Snob

I’ve noticed we sort of drift in and out of some habits, or practices, or hobbies… or whatever you want to call them. In theory I’m big on all sorts of DIY, especially in the kitchen, because making staples at home can really help save packaging, money and food–and condiments, like mustard, mayo and hot sauce, are easy to make.

However, it’s also really easy to fall to temptation and just buy a bottle of something at the store. So here’s a confession: we’ve fallen into sin around here, and haven’t made our own hot sauce in a good while.  We dodge the homemade when we know better. We know a thousand times better. And yet it happens. The jar ends up in the cart, and then in the fridge, and then in the back of the fridge, and eventually in the garbage.

What is appealing about the jar on the shelf? Why does our hand drift toward it? Perhaps we are enchanted by the evil hot sauce rooster.

Anyway, I just remedied the hot sauce omission. I made a chunky, fresh and not very hot sauce which brightens anything we slather it on, and I want to share the happiness.

Hot sauce is easy to make,  yet it can be controversial. I actually hesitated to post this, because I didn’t want to step into the hot sauce minefield. People are passionate about their hot sauce, about what constitutes “real” hot sauce, and can be more than a little insistent that their way is the True Way of the Sauce.

For some people, it’s all about the heat, and the provenance of the peppers used. For others, the sauce must be made only of peppers, for others, it needs the earthy notes of onion and carrot and garlic and even tomatoes. For some it is fermented, for others, stewed, and for some, raw. For some, sugar is a necessity, for others, a blasphemy.

The basic technique I’m going to describe makes a simple sauce with nothing in it but peppers, vinegar and salt, and it is fermented to bring out the flavor. I don’t subscribe to any particular school of sauce, but this is the easiest sauce to make for my purposes.

The outcome of the recipe depends mostly on your choice of pepper, but also a bit on how much vinegar you put in it, and what type of vinegar, and whether you strain it or leave it chunky.

We used fresh red peppers labeled Anaheim peppers (kind of like a red New Mexico chile), which are mild, and also some dried California peppers, which are also mild, but a little smokey. These peppers make your tongue tingle–they don’t burn. Our sauce is more like a mild salsa–enjoyable on everything, by everyone.  Later this summer if I get my hands on some good hot chiles, I’ll make a hot batch. Regardless of the heat, the technique is the same.

Hot sauce is improvisational and hard to mess up. I’d recommend not over-thinking it, but rather just throwing it together with whatever you have on hand, however it comes together. Trust me, it will be pretty good no matter what you do. It’s smart to take notes, though, so you replicate your successes.

(Root) Simple Hot Sauce

Makes about about 2 cups.

Takes up to a week to make, but only five or ten minutes of actual effort.

You’ll need:

• About 1 lb of fresh chiles of any sort, or the same weight in re-hydrated dried chiles, or a mix of the two, stemmed and roughly chopped. (Rehydrate dried chiles by soaking them in hot water for 10 min.) Keep the seeds, unless you want to decrease the heat.
• 2 tablespoons of kosher salt or sea salt–salt without additives
• About 1 cup of vinegar. Many people use distilled white vinegar, because the flavor is not intrusive. Some people don’t trust white vinegar, thinking it far too industrial a product. I’d say just know your brand–they do vary. If you prefer to use another type of vinegar, just factor in how the flavor will effect the sauce.

First ferment:

Mix your chopped chiles with the salt in a covered jar or bowl and let it sit out at room temperature for about 12 hours to soften and ferment–being a ferment, it doesn’t have to be precisely 12 hours. Leave it out “a good while.”

Add the vinegar and blend:

Add your vinegar to the peppers and blend using a blender, food processor, stick blender or a mortar and pestle. Here’s where the art comes in!

Add the vinegar sparingly as you mix, watching for the texture you want and well as the flavor. (Flavor is a little hard to judge, though, because it has more developing to do.) There’s no right or wrong texture.

Remember, you can always add more vinegar later if the sauce needs to be thinner, or more vinegar-y.

I like thick hot sauce. Some people like it thin. If you like it very thin, you can strain out all of the solids after the second ferment.

Second ferment:

Put the newly vinegar-ed sauce in very clean jar, put on loose lid on it, or rubberband some muslin over the mouth, and leave it to sit out for a few more days–and again, this timing is pretty flexible and will depend a lot on personal preference and ambient temperature.  Two days is probably the minimum amount of time you should give it, and you could let it sit out for as long as a week.

(BTW, I used our fermenting jar for this project–as I do for all our ferments. )

Just taste it now and then, and when you like the way it tastes, stop the ferment by putting it in the fridge.

At this point you can also make all your last minute adjustments, such as adding more vinegar, or salt, or (gasp!) sugar, or blending the sauce more, or putting it in a strainer and taking out all of the solids.

Note that your sauce may separate after sitting for a while, because it doesn’t have stabilizers or thickeners added to it. This doesn’t mean it has spoiled. Just shake it before using.

Keep it in the fridge, and use it up within a couple of months.

 
There is an impression of country music as wholesome, simple, and rooted in the conservative values of middle America and the South. One of the many counters to that argument is Nudie Cohn and his Hollywood-sewn “Nudie suits.” These fashion masterpieces are all excess, sometimes with sexy images of naked ladies, pot leaves,...

There’s always time to have breakfast in the morning if that breakfast is a smoothie. In no more than five to ten minutes, a ready-to-pour, ready-to-drink beverage is blended and poured directly into a glass for your sipping pleasure. Here’s how it’s done.

