Pizza again

This time around, I added about 2 tbl flax meal, 1 tbl rosemary, and 1 tbl grated ginger to the dough.

I used 2 tbl yeast and 2 tbl sugar. The dough wasn't nearly as elastic as last time, which made spreading it out on the pan easier, though in places it was trying to rip.

This time around I used 2 eggs, some olive oil, some olive can juice, red miso paste, and some wasabi mustard.

Oh, I added some parmesean cheese to the mozzerrla.

It turned out good, the dough ended up being more bread-like.


Now playing "The Pusher" by Steppenwolf

Japundit » Iron Crotch-99

Japundit » Iron Crotch-99: "dragged a truck loaded with 100 passengers (a total load of 10 tons) one meter by tying their penises to the fender of the truck and pulling backwards"

As a man, that is just something I don't want to hear. *shudder*

Mongolian Beef (Tofu)

I don't like any of the recipes that use corn starch. I associate those forms of Mongolian Beef with Americanized Chinese restaurant that have overly oily food. Long live the Mandarin Chef! Now if only I could make the Salt and Pepper Prawns (you have to have the heads on!).

• 1 tlb firm tofu, thinly sliced
  
• 1 clove garlic, crushed
  
• 2 tsp minced ginger
  
• 5 dried hot red peppers (came from the Mexican section)
  
• 1 bunch green onions, cut into 1 inch segments
  
• 1 tsp Srirach Hot chili sauce (rooster on the bottle)
  
• 1 tlb soy sauce
  
• 1 tlb rice wine
  
• 1 tlb sesame oil
  

• Heat sesame oil in wok
  
• Once it starts smoking (or just before if you are paying attention), toss in garlic
  
• Stir garlic until brown
  
• Add red peppers
  
• Add tofu, a bit at a time
  
• Cook tofu to desired crispness
  
• Add ginger and chili sauce
  
• Cook a while
  
• Add soy sauce and rice wine
  
• Cook until sauce thickens
  
• Add onions, cook until just tender.
  

Make sure you stir constantly, or get fancy and flip the contents of the wok using a flick of the wrist (make sure you practice this alone, so you can get the slopping it all over the floor out of the way:)

Now playing "Stairway To Heaven" by Led Zeppelin

TV Ads, Japanese Schoolgirl Panties / MTV Asia at Kontraband

Amusing take on the whole schoolgirl pantie phenomenon.

Now playing "Higher" by Creed

Making the Bed in the Face of Enemy Fire

Today was laundry day, including changing them bed. Yes, I'm bad, I don't wash my sheets every week. Today, though, there was a slight obstacle. Snark was sprawled out on the bed (normally her circular bed sits at the foot of the bed).

So to make the bed, I had to convince her to move.

Me: Come on Snarky, move. [pet pet].
Snark: [perfectly happy].
Me: [threaten to put the sheet on over her]
Snark: Meeeeoooow [letting me know that she is unhappy, and a snowball's chance in hell of moving]
Me: Come on Snarky. [blow on her to annoy her]
Snark: Meeeeoooow.
Me: Ok, I can move you myself
Snark: Meeeeeeeeeooooow. [starts to get physical]
Me: Ok, have it your way, I'm bigger than you are. [make to pick her up]
Snark: [bite] No.
Me: [using the scruff of her neck, scoop her up like a baby and set her on the ground]
Snark: You are forgetting something, I have CLAWS [begins clawing the side of the bed, threatens to do the same to me].

Why do I feel like I have lost yet another argument to my cat?

Snark is now happily in her throne on the freshly made bed.

Take the first 20 songs that come up on your playlist on random, and add "in my pants" to the end of them.

