Onion-mushroom-feta Flatbread

Do you ever have those days where you open up your fridge and have no idea what to do with your leftovers?  Have a dangling onion and a few mushrooms leftover from pasta night the other day?  Not including salt and pepper, I’ll have your leftover ingredients turned into a simple, elegant, delicious dish!  Try this easy method of getting rid of leftovers.  It’s quick, easy, super delicious, and a great crowd pleaser (even for vegetarian friends!)

Make Your Own Flatbread

Makes 1 flatbread pizza
Prep time: 10 minutes
Cook time: 10 minutes

*Check out my helpful tips along the way!  They will be starred (*).

Ingredients:

• Pizza dough

*Available at most grocery stores.  Check out Trader Joe’s or Whole Foods for awesome fresh balls of pizza dough!

• ½ cup of mushrooms, sliced (about 6-7 mushrooms)

*I recommend crimini mushrooms (baby portabellos) but any mushroom will do!

• ½ cup of onions, diced (1 medium onion)
• ⅓ – ½ cup of Feta cheese, crumbled

*You can substitute with goat cheese or any shredded cheese you like!

• Olive oil
• Salt and pepper, to taste

Directions:

1.     Roll out the pizza dough until it is about 1/8 of an inch thick.  Continue to throw flour underneath and overtop of the dough to keep it from sticking.

*If you like thicker crusts, by all means, leave it a little thicker.  Flour your rolling pin before working the dough.  Make sure to always roll from the center of the dough outward.

2.     With a fork, prick the center of the dough to keep the center from rising and to have a nice puffy crust.

3.     Drizzle the dough with olive oil and pop it into the oven and 375˚ for 3-5 minutes.

4.     While the dough is baking, coat the bottom of a non-stick skillet with olive oil over medium heat.  Add the mushrooms and onions and sauté them until they’re a nice golden brown.

*Add the pepper after dropping the onions and mushrooms into the pan, but hold off on the salt.  Wait until the onions have gotten little translucent and the mushrooms have a bit of a golden-brown to them, then add the salt!

5.   Pull out the crust and arrange the onions, mushrooms, and cheese on the pizza.  Drizzle the crust with a little more olive oil.

6.   Put the flatbread pizza back into the oven at 375˚ for another 3-5 minutes to melt the cheese.  Enjoy!

What will your favorite flatbread combinations be?  Post them here!

UMBC will be the Baltimore host site for the 2011 Global Game Jam, an international computer game making festival taking place this coming weekend, January 28th-30th. This is a 48 hour event, where teams from around the globe work to each develop a complete game over one weekend. The first year had 54 sites in 23 countries. Last year, there were 124 sites in 34 countries. The Baltimore site is open to participants at all skill levels, and it is not necessary to be a UMBC student to register. Thanks to generous support by Next Century there is no registration fee for the UMBC site. Participation will be limited to the first 40 registrants.

The jam will start at 5:00pm on Friday 28 January in the UMBC GAIM Lab, ECS room 005a. At that time, the theme for this year's games will be announced, and we'll brainstorm game ideas and form into teams. There is no need to come as a team: each individual has an equal chance to pitch their game ideas, and you can join the team whose game you like best. Teams will have until 3:00pm on Sunday 30 January to develop their games. We'll have demos of each game and selection of local awards, wrapping up by 5:00pm Sunday.

Well folks, not much to see here… Just this video of two elderly people singing an ode to Sarah Palin to the tune of the grand, history-laden “Battle Hymn of the Republic.”

Thanks to Wikipedia

We were surfing through one of our favorite blogs Talking Points Memo, and found a blurb about the odd, bewildering leader of Libya.

But the article wasn’t about this one time enemy of the USA…

This was about the odd, bewildering spelling of his name.

“Translators have been struggling for years with how to spell the name of  Muammar al-Gaddafi for English speakers.

It’s the “Gaddafi” bit that catches folks.  At least five spellings are in common use: Kadaffi, Quadafi, Gaddaffi, Kaddifi, Qaddafi.

