Adventures in My Mind

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Oct 29, 2002

Boo!

Did I scare you? I hope so. I love Halloween. I think it's a great holiday, and not just because it rankles the fur of the religiosos. From trick or treating to haunted houses to pumpkin patches to endless repetitions of bad horror movies on AMC and SciFi. It's a blast!

I don't believe in any of the supernatural stuff conjured up during the Halloween season, but I do love a good scare. It's like a game that I play with myself. I watch movies or go to a haunted house and think This isn't real. There is nothing to be afraid of. You know that soon the killer/monster will jump out from behind something. Be ready. Don't jump!. Well, the killer/monster jumps out and I jump too, cursing the whole time. But it's fun.

A couple of years ago, I wrote down my Top 10 list of scary movies. You can read My Personal Scarefest at Epinions.

What are some of your favorite scary movies?

0 Comments | Link to this post   posted by Teddy 3:43 PM

Oct 25, 2002

Yet another post generated by an idea from Mr. Green. He sends the following information on sushi, a dish that I have a love/hate relationship with.

Claim: Sushi is always made with raw fish.

Status: False.

Year by year, Western society becomes more enamored of sushi, that mysterious yet oddly addictive food offering from Japan.

Even people who want little to do with fish (let alone that of the raw variety) can find themselves drawn to it time and again.

Contrary to popular belief, sushi does not mean raw seafood. Instead, the word refers to the vinegared rice that can (but need not) be paired with raw seafood.

The pressed seaweed paper used to hold sushi together is nori. The raw fish is called sashimi. Sashimi can be combined with vinegared rice (and sometimes a bit of nori) to form a type of sushi, or can be ordered on its own.

There are two main types of sushi: maki and nigiri. Maki is rolled sushi, with the ingredients laid upon a sheet of nori, rolled to form a log-like shape, then sliced into several round pieces. Sometimes ingredients are arranged upon the outside of the nori as well as within ("reverse sushi," this is called). Temaki is a form of maki better known as a "handroll." In temaki sushi, the ingredients are laid upon a sheet of nori which is shaped into a cone and handed to the diner.

Nigiri sushi features one main ingredient offered upon a formed finger of vinegared rice. If nori is used, it will be present only as a thin ribbon nominally securing the primary ingredient to its rice base.

And of course sushi would not be complete without wasabi, the pungent green horseradish paste incorporated into most nigiri offerings by the chef and also added by diners to just about everything shy of their dining partners. Gari, the thin pinkish-brown slices of pickled ginger root that accompany the meal, are used to clear the palate between dishes.

Sushi, whether made with raw fish or vegetables, must possess a harmonious balance of taste and texture. Sushi has been fairly described as "edible art," and it must be as pleasing to the eye and nose as it is to the taste buds if it's to be a success.

It is perfectly acceptable to eat sushi with one's hands. (Indeed, attempting to manage a handroll with chopsticks would be akin to going after an ice cream cone with a knife and fork.) Nigiri sushi should be eaten by hand after one has removed the fish, dipped it lightly into soy sauce, and returned the now-dipped fish to its finger of rice.

Not all seafood used in sushi is served raw. Crab, shrimp, and octopus, for instance, are cooked before being incorporated into nigiri or maki. Eel is also served cooked, having been first grilled then marinated for days in a sweet sauce. And not all sushi is seafood-based: tamago, which appears in the illustration above, is a nigiri sushi made of sweet egg omelette.

0 Comments | Link to this post   posted by Teddy 2:51 PM

Oct 23, 2002

What could be cooler than the sleek retro-kitsch look of a lava lamp? The sleek retro-kitsch look of lava lamp that you made yourself. That's what!!

Make your own lava lamp!

I am definitely going to give this a shot. I've been contemplating buying one of these cool childhood, back-of-the-store, Spencer Gifts memories for a while. Now that I can make my own, there'll be no stopping me.

Now if I could just find a site that shows how to make my own pet rock, I'm in!

0 Comments | Link to this post   posted by Teddy 3:41 PM

Oct 22, 2002

I highly recommend Mr. Green's well-reasoned and researched defense of the separation of church and state. Like any rational being, he is concerned with political posturing over religion, especially when that posturing becomes law, ignorant of the wise words of the U.S. Constitution. See his Thursday, October 17th, 2002 entry.

The most striking point it makes, of course, is this:

Worship and prayer have thrived under our existing constitutional framework, reflecting the strengths of American religious liberty and pluralism. To alter or ignore that framework is to destroy the very religeons that so many claim to value. The United States, with more than 1,500 different religious bodies and 360,000 churches, temples, mosques and synagogues, is the most religiously diverse nation in the world because of, not in spite of, the fact that we do not allow government to become entangled with religion.

