IBM Research in Australia has announced plans to undertake research with Melanoma Institute Australia to help further advance the identification of melanoma using cognitive technology. This planned research builds on IBM’s existing research agreement with Molemap, which uses advanced visual analytics to analyse more than 40,000 data sets including images and text. IBM Research plans to analyse dermatological images of skin lesions to help identify specific clinical patterns in the early stages of melanoma1. The Australian research aims to help reduce unnecessary biopsies and help clinicians more accurately understand skin cancer, which could help to improve patient care.

Hyro Limited group company, Synergy Plus Pty Ltd (“Synergy”) has been named winner of the award for “Leadership in Optimizing IT Infrastructure” in the annual IBM Beacon Awards competition, honoring IBM Business Partners for their ingenuity, innovation, customer satisfaction and outstanding achievements in providing business solutions.

(I know I've been scarce lately -- it's been a bad two years or so -- and I keep swearing I'm going to get back to posting regularly and it keeps not happening, but this was worth using up some spoons for.)

Background

The context, for those who've missed it: The Archive of Our Own was awarded the 2019 Hugo Award™ for "Best Related Work" in August by the voting membership of this year's Worldcon™. As fandom does, a lot of people predictably joked about "welp, my Stucky tentacle porn just won a Hugo" or "my Stucky A/B/O has won 0.0000482% of a Hugo!" The World Science Fiction Society™, who holds the service mark for "The Hugo Awards"™ and licenses the ability to award those awards each year to the independent organization that seeks the license to throw each year's Worldcon™, decided that they would like us all to know we should stop doing that and this award being given to "The Archive Of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works" does not mean that we, users of the AO3 or members of the OTW, are 'Hugo winners'. (Repeatedly. In great detail and at great length.)

( cut for length )

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I want to write this, but I don't want anyone to feel compelled to read it, so here, have some cut tags!

( Work stress )

( MtY stress )

( MtE stress )

( Mom stress )

I'm thinking of getting therapy just to have someone to talk to about all the stress. The good thing (honest, I see it as a good thing) is that most of the stress is basically external to me -- my days are generally easy and pleasant, and everyone who's not me may be melting down, but all my stress is in the way of a contact low, as it were. Other than being in a sandwich-generation holding pattern (when will the next phase of my life begin? no one knows), things are pretty good. I'm making more money than I ever have, I love my work, I get lots of downtime to read and hang out with James and mom, and my health is better than it's been in years. So yeah, if the universe could just leave my loved ones in peace, that'd be great.

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Yaycon.nl is holding a ChipIn campaign to bring HamletMachine as a guest of honor to their yaoi/yuri con in the Netherlands! This is your chance to join the ChipIn and receive an exclusive print made for the campaign that won't be available anywhere else!

But the campaign ends March 1st, so be sure to get your print! More details are available at the Yaycon site! -Thisbe

*STARFIGHTER: ECLIPSE IS NOW LIVE*

You can play it right away at datenighto.com ;) -Hamlet

Méně stolů a větší rozestupy. Jihomoravské restaurace v pondělí otevřou své zahrádky. Musí dodržet přísná opatření proti šíření koronaviru, přesto nemají alternativu pro špatné počasí.

The finalists are:

• Beneath Ceaseless Skies, editor Scott H. Andrews
• Escape Pod, editors Mur Lafferty and S.B. Divya, assistant editor Benjamin C. Kinney, audio producers Adam Pracht and Summer Brooks, hosts Tina Connolly and Alasdair Stuart
• Fireside Magazine, editor Julia Rios, managing editor Elsa Sjunneson, copyeditor Chelle Parker, social coordinator Meg Frank, publisher & art director Pablo Defendini, founding editor Brian White
• FIYAH Magazine of Black Speculative Fiction, executive editor Troy L. Wiggins, editors Eboni Dunbar, Brent Lambert, L.D. Lewis, Danny Lore, Brandon O’Brien and Kaleb Russell
• Strange Horizons, Vanessa Rose Phin, Catherine Krahe, AJ Odasso, Dan Hartland, Joyce Chng, Dante Luiz and the Strange Horizons staff
• Uncanny Magazine, editors-in-chief Lynne M. Thomas and Michael Damian Thomas, nonfiction/managing editor Michi Trota, managing editor Chimedum Ohaegbu, podcast producers Erika Ensign and Steven Schapansky

In this category, everything but FIYAH is available free online, supported by subscriptions / Patreons etc. FIYAH puts a list of contents of each issue, and also publishes a Spotify playlist for each quarterly issue. Beneath Ceaseless Skies, Fireside Magazine and Strange Horizons also all publish podcasts of each of their fiction / poetry, and Uncanny Magazine publishes two podcasts per issue which cover some but not all of the content (as far as I can tell). Escape Pod is of course a fiction podcast to start with, but does provides transcripts of its episodes.

I subscribe to Uncanny Magazine & FIYAH, I had a subscription last year to Fireside Magazine, I support Strange Horizons on Patreon and I'm on Beneath Ceaseless Skies's mailiing list to get notifications of new issues, even if I don't always read them. I'll need to have a bit of a think about how I'll rank them.

