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This is one of the tastiest halwa recipes liked by all Indians.
Gajar ka halwa is a delicious mouth watering sweet dish prepared by carrot and milk especially in Indian subcontinent. Its very easy to prepare and cook however it takes little bit of time to cook. Gajar ka halwa can be served as dessert.
These halwa recipes contains high level of sugar. However you can reduce the amount of sugar if you don't like sugar too much.
Warning: This dish contains nuts so those who are allergic to nuts should take precautions.
Preparation Time: 15-20 minutes
Cooking Time: 30 minutes
Suitable for: 4 persons
Wash the carrot properly and peel them before grating it finely. Put a frying pan on gas, heat it. Add the clarified butter in the hot frying pan and when the butter started melting add the grated carrots.
Mildly mix it and let the carrot fry for about five minutes without covering the frying pan.
After five minutes add the sugar and the skimmed milk in the half cooked carrots. Again cook it further for 15-20 minutes.
Now, the lovely gazar ka halwa is ready. But garnish is must. For garnishing sprinkle the roughly chopped dry fruits. In a bid to increase the halwa's flavour add the cardamom powder.
Mix it well and serve it hot. It will surely thrill the taste buds of yours or your guests.
Ohh gajar ka halwa is truly an Indian delicious dessert. The method is given is in very simple and comprehensible words.. I like it sooooo much… i tried the recipe and it makes me everyone's favorite in culinary skills… thanks a lot… plz write such more Indian desserts/halwas in similar pattern……
I love Gajar Ka Halwa, and thanks to you for giving me the reciepe in such a short and sweet manner, I will be happy if you provide similar reciepe on dhokla and began ka bharta. I don't have anybody to advice me for the same.
So please provide me the reciepe as soon as you can.
Very good recipe and easy to make. Looking very good. Yet to taste but couldn't wait to write to you. Thanks for the recipe. I was looking for Halwa made with wheat flour.
For halwa of wheat flour we need
Wheat flour 1cup
Ghee 3-4 table spoons
Sugar acc to taste
Water 2cupssame that is used to measure flour
Cardamom 1-2
Nuts your choice
In a pan roast wheat flour till light brown
Add ghee to it
Prepare sugar syrup with cardamom
Add this syrup to the pan stir well
Cook til ghee separates.
Add nut sand serve hot
We can use jagrry or gur instead of sugar.
Easy recipe but the halwa turned out too watery. The sugar should be added only after the milk is absorbed by the carrots. Also needs to be mentioned, the carrots should be coursely grated.
Gajar ka halwa is a sweet dessert pudding associated mainly with the state of Punjab in India & Pakistan. It is described as a Punjabi halwa having a combination of nuts, milk, sugar and ghee with grated carrot. It is a light Punjabi dessert with less fat, therefore, it is treated as a light nutritious dessert. It is mostly made in winters.
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Story highlights
David Beckham plays final home match
Made captain for the night as PSG beat Brest 3-1
Makes tearful farewell when substituted after 82 minutes
PSG had already wrapped up the French title
With tears streaming down his face, David Beckham said farewell in his final home game as a professional footballer Saturday.
Made captain for the night by Paris Saint-Germain coach Carlo Ancelotti, he played his full part in a 3-1 win for the new French champions over Brest.
But on 82 minutes, with the realization that his glittering 847-game career was winding down, the raw emotion of the moment got the better of the most iconic player of his generation.
Given a standing ovation by the near 45,000 strong capacity crowd in the Parc des Princes, Beckham hugged teammates and opponents before being substituted by Ezequiel Lavezzi.
Family and friends, including his pop star wife Victoria, were in the stands to watch him as was former French president Nicolas Sarkozy.
He had even donned a special pair of commemorative boots for the occasion – bearing the date May 18 and the names of his children, Brooklyn, Romeo, Cruz and Harper.
Beckham was going out on a high and although PSG have an away match at Lorient to complete a triumphant season his appearance in that match is considered highly unlikely..
Read: Beckham persona helped publicize football in the United States
It was his 10th league championship title – won with four clubs – Manchester United, Real Madrid, Los Angeles Galaxy and now PSG, the players lifting the trophy after their final home match.
The former England captain joined them for the run-in to the season and quickly won over the fans as she showed that despite his 38 years he had lost none of his trademark skills.
It was on display again in his farewell home appearance, with raking cross-field balls regularly finding the target and he made the assist on PSG's second goal.
PSG made a flying start with star striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic putting them ahead in the fifth minute.
Beckham's corner proved perfect for Blaise Matuidi to score the second with Ibrahimovic blasting the third before halftime with a thunderous free kick.
Charlison Benschop pulled a late goal back for already relegated Brest, but it could not spoil the celebrations – which went on long after the final whistle as the entire PSG squad, Beckham included, were paraded ahead of the trophy celebration.
Ancelotti, who has led PSG to their first title in 19 years, said he wanted to make Beckham's farewell special.
"It was the right thing to do to choose Beckham as captain for his last match.
"All the players backed the decision. Beckham will have a lovely memory of this night," he told AFP.
Beckham addressed fans after the match as the celebrations in the stadium continued long after the final whistle.
"Thanks to everyone in Paris, to all of my teammates, the staff and fans," said the former England captain.
"It's been very special to finish my career here," he added.

subset: commoncrawl


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By Melanie Klein at Ms. Magazine Blog
Is every woman either desperate to get married (Bridezillas), a slut/bitch (Rock of Love) or a beauty-obsessed waif (America's Next Top Model)? Is every man either a despicable douchebag (Tool Academy) or a thugged-out gangsta (again, Tool Academy)?
If we were to judge from the reality TV shows that have populated our cultural landscape over the last decade, the answer would be a resounding "yes."
Reality TV is replete with regressive portrayals of men and women–what Jennifer Pozner, author of Reality Bites Back: The Troubling Truth About Guilty Pleasure TV and director of Women in Media and News, dubs the "genre's most overused, egregious, and cliched stock characters."
Given the ever-increasing hordes of "reality" shows and their influence on our perceptions of what is "real," I'd say it's high time for some lessons in media literacy.
Media literacy education has been deemed essential preparation for children and adults alike in our 21st century environment, in which hardly a moment of our life goes unmediated. Media literacy advocates aren't stumping for censorship, or discouraging popular media consumption entirely, but rather encouraging consumption with a critical eye. As Pozner recently said on AOL's TV Squad:
If you enjoy reality television, I'm not here to tell you to dump 'The Bachelor'…[Media literacy is] about learning to keep your critical faculties engaged, and that's difficult because we turn on the television seeking entertainment, and we assume that entertainment means we don't have to think.
Pozner has some creative ways to increase media literacy. She tells Bitch:
On the Reality Bites Back website there are Reality TV Mad Libs that are designed to increase media literacy. There is also a "Deconstruction Guide" with questions that people should keep in mind when they're watching reality shows—or when they're engaging with any other kind of media. There are tips for parents about how you can talk with your children about media literacy and how to let the kids guide that discussion. There are a lot of how-tos that make it fun to explore media literacy, so it's not just medicine that you take.
My favorite of Pozner's media literacy tools is her "Reality Rehab" web show, a hilarious, SNL-like spin on "Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew" that borrows you-can't-make-this-stuff-up dialogue and scenes from reality TV shows ("I would be a servant to you"). In each webisode, "Dr. Jenn" helps one of reality TV's most persistent stock characters ("The Slutty Bitch," "The Angry Black Woman," "The Top Model," "The Real Housewife") break out of his or her stereotype. After completing a stint in Reality Rehab, which combines "media literacy therapy" with "confessional cam" monologues, the characters emerge fully-dimensional human beings once more. Here's Douchebag Dude, webisode 6:
In the process, the characters share insights into the machinations of reality TV: how producers use casting, "Frankenbite" editing and various production tricks to turn fully dimensional beings into one-dimensional tropes. By revealing these mechanisms, Pozner aims "to get people to become more critical media consumers, especially in relation to the regressive gender, racial, class and sexuality tropes hawked within the reality TV genre."
When I incorporated the webisodes into my own women's studies curriculum this semester, they did just that, to judge by my students' comments:
From explaining to the "top model" that she is never going to be a top model because she does not fit the extremely limited and one-dimensional mold that America's Next Top Model makes their girls fit into, to telling "the bachelorette" that she should not waste her time settling for sloppy, egotistical men who have stuck their tongues down twenty-five girl's throats, Jenn is definitely helping the "stars" and viewers make sense of this reality show world that has completely consumed them. – Andrea S., a 19 year-old Sociology major
As a reality television viewer, it is so easy to get sucked in and believe that what I am watching is real footage of people's lives. Jennifer Pozner, and her websidodes, help to effectively use media literacy to expose how reality television warps the idea of "real" and alters it into something completely different. It was nice to get some reality rehab for myself! Chandler R., an 18 year-old Anthropology major
Indeed, everyone could use some "reality rehab." To assume that we're immune from the regressive tropes and values espoused by reality TV is to be ostriches with our heads buried in the sand. Whether we watch or not, everyone else does, and the lessons are insidious. It behooves all of us to sharpen our media literacy skills in order to challenge the toxic tales churned out by reality TV–and Pozner is leading the way.
* * *
Photo of The Apprentice's Omarosa Manigault-Stallworth by Glenn Francis. Reused under Wikimedia Commons.
Originally posted at Ms. Magazine Blog. Cross-posted with permission.
For more information about the author of this post, Melanie Klein, check out her bio here.
Related content:
Pop Culture's Relentless Battle with Body Image
The Reality Behind the Quest to be "The Biggest Loser"
Khloe Can't Keep Up with the Kardashians' Body Standards


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Multi-city / Stopover
Planning to travel to more than one city or stopping over during your trip? Create your trip here.
Status Points balance-
Asia Miles balance
Most Cathay Pacific flights are available for booking up to one hour before scheduled departure time.
A maximum of 4 different cities can be defined in your itinerary. If you are staying in a transit stop for more than 24 hours, please enter the transit stop in the "Going to". This means your journey will incur more than one flight sector.


