MAMA MIA

"LOOK MA! NO HANDS...OR FEET!"

New technologies are opening the world up to the blind.  But of all the crazy inventions and advances being made, this is by far  one of the most amazing things i have ever heard........

BLIND DRIVERS!!!!

Wavy Gravy and the ""Save a" Foundation

Wavy Gravy Alert!




I saw wavy at his 75th Bday party last year.  The Save A foundation does great work helping people get their vision back.  Help them out please.

The Mighty Quinn

I recently decided to start the process of getting a guide dog.  I heard it is a long and thorough process, I feel like the independence it would give to me would be worth any amount of time and effort.  A few calls, online applications, and forms later, I have a mobility test coming up on April 5th.

This morning I was reading through the blind news headlines on my google news.  I found the following story exciting and motivational.  I can only hope to accomplish something like this using the help and love of my future guide dog.

http://www.matildaziegler.com/2012/03/26/feature-writer-romeo-edmead-a-climb-on-the-dark-side/http://www.matildaziegler.com/2012/03/26/feature-writer-romeo-edmead-a-climb-on-the-dark-side/

I came here for an argument

TOP THAT!

no speaka da english?

http://www.rd.com/true-stories/survival/hiker-left-for-dead-on-mount-everest/3/http://www.rd.com/true-stories/survival/hiker-left-for-dead-on-mount-everest/3/

A Teddy Palindrome

Here you go Chowder...this is one of the best palindomes out there, and it refers to TR.

A man, a plan, a canal, Panama.

Read that one backwards.

Teddy Roosevelt: REAL FACTS

The "Teddy Bear" is a name that originated from the mercy of Teddy Roosevelt.  He found mercy on an elderly, injured bear during a hunt and the story was shared by political cartoonists.  

Here are some more details

No You Shouldn't

Foraging Party

Some friends and I are getting stoked for a foraging party (any excuse, right?) now that spring is nearby.  As opposed to our no-shower happy hours after work on occasional Fridays, this will be on a Sunday afternoon in deference to my farmgirl friends with little kids.  It'll also give us Saturday to gather some wild edibles.  I(we) know where watercress and upland cress is growing, so there is the salad, although I may have to "forage" some kale and spinach from the organic farm that's attached to my place of employment.  I also know of a killer patch of ramps (wild leeks), so there's the makings of ramp pesto and ramp hummus.  There are also a bunch of ostrich ferns here on the property where I'm living, so they'll provide us with fiddleheads (which taste like asparagus).  The missing link are the morels, but I've heard anecdotally about a spot, so we shall see.  It'd be nice to do a ramp/fiddlehead/morel sautee as they all take about the same time to cook.  One of the farmgirls has acorns, so hopefully she can make tortilla chips from the acorn flour.  Maybe some homemade spinach pasta.  Maybe we'll forage some beverages from the PA Liquor Control Board store and have ourselves a soiree.  If anyone has any other thoughts or may happen to be in the Philly area mid-to-late April, you're welcome to partake.  Let me or Chowder know.

Theme Song for the Day

This is not me singing, nor was the song/album named for my daughter, but since she and her dance troupe are performing in Philly today, it seems to be a fitting theme for the day.  Can't wait to see her!

A SLICE FOR A SNIP

I have heard of many pizza promotions.  Buy one get one free; free garlic bread with a pizza; free two liter and cheesy bread...

Now you can get a free pizza with your vasectomy!  That is right, get your sperm carrying vas deferens snipped in exchange http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2012-03-16/snip-slice-the-urology-center-that-offers-free-pizza-with-every-vasectomyfor a pizza.

Here's the cover for Shouting in the Dark--the book description I previously posted. The cover image is his self-portrait. Check out more titles from Globe Pequot Press at www.globepequot.com.

Steel and Glass

Shouting in the Dark Submitted by Libby Kingsbury

This is one of our books called Shouting in the Dark.

Description:

John Bramblitt makes his living as an artist. His works have been sold in
over twenty different countries. He’s received three Presidential Service
awards for the art workshops he teaches. He’s painted portraits of
skateboarder Tony Hawk, Dutch model Reni de Boer, and blues legend Pops
Carter. He’s given talks about his art at the Met in New York. There has
even been a documentary made about him. And . . . he’s blind.

