Momma's First Night Away

Mary is at a retreat for the next three nights, her first nights away.

We spent the day together at Breitenbush, soaking in the tubs, eating lunch and dinner, and taking a nice little hike. It was my second time at Breitenbush, and I must say the food was really good this time (it was rather disappointing the first time) - I guess it just depends on the mood of the cook.

Simone had a great time going from tub to tub at the spiral tubs, and even got into the cold water dunk tank.

We said our goodbyes to Mary and headed home after dinner. Simone sang some for the next half hour and dropped off to sleep. Once home, she transferred to bed real easily, and slept for an hour while I unpacked. I knew she'd woken up when she walked into the kitchen saying, "I want juice."

She's getting very clear like that, both a blessing and a curse.

I opened the fridge, and saw the strawberry lemonade. Simone saw it too and said, "strawberry." So I poured her some.

After downing 6 ounces she asked to be carried into bed (a new and unusual request), so I carried her in and laid her in bed.

She finished the drink, I asked if she was all done, to which she replied, "yeah," turned her head to the side and closed her eyes to go to sleep.

I don't think I've ever had a night like that with her, it was very sweet and just pointed out how much she's changed recently. All sorts of new phrases and sentences are coming out now. Whereas before you could kind of gauge what she might say, pretty much every sentence she utters is new and unique.

It's Made It To The Comics

I knew that our "harsh interrogation techniques" were borrowed from the military's program where soldiers are subjected to ... torture. What I didn't know was that those programs were specifically introduced to give our soldiers an idea of what the communist countries were doing to our soldiers during the cold war specifically to extract false confessions to be used against us. I'm still having trouble choking down the irony.

Now that information has bubbled up to our comic strips:



"We have seen the enemy and it is us." - Walt Kelly

Cupcake Catchers

For the past week, Simone has sporadically mentioned that she wanted a cupcake catcher.

Tonight at dinner we figured it out, she wanted one of the cupcake/muffin tin liners.

How Does Danny MacAskill See The World?

I've seen this video from a number of different sources, and the cyclist is amazing.



When I watch him, I wonder, "how does he see the world?"

Think of a little kid, everything is big and an obstacle: chairs and bookcases are to be climbed, a doorknob or lightswitch is likely out of reach, counter tops are the unknown.

A rock climber might look at buildings as potential playgrounds, whereas an architect might notice the design, and a contractor might notice the workmanship.

Watch all the way to the end, he does some amazing stunts. Fences and rails are not barriers, they are paths, trees and walls are ramps for him to ride or bounce off, stairs are an excuse to turn a 360, walls are merely steps for him to jump (climb), and curbs are like the cracks in the sidewalk you cannot step on.

At least, that's how I imagine he looks at everyday objects.

A Study: "The Irony of Satire"

Amazing, check out the abstract for this study, "The Irony of Satire":

This study investigated biased message processing of political satire in The Colbert Report and the influence of political ideology on perceptions of Stephen Colbert. Results indicate that political ideology influences biased processing of ambiguous political messages and source in late-night comedy. Using data from an experiment (N = 332), we found that individual-level political ideology significantly predicted perceptions of Colbert's political ideology. Additionally, there was no significant difference between the groups in thinking Colbert was funny, but conservatives were more likely to report that Colbert only pretends to be joking and genuinely meant what he said while liberals were more likely to report that Colbert used satire and was not serious when offering political statements. Conservatism also significantly predicted perceptions that Colbert disliked liberalism. Finally, a post hoc analysis revealed that perceptions of Colbert's political opinions fully mediated the relationship between political ideology and individual-level opinion.

I wonder what Colbert thinks about the study.

Also, I wonder what conservatives thought of Colbert's speech at the 2006 White House Correspondents' Association Dinner. You should seriously watch it. It's painfully funny, made even funnier by the fact the butt of the jokes (W and many of the people in the room) don't find it funny. The Wikipedia article has a nice summary if you don't want to watch the whole video.

Beaver Freezer 2009

The 2009 Beaver Freezer is over, and here are the full results. I placed 89th out of 229 people, 68th out of 107 men, 11th out of 18 men aged 35-39.

How was the race? The day started out freezing cold, but clear. Luckily, I was in the 3rd to last heat, and by the time I started, it'd warmed up nicely. The swim went fairly well, though my googles began filling with water almost immediately. I stopped on the 2nd lap and drained them. My time was a PR 7:59, and that includes time spent draining the goggles and waiting for some dude who took nearly 11 minutes to finish (everyone lapped him twice). I was definitely happy to finish under 8 minutes considering I'd swum maybe a dozen times since last year's Freezer. The first transition went pretty smoothly, though I donned a hat (thanks Sam!) and two shirts b/c of the chill, which probably slowed me a little. The bike was difficult, I struggled through the entire ride - I only passed one person and was passed by many. The second transition went pretty well, nothing dramatic to show - though Sam had a good idea - to borrow the cyclocross method of carrying your bike - I'll have to check to see if it's legal. The run (though painful) felt pretty good and I PR'ed with a 25 minute run. I did have to stop to tie my shoe in the run - so there's room for improvement there. I do want to get my pace up to a 7 minute mile, which is essential for my goal time of 1h10min.

Here's my standard breakdown of the race:

Trey's 2009 Beaver Freezer

Stage	Time	Pace	Place in Stage	Cumulative Time	Cumulative Place
Swim	7:59	1:35.8	52-T	7:59	52-T
T1	N/A		N/A		N/A
Bike*	44:33*	16.2*	101	52.32	91
Bike	42:00?	17.1?
T2	1:38		65-T	54:10	86
Run	25:00	8:03.9	96	1:19:11	89

* Due to problems at the timing station at the end of the first transition, there are no T1 times, so I guessed my T1 time by averaging the times from my other freezers - which conveniently made the bike time an even 42 minutes.

