Trivial Pursuits

That's 84%, if you're wondering.

Google Charts is precisely.

posted by Martin Marks at 10:44 in the evening // two comments by:

• Tim
• Tim

 

I totally had brownies for dinner yesterday.

The problem with the brownie recipe on the Ghirardelli tin is that it's just too damn perfect. I mean, what can you possibly do with it? A really good recipe leaves you thinking "man, that was great, but next time...", but these brownies are so damn fantastic there's no real room for improvement. The only variation I've ever managed to make on these is to cream in the butter rather than melting it, and I only do that because I have a KitchenAid so I may as well save myself washing a bowl. But beyond that, there's nothing much else to do. And it's also a ridiculously simple recipe, so you can't even make it any easier—and even if you could, it wouldn't be worth bothering, because then you'd be done making them before the damn oven had preheated. They're so frustrating! And yet so damn good!

posted by Martin Marks at 9:30 in the evening // seven comments by:

• Tori
• anne
• Tori
• Tim
• Tori
• Tim
• Tori

 

"This city typifies what I believe is the future of the human race."

So I'm somewhat out of the loop; I just learned yesterday that Red Ken has been unseated as Mayor of London by some batshit crazy Tory. If you aren't familiar with The Right On Ken Livingstone, suffice it to say that he was one of the most consistently interesting politicians in Britain and one of the loudest liberal voices in western politics. (The past tense is probably premature in that sentence; Margaret Thatcher herself couldn't keep him down, and she abolished his damn job.)

posted by Martin Marks at 9:13 in the evening // comment? by:

 

Östrichrreich!

So I'm going to Vienna in August to spend a week with Schwamelia and Johannes. Ticket is bought, boss is informed. Further bulletins as events warrant.

posted by Martin Marks at 8:22 in the evening // comment? by:

 

Honestly skywalks would probably be cheaper.

I had an idea today for weather-sensing traffic lights, but I can't decide how they should work. Should they give pedestrians greater priority when it's raining and they're in more of a hurry or when it's nice out and there are more of them?

posted by Martin Marks at 8:16 in the evening // comment? by:

 

From a conversation with my sister:

"Hershey Park is not the opposite of a clear pink piece of metal that smells like cranberries!"

posted by Martin Marks at 5:58 in the afternoon // one comment by:

• Tori

 

I'm trying to escape a few of these modes. Honest.

Lately I have been experimenting with using yogurt in ways that God never intended—mostly because I spent two weeks in Too Sick to Go Shopping mode, and until I managed to bring myself to go by the Whole Foods after work today, it was one of the very few things in my fridge.

Anyway, my most intriguing discovery so far is yogurt-based pasta sauce. Yes, that was my reaction too, but after two weeks in Too Sick to Cook Anything Beyond Pasta mode, the subtle charms of butter alone were no longer enough, and I needed an experiment. So it's butter, garlic, salt and pepper, plain yogurt1, and a splash of red wine. You toss it all together in the pot you cooked the pasta in (very handy when you're in Too Sick to Do Dishes mode) right after you drain it. You would be surprised. Of course it probably helps if you're in Too Sick to Really Care That You've Just Put Yogurt on Your Pasta mode.

posted by Martin Marks at 10:01 in the evening // six comments by:

• Tania
• Julia
• Tim
• Liz
• Martin
• Lulu...

 

"Workingmen Arm Yourselves and Appear in Full Force!"

Today is May Day. You're probably all aware of the story of the Haymarket Affair, but there's more to May Day than just anarchism and eight-hour workdays! I for one believe it is important that all of you know the history behind this ill-celebrated holiday.

posted by Martin Marks at 6:14 in the evening // nine comments by:

• TEzvMpECtRtWWW
• anne
• Julia
• anne
• Liz
• Martin
• Julia
• Julia
• Martin

 

PHLEGMPHEST '08!

I am getting really, really sick of coughing. The congestion is mostly over, but I'm still hacking up at least one and a half lungs a day. (The organ bank is getting pretty frustrated with me.) I probably would have been better a week ago if it wasn't for my place of work. Just for context: at the end of my first day running the new computer, the air intake filter was visibly whiter. It was kind of scary. I mean, admittedly, I don't inhale 64 cubic feet of air per minute—apparently it's more like 0.21, and have I mentioned lately how much I love both Wikipedia and Google Calculator?—but still, I'm sucking that in fifty plus hours a week. I feel like I should take up smoking to balance it out and keep my lungs sort of greyish. The dust never really bothered me before, but I strongly suspect it's been dragging this damn cold out. At this point, the novelty has definitely worn off, and I would like to not be able to feel myself rattle when I breathe anymore.

posted by Martin Marks at 5:00 in the afternoon // ten comments by:

• Martin
• anne
• Martin
• anne
• Libby
• Neil
• the old feller
• Mike
• Martin
• Mike

 

I guess I showed that cliché a thing or two!

You know, the expression "building the world of tomorrow—today!" really isn't all that impressive, when you think about it. I mean, if you're building the world of the future in the present, that just means that when you're done you will have built the world of the present in the past, which is pretty high on the list of "banal things to boast about".

posted by Martin Marks at 8:06 in the evening // comment? by:

 

(subversive muttering)

I got a parking ticket this morning. GUESS HOW AWESOME THIS IS

posted by Martin Marks at 7:29 in the evening // two comments by:

• the old feller
• Martin

 

This is how we feel.

Around Opening Day, it seemed like every lightpost in downtown Baltimore had a banner proclaiming "THIS IS BIRDLAND". And every time I saw them, my brain would instantly reply, "THIS BAT IS BETHLEHEM STEEL!"

I know it doesn't scan particularly well, or for that matter make much sense. I just wanted you to know what I'm dealing with.

posted by Martin Marks at 11:18 at night // one comment by:

• anne

 

Possible translations: "beautiful life sauce", "without rope sauce", "provincial eyebrow sauce", "demon victory sauce".

So I'm looking at the Chinese takeout menu (because no way in bedamned am I cooking when I can't even taste the food, and I had Never on Sunday yesterday) and I see "Formosa Duck": "Long Island duckling marinated with mei sheng sauce, then baked crispy and served boneless." I thought, "well, maybe if the food tonight is good, I'll have to try that someday when I have sinuses—but what is 'mei sheng sauce'?"

Well, apparently, it is made of pandas! Mmm, panda sauce.

posted by Martin Marks at 7:50 in the evening // seven comments by:

• anne
• Liz
• anne
• Tim
• Tim
• Martin
• Liz

 

This is one of those things that should not have ever been necessary.

The Vista start menu is so bad, someone made a new one. It works on XP, too, which is good because the XP start menu is also pretty frustrating at times. It's not perfect, but it's a big improvement, especially because it avoids the maddening UAC issues that make it almost impossible to avoid start menu bloat in Vista. There are a couple of what would appear to be pretty seriously awesome features in the $20 full version, notably tabs (!), but the free (as in beer, not speech) version is still a pretty good start.

I can't help thinking that if I had created a new Windows start menu, I'd've made it even cooler. But I didn't, so I suppose I should stop whinging.

posted by Martin Marks at 5:26 in the afternoon // comment? by: