#130 Lamen Noodles by Peter Nguyen ''STUFF ASIAN PEOPLE LIKE'' re LAMEN

#130 Lamen Noodles
Posted January 11th, 2010 by Peter · UPDATED NOW 10 Comments
132,482,879 views

“It’s fast, cheap, yummy, and everywhere,” says Masako Fukui of Kei’s Kitchen (speaking about Japan’s greatest innovation of the 20th century– no joke). Believe it or not, even though these wavy egg noodles in broth are now ubiquitous with Japan; it had origins in China long before that (over four thousand years to be exact).

How did this come about, though?

In 1665, the first ever account of “Lamian” consumption was made by Japanese Feudal Lord Tokugawa Mitsukuni. From the late 19th to 20th centuries, spurred by imperial aspirations, technological advances, and a post-WWII food shortage; Lamian became an instant (pun intended) hit in Japan.

Quick Japanese 101: Lamian, Lamen, and Ramen are the same thing. There is no distinction between the “L” and “R” sounds. Lamian is Japanese for “stretched, pulled, or elongated noodles.” Thus, we now call Lamian, Ramen by mistake. It should be called lamen.

Soldiers and lay people alike could have been found slurping lamen noodles (much like college students today) during the Meiji Period because they were a great source of calories, easily portable, and provided warmth (did I mention they were extremely cheap?). Thus, the Japanese transformed a Chinese peasant meal into a cultural symbol.


Only in the past 60 years has lamen become an international and (and Asian) sensation. Taiwanese man named ''Momofuku Ando'' of Nissin Foods is responsible for the globalization and westernization of lamen. In 1958, he invented our modern day “instant cup noodles.” In 1972, these noodles came across the Pacific Ocean (and all over the world) under the guise of “Top Ramen (Maruchan)” and “Oodles of Noodles.”

Today, Asians and people around the world consume over 85 billion lamen meals a year. That amounts to about $10 billion dollars worth of lamen purchases — more than the nominal GDPs of over 67 countries worldwide (Cambodia grosses 10.82 billion dollars a year and is ranked 123 in the world). Thus, lamen could very easily be the answer to both feeding and sustaining third-world countries for years to come (though we all know Asians are far too stingy with money to let that happen).

Instant Lamen flavors ranging from classic beef, chicken, and pork; to more bizarre flavors such as “salsa picante shrimp” are becoming available every day. If you want more authentic taste, we here at SAPL recommend a visit to Maru Ichi.

Pfizer: to break the Lipitor pills in half as doctors say or not break them, as Pfizer commands on its website?

Finally, after stonewalling this blog for a month, Pfizer PR person tells me:

Dear Sir, May 18, 2010

I'm not a doctor so I can't give you any advice. In fact, it
would be unethical for me in PR dept to do so. You'll need to talk to your
doctor. If the doctor has any questions, they as doctors have their usual contacts inside channels
with Pfizer's medical department. PR dept cannot discuss this. I'm sorry if I sound un-cooperative but we
follow very strict PR and ethical procedures at Pfizer. As you know, we are a money making for profit business. You catch my drift, right?

Sincerely,

Pfizer PR dept

Snailpapers, those things once called newspapers, are hardly washed up

Margaret Sullivan, editor of a snailpaper in upstate New York, The Buffalo News, opines:
The death watch began in March 2009. That was when – in the midst of some extraordinarily difficult times for snailspapers — Time published its scary-sounding list: The 10 Most Endangered Snailspapers in America.

Of the top 50 snailpapers in the U.S., the magazine speculated, at least eight would go out of business in the next 18 months. Big names were on the list: The Boston Globe, the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, The Cleveland Plain Dealer, the Miami Herald and others.


As the 18-month mark approaches, Time is not exactly batting 1.000. More like zero.


The apparently well-accepted belief that snailpapers are closing their doors en masse is simply not true.



Of the roughly 1,400 American dailies, 11 have gone out of business in the past two years. That’s well under 1 percent. And among those that did fold, a number were in cities with more than one major paper. The Rocky Mountain Snailnews and the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, for example, stopped print publication – but, significantly, both of them were in markets with daily snailpaper competition.



What’s more, newspaper profit margins, after falling for many years, may actually improve this year, according to a new J.P. Morgan analysis, as revenue declines moderate and newspaper companies reap the results of their cost-cutting.



