Felix Hu

GTKayak attends the Jensen Classic Canoe & Kayak Race on the...

atnalta — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 15:22:43 -0500

GTKayak attends the Jensen Classic Canoe & Kayak Race on the Weeki Wachee River in Florida. Created and edited by moi!

An aurora in northern Norway due to the current solar storm...

atnalta — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 08:49:27 -0500

An aurora in northern Norway due to the current solar storm hitting Earth.

source: [Spaceweather Spotter] spaceweather.com

Venturing outside of my typical short grain rice and jasmine...

atnalta — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 11:01:13 -0500

Venturing outside of my typical short grain rice and jasmine rice has never been more exciting, especially when I get to play with all of these fragrant spices.

Source: [Indian Style Pilaf] felixfood

The Fast Life of Oscar Pistorius

atnalta — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 10:53:15 -0500

The Fast Life of Oscar Pistorius:

The “fastest man on no legs” may be Olympic-bound.

The Perennial Plate Episode 84: Dumpster Diver I’ll admit,...

atnalta — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 01:25:47 -0500

The Perennial Plate Episode 84: Dumpster Diver

I’ll admit, this is kind of infuriating how much food we waste when so many people are starving in the world. There’s no food science that can solve cultural stigmas and fear of litigation.

CAN SOPA!

atnalta — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 23:29:00 -0500

CAN SOPA!

Go me. Took Paule Caillat’s famous brown butter pastry...

atnalta — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 23:24:17 -0500

Go me. Took Paule Caillat’s famous brown butter pastry crust recipe and used it instead to make cookies. Drizzled and dunked in ganache. Served over mint macerated strawberries, blueberries, and whipped cream. I know, I know, not in season, but if Whole Foods is selling it, it’s okay right?

Jamie pointed out that farmed trees are not as hearty as they...

atnalta — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 17:03:35 -0500

Jamie pointed out that farmed trees are not as hearty as they would be in their native environment, and they’re more susceptible to diseases and damage from pests. Tree farms must apply pesticides and fungicides to prevent damage that could turn the needles yellow and make the trees un-sellable… Today, 98 percent of non-artificial Christmas trees sold worldwide come from Christmas tree farms.

So students at Berkeley are selling “free range” trees: “short little trees, with trunks that meandered left and right and branches that were sparse and uneven.”

How about we just get rid of the whole tree tradition to begin with?

Source: [O Perfect Christmas Tree] QUEST

President Barack Obama’s self-described “evolution” on same...

atnalta — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 09:45:00 -0500

President Barack Obama’s self-described “evolution” on same sex-marriage appears likely to end with a strategically timed (if low-key) pre-election announcement of his support for marriage equality.

Source: [Obama, the Courts, and Gay Marriage] The New Yorker

Why Asian Food is Superior (haha, j/k. only kinda sorta) A study...

atnalta — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 08:07:00 -0500

Why Asian Food is Superior (haha, j/k. only kinda sorta)

A study in the journal Nature examines why Asian cuisine tastes so different than Western cuisine.

According to the study, Western cuisines have a tendency to pair ingredients that share many of the same flavor compounds. East Asian cuisines, however, do precisely the contrary, avoiding ingredients that share the same flavor compounds. The more flavors two ingredients share, the less likely they would be paired together in Asian kitchens.

The cultural ramifications of this study will surely be great, especially in Western restaurants and schools that have been studying Eastern cuisine. And I hope it causes some of the more pretentious culinary folks out there to reconsider their ardent philosophy on food pairings.

From the Asian perspective, this is all well and good. Historically and philosophically, the concept of “yin and yang” has been applied to cuisine for, well, I dunno, a long time. I learned to cook this way from my parents. All cooking ingredients inherently have these “hot and cold” properties (not temperature) and you mustn’t overwhelm one with the other in any dish.

Cultural Food Rules a la Michael Pollan from the East to the West.

Source: [Why Does Asian Food Taste So Different From Western Food?] Gizmodo
Source: [Flavor network and the principles of food pairing] Nature

Slavery Footprint

atnalta — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 07:52:12 -0500

Slavery Footprint:

“I have 26 slaves working for me. Find out how many slaves work for you at SlaveryFootprint.org.”

