Basically every aspect of cellphones has improved astonishingly in the past few years, except for the actual phone call part. Cypher, a brand-new startup, has some tricky software it says can fix our muddied mobile conversations. In a short live demo in NYC, it sure seemed up to the task.
Picture this. You walk into the subway but you don’t lose service. Instead, your phone lights up with useful alerts—the train is delayed, a nearby kiosk is running a sale, your friend is standing on the other end of the platform. Meanwhile, there’s not a cell tower within 500 yards. This is the world powered by the future of smartphones: LTE Direct.
The aftermarket-treated Waterproof Kindle is just about perfect: an already fantastic e-reader with the added bonus of being built like a rock. But all that comes with one hell of a price tag—$240, specifically. The new, waterproof $190 Kobo Aura H2O, though, promises to deliver on all those points for a fraction of the cost.
Maybe you’ve seen RuPaul’s Drag Race, the flagship show on LogoTV, where men (dressed as women) compete to become America’s next drag superstar. At the end of each show, the lowest-scoring competitors “lip sync for their life” in order to stay on the…
If you’ve ever pined for a feature film about the beloved 80s classic Tetris, you’re in luck. The Wall Street Journal reports that an adaptation of the popular game is on its way, thanks to Threshold Entertainment. While that studio may not…
O2 already has a number of deals in place that allow its customers to buy digital wares and charge the cost straight to their phone bill. It now has a new partner in Apple, as the carrier’s “Charge to Mobile” program has been expanded to include…
Put time into dinner now, and you can make it last forever — or at least the whole week. Welcome to Halfway to Dinner, where we show you how to stretch your staples — or your seasonal produce — every which way.
Today: Marta Greber, morning person and creator of What Should I Eat for Breakfast Today, has five recipes that prove that oats might be the most important grain for the day’s most important meal.
If there is one thing that you can always find in my kitchen, it’s oatmeal. I had this strange fridge-free period in my life that lasted for almost a year, during which I learned to buy everything fresh and in small quantities. But, in every crisis situation, oats were immensely helpful. Of course oats are perfect for a morning porridge, but they can also be a fast snack, a sweet treat, or something more substantial — even my lunches include them from time to time. Oats are the base for some truly delicious recipes, plus they’re not dependent on the seasons: Keep them on hand and experiment with adding seasonal ingredients all year long. From muesli to granola to savory porridge with poached eggs, I’m going to show five of my favorite — and most creative — ways to use oats.
Bircher Muesli
On a busy morning when you only have 5 minutes to grab a bite to eat, bircher muesli is the perfect breakfast. The big advantage of this recipe is that you prepare everything the evening before, and the whole process takes only a few minutes. Put oats into a bowl, add grated apple, and pour in juice. In the morning simply add your favorite fruits, a spoonful of yogurt, maybe some nuts or honey, and you’re ready to go. It’s also easy to take this breakfast with you in a jar or a small container.
More: Not sure what type of oats to buy? Here’s a primer on oats in their many forms.
Oats with Bananas and Strawberries Baked in a Hazelnut Chai Milk
Baked oats have an amazing texture and flavor, and when you mix them with hazelnut and coconut milk and add roasted strawberries, nuts, and bananas, you’ll have a unique meal. In my home, these baked oats disappear as soon as they’re out of the oven, and one bowlful is never enough.
Oatmeal Shake with Red Currants
During a hot summer, when you feel like eating light, refreshing foods, a cold oat shake is the best start to the day. Blend together oats, currants (or any other fruit you like), almond milk, honey, lemon juice, and cinnamon for a filling drink.
Chocolate Granola
There’s no better granola than a homemade one, the whole beauty being that you can add whatever you like. Grab a big bowl and mix oats, nuts, coconut flakes, agave syrup, coconut oil, and cocoa powder to start — and don’t forget about chopped dark chocolate, too. Chocolate makes us happy, so why not eat it in the morning?
More: Leftover coconut oil? Put it to use in a Vegan Peach Crumble Coffee Cake.
Savory Oatmeal with Ham, Poached Egg, and Hollandaise Sauce
Porridge with sweet additions like fruit or spoonfuls of jam isn’t a new concept, but savory oatmeal is something most people haven’t tried. You can serve it with your favorite vegetables, and you can also add ham, poached eggs, and condiments like pesto or hollandaise sauce. It’s very filling, and it offers a nice change of pace from a regular sandwich or eggs on toast.
Savory Oatmeal with Ham, Poached Egg, and Hollandaise Sauce
Serves 2
For the hollandaise sauce:
200
grams (about 14 tablespoons) butter
3 egg yolks
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1/2 tablespoon salt
1 pinch cayenne pepper
For the porridge:
1 cup oats
2 cups water
1 pinch salt
1 pinch pepper
1 tablespoon green pesto
1 tablespoon Parmesan or cheddar cheese
½ avocado
4 slices of ham
2 eggs
1 pinch cayenne pepper
See the full recipe (and save and print it) here.
