Blah, Blah

A Tiny Fruit That Tricks the Tongue

Mitra — Thu, 29 May 2008 18:09:29 GMT

By PATRICK FARRELL and KASSIE BRACKEN CARRIE DASHOW dropped a large dollop of lemon sorbet into a glass of Guinness, stirred, drank and proclaimed that it tasted like a “chocolate shake.” Nearby, Yuka Yoneda tilted her head back as her boyfriend, Albert Yuen, drizzled Tabasco sauce onto her tongue. She swallowed and considered the flavor: “Doughnut glaze, hot doughnut glaze!” They were among 40 or so people who were tasting under the influence of a small red berry called miracle fruit at a rooftop party in Long Island City, Queens, last Friday night. The berry rewires the way the palate perceives sour flavors for an hour or so, rendering lemons as sweet as candy. The host was Franz Aliquo, 32, a lawyer who styles himself Supreme Commander (Supreme for short) when he’s presiding over what he calls “flavor tripping parties.” Mr. Aliquo greeted new arrivals and took their $15 entrance fees. In return, he handed each one a single berry from his jacket pocket. “You pop it in your mouth and scrape the pulp off the seed, swirl it around and hold it in your mouth for about a minute,” he said. “Then you’re ready to go.” He ushered his guests to a table piled with citrus wedges, cheeses, Brussels sprouts, mustard, vinegars, pickles, dark beers, strawberries and cheap tequila, which Mr. Aliquo promised would now taste like top-shelf Patrón. The miracle fruit, Synsepalum dulcificum, is native to West Africa and has been known to Westerners since the 18th century. The cause of the reaction is a protein called miraculin, which binds with the taste buds and acts as a sweetness inducer when it comes in contact with acids, according to a scientist who has studied the fruit, Linda Bartoshuk at the University of Florida’s Center for Smell and Taste. Dr. Bartoshuk said she did not know of any dangers associated with eating miracle fruit. During the 1970s, a ruling by the Food and Drug Administration dashed hopes that an extract of miraculin could be sold as a sugar substitute. In the absence of any plausible commercial application, the miracle fruit has acquired a bit of a cult following. Sina Najafi, editor in chief of the art magazine Cabinet, has featured miracle fruits at some of the publication’s events. At a party in London last October, the fruit, he said, “had people testifying like some baptismal thing.” The berries were passed out last week at a reading of “The Fruit Hunters,” a new book by Adam Leith Gollner with a chapter about miracle fruit. Bartenders have been experimenting with the fruit as well. Don Lee, a beverage director at the East Village bar Please Don’t Tell, has been making miracle fruit cocktails on his own time, but the bar probably won’t offer them anytime soon. The fruit is highly perishable and expensive — a single berry goes for $2 or more. Lance J. Mayhew developed a series of drink recipes with miracle fruit foams and extracts for a recent issue of the cocktail magazine Imbibe and may create others for Beaker & Flask, a restaurant opening later this year in Portland, Ore. He cautioned that not everyone enjoys the berry’s long-lasting effects. Despite warnings, he said, one woman became irate after drinking one of his cocktails. He said, “She was, like, ‘What did you do to my mouth?’ ” Mr. Aliquo issues his own warnings. “It will make all wine taste like Manischewitz,” he said. And already sweet foods like candy can become cloying. He said that he had learned about miracle fruit while searching ethnobotany Web sites for foods he could make for a diabetic friend. The party last week was his sixth “flavor tripping” event. He hopes to put on a much larger, more expensive affair in June. Although he does sell the berries on his blog, www.flavortripping.wordpress.com, Mr. Aliquo maintains that he isn’t in it for the money. (He said he made about $100 on Friday.) Rather, he said, he does it to “turn on a bunch of people’s taste buds.” He believes that the best way to encounter the fruit is in a group. “You need other people to benchmark the experience,” he said. At his first party, a small gathering at his apartment in January, guests murmured with delight as they tasted citrus wedges and goat cheese. Then things got trippy. “You kept hearing ‘oh, oh, oh,’ ” he said, and then the guests became “literally like wild animals, tearing apart everything on the table.” “It was like no holds barred in terms of what people would try to eat, so they opened my fridge and started downing Tabasco and maple syrup,” he said. Many of the guests last week found the party through a posting at www.tThrillist.com. Mr. Aliquo sent invitations to a list of contacts he has been gathering since he and a friend began organizing StreetWars, a popular urban assassination game using water guns. One woman wanted to see Mr. Aliquo eat a berry before she tried one. “What, you don’t trust me?” he said. She replied, “Well, I just met you.” Another guest said, “But you met him on the Internet, so it’s safe.” The fruits are available by special order from specialty suppliers in New York, including Baldor Specialty Foods and S. Katzman Produce. Katzman sells the berries for about $2.50 a piece, and has been offering them to chefs. Mr. Aliquo gets his miracle fruit from Curtis Mozie, 64, a Florida grower who sells thousands of the berries each year through his Web site, www.miraclefruitman.com. (A freezer pack of 30 berries costs about $90 with overnight shipping.) Mr. Mozie, who was in New York for Mr. Gollner’s reading, stopped by the flavor-tripping party. Mr. Mozie listed his favorite miracle fruit pairings, which included green mangoes and raw aloe. “I like oysters with some lemon juice,” he said. “Usually you just swallow them, but I just chew like it was chewing gum.” A large group of guests reached its own consensus: limes were candied, vinegar resembled apple juice, goat cheese tasted like cheesecake on the tongue and goat cheese on the throat. Bananas were just bananas. For all the excitement it inspires, the miracle fruit does not make much of an impression on its own. It has a mildly sweet tang, with firm pulp surrounding an edible, but bitter, seed. Mr. Aliquo said it reminded him of a less flavorful cranberry. “It’s not something I’d just want to eat,” he said. Copyright 2008 The New York Times Company

