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Lil Lion Cubs Seem to Sink Before They Swim

Morgan Ashley Parker — Wed, 27 Oct 2010 11:50:13 PDT

To prevent a sink-or-swim situation, lion cubs have to go through the motions to test water prowess! Naturally, before the four babes at the National Zoo can live at the exhibit with mom later this year, they need to be able to navigate the moat that surrounds it since they still aren't making life jackets in lion sizes. Keepers were on hand to conduct the swim tests one at a time, but this lil one doesn't seem to be a fan of the water quite yet.

The big cats are not known to be expert swimmers and tend to stick to land in the wild, but I must say the cubs look rather adorable in their efforts. See more swim time shots below!

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Lie Back, Feet Up, and Watch the National Zoo's Lion Cub Cam!

PetSugar — Sat, 04 Sep 2010 04:00:00 PDT

Congrats, Mama! Shera gave birth to four cubs on Aug. 31 at the National Zoo in DC, and you can watch them move - or, at press time, sleep - at your leisure!

The newly launched Lioncub Cam goes behind the scenes for a sneak peek at the babes not yet on exhibit to public visitors. The lil ones are still without names but, if this zoo's past tweeting habits are any indication, I'm sure we'll learn more about the lion babies sooner rather than later!

If you're as captivated as I was by my dog's daycare camera, refresh your memory on my tips to set one up in your home, too!

Source: Smithsonian's National Zoo

Water Fight! Get Sprayed by Apes in DC

PetSugar — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 15:15:00 PDT

Laughter is contagious, and this orangutan is getting a kick out of something! As it turns out, she's part of the Think Tank exhibit at the National Zoo in Washington DC. Here Bonnie, Batang, and pals can play along with zoo visitors and not just pose for photo ops.
There's a button for the apes to spray human passersby with water to help beat the heat and a way to play tug-of-war as well. Are you ready to join in the fun?

See more pictures and read more.

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Sisters of DC Cupcakes Share Valentine's Day Baking Tips and Chocolate Ganache Recipe

Rebecca M Gruber — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 03:16:28 PST

What's sugar and spice and everything nice? Cupcakes! And no one knows more about our obsession with the lil confections than Sophie LaMontagne and Katherine Kallinis, co-owners of Georgetown Cupcake and stars of TLC's DC Cupcakes. The sisters, who learned their kitchen skills from their grandmother ("We followed her around the kitchen and always begged to help"), have been known to bake up to 10,000 lil cakes a day, much to the delight of the patrons who line the block of their Washington DC store. The duo - who just opened their first outpost in New York City - gave me a few minutes of their time to discuss their tasty desserts.

LilSugar: Cupcakes have moved from kiddie birthday party staple to a favorite of adults and kids alike. But kids aren't always willing to try new flavors. Which are most popular with kids?
Sophie LaMontagne and Katherine Kallinis: Our Vanilla Birthday (vanilla cupcake with vanilla buttercream and rainbow bobbles), Chocolate Birthday (chocolate cupcake with vanilla buttercream and rainbow bobbles), and Milk Chocolate Birthday (vanilla cupcake with milk chocolate buttercream and rainbow bobbles) are the most popular with kids. We think it's the color rainbow bobbles!

LS: Moms are busy; what shortcuts can you recommend to making delicious, beautiful cupcakes without spending the whole day baking and decorating them?
SL and KK: Try to keep a stash of baking staples - butter, sugar, eggs, vanilla, milk, all purpose flour, baking soda/powder, salt, and cocoa powder/chocolate on hand in your kitchen at all times and you can make almost any flavor! Our recipes are very simple - we don’t use cake flour or pastry flour - just all purpose - we find that works best. Also, we're big fans of chocolate ganache icing. It's so easy - just two ingredients - chocolate chips and heavy cream. You just melt them down (two cups of chips to one cup of cream), and dip your cupcakes in and you've got a super fast and unbelievably delicious frosting.

