July 30, 2009

GDAE Podcast - Episode 16

Episode 15 - June 17, 2009 Taliban & US Right Wing
  • Briefly, Health Care Reform: Time for us to Make Noise!
  • A tid bit on Mountaintop Removal Coal Mining
  • Who are the Taliban?
  • A Mid-East 101 by Chris Hedges
  • Sarah Palin's Future Plans: Will she help incite right-wing violence? (Re-visiting a theme of Episode 11)



Play GDAE Podcast Episode 16 from this page.

Previous Episodes & 60-Sec Promo:

GDAE Podcast 60-Second Promo

GDAE Podcast Episode 15 June 17, 2009
GDAE Podcast Episode 14 June 10, 2009
GDAE Podcast Episode 13 May 22, 2009
GDAE Podcast Episode 12May 5, 2009
GDAE Podcast Episode 11 April 24, 2009
GDAE Podcast Episode 10 April 9, 2009
GDAE Podcast Episode 9 March 28, 2009
GDAE Podcast Episode 8 March 15, 2009
GDAE Podcast Episode 7 March 1, 2009
GDAE Podcast Episode 6 February 17, 2009
GDAE Podcast Episode 5 February 6, 2009
GDAE Podcast Episode 4 January 24, 2009

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July 26, 2009

Birthing GDAE Podcast Episode 16

The "Summer Effect" on my podcasting means only one episode of GDAE Podcast for July. Topics will include:
  • Briefly: Health Care Reform. Time for us to Make Noise!
  • A tid bit on Mountaintop Removal Coal Mining
  • Who are the Taliban?
  • Sarah Palin's future plans: Will she help incite right-wing violence? (Re-visiting a theme of Episode 11)
Almost done.

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July 25, 2009

Mr. Holder: Investigate and Prosecute Bush Officials

My letter to Attorney General Eric Holder:

I urge Secretary Holder to support the Department's investigation of numerous crimes committed by the Bush Administration.

It would be unhealthy to America's future if we brushed it all under the rug. To quote Bob Marley, "In this great future, you can't forget your past."

Do the right thing.
Short 'n sweet.

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July 22, 2009

How to Host a Honey Tasting

This "how to" is intended for informal honey tastings, perhaps as part of a party, barbecue event, family reunion or other gathering.

"To Do" Lists

Before the Tasting:
  • Honey: Five to ten different kinds of honey (eight worked for me). Strive for some variety in flavors from simple to more exotic, e.g., raw honey.
  • Small cups: I used disposable plastic containers like those used by restaurants for serving to-go sides (e.g., soy sauce, salsa, raitha). I got mine free at a friendly neighborhood restaurant. The disposable ones are helpful because you can write on them (the number of the honey... assuming you're having a blind tasting, which is much more fun).
  • Toothpicks or coffee stirrers: We used toothpicks... some people used two at a time if they felt the need.
  • Toothpick holder: You can use the box the toothpicks come in, or a more attractive holder.
  • Taster Discard: You'll need a cup or other container for used toothpicks. A deep cup is good so people don't mistake the discard pile as the clean ones!
  • Scoring Sheet: (See Details Below)
  • Copies of Score Sheet: We made enough sheets for all guests to participate, but only about one-third filled them out.
  • Pencils: Have a number of pencils sharpened. Pencils are handy so people can modify results if needed... but, that depends on having erasers that work ;-1
  • Contact info. for party guests (You'll want to send them the results!)
  • Blank sheets of paper
  • Magic marker
  • Location for tasting (think about where you'll set up the tasting... space, table(s), etc. You might want to do it inside to avoid attracting bugs).
  • Optional: If you want, prepare a summary sheet in advance that describes the honeys. People will want to know what they judged. You can hand this out at the end of the event, even if you don't finish scoring the results until after the event.