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ingredients

• 2 carrots ($.30)
• 2 bananas, sliced and frozen ($.40)
• 1 apple, peeled and chopped ($.50)
• 1 tablespoon agave ($.20)
• 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
• water for blending, about 1 cup

directions

In a blender, puree all ingredients until very smooth. A high speed blender will smooth out all the little carrot bits, and a less high powered one will leave a bit of pulp. If you're very opposed to pulp, juice the carrots instead.




nutritional information: calories: 165 fat: 0 gr carbs: 47 gr protein: 2 gr











ingredients

• 1 avocado, chopped ($.88)
• 2 medium apples, peeled and chopped ($1.29)
• 1 tablespoon chopped onion
• handful arugula leaves ($.50)
• 2 tablespoons olive oil ($.20)
• 2 cups water, for blending
• minced onion
• salt and pepper to taste
• red pepper flakes directions

directions

1. Set aside a few arugula leaves for garnish.
2. In a blender, combine the avocado, apples, chopped onion, arugula leaves, olive oil, and water, and puree until very smooth.
3. Salt and pepper to taste, and garnish with a few chopped arugula leaves, some finely minced onion, and red pepper flakes.
4. nutritional information

calories: 275 fat: 18 gr carbs: 42 gr protein: 7 gr









ingredients

• 1/4 cup walnuts ($1.00)
• 1 large tomato ($1.00)
• 1 teaspoon cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 head romaine ($2.30)
• 1 medium onion, thinly sliced ($.20)
• 1 small jalapeno, sliced
• 1 ripe avocado ($.1.00)
• black olives ($.50)
• green olives ($.50)

• 4 tablespoons cashew cream ($.60) {recipe below}

directions

• Make the walnut taco meat first and set aside.
• In a food processor fitted with an "S" blade, pulse the walnuts, half a tomato, cumin, and salt until chopped but still a little chunky.
• To a bed of chopped romaine, add the walnut taco meat, the other half of tomato (chopped), sliced onion, a bit of sliced jalapeno, chopped avocado, and olives. 
• Top with a couple scoops of cashew cream.

cashew cream

• 1/2 cup cashews ($2.00)
• 1/2 cup water
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice ($.20)
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

Blend all ingredients in small blender until very smooth. Store leftovers in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to three days.

nutritional information










ingredients

• 1 zucchini, sliced 1/4" thick ($.70)
• 2 tablespoons olive oil ($.20)
• 2 tablespoons maple syrup ($.40)
• 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar ($.10)
• 1 small clove garlic
• 1/2 teaspoon liquid smoke
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

directions

Slice the zucchini into strips about 1/4" thick. In a small bowl, whisk together the remaining ingredients. Toss with the zucchini until well coated, then dehydrate for several hours or overnight, until just a little bit crunchy but pliable.




Tear the zucchini bacon into pieces and serve over vanilla banana ice cream with maple syrup. To make the ice cream, slice and freeze four bananas. When ready to use, grind them in a food processor with one teaspoon vanilla and a splash of almond milk. Process until smooth, which may take a few minutes and some scraping down on the sides. This will cost about $.30 per serving.



nutritional information: calories: 298 fat: 14 carbs: 45 protein: 2 gr



ingredients

•  2 big handfuls greens (kale, romaine, etc) ($.75)
• 3 bananas, sliced and frozen ($.75)
• 1 cup blueberries ($1.00)
• 2 tablespoon ground flax seeds ($.20)
• 4 tablespoons hemp protein powder ($.90)
• about 2 cups water for blending

I love making big, sweet, hearty green smoothies in the morning, and this is what I had this morning. I'm pretty sure I put just about everything I had in it, hence the name "(everything but the) Kitchen Sink Smoothie!"

My blender is small and weak, poor thing (but has lasted forever), so I blend my greens first. If you don't have a VitaMix or other high powered blender, this might work better for you, too. They get pretty smooth if I process them for a minute or two.

I also used Manitoba Harvest Hemp Pro 50, 50% Protein Powder, 32-Ounce which is my favorite hemp powder. Manitoba Harvest leaves all the good omega-3s intact.

Just blend everything well until smooth and serve.

Turmeric is a root related to ginger. It's a little hot and spicy, which makes it delicious. It's active ingredient, curcumin, is also a powerful antioxidant and anti-inflammatory that could improve all sorts of things from arthritis to diabetes. Buy the fresh root and use peeled and grated, or buy the dried powder which is available at most groceries. I found mine at my local farmer's market.

Like most foods, it works synergistically. The absorption of curcumin is greatly enhanced by black pepper and it boosts the absorption of omega-3s, so I've added some pepper and flax oil. If you don't have flax oil on hand, substitute olive oil or just omit. 

This delicious and super healthy turmeric dressing can be used over any salad, as I've done here, but is also delicious on just about anything else from mixed veggies to rice bowls. It also works as a great vegetable dip.

ingredients

dressing

• 3 tablespoons tahini ($.30)
• 4 tablespoons lemon juice ($.60)
• 1 tablespoon maple syrup or agave (can substitute stevia or omit) ($.10)
• 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar ($.10)
• 1 tablespoon flax oil ($.20)
• 1 teaspoon soy sauce ($.10)
• 1 teaspoon turmeric ($.10)
• 1 teaspoon onion powder ($.10)
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder 
• 1 teaspoon cilantro flakes
• 1/2 teaspoon dried basil
• 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon cayenne
• 1/4 teaspoon ginger 
• 1/2 teaspoon salt (or to taste)
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper (or to taste)

salad

• 1 head romaine or other lettuce ($1.80)
• 2 tomatoes ($1.00)
• 1 cucumber ($.50)
• 1 small onion, sliced ($.20)

ingredients

• 1 apple, washed (peeled if not organic) ($.60)
• 1 cup mango,chunks, fresh or frozen ($1.00)
• 1 banana, sliced and frozen
• 1 handful kale leaves ($.50)
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1 cup ice
• water for blending (more or less depending on how thick you like it)

This is just a super simple way to enjoy some of the apples that are in season right now! Blend all ingredients in a high powered blender until very smooth and enjoy!


nutritional information
calories: 230
fat: 4 gr
carbs:47 gr
protein: 6 gr

• 1 red bell pepper, thinly sliced ($.70)
• 1 yellow or orange bell pepper, thinly sliced ($.70)
• 1 cup mushrooms, sliced ($1.50)
• 1 cup black or kalamata olives ($1.50)
• 1/2 cup thinly sliced onion ($.20)
• 1/4 cup olive oil ($.20)
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice ($.40)
• 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar ($.20)
• 2 tablespoons maple syrup or agave (optional, for those who like a touch of sweet) ($.20)
• 1 tablespoon onion powder
• 1 teaspoon freshly minced garlic
• 1 teaspoon dried basil (or 1 tablespoon fresh, chopped)
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano 
• 1 teaspoon salt (or to taste)
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper (or to taste)
• 1-2 medium sized zucchini, spiralized 

This is so easy and so good. Prepare it up to a day in advance and them the vegetables marinate and soften.

