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by guest blogger Alberto Gonzalez, founder and CEO ofGustOrganics.
For most people who think about what goes into the foods they buy, there is a question that constantly arises: Is it better to buy organic or local?
In America, the word “organic” is owned by the government, which means that in order to label a product “organic,” it must be certified as such by an authorized third party. The United States Department of Agriculture/National Organic Program (USDA/NOP) has some of the strictest standards in the world, and when the USDA Organic logo is present, it means that a third party has audited the operation and the product meets all national requirements.
Organic food by definition cannot contain any chemicals, artificial substances, synthetic hormones, antibiotics, or GMOs (genetically modified organisms), also known as GE (genetically engineered). The program’s thorough audits verify that organic integrity is maintained throughout the distribution chain–from the farm to the consumer. Today, less than 1 percent of the farmland in America is certified organic and organic food represents about 3 to 4 percent of the national food sales.
Local is a term used to describe proximity between a food’s production and its

You’re surrounded by 17th- and 18th-century architecture, cobblestone streets and encompassed by towering ramparts of a walled city. Strolling down a narrow alley, you find inviting shops: patisseries, epiceries and boulangeries. Are you in Dijon, Alsace or maybe even Paris? Mais non. You’re in a city far more accessible but replete with all the charm of La Belle

The beginning of a new year is upon us making it a great time to re-evaluate, set goals (some we’ll keep and some we already haven’t), and think about all that this coming year could be. It’s an optimistic time, with the year in such an unblemished state, and thanks to cook and writer Tamar Adler’s recent book, An Everlasting Meal , I’m feeling especially excited about the year of cooking that’s stretched out before me.
An Everlasting Meal is less a cookbook with page after page of recipes, and more a book full of the author’s thoughts about her favorite ways to feed, and even spiritually nourish, people with great food that is made simply and with the humblest of ingredients. From the introduction:
In the introduction, Adler says that her book is fashioned after famous food writer M.F.K. Fisher’s book, How to Cook a Wolf, a book written to encourage World War II era cooks to prepare the best food possible, even when food was rationed and pantries were often

I’ve spent the last twelve years working my ass off developing, financing and producing movies. You’ve seen every episode of Entourage.
I’d say we’re about even in our knowledge of Hollywood.
I don’t know about you, but I get asked the same questions over and over. My brother is a pediatric emergency room doctor, literally saving tiny lives on every shift, yet talk around the family dinner table inevitably revolves around the glamorous world in which I operate. Using the latest issue of People Magazine as their bible, they come at me fast and hard with some apparently crucial questions:
Are they really a couple?
Is she secretly fat in person?
Did he actually need to have that thing removed?
The only way to change the topic is to talk about gaffers and grips and teamsters — the people who actually do the work on a movie; suddenly my brother’s tales of inverted penises seem much more gripping.
This thirst for inside Hollywood knowledge is ubiquitous, so I’ve decided to answer the more common questions once and for

2011 has come and gone and we’re now looking 2012 straight in the face. Well, maybe we’re actually inside its face since it’s already January. Hmm… anyways, silly season rumors have been laid to rest, and old and new race teams alike are gearing up for the big one, and I’m not talking about the end of the Mayan calendar doomsday

I’m delighted to announce the launch of our newest section, HuffPost Science, a one-stop shop for the latest scientific news and opinion. From the farthest reaches of space to the tiniest cells inside our bodies, HuffPost Science will report on the world’s greatest mysteries, most cutting-edge discoveries, and most thought-provoking ideas.
The section will also be home to a robust debate on issues great and small — from the Big Questions of our time (are we alone in the universe?), to quirky, fun ones (will they ever create a pill that will let me eat all the pistachio ice cream I want and not gain weight?) There’s no better time than now to launch a venue that explores these questions, given the explosion of truly medieval thinking in our world — and not just on the fringes. It’s a world in which we have senators and presidential candidates who don’t believe in evolution and who think that global warming is a myth. A world in which politicians don’t just have their own set of ideas but their own set of facts.
Science is a subject that has fascinated me for

Growing up in the mountains of Puerto Rico, I learned from a very young age that Christmas was the longest season of celebration. The festivities begin right after the turkey was carved on Thanksgiving Day and last until after Epiphany with eight days of party called the octavitas. During this long Christmas season, every household is prepared, because you never know when a parranda might land on your front door. For my family, the biggest celebration has always been that of the Da de los Reyes Magos or Epiphany

What can we expect in the world of public education in 2012? (For a good review of what happened in 2011, check out this link.) I’ll start by considering three nagging questions.
1. Will this be the year that some school districts say ‘No mas!” to No Child Left Behind’s harsh rules?
2. Will we have that long-awaited national conversation about the goals of public education?