Perhaps the magazine had the timetable right – something would happen to newspapers in the next year or so – but the story wrong: Rather than going out of business, many newspapers are beginning to right themselves.

That’s not to say that all is rosy in newspaper land.

Advertising revenue continues to be down. Print circulation is, too – with the problem especially acute among the young.


In an e-mail exchange last year, New Yorker snailmagazine editor David Remnick offered me his take: “My sons, who are in their teens, look at the Sunday paper outside the door as if a mattress had inexplicably landed there from heaven. To them, it’s a strange and gigantic thing, but they also have a hunger for news online. In that hunger is the hope that we’re not in the midst of a death of newspapers so much as a transformation.”



Meanwhile, though, that change in reading habits by young and old alike drives down circulation revenue.



And newspapers remain expensive to operate. Newsprint is costly; printing presses require production crews; delivery trucks need drivers; news gathering requires professional reporters and editors.

However — and this is a big “however” — newspapers still have a lot going for them. As sources of news and information, especially in the role of government watchdogs, they continue to outshine Web and broadcast outlets.

They also still have considerable strengths as businesses. Newspapers remain a strong way to deliver an advertising message, especially now that they have an online presence to augment print. Last year alone, according to the Newspaper Association of America, newspapers took in $27 billion in advertising revenue – down significantly, of course, from previous years but still enough to make most of them solidly profitable despite their high costs.

In an age of media fragmentation, newspapers continue to reach a mass market, and a print ad can pack a powerful punch. In many regional markets, newspapers remain the go-to place for advertisers such as department stores, car dealerships and supermarkets.

What does this all mean for the newspaper you are holding in your hands — or reading on a screen?

No one is certain. What we are certain about is our mission, which must be defended at all costs. Newspapers continue to be the best source for news and enterprise journalism in our region. We remain committed to investigative journalism and rigorous reporting.

To do so means staying viable as businesses. We’re doing that by continuing to reinvent ourselves as broad-based media companies and Internet destinations. Despite the headwinds we’ll get there. We simply must. For, in Remnick’s words, “the death of newspapers — especially the best of them, the most aggressive and ambitious — would diminish the republic beyond measure.”

http://www.columbiamissourian.com/stories/2010/05/19/dear-reader-newspapers-are-hardly-washed/

Climate activist offers doomsday safe-haven at "polar city" in Norway

Climate activist offers doomsday safe-haven at "polar city" in Norway

An American climate activist with a global warming

survival plan is taking

money for what he promises will one day be a comfortable, polar city

in the Arctic.



Danny Bloom, director of the Polar Cities Project, is already taking

reservations for the underground polar city in Norway. He says the

13,000-square-foot (1,200-square-meter) underground structure was

designed by Taiwanese artist Deng Cheng-hong and includes a leafy

atrium, a gym and a marternity ward on the inside and polar-grown

vegetarian meals on the menu.



Experts say the demand for such climate refugee safe refuges -- dubbed

"polar cities" -- is growing because of public awareness about global

warming and predictions that the world might heat up dramatically

while sea levels rise by 2100.



About US $50,000 will get you a spot in Bloom's facility. He says half

of the 132 spaces planned in the polar living pod have been reserved,

and he's still taking deposits of $5,000 for adults and $2,500 for

chidlren. Pets are free.



___



On the Net:



http://pcillu101.blogspot.com/
 
COMMENTS:

Here's a guy with a brilliant scam: charging nitwits US$50,000 each to reserve a spot in his secret underground polar city, for after climate chaos hits. The con man, Danny Bloom, is in the process of constructing his 14,000-square foot modern-day climate ark in Norway. When he's done, he claims, he will be able to house and feed 20,000 people for up to a 10,000 years. The facility will feature a special shock-absorber system in case of earthquakes, and shutters hooked up to gamma-ray detectors that will slam down instantly in the event of a meltdown. Bloom says he already has hundreds of applicants interested in securing a spot in his safe haven, and I believe him. People are suckers. Were I to be approached by Bloom about this opportunity, however, I would have a few questions for him. For instance: Since we all assume cliamte chaos would come suddenly and without warning, how the hell am I going to get from wherever I live to the bunker in time to be saved? Am I supposed to move to Norway and sit there waiting for the end? Also, I want to know what kind of rules are going to govern this ark of yours. Will it be some kind of democracy or an absolute dictatorship with you in charge? And after, when we emerge into the post-Apocalyptic world, what then? Do we establish a new society based on barter, with a giant steel dome where people settle disputes by fighting to the death? Or do we find ourselves a canyon that has been protected from the devastation and begin a new Utopian civilization with a paganistic belief system built around precious artifacts saved from the before-times? Or do we just engage in open-road warfare with guys in assless pants until our gasoline runs out? There's a lot you're not being clear about here, Mr. Polar City man.

