"A Sydney-based trio of "avid butter enthusiasts" has come up with this knife, which renders cold, hard butter into dainty and pliable curls, and the group's Kickstarter seems to indicate that this is something people need in their lives."
"While the Stupendous Splendiferous ButterUp guys continue to exponentially surpass their funding goals, just remember there's an age-old cooks' trick for softening butter: Cut a slab, put it on a cutting board, and whack it with the flat part of a knife blade. Pros: This technique softens butter into submission right ahead. Cons: It doesn't produce the pretty, pretty squiggles of fluffy butter like the ones depicted in the video here. It's your call really, and probably subjective based on how much you like toast."
Monday, August 25, 2014
Dave Died Thursday
Dave was a metal man, the best welder/machinist/inventor/mechanic I knew. It was diabetes that did him in, something he was diagnosed with when he and I were both in our twenties.
We met in shop class sophomore year. We were both in high school but in different meanings of the word. I was in high school in the sense of being in school and studying; Dave was in high school in the sense of being in the building rather than being someplace else. Shop class was where Dave excelled; he sat in the back of other classes, polite, quiet, but never really involved.
He stopped coming to school during senior year, until his grandmother spotted him in town while he should have been in school. Chastised by his grandmother, he came back to school and ultimately graduated, though a half-year after the rest of his class.
Dave was a shop and garage rat. He'd hang out in any machinist shop or auto garage that'd let him in the door. Sooner or later the owner or foreman would pay him some small change to sweep the floor or run for parts. Whatever he was asked to do he did to a ridiculous high standard. Sweep the floor? It would be immaculate when he finished, with loose items organized and stacked, and the bathrooms made spotlessly clean. Run for parts? He'd come back with the parts truck cleaner than when he left The guy knew how to work.
Someone taught him how to weld. He became a welding machine, learning all types of welding. His beads were perfect, the splatters were gone. He was among the first to learn how to weld aluminum. He bought some used equipment and began welding things for customers in his parent's garage. After a year of complaints form neighbors, Dave's dad paid the first three months rent on a small shop building and Dave moved there. He learned how to stitch metal so he became the local go-to guy for repairing broken metal castings, engine blocks, big equipment, etc. He saved a couple of ruined engine blocks for me, back when I was an woefully under financed drag racer.
Dave never owned a new car or truck. He'd buy some beater, tear it completely down and rebuild it to his satisfaction. He'd re-engineer parts and assemblies that he though were originally inferior. His cars and trucks weren't fancy, but zow, were they solid. Hot rod builders started bringing him out-of-true frame rails and he rigged up a perfectly flat frame table and chain system to get them exactly perfect. He bought a metal lather along the way, learned how to use it, and could custom make parts out of raw stock.
He was quiet, never swore, never drank and watched his health. Diabetes, you know. These are very unusual for guys who worked in shops. And he never married. No reason why, but he just didn't get around to it. Working long hours were his love life.
He bought a large building sometime in his 40s and remodeled it into a beautiful shop. He found young guys who had no sense of direction in their lives - mutts, he called them, and taught them skills. Some got it, others didn't. He required that they show up each morning clean, groomed, sober and ready to listen and learn and work hard. He saved a few kids who were headed in the wrong direction; some others went the wrong way. It was always a disappointment that he couldn't fix some kids like he could always fix something made of metal.
The biggest surprise I had was one afternoon when he said "come on over for pizza". Not to the shop, but to his house. No one had been in Dave's house, ever. I expected that it would be typical bachelor's home - decent, but disorganized and messy. What a shock it was to enter and find a carefully decorated, early American style interior. Antiques everywhere, stuff he had picked up at auctions and other places. And books, stacks and shelves of books. Some were technical, but many other were about the Civil War. He could talk about the Civil War for hours.
This happened about seven years ago. he had invited me to his home to talk about what to do with his shop and business. The meter was ticking, the diabetes was taking it's toll, and what he wanted was a succession plan of some type. It was a long talk - it became ongoing for more than a year. We had a mutual friend (actually the son of a friend) who was an engineer and didn't want to work in an office. He had been building engines and transmissions and things for some racers, and was a pretty decent mechanic. Short story - Dave agreed to "hire" him to learn how to manage the business, while in reality Dave made him a minor partner with a buy-in each year until he owned the business.
