North Carolina Susurrus
Rodents rustle-scuffle and play my neighbors jazz snare.
Singing, far-off cries of cargo trains and
The Atlantic's distant murmur.
Wind whistling Dixie. Play the cotton dance while
Crickets fiddle in tobacco barns for bullfrog croaks to
The syncopated spatter of tin-roof rain.
A mountain midnight's shuddering branch
Speaks silently, with fiery tongues,
Of warmth and gray smoke; snap crack.
House key strides carry hurried jingles,
While rubber mutters on moist pavement.
Voltage hums and ripples in mid-day humid air.
A broken dollar silver-copper-tinkle
Heard over motorcar combustion growl.
Inhale, exhale softly, softly, sing.
Notes in the honeysuckle lull.
Moments unobserved, almost unheard.
---
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Sunday
Saturday
A Touch of Metal
REVIEW:
The Ghost of Always - Self-titled; 2008 Tintiltin Records
The Ghost Of Always delights with rapid fire rhythms and driving melodies. With songs ranging from darkly brooding ballads to futuristic rock epics their third installment delivers. This album rocks!
The Ghost of Always - Self-titled; 2008 Tintiltin Records
The Ghost Of Always delights with rapid fire rhythms and driving melodies. With songs ranging from darkly brooding ballads to futuristic rock epics their third installment delivers. This album rocks!
Friday
Robots on Welfare?
Artificial Conversational Entities: Can A Machine Act Human and Be Given 'Rights'?
http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/260768
A fascinating article about artificial intelligence including a discussion of everyone's favorite gauge of humanity, the Turing Test!
Pictured below is the Battlefield Extraction and Retrieval (BEAR) Robot. They gave it funny little ears to make it less piss-your-pants terrifying. I imagine a wounded soldier is already emotionally vulnerable and I'm sure the shock of getting hoisted by a robot straight out of Terminator 2 is significant. Good thing it looks vaguely like a teddy bear. That's not even more terrifying and perverse.
More information about the BEAR can be found here.
http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/260768
A fascinating article about artificial intelligence including a discussion of everyone's favorite gauge of humanity, the Turing Test!
Pictured below is the Battlefield Extraction and Retrieval (BEAR) Robot. They gave it funny little ears to make it less piss-your-pants terrifying. I imagine a wounded soldier is already emotionally vulnerable and I'm sure the shock of getting hoisted by a robot straight out of Terminator 2 is significant. Good thing it looks vaguely like a teddy bear. That's not even more terrifying and perverse.
More information about the BEAR can be found here.
Sunday
Succulent Chipotle Pork
It's been so long since we last talked! Well, I made you something delicious:
My friend Mrs. Cumberbatch gave us some boneless pork loin because she doesn't eat meat. I used the pork, some leftover beef liver, and two chipotle seasoning cubes to make a simple meal that tastes like it costs 45$ in Manhattan (not including the other courses).
First, I cut the pork, still frozen, into thin slices about a quarter of an inch thick. Thats about as thick as a standard stereo patch cord. It's important that it's frozen, because that will keep the meat very tender when it's being cooked. The actual cooking technique is similar to stir frying in that the meat is cooked very quickly, but the heat does not have to be extremely high.
I warmed up the skillet with a layer of oil with a medium flame and threw some liver in it when it's hot enough. I let the liver sizzle for a bit, it's not there to be eaten, it's there for flavor, so not so much. Wait a moment...
...
...ok, I put the sliced pork loin on the skillet (it's still mostly frozen). I broke up a chipotle flavor cube or two on them, I added some hot oil because I made some already. After a minute or so when the side touching the skillet stops being red and starts being cooked, they got flipped. When the pan filled up with juice, I turned up the heat a little bit. The insides are still a little pink (not too much though, it shouldn't be a problem if the pieces are thinly sliced enough), and juicy, and delicious. I even deglazed the pan with a splash of water and poured it, still boiling, on top of the sliced pork.
I know you aren't with me now to enjoy this meal, but I wish you were...
My friend Mrs. Cumberbatch gave us some boneless pork loin because she doesn't eat meat. I used the pork, some leftover beef liver, and two chipotle seasoning cubes to make a simple meal that tastes like it costs 45$ in Manhattan (not including the other courses).
