“GameStick” and NVIDIA “Project SHIELD” Consoles-in-a-Controller on Their Way

Both GameStick and NVIDIA’s Project Shield are upcoming game consoles the size of a game controller, which can hook up to a larger display. Both are powered by Android, Google‘s open-source operating system that’s normally used on smartphones and tablets. And both have working hardware prototypes already. But one is a $ 99 Kickstarter project by an indie group, while the other has the backing of two major companies in the PC gaming world — and will probably be a lot more expensive when it comes out.

Here’s a look at two upcoming TV game consoles that you’ll be able to fit in your pocket or handbag.

GameStick: Exactly what it sounds like

Imagine a tiny, rectangular game controller, sort of like a Wii Remote with more buttons and twin analog sticks. On one side is a plastic bump, that when you pull it off it becomes this gadget the size of a USB memory stick that plugs into a TV’s HDMI port. That’s GameStick, and with 19 days left to go in its Kickstarter fund-raiser it’s managed to raise more than three times the $ 100,000 its creators asked for.

GameStick will have 8 GB of flash memory, and a processor capable of handling modern AAA Android games like Shadowgun, plus 1080p video. If you don’t like the controller it comes with, you’ll be able to connect up to four of your own via Bluetooth, or even use your Android or iOS smartphone or tablet as a controller.

Project SHIELD: A controller that can stop bullets

Maybe it can’t literally serve as a shield. But at about the size of the original Xbox’s controller, the “portable” console NVIDIA showed off at this year’s CES sure looks like it can. It’s powered by a next-generation Tegra 4 processor, and features its own built-in 5-inch multitouch screen for gaming on the go. But it can also connect to a TV, and can even stream PC games via Steam’s Big Picture mode, which was designed for controller games.

A not-so-silver lining?

GameStick’s biggest weakness may be its developer support. Its Kickstarter page mentions the hundreds of thousands of Android games out there, but most of those are only on Google Play, which (unlike most of the rest of Android) is proprietary to Google. Time will tell whether its creators can get enough developers to write games for the platform by the time of its planned April launch, or enough gamers to buy games they might already have on their tablets.

In contrast, between full support for the Google Play store and PC game streaming from Steam, Project SHIELD will have thousands and thousands of games, and there will be no need to repurchase titles you’ve already bought from either store. There’s no word from NVIDIA yet, though, on how much its game console will cost or even when it will launch.

Jared Spurbeck is an open-source software enthusiast, who uses an Android phone and an Ubuntu laptop PC. He has been writing about technology and electronics since 2008.

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Obama to unveil gun violence measures

Facing powerful opposition to sweeping gun regulations, President Barack Obama will unveil his proposals Wednesday, barely over a month since the massacre of 20 children and six adults at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn. (Jan. 15)

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama will propose an assault weapons ban and better background checks for gun buyers on Wednesday as part of a package of proposals to curb gun violence one month after the Newtown school massacre.

The proposals will include executive and legislative measures, with the latter sure to face an uphill battle in Congress, where appetite for renewing an assault weapons ban is low.

Obama and Vice President Joe Biden, who led a task force that made recommendations on the issue, will present the measures at a White House event attended by children from around the country who wrote letters to the president about gun violence and school safety.

Obama will urge lawmakers to act quickly, White House spokesman Jay Carney told reporters.

"The president has made clear that he intends to take a comprehensive approach," Carney said at a briefing.

"There are specific legislative actions that he will continue to call on Congress to take, including the assault weapons ban, including a measure to ban high-capacity magazine clips, including an effort to close the very big loopholes in the background check system in our country," he said.

The proposals will be Obama's first major foray into gun control, despite several mass shootings that have occurred during his four years in office. Gun restrictions are a divisive issue in the United States, which constitutionally protects a citizen's right to bear arms.

Biden delivered his recommendations to Obama after a series of meetings with representatives from the weapons and entertainment industries requested by the president after the December 14 school shooting in Newtown, Connecticut, in which 20 children and six adults were killed.

The proposals are likely to touch on mental health and could address violence portrayed in video games.

