Your Daily Posterous Spaces Update

	November 22nd, 2012 All Hail the Sweet Potato Posted 1 day ago by markbittman to bittman 1 For more than 30 consecutive Thanksgivings — including this one — I’ve written about turkey in all of its guises. Occasionally I’ve protested, pleading with editors that although the bird in its wild form may be traditional and is indisputably indigenous, whether the one you buy is free-range, wild, natural, organic, pumped up with antibiotics or even injected with “butter,” it’s just about the worst piece of meat you can roast.  At the hands of all but the most experienced, careful or lucky cooks, the more than 700 million pounds of turkey we’ll buy this week will wind up with breast meat that’s cottony-dry and leg meat that is underdone, tough, stringy or all three. And although a friend of mine claims that this is how people like it — “it’s exactly how our grandmothers did it, and it’s what we grew up with,” he says — I believe this explains why we waste an estimated $282 million worth of turkey each year, enough to feed each food-insecure American with 11 servings. Read the rest of this column here. To sense bomb vapor, device mimics dogs Posted 1 day ago by Futurity to Holy Kaw! 3 Embedded media -- click here to see it. A new detector could put bomb-sniffing dogs out of business. "Dogs are still the gold standard for scent detection of explosives. But like a person, a dog can have a good day or a bad day, get tired or distracted," says UC Santa Barbara mechanical engineer Carl Meinhart. "We have developed a device with the same or better sensitivity as a dog’s nose that feeds into a computer to report exactly what kind of molecule it’s detecting." Full story at Futurity. More research news from top universities. Are consumers ready to embrace social commerce? Posted 1 day ago by SmartBrief to Holy Kaw! 2 SmartPulse — our weekly nonscientific reader poll in SmartBrief on Social Media — tracks feedback from leading marketers about social media practices and issues. This week, we asked: Have you ever bought something through a social platform? No — 87.32% Yes — 12.68% Full story at SmartBrief Social Media. More SmartBrief stories. Photo credit: Fotolia Ironing a masterpiece [video] Posted about 21 hours ago by Kate Rinsema to Holy Kaw! 3 Some people have a knack for ironing, others don’t, but artist Philips goes above and beyond the call of duty by wrinkling his sheets in the shapes of artistic masterpieces. This isn’t any exercise in finding vague resemblances, though; Philips’ creations for ad agency DDB Russia include Vermeer's The Girl with the Pearl Earring, van Gogh's Self-Portrait with Bandaged Ear, and Rembrandt's Self Portrait with Beret and Turned-Up Collar. Sure, Mom might knock your ironing abilities, but can she do this? On second thought, better not bring it up. Embedded media -- click here to see it. Full story at DDB Russia via My Modern Met. Domestic arts. Should you try to fix the toilet? [flowchart] Posted about 20 hours ago by Kate Rinsema to Holy Kaw! 4 When guests come a-callin’ for a holiday as full of good eats as Thanksgiving is, there are sure to be problems cropping up in the most inconvenient of places, so it’s best to be prepared when emergency strikes. This flowchart by Bite.ca probably isn’t the preparation you need. Full story at Bite.ca via I Love Charts. Holiday humor. Calm holiday nerves by getting physical Posted about 20 hours ago by Kate Rinsema to Holy Kaw! 4 When things start getting hot in the kitchen, classic wisdom says to get out, and it just so happens that’s just what the doctor ordered. “When times get crazy, the thing people give up is exercise, and that’s the key thing a person needs. When a person is excitable from stress, the burst of energy that you get from exercise can help burn the adrenaline off and calm you down,” said Erica Christ, RD, CDE, an exercise physiologist at Greenwich Hospital’s Weight Loss & Diabetes Center. “Exercise allows you time to focus, and gives you a sense of mindfulness that makes the other pieces of your life fall into place,” added Christ. For those with a regular exercise regime, that means making it a priority on the to-do list rather than dismissing it in the rush to get everything done, especially at this busy time of year. And if an hour of exercise can make a whole holiday that much happier, it will be well worth the effort. Also be sure to check out the article for helpful hints on healthy eating, but, hey, pumpkin’s a vegetable*, right? *Fruit Full story at Newswise. Staying sane and healthy. Photo credit: Fotolia Sent by Posterous. Change your email settings or unfollow. Other questions? We'd love to help.