Often billed as ‘the warm heart of Africa’, Malawi offers something for all visitors.

One of the most beautiful and laid-back countries in Africa, Malawi is renowned for being a destination for those seeking adventure, leisure or eco-tourism attractions.

Malawi’s scenery is gorgeous and varied and Malawians tend to be extremely friendly toward travellers. Nature lovers will adore the national parks and game reserves, mountain hiking and plateau trekking.

Top tips for Malawi Travel

Travel in Malawi

Malawi’s road network is reasonably well established, with most major routes tarred. Bus transport is a viable option, with express and luxury coach options available and boat trips are a fond favourite.

For those seeking a more comprehensive African adventure, there are a number of overland tour operators running trips that span various countries, allowing travellers an opportunity to really experience the spirit of Africa and enjoy a variety of experiences.

Social Conventions –

With a large and diverse range of tribal backgrounds among the people of Malawi, it’s understandable that many travellers are concerned about matters of accepted behaviour and convention. Fortunately for visitors to this African paradise, Malawian society is well integrated and visitors need not worry too much about social differences.

Greeting Conventions –

Malawians are “hand-shake people”. They generally place some importance on the shaking of hands when meeting and greeting. Among some parts of society men practice a special handshake, involving the grasping of the thumb and placing the left hand on the forearm – foreigners should probably not be trying to do this, but if you’re there and you see it, you’ll know what it’s about. Also, women and children might curtsey as a greeting or as a sign of gratitude.

Dress –

Generally, Malawians tend to the side of the conventional in their dress. It’s advisable to dress modestly but of course in such a relaxed society there are no hard and fast rules and it’s probably better just to dress appropriately for your intended activity; a day at the beach calls for beachwear and a safari trip requires long sleeves and trousers.

Climate and weather

Winter, the dry season, is the best time to visit, and lasts from May to October. June and July are the coldest months with a very comfortable average daytime temperatures 21ºC. The dry season also offers excellent game viewing and hiking opportunities.

The warm, humid rainy season, from November to April, brings hotter temperatures of around the mid-30 ºC range. Rainfall is concentrated on the higher plateaus and some roads become impassable after very heavy rains.

Currency

The Malawi Kwacha is the locally used currency. It is freely convertible at a rate of around 137 Kwacha to the US dollar. US dollars are also readily accepted, particularly for larger purchases.

It’s also worth noting that the neighbouring Zambia’s currency, also called Kwacha, is worth a fraction of the Malawi Kwacha, so travellers need to watch out.

Credit cards are accepted to some extent, but then only the major brands like Visa and MasterCard and then only by the larger hotels or businesses geared specifically towards tourists. In general, it’s safer to assume that your card will not be readily accepted.

Traveller’s cheques too are not always easily exchanged. Some of the banks, Forex Bureaus and in top-end hotels may do so, but US currency in cash is probably a better option.

Health Precautions

Malawi is a Malaria-risk area. To minimise the risk of mosquito bites, wear light, long sleeved clothing and use an effective insect repellent (those containing Diethyltoluamide DEET work well) on exposed skin.

Sleep under treated mosquito netting or ensure that the doors and windows of your accommodation are screened against mosquitoes. Having a fan or air-conditioner on at night will also curb mosquito activity to some extent.

Currently, the three most effective anti-malaria medications are Mefloquine (Lariam or Mefliam), Doxycycline and Malarone (Malanil). Certain medications may cause side-effects and need to be taken some time before you are exposed to the risk, so consult you doctor or travel health centre well before you intend to depart.

Must-see sights of Malawi

Lilongwe – This, the Malawian capital, is renowned for the Old Town, home to market stalls, quaint cafés and restaurants and the New City, which houses embass offices and shops.

Blantyre – Blantyre, located in the southern part of Malawi, is considered the centre of commerce and industry in the country. Of interest for beer lovers, it is home to the Carlsberg brewery and has a range of restaurants andommodation options.

Lake Malawi – probably the most famous of Malawi’s tourist attractions, Lake Malawi is also know as also known as Lake Nyassa and ‘Livingstone’s Lake’ (after famous explorer David Livingstone). It is the most southerly lake in the Great African Rift Valley.

