It's scary to think about all the things that "everyone knows" that I've never even heard of. The "milk spoils during thunderstorms" canard is news to me, but it's apparently a common piece of wisdom passed around by old farmers and other people who, frankly, are usually right.
Experiments have confirmed that this is nothing but an old wives' tale. Thunder and lightning don't do anything to milk. There's no electrical or ozone effect; souring is caused by bacteria only. Yet many people still believe that thunderstorms cause milk to curdle or go sour — they've seen it happen with their own eyes.
The probable explanation for this is that while thunderstorms don't cause milk to go sour, they can be symptomatic of other circumstances that speed up the souring process. Thunderstorms are usually preceded by hot, humid weather, which is exactly the kind of environment in which milk-souring bacteria thrive. So the conditions that create thunderstorms are also the conditions that create sour milk.
In the days before refrigeration, this would have been particularly visible, and if you leave milk sitting out during a thunderstorm, it probably will go sour faster than normal. But alas, I think your in-laws might need a new refrigerator. Or, at the very least, new milk.
While it isn't the most enjoyable topic in the world, every now and then, we at Tech Mates have to sound the old virus alarm. This month we're hitting some pretty bad infection numbers, so you might want to pay close attention to this article.It's virus season
It seems the rainy summer has driven hackers into a frenzy over the past few months as the number of infections seem to have spiked. During the annual BlackHat security conference in Las Vegas last week, security researcher Dan Kaminsky revealed a serious worldwide security issue related to DNS, a critical Internet service. Over in San Jose, Secure Computing released their quarterly report indicating that although spam is dropping significantly, malware is on the loose. In the media, there has been recent coverage of a DNS exploit that could potentially bring the pain to every network if not patched, while MySpace and Facebook have been hit with their own special bugs.
Users beware!
The one that seems to be hitting hardest in the past few days is the bug spreading rapidly across social networking sites. Sent from one of your trusted friends, this seemingly benign message directs you to view a video. The site appears to be YouTube, but in actuality it's hosted on a Russian server. Just visiting this site is probably harmless, but when the victim attempts to view its video, the site redirects the user to run codecsetup.exe. The victim's Facebook contact list is copied, and the virus spreads. Nasty stuff! I've included a screenshot (Fig. 1) from one such message that I received. I have changed the friends name to TERRIBLE FRIEND, but in reality, the photo and name would appear much more convincing. Even the landing page itself copies the Facebook image from the user's profile, making it appear that their friend posted it.
Other (hilarious) variations of the message heading include:
Paris Hilton Tosses Dwarf On The Street
Examiners Caught Downloading Grades From The Internet
Examiners Caught Downloading Grades From The Internet
Hello; You must see it!!! LOL. My friend catched you on hidden cam
Is it really celebrity? Funny Moments and many others
Norton (makers of the Rogers Online Protection) has issued a bulletin indicating that the virus itself is fairly old, and current LiveUpdate definitions should quarantine the offending files. Macafee, AVAST and AVG should pick this one up as well, so run your updates and scan your entire machine.
Pop-up Pustules
Let's not forget our old friend XPAntivirus, recently updated from 2008 to 2009. It has absolutely nothing to do with Norton Antivirus, or Windows XP, other than this virus seems to target machines running the Windows operating system. This is piece of rogue security software, written by criminals in the hopes of tricking you into purchasing their software. These types of fake security programs spawn pop-up messages when you open your browser, warning of dire security breaches and privacy exploits. It then directs you to purchase their "software" to eliminate the problem. In essence you are being blackmailed to remove their messages.
Fig. 1
The Anti-Spyware component of the Rogers Online Protection software has been good at catching these infections, but new variations are springing up daily, and no antivirus can catch them all. If you're not running any antivirus, I cannot stress enough how important it is to be protected. Give LiveCoach a call and we can make a recommendation based on your system specs.
These programs cannot be removed using the traditional Add/Remove Programs area of the control panel. The best antidote for any virus is education and prevention. If you're on a website that is asking for an install, stop for a moment and ask yourself if you really trust this website. The two main points of infection for this exploit are fake security websites (I wont post the addresses here -- people click links). if you're directed there, and you already have an antivirus program installed, close the webpage using the X on the top right of your window. P2P file-sharing program users, understand that these services are untested, untrusted and generally illegal. Be aware!
Cleaning up the mess
If you think you're infected, the following tools have yielded some success:
Another tool some have had success with is the SmitFraudFIX
To manage your expectations, however, the effectiveness of these tools are mitigated by the condition of your system, and the type of infection you have.