Freeze Everything
The best morning smoothie is one that takes almost no time at all to put together. Sometimes that means buying already-frozen strawberries, mangoes, pineapple, peaches, or blueberries. Other times, that means taking bananas at peak-ripeness, peeling them, halving them, and putting them in a Ziploc bag in your freezer so you can grab-and-use as necessary. We buy spinach and kale in bulk, freeze them when they are freshest, and throw ‘em into the blender when inspiration strikes. To make the whole process foolproof, freeze individual smoothie portions in Ziploc bags or freezer-friendly containers so we can just dump in the blender, add liquid, and go.

Mango, Berry, and Banana Smoothie. Photo: Christina Holmes

Choose Your Liquid
Ask yourself: Do you want a watery smoothie? Or one that’s thicker and more viscous? The answers to those questions will determine your liquid base.

Runnier
First, there’s water, if you’re keeping it light. Then there’s tea: green, black, white, oolong, rooibos, mint, you name it. For a light breakfast smoothie or a virtuous dessert, we’re fond of chamomile or chai tea (cooled to room temperature) and blending it with banana and a touch of maple syrup.

Thicker
Our go-to base is a plant-based or dairy milk. Unsweetened almond milk is an ideal base liquid; it pairs well with any add-ons. Dairy, whether you’re opting for skim or whole milk, can get very rich very quickly, so be warned. Coconut milk is the most luscious of the liquids. We go for the unsweetened kind and choose our brand based on desired consistency. It already has so much flavor that it can take a ginger-mint smoothie into tropical territory or make a mix spiked with cocoa powder feel decadent.

Measure Without a Measuring Cup
Pour the liquid into the cup you will be drinking out of. This is a small extra step that you will thank yourself for later when you don’t have any leftover or wasted smoothie. Fill up that glass, cup, thermos, or jar halfway. Now pour that liquid from the cup into the blender.

Green Peanut Butter Smoothie. Photo: Danny Kim

Base Fruits
Banana and apple (peeled, unless you don’t mind not-fully-pulverized apple skins floating around) are superior fruit bases, with banana imparting extra creaminess to the final texture. They are the foundation on which the other flavors can build. On top of those, consider adding mangoes and peaches to tilt tropical, or go for a refreshing mixed berries mix.

Pile the Veggies High
The best thing about morning smoothies is that you can down a salad’s worth of veggies without actually having to chew through all the stems and leaves. When the ratios are right (one heaping handful of greens is optimal), you may not even taste them. Be sure that you don’t have more greens than fruits or other ingredients, otherwise the flavor and texture may suffer and your blender may struggle.

If you’re using spinach, just make sure it’s washed, then throw it right in the blender. If it’s kale or another green with thick stems, it depends on the blender. If you’re using a heavy-duty Vitamix or something similar, put the kale in, stems and all. (That thing will obliterate an iPhone if you let it.) For a standard blender, make sure you remove the ribs and cut into pieces (about three per giant leaf).

Blend Without Breaking
Try not to fill your blender more than three-quarters of the way up to prevent explosions. And, to keep your blender happy and functional, make sure your fruit-to-liquid ratio approaches one-to-one, or one-to-two. You always want there to be more liquid than there are solids. Violating this ratio rule can break your blender, as the blades struggle to find lubricant to make the mix swirl. Exactly how much liquid you use depends on the size of your blender, but if your blender is struggling to mix when you turn it on, turn it off and add more liquid before proceeding.

Coconut-Blueberry Smoothie. Photo: Stephen Lewis

Thicken
If you’re looking to add a little bulk or alter the texture, increase the amount of solids you’re using: Add another frozen banana half, or extra frozen blueberries, as examples. Otherwise, you have two options:

Fats
Yogurt qualifies here, with Greek and Icelandic-style yogurts at the thickest end of the scale and kefir or drinkable yogurt at the lighter end. Silken tofu can also mimic a yogurt here, if you want. But when we’re feeling like we want nothing but the creamiest, we’ll dump in one-quarter to one-half of an avocado. Other fatty fixes involve nut butters like almond or peanut butter. We’ve also been known to spike our smoothies (and coffee) with coconut oil, which makes us feel like we’re on the islands, and flaxseed oil, which coats our mouths and makes sure we’re not craving lunch by the time 10:30 a.m. rolls around.

Seeds and Oats
Chia seeds, for instance, won’t be suspended in the liquid long enough to grow the gel coating they’re known for, but they will add creaminess and bulk to an otherwise too-watery mix. Flax, raw pressed oats, and hemp seeds will also suffice. Add in tablespoon-sized increments. You can always add more.

Boost Flavor
Just as you would with any dish in progress, taste as you go and spice accordingly.

Spices
Powdered cinnamon and cocoa blend particularly well into smoothies, and pair brilliantly with a banana fruit base. When we’re blending with coconut milk, turmeric is a must-have. Use as much of these spices as you want. Cardamom and anise add unexpected but essential punch, though use only one pod because they are bursting with flavor. And when we’re fixing for a caffeine boost, we’ll blend in a tablespoon or two of matcha or a teaspoon of coffee grinds.

Herbs and Extracts
For mixes that utilize ginger, for example, consider brightening the flavor with a sprig of mint. A few fennel fronds and a teaspoon of lemon or lime zest also go a long way toward adding dimension to a drink. One to two capfuls of vanilla extract, almond extract, or orange blossom water can take a basic banana plus milk smoothie to the next level.

Sweeteners
Most of the time, we don’t sweeten our smoothies, especially if we’re starting with a banana base. But some of our favorite smoothie sweeteners are things we have lying around the house anyway: honey, maple syrup, and agave syrup. Dates can satisfy a sweet-tooth, too, if you want to avoid syrups altogether. But use sweeteners sparingly; a little bit goes a long way.

