General adobe products

Did you know that you can email documents, load your own content, and sideload apps with the Kindle Fire? Scott McNulty, author of The Kindle Fire Pocket Guide, offers a list of ten cool things he loves about the Kindle Fire.

As the author of The Kindle Fire Pocket Guide, it will come as no surprise that I’m a fan of the device. The Fire can do many, many things, but I’ve been asked to limit myself to just ten of my favorites. Here they are, in no particular order:

1. Read. This one might be a given, but the Kindle Fire is a great reading device. It is about the same size as a paperback, not too heavy, and because the screen is backlit you can even read on your Kindle Fire in a dark room. Amazon’s WhisperSync technology syncs your current location, notes, and highlights to Amazon’s servers. Anytime you open that book on a supported Kindle device (either one of the many Kindle apps available for a number of platforms or any of the hardware Kindles) it’ll open to where you left off. Read the rest of this entry »

Even though most natural retailers see his face on an almost daily basis, most may not know the last name of the man who is on all 284 of Bob’s Red Mill’s products. That because Bob Moore, 82, said he likes to keep a low profile and prefers customers stay on a first-name basis.

This and other interesting facts about the man who started the whole-grain company are revealed in a recent Washington Post article by Suzanne Snider.

The article covers how last year Moore began transferring ownership of the company to his employees via stocks and gives the 37-year-old origin story of the company. His father’s death of a heart attack at age 49 encouraged Moore’s health-consciousness, as did early exposure to his wife’s grandmother’s books, such as “Let’s Get Well” by Adele Davis. Read the rest of this entry »

Many of the world’s leading food and drink companies reflect consumers’ interest in health, wellness, natural and sustainability through commitments to reduce levels of salt, sugar and fat; investment in developing functional products designed to deliver health benefits; reformulations that replace synthetic additives with natural ones; and making sustainability assurances, particularly when sourcing raw materials.

However, executing these strategies poses challenges. Efforts to reduce salt (a key part of many companies’ health and wellness strategies) impacts flavor perception of the product; developing functional products requires investment in new and unique ingredients that stand up to independent scientific scrutiny; performance and cost are key considerations in sourcing natural alternatives to synthetic additives; and delivering on sustainability commitments requires even more efficient use of raw materials. On top of these challenges are the commercial realities that companies are continually facing to remain competitive, and to seek new and unique ways to differentiate their products. Read the rest of this entry »

In the fifteenth century, the Italian artist Domenico Ghirlandajo called mosaics the “true way of painting for eternity.” It is believed that mosaics originated some 4,000 years ago, although no one is sure of who first got the idea of painting with stone. By the eighth century B.C.E., builders (or artists) were using small colored stones to create patterns in pebble pavements. These were typically just unstructured decoration.

The Greeks seem to have been responsible for raising the creation of mosaics to a true art form with their creation of precise geometric patterns and depictions of people and animals. Rather than restrict themselves to the use of naturally occurring pebbles, they began to cut small stone cubes, or tesserae. These allowed more precise patterns and a greater variety of colors and tints. Tesserae that were only a few millimeters square allowed the mosaic to truly imitate the detail found in paintings. The cut surface also made the finished product more even. It could then be ground smooth, waxed, and polished. Read the rest of this entry »

To protect your walls against moisture or cooking debris, you need a good splashback. Tiles are one of the best materials to use but for something little bit special, the modern mosaic tiles that are available are exactly what you need.

What is a Splashback?

A splashback can be defined as a material that is placed on the wall in order to protect it against moisture, splashes of food, grease, oils, steam or other debris. They are mostly found in kitchens but are also very useful in bathrooms, laundries or any other wet areas. As well as protecting the walls, splashbacks can be an important design element, as they add that extra flair to a room. Read the rest of this entry »