Russian Sledges

About 1 1/2 cups flour (mix of durum and semolina) Pinch of salt 2 eggs

“Starting this semester, Duke University faculty, students, and staff can request to have certain public domain books scanned on demand. If a book is published before 1923* and located in the Perkins, Bostock, Lilly, or Music Library or in the Library Service Center (LSC), a green “Digitize This Book” button will appear in its online catalog record. Clicking on this button starts the request. Within two weeks (although likely sooner), you will get an email with a link to the digitized book in the Duke University Libraries collections on the Internet Archive. You—and the rest of the world—can now read this book online, download it to your Kindle, export it as a PDF, or get it as a fully searchable text-only file. And you never have to worry about late fees or recalls!”

via Duke University Libraries

Last year there was some rumblings that Top Chef might end up on Boston this season. Unfortunately this didn't turn out to be true, but us Bostonians did get one pretty nice consolation, and her name is Kristen Kish. Kristen is a local chef that has been killing it on the show this season. She ended up getting kicked off a little prematurely, but then fought her way back into the competition by beating people week after week on Last Chance Kitchen. This coming Wednesday is the finale, and Kristen only has one more Chef to beat to win the whole thing. I had a few friends over this past week to watch the previous episode, and we ate a this meal that was inspired by the dish that got Kristen back into the competition.

A little caraway in the pasta dough. I was skeptical but it added a nice flavor and goes great with the orange flavor.

Kim helped me make all the thumbprints.

Its pretty easy to make each one, but it takes a while to do so many.

Saute some apples in butter.

Next the kale goes in with the cooked pork.

Reduced orange and lemon juice goes in.

Then the pasta. Kill the heat and stir in the pom seeds.

No wonder Kristen made it back to the show, this was awesome!

It was heavy but somehow felt light at the same time. All the flavors went great together and were unexpected.

Go Kristen!

The recipe on the Bravo site is for a very small amount. I adapted it to serve 6 and added some ground pork to make it more substantial.

3.5 cups semolina flour
about 1.5 cups of water(more if needed)
2 teaspoons caraway seeds (ground)

7 oranges
4 meyer lemons
3 apples
1 bunch of kale
1 pound ground pork
1 stick butter
1 pomegranate

Mix the semolina, caraway, salt, and water and knead for 5 minutes. Wrap with plastic and let sit for 15 minutes while you prep some of the other stuff. Juice the oranges and lemons and put on low heat to a light simmer. Allow to reduce until about half its volume, about 15 minutes.Remove the stems from the kale and rip into small pieces. Chop up the parsley. Make the orecchiette by making sure your hand is floured, and rolling small balls of dough, then taking each one and flattening it with your thumb against your palm. Lay them out on a towel to dry as you continue making them.

Sear the pork in a small amount of oil and remove from the pan when it is browned and cooked through. Dice the apples while the pork is cooking. If there is lots of grease in the pan, remove the excess. Pop the butter into the pan followed by the apples. Saute until they are just beginning to brown. Toss in the kale in with the apples and add the pork back to the pot. Pour in the orange juice. Meanwhile, boil the pasta until tender. Strain and add to your sauce. Stir in your pomegranates and serve with parsley.

People will make a tournament bracket out of anything, and the process of selecting the next Pope is just too tempting to resist -especially as it will be held in March. This bracket is divided into  four regions, including the tri-state regional, which contains four men not actually considered "papabili" (two are deceased). The rounds have wonderful names, the best being the Sweet Sistine. Each candidate comes with Vegas odds, so get your office pools ready! Link -via Metafilter

"People say 'girly cocktail' all the time," says Emma Hollander of Trina's Starlite Lounge. Usually, she says, they mean anything pink. But a drink's vessel can set off alarms as much as its color: "Sometimes I will pour a whiskey drink from the cocktail menu into a cocktail glass, and guys will be like 'Can I have a more manly glass?' " A more manly glass? What does that mean? A halved cannon ball? A goblet made from your enemy's skull?

Here's a striking view of Sarychev Volcanoin the Kuril Islands, Russia going through its early stage of eruption, taken from the orbit of the International Space Station in June 2009. For more info on this picture, head over to NASA's Earth Observatory!