To disagree with this premise is to miss the point of religious freedom altogether.

0 Comments | Link to this post   posted by Teddy 1:56 PM

Oct 18, 2002

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• "pacific LX" reviews
  
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• And this week's favorite from Google Denmark ... funebri sexy girl!

Have a good weekend!

0 Comments | Link to this post   posted by Teddy 1:26 PM

Oct 17, 2002

Sometime around a year ago W. announced that the "Axles of Elvis" were threatening the world in ways befitting their rogue nation status. Unbenounced to anyone it seemed that Iraq, Iran, and N. Korea had quietly formed a tightknit kinship.

Flash forward a year and we are on the brink of war with what the W. admin considers to be the most vile of that triumverant of evil, Iraq. With only allegation, speculation, and a much to fervant desire to create new market opportunities for their cronies in the energy industry, the Ws have made Saddam Public Enemy Number One.

When asked why this is so, the Ws respond that Saddams WMDs and nuclear weapons programs are a menace, a danger, and just to feign at least a little legitimacy, a gross violation of several international weapons treaties and bans. "OK. Maybe," we say. Maybe this is so, but shouldn't we really investigate a little better? You know, at least attempt that the mantra of innocent until proven guilty is more than a slogan? Yes, the "Presidential Palaces" that weapons inspectors will never have accesss to are certainly big and numerous enough to be part of an illicit weapons program. We as reasonable adults understand the concern over such things. However, also as reasonable adults we know that, it should take more than the twin desires of revenge and cheap oil to to start a war, even with weak-kneed congressional approval.

In short, shouldn't we be searching for evidence, not conjecture, not anecdote, not the presumption of guilt?

And what would we do if presented with cold, hard evidence that Iraq has WMDs or was aggressively pursuing a nuclear weapons program? I wonder what would happen if Saddam just came right out and said, "Yes, I Saddam Hussein, the illegitimate son of goat and despotic ruler of Iraq have, for the last 8 years, been pursuing a nuclear weapons program in strict violation of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and a host of other international agreements. Yes, it was me, in the kitchen, with the candlestick!"

I don't know, let's ask W and the Hawks now that N. Korea has done just that. That's right. In case you missed it yesterday:

N. Korea admits nuclear program

So now what do we Mr. President? With no oil and China already jittery about our selling of billions of dollars in weaponry to Taiwan,what do we do with N. Korea? Certainly an admission of guilt by one of the founding members of the Axels of Elvis is enough to pour thousands of U.S. troops into the area.

"No," you say. "We'll pursue diplomacy," you say. You'll pardon us if we notice the hypocrisy.

0 Comments | Link to this post   posted by Teddy 9:05 AM

Oct 15, 2002

The joys of public transportation. I tell myself over and over, " I love riding the bus. I love riding the bus. I love riding the bus ..."

An exchange with a young, wanna-be street thug:

Scenario: there is only one seat left on the bus. A young man doing his damndest to look dangerous slouches across the entire thing. I walk up to the seat.

Me: Excuse me.
Him: Angry look, attempting to stare me down.

After a pause of a few seconds he removes his leg. I sit down.

Me: Thanks.
Him: Continued angry looks.

Now he is angrily staring at the side of my head. I turn to look at him and he looks away.

Him: Hissing between his teeth. Tssssss!

I look straight ahead bemused. He glares at the side of my head.

Me: Is there a problem?
Him: Whatever.
Me: You're staring at me. Is there a problem?
Him: I'm allowed to look ain't I?
Me: Yes, you are, but you're giving me dirty looks. Is there a problem?
Him: Yeah, right. Whatever. You don't like it, sit somewhere else then.
Me: It's the only seat on the bus.
Him: Yeah, then leave me alone then.
Me: Uh huh.

The rest of the trip passes uneventfully, with the few exceptions of him throwing dart-like looks at me from under his hooded sweatshirt.

I love riding the bus. I love riding the bus. I love riding ...

0 Comments | Link to this post   posted by Teddy 1:45 PM

Oct 11, 2002

Congratulations to the Rev. Jerry Falwell. This supposed man of God is now an international sewer of bigotry and hatred.

Falwell Remarks Prompt India Riots

It's amazing how a follower of Christ, the much ballyhooed Prince of Peace, can resort to petty denegration and derogatory remarks toward other religious symbols. It's certainly not a new thing for brother Falwell, but it's amazing how far this man will go in destroying the obvious and necessary connections between the world's three major religions.

0 Comments | Link to this post   posted by Teddy 4:41 PM

Oct 10, 2002

A great quote from Michael Kinsley:

"To be sure, the fatuous hypocrisy of the Bush case for war is no reason to let Saddam Hussein drop a nuclear bomb on your head. Iraq may be an imminent menace to the United States even though George W. Bush says it is. You would think that if honest and persuasive arguments were available, the administration would offer them. But maybe not."

