Net neutrality and the benefits of caching

(Cross-posted from the Google Public Policy Blog)

One of the first posts I wrote for this blog last summer tried to define what we at Google mean when we talk about the concept of net neutrality.

Broadband providers -- the on-ramps to the Internet -- should not be allowed to prioritize traffic based on the source, ownership or destination of the content. As I noted in that post, broadband providers should have the flexibility to employ network upgrades, such as edge caching. However, they shouldn't be able to leverage their unilateral control over consumers' broadband connections to hamper user choice, competition, and innovation. Our commitment to that principle of net neutrality remains as strong as ever.

Some critics have questioned whether improving Web performance through edge caching -- temporary storage of frequently accessed data on servers that are located close to end users -- violates the concept of network neutrality. As I said last summer, this myth -- which unfortunately underlies a confused story in Monday's Wall Street Journal -- is based on a misunderstanding of the way in which the open Internet works.

Edge caching is a common practice used by ISPs and application and content providers in order to improve the end user experience. Companies like Akamai, Limelight, and Amazon's Cloudfront provide local caching services, and broadband providers typically utilize caching as part of what are known as content distribution networks (CDNs). Google and many other Internet companies also deploy servers of their own around the world.

By bringing YouTube videos and other content physically closer to end users, site operators can improve page load times for videos and Web pages. In addition, these solutions help broadband providers by minimizing the need to send traffic outside of their networks and reducing congestion on the Internet's backbones. In fact, caching represents one type of innovative network practice encouraged by the open Internet.

Google has offered to "colocate" caching servers within broadband providers' own facilities; this reduces the provider's bandwidth costs since the same video wouldn't have to be transmitted multiple times. We've always said that broadband providers can engage in activities like colocation and caching, so long as they do so on a non-discriminatory basis.

All of Google's colocation agreements with ISPs -- which we've done through projects called OpenEdge and Google Global Cache -- are non-exclusive, meaning any other entity could employ similar arrangements. Also, none of them require (or encourage) that Google traffic be treated with higher priority than other traffic. In contrast, if broadband providers were to leverage their unilateral control over consumers' connections and offer colocation or caching services in an anti-competitive fashion, that would threaten the open Internet and the innovation it enables.

Despite the hyperbolic tone and confused claims in Monday's Journal story, I want to be perfectly clear about one thing: Google remains strongly committed to the principle of net neutrality, and we will continue to work with policymakers in the years ahead to keep the Internet free and open.

P.S.: The Journal story also quoted me as characterizing President-elect Obama's net neutrality policies as "much less specific than they were before." For what it's worth, I don't recall making such a comment, and it seems especially odd given that President-elect Obama's supportive stance on network neutrality hasn't changed at all.

Update: Larry Lessig, Save the Internet, Public Knowledge, David Isenberg, Wired and others all found fault with today's piece too.

Posted by Richard Whitt, Washington Telecom and Media Counsel

@Twitter: Welcome to Google Friend Connect

We know many of you enjoy using Twitter to see what people are talking about and to let others know what you've been up to, whether it's sharing a YouTube video or checking in on your friend's tweets. To help you and your Twitter network stay connected no matter where you are on the web, we're excited to announce that Google Friend Connect has integrated with Twitter. This means that when you join a friend connected site, you can choose to use your Twitter profile, discover people you follow on Twitter who are also members of the site, and quickly tweet that you have found a cool website.



To send a tweet about a site you have joined, click the invite link in the members gadget, then click the Twitter icon on the share tab. The next time your followers sign in to Twitter, they'll see your tweet containing a link to the interesting site you've found.

This integration with Twitter is an example of how we want to continue improving Friend Connect, extending the open social web and bringing social features to more places on the web.

Posted by Mussie Shore, Product Manager

Isn't She Lovely? Camille from TV/TV Shares Some Ink

One of the benefits of Tattoosday is that, because musicians tend to have a lot of ink, I meet a lot of them, and learn about bands that I may never have heard about.

This past Friday, I met Camille (pronounced Cah-mee) outside of Penn Station and he showed me a couple of his tattoos.

Camille is the drummer for the band TV/TV (MySpace here).

They just released their 5-track EP Something to Get Excited About this past year (read a review here). I've heard several of their songs since then, and I've enjoyed their sound (see the bottom of the post for more info). TV/TV is playing at the Highline Ballroom on January 15 and are booked for the Warped Tour in the Summer of 2009.

Of Camille's sixteen tattoos, he showed me this one first:

On the day the world mourned the passing of Bettie Page, it seemed appropriate to get a shot of a pin-up tattoo.

This piece is a vision, like many pin-ups, of the wearer's "dream girl". The top caption, "Isn't She Lovely?" is a nod to the Stevie Wonder song (his "favorite song ever"). Camille notes he's a big Stevie fan.

He says it's not obvious from the piece, but the woman has a knife behind her back, which explains the warning "Trust No One".

