I’ll quote directly from my friend Pony’s e-mail here:
This is very important info to have. Morgaine, I think you should include this link on your site!
NOTE: Morgaine was my BBS handle, and the boards were where I first met Pony (Speakeasy was the network we were both on, for the curious). So she still calls me Morgaine, and I still call her Pony.
Fructose may trick you into thinking you are hungrier than you should be
This is a very interesting piece of research. Anyone who has been paying the slightest bit of attention for the past several years knows that there is an increasing obesity problem in the United States–as well as in other countries.
There are a variety of possible causes put out, some more reasonable than others: yo-yo dieting, lack of exercise, too much meat, too many carbohydrates.
Although most people are looking for a magic bullet, reasonable people know that there is no single solution to the problem. There are, however, things that exacerbate the problem, and fructose looks to be one of those things.
UF research implicates a rise in uric acid in the bloodstream that occurs after fructose is consumed, Johnson said. That temporary spike blocks the action of insulin, which typically regulates how body cells use and store sugar and other food nutrients for energy. If uric acid levels are frequently elevated, over time features of metabolic syndrome may develop, including high blood pressure, obesity and elevated blood cholesterol levels.
I like the way that the researcher puts it:
“We cannot definitively state that fructose is driving the obesity epidemic,” said Johnson. “But we can say that there is evidence supporting the possibility that it could have a contributory role – if not a major role.”
Hex and the City (2005) Simon R. Green
BAH! That was just completely uncalled for! Here I am, enjoying this series, which in many ways reads more like a mystery series than a fantasy series, when WHAM! No longer will the story be wrapped up in a single book. Oh no, now we must have a story that does not conclude in a single book, but carries over into the next book.
When I was younger, my parents would often get live Christmas trees that they could then plant in the yard. For a variety of reasons, this often did not work (clay soil as well as who wants to dig a really deep hole in January?)
The name these trees are called didn’t make any sense to me, but that’s what my parents called the trees, so that must be correct.
However Friday I achieved enlightenment.
They aren’t “bald” trees, they’re “balled” trees.
(sigh)
Bread Pudding
Leftover bread, cut into cubes (enough to more than fill a casserole dish)
2 cups milk/half-and-half (whatever you have on hand)
1/2 cup sugar
4 tbsp butter
1 tsp cinnamon
1 cup shredded apple (I used Granny Smiths)
3 eggs
Heat oven to 350 F and then butter a medium sized casserole dish.
In a saucepan, heat milk, butter, sugar, and cinnamon until the butter melts. In a bowl, beat eggs. Remove milk mixture from heat, and then mix in eggs.
In a large bowl, mix everything together and then dump into casserole dish. Alternatively, put bread and apples into casserole dish and then pour milk and egg mixture over bread.
Bake at 350 F for 30-45 minutes, or until knife comes out clean.
(adapted from How to Cook Everything)
Whiskey Sauce
4 tbs butter
1/2 cup sugar
2 tbsp whiskey
1 tbsp water
1/8 tsp nutmeg
salt
1 small egg
Melt butter in saucepan. Add sugar, whiskey, water, nutmeg, and salt. Heat over low heat until sugar is dissolved. Beat egg and whisk into whiskey sauce. Raise heat to medium, and stir gently until sauce thickens. Remove from heat.
(from The Joy of Cooking)
Spoon hot bread pudding into bowl. Spoon hot whiskey sauce over bread pudding. Add scoop of vanilla ice cream. Eat.
Nightingale’s Lament (2004) Simon R. Green
In the third Nightside book, John Taylor is hired by a man to find out what has happened to his daughter. She has become a popular singer in Nightside, and he’s worried because he has lost contact with her, so following another job gone bad, John takes the case to find out what is happening to Rossignol.
Today I walked at lunch with Kim and Gina. We were talking briefly about how Michael and I managed while we didn’t have a furnace, and I said it wasn’t too bad, since we have a wood stove. The only issue was that it’s a small stove, and would burn out overnight.
One of the two commented how that must have been annoying, having to get out of bed when it’s really cold.
I said, no way! Becuase the first thing I got to do was go downstairs and PLAY WITH FIRE! YAY!
At which point I got a matched set of incredulous looks.
The best response I could make was to say, “I like fire,” shrug, and go on.
Somedays, I discover I’m even less like other people than I had previously thought.
But it’s okay. Because I really do like to play with fire.
This should come as a surprise:
(more…)
To Whom It May Concern,
Okay. That’s enough already. We have now replaced every appliance in the house, so we’re done. I’m thankful that you broke things slowly, over a period of four years, instead of all at once, but really. You can stop now.
Thank you.
It’s dead week. Time for some quizzy goodness!
(more…)
Twice now I’ve seen a bumper sticker that I love:
4 out of 3 people have trouble with fractions.
That’s right up there with another favorite:
There are three kinds of people, those who can do math, and those who can’t.
Agents of Light and Darkness (2003) Simon R. Green
In the second Nightside book, John Taylor, back working in the Nightside, but still living in the Real World, is hired to find the Unholy Grail, so that it can be returned to the Vatican.