With its inflation of misinformation and diregard for pertinent facts, I fear the Bush admininstration has called wolf once too often on Iraq.

This, of course, will not change our reckless course toward the atomization of Bagdad.

0 Comments | Link to this post   posted by Teddy 11:17 AM

Oct 9, 2002

Here's one of those rhetorical questions that you just can't ever seem to be able to answer: Why is the only show on TV that is set in Pittsburgh quite possibly the worst show on TV?

Is it a cruel ironic joke? Is it karmic retribution? Or is it just that the guy who produces The Guardian is a no talent hack who grew up in Pittsburgh and stumbled into the good fortune of having his own network televsion show?

I'll bet on the latter.

Now on to the soon-to-be war front. Congress is all set to pass a resolution this week that gives W. carte blanc to wage war against Iraq. Supporters say that the resolution is necessary to force the U.N. into substantive action against Iraq--a sort of do something or we will ultimatum. I agree with that. Sometimes the rusty wheels of beauracracy and diplomacy need some greasing. There is no doubt that Iraq is massing a whole host of WMDs. Something must be done.

Detractors, on the other hand, say that all of this sabre rattling is an unecessary escalation in hostilities and that the power congress is giving W. to wage war against Iraq is the sweeping final piece of Uncle Dick and Rummey's plan to violently seek a "regime change." I also agree with that. Again, there is no doubt that Iraq is massing a whole host of WMDs; however, is it really the wisest course to seek a violent confrontation with a homicidal dictator who is just looking for an excuse to his horrible weaponry?

Is the likelyhood of Iraq using chemical, biological, or even nuclear weaponry lessoned by a millitary attack. My understanding of the tactics of warfare say no. The administration likes to point out that just because Saddam hasn't rained anthrax on Israel or other targets yet doesn't mean that he won't. On the face of it, that is a valid arguement. Some type of preventative measures must occur. What is not valid, however, is to suggest that he will no longer be able to do such a thing after we start the bomb parade. Perhaps the only reason he has not used his WMDs is because he has yet to be sufficiently provoked. Hmmm, I wonder ... Would the arrival of JDAMs, Tomahawk missles, carpet bombs, A-10s, B-2s, B-52s, F-117s, F-16s, and F-14s be enough of a provocation for him to think that the end is nigh; and that there is no good reason to keep him from unleashing hell? I wonder ...

0 Comments | Link to this post   posted by Teddy 9:31 AM

Oct 1, 2002

The Bush Administration, as with any other administration, has a laundry list of issues that critics like to attack. My own personal bailiwicks have been it's callous disregard for civil liberties and it's laissez-faire economic policies (or lack thereof). This, however, takes the cake:

Port Lockout Could Harm U.S. Economy

Let me correct that headline: Port Lockout WILL Harm U.S. Economy. Of course, a prolonged work stopage in all of our Pacific ports is exactly what our ailing economy needs right now. Nearly 90% of all Asian goods brought into this country come through the 29 pacific ports. Combined they handled over $300 billion in goods last year. Do you think that's going to have an impact on the availability of goods, to say nothing of all of the transportation workers who now have nothing to transport.

And let's not assume that this thing sneaked up on anyone. The Longshoreman's Union and port management have been in talks since long before the current labor contract expired in July. So from then until now, the Bush Administration and it's inept Commerce and Labor Secretaries have sat idle. Promising, only after the fact, a federal mediator. Where was this promise before the lockout began? Where was the federal pressure to not allow a lockout in the first place?

I agree, for the most part, with the old conservative mantra that the market knows best and that a minimum of governmental involvement in markets is ideal. I must quickly break from the pack, however, when management decides to bar the gates and shut down their businesses so that they don't have to pay striking workers, particularly when national interests are stake -- international really, when you consider the foreign reliance on American imports and exports. Certainly, the feds didn't need to disallow the lockout, if only because they should've been more proactive leading up to it.

Quick position check: I don't blame management completely in this mess. The union, as usual, has demanded way too much involvement in the way that the ports manage their business, particulary as it relates to technology and automation. They are concerned that new technologies will put some of their members out of work and are demanding that the people required to run these new automated systems be union members. Management, quite rightly, has balked at this demand.

How does an economy improve with the threat of no goods on the shelves? How does an economy improve with the threat of rising inflation? How does an economy improve when the federal government doesn't proactively do everything that it can in preventing a situation like this?

Of course, this whole thing is even more ironic when you consider that, to date, the Bush economic plan has been "buy more!"

0 Comments | Link to this post   posted by Teddy 9:29 AM

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