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FRANKFURT Europe's largest carmaker Volkswagen sees building its own factory to make electronic vehicle batteries as a logical move as it expands production of low-emission cars after its emissions scandal.
Volkswagen and its labor unions agreed on Friday to cut 30,000 jobs at the core VW brand in exchange for a commitment to avoid forced redundancies in Germany until 2025.
The cuts came with a management pledge to create 9,000 new jobs in the area of battery production and mobility services at factories in Germany as part of efforts to shift toward electric and self-driving cars.
"If more than a quarter of our cars are to be electronic vehicles in the in the foreseeable future then we are going to need approximately three million batteries a year," Chief Executive Matthias Mueller told Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung. "Then it makes sense to build our own factory."
Volkswagen currently relies on external battery suppliers for the electric vehicles it makes.
Mueller said that Volkswagen has been in talks with ride-hailing service Uber on potential cooperation but the carmaker would not settle for the role as a mere supplier.
"They (Uber) saw us more in the role of a supplier. But we said: Okay guys, this is a contest which we are happy to take on. We will remain in command," Mueller said.
Automakers like VW are developing electric vehicles and billing themselves as mobility companies that don't merely sell cars but also get involved with alternatives to conventional car ownership such as ride-hailing.
Mueller confirmed that Volkswagen had set aside 18 billion euros ($19.1 billion) to cover the cost of its diesel emissions cheating scandal.
Volkswagen does not expect the German government to make tax demands to cover any revenue losses related to the scandal, a company spokesman said on Saturday.
(Reporting by Arno Schuetze; Editing by Keith Weir)


text:
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Expert's Rating
- Includes a powerful name generator
- Makes it easy to plan a full-length book
- No way to quickly switch color schemes
- No "night mode" for writing in the dark
Our Verdict
Popular creative writing tool Scrivener helps authors create books, research proposals, and other long-form works.
Books, research proposals, screenplays, and scripts, are all daunting, large-scale writing projects. Most authors don't just run a word processor and bang them out, start to finish, ending up with a complete work. The creative process is often complex, and there is much background research, planning, shuffling and reshuffling of segments, editing and re-editing until the manuscript is done. Mac favorite Scrivener ($40, thirty-day free trial) has a Windows version, recently out of beta, that helps writers compose major projects by breaking them down into manageable bits, organizing research material, and more.
Scrivener recognizes that every author works differently. Rather than impose one "ideal" workflow for writing, provides an arsenal of research, planning, writing, and editing tools you can choose from. Scrivener also ships with a friendly tutorial packaged as a Scrivener writing project that walks you step-by-step through the most important features. The tutorial is well-written and thorough; it took me about two hours to work through. Not very fast, but a good investment of time: When I was done, I felt like I could really start using Scrivener.
The most important thing Scrivener lets you do is work on your project in segments. There are two views, the corkboard and the outline view, which let you get a bird's-eye view of your segments, reshuffle them, and create new ones as needed. The corkboard represents each of your segments as an index card with a title and a synopsis, while the outline view shows more fields. A third view, called the scrivenings view, lets you see you view all selected segments as one continuous document, to see how they read in sequence.
You can use scrivenings view to read your entire work or chapter, but you can also select several arbitrary segments and view them in scrivenings mode, even if they don't directly follow each other in the final work. This can be useful for making sure an individual plot line flows correctly, for example.
Scrivener also lets you label your segments with labels such as Scene, Idea, Character Notes, or anything else. You can also assign each segment a status label, such as First Draft, Revised Draft, etc. For even finer-grained categorization, Scrivener lets you assign arbitrary keywords out of a keyword hierarchy you define. You can then search for segments labeled with specific keywords (such as the name of a character), and read them in isolation using scrivenings mode. You can even save your searches for future use.
Scrivener's other writing aids include a flexible character name generator–not so useful for research papers, perhaps, but a boon for fiction writers. It lets you pick an ethnicity for the first and last name (separately, so you can mix), pick which letter the name should start with, and even search by meaning. Neal Stephenson used Scrivener for his latest novel, REAMDE, and indeed, I recognized one of the names in the generator (Abdul-Ghaffar, "servant of the forgiver" in Arabic).
Once you are ready to share your manuscript, you can export it using Scrivener's powerful compilation functionality. You can make it into a PDF document, an RTF file, an HTML webpage, and more. A simple template engine allows some control over the manuscript's appearance, but Scrivener doesn't try to be a full-fledged typesetting program.
Scrivener for Windows lags behind its Mac counterpart in version numbers and features, but the version I evaluated, 1.2, feels like a mature and powerful product. If you are serious about writing, you should check it out.
–Erez Zukerman


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The Plays of William Shakespeare: With Notes of Various Commentators, Issue 7
G. Kearsley [Printed, 1806
Selected pages
Other editions - View all
Common terms and phrases
answer arms Bard Bardolph bear better blood brother captain comes court cousin crown dead death devil doth duke England English Enter Exeunt Exit eyes face fair faith Falstaff father fear field follow four France French friends give grace hand Harry hast hath head hear heart heaven Henry hold honour horse Host hour I'll John JOHNSON keep king King HENRY Lady leave live look lord majesty master means meet nature never night noble once peace Percy Pist Pistol play Poins poor pray present prince SCENE Shakspeare Shal Shallow sir John soldier speak spirit stand STEEVENS sweet sword tell thee thing thou thou art thought thousand tongue true turn unto West Westmoreland
Popular passages
Page 368 - Be copy now to men of grosser blood, And teach them how to war. And you, good yeomen, Whose limbs were made in England, show us here The mettle of your pasture; let us swear That you are worth your breeding, which I doubt not; For there is none of you so mean and base, That hath not noble lustre in your eyes. I see you stand like greyhounds in the slips, Straining upon the start. The game's afoot! Follow your spirit, and upon this charge Cry, "God for Harry! England and Saint George!
Page 213 - With deafning clamours in the slippery clouds, That, with the hurly, death itself awakes ? Canst thou, O partial sleep! give thy repose To the wet sea-boy in an hour so rude ; And, in the calmest and most stillest night, With all appliances and means to boot, Deny it to a king ? Then, happy low, lie down ! Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown.
Page 212 - O gentle Sleep, Nature's soft nurse, how have I frighted thee, That thou no more wilt weigh my eyelids down. And steep my senses in forgetfulness...
Page 325 - On this unworthy scaffold to bring forth So great an object: can this cockpit hold The vasty fields of France ? or may we cram Within this wooden O the very casques That did affright the air at Agincourt...
Page 410 - This story shall the good man teach his son; And Crispin Crispian shall ne'er go. by, From this day to the ending of the world, But we in it shall be remembered , — We few, we happy few, we band of brothers; For he to-day that sheds his blood with me Shall be my brother; be he ne'er so vile, This day shall gentle his condition...
Page 338 - Creatures that, by a rule in nature, teach The act of order to a peopled kingdom. They have a king and officers of sorts : Where some, like magistrates, correct at home ; Others, like merchants, venture trade abroad ; Others, like soldiers, armed in their stings, Make boot upon the summer's velvet buds ; Which pillage they with merry march bring home To the tent-royal of their emperor...
Page 215 - There is a history in all men's lives, Figuring the nature of the times deceased ; The which observed, a man may prophesy, With a near aim, of the main chance of things As yet not come to life, which in their seeds And weak beginnings lie intreasure'd. Such things become the hatch and brood of time...
Page 16 - I'll sup. Farewell. Poins. Farewell, my lord. \ I'.rit Poins. P. Hen. I know you all, and will a while uphold The unyok'd humour of your idleness : Yet herein will I imitate the sun; Who doth permit the base contagious clouds To smother up his beauty from the world, That, when he please again to be himself, Being wanted, he may be more wonder'd at, By breaking through the foul and ugly mists Of vapours, that did seem to strangle him.
Page 367 - Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more ; Or close the wall up with our English dead ! In peace, there's nothing so becomes a man As modest stillness and humility : But when the blast of war blows in our ears, Then imitate the action of the tiger...
Page 325 - O, for a muse of fire, that would ascend The brightest heaven of invention ! A kingdom for a stage, princes to act, And monarchs to behold the swelling scene ! Then should the warlike Harry, like himself, Assume the port of Mars ; and, at his heels, Leash'd in like hounds, should famine, sword, and fire, Crouch for employment.


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Sleeve Notes, June 2011 by Ian Rogers:
I once attended a lecture in Liverpool by sociologist Keith Kahn-Harris where he described heavy metal as an essentialist ideology, a genre of music borderline obsessed with what it means to be a 'true' heavy metal fan. Expanding on this, Kahn-Harris was careful to point out that this 'trueness' was not fixed in reality. Unlike punk and hip-hop, heavy metal does not aim to authentically represent everyday life. Instead, metal operates in a much more fantastic realm: it pushes aside the complexities of everyday life and replaces them with myths and stories about 'power, conflict, violence and death,' all the good stuff. It works – and we like it – because, like all other popular music genres, it delivers us from mundanity.Why is this relevant here? Because it is metal's essentialism that makes it so pliable. There is no fixed, grounded core to heavy metal and we're all starting to realize this. While Slayer will always be metal, in 2011 an ambient experimental duo can also be metal. A popular music festival can be metal. A cartoon can be metal. An online cooking video can be metal. And despite what teenage virgins everywhere will tell you: this is a tremendously good thing. It is metal's ability to channel its fantastic, ominous, silly, amazing essence through anything a self-ordained metal-head picks up and calls metal, that gives the genre it's true power. Diverse things thrive.When Stuart and I first started thinking about this compilation, we had very meager ambitions. In short our aim was to document weird heavy shit happening in Australia. Along the way, we started to think this was actually heavy metal. First, Eli from Heil Spirits describes what he does at a party as 'thrash metal'. Then we hear the black metal tinkerings of Spheres, the Godflesh inflections of Hobart's Machines Of Indeterminate Origin and the brittle textures at the top of the mix in AXXONN (and remembered Tom's ever present Motely Crue tee). We had a band called Machine Death, how could we ignore this? We realized that without much thought, we'd wandered into Australian heavy metal's underbrush.In the end that's why we're calling this compilation Bleak Metal. That and fuck you, that's why. But also relevant is an article from The Guardian published a few years back now. Writing on Grief No Absolution, Louis Pattison described them/him (who knows?) as bleak metal. Pattison wrote of how the genre name sounded apt enough for such a wintry sounding sound but also of how he felt it appropriate because, well, that's what Grief No Absolution themselves were calling it.