When Bramblitt was declared legally blind ten years ago, his hopes of
becoming a creative writing teacher were shattered and he sunk into a
depression.  And then he discovered painting.  Bramblitt is able to
distinguish between different colored paints by the textures of the paints
themselves—he could see them with his fingers. He taught himself how to
paint using raised lines to help him find his way around the canvas. This is
the story of his life and his journey and how he finds his way back to
himself and others through art.

Bramlitt is also the subject of the award-winning documentary short
“Bramblitt.” http://www.bramblitt.net/documentary.htm (about 13 minutes)
* Bramlitt has given art workshops to kids and adults at schools, museums,
bookstores and art festivals.
* Check out his art at: http://bramblitt.net/.

               ORIENTAL NOODLE  SOUP WITH VEGETABLES AND CHICKEN

This is a hearty, one dish meal, easy, delicious and nutritious. If you have homemade chicken stock, use it now. If its been in the freezer, defrost it slowly in the pot to liquefy. If you have pre-made chicken soup, don’t use the vegetables cooked with the soup. You may also need to increase the liquid with canned stock/broth, use low/no salt commercial chicken stock, never bouillon cubes.

First you will need:

Raw chicken breast, skinned and trimmed of fat.

Baby Bok Choy, rinsed, cut into 1” pcs crosswise

Fresh spinach leaves, well cleaned and rinsed, cut off tough stems

½ Chinese cabbage, Savoy or other,  cut 1” pcs crosswise

6 lg. raw mushrooms, thick sliced

1 cup fresh or frozen baby pea pods

3 scallions/spring onions, rinsed, cut diagonally into ½ pcs.  Set aside ½ for garnish

1 can sliced water chestnuts, for crunch

1 lg. clove fresh garlic, finely minced

2 inched peeled fresh ginger

1 TBS or to taste, toasted sesame oil

2 TBS or to taste, low salt Soy Sauce

½ tsp or to taste garlic-chili paste (caution: this stuff is very spicy. Use with caution)

Fresh rinsed, chopped cilantro leaves, if desired.

1 TBS toasted sesame seeds.  Put in small frying pan, dry, over med heat, shake pan constantly until light brown.

Bring chicken stock/broth to boil, reduce to simmer. Check flavor and adjust.

Slice chicken on the diagonal into 1” wide slices. Where breast gets thick, slice it (carefully) horizontally placing non knife holding hand flat on chicken piece, sliding knife parallel to cutting board through chicken to make upper and lower slice. Now cut those into diagonal

1” pieces. Put all chicken into gently simmering broth. Cook till tender and just done, or slightly pink inside. This will take no more than 5 min.

Remove chicken and put aside on plate.

Put all vegetables and flavorings into simmering water, cook briefly if you like some crispness left in the vegs.

Add chicken back to pot, simmer all briefly

Add ½ lb Japanese Udon, Soba, or Ramen noodles, already cooked according to package.

Stir well, simmer a few minutes, serve hot sprinkled with chopped scallion, and toasted sesame seeds.

Steer Clear of Santorini!

It may look beautiful  but......

that volcano is about to blow!

Teddy Roosevelt: REAL FACTS

• `Teddy could shake over 50 hands per minute, and shook 8,150 hands in a single day

Who was George Vernon Hudson?

SUBMITTED BY SCOTT VALES

Daylight savings time always seemed like a stupid ritual to me.  The extra hour of sleep gained in the fall is angrily forgotten in the spring when you lose an hour.  So where did this custom come from?  Who would think of such a bizarre practice?

It seems to make sense now


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/09/daylight-savings-time-history-george-vernon-hudson_n_1333378.html

Earth Hour 2012

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FovYv8vf5_E

Reclaim Your Mind

A blind man's swiss army phone...

Some of these applications seem pretty amazing.  Will be testing them soon.

http://appadvice.com/applists/show/apps-for-the-visually-impaired

chicken soup

                           SUSAN G’S CHICKEN SOUP/STOCK (BROTH)

Chicken Soup and Chicken stock are the same thing, with a few differences. Chicken stock is one of the fundamentals of good cooking, and allows you to make almost any soup, sauce, veg dish, stew, more tasty and professional.  It is usually made in large quantities, the liquid simmers for a longer time to evaporate the water and concentrate the chicken flavor. It becomes richer and darker. The solids are discarded, or the chicken can be used in other dishes, like a chicken salad. Stock can be kept frozen for use when needed in the freezer (about 2 months or so) or used within 2-3 days  from the fridge. Chicken soup has the solids left in, and cooks a shorter time.. If freezing either soup or stock, allow to cool down before putting in freezer.