Higher In My Pants	Creed
Blue Collar Man In My Pants	Styx
Why Go (Live) In My Pants	Pearl Jam
Better Than You In My Pants	Metallica
Sober In My Pants	Tool
How's It Going To Be In My Pants	Third Eye Blind
Whole Lotta Love In My Pants	Led Zeppelin
Bullet With Butterfly Wings In My Pants	Smashing Pumpkins
The Outsider In My Pants	A Perfect Circle
Under The Bridge In My Pants	Red Hot Chili Peppers
The Call of Ktulu In My Pants	Metallica
The Phantom Of The Opera In My Pants	Michael Crawford & Sarah Brightman
Bone China In My Pants	Mother Love Bone
Ghost in the Shell - Stand Alone Complex - OP - Inner Universe In My Pants	n/a
Come Undone (Album Version) In My Pants	Duran Duran
New Year's Day In My Pants	U2
Iron Man In My Pants	Black Sabbath
Gimme Shelter In My Pants	The Rolling Stones
Shadow Of The Season In My Pants	Screaming Trees
Blackout In My Pants	Scorpions

List of shock sites - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Goatse.cx is one of the most well-known shock sites, and perhaps a leader in the genre.

Thats something, isn't it? Not for the faint of heart of weak of stomache. I ran across the Goat entry while following the link to Tubgirl.

Pizza tonight

Made low-carb pizza for dinner tonight. It was delicious.

dough

• 1 1/3 cu warm water (105ºF)
  
• 1 1/2 tlb yeast
  
• 3 tsp sugar
  
• 1 cu vital wheat gluten
  
• 1 cu soy flour
  
• 1 cu whole-wheat flour
  
• 1 tsp salt
  
• 2 tlb olive oil
  

combine water, sugar, yeast
combine dry ingrdients [feel free to add spices, I added a bit of paprika], make hole in center
add olive oil and yeast mixture to center
combine with dry ingredients

kneed on floured (more whole-wheat) surface until no longer sticky and very elastic

put in oiled bowl and cover.
place in warm envrionment, and let rise until double (60 minutes or so).
punch down, turne over, let rise again.

grease cookie sheet
add light covering of corn meal to cookie sheet

stretch out dough, place on cookie sheet

sauce

• 1 tlb sesame oil
  
• 1 tlb sunflower oil (I was out of olive)
  
• 1 tlb red miso paste
  
• 1 egg
  

I put mozzarella and olives as toppings.
Cook until crust browns.

Update! Requim For a Legacy - Part II

Outpost Nine :: Editorials :: I Am a Japanese School Teacher

All this talk about Angst, defenses being down, and ichinensei flooding into the room. Talk about laying on the foreshadowing, not to say that it didn't work, I have a deep sense of foreboding.

The Road Not Taken -- Robert Frost

The Road Not Taken

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I--
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

     -- Robert Frost

Read by Robert Frost

For Yuka

Veee

Veee, originally uploaded by gritmonkey.

Happy Fun Ball

Added photos to old recipes.

Happy PB Ball, originally uploaded by gritmonkey.

 
(kids)
It's Happy!
It's Fun!
It's Happy Fun Ball!
 
(announcer)
Yes, it's Happy Fun Ball,
the toy sensation
that's sweeping the nation.
Only 14.95 at participating stores!
 
Get one Today
 
(background voice)
Warning: Pregnant women, the elderly, and children should avoid prolonged exposure to Happy Fun Ball.
 
Caution: Happy Fun Ball may suddenly accelerate to dangerous speeds.
 
Happy Fun Ball contains a liquid core, which if exposed due to rupture
should not be touched, inhaled, or looked at.
 
Do not use Happy Fun Ball on concrete.
 
Discontinue use of Happy Fun Ball if any of the following occurs:
 
* Itching
* Vertigo
* Dizziness
* Tingling in extremities
* Loss of balance or coordination
* Slurred speech
* Temporary blindness
* Profuse Sweating
 
or
 
* Heart palpitations
 
If Happy Fun Ball begins to smoke, get away immediately.  Seek shelter
and cover head.
 
Happy Fun Ball may stick to certain types of skin.
 
When not in use, Happy Fun Ball should be returned to its special container and kept under refrigeration.
 
Failure to do so relieves the makers of Happy Fun Ball, Wacky Products Incorporated, and its parent company, Global Chemical Unlimited, of any and all liability.
 
Ingredients of Happy Fun Ball include an unknown glowing substance which fell to Earth, presumably from outer space.
 