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MPI_File_call_errhandler(3) MPI MPI_File_call_errhandler(3)
NAMEMPI_File_call_errhandler - Call the error handler installed on a file
SYNOPSISint MPI_File_call_errhandler(MPI_File fh, int errorcode)
INPUT PARAMETERSfh - MPI file with error handler (handle) errorcode - error code (integer)
THREAD AND INTERRUPT SAFETYThis routine is thread and interrupt safe only if no MPI routine that updates or frees the same MPI object may be called concurrently with this routine. The MPI standard defined a thread-safe interface but this does not mean that all routines may be called without any thread locks. For example, two threads must not attempt to change the contents of the same MPI_Info object concurrently. The user is responsible in this case for using some mechanism, such as thread locks, to ensure that only one thread at a time makes use of this routine.
NOTES FOR FORTRANAll MPI routines in Fortran (except for MPI_WTIME and MPI_WTICK ) have an additional argument ierr at the end of the argument list. ierr is an integer and has the same meaning as the return value of the routine in C. In Fortran, MPI routines are subroutines, and are invoked with the call statement. All MPI objects (e.g., MPI_Datatype , MPI_Comm ) are of type INTEGER in Fortran.
ERRORSAll MPI routines (except MPI_Wtime and MPI_Wtick ) return an error value; C routines as the value of the function and Fortran routines in the last argument. Before the value is returned, the current MPI error handler is called. By default, this error handler aborts the MPI job. The error handler may be changed with MPI_Comm_set_errhandler (for communicators), MPI_File_set_errhandler (for files), and MPI_Win_set_errhandler (for RMA windows). The MPI-1 routine MPI_Errhandler_set may be used but its use is deprecated. The predefined error handler MPI_ERRORS_RETURN may be used to cause error values to be returned. Note that MPI does not guarentee that an MPI program can continue past an error; however, MPI implementations will attempt to continue whenever possible. MPI_SUCCESS - No error; MPI routine completed successfully. MPI_ERR_FILE - Invalid MPI File handle
LOCATIONsrc/mpi/errhan/file_call_errhandler.c 3/19/2011 MPI_File_call_errhandler(3)


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Gostisbehere's goal lifts Flyers over Coyotes 5-4 in OT
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Dale Weise and the Flyers bonded on a recently completed road trip that righted their season. They displayed the renewed confidence with a comeback victory in their return to home ice.
Shayne Gostisbehere scored on a one-timer 1:01 into overtime after Weise tied the game with 2:13 left in regulation, and Philadelphia rallied past the Arizona Coyotes 5-4 on Thursday night.
Scott Laughton had two goals and Travis Konecny also scored for the Flyers (8-7-1), who began a five-game homestand — their longest of the season — after earning seven of a possible eight points on a four-game trip out West. Philadelphia went over .500 for the first time since winning its season opener against Vegas.
"We're a confident team," coach Dave Hakstol said. "Guys in the room are tight. You either blow apart or come together. This was a good sign tonight. This was a character win."
Jakub Voracek set up the game-winner in the extra session with a pass to Gostisbehere in the slot, and the defenseman's slap shot beat goalie Darcy Kuemper.
"We had a purpose and it showed," Gostisbehere said. "Huge for morale. Huge for us."
It appeared the Flyers were going to lose their third in a row at home until Weise tied it.
Oliver Ekman-Larsson's pass in the Arizona zone was intercepted by Gostisbehere. Weise broke toward center ice on the turnover, and Gostisbehere fired a pass to him. Weise got in alone on Kuemper and beat him high to the glove side for his first goal of the season.
Weise said the road trip, void of distractions, helped the Flyers come together.
"It's just the boys on the road and you get that team bonding," he said.
Ekman-Larsson and Michael Grabner each had a goal and an assist, and Brad Richardson and Derek Stepan also scored for the Coyotes, who lost 5-2 at home to Philadelphia on Monday.
"It's a learning lesson for this team," coach Rich Tocchet said. "We started to take over the game and then we reverted back to old habits."
Arizona went ahead by scoring three times in the second period, including two short-handed goals 24 seconds apart.
Richardson tied it 2-all 1:51 into the second when his wrist shot from the right circle beat Calvin Pickard to the far side. Stepan scored with a backhand on a short-handed breakaway with 13:46 left in the period after Gostisbehere's turnover at the Philadelphia blue line.
Grabner then got in alone on Pickard and also scored with a backhand.
Hakstol pulled Pickard in favor of Brian Elliott after Grabner's goal. Elliott, the Flyers' regular starter, wasn't in the initial lineup following an upper-body injury he sustained in a collision with Konecny at practice on Sunday.
Elliott stopped all 16 shots he faced.
Laughton scored his second of the night 2½ minutes into the third on a backhand after a scramble in front.
Philadelphia got the first goal, just as it did in all four games on the road trip.
Konecny finished with a backhand from close range after a good pass from Claude Giroux at the point to make it 1-0 just 1:18 in. It was 2-0 only 4½ minutes later when Laughton forced a turnover in front and beat Kuemper with a backhand.
The Coyotes got one back with 11:30 left in the first on Ekman-Larsson's wrist shot from the point that sneaked inside the post past Pickard's left pad.
NOTES: The Flyers have allowed a power-play goal in nine straight games. ... D Alex Goligoski (lower body) left in the second period and didn't return. ... Oskar Lindblom extended his career-best point streak to five games with a third-period assist.
Coyotes: At Pittsburgh on Saturday night.
Flyers: Host Chicago on Saturday afternoon.


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Living in Washington is wonderful. The city is a museum, culture is everywhere, and politics often makes sleeping pill prescriptions totally unnecessary. Sometimes I lose sight of how interesting and different our city is, but events like the one I attended on Friday night shake out complacency.
Yes, I was a guest at the Royal Thai embassy in Georgetown. The food was sumptuous, the Ambassador and his staff gracious, and the entertainment divine. I had such a good time, two days later my cheeks still hurt from smiling so much. Above is a snippet of the entertainment for you to enjoy.
The cherry on the cake truly was the Thai Masked Dance Khon Troupe from Bangkok. For over an hour they danced, fought, joked, clowned, and displayed aspects of the Thai heritage. The men wore brilliant golden costumes, the women dripped dozens of orchids from their hair. Each movement — practiced over decades — seemed effortless, yet I couldn't fathom getting my fingers into the artistic backward curving gestures or moving with such precise grace.
I'd like to thank His Excellency, Ambassador Vijavat Isarabhakdi for his kind generosity during the evening. He reminded me of my husband's and my trip to Bangkok a few years ago — and a place and people so lovely, I cannot wait to visit there again.
Categories: Culture, Embassy Visit / Insider DC


