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There’s so much to love about tofu

Published Tue, 11 Feb 2025 11:40:39 GMT

By Andrea Nguyen, The New York TimesThese are good times for tofu lovers, with an expanding market and growing options.When Jenny Yang bought the Chicago-based company Phoenix Bean in 2006, she was keeping it from going out of business. Now, she is among a number of producers who are expanding offerings to include items like Chinese-style smoked tofu and tofu noodles.“Tofu is not just a block,” said Yang, whose small-batch products feature local ingredients like Illinois soybeans grown specifically for her brand and Great Lakes water. “We have baked, we have shredded tofu, we have flavored.”Tofu is a staple of cooking in China, where it was invented 2,000 years ago, and throughout Asia. In the United States, tofu consumption has roughly doubled — to 9% of domestic households — since before the pandemic, according to Pulmuone Foods, the country’s leading producer. (The market is estimated at $142 million, up from $100.6 million in 2019.) And makers are preparing for even greate...

RiNo inks deal for new Denver Walls, a woman-owned mural fest

Published Tue, 11 Feb 2025 11:40:39 GMT

The River North Art District will debut the new Denver Walls mural festival in September to replace its Art RiNo mural event — itself a substitution for the embattled Crush Walls.Denver is the 19th city to join the global World Wide Walls mural event, and will “put our city on the map as the next major art Mecca of the United States,” according to a statement from Denver artist Ally Grimm (a.k.a. A.L. Grime), who is spearheading the event.The festival will feature between 15 and 18 local and international artists painting across 12 to 15 walls in and around the RiNo Art District. Painting and mural installations will begin Sept. 22, with most of the public events taking place over the weekend of Sept. 29-31.The addition of the 10-day, nonprofit festival, which runs Sept. 22 through Oct. 3, 2023, follows the appointment of new RiNo executive director Charity Von Guinness, who amicably took over for district co-founder Tracy Weil last year. RiNo Art District is the e...

Light rain and drizzle in the forecast Thursday into Friday

Published Tue, 11 Feb 2025 11:40:39 GMT

A weak upper-level low-pressure system is moving over Southern California, bringing scattered rain showers and drizzle to many areas of the region Thursday.“We’ll have overcast skies and maybe a sprinkle or two,” said KTLA meteorologist Mark Kriski.Rainfall amounts are not expected to be significant.The National Weather Service office in Los Angeles reported up to 0.05 inches of rainfall overnight across the coast and valley areas, with slightly higher amounts in the foothills and coastal slopes of the San Gabriel Mountains.A deep marine layer extends across the Southern California coast and basins north into Santa Barbara County.High temperatures in metro Los Angeles will be in the low 60s on Thursday and mid-to-upper 60s on Friday.“Skies will clear by Saturday and we can expect beautiful weather through the weekend and into early next week," Kriski said.

Lake Mead's unexpected April water level rise continues

Published Tue, 11 Feb 2025 11:40:39 GMT

In a surprising move, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation is releasing much more water from Lake Powell in an effort to shore up Lake Mead's water level, KTLA sister station KLAS in Las Vegas reports. But how much it will help and how long this will last is not known at this time.Beginning on April 1, 2023, Reclamation began the process of releasing more than twice the previously scheduled amount of water downriver through the Glen Canyon Dam. "The release volume from Glen Canyon Dam for April 2023 will be increased to 910,000 acre-feet because of the increased snowpack throughout March," Reclamation Public Affairs Officer Becki Bryant told 8 News Now.Historic (10-year) Release volumes from Lake Powell. (Source: U.S. Bureau of Reclamation)"They are doing several things at once. And they are not necessarily being secretive about this, but they are definitely not broadcasting this information vigorously, either," according to John Weisheit of LivingRivers.org."They are ...

NOAA issues El Niño watch: What this could mean for California

Published Tue, 11 Feb 2025 11:40:39 GMT

Move aside La Niña – it's almost time for El Niño to take over.National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Climate Prediction Center issued an "El Niño watch" Thursday morning, saying the climate pattern is expected to form sooner than previously anticipated. After La Niña ended last month, we entered "ENSO-neutral" conditions, which means neither La Niña nor El Niño is present. Those neutral conditions were expected to end at some point in the summer or early fall. But as of Thursday, it looks as though the timeline has moved up. Forecasters said there is a 62% chance El Niño will take over between May and July. The probability that El Niño will form by fall is even higher, between 80% and 90%. What would that mean for our weather? We usually feel the strongest effects of El Niño as we get closer to winter. An El Niño fall and winter would be the inverse of what we’ve seen the last three years. It would likely mean a cold, wet winter for the Southern U.S. A strong El Niño, in...