Just below the pin-up are the theater's Comedy and Tragedy masks:


See another version of this motif, appearing previously on Tattoosday, here. He added these to his arm because he loves the theater and musicals.

Both tattoos are on his left arm. The comedy/tragedy masks are on the inside of his wrist.

The artist on both pieces were inked by Turk at Guru Tattoo in the Pacific Beach section of San Diego.

Thanks to Camille for sharing these tattoos here with us on Tattoosday!

You can hear the songs from their debut EP here on their YouTube channel. Here's a taste, listen to "Call it Love":

Fabiana Shares Two More Colorful Tattoos

A couple of weeks back, I posted some ink from a guy named Tom (here), which featured the trinacria of the Sicilian flag.

The above example, from our good friend Fabiana (see her last post here - which links to her previous ones, as well), is a more colorful and elaborate take on the design.

Fabiana explains:

"The tat of the Medusa head I got because it's on the Sicilian flag. I was born there and it reminds me of all that I left behind, kinda just reminds me of my fam there and the time I lived there and all the things I went through! I love Sicily! It's such a beautiful place, hope I can return there some day! So now I look at it and it takes me right back to where my life first began."

This piece is on her upper right bicep and, like most of her work, was inked by Lou at Third Eye Tattoo in Brooklyn.

Another relatively new piece on Fabiana is this card on her left forearm:


Again, in her own words:

"The other new one I have is the orange one that kind of looks like a card. I got that because of my ex-girlfriend. I used to say to her 'I love you to the moon and back and all the stars in the universe.' So because of that, I got a moon and seven stars with the color orange because that was her favorite. She meant a lot to me but things just didn't work out. I will love her always!"

Yet again, a hearty thanks to Fabiana for letting me post her ink here, and for sharing the deep personal meanings behind the tattoos.

Google Chrome (BETA)

Since we first released Google Chrome, the development team has been hard at work improving the stability and overall performance of the browser. In just 100 days, we have reached more than 10 million active users around the world (on all seven continents, no less) and released 14 updates to the product. We're excited to announce that with today's fifteenth release we are taking off the "beta" label!

Google Chrome is a better browser today thanks to the many users who sent their feedback and the many more who enabled automatic crash reports, helping us rapidly diagnose and fix issues. Some of the areas where we've made great progress include:

Better stability and performance of plug-ins (particularly video). Video and audio glitches were among the most common bugs fixed during the beta period. If you had problems watching videos with Google Chrome in the past, you should be pleasantly surprised with the performance now.

Even more speed. Google Chrome starts up fast, loads pages quickly, and just keeps getting faster. Since the first beta, the V8 JavaScript engine runs 1.4 times faster on the SunSpider benchmark and 1.5 times faster on the V8 benchmark — and there is more speed to come.

Bookmark manager and privacy controls. We heard you! Better bookmark features were a top request from our users. It's now easier to switch between another browser and Google Chrome with the bookmark import and export features, and we added a new simple way to manage large numbers of bookmarks, too. We also wanted to make it even easier for you to control your browsing data, so all of the features in Google Chrome which affect user privacy are now grouped in one place with detailed explanations for each one.

We've taken security very seriously from the beginning and we will continue to look for ways to make Google Chrome and all browsers even more secure. Google Chrome's unique sandbox technology creates an additional layer of defense against harmful software, while the Safe Browsing feature provides protection against phishing and malware attacks for many browser users.

We have removed the beta label as our goals for stability and performance have been met but our work is far from done. We are working to add some common browser features such as form autofill and RSS support in the near future. We are also developing an extensions platform along with support for Mac and Linux. If you are already using Google Chrome, the update system ensures that you get the latest bug fixes and security patches, so you will get the newest version automatically in the next few days. If you haven't used Google Chrome for a while, now might be a good time to give it another spin.

Download Google Chrome and try it out. Let us know what you think.

Posted by By Sundar Pichai, VP, Product Management, and Linus Upson, Engineering Director

Safety, education, and empowerment on YouTube

(Cross-posted from the YouTube Blog)

We've always been committed to providing you the tools to have the best possible YouTube experience. Educating parents, teens, and families on how to stay safe on our site is a critical part of that commitment, so we can't think of a more appropriate place to introduce our new Abuse and Safety Center than at the Family Online Safety Institute (FOSI) conference in Washington, D.C., today.


The center features straightforward safety tips and multimedia resources from experts and prominent safety organizations. We are empowering people with the information and tools they need to help them deal with issues like cyberbullying, online harassment, and hateful content.



The new center also makes it easier for you to find our Help and Safety Tool, which lets you report concerns to us and gives you granular control over your channel, like the option of blocking comments from specific users or disabling the video comments feature on specific videos.

The Abuse and Safety Center is easy to find. Just look at the bottom of any YouTube page and click on the link titled "Abuse and Safety Center." From phishing scams to just learning what it means to be a good YouTube citizen, you'll find the information you need.

