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Monday, March 24, 2014

The 6 Biggest Mistakes People Make When Cooking Salmon

pan roasted salmon with collards and radish raita
WRITTEN BY DANIELLE WALSH
One day, when we were hanging out in the test kitchen, we realized: Salmon is actually pretty hard to cook well. While we’ve been a huge proponent of the slow-roasting method lately, lots of people prefer to grill, pan sear, or poach their fish. So we asked the test kitchen—manager Brad Leone, assistant food editor Claire Saffitz, and senior food editor Dawn Perry—for their thoughts on why people often get this healthy fish so wrong.
1. Just Yank Out the Pin Bones
Yes, you should remove the pin bones—but carefully. Pulling them up and out of the salmon will rip up its flesh, which is not a good look. Take tweezers and carefully pull out the pin bones in the same direction the bones are oriented in the salmon’s flesh.
2. Who Wants Skin? Just Rip It Off
First of all—skin is tasty! So when you’re cooking salmon, keep that skin on: It provides a safety layer between your fish’s flesh and a hot pan or grill. Start with the skin-side down, and let it crisp up. It’s much easier to slide a fish spatula under the salmon’s skin than under its delicate flesh. The only exception? You should remove the skin when you’re poaching filets.
3. Poach It in Plain Water
Speaking of poaching, don’t poach your salmon in plain water. It’s a missed opportunity to add flavor! At the very least, spike the water with lemon or a half head of garlic. Better yet, go all out and poach the salmon in dry white wine. If you don’t involve beautiful aromatics—like these ones—in the poaching process, the salmon might stink up your kitchen. Yuck.
4. Salmon Is Salmon, Right?
When at the fish counter or fishmonger, consider your salmon options carefully. First off, don’t turn your nose up at the belly—it’s fatty, rich, and full of flavor. Plus, it tends to be cheaper than filets. If you’re going for a more traditional cut—like a steak or a filet—make sure you get pieces that are all the same size. The best bet is to ask for a center cut for uniform thickness. Finally, don’t just get whatever salmon is on sale. Organic, responsibly raised salmon always tastes better (and is less likely to stink up your house).
5. Cook It Till It Flakes
This is the most common mistake—and often results in overcooking, meaning your fish will turn into cat food instead of the elegant dinner you were envisioning. If using a grill or a pan, sear salmon skin-side down on high heat until the skin is crispy, then, whether you flip your fish or not, finish cooking it on low heat. The fish’s sections should give and pull apart easily—not flake into dry pieces.
6. Chuck the Leftovers
Our assistant food editor, Claire Saffitz, firmly believes that cold, day-old salmon is better than its formerly piping-hot self. We definitely agree that you should give your leftovers some love: flake it into a salad, turn it into a sandwich, or just eat it straight from the fridge. We won’t judge.
source: http://www.bonappetit.com/test-kitchen/common-mistakes/article/salmon-common-mistakes

Saturday, March 22, 2014

Yes, Flappy Bird Will Return To The App Store

IMAGE CREDIT: BRYCE DURBIN.
credit/by 
I hope you enjoyed your life over the past month and a half; Flappy Bird is coming back to the App Store after its removal earlier this year, according to the game’s developer Dong Nguyen. Gawker spotted the dev’s tweeted response to a question about whether or not it would ever return, which is an unequivocal “Yes.”
When Dong Nguyen was asked in Twitter by one of his followersAre u going to put flappy bird back on App Store?" He replied " Yes. But not soon."
As you can see, Nguyen doesn’t give a timeline but does say it won’t be “soon,” which suggests possibly there’s some additional development going into the game, or at least some kind of preparatory action so that Nguyen can deal with the life upheaval that’s bound to follow. Nguyen left the door open for a Flappy Bird return in his extended Rolling Stone profile, but this confirms the bird won’t stay grounded forever.
I’ve already got the game on my phone, and I didn’t even try to sell it on eBay for tens of thousands of dollars, so I’m not sweating it, but this is good (bad?) news for people who haven’t yet tasted sweet pix elated feather.
source: http://techcrunch.com/2014/03/19/flappy-bird-will-return/?source=gravity&cps=gravity

Friday, March 21, 2014

What is a Transponder?

