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How to Tell Which Foods Are In Season this Fall

Winter, spring, summer, fall…each new season brings with it a multitude of unique tastes and smells. Squash, pumpkin, chestnuts, and freshly picked apples signify that fall has come. Colorful bell peppers, cherries, and watermelon taste like summer.

It’s comforting knowing that everything has its place, isn’t it? That you can count on fresh apricots and corn on the cob when warm weather comes around. But the benefits of eating in-season produce go far beyond those daily comforts.

Seasonal food is produce that is “purchased and consumed around the time that it is harvested.” As such, eating seasonally means greater?access to a more nutritious diet, a reduction in your?carbon footprint, and financial savings in your pocket thanks to the?nature of abundance. But how do you know which foods are in season when fall rolls around?

How to Tell Which Foods Are In Season this Fall

With grocery stores sourcing?produce worldwide?it can be hard to tell which types of produce are actually in season and which were shipped from a warmer climate thousands of miles away. Here’s where you can start.

1) Check out the Seasonal Food Guide.

The Seasonal Food Guide?is an easy online tool that you can use to determine which foods are in season when, based on your exact location and the time of the year. Through this tool I discovered that the best produce available in Wyoming right now is: apples, beets, brussels sprouts and carrots! Cool, right?

2) Visit your local farmer’s market.

Shopping at the farmer’s market is a wonderful way to see seasonal produce right in front of you ? question answered! This week at our Cheyenne Farmer’s Market we saw lots of squash, pumpkins, and carrots galore. Need some recipe inspiration? Here are fourteen delicious recipes to make this harvest season.

3) Ask your neighbors.

At this time of the year, most gardeners have more produce than they know what to do with. Do your friends have fall tomatoes coming out their ears? Who knows, they may need someone to take them off their hands! Over time, you’ll grow more familiar with which foods are growing at any given time.


What fresh fruits and vegetables?get you excited about this fall??

Related at Care2

14 Foods to Eat this Harvest Season
Is it better to buy local or organic?
4 Vegetables to Plant Now for a Fall Harvest

Disclaimer: The views expressed above are solely those of the author and may not reflect those of Care2, Inc., its employees or advertisers.

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How to Tell Which Foods Are In Season this Fall

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How to Host a Zero Waste Dinner Party

There are few things I love more than a relaxed, candlelight dinner with friends. Mix together a massive spread of comfort food, genuine laughter and a board game or two and you’ve just described my perfect evening at home.

Since going zero waste, my husband and I havehad to learn the tricks of the trade when it comes to hosting a zero waste dinner party. There is no place for frozen foods or disposable cutlery here; it’s all homemade, homegrown, home-crafted.

Let me show you!

How to Host a Zero Waste Dinner Party

Set the Table

Setting the table for your zero waste dinner party is as simple as opting for real ceramic dishes and linen napkinsover paper and plastic products.

Choose dishes that suit your needs: Do you have a set of china you don’t get to use often? Break it out for fun! Will you be serving a few courses? Count your full place settings and adjust as necessary. Can you cut down on dishes by hosting your event self-serve style?

Find a system that works for you.

Prepare the Meal

The meal you choose to serve will be thefocal pointofyour dinner party, so make it count.

Begin by defining the vibe you’d like to create: Will this be a formal affair? Consider serving multiple courses. Is this a summer or winter event? Opt for a menu that highlights in-season produce. It’s more likely to be grown locally, and it will save you a pretty penny.

Decide howmuch time you are willing to dedicate to preparing the meal: Ifyou’re short on time, go for a lightweight taco bar. If you have time to spare, try something unique and a little more involved that will blow your guests away!

Purchase the ingredients:Shopping for groceries without creating any waste is simpler than it sounds. If you will be shopping at a traditional grocer, start by avoiding the internal grocery aisles and stick to the produce section. If you have to purchase a pasta or canned good, make sure the packaging is recyclable! Otherwise, prioritize farmers markets and bulk bin stores. They are tailor-madefor zero waste shoppers!

To find a farmers market or bulk bin shop near you, use this tool!