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Components of 1-carbon metabolism and central nervous system (CNS) functions. SAM indicates S-adenosylmethionine; Hcy, homocysteine; Met, methionine; B12, vitamin B12; MS, methionine synthetase; 5mTHF, 5-methyl-tetrahydrofolate; 5,10mTHF, 5,10-methylene-tetrahydrofolate; THF, tetrahydrofolate; and MTHFR, methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase.
Dose-response relationships between plasma total homocysteine (tHcy), folate, and vitamin B12 levels and anxiety disorder and depression. The curves were constructed by using generalized additive regression analyses adjusting for age, sex, smoking status, and educational level. The shaded areas indicate 95% pointwise confidence intervals. To convert tHcy levels to milligrams per deciliter, divide by 7.397; folate to nanograms per milliliter, divide by 2.266; and vitamin B12 to picograms per milliliter, divide by 0.738.
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Bjelland I, Tell GS, Vollset SE, Refsum H, Ueland PM. Folate, Vitamin B12, Homocysteine, and the MTHFR 677C→T Polymorphism in Anxiety and Depression: The Hordaland Homocysteine Study. Arch Gen Psychiatry. 2003;60(6):618–626. doi:10.1001/archpsyc.60.6.618
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An association between depression and folate status has been demonstrated in clinical studies, whereas data are sparse on the relationship between depression and other components of 1-carbon metabolism such as vitamin B12, homocysteine, and the methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase 677C→T polymorphism. The relationship between anxiety and these components is less well known. This study examined the associations between folate, total homocysteine, vitamin B12, and the methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase 677C→T polymorphism, and anxiety and depression in a large population-based study.
Anxiety and depression, measured by the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale, were assessed in 5948 subjects aged 46 to 49 years (mean, 47.4 years) and 70 to 74 years (mean, 71.9 years) from the Hordaland Homocysteine Study cohort. By means of logistic regression models, anxiety and depression scores were examined in relation to the factors listed above.
Overall, hyperhomocysteinemia (plasma total homocysteine level ≥15.0 µmol/L [≥2.02 mg/dL]) (odds ratio, 1.90; 95% confidence interval, 1.11-3.25) and T/T methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase genotype (odds ratio, 1.69; 95% confidence interval, 1.09-2.62), but not low plasma folate or vitamin B12 levels, were significantly related to depression without comorbid anxiety disorder. Plasma folate level was inversely associated with depression only in the subgroup of middle-aged women. None of the investigated parameters showed a significant relationship to anxiety.
Our results provide further evidence of a role of impaired 1-carbon metabolism in depression.
HOMOCYSTEINE and the vitamins involved in 1-carbon metabolism, folate and vitamin B12, have been associated with a diversity of diseases, including cardiovascular disease,1,2 malignancies,3 Alzheimer disease, impaired cognitive functioning,4,5 and birth defects and pregnancy complications.6,7 Several studies have investigated the 677C→T polymorphism of the methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR) gene as a risk factor for these conditions, as the C-to-T transition causes reduced enzyme activity, and elevated plasma total homocysteine (tHcy) levels under conditions of impaired folate status.8
Both anxiety and depression are common symptoms or disorders with a major impact on public health.9,10 Although a possible role of nutritional factors in the pathogenesis of neuropsychiatric disorders has long been debated,11,12 clinical studies have shown an inverse relationship between folate status and depression.13 Such a relationship has been inferred from studies showing increased frequency of folate deficiency among depressed patients14-18;more severe18-21 and prolonged22 depressive episodes and weaker treatment response to antidepressants in patients with low folate status14,18,21-25;and enhanced antidepressant response with folic acid supplementation.26-29
Investigations on a possible role of vitamin B12 status in neuropsychiatric disorders have been motivated by the central nervous system damage caused by overt or subtle vitamin B12 deficiency.30,31 Data regarding the association between vitamin B12 status and depression are scarce.14,18,32-34
While some studies have demonstrated a positive relationship between depression and plasma tHcy levels35 or the MTHFR 677C→T polymorphism,36 such relationships have not been confirmed in other studies.14,32,34,37
Folate, vitamin B12, and homocysteine are involved in processes important for central nervous system function (Figure 1). Folate metabolism is linked to biopterin-dependent neurotransmitter synthesis38 and S-adenosylmethionine–dependent methylation of biogenic amines and phospholipids in the central nervous system.39 Homocysteine, or its metabolites such as homocysteic acid, may have a direct excitotoxic effect on the N-methyl-D-aspartate glutamate receptors, or may inhibit the methylation processes in the central nervous system.39 This biochemical knowledge adds to the clinical data cited already, suggesting a possible role of 1-carbon metabolism in mental disorders, particularly in depression and dementia.40 However, despite the extensive comorbidity between depression and anxiety,41-43 we have found no more than 3 studies33,44,45 addressing the possibility of impaired 1-carbon metabolism in anxiety disorders. Only one study suggests such an association, namely, between low vitamin B12 levels and anxiety.33
The present study is part of the Hordaland Health Study, which included self-administered questionnaires of anxiety and depression according to the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS),46 determination of tHcy and related vitamins, and C677T MTHFR genotyping in approximately 6000 middle-aged and elderly subjects. The aim of the current study was to examine whether key components of the 1-carbon metabolism were associated with anxiety disorders and/or depression in this large population.
The Hordaland Health Study 1997-1999 was conducted from 1997 to 1999 as a collaboration between the National Health Screening Service, the University of Bergen (Bergen, Norway), and local health services. A subsample of the study included 2291 men and 2558 women aged 46 to 49 years (mean, 47.4 years) and 1868 men and 2470 women aged 70 to 74 years (mean, 71.9 years) who had participated in the Hordaland Homocysteine Studies in 1992 to 1993.47 The younger age group was originally a part of the ordinary national cardiovascular risk survey program, while the older group was included to examine age effects. Participation rate was 77% of those invited. At attendance, the subjects underwent a brief physical examination (height, weight, blood pressure), and a blood sample was drawn and stored at −20°C until the biochemical analyses were performed 1 to 3 years later. A self-administered questionnaire providing information on demographic, socioeconomic, and psychosocial parameters; health behaviors; subjective health; present or former diseases; and use of medication was delivered. Among those who participated, 5948 individuals(84%) returned questionnaires with valid ratings of anxiety and depression.
The study protocol was approved by the Regional Committee for Medical Research Ethics and the Norwegian Data Inspectorate.
The HADS is a self-administered questionnaire consisting of 14 items, 7 for anxiety (HADS-A subscale) and 7 for depression (HADS-D subscale).46 To avoid making individuals feel that they are being tested for mental disorders, symptoms of severe psychopathology are not included. The HADS-A contains items mainly related to restlessness and worry, and 1 item reflecting panic attacks. The HADS-D focuses mainly on the reduced pleasure response aspect (anhedonia) of depression, but also psychomotor retardation and impaired mood.
The HADS-A and HADS-D are intercorrelated, most often in the range of 0.50 to 0.60.48 Hence, to identify more homogeneous groups with anxiety disorders or depressions, restrictions were put on the other subscale when cases were defined. Thus, anxiety disorder was defined as a HADS-A score of 8 or more restricted to a HADS-D score less than 8 to avoid comorbid disorders. Accordingly, depression was defined as a HADS-D score of 8 or more restricted to a HADS-A score less than 8. Analyses were also carried out on comorbid cases, which were defined as subjects with both subscale scores of 8 or more. To enhance the specificity of anxiety disorder and depression, analyses were carried out on cases defined to HADS-A and HADS-D scores of 11 or more, using the same restrictions as mentioned in this paragraph.
Plasma tHcy was analyzed by high-performance liquid chromatography and fluorescence detection.49 Serum folate was determined by a Lactobacillus casei microbiologic assay50 and serum vitamin B12 by a Lactobacillus leichmannii microbiologic assay.51 Both the folate and vitamin B12 assays were adapted to a microtiter plate format and carried out by a robotic workstation (Micro-lab AT plus 2; Hamilton Bonaduz AG, Bonaduz, Switzerland). The MTHFR C677T genotyping was performed by a real-time polymerase chain reaction as described elsewhere.52
Plasma tHcy level was divided into 4 categories (<9.0 µmol/L[<1.22 mg/dL] [reference], 9.0-11.9 µmol/L [1.22-1.61 mg/dL], 12.0-14.9 µmol/L [1.62-2.01 mg/dL], and ≥15.0 µmol/L [≥2.02 mg/dL]).53 Plasma folate and plasma vitamin B12 levels were similarly divided into 4 categories (plasma folate: <3.80 nmol/L [<1.7 ng/mL], 3.80-4.99 nmol/L [1.7-2.2 ng/mL], 5.00-8.49 nmol/L [2.3-3.7 ng/mL], and ≥8.50 nmol/L [≥3.8 ng/mL] [reference]; plasma vitamin B12: <230.0 pmol/L [<312 pg/mL], 230.0-279.9 pmol/L [312-379 pg/mL], 280.0-414.9 pmol/L [380-562 pg/mL], and ≥415.0 pmol/L [≥563 pg/mL] [reference]). Logistic regression analyses were used to estimate odds ratios (ORs) for being a case, comparing each category with the reference category of the metabolites and the MTHFR polymorphism. The representation of covariates as indicator variables was used to allow for assessment of nonlinear dose-response relationships, while a linear (1 df) representation was used to test for linear trends. Two logistic regression models were used, one with adjustment for age and sex (model 1) and one with additional adjustments for smoking status and educational level (model 2). The effect of other possible confounders, such as coffee consumption, physical exercise, body mass index, and self-reported cardiovascular disease, was examined by adding these one by one to model 2. To evaluate possible effect modification of age and sex, product terms were added separately to the models. Possible effect modification of B-vitamin supplementation and tranquilizer and antidepressant use was evaluated by stratification.
To examine whether use of B-vitamin supplements was associated with anxiety or depression, logistic regression analyses were used to estimate OR for being a case, comparing nonusers with users after adjusting for age, sex, smoking status, and educational level.
The precision of the OR estimates was expressed with 95% confidence intervals (CIs). Generalized additive logistic regression was used to provide a graphic representation of the dose-response relationship between folate, vitamin B12, and tHcy and anxiety or depression. This technique is based on the generalized additive model54 and allowed adjustment for age, sex, smoking status, and educational level.
A 2-sided P<.05 was chosen to indicate statistical significance. The statistical analyses were conducted with the software package SPSS 11.0 (SPSS Inc, Chicago, Ill) and S-Plus 6.0 (Insightful Corp, Seattle, Wash).
Table 1 summarizes some demographic characteristics and blood indexes according to age groups and sex. The prevalences of anxiety disorder and depression; use of psychoactive drugs; distribution of tHcy, vitamin B12, and folate levels; and some lifestyle factors are also presented. The total numbers of subjects with anxiety disorder and depression were 622 (11.5%) and 243 (4.8%), respectively. Anxiety disorder was most prevalent among middle-aged women (15.3%) and depression among older men (7.5%).
Plasma tHcy level correlated well with plasma folate value and modestly with plasma vitamin B12 level (Spearman coefficient r = −0.40, P<.001, and r = −0.25, P<.001, respectively), and plasma folate and plasma vitamin B12 levels correlated poorly(r = 0.06, P<.001), as has been reported elsewhere.55 In the MTHFR T/T genotype, compared with the C/C and C/T genotypes, the mean value of plasma tHcy was significantly increased (13.66 µmol/L [1.85 mg/dL] vs 10.62 µmol/L [1.44 mg/dL] and 10.98 µmol/L [1.48 mg/dL]; P<.001 and P<.001, respectively) and mean plasma folate significantly decreased (7.49 nmol/L [3.3 ng/mL] vs 8.46 nmol/L [3.7 ng/mL] and 8.15 nmol/L [3.6 ng/mL]; P<.001 and P<.05, respectively), while mean plasma vitamin B12 did not show significant differences between the genotypes (data not shown).
The proportions of the sample with anxiety disorder or depression according to the increasing concentrations of tHcy, folate, and vitamin B12, and according to MTHFR genotype and some lifestyle factors, are listed in Table 2, stratified by age and sex. The distributions indicated associations with both anxiety disorder and depression for a variety of the variables listed. Plasma tHcy and folate levels and MTHFR genotype all seemed associated with depression, as did educational level, smoking status, coffee consumption, use of antidepressants and tranquilizers, physical exercise, and body mass index. Associations with anxiety disorder were seen for smoking status, use of antidepressants and tranquilizers, and body mass index, but only in some strata within plasma tHcy, folate, and vitamin B12 levels.
Plasma levels of tHcy were not significantly associated with anxiety disorder (Table 3) but were significantly related to depression (Table 4), as demonstrated by logistic regression models adjusting for age and sex (model 1), or further adjusting for smoking status and educational level (model 2). The association with depression was, however, strongest at high plasma tHcy level (≥15.0 µmol/L [≥2.02 mg/dL]) (OR, 1.90; 95% CI, 1.11-3.25), and test for linear trend was significant only in model 1 (P = .03). Including folate level, vitamin B12 level, or MTHFR genotypes in the analyses did not essentially influence the estimates.
Figure 2 shows a graphic representation of the relationship between tHcy and the vitamins, and anxiety disorder and depression. A dose-response relationship was seen only between tHcy level and depression.
Neither folate nor vitamin B12 was significantly related to anxiety disorder or depression. These results were obtained by logistic regression also after adjustments (models 1 and 2, Table 3 and Table 4) and were supported by generalized additive logistic regression (Figure 2). However, the dose-response curves obtained by the latter approach suggested a weak negative relationship between folate and depression but not anxiety disorder, and the curve for the vitamin B12 and depression relationship was actually U-shaped (Figure 2).
The estimates did not change markedly when analyses were performed separately for the 4 age and sex strata, except for middle-aged women. In this subgroup, ORs (95% CIs) were 3.41 (1.02-11.42) and 3.08 (0.97-9.72) (model 1) and 3.15(0.94-10.60) and 3.05 (0.96-9.65) (model 2) for the 2 lower folate categories, respectively. The P for trend was .02 in both models.
Depression but not anxiety disorder was related to the C677T MTHFR genotype. The OR (95% CI) for depression by logistic regression was 1.69 (1.09-2.62) for the T/T genotype (using C/C as reference) in model 2 (Table 4). This estimate was essentially the same when carried out in the 4 age and sex strata (data not shown).
Including coffee consumption, physical exercise, body mass index, or self-reported cardiovascular disease in the logistic regression analyses did not significantly influence the estimates. We observed no effect modification by age or sex or by use of B vitamins, tranquilizers, or antidepressants.
There were no significant associations between levels of plasma folate, vitamin B12, or tHcy or MTHFR 677C→T polymorphism and comorbid anxiety disorder and depression. Nonusers of B-vitamin supplements were not more prone to anxiety or depression than users.
Elevating the cutoff for both anxiety disorder and depression to HADS-A score of 11 or more and HADS-D score of 11 or more, respectively, resulted in only minor changes in the estimates. The relationship with tHcy was weaker for anxiety disorder and stronger for depression; neither of them was significant. The OR for anxiety disorder and depression associated with folate or vitamin B12 was unchanged, except for the relationship between vitamin B12 and depression, which became significant at the lower vitamin B12 level with an OR (95% CI) of 2.33 (1.05-5.21) in model 1 and 2.39 (1.07-5.36) in model 2. Significant effects of MTHFR T/T genotype were not obtained for anxiety disorder, but they were for depression. The OR (95% CI) increased to 2.65 (1.16-6.08) in model 1 and 2.75 (1.20-6.32) in model 2.
We investigated the association between anxiety disorders and depression and key components of the 1-carbon metabolism in a cohort of 5948 subjects. The strongest relationship was observed between the T/T MTHFR genotype and depression, and the association was present for both cutoff levels of depression. Associations were observed between tHcy and depression, lowest level of vitamin B12 (<230.0 pmol/L [<312 pg/mL]) and depression with high cutoff (HADS-D score ≥11), and in middle aged women, between depression and folate. Only a weak relationship or no relationship was seen between anxiety disorder and tHcy, folate, or vitamin B12 level or MTHFR genotype.
Although the cross-sectional designof this study allows association between parameters to be assessed, causality cannot be determined. Because anxiety disorders and depression may influence dietary habits, it is conceivable that these disorders may alter homocysteine and B-vitamin status through dietary changes. Among the parameters studied, only MTHFR genotype is a nonmodifiable trait.
Published studies on folate status and depression, most of which are case-control studies, demonstrate stronger relationships56 than documented in the present study. Such case-control studies are more prone to selection bias than a population-based cross-sectional study. Although the primary participation rate of the present study was relatively high (77%), it might have been affected by mental disorders themselves, since persons with anxiety disorders and depression might be less likely to participate in the study.
The plasma levels of folate in the frozen samples were lower than would be expected in a fresh sample, in contrast to the plasma levels of vitamin B12 and tHcy. Others have found similar deviations of plasma folate levels in frozen samples.57 Nevertheless, plasma folate level was correlated with tHcy level (Spearman coefficient r = −0.40, P<.001), as reported elsewhere.55
Serum (or plasma) folate level has been considered a less reliable measure of folate status than red blood cell folate content.58 Hence, if red blood cell folate level had been measured, one would expect a stronger association with depression compared with our findings. However, because of substantial intermethod variation, red blood cell folate level has its shortcomings as a measure of folate deficiency as well.59
The HADS is a dimensional rating scale, and categorical diagnoses have to be based on research-proved cutoff levels. Optimal cutoff levels for anxiety disorders and depressive disorders are at scores of 8 or more for both subscales, resulting in sensitivities and specificities of approximately 0.80 for both HADS-A and HADS-D.48 Higher specificity is usually obtained by raising the cutoff level, which was demonstrated by the increased OR for depression in the MTHFR polymorphism, tHcy level, and vitamin B12 level.
The observed association between the MTHFR T/T genotype and depression is in accordance with results from one case-control study,36 while another case-control study did not confirm such an association.37 These somewhat inconsistent results of smaller studies could be explained by low statistical power due to the limited number of cases (n = 71 and 32, respectively), combined with the low frequency (10%) of MTHFR T/T homozygosity.8
We found that depression was related to tHcy, folate, and vitamin B12 levels, but the associations were weak and/or present only in certain subgroups. This contrasts somewhat with the findings in clinical studies of impaired folate status in depressed patients,56 and one report on the high frequency of elevated tHcy levels in depression.18 The relatively weak associations found in the present work could be explained by better folate status and less severe depression of the subjects recruited from a general population as compared with hospitalized depressed patients.
Some antidepressant effect by folic acid supplementation has been reported in randomized clinical trials.26-29 The largest (n = 127) of these trials26 showed, however, a significant beneficial effect only in women. The lack of significant results in men could be due to the small sample size or an insufficient dosage. In contrast, in our study, use of vitamin B supplements was not associated with a lower prevalence of depression. Notably, most of the B-vitamin supplements in Norway at the time of recruitment did not contain folic acid, or only in relatively low doses of 100 µg.
Associations between folate, vitamin B12, and tHcy levels or the MTHFR 677C→T polymorphism and anxiety disorders have seldom been reported so far; this may be due to reporting or publication bias of negative findings. We found only a weak, nonsignificant relationship between plasma tHcy level and anxiety disorder, and no associations between any of the index variables and comorbid depression and anxiety disorder. Hence, our data suggest that impaired 1-carbon metabolism is related to the subgroup of depression without comorbid anxiety disorder. One possible explanation is that they have a different cause. Further subgrouping to obtain more specific categories, eg, unipolar vs bipolar depression and lifetime or recurrent depression, was not possible when HADS was used in this cross-sectional design. Such analyses of subgroups should be carried out in future studies.
In summary, results from this large population-based study suggest a role of impaired 1-carbon metabolism in depression without comorbid anxiety disorder. This conclusion is supported by increased risk among subjects with the MTHFR T/T genotype, which has an effect on folate distribution and thereby tHcy level. The observation that the T/T genotype confers increased risk suggests that altered B-vitamin status may be a risk factor for, rather than the result of, depression. However, our results are preliminary and there is a need for prospective studies. Furthermore, a dose-response relationship between B vitamins, metabolic markers, and clearly defined subgroups of depression should be investigated. More adequately sized double-blind randomized trials are warranted as well.
Corresponding author: Ingvar Bjelland, MD, Department of Public Health and Primary Health Care, University of Bergen, Armauer Hansen Building, Haukeland Hospital, N-5021 Bergen, Norway (e-mail: email@example.com).
Submitted for publication September 17, 2002; final revision received January 8, 2003; accepted January 9, 2003.
This study was supported by the Norwegian Research Council, Oslo. Dr Bjelland has research grants from H. Lundbeck Ltd (Norway), Lysaker, and Upjohn Ltd (Norway), Oslo.
We thank Alv A. Dahl, MD, PhD, for his advice and encouragement in writing and revising the drafts of this article.


