Postcard of the Interwebs - 28 January 2015

This artificial leaf can change CO2 to O2: Julian Melchiorri, a Royal Art Institiute graduate, has created "leaves" that can change CO2 to O2. This development is important for long duration deep sea and space exploration.

Indoor farm yields 100 times more food: Shigeharu Shimamura was inspired by a worlds fair and used that inspiration for growing food in innovative ways. His ideas for use of this process for disaster areas, remaote reasearch stations and dense urban areas is fantastic.

Soundtracks to Inspire: Here and here are suggestions for music to get the blood and adrenaline pumping.

Ship your Enemies Glitter: A web company that does just that.

Khan Academy: Free learning classes.

Self-Evolving Circuitry: A very interesting article on an experiment in Sussex Englad where circuitry was allowed to evolve itself. The circuitry even took into consideration local magnetic fields generated by the electrical flow to make a better circuit.

A thought

Wassailing

Wassailing comes from the ancient Anglo-Saxons and is done in two forms; one for visiting neighbours and one for visiting orchards. The visiting neighbours wassail was for groups to go from door to door, sing songs to the household and be invited for a hot drink before moving on. The orchard visiting wassail was for encouraging a good harvest for the next year. Both events were done on twelfth night (evening of January 5th). The visiting households wassail turned into carolling once the Christian religion spread through England and the orchard visiting wassail was practised less and less. The toast given for a wassail translates to "be in good health".

A friend of ours invited us, others and family for a wassail and to toast their apple and pear trees. Even though it was well after twelfth night, I don't think the trees minded and good food and fun was had by all.

Mai Mai's Bistro Victoria

Not to be confused with the original in Sooke, Mai Mai's Bistro is for nightclub admirers who want a place to chill and eat good food. I entered at 5pm when they opened but I was told by the waitress that it doesn't start getting busy till 9pm and are open till 2pm. Plan according to your taste and volume level.

I started with a sunumono salad that was one of the best one's i've had in Victoria. Since I was on my bicycle and heading to a nearby movie theatre after eating, i asked what stout beers they had. Fortunately they just had a free case delivered from Lighthouse Brewery. They had a Seaport Vanilla Stout and the waitress offered it for free since it was a free sample. It was one of the more smoother stouts I have ever tried and the vanilla was a nice addition.

I then had a trio of the West Coast Inari (tofu pocket with rice, cold smoked wild sockeye, avocado, goat cheese crumble with a tequila honey dressing) that was delicious. Lastly I had the ginger beef (Alberta beef strips, Asian vegetables and ginger) that was one of the best tasting and certainly best presented ginger beef I have had.

I would definitely come back again and for my slower pace early in the evening is best for me.

Book of Bad Arguments

 

Ever thought that a point that someone was trying to make didn't sound right? Want to call people out on flawed statements to encourage proper debate? Here's your book! The Book of Bad Arguments!

The web link above has the complete book, as provided by the author, but I purchased and read it over the holidays because I wanted to support the concept  I enjoyed the layout and straightforward way the bad arguments were presented. Now I hope to articulate my rebuttal, and diffusion of, improper arguments that I hear from now on.

Postcard of the Interwebs - 14 January 2015

Uses and Benefits of East Indian Spices: A great article on East Indian spices for health and taste.

The Sun is White: Very cool eureka article on why the sun is actually white, its just the atmosphere that makes it yellow. Good news for Superman!

20 Scary places: Creepy and interesting at the same time.

Supernormal Stimuli: Excellent philosophical comic

Write anything using the Periodic Table: Although there are fictitious elements in this generator, its quite cool with the results.

Masks out of DNA: This artist uses DNA extracted from discarded gum and such to create masks. Creepy and I could see a use for forensics in solving crimes if it can be consistent.

The Broken Patent System and How to Fix it: An excellent article from Wired that illustrates the proliferation of litigation by large companies against other large and small companies and why the smaller innovators have been reluctant to reveal their inventions.

2015 Resolutions

I've always made general resolutions as I live my life. Try new things. See new places. Complete new projects. Its important to set goals but its also important to set reasonable and measurable goals.

For example for my body I wish to be healthier. That statement on its own can mean a multitude of things. Food. Exercise. Mental. Spiritual. In my case I want to increase my overall strength level by 12% (one percent a month) while also taking up Tai Chi lessons (something I learned from a book over twenty years ago but forgot as I neglected it). Both goals are measurable and reasonable.

For my mind I want to read more non-fiction. I will quantify this by setting a goal of catching up to 2015 with my National Geographic magazines (I'm on April of 2012 so that will be at least 32 magazines or one per 11 days). This should not be hard as I can read them while eating at work. I am also adding to this the three editions of the Peloponnesian War that I own, the original written by Thucydides, the Donald Kagan book, and the Landmark Thucydides. I also have the Landmark Hellenica that Xenophon wrote that details the rest of the war that picks up after Thucydides. That time period has always interested me and I its time to muckle down and read more about it.

For my spirit I will spend at least five minutes a day not doing anything and just letting my mind be calm and blank. Hopefully this will prevent me from dozing off too early in the evening by allowing my mind to rest as well as helping me to jump into activities better after my little moment of calm.

I can see each of these goals as being reasonable and measurable. I'll let you know how things go.

A Streetcar Named New Orleans

I was passing by this food truck on my way back to my work and thought i'd pick up some lunch. I'd seen the truck around town but didn't take advantage of it because I wasn't hungry.

I had the Muffalata, a New Orleans sandwich made from hot meats, cheese and olive salad spread on a bun. It was tasty and i'd have it again. a good deal for $8.

There are on streetfoodapp and facebook.