 
Do not taunt Happy Fun Ball.
 
Happy Fun Ball comes with a lifetime guarantee.
 
(announcer)
Happy Fun Ball!  Accept no substitutes!

Dinner Tonight: Pesto Harvati Eggs Benedict Assembly

This was very tasty.

• toasted crumpets (in the oven)
  
• melted Babcock Hall Pesto Harvati Cheese.
  
  
• cut tofu into slabs
  
• fried it in sunflower oil (I find that olive oil smokes at too low a temprature for the gas burners on my stove - at the lowest setting water still boils:()
  
  
• melted Harvarti on the tofu
  
  
• Fried up some eggs, slapped them on top.
  
  
• Here it is in all its glory
  
  

Manna From Heaven

Manna From Heaven, originally uploaded by gritmonkey.

My favorite fake meat. Tasty, less greasy, and easy to heat up.

This American Life: I Create the Gold Master Hard Disk

We really want to ship this, just don't repeat your story.


The Graphing Calculator Story

Gmail invites

I have them coming out of my ears. Comment if you want one. I make no guarantees about earwax.

I wonder if keeping a blog will improve my writing?

I love This American Life

But why the hell do they have to have their archives in the most shitty format possible: real audio. I will never install real's player, its a spyware ladden piece of shit. Well, I would install it on a Virtual Machine.

From WBEZ in Chicago | This American Life

Listening to: NPR On Point.
50 minutes to This American Life.

Snow Peak Titanium Spork from REI.com

Ah, I finally ordered the ultimate eating utensil. Its rebate time, and there is a 20% of code, so there was no out-of-pocket expense. In a mere 10 days (free delivery to a REI store), I will be able to photograph myself with my Spork proudly thrust at the heavens. Did I mention that it is Titanium and only .6 ounces?

SPooooooooooooooRk

Added: Whoops! Your tongue is now a magnet. Whatever will you use for silverware?

Titanium Spork, its non-ferrous and frankly the ultimate unary utensil. Chopsticks are of course the ultimate binary utensil.

What do you get when you cross a Spork and Chopsticks?

Ginger Chocolate Peanut Butter Balls

Wanted to eat something different for lunch today, so I made:

• 1 cu peanut butter
  
• 2 tlb heavy cream
  
• grated ginger
  
• 2 packets splenda
  
• 3 tlb cocoa
  

Mix togeter cream, ginger, splenda, cocoa
Add in peanut butter, and mix
Roll into tlb sized balls
refrigerate

Dip, or roll in something intersting.

You can also chocolate coat them by melting parafin and chocolate, then dipping. For easter, you could mold them in egg shapes.

asahi.com：Japan to offer patrol ships to curb piracy - ENGLISH

"The government will offer patrol vessels to Indonesia to help fend off pirates in the Malacca Strait, such as the ones who abducted two Japanese and a Filipino on Monday."

They are going about this all the wrong way. What really needs to happen is all the countries with borders in the Straight need to issue Letters of Marque to authorize private parties to become privateers. Then you put up a bounty, and turn it into reality TV. It might even be profitable:)

Go here for a historical perspective.

BlogRolling - The best link manager for your weblog and more!

BlogRolling - The best link manager for your weblog and more!

After struggling with how many links to put to the right, I am going to break down and use BlogRolling. I will put them all in, and have a random selection display. Seems like that should be a reasonable compromise between completeness and size.


Edit: well, so much for that. They want me to pay to be able to limit the number of links that show. Forget that.

Terror Alert Level

Terror Alert Level



This definitely has to go somewhere permanently on my page.

Anime News Network - Tactics (TV)

In the course of trying to track down how many episodes tactics is (I suspect 26), I ran across this:

Anime News Network - Tactics (TV): "The series title is in English to cover a pun: the Japanese word for 'wizardry', of the kind practiced by Ichinomiya Kantarou, is 'senjutsu' (仙術). The homonymous 'senjutsu' (戦術) means 'tactics'. In fact, it could be argued that there is a third pun in Kantarou's writing career: 'senjutsu' (撰述) means 'compiling, editing, writing'."

