Power Up Your Sense of Smell with a Little Practice

Your sense of smell isn't quite the survival skill it used to be, but it's still important for detecting dangerous food, or rooting out uncommon odors. As it turns out, your sense of smell deteriorates over time, but the Wall Street Journal shows you how to protect that sense and even sharpen it a little.

Unlike sight, you can actually increase your ability to smell. This is great, because not only does losing your sense of smell make it so you can't sniff out odors, it also affects taste and how you perceive flavor. The good news? You can increase your sense of smell with a little practice. First off, you need to test how good at smelling you are:

Close your eyes and taste a little vanilla and chocolate ice cream. "If you can't taste the difference, you may have a problem," he says. Or hold a pad soaked in rubbing alcohol just beyond your chin. If you can smell it, your sense of smell is probably fine.

Next up, it's time for a couple of the easiest exercises you've ever done:

Be scent-conscious in your day-to-day life. "If you're drinking a cup of coffee or tea, actually smell it before you drink it, and when eating food, smell it first." he says. "If you do this on a regular basis, you will increase your sense of smell."

Alternately, you can take a more proactive approach:

To help train the brain to discern differences among scents, Dr. Hirsch recommends what he calls "sniff therapy." Choose three or four different types of scents that you find pleasant?say, a floral scent, such as those found in shampoo or soap; a fruity scent from berries, a banana or some other resilient fruit; and another, different scent, like coffee... Sniffing these scents frequently, around four to six times each day, will eventually spark different receptors in the nose to work.

It might seem silly, but losing your sense of smell means you can't detect gas leaks or spoiled foods. Head over to the Wall Street Journal for a few more exercises.

Uncork the Nose's Secret Powers | Wall Street Journal

Photo by Tobyotter.

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/lifehacker/full/~3/qDFQApdUGrk/how-to-power-up-your-sense-of-smell

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4 in 10 have had an office romance, survey finds

ABC

Workplace romance is a staple of TV shows, and not that uncommon in real life, either.

By Allison Linn, TODAY

Love across the cubicle walls is pretty commonplace, but you may not want to hold out for your co-worker sweetheart to put a ring on it.

A just-in-time for Valentine?s Day survey from jobs website CareerBuilder finds that 39 percent of workers have dated a co-worker at least once over the course of their career.

Still, only 30 percent of those who had dated a co-worker said the romance led to marriage.

The online survey of more than 4,000 workers was conducted by Harris Interactive in November.

The survey also found that most co-workers had dated a peer, but three in 10 admitted to dating their boss or someone else above them in the hierarchy.

Most people were open about their office romance, but a substantial minority ? 35 percent ? said they?d kept their romance confidential.

{"contentId":"16938796","totalVotes":"4072"}

Are office romances common at your workplace?

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Source: http://lifeinc.today.com/_news/2013/02/13/16938796-4-in-10-have-had-an-office-romance-survey-finds?lite

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Boy Scouts Board Member ?Shamed? at Pebble Beach Pro-Am Golf Tournament

SHAME ON YOU, RANDALL

---

FOREST, Va., Standard Newswire?AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson was publicly confronted yesterday at the PGA golf tournament in Pebble Beach, California for his role in pushing homosexuality on the Boy Scouts of America.

Family Policy Network contracted an aerial advertising company that flew an airplane banner with the words, ?SHAME ON YOU, RANDALL? over the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am on Sunday morning from 11 a.m to noon, local time.

AT&T was the main corporate sponsor of the tournament. Randall Stephenson is the Boy Scouts of America National Executive Board member who is pushing to remove Christian virtues from the scouting experience.

FPN President Joe Glover said, ?Randall Stephenson?s support for open homosexuality in the Boy Scouts of America is an affront to the values of the institution. It would be impossible for a scout to be ?morally straight? while simultaneously rejecting God?s prohibition against same-sex behavior.?

Glover added, ?Homosexuality, like any other sin, should never be embraced as an identity. It leads to devastating emotional, physical and spiritual consequences. Therefore, individual scouts should urge friends trapped in its snare to repent and seek God?s forgiveness through the Lord, Jesus Christ.?

For more information:

Source: http://canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/53034

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So-Called 'Snowpocalypse' Brings a Day of Constant Snowfall, but Not Much Else

Yahoo! News is gathering brief first-person accounts, photos and video from the severe winter weather in the northeastern United States. Here's one resident's story.

