Internet ReMix: How to make Kombucha (Cambucha, Camboocha, etc...)

Overview

Kombucha is a fermented sweetened tea that has been around for centuries; it's speculated that it originated in Asia. It is slightly tangy and slightly sweet, and a great treat on a summer day. If you ferment it long enough, it has a powerful vinegar kick that will lock up your jaw muscles like Apple Cider vinegar. Kombucha contains high levels of antioxidants, b-vitamins, probiotics and glucaric acid.  It's easy to make!

My recipe for Kombucha.

Equipment Needed

• A gallon size glass jar with a wide opening at the top.
• 4 liters of brewed sweetened tea.  Black tea is typical (or red tea as its called in China) but Green tea is also nice; I haven't played with herbal teas yet, but it's reported to be good as well.
• Sugar. The ratio of sugar to tea is 60 grams of sugar per liter of tea
• A "scoby" ...aka the alien looking thing that grows on top of the tea and might gross you out the first time...but it's actually just a water mushroom with a fancy acronym for a name; here's what it means: "Symbiotic Culture Of Bacteria and Yeast". It is often called the "culture" as well. (hopefully you have a friend that can give this to you. Search on Craigslist or somewhere for a donor - there's plenty of advocates for this drink that want to spread it around)
• 1/2 cup of liquid from a previous batch of Kombucha (hopefully you have a friend that can give this to you as well.)
• A tea towel and a rubber band or string to cover the top of the jar, but still allow it to breathe (fruit flies will be all up in your sweet tea if you don't cover it, but the Kombucha will not grow properly if it can't breathe)

Initial Research found on (thank you!):
http://www.kombu.de/anleit-e.htm
http://wellnessmama.com/2673/kombucha-recipe/

Article: Blood Transfusion Standards (Boston.com)

Full Article

Excerpt:

"a government advisory committee is calling for national standards on when a transfusion is needed — and how to conserve this precious resource."

England vs. UK vs. Britain vs. Commonwealth vs. Common Knowledge

Wow...I did not know all this Geography. What a tangle for British children to learn in school.

"As a rule, city life seems to generate mental illness" - Wired Blog

Visiting New York City is usually a traumatic experience for me...even if I'm able to hold it together just fine and leave sane. Wired has a good blog post [FULL ARTICLE] on some new research from Germany in a field that already has been studied with conclusive results before.  Here are some key quotes:

"Compared to their rural counterparts, city dwellers have higher levels of anxiety and mood disorders. The schizophrenia risk of people raised in cities is almost double."

"Too much stress may ultimately alter the brain, leaving it ill-equipped to handle further stress and prone to mental illness."

"The city kids displayed heightened levels of activity in two brain regions: the amygdala, which is central to processing emotion and stress, and the perigenual anterior cingulate cortex, which regulates the amygdala. In short, city brains had disproportionately amplified responses to social stress. They’d become sensitized."

"[Nebraska] Nuclear Plant...suffered a “catastrophic loss of cooling”"

US orders news blackout over crippled Nebraska Nuclear Plant

         "A shocking report prepared by Russia’s Federal Atomic Energy Agency (FAAE) on information provided to them by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) states that the Obama regime has ordered a “total and complete” news blackout relating to any information regarding the near catastrophic meltdown of the Fort Calhoun Nuclear Power Plant located in Nebraska.
          According to this report, the Fort Calhoun Nuclear Plant suffered a “catastrophic loss of cooling” to one of its idle spent fuel rod pools on 7 June after this plant was deluged with water caused by the historic flooding of the Missouri River which resulted in a fire causing the Federal Aviation Agency (FAA) to issue a “no-fly ban” over the area."

Rut rhoh george....

Deleting, not deactivating your facebook account

I just deleted my Facebook account.

I thought I did this initially, when Facebook allowed me to Deactivate my account...but this does not delete the personal information. It just stores it in case I ever want to go back to it. If you want to delete your account rather than deactivate it, you'll need to follow this link:

http://www.facebook.com/help/contact.php?show_form=delete_account

FB to the ground...Peace.

This one's for you facebook:

No One's Safe...