more on another public spectacle coming our way.
surge in jonestown reference use
term useful to dems ? as in "we wont drink bush's kool-aid anymore" bumpersticker ?
term useful to dems ? as in "we wont drink bush's kool-aid anymore" bumpersticker ?
an oldie but a goodie
Slashdot: In a fight between you and William Gibson, who would win?
Neal Stephenson: You don't have to settle for mere idle speculation. Let me tell you how it came out on the three occasions when we did fight.
The first time was a year or two after SNOW CRASH came out. I was doing a reading/signing at White Dwarf Books in Vancouver. Gibson stopped by to say hello and extended his hand as if to shake. But I remembered something Bruce Sterling had told me. For, at the time, Sterling and I had formed a pact to fight Gibson. Gibson had been regrown in a vat from scraps of DNA after Sterling had crashed an LNG tanker into Gibson's Stealth pleasure barge in the Straits of Juan de Fuca. During the regeneration process, telescoping Carbonite stilettos had been incorporated into Gibson's arms. Remembering this in the nick of time, I grabbed the signing table and flipped it up between us. Of course the Carbonite stilettos pierced it as if it were cork board, but this spoiled his aim long enough for me to whip my wakizashi out from between my shoulder blades and swing at his head. He deflected the blow with a force blast that sprained my wrist. The falling table knocked over a space heater and set fire to the store. Everyone else fled. [more...scroll down]
Slashdot: In a fight between you and William Gibson, who would win?
Neal Stephenson: You don't have to settle for mere idle speculation. Let me tell you how it came out on the three occasions when we did fight.
The first time was a year or two after SNOW CRASH came out. I was doing a reading/signing at White Dwarf Books in Vancouver. Gibson stopped by to say hello and extended his hand as if to shake. But I remembered something Bruce Sterling had told me. For, at the time, Sterling and I had formed a pact to fight Gibson. Gibson had been regrown in a vat from scraps of DNA after Sterling had crashed an LNG tanker into Gibson's Stealth pleasure barge in the Straits of Juan de Fuca. During the regeneration process, telescoping Carbonite stilettos had been incorporated into Gibson's arms. Remembering this in the nick of time, I grabbed the signing table and flipped it up between us. Of course the Carbonite stilettos pierced it as if it were cork board, but this spoiled his aim long enough for me to whip my wakizashi out from between my shoulder blades and swing at his head. He deflected the blow with a force blast that sprained my wrist. The falling table knocked over a space heater and set fire to the store. Everyone else fled. [more...scroll down]
the 9/11 report is out
you know this one jim ? picturephoning
Weblog dedicated to Christo's Central Park exhibit The Gates.
NBC News just did a spot on the owl invasion in Minnesota. The Boreal Owl in Central Park recently was a big deal; it’s probably the hardest North American owl to see. But we haven’t been getting the more spectacular (and seeable) Great Gray and Hawk Owls that have been showing up south of their normal ranges this winter. This report from near Ottawa sounds amazing: over 20 Great Grays in a day. Check out these pictures; I particularly like this one taking off; it reminds me of the Jabberwoky.
(And don’t miss the rest of Jody Hildreth’s kidwings site; turn a youngster on to virtual owl pellets.)
(And don’t miss the rest of Jody Hildreth’s kidwings site; turn a youngster on to virtual owl pellets.)
any opinions on raid array ?
whats happening in nepal, in the sunday nyt there is noarticle in the "week in review / front section".....there is an article on page #2 (front section) "China's Holiday Homecoming Creates Travel Nitemare" and the last page is "SHANGHAI / the exotic new scent for woman / BLOOMINGDALE'S"....this has nothing to do with the Mao Rebel's i assume.....the king is doing nasty shit (no planes, no internet, no press, etc) but w/o any news i wonder "whats up superbowl sunday"....Q: do these moaist rebels have relatives that took over Tibet Q: are they fun to hang with, better or worse than the King Q: would the USSA let internet go on in if the "Al whatever" rebels were causing serious trouble homeland.....i have not followed Nepal of lately, but the lack of news in the NYT is interesting / standard operation??...(skinny)
Fantastic Four
Unlike Kirby's books this effort looks pretty generic.