Come see us perform at the Laughing Squid Lucky 13 Party this weekend !!!

Mitra — Wed, 28 May 2008 17:17:30 GMT

Hi Everyone, I will be performing with Allison Lovejoy 10 pm. Allison and Geoff Ball are amazing composers and we will be performing songs from their musical "The Seven Deadly Pleasures" Event Details Date: Saturday, May 31st Time: 7:00pm - 1:00am Location: CELLspace, 2050 Bryant Street, San Francisco (map) Price: $10 at the door (we are not selling advance tickets) Age: this is a 21+ event (due to alcohol permit) Featuring $teven Ra$pa Battle Decks Doctor Popular MC Slutsky David Capurro Mr. Lonesome and The Bluebelles The Cottontails Allison Lovejoy Mr. Lucky & The Cocktail Party (featuring Ralph Carney) The Church of Frank Sinatra Stilt Dancers Organizations & Installations Bianca Smut Shack Chapek the Robot Bartender courtesy of RoboGames TCHO Electronic Frontier Foundation The Long Now Foundation “Chassis” by Al Honig & Jonathan Foote SWARM Orbs “The ChakraTron” by gaspo Light Painting by Supersnail Doggie Diner Dog Heads Tickets Tickets are $10 and only available at the door. It is possible that this event will sell out, so show up early.

The grief of losing someone you love

Mitra — Tue, 13 May 2008 18:09:10 GMT

My dearest sweet Lulu is dying of renal failure. I've been struggling with the fact that this week I will have to euthanize her. She is my child and as much as I would like to hold on to her and have her with me longer I know how incredibly selfish this would be. We've been together for nine years. I remember the day I got her and her sister Mimi from the SPCA. She was so little and scared. She grew into a sweet loving cat who would be my shadow, always sleeping by my head at night purring as she drifted off. I'd wake up to her toys piled up at the end of the bed left as little presents for her momma. Now her head is weak, her eyes no longer shine, and her purrs are faint and few. I'm going home today to snuggle my little girl and spend some time with her before I have to say goodbye. My heart is aching and my eyes are swollen from crying, but it's nothing compared to what she must be going through. I wish this agony would end.

Mindfullness about healthy food and spending less....

