Print Story 22:39
Diary
By iGrrrl (Tue Feb 12, 2008 at 11:16:34 PM EST) (all tags)
To be stupid, selfish, and have good health are three requirements for happiness, though if stupidity is lacking, all is lost. Flaubert


I have made cupcakes entirely from scratch. My in-laws got me Cook's Illustrated for my birthday, and I've enjoyed it a great deal, in large part for the nerd factor. The magazine talks a bit about the chemistry of cooking, albeit in layman's terms. The recent issue had a yellow cake recipe. For MJ's school Valentine party on Thursday, I volunteered to bring cupcakes that the very allergic girl could eat, and thus from scratch came the yellow cake.

Six egg yolks, butter, whipped egg whites, etc. 25 cupcakes later, we have achieved fluffy cakeness in little muffin papers decorated with hearts, despite my not letting the eggs come to room temperature. Time for frosting. I made half their recipe, since the "surface area requiring frosting" math turned out to be 25 cupcakes < 2-layer cake. MJ has 23 in his class. Spouse and I ate the two extra, to make sure they were good. They were. Very. Even if I didn't let the eggs come to room temperature and didn't use a stand mixer or food processor.

When my God-daughters were here, the subject of Little Einstein's came up. This is a Disney show, that features "great music," "great art," and something they call "science" that has no relation to anything that earned me my PhD. Their mother likes LE, and I loath it, mostly for the fucked up science, but also because classical music bowdlerizing has it's limits. Yes, they're hearing the march from Aida, but they will forever associate the last bits of the phrase with, "Find the soup, find the soup, find the souuuuuuuuuup!" Sometimes it's best to let great art lie, and nothing will top "Kill the waaaabit!" or the whole Barber of Seville Bugs and Elmer duo. My other objection to LE is the racist stereotypes. (The Asian girl is smart. The Black kid is musical.)

Pinky and the Brain, OTOH, is required viewing for my kids, and the Godmother thinks it's stupid. Oh, well. When the kids ask what we're going to do (next day, night, whatever), my husband and I reply, "Same thing we always do. Try to take over the world."

"Stop saying that!"

"But it's true."

So, I can't talk openly about my fuckup, but it's primarily political, and a product of being too open for my own good. Hellooo, looking like an idiot. I hate that.

But, where I fall down in politics, I sometimes stand up in ideas. I'm having the great good fun of working with someone on a neuroregeneration project. My team has learned that when I go to a meeting with $cool_scientist, I don't come back in my usual muttering mode, but rather am jazzed about the potential.  Seriously, if this guy is right? Major limb neurological injuries, for which there are currently no cures but time and luck, may have a real hope for recovery of nearly full function. This could also affect, oh, crap, lots of things. I feel like I've made some nice intellectual contributions here.

toxicfur and I had a conference call this afternoon with a bunch of people doing something interesting. It was so nice to have someone next to me I could turn to when one of the people on the phone said something, and share that, "Yes! Demonstration of clue!" or "Oh, no no no, they need to turn left!" feeling. I'm so glad she's back.

23:12

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22:39 | 29 comments (29 topical, 0 hidden) | Trackback
Pinky and the Brain, by ni (4.00 / 2) #1 Wed Feb 13, 2008 at 12:16:56 AM EST
despite all its cult appeal and status in geekdom, remains under-appreciated. Yes, Always is a contender for my favorite episode of anything ever.

Glad to hear you've successfully involved yourself in something you find intellectually stimulating.


"These days it seems like sometimes dreams of Italian hyper-gonadism are all a man's got to keep him going." -- CRwM


I'm partial to chia earth by ad hoc (4.00 / 1) #2 Wed Feb 13, 2008 at 12:47:20 AM EST
You made my kids happy by iGrrrl (2.00 / 0) #14 Wed Feb 13, 2008 at 12:09:22 PM EST
They got to watch this before breakfast.

"we had a little over an hour to see the entire zoo. we scanned the map, and decided on what is most urgent: wombats." misslake
[ Parent ]

Pfftt, it's like gold mining by Rogerborg (4.00 / 1) #3 Wed Feb 13, 2008 at 03:34:39 AM EST
The occasional shiny nugget buried in a whole heap of dross.