And here's a comparision of all 4 Freezers:

Comparing Trey's Beaver Freezers

Stage	2005	2007	2008	2009
Swim	8:15	8:12	8:26	7:59
T1	2:37	2:22	2:39	2:33*
Bike	36:16	39:06	38:59	42:00*
T2	2:12	2:13	1:31	1:38
Run	25:57	26:11	25:31	25:00
Race	1:15:17	1:18:04	1:17:06	1:19:11

As you can see, it was my worst showing overall, entirely due to the bike (* adjusted by the guess of a T1 time). I'm not quite sure why my 2005 bike conditioning was so much better than the other years. I still think that a time of 1h10min is possible, but I've got to kick it up b/c I'm not getting any younger.

Thanks to my supporters for cheering me on: Mary, Simone, Sam, the entire Mattson clan (with cowbells), and Memere.

A Moment Of Silence Please

Tonight I found my batch of sauerkraut went bad.

I'd slowed down eating sauerkraut because the last batch was better described as "salty cabbage" than "fermented kraut." Mary brought home a cute little 2# head of cabbage that Simone and I chopped and salted and put in the crock.

Well, tonight I checked it, and it was bad.

If you think kraut is stinky, wait until you get a whiff of kraut moldy...

I had to add a little water because the cabbage didn't release enough on its own. I think I didn't add enough salt to the water (I just guessed, should have read the book). You can make kraut w/less salt, but you need to be vigilant, and I was taking the hands-off approach.

Live and learn.

Simone In March

Some pictures of Simone (and others).

Posing while feeding the chickens

In the midst of feeding the chickens

Riding her tricycle, while momma ponders the meaning of life

Look! An eagle!

Story time for Hazel

Mustard Tasting

I went to a mustard tasting today. Some gal named Rebecka Weinsteiger got lots of compliments from her friends on the mustards she'd been making, so she thought she'd give it a go.

I have no idea how many of the 6 mustards I got to taste were actually hers (I'm guessing #1 was Grey Poupon), but they were all tasty (except for #4). I know, you can't tell the difference between them - don't blame me, you should have gone to the tasting.

Rebecka was just trying to find out what kind of mustard might sell well in the Corvallis area, and what kind of price she could charge. We don't use a lot of mustard, but I'd plunk down $5-$8 for a jar of artisan mustard once or twice a year.

The tasting had a couple of different kinds of sausage to dip, some pretzels, and a tofu sausage (blech!). There were slices of apple and turnip for cleansing the palette. I first tasted all the mustards on pretzels - so I could get a good idea of the mustard by itself. Tasting them that way, I only really liked #1 and #6 (a classic dijon, and a rustic whole-grain mustard). After I filled out the survey cards I went back and tried the mustards with chunks of sausage - wow, all but #4 were great. Sure the sausage was good, but the combination was very tasty and totally changed how the mustards came across.

I did give Rebecka the tip to drop off a little gift basket of mustard at John & Caprial's up in Portland. On one of their cooking shows they went on and on about their love of mustard, so I hope they find Weinsteiger mustard to their liking.

I look forward to buying a bottle of mustard from her farmer's market stand in May.

Simone is Nearing 3!

It's been a while since the last Simone update.

Too many things.

She is commonly using 8-10 word sentences, such as, "I'm closing the door so Hazel can't get in." It's amazing to be able to communicate with her so clearly. Of course when you most want to be that clear she's not generally in the state of mind to be that clear.

We know for sure she's having dreams because she's telling us about them when she wakes up. Very cute.

She's pretty much weaned from nursing.

Simone loves to read. We read 5-15 books a day. Her favorite character is Maisy, which is a really nice line of books. I also had a little stuffed Maisy doll - that Simone loves.

I'm glad Simone is done with Clifford - I can't stand that dog. What is it with people and big, dumb dogs? Marmaduke, Clifford, Harold the Huge. Those dogs are all incredibly destructive and it's supposed to be funny/endearing? Straight to the pound with them!

Simone is on the fast track to not wearing diapers. There are days where she goes without any accidents. Today happened to be a day with a couple accidents - but it's a learning process. She's doing great. Wearing Elmo panties is a big plus for her.

Always changing, always fun.

The Last Psychiatrist: To The Brain, God Is Just Another Guy

I remember hearing the NPR story about the research that concluded God is just another guy. I remember being a little skeptical (anything sciency relating to God raises a red flag for me). But the conclusion didn't seem outlandish, so I accepted it.

I appreciate The Last Psychiatrist.com's analysis:

In other words, the study emphatically does not show that 'to the brain, God is just another guy.' At best, it shows that American 30-somethings are not able to see God as anything other than just another guy; but who knows how 3rd century Romans saw God?

xkcd - 1000 Times, bringing home the point

xkcd raises the same issue that torqued me the other day:

Bonus!

Today the media is all up in arms about AIG and the bonuses paid out to its executives. And while I'm not excited about the bonuses, the math makes me pretty uninterested. Bonuses of ~$165M, compared to bailout funding of ~$170B - which works out to not even 0.1% of the money.

Where was the outrage at Wall Street? Read this:

Wall Street's $18.4 Billion Bonus | vanityfair.com: "Here’s the bottom line on Wall Street bonuses for 2008—according to the New York State Comptroller’s Office. They’re on track to be 50 percent lower than last year’s. That’s a sharp cut, except that it’s still $18.4 billion."

That's right, $125B in bailout, $18B in bonuses - nearly 15% of the bailout went directly to bonuses. That's over two orders of magnitude difference between the two situations!

Where's the outrage for that?

Hell, the Wall Street bonuses alone are nearly enough to bail out the auto industry. But let's balk at giving the auto industry any money...

