29.7.02

Glue Advice

This to That tells you what adhesive to use for any two materials that you select. Brilliant.

Swiped from Boing Boing: A directory of wonderful things.
Life Mirrors Satire

Check out this Onion article from January 1991.

"We as a people must stand united, banding together to tear this nation in two," Bush said. "Much work lies ahead of us: The gap between the rich and the poor may be wide, be there's much more widening left to do. We must squander our nation's hard-won budget surplus on tax breaks for the wealthiest 15 percent. And, on the foreign front, we must find an enemy and defeat it."

Thanks to Robot Wisdom for the reminder

25.7.02

Price List for Musical Acts

Ever wonder how much it would cost to book Bel Biv Devoe for your next birthday party? Would you be surprised to know you could get Bela Fleck and the Flecktones for the same low, low price of $15,000? Quadruple that for Beck or the B-52's. Get out your credit card and start your own City Stages by clicking HERE.

15.7.02

Where's George?

At this site you can enter the serial numbers off of all your money and then come back and see where it went after it left you. So far I've got four "hits"

Slightly addictive. Marginally discouraged by the feds.
Alabama Man

Hey Kids! Do you like Chinpokomon? Then you're gonna LOVE Alabama Man!
(Not all people from Alabama are wife-beaters)

12.7.02

New Virgins in a Box update

Google has dropped Dystopia Box from its listings for "Virgins in a Box"

11.7.02

Lightning Field

In 1977. in backcountry New Mexico, Walter de Maria created a horizontal plane of 400 evenly spaced points, held aloft on stainless steel poles averaging over 22 feet high. At sunset and sunrise the gleaming metal is lit in a grand breathtaking sweep. It is considered one of the most important pieces of Twentieth Century art. The site is surrounded by distant mesas and otherwise featureless except for a small cabin.

De Maria, I would say, envisioned how the earth and the sky would interact with the work. I would venture that he didn't spend a lot of time thinking about how other people would engage the piece, except perhaps the people who installed it for him.

The site is owned and maintained by New York's Dia Center for the Arts So it's up to them. The choices are to A) Leave it alone and unprotected to the ravages of time, accessible to anyone who goes looking for it, or B) Open an office in the nearest town and hire caretakers to shuttle people back and forth and prepare vegetarian dinners and keep the gates locked.

Currently, in order to visit you have to make reservations to stay in the cabin.. They charge you $110 per person for an overnight visit. They fix you that vegetarian dinner and leave some breakfast stuff for you. You share the cabin with up to five other people. You are left alone except for a shortwave radio in case of emergency. They say it costs them $300 per person to host you, so they're being very generous.

I wonder how they settled on option B. Maybe it has to do with controlling the copyright on photographs of it? (No photos are allowed -- of the piece OR the cabin. Sets of 8 slides can be purchased for $30 for non-commercial use.)

6.7.02

Every bit as incompetent as any male-owned firm

The law firm of Powers Phillips P.C. in Denver presents us with an astonishingly irreverent and laugh-out-loud funny web page which skewers the firm, but while doing so, fosters enormous sympathetic identification. Plus there are links to their "Bitches From Hell" newsletter.
A Smattering of Recipes

From "The Settlement Cookbook" compiled by Mrs. Simon Kander, 23rd edition, 1940

Catnip Tea
Pour one pint of boiling water over one level tablespoonful of catnip leaves, allow to steep for five minutes, strain and serve.

Oatmeal Gruel
1/2 cup course oatmeal, 1 teaspoon salt, 3 cups boiling water, milk
Add the oatmeal and salt to the boiling water, and cook 3 hours in a double boiler. Strain and dilute with milk or cream. If rolled oats is used, cook 1 hour.

Lime Water
Pour 2 quarts boiling water over an inch cube unslaked lime; stir thoroughly and let stand overnight; in the morning pour off the liquid that is clear and bottle for use. Keep in a cool place.

Coffee Jelly
3 teaspoons (14 grams) gelatin, 1/2 cup cold water, 2 1/2 cups hot coffee, 2 saccharin tablets, 2 tablespoons (30 grams) whipping cream
Soak gelatin in cold water a few minutes. Add coffee, speck of salt and saccharin, dissolved in a little water. Stir until gelatin is dissolved. Place in molds in refrigerator several hours to harden. Garnish each serving with 30 gms. cream plain or whipped. Makes 4 servings.

Mock Turtle Soup
1 calf's head, 2 teaspoons salt, 1/4 teaspoon pepper, 1 medium onion, 1 cup strained tomatoes, 1 large carrot, 2 tablespoons flour, browned, 2 tablespoons butter, juice and rind of 1/2 lemon, 1/4 cup Sherry
Cover head with cold water. Bring to boiling point. Add salt, pepper and vegetables. Simmer for three hours. Strain. Melt butter, andd flour, and 1/4 cup soup or milk. Add this to soup. Add lemon and Sherry. Serve with face-meat and sliced eggs.

Haggis (Scotch)
1 lb. steel ground oats, Salt to taste, 1/2 teaspoon white pepper, 1/2 lb. minced suet, 1/4 lb. liver, 1 onion
Parboil liver, grate when cold, mix all ingredients with water into a stiff paste, tie in pudding cloth 3/4 full or in a thoroughly cleaned sheep's paunch. Put it in boiling water, boil three hours.

Hot Bacon and Peanut Butter Sandwiches
Cut wheat bread 1/4 inch thick in slices lengthwise. Toast on one side. Spread thick on untoasted side with peanut butter. Sprinkle top with bacon which has been fried crisp and put through meat grinder. Before serving put under broiler. Cut into strips and serve with cocktails.

Marshmallows
Soak 2 tablespoons granulated gelatin in 1/2 cup cold water 5 minutes. Place 2 cups sugar and 3/4 cup water in saucepan and cook until it "threads," pour onto dissolved gelatin, let stand until partially cooled, add few grains salt, a few drops of peppermint or wintergreen and a little green or red vegetable coloring. beat until white and thick. Pour into granite pan thickly dusted with powdered sugar and set in a cool place to harden. Turn out, cut into squares and roll in powdered sugar.

Red Beet Port Wine
5 lbs. beets, 1 gallon water, 2 1/2 lbs. sugar, 1/2 teaspoon ground pepper
Grind beets with skins on. Boil with water until tender. Strain through cloth. Add sugar and pepper. Boil 15 minutes, then cool. Spread 1 ounce of yeast on piece of toasted white bread. Place on top of jar, yeast side up. Let stand 12 days in warm place at room temperature, then strain and bottle.

Dandelion Wine
1 gal. dandelion flowers, 1 gal. boiling water, 3 lbs. sugar, 3 oranges, cut in small pieces, 3 lemons, cut in small pieces, 1 oz. yeast
Pick dandelion flowers early in the morning, taking care not to have a particle of the bitter stem attached. Pour boiling water over the flowers and let stand three days. Strain and add the rest of the ingredients; let stand to ferment three weeks. Strain, bottle.

5.7.02

Grilled Watermelon

Shocking as it may be, grilled fruit is a wonderful summery way to enjoy a holiday afternoon. Just dice up some bananas, pinapples, plums, peaches, and watermelon into chunks big enough for a skewer but small enough to put in your mouth. Pop them on the grill for about ten minutes, brushing on a dressing of honey with lime juice and chopped mint, and enjoy - ideally with a bowl of not-too-salty home-made vanilla ice cream and a smattering of good chums.

Afterwards, go watch pyrotechnics.