-
Metus amatores matrum compescit, non clementia.
[ Parent ]

You know... by toxicfur (4.00 / 1) #4 Wed Feb 13, 2008 at 07:21:27 AM EST
not enough kids learn irony anymore, I think, and the "educational" tv certainly doesn't help. Anyway. I'm glad to be back, too. Being back is odd, and exhausting on some emotional level, but good.
-----
If you don't get a Bonnie, my universe will not make sense. --blixco


Looney Tunes and Animaniacs by iGrrrl (4.00 / 3) #15 Wed Feb 13, 2008 at 12:10:10 PM EST
We're setting them up for a defaulty to "wry."

"we had a little over an hour to see the entire zoo. we scanned the map, and decided on what is most urgent: wombats." misslake
[ Parent ]

Ah, sweet Animaniacs. by ObviousTroll (4.00 / 1) #28 Wed Feb 13, 2008 at 11:02:28 PM EST
Can you imagine the meeting where writers trying to explain that they wanted to throw in some puns about pre-revolutionary Russian dentistry?

Also. You are a bad person. You just pushed my Netflix Queue over 110 again.

--
Has anybody seen my clue? I know I had it when I came in here.
[ Parent ]

Screw netflix. by toxicfur (4.00 / 1) #29 Wed Feb 13, 2008 at 11:06:02 PM EST
My next amazon order will include the purchase of the DVDs. They're worth it.
-----
If you don't get a Bonnie, my universe will not make sense. --blixco
[ Parent ]

More Cartoony fun by wiredog (4.00 / 1) #5 Wed Feb 13, 2008 at 07:55:21 AM EST
Here we have the SpongeBob gang doing voice overs of various famous movies. Sponge Bob as Rick in Casablanca, as the Godfather, etc.

Earth First!
(We can strip mine the rest later.)



But Brain by wiredog (4.00 / 1) #6 Wed Feb 13, 2008 at 08:35:19 AM EST
Where are we going to find a yak, a tutu, and 5 litres of valvoline at this time of night?

Earth First!
(We can strip mine the rest later.)

[ Parent ]

This time... by iGrrrl (4.00 / 1) #7 Wed Feb 13, 2008 at 09:19:03 AM EST
...you put the trousers on the chimpanzee.

"we had a little over an hour to see the entire zoo. we scanned the map, and decided on what is most urgent: wombats." misslake
[ Parent ]

Who can turn a rap into a rape? by wiredog (2.00 / 0) #8 Wed Feb 13, 2008 at 10:01:30 AM EST
Silent E!.

Yes, that's Tom Lehrer. Who also did The Element Song.

Earth First!
(We can strip mine the rest later.)

[ Parent ]

Are you thinking what I'm thinking? by joh3n (2.00 / 0) #9 Wed Feb 13, 2008 at 10:06:15 AM EST
Yeah, but if they called them sad meals nobody would buy them.

I extend the praise for P&TB to The Animaniacs in general.  Some of their songs and skits are priceless.

United States, Canada, Mexico, Panama, Haiti, Jamaica, Peru......

----
I just ate about 7 pounds of meat
-theantix
[ Parent ]

Which is a ripoff of by wiredog (2.00 / 0) #17 Wed Feb 13, 2008 at 12:29:15 PM EST
Tom Lehrer

Earth First!
(We can strip mine the rest later.)

[ Parent ]

True story by joh3n (4.00 / 1) #18 Wed Feb 13, 2008 at 12:43:07 PM EST
In high school, on the first day of chemistry class, the teacher played that song and joked that anyone who could sing it the next day would get an A.

He didn't bank on one of my few talents in this world:  the ability to memorize songs quickly.  2 hours with a note pad and Tom Lehrer's album later, and Theeeeeeere's antimony, arsenic, aluminum, selenium......

I can still sing it to this day.

----
I just ate about 7 pounds of meat
-theantix
[ Parent ]

Did you get the A? by wiredog (2.00 / 0) #20 Wed Feb 13, 2008 at 01:18:21 PM EST


Earth First!
(We can strip mine the rest later.)

[ Parent ]

Yeah by joh3n (2.00 / 0) #21 Wed Feb 13, 2008 at 02:00:07 PM EST
But not because of the song.  He claimed he was just kidding.

Asshole!

----
I just ate about 7 pounds of meat
-theantix
[ Parent ]

Interestingly, by mrgoat (2.00 / 0) #23 Wed Feb 13, 2008 at 06:00:31 PM EST
Mentots and I both used to know that song, and could sing it together.

