ceiling cat October 31, 2006
Posted by zenandjuice in : Found , 1 comment so far
Intelligentsia Coffee & Tea, Inc. - Rwanda October 31, 2006
Posted by zenandjuice in : Coffee , add a commentThis is currently my favorite Coffee. I picked up a pound while in Chicago this summer, and I’m about to place an order for at least two more bags of it.
Intelligentsia Coffee & Tea, Inc. - Rwanda
Over the last three years Rwanda has become Africa’s most actively improving coffee country. Its many cooperatives are now producing some of the cleanest coffee on the continent, and this lot is a great example of what you should learn to expect from the ‘Land of 1,000 Hills’.
by Geoff Watts
Location: Butare, Kibuye and Byumba provinces
Varietal: Bourbon
Altitude: 1650-2100 meters
Description
Fruity in nature and tart in acidity, this gem offers dominant notes of peach, strawberry and lemon. The body is clean and rich and finishes sweet, with traces of wine, syrupy cocktail fruit and cocoa.
Tasting Notes
Exceptionally sweet and smooth. When hot there is a profound caramel-toffee sweetness that yields to soft dark fruit and berry notes as the cup cools. Very clean, extremely silky. Plenty of fruit and acidic nuance but maintains a sweet, approachable charisma that has universal appeal.
Geoff Watts’ Notes
Traditionally the vast majority of Rwandan coffee was sold to European commercial roasters at below-market prices as a cheap option for blending. The quality was low and the farmers were paid next to nothing for their work.
Fast forward to 2006, and there is a whole new reality. Rwanda is producing some of the cleanest coffee in all of Africa and is a hot new option in the Specialty market, so much so that Roasters are actually fighting with each other to obtain some of these outstanding beans. Producers are getting better prices than many well-known and historically successful Central American farms, and there is a mad scramble to try to cement long-term relationships with some of the cooperatives there.
Perhaps the most astonishing fact of this turnaround is that it happened in less than 6 years. In 2000 the PEARL (Partnership to Enhance Agriculture in Rwanda through Linkages) Project was initiated with the goal of creating better economic opportunities for farmers in Rwanda. An educational program was created to teach members of the local coffee cooperatives quality protocols for handling coffees post-harvest, and in June of 2004 professional tasters from the US and Europe were brought in to provide cupping training and roasting lessons for young students who would later become the quality specialists for their respective cooperatives.
Click for larger image
I have been deeply involved in this process since 2003 and have traveled to Rwanda seven times in the last three years to teach, taste, and help in the effort to build momentum. Over this period I’ve developed a relationship with the coffees and the people there that is personal, emotional, incredibly gratifying, and above all, exciting as this is really just the beginning for their new industry. Already, over 20,000 farmers have more than doubled their annual income. There nearly 30 new washing stations in operation throughout the country, and the country’s goal is now to have 100 stations by 2010.
speed reading ? October 26, 2006
Posted by zenandjuice in : Randomness , 1 comment so farI was just handed a handbill on campus for a Free Seminar in Speed Reading.
You know, reading is like one of the few things that I can do where I’m not being rushed. It’s like being given the opportunity to listen to music at two to three times as fast. No thank you.
EQ & Wes Luker @ Tony C’s Off Dickson October 23, 2006
Posted by zenandjuice in : Events , add a comment
Fright Night Fight - NWA Rollergirls Exhibition Bout Oct 28th in Sringdale October 20, 2006
Posted by zenandjuice in : Events , add a commentfrom the NWA Rollergirls:
Hello everyone, the time is getting closer, in less then 2 weeks we will be bouting it out for the public and NWA Rollergirls First Public Performance on October 28th in Springdale, Arkansas at Roller City.
This is Arkansas’s first rollerderby bout ever! Come watch history be made when the Twisted Sisters take on the Hardwood Harlots on the rink.
Tickets are on sale now:
- $10 in advance for adults
- $5.00 for kids
- $12 at the door, if we dont sell out
You can purchase tickets online at www.nwarollergirls.com in our online store, or you can go by any of the following locations to pick tickets up too:
- Jose’s Mexican Restaraunt on Dickson St.
- SPUN Records in Fayetteville
- Roller City in Springdale
You can also check us out on myspace at: http://www.myspace.com/nwarollergirls
Google Browser Sync October 18, 2006
Posted by zenandjuice in : Software , add a commentI just started using this between a few computers, and it works GREAT ! I have it configured to just synchronize my bookmarks, not my cookies, history, passwords, etc.
Firefox users, try it out !
Google Browser Sync for Firefox is an extension that continuously synchronizes your browser settings – including bookmarks, history, persistent cookies, and saved passwords – across your computers. It also allows you to restore open tabs and windows across different machines and browser sessions.
