Building Unity Farm - Winter Fermentations
It's the dead of winter in New England, with new snow on the ground and temperatures near zero. The animals are clustered together in their barn spaces and heated buckets are keeping their water liquid.There are many indoor tasks to do on the farm during winter - sharpening chain saw chains and other tools, reorganizing the workbench, ordering seeds, planning for Spring planting (we've been tractor shopping), and nurturing all the fermentations begun in the Fall.Our fermentations include 3 kinds of cider, mead, cyser (a mixture of cider and honey), vinegar, sourdough,sauerkraut, and fermented pickles. H...
Source: Life as a Healthcare CIO - January 23, 2014 Category: Technology Consultants Source Type: blogs
Health Care Social Media Review #44: Antagonism Edition
It’s pretty darn cold outside. Therefore not a bad opportunity to stay inside and write about social media.
A number of our posts this time around focus on doctor ratings sites:
MD Whistleblower is emblematic of doctors who trash physician ratings sites without actually bothering to read what’s on them, in this case offering a number of hypothetical (i.e., fictional) comments as evidence that the sites are no good. Most people wouldn’t criticize a movie without seeing it or write a review of a car without driving it, but somehow many docs know –somehow– that doctor rating sites are no good.
Do...
Source: Health Business Blog - January 8, 2014 Category: Health Managers Authors: David Williams Tags: Blogs Policy and politics Source Type: blogs
Response to Misleading WaPo Hospice Article: Part the Second
(If you missed Part 1, you can read it here. If you don’t have time, here is the quick summary. The Washington Post wrote an article December 26th, 2013 claiming hospice care was taking billions from Medicare presumably in waste and fraud. This series offers a critical review debunking the claims and offering a more insightful view of the challenges hospices face. - Ed. Sinclair) 6) Did these hospices enroll patients inappropriately? This is the element that most needs to be addressed. The only real way to assess this is by checking the documentation for the individual hospices in question. If there had been a report...
Source: Pallimed: A Hospice and Palliative Medicine Blog - January 8, 2014 Category: Palliative Carer Workers Authors: Bruce Scott Source Type: blogs
Building Unity Farm - Making Mead and Cyser
The entire family visited Unity Farm for the holidays. After all the gift giving, merry making, and yuletide time by the fire was over, what should a family do at a farm with apples, honey, fermentation equipment (there's a basic chemistry lab in the cider house), spring water, and microbiology know-how? Make mead of course!Mead was the earliest fermented beverage created by man - evidence of honey and fermentation products begins about 9000 BC. Mead figures prominently in Hindu writings, the work of Aristotle, and the Old English poem Beowulf. There's a new vocabulary to learn when deciding how ...
Source: Life as a Healthcare CIO - January 2, 2014 Category: Technology Consultants Source Type: blogs
Pharmaguy's Predictions for 2014
Last year at this time I made "Some Interesting Pharma Predictions for 2013". How well did I do? Well, although there is still one day left in 2013, let's review a couple of last year's predictions and then see what's in my crystal ball for 2014.What I predicted for 2013: "Direct-to-Consumer (DTC) Spending Will Continue to Decline" I based this on the general economy, which I thought would still be in bad shape and thus continue to have a "negative impact on DTC advertising causing a slow death by a thousand cuts."Early data for the first half of 2013 as reported by Pharmalot, howe...
Source: Pharma Marketing Blog - December 30, 2013 Category: Pharma Commentators Tags: DTC Advertising FDA Guidance social media Source Type: blogs
Striving for Gender Equity: My Journey to Armenia
Judy Norsigian and Dr. Meri Khachikyan, coordinator of the Armenian edition of “Our Bodies, Ourselves,” present organizers with copies of the book.
Looking back on 2013, one of the highlights for me was a trip to Armenia where I spoke about gender equity and witnessed a dozen young women organizing around the lack of sexuality education in their community.
I was a featured speaker at a discussion on “Promoting Gender Equity and Breaking Gender Stereotypes,” hosted by the American University of Armenia (AUA), the Women’s Support Center in Yerevan, and the Armenian International Women’s Association. Dr. Bruce Bo...
Source: Our Bodies Our Blog - December 24, 2013 Category: Health Medicine and Bioethics Commentators Authors: Judy Norsigian Tags: Feminism & Gender Global News Our Bodies Ourselves Source Type: blogs
Add Flavor to Your Holiday Foods
The holiday season is a time for giving, sharing, being with loved ones, and —celebrating! If you’re like me, your schedule is probably filled with holiday parties and get-togethers right now. My first response to a party invite is always, “What can I bring?” We all want to bring a dish that’s the hit of the party, and I’ve got good news for you – you don’t need a culinary degree to make a flavorful, nutritious dish. All you need is a little know-how, and you can blend appealing textures and flavors to create delicious foods that will please every crowd.
This past week I appeared on WBAL NBC TV ...
