| POEM: Never Again |
[Mar. 25th, 2009|12:20 pm] |
This is: http://talzhemir1.livejournal.com/73787.html
NEVER AGAIN
Before I was born, the world did not miss me.
After I die, the world will return to that same state.
Yet, the saddest words I know
they open me up
like a slit waterskin.
Those words are 'Never again.'
The pain is real.
In my throat, in my gut.
I lay here, raw and deflated.
What should not happen, has happened.
The sun has gone out.
All that tries to fill me.
Only runs out the hole again.
Then, when I'm dry,
having no tears left,
Another word comes: 'Always.'
To mend is to pierce with the needle
again and again
Leaving me still empty but whole.
The new word reigns, and it is 'Always':
I will always remember,
I will always cherish.
I will always find a way.
And I will always know
That you loved me.
Always. |
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| SILLINESS: The Dragon That Came to Bag End |
[Mar. 16th, 2009|06:00 am] |
This is: http://talzhemir1.livejournal.com/73567.html
Once upon a time in Middle Earth, there lived a small blue dragon. Its name was Krau and it only came up to a human's knee. In the scaled-down region of the Shire, however, even a small dragon can be a large problem.
Krau spotted some halfling washer-women as they were hanging up the wash. He came over to help dry it with his breath. Instead, he set it all on fire and the ladies scampered off in a panic.
Next, he found some little boys trying to climb a tree. He picked up the smallest one and put him on the highest branch, as it clearly had the most apples. The little one screamed in terror. The other lads threw rotten apples at him and he had to leave.
The diminutive dragon discovered the halfling men coming out of the bathhouse wearing towels. He flew in low and tried to help dry them off. Instead, his puffs of fire singed them bald one by one! They ran about bellowing in alarm. Thinking something was coming to destroy them all, Krau swooped about with loud trumpeting cries too.
Mayor Samwise gathered the terrorized villagers together and calmed them down. Soon they had a clear consensus: "Fetch Mr. Frodo!" They all went knocking on Frodo's round door and explained.
Frodo decided to act right away. He put on his beautiful Elven ringmail shirt and he picked up the family heirloom sword 'Sting', and out he went to confront the dragon. He found Krau helping himself to some cheese stacked in the middle of the marketplace.
Frodo said, in a very old language, "You! You can not stay here. The village is no place for a dragon!"
Naturally, Krau was very upset and he roared in dismay, but Mr. Frodo was very firm. Krau spread his wings and he flew away, never to be seen again in that land.
At least, thought Frodo, there was no bloodshed. The people were very happy that peace and order was restored. They went to Rosie's tavern and celebrated.
The little boys said, "Weren't you afraid he would carry you off?" The washer-women said, "Weren't you afraid he'd set your clothes afire?" The bathhouse gentlemen said, "Weren't you afraid he would set your head on fire?"
Frodo had to admit that he had considered the first two outcomes, but the third never worried him.
His friend Sam asked curiously, "Why's that?"
Frodo replied, "Everybody knows: Old hobbits die haired." |
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| Lifting Stem Cell Ban Brings a Better Life |
[Mar. 9th, 2009|12:10 am] |
this is: http://talzhemir1.livejournal.com/73381.html
------
"WASHINGTON (CNN) -- A top congressional Republican on Sunday criticized President Barack Obama's expected decision to reverse the Bush administration's limits on embryonic stem-cell research, calling it a distraction from the country's economic slump..."
http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/03/08/obama.stem.cells/index.html
------
Dearest Friends,
We are, in the world of agriculture, poised on the edge of a kind of revolution, but not really one that we have asked for. Farmers over 65 outnumber those under 35, 3 to 1. Within a decade, roughly half of our most experienced and most successful farmers, are expected to be dead.
34% of all agricultural assets are held by individuals over the age of 65, and roughly 4/5ths are male. The average life expectancy for men is 74. 4 years in college may yield a degree in life sciences but it's no substitute for 50+ years of experience.
An estimated 85% of the "young farmers" didn't grow up on a farm. They did not milk the cows with Grandpa when they were four; they did not water a row of watermelons and eggplants with Aunt June. In their childhood, corn came from a can, in a place where a rooster crowing at dawn is illegal. Most of them never dreamt that they would pursue a 'country' lifestyle until they were well past college age. Many of them went to college for literature, or drama, or plastics manufacturing, or silicon wafers, but not plants and animals. They have risked their economic safety for, perhaps, something they could not really understand at the time.
Many senior farmers did not pass their know-how on to their descendants. Through no fault on anybody's part, much of what the senior farmers have learned is going to be lost. Those who were farm-raised and chose to follow in their parents' footsteps, despite poverty in many cases, are to be commended and valued.
Arguably, not everything people believe is valuable, but much of it is. What seniors know is not necessarily in a book. It is not (yet) on Wikipedia, and you can not (yet) Google for it.
Some of it is folk-wisdom, like dipping sweet-potato vine cuttings in powdered cinnamon before rooting them. Some of it is from farming journals read over the years. A lot of it is word-of-mouth, shared in communities along with heritage cultivars. Many farmers have yet to hear that once, drought-resistant Amaranth was popped into sweet Alegria in Mexico, or that a traditional Hawaiian "canoe plant" sweet potato could perhaps bring us nutritional and economic relief.
Valuable food-growing knowledge is going to be lost at a time when food is needed for growing population worldwide.
Some of it is the social connections they have made, many of them across international boundaries, friendships decades old. A trucker who brings melons to Indiana; a Mexican tomato farmer who shared seeds with someone's grandmother. When the senior farmers have passed on, they will also leave holes in the social fabric that will never repair itself.
So, what the hell does this have to do with stem cells...?
In stem cells lie the very treatments that will grant them longevity. Maybe not 20 years, maybe not even 10, maybe just 5. That will be worth a lot. 5 years to pass on just a little more of what they know, as the ranks of the "young farmers" grow and mature.
And, of course, not just that, but a chance for one more grandkid to be born, a chance for a few more hugs and kisses from their husband or wife. Maybe a few more chances to see the star-shaped purple and gold flowers against dark leaves in a potato field (if they are not tired of them, of course).
These are the folks who fed you and me, all our lives.
They, of all people, deserve better health care.
To call stem cell research a "distraction" is both cold-blooded and short-sighted.
The ban on stem cell research was an over-reaction to something ill-understood. It's logical that, as more information can be shared between the generations, the economic benefit is inevitable. Diseases are costing us millions of dollars in care, but they are also costing us irreplaceable human knowledge and wisdom. As diabetes, obesity, kidney failure, Parkinson's, Alzheimer's, and many more are alleviated or cured, wonderful human gains will also come.
Can we do that?
You bet your 'uala! |
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| NONFICTION: The Domestication of the Sunflower |
[Feb. 19th, 2009|11:48 am] |
This is: http://talzhemir1.livejournal.com/73212.html
I'd often wondered what would possess somebody to domesticate sunflowers in the first place. The wild seeds are very small, with tough inedible hulls. They don't have a lot of oil.
The roots, stems and leaves aren't edible. The yellow flowers are nice but they're plentiful in the wild.
The oldest evidence of cultivation is from Mexico, possibly as early as 2600 BCE, when somebody cached their precious sunflower seeds in a cave. This strain had bigger seeds than in the wild, but not as big as the modern varieties. Later archaeological finds get bigger and bigger, showing a progression in-sequence. Sunflower domestication appears to be relatively recent. Compare that to corn, in the same region, which goes back at least 10,000 years.
So why bother with sunflowers when you've got corn? What do sunflowers have that corn doesn't?
Lysine is one possible answer. Most grains don't have a lot of this nutrient, which makes up part of the "complete protein" needs of humans. Corn is notoriously lysine-poor.
Then again, so are sunflower seeds once they've been cooked...
Aha! that's a clue.
How can you eat sunflower seeds without cooking them?
How could those first wild sunflower seeds be shelled and eaten, even though they were so pitifully small?
As sprouts, that's how.
When they're soaked in water, sunflower hulls pop open. Then, when rinsed off with water, the shells of wild sunflower seeds float and are easily separated. All that's needed is a bowl and some fresh, clean water.
Many of our edible crops began as sprouted grains and seeds. There's lots of evidence that corn, rice, and barley domestication began this way. (Traditionally, these are the gifts of the Hopi Corn Maidens, Inari of Japan, and Demeter of Greece).
Eventually, the sprouted versions may fall off the menu. The enhanced-size seed crops remain in a form that's very different from their wild cousins. It leads to an illusion that a perfect food crop was magically created, just for us.
Well, perfect if you happen to like lightly toasted sunflower seeds with sea salt. Maybe with a little garlic.
:D |
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| NONFICTION: The Conscious Redefining of the Word 'Atheist' |
[Jan. 31st, 2009|11:30 am] |
This is:
I recently posted the following under the discussion page for the Wikipedia entry for 'atheist'.
=================================
'...there has been a push in certain philosophical circles...'
The push for acceptance of the "non-disbelief" definition of "atheist" is coming from the major groups of atheists, for example, American Atheists, which clearly defines atheist as both non-believers and disbelievers together.
http://atheists.org/atheism/About_Atheism
"Philosophical circles" implies it's just some academic discussion groups over in some isolated corners, and that it's just an external definition.
