Choc Almond Tartlets

Looking for a dessert to get you in the mood?  Perhaps you just like almonds, avocado, chocolate, figs and honey?  Either way this treat is for you!

Perhaps this would have better post for Valentine's day, but I'm a fan of celebrating in your own way and on your own time!  Full of good-for-you ingredients that also happen to be touted as aphrodisiacs, I'd say these are healthy enough for any day :)

Chocolate Almond Tartlets (raw)
Recipe by Shannon
yield:  12

I made these using a mini cheesecake pan, however if you don't have one you can make them without.  Simply divide the dough into twelve even balls, and then form a little pocket for the filling with your thumb.

For the crust:
1 1/2c raw almonds
2/3c chopped, pitted medjool dates
1/4t sea salt
1t vanilla
1T water

For the filling:
1 ripe avocado
2oz dark chocolate, melted (the darker the better, 70-85%)
1/4c almond butter
2T honey
pinch sea salt
2t vanilla
1/4t cinnamon
2T water

For assembly:
figs, thinly sliced
honey

To prepare the crust, add almonds to the bowl of a food processor.  Process until the almonds are ground and crumbly, but not too far (we don't want almond butter!).  Add in dates, salt, vanilla and water.  Pulse until well combined.  Divide evenly into the 12 openings of a cheesecake pan and press along bottoms and side of the pan to form a shell.

For the filling, add all ingredients to a blender or food processor and process until smooth.  Fill date-nut shell with chocolate avocado pudding.  Remove the tartlets from the pan by pushing on the removable bottom.  Top the tartlets with a fig slice and a drizzle of honey.  These keep well in the refrigerator for a few days.

Have you tried chocolate avocado pudding or tried other creative ways to use it??

Arctic sea ice in steep descend more than four days earlier than in 2012

Online Dating Goes Offline

Online dating runs on a kind of dreamlike fantasy. Folks live in hope that the right person will pop into their search criteria, and, perhaps after a few mis-steps and poor choices, everything will work out just right. And if it isn't working like that, just one more date will do the trick.

Surely this is a special form of self-punishment? In my experience, people I met online needed to start with a negative two or three date handicap compared to people I've met in real life. In other words, it takes me a couple of face-to-face meetings before I'm even convinced they're vaguely who they say they are online. Call me cynical if you like, but I think it's smart to be skeptical.

I think it's worse for women, by the way. Online dating sites are chock full of guys pretending to be someone they think you want them to be -  not who they really are. If it isn't clear to you by now, online dating attracts sociopaths (and probably psychopaths) like Lindsay Lohan attracts traffic charges. Women could do worse than to use my handicapping system.

But I smell a change in the air. I haven't been on Match for a long time, but I noticed recently that they now conduct (host?) real life gatherings for their customers. Bravo. This is a step in the right direction, not least because groups of onliners can check out not only their chosen person of interest, but everyone else too. Just like people used to meet.

Another service I really like is How About We... I discovered them on a business video, where the two principals talked about how and why they started. To me, this is the perfect blend of online and offline dating. The idea, as I understand it, is to get into the real world as quickly as possible, to begin live dating ASAP. To that end, they facilitate the sometimes fraught process of finding, choosing and agreeing on a place to go, or activity to share. Brilliant.

I've not been paid or contacted by the How About We people to write this; I simply think it's a great idea. If anyone has experienced their service, I'd love to hear about it.



Bottoms Up, Offliners.

Lessons From My Cat - Part 4

If you would know a man, observe how he treats a cat.

Robert A. Heinlein.

Cats, like women, tell you how they're feeling, just as long as you understand their language.

Let's remember that we have the advantage of a sophisticated spoken language to communicate. That is not the complete blessing you'd imagine. As accurate as English can be, it can also be used for misdirection and confusion. Argument and hurt are powerful reminders of the power of words.

A much simpler and easier to understand language is the cat purr. Purring is not completely understood, because cats use it when at both ends of the emotional spectrum: when they're happy and content, and when they're scared. However, for we amateur cat fanciers, there are only three kinds of purr we need to understand.

* the Perfunctory Purr is the greeting purr your feline will give as an offering of welcome. When you arrive home from work, she'll rub your legs (to confirm ownership) and purr for our benefit. It's the equivalent of...  


Hi honey! It's nice to smell you. How was your day?


* the Head Purr is practically the same as the Perfunctory Purr, but is used for a different reason. It shows that your cat is happy, but with a measure of wariness. This is the kind of purr you'll hear when you are working with your computer, and Paws decides she wants to prove she's more interesting that the screen. She'll sit between you and your work, or walk across the keyboard, or chase the mouse (!) She's saying...

Hey, pal, I'm in the mood for some play! Let's get with the program and pay attention. 


* the Total Body Purr is when your furry friend has completely given herself to being with you. Oftentimes she'll be sitting on your lap, or lying next to you/on you. The purr, as the name implies, encompasses her whole body, telling you that she's completely at ease in your company, fully trusting that everything's okay. My cat will let me - no! make me! - scruff her belly, which increases the intensity of her purr. When a cat is comfortable enough to bare their belly, they are showing you they have no fear - they're giving YOU their most valuable gift.

Vulnerability, or even the appearance of vulnerability, is the common thread between women and cats. Both have to be self-protective, even if they find people deserving of their trust. On a solemn note, men can be cats' best friends, but some men will be their worst enemy. It's the same for women. Men who want to be with and protect women are their greatest ally. Other types of men are their most dangerous enemy.

That's why women should carefully consider Heinlein's quote, above.




Bottoms Up, Purring Beauties.

BLT {Blueberries, Leeks & Toscano}

This month the Creative Cooking Crew is at it again, this time working their magic on the BLT sandwich!  Our challenge: create a new sandwich around ingredients that start with the letters BLT but are not bacon, lettuce and tomato.

When I started brainstorming ideas, I used some Blueberry jam as my inspiration.  Of course, this wasn't just any blueberry jam, but a savory version, complete with balsamic vinegar and rosemary.  My sandwich quickly become a BLT grilled cheese...

B- blueberries (in the form of a savory blueberry jam with balsamic vinegar and rosemary)

L- leeks (sauteed in a little butter and lightly seasoned with salt and freshly ground pepper)

T- Tuscano (Tallegio or Triple Cream Brie were other top contenders)

The sweetness from the blueberry jam and sauteed Leeks were nicely balanced by  some sharp notes from Tuscano cheese.  This was one delicious sandwich!

