrounding future expectations generally and also may materially differ from Guided Therapeutics' actual future experience involving any of or more of such matters and subject areas. Such risks and uncertainties include those related to the early stage of products in development, the uncertainty of market acceptance of products, the uncertainty of development or effectiveness of distribution channels, the intense competition in the medical device industry, the uncertainty of capital to develop products, the uncertainty of regulatory approval of products, dependence on licensed intellectual property, as well as those that are more fully described from time to time under the heading "Risk Factors" in Guided Therapeutics' reports filed with the SEC, including Guided Therapeutics' Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2011, and subsequent quarterly reports.
Guided Therapeutics, Inc.
Cameron Associates
Alison Ziegler, 212-554-5469
Melissa White, 770-242-8723
KEYWORDS: United Arab Emirates United States North America Georgia Middle East
The article Guided Therapeutics to Showcase LuViva® Advanced Cervical Scan at Arab Health 2013 originally appeared on Fool.com.
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Pre-Middle Childhood Education : Math & Natural Sciences
Why study Pre-Middle Childhood Education : Math & Natural Sciences?
Middle childhood educators teach students in grades 4-9 in Ohio. They guide students to delve deeply into academic content while supporting social and civic engagement. Pre-Middle Childhood Education majors must specialize in two content areas selected from: English language arts, mathematics, science, or social studies. As an aspiring middle school teacher, this program will help you understand the complex human and social factors involved in educating students, as well as practices that support diversity and lifelong learning. A bachelor's degree in education is the minimum requirement to become a teacher. As an associate degree program, UC Clermont offers freshman and sophomore coursework with the expectation that students will transfer to our UC Clifton campus to complete their preparation and earn a bachelor's degree.
NOTE: Education majors are required to volunteer in local schools, typically between 10-20 hours per semester, in conjunction with their coursework. Though this time commitment is not significant, it is necessary to have reliable transportation and the ability to visit schools during regular business hours. An annual background check is also required (approximately $60).
Admission Requirements
This program is open to all students with a high school diploma or GED and the desire to succeed in college. Although admission is open, students accepted into the program must meet the academic standards of the program to advance to upper levels of study.
As a first-year student, you will need to take an English and mathematics placement test if you have not obtained the minimum ACT/SAT score required for exemption. These tests do not affect your admission; however, the results are essential for your proper placement in classes. You must complete placement tests before you register for English or mathematics courses. All placement tests are given free of charge.
In order to progress into a bachelor level education program, students must meet admission requirements of the transfer/transition institution's program. This includes a minimum GPA, background check and possible content exam.
You must have a strong ability to communicate, inspire trust and confidence, and motivate students, as well as understand their academic, social, and emotional needs. You must recognize and be responsive to individual and cultural differences. Openness, reliance on tools of inquiry and flexibility are important. You should also be organized, dependable and creative. You must be able to work cooperatively and communicate effectively with other teachers, support staff, parents and community members.
Bachelor Degree:
- teacher
- tutor
- instructional coordinator
- curriculum designer
Associate Degree:
- teacher assistant
- child care worker
Academic advising is an essential part of your educational experience.
We are committed to providing advice and assistance throughout your academic journey. You and your advisor work together to create an academic plan based on your goals.
Questions? Email us at firstname.lastname@example.com or call 513-558-8317 to schedule an appointment.
UC Clermont students have access to free tutoring and academic support services through Learning Commons. The Learning Commons provides centralized academic support for all University of Cincinnati students by bringing together faculty, best-practices in teaching and learning, and hundreds of outstanding peer educators to create flexible academic success programming. Free services available to UC Clermont students include academic coaching, group review sessions, success skills workshops, and tutoring in writing, math, science and more. Services are available on-campus or virtually. Visit the Learning Commons webpage for more information or schedule an appointment online.
Academic Coaching – Academic coaches help students get organized and learn to be efficient and effective with their study time during one-on-one sessions. Academic Coaches work with students on new strategies or exercises to try before the next meeting and later meetings allow tailoring new approaches to develop the best study and test taking habits for unique goals and strengths. Schedule one-hour sessions as often as once per week.
Academic Writing Center (AWC) – The Academic Writing Center (AWC) offers tutoring for all stages of the writing process, from brainstorming to incorporating research. The AWC is not course-specific and can help with discipline-specific documents, as well as non-course-based writing. Schedule a one-on-one appointment with a trained writing tutor or submit a paper online for feedback within 48 hours.
Group Review Sessions (GRS) – Group Review Sessions (GRS) are small study groups, led by a peer leader, that meet to review content that is covered in course-supported lectures each week. Find the list of supported courses on the Learning Commons website.