Nonbelievers are frequently handed a "straw man" argument that they are espousing a view that cannot be proven. Having decided that the word "atheist" is not inherently negative, many atheists prefer to claim it, in conscious imitation of the way homosexuals chose to embrace the word "gay", and choose to give it a modern redefintion. Atheist no longer has to imply 'disbeliever' in much the same way 'gay' no longer has to imply 'pederast' or 'sissy'.
'...though its mainstream usage has been limited...'
True. For example, President Obama chose to use the word "nonbeliever" instead in his inaugural address.
...But, one main reason mainstream usage has been limited is because dictionaries STILL won't clearly add the nonbeliever definition. For examplel, Websters still defines atheism as either 'disbelief' or the loaded word 'doctrine', which again incorrectly denotes a positive belief.
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/atheism
Some nonbelievers pessimistically don't think this redefining is possible. They do not want to be identified as atheists because it carries negative connotations for many people-- including themselves. They sometimes jokingly call it "The A Word".
Nevertheless, there's good reason to think that the self-defining of atheism will prevail. Atheist organizations instruct members how to gracefully and politely shoot down the above-mentioned straw man. Opposing the disbeliever definition serves the dual purpose of challenging the bigotry and bringing together both the nonbeliever and the disbeliever under one unifying title.
In other words, it's a third definition in addition to atheist-as-disbeliever and atheist-as-nonbeliever.
~~~~Talzhemir |
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| NONFICTION: The Conscious Redefining of the Word 'Atheist' |
[Jan. 31st, 2009|11:26 am] |
This is: http://talzhemir1.livejournal.com/72652.html
I recently posted the following under the discussion page for the Wikipedia entry for 'atheist'.
=================================
'...there has been a push in certain philosophical circles...'
The push for acceptance of the "non-disbelief" definition of "atheist" is coming from the major groups of atheists, for example, American Atheists, which clearly defines atheist as both non-believers and disbelievers together.
http://atheists.org/atheism/About_Atheism
"Philosophical circles" implies it's just some academic discussion groups over in some isolated corners, and that it's just an external definition.
Nonbelievers are frequently handed a "straw man" argument that they are espousing a view that cannot be proven. Having decided that the word "atheist" is not inherently negative, many atheists prefer to claim it, in conscious imitation of the way homosexuals chose to embrace the word "gay", and choose to give it a modern redefintion. Atheist no longer has to imply 'disbeliever' in much the same way 'gay' no longer has to imply 'pederast' or 'sissy'.
'...though its mainstream usage has been limited...'
True. For example, President Obama chose to use the word "nonbeliever" instead in his inaugural address.
...But, one main reason mainstream usage has been limited is because dictionaries STILL won't clearly add the nonbeliever definition. For examplel, Websters still defines atheism as either 'disbelief' or the loaded word 'doctrine', which again incorrectly denotes a positive belief.
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/atheism
Some nonbelievers pessimistically don't think this redefining is possible. They do not want to be identified as atheists because it carries negative connotations for many people-- including themselves. They sometimes jokingly call it "The A Word".
Nevertheless, there's good reason to think that the self-defining of atheism will prevail. Atheist organizations instruct members how to gracefully and politely shoot down the above-mentioned straw man. Opposing the disbeliever definition serves the dual purpose of challenging the bigotry and bringing together both the nonbeliever and the disbeliever under one unifying title.
In other words, it's a third definition in addition to atheist-as-disbeliever and atheist-as-nonbeliever.
~~~~Talzhemir |
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| NONFICTION: Triple S Gumbo |
[Jan. 26th, 2009|08:01 pm] |
This is: http://talzhemir1.livejournal.com/72343.html
SAUSAGE, SEAFOOD & SOYMEAT GUMBO
Cooking time: 1/2 hour (20 minutes if you have a helper!)
Serves 7, but you gotta have a little dessert too.
1/4 cup olive oil
1 cup diced celery (chop up a whole lot and freeze the rest in baggies!)
1 cup chopped onion (1 smaller-than-fist-sized yellow onion)
1 clove garlic, chopped fine (use less if you're not a garlic fan!)
2 TBSP real butter
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp No-Salt (important!)
2 plump Roma tomatoes (chop up small)
1/4 of a whole green pepper, chop up small)
(or substitute one 10 oz. can Red Gold brand Petite Diced
Tomatoes With Green Chilies)
1/2 lb. some kind of cooked salty sausage, chopped up into little bits.
Use what you've got. A "Cajun-style" sausage would be the first choice.
Kielbasa, Bratwurst, even hotdogs work! Jimmy Dean brand has a
touch of rosemary that adds a nice flavor.
1/3 bag Vegefarm Vegetarian Meat (chicken-colored, but beef-colored works too)
8 big shrimp, shelled and de-veined (or, 1 cup itty bitty cleaned shrimps)
1/2 lb. Krab ("Sea Legs" or Kamaboko Krab)
1/2 teaspoon dried leaf thyme
1 Tablespoon Tabasco Sauce (Or, if you prefer "wimpy", 1 TBSP ketchup)
4 cups chicken broth (or 4 cups water + 2 packets chicken ramen flavoring)
2 bay leaves (if you've got 'em!)
4 cups hot cooked rice (brown or white)
1. Put the Vegefarm Vegetarian Meat in water.
2. In heavy 4-quart saucepan, heat oil on medium. Add celery, onion, and garlic. Let them get brown edges. Remove the saucepan from the heat, let it cool as you do the next step.
3. Mix up the dry ingredients (the first five) in a bowl.
4. Transfer the oil/celery/onions to a bowl for now.
5. Now that the pan is clear again, melt the butter in it on medium heat. Add the flour mix gradually, stirring constantly. Let the flour get bubbly and very light brown (this is called a "roux"). There is an important change to the scent; browned butter smells very yummy!
6. Add in the tomatoes and peppers. Stir it up gently! The sizzle adds a soundtrack to the culinary effects. Reduce heat, cook about 5 minutes or until pepper bits are softened.
7. Add sausage and Vegemeat in next. Simmer for about 5 minutes.
8. Switch to low heat. Add thyme, Tabasco, chicken broth, and bay leaves. Cook for 10 more minutes.
9. Put scoops of rice in big bowls. Pour gumbo over it.
Bon apetit! |
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| FICTION: "The Way of Things", a Drakorian tale |
[Nov. 18th, 2008|05:21 am] |
This is: http://talzhemir1.livejournal.com/71939.html
Throughout this Furcadian world known as the Dragonlands, there are the Furres, who walk upon two legs, and there are the birds and reptiles, which are hunted or farmed for food. It is said that the Primes of Light created the Furres, before they parted company with the Dark Primes.
If fur-bearing creatures running upon four legs are seen, they are normally assumed to be the products of vilest magic. They are always hunted, for that is their curse. However, there is one place they are not always hated and feared, and that is, in the primitive provinces of Drakoria, far to the west.
-----
It was 'The Winter Tears Froze On the Face.' Everyone in the tribe was a grassblade's thickness away from starving. They lived in danger of attack by Raukor, Eetrox, Leotaur, and more. Here, as even small furrelings know, it is the furre's lot in life to be food for many other creatures. That is the way of things.
Wrapped in clothes made of woven feathers, the wolf-lady Sah-may-may of the Aka Kota was hunting alone. Her name meant "Very Serious", and she liked to be the best at anything she could do. She was only thirteen, but she was already one of the best with spear-thrower. There, up ahead, walked a snow-kiwi, so she stealthily raised the long dart-spear to above her shoulder.
Was she beautiful? Maybe. Her brown hair was never brushed. She hid her face with leaves tied to woven netting to make it harder for prey to see her. Her boyfriend Teh-gla-ri liked to say, "Night makes all women beautiful," but even he had never seen her face.
The snow-kiwi began scratching at the snow with its feet, a sign that it smelled food underneath. Sah-may-may cast the flexible spear; it flew with the proper wobbling movement. The tip struck the kiwi like a stormbird diving into water; it was dead before it could make a sound.
Sah-may-may ran, the sinew nets on oval frames strapped to her feet keeping her above the snow. When she reached the kiwi, she lifted it by a leg and, with a small chip of sharpened stone, she ritually offered its blood to Suffrith, Sharpener of the Senses. Then Sah-may-may cut it open and pulled back her hunting veil to eat the steaming liver, the hunter's due. Oh, so soft and delicious!
It was without warning that blue snakes erupted from the ground to grab the Aka Kota huntress. Sah-may-may gave an enraged scream and beat at them with her free hand, not ready to let go of the precious bird carcass yet.
The icy ground broke open and a slender panther-furre appeared, her white fangs bared as she laughed. Her arms were crossed before her bare bosom. The panther woman wore no clothes or ornaments, yet she appeared not the least bit cold.
Sah-may-may gasped to see this strange being had no fur on her lean body. All Aka Kota are wolves; they know of other kinds of Furre but almost never meet them, so Sah-may-may did not know a feline when she saw one.
Countless pale scars criss-crossed that dark blue skin. Then the wolf furre realized that the things circling her body were some of this monster's many tails. One was around her waist; one was around her shoulders; one bound her ankles tightly together. Sah-may-may fell over with a thump on the blood-spattered snow.
The wolf-furre resumed furiously trying to cut through the tails with her hand-length flint knife. She could not mar the smooth hide. The blue panther-lady hooted and cackled merrily, a toss of her head sending a ripple through her long frosty-blue hair.
