Sunday, June 30, 2013
Tuesday, June 25, 2013
Sunday, June 23, 2013
Interesting!!
Canolli are a beloved Sicilian pastry, consisting of a deep-fried
pastry tube, with a cream filling.
pastry tube, with a cream filling.
Coincidence?!
Saturday, June 22, 2013
Santé
http://sante.lefigaro.fr/actualite/2013/06/21/20810-partir-quand-faut-il-sinquieter-dun-surpoids
This strikes me as a fine assessment of how to approach obesity
treatment, but I see it as very much as a road-map given by one
medical professional to another. The obese person needs help
within his unique situation; it is the applications level that needs to
be developed.
- One needs to be obsessional about eating; eating is not a mindless
pleasure-seeking activity but meals need to be taken in an ordered
fashion, shopped and planned for.
- There are choices open to one, but always within a context: it can
be cauliflower or brocoli; tuna fish or salmon; fruit salad on day and pudding
the next or vice versa. There is never a choice between a tomato sandwich
and a chocolate bar (Are you stranded on a desert island with a vending
machine?).
- Diets have bad press, as something restrictive (you cannot have chocolate candy)
and punitive ( no more than 1 200 calories). Regimens are fun: It's summer eating, with all
kinds of fruit and veg that don't cost much; how am I going to apportion all that today.
- Temptation looms, it is after all Canada Day and there is free cake at the Park along with
the local b-band. Do I look like someone who needs to fill out? If I don't - and someone
is sure to tell me - then I'm leaving that cake for the bears. Better luck next year.
This strikes me as a fine assessment of how to approach obesity
treatment, but I see it as very much as a road-map given by one
medical professional to another. The obese person needs help
within his unique situation; it is the applications level that needs to
be developed.
- One needs to be obsessional about eating; eating is not a mindless
pleasure-seeking activity but meals need to be taken in an ordered
fashion, shopped and planned for.
- There are choices open to one, but always within a context: it can
be cauliflower or brocoli; tuna fish or salmon; fruit salad on day and pudding
the next or vice versa. There is never a choice between a tomato sandwich
and a chocolate bar (Are you stranded on a desert island with a vending
machine?).
- Diets have bad press, as something restrictive (you cannot have chocolate candy)
and punitive ( no more than 1 200 calories). Regimens are fun: It's summer eating, with all
kinds of fruit and veg that don't cost much; how am I going to apportion all that today.
- Temptation looms, it is after all Canada Day and there is free cake at the Park along with
the local b-band. Do I look like someone who needs to fill out? If I don't - and someone
is sure to tell me - then I'm leaving that cake for the bears. Better luck next year.
Tuesday, June 18, 2013
Simply Tart!
Who cares if Montreal is an ungovernable hotbed
of corruption, and construction workers and road crews
are on strike (within reach of their own vacation time, no less).
Today is National Cherry Tart Day down South, and
the Net gives us access to the requisite celebratory recipes.
Looking forward to tomorrow, too.
http://www.food.com/food-holidays/cherry-tart-day-0618
Am I being totally serious, here. Ça se discute. Indeed, the French net
has been discussing one the the Bac philosophy exam questions (social
science and economics), which came down on Monday. One is asked to
comment on a long quote from St Anselm, wherein he makes clear - I would
assume for the first time in European thought - the absolute primacy of moral absolutes.
Is it permissible to lie, if one's saves one's life in so doing. Anselm comes down
to no, the problem is ever the same. He is considered a great thinker who
shaped Scholasticism.
Yet from a current perspective, one has some information Anselm of Canterbury
doesn't. It will be recalled that he eventually left the post of archbishop of Canterbury
because he could not admit that the King had the priviledge of refusing the
authority of the pope. Anselm insisted his loyalty to the pope had to come
first. Interestingly, we have here - in the strong position of the Norman king - the
seeds of the argument that was to later lead to the Protestant character of England.
Not a simple question at all.
of corruption, and construction workers and road crews
are on strike (within reach of their own vacation time, no less).
Today is National Cherry Tart Day down South, and
the Net gives us access to the requisite celebratory recipes.
Looking forward to tomorrow, too.
http://www.food.com/food-holidays/cherry-tart-day-0618
Am I being totally serious, here. Ça se discute. Indeed, the French net
has been discussing one the the Bac philosophy exam questions (social
science and economics), which came down on Monday. One is asked to
comment on a long quote from St Anselm, wherein he makes clear - I would
assume for the first time in European thought - the absolute primacy of moral absolutes.