Mitra — Tue, 06 May 2008 17:27:30 GMT

I really dig this blog: http://cheaphealthygood.blogspot.com/

Mildred Loving, matriarch of interracial marriage, dies

Mitra — Mon, 05 May 2008 20:27:26 GMT

By DIONNE WALKER, Associated Press Writer Mildred Loving, a black woman whose challenge to Virginia's ban on interracial marriage led to a landmark Supreme Court ruling striking down such laws nationwide, has died, her daughter said Monday. Peggy Fortune said Loving, 68, died Friday at her home in rural Milford. She did not disclose the cause of death. "I want (people) to remember her as being strong and brave yet humble — and believed in love," Fortune told The Associated Press. Loving and her white husband, Richard, changed history in 1967 when the U.S. Supreme Court upheld their right to marry. The ruling struck down laws banning racially mixed marriages in at least 17 states. "There can be no doubt that restricting the freedom to marry solely because of racial classifications violates the central meaning of the equal protection clause," the court ruled in a unanimous decision. Her husband died in 1975. Shy and soft-spoken, Loving shunned publicity and in a rare interview with The Associated Press last June, insisted she never wanted to be a hero — just a bride. "It wasn't my doing," Loving said. "It was God's work." Mildred Jeter was 11 when she and 17-year-old Richard began courting, according to Phyl Newbeck, a Vermont author who detailed the case in the 2004 book, "Virginia Hasn't Always Been for Lovers." She became pregnant a few years later, she and Loving got married in Washington in 1958, when she was 18. Mildred told the AP she didn't realize it was illegal. "I think my husband knew," Mildred said. "I think he thought (if) we were married, they couldn't bother us." But they were arrested a few weeks after they returned to Central Point, their hometown in rural Caroline County north of Richmond. They pleaded guilty to charges of "cohabiting as man and wife, against the peace and dignity of the Commonwealth," according to their indictments. They avoided jail time by agreeing to leave Virginia — the only home they'd known — for 25 years. They moved to Washington for several years, then launched a legal challenge by writing to Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy, who referred the case to the American Civil Liberties Union. Attorneys later said the case came at the perfect time — just as lawmakers passed the Civil Rights Act, and as across the South, blacks were defying Jim Crow's hold. "The law that threatened the Lovings with a year in jail was a vestige of a hateful, discriminatory past that could not stand in the face of the Lovings' quiet dignity," said Steven Shapiro, national legal director for the ACLU. "We loved each other and got married," she told The Washington Evening Star in 1965, when the case was pending. "We are not marrying the state. The law should allow a person to marry anyone he wants." After the Supreme Court ruled, the couple returned to Virginia, where they lived with their children, Donald, Peggy and Sidney. Each June 12, the anniversary of the ruling, Loving Day events around the country mark the advances of mixed-race couples. Richard Loving died in a car accident that also injured his wife. "They said I had to leave the state once, and I left with my wife," he told the Star in 1965. "If necessary, I will leave Virginia again with my wife, but I am not going to divorce her. Loving for All By Mildred Loving * Prepared for Delivery on June 12, 2007, The 40th Anniversary of the Loving vs. Virginia Announcement When my late husband, Richard, and I got married in Washington, DC in 1958, it wasn't to make a political statement or start a fight. We were in love, and we wanted to be married. We didn't get married in Washington because we wanted to marry there. We did it there because the government wouldn't allow us to marry back home in Virginia where we grew up, where we met, where we fell in love, and where we wanted to be together and build our family. You see, I am a woman of color and Richard was white, and at that time people believed it was okay to keep us from marrying because of their ideas of who should marry whom. When Richard and I came back to our home in Virginia, happily married, we had no intention of battling over the law. We made a commitment to each other in our love and lives, and now had the legal commitment, called marriage, to match. Isn't that what marriage is? Not long after our wedding, we were awakened in the middle of the night in our own bedroom by deputy sheriffs and actually arrested for the "crime" of marrying the wrong kind of person. Our marriage certificate was hanging on the wall above the bed. The state prosecuted Richard and me, and after we were found guilty, the judge declared: "Almighty God created the races white, black, yellow, malay and red, and he placed them on separate continents. And but for the interference with his arrangement there would be no cause for such marriages. The fact that he separated the races shows that he did not intend for the races to mix." He sentenced us to a year in prison, but offered to suspend the sentence if we left our home in Virginia for 25 years exile. We left, and got a lawyer. Richard and I had to fight, but still were not fighting for a cause. We were fighting for our love. Though it turned out we had to fight, happily Richard and I didn't have to fight alone. Thanks to groups like the ACLU and the NAACP Legal Defense & Education Fund, and so many good people around the country willing to speak up, we took our case for the freedom to marry all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. And on June 12, 1967, the Supreme Court ruled unanimously that, "The freedom to marry has long been recognized as one of the vital personal rights essential to the orderly pursuit of happiness by free men," a "basic civil right." My generation was bitterly divided over something that should have been so clear and right. The majority believed that what the judge said, that it was God's plan to keep people apart, and that government should discriminate against people in love. But I have lived long enough now to see big changes. The older generation's fears and prejudices have given way, and today's young people realize that if someone loves someone they have a right to marry. Surrounded as I am now by wonderful children and grandchildren, not a day goes by that I don't think of Richard and our love, our right to marry, and how much it meant to me to have that freedom to marry the person precious to me, even if others thought he was the "wrong kind of person" for me to marry. I believe all Americans, no matter their race, no matter their sex, no matter their sexual orientation, should have that same freedom to marry. Government has no business imposing some people’s religious beliefs over others. Especially if it denies people’s civil rights. I am still not a political person, but I am proud that Richard's and my name is on a court case that can help reinforce the love, the commitment, the fairness, and the family that so many people, black or white, young or old, gay or straight seek in life. I support the freedom to marry for all. That's what Loving, and loving, are all about. * Together with her husband, Richard Loving, Mildred Loving was a plaintiff in the historic Supreme Court Loving v. Virginia, decided 40 years ago June 12, striking down race restrictions on the freedom to marry and advancing racial justice and marriage equality in America.