Then, in the Aka Kota's own language, the blue-skinned one said, "Stop! Stop! Or I will hurt myself laughing so hard!" Sah-may-may ignored her and kept sawing with the little knife.
So, the tails tightened until Sah-may-may found she could not expand her lungs. In fear and pain, Sah-may-may was finally forced to drop her knife. The world was growing darker when the tails relaxed- but only a small amount. The tails claimed Sah-may-may's possessions as spoils-of-war. The tall she-cat wiped a tear of hilarity from a yellow eye without pupil, and said, "Much better. So. What is your name?"
The tribal wolf-furre remembered her warrior's lineage, and spoke the proper ritual boast, "It is Sah-may-may's knife that will cut your throat." She glared back, not expecting this alien who knew her language to give her own name, as would be proper even between deadly enemies.
To Sah-may-may's surprise, her captor said, "It is Lokira's claws that will make snowshoe strings of your guts." Then the furless demon said sweetly, "...but not today. No, today, I have a different game to play with you. Do you pledge on your honor not to run away? Or must I crush the air out of you and leave your bones for the Raukors to pick?"
The war stories told by the elders spoke of this choice. She could die a warrior, or she could live as a slave. Sah-may-may had always told herself, it would be best to die. To be a slave would be a deep disgrace to the Aka Kota. How could she live with herself if she surrendered? Would it not be better to perish, and for her soul to go on to Suffrith's paradise?
Then Sah-may-may realized that she had never really accepted the old tales as true. She sacrificed blood in the ancient hunting ritual to Suffrith, of course-- everybody did. But, she did not, in her heart, believe.
She looked down. She was still gripping the dead bird by the neck. In her mind, she saw the faces of her hungry kinfolk, for whom this snow-kiwi would mean two more weeks of life. After that, they might still all die of hunger, but until then, every moment was precious. The true surrender was in choosing death; only in life was there any hope.
Sah-may-may decided she desperately wanted to live. She gulped, and forced herself to speak. Her voice was raspy, not at all normal, as she said, "I give my word."
Without another sound, Lokira released the she-wolf. Sah-may-may was aware the snowy ground was sucking precious warmth from her body, so she stood.
The blue panther pointed at the space behind Sah-may-may. When the Aka Kota huntress turned, there, on the ground, was a huge fluffy bird-pelt with a round bare patch at its center. This display of strange magic filled the Aka Kota with deep dread; she did not understand it.
Sah-may-may could see there were dicing bones and the square design for playing N'Jom, a traditional wagering game. Without a word, they each took a seat.
"So. I see you know this game." the she-panther said casually. "I wager four things. Your knife. Your spear-thrower with dart. Your freedom... and a boon that one such as I can grant. You do not know my name but I am Suffrith's sister."
The revered name sent a prickle up Sah-may-may's nape. Suffrith was supposed to be a great power of the universe but Sah-may-may had never heard of Lokira. Before she could stop herself, Sah-may-may demanded, "How do I know this is true?"
"Did I not conjure this great bird skin from nothing?" said Lokira.
Sah-may-may said, without a smile, "That only proves you can perform magic."
The freakish blue panther with the many lashing tails threw her head back to roar with laughter again. "Oh, daughter of the Aka Kota, you are unusually hard to impress! Never mind who I am. It is not important. For the fourth stake, I offer to use my conjuring skills to grant you a wish."
The wolf huntress considered, then nodded. She said, "I wager only three things. My veil of leaves and net. This snow-kiwi. My shirt of woven feathers."
With a nod, Lokira laid possessions in a line across from Sah-may-may's, a small handful of beads standing for Sah-may-may's freedom. They took the bones between their paws and tossed them, counting the circular marks and moving counters on the N'Jom grid.
Along the way there were choices to be made. N'Jom was a game of skill as well as luck. Sah-may-may had never taken any pleasure in gambling games, but she had enjoyed the thinking part of it. She played shrewdly, cautiously.
Sah-may-may's pebble reached the first wide line. Lokira smiled and pushed the stone knife towards Sah-may-may, signifying that it had been won back. They played onwards. Several throws later, Lokira was smiling a little less, and she pushed the spear-thrower back towards Sah-may-may as well.
Seeing that the unkempt huntress was so far ahead, Lokira began to play with more abandon. She moved her pebble along the risky path that promised a high return. She told Sah-may-may, "You have already won twice, so, I know you have used up your luck."
The huntress saw the blue panther was becoming more desperate. She was tempted to try the same strategy herself. She worried that her caution might cost her the game. She resisted, though, and kept to the slow track.
Eventually, it came down to a single throw of the bones for each. Lokira crowed triumphantly, "There!" as she scored enough points to make it difficult for Sah-may-may to win. The wolf felt her heart thudding harder and harder, as if at the back of her throat.
As Sah-may-may cast the bones for the final throw, her paws trembled, for the third stake was her freedom. The bones all showed pairs of dots, and Sah-may-may called out the traditional name for the configuration, "Flock-of-crows!" She was free!
"No!" Lokira exclaimed and she punched the thick feather rug in dismay.
The Aka Kota huntress scooped the beads up and put them into her neck-pouch. "I give you to the count of four-hundred. After that, if I see you, I will kill you!" She trusted in her own skills; she knew that not much could survive her spear-thrower and dart.
The blue-skinned panther's tails twisted and untwisted in agitation. She said, "Wait, let us play one more round." Sah-may-may had already fit the dimpled end of the long spear to the matching peg on the thrower. Lokira said, "All of your things, against my boon!" Then she waved both of her hands, and said, "See."
This time, when Sah-may-may turned, there were eight low tables made of planks, each covered with wooden troughs piled high with food. There were heaps of hot grain mixed with fat and salt, little fried cakes made from sweet crushed acorns, bowls of fruit (fresh despite the season), smoked fish, mounds of spiced and juicy beb-krah meat. Sah-may-may's eyes went wide. With this, her people need not go hungry...
The Aka Kota huntress turned, and walked back to the thick feather-fur. She put her goods down on one side, and picked up the bones.
The blue panther lady picked up a sweet orange root from the banquet, and placed it opposite Sah-may-may's possessions.
They played one more game, rolling and passing the N'Jom bones back and forth between them. Again, Lokira moved her pebble along the chancy path, but Sah-may-may held to her slower way. The bones gave Lokira a poor score. The wolf's pebble moved steadily on the grid towards the winning line. Finally, it was so far ahead that there was no way for Lokira to catch up.
"Impossible!" the blue panther railed, throwing the offending N'Jom bones far into the sky. "To win four times in a row is impossible!"
The Aka Kota huntress shook her head, "no, just rare." She picked up the delicious-smelling roasted root.
With salvaged dignity, Lokira stood herself back up, but all her serpentine tails writhed independently, and one of her white upper fangs was bared. She said, in a grumbling manner, "Name your boon, Serious One. An unconquerable weapon? Beauty such that all malefurres fall down at your feet in wonder?"
The huntress replied, "My people must never want for food ever again." Even if the sorceress could not grant such a thing, she was still honor-bound to fulfill it to the best of her ability, and Sah-may-may did not doubt that she would try.
The blue panther lady made a dismissive gesture towards Sah-may-may, and said easily, "...Done." Once again, she crossed her arms before her chest.
The wolf huntress nodded and triumphantly brought the roasted root to her jaws and bit into it. For some reason, this was the most amazingly delicious thing she had ever tasted. Whatever she was, this panther-witch was a fine cook. As she took a second bite, it seemed to be growing larger and larger. She glanced over at Lokira, who had lost her previous irritation and was now smiling slyly at her.
Sah-may-may felt her clothing swallow her up as the ground dropped away below her. She struggled out of the woven feather shirt, no longer a wolf furre, and, indeed, no longer even a furre.
Her hands had turned to clumsy paws. She was crouching on four limbs instead of two. All the sounds around her were too keen and her ears felt enormous atop her head. Whereas before, the array of food had smelled wonderful, now it was burnt and disgusting, especially the meat. Worst of all, Sah-may-may found it hard to think. Everything was confusing, frightening. She hopped from the heap of clothing, and began to run...
-----
This new form, called Ferian Rabben, was swift. Effortlessly it bounced over the snow with its long hind legs. It was a creature that none of the Aka Kota wolf-people had seen before. It had fur, like a person, yet, like a bird or serpent, it was not intelligent.
Being desperately hungry, they brought it down with a spear. To their delight, it was yummy, and nourishing. Realizing it was a gift from the Mighty Ones such as Lokira, they made a practice of burying the skin and bones with honor.
Strangely, they never saw more than one. One moon after they ate it, another one just like it would always appear. As even small furrelings know, there is no need to understand.
It is just the way of things.
=====================================================================
Rules for N'Jom can be found here: http://www.thegenieslamp.com/furcle/ |
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| NONFICTION: Shoulder Pauldrons |
[Oct. 18th, 2008|01:29 am] |
This is: http://talzhemir1.livejournal.com/71871.html
Well, Scare For A Cure is mere days away, and some of the creatures still need shoulder pauldrons. I started working on that today. For those who are interested, here's a log of the process.
Step 1: Get curved buckets. Draw on pauldrons.
Step 2: Cut buckets. Use "leather scissors" (available at Tandy). ALTERNATELY: Cut up cardboard. Shape using duct tape on the inside.