A week ago, no visions of Pentagon strategy reviews were dancing in the heads of journalists, pundits or budget wonks. One well-placed New York Times article and one little announcement of a presidential stop-by later, and all eyes that can tear themselves away from the froth of New Hampshire will be watching the president and Secretary Panetta roll out a “strategic review,” intended to guide the 2013-2018 budgets, at the Pentagon today.
Why should you care, what should you be watching for, and how will the announcement affect politics, the budget process and the security of actual Americans? Your questions answered below.
What is this? It’s a rare out-of-cycle re-consideration of fundamental US military strategy, aiming to realign the behemoth of our national defense (more costly than just about every other global military entity combined) with three new realities:
Post-post-9/11: The post-9/11 decade, with its focus on extremist terrorism above all other threats, and its primary counter-strategy of Asian land wars and extended military occupations, is receding in the rear-view mirror. This means we don’t need the ground forces (Army and Marines) at the size to which they were built up to occupy Iraq and Afghanistan simultaneously.
Asia pivot: Obama and Panetta have both said the military will beef up its Asia-Pacific presence as part of a larger rebalance of focus away from Europe and the Middle East. In addition to ending the wars, this implies reducing the number of troops stationed in Europe; and it implies a greater focus on sea lanes, airpower and offshore presence, as distinct from ground-based counterinsurgency warfare.
End of the gravy train: More than a year of quiet conversation at the Pentagon and defense-industry consolidation have made clear that insiders knew, as then-chairman of the Joint Chiefs Admiral Mullen said last year: having this ready spigot of money “hasn’t forced us to make the hard

DeMarcus Cousins has demanded a trade from the Sacramento Kings. Or maybe he didn’t demand a trade. Certainly he has made his employers somewhat unhappy with his behavior, behavior that people argue goes back to high school.
Before I offer some thoughts on Cousins’ behavior, let me note that his behavior reminds me of the actions of another group of people I come into contact with on a regular basis.
Of course, I refer to

Though he’s in excellent health, my friend’s father has prepared for his death down to the very last detail. He’s told my friend not only where his money and assets are going, to whom and when, but where he wants to be buried, what he wants on his epitaph, who should come to his memorial service, and why.
I’m in awe of this kind of planning. I got a trust together years ago but haven’t really planned for life two years from now, never mind when I’m in the Great Beyond, since I’m too busy planning for the Great Here And

What is unfolding when nothing much of anything is going on with you?
I encourage you to check out for yourself what is going on at such times. For most of us, usually it is thinking. Thinking is going on. It takes lots of different forms.
Thinking seems to constitute our “default setting” rather than awareness.
It is a good thing to notice, because in this way, we might slowly shift from this automatic reverting to thinking over and over again to another mode of mind that may stand us in far better stead, namely awareness

Hotels are more than just a bed. As the saying goes, it’s the little things — and those little things are not just mints on the pillow.
Sometimes, the little things are quite big, as the team at Fortnighter has found out in their travels over the past year.
Here are 10 hotel amenities–Bentleys to breakfast bars–that turn a regular hotel stay into an unbelievable experience.
Heated floors, Hotel Gault, Montreal
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Come wintertime, Montreal is cold enough that leaving a cozy bed is the last thing on anyone’s mind. Thankfully the Hotel Gault facilitates this inertia with massive California King beds made by Flou, along with heated bathroom floors made of brick to keep those toes warm during forays when nature calls.
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Come wintertime, Montreal is cold enough that leaving a cozy bed is the last thing on anyone’s

As the second oldest city in the United States, Santa Fe celebrates its past through art, music and numerous museums. Georgia O’Keeffe stands out as this region’s most prominent landscape painter, and an art museum dedicated to her work is located a couple blocks from the Plaza. Unfortunately, I was there between shows and the museum was closed. I did find the New Mexico Art Museum right off the northwestern side of the Plaza and found it to be quite engaging and

We are told that we are what we do, how much we have, where our political and religious beliefs stand and so on make up who we are. If you are a car mechanic, then that is the full extent of your existence; it defines the entirety of who you are. You love cars and grease, grunt to the wife when you come home, watch sports at night, rarely see your kids and hate the opera. In contrast, if you are a scientist then you must be absentminded, wear pocket protectors, detest sports, have no kids but have a wife who is also a

Everyone knows that something is screwy with the way we visualize the cosmos. Theories of its origins screech to a halt when they reach the very event of interest — the moment of creation, the “Big Bang.”
The current scientific model proposes that the universe is like a watch that somehow wound itself and that will unwind in a semi-predictable way. Life arose by an unknown process, and then proceeded to change form under Darwinian mechanisms that operate under these same physical rules. Life contains consciousness, but the latter is poorly understood and is, in any case, solely a matter for biologists.
But there’s a