Finally, check out FOSI's meeting page for more information about our presence at the conference, where Shantal Rands from Google's legal team will receive a FOSI Award for Outstanding Achievement in advancing the goal of a safer Internet. Plus, Andrew McLaughlin, Google's Director of Global Policy & Government Affairs, is speaking about "Protecting Kids and Free Speech Online," and YouTube's Policy Analyst Micah Schaffer will address online safety in social media.

We'll continue to add new information and features to the center, so check back often.

Posted by The YouTube Team

Creating change with your homepage

In the spirit of holiday giving, we've partnered with nonprofit organizations to create themes that showcase the change they are helping to create. With iGoogle Themes for Causes, you can show your support for the cause that inspires you most by adding that theme to your iGoogle page.

Our partners in iGoogle Themes for Causes span a variety of areas including the environment, international development, education, health, civil rights, and disaster relief. They include organizations like Heifer International, Oxfam America, Ashoka, Doctors without Borders, Save the Children, charity:water, and Conservation International — just to name a few. We're honored to help these organizations increase their reach by making their themes available to the millions of iGoogle users around the world who care about the great work they're doing.

The intent of these themes is to raise awareness as well as donations. Each theme has a "Donate" link that appears in the upper right-hand corner to make your holiday donations easier. We also encourage you to share your favorite Theme for a Cause with your family and friends.

We hope you find your favorite cause among our new themes and can make it a part of your homepage.

Posted by Marissa Mayer, VP, Search Products & User Experience, and Michaela Prescott, Senior Product Marketing Manager

The global Zeitgeist

Google's users are intrinsically curious. Why else would you search? And, since we at Google are pretty curious ourselves, we wondered which of our users' queries might be truly global and which may be unique to certain cultures. This is why, for the first time, our annual Year-End Zeitgeist features search data from more than 30 countries.

So, what do we in this global village have in common? Mainly a strong interest in socializing and politics. Social networks comprised four out of the top 10 global fastest-rising queries, while the U.S. election held everyone's interest around the globe. Republican VP candidate, Sarah Palin, may have lost in the election, but she was the #1 fastest-rising query on our global list (Obama was #6).

On the other hand, cultural differences still abound. Russians elected Dmitri Medvedev as their president, but a couple of popular musical acts got more attention from Google searchers. And in Poland, the 5th fastest-rising term was "Jozin z Bazin," an old 1978 Czech song that roughly translates to, "Joe of the Swamp." The song became a sensation on YouTube, and the comedian who originally performed it is touring again!

It's because of our inquisitive users that our annual Zeitgeist list is a true reflection of the times, with the billions of Google searches conducted every year lending us insight into our global society.

Posted by Marissa Mayer, VP Search Products & User Experience

Street View: A year in review, and what's new

With just 22 days left in the year, I can't help but think back to where Street View was at the beginning of 2008. At that time, we had imagery for 23 cities in the United States, and we had just released embeddable panoramas. Although Street View was still in its infancy, we were excited about the user feedback we had gotten and the creative uses we were seeing.

So we started 2008 with a clear, simple goal: bring Street View to more people in more places. Every time we add imagery for a new city or town, we're not just benefiting its citizens, who now can preview their driving route or check for parking meters outside their dentist's office, but anyone traveling to that place or teaching about it or simply curious to see more of the world.

Looking back over the past 12 months, I think it's safe to say that we've had quite a year. We kept up a pretty steady pace adding new U.S. cities, from the beaches of Florida to the snowy peaks in Alaska — and many spots in between. In March, we brought you the first national park in Street View and have since added nearly a dozen others. We've even come across some pretty quirky sights along the way, like a giant rocking chair.

Sounds like a pretty big year, right? Well, of course, that's not all. Today marks our biggest launch of Street View imagery to date: we're doubling our coverage in the United States. Several states — Maine, West Virginia, North Dakota, and South Dakota — will be getting the Street View treatment for the first time. We've also added imagery for Memphis, Charleston (SC), and Birmingham, and we've filled in lots of gaps across the country.

(before)

(after)

Since there are spectacular things to see all around the world, Street View also headed overseas this year. In July, Street View made its international debut with imagery of the Tour de France route, and kept rolling from there. After starting the year with just one country, we now have seven — France, Japan, Australia, Spain, Italy, New Zealand, and the U.S. — letting you see some of the world's most famous attractions and landmarks, ranging from the Eiffel Tower to Shibuya, Tokyo to the Pantheon.


View Larger Map

This year wasn't only about adding new cities, but also about making Street View more useful and more accessible. In March, Street View imagery was added to the Google Maps API. This has led to an amazing array of uses, ranging from simplifying the real estate search to creating adventure games to showing bike paths. We also integrated Street View into our own driving directions, making it easier for you to explore the real world when you finish your virtual sightseeing. And just two weeks ago, we unveiled a substantial overhaul to the Street View experience, making it much easier to access and explore imagery (and hopefully a little more fun, too).

We've also brought Street View to more platforms — first to Google Earth, allowing you to view ground-level imagery alongside all the rich Google Earth content, and in the past few months, to a wide range of mobile devices so that the imagery is close at hand while you're out on the streets.

