Tuesday, July 31, 2012

Manhole Covers







I'd love to get my hands on several of these to use as stepping stones in the yard but at 100lbs each the carryon is out of the question.

From Twisted Sifter...
In 95% of Japan’s 1,780 municipalities you will find artistic manhole covers unique to each city and town. It has become apart of the country’s national culture and it’s fascinating to see the different designs and styles that each town and city has chosen to represent them. With over 6,000 manhole cover artworks, it’s no surprise that spotting and photographing them has become a hobby for many. 
Apparently all manhole covers are forged in Nagashima Foundry from carved master plates that have all been preserved in a central library.
More here.

 For comparison, an artistically crafted and crossword puzzle inspired DC manhole cover...


Monday, July 30, 2012

Olympians Without a Country


Fascinating.  I never knew an athlete could compete in the Olympics without representing a specific country. (thx Melissa J.)

From Dead Spin...
They were hard to miss: the "Independent Olympic Athletes," walking under the Olympic flag, dancing and jumping their way through the Parade of Nations. But what's their deal? In an Olympics with 204 teams how did four athletes find themselves effectively stateless? 
Marial considers himself a citizen of South Sudan, the world's newest country after declaring its independence just over a year ago. But South Sudan, caught up in continued fighting as well as crippling famine, has been too concerned with nation-building to form an Olympic committee. And without an Olympic committee, he can't march under the South Sudanese flag. But just a week before the Games, the IOC approved Marial's petition to compete as an independent athlete. 
Reginald de Windt, a judoka, Lee-Marvin Bonevacia, a distance runner, and Philipine van Aanholt, a sailor, all hail from Curacao, which until 2010 was part of the Netherlands Antilles. That year, the Netherlands Antilles dissolved itself as an independent nation to become constituent countries of the Netherlands. The Netherland Antilles Olympic Committee hoped to keep functioning, but the IOC withdrew recognition last year. The three athletes would have been allowed to compete for the Dutch, but they don't identify as Dutch citizens, so they fought for—and won—the chance to compete as independents.

Sunday, July 29, 2012

Coming This Week





Grilled Peach Ginger Bourbon ice cream.

Picked up some nice peaches at the farmers market this AM.  About to grab some bourbon.  Ginger will be in hand maƱana.

I can't find a recipe so I'll be winging it. I think it's got potential but we'll see. Stay tuned.

Friday, July 27, 2012

"I've Got This"

Two young gorillas taking care of business. (thx MMN)

From Inhabitat...
Despite Rwanda’s Volcanoes National Park being a wildlife refuge, poaching is still a problem. The snares, set by hunters in the region, are intended for antelope and other forms of game, however young apes are known to get accidentally caught in them. While adults are normally strong enough to get out of them, younger apes aren’t so lucky and often die.  
On Tuesday tracker John Ndayambaje spotted a trap very close to the Kuryama gorilla clan. He moved in to deactivate the snare, but a silverback named Vubu grunted, cautioning Ndayambaje to stay away. Instead two juveniles—Rwema, a male; and Dukore, a female; both about four years old—ran toward the trap. According to Ndayambaje, “Rwema jumped on the bent tree branch and broke it, while Dukore freed the noose.” The pair then spied another snare nearby—one the tracker himself had missed—and destroyed that trap as well. Vecellio believes this wasn’t the first time the young gorillas had performed such teamwork. “They were very confident,” she said. “They saw what they had to do, they did it, and then they left.”

Wednesday, July 25, 2012

In Memory


Whenever I see a gardenia think of Aunt Vi.

She was always very caring and kind.  I can still feel her soft hands when she'd take my hand and hold it while we were talking.

She'll be missed tremendously.

Monday, July 23, 2012

The Olympics Are Coming


I recognize that Olympic sponsors provide a good portion of the moolah that make the Games happen but things seem to have gone a bit too far, especially for a country that loves their chips.

From the Guardian (UK)...
To sell fish and chips, the London organising committee (Locog) had to get a special dispensation from McDonald's, the official restaurant sponsor, which is expected to provide 10% of meals served at the Games. Under its deal with the International Olympic Committee, t he fast-food chain had the sole rights to sell chips or french fries. It allows Locog's caterers to sell fish and chips, but not chips on their own.

Wangari Gardens

Just one person who refuses to give up can grow a lot of good.  A look at a new community garden in DC.



US: 12,000 vs. Japan: 11


This is a comparison in which the U.S. will always prevail.  I'll go with the Japanese any day.

