![]() In 1927, the newly founded Hans Huber publishing house purchased Rorschach's book Psychodiagnostik from the inventory of Ernst Bircher. French psychologist Alfred Binet had also experimented with inkblots as a creativity test, and, after the turn of the century, psychological experiments where inkblots were utilized multiplied, with aims such as studying imagination and consciousness. It has been suggested that Rorschach's use of inkblots may have been influenced by German doctor Justinus Kerner who, in 1857, had published a popular book of poems, each of which was inspired by an accidental inkblot. Although he had served as Vice President of the Swiss Psychoanalytic Society, Rorschach had difficulty in publishing the book and it attracted little attention when it first appeared. After experimenting with several hundred inkblots which he drew himself, he selected a set of ten for their diagnostic value. Īfter studying 300 mental patients and 100 control subjects, in 1921 Hermann Rorschach wrote his book Psychodiagnostik, which was to form the basis of the inkblot test. The Rorschach test, however, was the first systematic approach of this kind. Interpretation of inkblots was central to a game, Gobolinks, from the late 19th century. The use of interpreting "ambiguous designs" to assess an individual's personality is an idea that goes back to Leonardo da Vinci and Botticelli. History Hermann Rorschach created the inkblot test in 1921. The areas of dispute include the objectivity of testers, inter-rater reliability, the verifiability and general validity of the test, bias of the test's pathology scales towards greater numbers of responses, the limited number of psychological conditions which it accurately diagnoses, the inability to replicate the test's norms, its use in court-ordered evaluations, and the proliferation of the ten inkblot images, potentially invalidating the test for those who have been exposed to them. Īlthough the Exner Scoring System (developed since the 1960s) claims to have addressed and often refuted many criticisms of the original testing system with an extensive body of research, some researchers continue to raise questions. In the 1960s, the Rorschach was the most widely used projective test. The Rorschach can be thought of as a psychometric examination of pareidolia, the active pattern of perceiving objects, shapes, or scenery as meaningful things to the observer's experience, the most common being faces or other pattern of forms that are not present at the time of the observation. The test is named after its creator, Swiss psychologist Hermann Rorschach. ![]() ![]() It has been employed to detect underlying thought disorder, especially in cases where patients are reluctant to describe their thinking processes openly. Some psychologists use this test to examine a person's personality characteristics and emotional functioning. The Rorschach test is a projective psychological test in which subjects' perceptions of inkblots are recorded and then analyzed using psychological interpretation, complex algorithms, or both. Rorschach inkblot test, the Rorschach technique, inkblot test The first of the ten cards in the Rorschach test ![]()
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![]() ![]() I will point out that though they're re-organised for the web app, and there are only a subset of the main tools available compared to SketchUp Pro or even SketchUp Make, the ones which are present do function as expected, and though it's a bit clunky having to long-press to get related tools, it's still a very intuitive approach to modeling for 3D novices. As you see in this super-quick screencap, when you long-click on the Move tool, you see all three translate tools: Move, Rotate, and Scale. ![]() you need to use the translate tools to accomplish this kind of task. It’s easy to export your model and allow others to review your design, with the help of 3D panoramas, QR codes, and web links helping you. Of course you can translate your mesh any way you'd expect: scale, rotate, move. The Enscape SketchUp real time rendering plugin provides you with the ability to render, walkthrough, flythrough, create animations, and virtually experience your model in 3D with incredible simplicity. ![]() The STL Import Options dialog box appears. Is it possible to download the model from SketchUp Web I find no such button to export/download the model ) Any docs you can point me to mihai.s August 4, 2018, 9:50am 2 Look here: save 1 Like system Closed November 4, 2018, 1:21am 3 This topic was automatically closed after 91 days. (Optional) Select STereoLithography Files (.stl) from the