Then Dave died last Thursday. Heart failure, a risk diabetics have. By the time he died, he was losing the use of his hands an feet a bit, his vision had become poor, and his strength was waning. It was time for his life to end; he knew it; and faced it with no sense of anger or disappointment. We talked about it a few times, and he said that he was happy because he had done in life the things that were important to him: fixing things and fixing young men when he could. He had no regrets.
He had no regrets. We should all be so lucky to reach our end in that frame of mind.
RIP, Dave.
We met in shop class sophomore year. We were both in high school but in different meanings of the word. I was in high school in the sense of being in school and studying; Dave was in high school in the sense of being in the building rather than being someplace else. Shop class was where Dave excelled; he sat in the back of other classes, polite, quiet, but never really involved.
He stopped coming to school during senior year, until his grandmother spotted him in town while he should have been in school. Chastised by his grandmother, he came back to school and ultimately graduated, though a half-year after the rest of his class.
Dave was a shop and garage rat. He'd hang out in any machinist shop or auto garage that'd let him in the door. Sooner or later the owner or foreman would pay him some small change to sweep the floor or run for parts. Whatever he was asked to do he did to a ridiculous high standard. Sweep the floor? It would be immaculate when he finished, with loose items organized and stacked, and the bathrooms made spotlessly clean. Run for parts? He'd come back with the parts truck cleaner than when he left The guy knew how to work.
Someone taught him how to weld. He became a welding machine, learning all types of welding. His beads were perfect, the splatters were gone. He was among the first to learn how to weld aluminum. He bought some used equipment and began welding things for customers in his parent's garage. After a year of complaints form neighbors, Dave's dad paid the first three months rent on a small shop building and Dave moved there. He learned how to stitch metal so he became the local go-to guy for repairing broken metal castings, engine blocks, big equipment, etc. He saved a couple of ruined engine blocks for me, back when I was an woefully under financed drag racer.
Dave never owned a new car or truck. He'd buy some beater, tear it completely down and rebuild it to his satisfaction. He'd re-engineer parts and assemblies that he though were originally inferior. His cars and trucks weren't fancy, but zow, were they solid. Hot rod builders started bringing him out-of-true frame rails and he rigged up a perfectly flat frame table and chain system to get them exactly perfect. He bought a metal lather along the way, learned how to use it, and could custom make parts out of raw stock.
He was quiet, never swore, never drank and watched his health. Diabetes, you know. These are very unusual for guys who worked in shops. And he never married. No reason why, but he just didn't get around to it. Working long hours were his love life.
He bought a large building sometime in his 40s and remodeled it into a beautiful shop. He found young guys who had no sense of direction in their lives - mutts, he called them, and taught them skills. Some got it, others didn't. He required that they show up each morning clean, groomed, sober and ready to listen and learn and work hard. He saved a few kids who were headed in the wrong direction; some others went the wrong way. It was always a disappointment that he couldn't fix some kids like he could always fix something made of metal.
The biggest surprise I had was one afternoon when he said "come on over for pizza". Not to the shop, but to his house. No one had been in Dave's house, ever. I expected that it would be typical bachelor's home - decent, but disorganized and messy. What a shock it was to enter and find a carefully decorated, early American style interior. Antiques everywhere, stuff he had picked up at auctions and other places. And books, stacks and shelves of books. Some were technical, but many other were about the Civil War. He could talk about the Civil War for hours.
This happened about seven years ago. he had invited me to his home to talk about what to do with his shop and business. The meter was ticking, the diabetes was taking it's toll, and what he wanted was a succession plan of some type. It was a long talk - it became ongoing for more than a year. We had a mutual friend (actually the son of a friend) who was an engineer and didn't want to work in an office. He had been building engines and transmissions and things for some racers, and was a pretty decent mechanic. Short story - Dave agreed to "hire" him to learn how to manage the business, while in reality Dave made him a minor partner with a buy-in each year until he owned the business.
