zianuray

Abu Dhabi Ice Cream Entrepreneur Uses Her National Crop to Make Healthier Soft Serve

Amira Al Dosari is the founder and pioneer behind date-based soft serve ice cream. For this native of Abu Dhabi, the date is an icon of her nation’s economy, history, agriculture, and culture of hospitality.

Though heavy in sugars, dates also contain fiber such that dates have been found to lower circulating blood sugar levels. This is because the fruit’s fibrous matrix slows the release and absorption of sugar contained within.

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‘Wood Foam’ Startup Uses Logging Waste as Substitute for Plastic, Producing 400 Pounds Daily

The University of British Columbia has taken low value timber waste and turned it into “wood foam” to replace plastic in packaging. With one of the largest timber industries in the world, the innovation clears two hurdles in one leap: cutting back on polluting, long-lived plastics, and utilizing a waste product from an already existing industry. Already, a pilot plant in East Vancouver is producing around 400 pounds of the so-called wood foam every day.

Waste not, want not!

Today is partly sunny and hot.

I fed the birds. I've seen a few sparrows and house finches.

I put out water for the birds.

EDIT 8/31/26 -- I did a bit of work around the patio.

EDIT 8/31/26 -- I did more work around the patio.










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These are some posts from the later part of last week in case you missed them:
Technology
History
Birdfeeding
Crafts
Vocabulary: Self-centered vs. Narcissist
Vocabulary: Chronic Drop
Cyberspace Theory
Birdfeeding
Music
Philosophical Questions: Technology
History
Climate Change
Conservation
Birdfeeding
Wildlife
Follow Friday 8-21-26: Active Communities on Dreamwidth Summer 2026 J-Z
Climate Change
Vocabulary: Formous
Community Thursdays
Spirituality
Gardening
Birdfeeding
Cyberspace Theory
Food
Activism
Water
Wildlife
Birdfeeding
History
Hard Things

Poem: "Confidence, Trust, Believing, Strength" has 32 comments. Energy has 29 comments. Food has 28 comments. Affordable Housing has 26 comments.


There will be a Poetry Fishbowl in my blog on Tuesday, September 1 with a theme of "Help That's Actually Helpful."


minutia_r is hosting the Multifandom Poetry Fest 2026. Drop by and join the fun! I put in three prompts. These are the fills I wrote:

"The View from Above"
"Time Is Not Linear"
"Seek Out Strange New Worlds"
"Vulcan's Forge"
"To You from Failing Hands We Throw"
"What Comes with the Turf"
"Avengers, Defenders"


"Save All the Pieces" belongs to The Big One and needs $74 to be complete. Kenneth and Stylet discuss what to do about the mangled hedgerow.


The weather has been warmer. Seen at the birdfeeders this week: a mixed flock of sparrows and house finches, a female cardinal, and a downy woodpecker. I heard bobwhite quail calls but didn't see any. Cicadas and crickets are singing. I saw a shooting star! It was brief but quite a bright blue-white even in the twilight sky. Currently blooming: pansies, violas, sweet alyssum, marigolds, snapdragons, lantana, million bells, blue lobelia, petunias, portulaca, nemesia, fan flowers, firecracker plant, pineapple sage, tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, garlic chives, blackberry lily, Queen Anne's lace, purple echinacea, yellow coneflower, frost aster, cosmos, sunflowers, nasturtiums, zinnias, bachelor's button, cup plant, thistle. Ripe fruit: tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers.

minutia_r is hosting the Multifandom Poetry Fest 2026.  Drop by and join the fun!  I put in three prompts. These are the fills I wrote:

"The View from Above"
"Time Is Not Linear"
"Seek Out Strange New Worlds"
"Vulcan's Forge"
"To You from Failing Hands We Throw"
"What Comes with the Turf"
"Avengers, Defenders"

minutia_r is hosting the Multifandom Poetry Fest 2026. This is my seventh fill, in response to this prompt from lasanya539. It also fills the "Mint" square in my 8-1-26 card for the Red and Green Bingo fest. This poem belongs to the fanseries Love Is For Children.


"Avengers, Defenders"


Tony Stark may not be perfect,
but he's genius enough to build
a suit of armor around the world.

Hulk may not be quiet, but he
can wrap his mint-green arms
around the people he cares about.

Steve Rogers may be a man
out of time, but he's determined
to be in time to save the day.

And so it goes, each of them
a link in an incredible team.

They are Avengers,
they are defenders,
they will do whatever
it takes to keep Earth safe.

* * *

Notes:

The Avengers is a team of superheroes. Tony Stark, Hulk, and Steve Rogers are some of them.

Love Is For Children is my fanseries about the Avengers.

minutia_r is hosting the Multifandom Poetry Fest 2026. This is my fifth fill, in response to this prompt from dragonofeternal. It also fills the "WILD CARD: Poppy" square in my 8-1-26 card for the Red and Green Bingo fest. This poem is fanwork for the canon Stargate Atlantis.

Warning: This poem is about war, death, and mourning.

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minutia_r is hosting the Multifandom Poetry Fest 2026. This is my third fill, in response to this prompt from toothpastepancake. It also fills the "volcanic" square in my 8-1-26 card for the Red and Green Bingo fest. This poem is fanwork for the canon Star Trek.


Seek Out Strange New Worlds


The planets hang like
jewels against black velvet,
shining on the viewscreen.

Some of them are red,
others blue. Some of them
are large, others small.

Some of them are hot,
even volcanic, like Vulcan;
while others are frigid and
windy, like Andoria.

They are wet;
they are dry;
they are cloudy;
they are clear.

They are worth
the five-year voyage
and all the dangers
just to see them.

* * *

Notes:

Star Trek began with what is now called The Original Series, whose opening included the phrase "to seek out strange new worlds." Later on came the series Strange New Worlds. Episodes often include a flyby view of a currently featured planet against space.

minutia_r is hosting the Multifandom Poetry Fest 2026. This is my first fill, in response to this prompt from minutia_r. It also fills the "cardinal" square in my 8-1-26 card for the Red and Green Bingo fest. This poem belongs to the series Fledgling Grace.

Warning: This poem features a devastating mudslide and its aftermath.

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