New study: 58 percent of black children can't swim

Mitra — Thu, 01 May 2008 21:10:08 GMT

By DAVID CRARY, AP National Writer Nearly 60 percent of African-American children can't swim, almost twice the figure for white children, according to a first-of-its-kind survey which USA Swimming hopes will strengthen its efforts to lower minority drowning rates and draw more blacks into the sport. Stark statistics underlie the initiative by the national governing body for swimming. Black children drown at a rate almost three times the overall rate. And less than 2 percent of USA Swimming's nearly 252,000 members who swim competitively year-round are black. To alter the numbers, USA Swimming is teaming with an array of partners — local governments, corporations, youth and ethnic organizations_ to expand learn-to-swim programs nationwide, many of them targeted at inner-city minorities. One of the key participants is black freestyle star Cullen Jones, who hopes to boost his role-model status by winning a medal this summer at the Beijing Olympics. USA Swimming's motives are twofold, executive director Chuck Wielgus said. "It's just the right thing to do — making an effort so every kid can be water-safe," he said. "And quite frankly it's about performance. We're something of a niche sport and for us to remain relevant, considering the changing demographics of the population, it's important we get more kids involved at the mouth of the pipeline." As part of the initiative, USA Swimming commissioned an ambitious study recently completed by five experts at the University of Memphis' Department of Health and Sports Sciences. They surveyed 1,772 children aged 6 to 16 in six cities — two-thirds of them black or Hispanic — to gauge what factors contributed most to the minority swimming gap. The study found that 31 percent of the white respondents could not swim safely, compared to 58 percent of the blacks. The non-swimming rate for Hispanic children was almost as high — 56 percent — although more than twice as many Hispanics as blacks are now USA Swimming members. The lead researcher, Professor Richard Irwin, said one key finding was the influence of parents' attitudes and abilities. If a parent couldn't swim, as was far more likely in minority families than white families, or if the parent felt swimming was dangerous, then the child was far less likely to learn how to swim. Irwin said this means learn-to-swim programs in minority communities should reach out to parents. Among black children, the study found that girls overall had weaker swimming skills than boys and were less comfortable at pools. Irwin said this might justify experimenting with single-sex swim programs, comparable to single-sex academic programs now spreading through some schools. The minority swimming gap has deep roots in America's racial history. For decades during the 20th century, many pools were segregated, and relatively few were built to serve black communities. John Cruzat, USA Swimming's diversity specialist, said these inequalities were compounded by a widespread misperception — fueled by flawed academic studies — that blacks' swimming ability was compromised by an innate deficit of buoyancy. "There are people who still give credence to these stereotypes, even in the black and Hispanic community," said Cruzat, who wants to break the cycle that passes negative attitudes about swimming from one black generation to another. "These long-held beliefs are still so potent," he said. "If you don't teach your children to swim, you're putting your grandchildren at risk." Cruzat was pleased by one finding in the new study — that most black and Hispanic children do not disdain swimming as a "white sport." The study also found that swimming ability, regardless of race, increased in relation to parents' income and education. The findings will be used by USA Swimming to fine-tune its steadily expanding Make a Splash program, in which it teams up with local partners to offer lessons and water-safety classes. Programs are starting this year at YMCAs in Philadelphia, Omaha, Neb., Raleigh, N.C., and San Jose, Calif. Wanda Butts of Toledo, Ohio, is participating in the program. Her 16-year-old son, Josh, drowned last year in a lake as he played with friends on a raft despite his inability to swim. Butts, 54, said her father once witnessed a drowning and passed on a fear of swimming to her, and she in turn never made efforts to have Josh learn to swim. Butts now travels periodically to preach the importance of learning to swim — in fact, she's taking lessons herself. She's also launched an initiative called the Josh Project, which ensures that lessons are free for families unable to afford them. "The best way is to start the children as young as possible," she said. Olympic hopeful Jones is the highest-profile Make a Splash campaigner. In 2006, he helped break a world record with the U.S. 400 freestyle relay team. He hopes to qualify in July for the Beijing Games, and knows that winning a medal there in the glamorous 50 meter freestyle would be a huge boost for the efforts to lure more black children into swimming. "There are African-Americans who swim, but they're in the background," Jones said. "People only pay attention when you're in the limelight." He still hears skeptical comments sometimes from adults in the black community, even from some of his relatives — but he sees little hesitation in the children he mentors in the pool. "I've done lessons with white and black kids — there's no kid out there who doesn't like jumping into a pool," he said. "When you're 6, you are fearless. That's the time to teach them." Among Jones' admirers is Pablo Morales, a son of Cuban-born parents who won Olympic swimming medals in 1984 and 1992 and now coaches at the University of Nebraska. "He can have an amazing impact," Morales said of Jones. "I cheer for him — and hope he can stay on top for a long time." But Morales acknowledges that swimming diversity has improved only marginally since his first Olympics. "Has progress been made? Yes," he said. "Has it been as extensive and as quick as we'd hoped? Definitely not." ___ On the Net: http://www.usaswimming.org/