Then Dave died last Thursday. Heart failure, a risk diabetics have. By the time he died, he was losing the use of his hands an feet a bit, his vision had become poor, and his strength was waning. It was time for his life to end; he knew it; and faced it with no sense of anger or disappointment. We talked about it a few times, and he said that he was happy because he had done in life the things that were important to him: fixing things and fixing young men when he could. He had no regrets.
He had no regrets. We should all be so lucky to reach our end in that frame of mind.
RIP, Dave.
Sunday, August 24, 2014
Twitter spam may induce mental problems in those susceptible to psychosis
"The symptoms began around eight months before Mrs C came to the hospital. Two months prior, she had begun to use Twitter "excessively", and before then she had never experienced any form of psychosis and there was no family history of mental illness. She spent several hours a day reading and writing on the microblogging platform, "neglecting her social relationships and, sometimes, even meals and regular sleeping hours".
The [Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease] paper reports how it all began when Mrs C believed a famous actor had responded to her messages using symbols and the retweets of other users. This accelerated into the formation, in her mind, of covert commands for her to
carry out specific tasks.
...After recovering, the subject suggested that a variety of other factors had contributed to her deterioration, including professional problems and no stable romantic relationship, which gave her an "overall insecurity that aggravated the symptoms"
The doctors suggested, however, that something else had contributed: Twitter spam.
The team suggested this after doing a few spam tests themselves. Namely, they tweeted at science writer Ben Goldacre. The message the team got back, not from Goldacre, but from a spam account, read: '"@Gour username9 Cold blooded RT. XXX: I am in the church: Ga link9."' Which apparently constitute "strong, personal words". Combined with the fact it was directed at the original sender, messages like these could feel arresting for a vulnerable individual.
"The authors understood that this was a spam message, but this might not be the case for a person who is predisposed to psychosis and, in addition, in a stressful psychosocial situation," write the team.
"The authors believe that the amount of symbolic language (caused by the limitation of 140 characters per Twitter message), the automated spam responses with seemingly related content, and the general interactive features of Twitter might combine several aspects that could induce or further aggravate psychosis."
..."We believe that there is a difference [between] something that is unidirectional, like a TV show, and something that is interactive, like Twitter," Kalbitzer told us. "In particular the fact that spam bots on Twitter are, to a certain degree 'intelligent', means they send you ads according to your behaviour or message content. That would be [the same] as if you put on lipstick at home, and suddenly the guy on TV starts to talk about how old fashioned the colour you use is.""
The [Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease] paper reports how it all began when Mrs C believed a famous actor had responded to her messages using symbols and the retweets of other users. This accelerated into the formation, in her mind, of covert commands for her to
carry out specific tasks.
...After recovering, the subject suggested that a variety of other factors had contributed to her deterioration, including professional problems and no stable romantic relationship, which gave her an "overall insecurity that aggravated the symptoms"
The doctors suggested, however, that something else had contributed: Twitter spam.
The team suggested this after doing a few spam tests themselves. Namely, they tweeted at science writer Ben Goldacre. The message the team got back, not from Goldacre, but from a spam account, read: '"@Gour username9 Cold blooded RT. XXX: I am in the church: Ga link9."' Which apparently constitute "strong, personal words". Combined with the fact it was directed at the original sender, messages like these could feel arresting for a vulnerable individual.
"The authors understood that this was a spam message, but this might not be the case for a person who is predisposed to psychosis and, in addition, in a stressful psychosocial situation," write the team.
"The authors believe that the amount of symbolic language (caused by the limitation of 140 characters per Twitter message), the automated spam responses with seemingly related content, and the general interactive features of Twitter might combine several aspects that could induce or further aggravate psychosis."
..."We believe that there is a difference [between] something that is unidirectional, like a TV show, and something that is interactive, like Twitter," Kalbitzer told us. "In particular the fact that spam bots on Twitter are, to a certain degree 'intelligent', means they send you ads according to your behaviour or message content. That would be [the same] as if you put on lipstick at home, and suddenly the guy on TV starts to talk about how old fashioned the colour you use is.""
"Strong Earthquake Shakes Northern California"
"A powerful earthquake centered in the Northern California wine country hit a broad area early Sunday morning, injuring dozens, buckling roads and knocking out power for thousands of residents."