Day of the Tasting:
  • Set-up location: We have a smallish house, so we set up on two tables in different rooms to spread people out a bit (we had 8 honeys to taste). We did it indoors to avoid attracting bugs.
  • Make a List of the Honeys: Write down the names of each honey and give them a random number. It's important you don't loose this ;-1
  • Number Sheets of Papers: For each honey, create a sheet of paper with the random number at the bottom. You will set each honey on it's own sheet of paper with the number at the bottom... helps catch any drips.
  • Mark each Cup: Write the random number on each cup you'll use for the honey.
  • Transfer Honey to Cups: Prepare for a little messy job. You'll want a wet rag for cleaning as you go. You might want multiple spoons/knives to help dish out the honey into the numbered cups (I cleaned my knife as I went).
  • Place pencils, score sheets, tasting toothpicks, toothpick discard cups out for use.
  • Get a couple out-going people to start and spread the word to guests.
  • Optional: Have judges write their names on the results. If they want to take their score sheet with them, before you've done the scoring, you'll need to copy the results for your use in scoring.
After the Tasting:
  • Everyone likes instant gratification. If the situation allows, you can try to tally the results and give them to guests toward the later part of the event. This didn't work in my case, so it's good to have contact information that allows you to send the results to people.
  • Scoring: OK, some people will not fill score all of the honeys. I only used the scores for the people who scored all honeys. You can try to figure out how to include partial scores, but you're on your own for that. I set up a little spreadsheet to tally the results. I added up all the judges scores separately for the two categories (distinctiveness, agreeability). Then, I added these two sub-scores for a combined total. I selected the three top scores, the "Best," (1st, 2nd, and 3rd place) for both categories and combined total. (See Score Result Tables).
  • Other Results: People will want to know a little about the honeys they judged. As noted above, you can create a summary sheet. I elected to simply document the judges comments on a web page, at which point I also described the honeys.

Score Sheet Details: I'll provide a sample once I figure out how to link to a document, but for now, here's Sample Text and description:

Honey Tasting
Score Sheet


Please judge the eight (8) different honeys on two aspects of flavor. Judging ends at 9pm at which time scores will be tallied (put your name on the score sheet if you want it returned). We'll post the results on-line!!

Things to consider: Overheating will cause a burnt sugar flavor (not a problem with raw honey). Fermentation can cause the honey to taste sour. Certain floral sources such as tobacco can produce unpleasant, even disagreeable-tasting honey.

Give Two Scores, each on a scale of 1 – 10 (10 is the Best): 1) Distinctive flavors stand out as being interesting, perhaps having a notable aroma. Distinctive flavors, however, might not be agreeable for regular use, perhaps being too strong in some way. 2) Agreeable flavors go beyond simply tasting sweet (it should have a honey flavor!!), but aren't so distinctive that they might offend someone, e.g., too yeasty.

Honey Tasting Score Table

Honey Number
Score for
Distinctiveness
Score as
Agreeable
Comments
#1


#2


#3


#etc.




I think that about covers it. I'm sure you can think of improvements. If you do, or if you host a competition, I'd appreciate you leaving a COMMENT below. A link to any web pages, and cross links to this page would be even MORE APPRECIATED!

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July 21, 2009

Honey Tasting Contest: The Least Best

In two previous posts I explained the tasting set-up and then gave the basic results of the best of eight (8) honeys.

It's worth mentioning that all of the honeys were good. It's also worth mentioning that this judging says nothing about honeys that were not part of the competition; we simply selected 8 honeys that we thought would have a range of flavors. Each honey received two scores:
  • Distinctiveness, and
  • Agreeability
Each was scored on a scale of 1 - 10.

The Honeys

Random NumberHoney Name
#1Lord Byron - Wildflower
#2Wedderspoon Active +16
#3Zambezi
#4Wedderspoon Autumn Forest
#5Ulmo Tree
#6Really Raw
#7Trader Joe's Creamed Clover
#8Trader Joe's w/ Honey Comb

Thirteen people participated as judges in the tasting. The highest possible score for being either Distinctive or Agreeable was 130. The highest combined total score would be 260. The best honeys are summarized below, with scores in parentheses.

The Worst of the Group of Honeys

Judging CategoryFirst PlaceSecond PlaceThird Place
DistinctivenessHoney #1
(53)
Honeys #2
(65)
Honey #4
(67)
AgreeabilityHoney #2
(60)
Honey #3
(63)
Honey #5, #4
(70)(71)
Total ScoreHoney #2
(115)
Honey #1
(135)
Honey #4
(138)


