Fafblog Explains Periodicity

Today's fafblog...

Q. There are more terrorists now than before the war. Is the occupation causing more terror?
A. Well, nobody can say for sure if that's a man-made terror increase. It may just be a periodic shift in the natural terror cycle.

Read the whole thing.

Your day could be worse

This is a recent post from a photo blog I love called A Test of Will. It's mostly unassuming manhattan images. This one notes clearly that Your day could be worse.

The Filename is spidernaut.jpg

OMFG!

Engadget notes the release of more info on a lil' something NASA's working on called the Spidernaut - and nails the proper human reaction:

We've heard tell of NASA's Spidernaut, a large robot designed to service spacecraft, but after finally seeing it in action we're not so sure humans are fully prepared to battle against robots in the coming rebellion -- this thing is pretty hardcore. Supposedly its current incarnation is only 1/4 of the final size, but the target is a 600 pound robot that can distribute weight evenly over its eight legs to avoid damaging the skin of the spacecraft or for scurrying across solar panels. NASA is even looking into a "web" deployment system for the bot, in which case we're hiding the women and children and locking the doors.

I can't get the damn video link to work, but I can't wait....If anyone finds another working link, let me know!

(via Engadget)

NY Post Weighs In

Perhaps this is why right wingers maintain power. In a story that's so embrassing - the fact that Cheney ran to FOX News to conduct his interview - they can turn it around into an attack. A totally infuriating piece of steaming turd, but an attack nonetheless, an attack that mobilizes some flicker in the brains of some segment of the population.

Does a real person actually believe what this cartoon says?

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Update: Kos tears it up on the "Running to Mommy Fox" point..

Baked Tofu

One dish i love is baked tofu. It makes the house smell great, and is super easy to make. here's a way to make it.

+++++++++

I generally make a very simple marinade, but you can tweak it however you like. There are also a lot of simple good ones you can buy ready made, but it feels better to work from scratch.

- Block of Tofu (extra firm)
- Ginger
- Soy Sauce (tamari or shoyu both work)
- Garlic
- Sweet Onion (optional)


1. Take the tofu out, and drain it. Put it on a plate with paper towels on top and underneath, and balance another plate on top. This is not really necessary, but it's also very easy. Draining is more important when you stir fry tofu.

2. Make the marinade. I use a pyrex baking dish so I can eventually lay all the tofu pieces flat in shallow liquid. I just cut up 3 big cloves, grate a generous portion of frozen ginger, and some onion if you have tasty sweet kind, and add a bunch of soy sauce. I actually rarely use the onion, but it can't hurt. Mix it up a bit.

3. Cut the tofu in little rectangles - or however you like. I lay it flat, long side towards me, and cut down along the length of it, making little cross sections. I usually get eight rectangles out of it.

4. Put the tofu in the marinade. Doesn't have to be drowning in it. Half way up the pieces, I usually do, so less than half an inch deep. You can tilt the dish around to coat.

5. Cover and keep in the fridge, the longer the better. Overnight is best, but I tend to do it for 20 minutes when i get home from work. Flip at some point if you can.

6. Spray a baking sheet with Pam, and take the tofu out of the marinade and lay flat on the sheet.

7. Cook for about 25-30 mins at around 350. This step is actually the largest variable. I haven't found an ideal time, and I often end up with burnt, hard to get off marinade dribbling away from the tofu. But the tofu usually tastes great. I'm working on ways to improve this. If you want, you can flip it over halfway to crisp both sides.


I highly recommend pairing baked tofu with asaparagus or artichokes or broccoli, plus rice - white (with some shoyu) or brown.

Also, if you don't eat all the pieces, save them in the fridge. Two of them make a fantastic sandwich - even better than hot - with lettuce and maybe mustard.

(Picture from here, which has another run through of making baked tofu)

Winter NYC Is

DSCN3457.JPG, originally uploaded by cricketheron.

fullsize recommended.

Snow Night

DSCN3427.JPG, originally uploaded by cricketheron.

The snow has stopped, and the city is beautiful. Tomorrow it will start turning grey and dirty, but tonight...

A few more pics.

Nowcasting

Today's new word comes from Janice Huff, meterologist for NBC4 in NYC. When discussing how The Blizzard produced way more snow even than they had predicted, she talked about how hard the weather is to predict. She talked about how it's easier to predict what's going on closer to the actual time it happens. She referred to this as "nowcasting."

Give Up Simian Secularism!

It's Charles Darwin's 197th birthday!

So, here's an excellent text book for you from Matt Bors. Ever wondered how souls in hell cause global warming?

End Out Fly Purpose

Yay, blizzard!!!

