almond milk cacao avocado banana smoothie

 

 

Craving something sweet? Try this cacao, banana and avocado smoothie. It’s the ultimate sweet fix. The combination of banana, cacao, dates, avocado, almond milk and almond butter is too incredible as each glass is just so deliciously smooth, rich, creamy and chocolatey. Yet still so wonderfully light and, even better, so speedy to make – literally three minutes from cupboard to cup. It’s like a new and improved take on chocolate milk, just a million times healthier! The over-ripe banana, dates and drop of agave really make this so unbelievably sweet, it’s almost hard to believe that it is natural. Trust me, everyone will love this. It was such a hit in the flat last night that we ended up licking the blender clean! It’s just that good. So sweet, so natural, so easy. Recipes like this really make not eating processed sugar, chocolate and candy too easy. I never would have thought I’d say it, but Haribo, Ben & Jerrys or Cadburys, could never taste more delicious than this.

Avocado may seem like a weird addition to the ingredient list here, but it is the magic ingredient as it makes the smoothie so irresistibly creamy. It really works to replace yoghurt, which would normally be used in smoothies. Not only does the avocado make the texture a trillion times better, but it also really vamps up the health properties of this drink as it is such a super food. One of the most awesome things a bout avocados is that they’ve been shown to really increase the absorption of all the vitamins and minerals of the foods eaten with them, meaning you’ll get even more goodness from all the other ingredients. They’re also great sources of vitamins E, K and B, all of which help to keep your body strong by regulating your metabolism, keeping your bones strong and keeping your skin glowing. As well as having serious anti-inflammatory properties, promoting blood sugar regulation and containing a great portion of fibre. So much goodness in one vegetable!

Makes 1 large glass:

- 1/2 a cup of almond milk

- 1 really ripe banana

- 1/2 an avocado

- 4 medjool dates

- 2 teaspoons of cacao

- 1 teaspoon of manuka honey

- 1 teaspoon of almond butter

- a few ice cubes

Peel the banana and avocado, discarding their skins and pit the dates.

Then, simply place all of the ingredients into the blender, blend for 2 minutes until smooth.

Pour, sip and love.

 

You might also like

• Spirulina Smoothie
• Banana, Date and Almond Shake
• The Ultimate Blueberry and Banana Breakfast Smoothie
• Kale, Berry and Acai Power Smoothie

 

10 sites para se conseguir imagens bacanas

 

A dica de hoje foi dada por Adriana Fonseca no blog Papo de Empreendedor.

Sabe quando você precisa caprichar naquela apresentação de slides ou em um material promocional da sua empresa e não tem imagens bacanas para usar? Seus problemas acabaram.

Segue uma lista de 10 sites com imagens bacanas:

Veer é um site que oferece fotos gratuitas e pagas. Toda semana eles selecionam algumas imagens e colocam na galeria “de graça”.

Public-Domain-Photos oferece mais de 5 mil fotos gratuitas e mais de 8 mil ilustrações. Todas são de domínio público e você pode usá-las com qualquer propósito, inclusive comercial. Fique atento, no entanto, às imagens que contêm logotipos e produtos.

Pixel Perfect Digital oferece fotos tiradas por fotógrafos amadores ou semi-profissionais com looks naturais – nada de modelos posando para fotos.

Image After tem fotos gratuitas separadas por temas – arquitetura, indústria, natureza, etc. Mas seja cuidadoso, pois há um monte de anúncios no site incentivando o usuário a pagar por sites de fotos.

Design Packs oferece pacotes de fotos gratuitos prontos para download, como o de flores e o de dinheiro.

Free Range Stock é uma comunidade de fotógrafos sustentada por anúncios – os fotógrafos são pagos quando os internautas clicam nos anúncios que aparecem na tela.

Cepolina é um site com mais de 16 mil imagens de viagens e natureza. Além de organizadas por categorias, as fotos também são selecionadas por cores, o que ajuda a encontrar algo que combine com o fundo do seu site, por exemplo

Stock.XCHNG foi comprado pela Getty Images, mas por enquanto ainda é de graça. São mais de 350 mil imagens de qualidade de mais de 30 mil fotógrafos diferentes.

