Genealogy - World-of-Newave.info World-of-Newave.info http://www.world-of-newave.info/ 2008-11-23T19:12:50Z Latest news and articles about Genealogy Copyright (c)2004-2008.ยง/Newave SARL. All rights reserved. {NEWS > BREAKING NEWS} - Mr. Know-It-All: How Green Are Rechargeable Batteries? Dear Mr. Know-It-All Am I doing terribly wrong by the planet if I use alkaline batteries instead of rechargeables? I mean, recharging requires power, right? The disposable-versus-rechargeable battery debate seems ripe for a contrarian conclusion. Sure, a rechargeable can replace dozens of Duracells, but you have to keep plugging it into the power grid, which usually means burning more and more coal. But the fact is, it takes appreciably more energy to extract metal from the earth, making alkaline batteries the clear loser. A 2007 study by Bio Intelligence Service (admittedly sponsored by French rechargeable battery maker UniRoss) asserted that wearing out a single rechargeable has 28 times less impact on global warming than using alkalines. Rechargeables are also easier to recycle, thanks to a federal law designed to keep potentially harmful metals—nickel, cadmium, mercury—out of landfills. If your local electronics retailer won't recycle them, the national Rechargeable Battery Recycling Corporation will help you find someplace that will. Disposables have their place in mission-critical gadgets used on the go. But in general, on the food pyramid of batteries, alkalines are akin to fats and sweets—enjoy sparingly. I'm convinced that a butterfingered airport security worker damaged my laptop during a search. Can I get Uncle Sam to pay for a fix? There's a straightforward process for getting compensation via the Transportation Security Administration's Web site. But don't expect it to happen fast. You stand the best chance of success if you fill out a claim on the spot. The second you step away from the security area without filing a complaint (which sounds like what you did), your odds of obtaining a settlement drop significantly. Any delay will make it harder to identify the worker involved and establish whether the alleged drop did actually occur. According to Lara Uselding, a TSA spokesperson, the video from security checkpoints is retained for only 30 days. Given that it takes up to three weeks to finally get to TSA's mailroom, you really have only nine days of leeway before all evidence of official clumsiness is deleted. The TSA couldn't give any statistics on how many after-the-fact complaints result in payouts, but Mr. Know-It-All reckons your chances are slim. The next time you suspect a security employee of battering your precious hardware, conduct an inspection before waltzing off to the gate. Illustration: Christoph Niemann A genetic ancestry test revealed that 29 percent of my DNA is Native American, though I look like your basic white dude. Is it OK for me to mark "Native American" on my census form? Or, for that matter, on my grad school application? It's always thrilling to discover that your backstory might be richer than you thought. But temper your excitement with the knowledge that DNA tests have serious limitations when it comes to discerning ancestry. While it's certainly possible that you have a Pequot or Cherokee blood, today's technology can't come close to proving such kinship. Given the way you phrased your results, it sounds like you took an autosomal test, which looks at key markers on chromosomes inherited from both your parents. It is reputedly able to indicate descent from one of four population groups: European, African, East Asian, and Native American. These tests examine a broader swath of the genome than previously available Y-DNA or mtDNA analyses, which check ancestry from either your father or your mother. Still, even autosomal tests have their limits. "Autosomal tests only examine hundreds or thousands of locations out of the billions of bases in the genome," explains Blaine Bettinger, a biochemist and associate editor at the Journal of Genetic Genealogy. So that Native American DNA cited in your results may well be the only such material in your entire genome, which is many million times bigger than what's been analyzed. As Bettinger notes, you could still be 99 percent European. Even more vexing is the imprecision of what "Native American markers" really mean. They tend to show up in the results not only of Native Americans but people of Middle Eastern or Mediterranean extraction. So it could just be that you have a distant Greek forebear rather than a Navajo. You also need to realize that genetic tests have no bearing on tribal citizenship policies. You might (inaccurately) claim to be 29 percent Native American, but no major tribe will enroll you as a member based on DNA alone. You must name an ancestor. And you probably shouldn't mark "Native American" on any official documents, since universities and other institutions may ask for proof of tribal membership. Still, you're well within your rights to use your results as a genealogical starting point for further research. It's a worthwhile pursuit: Our genetic makeups are invariably more complex than conventional racial classifications. You may grumble over being a "basic white dude," but rest assured your ancestors spanned the globe. So even if, in the end, you do not have any Sitting Bull in you, there could be a little Genghis Khan. Need help navigating life in the 21st century? Email us at mrknowitall@wiredmag.com. http://articles.world-of-newave.info/news/breaking-news/mr-know-it-all-how-green-are-rechargeable-batteries-2008118618.htm 2008-11-10T17:00:00Z 2008-11-10T17:00:00Z Wired.Com http://www.wired.com/techbiz/people/magazine/16-11/st_kia Mr. Know-It-All: How Green Are Rechargeable Batteries? {new window}   Www.Wired.Com - Dear Mr. Know-It-All Am I doing terribly wrong by the planet if I use alkaline batteries instead of rechargeables? I mean, recharging requires power, right? The disposable-versus-rechargeable battery debate seems ripe for a contrarian conclusion. Sure, a rechargeable can replace dozens of Duracells, but you have to keep plugging it into the power grid, which usually means burning more and more coal. But the fact is, it takes appreciably more energy to extract metal from the earth, making alkaline batteries the clear loser. A 2007 study by Bio Intelligence Service (admittedly sponsored by French rechargeable battery maker UniRoss) asserted that wearing out a single rechargeable has 28 times less impact on global warming than using alkalines. Rechargeables are also easier to recycle, thanks to a federal law designed to keep potentially harmful metals—nickel, cadmium, mercury—out of landfills. If your local electronics retailer won't recycle them, the national Rechargeable Battery Recycling Corporation will help you find someplace that will. Disposables have their place in mission-critical gadgets used on the go. But in general, on the food pyramid of batteries, alkalines are akin to fats and sweets—enjoy sparingly. I'm convinced that a butterfingered airport security worker damaged my laptop during a search. Can I get Uncle Sam to pay for a fix? There's a straightforward process for getting compensation via the Transportation Security Administration's Web site. But don't expect it to happen fast. You stand the best chance of success if you fill out a claim on the spot. The second you step away from the security area without filing a complaint (which sounds like what you did), your odds of obtaining a settlement drop significantly. Any delay will make it harder to identify the worker involved and establish whether the alleged drop did actually occur. According to Lara Uselding, a TSA spokesperson, the video from security checkpoints is retained for only 30 days. Given that it takes up to three weeks to finally get to TSA's mailroom, you really have only nine days of leeway before all evidence of official clumsiness is deleted. The TSA couldn't give any statistics on how many after-the-fact complaints result in payouts, but Mr. Know-It-All reckons your chances are slim. The next time you suspect a security employee of battering your precious hardware, conduct an inspection before waltzing off to the gate. Illustration: Christoph Niemann A genetic ancestry test revealed that 29 percent of my DNA is Native American, though I look like your basic white dude. Is it OK for me to mark "Native American" on my census form? Or, for that matter, on my grad school application? It's always thrilling to discover that your backstory might be richer than you thought. But temper your excitement with the knowledge that DNA tests have serious limitations when it comes to discerning ancestry. While it's certainly possible that you have a Pequot or Cherokee blood, today's technology can't come close to proving such kinship. Given the way you phrased your results, it sounds like you took an autosomal test, which looks at key markers on chromosomes inherited from both your parents. It is reputedly able to indicate descent from one of four population groups: European, African, East Asian, and Native American. These tests examine a broader swath of the genome than previously available Y-DNA or mtDNA analyses, which check ancestry from either your father or your mother. Still, even autosomal tests have their limits. "Autosomal tests only examine hundreds or thousands of locations out of the billions of bases in the genome," explains Blaine Bettinger, a biochemist and associate editor at the Journal of Genetic Genealogy. So that Native American DNA cited in your results may well be the only such material in your entire genome, which is many million times bigger than what's been analyzed. As Bettinger notes, you could still be 99 percent European. Even more vexing is the imprecision of what "Native American markers" really mean. They tend to show up in the results not only of Native Americans but people of Middle Eastern or Mediterranean extraction. So it could just be that you have a distant Greek forebear rather than a Navajo. You also need to realize that genetic tests have no bearing on tribal citizenship policies. You might (inaccurately) claim to be 29 percent Native American, but no major tribe will enroll you as a member based on DNA alone. You must name an ancestor. And you probably shouldn't mark "Native American" on any official documents, since universities and other institutions may ask for proof of tribal membership. Still, you're well within your rights to use your results as a genealogical starting point for further research. It's a worthwhile pursuit: Our genetic makeups are invariably more complex than conventional racial classifications. You may grumble over being a "basic white dude," but rest assured your ancestors spanned the globe. So even if, in the end, you do not have any Sitting Bull in you, there could be a little Genghis Khan. Need help navigating life in the 21st century? Email us at mrknowitall@wiredmag.com.