Parsley, Kale, & Berry Smoothie. Photo: Romulo Yanes

To Ice or Not to Ice
If you started with water as your liquid, adding ice is no big deal. If your liquid-of-choice is denser—say, milk—then adding ice may cause it to separate if you decide to save some for later. If you’re worried about diluting the mix or changing up the flavor, ditch the ice and use frozen fruits and vegetables instead.

How to Drink
When we’re drinking at home, we sip with a straw to avoid a colorful smoothie mustache. When we’re rushing out the door, though, we opt for a Blender Bottle. The spiral shaker that comes with the bottle allows us to re-mix the smoothie once we get to work. So, even if ingredients separate over time (with a water base, for example), we can rejuvenate the smoothie at our desks at any point.

Need some inspiration? Check out our favorite smoothie recipes here.

The post How to Make Your Best-Ever Smoothie appeared first on Bon Appétit.

Un documental relata os acontecementos históricos que precederon a aprobación da normativa en vigor en 1982 e explica a transcendencia que no proceso de normativización do idioma tivo o autor homenaxeado este ano polo Día das Letras Galegas. Pode ver o vídeo no interior. 

The history nerds among you already know all this. This video is for the rest of us. Actually, this video is for anyone who’s a fan of Game of Thrones, history, adorable animation, and TED Talks. Check out this mini-tutorial on the historical, real-world wars that inspired the crazy, bloody politics of Game of Thrones (or the title of a Michael Douglas/Kathleen Turner movie).

(via The Daily Dot)

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“Don’t shoot!”
 
R&B singer,

We learned recently from Paris that the Western world is deeply and passionately committed to free expression and ready to march and fight against attempts to suppress it. That’s a really good thing, since there are all sorts of severe suppression efforts underway in the West — perpetrated not by The Terrorists but by the Western politicians claiming to fight them.

One of the most alarming examples comes, not at all surprisingly, from the U.K. government, which is currently agitating for new counterterrorism powers, “including plans for extremism disruption orders designed to restrict those trying to radicalize young people.” Here are the powers which the British Freedom Fighters and Democracy Protectors are seeking:

They would include a ban on broadcasting and a requirement to submit to the police in advance any proposed publication on the web and social media or in print. The bill will also contain plans for banning orders for extremist organisations which seek to undermine democracy or use hate speech in public places, but it will fall short of banning on the grounds of provoking hatred.

It will also contain new powers to close premises including mosques where extremists seek to influence others. The powers of the Charity Commission to root out charities that misappropriate funds towards extremism and terrorism will also be strengthened.

In essence, advocating any ideas or working for any political outcomes regarded by British politicians as “extremist” will not only be a crime, but can be physically banned in advance. Basking in his election victory, Prime Minister David Cameron unleashed this Orwellian decree to explain why new Thought Police powers are needed: “For too long, we have been a passively tolerant society, saying to our citizens ‘as long as you obey the law, we will leave you alone.'” It’s not enough for British subjects merely to “obey the law”; they must refrain from believing in or expressing ideas which Her Majesty’s Government dislikes.

If all that sounds menacing, tyrannical and even fascist to you — and really, how could it not? “extremism disruption orders” — you should really watch this video of Tory Home Secretary Theresa May trying to justify the bill in an interview on BBC this morning. When pressed on what “extremism” means — specifically, when something crosses the line from legitimate disagreement into criminal “extremism” — she evades the question completely, repeatedly invoking creepy slogans about the need to stop those who seek to “undermine Our British Values” and, instead, ensure “we are together as one society, One Nation” (I personally believe this was all more lyrical in its original German). Click here to watch the video and see the face of Western authoritarianism, advocating powers in the name of Freedom that are its very antithesis.

Threats to free speech can come from lots of places. But right now, the greatest threat by far in the West to ideals of free expression is coming not from radical Muslims, but from the very Western governments claiming to fight them. The increasingly unhinged, Cheney-sounding governments of the U.K., Australia, France, New Zealand and Canada — joining the U.S. — have a seemingly insatiable desire to curb freedoms in the name of protecting them: prosecuting people for Facebook postings critical of Western militarism or selling “radical” cable channels, imprisoning people for “radical” tweets, banning websites containing ideas they dislike, seeking (and obtaining) new powers of surveillance and detention for those people (usually though not exclusively Muslim citizens) who hold and espouse views deemed by these governments to be “radical.”

Anticipating Prime Minister Cameron’s new “anti-extremist” bill (to be unveiled in the “Queen’s Speech”), University of Bath Professor Bill Durodié said that “the window for free speech has now been firmly shut just a few months after so many political leaders walked in supposed solidarity for murdered cartoonists in France.” Actually, there has long been a broad, sustained assault in the West on core political liberties — specifically due process, free speech and free assembly — perpetrated not by “radical Muslims,” but by those who endlessly claim to fight them. Sadly, and tellingly, none of that has triggered parades or marches or widespread condemnation by Western journalists and pundits. But for those who truly believe in principles of free expression — as opposed to pretending to when it allows one to bash the Other Tribe — these are the assaults that need marches and protests.

Photo: Christopher Furlong/Getty Images

The post Greatest Threat to Free Speech Comes Not From Terrorism, But From Those Claiming to Fight It appeared first on The Intercept.

You met in a coffeeshop, you’ve hung out for a few hours, and you seem to be hitting it off. And now at last, you’re alone together. Is it time to lean in for the kiss? Or is this about to turn seriously awkward? How do you know when someone wants to kiss you? Here’s our guide to how to get to First Base.

