Gift To Know

What's Food

noreply@blogger.com (Shari Creed) — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 07:51:00 +0000

What's Food? Perhaps this sounds like an odd question.

IT’S NOT.
With the social experience of dining with family and friends fading int the distant past as a choice by Western civilization (an oxymoron of terms, unless eating fast, and eating in front of the TV define civilized), we have also lost sight of the most simple and basic rules which were followed by those who came before us.

Eat whole foods. Eat in moderation. Eat what grows from, or is supported by the earth. Eat with family and friends.

For the purposes of Gift to Know, we define FOOD as fresh, raw, requires refrigeration and needs to be cooked at home.

Here’s more food for thought.

SHOP OFTEN. An attribute of food isn’t that it lasts for weeks on end and that”no refrigeration is required”. Fresh food tastes better.

Read HOW TO PICK A PEACH by Russ Parsons, food and wine columnist of the L.A. Times. Everyone who does will become a culinary aficionado (a few riblets in the Gift to Know 2 came from there). How to buy a broccoli(reject broccoli with yellow flowers); when to buy what squash (winter squash from late September to early November -- later, butternut and kabocha which last through January) are just a few tips shared amongst great information, insights and delicious recipes.

Whaaaaaat?

noreply@blogger.com (Shari Creed) — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 06:10:00 +0000

You know when you hear it: that information overheard on the nightly news or at the water cooler that stops you dead in your tracks, forcing you to catch your breath and put the daily business of living on hold, if only for a while. It’s bizarre, it’s unbelievable, and it would be funny -- that is if it weren’t true.

TAP WATER WARS. While initiatives like Tappening and Tap Project make strong cases for drinking tap water instead of bottled, Tap’dNY offers a cheeky twist on the “drink local” concept by bottling New York drinking water -- and selling it back to New Yorkers, bragging “No Glaciers Were Harmed Making the Water”. Only in New York! [tapdny.com]

MYFREEIMPLANTS.COM is a website where women can sign up to have their breast implants paid for by men who visit the site.

SLYDIAL voice messaging allows users to leave back-door voicemails for people they don’t wish to speak to. It’s billed as a way to avoid unwanted, time-consuming, uh conversations. Just dial 267-SLY-DIAL (759-3425) and follow the voice prompt.

A new generation of TALKING CLOSED CIRCUIT TV CAMERAS in the UK tells people off when they commit offences like spitting or littering.

Currently, five states ban the use of cell-phones without hands-free devices while driving: California, Connecticut, New Jersey, New York, and Washington. Of those, all but New York also ban text-messaging in the car for drivers over 18, while Alaska, Louisiana and Minnesota PERMIT ANY KIND OF CELL PHONE USE BUT PROHIBIT TEXTING. We’re not sure how these laws are decided upon -- aren’t both activities equally distracting.

Interview Magazine - Matt Creed's PLAYLIST

noreply@blogger.com (Shari Creed) — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 20:18:00 +0000

NO LONGER IS DANCE MUSIC ABOUT A BILLBOARD HIT ON HEAVY ROTATION. TODAY WHAT YOU PLAY IS ONLY AS IMPORTANT AS HOW YOU PLAY IT (AND IN WHAT ORDER). IF THE AURA OF THE RECORDING ARTIST IS DIMMING, THEN THE CULT OF THE DJ IS RISING. WE ASKED NINE MUSIC MASTERS FOR THEIR PERSONAL PLAYLISTS. YOU MAY WANT TO COPY THESE DOWN.
Check out the article. And this is Matt's post from the article.

SEX

noreply@blogger.com (Shari Creed) — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 08:19:00 +0000

Do we have your attention? You’re not alone. This word has been proven to be one of the three most able to capture your attention (along with “sale” and “free”). Need we say more?

More and more people are using the web to find people whom they’ve felt a real-life connection and subsequently lost track of. The MISSED CONNECTIONS section of Craigslist, for example, has become one of the site’s most popular sections, according to the company’s C.E.O. Last year, a New Yorker named Patrick Moberg took the concept one step further: he set up a dedicated website to track down a girl who he’d seen on the No.5 train (guess what? He found her).

A recent University of New Mexico study found that STRIPPERS WHO ARE OVULATING -- and therefore most fertile -- made an average of $30/per hour more than menstruating women, and $15 per hour more than women elsewhere in their cycles. Strippers on the pill made significantly less than naturally-cycling women overall (we wonder how much fun scientists had conducting that study!)

Jason Mraz and Mashup of Top 25 Billboard Hits

noreply@blogger.com (Shari Creed) — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 21:57:00 +0000

For those of you who did not see Jason Mraz on SNL, January 31st, 2009 check out this live performance on YT, live in Korea. Jason is one of our favorite artists on our Gift To Know : Music CD 2009.

Great job DJ Earworm - love the work you did on United State of Pop 2008 (Viva La Pop) - Mashup of Top 25 Billboard Hits.

Green 2.0

noreply@blogger.com (Shari Creed) — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 07:49:00 +0000

Recently, our agency joined the Designers Accord -- a coalition of more than 100,000 designers, engineers, and corporate leaders committed to environmentally and socially responsible design.
Members must publicly declare their participation in the accord, put programs in place to reduce their carbon footprint, and teach employees about the importance of sustainable values in design, amongst other criteria. Aside from enlightenment, membership can spark, innovation, foster a healthy team spirit within the company, generate financial savings and cleanup the planet!