Morguefile oferece imagens de graça para uso pessoal e comercial. O site também abre espaço para que novos fotógrafos disponibilizem suas fotos ali.

Toasto é um site simples de fotos gratuitas tiradas por um único fotógrafo. Você pode escolher as imagens por categorias, entre elas paisagens, flores e conceitos e ideias.

Para melhorar ainda mais suas apresentações, recomendo o post: Características de uma boa apresentação no Power Point.

 

Nuclear Security Summit Goes Dutch

Posted by Nicholas Fiorenza 4:36 PM on Mar 21, 2014

The Netherlands is making every effort to secure the Nuclear Security Summit it is hosting in The Hague on 24-25 March, deploying surface-to-air missiles, helicopters and bomb-sniffing dogs.

The Dutch Ground-based Air Defense Command has deployed four NASAM launcher units and an air defense radar. The radar has been installed on an elevated platform to avoid ground clutter and its radar picture is combined with that of two NATO airborne warning and control system (AWACS) aircraft and the De Zeven Pronvinciën LCF air defense frigate just off the coast.

Two Royal Netherlands Air Force F-16s will patrol Dutch airspace during the summit and additional fighters are on standby at Volkel and Leeuwaarden, supported by two KDC-10 tankers at Eindhoven air base. The Holland and Friesland ocean patrol vessels, each with an NH90 maritime helicopter on board, are patrolling further out to sea.

A total of 19 military and police helicopters are also on standby, including five Apaches, four Cougars and two Chinooks deployed to the former naval air base of Valkenburg.
While the Nuclear Security Summit may be secure, the crisis in Ukraine is casting a shadow on it, with Western diplomats reportedly fearing that Russia will stop cooperating on nuclear issues in retaliation for U.S. and European sanctions.

Dutch Ministry of Defense photos

Top 10 Ways to Turn Your Retired Gadgetry into the Technology of the Future

 

 

With the rapid progression of technology each year, it's easy to accumulate a pile of obsolete gadgets that you just can't bear to get rid of. So don't! Here are our top 10 ways you can take the retired gadgets you've already got and turn them into something that has a solid place in the future.

10. Turn an Old Mobile Device into a Dedicated VOIP Handset

 

We've seen how easy it is to turn an iPod touch into an iPhone using a few tricks and some sort of VOIP service, and it's just as easy with an old phone—so long as you have a constant Wi-Fi connection. It can be nice to have a home phone or two you can use to answer calls when your cellphone isn't handy, you don't have great reception, and you don't want to leave the VOIP app unattended. So grab a mobile copy of Skype, Fring, Line2, or whatever, and leave it open and ready on your old mobile device. It'll wait for someone to call it, or you can just pick it up and, say, order a pizza without the fear of yet another dropped call.

9. Create a Wireless Internet Radio from an Old Router

Radios and routers aren't exactly technology of the future—more of the past and present, really—but when you combine them with the internet you've suddenly got a pretty awesome device for streaming music. The process isn't even that complicated. All you really need is a particular wireless router (the Asus WL-520GU is recommended in this case) and a USB sound card. Pretty neat.

8. Create a Home Security System with a Webcam

When you buy a new laptop, or even a monitor monitor, these days you're almost guaranteed a built-in webcam. That's great, but what do you do with your old bulky, USB-cabled micro-camera? You use it as a security monitor for your home. You can even make it motion-sensing. Better to have it catching criminals than collecting dust, right?

 

7. Use an Old PC Fan to Create a Battery-Charging Wind Turbine

 

Maybe wind power is the future and maybe it's not, but we're headed towards something sustainable so you might as well get started now. If you'd like a means of recharging your batteries without relying on an outlet, create this wind turbine out of an old PC fan. This project involves a little hacking and tinkering, but it's worth it just to have power anywhere the wind blows.

6. Turn an Old Projector into a Book Scanner

Most kids born in the last decade don't know whiteout from Britney Spears, so someday you're going to hear the question "did you really used to read books on paper?" Perhaps it's time to accept the inevitable and realize that the medium we know as print is a bit more ephemeral than we may like. But losing our books isn't an option, so the only thing we can really do is take an old projector and turn it into a book scanner, of course! If you've got the time, patience, or lower-level employee you can torture, this little project will finally help you evolve those dead tree tomes into their next state of being.