Prepare the red and yellow bell pepper, mushrooms, olives, and onion and place in a medium sized bowl. In a small bowl, whisk together the olive oil, vinegar, syrup, onion powder, garlic, basil, oregano, salt, and pepper. Pour over the prepared vegetables. Allow to marinate for at least a half hour, but it can marinate as long as a day.

When ready to eat, simply pour the marinated veggies and marinade over a portion of spiralized zucchini noodles and toss.



nutritional information:
calories: 389
fat: 23 gr
carbs: 35 gr
protein: 11 gr



I use my spirilizer as much as any kitchen tool I have (except my VitaMix, of course!!). The Paderno brand one I have can be found on Amazon HERE, or in most stores that sell kitchen supplies.

• 1 red bell pepper, thinly sliced ($.70)
• 1 yellow or orange bell pepper, thinly sliced ($.70)
• 1 cup mushrooms, sliced ($1.50)
• 1 cup black or kalamata olives ($1.50)
• 1/2 cup thinly sliced onion ($.20)
• 1/4 cup olive oil ($.20)
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice ($.40)
• 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar ($.20)
• 2 tablespoons maple syrup or agave (optional, for those who like a touch of sweet) ($.20)
• 1 tablespoon onion powder
• 1 teaspoon freshly minced garlic
• 1 teaspoon dried basil (or 1 tablespoon fresh, chopped)
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano 
• 1 teaspoon salt (or to taste)
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper (or to taste)
• 1-2 medium sized zucchini, spiralized

Prepare the red and yellow bell pepper, mushrooms, olives, and onion and place in a medium sized bowl. In a small bowl, whisk together the olive oil, vinegar, syrup, onion powder, garlic, basil, oregano, salt, and pepper. Pour over the prepared vegetables. Allow to marinate for at least a half hour, but it can marinate as long as a day.

When ready to eat, simply pour the marinated veggies and marinade over a portion of spiralized zucchini noodles and toss.





nutritional information:
calories: 389
fat: 23 gr
carbs: 35 gr
protein: 11 gr



I use my spirilizer as much as any kitchen tool I have (except my VitaMix, of course!!). The Paderno brand one I have can be found on Amazon HERE, or in most stores that sell kitchen supplies.

• 2 bananas, sliced and frozen ($.60)
• 1/2 cup almond milk ($.40)
• 2 tablespoons raw cacao powder or cocoa powder
• pinch salt
• few drops of stevia, if more sweetness is desired

• 1/4 cup melted coconut oil ($.80)
• 1/4 cup raw cacao powder or cocoa powder ($.80)
• 1/4 cup finely ground coconut palm sugar ($.80)
• pinch salt 
• 2 tablespoons chopped pistachios ($.40)

1. Place all fudgesicle ingredients into  blender and puree until very smooth. Add more almond milk or water if needed to facilitate blending. 
2. Pour into popsicle molds and freeze for several hours until fully frozen. 
3. Prepare the chocolate shell coating. 
4. Place all the chocolate shell coating ingredients into a small bowl and stir well until smooth.
5. Remove the fidgesicles from the freezer and pop them out of their molds.
6. Dip the fudgescicles into the hard chocolate shell, or drizzle it over them to coat. 
7. Just heating the coconut oil up enough to melt it and not any warmer will yield the best results. If needed, gently remelt the chocolate hard shell. 
8. Add a sprinkle of chopped pistachios or other chopped nut, if desired. Cacao nibs also work well.
9. Any leftovers can be wrapped and stored in the freezer for a week or so.

salad

• 1 head romaine, chopped ($1.70)
• 1 orange, peeled and sectioned ($.50)
• 1 banana, sliced ($.30)
• 2 tablespoons sliced onion

• 2 oranges, peeled and sectioned ($1.00)
• 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar ($.20)
• 2 tablespoons maple syrup (or two droppers stevia) ($.40)
• 3 tablespoons tahini ($.40)
• 1 teaspoon onion powder
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper
• crushed red pepper flakes for the top

directions

1. Prepare the salad ingredients.
2. Place all the dressing ingredients except the crushed red pepper flakes into a blender and puree until very smooth. 
3. Assemble the salad ingredients on plates or in bowls. Add the orange sections, banana slices, and onion to the top.
4. Pour salad dressing over and add a sprinkle of black pepper or crushed red pepper flakes. I added both.

nutritional information:       calories: 256      fat: 15 gr      carbs: 33 gr      protein: 6 gr

salad

• 1 head romaine, chopped ($1.70)
• 1 orange, peeled and sectioned ($.50)
• 1 banana, sliced ($.30)
• 2 tablespoons sliced onion

• 2 oranges, peeled and sectioned ($1.00)
• 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar ($.20)
• 2 tablespoons maple syrup (or two droppers stevia) ($.40)
• 3 tablespoons tahini ($.40)
• 1 teaspoon onion powder
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper
• crushed red pepper flakes for the top

directions

1. Prepare the salad ingredients.
2. Place all the dressing ingredients except the crushed red pepper flakes into a blender and puree until very smooth. 
3. Assemble the salad ingredients on plates or in bowls. Add the orange sections, banana slices, and onion to the top.
4. Pour salad dressing over and add a sprinkle of black pepper or crushed red pepper flakes. I added both.

nutritional information:       calories: 256      fat: 15 gr      carbs: 33 gr      protein: 6 gr


 

Even though we enjoyed a beautiful, warm, sunny day here today, hard core fall is coming. This menu has some heavier, more substantial meals using seasonal produce. Pears are plentiful right now and citrus is coming into its best season soon. You should be able to score some great tasting produce at reasonable prices!