Just heard the Feelies on a citibank commercial.
skinny / linda took the 14 month old puppy to his first dim sum, he loved it, and we think its the best weve ever had, rumor is people drive all over the city to chow here
daily news: Ocean Port Seafood Restaurant; 6202 18th Ave., Bensonhurst; (718) 236-8118. On weekends, dim sum lovers line up outside this Brooklyn Chinese restaurant to sample chef Joe Ng's Hong Kong-style dumplings, possibly the best and definitely the most innovative in the city
ny times: $25 AND UNDER; Where Sunday Tea Is a Dim Sum Parade By KIM SEVERSON Published: December 22, 2004, Wednesday
LUCKILY the nice Chinese family from Queens adopted us. They didn't have much choice. At Ocean Port Seafood Restaurant, a jumping dim sum house in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn, diners get squeezed in whenever a seat or two opens up.
Set in a neighborhood where the Carvel ice cream signs are lettered in Hebrew and the CD shop sells Italian music, Ocean Port is fast becoming a destination dim sum parlor. The attraction is more than 100 seasonally adjusted dumplings and small plates assembled by Joe Ng, who said he has cooked in 10 states, often in Hilton hotels.
On my first visit, the place was packed. So an accommodating waiter made room for me and a guest at a crowded table, using a few pink napkins to cover up the dim sum stains of diners who had gone before.
We plopped down next to a large family several pots of tea into their Sunday yum cha. Yum cha means ''drink tea'' in Cantonese, and tea is vital to the perfect dim sum experience. Pouring a few cups with strangers is also a great way to make friends.
It was our great luck to share a table with people who really knew their way around a dim sum cart. Without them we might not have learned two of Ocean Port's secrets: the suckling pig ($10.95), so crisp-skinned and tender that it was one reason the family drove in from Queens, and the chiu chow gow ($2.95), a translucent-skinned steamed dumpling usually reserved for celebrations.
The soft, wet skin of the round dumplings held a pleasantly dry filling of evenly chopped peanuts, pork, celery, water chestnuts and shiitake mushrooms. Their flavor and the attention to detail that went into their creation were indicative of the quality of most of the little dishes that come flying from the kitchen on stainless steel carts. Most are between $1.95 and $2.95 per plate of three or four pieces, with a few dishes inching above that. On another visit, the bill for a party of five enthusiastic eaters barely topped $100. But bring cash; Ocean Port does not accept credit cards.
On the weekends, especially Sundays, the two dozen big tables are always full. You'll be bumped and jostled and have the occasional dish of braised pork spilled on your sleeve.
It was hard to find a miss in the dozens of dumplings we ate our way through. Among the favorites: an open wrapper with a nugget of shrimp inside a wad of spinach sprinkled with scallion and parsley; a Shanghai-style pork meatball in a thin skin and shiny har-gow with shrimp that had a little snap to them.
Beyond the dumplings, a plate of bean curd skins wrapped around shredded pork and tree fungus was perfect. We ordered extra plates of fried, thin-skinned peppers stuffed with shrimp paste and sucked tender morsels of meat from an order of braised fish jowls. For dessert, don't miss the fried green balls filled with sweet black sesame.
The only dishes we did not like were mushy turnip cakes and a glass bowl filled with dry sticky rice studded with sweet Chinese sausage and mushrooms. Fish balls seasoned with ginger that were light and luscious when steamed became leaden in the deep-fat fryer.
daily news: Ocean Port Seafood Restaurant; 6202 18th Ave., Bensonhurst; (718) 236-8118. On weekends, dim sum lovers line up outside this Brooklyn Chinese restaurant to sample chef Joe Ng's Hong Kong-style dumplings, possibly the best and definitely the most innovative in the city
ny times: $25 AND UNDER; Where Sunday Tea Is a Dim Sum Parade By KIM SEVERSON Published: December 22, 2004, Wednesday
LUCKILY the nice Chinese family from Queens adopted us. They didn't have much choice. At Ocean Port Seafood Restaurant, a jumping dim sum house in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn, diners get squeezed in whenever a seat or two opens up.
Set in a neighborhood where the Carvel ice cream signs are lettered in Hebrew and the CD shop sells Italian music, Ocean Port is fast becoming a destination dim sum parlor. The attraction is more than 100 seasonally adjusted dumplings and small plates assembled by Joe Ng, who said he has cooked in 10 states, often in Hilton hotels.
On my first visit, the place was packed. So an accommodating waiter made room for me and a guest at a crowded table, using a few pink napkins to cover up the dim sum stains of diners who had gone before.
We plopped down next to a large family several pots of tea into their Sunday yum cha. Yum cha means ''drink tea'' in Cantonese, and tea is vital to the perfect dim sum experience. Pouring a few cups with strangers is also a great way to make friends.