file type drop-down list and then click the Options button. In the Import dialog box that opens, navigate to the STL file that you want to import and select it. Note also that this operation (Flip Along Component's own axis) will never translate the component in the world axis space - it maintains the same world position and flips relative to its own centrepoint and exterior bounds. To import an STL file into SketchUp, follow these steps: Select File > Import. once I added a small plate at one corner, then you could see the component flip along its axis. Note that I demonstrate in my screencap that when the component was symmetric along that component, you couldn't tell it had been flipped. O’Reilly members experience books, live events, courses curated by job role, and more from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers.I'm sorry to report that I cannot confirm your trouble, as when I tried web SketchUp, entered into Component Edit mode, and chose Flip Along>Green Direction I got the expected result. Get Google SketchUp® 7 For Dummies® now with the O’Reilly learning platform. I spend the last part of this chapter talking about exporting animations as movie files that anyone can open. Then I go into some detail about the 2D raster image formats that you can create with SketchUp. ![]() Use these steps to access the Camera tools: Select the SketchUp model entity and perform one of the following actions: Context-click the selection and choose Edit 3D View from the menu that appears. Just in case you're not familiar with the terms raster and vector, I give brief definitions of each. The Camera tools help you adjust how a model appears within your LayOut documents. In this chapter, I talk about the export file formats that are common to both versions of Google SketchUp. (See the Introduction for details about what's online and where to find it.) Follow the steps below to create and edit an SKP image in the web version of. If you've sprung for Google SketchUp Pro, you can also export vector files and a whole bunch of 3D formats I talk about all of them in the online Bonus Chapter for this book. When you create a three-dimensional model with SketchUp, you save your work. If you have regular ol' Google SketchUp (the free one), you can create raster image files as well as movies. Here's the part that's a little bit confusing: Which file formats you can export depend on the version of SketchUp you have. SketchUp can export both still images and animations in most of the major graphics and movie formats. Want to e-mail a JPEG of your new patio to your parents? How about a movie that shows what it's like to walk out onto that new patio? If you need an image or a movie of your model, forget about viewing or printing within SketchUp. Making sure that you export the right kind of imageĮxporting the kind of movie file you need Creating 2D views of your model as TIFFs, JPEGs, and PNGs ![]() ![]() Damage caused by a storm as well as a battle with Brock caused the blimp to crash-land on Valencia Island in the Orange Islands. In A Scare in the Air, Giovanni assigned the trio to the "Blimp Brigade", where they crewed a rickety blimp that Giovanni only kept the insurance for. When Giovanni told them to just do their job, they took it as a vote of confidence in them and continued to try and steal Pokémon. They saw Mewtwo destroy the headquarters and fly away just as they were about to turn away and quit first. In Showdown at the Po-ké Corral, the trio arrived at Team Rocket HQ, expecting Giovanni to fire them for their failures. When Togepi set off an explosion by triggering Meowth's remote control, Team Rocket blasted off and Jessie dropped the Badge for Ash to retrieve. Jessie battled Ash, but refused to hand him an Earth Badge upon Ash's victory. In The Battle of the Badge, Giovanni, the boss of Team Rocket and the Viridian Gym Leader, temporarily left the trio in charge of the Viridian Gym. Later, the ship sailed into a violent storm, was overcome by waves, and sank into the sea. However, the passengers retaliated, led by Ash and his friends, and they defeated the grunts and took back their Pokémon. Anne, where they and dozens of Team Rocket Grunts stole numerous Pokémon and Poké Balls from the passengers with special mechas. In Electric Shock Showdown, after hearing that Pikachu would fight to defend his own honor and Ash's, the trio were inspired to cheer on Pikachu before his rematch against Vermilion Gym Leader Lt. The trio's general incompetence usually makes them incapable of helping Team Rocket with their significant plans. ![]() After their first defeat at the hands of Ash's Pikachu convinced them of his extraordinary power, the trio made their main goal to capture Pikachu. The Team Rocket trio first appeared in Pokémon Emergency, in which they took over the Viridian Pokémon Center. ![]() Team Rocket with all of their Pokémon in the original series (minus Wobbuffet) In the anime Main series History Pre-series