Even the professionals have one slipped past them once in a while. The DNS exploit that Dan Kaminsky referred to at the Black Hat security conference affected machines across the globe! The DNS system is responsible for decoding the human language to the physical machine number that serves the page we're requesting. This exploit, if not patched, would have allowed hackers to redirect these requests and send users to any site they wished. In the scenarios he depicted, email could be intercepted, attachments stripped, and a virus payload send on.
Recent reports indicate that over 85 percent of servers worldwide have already been patched, and the specific details of the exploit have been kept under wraps.
Now is as good a time as ever to start looking at DNS alternatives like our personal favourite, OpenDNS. By browsing your Network Connections in Control Panel, and entering the OpenDNS server numbers, you'll avoiding any potential risk associated with this exploit, and benefit from a set of unique features.
Details are sketchy at this point but an absolutely massive fire at Sunrise Propane near Keele & Wilson is filling the city skies with smoke, ash and just in the past hour, a massive mushroom cloud explosion that rocked the socks off of balcony observers -- see the youtube video footage below and live updates below.
Watch for the explosion at 1:50:
Updates
6:50AM - 680 News is reporting that they said there are trains containing chemicals nearby but apparently, no one is sure what kind of chemicals we're talking about.
7:00AM - Another incredible video of the explosion:
7:03AM - Word from various locals and 680AM say that buildings have had their windows and doors blown out in the vicinity. Thankfully, the fire appears to be calming down right now. Local residents have been evacuated by bus and brought over to Yorkdale Mall. If you live remotely nearby, close up those windows and balcony doors.
7:16AM - Police are closing off the 401 between highway 400 and the 404. Local residents have been evacuated by bus over to Yorkdale Mall. Avoid the area, and if you're remotely nearby, close those windows and balcony doors.
7:21AM - The blogTO Flickr Pool is filling with reader photos of the blaze.
7:40AM - Allen Road off limits as well now. 8:00AM - Wilson and Sheppard road closures are expanding. Just avoid the area altogether, folks. The fire is still burning strong as hundreds of firefighters are on the scene working.
680 News is reporting that houses in the area have collapsed and that apparently people were injured earlier -- possibly firefighters. Press conference to come.
8:20AM - All streets closed Bathurst to Jane & Steeles to Lawrence. People are having to go far out go far out of their way to get around so be ware of confused commuters.
8:50AM - Press conference on now...
Fire department officials say vehicles in the area on fire and homes have been damaged which is why they've evacuated 1.6kms. Rail car tanks containing propane are on site and could blow, so the main effort is to cool tanks with water so that they stay stable and don't blow due to heat pressure.
It's also possible a truck with driver was filling up at the time of the original blast. No major injuries reported so far. Firefighters are being cautious while trying to cool the tanks. There is no estimate on when this could be under control.
Furthermore, Toronto Police officials are instructing everyone in the affected 1.6km area to leave. No one is allowed to come in and get anyone. Drive yourself or use the TTC buses that are shuttling people to safety. Remember to take meds and anything else you'll need for the remainder of the day.
This is also a no-fly zone for any kind of aircraft.
9:30AM - TTC Subway service on the Unversity line is only going as far as Yorkdale Station Lawrence West Stn.
2:30PM - Yorkdale Mall is now being evacuated.
2:35PM - A firefighter has been rushed to the hospital with no vital signs. Police have also set up a hotline for people looking to find out info about their friends/relatives who live in the affected area: 416-736-5185
Buses being re-routed are the 107 Keele North, 84 Sheppard, 96 Wilson, 29 Dufferin, 165 Weston and 108 Downsview.
3:07PM - Food and shelter is now being provided at York University for evacuated people. TTC is shuttling people in and around, pets are being reunited with owners and phones lines have been provided, so if you are waiting to hear from someone in the area, be patient.
3:10PM - Mayor Miller, who is out of town right now, will be doing a teleconference at 3:30PM.
3:40PM - The conference with Mayor Miller is underway but no new information coming out of that.
4:20PM - The fire department has confirmed that a 25-year veteran firefighter - found earlier without vital signs - has died.
8:15PM - The 401 has been mostly re-opened and residents have been given the OK to begin returning to their homes. Window repair companies are surely stocking up and hopefully we'll see what on earth 'caused all this destruction when investigations continue this week.
Yeah, yeah, the "10 things" column is usually about a person, but when you've lived a stone's throw from Donlands station for seven years, local events like the Taste of the Danforth festival seem to take on a life of their own like a perennial visit from an old, dear friend. So, without further ado, here's all you need to know about one mother of a Greektown blowout - Opa!