Talk about bizarre...

Mitra — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 16:36:06 GMT

People of Lesbos take gay group to court over term 'Lesbian' By NICHOLAS PAPHITIS, Associated Press Writer Wednesday, April 30, 2008 (04-30) 07:22 PDT ATHENS, Greece (AP) -- A Greek court has been asked to draw the line between the natives of the Aegean Sea island of Lesbos and the world's gay women. Three islanders from Lesbos — home of the ancient poet Sappho, who praised love between women — have taken a gay rights group to court for using the word lesbian in its name. One of the plaintiffs said Wednesday that the name of the association, Homosexual and Lesbian Community of Greece, "insults the identity" of the people of Lesbos, who are also known as Lesbians. "My sister can't say she is a Lesbian," said Dimitris Lambrou. "Our geographical designation has been usurped by certain ladies who have no connection whatsoever with Lesbos," he said. The three plaintiffs are seeking to have the group barred from using "lesbian" in its name and filed a lawsuit on April 10. The other two plaintiffs are women. Also called Mytilene, after its capital, Lesbos is famed as the birthplace of Sappho. The island is a favored holiday destination for gay women, particularly the lyric poet's reputed home town of Eressos. "This is not an aggressive act against gay women," Lambrou said. "Let them visit Lesbos and get married and whatever they like. We just want (the group) to remove the word lesbian from their title." He said the plaintiffs targeted the group because it is the only officially registered gay group in Greece to use the word lesbian in its name. The case will be heard in an Athens court on June 10. Sappho lived from the late 7th to the early 6th century B.C. and is considered one of the greatest poets of antiquity. Many of her poems, written in the first person and intended to be accompanied by music, contain passionate references to love for other women. Lambrou said the word lesbian has only been linked with gay women in the past few decades. "But we have been Lesbians for thousands of years," said Lambrou, who publishes a small magazine on ancient Greek religion and technology that frequently criticizes the Christian Church. Very little is known of Sappho's life. According to some ancient accounts, she was an aristocrat who married a rich merchant and had a daughter with him. One tradition says that she killed herself by jumping off a cliff over an unhappy love affair. Lambrou says Sappho was not gay. "But even if we assume she was, how can 250,000 people of Lesbian descent — including women — be considered homosexual?" The Homosexual and Lesbian Community of Greece could not be reached for comment. http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2008/04/30/international/i072245D32.DTL

What moves you today?