![]() ![]() I've got a mobile phone, a fixed-line phone and a Skype phone. It's early days for Skype-in, but it's shaping up to be an attractive option. Skype is also testing a Skype-in service, which allows users to have their own number that can be called from a regular phone. It also operates at a frequency that doesn't interfere with wireless networks, so it won't disrupt network connectivity. I used it happily all over my house and maintained a strong signal. It also helps that the CIT200 comes with 60 free Skype-out minutes thrown in as a sweetener. Through the Skype-out service, which allows users to call regular fixed-line and mobile phone numbers, the results were similarly pleasing. Skype is, however, susceptible to the fluctuating traffic loads of the internet, but the national and international calls I made on the CIT200 were crisp and clear. For high-speed internet users, the sound quality is as good as that on a decent cordless phone. Skype voice mail can also be accessed through the handset. Users can make and receive calls via the handset as long as their computer is running and connected to the internet. The handset's colour screen then displays contacts and whether they are online. It has all the buttons you'd expect of a phone as well as a Skype button, which activates Skype and updates the user's contact list. The CIT200 talks to a small base station plugged into the computer, which can support up to four handsets. It gets about 120 hours of standby time and 10 hours of talk time. The handset looks like a slim-line cordless phones and runs on three triple-A rechargable batteries. For one, it is wireless, but it also wins because it is tightly integrated with Skype, which makes setting it up a breeze, even for the non-technically minded. As a Skype phone, it's so good it may make it into my top-three list of gadgets for the year. They do a good job, but the Linksys CIT200 is something else. ![]() I've tried several wired versions that plug into my computer's USB port. It also needs to be wireless unless you want to spend hours hunched over your computer keyboard. But if you're going to be spending any serious amount of time on Skype you need to invest in an internet phone handset. Most people on Skype talk through computer headsets, which are cheap and can also be used for gaming and listening to music. I've been using it for a couple of years and spend an increasing amount of time on it as more friends and colleagues join up. You've probably heard of Skype, the free PC-to-PC internet calling service that has attracted millions of members. ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Some of the interconnections between characters feel superfluous, including the way Braga's young woman, at a moment of extreme distress, winds up at the dentist's office in the first place. The hitman lies dying at a beach house in the opening scene, before flashing back to show how he entered the lives of two financially misbehaving dentists (Teresa Palmer and Sullivan Stapleton), an alcoholic rage-prone bar owner (Callan Mulvey), and the bar owner's wife (Alice Braga) who becomes everyone's primary target. In between, there is the story, which involves a seedy hitman played by cult movie hero Simon Pegg, clad in leather jacket and horseshoe mustache. The movie's chief advantage is that it was filmed along the coast of Western Australia, allowing ample opportunities to admire the scenery with its jagged cliffs and lush wilderness. When all is said and done, the technique feels a bit desperate. ![]() Sadly, Kill Me Three Times is the former more than the latter case. Jackson's concluding speech in Pulp Fiction resonates more strongly because we already know, chronologically, what happens next). The danger is that such a device will feel like an artificial means of stretching out a thin story, instead of a mechanism that complements it in a satisfying way (example: Samuel L. And while the actors all have their moments, nobody gets much of a chance to develop a flavorful character in a film that tries too hard on every level.This twisty structure is the movie's hook, though after two decades of similar narrative games in cinema, the gambit feels overly familiar. Pegg’s cold-blooded killer, smirking with amusement at all the small-town villainy, is a