Vegan Summer

As we look forward to summer holiday eats, I think I have found a
usable vegan recipe for my so disposed acquaintances. It is a burger
made from sweet potatoes and chickpeas. One adds spices, oil and
coating to make the patty, followed by a drizzle it with more oil, and
a pop it in the oven for 10 to 15 minutes, with 5 of those on broil.
Seems livable...

                                   *     *     *
Bought a dollar store hat to go in the sun: the weather is suddenly full
metal jacket summer. It's a bit of a hunting hat, but the ducks in the water
seemed in good spirits.

                                  *    *     *

And could someone please explain to me what is wrong with a sunset clause
in the NAFTA talks( which would force a review every five years).Sounds
healthy to me!?

Continents

YouTube to the rescue. Wonderful video by Algol about the emergence of land on
Earth.



Am also looking for a summary of animal life on Earth (eventually linked to that of
of the natural environment). Clearly, proto mammals were around in the Triassic. The smaller
ones made it through. Four legs, close to the ground, with a characteristic jawline...

Weather Watch

New season of weather watch. I"m such a junkie; but that's because I've
been caught in veritable downpours, and literally swept form the ground on occasion.
The problem: things often change quickly, and one is running on outdated information...

Speaking S

Stumbled unto an interesting article in the Los Angeles Times
about incidents in public places in the US where people were
confronted for speaking Spanish. The speakers feel justified in so doing, and
many argue that it is a form of racism or police profiling for them to be
called out. Often it is a parent addressing a child. We are proud to speak
two languages, it is a form of being smart.

As a Francophone Canadian, I am no stranger to linguistic battles. What strikes me
about these incidents - and the reason I am tempted to meddle in an American situation -
is that we seem to be dealing with some measure of cross-communication.

What is upsetting to people many not be paying taxes to support Spanish speakers,
but the fact that Spanish might be somewhat opaque to an Anglophone. It is a conversation
in a public place and who knows what is being said. Because conversations in public
inevitably have a public component. If you are telling your child to put down the candy,
you are also reassuring the sales clerk that this candy thing is under control. You are
socializing your child in the course of an outing. The mother teaching the child to carry on in Spanish, in turn, is - in this subtext sphere - showing the child to resist intimidation.
Which might not be the primary skill in this situation. The ability to switch back and forth,
as well as to keep a certain distance form the parent, might be more like it. Autonomy is a
delicate thing.

Which is why acquiring citizenship in a new country does involve learning for all members
of a family. Not learning English as such, but knowing where the boundaries and
expectations are. The language issue will resolve itself once that is in place.

http://www.latimes.com/local/california/la-me-ln-speak-english-20180528-story.html

Now you Know

Selective

Sometimes, reading about a topic one is researching in another language
can bring to the fore information one wasn't really getting. All writing - and reading -
can be a little... er ... selective.

So I've been on a French site about weight training. And was curious to see how the
concept of 'cheat meal' was translating. It is a letting-go meal. Yes, one is cheating
but on one's regimen, not on a healthy diet. In point of fact, one is eating a globally
healthy meal in the midst of a cut (weight-loss or competition strenght gaining motivated)
with a high carb meal. What this does is allow one to keep training ; because muscles do get
depleted of fuel after a while. It also feeds the brain, which runs on sugar, and mood and
concentration also snap back. And done judiciously, it will stop metabolism from going
into starvation mode. So go out with the family for a spaghetti dinner, all in
good conscience!!

On wider concepts of nutrition, I was surprised to see a recommendation for
saturated fats ( with an upper limit of 10% calories of diet). Because the foods that contain
such fats also contain cholesterol, necessary for the production of testosterone in men. Egg yolks
and lean beef are the preferred sources. The discussion below,

Il y a un problème à tout cela : les régimes sans matière grasse et donc sans cholestérol compromettent le taux de testostérone, ce qui peut perturber la capacité de l’organisme à conserver la masse musculaire.

Lorsque le niveau de testostérone baisse, il entraîne le métabolisme dans sa chute. Il vaut donc mieux inclure des jaunes d’oeufs (un oeuf entier pour 3 à 4 blancs d’oeufs) à son régime et consommer du boeuf maigre quotidiennement.

Ces deux aliments fournissent du cholestérol, présent dans les graisses saturées, qui contribue à la augmenter la testostérone. Il est aussi conseillé de consommer du poisson plus gras (saumon, thon) deux fois par semaine : il contient des acides gras polyinsaturés oméga 3 qui contribuent à lutter contre l’inflammation du corps et des muscles.

