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POPSFoods for Sleep : 7 Top Foods to Help You Sleep Better What does food have to do with sleep? Our nutritional status and the food we eat always influence our sleep. Luckily, some foods actively aid falling asleep and staying asleep. They relax tense muscles, quiet buzzing minds, and/or get calming, sleep-inducing hormones - serotonin and melatonin - flowing.
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POPS La Tomatina Those people that loved starting food fights in the school cafeteria, you’re going to love La Tomatina festival.The whole tomato battle lasts for an hour aftewhich everyone goes to Bunol River to wash up.
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POPSBiomimicry - "Innovation Inspired By Nature" Another oldie but goody unearthed during my review, clipped in May 2008. The value of knowledge does not decrease with time because we keep forgetting more than we know. It is becoming ever more pertinent, too, so perhaps its value increases with time -- like wine.
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POPSMan, Do I Hate Holiday Travel by iowahawk Take for example a recent flight I took from Lagos to Detroit. With over 100,000 miles on my JihadAir platinum card, I've schlepped enough miles through Heathrow and Gatwick and Yemen International to know I should be at the airport two hours before departure. Especially during the holiday heavy bombing season. Good thing too, because by the time I got there, there was already a mile long line at the explosives counter. And man, talk about smell! I swear half of these stupid shaheeds hadn't bothered to take a shower, let alone a pre-martyrdom ablution ritual. Come on people, how about a little self respect? And right when I was only two martyrs in line from the counter? Yep, you guessed it. The stupid explosives agents called for a prayer break. To top that, just as I was finishing my last supplication, I get up off the prayer rug and these three friggin' Saudis totally jump the line, and I'm like, "dude, WTF?"
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POPSVegan Lemon Biscotti Bake for 40 minutes, turning cookies once after 20 minutes. Additional cooking time may be added for an even crunchier cookie. they look yummy, sorry I can't clip the photo -- still no orange lines.
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POPSTop 5 brain health foods! period the coffee bean, much like the cacao bean, is incredibly rich with antioxidants, amino acids, vitamins and minerals. Fresh-ground gently roasted coffee bean powder (again, like with cacao) has numerous brain and body health benefits....so folks,now you may drink a MUG OF COFFEE! happily...
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POPSHoliday Hazards to your Pets
Christmas Trees - These create a whole realm of dangers for your pet. Poorly secured trees can fall on rambunctious pets as the run around or try to climb them. Pine needles can cause GI irritation and perforation. Sharp or breakable ornaments should be kept well out of the way of curious mouths and paws. Christmas trees may contain additives and preservatives, which leech into the water and can be toxic if ingested. Tinsel, yarn and ribbon can cause linear foreign bodies (get wrapped up throughout the intestinal tract) and create a blockage and/or possible perforations. Sweets - Holiday candy can cause GI problems and become toxic once ingested. Chocolate is one of the most common causes of toxic reaction in pets. The darker the chocolate the worse it is. Do not place wrapped boxes of chocolate under the tree- dogs can sniff them out. Also be sure to keep the candy dishes covered so playful paws aren't tempted to fish them out. The holidays make it easier for pets to sneak their
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POPSFennel from fronds to bulb Click through for recipes for Orange and Fennel Salad, Gingered Fennel Toss, Stuffed Fennel Bulbs, Fennel and Chicken Flatbread, and Fennel and Shrimp Risotto.
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POPSVegan Pumpkin Streusel Cheesecake Spoon silken tofu into sieve and cover with a small plate. Add a weight or heavy can to top of plate. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let stand 30 minutes; drain off liquid. Place drained tofu into a food processor or blender. Add cream cheese and remaining ingredients and puree until smooth. Spoon tofu mixture into crust-lined springform pan and bake at 325 degrees for 70 minutes. Sprinkle remaining crumb mixture evenly over top of cheesecake and turn off oven. Cool cheesecake in closed oven for 75 minutes. Remove cheesecake from oven and run a knife between the pan and the cake before removing the top part of the pan. Cool to room temperature. Cover and chill for eight hours or overnight. Cut into 12 wedges and serve. Yield: 12 servings (1 slice) Nutrition information PER serving: Calories 206; Protein 5 g; Carbohydrate 23 g; Total fat 11.3 g; Saturated fat 1.9 g; Cholesterol 0 mg; Sodium 119 mg; Fiber 1.9 g
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POPSClimate Change: Small islands Fear Going the Way of Atlantis Drought, rising sea levels, flooding, and increased food insecurity are predicted to negatively affect hundreds of millions of people across the globe ... Indigenous peoples, intimately inter-connected with their environment, are already sensing environmental changes. "Even if indigenous peoples don't completely understand the science, they understand perfectly that modern civilisation is living out of balance with nature, the consequences of which we are now reaping, The precarious situation of the Amazon rainforest can be viewed as a bell-weather for the survival of Earth's ecosystem as a whole. Industrial-scale human activities, leading to deforestation, are conspiring with climate change symptoms like drought to point the Amazon toward the nightmare "die-back" scenario.