The lake, about 560 km long and with a total area of nearly 30 000km², is bordered by Mozambique, Malawi, and Tanzania and is a source of territorial dispute between Malawi and Tanzania.

Lake Malawi is home to a greater variety of indigenous species of fish than any other lake in the world, making it very popular among scuba divers and snorkellers.

Its peaceful blue waters and stunning golden beaches make for great retreats for those seeking a bit of rest and relaxation. Water sports like kayaking; canoeing, windsailing and water skiing are available for those seeking a more active source of fun.

The Mad can be analyzed from several points of view. Let’s look at the poem from the angle of New Criticism. New criticism focuses on the aesthetic adornment of the poem. The poet says that their language is not of dreams but of moonlight and it overflows on the full moon day. The poet is adorning language with the aesthetic of a hyperbole of imaginative literary fantasy. They see Gods which we have never heard of. Here the poet ventures into a realm of space where the mad can see the autochthonous deities through the workings of their inner consciousness. Their visions are more surreal than ordinary human beings. They are shaking their wings when they are shrugging their shoulders. Shaking their wings is a metaphoric hyperbole. The hold to the belief that flies have souls and the Green God of Grasshoppers leaps upon wings. The language used here is personification. Trees bleeding are also a personification. Heaven gleaming in Kitten’s eyes and ants singing in chorus is also the language of personification.

In the language of psychoanalysis the poet gazes upon the mad as objects of speculation. The poet goes well to the extent of portraying their psychotic and neurotic symptoms. They are not conscious of race, religion, gender or ideology. Do the mad live in a subjective state of consciousness? The mad people have an imagination that is surreal, a consciousness that is fictional. Moonlight and its affinity becomes a consciousness imagination soaring like a bird. The archetypal God that they see is beyond imagination. Is the poet rendering poetic justice to the mad? The personification of trees bleeding and flies having souls could be a referral to the opening up of the poet’s own subconscious. Nature is humanized through the language of poetic expression. The seeing of Heaven’s in Kitten’s eyes and ants singing in chorus depict the bringing out of the poet’s consciousness the language of the repressed. Is the poet a pantheistic nihilist? While patting the air the poet mentions that they are taming a cyclone and this suggests that the poet’s own mind in obsessed with the portrayal of language as the neurotic. Time becomes an internal journey where a century for the normal human is a second for the mad. Christ, Buddha and the Big Bang are all mixed up in the mind of the mad as an eclectic syndrome of neurotic consciousness.

The poet also goes to the extent of politicizing the mad and making them alien in the desert of consciousness. Thus the made have no race, religion and gender. When the poet says we do not deserve their innocence, he is being frozen to their feelings. The poet is narcissistic and does not empathize with the mad. Why is the poet being a sadist of words? Why can’t the poet leave the mad to their independent world of existence?

For the Philosopher Foucault there is no madness but only alienation. Does the poet justify madness, their living existential reality through the construction of the architecture of the language? The gaze of the poet shifts on to the mad as the gaze of the other. The other is a stranger, an alien and the poet is confronting him or her with semantic cruelty. The poet is rendering the mad with the absurd and portraying words through the lens of surreal fetishism.

How can we deconstruct the language of madness? The language of madness is sedated with a mobile army of fiendish personifications. Democracy is subverted to the authoritarianism of the poet who speaks for the language of the mad. The binary divide of being mad and not mad is so starkly depicted. The poet does not become their advocate but poisonous devil who invokes language to deride madness and inflict its trespasses with the consciousness of semantic adultery.

Ok guys, if you are reading this well good on you! It means you care enough about a woman to find out how to make her orgasm through her g-spot, trust me you would be rewarded a hundred fold, your woman will love you forever and will be ever eager for the chance to hop into bed with you.

Step 1. Where is the G-Spot?