Create the Atmosphere

I’m a big fan of laying out a pretty tablescape. Now is the time to pull out those Pinterest tricks you’ve been keeping in your back pocket!

Decide how fancy you want to get:Is this an event that calls for candlelight? Break out those beeswax beauties! Would you prefer to keep the ambiance more casual and lighthearted? Pop a few succulents on the table or avoid decorating altogether.

Set the mood with music:I am a big fan of crafting Spotify playlists for my events. Whether a wedding, birthday party or dinner with friends, music always makes the occasion feel festive and light.

Here are a few that I personally love and enjoy often! “Dinner With Friends” & “Mellow Afternoon.”

Focus on What Matters

In the end, it’s the community and friendship that will make your zero waste dinner party a success. Focus in on the people and let the details fall to the wayside. Have a lovely time!

Disclaimer: The views expressed above are solely those of the author and may not reflect those of Care2, Inc., its employees or advertisers.

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How to Host a Zero Waste Dinner Party

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Enormous Crowds Expected at Women’s Marches Around the World

Mother Jones

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On Saturday, January 21, more than 200,000 women are expected to march in Washington, DC, to protest the inauguration of Donald Trump. The organizers predict that they’ll be joined by more than 2 million women in more than 600 marches worldwide. Want to find a march near you? Use this tool.

Mother Jones reporters will be on the scene at the marches. Check back here Saturday for the latest.

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Enormous Crowds Expected at Women’s Marches Around the World

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If Millennials Had Voted, Last Night Would Have Looked Very Different

Mother Jones

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The GOP’s big Election Day victory may have a lot to do with who didn’t show up at the polls—and one of the groups that stayed home at a record rate were young people. According to an NBC News exit poll, the percentage of voters aged 60 or older accounted for almost 40 percent of the vote, while voters under 30 accounted for a measly 12 percent. Young people’s share of the vote is typically smaller in midterm elections, but the valley between age groups in 2014 is the largest the US has seen in at least a decade.

NBC News

And that valley made a huge difference for Democrats, because younger voters have been trending blue. Some 55 percent of young people who did turn up voted for Dems compared to 45 percent of those over 60.

An interactive predictor on the Fusion, the news site targeted at millennials, indicated how Democrats could have gained if young people had shown in greater numbers. Using 2010 vote totals and 2014 polling data, the tool lets users calculate the effect of greater turnout among voters under 30 in several key states.

On Tuesday, according to preliminary exit polls, young voters in Iowa favored Democrats by a slight margin—51 percent—but they made up only 12 percent of the total vote, leaving conservative Republican Joni Ernst the winner. In Georgia, 58 percent of young voters went for Democrat Michelle Nunn, but they made up 10 percent of the total who showed up to cast their ballots. In Colorado, where a sophisticated political machine delivered Democratic wins in 2010, the calculator shows that a full 71 percent of young people voted for Dems in 2010; exit polls indicate that young voters made up 14 percent of the final tally, leaving Mark Udall out in the cold.

If historical voting patterns hold, it’s possible that these Democratic leaning millennials will turn out in greater numbers in the future. If so, that will bode well for Dems—as long as these voters don’t also become more conservative as they age.

Felix Salmon, Fusion

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If Millennials Had Voted, Last Night Would Have Looked Very Different

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All About Blackshades, the Malware That Lets Hackers Watch You Through Your Webcam

Mother Jones

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On Monday, US officials announced the arrest of more than 90 people allegedly connected to an organization called Blackshades, which sold software that allows hackers to easily take over a Microsoft Windows computer remotely. Last year, a college student used the tool to take nude photos of Miss Teen USA via her personal computer’s webcam. According to the FBI and law enforcement officials, the program has been sold and distributed to “thousands” of people in more than 100 countries since 2010, affecting some 700,000 victims. Here’s why you might want to update your anti-virus software, or, if you’re prone to dancing around your room naked, at least put a piece of tape over your webcam.