Get Wired's take on technology business news and the Silicon Valley scene including IT, media, mobility, broadband, video, design, security, software, networking and internet startups on Wired.com {...}
Published: November 10, 2008, 5:00 pm - Indexed: November 17, 2008, 12:06 pm - Page Size: 52KB
Category: News > Breaking News

]]> {INTERNET > W} - Scone Appetit Well, I'm back. Not 'back with a vengeance', perhaps -- the vengeance I bought on Amazon hasn't been delivered yet; probably held up in customs or something -- but I'm back. And when that vengeance shows up -- well, whoo, geez. Look out. Mercy. In the meantime, here's this: One of the more... unusual Christmas presents the missus and I received this year was a kit, of sorts, for making scones. I'm not often genuinely surprised by a gift -- much less openly perplexed -- but this was a bit of an eyebrow-lifter. Mind you, I'm not saying it was a bad gift. And certainly not unappreciated. I'm just saying... well. All I know about scones is that they're what prim, upper-crust old British ladies like to eat with their tea. I fail to qualify on a number of key points in that description. I can manage the 'old' -- and on a good day, maybe the 'crust' part. That's about it. "When your husband starts doing crazy shit like whipping out mixing bowls and preheating ovens, anything could be happening. Raging paranoia is a perfectly reasonable reaction." Still, when life hands you lemons, you make lemonade. When life hands you a scone kit with miniature jars of spreadable lemon curd, you make the scones and spread the curd and try not to think too hard about whether your pinky is sticking out when you're washing it down with milk straight from the carton. (Another reason I'd never make it in proper society. Why dirty all those glasses, just for a quick sip of early morning moo juice? It's not like I have the mouth cooties. Upper-crusters make things so damned complicated.) Anyway, this past Sunday I woke up hungry and desperate and with no properly pre-processed food in the house. So I followed the directions (more or less), and made the scones. In the oven. All by myself. My wife was gobsmacked. And understandably so. For you see, though I'm a fair fan of several Food Network shows -- Iron Chef, Dinner: Impossible, and Good Eats (obviously) -- my own culinary skillz are sadly lacking. As in non-existent. As in, the only time I would normally step foot into the kitchen is to retrieve the pizza takeout menu. So I wasn't offended when the missus refused to try a scone until I'd eaten a couple myself. I don't know whether she figured they were physically inedible, or thought I was trying to deliberately poison her. When your husband starts doing crazy shit like whipping out mixing bowls and preheating ovens, anything could be happening. Raging paranoia is a perfectly reasonable reaction. Eventually, though, she tried a bite. Evidently, she'd never encountered scones, either, because she said: "Hey, these aren't bad. Scones are sort of like biscuits, huh?" Oh, dear. That's where my Food Network quasi-knowledge kicked in. I gave my wife a kindly smile and a pat on the head, and proceeded to lay out for her the real culinary genealogy of scones. Biscuits, I explained in my most professorly tone, are prepared using something called "the biscuit method". But there's also -- as all well-traveled bakers know -- a little procedure called "the muffin method". I gave her a moment to digest these fairly self-evident facts before moving on. (And also to make sure I hadn't mixed them up in the explanation. Before that morning, remember, my personal breakfast food preparation experience had been limited to "the Pop-Tart method" and "the leftover pasta reheating procedure".) I went on to assure her, based on the events of the morning, that the preparation of scones clearly bears a far greater resemblence to the latter than the former. Then she said what I was really hoping she wouldn't: "Okay... why?" Shit. It's not like I know what the hell the muffin and biscuit methods are -- only that they exist. I was kind of hoping that would be enough for her. But no. She actually can cook, so she was interested in the gory details. Damn my pedantic streak. Now I had to come clean. "Well... er, hrm. You see, the 'biscuit method', as I learned it years ago, involves, uh, breaking open the can in the fridge and pulling out the raw biscuits to bake. On a baking sheet. And the 'muffin method' is completely different. There, you... well, you take the bag of muffin mix out of the box, and mix in water and those little blueberry-flavored rabbit turd-looking things, and spoon it into muffin cups. That's the classical 'muffin method'. As taught by Julia Child, I believe. Or maybe Betty Crocker." She wasn't buying a word, obviously. This was turning into that history essay test I thought I could fake my way through by knowing there was such a thing as the Industrial Revolution. The devil, I discovered, is apparently in the details. But why quit when I'm behind? I could still back up the original nonsense I pulled out of my ass. "As you may have noticed, the scones kit consisted chiefly of a bag of scone mix -- to which I added water, and spooned into a pan to bake. Clearly, given the steps in the preparation, the method for making scones is more similar to muffins than biscuits." I gave her the 'clearly' shrug, to drive home whatever nonsensical point I may have just made. She shook her head sadly and frowned. I shrugged again. "I mean, clearly." Nothing. She's a hard woman, that wife of mine. I conceded defeat, as gracefully and nobly as I could. "Oh, just eat your damned scone, smartypants." So in the grand scheme of things, I still don't know how the hell to make real scones -- or biscuits, or muffins, or anything else, for that matter. But I did prepare my own Sunday breakfast, and it didn't kill me, and I haven't horked it back up yet. I'd call that a win. Plus, now the wife is worried I might actually spend time in the kitchen again soon. One more bout of baking 'n' bullshitting, and she'll have the pizza delivery joint on speed dial daily, just to shut me up. I call that little plan my "scone method". Look for it in a cookbook near you. http://articles.world-of-newave.info/computers/internet/on-the-web/weblogs/personal/w/scone-appetit-2008113055.htm 2008-11-01T11:24:13Z 2008-11-01T11:24:13Z Wherethehellwasi.Com http://www.wherethehellwasi.com/categories/foodstuff-fluff/scone_appetit.html Scone Appetit {new window}   Www.Wherethehellwasi.Com - Well, I'm back. Not 'back with a vengeance', perhaps -- the vengeance I bought on Amazon hasn't been delivered yet; probably held up in customs or something -- but I'm back. And when that vengeance shows up -- well, whoo, geez. Look out. Mercy. In the meantime, here's this: One of the more... unusual Christmas presents the missus and I received this year was a kit, of sorts, for making scones. I'm not often genuinely surprised by a gift -- much less openly perplexed -- but this was a bit of an eyebrow-lifter. Mind you, I'm not saying it was a bad gift. And certainly not unappreciated. I'm just saying... well. All I know about scones is that they're what prim, upper-crust old British ladies like to eat with their tea. I fail to qualify on a number of key points in that description. I can manage the 'old' -- and on a good day, maybe the 'crust' part. That's about it. "When your husband starts doing crazy shit like whipping out mixing bowls and preheating ovens, anything could be happening. Raging paranoia is a perfectly reasonable reaction." Still, when life hands you lemons, you make lemonade. When life hands you a scone kit with miniature jars of spreadable lemon curd, you make the scones and spread the curd and try not to think too hard about whether your pinky is sticking out when you're washing it down with milk straight from the carton. (Another reason I'd never make it in proper society. Why dirty all those glasses, just for a quick sip of early morning moo juice? It's not like I have the mouth cooties. Upper-crusters make things so damned complicated.) Anyway, this past Sunday I woke up hungry and desperate and with no properly pre-processed food in the house. So I followed the directions (more or less), and made the scones. In the oven. All by myself. My wife was gobsmacked. And understandably so. For you see, though I'm a fair fan of several Food Network shows -- Iron Chef, Dinner: Impossible, and Good Eats (obviously) -- my own culinary skillz are sadly lacking. As in non-existent. As in, the only time I would normally step foot into the kitchen is to retrieve the pizza takeout menu. So I wasn't offended when the missus refused to try a scone until I'd eaten a couple myself. I don't know whether she figured they were physically inedible, or thought I was trying to deliberately poison her. When your husband starts doing crazy shit like whipping out mixing bowls and preheating ovens, anything could be happening. Raging paranoia is a perfectly reasonable reaction. Eventually, though, she tried a bite. Evidently, she'd never encountered scones, either, because she said: "Hey, these aren't bad. Scones are sort of like biscuits, huh?" Oh, dear. That's where my Food Network quasi-knowledge kicked in. I gave my wife a kindly smile and a pat on the head, and proceeded to lay out for her the real culinary genealogy of scones. Biscuits, I explained in my most professorly tone, are prepared using something called "the biscuit method". But there's also -- as all well-traveled bakers know -- a little procedure called "the muffin method". I gave her a moment to digest these fairly self-evident facts before moving on. (And also to make sure I hadn't mixed them up in the explanation. Before that morning, remember, my personal breakfast food preparation experience had been limited to "the Pop-Tart method" and "the leftover pasta reheating procedure".) I went on to assure her, based on the events of the morning, that the preparation of scones clearly bears a far greater resemblence to the latter than the former. Then she said what I was really hoping she wouldn't: "Okay... why?" Shit. It's not like I know what the hell the muffin and biscuit methods are -- only that they exist. I was kind of hoping that would be enough for her. But no. She actually can cook, so she was interested in the gory details. Damn my pedantic streak. Now I had to come clean. "Well... er, hrm. You see, the 'biscuit method', as I learned it years ago, involves, uh, breaking open the can in the fridge and pulling out the raw biscuits to bake. On a baking sheet. And the 'muffin method' is completely different. There, you... well, you take the bag of muffin mix out of the box, and mix in water and those little blueberry-flavored rabbit turd-looking things, and spoon it into muffin cups. That's the classical 'muffin method'. As taught by Julia Child, I believe. Or maybe Betty Crocker." She wasn't buying a word, obviously. This was turning into that history essay test I thought I could fake my way through by knowing there was such a thing as the Industrial Revolution. The devil, I discovered, is apparently in the details. But why quit when I'm behind? I could still back up the original nonsense I pulled out of my ass. "As you may have noticed, the scones kit consisted chiefly of a bag of scone mix -- to which I added water, and spooned into a pan to bake. Clearly, given the steps in the preparation, the method for making scones is more similar to muffins than biscuits." I gave her the 'clearly' shrug, to drive home whatever nonsensical point I may have just made. She shook her head sadly and frowned. I shrugged again. "I mean, clearly." Nothing. She's a hard woman, that wife of mine. I conceded defeat, as gracefully and nobly as I could. "Oh, just eat your damned scone, smartypants." So in the grand scheme of things, I still don't know how the hell to make real scones -- or biscuits, or muffins, or anything else, for that matter. But I did prepare my own Sunday breakfast, and it didn't kill me, and I haven't horked it back up yet. I'd call that a win. Plus, now the wife is worried I might actually spend time in the kitchen again soon. One more bout of baking 'n' bullshitting, and she'll have the pizza delivery joint on speed dial daily, just to shut me up. I call that little plan my "scone method". Look for it in a cookbook near you.