A project of Made In A Free World, the results are by no means definitive, but certainly eye-opening. Something to think about this holiday season.

nycdigital: Photo of the proposed Cornell-Technion NYC...

atnalta — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 22:54:01 -0500

nycdigital:

Photo of the proposed Cornell-Technion NYC Engineering Campus from the Cornell University Facebook page

Oooh, if Spiderman came about from a lab at Columbia, we can only hope for something cooler from this new Cornell campus.

Satellite image of Kim Jong Il’s North Korea Source:...

atnalta — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 16:40:41 -0500

Satellite image of Kim Jong Il’s North Korea

Source: [Satellite Image Shows Kim Jong Il’s Dark Legacy] New Scientist

"Hope is definitely not the same thing as optimism. It is not the conviction that something will turn..."

atnalta — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 09:28:15 -0500

“Hope is definitely not the same thing as optimism. It is not the conviction that something will turn out well, but the certainty that something makes sense, regardless of how it turns out.”

- Vaclav Havel, 1936-2011

Source: [The Endlessly Quotable Vaclav Havel, 1936-2011] Gawker

Photo

atnalta — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 09:12:44 -0500

In June of 2005, I started an architecture internship at HOK in...

atnalta — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 07:51:00 -0500

In June of 2005, I started an architecture internship at HOK in New York. The very first week, they assigned me to a team that was working on a design competition for the renovation and modernization of Harlem Hospital. We were up against some heavy hitters, including the office of IM Pei. We won.

I didn’t know what the standard protocol was for office life, and I just assumed that it was like studio in architecture school. The day before the deadline, I wanted to make sure that my slides for the presentation were perfect: a series of 3D diagrams showing the stacking of the building, in three design options. I worked late, and then after everyone had left, I decided to stay and work through the night.

When my boss found out the next day that I spent the night, he gave me a concerned look, told me never to do it again, and then smiled at me. That day turned out to be another long one, and when I finally left in the evening, this was the first thing I saw as I stepped onto 18th Street. I quickly grabbed my camera out of my bag to snap a picture.

It’s kind of an absurd photo- a fit man in Chelsea pulling along his overweight dog in a roller wagon. But because of when I took the picture, I forever associate it with that experience. The reward of working hard with an amazing group of people, finishing, and watching the sun come up.

Credit: Christian Witkin Twelvebooks Source: [Christopher...

atnalta — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 12:28:14 -0500

Credit: Christian Witkin Twelvebooks

Source: [Christopher Hitchens has died: Fighter, doubter, provocateur] Los Angeles Times

Transparency and Technology: Secrets of Small Farm Success

atnalta — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 10:00:00 -0500

Transparency and Technology: Secrets of Small Farm Success:

“I believe transparency is perhaps the major economic advantage small producers have over large corporations. Their food chain is short, and easily made transparent and available to consumers via the web and apps,” says Beth Hoffman, managing editor of Food + Tech Connect, an influential blog that has been exploring how greater transparency in food industry data would not only improve food safety, but also enable discovery of healthier restaurants and recipes.

I thought this would’ve been a given. Always surprises me how often we forget about the value of honesty and integrity in our daily relationships. How to keep that real without the marketing wash is an issue, I guess.

Zeitgeist 2011: Year In Review The production value of these...

atnalta — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 01:08:00 -0500

Zeitgeist 2011: Year In Review

The production value of these videos are always spectacular and there are moments when it gets emotional. What struck me the most here was the way Google+ was being promoted. In the video, G+ looks slick and… social. They’ve got a long way to go to make the user experience that engaging!

I also thought the selection of music was too similar to last year’s. I guess it gets the job done.

[Google Zeitgeist 2011]

climateadaptation: This is one incredible temperature dataviz...

atnalta — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 18:43:27 -0500

climateadaptation:

This is one incredible temperature dataviz of Helsinki temperature 2010 by designer, nicotron. “Colourdar is a data visualization project annual temperature of different cities in a calendar format.”

See more of Nick’s temperature visualizations at: colourdar

Exquisite!