The only thing that lies between Americans and the sultry streets of Havana these days is the Florida Straits, since the Obama administration has widened the kind of travel allowed. A growing list of organizations have licenses to operate trips to Cuba, including National Geographic Expeditions, Austin-Lehman and the Center for Cuban Studies. There are also more flights from more American cities: Fort Lauderdale and Tampa recently joined New York, Miami and Los Angeles on the list, and Chicago will be added this year. The “people-to-people” rules require Americans to interact with Cubans (sun-and-sand vacations are still prohibited) so tours involve meeting with art historians, organic farmers and others. Conveniently, new restaurants and bed-and-breakfasts, some in gorgeous colonial villas, have sprung up over the past year as the government has allowed more private enterprise. Havana is also gearing up for its 11th Biennial, from May 11 to June 11, which will draw more than 100 Cuban and international artists. VICTORIA BURNETT
http://travel.nytimes.com/2012/01/08/travel/45-places-to-go-in-2012.html

Q: I have some damaged currency. What can I do?
A: The U.S. Bureau of Engraving and Printing generally reimburses the full value of damaged currency if more than half of the note remains. Fragments amounting to less than half are not redeemable. Go to http://www.moneyfactory.gov/damagedcurrencyclaim.html -- U.S. Treasury Department. http://www.thecourier.com/Opinion/columns/2012/Jan/JU/ar_JU_010912.asp?d=010912,2012,Jan,09&c=c_13

Baking soda is pure sodium bicarbonate. When baking soda is combined with moisture and an acidic ingredient (yogurt, chocolate, buttermilk, honey), the resulting chemical reaction produces bubbles of carbon dioxide that expand under oven temperatures, causing baked goods to rise. The reaction begins immediately upon mixing the ingredients, so you need to bake recipes which call for baking soda immediately, or else they will fall flat. Baking powder contains sodium bicarbonate, but it includes the acidifying agent already (cream of tartar), and also a drying agent (usually starch). Baking powder is available as single-acting baking powder and as double-acting baking powder. Single-acting powders are activated by moisture, so you must bake recipes which include this product immediately after mixing. Double-acting powders react in two phases and can stand for a while before baking. With double-acting powder, some gas is released at room temperature when the powder is added to dough, but the majority of the gas is released after the temperature of the dough increases in the oven. You can substitute baking powder in place of baking soda (you'll need more baking powder and it may affect the taste), but you can't use baking soda when a recipe calls for baking powder. Baking soda by itself lacks the acidity to make a cake rise. Make your own baking powder by mixing two parts cream of tartar with one part baking soda. http://chemistry.about.com/cs/foodchemistry/f/blbaking.htm

There are growing numbers of rewards for serial "likers" who click that button. Hotel chain Marriott International Inc., for instance, is offering those who Like its Facebook pages prizes totaling 10 million reward points, including two grand prizes of a million points each. "It's become a real competition between companies to grow the size of that number [of online followers] and to have more fans than your rivals," said Matt Simpson, marketing director for Phoenix-based Bulbstorm, which develops social-media applications for companies such as NBC and World Wrestling Entertainment. "Over the last year, we've been seeing more and more of it, and it's been driven largely by promotional applications like sweepstakes." In the third quarter of last year, an average of 100 million "Like" buttons were being clicked on Facebook every day. That's double the amount of liking that went on during the same period last year. Corporations are doing this for a reason. They're building marketing lists, they're aiming to boost sales, and they're planting themselves in users' news feeds. Coca-Cola Co. has more than 36 million Likes, and Disney Co. has more than 29 million, assembling an audience that can be tapped at any time. Once a company has an army of online followers, that's not the end of the marketing road. There's the question of what to do with them all. That's why companies are proceeding to Phase Two of the Like operation: Figuring out how to engage and entertain Annie Scranton, the founder and president of a New York public relations company says: "My business is inextricably linked to social media, so if I wasn't constantly Liking things, my clients wouldn't be happy." "Even when I'm working, I'm on Facebook all day long. You can never do enough Liking." http://www.toledoblade.com/Technology/2012/01/03/Companies-rewarding-Likers-on-Facebook.html

noosphere (NOH-uh-sfeer) noun
The sum of human knowledge, thought, and culture.
From French noösphere, from Greek noos (mind) + sphere. Earliest documented use: 1930.
nutate (NOO-tayt, NYOO-) verb intr.
1. To nod the head.
2. To oscillate while rotating (as an astronomical body).
3. To move in a curving or circular fashion (as a plant stem, leaf, etc.).
Back-formation from nutation, from Latin nutare (to nod repeatedly), frequentative of -nuere (to nod), from numen (nod of the head, command, divine will). Earliest documented use: 1880. A.Word.A.Day with Anu Garg

Raisins are dried grapes. In the United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia, and Canada the word "raisin" is reserved for the dried large dark grape, with "sultana" being a dried large white grape, and "currant" being a dried small Black Corinth grape. The word raisin dates back to Middle English and is a loanword from Old French; in French, raisin means "grape," while a dried grape is referred to as a raisin sec, or "dry grape." The Old French word in turn developed from the Latin word racemus, "a bunch of grapes. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raisin