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American Goat Cheese: From Hippie Chick To Hip And Chic
I'll never forget the taste of a particular glass of milk offered to me at my friend's house when we were in the fourth grade: sour grass. After I tried it, my friend's hippie mom proudly informed me it was goat's milk. Gross, I thought.
I had a pretty typical East Coast 1980s childhood diet of sugary cereals and processed dinners, and so my palate was completely unprepared for the funky flavor of goat.
But now, some 30 years later, I've often pulled goat cheese out of the fridge to bolster a quick dinner or to serve unexpected visitors.
I'm not alone in going from zero to 60 on goat, but how did it happen?
One of the grand dames of goat cheese, Mary Keehn of Cypress Grove Chevre in California, started her business in 1983, at a time when she says nobody wanted to eat goat cheese.
At the Fancy Food Show in Washington, D.C., this summer, the lines for her counter were sometimes five people deep.
Back in the 1980s, she says, people would tell her they didn't like goat cheese. But she persevered. "Well, try this one," she recalls saying. Eventually, it worked.
That's the rights strategy, says Marci Pelchat, who studies taste and flavor at the Monell Center. One of the keys to getting people to try new foods is mere exposure — especially in a social setting.
"If someone serves it at a party, or you go to an expensive restaurant, that helps cognitively to make you want to try it again," Pelchat says. Basically, social pressure helps.
"It took us 10 years to get people not to go, 'Yuck,'" Keehn says, recalling the early food shows where she desperately tried to give away samples.
Now, goat cheese is nothing new to the rest of the world. In fact, goats were among the first domesticated animals, valued for their size, their smarts, their lean meat and their milk. In Homer's epic poem, "The Odyssey," the gigantic one-eyed Cyclops, Polyphemus, puts goat milk curds into molds made of reeds — tah dah, cheese.
Fresh goat cheese has been prized in France for centuries, and now there's dozens of varieties of aged goat cheese. But Americans never quite took to the flavor until the last decade or so.
Some of us may never like it, says Pelchat. It depends on our childhood experiences, whether our parents tried new foods or encouraged us to do it.
"Exposure does increase liking, [but] it depends on where you started out," she says. If you're open to new flavors, you'll have more food in your repertoire.
Keehn says she was always open to new things. She had a young family and not a lot of money in the early 1970s, and she noticed a neighbor had a few goats around her barn to control weeds. She was thinking about survival, and reading about how milk and meat were used in other cultures.
So with her neighbor's permission, she captured two goats and started domesticating them.
Soon, her biology degree kicked in, and she started building a complex breeding program. She began showing the animals at fairs. And then she had more milk than her family could drink, so she started making cheese.
"You can just heat up milk, add a little vinegar and it will coagulate, so that was my first cheese. We ate a lot of that, and it's not that great," Keehn admits. But she kept trying. She ordered French manuals on how to make goat cheese, and used yogurt as a starter because the special cheese-making enzymes available to today's cheese entrepreneurs weren't around back then. She sold it to friends and neighbors.
Now her Humbolt Fog, a pure white cheese with a gray-blue vein running through it, is among the most recognizable fresh goat cheeses around.
Goat cheese is the fastest growing market for domestic goat milk, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, although it's still quite small compared to cow's milk cheese. Now books about what to do with goats are everywhere, but there was nothing American available when Keehn started out.
To stay current, Keehn recently started making goat cheese wedding cakes — three goat cheese wheels stacked on top of each other, shaped like a three-tiered wedding cake.
"It's exciting to be invited to peoples' weddings, even if it's just for the cheese," she says.
And she welcomes the competition — of which there was plenty at the Fancy Food Show.
One company called Happy Goat was marketing six flavors of goat cheese caramels, including one featuring a nip of Scotch liquor. Now that's a flavor Americans will probably take to quickly.