I don't understand the judgment call that media makes in what constitutes a story worthy of reporting. We've lost billions in money in Iraq (literally lost, not wasted) - no media outrage. We've spent billions on contracts in the last 8 years under W with no accountability (no idea if it's more cost effective, don't even know how many contracts there are).

Yet losing 0.1% of the bailout money to bonuses is an outrage. I'd be stoked if that were the extent of waste over the last 8 years.

Introducing Hazel

Hazel and Hazel and Simone. Best friends already.

Shining Balls Of Dirt

Also known as dorodango.

Mary and I flipped through the channels the other night for 15 minutes, and pretty much nothing was on - except a Myth Busters where they were seeing if you could, in fact, polish poop. They brought in some dude who practiced the art of dorodango.

It turns out you can make a ball of dirty shiny by just applying finer and finer layers of dust (and smoothing it out).

This guy has some very nice pictures of dorodango.

I can't wait for summer, I'm gonna make some shiny balls of dirt!

Parenting Fail

I saw this and thought, "so true."


Parenting Fail « FAIL Blog

What is it with parents that never pick their kids up? Sure, if you take your kid out of the stroller s/he might want to run around a little bit. You're at the zoo! - it's where kids run around.

Anyway, it's ok to touch your kids, pick them up, hug them. They're not designed to live their first few years in a car seat/stroller.

Say it ain’t so, Joe’s! | King Arthur Flour - Bakers’ Banter

Turns out Trader Joe's is dropping King Arthur flour for their own, branded flour.

King Arthur didn't take that lying down:

Say it ain’t so, Joe’s! | King Arthur Flour - Bakers’ Banter

"So turn about is fair play. If Trader Joe’s is going to put out their own brand of flour, then by gosh, I’m going to put out my own brand of one of their most popular cookies (and a personal favorite): Candy Cane Joe-Joe’s, Oreo clones with a sassy pink peppermint cream filling. Made with King Arthur Flour, of course."

I find it pretty funny. I will have to try the cookies some time, though I didn't like the texture of the Joe-Joe's when i tried them.

Things A Parent Get Excited About

Simone peed in her potty for the first time today!

Hurrah!

The Chocolate Cake Recipe [Dave Lebovitz] Found on a Men's Room Wall - David Lebovitz

Dave Lebovitz offers yet another awesome dessert that is simple to make: The Chocolate Cake Recipe I Found on a Men's Room Wall - David Lebovitz

Now, he just links to the actual recipe, which is in French. I could have guessed at the ingredients, but who wants to screw up a chocolate cake?

I figured, Google has a translator, and also tried babelfish (the first translator I'd ever tried way back when).

They both had pretty poor translations, I could have guessed better. But, if you look now, the Google translation is pretty good (just mussing up the coffee - it's really an espresso, and not a full cup, just an espresso's worth). The Google translator lets you view the original wording by mousing over, and lets you suggest better translations. And, over time the translation of that page gets better. It certainly improved in the last two weeks.

Somebody in the comments provides a nice translation.

I made the cake last night for Mary's birthday, and (this time) I increased the chocolate to 300g, as David Lebovitz suggests. I think I prefer the original ratio. The first time I baked it up, the cake cooked a little more evenly, and the final texture was pretty light. This one was really chocolaty - the center kind of goey. While delicious, I prefer less chocolate. If I were to do the 300g chocolate version, I'd up the baking time to 17 minutes or so, and perhaps reduce the temperature slightly...

Gee, sounds like I have some experimenting to do.

Simone Learns Subjunctive

Simone said this the other night at dinner:

papa, when you done with soup i be happy to feed you cottage cheese

Wow, Mary and I were both blown away. I don't think I am that sophisticated a speaker.

House Concert: Carolyn Cruso

On Sunday I went to a house concert. Mary noticed a blurb in the Friday entertainer about a hammered dulcimer concert - just across the street from our house. So I went.

I have to say it was a lot of fun. There were maybe 14 people in the house, listening to Carolyn Cruso play her music. The setting was very intimate, and the house has a beautiful view of the huge field in front of the house.

Carolyn's music was very interesting - some of the dulcimer music was Scottish/Celtic, but a lot of the original music was very different - which is a refreshing change from Celtic music. She even talked briefly about how she's been trying to make the dulcimer sound more like a piano. She also played guitar and sang some songs (generally sounding "folk" music) which were very pleasant. I didn't care much for her flute music, which was a little too ... different than what I've heard in the past.

I bought two of her CDs, the hammered dulcimer CD (Boundless) is great - I like that one a lot - especially the song The Magic Shirt which she played in the concert. I hope to listen to the other (As Clear A Hue) tonight.

I'm also really intrigued by the notion of a house concert. How cool would it be to get an artist into your house for a small concert. Mary likes the idea too - we may have to find out more.

FCC Finally Regulates Overheard

Another winning headline at Overheard in New York:

FCC Finally Regulates Overheard

Man walking against traffic: Beep! Beep! Beep!
Older black woman: Beep beep, my behind!

--6 Train

Headline by: yours truly

6174

I just found out about Kaprekar's operation, and the mysterious number 6174. Check it out.

People are amazing - why did Kaprekar even think about this? Similarly, some humorists boggle my mind - I've no idea where xkcd comes up with ideas like:

The Oil Drum: Europe | The energy efficiency of cars

The Oil Drum: Europe | The energy efficiency of cars: "The future of motor vehicles lies in improved efficiency and that is to the left of the gasoline ICE in the chart. That future is electric vehicles powered by high ERoEI renewable electricity."

It's a good introduction to automobile efficiency, well worth the 5 minute read. This graph is a nice summary:

Random Simone Pics, January 2009

Some random pictures from the past month or so. Hope you enjoy.

Simone is making sure the chickens have enouhg food.

At the park with Mary and Simone

Over here, this is the photo you want.