Before you can truly satisfy your woman in bed you are going to need to know exactly where the G-Spot is and how to locate it. Basically the G-Spot is not as hard to find as you may have been lead to believe. Insert your finger into your lady’s vagina and start feeling the texture of the upper wall of her vagina about 1- 2 inches in, once you find a smooth surface that feels a lot like the upper palate of your mouth you will know you have found it. Now that wasn’t that hard was it?

Step 2. Stimulating the G-Spot

OK so now you have found the G-Spot you need to learn how to stimulate it properly to give your lady a mind blowing orgasm right? well before you rush in and stimulate it, make sure you have warmed your lady up first with lots of prolonged foreplay, make sure the vagina is moist with excitement before you start inserting your finger. Once she is moist and turned on, insert your fingers and let them find their way to the G-spot as described above. Make a “come to me” motion as if you were beckoning someone, curl your index finger back and forward, exiting firm but not forceful pressure. You will know when she is nearing orgasm as the G-Spot will swell, keep applying the same motion and pressure and in no time she will be reaching her most earth shattering climax ever.

Yorkshire Terriers are cute little terriers that can be just a little “quirky”. Trying to determine if the Yorkie is just “being a Yorkie” or is obsessed can be relatively simple, and well… fun! That crazy, quirky behavior could also be due to serious medical problems. Here are some tips to help you understand Yorkie behavior.

Known Yorkie behaviors include digging or scratching at the ground or floor. This is a common Yorkie behavior. Although if may look obsessive, a Yorkie is a member of the terrier family and was bred to hunt rats. When a Yorkie is digging at the floor, he is simply following his instincts and looking for a rat… or whatever else he thinks is down there.

Licking everything in sight, from his own paws to the furniture to you is enough to drive a sane Yorkie dog owner crazy. This Yorkie behavior can stem from something as simple as dry itchy skin or bad teeth. Yorkies are known to have dental problems, even when they are young. Good dental care is very important for Yorkies.

Becoming overly excited to the point of hyperventilating, even shaking is a common Yorkie behavior. The Yorkie is known to be the most people oriented breed and doesn’t like being alone. This behavior could be just from being over excited or from a serious condition called “collapsing trachea”. Collapsing trachea happens if the airway (trachea) flattens out; this can block the airway and cause hyperventilation. The lack of oxygen from collapsing trachea can cause shaking and hyperventilation. Your Yorkie should be checked by a vet if these symptoms continue or last longer than a few minutes. Calm the dog before the muscle spasms of the airway become worse.

Barking and yapping constantly is attributed to Yorkies, but this is only bad behavior and not specific to the Yorkie. Some Yorkie owners reward this bad behavior unknowingly by picking up the dog when it barks. The dog thinks being picked up is a reward, much like a dog treat. Simply train your Yorkie with one word, either “No!’ or “Quiet!” and the yapping stops.

Obsessive Yorkie behaviors are based in fear. Attacking the vacuum cleaner or broom is a common obsession. Since a Yorkie is usually seven pounds or less, the Yorkie is keenly aware of large objects in his territory. We humans don’t help this behavior- because chances are we will chase the Yorkie with the broom or vacuum, because it really is funny. Unfortunately, we are just reinforcing bad behavior.

Circling the area where food is served to him is an obsessive behavior. This is especially true if your Yorkie was the runt of the litter, as he’s probably had to fight for his fair share of food. You can help your Yorkie get over this fear by giving him his dog treats at his food bowl. He will soon learn to associate the food bowl with a reward instead of a fight.

Doing anything repeatedly for unknown reasons can be common in the Yorkie. For example, a Yorkie may refuse to walk in a certain area suddenly, after walking there for months. The Yorkie may suddenly start hiding when its time for food. Try to figure out what could be bothering him so you can remove the object of his obsession. If you cannot figure it out, try to ignore the obsessive behavior and it will probably change to a new obsession in a short time.