Obama, who has said the day of the shooting was the worst of his presidency, said on Monday he would study the panel's ideas and then move forward "vigorously" on those that he endorsed, including some actions he could take without congressional approval.

A White House official said Obama had not endorsed all of the ideas put forward by Biden's team but declined to lay out specifics on what would be announced.

Obama has signaled his plan would include elements that did not require congressional approval. The president could take action to ban certain gun imports and bolster oversight of dealers.

A spokeswoman for Representative Jackie Speier, a lawmaker from California who was one of a group of Democrats who met with Biden about the issue on Monday, said his task force had identified 19 different options Obama could choose to implement through executive action.

"(Biden) did not indicate which or how many of those options the president will take up or present to the nation tomorrow," said the spokeswoman, Jenny Werwa.

NRA CLASH

The president's move is not the only action being taken on gun control nationwide. New York State lawmakers on Tuesday approved one of the toughest gun control bills in the United States and Governor Andrew Cuomo signed it into law.

The proposals are likely to draw ire from the National Rifle Association, a powerful lobbying group that is traditionally associated with Republicans. The NRA proposed having armed officials in schools throughout the country and has said the media and violent video games shared blame for the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre, the second-deadliest school shooting in U.S. history.

There is little on which the Obama administration and NRA officials agree.

The White House is also pushing for the Senate to confirm a director for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, an agency that has been without a Senate-confirmed director since 2006.

Obama nominated Andrew Traver, a Navy veteran who ran the agency's Chicago division, for the job in November 2010, and again early in 2011. The NRA opposed Traver's nomination.

The Senate is in recess, and Obama could choose to make a recess appointment to fill the job. Such an appointment would likely rankle lawmakers, whose support Obama will need to get his proposals passed.

Though the chances of getting a ban on assault weapons appear low, the White House seems set on getting Obama's support of such a ban solidified in a legislative draft.

Gun control advocates are pressing the administration to keep up the pressure on the issue in the face of other policy priorities, including deficit reduction and immigration reform.

"In three months are we going to be talking about these issues? Because that's the only way you make any progress," said Neera Tanden, president of the Center for American Progress, a progressive-leaning advocacy group.

The organization, whose officials have close ties to the White House, released a report suggesting 14 legislative proposals and executive actions to reduce gun violence, including requiring a background check for all gun sales.

(additional reporting by Roberta Rampton, Mark Felsenthal, Matt Spetalnick and David Lawder; Editing by Doina Chiacu)

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Lindsay Lohan pleads not guilty to car crash charges

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Lindsay Lohan pleaded not guilty on Tuesday to three charges related to a June traffic accident that led a judge to revoke the troubled actress’ probation last month.

Lohan, 26, who did not attend the hearing, was arraigned on misdemeanor charges of reckless driving, lying to police and obstructing police when she said she was not behind the wheel of her sports car, which smashed into a truck in Santa Monica, California.

Lohan’s not guilty plea was entered in a Los Angeles court by her attorney.

The “Liz & Dick” actress is on probation for a 2011 jewelry theft and could be sent to jail if she is found to have violated the terms of her probation.

Los Angeles Superior Court Commissioner Jane Godfrey, who will also preside over Lohan’s probation hearing, on Tuesday ordered the actress to attend a January 30 pretrial hearing. A date for Lohan’s probation hearing will be set at that time.

Lohan has been in and out of rehab and jail since a 2007 arrest for drunk driving and cocaine possession.

The former “Parent Trap” child star was arrested in New York on a misdemeanor assault charge on the same day that the Santa Monica car crash charges were filed.

The Manhattan district attorney’s office has not filed a criminal complaint in the assault case.

(Reporting by Eric Kelsey, editing by Jill Serjeant and Stacey Joyce)

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Well: How to Go Vegan

When I first heard former President Bill Clinton talk about his vegan diet, I was inspired to make the switch myself. After all, if a man with a penchant for fast-food burgers and Southern cooking could go vegan, surely I could too.

At the grocery store, I stocked up on vegan foods, including almond milk (that was the presidential recommendation), and faux turkey and cheese to replicate my daughter’s favorite sandwich. But despite my good intentions, my cold-turkey attempt to give up, well, turkey (as well as other meats, dairy and eggs) didn’t go well. My daughter and I couldn’t stand the taste of almond milk, and the fake meat and cheese were unappealing.

