Anaphrodisiac foods

Filed under: Grains

That wasn’t a typo in the title. Anaphrodisiac is the opposite of aphrodisiac. It’s something that quells the raging libido.

Both graham crackers and corn flakes were developed as a way to keep people from having sex.

Sylvester Graham, the inventor of graham flour and the purported inventor of graham crackers, believed that if food sat in the stomach for too long, it overstimulated the organs and caused sexual arousal. He also felt that rich, fatty foods would only increase sexual urges. According to Graham, more healthy graham crackers meant less sex.

John Harvey Kellogg, one of the Kellogg brothers who invented corn flakes, subscribed to Graham’s principles. Cornflakes originally had no sugar and were served to the patients in his psych ward. Kellogg believed that bland cornflakes equaled a bland bedroom.

Read more about the history of graham crackers and cornflakes on Wikipedia.

What foods do you think of as anaphrodisiacs? I’ll start the list with beans - for obvious reasons.

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The W.E. Phone — OpenMoko-based Android device?

Filed under: Cellphones

We’re not too sure what to make of Koolu’s Works Everywhere (W.E.) phone, but if the company actually manages to deliver on its spec sheet, we’ll be duly impressed. It looks like the W.E. will run Android on top of a newer rev of OpenMoko’s Neo1973 / FreeRunner hardware, with a VGA screen, 400Mhz processor, tri-band cell radio, WiFi, 256MB of flash, GPS, and MicroSD expansion, but we’re not buying it when the company promises compatibility with 700MHz networks in the future — Verizon hasn’t really said what system it’s going to deploy on its new spectrum. What’s more, the website says the W.E. Phone will only be made available to Google Apps customers through wireless ISPs in the summer of 2008 — totally fishy. Considering the day, we called and confirmed that it’s real, but we’ll wait for some more details before we give in to that sweet Debian tartan weave.

[Thanks, Stephen]

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Google finally ends the hypocrisy and stops text link adverts on Adwords

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Angels guarding large investment sums in new startups

Filed under: Private equity

While I spend most of my time looking for the next Google, Inc. (Nasdaq: GOOG) amongst public companies, I have friends who pursue similar goals but at different stages of company growth. They’re venture capitalists. They get to bet OPM (Other Peoples’ Money) on finding the next Sergei and Larry in a garage.

Don Dodge had an interesting article today on the state of the market for seed-stage investors, called Angels. In Angels Investors put $26 billion in 57,000 companies, Don examines what 2007 had in store for startup investors. One thing that surprised me was that angels are “the largest source of seed stage and early stage start-up capital, with 39% of 2007 angel investments going there.” With a lot of money looking for a home for professional Venture Capitalists, I would have thought that smaller, angel-type investors wouldn’t be the largest source of funding for startups.

Some other interesting, salient points Dodge drives home:

Continue reading Angels guarding large investment sums in new startups

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The Philadelphia Inquirer in 60 seconds: Kimchi and beer

Filed under: Newspapers, Local Eating

This week, the Inquirer is all about Korean food, especially in Philly’s burgeoning “Koreatown” (their moniker, not mine). And in the wake of the 10-day revelry that was Beer Week, it’s probably best that we load up on some home cooking to soak up all that alcohol.

• Foods like kimchi, shabu shabu and bibimbap are holding gaining in popularity as the Korean food craze continues
• Echoing the above article, Craig LeBan shares his favorite Korean dishes, especially the marinated beef ribs
• Shira Kamm joins the growing number of Pennsylvania’s women farmers
• It’s official: Philly residents are alkies
• Inquirer Columnist officially runs out of things to write about; goes on weird rant/rave about eggs
• Newbie restaurant Osteria was nominated for a James Beard Best New Restaurant Award

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Why Google can get it wrong and still win the search engine war

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Newspaper wrap-up: Lehman sees possible abusive trading in its shares

Filed under: Newspapers, Magazines, Google (GOOG), Lehman Br Holdings (LEH), Bear Stearns Cos (BSC)

MAJOR PAPERS:

• According to the Wall Street Journal, troubled Ohio bank National City Corporation (NYSE: NCC) is considering a plan to sell itself to rival KeyCorp (NYSE: KEY), people familiar with the matter said.
• The Financial Times reported that Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc (NYSE: LEH) yesterday said it had sent information to the SEC about possible abusive short-selling in its shares in recent days. Lehman CFO Erin Callan said the SEC was examining whether hedge funds collaborated to drive down the bank’s share price in the days following the near collapse of The Bear Stearns Companies (NYSE: BSC).
• Colombia’s heavy oil area could hold 20B barrels of recoverable resources, the Financial Times reported, giving the country greater reserves than leading producers such as Mexico and Algeria, according to Colombia’s government.

WEB SITES:

• The Silicon Alley Insider reported that Douglas Merrill, Google Inc’s (NASDAQ: GOOG) CIO, is leaving the company to become the president of music company EMI.

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Xbox 360 with Blu-ray to spark price war with Sony PS3?

Filed under: Gaming, HDTV

DigiTimes is feeling pretty confident about the rumors they started yesterday regarding the Xbox 360 with integrated Blu-ray. They are so confident that they’re predicting a price war as Microsoft takes on Sony’s PS3 at its own game. Their sources claim that the Blu-ray Disc drive will cost Microsoft between $95 and $100 — much higher than the $18 to $20 DVD drives already found in the Xbox 360. Microsoft is of course, expected to sell its new Blu-ray rig at a loss as is customary in the console market. Sony may then be forced to lower the cost of the PS3 and/or retaliate by increasing Lite-On’s cost for the Blu-ray components (like the BD-ROM pick-up heads) purchased from Sony. Whatever the result, the competition would be nothing but good news for consumers of HD media… you know, if the rumor is true.

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Nokia’s N810 Internet Tablet WiMAX Edition gets official

Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds, Tablet PCs, Wireless

Right on cue, Nokia’s WiMAX-enabled N810 Internet Tablet has surfaced at CTIA 2008, and yep, this critter is destined to go on sale here in the US of A this summer. Beyond that, you’ll notice the familiar 4.13-inch touchscreen, slide-out QWERTY keyboard and even a built-in webcam for video calls, Mozilla-powered browser, integrated GPS / media player, 2GB of internal memory and a microSD expansion slot. Heck, Nokia even touts this thing’s ability to “access the Internet over WiFi or via conventional cellular data networks by pairing to a compatible mobile phone via Bluetooth technology.” Also announced today is the freshly updated OS2008, which includes an enhanced e-mail client, support for Chinese character rendering in the browser and RSS feeds and “Seamless Software Update functionality” to boot. Needless to say, said OS will come standard on the currently unpriced Nokia N810 WiMAX Edition — which is scheduled to land wherever WiMAX connectivity is available — but existing N810 / N800 owners will also get the OS upgrade free of charge in Q2.

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