less likable peg (sorry) for comic-strip carnage than everyone seems to think. But Kill Me Three Times is too self-conscious to be anything much beyond smart-assy and tiresome. There’s nothing wrong with McFarland’s plotting, which is more than sound enough to work, especially with Stenders and editor Jill Bilcock hustling the action along at a driving pace, accelerated by Johnny Klimek’s music. He witnesses a series of attempted murders, scams, deceptions and acts of violent revenge, intervening with a blackmail scheme of his own when he spies a chance to double his fee. The humor derives mostly from Charlie finding himself not the expected executioner so much as the observer. The main players in a town whose other inhabitants are mostly kept offscreen are Nathan Webb ( Sullivan Stapleton), a dentist in deep with gambling debt and manipulated by his ruthless receptionist wife Lucy ( Teresa Palmer) wealthy bar owner Jack Taylor ( Callan Mulvey), whose violent jealousy has pushed away his battered bride Alice ( Alice Braga) her buff surfer-mechanic boyfriend Dylan ( Luke Hemsworth), who is planning their escape together and corrupt cop Bruce (a self-parodying Bryan Brown). McFarland and Stenders piece together the events that led to Charlie’s demise with puzzle-like dexterity, only gradually revealing who hired him. But this ain’t no sun-kissed restful paradise. Cinematographer Geoffrey Simpson turns this imposing natural setting into a dynamic canvas for sinister deeds, with a muscular shooting style and vivid embrace of color and light. That would be Eagles Nest, Western Australia, a sleepy coastal hamlet with miles of pristine beaches, presented here with wild bushland, desert sands and red rock gorges all within reach. In an opening voiceover, private detective and assassin-for-hire Charlie Wolfe ( Simon Pegg) announces his astonishment at dying in a place like this. Add in overdressed sets that call attention to themselves, heightened performance styles, skewed framing and cartoon violence, with the camera lavishing glossy money-shot adoration on every ribbon of bloodshed that explodes whenever bullet meets flesh. It continues with the non-sequential storytelling, divided into three time-shifting chapters (“Kill Me Once,” etc.) of overlapping action that allow key developments to be covered from different perspectives. That starts with the bold retro-graphic titles and swingin’ surf rock soundtrack, full of fat guitar licks. But everything here feels borrowed from readily identifiable sources. ![]() ![]() ![]() Most Facebook users have been stuck sitting on the website to chat with their friends. The biggest issues that I found were all with the interface. I did not have any problems using any of the Facebook integration features. It didn’t make the program work poorly or interfere with the chatting experience, it just made the program feel a bit unpolished. However in the place of this logo was just a large blank ad space. However when I installed it on my computer there was no logo. On the screenshots posted on the Chit-Chat for Facebook there was a large logo on the bottom. I also noticed on both of my test machines one interesting issue with the buddy list. One problem I noticed on both my Windows XP test machine and Windows 7 test machine was the notifications weren’t styled unless you clicked on the small notification window. Most of the problems I found with my testing of Chit Chat for Facebook were visual in nature. Quirks Top: How notifications should look. Unless you were looking for something that will seamlessly blend into the Aero environment, you should be perfectly satisfied with the appearance of Chit Chat for Facebook. Like the chatting experience, it doesn’t set itself apart from the competition, but it doesn’t bring itself down either. There’s nothing bad about the way the program is designed. It looks the same whether you run it in the aging Windows XP or the latest Windows 7. The program does not integrate itself with Microsoft’s new Aero styling at all. Depending on how much you liked the look of Office, this is either a good or a bad thing. It uses the same window decorations and color scheme as Office. The design of the program has very clearly been taken from the pages of Microsoft Office 2007. The Buddy List can use your Facebook lists to sort your friends. Unlike the online Facebook chat, it logs all of your chat history so you can look at what you have said in the past. You have tabbed windows that let you chat with multiple contacts in the same window. It’s pretty much your standard chat client. There’s nothing extraordinary about the chatting