The new black

“Sixty percent off is the new black.”
-- Patricia Marx in The New Yorker

She's a man, baby

The Gender Analyzer purports to be able to tell the gender of bloggers by examining the contents of the blog.

"Results: We think http://crosshatched.blogspot.com/ is written by a man (87%)."

Greaaaat. I feel pretty.

Back to the drywall project. (Wait a minute....)

Effort is no myth

"If you somehow pulled this off, then six months from now, you would be the fittest, best rested, most intelligent, best funded and motivated person in your office or your field. You would know how to do things other people don't, you'd have a wider network and you'd be more focused."
--Seth Godin, Is effort a myth?

Maverick Descendant Challenges John McCain

From Who You Callin’ a Maverick? in today's New York Times:
In the 1800s, Samuel Augustus Maverick went to Texas and became known for not branding his cattle. He was more interested in keeping track of the land he owned than the livestock on it, Ms. Maverick said; unbranded cattle, then, were called “Maverick’s.” The name came to mean anyone who didn’t bear another’s brand. ...Considering the family’s long history of association with liberalism and progressive ideals, it should come as no surprise that Ms. Maverick insists that John McCain, who has voted so often with his party, “is in no way a maverick, in uppercase or lowercase.”

“It’s just incredible — the nerve! — to suggest that he’s not part of that Republican herd. Every time we hear it, all my children and I and all my family shrink a little and say, ‘Oh, my God, he said it again.’ ”

“He’s a Republican,” she said. “He’s branded.”

Library of Congress on flickr

My newest flickr contact is the LIBRARY OF CONGRESS! Yeah, for real -- the Library of Congress is on flickr. Check it out.

What I learned from the NYT today

Among the strongest critics of inflated executive pay have been Warren Buffett and the late management guru, Peter Drucker, who argued that C.E.O. salaries should peak at no more than 20 or 25 times those of the average worker. (Last year, C.E.O.’s got an average of 344 times the wages of the typical worker.)
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/02/opinion/02kristof.html?em

“People love that toasted-rice taste,” he said. “It’s even a flavor of ice cream in Seoul.” (Japanese cooks, however, consider toasted rice overcooked and highly undesirable. The unwanted crust left stuck to the bottom of the rice cooker is called okoge — the same word used as slang for a single woman who spends a lot of time with gay men.)
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/01/dining/01rice.html?em

Alex Payne's Rules for Computing

Good rules for computing:
al3x's Rules for Computing Happiness
Although I am no techie, I am pleased to note that several of these are the same as my rules. One big difference between our sets of rules is probably that he can support his rules with rational arguments, which I cannot.

I love this!

I think it's awesome that some guys were just fooling around one day and came up with this.

Daniel thinks it's creepy.

This freaks me out.

I am just learning of Monica Bonvicini's 2003 art installation, "Don't Miss a Sec," which is permanently (and operationally) installed outside the Tate Modern in London:

http://www.snopes.com/photos/arts/toilet.asp

Free

My mom sent me one of those email messages that periodically makes the rounds. It included an inspirational poem. Normally I just delete that stuff, but for a change it really meant something to me. It introduced me to Portia Nelson, a lounge singer and actress in the 50s (she played one of the nuns who sabotage the Nazis' car in The Sound of Music) who also happened to write poetry. I immediately ran to the library to check out her book of poetry, There's a Hole in My Sidewalk.

The title poem, "There's a Hole in My Sidewalk: Autobiography in Five Short Chapters," is the one that was reproduced in my mom's email. It goes like this:


I.
I walk down the street.
     There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
     I fall in.
     I am lost...I am helpless.
          It isn't my fault.
It takes forever to find a way out.


II.
I walk down the same street.
     There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
     I pretend I don't see it.
     I fall in again.
I can't believe I am in this same place.
          But, it isn't my fault.
It still takes a long time to get out.


III.
I walk down the same street.
     There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
     I see it is there.
     I still fall in...it's a habit...but,
          my eyes are open.
          I know where I am.
     It is my fault.
     I get out immediately.


IV.
I walk down the same street.
     There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
     I walk around it.


V.
I walk down another street.


The book also had this untitled gem:

I am so free with you
I never wish to be
          free of you.

True dat. :-)

Rotary

On the Library of Congress site, I found this poem reflecting on the disappearance of the rotary phone. It reads in part,

Why did no one think
to conserve the peal?

Just try once
to sing it to yourself:
it's gone,

like the sound of breath
if your body left.

What would you expect to see at "tranny.org?"