Scone Appetit [Where the Hell Was I?] {...} Life, from a comic perspective. Original articles, humor, & funny stories daily from an aspiring Boston standup comedian. {...}
Indexed: November 1, 2008, 11:24 am - Page Size: 61KB
Category: Computers > Internet > On the Web > Weblogs > Personal > W

]]> {SYSTEMS > NEWS AND MEDIA} - MacFamilyTree 5.3 Improves Reports, MobileMe Support Synium announced the immediate availability of MacFamilyTree 5.3 on Monday. The update for the genealogy application added configurable WebKit-based reports along with improved support for Apple's MobileMe service http://articles.world-of-newave.info/computers/systems/apple/macintosh/news-and-media/macfamilytree-5-3-improves-reports-mobileme-support-20081078532.htm 2008-10-20T14:45:00Z 2008-10-20T14:45:00Z Macobserver.Com http://www.macobserver.com/article/2008/10/20.3.shtml MacFamilyTree 5.3 Improves Reports, MobileMe Support {new window}   Www.Macobserver.Com - Synium announced the immediate availability of MacFamilyTree 5.3 on Monday. The update for the genealogy application added configurable WebKit-based reports along with improved support for Apple's MobileMe service
MacFamilyTree 5.3 Improves Reports, MobileMe Support || The Mac Observer {...}
Published: October 20, 2008, 2:45 pm - Indexed: October 21, 2008, 1:03 pm - Page Size: 34KB
Category: Computers > Systems > Apple > Macintosh > News and Media

]]> {LITERATURE > CYBERPUNK} - Birth of the presidential "sound bite" The 1908 presidential campaign was the first time that the candidates, William Jennings Bryan and William Howard Taft, recorded their voices for voters to hear. The recordings on early phonographs were used to rally support, or simply demonstrate the technology, at political gatherings, concert halls, and even shops selling the Edison phonographs. Science News has a fascinating history of the "first sound bites," including audio samples. From Science News: ?Mr. Bryan seemed a little nervous when he first started, much more so, he said, than he ever felt in facing an audience of ten thousand people,? Harold Voorhis recalled. Voorhis, an agent for the National Phonograph Company, was partly responsible for the candidate?s discomfort: He had brought a phonograph into the library of Bryan?s house in Lincoln, Neb., to record some of his speeches, old and current. ?Considering that his words were to be reproduced all over the world in perhaps a million homes, ? I thought he showed remarkable composure,? Voorhis wrote in the July 1908 Edison Phonograph Monthly. Whether for profit or prestige, the 1908 campaign was the first in which presidential candidates recorded their own voices for the mass market. ?We now have Records by Mr. Bryan and Mr. Taft, so that no matter how the November election may result, we shall have Records by the next President,? an advertisement in the September 1908 Edison Phonograph Monthly exclaimed. ?Now, for the first time, one can introduce the rival candidates for the Presidency in one?s own home, can listen to their political views, expressed in their real voices, and make comparisons.? In New York City, an enterprising businessman set up a penny arcade featuring a Bryan-Taft ?debate.? Mannequins stood before a phonograph that spouted the candidates? voices... ?You could draw a genealogy from the televised presidential debates of today straight back to these? recordings, says record historian Patrick Feaster of Indiana University in Bloomington. ?An awful lot of political speechmaking nowadays is mediated; the idea of someone simply addressing a live audience [as] the target audience ?really doesn?t seem to pertain much anymore.? The 1908 recordings ?are really the first step in that direction.? First presidential "sound bites"... http://articles.world-of-newave.info/arts/literature/genres/cyberpunk/birth-of-the-presidential-sound-bite-2008103643.htm 2008-10-03T16:12:42Z 2008-10-03T16:12:42Z Boingboing.Net http://www.boingboing.net/2008/10/03/birth-of-the-preside.html Birth of the presidential "sound bite" {new window}   Www.Boingboing.Net - The 1908 presidential campaign was the first time that the candidates, William Jennings Bryan and William Howard Taft, recorded their voices for voters to hear. The recordings on early phonographs were used to rally support, or simply demonstrate the technology, at political gatherings, concert halls, and even shops selling the Edison phonographs. Science News has a fascinating history of the "first sound bites," including audio samples. From Science News: ?Mr. Bryan seemed a little nervous when he first started, much more so, he said, than he ever felt in facing an audience of ten thousand people,? Harold Voorhis recalled. Voorhis, an agent for the National Phonograph Company, was partly responsible for the candidate?s discomfort: He had brought a phonograph into the library of Bryan?s house in Lincoln, Neb., to record some of his speeches, old and current. ?Considering that his words were to be reproduced all over the world in perhaps a million homes, ? I thought he showed remarkable composure,? Voorhis wrote in the July 1908 Edison Phonograph Monthly. Whether for profit or prestige, the 1908 campaign was the first in which presidential candidates recorded their own voices for the mass market. ?We now have Records by Mr. Bryan and Mr. Taft, so that no matter how the November election may result, we shall have Records by the next President,? an advertisement in the September 1908 Edison Phonograph Monthly exclaimed. ?Now, for the first time, one can introduce the rival candidates for the Presidency in one?s own home, can listen to their political views, expressed in their real voices, and make comparisons.? In New York City, an enterprising businessman set up a penny arcade featuring a Bryan-Taft ?debate.? Mannequins stood before a phonograph that spouted the candidates? voices... ?You could draw a genealogy from the televised presidential debates of today straight back to these? recordings, says record historian Patrick Feaster of Indiana University in Bloomington. ?An awful lot of political speechmaking nowadays is mediated; the idea of someone simply addressing a live audience [as] the target audience ?really doesn?t seem to pertain much anymore.? The 1908 recordings ?are really the first step in that direction.? First presidential "sound bites"...
Birth of the presidential "sound bite" - Boing Boing {...}
Published: October 3, 2008, 4:12 pm - Indexed: October 5, 2008, 10:37 am - Page Size: 41KB
Category: Arts > Literature > Genres > Cyberpunk

]]> {BY SUBJECT > INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY} - Cloud Computing: Been There, Done That? Is cloud computing the future of IT? It has plenty of roots in the past. Precursors to cloud computing include application service providers, SAAS, grid computing and utility computing. However, the modern cloud has some advantages. - Cloud computing may be the next big thing, but it didn't happen overnight. Its genealogy goes all the way back to time-sharing, a practice dating to the 1960s in which a mainframe computer was accessed simultaneously by multiple terminal users in different locations via telephone lines. Cloud... http://articles.world-of-newave.info/news/by-subject/information-technology/cloud-computing-been-there-done-that-2008103042.htm 2008-10-02T02:07:08Z 2008-10-02T02:07:08Z Eweek.Com http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Cloud-Computing/Cloud-Computing-Been-There-Done-That/?kc=rss Cloud Computing: Been There, Done That? {new window}   Www.Eweek.Com - Is cloud computing the future of IT? It has plenty of roots in the past. Precursors to cloud computing include application service providers, SAAS, grid computing and utility computing. However, the modern cloud has some advantages. - Cloud computing may be the next big thing, but it didn't happen overnight. Its genealogy goes all the way back to time-sharing, a practice dating to the 1960s in which a mainframe computer was accessed simultaneously by multiple terminal users in different locations via telephone lines. Cloud...