What is Blackshades?
Blackshades is the name of an organization allegedly owned by a Swedish 24-year-old named Alex Yücel. According to government officials, Yücel and Michael Hogueâ&#128;&#139;, a 23-year-old US citizen who was arrested in 2012 as part of the feds’ tangential investigation into Blackshades, codeveloped the Blackshades remote access tool (RAT). This tool, which sold for as little as $40 at bshades.eu and other sites, essentially allowed buyers to act as peeping Toms on strangers’ computers. The organization made more than $350,000 between September 2010 and April 2014, according to the FBI.

How does the Blackshades Remote Access Tool (RAT) work?
The Blackshades RAT isn’t any different than what your IT person at work uses to get remote access to your computer, explains Runa Sandvik, staff technologist at the Center for Democracy & Technology (CDT). But if your IT department were accessing your computer, “you’d have a heads up,” she says. “In this case you won’t even know the hacker is on your computer.”

After buying a copy of the RAT software, a hacker has to install the program on a target’s computer, by, say, deceiving a person into clicking on a malicious link. Then, once the hacker has access to a computer, he or she can then use the RAT software to easily record a person’s keystrokes or passwords, take screenshots, rummage through computer files, or turn on the person’s web camera, according to the feds. Anything you can do on your computer, the hacker can do, too. And the software makes it all super easy. In fact, it’s “marketed principally for buyers who wouldn’t know how to hack their way out of a paper bag,” writes Krebson Security. Here’s what the command and control panel looks like:

Symantec

The program also includes “spreaders,” which help hackers send out malicious links from peoples’ social-media accounts, and a file hijacker tool. That tool, according to the FBI press release, allows users “to encrypt, or lock, a victim’s files and demand a ‘ransom’ payment to unlock them. The RAT even came with a prepared script demanding such a ransom.”

What do hackers use remote access tools for?
The FBI says the Blackshades RAT has been used to exploit credit cards, bank accounts, and personal information. But perhaps the creepiest way people can use remote accessing tools is to take photos and video via webcam. In November of last year, a college student pleaded guilty to hacking the webcam of Miss Teen USA Cassidy Wolf with the Blackshades software, and attempting to blackmail her. He allegedly said he had up to 40 other “slave computers,” according to the original criminal complaint.

Last year, Ars Technica wrote about a thread on a hacker forum that was more than 134 pages long and filled with images captured through unsuspecting women’s webcams. Hackers wielding remote accessing tools—it’s unknown whether they were using Blackshades or other software—called the women their “slaves” and wrote about picking out “the ‘good’ sexual stuff” and categorizing it using names and passwords, according to the news outlet. And last year, a 17-year-old boy in Detroit paid hackers in the Philippines more than $1,000 in blackmail money after they collected video of him via webcam. This tool has been used for political purposes as well. In 2012, the software was sent by alleged pro-government attackers to try and infect the computers of anti-government Syrian activists.

Now that people have been arrested in connection with Blackshades, does this mean I’m in the clear?
Nope. While the sale of Blackshades software, whose main website has now been shut down, was already on the decline (there were more than 1,300 infections last spring, but fewer than 400 in April 2014, according to Symantec), there are other remote accessing tools out there. “Even if there are just 100 people using Blackshades, there are another 100 using a tool with a different name that works exactly the same way,” says CDT’s Sandvik. Additionally, it’s not clear that the FBI will be able to get the Blackshades charges to stick. As the Daily Beast notes, it may be hard for prosecutors to prove whether the defendants who possessed the software used it for illegal activity.

What should I do to keep my computer private?
Follow best security practices. The FBI and security experts recommend that you update your software, including anti-virus software, install a good firewall, don’t open suspicious email attachments or URLs—even if they come from people on your contact list—and create strong passwords. The FBI has also published a list of files that you can search for on your hard drive to see if your computer has been infected. “Regardless of the specific kind, if you get malware on your system, it’s bad,” says Christopher Budd, a spokesman for Trend Micro, a Japanese security software company. “But people shouldn’t worry about malware, they should take concrete steps.” And if you put tape over your webcam, too, no one will judge you. “I do,” says Sandvik.

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All About Blackshades, the Malware That Lets Hackers Watch You Through Your Webcam

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