Summary:

* Carry dog treats in your pocket to reward good behavior

* Remember a Yorkie is high spirited and quirky – expect and enjoy his quirkiness

* If your Yorkie has trouble breathing or swallowing, take him to a vet immediately; it could be life threatening for him

* If your Yorkie appears confused or weak, take him to a vet immediately; these are signs of lack of oxygen to the brain

Do you know that man has a “G-spot” just like woman? It is called prostate. When stimulated, it will lead to explosive male orgasm. In this article, you will learn how to conduct self prostate massage. It is a fabulous way to achieve the big “O” without having sex. In addition, prostate massage may even help to prevent prostate cancer!

Before you start

To ensure maximum sexual pleasure, you need to detox your colon before the massage. You can buy reputable and natural colon cleansing products at organic stores. If you are not confident, seek helps from holistic professionals and doctors. Do not overuse colon cleaner and laxatives as it will cause unpleasant side effects. These side effects are orgasm killers!

Self Prostate Massage: Step by Step

#1. Trim your fingernails. This step is very important as prostate is sensitive. The slightest nail may cause unpleasant feelings to your prostate.

#2. Apply generous amount of lubricants over your finger tips. You may use either water or silicone based lubricant. Do not use soap!

#3. Lie on your back and relax.

#4. Insert your finger into rectum to locate prostate gland. Your prostate gland is a walnut like lump which situated at 3 cm or 1.5 inches past the anus.

#5. Once prostate gland is located, gently massage it in consistent tempo and rhythm. Keep your movement gentle. As time goes by, the sensation will increase gradually to culminate powerful orgasms.

Final note

If you want to increase the orgasm intensity and duration, it’s recommended that you practice penis exercise regularly. Penis exercise is designed to increase sexual stamina, intensify orgasm, and enlarge erection size. According to a survey conducted by pegym.com, men who practiced penis exercise observed growth of 42 %.

Test sieves are a vital component of your quality control program. Unfortunately, sieve calibration or examination can be a complex process that requires the crunching of intimidating numbers. Premium providers of test sieve calibration services, however, come to the rescue by performing the complicated calculations for you and from there making the right test sieve recommendation.

Be advised. Test sieves can not be adjusted and be returned to specification standards as with many other instruments. They can only be examined and collect data to be analyzed to determine if the sieve meets the known standard.

You can rest assured that these recommendations are based on the ASTM E 11-09 and ISO 3310-1 standards for test sieves. When choosing a sieve calibration service provider, it’s a major bonus to uncover one that maintains an active role on the committees that write and oversee these standards.

The main governing body behind the traceability of all sieve calibration is the National Institute of Standards and Technology, more commonly recognized by its acronym, N.I.S.T. Your service provider should therefore offer some degree of traceability directly to the institute through the regular examination of the measuring device. N.I.S.T. traceable histograms of the test sieve ensure proper adherence to known standards, affording a 99.73% level of confidence that results from measuring the amount of mesh openings of the ASTM Calibration Grade. The use of an automatic, non-contact dimensional measurement system can attain sieve calibration accuracy within one-tenth of a micron.

But what if you decide to undertake the task yourself? How exactly are test sieves calibrated or examined? One of two methods is typically employed: the glass microsphere method or one of four various sieve shaking methods.

The microsphere process entails a series of tedious weigh-ins. There are also four different sieve shaking methods that can be employed. By vigorously swirling the pan, you can perform the sieve calibration by hand. This manual process works for sieves of 45 um or greater. Mechanical devices can also be used to aid in the process, but be aware that their feasibility is dependent on the sieve’s size, with minimum and maximum um guidelines being set.

Air jet sieves and sonic sieves can also be examined using a sophisticated optical imaging devise. The same traceable documents can be provided.

Regardless of the method you choose, it is unlikely you will achieve the same one-tenth of a micron accuracy that a proven automatic sieve calibration measurement system can. As a result, entrusting your sieve calibration needs to an expert can save you precious time and aggravation. Automated high speed calibration generally has a one to two week delivery and is modestly priced. In addition, there is no question about their accuracy or the accuracy of the calculations being performed.

Anyone with so much as a passing interest in hypnosis will have at least heard the name Milton Erickson before. Milton Erickson (1901-1980) is highly regarded as one of the most important figures in hypnosis (and NLP) as many of the techniques he created were revolutionary. One of the many great techniques attributed to Milton Erickson was the hypnotic handshake induction. This is a techniques so effective and powerful than even today it is still taught in many NLP workshops.