Some Comments

Honey #2, Wedderspoon Manuka Active +16 from New Zealand, 500 grams, was priced at $45 dollars (you can get it for $30). It is organic and raw. In my view, it had similar flavors of #5 Ulmo Tree honey from Chile, that is, a hint of sasafrass root (like root beer). Some of the comments about Wedderspoon +16 follow:
  • Blank taste
  • Cloudy and thick
  • Saturated, pasty
  • Sour
Honey #1 Lord Byron's wildflower honey is local to Maryland, USA, came in lowest on distinctiveness and 2nd lowest total score. It is a high grade standard honey we have around the house. Here's what some of the judges had to say:
  • Sweeter than sweet!
  • Pleasant, normal
  • Very simple, very clean
  • medicinal
  • warm with subtle zing
  • earthy
Honey #3 Zambeze from Zambia African jungle flowers. 100% organic, Fair Trade. It intentionally has cyrstals. Advertized as having a complex, lingering, rich but subtle flavor. Personally, I liked it and think the judges might have been prejudiced by the crystals, so take the following comments with a grain of honey. Here are the comments on Zambeze:
  • Grainy (mentioned twice)
  • Like proplis and chunky
  • Not good, very crystalized
  • Ick
  • I hate the taste
  • Yeasty
  • Bitter bite
  • Good
Honey #4 Wedderspoon Autumn Forest Honeydew from New Zealand. A dark, 100% organic, raw honey. It was the most runny of the eight honeys. Here's what the judges had to say:
  • I don't know if it's sweet or sour
  • Tastes similar to maple syrup (certainly has the consistency)
  • Aftertaste
  • Subtle but unique
  • Tart, Medicinal
  • Smooth
Comments on #5, Ulmo Tree my personal favorite from Chile, can be found in the results for the best of the group.

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July 20, 2009

Honey Tasting Contest Results: The Best

OK. Here's the second serving on the Great Hampden Honey Tasting of 2009. In the first posting, I explained that we had eight (8) honeys, which were tasted blindly by guests at a birthday party. Each honey received two scores:
  • Distinctiveness, and
  • Agreeability
Each was scored on a scale of 1 - 10.

The Honeys

Random NumberHoney Name
#1Lord Byron - Wildflower
#2Wedderspoon Active +16
#3Zambezi
#4Wedderspoon Autumn Forest
#5Ulmo Tree
#6Really Raw
#7Trader Joe's Creamed Clover
#8Trader Joe's w/ Honey Comb

Thirteen people participated as judges in the tasting. The highest possible score for being either Distinctive or Agreeable was 130. The highest combined total score would be 260. The best honeys are summarized below, with scores in parentheses.

The Best of the Group of Honeys

Judging CategoryFirst PlaceSecond PlaceThird Place
DistinctivenessHoney #5
(95)
Honeys #3, #8
(94)
Honey #6
(81)
AgreeabilityHoney #8
(102)
Honey #1
(82)
Honey #6
(80)
Total ScoreHoney #8
(196)
Honey #5
(165)
Honey #1
(161)


Some Comments

Honey #8, Trader Joe's Grade A with honey comb. This is a classic golden honey and is proven to be very agreeable according to the judges of this contest. Comments follow:
  • Disgusting
  • Very good, simple, classic
  • Yum!
  • Tastes like real honey
Honey #5, Ulmo Tree Honey. This honey is nearly a mono flower honey. The beautiful Ulmo tree (Eucryphia cordifolia) is native to Chile. It is a large but very slow growing evergreen shrub that can grow to form a tree reaching 6 to 9 metres high. It is part of the temperate rain forests that grow from Valdivia in the Lakes Region of Chile to as far south as Chiloe. Here are the judges comments:
  • Thick, but simple taste. Good.
  • Root beer! ??
  • Tart sweet
  • Sugary
  • Hint of root beer
Honey #1 Lord Byron's wildflower honey is local to Maryland, USA, came in lowest on distinctiveness and 2nd lowest total score. It is a high grade standard honey we have around the house. Here's what some of the judges had to say:
  • Sweeter than sweet!
  • Pleasant, normal
  • Very simple, very clean
  • medicinal
  • warm with subtle zing
  • earthy
Honey #3 Zambeze from Zambia African jungle flowers. 100% organic, Fair Trade. It intentionally has cyrstals. Advertized as having a complex, lingering, rich but subtle flavor. Personally, I liked it and think the judges might have been prejudiced by the crystals, so take the following comments with a grain of honey. Here are the comments on Zambeze:
  • Grainy (mentioned twice)
  • Like proplis and chunky
  • Not good, very crystalized
  • Ick
  • I hate the taste
  • Yeasty
  • Bitter bite
  • Good
Honey #6, Really Raw Honey (I need to find out which variety). Really Raw is a local honey from Maryland. It is advertized as "still contains pollen, propolis, honeycomb and live enzymes." We didn't include the gritty "cap" that lies on top of the honey when you first open the jar. Here's what the judges had to say:
  • I like it. It has kind of a blank taste
  • Sweet. It is really raw honey (remember, this was a blind tasting!)
  • Sweet, not in a good honey way
  • perfumy
  • tart sweet
  • creamy
  • like this one
Comments on honeys that ranked lower can be found HERE.