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In the great tradition of Tumblr mash-up memes, Feminist Lisa Frank juxtaposes neon animals and quotes by Gloria Steinem, Shonda Rhimes, and more. Read the rest

Hechiceros, demonios y goblins se enfrentan en Magic: The Gathering, el primer juego de cartas coleccionables, conocido afectuosamente como el "crack de cartón" por haber enganchado a más de 10 millones de personas. Ya sea en salones de hogares o en torneos internacionales con sustanciosos premios, Magic continúa su auge desde que hizo aparición en 1993.

En este episodio de American Obsessions, VICE sigue a un jugador profesional de Magic que dejó los estudios para tratar de obtener el puesto de campeón en el mayor torneo profesional y ados hermanos que explican con nostalgia los primeros años de Magic.

Sobre Sinaí Giménez, actual presidente de la Sociedad Gitana Española, ya habíamos oído hablar alguna vez. Este gran hombre es heredero del clan de "los morones" y sobre él se han hecho hasta reportajes de televisión aunque la verdad es que no muy favorables.

Ahora el príncipe de los gitanos gallegos ha decidido dar el salto a la política municipal de su ciudad, Vigo, bajo las siglas del partido Iniciativa Independiente.

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Las aspiraciones de Sinaí son elevadas, cuenta con el apoyo (según él) de todos los gitanos de Vigo, que suman unos 3.500 votos y espera que muchos payos también le den respaldo. Le gustaría ser una especie de Obama gallego (así se ha autobautizado), que traspase las fronteras de las razas al igual que lo hizo en su día el Obama original en Estados Unidos y que su programa represente "un gran cambio para los ciudadanos vigueses".

"Los ciudadanos están alucinando con nuestra forma novedosa de hacer propaganda electoral", declaraba hace unos días en sus redes sociales. Y es que aunque Giménez proclama que quiere acabar con la pobreza infantil y ayudar a las mujeres sin recursos, tampoco desaprovecha la ocasión para fotografiarse con famosetes de escaso compromiso político conocido como las Azúcar Moreno o Malena Gracia.

El vídeo con las Azúcar Moreno. ¡Qué caramba!

Otro de sus vídeos de propaganda electoral también es de obligado visionado. Se parece bastante al tráiler de una película épica con fotos de Obama (¿esto es legal?), varios fondos de escritorio de molinos de viento y bosques otoñales (uno de los cuales creo que lo utilizó mi padre durante al menos cinco años), escenas pilladas del Facebook de la Plataforma de Afectados por la Hipoteca y un desfile de fotos de personas con un brusco zoom y sus nombres de pila (supongo que miembros de su lista). Sinaí Giménez, la película. Con un agradecimiento final a iMovie (el programa de Mac para hacer vídeos), un toque de retranca gallega que no podía faltar...

Ayer por la mañana, la campaña de Sinaí tuvo un nuevo impulso, ya que Beatriz Carrera, que ocupa el quinto lugar de su lista a la alcaldía, apareció nada menos que en portada de la revista Interviú. "Vestida únicamente con unos tacones y subida a una urna de metracrilato", como explicaba La Voz de Galicia regateando la palabra "desnuda" de manera admirable.

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"La que sale en Interviú denuncia públicamente que el PSOE de Vigo nos está dejando desnudos poco a poco", escribió Giménez en sus redes sociales aprovechando el tirón.

¿Qué opinan los ciudadanos de Vigo de este candidato? Pues parece que según las encuestas, el Obama gallego tendrá que esperar al menos a las siguientes elecciones para poner en marcha su cambio, ya que no obtendrá los votos necesarios ni siquiera para estar presente en el ayuntamiento.

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La verdad es que aunque el berlusconiano candidato de Iniciativa Independiente de un poco de risa, sus propuestas tengan una buena ración de populismo (a ver quién no tira de populismo estos días) y sus vídeos nos hayan alegrado hoy la redacción, gitano o payo, Sinaí Giménez no deja de ser la enésima reencarnación del cacique gallego, solo que esta vez parece que no se va a salir con la suya.

Aínda que poida parecer que todo o mundo sabe como lles chamamos aos dedos, ultimamente estou comprobando persoalmente que ou ben hai unha conciencia hiperenxebre sobre o asunto ou unha progresiva perda das palabras propias diante da potencia do castelán.

Así que como este é un blog que resolve dúbidas, destinado loxicamente a quen as ten, cómpre explicar ao xeito como lles chamamos aos dedos en galego.

Estiramos os cinco dedos da man. Cada un ten o seu tamaño e o seu nome. Os dedos empezan a contarse desde o polgar. Debemos evitar o castelanismo pulgar e o lusismo polegar. En rexistros máis coloquiais podemos denominalo matapiollos ou cachapiollos. De polgar vén a magnitude de lonxitude polgada. En Galicia usouse antigamente cunha medida de 2,33 cm, aproximadamente, xa que en cada lugar variaba a súa equivalencia. É lóxico pensar que tradicionalmente se usou para medir cousas moi pequenas, por exemplo mobles ou obxectos. Hoxe, a polgada úsase case unicamente para medir tamaños de pantallas. A medida que se usa é a da polgada inglesa (2,54 cm). “Os televisores modernos, con máis polgadas ca nunca, parecen máis pequenos ca os vellos”.