Thanks again to Laz and Joan for hosting and be sure to check out the roundup on Lazaro Cooks next week!

Guys Just Wanna Have Fun. Sorta.

I want to clear up a piece of folklore about blokes and their sexual appetites.

The shorthand way of looking at guys is that we're ready to down trou and have at it with any woman at any time. We're always thinking about sex, spend our waking hours daydreaming of naked women, and, in the absence of a willing partner, avoid masturbating 24/7 only because we need to hold down jobs and occasionally drink beer.

That's a caricature, but I suspect one with more veracity than is good for us.

In the abstract sense all of the above can be true, but it depends on what else occupies our brain. We guys are simple in the way we think. If there's a beautiful woman in front of us, we'll think about her. If there's a complicated piece of software to fix, or a business to run, that's where our attention goes. At those times - when occupied with the non-sex world - we're not sex obsessed. However, the trigger to swap *thinking* spreadsheets for *thinking* sport between the sheets activates with a small amount of pressure.

We're cocked, but not loaded, most of the time.

By way of precision, we need to understand here that we're talking about standard-issue males; men without hormonal, pneumatic, mental or physical blights that will prevent them attaining and/or maintaining an erection. These poor fellows exist, and we wish them nothing but a swift (and rigid) recovery.

However, even normal functioning men will pass on sex. It might be sex with their wives or even the nympho beauty who just happens to have dropped into our lap. Other stuff will get into our heads, for instance:

~ if we smell psychological problems with that girl who shows a sudden unwarranted interest

~ if the (not wife or g/f's) ardor doesn't add up for whatever reason

~ if there are unresolved points of tension with a wife or girlfriend

~ if we have some other overwhelming life problem going on

~ if we feel the woman has some other motive

~ if we feel the wife or girlfriend isn't entirely on our side

Important here is that these caveats only work when sober. After a few brews the defence mechanisms honed to look for these points of wariness disappear. Many a relationship begun when drunk is painfully dissolved in the company of a good hangover. A long, throbbing hangover.


Finally, a happy thought. How a woman presents to a man is important. If your wife or girlfriend puts their arm around you, and tells you how wonderful you are, and how they are lucky to have you as part of their life, almost all guys will be tremendously reassured. Remember, above all else men seek validation and approval from their woman. From that stems love and great sex.

Ladies: How easy is that?



Bottoms Up, Thinkers.

Arctic Sea Ice Animation

Arctic Sea Ice Minimum Volume

Above a tilted screenshot from the animation below, by Andy Lee Robinson, of Arctic Sea Ice minimum volumes reached every September since 1979, based on data from the Pan-Arctic Ice Ocean Modeling and Assimilation System (PIOMAS, Zhang and Rothrock, 2003) at the University of Washington.

Andy also composed and performed the piano music, "Ice Dreams", accompanying the video.

video from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YgiMBxaL19M

Dorsi Diaz

By Dorsi Diaz

They say a picture can be worth a thousand words. If so, then this video of the Arctic Sea ice loss between 1979 and 2012 must be worth a million. As the recently released video begins to go viral, more people are waking up to the reality of climate change.

Produced by Andy Lee Robinson, this beautiful short clip with its haunting music is revealing the reality of climate change in a brutal and honest way - perhaps even better than any journalist ever could.

In an interview with Robinson, I was amazed at how he had managed to put together this vital information in such a compelling video, and sought to find out more.

To the climate deniers horror, Andy has done this video with no sort of compensation - dashing away climate deniers theories that all climate activists "are on the payroll." With hundreds of painstaking hours put into the development of his video, Andy says he was motivated by "experimenting with ideas and what ifs" and sought to "bring to life something that only existed in my mind to communicate an important message that is being ignored."

To create the video, he used a text editor, numbers and only his imagination to weave together the horrifying decline of Arctic sea ice that has occurred in just 13 short years.

Andy says one of the reasons for creating the video was, "to contribute something to humanity and be recognized for it, applying the skills I have learnt with my free time and not to live in vain" and also, "to prove that anyone can achieve anything they want to given enough determination and dedication."

With over 100 hours invested just into the writing of the program for the video, Andy also said it took 28 hours for 7 servers to render the final video, then about a half hour to write, record, edit and merge the music. The piano composition in the video, "Ice Dreams", was also composed by Andy, who also specializes in digital audio sampling and signal processing.

Robinson, a linux system administrator and consultant, has a passion to bring awareness about climate change to the masses and is adamant about what may happen if civilization does not address this growing threat: "We are in a period of mass extinction and heading for decimation of the quality of life for most lifeforms on the planet, including ourselves who are also subject to the laws of nature of boom and bust as resources are exploited and depleted."

Robinson also believes, with many others, that climate change and ocean acidification are, "planetary emergencies in progress."

Robinson doesn't mince any words either when asked why he created the video: "To be heard loudly and truthfully because mainstream media is still tiptoeing around the herd of elephants in the room because of the fear of change and the pressure of special interests committed to ensuring it stays that way, ignoring the fact that it cannot."

Until recently, climate deniers had dominated much of the political landscape and held a tight reign on the mainstream media. Now that climate change seems to be spiraling out of control with billions of dollars in weather related disasters, people are waking up to a preview of what it's like to live in a climate altered world.

Robinson's research for the video uses records of Arctic sea ice loss from PIOMAS through the Polar Ice Center, a group of dedicated investigators that conducts interdisciplinary research on the oceanography, climatology, meteorology, biology and ecology of the ice-covered regions on Earth and elsewhere in the solar system.

Through the perfect dance of loss and hauntingly beautiful music merged with pending disaster, Robinson has brought home a message in this video that we all need to heed: "Survival is not compulsory, nor a God given right. It requires effort, investment and cooperation."

Are we listening yet?

Dorsi Diaz is a freelance writer and art educator living in the San Francisco Bay Area. Dorsi's passion is to help adults and children unlock their creativity and imagination and to also spread the word about the effects of world-wide climate change - follow Dorsi Diaz on Twitter

Below, the Arctic Death Spiral, another visualization of the PIOMAS data by Andy Lee Robinson. 