Since then, I’ve spoken with numerous vegan chefs and diners who say it can be a challenge to change a lifetime of eating habits overnight. They offer the following advice for stocking your vegan pantry and finding replacements for key foods like cheese and other dairy products.

NONDAIRY MILK Taste all of them to find your favorite. Coconut and almond milks (particularly canned coconut milk) are thicker and good to use in cooking, while rice milk is thinner and is good for people who are allergic to nuts or soy. My daughter and I both prefer the taste of soy milk and use it in regular or vanilla flavor for fruit smoothies and breakfast cereal.

NONDAIRY CHEESE Cheese substitutes are available under the brand names Daiya, Tofutti and Follow Your Heart, among others, but many vegans say there’s no fake cheese that satisfies as well as the real thing. Rather than use a packaged product, vegan chefs prefer to make homemade substitutes using cashews, tofu, miso or nutritional yeast. At Candle 79, a popular New York vegan restaurant, the filling for saffron ravioli with wild mushrooms and cashew cheese is made with cashews soaked overnight and then blended with lemon juice, olive oil, water and salt.

THINK CREAMY, NOT CHEESY Creaminess and richness can often be achieved without a cheese substitute. For instance, Chloe Coscarelli, a vegan chef and the author of “Chloe’s Kitchen,” has created a pizza with caramelized onion and butternut squash that will make you forget it doesn’t have cheese; the secret is white-bean and garlic purée. She also offers a creamy, but dairy-free, avocado pesto pasta. My daughter and I have discovered we actually prefer the rich flavor of butternut squash ravioli, which can be found frozen and fresh in supermarkets, to cheese-filled ravioli.

NUTRITIONAL YEAST The name is unappetizing, but many vegan chefs swear by it: it’s a natural food with a roasted, nutty, cheeselike flavor. Ms. Coscarelli uses nutritional yeast flakes in her “best ever” baked macaroni and cheese (found in her cookbook). “I’ve served this to die-hard cheese lovers,” she told me, “and everyone agrees it is comparable, if not better.”

Susan Voisin’s Web site, Fat Free Vegan Kitchen, offers a nice primer on nutritional yeast, noting that it’s a fungus (think mushrooms!) that is grown on molasses and then harvested and dried with heat. (Baking yeast is an entirely different product.) Nutritional yeasts can be an acquired taste, she said, so start with small amounts, sprinkling on popcorn, stirring into mashed potatoes, grinding with almonds for a Parmesan substitute or combining with tofu to make an eggless omelet. It can be found in Whole Foods, in the bulk aisle of natural-foods markets or online.

BUTTER This is an easy fix. Vegan margarines like Earth Balance are made from a blend of oils and are free of trans fats. Varieties include soy-free, whipped and olive oil.

EGGS Ms. Coscarelli, who won the Food Network’s Cupcake Wars with vegan cupcakes, says vinegar and baking soda can help baked goods bind together and rise, creating a moist and fluffy cake without eggs. Cornstarch can substitute for eggs to thicken puddings and sauces. Vegan pancakes are made with a tablespoon of baking powder instead of eggs. Frittatas and omelets can be replicated with tofu.

Finally, don’t try to replicate your favorite meaty foods right away. If you love a juicy hamburger, meatloaf or ham sandwich, you are not going to find a meat-free version that tastes the same. Ms. Voisin advises new vegans to start slow and eat a few vegan meals a week. Stock your pantry with lots of grains, lentils and beans and pile your plate with vegetables. To veganize a recipe, start with a dish that is mostly vegan already — like spaghetti — and use vegetables or a meat substitute for the sauce.

“Trying to recapture something and find an exact substitute is really hard,” she said. “A lot of people will try a vegetarian meatloaf right after they become vegetarian, and they hate it. But after you get away from eating meat for a while, you’ll find you start to develop other tastes, and the flavor of a lentil loaf with seasonings will taste great to you. It won’t taste like meat loaf, but you’ll appreciate it for itself.”

