All posts by rbowen

Cooking stuff

I got amazing gifts for Christmas. Cooking stuff.

I got a fabulous stock pot in which I can cook a whole cow.

I got a George Foreman grill which I’ve already used twice and I think is one of the nicest Christmas presents I’ve ever received. The ability to grill meat without having to actually have a “real” grill is wonderful. And the ease of use and cleanup is just fantastic.

And I got a rice cooker, which I have also used twice. And let me tell you, in case you don’t know. Instant rice is not nearly the same thing as real rice. It’s a completely different thing. I don’t know what they do to instant rice to de-flavor it, and I’m not sure I want to know, but here’s one clue. Real rice has actual flavor. Imagine that. Not just fluffy filler.

Oh, and one more thing. Also a christmas present, but not this year. Long, long ago, perhaps 2 or 3 christmases ago, Moose gave me a bottle of hot seasoning sauce, which then sat for the last 2 or 3 years unused. Why? I dunno. I guess I forgot it, or didn’t realize what I was missing. Wowzers! That stuff is absolutely amazing! Where do I sign up to buy it wholesale?

Today’s caching

Today I found two, and hid one, geocache.

Found “Neither Hill Nor Dale”, which was an interesting hiding place. Actually, I looked at this spot when I went out there the first time, and could not figure out how it could be a cache hiding spot, but thought it would be neat if someone could figure out how.

Found “Graven Images” which is in a graveyard a few feet from a busy road in Lexington. It’s really quite sad, as it is unmaintained, and all of the headstones are in terrible condition. One grave reads only “In loving memory of”, which is sad and ironic at the same time. I’m inclined to do some research on this family, but I know, given my schedule, that I will never get around to it. The graves date to the 1880s, I think, although it’s rather hard to make out. So … not so very long ago, really.

I hid “Little red riding HOOD”, which, since it has not been approved yet, I won’t tell you where it is. But I got rather cut up with thorns in the process of hiding it.

Return of the King

Last night I saw Return of the King with Andy and Lizet.

Wow.

The battle scenes were just amazing. Shelob was horrifying. The Mumakil were absolutely mind-boggling. And Gollum was perhaps even more believable than in his earlier appearances.

It did go on a bit, running from 7:30 until 10:55.

I suppose I could go on and on about it, but I’m sure dozens of other people have already done so. I thoroughally enjoyed the experience, and I expect that I’ll watch it a number of times again.

Childermas

Today is Childermas, also known as Holy Innocents. Today we commemorate the killing of the 14,000 children under the age of 2 by King Herrod, in his attempt to kill the King of the Jews which he had been told about, but whose name he did not know.

By extension, today we also commemorate those innocents killed throughout the world, and througout history, for reasons beyond their understanding, and, often, beyond ours.

In recent years, it has also been a day when we commemorate those children who have been eliminated before their birth, for the convenience of their parents. I suppose that this day would be more greatly politicized if the people in question were aware of the Church calendar. For the most part, I suppose I’m grateful that they are not.

(Yeah, I know, politics and religion are supposed to be out of bounds here. Try to get over it.)

Oh, yeah, and today is considered to be a day of very bad luck in Scotland, and one would never travel today. In 1869, the Tay railroad bridge collapsed just as the Edinburgh train passed over it, killing all 200 people on board.

Matamorphosis

I’ve been listening to Hilary Duff’s new album Metamorphosis. Why? Well, because the little person wanted it, and I carried it down to the Jeep one day when I intended to take Vapor Trails.

It’s surprisingly good.

I was expecting it to be more what my cousin Bobby used to call “bubble gum music.” You know, for a dime you get a handful. They all taste the same. The flavor goes away after chewing for a few minutes.

So what I’m curious about is whether she is just the Voice, or if she has anything to do with the creative process. The lyrics are interesting. The music is not the typical shallow stuff that I’ve been hearing lately, but actually has some depth and layers to it. And she has a very good voice. And, of course, she’s certainly the kind of girl that I would have had a crush on 15 or 20 years ago.

A couple of the songs are the standard teeny-bop stuff. “So Yesterday”, ironically, is very reminiscent of another star-of-the-moment from yesterday. 1988, to be exact. Tiffany.

But others have clever lyrics, at least for the audience. “Why Not?” talks about being who you are, not what other people tell you to be.

You always dress in yellow
When you want to dress in gold
…
Why not
Take a crazy chance?

And others give an actual positive message to young girls, like “Little Voice” about her conscience telling her to stay away from a particular boy that she really likes, but who wants a little more than she thinks is right.

The little voice in my head won’t let me forget
The little voice in my head is never misled
All of this noice is what keeps me from making a mess
The little voice in my head just won’t let me get with you

…

I know I sound insane, like I’m playiong games,
Cause all I really want is you
But there are some things a girl won’t do

When there are so many “artists” out there spewing filth and vitriol, it’s great to see someone telling a good message, and being a positive role model for young girls.

Thanks, Hilary.

Time Cube

Many thanks to Dave Barry for pointing me to the Time Cube web site. I no longer have to live in ignorance and stupidity.

Now … what is he talking about?

[[ Due to the unrelenting drivel posted in the comments of this article, and the refusal of people to leave me alone and take their mindless hogwash elsewhere, I’ve just gone ahead and closed further comments on this thread. In case you missed it, I was *MOCKING* the absurdity of the site, not encouraging people to debate and discuss it as though it was actually a serious scientific theory.

Geez, folks, it’s not about being closed minded, it’s about opening your eyes when the sun comes up in the morning. Serious scientific theories must mesh with *reality* in order to be taken seriously. As Albert Einstein observed, no amount of experimentation can prove me right, but one experiment can prove me wrong.

Please take your foolish commentary elsewhere. Thanks. ]]

It’s official. I’m terrified.

The department of homeland security tells me that I’m terrified.

And it’s a darned good thing that they’re there to tell me this, because otherwise, I wouldn’t know it.

I tell you what’s terrifying. Soldiers with machine guns in the airports. I’ve always found that terrifying.

And the idea that not only my suitcase, but also my hard drive without so much as a “please” or “by your leave.” I find that terrifying too. Of course, by expressing this opinion, that probably makes me a terror suspect.

So, now that we’ve been informed that we’re more terrified this week than we were last week, I strongly encourage you to tighten up your firewalls, and encrypt your email, to protect yourself from the terrorists.

by reason of insanity

Once again, I find myself thinking about the improbable notion of someone being “not guilty by reason of insanity” to a murder charge.

While I can see someone being not guilty by reason of being mentally incompetent, I cannot see a valid defence on the grounds of being “temporarily” insane. Why? Well, murder itself is insanity. So, if it is valid for someone to be not guilty by reason of insanity, then *every* murderer would be thus not guilty. For someone to kill another human being requires one of a very small set of conditions. (Yes, I’m hopelessly naive, but go with me for a moment.) Either one is defending one’s own (life, property, loved ones, etc), or one is in some fashion a soldier obeying orders, or one has lost one’s grip on reality and appropriate priorities, and kills in order to obtain something for one’s self (property, power, etc.). Yes, there are accidental killings, but that hardly qualifies as murder, IMHO.

So each time I hear that someone is attempting to get off of a murder charge on the basis if insanity, I’m inclined to agree halfway with them. They are guilty by reason of insanity. Yes, murder is insanity, and so folks that commit murder were indeed insane at the moment that they did it. They were required to suspend their normal sane reasoning processes in order to take the life of a fellow human. And, of course, that is often the case even when such acts are committed in the defence of life, liberty, property, or loved ones.

I’m also inclined to think that I’d make a pretty miserable soldier.