LS: Do you ever make "healthy" cupcakes for those who want to skip some of the sugar? If so, what goes into it?
SL and KK: We have a carrot cake cupcake, which has fresh carrots and fresh apples grated in it. We skip the walnuts, to save on calories, and it's a light and delicious cupcake!

The new season of DC Cupcakes begins on Feb. 25, but if you're looking to create their Chocolate Ganache Cupcakes for Valentine's Day,

Georgetown Cupcake's Chocolate Ganache Cupcakes
From Sophie LaMontagne and Katherine Kallinis, co-owners of Georgetown Cupcake

Ingredients

For the cupcakes 1 1/4 cups flour, sifted 1/2 teaspoon baking soda, sifted 1/4 teaspoon salt 8 tablespoons (4 ounces) European-style unsalted butter, such as Plugra brand, at room temperature 1 1/4 cups sugar 2 large eggs, at room temperature 1 1/4 teaspoons vanilla extract, preferably Madagascar bourbon 1 cup whole milk, at room temperature 1/2 cup Valrhona cocoa powder, sifted (or another good-quality cocoa powder) For the ganache frosting 1/2 cup heavy cream 1 cup Callebaut semisweet chocolate chips (6.4 ounces; or other good-quality semisweet chocolate chips)

Directions
For the cupcakes: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a standard cupcake pan with 12 baking cups, and a second pan with 6 baking cups. Sift together the flour, baking soda and salt on a sheet of wax paper or parchment paper. Place the butter in the bowl of a stand mixer or hand-held electric mixer. Beat on medium speed until fluffy. Stop to add the sugar; beat on medium speed until well incorporated. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing slowly after each addition. Combine the vanilla extract and milk in a large liquid measuring cup. Reduce the speed to low. Add one-third of the flour mixture to the butter mixture, then gradually add one-third of the milk mixture, beating until well incorporated. Add another one-third of the flour mixture, followed by one-third of the milk mixture. Stop to scrape down the bowl as needed. Add the remaining flour mixture, followed by the remaining milk mixture, and beat just until combined. Add the cocoa powder, beating (on low speed) just until incorporated. Use a standard-size ice cream scoop to fill each cupcake paper with batter, so that the wells are two-thirds full. Bake for 18 to 20 minutes (start checking at 15 minutes) or until a toothpick inserted into the center of a cupcake comes out clean. Transfer the pan to a wire rack to cool completely. For the ganache frosting: Lay a large piece of wax paper on the work surface. Combine the heavy cream and chocolate in a medium heatproof bowl. Fill a medium saucepan with an inch or two of water and place over medium-low heat. Place the bowl over the saucepan and let the mixture melt, stirring until it is shiny and smooth. Remove the bowl of chocolate ganache from the saucepan; let it cool slightly, for 2 to 3 minutes. Working with 1 cupcake at a time, carefully dip each cupcake top in the warm ganache, twisting your wrist as needed to make sure the cupcake top gets completely coated. To prevent drips, quickly turn the cupcake right side up and place on the wax paper. Allow the ganache to set for 5 minutes before serving. (If the cupcakes are dipped once, you'll have about 1/2 cup of ganache left over.)

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Honoring Some of Our Favorite Geeks For Black History Month

Michele Foley — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 05:01:38 PST

We may have Valentine's Day on the brain, but February also marks an important time of the year - Black History Month. In honor of Black History Month, let's take a look at some of our favorite geeks, both past and present. Everyone on this list has made vast contributions to furthering tech as we know it.

Dwayne McDuffie - The recently passed McDuffie wrote comic books for both Marvel and DC (including Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight, the Fantastic Four and the Justice League of America) before founding his own company, Milestone Media, which helped pioneer the use of multicultural characters as its heroes.
Mark Dean - Nerd alert! Without Dean, there may not have been a PC - he holds three of IBM's original nine PC patents, leading the teams that developed the ISA bus and the first one-gigahertz chip.
Mae Carol Jemison - It doesn't get much geekier than space travel; Jemison was the first black woman to travel in space.
Philip Emeagwali - We can all blame Emeagwali for our Internet addiction. He developed the fastest supercomputer software in the world. His IQ is too high to be measured by conventional standards, and he's won a Gordon Bell Prize, which is like the Nobel Prize for computer science.