I always thought Tactics was a wierd name.

Anime News

Anime News: "Full Metal Panic: The Second Raid: third series of Chidori & Sasuke mayhem!! APRIL"

Sweet! Another installment of Full Metal Panic. Drool.

Learn Japanese through Manga

Sounds like this would be worth checking out.

Manga News Service - The World's Source For Manga News: "1-20-05---- New Book Teaches Japanese Through Manga
Stone Bridge Press, publisher of books about Japan, wants students everywhere to take this book of comics to school! Former MANGAJIN translation editor Wayne P. Lammers has written a 'real manga, real Japanese' resource and study manual for language students and teachers.

Presenting all spoken Japanese as a variation of three basic sentence types, JAPANESE THE MANGA WAY shows you how to build complex constructions step by step. Manga actually published in Japan is used to illustrate key grammar points and show how the language is used in real life.

Learning with manga makes rules and structures easy to remember, and also lets you experience colloquialisms, contractions, interjections, and other elements of speech that get short shrift in more formal textbooks. At the same time, you'll find a wealth of solid information to give you confidence at exam time.

With a detailed index, numerous tables and sidebars, and a complete guide to pronunciation, JAPANESE THE MANGA WAY is ideal as an introduction for the independent student, as a supplement for the beginning classroom, and as a reference or review for advanced learners.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Wayne P. Lammers grew up in Japan and has taught Japanese at the university level. An award-winning translator, he was the translation editor for MANGAJIN magazine for seven years. He lives in Portland, Oregon.

JAPANESE THE MANGA WAY: An Illustrated Guide to Grammar & Structure is written by Wayne P. Lammers and published by Stone Bridge Press. It retails for US $24.95, is 312 pages, paper, with over 500 black & white illustrations. ISBNs 1-880656-90-6 and 9781880656907"

I've hit the big time now!

I'm not sure what did it, but I can't whine about not being in google anymore: Google Search: gritmonkey.

Now I'm wondering why it wasn't cached? An optimization made on blogs, which end up being dynamic? Or they don't bother to cache a page with such a low page rank:)

Ebay tune

Very amusing ebay song brought to my attention by Dave Barry's Blog.

Ginger Scones

I made scones today, starting from the Joy of cooking recipe. Here it is as I used it:

Based on Classic Currant Scones

• 1 cu soy flour
  
• 1 cu whole-wheat flour
  
• 1/3 cu sugar
  
• 1 tlb baking powder
  
• 1/2 tsp salt
  
• 6 tlb butter
  
• 1 large egg
  
• 1/2 cu heavy cream
  

I tried using splenda, but it came out too sweet. I did guess how much I was actually putting in, but I might suggest less than 1/3 cu sugar.

Cut butter into dry ingredients.

Add grated ginger

Whisk toget wet ingredients, then mix all together.

Isn't that special.

You can get the uncut version on dvd, but : "Please note that due to the distributor using a master that came in two parts, there is a gap on the DVD containing a black screen."

In other words, they mastered the dvd from vcds. Isn't that special.

Japundit - Bakademy Awards

Good work, if you can get it.

Japundit � Bakademy Awards: "Best Actor: Goo, a miniature Chihuahua
Goo is a butter dog, which means that on cue, he licks the melted butter that actresses pour over their bodies."

Yahoo! Search Results for gritmonkey

It seems bizzare that my blog doesn't show up in google. I added my blog to several blog directories, and tried to submit it via googles web page, but it just errors out. I already appear in yahoo: Yahoo! Search Results for gritmonkey.

You would think since google owns blogger, it wouldn't be that difficult for a blogger blog to be searched^_^. Perhaps there is some delay to make it harder for people to game google.

gritmonkey on 43 Things

I have been playing around with 43 Things, the Amazon backed startup. Seems amusing, and maybe if it was integrated into friendster/orkut/okcupid/blogger it would be useful.

Now Playing "Kryptonite" by 3 Doors Down

Urrrrrrrrrhhhhhh

You know that zombie like feeling when you are sick and it keeps interrupting your sleep?

