Thursday, September 26, 2013

Remember Ann?

 

Ann Makosinski is the young scientist we first noticed in July when she demonstrated her innovative flashlight powered only by the heat of the human hand. At that time the Grade 10 student from Victoria, BC was looking forward to participating in the Google Science Fair 2013, an annual international event.

Ann is a science fair veteran and must have wowed the judges because she was one of the big winners this year, coming first in her 15/16 year old category. Winning in her age group means a $25,000 scholarship which will enable her to continue her passion for science and electronics.

Other winners included Eric Chen, a 17-year old American, winning both his age category and the grand prize for his anti-flu medicine, 16-year old Elif Bilgin of Turkey, who created bioplastics from banana peels and 14-year old Viney Kumar of Australia who came up with a new signalling device for emergency vehicles.

Tuesday, September 24, 2013

More Body Art

For a woman who has never worn make-up, I'm strangely fascinated by body art. Go figure!

 Photo
 
 
 
Okay....I know this last one is a sculpture but I really like it and thought I'd tack it on at the end.
 

Thursday, September 19, 2013

Eyebrow Art

A couple of years ago I was fascinated by these eyebrows by Canadian make-up artist, Katie Alves (this is one of the photos from this post of June, 2011) :



Here are a few of her more recent works:
 
Cinderella
 
Seven Deadly Sins (Wrath)
 
Queen of Hearts
 
Cheshire Cat
 

And don't you love these photos of eye/eyebrow art by Tal Peleg, a self-described painter, animator, sculptor, lighter?
 
 
The Art of Make Up by Tal Peleg
 
 
The Art of Make Up by Tal Peleg
 
The Art of Make Up by Tal Peleg
 
 
The Art of Make Up by Tal Peleg

 
 
 
 


Saturday, September 14, 2013

The Wonder of Hummingbirds

Last night Don told me that the hummingbirds at the cottage have departed for the season, on their way to southern warmer climes. At the same time, this video arrived from Linda, so I thought I'd share it.



Tuesday, September 10, 2013

Cranberry Joy

Do you like cranberry sauce with your Thanksgiving turkey?

Apparently no cranberries were injured in this wakeboarding spree. If they all get turned into juice anyway, what does it matter?



Thursday, September 5, 2013

Is Fowl Foul?

Canadian Thanksgiving is just over a month away. Time to think about poultry!

Do you wash your roasting chicken before prepping it for the oven? I have always rinsed chickens and turkeys, inside and out, before roasting. It just felt right. I wonder if I'm a rinser because my mother was....

The late great Julia Child promoted chicken-rinsing and her word was gospel, wasn't it?


 
One thing I would NEVER (shudder!!) do, is plop my raw chicken on a wooden cutting board or touch my glasses without first thoroughly washing my hands.
 
Now food safety experts are telling us NOT to wash the chicken, washing being both unnecessary and possibly even less safe, since the  process of rinsing the bird can cause bacteria on the skin of the chicken to be spread to other surfaces in the kitchen, even as far as 3 feet away.
 
 
 



Apparently the most important thing to remember is to cook the chicken or turkey to the correct internal temperature before removing it from the oven: 165°F, according to both the FDA and Health Canada.

I'm not sure I'm convinced and old habits are hard to break.