Simple, juicy, and delicious ... everything that's the best of raw plant foods ...

ingredients

• 1 peach, sliced ($.80)
• 1 plum, sliced ($.90)
• 1 apple, sliced ($1.25)
• 1/2 cup blueberries ($.50)
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice ($.20)
• 2 tablespoons chopped walnuts ($.50)

directions

1. Slice the fruit, mix together, add a splash of lemon juice and chopped walnuts (a bit of nut milk would be good, too ... like a bowl of fruit cereal).

nutritional information: calories: 137 fat: 1 gr carbs: 33 gr protein: 2 gr






salad

• 1 grapefruit ($.50)
• 2 pears, sliced ($1.40)
• 1 small onion, thinly sliced
• 1 head romaine, chopped ($1.90)
• 1/4 cup walnuts ($.50)

dressing

• 2 tablespoons lemon juice ($.20)
• 3 tablespoons olive oil ($.30)
• 2 tablespoons agave ($.20)
• pinch nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper

directions

1. Cut the grapefruit by first slicing off about 1/4" off the top and bottom.
2. Stand the grapefruit up on a cut side and slice along the outside curve of the fruit, cutting away the skin and pith.
3. Use a sharp knife to cut each grapefruit section away from the membrane.
4. Slice the pears and onions, and chop the lettuce.
5. Toss together and sprinkle the walnuts on top.
6. Whisk together all the dressing ingredients and drizzle over the top.

nutritional information: calories: 304 fat: 17 gr carbs: 40 gr protein: 5 gr










ingredients

• 2 medium zucchini ($1.20)
• 1 carrot ($.15)
• 1 bunch green onions, sliced ($.59)
• 1/2 red bell pepper, sliced ($.50)
• large handful mung bean sprouts ($.75)

sauce

• 4 tablespoons almond butter ($.80)
• 1/2 in piece ginger, peeled
• 1 tablespoon braggs aminos or soy sauce ($.10)
• 1 clove garlic ($.05)
• 1 tablespoon agave ($.10)
• 1/2 teaspoon cayenne (or to taste)
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoons chopped cashews ($.20)

directions

1. Noodle the zucchini and carrot using a vegetable peeler or spiral slicer. 
2. Toss with the bell pepper, green onion, and bean sprouts.
3. In a bullet type blender, puree all the sauce ingredients until very creamy. Because of the high fat content of the nut butter, this can get quite hot while blending. Stop and let it cool for a minute if it becomes too hot for your personal definition of raw.
4. Pour over noodles, toss lightly, serve. 

nutritional information:        calories: 345        fat: 23 gr        carbs: 30 gr         protein: 8 gr





ingredients

• 1 ripe avocado, chopped ($.88)
• 2 bananas, chopped ($.30)
• 3 tablespoons cocoa or cacao powder ($.60)
• 1 tablespoon coconut oil, melted
• 2 tablespoons agave ($.20)
• 1/2 dropper liquid stevia
• 1/4 teaspoon orange extract

directions

1. Combine all ingredients in a food processor fitted with an "S" blade and process until very smooth.
2. Add coconut oil to room temperature or warmer ingredients only, otherwise the coconut oil will harden into little lumps before it has a chance to blend.
3. Chill for at least a half hour before serving.
4. Top with a few orange sections and/or pieces of fruit and a pinch of orange rind, if desired.

nutritional information: calories: 321 fat: 16 gr carbs: 41 gr protein: 5 gr

nutritional information:      calories: 333       fat: 10 gr      carbs: 50 gr      protein: 7 gr

• 4 tablespoons artisana coconut butter ($2.20)
• 4 tablespoons artisana cashew butter ($2.35) 
• 1 1/2 cup water
• 3 dates ($.60)
• 2 tablespoons cilantro leaves ($.10) 
• 1 clove garlic
• 1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne
• juice of one lime ($.50)
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
• 1 cucumber, sliced into noodles ($.89)
• 1/2 avocado, chopped ($.88)
• 1 medium onion, minced
• 2 stalks celery, minced ($.20)
• small bunch cilantro leaves ($.05)
• 1 cup cherry tomatoes, halved ($.30)
• red pepper flakes

1. In a blender, process the coconut butter, cashew butter (almond butter will work as well), water, dates, cilantro, garlic, red pepper flakes, cayenne, lime juice, salt and pepper. 
2. Puree until as smooth as possible.
3. Cut the cucumber into noodles and put in bowls with the avocado, celery, cilantro, and cherry tomatoes. 
4. Using a wire mesh strainer, strain the coconut and nut butter soup base. This will take out any larger pieces of dates or spices. A higher powered blender may make this step unnecessary. 
5. Add a sprinkle of red pepper flakes.

nutritional information:      calories: 537       fat: 44 gr       carbs: 33 gr       protein: 11 gr













ingredients

• 1/2 cup walnuts ($1.00)
• 1/2 cup raisins ($.85)
• 3 plums, sliced thinly ($3.00)
• 3 tablespoons coconut butter ($1.65) 
• 2 tablespoons coconut nectar ($.40)