Andy's Arctic Death Spiral - update incl May 2013 - latest version at http://haveland.com/share/arctic-death-spiral.png

Below, Andy's Arctic Death Spiral video, with the sea ice volume data controlling spectral harmonics.




Added below is a video of another Arctic Death Spiral, accompanied by Chopin's 'Funeral March'. This work is not by Andy, it's from reric.org by R. Eric Collins.

Vegan Happiness

A few years ago my wife read the funny and subversive vegan anthem, Skinny Bitch. Overnight she became a pescaterian. Gone were the chicken wings and steak bones she used to gnaw on with great pleasure. Gone too were the sausages, bacon and ribs that were part of her diet. Overnight I lost my culinary-companion.

Since I'm a stay-home-writer (except when I'm traveling), I cook most of our meals. That means cooking twice. One meal for me (brown sugar ribs, grilled sausage, braised beef, Moroccan preserved lemon chicken) and another for Michelle (tofu with sautéed spinach and shiitake mushrooms, spring vegetable soup, grilled vegetable chopped salad).

Her change in diet caused me to change the way I cooked. Not having animal products to thicken sauces and add layers of flavor hobbled my cooking. Then I discovered three beautifully easy-to-prepare flavor enhancers that are inexpensive and totally vegan. Also, they do not use any oil.

Reduced Balsamic Syrup

When balsamic vinegar is heated over a low flame, water evaporates, leaving behind a dark, flavorful liquid. Amazingly, the vinegar's lip-smacking tartness is transformed into sweetness that retains a touch of acid. The thickened, reduced vinegar tastes very much like expensive, aged balsamic vinegar that sells for as much as $40.00 a pint. 

Use the least expensive balsamic vinegar available. The restaurant supply company, Smart & Final, sells a gallon of Italian balsamic vinegar for $20.00. That one gallon yields a quart of reduced balsamic which in turn will last months.

To make the reduction, use the ratio of 4:1. Four parts of vinegar will yield one part of the reduced liquid. 1 cup of vinegar will produce 1/4 cup of syrup, which will make enough salad dressing for four meals.

The key to the reduction is low heat. Overheating creates a harsh flavor. Allow only a few, occasional small bubbles to appear on the surface of the liquid. As the balsamic reduces, lower the flame.

I reduce a gallon at a time to create 4 eight ounce squeeze bottles. That amount lasts us months. To reduce that much liquid using a low flame can take six to eight hours.

You can make a smaller amount in a few minutes. Just keep in mind the ratio of 4:1 and a low flame.

Onion Jam

All vegetables give off their water when exposed to heat. Cooked over a low flame, thin sliced onions give off a milky liquid that adds to their sweet caramelization. Traditionally onions are sautéed in olive oil to prepare them for soups and stews. To avoid using olive oil simply use a low flame and stir continuously to prevent the onions from sticking to the bottom of the pot.

The onion jam can be refrigerated in airtight containers for a week or frozen for a month. Used as a base to make pasta sauces, soups or braises, the onions add a depth of flavor and sweetness.

In the Basque region of Spain, where pintxos, open faced sandwiches, are popular, room temperature onion jam is spread on grilled bread as the base for imaginative toppings that include charred red and green peppers, fresh wild arugula and quick fried thin strands of green cabbage.

Serves 8

Ingredients

2 pounds yellow onions, washed, ends and skin removed
Sea salt and ground pepper

Directions

Thinly slice the onions the long way, from stem to root. Heat a large pot over a low flame. Add the onions. Season with sea salt and pepper.

Stir frequently with a wooden spoon. Because the onions render slowly, it is helpful to have other things to do in the kitchen. As the onions cook, they give off their liquid. Stir the onions around in the liquid to coat.

In time, the onions will turn golden brown. The longer you cook them, the darker they will get. I like them light brown although some people enjoy the jam when the onions take on a rich, dark brown color. Taste and decide which you like.

Remove from the heat. Let cool and use or refrigerate.

Tomato Essence

Delicious any time of their season, ripe tomatoes are one of nature's wonders. Eaten fresh from the garden, few vegetables can compare with the rich flavor of a summer ripened tomato. For a cook wanting to avoid using oils and for anyone who wants to steer clear of commercially processed food, tomatoes are a great blessing.

With very little effort, roasted tomatoes give up a delicious liquid that can be used as the basis for a salad dressing, soups, pasta sauce and braised dishes.

The technique is the essence of simplicity: turn on the oven, put in the tomatoes, come back in an hour, they're ready to use. To create tomato essence, use a wire mesh strainer or, better yet, a food mill which will separate the solids from the liquids.

It's that easy.

Serves 8

Ingredients

4 pounds ripe, farmers market tomatoes, washed, stems removed

Directions

Preheat the oven to 450 F.

Place the whole tomatoes on a baking sheet lined with nonstick parchment or a Silpat sheet (available in most supermarkets and specialty stores like Sur Le Table or William Sonoma).

Bake one hour or until the tomatoes begin to sag.  Remove and let cool.

There are two liquids available at this point. A clear, light liquid, perfect to make a salad dressing and a thicker liquid with pulp that is a delicious basis for soups, pasta sauces and braised dishes.

To create the first lighter liquid, place the tomatoes in the strainer or food mill over a non-reactive bowl and gently press down. That will release the clear or lighter liquid. Remove, cover and refrigerate.

Place the bowl back under the strainer or food mill and vigorously press the tomatoes until all the liquid and pulp have passed through leaving only the skin and seeds behind.

Remove, cover and refrigerate.

Tomato Essence Salad Dressing

Serves 4

Ingredients

1/4 cup first pressing tomato essence
1 tablespoon reduced balsamic syrup
Sea salt and black pepper

Directions

Substitute the tomato essence for olive oil and mix well with reduced balsamic syrup. Season with sea salt and black pepper.

End-Play

There are no straight lines in nature, which goes a long way towards explaining the female rump.

There used to be additional text in Genesis:

...and on the tenth day, He created lady rear-ends, and seeing that they were beautiful, named them buttocks...

...but scholars figured a seven-day work-week was sufficient for the the Almighty, and, anyway, the ethereal quality of these things was self-evident. So they dropped their creation from the text. Pity, really, because I feel it gives things a more recognizable character.