First photo by James Ransom, all others by Marta Greber
This article originally appeared on Food52.com: Halfway to Breakfast:1 Box of Oats 5 Breakfasts
Food52 is a community for people who love food and cooking. Follow them at Food52.com — and check out their kitchen and home shop, Provisions.
Well this is one way to use your head. Unfortunately.
Goalkeeper Joao Carlos of Brazil’s second-tier Boa Esporte experienced a fluky case of Murphy’s Law in a recent match. Carlos failed to clear a crossed ball and was out of position. After an opposing player took a shot on goal, one of Carlos’ teammates was there to clear it. But the ball ended up hitting Carlos’ noggin and flew right back into the net for an own goal.
H/T Dirty Tackle
Harvest the Hope, a concert on the farm of Art and Helen Tanderup in Neligh, Nebraska, right on the proposed route of the Keystone XL pipeline, was many things: a musical tour de force starring Neil Young and Willie Nelson; an anti-pipeline message to President Obama whose election graphic formed the O of “Hope” on the stage banner, the word itself Obama campaign terminology; an artistic call to activism designed by artist John Quigley whose crop design “No KXL” was plowed by farmer Tanderup into his corn field as he followed Quigley’s direction, in an image spanning the size of several football fields; and “The day the idea of the Keystone Pipleline died” as pronounced by thousands of attendees who stood in rows like the corn and chanted in call and response with Quigley.
The Native American and Cowboy representatives of the Cowboy and Indian Alliance (CIA) held a small, private ceremony before the concert for Nelson and Young, burning sage for purification, chanting blessings, and wrapping the musicians in buffalo hides painted with native symbols including the snake, representing evil that must be stopped, in this case the pipeline.
Micah Nelson, son of Willie, had the quote of the day: “KXL is the middle finger of the grasping hand of corporate greed.” Neil Young expanded on this thought, telling the crowd of 8,000 standing at the farm that KXL is part of a bigger threat: the stealing of American rights by corporations:
“Farmers know what I’m talking about. They are fenced in on what seeds they can plant because of corporations. They used to plant their own seeds. Now they have to buy them every year from corporations who own the patents on the seeds. Corporations tell our leaders what to do. Thanks to Citizens United, corporations are considered people, but corporations don’t have children and aren’t concerned about the future they leave them. We have to stop the politicians who are bought by corporations and take back our democracy. Vote them out.”
Young went on to say that unfortunately he can’t vote here because he’s Canadian. “I’m Canadian, and I know Canadian Bullshit,” he said referring to the national origin of the TransCanadian Keystone XL Pipeline.
The CIA and Indigenous Environmental Network were represented by local farmers, whose farms sit on the proposed route of the pipeline, and members of several tribes who have been caretakers of the land for thousand of years. These representatives told the crowd that the choice is between oil and water. One farmer described the porous soil and the aquifer only about 70 to 150 feet beneath it. “When there is a spill, and it’s not an if, there is always a spill, the water would be contaminated.”
The fight to stop the Canadian pipeline from delivering dirty shale oil across America to be sold to other countries, has created powerful alliances between diverse groups that found common ground in protecting the heartland:
1. Americans and Canadians interested in stopping dirty oil (at this concert represented by Texan Willie Nelson whose tour bus runs on biofuel, and Canadian Neil Young, whose new album is a call to protect our planet and includes the song “Who’s gonna Stand Up?” Susan Casey-Lefkowitz, director of programs at the Natural Resources Defense Council, spoke of the people of both countries standing up to our governments:
“When the Canadian government says, ‘Oh, tar sands are going to be developed anyway, why not just let Keystone XL go through?’ It is not true. Canadians are saying no to pipelines that cross their lands. Americans in other parts of the country are saying no to pipelines that cross their lands. You are part here of a fight that is across North America and it’s really important. Tar sands oil is not regular oil. It’s dirtier. It’s nastier. It’s bad for our land and our water when it spills, and it’s bad for our climate when it’s taken out of the ground.”
2. Native Americans and Farmers, represented by the Cowboy and Indian Alliance, interested in protecting the heartland of America from despoliation, who have taken their case to the Obama Administration;
3. Native American tribes, the Ponca and Lakota, once enemies, who have joined as warriors with a common interest in protecting land held sacred to them;
4. Landowners and Clean Energy Advocates who have built a barn that uses only wind and solar energy, right on the pathway of the proposed pipeline. Jane Kleeb of Bold Nebraska, and producer of the Harvest the Hope, said “Obama would have to knock down a barn built with clean, renewable Nebraska energy to let this dirty oil pass through, and he wouldn’t do that.”