Cloud Computing: Been There Done That?: {...}
Published: October 2, 2008, 2:07 am - Indexed: October 2, 2008, 10:45 am - Page Size: 81KB
Category: News > By Subject > Information Technology

]]> {INTERNET > W} - Scone Appetit Well, I'm back. Not 'back with a vengeance', perhaps -- the vengeance I bought on Amazon hasn't been delivered yet; probably held up in customs or something -- but I'm back. And when that vengeance shows up -- well, whoo, geez. Look out. Mercy. In the meantime, here's this: One of the more... unusual Christmas presents the missus and I received this year was a kit, of sorts, for making scones. I'm not often genuinely surprised by a gift -- much less openly perplexed -- but this was a bit of an eyebrow-lifter. Mind you, I'm not saying it was a bad gift. And certainly not unappreciated. I'm just saying... well. All I know about scones is that they're what prim, upper-crust old British ladies like to eat with their tea. I fail to qualify on a number of key points in that description. I can manage the 'old' -- and on a good day, maybe the 'crust' part. That's about it. "When your husband starts doing crazy shit like whipping out mixing bowls and preheating ovens, anything could be happening. Raging paranoia is a perfectly reasonable reaction." Still, when life hands you lemons, you make lemonade. When life hands you a scone kit with miniature jars of spreadable lemon curd, you make the scones and spread the curd and try not to think too hard about whether your pinky is sticking out when you're washing it down with milk straight from the carton. (Another reason I'd never make it in proper society. Why dirty all those glasses, just for a quick sip of early morning moo juice? It's not like I have the mouth cooties. Upper-crusters make things so damned complicated.) Anyway, this past Sunday I woke up hungry and desperate and with no properly pre-processed food in the house. So I followed the directions (more or less), and made the scones. In the oven. All by myself. My wife was gobsmacked. And understandably so. For you see, though I'm a fair fan of several Food Network shows -- Iron Chef, Dinner: Impossible, and Good Eats (obviously) -- my own culinary skillz are sadly lacking. As in non-existent. As in, the only time I would normally step foot into the kitchen is to retrieve the pizza takeout menu. So I wasn't offended when the missus refused to try a scone until I'd eaten a couple myself. I don't know whether she figured they were physically inedible, or thought I was trying to deliberately poison her. When your husband starts doing crazy shit like whipping out mixing bowls and preheating ovens, anything could be happening. Raging paranoia is a perfectly reasonable reaction. Eventually, though, she tried a bite. Evidently, she'd never encountered scones, either, because she said: "Hey, these aren't bad. Scones are sort of like biscuits, huh?" Oh, dear. That's where my Food Network quasi-knowledge kicked in. I gave my wife a kindly smile and a pat on the head, and proceeded to lay out for her the real culinary genealogy of scones. Biscuits, I explained in my most professorly tone, are prepared using something called "the biscuit method". But there's also -- as all well-traveled bakers know -- a little procedure called "the muffin method". I gave her a moment to digest these fairly self-evident facts before moving on. (And also to make sure I hadn't mixed them up in the explanation. Before that morning, remember, my personal breakfast food preparation experience had been limited to "the Pop-Tart method" and "the leftover pasta reheating procedure".) I went on to assure her, based on the events of the morning, that the preparation of scones clearly bears a far greater resemblence to the latter than the former. Then she said what I was really hoping she wouldn't: "Okay... why?" Shit. It's not like I know what the hell the muffin and biscuit methods are -- only that they exist. I was kind of hoping that would be enough for her. But no. She actually can cook, so she was interested in the gory details. Damn my pedantic streak. Now I had to come clean. "Well... er, hrm. You see, the 'biscuit method', as I learned it years ago, involves, uh, breaking open the can in the fridge and pulling out the raw biscuits to bake. On a baking sheet. And the 'muffin method' is completely different. There, you... well, you take the bag of muffin mix out of the box, and mix in water and those little blueberry-flavored rabbit turd-looking things, and spoon it into muffin cups. That's the classical 'muffin method'. As taught by Julia Child, I believe. Or maybe Betty Crocker." She wasn't buying a word, obviously. This was turning into that history essay test I thought I could fake my way through by knowing there was such a thing as the Industrial Revolution. The devil, I discovered, is apparently in the details. But why quit when I'm behind? I could still back up the original nonsense I pulled out of my ass. "As you may have noticed, the scones kit consisted chiefly of a bag of scone mix -- to which I added water, and spooned into a pan to bake. Clearly, given the steps in the preparation, the method for making scones is more similar to muffins than biscuits." I gave her the 'clearly' shrug, to drive home whatever nonsensical point I may have just made. She shook her head sadly and frowned. I shrugged again. "I mean, clearly." Nothing. She's a hard woman, that wife of mine. I conceded defeat, as gracefully and nobly as I could. "Oh, just eat your damned scone, smartypants." So in the grand scheme of things, I still don't know how the hell to make real scones -- or biscuits, or muffins, or anything else, for that matter. But I did prepare my own Sunday breakfast, and it didn't kill me, and I haven't horked it back up yet. I'd call that a win. Plus, now the wife is worried I might actually spend time in the kitchen again soon. One more bout of baking 'n' bullshitting, and she'll have the pizza delivery joint on speed dial daily, just to shut me up. I call that little plan my "scone method". Look for it in a cookbook near you. http://articles.world-of-newave.info/computers/internet/on-the-web/weblogs/personal/w/scone-appetit-2008101022.htm 2008-10-01T11:47:26Z 2008-10-01T11:47:26Z Wherethehellwasi.Com http://www.wherethehellwasi.com/categories/foodstuff-fluff/scone_appetit.html Scone Appetit {new window}   Www.Wherethehellwasi.Com - Well, I'm back. Not 'back with a vengeance', perhaps -- the vengeance I bought on Amazon hasn't been delivered yet; probably held up in customs or something -- but I'm back. And when that vengeance shows up -- well, whoo, geez. Look out. Mercy. In the meantime, here's this: One of the more... unusual Christmas presents the missus and I received this year was a kit, of sorts, for making scones. I'm not often genuinely surprised by a gift -- much less openly perplexed -- but this was a bit of an eyebrow-lifter. Mind you, I'm not saying it was a bad gift. And certainly not unappreciated. I'm just saying... well. All I know about scones is that they're what prim, upper-crust old British ladies like to eat with their tea. I fail to qualify on a number of key points in that description. I can manage the 'old' -- and on a good day, maybe the 'crust' part. That's about it. "When your husband starts doing crazy shit like whipping out mixing bowls and preheating ovens, anything could be happening. Raging paranoia is a perfectly reasonable reaction." Still, when life hands you lemons, you make lemonade. When life hands you a scone kit with miniature jars of spreadable lemon curd, you make the scones and spread the curd and try not to think too hard about whether your pinky is sticking out when you're washing it down with milk straight from the carton. (Another reason I'd never make it in proper society. Why dirty all those glasses, just for a quick sip of early morning moo juice? It's not like I have the mouth cooties. Upper-crusters make things so damned complicated.) Anyway, this past Sunday I woke up hungry and desperate and with no properly pre-processed food in the house. So I followed the directions (more or less), and made the scones. In the oven. All by myself. My wife was gobsmacked. And understandably so. For you see, though I'm a fair fan of several Food Network shows -- Iron Chef, Dinner: Impossible, and Good Eats (obviously) -- my own culinary skillz are sadly lacking. As in non-existent. As in, the only time I would normally step foot into the kitchen is to retrieve the pizza takeout menu. So I wasn't offended when the missus refused to try a scone until I'd eaten a couple myself. I don't know whether she figured they were physically inedible, or thought I was trying to deliberately poison her. When your husband starts doing crazy shit like whipping out mixing bowls and preheating ovens, anything could be happening. Raging paranoia is a perfectly reasonable reaction. Eventually, though, she tried a bite. Evidently, she'd never encountered scones, either, because she said: "Hey, these aren't bad. Scones are sort of like biscuits, huh?" Oh, dear. That's where my Food Network quasi-knowledge kicked in. I gave my wife a kindly smile and a pat on the head, and proceeded to lay out for her the real culinary genealogy of scones. Biscuits, I explained in my most professorly tone, are prepared using something called "the biscuit method". But there's also -- as all well-traveled bakers know -- a little procedure called "the muffin method". I gave her a moment to digest these fairly self-evident facts before moving on. (And also to make sure I hadn't mixed them up in the explanation. Before that morning, remember, my personal breakfast food preparation experience had been limited to "the Pop-Tart method" and "the leftover pasta reheating procedure".) I went on to assure her, based on the events of the morning, that the preparation of scones clearly bears a far greater resemblence to the latter than the former. Then she said what I was really hoping she wouldn't: "Okay... why?" Shit. It's not like I know what the hell the muffin and biscuit methods are -- only that they exist. I was kind of hoping that would be enough for her. But no. She actually can cook, so she was interested in the gory details. Damn my pedantic streak. Now I had to come clean. "Well... er, hrm. You see, the 'biscuit method', as I learned it years ago, involves, uh, breaking open the can in the fridge and pulling out the raw biscuits to bake. On a baking sheet. And the 'muffin method' is completely different. There, you... well, you take the bag of muffin mix out of the box, and mix in water and those little blueberry-flavored rabbit turd-looking things, and spoon it into muffin cups. That's the classical 'muffin method'. As taught by Julia Child, I believe. Or maybe Betty Crocker." She wasn't buying a word, obviously. This was turning into that history essay test I thought I could fake my way through by knowing there was such a thing as the Industrial Revolution. The devil, I discovered, is apparently in the details. But why quit when I'm behind? I could still back up the original nonsense I pulled out of my ass. "As you may have noticed, the scones kit consisted chiefly of a bag of scone mix -- to which I added water, and spooned into a pan to bake. Clearly, given the steps in the preparation, the method for making scones is more similar to muffins than biscuits." I gave her the 'clearly' shrug, to drive home whatever nonsensical point I may have just made. She shook her head sadly and frowned. I shrugged again. "I mean, clearly." Nothing. She's a hard woman, that wife of mine. I conceded defeat, as gracefully and nobly as I could. "Oh, just eat your damned scone, smartypants." So in the grand scheme of things, I still don't know how the hell to make real scones -- or biscuits, or muffins, or anything else, for that matter. But I did prepare my own Sunday breakfast, and it didn't kill me, and I haven't horked it back up yet. I'd call that a win. Plus, now the wife is worried I might actually spend time in the kitchen again soon. One more bout of baking 'n' bullshitting, and she'll have the pizza delivery joint on speed dial daily, just to shut me up. I call that little plan my "scone method". Look for it in a cookbook near you.
