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Drinkers of green and oolong tea are less likely to develop high blood pressure than nondrinkers, a Taiwanese study said on Monday.

The risk of hypertension, a condition that can lead to heart disease and stroke, declined the more green or oolong tea was consumed regularly, the study by researchers from National Cheng Kung University in Tainan, Taiwan, said.

The ancient Chinese honored the soybean with the name “the yellow jewel” but used it as “green manure” — a cover crop plowed under to enrich the soil. Soy did not become human food until late in the Chou Dynasty (1134-246 B.C.), when the Chinese developed a fermentation process to make soybean paste, best known today by its Japanese name, miso. Soy sauce — the natural type sold under the Japanese name shoyu — began as the liquid poured off during the production of miso. Two other popular fermented soy foods, natto and tempeh, entered the food supply around 1000 A.D. or later in Japan and Indonesia, respectively.

Tofu came after miso. Legend has it that, in 164 B.C., Lord Liu An of Huai-nan, China — a renowned alchemist, meditator, and ruler — discovered that a purée of cooked soybeans could be precipitated with nigari (a form of magnesium chloride found in seawater) into solid cakes, called tofu. In Japan, as in China, tofu was rarely served as a main course anywhere except in monasteries. Its most popular use was-and is-as a few bland little blocks in miso soup or fish stock.

This book contains definitions and examples of more than sixty traditional rhetorical devices, all of which can still be useful today to improve the effectiveness, clarity, and enjoyment of your writing. Note: This book was written in 1980, with some changes since. The devices presented are not in alphabetical order.

When you see that a plant has taken over — like grasses and lawns, and like corn — it has somehow manipulated us. We’re doing its evolutionary job, spreading it around, because it’s made itself attractive to us. Corn is like this second great American lawn — I mean miles and miles of it, all through the Midwest, and even where I live in Connecticut. This plant is so successful. And the productivity of corn is astonishing. The reason is that it responds very well to fertilizer. We’ve gotten the yield per acre from 20 bushels a hundred years ago to 160 now.

It all started when David and I met in 1983. David grew up on the sheep farm we run today. My family was in the dairy business in New York City, so we decided to milk our sheep and make cheese. We went to France and learned traditional cheesemaking methods in the mountains of the Pyrenees. Six months later, Vermont Shepherd won a national award for Best Farmhouse Cheese in the U.S. Our farm has grown somewhat since its early years. Now, with the help of some amazing people, Charlie in the cave, Daron on the farm, Margie at the desk and Bianca and Lucy with the boxes and tape, we milk many more sheep, make a lot more CHEESE!

The tongue can taste basically four things: Sweet, sour, bitter, and salt; while finer taste distinctions are made partly by our sense of smell. (Readers have told me we have a fifth flavor receptor in our tongues, but the links they sent would’ve required a couple of biology degrees to understand.)

What salt does, taste-wise, is act as an electrolyte to help you taste food, though you can taste salt by itself. It?s working its best when you don’t know it’s there (unless it’s on a pretzel or nacho chip, in which case being aware of it is part of the fun).

This just in: Eating smaller bites of ice cream is the key to avoiding the highly dreaded ice cream headache, a.k.a. brain freeze.

This critical finding, which was published in the December issue of British Medical Journal, was made by 13-year-old Maya Kaczorowski, who carried out her experiment on fellow middle school classmates in Hamilton, Canada.

• Use common sense. If a story sounds wrong or illogical, it probably is.
• Study the factors involved in any studies mentioned. Was it randomized and double-blind? How large was it? Were there other factors involved that the story/study left out?
• Trace the source of information (where, when and by whom). Was it published in a reputable medical journal?
• Follow the money. Find out who funded the study. If it’s not in the story, seek the original research in the library or online.
• Check to see if the study reports a first-time finding or one that’s been duplicated, and therefore, more valid.
• Look for a debate about the product or treatment. Find out who’s pro and con and what their motives are.
• Be wary of products that haven’t been approved by the Food and Drug Administration. These stories are almost always hype.
• Ask your physician for his or her opinion.

The Web Standards Project is a grassroots coalition fighting for standards that ensure simple, affordable access to web technologies for all.

This is the Jargon File, a comprehensive compendium of hacker slang illuminating many aspects of hackish tradition, folklore, and humor.

SlangSite.com is a dictionary of slang, webspeak, made up words, and colloquialisms.

Good fiction doesn’t just happen, it is designed. You can do the design work before or after you write your novel. I’ve done it both ways and I strongly believe that doing it first is quicker and leads to a better result.

Celtic MP3s Music Magazine is a free weekly Celtic music & mp3 magazine featuring free music downloads of Celtic, Scottish, Irish music from around the world.

California scientists say they have created the first synthetic version of a rogue protein called a prion and used it to give mice a brain-destroying infection, evidence important to settling any lingering doubt these mysterious substances alone cause mad cow disease and similar illnesses.