I bet you aren't aware that history is full of other, less grand stories testifying as to the way we men adore the curve of you ladies' backsides. You know the Mona Lisa? She's the one stuck in Le Louvre with 157,000 of her closest friends gawping at her every day. What's not well known is that Leonardo da Vinci originally wanted to paint a picture of her buttocks. She demurred, however, and said that she'd smile enigmatically and guarantee interest in the portrait for centuries if he captured her face instead.

I have it on good authority that her inspiring happy look came about when the painter gently caressed her bottom...

...Oh, Leo, you forward thing you. What a nice touch you have...mmmmm, just there...

...at which point he said

HOLD IT! That' perfect! Just the look I want!...

...neatly explaining why she looks that peculiar way.

Womens' buttocks are, clearly, the work of the divine. The curves are not of this paltry material world, giving many of us reason to spend our lives devoted to their admiration. Some guys will tell you they rank other aspects of feminine form higher, but in the end, we're all quiet lovers of your reverse.




Bottoms Up, Bottoms Lovers!

Sweet Potato & Lentil Pot Pie

Just a quick thank you for your thoughts on my post about the events in Boston last week.  Following Fridays turn of events I no longer feel scared, but still have a heavy heart.  Bear with me as I try to get back into a blogging routine!


We may be well into spring, but this is a dish I'd eat anytime of year.  A chipotle-spiced mixture of sweet potatoes and lentils hides under a nice flaky crust.  If you need a little something to cool off from the spice, a cilantro-goat cheese dipping sauce works perfectly.

There's a little something else hiding in there- stout!  I used a breakfast stout brewed with oats, coffee and chocolate to complement the smoky chipotle in the filling and it worked out quite well.  Add in individual-sized portions, and this dinner was a winner all-around :)

Sweet Potato & Lentil Stout Pot Pie
inspired by Lindsay
Serves 4-6

For the pot pie:
2c low-sodium vegetable broth
1/2c black beluga lentils
3T unsalted butter, divided
1 onion, chopped
1 large sweet potato, 1/2" dice (4c)
1 chipotle in adobo, chopped
salt and black pepper, to taste
1 1/2T whole wheat pastry flour (or whatever you have on hand)
12oz stout (I used Founder's Breakfast Stout)
1/4c heavy cream  (I used almond milk with a little arrowroot mixed in)
1 sheet puff pastry, thawed in the fridge (1/2 package)

For the sauce:
1/4c creme fraiche
2oz goat cheese, crumbled
juice of 1/2 lime
2T almond milk (or whatever you have on hand)
1/2c packed cilantro leaves
salt and black pepper, to taste

Preheat oven to 375deg.

In a medium saucepan, add vegetable broth and bring to a simmer over medium heat.  Stir in lentils and reduce heat to medium low.  Cover and cook for 18-20min, until lentils are just al-dente.  Remove from the heat.

While the lentils are cooking, melt 1T butter in a large skillet over medium heat.  Add onion and cook until softened, ~4min.  Add sweet potato and chipotle and stir, cooking for another 5min.  Season with salt and pepper.  Add lentils and their cooking liquid, stir and continue cooking until liquid is mostly evaporated and sweet potatoes are just tender, ~3-5min.

In the same pot used to cook the lentils, melt the remaining 2T butter over medium heat.  Add flour and whisk until combined.  Continue whisking as you add in the beer, 1/4c at a time.  Finally, whisk in the heavy cream and remove from the heat.

Add the stout mixture to the sweet potatoes and lentils and mix well.  Transfer the mixture to a baking dish.  Top with puff pastry and gently fold along the edges of the baking dish.  (Depending on the size of your baking dish, you may need to roll out and cut your puff pastry.  I used two smaller baking dishes, each holding ~2 1/2c of the filling, and needed to roll out the pastry a little bit to make two squares large enough to cover the dishes.)  Brush the tops with milk or an egg wash, if desired.

Bake for 35-40min, or until the puff pastry is golden brown.  Remove from the oven and let cool at least 10min before serving.

For the sauce, add creme fraiche, goat cheese, milk, lime juice and cilantro to a blender or food processor and pulse until smooth and well combined.  Season to taste with a pinch of salt and some freshly ground black pepper.

Serve pot pies with sauce on the side.

Have you added any sort of spirit to your cooking or baking lately??

It's Just a Little Kiss

If you and I were anthropologists from another galaxy, I'm sure we'd want to know more about kissing. What is this behaviour, and why do these humanoid life forms engage in it?

Kissing is perennially popular, for a start, which is a hint as to how enjoyable it is. That act of putting my lips to her lips is irresistible. Smell and taste a female once, you're hooked. Y'all are so soft and creamy, like a delicious cake, only an alive cake that kisses back. Hmmmm, perhaps not the best simile.

My first real make-out session was with Anna R. (Surname withheld so as not to embarrass her in her current marriage and high-profile public figurehood.) I can still taste her saliva and lip-gloss mix, not only because it's a life-changing act, but but because in the dark of a movie cinema, one's senses of smell and taste work overtime. Oh yes, the cinema was then the best place for teen snog-sessions, much like the drive-in movies were for the prior generation. I think Anna was further along the snog/sex continuum than I was, looking for more than just an hour of high-energy mouth-love. But I was happy and grateful and really only qualified for a snogfest. Anything more would have been an act too far.

Which brings me to the whole question of tongue interaction. As interstellar anthropologists, I'm certain we'd wonder precisely what pleasure results from such a thing. In the cool clear light of day, the idea of tongues engaging in the way we do when we kiss is at the very least a mystery. No doubt the internet has plenty of theories, but it seems to me it's all about connection. In some fundamental way, because we eat, speak and taste the world through our mouths, sharing that space with another person is as close a connection we can have without actual intercourse. 

It's telling that prostitutes reputedly consider kissing a John's mouth to be much more intimate than taking his cock into her mouth.  

My only point of concern about making out is that we so often think it's only a lead-up to more sexual activity. The joy of kissing as a destination of itself is worth consideration.



This link to a terrific BBC World Service Radio show about kissing, courtesy La Tigresse.

Bottoms Up, Crazy Snogging Fools.

Knowledge - The Greatest Gift

If Womens' Studies courses were really concerned with disseminating information about women, they'd be chock-full of blokes. Let's face it, guys are enthusiastic - if somewhat clueless - lifelong devotees of female form and function, and could truly benefit from professional instruction.

But a course dealing with the whys and wherefores of practical lady behaviour would be instantly shut down by the same women who run the aforementioned Womens' Studies faculty. Ironic, eh?