Make sure all computers and lights are set on TIMERS. By turning off your computer instead of leaving it in sleep mode, you can save 40 watt-hours per day. That can add up to $14/computer per year and when you have multiple computers in an office, it’s substantial. Anything plugged into the wall sucks energy, even when it’s not in use(think kitchen appliances like coffee makers, kettles with switches, toasters) -- so whenever possible, unplug.

BE TRANSPARENT! We post our agency’s monthly utility bills in plain sight on out office blackboard. By bringing energy consumption to everyone’s attention at home or the office, we can all play an active role in lowering our carbon footprint, and with it, the bills!

Go to CARBONFOOTPRINTS.COM and take the time to assess your carbon footprint(or your company’s) Publish it and revisit it in a few months’ time to see how you’ve lowered it.

TREES FOR THE FUTURE. Be it for travel for business or pleasure, your daily commute, or a power meeting uptown when you’re downtown -- all add to your annual carbon footprint. We contribute to Trees for the Future, giving us a means by which we can help to offset our carbon footprint by planting trees in designated countries around the world. Though burning fuel, now in the same amount, a tree is being planted -- helping to restore the planet. [treesftf.com]

Websites

noreply@blogger.com (Shari Creed) — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 09:29:00 +0000

It seems that every person, place or passing thought has a website devoted to it these days, so it's hard to know which are truly worth your while. Here's a couple websites we feel are worth checking out.

SitorSquat.com. What started as a fun personal blog documenting the locations of toilets in New York City has exploded (no pun intended) into a unique website, complete with pictures and ratings of toilets the world over. Noted with disdain or delight, yet rarely discussed in action -- toilets matter.

Client lunch? Hot-date? Coffee-clatching? Meetways.com calculates the equal point between two distances and finds the closest point of interest -- coffee shop, restaurant, bar -- to meet.

Compassion Fatigue

noreply@blogger.com (Shari Creed) — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 07:17:00 +0000

Remember Operation Enduring Freedom? a.k.a. the Afghanistan war? Why has the nightly news stopped reporting the casualties by name and rank, instead, replacing them with casualties of pop culture -- Paris, Britney, Chrisitina, Anna Nicole? Is it a symptom of Compassion fatigue -- a condition where repeated exposure to the same kind of tragedy dulls our senses so we no longer feel shock or pain when we hear of it (or worse, witness it)? As we carry on in our life as usual mode while we remain mired in two protracted wars, it's worthwhile to think about what's going on in the lives of families who are living with their impact day in and day out.

Send an email to your local network and ask them to cover the story of any
LOCAL SOLDIER who was injured or killed. Then send emails to Anderson, Charlie, Diane, Bob, Katie and the gang, reminding them that morality always trumps ratings (some have personal blogs, some you can contact via the editors of the news departments they work for).

SOLDIERSANGELS.COM is a remarkable volunteer website that has 20 different charitable programs supporting all branches of the U.S. armed forces. Adopt a Soldier, Angel Bakers, and Blankets of Gratitude are a few charities and programs in which you can participate. The Soldiers’ Angels slogan, “May No Soldier Go Unloved”, encapsulates the motivation behind the group, which was founded by—of course—the mothers of two vets.

ICASUALTIES.ORG is a website that military families have good reason to visit daily. The site lists the loss of life count from wars being waged. Military families check it to make sure their loved one is not listed. Last time we visited, the number of U.S. Military Casualties reported there was 4,209 with 3 pending confirmation, 4,834 Coalition Casualties and more than 30,634 wounded. The site’s numbers however, increase daily. A separate site, iraqbodycount.org, based on news reports only, has estimated that the number of Iraqi civilian deaths since 2003 is more than 97,000.

Take Your Time

noreply@blogger.com (Shari Creed) — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 08:55:00 +0000

Take Your Time. How frequently have we uttered that phrase, yet these days, it's almost laughable -- who really has time to "take" anymore. We try to make up for the lack of time by multi-tasking. But guess what? There's no such thing as multi-tasking. Experts have found we cannot focus on more than one task at a time. So while it may feel as if we're accomplishing tasks simultaneously, we're actually switching back and forth between each in rapid succession. In effect accomplishing less -- living in absence of the moment instead of in it. But what we're doing to save time is actually costing us more than just time. It's also fostering a deep sense of disconnectedness and isolation, and has far reaching implications.

Smile...It's Contagiuos

noreply@blogger.com (Shari Creed) — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 00:35:00 +0000

enjoy our Gift To Know

This Year’s Food for Thought (and Minutia)

noreply@blogger.com (Shari Creed) — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 22:30:00 +0000

Our annual ‘if it’s good to know, then it’s a Gift to Know’ is back! Since it’s been such an emotionally charged year— one that reset boundaries around the world— we decided to be less restrained in our editing process and share everything we found that was just plain enlightening, from insightful facts to good-to-know trivia. Some will make you smile, while some are inconvenient truths that may make you take pause. Some may change your life or the life of someone else (or better yet, both). Some may open your mind where it may have been closed, or leave you scratching your head in wonder. Where others might see a series of unrelated events, we see trends. Our hope is that sharing them in bite-sized portions will trigger opportunity for you, no matter how you interpret the information. Because what’s good to know is always a Gift to Know! Click here to view