I'm strutting my stuff down main street.

Call me blue eyes.

Hanging out at the park.

Swinging upside down.

From a couple months ago, she picked up a pepper at the farmer's market.

Dan's Trail Hike

Yesterday I took a hike up Dan's Trail to the top of Dimple Hill. The link says the hike is only 5 miles, but my guide book says 7 miles (I'm going with that). I ended up hiking a bit more than that. Beautiful day, sunny, with occasional clouds that sit on the peaks.

Here are some shots I took (no great view from the peak b/c of clouds when I got there).

Lower Horse Trail

Connecting Timberhill to Dan's Trail

Mossy Forest

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Serpentine Shortcut

What Have You Changed Your Mind About? Why?

Interesting idea here, ask a bunch of smart people interesting questions and post the results. The question for 2008 was this:

The World Question Center 2008:

When thinking changes your mind, that's philosophy.
When God changes your mind, that's faith.
When facts change your mind, that's science.

WHAT HAVE YOU CHANGED YOUR MIND ABOUT? WHY?

There are some amazing essays in there, very thought provoking, I won't even try to pick out favorites (I certainly haven't read them all).

So, what would I answer?

I've thought about this off and on for a month or two.

Part of me is real cynical. I see global warming and environmental pollution/destruction in general, and our lack of action to solve any of those problems. Similarly, the U.S.'s role in the world (especially the last 8 years) as this big bully with a heavy handed, militaristic, unilateral relationship with the world. And to top it off, a good half of our citizens support this attitude, almost taking pride in ignorance and blind nationalism.

For a while, when I let myself think about the state of the world, I was very negative.

But I think I've changed my mind about the gloom and doom.

I now see signs of hope in lots of little places: local farmers, alternative energy projects, some of the changes in transparency by Obama are encouraging.

So I think my change my mind about our prospects.

Plus, it's hard not to be positive when I've got such a wonderful wife and joy of a daughter. They're both gone this weekend, and it's odd not having them around. They also give me lots of hope.

Mark Cuban on Internet Video

Mark Cuban wrote an interesting post on his blog: The Great Internet Video Lie

Let me quote briefly:

So what are your options [if you want to stream video to many people] ? You have a single option. You have to use a Content Delivery Network (CDN). CDNs specialize in delivering content that needs to scale to large numbers, and 10k simultaneous users, particularly if its sustained for any period of time, like a cable network would be, is considered a large number.
...

If you have dreams of competing with traditional TV network viewing numbers using the internet, dream on. You cant afford it. You have been sucker punched by the Great Internet Lie.

I find this very interesting considering the fact that a couple of months ago I talked with some guys who are working on a startup that enables just this, at basically no more cost than streaming a single copy of the video. The technology seemed very feasible - I think it could very well work.

I just found it interesting that Cuban believes this is a great limiter - he's no newbie to technology. At first I thought his post was naive But as I started to write this I realized he's a lot smarter than that. I just wonder what he's got up his sleeve.

I know that the guys I talked to have a good idea and are running with it. But there are others out there, probably smarter, with good ideas of their own. Finding a software solution to the bandwidth problem is just a matter of time - and there's a lot of money at stake.

Ironically, a software solution that enables efficient small-scale video streaming, allowing small players to reach a wide audience at low (no?) cost... it's a threat to the CDN's. It's also a threat to the media companies.

Cost keeps the small guys out of video streaming, and the media companies like it like that.

I'm not pushing a conspiracy theory or anything, I just imagine that a solution to this problem is a threat and the players with money and interests will do a lot to protect their interests. I imagine there'll be legislation (like DMCA, copyright), patent lawsuits, lack of net neutrality.

Of course, a disruptive technology doesn't mean the little guys will have anything worth watching.

Note: I chose not to work with the start-up for a variety of reasons. But the technology does seem solid, and they seemed to be working toward the right connections. I wish them the best.

Candied Orange Peel

I saw a recipe for candied orange peel and thought it'd be fun. It turned out beautifully. Mary and I had trouble figuring out what it reminded us of - those candy orange slices we had growing up.

Here are a couple of pictures:

25 Things

I joined Facebook to view a friend's photo album she'd shared with me. Ironically, she's not in my friends list on Facebook. I was just tagged with the latest meme - "25 Things" and I thought I'd play along (my Facebook policy is to ignore everything but friend requests).

1. I was attacked by a hippopotamus while canoeing on the Zambezi river.
2. I love to cook, and am most keenly interested in desserts and preserving food - the current projects are candied orange peel, sauerkraut, vinegar, and bacon.
3. I love to eat even more than I love to cook.
4. I'd choose local over organic, but try for both.
5. I picked wild mushrooms for the first time this past fall, and I'm hooked.
6. I hiked the John Muir trail, and just recently realized that I was probably so sleepy during the hike because I had a daily 3500 calorie deficit (I lost a pound a day).
7. Emacs is my OS.
8. I won a weight loss competition last year.
9. I've since gained back 2/3 of it.
10. I met my wife on a blind date (a triple date at that).
11. I'm left eye dominant.
12. I a master procrastinator.
13. Being a father is more fun than I could have imagined, and isn't as scary as I thought it might be.
14. I like doing (sprint) triathlons.
15. I can ride a unicycle straight, but cannot freemount.
16. Every day, I become more and more of a grumpy old man.
17. I miss my first car (her name was "Xena").
18. I have gallstones.
19. Yesterday I heard Douglas Adams' puddle analogy, and I fear it's a perfect analogy for the state of the world today. We're past peak oil, the climate is changing, we're blinded by our fears, and we're not doing enough to fix any of it. And even with all that we know, I think it's going to catch us by surprise.
20. I don't do Facebook (this is an exception).
21. I can count in octal, can you?