5. Men and Women, Old and Young. Casey Camp, whose ancestors were forcibly removed from the Nebraska land on which the concert took place during the Trail of Tears, reminded the crowd that to her people, the earth is female, and that despoliation of her is a violation akin to rape. Frank Waln, A young Native American hip-hop artist entertained the crowd with a song to his mother, whom he serenaded on stage. Lukas Nelson, Willie’s son who sang and entertained with his band Promise of the Real, said that he is proud to represent youth in protecting the earth.
6. And finally, Harvest the Hope aligned the past and the future, as land that witnessed the Ponca Trail of Tears 137 years ago when the Ponca were forced to leave by an American government that claimed the land the indigenous peoples had lived upon for thousands of years, is now again threatened to be stolen from the landowners of today by a foreign corporation and our government.
Nelson and Young have long collaborated on Farm Aid to protect the rights of independent farmers. The corporate threat to farms came up in the words of Young who spoke of the days when farmers owned their seeds, not corporations like Dupont and Monsanto. Native Americans who had lived on this land 137 years ago told of how they had returned to plant the native Ponca corn, gone from the farmland of Nebraska, on the land threatened by the pipeline to serve as sacred protection of the land.
“If one good thing came of the pipeline threat” said Cyril Scott President of the Rosebud Lakota Tribe, “It’s that we have united as warriors for the earth and all our children. My people are warriors. This land belongs to no one. We are caretakers. I stand with the farmers, who are caretakers now, to protect this sacred land for all our children.”
Photos Courtesy of BoldNebraska.Org
As September comes to a close, I’d like to note its gifts that keep on remembering.
Last week the Museum of Tolerance in Los Angeles, a Simon Wiesenthal Museum named in honor of the Holocaust survivor, remembered the talents and efforts of children in LA’s BEST After School Enrichment Program – a program that is very dear to me which helps 28,000 children in need. It came in a unique way.
The Museum remembered the collaborative project between LA’s BEST and the Consulate General of Israel in Los Angeles that began in 2010, culminating in an astonishing mural for the Museum of Tolerance called the Doves of Peace, a masterpiece designed by LA artist Jake Hooper and covered in paper doves by LA’s BEST students. The Museum chose that art to symbolize Unity, Strength and Peace in its New Year’s card for 2015.
As a member of LA’s BEST board of governors, I believe that honor resonates on a far deeper level than just an appreciation for the incredible talent of the children whose hands crafted those doves. They have been profoundly affected by both the Museum’s mission dedicated to the memory of those who died, suffered and survived the Holocaust and their involvement in the 2010 joint effort called CELEBRATING CONNECTIONS. A first of its kind, it brought together students from the after school program and local Jewish day schools to build a bridge of understanding between children of very diverse communities in Los Angeles that would teach them mutual respect, broaden their perspectives and enrich their lives.
Consul General of Israel Jacob Dayan has said it is the diversity that strengthens our dynamic communities and teaching children how to embrace that by working and living together and learning from each other “is the secret to empowering future generations.” LA’s BEST President & CEO Carla Sanger expects this goodwill partnership “will reap benefits for years to come.”
To give you a better sense of its mission, the non-profit LA’s BEST (Better Educated Students for Tomorrow) provides a safe and supervised after school education, enrichment and recreation program for elementary school children ages to 12. It helps the children with their homework and offers learning activities that boost their reading and math skills. In discussing the critical need for programs like LA’s BEST, Sanger recently told Youth Today “never before in the history of this country has there been so few adults at home after school. Nobody’s home to help kids grow, and I think that if we’re looking at a democracy and preserving democracy — which to me is the primary goal of education — we’re going to lose our way if we don’t understand how important it is to keep kids after school.”
The Museum wasn’t the only entity remembering the children involved in this program this month. L.A.-based TOMS Shoes chose LA’s BEST as its giving partner, making sure every child enrolled was given a new pair of TOMS’ athletic style shoes to start the school year. They complement the program’s agenda, encouraging healthy living through physical activity and nutritious food. Under its One for One® model, every pair of TOMS Shoes purchased means TOMS donates a pair of shoes to a child in need.
Since LA’s BEST was formed in 1988, it has grown from 10 schools operating on a $1 million budget to 195 schools thriving on a $40 million budget today. That growth was shepherded by its fearless leader Carla Sanger. Sadly for LA’s BEST but wonderful for her, she is retiring. How she will be missed.
This is site is run by Sascha Endlicher, M.A., during ungodly late night hours. Wanna know more about him? Connect via Social Media by jumping to about.me/sascha.endlicher.