Math & Science Support Center (MASS) – The MASS Center offers virtual study tables for many undergraduate mathematics and science courses. Study tables provide a collaborative learning space so that students can learn from their peers who have excelled (the table leader) as well as their fellow class members attending the study table. No appointment is necessary for these scheduled group study sessions. You can view the up-to-date study table schedule on the Learning Commons website.
Peer Tutoring – Peer tutoring sessions are one-on-one with a subject-specific tutor to answer questions and help you master content in more than 200 undergraduate courses, including subjects such as math, science, languages and business. Schedule appointments up to 7 days in advance for one-hour, 90-minute or two-hour session. If you notice your desired course is not offered, please let us know.
Preparatory Composition – Students enrolled in UC Clermont Preparatory English (ENGL0099) courses have dedicated support from professional tutors. Information about these services and how to connect with the tutor is included in the course syllabus.
Success Skills Workshops – Success Skills Workshops are free one-hour sessions that focus on skills students need to be successful in college (study skills, note-taking, motivation, etc.). While there is no shortcut to success, the goal of the workshops is to empower students to identify and apply academic habits and soft skills through a deeper understanding and purpose of them. When students RSVP for a workshop, they will be able to register for the upcoming workshops one at a time and up to nine days prior to the workshop date.
Canvas Navigator Workshop – Designed to help students who are new to college and need help navigating their coursework online. The workshop shows students how to access their course materials, publisher homework, quizzes, textbooks, academic services like tutoring, and more. Students who attend this workshop can expect to gain clarity on what they need to do on a weekly basis to stay on track with their course work throughout the semester, which helps students stay motivated leading to greater confidence and success in their courses.
Math Placement Test Workshop – Offered to prospective and current UC students who want to brush up on their math skills before taking the Math Placement Test. The free synchronous online workshop is led by a UC Clermont professional tutor. The three-week workshop series is offered monthly except in January. It is recommended that students sign up for all three weeks to get the maximum benefit from these workshops.
Math for Science Students Workshop – Designed for students enrolled in entry-level biology and chemistry courses, these workshops cover foundational math concepts that students need to success in their science courses. The synchronous online workshops are led by a UC Clermont tutor. The workshop repeats each week starting the week before classes begin and continuing through week 3 of the semester.
In order to graduate from UC Clermont, a student must:
- Complete all required course work and program requirements.
- Obtain at least a 2.0 university grade point average.
- Be in good academic standing; that is, not on academic or disciplinary probation or suspension.
- Meet the college's residency requirement of 20 semester credit hours.
- File formal application for the degree by the posted semester of graduation deadline.
Clermont College accepts transfer applications all year long, and you may start any semester, provided your transcripts arrive in time to be evaluated before the start of the semester you wish to attend.
If you have not taken college-level mathematics or English, you will need to take the placement test.
Other UC students may transfer into Clermont College by completing the application for change in college and program. You are urged to see your advisor before transferring into a different major to minimize any impact on your degree progress.
You must demonstrate English proficiency. You must also meet admissions deadlines and visa requirements, and provide documentation of sufficient funds before we can complete your admission. Please call the International Admissions Office (513) 556-2069 for details or email with questions.
Learn more about becoming an international student at UC Clermont.
Application Deadlines
For specific deadline information, visit the Admissions webpage.
Contact Information
Clermont College
4200 Clermont College Drive
Batavia, OH 45103
(513) 558-8316
Find related programs in the following interest areas:
Program Code: 34ASC-PMDL34-AS-PMDL-MN


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Andrew Gale: Willey's got all the attributes to be a big success
Predominantly, David has had his success in the shorter formats.
But I have played against him in championship cricket as well and he has all the attributes to be successful in the longer format too.
Hide AdAdvertisement
Hide AdWhat I like about him is that he's a match-winning player. He is someone who gets in the game; either with the ball, bat or even in the field.
He adds to what we have got in our team and has the sort of mindset that we want in our players.
In the longer form, he is a bowler who bats. But in the shorter formats, he's a genuine all-rounder cricketer who does win games both with bat and ball.
David is someone who we have been looking at for a while and we did our homework on him.
Hide AdAdvertisement
Hide AdObviously, we have got a good tight-knit dressing room and we wanted to know what sort of character he was as well.
We chatted to Brooksy (Jack Brooks) and Midders (James Middlebrook) about what sort of character he was and when the opportunity came up to have talks with him, the club took the chance.
We have got through to the quarter-finals of the Royal London One Day Cup, albeit after our game with Northants was washed out and if you get through, you get through.
