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July 20th, 2009
spacexploration
[eryndil]
 | 07:33 pm - Apollo 11 link
Copied from the Apollo Program group on Facebook. Apologies if this has been mentioned before.
You can relive Apollo 11's historic Moon Landing tomorrow evening (Monday) in real-time, and listen in on current mission status to splashdown.
http://wechoosethemoon.org/#
Current Mood: enthralled
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atheism
[aztec_mummy]
 | 01:45 pm - Two Articles of Moderate Lulworthiness. Or, doing the Devil's work again.
Only one of them is intended to be comedy.
Weakling President Asks Imaginary Man In Sky To Bless Nation
WASHINGTON—In a display of weakness unbecoming a head of state, President Barack Obama concluded remarks to his nation Tuesday by asking a pretend man who lives in the clouds to watch over and guide the United States.
"Thank you, and may God bless America," said the clearly insecure president, who, by seeking the aid of an imaginary being who is neither his ancestor nor someone with whom he shares a tangible harmonious relationship, freely admitted that he has little faith in himself and his inept team of jester advisers.
Even more incomprehensible, sources said, is that hundreds of millions of Americans openly worship the all-knowing invisible man—who apparently observes the world's events from atop his perch in outer space—without fear of mockery, shame, or violent government reprisal.
According to sources, citizens of the U.S. depend on the fanciful grandfather of magic to take care of everything for them, from aiding their tiny overseas army, to curing their illnesses, to helping their sports teams achieve victory, to providing little Jimmy McDonalds with his silly toys.
Mindless spirituality reportedly inhibits progress and remains a bulwark against government rule
Mexican cardinal says existence of devil must be taken seriously
Mexico City, Mexico, Jul 16, 2009 / 02:26 pm (CNA).- The Archbishop of Mexico City, Cardinal Norberto Rivera Carrera, said yesterday that the existence of the devil must be taken as fact, without exaggerating or minimizing his actions out of skepticism or credulity taken to the extreme.
During a conference for exorcists in Mexico, the cardinal said skepticism leads many to deny the existence of the devil and dismiss his actions as psychological, socio-cultural or paranormal phenomena. Others, out of extreme gullibility, see the devil everywhere and grant him supernatural powers as if he were God, the cardinal stated.
...
Throughout human history, he recalled, “there has been a hard battle against the powers of darkness, which began at the origins of the world and will endure until the last day, according to what the Lord has said.”
SRS BZNZ.
To be fair, the Archbishop is keeping it real, as far as Catholic Doctrine is concerned.
I'm reminded of the idea that we're actually living in Biblical times, but we live in a daemonic illusion to make it seem like many years had passed...Phillip K. Dick t who had that idea?
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food_porn
[the_indigo_blue]
 | 06:58 pm - strawberry streusel cake.
 Once upon a time, a young girl made a strawberry streusel cake, thinking that this sounded like the best thing in the universe ever. It was really good. But it wasn't the best thing in the universe ever. So she flung that first recipe to the winds, and made another cake that was. And they all lived obesely ever after. Recipe and more here.
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linguaphiles
[diello]
 | 02:14 pm - and A French inquiry
I have decided to only read French books over the summer, to keep my mind in the game between course 1 and 2.
I am trying to work my way through La Mécanique du Cœur, by Mathias Malzieu (lead singer of one of my all-time favourite bands Dionysos). I am only a little way through the first part, and what do you know... I got stumped on the second sentence of the book:
"Un froid de canard paranormal cadenasse la ville."
...along with some other sentences, but this one really bugs me.
Is it a colloquial expression? Because I cannot wrap my head around a cold, paranormal duck padlocking the town.
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linguaphiles
[diello]
 | 02:08 pm - Miho Hatori song
Hello!
I don't suppose anyone of the Japanese persuasion would be willing to transcribe this super-fun song by Forro in the Dark (featuring Miho Hatori)... preferably in romaji or kana, kudasai.
Paraiba
I would like to sing along since it frequently gets stuck in my head (with no complaints ;)
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food_porn
[sarahfae]
 | 08:58 am - "Deviled" Cucumbers
I've been absent for a little while, due to the lack of a camera - but I'm back.
Hope you all are enjoying you're Summer so far!
Here's a fun and easy recipe that in a (more visual) way reminded me of Deviled Eggs...hence the name. But of course (coming from me) it's egg free...and seriously yummy! And a perfect outdoor picnic/bbq snack!
Deviled Cucumbers --- revisited.
( Read more... )
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food_porn
[wicked_sassy]
 | 10:56 am - summer pasta dish
Chickpea & pasta salad, inspired by Jamie Oliver's recipe. This was an excellent use of fresh herbs from my garden. I served it with a roasted red pepper gazpacho that was boosted with beet greens and carrots.
