| COLUMN: University dining offers plethora of options
Are you stuck and depressed with your friends as you try to consider for what seems the hundredth time where you can get some good food and still use the meal plan, since, after all, your parents pay for that? Well, I don't think I have any hard and fast answers, but hopefully this article will make you a more informed campus eater, and knowing is half the battle. I also realize it is virtually the end of the year, so unfortunately, especially for seniors, this information may not serve a lot of immediate benefit; yet, I hope for some people my analysis will open their eyes to other dimensions of culinary enjoyment. Let us first start off in Rand, the center of all things food. Here we have Blue Corn Cocina. This offers a variety of Mexican style foods, including taco salads, quesadillas and burritos.
Using CFL light bulbs can cut electricity use by 75%
Dear Jim: I listened to Al Gore on television and he mentioned new CFL light bulbs for homes. Can I use these in existing lamps and how much electricity will they save? Is the light quality acceptable? Gayle H. Dear Gayle: Compact fluorescent lights have been available for many years. During the past several years, their prices have dropped considerably and their light quality is much better. Today, they are much more commonly used in existing lamps and in new designer lamps. Switching from a standard incandescent bulb to a CFL reduces electricity consumption by about 75 percent. Replacing a 100-watt light bulb with a 24-watt CFL can save more than $50 in electricity over the life of the CFL. The most efficient bulbs use LED (light-emitting diode) technology that saves about 90 percent.
Brighten your décor with lamps and shades
Improving lighting in a home can be as involved as bringing in a lighting designer or as simple as heading to a hardware store for a dimmer. For those looking for minimal change, yet wanting a fresh look, changing a lampshade is one way to add another design element to a room. Floor and table lamps create a cozy mood that can be enhanced by simply plugging the lamp into affordable dimmers that plug into the wall, available at most hardware stores. "The room will feel a little warmer, cozy because you want to go sit next to that lamp and curl up," said Jeff Boone, a lighting consultant and manager at Lamps Plus in Bellevue. "If it's brightly lit, it will feel like activity." And interesting lampshades are widely available at discount and high-end stores.
Milan's surreal, supersized creations
MILAN: The Italian designer gazed in bewilderment at the gigantic cake plate blown up to the size of a large table, clad in glistening white gold mosaic and mounted on a neo-Classical plinth. "Why has everything become so big?" he asked. Good question. There were lots of big things at the Milan Furniture Fair last week. At a time when the global furniture market is booming, the fair itself was very big indeed, with more exhibitors and more visitors doing more business than ever. There were big traffic jams, as cabs choked the streets. There were big parties: from Miuccia Prada's bash to toast the opening of the Tobias Rehberger exhibition at her art gallery, to the D.I.Y. rave thrown by a bunch of trans-European design students in their campsite. There was a very big corporate statement from Poltrona Frau, the new colossus of Italy's furniture industry, which commandeered a slice of the commercial fair at Rho-Pero and emblazoned McKinseyesque slogans on the walls.
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