Scone Appetit [Where the Hell Was I?] {...} Life, from a comic perspective. Original articles, humor, & funny stories daily from an aspiring Boston standup comedian. {...}
Indexed: October 1, 2008, 11:47 am - Page Size: 61KB
Category: Computers > Internet > On the Web > Weblogs > Personal > W

]]> {ISSUES > BIAS AND BALANCE} - Limbaugh repeats baseless smear that Obama is misrepresenting his ethnicity* On the September 22 broadcast of his syndicated radio show, Rush Limbaugh baselessly claimed that Sen. Barack Obama is "not black," and went on to ask: "Do you know he has not one shred of African-American blood?" Limbaugh continued: "He's Arab. You know, he's from Africa. He's from Arab parts of Africa. ... [H]e's not African-American. The last thing that he is is African-American." Media Matters for America has previously documented that a similar claim was forwarded by Fox News contributor Monica Crowley when she guest-hosted the June 23 broadcast of The Laura Ingraham Show. A caller to the show claimed that Obama is "not really African- American. He's Arab." In response, Crowley said that "according to this genealogy -- and again, because I haven't done the research, I can't verify this -- but according to this guy Kenneth Lamb, Barack Obama is not black African, he is Arab African." In a February 14 blog entry, "journalist, op-ed columnist, radio news-interview program host" Kenneth E. Lamb claimed -- without producing any evidence -- that "Sen. Obama is actually Arab-American" and that "Mr. Obama is not legally African-American." Lamb did not cite to any research or government documents, but invited readers seeking "proof" of his claims to "[r]esearch the Kenyan records for yourself," adding: "You will find that his father was officially classified as 'Arab African' by the Kenyan government." From the September 22 broadcast of Premiere Radio Networks' The Rush Limbaugh Show: LIMBAUGH: These polls on how one-third of blue-collar white Democrats won't vote for Obama because he's black, and -- but he's not black. Do you know he has not one shred of African-American blood? He doesn't have any African -- that's why when they asked whether he was authentic, whether he's down for the struggle. He's Arab. You know, he's from Africa. He's from Arab parts of Africa. He's not -- his father was -- he's not African-American. The last thing that he is is African-American. I guess that's splitting hairs, I don't -- it's just all these little things, everything seems upside-down today in this country. http://articles.world-of-newave.info/society/issues/business/media/bias-and-balance/limbaugh-repeats-baseless-smear-that-obama-is-misrepresenting-20080971938.htm 2008-09-23T00:05:23Z 2008-09-23T00:05:23Z Mediamatters.Org http://mediamatters.org/items/200809220015 Limbaugh repeats baseless smear that Obama is misrepresenting his ethnicity* {new window}   Mediamatters.Org - On the September 22 broadcast of his syndicated radio show, Rush Limbaugh baselessly claimed that Sen. Barack Obama is "not black," and went on to ask: "Do you know he has not one shred of African-American blood?" Limbaugh continued: "He's Arab. You know, he's from Africa. He's from Arab parts of Africa. ... [H]e's not African-American. The last thing that he is is African-American." Media Matters for America has previously documented that a similar claim was forwarded by Fox News contributor Monica Crowley when she guest-hosted the June 23 broadcast of The Laura Ingraham Show. A caller to the show claimed that Obama is "not really African- American. He's Arab." In response, Crowley said that "according to this genealogy -- and again, because I haven't done the research, I can't verify this -- but according to this guy Kenneth Lamb, Barack Obama is not black African, he is Arab African." In a February 14 blog entry, "journalist, op-ed columnist, radio news-interview program host" Kenneth E. Lamb claimed -- without producing any evidence -- that "Sen. Obama is actually Arab-American" and that "Mr. Obama is not legally African-American." Lamb did not cite to any research or government documents, but invited readers seeking "proof" of his claims to "[r]esearch the Kenyan records for yourself," adding: "You will find that his father was officially classified as 'Arab African' by the Kenyan government." From the September 22 broadcast of Premiere Radio Networks' The Rush Limbaugh Show: LIMBAUGH: These polls on how one-third of blue-collar white Democrats won't vote for Obama because he's black, and -- but he's not black. Do you know he has not one shred of African-American blood? He doesn't have any African -- that's why when they asked whether he was authentic, whether he's down for the struggle. He's Arab. You know, he's from Africa. He's from Arab parts of Africa. He's not -- his father was -- he's not African-American. The last thing that he is is African-American. I guess that's splitting hairs, I don't -- it's just all these little things, everything seems upside-down today in this country.
Media Matters - Limbaugh repeats baseless smear that Obama is misrepresenting his ethnicity* {...} Rush Limbaugh baselessly asserted of Sen. Barack Obama: "Do you know he has not one shred of African-American blood?" Limbaugh continued: "He's Arab. You know, he's from Africa. He's from Arab parts of Africa. ... [H]e's not African-American. The last thing that he is is African-American." {...}
Published: September 23, 2008, 12:05 am - Indexed: September 23, 2008, 11:12 pm - Page Size: 16KB
Category: Society > Issues > Business > Media > Bias and Balance

]]> {INTERNET > W} - Scone Appetit Well, I'm back. Not 'back with a vengeance', perhaps -- the vengeance I bought on Amazon hasn't been delivered yet; probably held up in customs or something -- but I'm back. And when that vengeance shows up -- well, whoo, geez. Look out. Mercy. In the meantime, here's this: One of the more... unusual Christmas presents the missus and I received this year was a kit, of sorts, for making scones. I'm not often genuinely surprised by a gift -- much less openly perplexed -- but this was a bit of an eyebrow-lifter. Mind you, I'm not saying it was a bad gift. And certainly not unappreciated. I'm just saying... well. All I know about scones is that they're what prim, upper-crust old British ladies like to eat with their tea. I fail to qualify on a number of key points in that description. I can manage the 'old' -- and on a good day, maybe the 'crust' part. That's about it. "When your husband starts doing crazy shit like whipping out mixing bowls and preheating ovens, anything could be happening. Raging paranoia is a perfectly reasonable reaction." Still, when life hands you lemons, you make lemonade. When life hands you a scone kit with miniature jars of spreadable lemon curd, you make the scones and spread the curd and try not to think too hard about whether your pinky is sticking out when you're washing it down with milk straight from the carton. (Another reason I'd never make it in proper society. Why dirty all those glasses, just for a quick sip of early morning moo juice? It's not like I have the mouth cooties. Upper-crusters make things so damned complicated.) Anyway, this past Sunday I woke up hungry and desperate and with no properly pre-processed food in the house. So I followed the directions (more or less), and made the scones. In the oven. All by myself. My wife was gobsmacked. And understandably so. For you see, though I'm a fair fan of several Food Network shows -- Iron Chef, Dinner: Impossible, and Good Eats (obviously) -- my own culinary skillz are sadly lacking. As in non-existent. As in, the only time I would normally step foot into the kitchen is to retrieve the pizza takeout menu. So I wasn't offended when the missus refused to try a scone until I'd eaten a couple myself. I don't know whether she figured they were physically inedible, or thought I was trying to deliberately poison her. When your husband starts doing crazy shit like whipping out mixing bowls and preheating ovens, anything could be happening. Raging paranoia is a perfectly reasonable reaction. Eventually, though, she tried a bite. Evidently, she'd never encountered scones, either, because she said: "Hey, these aren't bad. Scones are sort of like biscuits, huh?" Oh, dear. That's where my Food Network quasi-knowledge kicked in. I gave my wife a kindly smile and a pat on the head, and proceeded to lay out for her the real culinary genealogy of scones. Biscuits, I explained in my most professorly tone, are prepared using something called "the biscuit method". But there's also -- as all well-traveled bakers know -- a little procedure called "the muffin method". I gave her a moment to digest these fairly self-evident facts before moving on. (And also to make sure I hadn't mixed them up in the explanation. Before