Ao carón do polgar está o índice. É un dedo con gran poder simbólico xa que se considera que nel repousa o alento da vida. Por exemplo, de índice a índice lle traspasa Deus a Adán a vida no famosísimo fresco de Michelangelo Buonarroti na Capela Sixtina do Vaticano. Tamén é común que na iconografía dos magos, o poder do feitizo naza neste dedo. En contextos máis familiares podemos denominalo mostreiro ou furabolos. A tradición indica que o de furabolos vén do vello costume dos panadeiros de furar con este dedo os pans denantes de enfornalos para que cozan máis saborosos. O adxectivo furabolos describe, segundo a zona, tamén ben unha persoa entremetida, ben unha persoa traste ou ben unha persoa buscavidas.

Seguimos a conta: no centro da man está o dedo maior. Non debemos usar o castelanismo dedo corazón. En rexistros coloquiais podemos empregar a forma pai de todos (aínda que tal perífrase é pouco económica, lingüisticamente falando). O xesto de levantar o dedo maior mentres pechamos o resto ten un significado ofensivo para quen llo mostramos. En castelán leva o nome de peineta; en galego non ten un nome definido. Hai quen di que a tradición xurdiu na Idade Media, cando os arqueiros e besteiros levantaban ese dedo antes dunha batalla para que os seus inimigos visen que realmente podían usar a arma xa que era habitual que se un especialista en arco ou bésta caía preso, acabase con ese dedo mutilado para así garantir que nunca máis podería usar tal instrumento de guerra. Non sei que veracidade ten a historia. O que si recordo é que meus avós cando te querían mandar á merda (ou tomar polo cu, que era o obxectivo final de tal aceno antes de que tal “desexo” se convertese en algo politicamente incorrecto) levantaban o maior e un tanto menos, até a primeira falanxe, o índice. Eles non levantaban a man en vertical cara ao insultado senón que a mantiñan case en horizontal, máis oculta da visión, deduzo que por discreción.

O cuarto dedo chámase anular. O significado ten a ver coa tradición de colocar nesa falanxe o anel de vodas. Tamén recibe os nomes de mediano ou medianiño. É relativamente complicado separar o dedo mediano do dedo maior. De aí que nin todo o mundo poida facer o saúdo vulcano de Star Trek.

E chegamos ao final da man. O dedo quinto é denominado en galego maimiño, belleco, mamiño, pequeniño ou moumiño. A RAG considera formas menos recomendables maniño e meimiño. Meñique é un castelanismo.

Cando eu era pequeno, miña nai cantaba unha copla tradicional que che valía para aprender dunha forma divertida como lles chamar aos dedos da man na versión máis popular: “Este é o dedo maimiño; este é o seu padriño; este é o e maior de todos; este outro é o furabolos; e este que vive só é o escachapiollos”.

E falando de acenos, aínda que hai varios nos que participan varios dedos, un dos máis complexos é o da figa, que consiste en colocar o dedo polgar estirado por entre o índice e o maior, os cales fican pechados xunto co resto. En Galicia usouse tradicionalmente con dous fins ben diferentes. Por un lado, considerábase unha profilaxe contra o mal de ollo e incluso Sargadelos produciu unha versión de porcelana que se podía levar ao pescozo. Mais noutros contextos, a figa usouse para declarar escarnio ou burla de alguén. Conta Francisco Xavier Rodríguez, redactor do Diccionario Gallego-Castellano (editado no 1854 e no 1863), que o costume da figa naceu en Milán.

Disque durante a Idade Media, o pobo milanés rebelouse contra o poder do emperador romano-xermánico Frederico e conseguiu expulsar a emperatriz a quen, para escarniala, mandárona fóra das murallas montada nunha mula mirando para o rabo do animal. De alí a pouco, Frederico conseguiu tomar de novo a cidade e quixo escarmentar os milaneses ao tempo que vingar a súa dona. O emperador mandou colocar un figo no cu dunha mula e obrigou a que cada un dos rebeldes o sacase de tal lugar sen usar as mans, só cos dentes. De aí o nome de figa e a forma da man que pretende simular unha bévera a saír do ano da besta.

I generally like my animals to be macabre, but look at those faces! That is the bush dog, one of the few canids indigenous to rainforests. Learn about these adorable little guys and their adorable little societies.

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Photo by Flickr user Hans Van Den Berg

When my friend and fellow nonbeliever Greta Christina wrote her recent book Coming Out Atheist: How to Do It, How to Help Each Other, and Why, she noticed a common theme among the more than 400 stories she collected: The subject of death came up a lot.

"When atheists come out (to Christians, anyway), the first reaction is often about hell," Christina told me. "Sometimes it's manipulative or hostile, an attempt to scare atheists back into belief. More often, though, it's genuine concern or fear—they sincerely believe atheists will burn in hell, and they don't want that to happen to the people they love."

A new study by Corey Cook, titled "What if They're Right About the Afterlife? Evidence of the Role of Existential Threat on Anti-Atheist Prejudice," sheds some light on the phenomenon Christina noticed. Cook, a social psychologist at the University of Washington, told me that while the well-documented mistrust of atheists shows up in the polls over the years, there's not much literature on why atheists are perceived the way they are by religious believers in America.

When participants thought about atheism, it actually activated concern about death to the same extent as actually thinking about death.

Cook's study lays out a hypothesis that he calls "terror-management theory." The idea is that the awareness of death can make people terrified, but those fears are assuaged by the cultural sense that we are each a meaningful part of the universe. Anti-atheism, then, comes "in part from the existential threat posed by conflicting worldview beliefs."

"What we found is that when participants thought about atheism, it actually activated concern about death to the same extent as actually thinking about death," Cook told me.

As an atheist myself, I put it to Cook that maybe getting people to ponder their mortality in a nonthreatening way wasn't as dire as terror-management theory made it sound. Cook agreed with me in part and responded that thinking about death in a conscious way "can increase your appreciation for things" and "can be a great thing," adding that there are 30 years of research to back this up. However, "there are different responses when we think about death consciously and unconsciously."

