It's late here (12:45am) and I probably should just shut this computer off, but one last post before slumber. (what a great word - slumber).
Just got back from a really good movie!
No Country for Old Men. (imdb)
I've learned that the Coen brothers have sometimes let me down (ahem: Ladykillers).
But this one was a hit for me. This had the ring of Fargo to it. Some pretty violent scenes but nothing you haven't seen before. There were some good one-liners in there too, and some really well written dialogs! What nailed it for me was the acting... Tommy Lee (I'm a fan what can I say), Javier Bardem (the bad guy) was awesomely creepy, Josh Brolin, Woody Harrelson (Glad to see him coming back to film), and another one of my favorites Barry Corbin (from the old Northern Exposure days on TV).
I can't say much more about it so as not to give anything away. If you liked Fargo and can deal with some of the violence then give this one a shot.
Totally unrelated...
I watched a little C-span today. It's been a while since I've seen much of interest on cspan. I sure do miss cspan 2, but I refuse the extra $4 to comcast for a box and remote! Today, they showed a talk by Author and Historian Joseph Ellis. (books here on google).
History is always a hit or miss thing with me. I appreciate now as I get older but sometimes (even now), it bores the he** outta me. Well, Ellis did not bore me. He was pasionate about his topic and that rubs off. He got a little bit into a recent question that has been bothering me... A line I hear a lot from "conservatives" is that America was "founded" on the Christian religion. A quick search on google the other day, and I found websites that both claimed the opposite things. Each with evidence. So I was a bit confused. Ellis touched on this just a little and confirmed what I had thought... it was NOT founded on the Christian religion.
I just now tried to find a link of the video on cspan's website and can not find one single mention of Ellis. Someday, I wish the cspan website to be re-designed with a focus on making things easier to find!
Oh, one of the things Ellis pointed out - we do NOT have a democratic America... it is a "Republic" - The founders did not want a "mob rules" run country (which is what it has become - sort of). The person we elect is supposed to be smarter than us. They are supposed to represent us - even if we don't understand what they are doing. They are supposed to have America and its citizens interest at their heart. What have we become now in 2007?
Well, maybe when my pile of "yet to be read" books dwindles a little I'll try to push through a history book by Ellis. If I liked his talk today so much, I should like his writing right?
Sunday, November 25, 2007
Saturday, November 24, 2007
where does bread come from?
Ok, today's post ties in two different topics under one word - pretty clever huh? :)
First...
I made my second loaf of bread last night! And I'm happy to report that it went much better than my first attempt. I used the recipe off the back of the packaging of my whole wheat flour that I got from "King Arthur Flour". I stuck pretty good to the recipe (except I used whole milk). Although, I do not understand why I ended up using so much more flour than the recipe called for. It called for 2.5 Cups of flour and I must of added at LEAST a whole 'nother cup of flour. After mixing all the ingredients, it was just a gooey sticky mess, but I just kept adding more flour and eventually got a decent dough. As you can see from the photo, this loaf actually expanded above my (silicon) bread pan. AND it tasted pretty good too! I think next up, I want to try more sweeter breads or breads with fruit in them (like raisins or banana).
And the second topic... Money (aka bread, dough).
Where does money come from?
Think about it for a second...
Did the image of the government Mint pop into your mind?
Guess what... you're wrong!
It's pretty complicated (I'm not sure I fully understand either), but short answer is: The Banks make money out of thin air. Don't believe me?
Watch this video online...
Money As Debt (about 47 minutes).
Friday, November 23, 2007
rip off report
Well, it's the day after Thanksgiving. I hope you had a great day, ate some good food, and enjoyed whatever it was that you did.
I made my own turkey again this year. I tried a different approach to cooking it this year... I think I've tried a different approach every single year since I started cooking my own turkeys! This year, a friend recommended the way she does it... wrap the turkey in foil, then bake at a high temperature (for a 10lb turkey, bake for about 2 hours and 45 minutes at 450 degrees). For the most part it was successful. The turkey was tender and moist. The only downside was that I didn't know how to get the turkey out of the wrapped foil. It had stuck to the foil at various points so I could just lift it out (I forgot to coat the whole turkey in Pam or oil). And, the lower quarter of the turkey had cooked in all its own juices and was kinda yucky looking. I used a thermometer too so I knew my turkey was done (well, it seemed like everyone has a different temperature when I looked it up online. I found anywhere from 150 to 180, the average I found was about 165-175, so I went with 170.) BUT for some reason the meat in the inner part of the legs (armpit? EWW) seemed like it was undercooked. Maybe it was just a different texture I don't know. I think this might be the last time I try cooking a whole bird like this. I ended up throwing out a lot of meat (well, not a lot compared to the whole bird) but at least one or two good serving sizes due to me not wanting to take a chance. So, mental note.... Try something different again next year! :)
As to the ripping off point of this post.
This has nothing to do with Thanksgiving at all.
The other day I was in my local clubstore (BJ's) and picking up my usual staple that I get about once a month, a case of V8 tomato juice in a 12oz can. I went into the juice aisle and saw something new from V8 (aka Campbells Soup Corp.) It was a 48 pack! Cool, I thought. It was nicely packaged in a shrink wrap. Then I looked at the price. You'd THINK that buying bulk (which is the whole premise of clubstores) would be cheaper right? Guess what... they wanted TWICE as much as the 24pack case! I had to do a double take to make sure I was reading the prices right.
So, we'll see what this means... I am afraid that the clubstore may be phasing out the 12 pack, and that I'll be forced into buying the same item for double the price - In which case I'll really have to think about if I want to continue to drink V8 on a daily basis. Grr.