that morning, remember, my personal breakfast food preparation experience had been limited to "the Pop-Tart method" and "the leftover pasta reheating procedure".) I went on to assure her, based on the events of the morning, that the preparation of scones clearly bears a far greater resemblence to the latter than the former. Then she said what I was really hoping she wouldn't: "Okay... why?" Shit. It's not like I know what the hell the muffin and biscuit methods are -- only that they exist. I was kind of hoping that would be enough for her. But no. She actually can cook, so she was interested in the gory details. Damn my pedantic streak. Now I had to come clean. "Well... er, hrm. You see, the 'biscuit method', as I learned it years ago, involves, uh, breaking open the can in the fridge and pulling out the raw biscuits to bake. On a baking sheet. And the 'muffin method' is completely different. There, you... well, you take the bag of muffin mix out of the box, and mix in water and those little blueberry-flavored rabbit turd-looking things, and spoon it into muffin cups. That's the classical 'muffin method'. As taught by Julia Child, I believe. Or maybe Betty Crocker." She wasn't buying a word, obviously. This was turning into that history essay test I thought I could fake my way through by knowing there was such a thing as the Industrial Revolution. The devil, I discovered, is apparently in the details. But why quit when I'm behind? I could still back up the original nonsense I pulled out of my ass. "As you may have noticed, the scones kit consisted chiefly of a bag of scone mix -- to which I added water, and spooned into a pan to bake. Clearly, given the steps in the preparation, the method for making scones is more similar to muffins than biscuits." I gave her the 'clearly' shrug, to drive home whatever nonsensical point I may have just made. She shook her head sadly and frowned. I shrugged again. "I mean, clearly." Nothing. She's a hard woman, that wife of mine. I conceded defeat, as gracefully and nobly as I could. "Oh, just eat your damned scone, smartypants." So in the grand scheme of things, I still don't know how the hell to make real scones -- or biscuits, or muffins, or anything else, for that matter. But I did prepare my own Sunday breakfast, and it didn't kill me, and I haven't horked it back up yet. I'd call that a win. Plus, now the wife is worried I might actually spend time in the kitchen again soon. One more bout of baking 'n' bullshitting, and she'll have the pizza delivery joint on speed dial daily, just to shut me up. I call that little plan my "scone method". Look for it in a cookbook near you. http://articles.world-of-newave.info/computers/internet/on-the-web/weblogs/personal/w/scone-appetit-2008091061.htm 2008-09-01T13:46:22Z 2008-09-01T13:46:22Z Wherethehellwasi.Com http://www.wherethehellwasi.com/categories/foodstuff-fluff/scone_appetit.html Scone Appetit {new window}   Www.Wherethehellwasi.Com - Well, I'm back. Not 'back with a vengeance', perhaps -- the vengeance I bought on Amazon hasn't been delivered yet; probably held up in customs or something -- but I'm back. And when that vengeance shows up -- well, whoo, geez. Look out. Mercy. In the meantime, here's this: One of the more... unusual Christmas presents the missus and I received this year was a kit, of sorts, for making scones. I'm not often genuinely surprised by a gift -- much less openly perplexed -- but this was a bit of an eyebrow-lifter. Mind you, I'm not saying it was a bad gift. And certainly not unappreciated. I'm just saying... well. All I know about scones is that they're what prim, upper-crust old British ladies like to eat with their tea. I fail to qualify on a number of key points in that description. I can manage the 'old' -- and on a good day, maybe the 'crust' part. That's about it. "When your husband starts doing crazy shit like whipping out mixing bowls and preheating ovens, anything could be happening. Raging paranoia is a perfectly reasonable reaction." Still, when life hands you lemons, you make lemonade. When life hands you a scone kit with miniature jars of spreadable lemon curd, you make the scones and spread the curd and try not to think too hard about whether your pinky is sticking out when you're washing it down with milk straight from the carton. (Another reason I'd never make it in proper society. Why dirty all those glasses, just for a quick sip of early morning moo juice? It's not like I have the mouth cooties. Upper-crusters make things so damned complicated.) Anyway, this past Sunday I woke up hungry and desperate and with no properly pre-processed food in the house. So I followed the directions (more or less), and made the scones. In the oven. All by myself. My wife was gobsmacked. And understandably so. For you see, though I'm a fair fan of several Food Network shows -- Iron Chef, Dinner: Impossible, and Good Eats (obviously) -- my own culinary skillz are sadly lacking. As in non-existent. As in, the only time I would normally step foot into the kitchen is to retrieve the pizza takeout menu. So I wasn't offended when the missus refused to try a scone until I'd eaten a couple myself. I don't know whether she figured they were physically inedible, or thought I was trying to deliberately poison her. When your husband starts doing crazy shit like whipping out mixing bowls and preheating ovens, anything could be happening. Raging paranoia is a perfectly reasonable reaction. Eventually, though, she tried a bite. Evidently, she'd never encountered scones, either, because she said: "Hey, these aren't bad. Scones are sort of like biscuits, huh?" Oh, dear. That's where my Food Network quasi-knowledge kicked in. I gave my wife a kindly smile and a pat on the head, and proceeded to lay out for her the real culinary genealogy of scones. Biscuits, I explained in my most professorly tone, are prepared using something called "the biscuit method". But there's also -- as all well-traveled bakers know -- a little procedure called "the muffin method". I gave her a moment to digest these fairly self-evident facts before moving on. (And also to make sure I hadn't mixed them up in the explanation. Before that morning, remember, my personal breakfast food preparation experience had been limited to "the Pop-Tart method" and "the leftover pasta reheating procedure".) I went on to assure her, based on the events of the morning, that the preparation of scones clearly bears a far greater resemblence to the latter than the former. Then she said what I was really hoping she wouldn't: "Okay... why?" Shit. It's not like I know what the hell the muffin and biscuit methods are -- only that they exist. I was kind of hoping that would be enough for her. But no. She actually can cook, so she was interested in the gory details. Damn my pedantic streak. Now I had to come clean. "Well... er, hrm. You see, the 'biscuit method', as I learned it years ago, involves, uh, breaking open the can in the fridge and pulling out the raw biscuits to bake. On a baking sheet. And the 'muffin method' is completely different. There, you... well, you take the bag of muffin mix out of the box, and mix in water and those little blueberry-flavored rabbit turd-looking things, and spoon it into muffin cups. That's the classical 'muffin method'. As taught by Julia Child, I believe. Or maybe Betty Crocker." She wasn't buying a word, obviously. This was turning into that history essay test I thought I could fake my way through by knowing there was such a thing as the Industrial Revolution. The devil, I discovered, is apparently in the details. But why quit when I'm behind? I could still back up the original nonsense I pulled out of my ass. "As you may have noticed, the scones kit consisted chiefly of a bag of scone mix -- to which I added water, and spooned into a pan to bake. Clearly, given the steps in the preparation, the method for making scones is more similar to muffins than biscuits." I gave her the 'clearly' shrug, to drive home whatever nonsensical point I may have just made. She shook her head sadly and frowned. I shrugged again. "I mean, clearly." Nothing. She's a hard woman, that wife of mine. I conceded defeat, as gracefully and nobly as I could. "Oh, just eat your damned scone, smartypants." So in the grand scheme of things, I still don't know how the hell to make real scones -- or biscuits, or muffins, or anything else, for that matter. But I did prepare my own Sunday breakfast, and it didn't kill me, and I haven't horked it back up yet. I'd call that a win. Plus, now the wife is worried I might actually spend time in the kitchen again soon. One more bout of baking 'n' bullshitting, and she'll have the pizza delivery joint on speed dial daily, just to shut me up. I call that little plan my "scone method". Look for it in a cookbook near you.