Braiiiiins, braaaiiiiiiiiinnnns.

THE YEAR OF THE DRAGON

THE YEAR OF THE DRAGON

1976, the year I was born, was apparently the Year of the Fire Dragon. Cool.

More info here Chinese Zodiac/horoscope/astrology - The Five Types of Dragon.

The most righteous, outgoing and competitive of all Dragons, the Fire Dragon will expect a lot from everyone.

Product Information

Just woke up due to dry throat caused by plugged nose. Damn those plugs anyway. So I flushed my nose out using Nasaline plunger. I can breath better via the nose now. And another benefit is you don't build up enough snot to pick your nose! So it can end a bad habit. Why am I telling you this, assuming anyone actually reads this? Its 5am and I want to be in bed.

Self-portrait Atop Overture Garage

Self-portrait Atop Overture Garage, originally uploaded by gritmonkey.

I took this yesterday after having breakfast at the farmer's market.

I managed to close my eyes, let me tell you it took split-second precision to capture it.

Blog format is updated, and I used this picture as my profile icon.

MeRCTea - PC game and hardware news, reviews, and much more :: Nerd test results

MeRCTea - PC game and hardware news, reviews, and much more :: Nerd test results

50% of me is a huge nerd! How about you?

Avoiding taxes, feeling rotten.

I love this song: "The Package" by A Perfect Circle

Glue your eyelid!

Watch the video... its disturbing. Contacts are enough for me.

Oh yes, must remember to put something in the tag. My throat hurts.

This guy is a fucking genius Outpost Nine :: Editorials :: The Asshole Reformation

Outpost Nine :: Editorials :: The Asshole Reformation: "Can you cover my shift tomorrow?' The reason why doesn't matter. From concert tickets, to her dead cat's funeral, it just doesn't matter. 'Tomorrow?' You say with a frown. 'Tomorrow's not good for me, sorry.' Just that simple. Even if your only plan for tomorrow was to lounge around and watch National Geographic hoping for some floppy tribal village tits, you deny her. Don't give her a second thought."

Outpost Nine :: Editorials :: I Am a Japanese School Teacher

Outpost Nine :: Editorials :: I Am a Japanese School Teacher: "New school, new asses, it's like unlocking hidden levels in Ass Raider or something."

...

Thanks to my trusty Kancho Sense� I avoided getting my oil checked, but I realized that if I didn't head this shit off at the pass, I'd have to be parrying them for at least the next few months

sannensei (American 9th grade)

ninensei (American 8th grade)

sannensei (American 9th grade)

Moeko

Much like The Borg, this boy is adapting to my defenses and evolving new ways to grab my penis.

She then said "You know, I didn't actually learn how to swear until I started watching South Park."

Sure, that'll be a great pick-up line! "Hey, uh, I need a new girl so I can give my students sticky pics. And guess what? You're up!"

"Let's see here...20 years of charity work, you saved 4 burning orphanages, helped 1,429 old ladies cross the street....waitaminute, what's this? You played snuzzlebunnies with a 15-year old Japanese girl!? You sick puppy, down you go!"

I was on some Michael Flatley Lord of the Dodgedick shit, you'd probably have to tape me and play the tape in slow motion to capture the true speed at which my crotch/ass region was moving

Spotting an opening, I broke the Triangle Molest Offense...

I realized then that I had ascended to some sort of Anti-Kancho/Dodgedick Ninja Mastery. With my Kancho Sense� and now Kancho Time abilities, I am The One who will bring down the system.

Bring it bitches, I'm ready for ya.

Outpost Nine :: Editorials :: I Am a Japanese School Teacher

Outpost Nine :: Editorials :: I Am a Japanese School Teacher: "I will say though that for kanji, the Kodansha Kanji Learners is probably one of, if not the best resources you could buy."

Outpost Nine :: Editorials :: I Am a Japanese School Teacher

Outpost Nine :: Editorials :: I Am a Japanese School Teacher

I fear japanese school children.