Mitra — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 20:04:56 GMT

What is going on that makes you happy? I tend to sometimes get overwhelmed by the difficult stuff and forget how truly fortunate I am. Some things that make me happy today: All my wonderful friends Mom and Dad Greg My Kitties The fact that it's sunny outside and the end of my work week Love :)

It's Bay Area National Dance Week!

Mitra — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 23:43:27 GMT

Check it out! http://www.bacndw.org/

Sleepiness...

Mitra — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 06:20:34 GMT

Last night was full of restless dreams. I woke up this morning feeling spent. Tonight I'm going to meditate, take a hot shower and melt into sleep. Sweet dreams everyone!

Come see the latest show I'm in!

Mitra — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 08:27:23 GMT

This show has a lot of great original music in it. I will be performing as one of the Heavenly Sistahs: The Cabaret Musical we've all been waiting for! Sexy Murderous Fun! A showcase of music by Allison Lovejoy & Geoff Ball. Book, Production and Direction by Allison Lovejoy Friday, April 18 9 pm Doors open at 8:30 Cabaret Seating Suggested donation $5-10 Community Music Center 544 Capp st. San Francisco

What the World Eats...

Mitra — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 17:01:11 GMT

Photo essay on one week's worth of food for families in various countries. Interesting stuff! http://www.time.com/time/photogallery/0,29307,1626519_1373680,00.html

My Friend Has Lost Her Home

Mitra — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 23:13:38 GMT

Most of you heard about the fire in the Mission last night. My dear friend Jesse lost everything she owned but thankfully is alive and well. I'm going through my things to find items to replace what she has lost. If anyone has anything you like to send her way please let me know. The poor girl is going to have to start from scratch and is a student so money is tight. Much love-- Sara

Sick at home

Mitra — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 21:02:59 GMT

I'm so groggy and crabby with an uncomfortable headcold. I guess this is what happens when you burn the candle at both ends. All I want to do is sleep.