How is our people in California doing?
Chip Ahoy edit:
Grapes Earthquake
The 6.0-magnitude earthquake is the most damaging in the San Francisco Bay Area since 1989 said David Oppenheimer, a seismologist with the U.S. Geological Survey in Menlo Park, Calif., which is predicting a more than 50% chance of aftershocks of a magnitude of 5.0 or greater over the next week.
"This illustrates what happens when a moderate earthquake hits where people live," he said. "It can be a quite serious."I heard a report say this was the strongest since Loma Prieta.
How is our people in California doing?
Chip Ahoy edit:
Grapes Earthquake
KLEM FM
The song is addressed to a girl, or girls in general, and describes the method of a man who seduces women with untruths ("rapping"). The singer says, "You know what he's after"; he concludes by saying there comes a point at which the man has his target where he wants her. The girl has to "face reality." The record ends with a small group of applause heard in the studio. LinkThe word "rapper" is just one voiceless bilabial stop away from "raper," but "raper" isn't a real word, is it? Instead, we garnish the term with a specialist's suffix: rapist.
"James Foley executioner said identified as British rapper"
"British and American intelligence services have identified the (a) man suspected of beheading US journalist James Foley as a UK citizen who traveled to Syria to join the Islamic State, the Sunday Times reported."
Although sources did not officially confirm the identity of the masked man, the Sunday Times reported (paywall) that a London-based rapper, Abdel-Majed Abdel Bary, 23, is a key suspect in the case.The Times of Israel
In his most recent video clip, posted to YouTube in March this year, he talked of his anger at his father’s 1998 arrest.
“Give me the pride and the honor like my father, I swear the day they came and took my dad, I could have killed a cop or two,” he rapped. “Imagine then I was only six, picture what I’d do now with a loaded stick. Like boom bang fine, I’m wishing you were dead, violate my brothers and I’m filling you with lead.”
The Question Is: Why Did They Let It Happen?
General Tom McInenery warns of another 9/11 coming soon.Since 9/11, the Department of Homeland Security has made a huge issue of keeping watch of who enters the country. The consequences of a weapon of mass destruction being detonated within the country in a major city are too horrible to contemplate.However, since the children began showing up on the border and the Obama administration began relocating them across the country even without informing state officials, we now have thousands of individuals who are here illegally–and we don’t even know who they are! The administration even recently admitted that many were flown across the U.S. without any proper identification at all. Many of these children are now known to be violent gang members from Central America. Many of them look like adults. Many of them are very possibly terrorists who used the border crisis and the Obama administration’s refusal to secure the border as a way to enter the country.Now let’s take this a step further. We know the Obama administration has been hellbent on removing American troops from the Middle East since coming to power. Obviously, our intelligence services briefed the White House on the consequences of this action. The administration had to know that removing American troops would foster the rise of Islamic jihadism and terrorism in the region once our forces were removed. President Bush always said, I’d rather fight them over there than here. Now we have a situation where a violent Islamic caliphate has been created in the Levant and Iraq. The administration had to know this would happen. The question is: Why did they let it happen?
They'd be idiots not to exploit the Southern border.
DHS says ISIS is already in America, and being monitored.
EDIT: The video has been removed as the link now goes to a different and unrelated topic.
Oregon Supreme Court: Animals Can Legally Be Considered Victims, Just Like Humans
"The Oregon Supreme Court this month passed a landmark ruling that will change the way animals are treated under the law in the state for the better. The ruling will ensure that any animal can be seen as a legal “victim” in a case, affording animals more basic rights to protect them from abuse."
If animals are no longer to be considered property, who speaks for them?
The ruling was made on the case of a man who was convicted of starving 20 horses and goats on his property. The judge’s decision allotted a separate count of second-degree animal neglect for each animal, noting that each animal was a separate victim on his own.Is this ruling a further erosion of property rights?
The distinction might sound obvious — but it wasn’t legally accepted at the time that Arnold Nix, the defendant, was first convicted in 2009. During his case, Nix argued that the law defines animals as the property of their owners, so the word “victim” shouldn’t apply to them. As of this month’s hearing, the word “victim” does apply. (The Dodo)
If animals are no longer to be considered property, who speaks for them?
climate change
Alex Belleni to live on iceberg for one year to urge acton on climate change™.