Cook's study looked more at the unconscious side of things. He did this by using two different experiments conducted with students at the College of Staten Island, which he told me was chosen in part due to the diverse makeup of its student population.

In the first experiment, comprising 236 students (172 female, 64 male, most of them Christian), participants were asked to write down " what you think will happen physically when you die" and then "describe the emotions that the thought of your own death arouses in you." Then they were asked their feelings about either atheists or Quakers, including rating their trustworthiness.

The second experiment asked 174 students to either describe the emotions they felt toward their own death or "write down, as specifically as you can, what atheism means to you." Then students completed a set of word fragments, which could be either read as neutral words ("skill") or death-related words ("skull").

Related: VICE meets euthanasia advocate Dr. Philip Nitschke, the world's first physician to administer a legal, lethal injection in Northern Australia.

Cook's experiments were more specific than just talking about death. They made it more salient. And according to terror-management theory, when that happens, "people start to care about people who buffer or support their worldview and you actually start to see increased derogation against people who believe differently about the world. When suddenly your values matter more to you, that's an unconscious thing—you're not realizing that they matter more than they did a couple minutes ago."

Interestingly, the atheists in his study weren't immune to this. "We found the effect even if we included atheists in our study. Because as an atheist, you have to confront that 'Wait a minute, what is going to happen?' Atheism increases thoughts of death even for atheists."

[body_image width='1280' height='853' path='images/content-images/2015/05/11/' crop='images/content-images-crops/2015/05/11/' filename='atheism-terrifies-people-because-it-makes-us-think-about-death-511-body-image-1431365835.jpg' id='54842']

Photo by Flickr user Ben Francis

Clearly, this struck a nerve. I asked Gary Laderman, professor of American Religious History and Cultures at Emory University and the author on two books on death in America, what he made of the study. He wasn't surprised by this finding, although he seemed to place it within a broader context of people questioning closely-held religious beliefs about death. "The power of [religious] institutions and those traditional cultural authorities is really eroding in a lot of ways," he told me. "People are more willing to accept a variety of different possibilities about death. But one thing that most people don't want to confront is what we associate with atheism. The idea that there is nothing post-mortem. There is no transition to some other kind of life. So that's what it's interesting about the study: It's digging beyond the kind of theological obvious kinds of debates to these more existential, basic ideas about human life."

Ideas about how and when we die are also being challenged. When I spoke with Michelle Boorstein, the religion reporter for the Washington Post, she brought up the example of euthanasia. "I think as we have more conversation in our society about assisted suicide and the idea of people having some say over their own death, I think it just puts more public discussion about it out there. I mean, we don't talk about [death] much anyway."

Even though death is generally taboo, Americans are making efforts to reclaim it—largely based on secular ideals.

Boorstein believes it's possible that maybe all of those things will work in favor of a growing acceptance of atheism. "As you look at the percentages of people who are more in favor of assisted suicide and that sort of thing, that would sort of challenge this idea that 'Only God can decide when I go.' I think as you see people thinking more about what they want around end of life and ask why, that will [positively] affect people's attitudes towards atheists to the degree that they start to agree with them on these issues."

People of no religion (the Nones, as they're called) are the fastest growing segment of the American population—second only to Catholics and comprising a third of of adults under 30. To be clear, most of the Nones don't identify as atheists and many maintain supernatural beliefs, but what they don't have is a religious affiliation that rigidly informs how they practice burial rituals. Add to this the two-thirds of the American who support physician assisted suicide, and several states now enacting legislation to legalize the practice. Even though death is generally taboo, Americans are making efforts to reclaim it—largely based on secular ideals.

However, as Cook's study highlights, there is still a lot of defensiveness around the secular notion that death is the end, since most Americans still desire an afterlife. So how should atheists navigate the anxiety that the lack of an afterlife provokes in many people? One way is certainly the path chosen by Christopher Hitchens, who in his books and talks argued that the very notion of heaven was highly overrated. In 2010 and 2011, he wrote very honestly about his "year of living dyingly" in a series of articles for Vanity Fair after he was diagnosed with esophageal cancer. Influenced by his old friend Jessica Mitford's critique of the American funeral industry, Hitchens also donated his body to science and opted to not have a funeral—a principled stance that, in my view, deserved a bit more attention than it received. Borrowing the term from terror-management theory, the idea is make mortality not only salient, but also compelling.

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Adventure Time is the source of much of my happiness. Considering the rabid fans out there, you’d think I wouldn’t even have to explain Adventure Time.

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Si te fías de las definiciones oficiales, el semen es "un conjunto de espermatozoides y sustancias fluidas que se producen en el aparato genital masculino de los animales y la especie humana". Algunos profesionales aún recurren a estas sentencias estáticas para responder a las dudas más comunes de pacientes y curiosos. Pero eso es solo quedarse en la superficie. Investigaciones clínicas, informes médicos y, sobre todo, foros multidisciplinares de Internet consideran que este líquido "espeso y blanquecino" puede decir más de nosotros que una cuenta de Instagram.

Sabemos poco del semen. Nuestra educación biológica e instrumental a veces impide que veamos más allá de la probeta. Dejamos para la literatura o la música la llamada tristeza "post coitum" o la nostalgia que deviene tras el orgasmo. Sin embargo, un ejercicio tan habitual –para algunos– como la eyaculación podría servirnos para conocer mejor nuestra especie.