Step 3: Apply oil clay (Van Aken non-drying modeling clay) to give the edges the right shape.
Step 4: Cover with plastic wrap. It is now a "template".
Step 5: Mix 2 cups Bondo resin with 1 tsp. (3 inches) red Bondo catalyst. Do NOT totally mix before using. Instead, dump onto template when there are still pink and white swirls. Apply very rapidly with a paint/spackle spatula. Let harden.
Step 6: Mix 1 cup Bondo resin with 1/3 tsp (1 inch) red Bondo catalyst. Mix until the swirls are fine. This layer will go on more smoothly but will take longer to cure.
After it sets, the form underneath will pop out with very little effort. You can re-use it as-is but I'm going to add some flaring projections to make it more exotic.
Step 7: Attach a band inside so that the pauldrons do not actually contact the wearer.
[More details to follow as I get there!]
TALZ'S TIPS for using Bondo:
1. Before you use Bondo, first frost a big cake. You'll need those mad spatula skills soon enough. TRUST ME ON THIS ONE.
2. While Bondo is still fresh-mixed it may feel too thick. Use a little sawing motion while you spread to get the particles to behave more like a liquid. (This works for goopy plaster of paris, too.)
3. Apply it to the template while there are still visible catalyst swirls. In other words, stop short of mixing it well. The red part is not hardener, it's catalyst. It doesn't have to be spread uniformly, it just has to be "near" the resin.
4. For slower setting time, use less catalyst. Especially if you're a beginner, mix it to very pale pink.
5. Have disposable blue shop towels, not paper towels, on hand.
6. Wear a long sleeved shirt that you might get thoroughly gunked up. Bondo stings when it gets on your skin.
7. DO wear disposable latex gloves. The stuff's toxic.
8. Work outside AND keep a fan running to push fumes away from you.
9. Use a separate spatula for scooping resin out of the bucket and into the mixing bowl. Do NOT let ANY catalyst get into the resin.
10. Use a fresh disposable bowl each time you mix up a batch. Catalyst that has already set makes Bondo go solid extra-fast. (Conversely, if you want Bondo to set FAST, stir crumbles from the last batch into the next batch).
11. Before you start, cover your work area with big pieces of cardboard box, then cover that with newspaper. To resist wind blowing it around and to keep bondo from sticking, spritz the area to dampness with ordinary water. |
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| NONFICTION: Grandmothers and Grandfathers |
[Sep. 20th, 2008|11:48 am] |
This is: http://talzhemir1.livejournal.com/71623.html
A friend invited me to a meeting to a "Grandmothers" meeting. This is their website.
"The Great Council of the Grandmothers appeared to Sharon McErlane one morning as she walked her dog on the beach..."
http://www.grandmothersspeak.com/
The following is my email response.
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With regret, I have to decline your invitation, although it was granted in a loving and generous spirit, and, I have no doubts, the best of intentions. I'd assumed that when you talked about "Grandmothers", you were just referring to the earthly sort. After reading the web page, it's clear that the writers are making claims that mystical entities are communicating to them.
The messages were pretty, metaphorical, and vague. I think that what most empowers me is accuracy...
Do I eat free-range or caged bird eggs? Do I buy a kid's meal with a plastic toy made in China or do I believe the stories that they are created by near-slave child labor? Do I tell my nieces about condoms and The Pill or is that information more likely to be harmful to them? Do I give that guy at the highway stoplight a dollar or will he just spend it on alcohol or drugs? Should I put my aging cat to sleep?
Paper or plastic? McCain or Obama? Whether the question's big or small, it's impossible to make a moral decision without accurate information.
The website you gave me is preaching that the world is in "a state of helplessness". What empowers me the least are the ideas that we humans are helpless, and that we need vague and metaphorical guidance.
I've seen ugly things in the world, unspeakable things. Yet, to me, the world is not so ugly that I'm frozen up and need a message of prettiness to be brave enough to move forwards.
I'm trying not to sound condescending or patronizing here. Please, forgive me if that's how it comes across; I don't mean it that way. Maybe some folks are in such an oubliette of despair that they need a ray of hope that simple secular companionship and open talk can't provide? Maybe some folks just can't bring themselves to help each other unless they trust that a magnificent and fanciful spirit-being is blessing their endeavours.
Over the past ten years my view of humanity has changed. I saw how people pulled together after 9/11; I've been a part of the mobilization of relief to help the evacuees out of the flooded New Orleans. The will to do good is an awesome thing. It is a river of Red Cross packages flowing to Galveston; it is a mountain of solar cookers materializing in Darfur.
I think these things were done, not because they shared one common spiritual vision or religion, but mostly because they were fairly emotionally healthy human beings, still capable of empathy and compassion and generosity. We're not perfect, but, all in all, humans are a pretty good-hearted lot, and I have the proof.
Two hundred years ago, we threw off the shackles of the kings.
A hundred and forty years ago, this country chose to reject slavery.
It was only eighty years ago that women achieved the right to vote.
A mere fifty years ago, we made some of the greatest stands against racism yet.
Prior to modern times, monarchy, slavery, sexism, and racism were the norm. They formed a status quo that persisted for at least twenty thousand years. These four developments have largely brought peace, longevity, prosperity, education, and cooperation.
They're the direct result of accurate information. Women now attend school because we know for sure they are not less intelligent than men. We're assuredly one species, and to enslave a person of another color is to abuse a brother or sister.
I think our modern society deserves more credit: We've done in two hundred years what could not be done for twenty millenia. Global warming isn't a punishment for change, it's just a bad byproduct of our successes. Whether or not we choose to stop it relies on one thing, and one thing alone: whether or not we decide the information that it's a threat is accurate.
I'm disinclined to trust the judgment of 'spirits' because, if they exist, they've presumably been around for that 20,000 years. As far as I can tell, they didn't offer sensible moral instruction to their mortal charges, for instance, "Release your slaves--that's wrong." Instead, they gave explicit verbal instruction on how slavery should be properly performed. If I ever meet up with a spirit that's been around a long time, I've got a lot of pointed questions for it.
There are many rituals whose demise I don't mourn. I'm happy to never attend a 'coronation'. I'll never weep that we don't have 'Devadasi', slaves for constant non-consentual sex who belong to a temple. I won't complain that there is no menstrual hut, a custom actually intended to prevent women from having sex out of wedlock because it locks them up at the time they are not capable of conception.
If 'Absolute Truth' is only to be found beyond a Veil at the edge of human existence, then 'accuracy' is the rightful name to apply to the moonwashed pathway to its threshhold. Discussion and meditation without the tools of reasoning don't have a very good track record at discerning what is accurate.
Somehow, many tools in the quest for accuracy have been lost to the general public. Once upon a time, recognizing "fallacies" was routinely taught in schools. Somehow it's fallen out of the educational system. It's ancient stuff. Many 'fallacies' still bear the names that Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle ("grandfathers", if you will) gave them.
One common fallacy is to mistake a correlation for a causal relationship. To unravel whether smoking cigarettes leads to cancer or thimerosol vaccines cause autism, you need this "causal versus correlation" concept.
You can meditate for hours on a question but, without the tools of reasoning, you're unlikely to be able to tell a valuable conclusion apart from a self-gratifying fantasy.
Mistaking circumstantial evidence for actual is another common "fallacy". There is lots of evidence for Bigfoot. If you walk in and you find your lunch is missing, that's technically evidence that a sandwich-loving Sasquatch came by. It's also evidence that your friend took it, or maybe that a crow flew in through a window and stole it. Yes, it's evidence-- but only the "circumstantial" kind.
Circumstantial evidence is just a bit of information for which there is more than one possible explanation. It would be better to just call it "a circumstance". Circumstantial evidence is usually crappy evidence and normally, a whole bunch of circumstantial evidence doesn't add up to a lick of proof.
However, there is one situation in which a whole bunch of circumstantial evidence can add up to "real" evidence. Sometimes pieces of circumstantial evidence "dovetail" in such a way that all the alternatives are eliminated.
The puzzle game Sudoku is a great example of how that can happen. A "starter" number is circumstantial evidence that several different squares might contain a '3'. Taken all together, the "starter" number information combines to produce exactly one correct puzzle solution.
One more fallacy is "the misplaced burden of proof". The person positing that some thing or relationship exists should be the one to hold responsible for offering proof. The invasion of Iraq was based on a claim that there were "weapons of mass destruction". Yet no real evidence was offered, and instead, the public was handed a challenge that was, essentially, "Prove me wrong. You can't, therefore I'm right."
If only more people had known this concept. If the current U.S. administration had been held responsible, by the public, for giving evidence when they made such a big claim, we would not be in the war that we are in.
Socrates, who taught these things to the youths of Athens, believed that they should be kept esoteric. He thought they should be hidden away, and reserved only for rich people, and only the males, at that. He didn't get his way. After the Enlightenment, millions learned of the fallacies, along with literacy. It was generally taught alongside Latin; it formed a part of the "Classical" education.
Somehow, though, the knowledge was lost to the general public in the United States (but not in Britain). I suspect it happened during the 1970's, as school funding was cut. Various foreign languages were cut; debate ceased to be part of normal school and became something in which only the "high achiever" students participated.
These are the tidbits of ancient wisdom that I think we need most, today. If there are totems, guardian angels, or other entities responsible for assisting us, I think they've fallen down on the job and they're not bringing people this stuff that I know is valuable, not merely for debate or technology, but also for proper ethical and moral guidance.