After my most recent trip there, it occurred to me that unlike many of its Western counterparts, Hong Kong doesn’t have a nickname. It deserves one. The “Gateway to Asia,” perhaps? That would work for Americans, both North and South, who arrive from eastward.
read full news from www.huffingtonpost.com

Every year, one of the top New Year’s resolutions is to lose weight — and for a good reason. According to the CDC, two out of every three Americans are overweight or obese. We’re in the midst of an obesity epidemic and the numbers are increasing worldwide. Many of us are affected by this epidemic, either personally or through our families or friends.
Studies show that successful weight management depends on a healthy

I remember, many moons ago, being a young cub reporter and standing in awe of the tough broads who chain-smoked at their desks and cussed like drunken sailors when the occasion demanded it — like when an editor changed their prose. Those don’t-mess-with-me women reporters pushed themselves into the nation’s male-dominated newsrooms and paved the way for younger women like me to pass through the glass ceiling without drawing blood from its jagged edges.
Those women taught me not just how to report out a story and write it so people would want to read to the end, they also taught me how to get along in an office where you are the different one, the late-comer to the party. They taught me by example how to juggle family and work, which to put first, and that I didn’t need to play the Hollywood casting couch game to get

Send all your eco-inquiries to Jennifer Grayson at eco.etiquette@gmail.com. Questions may be edited for length and clarity.
Surprise, surprise: My New Year’s resolution is to get rid of that spare tire I acquired over the holidays. (I’m a sucker for eggnog.) I’m curious: Are there ways to lose weight that are better for the environment than others?
-Feeling Too Chunky To Print My Name
Don’t despair, Chunky! If you’re feeling about as round as the Earth right now, you’re not alone: Losing weight regularly tops the list of most popular New Year’s resolutions; not surprising, considering that over two-thirds of American adults are overweight or obese.
Given the, ahem, enormity of the problem, it’s important to note that the method of weight loss is somewhat

Barack Obama will be re-elected not as a vindication of his policies but because the Republicans are incapable of providing a reasonable challenge to his flawed performance. On the central issue of our time–reining in the greed of the multinational corporations, led by the financial sector and the defense industry–a Republican presidential victor, with the possible exception of the now-sidelined Ron Paul, would do far less to challenge the kleptocracy of corporate-dominated governance.
As compared to front-runner Mitt Romney, who wants to derail even Obama’s tepid efforts at regulating Wall Street, and who seeks ever more wasteful increases in military spending, the incumbent president appears relatively enlightened, but that is cold comfort.
Not only has Obama been a savior of the banking conglomerates that so generously financed his campaign, but he also has proved to be equally as solicitous of the needs of the military-industrial

The relaxing hiatus is over for the Hamptons elite on “Revenge.” When we meet up again with the Graysons, Emily Thorne & co. on the beach, they look stunned, which we then learn is due to the gun Tyler has pointed at them. He walks around the table before pointing it directly at Emily’s head. Now, it’s time to find out how exactly they found themselves in this little predicament.
It’s two days earlier and Emily is not yet in “duress” — her word of day, which also happens to be the title of the