experience. How does the chatting itself work? It works as well as you would expect. I have used many different chat clients to talk on Facebook, but barely any of them include this feature. This is probably my favorite feature of the program. You can either have them ordered alphabetically or, if you have sorted your friends into lists on Facebook, Chit Chat for Facebook allows you to use those lists inside the client. There are two ways you can organize your friends list with the Facebook software Chit Chat for Facebook. This is an entirely optional feature who prefer to keep our music habits private (useful if you end up listening to Justin Bieber for the 3 rd song in a row). It’s a neat little Facebook gadget in itself. It even has a counter for the little-advertised 1000 character limit Facebook holds for wall posts.įor those of us who are obsessed with music, Chit Chat for Facebook integrates itself into your Windows operating system and will post a status telling your friends what music you are listening to. For example, the images in Figure 1 shows the ability of Chit Chat for Facebook to write allow you to write on your friend’s walls without opening the Facebook website. Since Chit Chat for Facebook has been designed exclusively with Facebook in mind, it has done far more to integrate Facebook into its client than most other Facebook tools. In-Depth: Writing on a Friend's Wall Features It isn’t perfect, but it has some features that other Facebook clients have not yet found a way to easily duplicate. Chit Chat for Facebook’s strength is the way that it integrates itself into Facebook. It isn’t a fancy multi-account program like Pidgin or Digsby, but for many people that doesn’t matter. Chit Chat for Facebook is a desktop chat program that works exclusively with the Facebook chat protocol. ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() (Some of these are used internally to implement the SQL-standard string functions listed in Table 9.9.) There are also pattern-matching operators, which are described in Section 9.7, and operators for full-text search, which are described in Chapter 12. This is a non-standard syntax for trim().Ĭonverts the string to all upper case, according to the rules of the database's locale.Īdditional string manipulation functions and operators are available and are listed in Table 9.10. Removes the longest string containing only characters in characters (a space by default) from the start, end, or both ends ( BOTH is the default) of string. Substring('Thomas' similar '%#"o_a#"_' escape '#') → oma The first form has been specified since SQL:2003 the second form was only in SQL:1999 and should be considered obsolete. Substring ( string text FROM pattern text FOR escape text ) → textĮxtracts the first substring matching SQL regular expression see Section 9.7.2. Substring ( string text SIMILAR pattern text ESCAPE escape text ) → text Substring ( string text FROM pattern text ) → textĮxtracts the first substring matching POSIX regular expression see Section 9.7.3. Substring ( string text ) → textĮxtracts the substring of string starting at the start'th character if that is specified, and stopping after count characters if that is specified. Returns first starting index of the specified substring within string, or zero if it's not present. ![]() Position ( substring text IN string text ) → integer Overlay('Txxxxas' placing 'hom' from 2 for 4) → Thomas If count is omitted, it defaults to the length of newsubstring. Replaces the substring of string that starts at the start'th character and extends for count characters with newsubstring. Overlay ( string text PLACING newsubstring text FROM start integer ) → text Since this version of the function accepts type character directly, it will not strip trailing spaces. Octet_length('josé') → 5 (if server encoding is UTF8) This function can only be used when the server encoding is UTF8. The optional form key word specifies the form: NFC (the default), NFD, NFKC, or NFKD. Returns number of characters in the string.Ĭonverts the string to all lower case, according to the rules of the database's locale.