Superbowl Simone

Simone and I watched some of the Superbowl tonight. Good game, I'm still not sure who I wanted to win.

Simone's main comment on the game was, "they both fell down together." Which she repeated pretty much every down. It did make me wonder why professionalls paid so much couldn't stay on their feet.

Hot Rum Cow

I made a new drink tonight, delicious.

From The Kitchn:
Hot Rum Cow

8 ounces milk
1.5 ounces dark rum
1 oz Licor 43 (my special addition)
1 drop aromatic cocktail bitters
1 drop vanilla extract
brown sugar
grated cinnamon and/or nutmeg for sprinkling

Heat the milk in a saucepan on low, taking care not to scorch it. Meanwhile combine bitters, vanilla, and rum in a mug (I pre-warmed mine by filling it first with a bit of hot water, allowing it to stand a minute, and then emptying it before adding the ingredients). Top up with warm milk and stir in brown sugar to taste (I used a single teaspoon of it). Sprinkle with cinnamon and/or nutmeg.

January 2009

Fun, Picasa 3 has a collage maker. Here are some of my favorite pictures from the past month.



Most need no description, but here they are anyway. Two of Simone sitting in a tree - she loved it up there. Mary and Simone reading a book together (happens a couple dozen times a day). Simone took Flamingo for a walk with us last week - it was so beautiful the bird just had to get out and stretch her legs. The closeup of the eye is something Simone likes taking - they're pretty fun. Mary is modeling her latest creation - a kitty-cat hat for Simone (pink ears and everything). On that sunny walk we met the nicest kitten ever. And the moon-rise was on a lovely walk right before dinner in the freezing cold.

Sauerkraut, Again

I think I've made 4 batches of kraut now, and they're each a little different. I really like the crunch of the cabbage - so I've been playing with variations to try to keep as much crunch as possible.

The first thing I did was slice the cabbage really wide - over an inch wide. That was a pain to deal with because it didn't compact very well - even after it had sat with the salt for a day. The resulting kraut was pretty tasty, but perhaps a little too wide. I also left the strips 2-6" long - I didn't want sauer-coleslaw. One thing I did notice (fairly obvious now), was that the top half of the batch was not nearly as crunch as the bottom half - and that was because I had been pressing down pretty hard to get it to fit and to remove the air bubbles.

To save space, but still have a nice wide strip, my third batch was sliced about 1/2" wide, and I didn't press on it at all (other than the weight of the bag of water). To get the air bubbles out of the cabbage I shook the crock. This time the entire batch was nice and crunchy. It seems as though the fermentation happens through about 1/8" of the cabbage leaves, leaving about half the leaf really crunchy.

I also added some carrot slices to see how they'd react. I'd tried pickling carrots on their own - only to get salty carrots. The carrots in the kraut were so-so, still pretty crunchy, and slightly pickled. I don't think I really care about pickled carrots and probably won't try them again. Perhaps some radish or something else.

The last batch (currently fermenting) is the same as the last, only no carrots. I'm hardly even watching this batch, I've only checked on it twice in almost as many weeks. I might let it ferment a little longer - depends on how fast I finish the last quart that's in the fridge.

Each batch makes between 3 and 5 quarts of kraut, and I've stopped giving any away b/c I eat it all (Simone helps).

Mary picked up some bratwurst the other day and I had some kraut with that - mmmm... the combination really is delicious. Even Mary appreciated it (she's not much for the kraut).

Here are a couple pics of the kraut process:

The 1/2 inch cabbage on the left (with carrots), ready to ferment, and a quart of the really wide stuff that had fermented pretty soft.

Simone helping fill the crock.

ChangeDetection

One of my gripes about web pages is that too few have RSS feeds. I want to read them when they change, but it's too much of a pain to go back to that page day after day (especially when they only change every week or two).

Well, it's the internet - and somebody has solved that problem for me:

ChangeDetection - Know when any web page changes

You enter a URL, and customize how you want to be notified (email, RSS) and how often to check, and voila! You'll be notified when a change happens.

I've got two pages I'm watching, Bill Maher's New Rules which I find endlessly entertaining, and Obama's executive orders.

John Stewart on W's Last Press Conference

I listened to W's last press conference. I was embarrassed to have him as my president, and relieved that he only had some 5 days left. John Stewart sums up my feelings pretty well - I was thinking the same things John was - only not as funny. Especially the part about Katrina (to land the plane or not).

The Daily Show With Jon StewartM - Th 11p / 10c

Six Days Seven Nights

Barack Obama Interview
John McCain Interview

Sarah Palin Video
Funny Election Video

I fear W is truly clueless enough to actually believe what he's been saying, which is probably a good thing, because the epic failure that is his life would be truly soul crushing.

Vegas Versus Voting

Bruce Schneier points out the obvious (and sad) truth about voting machines versus slot machines:



And adds:

Other important differences:

* Slot machine are used every day, 24 hours a day. Electronic voting machines are used, at most, twice a year -- often less frequently.

* Slot machines involve money. Electronic voting machines involve something much more abstract.

* Slot machine accuracy is a non-partisan issue. For some reason I can't fathom, electronic voting machine accuracy is seen as a political issue.

Politics just boggles the mind.

Simone's First Long Walk, and Best Pho Ever

The other day, Mary, Simone and I went for a walk in the late afternoon. We wandered through campus when we realized we didn't really have any food back at the house, so perhaps we should eat out.

Walking along Monroe we stopped at a new (to us) restaurant, South East, which proclaimed it had Vietnamese sandwiches and Pho. Figuring they had salad rolls, we decided to check it out.