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linguaphiles
[fenoxielo524]
 | 10:42 am - "True Blood" Language
Not sure how many "True Blood" fans there are here, but on yesterday's episode there was an extended sequence taking place in what appeared to be some medieval location showing Eric being turned, and the characters were speaking some sort of Germanic language (at least, that's what it seemed to be, from the sound of it, as well as picking up some cognates). It didn't seem like Old English to me, but I was wondering if it might be the "old" variety of another language. Any positive ID's?
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tripassbadguy
 | 11:20 am - Natalia #8
Ok, one more from my set with Natalia that I suddenly decided I like.
Model: Natalia
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libertarianism
[typewriterking]
 | 11:53 am - Libertarian Rhetoric Sells
What wingnut from hate radio or Big Oil-funded D.C.-based think tank said the following?
No country is going to create wealth if its leaders exploit the economy to enrich themselves — (applause) — or if police — if police can be bought off by drug traffickers. (Applause.) No business wants to invest in a place where the government skims 20 percent off the top — (applause) — or the head of the Port Authority is corrupt. No person wants to live in a society where the rule of law gives way to the rule of brutality and bribery. (Applause.) That is not democracy, that is tyranny, even if occasionally you sprinkle an election in there. What sort of supply-side regressive tax advocate says a 20% cut for the government is tyranny? It was a part of a rant by this hate-monger here!On July 11th, 2009, in Ghana. To see the gulf in rhetoric and reality span so wide in elected officials (depending on where they're speaking), it seems hopeless to check them at all. I'm at a loss for putting any accountability on the elected class at all, save one modest idea Michael Badnarik floated in 2004 and 2006. It was the only thing I recall standing out about him, that he drafted and signed what he claimed was a legally-binding contract to keep his promises with voters. I have no idea if that's even plausible, and I'm sure that there are terrible unintended consequences in bringing in contract law to penalize legislators for how they vote, but I can't fathom at this point this remedy being worse than the disease. *Rolls eyes* If we had an informed public, I mean. Today we have voters casting ballots for snakes that won't even fill out questionnaires from Project Vote Smart and the like. But maybe a PAC could make it an issue, I don't know. What say you? ( H/T)
Current Mood: ![[mood icon]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/mood/classic/angry.gif) cynical
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libertarianism
[seanr]
 | 11:37 am - Drudge "Recovery Act" expose
For those who haven't been following the Drudge Report headlines this morning, Drudge has posted numerous items discovered using the recovery.gov investment search function that appear to implicate the Recovery Act (signed in by Obama this February) as little more than "the usual business" when it comes to government-awarded contracts: total disregard for fiscal prudence to the point of absurdity. Of note: $1.4 million to "repair a door." $350,000 to "replace and upgrade a dumbwaiter." Numerous occurrences of overpayment for foodstuffs intended to "help reduce hunger of those hardest hit by the current economic recession." The Agriculture Department is already on damage control concerning the latter, releasing a press statement clarifying the 2 lbs of ham purchased for $1.2 million were actually 760,000 pounds in 2 lb packages. While it's clear the descriptions of the food purchases may be misleading as to quantity, Drudge points out this huge bulk purchase of ham was procured at nearly twice the price per pound as the advertised price on Food Lion's website, a fucking retailer for consumers.
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linguaphiles
[ekesobriquet]
 | 09:15 am
Have you ever realized that dialects put the "lan" in "language"?
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cooking
[colormebored02]
 | 09:34 am - Peach Pie Help
Hello all.
I'm hoping maybe someone in this fabulous group can help me in my quest to make a peach pie for the boy. His grandmother apparently made one that was out of this world, but she passed away and no one has the recipe.
I'm at a complete loss as I've never made one.
From what I've gathered it has some type of marshmallow filling, no top crust, and isn't baked?
Does anyone have a recipe that sounds similar, or gets rave reviews? I would appreciate any recipes, tips, etc.
Thank you so much as always!
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cooking
[southernmyst]
 | 01:05 pm - Cream of Something Soup
Does anyone know if the cream of chicken, etc, soup sold in cans at the store is sold by fluid ounce or by weight ounce? These recipes call for the 10.75 ounce cans, and I'm not sure whether it's by weight or volume; I won't be back in the US to check for a few months yet, and I can't rely on them selling it the same way here that they do there. I need to know how much homemade cream of X soup to use, you see.
Thanks for your help!
Edited: Solved, thank you!
Also, I'll share a successful and simple recipe I've found for choux pastry, which I use to make profiteroles:
( Recipe under cut )
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cooking
[starting_0ver]
 | 04:31 am - Peanut butter and chocolate cake.
Our friends bday was July 14th and he loves peanut butter and chocolate, so I decided to bake him a cake.