Just so we understand here...
A 24 pack is $11.89 (approx 50 cents per can).
One would THINK that a 48 pack would then be double that at $23.78 right? Nope... they wanted Approx $47! That's about $1 per can.
Shame on you Campbells (and or BJ's).
I made my own turkey again this year. I tried a different approach to cooking it this year... I think I've tried a different approach every single year since I started cooking my own turkeys! This year, a friend recommended the way she does it... wrap the turkey in foil, then bake at a high temperature (for a 10lb turkey, bake for about 2 hours and 45 minutes at 450 degrees). For the most part it was successful. The turkey was tender and moist. The only downside was that I didn't know how to get the turkey out of the wrapped foil. It had stuck to the foil at various points so I could just lift it out (I forgot to coat the whole turkey in Pam or oil). And, the lower quarter of the turkey had cooked in all its own juices and was kinda yucky looking. I used a thermometer too so I knew my turkey was done (well, it seemed like everyone has a different temperature when I looked it up online. I found anywhere from 150 to 180, the average I found was about 165-175, so I went with 170.) BUT for some reason the meat in the inner part of the legs (armpit? EWW) seemed like it was undercooked. Maybe it was just a different texture I don't know. I think this might be the last time I try cooking a whole bird like this. I ended up throwing out a lot of meat (well, not a lot compared to the whole bird) but at least one or two good serving sizes due to me not wanting to take a chance. So, mental note.... Try something different again next year! :)
As to the ripping off point of this post.
This has nothing to do with Thanksgiving at all.
The other day I was in my local clubstore (BJ's) and picking up my usual staple that I get about once a month, a case of V8 tomato juice in a 12oz can. I went into the juice aisle and saw something new from V8 (aka Campbells Soup Corp.) It was a 48 pack! Cool, I thought. It was nicely packaged in a shrink wrap. Then I looked at the price. You'd THINK that buying bulk (which is the whole premise of clubstores) would be cheaper right? Guess what... they wanted TWICE as much as the 24pack case! I had to do a double take to make sure I was reading the prices right.
So, we'll see what this means... I am afraid that the clubstore may be phasing out the 12 pack, and that I'll be forced into buying the same item for double the price - In which case I'll really have to think about if I want to continue to drink V8 on a daily basis. Grr.
Just so we understand here...
A 24 pack is $11.89 (approx 50 cents per can).
One would THINK that a 48 pack would then be double that at $23.78 right? Nope... they wanted Approx $47! That's about $1 per can.
Shame on you Campbells (and or BJ's).
Tuesday, November 20, 2007
8 days
I found this great little "mock" motivational poster for Hanukkah over on "evilmadscientist.com" after seeing this project on the Makezine site. I had to laugh when I read because I have the same sentiment right now. I could not fathom that a few stores that I had been in BEFORE Halloween were putting up their Christmas stuff. More than 2 months away and these people are trying to sell Christmas junk. This is really getting outta control. I was watching my new FAVORITE show last night (Chuck) and saw that one of th emajor department stores was BRAGGING that they were going to be open at 4AM! You gotta be kidding me! Why do people fall for this? I can guarantee you that some one will be standing at the door to get in at 3:45am. I just don't understand this mindset. But the stores love it. This holiday is SO commercialized it makes me nauseous.
Oh, I will send Kudo's out to (I hope I'm getting the name right) Nordstroms, I saw yesterday (on the internet) that they are putting up signs saying that they are not selling Christmas stuff until Black Friday, because that's how they roll. Then the sign wished the customer a happy thanksgiving.
Back to the original point of this post...
I went to another electronics class this weekend and had a good time. It was mostly about LED lights. They had two versions of the class, first session was for beginners (me), next session was for advanced. I really struggled with the advanced part, but I learned how to solder my first board and that was really cool (cause it worked when I finished). It amazed how excited I could get about seeing a little light blink on and off. But I'm glad I'm learning this stuff. I hope to stick with it.
IF I don't post between now and Turkey Day, Hope you have a great day, and are able to find a moment in time when you can reflect on all that you are thankful for.
Sunday, November 18, 2007
daft punk - viral
Ok, this post goes out to all you riaa folks, copyright crackdown lawyers, and everyone else who appreciates music...
The other day I stopped over to check out the laughing squid blog and saw this odd video (original squid post here). I watch both of the video's (that I reposted above). Yes... it's incredibly stupid to watch, but at the same time, I couldn't look away. It was a really catchy song, good beat, and really creative videos. Today, I went over to itunes and bought the song. THIS is how it's supposed to work people. I've heard of daft punk before. As a matter of fact, a few weeks ago I rented a movie from them and pretty much hated it. I didn't even really listen to the movie all the way through. So I figured that was that, I'd probably never buy a daft punk song. So then I stumble upon these "viral videos" on youtube, that under "normal" copyright law would (and may yet still) be pulled from the youtube website. But because of these creative bits, I was introduced to another song I'd not heard of and liked it. I have the tech know-how that if I wanted to, I could have recorded the music onto my computer (maybe some have), but I think most people if given a fair, easy way (such as itunes) will go out and BUY the music.
Who knows, maybe someone reading this post, and watching these same videos will feel the same impulse to buy some Daft Punk too. (You're welcome DP).
Friday, November 16, 2007
Ape Lad
I've really been enjoying "ape lad's" (aka Adam Koford) comics that he posts on his flickr account (and his blog). It always amazes me the combined talent of being able to draw comics AND the wit to write single, double, or triple panels.
Thanks Ape for sharing these.
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