Watch Lists and Commerce-- NY Times

Mitra — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 23:17:51 GMT

March 4, 2008 A Wave of the Watch List, and Speech Disappears By ADAM LIPTAK Steve Marshall is an English travel agent. He lives in Spain, and he sells trips to Europeans who want to go to sunny places, including Cuba. In October, about 80 of his Web sites stopped working, thanks to the United States government. The sites, in English, French and Spanish, had been online since 1998. Some, like www.cuba-hemingway.com, were literary. Others, like www.cuba-havanacity.com, discussed Cuban history and culture. Still others — www.ciaocuba.com and www.bonjourcuba.com — were purely commercial sites aimed at Italian and French tourists. “I came to work in the morning, and we had no reservations at all,” Mr. Marshall said on the phone from the Canary Islands. “We thought it was a technical problem.” It turned out, though, that Mr. Marshall’s Web sites had been put on a Treasury Department blacklist and, as a consequence, his American domain name registrar, eNom Inc., had disabled them. Mr. Marshall said eNom told him it did so after a call from the Treasury Department; the company, based in Bellevue, Wash., says it learned that the sites were on the blacklist through a blog. Either way, there is no dispute that eNom shut down Mr. Marshall’s sites without notifying him and has refused to release the domain names to him. In effect, Mr. Marshall said, eNom has taken his property and interfered with his business. He has slowly rebuilt his Web business over the last several months, and now many of the same sites operate with the suffix .net rather than .com, through a European registrar. His servers, he said, have been in the Bahamas all along. Mr. Marshall said he did not understand “how Web sites owned by a British national operating via a Spanish travel agency can be affected by U.S. law.” Worse, he said, “these days not even a judge is required for the U.S. government to censor online materials.” A Treasury spokesman, John Rankin, referred a caller to a press release issued in December 2004, almost three years before eNom acted. It said Mr. Marshall’s company had helped Americans evade restrictions on travel to Cuba and was “a generator of resources that the Cuban regime uses to oppress its people.” It added that American companies must not only stop doing business with the company but also freeze its assets, meaning that eNom did exactly what it was legally required to do. Mr. Marshall said he was uninterested in American tourists. “They can’t go anyway,” he said. Peter L. Fitzgerald, a law professor at Stetson University in Florida who has studied the blacklist — which the Treasury calls a list of “specially designated nationals” — said its operation was quite mysterious. “There really is no explanation or standard,” he said, “for why someone gets on the list.” Susan Crawford, a visiting law professor at Yale and a leading authority on Internet law, said the fact that many large domain name registrars are based in the United States gives the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control, or OFAC, control “over a great deal of speech — none of which may be actually hosted in the U.S., about the U.S. or conflicting with any U.S. rights.” “OFAC apparently has the power to order that this speech disappear,” Professor Crawford said. The law under which the Treasury Department is acting has an exemption, known as the Berman Amendment, which seeks to protect “information or informational materials.” Mr. Marshall’s Web sites, though ultimately commercial, would seem to qualify, and it is not clear why they appear on the list. Unlike Americans, who face significant restrictions on travel to Cuba, Europeans are free to go there, and many do. Charles S. Sims, a lawyer with Proskauer Rose in New York, said the Treasury Department might have gone too far in Mr. Marshall’s case. “The U.S can certainly criminalize the expenditure of money by U.S. citizens in Cuba,” Mr. Sims said, “but it doesn’t properly have any jurisdiction over foreign sites that are not targeted at the U.S. and which are lawful under foreign law.” Mr. Rankin, the Treasury spokesman, said Mr. Marshall was free to ask for a review of his case. “If they want to be taken off the list,” Mr. Rankin said, “they should contact us to make their case.” That is a problematic system, Professor Fitzgerald said. “The way to get off the list,” he said, “is to go back to the same bureaucrat who put you on.” Last March, the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights issued a disturbing report on the OFAC list. Its subtitle: “How a Treasury Department Terrorist Watch List Ensnares Everyday Consumers.” The report, by Shirin Sinnar, said that there were 6,400 names on the list and that, like no-fly lists at airports, it gave rise to endless and serious problems of mistaken identity. “Financial institutions, credit bureaus, charities, car dealerships, health insurers, landlords and employers,” the report said, “are now checking names against the list before they open an account, close a sale, rent an apartment or offer a job.” But Mr. Marshall’s case does not appear to be one of mistaken identity. The government quite specifically intended to interfere with his business. That, Professor Crawford said, is a scandal. “The way we communicate these days is through domain names, and the Treasury Department should not be interfering with domain names just as it does not interfere with telecommunications lines.” Curiously, the Treasury Department has not shut down all of Mr. Marshall’s .com sites. You can still find, for now, www.cuba-guantanamo.com. Online: Documents and an archive of Adam Liptak’s articles: nytimes.com/adamliptak.

My Valentine To You...

Mitra — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 02:48:25 GMT

One of my favorites courtesy of the ever-talented zefrank. I've posted this in the past and it still makes me smile. Enjoy! http://www.zefrank.com/valentine/ xox-- S

I opened up the door...

Mitra — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 04:05:55 GMT

...and in flew Enza. Yup, we've got the flu. Missy and I are comparing temps and swigging gatorade. This has to be the suckiest case of the body aches I've had for some time. Thank god for meds. Be healthy everyone-- this shit is highly contagious.

Movies

Mitra — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 03:52:47 GMT

Missy and I went to see Juno today. I hardly go to the movies anymore, mostly because there are not many films that have piqued my interest lately. As I was checking the movie times, I realized there are quite a few on now that I'd like to see. It would be fun to get a group together and go see Sweeney Todd, Walk Hard, or Persepolis. Anyone game?