Beware the Kancho.

cherry blossoms

I think I'm getting a combo of cabin fever and homesickness. The cherry trees are blooming on the quad at the UW (University of Washington, of course, Google Search: "university of washington" OR uw cherry blossoms). I really want to be there.

Photolog picture size

Judging by the previous post, 400x300 or 400x533 is the way to go.

Ginger Choco Sugar Cookies

Ginger Choco Sugar Cookies, originally uploaded by gritmonkey.

I made some Ginger Soy Chocolate Sugar Cookies today. I started with All Recipes | Christmas | Chocolate Sugar Cookies. Here is the recipe as I made them:

• 1/2 stick butter
  
• 1/2 cu shortening
  
• 2 eggs
  
• 1 cu brown sugar
  
• ~1/4 cu hot chocolate mix
  
• 1/4 tsp salt
  
• 1tsp baking soda
  
• 1 tsp cinnamon
  
• 1 tsp cayenne pepper
  
• grated ginger root (2 tbs?)
  
• 1 cu soy flour
  
• 1/8 cu whole-wheat flour
  

They turned out tasty. Note that this makes a fairly stiff dough, so flatten them out on the cookie sheet so the middle is sufficiently cooked.

They went into the oven for around 10 minutes on a parchment paper lined cooking sheet. Parchment paper is da bomb, making clean-up a cinch.

Do you know what time it is?

Thus Spake Fred the Boulder It's the Cenozoic Era. Quaternary Period. Halocene Epoch.

Google Search: idol location:japan

In an effort to understand more about Japanese culture (as outdated a picture as it probably presents), I have checked out a stack of books from the library. Right now I'm reading through The Encyclopedia of Japanese Pop Culture. Its interesting reading about the major historical forces in Japanese popular culture, and once I can understand Japanese, I would like to watch some of the classical shows.

In a convenient coincidence, google just released customizable google news, so I can stay abreast of current events. They key is location, like Google Search: idol location:japan, and as long as there is a good English language source, it works quite well.

Incidentally, it took me a while to massage all the words in this entry to their proper spelling... on occasion, I find that I can't get a word close enough for the spell-checker to correct. I wish they worked better... perhaps even a learning one, because there is probably a pattern to words I misspell. Usually google search can save me, though it is amusing that search does a better job correcting spelling than define:.

"Kryptonite" by 3 Doors Down

Slight problems with photos

I'm detecting a slight problem with my blog layout and photos posted from Flickr. I will have to deal with it at some point:)

Sun Dappled Snark Under Futon

Sun Dappled Snark Under Futon, originally uploaded by gritmonkey.

This is my cat, Snark. Depending on her mood, she is either photo-shy, or she will charge the camera.

Duct Tape!

The Red Green Show

Ginger double chocolate brownies

Tomorrow the UW Horticulture Society is having a movie 'n ice cream night. We are going to be watching The Secret Life of Plants, a bunch of time-lapse photography of plants. It promises to be fascinating. The club is supplying ice cream (Babcock Hall, of course), and members are supposed to bring a dessert. I'm going to make brownies, because they compliment ice cream perfectly. So tonight I'm experimenting with a 1/2 batch, to make sure ginger brownies are not too weird. Here is the full recipe:

• 4 oz unsweetened chocolate
  
• 8 tlb butter (1 stick)
  
• 4 tlb unsweetened cocoa
  
• 1 cu sugar
  
• 1 cu brown sugar
  
• 2 tsp vanilla
  
• 1 cu flour
  
• dash of cinnamon
  
• dash of nutmeg
  
• 2? tlb ginger
  

Melt chocolate and butter in a double boiler (I stick a Pyrex measuring cup in a pot of boiling water)

Beat eggs, add vanilla, cocoa

combine eggs and chocolate.

add sugar, and spices

add flour

Cook at 350º in greased foil-lined pan.

Madison Neighborhood Profile: Wexford Village Homeowners Association

This is where I found the garage door opener.
Madison Neighborhood Profile: Wexford Village Homeowners Association

As I was riding down the street asking people if they had lost the opener, a nice couple mentioned a This American Life story about how a son determines his father is having an affair because he has two garage door openers. He sneaks about at night, trying the opener on garages. Unfortunately, I could actually locate the story to listen to.