• banana ice cream ($.50)
• blackberry puree

• 1 cup carrots, cut into chunks
• 1 banana, sliced and frozen
• 1 cup almond milk 
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ginger
• 1/4 teaspoon allspice
• pinch nutmeg
• 1/2 cup chopped dates
• 1/4 cup chopped pecans or other nuts
• 1 cup chopped apples

directions

1. In a high powered blender, puree the carrots, banana, and almond milk until very smooth.
2. Add in the cinnamon, ginger, allspice, and nutmeg and pulse a few times to blend well.
3. Pour into a bowl and add the chopped dates, pecans, and apples. A sprinkle of coconut flakes goes well, too!

ingredients

• 1 avocado, chopped ($1.25)
• 1tablespoon finely chopped celery ($.05)
• 1 tablespoon finely chopped onion ($.05)
• 2 teaspoons mustard ($.05)
• 2 teaspoons mayo  (use something like Veganaise or make your own) ($.10)
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon paprika
• Lettuce and optional tomato for serving

directions

• Coarsely chop the avocado, add the remaining ingredients, then stir gently until evenly incorporated. 
• Store leftovers for up to a day or two in an air tight container.
•  

nutritional information:       calories: 280       fat: 37 gr      carbs: 15 gr      protein: 3 gr

ingredients

• 3 cups chopped romaine (or favorite green) ($1.00)
• 1 cup cubed pineapple, frozen ($2.00)
• 1 banana, sliced and frozen ($.20)
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice (optional) ($.20)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla ($.10)
• 1 cup water
• 10 ice cubes
• stevia to taste (optional)

directions

• In a high powered blender, puree the greens until liquefied and very smooth. 
• Add the rest of the ingredients and puree until smooth.

nutritional information:      calories: 156      fat: 0 gr      carbs: 42 gr      protein: 3 gr







ingredients

• 1 avocado, chopped ($1.25)
• 1tablespoon finely chopped celery ($.05)
• 1 tablespoon finely chopped onion ($.05)
• 2 teaspoons mustard ($.05)
• 2 teaspoons mayo  (use something like Veganaise or make your own) ($.10)
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon paprika
• Lettuce and optional tomato for serving

directions

• Coarsely chop the avocado, add the remaining ingredients, then stir gently until evenly incorporated. 
• Store leftovers for up to a day or two in an air tight container.

nutritional information:       calories: 280       fat: 37 gr      carbs: 15 gr      protein: 3 gr

• Prepare the red and yellow bell pepper, mushrooms, olives, and onion and place in a medium sized bowl. 
• In a small bowl, whisk together the olive oil, vinegar, syrup, onion powder, garlic, basil, oregano, salt, and pepper. Pour over the prepared vegetables. Allow to marinate for at least a half hour, but it can marinate as long as a day.
• When ready to eat, simply pour the marinated veggies and marinade over a portion of spiralized zucchini noodles and toss.

• 2 cups almonds ($8.00)
• 1 1/2 cups dates, pitted and chopped ($4.00)
• 1/2 cup cocoa powder ($1.00)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon orange extract
• Cocoa powder for rolling

• In a food processor fitted with an “S” blade, process the almonds until finely ground. This takes about a minute. 
• Add in the pitted and chopped dates, cocoa powder, vanilla and orange extract. 
• Process again until the mixture begins to clump together. 
• Using a tablespoon, scoop out even sized balls, and roll between hands to shape. 
• For the final finish, roll each truffle lightly in cocoa powder.

Aftertought ...

What does a mostly raw, some cooked vegan grocery cart look like? Well, mine looks like this ...




How about you?

This raw and healthy pineapple party in your mouth is super simple and perfect for spring. Hawaiian pineapple season is April and May, even though they're available year round. Price and quality will be the best over the next few months so take advantage of this sweet abundance and enjoy this vegan treat for breakfast or an anytime snack.

Oh, and to make this extra thick and frosty, cube and freeze pineapple and any subsequent pineapple juice in ice cube trays. Store frozen cubes in plastic bags for ultra easy prep.



   




ingredients

• 3 cups chopped romaine (or favorite green) ($1.00)
• 1 cup cubed pineapple, frozen ($2.00)
• 1 banana, sliced and frozen ($.20)
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice (optional) ($.20)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla ($.10)
• 1 cup water
• 10 ice cubes
• stevia to taste (optional)

directions

• In a high powered blender, puree the greens until liquefied and very smooth. 
• Add the rest of the ingredients and puree until smooth.

nutritional information:      calories: 156      fat: 0 gr      carbs: 42 gr      protein: 3 gr



Speaking of pineapple ...

... this really cool little building was one of my favorite local landmarks. While on a bike ride the other day (hello warm weather!) I noticed the other day that it's gone! I'll miss it!! Maybe they got tired of me taking so many photos of it ... hmm.

Zucchini season is best in mid summer, because it's a warm weather plant. Even so, zucchini can be found at most groceries through most of the year. Look for firm and glossy fruit with no marks or soft spots.


Simply wash the zucchini and then slice thinly. A mandolin would be the best choice of tool, but I did just fine with a chef's knife. If you want your zucchini chips to have lighter edges, then peel then first then slice.



Put the sliced zucchini in a lidded container and add the marinade. Shake well to coat.




Spread out in a single layer on lined dehydrator sheets. Dehydrate at around 145 degrees Fahrenheit for about an hour, then reduce the temperature to 120 and dehydrate for another 12 hours or so. Overnight is a good way to time it. They're done when all the moisture has been removed. They should be pretty crispy and only a little chewy. The full recipe is below.




ingredients

• 8 cups thinly sliced zucchini rounds ($5.00)
• 1/2 cup agave ($1.00)
• 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar ($.40)
• 1/4 olive oil ($.40)
• 2 tablespoons dried oregano ($.05)
• 2 tablespoons dried basil ($.05)
• 2 tablespoons dried parsley ($.05)
• 1 tablespoon garlic powder ($.05)
• 1 tablespoon onion powder ($.05)
• 1 teaspoon salt (or more to taste)
• 1 teaspoon black pepper
• 1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes ($.05) 

directions

• Slice the zucchini, pat dry if needed, and place in a large, lidded container. 
• In a small bowl, whisk together the remaining ingredients.
• Pour over the sliced zucchini, cover, and shake (or just stir) until zucchini is evenly coated. 
• Spread the zucchini on lined dehydrator sheets and dry at 145 degrees for about an hour and then at 120 for about another 12 hours or overnight (dehydrating time can vary), until crispy. 
• Store leftovers in an airtight container and pop into dehydrator for a few minutes to crisp them up again if necessary. 

