Month: January 2004

most of these are funny: this one wasn’t

Excessively Progressive! Anti-Bush and Democratic Election 2004 Bumper Stickers and Shirts

I took W's place in Vietnam

Say what you like about Clinton or even Cheney: they never pretended to be in the military. They ducked it, fair and square. But not the President. He signed up and then went AWOL, abandoning his duty to protect the skies of Texas from the Red Menace. I don’t know if any National Guard pilots were sent to Vietnam: perhaps none. But how would he feel if someone could point to a name on The Wall and say “this guy’s name is here, because you left your post.”

fish burritos, just like mamacita never made

Our love of fish burritos from Taco Del Mar required some experimentation in the kitchen this afternoon. As much as we like ’em, we can’t always splash out on them for a family of four, given the financial situation. So we took up the challenge to make our own.

As the saying goes, the secret’s in the sauce, in this case, the “white sauce” that Taco Del Mar uses (perhaps other places do too).

Here’s the assembly instructions we used (this would make 4 reasonable-sized burritos):

  1. burrito, natch (your choice of flavor/color/variety)
  2. beans (red, black, refried: I heated (the contents of) a 15 oz can of black beans in the microwave)
  3. cheese, 1 cup
  4. fish, 1 piece per
  5. shredded cabbage, 1-2 cups
  6. salsa, choose your octane level, about a tablespoon or two
  7. white sauce, tablespoon or so

For the fish, we used some leftover frozen fish “tenders,” smaller than a filet, about the length and breadth of a large finger.

For the white sauce, my Skilled Assistant unearthed some ideas on the Interweb and we improvised, as follows:

  • 1/4 cup mayo
  • 1/4 cup yogurt
  • 1/4 tsp ground cumin
  • 1/4 tsp oregano
  • cayenne, to taste
  • lime juice, enough to “make it runny”

The yogurt and mayo can be fat-free: I think their main contribution is texture and consistency.

So there you have it: roll, wrap, and eat.

world-beating hot cocoa

This is adapted from a recipe that ran in last weekend’s Seattle Times magazine (Pacific Northwest).

I couldn’t handle the thickness of the original, so I made some modifications to suit my needs. It’s not like anything I had ever had before: made to the original, it was more like pudding and required a spoon. This way, you can drink it.

Makes 2 1/2 8 oz cups

1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa
1/4 cup sugar (I use light brown)
1/4 cup water
1 tsp cornstarch

Mix the above ingredients in saucepan over medium to high heat and stir constantly: you want it to come to a boil but not burn. When it boils, stream in, while stirring, 2 cups milk.

Keep it on the heat (I even increase it to high) until it comes to a boil, stirring gently all the while (this may take a few minutes: this ain’t Swiss Miss, after all).

When it starts to boil, remove it from the heat and add 1 tsp vanilla extract. Serve at once or pour into a vacuum thermos to delight family and friends later.

The original recipe can be found here, and here’s the accompanying article.

chilly hilly 2004

Cascade Bicycle Club: Chilly Hilly

Join us Sunday, February 29 on the ride Bicycling Magazine named “One of Four Classic Rides” in the nation! This ride is 33 miles around scenic Bainbridge Island. Guaranteed to be hilly, chilly and a heck of a lot of fun.

Well, since I indulged in some after Christmas retail therapy and got new pedals and shoes (I’m going clipless) but have yet to try them out, here’s my motivator. Seven weeks . . . .

[posted with ecto

was war inevitable?

ABCNEWS.com : Report: Bush Planned Iraqi Invasion Pre-Sept. 11

“From the very beginning, there was a conviction that Saddam Hussein was a bad person and that he needed to go,” O’Neill said in the “60 Minutes” interview scheduled to air on Sunday. “For me, the notion of pre-emption, that the U.S. has the unilateral right to do whatever we decide to do, is a really huge leap.”
[ . . .]
O’Neill was also quoted in the book as saying the president was determined to find a reason to go to war and he was surprised nobody on the National Security Council questioned why Iraq should be invaded.

“It was all about finding a way to do it. That was the tone of it,” said O’Neill. “The president saying ‘Go find me a way to do this.”‘

King George sounds a lot like King Henry II, though I’m reluctant to cast Saddam Hussein as a martyr.

Don’t expect the press to make anything of this: misusing the military of the world’s remaining superpower to pursue a family feud isn’t going to get any coverage.

[metafilter.com]
[Posted with ecto]

another reason to look at Open Source?

Newsday.com – Adobe Helped Gov’t Fight Counterfeiting

WASHINGTON — Adobe Systems Inc. acknowledged Friday it quietly added technology to the world’s best-known graphics software at the request of government regulators and international bankers to prevent consumers from making copies of the world’s major currencies.

The unusual concession has angered scores of customers.

Adobe, the world’s leading vendor for graphics software, said the secretive technology “would have minimal impact on honest customers.” It generates a warning message when someone tries to make digital copies of some currencies.

The Gimp may skip this feature; it doesn’t seem very popular.

perhaps it’s not so mini

About that [mini] iPod

I really don’t use much more than a quarter of the 10Gb that I have available to me. I’ve gone into my listening habits in more detail in the past, but essentially, I carry around one 1Gb playlist, and occasionally toss one or two other specialized playlists on when I’m in a mood to, and that’s it. Right now, I’m currently using a whopping 2.12Gb of my 10Gb iPod for music, leaving around 7Gb free.

I have been thinking that I may never fill mine up . . . . I think 4-5 Gb is plenty, but that doesn’t mean I think it should sell for $50 less that the one I have.

this looks interesting

Jarrett House North :

Hello to my 10 subscribers

Dave has been steadily rolling out new features in his OPML aggregation site, feeds.scripting.com

but where it falls down for me is that I only read this site as part of a meta-feed, so JHN would never show up in my OPML file unless I add it by itself.

I don’t get anything through the direct feed that I don’t get through the meta-feed, so they are chasing the same readers. The moral seems to be, you may have more subscribers than you can count reliably. That’s not a bad outcome.

ecto, for everyone

ecto beta version 0.1.6 is now available for download.This version will expire at the end of January, 2004. This is the first public release of ecto.

now playing: Radio Paradise DJ-mixed Modern & Classic Rock, World Beat & more

I’ve used all the betas (there were only 5 prior to this public release) and it’s been quite solid all the way. This version has some nice new icons, as well.

The wins for me?

  • not having to use a browser to edit posts: ecto is quicker at posting changes the xml-rpc interface
  • the custom tags (see example at the bottom and think of how many you can come up with)
  • it’s a real OS X app: access to it through the Services menu works fine as does stuff like spellcheck
  • and of course, it’s well thought-out, building on the success of Kung Log and extending it to do more without bloat

Go get your copy.

[Posted with ecto]