Ĭonverts the string to the specified Unicode normalization form. Returns number of bits in the string (8 times the octet_length). Note that checking for normalization using this expression is often faster than normalizing possibly already normalized strings. This expression can only be used when the server encoding is UTF8. Text IS NORMALIZED → booleanĬhecks whether the string is in the specified Unicode normalization form. If you want to concatenate an array's text equivalent, cast it to text explicitly.) (The non-string input cannot be of an array type, because that would create ambiguity with the array || operators. Converts the non-string input to text, then concatenates the two strings. ![]() ![]() ![]() We found that by far the best OCR software for Mac is Adobe Acrobat Pro DC which is incredibly fast and accurate at scanning documents and preserving the formatting. With the coronavirus outbreak (COVID-19), being able to scan, sign and digitize documents is more important than ever before and OCR software also enables you to manage documents more efficiently if you’re setting-up a remote office. They also make it possible to scan documents on a Mac without a document scanner. Optical Character Recognition software (often referred to simply as scanning software) can scan, extract text and make documents searchable and editable including invoices, images, handwriting, magazines, textbooks and more. For a postlude, try the setting of BETHANY found in the organ collection “My Jesus, I Love Thee.” A handbell arrangement of all three tunes associated with this text is “Nearer, My God, to Thee,” which is dedicated to the members of the Titanic's band.If you need to scan and digitize documents accurately, we’ve taken a look at the very best OCR scanning software for Mac in 2023 to scan paperwork into searchable PDFs and more. “Nearer, My God, to Thee” is also used for memorial services. This hymn could be used as a closing hymn for a service based on Genesis 28. An English clergyman and composer of hymn tunes, two of his best-known melodies are NICEA (“Holy, Holy, Holy”), and MELITA (“Eternal Father, Strong to Save”). Dykes's hymn tunes that is relatively obscure to Americans. HORBURY, written in 1861, is one of John B. The composer half of the famous British operetta team, Gilbert and Sullivan, he is best known in the hymn world for ST. PROPIOR DEO, written in 1872, is one of Arthur Sullivan's lesser-known tunes. BETHANY is perhaps the least likely of the three to have actually been played, because the European band members and passengers would have been less familiar with that tune than with PROPIOR DEO or HORBURY, with which this text was known in Britain. Nevertheless, all three tunes associated with this text have been featured in films about the Titanic. There is a widespread story that this hymn was the last song played by the ship's band as the RMS Titanic sank in 1912, though survivors' accounts disagree on this point. These two variations were both in use for many years, but lately the original version has fallen into disuse, and the 4/4 meter is now normal. The original version of this tune was in a 6/8 meter, but by 1874 a common time version of the rhythm was also in use. He later commented that he had been requested to write a melody for that hymn, and that this tune came to him during a sleepless night. Lowell Mason wrote the tune BETHANY expressly for this text and published it in 1859 in Sabbath Hymn and Tune Book. The first and fifth stanzas bracket this story with New Testament imagery of the cross (st. The middle three stanzas are based on the story of Jacob's ladder found in Genesis 28. President William McKinley and his successor, Theodore Roosevelt. It is reported to have been a favorite of Queen Victoria and her son King Edward VII of England, and of U. ![]() This hymn has been associated with several famous people and events. ![]() One of these is “Nearer, My God, to Thee.” It was first published in London by Fox in his Hymns and Anthems in 1841. Sarah Flower Adams was a Unitarian laywoman who wrote thirteen hymns for a hymnal her pastor, William J. ![]() ![]() ![]() You can see this in the table below where I’ve indicated the dimensions of two highly-rated baritones and guitaleles on Amazon.Īs you can see, baritone ukes and guitaleles tend to be very similar in size. ![]() However, nearly all guitaleles’ and baritone ukuleles’ sizes fall within a narrow range. Of course, there is no precise standard size for either instrument. The guitalele and the baritone uke are usually quite similar in size. I’ll discuss more of these instruments’ similarities and differences in the sections below. On the other hand, the baritone ukulele has four strings tuned like the top four strings on a guitar: DGBE. So what’s the difference between a guitalele and baritone ukulele?Ī guitalele has six strings tuned in the same intervals as a guitar but pitched up a fourth as if you were to capo the guitar on the fifth fret: ADGCEA. But in this post, I’ll be focusing on the baritone guitalele.) (If you’re curious about how the guitalele compares to soprano, concert, and tenor ukuleles, check out this post. In short, I’m familiar with these instruments, and I hope this post helps you think through their differences and which instrument is right for you. I’ve played the guitar since 2003 and the ukulele since 2011.