Submitted by: Unknown (via Reddit)

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“Julian Fellowes has said that Season 4 will begin six months after your death and will be about “the rebuilding of Mary.” It will surely be a gloomy world of grief and mourning clothes. Downton Abbey has always been low on men, especially upstairs, and with you gone, the show’s Yorkshire village might as well twin with Northampton, Mass.”

- Downton Abbey obituary: Goodbye to Downton Abbey’s best character. - Slate Magazine

redrougesunbruisedfield:

walzerjahrhundert:

Gabriel de Cool, The Muse, 1895

About once a year I try to write something about Sherry (or Jerez si vamos a hablar en Español) mainly because the crossover appeal between it and single malt is blatently obvious. Every year I write it and most people think, "Huh........Sherry, eh?" and that's about as far as it goes. I know plenty of Scotch drinkers who have made the transition to Bourbon, yet no one ever wants to learn more about the fortified wine that shapes their Macallan, Glenfarclas, Springbank, or Lagavulin whiskies. There are very few single malt producers that aren't using ex-Sherry barrels to mature their whisky, yet we seem to forget the huge influence these wine-soaked butts have over our beloved bottles. I get emails from customers all the time about how wonderful the Glendronach K&L single barrel they just purchased tasted. "How do they get all that rich, toffee-laden, fudgy flavor into that whisky?" they ask. "They must have really good distillers."

Distillers? No. Really good Sherry barrels? Yes.

Because that's what you're tasting when you taste our new Glendronach 19 year old Oloroso cask. You're tasting sherry. 95% of that whisky's flavor comes from the Oloroso. The other 5% is the alcohol and the eau de vie. If you should ever visit Glendronach distillery, that's where the majority of your visit will take place: in the barrel room. They're firm believers in the idea that most of whiskymaking takes place after distillation. They'll talk your ear off about cooperage and the influence that Jerez has over their malt. Yet, Scotch drinkers in search of something different still look to rum or Bourbon due to their "similar" flavor profiles. Not that you shouldn't enjoy rum or Bourbon. They're fantastic spirits. I just don't get why more people aren't interested in Sherry, considering that for those producers using Sherry wood, it is far and away the number one influence on their single malt whisky's ultimate flavor.

And it's delicious to drink on its own!!!!!!

Besides the deliciousness of its character, the relatively reasonable price tags, the fact that you can open a bottle and have it last for months, and the complexity of its different flavor profiles, there is one standout reason why Sherry is ripe for hipster exploitation: no other wine, beer, or spirit offers the potential for so much geekery. I mean, isn't that what hipster culture is about? Taking something completely phased out from our past and ressurecting it once again as the measurement of coolness? Turntables, beards, and carpentry! No other alcoholic beverage is as antiquated and associated with old people as Sherry. If you want to know more about something than someone else, Sherry is your key to pedantic bliss. All of us at the Redwood City store just purchased the book Sherry, Manzanilla, & Montilla in an attempt to increase our own collective knowledge. We're all committing to this movement.

Sherry is so complicated to produce and comes in so many different manifestations that it would take years to truly understand it. It can be briny and austere, yeasty and funky, nutty yet dry, nutty but sweet, raisined and chewy, chocolatey and earthy, and any other combination of these flavors already mentioned. You can serve it chilled as an aperitif with hard cheeses and nuts, or sip it after dinner like you would a glass of single malt. It combines viticulture, soil, winemaking, distillation, barrel-aging, and most importantly: flor.

What is flor you ask? It is to Sherry as peat is to whisky and as bret is to beer or cider, in that it offers a unique complexity of flavor that can take some getting used to. Flor is a veil of Saccharomyces yeast cells, which multiply and form a layer of film that covers the wine as it ages in barrel. The barrier on the surface prevents total oxidation by limiting the wine's contact with oxygen (flor also needs oxygen to survive, so what little leaks into the wine is immedately consumed by the yeast). Sometimes these layers can be very thin, other times extremely thick – how thick will affect their influence over the wine. Geography, temperature, and cellar conditions have everything to do with a flor's nature (bringing serious terroir to Sherrytown). The flor also consumes what sugar is left in the wine, which results in some seriously bone-dry fino and manzanilla sherries. Flor layers can last for years and they age with the sherry in the oak barrel. As yeast cells die off from the flor, they drop to the bottom of the wine where they become part of the lees, the dead yeast cells that bring a rich, savory note to many Sherry and Champagne wines. Those aging closer to the sea have different flors than those more inland and can be salty and briny much like Islay whiskies.