Side note: The Burley DeLite is about 1/2" too wide to fit through a standard door, which meant we had to leave it outside the restaurant to eat. The people at South East bent over backwards to accommodate us - opening their back door (same size), and eventually using the cable lock holding their outside tables/chairs down to lock our Burley. The 2009 version of the Burley no longer has the aluminum tubing as the suspension (if you check the link), which means it'd probably fit through the door just fine - though it'd be a PITA to lock up b/c there isn't a solid tube of metal through which to loop a cable lock.

We went inside, ordered, and Mary took Simone outside to burn off some energy - she ran around for 10 minutes solid. My first choice (spicy and exotic Hue rice vermicelli beef soup) was unavailable, so I chose the Pho. Big win - the soup rocked. I've generally liked Pho at other restaurants, but this bowl just knocked the flavor out of the park - I was ready to eat another bowl before we even left the restaurant. Mary's noodle dish (turned out to be Pad Thai) was good, but the salad rolls were disappointing (they had BBQ pork - which was over cooked and dry dry dry).

I'll be going back for the Pho very soon.

Simone wasn't ready to get in the Burley after dinner, so she alternated between walking around and pushing the stroller. She walked from South East all the way to the practice football fields. I mapped it out (see below), and it was 3/4 of a mile. New record!

Transparency

I read an article that pointed me to this story: Report Links State Gun Laws To Rates of Slayings, Trafficking:

The study is the first of its kind and comes after the mayors and 30 law enforcement organizations successfully lobbied Congress last year to release portions of the ATF data. Public access to the reports had been restricted since the 2003 passage of the 'Tiahrt amendment,' authored by Rep. Todd Tiahrt (R-Kan.) and drafted with help from the National Rifle Association. Tiahrt said at the time that he was 'fulfilling the needs of my friends who are firearms dealers.'

I don't know if the study is accurate, nor if the inference (that more stringent gun sales laws could decrease gun violence) is useful. But the existence of the data and people's inability to get to it is what stuck out.

This triggered a thought I've had bouncing around transparency (I've blogged about it a couple of times).

I figure that the government should be transparent to a fault. I think we should have all government spending records made available on-line (in hypertext and spreadsheet form, searchable PDF at the absolute minimum). It's our money, we have a right to know where the $700B bailout (or $1T or $2T, depending on what you're including) has gone! Earmarks in congress can stay, we just need to see what they're for and who added them. Only then will we have accountability.

Certainly, all contractors who are hired by the government should have their pay listed - as well as the contract signed (so we know what was gotten for the money spent), and who else bidded for the job. We have no idea if the contractors hired are doing their job, and we're hiring them to do more and more work.

Transparency should apply to non-budget areas as well, the information used in the above study about guns sales and crime is useful. Many have have talked about having the FDA require all studies done by pharmaceutical companies be published when a drug is approved - both good and bad (right now the company can (does) www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=cherry+picking">cherry-pick which are released). Information about police activity (number of tickets/arrests), TSA activities, number of street cleaners, births, deaths, number of buildings owned, whatever - it should all be available.

With Bush especially, we have less and less of an idea of what the government is doing. And as we know less, the government has free reign to do whatever it wants.

Transparency should apply to what we get from contracts as well. If we get a software service (say, billing, or library catalogs, or planning), the government agency should be guaranteed access to the data in a well known format (XML, csv, text, HTML, whatever) at all times. This access provides incentive for the company to stay current and not get complacent because they have "locked in" a government contract by using a proprietary format. Additionally, if the company goes belly-up, the government should have a right to a copy of all the application source code (free of licensing). It is just ridiculous to imagine that a company going out of business should lock up part of the government. You do business with the government, the government gets a copy of your code should you disappear.

[12/09/2008 Edited to add this:]
The EFF has a transparency agenda for the new administration that is short and worth the read.

Words Of Advice I Should Heed

Grist: BackOff.org:

Back off, everybody. Be grateful that Obama won. He is smarter than you. He knows more than you do.

Ok, I will. He needs some time (he's not even officially the president yet).

For Your Educated Eyes Only

Now if only I could understand what I write.

Movie Reviews

The 56, 5 Book Meme

"Do not eat for two hours before the test."

The Triathlete's Training Bible, 2nd ed by Joe Friel.

Pass it on:

1. Grab the nearest book.

2. Open it to page 56.

3. Find the fifth sentence.

4. Post the text of the sentence in your journal along with these # instructions.

5. Don't dig for your favorite book, the cool book, or the intellectual one: pick the CLOSEST.

Hat tip: Letters to the Oregonian

Reacting to Obama

Jay Smooth says it well, electing Obama was big deal, but it's just the first step in what will be four years of hard work if any real change is to come about.

A Tale Of Two Chillies

A while back I bought two chilli plants at the farmer's market. The two types are Twilight chilli, and Super Chilli - both of which supposedly grow well indoors and don't get too big.

They haven't been quite as low maintenance as I'd hoped. First, they came with a aphid infestation - so I've been spraying them daily with water for quite a while (it finally seems to be under control). And then (in the middle of the aphid recovery plan) we traveled back east - and the plants didn't get water for a week. The Twilight handled it fairly well, but the Super Chilli not so much. You can see the two plants in this photo - one looks healthy and vibrant, the other ... was on its death bed.



The Super is coming back, slowly - there are now 4 peppers growing and a couple of blooms. It just looks sad because all of the big leaves are a pale yellow-green, but the newer, bright green leaves haven't grown to their full size yet.

Maybe all this will add a special flavor to the chillies.

Obama's Foreign Policy Team

Read about Obama's Foreign Policy Team:

[Obama's] choices for his foreign policy and national security appointments are drawn exclusively from conservative, centrist, and pro-military circles without even a single -- yes, not one! -- chosen to represent the antiwar wing of the Democratic party.

Remember the approval ratings of Democrats in congress? They were very low. Why? Perhaps because 60%+ of the population (probably much higher %age of Democrats) want the US out of Iraq, and the Dems did nothing.