( Take a look inside... )
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cooking
[coquinaria]
 | 11:03 am - Cups and grams
First, let me introduce myself: I am Dutch, a culinary historian with a site (Coquinaria) with recipes from Roman times to the nineteenth century (and some 'modern' ones) and a section on stocks and broths, which I have been maintaining for eight years now.
At the moment I am co-translator of an American cookbook, and I would appreciate it if some of you could explain to me how I handle cups. Europeans are used to the metric system, so I'll have to change those measurements. But here is my problem: as a measurement for liquids, cups are easy and clear. But with dry matter, things change. Because a cup of broccoli for example, how much is that? I have two measurement cups, one high and narrow, the other low and wide. In the latter fits more broccoli. Also, how you cut the vegetable will influence how much you can fit in a cup. Or herbs: loosely fitted parsley or packed? How much gram is a cup of mushrooms, or spinach, or red bell pepper?
I am also interested in how Americans use cups in the kitchen, do you ever have problems with recipes because you fill cups in a different way than the writer of a recipe? And how do you think about cooking with the metric system (grams, litres/liters)?
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linguaphiles
[xenoamorist]
 | 06:38 am - Writing styles
I've managed to finish the first chapter of 《第8號當舖》 (only looking up phrases that were repeated that I didn't know really helped; I was surprised how much I could pick up of the general gist of the story), and I've noticed that the author uses lots of commas. Lots and lots of commas. To a native English speaker, this looks really bizarre, and I'm wondering if it's just her style (if so, it's annoying), or if it's a more general writing style in Chinese to use commas differently than they're used in English.
For example:
- 「他神色沮喪，走路時一拐一拐的，事實上，他左邊腋下，正撐著一副拐仗。」
- 「每二十年一條小路，一望無盡，走一走不完，這些小路上，有永遠贖不回的珍寶。」
- 「地圖上的指示是朝郊外走，在一個墓園之後向右邊的路拐去，直行，再在分岔路上拐左，再直行，上山，然后向右邊的路走去，便會看見一座大宅，門牌外有一個『8』字。」
To me, the sentences all look like run-on sentences, and it looks as though she doesn't know how to use a semicolon... but that's because I read and write primarily in English, where use of commas like this isn't a convention of the language. And I figure her grammar can't be entirely horrible; she has something like 60+ books published, and if this were a larger stylistic error as it is in English, then my assumption would be that she wouldn't have that many books published... but I'm not sure if this assumption is correct.
If it is indeed just her style and not the style of Chinese writers as a whole, then I have another question—in which languages is punctuation used differently than in English? By which I mean marks such as commas, semicolons, colons, periods, etc. ETA: I mean in a way that would be jarring for an English reader. Difference in quotation marks, the Oxford comma, differing punctuation in numerals, etc. aren't necessarily jarring, but different ways in separating clauses and groups of words can be. If that makes sense?
Thanks in advance!
Current Mood: ![[mood icon]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/mood/classic/confused.gif) curious
Current Music: Yann Tiersen - Les jours tristes | Powered by Last.fm
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denver
[capheine]
 | 07:44 am - It's 7:45 on Monday morning - time to get drunk
What's your favorite beer that's brewed in Colorado?
And: where's the best place in Denver to acquire six-packs of said beer?
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vivnsect
 | 03:22 am - A moment, a shard of time, a solitary thread that threatens to unwind
Ah summer. Finally feel completely unwound from the last semester. Unwound enough to be excited about the fall semester (microbiology...oh yes). Badly need to update this journal with some more NYC meanderings but I haven't really posted any recent photos of myself lately and since I am back to a completely nocturnal schedule, what better time? I actually posted some of these to my Facebook but since I am completely nuts about keeping my LJ pretend-blog up to date I am here at some silly hour of the morning posting some of them here as well.
I still am in need of a digital camera but that has to wait until the fall so I pretty much just use the iPhone as my camera lately. The quality of photos is at times 10 steps above a webcam but 50 steps below a real camera. I am sort of starting to enjoy the variation in photos though. Sometimes there is an almost dream-like quality to the photos I take with it which has it's own quirky appeal at least to me. In fact, at times the photos even have a dated quality to them. In this particular batch, some came out far, far brighter than the rest for no apparent reason (no lighting change, no angle change etc...) which is confusing but also amusing. The iPhone - like a slot machine for photos!
I have vowed to take more 'realistic' photos of myself as of late (read: less downward angles) which is hard since I take all of the photos I post here by myself. If you own or know of iPhone's layout, it's at times like a circus act trying to capture photos of oneself ;). Whatever. Some of these are silly and taken in my brightly lit bathroom (excuse the mirror's quality, the poor mirror is the age of the building's last renovation in the 1970s). I am mostly stunned I was able to actually see what I look like on a daily basis in these photos.
( More... )
Current Music: Lhasa de Sela - Por eso me quedo | Powered by Last.fm
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