They are also used to measure distance by calculating the elapsed time between the sending of the interrogator signal and the receipt of the transponder's signal. For example, sonar devices are used to mark underwater positions, calculate depth, and trace positions.
It may sound as if this is a technology that the average consumer never uses, but even if that was once the case, it no longer is. The modern commuter probably has at least one transmitter in his car, probably mounted on the windshield or dashboard. These are for roads that use electronic tolling systems that compute the amount of tolls to be paid and complete the transaction without requiring the driver to so much as lower his window. Some newer cars are also equipped with ones that operators can use to locate the vehicle in the event of an emergency. Cellular phones use a similar, albeit smaller, chip to send the phone's location if it used to call an emergency number.
Even casual television viewing often involves the use of these devices. A network can uplink its ground-based satellites to communications satellites orbiting the Earth, send multiple channels of digitally compressed video and audio to a single transponder aboard it, and local stations can then pick up the program and re-broadcast it locally by aiming the appropriate ground-based dish.
They are also used to measure distance by calculating the elapsed time between the sending of the interrogator signal and the receipt of the transponder's signal. For example, sonardevices are used to mark underwater positions, calculate depth, and trace positions.
It may sound as if this is a technology that the average consumer never uses, but even if that was once the case, it no longer is. The modern commuter probably has at least one transmitter in his car, probably mounted on the windshield or dashboard. These are for roads that use electronic tolling systems that compute the amount of tolls to be paid and complete the transaction without requiring the driver to so much as lower his window. Some newer cars are also equipped with ones that operators can use to locate the vehicle in the event of an emergency. Cellular phones use a similar, albeit smaller, chip to send the phone's location if it used to call an emergency number.
Even casual television viewing often involves the use of these devices. A network can uplink its ground-based satellites to communications satellites orbiting the Earth, send multiple channels of digitally compressed video and audio to a single transponder aboard it, and local stations can then pick up the program and re-broadcast it locally by aiming the appropriate ground-based dish.
http://www.wisegeek.org/what-is-a-transponder.htm#
Transponder Requirements on wiseGEEK:
  • Using distance measuring equipment requires the space between the aircraft and the ground station to be unobstructed. This requirementallows stations far apart from one another to operate on the same frequency without interference.
  • An appliance like a dishwasher, for example, may be programmed to complete 20 or more functions dependent on the user’s everydayrequirements, and each separate phase that it enters is activated by an electrical charge.

  • Transponder Equipment on wiseGEEK:
    • There are a number of ways to bypass transponders, however, most of which can be done with inexpensive equipment. Technology In vehicular-use transponder keys, introduced in 1995, the transmitter unit consists of a small microchip in the plastic part of a key.
    • Despite the potential benefits to supply chain management, transportation, payment systems, and other areas, there are potential problems with RFID transponders. Many people have raised concerns over security issues, especially in cases where an RFID transponder may be used to identify a person.

    • Aircraft Transponder on wiseGEEK:
      • The first use of a transponder was on an aircraft during World War II, as part of the Identify Friend or Foe (IFF) system.
      • Another limitation of distance measuring equipment is that ground-based stations are only capable of supporting a predetermined number ofaircraft. Transmitters will evaluate each interrogation signal based on its strength, granting priority to the closest aircraft.

      • Transponder Car on wiseGEEK:
        • Other Uses of the Technology Besides being used to start carstransponder technology can also be found in a variety of other applications.
        • They are also used to measure distance by calculating the elapsed time between the sending of the interrogator signal and the receipt of thetransponder's signal. For example, sonar devices are used to mark 

        • uTransponder Software on wiseGEEK:

          • Radio frequency identification (RFID) is a data capture technology in which identification of items is done through transponders that are attached to them. A transponder is a type of radio-relay equipment that is passive.
          • Beginning in the 1960s, aircraft began using transponders to assist in air traffic control. A transponder is both a receiver and a transmitter, which receives the radar signal from the primary radar and sends back a signal containing aircraft identification, altitude and speed information.
          nderwater positions, calculate depth, and trace positions.

        • credit/sources: http://topics.wisegeek.org/topics.htm?transponder-requirements#
        • http://topics.wisegeek.org/topics.htm?transponder-equipment#
          http://topics.wisegeek.org/topics.htm?transponder-car#
          http://topics.wisegeek.org/topics.htm?aircraft-transponder#
          http://topics.wisegeek.org/topics.htm?transponder-software#
          http://topics.wisegeek.org/topics.htm?transponder-radio#
        • All rights reserved to all photos /credit to: http://www.wisegeek.org/
@copyright do not copy/reproduce
A transponder key.