Y no hablamos de emociones, sino de ciencia. El esperma es un reflejo de cómo somos y cómo hemos variado a lo largo de la Historia. Así, con mayúsculas. Nos dice qué comemos, dónde vivimos y qué actitudes hemos logrado desarrollar, como la empatía o la monogamia.

"Con una muestra sería imposible conocer nuestro aspecto físico", advierte el urólogo Natalio Cruz, de la Asociación Española de Urología. A pesar de este precepto, el doctor sí que desgrana alguna de las claves que ofrece un buen lefazo: "Para evaluar la calidad del semen se tienen en cuenta tres parámetros", explica. "Primero, el recuento de esperma por centímetro cuadrado; segundo, su movilidad (no solo en su sitio, sino en la distancia) y, tercero, la morfología de la cabeza, el cuerpo y la cola del espermatozoide". Y concede: "Viendo estas variables se pueden intuir algunas cosas".

Se podría saber, por ejemplo, qué tipo de vida llevamos. "Los hábitos poco saludables como el tabaquismo, el alcohol o el estrés afectan a todos los elementos del semen. El estrés oxidativo y los tóxicos liberan los radicales libres que descomponen el DNA y dañan las funciones de la fertilidad". En esta línea, una investigación de la Universidad de Murcia publicada en 2013 indica que la calidad del semen español ha descendido dos puntos en los últimos 10 años, teniendo en cuenta la menor concentración de espermatozoides y la creciente tasa de esterilidad entre jóvenes de entre 18 y 33 años.

"La polución y la temperatura de las grandes urbes influyen, pero -al contrario de lo que a veces pensamos- en las zonas rurales la cosa no está mucho mejor. Los pesticidas (y en algunos casos, las radiaciones), también influyen en la calidad del semen y estos problemas pueden trasmitirse al organismo desde el momento de la concepción", continúa el especialista Natalio Cruz, reconociendo que las mayores dudas de sus clientes atañen, precisamente, a lo relacionado con la fertilidad. Nada que extrañar en un mundo donde una compañía como Apple ha sugerido la posibilidad de congelar los óvulos de sus empleadas para que puedan procrear en el futuro (y que ahora se centren en el curro).

Sí, el semen es capaz de exponer muchas de nuestras costumbres. Desde las que han arrastrado la velocidad y el desarrollo tecnológico de nuestro tiempo hasta nuestra forma de comer. Yolanda Sanz, médica especialista en nutrición y autora de varios libros como 'No pierdas el tiempo, pierde peso' o 'Soy lo que como', lo deja bien claro: "El exceso de grasas trans, de hidratos de carbono o de lácteos enteros disminuyen la calidad del semen y están ligados a problemas cardiovasculares", enumera desde su consulta. Para paliarlo: productos integrales, frutos secos, verduras y, en definitiva, todo aquello que jamás pedirías una noche de borrachera. "El semen nos da un reflejo de lo que comemos, del estrés (la epidemia de nuestro siglo) y de la contaminación que respiramos", concluye. Ya sabes: si eres de los que no toca la fruta ni para echarla en la sangría, tu esperma lo notará.

Pero separemos el trigo de la paja (con perdón). Para datos de natalidad y consejos saludables ya tenemos las estadísticas y las etiquetas del pan de molde. ¿Se puede saber si eres listo y majo solo por tus corridas? Sería aventurarnos demasiado, pero sí se podrían intuir ciertos rasgos de la personalidad. Un estudio sueco reveló, según Reuters, que los donantes de semen eran "menos indecisos, menos tímidos y menos tendentes a la preocupación o la fatiga". Y un artículo publicado en 2008 por cuatro profesores del King's College de Londres o las universidades de Delaware y Nuevo México en Estados Unidos reza que "la inteligencia y la calidad del semen están positivamente relacionadas". La evolución genética y los medios desarrollados por el hombre para captar la atracción femenina (como el uso del humor, la creatividad o el cuidado físico) han conseguido enriquecer el esperma.

Saliendo de lo netamente orgánico y ampliando el mar de informaciones procedente de chats y revistas de dudosa rigurosidad, llegamos a dos conceptos anudados conscientemente por el buscador: semen y mujeres. En este terreno tan jugoso sobresalen tres titulares: que el esperma tiene funciones antidepresivas, que no engorda y que aporta nutrientes beneficiosos para la piel. "Tiene una gran cantidad de antioxidantes que ayudan a combatir las arrugas y el acné", propone la revista de generalidades Como. "Está cargado de sustancias químicas como el cortisol, la extrona o la oxitocina que liberan tirotropina, melatonina e incluso serotonina, tres antidepresivos", añade Kienyke.com aludiendo a estudios de una "universidad estatal de Nueva York". En Bekiapareja.com "desmontan" los mitos de este fluido "viscoso" con "olor a cloro" y enumeran su "gran variedad de elementos químicos": vitaminas C o B12, minerales como el calcio o el zinc y glucosa. En otros enlaces incluso se recomienda tomarlo dos veces al día en dosis de entre 1,5 y 5 mililitros, la cantidad media de una eyaculación.

Tragar o no tragar. Esa es la cuestión final a la que llegan muchos de estos foros hamletianos. Algo que se aleja del contenido de este artículo cuyo fin, aunque no lo parezca, es saber si gracias a lo que esta simiente dice de nosotros podremos progresar. Un interrogante al aire que quizás quede resuelto después de ver cómo articulamos muchas de nuestras inseguridades, nuestras curiosidades existenciales o nuestro tiempo muerto frente a un ordenador en torno a una corrida.