Now we've got an Obama staying the course with foreign policy.

Let the disappointment begin...

Simone Can Open Doors With Round Doorknobs

She can now open doors with the round doorknobs.

I'm sure this will surprise some of our guests when they're using the bathroom.

Conservatism Isn't Finished

I'm never as eloquent as professional writers. This has been in the back of my mind for a while. This is part of the reason I think Obama either won't get as much done as he wants, or he won't do what I (or the Democratic base) want.

Conservatism Isn't Finished - WSJ.com:

The reason those [red state/blue state] wars have raged ever since 1968 was because they help Republicans win elections. For Democrats to wish that they would please stop was about as useful as asking Genghis Khan to a tea party.

It's difficult for me to conceive how we can unify the country when one side is doing things like labeling Obama a Muslim (oh the horror), calling it's base "real America", refusing communion to Obama supporters, doubting the patriotism of those who think different.

Seriously, how does one bridge the divide when one side is so hateful?

It is like inviting Genghis Khan to a tea party.

And, to top things off. The Republican party has declared war on science. Rational thinking is no longer allowed.

Original Bailout - A Plan To Ruin The Government?

A couple of months ago I heard about The Wrecking Crew, a book that argues:

The same [Republican] politicians who guffaw at the idea of effective government have installed a regime in which incompetence is the rule. Nor will the country easily shake off the consequences of deliberate misgovernment through the usual election remedies.

The idea that conservatives run up the deficit, sell of parts of the government, and run things into the ground. It sounds a bit cynical, but interesting.

Thinking about the latest fiasco: the global credit crunch. Look at the proposed solution. $700B of taxpayer money - to buy the toxic assets.

First, this is a great moral hazard - it lets the lenders off the hook for bad loans. Additionally, it completely bypasses any notion of individual responsibility - a staple of the Republican slogan.

Second, the issue with the assets is that nobody knows what they're worth. Republicans (and many other people), think the government is incompetent. So, why would Paulson want the government to take these over? An incompetent government is guaranteed to screw up pricing and selling these assets - so it's guaranteed to hurt the government. And, seriously, if the smartest folks at the biggest banks can't figure the value of these assets - how are some government number crunchers going to do it?

Third, buying the assets is completely reckless. It's guaranteed to fail - with no way to know the right price, the government is either over paying (losing tons of money) or under paying (screwing up the bailout). So Paulson was setting the government up to fail - even under the best of conditions.

Fourth, the original plan had no safeguards to preserve the taxpayers money.

Fifth, with all the hype about "socialism" and "fiscal responsibility" and "welfare" - this was (is) an obvious and direct redistribution of the money from the people to the financial institutions. It still boggles the mind that nobody talks about that.

So, with all these things (and others I'm sure I'm forgetting), Paulson (and the Bush administration), was putting forward a plan - trying to ram-rod it down our throats, that was guaranteed to weaken the government, and was poorly thought out. It was the epitomy of the horrible governing they always rail against.

I'm glad they're out of the office - it can't be soon enough.

Neat Hiking Trails Web Page

Northwest Hiker presents Hiking in Oregon

The site also covers Idaho, Montana, and Washington.

Be Scared, Very Scared

Bloomberg.com: Worldwide:

Members of Congress, taxpayers and investors urged the Federal Reserve to provide details of almost $2 trillion in emergency loans and the collateral it has accepted to protect against losses.

Yah, you thought tax payers were only on the hook for $700B, plus some minor bail-outs. You forgot about all the loans the government said we'd give to financial institutions before the $700B bailout was announced. We're now on the hook for nearly $2 TRILLION. And we have no way of knowing what we've gotten for our money.

Last week I was sitting with two guys I work with and they said something about Obama moving us toward socialism and redistributing our wealth. I was stunned and tongue-tied. I've since then figured out what I would (should) have said - story of my life. Anyway, this is a clear and direct example of how our government is distributing the wealth upward.

Just lovely.

Transparency is key. Perhaps we do need to lend $2T, we just need to know where it is and what we got for it. Kind of like all the money that we've thrown at the Iraq war - we've lost money there and nobody knows where it has gone.

Maybe it's the cynic in me, but I doubt any of the money the government has lost is now lining the pockets of Joe the plumber, or any other middle-class, salt of the earth people. And you know it hasn't gone to any poor folks.

20 Yards of Leaves

The city lets you sign up to get a dump truck full of leaves (or 2 or 3 dump truck loads). I'm sure this saves them a ton of money - they don't have to manage composting them, and us folks get something back directly (as opposed to paying for the compost this could turn into).

The load size is about 20 cubic yards. That's a lot. If my math is correct, that's an area 32'x32'x6 inches deep. Pretty big (my first guess was about 4 times that much, so it's actually a relief).

Here's what the pile looks like:

One guess as to what I'm doing this weekend...

Mother And Daughter In A Cabinet

I liked the setup. It was kind of dark in the room, and I didn't want a flash. So I held still - it came out pretty sharp for a half second exposure, don't ya think?

One Hundred Push-ups Update

A while back I started a 100 push-up program. Every week has gone according to plan, until now.

Well, that's not quite true. The first week-3 was very difficult, the jump was a bit much for both Mary and me, but we persisted and did push-ups during the week we were on vacation. However, we both fell off the wagon that following week.

Two weeks passed, and I started up the program again, doing week 3 over b/c I tested at 30 push-ups. I tested at the end of week four and had progressed to 41. Week 5 was challenging: I logged over 550 push-ups for the week. I was able to do everything as scheduled - except the last set which I generally did in two parts.

Last night was the test after week 5, and the results were ...

41

I've got to re-do week 5.

I seriously doubt I'll be able to do 100 at the end of week 6.

But, I do know that I can do 200 push-ups in less than an hour, which is tons better than when I started.