In aviation, transponders broadcast an aircraft's position and identity.

Transponders on commercial aircraft transmit their carrier and flight identification numbers to air traffic control center.

@copyright do not copy/reproduce
http://www.wisegeek.org/
My note: I  had researched due to the lost aircraft Malaysian Airlines in which I have no personal knowledge i leave it to the experts in discussing this topic.. 

Monday, March 17, 2014

Honey you shrunk Mercury: planet Mercury has shrunk 7km

by/credit:   | 
Planet Mercury has shrunk 7km in size over the last four billion years. Many more details are going to come into the open in the days to come.
A latest report has revealed that the planet Mercury is shrinking.
But the report doesn’t say if the pace of shrinking has accelerated in recent years or it has gone down.
There are also no relative reports about the similar reduction in size of other planets including our own Earth.
A latest NASA finding says that Mercury has shrunk as much as 7 kilometers over the years. But the period over which it shrank that much was huge and it took as many as four billion years for the planet to reduce this much.
The latest study suggests that reports about the shrinking size of planet Mercury first appeared in early seventies, some forty years ago, but now things are becoming much more clear as technological developments have enabled NASA to study it more deeply that was truly not possible some forty years ago.
Latest NASA reports have reasoned the cause of Mercury shrinking and a report says that this is because of the fact that it has cooled over time, causing its surface to crack and wrinkling over the years.
This planet that is said to be the fastest of all planets in our solar system is also the smallest. It is only a little bigger than Earth’s moon. It would take more than 18 Mercurys to be as big as Earth. If you could weigh Mercury and the moon, Mercury would weigh much more. Mercury has a rocky surface, but deep inside is a heavier material, probably iron.
There are many issues involved with Mercury that have made it difficult to study. NASA has been trying hard to take a close look at it. A NASA report that talks about these issues says, “Because it is so close to the sun, Mercury is hard to study from Earth. No people have ever gone to Mercury, but the first robotic spacecraft to visit Mercury was Mariner 10. It flew by Mercury in 1974 and 1975. Mariner 10 was able to take pictures of less than half of Mercury’s surface. No spacecraft visited Mercury for more than 30 years. Then NASA’s MESSENGER flew by Mercury in 2008 and 2009. On March 17, 2011, it began its orbit of Mercury. MESSENGER will map Mercury by taking pictures of the planet’s surface, including some areas that have not been seen before. It will also collect data on the composition of the surface rocks, and measure the heights of mountains and depths of craters and valleys. Some data collected by MESSENGER will help scientists to understand what the inside of Mercury is like. MESSENGER will let people learn more about Mercury than they ever have before”.
Reports about the shrinking size of the Mercury seem to be very interesting. BBC quotes principal investigator of the current report Dr Dave Rothery from the UK’s Open University as saying, “People used to think the Earth was shrinking – which it is a little bit, but we can’t see it because of the way tectonic plates are created and destroyed on the Earth…Before we understood plate tectonics, people thought mountain belts on Earth were because the planet was shrinking and forcing stuff upwards, and areas of thick accumulation of sediment were where the crust was being forced down by contraction. We now know that’s broadly speaking wrong, but this is the process on Mercury because it’s a one plate planet.”
source: http://nvonews.com/2014/03/17/honey-you-shrunk-mercury-planet-mercury-has-shrunk-7km/

Mercury has SHRUNK by almost 9 miles in diameter as the planet's surface continues to cool

by/credit: By DAILY MAIL REPORTER
Fascinating new images have led researchers to conclude the planet Mercury is shrinking, now measuring up to 8.6 miles smaller in diameter than it was nearly four billion years ago. 
According to a report released Sunday, the planet is shrinking because it is cooling. 
A NASA spacecraft has shown the first complete images of the single rocky plate that encloses Mercury and whic is contracting and warping the surface into puckered ridges and cliffs. 
Shrinking: Scientists say cooling has caused Mercury to shrink almost 9 miles in diameter
Shrinking: Scientists say cooling has caused Mercury to shrink almost 9 miles in diameter
'It is Mercury's version of a mountain belt,' Paul Byrne, a planetary geologist at the Carnegie Institution in Washington D.C. told National Geographic. 'It would be a very dramatic landscape.' 
While all planets loose heat to varying degrees, the chilling has had an unusual effect on Mercury's surface, pocked with craters and cut by ridges more than double the length of Florida. 
While we can observe changes to the terrain the 800 degree Fahrenheit heat makes ever setting foot on the planet impossible. 


