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What compells someone to become this good?

AUSTRUMI has been updated to version 0.9.2. All programs and version changes are listed here. The iso for Astrumi can be found on SourceForge.

I first found Astrumi while trying to find an NT administrator password while trying to recover a broken Windows XP installation. Excellent CD!

We are such idiots…

Let’s not just forget the past but let’s pave over it. The CIA reports that China and India will be world super powers by the year 2020 and the United States will take a backseat.

This is old news. China has forecasted the demise of the United States in reports from the early 1980s and again in 1991 citing the same timeframe that the CIA is now releasing.

Of course with the behavior of our troops as cited above and the current leadership (ie. Bush) thinking of now and not caring about our societies future (eg. spending our money like mad, accumulating debt like we will never have to pay it, etc and all in the name of some ill conceived war which I still contend is a person vendetta between Sr and Saddam).

I love my country. I want it to stay on top. But with leadership that destroys our National Parks (see also), doesn’t care about education, can’t separate religion from state, and doesn’t care about the environment, how can we do anything but fall?

The other day I saw the cat playing with the biggest mouse I’ve ever seen. The wife and mother-in-law jump straight to “rat” but I swear its not a rat. The wife saw it wandering through the yard today followed by a fairly disinterested catdangling from the cat’s mouth and squirming to get out. Apparently it is just not as exciting as a mouse. Our new yard pet? Looks like a gerbil. I suppose the neighbors got rid of theirs.

James at Puerilis points out that a “Space probe finds shoreline on Titan.” Now just watch for one of these companies to start selling the highly desireable beach front property soon!

I was a little slow today but the lottery results are now posted on TN Lottery Results, TN Lottery Results Blog and TN Lottery Results Blogspot.

Feel free to create links to those sites and help see if we can get google to start indexing them. They have great ranking on MSN and Yahoo but aren’t even listed on google.

So last weekend while the weather was gorgeous I changed the brake pads on the rear wheels but couldn’t get myself motivated to do the front brakes. Last night after a severely loud pop the “brake light” on the dash came on (indicates low brake fluid) and my tire is covered in brake fluid and naturally I have trouble stopping the car. My $35 dollar repair just got expensive. I am sure the caliper broke and may have taken the brake line with it and may have gouged the tire.

I want to beat myself up over this but I’m just accepting the path I have walked. Things will work out.

Student: Where have you been?

Master: Occasionally, even I must stray from the path to find my direction again.

Putting the microwave and the coffee maker on the same circuit is fine unless you turn them both on at the same time. Looking at the circuit map of my house makes me laugh because the bathroom outlet where the hair dryer is used is on that very same circuit! Me thinks some rewiring is in order.

Once again all deadlines fall in the same timeframe. I hope before I die I can take a real vacation.

My 8 year old son said today, “we don’t take vacations.” as a matter-of-fact response to someone else discussing vacation activities. That made me sad.

I felt today that I’ve failed my 8 year old son. He did exceptionally well to excel within his class to participate in a school wide spelling bee. He was one of 22 students and made it to the third round. By that point he was one of 11 contestants left. He was knocked out with “tiresome” by spelling it “tiresom”. As they said the word, I subvocalized “alright! Easy one!” Murph (see post) struck. The failure comes in that we bought the practice for the spelling bee during last school year. It sits somewhere in our mess. Noah excelled on his own. I wonder what he could have achieved had I practiced with him.

I remember being in either 8th, 9th or 10th grade and finding this really cool but strange looking pair of scissors in one of the house bathrooms. I got curious, held them near my eye, and clip! trimmed my eyelashes.

The next day I got complimented by females (students and teachers — probably only two people commented but in a teenage memory everyone was staring) on how nice my eyelashes looked and how jealous girls must be of my mine. In hindsight they were probably being facetious but at the time I was both embarassed and thinking the compliments were real…besides, it got me attention from the ladies!

My new disposal came in the mail but had a factory installed 3 prong plug installed (model 444-5a) where my old in sink erator (model 444-3) had to be wired directly to the switch. So I installed a GFIC outlet in addition to the new disposal. Relatively easy work but I had to complicate it rerouting some of the plumbing. The new disposal is quiet and working well. I do highly recommend it. The service was exception and the equipment good quality.

Of course, then I decided to change the brakes on the car. Doesn’t everybody do this?

This makes your car stop. I only completed the rear brakes but considering that of the 4 brake pads I could only find 3 and of those 3 two were braking on the metal and one had only a sliver of pad left I would say it had become rather urgent (yes, 3 pads implies that one disk was braking on the caliper piston).

Found The Velvet Vulva (complete with button clitoris) while surfing BlogExplosion but forgot to note the original posted for appropriate credits.