Take cunnilingus, for example. When a young man tastes his first pussy, it confirms everything he'd come to expect from his initial forays, namely, finger-fucking. Pussy tastes, feels and smells like nothing else in the universe, which can be a shock for the learner lover. What to do? How does this warm pleasure palace work, and how can I improve my performance so that she thinks more highly of me?

If nothing else, when we see our first female orgasm up close, we realize our life-long quest is to hone whatever input we have to the process. We like having you shake and moan, squirt and gush, scream and blush. It's addictive.

Sadly, sending the average male youth to be helpful with such a thing is equivalent to tuning a nuclear submarine with a crescent wrench. He might find and tighten the correct bolts, but it's all gonna be hit and miss.

The right tools for the job, the job of being with a woman on all levels, do exist. Most men eventually find that place of understanding, and, dare I say it, competence, both between the thighs and between the ears. The pity is that it mostly requires trial and error, which means her trial and patience with his error. Question and answer from a disinterested third party would make a huge difference.

Does anyone know of an actual Woman Instructor?




Bottoms Up, Educators.

Breaking Up Is Hard To Do.

People claim to have amicable break-ups, but I don't buy it.

From even the briefest...what shall we call them?...encounters, a rejection is a rejection. Only the most metaphysically organized and ego-free individual can take this:

Sorry, but I don't want to see you again. 

...and honestly reply...

Whatever you think is best. Thanks for the opportunity though! 

...and mean it.

Mild resentment is the least emotion a dumpee is likely to feel, homicidal mania the most. Hopefully we avoid the latter.

The wider question is just how we got to this point. Serial dating by definition leads to serial break-ups. Break-ups should be like the collapse of a small enterprise - they're good in that you know what doesn't work, so  you can improve next time. Each subsequent business will build upon the failures of the past, but relationships don't quite work that way because each time we're dealing with a new individual. We have to do the heavy-lifting from scratch.

What multiple dating should do is hone our choice of potential partner. Sadly, the forces that motivate us to seek 'the one' are more ingrained than lessons from the immediate past. We tend to be driven by instinct and childhood biases than the more recent fact of adult experience.

Hell. Not much positivity there.



Bottoms Up, Drifters.

#BostonStrong

At the report of acts of violence, I am immediately saddened.  As a runner, and a Boston Marathon volunteer, Monday's attack felt personal.

The first year I moved to Boston I couldn't wait to go watch my first Boston Marathon.  Marathon Monday lived up to the hype, inspiration abounds.  I've cheered every year since, but in a volunteer jacket.  The first year I was at the finish line.  Yup, right there.  The one you've seen in the videos.

This year I was working the 10k elite water stop, so I was in Framingham all morning and not at the finish line.  If it wasn't for a need to go into work Monday afternoon, I surely would've continued cheering...  from where?

I don't have many words, but as I stare at the footage of the bombings I can't help but see so many heroes.  The first responders, volunteers, and even runners who rushed to those in need after the attack, they are all incredible.  I think Marathon Monday just became even more inspirational.

My next run with be with a heavy heart, but will be for the victims and their families.  My thoughts go out to everyone affected.

Lawrence Livermore scientists discover new materials to capture methane

Methane capture in zeolite SBN. Blue represents adsorption
sites, which are optimal for methane (CH4) uptake. Each site
is connected to three other sites (yellow arrow) at optimal
interaction distance. Image credit: LLNL News Release

Scientists at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) and UC Berkeley and have discovered new materials to capture methane, the second highest concentration greenhouse gas emitted into the atmosphere.

Methane is a substantial driver of global climate change, contributing 30 percent of current net climate warming. Concern over methane is mounting, due to leaks associated with rapidly expanding unconventional oil and gas extraction, and the potential for large-scale release of methane from the Arctic as ice cover continues to melt and decayed material releases methane to the atmosphere. At the same time, methane is a growing source of energy, and aggressive methane mitigation is key to avoiding dangerous levels of global warming.

The research team, made up of Amitesh Maiti, Roger Aines and Josh Stolaroff of LLNL and Professor Berend Smit, researchers Jihan Kim and Li-Chiang Lin at UC Berkeley and Lawrence Berkeley National Lab, performed systematic computer simulation studies on the effectiveness of methane capture using two different materials - liquid solvents and nanoporous zeolites (porous materials commonly used as commercial adsorbents).

While the liquid solvents were not effective for methane capture, a handful of zeolites had sufficient methane sorption to be technologically promising. The research appears in the April 16 edition of the journal, Nature Communications.

Unlike carbon dioxide, the largest emitted greenhouse gas, which can be captured both physically and chemically in a variety of solvents and porous solids, methane is completely non-polar and interacts very weakly with most materials.

"Methane capture poses a challenge that can only be addressed through extensive material screening and ingenious molecular-level designs," Maiti said.

Methane is far more potent as a greenhouse gas than CO2. Researchers have found that the release of as little as 1 percent of methane from the Arctic alone could have a warming effect approaching that being produced by all of the CO2 that has been pumped into the atmosphere by human activity since the start of the Industrial Revolution.

Methane is emitted at a wide range of concentrations from a variety of sources, including natural gas systems, livestock, landfills, coal mining, manure management, wastewater treatment, rice cultivation and a few combustion processes.

The team's research focused on two different applications -- concentrating a medium-purity methane stream to a high-purity range (greater than 90 percent), as involved in purifying a low-quality natural gas; and concentrating a dilute stream (about 1 percent or lower) to the medium-purity range (greater than 5 percent), above methane's flammability limit in air.

Through an extensive study, the team found that none of the common solvents (including ionic liquids) appears to possess enough affinity toward methane to be of practical use. However, a systematic screening of around 100,000 zeolite structures uncovered a few nanoporous candidates that appear technologically promising.

Zeolites are unique structures that can be used for many different types of gas separations and storage applications because of their diverse topology from various networks of the framework atoms. In the team's simulations, one specific zeolite, dubbed SBN, captured enough medium source methane to turn it to high purity methane, which in turn could be used to generate efficient electricity.

"We used free-energy profiling and geometric analysis in these candidate zeolites to understand how the distribution and connectivity of pore structures and binding sites can lead to enhanced sorption of methane while being competitive with CO2 sorption at the same time," Maiti said.