La testostérone est responsable des caractéristiques masculines telles que la pilosité, la tessiture de voix plus grave, et, bien sûr, une musculature plus développée et plus puissante. D’un autre côté, la testostérone exerce aussi un effet minceur puisqu’elle active le métabolisme, accentue la libération des graisses par les adipocytes (cellule graisseuse) et inhibe la mise en réserve des lipides par l’organisme. Une maitrise alimentaire peut faire une énorme différence si vous voulez avoir assez de testostérone pour développer votre masse musculaire.

So cholesterol is necessary for testosterone, which in turn also activates metabolism, facilitates
liberating fat from cells, and stops the deposit of further fats!!

But here's the food police: there is one class of fats which should be banned altogether, and that
is those (man-made) trans fats. Recommended/allowed quantities: zero. nothing but bad consequences from these.

Quantité

Zéro ! Évitez les fritures, les pâtisseries industrielles, les chips et les biscuits. En cas de doute, vérifiez l’étiquette.
Sources

Omniprésentes dans les aliments fabriqués et la restauration rapide, les huiles partiellement hydrogénées contiennent des acides trans qui peuvent causer des dégâts aux artères. Les frites, le poisson frit, les fritures, les aliments cuits au four, les beignets et les biscuits secs sont généralement riches en acides gras trans.

And for those in doubt, a beignet is a doughnut. Ouch!

https://www.espace-musculation.com/cheat-meals.html

                                 *     *     *
For those intersted in the self-data mouvement, currently developing in
Great Britain, France and Finland.

https://www.lemonde.fr/chronique-des-communs/article/2018/05/25/a-lyon-deux-mille-personnes-testent-deja-la-portabilite-de-leurs-donnees-personnelles_5304353_5049504.html#meter_toaster

Fourteen

My favorite blogger is up again:

http://montrealrampage.com/war-on-women-pouzza-fest/

What would I tell my fourteen year old self . Actually, I think I should leave
that poor beleaguered creature alone, for what is neurotic parenting other than
making sure the new generation doesn't make those same old errors...

Seriously, did I underestimate sexism when I was young. The article gets it:
overcoming sexism is a form of becoming for self.👩‍💻

                                     *     *     *

Been reading that certain Web newspapers are not available today, in Europe
because of compliance issues with the new web regulations. Can't in all conscience
pirate stuff out of America, but the Los Angeles Times is running a charming piece
on a new chain of American Chinese Food currently operating in...Shanghai!

There are eight regional cuisines in China, and this is something different.

Jessica Meyers, from Shanghai

Looking Forward

In my email this morning, the popularity of programming
languages (Quora).

Clear, then, that JavaScript is the basis for Web Development. Indeed it is the accepted scripting language one doesn't even need to reference anymore with html.

The Android course that occupies me these days in effect is very similar to html, and based on
it. There is only one way to set out a page to a computer, and it will involve tags that show
the beginnings and ends of things. The difference is in the details.

The programming on Android is Java ( the ultimate object-oriented language). I looked at this years
ago, and yep, object-oriented.

Logical structures are always the same: loops, conditionals. Expect that to go well also.

Python and Ruby are interpreted languages, dating back a bit; whereas Java is compiled
but sits on a virtual platform that can be freely downloaded.

                                      *     *     *



                                            *     *     *

Kirill,who is an engineer working with Android, says he does more than
one mock-up for every design. Things will behave differently on different screen sizes...

Android Everything

This is maddening; I got the correct layout but had to use different instructions.
Which means there is something fundamental I am not getting. Arg!!

European Regulation

Mark Zuckerberg was questioned Tuesday, by members of the
European Parliament. Left and right. As always, most questions will
be answered at length in writing...

These is a new law on the protection of personal information which comes into
effect May 25; explained below.

Mr Z war for-warned that Europe intends to be more harsh than the US in imposing
eventual regulation. News to me, if Facebook only picks up 6% of the world publicity
budget, it is picking up - along with Google - the quasi totality of new publicity money!



source: Le Monde

More A

Not too bad day in the android salt mines: ;earned to appreciate how
Material Design tells one, from the colors chosen for an app, when
text needs to be white or black.

Learned how to look things up on android Developer, here textStyle bold or italic.

Finally understood about why Android needs to be referenced all the time: this
specifies that the attribute is that for android ( and gets one past terrible confusion).

Started learning how layout and containers work...

Poetry on Trial

If I can be allowed to comment, here. A poem, on the walls
of a Berlin University building, is about to be removed for being sexist.
And a debate rages about the censorship of art.