Ms. Voisin notes that she became a vegetarian and then vegan while living in a small town in South Carolina; she now lives in Jackson, Miss.

“If I can be a vegan in these not-quite-vegan-centric places, you can do it anywhere,” she said. “I think people who try to do it all at once overnight are more apt to fail. It’s a learning process.”

---

What are your tips for vegan cooking and eating? Share your suggestions on ingredients, recipes and strategies by posting a comment below or tweeting with the hashtag #vegantips.

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More trouble for Boeing after Dreamliner makes emergency landing

TOKYO (Reuters) - All Nippon Airways Co is grounding all 17 of its Boeing 787 planes for inspection after one of its Dreamliners made an emergency landing in western Japan on Wednesday, the Japanese air carrier told Reuters.

ANA said instruments on a domestic flight early Wednesday indicated a battery error, but all passengers and crew evacuated safely by using the plane's inflatable slides, ANA said.

The incident comes on top of a slew of recent problems with Boeing's new Dreamliner aircraft. The sophisticated new plane, the world's first mainly carbon-composite airliner, suffered two fuel leaks, a battery fire, a wiring problem, brake computer glitch and cracked cockpit window last week.

ANA said it evacuated 129 passengers and eight crew members from the Dreamliner after measuring instruments in the flight's cockpit indicated there was a battery malfunction and the pilot smelled something strange. The company said it is still checking whether there was any smoke emitted into the cockpit.

Wednesday's flight 692 bound for Haneda Airport near Tokyo left Yamaguchi Airport in western Japan shortly after 8 am JST (2300 GMT Tuesday) but made an emergency landing in Takamatsu at 8:45 after smoke appeared in the cockpit, an Osaka airport authority spokesman said.

Boeing spokesman Marc Birtel told Reuters: "We've seen the reports, we're aware of the events and are working with our customer".

Japan is the biggest market so far for the Dreamliner, with ANA and Japan Airlines Co flying 24 of the 50 Dreamliners delivered to date.

Shares of Boeing Dreamlier suppliers in Japan came under pressure on Wednesday, with Fuji Heavy Industries, GS Yuasa Corp, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, IHI down between 1.6 and 3 percent, while the benchmark Nikkei shed 1.3 percent.

Japan's transport minister had previously acknowledged that passenger confidence in Boeing's new 787 Dreamliner jet is at stake, as both Japan and the United States have opened broad and open-ended investigations into the plane after a series of incidents that have raised safety concerns.

Japanese authorities said on Monday they would investigate fuel leaks on a 787 operated by JAL, and the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board said later its agents would analyze the lithium-ion battery and burned wire bundles from a fire aboard another JAL 787 at Boston's Logan Airport last week.

(Addtional reporting by Tim Kelly, Olivier Fabre, Kentaro Sugiyama and Alwyn Scott; Editing by Paul Tait and Ken Wills)

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Cuban hospital carefully guards Hugo Chavez’s privacy

HAVANA (Reuters) – You would never guess that one of the world’s most famous heads of state, Venezuelan president and self-proclaimed revolutionary Hugo Chavez, is battling cancer at Havana’s Center for Medical-Surgical Research (CIMEQ).

At the weekend there was no visible increase in security at the hospital’s main entrance, where guards in olive green uniforms checked the comings and goings of visitors and waved on dallying reporters.

The sprawling, three story complex that is run by the Cuban Interior Ministry is located in leafy Siboney, one of the country’s most exclusive neighborhoods on the western edge of the Cuban capital, and just minutes from the home of Fidel Castro.

It has been a month since the once feisty and now cancer-stricken Chavez, leader of one of the world’s biggest oil producing nations, was operated on for a fourth time at the hospital. This time around, there have been no glowing reports of recovery.

CIMEQ’s best known patient, Fidel Castro, 86, has been treated there since 2006 when he was operated on for intestinal bleeding, forcing him to cede power to his brother Raul Castro.

Ironically Chavez, who often visited the man he refers to as his mentor during Castro’s ordeal, has now become CIMEQ’s second best known patient. In a dramatic reversal of fate, it is Fidel Castro who has been repeatedly at the 58-year-old Venezuelan president’s bedside, beginning with his first operation in 2011.