Stopping by Gaddafi’s personal website we find another: al Gathafi.”

Luckily we happen to have an Arabic speaker on staff here at USDemocrazy (doesn’t everyone?).

He explains:

The Arabic spelling of Gaddafi’s name is القذافي;. We’ll break the spelling down as best we can. Arabic is written and read from left to right. The first two vertical lines (ال) are the Al signifying the possessive, and usually precede a name. The third letter (ق) is Q. The reason the poster noted many older spellings began with a q is because that is actually how it is spelled, don’t ask us why they use a G. The fourth letter (ذ) is pronounced th like in (that) but is sometimes transliterated to dd. The fifth letter (ا) is the long A. The sixth letter (ف) if is their F, and the final letter (ي) is their long I, usually transliterated to ii or ee. Transliteration is a tricky deal and is by no means uniform. The best way we can figure his name should be written is Qathaafii.

And there is our Arabic tutorial for the day.

With Jennifer Lepus, Director, University Health Services

It’s February, and many of us have love on the brain. Storefronts are bathed in pink and red, and boxes of chocolates line the store shelves. You’ve made reservations at that French restaurant downtown, prettied yourself up for the big night… but wait! You’ve forgotten something: there’d be no love – or life – without the palpitating pump that makes it all possible.

In honor of Valentine’s Day and National Heart Health Month, Jennifer Lepus, director of UMBC’s University Health Services, is here to share a few tips for keeping your heart happy, healthy and strong. Like any solid long-term relationship, all you really need is a little give and take, and a lot of love.

The happily ever afters will follow.

— Jenny O’Grady

Step 1:
Everybody’s Got a Hungry Heart

Let’s pretend you’re taking your heart out to that swanky French place. You want to impress your date, right? So what do you order? The steak? The lobster? That luscious molten chocolate lava cake?

Answer: Listen to your brain and indulge your taste buds.

“The truth is, you don’t have to eat healthy every day,” says Lepus, “but you should try to follow a healthy diet at least five days a week.” She suggests staying away from processed foods and trying to balance your diet so it’s high in vitamins and fiber, but low in cholesterol and fat. “Just because you’re trying to be healthy doesn’t mean you can’t still indulge once in a while. You’ll be more successful if you don’t feel deprived.”

Lepus also warns against fad diets; regimens promising quick results can wreak havoc on your heart.

Step 2:
Groove is in the Heart

After dinner, you’ll probably want to take your heart out dancing. (Little known fact: hearts love disco.) Dancing is a great way of making exercise fun, and an even better way of keeping your heart pumping happily.

“It’s easy to sneak exercise into your routine,” says Lepus. “There are lots of ways to do it. Be the one to park a little farther away. Take the dog for a nice long walk… the dog will love it! You can break it up throughout the day.”

And if you decide to go dancing: do it in a smoke-free establishment. Smoking cigarettes – and even inhaling second-hand smoke – can seriously damage your cardiovascular health.

Step 3:
It’s a Family Affair

After you’ve been together for a while, you’ll probably want to know more about your heart, get out the embarrassing family scrapbooks, that sort of thing. Knowing your family health history is another important step in keeping your heart healthy over time.

“I’m always surprised when students come in (to the UHS office) and don’t know their family history,” says Lepus. “These are conversations people should be having. If high cholesterol runs in your family, you need to know it. Even dental history… it’s all connected.”

Lepus also recommends getting a full physical every other year.

Step 4:
Stop Draggin’ Your Heart Around

Nothing kills a relationship like stress. That’s why you should treat yourself – and your heart – to a little R&R every now and then. (Little known fact: hearts dig yoga.)

“Don’t forget to give yourself some down time for stress relief,” says Lepus, who suggests reading a book, getting that well-earned massage or just taking some time to stretch every morning. She also explained that a healthy relationship with your heart can also depend on your friends, family and co-workers.