• 1 mango, cubed ($1.49)
• 1 papaya, cubed ($.99)
• 1 cucumber, chopped ($.69)
• 2 tablespoons olive oil ($.20)
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 medium onion, finely chopped ($.05)
• 1 red bell pepper, finely chopped ($.89)
• 1 jalapeno, minced ($.20)
• 2 tablespoons lime juice ($.45)
• black pepper
• red pepper flakes

1. In a food processor fitted with an "S blade, puree about a third of each of the mango, papaya, and cucumber and the olive oil and salt until very smooth. This is the stew base. 
2. In a large bowl, add the remaining chopped mango, papaya, and cucumber, along with the onion, red bell pepper, and jalapeno. 
3. Stir to mix. 
4. Add the lime juice and stir again. 
5. Serve with a bit of black pepper and a few crushed red pepper flakes.
6. Most of the heat of a jalapeno is found in the seeds. I like this kind of spicy so I include most of the seeds from the jalapeno. If you prefer a bit more mild taste, just leave out most or all of the seeds.

 nutritional information       calories: 289      fat: 14 gr      carbs: 43 gr       protein: 3 gr






And want to know a few fun facts about fruit, too?








Hope you're all having a great spring! Say hello :)

You have to remind yourself this is good for you. It's so delicious it feels downright decadent. The hemp milk makes it super creamy and luscious.

ingredients

• 1 orange, peeled and frozen ($.50)
• 2 bananas, peeled, sliced, and frozen ($.40)
• 1 cup hemp milk ($1.00)
• 3 tablespoons cacao powder ($.30) 
• 1/2 teaspoon orange extract
• few drops stevia (optional)
• pinch salt
• 6 ice cubes
• water for blending, if necessary

directions

1. In a high speed blender, puree all ingredients until very smooth and creamy. 
2. Add water if needed for ease of blender or if a thinner smoothie is desired. 

nutritional information:      calories: 339      fat: 14 gr      carbs: 43 gr       protein: 8 gr 

• 2 bananas, frozen and sliced ($.50)
• 1 cup frozen strawberries ($1.00)
• 4 tablespoons flax seeds, ground ($.40)
• 1 cup almond milk ($.45) 
• a few almonds, chopped

• In a blender, combine all ingredients and puree until very smooth.
• Garnish with a few chopped almonds, if desired.

• 3 bananas, sliced and frozen ($.60)
• 1 1/2 cups strawberries, frozen ($1.69)
• 1/2 cup blueberries, frozen ($.60)
• stevia and/or agave, to taste

A "concrete" is a very thick shake ... thick enough to have to eat it with a spoon. And this is a fun and tasty breakfast or treat for anyone.

In a food processor fitted with an "S" blade, process the frozen bananas until creamy. Add water as needed until the mixture is a thick, soft serve ice cream consistency. Add about half the frozen strawberries and process again until smooth. Add a couple droppers of stevia and/or agave, until you like the level of sweetness. You may not need any sweetener at all if you use very ripe bananas.

Spoon out and set aside about half the mixture. Then, add more frozen strawberries to what remains, and process again until smooth. Spoon out and set aside about half of this mixture, as well. Finally, add the frozen blueberries to what is left and process again until smooth.

Layer the different mixtures in a glass. And don't forget a spoon!

These are just insanely good and great for summer. I really don't think there's a conventional dessert that could be any better tasting than these. I used paper cupcake cups and a cupcake pan ... the paper lined pans seemed to make just about perfect sized tarts. They certainly didn't last long in these parts, although theoretically they can be covered and frozen for up to a week.

A note about the dehydrated bananas ... these need to be just dehydrated enough to take some of the moisture out but not hard. I dehydrated my gently for about 6 hours and that seemed to work out well.


ingredients

• 6 dates ($3.00)
• 1/2 cup walnuts ($.50)
• 1/2 cup finely shredded coconut ($1.00)
• 2 tablespoons coconut oil
• 2 tablespoons agave
• pinch salt
• 2 avocados ($1.49)
• 3 bananas, dehydrated ($.45)
• 4 limes, juice and zest ($2.00)
• 4 tablespoons agave ($.40)

directions

1. Make the crusts first. In a food processor with the "S" blade, process the dates until mush. 
2. Add the coconut, coconut oil, agave, and salt and process until it begins to clump. 
3. Last, add the walnuts and process until the walnuts are fully incorporated and the mixture sticks together.
4. Divide the crust mixture evenly into and press into the bottom and sides of eight paper lined cupcake cups. 
5. Put in the freezer for about a half hour, until firm.
6. For the filling, in the food processor with the "S" blade, process the avocados, bananas, lime juice and zest, and agave. It takes a minute or two, but this will become velvety smooth and the consistency of thick pudding.
7. Spoon the filling into the tart crusts and chill well before serving.

I was hoping to have a few things to write about in this month, but the only thing I finished was this video for SIGBOVIK, right at the beginning:

NaN Gates and Flip FLOPS

There is also the paper which has some merits but I submitted that before actually finishing the project, so I think the video is the definitive version. Either way this one is really aimed at trolling computer scientists, and so may be impenetrable if you don't have the background; sorry about that!