My wife claims this is not an appropriate fold (it works!).

Here is one of the recipes I’ve been promising. This cooks up in about 30-40 minutes with relatively small mess. I personally think it tastes best after sitting overnight.

The recipe comes from the book The Ultimate 4 Ingredient Cookbook. I’ve provided two Amazon links at the bottom as the newest edition was not available at the time I posted this and the older edition (which I use) had some availability.

This first picture shows everything needed except the mixing bowls. You will need a graduated mixing bowl into which to measure the mayonnaise, a bowl to hold the pineapple juice, and finally a container to hold the finished entree.

The ingredients as listed on page 185 of the book:

1 tablespoon garam masala or curry powder

14 ounce can pineapple chunks in natural juice, drained and juice reserved

1 ¼ cups mayonnaise

3 cups cold cooked chicken, cut into bite-sized chucks

Note: I was going to put the conversions for the measurements above but I’m not sure what a tablespoon should convert to. Instead I offer you a link to onlineconversion.com’s volume conversions: http://www.onlineconversion.com/volume.htm

I use the recipe as a guide and make adjustments for my needs. My first step is to prepare the chicken. I use 1 ½ lbs of boneless chicken breast. I lightly season it with some seasoning salt or greek seasoning and some Worcestershire sauce then broil about 6 minutes per side.

My next steps include draining the pineapple juice into its own bowl. I usually use 20 ounces of chunked pineapple instead of the 14 ounces called for in the recipe. (what should ounces convert to?)

Next I measure out roughly 1 ½ to 2 cups of mayonnaise.

The instructions from the book are:

Heat a dry heavy-bottomed skillet over medium heat. Add spice mix and heat for 1-2 minutes, stirring. Blend in 1-2 tablespoons reserved pineapple juice and cook, stirring constantly, for 1 minute. Add another tablespoon or so of juice and cook again for 1 minute. Add one more tablespoon and cook again. Leave to cool. Stir cooled paste into mayonnaise. Toss with pineapple and chicken. Season to taste. 4 servings.

I do not vary from their instruction much other than increased portions.

I use curry instead of garam masala. Remember Curries may prevent Alzheimers

Scientists have found that curcumin stops the accumulation of destructive beta amyloids that build up in the brains of sufferers.

The results, published in the Journal Of Biological Chemistry, suggest that curcumin would not only prevent the build-up of plaques in patients with the degenerative brain disease, but would block the plaques developing in the first place.

There are two tricks to making the curry paste. The first is in finding the correct skillet. And the second is finding the correct amount of heat (which may vary depending on your skillet). If you are turning your curry black and making your house smell like a campfire then you have one of those two things, or both, wrong. Your curry as it cooks should darken but not burn. It can become pasty like the consistency of a cheap toothpaste and still be used in your recipe. In my example, my paste was more liquid than I’ve every achieved before.

I have had great success with my Calphalon 10-Inch Omelet Pan where my stainless steel skillets have burned my curry and been a nightmare to clean. I believe the success is in the heavy thickness of the Calphalon and the way it heats slowly but retains the heat evenly.

I like to start with 2 tablespoons of curry and heat that with no liquid for 1-2 minutes depending on the temperature of the skillet. If you don’t give your pan a chance to heat then you aren’t really cooking the curry. I then put in 1 tablespoon of pineapple juice and again cook for 1 minute. As the recipe indicates we repeat this two more times then set aside to cool.

A better presentation:

• Heat 1-2 tablespoons curry for 1-2 minutes
• Blend in 1-2 tablespoons pineapple juice
• Cook for 1 minute
• Add 1 tablespoon pineapple juice.
• Cook for 1 minute
• Add 1 final tablespoon pineapple juice
• Cook for 1 minute
• Set pan aside to cool

Be sure to stir constantly during this process. I have a tendency to lose count of how many times I have added pineapple juice but I don’t think it matters too terribly.

The book adds this "Cook’s Know-how":

As with all ground spices, buy curry powder or garam masala in small quantities because it loses its freshness if kept for longer than 6 months. Store in a cool, dry, dark place. Try making your own blend by combining and grinding whole spices.

While my paste cools, I cube my chicken. Mix the cubed chicken and pineapple in a bowl. Mix the cooled curry paste and mayonnaise in the mixing bowl then add the curry mayonnaise mixture to the chicken and pineapple. Stir together.

The final product can be seen to the right. While spicy (tasty), this dish is not hot and should be appealing to most palates. This dish is ready to be eatten immediately. As I noted at the beginning, I find it a bit more flavorful the following day but it so tasty I have never been able to put it off that long. The dish stores well and can be prepared ahead of time to provide lunches and dinners throughout the week.

Enjoy!