Then there's the barrel maturation. Jerez uses American oak and European oak. They use barriques and they use giant butts. Some wines are aged purely in a single barrel, others are added to a solera system that continuously marries younger wines with older ones to keep a consistent flavor (like marrying whiskies together in the Ardbeg Uigeadail). There are a few Sherry selections at K&L that have wines dating back to the 1800s floating around within them. What about distillation, too? Sherry uses brandy to fortify its wines and prevent them from oxidizing too quickly after the bottles are opened. It's crazy to think about all of these different facets.

So here we are. Another year is upon us. Another post about Sherry that will find its way into your RSS feed, but will likely be skimmed over and forgotten as fast as the other non-whisky-related pieces. However, for anyone who truly wants to understand single malt whisky, you can't do so without understanding Sherry. You can know everything about every distillery in Scotland – their barley sources, their fermentation times, their still size, and their cooperage program – but you won't understand why their whiskies taste the way they do unless you understand what Sherry is. If you're drinking Laphroaig 10, or any other Bourbon barrel-aged whisky, then you're exempt. However, there are few distilleries who don't use some Sherry as part of their ultimate formula. Springbank 15? Bowmore 15? Glenlivet 15? Queue the Frankie Valli hit!

Maybe it's time to give Sherry another look. Come to Redwood City and talk to our Sherry buyer Joe Manekin (any advice I give you will just be a repeat of what he tells me). I'll try and post some of my favorites, but I have to check our inventory first.

-David Driscoll

jpk815:

Viktoria Luise, Prinzessin von Pruessen

Viktoria Luise Adelheid Mathilde Charlotte Herzogin zu Braunschwieg und Luneberg von Preussen; 13 September 1892 – 11 December 1980) was the only daughter and the last child of Kaiser Wilhlem II and Kaiserin Augusta Viktoria.   Pictured as Oberst à la suite (Honorary Colonel), 2. Leib-Husaren Regiment Königin Victoria von Preußen Nr. 2, ca. 1909.  Kaiser’s daughter is a BAMF Princess.  Hard not to look hot in a busby with skull and bones wappen.

Ranavalona III (1861-1917), last Queen of Madagascar (1883-1897)

vintageblackglamour:

Melba Roy, NASA Mathmetician, at the Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland in 1964. Ms. Roy, a 1950 graduate of Howard University, led a group of NASA mathmeticians known as “computers” who tracked the Echo satellites. The first time I shared Ms. Roy on VBG, my friend Chanda Prescod-Weinstein, a former postdoc in astrophysics at NASA, helpfully explained what Ms. Roy did in the comment section. I am sharing Chanda’s comment again here: “By the way, since I am a physicist, I might as well explain a little bit about what she did: when we launch satellites into orbit, there are a lot of things to keep track of. We have to ensure that gravitational pull from other bodies, such as other satellites, the moon, etc. don’t perturb and destabilize the orbit. These are extremely hard calculations to do even today, even with a machine-computer. So, what she did was extremely intense, difficult work. The goal of the work, in addition to ensuring satellites remained in a stable orbit, was to know where everything was at all times. So they had to be able to calculate with a high level of accuracy. Anyway, that’s the story behind orbital element timetables”. Photo: NASA/Corbis.

thefirstwaltz:

Crown Princess Marie of Romania. 

A lady as deadly as she was foxy, Lyudmila Pavlichenko killed 309 enemy soldiers for the Red Army during World War II, making her the most successful female sniper of all time. Upon voluntarily enlisting in the army, she declined to join as a nurse and instead requested to enlist as infantry, where despite being wounded in combat she eventually rose to the rank of Major. She was honored as a Hero of the Soviet Union and also received as a hero in the United Kingdom, Canada, and the United States, where she met President Roosevelt and was gifted a Colt automatic pistol.