Before I teach you the hypnotic handshake induction though I would like to discuss Erickson’s background what exactly it is that made him such an extraordinary man. Milton was born into a farming family of modest wealth when at the age of 17 he contracted polio. The polio effected him so badly that doctors believed he had only days to live. It was through pure will and the use of self hypnosis that Milton was able to stay alive. As he was recovering Milton was still almost completely paralyzed and unable to speak. Rather than do nothing though Milton used this time to study people’s body language as well as their tonality, non-verbal communication and their choice of words. This was how Milton Erickson became so adept at reading people.

Even more amazing though was the way Milton used self hypnosis to regain the ability to walk. He would induce a hypnotic trance within himself and then begin to think back to times when his arms and legs worked and imagine them moving once more. It was a slow ordeal but eventually Milton Erickson taught himself to walk again.

That is the sort of fortitude and intelligence Erickson held within himself. You can be sure that the hypnotic handshake induction is the real deal, just like Milton Erickson himself was.

To start with approach your intended subject with a smile and offer them your right hand. Without even thinking about it they will extend their right hand and begin shaking your hand.

As the handshake is about to end you change your grip to a light touch by your thumb and then brush the subject’s hand with your middle finger. The touch is then shifted to the pinky finger. From here you shift the touch to the middle and then the thumb once more. Next you touch the open area of the wrist with an ever so slight upward push before a downward push of a similar force. The handshake is then terminated ever so gently so that the subject doesn’t even realise contact has been broken.

Because shaking hands is something every adult has done thousands of times this unexpected change of action literally confuses the subject’s mind into a trance state. That is what makes it such a great hypnotic induction. The Milton Erickson handshake induction turns a very mundane action into a very interesting one indeed. What you suggest to the subject once you have induced a hypnotic trance state is up to you.

It may take a little practice to truly master but once you do you have a great tool to use either as an induction to conversational hypnosis or maybe just as a party piece to get people talking.

Typical nightmare images are of snakes or spiders on the attack, or some kind of monster chasing you. They can also be about riding in an out-of-control vehicle, being lost, finding oneself in a dark and scary place, or just about any situation that you would find frightening in waking life. This kind of dream feels so real that the dreamer may lie in bed for several minutes after waking up–body shaking, heart pounding, out of breath. Some nightmares are so terrifying that they are remembered for days, weeks, months or even years. Some dreams become recurring nightmares and occur over and over again.

Why do people have nightmares?

Would you be surprised if I told you that these worst kinds of dreams are of great value? Would you believe me if I told you that there are positive reason for them? Despite its bizarre and terrifying imagery, despite fracturing your night’s sleep and waking you in a panic, the nightmare does offer a gift.

If you have been prone to nightmares you are probably shaking your head right now and thinking, “How could a dream that frightening be a gift?”

A nightmare is the messenger

A nightmare is perhaps the most misunderstood type of dream. It often is a profound, yelling-out from the subconscious to get your attention. The positive intention of a nightmare is to bring you an important message for your benefit and it insists on being felt, heard and seen!

Major reasons for nightmares–are fears about something that has happened, or is happening in one’s waking-life. Because most people do not know how to release stress, it gets internalized.

Some people have a tendency to be stoic, and will suppress or deny their fears. These fearful emotions get buried (suppressed/repressed) within the subconscious, where they can fester and grow much worse.

You could be in a present situation that you think you are handling well enough, and not realize that subconsciously you have fears about it. When fears, anxieties, worries get stuck within, a terrifying dream actually shows how intense your fears actually are.

Children do not usually talk about what scares them. They tend to hold their fears inside. Children’s nightmares can be caused by fighting parents, a mean teacher, school bullies, scary movies, etc. A sensitive child can become fearful of something that would never occur to an adult. For example, some children might feel displaced and fear that they are unloved because of all the attention the new baby receives.

The recurring nightmare usually starts in childhood. In order to put an end to a recurring dream, the parent needs to discover what intense fear or trauma the child has suffered.