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"50 For 50" package offers excellent value on lodging, lift tickets
When Vail Mountain opened for skiing in 1962, the area had one gondola, two chair lifts and nine ski runs. Today, it's North America's largest ski resort with 31 lifts and more than 5,000 skiable acres. It's fitting that Vail Resorts will kick off its 50th anniversary festivities by installing a new state-of-the-art gondola in the same location as the original Gondola One. The new ride will boast heated leather seats and WiFi, and will speed up the mountain at 1,200 feet per minute.
The Antlers at Vail hotel opened in 1972, and general manager Rob LeVine has been actively involved in the town's planning and development for more than three decades. "I've been here long enough to remember when we put an Amana Radar Range microwave oven in one of our rooms, and people would come from all over just to see it work!" he says.
In honor of the resort's half-century anniversary, The Antlers at Vail hotel celebrates with 50% savings from November 16 to December 13, 2012. The Antlers "50 For 50" stay-and-ski deal starts at $579 per person for 4 people in a 2-bedroom condo for 4 nights—and the price includes four-day lift tickets for each person! Along with the parties, historic presentations, concerts and other celebrations Vail has planned for its fiftieth birthday, skiers and boarders can enjoy uncrowded slopes and shorter lift lines in the early snow season.
For four decades the Antlers has offered a unique Vail lodging experience in a relaxed mountain setting. Named the Vail Valley 'Green Business of the Year' in 2009, the Antlers is also proud to be named a Platinum Service Award Winner by the Vail Valley Partnership. With condominiums ranging from studio suites up to four bedrooms and plenty of space to spread out, each room at the Antlers offers all the comforts of home including fully-equipped kitchens, fireplaces, outdoor balconies, free Internet access and free parking in a heated indoor garage. The Antlers Vail is conveniently located in the Lionshead area of Vail with numerous restaurants, galleries and shops within walking distance, and the free Vail town shuttle stops just footsteps away. For more information, call 1-800-843-8245.
Media Contacts: Rob LeVine, General Manager, Antlers at Vail, [email protected], 970.476.2471; or Darla Worden, WordenGroup Strategic Public Relations, [email protected], 307.734.5335.


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>PRWEB.COM NewswireFremont, California (PRWEB) June 15, 2014
For more than a decade, the Torres Chess and Music Academy has been transforming the California chess scene one child at a time. It is the mission of the TCAMA to produce chess excellence in the schools and communities in which that it operates. In fact, since the Torres Chess and Music Academy's summer chess camp has become an annual event, three different California schools have won National Elementary Championships and all of them are located at or walking distance from its summer chess camp locations. Compare this to the time period before the TCAMA full day chess camps in which California had never produced an elementary chess program that won the USCF National Championship and the evidence is clear: The Torres Chess and Music Academy's summer program is much more than just another chess camp; it is an opportunity to change your child's life.
"If we are known by the company we keep, then the influencers you expose your child to ought to inspire and invigorate them to greatness. Chess mastery is not just learned by reviewing games and solving problems. It is grasped by the mind and spirit of those children who experienced it in the lives of highly accomplished chess masters. All of our teachers understand the importance of continually introducing your children to those who have chosen to excel through chess. Our students listen to them, watch them and learn firsthand what it takes to be a champion in both chess and life."- Chris Torres
Without a doubt, no-one exemplifies using chess as a key to success in life better than the former world chess champion, GM Susan Polgar. A small sampling of her vast spectrum of achievements includes:
- Four Women's World Chess Championships
- Five time Olympic champion with over 10 medals earned
- The number one ranked woman in the world at the age of fifteen
- The first chess player ever to be a World Champion at Blitz, Rapid and Classical time controls.
- The first woman to be awarded a men's Grandmaster title in chess
More information on this inspiring woman can be found by going to her web page: http://www.susanpolgar.com/.
Perhaps a child lacks the confidence necessary to achieve his/her personal chess goals. The TCAMA is proud to introduce International Master Emory Tate to our summer chess camp in order to help grow a child's chess confidence and make his or her play more assertive. Emory is regarded as one of the greatest aggressive chess players in America. He made a name for himself in chess in the United States Air force and by winning the All-Armed Services tournament five different times. Since 1992 he has become Indiana State champion a total of six different times and then Alabama State Chess Champion twice. When he isn't coaching Bay Area students, Emory makes it a regular habit to defeat top grandmasters at the prestigious chess tournaments in which he often participates.
Maybe another child lacks knowledge on the critical lines of today's popular tournament openings. Who better to help him/her than National Master Eric Schiller PhD.? Dr. Schiller is widely recognized as a geyser of chess information. Having written over 100 chess books he is one of the most knowledgeable chess coaches one can meet. Besides coaching and participating in chess tournaments, Eric is a sought after International Arbiter who has organized and directed an impressive list of chess tournaments and matches.
It has been said that "chess is 99% tactics". Chris Torres, a USCF Correspondence chess master and President of the TCAMA, believes this to be true. He has personally helped to transform hundreds of talented young chess players into internationally recognized brilliant tacticians. Since he began coaching in 1998, Chris is widely recognized as one of the main driving forces behind the explosion in popularity and sudden rise in quality of scholastic chess in California.
The Torres Chess and Music Academy's Fremont Summer Chess Camp will run from June 30th through July 24th at Mission San Jose Elementary School in Fremont, California.
For more information on our Summer Chess Camp, please visit http://www.ChessAndMusic.com.
Would you like the chance to have your child attend all four weeks of the Torres Chess and Music Academy Fremont Summer Chess Camp for free (a $750 value)?
It's easy! Just "Like" the TCAMA Facebook page(https://www.facebook.com/ChessAndMusic) or follow @TorresChess on Twitter, then message Chris Torres with the code FreeChessCamp14 and your contact information. The Torres Chess and Music Academy will select one lucky winner at random on Monday, June 23rd.
Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2014/06/prweb11945268.htm