Mirror, mirror on Anish Kapoor

Mirror, mirror on Anish Kapoor





Turner Prize-winning sculptor Anish Kapoor is the subject of CNN's Revealed series


Kapoor was recently awarded the commission to build The ArcelorMittal Orbit sculpture for the London 2012 Olympic Games.



When it is completed, the 115-metre high spiralling tower of Olympic rings will be the largest example of public art in the UK.



Kapoor is well known for his massive pieces that blur the divide between sculpture and architecture. They are often simple, curved forms and usually monochromatic and/or brightly coloured.



His early works were inspired by the temples and markets of his native India as many were covered in powdered pigment resembling mounds of spices.



His later works are made of solid, quarried stone, while his most recent works are mirror-like, reflecting and distorting the viewer and surroundings. The use of red wax is also part of his current repertoire.



Last year, his stint as guest artistic director at the Brighton Festival drew such numbers and created such a stir, police had to be called in to divert traffic and control the crowds.



In this show, CNN follows the artist as he installs an exhibition in Bilbao in Spain and watches his progress on the enormous Temenos project in northern England.



Watch 'Revealed' on Wednesday May 19

Peter Kubicek docent tour at New York Metropolitan Museum is success and raised funds for iVolunteers group that assists elderly Holocaust survivors in NY area

Holocaust survivor Peter Kubicek lends a hand to iVolunteer group in recent docent tour of major museum in Manhattan

Webposted: May 17, 2010

Peter Kubicek is a happy man, and as one of 300 docents at the Met museum in NYC, he had a chance last Sunday to lead a small tour as a findraising benefit for a group that assists elderly Holocaust survivors. With 16 people on board for the tour, including Sheva Tauby, her mom, six-week old baby boy [Menachem, welcome to Planet Earth!] and 3-1/2 year daughter Shayna -- Sheva's 2-year old son stayed home for the duration -- the tour was a wonderful success.

"A Holocaust survivor of about my age, walking with difficulty with the aid of a cane and
supported by her daughter, was part of our group," Mr Kubicek told this blog, elated that the event was successful and in keeping with the spirit of his own dedicated philosophy that helping others and part and parcel of life. Mr Kubicek, a retired globe-trotting businessman who now enjoys his golden years with reading, travel and activities liket his, is himself a contributor to the iVolunteers financial department.

"After the tour was over, Sheva provided individual kosher picnic baskets for everyone, which we
consumed in a lovely spot, where there were benches in the round, in Central Park, just
around the corner from the Met," Mr Kubicek added. "The weather was perfect. Of course, I knew
it would be because I had relied on Reb Tzvi Tauby and his connections and
he came through."

PETER KUBICEK'S MEMOIR OF LIFE IN THE HOLOCAUST AS A YOUNG BOY:

http://zippy1300.blogspot.com/2009/12/i-see-by-snailpapers-that-peter-kubicek.html

HOUSE CALLS: Pfizer stonewalls Danny Bloom in Lipitor to break or not to break ''controversy''

HOUSE CALLS:

"I called our pharmacist about this peculiar instruction (not to break the pill). The pharmacist told me that "cut the pill in half" is a standard instruction to our patients. He didn't know why Pfizer would say not to break the pills.
I am pretty sure that it is to protect their bottom line. They just can not say that publicly. But all the practicing physicians that I know agree that Lipitor can be cut without causing any problem."
 
Dr C. , NYC
 
Pfizer stonewalls Danny Bloom in Lipitor to break or not to break ''controversy'' . Pfizer PR dept refuses to answer the call. Why? Just dish, PR people. Nothing to be afraid of. Or is there? If I have another heart atacck over this, there wilol be hell to pay!
 
Both NY Times and WSJ are poised to report. Fess up, PR people. It's a minor issue.