In adults, nightmares can be caused by fears about the stressful situations in one’s life. Job or money worries, a serious illness, deep insecurity, the potential loss of one’s home–any of these can cause bad dreams or nightmares. The problem with comprehending that your dream is addressing a waking-day fear, is that the nighttime ‘review’ version is fraught with terrifying ‘substitution’ symbolism. If you are fearful of snakes, and dream about a snake biting you, the dream is NOT warning you that a snake may attack you in your real life. The ‘dream-substitution’ phenomenon has come into play. Most of you will not make the connection between the scary snake attacking you in the night–with the worrisome physical illness you suffer during the day. You may not realize that the dream monster chasing you–actually represents your fears about being out of work and not having enough money to pay your bills.

Other reasons for nightmares

A nightmare can bring up buried fears about a distressful, or traumatic situation that happened a long time ago. People with PTSD can have terrifying nightmares in which they re-live the traumatic event. Fears stuck in the psyche that surface in a dream, are a plea from the subconscious to resolve and let go of the past.

There is an interesting reason for some nightmares. For those who enjoy terrifying carnival rides or horror movies, your nightmares can serve the dual purpose of having you feel the inner fears, and also help you to release them.

Questions one can intuitively ask after awakening from a nightmare are:

What inner feelings, stress, worries or fears do I need to pay attention to?

What situation in my waking-life feels as fearful as this dream made me feel?

If there is no answer to these questions, then try this one: What event from my past might still be haunting me?

Ponder each of the questions, pause and wait for an answer to intuitively ‘pop into’ your mind.

A true gift from the dream monster

Anger, resentment, stress, or fearful emotions that are buried deep within the self could have a tendency to cause damage or illness to the body. Another very positive reason for nightmares is to show you what your emotions look and feel like. In your scary dreams, you can actually see your fears. They take on symbolic images proportionate to the intensity of the emotion. In other words, your fears become the monsters in your dreams.

A terrifying dream monster is called a “thought-form,” i.e., a symbolic, mirror image of the fear within you. If you had the presence of mind to face the fear-monster within the dream and ask it what it wants to tell you, it could say something like this: “I am your fear. I am buried inside you. I cannot get out, so I live in your body. I can cause your body to break down. You could get ill. Or, this is the reason you are ill. You need to see and feel how intense I am, recognize me as your fear, and find a way to release it.”

Using EFT to tap on and release the fear shown in a dream

EFT or Meridian Tapping is a wonderful tool to release stress, worries and fears. You can tap on and clear the ‘hangover’ fear you feel when you first awaken from the dream. Then you can tap on the fears felt within the dream.

Even if you do not understand the meaning of your nightmare, you can still tap using the phrases, “Even though I do not know what specific fear this dream is about, I am open to getting the message in other ways, and I choose to safely release this fear.”

Use Dream Decipher to interpret your dreams

Most people do not understand the meaning of their dreams because they are symbolic, and often times do substitute one fear for another. You do not need to pay someone to interpret your dreams for you. You can learn to do it yourself. The Dream Decipher process, an intuitive-based dream interpretation tool, works quickly to help you get the actual message of any dream.

The venerable Martini. Perhaps the most famous cocktail, and certainly the mixed drink with the most myths, stories and lore attached. It is also the one cocktail that has a following and its own brand of snobbery. You usually don’t here two people arguing over a Planters Punch.

The basic martini recipe is as simple as you can get. Traditionally, a Martini is made with gin and dry white vermouth, although, recently the Vodka Martini has become much more popular. The standard modern martini is a five parts gin or vodka to one part vermouth although few bartenders today would follow that model. The ingredients are shaken or stirred with ice, strained and served “straight up” without ice in a chilled cocktail glass, and garnished with an olive.

Martini purists are upset that vodka is now the liquor of choice when people order a martini. They insist it should be called a ‘Vodka Martini’ or if they are really picky a ‘Bradford.’