Balanced Supreme Court?

I don't know that much about the Supreme Court. I listened to a book covering the important Supreme Court cases - which was interesting.

Anyway, I remember hearing talk of this article somewhere, so I dug it up. The main point that stuck with me was:

In 1980 Stevens often operated as the Court's median member; in many cases he (along with Powell) was the Justice Kennedy of that era. But Stevens is frequently described as the most liberal member of the current Court. If he qualifies for that position, it is not because of any significant change in his own approach, but because of a massive shift in the Court's center of gravity.

Kind of boggles the mind what we think of "liberal" now.

Simone In October

Just some pictures of Simone. She's reading tons - she knows most all the titles to her books (not by reading, but she recognize the cover and say them). She's also singing lots. There's an album to the Boynton song book, and Simone sings along (the "Cows" song is very cute).

Without further fawning, here are some pics:

Very serious reading, "Gossie and Gertie"

The whole gang is ready for Halloween (which costume doesn't match?)

Checking out the festivites downtown. Only one person recognized Simone's egg basket as one.

On our way to the playground.

At the playground, playing peekaboo.

Ooh, a picture of me?

Posing by the pumpkin.

Philip Zimbardo shows how people become monsters ... or heroes | Video on TED.com

Remember the infamous psychology study done at Stanford, where college kids were divided into jailors and jailees? That was Philip Zimbardo's study.

He has a very interesting talk about that, and how it relates to Gitmo.

Philip Zimbardo shows how people become monsters ... or heroes | Video on TED.com

Time For A Change?

Election is over, Obama won.

Many people are ecstatic about the potential for change, and FSM bless them, I'm sure there will be a change. How can we not have a change from one of the most incompetent unpopular presidents ever?

What strikes me most about this election was how little change in voting there was. Imagine the setup: most unpopular president ever, financial crisis, very unpopular war, same party candidate voted nearly identical to the most unpopular president - versus a dynamic, charismatic leader preaching change. Would you have predicted popular vote margin of only a 6%?

That's actually very disappointing. If you look back (ignoring W's two elections) you have to go back to Carter vs. Ford to find a presidential election where the popular vote margin was less than 6%. Seems like people still (for the most part) voted party lines.

Obama may be able to find middle-ground with the Democrats and Republicans, but I don't know that "middle-ground" is the change people were wanting. Obama certainly doesn't sound like FDR - though pundits are making comparisons, Obama certainly didn't win the election like FDR did.

Many pundits say he should govern from the center (though were perfectly happy with W governing from the extreme). I fear that's a road to disaster and disappointment. I fear Obama will do just that.

To me, it seems as though the Republicans play politics, and Democrats try to be the nice guys - which means Democrats get sand kicked in their faces, and Republicans generally win. For instance, when Republicans were in power, you constantly heard about the Democrats filibuster. Yet when the power shifted, Republicans have been filibustering - but you never hear of it. McCain and Palin made stump speeches out of lies (Obama raise taxes, against the bridge to nowhere, etc.), and even when called on it - they continued to say the same things. Hillary and Obama never did such things. So, after 8 years of being governed from the extreme by W, having Obama govern from the center would (IMO) simply be weak.

Perhaps Obama will lead in a direction the Democrats and Republicans haven't. That would be leadership.

The problem with running a campaign on "change" is that the slogan is very vague, and people are believing it means what they want it to mean - and Obama is going to have a terribly difficult time living up to all those diverging beliefs.

Scalzi said it best:

Your next president is going to disappoint you. Barack Obama does not fart cinnamon-scented rainbows. He is not trailed by angels and unicorns. Reality does not reshape itself to his wishes. Dude’s a human being, and a politician, and he’s going to have to work with other human beings who are also politicians.

Take a look at this short article which examines Obama's position on Iraq. In analyzing his most recent (at the time) speech this was the final point (the first being that Obama didn't mention troop withdrawal):

Third, and most troubling, Obama says that Americans will have to tighten their belts because of the "cost of the war in Iraq." Doesn't that mean that the war will continue?

As much as I want to believe Obama will make some radical, long-lasting changes (for the better), I fear his election can be attributed to what Krugman said: "there was a national wave against Republicans, suggesting that we don’t need a complex narrative."

I truly hope he'll bring about change for the middle (lower) class. I hope he'll focus on the environment. I hope he'll put some regulation back into the economy (or at least transparency).

Hope is a dangerous thing. Hope can drive a man insane.

(For a detailed examination of Obama's foreign policy, read http://www.thenation.com/doc/20080721/dreyfuss.)

Sleepy Kitty

Sauerkraut

Mmmm... sauerkraut.

That's the answer to the question, "What do I do with two large heads of cabbage?"

Just grate, mix with salt, and pack into a jar.

A couple of weeks ago we had dinner with friends, and they had a crock of fresh sauerkraut at their table. It was pretty tasty (Simone even seemed to like it). They talked about how easy it was to make. I'd considered it in the past, but was always discouraged by every recipe's mention of mold on the top and having to clean that off.

But, armed with a recipe, and 2 large heads of cabbage, I began.

Shred 5 pounds cabbage, mix in 3 Tbs salt, pack in jar. Done.

It was that easy. I used the "plastic bag filled with water" method of keeping the cabbage submerged under the brine. It has the nice affect of actually keeping the brine from getting any air, and thereby prevents any mold from building up. woo-hoo

I kept it in a cupboard for 2 weeks. I checked it every couple of days, packing the kraut down to get rid of air bubbles in the middle/bottom that were due to the fermenting. I tasted it a few days before it was done and it was actually kind of spicy. But now that the fermenting is done, it tastes like sauerkraut should taste.

Simone helps pack the cabbage in

Jar packed and topped with a plastic bag full of water (that's what causes the blue tinge)