Hazy Venezuelan government communiques speak of unexpected bleeding during Chavez’s most recent surgery and a lung infection that has kept the 58-year-old Chavez in a “stable” but “delicate” state since mid-December.

There has not been a word, nor even a tweet from the usually vociferous Chavez. His Twitter account, with almost 4 million followers, went silent after November 1.

Meanwhile, Chavez’s family has been holding vigil in Havana, as other Venezuelan leaders and various Latin American heads of state come and go in a show of support. The presidents of Argentina and Peru visited over the weekend.

What the operation involved, and even the type of cancer attacking Chavez and its exact location, are considered state secrets.

VIP FACILITIES OFF LIMITS

CIMEQ, according to various Cuban doctors and nurses, is the Caribbean island’s finest medical facility, boasting up to date equipment and pharmaceuticals and with the authority to call in the country’s top specialists and support staff from other hospitals, as has been done in Chavez’s case.

“CIMEQ exists in the 21st century and is the equal to some of the best facilities in the world, while the rest of the country’s hospitals remain at 20th century levels,” said one local doctor who requested her name be withheld.

“There are no shortages of supplies and medicines and the food is great,” she added.

The hospital treats mainly interior ministry personnel, their families and area residents free of charge.

In a land where complaints are common, it is hard to find anyone with a bad word to say about the place, except that it is reserved exclusively for the elite.

“Unfortunately, I lost my father to cancer at CIMEQ less than a year ago,” said 47- year-old Agustín Daniel.

“He was treated for years at CIMEQ and the care was exquisite. He died because cancer kills and sometimes there is no solution,” the self-employed interior decorator said.

CIMEQ also boasts a wing for foreigners willing to pay for their care, as well as special VIP facilities for Cuba’s top leaders and important figures from other lands.

“Distinguished personalities from the arts, sciences and politics from all over the world have received attention in its modern and efficient installations,” the hospital‘s Web Page (www.cimeq.org)states.

Little is known about the hospital’s VIP accommodations, where Chavez is being treated, except that they are equipped with the latest technology and that those who work there are often sequestered for periods of time. Like all CIMEQ staff, they are sworn to secrecy at the risk of losing their licenses and criminal prosecution.

“The VIPs are treated on the third floor which is off limits to most staff even if they work for the Interior Ministry and wear uniforms under their white coats,” a doctor who has worked at CIMEQ said.

“The elevators to the third floor have guards and if the patient goes outside part of the grounds are closed off,” he said, adding, “no one knows what goes on up there.”

(Editing by David Adams and Andrew Hay)

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Seized guns on display weren't from 2013

Chicago Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy looks over an assortment of weapons representing, but not the actually, those seized by members of CPD in the first two weeks of the new year at the Gresham (6th) District in Chicago. (Anthony Souffle, Chicago Tribune / January 14, 2013)

By Patrick Svitek and Liam Ford




Tribune reporters

6:50 p.m. CST, January 14, 2013

Chicago Police Supt. Garry McCarthy held a news conference Monday where his department “put on display several of the firearms seized … during the first two weeks of 2013,” according to a police news release.

But that wasn’t exactly the case.

A police spokeswoman said McCarthy had hoped to display 25 weapons from among the more than 300 seized since Jan. 1 — but in fact the ones shown were from last year. Some dated from last summer, according to inventory tags on the weapons.

Reporters attending the news conference at the Gresham Police District station, 7808 S Halsted St., noticed the inventory tags, and McCarthy was asked about them. He said the guns weren’t the actual ones seized in 2013, but were “representative” of them.

“Well, you know what the point is? These are representative of what we’re recovering today,” McCarthy said. “The problem is that many of the guns we’re recovering today are arrest evidence, and we can’t display them. So what we’ll do is substitute one for the other. OK?”

Police spokeswoman Melissa Stratton said the department had intended to show this year’s seizures, but the firearms weren’t inventoried in time. The weapons shown “match the guns that we took off the street” in characteristics like maker and caliber, she said.