Alright, I've gone on long enough, here. I wanted to let you know, my decision was based on some pretty deep stuff. I'm not hostile, and I'm not hostile to exotic ideas, but ideas are hostile to each other, and to hold weight with me, an idea has to hold its own against all comers.
I hope we can stay friends in spite of philosophical differences. I think we still have things in common, and I like your company!
Peace, Love, and Pies,
Manda |
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| NONFICTION: Read-A-Book Stew |
[Sep. 5th, 2008|05:04 am] |
Dear Friends,
September already?? The zucchini are arriving in relentless fashion, challenging me to make something of them all...
One of my friends who's a student told me she's got so much to read that it's hard to find time to cook dinner. Maybe my Read-A-Book Stew could work for her?
The trick is to have a good kitchen timer on hand. You can even get the ingredients from the store pre-cut.
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http://mojobaby.com/posts/12305
Read-A-Book Stew
by Talzhemir
This recipe takes an hour and 15 minutes to accomplish but much of that is spent laying back on some pillows with a novel or a couple of comic books. In the meantime, that amazingly delicious smell will make everybody crave what you're cooking. Serves 7 generously.
2 pounds of meat for stew (Pre-cut lean lean Longhorn from Rasco Farms)
1 pound of ground meat (ground lamb from Premium Lamb)
1 small onion, sliced up very thin
1 clove garlic, minced
2 stalks of celery, sliced up very thin
2 Roma tomatoes, chopped into small pieces
(or 1 pack grape tomatoes from Blackland Prairie Farm)
4 cups water
1 TBSP dried parsley
1 teaspoon sea salt
3 10" zucchinis, (or three Patty Pan squashes, peeled and cut into eighths) (or 2 large potatoes, sliced)
Other Seasonings: Whatever you happen to love: pepper? basil? oregano? hot pepper slices? little red bell pepper cubes? lemon thyme? mint leaves? tiny bit of rosemary? strips of lemon peel? half a cup of red wine? two teaspoons of vinegar?
1. In a 3 quart saucepan with a lid, brown the stew meat (chunks) and the ground meat with heat on 'high'. Nudge the bits about after several minutes to get it browned on all sides. This takes about 10 minutes.
2. Without moving the meat, add in the onions, garlic, celery, and tomatoes. Cover and simmer on 'medium' heat for 40 minutes. Set an egg-timer and read a nice book!
3. Add in 4 cups water, 1 TBSP dried parsley, 1 teaspoon sea salt, 3 Patty Pan Squashes. Set the heat to 'low'. Again, no stirring, please. Cover again, cook for 20 minutes more. Set the timer again and read a bit more.
4. Turn off the heat. Use the side of a big spoon to gently chop the squash into smaller chunks. Still no stirring.
5. Add in the other spices, especially the ones with more delicate flavors that heat might ruin. Raid that spice rack! Add water if you think the stew needs it. Stir ingredients gently. Let sit for about 5 minutes.
Serve with fresh bread (Eden Bakery), bread 'n' butter pickles (Aunt Nita's), and veggie chips (H.E.B.). Dr. Cracker's pumpkin seed crackers go good too. If you're partial to noodles, you can serve it with big yellow egg noodles.
Store the leftovers in little microwaveable containers. This dish doesn't freeze well but you can refrigerate, and reheat as needed.
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"Mother? Father? I've decided I want to live... Locally." |
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| NONFICTION: Quick Szechuan Greenbeans |
[Jul. 31st, 2008|07:19 pm] |
Dear friends,
Tecolote Farm was back at the Farmer's Market again this week. Micki, the market director, was personally demo-ing how to cook the Okra and Chinese Greenbeans! That got me inspired to make some at home.
Now, I'm a picky eater. Veggies are probably the only thing I'm scared of in the world. So, if *I* like Chinese greenbeans, and if you're a picky eater, you might like it too... :)
(Tecolote treats: http://mojobaby.com/storage/assets/50/0001/2457/photo-71622.jpg See the Chinese Greenbeans at the left?)
This is Szechuan-style greenbeans. The hot pepper, crushed coriander seeds, and garlic are the Szechuan part. Stir-fried greenbeans are a popular Chinese food. They're very high in fiber, and, combined with the 'good' cholesterol of olive oil, make a very healthy dish. Eaten with rice, they're a nice vegetarian lunch entree. They also go good with pan-seared lamb chops or broiled tilapia.
If you leave out the hot pepper, it's a low-bitterness food that kids might like.
So, here it is:
Szechuan Green Beans -- A Quick Version! (10 minutes or less; serves 2)
1. Start with 1 big handful (about 1/3 pound to 1/2 pound) of Chinese Greenbeans. Fresh stringbeans will work, too. Chop them diagonally into inch-long pieces.
2. Cut 1 small Roma tomato (a little wrinkly and on the dry side is *good*) into little bits or thin slices. The Roma tomato is optional-- it's mostly for looks-- but feel free to use more if you love fried tomatoes!
3. (Optional) Peel a garlic clove, and chop up 1/3 of it into tiny slices or bits. Put the remainder in a plastic ziploc and put it in the fridge for future use.
4. Put a frying pan on the stove. Set the fire to medium. Drop the cut beans into the pan *dry*. Yes, dry! Gently stir them about for 4-5 minutes, keep them moving.
5. Now put the lightly toasted green beans back on the cuttingboard/plate for a little while...
6. Turn the fire down to small (a traditional Chinese cook might move the big iron wok off the flames or hold a deep pan higher).
7. Put 1 tsp. olive oil in the pan.
8. Add the garlic to the oil. (Instead of fresh garlic, you can use 1/4 tsp garlic powder instead!)
9. Toss in 1 slice jalapeno pepper (Use more if you like spicy! The little red firecracker pepper is more traditional but here in Texas we've got jalapenos. --Mine came free with a pizza. If you don't like it so hot, you can substitute in 1 sprinkle of ground pepper.)
10. Crush about 7 coriander seeds between two spoons. Add to the oil.
11. Add the Roma tomato bits. SIZZLE!!!
12. Stir in 1 teaspoon tomato ketchup. (One packet. Got any sitting around?)
13. Put the greenbeans back into the frying pan. Mix it up with the tomato bits and flavored oil. Cook for about 3 minutes more.
I hope you enjoy it!
--With Love,
Manda
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| NONFICTION: Canis rufus, the Twilight Wolves |
[Apr. 15th, 2008|04:32 pm] |
Wolves of the Twilight
The rarest and most endangered of the canids is the Red Wolf. Classified as "Critically Endangered", it's smaller than a Gray Wolf but bigger than a Coyote. They may represent the last remnant of the mother population that gave rise to both Gray Wolves and Coyotes, dating back to the dawn of wolf-kind. They may be a species that arose through interbreeding of those two lineages, very early on. In either case, they are a distinct species of their own now, and, as their numbers decline, they may be in their last days.
http://www.thewebsiteofeverything.com/animals/mammals/Carnivora/Canidae/Canis/Canis-rufus.html
The Red Wolf has many wolf traits (such as pack-hunting instincts) but other traits (such as being diurnal) from its coyote heritage. Their bone structure shows a mix of Grey Wolf and Coyote traits. They inter-breed with Gray Wolves and Coyotes, producing fertile offspring with both.
For a long time, anti-evolutionists lobbied that there was, therefore, no "Red Wolf" species- that it was just an unusually large number of crossbreeds. They believe that the Gray Wolf and the Coyote were independently created by a supernatural force. The idea that the coyote and wolf populations had a common ancestor that evolved into two new species, or that two interfertile child populations could give rise to a third distinct group that was also a species, does not fit with their world-view. So, they attempted (and still attempt) to discredit conservationists as alarmists. The controversy delayed protection by decades.
Referring to the Red Wolf as a "hybrid" is still politically unpopular amongst some conservationists, who would rather it was not viewed as "merely a cross between two species with fairly healthy populations". There should be no danger of this now. DNA testing clearly confirms them as a longstanding independent species.
Canis rufus, the Red Wolf, is thought to be currently endangered because the drop in Red Wolf numbers is leading to more interbreeding with coyotes. Woof.
http://www.canids.org/PUBLICAT/CNDNEWS3/2conserv.htm
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| NONFICTION: Ferret Diet & "Obligate Carnivore" |
[Mar. 17th, 2008|07:00 am] |
I was reading on a pet forum about feeding ferrets. There's a big fad to attempt to feed ferrets only pellet food, on the grounds that they are "obligate carnivores"... yet these commercial feeds are generally only about 1/5 meat themselves!
Oh good gravy. For the millionth time: 'obligate carnivore'= does NOT mean "feed only meat".
It means, "must HAVE meat". Look it up in Encyclopedia Britannica if you must; it means "cannot obtain all their nutrition from plant sources".
Ferrets are obligate carnivores but they are ALSO omnivores, just like you and me.
YES, it's true ferrets don't possess a cecum. So what? You really haven't got much of a functional cecum either.
No matter how many actual veterinarians parrot this "doesn't have a cecum" mantra, the lack of a cecum doesn't mean they must NEVER have vegetable foods.
It mostly means they can't get much nutrition out of grass because they don't possess the fermentation enzymes like ruminants such as cattle and deer (plus, the Hoatzin bird, oddly enough). Humans came from the Chimp lineage and we don't ferment greens. Gorillas and pandas do. So please don't try to make your ferret live on rabbit pellets. ;)
Granted, high sugar in the diet will shorten the ferret lifespan.