More GDAEman Blog Posts on the Honey Tasting:

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July 15, 2009

Honey Tasting Contest

I've just decided that I will roll out the results of our honey tasting contest over a few blog posts... 'cuz the reality is, the final post will have lots of yummy information!

Lets start with WTF is a honey tasting contest? In our case, we bought eight (8) different kinds of honey and invited people at a party to rank them on a scale of 1 - 10 on two attributes: 1) Distinctiveness and 2) Agreeability.

The results will be of interest to the brands we included, among others. The selection of our honeys was admittedly haphazard (that's a statistics term). HOWEVER, we did select them with the intent of providing our unsuspecting tasters with a range of flavors (we didn't "know" this, 'cuz we didn't taste the honeys in advance; we just used a little common sense; include a classic golden honey and a raw honey and tasters are pretty much guaranteed to be able to make a distinction.

Ah... that "distinction" concept. So, we judged the honeys using two categories (attributes), then combined the results of the individual attributes for a "Total" result and an over all winner. .....

So, what do we mean by distinctiveness and agreeability? Here's what we said in our honey tasting guidance:

1) Distinctive flavors stand out as being interesting, perhaps having a notable aroma. Distinctive flavors, however, might not be agreeable for regular use, perhaps being too strong in some way.

2) Agreeable flavors go beyond simply tasting sweet (it should have a honey flavor!!), but aren't so distinctive that they might offend someone, e.g., too yeasty.


We had local honeys (Maryland), honeys from Chile and New Zealand... and clover honey "North America." Descriptions and judge's comments on the honeys are included in the following blog posts.

More GDAEman Blog Posts on the Honey Tasting:

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July 14, 2009

More Reading and Less Writing

A more "personal" post... My blogging frequency has been down lately. With travel and partying, including preparing to host festivities, the world .... just keeps on keep'n on.

GDAE Podcast Episode 16 is under development, but admittedly behind. I've started another blog entitled "Challenge the Establishment " blog I'm inviting people to co-write with me... of course, the posts would have to be about challenging the staus quo and those who seek to impose it on the unwashed masses... that's us... we? ... the people.

OK. Enough said to constitute a legitimate post. Now for a little eye-candy.







Sources:

Photo Credit: lilminx16

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July 13, 2009

Kristin Diane Parker Photos

Nothing deep here, just tabloid curiosity. Poor girl messed up big-time.

DENVER July 24, 2009 – A grand jury indicted a surgery technician infected with hepatitis C on several charges Thursday (7/23/09), alleging she stole syringes with painkillers and replaced them with needles she had used. Prosecutors allege that at least 19 people contracted the disease as a result.










Sources:

Associated Press, Prosecutors tie Colo. tech to 19 hepatitis cases, July 24, 2009.

Photos: CBS

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July 11, 2009

Gov't has your E-mails and Web Searches

Has the government admitted that it routed a copy of an ATT internet trunk into a room in San Francisco where all of the information could be accessed? I don't think it has. Perhaps that is part of the "still highly classified" surveillance program that is making the so-called "news" as a result of an inspector general report being released.
... unlike the controversy over targeted wiretaps of individuals' phone calls, this potential spying appears to be applied wholesale to all sorts of internet communications of countless citizens. - Mark Klein, former ATT technician.

The government has powerful computer search tools to filter through the gobs of internet and e-mail data, including our data. We've seen the government conduct mass arrests during protests, sweeping up protesters, journalists and bystanders alike. So if they can gather and filter through people in broad day light, it stands to reason the government would have little compunction to do it with our private information.

My question is, why isn't the news media making reference to the revelations exposed by former ATT employee Mark Klein in their current reporting? The legal challenge brought by the Electronic Frontier Foundation with support from Klein seems to be a logical dot to connect.

Psssst... Do Something

Sources:

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July 9, 2009

The Peace Movement Lives


AfterDowningStreet.org

Read "A Plan to End the Wars" by David Swanson:
http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/plan

Post comments on that page and bring your thoughts and ideas to a national conference at which strategies to end the wars will be deliberated.

It's happening in Pittsburgh on July 10-12. The event is organized by the National Assembly to End the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars and Occupations:

Join us!
https://www.natassembly.org

After Downing Street on Facebook and Youtube and Twitter


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July 7, 2009

Too Irresistible

With Sarah Palin back in the news, this graphic image From the Left blog of in-over-her-head Palin was too irresistible to pass by.



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July 2, 2009

No Disrespect to Michael Jackson a GREAT performer

This is an very short, but well developed video of the change in Michael Jackson's appearance over the years>



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