This year marks the 15th year the Greek community has celebrated Hellenic food, culture and music on the Danforth.
The three-day bash was originally inspired by the windy city's Taste of Chicago festival, which started in 1980 and runs for ten days in July.
In its first year, the Taste of the Danforth was only attended by 5,000 visiting the 23 participating restaurants.
After three years, the city agreed to a partial road closure on the Danforth to accommodate the ever-swelling crowds.
Organizers expect at least a million people to visit this year's festivities.
While held in the heart of Toronto's Greektown, the festival includes restaurants from a veritable cornucopia of cultural backgrounds thereby allows visitors to sample food from Japan, India, Thailand, Italy and just about anywhere else you can think of (don't forget Licks Burgers, as well). My wife whole heartedly recommends the fresh Ontario corn often found outside Sun Valley Fine Foods (583 Danforth ), and I concur.
Many non-restaurants also participate in the event. Just last year I picked up a cheap but very good penny whistle from Elite Music (822 Danforth). I sound terrible, by the way.
Wine connoisseurs will have a chance this year to meet Greece's master of wine, Konstantinos Lazarakis, and Canada's master sommelier, John Szabo for a whole lot of wine chat, tasty treats, product sampling (Huzzah!) and cooking demonstrations in the Wine Garden.
The festival's Wikipedia page is promising an "Iron Chef Greek" event sometime during the festival. No official word whether this is officially associated with the Japanese cooking show, but it could be a treat for the foodies.
Parking is typically a nightmare for many, many blocks north and south the Danforth all weekend. Local residents tend to leave their cars where they are for fear of losing hard-earned street parking. The TTC is your best bet indeed. Come up at either Chester or Pape subway stations and you'll be right in the thick of things (as you should be).
The Krinos Taste of the Danforth Festival runs this weekend (August 8-10) on the Danforth (just in case there was any doubt) between Broadview and Jones.
Who knew 2008 Beijing Olympic games would have a special fashion "challenge": each country dressed their athletes in their best sport/casual looks. It was mostly about classic sport blazers, polos and casual pants for men and sporty skirts and jackets for women.
Some looked very chic like the US team dressed by American sportwear king himself - Ralph Lauren.
the classic looking Brits:
and the funky looking Netherlands team in light-colored suits with orange neckties.
The German team looked a bit too corporate, but stylish:
A chorus line of perky Chinese volunteers (as though Gap greeters had been cross-bred with Dallas Cowboy cheerleaders) wore flippy white pleated tank dresses and kept up their kicks, claps and enthusiasm for over two hours as athletes from 204 countries filed in. They were too busy playing glee club to track the many fashion trends on the international runway of the Parade of Nations, so let's do it for them.
Culture Club There was so much piping, the Beijing Olympics refrain could be, “yachting, anyone?" Many countries sent out sailors and private school students with crests and heraldry adorning the breast of their sports jackets. From Polo Ralph Lauren’s genteel Gatsby does Chariots of Fire-inspired USA team (above) in knotted cravats and ascots (Thurston Howell III from Gillian's Island for their three-hour stadium tour?) to Macedonia, to Japan’s white trousers and navy jackets trimmed in brass admiral buttons (below), it was the sporting life of a bygyone country club era. The Dutch went grey with white piping, Israel wore white denim trousers with Breton stripe polos, Ukraine did it in blue trimmed with yellow, Belarus piped on white and France did it in grey with red thread-trimmed buttonholes. Poland upped the sartorial with dark navy jackets trimmed in contrasting cream buttons and cream-stitched buttonholes. Ahoy, captain!
Glam There was a glint of glitter, too: India’s regal gold and red scarves (bottom), Uzbekistan’s Lurex-flecked ties and metallic fabric panels folded into the female athletes’ skirts; Indonesia’s silk jacquard trim and overskirts enlivened the gravitas of their black on black ensembles. The Guatemalan ladies flashed tanned, toned flesh in embroidered peasant blouses worn off the shoulder.
Colour The fall fashion runways may be grey, black and more black but when you need to be seen in a crowd, you have to make like The Queen and stand out with colour. And from Gambia’s periwinkle blue and Malaysia's creamsicle orange to Lithuania’s grasshopper green polos paired with long white shorts and Estonia’s dayglo orange, acid yellow and blue palette, many did. There was especially a lot of yellow, like tunic coats for Jamaica, again with Ecuador, both paired with black for a bumblebee palette (maybe Jerry Seinfeld was their stylist?) and Yemen.