Today's extracted spam message:

end out fly purpose. night friends companion,
mentioned reference news.
turning embarrass least love tying, immediate commit off,
steps prison off carefully nothing here,
steps beautiful few a miserable. teach night here here

Kinda Like a Bake Sale

If you slash money for education, then you have to cover that money in fucked up ways.

Scorpion Satay

Beijing 163, originally uploaded by spasdoutin.

To round things out from last week's fried spiders...

Now I just need Horseshoe Crab Soup poppers.

Different Rewards for Different Folks

EH pointed this guy out, and I just had to share this little snippet:

I love helping people make money online. I love teaching them and I love seeing results. It's incredibly rewarding to hear someone tell me that they have increased their income as a result of my ebooks. I set up an audio testimonial line so that people could call in and share their success stories.

And how.

cranbrook with snow

cranbrook with snow, originally uploaded by estimmel.

Another glorious shot.

He Won't Stand For It

Oh, Gawker, good eyes my friend!

Gettin My Pregelatinized Smile On

I was getting my smile on with some fake Pringles known as Lay's Stax this evening, browsing the ingredients as I often do (people like me sometimes do that - check out carmine!), and what do I see but something beautiful called

Pregelatinized Starch

Blech! I swallowed quickly so as not to think about it too much and ran crying to the internet. Never fear, i found out, pregelatinized food starch is not food starch that they've already added gelatin to - no, i was being too literal (and naive).

It's just a pretty name for Improving on Nature. From the industry site Food Innovation's FAQ page:

Q/ How do I choose among the various pregelatinized starches for instant puddings and cheese sauces?
A/ The first question to ask is: How quickly do you need the starch to hydrate? Pregelatinized starches with fine particle size hydrate faster than coarser ones, but those who use fine-particle pregel starches may want to take steps to prevent lumping. Coarse ground starches disperse easily but hydrate slowly.

Oops - that wasn't very helpful. That assumes I already know. And maybe i ENGINEER velveeta competition or something. Let's try another.

Ahh! Here we go. From the site Food Product Design:

Instant improvements
Pregelatinization is a processing technique where the starch is manipulated so that it swells to some degree in cold water, unlike ordinary starch, which requires heating. The most-common method involves heating a starch paste to its gelatinization temperature, drying on a drum dryer and grinding the dried starch to a powder. Upon reconstitution with water, pregelatinized starch has less thickening power and tendency to gel than pastes of the parent starch. Pregelatinized starch works in applications requiring more rapid hydration or room-temperature preparation, such as instant dessert mixes and soups.

"Our partner, Emsland GmbH, manufacturers a line of GMO-free, kosher-certified, pregelatinized potato starches called Emjel," says Mel Festejo, chief operating officer, American Key Food Products, Closter, NJ. "The line is extensive, with each ingredient possessing its own set of superior functionalities."

For example, one of these ingredients binds and thickens and gives good texturing and stabilizing properties in bakery products, instant puddings and desserts. It also works as a coating agent for nuts, and as a binding and texturing agent with good expansion-regulating properties, mainly for extruded, indirectly expanded snack products. Another acts as a binding and texturing agent in frozen foods, dressings, mayonnaises and creams. It provides good stabilizing, freeze/thaw and baking properties. "As a thickening and stabilizing agent with good texturing and foam-stabilizing properties, this starch can be used in instant sauces and dressing powders," adds Festejo.

Now back to Chip parties in the Park!

Where It Comes From

In the last few days, I've seen comments show up here from someone named "Sam" and someone who goes by "Ray."

I just wanted to acknowledge them, cuz without the comments - and the stuff I put up myself - this thing wouldn't even be here.

Gracios!

(Thanks, SaVa and RaJo. Um. I think)

ExxonbMobil To Bush: "You're Naive"

Exxon Mobil Senior Vice President Stuart McGill said on Tuesday:

Americans depend upon imports to fill the gap,' McGill said. 'No combination of conservation measures, alternative energy sources and technological advances could realistically and economically provide a way to completely replace those imports in the short or medium term.'

Scorpion Trumps All

Scorpion Macro, originally uploaded by pongboy.

Nope.

I'm steering away from Boo-Boo the chicken, Gonzales's claim that Al Qaeda forgets we're after them if they're not reminded by media, and the 24 old Bush appointee George Deutsche - journalism major, never graduated from A&M, now resigned - to tell NASA scientists how to communicate its message....

...and just posting this beautiful beast.

Cooking Mama

These are shots from a new Japanese gameboy DS game coming out soon, called Cooking Mama, and I'm smitten. There is currently no assurance that this is ever coming over here, but I can dream!

Many screenshots here and here at 4 Color Rebellion (first two screenshot links).