You will need: for soup  (for stock try to increase ingredients so you have enough to freeze, or have a chicken soup party or know lots of people with colds.) Remember to have freezeable containers ready to fill for freeze or fridge.

First You Need:

1 very sharp 8” or 10” chefs knife.

1 very large, two handled soup pot

1  3-4 lb  chicken cut into parts, add extra wings, legs etc if desired… rinsed, all internal organs discarded,

Remove as much fat and skin as possible, save neck for pot soup.

Approx 5 quarts cold water

 1 tablespoon (TBS) salt

Cover pot and bring water to boil, add chicken, salt , and reduce heat to simmer. Cook until chicken is just done; do not overcook or you will cook out the chicken flavor. ½ hr should do. (For stock, you want all the flavor you can get from the solids into the liquid) so it cooks longer, discard solids.  Cook stock 3 hrs.

A foam will develop on top as soup cooks…it is protein and fats. Skim and discard.

Remove chicken, set aside in bowl. If you like whole pieces in the soup, leave them big, if you like smaller pieces, remove meat with your fingers when meat is cool,

Second You Need:

2        Lg  yellow onions cut into eights.

3        Carrots, pared and cut into 1” pcs                                                                                              

3     Stalks celery including leaves, washed well, chopped and cut stalks into ½ in pcs. Discard lg. ends

2    Leeks (if desired) white part only, then slit lengthwise, while holding leaves loosely, wash very well under       strong flow of water. Leeks are often sandy between the leaves

1        Bunch of parsley, washed very well of any sand. Discard stems, chop leaves with chef’s knife.

1        Tablespoon Chicken bouillon concentrate, do not use bouillon cubes. (Easy to find as “Better Than Bouillon” or other paste-like chicken concentrate. This added to soups really kicks up the flavor.

1     Bag/box wide or thin  Noodles, thick or thin add just 10 min or less before finish time or they will fall apart

1        box of frozen peas, do not defrost

Add to pot all vegetables except peas, simmer until carrots and celery are barely tender. In 15 min, add chicken back to pot and continue simmering, skimming foam as it develops. Be careful not to overcook vegetables or they will be mushy when you re-heat at future time.  Taste and correct for salt and add pepper if desired.  To fortify flavor, add another spoon of chicken paste concentrate, stir well to dissolve.

Remember, you can reduce amount of liquid in soup to enrich flavor, but remove solids so as not to overcook them. Add frozen peas stir well.

NEXT TIME, OTHER SOUPS YOU CAN MAKE USING THE CHICKEN STOCK

    

                                                                                                                                                                          

Psycho Killer

Navigation for the Blind

The Iphone is opening new doors to the blind everyday.  From helping identify items at the grocery store, to checking the color of a shirt, new ideas are becoming reality.    

This morning I read the following article about integrating an Iphone app with navigating the streets of Golden Valley, minnesota.  The basic premise of the application is that a blind person could activate the "cross street" button at a crosswalk.  In addition you  could receive information on how  many lanes to cross and the street you are crossing.  all and all some pretty amazing stuff.

Blind Surfer Derek Rabelo

The concept of surfing anywhere without being able to see is almost inconceivable, but Brazil's Derek Rabelo not only rides waves, he recently surfed at the notorious Banzai Pipeline on Oahu's North Shore. The waves weren't large by Pipeline standards, and Rabelo enjoyed help from Makua Rothman and other locals. But that doesn't diminish a feat that's both amazing and inspirational, because the blind surfer did paddle through oncoming surf and ride overhead waves on his own, fulfilling a dream and proving that physical limitations can be overcome with desire and perseverance. Watch the video -- fast-forward to the 1:00 mark for his first ride -- and see if you agree: '

Soda is bad for you??

Yes it is true.  But knew research shows that maybe for additional reasons then we thought.  apparently "caramel coloring" is a cancer causing agent.  And it sounded so natural and harmless.........

Iphone opens doors to blind!!!

Well this does it...I need an Iphone.

Braille Keypad

Submitted by Dave Buckley"

CNN Story

http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/bestoftv/2012/02/25/nr-smartphone-braille-keyboard.cnn

Robo-bond

Submitted by Hank Kranichfeld