Pattern Papua New Guinea’s block-print batik stripes were traditional and eye-catching, while Mozambique went with Madras plaid dresses, Angola was in bright kaleidoscope batik and the Hungarian ladies did bold red and white blossom-prints from head to toe. Uruguay’s guys wore goldenrod and blue polka dotted ties but the best dots were polka-dotted red dress shirts worn by Mauritius. They looked ready to rock a disco in St. Tropez.
Retro The Chinese athletes sported wide, stiff spread collars pulled out over jacket lapels--basically, Tony Manero’s Saturday night uniform translated into Mao red and gold (bottom). (Plain, and not very imaginative: even Ronald Mcdonald did better with this colour combo.) Cuba’s tan leisure suits were Casual Friday, circa 1953 (so were Madagascar's beige safari outfits). And many --too many-- full pleated tan slacks said Welcome to your Dockers Years: it’s 1994.
Hats Head cover is the most important weapon against the blaring Beijing sun (not that you can see it, with all the smog) and chief among them with the athletes was the Panama hat. In variations worn by Paraguay, the Cayman Islands, France, Colombia (an elaborately woven two-tone number), though Peru took the prize for the most enormous brim (looked like 7 inches on that white straw hat, easily) and Russia for practicality with crushable canvas bucket hats. Even Kazakhstan joined in with trilbys in pylon orange. Canada wore trim jockey caps, as did Portugal (theirs had racing stripes of national colours down the middle) and the USA was dapper, if unremarkable, in newsboy caps. If it wasn’t hats, it was creative and traditional headgear. Like Benin’s crunchy, sculptural gold lamé head wrap on one female athlete, and several men in caps. A few keen German footie players even fashioned their own chapeaux: out of soccer balls.
Volume In Beijing’s stifling humidity (by the end of the night even Putin, lifting his arms to wave to his athletes, revealed a shirt and undershirt soaked to transparency with sweat), if you’re from Africa you just gotta be thankful for traditional costume, built to deal with the heat. Uganda stayed cool in floor-grazing white dresses (even the men), ditto Burkina Faso, Mali, Burundi and many others -even further over on the gulf, so did the sheiks of Qatar’s all-male team. p.s. Props to the zebra-stripe toga style draped dresses worn by the male Rwandan athletes.
Fans Dignitaries and world leaders in the stands could be seen madly waving them, not from enthusiasm but for heat relief; so could the athletes. Sweden (aka Ikea Nation) went traditional with a folding paper fan painted with their flag (with matching aqua qipao tunics embroidered with yellow, a nice tribute to the host country). And perhaps inspired by countryman-gone-Chanel Kaiser Karl, the Germans, too, waved pancake fans done striped in their flag's red, gold and black. In lieu of the real thing, many athletes fanned themselves with their hats or scarves.
It Bags Confirming the wane of the “it” handbag, few athletes sported any. But where else can a proud competitor stow camera, agua and the all-important PDA for calling home (or having cheesy, time-wasting phone-ins with the CBC's Ron Maclean and Peter Jennings)? The Brits wore navy purses with cream piping, France had slim red leather pouches and the Czech Republic slung messenger-style flap bags low across their hips (as did Team Canada), while the relentlessly cheering Chinese volunteers had holsters for their bottles of water.
But these are athletes not fashion plates, so there were a few misses:
Chile’s el bombadero tennis champ Fernando Gonzalez, wrapped in a wool poncho and flat wide brim hat, looked a bit too much like Colombia's own Juan Valdez, and the flag-bearing Kiwi rower in the traditional feather-trimmed Maori cape was a bit too Lord of the Rings, (though Peter Jackson would probably disagree). Also? Australia’s shiny ocean blue nylon degradé track jackets and matching satin caps were more devil-made-me-do-it than Prada.
Worst: Ukraine. With garish icy turquoise and yellow, and especially the horizontal-stripe knit ties, their contingent looked like circus ringmasters (or birthday party clowns), not stately athletes. Even the Swedes know that some colour combos are best left to Ikea.
Best: The French female athletes kept both cool and chic in stiff blue seersucker wrap shirts tied with red Gallic sashes, with coifs tucked under sleek navy berets. Must be Carla’s influence. Were they Dior?
One of the great points made in the Yaseru Obento Recipe book is that just because your bento box is small and fits the guidelines for selecting the right size bento box, it doesn’t mean you can fill it with anything. I thought I’d illustrate that with two bentos which use chicken as the main protein. In the photo above, the two leftside containers make up one bento, and the two rightside ones another. They are both Lube Sheep brand two-tier bento boxes, which I think a lot of people have since they are nice and compactand quite inexpensive. The nominal capacity for the two compartments combined is about 500ml.
The two bentos may look pretty comparable, but calorie wise there’s a big difference. Let’s see how I filled the right side bento first.