Other zeolites, named ZON and FER, were able to concentrate dilute methane streams into moderate concentrations that could be used to treat coal-mine ventilation air.

The work at LLNL was funded by the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E).

References

- News Release
Lawrence Livermore scientists discover new materials to capture methane
https://www.llnl.gov/news/newsreleases/2013/Apr/NR-13-04-03.html

-  New materials for methane capture from dilute and medium-concentration sources
http://www.nature.com/ncomms/journal/v4/n4/abs/ncomms2697.html

Related

- Methane sequestration in hydrates
http://arctic-news.blogspot.com/2012/06/methane-sequestration-in-hydrates.html

Another link between CO2 and mass extinctions of species

By Andrew Glikson, Australian National University

Andrew Glikson, earth and
paleo-climate scientist at
Australian National University

It’s long been known that massive increases in emission of CO2 from volcanoes, associated with the opening of the Atlantic Ocean in the end-Triassic Period, set off a shift in state of the climate which caused global mass extinction of species, eliminating about 34% of genera. The extinction created ecological niches which allowed the rise of dinosaurs during the Triassic, about 250-200 million years ago.

New research released in Science Express has refined the dating of this wave of volcanism. It shows marine and land species disappear from the fossil record within 20,000 to 30,000 years from the time evidence for the eruption of large magma flows appears, approximately 201 million years ago. These volcanic eruptions increased atmospheric CO2 and increased ocean acidity.

Mass extinctions caused by rapidly escalating levels of CO2 have occurred before. Global warming image from www.shutterstock.com

Mass extinctions due to rapidly escalating levels of CO2 are recorded since as long as 580 million years ago. As our anthropogenic global emissions of CO2 are rising, at a rate for which no precedence is known from the geological record with the exception of asteroid impacts, another wave of extinctions is unfolding.

Mass extinctions of species in the history of Earth include:

• the ~580 million years-old (Ma) Acraman impact (South Australia) and Acrytarch (ancient palynomorphs) extinction and radiation 
• Late Devonian (~374 Ma) volcanism, peak global temperatures and mass extinctions 
• the end-Devonian impact cluster associated with mass extinction, which among others destroyed the Kimberley Fitzroy reefs (~360 Ma) 
• the upper Permian (~267 Ma) extinction associated with a warming trend
• the Permian-Triassic boundary volcanic and asteroid impact events (~ 251 Ma) and peak warming 
• the End-Triassic (201 Ma) opening of the Atlantic Ocean, and massive volcanism 
• an End-Jurassic (~145 Ma) impact cluster and opening of the Indian Ocean 
• the Cretaceous-Tertiary boundary (K-T) (~65 Ma) impact cluster, Deccan volcanic activity and mass extinction 
• the pre-Eocene-Oligocene boundary (~34 Ma) impact cluster and a cooling trend, followed by opening of the Drake Passage between Antarctica and South America, formation of the Antarctic ice sheet and minor extinction at ~34 Ma. 

Throughout the Phanerozoic (from 542 million years ago), major mass extinctions of species closely coincided with abrupt rises of atmospheric carbon dioxide and ocean acidity. These increases took place at rates to which many species could not adapt. These events – triggered by asteroid impacts, massive volcanic activity, eruption of methane, ocean anoxia and extreme rates of glaciation (see Figures 1 and 2) – have direct implications for the effects of the current rise of CO2.

Figure 1 – Trends in atmospheric CO2 and related glacial and interglacial periods since the Cambrian (542 million years ago), showing peaks in CO2 levels (green diamonds) associated with asteroid impacts and/or massive volcanism. CO2 data from Royer 2004 and 2006.

Figure 2 – Relations between CO2 rise rates and mean global temperature rise rates during warming periods, including the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum, early Oligocene, mid-Miocene, late Pliocene, Eemian (glacial termination), Dansgaard-Oeschger cycles, Medieval Warming Period, 1750-2012 and 1975-2012 periods.

In February 2013, CO2 levels had risen to near 396.80ppm at Mauna Loa Atmospheric Observatory, compared to 393.54ppm in February 2012. This rise – 3.26ppm per year – is at the highest rate yet recorded. Further measurements show CO2 is at near 400ppm of the atmosphere over the Arctic. At this rate the upper stability threshold of the Antarctic ice sheet, defined at about 500–600ppm CO2 would be reached later this century (although hysteresis of the ice sheets may slow down melting).

Our global carbon reserves – including coal, oil, oil shale, tar sands, gas and coal-seam gas – contain considerably more than 10,000 billion tonnes of carbon (see Figure 5). This amount of carbon, if released into the atmosphere, is capable of raising atmospheric CO2 levels to higher than 1000ppm. Such a rise in atmospheric radiative forcing will be similar to that of the Paleocene-Eocene boundary thermal maximum (PETM), which happened about 55 million years-ago (see Figures 1, 2 and 4). But the rate of rise surpasses those of this thermal maximum by about ten times.

Figure 3 – Plot of percent mass extinction of genera versus peak atmospheric CO2 levels at several stages of Earth history.

Figure 4 – The Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM) represented by sediments in the Southern Ocean, central Pacific and South Atlantic oceans. The data indicate a) deposition of an organic matter-rich layer consequent on extinction of marine organisms; b) lowering of δ18O values representing an increase in temperature and c) a sharp decline in carbonate contents of sediments representing a decrease in pH and increase in acidity (Zachos et al 2008) 

The Paleocene-Eocene boundary thermal maximum event about 55 million years ago saw the release of approximately 2000 to 3000 billion tons of carbon to the atmosphere in the form of methane (CH4). It led to the extinction of about 35-50% of benthic foraminifera (see Figure 3 and 4), representing a major decline in the state of the marine ecosystem. The temperature rise and ocean acidity during this event are shown in Figures 4 and 6.

Based on the amount of carbon already emitted and which could continue to be released to the atmosphere (see Figure 5), current climate trends could be tracking toward conditions like those of the Paleocene-Eocene event. Many species may be unable to adapt to the extreme rate of current rise in greenhouse gases and temperatures. The rapid opening of the Arctic Sea ice, melting of Greenland and west Antarctic ice sheets, and rising spate of floods, heat waves, fires and other extreme weather events may signify a shift in state of the climate, crossing tipping points.