Source: Balanced Health and Nutrition Rebecca Scritchfield's Blog - December 19, 2013 Category: Nutritionists and Food Scientists Authors: rebeccascritchfield Tags: nutrition beano blueberries entertaining holiday New York Style snacks peanuts recipes Source Type: blogs
Web of Knowledge Alert - INTELLIGENCE
This study is among the firstto use a large and representative sample of secondary school students (N= 563) to examine different measurement models of CPS-that conceptualizethe construct as either faceted or hierarchical-and their implicationsfor the construct's validity. Results showed that no matter which way itwas conceptualized, CPS was substantially related to reasoning and todifferent indicators of educational success. Controlling for reasoningwithin a joint hierarchical measurement model, however, revealed thatthe impressive external validity was largely attributable to thevariance that CPS shares with reasoning, su...
Source: Intelligent Insights on Intelligence Theories and Tests (aka IQ's Corner) - December 12, 2013 Category: Neurologists Source Type: blogs
5 Weirdest Ways to Lose Weight
Losing weight is tough, and conventional methods don't always work quickly or easily. So it's not surprising that people will try tricks and tips that promise shortcuts to shedding pounds, even if they sound kinda offbeat.Me included!But what constitutes a truly "weird" weight loss approach?Well, when I googled, many of the "weird but helpful weight loss" tips were ideas that weren't all that strange.According to Allure Magazine, snacking on whole foods instead of refined junk, and watching less TV are a couple of "weird weight loss tricks." While eating at home and riding a bike were some of the "unusual...
Source: Cranky Fitness - December 9, 2013 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Crabby McSlacker Source Type: blogs
Thanksgiving: Never Trust An Organic Chemist Who Can't Cook
I wanted to note that I'm home today, and will soon be starting my traditional chocolate pecan pie. If you haven't seen it, that link will lead you to a detailed prep, with both US and metric measurements. It's based on Craig Claiborne's recipe, and he certainly knew what he was talking about when it came to Southern food (and much else besides). I've been making it for twenty years now, and if I didn't, there would be a mutiny around here.
I have a pumpkin pie to make as well, and I'd like to get the base of the gravy going, so it can be turkey-enhanced tomorrow. (As for the turkey, for some years now we've bought a kosh...
Source: In the Pipeline - November 27, 2013 Category: Chemists Tags: Blog Housekeeping Source Type: blogs
Building Unity Farm - Making the Perfect Cider
In North America, we think of apple cider as a non-alcoholic drink available for a few weeks in the Fall. Before prohibition, most cider was fermented to 4-6% alcohol as a means of preserving it. Cider was available from casks throughout the year. John Adams drank a quart for breakfast every morning. Puritan laws urged moderation and suggested no more than half a gallon of cider be consumed per day!When I use the term cider, I mean fermented cider.Over the past few years, there has been a resurgence of interest in craft ciders from such producers as Farnum Hill (Poverty Lane Orchards in Lebanon, N...
Source: Life as a Healthcare CIO - November 21, 2013 Category: Technology Consultants Source Type: blogs
Five Great Super Foods for Weight Loss
In this article, I discuss five great super foods that you can eat to help aid weight loss. Some of the superfoods include black beans, oats, and apples.Contributor: Jocelyn CrawleyPublished: Nov 07, 2013 (Source: Most Recent Health Wellness - Associated Content)
Source: Most Recent Health Wellness - Associated Content - November 8, 2013 Category: Other Conditions Source Type: blogs
National Caramel Apple Day
Today is Halloween.... but it's also National Caramel Apple Day. Caramel apples are part good for you and part bad for you. The apples are good. They've got fiber, phytochemicals ...Read Full Post (Source: About.com Nutrition)
Source: About.com Nutrition - October 31, 2013 Category: Nutritionists and Food Scientists Source Type: blogs
Dispatch from London
I'm in London for 48 hours, working with a group of international experts to define telehealth, care management, and big data opportunities for the UK, Europe, Australia, and US. During the afternoon break I had a remarkable experience.Unity Farm apples (40+ heirloom varietals) produce a crisp, well-balanced fermented cider that includes sweet, tart, aromatic, and astringent components.Kathy, my wife, searched the web for the best cider pub in London and asked me to stop by so I could compare Unity Farm cider making with traditional farmhouse ciders from the UK.The Cider Tap, a remarkable place, is, by good karma, 100...
Source: Life as a Healthcare CIO - October 30, 2013 Category: Technology Consultants Source Type: blogs
NYC Hotspot La Cenita Shares Their Recipe for Healthy Chile Relleno
For a healthier, yet still flavorful Mexican meal, try this seasonal chile relleno recipe created by Executive Chef Akhtar Nawab of La Cenita. Located in Manhattan's Meatpacking District, this new, modern Mexican restaurant's name literally means "The Little Dinner". [Ed. note: For the record, this is as chic of a location as we've ever seen. - RJ] The shared-plates menu features an authentic and lighter take on Mexican food, with dishes that DON'T have loads of cheese, sour cream, hard taco shells, and all of the heavy sauces that are usually associated with Mexican fare. Instead, Nawab uses fresh, seasonal ingredients, l...
Source: The ND Blog: Notes from the Nutritionista by Monica Reinagel, L.D.N., C.N.S. - October 25, 2013 Category: Nutritionists and Food Scientists Tags: Recipes calories diet dinner food nutrition Source Type: blogs