It was our great luck to share a table with people who really knew their way around a dim sum cart. Without them we might not have learned two of Ocean Port's secrets: the suckling pig ($10.95), so crisp-skinned and tender that it was one reason the family drove in from Queens, and the chiu chow gow ($2.95), a translucent-skinned steamed dumpling usually reserved for celebrations.
The soft, wet skin of the round dumplings held a pleasantly dry filling of evenly chopped peanuts, pork, celery, water chestnuts and shiitake mushrooms. Their flavor and the attention to detail that went into their creation were indicative of the quality of most of the little dishes that come flying from the kitchen on stainless steel carts. Most are between $1.95 and $2.95 per plate of three or four pieces, with a few dishes inching above that. On another visit, the bill for a party of five enthusiastic eaters barely topped $100. But bring cash; Ocean Port does not accept credit cards.
On the weekends, especially Sundays, the two dozen big tables are always full. You'll be bumped and jostled and have the occasional dish of braised pork spilled on your sleeve.
It was hard to find a miss in the dozens of dumplings we ate our way through. Among the favorites: an open wrapper with a nugget of shrimp inside a wad of spinach sprinkled with scallion and parsley; a Shanghai-style pork meatball in a thin skin and shiny har-gow with shrimp that had a little snap to them.
Beyond the dumplings, a plate of bean curd skins wrapped around shredded pork and tree fungus was perfect. We ordered extra plates of fried, thin-skinned peppers stuffed with shrimp paste and sucked tender morsels of meat from an order of braised fish jowls. For dessert, don't miss the fried green balls filled with sweet black sesame.
The only dishes we did not like were mushy turnip cakes and a glass bowl filled with dry sticky rice studded with sweet Chinese sausage and mushrooms. Fish balls seasoned with ginger that were light and luscious when steamed became leaden in the deep-fat fryer.
apparently there is a triumph of painting and it has three parts.
i prefer the painting of triumph parts
i prefer the painting of triumph parts
from a europe contact (skinny)
Man peed way out of avalanche
A Slovak man trapped in his car under an avalanche freed himself by drinking 60 bottles of beer and urinating on the snow to melt it.
Rescue teams found Richard Kral drunk and staggering along a mountain path four days after his Audi car was buried in the Slovak Tatra mountains.
He told them that after the avalanche, he had opened his car window and tried to dig his way out.
But as he dug with his hands, he realised the snow would fill his car before he managed to break through.
He had 60 half-litre bottles of beer in his car as he was going on holiday, and after cracking one open to think about the problem he realised he could urinate on the snow to melt it, local media reported.
He said: "I was scooping the snow from above me and packing it down below the window, and then I peed on it to melt it. It was hard and now my kidneys and liver hurt. But I'm glad the beer I took on holiday turned out to be useful and I managed to get out of there."
Parts of Europe have this week been hit by the heaviest snowfalls since 1941, with some places registering more than ten feet of snow in 24 hours.
Man peed way out of avalanche
A Slovak man trapped in his car under an avalanche freed himself by drinking 60 bottles of beer and urinating on the snow to melt it.
Rescue teams found Richard Kral drunk and staggering along a mountain path four days after his Audi car was buried in the Slovak Tatra mountains.
He told them that after the avalanche, he had opened his car window and tried to dig his way out.
But as he dug with his hands, he realised the snow would fill his car before he managed to break through.
He had 60 half-litre bottles of beer in his car as he was going on holiday, and after cracking one open to think about the problem he realised he could urinate on the snow to melt it, local media reported.
He said: "I was scooping the snow from above me and packing it down below the window, and then I peed on it to melt it. It was hard and now my kidneys and liver hurt. But I'm glad the beer I took on holiday turned out to be useful and I managed to get out of there."
Parts of Europe have this week been hit by the heaviest snowfalls since 1941, with some places registering more than ten feet of snow in 24 hours.
Does anyone have photo editing software recommendations? I introduced D to MS Paint, because it's free, simple as dirt, and a fall-back for any Windows environment. But at some point she needs to step up to something with a bit more power. Has any one tried Photoshop Elements 3.0?
Apparently bloggers can make permanent, no login required, links to NYTimes articles. Aaron Swartz has a handy link generator (copy the regular NYTimes link into Aaron's form and it spits out the blogger permanent link.)
Strangely, this seems to have been in place since 2003. How did I miss this? Or am I just forgetting? I haven't tried it so maybe I am misunderstanding. People should give it a shot when linking to the Times and we'll see what happens.