It has:
Chicken karaage made with 90g of thigh meat with the skin - 300cal
Sauteed bean sprouts with 1 Tbs. oil - 100cal
Fried rice with 250g rice, 1 1/2 Tbs. oil, green onions, ham - 490cal
How did I manage to pack in so many calories in such a small space? First of all, I used oil for all four elements - deep-frying the chicken with the skin on, and sautéing and frying the bean sprouts and rice. I was fairly liberal, but not as liberal as a typical takeout restaurant might be, with the oil. I also packed the rice into the slightly larger compartment as tightly as I could.
Now let’s look at the other bento.
Chicken kijiyaki (or teriyaki) made with 90g of thigh meat with the skin - 210cal
Blanched bean sprouts with umeboshi - 5 cal
Blanched spinach - 10cal
Plain rice (I used haiga-mai, or germ rice, here), 150g - 170cal
What did I do differently? The chicken is cooked, with the skin still on, in a non-stick frying pan with no added oil. (You could save more calories by taking the skin off, but I do like that crispy caramelized skin.) The rice is plain, which is fine since the chicken and tamagoyaki are well seasoned. I also packed it into the slightly smaller compartment, and left space to put in the tamagoyaki (which is the one element that is identical between the two bentos). And the vegetables are blanched, so no oil is added.
Which tasted better? To me, the lower-calorie version had much more contrast and variety. The high calorie one was tasty, but rather greasy. (I admit I fed it to the Guy for his bento…he liked it but did agree it was rather greasy.)
I do see quite a lot of bentos around the interweb that are in cute little bento boxes but are quite high in calories. Here are some things to watch out for:
Watch the carbs! I recently saw a bento that had some fried rice, two little bread rolls filled with yakisoba (fried noodles), and a couple of taiyaki (fish-shaped pancake batter filled with sweet bean paste). That bento not going to be very low in calories, even if it’s packed in a cute little box. (Always remember - just because it’s cute and Japanese does not mean it’s either healthy or low in calories!)
Watch the cooking methods you’re using. If you are craving something deep-fried like katsu or karaage, by all means use it - but compensate for it with the other things you put in your bento. Try the dry- or water-sautéing method that I’ve described in previous bentos (like this fried rice bento) that use just a little oil for flavor.
Use lots of low-cal vegetables. Try to fill in as much space as you can with vegetables that you’ve cooked using as little added oil as possible - steamed, blanched or boiled, stewed or dry-sautéed.
These points are important to remember if you are using bento lunches to aid in weight loss, but even if you aren’t they should be kept in mind if you want your carefully prepared lunch to have the maximum health benefits.
I’ll do a step-by-step of the lower-calorie bento in another post. I think I’ll skip the high-calorie one though!
Friday, August 1 to Sunday, August 3 Lisa van Kolfschoten, events & attractions editor
Aug 01, 2008
Looking for something to do in Toronto this weekend? We've compiled a list of some of the biggest events and festivals, along with some hidden gems that will keep everyone busy all weekend long. Also, a list of what's open and what's closed this Civic Holiday Monday.
Weekend hightlight: The Chinese Lantern Festival This glowing festival features a beautiful display of hand-crafted lanterns made by artisans from the city of Zigong, China. This yearly festival features a new twist this summer, as thirty-two exhibits have been designed to represent architectural wonders from each continent. Read More
Friday, August 1
Avenue Q This Tony Award-winning musical is performed by puppets and their handlers. The story follows Princeton, a college grad who moves to New York City with dreams of making it big. His adventure begins when he ends up on Avenue Q, the only neighbourhood within his budget. Read More
Evil Dead: The Musical This comic musical is based on the low-budget, cult classic ‘80s film and stars Broadway and film actor Ryan Ward. The gory tale features five college kids who go to a cabin in the woods and accidentally release an evil force. Read More
Irie Music Festival Created as a unifying symbol of Toronto's diversity, the Irie Music Festival is an opportunity to promote a greater understanding between the diverse cultures and traditions of Toronto. The festival includes live music, dance presentations, art exhibitions, demonstrations and more. Read More
Sobeys - All stores are open 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Loblaws - Downtown and Etobicoke locations are open 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. and GTA stores are open 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. A&P/Dominion - All stores are open 24 hours.
LCBO
Some LCBO stores remain open, with holiday hours. Check out the LCBO website for schedule details before heading out.
Details are sketchy at this point but an absolutely massive fire at 
Yeah, yeah, the "10 things" column is usually about a person, but when you've lived a stone's throw from Donlands station for seven years, local events like the 