Modern Dog at Dickson Street Theater October 9, 2006
Posted by zenandjuice in : Art , add a commentOctober 20, 2006
Dickson Street Theater
MODERN DOG
Seattle’s Modern Dog Design has become synonymous with the Seattle graphic design scene and is widely recognized as an inventive and often irreverent purveyor of popular culture. They are found on the pages of all of the major design magazines and books in the United States, receiving hundreds of awards from publications such as Graphis, AIGA, Type Directors Club, The 100 Show and Communication Arts. Their work has been exhibited around the world – from Bellingham to Brno.
Many of their posters are in permanent collections such as the Library of Congress, the Smithsonian’s Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum, the Hong Kong Heritage Museum, Bibliotheque Nationale de France in Paris, Museum Fur Kunst und Gewerbe in Hamburg and the Warsaw National Museum among others.
for more information, visit http://www.moderndog.com/ or http://www.nwaadc.org/
overheard tonight October 7, 2006
Posted by zenandjuice in : Quotes , add a commentoverheard this evening..
“my waistline is where my pantyhose ends”.
ha.
Diamonds October 6, 2006
Posted by zenandjuice in : Randomness , add a commentTen reasons against diamonds
1. Youve Been Psychologically Conditioned To Want a Diamond
The diamond engagement ring is a 63-year-old invention of N.W.Ayer advertising agency. The De Beers diamond cartel contracted N.W.Ayer to create a demand for what are, essentially, useless hunks of rock.
2. Diamonds are Priced Well Above Their Value
The De Beers cartel has systematically held diamond prices at levels far greater than their abundance would generate under anything even remotely resembling perfect competition. All diamonds not already under its control are bought by the cartel, and then the De Beers cartel carefully managed world diamond supply in order to keep prices steadily high.
3. Diamonds Have No Resale or Investment Value
Any diamond that you buy or receive will indeed be yours forever: De Beers’ advertising deliberately brain-washed women not to sell; the steady price is a tool to prevent speculation in diamonds; and no dealer will buy a diamond from you. You can only sell it at a diamond purchasing center or a pawn shop where you will receive a tiny fraction of its original “value.”
4. Diamond Miners are Disproportionately Exposed to HIV/AIDS
Many diamond mining camps enforce all-male, no-family rules. Men contract HIV/AIDS from camp sex-workers, while women married to miners have no access to employment, no income outside of their husbands and no bargaining power for negotiating safe sex, and thus are at extremely high risk of contracting HIV.
5. Open-Pit Diamond Mines Pose Environmental Threats
Diamond mines are open pits where salts, heavy minerals, organisms, oil, and chemicals from mining equipment freely leach into ground-water, endangering people in nearby mining camps and villages, as well as downstream plants and animals.
6. Diamond Mine-Owners Violate Indigenous Peoples Rights
Diamond mines in Australia, Canada, India and many countries in Africa are situated on lands traditionally associated with indigenous peoples. Many of these communities have been displaced, while others remain, often at great cost to their health, livelihoods and traditional cultures.
7. Slave Laborers Cut and Polish Diamonds
More than one-half of the worlds diamonds are processed in India where many of the cutters and polishers are bonded child laborers. Bonded children work to pay off the debts of their relatives, often unsuccessfully. When they reach adulthood their debt is passed on to their younger siblings or to their own children.
8. Conflict Diamonds Fund Civil Wars in Africa
There is no reliable way to insure that your diamond was not mined or stolen by government or rebel military forces in order to finance civil conflict. Conflict diamonds are traded either for guns or for cash to pay and feed soldiers.
9. Diamond Wars are Fought Using Child Warriors
Many diamond producing governments and rebel forces use children as soldiers, laborers in military camps, and sex slaves. Child soldiers are given drugs to overcome their fear and reluctance to participate in atrocities.
10. Small Arms Trade is Intimately Related to Diamond Smuggling
Illicit diamonds inflame the clandestine trade of small arms. There are 500 million small arms in the world today which are used to kill 500,000 people annually, the vast majority of whom are non-combatants.
found most recently at TrendyFriendy.com
ddp gallery’s grand opening reception - Thursday ! October 4, 2006
Posted by zenandjuice in : Art , add a commentYou are invited to ddp gallery’s grand opening reception, featuring Fort Smith painter Don Lee’s Work on Paper.
The reception will be held from 5:00 PM to 8:00 PM on Thursday, October 4th. ddp gallery is located at 7 East Mountain, just off the Fayetteville Downtown Square. More information can be found at www.ddpgallery.com or by calling 479-442-0001.