Figure 5 – CO2 emissions from fossil fuels (2.12 GtC ~ 1 ppm CO2). Estimated reserves and potentially recoverable resources.By analogy to medical science analysing blood count as diagnosis for cancer, climate science uses the greenhouse gas levels of the atmosphere, pH levels of the ocean, variations in solar insolation, aerosol concentrations, clouding states at different levels of the atmosphere, state of the continental ice sheets and sea ice, position of high pressure ridges and climate zones and many other parameters to determine trends in the climate. The results of these tests, conducted by thousands of peer-reviewed scientists world-wide, have to date been ignored, at the greatest peril to humanity and nature.

Continuing emissions contravene international laws regarding crimes against humanity and related International and Australian covenants. In the absence of an effective global mitigation effort, governments world-wide are now presiding over the demise of future generations and of nature, tracking toward one of the greatest mass extinction events nature has seen. It is time we learned from the history of planet Earth.

Figure 6: The Paleocene-Eocene boundary thermal maximum. http://www.uta.edu/faculty/awinguth/petm_research/petm_home.html

This article was earlier published at The Conversation (on March 22, 2013).

Lessons From My Cat - Part 3

Critical to understanding the cat is the fact that they don't see the world so much as smell it. Yes, cats have beautiful eyes, but they see only in black-and-white, and their vision is tuned to detect movement. Consider the mouse, dinner in prospect for your average tabby - it's not important to see what colour the mouse is, only how fast it's moving and in what direction. The way they process the information the world provides them is finely aligned with their survival.

Women don't chase mice, as far as I know. Their eyesight is the same as ours, but what they "see" is different. In other words the way they process the same sensory input varies wildly from men. 

For instance, when I see an interesting woman walking down the street, I'll ponder...

~ what kind of bra she's wearing

~ what her pussy might look like

~ whether she'd laugh at my jokes

~ how she'd react to my touch

...until I see the next attractive woman, whereupon the process begins again.

Women, like cats, don't prioritize the same thing. When a woman spies a man she finds attractive, she won't walk past him with her tongue hanging out. Without missing a beat, she'll...

~ figure where he buys his clothes

~ guess what kind of car he drives

~ decide if he's in a relationship

~  if the answer to the above is 'yes', work out whether she's hotter than his girlfriend

~ estimate his income to within a few hundred dollars per year

...which is self-evidently a different assessment process.




Cats have a very clearly defined hierarchy of needs for which they are immensely well evolved. When all their needs are met, they're able to relax, for the most part, but the call of the wild is never too far away. Domesticity works, as long as it's on their terms.

That's what makes them eternally fascinating.


Bottoms Up, Mouse-Chasers.

Raspberry Coconut Macarons

These have flaws.  But I think that makes me love them even more.

With lime curd burning a hole in my pocket refrigerator, I wanted to come up with a great way to use it.  Of course I had to come up with something nice and easy, macarons!  Ha.  While my first attempts at macarons seemed successful, they weren't without failed batches that didn't make it to the blog.

I got pointed to Annie, who used a slightly different technique to make macarons- that is, to make an italian meringue to fold into the dry ingredients (thus known as the Italian method).  Her claims- more consistency, convenience, flexibility and a desirable texture- seemed attractive enough to give this technique a try myself.

You'd think I'd leave well-enough alone and just try her recipe as-is, right?  While that would've been the right thing to do, I did not.  To accompany the key lime curd, I went for a raspberry coconut macaron shell, substituting half of the almond flour with finely shredded coconut and dried raspberry powder.  While the flavors certainly shined through, I think these substitutions made the batter a bit dry even after adding all of the italian meringue and resulted in rather ugly and not-smooth macaron shells.  That said, I have to agree with Annie on all her points, and will be using this method for my next batch!!

Raspberry Coconut Macarons w/White Chocolate Buttercream & Key Lime Curd
adapted from Annie's Eats
yield:  think I got about 70 using this template

I think that freeze dried strawberries or even mango would work well instead of raspberries!  There's no need to age egg whites when using this method, so once you have all your ingredients you can get to baking.

For the macaron shells:
106g almond flour
86g unsweetened coconut, finely shredded
20g powdered dried raspberries (I just ground freeze dried raspberries in a coffee spice grinder)
212g powdered sugar
82 and 90g egg whites, divided
236g and a pinch of granulated sugar, divided
158g water

For the filling:
White Chocolate Buttercream (I made 1/2 recipe and didn't use it all)
Key Lime Curd (I used ~1/2c)

Preheat the oven to 350deg and make sure the rack is in the middle of the oven.

Combine the almond meal, coconut, raspberry powder and powdered in a large bowl and whisk together to blend well and break up any clumps.  Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients. Pour in the 82g of egg whites and blend into the dry ingredients until evenly mixed, forming a thick paste.

Combine the 236g granulated sugar with the water in a small saucepan over medium-high heat.  Keep a candy thermometer attached to the side and be watchful! We're heating up the syrup to 248deg, but when it hits 200deg, begin whipping the 90g egg whites with a pinch of granulated sugar in a mixer on medium low speed.  Continue whipping the egg whites on medium speed until soft peaks form.  If soft peaks form before the syrup reaches 248deg, reduce the mixer speed to low to keep the egg whites moving.

Immediately remove the syrup from the heat when it hits 248deg.  Increase the mixer speed to medium and pour the syrup down the side of the bowl in a slow drizzle until fully incorporated.  Increase the mixer speed to medium-high and whip the meringue until stiff, glossy peaks form.

Add the meringue to the almond mixture in thirds, folding in each addition gently until smooth.  Annie notes that you may not use all of the meringue, so add it gradually.  The desired end-point is a smooth batter that runs in thick ribbons off your spatula. [Note: I used all the meringue and the batter was not yet smooth enough.  Things turned out alright, but next time I'll try to make a little extra meringue!]

Add the batter to a pastry bag fitted with a plain round tip with a 1/2" opening (or a ziploc bag with a corner cut off to a 1/2" opening).  Holding the bag perpendicular to the baking sheet, pipe rounds onto a parchment-lined baking sheet.  I find a template slipped under the parchment works well for even piping, just be sure to remove the paper before putting it in the oven!  Small peaks that you may see immediately after piping should smooth out if the texture of the batter is correct.