Ah, this is the life.

I just had an amazing bike ride. I rode about 14.5 miles, over to the west towne mall and back. Took some pictures, and found a garage door opener along the side of the road. I guess I will contact the police, and see if I can foist it off onto them:)


Madison, Dane County Regional-Truax Field

Last Update on Mar 6, 2:53 pm CST

Fair 57°F (14°C)

Humidity: 37 % Wind Speed: SW 8 MPH Barometer: 29.63" (1003.7 mb) Dewpoint: 31°F (-1°C) Wind Chill: 55°F (13°C) Visibility: 10.00 mi. More Local Wx: 2 Day History:

Ponderings on humans and techology

Well, this is my second draft, as my oh-so wonderful Firefox spell checking extension crashed the browser.

It all started out when I noticed my glasses were dirty. This got me thinking about lasik/Inter-ocular lens implantation, and how much I would like be able to see without corrective vision. But even with corrected vision, there will be a point where aging will make my eyes inflexible enough to require reading glasses, as my dad holding menus far away to determine what to order can attest.

But why do the eyes age so? In fact, a damn lot of the human body degrades with age. From what I have learned, its probably from natural selection in pre-historic times. Once upon a dark and grim time, or so I picture, all that mattered is pumping out rugrats before dying, and maybe providing for them so they can in turn pump some out (and its amusing how many in my high school class still seem to subscribe to this model). Natural selection, being the powerful force that it is, led to the proliferation of survival traits resulting in early breeding, probably at the detriment to longevity. In fact, it might have been an advantage for someone to kick the bucket (to the offspring), once the offspring are mature. Then they don't have to compete with their parental units for food, and the parental units are obsolete once they can't breed anyway.

In modern times the requirements of education, skills, and knowledge to flourish in society requires a long learning period. So long in fact, that it might exceed pre-history death times (well... I vaguely think they were around 30). This creates a conflict where when people are ready to start contributing significantly, their bodies are on the decline. This problem leads me to the disturbing thought that since the learning period is so constrained by lifespan, there will be a point where even an expert in a field has to take the foundations on faith. And it seems once we are disconnected from the knowledge path leading up to a technology, there is suddenly a huge cliff to fall off of, if something were to interrupt our current technology. Of course, this has been dealt with in many a SciFi book, and some even suggest that their may be rise and fall cycles of civilization.

The way I see it, several things can happen. We could artificially increase the learning rate, perhaps an external (to the biological brain) knowledge repository. We could drastically increase life span (undoing pre-history selection), allowing plenty of time to learn. Or we could crash hard and have to start over, which doesn't sound like much fun.

Anyway, there you go. I think my second draft is much more coherent.


"Ghost in the Shell - Stand Alone Complex - OP - Inner Universe"

Biscuits and Gravy take 2

This time I'm using the heavy cream recipe, modified for drop biscuits.

• 1 cu whole-wheat
  
• 1cu soy flour
  
• 2 1/2 tsp baking soda
  
• 1/2 tsp salt
  
• 1 tsb? grated ginger (I love ginger)
  
• 1 1/2 cu heavy cream
  

"Gospel Plow" by Screaming Trees
I love the Screaming Trees.

Warm spell! 7-Day Forecast for Latitude 43.09N and Longitude -89.37W (Elev. 850 ft)

7-Day Forecast for Latitude 43.09N and Longitude -89.37W (Elev. 850 ft)

Of course, one of the drawbacks is that all the snow is melting, leaving the wasted grass beneath.

I think I will go on a bike ride tomorrow.

Watching [Koi] AIR TV 09.

Backups completed...

I finally got off my lazy ass and stuck my second hard drive into my enclosure so I could do a backup. I use Dantz Retrospective, which I find to be obtuse and crude. If I was wanting to be legal, I would definatly be using rsync. It doesn't seem to matter how much harddrive space I get, it fills up fairly rapidly. My primary external drive is a 200 (174 formated) gigger with 12 free. My backup drive is a 120 gigger that was about 40$ after rebates from outpost. Both are Seagate barracudas.