To shore up support among female voters, the GOP has introduced a bill banning "putting angry hands to lady necks" and "hurting pretty ladies with mean sex." 

Former Tory chairman to halt actions against tweeters with fewer than 500 followers and will focus on case against Sally Bercow

Lord McAlpine is ending his legal pursuit of hundreds of Twitter users over false allegations linking him to child sex abuse in return for donations to Children In Need.

In a statement on Thursday, the former Conservative party chairman said he was drawing a line under potential legal actions against Twitter users with fewer than 500 followers – but vowed to focus on claiming libel damages from Sally Bercow, the wife of the Commons speaker, over her allegedly defamatory tweets.

"Whilst I reached a settlement last year with both the BBC and ITV, I would like to now draw this unfortunate episode, forced into my life, to a close," said McAlpine.

"I have dropped all claims against those tweeters with less than 500 followers, in return for a very modest donation to BBC Children In Need, which funds 2,600 projects supporting disadvantaged children and young people in the UK.

"I have requested that my lawyers, RMPI LLP, focus on the action against Sally Bercow and that damages arising from this are donated to a charity of her choice. I am not intending to make any further comment on this matter."

McAlpine has described how he was "consigned to the lowest circle of hell" by the mass Twitter libel, which was sparked by the BBC's disastrous Newsnight report on 2 November 2012. Although the BBC2 programme did not name McAlpine, it prompted a guessing game on social networks that led to the peer being falsely tarred as a paedophile.

At the height of the Twitter frenzy, Bercow tweeted to her 56,000 followers: "Why is Lord McAlpine trending? *innocent face*" and later added: "Final on McAlpine: am VERY sorry for inadvertently fanning flames. But I tweet as me, forgetting that to some of u I am Mrs bloody Speaker."

On 15 November, after McAlpine threatened to sue Twitter users who had named him, Bercow wrote: "*Gulps*." She added: "I guess I'd better get some legal advice then. Still maintain was not a libellous tweet — just foolish."

McAlpine is seeking £50,000 in damages from Bercow in a dispute likely to become one of the first high court libel trials over Twitter posts. The BBC and ITV have already agreed to pay the Tory peer damages of £185,000 and £125,000 respectively, plus a total of nearly £200,000 in legal costs.

His lawyers are in the process of contacting about 500 Twitter users over messages they posted about the peer. A spokeswoman for McAlpine declined to reveal how many had made the £25 donation to Children in Need.

His solicitor, Andrew Reid, told MediaGuardian in December that close to 1,000 people had written to apologise over their online comments after lawyers identified 10,000 potentially defamatory tweets.

Some high-profile tweeters, including the Guardian columnist George Monbiot and comedian Alan Davies, swiftly apologised to McAlpine after he vowed to take action.

However, Bercow has consistently denied that her tweets were libellous and has hired the London law firm Carter-Ruck to defend her against the claim.

• To contact the MediaGuardian news desk email media@guardian.co.uk or phone 020 3353 3857. For all other inquiries please call the main Guardian switchboard on 020 3353 2000. If you are writing a comment for publication, please mark clearly "for publication".

• To get the latest media news to your desktop or mobile, follow MediaGuardian on Twitter and Facebook

• Media law
• Digital media
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Josh Halliday
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Patrick Sandeman died after collision with fellow skydiver, Matt Le Berre, on approach to landing zone, inquest hears

A skydiver who survived a mid-air collision that caused the death of one of the country's leading wine merchants shouted: "I've killed him" as he lay injured, an inquest has heard.

Patrick Sandeman died after a jump at Sibson Aerodrome, near Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, in September. He had collided with fellow skydiver Matt Le Berre on the approach to the landing zone, an inquest at Lawrence court, Huntingdon, heard on Thursday.

As fellow skydivers and paramedics fought to save Sandeman's life, Le Berre was heard screaming in pain.