5. Make a Touchscreen Tablet Out of an Old Netbook

 

Netbooks had their moment, but their sales are dwindling thanks to the popularity of the tablet. If you wish your netbook actually was a tablet, you're not really out of luck. Just turn it into one. (That linked post even includes software we made to provide it with a heads up display to make it feel even more touch-friendly.) It's not going to be as magical as an iPad, but it's a fun upgrade for a computer you may not use so much anymore. Alternatively, you can do the same with an old MacBook if you've got one of those lying around instead.

  4. Build a Cellphone-Powered Robot

Even your old cellphone, smart or not, has enough power to create a personal robot. The video to the left is proof of how an old mobile can create a "cardboard truckbot." The additional parts you'll need will only cost you $30, and Cellbots provides instructions on how to put it all together. You've likely got an old feature phone you've been planning to recycle for the past five years. Rather than wait for that day to never come, provide that gadget of the past with new life as talking, robotic truck.

3. Turn an Old Computer into an XBMC Home Theater PC

 

XBMC is our favorite media center software. It's free and it's better than it's paid alternatives thanks to a slick, customizable interface that plays all sorts of media from the majority of networked and local destinations. It can pull content from the web, tell you the weather, double as a retro video game console, and much more. What's really great is that it can run on a super cheap, underpowered nettop. That may also mean your old computer is entirely adequate for the job. Either way, you'll be up and running a home theater system that's ahead of its time before you know it.

2. Automate Your Home with an Old Router

The homes of the future will be automated, but you can have that now with the help of an old router. Said router needs to be OpenWRT compatible and this project will require a few other things, but if you're up to the challenge you'll be controlling your home from your smartphone on the cheap.

1. Turn an Old Computer Into an Internet PVR, Downloader, and NAS

 

The future of home entertainment ought to be as elegant and wonderful as the systems we can put together ourselves today. Old computers are perfect machines for creating a fully-featured content downloader. You can simply set up automated BitTorrent and Usenet downloads, or go so far as to turn that old machine into a NAS and install Usenet tools like SABnzbd and Sickbeard as well. This will make an old machine, seemingly destined for obsolescence, into an incredibly powerful server that will provide you with virtually any entertainment you want. It's unfortunate there isn't a comparable product and service available for purchase right now, but that's part of what makes doing it yourself seem so amazing when you're through.

 

More than just an RV: ESCAPE injects some style into the tiny house movement

 

The ESCAPE home looks like a cabin but is actually rated as an RV (Photo: Canoe Bay)

Image Gallery

Perhaps due to the fact that the challenge of designing viable tiny homes pushes architects to come up with creative space-saving solutions, the tiny house movement is bursting with great ideas. The latest such dwelling to come to our attention, dubbed ESCAPE, is a 37 sq m (400 sq ft) home that boasts a handsome design, lots of customizable options (including operating completely off-grid), and legal status as an RV.

ESCAPE is envisioned as a vacation cabin, first home, or rental property, and is pretty well-stocked for small living. The interior contains a main living area, bathroom and separate toilet, bedroom, and a small kitchen area. Each of the rooms can also be customized with a range of options, which include a steam shower, air conditioning, and dishwasher. The porch can also be converted into a semi-outdoor multi-function space.

Owing to its legal status as an RV – or Park Model RV to be precise – ESCAPE is mounted on an RV chassis and wheels, so doesn't need proper foundations, nor is it subject to the same taxes and planning laws as a permanent structure. Just to be clear though, it's not a motorized RV and contains no engine, so you're not going to be driving this thing down the road. It also requires a moving truck to be transported, like a mobile home, and can't simply be towed with a decent-sized car like the OTIS.

There's not a lot of additional space to play with given its size, but judging from the photos, ESCAPE doesn't fall into the familiar trap of resembling an oversized shed. Indeed, the design owes more than a little to Frank Lloyd Wright (who the designers cite as an influence), and the pleasingly rural appearance is achieved thanks to finishing touches like wooden window frames, hardwood floors, cedar wood siding, and large overhangs.