Scone Appetit [Where the Hell Was I?] {...} Life, from a comic perspective. Original articles, humor, & funny stories daily from an aspiring Boston standup comedian. {...}
Indexed: September 1, 2008, 1:46 pm - Page Size: 61KB
Category: Computers > Internet > On the Web > Weblogs > Personal > W

]]> {ARTS} - Jane Godley: Dutch comfort in finding out about your boring ancestors GENEALOGY is fascinating and now also a big business, thanks to the internet. I got hooked myself and decided to find out more about my own roots. The official Scotland's http://articles.world-of-newave.info/arts/jane-godley-dutch-comfort-in-finding-out-about-your-2008098542.htm 2008-09-01T01:00:00Z 2008-09-01T01:00:00Z News.Scotsman.Com http://news.scotsman.com/arts/Jane-Godley-Dutch-comfort-in.4443930.jp Jane Godley: Dutch comfort in finding out about your boring ancestors {new window}   News.Scotsman.Com - GENEALOGY is fascinating and now also a big business, thanks to the internet. I got hooked myself and decided to find out more about my own roots. The official Scotland's
Jane Godley: Dutch comfort in finding out about your boring ancestors - Scotsman.com News {...} Jane Godley: Dutch comfort in finding out about your boring ancestors - GENEALOGY is fascinating and now also a big business, thanks to the internet. I got hooked myself and decided to find out more about my own roots. The official Scotland's People site is wonderful for accessing on the web and isn't that expensive. The downside is finding out that your grandparents, great-grandparents and their parents were rather dull, poor and most of them got married just in time to give birth! {...}
Published: September 1, 2008, 1:00 am - Indexed: September 1, 2008, 12:39 pm - Page Size: 54KB
Category: Arts

]]> {ISSUES > BIAS AND BALANCE} - Hannity falsely claimed "Obama can't point to a single instance in which ... Sean Hannity or talk radio" has "made an issue of Obama's race" Four days after falsely suggesting that no "prominent Republican" has "said that [Sen. Barack Obama] is not patriotic, or that he's got a funny name," Sean Hannity claimed on the August 4 edition of his nationally syndicated radio program that Obama "can't point to a single instance in which President Bush or [Sen. John] McCain or [former White House senior adviser] Karl Rove or Sean Hannity or talk radio or any other major Republican has made an issue of Obama's race." In fact, as Media Matters for America noted, Hannity asserted on the March 2 edition of Fox News' Hannity's America: "As more is learned about Barack Obama's positions, his past, and his affiliations, it seems that the 'change' candidate has all the same problems with race as those before him," and later added, "It's only fair to ask: Do the Obamas have a race problem of their own?" Hannity has also repeatedly distorted what Michelle Obama wrote in her 1985 Princeton University senior thesis, taking the following phrase from the thesis out of context to suggest that she has divisive views of race: "because of the belief that Blacks must join in solidarity to combat a White oppressor." As Media Matters documented, the full paragraph in the thesis makes clear that Obama was purporting to document attitudes among black Princeton alumni who attended the school in the '70s, and not asserting her own views. Media Matters has also documented numerous examples of other radio and TV personalities making "an issue of Obama's race." Radio host Rush Limbaugh: On the June 2 broadcast of his nationally syndicated radio program, while discussing Obama's presidential candidacy, Limbaugh asserted that the Democratic Party was "go[ing] with a veritable rookie whose only chance of winning is that he's black." On May 21, Limbaugh said that "Barack Obama is an affirmative action candidate." Speaking about 'feminazis,' " Limbaugh asserted: "They forgot affirmative action for black guys. And because of that, every bit of their plan has gone up in smoke now, because they -- if -- they had to come out in favor of affirmative action for black guys, and that's -- see, this is one of the things that really irritates the women. And there are women all over this country fit to be tied -- trust me on this. ... [L]iberals eventually are going to be devoured by their own policies. And it has happened here. Because Barack Obama is an affirmative action candidate." He concluded, "So, it's just -- they just forgot that one thing: affirmative action for black guys. And if they had remembered to oppose that, then they wouldn't face the situation they face today." Limbaugh stated during his May 14 broadcast that "[i]f Barack Obama were Caucasian, they would have taken this guy out on the basis of pure ignorance long ago." On the January 24, 2007, edition of his radio show, Limbaugh referred to Obama and actress Halle Berry as "Halfrican American[s]," stating that "Barack Obama has picked up another endorsement: Halfrican American actress Halle Berry." Limbaugh then said: " 'As a Halfrican American, I am honored to have Ms. Berry's support, as well as the support of other Halfrican Americans,' Obama said." Limbaugh then conceded that Obama "didn't say it." Fox News contributor Monica Crowley: Guest-hosting the June 23 broadcast of Talk Radio Network's The Laura Ingraham Show, Crowley forwarded a wholly unsubstantiated smear that Obama has lied about his ethnicity. A caller to the show claimed that Obama is "not really African-American. He's Arab. Forty-three percent Arab, 6 percent African negro, and half white. And that is the biggest fraud being perpetrated on us all." In response, Crowley said that "according to this genealogy -- and again, because I haven't done the research, I can't verify this -- but according to this guy Kenneth Lamb, Barack Obama is not black African, he is Arab African." Crowley continued: "And yet, this guy is campaigning as black and painting anybody who dares to criticize him as a racist. I mean, that is -- it is the biggest con I think I've ever seen." Radio hosts Melanie Morgan and Brian Sussman On the December 4, 2006, broadcast of San Francisco radio station KSFO's Sussman, Morgan & Vic, in speaking to a co-host -- apparently Sussman -- Morgan referred to Obama as an, "as you call, 'Halfrican.' " Sussman responded, "Halfrican ... his father was from Kenya, his mother's white." He added that, "in my opinion -- 'cause my opinion is your average white guy," Obama "is not allowed to wear the African-American badge because his family are not the descendants of slaves, OK? He can't identify with the discrimination and the slavery and all of that that's gone into these black families for generations." Sussman also said, "I have ... nothing against mixed-race people," but later added, "I get offended and I know I have many black friends who get offended when he [Obama] stands in front of that black audience talking like he's from the hood, born and raised, and ... can identify with all of their issues. He can't!" Radio host John Gibson: On the June 6 edition of his Fox News Radio show, Gibson said to a caller who spoke favorably of Obama: "You don't know what Barack Obama stands for. You just like him because he's -- he's -- he's like you and you want to see one of you up there, and you don't care what he stands for." The caller responded: "[H]e's not one of me. ... He's not one of me just because he's a black guy or something like that. That doesn't make him one of me. He's standing for him, not me." During the April 9 broadcast of his radio show, Gibson told a caller, "[Y]ou are the third or fourth caller in a row who is -- has identified yourself to [associate producer] Christine as African-American. And when I talk to you, you obviously are smart, well-educated, well-read, and all that, and I think that your loyalty to Obama here is an issue that goes beyond the issues." When the caller asserted, "No, it's not -- it's not beyond the issues," Gibson said, "It is a racial solidarity bond you have with Obama. Tell me -- I dare you to deny that." Moments later, Gibson added: "You're sticking with Obama, because he's ... he's a brother." Gibson also asserted about Obama: "He is lying to your face but he knows you are so -- you so identify with him on the basis of race, you will not even see the lies." CNN Headline News host Glenn Beck: On the February 12, 2007, broadcast of his nationally syndicated radio show, Beck featured Philadelphia-based conservative radio host Dom Giordano, who claimed that "the mainstream media has dubbed [Obama] to be African-American" and said, "If you start to, you know, delve around the edges, say, 'Wait a minute, isn't he mixed race? Weren't we told that last year?' Or whatever, biracial. Not allowed to say that anymore." Beck responded by saying "he's very white in many ways," adding, "Gee, can I even say that? Can I even say that without somebody else starting a campaign saying, 'What does he mean, "He's very white?" ' He is. He's very white." After the interview, Beck attempted to clarify his comments to executive producer and head writer of The Glenn Beck Program, Steve Burguiere, who is known on- air as "Stu." Beck claimed that Obama "is colorless," adding that "as a white guy ... [y]ou don't notice that he is black. So he might as well be white, you know what I mean?" In addition, Beck said: "I guarantee you, there will be blogs today that will have me being a racist because I say that." On the January 25 edition of his CNN Headline News program, Beck asserted: "[I]f [Sen.] Hillary Clinton wants to be consistent, I believe, affirmative action, she should give Barack Obama an additional five percentage points just for the years of oppression." From the August 5 broadcast of ABC Radio Networks' The Sean Hannity Show: HANNITY: But I think they made a real tactical mistake here by playing the race card the way they did. It's -- because Senator McCain has gone out of his way not to do this. You know, they're making the argument that Obama is a risky choice for president. And that is the right argument to make because he doesn't have experience. And after all, if Obama had his way, we would already have been defeated in Iraq. We would have lost a major war. That's a risky experiment. You know, when Obama says they're going to scare Americans by saying that he doesn't look like all those presidents on dollar bills, he can't mean anything other than race. In fact, Obama tipped his hand when he said it back in June: "Oh, and did I mention he's black?" Obama can't point to a single instance in which President Bush or McCain or Karl Rove or Sean Hannity or talk radio or any other major Republican has made an issue of Obama's race. As for his name, earlier in the campaign, when my buddy Bill Cunningham in Cincinnati, great American that he