Butter pound cake recipe
”A very simple and easy to make cake, yet rich in taste”
This is a basic butter pound cake recipe. It is very simple and easy to make, yet the taste is very rich.
Ingredients and cake tin sizes:
Round tin sizes 6 inches 8 inches 10 inches 12 inches
Square tin sizes 5 inches 7 inches 9 inches 11 inches
Butter 120g 240g 480g 960g
Castor sugar 120g 240g 480g 960g
Self raising flour 120g 240g 480g 960g
Salt a pinch a pinch a pinch a pinch
Baking powder 3/8 tsp 3/4 tsp 1 1/2 tsp 3 tsp
Eggs 2 4 8 16
Milk 1 tbsp 2 tbsp 4 tbsp 8 tbsp
Vanilla essence 1/2 tsp 1 tsp 2 tsp 4 tsp
Method:
Preheat oven to 170 degrees Celsius.
Beat butter and sugar till soft and creamy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add salt.
In a separate bowl, sift flour, baking powder and salt 3 times. Fold in the sifted ingredients into the creamed mixture alternately with milk, starting and ending with flour.
Finally add in vanilla essence and combine well. Pour batter into two greased and floured cake tins and bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the centre of the cakes comes out clean.
Remove cakes from oven and let them cool completely before sandwiching and decorating them.
Monday, May 3, 2010
Su Doku
Su Doku is usually played on a 9 by 9 board, divided into 3 by 3 cells. You can generalize this into playing on an M×M square board broken into non-overlapping rectangular cells, each containing M squares (an obvious question is to how define a puzzle where M is a prime number). The solution of the puzzle is to place M symbols on the board such that each row, column or cell contains each symbol exactly once, without moving the initial clues. Puzzles with M<9 are called Sub Dokus, those for M>9 are called Super Dokus.
Su Doku is usually played on a 9 by 9 board, divided into 3 by 3 cells. You can generalize this into playing on an M×M square board broken into non-overlapping rectangular cells, each containing M squares (an obvious question is to how define a puzzle where M is a prime number). The solution of the puzzle is to place M symbols on the board such that each row, column or cell contains each symbol exactly once, without moving the initial clues. Puzzles with M<9 are called Sub Dokus, those for M>9 are called Super Dokus.
Mobile Phone Disadvantage #5 – Driving Safety
Much of the information presented in the previous articles is being debated and not acted upon by the industry or by governments; however the increased risk that mobile phones pose to driving is clear-cut and widely acknowledged.
A simple Google search will show hundreds of studies on the subject of mobile phone use and driving. All the studies I have seen agree that mobile phone use while driving increases the risk of an accident. This increased risk is due to the inability to fully focus on driving while, and shortly after, talking on a mobile phone.
In a study titled ‘Epidemiological evidence on health risks of cellular telephones’, Dr Rothman states:
…the risk of a collision was about four times greater when the driver was using the telephone or soon after a call. Use of the telephone in “hands-free’ mode was no less risky than holding the telephone to the ear with one hand while talking.[1]
A Canadian study performed by the University of Calgary states:
…conversation on cell phones, both hand-held and handsfree, was found to influence driving performance. Epidemiological findings consistently showed an increase in crashes associated with use of cell phones.[2]
One could argue that talking to a passenger poses the same risk as talking on a mobile phone, but this is not the case. A likely explanation is that a passenger takes the traffic situation into account, something impossible for someone on the other side of a mobile phone conversation.
Another study titled ‘Fatal distraction? A comparison of the cell-phone driver and the drunk driver’ compared the performance of mobile-phone drivers to drivers who were legally intoxicated. This study concludes:
…when controlling for driving difficulty and time on task, cell-phone drivers may actually exhibit greater impairments (i.e., more accidents and less responsive driving behavior) than legally intoxicated drivers. These data also call into question driving regulations that prohibit hand-held cell-phones and permit hands-free cell-phones, because no significant differences were found in the impairments to driving caused by these two modes of cellular communication.[3]
In fact, many governments have banned the use of a mobile phone while driving due to its safety risks. An up-to-date list with countries and US states that have banned mobile phone use while driving can be found here.
Another interesting development is the changing legal implications for causing an accident when using a mobile phone. The following is an excerpt from a online New Jersey newspaper:
A motorist using a hand-held cell phone who causes a fatal accident could be charged with vehicular homicide if one state lawmaker gets her way. …Causing the death of another by driving a motor vehicle “recklessly” is the legal standard for filing a vehicular homicide charge in New Jersey. It is punishable by five to 10 years in prison and/or a $150,000 fine, according to Karrow’s bill.[4]
If the increased risk of an accident is not enough of an incentive to stop you from using a mobile phone when driving, or if your employer does not leave you a choice, then consider this: International Paper Co. is a company that agreed to pay $5.2 million to settle a personal injury suit related, at least in part, to one of its employees’ use of a cell phone while driving.[5]
In conclusion, the increased risk that mobile phones pose to driving is clear-cut and widely acknowledged.
You owe it to yourself, your family, your passengers and your fellow road users to be a safe driver. Being a safe driver means not using a mobile phone while driving.
Much of the information presented in the previous articles is being debated and not acted upon by the industry or by governments; however the increased risk that mobile phones pose to driving is clear-cut and widely acknowledged.
A simple Google search will show hundreds of studies on the subject of mobile phone use and driving. All the studies I have seen agree that mobile phone use while driving increases the risk of an accident. This increased risk is due to the inability to fully focus on driving while, and shortly after, talking on a mobile phone.