I am sure all the lads are looking forward to the tie against Essex next Thursday. Whether I will be involved or not, I am not sure, but it is a big game for the club – as they all are now.
Hide AdAdvertisement
Hide AdLooking at the Essex tie, we haven't had great success down at Chelmsford.
I remember playing a one-day semi-final there where we lost by 25 or 30 runs in a 50-over competition and we've played a couple of quarter-finals there in the Twenty20 and not won.
I don't think it is a fortress like it once was, but they are a good team on their day and the lads will have to play at their full potential. There's a big prize at the end of it and one of the things you want to tick off in your career is playing in a Lord's final.
We have an opportunity to do it this year and want to go further than last year when we pretty gutted to miss out to Durham.
The lads have got the bit between their teeth.
Hide AdAdvertisement
Hide AdAaron Finch landed back on Thursday and he has recovered quicker than we thought he would do following injury.
He needs some cricket under his belt and will probably play some second-team cricket before he plays for the first team to make sure he is fully recovered.
I know he is pretty hurt by not being picked for Australia, so he's got a point to prove and any player of his stature who has a point to prove is a good player to have in your team.
It can work in our favour and gives you energy when a player comes in like that and has that will to win.
Hide AdAdvertisement
Hide AdHe will give us that energy and if he has the bit between his teeth, then that can only be good for us as he will score his runs and maybe make a few match-winning knocks.
In terms of this week, I've had some good preparation as I wasn't going to play in the one-dayers.
They said to me to just sort myself out and be ready for the Sussex game.
It's probably the best preparation I've had for a long time.
Hide AdAdvertisement
Hide AdIn terms of the lads, preparation has been a bit hit and miss as the weather has not been great.
Obviously, Adil Rashid wasn't picked for the final Ashes test at the Oval, but there is no doubt he is going to play a big part when England go over to the UAE.
I guess it is a bit disappointing he has not had a sniff before he is going on that tour.
But I am sure when he gets his chance, he will take it.
He is in good form at the moment with bat and ball and he is just about keeping his good form and when he gets the chance, he'll take it.
Hide AdAdvertisement
Hide AdI think it is a case of when not if and I think they have kept him around the squad for that reason, so that he gets used to the international stage so when his opportunity does come around in the UAE, he knows what it is all about.
***Andrew Gale's column is in association with Blacks Solicitors***


text:
The Fabric of Civilization
How Textiles Made the World
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The story of humanity is the story of textiles—as old as civilization itself. Since the first thread was spun, the need for textiles has driven technology, business, politics, and culture.
In The Fabric of Civilization, Virginia Postrel synthesizes groundbreaking research from archaeology, economics, and science to reveal a surprising history. From Minoans exporting wool colored with precious purple dye to Egypt, to Romans arrayed in costly Chinese silk, the cloth trade paved the crossroads of the ancient world. Textiles funded the Renaissance and the Mughal Empire; they gave us banks and bookkeeping, Michelangelo's David and the Taj Mahal. The cloth business spread the alphabet and arithmetic, propelled chemical research, and taught people to think in binary code.
Assiduously researched and deftly narrated, The Fabric of Civilization tells the story of the world's most influential commodity.
"We are taken on a journey as epic, and varying, as the Silk Road itself...[The Fabric of Civilization is] like a swatch of a Florentine Renaissance brocade: carefully woven, the technique precise, the colors a mix of shade and shine and an accurate representation of the whole cloth."New York Times
"Expansive…The author is excellent at highlighting how textiles truly changed the world."Wall Street Journal
"My pick as best nonfiction book of the year...[Virginia Postrel] offers a bold retelling of history through an emphasis on cloth—cloth as decoration, cloth as currency, cloth as ritual and much more. One of the most extraordinary volumes I have read in years."Stephen Carter, Bloomberg Opinion
"Textile-making hasn't gotten enough credit for its own sophistication, and for all the ways it undergirds human technological innovation—an error Virginia Postrel's erudite and complete book goes a long way toward correcting at last."Wired
"The Fabric of Civilization is a fascinating book, and persuasive too: by the end the case is made that 'textiles made the world.'"Times (UK)
"Fascinating and wide-ranging...This is an engrossing and illuminating portrait of the essential role fabric has played in human history."Publishers Weekly
"From the Stone Age to Silicon Valley, textiles have played a central role in the history of the world. Virginia Postrel has an encyclopedic knowledge of the subject but she imparts it with a touch as light as Penelope's at the loom. Ambitious, erudite, and absorbing, The Fabric of Civilization is both an education and a pleasure to read."Barry Strauss, author of Ten Caesars: Roman Emperors from Augustus to Constantine