is, criticized -- he was criticized by McCain for saying Barack Hussein Obama. The only one that keeps bringing up Obama's middle name is Barack Obama. So the charge is without merit. And it is his name, by the way. http://articles.world-of-newave.info/society/issues/business/media/bias-and-balance/hannity-falsely-claimed-obama-can-t-point-to-a-single-2008089667.htm 2008-08-07T23:41:29Z 2008-08-07T23:41:29Z Mediamatters.Org http://mediamatters.org/items/200808070009 Hannity falsely claimed "Obama can't point to a single instance in which ... Sean Hannity or talk radio" has "made an issue of Obama's race" {new window}   Mediamatters.Org - Four days after falsely suggesting that no "prominent Republican" has "said that [Sen. Barack Obama] is not patriotic, or that he's got a funny name," Sean Hannity claimed on the August 4 edition of his nationally syndicated radio program that Obama "can't point to a single instance in which President Bush or [Sen. John] McCain or [former White House senior adviser] Karl Rove or Sean Hannity or talk radio or any other major Republican has made an issue of Obama's race." In fact, as Media Matters for America noted, Hannity asserted on the March 2 edition of Fox News' Hannity's America: "As more is learned about Barack Obama's positions, his past, and his affiliations, it seems that the 'change' candidate has all the same problems with race as those before him," and later added, "It's only fair to ask: Do the Obamas have a race problem of their own?" Hannity has also repeatedly distorted what Michelle Obama wrote in her 1985 Princeton University senior thesis, taking the following phrase from the thesis out of context to suggest that she has divisive views of race: "because of the belief that Blacks must join in solidarity to combat a White oppressor." As Media Matters documented, the full paragraph in the thesis makes clear that Obama was purporting to document attitudes among black Princeton alumni who attended the school in the '70s, and not asserting her own views. Media Matters has also documented numerous examples of other radio and TV personalities making "an issue of Obama's race." Radio host Rush Limbaugh: On the June 2 broadcast of his nationally syndicated radio program, while discussing Obama's presidential candidacy, Limbaugh asserted that the Democratic Party was "go[ing] with a veritable rookie whose only chance of winning is that he's black." On May 21, Limbaugh said that "Barack Obama is an affirmative action candidate." Speaking about 'feminazis,' " Limbaugh asserted: "They forgot affirmative action for black guys. And because of that, every bit of their plan has gone up in smoke now, because they -- if -- they had to come out in favor of affirmative action for black guys, and that's -- see, this is one of the things that really irritates the women. And there are women all over this country fit to be tied -- trust me on this. ... [L]iberals eventually are going to be devoured by their own policies. And it has happened here. Because Barack Obama is an affirmative action candidate." He concluded, "So, it's just -- they just forgot that one thing: affirmative action for black guys. And if they had remembered to oppose that, then they wouldn't face the situation they face today." Limbaugh stated during his May 14 broadcast that "[i]f Barack Obama were Caucasian, they would have taken this guy out on the basis of pure ignorance long ago." On the January 24, 2007, edition of his radio show, Limbaugh referred to Obama and actress Halle Berry as "Halfrican American[s]," stating that "Barack Obama has picked up another endorsement: Halfrican American actress Halle Berry." Limbaugh then said: " 'As a Halfrican American, I am honored to have Ms. Berry's support, as well as the support of other Halfrican Americans,' Obama said." Limbaugh then conceded that Obama "didn't say it." Fox News contributor Monica Crowley: Guest-hosting the June 23 broadcast of Talk Radio Network's The Laura Ingraham Show, Crowley forwarded a wholly unsubstantiated smear that Obama has lied about his ethnicity. A caller to the show claimed that Obama is "not really African-American. He's Arab. Forty-three percent Arab, 6 percent African negro, and half white. And that is the biggest fraud being perpetrated on us all." In response, Crowley said that "according to this genealogy -- and again, because I haven't done the research, I can't verify this -- but according to this guy Kenneth Lamb, Barack Obama is not black African, he is Arab African." Crowley continued: "And yet, this guy is campaigning as black and painting anybody who dares to criticize him as a racist. I mean, that is -- it is the biggest con I think I've ever seen." Radio hosts Melanie Morgan and Brian Sussman On the December 4, 2006, broadcast of San Francisco radio station KSFO's Sussman, Morgan & Vic, in speaking to a co-host -- apparently Sussman -- Morgan referred to Obama as an, "as you call, 'Halfrican.' " Sussman responded, "Halfrican ... his father was from Kenya, his mother's white." He added that, "in my opinion -- 'cause my opinion is your average white guy," Obama "is not allowed to wear the African-American badge because his family are not the descendants of slaves, OK? He can't identify with the discrimination and the slavery and all of that that's gone into these black families for generations." Sussman also said, "I have ... nothing against mixed-race people," but later added, "I get offended and I know I have many black friends who get offended when he [Obama] stands in front of that black audience talking like he's from the hood, born and raised, and ... can identify with all of their issues. He can't!" Radio host John Gibson: On the June 6 edition of his Fox News Radio show, Gibson said to a caller who spoke favorably of Obama: "You don't know what Barack Obama stands for. You just like him because he's -- he's -- he's like you and you want to see one of you up there, and you don't care what he stands for." The caller responded: "[H]e's not one of me. ... He's not one of me just because he's a black guy or something like that. That doesn't make him one of me. He's standing for him, not me." During the April 9 broadcast of his radio show, Gibson told a caller, "[Y]ou are the third or fourth caller in a row who is -- has identified yourself to [associate producer] Christine as African-American. And when I talk to you, you obviously are smart, well-educated, well-read, and all that, and I think that your loyalty to Obama here is an issue that goes beyond the issues." When the caller asserted, "No, it's not -- it's not beyond the issues," Gibson said, "It is a racial solidarity bond you have with Obama. Tell me -- I dare you to deny that." Moments later, Gibson added: "You're sticking with Obama, because he's ... he's a brother." Gibson also asserted about Obama: "He is lying to your face but he knows you are so -- you so identify with him on the basis of race, you will not even see the lies." CNN Headline News host Glenn Beck: On the February 12, 2007, broadcast of his nationally syndicated radio show, Beck featured Philadelphia-based conservative radio host Dom Giordano, who claimed that "the mainstream media has dubbed [Obama] to be African-American" and said, "If you start to, you know, delve around the edges, say, 'Wait a minute, isn't he mixed race? Weren't we told that last year?' Or whatever, biracial. Not allowed to say that anymore." Beck responded by saying "he's very white in many ways," adding, "Gee, can I even say that? Can I even say that without somebody else starting a campaign saying, 'What does he mean, "He's very white?" ' He is. He's very white." After the interview, Beck attempted to clarify his comments to executive producer and head writer of The Glenn Beck Program, Steve Burguiere, who is known on- air as "Stu." Beck claimed that Obama "is colorless," adding that "as a white guy ... [y]ou don't notice that he is black. So he might as well be white, you know what I mean?" In addition, Beck said: "I guarantee you, there will be blogs today that will have me being a racist because I say that." On the January 25 edition of his CNN Headline News program, Beck asserted: "[I]f [Sen.] Hillary Clinton wants to be consistent, I believe, affirmative action, she should give Barack Obama an additional five percentage points just for the years of oppression." From the August 5 broadcast of ABC Radio Networks' The Sean Hannity Show: HANNITY: But I think they made a real tactical mistake here by playing the race card the way they did. It's -- because Senator McCain has gone out of his way not to do this. You know, they're making the argument that Obama is a risky choice for president. And that is the right argument to make because he doesn't have experience. And after all, if Obama had his way, we would already have been defeated in Iraq. We would have lost a major war. That's a risky experiment. You know, when Obama says they're going to scare Americans by saying that he doesn't look like all those presidents on dollar bills, he can't mean anything other than race. In fact, Obama tipped his hand when he said it back in June: "Oh, and did I mention he's black?" Obama can't point to a single instance in which President Bush or McCain or Karl Rove or Sean Hannity or talk radio or any other major Republican has made an issue of Obama's race. As for his name, earlier in the campaign, when my buddy Bill Cunningham in Cincinnati, great American that he is, criticized -- he was criticized by McCain for saying Barack Hussein Obama. The only one that keeps bringing up Obama's middle name is Barack Obama. So the charge is without merit. And it is his name, by the way.
Media Matters - Hannity falsely claimed "Obama can't point to a single instance in which ... Sean Hannity or talk radio" has "made an issue of Obama's race" {...} On his radio show, Sean Hannity said that Sen. Barack Obama "can't point to a single instance in which President Bush or McCain or Karl Rove or Sean Hannity or talk radio or any other major Republican has made an issue of Obama's race." In fact, Hannity asserted on the March 2 edition of Hannity's America : "As more is learned about Barack Obama's positions, his past, and his affiliations, it seems that the 'change' candidate has all the same problems with race as those before him," and later added, "It's only fair to ask: Do the Obamas have a race problem of their own?" Media Matters has also documented numerous examples of other radio and TV personalities making "an issue of Obama's race." {...}
Published: August 7, 2008, 11:41 pm - Indexed: August 8, 2008, 11:57 am - Page Size: 27KB
Category: Society > Issues > Business > Media > Bias and Balance

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