The amount of vermouth to be added is also a subject of great debate. The less vermouth, the drier the Martini. Today the most common was of mixing the vermouth is the coat the ice cubes in vermouth and then throw out the excess vermouth. Some progressive bars now use vermouth spritzers to coat the ice (thus saving a lot of vermouth).

Shaken or stirred?

According to true Martini drinker, because vermouth mixes easily and uniformly with its solvent (gin or vodka), a martini should always be mixed in a stirring glass. For purists, shaking “bruises” the gin and also chips the ice watering down the Martini.

However, thanks to novel and movie spy James Bond, who ordered his Martinis “Shaken, not stirred,” the Martini is more often shaken these days.

Shaken aficionados say, as with scotch, a little water creates a more rounded taste. They also claim the shaking action adds oxygen to the drink and sharpens the taste and distributes the vermouth more evenly.

History

The generally accepted origin of the Martini begins in San Francisco in 1862. A cocktail named after nearby the town of Martinez was served at the Occidental Hotel. People drank at the hotel before taking the evening ferry to Martinez across the bay. The original cocktail consisted of two ounces of Italian “Martini and Rosso” sweet vermouth, one ounce Old Tom sweet gin, two dashes maraschino cherry liquid, one dash bitters, shaken, and served with a twist of lemon. By the end of the 19th century the Martini, had morphed into a simpler form. Two dashes of Orange bitters were mixed with half a jigger of dry French vermouth, and half a jigger of dry English gin, stirred and served with an olive.

But it was Prohibition and the relative ease of illegal gin manufacture that led to the Martini’s rise as the predominant cocktail of the mid 20th century.

With the repeal of Prohibition, and the ready availability of quality gin, the drink became progressively dryer, with less vermouth being added.

The first reference to vodka being used in a Martini was in the 1950s but it was the James Bond novels by Ian Fleming and subsequent films that raised the profile of the vodka martini in the 1960s. In the novel Casino Royale, Bond’s recipe for his “vespa martini” was three parts Gordon’s gin, one part Russian vodka, a half measure of Kina Lillet aperitif, shaken until ice-cold, served with a slice of lemon. By the second Bond novel, Live and Let Die, Bond was drinking conventional vodka Martinis.

In the seventies and eighties the martini was seen as old fashioned and was replaced by more intricate cocktails and wine spritzers. But the mid 1990s saw a resurgence in the drink and an explosion of new versions. These new specialty martinis can be made with combinations of fresh fruit juices, splashes of cream, and brightly colored liqueurs.

Instead of the traditional olive, cocktail onion, or lemon twist, new garnishes such as marinated capers, fresh herbs, coffee beans or sun-dried tomatoes are being used.

Today, the Martini in all its versions has returned to its position as the world’s preeminent cocktail.

Folklore

The Martini comes with its own folklore and many past martini drinker have their own recipes for coming up with the perfect or the driest Martini. The quest for dryness has taken on bizarre proportions.

Winston Churchill’s recipe called for pouring gin into a glass and then simply bowing in the direction of France. Alfred Hitchcock’s recipe called for five parts gin and a quick glance at a bottle of vermouth. Ernest Hemingway liked to order a “Montgomery”, which was a martini mixed at a gin:vermouth ratio of 15:1 the odds at which, allegedly, Field Marshall Montgomery would want before going into battle.

In the 1958 movie Teacher’s Pet, Clark Gable mixes a martini by turning the bottle of vermouth upside-down and then running the moistened cork around the rim of the glass before filling it with gin

The classic seventies TV show MASH took a satirical swipe at this dryness fetish. ‘Hawkeye’ working on his still says to his fellow military doctors “I’m pursuing my lifelong quest for the perfect, the absolutely driest martini to be found in this or any other world. And I think I may have hit upon the perfect formula…You pour six jiggers of gin, and you drink it while staring at a picture of Lorenzo Schwartz, (the inventor of vermouth.)”

The nutritional section of a pharmacy, vitamin store, or grocery is filled with different dietary supplements including protein shakes and diet shakes. Do you know the difference between the common diet shake and a shake designed to improve your physique?