Still...
Wild weasels eat dried fruit and they don't die.
Wild weasels eat grains and they don't die.
Wild weasels eat vegetables and they don't die.
While a high calorie diet does reduce a ferret's lifespan, you will get the same problem from overfeeding *processed* protein. Processed, yes, i.e. *cooked* meat. Want a healthy ferret? Then stop fully cooking meat before you give it to your ferret. Blanch chicken breast with a pot of hot water poured over it in the sink, to kill germs, but don't cook it through and through.
Better yet, DON'T cook it at all, FREEZE it and thaw it out. A teaspoonful is more than enough. A small amount, like a level teaspoon, of chicken liver and kidney is good; they'll benefit from the copper and Vitamin A.
Ferrets crap their food out after only four hours because humans severely overprocess it before we give it to them. Wild animals that size couldn't survive if they had to eat as voraciously as the domestic ferret *and* got rid of the contents of their intestines THAT rapidly. We've turned ferrets into living poo cannons.
A more natural diet is bugs... Let 'em have meat in small quantities to simulate that, then let them sleep like Serengeti lions for a while. They CAN have a small amount of starchy, sweet, and, best of all, a wee bit of greasy stuff. Yes, grease.
Wild weasels eat BUGS. Bugs eat greens, grains, other bugs, which store their calories as fat Ferrets shouldn't eat carrots, but eating a bug that's been burrowing through a carrot is just fine. Ferrets shouldn't eat apple, but eating a bug that's stuffed itself with apple is just fine. Small amounts of mashed raw fruit and mashed raw carrot simulate this fine.
And, as for the "Ferrets don't need treats, humans just want to give it to them" line, that's big stinky crapola too. Ferrets DO need treats.
The important part is, they have much more keen senses than we do, and should have treats that humans consider very bland.
Ferrets are highly intelligent and benefit from variety in their diet. They like looking for it, instead of just having it presented to them in a bowl. The "Ferrets don't need treats" line comes mainly from lazy pet owners who want to just buy Easily Digested Generic Ferret Food Nodules (TM).
It's the same nonsense that parrot owners were fed, until somebody noticed parrots can count, distinguish colors and materials, and write sonnets. Ferrets and parrots are creatures that would, in the wild, FIND THEIR OWN FOOD.
Want to make your ferret's life better? Take THREE cheerios and actually hide them. Take ONE raisin, stick it to a wall somewhere. Turn ferret loose on room.
DO feed a very amount of RAW meat to simulate beetles, moths, grubs and worms. Go ahead, let it have a bit of grain-based and fruit-based product. And for pete's sake, DON'T try to make it vegan. |
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| NONFICTION: Talzy's Fridgie Pickles |
[Feb. 19th, 2008|01:17 am] |
This is: http://talzhemir1.livejournal.com/70263.html
Traditional "pickles" are loaded with so much salt no self-respecting bacterium would touch it. That kept vegetables edible into the winter months but it also made them high in sodium.
This modern recipe is for a slightly sweet and salty pickle that stays crunchy. It relies on refrigeration to stay fresh.
1 fresh cucumber
1 tsp Himalayan rock salt
1/2 tsp Xylitol
1/8 cup pickling-strength vinegar
1/2 tsp fresh onion
1/4 tsp pickling spices
Pick a nice cuke at the grocery store. Wash your hands and wash the cuke. Peel it if you like, or use some kind of scrubber to remove the carnauba wax that keeps it fresh.
Cut the cucumber into 1/4 slices or thinner if you like. Pack them into a jar.
Add all the other ingredients. The Himalayan rock salt adds a pleasant tang that's hard to describe. The Xylitol is low-calorie.
Put a double-layer of cling wrap over the top of the jar. Twist a jar ring on to hold it closed.
Shake it up, then stick it in the fridge. It will be ready to eat in 24 hours.
Eat by itself or on a sandwich. They're also delicious when served on a triscuit with a wee cube of cheese or a dab of cream cheese. |
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| NONFICTION: Turkeymato Soup & Homesmoked Tomatoes |
[Dec. 15th, 2007|04:53 am] |
This is: http://talzhemir1.livejournal.com/70010.html
I live in Pflugerville, and I'm in favor of frugal living, hence the title, Pfrugal Cuisine (TM). This recipe is very easy to make.
Pfrugal Cuisine #1: TALZY'S TURKEYMATO SOUP
After a holiday meal with a roast turkey, put all the drippings (baked juices) into a large cooking pot. Break the carcass into manageable pieces. Cover with water. Cook until the bones fall apart, adding water as needed.
ADD:
12 Home-smoked Tomatoes (see below!)
2 sticks celery, chopped very fine (chop and freeze the rest for future use)
3 tsp. Ghirardelli unsweetened premium cocoa
1/2 tsp. whole cumin. Grind up in a mortar.
1 tsp. chili powder
1 tsp. garlic powder
1/4 cup onion powder
1/4 tsp. cinnamon
2 TBSP honey
1 tsp salt
Cook for at least 2 hours. 3 is ideal. Store unused portion in the refrigerator or freeze in sturdy ziplock bags. Serve with steamed Texmati rice.
Optional: Garnish with fresh basil. Avoid cooking the basil; heat destroys much of its flavor. If you bought more than you can use, put it in a bag and freeze it.
Tex-Mex variant, ADD:
fresh cilantro, to taste
hot chili pepper, to taste
--Serve with tortillas
* If you weren't lucky enough to store away your own smoked tomatoes, substitute the following:
2 cups drained oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes
1 tsp. lemon juice
1/2 tsp. smoke flavoring or 4 slices of bacon, chopped fine
I strongly recommend not using bulk dried tomatoes if they were preserved with sulfur dioxide.
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* SMOKED TOMATOES
There is, in Tex-Mex sauces, an amazing flavor that I love-- the savor of smoked chilis. They're called "Chipotle peppers". Chipotle is a region in Mexico and it's not a breed of chili, it's the way they're prepared. They sell them in the grocery store in bulk, in big bins and I like to lean over and sniff. When it comes to spicy foods, though, I'm a wimp...
This summer, there was a sale on Roma tomatoes. I bought ten pounds of them. Romas are oval and too small to put on sandwiches. Their flavor is sweet-- they taste like tomato ketchup because, well, ketchup is made from Roma tomatoes. They make delicious tomato soup, spaghetti sauce, that kind of thing.
So... I had ten pounds of plump deep red-orange oblongs-- very beautiful. But, what to do next?
I thought about drying them. Sun-dried Roma tomatoes are a treat in soups and sauces. Then again, unless you have the right equipment, drying tomatoes this way exposes them to all sorts of tomato-loving pests. There's also a chance they get moldy. So sun-drying wasn't an option for me.
Well, what about canning? In general, I don't do 'canning' anymore... Canning is something of a World War II technology, a holdover from the time before we had refrigeration. Canning supplies like glass jars, seals, and rings, aren't cheap.
Remembering my aversion to large amounts of hot pepper in my food, I decided to dry and smoke the Romas. Smoking is a far more primitive method of preserving food. The coating of smoke itself has antibacterial properties.
Usually, when I cook a meal on the grill, the coals last for some hours after that. (When the fire is fresh, it's too hot to smoke the tomatoes.) Here's the process I devised:
1. The night before, in a mug, soak 1 cup mesquite chips in 1 cup water. The next day, turn the cup over and let the water drain out.
2. The next day, use an ordinary covered barbecue grill or smoker. Start your fire. 8 charcoal briquets is plenty.
3. Do your regular cooking. Throw the fat you would throw away anyways, into the fire for more fuel.
4. Mix up a smoking sauce. In a broad bowl, mix 2 tsp salt, 2 tsp Fruit Fresh and 1/2 cup olive oil.
5. Drop the mesquite bits here and there on the hot coals so they'll start making smoke.
6. wash the tomatoes gently. Set them on a towel. Then, transfer them to a clean bowl or box or basket. Haul them outside. (Optional: stick the tomatoes on bamboo skewers.)
7. Using your hands, quickly get the smoking sauce mixture sparingly all over each tomato as it's placed on grill. Pierce each one to the center with a skewer.
8. Close the grill cover. Let them smoke.
9. In the morning, collect the tomatoes up. They should be dry and rather hard. If they aren't, bring them inside in a cake pan. Turn the oven on to its lowest setting. Bake them until all they are very tough.
10. Store them, skewers and all, in 1 gallon bags. Place 1 tsp of Fruit Fresh in the bottom of the bag to prevent spoilage. They'll keep until February the next year.
You can eat smoked tomatoes plain, for a sweet and tangy treat. |
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| FICTION: Perrozi Seadog, Chapter 13 |
[Nov. 5th, 2007|05:56 pm] |
This is: http://talzhemir1.livejournal.com/69878.html
(For those of you who have not followed this tale from the start, I invite you to begin here: http://talzhemir1.livejournal.com/36995.html This manuscript was begun for NaNoWriMo in November, 2005, with chapters posted as a serial. It's set in "the Dragonlands", Furcadia's default official Source Material.)