Also, possibly I could automate this so the system here will translate regular NYT links into their permanent blogger format.
[edit: added the link to Aaron's link generator.]
Strangely, this seems to have been in place since 2003. How did I miss this? Or am I just forgetting? I haven't tried it so maybe I am misunderstanding. People should give it a shot when linking to the Times and we'll see what happens.
Also, possibly I could automate this so the system here will translate regular NYT links into their permanent blogger format.
[edit: added the link to Aaron's link generator.]
and here
$25 AND UNDER; East Village Noodles, All the Way From Japan
By ERIC ASIMOV
Published: July 14, 2004, Wednesday
ARTICLE TOOLS
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FOR many Japanese, ramen is not so much a noodle dish as an obsession. Americans know ramen as the savior of college students, who, equipped with only hot plate, dried noodles and powdered broth, whip up late-night snacks. This packaged meal has little to do with the Japanese conception of ramen, which is more akin to Mom's chicken soup, painstakingly and lovingly prepared and consumed with a sense of comfort and well-being.
Not that Japanese mothers are all slaving over the pot. In Japan, most ramen is consumed at shops and stands that dot the cities. And, just as my parents, when traveling overseas, told me they craved the sort of Jewish foods that they rarely ate at home in New York, many Japanese travelers and expatriates who experience ramen lust may simply be longing for the comforts of home.
One such expat is Shigeto Kamada, a musician, who says he despaired of finding good ramen in New York. So he taught himself to make it by reading books and watching videos. Now he is satisfying similar appetites at Minca, a little ramen shop he opened about a month ago in the East Village.
Mr. Kamada calls Minca a ramen factory, but there is little about the place that suggests an assembly line. It is just a storefront with four or five tables and eight or so seats at a counter. Tiny halogen spotlights hang from the ceiling, and unusual selections from Mr. Kamada's art collection adorn the brick walls.
Many people assume that ramen means noodles, but noodles are only one component of the complete ramen dish. The noodles themselves are of the type called chukasoba, or Chinese-style soba noodles. Unlike soba noodles, which are made of buckwheat, curly chukasoba noodles are wheat and have a springy elasticity that lets them remain squiggly even when cooked.
Mr. Kamada uses dried, portioned noodles delivered from Japan. Though crucial to ramen, the noodles are the easy part. Far more difficult is the soup. Mr. Kamada uses 80 percent pork bones and 20 percent chicken bones to prepare his broth, which he boils for hours until it achieves a light, velvety texture, a milky color and an intense porkiness.
If you take a seat at the bar and order the basic ramen ($8.50), you can watch Mr. Kamada assemble it before you. First, he puts a portion of the noodles in a pot of boiling water. Then, he opens a white vessel on his work counter, revealing dozens of hard-cooked eggs steeping in a soy sauce. With chopsticks he plucks one out and slices it lengthwise.
From another pot he pours the fragrant broth into a blue earthenware bowl. He adds the egg, a selection of ''mountain vegetables,'' which look like curly mushrooms, and salt and pepper. He tosses in the noodles and uncovers a long pan filled with cooked pork, sliced ultrathin. Eying the pork carefully, he selects a few slices and floats them on top of the broth. Finally, he adds a small sheet of nori seaweed.
On a summer day, the ramen experience can be a bit like taking a steam bath. With soup spoon in one hand and chopsticks in the other, you alternate bites of savory pork; slurps of noodles; sips of the rich, peppery broth; and occasional tastes of egg, scallion and mountain vegetable. I like to add a jolt of spicy red hot sauce. Before long you can feel your face begin to flush, and beads of sweat break out on your forehead. Each bite feels like feeding the furnace, yet the ramen is so good that you do not want to stop.
Variations on the ramen theme include soy ramen ($8.50), with an extra dose of soy sauce in the broth, and chicken ramen ($8.50), which uses a lighter chicken-and-fish broth. You can have it tsukemen-style ($8.50), in which the noodles are served in a separate bowl. You dip the noodles in the soup before eating them. For a little more, you can have charshu ramen ($11.50), which is topped with six or seven slices of pork. Or you can try my favorite, toriniku ramen ($11.50), which is topped with meltingly soft chunks of pork belly and buttery tender leaves of green cabbage.
Preliminaries might include exceptionally delicate gyoza dumplings ($4.50), stuffed with pork and pungent cabbage, or a refreshing salad of julienned daikon ($4), dressed with a spicy sesame sauce. That's it. No dessert, no beer or wine (you can bring your own), just ramen.
