Oh the weather outside is frightful
But these tires are so delightful
And soon by trails to work I'll go
Let it snow! Let it snow! Let it snow!
I don't show signs of stopping
With this armor my tubes ain't popping
My lights cast a funkier glow
When it snows! When it snows! When it snows!
When I leave work for the night
How I love heading out in the storm
Trackless powder beneath my bike
When I get home I'll be warm
With gas prices slowly rising
On pies I am relying
To get me where I must go
Let the snow! Let it snow! Let it snow!
Dear reader, the bit about the going out in the storm isn't actually true, at least when I can avoid it. On the other hand, while most of my colleagues have to choose between playing in the snow or going to work, I get to work by playing in the snow.
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
Saturday, January 22, 2011
This Week in Pie Making, Jan 16-22
This week's pie: Kahlua Fudge Brownie in a Yogurt Crust.
If the crust recipe works out, I'll post it. In other culinary news, your pie maker made calzones this weekend with goat's milk Gouda and a sauce made with rendered ham skin, tomato paste and onion. Cooking with animal fats is basically awesome, and your pie maker will soon be investigating grass-fed and organic farms in the DC area. Reports to follow.
Onto the news. It's been a big week for a lot of the major pie-related indicators. First of all, the Great Finger Pointing Game continues as attempts to impose bureaucratic stability on people who genuinely reject big government continues to falter. Speaking of, we got reminders from the capitals of the Western Hemisphere's richest and poorest nations that once a people have accepted the government as legitimate, they most want it to provide prosperity. Your pie maker gladly acknowledges this, and is simply trying to move the goal posts towards a pie-friendlier definition of it.
The Chua thing continues to percolate, and your pie maker loves it. This is the first time in his memory that there has been a national discussion of the relative merits of different cultures' norms without invoking mutual accusations of bigotry.
On the technology front, there were a couple of big stories related to sustainable pie making. The first is that research into car platooning took a big step forward in Sweden. It's more likely to be implemented on specially equipped trucks and buses than passenger cars, but since intercity bus travel is on the rise and infrastructure spending in the US is flat or declining, it's nice to see someone trying address the problem instead of just complain about it. On the defense side, your pie maker is very interested in developments in shipbuilding and armament, since it would appear that while we are moving towards more ships built to commercial, instead of military, standards, there is also a move away from kinetic and into electromagnetic weapons. The civilian take-aways from such developments include higher density power generation that really emphasizes efficiency and surge capacity. Coupled with the success of NASA's latest solar sail test, the long term future of humanity is pretty bright indeed.
If the crust recipe works out, I'll post it. In other culinary news, your pie maker made calzones this weekend with goat's milk Gouda and a sauce made with rendered ham skin, tomato paste and onion. Cooking with animal fats is basically awesome, and your pie maker will soon be investigating grass-fed and organic farms in the DC area. Reports to follow.
Onto the news. It's been a big week for a lot of the major pie-related indicators. First of all, the Great Finger Pointing Game continues as attempts to impose bureaucratic stability on people who genuinely reject big government continues to falter. Speaking of, we got reminders from the capitals of the Western Hemisphere's richest and poorest nations that once a people have accepted the government as legitimate, they most want it to provide prosperity. Your pie maker gladly acknowledges this, and is simply trying to move the goal posts towards a pie-friendlier definition of it.
The Chua thing continues to percolate, and your pie maker loves it. This is the first time in his memory that there has been a national discussion of the relative merits of different cultures' norms without invoking mutual accusations of bigotry.
On the technology front, there were a couple of big stories related to sustainable pie making. The first is that research into car platooning took a big step forward in Sweden. It's more likely to be implemented on specially equipped trucks and buses than passenger cars, but since intercity bus travel is on the rise and infrastructure spending in the US is flat or declining, it's nice to see someone trying address the problem instead of just complain about it. On the defense side, your pie maker is very interested in developments in shipbuilding and armament, since it would appear that while we are moving towards more ships built to commercial, instead of military, standards, there is also a move away from kinetic and into electromagnetic weapons. The civilian take-aways from such developments include higher density power generation that really emphasizes efficiency and surge capacity. Coupled with the success of NASA's latest solar sail test, the long term future of humanity is pretty bright indeed.
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
On civility and parenting
Unfortunately, your pie maker is not yet able to support his pie making with his blogging, and professional obligations delayed a planned post on the greatness of the United States coming from the fact that unlike the rest of the world we do not have a single "culture" portfolio in our government. Instead, we have a very robust and flexible culture that values, or at least tries to ignore, differences while generally focusing on the merits of productivity.
During that delay, the hype over Amy Chua's book (not her interesting one, tho) reached a crescendo. Ms. Chua is doing her best to make hay while the sun shines.