FIRST PERSON | STAMFORD, Conn. -- As night falls in Connecticut, the sky remains alive with fat flakes of snow weaving gentle paths to the six inches already accumulated and the even deeper banks and piles. Bodies of snowmen built during daylight hours succumb to the relentless white tides, blown by the occasional gusts. In the morning, only heads will remain, peering out over a frozen wasteland.

Or so was predicted by early forecasts. In truth, the snow is indeed still falling and the occasional snowman can be seen (and is being buried ever-deeper), but Winter Storm Nemo, snowpocalypse, Nemogeddon, or whatever it's being called has ended its first day with a whimper.

Six inches, no match for my Toro Power Max snow-blower, once sat in my driveway, but now grace my lawn in piles; another layer of snow softening their edges. There's probably an inch or so that has since fallen, which will be handled in the morning.

The day was largely uneventful. Nothing distinguishes Nemo from a typical heavy snowstorm. The temperature has been a moderately cold (30 degrees), the wind has not been a significant player, and the snow itself has accumulated, but not greatly and only over 12 hours.

Personal highlights included my 1-year-old's first appearance in falling snow, sledding with my 3-year-old, and sipping hot chocolate with the family in front of a non-functional fireplace. Sure, I worked remotely, cleaned up a bit, and spent some time clearing snow off the pavement, but at no point did the storm create any real problems in my household.

One recent reports calls for the heaviest snowfall to begin at 9 p.m. Another indicates the snow will taper-off at nine and be finished by midnight. Either way, tomorrow will be another day of shoveling, sledding, and hot chocolate. Time will tell whether it will bring more.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/called-snowpocalypse-brings-day-constant-snowfall-not-much-015200201.html

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Beth Fish Reads: Weekend Cooking: Teen Cuisine New Vegetarian ...

Weekend Cooking is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share: Book (novel, nonfiction) reviews, cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, quotations, photographs. If your post is even vaguely foodie, feel free to grab the button and link up anytime over the weekend. You do not have to post on the weekend. Please link to your specific post, not your blog's home page. For more information, see the welcome post.

_______

Nowadays, there's hardly a family or group of friends that doesn't include at least one vegetarian and perhaps even a vegan. Cookbook author, chef, and ex-TV star, Matthew Locricchio is an expert in recipes suited to kids and teens, which means his Teen Cuisine New Vegetarian is sure to be a hit with many young cooks and their parents.

Locricchio starts out with simple tips and information for beginning cooks and for those who are just starting out as vegetarians. His goal is to provide a core repertoire of dishes that have a range of flavors, are fairly easy to put together, and are appealing to both teen and adult vegetarians of all kinds. The book's mouth-watering recipes, from breakfast to dessert, offer modern versions of familiar foods plus some surprises.

Teen Cuisine New Vegetarian is printed on sleek but nonglossy paper and uses an earthy green and gold color scheme. Handy icons quickly point out which recipes are good for vegans and which for vegetarians who prefer raw foods. Scattered throughout the book are helpful chef's tips that ensure success. Besides introductions, beautiful full-page photographs, and clear ingredient lists, recipes are divided into fun and helpful "On your mark," "Get set," and "Cook!" sections that help teens develop the habit of preparing ingredients and gathering supplies before turning on the heat.

Most teens will appreciate the obvious respect Locricchio has for them. The recipes have not been dumbed down for young cooks and provide a global range of flavors. None of the recipes is difficult to make, but some require more time and perhaps a bit of patience. There is a quick egg scramble with Mexican seasonings as well as several versions of hand-rolled vegetarian sushi.

Another plus is that Teen Cuisine New Vegetarian doesn't rely heavily on soy products and fake meats. One or two recipes call for tempeh and at least one calls for tofu, but in general, Locricchio has developed dishes based on fresh vegetables, beans, and some grains. Vegans will, however, welcome the optional soy dairy products.

Here are a few of the recipes that look particularly good to me and I know would also appeal to my teenage, vegetarian niece (who also likes to cook):

• Sloppy Janes, which are full-flavored and mushroom based
• New Waldorf salad, which includes jalapenos and fennel
• Hodgepodge, which is quinoa based and has bright flavors
• Curried vegetarian stir-fry, which is perfect for summer and is shown in the scan
• Cupcakes, chocolate and vanilla with both flavors of frosting

If you have a vegetarian teen in your house, Teen Cuisine New Vegetarian would be a welcome addition. But note that the cookbook is perfect for beginning cooks of all ages and anyone who is new to vegetarianism. I was also happy to see that most of the recipes would work for people on a gluten-free diet, and of course the vegan dishes are perfect for those with a dairy allergy.