Continued from: http://talzhemir1.livejournal.com/41020.html
Chapter 13: The Wild Mage
As the scruffy canine lad cried out in pain, fire bloomed from his abdomen making a brilliant glow under the water. It felt like something was very slowly eating into him with thousands of tiny teeth. The glob of Fyre that the dying nagafurre had belched onto him was sticky, and it looked like burning pitch. It roiled and bubbled.
When Perrozi convulsed; his head went under the surface of the water. He choked and involuntarily inhaled liquid. Agony and raw terror overtook him as he was both on fire and drowning at once. Paralysis was spreading to his arms and legs.
In the water with him, the black deer captain, Loquacious Jake, was still in command of his wits. Jake bellowed, "Get him onto the raft!" He dove under the surface. "But don't let the Fyre touch it!"
The tabby lass in her teens came closer using her pole. She tried to use it to lift Perrozi out of the water. She managed to push him upwards but then he slipped off the pole.
Jake was a strong swimmer. Using the top of his head, he pushed Perrozi so that Zelliandra could seize his arm and haul him aboard. The ends of his legs dangled in the water and fire blazed up from near the center of his torso.
Perrozi coughed a bit of water, and immediately began howling in pain, over and over again. Tears ran down his face and his body heaved as he breathed hard.
The four-log raft pitched alarmingly and Zelliandra grabbed for nearby ropes with one hand. Jake had heaved himself aboard without overturning it. The water sloshed onto the raft and flowed off. The stuff burning on him had a unique foul smell like nothing she had experienced before, mixed with the scent of burning hair and meat. A trail of smoke rose into the air.
Thinking quickly, Zelliandra grabbed the floating circular leaves of nearby swamp-plants. They were wider than a broad-brimmed hat and fleshy, with ridges like a spiderweb on its underside. They were still attached by thick stems as she stacked and pressed them to Perrozi's body, thinking to smother the dreaded Fyre.
Instead, the blaze ate palm-sized holes through them, setting the leaves afire. Hastily, the golden-orange cat lass threw them back into the swamp. She screamed, "It will not go out!"
Zelliandra sobbed but wouldn't give up. Through tears, she kept bringing leaves over, trying to smother the fire on Perrozi's body, then throwing them back overboard. The little pockets of air in the leaves were making popping sounds as they burned. The flames, now mundane fire, spread to other plants and a furre-sized blaze leapt up upon the dark surface of the swamp.
The tall dark deer swallowed hard, looking past Zeliandra's shoulder at the dying Perrozi. He hated to lose another sailing companion. He fought off sorrow with rage, and drily muttered, "damn..." Then he took up Zelliandra's pole, intending to continue their journey.
Perrozi's repeated screams, one with each breath, rapidly grew weaker until he passed out. He was still breathing, though. Around his neck, the dagger upside-down. Zelliandra drew it, leaving the sheath, and, with despair, she cried, "I will cut it out!"
"No!" Jake bellowed, and he seized her wrist before she could go through with such a desperate plan. "The fyre might go out, but cuttin' around his heart an' lights will kill him for sure."
Now another disturbance was approaching in the water. Jake's head whipped around as he caught it out of the corner of his eye. He released Zelliandra's wrist and pointed. "Sweet Primes," Zelliandra murmured. She held the dagger in both hands.
In the water, something was rushing towards them with a sinuous motion.
"Another one! I'll take this flame-drooling devil down with me, as sure as me name is Loquacious Jake!" Jake swore as he drew his cutlass.
With a spray and splashing, a large grimacing silver face with eyes like two huge spheres, broke the water some six meters away. Zelliandra realized it was a mask strapped to the head of some kind of enormous animal, its scaly skin dark blue.
Behind it a slim blue furre was clinging to its back and dripping water, his long black hair plastered to his body in weedy stripes. This rider was wearing a smaller mask to match his mount, but two long slim horns projected on either side, and they were swept back. A necklace of huge white teeth adorned his neck. He was bare except for this and a loincloth made of knotted dark brown reeds. His pelt and skin were somehow dyed dark blue, and when Zelliandra saw his scaly tail, she at last identified him as a rat furre.
Perrozi still lay draped across the log raft, the fyre eating at his chest. Now its center was a pinkish glow almost too bright to look at.
When the creature and its passenger drew close enough, Zelliandra saw, to her surprise, that the mount was a watchwyrm- a rare quadruped creature of the sort kept chained up as a guard creature. She knew their tails had fins, but she had never seen one swimming. Now it was obvious the creature's body, so ungainly on land, was graceful and perfectly suited for the water. They normally hid during the day, their huge opal eyes too sensitive for the light. It floated in the water peacefully enough.
The black deer Jake exclaimed, "Roshan, you sly vinegaroon!"
The watchwyrm swam alongside the boat, and, without a word, the rider extended his paws towards Perrozi's body. His claws scratched the air in very precise and intricate motions, and a gray stone bowl appeared in his hand. Roshan used it to scoop the fyre out of Perrozi's body, and he whispered things under his breath. Zelliandra recognized it as Taigorian, an ancient language, and she could not understand it.
The rat mage set the crucible on the raft. When the blaze went out, it left a tiny blackened creature with a head and two forearms and a tail but no legs. Thousands of black teeth lined its jaws. Then Roshan moved his paws above Jake's body as if he were weaving several dozen invisible strings together. The charred wound into which a fist could almost have fit grew smaller and smaller. When he finished, the only sign that anything was different was the fur at that spot was now a blue patch.
The rider lifted his mask. He was beyond striking; he had the kind of looks that would turn heads when he entered a room. His muzzle was streamlined, with jaws that spoke of crushing strength when not formed into the warm smile they now held. His eyes were dark red shot through with metallic gold around pupils like four-pointed stars or crosses. The colors were lovely but the alienness of them made Zelliandra shudder.
Loquacious Jake reached out and shook Roshan's hand, saying, "Where'd you get this strange water-beast?"
The handsome blue-furred rat lowered his chin, and replied, in a whispery voice, "Mycroft. I've had him a long time. You just never met him, Jake. And who are your friends?" He looked up at Zelliandra. "Normally, he just brings me books."
The orange-striped Zelliandra sat straight and held Perrozi's hand for comfort. She said, "My name is Zelliandra mai'Lorinda. This is Perrozi. Thank you for saving him. How did you find us?" He had such disturbing eyes; she looked away in spite of herself.
Roshan Dragoneyes noticed her reaction-- he had seen it plenty of times before. He closed his eyes to spare her his crimson and gold glare, and murmured, "I generally notice when someone starts setting my marsh on fire. Come, let us retire to my humble dwelling." |
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| NONFICTION: Introducing Phoenix Speak |
[Nov. 1st, 2007|04:39 pm] |
This is: http://talzhemir1.livejournal.com/69496.html
I work on a game called Furcadia, downloadable free at furcadia.com, and we recently added in a new thing called "Phoenixspeak". Along with "Dragonspeak", these are "natural language" scripting for player-created maps called "Dreams". Our game is 100% user-supported; it is free for everybody and you can opt-in to purchasing a "premium" such as wings for your little character. Early access to new features is a perk of being a Sponsor.
In my opinion, Phoenixspeak is the most exciting thing to happen to us in the 10 years we've been running continuously. It promotes the idea "databases are FUN!" and changes the nature of our player-created-content from "temporary" to "permanent".
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With the "Lions/Tigers/Bears/OMG!" update, each Silver Sponsor account has been granted a database. You don't have to do anything special at the start. The Phoenixspeak databases are set up and ready to go and waiting. (In future, all furres will have access to them, but for now, it's reserved for Sponsors.)
Phoenixspeak databases go by name of the uploader. That's something you should know.
Dreams go away after a while, but a Phoenix database doesn't. It's stored on the Furcadia main computers. You can change the name of the Dream to anything you want, and it will not affect the database.
If you log off, and you put your Dream up again later, all the information that was generated will still be there, just as it was before. Phoenixspeak information is "persistent", not "temporary". (Of course, your Dream's presence is still needed for anybody to DO anything with that database.)
If your Dream is still running and you upload a new copy or a modified version, you'll see a message saying the others are disabled, and it's now associated with the latest Dream.
"Using" your database is done through the same ol' Dragonspeak editor that you used before. There are new Dragonspeak Lines and you can see them (but, they currently only work for Sponsors).
CODE
[i]//* Sometimes the Info you want to store is like a "yes/no". Here, I'm setting up Info that means a furre has started going through character generation: *//[/i]
(0:31) When a furre says {.register},
(1:600) and the PhoenixSpeak info {registered} about the triggering
furre is equal to 0,
(5:600) memorize that the PhoenixSpeak info {registered} about the
triggering furre will now be 1.
[i]//* Coders call this a "bit". If the number stored is a zero, we say it's "off" and if the info is a one, we say it's "on".*//[/i]
Phoenixspeak can be used to track stats for roleplaying characters, the ranks and merits/demerits of your in-staff (in-dream staff), and many many more things. Data gets "into" your Phoenixspeak database via Dragonspeak Effects that say "Memorize that...". Data gets "pulled back out" via Dragonspeak that says "Remember that..."
Everything the Phoenixspeak database holds is called pieces of "Info". Their names are all lower-case (creatures who type with their beaks have no time for a shift key). Names of Phoenix Info can't have spaces. Names of Phoenixspeak Info look like this: {eggslaid}
Dragonspeak "Variables" begin with % and can be upper- or lower-case. Dragonspeak Variable looks like this: %Apples_Eaten
CODE
[i]//* Here's a piece of my character generation script. It's part of the .register command. The furre gets an 'intellect' score of 8 to start *//[/i]
(5:600) memorize that the PhoenixSpeak info {intl}
about the triggering furre will now be 8.