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Headstones Near Me
Monument Maker Near Me
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text:
The web isn't about — or just about — content or communication, of course. It's really about making connections — about, well, links. But to be valued, those links must be organized around trust. In short: It's about relationships.
The greater the value of the relationship, the greater the value of those who enable those relationships. Those who figure that out succeed (and those who try to impose the old models and relationships fail): Google connects us to information at a low level with sufficient accuracy (we trust it enough) and succeeds thanks to high efficiency and high volume. eBay connects people in transactions at a higher value by creating a system of trust. Whoever uses online functionality to connect, say, employers to the right executives or homebuyers to the right homes — replacing today's middlemen — can bring even more value.
The first services that come along tend to free up information that used to be controlled by middlemen: It's what Craig's List did to classified apartment ads, what SelectQuote did to insurance rates (as Freakonomics points out).
But in certain high-value transactions, no one has quite cracked that next level: using trust to make the right connection efficiently.
Look at jobs. As I've said often, the new, inexpensive, efficient marketplaces where buyer and seller meet (Craig's List and Monster) replacing the old, expensive, inefficient ones (newspaper classifieds) are only a first step, a waystation on the way to a distributed future. Job listings and resumes are now popping up everywhere and anywhere online. So the next services to come along aggregate that (distribution and aggregation is the constant ebb and flow of this new world). Many services are now scraping jobs from any and all sources: Indeed, Simply Hired, Yahoo now, Flipdog was until it was scooped up by Monster, Workzoo still is after being bought by Jobster, and DirectEmployers' JobCentral has been doing it for sometime (as Stone points out, via Fred).
Makes you think that you need the aggregator of aggregators, eh? But, no, what you need to sift through this, to find value and efficiency, is trust: Relationships. Of course, Linked In wants to do that but I still don't get the service — that is, I subscribe, but I don't grok it, because it isn't efficient for me; it gives me relationships I don't necessarily care about or that can even be a bother. Look, too, at Ev Williams' frustration trying to find a service to manage his recruiting. No one has cracked this nut.
This riff is inspired — as much pondering often is — by Umair Hague, who said that scraping jobs is just a first step:
I think the real problem in the jobs vertical is a coordination problem – not a search problem. That is, how do you connect job-seekers and decision-makers economically?
Why do I think this? Think about what headhunters do – it's equal parts coordination and search. Sure, they have to find the right candidates; but they also have to build relationships with the right decision-makers. So far, the basic model on the Net for jobs has only ever really addressed the first half of this equation. I've argued this many times before; archive it if you're really interested.
Matching jobs and job-seekers is fairly liquid on the net – the relative gap, and where Yahoo could build a strong sustainable advantage fast, is the coordination half of the value prop (which has been ignored for a veeeery long time, most likely because it's easier to build a few forms, a spider, and a database, than it is to build a whole new innovative coordination model).
LinkedIn, I think, gets this coordination problem, and has a particular take on it, which I think is kind of brittle and rigid (ie, transaction costs for referrals are pretty high, and expected gains aren't that high on average). If you ask me, the dominant design will be (a lot) more plastic, and it does not have to be centered around 'link to me' style social networking (but I can't say more unfortunately).
The problem is finding the right — the sufficient and efficient — level of trust needed to make the right connection, the appropriate relationship. A service that doesn't provide enough trust won't work (in the old world, it was the problem of putting your phone number in the paper to sell a car to people you don't trust; in the new world, anything you do not trust is spam). But on the other hand, an effort to establish excess trust — to make me friends when all I want to do is complete a transaction (see Tribe or Linked In) — is too much; it's inefficient.
I'm not sure how to do this in jobs. If I were, I'd create the business and make a damned fortune. I'd start by building on top of the aggregators and help people find the right jobs and get mutual recommendations specific to the task at hand. That's how headhunters work: When they call me to get names for a search, I take the time to reply because maybe someday they'll come searching for me. That's also how it works with friends and colleagues: I will recommend or help the ones I respect and trust and it's not wholly selfless; someday, maybe they will help me. But the networking is specific to the task at hand; I don't want to become buddies with all these folks and have to declare myself friends with some ongoing, public obligation (that's where Linked In stumbles). I want a system that lets me call on them when I need them and rewards me when they need me. I still don't know how to do that. Umair's right: That is the real challenge.
So let's switch to another leg of the classified stool: Real estate. In no sane universe, of course, does a real-estate agent earn 6 percent commission for the services provided. Now Craig's List and search engines can take away half their job by sharing information and breaking apart the monopolistic trust (in the bad sense of the word) that multiple listings services are: We can find out what's for sale and how big it is and the price.
But what they don't do is solve the trust problem: Real estate agents arrange for all those damned strangers to tour my house. At one level, it might be wise for a newspaper or Craig to simply offer a scheduling service (though if they take money from realtors, they are disinclined to do that): They could handle the hassle of matching schedules and then increase the level of trust by verifying the identities of the prospective homebuyers, by requiring and vetting credit-card information, for example. It would take a trusted agent to do that for both sides of the connection. On an even higher level, someone could start a new business that does nothing but arrange and schedule visits and physically accompany buyers on the visits: Say, a bonded moonlighting cop trusted to have my key does this to make sure my house and I are safe but without making any effort to actually sell my house (which he can't do without a license); I could pay the same person to wait at home for me to let the damned cable guy in. As a homebuyer, I would prefer that to a Realtor: I am armed with all the information I need about the homes — now distributed and aggregated openly — and I don't have to suffer through a sales guy's unctuous blather.
Now take this same calculation to other areas.
Take it to cars: Auto web sites give me the information I need about a car; CarsDirect and an Edmunds give me the information I need about pricing. Since all the cars are the same, I really don't need a trusted agent to sell me one (and I don't trust him anyway). If federal law would allow it, I'd just buy the car directly from Toyota and buy repair insurance (aka a warranty) and get it repaired wherever I want to by whomever I trust. That's the way that industry should work; regulation protecting old sales channels prevents it.
Take it to marketing: If you use this medium wisely, you don't treat it as a medium. You treat everyone you find here as a consumer, as a customer, as a person. You find the people who help you improve your products (alpha consumers); you find the people who help you market your products (influencers); you find the people who help each other with your products (life is customer service); you make good products and get out of the way. If you're lucky, you don't advertise. You create a sufficient and trusted relationship with consumers to answer questions and solve problems and keep them coming back. Are you listening, Dell?
And take it to news: The first step is to break up the old, centralized, controlled marketplaces of information and distribute news everywhere (put it online). The next is to aggregate it or help find it (see GoogleNews). The next is to solve the problem of overload and confusion via trust (see blogs). Note that the journalists no longer hold a monopoly on trust (if they ever did); in a distributed/aggregated world, we chose whom to trust.
That is what the internet is about: not just distribution, not just information, not just transactions. It is a web of humans. It is about relationships.
Information + Aggregation / Trust = Relationships
: I STAND CORRECTED: j.d. in the comments shows why I avoided higher math like the plague. What I meant to say is:
(information + aggregation) / trust = relationships


text:
Tuesday, September 13, 2011
Healthier Piña Colada
I chopped a whole pineapple into chunks and placed the chunks in the freezer for a few hours. You don't actually need to freeze the pineapple, but it adds to the icy appeal. To make the cocktails, just add two cups of pineapple chunks, three quarters of a cup of pure coconut water, one half cup of ice cubes, one tablespoon of sugar, a teaspoon of lemon juice, and one half cup of rum to a blender. Puree until smooth, and garnish with toasted coconut.
They were frothy and smooth and just sweet enough. Full of tropical flavors, this was just as fun as a traditional pina colada. And, with about a quarter of the calories, I can once again make these cocktails as often as I like.
Posted by lisa is cooking at Tuesday, September 13, 2011
19 comments:
I don't even like rum, but I'm dying for a nice big gulp of this. Is that genetic, have you checked how it is, that you make everything sweet seem so good, one's life depends on getting some? :)ReplyDelete
That is a drink I adore and your lighter version sounds and look amazing!ReplyDelete
Oh my gosh! I used to ADORE the old fashioned kind in college. Now they would be too sweet for me (except they'd make a GREAT dessert - never thought of that) so I am dying to try this lighter more grown up version. BTW do you have a good Caipihrina recipe (sp?)ReplyDelete
You can never go wrong with pina colada... especially on a hot day... very nice.ReplyDelete
i love this drink but never really made at home. And this recipe is going in my wish list for next weekend .. plus it's lighter version .. what better right :)ReplyDelete
Oh, what a pretty pina colada. I like the idea of lightening it up - not even so much for the calories as for the taste. I find traditional pina colada too dense and sweet. Very nice photos Lisa!ReplyDelete
Very pretty drink indeed, I like your "skinnier" version. I drink very little these days, and haven't had a mixed drink in almost a year, but I bet I would love a sip of your Pina ColadaReplyDelete
Alisa: I've never made Caipirinhas at home, but here's a traditional recipe from a trusted source: http://bewitchingkitchen.com/2010/06/14/caipirinhas-101/ReplyDelete
It looks like I will now be able to enjoy one of my favorite "exotic" drinks. How can I ever thank you for sharing this wonderful idea!ReplyDelete
Thank you so much Lisa...I'm thrilled!!!
Love this fruity pinacolada, looks fantastic.ReplyDelete
Great pina colada, Lisa! I would love to have a glass of it :)ReplyDelete
I'm with you- why drink your calories? This reminds me of the Skinny Rita, which I've yet to try. I'm all for delicious drinks with less calories- this one looks like a winner!ReplyDelete
It sounds so refreshing!ReplyDelete
I don't like drinking calories either! This looks delicious and a lot less calories than the original ingredients. Beautiful photos with that toasted coconut on top.ReplyDelete
Healthier, I think I am in love. THis is my favorite drink Lisa. Thanks for sharing.ReplyDelete
A quarter of the calories? Very impressive!ReplyDelete
Fantastic especially for the Florida hot weather, looks very tempting!!!ReplyDelete
That's one of the reasons why I stay away from these kinda cocktails too! Love the healthy twist.ReplyDelete
sans rum, i can see myself drinking this with my breakfast! nice twist, lisa. :)ReplyDelete


text:
A new study finds that postmenopausal women who take estrogen are much more likely to pee their pants than women who have never taken the hormone.
Reuters reports that women who have taken estrogen for five or more years are three or four times more likely to have bladder control problems than women who have taken it for less than five years. The study, published in a journal called Menopause (which really should include an explanation mark at the end, but doesn't) interviewed a small number of women in 1993 and followed up with them eleven years later. Most of the women who reported having bladder control issues said that their issues were so bad that they interfered with their ability to socialize or leave their house.
More research into the Will My Hormones Make Me Piss Myself In Front Of Everybody? question is warranted, especially since the study was so small and didn't track levels of progesterone in the hormone supplements survey participants took.
Other negative effects of hormone replacement therapy include increased risk of hearing loss, heart attack, stroke, dementia, and various forms of cancers. Women who opt not to take estrogen in conjunction with menopause often experience hot flashes and vaginal dryness.
Womanhood: damned if you do, damned if you don't. Let's all get spayed.
Estrogen use tied to bladder control problems [Reuters]
Image via Colour/Shutterstock