First, I cut the pork, still frozen, into thin slices about a quarter of an inch thick. Thats about as thick as a standard stereo patch cord. It's important that it's frozen, because that will keep the meat very tender when it's being cooked. The actual cooking technique is similar to stir frying in that the meat is cooked very quickly, but the heat does not have to be extremely high.
I warmed up the skillet with a layer of oil with a medium flame and threw some liver in it when it's hot enough. I let the liver sizzle for a bit, it's not there to be eaten, it's there for flavor, so not so much. Wait a moment...
...
...ok, I put the sliced pork loin on the skillet (it's still mostly frozen). I broke up a chipotle flavor cube or two on them, I added some hot oil because I made some already. After a minute or so when the side touching the skillet stops being red and starts being cooked, they got flipped. When the pan filled up with juice, I turned up the heat a little bit. The insides are still a little pink (not too much though, it shouldn't be a problem if the pieces are thinly sliced enough), and juicy, and delicious. I even deglazed the pan with a splash of water and poured it, still boiling, on top of the sliced pork.
I know you aren't with me now to enjoy this meal, but I wish you were...
Burning hot chili oil
Good hot oil is indispensable for cooking spicy food. A little bit of hot oil can turn up the heat, and a lot of hot oil will teach people not to steal your cooking. I used a combination of red chilies and scotch bonnets, probably a cup and a half in all, and finely diced them then put them in a cup of high heat oil, then turned the heat up until the pepper bits began to fry. I let them fry until they were almost burnt, but not quite, then turned off the heat.
When I packed it up I threw a couple of fresh chili peppers in the oil to make it look nicer. This oil is fucking hot, a few drops in any dish will make it quite spicy without changing the flavor much. A spoonful is enough for a big (like a gallon size) pot of stew, two spoonfuls to really light it up. Three spoonfuls will cure the flu. Half a cup causes psychedelic visions of possible futures, though, not necessarily of the most likely future time-line. I certainly wouldn't make any important decisions based on visions resulting from eating this hot oil.
When I packed it up I threw a couple of fresh chili peppers in the oil to make it look nicer. This oil is fucking hot, a few drops in any dish will make it quite spicy without changing the flavor much. A spoonful is enough for a big (like a gallon size) pot of stew, two spoonfuls to really light it up. Three spoonfuls will cure the flu. Half a cup causes psychedelic visions of possible futures, though, not necessarily of the most likely future time-line. I certainly wouldn't make any important decisions based on visions resulting from eating this hot oil.
Thursday
America is Hungry!
The Veep Debates are chock full o' gustatory metaphors regarding the American people
Palin: Americans are hungry for... hungry for...
Biden even talked about Americans stomaches
ALSO:
mav·er·ick /ˈmævərɪk, ˈmævrɪk/ [mav-er-ik, mav-rik]
–noun
1. Southwestern U.S. an unbranded calf, cow, or steer, esp. an unbranded calf that is separated from its mother.
2. a lone dissenter, as an intellectual, an artist, or a politician, who takes an independent stand apart from his or her associates.
3. (initial capital letter) an electro-optically guided U.S. air-to-ground tactical missile for destroying tanks and other hardened targets at ranges up to 15 mi. (24 km).
[Origin: 1865–70, Americanism; after Samuel A. Maverick (1803–70), Texas pioneer who left his calves unbranded]
—Synonyms 2. nonconformist, independent, loner.
So in order to absorb the spectacle only second hand I'm looking up homebrewing supplies.
Here's a list of suppliers:
Austin Homebrew
Midwest Supplies
Northern Brewer
Palin: Americans are hungry for... hungry for...
Biden even talked about Americans stomaches
ALSO:
mav·er·ick /ˈmævərɪk, ˈmævrɪk/ [mav-er-ik, mav-rik]
–noun
1. Southwestern U.S. an unbranded calf, cow, or steer, esp. an unbranded calf that is separated from its mother.
2. a lone dissenter, as an intellectual, an artist, or a politician, who takes an independent stand apart from his or her associates.
3. (initial capital letter) an electro-optically guided U.S. air-to-ground tactical missile for destroying tanks and other hardened targets at ranges up to 15 mi. (24 km).
[Origin: 1865–70, Americanism; after Samuel A. Maverick (1803–70), Texas pioneer who left his calves unbranded]
—Synonyms 2. nonconformist, independent, loner.
So in order to absorb the spectacle only second hand I'm looking up homebrewing supplies.
Here's a list of suppliers:
Austin Homebrew
Midwest Supplies
Northern Brewer
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