Here's quick drink snack that works for both vegetarians and vegans.

Strawberry Lassi
Serves 2

• 1 cup (10 to 12) fresh or frozen strawberries
• 1? cups plain whole-milk yogurt or soy yogurt
• ? cup cold water
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1 teaspoon ground cardamom
• 5 to 6 ice cubes, plus more for serving

On your mark, get set . . .

If you are using fresh strawberries, wash them and let them drain in a colander, tossing them lightly, to remove any excess water. Cut away any dark spots or soft brown sections from the berries. Remove the stems. The tip of a teaspoon works well for this. Slice the strawberries in half and put in a blender.

If you are using frozen strawberries, let the whole berries partially thaw in a bowl. Transfer them to a blender.

Blend!

Add the yogurt, water, sugar, cardamom, and ice to the blender in the order given and press firmly in place.

Blend at high speed for 20 seconds, or until smooth.

Divide between two glasses and serve immediately.

Buy Teen Cuisine New Vegetarian at an Indie or a bookstore near you. This link leads to an affiliate program.
Published by Amazon publishing, 2012
ISBN-13: 9780761462583
Rating: B+
Source: Review (see review policy)
Copyright ? cbl for Beth Fish Reads, all rights reserved (see review policy).

Source: http://www.bethfishreads.com/2013/02/weekend-cooking-teen-cuisine-new.html

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What Are Dogs Saying When They Bark? [Excerpt]

In this excerpt from a new book, two canine intelligence researchers explain how dogs use barks to communicate

By Brian Hare and Vanessa Woods

Image: Dutton, a Member of Penguin Group

Excerpt from The Genius of Dogs: How Dogs Are Smarter Than You Think, by Brian Hare and Vanessa Woods. Published by Dutton, a Member of Penguin Group (USA), Inc. ? 2013 Brian Hare and Vanessa Woods. Excerpted with permission from the publisher. All Rights Reserved.

Mystique is a dog who lives at Lola ya Bonobo, [the wildlife sanctuary in the Democratic Republic of the Congo] where Vanessa and I study bonobos. During the day, she is sweet and demure, but at night she becomes a different animal. She guards our house, barking ferociously every time someone comes within earshot. Usually in Congo, a little extra security is appreciated. The only problem is that our house is on the main trail where the night staff walk back and forth after dark. Mystique dutifully barks at all passersby whether she has known them for a day or all her life. Eventually, we just learned to sleep through it. But if there was really a cause for concern, like a strange man with a gun, I wonder if Mystique would bark in a way that would alert me that there was something dangerous and different about the person approaching the house.

Dog vocalizations may not sound very sophisticated. Raymond Coppinger pointed out that most dog vocalizations consist of barking, and that barking seems to occur indiscriminately. Coppinger reported on a dog whose duty was to guard free- ranging livestock. The dog barked continuously for seven hours, even though no other dogs were within miles. If barking is communicative, dogs would not bark when no one could hear them. It seemed to Coppinger that the dog was simply relieving some inner state of arousal. The arousal model is that dogs do not have much control over their barking. They are not taking into account their audience, and their barks carry little information other than the emotional state of the barking dog.

Perhaps barking is another by-product of domestication. Unlike dogs, wolves rarely bark. Barks make up as little as 3 percent of wolf vocalizations. Meanwhile, the experimental foxes in Russia [that have been bred to be docile] bark when they see people, while the control foxes do not. Frequent barking when aroused is probably another consequence of selecting against aggression.

However, more recent research indicates that there might be more to barking than we first thought. Dogs have fairly plastic vocal cords, or a ?modifiable vocal tract.? Dogs might be able to subtly alter their voices to produce a wide variety of different sounds that could have different meanings. Dogs might even be altering their voices in ways that are clear to other dogs but not to humans. When scientists have taken spectrograms, or pictures, of dog barks, it turns out that not all barks are the same?even from the same dog. Depending on the context, a dog?s barks can vary in timing, pitch, and amplitude. Perhaps they have different meanings.