From The Atlantic...
Friday's horrific shooting at an Aurora, Colorado, movie theater has been a reminder that America's gun control laws are the loosest in the developed world and its rate of gun-related homicide is the highest. Of the world's 23 "rich" countries, the U.S. gun-related murder rate is almost 20 times that of the other 22. With almost one privately owned firearm per person, America's ownership rate is the highest in the world; tribal-conflict-torn Yemen is ranked second, with a rate about half of America's.  
But what about the country at the other end of the spectrum? What is the role of guns in Japan, the developed world's least firearm-filled nation and perhaps its strictest controller? In 2008, the U.S. had over12 thousand firearm-related homicides. All of Japan experienced only 11, fewer than were killed at the Aurora shooting alone. And that was a big year: 2006 saw an astounding two, and when that number jumped to 22 in 2007, it became a national scandal. By comparison, also in 2008, 587 Americans were killed just by guns that had discharged accidentally.  
Almost no one in Japan owns a gun. Most kinds are illegal, with onerous restrictions on buying and maintaining the few that are allowed. Even the country's infamous, mafia-like Yakuza tend to forgo guns; the few exceptions tend to become big national news stories.
So what does cheese have to do with this? Well, in the U.S. it's easier to buy a semi-automatic weapon than a wedge of raw milk cheese which is easily available in almost all of the rest of the world.  The impact?

From AmericaBlog...
"Two people died over fifteen years from eating raw milk cheese," Aravosis writes. "Significantly more died over that period from guns, about 450,000 people."
Go figure.

Chivalry




A definition of courage.

From the NY Daily News...
Three survivors of the Colorado movie-theater massacre escaped with minor wounds, but were left with broken hearts because their heroic boyfriends died saving them. 
In final acts of valor, Jon Blunk, Matt McQuinn and Alex Teves used their bodies to shield their girlfriends as accused madman James Holmes turned the Aurora cineplex into a shooting gallery. 
Blunk’s girlfriend, Jansen Young; McQuinn’s girlfriend, Samantha Yowler; and Teves’ gal pal Amanda Lindgren made it out of the bloodbath — but they would have been killed had it not been for the loves of their lives.
R.I.P. Jon Blunk, Matt McQuinn and Alex Teves.

Saturday, July 21, 2012

"A Cruel Hoax"

Bill Moyers speaks the truth about guns and the U.S.

A must watch video (thx Tony B.)...

Friday, July 20, 2012

Single Malt Jerky


Now that we have a bit more storage space we finally got a dehydrator -- this thing is going to get a work out.  First up, a repeat batch (sorta) of Spicy Bourbon Honey beef jerky we made in OAK back in January.

The problem: I'm very short-sighted. I drank all the bourbon.
The solution: Use 14yo single malt Caribbean cask Balvenie instead. Uh, yeah!

I made a few other mods to the original recipe to give it a little more ummph:
  • Replace 2 tbsp chipotle powder with 1 tbsp cayenne and 1 tbsp smoked paprika
  • Replace 1.5 tbsp salt with an equal amount or slightly more soy sauce
  • Add 1 teaspoon cumin
The verdict?

The other GIGO: Goodness In, Goodness Out. 

Wednesday, July 18, 2012

This Week's Flavor: It's Complicated


Following on the heels of the Blueberry Thai Basil ice cream which was very blueberry but not so basily we went all in and created Coconut Thai Basil Lime ice cream.

There was no recipe to be had on the interwebs so I started out with this recipe, substituted coconut milk for the milk, swapped out the lemon zest with lime, added a few tablespoons of lime juice, dialed back the egg yolks to four, and replaced the Italian basil with a boat load of Thai basil from zee garden.

The grammar sticklers will cringe but with it's bright green color, intense herbaceousness, and undertones of coconut and lime, the combo results in a very unique ice cream.

Accompanied by a few roasted macadamia nuts and either pineapple or mango on the side, it'll make a tasty dessert.

Sunday, July 15, 2012

Love Ever After


I love this.

From HuffPo...
After the sudden death of Janet, his beloved wife of 33 years, Winston Howes, a British farmer, wanted a space to remember her. So in a flash of inspiration, he planted 6,000 oak trees in a nearby field, carefully planting them in the shape of a heart. 
That was 17 years ago, and though Howes never intended to publicize his secret garden, the Telegraph reports a hot-air balloonist chanced upon the arboreal delight last week and took a couple of pictures. 
The base of the heart points to Wotton Hill, Winston's wife's hometown. Reached for comment by the Daily Mail, he said, "I sometimes go down there, just to sit and think about things. It is a lovely and lasting tribute to her which will be here for years." 

Saturday, July 14, 2012

Ouch

This one has legs...