One of our other updates this year was developing technology that blurs identifiable faces and license plates. But if you happen to come across something in Street View that you find objectionable, simply click "Report a concern" at the bottom of the image.

Between today's launch and all the other launches this year, 2008 saw a 22-fold increase in the amount of Street View imagery available around the world.

On the Lat Long blog, you'll find a collection of impressive images from today's launch. And keep Street View in mind during the holiday season. Whether you're looking for a good hill to sled on, want to preview hotels for a ski trip, or need some visual cues for your directions to a holiday party, Street View can help!

Posted by Stephen Chau, Product Manager

Search and find magazines on Google Book Search

The word "magazine" is derived from the Arabic word "makhazin," meaning storehouse. Since Daniel Defoe published the world's first English magazine back in 1704, millions of magazines catering to nearly every imaginable taste have been created and consumed, passed from person to person in cafes, barber shops, libraries, and homes around the world. If you're wondering what cars people drove in the eighties or what was in fashion thirty years ago, there's a good chance that you'll find that answer in a magazine. Yet few magazine archives are currently available online.

Today, we're announcing an initiative to help bring more magazine archives and current magazines online, partnering with publishers to begin digitizing millions of articles from titles as diverse as New York Magazine, Popular Mechanics, and Ebony. Are you a baseball history fanatic? Try a search for [hank aaron pursuing babe ruth's record] on Google Book Search. You'll find a link to a 1973 Ebony article about Hank Aaron, written as he closed in on Babe Ruth's original record for career home runs. You can read the article in full color and in its original context, just as you would in the printed magazine. Scroll back a few pages, for example, and you'll find a two-page spread on 1973's fall fashions. If you'd like to read further, you can click on "Browse all issues" to view issues from across the decades.



Explore other publications, like Popular Science, New York Magazine, or (for you physics enthusiasts) the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists, to rediscover historical interviews, do-it-yourself articles, and even a piece on canine eyewear. In many cases, these magazines aren't just history as history, but history as perspective — a way of understanding today.



You can search for magazines through Google Book Search. Try queries like [obama keynote convention], [hollywood brat pack] or [world's most challenging crossword] and you'll find magazine articles alongside books results. Magazine articles are tagged with the keyword "Magazine" on the search snippet.

Over time, as we scan more articles, you'll see more and more magazines appear in Google Book Search results. Eventually, we'll also begin blending magazine results into our main Google.com search results, so you may begin finding magazines you didn't even know you were looking for. For now you can restrict your search to magazines we've scanned by trying an advanced search.

For years, we've worked to make as much information as possible accessible online, whether that information comes from books, newspapers, or images. We think that bringing more magazines online is one more important step toward our long-standing goal of providing access to all the world's information.

Posted by Dave Foulser, Software Engineer

Tattoos from the Blogosphere: The Back of Nathan's Legs

My recent affiliation with Nathan over at KnuckleTattoos.com has been fairly sparse with the cold weather seizing the Northeast. However once he added me as a contributing writer, I queried about him sending me photos of some of his ink to put up over here on Tattoosday. This post reflects a couple of leg pieces he sports.

First a pre-color peek:

And then, with some color, in its completed form:


A little limb isolation (click to enlarge):



These pieces were inked by Jason Brooks ("he is incredible") at Rock of Ages Tattooing in Austin, Texas.

The following is an excerpt from Nathan's blog, which begins to explain "bitter strength" and "Quixotic honor":

So I went under the gun again. First time in almost six years. I was just supposed to get the outlines done, but then his appointment after me canceled and I got a four hour session. The crook behind the knee and the area around the Achilles tendon were miserably painful, but the rest was pretty tolerable.



The theme behind the piece is a warning about virtues bordering on being vices. Values that can bite you back. Just because I am strong enough to endure hardship does not make it any less hard. Sometimes not bearing the load is better than having the strength. Honor is good up to the point that it becomes pride or self delusion. Of course it also works backwards. I am strong enough to persevere. Sometimes the windmills are dragons in disguise.

Thanks to Nathan for sharing his ink here on Tattoosday. Be sure to check out his ink blog here. Who knows, may be you'll see a post by yours truly over there one of these days...

Thanks from Us Here at Tattoosday!

On Thursday, December 4, at 4:31pm E.S.T., Tattoosday logged its 100,000th hit.

Someone up at Humber College in Toronto googled something that directed them to this photo:


which is from one of my favorite posts ever.

If you have become a reader since last May, I encourage you to go back and check out that post.

Regardless, thanks to everyone who has visited since Tattoosday's inception. 100k is nothing to sneeze at. I wouldn't keep doing this if it weren't for the people checking in on a regular basis.
Please, keep coming back!

Pirates vs. Ninjas: Who would win?

The rivalry has become a social phenomenon, from YouTube videos condemning pirates' accents to movies predicting the outcome of a final showdown, and games that let you decide who's the mightiest. The clash comes to a head twice a year: Talk Like a Pirate Day on September 19th, and the Day of the Ninja on December 5th.