Source:Associated Press
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MIAMI — The West Virginia Mountaineers were tough to slow down, and only the Discover Orange Bowl mascot could stop Darwin Cook.Geno Smith tied the record for any bowl game with six touchdown passes, and the Mountaineers set a bowl scoring record Wednesday night with their high-powered offense. But safety Cook made the pivotal play by returning a fumble 99 yards for a touchdown to break the game open and help rout Clemson 70-33.Cook collided comically with mascot Obie after scoring one of the Mountaineers’ five TDs in the second quarter, including three in the final 2:29 for a 49-20 lead. It was the highest-scoring half by a team in a bowl game.
Records Galore
Nine bowl records were tied or broken in West Virginia’s lopsided Discover Orange Bowl win over Clemson.
Record
Most TD (team)
10, WVU (tied)
Most combined pts (half)
69 (1st half)
Most pts (team)
70, WVU
Most pts in quarter (team)
35, WVU (1st)
Most pts in half (team)
49, WVU (1st)
Most pass TD (individual)
6, Geno Smith (tied)
Most TD responsible (individual)
7, Geno Smith (tied)
Most pts responsible (individual)
42, Geno Smith (tied)
Most rec TD (individual
4, Tavon Austin (tied)
— ESPN Stats & Information
“I always envisioned making great plays,” Cook said. “If you think it will happen, it will happen.”Tavon Austin tied a record for any bowl game with four touchdown catches. Smith went 31 for 42, and had 401 yards passing to break Tom Brady’s Orange Bowl record. Smith also ran for a score, helping West Virginia break the bowl record for points established six nights earlier when Baylor beat Washington 67-56 in the Alamo Bowl.”Never could we imagine we’d put up 70 points,” Smith said.The Mountaineers (10-3) won in their first Orange Bowl appearance and improved to 3-0 in Bowl Championship Series games.”The guys wanted to come in and make a statement, and the only way you can do that is if you play well on all three sides of the ball,” coach Dana Holgorsen said.Clemson (10-4) lost playing in its first major bowl in 30 years.”We’re a better team than we played tonight,” coach Dabo Swinney said. “Just too many mistakes. But we’ll be back.”The offensive showcase was the latest in a succession this bowl season, and perhaps the last. Defense is expected to dominate in the final BCS game Monday night when Louisiana State faces Alabama for the national title.Tacklers had their hands full — or rather, they didn’t — on a chilly night in Miami. Smith and Austin combined on scoring passes of 8, 27, 3 and 37 yards, and Shawne Alston scored on two short runs for West Virginia, which totaled 589 yards and 31 first downs. Smith was chosen the game’s outstanding player.Even when Clemson managed to corral the Mountaineers, the play wasn’t always over. Andrew Buie rolled over a defender but was never downed, so he got up and ran for an additional 18 yards.Clemson couldn’t keep up with the Big East Conference co-champions, although Andre Ellington did score the game’s first points on a 68-yard run. First-team All-Americans Sammy Watkins and Dwayne Allen combined for only seven catches for 87 yards.”We kind of got down when they scored so many points in such a short amount of time,” Watkins said.Amid the flurry of points, it was a defender who came up with second-longest scoring play in Orange Bowl history.Clemson was on the verge of taking the lead in the second quarter when Ellington ran up the middle and disappeared into a heap at the 1. A teammate signaled touchdown, but the ball came loose and Cook grabbed it, then took off with nothing but the end zone in front of him.”I saw the ball come loose,” he said. “I grabbed it. I didn’t hear a whistle, so I ran.”After Cook crossed the goal line, he gleefully leaped on mascot Obie, a smiling orange, and they both tumbled to the turf. Obie rose unhurt and resumed her duties.Cook and Obie met on the field after the game and shared a hug.”I didn’t know you were a girl,” he told the mascot. “I apologize.”Smith, standing in the sideline, watched a video replay of Cook’s touchdown in disbelief.”Crazy, man,” Smith said. “When I saw that, I knew things were breaking our way.”The potential 14-point swing seemed to deflect the Tigers, who had moved the ball almost at will to that point.”It was a pretty big moment,” Swinney said. “They hadn’t really stopped us. That was huge. Then it snowballed quickly.”The Tigers were doomed when quarterback Tajh Boyd committed subsequent turnovers on consecutive Clemson plays.After Smith ran 7 yards on a keeper for a 35-20 lead, Pat Miller intercepted Boyd’s pass. Smith flipped a 1-yard touchdown pass to Austin and, on the next play, a call was overturned, with the replay official determining Boyd had lost a fumble.Alston then ran for a 1-yard touchdown with 4 seconds left in the half.”Momentum swung not in our favor, and it was hard to recapture,” Boyd said. “West Virginia is a great offense. You can’t really get behind them. We couldn’t stop them. Guys were gassed. Their legs were going. It was a tough loss — pretty embarrassing.”Defensive woes were nothing new for the Tigers, who won their first Atlantic Coast Conference title in 20 years but gave up at least 30 points in six regular-season games.Clemson kept pace for a while, leading 17-14 after one period. It was the highest-scoring first quarter and first half in Orange Bowl history.West Virginia went ahead for the first time early in the second period on an 80-yard touchdown drive capped by Austin’s 27-yard catch, making the score 21-17. Cook’s takeaway touchdown came next, and the Mountaineers were off to the races.”You don’t score 70 points by being good on offense,” Holgorsen said. “You score 70 points by being good on all three sides of the ball.”
Links:Full news story
Source:espn.go.com

It is interesting to start the new year with a discussion of the impact of science in our lives. There were many exciting developments during the past year. We all know that there are many ways that science and its resulting discoveries have shaped our lives and future.
One of which I take particular note of is the discovery of planetary systems around other stars. This accelerating process started with the discovery of extrasolar planets more than a decade ago (first confirmed detection was in 1992) and this year exploded with the discovery of planetary systems around other stars and planets that look to be similar to Earth, either in size or being in the habitable