Swingless Florida


Do the crime. 
Do the time. 
And keep on paying for politics.

From The Daily Beast...
Laws that keep felons and others away from the polls “have their roots in Jim Crow laws, and were passed along with relics like literacy tests and poll taxes,” says Lee Rowland, counsel for the NYU Brennan Center for Justice Democracy Program.

Statistics show that felon disenfranchisement disproportionately affect African-Americans, with 7.7% of the total African-American population denied the vote as a result, according to the Sentencing Project. That’s 1 out of every 13 black Americans. Rowland says stricter felon disenfranchisement laws are often made as a “political calculations” that “skew the electorate.”
And then there's this from Mother Jones...
In what amounts to a modern-day version of Jim Crow-era statutes, felon disenfranchisement takes a substantial bite out of the black vote. According to the report, nearly 8 percent of voting-age black Americans (1 in 13) is disenfranchised, compared with roughly 2 percent of their non-black counterparts. In three states—Florida, Kentucky, and Virginia, at least 1 in 5 black Americans will be out of luck come Election Day. In the cases of Florida and Virginia, the numbers are sizeable enough to change the outcome in November. As Desmond Meade of the nonprofit Florida Rights Restoration Coalition put it to us last week: If these people were able to vote, "Florida would no longer be a swing state."

Wednesday, July 11, 2012

Monday, July 9, 2012

R.I.P. Norman Sas


Who is Norman Sas? 

Anyone who grew up in the '70s probably doesn't know his name but most likely knows his creation.

From NorthJersey.com
Maybe it was under your Christmas tree. Surely you remember it: Metal playing field. Two teams of 11 plastic football players, each standing on a rectangular base with prongs on the bottom and a knob on the side. At the beginning of each play, the human "coach" sets the players in the desired position and puts the football in the hands of one. A switch is flicked, the gridiron vibrates and the players move — often hilariously in every which direction. Occasionally the player with the ball "runs" to daylight. 
Norman Sas invented Electric Football in 1948 and introduced it a year later. But it wasn’t until 1967, when he signed a deal with NFL Properties, the National Football League’s product licensing division, that the plastic players represented actual NFL teams and Electric Football really took off. 
"Who would’ve thought that a vibrating metal plate could capture the imagination of so many boys?" Byrne said, adding that the "chaos and unpredictability" of the players’ movements gave Electric Football its magic. "For the first 10 years, we generated more money for NFL Properties than anyone else," Mr. Sas said in a 1998 Washington Post story. "Then the [video] games came out, and that was the beginning of the end."
I had one as did almost every boy in the neighborhood. We'd play each other's favorite teams (invariably the Redskins, Cowboys, or Steelers) and ultimately the two best would battle it out in the Super Bowl.

Thanks for the fun Mr. Sas.

Sunday, July 8, 2012

The Multiverse Explained

Try to wrap your brain around this TED Talk.


The final point about future astronomers is fascinating. 

The Origin of *#&!



Frack, this is interesting.

From i09...
"Scumbag," sounds like the kind of hokey insult that would get you laughed at if you used it. When it was used in a New York Times, it got protests from some older readers, because once upon a time it meant "a used condom." Think about every time you've seen Batman refer, in children's cartoon, to criminals as scum, and you'll begin to understand how obscenity evolves.

Golly! Zounds! Gadzooks! These are the kind of things Captain Marvel would say. Almost any other superhero would be too mature for such, childish silly words. And yet, during Shakespeare's time, they made him one of the more edgy writers out there. They're not just random sounds, but contractions, meant to make absolutely shocking sentiments less outright obscene. Golly, zounds, and gadzooks were, in order, god's body, god's wounds, and god's hocks. While thinking about the Almighty's ham hock region might offend a few people, each of these words are the kind of things now deemed perfectly innocent. This shows a huge shift in social mores since the time of the Shakespeare.

Thrill of the Grill

I've had pretty good success with finger test method but it never hurts to have a plan B.

Click the graphic for a full size version.


Saturday, July 7, 2012

Baseball

I can count on two hands the number of baseball games I've been to and none were to see DC's relatively new and currently sizzling hot team.  The last time I went to a baseball game in DC I was about 7 or 8yo and my Dad took me to a Senators game at RFK in '71 or '72...now that's going waaaaay back.  So the other day when a colleague asked if I wanted to go to a Nats vs. SF Giants game my answer was a quick yes.