“Engaging in healthy relationships is key,” she says. “If you’re not happy, then it’s time to re-evaluate. Otherwise you just can’t decompress… and that’s not good for your heart.”

We <3 the Web

Need a list of heart-healthy foods? Want to lower your stress? Consult these websites for answers.

• National Heart Month: Get the lowdown on specific ways of reducing your risk of heart disease at www.cdc.gov/Features/HeartMonth/.
• MyPyramid.Gov: Learn more about how to make healthy food choices, and access a free online diet tracking tool, at www.mypyramid.gov/.
• Wellness in the Workplace: Take a break from the stress of your workday with guided meditations and tips on reducing office stress at www.umbc.edu/wellness/.
• UMBC University Health Services: Click on the Wellness Works tab to find a list of resources covering everything from smoking cessation to weight management at www.umbc.edu/uhs/.

INVESTIGATING ICE

Doing science in the polar regions is not for the timid – even at 39,000 feet. But Michael Studinger, an associate research scientist in UMBC’s Goddard Earth Sciences and Technology Center (GEST) and in NASA’S Operation IceBridge, have been flying over Antarctica’s polar ice and glaciers on missions to measure the thickness of the sea ice surrounding the continent.

Operation IceBridge is in the second year of a six-year mission, working out of Punta Arenas, Chile, at the southernmost tip of South America. Among the project’s goals is to get closer measurements of changes in the ice sheets and glaciers that cover almost the entire continent than can be obtained by satellite imagery.

Looking more closely at ice – and making more exact measurements – will allow scientists to better assess the continuing impact of climate change.

“We had many projects going but we were trying to understand the processes and ways ice sheets and environment respond to things like warming ocean temperatures and wind patterns,” says Studinger.

While NASA has satellites overhead collecting data, the agency also wanted measurements from the plane it could compare with what the satellites reported. So NASA converted a DC-8 airliner into a research aircraft for 20-30 crew members and scientists, including those from NASA, the University of Kansas, and Columbia University. Studinger says the plane was “amazingly well-suited for what we do.” And the demands made on Operation IceBridge’s scientists and aircraft were not insignificant. The expeditions to the Antarctic sometimes took 12 hours from Punta Arenas to the southern ice and back, and the flights are often stymied by mechanical problems and atrocious weather.

Despite these challenges, Studinger says that the scientists flew 85 percent of their allotted flight time (115 hours in the air) and travelled 40,098 nautical miles to obtain most of the measurements they sought.

Studinger joined UMBC in March 2010. He earned a masters degree in geophysics from the University of Munich and a Ph.D. from the University of Bremen while working at the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research at Bremerhaven. He worked at the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University before coming to Baltimore.

Studinger also blogged for NASA’s website about Operation IceBridge, where he posted photos and maps of the mission’s progress.

“When the pilots ask you if it would be a problem if the belly of the aircraft is facing the sun, you know you are in the world of research flying,” Studinger blogged in one entry.

Much of the mapping that Studinger and his colleagues accomplished was done with NASA’s Land, Vegetation and Ice Sensor (LVIS), which aims a laser pulse at the surface which reflects back to the plane. The instrument makes a simple calculation: the time it takes for the pulse to return to the plane is divided by two (half the round trip) and then by the speed of light. GPS receivers mark exactly where the plane (and the instrument) was when the pulse was fired and a gyro tells how it was aimed. That information allows scientists to determine the surface elevation of the ice.

Getting precise measurements, sometimes within centimeters, was complicated – and cold. But Studinger hopes to have his analysis of the new data completed in the next six months.

— Joel N. Shurkin

Image: Sea ice is seen out the window of NASA’s DC-8 research aircraft as it flies 2,000 feet above the Bellingshausen Sea in West Antarctica on Wednesday, Oct., 21, 2009. This was the fourth science flight of NASA’s Operation IceBridge airborne Earth science mission to study Antarctic ice sheets, sea ice, and ice shelves. Photo: NASA/Jane Peterson

BRINGING THE PEACE CORPS HOME

When Americans wonder what good the Peace Corps and its far-flung volunteers do for them, they can often look and see benefits in their own communities, thanks to UMBC and the Shriver Center.