In a study titled ‘Epidemiological evidence on health risks of cellular telephones’, Dr Rothman states:
…the risk of a collision was about four times greater when the driver was using the telephone or soon after a call. Use of the telephone in “hands-free’ mode was no less risky than holding the telephone to the ear with one hand while talking.[1]
A Canadian study performed by the University of Calgary states:
…conversation on cell phones, both hand-held and handsfree, was found to influence driving performance. Epidemiological findings consistently showed an increase in crashes associated with use of cell phones.[2]
One could argue that talking to a passenger poses the same risk as talking on a mobile phone, but this is not the case. A likely explanation is that a passenger takes the traffic situation into account, something impossible for someone on the other side of a mobile phone conversation.
Another study titled ‘Fatal distraction? A comparison of the cell-phone driver and the drunk driver’ compared the performance of mobile-phone drivers to drivers who were legally intoxicated. This study concludes:
…when controlling for driving difficulty and time on task, cell-phone drivers may actually exhibit greater impairments (i.e., more accidents and less responsive driving behavior) than legally intoxicated drivers. These data also call into question driving regulations that prohibit hand-held cell-phones and permit hands-free cell-phones, because no significant differences were found in the impairments to driving caused by these two modes of cellular communication.[3]
In fact, many governments have banned the use of a mobile phone while driving due to its safety risks. An up-to-date list with countries and US states that have banned mobile phone use while driving can be found here.
Another interesting development is the changing legal implications for causing an accident when using a mobile phone. The following is an excerpt from a online New Jersey newspaper:
A motorist using a hand-held cell phone who causes a fatal accident could be charged with vehicular homicide if one state lawmaker gets her way. …Causing the death of another by driving a motor vehicle “recklessly” is the legal standard for filing a vehicular homicide charge in New Jersey. It is punishable by five to 10 years in prison and/or a $150,000 fine, according to Karrow’s bill.[4]
If the increased risk of an accident is not enough of an incentive to stop you from using a mobile phone when driving, or if your employer does not leave you a choice, then consider this: International Paper Co. is a company that agreed to pay $5.2 million to settle a personal injury suit related, at least in part, to one of its employees’ use of a cell phone while driving.[5]
In conclusion, the increased risk that mobile phones pose to driving is clear-cut and widely acknowledged.
You owe it to yourself, your family, your passengers and your fellow road users to be a safe driver. Being a safe driver means not using a mobile phone while driving.
Handphone has become indispensable gadget, an absolute necessity for both adults and children. Like every other invention of man, whether or not to allo the use of handphones in Malaysian schools is not an easy yes-or- no issue. This is the dilemma of the authorities.
If properly used, the handphone can bring more benefits than harm especially to children. When television first made its debut in the 1960s, everybody imagined that it would have a negative effect on children. Parents fret over their children's addiction to the 'idiot box' and the neglect of their studies. Their fears were unfounded as they soon found that if strictly contolled, the television was as harmless as the radio or the gramophone.
In more recent times, the same anxiety greeted the advent of computers, especially the Internet. Today, the Internet has becomean essential tool and we cannot imagine a life without computers. Like the computers, the handphone has many advantages, while an abuse of it can have disastrous results. Handphones are useful tools of communication. Parents and children can keep in touch with each other and any last mintue change of plans can be conveyed easily without any trouble to either party. Some children however, cite this as a loss of privacy as parents will have a 24-hour access to their children
Parents say the handphone is more than a convenience-it is an essential item that can function as a tracker divece. With it they can monitor their children and check on their whereabouts via satelite. Thus, from whereevr they are, paretns can ensure the safety of thier children and avoid incidents like kidnapping and such crimes.
Education Ministry officials, school authorities and many parents believe that allowing handphones in schools would only widen the disparity between the haves and the have-nots among students. Handphones come in a variety of shapes, colours and function:from generic ones to highly sophisticated ones that double up as camers, video cameras and palm tops. Not every child in school comes from middle or upper class families that can afford to buy each child a handphone. The self esteem of children who do not own a handphone or who possess a basic one wii be affected. Low esteem among students would cause a rift among children. Cliques, jealousy and rivalry would result. This unhealthy situation should not be nurtured in a school. Instea, the school environment should promote equal opprotunities and equal treatment.
Another reason for the strong outcry against allowing studentsto bring handphones to school is the distraction it poses. SMSes, games and ringing tones are some of the distractors that take the students' attention away from the lesson. Children being children will not be able to resist the temptation of answering calls and sending messages when they should be listening to the teacher or classes, the games available on the phone is something the students would resort to after classes to overcome boredom.
Apart from diverting student's attention, the handphones can threathen the validity of school examinations. Students may cheat durin examinations via text messages. Information or answers can be passed from one student to the next while examiners may be totally oblivious of the cheating that happen.
Finally, even adults find it hard to exercise social etiquette and discretion in the use of handphones, therefore children cannot be expected to do any better. Despite explicit messages in movies threatres, at meetings and at formal meetings, we still hear phones ringing away. School administrators and discipline teachers would find it difficult to to effectively prohibit students from using their phones during lessons.
If Ministry of Education lifts the ban on handphones, schools may come up with new rules or guidelines to control the use of the handphone. Inevitably, teacher will be burdened with the task of monitoring the use and misuse of the handphone. All this is additional stress for teachers who are already loaded with heavy responsibilities. The Malaysian school system has thrived so far even with handphones being banned from schools. Why sudden change of heart?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)