In September, we announced support for searching in pirate in time for the rum-filled celebrations. But when we sat down to brainstorm how one might search in ninja, we had a challenge. As far as we know, ninjas communicate telepathically -- and sadly, our search algorithm isn't quite there yet.

In fact, due to the stealth behavior inherent to ninja life, we didn't even know how to contact one for a consultation. We started looking for evidence of ninja activity on the web, and what we found confirmed our own inability to locate ninjas. Over the last four years, searches for ninjas have steadily increased:

But does an increase in curiosity indicate an increase in the ninja population? To answer this, we took a peek into our aggregated search terms over 2008. What we found seems to support the notion of a pervasive ninja community. But even that's open to interpretation:

Top Queries of 2008 related to "Ninjas Are..."

1. ninjas are there
2. ninjas are everywhere
3. ninjas are better
4. ninjas are awesome
5. ninjas are sexy

Are we witnessing a quiet but steady ninja takeover? Should pirates be taking to the seas? Only time will tell. Or take matters into your own hands by comparing queries and graphs yourself using our Insights for Search tool.

Posted by Kasia Chmielinski, Google Blog Team

Acara House & Living di DAAI TV

Di tengah maraknya acara tv yang penuh kekerasan, tayangan mistik dan suguhan sinetron tidak mendidik. DAAI tv hadir dengan format berbeda. Seluruh acaranya mengajarkan kasih sayang, cinta lingkungan, semangat berbagi, kebersamaan, gaya hidup sehat serta mendidik. Pilihan tepat bagi pemirsa tv Indonesia.

Acara stasiun DAAI tv kian beragam. Salah satu acara barunya adalah HOUSE & LIVING. Sebuah acara keluarga berdurasi 30 menit dan dibagi dalam tiga segmen, yaitu, Do It Your Self, Good Idea, dan Tea Time.

Do It Your Self
Berisikan ide-ide pemanfaatan barang tidak berguna menjadi barang baru yang bernilai guna. Setelah menyaksikan tayangan ini, pemirsa diharapkan terinspirasi untuk memanfaatkan barang bekas yang tidak berguna atau limbah, diolah menjadi produk baru yang bermanfaat dan bernilai ekonomi.

Good Idea
Sesuai namanya, Segmen ini menayangkan berbagai tip & trik pekerjaan dapur, rumah maupun kegiatan di luar rumah. Sederhana namun bermanfaat sehingga memberikan solusi bagi pemirsa. Semua tip & trik yang disuguhkan dapat dilakukan sendiri bagi para pemirsa di rumah.

Tea Time
Pada bagian ini, Budi Boga akan mempraktekkan resep kudapan yang praktis, mudah dibuat, sehat dan bergizi.

Acara HOUSE & LIVING mulai tayang Hari Minggu, 7 Desember 2008 pada Jam 9.00 WIB. Bagi Anda yang tinggal di daerah Jakarta dan sekitarnya, DAAI tv ada di channel UHF 59. Sedangkan untuk Kota Medan DAAI tv ada di saluran 51 UHF.

Saksikan acara-acara DAAI tv dan Anda akan mendapatkan banyak inspirasi seperti orang-orang di dalam link ini

Google Friend Connect: now available

We're pleased to share that Google Friend Connect is now available in beta to any webmaster looking to add a "dash of social" to his or her site. This service lets webmasters add social features to their sites by simply copying and pasting a few snippets of code — no advanced coding or technical background required.

We know that people want to be social on the web, and Friend Connect makes it easy for anyone to sign in to a website, share a little bit about themselves through a personal profile, discover other people with similar interests, invite their contacts, and interact with friends. Even better, you don't have to deal with the hassle of creating yet another username and password — Friend Connect lets you log in using an existing account from Google, Yahoo, AOL, or OpenID. Similarly, you can choose to either establish a new profile or use profiles and friend sources from other social networks that have opened up their services, like Plaxo and orkut. To learn more, watch the video tour below:



We launched Friend Connect as a preview release in May, and since then we have been working closely with a handful of website owners, social networks, and application developers to improve its speed and scalability, ease of use, and customization capabilities. We've also expanded the features available to users with richer, more integrated profiles and new ways to discuss and share content, like including YouTube videos in your comments.

Friend Connect's goal is to facilitate an open social web. Using open standards like OpenID and OAuth, Friend Connect makes it simple for people to instantly interact with one another on the sites that they already love to visit. Additionally, websites that use Friend Connect become OpenSocial containers, capable of running applications created by the OpenSocial developer community.

In the coming months, we're excited to see more webmasters add Friend Connect to their sites, helping their visitors engage with each other across the web.

To learn more, please visit www.google.com/friendconnect.

Posted by Mussie Shore, Product Manager

Helping healthcare providers become more efficient

Healthcare professionals have always focused on reducing costs while still increasing the quality of the care they provide to patients — and this kind of efficiency becomes even more important in challenging economic times.