The UMBC Shriver Peaceworker Program is a gateway that helps the young volunteer-scholars returning home from service abroad hone the cross-cultural communication skills they’ve acquired and apply them to local challenges. A November panel held on campus – “Practical Idealists: Bringing the World to Baltimore” – offered program participants and other local leaders an opportunity to assess the difficulties underserved Baltimoreans face and highlight strategies to mobilize and deploy local resources to help address them.

“Baltimore is a hard city to love,” reflected Ed Orser, professor emeritus in American Studies at UMBC and a former Peace Corps member. “But at the same time, it’s a city that’s in so much need of love and so much need of understanding.”

The two year service-learning program is open to Returned Peace Corps Volunteers (RPCVs) and integrates graduate study, community service, and ethical reflection into a cohesive program that benefits both volunteer and community. Over 125 RPCVs have received graduate degrees through the program as they continue to develop their already demonstrated skills and commitment to public service closer to home.

“It’s very hard just on your own to go show up on some city street and say, ‘Hey, I’m here to help,’” noted Sally Scott, Senior Program Officer for the Association of Baltimore Area Grantmakers.

The panelists urged local leaders to focus on community assets rather than deficits, and stressed the ability of volunteers to have a genuine impact.

“You could throw a rock in West Baltimore and hit two artists,” observed Ashley Milburn, director of The Culture Works Project. “Artists who were selling drugs, who were beating up people, who were sitting on a curb, who were trying to raise a kid. But they were art-makers. So, what do you do with them?” Milburn’s group uses arts and culture as organizing tools to help build more resilient West Baltimore communities.

Scott reiterated the power motivated individuals such as Milburn can have, particularly when they work though locally based non-profits: “I’ve really found that over time it’s these groups that come together through a sense of passion, a sense of mission, that – as individuals come and go, and funders come and go – can sustain a sense of forward motion for these parts of Baltimore, which in many cases would otherwise be forgotten and left behind.”

The Shriver Center also presented its third annual Practical Idealist Award to alumnus Richard Kimball ’10, Ph.D., health policy. Kimball served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Moldova and assisted Baltimore Homeless Services in redesigning the Baltimore Homeless Census in his time as a Peaceworker.

“Everyone has struggles and issues,” Kimball said. “We fall on despair and wonder…what the next steps are. But I hope that people will remember that service in whatever shape or form can make a difference.”

— Dinah Winnick

RAISING A RUCKUS

What does composer Linda Dusman, a professor and the former chair of UMBC’s Department of Music look for when she goes to a contemporary music concert?

“People who enjoy going to contemporary music concerts go for the surprises,” says Dusman. “And to be surprised at a concert can be a really rejuvenating experience.” Contemporary classical music — or “new music”— often struggles with a perception that it’s a challenge for audiences. But in a concert setting, its enthusiasts can thrill to the surprises that it offers them: complex and shifting rhythms, harmonies and timbres from traditional instruments mingling with live or recorded electronic sounds.

Music faculty at UMBC embrace new music’s surprises as well. Not only has the campus become known nationally as a center for composers and performers, but UMBC faculty have even formed their own chamber ensemble to play new music, which they’ve dubbed Ruckus.

“The word ‘ruckus,’” says UMBC Department of Music chair E. Michael Richards, the group’s clarinetist, “signifies a burst of diverse, and sometimes conflicting, activity. It seems to conveniently represent the pluralism and diversity of music today.”

Adds Ruckus’s flutist, Lisa Cella, an assistant professor in the department: “We felt the name of our group should really represent the kinds of personalities we have, and the way we interact.”

Ruckus has played at Stanford University, the University of Virginia, the Smithsonian Institution, the Baltimore Museum of Art and other venues. In October 2010, the ensemble performed on campus at a keystone event in the Department of Music’s Livewire Festival.

