Good To Know: Apple Seeds May Be Poisonous

Something I didn't know, and I found out recently. But how would that be, I ate or swallowed so many. I am in fact seed eater, I eat all seeds I see. I don't know but looks like I have personal addiction. Well, after learning about apple seeds being potentially poisonous I think the era of seed eating for me is over. As a matter of fact, over for all the seeds. I guess I will have to look into other sources of high fibre foods.

However, kidding aside this is what I found. The apple seeds are not harmful if you swallow one or two. The trick is to swallow them, and not to chew them. Apple seeds when chewed apparently release toxin called cyanide [cyanogenic glycoside]. However, human body can detoxify small amounts of cyanide compounds, but large amounts can be lethal. Therefore, keep away from children, and believe or not pets.

Characters, Text Are Not Displaying Correctly in Google Chrome and FireFox

You may have this issue once you install your Google Chrome or FireFox browser. The text is not that smooth anymore in those browsers as it appeared to be in your Internet Explorer. I came across this issue also. It was bothering me, because text was more digitized or anti-aliased [fonts too fuzzy to read], meaning not smooth and not good quality. I also noticed that same quality text appeared on my Desktop and everywhere else but the Internet Explorer. For some reason Internet Explorer has permanent setting for smooth text. With few settings adjustments I was able to fix the quality of the text in the Google Chrome, FireFox and everywhere else on my computer. However, I noticed the disadvantage - changing from screen to screen takes now a bit longer, computer slows down.
The fix for this is very simple. Go to your desktop, right click and select Properties. In Properties click on the Advanced tab, and on the right bottom corner select button Effects [Properties > Advanced tab > Effects]. Once in the Effects window, check the the 'Use the following method to smooth edges of screen fonts: ClearType', and click OK. All set now.
However if you still have this issue, there may be another setting to adjust. Got to My Computer, right click on Properties, then select Advanced tab, Select first option Performance and click on Settings, select Visual Effects tab, and ensure that the 'Smooth edges of screen fonts' is checked off, and if not then check it, and then Apply, OK, OK again and you are done. [My Computer > Properties > Advanced tab > Performance Settings > Visual Effect tab].

The Great Canadian Invention Series: Pablum Baby Food or Cereal

Time to feed your baby solid food. What are you going to feed her or him? Or do you have any ideas for breakfast for babies. Let me give you one suggestion, how about baby pablum - another great Canadian invention. Did you also know that Bobby Orr, Margaret Atwood, Margaret Trudeau and Anne Murray had pablum baby cereal for breakfast when they were infants. Well, I did not. The pablum baby food story started with three doctors working at the SickKids Hospital at Toronto back in 1930s who were concerned about the nutritional value of baby's daily diet. Back then cereals were part of the baby's diet, but there was not enough vitamins and minerals to ensure healthy growth and development. First, the nutritional biscuit for children was invented which was fortified with vitamins. After intensive research and testing in that area this lead to invention of the pre-cooked highly in the nutritional value cereal called pablum. It was based on the wheat meal, oatmeal, cornmeal, wheat germ, bone meal, dried brewer's yeast and alfalfa, and so it is now.

Cooking Tip: Baked Asparagus Recipe

This is how I prepare my asparagus - I bake it. It is the easiest method. Simply, wash the asparagus bunch. Take cookie try, spray with cooking spray Pam. Place all asparagus on the tray, and then give one nice spray with Pam again. If you want to you can also sprinkle with sea salt on top, but you don't have to, because baked asparagus already tastes good. Set your oven on 400 F and bake for 20-25 minutes, and then serve.

Internet Explorer cannot open the Internet site - Operation aborted


After one Microsoft automatic update everything just went wrong with my Internet Explorer 8. I am vivid blogger and I visit my blogger friends regularly. The problem I started to have was that some blogs posts would not display. But the main issue I got with many blogs I visited I kept getting an error: 'Internet Explorer cannot open site http://sitename.blogspot.com. Operation Aborted.' When I clicked OK, I get 'Internet Explorer cannot display the webpage'. This is just too many 'cannot' message for a bad day already.