Years pass, things change, you end up living in Kansas. But the bag of dicks never leaves your side... - blixco
--top hat--
[ Parent ]

PIX OR IT DIDNT HAPPEN by joh3n (2.00 / 0) #27 Wed Feb 13, 2008 at 10:09:06 PM EST
oops, wrong internets

----
I just ate about 7 pounds of meat
-theantix
[ Parent ]

yeah... LE is not on the hit parade... by clock (2.00 / 0) #10 Wed Feb 13, 2008 at 11:14:17 AM EST
round our house LE is on the "pretty lame" list.  everyone is all stoked about it, but it fell flat for us.  oh, and the fuzzy blue block?  the one with the GREEN TURTLE on it?  the one i wouldn't let my son play with because it looked dumb?  recalled for TOO MUCH LEAD IN THE PAINT!  wtf?

so yeah...it's on the outs.

as for cook's illustrated (aka "cooking porn" in our house) we watch the PBS "america's test kitchen" every saturday and got their version of the better homes & gardens cookbook as our PBS guilt week gift.  awesome stuff, that.  their recipes are always the best, though not always the fastest or most convenient.

great magazine tho...


Clock is right. [nt] --vorheesleatherface



yeah by ucblockhead (2.00 / 0) #11 Wed Feb 13, 2008 at 11:35:25 AM EST
A sister-in-law gave us a LE tape saying "It's so great! I put it on and can get some time to myself!"

It was banned at our house. We had a strict "no TV" rule until our son turned three. (With special occasion exceptions like "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" (The real version, not the Jim Carrey Monstrosity.))
----
ウセーバラケダ
[ Parent ]

LE dumbs down... by iGrrrl (2.00 / 0) #13 Wed Feb 13, 2008 at 12:07:34 PM EST
...to the point of meaninglessness. It's vapid, but adding the name Einstein makes parents feel good.

"we had a little over an hour to see the entire zoo. we scanned the map, and decided on what is most urgent: wombats." misslake
[ Parent ]

i tried to watch one by StackyMcRacky (4.00 / 1) #19 Wed Feb 13, 2008 at 01:15:21 PM EST
I put in the DVD and the dude and I sat down to watch.  Sine everybody goes on and on about how great this stuff is, I figured I'd give it a chance.

Understand, the dude LOVES tv!  He's only allowed to  watch Simply Ming, America's Test Kitchen, This Old House, and New Yankee Workshop (ok ok, that's all we watch) (oh - and football when over at my parents' house), but he watches those shows with enthusiasm!

The LE DVD?  after a few seconds, he got bored with it and deided eating his blanket was more entertaining.  I let it go a full 2 minutes before I turned it off.

Complete crap!

Exeption: the soft blocks are cool, as long as they don't try to kill your kid with lead paint in the GREEN turtle on the BLUE block (WTF?)

[ Parent ]

+1, Cook's Illustrated by glamorgan (4.00 / 1) #12 Wed Feb 13, 2008 at 11:36:44 AM EST
It appeals to my inner Alton Brown



Yeah by iGrrrl (2.00 / 0) #16 Wed Feb 13, 2008 at 12:11:09 PM EST
But without the manic overtones.

"we had a little over an hour to see the entire zoo. we scanned the map, and decided on what is most urgent: wombats." misslake
[ Parent ]

they have a video podcast. by garlic (4.00 / 1) #22 Wed Feb 13, 2008 at 03:17:37 PM EST

signatures are for assholes.
[ Parent ]

And a TV show on PBS, as others have mentioned (nt by fluffy (2.00 / 0) #26 Wed Feb 13, 2008 at 07:50:03 PM EST
i have wanted by LilFlightTest (4.00 / 1) #25 Wed Feb 13, 2008 at 06:51:00 PM EST
to kidnap Alton and keep him as a pet. a pet that cooks me food.
---------
if de-virgination results in me being able to birth hammerhead sharks, SIGN ME UP!!! --misslake
[ Parent ]

phone ate my comment by Kellnerin (4.00 / 1) #24 Wed Feb 13, 2008 at 06:19:39 PM EST
but the punchline was that hardcore file format geeks (read: guy who was on SGML technical committee) use Cooks Illustrated to mean "something really cool" too.

[Am on a train slowly crawling through water on the tracks. Urgh.]

--
"Late to the party" is the new "ahead of the curve" -- CRwM


22:39 | 29 comments (29 topical, 0 hidden) | Trackback