Instead scientists watch the changes with the MESSENGER spacecraft, which has orbited the planet since 2011. 
'We see the landscape literally crumpling up,' William McKinnon, professor in the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences at St. Louis' Washington University told reporters. 'Massive slabs of rock are sliding over one another.'
Familiar surface: The planet's craggy surface is similar to that of our own moon
Familiar surface: The planet's craggy surface is similar to that of our own moon
McKinnon added that were we able to put seismometers on the surface we could likely hear ongoing earthquakes affecting the surface. 
New data gives a fuller picture of the planet's history from bombardment by asteroids to changing temperatures. 
'We have the big picture now,' Byrne said. 
Mars and Earth's moon have cliffs and ridges similar to Mercury's surface but with a major difference.
'Mercury is anomalous because it seems to have shrunk much more in size than the moon or Mars,' Byrne said. 
The new data will help scientists understand why the planet has shrunk so much. 
'It is a very impressive piece of work -- just the amount of work involved,' said Caleb Fassett, astronomy fellow at Mout Holyoke College. 'They mapped all of the faults on Mercury basically to do this.'
Old ideas: Mercury's changing size may validate the theories of 19th century European scientists
Old ideas: Mercury's changing size may validate the theories of 19th century European scientists
European geologists believed Earth had shrunk during the 19th century but the idea was dismissed in the 1950s and 1960s as scientists better understood how Earth's shell was not a single layer that would wrinkle but instead tectonic plates that would move independently. 
However the 19th century geologist's theories about how planets shrink may be correct when applied to Mercury. 
'It proves something historians always say: Previous scientists were not silly to hold ideas that we now would say aren't right,' said Naomi Oreskes, professor of the history of science at Harvard University. 'It was a plausible idea, and it held up until evidence suggested the need for something different.'

source: 
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2582445/Mercury-SHRUNK-9-miles-diameter-planets-surface-continues-cool.html
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/

Tuesday, March 4, 2014

Nepal to force Everest climbers to collect rubbish

Relaxnews
Nepal to force Everest climbers to collect rubbish
Everest clean-up expedition at Mount Everest.

Climbers scaling Mount Everest will have to bring back eight kilograms (17.
6 pounds) of garbage under new rules designed to clean up the world's highest peak, a Nepalese official said Monday.
The rule, one of several new measures for mountaineering in the Himalayan nation, will apply to climbers ascending beyond Everest's base camp from April onwards, said tourism ministry official Madhusudan Burlakoti.
"The government has decided in order to clean up Mount Everest, each member of an expedition must bring back at least eight kilos of garbage, apart from their own trash," he said.
Burlakoti said authorities would take legal action against climbers who failed to comply with the new rule, although it was unclear whether this would involve a fine or other penalty.
Decades of mountaineering have taken a toll on the peak, which is strewn with rubbish from past expeditions, including oxygen cylinders, human waste and even climbers' bodies, which do not decompose in the extreme cold.
Expeditions will have to submit their trash to an office to be set up next month at base camp. It will also offer medical aid and resolve conflicts, after a brawl between European climbers and local guides last year.
Although expeditions currently have to fork out a $4,000 deposit, refunded once they show they have brought back everything they took to the mountain, enforcement has been a problem.
"Our earlier efforts have not been very effective. This time, if climbers don't bring back garbage, we will take legal action and penalise them," Burlakoti said.
Last month Nepal slashed fees for individual climbers to Everest and other Himalayan peaks to attract more mountaineers, sparking concerns of increased traffic and more trash on the mountains.
In an overhaul of security on the mountain, the new office at base camp will station soldiers and police so climbers can approach officers with any problems, officials said last month.
Environmental and climbing groups have long sought to focus attention on the waste problem while clean-up projects have also been organised.
Discarded oxygen and cooking gas cylinders, ropes, tents, glasses, beer cans, plastic and even the remains of a helicopter made up 75 artworks commissioned for a Kathmandu exhibition in 2012, highlighting the environmental impact of alpine tourism.
Everest is a key revenue-earner for the impoverished country, with hundreds scaling the mountain every year during the peak climbing season in April and May.
credit/source: http://news.yahoo.com/nepal-force-everest-climbers-collect-rubbish-093341355.html