August 19, 2015

AP Videos - free! online!

The Associated Press has just uploaded "one million minutes of historical footage" to YouTube! It's an impressive collection.  Check it out on YouTube, or read their July 2015 press release AP makes one million minutes of historical footage available on YouTube; they say there will be over 550,000 videos from 1895 to present.

If you're a librarian or a search geek, however, you might want to head on over to the AP Archive page at http://www.aparchive.com/ which offers more search and browsing options. The search box is decent, permitting quotes and Boolean operators. The Advanced search pulldown, right next to the search box lets you search by date or decade, and also lets you specific color, aspect ratio, and original source.

The "Compilations" section offers pre-selected content on several subjects, such as
I discovered a challenge with dates on YouTube, which is troubling, because those are so important in searching for past events.

On YouTube, the dates range from unclear to actually wrong. I've seen some videos that say "published on July XX, 2015" which could be true. But I've seen videos about the death of Princess Diana (for example), that also say "published on July XX, 2015."  This could be true, if they are saying that the video was published to YouTube on that date. But it's impossible to find the video's original date - aired or shot - on YouTube.

The archive site is much better on date display. A story about the Ferguson police chief has a "Date: 08/10/2014 05:18 PM" field. Presumably, that's the date that the video was aired, which was also presumably close to the date that it was shot.

It's much easier to share / reuse AP videos on YouTube, since they use the usual share and embed options. Here's a video of Panda Awareness Week in 20102 (tho' I don't know when in 2012):


I found a neat video of the Macy's Day Parade on Nov. 24, 1966, but I cannot easily share it. I emailed it to myself and have the link: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/view/13e43ef12e802047edf49dc863668a46?subClipIn=00:00:00&subClipOut=00:01:31 but it would be nice to be able to embed that too.

Still, for free, this is pretty awesome.

August 08, 2015

Fresh Cooked Edamame

As I was perusing the gorgeous displays at the Durham Farmer's Market today, I lingered at Piedmont Biofarm ... and discovered some fresh edamame. I've made it before, but this time I decided to research recipes to see if I could recreate the yummy experience of the edamame at Dashi.

This wasn't Dashi's, but it was QUITE DELICIOUS!

I couldn't find one, so I made up one, which I'll gladly reproduce and source here.

Stephanie’s Fresh Edamame
  • Sprinkle edamame generously with salt, rub vigorously, and let stand 15 minutes.
  • Bring a large pot of well-salted water to a boil, add the beans and boil over high heat for 5 to 6 minutes.
  • Don't cover the pot or the beans will lose their bright green color.
Drain cooked edamame in a colander and pat dry.

In same pot … heat:
  • Teaspoon of sesame seeds for 30 seconds, then add: 
  • 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil (EVOO) or sesame oil
  • 2 cubes frozen garlic (or 2 teaspoons if you use fresh; I used Trader Joe's frozen for this quick meal)
  • 1 teaspoon red pepper paste (or equal measure of your favorite red pepper flakes
  • 2 T soy sauce
  • Smidge of fresh ginger
Cook for ~3 minutes

Add edamame to the sauce and toss; heat until edamame is warm



First part (i.e., tossing the edamame with salt & letting it sit for 15 minutes)
c.1997, M.S. Milliken & S. Feniger, all rights reserved, at http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/edamame-cooked-fresh-soybeans-recipe.html
Read more at:

Second Part adapted from:
Chili Garlic Edamame Recipe | Cooking with Coley http://cookingwithcoley.com/chili-garlic-edamame-recipe/