Fortunately, healthcare providers can turn to the web for a growing number of resources that help them achieve these goals. With our health initiatives and solutions for businesses of all kinds, Google is committed to helping bring exactly these kinds of productivity gains and cost reductions to healthcare providers. We're also committed to harnessing the power of the web to help people everywhere effectively manage their healthcare records and information in a private, secure online setting.

To learn about our latest innovations in this area, tune in to our free webinar scheduled for Wednesday, December 10, at 10:00 am PT.

The session will include a current look at Google Health, which empowers patients to securely organize and manage their health information online. For the full lineup of topics that will be covered, check out our post on the Enterprise blog.

We hope to see you there.

Posted by Sundar Raghavan, Google Enterprise Team

Jill's Right Leg: One Post Leads to Another

The previous post featured the "Eld Sigul" insignia attributed to Stephen King's Gunslinger, of The Dark Tower series.

As I had mentioned, I was able to locate the artwork on which this earlier tattoo was based, but the specific source of the new design eluded me.

So I popped into the local Borders and, after wandering a bit, found the Horror section wherein the King books resided. I perused the covers but, alas, no sign. I was about to leave when a store employee named Jill popped up and started straightening books next to me.

And she had ink.

So we got to chatting. She has seven pieces in all, three of which I saw. She has designated a theme for each of her arms and legs. I had noticed the pin-up on her right forearm first, which turns out is her Celtic-themed limb. She isn't happy with the red in the dress, so that piece is technically a work-in-progress. Her left arms sports some kanji, as part of her Asian-themed limb.

Her left leg is desert-themed, as a tribute to growing up in Arizona. Which brings us to her right leg. Jill has that part of her body designated as water-themed. She went to her favorite artist Shaggy at Rings of Fire Tattoos in downtown San Antonio, Texas, and told him she wanted a tattoo to fit the theme. He had drawn this design with the octopus and she loved it. The rest is history:


I love how the octopus is staring out the eye socket of the skull. It's an amazing effect.

Thanks to Jill for sharing this awesome piece with us here on Tattoosday! Here's hoping she'll be back on these pages for a return engagement!

Kue Spesial untuk Jamuan Natal

Perayaan hari raya Natal tinggal dalam hitungan hari. Bagi Anda umat Nasrani, tentu sudah mulai sibuk dengaan persiapan jamuan di hari yang istimewa nanti. Untuk kuenya, tidak perlu bingung, cobalah pie dengaan aroma jahe dan vanila. Kehangatan Natal akan semakin berkesan dengan hadirnya kue beraroma jahe nan lezat ini. Resep/Dapur Uji/Foto/Food Stylist: Budi Sutomo.

Ginger Vanilla Pie

Kulit:

450 g tepung terigu rendah protein/cap kunci

300 g margarin

150 g gula halus

4 butir kuning telur

1 sdm bubuk kayu manis

3 cm jahe, parut

½ sdt garam halus

Vla:

60 g tepung maizena

1 lt susu tawar cair

150 g gula pasir

3 kuning telur

1 sdm margarin

¼ sdt garam halus

1 sdm rum

1 sdt bubuk agar warna putih

1 sdt vanila pasta

Isi:

200 g kiwi, kupas, potong-potong

200 g stroberi, potong-potong

Cara Membuat:

1. Campur dan aduk rata tepung terigu, kayu manis bubuk, parutan jahe, gula halus dan garam, aduk rata. Ayak. Sisihkan.
2. Masukkan margarin dan kuning telur ke dalam campuran tepung. Potong-potong atau aduk-aduk adonan menggunakan pisau atau sepatula plastik hingga terbetuk adonan berbutir-butir halus.
3. Satukan adonan dengan cara di kepal-kepal dengan tangan atau sendok kayu hingga adonan menyatu.
4. Giling adonan di atas plastik hingga ketebalan ½ cm. Cetak dengan cetakan bulat. Lakukan hingga adonan habis.
5. Ambil cetakkan pie yang telah diolesi dengan margarin. Masukkan kulit pie. Tekan-tekan dan rapikan bentuknya dan tusuk-tusuk dengan garpu pada dasarnya.
6. Atur di atas loyang, panggangin 160^oC selama 25 menit atau hingga kulit matang dan berwarna kuning kecokelatan. Angkat. Dinginkan.
7. Isi dengan vla dan tutup atasnya dengan potongan buah kiwi dan stroberi. Sajikan.
8. Vla: Larutkan tepung maizena dan bubuk agar-agar ke dalam susu tawar cair, aduk rata. Masukkan gula, vanili dan garam. Masak sambil terus diaduk hingga mendidih, matang dan mengental. Angkat. Selagi panas, masukan kuning telur, rum dan margarin. Aduk rata. Vla siap digunakan.

