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Towns without cars
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May 13, 2009
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The town of Vauban, Germany has no cars. Deliberately. If you want to own a car, you have to pay to store it in a garage on the outskirts of town. A similar town is being planned near Oakland, California.
There are about a billion upsides to this. Less pollution. Quieter streets. Not paying money to buy a car. Saving money on car-related expenses. More walking and biking, which means better health.
The downside: Not having a car.
(via Neatorama) #travel
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Nut vs. seed (2)
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May 13, 2009
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For lunch yesterday, I had a salad with nuts on it. Pine nuts and sunflower seeds. Here's where it gets complicated. First of all, there are two different naming conventions: Botanical and culinary. Botany is the study of plants, while culinary art is all about cooking and eating.
According to a botanist, a seed is what a plant uses to reproduce. A fruit is what a plant uses to disseminate seeds. A nut is both the fruit and the seed. According to a culinary artist, a fruit is any sweet-tasting plant product associated with seeds. A nut is any hard, oily, shelled plant product.
Pine nuts are the seeds of pine trees, and since they can be shelled, they're not botanically nuts. Sunflower seeds are the seeds of sunflowers, and technically speaking, I only ate the sunflower kernels, not the entire seeds, which in turn means they're not nuts. But culinarily, both pine nuts and sunflower seeds are considered nuts because they're hard, oily, and shelled.
So there you have it. If I was speaking to a botanist, I would say I had a salad with seeds on it. If I was speaking to a culinary artist, I would say I had a salad with nuts on it. Since I know neither, I'll never tell anyone anything. #food
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Gin
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May 13, 2009
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Two facts about gin: - It's made from pure grain alcohol and flavored with juniper berries, which come from coniferous juniper trees, which is why it tastes like pine trees.
- It's the only hard alcohol that doesn't make me want to forcefully vomit.
#food
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