Recipe For Guinness Beef Stew

Mitra — Sat, 05 Jan 2008 22:48:15 GMT

As requested :) 2 lb beef sirloin, cut into 1-inch pieces 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour 1 teaspoon salt 1/2 teaspoon black pepper 2 tablespoons vegetable oil 1 large onion, coarsely chopped 2 garlic cloves, chopped 3 tablespoons water 1 1/2 tablespoons tomato paste 2 cups beef broth 1 can Guinness or other Irish stout 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce 2 teaspoons drained brined green peppercorns, coarsely chopped 2 fresh thyme sprigs 1 cup carrot chunks 1 cup thickly sliced crimini mushrooms 3 large potatoes 1/3 lb grated white diamond cheddar cheese 4tbs butter 4tbs heavy cream Grated parmesan cheese Put oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 425°F. Pat beef dry. Stir together flour, salt, and pepper in a shallow dish. Add beef, turning to coat, then shake off excess and transfer to a plate. Heat oil in a wide 5- to 6-quart ovenproof heavy pot over moderately high heat until just smoking, then brown meat in 3 batches, turning occasionally, about 5 minutes per batch, transferring to a bowl. Boil potatoes until tender, set aside. Add onion, garlic, and water to pot and cook, scraping up any brown bits from bottom of pot and stirring frequently, until onion is softened, about 5 minutes. Add tomato paste and cook, stirring, 1 minute. Stir in beef with any juices accumulated in bowl, broth, beer, Worcestershire sauce, peppercorns, and thyme and bring to a simmer, then cover for 30 minutes occasionally stirring. Add carrots and mushrooms. Replace cover and cook until beef is very tender and sauce is thickened, about 1 hour. Discard thyme and transfer stew to large soufflé/ oven safe dish. Mash potatoes with skins; add butter, cream and cheese-- salt and pepper to taste. (I usually whip them with my electric mixer for best consistency). Carefully spread over stew, making sure not to go over the edge of the dish. Sprinkle parmesan lightly over potatoes and cook at 425° for five minutes, or until potatoes are starting to turn golden brown. Keep a cookie sheet under the dish to avoid spilling!

Storminess

Mitra — Sat, 05 Jan 2008 07:04:50 GMT

This morning was rough. Still hung over from the previous night's festivities (damn Jameson) and the wind was practically whipping though my bedroom at the crack of dawn, loudly rattling the windows and keeping sleep at bay. We lost part of a tree in the front of the house which blocked us from the stairs. Luckily our sweet neighbors helped move it out of the way. Tonight I made Guiness beef stew with white cheddar mashed potatoes and we holed up in our snug little house. I think it's a staying in kind of weekend.

Local Ink Pronto!

Mitra — Tue, 11 Dec 2007 20:29:32 GMT

I'm ready to get some new ink (actually adding to an old tattoo)-- and need recommendations. Any leads for me? xoxox

Beatbox recipe

Mitra — Tue, 13 Nov 2007 07:12:13 GMT

Made me grin: http://www.dailymotion.com/popular-week/video/x12565_beatbox

The Breeze At Dawn-- Week 2!

Mitra — Thu, 08 Nov 2007 21:39:31 GMT

Hi everyone, Come see the production I'm stage managing! We are in week two of a three week run and have been getting great responses to the show. It's just a hop, skip and a jump from 16th St. BART. Also for those of you low on the cash flow (as I usually am) there are "pay what you can" nights-- see dates listed below. Hope to see you there! Much love, SaraMitra The Breeze At Dawn is a poetic and evocative tale about two women living in Iran. The play will feature live original music by Jason Ditzian and Faraz Minooie and a wonderful cast including Ali Mohamed El-Gassier, Baruch Porras-Hernandez, Claudia Rosa* and Natalia Miner(*Member of Actors’ Equity Association). What: The Breeze At Dawn When: November 2,3,4,8,9,10,11,15,16,17,18 (8PM, Sundays at 2PM) Where: Traveling Jewish Theatre, San Francisco 470 Florida Street (between 17th & Mariposa) atjt.com/ Prices: $15 (11/4,8,15 pay what you can for starving artists/limited income supporters) Buy Tickets Online: www.brownpapertickets.com/event/22308 Or Make a Ticket Reservation: 415-621-5717 More information: www.featherlead.com This production is supported in part by grants from the San Francisco Arts Commission, Theatre Bay Area CA$H Grants, Zellerbach Family Foundation, and Meet the Composer.

Fuzzpod Track With Axis of Blackness

Mitra — Wed, 07 Nov 2007 06:07:36 GMT

We recorded our first track! I'd be interested to see what you think. In addition to this we sing indie a capella soul, jazz, crazed cabaret and old timey songs. http://www.utmosis.net/axis/Unforgotten_Spirits_mix3.mp3

Trolls....

Mitra — Thu, 25 Oct 2007 20:30:33 GMT

I just got a message my craigslist post was flagged and removed. WTF?!?!? There was nothing even remotely inappropriate about it.