Allergies and various things have got me down recently but it's also getting nice out, which should provide a burst of energy!! This weekend is the Marathon in Pittsburgh, which I intend to run. No costume plans but sometimes I get last minute inspiration / compulsion. Feel free to taunt me with your ideas.

So recently, I had to use zippers at work. Specifically, the Clojure implementation. There were some close-to-arbitrary transformations I needed to do with some close-to-arbitrary trees and it turned out that zippers were more efficient than the alternatives¹.

Using them this way, combined with the general state of the world and my free time, finally tipped me into doing some more Common Lisp development. Before, I go any further, let me be clear about something.

I Like Clojure

Seriously.

Its logo is up top in the language bar, I was one of the inaugural members of the Toronto Clojure User Group, I recommend it as a first lisp you should learn, and have for about six years now. I'm also painfully aware of the shortcomings of Common Lisp, and make no excuses for them.

However.

• I don't like the JVM. It's slow as balls, its' deployment options are less than ideal for my purposes, its' error system is at best useless, and Clojure without it is unlikely.
• Clojurescript build incompatiblities are, if anything, worse².
• I don't like the underlying licensing decisions.

These are deep reasons to stay away. They're not the sort of thing I can paper over with a library or two. Fixing them would mean a superhuman amount of work poured into the underlying technical and social infrastructure, and I'm not into it. I wouldn't be into it even if the community was interested in heading that way, and near as I can tell, they're not particularly.

Whether or not I think you should learn Clojure as your first³ lisp, it definitely wasn't my first lisp. The more uniform, mostly-better-thought-out interface, lack of historical baggage and functional data structures are not enough to pull me all the way over.

It is enough for me to start plotting a smash-and-grab of as much of the stuff I like as I can carry. Which is exactly what clj represents. As of this writing, it defines and exports exactly four symbols: if-let, when-let, -> and ->>. This is a tiny beginning of the list, and I fully plan to put something more substantial together using cl-hamt, named-readtables, test-utils and possibly optima. Stay tuned to that repo if you're interested, but it's not the focus today.

cl-zipper

The thing that percipitated this thought was having used the Clojure Zipper implementation. So, obviously, this is something I want next time I need to manipulate trees in Common Lisp. The paper is here, and unless you have a terminal phobia of datastructures⁴, you should go read it. It's six pages, they're light, and one of them taken up by the intro and references.

The operations defined in the paper are left, right, up, down, insert_right, insert_left, insert_down and delete. There's a few conveniences defined for the Clojure version, and I've implemented some of my own stuff too. Lets go through the main file in almost-literate style.

First up, we have constructors.

(defstruct path
  (left) (path) (right))

(defstruct loc
  (node)
  (path)

  (fn-branch?)
  (fn-children)
  (fn-make-node))

;;;;;;;;;; Constructors
(defun zipper (branch? children make-node root)
  (make-loc
   :node root
   :fn-branch? branch? :fn-children children :fn-make-node make-node))

(defmethod make-zipper ((thing list))
  (zipper #'listp #'identity (lambda (node children) (declare (ignore node)) children) thing))

(defun make-node (zipper children)
  (funcall (loc-fn-make-node zipper) zipper children))

You can see influence from both clojure.zip and the paper here. I'm taking the lead from the paper by explicitly separating the path triple our from the loc definition. However, I'm not explicitly defining my own type tree the way that Huet does. Instead, I'm going to be dealing with assorted lisp trees. These could be implemented as lists, vectors, hashes, or any number of other formats. I'm going to implement a few type-distpatching built-ins, including the make-zipper list method above, but the basic zipper function just needs to take an interface as input in the form of branch?, children and make-node arguments. This is the same solution that the Clojure implementation went with, and I see no reason to go a different way. The only material difference is that theirs uses the Clojure metadata system, while I explicitly define slots in the loc structure.

Now that we can construct, we need to be able to select.

;;;;;;;;;; Selectors
(defun branch? (zipper) (funcall (loc-fn-branch? zipper) (loc-node zipper)))
(defun children (zipper)
  (funcall
   (loc-fn-children zipper)
   (loc-node zipper)))
(defun node (zipper) (loc-node zipper))
(defun path (zipper) (loc-path zipper))

(defun lefts (zipper)
  (when (loc-path zipper)
    (reverse (path-left (loc-path zipper)))))

(defun rights (zipper)
  (when (loc-path zipper)
    (path-right (loc-path zipper))))

The basic navigation is four functions; down, up, left and right

;;;;;;;;;; Navigation
;;;;;;;;;;;;;;; Basic navigation
(defun down (zipper)
  (when (children zipper)
    (let ((fresh (copy-loc zipper)))
      (setf (loc-node fresh) (first (children zipper))
	    (loc-path fresh)
	    (make-path
	     :left nil
	     :path (loc-path zipper)
	     :right (rest (children zipper))))
      fresh)))

(defun up (zipper)
  (when (path zipper)
    (let ((fresh (copy-loc zipper)))
      (setf (loc-node fresh)
	    (make-node
	     zipper (append
		     (reverse (path-left (path zipper)))
		     (cons (loc-node zipper)
			   (path-right (path zipper)))))
	    (loc-path fresh) (path-path (path zipper)))
      fresh)))

(defun left (zipper)
  (when (and (path zipper) (path-left (path zipper)))
    (let ((fresh (copy-loc zipper)))
      (setf (loc-node fresh) (first (path-left (path zipper)))
	    (loc-path fresh)
	    (make-path
	     :left (rest (path-left (path zipper)))
	     :path (path-path (path zipper))
	     :right (cons (loc-node zipper) (path-right (path zipper)))))
      fresh)))

(defun right (zipper)
  (when (and (path zipper) (path-right (path zipper)))
    (let ((fresh (copy-loc zipper)))
      (setf (loc-node fresh) (first (path-right (path zipper)))
	    (loc-path fresh)
	    (make-path
	     :left (cons (loc-node zipper) (path-left (path zipper)))
	     :path (path-path (path zipper))
	     :right (rest (path-right (path zipper)))))
      fresh)))

The main difference between this and the paper is that I've chosen nil as my Top representation, which lets me pull the trick of using when to check for the presence of a path, and its' non-Top-ness at the same time.