Livewire was a four day extravaganza of new music performances, events and lectures that brought together new music aficionados from around the country. Richards and Cella were joined in the Ruckus performances by department colleagues including violinist Airi Yoshioka (associate professor), violist Maria Lambros (adjunct associate professor), cellist Gita Ladd (affiliate artist), percussionist Tom Goldstein (associate professor), Stephen Caracciolo (assistant professor), and guest pianist Audrey Andrus.

At Livewire, Ruckus performed compositions by Sofia Kamayianni, Anneliese Weibel and Leondardo Polato, and also played work by two local composers, Douglas Boyce, an assistant professor at George Washington University, and William Kleinsasser, a professor at Towson University.

“Bill Kleinsasser wrote the piece knowing us as players,” says Richards. “In his piece, ‘Adagio Amore,’ a computer interacts in real time with the performers. Music is really a collaborative process, and we all prepare individually, so it’s very gratifying when the rehearsals take place as we begin to hear the piece.”

For many composers, the chance to know and work with the performers – as Ruckus often does – is a luxury. “Communicating through notation is always a challenge for composers,” Dusman says. “And then for performers to interpret what’s written is a challenge as well.”

It’s easy to forget that every classic work was once a new composition, and for Ruckus, the music they play can be very new indeed. “We attempt to be on the cutting edge of realizing music that’s been written recently,” says Richards, “even as recently as a month ago.”

— Tom Moore

SLIPPING THE NET

On December 21, 2011, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) waded into the most controversial telecom battle of our time: net neutrality. Net neutrality seeks to ensure that Internet service providers (or, “ISPs”) – be they dial-up, broadband, or wireless – maintain the web as the free and flowing river of communication that revolutionized contemporary society.

Just how to do that is the subject of vituperative debate. Strict net neutrality advocates demand that all web traffic be treated equally. They say ISPs should be prevented from blocking or slowing certain data, or offering improved tiers of service based on ability to pay.

On the other hand, ISPs worry about managing their systems and making a profit in a strictly net-neutral world. Should customers who simply check email and surf the net pay the same rates as those who soak up bandwidth by downloading large files and streaming video? Why shouldn’t companies who offer web services – such as Netflix – pay a toll to provide services, just as consumers do to obtain them?

In a 3-2 vote in December, the FCC adopted new rules for net neutrality that tried to bridge these deep divisions – and pleased almost no one. The net neutrality outlook seems murkier than ever, especially since the FCC’s authority to make such rules has also been called into question.

Tim Brennan, a professor of public policy and economics, watched the debate with growing dismay before formulating his own ideas on net neutrality. “Both sides of the debate just seemed to be talking past each other,” he observes.

His proposal to keep the Internet free and flowing turns the net neutrality question on its head. Instead of issuing rules on what ISPs can’t do, Brennan suggests compelling ISPs to do something positive: a guarantee of a minimum quality standard for every Internet user.

Brennan’s idea reaches back to the notions of “universal service” that also drove the government to subsidize the broad expansion of telephone service in the previous century.

He observes that the federal policy intervention in that case was “justified, in part, on the idea that my phone is more valuable to me the more other people have phones…. In the Internet context, what struck me is that if you have a website, and you put a link on your website to my website, the value to you in being able to put that link on there, and thus, by extension, the value of having a website in the first place, depends on your confidence that if someone clicks on your link to my website, that they will get there.”

Instilling such confidence through a minimum quality standard, he says, will allow individuals and innovators to arrive – and potentially thrive – on the web (a key goal of net neutrality), while allowing the market for Internet service to grow and innovate without regulations.

“It’s not a compromise solution,” says Brennan. “But there are elements of compromise to it.”

Brennan’s paper on the topic has already netted him an invitation to a conference in Germany to talk about his ideas. He hopes to spread his minimum quality solution more broadly in the coming year.

— Richard Byrne ’86
Image courtesy of BASETREE