Untuk ± 20 buah

Wisata Kuliner - Bebek Bengil

Pulau Bali tidak hanya memiliki alam yang indah. Seni kuliner pulau dewata ini juga terkenal lezat dan menggugah selera. Siapa yang tidak kenal bebek betutu, sate lilit ikan atau pisang rai. Namun ada satu lagi masakan Bali yang tidak kalah lezatnya, namanya bebek bengil. Bebek goreng yang disajikan dengan sambal matah dan jukut sayuran.

Jika Anda berkunjung ke Bali, sempatkan mampir ke restoran Bebek Bengil yang terletak di Jalan Hanoman-Padang Tegal-Ubud. Restoran dengan konsep tradisional dan terletak di pinggir sawah ini menyuguhkan beragam hidangan andalan khas Bali. Harga menu memang sebanding dengan rasa dan suasana yang ditawarkan, harga satu porsi bebek sekitar 60 ribuan. Jika menyantap satu paket menu lengkap, mulai dari minuman, makanan pokok dan hidangan penutup, kurang lebih anda harus merogoh kocek 300 ribuan. Sembari bersantap, mata anda akan dimanjakan dengan hamparan sawah yang menyejukan mata.

Menu andalan resto ini tentu bebek bengil. Hidangan yang terbuat dari bebek yang di sajikan dengan sambal dan urap/jukut. Konon nama bengil diambil dari kelakuan si bebek sawah yang kotor. Bebek kotor ini masuk ke dalam restoran yang belum jadi dan mengotori lantai. Sejak saat itu restorannya diberi nama bebek bengil alias bebek kotor oleh sang pemilik.

Bagi Anda yang belum sempat berkunjung ke restoran ini, jangan khawatir, resep bebek bengil ala budi boga tidak kalah lezatnya. Anda bisa mencobanya di rumah dan siapa tau menjadi lauk favorit keluarga Anda. Selamat mencoba. Teks/Resep/Foto: Budi Sutomo.

Bebek Bengil ala Budi Boga

Bahan:

1 kg bebek utuh

1500 ml air

Minyak untuk menggoreng

Bumbu:

7 siung bawang putih, haluskan

3 lembar daun salam

2 cm kencur, haluskan

3 sdm air jeruk nipis

2 cm jahe, haluskan

3 cm lengkuas, haluskan

1 sdt terasi, bakar, haluskan

1 sdm ketumbar, sangrai, haluskan

1 sdt lada halus

2 sdt garam halus

Cara Membuat:

1. Lumuri bebek dengan air jeruk nipis, bakar di atas api hingga bulu-bulu halusnya hilang. Potong bebek menjadi 8 bagian. Sisihkan.
2. Campur potongan daging bebek dengan semua bumbu-bumbu. Diamkan di dalam kulkas selama satu malam hingga bumbu meresap.
3. Panaskan 5 sendok makan minyak goreng, masukkan potongan daging bebekmbeserta bumbu-bumbu. Masak hingga daging bebek berubah warna.
4. Tuang air, aduk rata. Tutup wajan dan masak dengaan api sedang hingga bebek empuk dan air mengering. Tambahkan air jika air mengering namun bebek belum lunak. Agar lebih cepat empuk, proses merebus bisa dilakukan di dalam panci presto. Rebus bebek di dalam panci presto selama 30 menit. Angkat.
5. Setelah air mengering, tuang minyak hingga seluruh bebek terendam. Goreng bebek hingga berwarna kuning kecokelatan dan bumbu mengering. Sajikan panas dengan sambal matah dan jukut sayuran.

Untuk 8 Porsi

Jukut Sayuran

250 g kacang panjang, potong-potong

150 g tauge, bersihkan

150 ml santan kental

Bumbu:

2 sdm air jeruk limau

1 sdt garam halus

4 buah cabe rawit, iris halus

1 sdm bawang merah goreng, haluskan

1 sdm bawang putih goreng, haluskan

3 siung bawang merah, iris halus

3 cm kencur, haluskan

2 lembar daun jeruk, iris halus

1 sdt garam halus

1 sdt gula pasir

3 sdm minyak panas

Cara Membuat:

1. Rebus tauge dan kacang panjang hingga matang. Angkat tiriskan.
2. Masukkan semua bumbu-bumbu di dalam santan, aduk rata. Panaskan sambil terus di aduk hingga panas namun belum mendidih. Angkat.
3. Campur santan panas dengan minyak panas dan sayuran. Aduk rata. Sajikan sebagai pelengkap bebek goreng.

Untuk 8 Porsi

Sambal Matah

Bahan:

5 buah cabe merah keriting, iris halus

9 butir bawang merah, iris halus

3 siung bawang putih, iris halus

2 batang serai, ambil bagian putih, iris halus

3 lembar daun jeruk, iris halus

3 sdm air jeruk nipis

½ sdt terasi, bakar, haluskan

3 sdm minyak goreng

1 sdt garam halus

¼ sdt lada hitam, haluskan

Cara Membuat:

Panaskan minyak, angkat. Campur semua bahan sambal, aduk rata. Tuang minyak hangat, aduk rata. Sajikan sebagai pelengkap bebek goreng.