See the rest of the notables when you read more.

Will the DC Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy's Ads Work?

Heather Maddan — Fri, 25 Feb 2011 10:24:07 PST

From handing out condoms to preaching abstinence, educators, lawmakers, and parents all look for methods to keep teens from becoming parents, but in Obama's town there's one that may actually work. The DC Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy is using posters of babies to deliver a series of serious messages like, "He told his last baby mama he'd stay with her too. Be a kid. Don't have one." It's an attempt to get teens to think about the child who comes from unprotected sex.

Drew Barrymore and Will Kopelman Swing by Colbert Ahead of a Dinner Date

Allie Merriam — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 07:39:23 PST

Drew Barrymore and Will Kopelman were hand-in-hand as they left The Colbert Report's studios in NYC last night. Yesterday's episode of the show featured Drew talking to Stephen Colbert about her whale-saving movie Big Miracle, and she described her character in the movie as "a tight-a*s hippie." Following the taping, Drew and Will headed up to Harlem to meet friends for dinner at Rao's. The meal came at the end of a long press week for Drew that included a jaunt to Washington DC for a special premiere of the film. The publicity duties have contributed to Drew not yet starting to plan her and Will's wedding. During a stop by Good Morning America, Drew said she and Will are still in the "daydreaming" phase of their big day.

The Secrets of the World's Healthiest Women

Health — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 04:45:10 PST

We are pumped to share one of our favorite stories from Health.com here on our site.

From pouring on the olive oil like the Greeks to slashing stress like the Scandinavians, what we
can learn from the happiest, slimmest, longest-living cultures around the globe.

The secret to a long, healthy life in America? According to longevity researchers, it may be to act like you live somewhere else.

It seems like every year another country's lifestyle is touted as the new magic bullet to cure us of obesity, heart disease, and premature death: for an unclogged heart, herd goats and down olive oil like a Mediterranean. Avoid breast cancer and live to 100 by dining on tofu, Japanese-style. Stay as happy as Norwegians by hunting elk and foraging for cowberries.

Health.com: Weight-Loss Secrets From Around the World

The places we're usually told to emulate are known as Blue Zones or Cold Spots. Blue Zones were pinpointed by explorer Dan Buettner and a team of longevity researchers and are described in his book The Blue Zones: Lessons For Living Longer From the People Who've Lived the Longest. They're areas in Italy, Japan, Greece, California, and Costa Rica where the people have traditionally stayed healthy and active to age 100 or older.

Keep on reading for more great tips from around the globe.

Video: Drew Barrymore on Coming "Full Circle" From E.T.

Karli Bulnes — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 16:30:00 PST

Drew Barrymore and Will Kopelman made their first public appearance as an engaged couple at last night's Washington DC premiere of Big Miracle. Hear why Drew says the film makes her feel like she's come "full circle" from E.T. in PopSugar Rush.

Drew Barrymore and Her Fiancé Premiere Big Miracle Together

Allie Merriam — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 06:45:46 PST

Drew Barrymore brought fiancé Will Kopelman along last night for a Washington DC premiere of her new movie Big Miracle that benefited the Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors. They held hands and posed for photos for their first public event as an engaged duo, which took place at the AMC Loews Georgetown 14. Drew went down to the capital after a day of press in NYC. She kicked things off at Good Morning America, talking about both the feel-good film and her upcoming nuptials. Drew's still "daydreaming" about the wedding and hasn't yet set any plans in stone. She and Will have only been engaged for one month, as he popped the question over the holidays during their vacation in Idaho. Her nearly four-carat ring was on display last night, and she paired the jewelry with a Ports 1961 gown.