Jump-master Michael Wilson-Roberts rushed to help both men within seconds of them hitting the ground. He said: "Matt was shouting: 'It's my fault, my friend, my friend, I've killed him.' He was also muttering in French.

"I can't say he was completely lucid. He was in a bad way and may not have been aware what he was saying but I can't deny what I heard."

Sandeman, of Putney, south-west London, who suffered injuries to his head, ribs and pelvis, was pronounced dead at the scene. The 53-year-old, who had completed 677 previous jumps, was a partner in Lea & Sandeman, the fine wine merchants, and was described after his death as "a total ornament to the British wine trade".

The inquest heard that on 22 September, Le Berre and Sandeman had jumped from the same plane. The airfield was busy that day and there was little wind.

Their jumps were staggered for safety reasons with Le Berre jumping as part of the first group of nine and Sandeman part of a second group of four.

Both left the plane at about 14,000ft (4,267 metres), reaching speeds of up to 200mph (322kph) in freefall before deploying their parachutes between 5,000ft and 2,500ft.

Giving evidence, Le Berre, who had completed 488 jumps, said he was slowing after performing an advanced "swooping" manoeuvre, involving a sudden turn and increase in speed, when he saw Sandeman below him.

Programmer Le Berre, 28, originally from France but residing in London, said he remembered pulling on his brakes but could not prevent his knees hitting Sandeman's canopy and tangling their parachute lines.

Wilson-Roberts told the inquest that swooping turns created unpredictable landing patterns and made it more difficult for skydivers to predict one another's movements.

He was part of Sandeman's group and captured a video of the jump using a head camera. It showed the early stages of the jump unfolding uneventfully before the camera lost sight of Sandeman.

Sandeman's wife and son left the inquest while the footage was being shown. "It was only when I landed and was alerted by my wife that I found out they had collided," Wilson-Roberts said. "When I arrived at the accident scene, Pat was laying there completely silent and Matt on his side facing him. It was quickly established that Pat wasn't alive and we needed to do CPR."

guardian.co.uk © 2013 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

All I can say is what Rob Lowe said, "Never trust a man in a caftan."

I love you and I fear My self I mislay Sowing poppy seeds On the stone-paved road of nonLove

"...the students constructed their own replica hoplite shields and for one class we practiced forming up into and moving as a phalanx. The students experimented with different spacings of ranks and files, marching in formation, and the massed pushing of shield against shield."

hurlscout:

referencesforartists:

brenanf999:

dontwantyourmoneysir:

anndruyan:

This is a summary of college only using two pictures; expensive as hell.

That’s my Sociology “book”. In fact what it is is a piece of paper with codes written on it to allow me to access an electronic version of a book. I was told by my professor that I could not buy any other paperback version, or use another code, so I was left with no option other than buying a piece of paper for over $200. Best part about all this is my professor wrote the books; there’s something hilariously sadistic about that. So I pretty much doled out $200 for a current edition of an online textbook that is no different than an older, paperback edition of the same book for $5; yeah, I checked. My mistake for listening to my professor.

This is why we download. 

 Alternatives to buying overpriced textbooks

Textbooknova 

Reddit

Bookboon 

Textbookrevolution 

GaTech Math Textbooks

Ebookee 

Freebookspot 

Free-ebooks

Getfreeebooks 

BookFinder

Oerconsortium 

Project Gutenberg

Spreading this shit like nutella because goddamn textbooks are so expensive. 

not necessarily art related but as someone who couldn’t afford their textbooks this semester this is a godsend

A lot of my professors are using online books/tests like CourseCompass where you have to buy the code to access everything. You have the option of buying the book too or the online book. I wish I had a code gen for this place. I use it every year and the codes are only good for a semester.

I was the assistant manager of a small college bookstore for 8 years (1996-2004) and I’m so glad to be out of it. Textbook companies are shady as fuck, professors are either clueless academics with no idea how the world works or cut-throat assholes like this dude up here. There me and my boss were, employees of a financially troubled institution trying to make sure we showed a profit so the university didn’t outsource the whole shebang caught in the middle and always catching the student’s ire. 

I did a fucking dance when I did my last textbook buyback.