The bad news is that since Common Lisp doesn't have pervasive functional data structures, I have to explicitly copy locs while moving through a tree. The good news is that the copy is fairly light weight. Effectively, I'm copying out a set of 5 pointers, and could get that down to 3 by defining an intermediate struct.

Hm.

Which I probably should do. Note to self.

Out of those, we get three compound navigation functions. With more probably coming soon. Specifically, I found find useful for the work I did. It's easily externally definable, but would be even easier to bundle along. The ones I've already implemented are root, leftmost and rightmost.

;;;;;;;;;;;;;;; Compound navigation
(defun root (zipper)
  (if-let (z (while zipper #'up))
    (node z)))

(defun leftmost (zipper) (while zipper #'left))

(defun rightmost (zipper) (while zipper #'right))

Each of these involve an intermediate call to while. Which isn't a generic macro; it's a function defined in util.lisp

...
(defun until (zipper f)
  (let ((z zipper))
    (loop for next = (funcall f z) while next
       when next do (setf z next))
    z))
...

As you can see, all it does is repeatedly call a given function on a zipper and return the last non-nil loc result. That's loc, not node, so this doesn't run into the usual Common Lisp conflict of "Did you fail to find a thing, or find the element nil?".

That's the traversals done. Next up, we've got modification, without which this library is fairly useless. The basics are replace, delete and the insert/child twins.

;;;;;;;;;; Modification
(defun replace (zipper node)
  (let ((fresh (copy-loc zipper)))
    (setf (loc-node fresh) node)
    fresh))

(defun delete (zipper)
  (when (path zipper)
    (let ((fresh (copy-loc zipper))
	  (fresh-path (copy-path (loc-path zipper))))
      (cond ((rights zipper)
	     (setf (loc-node fresh) (pop (path-right fresh-path))
		   (loc-path fresh) fresh-path))
	    ((lefts zipper)
	     (setf (loc-node fresh) (pop (path-left fresh-path))
		   (loc-path fresh) fresh-path))
	    (t (setf (loc-path fresh) (path-path fresh-path))))
      fresh)))

(defun insert-child (zipper node)
  (replace
   zipper
   (make-node
    zipper
    (cond ((not (branch? zipper))
	   (list node (node zipper)))
	  ((children zipper)
	   (cons node (children zipper)))
	  (t (list node))))))

(defun append-child (zipper node)
  (replace
   zipper
   (make-node
    zipper
    (cond ((not (branch? zipper))
	   (list (node zipper) node))
	  ((children zipper)
	   (append (children zipper) (list node)))
	  (t (list node))))))

(defun insert-left (zipper node)
  (let ((fresh (copy-loc zipper))
	(fresh-path (copy-path (loc-path zipper))))
    (push node (path-left fresh-path))
    (setf (loc-path fresh) fresh-path)
    fresh))

(defun insert-right (zipper node)
  (let ((fresh (copy-loc zipper))
	(fresh-path (copy-path (loc-path zipper))))
    (push node (path-right fresh-path))
    (setf (loc-path fresh) fresh-path)
    fresh))

The paper defines an insert_down function. It fails on a Leaf node, and otherwise inserts a singleton branch at the given location. The insert/append child functions above also insert nodes at a lower level at the current loc. They give you a choice about whether to insert the new node as the leftmost or rightmost child, and additionally succeed on Leaf nodes by including the leaf value as a child of the new branch.

There are, thus far, three compound modification functions; edit, splice-left and splice-right.

(defun edit (zipper f &rest args)
  (replace zipper (apply f (node zipper) args)))

(defun splice-left (zipper node-list)
  (reduce #'insert-left node-list :initial-value zipper))

(defun splice-right (zipper node-list)
  (reduce #'insert-right (reverse node-list) :initial-value zipper))

edit takes a function instead of a new node, and replaces the node at loc with the result of running that function on the existing node. The splice-* twins are fairly self-explanatory; they're like insert-left/insert-right, but work on multiple nodes rather than single ones.

I haven't yet implemented next, prev and remove because these might relate to the different representation of the traversal end? state. The reason for this seems to be that next/prev/remove assume a depth-first traversal. The reason I'm being weasely here is that I haven't thought about it hard enough to be sure that the end? marker is really necessary. It also seems odd to privilege depth-first over breadth-first traversals; ideally, I think you'd want to be able to support either. Possibly interchangeably.

Minor Housekeeping

That wraps it up for this edition. My immediate intention is to do more work on the cl-zipper and clj libraries, as well as that game I mentioned last time. Ideally, I'd like to up my blogging output too. Probably not to the same volume as I had at my peak, but it was definitely helpful to keep some sort of written journal around for a while. The current state of the world is, hopefully, going to make it easy for me to get more programming time in. All things considered, I'd count that as a win.

1. Although admittedly, it does require me to explain the concept of zippers to a few other people for maintenance purposes. So ironically, this adds complexity despite being much more technically elegant than other options.↩
2. There's a reason that langnostic.js is a raw JS file, rather than compiled from clojurescript source, and that reason is like 90% that the compilation process is nontrivial to set up.↩
3. "First", not "only". You can probably make educated guesses about which other ones I think you should learn.↩
4. In which case, why are you here? This blog could kill you accidentally with an errant click or two. You should probably just go do something else.↩

The Worst Things For Sale is Drew's blog. It updates every day. Subscribe to the Worst Things For Sale RSS!