After a momentary period of confusion because the scoreboard said NY and the team was wearing NY uniforms I finally realized it was a "Turn Back the Clock" game -- the SF Giants were the NY Giants in 1924. The new ballpark is a sight to see and the game, well it was a stunner. Down 5-1 at the top of the 7th (it was hot and muggy, the Nats were getting trounced, and as a result I was close to calling it quits), Washington launched into a comeback with two back-to-back homers and proceeded to pull out a 6-5 win in the 9th inning.


Thanks to a friend who's moving to SF we'll be heading back to the Nat's ballpark in August. (Thx MJ)

Thursday, July 5, 2012

Reflections on the 4th

In a post yesterday I mentioned that the 4th of July isn't one of my favorite holidays.

I didn't explain why but fortunately a friend pointed me in the direction of a speech by Frederick Douglass on July 4th, 1852 (performed by Danny Glover) that gets to the heart of the reason. (thx RD)

Wednesday, July 4, 2012

Happy 4th!

It's not one of my favorite holidays but I do like this version of the Star Spangled Banner. 



Tearing Down Timbuktu

First this...



Now this may be turned into rubble...


From The Atlantic...
The West African city of Timbuktu used to be one of Africa's richest and most important, a nexus of trade across the Sahara and a center of religious and scientific learning as far back as the 1400s. The relics of that history still stand in the form of such world heritage sites as the University of Sankore. 
On April 2, it came under new ownership: rebels from an ethnic minority known as Tuareg, who'd sought independence for years. Five days later they got it, declaring northern Mali as the independent country of Azawad. Then, on June 1, breakaway rebels with the extremist Islamist group Ansar Dine (translation: "Defenders of Faith") took control of Timbuktu. 
In their first month of rule, Ansar Dine has shut down the tourism industry ("We are against tourism. They foster debauchery," a representative said), sent locals fleeing, and, over the past four days, destroyed half of the shrines that mark Timbuktu's ancient and remarkable history. The United Nations condemned the destruction and the International Criminal Court suggested it could be a war crime, but Ansar Dine insisted they won't slow down, later pulling a beautiful Gothic door off the Sidi Yahya mosque that became one of the world's great centers of learning during the 1400s. They follow an extreme form of Islam that sees Timbuktu's shrines and mosque-universities as sacrilegious; a form of idol-worship. Their campaign is still going -- it's been compared to the Taliban's early-2001 destruction of ancient Buddha statues -- and some observers worry that many of Timbuktu's historical treasures, which have survived countless invasions and empires, won't live out the month.

Found


The Higgs-Boson discovery is a huge deal but for us non-physicists it's one that's a bit hard to grasp.

I watched several videos this morning that explain the Higgs-Boson.  This one, although a little dry, does the best job in a short period of time.


This one from the BBC is far better but it's a lot longer and they lost me at the tail end with Supersymmetry.


A day for textbooks.

On the lighter side...
A higgs-boson walks into a church. The priest says "higgs-bosons aren't allowed in here." The higgs-boson says "but without me, how can you have mass?"

Tuesday, July 3, 2012

Ipso Facto...

February 2010 from the WaPo...
Conservative congressmen are using Washington's serious snow storm (known as "snowmageddon" or "snowpocalypse") to mock those who say the government should act to curb global warming.

Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) took to the social networking site Twitter to mock former Vice President Al Gore over the storm: "It's going to keep snowing in DC until Al Gore cries 'uncle,'" he tweeted yesterday. 
Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.), the top Republican on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, also got in on the fun. He and his family built an igloo in Washington and adorned it with cardboard signs reading "Al Gore's new home" and "Honk if you [heart] global warming."
It didn't make any sense then but what do they have to say now?

More than 2,000 temperature records have been matched or broken in the past week as a brutal heat wave baked much of the United States, and June saw more than 3,200 records topped, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) said Monday. 
From June 25 to July 1, some 2,171 record temperatures were either broken or matched, the NOAA said. For the 30 days of June, that number rose to 3,215.
Deadly silence.

A Sheriff Passes On

At one time, I used to watch it almost every day and at some level I think it taught me a few things...


Rest in peace Mr. Griffith, Mayberry has lost a good sheriff.

Sunday, July 1, 2012

InstaTumblr

I started using Instagram about a week ago (I was quite late to the party) and thought I might as well give Tumblr a try as well.

The RANdom Walkway tumblr is here.

Woodsy

Our garden defense shield has been stepped up a notch.


Two days in and it's working like a charm. Not a single bird has had the courage to nibble on a ripening tomato and only one misguided squirrel had the guts to scamper across the yard.

I think the key is a small solar panel in Woody's head that causes it to slowly rotate every minute or so. It's hilarious (clearly I'm easily amused) and extremely effective so far.

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