Gigabiting

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You drink too much soda.

Last year Americans consumed 50 billion liters of soda. That comes to 216 liters for every man, woman, and child. Not you? Someone is drinking all that soda.

This is not like pineapples from Hawaii or lobsters from Maine—it’s water and flavoring and some CO2 for carbonation—the stuff could come from anywhere. And sparkling water? We haul San Pellegrino from Italy like it’s Prosciutto di Parma. Oceans of corn syrup, mountains of glass and plastic waste, money, fossil fuels; this is wrong on so many levels I don’t know where to begin. Read entire article.

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The great kitchen divide.

Cooks of the world, pick a side. Will it be the press or the knife? Do you extrude or do you mince?

The argument:

The garlic press is a one-trick pony.

No one wants a space-squandering uni-tasker in the kitchen. But a garlic press can press more than just garlic: try it to crack peppercorns, cumin and coriander seeds; press out the skinless flesh of olives, capers, anchovies, and canned chipotles; or use it to press small quantities of onion or shallot juice. Read entire article.

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Of course you should make your own ice cream.

It’s fresher than what you’ll buy, with no artificial flavors, stabilizers, or weird freezer taste. You control the ingredients: high-fat or low, dairy or not, honey-sweetened or sugar; and you can stretch your creativity with flavors and add-ins. Read entire article.

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What are you waiting for?!

There is a stove out there that cooks faster than what you have. The heat is instantaneous and adjusts with precision. It steals a mere 2 inches of cabinet space when installed. It’s safer, cleaner, cheaper to run, and better for the environment than the gas or electric cooktop you are currently using.

We are talking about induction cooking.

A traditional cooktop gets hot so that it can heat the pan, and the pan heats the food. An induction stovetop does not get hot. There is a high-frequency electromagnet in place of a gas burner or electric heating element. Read entire article.

image courtesy of Unrealities
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Hackers have a bad reputation.

We think of disaffected, anti-social teenagers looking to wreak a little havoc on society, and bottom-rung hoodlums in former eastern bloc countries trolling online for credit cards.

Hackers with a higher calling.

Wikipedia defines hacking as re-configuring or re-programming to give the user access to features that were otherwise unavailable. Hackers are credited with vast improvements to functionality. They devise elegant solutions that elevate clumsy technology to an art form.

Nefarious criminal uses, according to Wikipedia, are more correctly called ‘cracking’. Read entire article.

Creative Commons image by anomalous4
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To those of you who don’t own a rice cooker…

I know what you’re thinking. What self-respecting home cook keeps a one-hit wonder? Especially a single-purpose appliance that hogs counter space AND requires electricity.

To those of you who have one…