The home is said to be very efficient to heat, and sports a tight (though not totally air-tight) envelope. Though there are no efficiency figures available, the ESCAPE company website states that its sealed combustion gas fireplace is adequate to handle the worst of Wisconsin's winter weather. On the all-important storage front, there's a large closet and built-in armoire, bedroom drawers, and cabinets in the kitchen and bathroom.

ESCAPE is available for purchase now, and comes already built. It will set you back a minimum of US$79,000, depending on options. A company rep informed Gizmag that potential buyers are encouraged to view the house in person – more details via the source link below.

Source: Canoe Bay Escape via Treehugger

All You Need to Know about Gravitational Waves

 

A beginner's guide to the BICEP2 discovery of primordial gravitational waves

Credit: Nature magazine

Astronomers have announced the detection of the imprint of primordial 'gravitational waves' that originated in the Big Bang that created our Universe 13.8 billion years ago. The discovery has been hailed as a milestone in science, but the concepts involved will be unfamiliar to many people. Help is at hand. Here are some FAQs on gravitational waves and their answers.

What is the significance of the BICEP2 announcement?

Scientists will be unravelling the consequences of this discovery for years. But some major implications are already clear:

• Albert Einstein predicted 'gravitational waves' nearly 100 years ago, but he also calculated that they would be extremely feeble, so much so that he thought they would never be detected. BICEP2's findings are the most convincing evidence — short of direct detection — that gravitational waves actually exist.
• The waves are the confirmation of a cornerstone theory of the standard picture of cosmology. This theory, called inflation, says that during the first moments of its existence, the Universe underwent a brief period of exponential expansion.
• During inflation, the Universe's temperature — and thus the energies reached by elementary particles — were trillions of times higher than can be achieved in any laboratory, even in particle accelerators such as the Large Hadron Collider at CERN, near Geneva, Switzerland.
• Because inflation is a quantum phenomenon and gravitational waves are part of classical physics, gravitational waves establish a link between the two, and could be the first evidence that gravity has a quantum nature just like the other forces of nature (see 'How to see quantum gravity in Big Bang traces').

What are gravitational waves?

Gravity, according to Einstein's general theory of relativity, is how mass deforms the shape of space: near any massive body, the fabric of space becomes curved. But this curving does not always stay near the massive body. In particular, Einstein realized that the deformation can propagate throughout the Universe, just as seismic waves propagate in Earth's crust. Unlike seismic waves, however, gravitational waves can travel in empty space — and they do so at the speed of light.

If you could watch a gravitational wave head-on as it moves toward you, you would see it alternately stretching and compressing space, in the up–down and left–right directions (see video).

Is inflation the only thing that can produce gravitational waves?

No. Anything that's massive and is undergoing violent acceleration is supposed to produce them. In practice, the only  gravitational waves that we might be able to directly measure would be those from cataclysmic events such as two black holes colliding and fusing into one. Several observatories around the world are trying to pick up the distant noise of such black-hole mergers.

Why couldn't gravitational waves be measured directly, but only detected via a radiotelescope?

The gravitational waves that originated during inflation are still resonating throughout the Universe. But they are probably now too feeble to measure directly. Instead, scientists look for the imprint the waves have left in the broth of elementary particles that pervaded the Universe around 380,000 years after the Big Bang, which we see via the 'cosmic microwave background'. Observations of the microwave background radiation are made using telescopes that detect radio waves, and so the 'ripples' in the background caused by gravitational waves could only be detected by a radiotelescope.

Why was the discovery made at the South Pole?

The Amundsen–Scott South Pole Station, which hosts BICEP2, sits on the Antarctic ice sheet at more than 2,800 meters above sea level, so the atmosphere is thin. The air is also very dry, which is helpful as water vapor blocks microwaves. And Antarctica is also virtually uninhabited, so there is no interference from mobile phones, television broadcasts, and the rest of our electronic paraphernalia.

This article is reproduced with permission from the magazine Nature. The article was first published on March 17, 2014.