A date which will live in Infamy
In 1941, Japanese planes made a surprise attack on the US Navy at Pearl Harbor, killing 2,403 and wounding 1,178. Twenty-one ships were sunk or damaged, including the USS Arizona, which remains on the harbor floor, and the USS West Virginia, which was eventually refloated, repaired, and rejoined the fleet towards the end of the war.
The following websites may be of interest:
For information about the Pearl Harbor Attack, including ships lost and damaged and casualties, as well as other resources.
Pearl Harbor Remembered, including survivor’s remembrances.
The official US Navy Pearl Harbor website.
Information about the attack at Pearl Harbor, including images of the dispatch sent by Commander in Chief Pacific (CINCPAC).
A site about the USS West Virginia, including pictures of the ship from the 20s through the “mothballing” of the ship in the 1950s (She was later broken up and sold for scrap).
Website for the USS Arizona, from the University of Arizona, including a brief hisotry and online exhibits.
Here you can find the text and of the audio of President Roosevelt’s speech in response to Pearl Harbor, and the other attacks that day, calling for war.
I love it when I learn new stuff.
I may have a busted furnace, but I am happy, for I have figured out a web design problem that has been nagging me for months.
In a brower that is NOT Internet Explorer, hold your cursor over one of the letters at the top of the page (preferably not I or Q or X or Y, which do not have any associated authors)
In Internet Explorer the page should look fine, you just don’t get the nifty menu.
Which is all the more reason to switch to Mozilla or Firefox now!
And now, I’m off to convert my other pages. Woo!
I made the mistake Sunday, of mentioning how the furnace is the only appliance in the house we haven’t replaced since we bought the house.
Guess what stopped working yesterday?
I was thinking this evening about mental movies. I’ve seen enough mention of them in popular culture that I’m sure that even if you don’t have your own set, you at least know what I’m talking about.
Anyway, I was thinking about the movies in my mind, and what I don’t understand is why mine are always disaster flicks.
Seriously.
Several months ago I ran across something (I don’t have a clue what, anymore) talking about getting out in emergencies. Things you need in an emergency, things you should always carry with you, etc. And I read something about a disaster where the residents of a town had to evacuate. Perhaps it was a chemical plant disaster. Immaterial. The point is that they had to get out, and couldn’t go back for anything. Including their pets. Almost as an aside there was mention of the fact that during the days/weeks the town was evacuated, the pets that survived were the ones who had access to water, which was in most cases a toilet with the seat left up.
Do I remember anything else about the discussion? Of course not. But the bit about the dead pets stuck with me.
So. We close the lid on the toilet. Why? because there is little more disturbing than unexpectedly sitting down on a toilet seat covered in wet paw prints. Except that now I wonder whether I’m sending Kat and Kit to a certain death, because if there is an emergency, they won’t have access to water so they can survive (assuming of course that the disaster didn’t kill ‘em right off).
Does everyone do this, or is this just my own kind of personal hell, constantly imagining the worst that could possibly go wrong, and attempting to find ways to circumvent that fate?
I try to rationalize it: Of course I grab everything during a fire drill! The boiler caught on fire when I was in elementary school, and we had to evacuate even without our coats. Never want to do that again! Reasonable enough. Except that that doesn’t explain why I carry a handcuff key on my key-chain, why I carry a pocketknife in my coat, and why I feel like I should always carry around matches or a lighter, or any of the other little quirks I attempt to prepare for.
Hmmm….
On second thought, maybe I should just stop listening to the news.
Something from the Nightside (2003) Simon R. Green
After The Great Book of Amber, I decided that the requirement for my next book to read, was going to be small and slight. As a 203 page paperback, this fit the bill perfectly.
Something from the Nightside is fantasy written as hard boiled mystery. John Taylor is from the Nightside, but trying to eek out a living in the Real World. Until a woman (it’s always a woman) shows up in his office asking him to find her daughter, who appears to have disappeared into the Nightside.
The Great Book of Amber (1999) Roger Zelazny
If you’re wondering why I haven’t written any reviews recently, The Great Book of Amber is why. A compilation of all ten of Roger Zelazny’s Amber books, The Great Book of Amber comes in at 1258 pages.
This omnibus edition contains the first Amber series: Nine Princes in Amber, The Guns of Avalon, Sign of the Unicorn, The Hand of Oberon, The Courts of Chaos; and the second Amber series: Trumps of Doom, Blood of Amber, Sign of Chaos, Knight of Shadows, Prince of Chaos.
Just got back from seeing Miss Saigon.
I really liked the guy who played the Engineer. He was very good and very entertaining. Otherwise? I’d somehow managed to repress the idea that Miss Saigon is a love story.
No offense to anyone, but I just don’t care for love stories.
So. I thought it needed more dinosaurs.
Either that or more helicopters and explosions.
So the major drawback of having my name on my weblog, is that I can’t post snarky comments about family and co-workers.
Which means y’all are missing my best material.
Just though I should let you know.
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