The spokeswoman said future news conferences are expected to display the guns confiscated in the periods addressed.

psvitek@tribune.com, lford@tribune.com

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Natalie Wood may have sustained bruises before drowning death: report

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Actress Natalie Wood had bruising on her arms and wrists and scratches on her neck when her body was pulled from the Pacific Ocean in 1981, suggesting she was injured before she hit the water, according to a report released by Los Angeles County Coroner’s Office on Monday.

But the report, written in June 2012, said there was not enough evidence to say that her death was definitively “non accidental.”

The body of the “West Side Story” star, 43, was found floating in a Santa Catalina Island cove off the coast of Southern California in 1981 after she had spent a night of dining and drinking on the island and on a yacht with her husband, television star Robert Wagner, and actor Christopher Walken.

The case has been surrounded by mystery and suspicion for decades and Los Angeles homicide detectives reopened the investigation into Wood’s death in 2011.

In June 2012, authorities changed Wood’s death certificate to “drowning and other undetermined factors” from the original finding of accidental drowning, but did not explain why.

The change was based on a 10-page document, drawn up as an addendum to the original autopsy report, that said Wood died shortly after she entered the water.

“The location of the bruises, the multiplicity of the bruises, lack of head trauma, or facial bruising, support bruising having occurred prior to the entry into the water,” the supplemental coroner’s report states.

“This medical examiner is unable to exclude non-volitional, unplanned entry into the water … Since there are many unanswered questions and limited additional evidence available for evaluation, it is opined by this medical examiner that the manner of death should be left as undetermined,” it adds.

A spokesman for the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department said on Monday the case was still open but declined to discuss any new evidence that may have been discovered.

The Sheriff’s Department has said that neither Wagner, now 82, nor Walken are suspects.

Wood starred opposite James Dean in the classic 1955 film “Rebel Without a Cause,” and later in musical “West Side Story” and “Splendor in the Grass.”

(Reporting by Eric Kelsey; Editing by Mohammad Zargham)

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Well: How to Go Vegan

When I first heard former President Bill Clinton talk about his vegan diet, I was inspired to make the switch myself. After all, if a man with a penchant for fast-food burgers and Southern cooking could go vegan, surely I could too.

At the grocery store, I stocked up on vegan foods, including almond milk (that was the presidential recommendation), and faux turkey and cheese to replicate my daughter’s favorite sandwich. But despite my good intentions, my cold-turkey attempt to give up, well, turkey (as well as other meats, dairy and eggs) didn’t go well. My daughter and I couldn’t stand the taste of almond milk, and the fake meat and cheese were unappealing.

Since then, I’ve spoken with numerous vegan chefs and diners who say it can be a challenge to change a lifetime of eating habits overnight. They offer the following advice for stocking your vegan pantry and finding replacements for key foods like cheese and other dairy products.

NONDAIRY MILK Taste all of them to find your favorite. Coconut and almond milks (particularly canned coconut milk) are thicker and good to use in cooking, while rice milk is thinner and is good for people who are allergic to nuts or soy. My daughter and I both prefer the taste of soy milk and use it in regular or vanilla flavor for fruit smoothies and breakfast cereal.

NONDAIRY CHEESE Cheese substitutes are available under the brand names Daiya, Tofutti and Follow Your Heart, among others, but many vegans say there’s no fake cheese that satisfies as well as the real thing. Rather than use a packaged product, vegan chefs prefer to make homemade substitutes using cashews, tofu, miso or nutritional yeast. At Candle 79, a popular New York vegan restaurant, the filling for saffron ravioli with wild mushrooms and cashew cheese is made with cashews soaked overnight and then blended with lemon juice, olive oil, water and salt.

THINK CREAMY, NOT CHEESY Creaminess and richness can often be achieved without a cheese substitute. For instance, Chloe Coscarelli, a vegan chef and the author of “Chloe’s Kitchen,” has created a pizza with caramelized onion and butternut squash that will make you forget it doesn’t have cheese; the secret is white-bean and garlic purée. She also offers a creamy, but dairy-free, avocado pesto pasta. My daughter and I have discovered we actually prefer the rich flavor of butternut squash ravioli, which can be found frozen and fresh in supermarkets, to cheese-filled ravioli.