Protein – The Building Blocks of Muscles and Your Metabolism

The number one difference between traditional diet shakes and protein shakes is the amount of high quality protein included in the drink. As a comparison, here are the amounts of protein in a few of the most popular diet shakes:

• Slim Fast French Vanilla Shake – 10 grams
• Slim Fast High Protein Extra Creamy Chocolate – 15 grams
• Atkins Milk Chocolate Delight – 15 grams
• The take a moment to compare the amounts of protein in popular protein shakes:
• Optimum Gold Standard Protein Shake Double Chocolate – 24 grams
• Isopure Protein Beverage – 40 grams
• Pure Protein Vanilla Cream Shake – 35 grams
• Nutribiotic Rice Protein Vanilla – 12 grams

As this comparison shows diet shakes and protein shakes are targeting two distinct levels of protein. The high amounts of protein in the second list are designed to aid in retaining or building new muscle. They give you the protein necessary to rebuild muscles after strenuous resistance training. The rice protein fills a specific need we will cover shortly. There is one other important difference to watch in these shakes.

Carbohydrates – Power for Energy or Added Fat

Carbohydrates must be watched carefully as you select your meal replacements. It is critical to have enough high quality carbohydrates to give you energy and fuel your body. It is just as important to avoid an excess of carbohydrates to ensure you do not begin storing added fat.

Going back to our examples we can take a quick look at how they compare on carbohydrates.

• Slim Fast French Vanilla Shake – 23 grams of carbohydrates
• Slim Fast High Protein Extra Creamy Chocolate – 24 grams of carbohydrates
• Atkins Milk Chocolate Delight – 1 gram of carbohydrates
• Optimum Gold Standard Protein Shake Double Chocolate – 3 grams of carbohydrates
• Isopure Protein Beverage – 0 grams of carbohydrates
• Pure Protein Vanilla Cream Shake – 1 gram of carbohydrates
• Nutribiotic Rice Protein Vanilla – 1 gram of carbohydrates

As you can quickly see, the protein shakes trust you to eat real food to provide yourself with the proper amounts of carbohydrates. Their focus is on providing you the building blocks for rebuilding muscles. The Atkins drink is equally low in carbohydrates, but for a completely different reason. The Atkins diet focuses on weight loss through carbohydrate restriction.

The important lesson you should learn from these comparisons is to choose your diet or protein shakes based upon your goals. If you desire to lose weight look at the overall mix of carbohydrates, sugars, protein, fiber, and vitamins. Use the shakes to keep you fully nourished while you restrict calories. If your goal is to improve your body through exercise and resistance training choose your protein shakes based on quantity and quality of protein included in the shake.

Protein shakes are not all created equal. Shakes can use a variety of sources for their protein. You need to be aware of the different sources, which include:

• Soy
• Egg
• Natural Whey
• Rice Powder

These 4 comprise the most commonly used forms of protein with whey and soy being the most popular in shakes and supplements. Whey is protein extracted from milk it is a dairy product. The protein is extracted from milk and transformed into powder. Whey and eggs are considered to be complete proteins encompassing a wider range of amino acids which can be beneficial in fast muscle growth.

Rice and Soy proteins are high quality plant based proteins. They are lower in fat and a perfect supplement choice for any vegans or vegetarians desiring to improve muscle size and strength. Rice has the added advantage of reduced allergic reactions for some people.

Diet shakes and protein shakes use a variety of sources to hit their protein targets. Let us return one more time to our comparisons and see what sources of proteins they use.

• Slim Fast French Vanilla Shake – Whey and Soy
• Slim Fast High Protein Extra Creamy Chocolate – Whey and Soy
• Atkins Milk Chocolate Delight – Milk Protein Extracts (Whey) and Soy
• Optimum Gold Standard Shake Double Chocolate – 100% Whey
• Isopure Beverage – 100% Whey
• Pure Vanilla Cream Shake – Milk Protein Concentrate
• NutriBiotic Rice Vanilla – Rice

Depending on your goals and lifestyle choices any of these diet shakes or protein shakes may fit your needs. Choose the right balance of carbohydrates and protein to help maximize your health.