I know two Australian dogs, Chocolate and Cina, who love to play fetch on the beach. Each throw sends them plunging through the waves, racing for that magic orb of rubber. When Chocolate retrieves the ball, inevitably Cina wrestles the ball from Chocolate?s mouth, even while Chocolate growls loudly. The girls also eat together, but when Cina tries the same trick with Chocolate?s food, the result is very different. A quiet growl from Chocolate warns Cina away.

It is difficult to see how Cina knows when it is okay to take something from Chocolate?s mouth, since both growls are made when Chocolate is aggravated and unwilling to share. If anything, Chocolate?s growl seems louder and scarier when she is playing than when she is eating.

Experiments have now shown that dogs use different barks and growls to communicate different things. In one experiment, researchers recorded a ?food growl? where a dog was growling over food, and a ?stranger growl? where a dog was growling at the approach of a stranger. The researchers played these different growls to a dog who was approaching a juicy bone. The dogs were more hesitant to approach if they heard the food growl rather than the stranger growl.

Source: http://rss.sciam.com/click.phdo?i=4bc36a725d938a03568c52cabd8b25d4

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Male caregivers face gender bias at work

By Martha C. White

As a growing number of men adopt the role of caregiver to their children or elderly parents, they?re fighting outdated gender norms in the workplace ? a battle experts say will eventually usher in changes that benefit both male and female employees.

?Men who do take the time as caregivers are more likely to be seen as less committed to work because they?re violating gender norms,? said Kelli K. Garcia, a former fellow at O?Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law and current adjunct professor at the Georgetown University Law Center.

?The law does in this country does protect the ability to take leave? for both men and women, said Eileen Appelbaum, senior economist at the Center for Economic and Policy Research. ?I think a lot of companies don?t realize that,? she said.

Joan Williams, director of the Center for WorkLife Law at the University of California ? Hastings, said both men and women can be subject to what she termed a ?flexibility stigma.? It can be an issue for women seeking a part-time or flex-time schedule, but for men, ?It?s typically triggered if they even try to take leave,? she said.

Demographic factors are behind the increasing number of men taking on the role of caregiver. The recession relegated many men, especially young men, to periods of unemployment or underemployment. At the same time, women have taken on more of their families? financial obligations. A Prudential Financial study published last year?found that 53 percent of women are the primary breadwinner, and 22 percent make more money than their spouse. ?Among female breadwinners, nearly a third say they earn more than their spouse as a direct result of the challenging economy,? the report said.

There also has been a shift in cultural norms that?s propelled men into caregiving roles, said Williams. ?A group of young men is really drawing a line in the sand and saying ?I don?t want to do it the way my father?s generation did it,?? she said. ?They?re caught between that ideal and workplaces that haven?t caught up.?

?As women have learned, you have to assert the fact that this is not a ?choice,?? Appelbaum said. It appears that more of them are doing just that: roughly 12 percent of the lawsuits filed alleging family responsibilities discrimination in the workplace are filed by men.

The experts think this number is bound to grow. According to a study published in 2009 by the National Alliance for Caregiving in collaboration with the AARP, nearly 30 percent of Americans perform at least some caregiving tasks for relatives, and about one-third of caregivers are men. ?I think it?s clear that the demands on men as well as women are going to increase in terms of family care,? Appelbaum said.

In California, which began mandating paid family leave in 2004, the effect on men?s participation in caregiving is measurable, Appelbaum said. The number of men taking leave to care for a relative rose slightly between 2004 and 2012, from 30 percent to 33 percent, but the number taking time off after the birth of a child nearly doubled, climbing from 17 percent to 29 percent in that same time. ?When we talk to HR managers about this... they told us that once the leaves were paid, it became more acceptable,? Appelbaum said.

Advocates for more flexible workplaces say men?s involvement ultimately will have a snowball effect that will lead to positive change. ?The real advantage of having men taking leave is that when the issue of leave and the issue of caregiving is not just a women?s issue, you?re more likely to get good policies and not get gender-based judgments,? Garcia said.

?The more that men start taking leave and it becomes normalized and expected, then those judgments are going to change,? she said. ?We?re at a moment where... we have this opportunity to change the workplace culture."?

Source: http://lifeinc.today.com/_news/2013/02/08/16887815-male-caregivers-face-gender-bias-at-work?lite

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