The Guardian

NY Times Co. hires investment banker to find a buyer for The Boston Globe Boston.com The New York Times Co. has hired an investment banker to find a buyer for The Boston Globe, as it continues to sell off properties in order to focus on its core newspaper. Mark Thompson, the Times' chief executive, said in a statement that given the ... New York Times Puts Boston Globe on BlockWall Street Journal New York Times puts Boston Globe up for saleBoston Herald New York Times Co. selling 'Boston Globe'USA TODAY The Guardian -New York Times (blog) -BBC News all 48 news articles »

Canadian train enthusiast Jason Shron recently completed a 4 year effort to make a faithful 1:1 scale replica of a passenger train car in his basement. Shron, who founded his own model train company, Rapido Trains, has been planning the project since he was a child—as a 12 year old in 1987, he sent a letter to Canadian passenger rail service Via Rail asking to purchase train seats (he was rejected). As an adult he began collecting salvaged parts and ultimately bought an entire train car in his pursuit of genuine parts for the project. The completed replica is a 20 foot long section of a Via coach and includes original seats, carpeting and other fittings.

via Retro Thing

Last year, Edwin Turner, the mastermind behind the Biblioklept blog, assembled a fine photo gallery that captured Ernest Hemingway posing shirtless. Big, burly and barrel-chested, Papa projects the masculine image that he carefully cultivated for himself and for the world to see.

Hemingway’s photos seem right in keeping with his public persona (we’ll have more on him later today). But this 1883 portrait of Mark Twain will perhaps give you pause. To be sure, Twain cared deeply about his public image. The writer carefully crafted his public identity, giving more than 300 interviews to journalists where he reinforced the traits he wanted to be known for — his wit, irreverent sense of humor, and thoughtfulness. Twain also loved having his picture taken, posing for photographers whenever he had a chance. The camera offered yet another way to fashion his own personal myth.

Of course, the author is best remembered for one set of iconic images — the one where he dons a white suit in 1906, upon traveling to Washington D.C. to lobby for the protection of authors’ copyrights. But, as The Routledge Encyclopedia of Mark Twain explains, the novelist also let his image be used in countless advertisements — in ads for restaurants, pharmacies, dry goods and cigars too. The encyclopedia gives the impression that the shirtless photo was perhaps taken within this commercial context. It’s not clear what product the portrait helped market (care to take a guess?), or precisely how Twain saw it contributing to his public image. The details are murky. But one thing is for certain: The 1880s image is authentic. It’s the real shirtless Mark Twain.

This vintage pic comes to us via Wired writer Steve Silberman. Follow him on Twitter at @stevesilberman.

Mark Twain Shirtless in 1883 Photo is a post from: Open Culture. You can follow Open Culture on Facebook, Twitter, Google Plus and by Email.

Milky Joe the corn snake is wearing a pink custom knit sweater made by kacie kim.

images via Stephanie Christine Davidson

via Caroline McCarthy

Simone Davalos and David Calkins are again hosting their wonderful BarBot event, an annual “celebration of cocktail culture and man-machine interface.” This year’s event happens March 1-2, 2013 from 8 PM to 12 AM at SOMArts in San Francisco, California. It is a 21+ event and tickets are available now.

…Get a drink from an actual robot. Chat up a snarky electronic bartender. Listen to some graceful tunes being played by robotic music makers. And, after downing your sixth martini, you can finally admit that it’s the geeks who shall inherit the earth.

photo by Dave Schumaker

Wall Street Journal (blog)

Domenici Discloses Child From Extramarital Affair Wall Street Journal (blog) Associated Press: In a Tuesday, Nov. 1, 2011 file photo, former Senate Budget Committee Chairman Pete Domenici, R-N.M., right, speaks before the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction. By Nathan Koppel. Former U.S. Sen. Pete Domenici of New ... Retired New Mexico Sen. Pete Domenici reveals secret sonLos Angeles Times Former Sen. Pete Domenici reveals out-of-wedlock sonPolitico Former senator reveals he fathered a child with daughter of another senatorNBCNews.com (blog) KMPH Fox 26 -Salon all 54 news articles »

I love this little fact and so hope hipsters bring this style back.