"The Perfect Drug" by Nine Inch Nails

Plants

Eventually I want to put up a page of portaits of my plants. So I'm going to record my care sheets here, so I can safely loose them.


Aglaonema Silver Queen, Chinese Evergreen

Temp: warm in summer, min 60ºF winter
Light: all but direct. Variaged prefers more light than all-green.
Water: water sparingly in winter. Water throughoughly the rest of the year
Air Humitidy" Most air will prevent tips from turning brown - mist regularly
Repoting: report inspring every 3 years


I have often wondered how difficult it would be to whip out a moisture sensor. If you could make one cheaply enough, it would be simple to make an automatic watering device. I will have to look into it one of these days.


Cacti

Temp: average warmth from spring to autom. Cool in winter 50-55ºF ideal, minium of 40ºF
Light: sunnies location available
Water: Increase watering in spring. Water after allowing compost to completely dry out. During winter only water to prevent shirveling.
Air Humitidy: no
Repotting: report annually when young; after report when essential. Transfer in spring into slightly larger pot.
*Loves dry conditions, tolerates drafty areas, biggest danger is overwatering


Murraya paniculata Jasimine Orange

Temp: avg house tmps.
Light: full
Water: average, keep compost moist
Humidity: misting not needed
Repotting: repot every 2-3 years
*Fragrant white flowers


Maranta Prayer Plant

Temp: avg, min winter temp of 50ºF
Light: partial shade, colors will fade in bright light
Water: keep compost moist at all times using warm water. reduce in winter
Humidity: mist regularly
Reptting: report in spring every two years.
*Nmae comes from the leaves folding togeter at night.


Tradescantia Wandering Jew

Temp: avg warmpth, min 45-50ºF in winter
Light: bright light essential
Water: liberally from spring to autumn, spraringly in winter
Humitidy: mist occasionaly
Repotting: report, if necessary in spring
*Pinch of growing tips to encourage bushiness, great for hanging baskets.


Sanseveria Snake Plant, Mother-in-law's Tongue

Light: birght light prefered, will grow in shade
Temp: warm, min 61ºF
Water: moderatly from spring to autom, letting soil dry out between, in inwter water every 1-2 months. Avoid wetting the heart of the plant.
Fertalizer: summer, once a month at most
*very hard to kill, grows well


Beaucarnea recurvata Ponytail Palm

Temp: avg, min 50ºF in winter
Light: bright
Water: thorougly, then let compost dry (trunk holds water)
Humidity: no
Repotting: in spring if decessary
*grows large

Tortillas take 2

Made tortillas again for lunch. This time they turned out good.

• 1 cu whole-wheat flour
  
• 1 cu soy flour
  
• 1 tsp salt
  
• 1/4 cu shortening (vegtable, palm oil)
  
• 3/4 cu warm water
  

I then cooked them on a comal (cast iron tortilla griddle).

Talented photographer: BLUETHINKTANK.COM ver.0.0

BLUETHINKTANK.COM ver.0.0

I was browsing the profiles on okcupid, and came across bluejetsflyhigh. She has some interesting photos in her profile, and there was a link to more. Then I was hooked. Makes me want to get serious about photography. Too bad my 35mm is in Seattle. Or even better, my dad doesn't use his Leica medium-format much any more (digital is a lot more convient, I guess), and I could probably borrow it.

So digging further into this fascinating person, it turns out she just got back from visiting her beau in Chicago, which is about 3 hours from Madison. And the kitty pictures...

Made Biscuits and Gravy

Used a recipe form the "Joy of Cooking", with modifications, of course

• 1 cup soy flour
  
• 3/4 cup whole-wheat flour
  
• 1/4 cup flax seed meal
  
• 6 or 7 tbs butter
  
• 1 cup shredded beef leftover liquid/heavy cream mixture
  

For those without the "Joy of Cooking" (which I recomend, both for the recipes, and cooking theory