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POPSfood of the week: Turkey A Few Quick Serving Ideas: Use turkey instead of ground beef in chili con carne recipes. On a bed of romaine lettuce, serve diced turkey, cooked cubed sweet potatoes, cranberries and walnuts tossed with a light vinagrette for a salad that emanates the flavors of Thanksgiving. Use ground turkey to make turkey burgers or turkey meat loaf. Say olé to turkey burritos. Place cooked turkey pieces on a corn tortilla, sprinkle with shredded cheese and diced tomatoes and onions. Broil for a few minutes until hot. Turkey salad can be prepared numerous ways and can be served for lunch or dinner. One of our favorite recipes is to combine the turkey with celery, leeks, dried apricots and almonds.
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POPSRestaurant review: La Bedaine, Berkeley More: I didn't eat the plump pork sausage yet, but unwrapped them and they have a wonderful smokey aroma. Two sausages were $4. The mason jar of onion soup was $4. I had a croissant ($1.50). It was tasty but not the crunchy, super buttery version. It was smaller and more bready. It reminded me of some I was served in breakfast baskets in France… IMO, one of the best sausages in the Bay Area. So much better than the fancy artisan new sausage makers and right up there with the best of the old-timers ... maybe beyond. Extremely rich so limit yourself to one at a sitting… The texture of that halibut was exquisite. Anyone with a passion for smoked whitefish will drop to their knees in reverence for this… We ended up getting the rillettes ($4), which seemed, based on the one bite I had, less salty than, and at least as good as, Fatted Calf's--at a significantly lower price.
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POPSDIY soap – cleaning up your act Half way recipes (in which you take a pure form of soap and spruce it up) can be easy to do at home. You can use Castille soap to make several varieties of body wash. Here is one recipe: Vanilla Almond Soap 1/3 cup whole almonds 1 4-ounce bar Castille soap 1/4 cup distilled water 1 tablespoon almond oil 1/8 teaspoon vanilla essential oil Grind the almonds in a food processor or coffee grinder. Using a cheese grater or a knife, shred the bar of Castille soap. Boil the water and add the shredded soap, stirring until you get a nice gooey texture. Reduce to a simmer and then add in the almond grinds, oil and vanilla. You can spoon the soap into molds (ice cubes can make little gift soaps) and let it sit for around five hours until it hardens.
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POPSLand Use Comparison - Solar Panels vs Feeding Pets I was quite amazed by this at first. Yet, when I thought about a bit longer, it did not particularly surprise me. It is just another one of those things that sits right under our noses, that we miss. "Can't see the forest through the trees" type of thing.
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POPSThings To Make You Go Hmmm? If it's zero degrees outside today and it's supposed to be twice as cold tomorrow, how cold is it going to be? Why do you press harder on a remote-control when you know the battery is dead? Why do people without a watch look at their wrist when you ask them what time it is? Why do banks charge you a "non-sufficient funds fee" on money they already know you don't have? Why do they call it the Department of Interior when they are in charge of everything outdoors? What do little birdies see when they get knocked unconscious? I went to a bookstore and asked the saleswoman where the self-help section was. She said if she told me it would defeat the purpose. Isn't it scary that doctors call what they do "practice?" How is it possible to have a civil war?
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POPSStockholm Syndrome: Swedes Held Hostage to CO2 Terrorism Next year, KRAV, Scandinavia’s main organic certification program, will start requiring farmers to convert to low-emissions techniques if they want to display its coveted seal on products, meaning that most greenhouse tomatoes can no longer be called organic. Those standards have stirred some protests. “There are farmers who are happy and farmers who say they are being ruined,” said Johan Cejie, manager of climate issues for KRAV. For example, he said, farmers with high concentrations of peat soil on their property may no longer be able to grow carrots, since plowing peat releases huge amounts of carbon dioxide; to get the organic label, they may have to switch to feed crops that require no plowing.
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POPSOverheard while traveling... An American student talking on her cell phone on the train from Rome’s Termini station to the airport. -In Italy the food is so bad and unhealthy! I mean, I didn’t even see a carrot the whole month I was here. I just really want a salad… And I am craving McDonald’s. Overheard by Janelle
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POPSWhat Does It Mean To Be A Survivalist? More @ source. The feeling of needing to prepare to ensure yours and your families survival is one that is on the rise so lets take a glimpse a just what it means. For me at least It means you might stay alive as the whole world circles the drain, or that being in a more stable position, you are able to help others who are not so well prepared when disaster strikes. On a basic level think of it like this, if you were going camping would you leave with no equipment or supplies, of course not, not if you intend to live. So what happens when nature comes to you? It could be a quake, a tornado, a hurricane or typhoon, or floods or even any number of human caused events, how will your Ikea flat pack fortress protect you then?
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POPSrecipe: Zucchini "noodles" with pesto Made this last night. Fairly tasty, although my tastebuds wanted a bit more punch. Not sure what – olives wouldn't be quite right. Definitely want to try the ponzu-sesame oil-chili sauce version.