It’s Not Easy Going Green — So Lots of Folks Just Pretend to Be Environmentally Conscious

Published Tue, 11 Feb 2025 11:40:39 GMT

We all want a greener earth. And almost everyone knows how to achieve it — by being environmentally conscious with our everyday decisions! Sounds easy, doesn’t it? Turns out, however, not so much!Some People Apparently Fake Being Environmentally ConsciousSustainable living is quite a difficult life to sustain. In a poll that Avocado Green Mattress initiated, 53% of the folks that they surveyed said they “exaggerated” their environmentally conscious efforts in order for others to be impressed by their lifestyle — which doesn’t sound too harmful. After all, helping Mother Earth is indeed impressive. However, 54% of the respondents said that had nobody been around, they probably won’t make that much of an effort to go green.Many choose to be more eco-friendly for sincere reasons and utmost concern for the environment. However, it doesn’t seem to be the case for everyone. 20% of those who were asked in the poll said that their main reason for going green was because of the pressure from...

Move Over, Partner: Your SO Prefers to Shop for Dogs and Cats Over You!

Published Tue, 11 Feb 2025 11:40:39 GMT

A date at the park or a cafe sure sounds romantic — until you’re told by your SO that it’s at the dog park or a cat cafe! And it’s with Fido and Whiskers, not you. It can sound disappointing — but many are the type to do these things that the older generations will be confused by. Not only are the younger people more likely to treat their pets as their kids, but many would also rather shop for dogs and cats — and the things they need — instead of going on dates.Younger Folks Would Rather Shop for Dogs and Cats’ Items Than Go on DatesBased on a survey that Synchrony commissioned, most pet owners said that they’re willing to give up a plethora of their luxuries for their furry companions. This, of course, isn’t too surprising. After all, we have to make a few sacrifices for our cats and dogs. But what makes the survey wholesome is that 45% of the participants said they’re willing to give up eating out for one whole year if it’s in exchange for free pet expenses for a year straight as ...

What Was Once Underground: Vintage Weed Ads from the Heyday

Published Tue, 11 Feb 2025 11:40:39 GMT

Here in California, a flourishing legal cannabis industry has for better and worse thoroughly mainstreamed what was once underground. But remember it was not always that way, even here—and there are plenty of parts of the country, not to mention the world, where getting caught with weed still spells trouble. In the heyday of counterculture that was the 1960’s, a casual consortium of intrepid culture publications resisted the oppressive squareness, regularly featuring the beauty and joy of cannabis in the magazines’ stories, art, and illustrated annotations. The New Book Heads Together: Weed and the Underground Press Syndicate, 1965–73 (Edition Patrick Frey), which just so happens to drop on April 20, gathers and honors their prescient efforts on behalf of marijuana as emblematic of broader social justice issues.Heads Together: Weed and the Underground Press Syndicate: 1965-1973 (Edition Patrick Frey)Edited and with text by David Jacob Kramer—founder of the rather legendary Family Bo...

Larry Magid: I asked ChatGPT to help me write an AI safety guide

Published Tue, 11 Feb 2025 11:40:39 GMT

In my capacity as CEO of ConnectSafely, I’m working on a parents guide to generative AI, and, naturally, I turned to ChatGPT for some help. It gave me some good advice, which I’ll get to later, but first some general background on “generative artificial intelligence” (GAI).Related ArticlesBusiness | Magid: Google doubles down on sleep sensing Business | Magid: Is the internet responsible for increased anxiety? Business | Magid: Is artificial intelligence the next search engine? Business | Magid: Scammers get trickier in pursuit of your money AI has been around for a long time, but generative AI, which can create new content, including text, images, music and even computer code, is relatively new. Just in the past few months we’ve seen the emergence of some impressive early models including ChatGPT from OpenAI, Google Bard and the new Microsoft Bing. Each of these relies on what is called a “large...

Preview: ‘Firewall Ultra’ finds a way to balance VR immersion with fun

Published Tue, 11 Feb 2025 11:40:39 GMT

One of the most memorable parts about virtual reality is how everything is so intuitive and surreally granular all at once. Instead of pressing a button to bring up the iron sights, a player has to lift the gun to his face and look down the scope. If she wants to crouch, a button would suffice but actually ducking down would also work.That’s one of the things players have to get used to when playing “Firewall Ultra,” a tactical shooter coming for the PlayStation VR2. Developed by First Contact Entertainment, it’s the sequel to the PSVR game that launched in 2018 and it’s a game that takes advantage of the leap in technology on the PlayStation 5 and its new headset.A VR ‘COUNTER-STRIKE’The game is essentially “Counter-Strike” except in VR. Players group together in teams of four and take down an opposing squad. One team defends a laptop and another team goes after it. That’s a simple concept, but players will come across a m...