Transfer the baking sheet to the oven and immediately reduce the temperature to 325deg.  Bake for 9-12min, until the tops are smooth and set and feet have formed around the bottom.  Let the shells cool briefly on the baking sheet (~5min), and then peel them away from the parchment and place on a cooling rack.  They should come away easily and fully intact.  Repeat as needed with the remaining batter, replacing the parchment paper with each batch (I was feeling thrifty and used both sides) and bringing the oven temperature back up to 350deg before each batch.

Once the shells are baked and cooled, match them up in pairs by size.  To one macaron shell, add a layer of white chocolate buttercream and a dollup of key lime curd, then top with the paired shell.  Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator.  These get better with a little time in the fridge, so don't hesitate to make them a day ahead!

What flavor macaron should I make next?

Earth is on the edge of runaway warming

Earth within our solar system's habitable zone

How well is Earth's orbit around the sun positioned within the boundaries of the habitable zone? The illustration by the Wikipedia image on the right would give that impression that Earth was comfortably positioned in the middle of this zone.

What is the habitable zone? To be habitable, a planet the size of Earth should be within certain distances from its Sun, in order for liquid water to exist on its surface, for which temperatures must be between freezing point (0° C) and boiling point (100° C) of water.

In the Wikipedia image, the dark green zone indicates that a planet the size of Earth could possess liquid water, which is essential since carbon compounds dissolved in water form the basis of all earthly life, so watery planets are good candidates to support similar carbon-based biochemistries.

If a planet is too far away from the star that heats it, water will freeze. The habitable zone can be extended (light green color) for larger terrestrial planets that could hold on to thicker atmospheres which could theoretically provide sufficient warming and pressure to maintain water at a greater distance from the parent star.

A planet closer to its star than the inner edge of the habitable zone will be too hot. Any water present will boil away or be lost into space entirely. Rising temperatures caused by greenhouse gases could lead to a moist greenhouse with similar results.

The distance between Earth and the Sun is one astronomical unit (1 AU). Mars is often said to have an average distance from the Sun of 1.52 AU. A recent study led by Ravi Kopparapu at Penn State mentions that early Mars was warm enough for liquid water to flow on its surface. However, the present-day solar flux at Mars distance is 0.43 times that of Earth. Therefore, the solar flux received by Mars at 3.8 Gyr was 0.75 × 0.43 = 0.32 times that of Earth. The corresponding outer habitable zone limit today, then, would be about 1.77 AU, i.e. just a bit too far away from the Sun to sustain water in liquid form. Venus, on the other hand, is too close to the Sun (see box below).

Kopparapu calculates that the Solar System’s habitable zone lies between 0.99 AU (92 million mi, 148 million km) and 1.70 AU (158 million mi, 254 million km) from the Sun. In other words, Earth is on the edge of runaway warming.

Image by Kopparapu et al. New calculations show that Earth is positioned on the edge of the habitable zone (green-shaded region), boundaries of which are determined by the moist-greenhouse (inner edge, higher flux values) and maximum greenhouse (outer edge, lower flux values)

Kopparapu says that if current IPCC temperature projections of a 4 degrees K (or Celsius) increase by the end of this century are correct, our descendants could start seeing the signatures of a moist greenhouse by 2100.

Kopparapu argues that once the atmosphere makes the transition to a moist greenhouse, the only option would be global geoengineering to reverse the process. In such a moist-greenhouse scenario, not only are the ozone layers and ice caps destroyed, but the oceans would begin evaporating into the atmosphere's upper stratosphere.

Venus' runaway greenhouse effect a warning for Earth by Sam Carana - first posted November 28, 2007, at: http://global-warming.gather.com/viewArticle.action?articleId=281474977189423 Venus was transformed from a haven for water to a fiery hell by an runaway greenhouse effect, concludes the European Space Agency (ESA), after studying data from the Venus Express, which has been orbiting Venus since April 2006. Venus today is a hellish place with surface temperatures of over 400°C (752°Fahrenheit), winds blowing at speeds of over 100 m/s (224 mph) and pressure a hundred times that on Earth, a pressure equivalent, on Earth, to being one km (0.62 miles) under the sea. Hakan Svedhem, ESA scientist and lead author of one of eight studies published on Wednesday in the British journal Nature, says that Earth and Venus have nearly the same mass, size and density, and have about the same amount of carbon dioxide. In the past, Venus was much more Earth-like and was partially covered with water, like oceans, the ESA scientists believe. How could a world so similar to Earth have turned into such a noxious and inhospitable place? The answer is planetary warming. At some point, atmospheric carbon triggered a runaway warming on Venus that boiled away the oceans. As water vapour is a greenhouse gas, this further trapped solar heat, causing the planet to heat up even more. So, more surface water evaporated, and eventually dissipated into space. It was a “positive feedback” -- a vicious circle of self-reinforcing warming which slowly dessicated the planet. “Eventually the oceans began to boil”, said David Grinspoon, a Venus Express interdisciplinary scientist from the Denver Museum of Nature and Science, Colorado, USA. “You wound up with what we call a runaway greenhouse effect”, Hakan Svedhem says. Venus Express found hydrogen and oxygen ions escaping in a two to one ratio, meaning that water vapor in the atmosphere the little that is left of what they believe were once oceans is still disappearing. While most of Earth's carbon store remained locked up in the soil, rocks and oceans, on Venus it went into the atmosphere, resulting in Venus' atmosphere now consisting of about 95% carbon dioxide. “Earth is moving along the curve that connects it to Venus”, warns Dmitry Titov, science coordinator of the Venus Express mission. References - Venus Express - European Space Agency (ESA) http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/Venus_Express/SEMGK373R8F_0.html - Venus inferno due to 'runaway greenhouse effect', say scientists http://www.physorg.com/news115477239.html - Probe likens young Venus to Earth http://physicsworld.com/cws/article/news/32018 - European mission reports from Venus http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v437/n7062/full/4371071a.html

References

- Habitable zones around main-sequence stars: new estimates

Ravi Kumar Kopparapu et al. 2013

http://iopscience.iop.org/0004-637X/765/2/131

- Habitable Zone - Wikipedia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Habitable_zone

- Earth is closer to the edge of Sun's habitable zone

http://physicsworld.com/cws/article/news/2013/mar/25/earth-is-closer-to-the-edge-of-suns-habitable-zone

- Updated model for identifying habitable zones around stars puts Earth on the edge

http://www.gizmag.com/habitable-zone/26051/