Īnd in 2019, I started playing the guitalele too. If you’re wondering what the difference is between a guitalele vs baritone ukulele, you’ve come to the right post! ![]() ![]() We boiled our coveted nopales over a traditional charcoal grill and waited. Nopales are notoriously sticky and gooey as they are filled with mucilage, a thick gluey substance that is the keeper of the cactus' fibre. "Hold them steady while you slice, first lengthwise and then across the width," she instructed. "It is a Mexican 'superfood'," her daughter Joycelyn laughed.īesides the pad, nopales also bear a small oval-shaped fruit called the tuna, which has a sweet taste that's similar to watermelon and is used in juices, cocktails and jellies.Īs we assembled the tomatoes, onions, garlic and coriander for the salad– all picked fresh from the farm – we had a quick lesson in slicing nopales from Jocelyn. "You can boil it, grill it, eat it raw as a juice or add it to a stew, salsas or eggs." "You can do everything with this cactus," said Garcia while she helped us prepare our meal. That is why they can be found as a mainstay in almost every Mexican home. ![]() Packed with vitamins, minerals and dietary fibre, one nopal pad can fill a hungry stomach for hours, Garcia explained. They are extremely healthy, nutritious and versatile. With the taste of a slightly tangy green bean and its ability to be added to almost every meal, nopales have been an important dietary staple for centuries. In a place that receives very little rain, cacti not only survive but also thrive – just like Garcia and her ancestors who have lived and worked off this arid, inhospitable land for centuries.Īs Garcia showed us how to pick out the perfectly ripe nopal pad – the ones that are young and vibrant, almost electric green in colour – she told us that nopals are the most tender and juicy in the spring but can be harvested year-round. It grows everywhere, reproduces easily and flourishes even in harsh climates like Mexico's Baja Peninsula. It is very symbolic for the Mexican people."Īs we walked past the goats, the native desert scrubs and a small family garden, it was easy to see why the cactus has become so embedded in Mexican life. ![]() "It can be found on our flag, in art, and even within ancient mythology based on the founding of Tenochtitlán, the ancient Aztec capital, and modern-day Mexico City. "This cactus is deeply woven into our culture and national identity," Danny explained as we toured Garcia's family farm. "The nopal cactus comes from a Nahuatl word 'nohpalli' dating back to pre-Columbian times," said Danny Perez, our guide from Dharma Expeditions, a Los Cabos-based outfitter that connects travellers with the ranchero (rancher) community for a traditional cooking class. This nutritional food can be found almost everywhere – from Mexican homes, taqueros (taco vendors), restaurants and cooking classes to now infiltrating America's Southwestern cuisine. Known as one of the most traditional ingredients in Mexico, nopales are making a comeback. Despite its appearance, it worked just fine as part of the ensalada de nopales (cactus salad) we prepared for our farm-to-table lunch at her family ranch, El Barranco, located 30 miles north of Cabo San Lucas in Mexico's Baja Peninsula. Garcia laughed when I showed her my butchered nopal. What took Garcia only five seconds took me, the unskilled guest, five minutes – and I still didn't get it right. ![]() ![]() Like her ancestors, Garcia is continuing a long-held tradition of harvesting nopales, one of Mexico's most beloved food staples. It was just 03:00 and she had only three more hours until the truck arrived at her family's small ranch to collect her precious cargo – 11 bags in all – and bring them to the market. Once completed, Garcia tossed it into a burlap sack and continued. Using a small pocketknife, she skilfully made swift, angled motions turning the pear-shaped nopal ever so slightly to cut off the thorns to perfection. Inside, Garcia sat down on a plastic chair, reached into a large bucket, and carefully grabbed the first nopal (pad of a prickly pear cactus) in just the right place to avoid its thorns. Quietly, she grabbed a small flashlight on her bedside table, slipped on her shoes, and walked out into the warm desert air to a covered makeshift kitchen. Rita Garcia rose to an inky black sky peppered with stars. ![]() |
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