02/05/05 08:04 - ID#31644

MSG Monosodium Glutamate

Has anybody else wondered about the history of MSG. This is copied directly from here

Discovery of Glutamate
The first steps in the discovery of MSG took place at Tokyo Imperial University in 1907. Professor Kikunae Ikeda noted "There is a taste which is common to asparagus, tomatoes, cheese and meat, but which is not one of the four well-known tastes of sweet, sour, bitter and salty."

He started experimental work on Kombu Seaweed, another source in which he found the taste was present. He succeeded in extracting crystals of Glutamic Acid, 100 grams of Kombu Seaweed containing around 1 gram of Glutamate. He noted that the Glutamate had a distinctive taste, different from Sweet, Sour, Bitter and Salty, he gave this taste the name "umami".

Permalink: MSG_Monosodium_Glutamate.html
Words: 136
Location: Buffalo, NY

02/05/05 05:48 - ID#31643

Organic Bananas

Does anyone belive that Dole bran organic bananas can be so cheap and really be organic. I have my doubts, but still bought them. What constitutes organic now-a-days?

Permalink: Organic_Bananas.html
Words: 29
Location: Buffalo, NY

02/05/05 05:41 - ID#31642

Diana's Mike Dream

That dream about the wax museum [search]"wax museum"[/search] is so freaky but somehow so possible. I am willing to make the web site and online storefront for it if you ever open it (e:mike) , haha.

Permalink: Diana_s_Mike_Dream.html
Words: 36
Location: Buffalo, NY

02/05/05 04:24 - ID#31641

Search engines and social capital

Search engines, while extremely helpful for people searching for information quickly, do not promote a sense of community. They offer the same sort of dynamic as using an encyclopedia - a dynamic in which the end user is not required to give back to the knowledge base and has to accept the validity of its contents at face value. In this type of top down knowledge delivery system, the effects of social capital is almost completely negated.

In communities such as the WELL

yahoo groups, usernets, mailinglists, forums, estrip you get to know the people who are producing the answers and can decide if you trust that person as a source of information based on their history and your personal interactions with them. With search engines none of that exists. There is no need to be accurate, only a need to show up at the top of the return list, which does not equate validity, just a repetition of keywords and other people (possibly yourself) linking to you.

Furthermore, the results of most searches on the Internet only give you information that already exists while online communities allow the user to pose questions that possibly have not been answered yet and get results from other people with expertise in that subject matter.

This is not to say that search engines are not the one of the best ways in which to find information, just as an encylopedia is a great way to find out about something.

Permalink: Search_engines_and_social_capital.html
Words: 250
Location: Buffalo, NY

02/05/05 02:22 - ID#31640

Waffles are tasty

(e:terry) decided to make waffles for all of us this morning. It was very nice of him. They are even gluten free so (e:matthew) can eat them but its 1:19 and he is still not up yet.

Zack if you see this sign on or call me, I don't have you number but still want to go.

Permalink: Waffles_are_tasty.html
Words: 60
Location: Buffalo, NY

02/05/05 02:51 - ID#31639

My epoetry

Wow, if you type in dynamically written epoetry (GOOGLE - dynamically written epoetry) into google, my poems are the first thing that come up!!

Permalink: My_epoetry.html
Words: 22
Location: Buffalo, NY

02/05/05 01:32 - ID#31638

Stars for everyone

I am still working on the stars for the grading system. Unlike (e:maidencateyes) who surely has a full supply of these babies, I didn't have nay for my students so i had to make some. Here are the stars that will someday be used as stars in the system. You can see them both as original 3d full size image and the icons that resulted from them.

Permalink: Stars_for_everyone.html
Words: 77
Location: Buffalo, NY

02/04/05 06:40 - ID#31637

Demos and Snowshoeing

I am excited to see what happens with the western site after tomorrow when (e:twisted) has the demo party. I am also pretty excited about going snowshoeing, if I can get ahold of (e:zack) . I don't have your phonenumber!

Permalink: Demos_and_Snowshoeing.html
Words: 41
Location: Buffalo, NY

02/04/05 04:44 - ID#31636

Maya 6.5 Purchase

Wow, what an ordeal it was to actually make the purchase of Maya 6.5. Seeing as the department was paying for it, I had them make the purchase order, but then there was the problem of it not being a personal copy, if the school was purchasing it. So then I had to cancel the order and purchase it myself, but because it was a personal copy, I had to prove I was a professor, which involved writing a letter and faxing my faculty ID. The whole process, with several phone calls and ended up taking about 2 hours and costing $370.00 which I will luckily get back sometime in the near future. I will be nice to have my own copy to plan classes with. I have to thank Carolyn for helping me so much.

Permalink: Maya_6_5_Purchase.html
Words: 133
Location: Buffalo, NY

02/03/05 10:28 - ID#31635

Maya 6.5

For those of you 3D junkies out there - Alias

just came out with Maya 6.5. Luckily, I am getting a license from work. I cannot wait to get my hands on it. Although there arn't any major tool upgrades, supposedly it is way faster.

Permalink: Maya_6_5.html
Words: 48
Location: Buffalo, NY

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