NUTRITIONAL YEAST The name is unappetizing, but many vegan chefs swear by it: it’s a natural food with a roasted, nutty, cheeselike flavor. Ms. Coscarelli uses nutritional yeast flakes in her “best ever” baked macaroni and cheese (found in her cookbook). “I’ve served this to die-hard cheese lovers,” she told me, “and everyone agrees it is comparable, if not better.”

Susan Voisin’s Web site, Fat Free Vegan Kitchen, offers a nice primer on nutritional yeast, noting that it’s a fungus (think mushrooms!) that is grown on molasses and then harvested and dried with heat. (Baking yeast is an entirely different product.) Nutritional yeasts can be an acquired taste, she said, so start with small amounts, sprinkling on popcorn, stirring into mashed potatoes, grinding with almonds for a Parmesan substitute or combining with tofu to make an eggless omelet. It can be found in Whole Foods, in the bulk aisle of natural-foods markets or online.

BUTTER This is an easy fix. Vegan margarines like Earth Balance are made from a blend of oils and are free of trans fats. Varieties include soy-free, whipped and olive oil.

EGGS Ms. Coscarelli, who won the Food Network’s Cupcake Wars with vegan cupcakes, says vinegar and baking soda can help baked goods bind together and rise, creating a moist and fluffy cake without eggs. Cornstarch can substitute for eggs to thicken puddings and sauces. Vegan pancakes are made with a tablespoon of baking powder instead of eggs. Frittatas and omelets can be replicated with tofu.

Finally, don’t try to replicate your favorite meaty foods right away. If you love a juicy hamburger, meatloaf or ham sandwich, you are not going to find a meat-free version that tastes the same. Ms. Voisin advises new vegans to start slow and eat a few vegan meals a week. Stock your pantry with lots of grains, lentils and beans and pile your plate with vegetables. To veganize a recipe, start with a dish that is mostly vegan already — like spaghetti — and use vegetables or a meat substitute for the sauce.

“Trying to recapture something and find an exact substitute is really hard,” she said. “A lot of people will try a vegetarian meatloaf right after they become vegetarian, and they hate it. But after you get away from eating meat for a while, you’ll find you start to develop other tastes, and the flavor of a lentil loaf with seasonings will taste great to you. It won’t taste like meat loaf, but you’ll appreciate it for itself.”

Ms. Voisin notes that she became a vegetarian and then vegan while living in a small town in South Carolina; she now lives in Jackson, Miss.

“If I can be a vegan in these not-quite-vegan-centric places, you can do it anywhere,” she said. “I think people who try to do it all at once overnight are more apt to fail. It’s a learning process.”

---

What are your vegantips? We’re collecting suggestions on ingredients, recipes and strategies.

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Come for a Tour of China’s Unlicensed ‘World of Warcraft’ Theme Park

World of Warcraft Theme Park

Image credit Francesca Timbers

Click here to view this gallery.

[More from Mashable: 20 Tweets That Prove Skittles’ Social-Media Team Inhaled the Rainbow]

Changzhou, China is home to a bizzarre world of rides, food and fun: A World of Warcraft-style theme park that’s completely unlicensed by Blizzard, maker of the Warcraft series.

The park opened in the summer of last year. It reportedly cost $ 48 million to build and is “pretty huge,” according to Reddit user Francesca Timbers who originally posted these pictures republished here with permission.

[More from Mashable: 10 Amusing Cubicle Makeovers [VIDEOS]]

“I thought it was great,” posted Timbers. “A lot of the rides used 4-D and special effects, which I hand’t experienced much of before. There was a good roller coaster with loops, where you are lying horizontally, face forward, like you are flying. That was my favourite ride. The water log ride (‘splash of monster blood’) was pretty good too.”

Another weird tidbit: Some rides have a “happiness index,” showing, we believe, the intensity of the ride.

While most of the park is Warcraft-flavored, one section is dedicated to another Blizzard favorite: Starcraft.

For the rest of Timbers’ pictures and more details about her trip to the utterly weird theme park, visit her Reddit thread. Would you book a trip to China to get out to this theme park?

Images courtesy Francesca Timbers

This story originally published on Mashable here.

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