text:
Last modified: 2006-09-23 by phil nelson
Keywords: fu hsing middle and primary school | plum flower | triangle | circle |
Links: FOTW homepage | search | disclaimer and copyright | write us | mirrors
See also:
Outside links:
The National United University is located at the
university's UnivFlag3.jpg
page. And another version of the same university is at UnivFlag1.jpg.
Valentin Poposki, 25 November 2005
Information in English about Ming Chuan University can be found in English on Wikipedia, where the university logo as seen on university's own English language web site and flag page.
The university is a family-onwed institution, which in american terms would
be defined as a proprietary institution, A considerable number of such
institutions in the US are little more than diploma mills, but careful reading
of Ming Chuan University's web site shows that this is most definitely not the
ca\se. Originally established in 1957, it was the first institution in Taiwan
to provide tertiary level education in business studies for women. Now
coeducational, its strengths still lie in business and management studies.
Ron Lahav, 29 November 2005
image contributed by John Ma, 27 February 2006
Source: National Chengchi University
Chengchi is Wades-Giles for "politics," and the university was originally a KMT partisan training school started in 1927. NCCU on the mainland closed in 1949; reopened in Taiwan in 1954, and is the first public university during the republican years to be resurrected.
Its flag has a light blue field, border with white then red, and with a
yellow fringe. The name of the university is written in yellow on the
upper half, and the emblem, a blue stylized plum blossom with the
characters "Cheng Da," on a white circle in the flower.
John Ma, 27 February 2006
image contributed by John Ma, 27 February 2006
Source: National Ilan University
Logo on light blue bedsheet.
John Ma, 27 February 2006
image contributed by John Ma, 27 February 2006
Source: Dayeh University
The background is white with
fine green wavy lines, and the emblem was slightly off-hoist. In the
world on generic logo-on-bedsheet types this is somewhat striking. The
logo itself is the symbolization of a tree.
John Ma, 27 February 2006
image contributed by John Ma, 27 February 2006
Source: Soochow University
The hoist side is a monogram with the university's initials and the fly side is the Chinese name of the university in seal script.
Soochow university is founded in 1900 by the meager of three schools started by The Methodist Episcopal Church South in Soochow, or nowadays Suzhou. Re-established in Taiwan in 1954, although it has been in Taiwan in 1951 as a "cram school."
Incidentally, Soochow's campus in Suzhou, China, was occupied, aptly,
by the Suzhou university, and their emblems are exceedingly similar--
the latter merely changed the Chinese "Dongwu" to "Suzhou."
John Ma, 27 February 2006
image contributed by Eugene Ipavec, 31 August 2006
Source: Fu Jen Catholic University
The University flag's color is yellow, which indicates the affinity of the University to the Holy See. The twelve stars in the middle symbolize the Virgin Mary.
Source: Fu Jen Catholic University
Valentin Poposki, 28 August 2006
The lettering reads: 'Taipei City Private Fu Hsing Citizens' Middle/Primary
School'. And the ideograms in the symbol simply read 'Fu Hsing', meaning
Miles Li, 30 July 2003
From the school website:
The torch means brightness, courage and efforts.
The flower means our national flower, plum flower, which means perseverance.
The triangle means the junior high school, primary school and kindergarten.
The circle means whole person education.
Jan Mertens, 30 July 2003


text:
When gun crime, or knife crime more recently apt, gets out of hand, the media and police often concentrate on creating "amnesties" where repentant gun & knife owners can hand over their abominable weapons with no questions asked. Better to get them off the street they say.
I've never been totally convinced about this, but anyway it looks good on television and sometimes gets unexpected results (one less rocket launcher on the streets of Devon!) such as this.
So I was intrigued by a neck tag on a bottle of wine promising a "cork amnesty". As a proud owner of quite a few corks, mainly because I collect them for a mysterious project my sister is working on, I wondered if I might have to visit a local police station to assuage my conscience. Alas, the truth was more prosaic.
[I bought the RH Phillips 2003 Zinfandel, but I believe there are/were other wines out there too]
RH Phillips, a Californian producer from Esparto, CA, USA (erm, time for the Wine Atlas I think), HAD created a site at www.corkamnesty.com that gave ideas of all the many things one could do with corks EXCEPT put them in the neck of a bottle of wine. This is a slightly aggressive form of evangelism for screwcaps, and it certainly got my attention.
Their neck tag as well as their back label are all about how cork is associated with TCA (cork taint, musty cardboard and walnut smells in wine) and should therefore be avoided.
Now, there is a big debate about corks, screwcaps, TCA, reductive wines, etc. that I will probably have to write about at some stage, but is probably FAR too dull for most people out there. I applaud RH Phillips for making a virtue of their packaging, but like with my politics, I prefer a positive message rather than a negative one. I happen to think that cork has a very important role to play, but screwcaps do too, and any radical position is unnecessary.
Unfortunately I delayed writing this post for some weeks and in that time, RH Phillips' new owners (Constellation having acquired Vincor International) have closed down the site and redirected it to their corporate page.
Not only is this dull, it is silly as they lose any valuable traffic them might have got. It also means I cannot post any clever suggestions they may have had.
I'd like to think that unlike automatic weapons and Rambo-style hunting knives, there is no need to be concerned about corks. In the right hands they do serve a purpose and can benefit humanity. However, if you feel at all ashamed of your collection and you have not yet created your own cork trivet, notice board or wreath, then maybe you could decide to turn them in to the authorities and hope they ask no questions about how long it took you to accumulate such a collection.


text:
WASHINGTON, Oct. 1, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- In 2010, working-age adults made an average of 3.9 visits to doctors, nurses or other medical providers, down from 4.8 in 2001, according to a report released today by the U.S. Census Bureau. Among those with at least one such visit, the average number of visits also declined, from 6.4 to 5.4 over the period.
(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20110428/DC91889LOGO)
These findings are from Health Status, Health Insurance, and Medical Services Utilization: 2010, a periodic report that examines the relationship between the use of medical services (such as visits to doctors and nights spent in the hospital), health status, health insurance coverage and other demographic and economic characteristics. The statistics come from the Survey of Income and Program Participation.
According to the report, most Americans consider themselves to be quite healthy: nearly two in three (66 percent) reported their health as being either "excellent" or "very good." Another 24 percent said their health was "good," while 8 percent described it as "fair" and 2 percent as "poor." Non-Hispanic blacks were more likely to consider their health to be fair or poor (13 percent) than non-Hispanic whites (10 percent) or Hispanics (9 percent).
"The decline in the use of medical services was widespread, taking place regardless of health status," said Brett O'Hara, chief of the Census Bureau's Health and Disability Statistics Branch.
For instance, among working-age adults who reported that their health was either fair or poor, the average number of annual visits dropped from 12.9 to 11.6 over the 2001 to 2010 period. The corresponding numbers fell from 5.3 to 4.2 visits for those reporting good health and from 3.2 to 2.5 among those who said their health was excellent or very good.
Other highlights:
Visits to a medical provider or dentist
- Respondents were much less likely to visit a dentist at least once in the last year than a medical provider: 59 percent compared with 73 percent.
- Medical provider visits become more likely with age, as 37 percent of young adults 18 to 24 did not visit a provider at all during the year, compared with 8 percent of those 65 and older.
- Hispanics were the least likely racial or ethnic group to see a medical provider, as 42 percent never visited one during the year.
- Women were more likely than men to have visited a medical provider during the year (78 percent compared with 67 percent).
Hospital stays
- Spending a night in a hospital is a rare event: 92 percent of the population did not spend a night in a hospital during the previous year, and only 1 percent spent eight or more nights. The chances of spending no nights in the hospital ranged from 96 percent for children to 83 percent for people 65 and older.
Prescription medication
- More than half of the population (57 percent) did not take prescription medication at any point during the previous year, while 35 percent reported taking it regularly.
- While 80 percent of older adults (those 65 and older) reported regular prescription medication use, the same was true for 13 percent of children.
Health status
- In general, self-rated health declines with age: more than half of children are in excellent health (59 percent) compared with 9 percent of those 65 or older.
- While adults with excellent health were less likely to visit a medical provider at least once than those with poor health (68 percent compared with 94 percent), the opposite was true for dental visits. Thirty-five percent of those in excellent health visited the dentist twice during the year, compared with 12 percent in poor health.
- There is a "U-shaped" relationship between health status and having any type of health insurance coverage. Among all people who reported excellent health, 85 percent were insured, compared with 80 percent with good health and 85 percent whose health was poor.
Uninsured adults
- Among uninsured adults who visited a medical provider or dentist during the year, 13 percent visited an emergency room and 10 percent visited a hospital (excluding the emergency room), while 20 percent received free services and 30 percent received a discount on services.
- In 2010, 21 percent of uninsured adults in poor health received routine check-ups, compared with 12 percent of all uninsured adults.
- People under 65 whose health was poor, fair or good were more likely to be uninsured (23 percent, 25 percent and 24 percent, respectively) than those with very good or excellent health (20 percent and 16 percent, respectively).
Public Information Office
SOURCE U.S. Census Bureau


text:
Well, maybe they're not new to you, but they sure are to me! I found these caramel apples at the Main Street Confectionery in Disney World on a recent visit… . Don't forget, the cast members will be more than happy to cut these up for you and put them in a small container for easier eating.
Just from a commentary standpoint, I think it's interesting that Disney World has started using this "Fresh" packaging, which we saw first in Disneyland. More evidence that the two parks are merging their product lines even further?
For more info on Disney caramel apples, check out our previous post all about 'em!
White Chocolate Caramel Apple Pie Apple
We first saw these at Pooh Corner in Disneyland (where they were only $7.95 last April…hmm…), and I was SO excited to see them pop up in Disney World, too!
The apples are coated in caramel, then white chocolate, then cinnamon-sugar. After that, it looks like they've been dipped in some sort of crumbled pie crust — yum! I think some ingredients are missing from the list here… 😉
Milk Chocolate Butterfinger Caramel Apple
Um. Yes please.
You know we love the butterfinger cupcakes around here, so why not add this awesome flavor to an apple?! Nutrients, people! Nutrients at Disney World are important!
Chocolate Caramel Krispy Apple
Building on the success of another favorite Disney treat — rice krispy treats — the Disney food imagineers have created another sure win. And just think how healthy this is for you! Apples! Cereal! It's a winner all around!
Chocolate Oreo Caramel Apple
A gorgeous looking treat, if I do say so myself! Apples dipped in caramel and Oreo cookie crumbs, then drizzled with white chocolate. Wow…
Which apple would you try first? Let us know in the comments section below!