All Phoenixspeak data, at this point, is purely numbers. If you want to modify the numbers, for example, by adding a number to it, you first have to "convert" a piece of Phoenixspeak Info "into" a Variable using Dragonspeak. Then you use Dragonspeak to store it in the Phoenixspeak database again.
CODE
[i]//* Here I'm adding one to the 'intellect' stat.*//[/i]
RAISE INTELLECT BY ONE
(5:610) remember the PhoenixSpeak info {intl} about
the triggering furre, and put it in variable %intl
(5:302) take variable %intl and add 1 to it.
(5:600) memorize that the PhoenixSpeak info {intl}
about the triggering furre will now be %intl.
Because Dragonspeak Emits will likely be showing up amongst other things on a furre's screen, you might want to start any messages relating to the Phoenixspeak database with a word in square brackets.
CODE
GIVE APPROPRIATE USER FEEDBACK
(5:200) emit message {[FURRE!:] You have raised
INTL to %intl and have %startingpoints Starting
Points left.} to the triggering furre.
For me, the easiest way to write Dragonspeak/Phoenixspeak is to write out, in English, what the code is going to do. Then I go back in, and my "outline" turns into "comments". I prefer interfaces that give detailed feedback for all errors. I try to give feedback if somebody isn't eligible to use that command, telling them exactly why. That makes the script much longer but it also pays off by feeling more comfortable to the user.
Here's an example from my Dream, as it looked in the Dragonspeak Editor at the start:
CODE
RESET YOUR CHARACTER
ERROR DETECT IF THE FURRE IS NOT REGISTERED
GIVE APPROPRIATE USER FEEDBACK
PERFORM ACTUAL RESET
HIDE BUTTONS FOR BUYING STATS
GIVE APPROPRIATE USER FEEDBACK
And here it is with the code added in:
CODE
RESET YOUR CHARACTER
ERROR DETECT IF THE FURRE IS NOT REGISTERED
(0:31) When a furre says {.reset},
(1:600) and the PhoenixSpeak info {registered}
about the triggering furre is equal to 0,
GIVE APPROPRIATE USER FEEDBACK
(5:200) emit message {No need; you aren't .Registered.}
to the triggering furre.
PERFORM ACTUAL RESET
(0:31) When a furre says {.reset},
(1:600) and the PhoenixSpeak info {registered}
about the triggering furre is equal to 1,
(5:630) forget all PhoenixSpeak info about
the triggering furre.
HIDE BUTTONS FOR BUYING STATS
(5:181) hide the triggering furre's DragonSpeak
Button 16. DECREASE PHYS
(5:181) hide the triggering furre's DragonSpeak
Button 17. INCREASE PHYS
(5:181) hide the triggering furre's
DragonSpeak Button 26. Stats
(5:181) hide the triggering furre's
DragonSpeak Button 28. DONE
GIVE APPROPRIATE USER FEEDBACK
(5:200) emit message {[FURRE!:] .RESET accomplished.
All info about you in this Dream has been wiped.
To start you stats over just type .register}
to the triggering furre.
Rather than leave the user "hanging", I try to suggest what their next course of action might be in the user feedback message. In this case, after somebody does a reset, I suggest that they register, which re-starts the character generation process.
My actual script hides a dozen buttons, not just four, but here I was still just testing one stat. Here's advice Felorin gave me years ago: If you know you're going to re-use code, test that code extra-thoroughly. If you cut, modify in another text window, and paste it back in, and the "original" is flawed, it will "propagate errors".
And then, instead of just fixing one, you're fixing several simultaneously, which is not just a waste of time-- it introduces new places for errors to occur, of the kind that are harder to catch.
So, that's what this new Phoenixspeak thing is about. I'm not a professional coder, I leave that to Sanctimonious, Felorin, Farrier, and others. If *I* can do this, so can you. Start with writing out in English what you want it to do, and I think you'll find it's pretty easy.
(And for all you non-Silver-Sponsors out there, don't worry, we'll let you in on the fun soon!) |
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| NON-FICTION: Dexter and the Code of Harry |
[Oct. 22nd, 2007|04:22 pm] |
This is: http://talzhemir1.livejournal.com/69303.html
I've been watching Dexter (first season, on DVD) and enjoying it alot. It's about a serial killer who's also a forensics expert on blood. What keeps Dexter from appearing inhuman is that he follows the Code of Harry, which drives him to destroy other serial killers.
So far, what we've seen of the code seems to be something like this:
1. Actions have consequences. Perhaps there is no justice except what we, as humans, impose upon the world, but humans are definitely real, and they generally act according to the principle of justice. Parents are real, cops are real-- and forensics departments and prisons and electric chairs are real.
2. Innocents are not to be harmed or alarmed. Dexter takes great pains to appear normal by feigning emotions and participating in what otherwise looks and feels meaningless to him, personally.
3. Control yourself. Dexter has learned to be very self-aware, so he can recognize, suppress, or channel his impulses and urges.
4. Before you act, BE SURE. I find this the most interesting one of all. Dexter acts according to principles of reasoning. He sticks to them with a rigor bordering on emotional commitment.
Unfortunately, while the show does reveal how Dexter was trained physically, such as how to sneak and how to use a gun, by his father Harry, there's very little about how he was trained intellectually.
Harry's sister is now a cop; wouldn't she also have been taught that kind of thing? Does the Code of Harry only apply to a serial killer, or is it good for your normal kid sister too?
To my constant irritation, Dexter's co-workers refer to his effectiveness as "hunches" and "instinct". I know, it's probably meant to be irony (and there's alot of dramatic irony in this series); Dexter is not the kind of person to go on "feelings" or "guesses". Quite the opposite.
Dexter is a very competent investigator-- he uses abilities that were learned and honed, and a great deal of it is his reasoning skills. How did Harry teach him those? In trying to follow the Code of Harry, which says, "Be Sure", how does Dexter do that? I want to see more about that.
Dexter is thorough, diligent, and fearless in gathering clues-- but a whole lot of evidence pointing in one particular direction can still be dead wrong. So it can't just be the amount, right?
Wouldn't Harry teach the difference between "circumstantial" evidence and confirming evidence? "All you've got is circumstantial evidence..." is a cop show cliche. But what IS 'circumstantial evidence'?!
Technically, you can claim a donut missing from the fridge is evidence for Bigfoot. On the other hand, it's equally evidence that your roommate ate it, or that Elvis ate it. Circumstantial evidence is evidence for which there's still more than one explanation possible.
Generally, a mountain of circumstantial evidence still doesn't add up to any "real" evidence....
Ah, but there IS an exception: Sometimes two or more pieces of circumstantial evidence "cooperate" to only fit/allow one single explanation. SUDOKU puzzles are a wonderful allegory for how that works. Sometimes Dexter is using circumstantial evidence the way a SUDOKU player uses number clues. (This row can have an 8 in two places; that column can have an 8 in two places; the puzzle only works out with an 8 where they cross).
I think that's the kind of thing Harry probably taught Dexter. What else?
What does "Be Sure" mean to you? |
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| FICTION: "BATS" the Musical |
[Oct. 17th, 2007|05:28 pm] |
This is: http://talzhemir1.livejournal.com/69065.html
Inspired by T.S. Eliot's CATS musical.
What's a Pipistrelle Bat? What's a Pipistrelle Bat?!
Were you born with feet first? Can you fly in the dark?
Do you migrate in spring, to the cave that's your home?
Do you see with your ears as you shriek in the park?
Do you hang upside down and hate sleeping alone?
Because Pipistrelles are and Pipistrelles do!
Pipistrelles do and Pipistrelles would!
Pipistrelles would and Pipistrelles can!
Pipistrelles can and Pipistrelles do!
=====
(The Common Pipistrelle!)
[ Error: Irreparable invalid markup ('<a [...] http://www.thegenieslamp.com/art/batgleam.gif">') in entry. Owner must fix manually. Raw contents below.] This is: http://talzhemir1.livejournal.com/69065.html <img src="http://www.thegenieslamp.com/art/batgleam2.gif"> <i>Inspired by T.S. Eliot's CATS musical.</i> What's a Pipistrelle Bat? What's a Pipistrelle Bat?! Were you born with feet first? Can you fly in the dark? Do you migrate in spring, to the cave that's your home? Do you see with your ears as you shriek in the park? Do you hang upside down and hate sleeping alone? Because Pipistrelles are and Pipistrelles do! Pipistrelles do and Pipistrelles would! Pipistrelles would and Pipistrelles can! Pipistrelles can and Pipistrelles do! ===== (The Common Pipistrelle!) <img src="http://www.bio.bris.ac.uk/research/bats/britishbats//batpagesimages/commonpipi/pipipipimain.jpg"> <a href="http://www.arkive.org/species/ARK/mammals/Pipistrellus_pipistrellus_and_Pipistrellus_pygmaeus/>Click here for more info!</a> ===== The Furcadia update and volunteering for a spookhouse have swallowed me whole! More mad meanderings of the keyboard shall follow, after these magnificent and momentous events have passed. <img src="http://www.thegenieslamp.com/art/batgleam.gif" /> |
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