"This is my newly completed portrait of Robert Johnson," says artist Drew Friedman, "being released as a limited edition print to coincide with his 104th birthday, May 8th." Read the rest

swordandbackpack:

SPELLBOOK: A New Game From Rothbard & Gazpus

Inspired in equal parts by Lev Grossman’s Magicians trilogy of books, the Epic Spell Wars game, our love of notebooks, and our general admiration of all things sorcerous and wizardly, we here at Rothbard & Gazpus humbly offer unto the world Spellbook, a new and very rules-light Almanac System parlor game. From the introduction:

“In Spellbook, players assume the roles of Apprentice Sorcerers competing to develop amazing new spells, cantrips, and magic rituals. The Apprentices are guided in their studies by the Professor, another player who judges their spell-crafting acumen. Because Spellbook is an offshoot of the Sword & Backpack notebook RPG and part of Rothbard & Gazpus’s Almanac System, all you need to play is a blank grimoire (a Moleskine or Moleskine-like notebook of any size, though we recommend 5x8¼”), a pencil, and some inspiration drawn from the world around them. The object of the game isn’t to “win” per se; instead, the players should aim to dazzle and delight each other with flights of cleverness and fanciful weirdness, and the ultimate goal is to eventually fill your personal spellbook with incantations to read and revisit over the years.“

Click on this link to download a PDF of the rules!

Que estemos en el año 2015 y que la mujer siga teniendo que luchar por equiparar ciertos derechos con el hombre es uno de esos puntos oscuros que, en ocasiones, me hace tener muy poca fe en la condición humana. A fin de cuentas, en una sociedad que ha conseguido tanto en términos generales, y tanto en lo que se refiere a que se establezca de una maldita vez la igualdad de géneros, que la mujer sea todavía considerada en según que aspectos de menor valía que el hombre es algo que me indigna profundamente tanto como varón como, sobre todo, marido y padre de una niña que, espero, pueda luchar en el futuro profesional y personal de igual a igual con sus congéneres masculinos.

Espero sepáis disculpar esta pequeña digresión, pero a la luz que arrojan las brillantísimas páginas de ‘Sally Heathcote. Sufragista’, es de recibo pensar que toda la disquisición anterior debería formar parte de ese pasado de hace un siglo en el que se desarrollan los acontecimientos que Mary M. Talbot y Kate Charlesworth (con la ayuda del marido de la primera, el siempre interesante Bryan Talbot) ponen en juego en una obra tanto o más apasionada que apasionante, trazando las dos mujeres un recorrido asombroso por la historia de la National Women’s Social and Political Union, una liga de mujeres que luchó por el sufragio universal en el Reino Unido durante la segunda década del s.XX y que con su simiente plantó los lentos movimientos que a lo largo de buena parte de la pasada centuria se encaminaron a ampliar los derechos del género femenino.

Una historia que podría haber sido contada de mil y una maneras siguiendo a una o varias de las mil y una protagonistas (anónimas o no) de dicha pugna pero que Talbot y Charlesworth deciden poner en boca de una de las más bellas heroínas que se han visto en papel aviñetado. A la Sally Heathcoat que protagoniza esta novela gráfica la comenzamos conociendo cuando, ya anciana, yace en la cama de una residencia de ancianos alimentada por los sueños y los ecos de la persona que fue antaño. Allí, junto a fotos y demás recuerdos de su pasado, da comienzo un viaje que nos lleva al Dublín de 1912 y que comenzará a partir de ahí a dar saltos hacia atrás y adelante en el tiempo para ofrecer tanto un recorrido vital de la ficticia protagonista como un ejemplar repaso a lo más granado de lo que aquellas “guerreras” féminas consiguieron con su incesante encaramiento ante los poderes fácticos.

Conjugando ambos mundos —que interactúan de forma plena y constante sin que exista una clara línea que los separe— el ritmo imparable al que se somete el relato y la ingente cantidad de personajes que van desfilando ante nuestros ojos convierten a ‘Sally Heathcote. Sufragista’ en todo un tratado de buen hacer comiquero. En lo que a Talbot se refiere, por ser capaz de coser con tan aparente facilidad tantos puntos cardinales diferentes de tan convulso momento histórico y agruparlos dándoles una cohesión y una personalidad tan inequívocamente tebeística como la que destilan las 226 páginas de la novela gráfica. Una novela que, aún con la gracilidad con la que se lee, no pone las cosas fáciles al que a ella se acerca, retándonos a volcar los cinco sentidos en esta evocadora y por momentos terrible historia de vidas cruzadas y voluntades de acero.

Resulta terrible, a este último respecto, descubrir por mano del verbo de Talbot y el trazo de Charlesworth la forma en la que la mayoría de la sociedad de la época trataba a estas mujeres luchadoras tildándolas de toda clase de “cualidades” y cómo, en sus constantes entradas y salidas en prisión, eran tratadas cuando decidían declararse en huelga de hambre, siendo obligadas a comer mediante métodos que podrían ser considerados dignos de la Inquisición y que, plasmados con rigor y dureza en las viñetas de la dibujante británica, deberían ser capaces de erizar el vello al más pintado.

Tan sobresaliente como la labor de su guionista, el trabajo de la artista para las páginas del libro es de una solidez espléndida que, puntualizada por los ribetes que aporta la ayuda de Bryan Talbot (queremos suponer, ya que poca o ninguna información hemos encontrado al respecto, que alguna responsabilidad gráfica habrá recaído en el marido de la guionista…¿acaso esas acertadísimas salpicaduras de color que tan bien sientan al potente blanco y negro?), terminan de configurar una lectura que como muy bien indica una de las acotaciones recogidas en las guardas de la edición de La Cúpula “es uno de esos libros maravillosos a los que sabes que volverás una y otra vez con los años”. Amén.