What action, by whom, Alex does not get that far in his analysis. Maybe he does and nobody heard on account of the laughter drowning out his recommendations. Who knows? He plans to observe changes for himself out there on the iceberg.
Alex, volcano in Iceland is erupting, you might want to monitor that change. Gouges are opening up in Mexico, you might want to monitor that change. The sun is changing, that sure needs monitoring. The Earth's magnetic fields are changing alarmingly, you'll certainly want to monitor that.
Asked what he intends to do for the whole year Alex replied, "Well, I'm a wanker, what do you expect?"
I might have made up that last part.
Actually, I made up most of it.
What action, by whom, Alex does not get that far in his analysis. Maybe he does and nobody heard on account of the laughter drowning out his recommendations. Who knows? He plans to observe changes for himself out there on the iceberg.
Alex, volcano in Iceland is erupting, you might want to monitor that change. Gouges are opening up in Mexico, you might want to monitor that change. The sun is changing, that sure needs monitoring. The Earth's magnetic fields are changing alarmingly, you'll certainly want to monitor that.
Asked what he intends to do for the whole year Alex replied, "Well, I'm a wanker, what do you expect?"
I might have made up that last part.
Actually, I made up most of it.
Vine peek NSFW, not safe at any speed. Not safe for children. Not safe for you. Simply not safe.
A not so random sampling. Are people getting stupider? Maybe people are getting funnier. Maybe people are becoming more good natured, more easy going, more given to levity. More spontaneous. More show-off. I do not know.
Big Levity Shout-out to Synova
Almost a month ago, Synova wrote the second, all time, most page-viewed post on this blog.
The first most paged-views (thus far) belongs to ChipA. And, I know what you are thinking, why are you giving a shout-out to Synova, when she is only coming in second?
Well, first of all, I don't have to explain why I do things... see what you made me say?
I come here, in peace, after watching all of Rome in about a couple of weeks, to celebrate a nice thing Synova has accomplished. By the way, did I tell you how many page-views we are talking about? In less than a month, this post, this wonderful post... honestly, I must confess I didn't even read the whole thing. What an unforgivable thing I have done... Lots of drama Rome had.
Be that as it may, whatever will be will be, the post, as of just now, has 6,645 views. Bravo.
The first most paged-views (thus far) belongs to ChipA. And, I know what you are thinking, why are you giving a shout-out to Synova, when she is only coming in second?
Well, first of all, I don't have to explain why I do things... see what you made me say?
I come here, in peace, after watching all of Rome in about a couple of weeks, to celebrate a nice thing Synova has accomplished. By the way, did I tell you how many page-views we are talking about? In less than a month, this post, this wonderful post... honestly, I must confess I didn't even read the whole thing. What an unforgivable thing I have done... Lots of drama Rome had.
Be that as it may, whatever will be will be, the post, as of just now, has 6,645 views. Bravo.
Saturday, August 23, 2014
U.K. official: British Muslims fighting for the Islamic State far surpasses those in armed forces
“If you look across the whole of the country (UK), and the various communities involved, 500 going over each year would be a conservative estimate,” Khalid Mahmood, the MP for Perry Barr in Birmingham, told the magazine. Mr. Mahmood believes that there are at least 1,500 British Muslims now fighting in the Middle East on behalf of the terrorist organization. The United Kingdom’s Ministry of Defense tallies the number of Muslims in the British armed forces at 600, Newsweek reported."
There seems to be a difference of opinion between the White House and the pentagon, as to the severity of the ISIS threat. Contrast the statements by Secretary Hagel: ISIS threat is "beyond anything we've ever seen" and President Obama milder "A group like ISIL has no place in the 21st century".
What is your ISIS threat assessment and who do you believe is closer to the truth? Bearing in mind the Iraq war, which was triggered by the post 9/11 assessment.
***
What is your ISIS threat assessment and who do you believe is closer to the truth? Bearing in mind the Iraq war, which was triggered by the post 9/11 assessment.
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