For that, the predominantly Japanese clientele seems especially grateful.
Minca
536 East Fifth Street (Avenue B), East Village; (212) 505-8001.
((skinny))
$25 AND UNDER; East Village Noodles, All the Way From Japan
By ERIC ASIMOV
Published: July 14, 2004, Wednesday
ARTICLE TOOLS
Printer Friendly Format Printer-Friendly Format
Most E-mailed Articles Most E-Mailed Articles
FOR many Japanese, ramen is not so much a noodle dish as an obsession. Americans know ramen as the savior of college students, who, equipped with only hot plate, dried noodles and powdered broth, whip up late-night snacks. This packaged meal has little to do with the Japanese conception of ramen, which is more akin to Mom's chicken soup, painstakingly and lovingly prepared and consumed with a sense of comfort and well-being.
Not that Japanese mothers are all slaving over the pot. In Japan, most ramen is consumed at shops and stands that dot the cities. And, just as my parents, when traveling overseas, told me they craved the sort of Jewish foods that they rarely ate at home in New York, many Japanese travelers and expatriates who experience ramen lust may simply be longing for the comforts of home.
One such expat is Shigeto Kamada, a musician, who says he despaired of finding good ramen in New York. So he taught himself to make it by reading books and watching videos. Now he is satisfying similar appetites at Minca, a little ramen shop he opened about a month ago in the East Village.
Mr. Kamada calls Minca a ramen factory, but there is little about the place that suggests an assembly line. It is just a storefront with four or five tables and eight or so seats at a counter. Tiny halogen spotlights hang from the ceiling, and unusual selections from Mr. Kamada's art collection adorn the brick walls.
Many people assume that ramen means noodles, but noodles are only one component of the complete ramen dish. The noodles themselves are of the type called chukasoba, or Chinese-style soba noodles. Unlike soba noodles, which are made of buckwheat, curly chukasoba noodles are wheat and have a springy elasticity that lets them remain squiggly even when cooked.
Mr. Kamada uses dried, portioned noodles delivered from Japan. Though crucial to ramen, the noodles are the easy part. Far more difficult is the soup. Mr. Kamada uses 80 percent pork bones and 20 percent chicken bones to prepare his broth, which he boils for hours until it achieves a light, velvety texture, a milky color and an intense porkiness.
If you take a seat at the bar and order the basic ramen ($8.50), you can watch Mr. Kamada assemble it before you. First, he puts a portion of the noodles in a pot of boiling water. Then, he opens a white vessel on his work counter, revealing dozens of hard-cooked eggs steeping in a soy sauce. With chopsticks he plucks one out and slices it lengthwise.
From another pot he pours the fragrant broth into a blue earthenware bowl. He adds the egg, a selection of ''mountain vegetables,'' which look like curly mushrooms, and salt and pepper. He tosses in the noodles and uncovers a long pan filled with cooked pork, sliced ultrathin. Eying the pork carefully, he selects a few slices and floats them on top of the broth. Finally, he adds a small sheet of nori seaweed.
On a summer day, the ramen experience can be a bit like taking a steam bath. With soup spoon in one hand and chopsticks in the other, you alternate bites of savory pork; slurps of noodles; sips of the rich, peppery broth; and occasional tastes of egg, scallion and mountain vegetable. I like to add a jolt of spicy red hot sauce. Before long you can feel your face begin to flush, and beads of sweat break out on your forehead. Each bite feels like feeding the furnace, yet the ramen is so good that you do not want to stop.
Variations on the ramen theme include soy ramen ($8.50), with an extra dose of soy sauce in the broth, and chicken ramen ($8.50), which uses a lighter chicken-and-fish broth. You can have it tsukemen-style ($8.50), in which the noodles are served in a separate bowl. You dip the noodles in the soup before eating them. For a little more, you can have charshu ramen ($11.50), which is topped with six or seven slices of pork. Or you can try my favorite, toriniku ramen ($11.50), which is topped with meltingly soft chunks of pork belly and buttery tender leaves of green cabbage.
Preliminaries might include exceptionally delicate gyoza dumplings ($4.50), stuffed with pork and pungent cabbage, or a refreshing salad of julienned daikon ($4), dressed with a spicy sesame sauce. That's it. No dessert, no beer or wine (you can bring your own), just ramen.
For that, the predominantly Japanese clientele seems especially grateful.
Minca
536 East Fifth Street (Avenue B), East Village; (212) 505-8001.
((skinny))