Is it permissible to lie, if one's saves one's life in so doing. Anselm comes down
to no, the problem is ever the same. He is considered a great thinker who
shaped Scholasticism.
Yet from a current perspective, one has some information Anselm of Canterbury
doesn't. It will be recalled that he eventually left the post of archbishop of Canterbury
because he could not admit that the King had the priviledge of refusing the
authority of the pope. Anselm insisted his loyalty to the pope had to come
first. Interestingly, we have here - in the strong position of the Norman king - the
seeds of the argument that was to later lead to the Protestant character of England.
Not a simple question at all.
Sunday, June 16, 2013
Thursday, June 13, 2013
Bob, the backyard Chef
http://video.msn.com?vid=94eabd4a-d769-e7a4-fae5-fce1c8c4f092&mkt=fr-ca&src=CPSmall:shareBar:permalink:uuids&from=cp^customplayer_fr-ca_styledevie
That's 5 hours in a 300F oven.
2 minutes on the grill, on the sauce side.
Sounds like a party!
Wednesday, June 12, 2013
The O Word
Canada: self-reported weight 18+
The above bar-graph is to me quite telling. Weight gain increases
dramatically with age. I am not privy to the secrets of the gods with
respect to the most recent trend figures on obesity but I do suspect the
aging of the population plays an important role. Indeed I have seen
figures from the US to the effect that obesity in the US has been
totally stable since at least 1999 when the numbers are age-adjusted
(except for white adolescent males and non-hispanic black females).
What might well be different is the sheer numbers of obese folks now walking the
streets and malls, as well as the tragic increase of the morbidly obese
i.e. those 100 lbs or more overweight.
Personally, I remain amazed by the stunning association of obesity with aging,
in part because everyone seems intent on ignoring how evident it is.
We hear of food addiction, food as a drug, binge eating, anorexia. These
phenomena here stand out as epi-phenomena: powerless humans loosing their grip
on eating behaviour as they start to get older. Because, aging also means one cares a
great deal less about appearance than in one’s mating and dating years. Who gives a darn;
pass the pretzels, please.Thus the babyboom packs a double wallop: we are a bulge in the
population pyramid, and - apart from those who went to Vietnam - an especially long-living one.
I don’t mean to belittle all the wonderful research being done to help us manage
appearance and health; one day disfigurement by unslightly fat, bloating difficulties
from ignorance of how hydric balance works, cellulite, sag and disappearing muscle may
all be things of the past. But obesity - devil-may-care eating - is chosen as much as endured.
The old just like to imagine they might get away with it.
I read by accident that the body stops excreting salt once daylight is gone, because
one needs to stay hydrated during sleep. That was a useful bit of information.
Who hasn’t woken up swollen like a hot-air balloon after an evening of movies
avec high-salt snacks... à suivre.
Saturday, June 8, 2013
Archi
The handsome creature below - Archicebus achilles - has been very much
in the news lately. Reconstructed from a fossil find int the Chinese province of
Hubei (incidentally the original locus of Chinese civilization) he is but a few centimeters high
and would have weighed 30 grams. He is thought to be the earliest known primate.
This find confirms a new perspective on evolution: if man evolved in Africa, primates
before that evolved in Asia. Archi was an insectivore.
source: Le Monde.
in the news lately. Reconstructed from a fossil find int the Chinese province of
Hubei (incidentally the original locus of Chinese civilization) he is but a few centimeters high
and would have weighed 30 grams. He is thought to be the earliest known primate.
This find confirms a new perspective on evolution: if man evolved in Africa, primates
before that evolved in Asia. Archi was an insectivore.
source: Le Monde.
Friday, June 7, 2013
Thursday, June 6, 2013
Inundated
Undeniably, the atmosphere holds more humidity than in the past; thus
precipitations are more intense.
As well, riverside deforestation, agriculture, constructed dams and urbanization
limit the absorption capacity of riverbeds in the Spring.
Since 2002, Germany and Austria have bought back lands on which all
construction is prohibited.
source: le Monde.
Wednesday, June 5, 2013
Tuesday, June 4, 2013
Monday, June 3, 2013
Saturday, June 1, 2013
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