For many reasons, this blog has shied away from the subject of child rearing, but between this and the general calls for more civility, your pie maker can offer a suggestion: Do not let your children agree with you unless they can explain why they do. At one point during his misspent youth, your pie maker was loading manure into a bin and said to his father, "a dumpster full of [disliked policy proposal]." After a deep breath with the far-off look of a parent who wonders what went wrong, the father asked "Why?"
The lesson was profound. It was not acceptable to simply agree with the popular conclusion, and it is always important to examine one's beliefs. This message, constantly reinforced by parents (as both of mine did, hence this blog's moderate tone) and other adults is the best thing we can all do to ensure a vital and sustainable republic.
During that delay, the hype over Amy Chua's book (not her interesting one, tho) reached a crescendo. Ms. Chua is doing her best to make hay while the sun shines.
For many reasons, this blog has shied away from the subject of child rearing, but between this and the general calls for more civility, your pie maker can offer a suggestion: Do not let your children agree with you unless they can explain why they do. At one point during his misspent youth, your pie maker was loading manure into a bin and said to his father, "a dumpster full of [disliked policy proposal]." After a deep breath with the far-off look of a parent who wonders what went wrong, the father asked "Why?"
The lesson was profound. It was not acceptable to simply agree with the popular conclusion, and it is always important to examine one's beliefs. This message, constantly reinforced by parents (as both of mine did, hence this blog's moderate tone) and other adults is the best thing we can all do to ensure a vital and sustainable republic.
Saturday, January 15, 2011
This Week in Pie-Making
This week's pie: Maryland Road Pie, a molasses-sweetened pumpkin pie with a chocolate and marshmallow topping.
It's Saturday morning and the biegnets are rising, soon to be rolled out and filled with a carmel-butter sauce left over from dessert a couple days ago. Yes, dear reader, you are welcome to come visit, especially for events such as the League of American Bicyclists conference in March. On your way in, tho, just be sure to check that your charts have their magnetic declination correct, since the "north" pole is increasing its speed toward the Equator. The consequences of this are actually profound most importantly because of how runways around the country are marked, because unlike the DHS, the FAA doesn't want to rely exclusively on GPS.
A dip in gasoline prices brought back echoes of the car industry of 2006, while food and oil prices are starting to look more like 2008. Part of the problem is related to climate change, such as droughts in Russia and floods in Australia, but one has to wonder if there's a bit too much cash chasing returns instead of investing in production. Whatever we do politically, environmentally or economically, we now have a (specious) date for when we can realistically expect to start over on a different planet: AD 2200.
The developing world continues to pose challenges for Westphalian notions of governance, and the response of the developed world challenges international standards of acceptable behavior. The developing world in turn breaks breaking the economic models of the West. Not that Western models are perfect, as a debate about road vs. transit funding suggests.
Speaking of infrastructure and bad assumptions, the US oil sector might be in for a major overhaul, assuming Wall Street and the GOP approve. Across the Pond, the Conservative/LibDem government is warning their banking arm to be discrete about remuneration (clearly the public perception is that the banks are under government control, as they exist due to gov't largess). Meanwhile, the Belgians have started a protest your pie maker plans to join in solidarity with the people of Europe's contribution to the artificial country concept (and laziness).
It's Saturday morning and the biegnets are rising, soon to be rolled out and filled with a carmel-butter sauce left over from dessert a couple days ago. Yes, dear reader, you are welcome to come visit, especially for events such as the League of American Bicyclists conference in March. On your way in, tho, just be sure to check that your charts have their magnetic declination correct, since the "north" pole is increasing its speed toward the Equator. The consequences of this are actually profound most importantly because of how runways around the country are marked, because unlike the DHS, the FAA doesn't want to rely exclusively on GPS.
A dip in gasoline prices brought back echoes of the car industry of 2006, while food and oil prices are starting to look more like 2008. Part of the problem is related to climate change, such as droughts in Russia and floods in Australia, but one has to wonder if there's a bit too much cash chasing returns instead of investing in production. Whatever we do politically, environmentally or economically, we now have a (specious) date for when we can realistically expect to start over on a different planet: AD 2200.
The developing world continues to pose challenges for Westphalian notions of governance, and the response of the developed world challenges international standards of acceptable behavior. The developing world in turn breaks breaking the economic models of the West. Not that Western models are perfect, as a debate about road vs. transit funding suggests.
Speaking of infrastructure and bad assumptions, the US oil sector might be in for a major overhaul, assuming Wall Street and the GOP approve. Across the Pond, the Conservative/LibDem government is warning their banking arm to be discrete about remuneration (clearly the public perception is that the banks are under government control, as they exist due to gov't largess). Meanwhile, the Belgians have started a protest your pie maker plans to join in solidarity with the people of Europe's contribution to the artificial country concept (and laziness).
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