The poem is not of today's sensibility, because it was from another period.
But it wasn't sexist then ( quite the contrary). And to proffer a reading of
it as sexist today smacks of illiteracy. Not my job to tell Berlin what to do with
wall art, but at least let us  give that poor  poet (still alive today, at 93;  a Bolivian)
a proper appreciation.

The sticking point is the last phrase, un admirateur. Flowers and and beauty and women
on the streets of Barclona and among them, un admirateur. The poet offered this poem for
the wall of a university building that initially educated women, and is today a school of social
studies. Un admirateur. Even if, and when as well, that women do the work of the world,
he is charmed by them. In effect, alluding to human love and seduction always there. But
also, in the subtext created by the placement of the poetic text, his admiration for the work of
women, which is ever the same but is evolving all at once.

Got your back, Mr Poet. (Which - en passant - is perhaps a suspect line of work, leading
to all manner of débordements). Humpf!

https://www.nouvelobs.com/rue89/notre-epoque/20180518.OBS6893/gros-debat-en-allemagne-faut-il-effacer-ce-poeme-juge-sexiste-du-mur.html

The Big A

Just for the fun of it, started looking at Android development. they use an IDE
and xml for layout, just different enough from what I already know to
totally confuse me.

Just kidding: android is a very popular platform for developers because - given
that it's for mobile- a lot of the work is done for you.

Should be up and running in no time!

Lagrange-2

Big news in space exploration yesterday: China has just launched a satellite that
will eventually relay information form its moon rovers. They are intent on exploring
the far side of the moon, and set up an inhabited spacelab by 2022.

Interestingly, we actually see more than 50% of the moon's surface and only some
41% is always hidden. This is because the moon engages in 'libration", a form of
oscillation.

The satellite is headed for Lagrange-2, a point beyond the moon of relative stability given
the play of masses of the sun, earth and moon system.

(Lagrange points are in reference to a system of two bodies of large size, exerting
Newtonian gravitational forces one on the other. In a special case situation, a third body - of negligable mass, - will orbit the stronger planet at the same speed as the second planet,
if it is at a critical point. The second planet is thus dragging it along, making it move
more slowly at L1, and more quickly at L2. The Sun and Earth are such a two body system;
and the Earth and Moon are another...)

source: Wikipedia

https://www.msn.com/fr-ca/actualites/monde/la-chine-va-explorer-la-face-cachée-de-la-lune/ar-AAxzrM5?li=AAgh0dy

https://www.space.com/40646-china-queqiao-moon-relay-satellite-launch.html

On the Road

https://beatpatrol.wordpress.com/2008/08/04/jack-kerouac-on-the-road-1957-excerpts/

Feelings of anticipation and apprehension mingle when one goes on the road.
One will see new places, but one might also encounter difficulties. And if travelers
past have documented discoveries for the soul, their off-hand descriptions have also
been repositories of the  misery such trips inflicted on women. Guys can wait hours
for a deal, a shot, a drink whatever. Women get hungry, feel dirty, and are often
impatient. We are closer to our immediate sensations, I guess.

Men on the road expect to meet new people - often women - with which they will have
relationships. Women already are in relationships. Whatever happens is going to be weird.
Not  that there is no room for novelty in our hearts; we just know there is a price to pay
on our current arrangements.

Trees and fields pass for hours, on either side of the road. Like a tired film, black and white.
Green for the countryside, grey for the cities. There are jolts of feeling, passages through
other worlds; these are perhaps a function of one's readings, or associations from childhood.
A hook from our minds is picking something up...A sunset from dreams past, a street corner
form a childhood game...Traveling brings up the disorder of my mind, ancient longings
one feels in others through their cities and homes. It stirs emotion, in random ways...

Degree Differences

To get an idea of how GPSnumbersare affected by distance, below, two
GoogleMaps, at zoom 17. The first shows the corrdinates for the Eiffel
Tower, the secon for the Mur de la Paix in the Champ de Mars parc. The Wall is
South and East of the Tower.

Basic

Someone traveling on a budget might want to set their phones to airplane mode
as the default setting. This turns off the internet calls from the phone, but allows wi-fi
use when in a spot that provides it. One then turns the phone back on when lost, or in
an emergency situation.

My little app is pretty basic, at the moment. It is a hub form which the user gets or stores
information, or can call on actual GMaps if need be.

                                        *     *     *

Real-Time

Getting real-time traffic readings from Google Maps:

                                             *     *     *
One can ask for location with GPS corrdinates (which will change ever so slightly from
day to day).