I did some search hoping to get an easy answer, but I don't think I want to fool around with those fixes. It looked like it involved some code manipulation. Short story long, I decided to switch browsers. I ended up uploading Google Chrome and FireFox. So far I been vivid user of Google Chrome and I am definitely not disappointed, okay just a bit but that is topic for another day. Google Chrome is easy to use with some interesting features for those who like change. Changeover was painless, so guess what I think I have to say goodbey to Internet Explore for now. I been Google addict anyway.

Just to give some answers to those who wants to be Internet Explorer troopers, here is the fix link from Microsoft. The answer is simple, upgrade to Internet Explorer 8. Okay what did I just write, my Internet Explorer is 8. But then they also ask to contact web owner to do modification, okay last thing I want to do is to bother someone with issues like that.

How to Take Picture of the Moon - Digital Camera Tips and Guides

Sometimes information can be buried between the blog posts, therefore here are summarized links to the three posts on how to take pictures of the moon, especially if you looking to take close up pictures. They focus on the environment around you, digital equipment requirements and settings.

How to Take Photos of the Moon? – Part 1: Moon Calendar & Weather Conditions
Tips and guides on lunar cycle and checking weather conditions.

How to Take Photos of the Moon? – Part 2: Digital Equipment Required
Suggestions on what equipment you may need.

How to Take Photos of the Moon? – Part 3: Digital Camera Settings
General settings to help you get nice close up pictures of the moon.

Above moon photo courtesy of My Only Photo blog.

“I like to think that the moon is there even if I am not looking at it” ~ by Albert Einstein

Reusable Grocery Shopping Bags - The Next Green Trend But May Be Not The Cleanest One

I been using reusable grocery shopping bags for almost a year now, and did some observations. Probably out there someone thought about it too, but I will spill out my opinion here about reusable shopping bags. I personally absolutely love them. Sometimes I forget to bring them to the store, but that's just a bad habit I got to stop. This used to be a good habit when I lived in Europe. There were no such things as shopping plastic bags; as a matter of fact plastic bag was a novelty and been reused many times by many people. However, this may be old news now since it happened over twenty years ago.

Plastic bags have been used here in North America very commonly, but with the recent green trend everywhere, the message is clear - they must go, and stores are going to charge customers for them. Not so good for consumers of course. However, over many years we already knew that the plastic shopping bags were not good for the environment, therefore lot of manufacturers been working on the solution to produce biodegradable plastic shopping bags, bioplastics. We may not notice but some of the supermarkets carry them. However, this is not a point of this post.

The point is that because we reuse these bags, groceries we carry may contaminate them. What is the solution? Easy, wash them. But then this becomes again the green issue, more energy more natural resources consumed. If not cleaned then the potential health issues, and more health care costs associated with it. But there is always a way to do things right.

Firstly let me outline what foods can potentially contaminate the reusable bag, and let me give you simple suggestions to keep those bags clean.

The following are foods that can easily contaminate the reusable bag:

[1] Dairy Products - no matter how much care there is taken, there always will be milk, yogurt or sour cream leak.
[2] Eggs - sometimes they do break, or we do not notice the broken ones until we arrive home.
[3] Vegetables - there are many of us out there just grabbing broccoli or cabbage without bagging them.
[4] Fruit - yes many times I do grab a watermelon without slipping a produce bag on it, but face it some of them just don't fit.
[5] Meat - those packages are not leak proof, a worst contamination you could get, especially from the poultry.
[6] Chemicals - all kinds of cleaning products may cross contaminate with food, as we never really know which bag we use for what.

Here are my suggestions to keep your reusable bag clean.

[1] Get a reusable bag that is more synthetic plastic surface. That way it can be wiped easily with a soap water or vinegar.
[2] Now many stores sell reusable bags, then buy different ones and dedicate them for different food categories. For example, this bag for dairy products, this for cleaning products.
[3] Always bag your fruits and vegetables in thin plastic bags usually located in the produce area. For anything big as watermelon, may be get a carton box to carry it, or just get a grocery bin.
[4] And as stated in three, you can always get the grocery bin which is much easier to clean. Note canvas bags may be worst for contamination.

Lastly I think that charging for plastic bags by stores is a real cash grabs. It would be nice if that money was dedicated to further green developments or given to charitable organizations. After all they used to be free. What do you think?