I bet it ain't this:
http://www.tranny.org/

Good Guesser

I got 32 points at Guess the Accent: http://www.languagetrainersgroup.com/accent_game.html

I surprised myself by not being able to correctly distinguish accents from Britain/Wales/Scotland/Ireland.

Test your own language prowess!

Clafoutis ("Gesundheit!")

clafoutis!, originally uploaded by nonesuch.

I found this delicious recipe from Ceres & Bacchus via smittenkitchen. Naturally, I had to improve it a bit with a little rewrite, because that's my way.

From wikipedia, I learned that clafoutis is "originally from Limousin" (in the heart of France) and that "the dish's name comes from Occitan clafotís, from the verb clafir, meaning 'to fill up' (implied: 'the batter with cherries')." The article also stated that clafoutis is basically pancake batter fancied up by French cooks, and that clafoutis madness spread throughout France during the 19th century.

(Okay, it didn't say clafoutis madness; that is my own invention.)

I am a big fan not only of pancakes but also trendy recipes, so this recipe was a natural.

The first time I made the dish, I used cherries as recommended by smittenkitchen. The second time, I used plums because they were so much cheaper than cherries.

Both times it has been delicious.

Plum Clafoutis (kla-foo-tee)

* 3 eggs
* 1/2 cup sugar
* 1/2 cup butter, melted
* 1 cup flour
* 1 cup milk
* 1/2 tsp vanilla
* 2 tsp rum
* 2 cups of plums, pitted and halved

Preheat the oven to 400 F.

Beat the sugar and the eggs with a wire whisk until they turn lighter in color. Add butter gradually, whisking to incorporate. Add flour all at once, whisking until batter is a homogeneous mixture. Add milk gradually, mixing well. Add vanilla (and rum if you are using it). Mix well. The batter should be very smooth and shiny.

Butter a glass or earthenware baking dish, 9- or 10-inch cake pan, or oven-proof skillet. Place the fruit in the dish. Pour the batter over the fruit.

Bake approximately 30-40 minutes, until slightly browned and almost completely set in the middle. (I prefer it to be a little custardy in the middle, so I rarely bake for more than 30 minutes.)

Let sit at least 15 minutes. Turn out onto a plate; sift powdered sugar on top if desired. Serve warm or at room temperature. Store in refrigerator. Leftovers are excellent for breakfast.

Killing Me Softly with His Blog

"The observant among you will probably be aware that the white person wet dream 'Be Kind, Rewind' is about to be released. This might be the biggest event in white person film since The Royal Tenenbaums."

--From #68 (Michel Gondry) in the list of Stuff White People Like from the blog, "Stuff White People Like"

Oh Heavenly God, I am so white! It's like the writer knows my innermost thoughts, feelings, and desires.

If this can't keep you late at work...

...taking advantage of that sweet sweet T3 line, I don't know what can: it's Audiotuts' 240 Free Albums, Tracks and Links for Music Mashup Lovers.

I'm sorry, and you're welcome.

Western Spaghetti

Behold one of the many brilliant and twisted films of PES:

Not Going to Lie

“I’m not going to lie: I used to smoke crack in there,” said one homeless woman, Veronyka Cordner, nodding toward the toilet behind Pike Place Market. “But I won’t even go inside that thing now. It’s disgusting.”

-- "Seattle’s Automated Toilets Go Way of the Box and Chain, New York Times, 17 July 2008

Wearing the Bacon Colors

Eyes on the prize, originally uploaded by nonesuch.

"I see bacon as a celebration of an American birthright. Four slices of Hormel Black Label, hissing in a cast iron skillet on a Sunday morning. To wear the bacon colors, to sport a bacon tattoo, is to announce your belief in the possibilities of bacon, in the American goodness rendered by a low-on-the-hog meat, transmogrified by smoke and salt."

- John T. Edge, director of the Southern Foodways Alliance

There are so many good, gleefully tasty nuggets in that quote, I can hardly stand it.

"Hormel Black Label."
Bacon: the meat that's "low on the hog."
"Wear the bacon colors."
"Belief in the possibilities of bacon."

Here's a link to the article, Bacon Mania, in Salon. John T. Edge is quoted in #7. I recommend the article for entertaining reading, even if you are not inspired to get a bacon tattoo. Full of good writing and information. There I learned that "Anthony Bourdain has called bacon the 'gateway protein' for its astounding ability to lure vegetarians back to the carnivorous fold." Good stuff.

The Downside

Downside of living alone #1:
When you cut your finger real bad, you're the one who has to clean up the blood with your bandaged hand.