"Virginia Postrel has created a fascinating history of textiles from their Palaeolithic beginnings to the present and future―from the earliest plant fibers plucked from weeds to synthetic fabrics with computer chips in the threads. And why, you say, should we examine mere cloth? Precisely because it fills more and more roles in our lives, yet we take it for granted...Well researched and highly readable, the book is a veritable treat."Elizabeth Wayland Barber, author of Women's Work: The First 20,000 Years Women, Cloth, and Society in Early Times and Prehistoric Textiles
"A fascinating, surprising and beautifully written history of technology, economics, and culture, told through the thread of textiles, humanity's most indispensable artefacts. I loved it."Matt Ridley, author of How Innovation Works
"The story of technology is a story of human ingenuity, and nowhere is this more clear than in the story of textiles: the original technology, going beyond what we commonly think of as 'tech.' As with many technologies, we suffer an amnesia about them when we enjoy them in abundance, as Postrel observes; her book gives us back our memories about this technology that we use every day without even knowing it."Marc Andreessen, co-founder, Netscape
"Cleanly written and completely accessible, this book opens up an entirely new world of textiles, explaining the most ancient archeological fabrics and the latest polymer blends that cool the body―not warm it as textiles have done for thousands of years―with equal verve."Valerie Hansen, author of The Year 1000: When Explorers Connected the World--and Globalization Began
"Postrel's brilliant, learned, addictive book tells a story of human ingenuity...Her deep story is of the liberty that permitted progress. Presently the descendants of slaves and serfs and textile workers got closets full of beauty, and fabric for the cold, a Great Enrichment since 1800 of three thousand percent."Deirdre Nansen McCloskey, author of the Bourgeois Era trilogy
"Virginia Postrel captures the ingenuity with which people around the globe solved the problems of raising fiber, spinning thread, making cloth, and giving it beautiful colors. This book opens the reader's eyes not only to the textiles that daily surround us but also to the remarkable skills of their makers."Jenny Balfour-Paul, author of Indigo
"The Fabric of Civilization: How Textiles Made the World is one of the most compelling books I've ever read on the history of textiles―witty, well-researched, and full of fascinating things I'd never known despite being quite well-read on textile technology. (Did you know that letters of credit from clothiers helped build the early European banking system? Or that aniline dyes were one of the earliest applications of organic chemistry?) If you thought Elizabeth Wayland Barber's Women's Work: The First 20,000 Years was interesting, you'll swoon over this book. I loved it."Tien Chiu, weaver, teacher, and author of Master Your Craft
"The Fabric of Civilization is more engaging and informative than any textile science or textile history course that I studied in college. Postrel has distilled thousands of years of the making and manipulation of string (thread) into a comprehensible read whether or not you have knowledge of its invention or the current bio-engineering research. She has woven in personal experiences; interviewed historians, computer programmers, scientists, textile archeologists, and contemporary and indigenous artisans; and gone behind the scenes in textile laboratories and manufacturing plants. After reading this book, I felt like I had wandered the world for centuries using fabric for my currency and wealth. I had won political battles in its name. I had been sickened as well as healed by it. And now I am an inventor synthesizing environmentally healthy fabric by means of chemicals. My appreciation and knowledge of how textiles make the world have been greatly enhanced."Marilyn Murphy, co-founder ClothRoads and former president of Interweave
"Fiber artists of any stripe, prepare for a juicy read through a new book on textile history! Virginia Postrel's new book will turn your old ideas about fabric and civilization down unexpected pathways. The Fabric of Civilization is divided into chapters loosely related to individual textile processes, such as spinning, weaving, and dyeing, and the author points out that textiles are the basis of our number systems, our banking, our commerce, and our science. This book is full of stories of individuals who innovated entire systems because of their sensitivity to textile processes. The author actually learned to spin and weave while writing this book, and her explanations and diagrams are spot on. Profusely illustrated with photos and diagrams, and contains a comprehensive bibliography. Highly recommended."Alice Schlein, weaver, author of Network Drafting and The Woven Pixel
"The Fabric of Civilization: How Textiles Made the World chronicles the laborious and cumulative innovations that allow cloth to play an essential role in our comfort, cultural identity, and our dependence on programmable functions. At times, the fabric of society appears threadbare but, based on the global nature of textiles, it is comforting to know that all cultures have a shared experience. Postrel reminds us that we are all woven together with colorful threads."Susie Taylor, artist
- On Sale
- Dec 7, 2021
- Page Count
- 320 pages
- Publisher
- Basic Books
- 9781541617629