Learning in 2009

Happy New Year!

The Everyday Scholar is looking for to a busy, very interesting 2009.

See you in the New Year!

And, be safe out there!

101 Cookbooks Blog

Learning about food may be a new topic for The Everyday Scholar, but I think it's going to be a regular, maybe once a month.

Here's the second post on learning about cooking, food and recipes. One of my favorite food blogs is 101 Cookbooks. Heidi Swanson says of her quest to actually use her rows of cookbooks:

"101 Cookbooks started in early 2003 when I looked up at my huge cookbook collection one afternoon and realized that instead of exploring the different books in my collection - I was cooking the same recipes over and over. I seemed to buy a new cookbook every time I stepped out the front door - always with good intentions."

She specializes in whole foods, with a lot of vegetarian recipes and she's an expert at making even complicated dishes seem easy. You can sign up to receive her frequent recipe alerts and you don't have to worry about resulting spam or unwanted emails.

I highly recommend 101 Cookbooks to lifelong learners and wanna be chefs.

Local Foods with Molly Watson

Yes, here's a first for The Everyday Scholar. This week we're going to talk about food and resources for lifelong learners. I guess the idea started with Thanksgiving and trying to decide whether to go traditional or expand our horizons and try some new recipes. While doing the required research, I discovered some great places to learn about what's going on with food these days.

Lifelong learners have to eat and since we are learners after all, let's take a few posts and investigate resources for learning about food and cooking.

Let's start with "Local Foods" and to me that means starting with Molly Watson. She is the About.com Guide to Local Foods and she does a great job of explaining what going "local" is all about. From how and why to eat local, to what's in season when, then on to recipes and everything in between, Molly can teach lifelong learners some new tricks when it comes to food.

See what you think about Local Foods. The next post will introduce you to the 101 Cookbooks Blog.

Mars 3-D Photos Released

If you need a break and want to check out some really cool Martian landscapes, here is today's post on The Coconino Chronicles:

Mars 3-D Photos Released

Remember the Mars Exhibit at Lowell Observatory? Now you can seesome spectacular pictures online, at the Arizona Daily Star. Thanks to Arizona Geology Blog for this link.

The University of Arizona High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera on the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter did fantastic work.

Kudos!

Our Vanishing Night at National Geographic

Thought you might enjoy this post from my Northern Arizona Blog, The Coconino Chronicles:

The November 2008 issue of National Geographic has a very welcome article, Our Vanishing Night, on light pollution and its effects on nature and on humans. In the third paragraph down on page 3 of the web version of the article, the writer, Verlyn Klinkenborg, writes about the mission to limit light pollution and protect the dark skies. He mentions Flagstaff and its pioneering civic efforts to control light and protect the viewing at Lowell Observatory. He also writes about the implementation of even more stringent lighting regulations in Flagstaff and its designation as the first International Dark Sky City.Be sure to take a look at the beautiful photographs by Jim Richardson and read Glynnis McPhee's interview with him.We do appreciate National Geographic publishing this story that highlights the ever-growing problem of light pollution and acknowledging the efforts of cities around the world to control that pollution.

I just found a print copy of the November 2008 issue and it is beautiful.

A Grain of Sand

If even you aren't into geology, you're going to want to look at Dr. Gary Greenberg's "A Grain of Sand Picture Gallery" at geology.com. He's taken microscopic photographs of grains of sand, with amazing results.

These photos are a sample of what are included in his book "A Grain of Sand: Nature's Secret Wonder." His website for the book is here. While you're there take a look at some of his other microscopic subjects. The flowers are awesome.

Dr. Greenberg gives one a different view of some of nature's beauty.

Understanding Science at Berkeley

The beta version of Understanding Science, created by the UC Museum of Paleontology of the University of California at Berkeley, is up and running.

This is going to be a great resource for lifelong learners and teachers. The official launch will be after the first of the year, most certainly to coincide with the beginning of the Year of Science 2009. But, don't wait for January to roll around, go check it out now.

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