However, one cannot ask for a zoom level; one needs to scroll to it. However I aks for
downtown Montreal, the Starbucks at Place Ville Marie only appears at zoom level 18,
which comes after the GPS numbers.

                                           *     *     *

Been monitoring how GPS coordinates change somewhat at each call (usually on the
third decimal). chose the Eiffel Tower and Champ de Mars in Paris as the test
reference.

Made me read up on what the 'Champs de Mars' park is about. It's actually fascinating.
From its origins in Rome, a Champs de Mars during Merovingian and Carolingian times
is a military field. In March(... up to May), at a date when the field would be most green and capable of feeding horses, the King's military would gather. This would be the starting point for the annual raids that would enrich the kingdom. On their return, they would also gather there, for songs and stories about the valor of their exploits.

source: Wikipedia

In a Word

The first of the above works to get the zoom, the second does not. The difference?
the word var. The second creates a variable within the function, and not accessible.
The first - without var - is a global function.

                                        *     *     *
So this code, allowing one to access zoom in a continuous fashion, works as well:

                                        *     *     *
Little hack which allows one to save map information, on the fly. Can't really
create a database on a phone. And for security reasons, very difficult to link
with anything that might write to one's computer. So one could add an href
to a file on the computer, which would retain some of the information from the session.

User could then ask for map with center and zoom information.

                                      *     *     *

Form input, entirely local:

Unlike setting zoom, one needs to create a new google maps object to set a new center:

Libyan Model

North Korea seems concerned about the 'Libyan model' for what awaits them...

Le Monde

CTourism

Came across striking photos of  Chinese tourists taking May holidays.
In Gansu province,(where the Silk Road originated). And in Southerly Hunan
(the birth province of Mao Tse-Tung).

source: Der Spiegel

Distance

Been doing some math. Wondering what the true waistline of Canada -
the distance from Cape Breton NS to Tofino BC - would look like projected on
the terrestial globe at the equator. Not surprisingly, it is rather modest: roughly the
distance between Mogadishu Somalia, and Lagos Nigeria. My calculations so far:

Pretty rough, I am working from the globe as a perfect sphere. Not that there aren't
moult models of the reality, indeed there are too many. But at this point, just wanted
a rough estimation.

Chose the 49th parallel as the place to measure because - famously - it defines the
border between Canada and the US from BC to Manitoba. Personally, I live in the
southerly St-Lawrence basin, at the 45th.

For a perfect sphere, 49 degrees or .855 radians, has a cosine value of .6561...That
means that the radius of a circle - our 49th parallel - would be that proportion of the
circumference of the circle, or earth. The earth comes in at 40 007.86km so the 49th
would be 26 405km. And the longitude difference between Tofino and Cape Breton
being 65 degrees, the national waistline is .18 x 26406 = 4 841 km. Which is roughly
the distance between Mogadishu and Lagos.

The actual figures will be different when I get them, but we have an idea..

                  
                                   *     *     *

In point of fact, the dimension of these parallels is known. Below, from Wikipedia.
50 degrees is at 25 810, so 49 might be 26 300...

Mother's Day

Mothers are busy people. Just changed the zoom level utility
on my Google Map project. User can now see the current zoom level
by clicking on the map instead of on a button.

Given that information - like restaurants - will be on different levels from
one locality to the next, need to add the possibility of note-taking that
will be saved for the user. 'When in Regina, go to zoom 12 ...' Maybe
link to a screen-grab file!? Or just add a set center utility. One can do
anything with code, but making things straightforward for the user is
another matter.

🐱‍👓 HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY, NINJAS!!

Displaying Information!

Numbers from Wikipedia.

Trying to display information on country size for my (French-language) blog.
On Plunker...

https://plnkr.co/edit/bZ1tYuc30mE6FDGWP81q?p=info

                                           *     *     *

I was asked  - in reference to yesterday's post - if there was a fee
determining on what information level one' s business would find itself on
Google Maps. From my reading on the matter, no. There is, however,
some work to be done in getting complete and interesting information up to Google.
One needs to become a member of the Google business ecosystem, and that involves
a website, accurate and updated info , answering customer reviews and the like.

It is a confidential algorithm, kept that way to insure 'fairness'.

https://support.google.com/business/answer/7091?hl=en&ref_topic=4854129

It is possible to place outright ads in Google Maps, as in many other places.
More information by clicking (top left) on the menu in GMaps, and gling to
consumer information.