Mengolah Sayap Menjadi Hidangan Lezat

Sayap ayam memiliki daging yang gurih dan lemak yang tidak terlalu banyak. Sayap juga bisa diolah menjadi beragam hidangan yang lezat. Salah satunya adalah dibuat hot chicken wing. Gurihnya daging ayam sangat pas dengan balutan tepung panir yang renyah dan bumbu cabe yang pedas. Selamat Mencoba. Resep/Dapur Uji/food Stylist/Foto: Budi Sutomo.

Hot Chicken Wing

Untuk 20 Potong

Bahan:

10 potong sayap ayam

2 sdm kecap asin

1 sdt lada halus

4 siung bawang putih, haluskan

1 sdt cabe merah bubuk

1 sdt garam halus

Minyak untuk menggoreng

Lapisan:

2 butir telur, kocok lepas

100 g tepung terigu

100 g tepung panir kasar

Cara Membuat:

1. Potong sayap ayam, kerok dagingnya dengan pisau tajam hingga mengumpul di salah satu pangkal sayap.
2. Bumbui sayap ayam dengan kecap asin, lada, garam dan cabe merah bubuk.
3. Gulingkan sayap ayam ke atas tepung terigu, celupkan ke kocokan telur dan terakhir taburi tepung panir hingga seluruh permukaan terselimuti tepung. Lakukan hingga habis.
4. Panaskan minyak, goreng ayam hingga matang dan berwarna kuning kecoklatan. Angkat. Atur di dalam piring saji. Hidangkan hangat dengan saus tomat atau saus sambal sebagai cocolan.

Pangsit Isi Udang

Selain di kukus, pangsit juga bisa digoreng. Keduanya sama-sama lezat. Jangan lupa menyajikannya dengan saus kacang sebagai pelengkap. Resep/Dapur Uji/Foto/Food Stylist: Budi Sutomo

Pangsit Isi Udang

Bahan:
250 g udang, cincang halus
150 g daging ayam, cincang halus
50 g kacang polong 40 g wortel, potong dadu
1 butir telur, kocok lepas
20 lembar kulit pangsit
Minyak untuk menggoreng
Bumbu:
4 siung bawang putih, haluskan
1 sdm sledri cincang
1 sdm irisan daun bawang
½ sdt lada halus
½ sdt garam halus
½ sdt gula pasir

Cara Membuat:
1. Campur udang, daging ayam, telur dan semua bumbu-bumbu. Aduk rata. Masukkan kacang polong dan wortel, aduk rata.
2. Siapkan satu lembar kulit pangsit. Bersi satu sendok makan bahan isi. Bentuk sesuai selera.
3. Kukus pangsit selama 30 menit atau hingga matang. Angkat, dinginkan.
4. Panaskan miinyak, goreng pangsit hingga kulit pangsit berwarna kuning kecoklatan. Angkat. Sajikan hangat dengan saambal kacang atau saus sambal.
Untuk 20 Buah

Tip: Pangsit juga bisa disajikan tanpa digoreng terlebih dahulu.

Masakan Jepang Favorit

Menu Favorit restoran Jepang cepat saji ini bisa Anda coba sendiri di rumah. Sekedar tip, jika Anda susah membentuknya seperti yang ada di dalam foto. Bungkus saja ekkado menyerupai dadar gulung atau risolles. Selamat mencoba. Resep/Dapur Uji/Foto/Food Stylist: Budi Sutomo.


Ekkado Udang

Bahan:

250 g udang cincang

200 g daging ayam giling

4 batang daun kucai, iris halus

1 sdm tepung kanji

1 butir telur, kocok lepas

50 g kol, iris halus

50 g wortel, potong dadu kecil

4 lembar kembang tahu, pilih yang lentur

Minyak untuk menggoreng

Bumbu:

4 siung bawang putih, iris halus

1 sdt lada halus

1 sdt garam halus

2 sdm kecap asin

Cara Membuat:

1. Campur daging udang, daging ayam, daun kucai, tepung kanji, telur, kol, wortel dan semua bumbu-bumbu. Aduk rata.
2. Potong kembang tahu ukuran 10 X 10 cm. Ambil satu sendok makan adonan, letakkan dibagian tengah kulit kembang tahu. Bungkus dan ikat dengan daun kucai atau benang kasur. Lakukan hingga habis.
3. Panaskan minyak, goreng ekkado dengan api sedang hingga matang dan berwarna kuning kecoklatan. Angkat. Sajikan hangat dengan saus tomat atau sambal sebagai pelengkap.

Untuk 20 Buah

Tip: Kembang tahu harus dipilih yang lentur dan tipis agar mudah dibentuk. Jangan menggoreng dengan minyak terlalu panas karena kulit kembang tahu mudah matang dan bagian isi masih mentah. Goreng dengan api sedang. Gunakan 2 lembar kembang tahu agar kulit tidak terlalu tipis.